January 2010

I liked the opening-consisted of basic holds but they worked them well, and Shiozaki bridging out of a hold and then transitioning into a hammerlock looked cool. Tanahashi made Shiozaki use Chops as a means of a comeback instead of just "stuff he does" which was a good call and there was stuff I liked in here-Shiozaki patting Tanahashi's head and playing with his hair, Tanahashi acting like a dick, using Misawa's elbow combinations and attempting a Tiger Driver. Shockingly there was legwork in this match-and it even managed to produce two spots I liked-Tanahashi changing the direction of his Dragon Screw when Shiozaki started fighting out of it and Tanahashi quickly Chop …

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TNA World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle - TNA Impact 1/4/10 I was a pretty big TNA fan from 2005-2010 I would say and a large part of that was AJ Styles being my favorite wrestler in the world. Nobody combined big bumping, crisp execution, smart psychology better than AJ Styles. I remember watching this live and at the time I had never ordered a TNA PPV so I had never seen AJ vs Angle live. I was really into TNA at this point because AJ Styles had been champion and it looked like he was getting a strong push and was not just going to be a lameduck champion. Hogan & Bischoff were coming in. The internet was ablaze with mostly negative comments but i…

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TNA World Champion AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle - Genesis 2010 Historically Kurt Angle is AJ Styles' worst opponent because it ends up being a Angle video game instead of a wrestling bout. Context this is right when Hogan, Bischoff & Flair came in for the reboot. Right before this TNA was on one of their hot streaks with AJ, Daniels & Joe tearing down the house. AJ & Angle are both faces. -Loved the opening chain wrestling. It was tight & intense. AJ came to play. Good covers. -I bring it up a lot but people don't talk enough about how damn good AJ's strikes are. Best striker of the 21st Century. Those bone-crushing elbows are Misawa-like. -AJ had such a g…

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Crazy brawling, violent and bloody. The pace slows way down in the second half because of blood loss and fatigue selling, which was well done.*** 3/4

When you see this matchup, happening in IWRG in 2010, filmed by Black Terry Jr, you know what you're getting. Tons of matwork and fun character dynamics. You get Navarro/Solar in their eternal struggle, Zatura, a really good guy who got lost in the shuffle looking really good, and Cerebro stalking Suicida and acting like a dickhead. Terry and Zatura get to stretch out in a pretty great mat section and Zatura shows off all his wonky cross heel hooks and what not, then Cerebro starts superkicking and punching people before Suicida hits a crazy tope. Things get more intense in the last two falls but they keep to hitting the mat, which is what you want. Cerebro looks great wi…

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The opening few minutes are tame and not especially compelling but these two make up for it with a strong finishing stretch. Generico sells everything Liger does well, and the uniqueness of the matchup adds to the value of watching this as well. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re a fan of either ... or both. You can read my full review of the match here, which stands as the 30th entry in my 365 Wrestling project.

Long, quality title match that told a good story. The interactions between Trauma I and Pirata Morgan were especially great as they really worked this like a battle between upcoming star and a physically intimidating, aging legend. We also get Navarro stretching out Pirata's kid some and they do a pretty strong job at mixing up the exchanges in order to keep you guessing about who will come out on top. IWRG isn't normally nearfall heavy but this had some good ones due to that. There was some sloppiness, but this was worth watching for Pirata's performance alone.

This is Okada's last match before being sent off to TNA. He is still a young lion, still dressed in plain black trunks and coming down to the ring to awful theme music. They start of with some slowish matwork, which Tana gets the better off. Tanahashi is in control for the majority of the match as one can expect, but Okada manages to sneak in a few big moves in. He shows a lot of fire and potential in these brief comebacks. One spot I love is Okada doing Tanahashi's somersault senton spot, not something you would expect a young lion to do. Tanahashi finally puts Okada away with the High Fly Flow. Looking at the rest of this card, this show looked to be televised h…

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WWE Champion Sheamus vs Randy Orton - Royal Rumble 2010 I needed a break from John Cena. This was chicken soup for a wrestling traditionalist's soul. Just two brutalizing grinders looking to take a limb home with them. Context, Orton is still a heel and the leader of Legacy, but there is some friction in Legacy. Sheamus won his first World Championship in a fluke over John Cena the previous month in a tables match. This is heel vs heel, but the crowd is definitely pro-Orton with a big Randy chant. They work dueling limb psychology so both get a chance to work on top but Orton is definitely playing face at the end of the match. I loved the beginning of the match great …