236 replies to this topic

[Ditch]

You're a fucking champion.

[Eivion Thanotos]

Sekimoto & Okabayashi vs Suwama & T. Soya, March 20th- 3 yes, 0 no
Akiyama vs Mutoh, March 20th- 2 yes, 0 no

YES to these two

[Lonestar]

Sekimoto & Okabayashi vs Suwama & T. Soya, March 20th- 3 yes, 0 no

Yes. Another great match-up between these two teams. Loved Soya's energy here.

[A.M.B.]

Yes to Kondo/Omega. I don't even know how to watch wrestling anymore, I feel like I watch so little I've lost the ability to analyze aspects of what make a match good and instead just like to be mindlessly entertained by violence. And fuck was the finishing stretch full of nasty bumps and hot nearfalls. That's all I want now. A few years ago I probably would have hated this, but Shuji Kondo landing on his head like he's 2003 Jack Evans and a raucous crowd make me smile, and squeak out a yes from me. This would have been a blast live.

[Ryan]

Sekimoto & Okabayashi vs Suwama & T. Soya, March 20th- YES.

[jumbojustice]

I'll give a YES to the 1/3 SMOP vs. Big Japan tag. While it was pretty similar (in fact, nearly identical in parts) to the tag match from a day prior in Big Japan that I no-voted, I thought they did I bit more right here. Namely, less Akebono, more Sekimoto/Okabayshi taking down the big men, including an impressive suplex from Okabayashi on Hama. And the crowd was better. Nothing earth-shattering, but really fun while it lasted, and who doesn't enjoy a story of LARD versus MUSCLE?

[KillSteve]

Sekimoto & Okabayashi vs Suwama & T. Soya, March 20th

YES. Easily the best Soya has looked so far and it was kind of refreshing for Sekimoto to be the one working the big end run. They did well establishing their roles in the heirarchy, there was interpromotional beef, good heat, lots of cool teamwork, fun exchanges and spots.... not mind-blowing but an easy yes.

[KillSteve]

Akiyama vs Mutoh - NO. Awfully lame, uninteresting Mutoh formula match. Akiyama hitting a big string of offence straight off the bat leading to Mutoh laying in a figure four lock was groan-worthy. Akiyama did well to constantly press the advantage whenever he was on offence with the knee attacks, even if it meant completely no-selling Mutoh's offence of FFs and dropkicks. The no-sell fighting spirit exchange of exploders and shining wizards was tedious and even more forced than when guys like Sugs and Sasaki do it. Mutoh spammed about 10 Wizards in the space of a few minutes, making it less effective than most staple offence. Then Akiyama again no-sold the moonsault straight into the choke, which was followed by more spamming for an underwhelming end run.

[Lonestar]

Akiyama vs. Mutoh - NO

Yeah, I wasn't feeling this match at all.

[Shootkick Man]

Voting:

Akiyama vs Mutoh-3/20/12 YES.  Match started hot out of the gate.  Mutoh definately can deliver in big matches which he did here.  Right now Akiyama is my pick for wrestler of the year!  I thought the shining wizards were maybe overdone but still it added drama to the match.

[Ditch]

YES to Okada vs Naito. Not mindblowing but certainly very good.

[KillerSpeed]

Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito-3/4/12 - YES

Wow, talk about a pleasant surprise. They built a really cool, nice lengthy match. Clever limbwork and they kept selling all the way to build towards a huge finishing run that surprisingly enough had zero overkill. Everything meant something. Okada sold the leg nicely, but Naito was the star of this as he brought some awesome looking offense to attack Okada's leg, plenty of neat tricky submissions but my favourite of all was the dropkick against Okada's leg that he spun into the guardrail which looked nasty as fuck. Some really thrilling counters aswell. People really should check this out.

[Alan4L]

NOMINATE:
Naito vs. Kojima 4/1 NJPW

Thought this was bloody brilliant. Naito carries over his form from the Okada match and Kojima steps his game up in the process. A nice blend of old vs. new and elusiveness vs. hard hitting. They build it nicely and the crowd gets really into things.

Naito vs. Tanahashi 4/1 NJPW
These two always click brilliantly and this was no exception. I believe this was their first Korakuen match against each other so it seemed like something a little different from their bigger venue bouts. I'm really enjoying post-World Champ, wiley veteran Tanahashi. The finish to this where he relies on craftiness to beat Naito instead of a mega series of finishers was perfect.

[Ditch]

YANO ya dummy.

[SpinningHeelKick]

YES to Sekimoto vs. Suwama from 1/2/12.

Sekimoto's selling was on display as well as Suwama's beastliness.

[Alan4L]

Ditch, on Apr 28 2012, 11:44 PM, said:

YANO ya dummy.

Actually I had the date wrong, not the name. It should have been April 5th. However it's very interesting that you felt Naito and Yano were interchangable for that write-up, LOL.

[Ditch]

*shakes fist in vaguely northeast direction*

[jumbojustice]

YES to Suwama vs. Sekimoto. Not a super high-end 'yes,' but I did enjoy this. In Big Japan, Sekimoto is almost always the big man (both in terms of physical stature and rank), so it's fun seeing him working more as an underdog here, where his size and strength allow him to be competitive, but for once don't give him much of an advantage. It also helps that Suwama is effective as the arrogant overdog, and there's a nice shift in his demeanor by the end of the match, when he has to start taking his opponent seriously. As for the work itself, most of it was fairly standard (which is what keeps this from being high-end), but it's executed well and they keep the pace up nicely.

[Alan4L]

NOMINATE: Champion Carnival Final: Taiyo Kea vs. Suwama (May 7th AJPW)

I just watched the Champion Carnival finals LIVE!!!! And it was God damn awesome!!! Crowd was into both guys, the action never lost it's grittiness or intensity and then we got the mother of all finishing stretches with Kea going into the old school AJPW playbook for a TD 91, a Western Lariat and a Backdrop Driver! Insanity. Suwama was such a fucking champ eating all this. Amazing match.

[fxnj]

Alan4L, on May 7 2012, 12:41 PM, said:

Kea going into the old school AJPW playbook for a TD 91, a Western Lariat and a Backdrop Driver! Insanity.

I need to see this.