Superstar Sleeze

UWA World Trios Champions Crazy Max (CIMA, Don Fuji, TARU) vs Sekigun (Maasaki Mochizuki, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito) vs. M2K (Magnum Tokyo, Darkness Dragon, Genki Horiguchi) - Toryumon 7/7/02 Crazy Max comes into the annual Trios Squared match with the titles again, but will they retain them. CIMA has dumped SUWA for another Caps Lock fiend, TARU, who is a scary looking muthafucka. Big Fuji is no longer Big. Instead he is a Don with the slick black hair, which I dig. The other change-up is that Mochizuki and Tokyo have switched sides, which I think better suit their personalities. Mochizuki was too bland to be a heel, but as a babyface he fits right in with Dragon Kid and Saito. The cocky Tokyo can use his flash to really draw the ire of the fans. I have decided that it is is the nine men that really ruin the flow of the match. Whenever, two teams are building some sort of rhythm all of sudden you have another team getting into the fray and it is jarring rather than chaotic. Most of the heat was between Dragon Kid and M2K, but Crazy Max would keep ruining the flow. Really I felt like Crazy Max did not have much to offer in this match in terms of the storytelling of the match. The 2002 incarnation of this match was much more action packed the 2001 match and for that reason I enjoyed more. I liked spots like Horiguchi playing up his surfer past by riding the "waves" on the back of two opponents. My favorite spot was when sworn enemies Darkness Dragon and Dragon Kid team up on TARU. Only for Darkness Dragon to turn on Dragon Kid. The Fuji chopfest where his six opponents chopped him and he chopped each one of them was also cute. All the suplex stuff was not as fun. I liked Tokyo fucking around with Dragon Kid and wish that it was just M2K vs Sekigun because I think that would be a badass match. Dragon Kid spikes someone with a hurricanrana, but Darkness Dragon swipes his mask and in the shock he is pinned. Great first elimination and sets up the mask vs mask blowoff. Again, I didn't think the finish run was all that strong, but then again the heat was not really between Crazy Max and M2K. CIMA wins with one of his slams (Schwein, maybe) I am still waiting for Toryumon to really knock my socks off. ***1/4

UWA World Trios Champion Crazy Max (CIMA, SUWA, Big Fuji) vs. Sekigun (Magnum Tokyo, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito) vs. M2K (Maasaki Mochizuki, Kanda, Darkness Dragon) - Toryumon 08/14/01 Nothing like jumping feet first into Toryumon with their first three-way trios match. Dragon Gate is always something I read about, but never really took the time to watch. Who has time for Dragon Gate when they are watching 90s All Japan for the first time. I don't know if it would help or hurt this match if I understood the backstory better. From my understanding, M2K (leader, Mochizuki) and Crazy Max (leader, CIMA) are both heel stables, but M2K is more heelish. Sekigun (leader Magnum Tokyo), meaning home army, was comprised of two of Toryumon's biggest babyface stars, Magnum Tokyo and Dragon Kid, both of who I remember appearing in WCW in 1998. I was really into dancing gimmicks as a child and I have very fond memories of Alex Wright, Disco Inferno and Magnum Tokyo stable. My perception of Ryo Saito was that he was any up and coming babyface and the general whipping Boy. Darkness Dragon is the evil mirror universe Little Dragon. Kanda, Mochizuki and SUWA are you standard heel Japanese characters. Fuji is notable for being bigger than the average Toryumon competitor (Magnum Tokyo is also pretty big). CIMA is a lot more fliptastic than your standard heel. All that being said, I don't always turn my nose up at spotfests especially when the out and out intention is just have a fun spotfest, but this did have long stretches where not a lot seemed to be happening. I liked the tentative beginning between the three leaders and their knucklelock, before a weak melee broke up. I enjoyed little spots like messing ultra-heel Mochizuki by knocking out all his tag partners out and doing a dive train on him in the corner. Fuji turning on Saito with a lariat was fun, but set up a boring heat segment. Dragon Kid was much better in this setting than in the singles match with SUWA with all his flips. I liked Darkness Dragon dropkicking Dragon Kid while he was in a Giant Swing. Also the double huge bump off SUWA dropkick was cute. SUWA hits a super bomb for two on Dragon Kid. In a melee, CIMA takes a slam and La Magistral cradle (yep its Ultimo Dragon's promotion) by Darkness Dragon eliminates Crazy Max. Surprisingly, the finish run is pretty boring. Dont get me wrong a Shooting Star Press is always a badass grand finale, but the run-up was pretty dull. This was pretty underwhelming by normal spotfest standards. ***

BJPW Deathmatch Champion Takashi Sasaki vs Yuki Miyamoto - BJPW 03/14/07 No one can declare any other match the worst match ever until they have set through this horrible torture porn wrestling match. I did not think any match could ever top Tito Santana vs Don Muraco from MSG 01/84 in terms of being just absolute piece of shit, but wow did this manage to encompass all things that suck in one 25 minute clusterfuck. I try not to be dismissive of a genre that I really don't know much about, but this was just rotten. As much as Kobayashi/Sasaki just made me feel nasty at least that was "intriguing" (for lack of a better term) because it felt like a hardcore match ratcheted up to 11 and really like something I had never seen before. This was just a horrible NOAH match with Light Tubes and a Scaffold. There was the perfunctory wrestling that is ironic because it is a deathmatch except they are just going through the paces. The first light tube shot almost cost Sasaki's his sight and he is just gushing. Then we get multiple fighting spirit sequences and no-sell suplexes.There are not even any spots. It is just plain boring. I didn't think a match where a mat covered in glass could be this boring, but I was wrong. The scaffold did lend itself to best spots mostly for the "Wow, did somebody die in this match" factor. The double stomp off the scaffold was ridiculous. How Sasaki did not internally bleed and Miyamoto did not destroy his knee I do not know. We of course get a kick out from Emerald Flowsion through lightubes. Miyamoto hits a moonsault from the scaffold, kick out. They fight at the top of the scaffold. Sasaki Emerald Flowsion from top of the Scaffold through a TABLE! Kick out?!?!?! Fuck this match. Sasaki wins with a kick to light tubes to the head. Absolutely boring when the scaffold was not involved. It felt like bad NOAH roleplay. Total amateur hour. The scaffold did generate high drama, but it was not even the climax. What a truly wretched match!

NWA World Tag Team Champions LAX vs AJStyles/Christopher Daniels - Ultimate X Alas, I could not find the street fight. This was not as good as I remember, but it is one of the better TNA spotfests. I don't feel like re-watching all of TNA 2006, but for the most part TNA fans just pop for spots rather than well-laid wrestling psychology. I think there is an argument to be made that TNA wrestlers ought to please their fans rather than drag them kicking and screaming through a good match. TNA matches have weird heat because the fans are only looking to pop for spots and can be quite dead for extended periods of times. This was pretty much a non-stop-spot-a-thon. There were plenty of eye-pleasing spots with AJ getting thrown by Hernandez, a nice dive train, some nice work with the ladder. I literally just watched that match and cant remember the order of the spots and all of them. In the moment, I thought it was cool, but now just minutes after I am struggling to piece together where AJ's comeback was in relation to the second dive train. The finish was smart because it was actually the two most impressive spots in the match. If you are going to do a spotfest then you best hold your last two trump cards for the end. AJ Styles Clash Homicide off the apron into table and Daniels leaping for the tag belts were visually very impressive. Very disappointed by both of these matches and hopefully Bound For Glory can save it. It is starting to feel this feud is all talk and no walk

Kenta Kobashi vs Naomichi Marufuji - Budokan 4/23/06 The last Kobashi match at the Budokan, until his 2008 return after surviving a cancer scare, features him working with Marufuji during his push towards to the GHC Heavyweight. I don't wish cancer on anyone. I am a big Kobashi fan, but he was descending into self-parody. If there was any silver lining it was that he needed the two years off. Of course, when I go to watch the 2008-2009 work, I may end up saying he just should have retired, but I will wait and see. Marufuji came to work during this match and prove that he was capable of working the heavyweight style. I thought this was his best individual performance to date. NOAH is really, really good at the first 5-10 minutes of matches. They always establish these cool stories, but never follow them to an interesting conclusion. Instead they settle for fireworks displays. It is really disappointing. After a handshake of respect, Marufuji is trying to prove himself to Kobashi, but he finds himself thwarted at every turn by Kobashi superior strength, I loved the head fakes during the chopfest only for Kobashi to finally catch him. The wristlock only ended up him being chopped. The headscissors lasted longer, but he suffered a similar fate. Kobashi looked like he was going to make easy work for this pretender. Then Marufuji took to the high ground and dropkicked Kobashi in the knee. Marufuji's knee work was totally on point with figure-4s being the choice. Kobashi still can turn on the sympathy sell when he wants. It was 1995 all over again with him selling the knee like a million bucks and we were all buying it. Kobashi eventually catches him with a chop, but collapses in the ring. Kobashi desperately suffocates him knowing he cant afford to let him regain his strength. Marufuji catches Kobashi's chop in an awesome moment. Lariat. Kobashi unphased says bring it. Marufuji superkick and Kobashi's sell is perfect. "Damn it that little kid actually hit me." Marufuji hits a big splash to the outside and he is starting to feel it. In one of the best uses of springboard dropkick as Kobashi is crawling back into the ring, Marufuji nails him in the head. Of course, it is now time for the finish run and they just lose it. It is a barrage of Sliced Breads and Half-Nelsons. The best sequence was actually this rather overwrought counters, but looked actually like they were struggling and finished with a Burning Lariat. Obviously that should have been the finish, but of course Marufuji kicks out. Brainbuster wins it for Kobashi. I didn't know that the goal of wrestling was to get a bigger pop on a false finish than the actual finish. Snide remarks aside, the match was very good for the first 3/4s or so and they just fell into the usual NOAH finish pattern. They gave Tau/Akiyama a run for their money for NOAH match of 2006, but came up short. ****

Naomichi Marufuji vs KENTA - NOAH 11/13/04 Surprisingly this was not for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Title. I figured that was the only reason to really have the two tag partners wrestle. They may have already realized they wanted to push Marufuji and did not want the Junior Title to pigeon hole him. KENTA did win his first Junior Heavyweight Title until January of 2005, which is later than I would have expected. It is sensible given how integral KENTAFuji was to the Junior Tag Scene. This is just a good 'ol fashion respect contest expect someone forgot to tell KENTA. I loved the beginning with KENTA coming out a million miles an hour looking to be the aggressor with the kicks. Marufuji really put over how much he did not want to take one of those. The slaps woke up Marufuji and told him he was in a fight. He tackles KENTA and is ready to punch him in the face. The ref admonishes him and he relents. That was a really damn good sequence. Marufuji continues to sap KENTA's strength in holds, but in a criss cross sequence KENTA catches him in a leapfrog and powerslams him, cool spot. The first annoying spot is KENTA tornado DDTs Marufuji, who sells, but seconds later is running around and hits a sunset flip powerbomb. Marufuji hits a DDT on the floor and works a cravat in the ring. I love how Marufuji is controlling the explosive KENTA with holds. Very sound psychology so far. KENTA whiffs on a big boot, but finally connects on a kick to Marufuji's knee when he was going for the Asai Moonsault. I have liked how Marufuji has been winning by playing it conservative and letting KENTA make the mistakes, but once Marufuji tries to play KENTA's game, he gets burnt. KENTA does not work a very good control segment, He has a tendency to put a hold on and then just let go for no reason. I have always hated the mid-air powerbomb spot. It just looks so stupid. It is a bit too my move, your move at this point. I did like KENTA's counter of the Sliced Bread into a tombstone piledriver. He really spiked him. I also hate the Van Terminator and KENTA does that here. Exploding knee gets two. Go 2 Sleep, but Marufuji is too close to the ropes. I like that way of protecting a finish. Marufuji runs through his usual end of match moves. He goes up for the Spanish Fly, but they both take a nasty spill off the top rope onto floor. I really, really think that should have been the finish. They are tag partners and equals at this point. It shows the great lengths they would go to prove they were the better only for them to render both of them senseless. Instead they are up at 7 (Kobashi would have waited until at least 16 and he is very macho). Marufuji hits the Spanish Fly to win. The match is infinitely better than their big Budokan GHC Heavyweight Title match in 2006. They told an interesting story in the beginning and then ran through big moves. Yes it was disjointed and there are better way to build their moves, but at least it was not absolute overkill. They had their finish right there, but decided to go to one extra move. That's story of NOAH always at least one move too much. ***1/2

GHC Heavyweight Champion Naomichi Marufuji vs KENTA - Budokan 10/29/06 HOLY OVERKILL, BATMAN! This match was like a bad progressive rock album (I know that's redundant ). Sacrificing hooks for more notes at lightning speeds. Sacrificing meaningful transitions for inane time changes. You could probably have constructed 4 or 5 great matches around some of the spots in this match. They easily could have built a classic match around the dueling body part work at the outset of the match, Marufuji establishes why he is the champion countering KENTA at every turn and taking the lead with a DDT onto the apron. He works the neck well to contain the lightning fast KENTA. Any time KENTA gets spunky, he elbows him in the neck, but one time KENTA sneaks in a roundhouse kick. KENTA work on the ribs/abs of Marufuji is really excellent and probably the best continuous portion of the match. So that was one match that could have been great. Then Marufuji hits a springboard dropkick to send KENTA to the outside. KENTA whiffs on a kick and straddles the railing. Marufuji decided to his and KENTA's life in his own hands with an Asai Moonsault that busts KENTA's nose open hardway and nearly decapitates himself on the railing. They could have been built an entire match around this hook with each struggling to overcome the injures from this high risk move. It shows how much the Heavyweight Title means to two Junior Heavyweights. Instead, a minute later they keep going balls to the wall. I am not taking anything away from their toughness because I would be running for the locker room if I was either one of these guys, but fuck talk about killing the severity of legitimately scary spot. Shit like Marufuji ramming KENTA's head into the post only for KENTA to catch him mid-air with an Ace Crusher was just like what the hell is point of all this. Or KENTA slapping Marufuji and now Marufuji has all this energy to run the ropes and lariat KENTA. It was like I was playing my brother in a video game and finally hit an L1 enough to make my guy run to the ropes to avoid his strikes. I can play my brother in Here Comes The Pain for 35 minutes and have a great time, but I am pretty sure no one else wants to watch that. In another spot that I think they could have built a match around was KENTA sending Marufuji to the floor on a sliced bread attempt. If Marufuji had been kicking his ass for 10-15 minutes and KENTA finally hits this tide-turning move that would have been a great Wow moment, Instead some shit happened involving the ramp where nobody took a move, Another sequence that could have been the hook to a match was the apron struggle with KENTA hitting a Steiner Screwdriver off the apron. It is high-risk transition that could lead to a sweet heat segment and eventual hot comeback. Marufuji does a great job writhing in pain and when KENTA comes over the top with a double stomp, Marufuji is really good at making me feel for him. Before you know it Marufuji has hit a Sliced Bread as a transition move. Did I mention this was after KENTA hit his Exploding Knee (his secondary finish)? Shaking my head. In a hilarious moment, they are just suplexing each other. KENTA does not have a good grip and lets go and Marufuji just suplexes himself. Fuck this match. They hit a bunch of huge bombs and start running ropes really fast and hit some kicks and Spanish Fly and a Cradle Piledriver gives Marufuji. I don't give a fuck. The fact that this only drew 11.5k (lowest to date in NOAH history) mean about 5.5k did not either. It is too bad I am not a promoter because I now have a great template for my next 4-5 main events. Every match is a collection of spots. In this match, the spots did not connect nor did they mean anything. They had some really nifty spots, they had some overwrought spots and they had some pathetic spots. Spots don't make a match. I can forgive a match that is 20 minutes of a spot-a-thon, but at 35 minutes you are wasting my time. Don't waste my time. Worst match I have watched for this project.

BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Champion Abdullah Kobayashi vs Takashi Sasaki - BJPW 3/31/06 Oh how I wish certain things could be unseen. When they say Florescent Light Tube and Bed of Nails Death Match, they don't fuck around. I feel like I should go to the police with what I just witnessed. I have never watched a "Deathmatch" before. The closest match was probably Terry Funk vs Sabu, which I liked a good bit. This match made that look like a Bed of Roses match. I am not going to dismiss the style out of hand and will watch the other Big Japan matches with a open mind, but I am pretty sure this just is not for me. At first, I was actually pretty amused with the match. The struggle over who would go into into the big Light Tube Lattice and Sasaki just grabbing a light tube smashing over Kobayashi's head to get out of a wristlock made me think okay maybe this will be pretty good. I also really liked the spot where Kobayashi blocked a tornado DDT so Sasaki grabbed light tube and smashed it over his skull. Then the light tubes really started flying and they lost me. I love how Kobayashi at the beginning put over not wanting to be whipped into the light tubes only to elbow drop lights tube repeatedly, Vader Bomb them, break them over his own head and yes even break multiple by biting them. When he chewed the light tube and spit it into Sasaki's face. I thought to myself, there is no way it could get worse than that. I forgot we still have the Bed of Nails portion. The Nails where in little rectangles segments that could be strewn over the mat kinda like thumbtacks. Both of them got slammed into the nails and it looked painful. Then it happened. Kobayashi dropped Sasaki head first into this bed of nails and Sasaki ended up with these beds of nails embedded in his skull. I tapped the fuck out at that point. Sasaki would go onto NO-SELL a piledriver while having nails in his head to hit a superplex, I think, I don't know, I just remember, he popped up and started wailing on Kobayashi on the top rope. Normally, I would go check, but I am good. You know this is 2006 however because there are still fighting spirit exchanges and Shining Wizards albeit the worst fucking Shining Wizards in history. I did enjoy that they kept up with the wrestling tradition of "He who sets it up, must take it". Somehow even though Kobayashi mauled Sasaki the entire match, Sasaki mounts his comebacks and actually has some pretty nice kicks. So he sets up a bundle of light tubes next to Kobyashi and kicks them into his head. I can now say I have watched a Japanese Death Match. I don't know if that should be a real point of pride. I am not going to rate it. If you liked it, more power to you, but I am happy I saw it,

I'd be shocked if they pushed Rey any harder than they did. He is an inverse Andre. He is a novelty because of his size, but not a long term world champion like a Cena. Orton or Batista are definitely most likely. I could see them trying Edge, but he was flopping as a face in 2004. God, I wish Eddie though. He was just so damn entertaining in 2002-2004. By far, my family's favorite wrestler. The only time my parents have been really upset about a wrestler's death. I think Eddie had real crossover potential with Latin roots and the fact that even non-fans just got his act and how fun it was. Size and past demons working against him. Ultimately that past behavior caught up to him.

- The Royal Rumble in '92: I don't know if i will rank the Rumble or not. I do know I like Rumbles quite a bit better than you do and I see that Rumble as the best. If I did do a ranking I would say ****3/4 or ***** and very strong top ten contender worldwide. - Bret vs Piper at WM8: A match I like a good deal but could see it falling in the very good but not exactly great range for me. I could see anything from a #60 ranking to not being ranked at all. - Flair vs Savage at WM8: One of my favorite all time angle type matches and the template for Flair in the WWF for me. Probably ****1/4 last time I watched and strong top 50 material for the year. - Bret vs Davey Boy at Summerslam '92: Been lower on this than most other reviews and think it is bullshit that Bret completely carried Davey Boy. Probably will make my top 100 but may not be in top half. - Bret vs Shawn at Survivor Series '92: I think this match is better knowing who the guys become and the ballsy nature of WWF giving these fresh guys 26 minutes on a main event PPV when those were at a premium. More commendable than a great match. - Bret vs Perfect at KOTR '93: KOTR 93 from any PPV before 1995 is the one Im the most sketchy on. I liked the SummerSlam 91 match a good deal so I have high hopes for this one. - Shawn vs Marty from RAW in the PWI MOTY and ****3/4 WON match: Like but don’t love feels appropriate for this. Probably leaning towards unlikely to make top 100 for that year. - Rock & Rolls vs Bodies at Survivor Series '93: Don’t remember much from this but love the teams so we will see. - Bret vs Diesel at Rumble '95: I didn’t like the KOTR match all that much. Hoping to see how they improved in the 6 months since then. - Bret vs Hakushi at IYH I: Fun match from my memory but not much else. Will be REAL surprised if this makes my top 100 - Shawn vs Jarrett at IYH II: I really love this one and think its one of Shawn’s more shining performances. Gets lost in the shuffle a lot when discussing great WWF matches. - Shawn vs Razor at Summerslam '95: I liked WM 10 more than you so I have high expectations of this one given your ranking. Even though I may not like it quite as much as you, probably a pretty solid contender for top 25. - Bret vs Lafitte at IYH III: Nice seeing Bret showing some viciousness as a face. Fringe Top 100 contender. - Bret vs Diesel at Survivor Series '95: A match I am very familiar with and like a good bit. Probably ***3/4 which puts it in the bottom half of the year. - Bret vs Davey Boy at IYH V: Don’t remember a lot besides the blade job. Will be interested to see if I prefer this or the SUmmerSlam match. I actually didn’t rank the Hart/Austin ambulance match. No idea why or my reasoning. I did think the actual match portion of Savage vs. Jake was good but of course the angle afterwards is great and pushes it upward. I ranked the overall package. I recognize that you are doing the rankings out of the year, but having watched pretty much every major WWF match from the 90s. I am basing my rankings out of where they place in 90s WWF list. WAHOO~! Five stars and match of the year for Savage/Warrior. I love, love that match and am glad I am not only one that would give it 5 stars. It is McMahon at his absolute best in creating a cinema moment. The Savage Wrestlemania story arc is the greatest thing McMahon has probably ever created. This was a great climax before the next year's ultimate feel good moment. I am glad I am not the only who likes Flair/Savage more than Hart/Piper. I need to rewatch Hart/Piper. I have watched Flair/Savage to death. It was a perfect ending to the Randy Savage Wrestlemania arc that starts at II. Bret vs Davey Boy is in my top ten WWF matches of the 90s for sure. Great, great finish. What's funny is I usually cant tell when another wrestler is carrying another wrestler, but this one seems quite clear to me. Hart is clearly telling Smith what to do in every chinlock and Bulldog is blown up pretty bad at points. Bret vs Shawn at SS '92 was a total borefest for me. Bret vs Perfect at KOTR '93 is really, really good and I think much better than the Summerslam match. I would say Top 20 of the decade for WWF. I conflate the Shawn/Marty series, but one of their matches would probably make a Top 50 matches of the 90s. They are fun sprints. RnRs vs. Bodies was tons of fun and my Boston crowd had no fuckin clue what to make of these four doing a rowboat spot in the middle of a match. I would say Top 30 or 40 of the 90s. Really fun. I have not seen that Bret/Diesel match in forever. I will have to check that one out. Bret vs Hakushi is a pretty overrated match. Bret by the numbers which is not bad, but I think it would struggle to make a Top 50 for the 90s. Shawn vs Jarrett is friggin' rules. Jarrett is at his Memphis best during the match and Shawn just owns. Top 15 maybe top ten. Shawn vs Razor II is up there as one of the best matches in WWF history. Everything about it is superb. I would say Top 5 for the decade. Bret vs Lafitte is a really good uptempo Bret match and much better than the Hakushi match. Top 50 match. Wow you are way lower than me on Bret vs Diesel SSeries. One of my all-time favorite subtle heel Bret performances. Bret is the king of the face vs face match and may be his best performance. I say ****1/4 easy and a top 15. Bret vs Davey Boy II rates lower than SSlam. I am pretty sure it has a relatively slow open. Top 25 match.

Andre vs Flair sounds like the best thing ever! Settling for the second best thing Piper vs Andre Andre The Giant vs "Rowdy" Roddy Piper - Philly 9/1/84 With Snuka out of action, Piper went around the horn with Andre for a couple month. Does it get better than the obnoxious piss-ant, Roddy Piper going up against the invincible Giant. I bet a lot people paid good money to see Andre tear into Piper. Piper does a good job protecting himself. He definitely lets himself get thrown around and gives the people what they want without being squashed. Eye-rakes, wrist tape and even going blow by blow with The Giant. Andre was great at ignoring the rules and just throwing everything at Piper whether to was belt shots or wrist tape. I wish this would happen more often now. Piper flees the scene after a big boot over the top rope to lose via countout. Entertaining bout.

This thread has been a great resource in uncovering how big Patera was in the late 70s and early 80s. Something I was totally unaware of before arriving on PWO. I have really liked what I have seen from Patera especially the classic Texas Death Match with Backlund. Ken Patera vs Pat Patterson - MSG 8/25/84 These two has a much more famous match in 1980 with Patera becoming the IC title match, which I do need to see. This match is just to re-establish Patera as a top tier wrestler in the WWF to the MSG crowd as he would go to be Studd' buddy in his feud against Andre. Even though Patterson has been in semi-retirement for a few years at this point, he still has got it. His punches look as crisp as ever and he has plenty of energy. Patera is no slouch in his own right. He is great as the cocky strong man character. He comes off as totally engrossed with himself and that his shit don't stink. Patterson catches him unawares with a cross body. Patera sells frustration and a bit of embarrassment so well. Patera was able to take over on a rope break with some really good forearms. He somehow ends up tangled in the ropes and Patterson tees off. Weirdly, Patterson wrapped Patera's leg around the post, but this is totally ignored. Patera hits a nice backbreaker and even though this is his match so to speak he gives Patterson plenty to shine before hitting a hotshot and applying his vaunted full nelson. I love the hotshot as a desperation heel move especially when a babyface has built up a lot of steam. Very good outing from both men with Patera establishing himself as a top flight heel and Patterson as the lovable vet putting him over.

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan vs. "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff - Philly 7/7/84 Hulk Hogan in 1984 is the living embodiment of energy. He is running wild and unbridled. Orndorff is someone I always liked, but never thought he was a real upper tier worker. He is a good at heat seeking taunts and character work, but his work leaves a lot to be desired. He is no Valentine or Orton, but he gets more heat because of the "Paula" chants. The opening is a well-worked clowning segment with Hogan attacking Orndorff while he was in the robe jawing with the crowd. Orndorff sells the atomic drop like Rude and is generally amusing. What makes him better than a Studd or Steele is that he can bump and stooge better. An eye rake gives him the advantage and throws the "Hulker" (Dick Graham) into railing and hits him with a chair drawing blood. Hogan in 1984 was not afraid to wear the Crimson Mask. I like how there were two attempts at the comebacks before the final one. It is more fun than just one Hulk-Up that we would get later. Orndorff is content to stomp, elbow and eye rake. Hogan's follow up back elbow in the corner is so awesome. I loved that he bit Orndorff and did a front rake throwing it right back in his face. Oh yeah, the back fist and punch combo. Clothesline and Atomic Legdrop finish him. 1984 Hulk Hogan is just so much fun and he did not disappoint in this match. I would say Orndorff was a middling opponent for the Hulkster.

Slacking again... This blog chronicles the Best of Heavyweight Matches in NOAH of 2005. Begins with a discussion of how a wrestler needs to have credibility and cache with an audience like an authority figure (a politician, military general, CEO etc.. ) that just does not come from wins like a sports figure would. This comes up because of Rikio defeated Kobashi and Misawa at the Budokan in 2005 and was the GHC Championship, but he was unquestionably a flop. Of course, the bulk of the post is reviewing five great matches from NOAH. The two most famous of the year from the Dome show are not Match of the Decade contenders, but are entertaining enough. The first Tenryu tag match is really good and the second one getting Taue involved and building off the first tag match is one of the best tag matches of the decade. 1. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 02/27/00 2. GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 03/01/03 3. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Budokan 04/25/04 4. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - All Japan 05/26/00 5. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01 6. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - NJ PPV 12/14/00 7. Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Genichiro Tenryu & Jun Akiyama - Budokan 9/18/05 ****3/4 (Return to All Japan 90s tag style. Fantastic build to a exciting climax) 8. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Tokyo Dome 07/10/04 9. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshinari Ogawa – Budokan 11/01/03 10. Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 12/23/00 17. Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki vs Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima - NOAH 11/5/05 (Action packed, young guns shine) ****1/4 21. Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki vs Jun Akiyama & Genichiro Tenryu - Budokan 4/24/2005 (Tenryu's chest is a murder scene, Shiozaki bites off more than he can chew) ****1/4 29. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada - Tokyo Dome 7/18/05 **** 46. Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki - Tokyo Dome 7/18/05 ***3/4 (Kobashi descends into self-parody and the excesses of the NOAH style) http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2014/07/2005-noah.html

That's a really good point about Rikio as he becomes increasingly useless as a match goes on. Morishima is weird. He has a great lariat. His elbows are generally fine, but fuck those Vader forearms are awful. My biggest problem with Wild II vs Sterness was just how weak everything looked in context of how NOAH was worked and just how everyone was going through the motions.

Watching all this 00s puroresu, it just sucks that Marufuji is bigger than KENTA. I am not saying KENTA is perfect and he definitely has his flaws (long-term selling), but he is 8 bazillion times better than the waste of space, gymnast Marufuji.

Disagree about Rikio and Morishima vehmently. Morishima brought it, man. He was looking to wipe the floor with some muthafuckas and prove that he belonged in the upper echelon. Rikio did absolutely nothing. He killed time early with Marufuji working inconsequential moves. In the middle of the match, he worked another boring stretch where he just threw out some stuff. His cross body was good because it was urgent and heated, but then he was content to go through the motions. Morishima was working like his job depended on this one performance. Yes, he let KENTA throw him around too frequently, but overall he seemed more confident in this match than ever before. I still cant get out of my head at the tail of the end of match the camera panning to Rikio/Marufuji on the floor barely touching to each other while KENTA and Morishima are killing each other and busting ass. Fuck both of them. KENTAFuji vs Wild II (Morishima & Rikio) - Budokan 7/16/06 Mori-Fuckin-Shima, welcome to the party, brutha, why dont you stay awhile? Talk about a breakout performance in my eyes. He looked like a cant miss prospect in this match. Morishima is someone I have not explored fully (I really want to watch the Danielson series after this), but if he is hitting these highs he looks unstoppable. I don't if in the other matches it has been a lack of confidence, he looked like a star in this match. The number one reason I want to watch the Morishima/Danielson matches were for his double hot exchanges with KENTA. KENTA reminds me of 2013 Daniel Bryan so much. He is a wrestling in a body that is not his own and is three sizes bigger than he really is. He is just a friggin' dynamo. The dude can sell his ass off when the time comes for it. Now, my big qualm with him is sometimes he wrestles too big. A superplex to Morishima or a powerslam should be treated like a big deal because of the size disparity, but because KENTA is trying to really show the audience that he is an equal these moves come off as ordinary moves. It is like Misawa or Kobashi is doing them. KENTA should be leveraging his size as an actual advantage by getting people to pop by saying "Holy shit look at that little guy superplex Morishima" by really struggling to accomplish the feat. EDITOR'S NOTE: Marufuji and Rikio fucking sucked. Yes, they took part in this match, but fuck them for ruining it with their laziness and apathy. I am a positive guy so I am going to focus on the good, but if the rating does not reflect my enthuasiam it is because I have to judge the match as a whole and unfortunately Rikio and Marufuji were a part of this match. The majority of the first ten minutes were relatively tame (give you one guess who to blame). However, guess who just rocked it from the get go. KENTA and Morishima, BABY! KENTA is flying all around like D-Bry off a hot tag and Shima murders him with a lariat and then another one. Shima goes for the Back Drop Driver, but Marufuji hits a superkick and a double kick stuns Morishima. There was a boring control segment on Morishima. Morishima catches Marufuji coming off the top with an overhead belly to belly. Rikio is a very pedesterian wrestler. He is just sort of there. His main source of offense is a slap. It is pretty much the only thing KENTA and Marufuji consistently sell from him. Rikio tags out. My notes just say MORISHIMA RULEZ~! Because he does. Morishima sprints in and bascially jumps and sits on KENTA. As a fuck you to Marufuji, he does a back handspring, but then just starts unloading on KENTA with forearms. He hits this ragdoll urnage/exploder thingy that looked awesome. The aforementioned KENTA superplex was in there somewhere, which I thought could have been highlighted more. The climax of this sequence was Morishima diving onto KENTAFuji on the floor. What follows was an excellently worked heat section on KENTA's ribs and midsection. Rikio would stand on KENTA and then Morishima would climb on Rikio for extra weight. Of course, double stomps and ab stretches. KENTA was really taking a pounding and he was milking it for everything it was worth. I have to mention this. Marufuji at one point comes in to save with the weakest looking little kicks to Rikio back. They looked downright dainty. It is too bad Morishima never really got a hold of that little chump. Rikio runs into a corner and KENTA hits a back suplex to tag in Marufuji for the lukewarm tag. Marufuji fucks up a spot and runs through his usual stuff: dropkicks to knees, human capture suplex, superkicks. Morishima hits a massive missile dropkick. Marufuji only postive contribution to the match was that bump. Marufuji escapes the Doomsday Device with a victory (a pretty neat counter). KENTA much too easily hits a powerslam and German on Morishima. Fuck it though at least we finally get a hot tag after Rikio's and Marufuji's and the crowd goes mild tags. KENTA beats the piss out of Morishima with his exploding knee (Bryan's current finish), wicked kicks to head, Sliced Bread/powerbomb combo and the Go 2 Sleep. Punk's and Bryan's finish by the originator cant get it done. Morishima's big run is a back drop driver and a lariat I totally bit on. Once it became Morishima's lariat and KENTA's barrage of cradles, I knew the finish...Draw. This is the tale of two matches: KENTA/Morishima rocking it and Marufuji/Rikio phoning it in. It is such a shame that Marufuji is bigger than KENTA. KENTA does suffer from trying to get all his shit in and not building to big moments. He definitely could sell, but needed to work on long-term selling. The offense and crowd connection was there. Morishima it was all about being able to hit that high level consistently. It is on the job training and thus it is a shame they just did not strap a rocket to these two's ass because the crowd was buying what they were selling. Just leave RIkio and Maurfuji in the dust. It is a tough match to rate. Rikio and Marufuji were not in there much. I tend to reward awesome more than subtract for apathy because I am a postive dude. ****