January 2012

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Similar to their match a month earlier though I think I liked this one slightly better. It didn't bother me in this particular instance but I always find it weird when the MC tells the crowd whom to cheer for. I love the way Santo uses a waistlock to control his opponent, he is insanely smooth, I love the way he will transition from a pin to a submission or vice-versa when it doesn't work out. There are some submission where you kinda know how they'll counter them and move on but early on there were a couple instances where Santo would bust out these insane totally out of the blue crazy hold counters, like something you'd see in an Otsuka match. We get the usual Santo hig…

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The homecoming and debut of The Rainmaker gimmick for Okada. This is around 5 minutes total. His look is something else - his face especially in comparison to today. This is very cookie-cutter, with no heat, but I'll tell you what - the guy could hit a dropkick, including a big seated dropkick off the top rope. Rainmaker pose draws crickets and its an awful clothesline this time out anyway.

World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan vs Big Show - Smackdown 1/6/12 The Yes Movement Begins! There was a hilarious backstage segment the previous week where Daniel Bryan was just so proud of saving the Big Show from Mark Henry twice and Big Show was getting annoyed. Daniel Bryan says "You are annoyed. You have not even thanked me once." The way he said it and his facial expression made me laugh out loud. Big Show is nearly giddy at prospect of this World Championship match with Daniel Bryan. Daniel Bryan mocks him for losing the title in 45 seconds and then tells Big Show to get his hand off his shoulder. Big Show gets all pissy. Sorry brutha but if you are gon…

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World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan vs Mark Henry - Smackdown 1/20/12 Lumberjack Match I hate heel vs heel matches. Face vs face matches are implicitly intriguing. You can get really good technical wrestling out of it. Or the tempers flare halfway through the match narrative. Or the subtle heel narrative. Heel vs heel matches inevitably are heat vacuums because you don't want to see either of these assholes make a comeback. In the monster heel vs the annoying prick heel matchup, I think most people enjoy watching the annoying prick get his ass handed to him, which for the most part is what they go for here. Daniel Bryan is manhandled throughout the match. Being to…

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Io Shirai vs. Natsumi Showzuki Natsumi Showzuki might be one of the most authentic joshi ever. It's the 'unrealized potential' thing, where her career was very brief due to injury. It adds to the mystique. This was a solid debut for her where she looked very strong and showed off her kempo background with unique offense. She outclasses Io all throughout the opening, and this is just her first match! ***

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This was a damm fun time. Vordell I don't think I have seen before and he was good but Scorpio was incredible, he was 46 in this and still moved great. This is a guy who I was not very high on in his run in noah and I thought was past it but here 6 years later he is taking some nasty bumps off of suplexes and brainbuster he pulls out a picture perfect moonsault. The match itself beyond the brilliance of Scorpio was a simple match with plenty of back and forth. I really enjoyed it ***1/2 Now one thing I must point out is that I was hating the first 5 mins because the person filming or those next to the camera would not shut up with inane comments. When they stoped …

World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan vs Mark Henry vs Big Show - Royal Rumble 2012 Steel Cage Match Three months of excellent booking all culminates here. If a triple threat is actually booked in such a way that warrants a triple threat match I will watch it. How can Daniel Bryan survive with these two gargantuan humans in there? Well one way to solve that is not be in there with them. He tries to make a run for it and Mark Henry yanks him down into a BIG SHOW SPEAR! Big Show then unloads with red hot strikes and splashes Mark Henry up against the cage three times. At this point, Bryan is back up and trying to escape again. Having finished off Mark Henry, Big Show …

This is champion vs champion match and they both enter the arena with very little fanfare. Maybe Punk wasn't as over as I would of liked to believe in 2012. As one can expect, this is very technical match and both guys work well of each other. Bryan is the overly excited quasi-face heel, celebrating his small victories like he's won the Royal Rumble. He goes to work on Punk's arm. He stretches it out and stomps on wrist, ala William Regal. There's a cool callback to this later in the match, when Punk has to change arms when he attempts to hit his corner bulldog. They brawl outside the ring with duelling uppercut exchanges. Just when Punk is about put away Bryan, Chr…