soup23

It was nice seeing Hana in a featured singles match and she does a good job being smothering on top in the heel role. She does still have some developing to do in creating and overall story with a focal point but between her looks and charisma, she has vaulted herself as someone for me to watch in the second half of the year. For a shit finish, this did a good job of reintroducing Kagetsu and her and Hana in the faction create a cool dynamic. ***

I really loved this match. Neck selling kind of opens itself up to be more selective in selling compared to an arm and leg but I still thought Io did a good enough job of relating to the viewer that some of her flurries were stunted due to the damage done on the neck. The main theme of the passing of the guard felt spot on and Iwatani gave a spirited performance really going all out with big risks like the dive off the balcony and showing some stiffness indicating that she wasn't letting this big moment pass her by again. This is probably the best joshi match I have seen this year. ****1/4

Match listings, times, and other notes -- July 17th -- Hokkaido (A Block, 2 a.m. ET) (English Commentary) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito Yuji Nagata vs. YOSHI-HASHI Togi Makabe vs. Bad Luck Fale Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii July 20th -- Korakuen Hall (B Block, 5:30 a.m. ET) (English Commentary) Minoru Suzuki vs. Kenny Omega SANADA vs. EVIL Kazuchika Okada vs. Toru Yano Michael Elgin vs. Tama Tonga Satoshi Kojima vs. Juice Robinson July 21st -- Korakuen Hall (A Block, 5:30 a.m. ET) (English Commentary) Tetsuya Naito vs. YOSHI-HASHI Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. Yuji Nagata vs. Hirooki Goto Togi Makabe vs. Tomohiro Ishii Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale July 22nd -- Korakuen Hall (B Block, 5:30 a.m. ET) (English Commentary) Kenny Omega vs. Tama Tonga Minoru Suzuki vs. SANADA EVIL vs. Juice Robinson Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin Satoshi Kojima vs. Toru Yano July 23rd -- Tokyo Machida Gymnasium (A Block, 5 a.m. ET) Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto Tetsuya Naito vs. Bad Luck Fale YOSHI-HASHI vs. Zack Sabre Jr. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yuji Nagata July 25th -- Fukushima (B Block, 5:30 a.m. ET) Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA Kenny Omega vs. Toru Yano Tama Tonga vs. EVIL Juice Robinson vs. Minoru Suzuki Satoshi Kojima vs. Michael Elgin July 26th -- Miyagi (A Block, 5:30 a.m. ET) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto Kota Ibushi vs. Togi Makabe Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Bad Luck Fale Tomohiro Ishii vs. YOSHI-HASHI Tetsuya Naito vs. Yuji Nagata July 27th -- Niigata (B Block, 5:30 a.m. ET) Michael Elgin vs. Kenny Omega Minoru Suzuki vs. EVIL SANADA vs. Toru Yano Juice Robinson vs. Tama Tonga Kazuchika Okada vs. Satoshi Kojima July 29th -- Aichi (A Block, 5:00 a.m. ET) Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI Hirooki Goto vs. Zack Sabre Jr. Kota Ibushi vs. Bad Luck Fale Togi Makabe vs. Yuji Nagata July 30th -- Gifu (B Block, 3:30 a.m. ET) Kenny Omega vs. Satoshi Kojima Kazuchika Okada vs. Juice Robinson Michael Elgin vs. SANADA Minoru Suzuki vs. Tama Tonga EVIL vs. Toru Yano August 1st -- Kagoshima (A Block, 5:30 a.m. ET) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yuji Nagata YOSHI-HASHI vs. Bad Luck Fale Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto Togi Makabe vs. Zack Sabre Jr. August 2nd -- Fukuoka (B Block, 5:30 a.m. ET) Kenny Omega vs. EVIL Minoru Suzuki vs. Satoshi Kojima Kazuchika Okada vs. Tama Tonga SANADA vs. Juice Robinson Michael Elgin vs. Toru Yano August 4th -- Ehime (A Block, 6 a.m. ET) Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe Kota Ibushi vs. Yuji Nagata Hirooki Goto vs. YOSHI-HASHI Tomohiro Ishii vs. Bad Luck Fale August 5th -- Osaka (B Block, 4 a.m. ET) Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL Satoshi Kojima vs. SANADA Minoru Suzuki vs. Michael Elgin Tama Tonga vs. Toru Yano Kenny Omega vs. Juice Robinson August 6th -- Shizuoka (A Block, 3 a.m. ET) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii Tetsuya Naito vs. Togi Makabe Hirooki Goto vs. Bad Luck Fale Kota Ibushi vs. YOSHI-HASHI Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Yuji Nagata August 8th -- Kanagawa (B Block, 5:30 a.m. ET) Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki Kenny Omega vs. SANADA Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano Michael Elgin vs. EVIL Satoshi Kojima vs. Tama Tonga August 11th -- Sumo Hall (A Block Finals, 5:30 a.m. ET) (English Commentary) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito Kota Ibushi vs. Hirooki Goto Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr. Bad Luck Fale vs. Yuji Nagata Togi Makabe vs. YOSHI-HASHI August 12th -- Sumo Hall (B Block Finals, 5:30 a.m. ET) (English Commentary) Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega Minoru Suzuki vs. Toru Yano Tama Tonga vs. SANADA Michael Elgin vs. Juice Robinson Satoshi Kojima vs. EVIL August 13th -- Sumo Hall (G1 Climax 27 Finals, 2 a.m. ET) (English Commentary) Winner of the A Block vs. Winner of the B Block in the tournament finals

HHH tells the regime he doesn’t want anyone out there and then reiterates that with Michael Cole. Cole informs HHH that Hebner is the special guest referee but HHH says that won’t matter. This was a lot better sprint than I expected. These two went after each other right away until the entourage and Kane/Taker made their presence known. A lot of miscommunication occurs with Rock getting chokeslammed and HHH escaping with the victory. I didn’t think this was a great way to build KOTR but I also didn’t think it made HHH look too strong, more that he just slimed away with the title. JR line of the night starting with three #1 contenders and now they were none felt ill advised. I will be interested to hear other opinions as this is kind of a tipping point in HHH’s 2000 overall. *** (5.6)

Angle has a good line about the Kodak moment happening in a town with such ugly people. The pose tonight is pretty tame of all three just posing. The camera angle on the early springboard dropkick by Y2J looked awesome. Action only goes a few minutes but we see the heels gelling together well as a team and some traditional heel tactics. Match breaks down and Angle is able to sneak in and hit the Olympic Slam on Bubba for the pin. *3/4

HHH starts off the show with his promo. Not one of the better things we have seen from HHH this year. A good bit of momentum seems to be lost from the promotion since Judgement Day with Taker and Kane in the world title mix. HHH talks about ego for a long time and here comes Vince. Vince reminds HHH that the crowd is calling him an asshole. Vince gives a promo straight out of the 1993 Memphis playbook with his weird analogies. Some dissension among the ranks which came out of nowhere with HHH even bringing up Armageddon to Vince. HHH pie faces Vince. Shane comes out to be the peacemaker of the group. He says both of their egos are out of control. Shane changes it to put the heat on him and he gets beat up by both. Steph slaps all three and all sorts of weird shit is going on. Rock comes out now to a monster pop. Steph gets called a $2 slut. I wonder if Rock or Jericho berates her more throughout the year. Kane comes out and stakes his claim as the #1 contender. Again, this loses a lot of momentum for the segment as the crowd doesn’t really know how to react with him facing off against the #1 face in the promotion. Ditto Taker who repeats the same thing. Vince ends the segment setting up a triple threat match tonight for the #1 contender with the winner facing HHH in the main event. Some interesting stuff with McMahon and HHH feuding but too long overall at 25 minutes. Some short promos before the match with Kane and Taker saying when it comes to the WWF Championship, they don’t have a brother. The Network edit of Taker coming out to Your Gonna Pay with Kid Rock’s picture that the announcers were obviously shilling is humorous. Kane and Taker start out hammering Rock for a bit. Rock is able to hit the Rock Bottom on Taker 1 minute in but Kane breaks it up and chokeslams Rock right afterwards. Now Kane and Taker slug it out with Kane going to the outside. Rock sends Taker outside and we get a brawl around the announce table. HHH comes in and interferes against Taker sending him into the table. Rock gets sent inside by Taker and then he pops HHH. HHH responds with a chair to both Taker and the head of Kane. Kane gets Rock Bottom’d and Rock wins to advance. Rock gets whacked with the chair after the match from HHH. *

I really don't care about this feud overall and all the twists and turns they try to insert into. All of these guys are decent enough athletes and this featured some great athletic spots from Negro including on a sunset flip where he has insane body control. The ancillary effects just continue to ruin it. **1/2

The minis continue to keep things together for the promotion overall and this was another really good match without a ton of takeaways that distinguish it from the series overall. AAA minis is becoming like Toryumon in a way so far in that their floor is very high but they have yet to craft that one true MOTYC or transcendent type match. The bumping here remains a key component of the success of the matches. ***1/2 (6.6)

In this special episode of Greetings From Allentown, the first 1987 WWF appearances by Ted DiBiase are examined on the 30th anniversary of the first Million Dollar Man vignettes. Included: – A brief history of DiBiase and his career across various territories from the mid-70s up to his return to the WWF in May 1987 – The impact of Houston Wrestling and Paul Boesch spurning the NWA and Jim Crockett Promotions in favor of working with the WWF and a big reason why that was done – A look at the Houston-only storyline that turned babyface Ted DiBiase into a heel literally on the eve of the first Million Dollar Man vignettes and why the WWF would feel they needed to do it – My personal favorite Million Dollar Man vignette and Ted’s crossover to super-villainy http://placetobenation.com/greetings-from-allentown-special-ted-dibiase/

LIke usual, I am always miffed when the feature matches of these cards get announces and Makabe is featured prominently four times. I know he has mainstream appeal in Japan but him in these features matches carries no interest whatsoever for me even compared against the other old guard guys like Kojima and Nagata.

Timothy and Quentin are back with the latest Pod Blast discussing the under publicized world of Australian Wrestling. In particular, they discuss Melbourne City Wrestling. They discuss all of the top workers as well as the production side of the promotion. Listen in to a unique look at an undiscovered corner in the wrestling world. http://placetobe.podbean.com/e/pod-blast-melbourne-city-wrestling/

Very good match at points and a good performance by Suzuki but I thought YH failed to match the intensity of Suzuki with his strikes and he totally wipes out on some things such as a baseball slide. This also had A LOT of Suzuki Gun nonsense. This was better than it was in some matches because you had Okada actually being a main played and cheerleader out there which was neat to see but it got pretty old by the end with the constant restarts. Suzuki ends up winning justifiably so. A good Korakuen main event but YH and the optics of the run ins prevent it from being great. ***1/2

The 30 minute time limit should help that as well as Okada vs Suzuki IMO. I think Suzuki vs Naito is a strong possibility as a final as well as Omega vs Naito. Naito not winning at this point would have to be considered an upset.

Discuss all things G-1 here in this thread. Here are the Blocks: A Block Bad Luck Fale Hirooki Goto Kota Ibushi Tomohiro Ishii Togi Makabe Yuji Nagata Tetsuya Naito Zack Sabre Jr. Hiroshi Tanahashi YOSHI-HASHI B Block Michael Elgin EVIL Satoshi Kojima Kazuchika Okada Kenny Omega Juice Robinson SANADA Minoru Suzuki Tama Tonga Toru Yano

This started out with a real traditional base. A lot of hammerlock and headlock exchanges. Nothing was awful about this exchange but it wasn't high end either. We do get a nice tease of the finishers early on which isn't as played out in 2012 as it is now. This also helps give gravity to the situation based on the fact that 1 RainMaker has been a KO blow so far. The action escalates on the apron and Anderson gains the advantage going after the arm of Okada. I was excited at the prospect of this as we havent seen that strategy utilized so far. Anderson does some good stuff on top wrenching the arm but Okada fires back. Okada focuses on the neck and does the guardrail spot again which is played out by this point. He does add a nice implant DDT to vary things up. From there, the match goes into an extended finishing run and I thought Okada used his right arm that was worked over way too much. I sort of see the theory that this match is again the latest example of NJ saying that Okada is the guy NOW, not necessarily the future, but it was excessive. A couple of neat wrinkles within the match included Anderson doing a spinebuster as a counter action to the flapjack. The finishing stretch again shows Okada's dominance and the crowd is chanting his name as he avoid the cutter and delivers the 1-2-3 combo of a back of the head dropkick, tombstone and RainMaker to secure his first G-1 Victory. I have seen ratings as high as ****3/4 for this and I can see that to a degree but the arm work really took me out of the match here and the finish was never much in doubt. ***3/4

With loses to Nakamura and Naito earlier in the night, whomever won here advanced to the finals. Given that, I expected more urgency or just something in this match. Someone could hypothesize that this didn't get much more of a chance to build into something worthwhile, but it did have nearly 9 minutes. At the end of those, this neither felt like a well executed sprint or a 20 minute main event condensed by half. Makabe is a worker I eternally struggle with and some of his punches here were awful. Okada in turn didn't seem to know what to do with him throughout the match or in a storyline sense. The general arch of the match was him standing up to Makabe and showing his toughness but that fell flat for me. This was another one of those blemishes for Okada as a worker in that the match is fine but this is a big stage and having a match that feels like a throwaway main event isn't the best way to project yourself as a performer. **1/2

This was a really well done mentor vs student style match. Okada displayed some of his worst tendencies here in going to a neck submission in a pivotal moment that loses the crowd and again using his repetition approach of a flapjack to signify a transition. On the other hand, he also displayed his best dropkick of 2012 so far that popped the crowd huge in amazement and worked from a psychological standpoint as Nak focused on the midsection throughout the match. The match progressed nicely from tentative start to each person really going after each other in the finishing stretch while still retaining the inclination that they are faction buddies and will stick together after this. Nakamura had a few wonderful moments sprinkled throughout including an insulting rub of Okada's hair, a great bump off of the aforementioned flap jack and a strike exchange where he calls back to the midsection work by delivering a punch to the gut to regain the advantage. Once again, finishers were protected especially the 1A ones in the Bom Ba Ye and RainMaker. This felt like a match that hinged on who was going to hit their big move first. Nakamura won that race and won the match as a result. ****

SMV first iwa ms taping was kotdm 2001 so a lot of one shot stuff until then.

A shorter match than I expected but they packed a good amount of stuff into 8 minutes. Fuji was looking strong because he was losing his hair and CIMA maintains his WOTYC status. The finish felt well received in that it kept the narrative that these two are still partners and not even teasing dissension but someone had to lose here. Fuji hits some good emotional moments in the final stretch of the match. ***

THis stipulation is one of my favorite in wrestling and these guys performed it admirably here really going after each other with intensity and hatred to prevent having to go into the apuestas match. I think CIMA in particular was a prick ripping the mask of both of his opponents. We have seen Crazy Max run roughshod for a lot of the 1st half of 2000 so seeing them fail here and having to be pushed into a wager match against each other felt justified. ***1/2

This was the first marquee 1 vs 1 Toryumon matchup we have seen and it didn’t disappoint. SUWA is used as the base for most of the match and grinds down Dragon Kid with dominant and power offense. DK is able to even up the score by hitting some highspots. I enjoyed the amount of time DK recovered after hitting those big highspots putting over the damage that Suwa has done. DK nails the Dragon Rana from the top rope with great perfection for a nearfall until interference from Crazy Max manager. Suwa also hits a low blow and then a version of a Canadian destroyer almost for the victory. A big brawl breaks out after the match with Suwa ripping off DK’s mask. Hakushi makes the save and carries DK to the back. Good stuff. ***1/2

Everyone thinks they deserve a shot at Wolfie D. The highlights were King who cut a great promo and Ko Ko who is a treat to see this late in his career and he tries his damndest to not namedrop KIng and Dundee. Koko is wearing his high energy tights. A really long match for PPW showing they are having to stretch things out with MCW around. The eliminations were well done and culminated in Ko Ko getting out of the match taking a big tumble to the outside. Spellbinder and Boudreaux are the finalists and get a few minutes together with Spellbinder being fascinated with Wolfie D on commentary. The match cuts off for us right at the end with a promo with Baxter in the locker room. Sad we don't have the finish but neat to see these long form Memphis matches. **3/4

Rocker has some words for Morton calling him out and Morton obliges. I love how annoyed Lance is at Morton cursing on the mic. "All right, Todd Morton, enough." This was a 3 minute ladder match which I don't know if I have seen before. They right away go into the ladder. Bull comes into for interference but the beer can hits Morton and Rocker picks up the win. I'm Too Sexy is Rocker's theme song which I think was a requirement for every Memphis talent from 1992 onward. 1/2*

This was like sitting down to a movie sequel and your favorite actors and the hot action are still there but the organic feeling that formed from the first iteration is gone. That was a HUGE factor in my investment in the first match. Okada did such a great job selling the leg in the first match and with the slightly reduced time here, that was the key pivotal moment that went by the wayside. Okada's selling here was suspect and not very strong even though a fair point is that the damage that Naito did was not near as extreme as in the first match. The Rainmaker again is protected which is appreciative but we also got things like the flap jack, springy dropkick, etc that I am waning of for being transition spots in almost all of the big Okada matches. Stardust press for Naito to win got a great reaction and felt like a nice moment for him but this was missing that extra ingredient for it to be a great match in my eyes. ***1/2

This was functional but not very compelling either. Okada's expressions in the early strike exchanges are over exaggerated and goofy. I do appreciate that he gains the advantage here through strikes and not the other components he has relied upon in previous matches. However, his offense on top was mundane and unoriginal and that makes the comeback by Tenzan feel hollow. Finishing stretch has a bit of back and forth and the headbutt that Brad mentions is the highlight. Rainmaker wins it for Okada. This match was not the main or semi main on this G-1 show but I didn't think it was a particularly compelling match at all or a good performance for Okada. He had on new gold gear and a great reaction from the crowd there but he felt like a hollow emperor in displaying how he could be the ace of the company going forward. **3/4