Bits from here and there

Seiya Sanada/Manobu Soya vs Taemon Honda/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, All Japan 1/3

Amusing comedy performance from Kikuchi, everything else sucked pretty fierce.

Blue Panther/Solar/Rocky Santana vs Black Terry/Negro Navarro/Rey Mendoza Jr., UWE 3/16

Another good maestros match. First two falls were all really slick matwork with everyone matching up against everyone, which was pretty cool. Especially dug Terry and Panther matching up and Navarro tying Santana in knots. Mendoza was really fired up, yelling encouragement from the apron, and in the third fall it broke down into a brawl between him and Panther of all people. They had to be pulled apart but eventually everyone started brawling all over the place, and these grumpy luchadors can brawl. Also dug the finish with Panther and Mendoza going at it then both getting caught by Navarro and Solar respectively, making them both losers.

Minoru Suzuki/Masakatsu Funaki vs Yuji Nagata/Jushin Liger, All Japan 3/21

Fun match. Starts with Liger and Funaki doing some quasi-shoot style matwork before Suzuki and Nagata pick up where they left off at the Dome, slapping each other about and making crazy faces. Funaki and Nagata also traded stiff kicks. Then it just ended, out of the blue, just as it seemed to be getting going. Oh well.

Best Of 2011

ROH SoCal Showdown II

Jay Briscoe vs Colt Cabana

Fun, short match. Colt's comedy was funny and his European-style wrestling and pinning combinations were all pretty slick. Jay hung just fine with him too and both guys came out looking good. Some guys in the crowd deserved to have their spines ripped out, though.

Davey Richards vs TJ Perkins

This was more good than bad thanks to it being more of a TJP match than a Davey match. Davey's corny OTT mannerisms were still present (though this is probably the best we can expect from him), and some parts of the match were very your-turn-my-turn thanks to Davey never caring to sell or look like he's in danger for more than 5 seconds at a time, but this didn't turn into some overblown horseshit forced epic. Perkins didn't let Davey shoehorn his tired spots in and stopped it from being a spotfest (his cut-off to Davey's dive attempt was smart). Most of the matwork was pretty fun, though not as good as Perkins's best, but there were still plenty of clever and neat spots and both guys kicked the living shit out of each other. Finishing stretch was also pretty dramatic thanks to both men going for their established submissions instead of doing a bunch of 2.9 kick-outs. Best Davey Richards match in years.

The Kings Of Wrestling vs Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team

Haas is a good FIP, emoting well and getting the crowd behind him, but once again Kings controlling the body of the match is dull. They spend a lot of the time keeping their opponents in rudimentry holds, obviously just filling time instead of building heat. They redeemed themselves in the big finishing run though, which was pretty well done and exciting. Benjamin still sucks and brought nothing. Good match, but I want to see Haas get some big singles matches.

Roderick Strong vs El Generico

This wasn't awful but wasn't good on any level either. Really spotty and went on too long. Roderick was Roderick, you know what to expect.

Best Of 2011

A Worrying Lack Of Violence

Pinkie Sanchez vs Chris Dickinson, IWA:DS Carnage Cup VII (Light-tubes and other shit match)

Pinkie does way too much comedy to be a deathmatch guy, and I'm not sure wether Dickinson's hilarious attempts at acting pissed off make him a better or worse Davey Richards clone than Kyle O'Riley. Several botches, the brawling was weak and there wasn't nearly enough violence for it to be anything memorable. Dickinson stomping on a tube and getting shards in his eye and getting bagged on by the crowd for it was awesome. The initial finish with Dickinson hitting some convoluted pump-handle shit through a table and the ref fucking up the count, and also getting shit from the crowd, was totally spectacular. The finish with the Figure Four after Pinkie tosses a bunch of tubes at Dickinson's legs would have been good if Dickinson didn't do the most cartoon-y KO sell ever. Unintentional comedy match of the year.

Shinjiro Ohtani vs Yoshihiro Takayama, Zero-ONE 3/6

Takayama getting suplexed on his head and rising from the grave like a zombie was fucking awesome, mostly because Takayama looks legit like a zombie. Otherwise I didn't care for this though. Not bad, but there wasn't really much engaging about the first 3/4 of it (final minutes were fairly epic). Ohtani looked past it.

Michael Cole is my hero

Chris Masters vs Tyler Reks, Superstars 3/24

So much for the feud-ender a couple weeks back. Whatever, this was a tonne of fun. Masters easily getting the better of Reks and Reks blowing a gasket was tremendous. Loved the continuity, with Reks going after the ankle following the Swagger match from last Smackdown, hardly anyone else in the WWE is doing shit like that, and all of the legwork was kept interesting. Masters's chops were epic and Reks took multiple painfully awkward looking bumps to the outside. Masters selling was incredible as always, loved the spot with him crumbling to the floor when being whipped to the corner. Masterlock finish is always a W.

Rey Mysterio vs CM Punk, Smackdown 3/25

This was also good. Rey getting dumped on the barricade was nasty, and Punk was busting out all sorts of neat offence - crushing a guy half your size with a crossbody makes you the boss. The mid-air dropkick was a great comeback spot and Rey's asai moonsault was huge. The angle with Cody was also epic. Cody has never looked more badass headbutting people into oblivion with a protective mask. He looks like Doctor Doom.

Edge vs Drew McIntyre, Smackdown 3/25

This wasn't much. Drew needs to stop jobbing to a load like Edge. Hilarious listening to the commentators put over Edge as being smart for using a submission because he was unable to hit the Spear, moments before Edge Spear's Drew. I want to see Edge wrestle Davey Richards, just for the facial expressions.

Jack Swagger vs R-Truth, Smackdown 3/25

Cole burying Truth on commentary was truly excellent. "You don't even know what town we're in". The match just happened, but this was all about Cole being an obnoxious peice of shit, and it was truly spectacular listening. Booker was also gold, "You were in a dojo?".

Alberto Del Rio vs Christian, Smackdown 3/25

Del Rio's bump over the top to the floor and Christian's dive were both HUGE. Del Rio slamming Christian's arm on the step and his senton both looked brutal too, thanks to Christian's selling. When did Christian start doing Frankensteiners? That was also fucking cool. The finishing run with both men escaping each others finishers was also really good.

Guys hitting each other hard

Yoshihito Sasaki/Shinya Ishikawa vs Ryuichi Kawakami/Takumi Tsukamoto, BJW 1/2

Over the last couple of years, Yoshihito Sasaki has become a pretty good worker. The guy is constantly super-aggressive and pissed off, and he really fucking lays it in with stomps and elbows here. He wasn't taking shit from anyone in this match, not co-operating with basic moves like a snapmare early on, and when young Tsukamoto took a cheap shpt at him on the apron, you knew shit was going to go down. Unfortunately they took too long to get going, lost steam at the end, and never really reached the level of stiffness or asskicking you want from Strong BJ, so this was merely "decent".

Takeshi Morishima vs Makoto Hashi, NOAH 3/5

Fun opening match. Both men slap the shit out of each other. Hashi wasn't throwing Futen level strikes, but there were still plenty of nasty blows to the head and Hashi's KO selling was awesome (that or he was legit KO'd). The dude was just falling all over the place.

Jun Akiyama vs Yutaka Yoshie, NOAH 3/5

This was good but holy shit did it suffer from a bad crowd. Yoshie's fatguy offence is great and looks devestating, especially the splash off the apron, and Akiyama sells it well. Yoshie is a fat guy but healthy and in good enough shape for him to take some reasonable-sized bumps. I liked the sense of urgency behind Akiyama's comeback, and they did a really good job of building to the finish.

Kotaro Suzuki vs Katsuhiko Nakajima, NOAH 3/5

Hey, it's a lengthy puro juniors "epic" that isn't horrible! It wasn't anything great, but it didn't make me want to stop watching every five minutes, so that's something. Suzuki still isn't a good singles wrestler and the match kind of fell apart whenever he was in control, but atleast Nakajima kicked the shit out of him. Good lord those kicks were hell, and he put over Suzuki's elbows nicely. The crowd gave a shit and some of the nearfalls actually drew me in, but still, this kind of match is not my thing, and it still had too much dead air, went too long, and too many big moves were shrugged off, for me to say this was a great match.

Yoshihiro Takayama/Takuma Sano vs Go Shiozaki/Shuhei Taniguchi, NOAH 3/5

This was really good if you can get over the awful crowd. There were two main themes running through this, Taniguchi in the role your up-and-comer taking it to the established vets, and Go working with a hand injury. Taniguchi still has his flaws, but seems to be "getting it" and was appropriately fired up. I dug most of his power-based offence, he unloaded some brutal elbows and his throws and slams are impressive on a guy like Takayama. Takayama was fucking great in this, he was in full-on grumpy old man mode, just wanting these young punks to fuck off out of his yard, dishing out tonnes of punishment and working over Go's injury effectively. He also brought it into play at just the right times in the match, like when Go is building a comeback run and Tak counters a suplex attempt into an arm-breaker. Sano also looked good and him and Tak worked as well as a unit as they ever have done.

Best Of 2011

Black Terry Jr. rides again

Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs Solar/Ultraman, Coliseo Coacalco 3/13

God bless BT Jr. filming these shows ran in the most surreal locations, the outdoor venues always look like a terrific place to watch wrestling. This was another installment of four great technical maetsros going at it, something which is always going to be enjoyable to watch. Solar cooling Navarro off after he lost an exchange to Ultraman was pretty amusing and got some laughs. Still the real highlight was getting an extended Solar/Terry match-up, with Terry having some great facial expressions and Solar trying to tie him up in knots.

Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs Solar/Ultraman, Arena Azteca 3/13

Same match, several hours later. These guys are real workhorses. This was mostly built around the never-ending Solar/Navarro rivaly with them being in the ring for most of it, though I wish there was more of Terry and Ultraman trading blows. Solar may have been the star of the match and looked great. Super-slick on the mat, good job of getting the fans going and he sold a chop from Terry like it was a gunshot at one point. The extended Solar/Navaro section in the final fall was especially great. They copied some stuff from the earlier match, but really that's to be expected. Two quality matches in the space of a day, God damn.

Virus vs Demus 3:16, CMLL 3/19 (Hair vs Hair, Loser goes back to the Mini's Division)

This was intense and hate-filled, but was more of a spotfest than a brawl. Still, an awesome spotfest with most of the spots being visually specactular and complicated. Virus's twisting springboard tornado DDT, top rope wheelbarrow/rana and ringpost armdrag were all crazy. He also butsed out some nasty submissions. Unlike most spotfests, this didn't outstay it's welcome or get stupid, either.

Best Of 2011

WWE

Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus, RAW 3/14

Remember when Bryan was ridiculously pale? Oy. This was pretty fun though I wasn't blown away. Bryan's roll-up counters to signature Sheamus spots were neat, and Sheamus's fake injury spot was so well done to the point where, watching it live, I thought it was legit. The elbow exchange and Bryan kicking the hell out of Sheamus were also both really good. Still I think most of the love this is getting is because of the finish, which was admittedly great, but not enough for me to have my fill of these two against each other. Hopefully a WM rematch is in store.

Jack Swagger vs Chris Masters, Smackdown 3/18

Fun couple of minutes. Masters might be the best seller in the States. Cole getting to attack him afterwards kinda buried him, though.

Alberto Del Rio vs Christian, Smackdown 3/18 (Steel Cage)

Didn't care for this at all. Firstly, the booking of having this as a cage match was baffling. Then you have the WWE's insistance on using these gimmick matches whilest preventing guys from blading, and also that most WWE cage matches are built around guys trying to escape instead of beat their opponent...yawn. I like Del Rio as a character, but Christian made him look better than he is, and the Killswitch kickout felt too telegraphed. I'm also sick of seeing people stare at the Wrestlemania sign five times a show.

The other Victory Road match people talked about

AJ Styles vs Matt Hardy, TNA Victory Road

This was a good match though I'd be lying if I said I was overboard on it. Best thing about it was how stiff and hard-hitting it was. This wasn't close to being on the same level as say a Low Ki vs Joe match or one of your other "holy shit these guys are beating the fuck out of each other" matches, but still every blow looked like it was hit with force. Both guys throw some great punches and clotheslines, and Hardy hits some nasty looking elbow drops as well as throwing Styles viciously into various parts of the ring. Flair was also great in his role on the outside. If you take away the stiffness though this was pretty average, and for a bunch of morons who go nuts over any random highspot the crowd was dead as dodos.

FMLL CMLL 3/5

Dr. Cerebro/Los Traumas vs Virus/Puma King/Tiger Kid

This felt a bit like the New Year's Day trios in the same sense that it was a fun match I liked and is straight-forwardly enjoyable, but ultimately failed to stand out or blow me away. A lot of the match felt like "these guys just doing their thing", which is no bad thing when four great wrestlers are involved (Felino's kids looked pretty competant too). There was some solid matwork, some stiff shots and some cool and neat spots. It failed to really reach the point of being something I'll remember at the year's end, but I still had fun watching it.

Negro Navarro/Blue Panther vs Solar/Satanico

This was terrific. Four absolute maestros getting to show their stuff in a lengthy match. Everyone matches up against each other and every pairing was great. Navarro/Solar were mostly just doing their thing, but they still had some neat stuff like Navarro's swank triangle choke. Satanico is pretty much retired, and looked little off at points, but otherwise worked like a guy half his age and rocked on the mat as much as he ever did and I loved him and Navarro getting at each other before th bell. But really, Panther vs Solar was where this was at, with all of their exchanges being really superb and probably as good if not better than the best Solar vs Navarro stuff. The result was predictable, but who can complain at four of the best luchadors ever getting 30 minutes to tear it up on the mat? Great match.

Best Of 2011

Teacher vs Student: Meathead edition

Daisuke Sekimoto vs Yuji Okabayashi, BJW 1/2

Fucking boring match that went way too long for it's own good. There were a couple of points where they trade blows and Sek chops Ok so stiff he leaves visible welts, and Ok sells just as a guy should in an uphill battle against his mentor (outside one shitty no-sell near the end), but really this was a massive snoozefest. The crowd was also dire and only made noise for a couple of decent nearfalls at the very end. Go watch their 2009 match or various tags against each other instead.

Homicide vs Moxley, DGUSA 1/30

Homicide vs Jon Moxley, DGUSA "United We Stand" (No DQ)

This was easily 'Cide's best match since his return to the indys and much closer to the Homicide we all know and love. There was no fork, but plenty of cool brawling all over the small venue with both guys beating beating each other up and smashing each other with chairs and gaurd rails. Moxley bled, 'Cide's hilo looked great and they manged to get that sense of wrecklessness which makes these kind of brawls so fun. Disliked the random Sky turn halfway through the match, and the Fingerpoke of Doom finish was mind-bogglingly awful, but Homicide kicking Moxley square in the balls before it was the ultimate dick move. Also Homicide going nuts and trying to cut out Moxley's tongue with scissors post-match was crazy.

Best Of 2011

Chikara "Caught In A Cauldren Of Hate"

Claudio Castagnoli vs Dasher Hatfield

Mediocre extended squash. The crowd was pretty hot for Dasher, but a lot of Claudio's offence was choking and sleeper holds. Went way too long and dragged a lot near the end.

Brodie Lee vs Sugar Dunkerton

I was taken aback at how good this was. The angle leading up to this was Brodie powerbombing Sugar onto steps the last show, so Sugar was super fired up and out for revenge. I have never seen him before, but he looked like one of the better Chikara guys and his chops and punches were all pretty solid. Brodie was really great at working as a big man, barely even acknowledging Sugar's offence early on and beating the tar out of him. Sugar catches Brodie off-gaurd and starts going to town on working his leg over, slamming it into the post, punching and chopping at it and going for submissions (including one nifty looking Indian Deathlock). Brodie sells it tremendously, even falling out of the ring as he got to his feet at one point, and makes Sugar look like a star by the time the match is over. Shockingly good match.

Eddie Kingston vs Johnny Gargano

Pretty sweet carryjob from Eddie. Most of the early parts were simple holds like headlocks and wristlocks, but they actually made them feel like a struggle. Gargano started working over Kingston's hand, and Kingston's selling of it was pretty excellent and made the match. Gargano isn't anything great, but is atleast better than other FIST members. The crowd were pretty insufferable during this though, to the point where I thought they may have been purposely trolling (chanting "wristlock!" was particularly awful).

Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw vs The Batiri (2/3 Falls)

Maybe it's because I'm in a good mood but I also thought this was suprisingly good, if not quite as good as Brodie/Sugar. The Batiri are a little green, but most of their offence looked good and they hit their stuff really well. They main thing that impressed me about them was how well they worked as a team, busting out plenty of cool double-teams and really feeling like a pack of wolves all over their opponents. Most of the match was built around Jigsaw selling a leg injury, which is pretty much what Jigsaw is best at doing, so they managed to keep it dramatic throughout. Throw in some well done nearfalls (without going overboard) and Quack and Jig making their opponents look real good, and I thought this was a pretty good match.

Best Of 2011

Superstars & Rey vs Drew

Chris Masters vs Tyler Reks, Superstars 3/10

Pretty great "Superstars-style" feud ender with Masters looking like the best babyface in the world. Reks was solid but still this is the sort of match Masters could have had with a number of guys. As usual Masters's offence and selling were great, but the best thing about this was how it was laid out. Started with a fired up Masters beating the shit out of Reks, before getting posted leading Reks in control, before Master's big comeback. Really liked Reks cutting Masters off during his big comeback too, as it had me thinking Masters was dead in the water. The finish was also fucking great.

Vladimir Kozlov vs Zack Ryder, Superstars 3/10

Kozlov's shoot takedowns and submission attempts were trippy as fuck, and his power-based offence looked devestating. Fun couple of minutes.

Mark Henry/The Great Khali/Natalya vs William Regal/Tyson Kidd/Melina, Superstars 3/10

Regal's reaction to getting tagged in and Kidd getting treated like a jobber were amusing, otherwise this was a waste.

Rey Mysterio vs Drew McIntyre, Smackdown 3/11

This was shorter than I'd have liked it to be, but fuck it was a great five minutes (the theme for Drew's year so far). Just a lot of good shit crammed into a short space of time; Drew leveling Rey at the bell and throwing him around like trash, the sequence with Rey following Drew out as he ducked the 619, the nasty backbreaker on the apron and Drew continuing to work the back after it, Drew avoiding Rey's predictable comeback routine, the 619 coming after Rey kicked Drew in the head rather than him limply flopping onto the second rope... good stuff.

Best Of 2011

CZW "Twelve"

Sami Callihan vs Alex Colon

I liked their first match some, but this was a step up and the sort of intense, awesome, hard-hitting match Sami has become known for over the last couple years. Some of Colon's stuff looked weak, but for the most part he was fine and both guys beat the shit out of each other. Some sick headbutts in particular busted Sami open hardway, and he also cut his arm open which looked grizzly. Both guys also took some wickid bumps, including Colon getting wrecklessly suplexed onto a chair on the outside.

Philly's Most Wanted vs The Briscoe Brothers (No DQ)

This wasn't on the same level as most high-end Briscoes brawls but was more "fun" than epic. Kind of what it says on the tin, with brawling through the fans, guys smashing each other with chairs and getting thrown through tables. Sabian still sucks, but he spent most of the match getting his ass kicked and the finish saw him getting murdered through a barbwire table, so I was satistfied. Shame about the shitty crowd, though.

Best Of 2011

ROH "Only The Strong Survive"

El Generico vs Homicide vs Mark Briscoe vs Kenny King

Pretty average match. No real story or direction to anything (outside of Homicide being against everyone) and the action was your standard everyday stuff. Generico was the best guy in the match simply by not sucking.

Christopher Daniels vs Claudio Castagnoli

This was far from a flawless match but I was still surprsed at how good this actually was. For one thing they did a good job of playing the big vs small psycology with spots like your classic "small guy cant powerslam big guy" spot and Daniels struggling to take Claudio down on a sunset flip only for Claudio to easily pick him up and toss him around the ring. Daniels worked over Claudio's arm for a large part of the match, and while it wasn't brought into play later, it was a smart way of letting him take over after establishing the size difference, and he had some pretty neat holds in his arsenal. The highlight was a great spot in the middle where Daniels hits a big rana on Claudio over the apron where Claudio takes a big bump to the outside. Thats then followed by Claudio catching him on a dive and swinging him headfirst into the gaurd rails. There was some stupid bullshit with Mike Bennett but otherwise the end run was pretty good and had some cool counters, my favourite being the springboard uppercut into the Koji Clutch. Daniel kind of whiffs a moonsault, but in the process he lands on Claudio's head so I'm not complaining. This was far from great but still the first Daniels match I've dug since 2006 and that alone seems worthy of recommendation.

Chris Hero vs Davey Richards

Didn't totally hate this as there was some good stuff, but I can' say I liked it either. I thought Hero was really good for the most part - he sold the armwork really well in subtle ways (not being able to lock in holds with it, etc), and his shit-talking was great. Both guys really beat the shit out of each other, Hero with some great chops and violent stomps to the head and Davey is not afraid to throw some really stuff kicks and body-punches. That said, there are tonne of matches with Hero talking shit and guys stiffing each other that have much more good content. My main problem with this was that for such a long match, neither man was ever in danger of losing until the very very end, which made the body of it really dull and lacking in any drama. Davey is a badass strong style warrior, constantly fighting back against his opponent, which is alright for some but to me that is him not selling and killing any heat or sense of peril for the match. How can I buy into you getting your ass kicked when you can pop up and hit a top rope suplex out of the blue at any point? Or when you come back with a shot for every one your opponent gets in on you? Combine that with his absurd mannerisms and the way he insists on getting all his trademark spots into EVERY match... Ugh. And the concussion angle was never brought into play once!

Roderick Strong vs Jay Briscoe

Much like the TV title match this was actually shockingly good. It started out above average with both guys trading blows and stiffing each other but this went to another level once Jay started bleeding following getting his head violently rammed into the rail. What a fucking sick bladejob that was. I am far from a Strong fan, but he has never been afraid to work stiff and he throws some brutal shots in this, and moves like the piledriver and guilletine choke were twice as dramatic because of the bladejob. The Jay Driller through the table was a great "holy shit" spot and actually made Jay look like a viable winner, and Jay's shit-talking and nearfalls kept the finishing run dramatic despite it going longer than it should have. Best ROH title match I've seen in a couple of years.

Best Of 2011

My boys in action this week

Chris Masters vs Curt Hawkins, WWE Superstars 3/3

This was way short but still the usual Masters goodness. Nothing to write home about, but Masters has some of the best chops out there, and he is probably the first wrestler to actually make the catapult spot look realistic by grabbing the legs in the right spot.

Edge vs Drew McIntyre, WWE Smackdown 3/4

Holy shit this was a good carryjob from Drew. The guy pretty much does it all, good psycology with targetting the injured arm, vicious/violent offence, kept the match moving when in control, tones of intensity, trash talking, and a big NASTY bump on the outside. Edge using the bad arm for the Spear was weak and his "crazy" face is hilarious but I like the effort to get over a submission finisher. But still, this was Drew's match and he fucking bossed it.