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Childs

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Everything posted by Childs

  1. Childs
    This was a perfect match in the context of the tournament, because both guys came away looking great, and it set up real suspense for their match two nights later. I guess it was clear that they were going long from the early work, but none of it felt boring, and by the middle of the match, they conveyed plenty of urgency. They did an excellent job selling fatigue and also dialing up the nastiness in the last 10 minutes. And the crowd hung on every moment when they did their handful of big nearfalls at the end. I don't know if Chono had the potential to be as good as Kobashi or Misawa. He wasn't as dynamic athletically as either, even pre-injury. And I've never seen him express anything as dramatic as Misawa's grace under duress or Kobashi's raw desire or Hashimoto's ferocity when challenged. But he did have excellent timing and a strong connection with the crowd, so maybe there's something I'm not seeing.
  2. Childs
    It's actually sort of bizarre to suggest that movies exist to get you to do something. There are some advocacy films, of course, and some gigantic movies that exist in significant part as ads for product. But I assume most directors are hoping to tell a good story and, if they're lucky, make a little money.
  3. Childs
    Do you like the fact that he essentially kept the same look as a heel? I thought he should have gone for a more corporate look, at first. But I've come around to thinking he was even schmuckier, in a way, to keep his mullet and R'n'R garb.
  4. Childs
    Don't have a lot to add on this one. Strong work from both guys, as you'd expect. Unsatisfying finish, though it would have been fine if they had gone somewhere with an Eaton-and-Gibson-against-Morton feud.
  5. Childs
    This one felt rushed. I liked where they were going, with Muto starting the match at 100 mph and Fujinami slowing him down by working the knee. But the transition from Fujinami attacking to Muto chasing the fall happened awfully quickly, without as much selling as I would have liked. The crowd gave Muto a huge pop, so I guess they still achieved their goal in building for the Muto-Chono final. In an aside, I know Tim Cooke mentioned this in another thread, but I'll just reiterate that this was a heck of a tournament, even outside the matches that made the set. I'm not all the way through it, but Choshu and Bigelow had a good match, and Scott Norton was the surprise of the tourney, with a solid outing against Muto and a hugely crowd-pleasing match against Vader. If you're a New Japan fan and haven't seen this stuff, it's worth the effort.
  6. Childs
    I have always liked this match-up, and this was another good one between them. As Loss said, they weren't really equals at this point, so they didn't work it that way. Fujinami blitzed Vader at the bell but after that, he settled into taking a major ass beating. They did a standout job with the comeback teases. And then Fujinami hooked the backslide, which felt like an upset but not a ridiculous one given the work building up to it. They did everything they needed to do and nothing more.
  7. Childs
    It's hard for me to call this one of the best matches of the year when there's so much we can't see because it's a handheld. But it holds up as a wild-yet-well-put-together match. Gilbert's selling and character work were excellent, with his promo serving as the perfect stitching between the stretcher and cage matches. The non-finish finish irritated me after all that.
  8. Childs
    I wouldn't say Choshu dominated the match until the finish. We got plenty of Chono kicking him. It just wasn't that interesting. I wasn't into the first half of the match, but they did build to something compelling. Choshu helped get Chono over as a guy who could compete with the best, which was the point. I liked that Chono didn't win in a fluky way; it felt like a bigger deal for him to submit Choshu.
  9. Childs
    What the fuck are you talking about? I criticize Dave's sloppiness as much as the next person but to say that he "pretends" to do what he does is just asinine. He has worked exceptionally hard to build a small business and become the leading reporter in his field, and regardless of the flaws, he's still working his ass off 30 years in. I'm a writer at a large metro newspaper, and I would never say that he's "pretending." Have some fucking respect.
  10. Childs
    Muto and Chono were impressive, channeling their inner Rockers. And I've always thought Vader and Bam Bam made an excellent super heavyweight team. They could've been good together just as easily in the U.S. The NJ tag division cranked out a bunch of good matches in this period, and what's cool, from a yearbook standpoint, is that they weren't all the same. I still love All Japan, but between the '80s projects and the yearbooks, I've become just as big a fan of New Japan.
  11. Childs
    I'm horrified that this thread has again risen from the grave anew, but I do like the phrase "Five Shits of Doom" as applied to Flair. Made me smile.
  12. Childs
    This was the most "serious" Brazos trio on the yearbook to date and featured a lot of excellent wrestling. But as Loss said, it didn't quite hit the climax you'd want. I'm actually not sure I'd rank it above some of their more comedic matches. They were fucking great at comedy. I'd surely rewatch that Popitekus match before this one.
  13. Childs
    I definitely didn't hit the 6-man-fatigue point with this one. I always love it when Kikuchi pops in. And again, one of the great strengths of these matches was that Jumbo had intense and distinctive exchanges with all of the guys from the other side. This one is a great case study of that, because he almost had mini-matches with each opponent. As Loss suggested, Jumbo's rivalry with Kawada seemed to gain intensity throughout the year, leading to their Triple Crown match. But then we had the rarity of the top guys squaring off at the finish, setting the table for Misawa's big moment on 9/4. I agree that this was mostly a placeholder match. It was just a damn entertaining one that kept those plates spinning. On another note, was 1991 Jumbo's best year? It definitely wasn't his athletic peak or the year that featured his best match. But he was consistently great working up and down Team Misawa and across the singles, tags and six-mans. I'd say '91 or '89, but I think of '89 more as Tenryu's year.
  14. Childs
    I had previously thought the Sano-Shamrock match was better, but that might have been because Shamrock's performance was such a surprise. I preferred this one on second viewing. They brought such speed and intensity to the early mat exchanges. Suzuki, especially, attacked with incredible vigor. Sano was a great seller in a shoot context; he really conveyed the feeling of weathering a storm. Phil touched on a lot of the best spots. I loved the way they took the match down to second gear every so often, only for Suzuki to unleash another wild attack. One of his suplex nearfalls in the last few minutes was just sublime. And the draw didn't feel like a cheat because both guys seemed so desperate to win. It's hard to keep the tension alive for 30 minutes in this style, but they did it. One of the best shootstyle matches ever.
  15. Childs
    This match was bland and directionless until the closing stretch, with lots of holds from Gordy and Doc that neither passed the time compellingly nor led to much. The end sequence, with Miracle Violence trying to destroy Misawa's leg while keeping a feisty Kawada out of the ring, was more heated and focused. But even then, they made some strange decisions that threw off the rhythm of the match. I think we still have the best match between these teams ahead in the RWTL. But this was one of the worst All-Japan matches on the set (still needed to be included because of the title change.)
  16. Childs

    Stiff

    Childs replied to Matt D's topic in Pro Wrestling

    I'm unclear on the context of this thread. Did it get pulled out of Bret vs. Flair? Anyway, arguing that stiff shots are unnecessary seems pointless to me, because nothing about wrestling is "necessary." Stiff shots are one kind of tool that can be used to amp up drama in a match. Flair's chops didn't come off as directly useful in winning a match, but his exchanges with Garvin, Pillman, Steamboat, etc. helped convey the intensity of competition in those matches. I don't care if it's unimaginative. It worked. Many others have used stiff shots to great effect, from Hansen to Tenryu to Kawada to Finlay to Danielson. Then there's a whole other level of wrestling violence -- say Ishikawa vs. Ikeda in BattlArts/Futen. Stiffness is intrinsic to their brand of performance art. And if you find it off-putting, that's fine. But I find it compelling and harrowing.
  17. Childs
    I had never seen this and couldn't wait when I spotted it in the set listings. You take your biggest native stars and throw them against a quintet of freaks and monsters -- that's pretty much the essence of pro wrestling right there. Keep things moving quickly and fill it with broad gestures and big shots. How can you go wrong? Well, the actual match mostly met expectations. I agree with Loss that Yoko and Savio Vega were the standouts on the invaders team. I wish that Yoko, especially, had gotten a longer run in New Japan when he still had his mobility. They didn't build to any of the falls particularly well, with the last one coming quite abruptly. So yeah, I couldn't place it near the top of my beloved New Japan 10-mans. Still a neat thing to have on the set.
  18. Childs
    Two of my absolute favorites, but I liked this match more than I loved it. They started by exchanging nasty slaps, which established Hashimoto's willingness to stand and trade with the big man. I loved the intensity of the mid-match ground-and-pound stuff and Hashimoto's attempt to destroy Vader's arm. But when Hash caught Vader in an armbar later on, I didn't think the hold was applied or sold with the proper intensity. Same with the chinlock Hash tried at the end of his last rally. Those were the key payoff moments in Hashimoto's attempt to chop down the bear, so it bugged me that neither quite popped. The actual finish was better, with Vader seeming wounded but still too powerful for his challenger. Overall, they did get across the lion vs. bear vibe they sought.
  19. Childs
    I also enjoyed the pre-match analysis between Ross and Schiavone; made it feel more like a heavyweight title match. But the match itself carried no sense of bigness. They put together a few nifty sequences and none of the work was bad. They just didn't show much desperation or use the cage to add to the show. Luger's heel turn felt way understated. He finally won the belt after three years of chasing but had to embrace the dark side to do it. That should have been a huge moment. It wasn't.
  20. Childs
    Excellent match and more proof that Ricky Morton grasped pro wrestling like few others. He slipped on the heel role like a pair of worn-in loafers. I loved the way he not only went after Gibson's injured knee but ripped the tights open so we could see the brace. Gibson also performed well, selling the hell out of the injury and showing fire during his taesed comebacks. The dueling dropkick spot near the end was a clever play on one of their signature tag-team moves. And I liked Morton using the computer as a weapon, as if to say regardless of the York Foundation facade, heels are heels. This all should have meant a lot more given the duration of the R'n'Rs. But it just wasn't the right time or place.
  21. Childs
    Garvin did appear to have plenty left in the tank. I thought it was ridiculous that he kicked Invader's ass for 95 percent of the match and then went down to a so-so "heart punch." I'm not opposed to an occasional flash knockout but at least make the shot look devastating. I guess it was something of a PR staple for the local babyface to eat a major beating and then pull out a victory with a late flurry. But Colon was a lot better at the formula from the little I've seen.
  22. Childs
    Another good match between these two though unlike the 1990 matches, it did not feel like a chapter in a blood feud. Waltman should have written a guidebook on how to be a spectacular indy wrestler while also behaving like a scummy heel.
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  24. Childs
    I actually think Grantland has hit a pretty good stride overall -- less pointless navel gazing than at the beginning. I'm a big fan of Zach Lowe, their NBA writer, who mixes advanced statistics, video and more traditional reporting in a really insightful way. Jonah Keri and Bill Barnwell are strong on MLB and NFL, respectively. Their movie and TV writers are solid. I've loved their oral histories. Shoemaker is one of their weakest regular contributors. I agree that Dave wouldn't be a perfect fit stylistically, but he is a lot more readable when working with a real editor. The one MMA piece he did for Grantland was pretty good as I recall.
  25. Childs
    He's awful. He can't get past his whole reality-unreality-postmodernism schtick.
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