January 2011

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#wrestling365 These two start really quick going after each other strikes, just trading knees and forearms and slaps. It settles away from a NJPW mid match sequence into a pretty good rough and tumble match. Callihan's dive is not pretty but looks pretty bad ass. Everything in this is really laid in. That whole segment on the floor just felt like a fight in a really good way. The chops, damn. Kyle's offense got a little silly (rolling butterfly suplexes?), but Callihankept everything looking great. O'Relly has really improved and took out some of the silly crap. The ending stretch was pretty decent in an MMA way. Overall this was stiff and pr…

The crowd here in this one was just insane. Awesome first fall with Santo carrying Blue Demon to probably the best matwork he's ever done and RDJ's weird shtick amused me. Match kind of disintegrated when it turned into a brawl and lacked substance, I was expecting worse from Blue Demon Jr. though, he threw some solid punches. Santo's big dive was pure magic. ***1/4

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Different ball game from the G1 Finals match. Kojima now has Taichi by his side, he has turned heel after attacking Tanahashi in December. This is the Tokyo Dome, could he pull off the win in his element? Loved the battle of the individual limb works really on with Tanahashi attacking the strong arm of Kojima and Kojima attacking the leg of Tanahashi. Kojima comes across well in the aggressive role. Especially against Tanahashi’s flashy offence and he has the facials for it. I loved some of the counters they had for each other, or the little struggle they would have whenever they would attempt something big, like Tanahashi countering Kojima cutter midair with an elbow whi…

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Jeff Jarrett vs Kurt Angle - TNA Genesis 2011 You knew with Jarrett marrying Angle's ex-wife, Karen in the summer of 2010 that this was just a feud waiting to explode. I loved this feud and was one the last things that kept me watching TNA in 2011. We get a great recap that was the Double J Double M A Exhibition. Jarrett does not know if his submission victory over Samoa Joe was the greatest of his wrestling career, but he knows it was the greatest of his MMA career. LOL! Angle takes up Jarrett's open challenge. Three 2 minute rounds. Perfect stuff. Jarrett is a coward. Angle is just playing with his food, Angle has no reason to be super pissed at Jarrett as the w…

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Yoshino makes his fifth defense of the Open the Dream Gate Title against Fujii, a former champion. I always get a kick out of how fast Yoshino runs the ropes, and this match is no exception. Fujii does his best to slow down the champion. We see some great false finishes near the end. This is definitely a good, solid singles match that is worth watching. I just think the Dragon Gate style translates better to tag matches. Read my full review, as part of the 365 Wrestling project.

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Pretty fun tag match with fun moments, like Otsuka and Hideki alternating between working Ishikawa's arm and leg with quick tags in and out. And, of course, Otsuka being an absolute machine with deadlift double arm suplexes and swanky ass headscissors takeovers. It's cool seeing Hideki develop his future grumpy self.

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This match is like a game of cat and mouse, as Ishimori attacks Sano with a blitzkrieg of wacky junior offence, many years have passed since Sano was the hot thing in New Japan's junior division and he absolutely cannot hang with Ishimori in that regard. I'm indifferent to Ishimori's offence and him in general, he's a solid junior but not someone I'd ever go out of my way to see. Old man Sano has about three regular moves, but all of them look sooo good, his Rolling Savate Kicks deserve to be a subject of royal paintings, films of them exhibited in museums so they are preserved for generations to come. I got a kick out of the finish being Sano literally catching Ishimori'…

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