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Microstatistics

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  1. Microstatistics
    Maybe this explains why I didn't like it, even though Cena is way better at selling than Hogan. I agree with this assessment.
  2. Microstatistics
    Fair enough.
  3. Microstatistics
    I thought Trevor Lee vs. Chip Day seemed to perfectly fit the self-conscious epic definition described on the first page. It had a really strong start, a solid middle but in the finishing stretch, they just went on and on and on with a ton of manufactured drama and a real "we are trying make this feel like one for the ages" vibe which killed the match for me. If you have to force the epic feel, then it's not epic. Which directly relates to authenticity point. Atleast in something like Okada vs. Omega II, regardless of whether you thought it was dramatic/epic or not, everything felt genuine and real. That's where I disagree about applying the term self-conscious epic to modern NJPW (or 90s AJPW for that matter). I get disliking the style and the matches but atleast they don't have that overt "we are trying to create an all time classic/have a 5 star match" feel unlike certain US indies or some WWE matches. Part of that is the difference in crowds I feel.
  4. Microstatistics
    All big matches from 2009-2012 Futen are must see, the 10/24/2010 tag especially.
  5. Microstatistics
    Would you say it's a quality or personal taste thing? There are a lot of times where I can sit there and say that was a good match but it really didn't do much for me. I guess quality wise. What hurts Cena for me is a lack of great matches. Plenty of good (even very good) matches over the years but very few truly high end ones.
  6. Microstatistics
    I'm in shock. I am going to assume you made up that rating to smear Dave's name. Any fans of the match willing to defend it? I had reviewed it in the MDA a while ago and gave it 1.5*. Didn't get the hype at all.
  7. Microstatistics
    Is the Lawler vs. Mantell 3/22/1982 match online? 3/27/1982 (LLT) and 3/29/1982 (Barbed Wire) are but I couldn't find the No DQ one.
  8. Microstatistics
    Yeah, Cena on PPV is sort of hit or miss for me. Maybe it's because I have soured on his big match formula so some of the matches I used to really like, I don't have the same fondness for. It'll be interesting to see how his work holds up years from now. The unique stuff (vs. Brock, vs. Umaga) is probably timeless but not sure about standard Big Match John.
  9. Microstatistics
    Great Thread. RINGS is one of my all time favorite promotions but I haven't seen too much of early RINGS (pre-1993 or so), especially stuff not involving the usual suspects. Good to see it get some exposure.
  10. Microstatistics
    Cena's usual facial expressions aren't any less goofier to be honest. As much as I don't like modern WWE crowds, I thought the "You both suck" chant was pretty funny.
  11. Microstatistics
    Hokuto completely stole the show here: the viciousness, the taunting, off the charts great selling. Kaoru was great too. Pretty great chaotic brawl with a nice heel-face divide and attention to detail. The initial Chigusa isolation and beatdown was probably the best part but the rest of the match was top notch as well. The finish was a terrific visual thanks to more Hokuto brilliance. ****
  12. Microstatistics
    Lesnar and Braun were easily MVPs. Braun is what the Big Show or any other big man who has come through WWE over the years should have been. An absolute monster who can demolish anyone but also sell well. I am still super high on Brock despite suplex city but yeah I wish he tones down the weak looking germans and incorporates more stuff like his killer lariats and knee lifts and other suplexes. All of his non-german offense here ruled. Great bumping and selling, for Braun especially. Roman's selling was strong as usual but this was one of his weaker performances of the year, he didn't contribute much. Joe looked great initially but sort of disappeared later on. I didn't like how they used him for the break up a pin spots which made him look weak. Overall, a really fun spectacle. *** 1/2
  13. Microstatistics
    I thought Omega's knee selling was excellent. Yes, he hit a lot of knee strikes but he regularly acknowledged the pain so it worked for the most part. I liked him hobbling around and smartly adjusting his offense to account for the bad leg (one legged moonsault, maintaining the bridge with one leg etc.) Plus the blown rana cover bradhindsight mentioned was actually brilliant (another example of a botch adding to a match). Anyways, this was my #2 match of the G-1 Climax (behind Omega/Okada). An excellent clash of styles match with the high impact style, flamboyant Omega vs. the no nonsense shooter Suzuki. Minoru Suzuki in 2017 is as great as ever. Excellent offense with neat body punches and ultrastiff elbows, badass aura and great selling. My favorite spot was him pretending to hold on to the referee for support and staggering around wildly only to casually grab a kneebar in midair as Omega came off the top rope. The interference spots fit the flow of the match for me and the ref stuff was smartly done. *** 3/4
  14. Microstatistics
    This was Takeshi Ono playing Carl Greco (while mixing in his usual brutal strikes). Just a ridiculous submission based assault on the higher ranked Ishikawa, very impressive from a technical standpoint. Ishikawa was excellent with slick reversals and strong selling. Relentlessly paced and super violent. *** 3/4 - ****
  15. Microstatistics
    Surprised at all the praise for Taira. In another thread, people were talking about the biggest carryjob ever and this was my pick. I honestly thought Taira was pretty awful here and brought almost nothing but Otsuka just made it singlehandedly work. He was able to get Taira across as a credible and dangerous opponent even while dominating the match with his brutal offense. He did an excellent job pacing the match and making the finishing stretch as dramatic as possible. An unbelievably great Otsuka performance to pull a great match out of nothing. ****
  16. Microstatistics
    Great to see this get some major praise, this gets overshadowed by their 97 matches. It's not as good as those two but that's hardly an insult. I had reviewed all 3 matches in the Kiyoshi Tamura GWE thread in terms of how each match builds off the previous one narrative wise and how their characters evolve and adapt. Tamura is a definite underdog here and wrestles with a ton of desperation and urgency against the top fighter in RINGS. Han doesn't take him lightly but isn't too concerned for the majority of the bout. Tamura's resilience does frustrate and hurt him at the end though but he eventually manages to school him relatively comfortably. **** 3/8
  17. Microstatistics
    This match was way better than I remember. These two know how to pace and build a super long match better than anyone. I have this at #3 in their singles feud (behind 1/20/97 and 3/1/03) I really liked the growth from 1/20/1997: in that match Kobashi was trying to be dominant, in this he IS dominant. soup23 makes a good point about Misawa having to bust out fancy sequences and moves just to free himself. Still he gets eaten alive for most of the match though. But his resiliency keeps him in it and he takes advantage of a momentary lapse from a fatiguing Kobashi with the tiger driver off the apron and turns the match on its head. I also liked the "excess" with Kobashi continuing after the TD91 which also showed his growth. In 1/20/97, he was basically finished after the TD91 but here he is still able to mount a comeback. I used to dislike the finish (thinking it was anticlimatic) but thought it was great this time around with Misawa having to KO Kobashi with brutal elbows in, like fxnj said, ugly fashion and him barely scraping through rather than it being anything cinematic. **** 1/4
  18. Microstatistics
    Agree with this. A third match where Ohtani managed to put all the pieces together and beat Liger by combining skill with emotional maturity would have capped off the narrative perfectly.
  19. Microstatistics
    Had reviewed this in the Top 100 matches of all time thread. Cross-posting it here. The character work was interesting and Mickie's work on Trish's leg looked really good and Trish sold it extremely well. Also the finish is a good example for why penalizing matches for botches can be counterproductive as the messed up spot at the end can be seen as a positive by saying Trish's bad leg buckled (which adds to the match) instead of treating it like negative and saying they screwed up. *** 1/2
  20. Microstatistics
    Had reviewed this in the Top 100 matches of all time thread. Cross-posting it here. Very good stuff. Hard fought and they managed to generate quite a bit of drama. Lita was good as the babyface challenger and Trish was great as the desperate heel champion. *** 1/2
  21. Microstatistics
    What does it say about Kobashi's GHC title run when a match this excellent is only #5 in terms of quality (behind Akiyama, Misawa, Takayama and Ogawa for me). Yep. Honda was pretty good here but the idea that this is a Honda carryjob (something I have read people say) is pretty laughable to be honest. This is definitely the Kenta Kobashi show. What a performance to get himself across as the tough and resourceful champion while presenting the underdog Honda as a serious threat who can topple him and selling the hell out of all of his offense and the arm work. **** 1/4
  22. Microstatistics
    What a gigantic letdown, especially compared to their excellent match last year. It sorely lacked the build and selling of that match. This felt like a mindless spotfest with no real structure. I guess some of the spots were cool and there were some neat moments but they were few and far between. The narrative I picked up on was that Naito seemed to be working from underneath but the transitions were so back and forth and weak that it didn't really work. I didn't absolutely hate it like I did Styles vs. Cena at the Rumble but this was boring as hell and a chore to get through. **
  23. Microstatistics
    Agree with all of this. Great, great first fall but the second fall was pretty weak. I thought Espanto would go full out rudo in the second fall (after cheating slightly in the first and still losing) but he just won the fall in dull fashion. Plus Espanto as underdog in the 3rd fall didn't really work. Something like that worked perfectly in Satanico vs. Cochise because how they built the match and the stuff that came before the turn but here it felt rushed and a little forced. Good mainly because of the first fall but not on the level of their excellent 1986 and 1988 bouts. *** 1/4
  24. Microstatistics
    One of those matches that has been called overrated by so many for so long that it has become underrated and people are rediscovering it (myself included). For years I was under the impression that this was merely a good match, nothing more, but I rewatched this recently and it holds up as a great match. I have this #3 for WWF in 1996 behind Shawn/Foley and Bret/Austin. Shawn was really good here and wrestled with great focus but this featured a truly excellent Bret performance. For someone who was apparently unhappy with the result and the booking and what not, he turned in a really selfless performance. He did a great job getting across the fact that Shawn was actually outwrestling him and he was struggling to get a foothold and was getting more desperate. He worked almost like a subtle heel as a result. In fact he didn't have a real control segment until almost 40 minutes in after a huge Shawn bump gave him an opening. There were great micro details as well like Bret breaking a Shawn sleeper by backing him into a corner but the next time he tried that, Shawn just threw him backwards. Both nailed some vicious strikes too. Not something I would watch everyday because of the length but a great match nonetheless. Yet another to add to these guys resumes. ****
  25. Microstatistics
    Thanks. Yeah, this ruled. No surprise there. From the deliberate start to Hashimoto's dominance to Fujinami's comebacks to the dramatic finishing stretch . Excellent performances by both. I liked how Hashimoto went from cool and calm methodical destruction to more chaotically violent and desperate as control of the match slipped from his grasp. Fujinami was great as the wily veteran while selling the enormity of the task ahead of him and the knee damage beautifully. **** 1/4
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