Superstar Sleeze

I’ll be voting. Just two more matches I need to watch then I’ll be ready to go!

ROH World Tag Team Champions Briscoe Brothers vs Second City Saints - ROH 4/24/04 No commentary! Hell Yeah! I dont know the backstory or if there is one. Punk & Cabana are over huge as this takes places in Chicago and they work as "big babyfaces" as CM Punk so eloquently puts it at one point. I am not sure if they were babyfaces all over or just here in Chicago. In the post-match promo, CM Punk lays into Ricky Steamboat so that seems to say to me at least they may be heels outside of Chicago. To me this felt like the high stakes 21st Century version of the Rockers vs Rougeaus. Punk & Cabana just bust out the funnest shine in this match. Cabana does a great job. I loved his go run the ropes to shoulder tackle me, but trips the Briscoe bit. There was a good table top spot. They did a great rocking horse double team. They Atomic Drop one Briscoe on the other in such a way that the foot lands on the other's balls. I have to admit this cracked me up. They tied up each Briscoe with the other and then put them in a double camel clutch. I bang the drum loudly for the shine. It is very underappreciated and this was a great shine. I'll be honest the Briscoes were just there for me. I still havent seen much of them, but i cannot think of any one thing that stood out to me. The heat segment was a solid 80s style heat segment. Lots of trapping in the corner and good hope spots by Punk. After the hot tag, it was breaking loose in Chi-Town as they go full spotfest. There were some fun spots. I think the best spot by far was Cabana was going for Doomsday Device but the one Briscoe laid back. Punk went to dropkick his head, but the Briscoe sat up (tremendous core strength) but slid through the legs and hit the other Briscoe with a baseball slide. The Briscoe on Cabana's shoulders ended up hitting a Dragonrana! Pretty wicked! The rest of the finish run was fun sptuff but nothing sticky just a lot of spots. Jay Briscoe hit the Jay Driller on Cabana's but couldnt pin him that would serve as their big nearfall. They were going to do a double team off the top but Cabana crotched one and Punk threw the other off the top. PEPSI PLUNGE~! I have never seen the Pepsi Plunge before! I always pictured it would be done the other way with the Punk facing his back to the ring and kicking backwards. It is a very unrealistic move but it looked cool. Fun little match, Punk looks like a star, he is definitely hit the gym and he looked the best in the ring. Punk & Cabana definitely stood out a lot more than Briscoes with a lot of fun spots and just really big personalities. The Briscoes felt like a couple generic wrestlers there for the ride. Feel-good match for the hometown crowd. ***1/4

Homicide vs Steve Corino - ROH 8/16/03 The infamous "Slap" match where according to wrestling lore Homicide slapped Corino so hard that Corino lost hearing in his ear. I have heard many times this was a shoot. But I have my doubts. I respect people on here so if someone wants to say this is 100% shoot I'll believe them. One reason I thought it was a work is that the announcer conveniently jump to the right conclusion. I have seen 8 bajillion slaps in wrestling. Not once did I ever jump to the conclusion, oh shit he knocked his equilibrium off or he cupped his ear so bad, that dude may have shoot lost hearing. The match actually starts more traditionally then I expected. I liked Homicide quashing the drop toehold into the his own leg lace. There seems to be a weird miscommunication but then Corino taunts Homicide he slaps him. Then Corino gets up and Homicide really CRACKS him and this is "The Slap". Homicide maims Corino with barbed wire ripping at the flesh on his arm. The transitions in this match were pretty shitty, but they made up for it with great violence. Corino smashes Homicide head into the guardrails and he gigs himself real good. Taps a gusher, he is bleeding like a faucet. There is a pool of blood around his head at one point, nasty. Loved the piledriver on the timekeeper's table by Corino and Corino returns the favor using the barbed wire. 'Cide is bleeding buckets. Homicide hits a ballshot! Finally a good transition. Unfortunately, they decide to go Kings Road for the finish. They were having a pretty good bloody brawl. The finish run was very 2000s Indy at the time and enjoyed it but felt wrong for what they were going for. The announcers were talking about the resiliency and fighting spirit of Corino, which does not make sense in this context, but the match was wrestled that way. I liked the Super Ace Crusher from Homicide. Lots of Stan Hansen Lariat tribute stuff. Homicide applies the Regal Stretch (maybe a slight modification) and a Corino flunky throws in the towel. I really enjoyed the slap through the ballshot portion. Lots of good old school brawl, blood & guts violence. I think they could have picked up the urgency a little, but still I dug it. The King's Road finish stretch felt tacked and just like it is 2003 in Ring Of Honor and this is just how we finish matches. I still enjoyed the match, but it is not the all-timer that I wanted it to be. ***3/4

ROH World Champion Samoa Joe vs Homicide - ROH 5/22/04 There's only 30 minutes left in my night shift and I blowed up folks. This is probably gonna be short & sweet. Much better match than their previous outing. Based on the announcers (who was the deadpan guy he was fucking atrocious), I guess Homicide was a happy-go-lucky babyface and the previous match I watched was his heel turn. I guess I should have cut him some slack. The shine is great. Homicide flips off the crowd but then Smokes decks him by accident and Joe takes off Smokes' head with an Ole Kick! Tremendous work all around! Apparently, Homicide injured Joe's neck at previous show and he is targetting it sort of, he does so more later. Joe is a great asskicker and this is awesome when he is on offense. Things pick up when Joe being such an asskick basically piledrives himself into the barricade on a spear. I forgot to mention not to be outdone but before Homicide did a somersault suicide dive where he shot out like a canon and obliterated a table. That was sick! Basically only Joe can hurt Joe because Joe is such a badass. Homicide busts out the infamous Ghetto Fork, damn I used to read all about the Ghetto Fork. I dont know what makes it ghetto (the announcer said he was sharpening it on some brick and it is now extra sharp) but it is gnarly. He is really plunging it into the cut. That alone raises this match in my eyes. The nearfalls for Homicide have more heat. He hits a surprisingly heavy fucking Lariat and then a Piledriver on the injured neck that was great. I also loved him using the Fork when he was trying to get him in the Crossface. That was fucked up. He was really shoot jabbing it in there. Nasty! Joe was just his usual asskicking self. Great Urnage was a good hope spot. I loved how they started trading 90s All Japan spots. Even Homicide was using a Saito Suplex. Joe is such an All Japan mark I love it! Taking spots from all Four Corners. Joe slaps the shit out of Homicide, ISLAND DRIVER! 1-2-NO! This is so All Japan needing that one extra bomb. Complicated All Japan style sequence which finished with an ok Joe lariat, surprisingly Homicide had a better lariat. Brainbuster does him in...would have liked to seen the Musclebuster but a strong finish. I preferred the brawling/forking to the All Japan cosplay but this was a definite step up and entertaining. ***3/4

Wow thats a pair of monster ratings! I will add it to the list.

ROH World Champion Samoa Joe vs Homicide - ROH 4/23/04 Man Samoa Joe was a fuckin boss and Homicide is a just worker. Joe just had Alpha Male down. He was tooling on Homicide. He was one upping him every step of the way. This was Bob Backlund esque anything you can do I can do better. He would absorb the chop and slap the shit out of Homicide. Homicide would headbutt and Joe would not even register and he would knock his ass down with his own. Honestly, I have seen some Homicide when he was in TNA. I love the name and the gimmick in LAX, but here I didnt think he was dangerous enough. Your name is fucking Homicide, he was getting punked out the whole time. Joe was toying with him. Joe is a tremendous offensive wrestler. You get to see that on display here. They submission, the strikes, the throws everything is here. The Facewashes in the corner and on the outside. Homicide also looked lost at some points. Joe had to basically force him in the right position for the Facewash. When he was on offense, it was nothing interesting. I was expecting an all-time great brawler to counteract Joe's traditional pro-style prowess. Homicide got a nearfall off a nice piledriver and then an Ace Crusher out of nowhere. I think his Tope Con Hilo was his best move but I am a sucker for that move in general. It always has such crazy velocity compared to a normal suicide dive. Joe hit his trademark shit but not the Muscle Buster or Island Driver. He was going for the Choke when Homicide reversed into a cradle. The ref counted three but realized Joe kicked out before three. I would like to see this more often maybe 1-2 times a year. A bang-bang play like is he out at home or not type situation. Homicide gets pissed because he feels like he is being screwed and decks the ref. I am always for ref violence by a heel. 1997 Macho Man is my standard for dangerous, unhinged pro wrestlers, this scored like a 4 on that scale. The lights go out so they can get the full effect of the FIREBALL~! Ref violence and a fucking fireball was this booked for me! I love both those gimmicks. Honestly, this is what Homicide needed, some edge, some danger, decking refs and fireballs will do that! Lets see if it translates into the rematch. ***1/4 because Joe was a beast in this match and I love fireballs!

Raven vs CM Punk - ROH Death Before Dishonor Dog Collar Death Before Dishonor is a great name for a Wrestling Supercard. Thankfully they include the pre-match promo and post-match angle on the ROH DVD I bought. I always love when I get a chance to dig into my DVD collection. Early CM Punk is a great promo reminds me a lot of MJF in terms of conviction and cadence (the Better Than You stuff does naturally draw comparisons). As someone who has never drank or did drugs, reading about CM Punk in high school actually did mean a lot to me. It was cool to know there was someone else out there who was proud of being alcohol-free and drug-free. I stopped identifying as Straight Edge even though my lifestyle never changed (I still dont drink or do drugs) but I thought sXe culture is too judgmental. I am not proud to be alcohol-free or drug-free I just happen to be alcohol-free and drug-free. CM Punk mocking Danny Doring who is probably the lowest rent ex-ECW hack you could fine was pretty good and then the post-match angle with Tommy Dreamer saving Raven from getting beer dumped all over him was so awesome! Great moment! In 2003, ECW nostalgia feels fresh. Dreamer wearing a Hooters basbeball jersey is very on brand. CM Punk made a big deal about alcohol never touching his lips so it was obvious that that Raven was going to force feed him beer and so he did! OH HELL YEAH! GOOD SHIT! The match itself was fine. Nowhere near as good as the promos, character work and angles. I think it would have been better if ti was five minutes shorter. The shine felt more like a heel in peril. it was a lot of pummeling. It was not very fun or uptempo. Punk's lowblow was a good first heel move of the match. Liked Raven's Million Dollar Kneelift in response. Good I will not be denied spot. Raven set up the table so he went through it. Now Punk starts to work. Liked the chained wrapped around the knee for the knee drop. Lots of crowd brawling with fan participation. Punk yanks Raven down the steps. Raven does my least favorite comeback a series of Clotheslines where he lands on his knees after doing the clotheslines. Raven uses the Million Dollar Kneelift and Drop Toehold to the Chair. Goes for covers after each which I dont get. This is a blood feud dont you want to hit that Spike DDT and do maximum damage before you win. Ref is bumped and Raven DDT. Gets the visual pin. Cabana low blows and DDT on chair! Doring saves and runs Cabana off. Punk covers and wins. This puts over the DDT huge that after all that time Punk could still win. Punk looks extra scummy because he was about to lose and didnt even hit his own move after to win, which is genius heel booking. Loved the post-match angle like I said which lifts the overall match up but not by much. I am glad I finally watched some early CM Punk. This was my first time ever seeing CM Punk in ROH. ***1/2

Just stumbled across this thread. I will check this out. Did you nominate it for GME?

ROH World Tag Team Champions AJ Styles & Amazing Red vs Jay & Mark Briscoe - ROH 3/16/03 AJ Styles is an underrated major player in the foundation of ROH. Lots of major matches against the likes of Low-Ki (he was who Ki first defended the ROH title against) and American Dragon. He was the first Tag Champion and was in the finals for the first Pure Championship. I enjoy Amazing Red. He is the good kind of spot monkey. His spots are breath-taking and look like they do damage, he has a snap and velocity to everything he does. Admittedly, I have seen very little of the Briscoes. I look forward to watching more. They came across as very solid 21st Century 1st Gen Indy workers, high on workrate, little on psychology. I loved the Shine of this. Red just executes so well. They are moving so fast and fluidly that the armdrag exchanges come off great. So many people speed walk through their stuff nowadays that it is not as fun as this. The real highlight is the AJ/Mark amateur bit that leads to a great German Suplex. Competitive, lots of struggle and then a wicked suplex, HELL YEAH! Loved the Red superkicking Jay over in a nasty German. Then the stereo dives. After that it is like they wanted to work face in peril without doing. I dont know if they just didnt understand psychology or if it was active rebellion against the shine-heat-comeback formula. They were purposefully trying something different. I dont know. They would do cool stuff like a blind tag to Jay who smoked Red out of the air with a missile dropkick but then turnaround and have Red hit a cool highspot named Brain Damage. They did a similar sequence with AJ. They set up the counters well but it was a bit premature. The "Breaking Loose in a High School Gymnasium" was an awesome spotfest. Red was busting out all sort of cool cinematic Kung-Fu kicks. I liked the one off the Briscoe back and kicking the other in the head. AJ is the heir to Bret Hart. He is the 21st Excellence of Execution. Everything is hit with a purpose and a snap. The Code Red off the top was wild. The finish itself I thought could have been hit a littler cleaner BUT the Crowd went fucking APESHIT for it so I cant complain too much. It was AJ springboarding Red into a rana and then Styles Clash. This was a great balls to the wall spotfest with lots of cool moves, but they could have done a better job on layout. ***3/4

Y'all are crazy this match is badass. If all wrestling was this good in the past 5 years I would never complain. Low-Ki vs AJ Styles - ROH 4/27/02 I wish this was the direction workrate went. I dont know what happened or where it wrong, but boy we take a wrong turn at Albuquerque. Most of this match would not look out of place in PWFG. The grappling was so fucking tight and the struggle was fucking real. Look at the effort exerted by these two. Now it is overly complicated square dancing with comical hammy selling. Watch how they sell, it is fucking register, not a flop around, glassy eyed bullshit that kills the entire match's credibility when you make your comeback 30 seconds later. The efficiency is off the charts. It still keeps the workrate freaks happy because this is perpetual motion. The opening grappling is so damn good. It is not see thru, AJ keeps up with Low-Ki, AJ is probably the second best wrestler in the US in 2002 but 2002 Low-Ki is one of the greatest of all time. Watch those back bridges, amazing. There are very few highspots in this match. It is really lo-fi, competitive pro wrestling, I can dig that. You can sense that "but" and here it comes, I would have liked them to use highspots as transitions. The transitions were a little too "normal" they did not grab you. It was usually a stiff kick and wicked lariat. The strikes were awesome in this match. I have been beating the drum for AJ since 2003 and one thing that has been true since Day One is how underrated he is as a puncher and striker in general. The dude lays shit in and it is crisp, damn good sound, looks great. Watch him whiff on the spin kick and then rebound with the stiff lariat. He didnt go chase Low-Ki down. He kept his feet planted, watched for Ki on the comeback and shifted his whole body weight into the lariat. Great job. Low-Ki was on fire in this match, the Koppou Kick was money and those Kawada Kicks at one point were just sick and brutal. I thought they did a great job escalating from competitive grappling to stiff striking to the finish stretch. Somebody criticized this as "My turn, your turn" and "video game wrestling". On the latter complaint, unless you love shoot-style, I dont see that. They were working their highspots and blending them well. The former point, I thought the transitions were meaningful and the missed moves had consequences. Watch something like Cena/Owens from 2015, every move hits, kick out, opponent does his spot. No missed moves. Here we see Low-Ki and AJ Styles both miss moves from the top rope. This puts over the top rope as very risky and if you miss, your opponent can take advantage. The commentary was dreadful. I mean please give me WWE commentary with Byron Saxton and Corey Graves over this shit dreadful, but they did make one good point. Low-Ki didnt go for the Phoenix Splash until he finally had beaten Styles down. He went through the strikes and finally rocked him enough to try it. So many people just toss these moves out nowadays and the sad part is they land. I agree with the point that transitions could have been a little more impactful. I do think the finish is pretty abrupt, which does fit the style. This was their first match in ROH and they smartly didnt give it all away. Ki-Krusher never hit. They both missed their top rope moves. Styles never tried for the Styles Clash. The Dragon Clutch was used in the ropes. So they give themselves plenty of room to grow in their rematch. Ki had a MASSIVE powerbomb and Tiger Suplex as big nearfalls. Watch his bridges so good. So athletic! AJ was able to get his Quebrada/Slop Drop as his nearfall. It is so annoying that highspots like that got AJ labelled as a highflyer or a spot monkey. He is so much more than that. AJ was falling behind in the match and needed that as a desperation move to try to win. I think especially as American wrestling fans, we are really conditioned to think of wrestling terms of control segments. If we dont see that, there is a knee-jerk reaction to scream "SPOTFEST" or "NO PYSCHOLOGY". I think Ring of Honor was doing something truly innovative in 2002 with the melding of shoot-style and King's Road. This is paced and laid out like a shoot-style. Heavy on register, light on selling and there is no control segments. It is a blur of COMPETITIVE action. I love narrative-based wrestling. If we are going to do this style, I would prefer it look like this instead of an overly choreographed men's floor exercise. I have said all this before in my other 2002 ROH reviews. It is such a cool, interesting style and unfortunately short-lived. I really wish wrestlers would go back and study this era. ****1/4

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Masakatsu Funaki vs SUWAMA - AJPW 3/17/13 This is the rubber match. SUWAMA won the first and Funaki the second. It has only been 6 months since Funaki successfully defended his Triple Crown. SUWAMA joined forces with the gaijin Joe Doering and Masa Chono in Last Revolution, which seems heelish, but there is no heeling in this match. I definitely want to go shopping for sunglasses with Masa Chono at some point in my life. Unfortunately this is the least of their trilogy, it is still a very good match but there is not as much pep in their step. There is a lot of ragdolling for the other. My favorite moment in the match is towards the beginning. Funaki has SUWAMA in full guard and gains double wrist control. He basically treats SUWAMA with a child. SUWAMA try as he might cant reach Funaki because he controls his wrists. It reminds me of when my Dad would stiff arm me and my arms would just windmill and I couldnt touch. Or whenever my best friend, who was an amateur wrestler in high school would just tool on me with wrist control. Funaki reverses position and then slaps the shit out of SUWAMA. SUWAMA is coming with a bandage on on his upper back and Funaki has his elbow bandaged. Funaki beats on this point and SUWAMA is unable to get his powerbomb. Deep King's Road sit there, but his back is bothering him too much. Funaki dumps him out and knee from apron to bad back. Then this is where the match is just not as exciting as their previous bouts. Funaki just does a lot of triangle choke variations. It is not just in this portion of the match, it is throughout the match. SUWAMA dumps him out and starts working the arm. It ends up going nowhere, but it is good work. When SUWAMA busts out the Short Arm Scissors, the announcer says "KEYLOCK?!?" like he is in shock that big, dumb powerhouse SUWAMA knows that move. SUWAMA does a great job varying his attack on the arm. Here comes the Kurt Angle tribute part of their match. At least Funaki stomps SUWAMA's injured back after he releases the heel hook. They abandon their body part psychology and go back to their old standby of shoot style vs pro style. Funaki focuses more on trying to choke SUWAMA out which is not as entertaining as trying to kick his head off. SUWAMA works his power based game lots of big throws especially some nice German Suplexes . With 5 minutes to go, they finally let it fly with their epic strike exchange and they just start wailing on each other. Funaki kicks the Lariat arm and I love when SUWAMA goozles him that's so heated. Funaki ROCKS him with a kick to the head! They tease the knockout. FUNAKI SMOKES HIM WITH A KICK TO THE HEAD AND THEN ANOTHER WHEN HE WAS ON HIS KNEES! WOW! 1-2-NO! That was wicked! Funaki goes for his big finish the Tombstone which put out SUWAMA and all his other challengers. SUWAMA resists and introduces Funaki to the Family with Sister Sledge! Funaki avoids the Last Ride and Funaki is determined to choke SUWAMA out with a standing choke this time. They do another arm drop spot which is the second of the match. SUWAMA gets a sudden burst of energy and DEMOLISHES HIM WITH A SAITO SUPLEX! LAST RIDE~! 1-2-NO! SUWAMA hits a big Back Drop Driver with a great bridge for the win! They have electric finishes but I thought the body of this match was decidedly more boring and aimless than their previous matches. There were nice flashes of power and strikes. The last ten minutes or so was awesome! Definitely check out their 2010 and 2012 matches! ***3/4

I am man enough to admit when I am wrong and boy oh boy was I wrong about this one. Thanks to Nintendo for pushing this through on Greatest Match Ever means I gave it a re-watch. Brutally stiff, electric and urgent. Loved it! This is the best Nagata looked in the 2010s. Awesome exchanges with Shibata that were badass. 2013-2014 was peak Honma and he was great here. Shibata slugs him in the chest and he just crumples. I greatly prefer Shibata to Goto and the match is much better when Shibata is in it. I LOVED the misdirect on the PK into Running Boot to Nagata's face. Honma's Hot Tag is super fun and loved the missed top rope headbutt as the transition to the finish. Goto does drag this down a bit. He is just so bland. Honma is the babyface everyone wants. He gets more over by losing and he was the underdog everyone was pulling for but comes up short again. I agree this is definitely the best New Japan tag team match of 2010-2014, but thats a short list and this was a great sprint. ****1/4

Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama, Keiji Mutoh & Kensuke Sasaki vs KENTA, Go Shiozaki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Maybach Taniguchi - NOAH 5/11/13 What an emotionally moving match and tour de force! I have been putting off watching this for years. I never wanted it to end, but that's how life is. There are few things that bring me as much joy than stumbling across a picture of Kobashi with a huge smile on his face on Twitter. So glad he is still on this Earth, happy and making others happy. I was crying on the entrance. So happy at the turnout and the response for The GOAT. In the freelance world of the 21st Century, I am not too surprised at the relationships formed but I never knew Kobashi was close to Mutoh & Chono (who was on commentary). Akiyama and Sasaki make total sense give their past history. Mutoh was actually the second most over person when he came in to his trademark elbow drop that got a huge chop. The first 15 minutes is all shine and feel good stuff. They start off with the marquee match up of KENTA and Kobashi. KENTA show NO MERCY slapping the Living Legend. Kobashi wins an excellent chop battle. I liked how Kobashi and Sasaki re-created their chop battle but instead they just used Taniguchi's body. The highspot of the first 15 minutes was Kobashi/Shiozaki chop battle turning into an abdominal stretch which gets me excited for yes cmon he has to do it...he just has to...ROLLING CRADLE! He goes all out with one of the longest Rolling Cradles! That was awesome. Sasaki and Shiozaki go to Chop City and Sasaki TRUCKS him with a lariat and tags out to Akiyama. Now we get the ten minute Kobashi face in peril, which is nice to see that he was in good enough shape to go 10 minutes no breaks. Shiozaki and Kobashi recreate for real the Kobashi/Sasaki chop battle. Kobashi’s chest looks like raw meat. Shiozaki hits some spinning back chops and GERMAN SUPLEX! WOW! Kanemaru hits the best highspot of the match. Springboard on railing and then Legdrops Kobashi head on railing. General pummeling on Kobashi. Kobashi Chops Taniguchi down but the other three young guns knock off Kobashi’s partner. Taniguchi’s weird U-Shaped Trident thing comes into play. He jabs it at Kobashi and I think Kobashi is going to hulk but instead Taniguchi chokes Kobashi with it and hits a Nodowa! I think they should have done the Hulk Up. KENTA comes in and this is raucous. HALF NELSON SUPLEX! Big Pop! Tag out! KENTA got to run through his big moves on Akiyama before Mutoh came in and did a truncated version of his schtick, dropkick to knee, Dragon leg Screw and Figure-4. They do a fun spot where they all have the youngsters in submissions. Sasaki runs through his stuff against Shiozaki. Bulldozing him in the corner. Sledging him with forearms and then his special overhead armdrag into his submission of choice. I have missed Sasaki, I always had a soft spot for him. Lets take this home boys! Shiozaki vs Sasaki turns into another wicked chop battle. Who did Shiozaki piss off that he had to take on Kobashi and Sasaki chopping his chest in the same match. Sasaki mounts his comeback and here comes Kobashi. They tease Kobashi losing but no one buys it. He eats a missile dropkick, top rope double stomp and a flying bodypress. Shiozaki SMOKING Kobashi with a lariat gets the most heat. Kobashi hits a SUPERPLEX! Mutoh Shining Wizard! Mutoh is the best cheerleader. He was so into this match. BURNING LARIAT~! The youngsters break it up. Mutoh Backbreaker->Moonsault! Here it is and all of sudden it is very dusty in here. One more time! Bodyslam->FIST PUMP->MOONSAULT! A perfect ending. Mutoh was tremendous in this on the apron and directing traffic at the end. He really helped put the spotlight on everything. I missed Sasaki so much, he was great clobbering. Kanemaru was the most energetic of the youngsters. They had to protect KENTA because he was NOAH’s Champion but he looked good. Shiozaki took the brunt of the shit and there was a lot of chopping in this match and he was on the receiving end of it. Kobashi for one night delivered the goods. He got his ass kicked for ten minutes, took some top rope splashes, but we were here for the offense. He gave us the vicious chopping, the sweet Rolling Cradle, one last Fist Pump and Moonsault. Match defies rating really. Kobashi is The GOAT and he went out a Living Legend.

All Japan Triple Crown Champion Masakatsu Funaki vs SUWAMA - AJPW 9/23/12 These two have great chemistry together. It is the perfect pro style vs shoot style because SUWAMA has a distinct power based style that is credible against Funaki in this context. In a mildly famous match, Funaki defeated Akiyama for the Triple Crown in a 5 minute sprint that is electric. I highly recommend it. This is his first defense. The first half of this is great, so much struggle. Great stand-up Greco-Roman grappling. Funaki is using kicks and holds to control. It is SUWAMA's power game that is the great equalizer. Dumping Funaki out on the triangle choke. After some kicks, just throwing Funaki around at will with devastating suplexes. He grabs Funaki's ankle and wrenches it down. The next five minutes is really strong leg work.Standing on the knee, wrenching it against the apron, heel hook from the top rope, single leg crab. Really strong. I loved the KneeCrusher/Capture Suplex Combination. This was a really great showing from SUWAMA on top. As we get to the 15 minute mark, Funaki is writhing in pain in a SUWAMA ankle lock. I like how Funaki’s comeback is so gradual. The enziguiri and Koppou Kick graze SUWAMA’s head and there is not much on them. It is only a Fujiwara Armbar takedown on a suplex attempt that gets him back in it. They are committed to doing a Kurt Angle style trade of submissions in their matches, they did it in 2010. It is the weakest part of their matches. Funaki wins that exchange and gets a long heel hook. Still it is not enough as Suwama catches a slap and turns into the most badass double underhook suplex. That was tremendous. SUWAMA has had enough of playing around and is ready to throw FUNAKI DOWN with the Last Ride, BUT Funaki pulls a rabbit out of his ass with a Guillotine Choke. This saps SUWAMA of his energy. SUWAMA gets a second wind and HURLS HIM TO THE MAT WITH A POWERBOMB! AWESOME! Great levelling the playing field spot. It is anybody’s ball game. SUWAMA hits a MONSTER Dropkick that would make Davey Boy Smith proud. Watch how he compresses his body and then SPRING OUT at the point of impact for full power. Awesome stuff! Then they just let it fucking fly! It is not quite as good as their 2010 Strike Exchange, but they give each other Holy Hell! They fucking kick each other’s ass. Funaki overwhelms SUWAMA and collapses himself from the asskicking. Funaki innovated a new Tombstone Piledriver as his finish, BUT SUWAMA Converts it OKLAHOMA SLAM! BACK DROP DRIVER! DEMOLITION DERBY! 1-2-NO! WOW! Funaki comes back with strikes! Funaki nails a HEAD KICK! SECOND HEAD KICK! WOW! SUWAMA is on jelly legs…TIMBAHHH! Tombstone it is over. Not quite as good as 2010, few matches are, but this was still badass as hell. I liked SUWAMA’s control segment, just solid pro wrestling. The Guillotine Choke was perfect to get Funaki back in after he was in quite the hole. That last 5 minutes was electric. These two rock against each other. It is 1-1 and the rubber match is in 2013, cant wait! ****1/4

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Kento Miyhara vs SUWAMA - AJPW 3/23/20 So this is what passes for epic nowadays. I wanted to watch some SUWAMA on my TV but only have Youtube access so I was stuck with this match, but I was kinda interested in SUWAMA in 2020. I have seen Miyahara before but not since this personality transplant. This feels like a very New Japan-esque match. Miyahara plays a more overtly cocky Okada with a ton of Omega V-Triggers. SUWAMA's age and style means there is not as much overly choreographed floor exercises, but there is not much zing or zip in the match. It is very plodding and methodical. Not much energy or urgency. Miyahara gets the first control segment on the outside nothing of note happens. SUWAMA stars whipping him in railings. Not much going on. DDT wakes up the announcers and me. SUWAMA starts throwing him around a bit. They trade sleepers. The highspot of the match was easily Miyahara's piledriver on the apron. Brutal and it stood out as something different. SUWAMA sold it well. Miyahara gets the best nearfalls off his V-Trigger Knees. SUWAMA goes back to Sleeper and then after a complicated King's Road style sequence SUWAMA levels him with a lariat to level the playing field. Here comes the strike exchange. Miyahara has the V-Trigger Knee and the Capture Suplex. SUWAMA catches him on one of those knees and turns it into a WICKED POWERBOMB! HELL YEAH! SUWAMA SMOKES HIM WITH A LARIAT! I thought that was it. Wada is the last connection to Baba's All Japan, but it is time to retire. That was a slooooooowwww count. Miyahara gets a last gasp. SUWAMA DEMOLISHES HIM WITH BACK DROP DRIVER! It is over and new champion. I know Miyahara was at 500+ days and it was time to freshen things up, but he was very over especially with the female-heavy crowd. I think SUWAMA is still a solid veteran hand, but I question the wisdom of going back to him. Tons of dead space in this match. No energy. No heat. No anger. They tried to use the New Japan style epic lots of epic selling, but it lacks passion and urgency. There were some nice highspots and the finish stretch good enough to call this good but not much more than that. ***1/4

I agree you can organically come back to that spot. In addition that spot was not necessary for the overall match. It was just another spot in a long line of them to establish Luger’s power advantage.

Bemoan RAW Underground all you want for Shane McMahon, production, cinema, fake shoot-style, I am going to be its biggest cheerleader because two words: NO ROPES! NO MORE IRISH WHIPS! NO MORE ROPE RUNNING! Lets be honest, no more rope speed walking! NO MORE GYMNASTICS! I do not think it was a home run at all on its first edition. The big dude hit no highspots which was ridiculous. I thought Erik came off the most badass. Hurt Business looked good and baller in their suits. To me RAW Underground is the most pro wrestling thing they have done in a long time. It feels like a carnival and gimmick-y. It is not a couple people going out their to collect a pay check by sleepwalking through some choreography. I think RAW Underground has potential. It has been one week, they have not achieved it yet, but I am a fan.

Honestly that's why I think the pay wall is smart. It is a good deterrent for creeps and trolls. Yes there are sadly creeps and trolls that will still join, but at least you will exclude the cheap ones. She is providing a service by building a community for these ladies so they can talk. It is not ridiculous to charge. If she really got bullied off Twitter for having the audacity to charge people that's pretty fucking ridiculous.

$50 flat and you're in for life? $50 a year? $50/month?

I have another 1.5 hours in my night shift. What's the Brandi Rhodes controversy about?

GHC Heavyweight Champion KENTA vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - NOAH 10/5/13 If you like dudes kicking each other in the chest really hard a lot and I mean a lot, a lot, this match is for you! Whats funny was about 15 minutes into this 33 minute match I decided that was going to be my opening line, but they just kept kicking each other in the chest. They never let up. From the opening bell to pretty much the close, they were kicking each other in the chest. I am not even complaining. I was both impressed by their commitment and their form. Both men are two of the best kickers in wrestling. Their kicks are as elegant as they are powerful. They did employ a wide variety of kicks. I am not exaggerating when I say about 50% of the match was them kicking each other in the chest. Nakajima is one of my favorites. I know I bring up the story every time, but I really want to put Nakajima over. I loved him so much in 2009, I forced my friend with a car to take me to the ROH show in Detroit in 2009 so I could see him live. His opponent was Kenny Omega, at the time never heard of and never would have thought it was him not Nakajima who was destined to main event the Tokyo Dome. Nakajima is a beautiful offensive wrestler and does a great job in this match. About 5 minutes in, KENTA kicks the ring post. This is always a dicey proposition in a KENTA match because invariably KENTA is going to run a million miles per hour into a dropkick. They navigate this pretty well. Nakajima does the old staple of the kneecrusher on the announce table which is always over in my house. The key is they dont work on it too long and KENTA actually makes a very tasteful comeback that is focused on the head and holds allowing him to recuperate. The transitions are very solid. For the most part, they take advantage of a charging opponent and it is a last ditch, desperation move that involves ramming their head into something hard. So it was not always the most original, but they were effective and logical so I dug that. Nakajima did dropkick the knee and get the Figure-4 to sort of put a bow on that. KENTA returned with the STF as the beginning half wound down. The match picked up when KENTA executed a drop toehold on a charging Nakajima into the railing. Nasty and I love that spot. Nakajima had been controlling for a while with you guessed it kicks to the chest. KENTA hung him out to dry on the steel railing and then hit a DOUBLE STOMP FROM THE TOP TO FLOOR! OK! OK! I SEE YOU! KENTA starts flying with the dropkicks in the corner, but it has been a while so I feel this is fair. Double Stomp from the top. First meaningful nearfall. Nakajima avoids certain defeat of the G2S. Nakajima returns the favor with a drop toehold into the middle turnbuckle and rifles the turnbuckle pad into KENTA's face. Nakajima hits BRUTAL side kicks to the head of KENTA. It was a merciless onslaught that I dont know how KENTA Survived. Nakajima nailed his big finish, the Brainbuster for two. I know the end is nigh. They do a very All Japan sequence of bombs and no selling then all of sudden they are both down. The biggest miscue of the match but it was short and this levels the playing field. Now I am assuming, KENTA was just going to go into cruise control once they both got back on their feet and take the win. They sell exhaustion and attrition well. Then kicks to the chest start coming. Nakajima gets two more nearfalls. One is a sick German. The one thing I remember from Nakajima/Omega all these years later is Nakajima's German. So beautiful. The best nearfall is the next one. KENTA is teeing off on Nakajima with open hand slaps. It is brutal and then all of sudden Nakajima CLOBBERS KENTA with a kick to the head. If this was a shoot fight, KENTA never came back up I would have believed it. He wrapped his foot around that head and smoked him. It was amazing. Great nearfall. KENTA storms back with a FURIOUS BARRAGE OF SLAPS to the head. Just brutal. Kicks to the head and exposed knee Go 2 Sleep! Awesome finish! I loved their 2009 matches in 2009 it is what turned me onto Nakajima. Much to my chagrin, when I went back and watched them in 2013, I didnt like them that much anymore, but I thought this awesome. It was a bit repetitive in spots and the beginning was kinda meaningless, but the last 15 minutes is gold. Great transitions and escalation and the finish run is wicked exciting and dramatic. My favorite match between these two. ****1/4

KENTA vs Takahashi Sugiura - NOAH 11/23/12 I wanted to watch this match two reasons: 1. I want to watch at least one match from each of the major Puroresu promotions a year for 2010-2014. It is such a sad state of affairs in NOAH by this point that almost no match from 2012 got any fanfare. This was the highest rated match on Cagematch. I think Morishima is such a bland wrestler and he seemed to really tank it as a champion at least from a match quality perspective. 2. KENTA vs Sugiura from 2013 was a fucking banger and just a total asskicker of a match. This match unfortunately is a pretty big step down from that. They start off in the most inauspicious way. They just stand and start throwing elbows in the most gentlemanly way possible. Wait to receive one and throw another. I hate these Fighting Spirit exchanges. Fucking go ham on each other! Lose your mind! Go wild! Chaos! It is my least favorite spot in wrestling. They just start abruptly like this. I'll be honest it took them a good 15 minutes to win me back over because everything felt to meaningless and I was zoning out. They were just throwing spots out. Sugiura would take over and here comes KENTA vice versa. KENTA was the one mostly in command. I was surprised he nailed his Double Stomp so early. He was just running through his shit. Sugiura just chucked him into the corner witha wicked German and then Bucklebomb. This woke me up. At least it was delivered with some zip. Sugiura goes for the Olympic Slam. Then they do some Kurt Angle wrestling trading submissions Anklelocks and STFs. Eye-roll. KENTA hits his Running Knee. Sugiura responds with a German/Dragon combo. Olympic Slam nope. I bet KENTA takes over. GO 2 SLEEP out of nowhere?!? I totally didnt see that coming. Eye roll. I will say the last five minutes they do ratchet up the heat. They stand & bang and there's a lot more heat on these strikes. At one point, KENTA knocks Sugiura into next week with a vicious punch combo to the jaw. That was wicked. All the kicks to the head and the Go 2 Sleeps were brutal. Much better ending. It has been like 4-5 months since I saw their 2013 classic. That was a raucous brawl. This was just your standard 21st Century trade dangerous high spots match with some strike exchanges. The ending sort of salvages the match, but this is pretty skippable. ***1/4

AJPW Triple Crown Champion SUWAMA vs Yuji Nagata - AJPW 6/19/11 Lets continue the SUWAMA PARTY! Nagata won the Champions Carnival in April and he is the big, bad invader. The awesome classic SUWAMA match of 2011 is the Jun Akiyama match later in the year, but this one is still pretty good. I liked the beginning the most. There is an EPIC, TITANIC Struggle Over a Belly-2-Belly Suplex unlike anything I have ever seen before. It devolves into hair pulling and eye-gouging and WADA has to put Nagata in a headlock to break it up. I didn't know Wada was still the ref in 2011! Wow! That is the best example but I thought the whole beginning dripped with struggle and manliness. Really good grappling especially stand-up and how they were stuffing takedowns. SUWAMA hits a vertical suplex and he works a general pummeling control segment which is fine. Nagata catches charging with a knee. Business picks up here. Nagata targets the arm. SUWAMA sells really well and is trying to hulk up but Nagata is peppering the arm with big kicks and armbreakers. They are both in their wheel house. Nagata does well throwing kicks and setting up the armbar and SUWAMA sells well. Nagata is looking to set up the Armbar. SUWAMA uses his throws to break Nagata's rhythm. There's a weird section of the match where they start trading submissions specifically the Anklelock which I have a borderline irrational aversion to thanks to Kurt Angle. I did like SUWAMA's counter to the Crossface by using a toehold that was cool. Nagata returns to offense and starts dropping SUWAMA on his head. Again SUWAMA sells really well. There is an Exploder off the Top that really looked like it spiked SUWAMA! Again it is SUWAMA catching him with Suplexes that helps him gain in-roads. In the highlight package preceding the match, it seemed Nagata was polishing his opponents off with the BackDrop Driver/SaitoSuplex. This is a move SUWAMA uses also. SUWAMA goes for this move but Nagata blocks and Fujiwara Armbar into the eyeroll Armbar Nagata does. Nagata gets his big nearfall with the Saito Suplex. The end is nigh says I. SUWAMA catches Nagata on the step-up Shining Wizard in the corner (Nagata had already hit that move once) and LAST RIDE~! Not as good as the Funaki. Honestly this match is a big step down from the Funaki match. SUWAMA runs through his finish stretch offense. Nagata gets a surprise Shining Wizard as a last gasp nearfall. SUWAMA slaps the shit out of him, OBLITERATES HIM with his Canon Lariat and the Saito Suplex pins Nagata. It is a very good match because both men are great offensive wrestlers and in the case of SUWAMA also a great seller. After the excellent opening, this was just two men playing ragdoll for the other and just running through their Greatest Hits. Nagata went first and then SUWAMA had a little run then Nagata has his big 1-2 punch and then SUWAMA cruised for the win besides the Shining Wizard hiccup. It makes sense since Nagata was going back to New Japan so there were no rematches. So just do the Greatest Hits match everyone goes home happy and I they played off the Saito Suplex well. Nagata hit it. SUWAMA survives, hits his own twice to win. It was a nice little story there. Nothing that will change your world but if you like big bomb throwing matches hard to go wrong with this one. ***3/4

AJPW Triple Crown Champion SUWAMA vs Masakatsu Funaki - AJPW 10/24/10 FINALLY! This was uploaded in all its reigning glory I have probably been on the lookout for this for 5-6 year. This was even better than I expected. Table throws, furious strike exchanges and BLOOD~! Curious though we only get 21 minutes of a 29 minute match a little less than 75%. It feels complete so I am going to rate, but I wish we had it in its entirety. SUWAMA maybe the most underrated wrestler ever because he has been stuck in 21st Century All Japan his whole career, but the dude is a beast and if you like power wrestler like me you ought to check him out. Funaki is a shoot-style beast and together have a crazy sexy beast match that is probably my worldwide 2010 match of the year. In the buildup to this match Funaki was Knocking Fools Out with his kicks to the head including SUWAMA. That's how you build up a challenger. Pretty much an excellent shooter vs pro wrestler match. Funaki is better at strikes (kicks and open hand slaps) & submissions. SUWAMA has raw bone power and relentless heart. SUWAMA rocks the double hand chops, meaty lariats and brutal throws. Offensively, this is a dream match. Funaki catches him with a kick to the head that more spooks SUWAWA than anything else as he powders. This plays off Funaki's lethal kicks and his KO power. It plants that seed this match can be over at any second and SUWAMA needs to be cautious. The thing that is not SUWAMA's game plan. He is never cautious. He is always moving forward and is a bull, just lowers his head and runs into the fray. They do some great wrestling. I love how Funaki quashes SUWAMA's fireman's carry attempt and they both grapple really well. Upon standup, Funaki starts lighting SUWAMA up with kicks but just one might Double Chop fells Funaki. They do a great job establishing Funaki's technical advantage, but SUWAMA's strength is the great equalizer. On the outside Funaki again laces into him with kicks and SUWAMA just HURLS THE TABLE AT HIM! YES! SUWAMA has the high ground back in the ring and scores with the Double Chop sending Funaki flying. SUWAMA sticks his leg through the ropes and Funaki gabs a kneebar. Funaki's other main weapon besides Knocking People The Fuck OUT is his heel hook. Funaki just settles into a rhythm of kicks and I could watch him kick forever. I love SUWAMA he is always moving forward and he is always trying to get back on offense. He is selling, but he keeps struggling and keeps fighting. Hell Yeah! Funaki is maneuvering into submissions like the heel hook and cross armbreaker, but SUWAMA is using his guts and power to fight out. He starts catching those kicks and thats when he starts throwing Funaki around. At first those throws just get Funaki off balance, but eventually they will make in roads. Suplexes allow for resets they dont always cause damage. It breaks Funaki's rhythm but he gets back up. The first one that does real damage is the slam on the Triangle Choke pickup. It is all power with SUWAMA hurling his body with a shouldertackle off the apron and huge Mack Truck Lariats. Funaki for his part just starts throwing hands with reckless abandon. Funaki's hands were flying and a lesser man would be knocked out. These were stiff, brutal shots to the head. At one point in the corner I thought he fucking KO'd SUWAMA with an illegal closed fist. SUWAMA comes up with BLOOD! Holy shit! Funaki just comes flying in with a flying knee to the head. This is so fucking awesome! SUWAMA is out on his feet. He has nothing behind anything and Funaki is picking him apart. Funaki goes for the Back Drop Driver, but SUWAMA reverses and DEMOLISHES HIM! MASSIVE DROPKICK! THE BEST DOUBLE UNDERHOOK SUPLEX YOU WILL EVER SEE! Funaki tries fighting back, flying knee in the corner, but SUWAMA catches and muscles him into the BIGGEST RUNNING LIGER BOMB EVER! THAT WAS AWESOME! SUWAMA BLASTS WITH A SPINNING LARIAT! THIS IS SICK! SUWAMA wants his Last Ride Powerbomb. Funaki has one last gasp HUGE STRIKES TO THE HEAD! How the hell is SUWAMA not out...Funaki is teeing off...DOUBLE KO KICK AND SUWAMA OBLITERATES HIM WITH A LARIAT! Two massive Takayama style Germans and a THUNDEROUS POWERBOMB FOR THE EMPHATIC VICTORY! From a purely offensive standpoint, this is why type of match. I love shoot-style for its strikes and submissions. I love pro wrestling for its power in terms of the lariat, suplexes, slams and powerbombs. This was a blend of everything I love in wrestling from an offensive standpoint. On top of that, I loved the layout. It was electric, big fight feel. Both guys never giving an inch. They both coming forward, tons of struggle and urgency. This was not two dudes playing ragdoll for the other. They coming in and trying to disrupt the other. That is what I love. There is some selling stuff and some transitions here and there that could have been improved on but fuck it this was BAD FUCKING ASS! Supercharged Big Ass Pro Wrestling! ****3/4

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Jun Akiyama vs Keiji Mutoh - AJPW 3/20/12 One of those dream matches that happened ten years too late, but I do recall them having an all-star dream tag match under the NJPW banner in like 2002. For two men in their 40s, this is pretty baller. It is two seasoned pros and just going out there and have a really great match because they understand the fundamentals & their limitations (this is only 18 minutes). They do an ode to King's Road by starting red hot Akiyama hits a Sliding Knee and a Exploder early. Looks like the rout is on. They even do the apron tease spot that was famous in late 90s All Japan. Predictably, Mutoh Dragon Leg Screws Akiyama off the apron. The main complaint against post-2001 Mutoh is that his work is predictable. Give me predictable over bad any day of the week and twice on Sunday please. His work is logical and makes sense. I will always support that. Dragon Leg Screw on the railing, dropkick to the knee as Akiyama re-enters the ring and then Figure-4. All the Mutoh tropes front-loaded. Every spot feels like it means something. Akiyama gets the Flash Guillotine Choke when Mutoh lackadaisically goes for the knee. I really liked that as a transition to Akiyama. It does not use Akiyama's bad knee and it saps Mutoh's energy and it was a believable spot. Akiyama does a great job selling his knee while hitting his offense. Honestly, this is one of the best knee selling performances while on offense I have ever seen and it is the really selling point of why fans and wrestlers should watch this match. He hits a kneedrop on the apron and the way he sells it coming off the apron is great. Mutoh does a great job selling too which is not something he is very good at. Akiyama hits the DDT on the exposed concrete. He has established the neck as what he is working on. He hits a piledriver among other great neck related work. Mutoh hits a dropkick to Akiyama bad knee as he is coming off the ropes. Mutoh goes for the Dragon Leg Screw, but pulls the trigger too late and Akiyama strikes him in the face with his free knee. Awesome spot! It almost feels like they incorporating how Mutoh is old into this match by being slow to pull the trigger and the seven years younger Akiyama beats him to the punch. They do the annoying All Japan spot where they each no sell the other's finish. Akiyama hits an Exploder and then it is a Shining Wizard then it is an Exploder and then a Shining Wizard. Good news is that they only do this once and it signals the playing field is levelled and now they head home. They do a nice job letting Mutoh have his stretch and then Akiyama goes into his. I prefer this to the terrible "My Turn, Your Turn" style of home stretches. Mutoh hits what feels like a hundred Shining Wizard variations credit where it is due there were some cool wrinkles. I didnt like the Moonsault directly into the Guillotine Choke as it undercuts the Moonsault. The Akiyama finish stretch was great. Nice mixture of Exploders and knees. I really liked the Mutoh Frankensteiner out of nowhere as a surprise nearfall before Akiyama just rammed his knee into his face. Akiyama busts out his new finish which is a variation on the Michinoku Driver. Very efficient match. Hot start, each man worked awesome control segments, Akiyama was the standout with the knee selling while one offense. I thought the home stretch was hot with tons of bombs. Some weird old man clunkiness here & there along with the All Japan no-selling spots bring this down, but I still thought this was a fun match between two of the best to ever do it. ****