dawho5
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Everything posted by dawho5
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Starts out as a brawl, which is really good. These two beating the tar out of one another is a lot of fun. Then we get to the finishing sequence and Koji goes right for an anklelock, which is fine despite the lack of legwork. Hayato sells the leg as Koji kicks it out from under him. Then Koji....goes up top for a rolling senton. And follows with his falcon arrow thingy. I have started to dread Kanemoto finishing runs, because he seems to always get his shit (the moves above, moonsault which thankfully was not here, tiger suplex which was, but hayato had a brilliant kickout on it) in regardless of what has happened earlier in the match and what the finish is. Hayato gets some finishers in after a painfully obvious setup (Koji going for another boot scrape off the ropes after already doing it). Koji hits the great tiger suplex spot, but Hayato goes back on offense and eventually re-tries a ground head kick sequence, which has to mean...yep, anklelock. And this time with all kinds of extra twisting and hurtiness. That's the end, but if that was always going to be the end why did Koji go back to the non-leg stuff besides bad habit? Legwork with a few big things in between would have set up that finish so much better. It's good enough to make the bottom of my ballot, but that finishing sequence hurts it a lot. -
Champion's Carnival seemed to me like it was just a gimmicked way to set up challengers for the TC in the 90s. Also, it tended to shake up the way matches were wrestled because it was a 30 minute time limit rather than a 60 (same with RWTL, but as you mentioned it was more important). I always looked at CC as a nice break from all the excessive stuff in the late 90s and go back to a better wrestling style. As far as why it was stopped in 82, I've got no idea.
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This wasn't as good as the February match pitting Saito against Mochizuki. It had a similar weakness, Saito not selling the arm in place of Mochizuki not selling the leg. Milano's stuff is so varied, he has some strange submissions that tie Saito in a knot, a few of which are a bit too convoluted. Especially since he's really good at simple stuff like a shoulder armbreaker or the armbar variant where he tries to pull Saito's shoulder out of it's socket instead. His strikes are really weak too. I don't mind his aerial stuff, but when you put it everything he does in the match together it's hard to see what he was even trying to do besides hit a bunch of cool looking nearfalls and submissions. At the very least Mochizuki had some kind of focus to where he was striking that led to his finishers. Saito almost completely no-selling the arm was really disappointing. I want to like him as a wrestler, but stuff like that is hard for me to get around.
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I was thinking that Nakamura had some similarities to Ohtani when I watched them wrestle each other. He's bigger and more shooty, but there's something there that made me think Ohtani was wrestling a bigger version of his younger self. I don't think Nakamura is as openly emotive or works the crowd as much though. As far as Tanahashi goes, there's a lot I like about him. Yeah, his opening match stuff and strikes are really weak. And I wouldn't go so far as to put him on the level of a Flair or Misawa, but he's got a formula and it usually works with pretty much everyone and produces acceptable to good matches most of the time. The legwork grew on me when I noticed how he used it late to stay on offense after somebody got the knees up on a frog splash. Reminded me a little of the Kawada armwork that led to the opponent being unable to follow up after a jumping high kick. I do wish he'd work over the ribs a bit more in anticipation of the high fly flow though.
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I tend to put that kind of stuff away during wrestling matches as far as "could it happen?" sort of things. Execution is important, but you can't get too detail oriented on a lot of stuff or it ruins it. An example: I was watching the Hayato vs. Kenou match from December 2009 earlier. During their faux-kickboxing I noticed very clearly that Hayato has not done a lot of sparring involving anybody even halfways throwing their kicks. If he had, he'd know that reaching for those incoming kicks without making a tight fist is a good way to at the very least get jammed fingers (if not broken ones, depending on how hard they are kicking). Shin vs. finger, you do the match. So I tend to put away all "that's not how you do that" or "that's not possible" things because it's just gonna kill it for me. Another example: Nakajima likes to do this kick where he turns a roundhouse completely vertical onto the back of a guy's head or neck. I notice watching it that it barely touches the guy, which is a good thing, because if there was any steam on it at all, that's big trouble for the guy taking it. If a guy trained to kick hits you with a vertical angled roundhouse, that's gonna have all kinds of force to it. There are certainly spots that annoy me to no end, but it's not for lack of realism.
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This was really good. Nakamura comes in as the champ and has to defend against outsider (but former NJPW guy) Ohtani. They work a nice legwork sequence that ultimately means nothing. Nakamura goes to the arm as well as beating the crap out of Ohtani with knees to the body. Then they turn normal psychology on it's head and end up making Ohtani the face with Nakamura being the dickish heel. Crowd squarely in Ohtani's corner, he makes a fiery comeback that is really fun to watch. The finishing run is not overdone, but one spot in it loses me and I hate that. Ohtani wants a superplex and has to get up off the mat after being elbowed off the top 3 times to get it. big slap and some Ohtani elbows finally net him the superplex! And he pops up immediately for the pin. I get that was supposed to be a big nearfall, but sell what you had to do to get it at least for a little bit. This should show up somehwre on the lower half of my ballot, but that superplex spot really kills the match for me.
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Lots more filler than their September match. I don't think it's much longer, but it feels quite a bit longer due to the meaningless legwork and nearfalls. September match gets a vote, this does not.
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This is another Misawa tribute match and I really loved it. It's not something I'd vote for as MOTD, but this match was all kinds of nostalgic awesome for me. The Holy Demon Army rides again! Akiyama is here! Kobashi is at the announce table! Kyohei Wada is the ref!!!!! (As an aside...KYOHEI!!!!!) And...KENTA is here? Kawada and Taue are both looking very emotional during intros. They are over like mad though. KENTA slaps the emotion right out of Kawada on a rope break, then does some step kicks just to piss off Kawada. Kawada gives KENTA a lot early with no payoff, but that's coming, we all know it. Akiyama and Kawada have one of those absolutely brilliant AJPW style strike exchanges. KENTA gets on the wrong side of the dickish submissions that Taue and Kawada made famous (and the crowd eats it up). Akiyama and KENTA play the dickish heels that Kawada and Taue did in AJPW, but in a more 2000s way. Taue and Kawada take their lumps, but you know they've got a big comeback in them. Taue finally tags to Kawada after a few KENTA attacks sent Kawada's way while he was building heat on Taue. Kawada unloads on KENTA and the crowd is really starting to warm up. Taue hits a tigerdriver on KENTA! They work to a big tease of the nodowa/backdrop (!!), but Akiyama isn't having it. Kawada powerbombs KENTA INTO Akiyama to get him out of the ring. Double team and KENTA kicks out! Taue hits the backdrop nodowa for the 3 count! Post-match, Kawada, Taue and Kobashi at the announce table are very emotional. I read a post on here today that talked about wrestling becoming more physical than emotional. I don't disagree, but this match turns the clock back on that. The whole match was built around KENTA aggressively invoking the wrath of Kawada and Taue, having it sort of paid off, then Taue taking a beating at the hands of KENTA and Akiyama. The comeback and finish were so great as the final chapter to a very emotionally driven story. This match has it's flaws. Taue tends to overuse that running corner kick, and Akiyama seems like he is just there to throw the occasional knee or suplex after his initial run-in with Kawada. Taue in general looks really broken down, but man, he comes up huge in the finishing run. I think this is my favorite NOAH match ever. I know it's probably not the best NOAH match, but I don't care. Edit: On second thought, fuck that. This is gonna be somewhere on my ballot above 50. Where I'm not sure, but this match transcends the in-ring work (which is very good in most spots) for me. I'm not saying it's more than a wrestling match, just some wrestling matches have a certain feel about them that you can't ignore. And for me this is one of them.
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This...well, let's say every other Tanahashi match I've seen is better. New Japan head referee is useless as ever as Tanaka's second continually interferes or draws him away, allowing Tanaka to use a kendo stick. Tanaka is all over the place as usual. They try to work Tanaahashi as underdog due to all the interference and cheating, but it really doesn't play for me.
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This was a nice tribute match to Misawa featuring two of his protégés, Ogawa and Suzuki. Both Ogawa and Tenryu do great chickenshit heel routines early. Ogawa, Suzuki and Tenryu do Ogawa/Misawa double teams to Nakajima to big responses. Suzuki and Morishima both hit signature Misawa high flying spots. Tenryu and Sasaki have oen of those long, annoying pissing contests. This was somewhat less so given Tenryu's selling, the crowd getting 100% behind Tenryu and Tenryu finally knocking Sasaki down with a chop only to find himself exhausted. It actually feels like something was accomplished on this one, even if it went too long. Suzuki gets a nice little Misawa-style run at the end, but we all know which team is winning this match. This probably won't get a vote, but it's a really fun, touching match in honor of a great pro wrestler.
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Gonna focus on only good things for this one. KAI and Yamato have some good late match offense. And some nice double teams. Ito gets to prove himself capable of dealing with both, which seems big. It seems like Kojima has added one big spot to his arsenal that isn't one of those nifty indy-typs spots, which is cool. Also, he hits a ridiculously stiff lariat. And Kobashi and Kikuchi have some fun double teams that use Kikuchi's hard head to their advantage.
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This was a really, really good match from start to finish. They do some worked kickboxing that morphs into pro wrestling. Kobushi does some excellent work on Hayato's ribs. Hayato repays that when he gets back on offense. The finishing sequence is very similar to the early match, simple stuff, lots of striking, mostly slow-paced with occasional bursts. I thought it was just a little long given the last few kickouts, but given that Hayato's last two matches I've watched were at least 5 minutes longer this was an improvement. The finish having nothing to do with the rib work was disappointing, but it wasn't a bad finish. Should be somewhere on the lower half of my ballot.
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So Takayama has moments in this match where he just looks old and broken down. I mean to the point where he shouldn't be in a match this long. One spot has him taking a belly to belly off the top wrong and landing halfway on his head. That being said, when he needs to come through with something big, Takayama fucking delivers. Some of his stuff doesn't have the steam it used to, but he has this way of making suplexes and knees look so damn impactful. Suwama is definitely game and brings some stiff offense himself. Opening has Suwama in control, but soon Takayama is building heat like it's 2002. Finishing run goes on too long with too many big nearfalls. But you know what, it is well-worked and holy shit kinds of brutal. The actual finish itself and the stuff leading up to it hurt me watching. Takayama busting himself open with a ridiculously stiff (yes, one) headbutt is so very awesome. Despite it's flaws, this match is going to be between 50 and 60 most likely.
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After watching their match from a few years earlier I skipped this one for a long time. But this actually was a great wrestling match for the first 22-23 minutes. Kawada controls the first 15 or so minutes and lays a ruthless beatdown on Kojima. It's always simple stuff, but very effective. Kojima gets enough hope spots to look like he has a chance to come back, but that's it. Kojima's big comeback starts with his Ace crusher variation, which makes sense given the kind of damage he's taken. Kawada keeps cutting Kojima off at just the right time to build drama, while Kojima's comebacks come right at the point when you think Kawada finally has him. Then the actual finish hits. I think 5 or 6 lariats by Kojima in succession with various reactions by Kawada. Boo. Going into that bad finish this was looking to be top 20. I'll settle for giving it 80-90 instead.
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I think this conversation is venturing into one of those political hot points that we seem to try to avoid here.
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I would agree that it outdoes 99.9% of the wrestling I have seen as far as stiffness. By a long, long way. I think part of the reason I loved it was that I had just watched a few of those "epic" main event style matches right before it. In context of 2000s Japanese wrestling, I think the shorter, more to the point matches have the effect of making them seem a little better than they are in comparison to the 30+ minute "this is a title match so we have to make this epic" matches.
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This match is not as good as the earlier one in 2009. This is much more of a forced epic. That aside, Tanahashi working from underneath against a power guy like Nakanishi is far more inspiring than him working as an equal (as in the earlier match). The Tanahashi performance here is very good. Nakanishi no-sells the leg worse than the last match. Most of his late match offense is good, but I still think that if Tanahashi's early offense is almost allaaimed at your leg, you ought to act like it. I will say that Nakanishi's torture rack makes me long to see Luger put one on somebody.
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This was a little disappointing. Shiozaki is great when he's in there with Nakajima, but once he's across from Sasaki he forgets how to sell 90% of the time and gets in a long Kobashi-esque pissing contest. KENTA tends to get way too prideful against Sasaki as well. Why Sasaki was willing to give up as much as he did to KENTA I'm not sure. Finish isn't completely overdone, but goes longer than it ought to. I'm starting to see where 2010 and beyond would be a hard thing to watch.
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Disturbing in what way? I can see the level of violence involved being too much for somebody. Them just punching each other in the face for 18 minutes had me wondering how they were doing that and still putting that much energy into things. Having taken more than a few punches to the face in a sparring setting over the course of about 90 minutes, I can tell you that it wears you down really fast.
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First 20-25 minutes had so much promise. KENTA gets the best of the early going, but you can see that it's a war of attrition that he's going to eventualy lose. And he does, with Akiyama bringing his great, focused offense and KENTA playing an excellent face-in-peril. KENTA's comebacks are short and bursty, with Akiyama continually going back to the neck to being us to the finishing sequence. First part is great, with KENTA having to fight through Akiyama's lower end big offense to hit his own. Crowd isn't buying into KENTA's chances at this point, but there isn't any reason they should. Akiyama hits a super nasty backdrop off the top that KENTA kicks out of to...claps. I think that's the sign that you've conditioned your fans to look for way too many big nearfalls. More Akiyama nearfalls past the point of reason, then we get to the big KENTA teases, which work well enough, and finally the Akiyama lead-up to the sternness dust thingamabob. This match will probably get a vote for how great the first part was. I just wish NOAH hadn't been so obver the top with their finishes for so many years that it became necessary to tack them on to matches like this.
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Here's something I never would have guessed. Tanahashi is one of the more consistent wrestlers in the late 2000s as far as cranking out good matches and good performances. They stick to the Tanahashi formula, which is more than a little odd given Tanahashi is the face here. Tanahashi is at a clear disadvantage power wise, but he catches the bigger guy getting into the ring and starts working over the leg. Nakanishi doesn't sell the leg near enough as the match progresses. Everything else is solid though. Tanahashi gets beaten down by the power of Nakanishi, has to go back to the leg. Nakanishi gets in a few big man agility spots. Finishing run is well-done as they don't go too big on the nearfalls, work is done in between, it makes sense with the erst of the match and it ends when it should. This probably gets a vote.
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This match went about as well as it could. This was the Shiozaki show and I was loving it. Opening leads to Sasaki and Morishima getting heat on Shiozaki. Problem with having Sasaki team with Morishima is that when they do the same things it's easy to see how much better Sasaki does them than Morishima despite being smaller. The eventual comeback happens and Misawa helps where it is needed but mostly lets Shiozaki do the work. Shiozaki's strikes late leave something to be desired. Morishima's late match offense is big as always. Finish is well-worked, only a few non-breakup kickouts of big moves. Shiozaki is really, really big in this match. This probably makes my bottom quarter.