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BigVanCrush

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Everything posted by BigVanCrush

  1. BigVanCrush
    Once upon a time, around 2003-2004 in particular, Shibata was known for pissing off and subsequently getting his ass kicked by legends and otherwise established top names. Here, he rushes Kawada. As you might have guessed, this is a bad idea. Kawada lets Shibata get some offense in, Shibata steals some Kawada trakemarks and then Kawada kills him dead. Short, sweet, brutal, to the point. This is good shit. ***3/4
  2. BigVanCrush
    Murakami is the man. Any match he's ever been involved in is infinitely better off for having him in it...including this one. There's a weird, raw intensity to everything Murakami does that puts a lot of his matches over the top. He's such a smug, violent, unhinged prick and you never know what he's going to do which makes him getting his shit handed back to him a lot of fun to watch. There's some Makai Club interference in this one (go figure) but I think it adds to the story of the match. Nagata has to overcome not only the crazed savage challenger, but also has to overcome THE GOD KANTARO HOSHINO on the outside~! Nagata bleeds, Murakami does the blood lick thing that people loved/hated BJ Penn for a few years later in the UFC, there's a lot of intensity and HATE plus Nagata hands Murakami a big ol' glass of overkill for the finish. I've always liked these guys, I've always liked this match and the more I see it, the more I am convinced this may very well be the 2002 MOTY. Everything comes together so perfectly, the rawness of the violence and the triumph of the champion at the end is something a lot of matches fail to capture or just don't even try to capture at all. Nagata is an all time great, matches like this are a good example of why. Murakami is one of the most underrated workers ever, matches like this are a good example of why. Watch this shit. ****3/4
  3. BigVanCrush
    This is one of my all time favorite matches because it was the first match of its kind that I really saw. I was fourteen, had just gotten into the indies after getting into puro the year before and this was the fourth ROH show I got. They work a beautiful technical match that might be a touch slow for some but I thought everything they did was engaging and it entertained the hell out of me. As the match builds, you see Danielson go from a straight laced wrestler to being more arrogant and aggressive, two traits that would define this very title reign. Gibson getting desperate towards the end of the match is great. The Piper/Bret spot to escape the tiger suplex and eventual cattle mutilation ruled and I liked how Bryan realized he wasn't going to be able to get the suplex again so he opted for the chickenwing to take the title. There's a lot of attention to detail here that I think add to the match if you're paying close attention but even if you're not, I still think this is an incredible match from one of the very best ever in Bryan and one of the most underrated wrestlers of the 2000s in Gibson. 2005 was a wonderful year. ****3/4
  4. BigVanCrush
    I love this match. Akiyama hands Shibata maybe the single worst ass kicking of his career after Shibata busts him open with a kick. They really don't let up from the opening bell and I honestly can't think of how someone could look at the names involved and come away from this match disappointed. These two really brought the goods. ****
  5. BigVanCrush
    Just watched this again for the first time in a while and man, this still absolutely rules. There's pretty much no downtime at all, it's just straight up out and out hoss fighting from bell to bell. I've always liked the forklift because A.) it makes perfect sense and B.) it kinda feels like the sort of vehicular mayhem nonsense that Austin did as a babyface except actually done within a match. The Rey run-in's always kinda been weird to me, I know why they did it but it doesn't really add anything. Brock's forklift clothesline was awesome. The bodyslam onto the stretcher was awesome. The finish was awesome. Everything about this match ruled. This is one of the most overlooked and underrated matches I've ever seen. ****1/2
  6. BigVanCrush
    To me, this one and Brock/Taker '02 are neck-and-neck for the GOAT HIAC match. This is violent, bloody, brutal and goes long without really ever losing the crowd. Triple H is fantastic as the desperate heel champion willing to take any shortcut to get his title back. They had the nice bit of continuity with the Pedigree being Hunter's ace in the hole despite it failing him at Backlash and I liked him loading up a sledgehammer shot just as Batista dropped him with the Batista Bomb. The barbed wire chair was also something kind of unique for 2005 WWE and the steel steps bit towards the end was really good as well. Brock/Taker '02 is bloodier and is probably the more 'raw' of the two matches, but this one feels like Hunter finally figured out how to do the type of Flair bloody feud blowoff matches that he'd always tried so hard to do, especially during this timeframe. This was as close to being modern Flair as he ever got and Batista was fucking phenomenal here too. My WWE 2005 MOTY and it's really not close. ****3/4
  7. BigVanCrush
    I saw this match live and thought it was incredible and on rewatch when I got the DVD my opinion didn't change. It's probably my favorite match I've seen live just because of how electric the crowd was and because I'm a big fan of both guys. As mentioned, AJ was fantastic with his bumping and selling for Hero but Hero's offense was just incredible in this match as well. Still one of my favorite matches of 2014.
  8. BigVanCrush
    I thought this was a bad match in 2014 and nothing's really changed. By 2014 I was sick of the Tanahashi big match formula and never really thought Shibata would have worked well within the confines of said formula...and it turns out he doesn't. The 1/4/06 and 7/26/14 matches had a lot of intensity and violence and hate which made them a joy to watch and on top of that, they felt like Shibata's match which is always going to click with me regardless of who he works. There really isn't anything here that puts it over any of the previous matches for me. I disagree that there's a feeling of importance around this match. There really wasn't. It was just a that only happened so Tanahashi could get his win back and go into the AJ title match the next month with some more momentum. The post-match handshake bugged me then and still does now because that should have been the end of Shibata having to 'prove' himself to those fuckers. Instead he eats another year's worth of shit before they even attempt to give him an actual singles title reign. Shibata deserved better than that and frankly, deserved better than this match. At least Tanahashi got another win over Shibata, I guess.
  9. BigVanCrush
    I thought this was, by a lot, worse than the G1 match. Granted this also had to follow the Ishii/Goto war and nothing could have really followed that, it just kinda felt like a lifeless by the numbers Nakamura match to get his win back from the G1.
  10. BigVanCrush
    I'm a big fan of this feud and both of these guys, but I don't enjoy this match at all. This didn't feel like a shoot at all but there was an intensity and a genuine feeling of dislike that's sorely lacking from pro wrestling now. I'm with Sleaze in that this wasn't as heated as I remembered it being and the post-match angle wasn't nearly as awesome as I remembered. Fortunately, their subsequent meetings (especially the two in 2000) were much better than this.
  11. BigVanCrush
    Wasn't it established that if they started fighting that both would be suspended without pay?
  12. BigVanCrush
    When I sent in my ballot for the 2014 WON awards, this was my MOTY. It's like an expanded version of the 2006 Dome match because Tanahashi seems more credible against Shibata due to all he'd accomplished since their last match. There's a great callback to the finish of the 2013 G1 match in there and it continues the theme of 'Shibata kicking Tanahashi's ass' from the 2006 Dome match. The backfist is absolutely nasty. This is my pick for the best match these two ever had together. The followup from September didn't come close to this and the 2015 G1 match didn't come close to this. ****3/4
  13. BigVanCrush
    I remember when this was announced, I was excited because A.) it was my birthday and B.) I've always loved their 2004 G1 match. This isn't quite as good as that 2004 G1 match (which might be my pick for the best match either guy ever had) but this was still very good and miles ahead of their Intercontinental Title match from November 2014. To add to the match being good, I got a nice birthday present in the form of Shibata not doing the job to Nakamura. Probably ****.
  14. BigVanCrush
    I remember there was some disappointment that they didn't go balls out like the G1 match and maybe booking this match two months after that one for no real reason was a bad booking decision...but this match kicks ass. They hit most of the strong poitns of the G1 match (stiff strikes, tough guy contest, big drama) plus they make the effort to milk the double KO finishes from the Goto matches (they did this in the G1 match but I think it was more effective here). Shibata gets the win, and from here on out he never lost another singles match to Ishii. ****
  15. BigVanCrush
    At the time I thought this was easily the best match on the show and on last rewatch nothing had changed. Sakuraba is awesome, Nakamura hands in his yearly 'okay I'm gonna actually try now' performance and the way the match flows feels organic. Saku does the Mongolian chop and the jumping face stomp and owns Nakamura on the mat, Nakamura takes the knee on the takedown attempt and then he kills Saku off with the Boma Ye. What I've always liked about this is Saku kicking out right at three. I don't know if that was something they called or just something he thought to do, but I love that shit. This was my favorite match from 2013 New Japan until the Shibata/Goto war in June. ****1/2
  16. BigVanCrush
    I don't know that I'd go four stars on this but it's a really fun rookie punishment match with one of the few guys in modern New Japan who you could trust to pull it off effectively.
  17. BigVanCrush
    This was one of the first IWGP Title matches I saw and it blew me away because of how hard they laid every strike in. Fujita is a really interesting guy to me, especially at this point, because there's a feeling that ltierally anything he does could conceivably end the match. Shibata was still in his 'smug punk stepping up only to get shot down' phase, which I think makes Fujita a perfect match up for him because he's willing to let Shibata get his offense in but he's also more than capable of beating Shibata half to death, letting him come back a little and then beating him half to death again. The finish is absolutely brutal and I love it. I rewatch this match a couple of times a year and it just gets better with age. Mid 2000s NJ has been called a 'black hole' in terms of match quality and I think that's kind of BS. There was goofiness, but there was also a lot of really good stuff. This match falls into that category. Incredibie match. ****3/4
  18. BigVanCrush
    I'll always enjoy that period from the mid 2000s where Shibata was booked against legends and got his ass kicked. This match puts him against, with the exception of Takayama and Tenryu, the biggest ass kicker imaginable. Shibata jumps Kawada the second he gets in the ring and that's awesome. He uses some of Kawada's stuff against him and that's awesome. Kawada beats the fuck out of Shibata and that's awesome. The match also doesn't really overstay its welcome which, again, is awesome. It's not a MOTYC or anything but when I first saw this match listed, it was exactly what I expected. I could understand this being disappointing to someone who only knew Shibata from his 2012 return onward because you'd probably expect something a little more 'epic', but for these two guys in 2004, this is exactly what it needed to be and exactly what it should have been. ****
  19. BigVanCrush
    Shibata's theme at that time was actually a cover of "Black Night" by Deep Purple. (side note: if anyone knows where I can find the version Shibata used, let me know) Last time I threw this on I really enjoyed it. Tenryu beating up anyone is fun to watch and 'Shibata gets his ass kicked by legends' is something that'll never get old to me but IIRC he gets more offense in here than in the Kawada match from a week or two before. I don't know that I'd go ****1/4 on it, but it's a really good match.
  20. BigVanCrush
    All of the early Laughter7 stuff ruled. This match, the KOPW match and the Power Struggle match established them as killers. I honestly thought I was the only person who liked this match this much. This was a really good re-introduction for Shibata, a really good debut for Sakuraba (I know he worked there in 1995 but come on, 1995 Saku isn't the legend he became a few years later) and the meat thrown in front of them served their purpose well. It's kind of sad to go back and watch this knowing what comes later and how badly New Japan bungled the whole thing, but for the first few months this was awesome shit. **** Also, they had a match with Nakamura and Ishii at the WTL finals in 2012 that was really good too but you get the feeling that Nakamura didn't wanna share the ring with Shibata for any longer than he had to.
  21. BigVanCrush
    My easy MOTN. The crowd was hot, Suzuki was at his absolute best here and Goto was better than he usually is. They didn't go a long time, didn't do anything really goofy and the match had a satisfying conclusion. I can't really ask any more from pro wrestling. ****1/2
  22. BigVanCrush
    Nothing really happened for the first 20 minutes, Okada's offense still isn't good, his cobra clutch is the Cena STF of cobra clutches and even though the finishing run had some genuinely exciting moments I feel like it's completely overshadowed by the wrong guy winning. Naito was fantastic here and the crowd was really hot, but they were up for basically the entire show. This wasn't a bad match, really, but it wasn't what I want from a Tokyo Dome main event. ***, maybe ***1/4?
  23. BigVanCrush
    The first half of the match was good, even really good at points...and then Omega did the stupid spot with the cold spray and flubbed the blade job and I just didn't get back into this one. The fact it went 35:00 really didn't help, there was no real reason for it to go that long other than they're just running through the imaginary check list of how to get a good rating from Meltzer. Jericho made this match, it was his best performance in a long time but this wasn't a MOTYC or even MOTN. **1/2
  24. BigVanCrush
    A really great, violent sprint in front of a crowd that was clamoring for Honma to upset Shibata. Easily Honma's best singles match, probably the second best Shibata match of the G1 behind only the classic with Tanahashi. For my money, this does the tough guy clobbering nuclear warfare better than any of the Ishii vs. Honma matches. ****1/2-****3/4
  25. BigVanCrush
    I saw this match for the first time a decade ago while I was in high school and loved it. It was pretty much my introduction to shoot style wrestling and I think it holds up. One thing I've always loved about Vader's UWFi run is that he was still doing pro style moves but he's goddamn Vader so it works. I don't think that Takada ever had a better match than this and I say that as someone who loves the Battle Formation match with Hashimoto. He's really good on comebacks and there's a couple of instances where it looks like he's actually gonna go up 2-0 on Vader. I love the kind of deadlift powerbomb Vader drills him with towards the end and the finish itself is awesome. There are matches from UWFi that I think are probably 'better', but none of them come close to being as epic as this match. *****
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