superkix

Nominating: Shuji Ishikawa vs. Shigehiro Irie (DDT, 6/26)

This year's King of DDT has produced some fun matches but this was really fun. Exactly what I wanted from an Ishikawa/Irie encounter. The build to the katahajime and the story that follows after Irie finally gets it locked in is great. Fun midsection work from Ishikawa supported by some great facials and selling from Irie. At one point, Ishikawa just lifts him up by his leg and boots him int he gut. And they hit each other hard. This match would feel right at home in BJW. The exhaustion of the finishing stretch played out so well. Easily my favorite DDT match of the year.

I like these under 20 minute “modern strong style” match-ups. It feels compact and vicious, without dragging out into overkill territory. This was big boss golem Okabayashi doing a damn fine job of trying to keep the feisty Kawakami down, clubbing, chopping and lariating him silly. Whenever Kawakami gets a whiff of retaliation, Okabayashi cuts him off. The finishing stretch to this thing is outright nasty, with Okabayashi paintbrushing Kawakami with slaps and Kawakami firing back with rapid-fire elbows and a big rolling elbow. He hits a couple of Germans and a brutal half nelson suplex but Okabayashi will not die -- so Kawakami unleashes the Scarlet Flowsion~! to put the nail in the coffin and earn his shot at the title. Tons of manly fun.

Tons of meaningful submission work, great counters and reversals, and a satisfying finish. I like that Mashimo alternates between working the arm and the leg, and Tonai does a good job of selling, especially the leg. It’s a sound strategy that actually plays into the finish. There’s a great little back-and-forth sequence around the leglock and cross armbreaker, with some fun, innovative arm work by Tonai. In the end, Mashimo has Tonai in the scissored armbar and as Tonai works his way over to the ropes, Mashimo traps the leg, preventing the escape and ensuring the submission victory. Excellent stuff all around!

The weak finish hurt this, as Suzuki spends about 75% of the match working Sato’s arm like a full-time job, cranking, whipping, stomping, kneeing, etc., yet he seems a little too easy to put away in the end as the defending champ. Suzuki does a great job of cutting off Sato’s offensive rebuttals, and Sato sells it pretty well, eventually switching to kicks after failing to use the arm to strike. I liked Sato’s German suplex counter off the European uppercut. But it felt like they rushed through the finishing stretch. This could’ve benefited from a few more minutes and a little more danger surrounding the arm work.

Suzuki matches always feel fresh. I love how cool and collected he was here, and his package suplex counter was great. Shinobu is whatever but it's always a treat to watch Suzuki's submission work.

Yeah, I don't think I can rate this but the exchanges between Suzuki and Nakanoue were super heated and fun, and Suzuki gave zero fucks about anyone out there. Not sure if there's real beef between the two, but yeah, if this results in a singles match between the two, good lord, sign me up.

There's no doubt these two guys are good at what they do. I thought the counter sequences and reversals were really fun to watch. The problem I had is that you've got these often overly complicated moves and sequences that often end up completely missing their mark (like Ospreay's twisty-mctwisty axe kick). And when the offense does connect, they skip over the selling to hurry into position for the next spot. Not my cup of tea but I can understand the excitement behind these kinds of aerial spectacles.

They injected a little hate into this, making it feel more personal. The veterans are pissed off Liger busts out the chair, cracking it over KUSHIDA's knee. He's a great leg bully in this and KUSHIDA does a great job selling, at one point desperately clinging to the ref to escape the leglock, and then selling the tilt-a-whirl landing off the fresh tag, an easily overlooked nuance that keeps the leg work relevant. Liger and Nagata are such a fun pairing. I loved Nagata standing vigilantly like a watchdog by Liger's side as he puts KUSHIDA back in the leglock. Lots of cranked-up intensity between Nagata and Shibata. I like how Shibata so calmly avoids Nagata's apron attacks and the fact that Nagata eyefucks Shibata so hard he trips over KUSHIDA during the single leg crab. The final exchange between the two, with Nagata's selling, was a lot of fun, and the finish really set the stage for Dontaku.

I thought this was a fantastic tag build for Dontaku. Shibata/KUSHIDA made a solid team, complementing each other's style and working together to target Liger's arm. KUSHIDA is in full arm killer mode, which is great. I like that even when Nagata breaks up a hold, KUSHIDA is quick to get right back on the arm like a pitbull. The strike exchanges between Nagata and Shibata were heated, especially those angry Shibata elbows. The flash finish made sense and builds into the 4/27 tag match, where the veterans get their revenge.

Much more neat and concise than the 5/3 'spectacle' and is easily my favorite Nahito match of the year so far. He's the perfect weasel dick here here with that shit-eating grin of his, consistently cutting off and countering Ishii's attacks and building the anticipation for when Ishii finally gets his hands on him. The apron lariat spot was a super dramatic payback moment as the crowd explodes and Naito is slumped all dead-like on the apron. There's a few missteps and they fuck up the Destino counter spot toward the end but Ishii rectifies that by hitting a big Emerald Flowsion. The second half is a bit overkill but it was fun and exciting to watch, not a chore like the 5/3 match. Some big nearfalls leading to a strong finish for Naito. Good stuff.

BJW - 5/28/15 An easy 'modern strong style' tag team classic. Time limit draws miss more often than they hit but these guys went through hell and back for half an hour and didn't miss a beat. Uber-stiff and brutal at times, with Sato and Okabayashi both getting busted open the hard way. Things got a little chaotic and messy at times, but it never got too ridiculous and they always reeled the action back in. Everyone had a role to play, with Sekimoto being Twin Towers' ragdoll for a good chunk of the match and wonderfully selling the constant beat downs. Sato was crafty (and elbow-happy) as usual -- I liked his re-thinking the arm work early on. The strike exchanges got really intense and Ishikawa threw one of the meanest headbutts I've seen in awhile. By end of it, both Sato and Okabayashi were up on wobbly knees, slugging it out, and Okabayashi lands one final lariat of desperation, trying in vain to get the pin over and over again before the time limit expires. A good bloody drama.

Neat little underdog story. I didn't see this as a rookie punishment match, but more of a veteran encouragement match. Ryota holds back early with his strikes and Hidaka encourages him to bring the fire. The legwork and Nakatsu's desperation selling was really great. I loved the spot where he clings to Hidaka's leg to prevent the Shawn Capture. His roll-through Fujiwara armbar was a cool spot and Hidaka made the later armbar counter look super dangerous. I would've preferred a submission finish but the final stretch was spirited and fun.

One of the more well-rounded junior heavyweight matches out of All Japan this year. The first half is your standard juniors fare. The limb work was good and played a significant role throughout. Sato was the standout here, with great kicks, selling, and counterwork. Aoki was hit or miss, especially in the latter part of the match, but he came out looking strong. I really liked the ankle hold -> cross armrbeaker counter-for-counter sequence, and Aoki's Northern Lights suplex counter to the front necklock. The submission finish was really great, as it showed Aoki's desperation in the way he wrenches back and shifts his weight around to find the most painful angle before Sato ultimately gives up. Not perfect by any means but worth checking out.

Shuji Ishikawa vs Hideki Suzuki (BJW 4/9) - YES

The build-up to the backdrop was really great, with Maruyama clinging on for dear life and finding ways to counter out, at one point, BITING him in the forehead. Maruyama is good in the cockroach role. The way he sells and scrambles, the stumble into the sleeper hold, his test of strength fake out. When Kamitani's finally had enough, he lariats the hell out of him before hitting an awesome backdrop for the satisfying win.

Yeah, this was like a well-played chess match. I thought the seated chair strikes played into the match perfectly, as Ishikawa realized he had to go to his strengths instead of trying to outwrestle Suzuki. Suzuki is definitely one of my favorites in Japan right now. I loved his sleeper hold counter to the Rainmaker headbutt and then when Ishikawa gets a little too close to the ropes, he turns it into a dragon suplex. I still think the Fire Thunder Driver counter looks silly but the flash finish was fun. One of the better matches of the tournament.

Virus vs. Hechicero (Lucha Memes 5/15) - YES This is kind of what I wanted out of the Gulak/Williams match. Silky smooth.

Nothing super high-end but a solid, entertaining match smartly worked by Sasaki and one of the better KO-D Openweight title matches of the year. Sasaki is one of the better indie guys out there, and he's good at stringing together his offense in a realistic way. Like if one thing doesn't work, he quickly transitions into the next as to not give Yukio time to breath. Sakaguchi was a good first defense opponent and it made Sasaki wrestle as if in real constant danger of losing his title. Loved Yukio's snap kick and knee rush to Sasaki's defensive stance. Yukio's strikes looked really sound, especially his kicks and knees, and Sasaki did a great job of selling them. I'm also a big fan of arm-traps during submissions to prevent escape. There's a few hiccups -- mainly a couple of nonsensical set-ups and stalling. The finish wasn't great but it played up Sasaki's desperation. I'm excited for Sasaki/Konosuke. His 4:17 match with Ishikawa from the same show is worth checking out.

I'm getting pretty tired of the double footstomps. Rarely do they look good (I think Low-Ki's is one of the better looking ones) but they just keep popping up like the Backstabber, especially in Japan.

The Canadian Destroyer.

Really entertaining main event-style tag match. Ohtani was great here, bringing the nostalgia in a more digestible way, while also embodying the 'never say die' dog-eared veteran with the crowd at his back. He counters Sato's rear chinlock by biting and gnawing on the thumb, and then he and Tanaka both do it from the corner. Some great strikes and collisions throughout, with Ohtani showing his old man spirit against Sato, taking kick after kick, and trying to fight the numbers game until he’s overwhelmed. The tired old facewash spot was pretty fun here as Sekimoto tries to escape and Ohtani keeps pulling him back in, slapping him a couple of times before doing it all over again. The Sekimoto/Tanaka exchanges were solid and there were lots of great suplexes toward during the final stretch, especially when Sekimoto picks Ohtani up from the pin attempt and German suplexes him. Great selling from Ohtani in the end, as he survives a barrage of offense from Sato but still he won’t die, flipping out and holding his fists up to continue his fight, until Sato finishes him off. Exactly the kind of match I wanted to see from these four guys.

Going to the NXT show tonight in Portland. We'll probably get another Balor/Joe match, although last night they ran Joe/Aries.

Similar to the 4/29 BJW tag, Akiyama's involvement was the best thing going in this match. His elbows and knees, especially those repeat knees in the final stretch, looked merciless and Lil Hash was great in his feisty underdog role. I love Hash's corner high knee. The Bodyguard is the same uninteresting Double Dragon stooge but at least Zeus is a little more interesting with his scowling facials and sweet bearhug suplex. Sekimoto was hardly in this thing and Okabayashi delivers a really nice vertical suplex on Zeus. A decent six-man but you're really just in it for the Akiyama/Lil Hash exchanges. Can't wait for the singles match (and hopefully vs. Okabayashi on BJW turf).

Hase isn't as smooth as Fujiwara on the mat but I thought he looked good here. I liked the opening exchange for wrist control, and Fujiwara's early frustration. Hase borrowing a page from Fujiwara's playbook as he grinds the forearm and elbow into his face. Fujiwara hamming it up is so awesome. The strikes were fun and Fujiwara's counter work was top notch. I loved how he kept going back to the armbar in the end, with the transition out of the German and then countering the uranage with the armbar takedown. This was a blast to watch, with a little bit of everything.