donsem43
-
Posts
1083 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Everything posted by donsem43
-
This is pretty much your standard monster vs. flyer match but it still ends up being something really fun. Ray spends the entire match just throwing every big risky move that she has at Havok hoping to take her down. So you spend the whole match wonder if she's going to succeed or just get crushed. ***1/2
-
[2015-03-15-Pro Wrestling WAVE] Ryo Mizunami vs Rina Yamashita
donsem43 posted a topic in March 2015
This is just a super fun, super physical match. These two literally got right at each other from the bell and don't really stop till the end of the match. Although Yamashita keeps finding the right times to work on a sleeper and eventually ends up getting the big win with it. ***3/4 -
Thread for Arisa and tiny Rabbit Miu taking on Team DIANA. Thread for the Shine title match between Santana Garrett and Allysin Kay.
-
Really fun title match that had these two going toe-to-toe right at the start. What really makes the match work is that both women are actually able to throw good strikes, which is rare for indy women. Santana gets bonus points for fearlessly bumping into the creepy guys in the crowd during some brawling outside of the ring. They do a frantic roll-up finish at the end which is worked a bit sloppy but did fit in with the pace they had worked all match. ***3/4
-
Pretty much all of her street fights from around her peak are pretty good if not great. The ones with Kansai get the most talk but my personal favourite is the 2/28/99 one vs. Mima Shimoda in Oz Academy. Also checkout her 7/18/99 tag with Aja vs. Sugar Sato/Chikayo Nagashima in GAEA, which I don't think made the '99 yearbook. Her more recent stuff is frustrating to watch cause there are so many run-ins and interference spots that it just becomes annoying to watch. In the rare time were there isn't much of that crap you can still see that Ozaki can be a good worker, but that doesn't happen often enough.
-
I think there's a debate between Kansai and Aja when it comes to peak performances. But if you start factoring in post peak stuff, Aja just leaves Kansai behind. Aja can still be counted on to have a good showing, plus the great series with Meiko Satomura, while I wouldn't recommend anyone watch a single Kansai performance after the Fukuoka match.
-
This was a really competitive match, which is surprising considering Rabbit is at the same level as the two DIANA girls and Arisa is way above any of them. To their credit, both Sareee and Tanaka are unafraid to stand in there and trade shots with Nakajima and Tanaka does a pretty good job putting over the beating she gets. While there never really is a moment that the you feel that the DIANA girls are going to win, you also never feel that they are not really competitive either. Really fun stuff. ***1/2
-
I was going to link to the thread from when she first signed with WWE but a lot of those links there are dead so here's some fresh ones: vs. Serena in SMASH 5/3/11 - best place to start since it's the most WWE-like match that she had in Japan. vs. Syuri: SMASH 6/25/10, SMASH 2/19/12, REINA 12/26/14 vs. Meiko Satomura: Triple Tails 2/13/11, 2/25/14 Kana Pro w/ Ayumi Kurihara vs. Meiko Satomura/Ayako Hamada: KanAyu 6/15/13 vs. Yoshiko Tamura: NEO 5/31/09 , NEO 11/17/09 vs. Tomoka Nakagwa: SMASH 1/19/12 w/ Konami vs. Syuri/Hikaru Shida: Kana Pro 3/8/15 vs. Ryo Mizunami: Pro Wrestling WAVE 6/14/15 All this plus the two other matches already linked is what I'm using to decide if and where she ends up on my list.
-
I was going to link to the thread from when she first signed with WWE but a lot of those links there are dead so here's some fresh ones: vs. Serena: SMASH 5/3/11 - best place to start since it's the most WWE-like match that she had in Japan. vs. Syuri: SMASH 6/25/10, SMASH 2/19/12, REINA 12/26/14 vs. Meiko Satomura: Triple Tails 2/13/11, 2/25/14 Kana Pro w/ Ayumi Kurihara vs. Meiko Satomura/Ayako Hamada: KanAyu 6/15/13 vs. Yoshiko Tamura: NEO 5/31/09 , NEO 11/17/09 vs. Tomoka Nakagwa: SMASH 1/19/12 w/ Konami vs. Syuri/Hikaru Shida: Kana Pro 3/8/15 vs. Ryo Mizunami: Pro Wrestling WAVE 6/14/15 All this plus the two other matches already linked is what I'm using to decide if and where she ends up on my list.
-
Thread for Hikaru Shida vs. Sakura Hirota, as Hirota shows everyone how a comedy worker should work straight matches.
-
On paper, this looks like a throwaway matchup since Hirota is a comedy worker. In reality though, it turns out to be a really well worked title match. The main reason for that is Sakura, as she works the match straight but finds reasonable ways to work in her comedy spots as legitimate offense without making it look ridiculous. It's pretty neat to see her get the crowd to buy into her nearfalls at the end of the match. Add in yet another really good performance from Shida and you get one of the more surprisingly good matches of 2015. ***3/4
-
Neither of the Bellas would have gotten into wrestling in the first place if they weren't in the WWE right away. They are not the types to put there time in on the indys.
-
If Nikki didn't have a WWE deal and the 'Total Divas' show she would have retired.
-
Thread for Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Kurumi for the ICE Infinity Title. Fun fact, this match happened a few weeks before Kurumi's 15th birthday. Plus she was working against someone who is more than twice her age, as Tsukasa was 31 at the time. Only in Ice Ribbon. Thread for Io Shirai vs. Kairi Hojo for the vacate World of Stardom Title, which ended up leading to quite the turnaround for Stardom in 2015.
-
This is the final for the World of Stardom Title as it was vacated by Yoshiko after the incident with Act Yasukawa. Both had semi-final matches earlier in the night and are selling injuries from them with Steamboat-style tapejobs. Io controls the early part of the match by working over Hojo's arm after she gets a bit too aggressive and ends up spearing the post. Hojo does a really great job selling the arm throughout as she has a difficult time working over Io's back with various crab holds due to her not being able to keep a good grip due to the arm. Things kinda fall apart at the finish due to Hojo hurting her shin during the finish but the match still ends up being rather enjoyable. ***1/2
-
This is a pretty fun title match between the young, but experienced, Kurumi and Ice Ribbon ace Fujimoto. Nothing really flashy with the work as they go with the typical ace vs young star storyline. Kurumi does stay competitive with nice mix of power and agility spots, sort of a more simplified Apollo Crews. The match does suffer early on with some weak transitions and selling but they manage to leave that behind with a pretty strong finishing run at the end. Not necessarily a "Must Watch" but more fun and interesting due to the age dynamic. ***1/2
-
On Hyuga, I personally think she's debatably a top 5 woman of all time. Had a great run as the ace of JWP in the late 2000's. Her title matches with Yoneyama and the title loss to Haruyama are a couple of matches that are comparable to some of the best stuff that happened during the 80's and 90's. Tamura was inconsistent but when she was on she was one of my favourites to watch. Haruyama and Yoneyama have had some impressive performances, there just isn't enough readily available footage of them to make a firm decision of whether either one of them should be considered for the list.
-
Thread for Kana and her protege Konami vs. Syuri and Hikaru Shida, a pair of Kana's rivals. FYI, if your having trouble finding my #2 match, Io vs. Koguma, it's now available at ClickWrestle. Although it's not the TV version but Stardom's own footage which is just one camera guy at ringside.
-
Also really enjoyed this, really liked the dynamic of the two teams. BAMF not using any real flashy offense made the Alpha's stuff stand out more. Blake has found the right look with the man bun. Enjoyed the 3-Way up until the finish. Well laid out for the most part as there never really felt like there was any forced down time for anybody in the match. Thought the finish was bad. I don't know why Joe just didn't try to club Sami from behind then apply the crossface, or why did Corbin tease tapping when he would have looked tougher if they made it look like it took two guys to make him give up. WM weekend show looks fantastic, but the TV leading up to it looks great too. There's at least one match per show the has a chance to be pretty good.
-
I'm just getting my feet wet with lucha but I find myself watching only singles matches. Casas has been amazing so far. Santo, Panther, LA Park and Ultimo Guerrero are others who will probably make my list. Wish I could watch WoS and PR for the list but I'm just not going to have the time to give anyone an honest look.
-
If the YT/DM accounts that were full of late '00 joshi stuff were still around I would make a big push for Azumi Hyuga, plus take a better look at Yoshiko Tamura, Kayoko Haruyama, and Kaori Yoneyama. Hyuga will make my top 50 when I actually get around to nominating her. Chigusa is most likely in my top 10, with Jaguar also being a possibility. Devil will be in my top 25, Aja and Bull might make it in there too. Kansai and Kyoko will make my list but in the back half. Hokuto is a definite but I don't have any idea as to where. Toyota, Yoshida, Ozaki, Kandori, and Kana are all on the bubble.
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FvBGEs91zE It's exceptionally rare that you see a match that is built around the performance of a rookie, but this match is centered around Kana trainee Konami. There is also the interesting dynamic of both Syuri and Shida being junior rivals of Kana in the past. The story of the match is Syuri and Shida focusing on Konami with one of the matches biggest strengths is the way they find interesting, reasonable ways to get Konami offense. Anytime she manages to get something in it's done in a logical fashion, not forced. Even when Kana gets tagged back in she gets in some offense but eventually falls to the 2-on-1 situation because she doesn't have any backup. Everyone in the match plays her own role very well leading to a great match. ****1/4
-
Some great stuff coming out of the year-end joshi shows: Thread for Las Aventureras vs. Avid Rival for the WAVE Tag Titles. Thread for Tsukasa Fujimoto 1st defense of the REINA title vs. Maki Narumiya. Thread for Best Friends vs. Avid Rival for the Ice Ribbon Tag Titles, which is the last great match of 2015.
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BfoWxfpOqQ&list=WL&index=119 Wow, these four just go right at each other for 14 minutes non-stop. After about a minute or so of a feel out period the match turns into a constant flow of cool double teams and nasty strike exchanges. Ohata and Mizunami are shockingly great despite this match only being the second match they have worked together as a team. This is also the first great match to come out of the awesome pairing of Nakajima and Fujimoto. Fantastic way to end 2015, and really looking forward to watching both of these teams in 2016. ****1/2