[2006-02-26-Big Mouth Loud] Katsuyori Shibata vs Alan Karaev

[GOTNW]

I am saddened that Alan Karaev will be reduced to a mere trivia question now that I've watched both of his pro wrestling matches. He instantly "got it" and would bust out all these great palm strikes, knees, slams etc. For shame. Shibata isn't as good as Usuda so he mostly played face in peril here. I liked the way Karaev fought out of the first leglock and a flash submission finish was about as good of a way to get Shibata the win as there was. ***

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Alan Karaev is a huge lad & he just clobbers Shibata w/ his strikes. Shibata sells like a champ for the man, and overall he rocks the underdog role so well here. Shibata going after the leglock in the early stages was awesome, and then him using it again to gain the victory was also awesome. Banging match. ***3/4

[Jetlag]

From my short-lived BML review a ton:

 

Karaev is this giant russian blob-like dude who uses an iron claw for a finisher. No idea where they found this guy, but he feels like he should be in a different dimension. Fighting Big Show or Otto Wanz or Tenryu in WAR or something. This was mostly Karaev manhandling tiny Shibata around which was amusing enough, but I felt he looked like a giant baby with his "swatting at flies" style palm strikes. The crowd were postively into this and Shibata however, who had no chance but to go for a flash submission against the giant. And he succeeded in that in less than 4 minutes. I'd say this match achieved what they were going for, but can't help but feel feel that the full potential of Alan Karaev was squandered.

[superkix]

This was Karaev’s first pro-wrestling match and…well, it didn’t necessarily show. I feel like he understood his working environment. His strikes weren’t bad and Shibata sold like hell for them. I liked Shibata trying to take out the leg with kicks and ultimately getting the sudden leglock submission. But yeah, this was really too short.