AstroBoy

I've been thinking about this alot lately. And it goes beyond the promos to the matches. EVERY SINGLE HEEL tries to garner heat in the exact same way: by sarcastically copping their opponent's catchphrase -- or by getting them down on their knees during a match and shouting "give up, I'm better than you!", which always leads to a babyface comeback at that very moment. It is beyond tiring. The Ronda/Nia promo video was absolutely cringeworthy. Also anytime somebody shouts "I'm going to kick your teeth down your throat" or any other lame insult that no real adult would ever say. It is just impossible to invest in any character right now.

I don't think they have any clue what they are doing with Ronda. Or Daniel Bryan. Or Strowman, etc. The direction is just dreadful right now.

This couldn't hit the level of heat that the six-man had, but it had plenty to like. Akiyama wasting no time jumping Kobashi on the ramp was great and kicked this off with a bang. Kikuchi stepping to Akiyama and winning their elbow exchange was great too and helped set the tone for the eventual asskicking that Kikuchi would take. He puts in a good sympathetic performance too. Kobashi and Akiyama go after each other like pitbulls and it leads to a half nelson suplex on Akiyama to a big pop. Eventually Kikuchi gets trapped and worn down before being put away with the Everest German right on his neck. Good match and good build for the Akiyama/Kobashi stuff. ***1/2

I really loved the opening moments of this. I have grown so weary of meaningless standoff stuff between guys at the start of matches and these two did something much more useful -- they used the feeling out process to show their differences in size and technique. Instead of getting a meaningless exchange of holds, Taue asserts his size and power advantage consistently. Ikeda doesn't just fire back and work 50/50, they actually let Taue get the edge on him with his tools and then Ikeda uses his submission work to gain a foothold of his own. This was like water in the desert. The match continues down a fine path even though it doesn't really develop into much more after its promising start. Taue really went over strong here and I was a bit surprised at how decisive the finish was. But I will take this level of clarity and restraint over a bloated, mirror-sequence match any day. ***

Acid looked like a real pro early on here. He was super crisp and just fantastic working the opening sequences with Teioh. The match tapered off a bit more as it went on but still featured some good stuff. Teioh countering the hiptoss with the octopus was a great counter spot. Acid was very vocal and trying hard to portray himself character-wise to the crowd and that helped as well. Good match. ***

This was just so bland in comparison to the Kobashi and Akiyama six-man. Ogawa is always good for fun touches, and here he harassed Inoue repeatedly. Outside of some of those fun flourishes, this felt kind of autopilot to me. With these guys even autopilot is pretty good but there just was not a hook here to sink into. As far as status quo tags though, this was fine stuff. ***

Kikuchi brought so much to this, he was a real straw that stirs the drink type guy here. Him interacting with Takayama and to a lesser extent Akiyama helped fill the body of the match with fun sub-stories to keep things interesting. Kobashi and Akiyama continue to build toward bigger things with some terse exchanges but nothing crazy. I liked the tone of Akiyama winning a key striking exchange with Kobashi to continue staying one step ahead of him. Inoue was pretty shitty in some spots but was mostly inoffensive. There were the minor botches by the official and Takayama mistiming his spot with Akiyama but they go right to the finish and the crowd goes nuts for Kikuchi putting Kanemaru away. Really good variety six-man tag. ***3/4

This was not paced like a sprint so I was pretty shocked with the sudden tapout finish to end it. Still, this hinged on some great spots including Samurai destroying Kanemoto with a tope. Later, Samurai transitions to offense by catching Kanemoto on the top rope with an avalanche reverse DDT. A good short match but it never felt fully formed or realized. ***

The first half of the match wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire or anything but there are far more egregious examples of poor front ends followed by a hot closing stretch than this. Here you at least get Makabe being a kick pad for the Koji team and constantly trying to catch their legs to fight back. Still this had its middling moments, saved big time by a brilliant stretch run with tons of believable nearfalls. The crowd of course helped this tremendously and really helped cover for some off moments by Makabe and Tanaka. Tanaka gets the win but Makabe gets to shine big time along the way. ****

The intensity between Ishikawa and Murakami ruled and their brawling sections really felt unhinged and fantastic. Ishikawa almost smiling at Murakami and then just throwing him through rows of chairs was a great moment. Murakami hulking up from the bottom was also great and he really laid it in giving it back. Malenko is really a joy to watch and I loved his rolling with Taira. Malenko gets a submission to cap a nice struggle and Ishikawa and Murakami just stare at each other before going nuts once again. Really good tag match. ***3/4

I really liked Yone's leg drop and lariat to the side of the neck. I thought he looked fine here. Otsuka really takes a nice beating and sells a near knockout well. The screwdriver was nasty and this started into trading too much at the end but good match. ***1/2

Nagai impressed me here, his pressure, his offensive pressure, the slow but steady attack. Nagai stifles Otsuka and continues to grind him down leading to his fantastic head kick. Honestly the quick desperation submission by Otsuka left me feeling kind of flat. ***

Fun contest that largely felt like these guys' touring match. Hard to pinpoint any kind of standout performance but good match in front of this crowd to make their mark. ***1/2

Fuchi was awesome in this, proving himself as a badass against Chono. Such a hot start before Chono asserts himself only for more great offensive firepower from Fuchi. Chono gets the win but Fuchi made it fun and heated while it lasted. ***3/4

I should clarify also that I don't necessarily mean what is better between a short match and a long match. The more interesting question to me is would you rather watch a "good" or "fun" match that doesn't really reach greatness or do you prefer a great and ambitious match that forces you to deal with some bloat or melodrama or abandoned limb selling or whatever? Do you prefer the matches that build to the blowoff or do you prefer the blowoff? More and more I just find myself more drawn to those minor matches or fun matches that don't aspire to classic status.

I'm traveling and will need to take a few weeks off. I will review the matches given to me when I can but it might be a week or two, sorry!

It struck me recently how much I enjoy matches that run a little shorter than you would expect them to go or where wrestlers leave a lot on the table. And I realized I prefer matches that maybe give too little as opposed to bigger matches that may have a bigger story, more ambition, more conclusion. In essence, I prefer the steps to the destination in a lot of cases. Anybody feel similar? Does anyone feel similar or have a different view?

For NintendoLogic. . it's Doink vs Fit Finlay. As far as I can tell this is from 12/17/94 and Steve Keirn in the role of Doink. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FoteyRclGj4

The opening of this suffered from some awkwardness and King seemingly messes up a spot but they recover well enough. The Blondes take over after Lee catapults King rather weakly onto Damaja. The commentary really is annoying here, there is no getting around that. The end stretch is exciting as Dinsmore does seem a cut above the others here and the run-in stuff was at least done sharply enough that it wasn't super annoying. I also like the Blondes advancing to the finals. *1/2

Awesome impassioned promo from Smothers leads into the match. Cade was really bad early in this. This is supposed to be a grudge fight and he lays out Smothers with one clothesline and then. . . goes for the pin immediately. His strikes were light as hell and he was just tentative and hesitant on everything he did. Smothers eventually gets trapped in the corner and Cade fires up a little more with some much better chops and punches. Smothers absolutely brains Cade and the match is thrown out. *

York and Matthews always seem to excel early on with these shine sequences. Carmichael and Divine didn't do much for me here but I will credit them for getting in place to take some intricate and flying offense. Matthews eats the guardrail on a high velocity tope to the outside after also hitting a big plancha earlier in the match. Basic and uninspiring stuff from Carmichael and Divine on offense and York fights back to get the tag after a nice senton. They pulled off the screwy ending pretty well and it kept Matthews and York strong in defeat. **3/4

Tracy is a fun hot tag here with his awesome dual thrusts to the throat of the Salserio Boys. Cade never connects with me but I really enjoyed his running forearm in the corner and thought he looked a bit more spry than usual. The miscommunication spots are well-done and this feeds into a really good post-match promo from Tracy who lays on the fake sincerity to really sell the turn. The beatdown was suitably inspired until the TWA boys run Tracy off. *1/4

Amusing to hear the crowd chanting "chia pet" at Reckless. Reckless tried here and they worked within a fine blueprint but James works like a guy whose time has passed. They do an admirable job of playing out the story but it never really came together to mean much of anything other than a fun finish with Reckless losing his hair -- briefly -- before a run in by Seven. *1/2