GOTNW

A good match, but unfortunately not much more than that. They couldn't find a fitting format the channel the violence-I don't mind that the much was based on so many strike exchanges, it's that they really didn't have an idea on what it would be. Shibata attacked Kensuke at the bell, but the match lacked the urgency of an all out hate filled shorter brawl. There were probably instances in the strike exchanges where they sold too much-or, to be more accurate, randomly sold after an x amount of moves instead of building a striking exchange and then delivering a final strike that would differentiate from the previous ones and register with the viewer as something that would knock them down. It's not like that's the only way to go-one type of strike hit for the seventh time finally knocking them down could work too, but the point is to build the repetition, or the peril of the strike, or SOMETHING, and they didn't. It's a good match to watch if you have 1~15 minutes to kill and just want to see some nice violence, Kensuke really knows how to put weight into his strikes, watching him and someone today throw a chop is like night and day, and it's not just the chops, his Lariats are amazing and he'll just clob people in the neck and the back or side of the head. I appreciate that in the strike exchanges they didn't just spam one strike all the time but would constantly change things up until something worked. Props to Shibata for kicking away manically when Kensuke got him up for the Northern Lights Bomb, most wrestlers just doing nothing when they're picked up in the mair makes that an especially resonating image, though I can't fathom why it's not used more often, such a simple way to build drama and suspense. Kensuke bumping for Shibata's mocking stomps/punts was silly. ***1/4

The promo video for the match is great-they show Kensuke playing with his sons, and him and Hokuto talk about his role in the family, Fujita as a pro wrestler/MMA fighter, being a monster champion, the risks of facing him and so on. The match lasts for only two and a half minutes, as Fujita pins himself in a sleeper to lose the belt. They exchanged some nice shots while the match lasted but the angle itself is so much more fascinating. Kensuke is pissed, not happy he won that way whatsoever, as Fujita seemingly threw the match. That is more of a result of all the backsta politicking that was taking place at the time than a result of some geniously planned angle, but it does make one wonder how something like that could be used for storyline purposes. Divorced from all the emotion and rage fans at the time experienced my observation was that it was fun and unique, though obviously not a good business model. ***

Neat match. My only complaint would be that some of Kawada's transitions were a little predictable, I'm a giant Choshu supporter so the headlock>backdrop spot isn't something that bothers me, but the way it was done here with Fujita grabbing a headlock after hitting two big knees was nonsensical, and it can be pretty clear he's going to kick an opponent that's bouncing off the ropes. The violence is what makes this-even the dreaded elbow exchanges work, as you have Fujita push Kawada into the corner and then Kawada fight back and both guys try to win the damn battle instead of just standing there and exchanging strikes with five second pauses. Kawada's last hooray where he just went off and punched Fujita in the face before being put away ruled, as did his sell in the post-match where he made it look like he didn't know where he was, and the awesome Guillotine Choke sequence perfectly showcases all the possibilities of naturally intertwining moves without making them lose credibility, even if they are escaped/countered. ***3/4

I absolutely love this match. A mismatch in styles creates a special type of energy. I can imagine Tanahashi doing something like grabbing his neck in fear after avoiding a kick against Goto/Shibata/Nakamura 5-10 years later but it evokes a much stronger reaction when he's fighting one of PRIDE's top heavyweights and also playing a proper FIP that sells most of the time. Because Fujita is so dominant for so long he can let Tanahashi shine during comebacks without losing credibility, but he's also not going to let Tanahashi pull of twisting nonsense moves on him. Tanahashi's performance here is good-the tackle countered into a flash pin ruled and the rabid suicide dives ruled and even the running small package felt like the appropriate thing to do in the moment. The only thing they have in similar is the amateur background whic they use as a meeting point (as well as the strike exchanges). Fujita brings the violence you'd want out of a badass shooter-his soccer kicks and knee lifts are second to none, and the smug expressions he makes after he bodies Tanahashi are just priceless. ****1/4

I'm not sure how my taste in wrestling managed to change so quickly, maybe it's the insane GWE-related amounts of wrestling I've watched, but last time I watched this match wasn's so long ago, maybe a year or two ago. I thought it was good, this time I thought it was absolutely marvelous. Super Strong Machine trips Maeda as he's entering the ring and attacks him, that whole angle was so great and really puts into perspective how amateur a lot of angles even major promotions do cime off. Maeda does a disgusting blade job, so naturally you need a million people to hide it well, and the commotion a pre-match attack causes is the perfect opportunity for that. All you really see is Maeda eating shots and the ringpost and by the time he gets up he's just covered in blood, it's insane. Maeda falls down as he enters the ring and sets the stage for the match. Maeda is on the verge if defeat the entire match, as Masa Saito just nuked him with Suplexes and Lariats. They cool it off with a Boston Crab and while the crowd senses Maeda isn't losing to such a hold they use it to transition to Maeda's comeback, as Maeda pushes Saito off him by going backwards. From then on it'a a matter of life and death, and they pack so much neat stuff into the finishing stretch it feels kinda redundant to name every singLe thing done and why it worked. Saito's punches could've been better, but that's just nitpicking. ****

This match was quite the ride. Early on it's worked pretty much like a regular match, with them working opening matwork, it isn't them just sitting in a hold for two minutes, they're attempting armbars and so, but there's no urgency, instead a rougness in that everything attempted is fought against with fireman's carries, powering out and so on. As the match develops it becomes clear that what Frye's doing isn't that much different from what Shamrock, Severn etc. were doing in WWF a few years before-it's hard to compare their pro wrestling talent (especially with Shamrock's great UWF/PWFG run) but it's clear Frye had the platform that better suited his skillset and opponents who knew what do with it. Frye's punches manage to look great in a worked environment too and Kensuke milks everything they do for all it's worth, and momentum shifts meaning a lot is what ultimately makes the match. The Lariat gives Frye a chance for quick counters, but is also what ultimately slays him. I was surprised by Frye's bumping too, I think he did a good job of not putting over Sasaki's offence strongly without getting too cartoony. ****

I rewatched this and it held up quite well (I loved the Survivor Series match, but on a rewatch the lack of *content* to latch on really prevents me from labellin it as something that's more than just good and unique). However I must vehemently disagree that this is the best sub 5 minute match of all time or even a contender. That'd be a cool project to organize (and I'm willing to run in case Loss doesn't heat the PWO machine will overheat from doing that and the 2k stuff at the same time). The match reminds me of the Ibushi-Perkins match from the CWC. It's the type of match that rules in the moment but is also not self sustainable in the long run. I think WWE has historically done a good job of not falling into that trap, although that's been changing in the last few years, whether it's Triple H's rise in power, the influx of indy guys, Cena watching PWG tapes, when the end result is basically 2009 Tyler Black matches happening as WWE main events something's broken. Now....obviously a pop-up after being hit with several suplexes is ridiculous. But did it ever work here. They constructed the perfect match in terms of their capabilities at this point. Every spot was memorable, every transition logical and complementing what they'd established in their previous matches (like Lesnar rolling out of the ring since defeat was imminent after being hit with the second spear). Lesnar's leapfrog was a stark reminder he was never so revered just for his strength but also his overall athleticism, it'd be nice if we got to see that side of him more often since that's usually when the matches are better too. A nice spectacle, but it doesn't hold a candle to something like Ikeda vs Ono for >5 minute matches. ***1/2

I remember this match starting really weird, Sano would attempt Armbars on Hashimoto over and over again and Hashimoto would just kinda, uhm, WWE-escape them, not really countering properly, really not fitting for a match that wasn't even necessarily worked in a shooty style. but took place five miles near the UWFi ring. Once they started laying shots in it became really great.

I usually don't review stuff when I watch it live at 5/6AM, and this probably deserves a rewatch, but I have some thoughts on it that I want to get out. My first impression was that it was a great match. The opening wasn't much but as soon as they found focus it became awesome, usually Undertaker's strikes are just a shallow gimmick that feel like a nod to his ego so he feels better about the MMA classes he takes, but here they actually looked good for a change AND had a build that made them feel important. It's not like every punch Undertaker threw was suddenly Sangre Chicana level but when it mattered (the apron counter and the sudden jab) they made for huge momentum shifts and looked great. Reigns is no stranger to ramping up the violence levels, and the no holds barred rules and Undertaker's sheer age made this really feel like a spectacle, you have a jacked man in his prime conditioned destroying a fifty year old man with chairshots, the visual is just so much stronger when it's two guys who looks identical doing the same. Even when you could see the spots coming (like when Undertaker got Reigns on the table) the execution was so good it hardly mattered or the set up was so phenomenal they made you want to see the spot you know was coming (Reign's consecutive punches to Undertaker and the way he got in his face before the Last Ride). And for matches that have a lot of nearfalls I think this one really got it, doing what RINGS and the high end juniors matches do in that it set up an ongoing narrative and then had the final spot be something extra that really made you think ok, THAT'S it and it should be and it was. And Reigns punching Undertaker out before running the ropes five times and spearing him was exactly that. I would have had it around ****. I've seen some people complaing about the post-match, but I don't really know what they were expecting. I think it perfectly fit into the match, Undertaker failing to kip-up was an amazing spot and his character ends his journey on a more humanizing note with embracing his wife and going out. Maybe some would have liked to see some mystical transformation into the ether with only Undertaker's hat remaining in the ring, but I don't think that would have complimented the match as well.

I mean it's what you could read betwen the lines of what Mutoh himself said about the situation but ok.

He'd made enough money that he didn't care and just wanted to run his own vanity promotion.

I should cross post all my stuff from Hashimoto's microscope thread, the MDA is just so much superior in every way. My review: Hashimoto, the previous champion, challenges Kawada to take back the Triple Crown Championship he'd never lost. Hashimoto had to vacate the title after a shoulder injury. This was actually one of the first Hashimoto matches I'd ever seen. When I watched it I thought it was a great match, but I watched it in a vacuum, not understanding all the nuances and psychology that were present in this match, and also with a much different mindset than the one I currently have (All Japan is the best wrestling ever, Marufuji is the best, more apron moves please). I thought it was a great match because they hit each other hard. But that's kind of omnipresent in every Hashimoto and Kawada match. This isn't worked like any other Hashimoto match and definitely not like any other Kawada match. I swear this was going to be at least **** for me for the entrances alone. Man Hashimoto just looks so cool. He comes out and he has the flashy jacket and the bandana and the crowd is losing their shit and I'm losing my shit and Hashimoto just carries himself like this is the most important thing we are ever going to witness. Then Kawada comes out and he's got the flashy robe and the cool belts and the crowd is going wild once again. Man the feeling out process in this one was super great. Just them stretching and staring at each other manages to be incredibly captivating and super awesome. First bigger thing Hashimoto does in this one is a Hane Goshi and it's hard to describe just how much the beauty of the technique resonated with me. That's one of the biggest strenghts of this match-every transition managed to look great, feel great and make sense in the context of the match. They go the strike exhanging and Hashimoto hits Kawada so hard he starts bleeding from his ear. That's right. I've seen a lot of fucked up things in professional wrestling, whether they be in FUTEN folks punching each other as hard as humanly possible or various deathmatch stuff but I don't ever remember feeling as horrified as I did once it hit me what had just transpired. They engage in a kick battle which you would want from famed kickers and the commentators bring up their fighting backgrounds and how that affects their kicking technique. Man this match rules so much. Hashimoto's karate proves to be stronger than whatever the hell Kawada did. That might have been the best Suimengiri he had ever done. Hashimoto attacks Kawada's leg and the commentators bring up Hashimoto submitting Kawada in a big tag match with a Kneebar which I'd kind of forgotten about despite watching the mentioned tag match. Kawada attacks Hashimoto's injured shoulder in return. That is such an important part of what makes this match work, tapped up shoulder Hashimoto is an amazing character, a couple of months beforehand he had a match vs. Ohtani that featured one of the most unique finishes in wrestling history and it really adds a lot to this match because there's a feeling Hashimoto could fall apart at any given moment. Hashimoto makes sure to beat the shit out of Kawada's leg enough to make you feel the same way about him as well. Kawada initially tries to fire back by using the same leg Hashimoto had started attacking but Hashimoto (no)sells them perfectly as Kawada was throwing them both with a weakened limb and from a really terrible position. Hashimoto did register the kicks Kawada threw with his left leg. Of course-kicks are too big of a part of Kawada's offence for him to give up on them entirely, but despite hitting them he always sells sells the pain while setting the move up and after hitting it, in a way most wrestlers who "fight through pain" simply don't. There's a pretty great moment where Hashimoto goes for another Hane Goshi and there's a struggle over whether he's going to throw Kawada or Kawada is going to throw him by countering it with a Backdrop Suplex (like in that awesome Kawada-Naoya Ogawa match) and despite managing to throw Hashimoto he doesn't really do it with the force he usually would due to his leg giving out. There's a lot of drama over whether or not they are going to be able to execute a certain move due to the damage their injured limbs have suffered which is constantly played up, especially in the final strike exchange. Finish is about as fitting as it couldv've been. This was fucking amazing. I wanted more though which is how I don't feel about the Hashimoto matches I've rated as perfect. Maybe I will improve its rating after another rewatch. ****3/4

What a match. It's always neat to see amateur wrestling stuff incorporated into prowres, and these two did a really neat version of that while simultaneously gradually increasing the intensity, with it just exploding in the finishing stretch. That damned Headbutt may be the most a wrestler's ever bled from one, talk about a spot that insantly completely changes the flow of the match. Of course the Suplexes were just beautiful, but they also smartly build the nearfalls playing off previous spots, and the execution was amazing, you don't see anyone else do a gutwrench suplex counter into a leglock, let alone done as smoothly as here. ****1/4

This was an interesting, although slightly disappointing match. Misawa's aggressive onslaught in the beginning was awesome, totally caught me off guard and for a moment it looked like it could turn into an awesome brawl, but the next thing was Misawa transitioning into a hold and them just having a standard match, which was nowhere near as interesting. There are moments where you see signs of the nastiness that will come of Taue in the following years but you can also see he's still too fascinated with jumping of things and what he can physchically do to really dedicate himself to the snugness. They both have good offence, some sloppy (jumping) middle kicks aside, the rope running transitions are something All Japan handled perfectly and Misawa's misaed Lariat (and following elbow comeback) was a thing of beauty. Still, this didn't really feel worthy of such a big move debut. Others will probably enjoy it a lot more since I presume they're not as focused on structure as "holy shit Taue did a somersault!" and that's valid too. ***

I watched this match because of a GIF. I vaguely remember this stuff, but the aesthetic of Melina's red carpet entrance, some weird Beth-Santino storyline and Lawler commentating it all in the manner of a 2009 diva match ended up being quite the trip. It was six minutes long, and I like short matches, so maybe my next endeavor could be revisiting the divas division before giving up matches in and then not watching wrestling for a month. A lot of the moves they do don't look polished, but it doesn't matter that much. Many of the men in WWE have had shitty strikes as well and have been given a pass, they're just quick transitions, it doesn't matter much in the WWE style. The lay-out was really interesting-you had Phoenix dominating by outpowering Melina and recklessly throwing her around, maybe she's actually the divas version of Rick Steiner. Melina's comebacks were brief and included doing really wacky springboard axe quicks, roll-ups and a La Mistica, I loved just how ridiculous the whole thing was and the finishing stretch was chaotic, some might be botehred that there are times where you're not sure what's exactly happening and the correct person is registering pain after a botch, but it has a certain charm when you know the match isn't going long and every move could legitimately end the match. And the aforementioned GIF included Phoenix holding Melina in a Stretch Muffler and kicking Melina in the head with Melina's own leg and yeah that spot ruled. Fun match. ***

What I'll remember this match for most is probably Yamamoto's second and how his advice lined up with the action. He yelled at Yamamoto to attack the body for a minute and then when Yamamoto finally did so he started celebrating, it was quite the endearing moment. When Yamamoto had control the second would yell at him to watch out, yell at him if he thought a move was coming and so on, and it lead to several cool moments, Yamamoto would get control of Han, and cautiously avoid his counters, but when he'd go for a hold himself (the wesome Reverse STF particularly stood out) he'd often get countered. Yamamoto is polished both standing and on the ground but wherever the fight went it didn't feel like there was a chance for him, he played the roled of the fired up youngster well, but this was more about Han and his awesome highspots, with him kicking away at Yamamoto's hands to break his grip and dragging him across the ring as a bonus. ***1/2

I've said before that one of the difficulties I've had in my wrestling fandom was properly analyzing shoot style and lucha matches that consisted mostly of matwork, as the beauty of the great stuff seemed so evident I wouldn't even know where to start. Looking at it now it's obvious I just wasn't good enough at noticing the patterns of the matches and expressing my thoughts on them. RINGS, and Volk Han matches especially tend to be very reactionary. Watching a Volk Han match is akin to watching Seinfeld-it works perfectly in a vacuum. Sure, occasionally there will be some references to what happened previously, but that's really not the main point. The style is action packed, and honestly if someone were to accuse them of just spamming nearfalls I wouldn't even try to argue against it. In this match it's basically what they do the entire time. Experienced RINGS viewers will notice that despite the conditioned crowd reacting to everything loudly there are distinctive elements to finishes and potential finishes and that is something that you really won't see abused and overused, quite the opposite actually. The big spots often look like they could finish the match but a few seconds later you see the wrestlers change positions hinting that an escape or a counter is coming. The finish here plays off the established structure of match finishes neatly, as you get a brief moment of absolute peril, where an ending seems imminent, a breif attempt to reach the ropes and then the tap out. It works, it's beautiful, and it feeds on the established formula instead of letting it destroy the match and suck all of the excitement out of it. How many times have you seen wrestlers in WWE and New Japan dramatically crawl to the ropes before grabbing them? Too many. I don't find that spot exciting or interesting, I know how it's going to end because the result is the same in 99% of cases. If there is going to actually be a tap out in WWE or NJPW it isn't goint to come after dramatic rope crawling, it's going to come two to five seconds after the hold gets locked in. The rope crawling spot could be this huge, dramatic exciting spot if the percentages of the times it gets the tap out was higher. Back to the match-Zouev may be my second favourite russian from RINGs, but I also remember taking him a while to really *get it*. He seemed outclassed here, especially in striking-Han brought awesome knee strikes, slaps and punches and Zouev's stand up attempts were just there. He did have some strong selling moments, like the over the top selling of Han's knee strike and doing a forward roll to escape Han's standing double wristlock. I had wondered how people bought matches that had so many highspots and ridiculous armdrags as being so realistic, but then I realised Aikido is a thing, watched some old propaganda Judo clips, remembered how great japanese people can be at bullshitting things and suddenly it made perfect sense. The creativity of Han and his ability to come up with so many situations of danger and transition to the next one so quickly is unmatchable-though I don't think it quite makes for my favourite shoot style. ***1/2

I remember enjoying his matches vs John Morrison, though I have no idea how late 2000s/early 2010s workrate WWE stuff holds up now.

Just looking at the transitions WWE style looks way more sophisticated than it's usually given credit. Doing limbwork is one of the first ideas that comes to mind when wrestles think of ways to fill their control segments, and while AJ's bumping may be strong enough that he can turn an irish whip into a corner into a believable beginning of a back work Orton in control feels like it was thought up by an e-fed writer, just a lot of moves that target a body part done consequently, not that much different from the logic used in spotfests. Styles carried those segments with his bumping and acting and when in control did some nice kneework, but what I most liked about it is how rough the match felt. Orton's sprawls when AJ would go for his leg, the sandbag on the Styles Clash and Styles sucking Orton in on a Springboard RKO counter everyone expects by this point created a level of struggle you don't see in an average WWE TV match. ***1/4

The Zayn that sells is much more interesting than the Zayn that does Half Nelson Chickenwing Suplexes and Michinoku Drivers, his grin before the match when Strowman's music was such a nice touch, Kevin Dunn did well. Strong performances by both men, Strowman's feats of strength were unique, looked great and Zayn bumped great for them, while the DDT counter was hardly the most original spot it was definitely well done as Braun just annihilated Zayn with a Forearm. The match had its limitations due to them adhering to a formula of "Braun dominates-Zayn reaches for a weapon-Braun fights off-repeat" in building the body of the match but it did play to both of their strengths and was definitely a step in the right direction. ***1/4

Not seeing the hype on this one. Joe's beatdown was pretty pedestrian, too many shots that obviously missed, Reigns is willing to sell and bump to put someone over but he could only do so much. Transition watch: a Back Elbow from a rope running counter that worked due to the threat of Reigns' Jumping Clothesline (validated by him using it later in the match) and a simple irish whip counter. They did a pretty good job of building up signature spots in a manner that was used to be pretty common a few years ago using delayed gratification (ie. Reigns goes for a Samoan Drop, Joe reverses avoids it, runs the ropes, Reigns goes for the Samoan Drop again, Joe fights off>Reigns puts him down and Uppercuts him, leaving the Samoan Drop for Joe to use as a pop up counter for the Facewash) and that, Reigns' performance in general and a quality distraction finish entertained me well enough. **3/4

Really fun and concise hoss battle with them smartly using the 5 minutes they had. I'm not the biggest proponent of sound effect strikes but they can work just like anything else and Strowman's were similar to Reigns' and Harper's who do them well too, the WSS weight shift was a smart counter you don't see often since there aren't a lot of wrestlers bigger than Henry that'd make that spot make sense. Henry catchin Strowman's arm when he went for the clubbing blow is something I could see annoying an all knowing WWE binge watcher if the "go for the move again once you've executed it correctly only to get it countered" pattern is super prominent in WWE (I'm not convinced of that, I think they vary things enough to that it isn't really an issue in general, only when someone telegraphs it) but Henry made it look so cool by milking the arm catch and following it up with a great fired up comeback. ***

As I've become gradually more obsessed with wrestling I've gone full circle to getting bored with a lot of it and watching a lot less of it, so I'm more interested in deconstructing the patterns present in certain styles, their merits and how much I can get ouf of them. This match looked unique enough in that the conclusions they'd come to appeared interesting. The opening matwork was fun, though it's impossible to say for me that seeing GIF of them doing the same on house shows didn't lessen its impact. It's a double edged sword-if you don't practice a spot you might blow it, if you do it's gonna be as big of a deal for at least someone. The use of the irish whips and rope running was good-Show attempted the classic New Japan "hit a move after your opponent runs the ropes" cut off but Strowman avoided that and took him down instead, successfully used running moves and so on. Strowman's control segment was a little disappointing, throwing people around and beating them senseless is what really made me love him and he couldn't really do that against Big Show. The actual transitions were predictable, not to a huge detriment-but when you know a suplex counter is coming or that Big Show's Vader Splash wont' connect it isn't adding to the match. The finisher kick-outs worked in that they were unexpected for the occasion, unforced and added to the atmosphere of the match without going overboard. Strowman laid in some nice shots but I couldn't shake the feeling that even when the ideas were good (like Big Show attempting a desperate Chokeslam before being put away) there was just something a little artifical about it. I'm not sure I buy into the idea the crowd was constantly into it when they would go silent for long stretches before popping for the highspots, though that isn't really that much different than all other WWE wrestling that just has more highspots. **3/4

Josh Barnett is a badass fighter, he's also had a couple of neat wrestling matches like the U-STYLE classic vs Tamura and his IGF match vs Hideki Suzuki, I was eager to see how he'd look. I remember liking Bad Bones back when he worked a few tours for Big Japan, it looks like he's doing different things today, he was fine here, playing his role well and putting over Barnett's offence which was the focus of this short match-Barnett threw some great knees and some lovely slams, including nearly decapitating Bad Bones with a Powerbomb. Also liked how Barnett used ring positioning to control Bones and he had a nice flurry of palm strikes too, definitely worth your time if you have three minutes to spare. ***

You know what was nice in here? The pin sequences. So many matches where they do them are just copy-pasting the Eddie Guerrero-Dean Malenko ones that haven't been impressive nor made sense in twenty years, here they really mixed it up and did stuff like combine a La Casita and a Bridging O'Connor Roll into a single hold, neat stuff all aroun. This was in the Dragon Lee/Kamaitachi vein of a match primarily built around big spots but without losing perception of what makes the spots work (proper set-ups, selling them instead of transitioning to the next . It was far from ideal though, as the contstant countering they indulged in became too elaborate to feel as gritty as you'd want a match that has this level of violence to. Honestly I didn't even notice Hojo's backwork that much, even though there had been spots where she'd specifically targeted the back in her offence like the sliding elbow Shirai didn't sell it as big as you'd want to for it to become a big threat. I like finishes varying and being built up to logically but it didn't feel as befitting as it could've. Still a very fun match. ***1/4