GOTNW

This was pretty good. The matwork wasn't anything special, it was more about the violence, Suzukawa would headbutt Barnett while mounting Barnett, kneeing him when he was in a side mount, Suzukawa would get Barnett in a Double Wristlock from the bottom and Barnett would escape by just pummeling him with body shots, it made it much more interesting than if it were them just rolling around.We also got some nice throws, whenever they'd stand and exchange shots the match ruled, and there were signs of a great match when they'd start shoving each other into the corner and desperately fire away, which felt like something out of WAR. They didn't just sit in submissions but audibly sold them, went for rope breaks and quick counters, the finish was brutal, although not having a single submission finish on the show is a pretty bad start to conditioning the crowd. ***1/4

Junior shoot style! God this match was infuriating. On one hand they have a bunch of cool ideas that would make for badass GIFs. On the other hand this became a chore to watch. They come up with cool striking flurries, flashy counters and so on-but really suck at connecting them into something cohesive, milking drama and creating urgency. "Boring leglocks" is something that's thrown at shoot style a bunch as a critique of why it's not good, and most of the time people that say that have no idea what they're talking about, but it really applies here. Every time they'd grab a leglock they'd just kill the crowd, there was just no way that was finishing the match, and it didn't help that the way they worked the match was dumb, essentially they'd grab "clean" submissions a bunch of times and then either do rope breaks or counter them after five or so seconds, and when they would try to milk them they'd do a poor job of it, giving the crowd clues they were going to go for a rope break instead of selling it more dramatically and then doing a short burts that would result in an escape. Seek out GIFs of this if anyone's even interested in making those and avoid the match. **

Lin looked very promising, he seems like a natural prick, kind of like a nu-Yoji Anjoh. I loved his dumb mannerisms after refusing a handshake, how he stomped Otsuka's foot to try and escape a standing armlock and his big sell of a German Suplex. The highlight of the match was probably Otsuka deciding to slap the taste out of Lin amidst a forearm smash exchange and the aforementioned German Suplex. The matwork was a little "bigger" as Otsuka would use Double Wristlocks to stretch Lin instead of just rolling around. ***

JIan is a guy from IGF's China Dojo, and I believe this is his first wrestling match. There wasn't much shooty in this match-it was more akin to a standard modern japanese wrestling match, with battles of shoulder blocks and forearm smashes, but it was pretty well done, the crowd bought into it, it looked nice and they kept the nonsense to a minimum. Oribe threw some nice kicks, there were too many pinfall attempts that served no purpose, and that's about it. **3/4

The first match in NEW history faces off a shoot style legend and one of the most notorious japanese MMA fighters of today. When you choose to work a mat-based shoot style match in a more conservative manner, with not many nearfalls and highspots, it's not uncommon to see it become uninteresting. These two absolutely nailed it. Aoki seems to intuitively *get* pro wrestling-their sequences just seamlessly flow. It is like a lucha title match, except wacky lucha holds are replaced with armbars and leglocks, and the use of realistic guard positions almost makes it like a high end jiu jitus exhibition. Almost-because the match retains a certain flair of catch wrestling you'd want a Fujiwara match to have, in that how they utilize their joints to put pressure on their opponents makes for a significant aspect of the match, but they also pull guard, block transitions, use ankle picks and so on, giving the match its own unique feel rather than just copying an old style. Fujiwara tones down the goofiness-there's no ramming his head against the pose or cracking jokes, but he can't help but fake a handshake and blast Aoki with some headbutts (which looked great, and way better than some he was doing 25-30 years ago, no holding his opponent's head with one hand, just a quick straight motion). Not something I'd imagine people who aren't big on the style would be blown away with, but I doubt NEW is gonna for them anyway. ****

New Exciting Wresting presented its first show this month and I couldn't wait to see what it would look like, I'll jump at any opportunity to see any new shoot style or hybrid shoot style. The opening was kinda dull, reminding me off the dull HARD HIt matches I'd give up on halfway through, just them exchanging weak middle kicks and some pointless matwork with no sense of urgency. Once they moved back on standing it got pretty good, as they started laying in shots, with Funaki's head kicks in particular reminding me of the kind of violence I really missed from this style, and the match was short enough that it more than made up for the pedestrian matwork. ***

A very good 20 minute match that could've been a great 10-15 minute match. Akebono is the focal point of the match-whenever he's in the ring the match is on track. The crowd is livid at the idea of him facing off with Kobashi, and the early sequences clash Kobashi's tenacity with Akebono's sheer size, and it ends up with Akebono running over Kobashi. Unfortunately the Akebono-less pairings deliver nothing for most of the match, you'd think Kobashi was Go Shiozaki by the reactions his offence was getting and his insistance on doing shitty downward chops. The action picks up once Rikio fires up, no-sells Kobashi's pedestrian offence and corners him with sumo palm strikes. From there on Akebono stops playing the invicible monster and embodies a more vulnerable, Vader-esque monster, peaking with Kobashi relentlessly chopping him down in the corner and getting both his payback and moral victory in the clash of the titans. Akebono's slaps and slams are brutal enough that he doesn't lose credibiltiy even if Izumida was beating him up moments beforehand, and him and Rikio come up with neat ways to sandwich their opponents and put their weight to use. A neat glimpse into an alternative universe where a more mobile and better booked Akebono was a great wrestler. ***1/4

Apparently this Mashita guy worked Battlarts and Real Japan, it still doesn't ring a bell, I don't remember ever hearing about him. He's basically a poor man's Munenori Sawa here-nothing bad, but nothing especially good either-he throws some kicks and that's about it. Honda is still a joy to watch-the way he grinds a Headlock is a thing of beauty so watching this goof try to escape it over and over again and constantly failing was quite fun. Honda busts some of his signature submissions and pins, not many as the briefness of the match didn't allow him to. A fun and easy watch if you have four minutes to kill. ***

Such a neat match. They're both former amateur wrestlers and that's what the match is focused on, you see a lot of mirror spots and one-upmanship. Mostly it's Albright throwing Honda around, since he's the bigger man, but Honda gets some stuff in too and the crowd goes wild when he does, and it's beliavable enough since he's a pretty big man himself and they didn't go all the way with it. Honda would try to German Supley Albright, but instead be forced to go for a takedown or switch it into another Suplex since it was just too ambitious. Albright's Suplexes (and offencein general) are beautiful, but it's really Honda who carries the match-milking the most out of submissions and giving everything urgency. The way he desperately fights off a Dragon Suplex and tries to roll out of the ring are reminiscent of the classic he had with Kobashi. There is some repetition, in that they go for Armbars a lot, and Honda relies on the Headbutt, but both of those are given satisfying pay-offs, akin to a long headlock in a Thesz match-there's something special about going "really, another Armbar? I think they're going overboard" and just as you're processing that thought Albright escapes the hold and punches Honda straight in the face. ***3/4

Yone attacks Akiyama at the bell, which looks way cooler than those segments usually do since a bunch of smoke comes out when Akiyama climbs on the entrance ramp and Yone takes advantage of that. The kicks he takes Akiyama down with looked clunky, which was the first sign I wasn't going to like this as much as I did however many years ago I'd watched it first. Akiyama's acting is top notch-he gets into Yone's face and goes straight after him, Yone instantly fired back with kicks, Akiyama barely registers it, then gets kicked in the face and has to, then gets serious and Exploders him off the apron. And that pattern continues-Akiyama mocks Yone when in control, tries to half ass it with the pop-ups when in danger but gets kicked in the head again. Eventually Yone hits some big moves, including a brutal head kick which busts Akiyama open. Akiyama manages to somehow kick Yone straight in the face to counter a Diving Legdrop, and from there on it's pure smashmouth as many slaps and knees set up Akiyama's victory. Definitely a quality sprint, but Akiyama seemed unwilling to put himself over as strongly as he should've for a match like this to reach its full potential. He always does *a lot* whereas someone like Kobashi or Takayama may not put as much thought/effort/whatever into facing lower ranked opponents but because of the greatness of their offence and how strongly they present themselves they still put on strong outings, maybe not as good as those Akiyama does, but they don't focus on them as much as he does either. ***1/2 Aaaand of course I spelled Yone's name wrong again.

A month before KENTA has beaten Sugiura in a grueling, thirty minute match to become the #1 contender for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. You can see that tensions are still high even before the match, as their postures and facial expressions tell you they're ready to duke it out, and boy do they ever. This match is kind of like the world's most awesome Pancrase sprint, as they just go out there and slap the hell out of each other, but they don't just exchange strikes by doing the "I strike you-you strike me" spot for two minutes before going to a finish, they bust out combinations, duck, block and counter. KENTA stops for a moment before the Go 2 Sleep, and it's uncertain whether KENTA was genuinely unbalanced, selling his knee which was tapped up or the lines blurred, but it's not even that important as the effect is the same. The finish plays up the urgency really well, as it's not something usually used as a finish, rather a swift adaption to the attacks and a more definitive method than insisting on finisher spamming and a war of attrition unfit for what they were going for here. All time great 2 minute sprint. ***3/4

I've had a long time fascination with short matches so I'm glad to see them become the hip thing these days. I'm not going to rank a match where someone does a backlfip for a thigh slap big boot as one of the absolute best in the genre, but this about as good as it gets for a four minute NXT TV match. McIntyre dominated nicely, his Belly to Belly Suplexes looked great. Lorcan's comeback attempts were really good, his European Uppercuts were on point and his slap attack was straight out of late 2000s/1early 2010s NOAH. A really neat showcase of how smartly utilizing struggle and violence can instantly raise the stakes of even the most throwaway matches and make more memorable. I can't really decide on a rating-my gut instinct says ***1/4. but this better than Lesnar/Goldberg at least from the perspective on not relying on smoke and mirrors so much and providing a more viable style. But the spectacle and the bullshit is also a part of what makes wrestling so lovely so. ***1/4-***1/2,***1/4+, whatever.

It's "two people from the company Dave heard from but isn't really sure he trusts on this" vs everyone else.

Shibata being injured for real is much more likely than Tokyo Sports finding a doctor willing to risk his reputation for a clickbait (and I wouldn't put it past them) and every single magazine, spectator, wrestler, source etc. being in on this big work.

Nominating: Kazuchika Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW Sakura Genesis 4/9/)

I am going to give this a big fat no on the "best match ever/five star match" hype it's getting, though unlike many of the contemporary New Japan matches that do get that same hype I did think it was a great match. The opening matwork varied. I liked that they continued it after the first (few) strike exchanges, that and the bigger use of submissions is one element of the match that really reminded me of 80s New Japan classics that went even longer. The MMA matwork they opened with wasn't very good. Shibata just moved from position to position, not really attempting anything, while Okada looked as uncomfortable as he did the last time someone tried to do the same thing against him (Nagata in a G1 match). You could explain that with Shibata projecting his dominance or whatever, but I don't find it very interesting to watch wrestlers do nothing or move from one nothingnes to another. The WOS matwork was cool-a nice touch of Shibata picking it up new techniques in his run as the british champion. Then there was the headlock, which, happened, and they moved onto strike exchanges, the sequences you'd expect from them and occasional holds. Okada heeling it up was amusing, and it basically allowed him to stooge for Shibata's strikes a bunch, and caused the best part of the match, which is Okada stubbornly trying to match Shibata and geating beat up over and over again. It's been a long time since their 2012 G1 match where their incompatibility caused them to have a subpar match that consisted of a million forearms, a dropkick and a rainmaker-but they still give nods that Shibata is "different" than the usual Okada opponent, as Okada has to work to get moves like his flapjack and the diving elbow drop it, while it's usually a given that he'll hit them. There are no nearfalls-they milk Shibata's submission for all they're worth (and both Okada and Red Shoes deserve credit for their work there). Props to Okada for holding for Shibata's leg to prevent his figure four from reaching maximal efficiency, that was a cool detail, as was Shibata grabbing hold of Okada's arm in the Octopus Hold so Okada couldn't escape. Shibata refusing to go down after being hit with the Rainmaker was probably the most iconic moment of the match- so much attention has been given to that move, with everyone having a counter to it, everyone avoiding it, and Okada winning with it over and over again with it despite it all. It's not like it's some super dangerous move, it's just a convoluted Lariat, making a fitting no-sell that much sweeter. The ridiculousness of them building drama over holding hands could justly be attacked as a wrong turn in New Japan style, but it's here and it isn't going away, and it was used about as well as it could've here, with Shibata giving Okada a does of his own medicine by constantly laying into him while using it, only for that same trick to be what started Okada's comeback victory. So there was a lot going on to say the least. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if folks who are generally predisposed to disliking New Japan style thought this match was average or even bad. I'm really open to symbolism in pro-wrestling, and it's probably why I liked the match as much as I did, but I really don't see anything *all time great* about the match. There are plenty of matches with better beatdowns, better comebacks, more focus in the matwork and more cohesion in interwining the matwork and the rest of the match, matches where the dominance of one wrestler doesn't telegraph the comeback and so on. Aaaaaaaaand..........even in a match where he gets beaten up all the time I still get annoyed by Okada's stupid offence and feel like he's getting in too much. ****

I prefer this to their Wrestle Kingdom match, they took pretty much all the best spots from that match and organized them in a more clear and concise way. I appreciated KUSHIDA changing his strategy, it only makes sense after losing once already. His Swanton Plancha really came as a surprise, and his brief armwork was nice and violent. I loved how KUSHIDA ducked while standing at the apron expecting Takahashi to strike him to set up a big spot, only for Takahashi to throw himself into the Sunset Flip Powerbomb off the apron straight away. Takahashi nuking KUSHIDA with headdrops was fun, I wish matches like this that break the mold were more common everywhere. ***1/4

This is a lot closer to how many japanese matches are worked these days than the Kensuke matches I've recently reviewed, partly due to when it took place and partly due to who he was facing. There isn't a lot to it-there's a million strike exchanges which make up almost the entire match, Sasaki overwhelms Sugiura in the beginning, beat the shit out of him and Sugiura gradually comes back before the match finishes in total parity with a double KO. Lacking the other ingredients needed to reach greatness, but it's still fun two see two guys just shitbeat each other without any eye-rollingly dumb spots, and these two sure brough the violence, and also varied their striking combinations a lot, particularly as the match went on, and appropriately finished it off with shoot punches. It is telling of how poorly Sugiura protected his offence that winning a strike exchange got a significantly louder reaction than his Dragon Suplex. Kensuke using elbow strikes once a year and them then being sold like death brings me joy. The German Supex popping up in a 2011 match won't surprise anyone, but this match felt chaotic enough that it hardly mattered. There are probably inherent limitations in a match where you limit how much the input variables can matter, but this match isn't relevant enough to thoroughly analyse that. ***1/2

Such an amazing spectacle, kinda like Hogan vs Warrior if they were both great wrestlers. I was surprised by how much I liked this, it left a much stronger impression on me than the first time I saw it. They're absolutely phenomenal at commanding the crowd, and everything from the lock-ups, the staredowns to them getting back in the ring feels like an iconic event. The chop battle is kinda like Maradona's goal vs England at the world cup, there have probably been many better, but the combination of time and place realy makes it more iconic than any other. The match is really held together by their selling that never allows the match to go from a battle of stupid male determination into sheer stupidity. Kensuke getting up from a Superplex got a huge reaction, but if he suplexed Kobashi outside the ring instead of eating a Half Nelson one straight away the quality of the match would've been much different. The chop battle perfectly encapsulates how they kept the crowd involve-they didn't just stand there and throws two hundred chops in a row, even if that's how you might remember it. They fired up, got in each other's face, pushed each other into the corner, channged the pace of the chop throwing and so on. In a way the pop-ups eliminate the nearfalls-there are a couple near the end, but nothing near the amount you might expect. Any match that captivates me so much is going to get a high rating, and I'm really struggling to come up with any valid criticisms of it. ****1/2

A fun mess. Match starts out with Nakajima and Marvin, and while you may expect them to do some contrived junior sequences they instead proceed to just slap the taste out of each other's mouth, setting the pace and the heat for the match. And it's not like it was hard for them to sustain that-you get Ibushi pinballing for Misawa, Misawa and Kensuke slugging it out, Kensuke destroying juniors, all intriguing ideas that were executed well (I loved MIsawa saying fuck it mid-strike exchange with Kensuke and tagging out). Misawa is at his most Giant Baba-ish here, at the end of the match he can't even run halfway across the ring, but anyone other than Kensuke that gets close to him gets elbowkilled. Marvin and Nakajima were unfortunately the heat killers too, as Marvin tried to use more of his more juniorish offence in their next match-up and Nakajima didn't really know how to react. In an interesting turn of events Ibushi and Ishimori were the ones to get the heat back by doing even more junior stuff, but with fluidity and good execution. It being a six man tag also allows them to incorporate more complicated spots easier without ridiculous set-ups, like Marvin's ramp run and Ibushi's sudden Springboard to cut-off the double 619, you don't even notice that stuff when there's simulatenous action going on. ***1/2

Most of the match is worked in Nishimura's style, lots of matwork and spots you're used to seeing in his matches like the neck bridge test of strength and so on, Sasaki mostly plays along and occasionally utilizes his strength to escape Nishimura's holds, which is the only thing setting it apart from the usual Nishimura sequences. The finish leans more towards Kensuke's style, as he takes the initiative and starts rocking Nishimura with bigger moves while Nishimura tries to avoid them and utilize his throwback techniques like Cobra Cluthes, the Octopus Stretch, Inoki's low kicks from the Ali fight and so on to fight back. Both guys are good at whey to but it felt like they needed a few more years of seasoning to really mesh in a way that could produce greatness. ***1/4

You don't see a brawling bloodbath in the Dome every day, a very intriguing match and definitely worth a watch. There is no wasted movement in the opening as they immediately fire at each other with slaps and forearms, but the match really picks up once they start bleeding. Sasaki catapulting Nagata into the ringpost with a Lariat to the neck ruled and the ringpost shots themselves were well done too. Face punching makes for good wrestling, Nagata's selling can often verge into silliness, but it was oddly fitting as he was selling dizziness from blood loss. Kensuke not even going for covers and just nuking Nagata with Lariats and repteadly punching him ruled, and provided a nice alternative to Nagata kicking out of a million moves. Nagata's flash High Kick was the perfect transition into the finish, you could totally buy Kensuke getting careless and not sensing an inch of threat from Nagata, and he followed it up with a nice flurry to seal the deal. I could see the finish bothering many but I like it, too many times you see guys just laying in holds before letting them go or providing an unsatisfying transition out of it, if there was ever a time for a match to end by two minutes of a Nagata Lock IV it was after he kicked someone with significant blood loss in the head five times. ****

The message board comment is wildly inaccurate. On our local forum we have a bunch of people that are as casual as a wrestling fan gets, to the point you could really only argue whether they are even wrestling fans anymore (they will watch Wrestlemania, maybe Summerslam or Royal Rumble if they're free that night and we organize live viewing and skypeing, and like, two or three matches a year outside of that if that). It's about the degree of being obsessed with wrestling. Someone who watches Raw and Smackdown every week is not a casual fan, and the variety of the wrestling one watched is a completely different issue than whether or not someone is a casual fan.

I remember hearing about this match, I think I read an old article from SSS Stuart which depicted it as a disaster and shit on the booking and the Inokiism in it. Luckily I'm way too into absurdism to care about who wins in pro wrestling (especially in a fifteen year old match) and the way it was described really made me want to see it. Honestly this might be the best Hashimoto-Kensuke Sasaki match. I'm not sure how many matches they've had against each other but of the top off my head I can think of a Hash IWGP Title defence vs. Power Warrior, one in the Dome and a G1 match and I would have this one above all of them. It's billed as a "no rules deathmatch", that doesn't mean you're going to get garbage spots and heavily gimmicked stuff, just more punches to the face and also a very clever submission spot built around the stipulation. Hashimoto comes out wearing boxing gloves and man do these two beat on one another, they throw a lot of nasty shots in close range and while clinching before the match evolves into ridiculous bomb throwing. I could see the uniqueness of the pacing and (somewhat of) the finish throwing some folks off but I really appreciated them. It's esentially a proto-Futen match. ****

IWA Japan has to be the best promotion no one ever talks about, the magnitude of the bizarness of the matches they would book cannot be put into words. Here they book Kensuke Sasaki against some weird cosplayer, maybe Leatherface was the Abyss of IWA Japan. Kensuke comes out wearing a shovel because, hey, it's IWA Japan! He then proceeds to hit his stuff and go over in three minutes. I like Kensuke's offence a lot and will gladly watch him beat up a backyarder with funding. Leatherface will tell his grandchildren about the time he hit a neckbreaker on Kensuke Sasaki. **3/4