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superkix

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Everything posted by superkix

  1. superkix
    This was one of my most anticipated match-ups of the tournament and for the most part, it delivered. I will say that Naito's selling blew Ibushi's out of the water, especially considering how focused and belligerent Naito's neckwork was, but then again, Ibushi bumped like hell for Naito's offense and both sold the exhaustion well enough down the home stretch. This was more about the spectacle of these two coming together and in that sense, this was a blast. I mean, Naito put in a fantastic performance (as usual), really putting the hurt on Ibushi's elastic neck with all variations of neckbreakers and some dang nasty German suplexes. Ibushi was classic Ibushi here, getting in some of his classic Ibushi spots while, for the most part, being grounded by Naito's work on top. I loved him kicking the shit out of Naito on the ropes and Naito's face afterwards. Ibushi countering the first Destino attempt with that corner torpedo was awesome and of course, that insane top rope piledriver, which Naito sold like death. I can't remember seeing that spot before. The nearfalls toward the end were really believable and not overdone, and the fact that this was kept under 25:00 was perfect. Pretty much exactly what I was expecting from these two.
  2. superkix
    Zack Sabre Jr. is a guy I've ridden the fence on for a while now since coming to New Japan but I thought this was his best singles performance. His destruction of Tanahashi's arm was consistent and aggressive, and the dueling limbwork was really well done, with some clever counters and reversals from both guys. Sabre came off as such a little prick in this match, with his shitty kicks and just leaning on Tanahashi while he's on the ropes. Once Tanahashi starts in on the leg, I thought Zack's selling was good. I liked him trying to pry Tanahashi's fingers apart on the cloverleaf hold and him smartly moving the leg out of the way when Tanahashi tries dropkicking it, stomping the arm and then immediately selling the leg afterwards. Tanahashi manages a neat counter to one of Zack's kicks, delivering an inverted dragon screw. I bit onto the European clutch nearfall and I thought the finish did an excellent job of establishing Sabre as a legitimate threat, with him removing the protective sleeve/tape and really cranking in the hold, manipulating the joints at various sections of the arm and forcing Tanahashi to give up. Really good stuff from both guys.
  3. superkix
    The clunky brutecake pissing contest you've come to expect between these two, with tons of headbutts, elbows, and lariats throughout. I thought Goto looked good underneath when he was getting bullied by Ishii and while I'm sure a some of this stuff was retread territory, it felt fresh. The lariat stalemate was especially well-executed, the way they would lean into the lariats, trying to get the other to fall to no avail. When they finally hit that colliding lariat spot later in the match, it looked/sounded brutal. The elbow exchange was...well, long to say the least, but they sold the exhaustion well coming off of it. Really solid.
  4. superkix
    A short and sweet little contest with Suzuki hyper vigilant with his armwork, snatching it at any given opportunity. Loved his armbar counter to Nishimura's patented headstand escape attempt and again when Osamu tries for the figure-four leglock. He delivers the Gotch-style piledriver but opts for the submission attempt instead with a reverse armbar. Nishimura tries for a backslide but Suzuki again counters with the cross armbreaker, scouting pretty much all of Nishimura's spots. But the second time's the charm and Nishimura's able to pin him down with the backslide. Suzuki at his sub-10 minute best.
  5. superkix
    Yeah, agreed. The Strong Division is at the top of my list when it comes to modern Japanese wrestling I enjoy.
  6. superkix
    Akiyama was really great here. His neckwork looked brutal, between the stunner on the ringpost, the stalling piledriver, and the way he viciously cranks on a facelock. Nishimura's legwork was pretty aggressive too and Akiyama's sold the leg terrifically, especially when Osamu dropkicks his knee out from him and re-applies the figure-four. The counterwork is also top notch here from beginning to end. There's an awesome moment where Jun counters the Japanese rolling clutch with a choke sleeper, eventually transitioning into his front necklock. Good stuff.
  7. superkix
    This match is a terrific game of cat-and-mouse with Nishimura having an answer for just about everything Takayama's posing -- to the point where a frustrated Takayama sits up after another Nishimura counter like "how I keep him down?". Razor-sharp awareness from Nishimura with his reversals and bridging escapes. I loved the set-up to the figure-four sequence and Osamu really digging after the rope break, going back to the leg with a couple of spinning toeholds before re-applying the figure-four and bridging to exert more pressure. Takayama's short term selling is great but it's just that. In the end, Osamu runs out of tricks and Takayama's finally able to snag him with the German.
  8. superkix
    Going into this match, I wasn't thrilled about Suzuki/Kawakami at Sumo Hall but afterwards, I'm really looking forward to it. A hot little build with the exchanges between Suzuki and Kawakami the obvious highlights but Kikuta continues to impress with his ability to take beatings. I really like how Suzuki makes applying the octopus hold look like work, the way he manipulates different parts of Kawakami's body. The elbow exchange was heated and Suzuki cutting off Kikuta's hot tag was awesome. I'm also loving these suplex hold submissions, this time with the dragon suplex hold on Kikuta. Another banger of a K-Hall tag match.
  9. superkix
    Yeah, this was a blast. Okabayashi and Yoshino have such great chemistry together. I loved the whole arm control segment with Yoshino rolling around the mat and of course, his counter to the torture rack. An easy watch.
  10. superkix
    It's always a blast watching Backlund in this kind of environment. Here, he stooges around for most of the first half until they start slapping each other and Ikeda headbutts him out of the ring. Backlund's selling of the headbutt is the best kind of comedy, as he collapses into some of the fans in the first row while Ikeda mocks him in the ring. Backlund's able to reverse an abdominal stretch into a big ole double arm suplex and then fires off some of his signature spots before scoring the pinfall. A fun easy, breezy watch.
  11. superkix
    Holy shit, this match rules. The crowd's nuts for these two just beating the shit out of each other. Funaki keeps trying to land knees and Nakano is going after the leg and whenever he gets him on the ground, Funaki smacks him repeatedly until he lets go. When Nakano catches a foot and tries for the dragon screw legwhip, Funaki blocks it and busts him open with a hard smack. Funaki's downright nasty in this match with his little punt kicks and headbutts. Nakano gets some revenge on Funaki with his own slaps and kicks -- Funaki's selling off one of the kicks is amazing. Nakano's comebacks are fiery and he's gushing blood but still wanting to fight. Funaki with the badass crab hold finish really sealed this match as another all-time favorite for me.
  12. superkix
    Aggressively action-packed junior work from Liger with Togo taking quite the beating. That powerbomb counter on the outside is brutal. Liger's such a dick here, between his pissy armwork, the swagger, and just chopping the hell out of Togo. Togo's in the moment selling is really great as always.This is how you do a spotfest.
  13. superkix
    A swanky little contest that really made the rope break/downs system engaging. The sense of struggle between this two was terrific as they vied for submission openings and fought for takedowns, often in desperation. Once again, Fujiwara's bony old man head is a major factor in this match and Takada keeps chopping out Fujiwara's legs to keep him down. Loved Fujiwara's kneebar takedown but Takada is able to slip out into a single leg crab hold to force him to the ropes. Fujiwara's selling post-single leg crab is awesome. Lots of big strikes in the end as the downs rack up and the final leg sweep finish was the perfect exclamation point to this match.
  14. superkix
    Nishimura steals the show with his well-sold defensive performance, intuition, and sense of struggle. I loved the way the figure-four played such a central role in this match, with Nishimura scouting it early on and turning the attempt into a small package to pick-up a fall. His selling during the final fall is fantastic and he's able to block the figure-four attempts, finally reversing the third attempt to submit Fujinami in a...well, odd finish, but you could tell Fujinami's knees weren't in great shape to begin with.
  15. superkix
    Backlund's such a goober -- such a pro-wrestling caricature. The way he sells Funaki’s kicks, whoa-ing and scuttling around. He’ll fling Funaki off with this “gee, what’d I get myself into here?” expression on his face, only for Funaki to continue pelting him with kicks. His takedowns are erratic and somewhat impulsive, the strike exchanges are chaotic between the wild misses and hard wallops. No-nonsense Funaki is especially vicious with his feet, stomping his way out of holds and high kicking Backlund in the head. Pissed off Funaki is so much fun.
  16. superkix
    Nishimura is a fantastic conveyor of struggle and exhaustion and I think against a brusier like Hiro Saito, it works so well. Saito's armwork is real grunty and I like how he uses his head and knee to exert more pressure on Osamu. The standing surfboard escape sequence was fun and when Osamu's finally able to reverse it, Saito just walks over into the ropes to break the hold. Osamu's alternating side headlock wrenches are great and he makes really smart use of the Irish whip to get Saito back into the headlock. Osamu goes after the leg with some awesome elbow strikes to the knee and the final few minutes of the match see him cranking away on Saito, using a sickle hold and these cool falling elbow strikes. Saito's in the moment selling was terrific here. On the first German suplex hold, it looks like Saito's injured leg gives out so he's got to deliver the second and maintain the bridge for the three count. A cool touch. This was definitely a great "less is more" type match and the crowd was into it.
  17. superkix
    I really liked this but I thought the finish was on the weaker side and Zack has some of the worst stomps I've seen. He at least sold his own strikes against Ishii because Ishii's made of stone and the best word to describe Zack is "lithe". I liked that Zack was persistent with the armwork, staying on it like a mosquito that Ishii keeps swatting away. The Minoru Special II was a cool spot and the submission sequence with Zack grabbing all of Ishii's escaping limbs. Fun stuff.
  18. superkix
    Matches like this are my favorite thing about current NOAH: sub-fifteen minute licks of spitfire and aggression. Kaito Kiyomiya is already such a good, fiery babyface and I really enjoy him in these matches where he's getting his ass kicked but he keeps on bringing it. Tons of hard slaps and kicks, with Kiyomiya constantly getting in Kenoh's face only to keep getting shut down. He gets some time to shine, hitting a big top rope dropkick and a fisherman suplex hold but Kenoh's able to avoid the German suplex attempts, at one point taking him down with a swank transition into the ankle hold. There's a great moment where Kenoh's dishing out the slaps and Kaito just smacks him hard and small packages him for a nearfall. Then Kenoh destroys him with some brutal chest kicks leading to the finish. A hell of an opener.
  19. superkix
    Here's what I wrote about this match at SUPERDUPERPLEX:
  20. superkix
    This was a really good, post-champ Miyahara match, who worked largely out of his ace mode and more as the aggressor, working over Suwama's injured right arm. I thought the arm work played a pivotal role in the match and Miyahara was able to squash a lot of Suwama's comebacks by going back to the arm. The bicycle kick counter to the rolling lariat was an especially cool spot. Suwama's selling was good -- I liked when he was backed into a corner and trying to boot Miyahara away. It's rare you see him on the rocks this much. When Miyahara keeps kicking at the injured right arm, Suwama switches things up and levels him with a left-arm lariat. Good stuff.
  21. superkix
    This was a pretty great "big boy" tag team match with plenty of clunky, hard-hitting blows and Nakanoue especially standing out with his interactions with Okabayashi. He's a guy who makes the most out of a simple set of moves. He does a terrific job of selling the double chickenwing struggle and the crowd eats it up. Okabayashi's hot tag charisma is always off the charts and the chemistry between he and Hama never gets old. Hama makes one of the best "out of nowhere" saves and the finishing stretch saw some real hard elbows from Nakanoue before he falls to Yuji's Golem Splash. Just a really good tag match from bell to bell and one of the better Japanese tag matches of the year, barely behind Strong BJ's title defense against Twin Towers in January.
  22. superkix
    YES to Ishikawa/Miyahara. Thoughts here.
  23. superkix
    I'm not a big comedy match guy but I haven't unintentionally laughed this much in a pro wrestling context. Suzuki's comedic timing is so awesome, between his looks, the little smirks, and his pissy interactions with everyone around him, real and imagined. I don't think I can rate this as a match but as a collection of moments, this was incredible. Here's a few gems: Suzuki's imaginary ring entrance complete with kicking at an imaginary young boy. Suzuki trying to hide his smirk during Aja Kong's entrance. Both guys playing to a crowd that doesn't exist. The interactions between Suzuki and Gota Ihashi The look Suzuki gives Ladybeard. Jun Kasai moonlighting as a janitor. The random encounter kickboxer in the corridor and Suzuki's escape. The way fake Nakamura bumps against the door. Tenryu fistbumping Suzuki and Suzuki's giddy reaction. A straight-faced Meiko Satomura trying to pitch a baseball and failing miserably. Takagi's missed lariat from the outfield wall.
  24. superkix
    I thought this was the best Will Ospreay match I've seen. Take that for what you will. It had a plenty of the things I dislike about Ospreayr -- the obnoxious scream selling, the ridiculous two count bewilderments, lots of thigh slaps, and the forced high spot set-ups, but he worked with more hostility and it was the first time I bought him as a pro-wrestler. The first time he looked kind of tough. KUSHIDA's just so much more believable -- I felt like he really wanted to win the match. KUSHIDA/O'Reilly is still my favorite BOSJ final of recent years but this was surprised me.
  25. superkix
    Had I not been spoiled by the result prior to watching, this would've been extra special. That being said, this was still a great Triple Crown match -- probably the best of the year. This was Shuji Ishikawa at his best and the first time in a long time that Kento looked like he was up against a true monster challenge. His "in the moment" selling is good and he has such terrific facial expressions throughout as Shuji keeps beating him down. I liked the early backwork from Ishikawa, which is hard enough to sell well, but the final half of the match was big time offense and the champ grasping at straws with his desperate knee strikes. Really liked the rana counter to the Splash Mountain Bomb attempt, which leads to Kento getting a nice run of offense before trying to trap Ishikawa's arms for the shutdown German. Even when Ishikawa is breaking out, Miyahara keeps control of the arms, forcing Shuji to fight harder. Ishikawa hits just about everything in his arsenal and his presence in general is second-to-none. Really good match.
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