aguakun
-
Posts
237 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Everything posted by aguakun
-
Hana Kimura vs. Natsumi Maki Hana-chan's new gear is a thing of beauty. A thing to treasure. The first half of this is a bit rough, which is a given as these two are still rookies, but this picks up in the second half. There's a great struggle when Hana applies her sleeperhold and I liked the way she presses the advantage with a running boot after Natsumi gets the ropes. She really shined here with her most impressive deadlift brainbuster yet and batshit-impactful front dropkicks. **1/2
-
5★STAR GP Finals: Yoko Bito vs. Tessa Blanchard This match is notorious for its dead crowd, and the crowd is indeed dead. From the very start, they clock out of this. They're not buying what Tessa is selling, but I thought it was great! I know heel control segments are meant to engage the crowd, yadda-yadda, but ignoring that and focusing on the performance itself, she did a great job execution-wise. She was taunting and degrading Bito, in between hellish beatings. It's classic 'Merican-style heel work. The bad in this match mostly falls on Bito; she was out of place multiple times, no-selling the legwork and just off in general. It's unfortunate because I like her, but she was awkward as hell throughout most of this. Her kicks in the finishing sequences were sweet, though. ***
-
Goddesses of Stardom Championship: Hiroyo Matsumoto & Jungle Kyona © vs. Queen's Quest (Io Shirai & HZK) HZK is a wild girl, and she was pushing Kyona to the edge with pesky kicks to the head. She's a pressure cooker; filled with heat. I thought Godzilla & Gorilla looked much better here than they did in Nagoya. Kyona's strikes looked good, even those weak corner splashes she does had actual impact; and I like the sumo palm thrusts, mostly because they are such an odd move of choice for a jungle lady. Io was very interesting here, showing off her athleticism with clever offense. QQ grab hands to escape stereo powerbombs, and then HZK bridges over to apply pressure to Io's pin while adding leverage to her own. HZK rules! Some fine tag team wrestling. **** -
[1996-12-08-AJW-Real Earnest] Manami Toyota vs Kyoko Inoue
aguakun replied to Loss's topic in December 1996
WWWA World Championship: Manami Toyota © vs. Kyoko Inoue Kyoko tosses Manami on the announcer table, and performs hip dance before a Mexican surfboard. This starts off fun and then it devolves into a spotfest, and I have nothing against a good, well-worked spotfest, but this was a boring one. Big move, kick out, big move, kick out -- with no variety in between. They captivated the audience, to their credit, but I didn't like this at all. no -
JWP Openweight Championship: Hanako Nakamori © vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki This is the final JWP Openweight Championship match on the final JWP show ever, so of course it ends on a roll-up. This was actually going well until that puzzling finish, they were beating the shit out of each other, head-drops and head-kicks, Tsubasa being the chunky powerhouse-high flyer hybrid that she is, the kind of stuff you want to see on a final show, but that finish could not have been more anticlimactic. A company's finale should have a decisive finish. Maybe Tsubasa didn't want to do the clean job. Strange booking, in any case. ***1/4
-
TOKYO Princess of Princess Championship: Miyu Yamashita © vs. Yuka Sakazaki Yuka begins with tactical espionage magic as a form of psychological warfare. She's a crafty genie, but Miyu has a dangerous repertoire of strike-combinations as an extensive as her jaw. This was loads of fun. Sakazaki's execution is silky-smooth, especially her hurricanrana. I kinda felt like Miyu was holding back on her kicks a bit, usually lays them in more, but good performance otherwise. The crowd was 'on-board', buying into the submission struggles and near-falls. ***1/2
-
5★STAR Grand Prix Blue Stars Block: Kairi Hojo vs. KAORU KAORU was working old school heel style; arrogant, calculative, methodical, but she's a high flyer too and was quick to remind Hojo of that whenever the Real Pirate tried to get flashy. Hojo would dig down deep for her comebacks, super motivated to advance to the finals of the tournament, but KAORU's thick slab of wood was always there to stop her progression. Simple, effective storytelling. There's a gruesome spot where KAORU counters Hojo's diving forearm by batting her out of the air with the wood. Hojo gets struck on the arm and rolls to the outside writhing and screaming in agony. Some great mature woman heel work that makes Hojo's victory a satisfying one. ***1/2
-
Would it be possible to grant users the ability to edit their own thread titles?
-
TOKYO Princess of Princess Championship: Yuu © vs. Azusa Takigawa The way Yuu man-handles her opponents and destroys their chests with harsh chops is unsavory. She doesn't take it lightly on the comedy wrestler Azusa, she flays her around and tosses her with reckless abandon, and that John Woo kick! Fuccckk! Azusa's strikes looked really bad, and if Yuu were an experienced veteran there's no way she would sell them. Gotta give Azusa credit, though, her chest looked disgusting by the end of this and she was still taking chops. I dug the callback to the codebreaker spot in their prelude tag match. Good match, surprisingly violent. ***1/2
-
Io Shirai vs. Natsumi Showzuki Natsumi Showzuki might be one of the most authentic joshi ever. It's the 'unrealized potential' thing, where her career was very brief due to injury. It adds to the mystique. This was a solid debut for her where she looked very strong and showed off her kempo background with unique offense. She outclasses Io all throughout the opening, and this is just her first match! ***
-
Wonder of Stardom Championship: Kairi Hojo © vs. Konami Konami is such a fascinating character. Outside of the ring, she's a UFO enthusiast who vlogs about eating 'shit curry', but in-ring she is reserved, focused and rarely makes a sound. This was such an amazing sequel to their match at WILD HERO 2. Konami picks apart Hojo's limbs with hellish kicks and submission holds; arm, leg, whichever she can get access to. Hojo was in shambles by the end of this, she sold everything wonderfully, and her comebacks were hard-hitting and hard-fought. It's so nice to see that signing with WWE hasn't stopped her from taking crazy bumps like the neck-drop she takes on the German suplex; she puts her all into her performances. ****1/2
-
Arisa Nakajima vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto Training with Nanae has turned Arisa into a savage. She was decimating Fujimoto in truly wicked fashion; her offense looked so intense and raw, especially those vicious knees against the ropes. Fujimoto reciprocates with unruly kicks and stomps to the head. Arisa mocks Tsukasa's Ocean Cyclone, but instead of properly performing the move she just drops Tsukasa flat on her face, total disrespect. I thought they worked well towards the time limit draw, the pacing was red hot and they kept things fresh and dramatic up until that point. ****
-
International Ribbon Tag Team Championship: Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami) © vs. This is Ice Ribbon (Hiiragi Kurumi & Tsukushi) Avid Rival are such a destructive, hard-hitting duo. Some of the bumps that Tsukushi took here were truly frightening for someone so tiny. Kurumi's been looking especially good lately; I loved that segment she had with Mizunami, who was hot-blooded and stiff as always. Tsukushi's finisher set-ups looked way too contrived for my taste, which seems to be a theme in Ice Ribbon. ***3/4
-
ICE×∞ Championship: Risa Sera © vs. Rina Yamashita Risa Sera, Sera Risa, I don't know... she doesn't do it for me, especially when being booked at this level. I thought the strike battles in this were nice and heated; Sera was laying in those palm thrusts. Yamashita is one of my favorites and I'm glad she got to main event Korakuen Hall. She had nice moments like the suplex on the ramp and those awesome lariats. But then we get to the ugly... Sera's diving somato is particularly awful because her opponent has to stand there like a doofus while she hesitates to jump. There's nothing worse than a 'finisher set-up' that looks super phony and contrived and makes your opponent look like a moron for taking it. You could say that Yamashita was 'groggy', but Sera's offense is not convincing enough to have you believe that. This was average. **1/2
-
Io Shirai vs. Konami This was a great little encounter. Konami gave Io no time to breathe; she was relentless, like a red-headed wolverine, and Io was scrambling to find any opening she could get, relying on craft. This hearkened back to Io's white belt reign where she mostly worked underneath and let her opponent call the shots, and it feels unique because of it. Io even sold limb damage! God bless. I'd love to see what they could do with more time and a stronger finish. ****
-
Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani vs. Nanae Takahashi & Miho Wakizawa Thunder Rock vs. Kiss no Sekai! This was a prelude match to Io/Nanae in November so there's significant heat building between the two, they work so well together; fast and furious action with great counters and cut-offs. I love what these two do in this match. To hell with Satomura, Nanae is Io's greatest opponent. Mayu is wearing her goofy pants, she's a different wrestler compared to now, less kicks and more pin-combinations. She takes a particularly nasty spot when Io is superplexed on top of her. Wakizawa was on fire! I miss her. ***3/4 Edit: Woops. Date should be 10/6/2013.
-
Wonder of Stardom Championship: Kairi Hojo © vs. Chelsea Praise be! Chelsea is an angel! This was so compact and grounded, it was great, sure there's a cute spot where Chelsea does a 'trust fall' to the outside, but for the most part everything here felt like it had a purpose. Hojo wrestled smart, sticking to what works for her and not doing anything out of reach, just snug chops, elbows and spears. I liked the way Chelsea used her height and long legs as defensive tools; her offense can be murky at times, but Hojo made it look effective. The submission work looked rough in a good way; the sloppy-ish transitions really sold the exhaustion and desperation of both wrestlers. I loved the finishing sequence where Hojo is trapped in Chelsea's modified figure-four headscissors lock, the selling was wonderful. When Hojo began to fade, Chelsea's lights up with a smile, believing she has this won, but when Hojo raises her fists that smile quickly turns into an expression of shock, awe and fear. ****1/2
-
Sareee vs. Yoshiko This was Sareee's debut as an official member of SEAdLINNNG. The layout was simple, it's a competitive 50/50 type of match, but these two are bursting with charisma and fire. They definitely belong in the main event of Korakuen Hall. The flow is captivating and all of the moves looked great. Yoshiko's performance is remarkable. She's an absolute wizard in the ring; a super natural beast. Everything she did was so crisp and 'effective'; there's a high kick she connects with towards the end that she beautifully follows up on with a lariat. Sareee's movements in the ring are so striking; she's the successor to Ayumi Kurihara (who she adopted her uranage from) in the way she executes her dropkicks and suplexes, and hurls herself into wild bumps. The ring, the sea and the mountains belong to Yoshiko and Sareee. ****3/4
-
Nanae Takahashi & Arisa Nakajima vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Ryo Mizunami I have to agree with Dedy, this is the best Nanae has ever looked. Her segments with Hiroyo and Mizunami were spectacular, and some of the bumps she took were so hard they bounced her off of the canvas! Nakajima prays before delivering a double foot stomp, which is a cute reference to her misogi training. Everyone looked great in this match; Mizunami was hot-blooded as always, and Hiroyo busts out a Styles Clash powerbomb (!). This has that Zenjo-sprint pacing where they go non-stop and momentum shifts can happen in an instant. ****1/2
-
Hopefully Yoshiko making her return to Ice Ribbon!
-
KO-D Openweight Championship: HARASHIMA © vs. Konosuke Takeshita Takeshita makes one hell of a comeback. I thought he was done for. He looked like a wreck. His body was slouched, his face drained of life as the sinister superman HARASHIMA pelted him with kicks, but then he jolted back to life and made the comeback of his career. Some of the tropes here are borrowed straight from Ibushi-Nakamura at WK9, right up to Takeshita stealing his opponent's finisher with wacky mannerisms. He also uses a bunch of other signature moves from past opponents, which is supposed to be 'emblematic' of his growth, but it all came off very unnatural, IMO. Great main event, though. ***3/4
-
Konkatsu-gun (Azusa Takigawa & Nonoko) vs. Yuu & Syoko Nakajima Nonoko was the MVP of this match. She is a genius of the ring. How often do you see a wrestler block a 619 with their boobs? Yuu and Azusa's segment begins with a great codebreaker reversal that shows off Yuu's strength, but then they have some awkward transitions where they look lost. Nonoko hits a double Boinmaker. The Mega Milk Maiden has never look better. Azusa takes Yuu's John Woo kick at full-force and has a nasty bruise on her back to show for it. Yuu tosses Azusa around a bit and then effortlessly dispatches the #1 contender with a sleeper, which has me interested in how they'll work their title match. ***3/4
-
Akane Miura vs. Miyu Yamashita This was Akane Miura's 'graduation match' so she gave a lot of effort her to go out with a bang. Miyu's armwork here is great, she begins by catching Akane in a wrist-lock and picking apart the limb with knee thrusts and upward kicks; sold awesomely and consistently. Miyu explodes with a volley of strikes, but Akane absorbs the hits Ishii-style and roars back on the offensive. Brilliant stuff. I like how Miyu has evolved the Crash Rabbit Heat from a jumping PK to a jumping knee strike (a la Marufuji). An awesome clash of power and technique. ***3/4
-
World of Stardom Championship: Io Shirai © vs. Kairi Hojo This was a great main event that played off of their previous matches via callbacks and counters. One of my favorite moments in the match is when Io's answer to Hojo's rapid-fire chops in the corner is simply, get this, walking out of the corner. Hojo isn't afraid to fight dirty in her quest to regain the belt, using the referee to break a submission and tying Io in the ropes with a Boston crab. Also loved the sub-plot of Io trying to hit the Ganso bomb again, which smoothly segues into other spots. Nothing feels 'out of place'. Io lands on Hojo's legs on the final moonsault, which kinda mars the finish. Great stuff, though. ****1/4
-
Mayumi Ozaki vs. Syuri POLICE ambushes Syuri with her own Persian club and pulls her by chain through a violent merry-go-round. An 'Ozaki match', fuckery, weapons and POLICE being the biggest scumbag in the world. The 'actual wrestling' isn't too bad either as these two know how to throw snug hits. Syuri put on one of her strongest singles performances I have seen from her in a while, I think I even saw tears in her eyes. ***1/2