April 2007

This was pretty spastic but had some cool moments, with boxer Toba rocking Yoshikawa with punches, Ibushi running in with his lanky strikes, at one point, blastign Yoshikawa in the face with a gamengiri. Sawa wasn't much of a factor here but had a pretty fun apron exchange with Ibushi. Yoshikawa's finally able to catch one of Toba's punches with an armbar takedown. Great moment where Ibushi is trying to kick him off but Yoshikawa hangs on, eventually dragging him away from the ropes in an ankle hold>kneebar. Ibushi is brought in to finish off Yoshikawa, blowing through his offense and pinning him with a neat half nelson suplex hold. Wacky shooty fun!

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I have to admit, I'm kind of a vampire fan. I enjoy a good bloodletting. Let's face it, pro-wrestling is crass. And this is one hell of a bloodletting. The key to any good blood match is of course, selling. When you wear a crimson mask, and fuck these guys were gushing buckets of blood, selling is everything. And sold they did well. You don't need a hundred big spots to have a great bloodletting, because what you project matters more than spots. Not to say they weren't great spots. The fucking helicopter thrown through a table. The insane spear through the ropes through a table outside (that one was amazing). And so, they made the 10 count matter. Not a huge fan if th…

Payoff to their FIP feud so that means lots of blood, huge bumps (even from the referee) and mean punches and stomps. I thought the brawling wasn't quite as great as in the first match, but it was still a standout match. Necro decking a Briscoe with a right hand the second he took his eyes away is an example of how to do brawling. Also love his use of the guardrail. AJPW-like finish where Necro is laid out while the Briscoes finish Pondo off. Huuuuuuge finish. This would be legendary if it happened in ECW, in later 2000s indy wrestling it's „only“ another really really fun match in these guys portfolio.

Wonderful wonderful match. Based on small show matches like this that no one remembers I think it's safe to say Low Ki is an all time great. This was Bill Watts UWF meets Indy Wrestling, with Hernandez as One Man Gang and Low Ki chopping him down. The first 10 minutes or so Hernandez doesn't even take a bump, it's all Ki trying to chop the giant down and hit the body slam, and the crowd just loves this. Both Kis strikes and crazy ragdoll bumping were worldclass. Hernandez has some sprinkles of cool athleticism of his own, he also uses the canadian backbreaker which rules and even his shoves felt violent. I'm not sure how good Hernandez exactly is but he was really good in…

Only 24 hours after his war with the Briscoes in FIP, Necro has another brutal match featuring one of the biggest bumps of 2007. This was an IWA-MS joint show so Necro comes in to take on the toughest craziest dude in the fed. The first half of this is really good, it's a brawl with chairs and ladders etc. but it starts with solid body slams and both guys understood how to work their control segments (by punishing the other guy with awkwardly thrown ladders, chairs etc), tease spots etc. Masada is one of the better outcomes of tape watching indy wrestlers, he is a metalhead looking dude with a shirt and shorts who does exploders big boots and enzuigiris, which in combinat…

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The Hardys are mostly known as high-spot guys but here we have them working a fairly basic southern style tag match and it's really good. Cade/Murdoch wrestle like gritty old bastards which is a bit weird considering they're in their mid-20s here but they pull it off. Lots of cunning heelish tactics like cutting off the poetry in motion from the apron spoiling The Hardys signature spots. Jeff has a particularly strong performance here in the Face In Peril role and gets his revenge in the end when Murdoch's distracting the referee backfires. The Hardys 2007 run is definitely worth watching for the "Greatest WWE Tag Team" debate. ***1/2

Went and watched this one twice now to really take it in. This is an underrated WWE women's match from the period the audience were trained not to pay any attention. Mind you Jerry Lawler's really hyping these two as really good wrestlers even if he can't help himself fallinginto his usual antics. Melina's got some really good heel psychology, constantly finding ways to bend the rules to her advantage and has this almost permanently pissed off face about her like she doesn't want to be there. She fakes getting an eyelash in her eye to clock distracted Mickie out with a forearm, before using the ropes for leverage in a leg-locked double chickenwing (I think that's what…

World Heavyweight Champion Undertaker vs Batista - WWE Backlash 2007 Last Man Standing WOW! Undertaker was moving so damn fast here. Looked really spry and agile. He looked like he had lost a ton of weight and it showed as he was moving as well as he did in 2007. I thought he looked amazing on offense throughout and was really putting in the effort to have a great match. Loved the opening with Big Dave running into a big boot and Undertaker just pouncing. The urgency was great and it was nothing but hard shots. Good powerslam by Batista as a hope spot. Batista's leg is bandaged due to an attack from Finlay. Having a bad leg seems very bad in a last man standing match.…

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