Goodhelmet's 2006 MOTY set

[Phil Schneider]

I am pretty suprised you liked the tag as much as you did. It made a cameo apperance on my list, quickly dropped off, and I liked it even less the second time. Casas was great in it, but I don't watch lucha libre for your 2.9 finish runs, honestly they don't do them as well as the Briscoes, and a lesser Briscoes match isn't something I am going to highly praise. I would be interested to see if you liked this as much on a rewatch.

[Loss]

It's the layout of the match that put it over the top for me. I'm typically a big fan of tag matches where one guy gets injured and they isolate the other guy. This match worked that concept really well, better than in just about any match I've ever seen. I agree that it's not something most people (myself included) really watch lucha libre for, but it's still a tremendous match.

 

After I finish making my way through all of these discs, I'll come back to it and see how it holds up.

[Loss]

Disc 3

 

L.A. Park, Marco Corleone & Johnny Stamboli v Dr Wagner Jr, Dos Caras Jr & Lizmark Jr - CMLL 05/19/06

I don't think I quite buy this as a MOTYC, but it's still a pretty good match. Total chaos in the rivalry between Parka and Wagner, and I like the dynamic of Jindrak and Stamboli acting as Parka's American muscle. Jindrak and Stamboli seem to have both come a long way since leaving WWE, especially in terms of charisma. Jindrak's showboating was really one of the best parts of this match, and I liked his boxing punches early on. You think the babyface comeback is never coming, and it finally comes later in the match when Parka takes off running when Wagner is angry and has had enough. Lots of mask ripping and tons of heat. Fun match.

 

Samoa Joe, Adam Pearce, BJ Whitmer, Ace Steel & Bryan Danielson v Chris Hero, Necro Butcher, Nate Webb, Claudio Castagnoli & Eddie Kingston - ROH v CZW Cage of Death 07/15/06

Great match, obviously. I prefer the six-man tag on the earlier disc to this match, but this isn't too far behind, and the angle and storyline here are probably slightly better. Great job setting up Homicide as the savior, and also building future ROH matches like Joe/Danielson. I've really tried to ignore the audience for the most part when discussing ROH since that argument is pretty played out, but JESUSFUCKINGCHRIST stop coming up with clever chants. That died as the match went on because the match was so good and the fans became lost in what was going on, but it's frustrating as a viewer, because you're spending time trying to decipher what the hell it is being said while all this overly clever bullshit is being spewed, and you start missing things going on in the ring. Anyway, enough about that. It's down to BJ Whitmer and his annoying hairstyle against three CZW guys after Joe and Danielson walk out, and Adam Pearce comes out to make it three on two. As far as hot babyface intros, I really think Pearce and Ace Steel were surprisingly better at that than Joe, Danielson and Whitmer, three guys who get a lot more play. Pearce is totally underrated for whatever reason and doesn't even get a lot of heat on himself in this match or the 4/22 match, which is sad considering he was bleeding all over the place and gave one of the best performances in both matches. He has some more fun stuff with Necro Butcher. Another great part of the match is Chris Hero is holding the house mic running his mouth about how great CZW is when Ace Steel just nails him. Awesome stuff. All hope looks lost for ROH till Homicide shows up with force (and forks) and the asskicking commences. Necro Butcher is a masochist of course, but chances are you already knew that, so him having barbed wire stuck to him shouldn't come as any surprise. The post-match with Cornette ordering the officials to throw them all out of the building was awesome. I'm still not quite sure what the point was of giving the coin toss advantage to the babyfaces, but the match worked just fine anyway. Nice conclusion to a great feud that seemed to mix in some fresh faces with some of the bigger names.

 

KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji v Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio - NOAH 07/16/06

I liked this one quite a bit as well. There are some really good exchanges early on between Marufuji and Rikio to put over the size difference, and make the point that WILD2 can overpower Kenta and Marufuji and also keep up with them on the mat. Pretty nice up and down tempo, mainly built around the pairings. Things stay a bit calm when Marufuji and Rikio are in, but KENTA and Morishima are the combustible elements here and the energy level goes up every time they're in and calms down a bit when they tag out. That's by design, as they build most of the match making you want to see Morishima and KENTA go at it, and the heat is great when it's basically the two of them going crazy the last few minutes. There's also some fun spots with Morishima destroying both of his opponents at the same time. This is really the match for me where Morishima starts living up to the hype surrounding him. KENTA and Marufuji both slip off the ropes a few times, but to their credit, they didn't really get rattled from it, although in both cases, Rikio or Morishima was right there and could have easily covered the spot.

 

LAX v Christopher Daniels & AJ Styles - TNA Hard Justice 08/13/06

Not really all that good a match for me at all, although the matching tights from Styles and Daniels are cute, and Hernandez looks really great. Anyone make any recommendations for some good matches from him worth tracking down?

 

Bryan Danielson v Samoa Joe - ROH 08/06/06

This is the best 60-minute draw I've seen in ROH. It had a nice face/heel line in the sand clearly drawn that was missing from Joe/Punk and just had better wrestling than any of the others. This is paced really well, and they do a great job of not telegraphing early on that they're going the full hour. Danielson keeps rolling outside to keep the match at a reasonable pace, but they play it like Joe is all about finishing quickly and Danielson is just trying to survive the match. It wasn't your typical hour layout with all stationary holds for 40 minutes followed by nearfalls for 20 minutes. Great job mixing things up. The best sequence for me was halfway through the match when Danielson tries the most desperate series of moves humanly possible to escape Joe's first muscle buster attempt, which finally leads to him clipping Joe's knee and working it over predictably well. Later in the match, Danielson did an amazing dive into the audience, maybe the best move of that kind I've ever seen. The final few minutes were also pretty awesome, with lots of big momentum swings where you'd buy a finish coming at the 58 or 59 minute mark. The only bad thing I could even say is that there's too much facewashing, but aside from that, everything here is on the money.

 

Kaz Hayashi v Shuji Kondo - All Japan 08/27/06

This didn't work for me at all. Pretty unoriginal and second rate juniors wrestling, with a few cool dives from Hayashi and not much else. Also a little annoying that he's selling a severe knee injury for the entire match, but it doesn't affect his ability to do any of his spots. Maybe my least favorite match at this point, or at least pretty near the bottom.

[Loss]

Oh, and ranking the matches:

 

#1 - Bryan Danielson v Samoa Joe - ROH 08/06/06

#2 - Samoa Joe, Adam Pearce, BJ Whitmer, Ace Steel & Bryan Danielson v Chris Hero, Necro Butcher, Nate Webb, Claudio Castagnoli & Eddie Kingston - ROH v CZW Cage of Death 07/15/06

#3 - KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji v Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio - NOAH 07/16/06

#4 - L.A. Park, Marco Corleone & Johnny Stamboli v Dr Wagner Jr, Dos Caras Jr & Lizmark Jr - CMLL 05/19/06

#5 - Kaz Hayashi v Shuji Kondo - All Japan 08/27/06

#6 - LAX v Christopher Daniels & AJ Styles - TNA Hard Justice 08/13/06

 

Overall:

 

#1 - Mistico & Negro Casas v Mephisto & Averno - CMLL 04/15/06

#2 - Samoa Joe, BJ Whitmer & Adam Pearce v Necro Butcher, Chris Hero & Super Dragon - ROH 04/22/06

#3 - Kenta Kobashi v Naomichi Marufuji - NOAH 04/23/06

#4 - Bryan Danielson v Samoa Joe - ROH 08/06/06

#5 - Samoa Joe, Adam Pearce, BJ Whitmer, Ace Steel & Bryan Danielson v Chris Hero, Necro Butcher, Nate Webb, Claudio Castagnoli & Eddie Kingston - ROH v CZW Cage of Death 07/15/06

#6 - Chris Benoit v Fit Finlay - WWE Judgment Day 05/21/06

#7 - Osamu Nishimura v Hiro Saito - MUGA 08/02/06

#8 - Jun Akiyama v Masao Inoue - NOAH 04/23/06

#9 - KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji v Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio - NOAH 07/16/06

#10 - KENTA v Naomichi Marufuji - NOAH 01/22/06

#11 - El Hijo del Santo & La Mascara v Blue Panther & Tarzan Boy - CMLL 01/01/06

#12 - Mitsuharu Misawa v Takeshi Morishima - NOAH 03/05/06

#13 - Kurt Angle v Undertaker - WWE 02/19/06

#14 - L.A. Park, Marco Corleone & Johnny Stamboli v Dr Wagner Jr, Dos Caras Jr & Lizmark Jr - CMLL 05/19/06

#15 - Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi v CIMA, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino - ROH 03/31/06

#16 - Abdullah Kobayashi v Takashi Sasaki - BJPW 03/31/06

#17 - Yuji Nagata v Giant Bernard - NJPW 04/30/06

#18 - KENTA v Kenta Kobashi - NOAH 03/05/06

#19 - Chris Benoit v William Regal - WWE 05/08/06

#20 - Kaz Hayashi v Shuji Kondo - All Japan 08/27/06

#21 - Shadow WX & Mammoth Sasaki v Abdullah Kobayashi & Daisuke Sekimoto - BJPW 01/27/06

#22 - LAX v Christopher Daniels & AJ Styles - TNA Hard Justice 08/13/06

#23 - Samoa Joe v Scott Steiner - TNA Slammiversary 6/18/06

[anarchistxx]

doesn't even get a lot of heat on himself in this match or the 4/22 match, which is sad considering he was bleeding all over the place and gave one of the best performances in both matches.

I think part of the reason is the fact that in Early 2006, they brought the guy in as a heel who hates the fans; two months later, he's a face in a huge company feud, for whatever reason. I just don't think he was the right man to be in the feud, as he wasn't exactly a loyalost stalwart of ROH, that would be desperate to defend the promotion. Maybe the fans just didn't buy it.

 

He looks decent in the matches, though Joe, Necro, Hero and Super Dragon are the stars. Then again, anyone can look decent next to BJ Whitmer.

[Loss]

Disc 4

 

Anthony W Mori, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Naoki Tanisaki v Magnitude Kishiwada, CIMA, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino - Dragon’s Gate 01/27/06

A little better than the ROH match because it seemed to have more purpose, but I still think going longer than 15 minutes or so for spotfest guys is too long, because everything starts running together and you lose track of what it is you're watching. Most of the good and bad of the ROH match would also apply here. This is just more guys involved going longer with elimination rules. Really too much of a good thing. Make that an okay-ish thing, actually.

 

Yuki Ishikawa v Hiroyuki Ito - Big Mouth Loud 04/19/06

If 10 minutes somehow could have been shaved off of the previous match and added here, we'd probably have two really strong matches, instead of two okay to good ones. Now, Ishikawa and Ito got a lot accomplished in not much time, but I've seen better from Ishikawa, and while I liked this, it wasn't really an overwhelming favorite for me. Good syndie TV-style main event, though.

 

Bryan Danielson v Nigel McGuinness - ROH 04/29/06

The second match trumped the first one between these two pretty considerably, but the first match was pretty great also. Lots of fun matwork, as you'd expect, with little twists like Danielson giving McGuinness a noogie while having him in a side headlock. It bugs me a little that most Danielson matches have him on offense for 90% of the match. He's a great talent, but it creates a sameness to a lot of his matches. I'd like to see how he'd work a match when his opponent was the one calling spots and leading sometime just to see how different it is. I liked the false finish with Danielson getting in at the 19 count and Nigel choking Danielson with the table was awesome. This match was mostly pretty stationary, which isn't an insult, as things that may not get a huge reaction like the lariat get a huge pop because the high-impact moves aren't too frequent. Nigel holding up the chair to block the springboard plancha into the crowd was great. And about that spot -- I've seen Danielson do it so many times on this set. It's not really a good signature spot, it's more of a bigger match than usual desperation spot. Undertaker does a big floor dive rarely and gets a lot more milage from it. Still, I'm nitpicking. Good match. See it.

 

Bryan Danielson v Nigel McGuinness - ROH 08/12/06

This was a classic, with a finish that will be easily remembered and a hot crowd. That ringpost spot where Nigel juiced was just incredibly brutal, and really set the tone for an awesome final stretch. This was ROH's Bret Hart vs Steve Austin match. I don't really care to argue about which match was better between the two or anything like that. What I'm arguing is that the finish of Nigel passing out without giving up in front of a crowd that really wanted to see him win reminded me of that. All sorts of cool stuff like headbutt battles and standing on your opponent's face during an armbar that you aren't likely to find with too many other wrestlers. One of the top five ROH matches ever for my money.

 

Bryan Danielson v KENTA - ROH 09/16/06

This is the third consecutive Danielson match on the set. Every match is better than the one before it. Danielson/KENTA was just really awesome and may be the best singles match I've ever seen from either guy. It was nice to see Danielson on the defensive so much since you usually see him schooling his opponent and not being put in a position to sell all that much. Here, he exploited the injured shoulder and it worked really well. The whole finishing stretch run was the stuff of legend, really. Some great kickouts that didn't feel overdone at all. Just really great.

 

John Cena v Edge - WWE Unforgiven 09/17/06 (TLC Match)

This was pretty good. The pre-ladder bumping part of the match was surprisingly good, with both guys wrestling really stiff and Edge pulling off a hell of a neckbreaker. They teased the weapons a long time before they actually brought them into the match. The whole story is that Edge has stacked the deck against Cena as much as possible -- he's the defending champion, the match is in his hometown, he's undefeated in TLC matches and Cena has never even been in a TLC match. The first time the ladder is brought in, Cena tries to push Edge off to make him crotch himself on the top rope, but Edge is the vet in these matches and manages to avoid it. Even the stuff that's a little messed up is covered so well that it doesn't really matter. Edge messed up a powerbomb through the table at one point, so they improvise and he ends up doing a powerslam through it instead, which is a much better spot anyway. Cena tripping Edge to avoid the conchairto, doing the blockbuster on the chair and the STFU with Edge caught inside the ladder were all great spots. Edge always does the spear from the top of the ladder in these matches, and he did it here, and Cena sold it like he had a major rib injury, which was cool. Cena wins, the crowd hates it, and the look of disgust on Cena's face afterward that he had to get so violent to get the belt back is great!

 

Osamu Nishimura v Tatsumi Fujinami - MUGA 09/25/06 (2/3 falls)

Even better than the earlier MUGA match on this set, as promised. This isn't two guys doing old school, it's two old school guys, kind of like going to a kosher deli versus a kosher-style deli. There's this incredible moment in the second fall where both guys are totally hesitant to make the first move, and Nishimura basically says "Fuck it" and kicks Fujinami's knee as hard as humanly possible. From there, Fujinami does a great limping sell where he's about to collapse. Nish is up a fall and Fujinami's future looks a bit gloomy, but he manages to get his revenge and destroy Nishimura's knee to the point where he submits to the figure four in the second fall, evening things up as they start to take it home. Fujinami is still working over Nishimura's knee, and in another great moment, Nish puts his leg on the middle rope and dares Fujinami to attack it again. One of the best matches of the year, and I'll be actively seeking out all MUGA ever now.

 

I've finished watching everything now. Will comment on the rest this weekend. At this point, here's how everything ranks overall.

 

#1 - Mistico & Negro Casas v Mephisto & Averno - CMLL 04/15/06

#2 - Samoa Joe, BJ Whitmer & Adam Pearce v Necro Butcher, Chris Hero & Super Dragon - ROH 04/22/06

#3 - Bryan Danielson v KENTA - ROH 09/16/06

#4 - Osamu Nishimura v Tatsumi Fujinami - MUGA 09/25/06 (2/3 falls)

#5 - Kenta Kobashi v Naomichi Marufuji - NOAH 04/23/06

#6 - Bryan Danielson v Samoa Joe - ROH 08/06/06

#7 - Samoa Joe, Adam Pearce, BJ Whitmer, Ace Steel & Bryan Danielson v Chris Hero, Necro Butcher, Nate Webb, Claudio Castagnoli & Eddie Kingston - ROH v CZW Cage of Death 07/15/06

#8 - Chris Benoit v Fit Finlay - WWE Judgment Day 05/21/06

#9 - Bryan Danielson v Nigel McGuinness - ROH 08/12/06

#10 - Osamu Nishimura v Hiro Saito - MUGA 08/02/06

#11 - Jun Akiyama v Masao Inoue - NOAH 04/23/06

#12 - Bryan Danielson v Nigel McGuinness - ROH 04/29/06

#13 - John Cena v Edge - WWE Unforgiven 09/17/06 (TLC Match)

#14 - KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji v Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio - NOAH 07/16/06

#15 - KENTA v Naomichi Marufuji - NOAH 01/22/06

#16 - El Hijo del Santo & La Mascara v Blue Panther & Tarzan Boy - CMLL 01/01/06

#17 - Mitsuharu Misawa v Takeshi Morishima - NOAH 03/05/06

#18 - Kurt Angle v Undertaker - WWE 02/19/06

#19 - L.A. Park, Marco Corleone & Johnny Stamboli v Dr Wagner Jr, Dos Caras Jr & Lizmark Jr - CMLL 05/19/06

#20 - Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi v CIMA, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino - ROH 03/31/06

#21 - Abdullah Kobayashi v Takashi Sasaki - BJPW 03/31/06

#22 - Yuji Nagata v Giant Bernard - NJPW 04/30/06

#23 - Yuki Ishikawa v Hiroyuki Ito - Big Mouth Loud 04/19/06

#24 - Anthony W Mori, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Naoki Tanisaki v Magnitude Kishiwada, CIMA, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino - Dragon’s Gate 01/27/06

#25 - KENTA v Kenta Kobashi - NOAH 03/05/06

#26 - Chris Benoit v William Regal - WWE 05/08/06

#27 - Kaz Hayashi v Shuji Kondo - All Japan 08/27/06

#28 - Shadow WX & Mammoth Sasaki v Abdullah Kobayashi & Daisuke Sekimoto - BJPW 01/27/06

#29 - LAX v Christopher Daniels & AJ Styles - TNA Hard Justice 08/13/06

#30 - Samoa Joe v Scott Steiner - TNA Slammiversary 6/18/06

[gordi]

 

 

KENTA v Kenta Kobashi - NOAH 03/05/06

For once, KENTA really seems to have a look of purpose, and I really like him better in this match than I did anything on the 2005 set, or the Marufuji match earlier on this disc. Had KENTA acted a little more like this instead of just kinda following along in the SUWA match, the match might have gone from great match to classic. Here, he's this surly little punk determined to rip Kobashi's arm off and feed it to him, and it's pretty frightening and surprising. I like the story at play here, as Kobashi plays nice for almost all of the match until he finally has enough and wins the match in seconds. For teacher versus student matches, this one seems to look pretty good next to Larry Zbyszko versus Bruno Sammartino, and even feels a bit like a Nightmare/Dick Murdoch match in Mid South. It's a LONG build to Kobashi finally snapping and having enough, and there are times when you think it's never going to happen, but when it finally does, it's pretty glorious. Good match. Not really "great" to me because it's largely pretty one-sided, but lots of fun and I liked the way the match played out when all was said and done. Kind of wrestled like a match designed to create a rematch, which I wouldn't mind seeing if it ever happened.

I love student vs. Teacher matches. I was there live for Taue vs. Morishima in Dec. '05, and that remains my favourite NOAH student vs. teacher match... but this one was pretty damn enjoyable in its own right, almost as much fun to watch on DVD as the other was to watch live. In the Morishima match, Taue ended up having to break out a new version of the Nodowa Otoshi (or however you spell it) to put Mori away. The match was great because it left both guys looking really strong. This match had the same effect, in that KENTA really took it to Kobashi, so he looked like a smaller guy who can legit hang with the bigger guys... but when Kobashi had enough he just busted out a super move and put KENTA away for good, proving that he's still the strongest. I thought the build was great, with KENTA putting out the little brush fires of Kobashi's comeback attempts in various effective ways. KENTA beating on Kobashi sounds bad on paper, but Kobashi is such a great wrestler that it never once felt wrong to me while I was watching the match.

 

 

Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi v CIMA, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino - ROH 03/31/06

I can see why this got the praise it did. I enjoyed it too, and could see myself watching it again. The rope running is pretty fun because it's so fast paced and spirited, and the overboard nature of all the nearfalls at the end went from great to annoying to enjoyable again, because they overkilled the two counts to a point where it became a little comedic. Still, when I think Match of the Year, I'm not really thinking a showcase match from another promotion with no real storyline that just exists in a vacuum in relation to everything else going on. It's enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but no one argued the Michinoku Pro 6-man at Barely Legal as the match of the year, did they? And speaking of that, comparing Dragon Gate to M-Pro, there are very few similarities, fewer than I would have expected. The Michinoku Pro guys tended to work more complex wrestling sequences, work in more comedy, do more showboating and emphasize the differences between all the wrestlers on each team. This is more guys who can wrestle really fast, but it feels more like the Big Japan style of catching a guy in a suplex as he's coming off of another move and doing rapid fire offense, which isn't really what I usually go for in my wrestling.

I loved 2005 Dragon Gate, and I watched a ton of it. When Meltzer gave this match *****, the common internet lament was that DG had put on dozens of matches that were very bit as good or even better, and Dave just didn't know that because he doesn't watch Dragon Gate. Well, I do watch Dragon Gate, and I feel pretty confident in saying that this match was indeed something special. It's like Blood Gen and Do-Fixer had been building to this match all through their magical 2005 run, and they wanted to pull out all of the stops (and all of the spots) for the Americans. Their was no build-up to this match as it was being presented to the ROH crowd, but for anyone who had been following DG in '05 there was plenty of story, and it was pretty clear what role each wrestler was playing. My favourite thing about this match is the way I can show it to a casual WWE fan who has never seriously watched Indy or foreign wrestling before, and know for a fact that they will enjoy it. As such, I've watched it a number of times with a number of different people, and I always get a real kick out of it.

 

 

Osamu Nishimura v Hiro Saito - MUGA 08/02/06

This match is ridiculously good, and totally caught me by surprise. I don't know if this match is all that indicative of the typical Muga style, but if it is, sign me up. This was a good match to watch after the Big Japan tag and the Dragon Gate 6-man, because it's pretty much the opposite of what those matches are. They take the time to really put over the big offense and submissions, which pays off, because Nishimura bridging out of a hammerlock gets a far bigger reaction than Abdullah Kobayashi killing himself because it's built up so well. Really simple, basic, stiff wrestling that's accessible and heated. I can't complain at all. Hiro Saito is really an unlikely underdog babyface in any environment, but he plays one for most of this match and is shockingly effective at that role. He sells Nishimura's headlocks and figure fours and Indian deathlocks so well. Any fans who really fell out of love with Japanese wrestling after 1998 would probably enjoy MUGA better than NOAH from what I can tell here. This is really a great late 70s/early 80s style All Japan or New Japan match, and both guys are awesome. Nishimura doing the rapid fire arm switching headlock thing is the greatest spot Bob Backlund never did, and hearing the crowd erupt when Saito catches Nishimura with a jawbreaker to counter a sleeper hold is really surreal for 2006 wrestling. The finish came completely out of nowhere and was really my least favorite part of the match, because it was such a quick comeback without much build, but at the same time, they got over the point nicely that Nishimura was better, but Saito was more resourceful. My favorite match off the first disc by a pretty big margin.

 

 

I got a real kick out of this match, too. One of the things that's so obviously enjoyable and rewarding about this set is the crazy variety of styles of great matches that took place in 2006. I've been getting more and more into MMA lately, and when I get the urge to watch some wrestling, it's almost always going to be something from the past. If I wanted to watch something newer in '06, I generally ordered some ROH DVDs. So it was really rewarding to watch disc 1 and get a nostalgic lucha match, a fast-paced kicks and spots juniors match, A classic heavyweight tag with some ultraviolence tossed in for good measure, a WWE Main Event style match with no unnecessary extra baggage, Misawa in fine form, A great big man vs little man match, a crazy six-man ultra-sprint... and now this. I had no idea that people were doing old-school borderline shoot style limb work in '06. What a treat this was! Frankly, I wouldn't want this as my every day pro wrestling bread... I'm watching too much actual shoot fighting, and I've only recently participated in the shoot style orgy that was the DVDVR Other 80s set... but this was great as an unexpected and very interesting ingredient in the '06 stew. It's different from UWF Shoot Style in that the focus is more on tight submission, limb, and mat work rather than striking. Nish and Saito have been building towards something like this for years and years. I didn't like the ending, but I'm glad that this match made the set.

[gordi]

Disc 2

 

Abdullah Kobayashi v Takashi Sasaki - BJPW 03/31/06

Holy hell. I could probably nitpick this match to pieces if that's really what I wanted to do, but it's not. There's a time to just say, "You know what? They worked really hard, they bled all over the place for my enjoyment, they took an incredible amount of punishment and they put out something pretty spectacular" and leave it at that. And that's what I'm going to do. Even doing that though, this is still pretty good as a wrestling match with death spots mixed in. There's a point later in the match where every time they make contact, debris goes flying of of their faces and torsos all over the place and it's an incredible visual. Each nearfall toward the end had more suspense than the one before it. Abby ate a light tube and Sasaki wrestled a big part of the match with a spike stuck in his skull! That's living the gimmick. God bless both of these guys.

I've been half-heartedly following BJPW, due mainly to FLIK's efforts at getting their stuff out there. I've been semi-enjoying a lot of it, but I've also been yearning for the comparatively sane and structured '99 - '00 Death Match style that was brought to its peak by Honma vs. Yamakawa. This match had some of the comparative mega-overkill of more recent BJPW, but for whatever reason (Sasaki being awesome, perhaps), this particular match seemed to tell more of a story and have more of a structure. The overkill stuff seemed more cool than disturbing, except for that disgusting visual of the nail stuck in Sasaki's head... It was easily the most I've gotten into a BJPW match since '00.

 

I watched this match with a friend that's really into wrestling. I think the only death matches he'd seen before had Foley in them. This match freaked him out a little, in a bad way. It was too much for him. I can understand that.

 

 

 

 

 

Yuji Nagata v Giant Bernard - NJPW 04/30/06

So Albert has really improved quite a bit. I don't think this is really a great match, but I do think it's a very good babyface versus monster match that deserves the positive vibe it's gotten. What keeps it from getting to the next level for me is Nagata's overselling of everything, to a point where it makes Ricky Steamboat seem subdued by comparison. Bernard having to dead lift Nagata to get him in position for the powerbomb and struggling to hit it was either a really badly botched spot or a really cool struggle. I couldn't figure out which.

 

 

It's nice to see that NJPW is going back to the basics. This is as good a Big American Guy vs. Tough Japanese Guy match as I can remember seeing from NJPW since, well, since Vader vs. Inoki at the '96 Tokyo Dome show. I'm not saying it's anywhere near as good a match, but I will say that it's a nice big step on the journey back to NJPW being the kind of promotion that knows how to put that sort of match together.

 

I guess I'll nitpick Bernard's weak-looking sidewalk slam, his half-hearted full nelson, and his showing too much light on the Vader splash. He did everything else pretty well, though, including selling for Nagata. There was some decent psychology, a good crowd, and even the wrestlers around the ring played their roles well. I thought that the finish looked devastating.

[gordi]

Disc 2

 

 

Jun Akiyama v Masao Inoue - NOAH 04/23/06

I loved this match as well. The heel versus heel thing really works to the advantage of both guys. Inoue's incessant stalling and complaining -- after being the one to rush the bell in the first place -- is so hypocritical and I love it. The face rake across the mat was also really cool, but what really put this over the top for me is the constant teasing of cheap/copout finishes, because of the sleazy nature of both guys involved. The figure four on the ramp was a great false finish. Akiyama is also really reliable for great knee use spots. The spot where Inoue jumped from the middle rope to be caught in mid air by that Akiyama knee to his face is nasty looking. Also like Inoue DDTing Akiyama, breaking the count and then piledriving Akiyama on the exposed floor. Awesome match that stands out from the pack pretty well because it's pretty far from the usual Kobashi/Misawa/Morishima/KENTA/Marufuji fare.

 

 

 

Masao Inoue is big and strong-looking, but he doesn't seem to have very good cardiovascular conditioning, and neither his agility nor his technique in the ring impress me all that much. Still, he more than pulls his weight here in what turns out to be a very entertaining character-based match. Inoue is the cowardly bad guy, and Akiyama is the cocky bad guy. They establish those roles right away, and keep going back to them throughout the match. The crowd sides with the coward, I guess because he's the underdog, and they play off of that to fine effect. There are some fine "turn about is fair play" spots, and two of the better "beating the count" spots that I can remember seeing in any recent match. As Loss points out, the spot where Inoue takes a knee to the chin in mid-air is spectacular. The repeated running knees are a nice touch as well. In the end, the coward redeems himself, not by winning, but by refusing to give up. A nice story, well told. There are too few matches like this these days.

 

 

Disc 2

 

 

Samoa Joe v Scott Steiner - TNA Slammiversary 6/18/06

One of the weaker matches on this set so far, but that's not really a major insult, considering the quality of everything I've watched so far. Joe gets more out of Steiner than anyone did in WWE a few years back.

 

 

 

Another match where the interest is based on character... but not on kayfabed in-ring characters, rather on what we (as serious fans) perceive to be Steiner and Joe's "real life" characters.

 

Steiner represents everything bad about pro wrestling: A guy with a great look, tremendous athletic ability, and all kinds of gifts... a guy who once put on groundbreaking matches... but a guy who now is obviously more interested in abusing bodybuilding drugs and living the life of a celebrity than in being a great or even a very good pro wrestler. A guy who puts himself "above the business."

 

Joe represents everything great about pro wrestling: An ugly guy with a bad body who came up the hard way and worked hard to earn everything he's got. A guy who puts his body on the line, night after night, to entertain the fans. He is always willing to make someone else look great in the ring, even if it means that he has to look bad. And so on.

 

I've never met Steiner or Joe. I feel comfortable making assumptions about them, though. For example: I bet I'm not alone in assuming that if I approached Steiner in public he'd be likely to snub me or maybe humiliate me in some way, whereas Joe would probably shake my hand and maybe be willing to tell me a wrestling story or two if he wasn't too busy.

 

There may not even be the tiniest thread of truth to any of that, but it totally affected the way I watched this match. I really wanted Joe to look good. I was genuinely worried that Steiner would sandbag him.

 

In the end, I was happy with how things turned out.

[Resident Evil]

I'm sure if Steiner could he would still go at it very hard today. He was one of the hardest workers of all time and the only reason why he's not wrestling like that today is because he got hurt and he got hurt very bad. The guy had more passion than 98% of the wrestlers that ever wrestled.

[gordi]

I'm sure if Steiner could he would still go at it very hard today. He was one of the hardest workers of all time and the only reason why he's not wrestling like that today is because he got hurt and he got hurt very bad. The guy had more passion than 98% of the wrestlers that ever wrestled.

 

 

I agree that he once had a ton of passion, but it has always seemed to me that his ego took over before his back gave out.

[Resident Evil]

 

I'm sure if Steiner could he would still go at it very hard today. He was one of the hardest workers of all time and the only reason why he's not wrestling like that today is because he got hurt and he got hurt very bad. The guy had more passion than 98% of the wrestlers that ever wrestled.

 

 

I agree that he once had a ton of passion, but it has always seemed to me that his ego took over before his back gave out.

 

To have a lot of passion, one pretty much has to have an ego. To preform at the level that he did he had to have one.

 

Scott Steiner went through an awful, awful lot injury wise. Moreso than most people.

[gordi]

Have you seen Joe vs. Steiner? What did you think of it? I enjoyed it quite a bit, it's not too often that I really care who wins and who loses and how it happens any more. I did with this match.

[Resident Evil]

Have you seen Joe vs. Steiner? What did you think of it? I enjoyed it quite a bit, it's not too often that I really care who wins and who loses and how it happens any more. I did with this match.

 

I'm not sure Gordi as I don't really know what's going on in TNA. I watched one of their matches together and I enjoyed it a good deal. I remember Joe squatting out of the Steiner Recliner which I really liked and than Joe hitting Steiner with a powerslam.

[Dylan Waco]

Joe v. Steiner was great up until the match. The hype and the promos for the match were awesome. Honestly they didn't work the right style of match and went too long. It wasn't abyssmal, but it wasn't good. On the other hand it was the ONE time in recent memory when TNA actually did a good job with the hype and they did a good job with promos and the match seemed special.

 

Say what you want about Steiner, but he is one of the only guys on TNA's roster who "gets it" and though he is old, he's in better shape then you would think, is capable of being decent in the ring and would probably be a better "keep" for the roster than virtually everyone in the X-Divison and alot of other guys they have invested alot of time in (Team 3-D, Bobby Roode, James Gang, et.)

[Phil Schneider]

 

 

El Hijo del Santo & La Mascara v Blue Panther & Tarzan Boy - CMLL 01/01/2006

What an awesome way to start this thing. Blue Panther and Santo are in first of course. Would you expect anything but? They do their typically great matwork exchanges with each other, as I realize they're probably doing similar matwork in some hole in the wall with no cameras somewhere as I type. It's all about the macho oneupmanship. They shake hands after coming to a stalemate at one point, and there's subtext galore going on, as it feels much more like a backhanded compliment than any genuine type of sportsmanship. Santo's headscissors from the ground up early on is awesome, but what made it even more awesome was that they slow-mo'd him using it to take Panther down. It's not even a highspot, but it's a good clue that whoever produced this thing understands wrestling. Some great familiarity spots here, my favorite of which is Panther challenging Santo to run the ropes and then dropping an elbow on him instead.

 

Santo hasn't really aged at all here, and the Tommy Rogers-style avoidance of heel doubleteaming, the Super Astro tribute headbutt and senton/tope suicida combo just make that point way better than I can. Santo also has a tendency to play to my inner wrestling nerd, as I feel the need to start bitching about him being overly dominant and showy right when Tarzan Boy catches him with a powerbomb to take the second fall for his team. I'm a bit spoiled on great trios matches because I've watched far too much 1989 EMLL, so I wouldn't call this a classic or anything, but it's still very much an excellent match. There are other matches I've watched so far that objectively are better matches, but this one is way more fun to watch.

 

I'm excited that there's more Santo to come!

 

I reviewed a ton of this stuff in the DVDVR so I figured I would add what I wrote to the mix

 

La Mascara/El Hijo Del Santo v. Blue Panther/Tarzan Boy CMLL GDL 1/1: Arena Mexico CMLL had an amazing 2005. You could probably list a dozen matches which were as good as anything in the world, and at least another dozen right below that level. However the style done in Arena Mexico was a little removed from traditional lucha match structure. There were some amazing brawls, and a bunch of fast matches with big spots, but you would rarely see the slow burn lucha match with a caidia of matwork, building to a big finish. In fact you are almost more likely to see matwork on Smackdown then on CMLL TV. That is the great thing about shows like Guadalajara and IWRG, they will often run more traditional matches, which will always be fun, and sometime you will get gems like this one.

 

Blue Panther on one team and El Hio Del Santo on the other is the kind of thing that gives a real lucha fan a tingle. They immediately go at it, and the matwork and standing exchanges were just beautiful. Panther is often considered one of the best mat wrestler in history, but Santo is always right with him. They have alot of stuff that they do against each other, and they break out a bunch of it in the first fall. My favorite section has Santo reversing a Tapitia, and ending up on Panther's back, he then shifts into multiple holds, sleeper, into full nelson, into swastika, into a octopus. Mascara and Tarzan Boy were fine secondary partners here, including a nice Panther v. Mascara mat section in the second fall.

 

The match speeds up into a nice fast third fall, with both Mascara and Santo hitting a pair of dives, including a huge plancha from one turnbuckle nearly to another, and alot of very nice near falls.

[Phil Schneider]

 

Shadow WX & Mammoth Sasaki v Abdullah Kobyashi & Daisuke Sekimoto - BJPW 01/27/06

I wanted to like this and tried to enjoy it, but sorry, no dice. I probably would have enjoyed this match more if it wasn't being talked about as a MOTYC. It's really more of a wacky comedy match with 2-3 minutes of hot nearfalls tacked on to the end of it than it is one of the best matches of the year. Garbage matches really require a lot of heat and atmosphere for me to get into them; otherwise, they just come across as pathetic. And this match didn't have much in the way of audience love until the final few minutes, which is a shame, because they were working pretty hard.

 

Chris Benoit v William Regal - WWE Velocity 05/08/06

It's Benoit/Regal and it's everything you'd expect from Benoit/Regal. All the great spots are here, and while I still think the stuff they were doing a decade before is better, there's a certain charm to this that maybe wasn't there in their earlier matches, and it's interesting to see what's similar to and different from the Nitro specials they used to do. This is the second match in a row (and not the last) that really needed to be transplanted in another promotion or town or something to play to full effect. It's a bit weird watching all these awesome and totally-not-WWE-style spots in a WWE ring.

 

Shadow WX/Mammoth Sasaki v. Abdullah Kobyashi/Daisuke Sekimoto BJW 1/27/06: This was basically an indy Double Takeshi's v. an indy Sugiara and an indy IZU in a big match for a tag belt. I would really be into Double Takeshi's v. Sugiara and IZU and I was digging this. I hadn't seen Shadow WX in a while, and he dropped the face paint, and is now weirdly handsome. Like a soap star playing a surgeon or something, just bizarre, is BJW trying to steal the Dragondoor audience now that their money mark is going to jail? I also don't remember him being this good, as all of his stuff was really stiff and good looking. Mammoth cut his fro which was a real mistake, as he looks a lot more generic now, and kind of fades into the backround. Sekimoto is the weirdest looking guy in wrestling. He has this muscular lumpy body and this really tiny head. Most roid guys have huge Family Circle heads, but he is apparently taking some weird Japanese steroids that make his head shrink. He looks like a giant cartoon baby, and every time he sells it looks like he is crying for his blankie. Abdullah is pretty bizarre too, he is a deathmatch worker, a fat guy doing a son of Abdullah gimmick, who has all this highflying offense. He hits a top rope splash, top rope Abby elbow, nice tope, and even a flying Mistico style plancha armdrag. Makes no sense, but I really enjoyed him here.

 

Match itself was your basic Puro tag structure, long beatdowns leading into a bunch of big move near falls. Being Big Japan, you had a bunch of chair shots, which worked fine, WX and Sasaki have a bunch of conchairto variations which look good and are nasty. They had a bunch of cool looking moves that got hit well, this was like good FMW heavyweight wrestling, without alot of the problems with that style, everyone sold everything, there was no really jumping up from stuff, and the pins were broken up, rather then alot of ludicrous kick outs. The finish maybe went two or three nearfalls too many, although it wasn't as bad as it usually is in matches like this. I want to see all four of these guys again.

 

Chris Benoit v. William Regal WWE 5/8

 

This is probably my favorite match up in wrestling history. These two just gel perfectly and they work this tight legit style which is just awesome looking. Really is the closest mainstream U.S. wrestling ever really comes to shootstyle. While Japanese shoot wrestling comes from a martial arts base, the Regal v. Benoit stuff is more based around traditional American wrestling, wrestled tighter and nastier then ever. Sort of a natural progression from what Johnny Valentine was doing. Lots of nifty little shit here, Benoit’s bug eyed sell after getting his head kicked into the ringpost, the beautiful but violent mat exchanges, the open palm strikes by Regal, the chop to the forehead. They way Regal takes the suplexes really works with the style of match these guys work, he makes Benoit dead lift him, so it looks like a really great feat of strength, and then at the very end goes over fast so he takes it right on his head and neck. Even the opening collar and elbow, was about the tightest collar and elbow lock up I can remember.

 

One quibble I have had about their previous WWE match ups, is that Regal never got any convincing near falls. Here both the count out (I think the only match Regal ever won in this series was by count out) , and the pair of exploder suplexes were both really nice near falls.

[Phil Schneider]

Picking up where I left off before ...

 

Kurt Angle v The Undertaker - WWE No Way Out 02/19/06

There were definitely lots of things to love about this match, and lots of things I thought they did really well. There are also a few things that completely went against what they were trying to do here. Still, I think the good outweighed the bad by a healthy bit, and this was still pretty excellent. Taker puts together a hell of a performance. I really enjoyed him taking Angle to the mat and schooling him early on, and also thinking a step ahead with his offense in the early stages. One of the best spots in the first few minutes is when he goes for the big boot, Angle ducks and he comes within inches of hitting the ropes and crotching himself, but pulls back just in time. He loses a little of that for me as the match goes on. The first apron legdrop looked really awesome, and the second one was SUCH a telegraphed indication that Angle was about to move out of the way. In fact, one of the things that I really think knocked this match down a peg or two is the amount of time it took them to set up their big stuff. The apron legdrop is one example, and another is when Taker goes to the top rope to set up the Angle slam. There was a good two minutes of stalling for time and dead space - or at least it seemed that way - before the spot actually happened. This match also could have easily done without the announce table spot. They were obviously trying to break the mold and put out a match that WWE fans would enjoy, but not necessarily in the same style they were used to seeing in main events. That spot just put a sour taste on the rest of the match because it was so cliche and unnecessary.

 

But because this is WWE, that's the spot that gets replayed several times and that gets the most announcer hype, because WWE has always been about putting inanimate objects over wrestling offense. All the cool triangle choke attempts, the apron legdrop, Angle's really great-looking knee clip ... all good looking stuff that wasn't going to get a lot of play because it wasn't such a hyped part of the style. And on that note, if I never see Kurt Angle hold on to the Angle Lock through every counter imaginable again, it will be too soon. It's cool the first few times it happens, and I guess I do have to give credit for them milking it for a great reaction in his matches when he was in the company, but every big show Angle match (or every extended TV match) included that same sequence again and again. People talk about Randy Orton being too in love with RKO attempts, but Angle is really the same way with the Angle lock.

 

But enough negativity from me. Undertaker's triangle choke is terrific and the photo finish with the move being reversed comes across really well and gets the desired reaction. This was the better match from either guy I have seen in a while. For all of the (sometimes justified) complaining about Undertaker being overpushed, him being as protected as he is really comes in handy in a match like this. When the Austin style took over main events in the late 90s, WWE main events became ALL about finishers. There was no reason to think the match was over until the finisher had been hit. Undertaker can bust out new submissions that are credible because he's credible, and the chokeslam, Last Ride and tombstone all really seem like they could end the match.

 

Overall, I don't think I'd call this a MOTYC, but I'm glad it was on this set, because for the environment it was in, it was really good.

 

Undertaker v. Kurt Angle WWE 2/19: We all come into watching matches (or really any art) with preconceived notions, preferences and biases. I came into this match with a bias against Undertaker, Kurt Angle and WWE main event style wrestling. So I was pretty shocked at how much I enjoyed a Undertaker v. Kurt Angle WWE Main Event. Of course alot of what I liked about this match is that it went against its inherent Angleness, Takerness and WWEishness. Undertaker spent this match selling, Angle spent the match focused and for the most part reigned in, and the match itself was based around in ring wrestling, and not ref bumps, visual falls and Shane McMahon belt shots.

 

I really liked all of the early Kurt Angle legwork, the kicks to the patella were really nasty, and the ringpost figure four and apron leg drop counter were both really nice looking. My favorite part of this match, was all of the working of the ten counts. Angle has to break both the ringpost figure four and outside the ring ankle lock, because of the count, and the are other sections early where the Undertaker has to roll back in to break the count. That of course leads to one of the big spots in the match, where Angle stops Nick Patrick from counting out the Undertaker. "I want to beat this motherfucker in the ring." I am liking Angle's current badass killer face character alot. It is a basic wrestling character and one the WWE hasn't done since early Austin. I think it is because you have an old school guy like Dusty helming Smackdown. This is opposed to shitty sticom writers who tend write every heel as oafish Dean of Students in a 80's college movie, and every face as "guy full of quips" like the Third Guy with the Girl and the Pizza Place.

 

Match had its flaws though, which keeps it in the middle of this list right now. You have you stereotypical guy out mat wrestles the Olympian opener, which is one of the most irritating parts of any Angle match. Cole and Tazz spend the entire entrances talking up the Striker v. Grappler aspect of the match, and then you have Taker locking a key lock on the mat, and Angle punching his way out . I also didn't like the table bump, although it lead to the great 10 count spot, it still felt thrown in and meaningless. They need to retire the table spot for six months or so, as it has really become a WWE main event crutch.

 

Finishing section had a lot of really great looking counters, although it felt like it went one or two counters too many. Angle has a NOAH juniors/X division tendency to have his finishes go too long, it didn't bug me as much here as it has in the past, but it was still there My main problem was that even though the majority of the match was based around Angle working the leg, and Taker fighting out of the ankle lock, the finish was focused around the triangle choke. The match was an ankle lock match, and should have had an ankle lock finish, Taker didn't need to tap out, Angle could have rolled the ankle lock into a pin, but after all of the focus on Angle's aggression and leg attack, it makes him look weak to have to pull a flash counter on Taker's submission. One could point out that even in when losing, Taker ends up subtly burying the guy he puts over, but that would probably make you paranoid.

[Phil Schneider]

Disc 2

 

 

Mistico & Negro Casas v Mephisto & Averno - CMLL 04/15/06

Once again, holy hell. Not only is the best match I've seen on this set so far, I'm pretty sure this is the best match I've seen this decade. It starts off with some really awesome matwork between Casas and Averno. Mistico and Mephisto then tag in and while it's obvious Mephisto is really carrying the exchanges with big motions and body language, it's still an awesome exchange and Mistico more than holds up his own end. When Casas and Averno come back in, we are treated to some really great Midinght Express-style doubleteaming from the heels. The whole sequence with Casas getting tripped from the apron and hitting his head, leading to Mistico getting a double Hogan-and-friend style boot, leading to Casas getting cornerned is so, so good and was the first real rewind moment I've had since starting this set. The first fall comes quickly, but they do such a great job in establishing the pace and the nature of what the match is going to be. The Midnight Express tributes keep on coming as we start the second fall. Mephisto and Averno take turns chopping (and those chops make Kobashi's look pretty pale by comparison), lariating and generally torturing their opponents, and then start pulling off even more cool doubleteam spots like the double bulldog and the stereo missile dropkicks. The way I'm describing this sounds like it's pretty much just a spotfest without a lot else to pull it together, but what elevates it from exciting to great is how stiff everything is and how skilled everyone is at selling everything at just the right moment in just the right way. Casas and Mistico get a lucky second fall out of nowhere to take us to the third fall after losing the first fall pretty conceivably. At this point, they really don't seem to have any chance of winning.

 

It's really awesome that Casas, despite being quite a bit older than Mistico, can outperform Mistico in his own style. Casas' dives and frenetic pacing hardly looks out of place next to that of the younger Mistico, and if anything, it's the opposite. Mephisto and Averno are still no slouches in this area either, with Mephisto doing an awesome somersault plancha to the floor. This sets the stage for the match to basically turn into an All Japan tag, with Mistico injured and Casas being left to fight for his team alone. The odds seem pretty insurmountable, as a physician is at ringside tending to Mistico, Casas is getting his ass kicked and they pin him with ease. At this point, pinning Mistico seems like child's play, but the technicos somehow pull off the impossible and manage to come back and win the match.

 

I personally loved this match. Again, I don't think I've seen a match this good since at least 1999, and maybe even further back than that. They really did an incredible job creating doubt over the finish, and every nearfall in the last 10 minutes of the match really seemed like it could conceivably finish. Just as fast-paced as the Dragon's Gate match in ROH, with the main difference being that this match is far more coherent and has a really great in-ring storyline going, and they don't overkill the false finishes. I can see why some wouldn't like this match, as the match layout is a bit smoke and mirrors and isn't really a typical lucha layout, and you obviously have three tremendous wrestlers making a style choice designed to make Mistico look like an equal. But in that regard, they definitely accomplished what they set out to do. Good for them.

 

Samoa Joe, BJ Whitmer & Adam Pearce v Necro Butcher, Chris Hero & Super Dragon - ROH 04/22/06

Having not yet watched Cage of Death (very soon), I feel comfortable calling this the best thing I've ever seen ROH put together. Just a wild, emotional rollercoaster with great heat. It was a throwback as much as it was perfect for the era and audience it was performed for. You can't really talk about this match without acknowledging how great Joe Zandig and especially Jim Cornette were at the beginning of the match in their debate. I don't know if the match would have come across quite as well without the lead in, but that doesn't really matter, because everyone involved delivered in a big way regardless. Adam Pearce and Necro Butcher were really the stars of this match for me. I'm becoming quite the Pearce fan after seeing this and recently seeing him play a great mid-80s heel in NWA Pro. That blade job was pretty gory, and Pearce/Butcher really provide the best stuff of any of the pairings in the match. I really want to see a singles match between the two of them, and am hoping one happened at some point that I just don't know about. Claudio's turn seemed either messed up or mistimed or something, I couldn't tell, but it also worked and helped advance the overall ROH/CZW feud. The battle between the refs was also really cool. Amazing match and atmosphere with more emotion than I've ever really seen in an indy match period, not just an ROH match. I wish it could be like this all the time.

 

Jun Akiyama v Masao Inoue - NOAH 04/23/06

I loved this match as well. The heel versus heel thing really works to the advantage of both guys. Inoue's incessant stalling and complaining -- after being the one to rush the bell in the first place -- is so hypocritical and I love it. The face rake across the mat was also really cool, but what really put this over the top for me is the constant teasing of cheap/copout finishes, because of the sleazy nature of both guys involved. The figure four on the ramp was a great false finish. Akiyama is also really reliable for great knee use spots. The spot where Inoue jumped from the middle rope to be caught in mid air by that Akiyama knee to his face is nasty looking. Also like Inoue DDTing Akiyama, breaking the count and then piledriving Akiyama on the exposed floor. Awesome match that stands out from the pack pretty well because it's pretty far from the usual Kobashi/Misawa/Morishima/KENTA/Marufuji fare.

 

Chris Benoit v Fit Finlay - WWE Judgment Day 05/21/06

As far as two guys having chemistry and knowing how to work with each other, it doesn't really get much better than this. There's not really a lot to say here. Just watch two pros that know how to do all the big things right and work in more subtlety than anything any of their peers pretty much anywhere in the world are doing at this point. So much wrestling here that is so basic, but manages to get over strong because it looks so good. I really loved the submission with Finlay stepping on top of Benoit's head and torquing his neck, but the match is full of things like that. Man, picking a match of the year after I've watched all this stuff is going to be harder than I thought.

 

Mistico/Negro Casas v. Averno/Memphisto CMLL 4/15

 

This has been a pretty rough year for CMLL, with their main events being cut really short, and nothing really delivering like it should. This however got close to 30 minutes and was actually worked sort of like a title match. Mistico usually breaks it out for big matches, but he was sort of subdued here, he and Averno ran through their fast exchanges, but the focus of the technicos was on Negro Casas as it should be. Casas was the conductor and is still one of the best wrestlers in the world. Just his opening standing switch section with Memphisto was beautiful. Then when he kicks it into gear he was great. The first two falls were on the short side (although not by 2006 CMLL standards) and then they had a super hot third fall full of big moves.

 

I don't really care for Ulitmo Guerrerro style "big spot" rudos, all I need from my rudos is good catching, some big bumps, nice punches and some shtick. Averno and Memphisto are not that kind of rudo, they break out a half a dozen powerbomb variations in the third fall, which is really five too many. It isn't my kind of lucha, but everything was hit really well, and the near falls were very cool. I hope CMLL delivers better this year, but so far this is the best I have seen.

 

(I ended up rewatching this for the play in tourney for the lucha 64, and liked it a lot less on rewatch. I think this ended up initially getting a higher spot then it deserved on my list just because I was desperate for some lucha to enjoy. I put this ahead of stuff like the ROH v. CZW six man and Rey v. Mark Henry which it wasn't nearly as good as)

 

 

Chris Hero/Necro Butcher/Super Dragon v. Samoa Joe/B.J. Whitmer/Adam Pearce ROH 4/22

 

This was the first match in the CZW v. ROH feud and was a totally fun all out brawl. Pearce and Whitmer are a pair of guys I don't really care for, but they both brought it pretty hard in this match. Pearce gets his head split open early and wrestles the match with a bloody vagina opened up on the side of his head, and Whitmer takes huge bumps including getting his head double stomped in a chair and getting Psycho Drivered off the apron to the floor. Super Dragon was fun in this too, although allot of the interactions with the fans I read about didn't make the DVD. If I got to see him monkeyflip a dipshit fan, or beel a bisexual, I imagine this match would have ended up higher on the list. The stars of this match were Chris Hero, Samoa Joe and Necro. Hero was such a great pussy heel in this, knowing exactly when to hit a cheap shot, run away or cockishly slap on a cravate. Necro was Necro, he took lunatic bumps, bled alot and threw really nice combos. Joe was a total maniac here, just killing everyone he gets his hands on. The Joe v. Necro showdowns were awesome, and I hope we get another real singles between the two at some point. My favorite spot of the whole match was when Necro sets up two chairs with the seats touching to suplex Joe through, Joe counters that, knocks Necro down, and switches the chairs so the backs are touching, before powerbombing Necro through the backs. Just the look on his face and the timing of the switch was awesome. I liked the Claudio turn, and the CZW boys really needed to go over initially.

 

Jun Akiyama v. Masao Inoue NOAH 4/23

 

My favorite thing about NOAH isn't really your big matches between big stars, it is when they elevate random undercard guys into a big run or two. They do a great job of making the crowd believe and even guys who have underperformed for years really step it up. Ogawa's GHC title run, Kikuchi's battling of the New Japan Juniors, Tamon Honda challenging for the GHC title and winning the tag belts, IZU battling for respect. Masao Inoue's big run is one of the strangest and probably the coolest, I think he had long been considered one of the worst big league wrestlers in Japan. In the last year or so, he has found a way to harness that shittiness into a formula that delivers great matches. The Dark Agents tag title challenge was one of my favorite matches of 2005, and his GHC title challenge is one of my favorite matches of 2006.

 

Inoue is perfect as the lovable heel loser getting his improbable big match. It starts with Inoue (who has visable indentations from his reading glasses) jumping Akiyama at the bell and hitting a big suplex and a roll up. Akiyama is established as a guy who can get upset quickly and the crowd buys the near fall. Akiyama locks on the choke, and you also buy Inoue going down quickly. Inoue then spends the next couple of minutes with some awesome stalling, and then some really great eye rakes. When Akyama responds to the eye rakes with rakes of his own, the crowd starts booing him unmercifully. Akayama is great as a guy who can't deal with the crowd booing him. There is a point where he just decides "fuck it, you want to boo, boo this" and just murders Inoue, including a calf branding into the steel barricade. Inoue is a working as a guy with a limited number of options, he can't go toe to toe with Akyama, and he can't out quick him, out wrestle him, or out power him. He needs to either catch Akyama in a mistake or outsmart him. The rolls ups, and the stalling fit into that, and he keeps getting near falls by tricking Akiyama into almost getting counted out. Near the end Akiyama is just killing Inoue, but Masao won't go down. It isn't no-selling because he is so tough, it is more like he knows this is his only shot and despite all of his flaws wants to die on his sword. Not a ton of cool moves or fancy sequences, but still one of the best matches of the year.

 

Chris Benoit v. Finlay WWE 5/21

 

This list looks like it is going to end up the top 20 Finlay matches of 2006. 20+ minutes on PPV between Benoit and Finlay and of course it was amazing. I loved the early build of this match, their Smackdown match had a lot of matwork at the start, but this was built more like a Memphis main event. They start with a really tight collar and elbow, which they roll to the outside while holding on to, then they face off and talk trash, with Benoit grabbing a super quick double leg and an amazing fight for a sharpshooter. Sharpshooter is a protected move in the context of the WWE, but I have never seen it sold like death like it was here. Finlay was struggling like his life depended on it. Then they go back to their feet and Finlay does a really great fake of a thumb to the eye. If the match ended with the ref DQing Benoit for poking Finlay in the eye, it would have probably been 17 or 18 on my list, instead they go another 20 minutes.

 

There were so many little pieces of Finlay greatness in this match, Finlay grabbing his own ankle to block the sharpshooter, shooting the half by the ropes, the constant shots to the back of the head, the hammer lock Dragon sleeper, eating the German suplex on the floor. This may be the first Chris Benoit match I can remember where he was clearly the second best guy in the match. Benoit ruled here, but this was Finlay's show, 49 years old and the best wrestler in the world. Who would have thought it.

[Phil Schneider]

Disc 3

 

L.A. Park, Marco Corleone & Johnny Stamboli v Dr Wagner Jr, Dos Caras Jr & Lizmark Jr - CMLL 05/19/06

I don't think I quite buy this as a MOTYC, but it's still a pretty good match. Total chaos in the rivalry between Parka and Wagner, and I like the dynamic of Jindrak and Stamboli acting as Parka's American muscle. Jindrak and Stamboli seem to have both come a long way since leaving WWE, especially in terms of charisma. Jindrak's showboating was really one of the best parts of this match, and I liked his boxing punches early on. You think the babyface comeback is never coming, and it finally comes later in the match when Parka takes off running when Wagner is angry and has had enough. Lots of mask ripping and tons of heat. Fun match.

 

Samoa Joe, Adam Pearce, BJ Whitmer, Ace Steel & Bryan Danielson v Chris Hero, Necro Butcher, Nate Webb, Claudio Castagnoli & Eddie Kingston - ROH v CZW Cage of Death 07/15/06

Great match, obviously. I prefer the six-man tag on the earlier disc to this match, but this isn't too far behind, and the angle and storyline here are probably slightly better. Great job setting up Homicide as the savior, and also building future ROH matches like Joe/Danielson. I've really tried to ignore the audience for the most part when discussing ROH since that argument is pretty played out, but JESUSFUCKINGCHRIST stop coming up with clever chants. That died as the match went on because the match was so good and the fans became lost in what was going on, but it's frustrating as a viewer, because you're spending time trying to decipher what the hell it is being said while all this overly clever bullshit is being spewed, and you start missing things going on in the ring. Anyway, enough about that. It's down to BJ Whitmer and his annoying hairstyle against three CZW guys after Joe and Danielson walk out, and Adam Pearce comes out to make it three on two. As far as hot babyface intros, I really think Pearce and Ace Steel were surprisingly better at that than Joe, Danielson and Whitmer, three guys who get a lot more play. Pearce is totally underrated for whatever reason and doesn't even get a lot of heat on himself in this match or the 4/22 match, which is sad considering he was bleeding all over the place and gave one of the best performances in both matches. He has some more fun stuff with Necro Butcher. Another great part of the match is Chris Hero is holding the house mic running his mouth about how great CZW is when Ace Steel just nails him. Awesome stuff. All hope looks lost for ROH till Homicide shows up with force (and forks) and the asskicking commences. Necro Butcher is a masochist of course, but chances are you already knew that, so him having barbed wire stuck to him shouldn't come as any surprise. The post-match with Cornette ordering the officials to throw them all out of the building was awesome. I'm still not quite sure what the point was of giving the coin toss advantage to the babyfaces, but the match worked just fine anyway. Nice conclusion to a great feud that seemed to mix in some fresh faces with some of the bigger names

 

Bryan Danielson v Samoa Joe - ROH 08/06/06

This is the best 60-minute draw I've seen in ROH. It had a nice face/heel line in the sand clearly drawn that was missing from Joe/Punk and just had better wrestling than any of the others. This is paced really well, and they do a great job of not telegraphing early on that they're going the full hour. Danielson keeps rolling outside to keep the match at a reasonable pace, but they play it like Joe is all about finishing quickly and Danielson is just trying to survive the match. It wasn't your typical hour layout with all stationary holds for 40 minutes followed by nearfalls for 20 minutes. Great job mixing things up. The best sequence for me was halfway through the match when Danielson tries the most desperate series of moves humanly possible to escape Joe's first muscle buster attempt, which finally leads to him clipping Joe's knee and working it over predictably well. Later in the match, Danielson did an amazing dive into the audience, maybe the best move of that kind I've ever seen. The final few minutes were also pretty awesome, with lots of big momentum swings where you'd buy a finish coming at the 58 or 59 minute mark. The only bad thing I could even say is that there's too much facewashing, but aside from that, everything here is on the money.

 

L.A. Park/Marco Corleone/Johnny Stamboli v. Dr. Wagner Jr./Dos Caras Jr./Lizmark Jr. CMLL 5/19

 

Man alive is primed up L.A. Park just about the best thing you are ever going to see. This was an absolutely insane brawl with Parka flying across ring and just beating the holy shit out of Wagner for the first couple of falls. Really reckless stuff, Parka would just fly through the air and it really looked like he had no idea what he would do when he landed. He ties tape around his face and hands. One of the recent additions to Arena Mexico is Tony the caracturist, he draws little pictures of Mistico and Dr. Wagner, so Parka just beals Dr. Wagner Jr. right into Tony, grabs his easels and just smacks Wagner with it. After getting pounded for a two caidias , the technicos take over when Corleone hits his partners with a running dive from the ramp to the ring. Wagner comes back and just starts wailing away on Parka. Including ripping off his mask and apparently breaking his nose with a narsty enzigiri to the face. The third fall briefly turns into a match with Lizmark and Stamboli actually doing some nice exchanges, before going right back into Wagner and Parka killing each other. After this match both Parka and the two refs got suspended by the commission. There were parts of this that were really awkward looking, but it really just contributed to the insanity of the whole thing.

 

American Dragon Brian Danielson/Samoa Joe/B.J. Whitmer/Adam Pearce/Ace Steele/Homicide vs Nate Webb/Chris Hero/Claudio Castognoli/Necro Butcher/Eddie Kingston ROH 7/15:

 

This was the Cage of Death finale of the ROH v. CZW feud and was one of the best "loads of booking" matches I have ever seen. This was a match loaded with storylines, and was a War Games match which didn't follow the formula, and usually both things are recipes for disaster.

 

I mean on paper the match layout reads like Vince Russoism, insider smark joke (J.J. Dillon winning the coin toss), in match heel turn (American Dragon jumping Joe), multiple surprise entries (Kingston, Homicide), in match face turn (Homicide), feuding tag partners (Hero and Kingston), random rule change (allowing Homicide in), then a post match heel turn (Cornette) complete with insider smark joke (Low-Ki being mentioned without any intention of him coming in.) I mean there is no way this should have been anything but a clusterfuck disaster.

 

However it worked, the booking of the match actually led to a great high point with Homicide coming in, and never felt like it distracted from the match, and the match was just filled with excellent performances.

 

Your seconds were great, Cornette was super getting furious at Danielson when he turned, and he owned the final angle, it is too bad that Homicide v. Cornette angle fell apart because it started great. Julius Smokes was his usual great self, I especially loved his furious attempt to get into the cage when Cide was being jumped. However J.J. Dillon, was the king second, just incredible, his awesome ring jacket, his look of disgust when CZW was winning, his backing away from Homicide when he came into the cage, and his rubbing his hands together in glee when Cornette called him in to whip Homicide. ROH really needs to find a regular role for J.J. Dillon, he is the fucking man.

 

The ROH team was pretty fun, Samoa Joe was awesome as you unstoppable face monster, wasting Claudio in the opening and coming off like a superstar. I enjoyed Ace Steel running in with the cow bell and just acting like a complete nutter, and of course Homicide came off as a total superstar. Rocking the old school JAPW deathmatch gear, pulling forks out, and just killing everyone, this was his match and he stepped up. I had no problems with Pearce, he was fine and kind of a non entity. Whitmer took some bumps, but he was the one guy in this match who made me groan, he would be throwing around shitty exploders when they weren't needed, everyone else was beating the shit out each other, and Whitmer would throw crappy elbows to the stomach or his fake Misawa elbow exchanges. They should have just gotten the Carnage Crew for those two rolls.

 

The CZW team however were the stars of this show. Nate Webb shows he is a complete fucking loon as he wins a bumpathon match with Necro Butcher in it. Kingston and Claudio were both fun, if a little in the backround. I especially loved all of Kingston's goofy facial selling. Necro also comes off like a huge star, this wasn't really a Necro showcase match, although his couple of big spots (running through the tacks, getting suplexed on the chair) were amazing, I would have liked to see a little more Necro offense though. Chris Hero may have been the MVP of this match he is such a hateble little prick, that you just want him to get killed. The crowd taunting cravates, his little speech in the middle of the match, running away, probably the match of his career.

 

American Dragon Brian Danielson v. Samoa Joe ROH 8/6

 

You can't really go wrong with the two best wrestlers in your promotion wrestling in a main event for a title. I really enjoyed this match, I haven't seen a ton of 2006 ROH so this was my first chance to watch heel champion Brian Danielson, and he was a blast. The opening had Joe just dominating and Dragon kept bailing out to regroup. His regrouping stalls were really great, as he would do deep knee bends or slap himself in the face. He eventually takes over on Joe, by smacking his knee with a chair and working over that knee. This may have been the one part of the match that dragged a bit, you are going to have down spots in a 60 minute match, and I did enjoy Dragon's shit talking, him starting the "boring" chant was pretty inspired. Still it was obvious from the start time of the match, that it was going 60, and this part felt a little like a time killer.

 

Last 20 or so was pretty spectacular. Joe's tope was as good as I have ever seen it, it was almost Popetekisish like some one dropped a couch out of a four story walk up. Dragon's springboard into the crowd is the craziest highspot on a show with Jack Evans on it. The near fall section was great, I especially loved the head and arm amateur takeovers by Dragon into the cattle mutilation. Joe powering out of the Big Daddy elbows, into landing his KO knees was sweet as well. Final spot of match was great too, as Danielsons goes for a roll up off the ropes which Joe counters right before three right into the choke. Just great timing on the spot, and made the crowd go ballistic. This was probably the best 60 minute draw ROH has run, but I do think that these two have a better 25 minute match in them. Still it had three separate "This is Awesome" chants, so Meltzer really should drop the 5 on it.

[Phil Schneider]

Disc 4

 

 

Yuki Ishikawa v Hiroyuki Ito - Big Mouth Loud 04/19/06

If 10 minutes somehow could have been shaved off of the previous match and added here, we'd probably have two really strong matches, instead of two okay to good ones. Now, Ishikawa and Ito got a lot accomplished in not much time, but I've seen better from Ishikawa, and while I liked this, it wasn't really an overwhelming favorite for me. Good syndie TV-style main event, though.

 

Bryan Danielson v Nigel McGuinness - ROH 04/29/06

The second match trumped the first one between these two pretty considerably, but the first match was pretty great also. Lots of fun matwork, as you'd expect, with little twists like Danielson giving McGuinness a noogie while having him in a side headlock. It bugs me a little that most Danielson matches have him on offense for 90% of the match. He's a great talent, but it creates a sameness to a lot of his matches. I'd like to see how he'd work a match when his opponent was the one calling spots and leading sometime just to see how different it is. I liked the false finish with Danielson getting in at the 19 count and Nigel choking Danielson with the table was awesome. This match was mostly pretty stationary, which isn't an insult, as things that may not get a huge reaction like the lariat get a huge pop because the high-impact moves aren't too frequent. Nigel holding up the chair to block the springboard plancha into the crowd was great. And about that spot -- I've seen Danielson do it so many times on this set. It's not really a good signature spot, it's more of a bigger match than usual desperation spot. Undertaker does a big floor dive rarely and gets a lot more milage from it. Still, I'm nitpicking. Good match. See it.

 

Bryan Danielson v Nigel McGuinness - ROH 08/12/06

This was a classic, with a finish that will be easily remembered and a hot crowd. That ringpost spot where Nigel juiced was just incredibly brutal, and really set the tone for an awesome final stretch. This was ROH's Bret Hart vs Steve Austin match. I don't really care to argue about which match was better between the two or anything like that. What I'm arguing is that the finish of Nigel passing out without giving up in front of a crowd that really wanted to see him win reminded me of that. All sorts of cool stuff like headbutt battles and standing on your opponent's face during an armbar that you aren't likely to find with too many other wrestlers. One of the top five ROH matches ever for my money.

 

Bryan Danielson v KENTA - ROH 09/16/06

This is the third consecutive Danielson match on the set. Every match is better than the one before it. Danielson/KENTA was just really awesome and may be the best singles match I've ever seen from either guy. It was nice to see Danielson on the defensive so much since you usually see him schooling his opponent and not being put in a position to sell all that much. Here, he exploited the injured shoulder and it worked really well. The whole finishing stretch run was the stuff of legend, really. Some great kickouts that didn't feel overdone at all. Just really great.

 

 

Yuki Ishikawa v. Hiroyuki Ito Big Mouth Loud 5/4

 

These are my two favorite wrestlers in Japan, working my favorite Japanese wrestling style. It probably should have ended up higher on this list. This was a lot of fun, but was really hurt by my expectations of it. Ito works a really agressive style, where he will either knock you out or make a mistake. Teddy Atlas would call him a TV friendly fighter. Ishikawa is the crafty veteran here who counters Ito's agression and tears him up on the mat. Some nasty shots by both guys, and some great tricky mat counters by Ishikawa. Ito gets two knockdowns and looks like he has the match won with a choke, but you don't want to take Ishikawa to the mat, as he outmaneuvers Ito and gets a sweet ankle lock out of knowhere. Great match, although I really think these two guys have a classic in them. This is a second match on a card, and the guys work it like a second match on the card. Ishikawa v. Otsuka from the first BML show was a semi-main event, Ito v. Tamura was the main event of the show it was on, and thus both matches should have been as good as they were. This wasn't set up to be that and it wasn't, although fans of both guys would still really dig this.

 

American Dragon Brian Danielson v. Nigel McGuiness ROH 4/29

 

This was a title v. title match and the first match of their trilogy. This has the long opening mat section which is your basic Danielson opening. Nigel brought alot more to the mat stuff then most opponents do, and I was really engaged with all of the early stuff. I especially dug the early headscissors escapes by Danielson, as I am mark for a good headscissors escape. I also like alot of the little things, the elbow to the small of Danielsons back, the grabbing and twisting of Nigel's ear ect. All of the stuff leading to the rope breaks was fun, especially Nigel going behind the refs back to piss off Danielson and make him snap and throw a punch. It was actually one of my old favorite Rugby moves, cheap shot a guy when the ref isn't looking, and then take the penalty when he swings on you. I imagine that the rope break shtick might get tiresome if I watched more Nigel Pure title matches, but I liked all the stuff here.

 

I also really loved the finish, I like a good countout finish alot, and the second row crazy Danielson dive headfirst into the chair was awesome. It was exactly the kind of loony spot the match need I also liked how it was set up by Nigel trying for the countout earlier. The reason I have this a little below the Samoa Joe match is that the hot near fall section before the finish was a big step below the Samoa Joe match, seemed kind of cursory to me, while the last ten minutes of the Joe match were insane. I really dug how these guys match up with each other, and I am really eager to see their other two matches now.

 

American Dragon Brian Danielson vs Nigel McGuiness ROH 8/12:

 

This match reminded me a lot of Austin Aries v. Samoa Joe when Joe dropped the title. In the sense that the body of the match was nothing exceptional, but it built to an absolutely brilliant finish. The stuff pre the floor, felt a little perfunctory. They went through the rope breaks and it felt a little like killing time, it was fine, but I think the early work was better in their first match.

 

Everything after they go to the floor is amazing. Nigel is certifiable for letting his head get mauled like that, but it lead to an amazing visual, and incredible heat for the finish. He had a lump on his head the size of a grapefruit and was covered in blood. When he comes back in he is just has a great babyface scream. He doesn't get in a ton of offense, but he does hit this amazing lariat. He does a spot where he bounces off the ropes to hit a lariat, the first attempt he fails because of the blood loss, but he gets his energy back tries again and just kills Dragon. It was such a great variation of a signature spot, and was one of the better near falls in company history. Danielson is such a killer, and the Gary Goodrich elbows have never looked this good. I really think after this match that Nigel could carry the promotion as champ, and that is something I wouldn’t have thought before this.

 

KENTA vs American Dragon Bryan Danielson:

 

KENTA is a guy I don't really like but who brings something to a match, he is really athletic and he has a decent dickish charisma. He is a guy who can have a good match if his opponent brings some order to the match. SUWA brought the SUWishness, Sydal brought some great underdog babyface charisma. Danielson had the bad shoulder coming in, so the early parts of the match (which can be a weak point in both guys matches) was really strong here, as KENTA had a target and just kicked the hell out of his shoulder. The middle section with Danielson working the leg, did feel a little time killish (although I did love Dragon's improv on the semi-blown tapitia.) The finish stretch was your normal Danielson hot finish stretch, and it really built into both Danielson's shoulder injury and KENTA's big winning streak. KENTA going back multiple times to the Fujiwara armbar after every move, Danielson being completely reckless to keep his belt, and the incredible near fall for the Go 2 Sleep. The last run was totally awesome with Danielson throwing everything at KENTA before getting the win. Easily the best KENTA match ever, and up there in the Danielson oeuvre.

[Phil Schneider]

I've finished watching everything now. Will comment on the rest this weekend. At this point, here's how everything ranks overall.

 

#1 - Mistico & Negro Casas v Mephisto & Averno - CMLL 04/15/06

#2 - Samoa Joe, BJ Whitmer & Adam Pearce v Necro Butcher, Chris Hero & Super Dragon - ROH 04/22/06

#3 - Bryan Danielson v KENTA - ROH 09/16/06

#4 - Osamu Nishimura v Tatsumi Fujinami - MUGA 09/25/06 (2/3 falls)

#5 - Kenta Kobashi v Naomichi Marufuji - NOAH 04/23/06

#6 - Bryan Danielson v Samoa Joe - ROH 08/06/06

#7 - Samoa Joe, Adam Pearce, BJ Whitmer, Ace Steel & Bryan Danielson v Chris Hero, Necro Butcher, Nate Webb, Claudio Castagnoli & Eddie Kingston - ROH v CZW Cage of Death 07/15/06

#8 - Chris Benoit v Fit Finlay - WWE Judgment Day 05/21/06

#9 - Bryan Danielson v Nigel McGuinness - ROH 08/12/06

#10 - Osamu Nishimura v Hiro Saito - MUGA 08/02/06

#11 - Jun Akiyama v Masao Inoue - NOAH 04/23/06

#12 - Bryan Danielson v Nigel McGuinness - ROH 04/29/06

#13 - John Cena v Edge - WWE Unforgiven 09/17/06 (TLC Match)

#14 - KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji v Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio - NOAH 07/16/06

#15 - KENTA v Naomichi Marufuji - NOAH 01/22/06

#16 - El Hijo del Santo & La Mascara v Blue Panther & Tarzan Boy - CMLL 01/01/06

#17 - Mitsuharu Misawa v Takeshi Morishima - NOAH 03/05/06

#18 - Kurt Angle v Undertaker - WWE 02/19/06

#19 - L.A. Park, Marco Corleone & Johnny Stamboli v Dr Wagner Jr, Dos Caras Jr & Lizmark Jr - CMLL 05/19/06

#20 - Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi v CIMA, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino - ROH 03/31/06

#21 - Abdullah Kobayashi v Takashi Sasaki - BJPW 03/31/06

#22 - Yuji Nagata v Giant Bernard - NJPW 04/30/06

#23 - Yuki Ishikawa v Hiroyuki Ito - Big Mouth Loud 04/19/06

#24 - Anthony W Mori, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Naoki Tanisaki v Magnitude Kishiwada, CIMA, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino - Dragon’s Gate 01/27/06

#25 - KENTA v Kenta Kobashi - NOAH 03/05/06

#26 - Chris Benoit v William Regal - WWE 05/08/06

#27 - Kaz Hayashi v Shuji Kondo - All Japan 08/27/06

#28 - Shadow WX & Mammoth Sasaki v Abdullah Kobayashi & Daisuke Sekimoto - BJPW 01/27/06

#29 - LAX v Christopher Daniels & AJ Styles - TNA Hard Justice 08/13/06

#30 - Samoa Joe v Scott Steiner - TNA Slammiversary 6/18/06

 

Some thoughts on Loss's rankings overall

 

-I have mentioned before how much I think Loss is overating the lucha tag, I overrated it intially too, although not this much. It wasn't really a lucha match, much more of a spotfest tag, and in that category it wasn't nearly as good as your high end Briscoes matches, still haven't watched the super pimped Super Dragon/Davey Richards spotfest tags, but I wouldn't be suprised if those were better too. Just in 2007 I would rank Briscoes v. Marvin/Suzuki and Briscoes v. Generico/Steen above it. Not as good as high end Briscoes in a sub genre doesn't equal top match of the year.

 

- Finlay v. Benoit and Akiyama v. Inoue are my 1 and 2, and Loss has both much lower. Those are both my type of matches though, and I can see not liking them as much. He also has Benoit v. Regal way low, below some matches which I thought it smoked. Way more interesting then either MUGA match IMO for something worked very similar.

 

-I am suprised that Cage of Death comes below the six man. Really thought the six man was a nice set up, but Cage of Death was really an amazingly well put together match.

 

-Looking forward to seeing how Loss rates the rest of this stuff.

[Loss]

I haven't forgotten about this, I've just been swamped at work the past couple of weeks in a new position where I'm having to learn a lot of new things. As soon as things calm down, I'll give this the attention it deserves. Hopefully, I can do some this weekend and also respond to some of Phil's points. (And the Keller thread ...)

[Phil Schneider]

You are slacking on the Lucha 64 tourney too.

[Phil Schneider]

Loss where fore art though