February 2010

I was intrigued at the thought of seeing a hoss fight between these two, but this one missed the mark. Production doesn't help. Mid-match replays become frequent in this match (I counted six of them), and while they all come after big spots, by the time the camera cuts back to live action, the next big move is already being set up. It makes you feel like you're wearing a highlight reel and not a match. Moreover, this match is too short to be very memorable. Read my full review of the match as part of my 365 Wrestling project.

Voodoo Murders (Minoru, Rene Dupree, TARU & Toshizo) vs. F4 (Hiroshi Yamato, KAI, Satoshi Kojima & Zodiac) - AJPW Excite Series 2010 - Day 2 07/02/2010 What a gem this was. I love parachuting in to a promotion, not knowing what’s happening and finding magic. And Mutoh Era All Japan is perfect for that. This is a Losing Stable Disbands match between F4 and Voodoo Murders. I believe this is Captain Falls rules so if either TARU or Kojima are pinned, it’s over immediately. Nice idea in theory but it was always going to end up with Kojima and TARU at the end. And that was actually pretty great. TARU was really good the entire match. I’m not sure if TARU is actua…

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I still love this so much. I don't know whether it qualifies as a "sprint" but with the amount they crammed into the time they had, and how quickly they moved from moment-to-moment (e.g. Rey on bottom usually lasts a lot longer than this), I wouldn't think it's a stretch to say it is one. I honestly don't remember a more compelling heel Punk match than this one, just for how tenacious he is beelining for any opportunity to smash Rey to bits. Once that barricade backdrop hits (a spot that's been burned in my memory since I saw this in 2010) he takes no chances in unleashing, smashing Rey with a clothesline on the outside, dropping him a vicious backbreaker, shoving him off…

TNA World Champion AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe - Against All Odds 2010 These two are such a joy to watch together. Unfortunately there were 5 minutes from the middle missing in the version I was watching but they were well on their way to get a great match. -AJ is so versatile. Here he is rocking it as a chickenshit heel. It gives this great matchup a fresh new dynamic. Pin balling off of Joe on shoulder tackles. -Joe usually plays the subtle heel, stoic badass. Here he is playing to the crowd getting them rocking with punches and kicks that look great. -AJ gets the dragon leg whip and begins working the leg. Joe kicks him out on a Figure-4 -Joe overcomes…

The most interesting things here are not in the match itself, which is a mostly snoozefest. What strikes me is that the same exact match could be presented today, in 2018. Eight years later. There's almost zero difference in the presentation, the announcing (except it's way worse now with the social media shit and Orwellian corporate talk) and even most of the workers, who already have been champions a thousand times by that time. It really paints the picture of how stale the company has been in the last 10/15 years. Stale also describe this match. Orton, in full Viper mode (meaning he does ridiculous overplayed maneurisms). Sheamus, who was the World champ back then …

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Necro Butcher returning to Japan to work dates for Inoki opened up the fantasy booking ideas as he was booked as the Death Match Zombie and it seemed like it would lead to quality matches after his debut against The Predator, unfortunately the follow up was a 3 way match with Rob Van Dam and Kendo Kashin because of course only Inoki could come up with such a match. That unfortunately was followed up with an underwhelming rematch with The Predator and then matches that were easily to tune out against Atsushi Sawada and Taka Kunou as Necro in front of everyone pulled out blades from his wrist tape and bladed them in front of the cameras and everyone. Eventually his IG…

Chris Jericho vs Daniel Bryan - NXT 2/23/10 Great idea for the main event of the inaugural episode NXT. A dream match for some smart marks, spotlights Daniel Bryan who is clearly the cream of the inaugural NXT competition and makes NXT feel big. Jericho is World Heavyweight Champion at the time of this match. The Bryan/Miz pairing is total genius and a great odd couple. I didn't remember this but Michael Cole is anti-Daniel Bryan right out of the gate this would ultimately lead to his heel turn. I love veteran vs rookie matches. But it doesn't really come off like that. It is a short workrate sprint. Jericho disrespects Bryan early. Bryan is red hot forcing Jericho in…

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