Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

GOTNW

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2006

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by GOTNW

  1. GOTNW
    Very good match that would've been great if Kodaka wasn't such a clown. His ringpost figure 4 botch was embarrassing and any time he was going after HARASHIMA's leg he had no idea what kid of hold he wanted to use, to the point HARASHIMA had to cover for him and counter it because it was so bad. Still HARASHIMA is a total badass, he rocks Isami with deadly kicks, knees, double stomps etc. and is the only ace in contemporary puro that knows to properly carry himself as such. I love his Suimengiri and he always does a great job of organically teasing, building to and using his bigger moves without making the set up obvious. It can be quite hard to nail the selling required here when you have the guy use the moves that include attacking with his injured limb but HARASHIMA is a capable wrestler and made it work. ***1/2
  2. GOTNW
    It's hardly an astute observation but during my latest mini Akiyama binge I have started to think about how incredibly lacking pro wrestling criticism is. It may be due to so few people paying attention to his stuff, and I know it sounds incredibly pretentiosu but sometimes I do get the feel no one else is really giving Akiyama a completely fair shake, both regarding his positives and his negatives. I don't remember anyone bringing up how he uses suplex sequences and unoriginal rope-running counters as transitions which is pretty evident and lord knows how many other examples and maybe better examples for all other wrestlers out there exist. I liked this match a lot conceptually. Mashimo takes out Akiyama's leg preventing him from using his knee strike on which he relies on a lot. Mashimo's limbwork is focused and good, Akiyama provides an interesting take on limping selling and they work the finish with Akiyama using big slams and strikes to fight back into the match instead of just hitting a bunch of knee strikes regardless of the limb work. It wasn't a particularly exciting watch though, I'll concede it was above average/relatively good, give it **3/4 and move on.
  3. GOTNW
    Good match but much like their match from last year's Champion Carnival it is more a fun sprint than a match of quality similar to their 2014 classic. I think that's probably because of how even both matches were worked, I'd have liked to see longer control segments. For what it was it was fun, both guys have good offence and the finishing run with both of them unloading on each other with vicious knee strikes was very cool. ***-ish
  4. GOTNW
    In my free time I watch Jun Akiyama beat up young boys in front of 100 people. This is a really neat version of that match, Nomuta is an insane bumper, watching Akiyama throw him into the guardrail five times was a thing of beauty. Akiyama pushing Nomura onto the ropes while Nomura was elbowing him was badass, you could totally imagine him mumbling "come on kid lay it in", I liked Nomura's running elbows and his spear/jacknife pin, still this is all about Akiyama brutalizing him. Akiyama going repeteadly going for pins to tire out Nomura and changing them up a few times as well as knocking Nomura back down whenever he tried to use his hands to push himself up when Akiyama locked him in a Boston Crab were details I appreciate very much. ***-ish but insanely fun.
  5. GOTNW
    All Japan house shows can be depressingly heatless and that was the case here, I would have probably rated this higher if it happened in Korauken. I am not Sekimoto's biggest fan but he does have a good sense of how to traditionally build a match and fits well into the Nu King's Road matwork>strikes>big moves formula with bigger teases in the firs two thirds. Akiyama is one the rare guys who actually knows how to sell which held all the strike exchanges together and there was a neat moment when he DDT'd Sekimoto on the floor and as I expected the dreaded 20 count he went back outside the ring and blasted Sekimoto with a Knee and a Piledriver as well before bringing him back in. I lowed the dramatic teases of their finishers, both Akiyama fighting out of the German and Sekimoto fighting out of the Wrist Clutch Exploder were exciting and I especially loved how Sekimoto elbowed Akiyama just when I was absolutely certain Akiyama was gonna go through with executing the Wrist Clutch Exploder. Would've been better without some tired transitions in the middle and in a better venue but Akiyama worked violent enough to hold my attention throughout the entire match and the finishing stretch was really good. ***1/4
  6. GOTNW
    Great match. My favourite bit was probably the way Satomura used kicks early on to establish her pace and to cut off Aja even while they were testing each other out and chain wrestling. The missed ringpost strike may be my least favourite commonly used modern puro transition but they did a great job of implementing Aja's weaknesses into the strike exchange that followed it and did well whenever they would reference it later on in the match. Aja seems to have slowed down but Satomura had no problem working around that and did an excellent job feeding Aja transitions. Awesome counters like Aja kicking Meiko away were used as huge transitions as they should and they provided the bomb throwing you'd want them to. I could do without crowd brawling but I think the wide angle Samurai TV cameras use may also play a part in that and the ringside brawling was awesome with Aja just demolishing Satomura, throwing her into chairs like this were a luchas de apuestas match. Scorpio Rising is a cool move but to me it wasn't just about Meiko using it as much as it was her using all the variations of it she did (the corner one looked especially badass) out of desperation. ****
  7. GOTNW
    The angle with Rusev taking out Sin Cara while he was watching the match backstage was brilliant, weird to see them step out of their comfort zone so much with the parejas increibles tag, this and Ambrose's clockwork orange house of fun announcement. Another good performance by Kalisto who's had a killer year so far but Del Rio was completely off here, both messing up stuff and doing nothing interest in control for long periods of time. The angle surrounding the match and Kalisto's selling and bumping salvaged it as much as it was possible. **1/2
  8. GOTNW
    Another good match between this pairing even though it was probably the least of those they've had so far, The Usos have had a sneaky good run, I like their shtick a lot and Anderson and Gallows are good foils for them. I liked how agressive The Usos looked here, continuing to punch Anderson and Gallows after diving on them, driving them into the barricade etc. Post-match brawl was really cool as expected. ***
  9. GOTNW
    Well. I liked Becky countering Dana's Bow and Arrow-ish hold by kicking out of it. Still this was Dana trying to work like Emma but with Kelly Kelly-esque execution and it did not come off well at all. It was servicable enough because Becky is the best babyface worker in WWE's women division but it was by no means an impressive Raw debut.
  10. GOTNW
    This was a fun squash, one of the Colons busted out a cool take on the tired three suplex combination that he finished off with a Brainbuster which I don't has been done in WWE since like.......Kid Kash was Cruiserweight Champion. Everything they did looked snug, they may not be over but so what, neither is Sheamus and look at all the ridiculous narrative creation that's happened with him. I am totally on board with them turning into the Un-Americans in a month or two.
  11. GOTNW
    I wonder if Miz could've carried Steenerico to a great tag match like The Briscoes and Super Dragon did if this were a normal tag and not parejas increibles. I loved the way Miz cheapshoted Zayn off a Maryse distraction and him and Cesaro were way interesting at playing feuding partners than Zayn and Owens. Nice to see a novel concept executed well on Raw. Do wish Cesaro interrupted Miz's Giant Swing attempt a few moments later so we'd have gotten to see him fail but oh well, what can you do. **3/4
  12. GOTNW
    I think I agree with funkdoc on surface level. Consistent strategy isn't necessarily better than inconsistent strategy. It's all about whether or not it's engaging. I do think that expecting absolute consistency out of pro wrestling psychology is unrealistic. Relative? Sure. But if you try to go down the rabbit hole of perfection and absolutism you'll end up discussing silly things like how people bump differently to set up certain moves.
  13. GOTNW
    I come into all matches wanting to like them and there probably isn't a promotion that makes that harder than AAA. This has a really promising start, both guys do great blade job and there's mask ripping, a lot of garbage spots I liked....yet. It just. Doesn't grab me in any way. I actually think a lot of modern CMLL matches do a good job of incorporating bullshit (i.e. distraction spots, seconds getting involved etc.) into them but here it does nothing except ruin the flow of the match and I don't really care about Wagner and Psycho Clown when they're doing anything other than hitting each other with chairs and ripping each other's mask. A lot of stuff looked awkward and at the end of the day I found myself caring more about the crowd reactions and figuring out whether or not Psycho Clown's sticked out tongue was a part of his mask than the match itself. **
  14. GOTNW
    This was a special match. It was nice to see a chaotic brawling trio in Arena Mexico again and the crowd greeted them with insane crowd heat. There were portion in this where they would digress and just do awesome macho bullshit and it was just so cool, you get the feeling these guys would be world champions at posing. LA Park's son threw a good punch and just catapulted himself into the crowd on a dive and also choked Pierroth with camera cables so he definitely has potential. Still you are here to see LA Park and Rush go aat it and, while the match is mostly worked around teasing that pairing rather than giving it straight away when you do get them going at it it's just pure magic. ****
  15. GOTNW
    Really liked the match starting with them fighting on the ramp. I'm a sucker for that. Might be all the NOAH I've watched. I liked Mephisto in this, I enjoyed him beating up Dorada and taking his mask off in the primera and him quickly cutting off Dorada's attempted comeback in the segunda. I didn't like how they transitioned into a Dorada showcase and the match went a bit too long in my opinion, Dorada has some great looking spots but this wasn't something I'm going to remember in a few weeks. ***
  16. GOTNW
    Loss has been talking a lot about flaws in the other thread and I'll just say/repeat I don't really see polished execution as an ideal. Katsuhiko Nakajima may have better kicking technique than Maeda but he can't convey the aura of danger Maeda does with his. And sure, you can go back to how they carried themselves, but at a certain point I think you need to bring up the fact that there is a need for failure in simulated struggle at its highest artistic level because of how inherent imperfection and botches are in humanity and real fights (thinking me injuring my fists when punching a kid in elementary school more than MMA and other controlled professional fighting).
  17. GOTNW
    Neither of these guys are exactly my favourites but I decided to give this the benefit of the doubt. 10-15 minutes sounded like the ideal time for the type of match these two were going to work. The issue with this is that they only have a certain amount of ways to create momentum and when you're working this type of match it does become repetitive. But man they just do so much insane stuff and a match that leaves me gasping for air deserves a high rating, even if they did climb on the top rope the same way one too many times. ***3/4
  18. GOTNW
    For a nine minute spotfest in 2016 this is about as good as it gets, both of these guys bust out so much cool stuff-good looking strikes, insane dives, nutty bumps, you'll get all of those here but along with those really good character work inbetwen them that held the match together. ***1/2
  19. GOTNW
    Negro Casas is really great at this wrestling thing eh? Everything is a struggle here, even when going for a Headscissors Hechicero has to fight a good ten to fifteen seconds for it. Casas is just so awesome, him doing character work based around fixing his hair (when he's recently lost a hair match i.e. bald) while putting on a hold is the best. I've talked about playing to the crowd while selling in that recent Rush-UG match but man Hechicero fires himself up after Casas boots him in the face here and it reminds you Ultimo Guerrero is no Hechicero. There are times where you kind of know Casas' apron seated senton is coming but I loved the way he set it up here just driving Hechicero into the ringpost and move itself looked great, unreal that a 56 year old grandfather can leap that well. Hechicero does so many awesome things, his corner knee and springboard dropkick looked great and he stomped Casas' head a lot. ****1/4
  20. GOTNW
    I've brought this up in the "A " total is greater than the sum of his parts" wrestlers" thread but it is something that is worthy of discussing on its own. If Santito fucked up a dive that'd be sad because your want and expect Santo to hit beautiful breathtaking dives. He is the guy that does those. However, If Sabu fucks up a dive it's great because he's just a lunatic jumping around trying to kill himself. I realise for many execution is very important, and sometimes it is for me but not RINGS matches aren't a very big percentage of pro wrestling bouts. I think this is a Matt D talking point (and if it isn't it sounds like one anyway)-pro wrestling is about symbols to me. I'm not a good person to ask about a favourite or least favourite move. It all depends on the individual and how they use it. A Choshu lock up is a million times better and more interesting to me than a backyarder doing a Brainbuster on the grass. Yet a Brainbuster can still be used in one of the greatest spots in pro wrestling history in Hashimoto/Takada. I know many folks like to picks on Tenryu's execution, but I'm mostly glad the works the way he does. There are plenty of modern puro workers that do the moves he does and are much smoother in executing them yet I don't see anyone claiming Go Shiozaki is a better worker than Tenryu.
  21. GOTNW
    Hitting moves the way he does is absolutely part of Tenryu's appeal and his character (and there's probably an interesting discussion to be had about the connection between execution and a character a wrestler is portraying) but as I've already mentioned in his thread there are times that he will hit a weak enzuigiri or an abisengiri and use it as a key transition in a match and it just doesn't come off well. Tenryu's execution problems are overstated in my opinion, I wouldn't have ranked him as the fourth best wrestler ever if I thought his offence sucked. The majority of it is awesome and even the stuff the will occasionally mess up can look really good.
  22. GOTNW
    I feel like some folks have slightly misinterpreted me. Maybe it's my fault because I didn't respond to this thread more. Anyway what I was getting at is that these: among others are equally as important as other parameters when discussing as a wrestler and wrestlers who are described as "greater than the sum of their parts" even exists shows tangible flaws in how wrestling is critiqued and perceived. I don't think there's a single name I've agreed with in this thread. Actually let's look at the names brough up: No interest in discussing him. I think the key difference here may be how good you think he is at something and how much it bothers you compared to say, how much it bothers me. So for you the way he structures matches, milks big moments etc. might be enough to overcome all that while I will just begrudgingly admit it is sometimes an efficient way to get heat from the modern crowd. Cena's flaws are probably overstated for well known reasons and his strengths not given the proper credit. It's so clear he's a great seller if you watch stuff like the 2011 Rey Mysterio match for the interim WWE title or any of the Brock matches. Still I would probably disagree regarding the level of greatness he achieved with some (he didn't make my top 50). That such an obvious all time great wrestler is even mentioned in this thread shows there are still remnants of the venomous spew that infected wrestling critique in the days of workrate as its primary criteria. Disagree heavily here. Anyone who's seen a lot of Punk knows bad Punk matches are out there and there is a lot of them. In addition there is plenty of Punk matches that feel unspecial. So his flaws did often impact his matches significantly. He had other qualities and with enough motivation and the right setting against the right opponent he could overcome them and sometimes even reach greatness. I've watched waaaaay too much AE stuff to think of him as someone who's that good. Only seemed to "get it" when he had a year in advance to plan his stuff out. Big pop for Loss having no idea how ridiculous it is to bring up Takashi Iizuka as being a better wrestler than Hash. I mean-those who watched enough random 90s tags will get it but it still looks a little ridiculous as a real thing written down. First thing that stood out to me watching him was how smart of a worker he was and how good he was at teasing big spots and building up to them. Great seller, great facial expression, hugely charismatic performer. Don't see it.
  23. GOTNW
    I don't have a reddit so Owens' trash talk doesn't do much for me. Ryder is really good at organically setting up and building to spots by teasing them and countering his opponents' moves which is something I care about and is even more impressive when he's relegated to 2 minute squashes and manages to do that stuff in such a short amount of time.
  24. GOTNW
    I'm loving this feud, it's bringing us awesome 6 man tags that have been long gone from WWE television, kind of a workrate WAR match as it has a punch of punching, kicking, guys knocking each other off the apron, the awesome cut offs etc. but also does all of that at an insane pace. Reigns looks like such a beast when AJ is bumping for him and AJ continues to look like the smartest babyface in WWE with how he tried to sucker Reigns in into a Springboard Forearm when they threw the chair around. It feels so refreshing to have the crowd actually be invested in the match and chant for participants in it and cheer them and boo them instead of chanting stupid stuff in hopes of getting onto botchamania or whatever. ***1/2
  25. GOTNW
    I have no idea who is responsible for how strong Kalisto's been booked but they are good people. Rusev throwing people around is always good and Sin Cara was a good enough flyer to his base to make this entertaining, he hit a badass Diving DDT. Ref botched the finish but what can you do. Fun while it lasted.
×
×
  • Create New...