TheBean

Picked up Essential X-MEN vol. 2 (the b&w reprints) and am enjoying the Claremont & Byrne run. The Alpha Flight story is pretty fun but the stuff with Arcade (the Spidey villain) is bit too goofy. The Mutant X / Proteus arc is when it really start cooking imo. Proteus is a tad over powered being able to actually alter reality but it really shows the team working together with real stakes. Plus the Jason Wyngarde & Hellfire Club stuff is building in the background. Just started the HF Club stuff proper so I'll write back in once I read that.

It should come as no surprise that I spend a lot of time searching for wrestling to watch. Many of you do the same I am sure. I'm writing, copy/pasting, having a bunch of different docs open to cross reference what I have, what I've seen and double checking dates. It's kind of its own hobby actually. And this is just for the things I find online. I'm sure the folks that actually post matches are doing the same thing. Anyhow, if you've been reading my original Puro+More blog, you probably know I get side tracked. My big intention years ago was to buy DVDs of stuff I wanted to watch, watch it and share my views. I don't do well with the absolute wealth of wrestling available online. Part of it was that I really didn't use YouTube that much for wrestling. I didn't care for the small screen in which I had to watch wrestling... OK blah blah blah. So here I am... scrolling YouTube and other sites like a fiend looking for wrestling. I'm not sure to what end sometimes though. I think I'm collecting (or hoarding) to be honest. I know I've done it with DVDs. So rather than keep these lists and links gathering electronic cobwebs, I thought I would start posting the links along with the reason why I wanted to watch these things. I figure, I still will be promoting cool wrestling to folks. Hopefully my digging will help provide a curated watch list/mixtape for you to check out. For me, I think it'll free up some space on my computer and my mind. I'm only going to link officially released stuff because I don't want any heat on the mom & pop posters sharing good stuff. Besides there's plenty of good stuff being released by the companies nowadays. Additionally, most official promotions channel's old video are a rat's nest of dozens (hundreds?) of videos with no real good way to sort them out. I'm doing some of that work for ya 🙂 This first batch is early 2000's New Japan. There's such a hard time finding much of New Japan on da Tube because of their paid service But back in the 2010's they were posting tons of contemporary stuff. 15 years later, that stuff is vintage wrestling 😁 And in my opinion isn't really marred by the tropes of 10+ years. There's not a ton but again, it's worth checking out. 2003 Bucanero & Guerrero vs Super Crazy & TAGUCHI (04/23/03) Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero were introduced to my through the 2008 TNA Global X Cup. I'm not a lucha aficionado so I can just say that I like them. I have a compilation of theirs that I watched years ago and enjoyed. Seeing them in a match versus Super Crazy & a young Ryusuke Taguchi is exactly the type of shit I dig for. ---- CHONO & TENZAN vs TANAHASHI & YOSHIE (04/28/03) After watch 1995 New Japan, Chono & Tenzan are one of my favorite teams at the moment. Seeing them versus baby Tanahashi & big man Yoshie sounds like a good time. ---- NAGATA & IIZUKA vs TAKAYAMA & MAKABE (07/05/03) Save Iizuka, this has three of the most interesting workers of the 2000's in it. Nagata vs Takayama is enough to get me interested. Throw Makabe in there...yeah this is worth a watch. You know someone gets kicked or kneed really hard. ---- 2004 TENZAN & NAGATA & NAKANISHI vs TANAHASHI & NAKAMURA & SHIBATA (10/01/04) This is cool. We've got a representation of New Japan early 2000's stars. These guys weren't setting the internet ablaze in the West but I've come to like all three. Then we have the new Three Musketeers. Korakuen Hall 6 man with vets versus young punks...this has to be a blast. ---- Nakamura vs Shibata (07/04/04) The two shoot style leaning wrestlers of the new generation. All said, under 10 minutes long...this should be nasty. I really dig this period of Nakamura. ---- 2005 Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Osamu Nishimura & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Shinsuke Nakamura vs Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Kazuyuki Fujita & Kendo Kashin (06/19/05) This reminds me of putting a match together in Fire Pro Returns match maker mode. Thinking, "OK I've only got one match slot left. I need to make sure I draw a big crowd. Who do have left on the roster?" It's got almost a 1/2 million views and its in Korakuen Hall. It's worth checking out! ---- SHINSUKE NAKAMURA vs NAOFUMI YAMAMOTO (12/25/05) Again, I'm interested in this era of Nakamura. Yamamoto is Yoshi Tatsu from WWE. I actually have a 2006 New Japan project that has DVDs. Yeah, holy shit!! 😄 And he's kind of a big deal in those so I thought this would be a good way to get familiar. ---- HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs HIROOKI GOTO (12/25/05) Hirooki Goto is one of guys that got me interested in watch "newer" NJPW for a minute back in the 2010's. They don't have a bunch of his stuff on the New Japan channel so I'm going to take what I can get. We'll see how young lion Goto works with Tanahashi. Thanks for reading! Enjoy the wrestling!

TNA is on the ball with this one. I don't recommend watching all 3+ hours of MCMG but they actually time stamp their comps unlike the WWE Vault. Just watched them vs Naito & Takahashi from 2009...really exciting high spot TV match. I can see dipping into this comp when bored.

It's been awhile but this looked like a fun one they posted recently.

It's almost the end of another year and like that tubby bastard Santa, I'll be putting my list together soon for the Best Matches Watched in 2025. Per usual, I'll have Best Wrestler, Best Feud, Biggest Disappointment and other fun stuff like that. Plus I'll be hemming and hawing over my choices and hopefully come to a sensible conclusion. If you don't know, join me over at The Further Adventures of Puro + More... here on PWO. I'm also writing and posting wrestling pics over on Wrestling Dream Battles. See link above or click on my profile picture. Cool stuff you'll find there is: Misawa vs Kobashi Battle Guide, New Japan 1995 year book & Early years of Bull Nakano. Lots of fun pics up there. Just posted Big Japan Wrestling 1999 and am working on a All Japan Women's 1999 post too. Also working on Zero One Wrestling 2007 and a ROH 2005 show review.

ROH Escape from New York (07/09/05) Nigel McGuinness vs Colt Cabana - European rules match. Not for the purists but this was fun, light hearted stuff. Carnage Crew vs Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer - Good match especially once BJ got suplexed on the ramp. Great finishing third with an excellent finish. Dunn, Marcos, and Dixie vs Cheech, Deranged & Vordell Walker - Fun movez match! Dunn & Marcos are like early versions of the Young Bucks - tandem moves, funky outfits etc. Azriel vs James Gibson vs Jimmy Rave vs Alex Shelley - A lot of this is angle stuff with CM Punk, Mick Foley, Nana & Jade Chung. It's an OK match though. Samoa Joe vs Austin Aries - Pure title match and a very good B-show match. They hit all of their big moves and got stiff at the end. This would have been an excellent TV main event. Jay Lethal vs Homicide - Very good to great match. The most intense action of the event so far. There's so much animosity here. CM Punk vs Roderick Strong - Great big time match! Punk has all of the little things down while Roddy is there to kick ass. I loved Punk's chicken-shit heel stuff like running away from Roderick's chops. Great athletic 2005 main event.

This post has been a big help in going through UWFi especially the lesser known matches for The Further Adventures of Puro + More... blog. Here are the one's I'd recommend so far: 1991 Yoji Anjoh vs Kiyoshi Tamura (7/3/91) Kazuo Yamazaki vs Billy Scott (7/30/91) Kazuo Yamazaki vs Yoji Anjo (09/26/91) Billy Scott vs. Yoji Anjo (10/06) 1992 Yoji Anjoh vs. Masahito Kakihara (6/28/92) Tatsuo Nakano vs Masahito Kakihara (09/21) Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Yoji Anjo (09/21) 1993 Steve Day vs Hiromitsu Kanehara (04/10) Masahito Kakihara vs Naoki Sano (04/10) Yuko Miyato vs Kazuo Yamazaki (05/06) Kiyoshi Tamura vs Yuko Miyato (10/04) 1994 Victor Zangiev vs Yoji Anjo (04/03)

Hi everyone! I'm back with more shoot style wrestling. We're in 1994 and looking at UWFi & RINGS. Yoshihiro Takayama vs Yuko Miyato (04/03) - Man, Takayama has reach! Miyato isn't going to win the striking game. He doesn't really dominate on the mat either as Takayama has a clear size advantage. This was really good stuff and I thought they went home a little earlier than I would have liked. They had really good chemistry and a dynamic fight. Really LIKED IT Victor Zangiev vs Yoji Anjo (04/03) - Zangiev is a damn wizard. That one escape was nothing short of amazing. You gotta see it! Like his Street Fighter counterpart, the man is a suplex machine. Anjo peppers him with stiff kicks & slaps but the Russian bides his time. I really dug the finish here as one man went outside of his comfort zone to finish the match and presented a big opening for his opponent. Post match drama too! I LOVED THIS! Dan Severn vs Masahito Kakihara (04/03) Severn is really good in these as he's got the wrestling down pat and it's done in a believable way. Plus he's usually bigger than his foe and can absorb their blows. That means that they can lay into him without fear of an accidental knockout. This has a little bit of everything including Dan fighting defensively on the ground (with strikes) which you don't see too many guys do. I LIKED THIS a good bit. Kazushi Sakuraba vs Tom Burton (05/06) - Holy moley - this is why you want some weight classes! Burton is a big beast and Saku is young and thin. He's still gifted on the mat but Burton was throwing his scarecrow body all around the ring. And damn! that knee lift! Pretty one sided but quite entertaining. I LIKED IT Victor Zangiev vs Yuko Miyato (05/06) - Zangiev exhibition match. This was a blast to watch and would recommend just if you want to see Zangiev do his thing. LIKED IT for what it was. Bad News Allen vs Hiromitsu Kanehara (08/18) - This was a fun one. Kanehara was clearly holding back but this was well worked. It's a pleasure to see Allen work these UWFi matches. I LIKED IT as it was simple and enjoyable to watch...not necessarily a badass match though. Dan Severn vs Yoshihiro Takayama (10/14) - Well, that was aggressive to the point of frenzied. Hell yes! Severn was just eating palm strikes and knees in order to get (the still thin) Takayama off his feet. In the most entertaining fashion, he suplexed the dude. But damn, Takayama drove those knees in. This is definitely one that could have gone on a couple more minutes. Still that finish was brutal looking. LIKED/LOVED IT Victor Zangiev & Vladimir Berkovich vs Yoji Anjo & Naoki Sano (UWFi 6/10) - Zangiev is always badass! Berkovich is here so it's not a 2-1 match but he adds very little. Anjo & Sano do great here peppering the Russian with kicks and getting the occasional suplex. It's underdeveloped and iswhat holds it back from being "great." Still it's a blast - I LIKED IT! Kazuo Yamazaki vs Tatsuo Nakano (08/18) - Yamazaki played along with Nakano's strength and did a predominantly standing fight. Nakano would want to wrestle but Kazuo didn't necessarily play along and risk exposing Nakano. Or maybe he wanted to beat Tatsuo at his own game? It's good but not great. I LIKED IT with that said. Yoji Anjo vs Hiromitsu Kanehara (11/30) - Very spirited fight. Kanehara was fighting an uphill battle as Anjo might be the most well rounded fighter in the league. They did everything right without this being necessarily outstanding. I LIKED IT though. Just a couple RINGS matches since it hasn't been setting my world on fire. I found a couple that looked interesting though. Mitsuya Nagai vs. Masayuki Naruse (RINGS, 12/16/94) - This was really good at times. The strikes were snappy and the wrestling was quick but believable. But then again, there were enough moments where I'm not sure why a hold was released or why a guy went for a rope break or something didn't look strong enough to warrant a knockdown. So it had it's moments and had it's issues. I LIKED IT though. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs Daisuke Ikeda (RINGS 12/24/94) - Oh yeah this was pretty damn aggressive from the start. Ikeda could throw and take a shot. This came down to who would be best on the mat. TK just wanted it more. It think Ikeda was losing steam as this went on whereas Kohsaka stayed in the zone throughout. I LIKED IT quite a bit. Those strikes - damn! Yoji Anjo is definitely the stand out so far in this project. He & Ted DiBiase are probably my front runners for best wrestlers watched this year. Hope you find some good stuff to watch! Thanks for reading 🙂

Oh yes!!! They went for broke! This was a great junior battle. One that was way better than you'd think seeing as it was tucked away in the mid card of a BJW show. It was very exciting and very intense. There's plenty of action and great submission wrestling too. It's been awhile since I've seen them in BattlARTS but it definitely had that vibe. I'm a fan of both but seeing them this young and hungry was great RECOMMENDED I'm checking out more 1999 BJW on my blog, if you're interested. Come on over to wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com

An awesome person has uploaded some Zero One Wrestling including Takao Omori vs Steve Corino (01/23/05). It's a great title match with an old school feel when Coding is wrecking Omori's arm. Corino in the 2000's keeps surprising me. If you dug him in ECW, you should check out his evolution in Zero One. Here's some pics from the match: If the poster visits PWO - big thanks for sharing this match! If you're interested, 2007 Zero One Wrestling reviews coming up in a little bit on wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com Just working my way through the '07 Fire Festival tournament. Excellent stuff!

Saw that TNA is still putting great stuff from their back catalog on YouTube. Probably not going to get around watching the whole thing but wanted to share it here:

Have always remembered this match from when they showed it on Nitro the following night. That was awesome! Two of my favorites at the time in a match that actually delivered. Glad to see from others reviews that it was as good as I remember.

Yeah actually skimmed through the Symphony of Horrors to see what was up & to see the Aries vs Mistico match per El-P's recommendation/mention. It all definitely reminds me of late stage ROH when they had a lot of CMLL guys. It's actually pretty interesting in that regard to me. Aries vs Mistico was pretty fun if anything for nostalgia sake. Might have to go thru the MLW YouTube page to if there's anything else interesting.

It's telling that without CM Punk's success first, we wouldn't be talking about Danielson's historical importance. I think Danielson could have been another Paul London & Spanky Kendrick. Those guys were his peers more than Punk. You can see it in the booking of ROH & others. Coming back to this topic, I think Danielson helped open the flood gates for the "smaller" indie (ROH) guys. A few years later ROH seemed to become like ECW before it & act as a feeder to WWE/NXT... guys like Tyler Black & Generico being the best early examples. These type of guys were all going to TNA before Danielson (and obviously some still did afterward). Additionally this in effect made something like AEW possible but I think that's probably his most important contribution to WWE and wrestling history at large. Which is a pretty big contribution!

Going through the NXT YouTube page for something else and saw that they have both Regal vs Hero/Ohno & Regal vs Cesaro/Claudio. Actually looks like they have damn near every NXT episode up until 2018 (and still posting) up there. Anyhow, I got too many of my own DVDs to watch but I thought I'd post both here for future generations 😁 The Regal match is towards the end of both episodes.

PWG XIII (13) (07/29/16) Adam Cole vs Brian Cage - Really fun opening match. Starts out with some comedy then actually gets smart. Cage dominates Adam with power moves. Cole then targets the big man's knee. Then uses that to employ shining wizards. Nothing too cerebral but laudable for an opening match. And believe it or not, they don't do an extraordinarily long or crazy match either. Sure you get some neat moves and all but, it's actually a clever curtain jerker. Fun stuff Timothy Thatcher vs Roderick Strong - Very good physical match. Strong broke down the bigger man with targeted stomps. Thatcher was actually portrayed like a monster, come to think of it. His offense was really put over. This bout was more about Roddy chopping him down though. I'm not sure if this was some story carried over from Evolve? Anyhow, simple but effective wrestling from both guys. Jeff Cobb vs Trevor Lee - A blast of a match despite it being the third of its kind now (big man vs smaller man). Here Lee bumps like crazy for Cobb. Not to take anything away from Cobb but Trevor Lee made him look great. And then Lee did his cool signature moves including the first dive to the outside of show. Fun match Trent? vs Chuck Taylor - I like both guys well enough. They are pals and for some reason have a hardcore death match in the middle of the show. I skipped this. Sami Callihan vs Marty Scurll - The cat mask match. I remember people complaining about this because ultra serious Sami did a joke gimmick for this match. He pretended to be a cat. This was typical for this period of PWG but not from Sami. The issue with the match isn't the cat stuff. He actually doesn't do much with it other than use fingernail rakes to Marty occasionally. The issue to me was the story telling. It was too much "I do a move, now you do a move, fake-out! I do another move etc." So a total lack of selling & intensity especially early on. I think 10 minutes in, they ramped up the intensity...or Sami did. Then this got interesting. Then I didn't mind the fake outs as it was followed up by kicks to the mush. I'll say it's a good match but that is based on the 2nd half of the bout. The Young Bucks vs. Death By Elbow (Chris Hero & JT Dunn) - I was interested but damn this was way too long for me. I really just wanted to see the next match but was having fun with the first three. Even watched the Sami cat match but I am drawing some lines in the sand here. Iirc people have given this ****1/4 so you don't need me to chime in 😋 I'll take their word for it. Zack Sabre Jr. vs Kyle O'Reilly - This is the reason I'm watching this show now. Wow, this was something special. The closest thing to BattlARTS that we'll see in a PWG ring, that's for sure. Now I haven't seen their BOLA '14 match (I have that DVD) but I'm sure it's similar. Kyle is as good as anyone in PWG in his selling, move selection, timing and attitude. He's coming in with a taped up shoulder and that alone could supply the story for the match. But, no! He adds a twist and targets ZSJ's leg. Violent Artist indeed. Zack is treated as a wunderkind in PWG but Kyle could be his equal. OK that's the general hype and review... if you're curious then you really need to see this. Seriously. And now I'll be gushing about how fucking awesome O'Reilly's strikes are. He just gets IT. He's hitting combinations, he's hitting high & low and he's telling the story. He's showing not that he's tough BUT that he's smart. This striking brings Zack to a boiling point and towards the end, we get some absolute brutal stuff from him. I'm not talking about the Penalty Kick but angry Kawada like stomps to Kyle's melon. Or a running European uppercut that shifted the ring. STILL O'Reilly persisted and brought more violence and more power his next opportunity. Classic stuff. I'm looking forward to watching their 2014 match as some say it's as good or better than this. Bonus impromptu match: ZSJ vs Roderick Strong - Second match for both guys but Roddy wants to capitalize Money in the Bank style. Run ins, spots, kinda sloppy but it's a neat way to cap off the super show with these two going at it one last time. Fun for what it is. This was a good show with an excellent non "PWG" main event. I think that's what interesting about the shows in the early to mid 2010's. They had a great selection of talent and genuinely could have great all around shows. From what I recall, this may have been the beginning of the end of that period though.

Saw this pop up for Halloween. WCW Graveyard Match during their graveyard spiral. Seems like a damn early example of a cinematic match as we know them now.

Ten years ago I would have said mask. But I'm going to go with face paint. I think you can do more with the designs & colors...maybe a different design every night. But yeah, I think the expressiveness is what sells me on the paint.

Was watching this 80's fantasy ninja movie with Hiroyuki Sanada & Sonny Chiba called Ninja Wars. I noticed one of the evil magicians was a big dude and had scars on his forehead from years of blading. Whoa! So I looked it up and it was Strong Kobayashi! Does anybody else get excited to see wrestlers in movies & TV shows especially when in smaller non wrestling roles? I remember finding out that Andre the Giant was inside the monster suit in Conan the Destroyer and being psyched. Anyone have any other similar TV or movie appearances that are favorites?

Some other recommendations from early in his career, NJPW 1995 Koji Kanemoto vs. Yuji Nagata (01/04) Riki Choshu & Yuji Nagata vs Yoji Anjo & Tatsuo Nakano (09/23) Yoji Anjo & Masahito Kakihara vs. Riki Choshu & Yuji Nagata (10/11 UWFi) Some other 2000's ones from the dark days: Yuji Nagata vs Bas Rutten (07/20/02) Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (05/02/03 NJ) Think this is Makabe match referenced also? Yuji Nagata vs Togi Makabe (03/21/07) NJ Cup I think Nagata just has way too many great matches to not be top 5 Japanese wrestlers of 2000's at the very least. He kind of seems like a Bret Hart in that he is the transition star between two hot eras of his home promotion...1990's & 2010's for NJPW. Edit: Also remembered this one but couldn't find the date Masato Tanaka vs Yuji Nagata (03/19/11 NJPW): NJPW Cup 2011. Must see if you're a fan of either guy.

Hi folks! I'm back with more shoot style wrestling. This time we're looking at 1993. Let's get started with UWFi. As a reminder, I'm avoiding the big names like Albright, Takada & Vader since I think their matches have been reviewed in depth before. Dan Severn vs Yoji Anjo (02/14) Damn was this fun. Severn is way bigger than Anjo and was throwing suplexes. Anjo tried for strikes but Dan was absorbing them. I really LIKED IT Steve Day vs Hiromitsu Kanehara (04/10) - This had a bit of everything - strikes, suplexes, judo throws, hurty-looking submission holds. And it all looked and felt urgent and real which is important. Kanehara threw strikes while grounded to break Days concentration which was a nice touch. Day wanted to use throws & takedowns but knew he needed to throw a knee here & there in order to get inside and get Kanehara on the defense. LOVED IT Masahito Kakihara vs Naoki Sano (04/10) - You gotta love Kakihara's fire. It definitely gives all his bouts an adrenaline shot. Sano is a smooth operator though. It was a real fire vs ice bout. Excellent work in stand-up and the ground. These somewhat shorter matches force the guys to really push the pace and competitive feeling. I LOVED THIS Bad News Allen vs Yoshihiro Takayama (05/06) - Fun stuff with a slower pace since they're heavyweights. Well Allen certainly is at this point. He's still bad news though. His throws and submissions look great. That arm bar neck lock was a beauty! I LIKED IT Yuko Miyato vs Kazuo Yamazaki (05/06) - Hard fought battle for a 12 minute match. I think this one had it all - kicks, suplexes and working on the mat. I really enjoyed that both guys were able countering and escaping while on the mat. I also dug how heated this was. This wasn't a dry competition... I got the vibe they weren't happy with one another. Anytime they can incorporate storytelling like that in shoot style and have great action - it's something special. I LOVED THIS ONE Dennis Koslowski vs Yuko Miyato (08/13) - Dennis is a bronze and silver medal winning Greco-Roman wrestler. But he's susceptible to strikes as you'd expect. Miyato knows he's got to keep hitting the big man if he's going to have a chance. Koslowski is entertaining as hell here. Suplex City baby! But his submission holds look great too...he's not looking for a KO and wants to finish it on the mat. I LIKED IT ALOT Kiyoshi Tamura vs Yuko Miyato (10/04) - Miyato was like fuck this shit, I'm not wrestling Tamura on the mat. Dude wisely starts laying in the hits. His shots to the abdomen are vicious! You can't count Tamura out though. This was excellent stuff with great strikes and super dynamic mat action from Tamura. LOVED IT Tatsuo Nakano vs Yoji Anjo (10/04) - Damn, this was a gutsy performance by Nakano. He's essentially the level one boss of a beat-em up game. Anjo who's usually pretty sure of himself got real scared when Nakano nearly German suplexed him in the early goings. I really got into this match. At the very least a Tatsuo Nakano match will be entertaining. You get to see him get beat up & keep going. This was a different kind of match. I REALLY LIKED IT Now let us shift over to RINGS. General principle applies here too but I'm focusing more specifically on Nagai, Naruse, and Grom Zaza. Masayuki Naruse v Nobuaki Kakuta (3/5/93)I wanted to skip as it looked like a shoot on initial viewing. But I've come back and it's a work. They just happen to get the UWFi style & speed down pat. RINGS really seems half speed in comparison to UWFi at this time. This is an exception. Really good striking & competitive mat wrestling. I LIKED THIS Yuki Ishikawa vs. Masayuki Naruse (RINGS, 5/29/93) - Matwork marathon, matwork masterpiece. These guys scrambled for nearly a half hour. They worked the whole time. It feels like what you you're looking for when talking about highly technical professional wrestling. Ishikawa and Naruse aren't fighting for real of course. The concept of a "guard" is treated as foreign for instance. So you know it's a work 🙂 Then the next conclusion I think is "this is exactly what Inoki had in mind." This harkens back to that. And harkens back to the original UWF as well. I LOVED IT. Naruse is someone I'm glad I'm seeing in this project. Volk Han vs. Dick Vrij (RINGS, 7/13/93) - This felt stilted to me. There's a great emphasis on strikes. Those didn't look great though. Han's strikes looked good. Dick should have looked vicious but looked neutered. IT'S OK Grom Zaza vs Nikolai Zouev (08/21/93) - A little bit of everything in this match - strikes, suplexes and submission moves. They felt pretty evenly matched and was pretty entertaining for the most part. They lose steam or focus as it went on. There was drama with the points at the end but I felt that they didn't actually do much to work that drama. It felt like like they knew the order of rope breaks but didn't really build towards them though. I LIKED IT overall though. Todor Todorov vs. Masayuki Naruse (RINGS, 12/8/93) - Nice even match up. There's some nice strikes, a few great suplexes and constant mat action. I wish there was a better angle on the finish because it was hard to see what did the job. I LIKED IT I'm not really sure if RINGS is my jam. Ishikawa vs Naruse has probably been my favorite and I'm not getting that excited by everything else. It's good but it's not encouraging me to invest more time into it. And you might say, "well that's because of who you're watching." That's true but I don't know if I'm breaking any news then or at least giving these a fresh take. Also want to recommend that you also check out my new blog: Wrestling Dream Battles Thanks to the folks that have already checked it out! I find the layout over on the new blog is a lot easier to read on phones & tablets...which is kinda what I gear my writing to. I want you to be able to read my blog while you're on the train, waiting for your food to be delivered, or on your lunch break. This way you're pumped up to go check wrestling out when you get some actual free time 😁 Also I think it's a better place for wrestling pictures because I can adjust some things better. So if you dig pictures with your blogs, check it out! Currently I am posting about NJPW 1995 and will be tackling NJ vs UWFi there. Also did a cool Bull Nakano in the 80's post with a bunch of pictures.

Ditto to what I said in 2024... PWG All Star Weekend 2005 Night 1 Chris Sabin vs. Chris Hero - This was definitely the Chris Hero show. He did a bunch of his creative attacks on Sabin's arm. And the dude stuck with it... they both did. A strong emphasis on that story. Sabin kept himself in check and used his moves out of desperation instead of showing off. When Sabin uses his brain like he did here, he's one of the best. Christopher Daniels vs. Alex Shelley - Excellent technical encounter from two of the best on the scene. They did a little bit of everything but made sure to focus on the story. Alex went after Chris' neck and Daniels attacked Shelley's spine. Unlike the above match, this felt more 50/50...A bit more competitive. These two in 2005 - chef's kiss 🙂 Very good stuff and if you're a fan of either then you'll enjoy this one. Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles - These two could do no wrong in 2005. This was proof of that. The lighting isn't good, the floor camera isn't good but they don't care. Joe & AJ deliver a hard hitting, athletic match that would be worthy of a ROH or TNA ring. People have mentioned a slip on the top rope from AJ being a blemish. I don't think that hurt anything. It was a reminder of why it's a high risk move. He still hit Joe, Joe sold where it hit him then, AJ followed up with a hellacious corner drop kick...and we are back on track! And something people don't mention is the timing of their counter moves. These are fantastic and maybe the best part. Joe is especially on the ball with his counters. I know a couple counter moves surprised AJ legitimately. I think if this had the camera work & production of ROH or TNA, this match would have gotten more attention. Fans of either need to check it out! A near classic. RECOMMENDED Super Dragon vs. Kevin Steen vs. El Generico - There's a lot of cool moves here. No one likes each other but Steen & Dragon hate each other. That's the story. The problem is that they don't know how to properly convey that. Steen & Dragon come off as sadistic but not enraged. They want to come up with elaborate ways to hurt someone. But if you're in a rage, you don't care about that shit. You want the simplest solution. So they should be throwing elbows, punches, chops, boots - quick & fierce. And sell it. Now if they're sadistic with El Generico then, that works. He's the baby face in there with two heels. I'm surprised Dragon & Steen didn't team up just to get him out of the way. And that makes me think of another weird thing. The wrestlers actually aren't really in the ring at the same time very often. It's 1 on 1 until someone breaks up a pin. Then someone rolls to the outside for a few minutes...then they come back and break a pin up. There's a callback to these and other spots which I definitely appreciate. It just doesn't feel organic. It feels like acts in a play. So we don't get more than a couple spots where it's 1 on 2 or 2 on 1. I can think of only 3 spots. It is still a very good 3 way dance or triangle match (or whatever!) but ultimately, this is hurt by its excesses & hitting the wrong emotional notes. PWG All Star Weekend 2005 Night 2 Christopher Daniels vs. Chris Hero - Oh wow, they wrestled this like a big time match. It was so smartly fought by both guys. The opening section was very technical and showed their proficiency. Daniels saw an opportunity and went for a vicious drop kick to the knee. This set up the body of the match where he kept going back to the weakness. Hero really sold this the rest of the match, both on offense and defense. It was hurting him. What made this bout special was the pacing, the rhythm. It felt very natural and organic. Neither guy was selfish or showboating. I think this one would appeal a lot to fellow PWO folks. Great match... maybe a near classic. It really captivated me from the beginning and had me hooked the whole way. Super Dragon vs. AJ Styles - I know I've seen quality Super Dragon matches before. This was a new one for the list. He lets AJ do his thing...you know...be phenomenal. And Super D works from underneath. This makes his crazy moves and stiffness actually meaningful. No longer a sadist, he's trying to win! Super Dragon and AJ work very well together. Both are extremely well rounded and have a maneuver or idea at every turn. The best example would be when they were going for submission moves. They would chain one right into another. They would fight their way out of holds or fight to keep the other guy locked in. AJ brought the best out of Super Dragon here. Great match and great weekend for AJ Styles.