Superstar Sleeze

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting vs Randy Savage - WCW Spring Stampede 1998 Fun fact: This is the first PPV I ever begged my parents to order because my favorite wrestler, Randy Savage was challenging for the World Title. Oddly, I had no recollection of this match until the end when all the memories came flooding back. It is weird because I still vividly remember the Hogan vs Savage match on Nitro the next night that royally pissed me off as a child. I don't know if it is the face paint, but Sting is just so frigging lame. The complaint seemed to be that Hogan took most of the SuperBrawl match and that is why it sucked, but as I expected Savage would be more giving, but still Sting did not look he gave two fucks. He was just going through the motions and his selling was just dogshit. Savage looked like a car wreck with the huge knee brace and the taped arm. Sting really needs to ditch the trench coat that's the second time sometime has attacked him before he could get it off. I loved Savage selling the punch and then punch through it. That's not someone no selling that is selling how fucking nutzo he is. Savage does his best to wrestle for one between taking bumps over the top rope, selling the arm and then taking back over on offense with good heel offense. Tony gets in one of his more infamous lines about the bales of hay being abrasive and the particulates getting into respiratory tract. He has a point, but man did it sound fucking lame. Sting just randomly stops selling, but not in the way that elicits a crowd reaction because he is hulking up. He will literally just stand up and stand there. It happened at least twice, It is honestly like he forgot how to wrestle. Liz gets in the ring and gives him a chair shot and then all the memories come rushing back. I know something big is going to happen BOOM! Liz takes a Stinger Splash. WOW! Savage is like kthxbai and looks to use the distraction to elbow Sting on the chair, but Hogan interferes. Sting hits the Slop Drop, but here comes Big Sexy to hit the Jacknife and pulls Savage to win. The booking fucked up Sting, yes, but he did not do himself any favors. He was shitting the bed in the ring. Resetting to Hollywood to transition to Goldberg was actually a pretty gutsy and intelligent thing to do. I am going to give WCW kudos for that. Savage tried as he might, but was too banged up to salvage this match. This is neck and neck with the SuperBrawl VIII for shittiest main event match of '98, but I think this one takes it because there was more Sting offense and Hogan's effort in SuperBrawl VIII is to be praised.

Hollywood Hogan vs Randy Savage - WCW Uncensored 1998 Worst match ever? No. For instance, I thought their Halloween Havoc 1996 match was much worse than this. Once again, Hogan looked game to have a good match and was very energetic. I really don't understand the complaints of the match plodding. They were cutting a good pace and Hogan never really rested once. I don't know if Savage's knee is already hurt, but they go into Savage babyface match mode, which means he gets the shit beat out of him for most the match. The big difference between this and Sting match is that Savage is selling incredibly well. You really feel like he is hurt and a bit discombobulated by all of Hogan's offense. Hogan whipped him pretty good with belt and wish Savage whipped back a bit harder. I liked the first Hogan cutoff sending Savage into the cage hard on a backdrop, which is the only spot to get universal praise from the reviews I read. If WCW were a bunch of pansies and let use see the double juice, I think this could be more entertaining. I am surprised how dead the crowd was for this because everything I saw was pretty decent and given the personalities I thought that would magnify the reaction. Savage hitting the double axe handle from the top of the cage was a crazy spot that woke the crowd up. The ref just letting them out of the cage to do some basic brawling and then head right back into the cage was lame. The finish was fucking atrocious with Savage & Sting standing off against Hogan & Disciple for an eternity only for Savage to deck Sting. Maybe the reason why Sting did not give a flying fuck was because he was booked like a dope. Stupid shit aside, this is not the worst match of all time. I think the cage inhibited them more than anything else because could have been helped by more brawling around the ring. It is a pretty average match, but Hogan and Savage both seem to have some gas in the tank.

I was watching Randy Savage vs Lex Luger from Souled Out 1997 and I enjoyed the match as a sort of sprint main event with great heeling and just that constant motion from Savage. He was just suffocating Luger. Luger was great at selling especially verbally. The Luger comeback in the ring was cliche, but the end of the show the last image is Savage getting racked and Sting putting Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock. WCW sending the fans home happy coupled with the great chemistry that Savage and Luger had I found the match to be pretty enjoyable. So I figure given the names and timeframes I am sure the reviewers shit on this match because of their blind dislike for these two wrestlers and the WCW main event scene. Part of me wanted to understand what people did not like about a match that I thought never dipped below average once. The following is from Sharpshooter Review published on 411mania in 2010 Main Event:Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage. Man, this would have been a great match in 1989. Too bad it’s1998, though. Michael Buffer does his typical announcer. LET’SSSSS GET READDYYYY TO SUCK IT BUFFER! They are playing a song I remember from some porno. Oh wait, it is just nWo’s music. Both wrestlers get barely a reaction from the crowd, as the crowd’s burnt out from, well, good wrestling. Savage runs away from Luger. Elisabeth hits Luger in the back. Savage sends Luger back in the ring. Savage comes off with a double axe handle for two. Savage has a nice bald spot going out. OOOOHH YEAH! Savage is giving the ref some heat because he is a heel. Savage chokes Luger because he is a heel. Elisabeth chokes Luger because she is a heel. But how could Elisabeth ever want to be with Luger? He does nothing for society. All he does is waste space! I take it all back. I swear, Luger! We all love you! They’re outside the ring brawling, for a lot longer than ten seconds. TNA steals so many WCW ideas! Now what’s the deal with companies stealing stupid ideas? Back in the ring, Luger hits the powerslam. Hall and Hogan come out, but Hogan stops Hall. Savage goes right into Hall, and then Luger puts in the RACK ( 7:02 ). nWo all do a beat down on Luger, but Sting makes the save. Luger puts in the RACK on Nash. Sting puts in the Deathlock on Hogan. Blah. ½* --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't mind him shitting on the match. I expected that. I really thought there was a systemic disconnect between how smart/internet/hardcore fans may view wrestling motivations in a modern context. Savage did NOT do all those things because he is a heel. He is a heel because he did all those things in the context of how, why, when, where and to whom. It such a simple point, but it is so critical. The first is a man playing role and needing to check boxes in order to accomplish a task. The second is a man that has performed certain actions that are reprehensible and despicable causing you to loathe that man. The first perspective is totally cold and analytic. The second is emotional. How you would react if someone swiped a referee for no apparent reason? Pro wrestling should hit in you in the gut. It is something you feel. I get that not every heel performance is going to raise your dander or have your fist shaking at the TV, but to view wrestling in a manner like Wrestler X did a spot because he is a heel or he is a face or because he is a coward or a blue collar working man or an egomaniac or an respected champion defeats its purpose. Your choices and actions define who you are. You want to understand why someone did something, but throwing a blanket, catch-all term is a disservice to great wrestling. The information my co-workers, friends and family evaluate me on is on things I say and do. Each new action allows them to re-evaluate who I am and all the different facets of me. If this re-evaluation is not taking place, wrestlers and wrestling becomes static. If we just chock up decisions of wrestlers to who they are at specific time, we are not learning about them. The disconnect between mind and gut that wrestling causes matches to become passionless and artificial. In a lot of ways, that is how I feel about current WWE save for a few like Rusev and Sheamus. I recognize what I am watching is good to great wrestling, but it is at the point where the wrestlers and agents just know what good wrestling is supposed to look like they just go through the motions. I think fans really do dictate the wrestling we see. Maybe not in terms of the pushes, but how the action is worked. You will explicitly see at least one match a RAW worked with the intent of getting a "This is Awesome" chant. My brother and I have a new favorite game where we guess how many spots they are a way from the chant breaking out. "Martin, I am telling you they are one spot away", "Brutha, they need at least two more nearfalls.". No one is really trying to win the match, get themselves over or an angle over. The intent of the match is merely entertain the fans. Wrestling should be motivated internally by wrestlers who want to win matches in the context of who they are and what is happening to him. Along the way, they should entertain you otherwise it is a shitty gimmick, angle or match. If the number one is to entertain then everything evaporates. The fans have influenced that greatly in way they respond to matches with a more head-first, gut-second approach. Modern wrestling is not aimed to hit you in the gut. It is played out for your head. It is because wrestling fans have become so disconnected from the product that the wrestling matches we watch now reflect that disconnect. Thank God for the WWE Network and Randy Savage & Lex Luger matches to save the day. Souled Out 1998 main event was a very inspiring main event.

Of course, everything in moderation and like I opened with in my response, I am sure it was not good and I am not going to seek out, but the way Charles described it shows the redeeming qualities of booking like that. One reason I have really dug Miz matches his return is because they all had interesting hooks. At first, it was don't hit me in the face. They really played up how big of a deal it would be for someone to hit them in the face. When Ziggler finally did at Summerslam, I popped, but I didn't feel like the reaction was as big as it should have been because A. it was not the finish and they still went for 5 more minutes & B. Fans aren't really trained to care about cool like hooks like that anymore. I think Mizdow stuff has incorporated in a really cool way for the most part. Now you send out most midcarders and really everything looks and feels same-y. Even in that Miz/Ziggler series, how did each match build on each other. They really did not. I have watched enough 80s WWF to know that within a single loop the match between two people were almost identical, but from loop to loop the plot advanced. Something new happened. Matches should be designed to get at least one person over or the angle over. These matches that just exist to entertain me just don't entertain me anymore.

Hollywood Hogan vs Sting - WCW Superbrawl VIII Vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship Sting looked like and wrestled like a sad mime. it was one of the most pitiful performances on a grand stage I think I have ever seen. Sure some wind had been taken out of his sails because they botched Starrcade '97, but still they put him over at Souled Out. Booking or not, when you are out in front of those fans, you control your destiny. He just did not want it. He did not look like gave one single fuck. Hogan on other hand was on his A-game. I was shocked at the amount of effort he was putting into this match. He was working a ton of great heel tactics. He was constantly moving and there was a sense of urgency. You got the impression the belt meant everything to Hogan. At first, he was not taking any chances. He was going to whip Sting with the belt and he was going to cheat like a muthafucka. You felt his desperation. Like any egomaniac, his hubris seemed to be his downfall, he would begin to toy with Sting and Sting would get a hope spot and he would quickly cut off as if it was a wake up call. On top of that you got the sense of entitlement from when Nick Patrick came in. "Do you know who I am, I am Hollywood". The egomania, the entitlement, the desperation, the cowardice all was a perfect confluence of a heel. Hogan has his limitations, he can't bump at all and his offense is pretty straightforward. It was never really all that boring because he was always moving and always coming up with a new way to cheat. Sting looked like all his charisma has been sucked out by a vacuum. His selling was awful. Standing around and staggering a bit is not selling. Get fucking pissed that this asshole is treating you like shit. Let the crowd know you are in pain. Anything besides what ever the hell that was. Maybe the problem was he was trying to get over a new gimmick he was not suited for. Sting the overgrown child hopped up on sugar in the ring suited him so well that this solemn and somber character was just hard for him to really execute. He needed to be a badass and he just felt like a sad mime. The finish sucked so hard. Savage clearly should have fended off the NWO members while Sting made Hogan tap to the Scorpion Deathlock. Having Savage scoop up Sting's heat and just have Sting pin Hogan right after the spray paint can shot was so lame. I don't really feel bad for Sting. I don't think he deserved the title after that performance. Did Hogan gobble him up at the outset? He sure did, but Sting could have done things to make that worthwhile. He could have called for more hope spots, he could have shown more fire, more pain, more anything really, but we got apathy. Hogan wrestled like his career was on the line and did a great job. Sting needed to carry his weight. I do not fault them one iota to going back to Hogan to transition to Goldberg. Sting blew it.

I believe you 100% Charles this is a bad match, BUT don't you wish WWE could pull a character piece like this off nowadays. That used to be their bread and butter in the 80s and 90s, who you were in terms of a gimmick or the angle actually affected how the match was wrestle. Jericho is the ultimate wussy and chump. He is doing his best chickenshit heel but in 1999. They go over the top and drive it home. They come up with an interesting way for Jericho to get Shamrock down using one aspect of his gimmick (Mr. Hughes) and hit him in the ribs with another aspect, his hockey pads, to cause internal bleeding which was the interminable storyline of 1999 that I remember. Nowadays you just send two midcarders out who just have a match, but there is nothing unique because they are bereft of a simple angle or gimmick hook. More character pieces in wrestling is what I would like to see.

Yes, WWE Road Agents that sterilize everything, neuter all heels, abhor limb psychology, and have the most artificial and least significant transitions. Watching WWE main event matches not involving Rusev or Sheamus is one of the most cold, mechanical and passionless exhibitions of sports entertainment that have ever existed. The only part where there were "random" transitions was in the end where the WWE lives and dies on the abrupt, arbitrary finisher transitions to pop the crowd. The problem of course with most WWE matches is the entire match is littered with video game transitions here in this match it was at least limited to the finish run. I do not see how they once deviated from the storyline of Strong Style Warrior vs Pretty Boy Prick with smart transitions and fundamentals. The strike exchange in this match was the best strike exchange of any puroresu 2000s and a perfect microcosm of the actual match. Goto loses his temper and lets the closed fists fly, a big no no in Japan, it feels significant. The ref admonishes him and BOOM nut shot. That's the story of the match if Goto could get Tanahashi he would kick his ass, but Tanahashi take advantage of every opportunity with fundamentals. Like I said in my review if they ended their with usual Tanahashi finish run this was Match of the Decade contender. They extended it out, but it is still a great match. I have no clue when either of them hit a "random" move before the ballshot. After the ballshot, the most egregious issue is that Tanahashi was selling a "shoot" neck injury and then ends up bridging on the neck and winning clean. I thought this was a smartly worked match especially unique to Japan in this timeframe that had an overkill finish, but still accomplished telling the story of the Strong Style Warrior being outfoxed by the Pretty Boy Prick.

Randy Savage vs Lex Luger - Souled Out 1998 I always thought these two had great chemistry with one another. I know a lot of people will write this off because of the participants and the year, but this was really energetic. It shows how much the knee injury fucked up Savage because he looked great here. He was flying around taking cheapshots. Savage and Liz were such a great heel tandem at this point with just non-stop heeling. Luger always seems motivated against Savage and was cutting a good pace here trying to get out from Savage's nefarious tactics. I liked the short quick crowd brawling and Luger really urgent on countering Savage. Luger's cliche finish sequence was pretty lame, but hell Torture Rack finish to win the match. I know Savage/Luger was hardly the biggest match on the card with Nash/Giant and Flair/Hart. However, neither of those matches would have finished the show with the image of Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock and Nash in the Torture Rack. WCW sending the crowd home happy is definitively a novelty. I thought it was a fun sprint, not PPV main event worthy, but a fun match. ***

Bret Hart vs Ric Flair - Souled Out 1998 The last great Ric Flair match or just the last great Flair match in WCW? I can't think of another great Flair match in WCW after this. Even a year later with Hogan, Flair still had some gas in the tank, but he was not given the opportunities just like Hart was given the opportunities. However, on this night, they made the most of what they were given to have one of the best WCW main eventer vs main eventer matches in the NWO era. What I loved about this match especially in stark comparison today is the the two-spot transition. It is never an abrupt change of control everything is earned. Hart shows Flair up early on the mat and with a figure-4. So Flair regroups and realizes that he ain't winning this one fair and squared. In typical Flair fashion, he takes over in the corner, but Hart still has enough left that Flair needs a back suplex out of a headlock and a well-timed low blow to consolidate control. Then similarly when Flair is chopping away in the corner, Hart fires up with punches, but it is the swinging neckbreaker and an attack on leg. It is a false transition as Flair pushes Hart into the railing and begins working over the knee. Flair worked the leg really well, but also kept up the illegal tactics. Hart busted out a nice enziguri, which I don't remember him using all that often. It was a great hope spot. I have not seen Flair/Hart from 92 in years so does Hart always do the strap down no-sell in these matches because that was a cool touch. I wish he deviated from more from his usual finish run and just beat the shit out of Flair and maybe threw some more cheap shots back in Flair's face. The superplex/Sharpshooter finish is quite decisive and a victory like this should have warranted a WCW World Title shot. But WCW's booking was in such disarray post-Starrcade that they never followed up on it until they turned Bret heel. Bret looked to pick up right way he left off in WWF with crisp offense and selling the knee well. Flair looked inspired, but a little gas. He made up for it with his tried and true tricks and his great verbal selling. It was a great story with Flair looking to prove he could still hang even if it was through cheapshots, but coming up short and thus making Bret Hart look like one of the big hitters if WCW was competent. ****

Randy Savage vs Bret Hart - Slamboree 1998 Man, this show was in Worcester, c'mon Dad, why didn't we go? Can't bitch too much he did take me to Boston Brawl in January that year and that was one helluva show. On paper, this show does not seem like much, but hell this was pretty entertaining. It was not as good as their SNME 1987 match, but compared to pretty much all the other main eventer vs main eventer matches this was a MOTY. Savage's knee is clearly messed up as he has a giant brace and his usual mobility is gone, which means that chaos is lost in a match that really needed that to take it over the top. I liked the both of them using heel tactics early and was glad that Savage did not do his usual babyface match where he takes heat immediately. The brawling was not the best ever, but it is good stuff. What worked so well was that Hart's formula meshes so well with Savage's babyface formula. Hart works on top in such a compelling fashion and Savage is so great at selling the knee. Hart looked so crisp with his strikes and that piledriver. I loved Savage's comeback with the one legged suplex. Then hitting the elbow drop, but injuring the knee. That was a great nearfall. I was surprised that the Northeast was not more into Hart. Things went into overbooking hell with Elizabeth (WTF) and Hogan (well at least that makes sense). Piper sucks. Hart wins by submission or maybe DQ, who knows, but finishes aren't that important in 98 WCW. The match was pretty good thanks to both's just natural charisma. ***1/2

Bret Hart vs Booker T - WCW 2/22/99 I needed to watch something other than Pro Wrestling NOAH and 1999 WCW sounded different enough and this definitely caught my eye. Bret is such an amazing offensive wrestler. He basically carries the entire match by kicking Booker's ass, but never killing him and everything was just so convincing and interesting. He is the closest version to an American Genichiro Tenryu. He just has such contempt for anyone who isn't him. I feel like it would very difficult to have a conversation with Bret if you had a different point of view than him. Could be totally wrong, but that how he comes off in the ring. I think it comes off really well in this match because Booker surprises him early, but it takes a couple cheapshots in the corner and a quick chair jab to the midsection to really gain control. Bret worked the crowd early with his antics and then kept them hooked by working in great highspots like the figure-4 and superplex. I really thought that Booker was the proverbial broomstick who happened to be able to do the spin-a-roonie. I really didn't think he added much in terms of offense or in selling (would have loved a longer shine). He had all the spots I remember WCW Booker having axe kick, side kick, side slam and missile dropkick/Harlem Hangover. I can see why people dug him because he had a good ring presence, was energetic, was young and could break dance, but he never did anything for me. All in all, I liked this a lot as an extended squash that was effectively masked as a competitive match by Hart's wrestling IQ and a hot crowd (I miss hot American crowds for midcard matches). Bret could definitely still go, very sad , he didn't get the extra time to make it count. ***

Hogan played this match really strangely as Charles alluded to insofar as pretty much playing the babyface. The mocking of the "WOOO" I could see construed as "cool" heel or just being an ass. The whole beginning was pretty much all Hollywood. You wanted Flair to make good on his promise that he was going to kick Hogan's ass, but they played the early goings like Hogan/Flair '94 with Hogan winning shoulder blocks and using his size to dominate Flair. Now once they got to the heat segment proper I thought Hogan was rocking it as a heel and really beating Flair up to the point of sympathy, but since Hogan had already won the fans over early the heat segment had weird reverse heat on it. I loved, loved Flair firing up on jelly legs a couple times. Those belt shots by Hogan were fucking vicious. You really felt like you were watching a fight. I really wanted to see Flair punch and chop through that to take control. Flair does eventually take control with low blows, which is fine to fight fire with fire, but seems like the crowd is firmly pro-Hogan. The double juice, the out of control violence and their aura could have taken this to US MOTYC for a very weak year. Instead what we got was five absolutely electric minutes followed by a pretty lame turn from David Flair on his father. I will say Torrie Wilson was hot and I mean double hot. Nash was right "Sable eat your heart out". It was disappointing because how surprising it was that they were working at such a high level even if it was only for about five minutes. It is too bad Uncensored ended up shitty as popular opinion says, but I'll be taking a look at some point. ***

Disorderly Conduct makes a yearbook, HOLY SHIT!!! For whatever reason, Mean Mike & Tough Tom and High Voltage were the two jabroni tag teams from Saturday Night that have stuck with me from my childhood. I need to see this. Big Sexy's website still exists in all its turn of the millennium glory updated through his Magic Mike role. Awesome!

There is not much to add to my initial review, This match holds up really well as a well-done match that is focused around who is the best wrestler. The crowd was really dead, but Danielson did the best he could to make up for it with his verbal selling. I had forgotten how much I liked the beginning between Danielson's tricked out matwork and his armwork. I liked KENTA slowing things down at first to sort of reset the match after having his arm attacked only for Danielson to go back to it. I loved they took their time with things like setting up the surfboard. After the big Danielson dive, I have already chronicled how great the finish run is. Re-assessing, I would say Akiyama/Taue was a better match in 2006 and KENTA/SUWA is the best KENTA singles match of the decade. KENTA/SUWA and KENTA/Suzuki rely on face/heel dynamics to really hook the viewer in so I would say this is KENTA's best pure singles match. It feels like it should be for a championship, but alas it is not. It should be in the 20s. ****1/2

Tanahashi is the best championship wrestler of the 00s in Japan. Everything builds to such a satisfying climax and everything makes sense all the way through the match. The first highspot is ten minutes in and it stems from a great suplex struggle. Before that, you get a very good wrestling contest with well-done work because it feels organic. Even little shit like Nakamura working over the ribs, but he shoots Tanahashi across twice and each time Tanahashi is able to attempt a counter (whiffs on a cross body and a rollup through a knee lift). If you think about Nakamura is taking a big risk by allowing Tanahashi separation just to hit a bigger move and Tanahashi almost makes him pay. That's how you make someone earn something within their segment. Tanahashi never just sits around and takes Nakamura's shit. He is going to attempt to counter but come up short. Nakamura was really trying in this match from attacking with purpose to selling for Tanahashi. I liked the curveball of Tanahashi starting his finishing sequence early only to be cut off by a flash triangle, which nearly costs him the match. I always love when a challenger goes for broke (ala Super Landslide) and it leads to his demise via a sweet powerbomb, High Fly Flow, Dragon Suplex combination. There are some issues with lack of selling at times and how transitions are performed, but the first half and finishing run are really high-end stuff. I wish they built on this to give even better performances in 2008 and 2009, but it looks like 2006 is their best match together that I have seen so far. In the 40s probably at ****1/4

The last great singles match between the Five Pillars ends an era in a fitting fashion with an all-out tour de force. Akiyama wrestles like it is 2000 with laser-focus on Taue's neck and those knees off the apron are nasty. The Taue resurgence is still in effective and looks as great as he ever did. The transitions were so smart in this that you wish all 2000s Japan remembered how to build a match this way. Everything builds from the first Taue big boot while Akiyama was on the top rope and he crashes to the floor. From there, each has to one-up the other. Akiyama wipes Taue out from the apron to the floor with two wicked knees. Taue responds with a crazy NODOWA off the ramp. All the work in between these transitions is incredible. The fact they make the transitions to be the most impactful spots shows such a deep understanding of how to layer their match. The spot that has made me lose my mind both time was when Taue knows he needs the Super Nodowa, but Akiyama nails him with a knee to the head. It puts over everything in the match in one simple exchange. Taue has hit his big moves, he knows he needs this one to polish him off and retain the title. It puts over how high-risk the spot to basically put your opponent in an offensive position (Akiyama has the high ground), but he has to do it to win and keep the title. Finally, it calls back to all of Akiyama's work on head/neck with the knee and puts him over as a resilient challenger. They say don;t make matches like they use to, but on January 22, 2006 Akiyama and Taue captured the magic one more time. In what I consider the weakest year of the decade, they salvage it with a performance worthy of the 90s. I see this in the #15-#25 range. There is actually quite bit of good shit from this decade. ****1/2

This definitely is not thinking man's wrestling, but why overcomplicate something like Kobashi/Sasaki. It is a testament to Shiozaki and Nakajima that this match does not become Kobashi/Sasaki with props. They do a great jab establishing the hierarchy. Kobashi/Sasaki and Shiozaki/Nakajima are equals, but Kobashi will dominate Nakajima and Sasaki will dominate Shiozaki. In a lot of ways, it seems like who wins the Kobashi/Sasaki war will will lead his team to victory because a weakened captain would be the death knell. When Sasaki's chest turns a nasty purple hue, Kobashi wins that skirmish and puts Kensuke Office in the hole. Kobashi is a great tag wrestler. We know this from the 90s, but he does not get to showcase it enough in the 00s. He works the apron like the best damn cheerleader. You really feel how badly he wants to get into the match. When he does, you can't help up pop because you know shit about to go down. Once everybody hits a suplex the match just goes into spotfest overdrive, but in a good way. It is not totally mindless because the overarching theme is Kobashi has let Go Shiozaki in the match, this is his big moment, can he get that big first victory? For the most part, it is just crazy spot after crazy spot with a ton of shit and it is so entertaining. On rewatch, one of my favorite things was watching crowd reactions. These people were losing their shit down the stretch the whole time, which only enhanced it for me. All four played their roles perfectly. I liked my initial placement of this match in the 30s. ****1/4

September 18, 2005 Budokan was one helluva a show to attend. It was probably the last great NOAH Budokan show with multiple MOTYCs as the current NOAH recession was about to begin. I thought this was the sprint version of the All Japan tags of the 90s. Just everything was red-hot. The beginning was really good with Tenryu avoiding at all costs and Taue just being a steamroller. It really set the tone for an action-packed match that never let up, weaved stories between all four, and set Taue up for his big GHC Title win. You can tell how rabid the crowd was for him and really added to the match. Nothing in this match overstayed it welcome, just four of the greatest of all time kicking ass in the squared circle. The finish run was one of the best of the decade with an incredible climax. It will be tough to dislodge this from the Top 10, but I have 13 matches I am eyeing as top ten contenders. Something will have to give, but I don't see this falling below #15. ****3/4

The best babyface veteran/young lion versus two heel pricks match of the decade and I love this genre because of the great, natural story it tells. Then add the amazing characters of Kobashi, Tenryu and Akiyama you have a recipe for something special. The amount of struggle is in this match is amazing. Everybody is contesting everything in a smart and heated fashion. There is no finisher overkill. Yes, they tease their finishers, but they never get to hit them instead they focus on telling the story through physical violence. Tenryu and Akiyama taking out their frustrations for Kobashi on Shiozaki. Shiozaki trying to prove his mettle. Kobashi cheering Shiozaki on and wanting to cave Tenryu's chest in. I loved how Akiyama was there to meet Kobashi right as he got in the ring and meet him head on. I loved Shiozaki attacking Tenryu on the apron and getting punched in the face. I loved Shiozaki stomping forever on Akiyama to get the choke broken up. I loved Tenryu being the world's biggest prick ending up with a murder scene happened on his chest. One of the best character performance matches of the decade. The only thing holding this match back is that definitely feels like the first in the series. Wrestling series unlike movies tend to peak with the final match. The first match just whets your appetite and it is the rematch that satiates you. This match will be in the 20s no doubt and one of the best matches of 2005. ****1/2 Exit Shiozaki, Enter Taue and you have a Top Ten Match of the Decade.

I rewatched specifically because I thought the Suzuki match was so good and I remember SUWA's violent heel performance being amazing, but I remember the match not sticking with me as much as Suzuki's chickenshit heel performance. Upon rewatch, I have a newfound appreciation for the match because I missed the real key of the story. At the beginning, SUWA pisses KENTA off by disrespecting Higuchi. In his fury KENTA leaves himself vulnerable to a ring bell shot and then SUWA attacks KENTA with his steel box. Now the ref lets one of these shots go and my reasoning is not because he is a bad ref. It is because SUWA wants to be disqualified. He wants to beat KENTA up and embarrass him by leaving him laying. Yes, KENTA will win the match, but he will leave the battlefield able to walk. On the second shot, the ref is hand is forced and he has to disqualify SUWA. SUWA celebrates a loss and this gets the crowd riled up as KENTA is writhing in pain. Here is the key to the whole match. It is NOT KENTA that demands the match be restarted. It is the ref. The ref is pissed about SUWA's behavior and he wants to see SUWA's ass handed to him. He restarts the match because he believes in KENTA so much to put SUWA in his place even if this puts KENTA's title at risk. SUWA realizes this and knows he has carte blanche. The ref won't disqualify him again because the ref, the people, Higuchi and KENTA want to kill him. SUWA pulls out all the heel stops with my favorite being probably punting KENTA right in the balls in front of the ref. The ref is totally powerless. SUWA even spanks the ref with the turnbuckle pad and and throws it Higuchi. He has free reign is taking advantage of it all. However, the ref's confidence is paid off as KENTA delivers one helluva asswhupping to SUWA. I just watched KENTA/Akiyama before this and KENTA whiffed on pretty much every head kick. In this match, I really don't know how SUWA's head stayed on his body because KENTA was nailing him with those kicks. The Holy Shit Go 2 Sleep out of that position and a barrage of knees to the head were amazing. The rewatch definitely took this match to next level for me. The referee dynamic and SUWA going all out on his heel antics takes this above the Suzuki match as the best singles KENTA match of all time. I would put this right below the Murakami performance. What separates the two is really I think Murakami is a psychotic, violent bully in real life and he just had this crazy energy. I love revenge matches though so this will do really well. I will have this in the teens. ****1/2

Funny, I thought Morishima was the best worker of the four by far. Mitsuharu Misawa & Go Shiozaki vs Kensuke Sasaki & Takeshi Morishima - NOAH 5/6/09 Knowing what would happen to Misawa a month later makes this match unnerving and pretty sad. This struck as the best representation of generic NOAH work. It is like those RAW tags they were throw out and they are fine while you are watching them, but are totally unmemorable. Morishima is such a hot and cold wrestler. Sometimes, he looks like a timid wrestler not ready to grab the brass ring. Then other times he looks like a total badass (well besides his 9-year old girl haircut) and the future of the company. It is better late than never, but it maybe too little too late. There is a big difference bringing this type of performance to a throwaway tag team match and GHC Heavyweight Championship matches. He looked wild and unbridled throwing some great lariats and just moving with vigor and purpose. I love the spot where Shiozaki got a hope spot and he immediately leapt on him and then splashed him again. The Morishima rocket launcher was also badass. Misawa barely gets involved. Sasaki slept walked through this match. Shiozaki wrestled another strong face in peril performance. More responsibility than necessary was foisted on him too soon once Misawa died and probably would have happened even if Misawa lived, but that was the nature of NOAH. Shiozaki is great at peppering those hope spots in and always struggling. In the Holy Shit moment of the match, Sasaki superplexes Morishima onto Shiozaki's face. The look on Shiozaki's face is "What the Fuck was I thinking?". That looked like it fucking hurt. The one things Shiozaki is not good at is Frakensteiners. The one off the top rope was so frigging bush league. Misawa and Shiozaki double team Morishima to get the beast down. Morishima throws Shiozaki wildly on a back drop driver, but can't follow up. Shiozaki downs him with brainbusters, moonsaults and lariats. When Morishima was not tearing it up, it just felt like Shiozaki/Sasaki were in another strike exchange or people were just getting their shit in. It is a fun match, but nothing I will remember tomorrow. ***1/2

I loved this a lot more on rewatch. Yes, this match really suffered from overkill problems, but the first 20 minutes was really incredible work and it just felt absolutely HUGE! I have liked a lot of post-split All Japan matches, but this is one that felt like the biggest. I didn't really care for the first match from a standalone standpoint, but watching it before this match makes this match that much better. Kojima spends most of the first match getting his ass handed to him. Here you can really seen how he has grown. He is doing Tenryu signature chop/punch combo in the corner, winning shoulder tackles and besting him on the mat. I loved his selling of Tenryu's high chop and Tenryu throwing a water bottle at Kojima, saying get back in here, you pussy. Some of the transitions again were a bit lame, but still I liked Tenryu working through the knee attacks at first with his own offense felt like some high-end struggle. But then Lariat to the knee on the apron was too much. Tenryu is not above punching to the midsection or the head. That is the real difference is Tenryu is going to take shortcuts. I thought Tenryu looked offensively crisp and this was definitely his last great singles match. Once it got into punch vs lariat and brainbuster versus Ace Crusher they definitely lost a little steam, but that's where the crowd buoyed the match with their overwhelming support for Kojima. I loved Kojima actually hitting the Lariat on this Fighting Spirit run, but still didn't have enough. Tenryu has to bust out the powerbomb to win. As the decade progressed, it was harder to put on these titanic showdowns, but this felt like Kojima was going to be a huge star. Tenryu did not carry him. Kojima looked great on offense, he was taking it too Tenryu and when selling he was firing up bringing it. I loved Tenryu selling the knee, but at the same time never losing his arrogance. He was still confident he could beat this punk if he could just punch him in the face. I will have this in 30s and I have it #3 on the year. ****1/2

Kojima reminds me of a passable modern WWE main eventer. Someone like Edge, who just does not have a ring presence or character. Edge has the benefit of promos and commentary to get over that he is The Ultimate Opportunist, but once he is in the ring, he just feels really normal. Kojima is just a really normal puroresu wrestler. I like this about the same as I did initially, which means it won't make my ballot. I think this time I could pinpoint my issue. The transitions in this were capricious as all hell. There was no flow to the match at all. It was just Tenryu kicks Kojima ass. Kojima gets a spot and then Tenryu kicks his ass. I don't mind cut offs, but it just felt really my turn, your turn. They were coming up with logical ways to countering each other it was done through kicks to the gut and no-selling. What this match was great for was as a Tenryu offensive showcase. He looked amazing all match with great punches and chops. Then he was moving around like it was 1984 and his big bombs looked great. Kojima is a pretty good fighting spirit worker. I still liked the fighting spirit yell-> flop -> brainbuster finish. It feels like a good first match because it gives Kojima a lot of room to grow. He clearly got his ass kicked, but put up a decent fight so you believe he can get better in a rematch. The transitions in this sucked and I have seen this story told a million times better. ***1/2

Liked this a good deal more on the rewatch. At first this had a nice Clash of the Titans feel with the gritty grappling early and then Nagata scoring early throws. However, a weakish Takayama roundhouse kick puts Nagata in a hole. Takayama has such a great presence to him and really knows how to carry a heat segment. Nagata is effective when he put in a position to react against a charismatic figure. He is able to feed off the natural story of him being overmatched by the larger Takayama. I liked the leg sweep and follow up Nagata work. The match is hurt when they overreach and Nagata is overselling then still coming back.; The simultaneous punches leave a lot to be desired. I have it in the 60s, but a higher rating. ****1/4

If you combine the beginning of this match with the ending of the 2001 match, you probably have at the very worst a Top 5 Match of the Decade if not the best Match of the Decade. I really understood and was engaged by the beginning. This time Takayama is not trying to avoid the strikes Misawa. He is engaging Misawa head on as an equal. He is kicking his ass in a kickboxing match and in tests of strength. I loved Misawa restoring to a tight, tight headlock just to end the onslaught. Then when Takayama is being a dick about his chinlock and kneeing him in the head, he gets pissed and starts kneeing Takayama in the head. We never see that from Misawa. I loved Misawa diving elbow through the ropes. Takayama catches Misawa with a knee lift off the top and then sick butterfly suplex bridge and those wicked knees in the corner. At this point, I really thought this had Match of the Decade Contender written all over it. Then they just blew up. It was such a shame. It was still violent and really showcased Misawa overcoming Takayama. If only they had just enough gas to finish it out. I project this in the 30s.****1/4