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dawho5

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  1. dawho5
    TARU is wearing a shirt that reads HEEL. And he likes to throw water bottles at the crowd after dumping the water on his opponents, so I guess it's appropriate. SUWA makes it his mission in life to piss off Akira Taue while Mushiking Terry is being beaten to a pulp. Taue finally has enough, but the heel team is all over him and four on one gets to him. Justice has been denied, but the match isn't over. Chaos leads to Taue tagged in against....TARU??? Well, he's got some payback coming too, so let's watch the fun. More chaos after a bit of fun and then Taue is in the ring against...SUWA!!! SUWA gets some shots and a nearfall in, but you know taue isn't going down to a chump like SUWA. Especially not after all the antagonizing that's been going on. Crowd blows the roof off of the building when SUWA gets his comeuppance. Fun 8 man that ends when it should and plays out like it ought to. It may get a vote near the very bottom, but it's definitely a worthwhile watch.
  2. dawho5
    This was a beautiful wrestling match. Two out of three falls. Intense early exchange leads to a quick fall for Nishimura. Fujinami is on the defensive and Nishimura picks apart the left arm. It's clear from the start that Fujinami wants to go after Nishimura's leg, and he finally starts to get some work done on it in a very cool way (within the match). Nishimura comes up with some excellent (in context, again) counters to the legwork. It's no dice for Nishimura as the fall ends with Fujinami evening things up in a fashion that leaves little hope for Nishimura. Fujinami has an injury that needs tending in between falls, one that Nishimura can attack. The desperation stuff by Nishimura during the last fall is so awesome. The highspot of the match is a teased suplex off the apron as Nishimura gets cut off by Fujinami trying to get back in the ring. Nishimura lets his pride get the better of him very near the end. Can he weather the storm and pull out one of his flash victory-from-the-jaws-of-defeat moments or will Fujinami put him away? Nishimura's selling of the leg throughout is so very incredible. As are his elbows. And Fujinami's dynamic change from early to mid-match is really great. I love the way these two adapt so fluidly, but never at a pace that suggests a lack of struggle. This is a firm number 2 for me. Sorry Akira Taue, but the awesome simplicity and execution of this match trump NOAH style any day of the week..
  3. dawho5
    Early match was pretty well-worked. They got across that Tanahashi was easily overpowered, but had a speed advantage and is a technician. They did spend a little too much time working the New Japan matwork for the sake of matwork stuff, but that's a style quibble. The mini-heat segment on Tanahashi was a nice twist on an old idea. Nakamura gets a lot of counters to Tanahashi's hope spots that lead to setup moves for Nakamura's finishers. It shows that Nakamura himself is no slouch as a technician, despite having the power advantage as well as being something a little different. The finishing run was not badly worked, it seemed to come out of the heat segment pretty naturally and keep in line with the established roles. Several problems for me. First, nakamura hits a reverse powerslam that looks like Tanahashi should be done or just about done and he kicks out. Okay, just about done. Then he goes immediately into a tiger suplex that Tanahashi also kicks out of. There's too much of this in 2000s puro and I don't like how stuff that should be killer is tossed to the side as just a nearfall. Then Tanahashi hits a sweet exploder/uranage thing to set up a...sling blade. I think the sling blade looks cool, but the exploder is the nearfall here, not the sling blade. Why set up a weaker-looking move with a really big one? Otherwise, I thought the finish was intelligently worked and I think this still manages to be in the 90-100 range.
  4. dawho5
    Yet another instance of an outsider coming in and freshening up NOAH. Shibata wants a piece of Taue right away and gets more than he bargained for. Including Taue doing a Karate Kid pose! Taue isn't overly interested in messing with Shibata, so he tags in Shiozaki. Shiozaki seems to be doing well enough until he puts down KENTA (the legal man) and Shibata does a slippery routine on the apron before locking Shiozaki up in a sleeper. Great heat segment as the two kick-happy juniors mess with Taue in multiple ways while putting the beatdown on Shiozaki. Taue finally gets the tag and it seems like the de-facto heels may get the better of him as well, but he's a crafty old veteran and also much bigger. Taue has Shibata right at the point of being put away and hands it to Shiozaki. Finish is pretty damn good, fits well with the rest of the match and ends when it seems like it should. Taue doing his part and getting out of the way was really sweet. Shiozaki seems like he deserves a lot more time to shine than he gets and Taue wasn't going to take any of that away. I would say that Shiozaki is the centerpiece of this match and that is what makes it work. He's not quite on the level of Shibata and a step below KENTA, so small victories that are hard-fought become big things for him. And I like his more simple-but-effective wrestling style over the KENTAfuji flip/kick/springboard-to-pop-the crowd style. Also, Shibata brings a certain...otherness to him that rivals Minoru Suzuki. He's just got his own way of doing things that seems a bit different and tends to make matches more interesting.
  5. dawho5
    Or you could work like the WCCW deal. How the Von Erichs were always faces and the Freebirds were heels against them but faces against the...I forget what they are called, but the group of oddball psychos, who were always the heel regardless.
  6. dawho5
    I feel like I come off as a grumpy old bastard in most of them. Then again, most of what I watch seems...excessive beyond where it is acceptable. I have ideas on how that came to be, but that's a different thread I have planned for after the whole thing is done. Need to set aside about an hour to do something specific and then work off of that to put all my thoughts in order on the matter. Will certainly send my ballot your way.
  7. dawho5
    I think you guys are forgetting that you don't need to act like a face to be a face. Remember Austin during the Attitude Era? He did all the same stuff he had done as a heel, but the crowd loved him and he got cheers for it. Like was mentioned earlier, put him up against heels and have him do the same stuff he did as a heel. With a little of that teasing of what the fans want.
  8. dawho5
    Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It seems like some of the highlighted matches are as much for name value as anything else. Others are more the "big" company main event type matches where Nishimura vs. Saito from MUGA just seems way less mainstream, even if I think it's better.
  9. dawho5
    Been doing the 2000-2009 puro thing, so this is gonna be heavily weighted towards that. Current Favorite Wrestler to Watch: Akira Taue. His 2004-2006 have been incredible. Kobashi, Akiyama and Marufuji all have their best matches in NOAH against him. Hell, I think the best Nagata match I've seen was his match vs. Taue. Last Fun Match You Saw: Minoru Suzuki vs. Kenta Kobashi 2005. Suzuki takes Kobashi out of his usual schtick and forces him to work small instead of big. Love when Kobashi works small and Suzuki is incredible. Stuff like him initiating a slap exchange with Kobashi when he won't give up the arm willingly, just to snatch it once Kobashi starts slapping is all kinds of awesome. Wrestler You Want to See More of: Minoru Suzuki. He's great at the little things that make a match work and brings a completely different feel than any other puroresu guy I've seen. Works incredibly smart. Last Live Show You've Attended: Been a while. The Thunder in Fargo, ND when DDP, Sting, nash and Goldberg had a 4 way match. DDP was such a chickenshit heel in that match too. Match You are Looking Forward to Watching Soon the Most: Ishikawa/Otsuka/Sawa vs. Ikeda/Usuda/Super Tiger 2 2008. Love me some Battlarts and it's the one style not represented very well in the 2000s. Can't wait for the resurgence of one of my favorite Japanese promotions. Last Fun Interview/Promo You Saw: Ric Flair going nuts on Orton/Slater after they took Race's bounty on him. Man did Flair knock that one out of the park after the very low-key "retirement" thing he had done earlier. Last Interesting Thing You Read About Pro Wrestling: Daniel Bryan getting his due was pretty cool for me to read about. I like that the WWE is willing to at least on the surface change to fit the reactions their wrestlers get. Last Worthwhile Wrestling Podcast You Heard: Between working, training and sleeping, most of what I do now is watch wrestling and a few movies. Podcasts sound fun, but sneaking in some time to listen to the music I love between all of that is more important. Most Fun You've Had Watching Wrestling Lately: Ikeda vs. Ishikawa from Futen in 2005. I mentioned how I love BatBat and it's a more brutal variation on the style. That match blew my mind with the stiffness. That they kept what they did up for almost 20 minutes is insane.
  10. dawho5
    Early match gives me hope. They seem to have some idea of how to build up a match without doing overlong amounts of time-wasting. KENTA working over Marufuji's ribs is really, really good. Marufuji does this moonsault off the top into the crowd in an attempt to kill himself. Which comes a few inches from succeeding. And ends up busting KENTA open because he hits him with his shin/knee. The match goes completely off the rails during the finishing run. It's just big bombs, some of which are very cool to watch. They do some good teases in there, but too much time spent popping the crowd, getting the big nearfall and laying around. I question whether or not they are still tag partners after this match too. some of the early stuff was pretty vicious to be doing to your tag partner.
  11. dawho5
    Takayama is starting to look a little old. He comes through big in a couple of spots, but he's here for name recognition mostly it seems. Sugiura gets a few "strength" spots against the big guys early and it's cool. But they pile on with this and it becomes a little tired by the time it's done. The Takeshi's seem most at home working heat segments on smaller guys. The thing that gets me about this match is the one guy who has been in great matches with good finishing runs wasn't heavily involved in the last ten minutes. Finish is just a collection of impressive-looking stuff that doesn't ever coalesce. Somebody is gonna have to explain to me how guys with lariat finishers don't take a berak on the lariats for the majority of the match. Makes their finishers seem less effective and...the finishing version lacks that "cut above the rest of the moves" feeling to it.
  12. dawho5
    The early parts of this match were really, really good. Kanemoto tries to strike with Nagata, who really has upped his game since I last watched a match of his. Nagata kicks Koji's ass all over the ring for a good while. Koji gets some hope spots, going to the leg easily being the strongest. Then Kanemoto finally gets his big opening and he....goes into "I'm hitting all my spots" mode instead of working within the match and attacking the leg for all he's worth. Nagata hits moves that should put Koji away, but he kicks out anyway. Koji finally gets his big legwork segment that you knew was coming all along and it's good, but it's after the match should be over. Nagata takes advantage of Kanemoto getting cocky and hits the backdrop, but he's not able to cover in time to finish and you just know this is going to a draw. And whaddya know, there's the bell while nothing interesting is going on. A lot of the late nearfalls looked thrown together and without meaning. They had a really good underdog match with Koji doing great work during his heat segment, then pissed the match down their leg. Edit: Just to make a point about why "big finishing runs" are not necessary, here's how my finish goes. Koji attacks the leg after Nagata misses the corner knee. For a while. Without using the anklelock. He gets cocky, goes back to Koji mode and tries the moonsault to prove a point. Nagata gets out of the way or catches him on the ropes, whatever. Nagata hits some big elbows and an exploder. He can't get the cover right away because of the leg and Koji barely kicks out despite that. Nagat starts elbowing Koji again. who throws elbows back. Nagata gets into the exchange and Koji goes low with a dropkick. More legwork. This time, though, Koji isn't interested in anything else. Koji tries the anklelock, but Nagata is a step ahead and turns it around into the Nagatalock 3 (crossface). Koji scrambles to the ropes, Nagata follows up and looks like he may get the backdrop, but Koji backflips out and goes to the knee again. Selling by Koji before going back to the leg. Nagata's spirit kicks in after a while and he gets the big backdrop hold. But his leg gives out on the bridge. Koji is down & out, but Nagata is struggling to get him up becaus of the leg. Nagata starts blasting Kanemoto with non-kick strikes and has him leaning on the ropes barely standing. He pauses to tell the crowd he's going for the backdrop again. Koji explodes off the ropes and hits a low dropkick. He grabs the anklelock, but Yuji is grabbing the ropes. Koji tears Nagata off the ropes, falling down in the process, barely able to actually get the anklelock on because of it. Nagata is scrambling for the ropes, but Kanemoto pulls him back to the center and re-applies the hold. Nagata is on his way to the ropes and...bell. It tells the same story as the beginning of the match, is compelling, puts Koji over in a way that in no way degrades Nagata because his big setup weapon (kicks) is being attacked, AND sets up a rematch. Nobody's finisher looks weak, both look like they wrestled a smart match. I honestly don't get the need for just throwing bombs in a match when you could do something like this.
  13. dawho5
    How are we 20 posts in and 6/3/94 has yet to be mentioned specifically? Super J Cup 94 was pretty fun as well. I need to watch the finals and the semis again to see if they hold up. Didn't watch WCW or WWF at the time. I really want to hit WCW from 1989 on, but that's a massive project and I have other stuff on the table first.
  14. dawho5
    Youtube link was disabled due to AJPW. Honestly, from a highlight video I saw, it looks like the nearfalls were as overdone and way too much as any NOAH match just for the sake of the crowd reactions. May come back to this and look for full match but it doesn't seem like it would be worth my time.
  15. dawho5
    Starts off good. Rikio and Marufuji work some really nice exchanges and Rikio works a good headlock. Then Morishima dn KENTA decide to sprint to an early finisher tease by Morishima. Which somehow leads to a Morishima heat segment that isn't bad. Mostly not overdone by either of the two juniors. Then we end up with a KENTA heat segment, which blows the Morishima one out of the water for obvious reasons. Finishing run is filled with big moves and lots of lariats and crowd popping, but not much structure or reason. There's certainly lots of fun stuff to watch. Rikio comes off great. Morishima is still a big dude with lots of heavy hitting moves who doesn't seem to know how to use them. KENTA comes off as a tough little guy who can do some damage. And Marufuji works smart more than he overdoes things. Just the match itself was all over the place. Won't be getting my vote, but some of it is really good.
  16. dawho5
    This was a great, great match. Nishimura is incredible at matwork and takedowns. Also has wicked elbows. Saito looks to be a big bruiser with some technical skill. They work great long standing surfboard and headlock sequences. Saito looks to have an advantage when he starts beating on Nishimura, but Nishimura does this nifty takedown to the outside from just inside the ropes. Saito's leg hits wrong on the fall and Nishimura pounces. Can Nishimura finish Saito off by taking advantage of the leg injury or will the bigger man be able to physically dominate him to get the pinfall? Good story, excellent work. Also, and this is important....simplicity itself. This match makes extremely simple moves into highspots and it works. Easily top 20. Add a heated rivalry to this kind of match and it's probably number 1.
  17. dawho5
    And people wonder why I hate NOAH. Try watching Kobashi vs. Misawa or Akiyama and see how long it takes you to hate the match.
  18. dawho5
    Yeah, I watched a NOAH match from 2001 earlier tonight. Well, several, but the Vader tag stood out. The head ref was still fairly new and you could tell. He kept having to stop EVERY instance of somebody coming in when not tagged and try to keep the cornered guy from being attacked...every time. Very, loudly to the point where it was distracting. So Vader tosses him all the way across the ring, I think to make a point as well as just have a great spot within the match.
  19. dawho5
    You're right, ban the suplex! Also, how is every wrestler who throws closed fists the whole match not DQed???
  20. dawho5
    Wow did this match rule. Taue does this great set of spots where he mimics Marufuji's spots that came just before. Marufuji's flippy stuff comes right where it makes the most sense instead of all the time. The heat segment on Marufuji is great, then we get another amazingly timed (and well-executed) comeback. Finishing run is all kinds of incredible as they tie in the rest of the work and work between all the nearfalls. Finish is great on so many levels. This is my working number 6. 2004-2006 have been the years of Akira Taue.
  21. dawho5
    I liked this match quite a bit. Once Vader gets tagged in, the Vader vs. Kobashi stuff is really fun. Any time Taue and Akiyama were in the ring together it worked great. The finishing sequence was really well worked. I can see this somewhere on the lower half of my ballot. The finish is all kinds of brutal. Blown Vadersault that ends up being a vicious looking diving headbutt. Edit: Vader tosses the ref all the way across the ring when he gets annoyed with him during the match. Great stuff there. Still not sure this doesn't belong in my top 40 but it'll get a rewatch. Too much Kobashi nonsense to be higher, but it may yet make it higher than 40.
  22. dawho5
    So glad SS reviewed this because I had foolishly skipped it. Minoru Suzuki is great at heeling it up and doing small things that make a match better. Kobashi can be that way, but he usually needs somebody else who is willing to go that far to bring that out. The headlock sequence is incredible. I've written a lot of negative things about Kobashi, and I'm not taking any of them back. However, the man can work a headlock like few others. I just wish he would do it more. Hell, Kobashi the submission wrestler is incredible. If he went a whole match working mostly submissions, I would mark the fuck out. Back to this match. Suzuki forces Kobashi out of the usual gameplan (shout a lot and throw chops, then do a bunch of big suplexes to pop the crowd). This makes for a much better match, as Kobashi is forced to adapt, which brings out the superworker lurking within. Suzuki gets a nice sleeper out on the ramp, and Kobashi has probably one of the best counters I've ever seen. Crawling off the ramp, plunging both himself and Suzuki to ringside. That was some spectacular stuff. Kobashi finally has enough of Suzuki's shit and backdrops him. A lot. Suzuki does this great attempted nosell and throws some slaps that barely touch Kobashi before falling over. Kobashi knows what to do from there and we're headed home. This is pretty easily in my top 30-40 range. Also, it makes me want to find more Minoru Suzuki when I'm done with this best of the 2000s.
  23. dawho5
    This was good. Morishima's early offense consists of clubberins and lariats, but it works. Misawa, well, he uses lots of elbows. I thought the match relied too much on bombs, but only by a small margin. Morishima would need to drop tons of bombs to put away Misawa. I'm not a huge fan of the match, but I think it could show up in the 70-75 range. Edit: Morishima is huge in this match. He keeps up with Misawa in the stiff strikes, sells really well, delivers big with the bombs late and bumps his ass off. Also, he goes from the top turnbuckle to the floor. At over 300 pounds that is a feat.
  24. dawho5
    The finishing run is really good. It is a question of which is going to give out first, AKIRA's arm or Tanaka's leg? Only problem is, Tanaka has worked the leg quite a bit leading into it and AKIRA keeps going up top with no real slowdown from that or selling of it. Most of the match was really enjoyable, but it was about 5 minutes too long. AKIRA's tope is the highlight for me. Either he aimed wrong or Minoru moved, but AKIRA ends up going chest first into the railing with no real slowing of his momentum. Very nasty looking.
  25. dawho5
    Early parts with Kobashi and Tenryu are once again gold. Sasaki and Kobashi beating the shit out of an old man (he's what, 56 or 57 here?) and an undersized kid for no real purpose, not so much. I get the idea that beating the shit out of the youngsters gets them over in japan, and Nakajima takes the beating of a lifetime here. But I don't think it makes MOTYC or MOTDC caliber matches. Also, I don't particularly care for invincible Sasaki or Kobashi so this match drags for me a lot.
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