nivvad Posted July 8, 2018 Report Share Posted July 8, 2018 This is a Cody match, so of course not everyone will be a fan of it, but personally speaking this is the best Cody singles match to date. This match turned out to be a wild brawl filled with weapons and lots of heat for Cody and Kenny to beat the hell out of each other. Call it "smoke and mirrors" if you want, a good match is still a good match in my eyes no matter how it is presented. Sure it wasn't the standard IWGP Heavyweight title matches that were set by Okada the last two years, but this match didn't have to be like that at all. If anything, I'm glad both men took a risk with this match and made it different from the rest of the title matches in making this feel huge and climactic. Of course, everyone knowing Cody had little to no chance of winning kind of hurt the match in a way, but the execution was still very enjoyable to me and a great way to end the show. The post-match stuff is also a great twist to add more intrigue to the upcoming G1 Climax, ****1/2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted July 8, 2018 Report Share Posted July 8, 2018 I'm sorry, when you wrestle a 35-minute match and create no sense (either in the building or for the regular NJ viewer) that the challenger can win, that's a problem. The ladder felt completely inorganic to me, like it was only there so they could do the one crazy spot. I did not feel an escalating sense of violence. I guess they were trying to convey that Cody pushed Kenny, as the babyface, to lose his mind. But I didn't feel it, and the crowd didn't seem to either. Compare the heat to the Juice-White match. It just wasn't there. I also thought Kenny did too much in the stretch run, because again, there was no sense that he needed to dig deep in his bag to beat Cody. Post-match angle aside, the whole thing was a real failure of pacing and structure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G. Badger Posted July 9, 2018 Report Share Posted July 9, 2018 I agree with Childs. The match's pace and structure was really poor after the 12-15 minute area. It was all over the place. The ladder stuff not being in the end is a good example. However, they could have saved the match/story towards the end when Brandi came in to protect Cody. There were two good options there but, they opted for the 3rd, meaningless and unconvincing, option. With that said, the first portion of the bout was really good in the "keep it simple, stupid" way. Cody seemed to get worse as the match went on and Kenny just lost all sense of direction. It kinda reminds me of a Jerry Lynn vs RVD PPV match. There's positives there but, they get lost in the mix of spots, out of place comebacks, and trying for too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted July 10, 2018 Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 I found this incredibly disappointing. I didn't love the ROH match over Mania weekend, so the fact that this was similarly bloated without any real hook other than a couple illogical big spots made it a very inferior sequel. Not sure what the thinking was, as you've got two world class personalities, along with one world class performer and another who can certainly hold his own in the ring. Yet rather than capitalize on those raw materials they tried for an epic world title affair that completely missed the mark and dragged like nails on a chalkboard after the first 10-15. Perhaps I'm being overly harsh, but matches that go wildly and unnecessarily long are arguably my least favorite around. And I'm someone who's generally doing backflips over most NJPW main events. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klhare Posted July 10, 2018 Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 I liked this more than the ROH match but wasn't really crazy about either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmartMark15 Posted July 14, 2018 Report Share Posted July 14, 2018 Didn't see the ROH match. Thought they had a decent rhythm going in the opening minutes but once the ladder came out, the match completely fell apart. Incredibly disappointing. ***1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted July 14, 2018 Report Share Posted July 14, 2018 WIth CHilds here. Really hollow match that just wouldn't end and not once did I buy Cody winning. **3/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Rock Posted July 14, 2018 Report Share Posted July 14, 2018 I liked this match more than most but I agree that the ladder stuff really hurt the pace and disrupted what was until then a perfectly solid bout (although the superplex was admittedly cool). I think the reasoning was that they know Cody isn't the kind of guy who is good at wrestling these kinds of matches and they needed a bit of smoke and mirrors to compensate. But really, they should have just shortened the match rather than meet the obligatory 30-minute rule. The finishing stretch was perfectly fine though as Kenny's offense is always pretty impressive, but overall it was just more fluffed-up than what it needed to be. Like G. Badger said, keep it simple stupid. Still, I thought that this was a pretty good match that unfortunately sandwiched an illogical spot that kept it from becoming better than what it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.