dawho5
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Everything posted by dawho5
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There's good and bad here. Shiozaki vs. Nakajima is lots of fun. It's pretty clear they both have lots of work to do before being great wrestlers, but they put together some solid exchanges early and late. Sasaki is actually pretty damn good in this match. He's not overbearing like a certain other heavyweight that's in this match. He even gives Shiozaki some decent hope spots when they are in the ring together. Kobashi vs. Sasaki very often ends up as an awful chopfest that I fast-forwarded through. More than once. Finish is pretty good, Shiozaki looks like a million bucks coming out of it. Not getting a vote, but worth watching for the non-Kobashi stuff. -
This was a throwaway watch for me. Liking a lot of these NOAH matches vs. people from other companies, so I thought I'd give this a try. The length threw me at first and I really thought I was in for an unhappy 30+ minutes. OH BOY was I wrong. First and foremost, the crowd is so very behind Fujita and Hidaka. To the point where they boo KENTAfuji. Second, KENTA and Marufuji eat that shit up and make sure they play to it. I had a quibble with some of the flippy shit between Hidaka and Marufuji early (and late), as well as Fujita taking over from some good Hidaka legwork on KENTA and ignoring the leg. But then Fujita's heat segment starts and I forget all about that because this shit is off the charts awesome. Marufuji works really simple through the whole thing. I know, seems highly unlikely. He hits this great DDT on the ramp, then proceeds to face Fujita at some of the crowd and puts on a camel clutch. As if to say, "Take a look at your boy now." Marufuji heeling it up >>>>>>> Marufuji otherwise. KENTA gets in on the act, hitting some boot scrapes and then playing to the crowd really nicely. Finishing run is really good, Marufuji's overly flippy stuff gets countered a lot. Hidaka still goes a bit too far with it, but most matches have flaws. I wish KENTA would sell the leg a bit too. They do good setup work between falls, end is super hot and this is probably top 30. Edit: Forgot to mention the great figure four Hidaka works on KENTA. Really well done.
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The one vs. Ikeda will give you a feel for how Honda works. Also, it's very close to Battlarts style, surprising for NOAH.
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This is a comedy match, but there are a few reasons it beats out most NOAH main event style matches for me. For one, when Marufuji's not on offense, they keep it SIMPLE. Secondly, both teams have some good heel moments during the match, which makes it kind of fun. Marufuji as Akiyama's plaything is kind of fun, especially the back body drop. Suzuki and Koshinaka interact really well. Suzuki is great at facial expressions and small heelish things thrown in seemingly on a whim. I can easily see this making somewhere in the 75-100 range.
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This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?
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Seeing the alternate CIMA and Fuji performances (completely different wrestling styles), I'm more than a little unhappy that CIMA chose the direction he did with his wrestling style. This was a mostly fun match with some WTF-inducing stuff in the middle. The Italian Connection triple corner stuff in the 6-sided ring was well done. Won't be getting a vote, but interesting to say the least.
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This match is all about KENTA vs. Suguira. Suguira is okay in this, but he still seems really, really limited. Marvin and Kanemaru are perfect opponents because they like to jump and flip and do all kinds of intricate shit. That's not saying it's anything good but they match anyway. And Misawa vs. Kobashi has gotten pretty damn tired, especially with Kobashi in 100% SPIRIT mode and lazy Misawa. There's some fun interaction between Misawa/Kobashi and the youngsters, but this won't be getting a vote.
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One of two things needed to happen for this to be more than good. Saito needed to not work over the legs or Mochizuki needed to act like somebody had worked over his legs. His offense is 90% kicks, so maybe the former. Saito impressed me again with his performance here. Mochizuki throws nice kicks for sure and hits a massive dive. Saito teasing the dragon suplex over and over works really well when it comes out. Finish is pretty well-worked, maybe a bit rushed. I'd put it in the 50 range.
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SUWA heels it from the pre-match, ripping up the paper that the old guy reads off of pre-match. That actually plays into the match, with KENTA getting the elderly (I'm assuming former pro wrestler himself) gentleman to the point where he gets up out of his chair and starts taking off his jacket like HE is gonna fight SUWA. KENTA can't get anything going because SUWA is such a dick heel he has a cheapshot answer to everything. So when he does it's freaking huge. Nearfall sequence is really intelligently worked. Somebody laid this out nice for them and it's pretty easily a top 20 match.
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Lots of good stuff early. Great strike exchange. Misawa being the aggressor is a fresh way to present this. Then somewhere along the way it derails and becomes a standard NOAH finishing run with Kawada and Misawa. They should have done something more off the norm of how NOAH worked for these two, but instead they seem to have just fallen back on formula.
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Kenta Kobashi is the king of overlong, overdone entrance sequences. Greta knucklelock sequence. Sasaki actually makes this match watchable during the opening part. He goes all junior on Kobashi, which is pretty fun even if it looks like Sasaki's gonna kill himself doing it. Maybe that's part of the fun. Then they go into a 5 minute chop sequence. Okay, maybe it's 3:30 to 4 minutes. But it feels like 10. Anyway, once they get back to the match it gets fun again. Kobashi does this amazing struggle against a tiger suplex that ultimately fails. Then they trade bombs until the 3. Some of this was fun and I'm glad I watched it. But it won't be getting a vote.
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This is the follow-up to the other Akiyama/Tenryu tag and it delivers on a lot of levels. Instead of Go Shiozaki as Kobashi's partner, this time we get Taue!! And he brings this great energy to the match. Really the only weak stuff here was Kobashi overdoing things a few times. Tenryu and Akiyama were pitch perfect with the heeling it up. Taue was 100% ready to avenge even the slightest wrong, begging to tag in several times and very clearly asking Kobashi at one point if he could stay in there and mess Tenryu up for him. The finish is off the charts good. This is a top 30 or 40 match for sure.
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Early heel stuff by Ohtani was gold. Early reactions and ass-kickery by Misawa also gold. The heat segment on Suzuki was well-done. Then Misawa comes in and the match loses me. There was enough good stuff to be a fun one time watch. The finishing run with them teasing a Misawa-assisted Suzuki upset (a la Kobashi/Akiyama) was not too bad.
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Fun 6 man, but not great. Shingo seems like "generic power-style heel" in both 2005 matches I've seen him in. Magnitude isn't great, but at least he has some spots that go outside of one-dimensional. Yokosuka is another DG guy I like a lot. Really well-rounded. Lots of double teams and triple teams throughout for those who like that kind of stuff. Yokosuka's leg getting worked over was a fun FIP.
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Some really fun Tenryu/Kobashi interaction here. Kobashi gets a bit overzealous at times but it's mostly really, really good. Akiyama bringing out Revolution 2005 shirts makes me mark out (and want one). Tenryu beating up on Shiozaki is loads of fun. Kobashi steals a lot of the spotlight meant for Shiozaki here, which makes me a little unhappy. Will probably make the bottom quarter or a little above.
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This was better than the other Do Fixer vs. Blood Generation for a few reasons. First is, the useless power guy was replaced by Don Fuji, who is passable. Second reason is Genki Horiguchi seemingly came in with a bad back, which BG works over pretty well. Horiguchi does a great job as FIP for that segment and puts in some excellent work during the finishing sequence as well. The more I see of Ryo Saito the more I like watching him. He's got his flashy stuff, but he's got a good base of Japanese style suplexes that make him more than just another Toryumon/DG high flier/fast rope-runner. Same goes for Nauruki Doi. He's really athletic, but seems more strike and power based on offense. I can do without the overdoing of CIMA-led triple teams. Especially the ones that inlvove wrestlers not in the match. The finishing sequence starts out with a bunch of triple teams by both sides, but actually coalesces into a well-wrestled, hot finishing run. Horiguchi looks to be getting his comeuppance on BG before he gets overrun and put away with a mad splash (which makes all kinds of sense given the way the match played out). I'd give it right around 50 or so.
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Yeah, that Kobashi/Ogawa match is pretty great. We even get to see the good Kobashi come out of hiding.
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Really fun brawl. Akiyama tossing chairs at Shibata several times is all kinds of great. Not sure if Akiyama was legit pissed or just acting it very, very well. Then again, I don't think Akiyama has the acting chops to pull it off, so he was pissed. Some of those running knees were just vicious. Finishing run wasn't exactly gold, but I have this sneaking suspicion that there was not 100% cooperation going on in this match. I'll give it points for being a chaotic brawl that you just have no idea what's coming next, and you have to wonder if the wrestlers in the ring might have felt the same way at times.
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This was great stuff by BOTH Kobashi and Ogawa. It's weird and fun to see flashes of the early to mid-90s Kobashi. He busts out staples like the rolling death cradle and the jackknife powerbomb. He works between nearfalls! Ogawa has this great sequence towards the middle where he slaps Kobashi in a taunting way as he's getting up. It's like he's lost the focus that got him this far and let his cockiness take over. Then Kobashi comes roaring back and Ogawa shoves him into the ref. Ogawa doesn't realize it at first, but once he does he takes full advantage with the ring bell. Ogawa's cutoff rollups are well-placed and the finishing run is really well-done. The match ends exactly when it should instead of going into pointless nearfalls. I'd say this is top 20 material.
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I tend to use "get over" or just "over" a lot more than I used to.
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I would agree on NWA World Title being the most prestigious. Being the All japan-ophile that I am I would put the Triple Crown right behind it.
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So at what point did puroresu entrances become longer and flashier than the WWE entrances that inspired them? Some of them are ridiculous to the point of disbelief.
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You know, the first 20-25 minutes of this were top 20 caliber. It looks pretty even, then Jado and Gedo start going to town on Inoue. They do just the right amount of heel tactics, beatdown and being cocky for it to be really, really entertaining. I loved when Jado smeared some of Inoue's blood (he bled a lot) on his chest and walked over towards Koji just to rub it in. Then, just as this part of the match is getting stale, Koji comes in, cleans house and drags Inoue most of the way back to the corner. Wouldn't you know it, though, Koji gets knocked off the apron just in time. Not big on the move Inoue uses to finally get the hot tag (CROWD!!!). Koji comes in and dishes out his offense while selling the earlier beating he took. Then we go to the finishing sequence and things really get bogged down. Jado doing his crossface thingy about 6 times really doesn't help matters. A lot of it is good, with the chaos and selling like they are dead that should be there. Finish is good given the story of the match, but I really wish they had built a little better to it instead of Jado doing a bunch of crossfaces. I can see this in between 50 and 75. Inoue was all kinds of incredible in this. I'd watch this again just for his heat segment and the parts of the finishing run he was involved in. Jado/gedo were awesome up until the ending sequence. Koji did a good job of staying out of the match and letting the other guys have the spotlight when he wasn't needed. I kinda wish he'd been a little more visible towards the end though.
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Well, it was. Didn't they get rid of those belts and replace them in the early 2000s? Or do they still call them by the same names, just with different visual belts?