Superstar Sleeze

Ric Flair vs Eddie Guerrero - WCW Nitro 12/18/95 I am surprised Madusa throwing WWF Women’s Championship into the trash didnt make the Yearbook. Shocking at the time no doubt but ultimately inconsequential. Also Sgt. Craig Pittman comes out after this and asks Heenan to manage him but Heenan hem & haws about getting someone else to do it. I think that ends up going nowhere. These two have a longer Nitro match next year and a PPV match at Hog Wild, this is pretty short but sweet. I really enjoyed Eddie‘s shine. Some nice amateur riding sequences. Taking advantage of Flair’s showboating with a dropkicks. Then some uptempo fun with trips and slaps. Flair sells it well. Flair knocks him off the top rope to the floor. He jams his knee and Flair works it and then wins with the Figure-4 from Eddie getting pinned from the pain. I kinda like some of these unconventional anti-climatic finishes. Not every match should end in a comeback sometimes the heat segment should lead to a win. I dig it. *** After months of babyface dissension, we get a cool moment of heel dissension where Sullivan takes umbrage with Pillman mocking the Dungeon last week. Flair tries to placate him. Anderson says Fuck You. You got a problem with Pillman you got a problem with us. Heel dissension in a way is even rarer than babyface dissension. This really puts over how everyone is at everyone throats in WCW. I love this booking!!!

Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs Sting & Hulk Hogan - WCW Nitro 12/11/95 Nitro Recap: Eddie Guerrero vs JL serves as a backdrop to promote WCW vs New Japan at Starrcade. Best midcard match in quite some time on Nitro about 3 stars I’d say. Eddie gets the majority of the match as expected but Lynn gets a couple good spots as well. Orndorff takes some heat from Disco but beats him with lefts, the Boogie Woogie Elbow and a Saito Suplex. This is a backdrop from the brutal Horsemen beat down in Charlotte. Loose Canon gimmick is starting as Pillman just trashes a bunch of guys including Orndorff. Flair & Anderson have to clean up Pilllman’s mess. Spike Piledriver. Wonderful does the stretcher job. Orndorff comes back a little but ultimately doesn’t go anywhere. They are in Horsemen Country (Charlotte) so this is a great way to give the crowd some red meat to watch a classic Horsemen beat down. Pillman is the new Tully. The heat seeking firebrand and Flair & Double A will have to put out his fires. Luger was wicked over against Duggan. Duggan surprisingly takes most of the match but Luger clocks him from behind with a Forearm thanks to timely Mouth of the South distraction. He racks him up to a big pop. The reactions to Luger and Horsemen do not bode well for the Hulkster. Savage cuts one of his iconic promos one that I still quote to my project teams that I lead “How do you solve multiple problems? One at a time, one at a time, one at a time”. He has a loaded schedule Giant next week, Tenzan and then the winner of the Triangle match. Best Nitro in quite some time as the main event really delivers… A fan has a sign that says “The House Flair Built” and that is all you need to know as loud “Hogan Sucks” chants permeate the arena for the whole match and the post-match promo. Sting is still over so this is not a total pro-Horsemen crowd. The babyface shine is fun with Arn eating Press Slams from the Stinger and big rights from the Hulkster. The crowd wants to see the Nature Boy light up Hogan but they play it straight. Usual fun Hogan/Flair exchange loved the Flair Flip running into Sting boxing the ears. The transition to heat was really good. Sting had Anderson in the Scorpion Deathlock but relinquished when Flair came in and went to put him in but Arn dropped his ass with a DDT. Luger comes out and racks Hogan to a big pop. Awesome heat segment on Sting’s knee and big pop for the Figure-4, Sting be damned THIS IS FLAIR COUNTRY! Sting Press Slam! Flair holds onto his foot for dear life. Sting face buster and here comes the Hulkster. Spinebuster! NOPE! HULK-UP! You know the drill. Pillman and Luger attack. Sting fends them off. Macho Man out and Sting levels him but immediately regrets. Sting apologizes in the promo and Hogan is taking his side as the crowd chants Hogan Sucks! Savage says “I am the Master of Disaster of Overreacting, a fault I know” Savage was really on fire tonight and he accepts Sting’s apology. Still some dissension but I am enjoying these powwows immediately after the angle. The Nitro 6 (Hogan, Savage, Sting, Luger, Flair and Giant) are on fire. The booking is awesome and the characters are well-defined, charisma and heat is off the charts. Wicked fun classic Crockett match in front of a Crockett crowd. *** 1/2

Hell Yeah Brutha! Damn I would have paid good money to see that. WCW World Heavyweight Champion Macho Man Randy Savage vs Total Package Lex Luger - WCW Nitro 12/4/95 An extended Nitro by about 10 minutes looks like the overruns have started. I thought the first half was pretty skippable. Harlem Heat vs American Males was fine but nothing you have to see. It is funny how the Spinaroonie was so much bigger of a deal in WWE but was used so much better as a transition to Harlem Sidekick and the Harlem Hangover is always sick to see. Sting vs Kurosawa wicked short. Kurosawa worked the arm. Sting said not tonight brutha. Stinger Splash and Scorpion Deathlock. They hyped Scott Norton in action so I thought he get a win over Shark or Hugh Morris but then Giant came out. Weird they didn’t hype a Giant appearance as this is his lengthy match on Nitro. Giant big times Norton but Norton gets him up for an Atomic Drop to the big pop. Norton comes off top. Chokeslam. Over. Fun little hoss match. Flair is with Charles Barkley not much is said but cool as fuck. Savage vs Luger single handedly save the show and have a total hidden gem. These two have terrific chemistry. The Nitro matches of 95 far outshine the PPV matches of 95 so watch these bad boys. Significant departure from the Savage babyface formula. Savage starts out very aggressive, usual scrappy tenacious Pitbull dog energy from Savage. Luger weathers the storm and hits a clothesline. You think we are going into heat as is custom for babyface Savage. Nah nah. Savage catches Luger on the outside and back on attack with a top rope double axehandle. Luger gets the suplex. Heat Segment? Think again. Missed elbow drop by Luger. Savage works the arm?!? Savage has had a bad arm for months now so Everton expected his arm to get worked over not Luger’s. How many times do you get to see Savage work the arm. It is good to work. A mixture of holds and slamming the arm into hard metal objects. I wish there was a nice punctuation mark on this control segment with a near fall but otherwise great. I LOVED THE Transition! Luger sidesteps Savage who crashes and burns into guardrail! Luger sells his arm very well in his heat segment. Again it is solid work by Luger on Macho Man but I wish we got like a powerslam as a sort of punctuation mark before they transitioned to the finish stretch they used a head collision on rope running to level the plying field. Jimmy Hart took off the turnbuckle pad so of course Macho Man rams the Total Package’s head into the exposed buckle. The reeling Total Package wipes out the ref. Macho Man Elbow Drop! Flair it out COLD COCKS MACHO MAN with Knuckledusters. He puts the Package on top. Hogan says not on my watch. Kicks Flair’s ass and stops the ref from counting three and that gets the match thrown out. He is hauls off to clock Luger but hits Sting instead! GREAT BOOKING! The promo after is great pro wrestling theatre everyone is true to their character different motivations. Sting wants to straighten his friend out and wants the Mega Powers to cut him and Luger slack. Hogan and Macho rightfully dont trust Luger and you can see why they don’t trust Sting. Next weeks a big match tag match with Hogan/Sting Vs Horsemen they clear the air but definite dissension on the babyface side. Loved the match. Just missed two-three big moments to make truly great but this is a really good Lo-fi match. Love these two together. *** 3/4

Sting & Lex Luger vs Arn Anderson & Brian Pillman - WCW Nitro 11/27/95 Nitro Recap: First 2/3rds pretty skippable. DDP vs Badd was an angle. Whose side is Kimberly on? She threw the chain that DDP gave to her in the flowers to Badd who she came out with but we aren’t sure. Japanese women tag was a sloppy spot fest some good moves by the heels (Hokuto & Nakano), pretty much filled the spot that Luchadores would. Hugh Morris debuts for the Dungeon eats a loss to Hogan. He does a cool reverse clothesline off the buckles and his No Laughing Moonsault hits but triggers a Hulk Up to good amount of boos. Getting booed against a no name. Business picks up with the angle. Savage is the new World Champ. Hogan disputes this as the already eliminated Giant pulled him out by the bottom rope but the tape cuts out. Giants chokeslams Savage on the concrete in a cool angle. Hogan gets the better of the Giant with a steel chair. Good angle. Main Event. Is Sting on the dark side? Bischoff is unsure. Has Luger secretly seen the light? Sullivan and Jimmy are unsure. Pretty classic Mid-Atlantic match with a better finish would be good. AA Spinebuster on Sting and Luger saves. Babyface shine is so fun. Stereo Press Slams. Luger kicking ass and outsmarting the heels. Horsemen bumping and stooging. Stinger Splash! Luger throws Pillman off the top rope and “accidentally” missiles him into Sting as he has the Scorpion Death lock on. Great spot that fits the story. Good heel heat segment. Luger has enough and saves Sting. In melee, Sting pins Pillman randomly. Flair attacks the faces but Hogan saves and beats Flair back. Sting stops Hogan from beating up. Luger. Really good booking. The match felt incomplete and anti-climatic if they gave this 15 they could have something special. Better booking than a match.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NJPW 11/3/03 Watched this at 5am when I couldn’t get back to sleep but after I finished I felt the sleep coming on so I went back to bed. Let’s see what I remember. If Tenzan winning the G-1 Climax this year was his coming out party and then would be the match that cemented him as a main event player. However long term booking doesn’t bear that out as he turns around drops the belt the next month to rookie supernova Shinsuke Nakamura and New Japan booking generally falls to shit in 2004. This match Tenzan sheds that heel goon energy and tries his hand as a serious Ace Babyface warding off the cocky badass invader. Don’t remember his hair style at 2003 G1 Climax but he has CUT his trademark tire-track-meets-sting-ray mullet that he is known for. Your boy is serious now. As I have now watched twice, Tenzan came up short against Takayama in June when a surprise Headbutt uppercut did in the challenger. This is the rematch. They put over the stakes of the match as each wrestler so very cautious. I got the feeling that Tenzan has earned Takayama’s respect and Takayama considers him a credible threat to take the title. Tenzan feels like a young lion who has matured in front of us after 8 years or so of seasoning. He has been an asshole bruiser and a goon but in this case familiarity breeds endearment. It is very much “he’s our asshole” vibe and we need this asshole to vanquish the big bad outsider. At this point Sasaki left to go work in Choshu’s short live promotion and Kojima left for All Japan full time. It was down to Nagata and Tenzan. It felt like Tenzan’s time. He was being promoted. They do some standing arm work and jockeying for position. This is not Tenzan‘s forte. Then we get the stand up exchanges and clubbering. It is very much even Stevens. Tenzan catches a kick and works over the leg. It is general Tenzan work. Dragon Leg Screw that leads to leg locks and clubbering. Again working on top is not Tenzan’s forte but it give them a focal point in this segment and a touchstone for later. There are some weird moments of Takayama modulating his selling too high and too little that is not commensurate with the damage. Eventually Takayama rips a German Suplex like only he can. TAKAYAMA ROCKS TENZAN WITH TWO BIG KNEES TO THE HEAD! Takayama’s size and pedigree make this work. No matter how down and out he is, all it takes is a suplex and a couple big knees and you believe he is right back into it. I would argue if you JIP to Takayama German Suplex you could argue this is a great match. It becomes the match you expect. The Invader beating down the ascendant lion who claws his way back into the match and wins. However the beginning does exist. The Takayama control segment is great. A offensive clinic with his cockiness that really rallies you behind Tenzan. The one foot cover is such a good spot. Tenzan is able to get the Tenzan Driver and the Anaconda Vice (set up by Takayama blocking the Mongolian Chops which was cool). Takayama is able to super plex Tenzan off the top. He is unnerved by Tenzan’s late rally and says playtime is over as he goes for those trademark big knee lifts. BULLDOZER KNEELIFT! EVEREST GERMAN! 1-2-No! Back to KNEELIFT but Tenzan attacks the knee, the callback to the beginning. This stymies Takayama BUT Takayama collapses onto Tenzan during the Tenzan Driver. Takayama goes for the cross-arm breaker but as Tenzan tries to free himself he goes from the frying pan into the fire into a Triangle Choke but makes the ropes. The match does lose its momentum when Takayama starts manhandling Tenzan with throws and hits a sick leg drop. He did a sick leg drop earlier. This feels like they are retrogressing to control segment work rather than building to a finish. Tenzan hits the Hashimikov Special or Beach Break as the kids call it. The Spinning Heel Kick which rocked Takayama in the first match, nails him here and gives Tenzan a big opening. Tenzan top rope Headbutt. Takayama comes up swinging. They be clubberin Tony! Tenzan wears him down with Mongolian Chops! Takayama lunging headbutt! Tenzan says not tonight and knocks him back down with a Headbutt of his own. I wish Takayama’s looked a bit more vicious as that would have looked so cool with Tenzan head butting him down. Two Tenzan Drivers and Tenzansault win the day. Playing off the first match finish with Tenzan absorbing the Headbutt and knocking Takayama back down with his own Headbutt is a badass idea in theory just wish execution was a little better. The leg work did come into play in the finish as Tenzan used that as a way to stymie Takayama’s momentum. Takayama looked great on offense and made Tenzan looked great. Just wish they could have tightened up the finish stretch. Very good but there’s a great match between those two lurking in here. *** 1/2

Fuck! I watched this match already lol! Didnt remember any of it lol! I’d upgrade it to *** 1/4 because the angle I was watching from this time was Takayama is the better wrestler how will they create openings for Tenzan. I thought they went with the body-hurling psychology well. It was the spinning heel kick, the slingshot plancha, the Missile dropkick these are all ways that Tenzan could hurl his body like a missile at the bigger and technically more proficient Takayama. The other was the battle of wills, Tenzan is stubborn as an ass. The way he wins the suplex battle and holds onto Takayama’s foot on kicks shows that dogged determination. There not enough urgency and Tenzan’s finish stretch peters out but I think the narrative is there. lol I can’t believe I have seen this before.

Hulk Hogan vs Sting - WCW Nitro 11/20/95 A massive main event and something that really cements Nitro as the show. This is the last gasp of Dark Side Hulk Hogan as returns to the Red & Yellow at WWIII. Sting is in the Red & Yellow tonight as a nice touch. Hogan does this weird thing where he is wearing a Phantom of the Opera mask and comes from behind on Sting and…taps him on the shoulder. Pretty anti-climatic. If the desired effect was to keep Hogan babyface it was not working so not surprise they went back to the Red & Yellow. This is babyface vs babyface and it is interesting match because they don’t work the Hogan formula. I don’t know if that’s because they didn’t want to heel Sting OR even worse the crowd cheers as Hogan is beaten up. They opt for a high speed start. Sting works in his usual strike routine. Hogan some of his signature spots. Some Sting Dropkicks. Hogan hits a suplex on the floor. It is very noisy wrestling which is pretty normal for these compressed Nitro matches. They work at a good clip and it is a lot of action. After Sting’s crossbody it feels like they ran out of all their high spots so then they decide to work the mat which is a weird choice. Hogan does that little bit of wrestling he knows. The cross armbreaker looked lame and Hogan just relinquished it anyways. They work a headlock. The coolest spot of the match is Hogan catching Sting in a bear hug on a Stinger Splash attempt. Sting very weakly kicks the leg a couple of times to do the Scorpion Deathlock. When Hogan breaks the hold and goes into the Hulk Up the boo birds are out in full force. When he missed the Leg Drop, massive pop! Scorpion Deathlock and to the surprise of no one the Dungeon hits the Ring. Dungeon attacks Sting. Savage eats a Chokeslam. Hogan and Sting send the Giant over the top rope with a chair to sell the Battle Royale on Sunday. This was a fine babyface vs babyface match. They clearly needed a producer as they lost the plot mid-way through. It obviously had crowd heat and was interesting just because of who they are. The work was just good. The booking was strange. Why did the Dungeon tip their hand and attack Sting? Why come out at all? There were ways to get around this but they were just lazy. I think this was a good idea to put on TV because it would never be a clean finish so no one feels cheated out of money and makes Nitro feel like a huge deal. Nothing that has to be seen but an interesting novelty match. ***

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Masahiro Chono - NJPW 7/21/03 Takayama is a promoters dream: size, power, look,technique (stand-up and on the mat) and charisma. I have made no bones about it, Chono is my least favorite Japanese heavyweight Main eventer pre-2005. A lot of this match hinges on the fact that Chono beat Takayama in the previous year G-1 Climax Final. Takayama throttles Chono to start. Big boot. Butterfly suplex. Kneelift. Oh how Takayama has a glorious kneelift. Stinging kicks to the knee. It is a clinic. Chono kinda wrestles this like he is wrestling a shooter. His offense comes in the ropes and on the floor. The turning point for him is when Takayama is returning to the Ring on the apron, he hits a Shining Wizard. Chono is laborious on offense but he somehow cuts Takayama open which adds to the intrigue of otherwise uninspired clubbering session. I did like him working the cut with punches. Takayama butterfly suplexes off the top and goes back to work. Awesome Takayama control segment big running dropkicks. Tears the tights to expose the knee brace. Kicks to the knee, leg locks. He is just manhandling. I thought Chono was going back on offense with a dropkick to the knee but Takayama BLASTS him with two High Knees to the head. Legdrop. Takayama looks to be cruising to victory when Chono the coward that he is uses the ref to anchor him on an Everest German causing him to crash down with all his weight on Takayama. Flying shoulder tackle. STF~! The one Chono spot always guaranteed to get heat. Octopus Stretch, man, Inoki really liked him for some reason. Flying Shoulder tackle again. This is where having seen the G1 Climax Finals match comes in handy. Chono won with a barrage on Yakuza Kicks to a kneeling Takayama. Here we go again. I hated This spot in 2002 and dont like it in 2003. Takayama withstands the barrage, hits his own big boot, Everest German for the Double KO finish to set up the Big Cage match. Enjoyed Takayama’s performance both offensively and tried to make Chono look good. Chono was clearly outgunned. He wrestled that way for the most part, Shining Wizard in the ropes, bloodied Takayama, used the ref to avoid the German. I he is just not that interesting. What left a bad taste in my mouth is they tried to present him as an equal at the finish. These were two badass warriors who spent it all in the Ring and fought to this epic double KO and just wasn’t buying it. Haven’t seen a Takayama match in a while but it is always fun. *** 1/4

WWE US Champion John Cena vs NXT Champion Kevin Owens - WWE Money In The Bank 2015 The John Cena learned how to wrestling match because he hit a Code Red and a Springboard. Give me a fucking break! John Cena sold out. You could copy and paste my review from Elimination Chamber and just post it here. I re-read it and feeling far more eloquent and vitriolic then. Now I have resigned myself to depression. When all the wrestlers lose their individuality and are able to do everything what is the point? Styles make fights. There was no strategy, no sense of progression, no problem solving. It just hitting random moves. They didn’t even use John Cena’s extended finish sequence to its full advantage because they used it in the match two weeks ago. He goes into it early. Owens cuts him off and the goes through sequence himself. But Cant hit the FU. I will say I thought the missed moves leading to the high spots were better than I remembered and also they were not doing the whole perpetual motion bullshit where no one stops and takes a beat so that was nice. Nothing fucking mattered. They built a little to the first AA and Popup Powerbomb but you knew that wouldn’t be enough. A lot of “modified” / “innovative” maneuvers. Yuck! The finish was Cena hit a Code Red but almost fucks it up which actually made it look cooler than when hits clean. Owens hits the Popup Powerbomb which is how he won last time but they were busy showing the replay. lol. Springboard Stunner and 3rd AA wins it. Maybe a touch better than the first but still a soul-sucking experience.

Roman Reigns vs Daniel Bryan - WWE Fastlane 2015 I forgot this was a Number One contenders match. I always hate these type of lopsided matches. Why should Roman put his Rumble win on the line against Bryan? Imagine if Bryan put his hair or beard on the line. The heat would have been so much higher. Of course you would have heeled Roman but also you kinda had to do this match after Rumble 2015 which I was at. I watched this live with my good buddy Nick and my gut back then was very good but not great and I thought the match was pretty overrated. Let’s see what I think ten years later. So when I watch these live I am usually with someone so I am not paying rapt attention. I freely admit I missed the story last time. I would put some of the onus on them as this is a very choppy, noisy match. I am inclined to like 1-3 major momentum shifts in a match with lengthy control segments. I think this match was specifically designed to avoid long control segments because of fear of heeling Roman. If there is so much action, you Cant achieve a steady state and the fans Cant grow restless and boo Roman. Now there are plenty of choppy matches I like there’s many different ways to skin a cat I am just pointing out the structure and why someone who is casually watching with his buddies might have missed the narrative. On this rewatch, I dug the narrative and the commentators really put it over. It was the technique and speed of Bryan against the power of Roman. Bryan does a side headlock Roman powers out and get his own. Bryan tries a surfboard. Power out. Bryan tries his finish sequence you know the one backflip off the turnbuckles and fly around. Nope Roman cuts it off. Bryan tries to knot up the knees and a leg lock. You guessed it power out. I’ll pause there. Great story but to borrow a phrase from Matt D I was missing the negative space work. Again I think they were so petrified of Roman getting booed, that he did no character work. He could have done dumb jock shit like Luger and Sting. Badass shit like Kobashi or Hashimoto. He just did nothing. I love a wrestler who changes strategies one of the major reasons Flair is my #2. Danielson never sold these strategies were not working. It was a very muted performance by both. The Liver Kick. I got pretty excited at this point. Something for us to sink our teeth into. We didn’t go with a traditional shine. We opted for an interesting narrative that was a bit dry but here we go. Roman sold this and the leg work pretty well. His selling was much better than character work on offense. Danielson picks up the pace with dropkicks in the corner. Then Roman Powerbombs him off the top as a counter to a Frakensteiner. Ugh. Heavy sigh. I try to stay in it. Calm myself down. Yes a little early for a hope spot of this magnitude but surely they will get back on the liver. Danielson counters a Roman top rope move. Suicide dives by Danielson. So much for the liver kick. Again it is a lot of noise down the stretch. Not in a Late State All Japan or NOAH way. It is not a fireworks display. It’s a lot of counters. No one can really get momentum. The characters are NOT selling urgency or desperation. That’s what is missing!!! This is why we write these bad boys. I needed to work through that. That’s what is missing URGENCY AND DESPERATION! They are NOT working fast from a tempo standpoint. This is a mid-tempo rocker. This is not like today where they wrestle like the motion smoothing is left on or we watching the stage blocking routine. It is not overtly cooperative. The spots are well-executed. They were working fast from a sense of not letting the crowd in. Not showing vulnerability. Roman sets up for the Spear. Danielson quashes that with a small package. Running Knee. 1-2-No! Good near fall they aren’t going overboard with bombs or near falls which I dig. Danielson does his Yes Kicks. ROMAN CATCHES THE FOOT GRABS BY THE THROAT AND DEATH STARES HIM! Thats the moment. That’s what I am talking about. Roman didnt do that shit at all during the match. If he did that all match we are talking a totally different experience. But if you do that, you have to pause and let the crowd in and let them react. That’s scary what if they boo or do nothing. But you got to do it anyways even if it is scary or uncomfortable. We get the Yes Lock for one last Danielson near fall. Roman bludgeons Danielson which kind of undoes all the hard work of not trying to heel him. Danielson goes for the knee but eats a Spear! They were in a tough spot, babyface vs babyface and where the babyface they wanted to be the Ace was not over as a babyface. There’s countless examples of how to make this dynamic work such as Bret vs Diesel at Rumble 95. I think the easiest solution would have been Danielson to play the subtle heel. If he didn’t go that route, sell the desperation and exasperation of trying everything but this powerhouse keeps overwhelming you. For Roman let us in, brutha, give me some dumb jock shit or Terminator Destroyer shit. It is interesting narrative, but the character work leaves it is at very good but not great. *** 1/2

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Osamu Nishimura - NJPW 2/2/03 Nishimura is a cult favorite and have seen a couple of his matches. I would say I like him but don’t love him. Cool that he got a title shot against Nagata who in the middle of a lengthy title reign. Unfortunately I am This one started off very promising with Nagata beating Nishimura like he owed him money. Nagata’s strikes looked real good. The boyish Nishimura finally lights him up with his Hoss Funk Uppercuts. I was kinda excited we were going to get this tempers flared out of control Inokiist style of brawl. Instead we eventually ground back down. Lots of really cool bridging from Nishimura. That’s what we need more in wrestling…bridging. It is the wrestler’s wrestler move. You have me in a predicament…BRIDGE~! Nagata controls most of the ground game attacking the arm. Nishimura eventually gets a Double Wristlock takedown and begins to frustrate Nagata as he is taking control. Nagata gets frustrated and punts him out the Ring. Nishimura is able to dragon leg screw and gets a Bombs Away Knee Drop across the shin and then the Funk Spinning Toehold. A very very nice 70s sequence. Nagata tries to mount a comeback but Nishimura clamps on an Abdominal Stretch then gets the Octopus Stretch to a big pop. He releases to hit a Bombs Away Knee Drop which was a cool near fall. Nishimura loses control when he commits the cardinal sin of 70s wrestling by whipping Nagata into the corner. By creating the space willfully, Nagata took advantage with a spinning heel kick. Nagata proceeds to demolish Nishimura first with a Knee then the Disarmor followed by a Wrist Clutch Exploder. Finally wins with the Crossface. A very tight 20 minute title defense. Efficient and great progression. I thought it was a bit dry which I find both these guys to be. It is a match that checks all the boxes but lacks soul so I have it just under “great”. *** 3/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Manabu Nakanishi – NJPW 6/2/00 Someone I believe in this match is nicknamed “Mr. Unbelievable” based on the commentators but based on Google didn’t think it was either. Unfortunately, I am doing this review about 4 hours after I watched it, but I thought this was a particularly boring match so I am not too worried about getting every detail right. I have been enjoying these Sasaki title defenses against these upper midcarders (Frye, Kojima and Iizuka), but this one has been one I have been kinda dreading because I find Nakanishi so miserably boring. He didn’t disappoint. Each title defense has established Sasaki as the better overall wrestler, but for the challenger to pick a body part work over it and then Sasaki gets so desperate and he hauls off and clocks the opponent. This has been a great formula but this match was just nowhere near as interesting. Nakanishi is the bigger much more boring version of Sasaki. Unlike the other Sasaki defenses, Sasaki is giving the power advantage away to Nakanishi. They collide right off the bat like two bulls. Then have a pretty standard chop battle that wouldn’t look out of place in 2025. They slow things down and start to work the mat. Sasaki telegraphed his usual spot of ricocheting off the ropes while his opponent ricochets off the buckles, Nakanishi stops short and nails a spear. Nakanishi worked the spear a lot. Nakanishi had no juice in his control segment. It was all Spears and Torture Racks. Sasaki’s offensive strategy was interesting because he at least varied his strategy. Realizing he didn’t have his normal power advantage, he was able to get a guillotine choke out of a spear attempt and that laid his first in-roads. We see eventually Nakanishi get another spear and then throw a Terry Bam Bam Gordy like fit and apply a Torture Rack and throw a couple big suplexes. I believe this is the point where Sasaki CLOCKS Nakanishi with the closed fist which his signature when he gets very far behind in a match. I now want to go back and watch the Kawada knowing this has been his 2000 signature and see when he finally hauls off punches Kawada. I think this was a perfect time for the punch. I thought the combination of Spear/Torture Rack felt like a good time for Sasaki to show desperation. My issue is that the spot ends up NOT being the turning point of the match. He ends up getting steamrolled again by a Barrage of Spears think if Bron Breaker’s only offense was spears. He did attempt one last Torture Rack, but Sasaki survived and he whipped him down. I get that Torture Rack is not an easy hold to keep applied for a long period of time but it still seemed kinda lame to just give it up and also transition back to Sasaki is so lame. Besides going to back to the Guillotine Choke which was cool, Sasaki just finished him with Lariat, Super Northern Lights Bomb which is special and a Northern Lights Bomb. I am not really sure Nakanishi deserved the Super Northern Lights Bomb. Nakanishi is such a chore to watch and I saw he made the G1 Climax Finals in 2000 against Sasaki so dreading that match. I am not surprised that Inoki went with the shooters, once the Musketeers left, his talent pool just wasn’t going to draw 50k+ to Dome if it was some combination of Sasaki, Nagata, Kojima, Tenzan and Nakanishi. Besides Nakanishi, I like all four of those guys, I don’t think you can tell me any combination of those four are going to be drawing huge numbers. I thought this was a great Sasaki performance, he put Nakanishi over as a beast. He let Nakanishi outpower him which is his game. He came up with the Guillotine Choke to neutralize Nakanishi and set up his usual finishing stretch. It takes two to tango and unfortunately Nakanishi is fucking boring. ***

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Satoshi Kojima - NJPW 3//19/00 The full version is up on New Japan World if people want to see it. Sasaki‘s second straight title defense against Team 2000 having vanquished Don Frye the previous month. Im surprised we never got a Chono challenge in the year 2000 perhaps if All Japan stays together and there’s no Kawada match in October that would have headlined there??? A very 21st century match as there are some great parts and some iffy parts. All in all it is still very good, but isn’t quite great. It is a good resume padder for Kensuke who will always be in my Top 100 but matches like this keep him with an upward momentum. This is the earliest Kojima match I have ever seen not quite as fun as he would become. The element of the beginning I liked was how every sequence ended with the Champion coming out on top. With Hashimoto and Mutoh winding down in New Japan, you had to go all in on Sasaki. When Kojima started off hot, Sasaki pie faces. When Kojima wants to go submissions, Sasaki almost wraps him in an STF (the leader of Team 2000, Chono took umbrage to that, protesting on the apron). When Kojima slows it down with tests of strength, Sasaki suplexes him. Sasaki runs through a quick big bomb offense like his Special Armdrag and Tejana Bomb. While I loved the beats and story, transitions and connective tissue were lackluster. I had the match in the good category but they did elevate it with a nice, timely chop block by Kojima. Chono was up on the apron offering to throw in the towel for Sasaki. Great performance by Chono as Kojima’s second. Leg work here was so good. Kojima employed a great varied leg based attack and Sasaki sold it well. This is pre-Mutoh but we still get a healthy dose of dragon leg screw and the Figure-4. The chop block replaced the dropkick to the knee which we don’t see. It was nice to see a knee crusher have not seen that in a while. In addition to his knee work, Kojima loved an Ace Crusher so we got three variations on that. I was just enjoying the mix of leg work and bombs. Then the best part of the match happens when the Champ looks like he is on the verge of losing the title…he hauls off and CLOCKS KOJIMA WITH A CLOSED FIST! We almost get a bench clearing brawl! Chono & Team 2000 are protesting on the apron and Sasaki’S boys follow suit but there no blows. Sasaki fires off two more awesome punches. The leg work through punches was fucking awesome. The finish stretch gets a little too bomb happy and feels more All Japan. Sasaki does sell the leg pretty well on the comeback with a Scorpion Deathlock on Kojima and lariat to Kojima’s leg on the apron. Then it becomes an All Japan match. Trading Lariats and German suplexes for one-counts. Kojima wriggles out of a Northern Lights Bomb into a weird armbar that I have never seen him use. It was a very odd place for the finish stretch and he just relinquished the hold. Weird. Kojima tries Northern Light Bomb but collapses. Sasaki polished him off with Northern Lights Bomb and Burning Lariat. A very All Japan finish. I wonder what Inoki thought. Sasaki was always the most All Japan-y of the New Japan boys. Probably the reason I like him so much is that he is a Kobashi, just a little smaller, less emotional but replaces that emotion/heart with Choshu Rock & Roll edge. From the Kojima chop block to Sasaki punch, this is fucking awesome. On either side it is a little rocky but this still good. Cant quite go 4 stars, but another very good Sasaki title defense in his signature run. *** 3/4

Toshiaki Kawada vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - AJPW 6/8/01 Kawada takes on TenCozy in two singles matches two days apart. On 6/6/01 in New Japan, Kawada fought Kojima in a heralded match that is considered one of the best of the year in Japan, which I probably need to rewatch because I think low on it. Now he takes on Tenzan here in All Japan. I think I figured something out with Tenzan who have grown fond of over the years is that I think he is a great defensive wrestler. When his opponent is generating offense, he establishes himself as a mountain to summit through his no-selling and constant cutoffs. It creates a real tension in the match and I love it. However I think I find him kind of boring when he is working the match on top and his opponent is working hope spots. I have come to the conclusion based on this match where Tenzan works on top and I found it boring. As I watch more Tenzan we will see if it holds. These two do the stand & bang macho pissing contest. I liked Tenzan no-selling and roaring through Kawada’s trademark spin heel kick. Kawada tries to up the ante with Headbutt but immediately takes a seat as soon as Tenzan Headbutts him. I am not fond of too many headbutts because they very rarely look as devastating as a punch or kick and yet are so much more devastating to the wrestler. If it doesn’t look good and it hurts, I would rather you not do it. Tenzan nominally works the arm but nothing significant or very interesting. It is Arm work and Tenzan clubbering. Tenzan goes for his diving Headbutt but Kawada catches him with a kick. Massive running Yakuza Kick by Kawada. Stretch Plum. Powerbomb gets reversed. Tenzan Driver -> Tenzansault is Tenzan big nearfall. I like that as a Tenzan nearfall but I thought transition out was weak. Kawada hits a barrage of Jumping High Kicks and Dangerous Back Drop Drivers! And I do mean DANGEROUS~! He was really dumping on his head. I loved Tenzan’s no-sell roar on each one and until he finally out away. He really came off like the Creature of the Black Lagoon rising again and again. I wish they came up with a more interesting bridge between the Tezansault and the Kawada finish stretch. Also I think in getting a little burnout on the style. I think might be time switch soon. Still a good match. *** 1/4

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojim vs Toshiaki Kawada & Mitsuya Nagai - NJPW 9/16/01 Last legs of New Japan vs All Japan feud which started a year prior. Kawada dumped Fuchi for Nagai as his partner in 2001 which would lead to the unreal RWTL finals. This is neither the 12/11/00 classic or the 2001 RWTL Finals. This is surprisingly boring and I say surprisingly as I like 3/4ths guys a lot and just havent seen much of Nagai. TenCozy who is on their last legs as a tag team jump the All Japan boys before the bell but that doesn’t really lead to much. The first seven or so minutes not much happens honestly. Tenzan misses a top rope diving Headbutt and sells like he has been KO’d by Stan Hansen’s lariat. It was really 0 to 60 oversell that didn’t even realize was happening when all of sudden Nagai doing one foot covers and Tenzan was collapsing on whips like he was Kawada. I was like lol what? Kojima screams “TENZAN~!” At the top of his lungs for like ten minutes. Seems like a little much. Kawada/Nagai’s heat segment wasn’t all that interesting outside one Dangerous Backdrop Driver. Kawada goes for the Powerbomb Tenzan counters and we get a decent hot tag from Kojima. Finger gun elbow. Powerbomb. They trade attacking each others Lariat Arm and Kawada gets the better with a Stretch Plum. Kojima gets the better of Nagai with an Ace Crusher. Tenzan gets his hot tag. The Kawada/Nagai near fall is a big boot into a German. After Kojima blasts Kawada with a lariat, Tenzan hits a Tenzan Driver and a Tenzansault to win. It was a pretty dull match and not something I will remember next week.

Keiji Mutoh vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 4/10/02 I am so annoyed with this match. I love formula because once it has been established any deviation generates thrill im the viewer. I have watched damn near every major Mutoh match from 2001-2002 so finding a match where he uses his dropkicks to the knee & a dragon leg screw to se up ARM work makes me go from 6 to midnight. When Kojima went down to one knee, I was like a bit early for the Shining Wizard. He dropkicked the Arm and stayed on the arm with dropkicks. Oh he dragon leg screw, back to Figure-4, NOPE Top Wristlock in the Side Mount and sold like a submission. It was so awesome but every other aspect of this match he did the lamest thing possible. I want to like Kojima so bad but he is just so mediocre. The only thing I thought this match did better than their 2001 bout was teasing the finishers early with a blocked Shining Wizard and blocked lariat. The New Japan chain wrestling to open was fine. Kojima’s control segment was pedestrian. He kinda sorta went after the knee. He kinda sorta also just chopped Mutoh. He ran through some of his customary early offense the somersault and finger gun Elbow drop. The 2001 he was really throwing Mutoh tactics back in his face. He hits a Powerbomb. Mutoh just gets up and dropkicks his knee. Lame. Your turn is over. Now it is my turn. Lame. Lame. Lame. That turns into the most interesting portion of the match as I covered above. The only thing I want to add to Mutoh control segment that I thought was cool was how Kojima blocked Shining Wizard attempt which hurt his arm and then on the Lariat attempt Mutoh easily repelled it and it hurt Kojima’s Arm more. That was sick. Mutoh works a cross Armbreaker as his capper out of his top rope Frankensteiner. It was tasteful; appropriate Selling be close enough to the ropes that it didn’t feel cheap. What did feel cheap was Kojima just hitting an Ace Crusher. Your turn is over. Now it is my turn. Lame. Lame. Lame. Lariat! Shining Wizard! A tribute to 90s All Japan. What puts the match in my good graces enough to call it good is that Mutoh uses a Flying Armbar to finish Kojima with a cross Armbreaker to pay off the arm work. So I’ll go *** 1/4 but it could have been so much more!

Thanks to @Ma Stump Puller for the hook-up! Mark Kerr vs Dick Vrij - Zero-One 10/25/01 Is Vrij pronounced "Fly" or "Frye"? This is at Budokan and reportedly only drew 2000 people, rough, 1/8th full that is bad. Headliners were Naoya Ogawa vs Josh Dempsey and Hashimoto vs Gerard Gordeau. I have seen some 90s Vrij from RINGS and this match completes my Complete & Accurate on Mark Kerr. Both men have pretty thick fingerless MMA gloves on and wrestling shoes. Some check kicks thrown. Great explosivity shown by Kerr on the Double Leg and works to transition to the cross-armbreaker. Another great throw by Kerr but cant get anything to stick on the mat. Vrij is known as a Dutch Kickboxer which Aleister Black keeps that tradition alive even though I wish he would ditch the lame gimmick and just be a badass Dutch Kickboxer. Vrij scores two knockdowns on Kerr with a knee and then a kick. I didnt think either one was particularly electric. I thought the finish was superb. Kerr catches a spinning heel kick into a massive slam and a cross-armbreaker for the win. Vrij and his team attack Kerr after the bell. Kerr retreats but gets on the mic and says "This one is for America and he challenges someone named Hans". This about a month after 9/11 so understandable comments on saying this is for America. Based on a quick Google search, I believe the Hans in question is Hans Nijman who apparently was a figure in the Dutch world and was murdered in 2014. Maybe not the best guy to be challenging, but Kerr is still alive. Anyways, enjoyable shoot-style match. ***

Keiji Mutoh vs Satoshi Kojima - NJPW 6/4/01 A big week for Mutoh who has this match, a 40 minute match with Hase and a 5 star classic with Tenryu for the Triple Crown. Kojima has a heralded match with Kawada two days later. Both Mutoh & Kojima have not yet defected to All Japan yet but this has an All Japan feel because who is involved. I can see how many of Mutoh’s detractors might point to this match as a point against the 2001 Shining Wizard Renaissance. I liked this instead of loving it which as many know I am a big proponent of 2001 Mutoh. This one lacked the urgency and energy of the truly sublime 2001 Mutoh matches but I still really enjoyed the psychology and logic of the match. It is that mid-tempo rocker you can vibe to. I would say this is still safely very good just not as good as his other stuff in 2001 but that is a very high bar. Customary New Japan chain wrestling to start. I enjoy it as a way to ease into a match but nothing to write home about. Kojima hits a somersault splash. Mutoh dropkicks high instead of low interesting. Kojima finger gun elbow drop not yet super over. I really love how hard Kojima struggled against Mutoh’s Dragon Leg Screw. It really put over how dangerous it is. Then I loved how it was Kojima who targeted the knee first with the same tactics Mutoh would have used. I love when Mutoh’s opponents throw the dropkicks to the knee and Dragon Leg Screw back in his face. Kojima worked a toehold rather than a figure-4. Mutoh of course is able to mount a comeback using his tried and true 2001 strategy of dropkicks to the knee, Dragon Leg Screw and the Figure-4. I love the dueling psychology. Kojima chop blocks Mutoh to get back on top. Very heelish. Kojima is still Team 2000 4 Life I believe. Kojima now uses the Figure-4. Loved how Mutoh used the Kappou Kick to rock Kojima to set up more knee based attacks. Loved it! Mutoh feels like he has enough opening to finish him off with a Moonsault Bur Kojima Powerbombs him off the top. Lariat. Top Rope Ace Crusher. Mutoh blocks another with a sleeper. Another Lariat and Michinoku Driver and it looks like Kojima is out of gas. Frankensteiner… SHINING WIZARD! 1-2-3 Like I said this is a mid-tempo rocker you can vibe too. I wish the knee-based work played more into the finish. I liked the body of the match and the finish as well. Another feather in Mutoh’s cap. *** 3/4

Mark Coleman & Mark Kerr vs Yuji Nagata & Takahashi Iizuka - Inoki Bom Bae Ye 12/31/00 I am 3/4ths done with my Mark Kerr Complete & Accurate just need to find his singles match against Dick Vrij in Zero-One. From a strictly Mark Kerr perspective, I enjoyed his work in Zero-1 more than here where he was Double Leg machine in Z-1. I feel like Mark Coleman who wore a Goldberg shirt to the ring was the real star of the team. Nagata & Iizuka are coming off their 5 star classic against Kawada & Fuchi but they don’t really stand much of a chance against the Marks. Coleman rips a couple great suplexes on Iizuka the junior partner of the Japanese team. The gut wrench looked great. Kerr immediately throws a kick which I thought was bizarre but it served as an opening for Iizuka to catch and drag him to Nagata. Nagata worked hard to get a cross arm breaker. I love the wrestler in Kerr to counter that by bridging. Even though Kerr is able to get a couple takedowns, he is treated as the Junior partner of the Marks with Japanese able to get offense on him. The pro wrestling starts to kick in with Kerr in the ropes and Iizuka stomping him. Coleman gets the tag. HE VAULTS OVER THE ROPES AND RIPS IIZUKA DOWN WITH A THROW! Great throw into the ground & pound. Iizuka gets him to the corner and Nagata uses Headbutts in the ropes again pro wrestling. He uses that to get a leg lock on Coleman who sells it really well. Coleman counters and into strikes to tag in Kerr. Kerr great knees and throw on Nagata and goes for the Cross Armbreaker. Again Kerr uses a kick as a way to feed the Japanese. Nagata excellent Northern Lights. He goes for a Cross Armbreaker But can’t get it on. Great Kerr knee but Nagata throws him. Iizuka throws Kerr and gets a leg lock. Kerr is the one they get offense on. Kerr articles out and tags to Coleman who vaults over and had a real star aura to him. Iizuka crowds in the corner with forearms. Again three times now the pro wrestlers are using the ropes & corner to smother the more proficient Marks to gain an advantage. They hold Coleman in replace while one dropkicks him. Again Pro Wrestling tactics. NAGATA HIGH KICK KNOCKS COLEMAN DOWN! We get a seven count. Coleman Big Alabama Slam style Double Leg into Ground & Pound and Anaconda Vice as surprisingly it is Nagata that taps out. The Marks were heavy favorites but didn’t think Nagata would take the fall. This felt like a really good wrestling-oriented MMA exhibition. The two things I really liked were Coleman’s aura and pro wrestlers using pro wrestling tactics to gain advantages. I think Kerr would have also been a fun pro wrestler but it is a really shame Coleman didnt go for a Shamrock or Frye style run. *** 1/2

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Takahashi Iizuka - NJPW 7/20/00 Sasaki is in the middle of his peak run as New Japan Ace. Iizuka is famous for three matches against the Steiners, the 1/4/00 tag with Hashimoto against the UFO Shooters and the 12/11/00 tag with Nagata against the All Japan Invaders. Pretty safe to say the year 2000 was his peak. I did f even remember what he looked like never mind his style. I was pretty interested in this match because Champion versus unknown commodity is the best way to understand how a Champion envisions his reign. Sasaki versus Kawada was a match of equals. This is not. So how do you work that? Call me crazy but I loved this. This is a real feather in Sasaki’s cap. It shows his versatility, Ring generalship and ingenuity, Even though it was a competitive squash for most of the match, I was engaged, the work was compelling and Sasaki delineated a clear sense of hierarchy. Sasaki established not only his superiority in the power game: bowling over Iizuka, taking him down at will, countering a hold with Bob Backlund lift, but also the ground game he does a great monkey lift into an armbreaker attempt, he works in and out of guard well and generally is able to counter submissions well. Iizuka’s first strategy seems to be piss off Sasaki as he realizes he is not the better wrestler. He smacks Sasaki around but Sasaki flips him into a mount but Sasaki’s overzealousness presents the opportunity for Iizuka to target the legs which was smart psychology. When Sasaki escapes that, that ends the opening New Japan chain wrestling but that is some of the best opening chaining you’ll see it is not perfunctory they really establish the story in that. Sasaki is ready to turn this into a pro style big bomb match which Iizuka is totally outgunned for. Iizuka’s next strategy is to target a body part which I figured would be his best strategy as when someone has a clear advantage in multiple aspects of the game injuring a body part closes the gap. Since Sasaki was smoking him with lariats Iizuka dropkicks the arm as if to say fuck You stop that shit. Iizuka works some great arm holds and Sasaki sells well. The peak of this is when stubborn Sasaki goes for the Tejana Bomb but leaves himself open for the cross armbreaker. While this is Iizuka’s best opening of the match I would hardly say Sasaki is in trouble bur he hauls off and PUNCHES HIM! Iizuka sells it like death. I thought that reeked of too much desperation by Sasaki we weren’t there yet in my opinion. Sasaki powerslam gets two. Sasaki goes for a lariat armbar takedown into a choke. Now here comes the real Iizuka finish stretch. It is a barrage of Exploders and Chokes. They really milk the Chokes. I think the Punch would have worked better here because now desperation has set in. However I loved the use of Sasaki’s special arm drag to counter the standing choke. Two more of those a couple clubbing lariats and a Northern Lights Bomb and Sasaki gets a definitive win even though he almost blew it. Perfect champion versus have no chance midcarder. Champion clearly demonstrates why he is the champion. Challenger tries a couple different strategies one eventually sticks. Champion gets desperate. Things get a little dicey for the Champion but they find an opening, accelerate through the hole and finish strong. Great pro wrestling ****

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Scott Norton - NJPW 3/17/01 Man if you were Kensuke in January you must have thought you were sitting pretty you just won IWGP Title back at the Biggest Show of the Year against inter promotional rival Kawada, Hashimoto is leaving to form Zero-One, Mutoh had one foot out the door to All Japan. You were poised to be the Ace of the biggest promotion in Japan leading it into 21st century. Two months later your dropping the belt to fucking Scott Norton so he could transition it to Inoki’s shiny new toy, Kazuyuki Fujita. What a roller coaster. Weird match. Liked some of it but strange finish. They do a bunch of good Clash of Titans shit. Tight lock ups, test of strength, chops and shoulder block battles. Two alpha rams type shit. Sasaki hits a sick cross body block through ropes onto the floor. Exposes the floor and bodyslams Norton on it. Great suplex struggle on the apron that Sasaki win. This I all love. Sasaki throws one too many lariats so Norton’s catches him in a slam and then A shoulder breaker. Even when I was a little kid I always thought Norton should follow up the shoulder breaker with an armbar or something it looks weird as a finisher. Scott Hall is here. Norton’s still has NWO gear even though Final Nitro is around now. Norton gets a long chinlock. Sasaki transition is lame he just takes over. Loved the Lariat to the knee along the apron. Great chop block. Sasaki struggles with an inverted figure-4. This is where the match gets weird as they had a good thing going with the battle of the bulls and now leg psychology but instead they just start throwing bombs. They fuck up a pump handle slam. Norton throws in a flash roll up which I bite on because it would protect Kensuke. Powerbomb but nope. Sasaki just roars back with that Arn drag thing he does such a strange transition. Tejana Bomb. 1-2No! Clobbers him with a Lariat. Nope, winds up again but Norton ducks and flattens him with his own for the shock win, This must have been very surprising at the time. Finish stretch was weird but the body of the match was entertaining. Sasaki as Ace we hardly knew ya. ***

IWGP Heavyweight Kensuke Sasaki vs Don Frye - NJPW 2/5/00 Sasaki’s first title defense after defeating Tenryu for the title in a great match at the 1/4 Dome show. Frye is getting a pretty decent push as a top gaijin and a prominent member of the top heel stable, Team 2000, an NWO spinoff group. I need to watch more Shamrock but Frye looks to be every bit as good as Shamrock but in a company that understands how to use him better. Frye doesn’t give other worldly shooter vibes like Ogawa or Fujita but rather a classical pro wrestler who uses a lot of submissions. Rheingans his trainer is with him. Frye bows up to Sasaki and manhandles him with three suplexes. It was a bit too easy for my liking and I was worried for a second but all my worries were allayed this turned into a great match not as great the Kawada Triple Crown match but every fun. Sasaki clearly worked a different style match and really showed his range. He toned down his typical high spots and worked the mat more and just stuck to throwing lariats. I am appreciated the submission work of both men. For instance Sasaki was always thinking submission he did a leg, cross armbreaker and a choke. Frye has a nice organic counter to the ankle lock which he transitioned into a ground and pound while in Sasaki’s guard. Fete’s headbutts looked wicked. Sasaki rearing back and throwing lariats looked good. Loved Frye working a lot of wristlocks and a great Fujiwara armbar takedown. Really liked Sasaki muscling up Frye out of the double wrist lock and hitting a Fireman’s Carry going right into the cross armbreaker. I liked how the slams, throws and takedowns were set ups for a submission finish rather than the finish themselves. I thought Frye’s punches looked good and also something as simple as jumping off the apron and elbowing Sasaki showed he has classical pro wrestling training. I loved Sasaki grabbing the knee bar after some big lariats and Frye selling he was Curt Hennig who was his trainer it seems. Sasaki even does the kick to the back of the knee and Frye does the perfect sell. The Sasaki lariat to the bad knee on the apron was awesome, I think I would have liked the Scorpion Deathlock finish more than the barrage of lariats that finished it but I get that you had to keep legit shooter badass Don Frye strong and tapping out doesn’t achieve that. A really fun Inokiist match where there’s just enough shoot style to make it feel different without it getting weird. This really shows Sasaki’s range. *** 3/4 .

Surprised there is no talk of Rick Steiner. Love his powerslam and love a good Steinerline. He is not someone who I seriously considered last time, but I could see my fellow Wolverine sneaking in my bottom ten. Go Blue!

Thanks Paul! I will try to watch & review next week.