April 2009

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After a really good shine by Jerry, this transitioned into him working from underneath while Nigel did some awesome work on top. Every time Jerry got some offense in, it was him doing damage to Nigel's injured arm, which was a great strategy. When it comes to legendary ROH World Title reign endings, this is not on the level of Danielson's match vs. Homicide or Joe's match vs. Aries, but it's still a great match & worthy of ending the all-time great reign of Nigel McGuinness. ****

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This was pretty fun, with Saito trying to hang with bad boys Sawa and Fujita with his skinny arms and weak kicks. I guess the story is Saito trying to find the courage/strength/fire to fight the off. I like that Sawa still wants to fight with Saito even when he's on the apron. Between Sawa thunking him with headbutts and Fujita kicking the shit out of him, dragging him away from his own corner, Saito stays on the rocks. Saito tries to fight out but Hayato drills him with more headbutts and a nasty kick to the head. Tiger Shark is decent here and snaps off a few kicks but this is all about Saito wanting to get a little revenge. And it is little. Fujita dumps him with suple…

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Not the match that I think these two could have (especially in today's climate) but a brilliant callback to WWF New Gen match layouts by two guys who are nerdy enough to get what made those work. GENTARO works the back intently from the very start, finding every chance possible to throw Keita around and use his weight to just basically bully the guy bit for bit like a Bret match. That in turn gets him cocky and allows Keita to snap back with sharp elbow smashes and shots to the gut to try to get a edge, but he gets overpowered after a short brawl outside. Keita again tries to work on limbs when he dodges a top rope knee drop with a smooth calf slicer, GENTARO rolls throug…

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Danielson just feels like the man here - so sure and confident in himself, both in a kayfabe and non-kayfabe way. He felt like the man in the promotion even though he is a few years removed now from being the champion. Match has a simple story early on - Dragon dominates on the mat, while Black is looking to up the pace and stick and move. There's a really good struggle to what they are trying to do, not just loosely exchanging holds lazily. Bryan is so good at making everything, every little movement mean something. He is also really vicious in all his stomps, kicks and matwork, which is effective in getting sympathy for Black and getting the crowd on his side despi…

This kind of match...this is my bread-and-butter. A 12-minute ditty with Mashimo working like he's too good to be in the same ring as little Nohashi, who puts on a fun underdog performance. The strikes are stiff, the matwork engaging, and the camera is...uh, adequate. Mashimo starts with these condescending bald head slaps before they scramble around the mat, with Nohashi trying to hold his own. After a good hard kick to the ribs, Mashimo muscles Nohashi up with a deadlift gutwrench suplex and keeps peppering him with the knees and kicks (including an ASS KICK) until Nohashi stops his momentum with a big headbutt. Mashimo is quick to recover, utilizing a crisp takedown in…

World Heavyweight Champion John Cena vs Edge - Backlash 2009 Last Man Standing Recap time: so after finishing up a program with Jericho in late 2008, Cena defended the championship against JBL as a part of that weird "Shawn Michaels is poor" storyline. Then equally as weird Edge inserted himself in the RAW Elimination Chamber defeating Cena for the championship. They were really into triple threats at Mania for a while so this once was Cena vs Edge vs Big Show and I remember Vickie Guerrero was involved. Cena wins the championship back at Mania. This is the blowoff. I remember at the time this was a big deal for me because my favorite feud for each wrestler was their …

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