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Post by Agent Kev on Jan 1, 2005 22:52:06 GMT -5
Satoshi Kojima vs. Love Machine X- All-Japan- 10/31/04
This match went from good to fun to average to boring to just end please! The first half of this match was pretty good but then it just got kinda on the long side. Love Machine X busted out about 3 botched moves in a row and I was just begging for this one to end. Koji is lucky that this guy didn't drop him on his head. Disappointing. Should have ended this at around 8 minutes, instead it went a little over 13.
Triple Crown: Toshiaki Kawada (c) vs. Taiyo Kea- All-Japan- 10/31/04
This was a pretty fun match with Kawada and Kea basically kicking the crap out of each other for around 30 minutes. Good match but never really developed into more than a you do your offense I'll do mine, headdrop here, forearm here, kick here type of match. It was still a fun watch. The only thing that really took away from the match was the ending. Kea hits Kawada with EVERYTHING including the kitchen sink (or TKO as he calls it) and Kawada comes back with a couple of moves, botches a powerbomb, hits a clothesline and then barely gets Kea up for a powerbomb and pins him.
KENTA Single Match Trial 5th: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. KENTA- NOAH- 8/28/04
WOW. This sh*t was fantastic. I give it one million, billion stars. I seriously don't know how they could have made this match any better. KENTA is a superstar in this match as he shows tremendous fighting spirit and spunk in taking the fight right at the legend. Misawa plays his role perfectly by eating all of KENTA's offense and effortlessly showing why he still is one of the best going when he wants to be. Tremendous match, if you don't check this out then you are a fool.
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Carnage
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Post by Carnage on Jan 2, 2005 15:07:09 GMT -5
You will be happy, i rewatched the match and i also love it. My problem with it was that it was so short, but as you said it was Misawa absorbing most of KENTAs offense to show he is the Sh*t and Kenta being all cocky and thusly getting the snot slapped out of him. I loved KENTA channeling the spirit of Kawada and mocking Misawas sweat wipe. Definitly a great match with a good story and wrestling, but i only gave it three stars as both men have had better matches, and this one was rather short. That dosent mean i didnt LOVE it though
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Post by Agent Kev on Jan 2, 2005 15:11:54 GMT -5
Sometimes short is better. Make it impactful instead of long just for the sake of being long.
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Carnage
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Post by Carnage on Jan 2, 2005 15:53:34 GMT -5
True, but it was short in the sense it left me wanting more. Not in the sense that they didnt do all they could in the time given. Star Ratings are subjective and i was befuddled on this one, but i stand by it...for now...
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Post by Agent Kev on Jan 2, 2005 17:14:27 GMT -5
True, but it was short in the sense it left me wanting more. Which is what a wrestling match should do, right? Unless, it's the final match of a fued.
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Post by NewFnShow on Jan 2, 2005 18:01:15 GMT -5
I'm going to need to check this out. The only thing turning me off was the 13 minutes it was given, but since both of you are raving about it, looks like I'll need to check it out.
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Post by Agent Kev on Jan 3, 2005 22:51:32 GMT -5
Makoto Hashi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Low-Ki/Michael Modest/Donovan Holly- NOAH- 10/22/04
Fun little match here. Nothing to go out of your way to see but you shouldn't have to since it's on the same show as MaruKENTA vs. SUWA/Marvin. Kanemaru looks real good in this one and Hashi hits some sweet diving headbutts from the ring apron to the floor.
Kohei Suwama vs. Akira Raijin- All-Japan- 10/31/04
Just a quick match here between 2 rookies. I made a point to check this out since there has been a buzz around Suwama (I've even heard him compared to Tsuruta). Overall Suwama looked decent here. Considering he debuted earlier in October it's a pretty good match. He moves kind of awkwardly and is definitely a throw back to yesterday in his style. His suplex were pretty impressive and he has a real nice German. Hopefully he can develop as the Japan scene has been notorious for not creating any new stars over the last several years in the Heavyweight division (New Japan is the only possible exception to this).
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Carnage
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Post by Carnage on Jan 3, 2005 23:58:06 GMT -5
Ironically enough i do have to go out of my way to see this as i got the Marvin/SUWA vs KentaFuji match FREE, it was disc two of 10/22 and was given to me due to my order mishap with the source. So any match other than the main and Akiyama vs Bison Smith on that show i havent seen. its sad Really because that match looks good as well as Rikio vs Doug Williams (i havent seen Doug in a NOAH singles match yet)
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Post by Agent Kev on Jan 17, 2005 16:08:33 GMT -5
GHC Title Match: Kenta Kobashi (c) vs. Takeshi Rikio- 3/6/04- NOAH
If you like Kobashi's other defenses chances are you will like this one. Kobashi does a great job of making the fans believe throughout the match that he is beatable even when we know he isn't.
They square off early with Rikio taking the offensive at first and showing Kobashi that he is going to be agressive throughout the match. Kobashi gains control and dominates the first part of the match. Rikio finally gains back control by going after Kobashi's knee and grounding him. Rikio then controls the next portion of the match.
Rikio then pulls out some high powered offense as he powerbombs Kobashi into the corner and also hits a splash from the top rope and a back suplex from the second rope. Rikio then nails a powerbomb that they had been teasing all match long and gets a 2. Rikio starts to become frustrated at this point because he thought that would put Kobashi down. Kobashi fights back and tries for a suplex but it's reversed into a jackhammer type move by Rikio. Rikio then goes for another powerbomb to put Kobashi away but Kobashi reverse it into a rana and then hits a clothesline for a near 2 count. The warriors then trade slaps with Kobashi getting the better of Rikio and then delivering a clothesline to put him down. Kobashi then hits a half-nelson suplex but Rikio fights thru it and gets to his feet and delivers a clothesline but Kobashi fights it off, hulks up nails some chops and then hits a clothesline of his own for the win.
Really strong match here. And it's on the same show as the Hashi/Liger match which is highly underrated.
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Carnage
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Post by Carnage on Jan 17, 2005 23:23:23 GMT -5
Dammit Kev! Now thats another NOAH show i have to order
And i havent even watched half the Puro i got LAST WEEK (too busy working/Roh/buying other dvds)
ARGH!
Sounds good, i wonder if Rikio vs Kobashi II will be as good
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Post by Agent Kev on Jan 23, 2005 23:24:04 GMT -5
AJ Styles vs. Cassidy Riley-TNA IMPACT- aired 1/14/05
I didn't like this at all. Just seemed too contrived and had some minor miscues and timing issues that brought it down for me. Cassidy looked strangely enough like a young Shane Douglas (think UWF) except for his girly back tatoo. AJ looked decent here as his athleticism made up for his shortcomings as usual.
Christopher Daniels vs. Chris Sabin- TNA IMPACT- aired 1/14/05
This was disappointing. Very watchable, but overall medicore. I was pretty excited at the beginning as we got some actual chain wrestling from a TNA match, yes sports fans chain wrestling in TNA. Of course it only last 90 seconds and immediately following this Sabin was doing some crazy dive to the outside and coming up short.
The body of this match was Christopher Daniels honing in on Chris Sabin's neck and working it over with a submission, a powerbomb (from countering a rana), a death valley driver, a suplex that impacted the neck, forearms, headbutts and an STO. Of course this never really effects Sabin when he is on offense and doesn't play into the story of the match as Sabin rolls up Daniels for the win.
Daniels looked good here as he controlled the match and interacted well with the crowd but I'm still waiting for Sabin to grow into a better wrestler than he was in early 2003 and this hasn't happened. I always thought he had promise and he has some very nice looking moves but has never seemed to add psychology or depth to any of his matches that his opponent wasn't responsible for.
Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Misterio- WWE Smackdown- Aired 1/6/05
Holy crap this was fun. After watching the 2 TNA matches and then watching this it was like night and day as far as knowledge of working a wrestling match. Based on the last 2 matches I know Christopher Daniels can hang with these 2 guys but Rey Rey and Eddy are WAY out of AJ and Sabin's leagues as far as ability to tell a story and really connecting to an audience as well as connecting what they are doing in the ring to an actual story.
Lots of chain wrestling and matwork to open up this match as Eddy puts Rey Rey in a funky hammerlock submission and uses his body to put extra leverage on Rey Rey's arm and eventually seques this moves into a pinning combination and then going right back into the hold. Eddy stays on the hold but not for too long, but just long enough for Rey to sell the move down the stretch but it not really affect his ability to perform his moves.
I haven't spent too much time watching Rey Rey work recently but this match really shows that while he may have lost quickness from earlier in his career he is truely a better worker know then he was in WCW and he still has the highspots (although not as flashy) and still has the ability to make his moves and matches flow naturally.
Rey comes back from the earlier hammerlock work from Eddy and goes to work on Eddy's shoulder with a submission move and then plants Eddy with a nice DDT and then sells the arm that Eddy worked on earlier.
The next part of the match is where they play the game of human chess. Eddy skips out on a 619 and then gives Rey Rey a stiff kick as he attempts the Bronco Buster and finally Eddy denies Rey Rey on a rana from the turnbuckle. However, Rey Rey is not going to let this stand and pulls out a reversal of his own as Eddy does a sunset flip and Rey flows thru and then connects with a dropkick.
Conclusion of the match comes when Rey Rey jumps at Eddy and Eddy hoist Rey over his head and Rey lands on the ref and puts him down and out. Eddy then gets that evil smirk on his face and goes to lie, cheat and steal as he steals Rey Rey's title belt and tries to cheat as he puts the belt on Rey Rey and then lays on the ground and pretends to have been hit by the belt (after he attempts to wake the ref up). Rey Rey comes to before the ref does and throws the belt on Eddy as the ref comes to and as the ref gets up Rey Rey sells the belt shot and Eddy quickly turns over onto the belt to shield it from the ref's vision. The ref questions Eddy but he lies as he continues to try and cover up the belt. The ref turns to question Rey Rey as Eddy frantically tries to discard of the belt but the ref turns around and catches him red handed. When the ref turns back around Rey Rey is laughing and the ref grabs the belt and gets it out of the ring as Rey Rey and Eddy scuffle and Rey Rey quickly reverses a flash pin attempt for the victory~! What a great match.
The thing that really stood out to me as I stated at the beginning of this match is how much better Eddy and Rey are at understanding how to build a match, and connect with the audience. There was just a HUGE difference in what they TNA guys (AJ and Sabin) brought to the table than what Rey and Eddy displayed in their match. Definitely makes me want to seek out some more Rey Rey stuff from recently.
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Post by Agent Kev on Jan 30, 2005 17:27:56 GMT -5
CM Punk vs Petey Williams- 9/15/04
This was hard to watch. The first 1/4 of the match was really good but then it all fell apart with miscues and timing being off and it never really got on track. It just keep going and going and going until Petey finally won with a sharpshooter that had not built to. This was a huge letdown after watching Joe/Punk III. I'm still not a Petey fan, he just doesn't do anything for me.
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Post by IWSfan4life on Jan 30, 2005 18:13:45 GMT -5
Weird for me to type, but I actually enjoyed Sabin/Daniels MORE than Rey/Eddie in comparasion. Let me say, I LOVED both of these TV matches, but I dunno, maybe it was the fact that they were fighting for a spot in Ult X and had a time limit that kept it going. But nonetheless, I liked Sabin/Daniels more. I agree 100% with your review of Eddie/Rey. I also liked Riley/Styles and you didnt, but have yet to watch Petey/Punk.
-Jason
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Post by NewFnShow on Jan 30, 2005 19:06:51 GMT -5
I completely agree with what you said about this match. After holding off watching it for weeks, I finally checked it out today. And let me say, I was just blown away. Probably the best TV match in a few months, and definately the best TV match of January. I would love to see these to go at it again, as they have great chemistry together(as shown in their '97 classic, their '04 match, and this one) and they are two of my all time favorites.
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Post by Agent Kev on Feb 2, 2005 23:24:35 GMT -5
El Generico vs Dan Paysan- IWS- 10/23/04
Not a great technical match but this was fun as sh*t. Generico is a ton of fun to watch with his goofy in-ring persona and how he plays to the crowd and how they react to him. Plus he has some great highspots. Crazy ending when Generico hit a SICK Super BrainBuster. It looked like Generico wanted to suplex him from the top rope and smash his head into the turnbuckle but instead he went straight down to the mat. Had to rewind it and watch it more than once. Hell of a bump. Then Generico finished him off with a 450. Generico was a house of fire in this match as he hit a Blue Thunder Driver, A TiDragon Suplex (half Tiger Suplex, Half Dragon Suplex), Split Legged Moonsault, a wicked running yakuza kick to the corner and a ton of other fun stuff. Paysan did his part in the match but didn't really leave a lasting impression on me. Really fun match. Ole.
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