Jordan

I love an extended squash and this was pretty good for that genre. Can't beat whenever Joe breaks out the sweeping low kick and Zayn sold well underneath.

Main event ruled. Glad the crowd was behind it as much as they were, and I can't imagine Reigns/Strowman not being great. Actually really looking forward to Fastlane.

This hit desert island for me. We talk about how engaging their lockups are but what makes it better is their willingness to return to them, and putting them to use to actually gain an advantage. What really seeps through here is the clear disdain they have for each other. The way Choshu “blocks” a headlock attempt from Hashimoto by literally just sending both of them crashing into the ropes feels like some uncooperative moment where you question if everything is going as planned. But it also gets across a sense of desperation, the same with Choshu resorting to a straight punch to try and stop Hashimoto’s building momentum. Then Hashimoto has had enough and we know by now that ‘96 Choshu has no business hanging with peak Hashimoto so after he stomps his face into a corner he begins to unleash the beatdown. And it’s again one of those beatdowns where because of how Hashimoto carries himself it feels even more violent than maybe anybody else is capable of. It gets across the difference in ability but it also creates sympathy for Choshu and has you wondering how he can turn the tide. It comes in the form of a leg injury that Choshu goes after followed by the first run of Choshu lariats. I liked how Hash seemed pissed off that he had let it to come to this as he got back into the ring for the assault, as if he had to just take his licks. Another thing is how Hashimoto at his size is capable of shifting in and out of monster heavyweight who you wonder can actually be picked up or slammed. It’s why it’s a Big Deal whenever Choshu gets him up for even a suplex and why the superplex here feels like a major point. Finally, as Choshu now knows he has a shot here if he can destroy Hashimoto with a few more lariats, we get maybe the greatest WWE finish that never took place in WWE. You can’t tell me “CHOSHU!!!!!” isn’t something that fits right in with a Wrestlemania moment compilation as something they’d replay over and over for years. You could probably convince me the 12/6/96 matches in AJPW and CMLL surpass this but I don’t think they turn into the sort of emotional rollercoaster this does. It’s got the violent brawling of the Apuestas match, it’s got the history/"learned psychology" of the AJPW tag and it’s got the definitive and memorable ending. It’s got it all. MOTY.

It's interesting how a match that had as many F5s and Spears as it did never felt like finisher spam. Credit has to go with character work and selling involved, along with the pacing. Brock popping off an F5 early and treating Reigns like a joke plays well into building a hole for Reigns to get out of. And what a selling performance from Reigns. Brock's lariat cutoff is incredible as was him actually displaying a variety of suplexes instead of just germans. Reigns progressively wearing Brock down was awesome and the staggered selling Brock breaks out for the superman punches was phenomenal. You buy Reigns having to bust out multiple spears because it's Brock that you can understand the spear going back to being protected against other guys. Finish/Rollins involvement is what it is but that wasn't even 10% of the match so I can't really deduct anything off that and it's not the worst way to involve the briefcase. Still 2015 MOTY.

Really like this match, and I'd agree it being the best thing I've seen from Balor. Just a very effective speed/power match. What's interesting to me is how Reigns worked around this time period. He sort of slips in and out of being a heel for major portions of matches. And it wasn't even subtle. It was on display in the Rollins MITB match where he trash talks him and practically bullies him for the first half of the match and it was on display here. I don't know if that was the case of WWE "punishing" him by taking some clean losses and they decided to have him work more heelish to protect that, but it kinda sucks that he more or less dropped that aspect of his character for the Rusev and Owens feuds.

I remembered watching this before I think simply because it was in related for another match and the dislike bar had me intrigued so I gave it another look before saying anything here. Sasaki flipping the script on Ogawa to open it is indeed huge. Every time Hashimoto faced Ogawa he had to figure out some way to get on the attack early. With this it's so jarring and shocking to see somebody completely eat up Ogawa like that. Similar to how Brock shoving Goldberg down at Survivor Series felt like a big deal. What makes it work even more is that Ogawa sells it so well (something he's always done well in any matches from this period) that it feels like a major moment. Even better is his response STO that he hits after the ringfilled brawl ends followed by him laughing at Sasaki and egging him on. He and Murakami just got it when it came to presenting themselves as these insane shooters who could destroy anybody. The sort of drama and unpredictability that creates is just unreal. And like you mentioned, the second Ogawa started kicking Sasaki in the head followed by the ref shove I immediately started fearing the worst. Happy Sasaki "won" the whole thing I guess by forcing Ogawa to run away after getting in a German plus lariat. Enjoyed this, maybe not on a MOTYC level but it's something I'd return to so that's good enough for me.

Loved the handwork from Muto and especially when he blocked an armbar attempt by literally stepping on the bad hand and then stomping it. Might be my favorite thing I've seen him do in a match. Nice match overall.

Alright, been working on this for a minute but feel content with it for now. Will probably update and move matches up/down as time passes.

60s - Giant Baba vs. Destroyer, AJPW 3/5/69 70s - Terry Funk vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, AJPW 6/11/76 80s - MS-1 vs. Sangre Chicana, EMLL 9/23/83 90s - Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada, AJPW 6/3/94 00s - John Cena vs. Umaga, WWE Royal Rumble 2007 10s - Negro Casas vs. Blue Panther, CMLL 3/2/12

This is on the same level to me as the 6/83 match but unlike that one which feels more like a dramatic title fight that progresses to an epic climax, this is just an absolute brawl with Dundee trying to make Lawler blind in that right eye. Plus Lawler's comeback teases in this rule, like the one where he just launches himself basically at Dundee to try and stop him. Just great stuff. The toss over the rail made me audibly go "what the fuck" and I can handle Lawler's burst at the end because it occurs almost out of desperation and not in some no-selling kind of way.

This felt pretty transcendent to me and if not for it being in the same year as the MS-1/Sangre Chicana super classic this would have to be MOTY. To me what stands out is how their brawling and punches become more hate-filled as the match progresses, coupled with how well the selling and pacing behind them is. In a lot of ways, this match makes me think of Misawa/Kawada strike exchanges only it's a decade plus before those guys really reached their prime. The Dundee counter of Lawler over the ropes followed by the running shot into the announcer's table is awesome as is Dundee's subsequent beatdown. This leads to my favorite Lawler comeback as he has this "fuck this" attitude behind it and then subsequently tries to obliterate Dundee. THEN it gets taken to another level when you have that flash rollup win attempt by Dundee that's about as well done as you can possibly imagine. Finally, and to go back to Misawa/Kawada one more time the Dundee desperation tackles>Lawler uppercut counter>Lawler piledriver sequence feels like a predecessor to the ending of 6/3/94 and just like that match is about as definitive a finish as you could ask for. Incredible match.

Hadn’t seen this in a few years but man glad it still rules. Murakami was practically born to play the role of wackjob shooter who just tries to kick whatever is in his path. This plays perfectly to Ishikawa’s strengths as his selling and timing make for high drama. Loved the chaos outside as well and Ishikawa slowly making it back to the ring for one last chance to win.

I generally enjoyed the show and thought the Rumble was great. I can't think of any recent Rumbles I'd prefer. And I won't be too much of a wet blanket on Cena/Styles but I've just accepted that 2014-Current Cena's big match formula just isn't going to do it for me, although I thought it was better than the Summerslam match on rewatch.

This was like one of those Tenryu/Hashimoto matches where they basically obliterate a guy to the point where you're sympathetic for them and want to see if they can figure out a way to survive. Just an absolute mauling and I completely lost it on the high kick Danielson threw late and had to rewind it a few times.

I haven't seriously given out star ratings in nearly 5 years and even then that was just a small pocket of time because I wanted to have a way to organize my thoughts on a bunch of projects and feuds. Recently I've just been dumping reviews in a google doc (and on here) but with me just aping that SC fun/good/great/epic scale with some minor adjustments. I really liked the 100 point scale that the puroresu.tv guys were doing I might try that out in the future.

This crowd would've really helped the Zayn/Strowman 10 minute time limit match. This is everything I could ask for from them.

The transitions through the Jobbers getting mauled by Braun/Braun vs. Rollins/Zayn & Braun stuff/Jericho & Rollins and now into this promo was pretty well done even if I don't care about Jericho, Owens or Seth.

Braun/Zayn Last Man Standing next week has potential

Christian delivers an incredible selling performance and Swagger looks like an absolute beast here, conjuring up memories of ‘94 Dr. Death. I loved how much mileage Christian was getting out of pacing his comeback and teasing a truly sustained run of offense. He did a similar thing in his Del Rio match from Summerslam ‘13 that I watched and it was great there too. Finishing stretch ruled and Christian not being able to put together the killswitch and ending up victim to the gutwrench came together very well.

Whew, this ruled. I knew there was no way I wouldn't love this after Yamamoto hit that abesigiri and managed to dive in for a kneebar attempt in the same motion. And Otsuka had a lot of counters and setups in here that looked so impossible that I had to rewind them multiple times. Also loved Yamamoto late flash submission attempts to try and stop the inevitable. Great match, I should try and binge watch some BattlArts stuff since I finally have a period where I'm not swamped by grad school stuff.

YES

Watched the Iron Man again and the first 20 minutes felt way better and in fact I enjoyed that more than the final 10. OT was pretty great and I know this sounds crazy but Charlotte turning the Bank Statement into the Figure 8 the way she did felt like something out of RINGS.

Oh shit

Yamazaki is a dark horse candidate for my favorite Hashimoto opponent and this is probably the best match that they had. The first two minutes of this are so incredible as just a feel out portion but you get this insane level of tension for when somebody is finally going to gain an advantage and when Hashimoto finally corners Yamazaki and completely obliterates him with a chop you can't help but go crazy. I remember ditch on his site saying Yamazaki had been submitting guys left and right so that added to the crowd buying that he might get a sub win but that was also aided by the awesome Hashimoto selling performance in this. He kept kicking away with that leg but he also kept shaking it out throughout his comeback.

I thought this ruled, in the same vein as that Cena/Gabriel match where you've got the top guy showcasing why he's deserving of his spot while also making his opponent seem like a threat. I watched this after watching two Danielson/Joe matches from 2003 and not only did I like this way more Joe looked on another level here than he did on those. I liked him periodically looking down at his fist after a strike like he knew he had the ultimate equalizer and that slap was insane.