Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

Makai Club #1

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    900

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Makai Club #1

  1. Makai Club #1
    A terrific six man tag between the two groups, as per usual. The crowd and match was most heated when Kawada and Jumbo were going at each other, some great stuff that. As well as the Taue vs Kawada interactions brewing off their blood feud at the time. Fuchi didn’t do much but he wasn’t totally a hang along, as he did some good stuff. Kikuchi took some nasty bumps into the guardrails and was basically the guy for Jumbo to torment. Misawa was pretty decent too. Loads of different components. ****
  2. Makai Club #1
    Now this was a pretty good match. I knew these two would have good chemistry with each other. The match combined limb work (Moxley attacking the leg of Shingo) with some brawling, which was done well. Moxley using the chair to wack Shingo's knee was awesome - visually nasty. Shingo's selling of his leg was very good and consistent as well. It's nice to see the work on the leg pay off in the finish also. Shingo was great, bringing tons of intensity in his comeback. ***1/2
  3. Makai Club #1
    Loved this from start to finish but it wasn't perfect. KENTA's offence, whilst stiff, lacked the intensity and emotion behind it unless it was a counter to a move. The slaps after the attempted Rainmaker, for example. The work on Okada's neck was visually brutal though - the foot stomp on the guard rail, the kicks and slaps. Okada did a superb job of selling, making every strike look even more painful. Okada on offence was pretty good too, Okada getting pissed off at KENTA, slapping his head was great. This just needed to be more heated and intense. ***3/4
  4. Makai Club #1
    The match was forgettable but the result was shocking. I was all in on Naito winning but now, he is pretty much out.
  5. Makai Club #1
    Not the bomb fest the typical triple crown matches would become but a good match filled with smart wrestling. ***1/2
  6. Makai Club #1
    Brother Kawada, get rid of these theme quick. But never mind that, we got a wild match. The brawls on the outside was something I never expected. Taue gets busted open, Kawada hurts his knee. And they do a great job of matching that intensity when they get into the ring. Taue is the king of the most simplest of offence, using chokes, sumo slaps and throwing heads into the floors, as well as the work on the leg. He was awesome in the match. Kawada’s selling was pretty great. Both in the match and post match. He made Taue look like a killer in this too. ****
  7. Makai Club #1
    Kobashi running to the ring? We are firmly in the middle ground of being a young boy and Kenta breaking out as a singles star (Although the fans treated like one here). I was mauling but Kobashi got tons of offence on Hansen, working on the arm for considerable portions of the match. Hanse sold for him and won in the end. Nasty stuff with the chair too. ***1/4
  8. Makai Club #1
    Tremendous match. Seen the promo a bunch of times but never the match but thank god I did. Amazing. One of the best retirement matches of all time, even if it didn't last. Violent brawl early one, a great FIP section with Dory being ganged up on by Hansen and Gordy. Great performance by Terry on the apron and when he comes in. HOT crowd. Excellent match. ****1/2
  9. Makai Club #1
    It's taken a while but White has pretty much put it all together by this point. He was absolutely tremendous in this match. His work on Tanahashi's arm was fantastic. The little counters that he does look great, especially the sprawling defense for the twist and shout which was excellent. That's the stuff I love about wrestling when done correctly. Tanahashi sold the arm so well. The timing of his comebacks was on point and as always, his dragon screws were great. These two didn't have much chemistry before but I thought they clicked perfectly here. The finish was well done too. ****1/2
  10. Makai Club #1
    Hot crowd from the start. As the legend goes, Baba changed the result once he heard the crowd’s chants of Misawa and his pre show merch sales, so this crowd was full pro-Misawa. Jumbo was popular, too, amazingly. The match started off pretty heavy with Jumbo clubbing Misawa with some brutal offence but Misawa outsmarts him and gets the better of him, before catching him with his elbow, followed up by a pescado. Misawa slapping Jumbo after the stalemate spots was pretty cool, Jumbo seems rather stunted but he kept his composure which is classic Jumbo. The best part of the match was Jumbo beating down and working over Misawa for me. The spot where Misawa went for a cross body only for Jumbo to catch him and drop him on the rope was both visually nasty and amazing, as was the rest of the work on the neck of Misawa. Misawa fighting from beneath was good, he sold well and made great use of his offence whenever he could. The crowd was totally on Misawa’s side, being so loud so it was easy to rally behind him. Everytime Misawa would kick out of Jumbo’s moves, the crowd would stamp their feet on the floor, making rumbling noises, adding to the atmosphere. Misawa blocking the backhold driver by pushing off the ropes and stunning Jumbo’s momentum of the hold was great and an awesome transition to the closing third. The finish wasn’t particularly great but it did its job, it built suspense and that’s all you can ask for. Great match - history making. ****1/4
  11. Makai Club #1
    This was a big occasion since this was Dr Death’s first title defence of as Triple Crown champion since defeating Misawa in July. Who better to defend against that Kobashi after their great match in 93? And this was pretty much on par with that, only twice as long. The match started off a little slow with a few mano e mano spots, trading chops, a test of strength spot, even a shoulder block where Kobashi knocks Willams down and hits a stunning crossbody to the outside from the top rope. I think that they do a really good job of establishing Kobashi as a threat that way, with him dominating Wiliams, forcing him to fight from beneath, even if it’s not the most interesting to watch. The match kinda retained that slow pace as the match progressed, but with Williams getting more into it, the offence got more intense and creative with Williams turning a bearhug into a lovely belly-to-belly suplex. The crowd started getting into the match more when Kobashi started to throw some big bombs and began countering Williams’ offence more and more, chanting “Kobashi” after one of his trademarked running lariats. Loved the moment of the match where Willams almost necked Kobashi with a suplex and then just threw him out of the ring and onto the floor like he was nothing. Love the little spurts of fun that he puts into the match like that. Kobashi’s moonsault was used to great effect with the first successful one being a great near fall and the second attempt being missed after Williams desperately scrambles away. Kobashi’s leg drop from the top rope was beautifully well timed with him hitting Willimas perfectly as he turned over from his front, as was his entire offence the whole match. The finish was pretty good with Williams being unable to put Kobashi away with the Backdrop driver, building and building to him finally being able to cover him, hitting one on the turnbuckle (of all places) and then one in the middle of the ring before finally beating Kobashi. Now I didn’t think this needed to go over 40 minutes but it was still a pretty great match. It was a great showcase of Kobashi and allowed Williams to shine whilst being the defensive one of the match. ****1/4
  12. Makai Club #1
    Great match with an incredible final stretch. Big move after big move with great selling from Kobashi along with his great comeback. The rest of the match was pretty good too but a bit bumpy and it sometimes felt like they were waiting to get to the finishing stretch. Still great stuff but oh well. , ****1/4
  13. Makai Club #1
    Loved KENTA is this. This was the total KENTA show with KENTA brutalising Tanahashi with some nasty strikes and being a real douche to him - the part where KENTA kicked Tanahashi in the back of the head when he was posing was awesome. Tanahashi was very selfless, he let KENTA totally run over him, sold really well all match and thus allowed KENTA to shine even more. ***3/4
  14. Makai Club #1
    Very different from what NJ main events usually are. The brawling around the ring and in the crowd was awesome. The fans scattered which is always a great visual, some great use of q weapons, even if it was very WWE esc in the set up. A couple of things I didn't like about the match though was Moxley's facial expressions and mannerisms. Pretty goofy and didn't fit the match at all. The brawling on the outside didn't translate into the ring well so whenever they got in the ring, the match lost a bit of its magic. The rest was great though. ****
  15. Makai Club #1
    I believe Misawa is going into this very messed up, and it unfortunately shows. Misawa doesn't do anything bad, but he is just a passenger really that can only offer his best moves, which is still fun to watch in all fairness. Kawada steps up big time though to help carry the load by beating hell out of Misawa. The finish was amazing, a nice homage to the Tenryu/Jumbo finish as well. ***
  16. Makai Club #1
    I was pleasantly surprised that these two were given this amount of time. They made great use of it too, keeping it tight, adding tons of different layers and building the match very well. The call backs to their indie days, the duel work on the ribs (Bryan to Punk) and the leg (Punk to Bryan), the struggle for submissions and holds. I loved the structure of Punk absolutely schooling Bryan in the early goings, out-doing Bryan at his own game, working on a limb and being the dominant force. Only then Bryan to find some openings and slowly get back into the match and then ending the match with a tremendous back and force struggle with momentum changing with every move. Tremendous match. ****1/2
  17. Makai Club #1
    I didn't really buy the "Ospreay is WOTY" talk last year but he has really stepped up even more this year round and this is another feather in his cap. Even more impressive considering that both guys had different injuries going into this match. Both of which could've had them taken out of the G1. And the way they incorporated that into the match was splendid. Ospreay nastily going for the ankle early on and Ibushi working on the neck. Love the build from working holds to them throwing some brutal strikes and hitting some big bombs. It became less about the injuries and more about getting the win. Great match. ****"
  18. Makai Club #1
    This wasn't good at all. The Bucks were so, so uncompelling as they fighting from beneath guys in the match. Matt Jackson isn't sympathetic in any way and his "my arm is hurt but I'll do these random moves that never worked for me before anyway" selling was an annoyance. Dustin and Cody was decent, working over the arm well but they excelled best when Dustin was the one being worked over. Not just that, there was zero engery or zip to the match. No flow or build to a finish. They paced the match like they was going Broadway only to end the match out of nowhere. Just bad. *3/4
  19. Makai Club #1
    Not sure what was with the crowd, this was Philly, right? They made little noise until the big moments of the match. Everything in-between was met with utter silence, and that's a shame because I think this match was pretty good. Glad we got to see Black show off his kicks though, with Black using them to zero in on Cesaro's leg. Cesaro sold is fairly well I though. There was also a few nice counters like the Cesaro springboard attempt into a running knee by Black and Black attempting something only to get a nasty uppercut. The match had a nice finish. Flash KOs are the best but it didn't help the match in the sense that it felt incomplete. ***1/2
  20. Makai Club #1
    Oh boy! This was absolutely tremendous. I was worried at first because the first few minutes made me think that this would be a slow burner where they'd do 15 minutes of mat work and then 5 minutes of the finishing stretch after a 7 hour show, which would've been so moronic and tone deaf BUT they didn't do that, thankfully. Instead that had a great match which was built around Takeshita working over Endo's back, Endo selling, gaining sympathy and making sensational comebacks. The pacing was tremendous too. The first few minutes were the breaking in periods but from then on, this had a very competitive pace to it. Building and building to the finish. Takeshita destroying Endo's back, in some cases, just throwing him with zero regard to the outside. Even suplexing him on the edge of the apron. Endo's selling was great. He was still getting his usual offence in but you could clearly see the damage and fatigue that the match had on him. The way Endo would have his little spurts of hope before Takeshita hit a massive move was so good. The atmosphere wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be - mostly attributed to Endo was his fantastic babyface performance in this match. ****3/4
  21. Makai Club #1
    I doubt they have an idea of what the announcement will be so this is likely.
  22. Makai Club #1
    We're not the Mounties. We always get our maaaaaan! Love it. This match was pretty good. Obviously just a match to progress a different story but it was great nonetheless. The opening minutes with Owen were a bit sloppy but nothing major and everything got on track soon enough. Wasn't a typical FIP match with pretty much even work and it was great, Quebecers were good at the smarmy heel work and Bret and Owen did some nice looking spots. Nothing was was spectacular, everything was very simple and basic but it worked. Then the Bret knee angle happened. This is where the match is the best. Bret's selling of the knee was top notch here. The Quebecers working on the leg was great, though the use of the cane was great, I loved it despite me hating it at the same time because the Quebecers are great heels. Another thing, Dibiase's commentary in this match is great. ***3/4
  23. Makai Club #1
    Loved the start to the match. Cena isn’t known for his grappling, the most obvious example of him indulging in that style was his Raw match against Shawn Michaels which isn’t very good but Punk is much better at that than Michaels was so it works here. They even get the crowd to shut up after a brief “you can’t wrestle” chant by showing that Cena can wrestle when locks on a very nice looking Fujiwara armbar. There was a nice competitiveness to it which also fit the slow burner match they had. Punk does some really good work on the neck of Cena, locking on a reverse triangle at one point and hitting a nice knee drop off the top rope onto Cena, who was on the apron. Cena was superb also. He really knows how to make full use of his counters, using a suplex to the outside to gain control and looking for the quick win after taking so much punishment prior. Another thing that this match had going for it was that unlike most big WWE matches, they savoured the finishers and big time offence, often building and teasing their signature moves with them constantly countering or finding them way out of them. Always struggling with each other, earning every hold - the Cena count to the GTS when he grabs the leg and locks on the STF only for Punk to reverse it into the anaconda vice, for example. Even the two times Cena hits the AA and Punk kicks out, it feels so special and big. You believed that it could’ve ended the match because they built up to it well. And finally the finish was great. Perfectly sums up Cena whilst making Punk cleavry but capitalizing on a distracted Cena. A true classic in WWE history for sure. ****3/4
  24. Makai Club #1
    Well, this delivered. On an extremely high level, too. A great start to the match with Morisson making use of the giant WWE sign on the stage by jumping off it. A great use of tables. A nice fast and heavy paced action throughout. Miz looked great and Morrison looked even better. ****
  25. Makai Club #1
    Like the rest of the show, this was very much a greatest hits match. Of course, the greatest hits are fucking great. Although I did love the added addition of the dragon screw battle, which sort of reminded me of Tanahashi vs Mutoh's Dome match. The selling was inconsistent as fuck though, but that comes with the territory with Tana and Okada matches. Only gripe that I had with the match. Great main event to end the show and with the crowd going nuts for it, it was well deserved too. ****
×
×
  • Create New...