January 2008

This was for the Openweight title that Kong held at this point and time. Historically Amano has always taken L's to Kong. Didn't matter the promotion or the stakes, she always got her ass kicked. She's gotten her ass...less kicked mind you (especially between their 2002/2005 matches where her stature as a rival to Kong becomes closer) as the years have went by but she's always lost anyway. To ratify this we have her meet Fujiwara for presumably more submission training. Amano's "training" with Fujiwara (seemed more like it was just getting her ass kicked over and over, but I guess that's how they did it back in the day) basically spells out that she's going to …

Not on par with the previous Kanemoto ZERO1 match with Yoshihito Sasaki, but it's still a good interpromotional match. To me the highlight of this is the Kanemoto and Takanishi exchanges. Kanemoto is great as working as a bully invading heel as proven in the Yoshihito match and Takanishi is a local ZERO1 young lion underdog. Kanemoto's beatdowns on Takanishi are great as he just bullies him around by slapping him around and playing to the crowd. Taguchi and Takaiwa are perfectly fine here as they are mostly just background noise, although we get some brief Kanemoto and Takaiwa exchanges. The finish of this is great as Takanishi gets some hope spots in and the crowd is red…

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TNA Knockouts Champion Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong - TNA Final Resolution 2008 No DQ If you believe the WWE, good women's wrestling did not happen before 2014, but Awesome Kong and Gail Kim prove WWE wrong. I was a big mark for Awesome Kong as a teenager. For some reason, I thought she was around when I was in high school, but I guess I was watching her in college. Every Kong match on Impact was a must see for me and my brother. It was great going back and watching these two PPV matches against Gail Kim. I think I liked the first slightly more, but this was still excellent. In both cases, I thought the finish was the worst part of the match which is a shame. Just …

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This is the first time the Knockouts main evented an episode of Impact, and it’s well deserved given this is a great rivalry, that really put the division and title on the map shortly after inception. Kong at this point had a mystique to her and came across as a real special attraction - someone that could’ve been a big star for the company. She definitely seemed ahead of her time in terms of North American women’s wrestling. It’s being Captain Obvious, but these two have fantastic chemistry, and give off a real Vader vs Sting vibe in their exchanges. Gail is great at selling the beating she is getting, but is constantly fighting and scrapping whenever she can, which…

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I have never heard anyone talk about this match, but goddamn it's absolutely amazing. The early stages see Danielson annoy Walter greatly; he pretty much outclasses him in their grappling exchanges, but he does it while talking shit & delivering some cheapshots to the big lad. Walter gets more & more pissed, but as he starts to get some offense going, Danielson attacks his knee. He targets it like an assassin throughout the match - all the while talking shit & breaking rules, too. Walter gets some brief comebacks as the match goes - even unleashing some of those brutal chops he is now famous for, but ultimately Danielson's in ring generalship is too much; he j…

As per usual, multiman interpromotional matches at Korakuen Hall are usually really good and this is no exception. We get a hot crowd, some OK crowd brawling and another solid Kanemoto ZERO1 invasion match, however there's a pretty long portion with the ZERO1 guys putting an extensive beatdown on Taguchi. The more I watch of Kanemoto in this rivalry, the more I've come to appreciate his timing. He just does a beautiful job of putting over the lesser ranked ZERO1 wrestlers hope spots and actually gets the fans the believe an upset is incoming before he just cuts them off and finishes them off.

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Eddie Kingston as Tenryu style matches are some of my favorites, and this is maybe the pinnacle. Kingston does this crazy springboard punch and just smushes Storms nose, and the blood flowing over his goofy mask mustache is actually an awesome visual. I think Storm's awkwardness actually works in the story of the match, he is kind of a sloppy goof who has found himself in a fight to the death, and steps up to the challenge. Kingston is mauling him, busting up his nose, making him leak all over the ring, and Storm keeps moving forward. The slaps into the DDT looked awesome, and King, being the greatest seller in modern wrestling, sold it like he had nerve damage. Storm als…

Wow, this was as fantastic as it looked on paper! It was all about Low Ki grounding Generico, and then keeping him down with those sick strikes of his. Generico, as usual, played the underdog role, and he was fantastic at it - his selling & hope spots were tremendous. ****1/2

World Heavyweight Champion Edge vs Rey Mysterio - Royal Rumble 2008 Can Rey Mysterio wrestle himself to a great match? The answer is yes he can. Edge is just a lump of flesh. He does nothing. He has all the charisma of a potted plant. Rey does botch one move early, but other than that it is all Rey. I think they went for throwing out the Edgeheads too early as it did not get the reaction that spot usually gets. I liked the attempted 619 leading to a plancha to the floor and then a seated senton. I thought the beginning was a little disorganized but they settled in there. Rey then springs up to the middle rope maybe for a reverse crossbody, but we will never know becau…

At MSG for the WWE Title between two guys who were genuinely hot at the time and this felt like a big deal. Orton came out of a HHH title feud with the title and his heat while Hardy had been getting a super push all through January, culminating with a huge dive off the Titan Tron that the company actually sold huge for a long time after this. Anyway, I always feel that Orton's best run was in 2011 but I did enjoy his work through 07-08 up until his injury. He was working a slower style, he was busting out things like the Garvin Stomp, the punt and the apron DDT and when he did have to bump and sell (some of his best attributes in my opinion), his matches tended to b…

This is a fantastic match. I know plenty of people, especially those who are wrestlers themselves, who hold up the Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit match from the 2003 Rumble as not only the best non-Rumble match ever, but one of the best wrestling matches ever. If Angle-Benoit is the wrestling equivalent of a symphony, this is the equivalent of a blockbuster action movie. Is one better than the other? That’s really in the eye of the beholder, as the two products are so different that it’s difficult to compare them outside of the shared setting of a WWE ring. You can read my full review of this match, over on my website as part of the 365 Wrestling project.