HHH vs Sheamus, MSG 3/19 (Street Fight)
Pretty cool house show match between these two. This being HHH's return to MSG, he was crazy over. This was much better than their street fight from PPV last year. Plenty of cool, violent stuff such as HHH whipping Sheamus with a belt Sheamus wailing on Hunter with a cane and bashing his head in with the steel steps. HHH took a few big bumps like a spill into the steps, but I didn't get the feeling he was bringing much outside the crowd support. Sheamus was great at both dishing out and taking punishment, including one great spot where he get caught upside in the ropes hanging by a foot with HHH caning him. We get a neat boo/yay punch exchange and a predictable house show finish. Not anything great, but a fun match and a pretty great Sheamus performance.
Rey Mysterio vs John Cena, WWE RAW 7/25/11
Throwing such a huge money match as this away on free TV with no build was really fucking stupid, but the match itself was really great and totally delivered. Rey targeting Cena’s leg was such a smart piece of continuity because it played off of the Miz match from earlier in the night AND set-up spots later on in the match, such as Cena’s leg giving out in the AA. They used the big small, flier vs strenth aspect of the match well, with spots like Rey jumping around to evade Cena before getting laid out with a clothesline. Some great counters from both guys, and I dug Rey’s dropkick to cut off Cena’s predictable comeback routine. Rey’s doing the STF was excellent, and so was Cena powering out of it – that shit looked truly super-human. The finishing run was great too. Rey competed in two matches and took Cena to his limit, and came out looking like a million bucks.
The Wrestling Bucket
Sunday 31 July 2011
Wednesday 27 July 2011
CZW ToD X
Necro Butcher vs Matt Tremont
This was a really, really fun brawl and almost certainly your Deathmatch Of The Year. There was a neat underlying Old School vs New School story with Necro beating Tremont up early and taking him to school, before the tables turned and he found himself desperately trying to hang with the new blood. And the brawling itself was totally nuts. Wild crowd brawling, shit getting thrown around wrecklessly, and some really violent moments that stood out, such as Tremont getting hit over the head with a bottle and Necro wildly throwing a beer cooler at his face. What really seperates guys like Necro (and Tremont from what his showing here) from 99% of garbage wrestlers is that all of the actual non-weapons brawling and strikes such as punches, chops, headbutts, etc all look good too. Tremont took a hell of a beating. The trademark Necro sitdown punch showdown spot was particularly brutal. This isn't going to be for everyone, but those who give it a look won't be dissapointed.
MASADA vs Matt Tremont
MASADA vs Masashi Takeda
Both of these were pretty mediocre and way beneath the Necro match (which shows you just how valuable Necro is to the DM scene). MASADA can go when paired with a good opponent (his match with Sami earlier in the year was really something), but when left to his own devices his matches are usually plodding displays of mutilation instead of heated brawls. They are about gross-out shock'n'awe than actually making it feel like a DEATH MATCH. Tremont took some sick punishment, but that kind of match is bottom of the barrel shit. The Takeda match was also lacking in any hate/intensity and felt like two gus trying to have a puro match with props rather than an actual deathmatch. Some stuff was hit well, some stuff was hit shittily. Takeda took MULTIPLE bareback fire bumps, including an absolutely insane finish which was so violent it almost made up for the rest of the match.
This was a really, really fun brawl and almost certainly your Deathmatch Of The Year. There was a neat underlying Old School vs New School story with Necro beating Tremont up early and taking him to school, before the tables turned and he found himself desperately trying to hang with the new blood. And the brawling itself was totally nuts. Wild crowd brawling, shit getting thrown around wrecklessly, and some really violent moments that stood out, such as Tremont getting hit over the head with a bottle and Necro wildly throwing a beer cooler at his face. What really seperates guys like Necro (and Tremont from what his showing here) from 99% of garbage wrestlers is that all of the actual non-weapons brawling and strikes such as punches, chops, headbutts, etc all look good too. Tremont took a hell of a beating. The trademark Necro sitdown punch showdown spot was particularly brutal. This isn't going to be for everyone, but those who give it a look won't be dissapointed.
MASADA vs Matt Tremont
MASADA vs Masashi Takeda
Both of these were pretty mediocre and way beneath the Necro match (which shows you just how valuable Necro is to the DM scene). MASADA can go when paired with a good opponent (his match with Sami earlier in the year was really something), but when left to his own devices his matches are usually plodding displays of mutilation instead of heated brawls. They are about gross-out shock'n'awe than actually making it feel like a DEATH MATCH. Tremont took some sick punishment, but that kind of match is bottom of the barrel shit. The Takeda match was also lacking in any hate/intensity and felt like two gus trying to have a puro match with props rather than an actual deathmatch. Some stuff was hit well, some stuff was hit shittily. Takeda took MULTIPLE bareback fire bumps, including an absolutely insane finish which was so violent it almost made up for the rest of the match.
Monday 25 July 2011
ROH "Revolution: Canada"
Michael Elgin vs Rhett Titus vs Tommaso Ciampa vs Adam Cole vs Grizzly Redwood vs Andy Ridge (Double Danger Scramble)
Pretty skippable match though interesting to see Elgin spotlighted. The Russo-ish rules were retarded and meant an unrealisitically high number of falls in a short space of time. Ridge was just embarassing, Ciampa sucks, but Titus continued to look considerably better than he did this time last year. Cole hit a flip piledriver off the top, which wasn't Petey Williams level shitty but still kinda ehhh. There was a fun dive train though, that ended with Elgin flying, and the finish with Elgin lifting Cole and Grizz up together was neat.
Colt Cabana vs Delirious
OK comedy match but really a rehash of their 2007 routine. There was some amusing stuff with both guys trying to throw a t-shirt into the crowd, and the strut off was a nice tribute to Sweeney, but overall nothing to see here.
Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team vs The Briscoes
This was a tale of two sides. One being the best tag team in the world right now, the other being horribly stale and bland. There was a really long, dull feeling out section to start before Mark took over with a low blow. Heel transition! One amusing spot saw Jay tease throwing Haas into the rails, only to roll him in the ring and flip off the fans, which was tremendous. Mark got busted out pretty nastily round his eye, but WGTT didn't really go after it at all. Briscoes brought the classic heel tag structure and controlled the match really effectively, but WGTT are just so dull I personally struggled to get into it all that much. The Briscoes ate all of their comeback offence well and made them look good, but the distraction finish came off flat. This was heel tag wrestling 101 from the Briscoes but all along I was just hoping for WGTT to give me SOMETHING to make me care about them, instead of wrestling like robots repeating routines they have been doing since 2003.
Eddie Edwards vs Chris Hero
This was a really good match, but not great or the epic they were trying to pull off. At 40 minutes it was a long match, and they could have easily gone 30 or even 25 and made the match much tighter. It started with some solid matwork, and as far as perfunctory feeling out sections go this was much better than in the tag match as Hero is a great mat-worker and kept it moving, and it naturally progressed into both guys trading blows. Christ on a cross, the chops both guys threw were insane. Hero's chest gets lit up and is bright red after only a handful from Eddie. This was followed up by a pretty great running boot over the rail, which looked like it blasted Hero straight in the face. Hero took over and went to town on Edwards's arm, and Hero is a guy who always had a 1,001 ways to work over a guy's limb and busted out plenty of creative stuff, as well as mocking and shit-talking Edwards in the process. Edwards sold it all pretty great, and then took a crazy table bump out of nowhere to put him in immediate danger. This was only a small part of the match though, as soon after he hit a big fisherman buster off the apron to the floor, which served to reset the match. The big finishing run was a mixed bag, both guys threw some more ridiculous stiff shots, there were a couple neat spots and Hero took a freaking reverse rana, but overall it still felt as if they were trying just to hard to pull off an "epic", with a million 2.9 nearfalls, and some lame interference shit with Claudio and Davey, which only served to put Davey in the spotlight and overshadow the match. In the end I came away thinking this was a really well laid out match with plenty of good actual content, but was just a little too forced to be a truly great match. Edwards is good, but just not the guy who is going to deliver a classic. If a match is really great, the work will speak for itself, and won't need an erraneous length of time or have a hundred nearfalls in sucession to try and force it, if both guys had done without that, this may have been the MOTYC they were going for.
Pretty skippable match though interesting to see Elgin spotlighted. The Russo-ish rules were retarded and meant an unrealisitically high number of falls in a short space of time. Ridge was just embarassing, Ciampa sucks, but Titus continued to look considerably better than he did this time last year. Cole hit a flip piledriver off the top, which wasn't Petey Williams level shitty but still kinda ehhh. There was a fun dive train though, that ended with Elgin flying, and the finish with Elgin lifting Cole and Grizz up together was neat.
Colt Cabana vs Delirious
OK comedy match but really a rehash of their 2007 routine. There was some amusing stuff with both guys trying to throw a t-shirt into the crowd, and the strut off was a nice tribute to Sweeney, but overall nothing to see here.
Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team vs The Briscoes
This was a tale of two sides. One being the best tag team in the world right now, the other being horribly stale and bland. There was a really long, dull feeling out section to start before Mark took over with a low blow. Heel transition! One amusing spot saw Jay tease throwing Haas into the rails, only to roll him in the ring and flip off the fans, which was tremendous. Mark got busted out pretty nastily round his eye, but WGTT didn't really go after it at all. Briscoes brought the classic heel tag structure and controlled the match really effectively, but WGTT are just so dull I personally struggled to get into it all that much. The Briscoes ate all of their comeback offence well and made them look good, but the distraction finish came off flat. This was heel tag wrestling 101 from the Briscoes but all along I was just hoping for WGTT to give me SOMETHING to make me care about them, instead of wrestling like robots repeating routines they have been doing since 2003.
Eddie Edwards vs Chris Hero
This was a really good match, but not great or the epic they were trying to pull off. At 40 minutes it was a long match, and they could have easily gone 30 or even 25 and made the match much tighter. It started with some solid matwork, and as far as perfunctory feeling out sections go this was much better than in the tag match as Hero is a great mat-worker and kept it moving, and it naturally progressed into both guys trading blows. Christ on a cross, the chops both guys threw were insane. Hero's chest gets lit up and is bright red after only a handful from Eddie. This was followed up by a pretty great running boot over the rail, which looked like it blasted Hero straight in the face. Hero took over and went to town on Edwards's arm, and Hero is a guy who always had a 1,001 ways to work over a guy's limb and busted out plenty of creative stuff, as well as mocking and shit-talking Edwards in the process. Edwards sold it all pretty great, and then took a crazy table bump out of nowhere to put him in immediate danger. This was only a small part of the match though, as soon after he hit a big fisherman buster off the apron to the floor, which served to reset the match. The big finishing run was a mixed bag, both guys threw some more ridiculous stiff shots, there were a couple neat spots and Hero took a freaking reverse rana, but overall it still felt as if they were trying just to hard to pull off an "epic", with a million 2.9 nearfalls, and some lame interference shit with Claudio and Davey, which only served to put Davey in the spotlight and overshadow the match. In the end I came away thinking this was a really well laid out match with plenty of good actual content, but was just a little too forced to be a truly great match. Edwards is good, but just not the guy who is going to deliver a classic. If a match is really great, the work will speak for itself, and won't need an erraneous length of time or have a hundred nearfalls in sucession to try and force it, if both guys had done without that, this may have been the MOTYC they were going for.
Friday 22 July 2011
Money In The Motherfuckin' Bank
Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus vs Wade Barrett vs Kane vs Sin Cara vs Cody Rhodes vs Justin Gabriel vs Heath Slater (Ladder Match)
This was a really fun match and actually shockingly good when you consider the talent involved. The dive train early on was pretty fun, Slater and Gabriel need to do highspots more often, though I thought the spot with them teasing an alliance and then turning on Barret was predictable and underwhelming. They should have knocked him off and made him take a spill instead of just letting him climb then pulling him back down. Sheamus was the fucking man in this, just destroying everyone. Cara sucks but props to the guy, that was a fucking nasty fucking bump he took getting powerbombed through the ladder. This got plenty of time for guys to shine without every dragging and was overall a really fun match with an awesome outcome. I also marked for Kane's Doomsday Device.
Mark Henry vs The Big Show
For such a short match, this was really awesome. Both guys are REALLY good big men, but both are better suited to short matches, and this was as good of match as this could have been in the time it went. Both guys were intense and pissed off, and the clobbered the hell out of each at the start. Dug the teases of the announce table spot, and both guys took some knarly bumps for their size. On top of all this, it was REALLY smartly worked with Henry going after the knee injury, and the finish and aftermath was all really great as far as making Henry look like a killer.
Alberto Del Rio vs Rey Mysterio vs The Miz vs Alex Riley vs Evan Bourne vs Jack Swagger vs Kofi Kingston vs R-Truth (Ladder)
This wasn't as good as the SD match, but still a lot of fun. There were plenty of botches, but outside of Truth's fuck-up, the botches and sloppiness actually added to the match and made it feel chaotic and unpredictable. Bourne's SSP was sweet, and the pop for Miz's return was cool. Riley trying to use the small ladder to reach the case was really amusing, when the Miz feud is done they should go back to his NXT roots and make it so that his gimmick is that he sucks. Del Rio also took a whole tonne of crazy bumps and the finish was RUDO.
Randy Orton vs Christian
This was easily the weakest of their matches, but still solid. Christian really isn't as good at working heel as he is at babyface, and Orton seemed off a lot too. Most of the RKO teases and counters were really bad and forced. There was also one really shitty punch exchange (which rightfully got zero response from the crowd). Still, there was some good stuff, mostly just some of the offence both guys broke out like Christian's diving headbutt and Orton's over-the-shoulder neckbreaker. The finish was a little anticlimactic, but worked well and the post-match with Orton going nuts on Christian was the best part of the whole deal. Once again I went in expecting an epic blow-off, but instead got another chapter in the feud, hopefully the finale delivers.
John Cena vs CM Punk
This match. What a match. Earlier in the year these two had a great match on RAW and I hoped for an epic PPV showdown between them - my prayers were answered. This was the best match I have seen in years and one of the best matches in WWE history. This was up there on the higher echelon of all time classics, and both guys, and the crowd, were outstanding. Obviously the crowd were amazing for this, before the bell even rang, the arena was booming with chants for Punk, and everytime the camera panned to the fans in the later parts of the match you could see every single fan in attendence was emotionally invested in the match unlike almost any other in recent history. Plenty of nasty moments such as Punk's knee to Cena's jaw, and the suplex to the floor out of nowhere. The match had a really effective slow-build, though maybe they made it too clear they were going long as they did lose the crowd at some point early on before getting them back, but even the early parts of the match had a clear story, with Cena replying to the "You can't wrestle" speil by matching Punk hold for hold. Punk talking during holds was also amusing, reminded me of 2004 Punk.
Some really smart spots thrown in, like Cena begining his rote day-to-day comeback routine only for Punk to telegraph it for a roll-up nearfall, and Cena busted out some unexpeced stuff like that powerslam and the abdominal stretch. But despite all the great action, this was a match made great by the story being told and the way both guy's played their roles and their characters. Story-telling is just about my favourite thing about the crazy that is pro wrestling, and this tied in with Punk's promo from RAW to perfection. Cena was no longer the underdog overcoming great odds, he was the unstoppable obstacle for others to overcome, and Punk was the one who was the underdog overcoming the WWE machine of Cena AND Vince. Cena WAS the Yankees, and dominated Punk for most of the second half, with Punk desperately trying to hang on. Cena was so good in this, completely stoic and "strictly business" throughout, but later on cracking a "trying not to lose my cool" smile and arguing with the ref (but not a whiny heel way) to show his frustration and the cracks in his armour. Punk was the polar opposite, full of personality and laying it all out there in the ring. There were a couple sloppy spots, but they didn't break the flow of the match or expose the business, so they were insignificant, and there was also some complicated stuff hit well. The whole sequence starting with Cena catching Punk in the crossbody leading to the AA nearfall was amazing and something I re-watched several times. Every counter in this match looked natural and organic, and the nearfalls were huge (no one has ever kicked out of 2 AA's before, so that was huge).
The finish could have been terrible and soured the whole match, but instead it was pretty much perfect, and off the top of my head I can't remember the WWE ever nailing a non-clean finish as well as they did here. Cena clocking Ace was THE definitive John Cena moment. He would rather lose doing the right thing, than win doing the wrong thing. WWE usually fucks up these angles, so it was a real shock to see them pull the trigger here and gives the fans what they really wanted, and the place exploded for Punk's win. The aftermath with Vince, Del Rio and Punk leaving through the crowd was just the icing on the cake.
And it was a good fucking cake.
This was a really fun match and actually shockingly good when you consider the talent involved. The dive train early on was pretty fun, Slater and Gabriel need to do highspots more often, though I thought the spot with them teasing an alliance and then turning on Barret was predictable and underwhelming. They should have knocked him off and made him take a spill instead of just letting him climb then pulling him back down. Sheamus was the fucking man in this, just destroying everyone. Cara sucks but props to the guy, that was a fucking nasty fucking bump he took getting powerbombed through the ladder. This got plenty of time for guys to shine without every dragging and was overall a really fun match with an awesome outcome. I also marked for Kane's Doomsday Device.
Mark Henry vs The Big Show
For such a short match, this was really awesome. Both guys are REALLY good big men, but both are better suited to short matches, and this was as good of match as this could have been in the time it went. Both guys were intense and pissed off, and the clobbered the hell out of each at the start. Dug the teases of the announce table spot, and both guys took some knarly bumps for their size. On top of all this, it was REALLY smartly worked with Henry going after the knee injury, and the finish and aftermath was all really great as far as making Henry look like a killer.
Alberto Del Rio vs Rey Mysterio vs The Miz vs Alex Riley vs Evan Bourne vs Jack Swagger vs Kofi Kingston vs R-Truth (Ladder)
This wasn't as good as the SD match, but still a lot of fun. There were plenty of botches, but outside of Truth's fuck-up, the botches and sloppiness actually added to the match and made it feel chaotic and unpredictable. Bourne's SSP was sweet, and the pop for Miz's return was cool. Riley trying to use the small ladder to reach the case was really amusing, when the Miz feud is done they should go back to his NXT roots and make it so that his gimmick is that he sucks. Del Rio also took a whole tonne of crazy bumps and the finish was RUDO.
Randy Orton vs Christian
This was easily the weakest of their matches, but still solid. Christian really isn't as good at working heel as he is at babyface, and Orton seemed off a lot too. Most of the RKO teases and counters were really bad and forced. There was also one really shitty punch exchange (which rightfully got zero response from the crowd). Still, there was some good stuff, mostly just some of the offence both guys broke out like Christian's diving headbutt and Orton's over-the-shoulder neckbreaker. The finish was a little anticlimactic, but worked well and the post-match with Orton going nuts on Christian was the best part of the whole deal. Once again I went in expecting an epic blow-off, but instead got another chapter in the feud, hopefully the finale delivers.
John Cena vs CM Punk
This match. What a match. Earlier in the year these two had a great match on RAW and I hoped for an epic PPV showdown between them - my prayers were answered. This was the best match I have seen in years and one of the best matches in WWE history. This was up there on the higher echelon of all time classics, and both guys, and the crowd, were outstanding. Obviously the crowd were amazing for this, before the bell even rang, the arena was booming with chants for Punk, and everytime the camera panned to the fans in the later parts of the match you could see every single fan in attendence was emotionally invested in the match unlike almost any other in recent history. Plenty of nasty moments such as Punk's knee to Cena's jaw, and the suplex to the floor out of nowhere. The match had a really effective slow-build, though maybe they made it too clear they were going long as they did lose the crowd at some point early on before getting them back, but even the early parts of the match had a clear story, with Cena replying to the "You can't wrestle" speil by matching Punk hold for hold. Punk talking during holds was also amusing, reminded me of 2004 Punk.
Some really smart spots thrown in, like Cena begining his rote day-to-day comeback routine only for Punk to telegraph it for a roll-up nearfall, and Cena busted out some unexpeced stuff like that powerslam and the abdominal stretch. But despite all the great action, this was a match made great by the story being told and the way both guy's played their roles and their characters. Story-telling is just about my favourite thing about the crazy that is pro wrestling, and this tied in with Punk's promo from RAW to perfection. Cena was no longer the underdog overcoming great odds, he was the unstoppable obstacle for others to overcome, and Punk was the one who was the underdog overcoming the WWE machine of Cena AND Vince. Cena WAS the Yankees, and dominated Punk for most of the second half, with Punk desperately trying to hang on. Cena was so good in this, completely stoic and "strictly business" throughout, but later on cracking a "trying not to lose my cool" smile and arguing with the ref (but not a whiny heel way) to show his frustration and the cracks in his armour. Punk was the polar opposite, full of personality and laying it all out there in the ring. There were a couple sloppy spots, but they didn't break the flow of the match or expose the business, so they were insignificant, and there was also some complicated stuff hit well. The whole sequence starting with Cena catching Punk in the crossbody leading to the AA nearfall was amazing and something I re-watched several times. Every counter in this match looked natural and organic, and the nearfalls were huge (no one has ever kicked out of 2 AA's before, so that was huge).
The finish could have been terrible and soured the whole match, but instead it was pretty much perfect, and off the top of my head I can't remember the WWE ever nailing a non-clean finish as well as they did here. Cena clocking Ace was THE definitive John Cena moment. He would rather lose doing the right thing, than win doing the wrong thing. WWE usually fucks up these angles, so it was a real shock to see them pull the trigger here and gives the fans what they really wanted, and the place exploded for Punk's win. The aftermath with Vince, Del Rio and Punk leaving through the crowd was just the icing on the cake.
And it was a good fucking cake.
Saturday 16 July 2011
LA PARK/Halloween/Decniss vs El Mesias/Extreme Tiger/Jack Evans, AAA 5/29
Really, really awesome hate-filled brawl built around the PARK vs Mesias feud. PARK finds a circular fan from God knows where and beats the shit out of Mesias with it. Loads of brawling and hate and fun highspots from the fliers. PARK smashing Mesias with the fan then strutting was tremendous. This wasn't all PARK though, as Mesias brings it with his big comeback, absolutely creaming PARK with a chair and spearing him out of his boots. If you havent watched PARK vs Mesias yet, watch this first, if this doesn't psyche you up for it, I don't know what will.
Pinkie Sanchez vs Matt Tremont, CZW “Prelude To Violence”
Fun DM squash. More intense than he usual CZW trash, with plenty of Shit talking and face-ripping. Tremont gets hit with a tack-bat so hard the tacks fly off and with a water cooler-on-a-stick so hard the water cooler splits, and he takes it like a MAN. Also liked the finish with Pinkie getting killed for getting cute with goofy spots.
Yoshihiro Takayama/Hiromitsu Kanehara vs Daisuke Sekimoto/Shito Ueda, Zeron-ONE 5/23
We only got 6 minutes shown of this, and it looked like we didn't miss much. Looked like they going for a hot start with Sek and Ueda attacking the vets at the start, but then Kanehara kinda sandbagged it with a long kneebar. One or two fun strength spots from Sekimoto, including Takayama eating a double German, and Kanehara had thrown some stiff blows, otherwise nothing to see here.
Austin Aries vs Low Ki vs Jack Evans vs Zema Ion, TNA Destination X
Really fun spotfest between four guys all busting their ass and trying (and suceeding) to steal the show. Aries was a great heel in this, and his exchanges with Ki were the highlight of the match. Zema was acceptable, and Evans was a lot of fun. Plenty of cool spots like Aries ducking Jack who then got blasted by Ki, and Evans inappropriately break-dancing and getting clocked for it. Even though it was a spotfest this was more about guys trying to actually win the match instead of doing elaboate set-ups or any other nonsense. It ended when it should have done, and the nearfalls were well done because of the out of nowhere saves (including a brutal double stomp from Ki) rather than a bunch of kickouts. Amusing to think they only signed one of the four when all of them looked better than the current TNA roster.
Really, really awesome hate-filled brawl built around the PARK vs Mesias feud. PARK finds a circular fan from God knows where and beats the shit out of Mesias with it. Loads of brawling and hate and fun highspots from the fliers. PARK smashing Mesias with the fan then strutting was tremendous. This wasn't all PARK though, as Mesias brings it with his big comeback, absolutely creaming PARK with a chair and spearing him out of his boots. If you havent watched PARK vs Mesias yet, watch this first, if this doesn't psyche you up for it, I don't know what will.
Pinkie Sanchez vs Matt Tremont, CZW “Prelude To Violence”
Fun DM squash. More intense than he usual CZW trash, with plenty of Shit talking and face-ripping. Tremont gets hit with a tack-bat so hard the tacks fly off and with a water cooler-on-a-stick so hard the water cooler splits, and he takes it like a MAN. Also liked the finish with Pinkie getting killed for getting cute with goofy spots.
Yoshihiro Takayama/Hiromitsu Kanehara vs Daisuke Sekimoto/Shito Ueda, Zeron-ONE 5/23
We only got 6 minutes shown of this, and it looked like we didn't miss much. Looked like they going for a hot start with Sek and Ueda attacking the vets at the start, but then Kanehara kinda sandbagged it with a long kneebar. One or two fun strength spots from Sekimoto, including Takayama eating a double German, and Kanehara had thrown some stiff blows, otherwise nothing to see here.
Austin Aries vs Low Ki vs Jack Evans vs Zema Ion, TNA Destination X
Really fun spotfest between four guys all busting their ass and trying (and suceeding) to steal the show. Aries was a great heel in this, and his exchanges with Ki were the highlight of the match. Zema was acceptable, and Evans was a lot of fun. Plenty of cool spots like Aries ducking Jack who then got blasted by Ki, and Evans inappropriately break-dancing and getting clocked for it. Even though it was a spotfest this was more about guys trying to actually win the match instead of doing elaboate set-ups or any other nonsense. It ended when it should have done, and the nearfalls were well done because of the out of nowhere saves (including a brutal double stomp from Ki) rather than a bunch of kickouts. Amusing to think they only signed one of the four when all of them looked better than the current TNA roster.
Tuesday 12 July 2011
Shinjiro Ohtani/Daichi Hashimoto vs Masato Tanaka/Kenta Kakinuma, Zero-ONE 4/16
Not great or a MOTYC affair, but a pretty good match of the vet/rookie vs vet/rookie formula. A Zero-ONE level Kobashi/Go vs Sasaki/Nakajima, and even a poor man's version of that formula is pretty good. Every match up delivers, the young lions really bring it and are fired up, the vets lay in a beating on them, good times all round. Kakinuma takes an especially rude backdrop bump for a young'un.
Yuji Hino vs Quiet Storm, K-Dojo 4/17
When did Quiet Storm get so bulky? This was a lot of fun. Two big stocky dudes clobbering each other, throwing each other around and slamming into each other. With this being set up by Storm beating Hino with a lariat, it only made sense for a lot of this to be built around both guys lariating each other and trying to be the last man standing, and it made for some good nearfalls. Every bomb and slam looked impactful, and there was plenty of struggle over moves. It's clipped (not sure how much by), but in a 2011 year, I enjoyed what we see enough to recommend it.
Kensuke Sasaki/Kento Miyahara vs The Kings Of Wrestling, NOAH 4/24
Pretty strong house show effort. Miyahara was spotlighted well and looked pretty good. A bit slow to start but once they got going it was good stuff. Claudio was a bit too resthold-y, and Sasaki wasn't great, but he did what was needed of him and was a fun house of fire. Not worth going out of your way for or anything, but a fun outing.
Daisuke Sekimoto/Yuji Okabayashi vs Manobu Soya/Seiya Senada, All Japan 6/19
Really boring/dull for most of the way. With the exception of a small handful of instances, almost entirely lacking in the positives of their previous bout(s). Bad crowd didn't help, but no one was as intense as they should have been for this and a lengthy feeling out section was stupid on top of dull.
Not great or a MOTYC affair, but a pretty good match of the vet/rookie vs vet/rookie formula. A Zero-ONE level Kobashi/Go vs Sasaki/Nakajima, and even a poor man's version of that formula is pretty good. Every match up delivers, the young lions really bring it and are fired up, the vets lay in a beating on them, good times all round. Kakinuma takes an especially rude backdrop bump for a young'un.
Yuji Hino vs Quiet Storm, K-Dojo 4/17
When did Quiet Storm get so bulky? This was a lot of fun. Two big stocky dudes clobbering each other, throwing each other around and slamming into each other. With this being set up by Storm beating Hino with a lariat, it only made sense for a lot of this to be built around both guys lariating each other and trying to be the last man standing, and it made for some good nearfalls. Every bomb and slam looked impactful, and there was plenty of struggle over moves. It's clipped (not sure how much by), but in a 2011 year, I enjoyed what we see enough to recommend it.
Kensuke Sasaki/Kento Miyahara vs The Kings Of Wrestling, NOAH 4/24
Pretty strong house show effort. Miyahara was spotlighted well and looked pretty good. A bit slow to start but once they got going it was good stuff. Claudio was a bit too resthold-y, and Sasaki wasn't great, but he did what was needed of him and was a fun house of fire. Not worth going out of your way for or anything, but a fun outing.
Daisuke Sekimoto/Yuji Okabayashi vs Manobu Soya/Seiya Senada, All Japan 6/19
Really boring/dull for most of the way. With the exception of a small handful of instances, almost entirely lacking in the positives of their previous bout(s). Bad crowd didn't help, but no one was as intense as they should have been for this and a lengthy feeling out section was stupid on top of dull.
Saturday 9 July 2011
Yoshihiro Takayama/Takuma Sano vs The Kings Of Wrestling, NOAH 4/16
This wasn't even half as good as their match from last year. Hero WORKS the apron and does a good job of actively getting the fans to care, but otherwise this was largely really dull. Hero also dishes out some nasty chops and elbows (standard) and a nice tope, but the Sano/Claudio exchanges were outright shitty.
Kazunari Murakami/Seiya Morohashi vs Yoshiaki Yago/Kengo Mashimo, Union Pro 5/4
I only checked this out because Yago was a freaking badass in his breif Chikara stint and I wanted to see if him Murakami would wail on each other. Murakami crowbar'd him a few times, but really this match almost isn't worth commenting on. Too long, too much filler, not enough ass kicking.
Dick Togo vs Shuji Ishikawa, DDT 5/4
I actually like Ishikawa but there's no two ways about it - he sucked pretty fierce here. There was some good stuff like Togo's selling, bladejob, his last flurry of strikes near the end and the way he sold the finish to make it look devestating, but this was a long match with periods of nothing happening. Even with the clipped version, it felt too long with a lot of overkill, and Ishikawa no-selling the Senton for a sloppy as hell chokeslam killed it for me.
Yoshihiro Takayama/Takuma Sano vs Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 5/8
I almost gave this a second look because I literally had no opinion on it after watching it. I didn't like it, didn't dislike it. There were sections that were good, such as Akiyama getting worked over, Sano delivering a hellish stomp from the top to the floor, and the finishing run had it's moments. But to balence that there was an awful lot of dead air and a particularly bad no-sell exchange from Sano. I was left thinking "well, that certainly was.... a match". I guess that's not a good thing.
This wasn't even half as good as their match from last year. Hero WORKS the apron and does a good job of actively getting the fans to care, but otherwise this was largely really dull. Hero also dishes out some nasty chops and elbows (standard) and a nice tope, but the Sano/Claudio exchanges were outright shitty.
Kazunari Murakami/Seiya Morohashi vs Yoshiaki Yago/Kengo Mashimo, Union Pro 5/4
I only checked this out because Yago was a freaking badass in his breif Chikara stint and I wanted to see if him Murakami would wail on each other. Murakami crowbar'd him a few times, but really this match almost isn't worth commenting on. Too long, too much filler, not enough ass kicking.
Dick Togo vs Shuji Ishikawa, DDT 5/4
I actually like Ishikawa but there's no two ways about it - he sucked pretty fierce here. There was some good stuff like Togo's selling, bladejob, his last flurry of strikes near the end and the way he sold the finish to make it look devestating, but this was a long match with periods of nothing happening. Even with the clipped version, it felt too long with a lot of overkill, and Ishikawa no-selling the Senton for a sloppy as hell chokeslam killed it for me.
Yoshihiro Takayama/Takuma Sano vs Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 5/8
I almost gave this a second look because I literally had no opinion on it after watching it. I didn't like it, didn't dislike it. There were sections that were good, such as Akiyama getting worked over, Sano delivering a hellish stomp from the top to the floor, and the finishing run had it's moments. But to balence that there was an awful lot of dead air and a particularly bad no-sell exchange from Sano. I was left thinking "well, that certainly was.... a match". I guess that's not a good thing.
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