Jordan

The offensive display in this match is insane. I can't think of a match that more flirts with excess but never dips over into it than this. I mean, the first 10-15 minutes done by somebody else probably falls off the rails but with these two it just seems to work. Probably because of the execution, it's so well laid out, but it doesn't feel video gamey. It's so human and organic with such a nice flow to it, so it doesn't feel like a spotfest. Only thing I can think of that's similar is the Warriors/Cavs Finals last year where Cleveland decided to run pace with Golden State and you get this offensive masterpiece that you just ignore the way defense gets pushed aside. Most big Kobashi/Misawa matches actually leave me cold but this one, even before you hit the elbow injury story, has the right amount of animosity you need in those big AJPW matches. Kobashi's got that right hint of malice in this one. It's the sort of performance Kawada would break out. Every strike, every move, there's a notion of disdain behind it. I feel like that's missing in their other big matches. Also, the momentum shifts in this match are so controlled and valued. You can really break down the match by each period where one of them has the upperhand and the constant struggle over that Even the final segment where you've got them firing off suplexes like they're on fumes has its place to sell the impact of the match has had on them. Misawa finding that opening with the enzu elbow followed by the tiger suplex letting you know where the match is heading feels like a Big Deal. The finish finds a way to work because Misawa masterfully sold the elbow throughout and needed to pull out a twelve year old move to set up the elbow strike. 42 minutes long, and still flies by like it's 15. Great match.

LOL

Wow, I didn't even know this existed in full. I bought the TV week it aired off Lynch but it was clipped. EDIT: I finally watched this later this evening and had a blast. Opening work was simple but had the kind of cagey feel you'd want considering the differences (size, age, height, etc) between the two. Fujinami always looks ready to catch a kick and strike or dragon screw Hash's leg while Hash is looking to destroy. And man, after he hits that first DDT he really does go on the warpath. Unless the video quality tricked me, he breaks out some knee strikes to Fujinami's hamstring that I had never seen him do before. The variety of strikes he had at his disposal was always crazy to me. Fujinami really shines here too, as that strike exchange they had that got GIFed on twitter is even more awesome within the context of the match. Slaps, punches, close quarter combat that's off to the side on the ropes so it doesn't seem like some clearly planned standoff and finally Hashimoto closes things with a high kick to get back in control. When Fujinami finally breaks through and hits the dragon screw and starts to get some momentum in, it feels like a major and rewarding development. Submission work down the stretch had a lot of drama and really the way Fujinami immediately switched from the dragon sleeper right back to the normal sleeper when he saw Hashimoto threatening to rise to his feet was so smooth. Great match.

If you had to pick a singular year for Misawa's best in my opinion it would be '95 and this might be his masterpiece. Every time I watch this it's always incredible to see just how extended and almost subtle his comeback is. It's like watching a team have Golden State down 14 with like 5 minutes left and then Curry just finds time to hit some threes over about 3 minutes and you realize where this is going. Misawa's elbows carry that kind of potency and you really believe if a guy starts eating too many late he's just got no shot. Taue from the start sets that he's going to attack Misawa's broken face and it's so well done, from Misawa's selling to Taue's attack. And they gradually build to it. He takes a few shots early but he really starts to go after it at the perfect time (when it feels like Misawa is really gaining momentum) and then for the next few minutes you're treated to a great beatdown and some exquisite selling from Misawa. The way he jerks his body around after getting thrown into a turnbuckle manages to show just how painful his orbital bone injury is to the fans in probably the best way possible. The set up for the bombs in general throughout have that great peak 90s AJPW sense of struggle but the Nodowa off the apron is easily the best one and feels like a clincher for Taue. Until of course Misawa finds his opening again, again and again for his elbows. Taue's last stand to try to keep his CC hopes alive by grabbing at Misawa's face is a great moment but equally great is that simple but defiant shove Misawa does to Taue's hands followed by caving his face in with one more elbow before putting him away. As satisfying a victory as I can remember from Misawa.

Yeah I really liked this. The call of Misawa and Hansen being stubborn with how much they wanted to gain control is perfect. Dual armwork from both with them trying to wiggle out of holds or just resorting to beating on eachother was well done and kept me intrigued. And I love how in between they'd just periodically kick or slap at the other guy to get across not only a sense of disdain but also desperation to get an advantage. That battle near the ropes with Misawa stuffing Hansen's shoulder blocks and then immediately diving on top of him after he created some space was awesome. But I will say I fall on the side of thinking the finish missed a count with how it was executed. I have no problem with Misawa KO elbow finishes but I feel like he should've been ducking a lariat or maybe just a little bit faster to get over for the cover. Either way, still a great match.

Finish felt abrupt but match was gritty. Joe stuffing suplex attempts on the ropes and using clinchwork and Brock having to break out feints to actually do suplexes made the suplex city stuff worth it for once. Probably liked it more than anything I've seen from Joe on the main roster besides the Roman matches. But this show was pretty great. I enjoyed everything I saw (didn't see the preshow or Rollins/Bray) and I'll finally remember to set RAW to DVR again.

I'll take it, want to see them have more matches.

Think she did that double jointed fakeout before, during one of the Becky Lynch matches Also, tag match was great, dunno if I liked it more than some of the stuff Revival or the Shield did but it definitely exceeded my expectations

Pretty hyped for this show and I haven't even been watching RAWs the last few weeks. Hope it delivers, card looks pretty good.

Cena '07-'13 I was just finishing off running through his '07 when a thread like this was last made, and it still seemed incredible. And with me watching a lot of his '08-'10 stuff a while ago that I missed I feel he was still great during these years as well. I've kinda soured on him the last few years but he can still make me give a program a chance with his promo work and general charisma. Maybe a Strowman feud or a Reigns match.... Misawa '94-'97 I know OJ likes the Jordan comparison, but around '95 he feels like the closest thing I've seen in wrestling to current Steph Curry. Just the energy, the places he can take a crowd with his selling and ability to work his comebacks is amazing. Reigns '15-Present Feels embarrassing that not even 10 years later and people are really doing the Cena situation again because of how they perceived his push. Oh well, he just keeps churning out great matches and easily is the best way to establish a guy as a real main event player (Finn, Strowman, Joe, Rollins). Hashimoto '93-'98 When the WAR feud hits he just takes it up another gear. Then he has that crazy '94 where NJPW just throws everybody at him and he's getting nothing but quality out of them. One more basketball comparison but he really reminds me of LeBron during this period, just in his versatility (especially at his size) and how he feels central to everything important in NJPW at the time. Rey '05-'10 Anytime I randomly throw on a match from this period the GOAT TV worker talk still seems like the correct assessment. He seemed guaranteed to turn in a great summer feud no matter the opponent. '06 may be my favorite year from him just because of the amount of different people he got to work with in such a short time. I'll also cosign that Casas '93-'97 peak but probably just add on the year '92 as well. Wish he'd talk more about the Choshu worship.

I'm gonna go YES as well for Strowman/Reigns. I think this blew away their first match which I liked too but Roman's selling performance was phenomenal. I also loved him straight punching Strowman in the face at the start to let you know how he felt about the beatdown a few weeks ago. I wish they had a better way to get Strowman of offense other than him just running into stuff but at his size it is a pretty amazing visual and he literally broke the LED light on one of the ringposts so I'll take it. Other people mentioned it but Roman's phantom kickout late was great as well and let you know it was basically over at that point. Great match.

....okay.

This ruled, loved how so much of it took place at close range. And considering how great Koko's punches are that feels like the best course of action. Dude's combinations and even those mongolian chops all look phenomenal. Koko stuffing Flair's stuff early and looking like he had him figured out was well done and that chop Flair delivered to get back in control might be one of the best I've seen from him. Just a really well done slugfest.

The pre-match stuff in this is hilarious, from Corino's sort of tongue in cheek entrance mocking the big entrances of guys in Japan (as if he wasn't working for Z1 at the time) to his neverending list of titles he has named. I've always thought the start of this was kind of odd with them trading leglocks but when they get nose to nose and Homicide delivers THE slap it's on. You get a pretty violent brawl with Homicide turning in a great babyface performance to work well off of Corino's ability to rile up a crowd. The missed dive was nuts and really takes the match to another level as you get a nasty bladejob from Homicide which Corino goes after. I feel like the finishing stretch tries to be a little too "epic" for this and the commentary is downright embarrassing at some points ("are we going to have to censor this???") but this has too much going on in between all of that for me to come down too harshly on it. Easily the best match they had during their feud.

I almost forgot how much great stuff is in this. Bryan's early beatdown rules and Orton's character work overall in this is some of his best since his Legend Killer days. The limbwork to Bryan is brutal and although you could critique Bryan's selling somewhat down the stretch I think he gets the point across. In fact his initial sell of his arm getting slammed down almost worked me and I had seen the match live and a few times after that. Plus this is probably the best low blow finish I can think of. Great match.

I've seen people call this a top ROH match of all-time and I still don't know if I agree with that but whenever I watch this again it seems to rise in stock with me. They both show up in street clothes and taped fists so already points to them for that. And then they give us a really well done hate-filled brawl. AJ's closed fists to somebody's forehead always seem like something that shouldn't look good or come off well but they do. And that headbutt barrage ruled. I don't know how to describe this, but how organic the side suplex through the table spot is done is really incredible to see and I give it the rewind whenever I see it. Plus that brainbuster on the chair is disgusting. So yeah, a lot of great stuff to this but I still can't put my finger on why I hold back on really ranking it higher. Probably the finish, feels kind of deflating.

This was really good and I was kinda shocked the crowd started trying to shit on it near the end. TJP makes more sense as a douchey heel with all his dabbing and lame video game talk and matches up well with somebody like Gallagher who can actually go on the mat. The leg selling from Gallagher was great and his combo Finlay apron pull + headbutt late was an amazing sort of last ditch effort to try and swing the match his way. That collapse sell late on the dropkick attempt felt like something out of a Kawada match.

I liked how they flipped the script at the start with Show doing dive teases and such. Yeah they did the kip up and chain wrestling thing last time but it still wows people and that dropkick to Show looked rough. I'm not sure if I prefer this to their first match, but it's a good matchup and I liked how they milked the drama for the superplex spot. I also think having Strowman stand tall after the ring collapse was a great wrinkle to the usual way these ring collapse matches end.

Yeah this was nice. Great drama created for the submissions and cool to see Akiyama work this way. I'll add that I loved how determined Akiyama was to win here with the guillotine. And of course he still has the best knees in the business.

I watched this when WWE uploaded it a few weeks ago and it almost felt like it was from a different universe. I mean you get them doing tests of strength and Cena basically working as a heavyweight. Also, I nearly forgot how good Batista's strikes really looked. He nearly decapitates Cena on some of that neckwork. Which was actually really well done and a great callback to their 2008 Summerslam match. This felt rushed/off near the end like they realized they were running low on time but other than that I really enjoyed this.

I think people should seek out the full version of this because I too felt like it was somewhat lacking when I watched it clipped. If anything, you get to see Yamazaki break out some roundhouse kicks and an axe kick that made me hit rewind. The matwork is gritty as is the armwork that becomes the major point of the match. I really liked Hashimoto building his comebacks around those headbutts when he had a bad limb late. And man, could anybody else get away with obliterating a guy with his bad limb and have it still seem to make sense and even add to the match? Maybe Misawa. And that brainbuster to win this. Hashimoto might be the most definitive finisher in wrestling. I can only think of a few times where he annihilated a guy and then wins where I didn't feel satisfied, no matter if the match was 20 minutes or 10.

At the sum, this was really good, great even. The matwork had some highs and lows and yeah Okada looked pretty bad through most of it but it got the point across and I liked Shibata's mixed in WoS stuff and I'm a sucker for the early armbar scare that crowds seem to always eat up no matter what era it is. I think my least favorite part of this was the back to back "knock your opponent outside, throw them into the guardrail, and hit a move" segments that felt like blatant filler. I think the strike exchanges, like the matwork, had the good (Shibata's violence) and the bad (the length, Okada's responses) but again, they served their purpose. Finally the finishing stretch was filled with awesome stuff. Shibata standing tall through The Rainmaker conjured up memories of Hashimoto/Choshu and the submissions were well done and packed with drama. I can understand Okada's comeback feeling cheap to people but I think I prefer it over an extended comeback which I just don't think he could pull off and it's not like it wasn't well executed. So yeah, great match, definitely a MOTYC even if it had some things in it that make me roll my eyes when it comes to NJPW main events. Hopefully Shibata's alright.

I love this match more every time I see it. Hase and Hashimoto just have phenomenal chemistry on the mat. When Hase would find some way to ground Hashimoto, he'd always find a smart way to get out of it that puts over the danger of Hase while making you aware that Hash knows what he's doing down there. It's very much a chess match. And then....Hase starts to try and strike with him. Jimmy Redman already talked about it earlier in the thread but it really is this "well it's over now" sort of moment where you know he can't get back in control after this. From here they move into the finishing run which is extraordinary and filled with incredible drama and the sort of back and forth that feels earned and well crafted and not some your turn, my turn. Hell Hase does two straight no sells of Hashimoto's DDTs and I don't even care because of how it's executed. Finish is brutal and definitive and Sasaki coming in the ring and challenging Hash to a showdown at the Dome next month made me hyped for a match that happened 22 years ago.

Nice gritty match with Orton breaking out sprawls and AJ treating us to some nice limbwork and strategy. If this is what we're in store for since they're apparently about to start a program, then it should be really good.

There's a part of me who hopes Roman is Seth's new partner. Just to see if they can drive somebody to try and rush the ring.