Richeyedwards

I have been thinking of ideas for an ajpw podcast for a year or so but don't know how I would make it/record it. The ajpw archive had a lot of good stuff from the 50s-early 70s but that's been gone for a couple of months now.

Same year but the cesaro match was pretty great too, I think it was his last ever match.

2001 was just the perfect storm of hate towards taker and like the guys said on the podcast i think it was equal parts the match itself and equal parts political voting. I always thought that the cage match at summerslam was worse but the kronik match is still a dirge.

Giant Baba - 29 years vs Bruno in 1967 w/ Akiyama vs Misawa and Kobashi 24/01/96

There are a bunch from 1999, The Hogan vs flair double turn after which WCW fell off a cliff ratings wise not after the finger poke of doom like wwe put across in their 'documentaries' The Hogan and sting turn from late summer 1999, after fall brawl sting was supposed to be lead heel but within a month and a half he was babyface again because nobody wanted to boo him, also during this run he beat Hogan in 3 seconds at Halloween Havoc after Hogan laid down for him and he then lost to Goldberg in 3 minutes at the end of the show. JR turning heel for a few weeks in early 1999. The Goldberg 2000 one is obvious as others have said. And finally edge from 2010, He got a huge pop at the rumble but then his build to mania to face jericho was just the repetition of the word "spear" ad nauseam, he was always a pretty poor babyface but this was awful.

Laughter is the only acceptable response to this, there is no point trying to analyse this.

This match meant a lot to both companies, Maru is older and past his prime which to me was the early 2000s and as a heavyweight ace he failed, he was not a good heavyweight as many of his big matches have always felt forced and trying too hard. But every-so often he can still pull something special out such as his carry job of the awful Okada from 2016 or this performance here. despite Maru having a great performance it was blown away by the brilliance that is Kento Miyahara who is easily the best wrestler in the world his selling and connection with the crowd was second to none almost at Kobashi levels of love from the crowd maybe only comparable to the crowds love for Daniel Bryan. They built slow going on a different tack from that of the meatheaded and angry semi main. They did not do limb work but the match most certainly did not meander for me, this was good as many modern 'epics' do limb work but it is always there to just fill time and is ignored once the finishing sequence begins. Here they built organically and without the need for a reliance on headrops and big kickouts, no big match finisher was kicked out of and there was no stupid fighting spirit no-sell. This was a 90s match done with a couple of modern moves such as the shiranui and the knee strikes. Maru was great, Kento was magnificent and the crowd was out of this world. I loved this ****3/4 extremely close to 5 and maybe the best match I have seen since 2015 outstanding wrestling. It is going to take something extremely special to beat this. This may be my favorite match since 2015

In no particular order: Kento Miyahara AJ Styles Hiroshi Tanahashi Masaaki Mochizuki Daniel Bryan/Danielson Shuji Ishikawa Katsuori Shibata Brock Lesnar, even though he has had some very poor recent performances Those are the guys who came to mind first, some I was unsure about or have only seen a small amount fron would be: John Cena Io shrai KANA/Asuka

My description of this match just after it finished was 'I have been reduced to a grinning, giggling wreck' this was so due to the incredible stiffness and violence displayed in this match by 6 grumpy macho men. All of them were annoyed that they were not main eventing in the final and they took their issues with that out on each other. While it did have some long back and forth exchanges, particularly the chop exchange between Zeus and Hino it never felt forced, it felt like six pissed off men unloading on one another. Bodyguard did well despite his leg injury obviously slowing him down a great deal. Akiyama has morphed into a early 2000s tenryu level pissed off old man and it is a joy to behold. This match over took Joe vs Zeus and gargano Vs almas to become my new MOTY a title it would hold for about half an hour. Just six pissed off men committing dumb acts of violence to one another ****1/2 This exact same match Infront of a lesser crowd and in a different context would probably seem masturbatory but here it worked.

One of my many random thoughts as to why they were working in Saudi Arabia was that they may be potentially backing the xfl. Not that they will play there but that they will have some monetary backing.

Maru's comments have made all this very confusing and I am not a fan of the placement of the matches as making maru lose twice could make him look bad but if he wins one and loses the other it makes the person he beats look bad. It is all very messy.

This was the final match of A Block and whoever won this would go on the win the block. Hino plays the dickhead so well just brutalizing the ace, controlling most of the match with Kento only getting in a couple of shots here or there but never mounting much continuous offense or being on top. When ever Kento go a short flurry Hino would stop it usually with a vicious strike, Hino was not out wrestling Kento he was out brutalizing him and overwhelming him. Unlike Kentos match vs a similar opponent in Shuji Ishikawa earlier in the tour there was no back and forth here no trading of moves Kento just managed to get in a couple of knee strikes and then won with the shutdown german pin combination a move that has not been kicked out of since 2015 when it was not his main finisher. Just after the match Hino was back up first and when Kento climbed to his feet as the victor he was still selling heavily as the two teased a handshake and possible match in the future. This match was great, built around the violence and assholeness of Hino and Kento's great selling and connection with the crowd which here and in the final is something only really matched by Daniel Bryan. ****1/4 great way to end an incredibly stacked A block.

Apparently ignore my previous few posts as today it has come out that Maru will challenge Kento for the triple crown in korakuen on 25th of May. I assume the plan has changed for how things were to be booked. Maru will now be challenging for the Triple Crown and GHC titles within 4 days. I would expect Kento to get his win back there.

Attendance for the three Korakuens were 1534, 1608 and 1697

That should say that he is not challenging for it yet, he said he was focusing on the GHC challenge first. That tweet was written as he was speaking before a translation came through and was based on the interview Maru had before the tourny when he said he may not challenge as he was more focused on the GHC, this has been misconstrued that he is never challenging for the belt. There is no way that AJPW let an outsider, from NOAH no less win the champions carnival and pinning their ace in the final without something coming from it. sorry to be pedantic but was not Maru trained at AJ dojo I never said he wasn't, but he is a representative of Noah and has worked there for 18 of his 20 years in wrestling.

That should say that he is not challenging for it yet, he said he was focusing on the GHC challenge first. That tweet was written as he was speaking before a translation came through and was based on the interview Maru had before the tourny when he said he may not challenge as he was more focused on the GHC, this has been misconstrued that he is never challenging for the belt. There is no way that AJPW let an outsider, from NOAH no less win the champions carnival and pinning their ace in the final without something coming from it.

On the finals show: Omori and Yoshie defeated Nishimura and Fuchi in a fun opener with plenty of comedy as expected Iwamoto Nakajima and Maruyama defeated aoki, Sato and Okada in an elimination match after Maruyama eliminated both sato and Aoki in quick succession. Maruyama will likely get the next shot at aoki for the jr title. Violence giants defeated tatsu and Nomura. this was another good match Tatsu put in a good performance. Next we had intermission, I missed most of this as the fire alarm went off in my block of flats. Yuma Ayoagi made an appearance and spoke about his return, we will come back on june 5th on the final ever differ ariake show. Doering, Akiyama and Yuji Hino defeated Zeus, bodyguard and Shingo in a great match that was incredibly stiff and violent. Akiyama has gone full 2000s Tenryu over the cc and it is great while Zeus and Hino had a chop battle that would have made Kobashi and Sasaki proud. This match was the 6 man equivalent of Kawada vs Sasaki from 2000, big, dumb, grumpy and very stiff with an excellent crowd. 2018 champions carnival final: B Block winner Naomichi Marufuji defeated A Block winner Kento Miyahara in Just under 25 minutes in another great match. I Was apprehensive going into this match as Marufuji can more often than not be really quite bad as a heavyweight in big main events but thankfully here he was very good and Kento was amazing. Marufuji winning is extremely interesting as he now, if he wishes gets a shot at kento for the triple crown. However, before the cc he had said he did not want the triple crown but in his post match speech he said that he would want to fight Kento again this time back 'home'. Marufuji has a GHC title shot against Suguira Next month this leads me an some others to think that he could win there and set up a Triple Crown vs GHC title match for Sumo hall in September for Maru's 20th anniversary show. I don't think that NOAH have a match big enough to headline that show on their own but this match could. Even if Maru is not GHC champ having him challenge Kento for the belt in NOAH could be a big enough match.

Final is now live

are they actually doing that show then? if so i wonder how high the 'attendance' will be, but it will be ok Bix will find the real attendance for us in 30 years time. Yeah confirmed, it's the week after the Grand Final in October. MCG holds 100,000 for sport. They won't get that many, but I'd say shoot for 60-70 maybe. For reference, Rousey vs Holm drew 56k. MCG never really gets 100000 in there regularly anyway, I think this years ashes boxing day test got 88,000 on the first day which was for the supposed biggest game in Cricket was a good way away from a sellout.

Today's final round robin day ended up being my favorite wrestling show of the year so far by some considerable margin. On the show: Aoki and okada defeated Iwamoto and Ishikiri Fuchi Nishimura and Tatsu defeated omori Maruyama and tajiri In an incredible 8 man that came from nowhere Zeus, Suwama, Akiyama and sato defeated KAI, Yoshie, dylan james and Nakajima. Nakajima gave a 1991 era Kikuchi performance as he was destroyed by Akiyama and Suwama. A Block: Bodyguard defeated ryoji Sai A Block: Nomura defeated Doering in a match that was good but had a flat ending that really hurt what should have been a massive moment for Nomura A Block: Ishikawa defeated Shingo A Block: Kento defeated Yino Your Final is Kento Miyahara vs Naomichi Marufuji and that match will take place tomorrow. A Block Final standings: Kento Miyahara: 10 points Joe doering, Yuji Hino, Shuji Ishikawa and Shingo Takagi: 8 points Ryoji Sai: 6 points The Bodyguard, Naoya Nomura: 4 points

are they actually doing that show then? if so i wonder how high the 'attendance' will be, but it will be ok Bix will find the real attendance for us in 30 years time.

Apparently Saudi state TV that was airing the show cut out when some wwe adverts played for backlash that showed the "scantily clad" and "indecent scenes" of Carmella and Charlotte.

He's a month and a half away from breaking CM Punk's mammoth reign. I can see Vince pettily letting Brock beat that before he drops the title Is he gonna defend the belt again in that time? I Doubt it. You have 43 days until he beats punks reign an in that time you have backlash and that's it. I Highly doubt that he will be on backlash so the 'record' has already gone. Pretty much

Wrestlemania started at midnight for me and finished at 5 am, this show started at 6pm and has finished at 10pm and mania was still WAY easier to sit through, this show was really some awful shit and that is without taking into account the horrific political nature of the thing.

Corey graves " it was exhausting, it was painful" well you got that right