El-P

Petey Williams was such a terrible, terrible wrestler. He was the embodiement of everything wrong about the X-div and indierrific flippy wrestling. Unwatchable. Sabin wasn't much better, to be honest, he's just a spot monkey himself and hadn't progressed one bit since he debuted. I was actually disappointed by the cage match, their 2003 match was much, much better. Yes, it was a good violent brawl, with double juice galore, but the way they used the big cage spots was all fucked up. You've basically got the two heels doing the top big spectacular cage spots and they succeed at it. Makes no sense. Of course this got "this is awesome" and "best match ever" chants (YAWN). Hey, AMW were supposed to be the babyface to be cheered for. Then they really didn't got much out of those two spots anyway and built into a cutesy avalanche 4 guys spot which looked awkward and ridiculous. So yeah, good brawling match but when the "let's do token holy shit spots for the sake of it" took over at the end, it totally fell apart to me. That early iMPACT era was such a disaster with Petey Williams (awful worker) as X-div champ, Jeff Hardy (who is truly awful too) pushed to the top and the worst nWo rewash angle ever. And a DX invasion angle too, with WWE trolling galore. It's like despite getting rid of Russo, they decided to do the worst possible Russo style booking as far as big ideas went, without the clusterfucking and sex baiting which made it even more boring. Not to mention the last depressing and pathetic appearance of Randy Savage. Actually, the best surprise of this PPV was Abyss vs Monty Brown, which was done rather well (until the botched finish) and DDP vs Raven having a decent little match until the awful finish involving ever-useless Erik Watts. The early iMPACT era looks so terrible.

If you had locked the site forever after making that post, it would've been badass. The answer to your question is : yes, of course. Now you can lock the board.

One month later, in a building too big to host this show, as seen by the many empty seats all over the place. Pretty sad. I guess the idea of running Korakuen in 2009 was the right one at this point. Juniors aren't a draw anymore. There are a bunch of intermezzos too, which I don't care to get into. Second round Jushin Liger vs TAICHI TACIHI's entrance is worth the price of admission alone. Bullshit & gaga match, with Liger punting TAICHI's minion Desperado but getting slapped by the hot-as-hell valet Miho Abe, who's better at her job than Lana or Maryse in WWE already. Not much in term of a match, as it ends with Liger being beat up and hold down far away from ringside while count-ount occurs. Odd to use Liger that way. But glad TAICHI gets a round more. Hopefully in a better match. Kenoh vs KUSHIDA So, KUSHIDA's thing is going for the arm, which is does in spades here while Kenoh has pretty creative, in a good way, stuff to counter him. Ok, this Kenoh is the revelation of the tournament thus far, he's stiff and quick and sells really well, while KUSHIDA is pretty impressive and focused himself. Excellent match again from those two guys which I wouldn't mind seeing more of. Crisp work leading to a logical finish with exciting action is the right formula. Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Ryusuke Taguchi Good, solid match with the usual funky ass, well, hips offense by Taguchi, mixing comedy taunt with actual work, while Kanemaru is grumpy as fuck. Taguchi clearly still has good work under his hood, while the old NOAH veteran keeps on looking solid as hell. Nothing extremely impressive in term of spots, but I take this solid match any day against... Matt Sydal vs Will Ospreay Ok, so it took me two matches to already be annoyed by Ospreay. If this guy is what is considered a state of the art worker, call me Vader, because Ospreay simply isn't any good. Yeah, he does some incredible athletic spots. And ? Shit setling, bad striking, exegerated facials, all style and no substance, and the creative spots already look transparent the second time around. He's a worst RVD for now. Sydal didn't help either. This was the pucture perfect *flippy-floppy indierrific* stuff I couldn't care less about. Blah. More intemezzo with some luchadors who will hopefully clean the taste of this shit. Decent second round but Ospreay vs Sydal is everything wrong about indy wrestling mentality, while Liger was really wasted in a nothing match.

So there it is. There has been a J-Cup in 2016. It's quite cool that the concept still lives on and comes back every few years. Time for a new scene of juniors to develop and for already established ones to grow. This is New Japan putting this one on again, because, who else, really ? Korakuen Hall for a first round show only. It's kinda full and quite hot. Warms my heart. First round Matt Sydal vs Kaji Tomato Sydal is super indy american pussy magnet. Tomato is a tomato. From K-Dojo. Only in Japan could this stuff could get over. He knows how to work too. And Sydal looks pretty hot. As a worker too. Hot opening match, much more competitive than you'd thought. Gurukun Mask vs Kenoh Gurukun has a cool fish-like mask. No idea where he comes from, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me he was some sort of Delphin protege. Anyway, Kenoh is a guy with a blond helmet and very hard kicks. Damn, this match gets good quick. Kenoh is kinda heelish with a second using a kendo cane or something. Funny how the match, after some hot sequences, basically stops so they can test their machismo by exchanging hard kicks. Anyway, excellent match. Will Ospreay vs Titan So, here's the infamous Will Ospreay of "Vader thinks you sucks" fame. Cool english style work. Titan has the exact same style as BUSHI. Was he the inspiration ? Damn, Ospreay has insane spots, but his selling is awful, going from a totally exagerated, coked up overselling of a figure four to not selling his knee one second to do flippy flops (which look great, but still). Good little match, but Ospreay needs to settle the fuck down. Jushin Liger vs Eita Not sure what Eita's character is, but he's got some. Oh shit, Eita is doing a tope con hilo while Liger is walking down to the ring, straight callback to the Hayabusa match in 94 ! How cool is that ? Classic veteran vs young hungry up and comer match. Liger has to slow the pace down and hit shoteis, but Eita actually work on his hand. Smart. Really good match, although for the first time in a J-Cup, Liger doesn't look like a *great* wrestler, just a really solid one. He's past 50, so there you go. Eita looks all kinda good. Taichi vs Yuma Aoyagi Taiji has evolved into a complete MMORPG character, all baroque and shit, with a super hot and slutty valet (probably a model/actress, as she clearly knows how to play a part). Aoyagi is either green or not too good. Or both. Taichi does all kind of heelish stuff, but the match never gets too good because of Yuma's subpar work and charisma. Should have been more of a squash. BUSHI vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru Kanemaru, haven't seen this guy since the early days of NOAH when he was setting their junior division on fire. He's older and grumpy. I like LIJ a lot, but haven't seen much more of BUSHI's than his tag work. He has some good stuff, but I resent his use of the code red, which is one of my least favourite spot. Didn't impressed me that much, while Kanemaru looks as good as he was more than ten years before. Good little heel vs heel brawling match. Surprised BUSHI did the job. Ryusuke Taguchi vs Daisuke Harada Taguchi was all fro and shit in the last Cup. He's been mostly in undercard half-comedy match during the G1, so no idea how he'd fare. Harada looks like a semi-power worker. Slower build than the other matches. But it does build to a really, really good match. Harada impressed me and Taguchi is still a good serious worker, and paying for it when he gets too cute. Hot finishing stretch but the finisher (code red ugly modification) was bad. KUSHIDA vs Taiji Ishimori So, KUSHIDA's gimmick is that he's Marty McFly. Okay. Why not. Work the arm on Taiji after a cool shoot-style matwork. Some nifty flying around, crisp execution and counters from both. Damn, this match gets really good despite a few awkward set-tups on the top ropes. KUSHIDA tries to get back to the arm from incredible acrobatic spots and Ishimori finds the way to fight this, being super quick himself. Well, they sure capped off this first round show by the best match. Damn. This was maybe not as good overall as the last first round (no really great match), but still super good. Don't get the "bland" criticism. Tomato, BUSHI, Titan, Gurukun, TAICHI brought plenty of colour. There was diversity too (heeling, european style + insane flying, veteran vs youngster). Crowd was also super hot at points, especially in the main event. Clear winner of a show.

G1 Climax final Kenny Omega vs Hirooki Goto A very good/maybe excellent match can only be seen as a disapointment of sort after the al-time classic of the previous day. Just a typical all-action Goto match, with Omega pulling off a very good performance, lower on goofiness and strong on selling from the day before. But there was not much in term of build. The finishing stretch felt a bit too much finisher spamming too. Still, this Climax was certainly a star-maker in term of Omega as a main-event fixture. The long promo in fucking japanese was quite impressive. I guess, with the video game theme gimmick, Omega really is the total Japan nerd worker, which also explains some of his idiosyncrasies in the ring. Overall, the G1 was quite impressive in term of delivering strong matches. Too long and draining, but way too much great stuff to complain. Glad I'm finally done.

A Block B Block ***** Omega vs. Naito MOTYC Ishii vs. Okada ****+ as they say Marufuji vs. Tanahashi Elgin vs. Naito Tanahashi vs Okada Naito vs. Shibata Honma vs. Naito Naito vs. Nakajima YOSHI-HASHI vs Naito Nakajima vs. Elgin Quite excellent SANADA vs. Tanahashi Nakajima vs. Shibata Okada vs. Marufuji Nakajima vs. Nagata SANADA vs. Okada Shibata vs. Omega Tenzan vs. Marufuji Ishii vs. Marufuji Tanahashi vs Goto Ishii vs. Tanahashi Goto vs. Marufuji Damn fine Tenzan vs. Ishii Nagata vs. Naito Fale vs. Goto Shibata vs. Honma Ishii vs. Goto YOSHI-HASHI vs. Honma Fale vs. Marufuji Omega vs. Yano Goto vs. Okada YOSHI-HASHI vs. Nagata Fale vs. Tanahashi EVIL vs. Nakajima Tenzan vs Okada EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI Tenzan vs. Goto Nakajima vs. YOSHI-HASHI Ishii vs SANADA YOSHI-HASHI vs. Elgin Goto vs Makabe Nakajima vs. Honma Makabe. Vs Ishii EVIL vs. Naito Shibata vs Nagata Nagata vs. Honma EVIL vs. Shibata Good it is indeed Makabe vs. Tenzan Omega vs. YOSHI-HASHI Tonga vs Ishii Elgin vs. EVIL Makabe vs Marufuji Honma vs. Omega Marufuji vs. SANADA Shibata vs. Elgin Okada vs. Makabe Omega vs. Elgin Tonga vs. SANADA Omega vs. EVIL Fale vs. Makabe Honma vs. EVIL Tanahashi vs Tenzan Shibata vs. YOSHI-HASHI Okada vs Fale Nagata vs. Omega SANADA vs. Tenzan Omega vs Nakajima Fale vs. Tonga Honma vs Elgin Unoffensive Makabe vs. Tanahashi Yano vs. Nakajima Ishii vs. Fale EVIL vs. Nagata SANADA vs. Makabe Naito vs. Yano Tonga vs. Tanahashi Honma vs. Yano SANADA vs. Goto Shibata vs. Yano Okada vs. Tonga Yano vs. Nagata Tonga vs. Goto Yano vs. Elgin Marufuji vs Tonga EVIL vs Yano Yano vs. YOSHI-HASHI Not good Makabe vs. Tonga Nagata vs. Elgin Tenzan vs Tonga SANADA vs Fale Fale vs. Tenzan

DAY 18 - B-Block - Kokugikan Nagata vs. Honma And another really good match by old Nagata. Quite the good performance overall by the veteran over the G1, save for a bad night. Honma really has his act down pat, and although the rush to the headbutt early is quite goofy at times, he's proven to me he's a super solid and fun worker, 16 years after he was the best deathmatch worker in the world. Yano vs. YOSHI-HASHI If I were a pro-wrestler, I'd want to work with Yano all the time. EVIL vs. Shibata EVIL beats Shibata's bad shoulder unmercifully. Shibata does look beat up. This was very good. Sorry, I'm just burned out. Nakajima vs. Elgin Holy shit, it's kinda like the previous match, but taken to another level entirely. Funny how Elgin, with the right opponent, can deliver a great match and not get goofy. Nakajima sure has proven he was the right opponent for everybody in the thing. Stiff, focused, dramatic, epic. Great match. Omega vs. Naito Very seldom in my 25 years of watching pro-wrestling did I think I was watching the best match ever, or something to that effect. I don't think I've considered much more (if that much) than ten match ever reaching the infamous ***** rating. When I saw the comments in that thread, I was very doubtful to say the least. As much as Omega showed me if could be a great worker, he also showed way too much goofiness on day to day. I expected a great match, counting on Naito to work the same brilliance he already showcased and Omega reigning down his bad instinct. Nope. This is one of the best match I have ever seen. Both were absolutely awesome. The build, the selling, the moves (yeah, fuck a gazillion punches in the ass with a barbwire bat), the escalation, the drama, the body language. Yep. This one I'd give the ***** rating. MOTY. Pro-wrestling can be so great. It's rare, but when it happens, i's beautiful. Well. Tetsuya Naito is the best wrestler today and my new favourite. VIP of the G1, along with Nakajima, Tanahashi & Marufuji. Kenny Omega has the potential of being a true all-time great if he works more like he did his two best matches here and does less of the bad ROH-isms.

The progress bar is a complete nightmare in every context.

Where ? On Twitter ? Damn, we miss all the "good stuff" here on the good ol' forum nowadays.

What more do you want from neck surgery news? "Ok. And? And she started snorting coke with the doctor and nurses. Then they all had an orgy with Alberto. After she was put under the knife, they got some HLA Katie Vick-style action going. Paige's father tweeted his strongest disapproval at the way his daughter's medical care was handled." Edit: Never mind. You were responding to that weird Twitter gif. Not sure what to make of that myself. Well, this slight misunderstanding was all worth your quite funny extrapolation.

I guess I can guess. When you thought I couldn't dislike Randy Orton more than I already do.

Ok. And ?

The dreaded Stephy Hug-o-talent-Cooptation.

I laughed.

People should chant "Member Berries" at Goldy & Lesnar. That would be quite funny.

Historically : Shawn Michaels. He was a very early favourite of mine. His stuff doesn't hold up at all for the most part. He has a bunch of great matches under his belt, but at this point, I'd say he peaked as a worker as a babyface in the Rockers. His comeback was full of way overrated self-conscious epics (those Taker matches). Hell, he may very well be one of the architect of the entire self-conscious epic actually. And he's also responsible for some of the worst Actor Studios moments that plague WWE to this day. "Sorry, I love you". Need I say more ? Right now : Brock Lesnar. What's been said above. The "Suplex City" bullshit is typical case of WWE jumping on something organic and turning it into complete shit. Remember that insane Cena match when Lesnar came back ? Or the brutal thriple threat at Mania last year ? Now it's just him launching a bunch of suplexes with people counting along. The hardway/concussion stuff is also one of the biggest debacle in recent memory. Lesnar was special, he turnedinto someone I just dread to see work now. 49 years old Goldy on the way ? That match is a disaster on paper, but since it can't be Supex City, maybe they'll actually find a way to make it work again. I doubt it.

Fitness model. Muscles. Meet the new boss...

That ADR Youshoot where he was all "good husband and family guy" looks like complete comedy now.

I don't find anything you said to be creepy material. Then again, I'm European. Hell. I'm French. I do think that creepiness, like many things, in in the eyes of the beholder sometime. Then again. Mick Foley is a guy who was listening to Tori Amos' "Winter" minutes before getting willingly slaughtered and bleed like a pig for little to no money at Kawasaki Stadium. And took hundreds of chairshots to the head. And jumped from the Cell into a table to get his moment of glory. I mean. That this guy is kinda weird is not exactly a newsflash either. Talking creepy, yeah, subjecting his little childrens to the chairshot massacre at RR99 with the complicity of his (then still) beautiful wife, well, yes. That was creepy. And shitty. So, maybe I'd watch Holy Foley and find that this guy looks like the Red Dragon now. But from what I now or heard, I don't quite see it. (Jerry Lawler was way creepier with women, in general. Foley just seem super enthousiast with the girl's work, and why not ?)

"I am going to try to get some sleep" is an extremely polite way to say "Ok, fuck this". But yeah. That conversation is kinda odd. The fact the guy made it public makes it kinda like looking at a sextape, in a way. Now, that's creepy.

Oh. I didn't realize he has been creepy for so long.

So, "Foley is all creepy with women" is the new trendy gimmick I guess. And with "the way he looks", he managed to get a model for a wife. People should just settle the fuck down. The guy has been an active RAINN supporter for years too.

That they do the old-school matches is nothing more than banking on nostalgia. Like bringing Goldy. The brand vs brand feud has no leg. Zero. Zilch. Most of these guys have all worked against each other all the time already. And it's been what ? Four months ? It's just nostalgia branding.

Twitter should be deleted.

They picked the one PPV that was split in three. Very odd choice to debut a serie focusing on detailing a supercard, really...