cactus

The very same. Did you post as Concrete there?

A slow burner like most of Suwama's big single matches. The match starts of reserved and this makes the bigger moments in the second half of the match feel much more meaningful. Takayama is broken-down and slow, but he manages to turn this into a positive that fits into the narrative of the match; Takayama may be fat, washed-up and past his prime, but he's not afraid to get dropped on his head (he takes a brutal top-rope belly to belly here) and eat some nasty strikes if it means he can walk away with the Triple Crown. The finishing stretch is really something. ★★★★

As we get started, we get that strong strike tease as we do in any big 90's All Japan match. You know. One of the wrestlers attempts their big striking move early in the match and the other guy either blocks it or dodge it and they reach a stalemate. Taue goes for a flying big boot and Kobashi swats him away and they have a brief stare-down, adding so much more tension and atmosphere and sending the crowd into a frenzy. Another factor in the match is Kawada's douchbaggery. In the first ten minutes, he's booted both Kobashi and Misawa from the apron when they weren't even tagged in. The fans and both Misawa and Kobashi are pissed now. Misawa pulls himself up and tags himself in and you know it's on now. The main reason I love this match is Kobashi's performance. His knee problems are no secret to anyone. When a simple kick sends Kobashi to the floor, Kawada and Taue devise their strategy to tear his leg to shit. Kobashi takes so many nasty shots to his knees and he makes you wonder if he is actually hurt. In the last 10-15 minutes of the match, Kobashi is barely walking. He tries to save Misawa from a beating by protecting him and it's just brilliant storytelling. This is tense, gripping and ripe with great storytelling. This is the greatest pro-wrestling match ever, in my opinion. I think I am going to struggle to find a match better than this. ★★★★★

1. Try not to burn myself out with too much wrestling. It's happened before and it sucks when you start losing passion about something you love. 2. Dip my toes into more promotions and time periods that I haven't checked yet. I'm currently making my way through the top matches of the DVDVR 80s New Japan set and it's interesting to finally be checking out matches of guys I've heard about, but have never seen wrestle before. 3. Post more here. 4. Attend more indy shows. 4FW and Rev Pro run shows an hour or so from where I'm living at the moment, so I should make more of an effort. 5. Keep my puroresu blog updated.

I dug this match quite a bit. It takes a while to get going, but the finishing stretch was great stuff and perfectly captures the pantomime of pro-wrestling, without being too hokey. The crowd ate up every second of it.

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v98385051zYTh4hzf This met my expectations and then some. Everyone had a key role and they all played their parts well. Takayama is out looking for retribution against MiSu and even ends up beating his own tag partner who insists on being tagged in. That very same tag partner is completely blanked by Suzuki when Suzuki wants a piece of Takayama who wasn't even in the match at the time. It's very funny stuff and the comedy was tasteful and well placed. The match flawlessly transitions from comical to serious, as Miyatake eventually fires up and it seems like he almost has a fighting chance against Suzuki. A sleeper MOTYC for sure. ★★★★

Fuck. Wrestlers are really dropping like flies this year. I can't say I'm aware of his work because I haven't dove that deep into lucha, but I knew of him. RIP.

Well, I could see a slim possibility that it could happen after 'Mania. But Cena doesn't even need to turn heel during the run-up to match. WWE wants Reigns to get cheered and I think fans will root for Reigns if he faces Cena, regardless if he is face or heel.

Tommy Dreamer has always had a shit look, but some of those pants he's been wearing on WWE recently have been horrendous.

'I don't know, fellas. This doesn't even look like a woman to me. A lady, whatever you want to call it,' The announcer spends the majority of the match tearing down the bald lady's appearance. I get that it was her gimmick, but damn, call some holds please. This match consists of some decent chain grappling, which the babyface usually getting the better of the hairless villain. Brynner lays some awful looking forearms into Roman before the match reaches a sudden climax. Decent enough match with a weak ending. ★★½

This is what I hope will happen. Roman getting another Rumble win is just going to make the crowd crap on him some more. Have him win the title next month and have Lesnar win the Rumble match. I'd say save the HHH/Roman match for the post-'Mania season.

Sending positive vibes your way, man. You can beat this!

As much as I would like Cena to switch his gear up, it is way too late to be switching to tights. The jorts and sneakers look is a trademark of his. The only way that I could possibly see it happening is if he ever turns heel, and even that's starting to look unlikely.

Hey, I'm Sam and I'm 23. I got into wrestling in 1999 and I 'grew out' of it in the middle of 2006, but I ended up coming back to it in 2010 due to my love of the new WWE video game out at the time. I branched out to indy/puro about a year later and was active on a number of boards. I haven't been actively posting in a handful of years as my passion was not what it used to be, but that all changed when I got the WWE Network and that rekindled my love for it. I've been slowly making my way back to puro and all the other stuff and I've even started posting on my blog again, which I haven't touched since the start of 2013.

Bray Wyatt rocking his own merch has always irked me. It kills the character for me and he looked a lot better when he was wearing a plain vest under a Hawaiian shirt.

I'm guessing Sheamus will retain in a cheap fashion. Reigns will win the title at the Rumble next month. Sheamus isn't going anywhere near Wrestlemania with the title, but you might as well let him hold on to it so Reigns can take it off him on a bigger stage, even if Raw is going to carry on sucking for another month. Should be a decent enough match with a couple of cool ladder/table bumps. I want to believe that the tag ladder match will be up there with the TLC matches from 2000/2001, but that's wishful thinking. I'm expecting it to be the match of the night and maybe even a MOTYC. I'm looking forward to seeing what insane stunts Kofi can pull of this time. Owens vs Ambrose and Charlotte vs Paige were enjoyable enough at Survivor Series, but didn't really hit that second gear. Here's hoping that they can tonight. The awful crowd didn't help matters and tonight's show is in Boston, so that should help things. Oh god, ECW nostalgia acts have no place in wrestling in 2015. I don't bother with the TV shows anymore, but their PPVs are usually consistently decent. I'm not expecting too much. You can say that about most WWE throwaway PPVs, to be honest. Granted, the wrestling isn't excellent bar maybe a match or two, but it's usually solid enough wrestling with some extremely questionable booking.

Here we have a brutal offering that doesn't even touch the five minute mark. I remember seeing Ono in BattlARTs as he was the only wrestler who wore MMA gloves and he loved throwing sloppy yet effective bombs. He throws plenty here and he eats a headbutt that even made me wince. A hidden gem that deserves a shoutout whenever the best short matches are discussed. ★★★★

I only know of Rui Hyugaji as the guy who pulled out of the UK Michinoku Pro shows due to an injury a few years back and today I found out that I missed out and that he's pretty fucking good. He's a young lion with something to prove and he rushes Hashi at the start of the bell with a barrage of slaps. These guys tee off on each other and they cram all that into a great little sub-ten minute match. There isn't much of a ground game here and it's more focused on stand-up strikes and flash suplexes, so I'd say it's a great start for someone who wants to get accustomed to shoot style, but finds the idea of watching a match mostly fought on the ground a bit daunting. ★★★¾