GOTNW
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Timothy Thatcher may not exactly be my favourite wrestler but he's far from being the dirt worst like Tracy Williams or Gulak. He's been in some good matches before. He looked REALLY good against Chris Masters and actually carried himself like a real pro wrestler there. He's trained with Yuki Ishikawa. So I think he isn't a great wrestler more due to the same reason he can't cut a promo to save his life than due to a lack of grappling abity or something like that. Thatcher's facial expression just before he came back into the ring after the injury angle was embarrassingly bad as was his selling of the angle itself but at least I like the idea of booking fuckfinishes in 2016 so props to Gabe. Thatcher made a solid sparring partner for Riddle, this is nothing mindblowing if you've seen some Battlarts but it's the closest I've seen an Evolve match come to looking similar to one and that comparison has been made plenty so far. Some solid grappling that would've been much better if Thatcher was a more charismatic performer and there was more peril attached to the holds, the contrast between Riddle's awesome Fujiwara armbar where it looked like he was hyperextending Thatcher's arm and Thatcher's was staggering. I'll also give them props for striking their opponent on the ground to remain in control or obtain control, we got some nice slaps out of it even if in general a lot of it ended up looking pretty mediocre, and a lack of striking/kicking ability is definitely something that is probably lacking amongst Evolve guys today to come close to the heights of the faux-shootiness (if they even wish to prosper in that style). ***1/4
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It was interesting to see Ishikawa in a FMW-esque tag with him and Ito bleeding all over the place. Ishikawa and Ito laid in some nice shots as you'd expect while the Mad Dogs were a mixed bag. Post-match is pretty neat as they just inexplicably cut to them smashing each other's faces into walls. *** -
Worst Evolve match I've seen so far. It actually started off pretty good, doing junior chain wrestling with Johnny Gargano was the best Tracy Williams ever looked, and Galloway was a solid hot tag, still the majority of this was so dull and uninteresting, Gulak and Williams had one nice combo move and Gulak will do one thing per match that I like like steal a Finlay spot or something that looks like a Finlay spot at least, here it was dragging Gargano by the feet into his corner, but outside of that it's clear he and Williams have no idea how to work, they're just so boring, so many stomps and armbreakers leading to nowhere. The double submission spots are also getting ridiculous but I did like Gargano and Galloway switching who they were doing them on for it made a ridiculous visual. It felt like it was much longer than it was, Gargano and Galloway were fine in fighting back and I kind of feel bad for them for being in a match this bad. *1/2
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I was hoping we would see some matwork that was interesting for a change when Yehi started going for single legs and Hero would shrug them off-play up the size difference! It's easy! Efficient! Interesting! Do it! But. No. Arm wringers. I respect Chris Hero for his attitude of just doing what he wants and not caring much but I can get pretty tired of his formulas. He knows how to build a match and it was apparent here-they didn't just exchange control segments. Hero dominated the match and they build heat through his control segments. I really liked the Big Boot cutoff to Yehi's corner flip. Having my first impression of him be a match vs. Tracy "please quit wrestling and go pick apples" Williams certainly did Yehi no favours but it's going to take more for me to be sold on the idea of him as a world class talent. Here he didn't really look strong enough to throw Hero around, the Belly to Belly Suplex in particular looked pretty sloppy. Hero gets exposed as the match goes a little longer for relying too much on elbow>kick-out>repeat in the finishing stretch but I don't think that they went overboard in this particular instance. A solid showing but nothing particuarly memorable. ***
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I'd like to see Riddle's strenghts used in the manner a Battlarts-esque style would use them, or see him work as a shootish base in matches that would be worked like New Japan vs UWFi, but since that just isn't going to happen since most Evolve guys aren't good or creative enough for that I'll gladly take him vs. a charismatic showman like Zack Sabre Jr. This was more Sabre's match than Riddle's, Sabre did a great job of selling the threat of Riddle's submissions and I like the way Riddle countered Sabre's flashy submissions with simple and logical counters many wrestlers don't even see are there for the taking due to bubble they're used of thinking in. This may sound like a weird comparison but the way Riddle executes Suplexes reminds me of Buzz Sawyer, he'd also jump and hit moves with the same intensity Riddle does. This was worked in a similar vein to a lucha title match and I enjoyed it a lot. ***1/2
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Not the awesome all out brawl this would've been if Suzuki was around for Big Mouth Loud but still a fun time. Murakami might not do much these days but he's absolutely hilarious and I loved the way he and Wada played off each other here. T-Hash wrestling in an Iverson jersey may not even have been the most random outfit of anyone in the arena as I'm pretty sure I saw fans with ECW, IGF and Slayer shirts in the front row. An entertaining comedy match. ***
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A bizarre and awesome match, probably the closest we ever got to Tanahashi doing shoot style. You'd get tricked into thinking he is a good wrestler by watching this, he put his amateur wrestling skills to use and did some really nice takedowns and matwork. Eventually he tries to trade strikes with Murakami and dies via face punching. Super fun match, I doubt anything from this year's G1 will endear itself to me as much as this little bout did. Inoki come back. ***-***1/4
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Tracy Williams sucks. I can't remember seeing a praised wrestler that has as poor slap throwing technique as he does. And while I have nothing against guys doing dives against Riddle the way they it was set up here was shit-not to mention doing it early on minimized its effect and shock value (well, indy guys doing dives isn't really shocking and so far I'm of the impression anyone who's compared Evolve to Battlarts has no idea what they're talking about). He's also incredibly dull when in control of the match-he can execute MOVES right but not good enough that I'm going to actually be impressed by his Dropkicks and Knee Drops and good grief is he bad at tying them together in an interesting fashion. A really good performance by Riddle however, lots of nifty slams and takedown by him, his counter knee looked absolutely disgusting and got a bigger reaction than any of the thigh slapping in the previous bouts. He rocked Williams with some nice strikes and put on a strong selling performance. They did some nice Piledrivers in the stretch and while I like the idea of the finish it was much closer to, IDK, Shawm Michaels vs Kurt Angle than Ikeda-Ono, if this leglock is so dangerous you shouldn't hesitate before kicking someone in the face. He should study how Takada, a much better worker, kicked Fujiwara in the face in their 10/25 match. No weird Triple H pauses there. **1/2
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I have to say I was was surprised by how much I disliked the first Sabre Jr./Callihan tag, I was more expecting Evolve matches to be good but a bit dry and not kind of shit like that one was. This was a much better and more interesting match, I liked that they utilized the format of tag matches to do cool stuff like Sabre pushing TJP back into the ring after his fake dive and Gulak pushing Callihan off the top rope when had TJP in the "ten punches" position. The most interesting thing in the match by far were Zack Sabre Jr.'s flashy matwork sequences. Callihan and TJP didn't do much memorable and Gulak seems like someone whose ideas about pro wrestling are much closer to great wrestling than the wrestling he actually does, it's cool he does Finlay spots but becoming a great wrestler isn't that easy. I wish Sabre would drop his elaborate Kimura set-up. The double submission spots seem to always get a pop but much like in puro from where they ripped it don't seem to ever finish matches. ***
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Another good showing for Riddle, I liked his takedowns, the palm strikes he busted out on the ground and he hit a nice fisherman's suplex. Kaasa took too much of this short match for it to be especially good, he looked like a generic indy guy I'd rather not watch ever again, I think Riddle vs. a guy who does Corkscrew Shooting Star Presses could work in theory but this convinced me Kaasa is a shitty wrestler who does Corkscrew Shooting Star Presses. **1/2
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Very good match that needed a tighter layout to be great. I liked the first fall a lot, lots of vicious brawling as you'd expect from these two. One thing I always wonder with lucha singles matches that start with an FIP section is how are they going to transition into the comeback and I thought the decision to have Pirata win the second fall with a counter sunset flip was a very smart one as it was a flash pin and not a dominating victory and would allow them to continue the beatdown into the third fall. It was nice to see Pirata bust out some new (well, at least I didn't remember seeing them) spots like the jumpng back kick and some nice dives. ***1/2
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This is my first time seeing Matt Riddle and I have to say he looked very impressive here. The opening amateur-style battle for the waistlock was a million times more interesting than the mundane pro-style holds in the previous Evolve bouts and he seems to have an actual character which is-you know, the kind of thing that was crucial in the original Battlarts stuff being as good as it was. He didn't do any stupid thigh slapping, him being barefoot provided an easy target for Yehi and his kick from the bottom looked really good. Yehi also looked much bettter here, his slams looked great. Flash submission finish ruled. This looks like a match-up that could provide a MOTYC with more time. ***1/4
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There's a pretty big amount of people on the EVOLVE roster I don't care for (hence me not keeping up with the company) but there are also some guys that have been getting praise that I've never seen. So I figured I'd give them a chance. And. Maybe I shouldn't have. This wasn't any good. Probably the most useless skill a wrestler can have is executing a move correctly. I'm sure Lance Storm is a solid trainer but he wasn't even nominated for the GWE which is very telling with the long career he had. That's what this match was essentially. They grab a wristlock, a bodyscissors, something. Then move on. Some wrestlers can execute moves so beautifully that's enough on its own, but that wasn't really the case here. Just. Wristlock. I've seen wristlocks. You can make wristlocks work. You can actually work the hold itself. You can use it to build heat and suspense and then get a big transition out of it. You can add peril to it. They did none of that here. Just. Wristlocks. And moves. Lots of them. I imagine this is what Marufuji matches look like these days. Yehi's short outburts of suplexes was nice but even that wasn't anything memorable. I'm not sure exactly what emotion Yehi's weird facial expressions and the weird tongue thing were supposed to convey. At least Triple H-Dolph Ziggler made for an interesting insight in crowd control. *1/2
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This was whatever. Opening was pretty boring with them doing uninteresting takes on basic holds, I've seen enough arm wingers for a lifetime, nothing Chris Hero does with them makes me want to see more. Commentary compared Tommy End to a K1 kickboxer, I don't remember ever seeing Peter Aerts do sound effect kicks. The sequence with End and Sabre Jr. avoiding each other's kicks was more eye-rolling than any of the recently debated flip GIFs and the one man Magic Killer was the type of embarrassing indy nonsense I'd expect out of Davey Richards. The Sabre in peril portion wasn't particularly interesting and all the striking quickly got repetitive. They kicked it up a notch for the finish with their puro cosplay strike exchanges but then the match just went on and on and on. I'm not really familiar with how Evolve matches are structured so it is not a good sign they couldn't get me to bite on any of the nearfalls. The idea of Tommy End, this great faux kickboxer doing Moonsaults could be explained as an Otsuka-tribute but it was much closer to a very bad Koji Kanemoto tribute. I don't really have anything nice to say about this match. It wasn't very interesting to me sorry (I did pop for the D'Lo Brown namedrop on commentary). Chris Hero has a nice Piledriver I guess. **
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I was thinking more along the lines of 2016 joshi and not matches I'd seen before.
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Virus vs. Hechicero (Lucha Memes, 5/15)-YES comment in MDA Nominating: Hideki Suzuki & Yoshihisa Uto vs. Yasufumi Nakanoue & Yuji Okabayashi (BJW 5/30/2016)
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Hama has good fat man offence and can be fun against someone who knows how to pinball for him like Uto but this was all about Hideki Suzuki mauling Nakanoue, and it's not just that they vary their strikes and throw awesome shoot headbutts, kicks and slaps instead of just standing there looking at each other like idiots and exchanging chops and weak elbows for five minutes, they also do the awesome lock ups, shoving, knocking each other off the apron etc. you'll see in older matches too. ***3/4
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I LOVE PRO WRESTLING. If you're looking for transcendent violence and WAR-esque matches filled with actual hate instead of just lame and tired tropes that have clouded modern japanese wrestling this is your best bet. Just an amazing match with Hideki Suzuki and Nakanoue murdering each other and unleashing shoot headbutts and Futen head kicks and stomps on each other. The match gets thrown out and then restarted, Suzuki'spartner tries to hold him back and then Suzuki loses him temper and beats the hell out of him and all the young boys.......honestly if you like violence in pro wrestling I cannot imagine you not loving this match. The only complaint I could see is that it wasn't long enough but it didn't feel like it was lacking in any way. I'm tracking down every tag with Suzuki-Nakanoue interactions now. ****1/2
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This isn't the best Hideki Suzuki match of 2016 but it might be the one that would be the best to recommend someone not familiar with him in order for them to understand what makes him a special performer. Shinobu differs from other modern japanese juniors due to his ability to sell but he is still a modern japanese junior and will take too much if you don't reel him in like Suzuki did here. His submissions are great, he does awesome stuff like knee someone in the head while holding them in a cravate and his finishes seem to have a lot of variety while being gratifying and fitting the goal of the match. ***1/2
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I think I can now safely add Uto to the list of BJW regulars better than Sekimoto, he put on a really strong selling performance here. Of course for the match to work Suzuki had to deliver on offence too-and boy did he ever. He rocked Uto with brutal shots and delivered top notch choking and stretching, the kind of stuff you want Minoru Suzuki to do but he only does it two times a year. I also loved the way they played up the tired use of rope running for cheap transitions and used it to build to original and superior transitions. I'm starting to toy with the idea Suzuki may be the best wrestler in Japan right now. ***1/4
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Whenever a fat guy like Hama or Akebono shows signs of being good you'll get marks claiming they are these great performers (think Dylan saying Hama carried Okabayashi and similar nonsense). This match is a perfect example of why statements like those are so ridiculous. Hideki Suzuki is a better wrestler than Okabayashi yet couldn't get nearly as good of a match out of Hama as Okabayashi did. Maybe, just maybe, it could have something to do with Okabayashi's very good performance in his match vs. Hama. Hama is still the same wrestler. The reason this match doesn't work is they chose the wrong layout, one that showcased Hama's very apparent flaws. Him in control could work-him outright dominating Hideki without much resistance like here doesn't. His Vader cosplay strikes aren't even as good as Makabe's and, quite frankly, he isn't really mobile enough for them to work either. Things get better when he's just squashing Suzuki with his body, but there still isn't anything particularly memorable. The finish with the quick tap was about the only thing I thought was really good about the match. **1/2
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Very good match. D-Hash has grown to the point where this isn't a total squash but he still has no chance of winning (though with how unselfishly Akiyama books himself he'll get there in about six months). Akiyama's willingness to express peril often carries his strike exchanges against younger opponents and it was similar here. In particular him wobbling after a Daichi elbow turned what could've been a dull sequence into an interesting and meaningful one. What really stood out here is the way Akiyama utilized his knees, using variations he'd never used before to stay in control. All of his attacks were brutal, and structurally it was what it should've been but I felt it was too restricted to be truly great. Akiyama has developed an efficient formula against opponent like Daichi but I think this match would have been better if it took place either a year earlier or later. ***1/2
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THE BIGGEST POP FOR THIS MATCH LADS. Not exactly the "Hideki Suzuki" match I wanted but I was pretty happy with what I got. This was a smart and efficient match, especially in context of the Strong Climb Tournament. Kamitani jumping Hideki before the bell made for an interesting dynamic, the big strike exchange was awesome and showcased how much better it is to sell during them instead of acting like a bulletproof robot, Hideki's jab headbutt was especially great. I'm not the biggest fan of the brawling around the ring but it was very well done here with Kamitani continuing to fight back after Suzuki would attack him instead of just laying there for twenty seconds, the ringpost and chair shots were surprisingly brutal and they set the stage for the awesome 80s throwback finish. ***-***1/4
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Man what did Virus' mother ever do to Hechicero? Some really high end grappling as expected but the match featured even more than that, I loved the spot where they dramatically took their shirts off and started a chop exchange only for Virus to quickly cut off Hechicero by kicking him in the leg. Hechicero has some signature spots like the corner knee and the spinning backbreaker and I loved how they'd do sequences where he'd get overzealous and then Virus would counter him and he'd get stuck in/on the ropes. Finishing hold was absolutely breathtaking. ****
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[2016-02-28-LLE] Solar & Black Terry vs Blue Panther & Negro Casas
GOTNW replied to conker8's topic in February 2016
Man this would have been such a great match just a few years ago. It was sad to see Terry mess up basic spots but he made up for it with awesome leglocks and his striking exchange with Casas was just unreal, vicious punches and headbutts, Terry bleeding made for a nice visual and also made it feel special since you rarely get to see that in Arena Mexico these days. Some nice maestros sequences with a hot crowd and the finishing stretch was super exciting, Solar's Reverse Rocking Horse was insane and I totally bit on it as a nearfall. ***1/4