superkix

This was such a cool match-up, almost worked like a junior heavyweight match with Ogawa forcing Misawa into his style. Ogawa's a favorite and he was able to show off here, between his slick maneuvering and cheap tactics. Like GOTNW mentioned, Ogawa gets the most out of simple holds, like the way he hangs onto a side headlock or headscissors, or hopping onto Misawa's back with a sleeper to try and wear him down. Great neck-focused chains of offense to set up the backdrop hold and counter work to avoid Misawa's offense, who looked a little perturbed at times that he's got this little gnat constantly buzzing around his head. Of course, the Misawa elbows looked great. Fun stuff.

Not a big lucha fan but this was pretty awesome, with real crisp takedowns and counter wrestling through the first fall and Panther picking up the submission in the second fall with a swanky arm trap. Loved the third fall, with Santo selling the arm and Panther going after it. Santo's submission work was neat and I liked that he kept grabbing Panther's arm off the ropes to the point that the ref's had enough and shoves him off. The nearfalls off the roll-up pin attempts were great and they built to the big dives really well. Fans were pissed with the cheap finish but it worked in the context of all the quick back-and-forth pin attempts. But man, lucha refs count so slow...

My dream scenario of a match being fought on a three-inch mat in some random Japanese school gymnasium was achieved but rather than a shoot-style or catch match, I was honored with the army monster destroyer vs. the aluminum robot knight. The soundtrack to this match was incredible as a confused Bauxite figures out its targeting system. Tobita sitting down, guzzling a beer and tossing the aluminum can to simultaneously activate/piss off Bauxite was the highlight for me. Then it turns into an awesome game of whack-a-Tobita until Tobita figures out he can knock off Bauxite's box to hands with the three-inch mats. After a fisherman buster!, Tobita piles the mats onto Bauxite to pin him...game over. What a spectacle.

Slimmed up and shaved down Hashimoto is oddly reminiscent of Monster Morning. This was pretty damn great in the way they were able to keep the lines blurred. Earl on, you had Ogawa being real shitty and brash with his knockdowns and then he gets caught off guard with that Hash legsweep from the outside, which allows Hash the opportunity to lay into him to the point that Murakami has to come into the ring in Ogawa's defense. The reactions Hashimoto elicits from the fans with his takedowns are awesome as he keeps trying to cut out Ogawa's legs. I thought the STO struggle and escalation of impact was done really well, with Hash first countering with the DDT and then just kicking the shit out of Ogawa's leg in frustration before Ogawa is finally able to put him down after the choke sleeper > STO combo.

I love the visual of Iizuka running down the rampway toward the ensuing chaos in the ring...and then immediately getting pummeled and taken out by Murakami. Whenever Iizuka is able to get a submission hold locked on, it feels like a big deal and while the groundwork is rather simple, the struggle conveyed from both sides really adds to the gritty feel of the match. Iizuka being a dope on the ropes, not letting go and then pounding Murakami in the back of the head was great. I think this could've benefited from being shorter but whatever, we got Murakami trying to goad Iizuka back to his feet after blasting him with a kick, and the slack-jawed looks of Inoki and Fujinami at ringside. As the match heads home, you can really see the frustration in Iizuka's strikes and when he's able to get the choke sleeper on Murakami, it's huge but at the same time, it's hard to put a rapid dog to sleep. Good stuff.

I'll have my show ready for 12/31 but I'm open to having a window maybe between 12/31 and 1/15 or whenever to get the big show up.

I really liked the opening with the hard open hands exchanged and Ohtani going after the elbow/lariat arm and getting in some of his signature spots. But when Kojima takes over on offense, he more or less blows off the armwork and just shows off his dominance. I liked the Koji Cutter spot off the missed spinning heel kick and Ohtani's reaction to the nearfall off the dragon suplex hold was great. Other than that, Kojima kind of stunk it up.

Fyre has such a good look, long hair or short, and he came off like a big badass here, but gave Kanemoto enough to keep this interesting for the most part. Kanemoto isn't one to back down from a fight and I like that he stepped up to Frye, smacked in the face, and then immediately gets belly-to-belly suplexed down and put into a submission. Frye's limbwork was real grunty and calloused, which is obvious when you take a look at him, but Kanemoto's a sly cat and will grab a leg when he can. At one point, Frye lets loose a terrific F-Bomb when Kanemoto's got him in a leglock before he boots his way out the hard way. Pretty decent match-up.

KakiRide 2017

Yeah, this was good, and really picks up with Liger on offense -- I really liked his spurt of back-orientated offense on Tiger with the wrenching camel clutch and powerbomb whip. He really sold Tiger's submissions like a million bucks and the fans were all in on Tiger submitting Liger. The double arm suplex off the top into the armbreaker really had them losing their shit but Liger makes the ropes. The finish was awesome. Tiger with the adrenaline kick out at one off the brainbuster and then that last ditch effort to stop the shotei, only for Liger to finish him off with the right hand. Love that shit.

Hell yeah!

1. Shibata vs. Okada 2. H. Suzuki vs. Okabayashi 3. M. Suzuki vs. Takagi

Match was good and Kawada was great, I thought. He works mostly as the thorn in Misawa's side, continually cutting off Misawa's 80% elbow offense with gamengiri kicks to the face. Misawa's first big comeback is a fucking tiger driver. I thought Kawada's selling off the rolling elbow was incredible. Then he continues blasting Misawa with these gamengiris to the face and hits an absolutely brutal backdrop driver. I mean, 3/4's of this match was worked like a finishing stretch but it was fun. And the commentator with the "elbow" on repeat was the cherry on top.

Another great match from 3/25 which seemed to fly by. Murakami and Ishikawa have such good chemistry together -- Murakami's always coming out rabid and swinging, and the cooler Ishikawa is just trying to get the takedown and submission. Murakami is one of the few guys out there whose sloppiness actually adds to the match and his 'aura.' I love the way Otsuka maneuvers around the mat and floats around his opponent (Sano here) as he's constantly looking for an opening to suplex or a limb to snag. The brawling on the outside was awesome with Ishikawa jacking Murakami with these gnarly elbow shots and rolling around on the chairs. And when Murakami kicks Sato in the butt after the big dive and commentary lols...precious. I thought Ishikawa's deadlift German to Otsuka as he's crawling to his corner was incredible, and of course, Otsuka answers with a nasty release dragon. Oh, and Otsuka makes the best saves.

This ruled. A lot of stiff love, with Usuda opening the match with all these little headbutts before trying to choke out Ikeda. Then he starts snapping off kicks, landing a couple of headshots to Ikeda, who stumbles around until he runs into a shot that knocks him flat. Really great kicks from Usuda throughout. Of course, Ikeda dishes it back, waylaying Usuda with a big right hand before clobbering the fuck out of him with a lariat on the ropes. Usuda spends some time going after the arm, doing a good job of maneuvering around Ikeda's escape or counter attempts to stay in control. Loved when Ikeda freaks out on him with his punts, stomps, and kicks. Really liked the finish too, with Ikeda grabbing the arm, rolling around into a Fujiwara, and then laying on him with the choke sleeper until Usuda's eyes go white. Too bad this was clipped.

Straight up wacky junior heavyweight wrestling with a go-go-go pace. There's some dueling legwork early on that doesn't pop up again until the end, when Hidaka is trying to submit Minoru with the Shawn Capture. Lots of counters and pin attempts, swinging DDTs in and out of the ring by Hidaka, and some gnarly looking suplexes from Minoru, including a release dragon that dumps Hidaka right on his frosted tips. Selling is sometimes on but mostly off, as is the case with most Minoru matches, but for the most part, this was a fun, easy watch.

Such a great match with a concise and engaging story, good selling from both guys, and an exceptional performance from Kojima. Loved his early Koji Cutter counter to the lariat and his grunty follow-up legwork, which includes these awesome diving chopblocks and a tree-of-woe knee lariat. My favorite moment of the match comes after Sasaki withstands Kojima's lariat and straight up punches him in the face. Chono and crew jump the apron like "What the fuck, ref?!" but Sasaki doesn't care and punches Kojima again. They show off some fighting spirit with ragdoll German suplexes and one count lariats but the exhaustion definitely plays into the finish, with Kojima unable to go back to the leg or hit the Northern Lights Bomb.

Yeah, the fact that a shitty dropkick spot is causing Twitter drama is sad.

Murahama's a terrific little shitkicker, already showing so much fire and ego three months into his pro-wrestling career. He's so much more aggressive out of the gate and he doesn't hold back nearly as much as his debut match against Hoshikawa. The only real offense. The only real offense Hoshikawa's able to get in the first round is a series of freakout slaps to a grounded Murahama. The second and third rounds are mostly defensive, with some strikes exchanged and groundwork that doesn't go anywhere, but the fourth round really picks, with Hoshikawa looking to best Murahama on the mat. The German suplex off the ropes with Murahama struggling to hang on was awesome...and when Murahama delivers his own German, Hoshikawa is able to grab an arm upon impact, nearly scoring the submission before the round ends. Murahama's relentless in the final round and Hoshikawa definitely gets brutalized, despite getting a few shots in, before he goes down hard. Pretty awesome stuff.

Obviously Kohei Sato throws a mean elbow but I love the way Hideki Suzuki throws his weight into his elbow strikes.

DDT NJPW BJW

Not much else to add. Otsuka rocking the flamed out singlet and Yone the flame tipped pants. Greco's double arm facebuster onto the knee looked gnarly and it busted Yone’s nose. Love Ishikawa’s Saito suplex. Otsuka’s counter to Greco coming in to defend Ishikawa’s octopus hold was cool. Yone was whatever but he gets a good head kick in the corner to Ishikawa and then later finishes him off with the choke. As always, Ishikawa's selling is bueno.

Yeah, this was fun enough. Fujiwara utilizing the gi against dad Sayama plays up to his old man wiliness. He lets Sayama show off a bit with his flourishes before getting a takedown and forcing Sayama to the ropes -- at one point, getting a cheat body shot before letting go in true Fujiwara fashion. I like that Sayama pulled out one of his classic knee drops but Fujiwara stays on the leg and finishes him off with the leglock. Third time's the charm.

Probably Hideki Suzuki

Hidaka looking like Tidus from FFX. I dug the contrast of Hidaka's luchaesque hybrid junior style against Usuda's more straight up shooter. There was this cool dynamic throughout where Usuda was able to turn most of Hidaka's flashier spots into submissions -- like Hidaka hits the German suplex hold and Usuda slips off into an armbar, or the tornado DDT where Usuda's able to grab a kneebar. I also love how the announcer says "uh-scape". Like Jetlag mentioned above, Usuda does such a good job of selling the submission struggle, especially when Hidaka gets him in the cross kneelock. Hidaka's offense looked good -- really liked his corkscrew senton -- and I thought the finish was great, with Hidaka hitting the powerbomb but Usuda snagging the arm and then transitioning into the cross kneelock when Hidaka tries to escape. Fun stuff.