Posted August 2, 201015 yr comment_5453827 I liked this an awful lot. In a post-Benoit wrestling World where we are all supposed to be mortified by unprotected chairshots to the head this is pretty much a heretical pairing but I don't really give a fuck. These two really demolish each other with everything they have. Tanaka and Balls both have an every man charisma that radiates off of them at key moments in this. I thought this had a lot of dangerous stuff in it but nothing so dangerous that it was appalling and the violence was pretty well dispersed. Nearfall segment was really well done here too and it went just the right length for a match of this sort.
August 5, 201015 yr comment_5454006 Early on, during the feeling out process, we get an early boring chant and it just reinforces my opinion that these fans are dumber than dirt. I am looking it up right now but I remember these two having a PPV match on Hardcore Heaven 2000 that was pretty entertaining. Anyway, Balls' missed legdrop looked pretty good with Balls selling the impact. I may be affected by the post-Benoit world but I have always hated Tanaka no-selling the chair shots. Ballz blocking the Swinging DDT into a spinebuter on the chairs was vicious and Tanaka finally nailing it was worth it. Again, I wish there were less chairs but that is what we get with ECW. I'll back the nomination.
October 20, 201015 yr comment_5457420 Masato Tanaka vs. Balls Mahoney (9/5/98) This starts slow and the fans chant boring which was very common at this time when ECW went into new towns as they heard or saw ECW TV where it highlighted the violence but then went to house shows and saw some matches that featured more matwork. The action would then go for the floor where it would pick up thus getting the fans into it as they loved the chairs getting used. This turned into a really good hard hitting match featuring their normal chair battles and a fun stretch run so I think this moves forward.
