Superstar Sleeze

Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas vs Hollywood Blonds - WCW Worldwide 1/30/93 There is such a purity to these matches. Great textbook babyface/heel dynamics. The babyfaces want revenge for post match Clash beat down but this is non title, which I like we should NOT reward the Blondes for such antics. The shine was fine really liked how Douglas took that turnbuckle bump. Loved Austins blind knee as transition and just really perfect heel wrestling and there is the TERRIBLE TOWEL! When Douglas gets the hot tag I love how Austin & Pillmam react and bump for him especially Austin is discombobulated. Like I said a purity to the performance. Belly to Belly! This time Douglas knows to look for Austin coming from the top. Learned psychology! Douglas has Austin rolled up but an Air Pillmam to back of the head gives the Blonds a win and a title shot down the road. I really like Austin & Pillmans take on what it means to be a heel. ***

Sting, Dustin Rhodes & Cactus Jack vs Vader, Barry Windham, Mr. Wonderful - WCW Clash of the Champions XXII Thundercage The beginning of the big Cactus Jack babyface push that ended up in the Lost in Cleveland (a fate I would not wish on my worst enemy), but the first four months were awesome. Cactus vs Orndorff faced up a couple days before to see who join Vader's team. Vader, Orndorff & Harley beat up Cactus then cut a heel promo only for Cactus to come back and lay them all out with a shovel. The majority of the match is three on two with no Cactus Jack as Van Hammer is out (thankfully) and Cactus not actually a legitimate substitute. The biggest miss of 1993 WCW was not giving the Windham/Dustin feud a proper ending. Nice sequence early on from them before we get to the main attraction. Vader vs Sting. Sting actually gets his licks in including a Stinger Splash, but Vader hits his body attack. Vader goes to the outside, but this is Lucha Libre rules and Orndorff comes in and hits a sweet German on Sting. The heels take over on the Stinger and all three are glorious in picking a part the Stinger. No use of the cage, which is lame. Sting punches Windham off of a superplex and it is a hot tag to Dustin. Dustin levels everyone and Cactus comes out with bolt cutters. It would have been more dramatic if he waited for the babyfaces to need some rescuing. Cactus has his boot off and is waylaying everyone. Orndorff goes for the piledriver on Dustin, but Cactus hits him in the head with boot for the win. Gaining some revenge and a big win. Cactus cuts a promo against Vader and Orndorff. He is very over! This would lead to the great Orndorff street fight at SuperBrawl and the vicious Vader matches in April. Initially WCW did a great job with the Cactus push. Not much time given to this match and not that heated. Just well done in regards to Cactus' push.

WCW World Tag Team Champions Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas vs Hollywood Blonds - WCW Clash of the Champions XXII Fast-paced, action pack tag team match. It is amazing how quickly Austin & Pillman gelled. Pillman had just been working with Windham about two weeks prior, but with Barry's push needed a new partner and Austin fit like a glove. Douglas is a really good white meat babyface and if he was not such an angry young man at heart (see ECW) he could have probably got another 2-3 years as a plucky, young babyface. The babyface shine was really fun with the babyfaces working over the arm of each of the Blonds, but also featuring some fun spots like Steamboat/Austin's really fun criss cross sequence, Pillman feigning a knee injury, but eating a powerslamming and then Steamboat press slamming everyone onto Austin including Pillman. Douglas and Austin did a really good chain wrestling. Eventually Austin was able to use the tights to pull him into a Pillman forearm and then suplex Steamboat. Pillman threw him over the top and then Austin slammed him on the floor. Douglas try as he could couldn't save Steamboat. The heels worked over Steamboat well with some nice hope spots. The Pillman bump was kinda throwaway which seems silly given how high impact it is. The heat segment is solid, but nothing too noteworthy. Air Pillman hits Austin so you can feel the hot tag is imminent, but Steamer has to work for it a little more. Steamboat flips out of back suplex and hits one of his own. Douglas is a house of fire, very effective. Belly to Belly! Double axe-handle from Austin and puts Pillman on top, but Steamboat attacks Austin distracting the ref. Douglas kicks out. Austin blasts Douglas with one of the belts and busts him open. Ref immediately calls for the bell. Austin and Pillman beat babyfaces up with the belt including some pretty nasty lashes from Pillman to Steamboat. Great first match in the series that makes you want to see more. ***3/4

WCW World Tag Team Champions Hollywood Blonds vs 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell -WCW Worldwide 5/8/93 "Look at Austin shaking Pillman's congratulating him on the victory" - Jesse The Body describing as Pillman gets unfair leverage holding an ab stretch from Stunning Steve Textbook heeling from the Blonds here, not so much in terms of stooging or bumping, but in cheating and just being low down no good bastards. I loved the beginning with Pillman telling the ref to check Bagwell for a foreign object only for him to have in in his hand and then slip into his kneepad. Wish they found a way to work it into the match. Bagwell is a good white meat babyface in this. I liked Austin taunting him with camera roll only for Bagwell to slip out and kick him in the gut taunt and then hit a suplex. Scorpio is the perfect early 90s midcard babyface. So much pep and zip in everything he did. Loved the barrage of nearfalls. Nice transition with Austin throwing him off on a headscissors attempts affirming how dangerous those high flying moves are. Pillman vs Scorpio would have been great at this time loved the chopfest and Pillman showing he can go aerial too with headscissors. However, Pillman takes to the air from the apron and takes the Pillman bump to the guardrail. Nice tit for tat and transition to a Bagwell hot tag. It is very amusing watching Stone Cold Steve Austin sells fear for Buff Bagwell in 1993. The Terrible Towel rears its ugly head as Bagwell runs the ropes; Pillman wraps the towel around his throat and yanks him down. What follows is a textbook heel heat segment, nothing flashy but very compelling. Choking, taunting, fishhooks, badmouthing, distracting the ref during hope spots, throwing over the top rope, illegal help on the ab stretch. It was a thing of beauty to watch as every single move was despicable and with no redeeming quality to it. Tony informs us that we are reaching the TV time limit. Bagwell needs to get his ass in gear then! Austin holds Bagwell up for Pillman to hit Air Pillman, but he gets nailed. One minute left! HOT TAG TO SCORPIO! Rights and lefts and it is the half twist moonsault from the top, but there is no ref. O' Connor Roll, but Austin clothesline Scorpio, which puts Pillman on top, I expected that to be the finish, but kick out. The Blonds run into each other, Scorpio goes for the school boy, but the time has expired. This reminded me a lot of that excellent Arn vs Dustin match from early 92 in just how textbook it was. They are completely different matches, but if that is purest form of double limb psychology, this is the purest form of tag team heeling and not to mention some great babyface work from Bagwell and Scorpio. They don't make em like they use to that's for sure. ****

Chris Benoit vs Brad Armstrong - WCW Clash of the Champions XXII Great showcase for Benoit and his offense. Really liked the chain wrestling early thought Brad Armstrong kept up well with Benoit using dropkicks and armbars to control the Canadian Crippler. The real value of the match is Benoit kicking ass it really felt like Benoit could have gone somewhere as early as 93 in WCW. He hangs Armstrong out to dry and then hits a wicked springboard reverse clothesline out to the floor as Armstrong was on the apron. Jesse marked out for that one. The Body was definitely a mark for Benoit. Benoit looked great kicking ass here. Benoit crashes and burns on diving headbutt. However a Dragon Suplex, which popped the crowd, Jesse and me. I don't think it is a Top 100 WCW match of all time like Smarkschoice says, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. Perfect midcard match for Benoit to showcase his stuff and just competitive enough. ***1/4

Well, a year and three months later I am posting a review. I had watched the rest of SuperBrawl III so I figured I polish it off even though I had seen this match a couple times before. I turned up the volume and it made it a lot better. Vader vs Sting - SuperBrawl III Strap Match Often it is overstated when a commentator says a wrestler is trying to end his opponent's career, but here you really feel that to be the case. Vader is the World Heavyweight Champion, but this is a non-sanctioned strap match. Just as Vader lured Sting into the White Castle of Fear, he lured him into this match. With no championship to lose, Vader could all out assault Sting, his archnemesis, and effectively eliminate him from the title hunt. Like in the other Sting vs Vader encounters, Sting had to survive and find a way to thrive in this environment. I love the elimination of a babyface shine at the outset. They set the tone that this is Vader's match and he will dominate Sting. He was throwing him around and whipping him at will and splashing him. NO PAIN! WHOS DA MAN! FLEX CITY! Vader's bully arrogance is his fall and Sting pulls the strap causing Vader to punch himself in the balls. Why you punching yourself? Sting with some nice punches and a big splash from the top of his own. Time for Vader's receipt with the lashes of the strap (he could have hit him harder). One of the more famous moments is when Harley blades Vader's back. Sting throws Vader down on the outside. This establishes Sting is strong enough to carry Vader to all four corners. In a neat moment, he attempts to do just that around the outside, but Vader uses the strap to pull him into the railing hard. OW! Sting hits a Samoan Drop, but he is clearly worse for wear and Vader hits some his Vader Body Attacks. Sting misses his top rope flying splash and finally Vader takes over. I think that is what this match does so well is it takes so much for one man to earn control. Vader had to whip Sting into railing, hit two body attacks and get out of the way of the splash. During Vader's control, Vader missed a VaderBomb, crotched on the top rope and did a somersault off the top. It made the match feel like a real war of attrition. Sting felt desperate. The way Vader arose from each big bump made him feel like a massive monster. Vader was kicking the dogshit out of Sting. He did not settle for just one VaderBomb, never really attempting to win the match, but rather pounding Sting at every turn. Victory for Vader meant the end of Sting not just touching four corners. Vader hits a massive superplex and finally looks to try to win the match, but Sting hooks the bottom rope with his feet. Vader beats Sting mercilessly in the corner and then pulls him for more Vader Body Attacks, but on the third one Sting hits a KAPPO KICK! The great equalizer that kick has stunned Vader before. Release German! A Beauty! DDT! Everything is to the head to destabilize him. Sting SNAPS~! He beats the shit out of Vader in the corner who blades his ear, which even nastier than his back! Sting hoists the big man onto his back and the ref is bumped. Sting carries around three corner, but trips over the ref on the fourth corner. Damn! Sting has collapsed after that surge of energy. Vader lands with his ass right down on Sting's lifeless carcass. Vader feeling he had destroyed Sting carries him around three corner, but on the fourth Sing holds onto dear life and kicks Vader into last corner. Vader may have won the match but it is Pyrrhic at best as he is a bloody mess and does not look like a winner. Vader escapes with a win is not the finish I would have gone with. I think a Sting victory makes a lot of sense here especially since Sting never got that big victory over Vader. The story they were telling was Vader trying to destroy Sting and Sting desperate to survive. In my opinion, either Sting survives the beating and takes the victory OR he falls short Vader squashes with his ass and wins the match. This whole trying to protect Sting was lame, Vader already looked like a bloody mess the kick back into the corner was just lame. A total war of attrition and really compelling and dramatic. Loved all of Sting's hope spots and Vader just keeps getting back up. You really feel a sense of hopelessness before the Kappo Kick. It is hard to generate that in wrestling knowing a comeback is coming, but here they do a great job. Sting's comeback is AWESOME! Definite classic and easy 1993 US Match of the Year! ****3/4

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Great Muta vs Barry Windham - WCW SuperBrawl III Boring as all hell! I have been curious about this match for years, but yeah this was a snoozefest. Didn't help that it was basically heel vs heel. I didn't mind the Muta headlock stuff early thought it was a fine start and they worked in and out of it well. However, once Muta missed a dropkick and Windham hit a DDT, the match never got out of first ear. There was no struggle and no urgency. Muta was worse than Windham, but it didn't look like Barry gave much of a fuck either. Some nice isolated spots, but pretty ho-hum and pedestrian. The finish run was not bad with Muta waking up to hit his back handspring elbow and miss a couple moonsaults before eating DDT. Very disappointing.

Honestly, didn't remember ever seeing this match. I was excited to see this for a first time then came to find out I had seen this before. This is Chicken Soup for the Wrestling Fan's Soul. The shine here is so classic and fun lots of heel miscommunication and collisions. Great transition with my main Sweet Stan getting a knee to the back and Morton ending up on the outside eating racket. Great MX-style heat segment with lots of cool moves and great selling by Ricky. I thought the finish was fine (but not as great as last time watching apparently). Liked double drop kick and Corny worked overtime with bumps. Finish stuff just didn't seem perfectly timed for maximum effect. Super fun installment in the RNRs vs MX/Bodies feud. ***3/4

Cactus Jack vs "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff - WCW SuperBrawl III Street Fight I feel like Orndorff must have been besides himself when Cactus told him what he wanted to do and then Orndorff was like I have no qualms kicking the living shit out of you. This is a far, far departure from working with Hogan. Truth be told, Orndorff missed his calling as a sadist. Sometimes, it takes a masochist to bring out the sadist in us. The Titantron really revolutionized the ability to do these street fights and still get crowd heat. With all the brawling around the ring, it must have been hard for at least half the crowd to see at time hurting the live heat. Awesome match! I really enjoyed this one. From Orndorff doing an interview to having Cactus threaten him with the shovel. Orndorff crawling away on his hands and knees while Cactus attacked with the shovel was great. We get the Cactus Jack bump a thon like elbow onto Orndorff who is on concrete and the always stupid Sunset Flip from the apron to the exposed concrete. What helps this match a lot is that Cactus is a babyface so it means that Orndorff can dish out the punishment and Cactus can take his nutty bumps. The Orndorff heat section is awesome. Throwing him over multiple railings, SUPLEXING HIM ONTO THE RAILING!, great knee work, punching him straight in the mouth. Loved tearing off the knee brace, figure-4, slamming knee into exposed concrete and then slamming a chair into the knee. Best heat segment I have seen in forever. Orndorff calls for the piledriver on the chair and starts doing the Hogan cup the ear to taunt the crowd. When he turns eats a shovel to the face!!! Awesome finish. Cactus took a lickin but kept on tickin and a great finish to show you cant leave an opponent hanging around. Loved this! ****

2 Cold Scorpio vs Chris Benoit - WCW SuperBrawl III This being on the WWE Benoit DVD set, I had seen this one a bunch of times. I was wondering how it would hold up and I thought it did really well. They establish it would be Benoit's hard hitting (chops & snap suplex) and Scorpio's high flying (springboard reverse crossbody). The chain wrestling was really good especially Scorps' hammerlock work. The spot of the match for me has always been the monkey flip spot. It was the one thing I remembered about this match and it was just as cool seeing it again. Scorpio does a great job keeping Benoit off balance with speed, but also focusing on the arm. The transition to Benoit's heat is lame, just a clothesline. Benoit has a pretty good heat segment and is actually pretty good as a heel. I always like the hang out to dry suplex. Scorpio misses a missile dropkick was a good hope spot. Benoit gives up a Liontamer, which annoys me, but you could argue that it is hard to hold that hold for a significant length of time. Around this time, we find out there is five minutes in the time limit. Nice big highspot with the top rope back suplex. Benoit does a great job selling that (Seth Rollins take note) meaning he only two. Powerbomb gets another two for Benoit. Love the power moves. Scorpio's transition to finish is kinda lame just a clothesline and then hits a side moonsault thingy. It is now time to rush with about a minute left. Scorp for victory roll and Benoit slams him face first to the mat!!! If Benoit was going over that would have been the perfect finish. They tease going to the draw, but Scorpio reverses a dragon suplex into a pinning combination. A very well-worked technical match with highspots sprinkled in appropriately. I thought the transitions were a bit weak and there could have been some more struggle. Overall a very enjoyable match featuring some cool spots and Benoit's hardnosed style against the acrobatics of Scorpio. ***3/4

Juventud Guerrera, Hector Garza, Lizmark Jr vs La Parka, Psychosis & Villano IV - Bash At The Beach 1997 Very fun spotfest. Pyschosis taking nutty bumps. Villano IV hit people hard. La Parka and his corkscrew plancha was awesome. Loved the triple suicide dive. Juvy/Parka had a really fun exchange. Thought Lizmark was great hitting people hard and some nice dives. Even though Juvy was the best of Technicos felt like they were trying to get Garza over the most. He came off as very athletic and his corkscrew from the top to outside was great. Villano V tries to switch in but that backfires and he gets pinned by Garza. Commentary had some gems like when Tenay was explaining Technicos and Rudos. Tony calls The Brain a rudo who retorts that Tony is a wimpo. Dusty's call of the Villano switch was funny, he just switched with stammering same outfitted guy (clearly did not if they were related and did not want to make a mistake). Fun spotfest. ***1/2

Unfortunately for wrestling fans, the Japanese have not figured out cloning yet and this is NOT Akiyama vs Akiyama. It is Yuji Nagata & Taguchi representing New Japan Pro Wrestling. NOAH (Jun Akiyama & KENTA) vs New Japan ( Yuji Nagata & Rysuke Taguchi) - NOAH 7.24.10 Surprised this did as well on Ditch's balloting as it did. Very good match but felt pretty routine to me. The standout was of course early on when Nagata draws blood hardway on Kenta by hitting him so hard in the head. The way you find out is a drips of blood start to mysteriously appear on Nagata's body from KENTA's head so that was pretty sick. Then Akiyama's reaction to that was to drop a bomb on Taguchi's Funky Weapon ass. The Funky Weapon was lame. I cant believe by whipping Akiyama in the guardrail he actually got heat on him and went toe to toe down the stretch with KENTA. There was nothing credible about this dude. He took me out of the match. The heat on Akiyama was just there for me. I liked the hot tag to KENTA. He is a great asskicker, but he let the Funky Weapon get too much in my opinion. Nagata vs KENTA was a great pairing of stiffness and contempt. I would watch a singles match between those two. Nagata vs Akiyama was a good heavyweight bombfest down the stretch. Akiyama actually needed a wrist clutch exploder to put the Funky Weapon away. Whatever. The Nagata stuff was fun. The Taguchi stuff was not believeable. Nothing to go out of your way to see. A good tag match with some heat. ***1/4

Kensuke Sasaki vs Go Shiozaki NOAH 7/10/10 They be a CLUBBERIN, TONY! Bill Eadie take note this is how you make clobbering compelling. Kensuke is an unstoppable force of chops and lariats. I think it is about the 20 minute mark before he hits something besides a chop or lariat and that is a BRUTAL SNAP PILEDRIVER! I loved this stripped down take on pro wrestling. You could feel him beating the life force out of Go Shiozaki. I am not a big Go fan, but to his credit I thought he did a great job selling this demoralization. The beginning took the match in an interesting direction before they re-routed to the final direction. It started off pretty even between the two in terms of test of strength and shoulder tackle battle. However when Sasaki overwhelmed Shiozaki with headbutts, Go realized he was not going to survive a stand up war with this powerhouse and he took him down and worked the leg. He abandoned it even though he was making in roads. He was content to start hitting moves outside the ring and then a facelock in the ring. Sasaki made him pay. Go had the advantage and really did nothing with it. Kensuke just blitzed him with blistering chops. Shiozaki tried to a diving shoulder tackle, but Kensuke swatted him out of the sky and never looked back. They worked a great King of the Mountain and Kensuke did the Kobashi tribute rapid fire chops in the corner. Kobashi is in attendance doing commentary and Sasaki is doing late Chopbashi better than Kobashi mostly because he was not broken down. The middle stretch of the match is the best part of the match. There is a struggle over a suplex, which in NOAH indicates transition time so Shiozaki hits it. What is great about this segment is that does not give Shiozaki control. He has to earn control and spend like the next ten minutes earning that control and it is tense, dramatic and exciting. You can feel him fighting through the pain as he struggles to lift Sasaki up on every suplex attempt. In between every move, Sasaki is rocking him with wicked lariats and chops. Shiozaki has to persevere through it all. Sasaki gets his offense in like the powerslam and weird armdrag thingy. Shiozaki finally takes over and it is going to be this big highspot off the top, but that is not exactly Sasakis forte and they botch it. This is Shiozakis transition into his string of finishers (Moonsault, Go Flasher etc) and finally garnering full control. I appreciate them using a big spot to transition, but should have chosen something they knew they could hit. I liked the Northern Lights Bomb as a quick transition out of another Go Flasher. Then they do a LOOOOOOOOONG Chopbashi tribute. I really liked Shiozaki winding up for a chop but has been so injured by the chopfest that he cant do it. That show of weakness leads to three massive lariats from Sasaki. There is an unnecessary Tiger Suplex before Northern Lights Bomb before Kensuke TAKES THAT DREAM! Really enjoyable match before it ended up into NOAH tedium. Really enjoyed the middle. Sasaki is great at kicking the shit out of people Go sold well and fought back well. ****1/4

Great review. This sounds really fun. I love me some Kensuke and you do a good job explaining why Kensuke stiffness and power is better than most. Sugiura was exposed against Sasaki because Sasaki was so much better. I love me some Murakami so this is very intriguing. I know you love Sasaki the asskicker but to show some versatility watch the 2008 Morishima match nobody has ever made Morishima look as good as Kensuke. Best Kensuke individual performance

Jun Akiyama vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - NOAH 7/10/11 I love me some Nakajima. I am excited that he is in this years G1 Climax and hope he has an impressive showing. He was so damn good in the late 2000s, but with the decline of NOAH his star has faded. I was really excited when I saw this match up. It did not disappoint in the least bit. Nakajima was a ornery little muthafucka out to prove himself against Akiyama. Akiyama did not even get in the ring before Nakajima tried to take his head off. They did some fun M-Pro style crowd brawling, which I liked. Nakajima was just rifling Akiyama with kicks to the chest. They were great! I loved when Akiyama tried to run up behind Nakajima he stopped on a dime and pulverized Akiyama with a kick. Nakajima eventually got caught coming over the top with crossbody by a wicked knee. Akiyama threw him hard in the railing. It did not look good as Akiyama kicked his ass. That was the beauty of the match. It is very reminiscent of the first KENTA/Takayama. The size difference is not the same, but Nakajima comes out guns blazing, but you know at some point he is going to get caught and his ass going to get handed to him. Really nice top rope superplex by Akiyama. Nakajima survived a choke and a Exploder. Then all of sudden nearly kicked Akiyama's face off, which he sold like death. You are like Huh? Can the Wonder Kid pull this out? So wicked kicks to the head after Nakajima throws the ref away. BRAINBUSTER! Oh yeah, Kobashi is on commentary. That's cool. Nakajima cant put him away. Nakajima wants a German, but Akiyama hits TWO HUGE UPPERCUT KNEES! This being NOAH he needs like 8 million Exploders and knees to win the match, but you get the point. Great Heavyweight vet vs junior heavyweight rookie. Loved getting to see Nakajima again so much fire and passion. ****

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Suwama vs Jun Akiyama - AJPW 10/23/11 The Prodigal Son Returns! Still announced from NOAH, this would be the beginning of Akiyama's full-time return and ultimate rise to power unseating Keiji "Pro Wrestling Love" Mutoh. I consider myself a Suwama fan. He feels like a raw bone power house that belongs in Mid-South. He is a hoss. I think it is easy to underestimate him in this match but this is far from a carryjob as he brings it as much as Akiyama in the best match of his career and what could prove to be the best non-New Japan match of the front of half of this decade. The story of the match is of course Akiyama, the Fifth Pillar, returning home and even though he is not the champion he is the favorite, I think Suwama is different than any opponent he has faced. Kobashi is strong as an ox, but Suwama is so one-dimensional and it is all about power with him. There are times when I don't think Akiyama is prepared for every counter to be a power move. On top of that Suwama has youth on his side and he is in his prime at this point. He has been a main eventer for at least three years now and is not afraid of the spotlight and it shows. He does not prove himself to Akiyama. He is equal from the beginning and that's what the test of strength shows. Akiyama gets a drop toehold on the outside into the railing shades of the Misawa 2000 classic to open up a lead on Suwama's neck. Suwama is great at selling this and what I love about Akiyama is even though we are 5 minutes into a 30 minute match none of his covers feel perfunctory. You feel that as he is attacking the neck that he could get a fall this early because of his urgency. As he tries to create some speed to strike Suwama's neck he leaves himself open to his power counter a big time overhead belly to belly that rocks him and sends him to the floor. That's when the match shifts into next gear. Suwama throws Akiyama around at will outside focusing on the back. Akiyama does a magnificent job selling the back. Suwama is destroying it with slams and a Boston Crab. Akiyama cant run the ropes, cant counter Suwama his back is in a bad way. There is a great spot where Akiyama gets a knee and tries to get up top so he can get some momentum to turn the tide, but his back is so bad that he cant capitalize and Suwama hits a big time superplex. It all comes to a head on the apron. If Akiyama cant come up with something here then his return will be a disappointment. He manages to hit an Exploder off the apron and salvage the match. Suwama is in a lot of pain. Akiyama slowly works himself back up using his patented Akiyama offense knees, elbow to the back of the neck, Exploder and the Guillotine Choke. Suwama strength and energy sapped. Akiyama looks to go airborne, but Suwama swats him out of the sky with a monster lariat. Now Suwama returns on offense and it is big time suplexes that's in order for Akiyama, but Suwama is clearly hurt from the Exploder and Choke. They do a big suplex barrage, which I don't care for, but it is obligatory in the style to sort of the level the playing field. Suwama hits a HUGE dropkick to send Akiyama to floor and then hurls his body through the ropes out on the floor onto Akiyama. This would be the biggest win of Suwama's career and he is pulling out all the stops. Akiyama back in the ring looks like he can barley stand or run the ropes. Suwama needs that powerbomb for the win. Akiyama struggles and struggles to avoid it locking on a choke, but Suwama does what Suwama does best he powers out with a back drop. That's difference between Suwama and his other opponents the reliance on power to solve his problems. It is barrage of suplexes, German and Backdrop Driver. Akiyama is putting up token resistance, but Suwama is irresistible even throwing out a frogsplash. Suwama calls for it and nails a MASSIVE POWERBOMB! Only gets two! Honestly, I was rooting for him. I knew right there it was over for him. Even though he kicked Akiyama's ass if he was not going to put him away there he was not going to do it. Yep, just as he went for the back drop driver here comes Akiyama's resistance and he shifts his weight. As they struggle with strikes Akiyama hits a lucky knee that connects with Suwama's head and knocks him out. Great glassy eyed sell from Suwama. The selling has been off the charts great in this match. Akiyama hits a barrage of knees and the crowd comes alive. Exploder->1 count yep Suwama is dead in the water. Exploders and Wrist-Clutch Exploder only gets two!??!!? Oh cmon! New crazy Michinoku Driver wins the match for Jun Akiyama. Guess what this would be Jun Akiyama's FIRST Triple Crown Championship. I had sneaky suspicion he never won pre-split and so this makes it extra special. Definitely way too much excess down the stretch. Suwama murdered Akiyama and could not get the job done annoys me because it makes Suwama look like a choke. The lucky knee was a great transition. Then again way too many knees and Exploders. Enough complaining, this fucking ruled. Great, great selling by both men. Loved the control segments. Suwama's power game was great. Akiyama's offense was brilliant. The transitions were incredible and so well-timed and made so much sense. Like I said may be the best non-New Japan match of this front half of the 2010s in Japan. Not talked about enough! Watch this match! ****1/2

GHC Heavyweight Champion Takashi Sugiura vs Kensuke Sasaki - NOAH 11/14/11 I feel I was overly harsh on their first encounter. I really did enjoy how much they beat the crap out of each other. I much prefer that to a men's floor exercise routine. I thought this was a better version of their first version. I don't feel like they progressed in any way. It was still Kensuke beating the shit out of Sugiura, I just thought it was structured a bit better. The lariat Sasaki hit right off the bat was so stiff. Sugiura had a bandage on the back of his neck that was disintegrated by how hard Sasaki was hitting him. I thought Sugiura worked a lot better from underneath and the transitions were smarter. This was still very much in the vein of Kobashi/Sasaki. Brutal violence and then working big finish runs, which I thought was better. There was a punch by Sugiura that was supposed to hit Sasaki in the side of the neck, but he moved hit him flush in the face, OW! I was watching this on the airplane and the guy next to me looked deeply disturbed during the ultra-stiff slap exchange. They do the same closed fist exchange that ended the first match in July in a draw, but this time Sasaki looks the better for it. Sasaki hits nasty lariat to Sugiura to the back of his neck and I swear he was knocked out. Sasaki is flabberghasted that he didn't get three and so am I! Sugiura starts throwing punches, elbows and knees at Sugiura in one awesome violent flurry. Olympic Slam and Sugiura gets a big time win! Great match, but it was just brutally stiff violence and hey I enjoy that. ****

When Ditch had them listed by last name I thought they were like Elvis, Pele or Moesha, they just went by one name 😛

GHC Heavyweight Champion Takashi Suguira vs Kensuke Sasaki - NOAH 7/23/11 I looked up that Suguira was in the middle of a 500+ day GHC Title reign holy shit no wonder this promotion went into the commode. To be fair, in terms of quality it does not seem that happened until Akiyama left for AJPW in 2012 and Sasaki retired, which was under Morishima. After 2012, you see almost zero recommendations for NOAH matches as match of the year contenders. It is really not that crazy when you look at NOAH's roster. It was not sustainable and the new stars just were not there. So once Akiyama and Sasaki left, it became a barren wasteland until becoming a New Japan puppet promotion. Big, dumb macho pissing contest very much in the vain of Kobashi/Sasaki. Suguira has none of Kobashi's charisma nor his flair for the dramatic. Credit where credit is due these guys each other really fucking hard. The opening strike exchange puts every strike exchange in modern New Japan to shame Suguira, neck and upper chest just a nasty shade of purple once Sasaki is through with him. Sasaki beat the living shit out of Suguira in this match. If I didn't know he was champion, I thought he was just some young lion jabroni. I liked the German suplex transition and Suguira firing up. Suguira's moments on top were fleeting Sasaki just dominated. There was really no story. One big moment was Sasaki went for a Northern Lights Bomb and Suguira countered and blasted away with elbows until he knocked Sasaki off his feet, which had not accomplished until that point so that felt big. He went through some suplexes and the Olympic Slam. Sasaki would just comeback and beat the piss out of him. There was lariat to the back of the neck I thought legit knocked Suguira out. They got to a seven count. I thought the finish being a draw was the right call and really enhanced everything that happened in the match. They just started unloaded closed fists on one another and then punched each other simultaneously. Neither man could stand for a ten count. Things like Shibata/Goto are fun because they beat the shit out of each other, but it is a sprint. These big long drawn out beatings can get tedious at times. Kobashi is such a BIG wrestler that felt like a Clash of Titans. This felt drawn out. I still love stiffness and this is as stiff as they come. They did not hold anything back. Not a big fan of the style, but they executed the style well and I do enjoy a good Sasaki shit kicking. ***1/2

Kensuke Sasaki vs Jun Akiyama - NOAH 4/10/10 TAKE THAT DREAM! So glad to have Kensuke Sasaki back in my life. It is the Fifth Pillar vs the Fourth Musketeer (Id put him ahead of Hase by end of the decade). Unless I am mistaken this is their first big singles match together. Probably one of the last remaining 90s dream matches and of course it takes place in 2010. In my opinion, Akiyama delivers his best selling performance since 2000. Sasaki rocks him with a big elbow in the opening strike exchange and Akiyama sells it like death. It really feels like a pivotal moment with consequence, which I love. On the outside, he is in pain, but he is also trying to fire himself back up. Sasaki was dropping him a big delayed vertical and chopping him looked firmly in control He misses a charge. Akiyama knowing that his time is short just starts throwing bombs suplexes, guillotine choke, huge knees to end this as quickly as possible. On an exploder, Sasaki elbows him in the neck and Akiyama tries to recover, but a lariat wipes him out. Sasaki does his weird armdrag thingy into his lame submission thingy but works with Akiyama's neck injured. Up until this point, I thought the match was rocking. Then they went all NOAH on me. They just started bomb throwing with no rhyme or reason and no selling. Ugh. They had a good thing going. They do redeem themselves because the finish is all about Sasaki attacking the neck (big elbow to neck) and try as he might (suplex and running knee), Akiyama just does not have enough left to dig himself out of this hole. Sasaki hits his Northern Lights Bomb when Akiyama went for the exploder and a trio of monster lariats to win. I love matches where something pivotal happens early and it changes the complexion of the match every is worked through that. Akiyama was great at selling and Sasaki did a great job on the neck. The bomb throwing and no selling hurt it, but it was just brief. Otherwise, a great dream match that delivered in a different way than you would have expected. ****1/4

My interest has been piqued. I have seen a grand total of one Masao Inoue match and didn't think much of it. I have been on a heavy 2010s puro kick and may work this one in.

Daisuke Ikeda vs Takeshi Ono - FUTEN 9/26/10 This reminded me a lot of Lucha Underground/Final Deletion in its production and the way they did the cuts. It felt like you were watching a movie. In terms of sub-5 minute explosive action I have this right there with Dungeon Match between Owen Hart vs Shamrock. Ikeda is a shoot style legend. Ono I have no clue who he is. I find out that he just throws punches with reckless abandon and really never stops moving forward. He really takes the fight to the superior Ikeda. Ikeda plays counterpuncher the whole match, first it is with headbutts that rock Ono, but Ono is like a Soviet at Stalingrad, he is still coming forward. He gets a double chickenwing and then just throws Ikeda with a Tiger suplex. He goes full mount reigning punches down but Ikeda always the counterwrestler in this match sees the opening in Ono's carelessness and makes him pay with an armbar. Simple story: Ono is going to crash through Ikeda and leaves himself open to counterpunching. Ikeda the veteran bides his time and ends up winning the match. Hard-hitting, good storytelling, unique production. ****

Can Ambrose hit offense anymore? I have not seen someone so offensively inept this side of Kofi Kingston. He remains over and great at selling. When you are a babyface that is all you need, but God his offense sucks. Reigns vs Rusev for the US Title!!! PLEASE! Did not expect the finish at all. El Dragon is right it is the right move because it makes Steph, a heel, look bad for betting against Ambrose.

Roman looks even more jacked!