dawho5

First twenty minutes or so were good. Marufuji is figuring out how to build a match without flipping all over the place and Kondo seems like his early match is usually pretty good. Neither is great at it, but they are better than passable. Then we get to the finishing run. Kondo has this repertoire of power moves that is ridiculously big, and they all look like finishing moves. Which is a problem because 95% of them are only used as nearfalls. Marufuji seems to have developed some big nearfalls and near-submissions that can be used in a finishing run without looking too overdone. Then he starts hitting all his flippy shit and kills that train of thought. Not the worst match by far in this project, but probably not getting a vote.

I came pretty late to the game to pro wrestling. I was already old enough to know it was fake, but didn't care. Entertainment is entertainment, I know that movies are fake but I like those. As for the internet stuff, I was one of those "elitists" who liked watching Japanese wrestling from the mid-90s right around 1998-2000. And I did have that "you won't see this stuff on Monday night" attitude about it, so maybe in truth I was a bit of an elitist. But I think that's a stage that you go through on the way to being aware that all wrestling has it's merits, you just have to find the stuff that works for you. That's one thing I think a lot of people fail to recognize, both in relation to themselves and others, that as you watch more wrestling and see different things, your views on it end up changing over time. You could apply that to these so-called "smarks" or any group of wrestling fans that you may have a particular dislike for. Or any one of the people that post here. I can guarantee you that their opinions on a match they haven't watched in ten years will have been changed, however slightly, by matches they have seen and things they have read, be it on here or anywhere else in between.

Brutal BatBat tag, but without the overarcing story of the 6-man or the Otsuka vs. Super Tiger 2 match. This one is just 4 guys beating the shit out of each other with a rivalry (Sawa vs. Yoshikawa) playing out at the end. It's still loads of fun and will get a vote, but I liked the others better.

Early match is really, really good. When KENTA is working slow and steady to build a match he's very fun to watch. Then we do the dives, which goes on a bit too long, but that's forgivable. And then we do the big long "we have to have a billion nearfalls" part of the match that always kills me. Not to mention KENTA goes into million miles per hour mode too often to truly be selling the earlier damage. You cut ten minutes off of this and just work to a finish instead of all the excess and it's a really good match.

I am loving these 08 Battlarts matches. Once you get to the end, the competitors are all looking like they've been through Hell and back and are on their last legs. They start with grappling, which puts Otsuka at an early lead, but not by enough. Tiger starts getting wise to this and goes to strikes, which leaves Otsuka in a lot of trouble. he struggles thrugh some big flurries to get some suplexes in, but is barely able to stand before the count himself. Can he finish off the upstart Super Tiger, or will Otsuka get KOed before he can get to that point? One thing I liked a lot about this match was the long-term selling by both. Neither comes back "fresh" and gets in big offense. When Otsuka gets back to what has been working for him after taking a quick but brutal beating, he never truly seems like he's recovered, just on top for the moment. When Super Tiger starts hitting his big late flurries, he collapses in the corner afterwards as if taking Otsuka away from grappling is in fact something that requires a lot of effort. Well done match, should show up on my ballot somewhere.

I'm still in shock as to how amazing this match was. Everybody comes up big when they need to. The above reviews have a lot of my sentiments about this match covered, but I'll try to add more. For one, the STORY that takes place from the first elimination until the end of the match is god damn incredible. Yes, they are brutally stiff to the point where you're wondering how they do it. But once the first elimination takes place, it becomes this great struggle for survival by that guy's team for quite a while. They have to scratch and claw their way to something that might end the match only to get hit by some ridiculously stiff shot to break it up because they have one partner while the guy they are slapping the submission on has two. Once they even things up, it's this intense battle to keep afloat after that superhuman effort. Then the next elimination occurs and we get the same thing all over again two on one. And then, just when you think it can't get any better...the fourth elimination, one on one. Holy shit do they ever have one of the best mini-brawls you will ever see. Nobody is backing down, the shots are so god damn brutal, but neither one can allow themselves to get knocked down. Then they go into submission attempts, very likely because if they had continued there would have been a legit KO very soon. I was so blown away by this match, it's gonna make my top 5 easily. I'm really looking at how my top 3 or 4 are configured lately, but this will be in my top 5. I'm trying to figure out whose performance was best out of the six, but I have to be honest. Tiger and Sawa brought it for sure, but they are clearly a level below the other 4. Between the other four, I have a hard time choosing. Let's just say everybody involved in this match hit it out of the park.

There is actually some good psychology to this in addition to the fun juniors spotfest. Shingo is looking like a monster early until Yoshino and Doi go to work on the right (lariat) arm. This evens things up a bit and slows the pace down, but they work their way up to a finishing run that defies description. It goes way too far on kickouts and big setup stuff, but for a spotfest it's just fine. Shingo ignoring the arm to hoist his opponents into powerbomb or fireman's carry position over and over is a bit off. Dragon Kid has some nice impact on his ranas. Doi's versatility comes in handy here. He can overpower DK, but he's speedy enough to keep up with him. And Shingo has the power advantage on Doi, so when Doi can manage to hit a power move on Shingo it's an accomplishment. Yoshino is good as FIP and his armwork is interesting to watch at least. Not gonna get a vote, just a fun match.

Okay, that just freaked me out. My kung fu teacher uses that "putting things in a box" thing jdw used all the time in the same context. Took him about 9 months to get me to stop thinking that way.

I've always wondered if it was Waltman or the gimmick that got all the hate. Because even some of his WWF stuff was really good, and I struggle to see where the fans would have turned on him that much without some help from creative. I know for a fact I've thought the way you described about Orton, but I've lately come to the realization (with help from the Microscope thread) that it just wasn't the case.

I think that BillThompson post above pretty much sums up my love for PWO.

Can we just leave it at "OJ doesn't like those terms" for now? It's becoming pretty clear that nobody is going to change their minds here.