TheBean

Have really been enjoying the "Cornette Side of the Ring" on YouTube. I'm glad they kinda realized that there's lots of not-so dark stories to tell and you really just need Cornette to tell 'em.

AEW/ROH is posting some old Final Battle matches. I've got a 2006 watch project in the works and this was a big piece of the puzzle I was missing. I'm hoping they post Morishima vs Danielson from 2008...that would be awesome.

July & August Dr. Death vs Masa Saito (07/05) - Fun match from what we see...ends in a brawl in the crowd and then they cut away. Kensuke Sasaki & Masahiro Chono vs. Brad Rheingans & Pegasus Kid (07/05) - OK little match. Other than an opening flourish by Pegasus Benoit, it was rather plain though. Keiji Muto vs. Owen Hart (07/05) This looked neat on paper but they covered it in the PWO '90 year book and it sounds not worth my time. Bummer...including it here to save you the trouble. Kengo Kimura, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Osamu Matsuda & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Blond Outlaws (Hiro Saito, Norio Honaga & Tatsutoshi Goto) & Super Strong Machine (07/19) - Another joined in progress match. We get the last 6 minutes but yes! this is aggressive simple gang wrestling. Masa Chono & Keiji Muto vs Wild Samoan & Great Kokena (Yokozuna) (07/19) - Very good to great heel/face tag match. This had excellent pacing, teases and payoffs. It is probably pretty close to an American style tag match but that doesn't diminish this at all. 1990 is that time where I feel the U.S., Japan & Mexico were on the same level of athleticism and quality of work especially with younger talent. Animal Hamaguchi & Masanobu Kurisu vs. Riki Choshu & Shiro Koshinaka (07/19) - A follow up to the 06/26 match. This started out really great but, ended up being "just good" (***1/2 range). Still K-Man swinging furniture and generally going apeshit on Koshinaka is worth your time. Eventually Animal turns on Kurisu (too much chair?) and then Blonde Outlaws/Raging Staff (see Super Strong Machine team) jumps Masanobu. But he's as tough as two day old dog crap in the sun, and talks smack on them after the mobbing. Hells yes Curly Sue!! Hells yes! Tatsutoshi Goto vs Masanobu Kurisu (07/22) About 5 minutes of fun lumpy guy wrestling... Kurisu mainly beats up Goto but Goto has a few choice moves. It's out there if you're a fan like me but you don't need to seek this out either 🙂 This match plays into the 06/30 post match & the 07/19 bout. Masa Saito & Riki Choshu vs Wild Samoan & Great Kokena (Yokozuna) (07/22) - Totally fun big time wrestling match. The Samoan team were neat as Yokozuna/Kokena could still move really well & the Wild one was using martial arts kicks. Saito and Riki had their hands full. For an under 10 minute match, this was action packed and competitive. I thought I would skip this one but I'm glad that I didn't! Jushin Thunder Liger, Kensuke Sasaki & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Pegasus Kid, Super Strong Machine & Tatsutoshi Goto (08/16) - Oh man, I wish we got the full thing! This was an excellent mix of wrestlers. It was as good in the ring as it was on paper. Additionally the "junior" wrestlers were treated as equals to the heavies. Animal Hamaguchi vs. Masanobu Kurisu (08/16) - Fuck yes! Animal comes rushing out and it never lets up. Curly Sue beats him with a chair. Neck breaker drops from heaven gets Hamaguchi back in the fight. There's blood and an intensity & pace that sets this apart. Moves are fun and all but coming out like you're aiming to maim is far more important. These guys get that...and under 10 minutes. A great match without a doubt. Liger vs Pegasus Kid (08/19) - I believe there's a full match out there. I saw the edited version. It's fun stuff but it's just a bunch of big moves without much context. I probably would like the early portions especially if there's cool rope running & wrestling on the mat. We get a little peek at that when Liger & Pegasus are trading pinning predicaments. I tried to watch the full version but the file I was playing wasn't cooperating.

Saw this pop up the other day so thought I'd share it here:

Damien, Halloween & Nicho vs Satanico, Averno & Mephisto (09/27/02): Quick but clever first fall. Helluva exciting comeback in fall #2! Awesome 3rd fall - synchronized action, big dives, shenanigans & Damien vs Satanico - this was a great match! Damien, Halloween & Nicho vs Satanico, Averno & Mephisto (10/04/02): Same crews. An excellent follow-up that builds the animosity. Singapore cane swinging, one guys taken away by doctors and nut-shots. Yes! 😄 Plenty of action too. Damien vs Satanico (10/11/02): This is a preview of sorts as they're getting ready to set-up the big match but there's jaw jacking. Still we get a fast paced single fall bout with excitement inside and out of the ring. I enjoyed the call back to the previous bouts' low blows. This is a lot of fun. Damien vs Satanico (10/25/02): The hair wager match for this surely Halloween inspired mini feud. These guys took it seriously and were furiously punching away. Lots of piss and vinegar for what's probably a mid card match. It was great though! This was a perfect little quickie series of matches for around Halloween. I don't think anything is longer than 15 minutes so you can watch it in an afternoon and still get stuff done 🙂 On top of that I think it gives a reasonable sampling of lucha styles (trios excitement, singles rudo vs rudo) as well as being perfectly digestible for lucha novices while simultaneously giving a distinctly "lucha" vibe. That sounds vague but what I mean is, it's not watered down by cross cultural influences like I've seen later in the 2000's lucha but is still enjoyable to someone who's probably most familiar with lucha libre from WCW, ECW etc.

Watching Satanico, Averno & Mephisto vs Damien 666, Halloween & Nicho (orig. Psicosis) from CMLL Fall 2002. Really fun stuff. Looks like there's a couple Satanico vs Damien singles matches too. Wanted to do a big Halloween watch project this year but just wasn't feeling it. These matches have been worth it though. Helps that they're all under 15 minutes as well. Update: Posted quickie reviews here on PWO

Anyone looking for Halloween type stuff for today, might want to check this out:

Watched the Raven doc, Nevermore: The Raven Effect. Its pretty good and I really found the pre-ECW parts quite interesting as I wasn't too familiar. I've yet to watch anything from his time in Portland but, I dug Scotty Flamingo vs Z-Man Tom Zenk in WCW and Johnny Polo vs Marty Jannetty in WWF. Didn't know that he was pretty far up in WWF and close to Shane McMahon and he walked away in order to return to being a wrestler full time & becoming Raven, as a result.

I think off the top of my head, I agree. He was put pretty far up the card right from the start and definitely right at the top during TNA. Looking up above Headcheese has a match vs Viscera...and my guess is that he probably gave a few people their best matches especially when WWF/E didn't have teams for Raw & Smackdown and still had Heat and those smaller shows. I think his skill was being able to have a good match with anyone...right from the start. I would say he definitely lifted up AJ Styles' profile when feuding. Same with Samoa Joe. Heck TNA in general. But, neither had their best match with him (imo). I would argue some of his best matches were with them though.

Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki vs Naomichi Marufuji & Taiji Ishimori (NOAH 05/13/12): Great match but not without its faults. The hyper pace is so untenable and renders so many cool moments forgettable. They never let anything sink in. And that can work if you have a shorter match of like 10-15 minutes but they went double that. It's too much. Still there were so many cool moments that I guess they accumulated into something special. Mind you, others might absolutely love this kind of match so that's why I'm recommending it. Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki vs Marvin & Super Crazy - (NOAH 07/22/12): THIS is the definitive version of this match-up! Under 20 minutes, all fireworks still but the slimmed down version of their March match. They wrestled it as Aoki vs Crazy in the first half and then Marvin vs Kotaro in the second. Of course there were double teams and break -ups but the legal guys really broke down like that. I respect their decision to do this. It made for a much better match. Great fireworks match! Minoru Tanaka, Koji Kanemoto & Hiroshi Yamato vs Atsushi Aoki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki (AJPW 04/29/13) : Thought maybe I saw this but, no! So this was from the 2013 Champion Carnival final night. First things first, kudos to the dude who gave Aoki the double birds right in his field of vision while stomping his opponent. Then kudos to Aoki for getting up in said dudes face Hahaha! That's was hilarious! All that said, this was SICK! The top juniors in the company in one ring, all with beef - this was top shelf stuff. It was so aggressive yet intricate that nothing came off as overly contrived. It just felt like rivals going to battle. It made me realize how much I missed Kotaro and Kanemaru in 2014. Aoki is so much better with Kotaro than Sato and this match is proof (nothing against Sato). But Minoru, Kanemoto and Yamato were just as fantastic here. The feud of Burning juniors vs Stack of Arms/Junior Stars is the best of the year. Classic junior 6 man match. Atsushi Aoki & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Keisuke Ishii & Shigehiro Irie (AJPW 10/27/13) - Nice lead in video showing both teams training and developing new tag moves. The DDT team does a 2 man Go To Sleep but uses one guy's head instead of a knee. Then Burning uses a combination move that culminates in a back heel & running elbow strike that compresses the opponents head - very MCMG style. Anyhow this was a great match that is scratching at the door of a near classic. Like ****+ rating. Just fast action packed wrestling. Like MCMG or The Briscoes they are just putting on excellent matches regardless of familiarity with their opponents. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kota Ibushi vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki (AJPW 08/31/13): This was a great match. Kota Ibushi was the odd man out as I don't think there's much history with him & the others. Stylistically I don't think he fit as well. He is very good at what he does but thankfully he's not in there a bunch. The heart of the match is Burning vs Nakajima especially Kotaro vs Nakajima. Kotaro was on fire here and Nakajima wasn't far behind. Kanemaru brought his A game as well but is much subtle (like a Shiro Koshinaka or even Christopher Daniels) so you just expect him to be flawless and keep moving the story/match along. That said, this was the match I'd hoped for with a very different finish that was fantastic. I'd probably put this at **** or so. Kento Miyahara & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (AJPW 07/27/14): Very fast paced match with a purpose. Everything looked great here with the focus on Akiyama putting Miyahara in his place. Great under 10 minute match!

Oct -November '87 Bruiser Brody & The Moondogs vs Tiger Mask II, Shinichi Nakano & Isao Takagi (10/03): Fun meat & potatoes wrestling. Brody is such a great character! Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs John Tenta & Isao Takagi (10/31): Damn! Everything packed a punch! I thought Hara was going to break the ring on his corner clotheslines. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Ashura Hara & Samson Fuyuki (11/07): Energetic match, rough in a couple spots but, fuck it, it's 1987. And the energy along with the Hara vs Yatsu hate smooths everything out 🙂

AEW PAC, Penta & Rey Fenix (Death Triangle) vs. Kenny Omega & Young Bucks (The Elite) (Full Gear 2022): Yeah, I dug this. This was a bananas spot fest but I also dug the story with Omega making a comeback from injury as well as Fenix not wanting to use the bell hammer. A great 6 man match. +-+-+-+ PAC vs Malachi Black vs Clark Connors vs Miro (Forbidden Door 2022) 16 minutes of excitement. This was a neat mix of wrestling with Miro being so strong but PAC & Black had some wicked kicks. Connors was the wild card. I had a lot of fun with this one. It was really good stuff! +-+-+-+ Dragon Gate PAC vs Dragon Kid: Spectacular, offense-minded match! I appreciate that PAC minimized his aerial attack to let Kid's moves shine. That said, he had to be nimble footed in order to take many of them. Very good showing from both guys. If you're in the mood for fireworks, this is a no brainer match to watch! +-+-+-+ PAC vs. Genki Horiguchi (07/17/11): 13 minutes of fun wrestling. Joined in progress, Genki & his gang heel it up against PAC. +-+-+-+ PAC vs. Susumu Yokosuka (8/29/2010): Really good all action match pitting PAC spectacular offense versus Susumu's gordbusters, lariats & suplexes. It's simple and a good time!

Post #4 for 2010 AEW/ROH has posted the ENTIRE Death Before Dishonor VIII show recently! That's awesome! My thoughts afterwards. Here it is: • All Night Express vs Up in Smoke (Cheech & Cloudy) (Death Before Dishonor VIII - June): Damn! This was sick! It's all movez but they did this right. Kenny & Rhett were dialed in tonight. They made Up in Smoke look great while wrestling like a top tier tag team. Cheech & Cloudy are a more fun Young Bucks. This was great. Gotta recommend it! • Eddie Edwards vs Tyson Dux (Death Before Dishonor VIII): This was part of a gauntlet match but this was the best match up and was first. Dux looked as good here as he ever did. They were well matched in speed & strength. Very good-great stuff. This honestly could have been booked as a stand alone match. It was that good. • Austin Aries vs Delirious (Death Before Dishonor VIII): Delirious is wearing the red gear so he means business. Both guys wrestle intelligently and we have a couple good spots. This is a very good match and a very good mid card feud with some life left. • Christopher Daniels vs Kenny Omega (DBD VIII): Daniels does not get enough credit. The man is charismatic & consistent as fuck! This was a great action packed bout - big moves, counters, reversals & plenty of surprises. This delivered for sure. RECOMMENDED. ROH has this one here if you don't want to watch the whole show: • Kings of Wrestling vs The Briscoe Brothers (DBD VIII): No DQ match. Quad blood chair, table, hard hits, drama, great high spots. Four of the best tag wrestlers of the past 20 years going at it. Plus! This isn't a tank emptying/end of the feud affair. That's how well this rivalry is in 2010. I've left off a few tidbits from this big write up but they are teasing at these two teams on the TV shows and edges of the DVDs. Here we get a taste and it's a battle for the ages. It had that grit & intensity that only a couple of the Generico vs Steen matches have. This is my ROH storyline for 2010 so far. Absolute classic match, Highly Recommended!! • Tyler Black vs Davey Richards (DBD VIII): This is one of those bigger matches in old school ROH circles. I thought it was a great match but not a classic. I definitely think it is a great main event to a great ROH show and if you get the DVD, its paired with Buffalo Stampede II. You're getting a great package of classic ROH wrestling. I tend not to go on about matches that have a reputation because you're just going to have to see this for yourself. I think you'll like it 🙂