Superstar Sleeze

New Hazard (SHINGO, BXB Hulk, Cyber Kong) vs Typhoon (CIMA, Ryo Saito, Susumu Yokosuka) - DG 5/10/07 You would have thought the big beef was between Hulk and CIMA since Hulk turned on CIMA to create New Hazard. Oh yeah, somebody read the Wikis on New Hazard and BXB Hulk! Ok, so just because I read the wikis does not necessarily mean there had not been a change in the storyline so I am not going to hold it against them. Plus it was clear they wanted to elevate SHINGO or at least begin to elevate SHINGO to CIMA's level. Cyber Kong is fimly my second favorte Dragon Gate wrestler after Genki Horiguchi. Kong is basically a better version of Don Fuji as the great power wrestler in these trios matches. He also has airbrushed abs and can rip a pineapple open with his bare hands then throws it at his opponents. CIMA seemed extra dickish in this match, which helped a lot like throwing a water bottle to break up a pinfall or blowing snot at his opponent as he was pinning him with one foot. SHINGO was constantly making a beeline for CIMA, which added some much needed intensity to this Dragon Gate. Hulk was a pretty good face in peril and I liked the double/triple teams. The finish run killed as a great match as there was too much flying around for the sake of flying around and no-selling. SHINGO looked ridiculous treating Yokosuka as his equal and losing a suplex struggle spot to him. Hulk kept doing this climb up his opponent's chest spot that just led him to eating a move. It was stupid and plus he no-sold a blantant ballshot. The best spot of the finish run was of course Cyber Kong yanking Saito out of a bridging suplex to do a giant swing right into CIMA. Sick spot. SHINGO no sells a bunch of shit to hit a bunch of shit on Saito. It had a lot of good stuff at the beginning and Cyber Kong is awesome. The finish run no-selling extravanganza makes it a top 100 border line pick at best. ***1/2

You totally hit the nail on the head. Don Fuji made a huge difference. Horiguchi is so amazing. He takes the match to another level with his great work. Would love to see him out of the DG setting. He is definitely my favorite DG guy. Open The Triangle Champions Do Fixer (Genki Horiguchi, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito) vs. Blood Generation (CIMA, Don Fuji, Naruki Doi) - Pro Wrestling Festival 2005 The more I watch Horiguchi, the more I think he was wasted in Dragon Gate. Now, I do not how much better he would have fared elsewhere as he is such a unique performer. I would say All Japan Juniors with their more American angle based storytelling would have done him well. He could have teamed and then feuded with fellow ex-Toryumon alum, Shuji Kondo to great results. He was probably too weird to get anything out of KENTA and New Japan Juniors just seemed non-existent since like 2002. The reason I say this is he is consistently the best wrestler in these Toryumon/Dragon Gate matches. In the Toryumon, we saw how amazing he was as the dick heel that would stooge for all the babyfaces, Now he played the great sympathetic underdog with bad back. He single-handledly took what I would say was a very good Dragon Gate match and made it best one I have seen so far. Dragon Gate is kicking ass drawing 7500 to Kobe for their first big, annual show, which was consistently doing 9,000 up until this past July. Interesting that Dragon Gate has been such a hot product up until very recently. The heels jumpstart the match and they do their standard crowd brawling opening. Once they get back in the ring, you already get the feeling that these guys won't disappoint on their big show as the spots seem bigger and crisper. CIMA blasts Saito with a foriegn object and that begins a pretty good FIP. Then when Saito gets out, Blood Generation decimates Horiguchi and his bad back. CIMA starts why stepping on his nuts and they just destroy the back. I really enjoy the Blood Generation triple teams as they look innovative and desvastating. Anytime you work a new way to get a double stomp into a match I approve. From there, they go into full Dragon Gate match mode. What helps this portion compared to last one is the spots are bigger and more innovative. They are eye-popping rather than just slams. The match elevates to another level when Horiguchi hits the home stretch. Don Fuji is also a big addition because he is their best power guy. Horiguchi and Fuji gel really well with Fuji dominating early only for CIMA to accidentally superkick Fuji. Horiguchi is able to hit his weird piledriver thingy, but it hurts his back and he can't capitalize. From there, Blood Generation destroys Horiguchi and eventually CIMA secures the victory with his shitty frogsplash. Great spotfest that Horiguchi makes into an incredible match. ****1/4

Open The Triangle Gate Champions Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi, SHINGO) vs Do Fixer (Genki Horiguchi, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito) - DG 3/6/05 Turns out it may not have been a wise decision to listen to the Austin/Nash podcast while watching this. Those two old timers out worked these guys with some hilarious exchanges over toilet paper purchasing and the historical definition of nothing. "Kevin, did you know that nothing was a slang term for pussy in Elizabethean times" - Austin "Guess that's why when your wife says what have you been up to, you say nothing" - Big Sexy for the win slam dunking that alley-oop At 25 years young, I don't feel old, but goddamnit, these guys need to slow the fuck down. You want to watch a match with too many moves, holy shit. Loved the beginning. I thought there was some good intensity and they abolsutely destroyed Dragon Kid and got a quick first fall. Also, I enjoyed the Blood Generation having a sort of musclehead gimmick. My problem was I would have loved to seen that played up more in the match. What made Toryumon fun was the mixture of a spotfest with fun character work. You take the character work out and you get a trainwreck. You know all these modified slams and splashes really are not that impressive without some story or what have you. Best part of the match hands down was the heat segment on Ryo Saito. They were working some great double/triple teams. Then I blinked and there was chaos and the babyfaces were on offense. I liked how all the finishes had one guy get targeted and blasted by everyone's finishers. Still you need either selling or character work to hold these matches together. It is fun as mindless entertainment, but really nothing that special. My recommendation listen to the Austin/Nash podcast.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Koji Kanemoto - NJPW 2/18/07 You know what this reminds me of the basic WWE upper midcarder match. There is not a lot of "downtime", but it basically just boils down to two guys running through their spots. There is no transitions, glue or hook to it. I am going hit some of my moves then you hit yours. Kanemoto was nominally on top for most of the match, but damn if Tanahashi did not sell one iota. Tanahashi never even flexed his knee once. This is the worst I have seen Tanahashi since the 2005 Dome Debacle. It also differs greatly from Tanahashi usual style of working on top whether face or heel. He works underneath for the top junior of all people. The match kicks in when Tanahashi bails on a heel hook attempt selling how that cna be instant ender even though he never sells it again. Kanemoto extends his hand only to roundhouse kick Tanahashi in the chest Sano-style. Tanahashi actually fired up pretty aggressively and convincingly. He mocks the Kanemoto facewash only to eat a dropkick. Two facewashes and some kicks to the head and we have Tanahashi selling a possible countout finish. Kanemoto one foot cover and Tanahashi gets a superman punch to turn the tide. I guess you can say this match is one-upping gloating, but there really has been no hook. Tanahashi runs through some moves only to get trapped in a heel hook. This is sold like a Kurt Angle ankle lock not a proper match-ending heel hook. Here comes the strike exchange. Tanahashi rolls out of the way on a moonsault, but still gets hit by it. He ignores that and goes up and misses High Fly Flow. Kanemoto rolls into a weird leg submission. Tanahashi basically says fuck you because he does a swining dragon sleeper. High Fly Flow->2! Kanemoto gets some random offense in just because, I guess the inside cradle was hot. Tanahashi hits a Human Capture and Dragon Suplex to win. The match was all over the place. If all you care about is action than you will probably like this match. If you like a sense of struggle, urgency, consequence, then this match leaves you wanting a lot more. It is what I like to call the standard *** WWE match and that's why it gets ***.

Yuki Ishikawa vs Alexander Otsuka - Big Mouth Loud 9/11/05 This was not as shoot-style as the competitors listed would led you to believe. Big Mouth Loud used a lot of shoot-stylists and New Japan wrestlers disillusioned with Inokism. It seemed to be closer to the 80s/90s New Japan style than to Shoot-Style. I still had trouble comparing this match to other puroresu. I think it is due to more subtle selling. They register pain, but do not actually sell the pain. It can come off like moves are inconsequential when they are not. I liked Otsuka quite a bit. He was good on the mat constantly outwrestling Ishikawa and getting him in heel hooks. He had some nasty headbutts in this match. Plus he brought out the highspots: Giant Swing, German Suplex and the best, Frakensteiner (as called by announcer) into a triangle choke. I would lose my shit if that ever happened in an MMA match. Ishikawa was his usual badass self. He worked hard and really sold the threat of Otsuka. He had some nasty, nasty punches. I loved his incorporation of throws late by converting a heel gook into a sick, sick, headrop German. Then using a sweet knockout punch into a sleeper for the win. It is an entertaining match that finishes really well, but it is definitely nowhere near Ishikawa/Ikeda or Tamura/Ito. ***

Osamu Nishimura vs Tatsumi Fujinami - MUGA 9/25/06 Two Out of three Falls Nishimura's performance in this reminded me of Sasuke's in Sasuke vs Dragon or Suzuki's in Suzuki vs Mutoh. They are all giving these out of the world great performances, but their opponents are just not up to snuff. It is interesting because Dragon, Mutoh and Fujinami had all slowed down a lot in terms of output in the middle of the decade. You could see they could still be carried by an opponent that was firing on all cylinders, but they just did not have enough gas in the tank to match their opponent. If the tone set in the first fall was maintained throughout the match then you would have a MOTDC on your hands. Nishimura starts off aggressive with European Uppercuts that would make Dory Funk Jr. proud. Fujinami seems a bit taken aback, but is able to use the aggression against him and snap off a Dragon Leg Screw. He goes for the Figure-4, but an inside cradle nabs the first fall for Nishimura. It only lasted under a minute, but it was an incredible fall. The second fall they get a little too cute for me. They seem more keen on showing off. Instead of flips, it is bridge outs and double wristlock takedowns. An exhibition is an exhibition. Fujinami rides high on a leg lace and gets caught in a short arm scissors. Nishimura applies a cross-armbreaker. The New Japan timekeeper has the hammer raised in case there was a submission and I agree with him. If you respect the cross-armbreaker, I respect you. I do NOT respect you, Mr. Fujinami. Of course, I am being facetious, but it is my number one pet peeve when wrestlers treat the cross armbreaker like a headlock. It is at best them not keeping up with the times and at worst being ignorant and lazy. Yes, I thought Fujinami's performance was lazy at times. This match is the ultimate missing the forest for the trees match. You have Fujinami doing great little things like lunging for the ropes with his feet, but not selling his arm. Or Nishimura working the injured finger of Fujinami while in a cross armbreaker, but why does it matter because Fujinami has killed the viability of the cross armbreaker as a finish. To be fair to Fujinami, Nishimura did bridge out of a cross-armbreaker, which is pretty ludicrous. Basically this match took a big shit on the cross armbreaker. Now, once the match moved from Nishimura on offense to Fujinami on offense the match got a million times better. Just like the Sasuke match, Dragon was not interested in selling and neither was Fujinami. However, put them on top and have the wrestler who wants to work on bottom and you got magic. Fujinami goes after Nishimura's knee with a swift low kicks like Inoki in Inoki/Ali. Nishimura bails. Fujinami targets the knee, but Nishimura in desperation goes for Fujnami's knee with a spinning toe hold, shades of Dory Funk Jr, BABY! Fujinami kicks him off and a figure-4 knots it all up. What I love about Nishimura matches, is you understand how this can be a double edged sword. Yes, you are getting time to walk it off and break up your opponent's momentum, but you are giving him the high ground. With the high ground, the opponent can dictate the match and make it very difficult for you to get back into the ring. I used to say that Akira Taue was the undisputed king of working the apron, but damn if I see more Nishimura that could change. Nishimura rocks Fujinami with a European Uppercut and crashes burns with a bombs away knee drop. What a dumbshit! He blocks the figure-4 and is able to bail. Nishimura is fed up with all this bullshit on the apron and says you want my knee you can have it, but you will not have ME, FUJINAMI! Fujinami attacks the knee and pulls him into the ring. He applies the sleeper to sap that last bit of fight out of him. Fujinami applies the figure-4 and just when you think he has it, Nishimura reverses the pressure and Fujinami has not alternative, but to submit. This is pretty much on par with the Saito match. Saito does not feel as much of a threat as Fujinami even though he wins the match so this match had more in terms of drama. Saito works a lot harder than Fujinami, who only seemed interested in being on offense. Nishimura gives two tremendous performances within two months of each other. We need more Nishimura footage. The finish is a lot hotter in this one and that is usually my tiebreaker so I have this one edging out the Saito match. ****

Osamu Nishimura vs Hiro Saito - MUGA 08/02/06 One complaint I think you can't levy at Japan as a whole in the 2000s is a lack of variety. Yes, the NOAH style was dominant in terms of getting the most praise, but that bombastic style was limited only to NOAH. You had the American/puroresu style of All Japan, the more mat & strike based style of New Japan (Inokism or Strong Style), the lucha/comedy hybird of Dragon Gate, shoot-style promotions and to add to the list we have MUGA. MUGA was headed up by New Japan legend Tatsumi Fujinami to turn the clock back to late 70s and early 80s when men were men and European Uppercuts and Spinning Toeholds were the end all be all of wrestling. I wish we got more of it during this project. Hiro Saito is built much like the more famous Masa Saito (no relation), but maybe a bit shorter. He was a junior heavyweight for New Japan and All Japan in the 80s and 90s before the junior heavyweight boom led by Liger. At this point, Im hard pressed to believe he would meet the weight limit bu then again Shuji Kondo was able to, but I think he is a pretty short dude. Nishimura is someone I enjoy, but has yet to blow me away in any match. In fact, my favorite match may have been the random match with Al Snow I watched from ECW Hardcore TV in January of 95 the other night. Rest assured, Nishimura finally knocked one out of the park with Saito in this match. Nishimura shows up Saito a bit early and Saito gets a bit peeved and starts throwing furniture around. Saito is the more powerful of the two and is able to cinch in an armbrar and transform it into an All Japan surfboard spot. Nishimura gets a big pop for reversing it. Nishimura works a headlock like he is Lou Thesz. The face I can accurately say that is why the Chicago Film Archive has to be commended for doing God's work. Nishimura grabs a sleeper, but Saito hits a jawbreaker. The selling from Nishimura is amazing as he writes in pain. Saito hits his famous senton (according to Wiki, he invented that move). Nishimura bails to the outside for a breather. They work an amazing king of the mountain sequence where Saito keeps find new ways to snap Nishimura's throat across the ropes. It was amazingly compelling wrestling. Nishimura needed to break up the momentum of Saito, but is now paying the price. They do a great ab stretch hope spot, but Saito wins. He goes for the coup d'grace in the form of a piledriver, but Nishimura counters. They do the bridge/backslide counter. Nishmura dumps Saito outside who jams his knee. On two separate occasions, Nishimura whiffs on a knee drop to the outside, but they sell a countout finish anyways. Saito gives Flair a run for his money in terms of great verbal selling and really making this credible. Nishimura has to stand Saito up just kick his leg out from under his leg. Nishimura actually misses the knee drop this time. Saito hits two bridging Germans and is able to hold him down on the second. He couldn't stand, but he could bridge. I don't know about that one. The selling was off the charts in this one. Nishimura trying to fight just to get back into the ring was very compelling. Saito's selling of the knee was so great that it make sthe finish all that much more curious. ****

He laughs because he hurts. He laughs because he hurts.

The Sandman Texas Death Match from Double Tables is one of the most disturbing and unprofessional things I have ever seen. It would be one thing if Mick apologized for the match and basically said you should not watch this because what I did was wrong. Instead, he puts it on his DVD and sells at some sort of clusterfuck. O and look for when I get frustrated because I cannot keep the dumbfuck down because he was knocked out. Gawf. Gawf. Hey Mick, you fucking moron, why was he knocked out? Did it have anything to do with the fact you hit really fucking hard in the head with a frying pan? Then dipshit while he is wandering aimlessly you have to set up spots yourself to basically put yourself in a position of vulnerability and never occurs to you something is really wrong with him. Of course not! So you proceed to hit really hard in the head with the Singapore Cane and then hurl a chair at his head so it collars him. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, ASSHOLE!!!! I will probably still vote for Mick, but that was fucking disgusting. I just need a place to vent.

Watch the Falls Count Anywhere match that precedes this promo. Woman in a hot, green leather dress, Sandman selling his ass off, Cactus Jack hand psychology, Amazing Transition after amazing transition. Then the post-match angle where they try to blind Cactus with a lit cigarette. Kickass ECW brawl! Watch it!

Cactus Jack vs Sandman w/Woman - ECW TV Falls Count Anywhere 1/31/95 Was not even going to bother with this match because I had seen a couple Cactus/Sandman matches and they always sucked. I thought I was just making the right choice because Woman in that tight green, leather dress was double hot. What a total fox! Then lo and behold, these two maniacs went out and kicked some serious ass. Cactus meets Sandman up the aisle with a trash can and just brutalizes Sandman. Sandman was really good at selling a beating throughout the match. Woman starts caning Cactus and finally Sandman takes over (Awesome transition #1). He does a really good job building heat. He hits a nice top rope leg drop. There is no overkill, he is still working through his own beating. Cactus is able to mount a comeback while Sandman is on the top rope (Awesome Transition #2). Cactus is rolling until he punches a trash can that Sandman holds up at the last second. (Have Mercy! Awesome Transition #3) Cactus blades his hand. Nastiest paper cut ever, folks! Sandman stomps the hand and works a great heat segment around it smashing the hand with the garbage can. Sandman is stumbling around and is so good at working through his beating. DELAYED PILEDRIVER ON THE GARBAGE CAN! My slight complaint is that Jack was fine at selling the hand, but would be a bit too quick to pop back up in general. Sandman goes for the kill, but goes flying over the top rope onto the floor. (Awwww shit, you all just love me, Awesome Transition #4) Cactus is able to get the Cactus Elbow for the three. Woman starts caning Cactus. Jack does intimidating the woman routine, but this allows Sandman to attack. Sandman canes the shit out of Cactus. Sandman lights a cigarette and then tries to BLIND CACTUS!!! Mikey Whipwreck with the save to a huge Mikey chant. Sandman/Woman cut a decent promo. Sandman has a Woman t-shirt that I need to own. Cactus cuts a money promo (which made the yearbook) that makes me want to see the Texas Death Match even though I have seen it before and didn't like it. Great, great ECW brawl with really smart transitions and great selling by Sandman. ***1/2

AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs AKIRA - AJPW 1/8/06 AKIRA brings out a scale with him to have Kondo weighed before the match. Automatic *****! I actually like how Americanized All Japan was in this period. It was really different than New Japan and NOAH. This is a match that may benefit from watching it in 2014 instead of 2006. I may have been sick of liberal outside interference in 2006, but in 2014 it is pretty fresh (i don't watch 2014 New Japan so the Bullet Club is not something I see). I thought it was a nice little device in this match. Another thing I love about All Japan is they have video packages before their matches reviewing the angles. Awesome, now I know this is going to be hot and heavy instead of a championship style match. Kondo was really into dueling limb work, but blowing off the arm selling when necessary in 2006 & 2007. I do enjoy him as a junior powerhouse, but we did not get to see much of that. AKIRA was really fun in this, but it does not reach the level of the Kanemoto or Minoru Tanaka matches. The match starts off with some decent amateur wrestling, but could be hotter given what I saw in video package. Kondo lariats the post. So we expect AKIRA to exploit this and remove this weapon. All Japan was really into selling an injury, but then doing a move anyway. I still can't figure out how I feel about that versus outright no-selling. AKIRA misses a kick and his foot gets in ropes and BOOM chair shot to the knee by who I assume is Brother YASSHI, but I could be wrong. The knee work is solid and I love the fact Kondo uses the outside to great effect and throws AKIRA into his buddies. Kondo stupidly sets AKIRA up for a superplex. I hate that why would you give someone the high ground. AKIRA snaps the arm over the top rope. AKIRA works the arm and YASSHI gets nervous climbs on the apron, but brains Kondo with the briefcase. AKIRA climbs to the top and SPLASH! But only two. Kondo abruptly puts Akira in an inverted Texas Cloverleaf. Could have used a better transition there. Then the outright interference happens after a ref bump, but AKIRA's buddies chase off YASSHI. Kondo still hits a superplex. The finish run was concise and mostly well-done. AKIRA gets his hope nearfalls, a nasty German and backslide. Then Kondo hits two wicked lariats to win. This a fun, breezy 15 minute match. It is entertaining and easy to digest, which I appreciate. Are there flaws, yeah, but it is a fun way to spend 15 minutes. ***

I think you are overcomplicating this, brutha. "Minnesota" Flair is just babyface Flair. "Carolina" Flair is his heel version. 1983 he is clearly the babyface in Mid-Atlantic. 1984 is a year of transition (youtube "1984 year of transition") and when begins to turn heel because Dusty is in the territory. He does not go full bore until 1985 with the Horsemen. Feel free to prove me wrong because I have not watched all the footage, but it seems pretty clear that is all this is. 1993 Flair against Vader is "Minnesota" Flair. By 1996, Flair was doing the crazy old man as a babyface because people just loved it. I have used Hisa's lists to randomly pop names into youtube to see what I can get for Flair. Charles, this is God's work. Once, I finish watch all this 00s Japan stuff. I am just going to back to mama's home cooking and watching nothing, but 80s Flair in all his glory.

Gedo & Jado vs Koji Kanemoto & Wataru Inoue - NJPW 3/4/05 Weirdly enough, the only Gedo & Jado match I have ever seen was live at ROH this past May. I actually enjoyed that match as I believe the opener (may have been second on). I read some reviews for this one and Gedo/Jado are famous enough that I ought to watch some more to get a feel for their work. I know their rep as Southern-style workers in Japan that sometimes suck out loud, but then can always flip a switch and rip it up. That being said, I do not think Gedo & Jado are not the critical drivers that will determine your feelings for the match. That will rest with Wataru Inoue. I remember Wataru Inoue as the young punk badass from the first Liger/NOAH tag match, but this match almost seems like retrogression as he young boy victim for the brutality and violence of Gedo and Jado. This is easily one of my favorite styles of Japanes wrestling: Veteran & Young Boy versus the brutal heels. I did not think this one really superseded some of the better ones I had seen (Miyamoto and Shiga). The strong point of the match was also the weak point. They lived and died by that heat segment. Inoue getting blasted by that chair and tapping a gusher was great, but then he just died. I need some hope spots. Otherwise, it is really no different than finish run overkill. Hope spots can be generated from Kanemoto, who only interfered once. Inoue deadweighting and then kicking out was just not sitting well with me. It was all there for them to knock this one out of the park. It is one of those things where too much of a good thing (babyface selling) did them in. The transition to get Inoue out of there was pretty lame. He basically just hits a flip lariat after Kanemoto had some interference and they ran a tease spot. Don't get me wrong, it gets a huge pop. There was just not much struggle, it was abrupt and it was a just generally lame move. As for the rest of the match, the beginning was boring as all hell, just fast forward to the chair shot. Kanemoto is a pretty good house of fire because his facewashes are a great crowd-pleasing spot, but he seems to be looking for the tag too quick. The double heel hook was a great visual. I liked Kanemoto saving Wataru from the crossface and the superbomb, but he needed to do that earlier. Jado reminds us it is 2005 with rolling Germans and a barrage of Crippler's Crossfaces. Wataru goes for flash finishes with a cradle and then gets a submission does not even hurt. He literally has the arm bent in a way it should go. This was sillier looking than the Cena STFU (let me squeeze my biceps together). The match has a ton of potential, but suffers from too many problem for me to consider this in my Top 100. It is entertaining with a hot hook and a great crowd. I recommend it for a watch, everybody else seems to like it more than me, but I think mileage may vary based on how much you liked that heat segment. ***

That is another strong point for the leg work. I think it is a combination of everything mentioned. I wonder how much being a Mutoh mark is really the impetus though.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Suwama - AJPW Champions Carnival 2008 In 2007 it seemed New Japan had left the dark ages of Inokism behind them, but 2008 was like the Black Death before the Renaissance we are witnessing today. Admirably, they tried to create a star on Tanahashi's level by having him drop the IWGP championship to Nakamura on the Dome show. This match did not make the project, but it is definitely, I am going to check out. To see how they since progressed (or perhaps retrogressed) since their great 2006 encounter and to see if Tanahashi plays the heel in the match. Much like in 2005 & 2006, it seems New Japan had partnered with All Japan, which included Mutoh winning the IWGP Championship. This was a death knell for championship match quality for the rest of the year. In addition, we saw Tanahashi wrestle in the Carnival against All Japan's hot, young prospect, Suwama. I liked this match up a lot on paper before I even saw it for two reasons. One is both wrestlers are on the cusp of becoming The Man in their respective promotions. So you get a hungrier version of an Ace vs Ace showdown. In addition, there are few match ups I like more than the powerhouse versus the cocky pretty boy. This match, especially beginning, felt like I was watch Hiroshi Flair versus Lex Suwama. The cool paradigm shift in this match compared to the Flair vs. Luger series was Suwama was on Tanahashi's level so Tanahashi is even more tenuously in control than a Flair would be. Hiroshi Tanahashi have the best consistent heat since the Kobashi title defenses. This crowd was red hot. Booing the shit out of Tanahashi and chanting for Suwama throughout the match. It does not matter if it is Greensboro, NC or Tokyo, JP, every crowd is going to love the pretty boy slam -> gloats, but unaware of the powerhouse no-sell -> pretty boy gets slammed. I love when wrestling transcends both time and cultures like that. INCOMING!!! Huge pop for Suwama's suicide dive! Tragedy strikes for our hero as he was re-entering the ring, Tanahashi grabbed his leg and wrenched it with a timely dragon leg screw. Again, Tanahashi takes away the base of his stronger opponent. He is able to work a body part, but also create an opening for his preferred moves. Plus, cocky, shit-eating grin Tanahashi is awesome at working over the leg. I loved when Tanahashi is jaw jacking with the ref and gets speared, but it is right back to work on the leg. Suwama slaps the ever loving taste out of Tanahashi's mouth to HUGE cheers and mounts the comeback. Unfortunately, Suwama does not really bother selling and the match does lose its way a bit. It is a bit too easy for Tanahashi to regain in intervening moments when Suwama should either be kicking his ass or making him earn it more. I liked Suwama going for a knee for a knee with a heel hook, but only lasted for a hot second. The Sling Blade countered into a Back Drop Driver is such a great spot. Tanahashi is a crazy bumper. He was getting absolutely tossed around by Suwama. Suwama hits this crazy German Suplex that Cesaro would be proud of, it was a sick dead lift. Tanahashi is overkilled, just like the Goto match, but to an more extreme degree. Tanahashi has not been hit with the powerbomb. Tanahashi hits a High Fly Flow hits knees in mutual destruction, but Tanahashi comes out on top. He applies the Texas Cloverleaf, which won him the Goto match. This time it was just not in the cards. Tanahashi crumples him with a Dragon Suplex. He goes for another one, but countered into an overhead belly to belly. Here comes the powerbomb, but Tanahashi counters into a roll-up. Tanahashi showboating gets his head taken off with a lariat and finally the powerbomb ends it. This and Goto matches are very close for me. Tanahashi is really excellent in both of them as the cocky, pretty boy heel that uses the dragon leg screw as a game changer. I loved the addition of the Texas Cloverleaf to the arsenal. I like Suwama better than Goto because he has more charisma and has some cooler power spots. I thought the beginning of the Suwama match was better because it was even more clear in its face/heel dynamic and was really entertaining. However, the finish run was definitely more overkill in this match. Tanahashi should not have survived that many slams on the neck to only get back on offense. The finish of the Goto match overwhelms the beginning of the Suwama match for me to put the Goto match ahead, but both will do very well. ****1/4

Thanks Jim Ross from Smackdown! vs. Raw 2006. I know it is a relatively common expression, but my brother and I always do it in the JR voice because anytime you played HBK, he trotted that line out.

All Japan's reign of dominance at #1 ends, but damn if they did not get close. They had more high-end matches (60% of top 5) than 1997, but could not grab top spot. I am going to try to watch the top 5 soon. Also interesting that WCW managed to nab 22 slots to WWF's 7. WCW's "best" year is probably 1997 from overall combination of being mainstream and quality storylines, but they had a hard time cracking top 100 last year. WWF grew in popularity, but declined in quality matches. Do you feel WCW was able to grab more slots due to an overall decline in quality work or because WCW mid-card stepped it up?

IWGP Heavyweight Champion HiroshI Tanahashi vs Hirooki Goto - NJPW 11/11/07 This time period has been a real eye-opener for me because I never knew Tanahashi worked full-blown heel in his matches.You can draw many parallels between Cena and Tanahashi. One respect was I thought once both got on top they worked as top faces, but here is Tanahashi working heel as the champion in his home promotion. Not surprisingly, it was a great match because I have seen Tanahashi work on top as a face in a match and that is much harder than working on top as a heel. Can Goto look and wrestle anymore cookie cutter? He is the Platonic Ideal of a 00s Strong Style Warrior. Suwama, from All Japan, also fits the generic mold that they are super-serious, lariat-hitting, Kensuke Sasaki-wannabes. I prefer Swuama over Goto in the two matches I have seen because he does a bit more character and color. However, I liked the Goto match as a whole better than the Suwama match, but they are very close. This all being said, if you are going to do the ultra-serious, proud Strong Style Warrior gimmick there is no better opponent than the cocky pretty boy. Tanahashi has this down pat. I will get into this more in the Suwama match, but Tanahashi is gold as the travelling NWA Champion. The beginning of the Suwama match, I thought I was watching Hiroshi Flair vs Lex Suwama. I know NJPW probably has Tanahashi on lock down, but if you are the WWE he is the Japanese pro wrestler to get, not KENTA because Tanahashi understands American psychology way better inherently than KENTA. From these 2007 Tanahashi matches, I really believe that his working the leg is different than the way we think of it here in America. He is not necessarily setting something up. Yes, he does have the Texas Cloverleaf, but that is not always his endgame. He is using it to level the playing field. Most of his opponents are better at him at a certain thing. For instance Nagata will out-strike and out-mat wrestle you. Suwama and Goto can outpower him. However, Tanahashi is incredibly well-rounded. He is really good at everything, but not amazing at one skill. So if he messes up your leg, now you are favoring something and this allows Tanahashi not to exploit the leg necessarily, but remove your advantage, Now at a level playing field, he can hit his preferred spots and to build to a victory. Either that or I am overanalyzing and he is just a Mutoh mark. I like my explanation better though. With that mind, let us see how it fits. Tanahashi is a general dick early so GOTO SMASH~! In desperation, Tanahashi smashes his head into turnbuckle and while dazed he hits the Dragon Leg Screw. It stops the bleeding and allows Tanahashi to catch his breath, set the pace and attack the knee. Tanahashi is great at attacking the knee and it becomes even better with those heel special effects (the posing and bad-mouthing). I love how the bad-mouth leads to a Goto lariat hope spot. Tanahashi does the Dragon Sleeper reversal, which pops the crowd, but he should probably refrain from that since he is the heel. Tanahashi starts running through his splashes and then goes for the kill with a German on the apron. That is the ticket, the leg work opened up this part of his game, which would not have been afforded to him due to Goto's power advantage. Goto gets chippy -> BOOM! Dragon Leg Screw. Tremendous cutoff. The Goto transition is a little lame as he bashes Tanahashi's head into apron. It is a good transition because it causes a plenty of damage, but is a bit too out of nowhere. Goto runs through a surprising amount of high flying stuff, which you wished he would sell the knee, but Tanahashi picks up the slack. Then in one of the most shocking surprises of the decade, a strike exchange that actually goes somehwere. I know after zoning out for 2-5 minutes a match in this decade, you actually have to watch this one because it is important. Goto loses his cool and starts hammering Tanahashi with closed fists to the point he is booed. The ref admonishes him, but he throws him down. Tanahashi punts him in the balls and now the boo birds are really out. Excellent, excellent work! Put a little sympathy on Tanahashi and then he reminds you he is a total prick. Now if the match ended after the Tanahashi barrage of offense (suplexes, High Fly Flow, Cloverleafs). This is yet another MOTDC. It is getting ridiculous by the way how stupid this is becoming. That these matches could be on par with previous decades if they just went home. When all is said and done, I will most likely be a Tanahashi supporter in the Great Hiroshi Tanahashi Debate. However, if the second Nagata match and this match ended at the right times, I would already be on the bandwagon beating his drum as loudly as Meltzer. He is sooooo painfully close to being an all-time great. You need to know when to go home. That being said this finish does not kill the match dead and there still some good in it. I agree that Goto needed some more nearfalls to be credible and be seen in the upper midcard, which you probably should have fitted in before the ballshot, but that is fine. I did like the story of Tanahashi going Ricky Steamboat with nearfall barrage in an effort to save his title, but in the process on one of them he gets dropped on his neck. They sell this as a shoot injury with ringsiders going in to check on him and Goto throws the, Goto does a great job focusing on the neck, but once he goes all out on the neck it becomes overkill. Tanahashi should not be able to comeback with anything unless Goto fucks up or catches him by surprise. There is of course Tanahashi bridging on his bad neck. Fuck! They were so close. Tanahashi hits High Flow Fly on the knees and the Cloverleaf secures the victory. ****1/4

Koji Kanemoto vs Osamu Nishimura - NJPW G-1 Climax '04 Kanemoto really blew this one. Kanemoto avoided Nishimura on the mat and dominated with kicks. I was waiting for Nishimura to kick it up a notch, which he did with his amazing European Uppercuts, but Kanemoto answered with facewashs and planchas. Nishimura almost seemed cocky against the junior heavyweight Kanemoto and before he knew he was in a big hole. Nishimura was really great at selling and not just the eventual leg selling, but selling throughout the match. He was putting Kanemoto and his offense over huge in hanging with the heavyweights by demonstrating that he has underestimated Kanemoto. Nishimura is always dangerous with his millions of pinning combinations and he applied one, but Kanemoto countered into a heel hook. Nishimura sells this like a million bucks. Kanemoto ramps up to the moonsault, but cant get the job done. Nishimura goes for a banana split cradle, which Kanemoto counters into the heel hook and just when you thinks he has it, Nishimura rolls him onto his shoulder and Kanemoto does not let go. It was a cool little story that put Kanemoto over. Nishimura's selling really made this special. Kanemoto can run cold with me and this was one of those performances. Against somebody who was not selling as well, this would not have been as good. Regardless, definitely a match to watch if you appreciate great selling and a neat 15 minute story. ***3/4

Florida Express (Kensuke Sasaki & Florida Brothers) vs. Do Fixer (Magnum Tokyo, Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi) w/Akira Hokuto - 9/17/04 Kensuke Sasaki in American Flag tights being taught how to properly celebrate America style with hip thrusts and booty bumps is something every wrestling fan needs to see. The amazing thing about pro wrestling is how well it transcends cultures and languages. I don't know a lick of Japanese, but I sure appreciate their wrestling. This time I think understanding Japanese would have made this even funnier than it already was. The Florida Brothers are a spoof on Americans. You had Akira Hokuto ashamed of her husband's silly antics with the Florida Brothers. Then she gets challenged by the creepy Stalker Ichikawa and beats him with a Northern Lights Bomb. The match proper gets started and Sasaki is totally game for all the silly antics that ensue. The ref armdraging everybody, armbar chains, and miming imaginary barriers against Magnum Tokyo. The finish is too funny and fits perfectly with the theme of the match. I want to get this on my Top 100, but there maybe so many good outright matches that it will not make it. As comedy match, this is pretty top-notch.

Their Cinderella story at Survivor Series '88 was really compelling especially with The Body selling it. Demos/POP double turn meant shit to me because the matches sucked either way, but that Conquistadors surviving against all expectations was a great hook to make you care.

My brother explained this one pretty well. If you wait for Cena or Lesnar to win they will be on rough, but competitive shape, but costing Cena the match when Brock is on the verge of losing is much, much smarter play than waiting for the match to end. Still fucking stupid finish

My brother with the line if the night already: "it shouldn't be Stardust, It should be Spazdust"

How much 70s is there? I just thought there were a handful if All Japan matches