November 2010

This was really good. I like dueling limbwork when it's pulled off in a smart way, and this match manages to do just that, with Sato priming the arm for the jujigatame and HARASHIMA trying to alleviate Sato's kicks by working the leg. This follows the traditional DDT "Main Event" template, with scrambled matwork to start, bouts of snug slap and kick exchanges, and the sudden escalation into bigger offense. The slaps are especially stiff, as Sato's lip gets busted, and HARASHIMA's legwork gets nasty at times with some of those targeted kicks. One of the cooler moments of the match is when Sato's able to go back to the armbar, transitioning into a triangle and as HARASHIMA …

"Incredible technical masterclass as expected from these four. Nishimura has made it his mission to bring Joe Malenko back into the promotion that arguably made him and his brother the acts they would become, and Funaki/Suzuki need no introduction. Even Suzuki, a chronic underachiever who phones aplenty was bringing his A-game here. Joe Malenko also looked really sturdy despite his age (45!) and his lack of experience, what with this being his first match back since 2000. Loads of "little things" moments shattered throughout as the four mix in a lovely blend of Catch/shoot-style with occasional splatters of cool pro-style moments like Nishimura/Funaki stiffing the shit ou…

The match follows the classic structure of heel working on top & the babyface making comebacks, and ultimately getting the win of course. The disappointing part is that Ted Jr. wasn't very compelling at all working the heat; his control periods were just extremely basic stuff, and he showed no charisma or swagger in any of his "stuff". Bryan was wonderful as always, bringing the energy up big time every time he chained them comeback bursts together, making this a good, easy-to-watch match overall for sure. It's not like DiBiase was straight-up BAD, but he just offered nothing of note to the table. Easily the weakest PPV singles match that Bryan had in his 2010 WWE run…

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Complete batshit insanity as per expected from EXIT events. These two are battling with chains as ropes while in some dodgy basement with a camera setup that feels like some garbage CCTV from 1993 recording. The first half is focused firmly around holds. Fugo is not really a hold guy whatsoever and is a rather weird/unconventional opponent for Keita in this regard, but he still has the tools alongside Keita's milking of said tools to make this work as a concept. Fugo wasn't complex when it came to what he did in this section; mostly just grabbing ankles/arms or necks and going from there, while Keita would pull off some typically tricked out counters to show off his advan…

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