Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

superkix

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1552

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by superkix

  1. superkix
    Not a classic per say, nor the most violent of their series, but a fitting swansong to their story. At this point, Ikeda doesn’t even want to shake hands, he just dropkicks Ishikawa and hits the lariat. It’s mostly a struggle on the ground early on, with Ikeda sometimes doing these nasty headbutts and Ishikawa completely no selling them. Then Ishikawa starts fighting for suplexes with Ikeda bat-batting his way out getting suplexed. A much more sluggish match, slower than anything before, which comes with age and brain smashing. Ikeda's still uber-stiff with some of his headbutts. He'll walk up to Ishikawa, kick him in the face or head, before they go through some of their usual spots. But in the end, Ishikawa takes the series, dumping him with a pair of backdrops and submitting him with the rear naked choke.
  2. superkix
    There's a lot to love on with this match for sure, especially Tenryu's grizzled performance as he absorbs most of what Kawada's dishing out and serves it back twice as spicy. Loved all the stand up exchanges early on the match before Tenryu catches a foot and dragon screw legwhips Kawada down to set-up the legwork. The legwork was fine but ultimately meaningless -- but it did provide us with that awesome face punch sold perfectly by Kawada. Tenryu's such a big boss here, standing up to Kawada's peskiness, refusing to lay down, and Kawada's really struggling to get anything effective going, from the stretch plum to the back-to-back backdrops. The selling of exhaustion in this match is terrific, with Tenryu tumbling out of the ring and into the cameraman. Then he takes that nasty boot to the nose when he's on the apron. I thought the finishing stretch, with Kawada trying to take down Tenryu with kick after kick after kick before Tenryu explodes with the lariat, was pretty great, and the result is Kawada nearly KO'd from the blow, which allows Tenryu to put him away with the Northern Lights Bomb. One of the best matches of 2000 for sure.
  3. superkix
    Yeah, this was a pretty fun match and Frye was bumping all over the place for Liger while still dishing out some good ground-and-pound offense. Frye has such a great look -- cutting the hair was the best decision -- and he comes off like the bully against Liger, drawing heat from the fans for not letting go of the arm in the ropes.
  4. superkix
    I don't know about album artwork but isn't it just the demon from the Exorcist?
  5. superkix
    Ishikawa and Ikeda look like they’ve seen some hell, and they're about to put each other through hell in a match all about the violence of the strikes. Ikeda's man enough to shake Ishikawa's hand and then immediately punches him at the sound of the bell. Tons of sick punches, elbows, kicks, with some queasy camerawork trying to capture the action. Built around the struggle, there's still some neat little things, like Ishikawa kicking out Ikeda's arms when he tries to push for for leverage during a leglock. But when it hits, it hits hard. Ishiakwa gets busted open with a gross punt kick to the face, Ishikawa folds Ikeda up with backdrop drivers, and then they're punching each other in the face and headbutting, finally scrambling around for a final submission hold in a cool departure from the brutality of the match. In the end, Ishikwa finally catches him in the rear naked choke for the submission.
  6. superkix
    Khan’s the cockroach that won’t stay dead. After he tries to bodyslam the Giant and fails, Andre is dumbfounded that Khan is still alive after having nearly squashed him. When Andre’s in control of Khan, Khan keeps telling the ref he’s being choked, which only further irks the big man as he keeps defending his actions to the referee. “It’s not a choke!” – for some reason, I gave Andre Arnold Schwarzenegger’s voice. Such a strong performance from Andre, with Khan playing the dirty heel much to the delight of the Japanese fans. He comes at Andre with Mongolian chops but the Giant traps the arms and hits a double arm suplex. Khan goes for the eyes, poking and raking, and then he begins chopping the Giant down at the ankle. Some of Andre’s best selling here as Khan takes advantage of the situation, with Giant re-injuring himself and Khan attacking the leg. One of Andre's better in-ring performances with Khan working as the bothersome babyface heel.
  7. superkix
    It’s ridiculous how over Funk is with the fans as they’re trying to tear the jacket from his back. Hansen doesn’t give a flip about any flowers and only wants to get his hands on Terry. Funk does such a terrific job selling the unsinkable battleship that is Hansen, staggering round like a drunken hillbilly and bailing from the ring when things get too rough. Love the spasmodic way he takes Stan’s knee drops. Terry conveys a great sense of anxiety throughout, the way he’s shoving around the young boys at ringside or snatching Hansen’s nose to break a hold. In probably the best moment of the match, he blindly throws a chair over his head into the ring and #1 Boss Hoss Stan Hansen catches the chair one handed and chunks it back at Terry. The end is chaos as Hansen knocks out one ref and lariats the replacement. Ron Bass or somebody interferes on Stan’s behalf, allowing Stan to hit the lariat before he starts kicking the shit out of everyone, including Jumbo and Baba.
  8. superkix
    Steve Wright, father of Das Wunderkind, is a swanky dad on the mat, with his visually-slick matwork and constant fluidity. What he lacks in charisma, Steve makes up for in style. I love his shoot shoulderblocks and his dropkick, and while the submissions were meaningless, they were cool to watch as he wrenches on an abdominal stretch or hanging stretch muffler. I thought Tiger kept up for the most part, his strikes looked great and he had a rad side suplex counter off the ropes. A slick little junior exhibition and a good introduction to Wright.
  9. superkix
    At the very least, tied with the May 1998 match as my favorite in their series of beatdowns. This is the final of the Young Generations Battle '99 -- and keep in mind that Ikeda had worked a 15:00 match prior to this against Yone to get him to this point. As with many of their matches, it starts in similar fashion with Ikeda trying to hang on the ground and Ishikawa prevailing. But clearly, Ikeda is more worn out here and he doesn’t quite have the same fire. He’s more desperate, wanting to just slug it out with Ishikaw -- and they do and of course, it’s stiff, gritty, and uncompromising. Ishikawa finds some leverage on the ground and starts working him over but Ikeda is too relentless, kicking him against the ropes, Ishikawa doing his best to try and block the brunt of them before he fires back hard with elbows. Ikeda's able to put him in a tired triangle choke and even tries for the crossface chickenwing he lost to in their earlier tournament match – I mean, you get the sense that he really wants to beat Ishikawa and Ishikawa is just trying not to lose. After finally leveling Ishikawa with a lariat on the third try, Ikeda puts him in a pretty badass kimura but Ishikawa makes the ropes. Ishikawa, on the otherhand, is throwing dope suplexes and trying to choke him out but Ikeda won’t die. In the end, he uses whatever energy he has left to drop Ishikawa with the Death Valley Bomb and tap him with the armbar. What a fight!
  10. superkix
    Yeah, this was a lot of fun, everyone was pulling their weight, the pissy little slap exchange between Saito and Kawada was real good but everything between Kawada/Chono was super hot. A cool dynamic to the classic AJPW six-man structure with Team 2000 being a bunch of dicks.
  11. superkix

    KIMERA

    superkix replied to superkix's topic in Armchair Booking

    Quick results. KIMERA "HIGH KICK FANTASIA", 2/25 Ariake Colosseum 12,000 Fans - Super No Vacancy 1. Strong Rules: Shiro Koshinaka, Shinjiro Ohtani & Akira Nogami beat Yuki Ishikawa, Yoshinari Ogawa & Osamu Nishimura (8:12) when Koshinaka used a powerbomb hold on Nishimura. 2. KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament - Semi-Final: Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai beat Chris Jericho & Lance Storm (10:52) when Kakihara used high kick on Storm. 3. Hybrid Rules: Kiyoshi Tamura beat Yusuke Fuke (7:46) with a kneebar. 4. KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament - Semi-Final: Kensuke Sasaki & Yuji Nagata beat Dan Severn & Bart Vale (9:22) when Sasaki used the Northern Lights Bomb on Vale. 5. Catch Rules: Grom Zaza beat Kazuo Takahashi (6:49) with a full nelson hold. 6. Hybrid Rules: Dick Vrij beat Tatsuo Nakano (12:05) by KO (knee strike). 7. Strong Rules: Minoru Suzuki beat Bob Backlund (14:33) with a Gotch-style piledriver. 8. Catch Rules: Masakatu Funaki beat Yoshiaki Fujiwara (10:00) by decision. 9. Hybrid Rules: Akira Maeda beat Kazuo Yamazaki (16:24) with the crossface chickenwing. 10. KIMERA Jr. Heavyweight Title - Strong Rules: Jushin “Thunder” Liger beat Masanobu Fuchi (18:40) with a running Liger Bomb to become the 1st KIMERA Jr. Heavyweight Champion. 11. KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament - Final: Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai beat Kensuke Sasaki & Yuji Nagata (15:12) when Nagai used a capture suplex hold on Nagata to become the 1st KIMERA Openweight Tag Team champions. 12. KIMERA Heavyweight Title - Strong Rules: Vader beat Hiroshi Hase (24:28) with a spinning backfist (1st defense).
  12. superkix
    I kinda hate the term "banger of a match" but when it fits, it fits. Sasaki isn't interesting when he's trying to find his way out of a paper bag on the mat but when he's clobbering and chopping and throwin' bombs, he's pretty great. Kawada trying to work a side headlock and then Kensuke bam-bams his way out of it, blocking the gamengiri and straight punching Kawada in the face. Best part of the match for me was when Sasaki starts to get the better of him Kawada with the slaps, and Kawada socks him in the face! I didn't have a problem with the one count off the Stretch Plum because it was almost like a knee-jerk reaction to the ref's hand hitting the canvas. The dueling lariats are whatever but I liked the finish, with Kawada landing these enziguris that won't take Kensuke off his feet and Kensuke's finally able to lariat an attempt down, only to run into the biggest enziguri kick of them all to end the reign.
  13. superkix
    Slow but effective build to these two just beating the hell out of each other. Fujinami's just trying to contain Hashimoto until he starts slapping Hash silly, then it breaks out into a slap-punch fight, with a pissed Hash spitting at Fujinami. Moment of the match for sure. Then Hash lays into him with big heavy kicks, Fujinami answering back with snug elbows and punches. That high kick/possible KO was either sold terrifically by Fujinami or really knocked him loopy as the finish seemed improvised.
  14. superkix
    One hell of a hoss battle -- you could fry up a couple of eggs on the atmosphere alone. Andre’s monster presence resonates throughout the arena, to the point where Andre's yelling at the fans to shut up. Hansen proves that with enough grit, sweat, and ball-bustin’, you can bleed the dragon if you keep jabbing it with the sharp end of the stick. Hansen really sells the enormity of fighting a giant but Andre’s offense comes off so crushing, from the way he wrings Stan’s arm over his shoulder to his mighty clubs and chops to Stan’s chest, sometimes accompanied by that deep-barreled laughter. Hansen’s missed elbow drops provide some of the best moments of the match, especially coming after the big bodyslam. After the restart (with a little intimation from Andre), Hansen turns up the bruising and starts pounding on Andre, tying him up in the ropes and and lariating him out of the ring! On the outside, Andre tries to load up the elbow pad and the ref’s all over him trying to get it off. Out of frustration, Andre swats him with a lariat and the match is thrown out but the fun don’t stop there as the two keep fighting, lion cubs get clobbered, and a pissed Hansen chucks a chair into the ring.
  15. superkix
    The story is a simple but effective one, with the aggressive Dynamite Kid trying to re-open the champ’s bandaged forehead. Fujinami works from underneath for the majority of the match, firing off the occasional uppercut but ultimately being overwhelmed and bloodied by Kid’s snug forearm shots and headbutts. He tries for the dragon suplex hold but Dynamite fights out and continues to target Fujinami’s injury, using kneedrops and fistdrops, knuckling the forehead and at one point, even biting it! Dynamite's such a little shit here -- I mean, the fans are throwing rolls of toilet paper at him! I like that he's seemingly trying for the manjigatame as a heel move. Fujinami does a terrific job of garnering sympathy from the crowd as he sells his injury and the desperation of his retaliations. Dynamite is able to hit the diving headbutt for two but when he tries for the second, Fujinami is able to roll away and the crowd loses their shit. He’s able to dropkick him out of the ring but Dynamite walks away from the follow-up plancha, once again cutting off Fujinami’s momentum as he had through much of the match. But once inside the ring, Fujinami is able to pin him out of nowhere with the Japanese roll leg clutch and Dynamite is pissed. Really good stuff.
  16. superkix
    Probably the most pro-wrestling match of thei series -- Ikeda tries for a moonsault at one point. Pretty good struggle on the mat, always making it look like they’re trying to grab somethingor anything. When Ishikawa tries for the rope armbreaker, Ikeda has it scouted this time and catches him in a choke sleeper. Ishikawa start building momentum, hits a beautiful double arm suplex, works in the Indian Deathlock and a sickle hold, which Ikeda breaks by squeezing Ishikawa’s nose! The whole match is kind of a scramble, no one can maintain control, and by the end, Ikeda starts escalating the violence of his strikes, but Ishikawa’s able to block the final lariat and take him down with the crossface chickenwing for the submission.
  17. superkix
    Loved everything up until the finish. Fujiwara is ornery as fuck and Anjoh's still a huge dick. When he's working on Fujiwara's neck, dropping the knees and the elbows, and refusing to let go in the ropes. He also lays into Fujiwara with some nasty head stomps. Fujiwara pays him back with some chokes and his armbar off the rope break was awesome. He hits a pretty double arm suplex floatover and that counter Edwin mentioned with Fujiwara grabbing a rear naked choke off a takedown was terrific.
  18. superkix
    Apart from a couple of nitpicky things here and there, this was very good. I really liked the explosiveness of the opening, with Hoshikawa trying to catch the veteran off-guard and eventually controlling with his kicks and arm submissions. A good chunk of the match is devoted to Delphin working the leg, which, in and of itself, is fine. Delphin seemingly had an answer to each of Hoshikawa's escape attempts, squashing any momentum he'd start to build. Hoshikawa's selling could have been better but it worked and I liked how the big dive played into the story, having taken so much out of Hoshikawa that Delphin's able to go back to attacking the leg. Then when Delphin is sure he's got it in the bag with the Delphin Clutch, Hoshikawa pops him in the face with a kick. All that prior legwork disappears at that point as the match settles into a long finishing stretch. The crowd was jazzed, the nearfalls were fun, and there was some cool offense spots, like Delphin's shotei>tiger suplex hold combo. Hoshikawa picking up the decisive win gave it that big match feel.
  19. superkix
    This may be my favorite match of the series -- this or the August '99 match. By far, the most brutal of their match-ups to this point. Again, this is a match where neither man can keep the advantage for very long, and any minor mistake can be costly, as seen when Ikeda grabs the surprise armbar when Ishikawa leaves his arm open for too long. Ishikawa will play Ikeda's striking game long enough to grab a submission, while Ikeda will manage to find a submission of his own through a little hustle and grind. When Ikeda bails to the outside following Ishikawa's armbar, it's like he came back into the ring trying to appease his demon, because he becomes a real dirty daddy, batting Ishikawa around with forearms, straight punting him in the head, and then hitting one of the meanest lariats I've seen in awhile. He beats the shit out of Ishikawa, who sells the beating quite convincingly, to the point where he looks completely out of it. Then Ikeda suddenly runs into a whopper punch to the face and Ishikawa heats up, snapping him over with a backdrop, connecting with the enziguri to set-up the octopus in his best Inoki impression. But in the end, the submissions ain’t cutting the mustard for Ishikawa, and after Ikeda spin kicks him in the fucking face, he gets KO’d by a head kick. Awesome match/battle/asskicking.
  20. superkix
    The whole Golden Lovers reunion feels like such blatant fan service, I haven't been able to get into any of it.
  21. superkix
    Ashino's guy who looks like a million bucks but he often comes off as cosplaying a "technical wrestler" and lacked the edge that fit his throwback aesthetic. While I enjoyed his match against Soya from last year, his performance didn't quite connect with me on the level I was expecting. That being said, his rematch with Soya from last month checked most of my pro-wrestling boxes. Here, Ashino played the self-assured badass champ, and Soya the loveable Manabu Nakanishi underdog. Ashino's aggressive armwork was great as he tried to neutralize Soya's lariat while still teasing his signature ankle lock, which he's used to win all of his previous matches. Soya's selling was really good, even when mounting a comeback on offense. After he blasts Ashino with a gnarly headbutt, he thinks he can finish him off with the lariat but Ashino bitchslaps the attempt away and drops him with a German suplex. Ashino works the ankle lock for awhile, which results in him maneuvering around the mat in order to maintain control, but the next turning point in the match was Soya's awesome superplex, which felt like the biggest move of the match, despite later hitting Ashino with a Death Valley Bomb and package piledriver. He's able to deliver a lariat to the back of Ashino's head but when he tries again to finish him off, Ashino catches him in a Fujiwara armbar, working that a bit, before he proceeds to remove the tape and destroy the arm with a fall-a-way armbreaker. Then he smartly traps the arm and re-applies the ankle hold. The finish was teased and built throughout the match and despite having his arm worked on extensively, Soya was determined to finish Ashino off with that lariat -- but he really had to really fight for it. Easily Ashino's best overall performance and probably the best W1 match in recent memory.
  22. superkix
    I can't stomach the idea of watching Ospreay or Scurll for half an hour.
  23. superkix
    I hadn't seen this before but it was quite the little banger, with good struggle in the matwork early on and some really great selling from Hideki throughout, especially off the leg kicks -- I mean, he's selling the leg even when he's working a cravate on Sato. Of course, the strikes are stiff as to be expected with Sato involved but Hideki also throws some mean elbows. It's ZERO1 so the match escalates to a bit of a bombfest toward the end, with plenty of suplexes and piledrivers, but it works well here. Sato stuns Hideki with a nasty headbutt but then when he turns his back, Hideki jumps on with the sleeper, wearing him down for the double arm suplex. When that doesn't do the job, he dumps Sato with a release dragon suplex and then pins him with the double arm suplex hold to win the title.
  24. superkix
    I prefer the Aoki match to this but this was still a fun bout which saw Hashimoto have to step it up in order to stomp out Nomura's testiness. Hashimoto has to keep cooling him down with elbow strikes but then Nomura will start shoving him around, tapping into that Maeda energy with the capture suplex and crossface chickenwing. I love the fact that he teases hitting a crossface chickenwing suplex later in the match! Then Hash hacks him down with those vicious chops and starts building his own momentum before Nomura catches him with the reverse armbar and continues targeting the arm. Nomura's final strike flurry ending in the high kick was great before Hashimoto eventually puts him down.
  25. superkix
    Suzuki/Goto has been the only NJ match this year that left some kind of impression on me. I feel like I need to rewatch Suzuki/Tanahashi but otherwise, Suzukis been the best thing about NJ in 2018.
×
×
  • Create New...