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Makai Club #1

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  1. Makai Club #1
    The classic M-Pro tag team match. I was pretty pumped to see this given its high acclaim. And what can I say about it? Similar to what would be its modern equivalent, the Dragon Gate multi-man tags, there is so much to cover because everything went by at a brisk pace with effortless flow, so much ins and outs. It’s impossible to do any play by play unless you watch it multiple times to write down every key spot. Kaientai are a well oiled machine and they wrestle as such. Their double, triple, quadruple team moves were exquisite. Individually, they are all fairly simple rudos, but together everything they do together comes across as magically. On the other side though, the individuals stood out more. Which was by design, I imagine. Gran Naniwa had some checky comedy spots that worked within the match, which is impressive given the flow of most of it. Tiger Mask had some wicked kicks and aerial dives. But I think the MVP of the match, for me, was Yakushiji. Yakushiji was the glue in some key intricate spots. He was super innovative with some of his arm drags and dives to the outside. And Super Delfin came across as the total big dog of his team. His big match ending run was really awesome. Just a long hope spot, attempting to finish off Kaientai with everything he can, leading to some real dramatic nearfalls, before the cog that was Kainetai Dulex took its toll. The match is hardly flawless, however. There is room for some trimming as the match lost steam in the 5 minutes before the closing stretch. But this is the quintessential spotfest for Lucharesu and Michinoku Pro. ****1/4
  2. Makai Club #1
    Eruption (Kazusada Higuchi, Saki Akai & Yukio Sakaguchi) vs. THE HALFEE (Katsuzaki Shunosuke, Moehiko Harumisawa & Washi Sakurai) - DDT Ganbare Pro Hermit Purple 2020 21/03/2020 This looked really good on paper. Eruption have been super solid since their formation in January of 2020. And their opponents mirror them in terms of styles, individually anyway. Sakaguchi and Shunosuke/Shuichiro Katsumura have the MMA influence, Harumisawa/Moeka Haruhi are the slender women of their team and Sakurai/Shuhei Washida are the burly big men of the respective groups. Something they were eager to explore in the opening exchanges. The GanPro team THE HALFEE were on the defensive for most of the match with Eruption asserting their dominance with some systematic tag work. The crowd rallied behind the regulars who responded with quick stretches of offence and some of that underdog flair. They utilized the styles match ups really nicely, as well as blending the pairings together. Sakurai, who was the young guy of the team, impressed me a ton. He and Higuchi were probably the best together out of the lot. His selling was really good, and while his offence was naturally basic, being only two years in, he used it really well. The match went at a super fast pace, making the whole match feel exciting and thrilling to watch. Great use of time and wrestlers involved. ***3/4
  3. Makai Club #1
    Golden Lovers Explode!!! The history behind this reaches a lot of fans' hearts, clearly. Kenny comes in for a tour, has a well received match with Ibushi, he then teams with him and the rest is history. Funnily enough, most of their run in DDT is seemingly spent apart from each other but there is something always special when they do team together. But now, they are against each other once again. In Budokan Hall, for the KO-D Openweight Title. I was wondering if the match would hold up or not. Considering both wrestlers have peaked a little higher than this in recent years. However I think it’s improved upon rewatching it because Ibushi’s performance stood out so much more than it did last time. I think Kenny was really good in the match. He took a hell of a lot of bumps - scary ones. And he had some cool sequences as well. But I think the initial work on the arm was kind of standard-ish. It’s mostly thrown away in the long term but it doesn’t really look good in the moment either. Except for a few flat kicks to the shoulder that looked like they hurt. When Ibushi starts getting in more offence and the match begins to escalate and escalate into an all out bomb fest, then the match starts hitting all the greatness that the match is praised for. Kota Ibushi was a god in the match, like I’ve already said. Ibushi carries most of the great moments of the match with beautifully executed aerial moves that have a great blend of grace and recklessness whenever he leaves his feet. His standing corkscrew lands hard on with all the pressure on Omega’s whip. His kicks are the same as well. He kicked Omega in the throat more than once, which was such a dick move. Ibushi goes even wilder when they head further in the crowd and hits a moonsault off the stands - something that got him banned from Budokan for years. From that point forward, the match turned into less of the Kota Ibushi show and more even with Omega hitting more death defying offence as well. His electric chair into a german off the top rope was outright insane. Ibushi powers through however and one ups him with an amazing springboard hurricanrana off the top rope to the outside floor. My favourite moment of the match was Ibushi nailing Omega with punches during a strike exchange, and then no-selling an Omega snap suplex, smiling at him and kicking him in the face. I can imagine the no selling will annoy some, and I don’t blame them, but Ibushi makes it work with his heart and insane drive. And to cap off all the incredible risk taking bumps this match has, Ibushi throws Omega with reckless abandonment, spiking him with a Phoenix-Plex on the top rope and then hitting a Phoenix splash to finally get the three. It’s a wild match. A total spectacle with one outstanding effort from Ibushi. ****1/2
  4. Makai Club #1
    Hardcore Tag Team Match: Ryuji Ito & Shuji Ishikawa vs. HARASHIMA & Togi Makabe Holy shit. HARASHIMA blonde. I don’t like it. He looks like a scummy dude from Freedoms. I guess that makes sense in the match though. The match is a pretty action packed brawl. They waste no time using the chairs and assorted weapons around the ring. HARASHIMA gets bloody fast and the deathmatch duo takes advantage - I know I said I don’t like the hair but a bloody face plus the hair is always a great look. Ito smashing a chair into the forehead was a total dick move, and he doesn’t redeem himself with those chair shots to the back either. Makabe puts in a shift as well. He is known for not always being up to his best but he knows he is in Budokan and he wrestles like it. He lays in the forearms when against Ishikawa, who replies with headbutts. HARASHIMA was a superb underdog, taking the brunt of the offence then working for the comeback. His selling of the weapon shots was great. He levels Ito and Ishikawa with weapon shots of his own. His offence was full of aggression and poise. Damn, he was good in this match. This was such a good match. ***3/4
  5. Makai Club #1
    This is so rad. Saito attacks Mochizuki's legs but Mochizuki is like "I'm still gonna kick you" so Saito starts hitting nasty suplexes and slaps, Mochizuki kicks Saito in the head and busts his nose open and then knocks him out with a kick to the jaw. The match is clipped by around 7 minutes but the rest is all action with some great back and forth wrestling. You could find flaws in Mochizuki’s selling but there were a few very subtle limps and gasps of pain when he kicked. And of course, the clipping may have clipped out the best part of the selling. Great match. ****
  6. Makai Club #1
    The was incredible. The Sideheadlock struggle was just wonderful. First the execution of the headlock looks so tight and brutal but Piper's selling of it, his his attempts of getting out of it as welll as Brisco's defence of the attempted breaking of the hold, the ramming of the head into the turnbuckle, the final back suplex, all of it was just splendid. Piper slapping himself after, trying to get some blood flowing again was another little extra to put over the hold. Piper had some great holds himself like his grovit (it might of been a cravate), which looked painful. And I enjoyed the struggle of Piper trying to turn it into a pin hold with Brisco trying despretly to restric this movement. The struggle of the whole match making simple, basic holds all the more worthwhile. Love the coin finish as well. Hell of a battle. ****1/4
  7. Makai Club #1
    Best Of The Super Junior XIV Block B Match: Koji Kanemoto vs. BxB Hulk - NJPW New Japan 35 Anniversary Tour Circuit 2007 Best Of The Super Junior XIV ~Power of Mind~ - Day 1 01/06/2007 It's half three in the morning, I'm ready to go to bed but I find my favoutie Jr of all time against one of my favourite DG wrestlers in Korakuen Hall. I must watch it. This was predictably awesome. Kanemoto has no time for the tricky striker with all his movements and slaps and kicks the piss out of BxB Hulk. And to his credit, BxB Hulk adapt to his enviroment, realises who he is against and fires back with some stiff kicks of his own. He wrestled like a NJ Junior really well - he sold for Kanemoto with some incredble bumps where he'd launch himself into whatever. The ring mat, the guardrail. The strike exchange was really good with it being brief as well as varied with them mixing kicks with chops and slaps. The crowd naturally gravitated to Kanemoto who played to the crowd with his charisma, so that was fun. The arm muscle pose he did was adorable. ***3/4
  8. Makai Club #1
    Given that this is the last match of this historic rivalry, one filled with classic bouts that are among some of the greatest matches of all time, this just might be the best out of the lot. It has a high barrier to overcome with Misawa who was declining and almost everything they could’ve done with this pairing has been done more than once. Well, except one thing. And that’s to pass the torch. Onto Kobashi to take the mantle as the main. But I thought Misawa was the driving force of the greatness behind this match. He was not going down easily. Despite getting dominated early on and splitting the inside of his mouth open, he fought with everything he could. Misawa would eat Kobashi’s neck chops only to fire back with wicked hard elbows. He matched Kobashi’s suplexes and escalated the danger of them using the ramp. The whole set up of the ramp was fantastic. First a suplex on the ramp, then a tope elbow through the ropes knocking Kobashi for a loop and finishing it off with a tiger driver off the ramp with Kobashi landing right on the neck. Each spot was sold really well by Kobashi and each spot had time to breathe and be soaked in because each one was a killer spot and we got three in a combo. Kobashi channelled the the crowd’s energy to match his great performance, fighting from beneath. The finishing stretch was brilliant. Both men are selling their fatigue, Misawa’s face when Kobashi kicks out of the Emerald Flowsion, realising that it’s not his day, Kobashi making a quick comeback with a brutal brainbuster and then following up with the Burning Hammer. The match really works on every level. The apex of the old classic All Japan style and perhaps the best of their style NOAH would try and emulate for the next decade and a half. *****
  9. Makai Club #1
    I thought the finish of this match was really clever. It all relies on reasonable doubt. We kind of know that Punk is full of shit when he claims he kicked the ref by accident but because of his eye, there is a big chance that it was indeed by accident. A great way to turn Punk further heel and make Hardy feel like he warrants another title shot. The rest of the match was a great series of big moves that were all built to. Hardy always evading the GTS was a great hook for the match to go to considering this was early in the feud. Hardy had some great hope spots and bumped big. Really good outing. ***1/2
  10. Makai Club #1
    The pace was so relentless. Constant back and forth wrestling with some incredible counters. The continuous use of La Atlantida only for Rey this time countering it into a DDT was great wrestling. And it was very nuanced in a way that it felt like a struggle - a battle for control. Jericho’s cut offs were great like the nasty clothesline from the apron, the flash Wall Of Jericho and the big powermoves he’d pull out to offset Rey. Jericho wrestling like a powerman works perfectly. Rey is still in superb shape in 2009 (even now in 2020) but he pulled out some breathtaking moves that reminded me of 1996 Rey Mysterio showing up on The Great American Bash. And everything felt like it was escalating with the toll eventually having to take it’s toll on both men. The finish had another great call back to the Extreme Rules match with Jericho grabbing Rey’s mask again but only to reveal Rey had two masks on. Great match. Career match for Jericho matched with a top performance from him. Rey was sensational as always. ****1/2
  11. Makai Club #1
    This is a dream match in the making honestly. You have Kanemoto still able to go on a really high level. Tanaka who ages likes fine wine. Kenny Omega who is coming into his own as a wrestler and HARASHIMA. Now, the match doesn’t really blow me away in a way that I liked. There are lulls in the match where they seem just to be going through endless cycles of HARA/Kanemoto and Tanaka/Omega which makes sense given the booking will lead to an Omega vs Tanaka match for the All Japan Junior Heavyweight title. The HARASHIMA vs Kanemoto exchanges are gold though. Awfully stiff strike exchanges, great home promotion hero vs invader stuff. ***1/2
  12. Makai Club #1
    I always thought Jericho was at his best when he was on the defensive in his matches, coming up with counters to get one over on the opponents. Jericho pulling out a La Atlantida was fucking awesome. The code breaker of the rope were great as well. And of course, the finish with Jericho countering the 619 by taking off the mask and school boying Rey for the win. I just wish that he didn't no sell the chair shot that trasitioned into the finish. Rey was a house on fire whenever he was on offence though. He was incredible. ****
  13. Makai Club #1
    This was a really good follow up to their Champions Carnival ‘93 match where Misawa knocked out Kawada with the elbow. Kawada gets rid of that loaded gun and attacks the arm for the first stretch of the match with hammerlocks and armbars. Misawa sold the arm through it not being a killer blow like it was for the Hansen and aforementioned Kawada match so it was a good touch to add to the match. Kawada threw some big closed fists to gain control several times which was awesome. He just didn’t have enough to put away Misawa. One thing I liked about this match is that the strikes early in the match put over the hatred for each other. A very good addition to the series but it was a step below their other matches up to this point. ****
  14. Makai Club #1
    My second time watching this and only raised its stock with me. I loved the opening bit with Hansen attacking a young boy leading to Kobashi to attack Hansen and taking it to him. And Hansen making Kobashi pay going to the outside - his playground - with a brutal powerbomb on the mats was great. I’m really struggling to determine who was the better of the two in the match. Both put on pure clinics in this. Hansen was probably at his best in terms of selling his vulnerability. His defensive offence like his big boot to an incoming Kobashi in the corner, the little palm strikes he’d throw. Just a great defensive effort from Hansen. Kobashi in contrast was on the offence for most of the match, in the driving seat for 60% of the match, him beating Hansen in the strike exchanges, refusing to be belittled again, proving that he is on Hansen’s level now. Both Kobashi and Hansen delivered to the best of their capabilities by this point. The closing stretch with Kobashi using the leg drops, which Hansen had zero answer for, to slowly knock Hansen out was great. The amature wrestling pins being used to great incredible nearfalls with Hansen’s fatigue slowly dropping with each cardio busting pin. And the set up for the final Western Lariat was incredible. It was so last gasp with it practically being a wild swing to defend against Kobashi ramming Hansen’s face into his knee. What an encounter. ****3/4
  15. Makai Club #1
    This was jam-packed with hard hitting offences that go at a heavy pace. There is a ton of urgency to the work. The openings for submissions are capitalised on quickly by both Nigel and Danielson, not dwelling on anything. The strikes are snug as hell with big forearms and hand strikes being thrown constantly. Nigel always uses his stiff lariat as a last ditch effort for control. The shoot headbutts by Danielson for the finish was sick. Good main event. ***3/4
  16. Makai Club #1
    I was watching this and I was struggling to put my finger what was holding me back from loving this. However, while writing my thoughts down, my feelings towards the match grew and grew. This was a battle of the bulls. It was Nagata vs Kobashi. New Japan vs NOAH. Only the best was going to work. And that's what they went out and did. Nagata got heavily booed during his entrance. Kobashi got classic "Kobashi" chants. It was pretty much war. Loved Nagata giving Kobashi a slap. The disrespect from him was pretty great. Kobashi pushing him in the corner multiple times and choping the shit out of Nagata was awesome too. Inititally I thought they started to do the fighting spirit spots where Nagata would no sell Kobashi's suplexes too early, but upon relfection, I thought they really worked well into the story. He ain't going to lie down for Kobashi on his home turf easily. The roman knucklelock struggle was great for that as well. It was a real battle of strength. I liked the finishing stretch with the nearfalls and slowly, but surely erosion of Nagata's energy. But Nagata still fighting when the end is looking nigh was so engrossing. That koppu kick against the Kobashi lariat attempt and the final burning lariat after the 30 minute call stood out as the peaks of the closing stretch. ***3/4
  17. Makai Club #1
    An hour draw is always interesting. I don’t believe I’ve seen it in Korakuen Hall, however and I’ve always wanted to see how the crowd would respond in such a place. I think the first half of the match was well worked, albeit it felt stretched out. Not necessarily through pace, because it was done at a normal speed, everything just felt extended. The match escalated well though, leading to a huge blow out for the second half with a bigger crowd brawl than the one they had earlier in the bout and a total bombfest with big suplexes and finishers. Nothing seemed to work and both guys sold that really well with their expressions and urgency. ****
  18. Makai Club #1
    This looked to be the best title match in the Tanaka run. However, it let itself down when the match got all mindless with an extended no-sell exchange. Tanaka targeted the leg of Takeshita in the early going, trapping his leg against the post and smacking it multiple times with a chair. Tanaka hit a dragon screw and then a Sliding D right to the knee that could've easily dislocated the knee joint. Takeshita being unable to move quick enough the table Tanaka put him on before hitting a splash was a great touch. Tanaka using a piece of the broken table ruled as well. The second half of the match had heavy emphasis on big impact moves but both kept on no selling them, including Tanaka's Sliding Ds. It left me slightly cold for a good while, until Takeshita began throwing some meaty punches with Tanaka replying with elbows. The finishing rolling elbow hit right on the button for a great finish. ***1/4
  19. Makai Club #1
    IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Satoshi Kojima (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW Nexess V 26/03/2005 On one hand, both of these two are favourites of mine. However, 2005 Nakamura is someone that’s very raw and way below the level he would reach later down the line. Kojima is pretty much his first peak of his career being in the middle of his Triple Crown title run, having an absolute classic with Kawada at AJPW Realise. But he’s not exactly known for being able to career lesser wrestlers. So can a peak Kojima offset a raw Nakamura? Off the bat, they establish Nakamura has the better technique, with him taking Kojima to the ground with ease where he chokes him out. And then again with the arm wringer into a kip-up spot. Kojima uses his strength to counter Nakamura fairly well but in the end, Nakamura’s focus, on the arm in particular, pays off with a double wrist lock being tightly cinched in. The match gets into a big point of the match where they are just meandering through, trying to pad out the time with as many submissions as possible. Kojima attacked Nakamura’s leg with a very Tanahashi style of offence. A few dragon screws, the seated leg submission he does (I don’t know the name of it). That doesn’t go anywhere. There is a brief brawl on the outside that goes nowhere. The match was just there for a while. And it loses me and the crowd. It even got to the point where Kojima’s Machine Gun Chops/running forearm barely gets the “Icchauzo Bakayaro” chant. The match eventually picked back up when Nakamura locked on the Fujiwara and the crowd bought it as a finish. Nakamura even gets a bit vicious when he refuses to let go of a cross armbreaker when Kojima grabs the ropes. But Kojima then wallops him with a lariat which was an awesome payback spot. There were some more awesome moments in the latter stages of the match like Kojima throwing away his elbow pad to a big pop. Nakamura throws in his flash submissions like the jumping triangle and his Fujiwara armbar counter against Kojima’s lariat attempts (which looked amazing). The nearfalls were really well done being sparsely done making it feel bigger when Nakamura kicks out of the running lariat. They mostly relied on submission holds for potential matchenders. I dug the little scramble at the end before the bell rang as well. A good way to end the match. The match had its really great moments where I was fully invested in the match. Such as the first 15 minutes with there was some solid mat work and they laid the foundations for a really good match. The closing stretch was really good as well. It wasn’t a classic hot finishing stretch that you’d associate with Japanese wrestling. There is a ton of focus on submissions with occasional bursts of suplexes and lariats being thrown by Kojima. Nakamura shined signs of promise, although he was a little out of his depth in the body of the match. Kojima is a bit too limited to really carry someone who was only 3 years into their career for 60 minutes so there was a big chunk of the match where nothing interesting was happening. There is a great 30 minute match in this, but given the end booking, they were shackled to go 60 minutes. A match well worth watching if you like both wrestlers though. ***1/2
  20. Makai Club #1
    Wow, this was a match I wasn't expecting. Thrilling bout from start to almost finish (the ending was fluffed). Buzariashvili is someone I've never heard of before but he was really good in the match. Some of his suplexes were tremendous, like the belly to belly suplex to Maeda early in the match. His grappling was good, nothing looked too loose and he was a bit of a personality too with his gloating and his kicks to Maeda’s stomach which were almost petty like. Maeda looked for the openings and relied on a few nasty kicks to the chin of Buzariashvili before getting the win which like I said was a bit messy. Great stuff, I thought.
  21. Makai Club #1
    This showed me just how much Miyahara is at the heart and soul of these matches. For better or for worse. His personality and infectious presence really hooked me into this match. His selling helped make a rather humdrum middle portion of the match feel signifcant and worth investing in. And his screaming during the standard strike exchange made it worthwhile - unintentional, of course, but I'd say that it helps in this case. Suwama, on the other hand, hit all the notes that he's going to hit in these matches but I can't help, but feel slightly unexcited by Suwama in the beginining. He grew into the match as it progressed, getting some good nearfalls for the the closing stretch in front of a really hot crowd - a big crowd under the circumstances too. The powerbomb and backsuplex holds made for some fine big moves. But like I said - Kento was the heart and soul of this match ultimately. ***3/4
  22. Makai Club #1
    This was very heavy with the stiff potatoes they threw at each other. Ishikawa started it all off smacking Ikeda right in the eye socket from the ground in classic Ishikawa fashion -- Ikeda had to keep the eye shut for most of the match -- and then again once he got control. And then they punched lumps out of each other when standing up. Ikeda nailed one on the jaw, rocking Ishikawa badly. Ikeda threw some really nasty down kicks to Ishikawa. The ref even attempted to step in before letting it slide, only for Ikeda to lay a big one in to get a KO count. Ishikawa found some great ways to wrench on Ikeda's neck like his grovit style neck crank and then another crank using his legs. And not just the neck, both wrestlers constantly fought for the Fujiwara armbar, with them being Fujiwara Gumi trainees, of course. There was a great KO tease when Ikeda totally threw for the wind and almost knocked Ishikawa out cold with him barely getting up before the 10. And that led into them again exchanging hard punches. One particular Ikeda punch left Ishikawa with a big dent imprint on his forehead. The headbutts were fucking vicious and the running headbutt before the finish, where Ikeda would throw a big lariat, then a few kicks for some great near 10 counts and then the actual win, was disgusting. Excellent match where they genuinely enjoyed knocking 10 bells out of each other with kicks, punches and using any moves that they could think of - for old times sake. ****1/2
  23. Makai Club #1
    Damn I forgot how good Honma was around this period. This had the raw brutality that Shibata matches have but the extra flair and investing focal point in Honma. Shibata batters Honma, Honma more than gives it back, more so you could argue. Honma's selling was awesome. His comebacks were well timed and had some much energy behind them that you can't help, but root for him. The PK block by Honma was a great "WTF" moment and then when Shibata slapped the piss out of him, you expected him to fall but fuck that, Honma says. And he bitch slaps him right back, knocking Shibata for a loop. I got goosebumps for that. Tons of good stuff like this throughout. ****1/2
  24. Makai Club #1
    A match where both stuck to their best hits - Ishii lariats and headbutts and Nakamura with kicks and knees - fairly impressive match. It had a fairly nice dynamic of the leader of CHAOS going against the small bull of the group, Ishii went all out to beat Nakamura with Nakamura constantly rolling with the punches and coming back. ****
  25. Makai Club #1
    Maybe the first (or one of the first) signs of AJ really getting to grips with the style New Japan and the fans want to see. I think it helps that in a heel vs heel match, he didn't need to lead to get over as a threat, especially against Minoru Suzuki. Suzuki ripped into the arm of AJ with nasty Fujiwara attempts, Kimuras, cross armbreakers - a wide variety of submissions. AJ sold the arm superbly well but he did a great job of desperetely fighting out of them. The slap, duck, slap, enziguri exchange was awesome. Even the litttle interference felt like it added to the match. This holds up tremendously well. ****1/2
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