2177 replies to this topic

[Alan4L]

Speaking of Hashimoto, here he is meeting his perennially pissed off namesake:

Match is decent, nothing special but the POST MATCH is fucking glorious!!!!

http://www.dailymoti...oto-zero1_sport

THE WAR OF THE BABY HASHS!!!

[Eivion Thanotos]

Watched a few matches from All Japan's 3/4/12 show. Most noteworthy matches were easily Soya/Okabayashi and Nagata/Kono. Both are full of hate as one would expect. Kono/Nagata was particulalry nice as it was shorter than their last match with everything feeling more on point. And it alwys fun to see Nagata act like such a prick after each of these matches. You just want to see Kono knee him the face repeatedly. I can't wait for their cage match on 3/20.

[Jesus Dammit Tom Reagan]

Oh shit, they're doing a cage match at Sumo Hall? The last Sumo Hall cage match was the criminally underrated MiSu-Funaki war from 2010 that no one talked about for whatever stupid reason. Fuck, I loved that match. I wish I could find it again.

[Ryan]

I liked it at the time to a degree.

[Evil Otto]

Eivion Thanotos, on Mar 13 2012, 09:07 AM, said:

Watched a few matches from All Japan's 3/4/12 show. Most noteworthy matches were easily Soya/Okabayashi and Nagata/Kono. Both are full of hate as one would expect. Kono/Nagata was particulalry nice as it was shorter than their last match with everything feeling more on point. And it alwys fun to see Nagata act like such a prick after each of these matches. You just want to see Kono knee him the face repeatedly. I can't wait for their cage match on 3/20.

Nagata's post-match antics were incredible.  The gloating, the wonderful gloating.  

The cage match is going to be brutal, as it's still more of a set-up for Funaki-Nagata anyhow.  So, one would expect Kono gets his knees to the face in at some point, but also the inevitable, he's going to take an absolutely vicious (and humbling) beating from Nagata as well.  One of those matches where you just know something awful is going to happen, and that's exactly why you watch.

[Irving]

By the way.. who would have thought the Kono/Nagata series would be so good.. I just wish Kono would drop his shit MMA gimmick and turn into a crazy chokeslamming ass beater..

[Eivion Thanotos]

He really doesn't use much in the way of MMA outside of the juji gatame and that gets a better reaction than his chokeslam.

[Alan4L]

he's weird for me in that I don't really like any move or spot he does but he keeps me happy somehow.

[Ryan]

I think his forearms and jumping knee look pretty weak.

[Jesus Dammit Tom Reagan]

Mammoth Sasaki & Takashi Sasaki vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Masato Tanaka (FREEDOMS 12.25)

It's a bit like a Strong BJ match but with a heavy late-FMW flavor to it in that it's a bit spottier, faster-paced and they use a lot of chairs. It's another chapter in the storied Sekimoto/Mammoth rivalry, and much more entertaining than their disappointing encounter on the New Year's Eve show a few days later. It features what is easily the most reckless Sekimoto doublestack German suplex to date, with Sekimoto holding Tanaka, who was holding Mammoth, Just fucking nuts, plus it has probably the sickest brainbust of the year (an award Mammoth seems to win at least every other year), some downright disgusting strikes from everyone involved, and some nice believable nearfalls down the stretch. Unfortunately only about 10 of 15 minutes is shown, but I'm thinking the stuff that got cut was all middling crowd brawling, so it's all the better, right? Not worth nominating or anything, but if what I've described sounds like fun to any of you, go watch it here.

MASADA vs. Masashi Takeda on the same card is also worth seeing if you like deathmatches. One of the most sadistic and disgusting puro matches of the year. Not a great match, but fun if you like the sick shit. Takeda is a ball of charisma and has rasslin skills to back it up, he honestly deserves better than to be stabbed in the head by a guy I used to mosh with at local metal and punk shows in Beaumont, TX. Takeda is just too good for that. I wish he would move to the Strong BJ division, since it seems like he won't ever be winning the BJ Deathmatch strap at this rate.

[Mike Campbell]

Suwama vs. Takao Omori - 4/12/11

Why didn't any one pimp this bad boy during Ditch's listing and voting deal? Omori's fucking great at busting up Suwama's arm, and while he wasn't that great in any other aspect Suwama was there to pick up the pieces for a change.

[leglockwrestling]

All Japan Pro-Wrestling: 40TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR PRO-WRESTLING LOVE IN RYOGOKU VOL. 14
March 20th, 2012

All Asia Tag Team: Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Suwama & Takumi Soya

FUCK.  This was awesome. Takumi is still a little rough around the edges, but  god damn he's sooooooooooooo good. He still has to find his own idenity,  but he's such a beast. Suwama's timing is so good these days and man,  his presence is above everyone of his peers. He was so like Takumi when  he debuted. Oh, and Team BJW continues to bring the goods in AJP.  

Triple Crown: Jun Akiyama vs Keiji Muto

Fuck anyone who doesn't like this match. Muto brought his A game and Akiyama proved once again that he's the man. The ending stretch, like Otto said, was just great. There was such a big match feel with Hase, Wubai, and a lively Sumo Hall crowd with NOAH partisans.

[Eivion Thanotos]

Watched Suwama/T. Soya vs. Kono/Tanaka from 3/11 and AJPW's 3/20 show.

The 3/11 tag was fantastic and problably AJPW's best match for the year so far. All invovled looked great and gave out quite bit for what was essentially a house show. Takumi Soya continues to stand out in these tags with his FIP moments and the spirit he brings. Thought this was much better than the 3/20 tag with BJW and I liked that match.

The 3/20 show was good on the whole. Didn't think any of the matches were great per say, but the general quality of the matches was consistent. Raijin's return match was an ok showcase for him. You can tell he feels more at home wrestlign juniors than he does heavyweights. I think he will atcually stick around the next time he returns as it fels like AJPW may have finally found a place for him. Sekimoto/Okabayashi vs. Suwama/T. Soya was good stuff. I felt Nagata/Kono lacked a bit of the hate their preivous matches showed, but at the same time ended up fairly good once they started bleeding. Get Wild vs. Ozz/Cuervo was nothing great, but still surpringly decent with Mexicans playing ok heels. Akiyama/Mutoh was fairly good, easily the best Mutoh match in years. I didn't watch of the tags leading up to this so I wans't sure how the two mesh, but everything they did came toether quite well. The ending stretch with Mutoh trying to survive was particularly nice. This was probably my MOTN. Hope AJPW can continue to have shows of this quality.

[Crew]

Just watched M. Funaki vs Omori from CC '11 4/9 (yeah I'm a bit behind). This match was entirely too good for a throwaway CC bout. Not having a clue what he'd done to this point, for me this is the beginning of Omori Unbelievable Comeback '11, selling stuff that looks bad, and making the good stuff look great. He looks a little like...can't believe I'm saying this...Barry Windham. Funaki hits a full guard-into-jujigatame transition early on that looked like it belonged in Futen, awesome stuff. My '11 list is so thin I'm wishing it had been nom'd along with the other two matches that were from this show. I'm sure that in the up-catching I'll see better stuff, but damned if (minus the slap the boobs sections) this wasn't a pile of fun.

[Ditch]

Nagata's dance after the March 4th match with Kono is spellbinding.

[Evil Ash]

Ditch, on Apr 9 2012, 07:39 PM, said:

Nagata's dance after the March 4th match with Kono is spellbinding.

Good looking out!  I take it Nagata doesn't usually do a spastic shuffle after every victory?  This was phenomenal.

[Ditch]

I want to say he did a dance training montage for either the Dome show or last year's G-1.

[Salads]

G1. Champions Carnival victory = G1 training complacency.

[Alan4L]

Just finished the finals night of the NOAH tag league (which I'm calling their best tour in two years easily). That was a great show but I think the final had potential to be even better than it was. There was another 2-3 minutes of hot action there for the taking that could have but it to another level, but it was still in or around ****.

The two matches of this tour that you NEED to see though are Nakajima/Morishima vs. Akiyama/Saito from 4/22 which was just an incredible brawl/war of attrition. The other is from the final night and it was the match with nothing on the line - Honda & Go vs. Miyahara & Kensuke. An unreal performance by Miyahara here - his best ever. Go fucks him up in a major way and he fights back big.

Other really good matches:

-Both semi finals. Particularly loved Nakajima taking on the Z1 boys.
-Edwards/Cabana vs. Miyahara/Kensuke
-Nakajima/Morishima vs. Miyahara/Kensuke (this was the last 16 minutes only but it was awesome)

Pretty much everything Zack did on the tour was enjoyable too. Oh and the junior tag on the last night is a quality quality sprint.

[Ditch]

I understand why Big Japan decided to have its Strong BJ Tournament show include clips from the opening and closing Korakuen shows, but it's frustrating that they clipped everything to hell for the sake of 30+ minutes of footage we already have from the original Korakuen airings.