Jetlag

I watched a metric ton of US Indy wrestling. Including a bunch of additions and a borderline classic! Watched: Fred Yehi vs. Cain Justice (ACTION Wrestling 4/27/2018) This is my first time seeing Cain Justice. He does not have an impressive physique. I'm not a big looks guy (altough a cool look will go a long way with me), but jesus! Those shorts aren't doing him favors either. Cain Justice should probably wear a gi. Cain Justice looks like the kind of guy who smokes pot while watching early 2000s NJPW and one day decides to get in the ring himself and bring this style of pro wrestling back. He is probably a great dude, but jesus he needs to work on his execution. I am still looking for the one Yehi match that blows me away, this still isn't it, but he looks impressive here. Controlling Cain early on the mat, really chucking him to the mat in a headlock, hitting nice shoulder blocks and Garvin stomps. Cain Justice does the TJ Perkins spot where he hops into the ropes, which is just a comical thing to do for a guy like him. On the other hand Cain takes a bunch of Yehi chops and shoulderblocks and bumps around the arena in fun ways. Cain takes over with a painful looking and unique finger snap, I would have liked him to work the hand more as he looked good doing that, hitting a painful looking kneedrop. They soon go for strike exchanges and some unique spots which look a littly goofy here and there. Cain hits this kick to the mid section that is just pitiful and also some really bad palm strikes. Finish was very good and I give them credit for trying something different but Cain needs to become a little more polished before these two can do something special. Dominic Garrini vs. Cash Flo (PWF) This was basically a squash where Garrini dominates Cash Flo on the mat and then bruises up his leg with a bunch of low kicks. This was sold in a pretty big way by Cash Flo (who by the way is a massive dude) and the PWF locker room comes out with the towel being thrown in when Cash Flo is in a heel hook. Pretty cool angle for Garrini to come in and basically destroy the biggest dude in this promotion, altough I would have liked Cash to use his size advantage a little as he got in almost nothing except for a few chops. Cash Flo (who used to work IWA MS) aside from being big sold well and was willing to take punishment, maybe someone should book him against WALTER in 2019 and get him that PCO appreciation run. Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku vs. Shawn Kemp & Jonathan Wolf (PWF 11/9/2018) This was a match where they tried hard and were clearly trying to produce something that stands out, so of course nobody has taken notice. That is indy wrestling folks. Shawn Kemp is a tubby guy in a singlet who does headbutts and backfists and also takes a big beating, I like him because he kind of reminds me of Makoto Hashi. Garrini & Ku basically beat the fuck out of him with big nasty stomps, sentons and slaps. It was hard to tell how good Ku actually was as he was lucky to have an opponent who was willing to get hit hard and didn't do anything impressive besides really beating on Kemp. The same goes for Garrini to a lesser extent. Jonathan Wolf is another really non-athletic looking indy dude who tries hard. Some goofy indyriffic move combos here. I could see Phil maybe wanting to check this out. Considering: Timothy Thatcher vs. Jonathan Gresham (Nova Pro 7/28/2018) Hey look it's Thatcher appearing in the US. Thatcher essentially worked this like Arn Anderson taking on Mike Jackson which was pretty great, just chucking him to the mat dismissively, trying to dislocate his jaw with great looking european uppercuts all while shrugging off all of Greshams offensive attempts. This lead to Gresham showing some actual aggression. Loved the crowd really getting into a drop toe hold attempt and that weird leg yank he did. Wish they had done more with the legwork as it was pretty brief but great stuff with Gresham really trying to twist Thatchers leg off. Towards the end this was basically Thatcher not taking Gresham seriously and paying for it. The suicide dive into the sleeper was a really smart spot and the finish went over huge. I also tried watching Garrini vs. Ku from NOVA Pro and wow did that suck. Two chubby guys rhymelessly stiffing eachother to no crowd reaction. I expect better from two dudes who are buddies. Only watch if you have more goodwill from either guy than I. Considering: Tom Lawlor vs. King Khash (Prestige 6/8/2018) This was a really fun, focussed match. They start with a bunch of hold exchanges. Nothing shootstyle here at all, altough Lawlors background certainly helps. It's weird how you don't see a ton of focussed WoS inspired hold exchanges like this in 2018 indy wrestling. I watched this because of Lawlor but ended up liking Khash a lot. He takes control by just headbutting Lawlor in the face while exchanging wristlocks and then hits a falling headbutt to his elbow which ruled. He also puts some interesting holds on him to further work the arm and I really liked how he tried to cut Lawlor off with knees etc. Also he uses the Full Nelson as his finish!!! Lawlor looked pretty good selling from underneath. He seems like a guy who has yet to find the right moves that fit him, I thought his superman punch looked weird, altough him muscling Khash up and throwing him around with suplexes repeatedly worked. I don't love pumphandle suplex moves (besides when Akiyama does them) but Lawlor worked them logically into the match.Also his big comeback move was basically a dropkick which the crowd ate up. Seems PRESTIGE is focussing a lot on these two so why not dive right into this fed!! King Khash vs. Simon Grimm (Prestige 3/30/2018) Another match with a lot of WoS throwback hold exchanges. This was probably a little more polished altough not quite as lengthy as Khash/Lawlor. Grimm really has his spots and crowd interactions down pat (well besides his flying armbar which is just terrible). Khash one again controlled by working the arm and Grimm handled himself very well coming up with some neat counters. Abrupt finish to put the finishing hold over. This worked very well altough it was shorter than Khash/Lawlor. Khash is certainly looking like a good Malenko/Regal type wrestler. Tom Lawlor vs. Simon Grimm (Prestige 5/11/2018) This had some of the more fun matwork I've seen either guy do as it was right between being rooted in their legit ability while also fun and inventive. Early on Grimm would play it could and do a classy reversal, but soon he had enough of Lawlors cross heelhooks and went for carny finger manipulation. However the parts after that were a bit of a mess. They stand up and do some „I hit you you hit me“ stuff which is a surefire way to get me to stop caring about a match. Lawlor works over Grimm for a bit and it's cool with him busting out some stiff kicks and a big boot. Grimm also showed a vicious side, yanking on Lawlors leg, muscling him up for a big Capture Suplex, pounding him on the ground with elbows etc. Still a lot of this felt like two guys lost doing a longer match that needed better planning. Added: Lawlor/Grimm vs. Khash/Mike Santiago (Prestige 10/12/2018) Okay now this is it. I'm not kidding you, this was a borderline excellent tag team match which told the story to a tee. Basically Mike Santiago is Khashs goon who cost Lawlor the title match on the last show, so he and his carny buddy Grimm spend a good chunk of time torturing them. I liked how Khash, the champion, was able to be somewhat competitive on the mat, even catching Lawlor with some jiu jitsu ish sweeps, while Santiago just got tooled. This had a lot of faces dominate to start which is something that can easily get dry but that was not the case at all here. Lawlor reversing Santiagos attempts and trying to choke the life out of him with Khash having to drag his partner to safety was one of the better „babyface still in control of the match“ spots in my recent memory. Once the heels took over they went for textbook rough tactics, 2 on 1, low blow behind the referees back etc, with Khash throwing a lot of punches. Grimm was FIP and he did a pretty good job here having a few great comebacks, including just yanking Santiagos thumb to counter a chinlock, as well as hitting an awesome shoot headbutt (no thighslapping there either). Lawlors hot tag was great as he was basically like a Thrillseekers Chris Jericho, which I kid you not may be the role he's been looking for as the crowd went hot for his spin kicks and forearm smashes and pounding his chest. Loved the crazy transition from the spear to the choke hold aswell. This ruled in a completely unexpected way. Dominic Garrini vs. Jeff Cobb (SUP 6/10/2018) I'm surprised this match hasn't gotten much play, considering this is your indy shootstyle boys Garrini and Cobb working a title match main event in a bar. Not a great match though. They barely do any of that BJJ vs. Olympic wrestling grappling that you would think of with this matchup and instead just throw bombs. I'm really over Garrini by now, the dude hits hard, but his execution is so hit and miss and also the guy has no charisma whatsoever. Cobb looked like a beast here but that's nothing new. Added: Tom Lawlor vs. CW Anderson (BLP 8/18/2018) Lawlor finally faces a veteran guy to learn all the right things from. God damn does CW Anderson look sharp in this match, where the hell is his indy megapush?? Beautiful punches, really cradling Lawlor tight for pins, not budging one bit on shoulderblocks, looking comfortable trading holds, and of course the awesome spinebuster. Lawlor was in a different role here essentially disrespecting the veteran and working him over, and it works quite well for him too. Countering the spinebuster was such a nifty spot aswell as the spit spot which lead to CW giving him a punch that credible knocked the UFC guy on his ass. The sleeper hold is put over, and Lawlor suplexes the old guy a bunch. I also really liked Anderson fighting out of a gutwrench with elbows. This was short and hit all the right buttons. You can look at this match in different ways, it's either a fun way to spend 10 minutes, or something to go crazy over if it came on on a WWE C-show. Dominic Garrini vs. Gunner Miller (ACTION 4/27/2018) This was probably the best Garrini match I've seen so far. Execution was mostly fine here altough there were some pretty bad „palm strikes“ to the chest. I think this would've been better if it had been Gunner muscling Garrini around. Instead Garrini dominates this using a lot of strikes and throws with Miller occasionally bombing him. Pretty solid match altough it was basically a bomb fest with 1 or 2 good counters from Garrini. Added: Slim J vs. Corey Hollis (Anarchy Wrestling 5/12/2018) Dog Collar! This is one of my favourite stipulations, and this was very good. This gimmick depends all on either guys willingness to take punishment, and they were willing to get plenty. Lots of nice chain punches, and Slim J got good color. The inventive touches worked and there was some hurty looking chain yanking. Actually great finish. I think this would've been slightly better with Hollis bleeding too... wait that is kinda ghoulish now. Also one of the announcers said these guys were animals god knows how many times. Good to see southern indy wrestling is still cool. Added: Slim J vs. Corey Hollis (Anarchy Wrestling 7/28/2018) YARD CALL. Wow. This gave me hope for america. Please, go watch this unspoiled. I honestly felt this was up there with the best spectacle matches of this kind that have been done in wrestling ever. Regal/Finlay parking lot fight, Hart Dungeon, Funk/Lawler empty arena, Bathhouse Deathmatch, you name it. Slim J comes in with the greatest entrance of the year and from then on it's everything this needs to be. A toilet is thrown, guys get shoved face first into barbed wire and punched in the back of the head, then dragged through the shards and the dirty flower. You watch this and realize everything you see was placed deliberately in this surreal chamber. I watched this wondering what that chain hanging from the ceiling was for before realizing it was a dog collar. I was thinking „There is a broom there... they should use the broom“ and then Hollis uses it to cut off J so casually. Then Slim Js shirt gets torn. Then they literally kick the cell down. This is something that starts out bizarre and fascinating by itself and then they just keep going and topping themselves... that skeleton of a stretcher will haunt me for a while. This was an injection of pro wrestling in it's purest form.

@MattD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXEVpC9SLY0 Also, for Christmas, I finally wrote up the two matches I was given by microstatistics and aaeo: Shawn vs. Chris Jericho Well I'm not a huge fan of either of these guys. This actually had a good opening which was a bit like a WAR or similiar japanese heavyweight match. Strike exchange before Shawn tries to take out Jerichos leg only to be cut off. Jericho acknowledging the legwork before going on to work over Shawns ribs/mid section was a nice touch. After that it turned into your typical WWE style big match. Everything was well timed and planned but the portions that followed were hurt by Shawns hokey selling and poor execution. The blood part was also hurt by Jerichos weak punches. Rating: A good match in theory. Nakajima vs. Okuda I don't think I've seen Okuda before. I probably should check out more of him as he is doing a Murakami tribute, MMA gloves and all. This was pretty much a mindless stifffest but that is okay for a short semi squash. I mean, Nakajima wouldn't even sell a stiff punch to his body. There was also no discernible escalation from Nakajima. Okuda stepped on his face, and Nakajima pretty much put the usual beatdown on him. Also, I HATE the spot where the two guys just exchange snapmare -> soccer kick over and over. It's probably the worst of all the current japanese wrestling tropes. Much of this was just get hit - scream - hit back. I'm sounding overly negative here but if these guys learned how to sell they would have way better matches.

I watched some lucha. Which reminded me that I need to watch more damn lucha. Added: Negro Casas vs. Aramis (Lucha Memes 3/11/2018) It's good to see Negro Casas is still world class in 2018. His execution was top notch, really chucking his opponent to the mat with his early basic takedowns, fast spin kicks etc. He then does some classic selling in the style of his 1992 match with El Dandy. I would have liked Casas to put a bigger beating on his opponent, but what we got was fun. Aramis has a really great dive and vicious leglock, but other than that was pretty much just another skinny dude for Casas to get a good match out of. He could drop bombs but I'm really tired of seeing luchadores do super kicks etc. This had the usual neat transitions and spots you get in Negro Casas matches. Loved the big knee breaker and the tricky finisher teases and reversals down the stretch. Watched (and maybe considering): LA Park & Hijo de La Park & Ultimo Guerrero vs. Rush & Bestia Del Ring & Barbaro Cavernario (CMLL 9/17/2018) The Rush/Park feud is something people have gone crazy over and this was a good intro to it. Lots of garbage is thrown around, people get belted, and there were some amazing crowd reactions with the perfectly timed showdowns. What the hell was up with this going 30 minutes? In Puebla of all places?? Even Zacarias takes a big bump! Besides that this was good and they filled the time well. The issue I had was that this was basically a series of crowd pleasing spots rather than a truely hate filled violent brawl, but then again that's the reality of modern CMLL. I also thought the eventual Rush/Park could've been better. On the other hand I loved Parks last ditch spear. Rudo team are obviously very good bases and made Guerrero & Hijo look good. Cavernario is nuts for taking the Jaguar Yokota face down bump off the top. Barbaro Cavernario vs. Soberano Jr. (CMLL 3/27/2018) Okay this was more like it. Cavernario opens this up by putting a metric ass stomping on Soberano Jr. One of the greatest beatdowns of 2018 for sure. Soberano Jr. Kind of redeems himself by bumping madly all over the place. Really painful looking use of the guardrails here, Cavernario was just destroying the poor dude. I was about to complain about Soberano Jr. Making a lame, easy comeback, but then Cavernario just dropped him with a powerbomb and then proceeded to literally tear into him. Barbaro Cavernario unmasking the guy and not giving a fuck about the DQ is the stuff of legends. I don't know whether the two of them tumbling off the top rope with Soberano getting stuck was intentional but it was another great moment. Soberano Jr. Worked hard but he is a luchador who loves superkicks and canadian destroyers and that is naturally gonna be a tough spot for me. His eventual comeback really needed a bit of a more savage edge. He just went for highspots. They looked good, but I was hoping for more. The beatdown from Cavernario was hinting at a classic and instead we got the usual dive fest. I need more of this Cavernario though. Solar & Mano Negra & Felino vs. Negro Navarro & Fuerza Guerrera & Jerry Estrada (CMLL 11/30/2018) I always end up coming back to these old guy matches. HOLY SHIT Jerry Estrada is wrestling in 2018?? I genuinely thought he was dead. I guess vampires do live forever. It was fascinating to watch these guys with almost no mobility left do their best to have an interesting match. Well Solar/Navarro exchanges still rule, so that's great. Fuerza Guerrera kneeing someone in the ribs while in the ropes is more interesting to me than your standard throwaway matwork section anyways. Estrada can barely do anything and looks like he is about to blow his knee out at all times. Suddenly, Solar has a huge chip on his shoulder and wants a piece of either Fuerza or Jerry! A minute latter we get mask ripping and old guys throwing punches. Awesome. Jerry Estrada may be hardly mobile but he can still mime with the best of them. Fuerza throws a nice corner punch combo. Mano Negra moves impossibly slow but still goes through sequences. A lot of nerds will say this was terrible and that's why they are nerds.

I watched a bunch of indy wrestling Jeremy Wyatt vs. Jonathan Gresham (SLA 11/16/2018) This follows rules similiar to the old RoH Pure Title where each wrestler only has 3 rope breaks and you also lose ropebreaks for closed fists. Gresham loses a rope break on a triviality early on which I actually thought was an interesting way to get the crowd into Gresham. They start out with a lot of grappling as is Greshams forte. I'm starting to think Gresham is a lot like Skayde in that he moves smoothly and obviously has a big database of techniques in his head but his matwork rarely builds to serious moments. Wyatt is not a super interesting worker but he had some slick moves such as a Russian Leg Sweep with nice snap and a cool Downward Spiral to a submission. Wyatt injures his leg but is able to take out Gresham with a cool neck snap in return. This was going good with Wyatt putting a beating on Gresham and they really make it a point to emphasize things like struggling over a basic suplex. Gresham ends up making his comeback and goes to town on Wyatts leg, bending the ankle etc. Up to this point they had me on board with the match but then a false finish and restart happen which I thought was completely unnecessary and terrible. Wyatt stops selling his leg and Gresham starts doing all these annoying pop ups. They actually produce a very good countout nearfall but soon after they start doing all these Malenko/Guerrero sequences and counter wrestling which doesn't really fit the match they were doing up to that point. The finish comes out of left field and not in a good way. Mike Quackenbush vs. Jonathan Gresham (Beyond Wrestling 1/27/2018) This was fine but I'm starting to lose interest in Gresham. Obviously there was some slick hold for hold stuff here, but nothing that was far beyond what Quack could do with any of his trainees. The best things Gresham did here were his back drop bumps and that stomp. He was doing some kind of touring heel champ thing here which I think doesn't fit him very well. Quack still looks good (making good use of his stolen moves) but he had some really exaggerated facial expressions which is something I don't remember him having before. Gresham also had one really weird attempt at facial selling. Tracy Williams vs. Tom Lawlor (Beyond Wrestling 9/16/2018) Tom Lawlor is clearly someone to watch. Rugged tough aura, and his basic offense actually looks real hurty. His low kicks in this were awesome. This starts out with some cafeteria BattlARTS grappling which they don't seem to know how to pace yet... maybe they were just in a hurry to get their shit in. Lawlor does a lot of convoluted Indy moves... something I think he should just drop and wrestle like an 80s NWA guy with a shoulderbreaker as a finisher or something, plus the shootstyle moves. But then, shouldn't everyone? But then, it's the current year. Tracy William gives me nothing at this point but he might work on himself and become a really good worker like Drew Gulak did. I liked the spot where he tried to catch a Lawlor chop but then he found out that was a bad idea. Jeff Cobb vs. Darby Allin (Limitless Wrestling 1/19/2018) I almost forgot about these 2 guys. Really fun 8 minute match with Cobb ragdolling Allin. I especially liked Allins suicide dive where he just crashed into a brick wall. Cobbs near KO elbows on Allin looked great too. Allin came across a bit like your typical indy guy who does unnecessary rolls and stuff but his execution is top notch. Just really fast movements. I didn't buy the finish, but Darby going over Cobb in just 8 minutes is something that is really tough to buy. Will see if I can find a better match but this did everything right. Full Worldwide point. Eddie Kingston vs. Chris Dickinson (Limitless Wrestling 1/19/2018) This was a match with some big moves and stiff blows but little of the nuanced touches that this kind of match needs. Kingston slowly moving Dickinson into position and making him take an apron bump just feels listless and that is never a good thing when it comes to apron bumps. I also can't get into Dickinsons huffin, puffin, fighting spirit yelling „I'm so tough“ posturing act at all. I also felt like Kingston was just going through this stuff. Really liked those suplexes though. I also tried watching some STARDOM and this was the only match I could stomach... of course it has TAJIRI Tajiri & Kagetsu vs. Konami & Minoru Tanaka (Stardom 9/26/2018) Intergender tag! I like 3 out of these 4. Konami is rocking the U-Style bare feet kickpadded look. Kagetsu is someone I liked a lot a couple years back, and Tajiri is Tajiri. The girl vs. Girl sections had none of the typically annoying joshi stuff, but I wouldn't call them more than solid – these two were kicking eachother hard, but it was the lame NJPW type „I kick you you kick me“ stuff. I feel Kagetsus heel act has made her less interesting, altough I did love her brutal kick to the ankle. Tajiri had a really fun small show performance here, getting a fun mat section out of Tajiri, aswell as playing a slimy heel opposite Konami. He was working some interesting leg stretches, awesome fast body slam series and did a great job selling his leg to set up getting his comeuppance from Konami. All done in a believable way. He also threw a leg kick that felt more brutal than any kick Konami threw while being probably not stiff at all. This is a small show tag so there is lots of spitting and posturing altough it all works in the context. I was almost expecting a big comeback from Konami with all the shit she took but then she doesn't and it totally works.

Pretty entertaining match and a cool chance to see young Andre working a lengthy epic. The early going isn't exactly what you expect from an Andre match as he works pretty even with Kobayashi, Andre would do a headlock takeover and Kobayashi would easily counter to a headscissor. On the other hand things such as Andre reversing an armbar by stepping on Kobayashi or pushing his knee in his face become extra compelling because he is so huge. Andre wins the first fall pretty easily and the other two is pretty much Kobayashi beating him down by stomping on his hand, working his stomach over with punches etc. There is a cool spot in the 3rd fall where Andre does a double leg Fuchi stretch and gets thrown on his face. Really liked all the Andre facial selling and bumping including the gutsy finish. This got pretty chinlocky here and there and was a little meandering overall but is worth a watch.

Two big lumpy bastards get technical! Don Leo Jonathan is such a trip to watch executing all these kip ups and flips and flying headscissors and whatnot. I really liked how he would lock in a bodyscissor after doing a sunset flip, always making the other guy work. The Boston Crab is a dangerous hold! Don Leos initial escape by tripping the referee was like something Negro Casas would do. Kobayashi adds very little flash to the match but I love how he would sell a basic Don elbow to the stomach like a big deal. Don Leo pretty much beats him down with big stomps and knee drops and then some cool palm strike-ish punches. I'm not sure what happened at the finish. It seems one fall is missing but I didn't notice any clipping.

More japanese wrestling: Watched: Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata vs. Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi (AJPW 6/12/2018) This was the best AJPW match I've seen this year. It wasn't anything great but a fun performance by the veterans. Nagata still has something in the tank, selling a near KO in the opening portions and later paying it back. Akiyama still looks like the Akiyama I love. He was just incredibly vicious Nomura & Aoyagi did very little for me. If you're a bland japanese rookie atleast show some spark while you are getting your ass beaten. Considering: Dick Togo vs. Takuya Nomura (BJW 2/18/2018) This was also good. Dick Togo is still a great pro wrestler 10 year after his retirement, and Nomura continues to look like the real deal. The one disappointing thing is that it's „only“ a good, well worked match rather than something great. Despite this being a shortish midcard match both guys worked hard, Togo hit his awesome senton to the floor (missed by the camera) and Nomura dishing out big blow. Match got pretty great after Nomura had enough of Togos worked punches and started throwing hands and kicks only for Togo to get up and slap his shit. These two may have a stiff war together in the future but so far I'm pleased with this. Added: Tajiri vs. TAKA Michinoku (K-Dojo 4/22/2018) Wow did this rule. I'm all on board for TAJIRI: Best Wrestler in Japan. I understand he doesn't always go all out, but he did here, in his own way. First of all these two are great at all the little gestures in a match that make this stuff stand out, while also timing their offense perfectly. Tajiri may have the best worked strikes in wrestling. It's certainly something all those thigh slapping indy dudes should study. He just drops TAKA and it feels so unexpected and you are immediately drawn in. TAKA (who was really bending Tajiris wrists when applying holds before, another nice touch) manages a slick reversal and establishes himself as dangerous. Some really great armwork followed. Tajiri slipping out of another facelock attempt to continue controlling the arm is an od school touch lifted to a modern match in the right way. This is all just ridiculously smart, well timed stuff. TAKA was pretty desparate soon and basically went for the kill at any time. Tajiri countering the Michinoku Driver II was on par with some unique World of Sport spot. He was channeling Regal at his peak here, just a great job controlling his opponent with a knack for the inventive. Great 10 minute match, old guy wrestling rules

Fujiwara can be pretty domineering in matches but he was playing outgunned to a t here. Right from the first exchange Fujiwara is selling big for sympathy, wincing when Funaki body punches him etc. Funaki pretty much dominates all on the mat and in the standup though Fujiwara clocks him with a big headbutt at one time. Fujiwara even catches a nasty kick while working for an ankle hold. Then Funaki keeps stringing these brilliant combos together until he shoots for a takedown at the wrong time. Pretty brilliant selling from Fujiwara and Funaki is such a stud, I don't get why he quit pro wrestling to do a bunch of fixed MMA, sure he made a ton of money doing that, but he could've made a ton of money fighting Hashimoto in the Tokyo Dome aswell.

Watched: Joe Doering vs. Kento Miyahara (AJPW 3/25/2018) Okay I hate Pro Wrestling now. Joe Doering is doing Stan Hansen cosplay but instead of working a comedy 6 man in the undercard he is challenging for the top belt. And they wonder why they draw miserable crowds. Nobody wants to watch Fake Stan Hansen when Real Stan Hansen was a thing. When La Parka retires I'm not gonna watch Fake La Parka. Atleast Pete Dunne has the excuse that there is a very limited amount of Terry Rudge matches available. Doering performance here is a good example of what modern works do wrong: there are some individual cool spots, but the stuff between is dry, dry dry, and none of the spots matter in the grand scheme of things. Stan Hansen clobbering someone is awesome because he came at those guys like a raging bull, with a fire in his eyes like he was gonna pull someones head off. Doering standing there and robotically tapping someone on the back is not that. Hansen was also great at working holds and the subtler things like attacking an arm etc, something Doering either doesn't understand or chooses not to do. He knows the powerbomb on the floor, but he doesn't understand it's the Hansen monkeyflip and chinlock that marks true greatness. This match could probably be cut up and re edited into something decent. Whole match was horribly slow, with about a dozen spots where both guys where down, and felt disconnected from the crowd. At no point did either guy show an ounce of spark. Not fun to watch. Zeus vs. Suwama (AJPW 4/7/2018) This was marginally better than the previous abomination. Mostly because they worked a basic, focussed match. Typical opening with shoulderblock and a test of strength and then Suwama goes right away attacking Zeus' bad leg. It seems Suwama has gotten better at the little things (selling his wrists after the test of strength, nice energetic dropkick, varied legwork) but from what I can tell he still has no business working long main events without someone to handhold him. Zeus performance left me on a dry note aswell: at no point did he offer significant resistant to Suwamas legwork, and after Suwama had worked his leg for 10 minutes straight his choice for comeback moves is a triple suplex and running lariat. Then he proceeds to give your typical „I'm doing moves now – whoops, I just took a move, better clutch my leg“ hit and miss selling performance. My favourite funny spot was when Suwama puts Zeus in an ankle lock (Kurt Angle influence running wild in 2018 baby), Zeus takes a while to get out, then Zeus puts Suwama in a (very loose) ankle lock. So Zeus, after having his bad leg destroyed for 10 minutes does not tap to an ankle hold, what am I suppose to believe him putting the hold on Suwama with no set up is going to do? Of course Suwama does not have the goods to add any significance to this sequence. The ending is your typical heavyweight stuff, some lariats and then one guy wins. It is beyond me how this is exciting or praiseworthy to anyone but here we are. The most baffling thing is how people are saying this was worked in the traditional AJPW style, even though the most prominent aspects of that style, great selling and storytelling and deadly headdrops are all missing. Considering: Takuya Nomura vs. Yuya Aoki (3/21/2018) Okay this restores my fate in wrestling. Scrappy, intense fight. No bullshit wandering around. Nomura is a legend in the making. I disliked Aokis masochistic tendencies, but once he drops that posturing shit he will probably be great too. Very expressive performance from him. Nomura almost KO's him before they even lock up but he still goes to grapple with Nomura. Then he catches him with a nasty kick on the ground and I'm way into this already. Nomura was incredibly vicious and precise in beating down Aoki. The little elbow to the gut before uppercutting him is what sets Nomura apart from your average worker who uses strikes as spots. His reversals were also great. Aoki leaning into Nomuras kicks came a bit across as a young guy trying to go beyond his limit in order to topple a superior, more experienced fighter. Great dive. Loved the palm strikes. Wonderful finish which tells everyone the focus is to win and not to do spots. Not a classic (yet) but it made me happy. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. A-Kid (Whitewolf Wrestling 4/14/2018) Sabre in those trunks makes me laugh. I liked the opening grappling a lot because of how rough it felt. The spanish crowd being really into the grappling was really cool. A-Kid looked very competent. Zack Sabre Jr. being a prick towards his opponent was good. The slap exchanges were pretty stiff but felt goofy after watching Nomura/Aoki. Some of the near submissions were pretty brutal indeed with Sabre almost ripping the leg off after Kid tried a 619. I really liked how A-Kid kept coming at Sabre, slapping him, diving for ankle picks etc. The finishing run wasn't terrible but not very engaging to me, altough there were 2 cool spots: A-Kid obliterating Zack with the super kick and him catching Zack in mid air with a backslide for a nice nearfall. Verdict: a good match.

Added: Pete Dunne vs. WALTER (wXw 7/22/2018) Close to or perhaps better match than WALTER/Thatcher. The opening of this ruled as Dunne would try to ankle pick the big guy, bruise his leg with kicks etc all while running for the ropes like Lou Thesz whenever WALTER came for him and escaping Walters grappling attempts. The first thing Walter does when he gets ahold of Dunne he caves his chest in with a massive stomp. Walter then decides to put a beating on the cowardly weasel only for Dunne to start targeting his wrist and fingers. Dunne basically wrestles like someone who studied a lot of Bryan Danielson and Terry Rudge matches, which is GOOD, but he also has some weak moments such as a really weak thigh slapping enzuigiri, goofy Shiranui etc. I also felt his arrogant behaviour felt a little tacked on and misplaced considering how savvy he acted earlier. That's a lot of nitpicking, on the other hand I really loved his PRIDE stomps and trying to break the fingers while hanging off of Walter. Walter reacting to Dunne biting him by trying to break his jaw may be the spot of the year. Walter countering Dunnes goofy pump handle finisher with a judo throw that felt very organic. Weak finish as is typical of wXw booking. These indy matches feel somewhat experimental and like throwing too much shit on the wall but the raw talent is undeniable. I suggest Dunne study some Yoshinari Ogawa and both of them watch more SWS and WAR.

@ aaeeo

Not for the faint of the heart, as it's a 50 minute long old school title bout built around mostly simple hold for hold work without any flash whatsoever. That being said Terry Funk is damn great here and Dory well atleast he looks like he is concerned with what is going on. Funk's selling made this look like an epic war, and he was bumping huge aswell. Loved his desperation escape from a butterfly suplex attempt. Lots of punishing headlocks, armlocks and leglocks. The crowd was pretty into this aswell considering this style was pretty much passe at this point. This is mostly back and forth but every once there would be a slick backslide or unexpected toe hold. This is for the purists and Terry Funk superfans only but I don't regret watching.

This was two high end pro wrestlers doing what makes them great in a match that was suffering from poor structural choices. Lawler almost dominates the whole match and Race basically absorbs everything he throws at him while bumping absurdly. This was entertaining for the first 20 minutes or so which was mostly basic headlock work and Lawler reversing Races moves. One neat thing was Lawler bridging up while Races was trying to reverse and just dropping down on him slamming Race into the mat with full bodyweight. Needless to say Lawlers punches were ridiculously great and enough reason to watch this the whole way through. Race also looked damn great working over Lawlers face with brutal headbutts and knees. With a Race beatdown leading to an awesome Lawler comeback I could imagine this being a stone cold classic. Instead it looked like Lawler had Race close to defeated about 25 minutes in the match. The strap drop „Now I am really going to finish him off!“ also didn't come across as as epic as it could've been. So by the end Lawler had hit Race with everything he had and still could not get the job done which left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Also I disliked all the ref bullshit.

This is legendary match for... some reason... to certain crowds... aaaaaanyways. It's not a bad match at all, and it is fascinating that this kind of seemed to set the stage for the elaborate epics of the 90s, as this is basically a series of control segments with increasingly complex cut offs, even though the body of the match doesn't have a great arc. Some of the matwork holds up and some doesn't. I've used Dory Funk, Jr. as a dartboard before and this match... will never convince me to change my opinion on him as he was full swing in his dullness. There was a huge difference in the depth and gravity that Brisco was able to convey with his selling compared to his robotlike opponent. There is also some armwork even though both guys focus on leg based submissions. I won't call this a snoozefest but it's striking how much below the british style this is. If anyone brought the NWA titlematch style wrestling to it's peak it was Terry Funk.

Watched: Shotaro Ashino vs. Manabu Soya (W1 3/14/2018) I remember Manabu Soya from a couple years back, and now he's... well... really bloated and less colorful. Basically Nakanishi without the impressive physique. Damn, did roids go down in price in japan or something? Anyways for the first 10 minutes or so this was good solid pro wrestling. Soya defends against Ashinos initial attempts to work over his arm but eventually falls victim. Ashinos armwork is good for the most part, hitting kneedrops and cool european uppercuts to the arm, but he would also do the Okada „I grab your arm and gently tap it into the mat“ stuff. They lose me when they do a no sell competition and I start to zone out during Ashinos Kurt Angleish ankle hold attempts and Soya running through his offense on him. The ending was pretty intense though with Ashino remembering his tactic and picking Soyas arm apart for big drama only to fall to the dreaded lariat anyways. Ashino came across less like a japanese grappler here and more like someone who really likes Smackdown 6 Era Malenko/Benoit type matches. This is getting there but not quite listworthy. Considering: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Takashi Sugiura (NOAH 10/4/2018) Holy stiffness batman! Nakajimas new exaggerated heel act is questionable but there's no denying he was willing to kill and get killed here. His evading of Sugiuras strikes actually made the opening portions interesting. And goodness gracious he was absolutely demolishing Sugiura with ridiculous slaps and kicks here. Sugiura is someone who I will always see as an undercarder getting the wrong ideas in his head and then getting pushed far beyond his capabilities, but he was less of a poor mans Kurt Angle here and more of a poor mans Kazuyuki Fujita. He certainly had me believing in a KO when he landed those knees on Nakajima, and Nakajima in turn beat him so bad his entire upper body turned red. I hated the ref distraction spot for Nakajima to choke Sugiura with a piece of wood like some Z-level indy schmoe only for the ref to see him using that thing anyways and the finish didn't quite match the grizzly violence that came before, but this is must watch for the trainwrecky brutality alone. I don't advocate for this kind of „Let's do gruesome things to eachother for show“ wrestling and this is definitely not a great match but it's definitely a great spectacle.

There you go https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpoDpVFhUGHPWVYqmJ8TBwA

One of my most pleasant wrestling discoveries of 2017 was Kyushu Pro Wrestling. Kyushu Pro is based on the island of Kyushu and it has a similiar vibe to Osaka Pro etc, with the family friendly atmosphere and some outlandish gimmicks. However it's style is closer to NOAH than classic lucharesu and the workers aren't afraid to get stiff. The roster is pretty great with lots of lovable easily recognizable dudes. So of course it was pretty much the only wrestling promotion I somewhat kept up with in 2018. Problem is they only upload a handful of matches to their YouTube account. They always show these awesome clips and packages before each match, and they don't seem to sell DVDs of these, and it's just cruel, man! In the age where every wrestling related gathering of more than 20 japanese people in Tokyo gets filmed we can't have more than a dozen or so full Kyushu Pro matches. On the other hand, each match is filmed in great handcamera style, so that's a big plus over that low budget Niconico garbage that all japanese indy wrestling has turned into. So let's get into it. Hitamaru Sasaki & ASOSAN vs. Ryota Chikuzen & Yuji Hino (Kyushu Pro 1/14/2018) This is fun matchup on paper that ended up being about as good as it looks. Hitamaru is Kyosuke Sasaki, one of the few U-Style guys still working in 2018, though he doesn't do shootstyle matwork anymore he is kind of like a mini Akitoshi Saito now. ASOSAN is a guy I really like as he is a fun tubby indy dude with a cool mask who has a nice punch and Piledriver finish etc. Not to mention the awesome weird mask and he likes many of my Twitter posts. Hino is a K-Dojo dude who I remember from his series with Kengo Mashimo and... well he's just ridiculously bloated these days. Good lord he looks like he is a bout to blow up. I do not advocate for this kind of thing at all. This was mostly your standard fare indy tag but it was 4 guys who have no problem hitting eachother hard and getting hit hard. Hino especially really cracks people with chops, and Sasaki while he does do a lot of thigh slapping (It's 2018 daddy!) will really lace you up with kicks and I really liked his shotai combo on fat Yuji Hino. Chikuzen looks like he could be potentially a really fun worker as he has the size and odd charisma to be 2018 indy Taue not to mention his hilarious trunk design he just but doesn't quite live up to it aside from some nice snug offense. It's especially weird that you don't get a ton of expressive character work in a Kyushu Pro match were it would be welcome. While this was plenty stiff I thought the early goings needed something to kick the aggression up a notch, the posturing I hit you-you hit me stuff threw me off, I really don't want these guys to work like a bunch of Nu Japan simps. Sasaki ends up playing FIP and he does a fine job tho they don't go in depth with the segment and move on to your typical indy break up a bunch of pinfalls finishing stretch. I really liked ASOSANs big senton (which looked even better than that fat fuck Hinos) and crowbarish sumo slaps not to mention the big piledriver, generally the bomb dropping was cool with guys hitting massive powerbombs and splashes altough this needed something in the 1st half to really get me into it. Anyways if you are really into 2018 there is no reason for you not to watch Kyushu Pro. Mentai Kid vs. Kazuaki Mihara (Kyushu Pro 1/14/2018) Mentai Kid is the quasi-ace of Kyushu Pro. At first glance he looks like your run of the mill indy Rey Mysterio clone, but from what I've seen, Mentai Kid is genuinely a really good and interesting wrestler. Mihara on the other hand is your very unimpressive pudgy indy guy, which makes Kyushu Pros booking of him as a main eventer really baffling, I guess he is Chikuzens brother in law or something. This built like an indy King's Road match with the extended control segments and cutoffs that the style needs. I really liked the early portion which was dominated by Mentai Kid, who would get the advantage using his athleticism and then work over Miharas mid section with nasty looking double stomps and even a nice corner punch combo. The Mihara dominated portions were on the other hand much less interesting. He did have a nice vertical suplex and elbow drops, but he went for chinlocking pretty fast, and his initial transition looked like garbage. He does get in some nice cut off spots thanks to Kids athleticism. The finishing stretch was overdone 2.9999s altough it was kept interesting by Kids graceful comebacks and slapping the shit out of Mihara. Mihara on the other hand was kind of liked a Fire Pro edit as he had some cool big moves (Muscle Buster variation and big lariats that Mentai Kid bumped like a madman for) but little interesting between the moves, he was huffing and looked like he was about to check his watch between lariats. Anyways overall this was probably better than quite a few pimped matches I've seen so far and Mentai Kid looked like top material but the bottom of the barrel indy vibes from Mihara kept this from being an actively good entry in the canon of japanese matches where they kick out of a looot of big moves. Hitamaru Sasaki vs. Kazuaki Mihara (Kyushu Pro 4/3/2018) In the previous match Mihara looked like an average guy in a match too big for his skillset. Here he just looked like a lazy piece of shit. The early attempts of Sasaki to get acceptable matwork out of Mihara were almost comical. At one point Sasaki goes into greco pummeling and Mihara just lazily waddles to the ropes and tosses him outside. Fortunately for us Sasaki decides to save this match by threating Mihara as what he is and just kicks seven times the shit out of his sorry ass. Goodness gracious Sasaki was PISSED here laying into Mihara with massive hurty looking kicks and slaps over and over. He looked like he'd be Top 20 in the world if he made tape more often. Give this a watch if you're in the mood for a classic japanese style asskicking. The finish is good too so I guess this match is actually not bad. We get more long title matches involving Kazuki Mihara in which he absolutely sucks ass. So Kazuaki Mihara already easily takes the spot as my most hated wrestler of 2018 for ruining the Kyushu main event scene. I liked the GENKAI match as a crazy spectacle but the closest to an actually good match is him vs. Naoki Sakurajima. Sakurajima works like a mix of different 90s japanese wrestling legends but he has good enough execution and charisma to get you into it and he really works his ass off doing all kinds of nifty stuff to make a compelling match. He also hits great shining wizards and boots etc. Def. a hidden good wrestler that Sakurajima guy. Genkai vs. Kodai Nozaki (Kyushu Pro 5/27/2018) GENKAI used to be Daiyu Kawauchi and then Hideyoshi for awhile. So 15 years ago he was young spunky talented guy getting his ass beaten in CAPTURE International, and now he is really rugged looking veteran dude who really likes to do WWE trademarks. No really, Superman Punch, Pedigree, RKO, he was doing them all here. Kodai Nozaki is a rookie phenom, impressive by physique alone, with tree trunk sized legs and cool judo moves. This was a swell match where they clobber eachother hard, make some cool transitions and cutoffs and build to a hot finish. Nozaki absolutely sold his ass off bumping big and making you believe in those RKOs. Not a great match but a good take on Indy Kings Road that won't bore you to shit. Nozaki is going places for sure if he ever leaves Kyushu. So that about sums up Kyushu Pro in 2018. There are some more fun matches so be sure to give their YouTube channel a visit. They also have a DVD which has an interesting looking Mentai/Genkai match so that is something I will nag tapetraders to find for sure. Meanwhile I'm sure Kyushu Pro will step up and become the #1 promotion in the world in 2019 when they decide to release everything they film.

This disc has been on Slambamjam for atleast 2 years.

I distinctly remember reading that Lasartesse was vocal about the guys doing lots of cardio because he felt every match should go around 20 minutes. I'm pretty sure Regal and Cesaro did a spot in their match that was lifted straight from Lasartesse/Van Buyten. But on the other hand, I also remember a story that Lasartesse training Franz Schumann was mostly him making Schumann do back bumps till he couldn't move anymore. Also Kretschmer mentioned Lasartesse didn't train anyone in his class and instead it was one of the referees, Benesch (?).

His wife confirmed he passed away yesterday at the age of 90. Apparently he was still in good health recently. Without a debut the greatest swiss wrestler of all time and very important in europe. He made a big impression on Regal and helped train Cesaro. Still hoping more of his french TV work from his prime shows up. It seems Lasartesse/Duranton vs. Drapp/Vignal is no longer online... hopefully somebody saved it

Thanks for the heads up. Ashino/Soya is on the To Watch list now, same as Hollis/Slim J. Watched: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. WALTER (wXw 5/18/2018) The body of this was pretty great as they took a rather minimalist approach. WALTER destroying Zack in the opening sections with huge chops and body slams goes a long way in getting me into a match. This was one of the more likeable Zack Sabre Jr. performance I've seen as he doesn't do any cute shit and instead mostly works over WALTERs leg with brutal stomps and kicks. Him baiting WALTER into throwing the chop was a nice touch aswell. I also really appreciate him *not* waiting for WALTER to get in perfect position so he could hit his running kicks.I should add that Zack throws really weak european uppercuts and his noodle legwork was awkward. They forego the legwork story to do your pretty run of the mill finishing section with some elaborate sequences which feel a little out of place in a match that was approaching Hashimoto/Yamazaki style simplicity before. I also really dislike that spot where one guy does a backflip to escape the rear naked choke as it makes the other guy look like a dumbass who can't use his legs. I appreciate the simple stripped approach they tried here but I'll see if I can find a better WALTER/Sabre match. Pierre Carl Ouellet vs. WALTER (GCW, 4/6). Liked parts of this but didn't love the whole match. Pretty sloppy and it seemed WALTER had no idea how to work this kind of brawl for a big audience. Did like PCO actually avoiding WALTERs chops and the way he sold coming across as an old man pushing close to his body giving out... well that may have not been selling. Still this is all about that big moment where a bloody PCO gets fired up and the crowd really gets into him. Before that this was a pretty meandering affair. I thought PCO could've done better than all the flippies though it popped the crowd. Ah what do I know. I imagine Park vs. PCO would be amazing.

Watched: Shotaro Ashino vs. Pegaso Illuminar, W1 10/24/2018 I have pretty much avoided Wrestle-1 so this is my first time seeing either guy. Pegaso is a really skinny dude in a mask while Ashino looks like a dime store Hideki Suzuki with a massive bloated gut. They trade some faux-WoS holds and it's all fine, then Pegaso hits a really bad leg trip, low height dropkick that barely connects and 2 dives where he almost misses. Not a good intro. He does take a really nasty bump to the floor next and Ashino starts working over the leg to set up his ankle lock "finisher". Ashinos legwork was pretty good, ramming Pegasos leg into the steel post without care etc. Of course, Pegaso makes his comeback by backflipping, hitting a bunch of kicks, sprinting across the ring etc... we all saw it coming. The finishing run was basically Kurt Angle stuff with Ashino locking in half a dozen ankle holds, hitting multiple germans etc. This was kept mercifully short. Ashino actually looked decent, but Pegaso is not the kind of worker I want to watch. Soberano Jr. vs. Titan (CMLL 6/25/2018) I have seen Titan in some good matches. Soberano Jr. I remember from the En Busca den Un Idolo a couple years back where he was one of the less outstanding wrestlers. Apparently he's getting a push now or something? Anyways they do some really basic opening hold work which is actually fine. The first fall ends very fast though with Titan locking in a cross leglock. The 2nd fall already has Titan putting a so-so beatdown on Soberano Jr, pulling on his mask etc. Not really title match stuff. Soberano Jr. actually has good execution on his dropkicks etc, inbetween comical amounts of thigh slapping. I honestly thought this was rather boring and forgettable. It has that typical modern lucha title match syndrom where they move through too quickly. So when Titan starts playing dirty it doesn't have the same impact as if they had actually built to it. They also do the "I'm super exhausted" style selling less than 10 minutes into this. There weren't even a ton of spots here. They try to build a story around Titans leg submission teasing it a bit like the Figure 4 in the 3rd but it doesn't amount to much. Rating: A Pro Wrestling Match that I just watched..

Both these are on my to-watch list for sure. But first, I wanted to watch... Timothy Thatcher vs. a bunch of scrubs (and one really talented dude) Watched: Timothy Thatcher vs. Lucky Kid (wXw 11/24/2018) Lucky Kid is a good example for the type of worker I don't care for: not very athletic junior with a thrown together video game moveset who thinks no selling is awesome, doesn't really build to his spots and loves engaging in prancing standoffs. One of his moves is a Crippler Crossface, except he doesn't actually crossface the other guy. That's an impressive level of dumb. So this is a good test of Thatcher. The opening work was extremely simple and limited Kid to basically two spots – slick low dropkick into a forward roll that actually looks cool and a weak plancha. Thatcher delivering a beatdown was good as he was channeling the likes of Finlay and Terry Rudge. Hooking the Kids nose, hitting stiff elbows to the gut and working him over with knees etc. I especially liked Thatcher slowly countering a sloppy Octopus Hold by freeing his arm with his legs and then just yanking Kids leg over his head as if to snap his ankle. I would've liked Thatcher to act like Kid was beneath him a little more but he did have some amusing facial expressions. The finishing run wasn't much as it was a showy, slow series of moves and actively standing there waiting for your opponent to hit a counter move that really doesn't get me excited but we did get a crafty Thatcher finish. Timothy Thatcher vs. Veit Müller (wXw 11/23/2018) Thatcher german tour continues as he faces Veit Müller. Müller is a thickly built pro wrestler with sideburns who has a really nice european uppercut and does not do any of the stupid shit I hate. Veit is not without his flaws, but a good guy overall. Veit adds very little to the match aside from his really nice european uppercut, but this is a pretty textbook match with Thatcher beating down the local boy, giving him a handful of token spots. Veit's choice of the goofy cravate suplex as his finisher is questionable and he looked lost grappling with Thatcher, altough he also does use the Figure 4, which is commendable. Thatcher looked good roughing up Müller altough it probably wasn't as brutal as what he did to Lucky Kid. And this was a decent piece of pro wrestling with another neat finish. Did love those european uppercut exchanges. Timothy Thatcher vs. Jonah Rock (wXw 3/9/2018) Jonah Rock is this ridiculously massive dude who has naturally impressive looking offense but tends to look lost between moves. They basically work a fun WCWSN match with both workers bringing their fun stuff but with little character to it. Thatcher chopping down Rock doesn't look very different than Thatcher chopping down someone like Lucky Kid as he tends to sell for everyone almost the same way. The best moment by far was Rock squishing Thatcher with a fat senton when he was pulling card. That kind of moment is good because it has character. Anyway a fun 10 minute match like these between two guys who aren't really used to eachother is a sign of good workers and I liked this despite some naysaying and nitpicking. Timothy Thatcher vs. Fred Yehi (wXw 10/4/2018) Really cool match. Snug, uncooperative work, even moreso than the WALTER match. Should mention Yehi, who is obviously a great athlete, looked credible hanging with the much bigger Thatcher here. Really liked his snug indian deathlock, unpredictable stomps aswell as just grinding Thatcher into the mat with a quater nelson at one point. Those knees also looked great. Classy shit. This was different from previous Thatcher matches as he didn't put a beating on his opponent and instead it was mostly him being pushed by gutsy Fred Yehi, altough he added some gritty facelock and the feeling of uncooperativeness. He really looked like he didn't want to take those stomps. I thought Yehis last comeback looked too easy as he started getting his shit in, but whatever.

See this is why Yuki Ishikawa is special: he is not as athletic as the top tier U-Style guys, but he will add character and psychology to any match. So you have the resident whacky matwork artist Crafter M taking on wily veteran technician Ishikawa. In itself this is bound to be a good match, but because it's Ishikawa we also get a STORY~! and every exchange here ends up not just being technically excellent and beautiful to watch, but also meaning something. There are not a lot of vets who would be willing to show this much ass against anyone let alone a young nobody in a geeky mask, but Ishikawa is totally willing to let Crafter look great. So we get lots of really entertaining Crafter working at his highest level to outsmart and twirl around his bigger opponent and forcing him to the ropes again and again. Crafter gets to look great and Ishikawa does a nice job selling the increasing worry. Especially loved when he seemingly got his groove on when got the indian deathlock but M reversed his next attack and sent him for the ropes again. Due to this the final exchanges end up being super intense with both guys slapping eachother in frustration and Ishikawa trying everything he knows to find a counter. And then a great finish to top it off. This not a big match or anything but it still ends up coming across as one of the greatest tricks Ishikawa has pulled off.