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GOTNW

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    2006

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Everything posted by GOTNW

  1. GOTNW
    This had a promising start, with Ishikawa beating on Daichi and focusing on his mid section, but quickly went to shit once it was time for them to work back and forth. There was a cool moment in the beginning of the match where they were doing shoulder blocks, and as Ishikawa is bigger it's expected he'll know Daichi down, so Daichi booted him in the face before he did so, which was cool since it broke the flow of the sequence and made the inevitable shoulder block that would take him down a little bigger moment. That was completely absent later on in the match, they were just doing empty rope running counters, it doesn't even mattter who hits their move or catches the opponent as they're bouncing off, the crowd will politely clap and move along. It's a ritual really, but one that completely sucks the energy and the meaning of control. And it's not like this is some nitpicking nonsense you have to look super into to see-you see that philosophy clearly moments later in a sequence where first Ishikawa hits a Thunder Driver, but then Hashimoto does a Penalty Kick, and then it's Ishikawa that cuts off the "meaningless rope run~" with a Lariat. They don't even try to half ass pops up in the most cartoonish, Sekimoto-esque eat a headdrop>fighting spirit no sell way. They just get their stuff in. And I don't think that's good wrestling. **
  2. GOTNW
    A nice little match, as Nomura attacks Omori before the bell with consecutive Dropkicks and sets the pace for this quick match. Omori looks to hit the Axe Bomber, Nomura looks for the Spear, naturally they run the ropes a lot for that, and it's about as cohesive as it could be. I loved how Omori blocked Nomura's first Spear attempt by just powering through and that the finish included countering the back of the head-normal Axe Bomber, that and the length of the match were a nice nod to the famous Akiyama/Omori sprint, and Nomura's delayed selling was on point. **3/4
  3. GOTNW
    These two have another hate filled brawl, but this time inside a steel cage match! Puerto Rican wrestling really feels like a cartoon that's come to life-but more in the vein of Hellsing than Scooby Doo. Basically-there's a lot of ridiculous stuff that ask you to suspend your disbelief, but they do a good job of consitently following through on the logic of the universe they're in. Like I'm not sure whether they were using a taser or a stapler, but the weapon choices can get pretty goofy. Still-they surround it with enough violence you can just immerse yourself into it and enjoy it for what it is-and you get some really cool spots like an Alabama Slam into a side of a cage and someone beinf trapped inbetween the cage and the ropes and just getting nuked with vicious Lariats. There's a strecher job, and it can be pretty hair to nails strecher jobs, especially since there's a pretty big chance the wrestler's going to come back in the match later, but it was done about as well as possible here. El Cuervo took a gigantic bump of the cage into thumbtack, disappeared for a while, then came back swinging through the crowd, and when he came back into the ring it took him quite along time to get one of the heels onto his shoulder and I'd stop and check before executing his usual offence. I wasn't the biggest fan of the post-match beatdown and angle, felt a little forced, but it couldn't detract too much from a neat match. ***1/2
  4. GOTNW
    This didn't reach the heights of their previous match, as this was more of a classic tag than a chaotic brawl, but was still pretty good. I really liked La Revolucion's work here, they found smart ways to distract the ref and utilize the blind tag to their advantage and had a lot of neat cut offs like good looking big boots, stomps or just pulling by the taping. Mendoza and Cuervo remind me of The Hardys-in that they seem to have the basics down, sell well, know how to fire up and make the crowd buy into them, but also opt to do jumping around, and while I really could live without ever seeing a sub-CM Punk Go 2 Sleep ever again it's mostly inoffensive, maybe due to how recklessly they throw themselves into a lot of it. The simulatenous double pin is hardly the most original idea, but it's a good enough angle to prolong the feud so I didn't mind it. ***1/4
  5. GOTNW
    What an amazing brawl. This really was everything I could hope from a 3 minute brawl, just an insane level of violence with a molten crowd, a blurred line between work and shoot that gave the most a special hook and feel and a wonderfully chaotic ending. Between them throwing Bas Rutten level palm strikes, rope breaks serving as a means of saving one's wellbeing instead of just a really cool prop for a pop, Vrij sweeping Maeda with kicks (and Maeda's knees had surely taken their damage by that point in his career) and Maeda stomping Vrij after the match was over because "fuck you, you're not getting away" this really had the feeling of a uniquely flavoured match that is unlikely to repeat, especialy since a platform like RINGS is unlikely to ever appear, and was certainly one of the best trainwrecks wrestling's ever produced. ****1/4
  6. GOTNW
    Here's a question spefically aimed at Matt D (of course others who share his viewing habits and opinion can answer it too)-why is it that what Ultimo Guerrero does is dismissed because of its repetition and lack of variation when there is a specific wrestler you hold in high acclaim and consider one of the best ever that does exactly the same thing (yes, you guessed correctly and no, please don't go down THAT road again, we've had enough of Flaiir discussions for three lifetimes)? What's the difference? I don't really see it beyond the material they use, the crowds they perform in front and the length of the matches. The symbolism is the same.
  7. GOTNW
    It's been a while, welcome
  8. GOTNW
    A match where the interactions between Misawa and Kawada are the least interesting thing to happen! Seriously-it was mostly pretty forgettable workrate stuff, though there was a nice moment where Kawada avoided Misawa's body press and almost took his head off with a spin kick. Kawada looked better than Misawa here-he still has some junior offence I could live without like pulling out a handspring elbow, but he showed good fire trying to hand with Yatsu. Tenryu was just out of this world great here-acting like the world's greatest prick. His slaps, chops and Lariats all looked amazing, but he would also bust out head stomps to break up pins that looked as vicious as what he was doing 5-10 years later, but he still had theathleticism and the explosivenes that make even just him running the ropes a much stronger image. Yatsu trying to match him in violence really made the match, he really upped his striking game and hanged with Tenryu. The match ends in the standard chaotic brawling, which is really good, and is skillfully tied up into the Tenryu-Jumbo angle. Tenryu even Powerbombs Misawa on the ringside table, though as sloppily as you'd expect. ***1/2
  9. GOTNW
    Neat neat neat! Exactly what I had hoped for-Tenryu-Wajima is the biggest match-up, and they smartly tease it, and while they do so Ishikawa carries the workload, not only does he bust out awesome chops and knees, he even makes the sloppy middle kicks seemingly everyone in 80s All Japan did look great. Hara is just so on point here too-really bringing the violence, his Headbutts looked vicious here, and his chops and Lariats are just on another level, he's like a whole smashing into something. Wajima is hardly a super worker, but the crowd buys into him and he has solid offence, that's enough to reach greatness when everyone else is so good. Loved how he and Tenryu provoked each other, how they played mind games by tagging out, when they finally got their hands on each other it was exactly as rough as gritty as you'd expect, they were getting into these awesome positions that are really hard to explain, something between sumo and wrestling, just getting into each other's face, it ruled so much. I also loved the sequence where Wajima just dared Tenryu to chop him and after he'd failed to cut him down Tenryu just sweeped his leg. ****
  10. GOTNW
    Quite an odd structure here-the match starts with awesome brawling, as Tenryu and Hara just beat the hell out of Nakano, and light Yatsu up goint toe to toe with him, but then that's broken up by a limbwork section that serves no purpose (from a narrative standpoint, you could argue its use in terms of pacing) and then the match turns into a spotfest. Still, the good prevails-Tenryu and Hara make everything they do vicious, Yatsu has some neat moves like the German Suplex and his cut-off Sliding Lariat was fantastic, and Nakano fired up well and made the crowd buy into him, together with Tenryu's selling and timing on the kick-outs late in the match. ***1/4
  11. GOTNW
    The body of the match lacked the focus for this to reach greatness, but it's definitely good enough to seek out if you dig this type of match. After the initial Tenryu-Hansen face off and big chop battle there isn't much memorable for a while-the action is good, there's some nice hoss potatoing, but it doesn't go further than that. Dibiase feels like a total utility player, just filling the role of Hansen's partner, which makes the finish that much more fitting, as Hansen is isolated and just nuked by Tenryu and Hara, and you see some signs of what would come from Tenryu later in his career when he hits a beautiful running head stomp. Hansen taking advantage off the chaos and managing to Lariat Tenryu who had just run over Dibiase felt like he'd barely escaped defeat, so it's understandable they wanted him to get some heat back, but it looked quite silly to have Tenryu and Hara running away from him just because he had a broom now. Oh well. ***1/4
  12. GOTNW
    This match wasn't much, mostly because Terry Gordy's performance was god awful, Memphis TV undercard matches had more intensity than he did in this match. The structure was quite dull too, the foreigners pretty much took the entire match, and it just doesn't make for an interesting experience to see someone get cut off over and over and over again, especially knowing more shitty worked punches await. There were some nice moments of violence when Hansen would get it on, and Hara's comeback punches looked great (unlike his headbutts, which looked terrible, backyard level headbutting your own hand), Tenryu's role was kept to a minimum, he had a couple off stare offs with Hansen's and managed to Lariat him in a throat near the end, but he wasn't the focus off the match. Hansen going on one of his signature rampages at the end and destroying everything in sight is enough for me to call this above average but if you're itching for some 80s All Japan tag action there are better choices out there. **3/4
  13. GOTNW
    The infamous seven second match! But this being All Japan nothing is ever as simple as it may seem. Omori attacks Akiyama before the bell, which he actually evades, and hits a big knee knocking Omori down! He then goes for the Exploder, Omori evades it, does an awesome ref shove, blindsights Akiyama with an Axe Bomber and THEN the bell rings, and Omori hits a quick back of the head/regular Axe Bomber combo for the win. Hard to slap a rating on it, but it was an efficient and exciting way of getting someone over, and almost certainly the best executed one in such a short match.
  14. GOTNW
    A fun little match, but one I can't really include on my ongoing list of best ***
  15. GOTNW
    I was surprised to see how this match actually looked like, since I remembered it just as a couple of minutes of awesome striking. On a rewatch the almost five minutes were still awesome, but their content and what made it work quite different. It's true that there were strike exchanges-and they worked for the characters, Nakano is an undercard shoot wrestler overmatched by Tenryu, who uses sumo-style slapping shoves to corner Nakano time and time again. Nakano's only chances are in going for a submission and utilizing kicks-and even in such a short match they'll take their time in Tenryu recuperating from an Armbar and setting the pace for their next show-off instead of just going straight to it, it really makes a difference in how the crowd perceives the match and reacts to it. It's remarkable how much thought they put into the finish of a match like this-Tenryu goes for a Hiptoss, Nakano stops it by palm striking Tenryu's face off, and as he's about to get on top of him Tenryu kicks his leg out from the bottom, injuring it, and then quickly takes care of Nakano with a Half Crab. If you think about it Tenryu's matches vs UWFi guys really were basically Battlarts style. ***1/4
  16. GOTNW
    This just might be the peak of wrestling bruality. As neat as punhes, chops, kicks, headbutts and so on can look, none of them really convey the sense of horror Maeda hitting Tamura with full force muy thai knees does. Tamura's desperate flurries ruled, but the best thing he did in the entire match was probably the down where he wasn't hit, but simply couldn't get up after getting a rope break. It is kind of insane to do this type of match, where a former yakuza beats up a young boy so bad he's out for a year, but it makes for an unmatchable spectacle of violence. ****
  17. GOTNW
    I mean if you really believe that there's plenty of material from that time preserved online if you want to look into the perception of All Japan in real time, how legit the numbers were and whatnot. It's not that they couldn't run big buildings and draw big crowds, but couldn't manage to keep the crowds coming in an oversatured and declining market after they'd suffered a giant blow, especially at the consistency that was there before. You can add losing the NTV deal as one of the factors to them shrinking too.
  18. GOTNW
    Izumida comes out wearing in a Hashimoto cosplay and it's clear this match is going to rule and that I should watch more Izumida since I only remember he does Headbutts. KENTA has a really cool control segment, with all of his good looking striking and kicking combinations, where they constantly tease standard pro wrestling transitions but KENTA always does that extra move to remain in control. KENTA uses those small Kawada'esque kicks and hurts his foot because of how strong Izumida's head is! Izumida proceeds to just destroy KENTA because he's small and that's how the circle of life works. The only problem is that in doing so outside of the ring he starts beating up wrestlers ringside and by the time it's time to get back into the ring the count's already at 18, and KENTA's baseball slides manage to keep him outside. As if you need any more proof how much of a cooler setting peak NOAH is than the sterile star factory of 90s All Japan. ***
  19. GOTNW
    Nah it killed their business. They ran the Tokyo Dome because it was Stan Hansen's retirement AND they were in an interpromotional feud with New Japan at the time. They were on a steady and gradual decline from then to ~2013~ when the whole Speed Partners/W-1 split thing happened and completely changed their business paradigm. Honestly the difference in what a big All Japan show could draw in 2004 and 2011 wasn't really that big, and they stopped doing Budokans for a reason.
  20. GOTNW
    This match is like a game of cat and mouse, as Ishimori attacks Sano with a blitzkrieg of wacky junior offence, many years have passed since Sano was the hot thing in New Japan's junior division and he absolutely cannot hang with Ishimori in that regard. I'm indifferent to Ishimori's offence and him in general, he's a solid junior but not someone I'd ever go out of my way to see. Old man Sano has about three regular moves, but all of them look sooo good, his Rolling Savate Kicks deserve to be a subject of royal paintings, films of them exhibited in museums so they are preserved for generations to come. I got a kick out of the finish being Sano literally catching Ishimori's La Casita attempt. **3/4
  21. GOTNW
    A really cool match structure that the crowd totatlly bought into. Walker and Takayama attack Akiyama and Kobashi at the bell and try to isolate Kobashi, double teaming him and beating on him. Takayama hits Kobashi with one of the damnest German Suplexes I've ever seen, almost beheading Kobashi which is insane considering all the wear and tear his body had had up to that point. Akiyama tries to help Kobashi get back into the match, and in one of the best spots off the match gets caught off with an awesome giant knee from Takayama while he's holding Walker in a Necklock. They build the finish around Kobashi and Walker, and once Akiyama finally fights off Takayama and holds Walker's leg while he's on the top rope Kobashi takes advantage of that hitting a Superplex and nuking Walker with all of his special moves. A thrilling four minutes they were. ***
  22. GOTNW
    It's so weird seeing Vader as a babyface, the crowd is eating out of the palm of his hand, it's quite weird to see them copying his wacky mannerisms and him giving fans high fives. The match is quite brief, as Yone attacks Vader at the bell with some strikes that remind you why he was only the fifteenth best wrestler in Battlarts, they tease Vader cutting him off but Yone evades and hits a Spinning Heel Kick! (a transition you'll often see in WWE which really helps make the rope running segments work) and then Vader quickly cuts him off and puts him away with a giant Chokeslam, and I liked how he followed it up with an elbow drop and a top wristlock pin. Nice little squash. **3/4
  23. GOTNW
    For an all action 4 minute workrate sprint it doesn't get much better than this. I love how violent they made the dives look, and Owen's bump of a countered irish whip was marvelous. Countered irish whips are one of the spots where I most commonly scratch my head and think about how contemplating the consistency of pro wrestling physics how I should be reacting to any match, but here Owen just blats that corner like a shotgun. The timing on the Northen Lights Suplex false finish was impeccable, Kid's offence was smooth and his kicks even surprisingly good and a spinning heel kick countered into a mid-air German Suplex is something that'd pop you watching 1998 All Japan, let alone a New Generation WWF match, such a brutal spot, and the counter Powerbomb wasn't far behind. ***3/4
  24. GOTNW
    A lovely match. The atmosphere of them fighting in such a tiny space really adds a lot, and the environment makes every move look more dangerous. A proper German Suplex looks cool enough in the ring but a thin mat that lets out a clear thud when you're thrown onto further enhances it. I don't really associate 1998 WWF with great mount punches, but we got them here, and bumps into the wall, the bar on the ceiling and the ceiling really got over the recklessness. The brief shooty sequences were well done, and I wasn't bothered by the finish, in fact I was shocked at how good they managed to make a ridiculous weapon shot look. ****
  25. GOTNW
    Akiyama was an amateur wrestler and we rarely see that side of him, here he and Sato basically decide to work a shoot style match, and it's neat. Akiyama uses his amawres base to control Sato and manages to constantly feed him various leglocks and armbars and then escape from them. Even Akiyama's regular offence like the Exploder and the Necklock get a more shooty vibe, as he deadlifts Sato in a Armlock counter for the former and grabs a standing one before sweeping Sato's foot for the latter. The crowd buys into submission nearfalls, they put over their peril and it works. I also got a kick out of Sato using a Seoi Otoshi to take down Akiyama, which is totally what an outpowered and outsized person would do in such a situation. ***1/4
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