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Everything posted by soup23
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Dangerous Alliance Wrestling Podcast #5
soup23 replied to Bigelow34's topic in Publications and Podcasts
Dream Matches was a fun segment that can be revisited. Will talked about Brock vs. 81 Andre and referenced the Hansen match but damn if Brock vs. Hansen wouldn't also be incredible. The Demolition debate feels like my own version of Groundhog Day. -
Glad you signed up Mick. Welcome.
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Certainly a vet/underdog match where it would have been impressive for Ibushi to win but not an overwhelming match in that sense like Kawada vs. AKiyama from 1993. Think something along the lines of Kobashi vs. Misawa from 1995.
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Yano vs. Makabe At least this was short. A brawl between these two with comedy mixed in? No thanks guys. *1/2 Naito vs Fale I have enjoyed the new Naito character but this felt like a regression to his old style as he was underneath for much of the match and had to chop down the big tree that is Fale. He did do some more dickish stuff in accomplishing that task but also did some flashy stuff I wasn't impressed with. Fale is a clumsy, bad wrestler who did not have a good showing here. ** Styles vs. Shibata This was worked in sequences so much above everything else minus the opener for the most part. Some great transitions here and AJ hooking the leg submission was so smooth. I thought Shibata selled the leg damage here better than Kushida at Dominion but it could have been better. This being only 13 minutes was criminal and 3-4 more minutes could have had it creeping into the great range for me. I do still think it was very good and I look forward to what AJ does to try to get something interesting from most of the members of this group ***1/2
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Okada/Ishii/Gedo vs Kojima/Elgin/Taguchi Elgin didn't really impress me here like I have read elsewhere. He did some of his stuff well but also botched others. The match was high octane action overall but really inconsequential to me and nothing I will be able to remember 3 days from now. **1/4 Tenzan vs Gallows This match lasted FOREVER. It had no story and awkward action. A really bad start to the G-1 overall. This is why I think a round robin tournament of the 8 biggest NJ stars would have been preferable to me overall even if someone like HOnma was sacrificed from the tournament. *1/2
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Shinsuke Nakamura & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga Solid match all around. I am lower on Tonga than some around here (Lanza and Dylan) but when he did his offense on Nakamura in the closing stretches he looked great with that crisp elbow and dive where he flew in with great velocity. Nakamura did his usual performance in a tag of not being bad per say, but not outstanding either. He did rev it up for the finish with the Boma Ye. Anderson and Hashi felt like bit players and were fine. Acceptable mid card stuff. **1/2
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Hirooki Goto & Captain New Japan vs. Cody Hall & Yujiro Takahashi Honestly one of the worst matches I have seen in New Japan in 2015. Yujiro is so bad and fails to deliver at all. Captain New Japan did some of his comedy here which landed flat. Goto is not someone I am invested in but seems above this nonsense and Cody Hall is still not good but at least trying out there. The finish here was a head scratcher with both Bullet Club members getting pinned so I guess they can blame each other? Utter shit. *
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Pete is failing at his job here Yohei Komatsu & Tiger Mask & Jushin Liger & Yuji Nagata vs. Tomoaki Honma & Mascara Dorada & David Finlay & Jay White This was a lot of fun and had more spark to it than a lot of these openers do to me. We had a hot opening with Nagata and Honma firing off setting up their match on 7/23, Dorada and Liger doing some flashy stuff and then it settling down into Komatsu being worked over by Finlay and White. Finlay looks good working over the arm but was off on saving a pin attempt so he is still green at spots. Finish was a lot of fun and mayhem all over with Liger doing a nice senton to the outside and Nagata putting White away with a backdrop suplex. Good opener. ***
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Did anyone ever play the collectible card game Nitro by Mike Fitzgerald. He has been producing some great games lately and always references Nitro in interviews as his first big breakthrough.
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Match Ratings - What's more valid - rating live or re-watch?
soup23 replied to cheapshot's topic in Pro Wrestling
Agree with this. Neither is more valid but an ever developing thought on a match at a given point in time. I do think once you reach a certain point, wild changes in a star rating should be aberrations and not the norm to increase the consistency of your overall rankings. -
PTBN Reaction Show: New Japan Dominion 2015
soup23 replied to soup23's topic in Publications and Podcasts
This show had a shorter intermission with the G-1 main matches announced but most of their major shows at least have 1-2 matches that could be cut. Interesting thoughts on Makabe. Mad Max was the corner pads sponsor on this show. Reaction was a lot of fun. Enjoyed Pete saying Makabe's arms could be amputated and he could throw better strikes. -
Will is joined by Pete, Johnny P and Dylan Hales to discuss the latest New Japan mega-show. Could the Bullet Club be revamped? Can AJ Styles keep the Heavyweight Title? Is Nakamura still the most charismatic guy in wrestling? Will Honma ever be elevated up the card? Join us for the latest 4 1/2 hour spectacle from Japan. http://placetobenation.com/ptbn-reaction-show-new-japan-dominion/
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I am going to disagree vehemently here. Omega was doing the right thing and was pretty solid working the leg and staying consistent with selling the arm. Kushida was the one who blew off the leg wok and brought the match down here. This is a grammar failure but the sentence means that I thought Kushida was bad in the match overall. I emphasized that because Kushida has been one of my favorites in New Japan this year and this was his worst performance. I didn't think Omega was good in the first stretch of this match but once he started attacking the leg he was much better and did a much better job selling his arm damage including the one armed power bomb. I actually just got done watching this match again given how low I was compared to twitter comments and Shoe and I still didn't like it very much due to the Kushida blow off on selling and the opening segment with the trash can and wondering around the ring to set up dives. Kushida didn't do one impact move besides the arm submission that didn't have some focus on his legs. Getting the knees up in desperation on an Omega dive is one thing but flying around, kicking, and doing handstands is another and really took me out of the match again rewatching.
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AJ Styles vs. Okada Opening sequence was fine inside the ring. Outside the ring with Bullet Club interference was awful and I didn't get over for the Red Shoes shine sequence at all. After that nonsense was eradicated, this was pretty great overall. Styles is an amazing worker mixing in just enough to keep things exciting and fresh without overblowing things. He also takes every bump full speed ahead like the DVD off the top which Okada just dropped him sloppily with but he made it look so much better with the way he thudded on the apron. The finish was done well with the Styles Clash being protected along with Implant DDT and Styles didn't have to kick out of the Rainmaker as Okada hit a sick combo to put him away. ****1/4 Overall this show had two **** matches and one ***1/2 so I wouldn't say it was bad at all but yikes at that middle portion.
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Goto vs. Nakamura Mundane opening had me really worried for this match. The final ten minutes brought it and raised the match to a very good level even though I still prefer their match at Donaktu. The choke by Nakamura was nice and the kickouts at the end were well done with the running knee and Goto's first combo after catching the Bom Ba Ye. Goto now has two huge wins under his belt and has gotten the rub from Nakamura but needs to prove he can help elevate someone at a level below him. ***1/ 2
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Yano vs. Tanahashi Let me start by saying how grateful I am for NJ World. Watching NJ live is something I don't take lightly and I consistently have gotten my monthly monies worth. All of that being said, this sequence and the last four matches really display all of the major mis-steps in NJ this year. You had Omega as cleaner that failed, Makabe/Ishii as the main thread of the NEVER title in a disappointing series, the Maria/Anderson saga which has been dreadful, and Yano vs. Tanahashi which was a feud budded out of necessity due to Tana's health but still something that has happened since February and if you watch all their interactions in the NJ world spot shows, there was nothing to see here new except the referee being more involved and Yano cheating more blatantly than usual. The fold up powerbomb on the chair was a nice spot. Tana of course wins with the High Fly Flow to end this feud. The final two matches have their work cut out for them. *3/4
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Anderson/Gallows vs. Kingdom This show could use a shot in the arm pronto. They did some stuff. I know this will shock you but Anderson was mesmerized by Maria. Amber and Maria did some cat fight type action. Gallows superkicked Maria which the camera missed. Gallows/Anderson regain the belts. Nobody cares. *1/2
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Makabe vs. Ishii This sucked too. Makabe can't catch Ishii to save his life in the early moments. He follows up with legit some of the worst strikes I have ever seen. Cena has bad punches at times and it is fair to judge him. Still, Makabe's gimmick is that he is this bruiser so I do think it is a greater offense that his strikes look THIS bad. We get a bump on Ishii's shoulder and that is the focal point. Ishii does good selling it for the most part but Makabe doesn't seem bothered to work it over. After another 10 minutes of just back and forth strikes mixed in with some big bumps taken awkwardly because again Makabe, Makabe wins with the top rope knee and he now has three wins over Ishii and keeps the NEVER title for no good reason at all. Fuck this shit. *1/2
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Kushida vs. Omega Will be interested to see overall thoughts on this as I can see it preemptively getting overrated based on the finish. I thought this was an incredibly flawed match. It started with a horrible outside the ring sequence that featured no desperation, hate or tone for the match overall. We then get a big front suplex onto the apron that damages Kushida's leg. Omega gets some schtick in but then focuses on the leg and does some good stuff including a figure four and some effecting rope strikes. Kushida mounts his comeback with a focus on his leg. Leg selling in a junior match is really dangerous territory and this was emphasized as an important thread throughout the match. Hence, Kushida fighting throw pain by ignoring the work done to his leg is a theory that doesn't hold water for me. THis was Naito G-1 Climax levels of blown off work for me and really brought the match down. Surprisingly by contrast, Omega was really strong selling the arm work that Kushida peppers into the comeback. He performed an one-armed powerbomb and really had the arm neutralized. They have a callback to the arm submission and Kushida is able to win the title with Omega tapping. I am still excited by what a Kushida title reign will look like as Omega's has been almost universally panned but he was not good in this match overall. **
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Sakuraba vs. Shibata I thought this was great stuff. Some slick grappling resulting in Sakuraba taking over with kicks to the stomach and Shibata scrambling. This leads into him trying to gain the submission victory which was dramatic and wonderfully done with selling and reversals. The standing choke and him grabbing both of Shibata's arms forcing him to rope break with his mouth was an awesome attempt. The next submission with Sakuraba's foot right over the throat of Shibata was sick and there is a great visual of the ring bell attendant standing up ready to ring the bell. Shibata was able to hang on and counteract with a couple of high impact moves to keep himself in the matchup. Some more dramatic chokes that result in Sakuraba going to the well once to often and Shibata able to get a huge running kick to the chest to pick up the victory. Finish was a bit anti-climatic which prevents this from MOTYC level for me but I thought everything leading up to that was absolutely tremendous cat and mouse wrestling. ****
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Naito/Honma vs. Yujiro/Bad Luck Fale Naito continues his tweener persona which I find really strong. One thing with NJ is everyone is firmly entrenched into their faction and unit with very minimal straying from those lines. Naito is providing a unique contrast to that with someone that is on his own in a lone-wolf type character. He didn't go against Honma here but teased walking out a few times and wasn't accepting of the tag. Honma was the perfect foil to play off of this with his energy and adulation from the crowd. When Naito did come in, he would hit his high impact stuff with a disinterested look on his face. Glad to see Honma pick up the win with the top rope headbutt on Yujiro. Yujiro/Fale were just bodies in this match, but they didn't annoy me much at all for a tag team comprised of 2 of my 5 least favorite New Japan roster members. **1/2
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Young Bucks vs. RPG Vice vs. reDRagon The opening package was awesome here for the match announcements. They also have turned down the 1,000 lights that were distracting in the preshow match. Disappointed a bit to see them go to the straight spotfest route as I have liked when Beretta has played FIP and reDRagon are great at controlling matches. We also get the Young Bucks countout tease on RPG Vice again which makes them seem really gullible. The spots were mostly executed well here and we got some neat wrinkles like the Falcon Arrow top rope and the dueling 450 splashes from the Bucks when reDRagon had submissions on RPG Vice. Bucks end up winning here with More Bang for your Buck over Romero which was a good decision as ROmero is my least favorite of the six. A good match but nothing substantial. ***
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YOHEI KOMATSU & TIGER MASK & JUSHIN LIGER & SATOSHI KOJIMA & HIROYOSHI TENZAN VS. YUJI NAGATA & MANABU NAKANISHI & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI & MASCARA DORADA & SHO TANAKA This had good energy which is the best case scenario for those multi man throw everybody in there matches. I liked the Tanaka/Liger and Dorada/Komatsu pairings and was happy to see Dorada pick up the win and not job to TM again. **1/2 I guess this is like the preshow match and the real PPV is starting proper now.
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Joe vs. the World #80: Looking for some Hot Stuff!!!
soup23 replied to Joe Gagne's topic in Publications and Podcasts
Very excited for this one. One thing that was fun going through 1990 was how the car thing wasn't even close to the highlight of the feud for me. -
Main event was another one of those crazy multi-man matches Bullet Club has been featuring this year. Good heat segment on Rocky Romero and then craziness for the final 5-10 minutes minus a Maria/Amber catfight I could have done without.