cactus
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Everything posted by cactus
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Take my opinion with a grain of salt as I have fallen out of love with NJPW's style of wrestling over the last year or so, but I wasn't too into today's show. Every match was at least decent and there's a few match I'd comfortable call good (MiSu/Ishii being the main one, with Ospreay/Takahashi being a pleasant start to the tournament). I enjoy Taichi's heel work, but he loses me when he goes all workrate. He looks out of place and it doesn't suit his character. Jay White is another brilliant heel character and I thought interference was well placed in his match with Shingo. It never felt like it detracted from the match and added drama to the finishing stretch. Okada vs Ibushi was fine, I guess. I never thought it got going, it was lacking heat and the finish came out of nowhere. I also think the lack of crowd chants hurt the atmosphere greatly, but I completely understand why they are banned. Ospreay vs Takahashi ★★★ Taichi vs Cobb ★★¼ Ishii vs MiSu ★★★¼ White vs Shingo ★★★ Okada vs Ibushi ★★¾ -
This is probably the first time in his career that Kobashi has to take the veteran role in putting the young and fiery Akiyama to sleep. Akiyama is more than able to hold his own during the fantastic and fast paced strike exchanges that open this title fight, but the mood in the venue changes when Akiyama lands a very effective strike to Kobashi's banged up knee. The crowd are in shock as Kobashi crumbles to the mat in agony. The headdrops might be excessive, but they more than make up for it by working in the brilliant leg psychology that is never forgotten about. Akiyama is a monster on control and he shows no remorse when he's taking apart Kobashi's knee. Kobashi is able to make a gloriously comeback by landing some desperation lariats. I love the spot where Kobashi fakes out Akiyama, by setting him up for a Burning Lariat, but going to for a chop instead. A great way to show off your ring smarts! AJPW put out some of the best wrestling ever during the 1990's, and I could easily see this match cracking their top 20 matches of the decade. ★★★★½
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This whole match is built around Kawada vs Hase and the Mossman and Omori are just here for the ride. Kawada is hesitant to go near Hase at the start, tagging out as soon as Hase becomes the legal man. This adds to the tension and it feels like a big deal when they finally go at it. Hase was great at being a smug asshole by having some great facial expressions. Mossman and Omori added very little to this, and are just here to break the action apart. Mossman looked very bad here. He was all over the place and even botch a small package, rolling his opponent up right into the ropes. This had a fun finishing stretch. Hase no-selling a spike German suplex came across as dumb, but that comes with the territory when watching late 90's AJPW. ★★★
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I thought this match was a lot of fun. All three of the standout talents deliver, but this had a career performance from Jun Izumida trying to hang with Takayama and Albright. He's a big meaty lad with a heart of gold and a belly full of fire. At first he's clearly outmatched, but when he's able to block multiple belly to belly throws from Takayama, the crowd gets behind him and this pisses Takayama right off. It's impressive how massive Takayama was able to make himself through his posturing and body language. I was also impressed with his selling, it's very similar to how Kawada would sell a big strike. My only complaint about this is that the finish comes out of nowhere and they really did limit the Taue/Takyama interactions, which is a match I'm very interested in seeing. ★★★½
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If your only exposure to 90's AJPW is the big matches between The Four Pillars & Co, then there is a strong chance you've never seen anything from the forgettable midcarders that featured in this match. Johnny Ace is probably the most prolific and he spends the majority of this match being beaten down by the monster heels until he is able to score a tag to Wolf Hawkfield. Wolf, who has brilliant look, sadly has the gimmick of being a character from the Virtua Fighter series and he didn't impress me much during his brief time as the legal man. Johnny Smith is a generic decent wrestler who has obviously based his entire wrestling style on Dynamite Kid. He's nowhere near the talent or as innovative, but he's a decent hand. He hits an impressive German on one of the Headhunters to get the win. The crowd pop big for the suplex and the win, but it doesn't seem like they are too invested into any of the babyfaces. Kimala isn't the same guy as the Kamala who wrestled in WWF. Instead he's a much more athethic guy who able to take some impressive aerial bumps for a man his size. This was decent and short enough to not bore me. ★★¼
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Even when he's failing physically and he's a mere six months from death, Baba is still over and it's a big deal when he enters the arena. The house lights fade and the crowd erupt as his music plays throughout the Budokan. I've always liked the idea of having your older guys work in lowercard comedy matches to see their careers out, but this was a chore to sit through. The comedy is scarce and the work rate was virtually non-existent. It's mostly guys in their late 40s and 50s awkwardly slapping each other around for over ten minutes. Kikuchi was easily the most impressive here, who has the best comedy skills by far. Baba doesn't get involved much and I was surprised to see his team do the honors. Haruka Eigen's infamous spit spot is here, but it puzzles me why they kept booking guys like Rusher Kimura and Mitsuo Momota (who's still wrestling in his 70's now!) when they didn't bring much to the table. ★
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Inoue is not known for his physical skill set, instead solidifying himself during the 2000's as a dependable opener by using his comedy chops. Kakihara on the other hand, is physical shoot style beast equipped with some pin-point accurate kicks and deadly submission holds. Inoue gets a few lucky strikes in and wear his opponent by using some classic pro-wrestling techniques as raking the eyes, but it's not long before he's tapped out by the superior athlete. Inoue has his stoogey selling down and Kakihara's shoot stuff looked decent. ★★
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With his black tights and boots and having a similar brawling powerhouse style, Baby Morishima reminded me of Jumbo Tsuruta. Morishima works on snug headlock on Honda and doesn't let it go even after getting slammed. He's still no match for Honda, who is able to win after locking on a tight STF. This was a solid match to showcase Morishima against an established wrestler and for Honda to show of his mat skills. Morishima still needs to find his own gimmick and style, but has a lot more promise here than say, Kanemaru, Inoue and Shiga. ★★
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This is my first time watching a full 90's AJPW show, so it's surprising to see some of the future NOAH guys in their rookie years. Kanemaru has a RVD haircut and Shiga is super skinny. Everyone trades some basic holds, until Asako and Shiga take control of Kanemaru through some underhanded tactics. Ogawa, who is the only guy in this match that the crowd seem to care about, comes in and dishes out some eye pokes to the audience's delight. Kanemaru has some impressive junior defensive moves and he is able to get a small portion of the crowd cheering for him, but he his selling needs work. The AJPW young guys seem to be allowed to do more moves than the NJPW young lions, but I get the feeling that both Shiga and Kanemaru could of done with a bit more seasoning before they get moved up the card. ★★
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I definitely like this more than most. Lesnar's heel mannerisms look a touch forced, but he was great when he was selling his leg or when he just arrogantly stalls around the ring. The last ten minutes got too suplex heavy for my tastes. From around the 50 minute mark up until the last few crucial minutes, most of the action is just suplexes and selling the damage of sai suplexes. The commercial breaks help break the up action nicely and the match never drags. This wasn't either Angle or Lesnar's best match, but it's from far their worst performances either. This had a far better structure than Michaels vs Hart Iron Man. ★★★¾
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Young Fujinami is such a unsung gem from the early years of NJPW. This was two promising youngsters telling a story by trading some snug looking holds. Both Go and Fujinami are on similar skill levels, so a lot of the mat sequences end in a stalemate, with neither man gain any significant advantage.The excellent matwork builds up and they show more signs of frustration before they go all out on each other. The last five minutes are a total bombfest sprint, with Fujinami hitting some of the prettiest bridging suplexes you will ever see. ★★★★
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This was like strong style puro's answer to the bloody lucha brawl. They bleed absolute buckets and it puts Eddie vs JBL to shame. Sasaki is the ruthless outsider and Nagata is the New Japan loyalist. Some of the ringside spots made me feel physically sick, especially Sasaki headbutting the ring post with great force, If they were able to give this a more climatic finish and had to this in a smaller venue (the crowd at the Dome seemed to like this, but the acoustics of that building didn't do this any favours) than this would been an all-time classic. ★★★★½
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Austin's been taken out in a hit and run incident, so Big Show is drafted in to take his space. I used to think this match had a feel good ending, but as an adult I see how frustrating the bait and switch tactics of promising a Stone Cold match on a PPV and not delivering. The match itself is your standard Attitude Era stuff. This could of been a good Raw main event instead of an average Big Four main event. Rock and Triple H's star power keep the crowd invested, and they spice up the action with some obligatory brawling around the place, run-ins and ref bumps. The crowd are chanting for Austin when DX come to spoil the party, but he obviously doesn't show up. This is probably the strongest the Big Show had ever looked during his WWF run. ★★½
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Seeing Mick Foley deteriorate has been heartbreaking. His injuries have clearly caught up to him and it seems that they only thing he can bring to the table is his charisma and likeability. This was an absolute chore to watch, with all the action being extremely rudimentary. Al Snow is worked over for what feels like an eternity, and he eventually gets the world's coldest hot tag to Mankind. Things wrap up with the Outlaws using underhanded tactics. I expected more from these four. ★
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It's easy to see why Jeff Hardy became so liked so quickly during late 1999. He might be sloppy, but his unique look and offence won the crowd over in a very short amount of time. It's strange seeing Too Cool as heels, with Scotty's Worm move getting zero reaction. That move would probably be one of the most over in the company in a year's time. Brian Christopher is fantastic at being an irritating little prick, wailing every minute. This had a fast pace and everyone got a chance to get in some neat high spots. The best match of the night and an yet another indicator that WWF's tag division is about to grow into something special. ★★★
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I thought this match exceeded my expectations. Jericho, despite being the smark's favourite, does a good job at being a misogynistic douchebag, toying with Chyna as he works her over. Miss Kitty tries to jump on Jericho's back, but he pulls her off him, much to the delight of Jerry Lawler. Chyna looks the best she's ever her looked when she makes her comeback, and a fun back and forth segments ends when Chyna lands a Pedigree from the top rope. I was not expecting that finish at all! ★★★
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This is taken place in the middle of that brilliantly awful Big Show vs Big Bossman storyline that sees Bossman crashing Show's dad's funeral. Taka Michinoku, Funaki and Blue Meanie were meant to be Big Show's partners, but Show takes them out as he doesn't want any partners to get in his way. Show immediately eliminates Albert and Mideon (who's rocking a hideous singlet and face paint combination). His body slam of Viscera popped the crowd and he's also quickly eliminated. Bossman refuses to get in the ring and decides to leave, giving Show the win. There wasn't much of a match here, but this made Show look dominant and the crowd seemed to like it. ★
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X-Pac has finally turned on his friend Kane, leading to this match. I thought they were able to work in their size differences into this match's psychology well , despite Kane being the massive seven footer babyface and X-Pac being the much smaller heel. X-Pac acts like a lil' chickenshit, whereas Kane is more like the big Michael Myers world beater that he was when he debuted for the company. DX come out and this match is throw out after attacking Kane. X-Pac lays out Tori with a spinning kick after she tries to stop the attack. This was more of any angle than a match, but it got X-Pac over as a prick and made Kane look like a sympathetic monster, which is no easy feat. ★★
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The talent is so lacking in this match that they make this a sudden death tag, and not waste anymore of our time by making it elimination rules like all the other big tags on this card. As you expect, this was downright ugly. I know Tori wrestled a few tours in AJW, but even she looked like she was garbage here. Mae gets the win over Women's champion Ivory, the second time that Ivory has lost to a seventy-plus woman in the last month. DUD
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Has there been a more underwhelming Survivor Series team than the combination of the Mean Street Posse and roided-up 1999 Davey Boy Smith? It's clear that this was shoved onto the card to eat up some time and give some of the midcard acts something to do. The Posse are very poor workers, as evident by Rodney screwing up a simple elbow drop. The face team of slightly more interesting gimmicks make quick work of the Posse, eliminating all three members in a little over five minutes. Henry botches a press slam and nearly drops Bulldog on his head in a scary spot. The Bulldog is left to fend for himself and is able to get wins over Gangrel and Blackman in quick fashion. I thought that beating all of the face team by himself would be a good way to rehab Bulldog after his disastrous return to the company, but Venis and Henry are able to get the win. I'm not sure who came out of this looking good. ★½
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This is Angle's televised debut. I love his 'clean-cut babyface but actually a heel' gimmick he debut with. It's rather subtle and it seems like the fans didn't pick up on it straight away. Stasiak and Angle had worked plenty of dark matches leading up to this, and it results in Angle looking like a pro and not a man who actually only has a year of experience. They work in a lot of impressive technical sequences, but the crowd aren't buying it. Despite not doing anything that a heel would typically do, Angle is able to get a sizeable chunk of the audience to boo him because of how clean-cut he is. He leaves the ring and lectures the audience for disrespecting a gold medallist. Angle still needs to add some finishing touches to his gimmick, but it's clear at this point that he shows a lot of promise. ★★¼
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The Godfather's tag partners are all dressed like him. D'lo looks quite suave and he would form a short-lived tag team with Godfather following this. The Headbangers, armed with massive afros and gold chains, look like the closest you could get to doing blackface without actually blacking up. Bradshaw show us what a hoss he can be, by nearly beheading Thrasher with his clothesline and turning on Buh Buh bu laying him out with ghastly chairshot to the head. I love the reaction that Buh Buh has when he goes to tag out and realises that he's the last one left. D'lo and Godfather then make short work of him to get the win. Enjoyable enough opener, with quick tags and eliminations stopping any of the action from stagnating. ★★½
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Austin's neck is completely knackered by this point. He'd be written off TV the next PPV in order for him to get surgery. As a result of this, they spend a good chunk of this match brawling throughout the crowd. I'm sure that this would of been a blast to see in the flesh, but a lot of the crowd brawling leaves me cold now. The match itself is a lot more enjoyable once they get to the ring. We get a lot of ref bumps, finishers and Triple H working down Austin in an attempt to get Triple H over as the master technician that they were pushing him to be at this time. The Rock (who was assaulted by Triple H earlier on) comes out and accidentally lays Austin out with the sledgehammer after Triple H ducks. Despite Austin's injury and the excessive crowd brawling, this was still a fun main event with a hot crowd and it got Triple H over as a main event player. ★★★
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Despite this match featuring two feuding tag teams, this is a booked as a four way. I dug Faarooq and Bradshaw going after each other when they're both legal whilst Kane is wary about fighting against his partner, but that's all the praise I give out for the stipulation. X-Pac is the Survivor after taking out his opponents and the guy he's teaming with. Outside of Kane's surprisingly using an enziguri, there's really not a lot that I could say about this. ★½
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Mankind was attacked in the bathroom by Val earlier in the night. This starts off with a lot of soulless brawling. Foley takes a nasty back suplex onto an open chair and it just looked disgustingly painful and unnecessary, especially seeing as the crowd didn't react to it one budge. The referee doesn't seem to care to disqualify anyone for this, despite the New Age Outlaws losing their match earlier in the show for doing a similar spot. Consistency, guys! Val has a sock called Rocko in his trunks, which he uses to lock on the testicular claw. No one said the Attitude Era was classy! Rocko and Socko collide, knocking out both men, but Venis is on top and scores the winning pin. I was expecting more from these two. ★¾