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Graham Crackers

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Everything posted by Graham Crackers

  1. Graham Crackers
    I don't think anyone is better at working over an opponent's cut than Tenryu. You could plug any wrestler into that formula and it would be compelling, even a turd like Tenzan.
  2. Graham Crackers
    This was really good. Tiger Mask wasn't so stale back then and Togo is timeless. Blood, mask ripping, choking, etc. The fact that I can't find a billion Togo singles matches like this from the last decade makes me sad.
  3. Graham Crackers
    I remember the first match being refreshingly simple and it was, but it also felt really long on my last viewing. I thought it would be a junior MOTDC but it didn't really hold up as being at that level. I still loved the selling, the simple striking sequences, the lack of overkill in the finishing stretch, and the more conservative than usual fighting spirit spots. The rematch is almost at a similar level but I felt like it had a weaker structure than the original and that's what keeps it a step below it.
  4. Graham Crackers
    I think this is easily one of the two or three best junior heavyweight singles matches to come out of Japan in the last decade. Great offense, great selling, and huge spots. They make tremendous use of the length of this match and it rightfully feels like an epic main event.
  5. Graham Crackers
    This matchup never disappoints. 2000s Taue always steps it up for big matches and as a result we get a really good heavyweight main event.
  6. Graham Crackers
    Cool match, kind of like a joshi Misawa vs Jumbo. This was structurally a lot more interesting than the Kong vs Satomura match from the previous year but it lacked the brutal offense that made that stand out.
  7. Graham Crackers
    I wouldn't call this shoot-style. There are elements of it here and there but they're all things you can find in tons of other NJPW matches. If you want to see an even better IWGP Jr title match that resembles shoot style then check out the Kanemoto vs Rutten from 2002. This was good in it's own right though. Tthe grappling was a nice change of pace from some of the spottier junior stuff from the last decade and with the length being shorter than 15 minutes in never overstays it's welcome.
  8. Graham Crackers
    I like Misawa vs Takayama more than Takayama vs Kobashi. This is the first epic NOAH main event and one of the best matches they ever promoted. Takayama finally looks like the force of nature he'd be for the next few years in this match. Part of that is just how brutal his offense was but a lot of that is Misawa's incredible selling and the very nasty hardway blood. What I really love is that we get to see Takayama plugged into a great Misawa main event formula. Those submissions may not be your typical Misawa offense but they are plugged into one of those classic comebacks. Misawa comes out looking like he's still the man because he survived a beating at the hands of the next big thing. This is probably my Japanese MOTY for 2001.
  9. Graham Crackers
    Y'know, I was prepared to hate this but it ended up not being so bad. I guess Kawada still had enough left in 2001 to carry crippled Mutoh. Mutoh doing legwork still isn't my thing and I don't think this'll make my ballot but I was very pleasantly surprised by this.
  10. Graham Crackers
    If only Sugiura had been a shoot style wrestler... Of course, who isn't going to look good in the ring with a game Alexander Otsuka? Sugiura and Otsuka look great doing all of that amateur wrestling stuff and the headbutt/blood make this really intense. This is a great match and one of the best from 2001.
  11. Graham Crackers
    Fun Misawa vs Akiyama action. The double count out leading to the restart makes it feel unique and lends a sense of urgency to the finishing stretch. Still, it's way behind their 2000 match and isn't even as good as their GHC title match.
  12. Graham Crackers
    I'm shocked at the reaction to this match in this thread. It's not a MOTDC but it is easily one of the two or three best heavyweight dream matches put on in the interpromotional era. Everything Misawa vs Hashimoto is great, especially Misawa selling the beating and Hashimoto falling to the dreaded Misawa comeback. Akiyama has one of his best performances of the year being a total douche to Hashimoto only to get caught. Nagata isn't even as bad as usual.
  13. Graham Crackers
    I already watched all of the joshi matches nominated for this project and while I remember not liking this match I can't remember why. I'll assume it has something to do with there being too many wrestlers I hate in this match (Nakanishi, Takahashi, Toyota).
  14. Graham Crackers
    Probably the best Battlarts match nominated for this project to come before the 2008 return to glory. Not a wildly violent Battlarts match though there is some good striking. I like Tiger Mask and Hidaka in this setting but this is all about Malenko and especially Otsuka. Otsuka brings all the best matwork, counters, selling, and throws and it really feels like a good match to show off his skills without having the other 3 pillars of Battlarts (Ishikawa, Ikeda, and Ono) around.
  15. Graham Crackers
    This was pretty disappointing to me. I did like the Wagner brothers' schtick but it didn't feel like Kanemoto and Minoru were interested in wrestling the same match.
  16. Graham Crackers
    This is like, the fifth best Vader match from NOAH which unfortunately doesn't mean much. It's not bad but it's also nothing more than a solid NOAH main event tag.
  17. Graham Crackers
    A Misawa vs Hashimoto singles match would have made my head explode. This is a great tease of the March tag but it is always going to be disappointing to me because I love Otsuka and he is basically treated like a nonentity here.
  18. Graham Crackers
    Another good but not great NJPW match. Being a rematch and the finals of a one night tournament they cut to the chase when Kawada rushes Sasaki at the bell. This is pretty much one big finishing stretch and as a result it's fun but ultimately feels incomplete.
  19. Graham Crackers
    This is simple and effective and definitely better than their 2004 match. Tenzan's striking is inconsistent but Kawada's selling makes up for that. The headbutt that puts Tenzan in control is a real good one though. This is all about Kawada's selling which makes it better than it would have been with the focus on Tenzan's selling. The problem is that leads to a match with more Tenzan control segments than I'd like. The length makes that a bit more acceptable but it still never gets better than just good.
  20. Graham Crackers
    These Kobashi vs Akiyama matches build nicely but are really bloated. I'm not sure if this match or the 2004 match will make my top 100 but if they do they'll be closer to the bottom. There is a lot to enjoy here but I don't think it's really enough to fill the length of the match. With that said, the big spots are incredible and even in the context of the match they never feel like too much. It's just the amount of suplexes and nearfalls in the ring that drag this down.
  21. Graham Crackers
    This is a great match but I feel like an outlier because I don't think it's the classic that everyone makes it out to be. It is really great but it's still only my number 4 NJPW match for 2000 and would be even lower if I factored in other things. I guess that as much as I like Kawada and love Fuchi's performance that it isn't enough to compare with Hashimoto vs Ogawa, Misawa vs Akiyama, Tenryu's return to AJPW. I do still think it's a top 50 match though. Just not a top 15-10 affair.
  22. Graham Crackers
    Very fun Mpro style 6 man. It gets the pace right for that kind of match and doesn't overstay it's welcome. Probably my favorite match that Makabe has ever been in.
  23. Graham Crackers
    Like AKIRA's earlier match against Kanemoto this is very good but flawed. The leg selling isn't a problem here but there are some cringe worthy cliched junior spots such as the repeated missed double dropkicks that knock this down a peg or two. Kanemoto's brutal kicks keep that match a notch above this one.
  24. Graham Crackers
    Man, this match sucks. Outside of Nagata's facial expression not even changing when Tenzan rakes his eyes nothing that happens was awful but not a single thing was good. The structure isn't compelling in any way. They hit each other. Sometimes a guy gets isolated but it's brief and it never goes as far as you expect a heat segment to go. There is very little grappling so they throw a lot of strikes. The strikes aren't sold in an interesting way, even if they aren't completely no-sold and they aren't even stiff enough to make up for that. Kojima hurts his knee but it doesn't really factor into anything. The crowd is hot but I can't bring myself to care.
  25. Graham Crackers
    As long as Murakami is in there with a great wrestler I'll probably enjoy it. I'm one of those folks who thinks Ishikawa is a possible top 10 all time great wrestler so, as you can imagine, I really dig this as well as the 2001 rematch. This one is a concise and brutal fight. That's why I also think it could make a great introduction to this style, even if there are better Battlarts matches up for voting in this project. Ishikawa lets Murakami look like a bruiser and makes you believe that he is really toughing it by hanging in this match. The shooty brawling on the floor is awesome and is a definitive Battlarts image.
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