dawho5
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Everything posted by dawho5
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You know what this match had that most NOAH matches do not? Build between the big nearfalls. First big nearfall is the Dynamic Bomb after the apron backdrop nodowa. But Taue just doesn't get to go straight to the nodowa. For one, it puts over the idea that that nodowa could have won the match if he had gotten it. This is important in establishing somebody as a threat. Secondly, it lets the crowd build tension again. They go back and forth a bit, it looks like Kobashi may have something, but he tries the moonsault too early and misses. NODOWA! BACKDROP NODOWA! NEARFALL! Bigger than the first one because there was build in between. Because you thought, "Kobashi is coming back!" Then they go through more build with another Kobashi tease, but lesser as he just got killed. SUPLEX NODOWA!! HOW THE FUCK? HE KICKED OUT!! This is why Akira Taue is an amazing wrestler. Not because he has the best moves or the most athleticism. But because he knows how to build a match to get the most out of everything. The top rope splash out of pure desperation, just looking for ways to put Kobashi away, was great. Oh, this must be the Kobashi comeback. He's got that brainbuster he's been using hooke-wait, Taue rolled him up? No way, this could- NO! How often can Taue cut off Kobashi? Kobashi hits a big half nelson (used properly for maybe the 5th time ever) and gets a small reaction off the kickout because (5th time ever, but that's the past not this match). Big chops! BIG LARIAT 1!! 2!! NO!!! Taue just won't stay down. What's it going to take to put him away? He's got it hooked up....BURNING HAMMER! 1!! 2!! 3!!!!! And THAT is how matches are finished. That is the difference between the art of pro wrestling and spot fu. And that is why I love this match. This comes in just below Akiyama vs. Misawa 2/27/00, but being second to that is not bad at all. -
I love underdog matches. But this wasn't all that good. The best parts of this kind of match are the anticipation of the underdog's comeback while they are getting beta down and the actual comeback. The anticipation is there, because Akiyama lays it in good with some bad ECW leading by the head mixed in. Then Hashi gets his offense and...things fall apart. Eh, had to give it a try.
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He was the "big man" for his promotion at the time among the natives. But I see your point, he wasn't overly large.
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Glad I'm not the only one who absolutely loved that match.
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As much as I don't care for the guy overall, Satoshi Kojima seems like a really good hot tag. His moveset is good for it, his personality and fire fit well. Kobashi was practically made for taking hot tags, as little as I care for how he does things a lot of the time. I really liked Rey taking hot tags even back in his WCW days. Based on the limited AWA viewings I've done, Jim Brunzell seemed like a contender here. I guess since I mentioned Kobashi, I may as well say Misawa. When he came in with the elbows swinging off of his partner getting beat down, he was pretty unstoppable. KENTA seems like he fits the bill. As much as DDP played the FIP, he could bring the fired up babyface comeback pretty good when he wanted to. This is something I never saw, but I always thought Waltman would have made a great hot tag if he was ever not the FIP or a heel. He had the right offense for it and could do "fired up" pretty well.
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Ogawa vs. Akiyama 9/11/98 is a great Ogawa performance. He's doing everything he can to keep Akiyama neutralized and work towards a huge upset. He also has a great match against Takayama in 2004. The 9/11/98 match is on Dtitch's AJPW chronological site. The Takayama is in best of 2000s project. If you decide to look up that Takayama match above, look into the Kanemoto vs. AKIRA match on 3/23/03. It's dickweed Koji vs. cheating bastard AKIRA in a legwork duel to the tapout. The sense of animosity between the two of them makes for good fun. A couple of the NJPW vs. NOAH tags with Liger have cool sequences built around Kanemaru's mule kick to the groin. And a shit ton of heat. Same goes for the 2000 Kanemoto/Tanaka vs. Ohtani/Takaiwa. Early offense for Ohtani and Takaiwa is basically corner heel stuff. Ikeda vs. Ishikawa from 2005 has a great heelish Ikeda performance. And if you've watched any Battlarts, you know Ishikawa isn't letting that fly. There's a few matches where Omori shines on that AJPW chronological listing as well. The tag where Kobashi is extremely pissed at NO FEAR has this great Kobashi slow burn on Omori and Takayama. If you're really in the mood for cheating, check out the Omori vs. Akiyama match that goes like 30 seconds. The match where Kawada "leaves an impression" on Misawa is all kinds of awesome for the heel stuff there. And the incredible payback. If you can find good Jado/Gedo tags, those dudes love to cheat something fierce. So much so that I've seen matches where it just degrades into them doing heel cheating over and over again until you wish they'd stop. The 1995 Flair vs. Chono match from the G1 has a really great story of Flair trying to come in and win clean, but having to go tit for tat with Chono's heel tactics. It's not the greatest match ever, but the way it plays out is pretty fun. I know there's stuff I'm missing, but a lot of the above are the more enjoyable things I've watched recently.
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I think Akira Taue deserves a mention. I'll also agree with Vader.
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Oh, I'm not saying it was in no way enjoyable. But they have a much better match in 2001 that renders this moot. I've liked Taue in every big match he's been in since NOAH was started.
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This here was....if you take Battlarts and add MORE vicious punching and kicking with less suplexes and submissions...this is what you get. And oh boy, these guys know EXACTLY how to work this style. Want to break that nasty submission that your opponent has on you? Punch him in the face. He's down but not quite staying that way, run up and kick him a few times. Ikeda starts off by being a dick and presses his advantage. They go to more back and forth with Ikeda being a dick. Ishikawa brings the comeuppance just the right amount of stiff and brutal. Ikeda is getting his left arm worked over as we progress, which does come into play. Then we get to the end run. Ikeda brings the big, stiff kicks. Ikeda bumps HUGE for the suplexes. Both guys are punching themselves out. This is a war to the end and it's fucking amazing. Ikeda was wasted on NOAH. This is the kind of stuff he does best. I've always loved how he is such a dick with the big strikes and then bumps huge for suplexes and sells his ass off for the other guy's big strikes and submissions. This is number 3 for me right now.
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Here's my thing with Saito. He has really good suplexes, slams and powerbombs. But everything else is average at best. And when you consider that his one method of building a match is strikes and strike exchanges, that is very, very bad. He normally doesn't sell other people's strikes worth a shit, but this is the boss. Saito does throw the best looking elbows I've seen him throw after taking a few from Misawa. Inoue certainly has lots of high end offense to bust out. But all he did early was...run Ogawa's face along a couple of ropes? And when Ogawa gets into strike-heavy mode he gets old pretty fast. So this match really doesn't go well for me. Both Inoue and Saito seem to me like guys who are capable enough of busting out big time offense during stretch runs, but A. don't have the right tools to build to said stretch run and B. have no idea how to use their big bombs effectively to create a good match. So yeah, I fall into the category of people who hated it.
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Too long, too much time between everything at the end. Misawa can't be bothered to even crank on his stepover facelock or sell Taue's legwork. Their match in 01 is far, far better than this.
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This is like some kind of hidden gem. Unlike the Takayama match, Koji has very little interest in wrestling the way Nishimura would prefer to. He is a complete and total dick for 90% of the match. And it leads to some amazing things. Nishimura throwing big elbows that rock Koji is so very unexpected and awesome. Nishimura's selling is tremendous throughout. Koji cutting off all of Nishimura's comebacks with his own counters to Nishimura's counters is all kinds of fun. The finish is off the charts good, and the crowd is hot and solidly behind Nishmura. Koji is gracious after the match, raising Nishimura's arm despite kicking the shit out of him for a good 10 minutes of the match. Really great underdog match that's on the bubble of top 50 for me.
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So the first part of this match is awesome. I love watching these guys do basic holds and wrestling sequences because it is the best you will ever see those things done. The bad strike exchange aside, great early match. Then it turns into the NOAH that I am beginning to hate with a passion. See, late 90s All Japan had this tendency to go away from the reserved use of big suplexes and head drops that made early to mid-90s AJPW great. And as NOAH progresses, it seems like they take it ever farther. And that, to me is a sad, sad thing. Kobashi and Misawa seemed to really like doing stuff like that just to pop the crowd. Where Taue and Kawada were more likely to rely on smart wrestling to build to big spots. And you can guess which style won out in AJPW, as well as which one came over into Misawa and Kobashi dominated NOAH. I can't disagree more with SS on this, but to each their own.
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Early stuff was really, really well done. Everything had a sense of struggle and they really get over the idea that both men are beasts. Then they start beating the shit out of each other. In glorious fashion. The strike exchange was really well done. Even the lariat stuff didn't bother me at all. I loved how well they sold the fact that they were taking a massive beating in between big shots. Only a few nearfalls but they were HUGE. Can't say enough about how great this match was. Very likely top 20. For whatever reason, Takayama beings out the great worker hiding inside Kensuke Sasaki. Also, the hug at the end was great. Loving the short, Kawada vs. Hansen 2/28/93 inspired matches in the 2000s so far. Just get in there, beat the shit out of each other in a coherent manner for about 15-20 minutes then hit the finish.
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I liked this match a lot. Tamura brings that ace sensibility to it, waiting for the fight to come to him. Ito obliges and takes it to him handily. The quick takedowns into submissions surprise Tamura for a couple of early rope breaks. Tamura battles his way back patiently, but Ito isn't letting up because he knows once he loses control of this it's over. Tamura starts zeroing in on Ito's ribs with kicks during stand-up, then mixing in head attacks as well. The late match stand up reminds me of Kawada vs. Ogawa. Tamura has been put in a hole by the underdog, so he pitbulls his way back into the lead by focusing on a weakness. Only problem is, he keeps running into open hands to the head (not STOs) while doing it. Once he starts settling down and playing defense a bit more, he catches a kick and turns it into a leg submission for the win. Good story, great performance by both, but I like the TK match better.
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There is so much that works here. The beating KENTA takes right off the bat is stellar. Ogawa cutting off Marufuji's hot tag is the only way to save this match from early disappointment, because Marufuji's offense makes him the world's shittiest hot tag. Which really makes him a terrible partner for great FIP KENTA. Marufuji flopping all over the place for his beating is great. As are the Misawa/Ogawa double teams. As is Ogawa's always simple counter to all of Marufuji's contrived shit. Love how Ogawa just waits for the right moment and...goes for the eyes. Simple > contrived, always. Then the big turnaround and the first part of the chaotic ending is really well done. Right up until Marufuji kicks out of the emerald frosion. So vecause it wasn't Misawa covering the move loses all of it's devastating impact? Come on. I mean, that last few minutes wastes a perfectly good first 25 which includes a great KENTA impression of Kawada. This may make the bottom 25, but the way they finished it made me really, really unhappy. Also, Marufuji matches should be kept short of 30 minutes...no, kept short of 25 minutes. Too much Marufuji can only be a bad thing.
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This was an incredible underdog match. I loved the Ogawa match, which was very similar structurally. Just KENTA's offense is a bit more strike-happy and it works a little better as a counter to Takayama's bullying. The post match with Takayama giving a show of respect to KENTA for the effort is pretty sweet too.
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Honestly, this completely random and crazy character stuff reads way more entertaining than anything I've ever seen from the WWE. Does Vince not realize that off the cuff nonsense can come across as great entertainment given the right people?
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I thought that this was a great performance by both. Kobashi showed vulnerability and fire. Takayama was incredibly badass, but ended up burning up too much energy trying to weaken Kobashi's limbs up instead of focusing on getting the finish. If he'd have spent that time he worked over both legs to no real effect on the ribs and back, things may have been different. I thought that the lack of focus costing Takayama his shot was well done. He still looks like a beast and more than strong enough to go toe to toe with Kobashi, and Kobashi looks good for getting a win over a strong opponent. The beating both guys took was really brutal. It'll probably be top 20.
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I thought this match was really, really right place, right time, right opponents. I don't parcticularly care for Tanahashi. But against Fujita he shines really brightly. As the never-say-die, sympathetic babyface who is in way over his head, Tanahashi is great. And Fujita as the evil bastard amateur wrestling style shooter badass making fun of his smaller opponent along the way only helps. The knee lifts were all sorts of awesome. Tanahashi's slaps needed to be removed. Tanahashi's late match comeback offense was actually really compelling. Then he gets squashed like a bug again, only to not stay down and need more squashing. This will be around the middle of my ballot. And if you think I believed that would be the case going in, you'd be so very wrong. Also, I think this match was the signal to Inoki that his shooter fetish should stay personal. You have a really good shootstyle guy (Fujita) against a more juniors pro wrestling guy (Tanahashi). The fans very clearly make their choice.
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This was good, but not above that for me. The early matwork was well-done. Liger and Hashi both work their holds and have a sense of struggle to getting out of them. It's just a problem of not a lot of it being very focused. Some of it was there just for the purpose of being there. Both throw their strikes like they mean it, so that helps the match out as well. Ending run was okay at best, more like a succession of big bombs until the finish. Probably won't make my ballot, but not a bad watch.