June 2011

Awesome grappling match with the Doctor looking great. Good to know I can thrust myself from 7 years ago on... some things. Some people have talked about how lucha has just as good storytelling or psychology as all the other wrestling... which it doesn't really need to have, because lucha is great as it's own thing. This match gave me the same giddy feeling I get from a high end WoS or shootstyle mat contest, while being it's own thing entirely. Sometimes, you just wanna watch awesome wrestlers roll around on the mat and in the case of mexicans that often involves lots of freaked out wristlocks and rolling surfboard holds and whatnot that you don't see in any other kind o…

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Kurt Angle vs Jeff Jarrett - TNA Slammiversary 2011 Kurt Angle is the anti-Tito Santana. Tito Santana wrestles every match like it is a blood feud. Kurt Angle wrestles every match like a cold, passionless workrate robot. Jeff is shacking up with you ex-wife, raising your kids and being a total jackass prick about it for six months and you just do your standard finisher trader match. Ugh. Angle works headlocks early like this is their first encounter for a heavyweight title. Oh, the number one contendership and Angle's Gold Medal are on the line. I think this should have been Loser Leaves Town. Jarrett back drops him over the top rope and Angle lands hard on the outsi…

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IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Hirooki Goto - NJPW 6/18/11 I have seen their 2007 match and I think that’s when I realized Tanahashi was something special and not just a fluke after I saw his April 2007 classic against Nagata. Goto is someone who I think is solid but lack personality. He is a less cool Choshu or Sasaki. The beginning is just basic stuff. Goto is trying pummel Tanahashi with kicks and lariats some really good ones at that. The spin wheel kick on the railing was my favorite. While Tanahashi works the leg and hits his usual stock moves like the Somersault Senton. The match gets interesting in response to Tanahashi’s second wave of k…

This series was very highly regarded by people watching All Japan in 2011, and for good reason. This was Strong BJ in the early stages of them branching out to whatever promotion wanted to book them and being booked like two little roid monsters against whoever they were put in the ring with. It rules, mostly because the stuff they do matches up super well with Manabu Soya. You wanna do braindead shoulder blocks? He's got you. You wanna throw elbows? He can do it. You wanna wing lariats? Bro, it's what he does. Sanada, on the other hand, doesn't necessarily 'fit' with what the other three do, but it also makes him the most interesting part of the match. His baby Muto-ism …

You know who fuckin' ruled? Shuji Kondo. That little meathead changed my perception of what junior heavyweight wrestling could be in the mid 2000s when I saw him pop up in the VOODOO MURDERS. You didn't have to be a mat technician like Minoru Tanaka or Koji Kanemoto and you didn't need to be a high flyer like the X-Division guys I watched in TNA. Liger probably worked the most like a heavyweight of every junior in a major promotion in Japan, but he still had some of the flashier trappings of traditional juniors. Not Kondo. HE worked like a Dragon Gate pilled version of Bill Goldberg did the fusion dance with Kensuke Sasaki and he KICKED ASS. KAI is a Muto boy that I don't…

Alright, I swear this is my last topic for a match from this show. This was a very neat match. Kyotaro is a K1 heavyweight champion, and near as I can figure, this is his only wrestling match. It's a real shame, because he's AWESOME here. Funaki is, as well, but you probably already guessed that. There's some obvious shoot style flavor here, playing up Kyotaro's striking ability and Funaki's grappling and striking. They don't go super long, everything here looks good and lands, the finish rules. If you're gonna bring a real fighter in and showcase them on a big show, this is how you do it. One of the real hidden gems of 2011. It's a real shame Funaki didn't come back to w…

I'm not going to sit here and try to convince you that this is a classic. It's six minutes, it's very good, you can probably figure out what to expect here. It's a contest to determine the most evil motherfucker in wrestling. Suzuki commits elder abuse, Fuchi gives him the "why I oughta" and then Suzuki says "welcome to die you old fuck". Fuchi's punches are great, Suzuki's an all-time great prick, they do a post match where Fuchi wants a handshake and Suzuki decides to whip ass again. It's a very fun six minute match that I'm surprised doesn't get more praise given that people love Suzuki now. **3/4

AJPW Triple Crown Champion SUWAMA vs Yuji Nagata - AJPW 6/19/11 Lets continue the SUWAMA PARTY! Nagata won the Champions Carnival in April and he is the big, bad invader. The awesome classic SUWAMA match of 2011 is the Jun Akiyama match later in the year, but this one is still pretty good. I liked the beginning the most. There is an EPIC, TITANIC Struggle Over a Belly-2-Belly Suplex unlike anything I have ever seen before. It devolves into hair pulling and eye-gouging and WADA has to put Nagata in a headlock to break it up. I didn't know Wada was still the ref in 2011! Wow! That is the best example but I thought the whole beginning dripped with struggle a…

An improvement over their first encounter with a well-worn chemistry and a good mix of laughs and stiff shots. I love the fake out slap exchanges, Ishikawa throwing closed-fist punches but showing the ref his open hand, Ishikawa throwing a roll of streamers at Sawa while he's trying to kick him from the apron. Sawa tries pulling off some of his mentor’s signature spots, being a pain in Ishikawa’s ass. As for the strikes, there are tons of slaps, punches, kicks, palm thrusts. Toward the end, Sawa dumps him with a cool half-and-half suplex and tries to submit him with the grounded octopus but Ishikawa is able to snag the leglock and force him into submission. Great finish w…

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This has such an honest heel vs. babyface dynamic to it, and I can't help but love it. Daniels is a wonderful dick throughout; him on top is great, as he puts so much soul into everything he does, and stuff like him raking Generico in the eyes to get the advantage, dropping him throat first into the ropes, chanting "I still got it!" at himself, acting like he was gonna do a springboard 450, etc, it's superb stuff. Absolutely loved his performance here, and then you of course got El Generico, who is an awesome babyface w/ his great selling & fantastic times on the offense. That whole finishing sequence was so damn good too. Great match! ****

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