Superstar Sleeze

GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Takeshi Morishima - NOAH 3/2/08 Morishima, go out and get it, brutha. In 2006, in that KENTAFuji tag, Morishima was out for blood and hungry. Again, in this Misawa match, he seemed to shy away from the big moment. Hey, Budokan against perhaps the greatest wrestler, at very least the greatest champion ever in the AJPW/NOAH lineage and you are going over and expected to be The Man. Yeah, that is what rubber pants are made for, but brutha if you are going to be The Man, BE THE MAN! None of these nancy boy inside forearm smashes. Misawa is smoking your ass with elbows and where you at? Morishima has a helluva lariat, but those inside forearm smashes are dog shit. He has some great big offense and a big time presence. He needs urgency and an energy to him. It feels too much like an exhibition, but that maybe a limitation of Misawa. Misawa seemed content to hit his elbow and then lay around and sell. Sure he hit a senton from the apron or take a HUGE suicide dive from Morishima, but Misawa spent most of the time on his back "selling". This is my second complaint, there means to make this "epic" rather than lots of MOVEZ was to lay around as if they were spent, but this is really only good for once a match. It gets old and especially when the moves they were hitting given the context of the time period and promotion did not warrant this "selling". Also this is not really selling. It is more a breakdown rather than a bridge to a chorus. I thought the finish was the best part of this match by far. Misawa has so much cache with his comeback that you really believe that once the Emerald Flowsion hit (both times, creative ways to get it) and the elbows start flying that the old bugger may pull it off. Then Morishima hits the lariats and Misawa does a great job selling how much he can't afford to take the back drop driver. Once it is hit, it is a fait accompli. It should have been a big moment on the level of Misawa/Kobashi 2003, but falls far short of that. Misawa just does not feel like The Man like he did in 2003. With Kobashi injured and Akiyama damaged goods, it was his best bet to be the torch passer, but he did not have much left to give in a singles context. Morishima looked like in 2006 he was a year ot two away from clicking, but did not seem to grab the torch like Kobashi did. I am very curious to watch the Morishima/Danielson matches because I heard they were so good, but yet Morishima does not seem to hit that level here. I like to reward matches with great finishes, but this just falls short of the mark. It is a god match that tries to reach epic with smoke and mirrors, but instead feels like an exhibition or movie rather than a great struggle for the world heavyweight championship. ***

Yuki Ishikawa & Muneori Sawa vs Super Tiger II & Manabu Hara - BattlArts 11/16/08 Tremendous. Fucking Tremendous. BattlArts serves up its second Match of the Decade Contender with its take on my favorite Japanese staple: Veteran/Hungry Young Lion versus two pricks. Sawa is a ton of energy and seems to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He takes offense to Hara's introduction and gives him a quick low kick. This is going to be chippy. The opening is some great jockeying for position. Then Hara opens it up on Ishikawa who is held by tiger with wicked kicks to his midsection. The way Ishikawa sold this was just amazing. Tiger and Ishikawa start to got at it and one shot to the gut and Ishikawa just crumples. I love how Tiger was going for the axe kick while it happened and then realized Ishikawa collapsed. That is "Think Shoot, But Work", baby! Tiger goes after Ishikawa's legs. I loved how all the holds were sold in this. Everyone was desperately lunging for ropes and selling when the timing was right. Tiger freaking out when Ishikawa gets a quick leg bar on him just when we think Ishikawa is done for is a great example. Ishikawa wisely tags out and thus begins one of the best damn face in perils of the decade. Sawa starts off in control, but quickly it becomes more even as they are trading blows on the mat. Tiger hooks in a choke and now Sawa freaks out until he gets the ropes. Tiger comes in all kicks blazing. Hara cuts Ishikawa off with a knee to the midsection. This leaves Sawa prone to be kicked to death by Tiger and Hara mercilessly. I like how Sawa starts off chippy, but is progressively worn down by the barrage of kicks so as not to die too quickly. Hara still has to work hard to get holds on, but when Hara does Ishikawa has to bail Sawa out. Everyone looks great. Sawa fighting through the odds, Hara is earning his takedowns and Ishikawa is doing the right thig. There is none of this deadfish selling and then miraclous kickouts that makes everyone look like an ass. Sawa dragon leg screw, WIND UP, HERES THE PITCH, STRIKE! PRO WRESTLING LOVE! SHINING WIZARD! Hot tag to Ishikawa. The rest of the match is basically a handicap match because Sawa has been so debilitated. He is still great for a save, but Ishikawa goes it alone against Tiger and Hara. At first, he fares well suplexing Hara and applying a wicked deep double wristlock, which Tiger breaks up. Hara suplexes Ishikawa!?!?!?! Tags out to Tiger.Tiger roundhouse kicks him right in the chin and Ishikawa fires up. Tiger catches him with an elbow and he goes down like a ton of bricks. You realize here that Ishikawa and Sawa are in deep shit. Tiger gave Ishikawa a run for his money in August and now he is weakened Tiger will be looking for that knock out blow. Just like in August here comes the Ishikawa comeback with the same staples, jumping kick to head, catching kicks to heel hooks and even a suplex. We all know how weak Tiger's neck is. It looks like Ishikawa is going to pull it out. Ishikawa goes for the submission and Hara and Sawa have this amazing skirmish where Sawa actually puts up a real defense. Hara actually has to beat him back and lunge at Ishikawa to break it up. That's type of shit that takes for you from Match of the Year Contender to Match of the Decade Contender, baby! Now Tiger has Ishikawa in a double wristlock and the same awesome skirmish breaks out and this time time Sawa breaks through. Awesome, awesome, awesome! I am not going to spoil the finish because it something that should be viewed with no foreknowledge. Is it better than elimination match? It is damn close. Damn close. These BattlArts matches have sure made things interesting. I thought my Top Ten was locked up, but shit is going to be tossed around now. Shoot-style tag team matches may be my new favorite thing in this world. ****3/4

Yuki Ishikawa vs Super Tiger II - BattlArts 10/25/08 As I have become more accustomed to the work of Ishikawa, the more I realize how much he likes to work underneath. He is up there with Flair and Kawada in terms of selling the general fatigue of battle. He has a hard time on the mat from what I can tell. He does not really sell the holds offensively or defensively. I feel like he gives up on holds too readily and when in a hold does not do much to convey the pain he is in. Still, in terms of stand up fighting, there are very few better. He dishes out as good as he gets. It is amazing how hard he hits and how hard he is hit. His selling of exhaustion and his striking work make up for a medicore mat game. I liked the Greco match, but besides that, does anybody have recommendations for better Ishikawa mat performances? Surprisingly, I liked the Otsuka match a lot more even though Ishikawa has impressed me alot more than Otsuka. Otsuka and Tiger told a simple story of stylsitic differences with a few entertaining highspots that led to a satisfying conclusion. This match meandered a bit before it got into its groove. Their matwork was an exhibition with each moving out of holds at will without much struggle. Super Tiger finally remembered that he is a lot better striking and instead of giving a rope break starts stomping. Tiger comes up with a few nifty ways to kick and knee Ishikawa in the face really hard. It is amazing the amount of punishment the human body can take. Tiger is actually able to use this to set up some nice submissions like a triangle choke. Ishikawa is starting to make his comeback as Tiger is puncking himself out. Ishikawa is grabbing heel hooks out of the weaker Tiger kicks, before he finally reels him into a suplex. Ishikawa hits a head shot and dumps him on his head for the victory. Tiger sure does lose a lot of matches by getting suplexed. He ought to learn a defense for that. Slightly under Otsuka match for me, but both are close. Otsuka/Tiger was a tandem effort whereas the Ishikawa/Tiger was the Ishikawa show with his selling and comeback being the focal point. ***1/2

Alexander Otsuka vs Super Tiger II - BattlArts 08/31/08 I really like idea of Super Tiger II competing in BattlArts. I know the history of Sayama/Super Tiger wrestling in Orginal UWF against Maeda. It just amuses me that a shoot-style promotion features a wrestler in a cute Tiger Mask. This is my second match watching him and he is a decent hand. He is not blow away good, which is a bit disappointing because I really wanted him to be a badass. Tiger dominates the stand up agam and Otsuka is able to take down and throw Tiger at will. Neither one seems super comfortable on the groud with submissions as they tend to roll around. Otsuka being " the wrestler" can control, but won't finish. Tiger starts rolling with strikes, but whiffs on a head kick and ends up in a Boston Crab. Otsuka keeps it entertaining by switching between Giant Swing and Boston Crab. Cesaro should add the Boston Crab element to the Giant Swing so it is not just a show off spot. Otsuka does a great job selling how being offense can exhaust you after a couple throws on Tiger. Tiger is dazed and confused, but he starts throwing kicks and elbows in depseration. He catches Otsuka with a couple great kicks to head. Otsuka is able to dump Tiger on his head with his German/Dragon suplex combo to win by knockout. There are some many 00s puroresu matches that are trending towards an excellent match, but end up dropping off a cliff in the last 5 minutes. It is so refreshing for a match to be good and entertaining. Is this the greatest match of all time? No, but it was fun and a great watch. Not all ***1/2 matches are created equal. This one is definitely worth watching and will leave you wanting to watch more BattlArts. ***1/2

I agree, Parv, you ought to compare him to his contemporaries, but he was totally different beast than Steamboat or Martel. He was a blood feud worker. He is going to sell, but on that comeback he is going to let those fists fly. Closer to a Bruno or Hogan, but more athletic and bumpable. Top 5 WWF worker of the 80s. Great series with Valentine and Savage and then ripped it up in Strike Force. He does lack versatility. He wrestles all matches like blood feuds like The DiBiase and Rude matches post-Strike Force. As I watch more different wrestling will fall out of zzz Top 50, but should be a lock for Top 100.

Does Ishikawa vs Backlund exist on tape from November '98 BatBat Sumo Hall show? I found Backlund vs Sasuke from same show.

Here is my incomplete AJ Styles thread. I am really high on AJ and will most likely make my Top 50. Once I finish the 00s Puroresu. I am going to try to complete the AJ project and make a big push for him like others have had their respective candidates. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/19786-aj-styles/?hl=styles

Speed Muscle (Doi & Yoshino) vs SHINGO & Dragon Kid - DG 8/28/08 I don't hate Dragon Gate or spotfests in general. In fact, I think a spotfest a major card is a great idea to razzle dazzle an audience and present something unique. My idea of a spotfest tends to be a little different than Dragon Gate's idea. I am more into flips and splashes. Acrobatics really excites me. Weird modified pumphandle slams that are no going to be sold (they are registered, but they are not sold) do nothing for me. I do not understand their appeal. There is an audience for this, but it is not me. The real major issue I have is that there a lot of wrestlers doing what Dragon Gate does better. Marufuji and Ishimori are better at flying and will wow me that way. They are much more well-rounded than Dragon Kid, who is fucking around with his damn arm bands when he should be selling. KENTA is way better than Speed Muscle at the million miles an hour gimmick. Shuji Kondo, who is terribly underrated, crushes SHINGO in the oversized junior heavyweight, who is a complete wrestler. Dragon Gate's bread and butter should be mindless spotfests, but KENTA/Ishimori vs Marufuji/Ibushi crushed any of their mindless spotfests. They do not even hold a competitive advantage over NOAH. If NOAH just wanted to do "Dragon Gate" they would annihilate them in entertainment. What made Toryumon enjoyable and special was the mixture of comedy and acrobatics. What was the only pure Dragon Gate match that was any good featured Genki Horiguchi in a strong character role in a finish run that was memorable and engaging. Dragon Gate seems to have gotten away from that and turned into a super serious pro wrestling company that features knock-offs of everybody else. SHINGO & Dragon Kid are a tag team, my nightmares are made of. Dragon Kid is so fucking useless. His spike hurricanrana is his only spot and it is totally on the opponent to make it look good. He sucks at offense and his selling maybe the worst in history. Dragon Kid may be the worst wrestler ever that is not El Gigante or someone. I just don't like SHINGO because he lacks all charisma. The match is built around Speed Muscle taking out his arm, but he still is constantly hoisting them up into weird slam positions so whjat's the point. I got on Kondo for this in his matches, but it was never as egregious as in this match. Spot of the match was Yoshino hitting a missile dropkick and landing into a perfect senton on SHINGO. Speed Muscle seems fun, but they suffer from the usual Dragon Gate flaws. During the finish run, SHINGO wipes out his own partner with a lariat. SHINGO has been trying to hit this lariat during the finish sequence and he finally hits it and you think damn all that work and he fucked his partner over. Dragon Kid true to form is up and running around 30 seconds. Damn, burying your own partner's move. Yoshino hits the Page Turner twice on Dragon Kid to win. SHINGO was trying in his own way to make this match special with his "selling", but he just carries no gravitas with me. Fuck Dragon Kid.

What the fuck was I smoking? This match is absolutely amazing and brutal. That one Ikeda six inch jab to Ishikawa's face coming out of a rope break followed by a wicked, wicked kick to the head was batshit incredible. I stand-by complaint that this was not the best when they took it to the mat. I have definitely seen Ishikawa have better mat-based performance. The stretch run with Ishikawa's face getting destroyed and bleeding profusely from the mouth was riveting. The suplexes and then crossface chickenwing submission was just the cherry on a sundae with extra bite. ****1/2 and a pretty solid lock for Top 20.

KENTA >>> SHINGO. SHINGO is easily the worst thing about Dragon Gate matches consistently now. New Hazard would be my favorite DG team if it was not for him. Horiguchi, Hulk, and Cyber Kong would be ultimate dream DG team. You have a great character, a good flyer/seller (there are obviously a lot of these in DG, but I think Hulk is one of the better at selling) and the best power guy they got. SHINGO is supposed to be their ultimate hybrid wrestler that can do a little bit of everything that could hang with the NOAH juniors if he was to wrestle there, but also keep up in DG. If you listen to Paul E.'s shoots with Austin, he definitely envisioned RVD as ECW's sort of all-around wrestler and crown jewel. I feel that both these guys suck and part of it is that they are so watered-down because they are supposed to be good at everything when they really were not that good at anything. I thought KENTA easily outclassed SHINGO in being the "heavyweight" of the match. New Hazard (SHINGO & BXB Hulk) vs NOAH (KENTA & Ishimorii) - Dragon Gate 3/20/08 I am really disappointed that none of these matches so far have included BXB Hulk's entrance with all the dancing women. I really enjoyed getting to see Magnum Tokyo's entrance in the Kensuke Sasaki match and I was hoping to see Hulk's entrance. Hulk impresses throughout this match as he is by far the best wrestler in the match. He works well with both Ishimorii in a flyer vs flyer battle and the KENTA portion has a great bully vs. underdog vibe. SHINGO is great at throwing Ishimorri around, but keep him and KENTA away from each other. It is just mindless striking and suplexing. KENTA is just so much better at that style and has way more charisma than SHINGO. KENTA totally outclassed SHINGO in home to be the heavyweight of his team. At times, KENTA was channeling some Tenryu in how he was treating Hulk during the great face in peril. I liked how this face in peril built in drama. At first they are controlling Hulk, but before you know it they are really being dicks to him. Then as he gets his hope spots in, KENTA really starts brutalizing his face and opens him up hardway. It was really compelling. SHINGO was a pretty good hot tag, I would have loved him to throw Ishimorii down on KENTA a little sooner instead of making KENTA way like an asshat, but picking nits, because it was a great spot. Once KENTA/SHINGO get together, it gets messy. Ishimorii starts flying around to keep me entertain. This was not enough of a spotfest to salvage this so they really needed to pick up the wrestling. When Hulk tagged back in, I loved his intensity and passion. None of these lame strikes, he was going for Ishimorii and I dug it. Ishimorii rattles off a quick super hurricanarana. I would have loved them to actually transition back into another face in peril, but with more nearfalls and really ramp up tension. SHINGO kills Ishimorii with a JBL-orgasm-inducing lariat. Ishimorii is really great at these bumps. Hulk impressively whiffs on tackling KENTA to prevent the break-up. I mean he dived in opposite direction of the way KENTA was going had me laughing. ​The finish stretch is surprisingly really strong and smart. They choose end with the two big hitters: KENTA vs SHINGO. However, the underlying theme is that since they are so even that each needs their little buddy to give them a boost. First KENTA has the advantage, but a timely kick by Hulk and then a dropkick into a Back Drop Driver gives SHINGO control. As SHINGO rattles moves off, KENTA does a sweet drop down into an out of nowhere Ishimorii dropkick. It was wicked nice. Now SHINGO tries to orchestrate a double team with Hulk to regain control, but it backfires and Hulk hits (ok, grazes) SHINGO. Ishimorii takes Hulk out with a wicked corkscrew splash to the outside. KENTA polishes off SHINGO with G2S and wicked kicks to head. There were stretches that were boring and filled with inconsequential spots, but overall this was more entertaining than not and the finish stretch actually added to the match. It is incredible how many matches I am actively thinking to myself please don't fuck this match up. I like rewarding matches that finish on a high note. KENTA was perfect as the hard-hitting bully of the match. I prefer Ishimorii over every single one of DG's flyers. He is so fluid and bumps huge. Hulk was great as the face in peril and added a lot when he was featured. SHINGO is so bland, but at the end of the day KENTA smoked his ass and that made me a happy camper. ****

I just watched the Low Ki vs American Dragon Submission Match from JAPW in 2002 that Stomper posted in the Daniel Bryan and it was fucking amazing. I was in a bit groggy watching it so I need watch it more closely to do a proper review, but I really got into it after the 10 minute mark. It was really tight work, tons of great, gritty matwork and a basic, but awesome story of two different styles meshing. I came out of it wanting to see more Ki for sure. There is a great Low Ki match against AJ Styles from ROH 2002 and an even better Ki/AJ match from Zero-One in 2003. Low Ki is now very high on the list of guys I need to watch.

I want in on the Best of The Indies 2000s project. Keep me in the loop. Thanks in advance for all the hard work

New Hazard (SHINGO, BXB Hulk, Cyber Kong) vs Muscle Outlawz (Doi, Yoshino, "Chubby Rey Mysterio" vs Typhoon(Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, Yokosuka) - DG 6/5/07 Shit happened. A lot of shit happened. A perfect microcosm of this match was the first elimination where Dragon Kid accidentally elminiates his own team by pinning Yokosuka after Doi threw him in the way of hurricanarana. I could not figure out what the controversy was initially until rewound and realized he pinned his own team member. It was just plain chaos. Some Toryumon/M-Pro staples like the opening triple wrist lock spot, triple bow and arrow, everybody suplexing each other, dive trains in corner and to floor were fun. I wish Cyber Kong was given a bigger role like old Don Fuji role. In general, more comedy would have been nice. Where the hell is Horiguchi? I love how there is always a rows of chairs wipe out spot even though it seems really token. The finish stretch featured a pretty good beatdown on BXB Hulk by that "Chubby Rey Mysterio" (who was that fucker?), but ends up going nowhere. I was hoping Kong would kill that little pip squeek, Yoshino, but instead he fell prey to his speed. This was total non-stop action in a good way. I put a notch below the two other really good Toryumon/DG spotfests that include Horiguchi. ***3/4

New Hazard (SHINGO, BXB Hulk, Cyber Kong) vs Typhoon (CIMA, Ryo Saito, Susumu Yokosuka) - DG 5/10/07 You would have thought the big beef was between Hulk and CIMA since Hulk turned on CIMA to create New Hazard. Oh yeah, somebody read the Wikis on New Hazard and BXB Hulk! Ok, so just because I read the wikis does not necessarily mean there had not been a change in the storyline so I am not going to hold it against them. Plus it was clear they wanted to elevate SHINGO or at least begin to elevate SHINGO to CIMA's level. Cyber Kong is fimly my second favorte Dragon Gate wrestler after Genki Horiguchi. Kong is basically a better version of Don Fuji as the great power wrestler in these trios matches. He also has airbrushed abs and can rip a pineapple open with his bare hands then throws it at his opponents. CIMA seemed extra dickish in this match, which helped a lot like throwing a water bottle to break up a pinfall or blowing snot at his opponent as he was pinning him with one foot. SHINGO was constantly making a beeline for CIMA, which added some much needed intensity to this Dragon Gate. Hulk was a pretty good face in peril and I liked the double/triple teams. The finish run killed as a great match as there was too much flying around for the sake of flying around and no-selling. SHINGO looked ridiculous treating Yokosuka as his equal and losing a suplex struggle spot to him. Hulk kept doing this climb up his opponent's chest spot that just led him to eating a move. It was stupid and plus he no-sold a blantant ballshot. The best spot of the finish run was of course Cyber Kong yanking Saito out of a bridging suplex to do a giant swing right into CIMA. Sick spot. SHINGO no sells a bunch of shit to hit a bunch of shit on Saito. It had a lot of good stuff at the beginning and Cyber Kong is awesome. The finish run no-selling extravanganza makes it a top 100 border line pick at best. ***1/2

You totally hit the nail on the head. Don Fuji made a huge difference. Horiguchi is so amazing. He takes the match to another level with his great work. Would love to see him out of the DG setting. He is definitely my favorite DG guy. Open The Triangle Champions Do Fixer (Genki Horiguchi, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito) vs. Blood Generation (CIMA, Don Fuji, Naruki Doi) - Pro Wrestling Festival 2005 The more I watch Horiguchi, the more I think he was wasted in Dragon Gate. Now, I do not how much better he would have fared elsewhere as he is such a unique performer. I would say All Japan Juniors with their more American angle based storytelling would have done him well. He could have teamed and then feuded with fellow ex-Toryumon alum, Shuji Kondo to great results. He was probably too weird to get anything out of KENTA and New Japan Juniors just seemed non-existent since like 2002. The reason I say this is he is consistently the best wrestler in these Toryumon/Dragon Gate matches. In the Toryumon, we saw how amazing he was as the dick heel that would stooge for all the babyfaces, Now he played the great sympathetic underdog with bad back. He single-handledly took what I would say was a very good Dragon Gate match and made it best one I have seen so far. Dragon Gate is kicking ass drawing 7500 to Kobe for their first big, annual show, which was consistently doing 9,000 up until this past July. Interesting that Dragon Gate has been such a hot product up until very recently. The heels jumpstart the match and they do their standard crowd brawling opening. Once they get back in the ring, you already get the feeling that these guys won't disappoint on their big show as the spots seem bigger and crisper. CIMA blasts Saito with a foriegn object and that begins a pretty good FIP. Then when Saito gets out, Blood Generation decimates Horiguchi and his bad back. CIMA starts why stepping on his nuts and they just destroy the back. I really enjoy the Blood Generation triple teams as they look innovative and desvastating. Anytime you work a new way to get a double stomp into a match I approve. From there, they go into full Dragon Gate match mode. What helps this portion compared to last one is the spots are bigger and more innovative. They are eye-popping rather than just slams. The match elevates to another level when Horiguchi hits the home stretch. Don Fuji is also a big addition because he is their best power guy. Horiguchi and Fuji gel really well with Fuji dominating early only for CIMA to accidentally superkick Fuji. Horiguchi is able to hit his weird piledriver thingy, but it hurts his back and he can't capitalize. From there, Blood Generation destroys Horiguchi and eventually CIMA secures the victory with his shitty frogsplash. Great spotfest that Horiguchi makes into an incredible match. ****1/4

Open The Triangle Gate Champions Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi, SHINGO) vs Do Fixer (Genki Horiguchi, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito) - DG 3/6/05 Turns out it may not have been a wise decision to listen to the Austin/Nash podcast while watching this. Those two old timers out worked these guys with some hilarious exchanges over toilet paper purchasing and the historical definition of nothing. "Kevin, did you know that nothing was a slang term for pussy in Elizabethean times" - Austin "Guess that's why when your wife says what have you been up to, you say nothing" - Big Sexy for the win slam dunking that alley-oop At 25 years young, I don't feel old, but goddamnit, these guys need to slow the fuck down. You want to watch a match with too many moves, holy shit. Loved the beginning. I thought there was some good intensity and they abolsutely destroyed Dragon Kid and got a quick first fall. Also, I enjoyed the Blood Generation having a sort of musclehead gimmick. My problem was I would have loved to seen that played up more in the match. What made Toryumon fun was the mixture of a spotfest with fun character work. You take the character work out and you get a trainwreck. You know all these modified slams and splashes really are not that impressive without some story or what have you. Best part of the match hands down was the heat segment on Ryo Saito. They were working some great double/triple teams. Then I blinked and there was chaos and the babyfaces were on offense. I liked how all the finishes had one guy get targeted and blasted by everyone's finishers. Still you need either selling or character work to hold these matches together. It is fun as mindless entertainment, but really nothing that special. My recommendation listen to the Austin/Nash podcast.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Koji Kanemoto - NJPW 2/18/07 You know what this reminds me of the basic WWE upper midcarder match. There is not a lot of "downtime", but it basically just boils down to two guys running through their spots. There is no transitions, glue or hook to it. I am going hit some of my moves then you hit yours. Kanemoto was nominally on top for most of the match, but damn if Tanahashi did not sell one iota. Tanahashi never even flexed his knee once. This is the worst I have seen Tanahashi since the 2005 Dome Debacle. It also differs greatly from Tanahashi usual style of working on top whether face or heel. He works underneath for the top junior of all people. The match kicks in when Tanahashi bails on a heel hook attempt selling how that cna be instant ender even though he never sells it again. Kanemoto extends his hand only to roundhouse kick Tanahashi in the chest Sano-style. Tanahashi actually fired up pretty aggressively and convincingly. He mocks the Kanemoto facewash only to eat a dropkick. Two facewashes and some kicks to the head and we have Tanahashi selling a possible countout finish. Kanemoto one foot cover and Tanahashi gets a superman punch to turn the tide. I guess you can say this match is one-upping gloating, but there really has been no hook. Tanahashi runs through some moves only to get trapped in a heel hook. This is sold like a Kurt Angle ankle lock not a proper match-ending heel hook. Here comes the strike exchange. Tanahashi rolls out of the way on a moonsault, but still gets hit by it. He ignores that and goes up and misses High Fly Flow. Kanemoto rolls into a weird leg submission. Tanahashi basically says fuck you because he does a swining dragon sleeper. High Fly Flow->2! Kanemoto gets some random offense in just because, I guess the inside cradle was hot. Tanahashi hits a Human Capture and Dragon Suplex to win. The match was all over the place. If all you care about is action than you will probably like this match. If you like a sense of struggle, urgency, consequence, then this match leaves you wanting a lot more. It is what I like to call the standard *** WWE match and that's why it gets ***.

Yuki Ishikawa vs Alexander Otsuka - Big Mouth Loud 9/11/05 This was not as shoot-style as the competitors listed would led you to believe. Big Mouth Loud used a lot of shoot-stylists and New Japan wrestlers disillusioned with Inokism. It seemed to be closer to the 80s/90s New Japan style than to Shoot-Style. I still had trouble comparing this match to other puroresu. I think it is due to more subtle selling. They register pain, but do not actually sell the pain. It can come off like moves are inconsequential when they are not. I liked Otsuka quite a bit. He was good on the mat constantly outwrestling Ishikawa and getting him in heel hooks. He had some nasty headbutts in this match. Plus he brought out the highspots: Giant Swing, German Suplex and the best, Frakensteiner (as called by announcer) into a triangle choke. I would lose my shit if that ever happened in an MMA match. Ishikawa was his usual badass self. He worked hard and really sold the threat of Otsuka. He had some nasty, nasty punches. I loved his incorporation of throws late by converting a heel gook into a sick, sick, headrop German. Then using a sweet knockout punch into a sleeper for the win. It is an entertaining match that finishes really well, but it is definitely nowhere near Ishikawa/Ikeda or Tamura/Ito. ***

Osamu Nishimura vs Tatsumi Fujinami - MUGA 9/25/06 Two Out of three Falls Nishimura's performance in this reminded me of Sasuke's in Sasuke vs Dragon or Suzuki's in Suzuki vs Mutoh. They are all giving these out of the world great performances, but their opponents are just not up to snuff. It is interesting because Dragon, Mutoh and Fujinami had all slowed down a lot in terms of output in the middle of the decade. You could see they could still be carried by an opponent that was firing on all cylinders, but they just did not have enough gas in the tank to match their opponent. If the tone set in the first fall was maintained throughout the match then you would have a MOTDC on your hands. Nishimura starts off aggressive with European Uppercuts that would make Dory Funk Jr. proud. Fujinami seems a bit taken aback, but is able to use the aggression against him and snap off a Dragon Leg Screw. He goes for the Figure-4, but an inside cradle nabs the first fall for Nishimura. It only lasted under a minute, but it was an incredible fall. The second fall they get a little too cute for me. They seem more keen on showing off. Instead of flips, it is bridge outs and double wristlock takedowns. An exhibition is an exhibition. Fujinami rides high on a leg lace and gets caught in a short arm scissors. Nishimura applies a cross-armbreaker. The New Japan timekeeper has the hammer raised in case there was a submission and I agree with him. If you respect the cross-armbreaker, I respect you. I do NOT respect you, Mr. Fujinami. Of course, I am being facetious, but it is my number one pet peeve when wrestlers treat the cross armbreaker like a headlock. It is at best them not keeping up with the times and at worst being ignorant and lazy. Yes, I thought Fujinami's performance was lazy at times. This match is the ultimate missing the forest for the trees match. You have Fujinami doing great little things like lunging for the ropes with his feet, but not selling his arm. Or Nishimura working the injured finger of Fujinami while in a cross armbreaker, but why does it matter because Fujinami has killed the viability of the cross armbreaker as a finish. To be fair to Fujinami, Nishimura did bridge out of a cross-armbreaker, which is pretty ludicrous. Basically this match took a big shit on the cross armbreaker. Now, once the match moved from Nishimura on offense to Fujinami on offense the match got a million times better. Just like the Sasuke match, Dragon was not interested in selling and neither was Fujinami. However, put them on top and have the wrestler who wants to work on bottom and you got magic. Fujinami goes after Nishimura's knee with a swift low kicks like Inoki in Inoki/Ali. Nishimura bails. Fujinami targets the knee, but Nishimura in desperation goes for Fujnami's knee with a spinning toe hold, shades of Dory Funk Jr, BABY! Fujinami kicks him off and a figure-4 knots it all up. What I love about Nishimura matches, is you understand how this can be a double edged sword. Yes, you are getting time to walk it off and break up your opponent's momentum, but you are giving him the high ground. With the high ground, the opponent can dictate the match and make it very difficult for you to get back into the ring. I used to say that Akira Taue was the undisputed king of working the apron, but damn if I see more Nishimura that could change. Nishimura rocks Fujinami with a European Uppercut and crashes burns with a bombs away knee drop. What a dumbshit! He blocks the figure-4 and is able to bail. Nishimura is fed up with all this bullshit on the apron and says you want my knee you can have it, but you will not have ME, FUJINAMI! Fujinami attacks the knee and pulls him into the ring. He applies the sleeper to sap that last bit of fight out of him. Fujinami applies the figure-4 and just when you think he has it, Nishimura reverses the pressure and Fujinami has not alternative, but to submit. This is pretty much on par with the Saito match. Saito does not feel as much of a threat as Fujinami even though he wins the match so this match had more in terms of drama. Saito works a lot harder than Fujinami, who only seemed interested in being on offense. Nishimura gives two tremendous performances within two months of each other. We need more Nishimura footage. The finish is a lot hotter in this one and that is usually my tiebreaker so I have this one edging out the Saito match. ****

Osamu Nishimura vs Hiro Saito - MUGA 08/02/06 One complaint I think you can't levy at Japan as a whole in the 2000s is a lack of variety. Yes, the NOAH style was dominant in terms of getting the most praise, but that bombastic style was limited only to NOAH. You had the American/puroresu style of All Japan, the more mat & strike based style of New Japan (Inokism or Strong Style), the lucha/comedy hybird of Dragon Gate, shoot-style promotions and to add to the list we have MUGA. MUGA was headed up by New Japan legend Tatsumi Fujinami to turn the clock back to late 70s and early 80s when men were men and European Uppercuts and Spinning Toeholds were the end all be all of wrestling. I wish we got more of it during this project. Hiro Saito is built much like the more famous Masa Saito (no relation), but maybe a bit shorter. He was a junior heavyweight for New Japan and All Japan in the 80s and 90s before the junior heavyweight boom led by Liger. At this point, Im hard pressed to believe he would meet the weight limit bu then again Shuji Kondo was able to, but I think he is a pretty short dude. Nishimura is someone I enjoy, but has yet to blow me away in any match. In fact, my favorite match may have been the random match with Al Snow I watched from ECW Hardcore TV in January of 95 the other night. Rest assured, Nishimura finally knocked one out of the park with Saito in this match. Nishimura shows up Saito a bit early and Saito gets a bit peeved and starts throwing furniture around. Saito is the more powerful of the two and is able to cinch in an armbrar and transform it into an All Japan surfboard spot. Nishimura gets a big pop for reversing it. Nishimura works a headlock like he is Lou Thesz. The face I can accurately say that is why the Chicago Film Archive has to be commended for doing God's work. Nishimura grabs a sleeper, but Saito hits a jawbreaker. The selling from Nishimura is amazing as he writes in pain. Saito hits his famous senton (according to Wiki, he invented that move). Nishimura bails to the outside for a breather. They work an amazing king of the mountain sequence where Saito keeps find new ways to snap Nishimura's throat across the ropes. It was amazingly compelling wrestling. Nishimura needed to break up the momentum of Saito, but is now paying the price. They do a great ab stretch hope spot, but Saito wins. He goes for the coup d'grace in the form of a piledriver, but Nishimura counters. They do the bridge/backslide counter. Nishmura dumps Saito outside who jams his knee. On two separate occasions, Nishimura whiffs on a knee drop to the outside, but they sell a countout finish anyways. Saito gives Flair a run for his money in terms of great verbal selling and really making this credible. Nishimura has to stand Saito up just kick his leg out from under his leg. Nishimura actually misses the knee drop this time. Saito hits two bridging Germans and is able to hold him down on the second. He couldn't stand, but he could bridge. I don't know about that one. The selling was off the charts in this one. Nishimura trying to fight just to get back into the ring was very compelling. Saito's selling of the knee was so great that it make sthe finish all that much more curious. ****

He laughs because he hurts. He laughs because he hurts.

The Sandman Texas Death Match from Double Tables is one of the most disturbing and unprofessional things I have ever seen. It would be one thing if Mick apologized for the match and basically said you should not watch this because what I did was wrong. Instead, he puts it on his DVD and sells at some sort of clusterfuck. O and look for when I get frustrated because I cannot keep the dumbfuck down because he was knocked out. Gawf. Gawf. Hey Mick, you fucking moron, why was he knocked out? Did it have anything to do with the fact you hit really fucking hard in the head with a frying pan? Then dipshit while he is wandering aimlessly you have to set up spots yourself to basically put yourself in a position of vulnerability and never occurs to you something is really wrong with him. Of course not! So you proceed to hit really hard in the head with the Singapore Cane and then hurl a chair at his head so it collars him. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, ASSHOLE!!!! I will probably still vote for Mick, but that was fucking disgusting. I just need a place to vent.

Watch the Falls Count Anywhere match that precedes this promo. Woman in a hot, green leather dress, Sandman selling his ass off, Cactus Jack hand psychology, Amazing Transition after amazing transition. Then the post-match angle where they try to blind Cactus with a lit cigarette. Kickass ECW brawl! Watch it!

Cactus Jack vs Sandman w/Woman - ECW TV Falls Count Anywhere 1/31/95 Was not even going to bother with this match because I had seen a couple Cactus/Sandman matches and they always sucked. I thought I was just making the right choice because Woman in that tight green, leather dress was double hot. What a total fox! Then lo and behold, these two maniacs went out and kicked some serious ass. Cactus meets Sandman up the aisle with a trash can and just brutalizes Sandman. Sandman was really good at selling a beating throughout the match. Woman starts caning Cactus and finally Sandman takes over (Awesome transition #1). He does a really good job building heat. He hits a nice top rope leg drop. There is no overkill, he is still working through his own beating. Cactus is able to mount a comeback while Sandman is on the top rope (Awesome Transition #2). Cactus is rolling until he punches a trash can that Sandman holds up at the last second. (Have Mercy! Awesome Transition #3) Cactus blades his hand. Nastiest paper cut ever, folks! Sandman stomps the hand and works a great heat segment around it smashing the hand with the garbage can. Sandman is stumbling around and is so good at working through his beating. DELAYED PILEDRIVER ON THE GARBAGE CAN! My slight complaint is that Jack was fine at selling the hand, but would be a bit too quick to pop back up in general. Sandman goes for the kill, but goes flying over the top rope onto the floor. (Awwww shit, you all just love me, Awesome Transition #4) Cactus is able to get the Cactus Elbow for the three. Woman starts caning Cactus. Jack does intimidating the woman routine, but this allows Sandman to attack. Sandman canes the shit out of Cactus. Sandman lights a cigarette and then tries to BLIND CACTUS!!! Mikey Whipwreck with the save to a huge Mikey chant. Sandman/Woman cut a decent promo. Sandman has a Woman t-shirt that I need to own. Cactus cuts a money promo (which made the yearbook) that makes me want to see the Texas Death Match even though I have seen it before and didn't like it. Great, great ECW brawl with really smart transitions and great selling by Sandman. ***1/2

AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs AKIRA - AJPW 1/8/06 AKIRA brings out a scale with him to have Kondo weighed before the match. Automatic *****! I actually like how Americanized All Japan was in this period. It was really different than New Japan and NOAH. This is a match that may benefit from watching it in 2014 instead of 2006. I may have been sick of liberal outside interference in 2006, but in 2014 it is pretty fresh (i don't watch 2014 New Japan so the Bullet Club is not something I see). I thought it was a nice little device in this match. Another thing I love about All Japan is they have video packages before their matches reviewing the angles. Awesome, now I know this is going to be hot and heavy instead of a championship style match. Kondo was really into dueling limb work, but blowing off the arm selling when necessary in 2006 & 2007. I do enjoy him as a junior powerhouse, but we did not get to see much of that. AKIRA was really fun in this, but it does not reach the level of the Kanemoto or Minoru Tanaka matches. The match starts off with some decent amateur wrestling, but could be hotter given what I saw in video package. Kondo lariats the post. So we expect AKIRA to exploit this and remove this weapon. All Japan was really into selling an injury, but then doing a move anyway. I still can't figure out how I feel about that versus outright no-selling. AKIRA misses a kick and his foot gets in ropes and BOOM chair shot to the knee by who I assume is Brother YASSHI, but I could be wrong. The knee work is solid and I love the fact Kondo uses the outside to great effect and throws AKIRA into his buddies. Kondo stupidly sets AKIRA up for a superplex. I hate that why would you give someone the high ground. AKIRA snaps the arm over the top rope. AKIRA works the arm and YASSHI gets nervous climbs on the apron, but brains Kondo with the briefcase. AKIRA climbs to the top and SPLASH! But only two. Kondo abruptly puts Akira in an inverted Texas Cloverleaf. Could have used a better transition there. Then the outright interference happens after a ref bump, but AKIRA's buddies chase off YASSHI. Kondo still hits a superplex. The finish run was concise and mostly well-done. AKIRA gets his hope nearfalls, a nasty German and backslide. Then Kondo hits two wicked lariats to win. This a fun, breezy 15 minute match. It is entertaining and easy to digest, which I appreciate. Are there flaws, yeah, but it is a fun way to spend 15 minutes. ***