Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

dawho5

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    4960

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by dawho5

  1. dawho5
    This is another Misawa tribute match and I really loved it. It's not something I'd vote for as MOTD, but this match was all kinds of nostalgic awesome for me. The Holy Demon Army rides again! Akiyama is here! Kobashi is at the announce table! Kyohei Wada is the ref!!!!! (As an aside...KYOHEI!!!!!) And...KENTA is here? Kawada and Taue are both looking very emotional during intros. They are over like mad though. KENTA slaps the emotion right out of Kawada on a rope break, then does some step kicks just to piss off Kawada. Kawada gives KENTA a lot early with no payoff, but that's coming, we all know it. Akiyama and Kawada have one of those absolutely brilliant AJPW style strike exchanges. KENTA gets on the wrong side of the dickish submissions that Taue and Kawada made famous (and the crowd eats it up). Akiyama and KENTA play the dickish heels that Kawada and Taue did in AJPW, but in a more 2000s way. Taue and Kawada take their lumps, but you know they've got a big comeback in them. Taue finally tags to Kawada after a few KENTA attacks sent Kawada's way while he was building heat on Taue. Kawada unloads on KENTA and the crowd is really starting to warm up. Taue hits a tigerdriver on KENTA! They work to a big tease of the nodowa/backdrop (!!), but Akiyama isn't having it. Kawada powerbombs KENTA INTO Akiyama to get him out of the ring. Double team and KENTA kicks out! Taue hits the backdrop nodowa for the 3 count! Post-match, Kawada, Taue and Kobashi at the announce table are very emotional. I read a post on here today that talked about wrestling becoming more physical than emotional. I don't disagree, but this match turns the clock back on that. The whole match was built around KENTA aggressively invoking the wrath of Kawada and Taue, having it sort of paid off, then Taue taking a beating at the hands of KENTA and Akiyama. The comeback and finish were so great as the final chapter to a very emotionally driven story. This match has it's flaws. Taue tends to overuse that running corner kick, and Akiyama seems like he is just there to throw the occasional knee or suplex after his initial run-in with Kawada. Taue in general looks really broken down, but man, he comes up huge in the finishing run. I think this is my favorite NOAH match ever. I know it's probably not the best NOAH match, but I don't care. Edit: On second thought, fuck that. This is gonna be somewhere on my ballot above 50. Where I'm not sure, but this match transcends the in-ring work (which is very good in most spots) for me. I'm not saying it's more than a wrestling match, just some wrestling matches have a certain feel about them that you can't ignore. And for me this is one of them.
  2. dawho5
    This...well, let's say every other Tanahashi match I've seen is better. New Japan head referee is useless as ever as Tanaka's second continually interferes or draws him away, allowing Tanaka to use a kendo stick. Tanaka is all over the place as usual. They try to work Tanaahashi as underdog due to all the interference and cheating, but it really doesn't play for me.
  3. dawho5
    This was a nice tribute match to Misawa featuring two of his protégés, Ogawa and Suzuki. Both Ogawa and Tenryu do great chickenshit heel routines early. Ogawa, Suzuki and Tenryu do Ogawa/Misawa double teams to Nakajima to big responses. Suzuki and Morishima both hit signature Misawa high flying spots. Tenryu and Sasaki have oen of those long, annoying pissing contests. This was somewhat less so given Tenryu's selling, the crowd getting 100% behind Tenryu and Tenryu finally knocking Sasaki down with a chop only to find himself exhausted. It actually feels like something was accomplished on this one, even if it went too long. Suzuki gets a nice little Misawa-style run at the end, but we all know which team is winning this match. This probably won't get a vote, but it's a really fun, touching match in honor of a great pro wrestler.
  4. dawho5
    Gonna focus on only good things for this one. KAI and Yamato have some good late match offense. And some nice double teams. Ito gets to prove himself capable of dealing with both, which seems big. It seems like Kojima has added one big spot to his arsenal that isn't one of those nifty indy-typs spots, which is cool. Also, he hits a ridiculously stiff lariat. And Kobashi and Kikuchi have some fun double teams that use Kikuchi's hard head to their advantage.
  5. dawho5
    This was a really, really good match from start to finish. They do some worked kickboxing that morphs into pro wrestling. Kobushi does some excellent work on Hayato's ribs. Hayato repays that when he gets back on offense. The finishing sequence is very similar to the early match, simple stuff, lots of striking, mostly slow-paced with occasional bursts. I thought it was just a little long given the last few kickouts, but given that Hayato's last two matches I've watched were at least 5 minutes longer this was an improvement. The finish having nothing to do with the rib work was disappointing, but it wasn't a bad finish. Should be somewhere on the lower half of my ballot.
  6. dawho5
    So Takayama has moments in this match where he just looks old and broken down. I mean to the point where he shouldn't be in a match this long. One spot has him taking a belly to belly off the top wrong and landing halfway on his head. That being said, when he needs to come through with something big, Takayama fucking delivers. Some of his stuff doesn't have the steam it used to, but he has this way of making suplexes and knees look so damn impactful. Suwama is definitely game and brings some stiff offense himself. Opening has Suwama in control, but soon Takayama is building heat like it's 2002. Finishing run goes on too long with too many big nearfalls. But you know what, it is well-worked and holy shit kinds of brutal. The actual finish itself and the stuff leading up to it hurt me watching. Takayama busting himself open with a ridiculously stiff (yes, one) headbutt is so very awesome. Despite it's flaws, this match is going to be between 50 and 60 most likely.
  7. dawho5
    After watching their match from a few years earlier I skipped this one for a long time. But this actually was a great wrestling match for the first 22-23 minutes. Kawada controls the first 15 or so minutes and lays a ruthless beatdown on Kojima. It's always simple stuff, but very effective. Kojima gets enough hope spots to look like he has a chance to come back, but that's it. Kojima's big comeback starts with his Ace crusher variation, which makes sense given the kind of damage he's taken. Kawada keeps cutting Kojima off at just the right time to build drama, while Kojima's comebacks come right at the point when you think Kawada finally has him. Then the actual finish hits. I think 5 or 6 lariats by Kojima in succession with various reactions by Kawada. Boo. Going into that bad finish this was looking to be top 20. I'll settle for giving it 80-90 instead.
  8. dawho5
    I think this conversation is venturing into one of those political hot points that we seem to try to avoid here.
  9. dawho5
    I would agree that it outdoes 99.9% of the wrestling I have seen as far as stiffness. By a long, long way. I think part of the reason I loved it was that I had just watched a few of those "epic" main event style matches right before it. In context of 2000s Japanese wrestling, I think the shorter, more to the point matches have the effect of making them seem a little better than they are in comparison to the 30+ minute "this is a title match so we have to make this epic" matches.
  10. dawho5
    This match is not as good as the earlier one in 2009. This is much more of a forced epic. That aside, Tanahashi working from underneath against a power guy like Nakanishi is far more inspiring than him working as an equal (as in the earlier match). The Tanahashi performance here is very good. Nakanishi no-sells the leg worse than the last match. Most of his late match offense is good, but I still think that if Tanahashi's early offense is almost allaaimed at your leg, you ought to act like it. I will say that Nakanishi's torture rack makes me long to see Luger put one on somebody.
  11. dawho5
    This was a little disappointing. Shiozaki is great when he's in there with Nakajima, but once he's across from Sasaki he forgets how to sell 90% of the time and gets in a long Kobashi-esque pissing contest. KENTA tends to get way too prideful against Sasaki as well. Why Sasaki was willing to give up as much as he did to KENTA I'm not sure. Finish isn't completely overdone, but goes longer than it ought to. I'm starting to see where 2010 and beyond would be a hard thing to watch.
  12. dawho5
    Fun spotfest. Not getting a vote, but I do like seeing how the juniors style evolved after the 90s. Lots of really athletic stuff, some very nice fake/partner attacks, non-stop action. It's more of a guilty pleasure than a MOTY or MOTD though.
  13. dawho5
    The finish wasn't too overdone and the work wasn't bad. Sasuke brings the ridiculous dives and crash-and-burns. It didn't impress me overmuch, but Sasuke's attempts to kill himself always come out entertaining.
  14. dawho5
    Disturbing in what way? I can see the level of violence involved being too much for somebody. Them just punching each other in the face for 18 minutes had me wondering how they were doing that and still putting that much energy into things. Having taken more than a few punches to the face in a sparring setting over the course of about 90 minutes, I can tell you that it wears you down really fast.
  15. dawho5
    First 20-25 minutes had so much promise. KENTA gets the best of the early going, but you can see that it's a war of attrition that he's going to eventualy lose. And he does, with Akiyama bringing his great, focused offense and KENTA playing an excellent face-in-peril. KENTA's comebacks are short and bursty, with Akiyama continually going back to the neck to being us to the finishing sequence. First part is great, with KENTA having to fight through Akiyama's lower end big offense to hit his own. Crowd isn't buying into KENTA's chances at this point, but there isn't any reason they should. Akiyama hits a super nasty backdrop off the top that KENTA kicks out of to...claps. I think that's the sign that you've conditioned your fans to look for way too many big nearfalls. More Akiyama nearfalls past the point of reason, then we get to the big KENTA teases, which work well enough, and finally the Akiyama lead-up to the sternness dust thingamabob. This match will probably get a vote for how great the first part was. I just wish NOAH hadn't been so obver the top with their finishes for so many years that it became necessary to tack them on to matches like this.
  16. dawho5
    Here's something I never would have guessed. Tanahashi is one of the more consistent wrestlers in the late 2000s as far as cranking out good matches and good performances. They stick to the Tanahashi formula, which is more than a little odd given Tanahashi is the face here. Tanahashi is at a clear disadvantage power wise, but he catches the bigger guy getting into the ring and starts working over the leg. Nakanishi doesn't sell the leg near enough as the match progresses. Everything else is solid though. Tanahashi gets beaten down by the power of Nakanishi, has to go back to the leg. Nakanishi gets in a few big man agility spots. Finishing run is well-done as they don't go too big on the nearfalls, work is done in between, it makes sense with the erst of the match and it ends when it should. This probably gets a vote.
  17. dawho5
    This match went about as well as it could. This was the Shiozaki show and I was loving it. Opening leads to Sasaki and Morishima getting heat on Shiozaki. Problem with having Sasaki team with Morishima is that when they do the same things it's easy to see how much better Sasaki does them than Morishima despite being smaller. The eventual comeback happens and Misawa helps where it is needed but mostly lets Shiozaki do the work. Shiozaki's strikes late leave something to be desired. Morishima's late match offense is big as always. Finish is well-worked, only a few non-breakup kickouts of big moves. Shiozaki is really, really big in this match. This probably makes my bottom quarter.
  18. dawho5
    Match seemed designed to put Okada over in the standard Japanese fashion of dealing with youngsters. I drifted off a bit whenever Sugiura was in the ring, which has become a habit. He's just so one-dimensional, even if he is good at that dimension. Goto is worse because he's not as good at it. Okada was clearly still learning here, but he tries to put on a spirited performance. Aoki was just sort of...there. If you can't tell, I didn't much care for this match.
  19. dawho5
    Both good and bad stuff here. Nakamura and Milano make for a fun non-standard NOAH match. They work over Shiozaki's leg after the opening stuff, then Nakamura inexplicably stops attacking the leg to let Shiozaki win a strike exchange. The leg is never attacked again, but Shiozaki sells it for a little while to his credit. They work a nice transition into a good finishing run. Nakamura was mostly good, but he's starting to seem a bit like KENTA. No matter how the early match goes, we're doing the finishing sequence with the same big spots and teases. I really don't like that about Japan in the 2000s that the finish always had to have a lot of nearfalls off of big moves, strikes and suplexes without any real thought given to how the first 15-25 minutes of the match went. This was a really well-worked finish, Shiozaki and Milano shine particularly. I'd call Milano MVP of the match for the way he kept interjecting his chickenshit heel act into the macho pissing contest-fueled NOAH matches.
  20. dawho5
    This was better than I thought it would be. They do some athletic opening stuff, then Ibushi gets caught by a dropkick to the leg on a dive attempt and Ishimori takes advantage. I like Ishimori's working over the leg, and Ibushi sold well between moves all the way til the end. But Ibushi's comebacks were often very sprinty or flippy to the point where you could see the leg not being sold during. It's a small complaint, but it happens often enough that it works against the match. Ishimori skips a lot of his overly long setup offense late, which ehlps. Nearfalls go a little too far in the kickouts, but it's not near as much as most 2000s stuff. Also, pretty well laid out. It's not getting a vote, but it was a fun watch and worth it. Both are good at the intricate athletic sequences that border on gymnastics, but they keep that to a minimum, which to me makes the best use of those kinds of sequences.
  21. dawho5
    I would agree with Matt that at a certain point it became very easy to read about the booking/backstage aspects of pro wrestling. It had a lot to do with message boards moreso than newsletters I'd guess. Places like DVDVR and their competitors. I don't think fans were "dumb" before this happened, just not as many had the easy access to the kind of information that would make someone what we would now call a "smart" fan. I guess my questions would be a bit more pointed towards the different audiences and what percentage of fans within them were the type who read the stuff on the internet and discussed booking, match layout, etc. What percentage for WWE? How about for RoH? What about New Japan? Would those numbers have changed from the mid-90s until now? Would it always be in the direction towards more "smart" fans? How many of those fans who use the internet really get involved in the types of discussions that go on here daily? What reasons did you have specifically for the direction you took once you started getting into wrestling? Did that keep going in the same direction once you joined any one of the internet wrestling discussion boards? If it changed, why? Can the answers to these questions apply to a lot of other fans or are you very likely in the minority? edit: I think there's a few questions I missed. What communities did you join as far as discussing wrestling? Did you enjoy them or take anything from them? What did you not like about them? How did that affect what discussion boards you joined after that? These probably have quite a lot of bearing on how you look at the subject at hand as much as they helped form who we all are as wrestling fans.
  22. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a password protected forum. Enter Password
  23. dawho5
    I have been trying to think of a response to this line of argument for a while that encapsulates how I look at this. Hoping this works. On the one hand, I think that yes, the internet has changed the way some fans look at pro wrestling. For my it goes back to the "why" part of jdw's argument. That is the part that the internet really opens up to younger fans now with much less personal experience necessary to see it. On the other hand, I've been to live MMA events that my friends were taking part in. The majority of the people who went to them seemed to want to drink, be really loud and get excited when somebody started getting the shit beaten out of them. Who it was didn't matter very often. I've got to guess that a certain cross section of those people would gladly go to a WWE or indy show and watch people "fake" beat each other up and yell and scream while drinking to blow off steam. And you know, that plays into the way the faces are always rejecting authority (the boss?) and sticking it to the man. It gets to the more casual audience in a big way because of what those people would like to do given the chance. My feeling about this whole argument is that we're really talking about a matter of the ratio of "smart" fans who read the internet and talk about booking to people who just show up to yell and scream and chant, just for the entertainment of it. I would guess that has changed, but to what degree I really have no idea.
  24. dawho5
    I thought this had it's moments. Oba's comedy stuff was too over the top for me. Ono was great as a dick heel. Seeing Ikeda in the Ishikawa role was weird but it worked. Not as well for me, but it did work. And I got the feeling that Suruga was a protégé of Ikeda and the point of the match was to put him and to a lesser extent Oba over. Ikeda wrestlng almost face makes this a little odd as far as structure. Towards the end, Ikeda really gives Suruga a lot, but comes up with the right move at the right time for a victory.
  25. dawho5
    Finishing sequence was really well-done. Good work between the falls, they paid off on three things that happened in the match 2 weeks earlier, and it didn't last forever with way too many nearfalls. Only problem is that Nakajima chose to work the leg early and throughout. And if I've learned anything about KENTA in my 2000-2009 watchings, it's that he wrestles one way regardless of the circumstance. So even after legwork, let's sprint across the ring three times in quick succession and then use a springboard move with no slowdown. What a waste of a perfectly good finish. edit: For clarity, I'm gonna lay out my reasons for not liking this. Opening is good, lots of kicks and rope-running like you'd expect. Then Nakajima works the leg over and KENTA sticks to the original gameplan. Nakajima sort of comes back to that, but also works the leg over some more. At this point, they aren't wrestling the same match. Then finish starts and they sync up to put together a really good one. If I'm putting this together, I tell Nakajima to just run around and trade kicks/elbows/high flying with KENTA for the first 15. That goes perfectly well into the finish they did. Much better than the actual first 15 minutes of the match.
×
×
  • Create New...