Superstar Sleeze

Daniel Bryan vs Triple H w/Stephanie McMahon - Wrestlemania XXX In light of recent events, this match should only be more cherished as the night everything was right with the world of pro wrestling. The most emotionally impactful of the match of the year contenders of 2014. The Shield versus Wyatts made the best use of past history, AJ Styles vs Minoru Suzuki told the most interesting intra-match story and Tanahashi/Nakamura rocked the limb psychology like no one else this year. Wrestling should not hit in you the head, it should hit you in the gut. When I watch this match, I was moved moreso now than probably when it happened. Daniel Bryan represents so much more to me than just a great wrestler. He proves if you love it, want it and work hard enough for it that anything is possibly. We all know the obstacles in front of him and he just kept his head down plowed through them and became the World Champion on the Grandest Stage of Them All. Before the fairy tale ending, Bryan had to face the man who was the exact antithesis of Bryan. He was not the populist choice. He was a member of the Kliq, given a forced push to the top, and married the boss' daughter. Triple H is a lightning rod of controversy. Some contend he is a great ring general and master of ring psychology while loathing his backstage politics and knack for burying opponents. Others call his entire reputation a sham manufactured by the WWE to work the fans into believing he was one of the greatest of all-time when he was just a mediocre wrestler that happened to be connected to the correct people. This made him the absolute perfect opponent for Daniel Bryan because no matter your feelings on Triple H, he represented everything corporate and artificial about pro wrestling while Daniel Bryan embodied the passion and humanity of pro wrestling. Triple H offers his hand to begin the match and Bryan kicks it away only to roll him up quickly. Bryan came to play, brutha. Bryan is on him with kicks and HHH bails. Stephanie, who is a total smokeshow tonight with those short shorts, gives The Game exhorts while Bryan now offers his hand. What I love about the early part of the match is that even though Bryan shoulder is taped and HHH targets it, it is not as soon as HHH attacks it that Bryan just writhes in pain. There are levels of pain. Bryan is able to fight through the first couple attacks because of his determination and he can't afford it to be worked on. Yes, it causes a wince, but it is a just brief inconvenience. It is a babyface shine that is truly earned that culminates with Bryan hitting a tornado DDT from the apron and the somersault off the top rope onto The Game. Triple H seems shaken from this onslaught and has underestimated Daniel Bryan. He is able to cause Bryan to lose his balance on the top rope. HHH is not going to fuck around and looks to end this early with a Pedigree on the announce table, but the feisty Bryan fights out so Triple H quickly switches gears and wrenches the bad shoulder right into the edge of the announce table. OUCH! Only now does the heat on Bryan begin with Triple H destroying Bryan's arm and delivering the best limb work of his career. Stephanie laying the badmouth on Bryan, "Mess with the bull, you are going to get the horns" among others was just awesome. She would be such an excellent manager if she ever committed to it full time. Bryan's first hope spot is his signature suicide dive, but Triple H blasts him with a right hand. HHH hits a nasty back suplex with the arm behind the back on the apron. Triple H busting out the Crossface Chickenwing into the Crippler Crossface was wicked cool. Daniel Bryan will not be denied. He makes it to the ropes and begins his signature high-octane comeback. Triple H looks to cut him off with a suplex, but Bryan gets two Germans of his own. Triple H looks to stop the bleeding with a Chickenwing Crossface, but has to settle for the Tiger Suplex. Sick! Triple H showing he is not always a Cerebral Assassin mounts D-Bry on the top rope, which gives him the high ground and the chance to hit a sunset flip powerbomb. Daniel Bryan with a repeated running dropkicks, but on the third Triple H bursts out of the corner with a wicked lariat. I love the struggle of this match. You really feel like two men are fighting strongly for their respective ideologies and pride. Neither one wants to give an inch to the other. Triple H is getting anxious and abandons the arm work for the one surefire way to end this: The Pedigree. Bryan counters into a pinning attempt. Bryan's diving headbutt eats a boot and HHH right back on the arm with a Crippler Crossface, but Bryan reverses into the YESLock. Triple H after all the smack he talks feels desperate to end this. Bryan is a fucking maniac and hits not one full speed suicide dive, but two full-speed suicide dives! Bryan is feeling it, kip up, YES CHANTS! He is looking for that Knee that took down Cena. SPINEBUSTER~! PEDIGREE~! IT IS OVER 1-2-NO! NO! NO! YES! YES! YES! Honest to God, had totally forgotten Triple H hit the Pedigree in this match and Bryan kicked out. I actually saw him hit the Pedigree, my stomach dropped, then I remembered Bryan won and was ecstatic he kicked out. Now if that is not the hallmark of a great fucking match, I don't know what is! Triple H is flabberghasted and tries to beat the shit out of him while Stephanie screams in the background. This is Daniel Bryan's night and Triple H is coming to the realization he cannot overcome the power of Daniel Bryan and the People! Triple H desperately tries to pull the trigger on a second Pedigree, but Bryan wriggles out until finally EXPLODING KNEE~! 1-2-3! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! Awesome match that feels like a real war and really mirrors Bryan's rise to the top. Bryan had to earn every single move in this match. His babyface shine was earned working through Triple H's early arm work. Then he fought tooth and nail not submit to HHH's killer arm work. From there, just when you think Bryan has the match won, it turns on a dime and Triple H hits his knockout shot and Bryan kicks out. They don't waste time with 8 million false finishes. Triple H gets his and keeps going for another Pedigree and then Exploding Knee knocks him out. Stephanie has to carry her husband out while they watch Daniel Bryan go to the main event of Wrestlemania. It is such a feel-good story combined with amazing fundamentals. I don't see a flaw. ***** Is there a better Triple H match? My pick for second is the Cactus Jack street fight and I think that is a clear level below this.

The move that brought him to the dance is the Boma Ye Knee. I think when times are tough and you think it is worth it. You double down it. It is not like he was Kaz Hayashi flip, flop and flying and then selling the knee. He was selling before and after the knee strike. You got the sense he was fighting through the pain, he knew it was stupid, but damnit he is up against Tanahashi and he has something to prove. His body language really conveyed that sense of struggle. Also it was only in short bursts. Tanahashi controlled the majority of the match, beautifully I'll add, and always cutoff him off at the knee. It was the cross armbreaker that opened up the knee to head game. Without Tanahashi prone, Nakamura would never have the chance to unleash a barrage of knees to the head. When you are coming from underneath from such a severe beating, you need a quick out. Nakamura had the cross armbreaker and knees to head, a flash submission or a flash KO. Nakamura's late match strategy digging himself out of a ditch was totally logical and the fact he sold that he was fighting through the pain made it all the more perfect. The only thing that bothered me was that it was knee barrage->nearfall->Boma Ye Knee -> win. It was such a needless nearfall. Oh, it finished #23 in VOW, for some reason, I thought it was #30-50 range. I must have recalled incorrectly. While I still think that is a bit low, I feel better now. Chad, Styles/Suzuki and this are right now a toss-up for me for New Japan. I still have Okada/Suzuki and Okada/Nakamura and a shit ton of Ishii to watch.

What really makes sense is Bryan getting a title shot for the belt he never lost...

I have a backlog of reviews to do. Knock out two before I go to bed. Katsuyori Shibata & Hirooki Goto vs Yuji Nagata & Tomomaki Honma - 6/21/14 Picked this match to watch for two reasons: I wanted to watch a modern New Japan tag match and I love the "underdog face paired with a vet face against a bruising heel duo" genre. It looks like the only underperforming part of New Japan is the tag division, which produced pretty much no match of the year contenders. This was the only New Japan heavyweight tag match to even make Voices of Wrestling Top 120 of 2014 countdown. Add in the fact this type of tag match is my favorite type of tags this was a slam dunk to watch. Unfortunately, I was bit disappointed. You think beating the piss out of Honma and a hot finish run would be hard to fuck, but I just didn't think the drama was there. I liked Honma jumpstarting the match. You can't help but be infected by his energy. You want that dude to win a match. He takes it to Shibata early and Nagata/Honma overwhelm Shibata. Shibata finally gets his wits about him and levels Honma with a right elbow and wisely tags out. This is what I am waiting for the beatdown on Honma and it did not last long enough. Goto is just as lame as ever. Shibata was a good dick, but he is no Tenryu. I liked him shoving his boot into Honma's face. Only one knock Nagata off the apron spot? Honma is already making his comeback. Nagata, who is GHC Champ at this point, does feel electric as the vet face bursting on the scene. Shibata tags out and he immediately grabs his armbar. Honma wants in and kicks some Goto ass, which gets me and the crowd rocking. Nagata is a great cheerleader for all this. Honma misses diving headbutt and Goto hits his finishes while Shibata detains Nagata to win the match. It felt really abbreviated and WWE-esque. Like this is one of the better WWE tags of 2014, but happened in NJPW. Where was the usual chipiness and constant shots to the apron guy or holding someone back or the constant saves. It was nice little character piece for Honma, Nagata was a good cheerleader, Shibata is a good dick and Goto is whatever. Honma is entertaining, but not at the level of heat I expect from puro tags. *** Katsuyori Shibata vs Shinsuke Nakamura - G-1 Climax 2014 So this weirdo Nakamura that everybody has been raving about well I will take him over Nakamura circa 2008, who was talented, but did not look like he gave one single fuck. Nakamura seems to be playing mind games with the ultra-serious, straitlaced Shibata with his shenanigans: yawning and putting head right on his bellybutton during a rope break. Shibata finally has enough to unleashes a slap. Nakamura is like "You don't have to get hot about it.", but Nakamura misses his running knee. Shibata gets a nice rip over the top rope and then kicks his head off when he is up against the railing. Shibata applies a figure-4, which is inconsequential in the long run. Nakamura hits a monster elbow and Nakamura after failing like two or three times finally gets his knee lift in the corner. I love that Nakamura is still the King of the Knee Lift. They trade moves like knee lifts, Germans and chinlocks. Nakamura comes running in and Shibata dropkicks him in the mush. The one constant thread is that Nakamura should really stop running at Shibata that is his downfall. BOMA YE~! Gets first and only nearfall. Nakamura runs again at Shibata and dropkick. Shibata hits his wicked spinning back chop to face. Go 2 Sleep and Nakamura-Seeking Penalty Kick for the win! Go 2 Sleep/Penalty Kick is my favorite combination finish in the world right now! I love that Shibata constantly countering Nakamura running into him played into the finish. It makes sense not to artificially create separation between you and your opponent. Shibata made him pay. That's neat, sensible storyline that is not exploited enough. Nakamura likes to build momentum for stuff like Boma Ye knee with a running start, but if you telegraph it, you will pay. That's the type of treating wrestling as real that can make matches like this fun. ***3/4

You my boy, Pete. You can be on my team, anytime!

I am still rewatching stuff from so sorry if people have already moved on 2015. New Japan fans: What's up with the lack of love for Tanahashi/Nakamura Invasion Attack? I thought that was blow-away, instant classic good. All I hear about is G1 Climax this and G1 Climax that, but this match crushes pretty much anything from the G1 Climax but Styles/Suzuki in my estimation. This is a matchup I was really cold on from watching all their 2005-2009 matches recently (mostly due to Nakamura looking bored as all hell). Tanahashi rocks in the heel role. Another thing I don't hear a lot. Tanahashi breaking the rules because he is overmatched is such a great aspect of who he is. I was a big fan of Tanahashi's leg work in the late 2000s and thought this match he just rocked it. Nakamura coming back as the desperate, but yet ferocious comeback. He wanted to win this match so bad, knee be damned, he was just going to hurl it at Tanahashi's head. You would thought he just won the IWGP title at the Tokyo Dome by his reaction. This is a Nakamura that I think effort could be called into question, but here he looked awesome. I have not seen everything and plan watching a lot more, but if the other stuff is as good as or better than this match. The NJPW fans are correct that NJPW is in a freaky awesome groove right now in my estimation. That remains to be seen...

Is the Thursday show from Hartford going to be branded as a RAW or Smackdown? I need to know for DVR purposes as I want to watch this event for sure. Actually, Hartford is only 90 minutes away...hmmmmmmmmmm...are they sticking to the 8pm-10pm schedule? I may just go now!

That would be awesome! Dolph as the FIP and Bryan as the hot tag would actually be pretty damn sick. I'd buy in to that team. Give me Cesaro/Kidd vs Ziggler/Bryan all night baby!

It is 2015 and at the end of the day, I would be shocked in anyone in the US rioted over wrestling. If this was mid-90s WCW, there is no doubt that the trash would have been flying and I am more surprised that did not happen. My brother said if we were closer, he would have chucked things. Matt actually put it perfectly as I was trying to describe the feeling. It was not exactly anger. Personally, I was not angry, but damn sure I was going to boo the hell out of Roman Reigns and pretty much the rest of the Rumble because they needed to know they are stupid. I didn't think the "revolt" was as vicious as it could have been. There were still "Lets Go Ambrose" and "We Want Ziggler", but it was short and fleeting. I would have preferred them to be more positive like chanting for Daniel Bryan, but there were a lot of people that were just like fuck it and he is not coming back. I think Reigns/Show/Kane woke the crowd out of the coma and we started booing the fuck of it. I am a bit disappointed we did not get "Roman Sucks" or "Die Roman Die" to really bring it full circle with The Rock in the ring. To the "Why didn't we leave", speaking for me and my brother, I did not pay a fortune and drive 10 hours round trip to leave early when I could at least boo the fuck out of Roman Reigns. Hell, I was telling my brother, that I didn't even think Ziggler was going to come out. My brother correctly predicted that Kane would eliminate him (well Big Show helped, so he got it mostly right). I did hang onto the silver of hope for Rusev because he was not an internet favorite that they may go with him. They definitely booked this knowing full well what will happen! Bryan was eliminated early to get the boos out early. They put Roman Reigns in and hide them because they are pussies! Show and Kane are pushed hard to fuck with us. The Rock which was just bullshit! Rusev was deliberately placed as a teaser to get our hopes, which was such one last ultimate fuck you! Dave Musgrave with kills it at the end with the Fast Lane tagline.

I liked the Divas match more than opening six-man. It was close, but I think that divas match was an appreciable level above. I disagree about Daniel Bryan's promo ability. He is able to convey how much he loves pro wrestling and you really believe in the underdog character. He comes across as real even with the shitty scripting. He is one of the top 5 promos in WWE right now and that There is no Cesaro character to really buy into. The arrogant, grandstanding strongman was fine, but you could only figure that out watching the matches intently never from promos or commentary. I thought New Age Outlaws were pretty damn over in Philly and I was there. I was actually pretty pumped to finally get to sing-a-long to Outlaw's promo. I think we need just one character with a fun sing-a-long catchphrase. Outlaws/Ascension was fucking awful. I was right next to the section that was chanting "You still got it" and I don't think it was ironic. It was just plain weird. Amen, Will if I see one more Usos/Miz & Mizdow, it is too soon. Their RAW tag title switch I thought was actively bad. I thought match was pretty awful too. I actually tried to watch the match instead Mizdow and I think that is why I don't get as much enjoy out of it. I don't think they go full bore on the comedy enough. I was watching live so I don't always pick up on details, but exactly happened in this match to further any dissension. I understand how the Rumble did, but what about this match? Yes the crowd was dead for the women's match, but I tried hard to get my section into it to no avail. I didn't notice any botched spots. The Bellas actually made the Paige & Nattie team earn babyface shine. The Bellas worked a strong heat segment. Brie could throw a damn nice knee. If she only threw knees, she would be great. Nikki was throwing great stiff shots. I loved how they were building to the Paige hot tag and then just took it away from us with a fucking wicked elbow. You are all a bunch of haters!

BINGO! This is exactly the problem.

Can't wait for tomorrow's Did You Know on RAW :P Curtis Axel is also trying to vault himself as a top face on his twitter account lolololololololol. Update Curtis Axel is trending in the US, this is awesome!

I was there live and it was interesting to say the least. Most importantly, did the "We Want Rusev" chant translate to the TV? After Bryan's elimination I went all in on Rusev and it sucked they teased me again. What sucked the most personally for me is I was next to the one dude who hates Daniel Bryan. It was just insufferable. I just wanted to wallow in my damn misery. Once he did not shut up, it just caused everyone around to shit on Reigns even harder. A couple people have pointed this out, but it is not like Reigns did anything interesting. It was almost like they were afraid to spotlight him because it would just get people angrier. If they actually had The Rock talk, I think that would have made it even worse. Since, I traveled all the way from Boston from this,. I refuse to let elevator bring me down! DDP & Bubba Ray were awesome! I have become such a big DDP fan from the Austin podcast and rewatching 1998 WCW. Pumped to see him! The pre-show tag was fun, but I thought it was just a good spotfest. I didn't feel a rhythm. When we were chanting "New Day Sucks" in rhythm with Xavier Woods that was hilarious. I thought Ascension and Miz/Mizdow tag matches sucked. I am shocked people even liked the Usos/Miz&Mizdow. It was without struggle, urgency, no angle advancement, lets just run through their moveset. If I see Miz/Usos ever again, it will be too soon. The divas match was really good like not good for divas it was straight up good. There was a great sense of struggle with Nattie and Paige earning their shine over the Bellas. The Bellas were worked a better heat segment than any Usos match in the past 5 months. Then instead of getting the hot tag, they go with crazy out of nowhere Nikki elbow to win. This may be the best women's match in WWE, I have ever seen. The Triple Threat was so fucking exciting live. Brock is a damn beast. They told a great story and everything was just clicking. Cena was relentless and Rollins was picking his spots and Brock was just a beast. Brock catching Rollins off that springboard into a F5 was HOLY FUCKING SHIT! I thought they were going to burn us out with the false finishes, but they actually built to a great damn climax. One of the best matches I have ever seen live! I don't want anyone to lose their job. I know it is best for Daniel Bryan to stay in WWE in terms of his income. That being said, purely out of self-interest, can WWE please release Daniel Bryan so we can get Bryan Danielson vs AJ Styles! C'mon, Vince you can still book a real dream match!

Due to the winter storm, I have been delayed in getting to Philly, but I will be there tomorrow BABY live in living color! Here are three blogs looking at my viewings of Best of Japan 2000s project: Best of All Japan Pro Wrestling in 2005-2009: Match Listing: AJPW Triple Crown Champion Toshiaki Kawada vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 02/16/05 ***1/2 Kawada chokes huge. The Kojima Era begins. Pretty good "epic" title change AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs AKIRA - AJPW 1/8/06 Fun American-style bullshit with interference and cool spots. Kondo is a great powerhouse AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs. Kaz Hayashi - Sumo Hall 8/27/06 ***3/4 Flawless, marvelous offensive execution. Weak on selling, transitions and story. All Japan Jr. Hvywt Champion Shuji Kondo vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - AJPW 2/17/07 ****1/2 #47 out of 100 - Must Watch Awesome chess battle it is Kondo's strength against Nakajima's strategy. Nakajima battles neck injury. AJPW TRIPLE Crown Champion Minoru Suzuki vs Keiji Mutoh - AJPW 07/01/07 ****1/4 #68 out of 100 - Recommended A flawed match, but a terrific Minoru Suzuki performance carries the day. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Suwama - AJPW Champions Carnival 2008 ****1/4 #60 out 100 - Recommended Hiroshi Flair vs Lex Suwama is tons of fun AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion Naomichi Marufuji vs Shuji Kondo - AJPW 11/03/08 Waste of time, which is a shame since I like Kondo a lot AJPW TRIPLE Crown Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Suwama - AJPW 08/30/09 **** #90 out 100 - Recommended Two big muthafuckas kicking each other's faces in. Sign me up! AJPW Triple Crown Champ Yoshihiro Takayama vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 09/26/06 It is the Suwama match except with Kojima, so it is mediocre. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/01/best-of-all-japan-yoshihiro-takayama.html -------------------------------------------------------------- Best of Kenta Kobashi's Return to Pro Wrestling NOAH (2007-2008) Match Listing: GHC Tag Team Champions Akiyama & Rikio vs. Takayama & Sugiura - Budokan 4/28/07 ***1/2 Don't remember much about this match. It was a pretty good standard NOAH tag match. GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Takuma Sano - Budokan 4/28/07 **** #94 out of 100 Roundhouse Kick vs Emerald Elbow and it is one helluva fight. Last great Misawa match Kobashi & Takayama vs Misawa & Akiyama - Budokan 12/02/07 ****1/2 #29 out of 100 Most emotional match of the decade. Throwback to 90s All Japan. Great Kobashi performance Kobashi, Honda, Taniguchi vs. Morishima, Marufuji, Sugiura - NOAH 2/21/08 ****1/4 #42 of 100 Great chippy young upstart vs veteran tag. Felt like Jumbo & Co. vs Misawa & Co. Kobashi, Honda, KENTA vs Takayama, Sano, Aoki Budokan 3/2/08 ***3/4 Kobashi looks vulnerable as KENTA bats clean up. Needed stronger heel work. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/01/noah-is-burning-for-kobashi-kenta.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best of New Japan Pro Wrestling, 2000-2002 Part 2 Match Listing: Masahiro Chono vs Masanobu Fuchi - AJPW 9/02/00 Two old bastards trying to out cheat each other, but emphasis is on "old", unfortunately Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Yuji Nagata & Takahashi Iizuka This sucked. Toshiaki Kawada vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - IWGP Championship Semi-Finals Tokyo Dome 01/04/01 Kawada drags a good match out of Tenzan Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - IWGP Championship FINALS Tokyo Dome 01/04/01**** #85 out of 100 Awesome, power sprint. These guys had awesome chemistry with each other. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Mike Barton & Jim Steele - G-1 Tag Climax FINALS '01 Basic, fundamental tag team match. Very average. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW 6/7/02 Power vs submission. Disappointing. Masahiro Chono vs Yoshihiro Takayama - 2002 G-1 Climax Finals Takayama dragged a great, dramatic match out of old man Chono. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Kazunari Murakami - NJPW 12/12/02 ****3/4 #15 out of 100 Amazing, exciting shoot-style fight. Badass Murakami heel performance. Badass Nagata face performance http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/01/war-ensemble-satoshi-kojima-hiroyoshi.html

La Parka was definitely over, but I don't know if he could have been a main eventer. He definitely could have been a top upper midcard babyface act or top level tag team. Souled Out 1998 he gets a huge pop. Psicosis seemed to adapt to the American style better than anyone besides Rey. Ultimo Dragon's way of adapting seemed to be by packing in more offense than ever before and neglecting selling whereever possible.

Yuji Nagata vs Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW 01/04/04 Up until the finish, I thought this was a classic, bloody, Dome brawl. I was perplexed why no one talked about this match until that finish, which takes it down quite a bit. Sasaki returns, but not to a hero's welcome. No, he must have been portrayed as a turncoat for leaving Inoki's New Japan to join a short-lived Choshu's promotion that would focus more on pro wrestling. Sasaki fit the 90s New Japan Strong Style well, but Sasaki stuck out like a sore thumb in Inoki's MMA-influenced New Japan of the early 2000s, but he comes back here to challenge Inoki's boy, Yuji Nagata at the Dome. Without the title on the line and New Japan in its nadir in terms of critical quality, I can see why this is overlooked, but I thought this was awesome. They are chippy before the match starts and have to be held back during introductions. It feels like Sasaki is a Choshu-like invader taking on the Hero of New Japan. They just stand up and duke it the fuck out. Sasaki rocks him with a slap to the ear. Nagata tries to fight back and Sasaki hits him a lariat. Sasaki goes for the cross-armbreaker to win the match, but Nagata retreats to the outside. Sasaki whips him into the railing and goes for the chair. Nagata in desperation smokes the chair back into Sasaki's face with a wicked kick. Sasaki does a nice blade job. Sasaki gets a lariat to back of Nagata's head and sends him head-first into the post. Nagata does a nasty, gory blade job. We get the double juice and Nagata & Sasaki stand up in the ring and just throw haymakers, headbutts and strikes. It was fucking awesome. Nagata is left in the middle ring laying and you can see the pool of blood forming around the back of the head. Sasaki just goes vampire crazy gnawing on Nagata and then headbutting him. Sasaki gloats and the New Japan crowd boos loudly. Damn! Northern Lights Bomb! He chooses to go for the ten count. He goes for it again, but Nagata gets a wild kick to the head that rocks Sasaki. Nagata follows it up and you really feel like it going to build to this awesome finish and be a slam dunk 2004 match of the year contender, but then Nagata just puts Sasaki in the Rings of Saturn for like 60-90 seconds until Sasaki passes out. It was very anticlimatic. Up until the finish, a damn exciting brawl. I loved the visual of the double juice with them standing up and just trading strikes in the middle of the ring. Sasaki was actually playing a good heel. Definitely worth a look and see. ****1/4

That Flair-Luger synopsis got me so enraged, I left a comment about how awesome Luger is and that they suck for perpetuating such lies. I really like this podcast a lot so far. My only big disagreement is that I think Goldberg/DDP is a slam dunk pick for this list. DDP was just on fire in 1998. It slips under the radar, but DDP main evented five straight WCW PPVs from Bash at the Beach through WWIII '98. I have become a HUGE retroactive DDP fan. I remember liking him alright as a kid, but I really, really like him now. Also, I don't think this is totally in order per se. I think this 100 matches you should see before you die. I could be wrong. The Spring Stampede tag team match is considered more famous in the WWE canon. It gets mentioned more than the Slamboree match and made the original Foley DVD set. I think Foley likes the Spring Stampede match more and that's all it comes down to. It would be an interesting question to pose to Cactus. I will defend Yellow Dog until my dying breath. Yes, the Pillman start is the best start to any Wargames. He is madder than a hornet.

WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton vs John Cena vs Daniel Bryan vs Cesaro vs Sheamus vs Christian - WWE Elimination Chamber 2014 The Royal Rumble, Money In The Bank and Elimination Chamber are matches I enjoy to watch live, but if I don't catch them that way, I almost never go back and watch them. I was curious about this one because it got some buzz, but then lost lost steam come end of year awards time. I really enjoyed this and this was far more character-driven than I expected. I thought Christian was the MVP with his desperate violence. If they booked all opportunist characters like this then they be far more interesting. Right from the outset, he taunts Sheamus while he is in the pod, which allows Cesaro to get one up on Sheamus. Then when he enters fourth, he shoves Sheamus off the top rope to the steel and then is laser focused on Bryan's arm. It made total sense, Christian is locking in on the weakest link and is looking to exploit it. The only problem is Sheamus hates him and Cesaro is a fucking rogue powerhouse. Cesaro had the second best character as the hot dog, arrogant show off. He was not wrestling with a High Wrestling IQ. He was constantly breaking up other people's chances to eliminate people. He would engage Sheamus in gnarly macho pissing contests. Why? Because he was out to prove he was The Man and that his raw power and sheer might would overcome even a shitty strategy. The first time we see that is Bryan has Sheamus in the Indian Deathlock and Cesaro comes at him which allows Bryan to hit the Northern Lights Suplex while in the Deathlock. This would be a constant thread throughout the match with Cesaro. Cesaro on at least two occasions stopped Cena from hitting FUs. Cena comes in and the secondary finishers go flying. Orton walks in too a mass of humanity laid out. Orton gloats as the crowd boos. He goes for the punt on Bryan, but whiffs. He is cornered so he retreats to the pod and the crowd chants "Pussy!". Holy shit, three heels acting like heels, I LOVE IT, MICHAEL~! Sheamus blasts the pod down with a Brogue Kick because he is all man. Cesaro attacks Shemaus even though he has the upper hand. Then Cena hits the 5 Knuckle Shuffle on Orton, but Cesaro attacks again. Giant Swing on Orton for about 30 revolutions. THAT HOT DOG! Bryan hits Chaos Theory on Cesaro. It would have been great if he got eliminated there with his hubris getting the best of him. Sheamus Brogue Kick Cena. Christian ROLLS UP Sheamus! NO! Christian DIVES ON Cena! No! Christian being the best American Yoshinari Ogawa is awesome! Sheamus gets up and sees red and wants to kill Christian. Christian retreats to the top of the pod. Sheamus gives chase and Orton superplexes Sheamus. Christian SPLASH OFF THE POD! Complete with Here Comes The Pain sell into the cover! He eliminates Sheamus! YES! YES! YES! Bryan hits his exploding knee and eliminates Christian. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! NO! NO! NO! Daniel Bryan sucks! Cena/Bryan showdown is fucking electric. I loved their strike exchange. They need to go back to that well for this year's Summerslam. Cena hoists Bryan up for the FU, but Cesaro Germans the both of them. Cena makes Cesaro pay with an FU on the plexiglass and then tap to the most vicious STFU ever. I would have liked Cesaro's arrogance really be exploited in his elimination, but this was good enough. The match really goes downhill at this point. The Wyatts appear to start the Cena program and attack Cena. Orton eliminated Cena after Sister Abigail. Kane is out to restore order and Bryan dives onto him. Bryan hits his exploding knee, but Kane pulls out the ref. RKO -> 1-2->NO! Bryan is alive, but Kane uppercut and Orton RKO takes care of that. No reason to have Bryan win, but still it is a pretty lame ending. Better to just have Orton get the best of Bryan's shoulder in my opinion. Cena/Wyatts was lame. The three midcarders were awesome in this. Cesaro and Christian added a ton of interesting spots that made sense in the context of their characters. Sheamus is just fucking awesome and his exchanges with Cesaro ruled! ****

Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt - RAW 01/05 Ambulance Match I lost interest in Ambrose after the botched Rollins feud and I never had interest in Wyatt. This match was hooked me right back on board with both characters (Ambrose moreso). Since this was on a shitty episode of RAW I think it has been totally overlooked. This was their best match together by far and showed how well both can be in their respective roles as upper midcard faces and heels. They finally gave a match a proper babyface shine where Ambrose kicked his ass all the way to the ambulance before the first Wyatt cutoff being when he was almost hoisted into ambulance. That is how you build crowd support behind a babyface and make a heel seem desperate. If you go right to the heat segment, there is no desperation on the part of the heel to cheat or use underhanded tactics. Then the match goes from good to great when, Ambrose was the man selling that knee. From great to excellent, the way he was struggling from underneath to just keep that damn Wyatt from his leg was awesome. When Ambrose is able to pull together a flurry of offense, Wyatt always has an explosive cutoff. I love how Ambrose has one last big shot in him when he just dives off the ambulance onto Wyatt through the table. The finish was bit too forced but given who they wanted to win was necessary. I thought crowd heat was hurt a lot because they wrestled the majority of the match around the ambulance so most of the audience had a hard time seeing, but logically if you are going to have an ambulance match the match should surround the ambulance. It is not their fault, but an inherent flaw of the gimmick. Since, I watched it on TV, I had no problem with it, but wanted to point out the crowd dynamics issue. Overall, an awesome brawl that told a great Die Hard story for Ambrose and Wyatt looks the best he has looked since the Shield/Wyatt feud. Easy RAW MOTYC and a projected, fringe MOTYC ****1/2

Finally PWO, you get original content by clicking on the Riding Space Mountain Blog. I review XWA's Xtreme Rumble 2015 from January 17, 2015 in West Warwick, RI, which I attended in living color. Inside, you get the scoop that Pro Wrestling is being Saved!!! Callooh! Callay! By JT Dunn??? Who? He uses a Canadian Destroyer. Trying to keep an open mind. Paul London still has it. Damn, I want to see an AJ Styles vs Paul London match sometime this year. Tommaso Ciampa should be on The Bachelor. AJ Styles does not care whether it the Tokyo Dome or the West Warwick Civic Center. He is going to tear the house down! http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/01/xwa-xtreme-rumble-15-aj-styles-rules.html

I am reviewing the AJ Styles match I saw live against Jason Blade from this past weekend, which had some parallels to an old NWA Title Defense. I know the politics would make this impossible, but how badass would it be if AJ Styles was the NWA World Champion defending on the Indies, ROH and New Japan!

WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton vs Batista vs Daniel Bryan - Wrestlemania XXX It is amazing how much of an emotional impact this match still has. It has not been deadened one iota by the disappointing aftermath. In fact, I think it resonates only more strongly because it reminds that no matter what the future holds, he will always have this. We will always have this to remember the night that an impossible dream came true and to put a smile on our faces. Thank all that is holy, that Batista vs Orton was not the main event of this show. I actually like Orton just find as an in-ring heel. I think his work usually looks good, he knows when to bring a match up and down and everything feels like it has a sense of purpose. I can leave Batista at the door. We saw snippets of the Bastista/Orton singles match it was just so bland. They were just going through the motions. I loved how Daniel Bryan would come flying into our screens from outta nowhere. First, it was the missile dropkick to both of them and then flying headbutt. It was the perfect way to reintroduce Bryan whenever he was off selling his arm injury for extended periods of time. The match really picked up when HHH & Steph brought out Scott Armstrong to put the screws to Bryan. It is funny how all the shitty booking up until this match actually made all these nearfalls credible. It is strange how shitty booking actually enhanced the drama of this match. Would they really be that stupid? The answer is yes they really could be that stupid. I just love how invested this crowd is in the Daniel Bryan story. It is not about MOVEZ~! It is not about Daniel Bryan winning clean. Fuck, we will take a goddamn fluke rollup just give him the damn title. I loved it! Bryan cleaning house on the Authority only to get double teamed by Batista/Orton was a great last ditch attempt to make people believe that Bryan maybe not be winning after he got RKO/Powerbombed through an announce table and was put on a stretcher. Damn, does Orton have the worst luck with gimmicks or what? That looked gnarly as fuck landing on the monitor like that. I really thought Orton was good in this match in being violent. I think they could have milked the Bryan on the stretcher for even longer to really freak people the fuck out. Instead they get everybody pretty good with Batista wiping out Bryan by accident and Orton hitting the RKO on Batista for a close nearfall. I think that was the loudest collective sigh of relief of all time. True to form, Bryan come flying into our camera to hit the Exploding Knee, but Batista looks to steal his glory. Ooooooooo another good one. Orton get taken out by a Batista Bomb and Exploding Knee. to Batista! YESLOCK~! The rest is glorious history! The purely joyous response of the crowd is so overwhelming and still moves me to this day. . Also, I love how it started the tradition of one wacky Attitude Era-overbooked clusterfuck per PPV, which is just good popcorn fun that is easily differential from the normally sterile product. This match is the cure to any malady or bad day ****

Kazuyuki Fujita vs Toshiaki Kawada - NJPW G-1 Climax 08/14/05 Kawada is so fucking good against shooter. His way of selling and firing back up is perfect for the environment. I have seen MMA fights, when they are in pain it is for a bit, but they know they got to fire right back up. Kawada knows how to do that jelly leg sell and then just snap out of it to fire a big kick to the head. This is basic Fujita lots of great fucking knee lifts. He seems to have punched himself out and Kawada looks to actually win with a jumping kick to the head and then a guillotine choke. Fujita just has to much for him and a barrage of knees win it. Fujita's knees on the ground need some work. I loved the length of this because they were beating the shit out of each other and shouldn't go long. Was hoping for something as good as Fujita vs Tanahashi, but not quite there. Fujita is definitely no Brock and he is not even an Naoya Ogawa. He just does not have that presence of badass shooter even if he is one. ***1/2

I was just going to say Fujita, but then I remembered they also have NAOYA FUCKIN OGAWA~! I have only watched three of his matches, but he is fucking gold in them. He knows how to translate his badass shooter vibe to pro wrestling. Cro Cop is the current champ, but Inoki just arbitrarily decided to switch the belt to MMA rules late in 2013. They also have Hashimoto's son appearing on their shows. I'd watch Akiyama vs Ogawa for sure and Shiozaki vs Fujita sounds like a fun match. OH! And how could I forget! BOB SAPP~! ICHIBAN~!

I just lost my shit at that line. What a classic!