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superkix

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  1. superkix
    This was decent. I liked the proto-Pancrase matwork to open, with Shamrock showing good control over the necklock, putting Suzuki in a couple of precarious situations. But this was mostly defense on the mat and not too exciting. Not much striker, aside from leg kicks and a few open hand slaps. The finish was cool, as Shamrock tried to power Suzuki with some kind of slam but Suzuki held on and cinched in the front necklock to take Shamrock down to the mat and submit him. Suzuki's post-win celebration was awesome.
  2. superkix
    Molten crowd + jerkface Jumbo + tenacious Tenryu = one of the greatest matches of the 1980's. Tenryu is ambitious righ tout of the gate, ducking the jumping knee and delivering the German suplex hold for two. Then Jumbo takes over, pounding away, putting the big boots to Tenryu and picking up some heat from the crowd. Tenryu's able to knock Jumbo out of the ring with a lariat and follows up with some nasty forearms, kicks, chops, before Jumbo suplexes him down and settles back into a headlock like a true fucking heel. Then he really starts ramping up his offense, building to the backdrop. He hits the jumping knee, a jumbo-sized lariat, a diving knee drop and he keeps dropping the knees but can't pin Tenryu down, even after a backdrop. The fans are lapping up these two counts like warm milk. The counterwork is really excellent from both dudes but especially Tenryu, as he hotshots Jumbo onto the ropes, sidesteps the corner jumping knee (sans kneepad) to hit an enziguri, and hooking the leg to prevent the suplex attempt. The whole finishing stretch is awesome, and when Tenryu finally hits the powerbomb for a nearfall, the place explodes. He's able to deliver the second powerbomb for the win but what a mountain to overcome in Jumbo.
  3. superkix
    Yeah, this was mostly Ito with some dope throws and powerbombs with Yamada trying to kick or grab a submission. His selling after the German suplex was priceless.
  4. superkix
    Hansen and Gordy are mean, mean bastards already but when you throw them up against two other mean bastards in Tenryu and Kawada, you get mean bastard warfare. Tenryu getting smacked around and shitkicked against the ropes by Hansen, or hard chopped by Gordy, with Kawada being the spitfire in-and-out of the ring -- this starts hot and ends hot. It's too much to try and break down but a few of my favorite moments from the match include Gordy's huge lariat in the corner sold beautifully by Tenryu, Hansen stumbling around, he and Gordy breaking pinfalls the fuck up, Kawada getting destroyed on the outside. After Gordy hits the powerbomb on Tenryu, Kawada's able to hobble back into the ring to break it up in a killer save. The fans really want Tenryu on his feet, fighting these gaijin fuckers off, but he keeps getting double teamed while poor Kawada is once again in a world of hurt outside the ring. Tenryu's able to fire back with some nasty chops and slaps to Hansen, knocking him down, but Gordy clobbers him with a lariat. After Gordy breaks up the diving back elbow, he pummels Tenryu with gnarly punches but misses the corner lariat, allowing Tenryu a short but brief comeback. He hits the powerbomb but it's not enough. After Gordy powerbombs Tenryu, Hansen drives the knees to the head and finishes him off with a SICK lariat for the win. Awesomely chaotic and brutal tag team warfare.
  5. superkix
    Under 15 minutes is my sweet spot.
  6. superkix
    Probably the best match of the tournament, but still, nothing too blow away. I don't know, I mean Akiyama on offense is always a joy and he was great here dominating the mat early on, working the neck over and hitting a fucking curb stomp, tons of knees -- great repeat knees later in the match. Marufuji has loud chops and sneaky kicks but that's about it. I liked him having to hit a bunch of Koos to knock down Jun and that cutthroat knee strike to the back of the head should have been the finish -- but he had to hit another, less impressive one to put Jun away.
  7. superkix
    Yeah, this was the most "heated" match of the tournament. Loved them throwing chairs at each other. Back half is definitely the best part of the match.
  8. superkix
    Awesome, awesome match -- one of my personal favorites -- and almost an all-time five star classic but with an unfortunately shitty finish due to the circumstances. Like any good ace, Fujinami tends to blow off a lot of offense but here, he really sells the injured leg and Maeda’s kicks as dangerous weapons. Maeda continues to target the leg, although he keeps going back to the arm despite the easy target -- I guess as a way to neutralize Fujinami's dragon suplex or jujigatame? On top of that, Maeda himself keeps teasing the dragon suplex. They trade suplexes before Fujinami slaps on the sasori-gatame, inducing the fans to collectively shit their pants. Then Maeda clips him with a rolling kick and when Fujinami touches his forehead and sees the blood on his fingers, he collapses. Maeda tries to finish him off with the dragon suplex hold and there's really terrific shock and relief from the crowd at the nearfall. The finish felt like an audible after Fujinami got busted open but whatever, still an incredible match and a really great performances from both guys.
  9. superkix
    Very neat match-up, with plenty of grappling, very limited strikes exchanged, slick takedowns, and some throws that felt big. Some of the submission holds didn't feel too life threatening but the struggle to escape or counter was done well throughout, especially with Nishimura and Ishikawa. But there was some cool stuff like Fujinami attempting to wrestle with one arm and Nishimura's bridge escape toward the end that took a lot out of him. Really liked the finish too, with Nishimura and Nakano fighting for the game ending Northern Lights hold, and Nishimura winning out. MUGA rules.
  10. superkix
    Is Shinichi any relation to Tatsuo Nakano, or do they both just rock the square mullet? This was a weird match but the thick layer of grime added something interesting. I liked the meat-and-potatoes matwork, mixed in with the handsy exchanges. Selling in this match was all over the place, from melodramatic to nonexistent, and then after Nakano nosedives on the plancha, it turns into more of an offensive sprint, with Nakano getting his shit in and Motegi firing back with his shit. I thought the finish wasn't very good -- Motegi throws him with the German suplex, which was supposed to be bridged(?), but then he slaps on a jujigatame and Nakano immediately taps out when the focused throughout the match had been his leg. It's nitpicky but whatever, this was fun.
  11. superkix
    The match is reminiscent of their first singles encounter, the emphasis placed on the “pro-wrestling” style rather than the hostility these two displayed throughout their “shoot" style encounters. Regardless, Fujiwara’s no joke here, being much better prepared for Tiger’s kicks and taking him to the ropes quite often. When Tiger’s able to let loose on him, he rocks Fujiwara with his wild kicks and knees, at one point catching him in the front teeth with a spin kick. One of the more disturbing visuals in this series comes when Fujiwara tries to choke Tiger out, cranking his head and neck in an unnaturally acute angle, the guttural hacks of Tiger adding to the realism. When Tiger attempts to finish Fujiwara off with the German suplex hold, Fujiwara’s able to take him down with his own signature armbar, the wakigatame, for the submission.
  12. superkix
    I love both of these guys and I love this match like I love a good cup of coffee in the morning. A little sugar from Fuchi on the mat, a little cream behind Kawada’s kicks. Unfortunately, this is clipped but when it picks up, Fuchi’s going after Kawada’s left leg with the old man stomps. He lays into a leglock, transitions into an STF, and then just starts cranking on the leg. When Kawada gets pissy, it’s one of the better things in life, with his baby headbutts and punting Fuchi out of the ring. Even when he’s lying on the ground, he’ll still try to take out Fuchi with a low kick. But Fuchi takes advantage of a prone Kawada with a nasty looking stomp. He avoids the powerbomb, backdrops Kawada, then slides into a facelock, forcing Kawada to take a breather out of the ring but goes right back to it when Kawada re-enters. Kawada finally clobbers Fuchi and uses his own facelock, which produced this fantastic visual of Fuchi scrambling to get out of it until Kawada applies the body scissors and submits him. Really fun stuff.
  13. superkix
    Awesome six-man elimination match, which you don't get too often in a hybrid shoot-style environment. This is the kind of shit that got me back into pro-wrestling -- the frantic, almost relentless matwork, trying to hold onto a submission long enough to do enough damage before somebody runs into the ring and shitkicks them. Everyone is constantly following up on their attack, going from submission hold to strikes back to submission hold, not leaving much breathing room. I mean, for a 45 minute match, the pace they’re working is incredible. This felt like the BattlARTS version of a classic All Japan six-man, with everyone playing up their respective roles: Sawa, the wild child, Usuda, the aggressive little shitkicker, Ikeda provoking everyone from the apron or break up holds, Otsuka the suplex machine, and Ishikawa the dad that has to come in and save his kids. Oh yeah, and Super Tiger, whose tripping all over himself trying to land kicks. Otsuka and Usuda were the two standouts of the match, in my opinion. Otsuka's always grabbing limbs, transitioning from hold to hold, trying to find an opening for a submission, while creatively maneuvering around the mat. And of course, he throws awesome suplexes. Usuda has great strikes, between his slaps, palm thrusts, kicks...but I also really liked his counterwork, grabbing Sawa’s arm on the figure-four attempt and putting him in a keylock, or catching the Shining Wizard with a kneebar. He’s really stiff against Ishikawa, landing some brutal looking high kicks and a lunging headbutt. But then Otsuka eliminates him after dropping on his neck with a German and then on his ding dang head with a dragon suplex. In the end, Ishikawa’s the lone survivor against Tiger and Ikeda. I loved the sequence where he’s got Tiger in the Indian Deathlock and everytime Ikeda comes in and knocks him down with a kick, it exerts all that pressure onto the submission hold. Tiger’s able to get a couple of knockdowns with his kicks but once Ishikawa’s grabs hold of the leg off the spinning heel kick, he taps him out with the heel hook. The final comes down to Ishikawa and Ikeda and, as always, just about everything they throw is as stiff as day-old catshit. Punches, lariats, kicks – I mean, at this point in the match, with time slipping away, the desperation and exhaustion are major factors, and Ishikawa especially is relentless in trying to submit Ikeda before the time expires.
  14. superkix
    Tenryu wants nothing to do with Nakano. Here, Nakano comes out like he’s in a shoot and Tenryu’s hunched over, hands on knees, looking like a Little Leaguer at short stop. Nakano snaps off one kick and Tenryu immediately pummels him into a corner with hard sumo slaps. One of the reasons I love Nakano is his unwillingness to let up. Even when he's clearly outsized, Nakano keeps kneeing and kicking Tenryu in the head. At times, Tenryu doesn't quite know how to react to him, or the blows he's receiving. I loved Nakano's rear choke with the headbutts, pounding on Tenryu long enough to German suplex him, then floating right into the armbar. He manages to get the full extention on the armbar but this is Wrestle and Romance, not RINGS, so Tenryu doesn't immediately tap out...or at all. Nakano continues to rush him with kicks, with Tenryu able to slap him off momentarily before Nakano comes right back with more high kicks. Finally, Tenryu decides he's done taking kicks from Nakano and takes out his leg, submitting him with the single leg crab in under five minutes. A weird pairing but pretty awesome spectacle to say the least.
  15. superkix
    A Steiners tag means little finesse but lots of discomfort for the opposition. To open, they’ve got Kensuke on the rocks, slamming and suplexing and clobbering away, slanging their meathooks in between fresh tags. When Kensuke’s finally able to turn it around, does he make the hot tag? Hell nah, dude, he puts Scott in the Scorpion Deathlock! And then he gets dropped with a tiger driver and one of Rick’s ugly slams. But when Hase does get that hot tag, oh baby, he runs straight into a tilt-a-whirl slam and a Samoan drop off the top rope. He’s able to deliver a uranage and the Northern Lights suplex hold but Rick breaks it up and it’s all downhill from there, as Scotty hits a Doomsday DDT and botches a frankensteiner for the win.
  16. superkix
    Every Murakami match has blood in it -- I mean, how else are you going to get him to lick it up? From a visual standpoint, it works. When you look at Murakami, with his wicked smile, you expect him to bust somebody open, possibly himself, and revel in it. Before Marufuji can even make his grand entrance, Marukami has already bloodied him. He takes him down to the ring and rams him headfirst into the ring post before showing off the carnage to the fans and licking the blood from Marufuji's forehead. What a nutjob. He tries choking Marufuji with a chair but once Marufuji gets a hold of it, he cracks it over Murakami's head a couple of times before getting him into the ring, where he starts paintbrushing him with slaps in the corner and choking him with his boot. He dumps him with a couple of German suplexes and they go back-and-forth with the slaps as the match momentum shifts into the next gear and Marufuji heats up on offense. He lands a couple of superkicks with the crowd behind him but...then Murakami hits back-to-back STOs and a lariat and it's over. Anti-climatic finish but a fun match while it lasted, with a post-match bonus beatdown from Murakami.
  17. superkix
    A cool little match-up. I loved how Kakihara faked like he was going to just grapple with Tamura before he unleashes his traditional flurry of strikes. Tamura shows off some skill on the mat but again, Kakihara’s hands are all over him like fly swatters. When he does get some breathing room, Tamura’s in-ring awareness is shines through, as he’s constantly grabbing limbs, settling into holds and avoiding the bigger blows from Kakihara to get a takedown. When Kakihara misses the big spinning heel kick, Tamura stays on him with knees to the ribs and a nasty shot to the face. When he starts swinging for the fences, missing wildly, Tamura coolly takes him down with a belly-to-belly slam. Kakihara finally grazes him with another spinning heel kick and follows up with another that squarely hits the mark. He then applies a front necklock, deadlifting Tamura with almost a brainbuster. The exhaustion faction plays into the finish of the match, as Kakihara is sluggish, trying to trade kicks with Tamura, and Tamura catches a leg for a takedown. Kakihara’s able to counter with a leglock of his own, but Tamura re-counters and Kakihara taps out.
  18. superkix
    Having not seen a lot of Owen Hart in Japan, he comes off as a good fit and a natural heel, shooting off a slap early on. After some of that early 1990's junior chain rasslin', Liger teases some matwork before Owen takes over on offense. I guess I never realized Owen was such a suplex machine, but he busts out plenty of pretty ones here, including a gutwrench, a German, a belly-to-belly, and a double arm. After Liger no sells a tombstone piledriver, he hits a superplex and the Liger Bomb for three. A cool exhibition and showcase for Owen, who took most of this match, aside from a last minute win by Liger. I'd love to see more of Owen in Japan.
  19. superkix
    This didn't quite hit the same highs as their 2002 match, but it was still fun for the most part, especially in the back half. It's kind of a mess to start as they scramble around until Nagata's able to fire off an Exploder after dodging a penalty kick. Nagata's kicks and knees look good, and he's able to bust Murakami's mouth with a knee on the outside...but on the flip, some of his strikes look weak as hell. Of course, it wouldn't be a Murakami match without blood and the image of it dripping out of his mouth is rather frightening. Nagata unloads on him in the final few minutes, hitting a brainbuster and a head kick. Murakami's gassed at this point, desperately swinging for the fences and missing, which allows Nagata to hit a nasty backdrop, followed by the backdrop hold for the pinfall.
  20. superkix
    I adore Super Delfin in the 1990's with his awesome 90's get-up and he was a definite highlight of this six-man tag. As for the match itself, it was a total blast, with good comedy, creativity, pacing, and placement of spots. You had Delfin and baby Dick Togo snapping off arm drags and hitting all the highs of that crisp mid-1990's junior chain rasslin'. The veteran no-nonsense Shinzaki beating the crap out of Sasuke, walking the ropes, and of course, Sasuke being an ass, jaw-jacking with the referee. And while Naniwa isn't the best wrestler, he provides probably the biggest laugh of the match when Delfin inadvertently gives him an arm wringer on the ropes, and Naniwa storms off...only to be brought back after a convincing kiss on the lips from an apologetic Delfin. Incredible. With six-mans, there's always a bit of slop and disorder but I really liked the continuous build to the dives, which culminates in everyone taking to the skies.
  21. superkix
    This was a perfectly solid rematch but with some of the clunky transitioning throughout. I like that Misawa shows more confidence and fire with his elbows, not allowing daddy Jumbo to punk him early on, before the match settles into a slower, back-and-forth struggle to maintain control. I love a good spat and when Misawa keeps pounding on Jumbo, Jumbo's finally had it and he lays into him with hard slaps and quick knees and then that big jumping knee to hype up the crowd. Then it's back to that slower pace of Jumbo working the leg and Misawa being aggressive with his elbows. I thought Jumbo's almost haphazard way out countering Misawa's offense was pretty great. At one point, Misawa starts heating up and the crowd is buzzing loudly for him but the decision to not hit the dive onto Jumbo on the outside really killed the momentum and the buzz. Misawa's able to score a big two count off of the German suplex hold but when he can't deliver the tiger driver, Jumbo dumps him with a brutal backdrop and follows up with two more to put him away. A good match, with a few great moments, but the pacing and transitions hurt the overall quality.
  22. superkix
    This match rules -- easily my favorite six-man tag in All Japan up until this point. Kobashi’s stellar babyface in peril performance, the Taue/Kawada hate still bleeding into this match, Fuchi being a dick, and of course, the rivalry between Jumbo and Misawa continuing to unfold. Taue himself is quite the dick early on as he keeps harasses Kawada on the apron until Kawada finally kicks the shit out of him while Taue’s laid back in a cross armbreaker. Violence ensues, with Kawada pummeling Taue into the canvas with his little shitty headbutts. Jumbo and crew are such good heels here, especially Jumbo, who goes from playing to the crowd to either piledriving Kawada on the floor or just stepping on his face. Fuchi’s the dirty daddy crass technician, immediately working Kawada’s neck with the headscissors after he and Taue double teamed him with a second piledriver on the floor. Kawada’s finally able to get some revenge on Jumbo with his face kicks – I love that when Jumbo tries to hulk up, Kawada puts him right back down and continues pelting him with those shitty face kicks. The young guns control for a while, isolating Taue, with Misawa launching Kobashi with a top rope plancha onto Taue outside the ring. Fuchi spoils the fun by getting the tag and immediately starts destroying Kobashi’s knee with great stomps and a knee crusher onto a chair. Terrific selling from Kobashi as he desperately tries to fight back but his knee is fucked and Fuchi takes advantage of it, using an STF and then just rolling back and cranking on the leg. Loved the look of intensity on Jumbo’s face as he’s wrenching on the single leg crab. They milk the teased tag outs by Kobashi with the crowd wanting nothing more than Kobashi to get the hell out of there but Jumbo and crew are absolute bullies, especially Fuchi, who ties Kobashi’s knee in the ropes and cheapshots him with punches. Kawada at one point enters the ring and kicks Jumbo, trying to help Kobashi out, but it ain’t happening. Kobashi FINALLY tags in Kawada, and while he and Misawa go at it with Fuchi, Fuchi’s such a badass that he fights off both and puts Misawa on the rocks against Jumbo. The final fews minutes of the match are incredible, with terrific nearfalls, a super hot crowd, and a hell of a pin break up by Kawada after the chokeslam from Taue. Once the ring has been cleared, Misawa’s up and he’s able to pick up the win with the tiger suplex hold. Fantastic!
  23. superkix
    I loved this match. These two have such fantastic chemistry together and I love that Kawada brings out Taue's shitkicker scrappiness. Kawada is the bigger shitbag of the two, whipping Taue around by the arm to maintain arm control and when Taue tries to work the arm, Kawada bleeds him with nasty boot scrapes to the face and adds insult to injury with those dirty little kicks of his. Watching Taue bulldoze Kawada with sumo slaps and fall out of the ring was a definite highlight of the match. Taue takes advantage of the outside element, suplexing and powerbombing Kawada on the floor, or lariating him over the guardrail. Kawada's so good at peppering his selling with subtle nuances, like flailing in the single leg crab, but his in-ring awareness is also on point, as he's able to counter the chokeslam attempt with the armbar, bringing it back to his opening armwork. He's able to catch Taue with a back kick that knocks Taue into the ref, and when he hits the powerbomb pin, the ref is slow to make the count. In the end, Taue wins by countout after chokeslamming Kawada...on the floor. Of course.
  24. superkix
    I mean, they managed to pack a 25:00+ minute main event into two minutes and some change. Ricky, really wants to win this, hitting the John Woo dropkick, the powerbomb, the thrust kick, before KENTA no sells it all to obliterate Marvin with a rolling lariat. For the most part, Marvin has answers to KENTA’s big offense, countering the first Go 2 Sleep attempt with the rana, but the second attempt connects and KENTA blasts him with the punt kick to win.
  25. superkix
    A polarizing match but one of my favorites for sure, as Inoue truly excels at making the most of his in-ring limitations, putting in the underdog heel performance of the year – yeah, he’s a blatantly classic heel but the crowd favorite against Akiyama. Before the streamers can even fly, Inoue lariats Akiyama and immediately dumps his ass with a cobra clutch suplex! Of course, Akiyama quickly gets the situation under control, wearing Inoue down with a front necklock for an Exploder but Inoue bails before Akiyama can hit what would be the first of…well, many, many knees. When Jun rolls him back in, Inoue promptly rolls back out to avoid him, remaining patient on the outside until he finds an opening to attack and he does so in the shittiest (I say that with love) way possible, scouring Jun’s face with taped wrists and forearms, running it along the ropes, then along the apron. This pisses off Akiyama, who in turn, dirty rubs his forearms across Inoue’s face…and gets booed for it! Loved how sloppy Inoue’s figure-four on the rampway is but the purpose behind it more than makes up for the execution, as he’s trying to get Jun counted out. When Akiyama finally puts Inoue in his place, calf branding him from the apron into the guardrail and piledriving him onto the floor, the fans continue to shit on him, which is awesome, as Inoue’s clearly the sympathetic dirty dog here. Inoue tries to build a little momentum, trying a couple of flash pin attempts, but when he goes up top, Jun cuts him off with a super Exploder…and the look on Inoue’s face is incredible. Inoue manages a few last gasps, including the torture rack and a powerbomb, but Akiyama slips out of the backslide and hits the first successful running knee. After an Exploder, the knee party really kicks off, but Masao’s not going down, not rolling over, stiff-legged. After ten knees (the number of completion), Akiyama delivers another Exploder for a big nearfall but the wrist-clutch variant is the final nail in the coffin for Inoue. Terrifc match.
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