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Post by Agent Kev on Sept 1, 2004 20:50:18 GMT -5
American Best of Super Juniors - Semi-Finals: American Dragon vs. Chad Collyer-NJPW USA-4/16/04
Really solid scientific match-up that seemed to be missing something. I think Collyer's stoic character took away from bringing me more into the match. Dragon did a great job selling and conveying his emotions to the fans but Collyer lacks big time in this department and I think it hurt this match (at least for me). Nice finish as Collyer goes for his quick pin sometimes referred to as the "toilet flush" (or something like that) and Dragon counters it into the cattle mutilation for the T-A-P.
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Post by IWSfan4life on Sept 1, 2004 23:09:41 GMT -5
I probably would have LOVED every minute of this one simply because of who these two are and how much I have grown to LOVE Collyers emotionless character.
-Jason Burke
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Post by Agent Kev on Sept 3, 2004 22:43:04 GMT -5
American Best of Super Juniors - Semi-Finals: Rocky Romero vs. Ricky Reyes-NJPW USA-4/16/04
This was solid. Nice story here as Rocky offered his hand to Ricky before the opening bell but Ricky turned his back on Rocky and Rocky nailed him with a dropkick and they battled to the floor. This set the tone that they were wrestling for a spot in the New Japan Super Juniors tournament and their was no friendship in this match. Reyes controlled the majority of the match and kept control of Rocky for the most part (which was a little disappointing as Rocky is the better worker of the two and the match would have been a little better if he had been in the lead). Overall the match match was nice and stiff and the ending came out of nowhere (in a good way) putting over Rocky's armbar finisher as lethal.
Eddy Guerrero vs. Kurt Angle-WWE- 8/31/04
This was really good. The only thing keeping this from being a MOTYC was the DQ ending from the first fall (which actually fit in nicely with the story of the match) and the intereference from Luther Reigns in the third fall. Angle broke out the over the head belly-to-belly suplex which was nice to see again and Eddy reversed the Angle Slam several times with different moves (one for a flash pin). Good stuff and leaves the door open for these 2 to settle the score down the road once their paths cross again.
American Best of Super Juniors - Finals: American Dragon vs. Rocky Romero-NJPW USA-4/16/04
WOW, this was friggin' great. Romero totally owns Dragon in the first 5 minutes and even lands what looks to be a legit knockout kick to Dragon's noggin. Match evens out after this with both guys busting out tons of submissions and strikes and really giving it their all. Awesome move where Romero hits Dragon with a fisherman's suplex pin and Dragon kicks out into a front healock and immediately rolls into cattle mutilation and then from there into a near fall after he lost his grip on the move due to Rocky fighting out of it. Seriously great stuff here. You need to see this.
Triple Crown: Toshiaki Kawada vs Takao Omori- 7/18/04- All-Japan
This was my favorite match from the 7/18 show. Despite this not being pimped as much as Misawa/Koji I thought it was a better overall match that just worked better. I'm not a big fan of Omori but he did pretty well in this match, I dunno if he is a good seller of if Kawada knocked him a little loopy with some shots early on in the match. They had a real spirited run in the last 5 minutes that took the match home and made it IMO. Good stuff.
NWA Wildside TV Title: Jason Cross (c) vs. Ray Gordy vs. Caprice Coleman vs. Jeremy V-7/3/04- NWA-Wildside
Really fun stuff here. Cross looked really good in this match, as good as I've seen him look. Coleman and Gordy did there part as always but the story of the match seemed to be between Jeremy V and Jason Cross. As V has been on a quest to win the TV title and came up short in this match. V really seems to be blossoming as a singles wrestler as I'm digging some of the moves that he is featuring more prominently in his match (he's always been top notch at selling and putting other guys over).
NWA World Jr Title: Jerrelle Clark (c) vs. AngelDust vs. Jimmy Rave-7/3/04- NWA-Wildside
Pretty fun little match here that lingered on just a tad bit too long. AngelDust looked great in the Wildside environment. I would love to see more of him as he looked real good this past Saturday in Wildside as well. I've just recently been noticing how he mimics Homicide in a lot of his in-ring manerisms. Interesting....of course this is par for the course since Cide trained him. I would actually really like to see Cide vs. AngelDust.
NWA-Wildside Jr Heavyweight Title: 3 Guys That Totally Rule (Fast Eddie (c)/Salvatore Rinauro/Seth DeLay vs. Delirious/Matt Sydal/Brandon P-7/3/04- NWA-Wildside
Rules in this one was if Fast Eddie lost the fall then he lost the title to who pinned him. This was a whole lot of fun. I really think 6-man and 8-man tags are underutilized in the indys. Sure it's not very cost effective to book multiple talent in one match but look at some of the GenNext multi-man tags this year and the Wildside Hardcore Hell 6-man tag main event. All Awesome matches and totally let the guys get all of their signature moves in without it seeming too rushed. Everyone looked real good here. Sydal and DeLay had some solid match-ups and this match just flowed real well. Finish came when P hit Eddie with a Suplex bomb (think EZ Money) and then while P recovered Sal rolled Eddie out of the ring and took the fall so that Eddie didn't lose his title. Sal takes one for the team. Great stuff. Also, P thought he had won the title since he thought he was pinning Eddie but no cigar for P. These 3 Guys do totally rule.
NWA Wildside Title: Onyx (c) vs. Adam Jacobs-7/3/04- NWA-Wildside
Decent match here that ended in a no contest when Jason Cross and Mikael Adryan interfered and attacked both competitors. Jacobs looked ok, as this was the first time I can remember seeing him since the "Crowning the Champion" ROH show, but seemed to be a step off. Onyx looked like he usually does, which is nothing special to me, except he seemed a little tenative with his transitions and there was some miscommunication which didn't really take away from the match. BTW I think Steven Prazak and Dan Wilson are my favorite announcer team in wrestling right now.
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Post by Agent Kev on Sept 21, 2004 22:50:46 GMT -5
Manabu Hara (BattlARTS) vs. Rocky Romero- U-STYLE- 8/18/04
Wow this was fun. This was my first look at the promotion U-STYLE and so far so good. Basically U-STYLE is a worked shoot promotion. Meaning that their presentation of pro wrestling is more realistic than what we usually see. It features a lot of strikes and a ton of matwork (also had a couple of german suplex takedowns). The rules are kind of fuzzy since I don't know Japanese but it looks like the wrestlers are given 5 points and throughout the match they lose points for going to the ropes to break a hold. There doesn't seem to be any pinfalls, so I'm guessing that it's by submission or knockout only (as there was a standing 10 count at one point).
Anyway, just a ton of fun matwork in this one. The match ended up a 15-minute draw but Rocky looked great and Hara definitely more than held his own. Hopefully I'll be able to see more of Rocky and more of U-STYLE in the future (I have the whole 8/18 PPV so I'll be posting thoughts on it later).
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Post by IWSfan4life on Sept 22, 2004 17:23:50 GMT -5
Sounds good. Rocky is really getting his name out there and doing well all around the world.
-Jason Burke
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Post by Agent Kev on Sept 23, 2004 17:13:29 GMT -5
IWGP Junior Tag-Title Match: Jado/Gedo (c) vs. Heat/Tiger Mask IV- 1/4/04- New Japan
This was a really solid tag-match that only lacked crowd heat (most juniors matches don't get much heat at the dome) and a little bit of charisma. Tiger Mask looked fantastic in limited action in this match. Basically he just came in did him spots and Heat worked the majority of the match. Lots of near falls and submissions for the team of Heat and Tiger but Jado and Gedo pulled it out when they doubleteamed Heat for a powerbomb off the middle turnbuckle and then turned the lights out with a frog splash.
NOAH GHC Jr. Title Match: Takashi Sugiura (c) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger- New Japan- 1/4/04
Fun match here as they start off brawling and Liger hits a baseball slide to the outside and then a dive from the top turnbuckle to the outside only about 2 minutes in. After that they settle the match down and work each other over on the mat. Liger does a great job making Suguira look good in this one and Suguira holds up his part of the match. I'll take Suguira's Olympic Slam over Kurt Angle's any day of the week. Suguira's just looks more painful as his opponent looks to come down closer to his neck than the Angle version. Liger takes over at the end of the match when he hits Sug with a running Liger bomb on the ramp. Sug makes the biggest mistake of his career when he beats the countout into the ring at 19. Liger than goes on the offensive before Sug hits the Olympic Slam for a close 2. However, Liger prevails when he finally puts Sug away with a brainbuster from the second turnbuckle. Solid match and really makes me look forward to Liger in ROH even more. If he can have a really good match with Sug (who is someone I've never cared for) and an awesome match with Hashi (who is someone who has potential but has never looked great in singles action) then imagine what he'll do with the man that many people say is the best wrestler today (Bryan Danielson, no jokes from the BDiddy haters).
CIMA vs. Masaaki Mochizuki- Toryumon- 3/28/04
This was a strange little match. Started out with Mochi dominating with his kicks and then moved into a match where each guy took time working over a body part of their opponent. After that it broke down into the normal Toryumon formula with interefernce from the heels (members of Aagan) and each guy pulling out his usual signature spots. Then in a strange occurance CIMA nailed Mochi with a DDT and both guys were knocked out with Mochi on top of CIMA. But instead of counting the pin, the ref did a standing 10-count and declared the match a draw/no-decision. Strange stuff. Overall, a well worked and fun bout but the booking just felt strange.
IWGP Jr Tag-Title Match: Jado/Gedo (c) vs. American Dragon/Curry Man- NJPW- 3/12/04
This was a fun little match with a great finish. First 15 minutes of so of the match was the typical back and forth offense building to the finish. Finish came when Gedo had Dragon in the figure four. Dragon got to the ropes but Gedo would not break the hold. Curry Man then went to the top and hit the triple-jump moonsault to break up the move. Dragon tried a pin but Gedo kicked out. Dragon then hit Gedo with a Dragon suplex pin but Gedo kicked out. Gedo then caught Dragon in the toilet flush roll-up (think Chad Collyer) but Curry hit Gedo with a kick to the gut and then planted him with the Angels' Wings for the 1-2-3 and the upset win. We have new tag champs as Curry Man goes apesh*t~!
Great Sasuke vs. Wataru Inoue- Michinoku Pro- 5/1/04
This was a fun little match. Sasuke definitely impressed me with his aerial offense. Despite his age he can still go, he also did some nice matwork and hit some nice moves. Wataru brought the youth and brought some good energy to the match. He has an awesome arm submission called the Triangle Lancer which is basically a combo headlock/armbar. He put this on Sasuke and then rolled Sasuke around the ring while he had the submission applied. SWEET move. Wataru then brought the flash pins to no avail and went for the Triangle Lancer again but he went to the well one too many times as Sasuke blocked it for the 1-2-3.
Minoru Fujita/Ikuto Hidaka vs. Dick Togo/Masao Orihara- Michinoku Pro- 5/1/04
This was fucking great. Such a simple story and match but it worked so well. This was a story of hatred. From the moment Hidaka/Fujita came out of the locker rooms Togo/Orihara were all over them. Both Hidaka and Fujita were busted open within 2 minutes of the match starting. Story of the match was the heels just systematically taking apart the faces. Hidaka and Fujita showed awesome teamwork when they rallied but Togo and Orihara continually keep them down. Hidaka busted out some sweet offense including a swinging DDT in which he kicked off his opponents chest for more momentum and also a beautiful backdrop suplex that looked like it killed his opponent. Hidaka is SO underrated it's not even funny. Everytime I see him work I realize why he is one of my favorites. I just can't understand why he doesn't get the recognition he deserves. I've never been a big fan of Fujita but he showed a lot of fire in this match. Towards the end of the match Orihara broke out a sweet ass Spider German Suplex from the top and then followed it up with a moonsault. Togo finished off the faces with a pedigree and then his sweet ass senton from the top. AWESOME stuff.
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Post by Agent Kev on Oct 2, 2004 23:13:11 GMT -5
GHC Jr Title Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru (c) vs. Low-Ki- NOAH- 9/10/04
This one goes aerial pretty quickly with Kanemaru missing a dive to the outside and then Ki hitting a huge springboard dive to the outside. Ki then takes it back inside with some kicks and begins to work over his arm. Kanemaru gets the advantage and goes for an arabian press from the corner but Ki stops him and traps him in the hanging dragon. Ki goes back to working the arm and geeting in his kicking offense after the hold is broken. Ki then catches Kanemaru with a dragon sleeper in the ropes (Bite of the Dragon), it is broken but Ki grabs Kanemaru's arm and traps him in a sweet armbar in the ropes. Ki pretty much controls the first 10 minutes of this match. They go outside and Kanemaru gets the advantage and drapes Ki over the guardrail and hits him with a legdrop from the entrance ramp. Kanemaru then hits a running DDT on the floor on Ki. Kanemaru takes it back to the ring and continues his advantage. Kanemaru hangs Ki upside down in the corner and hits him with a running dropkick. Kanemaru then clamps on a tight headscissors to try and wear down Ki. Kanemaru then hits the arabian press in the corner that Ki reversed earlier. Kanemaru when for another move off the top but Ki caught him with a Koppou kick (which looked great via slow motion NOAH replay). Both guys exchange chops and Ki hits a huge jumping clothesline/forearm off the top and then follows up with an awesome sequence of offense that includes a nice tidal wave (also showed in NOAH slow motion), a black magic attack and a backdrop suplex pin for a near fall. Ki then goes for the KiKrusher but Kanemaru throws him off the ropes and hits him with a dropkick to the knee. Kanemaru then hits a nice headscissors from the top rope as Ki was perched on the top turnbuckle. Kanemaru then hits a splash from the top for a near two. Ki catches a small package for a 2 3/4. Kanemaru goes for a moonsault but Ki moves out of the way. Ki then hits a HUGE double stomp to the mid-section from the top rope for another near fall. Ki scales the ropes and goes for the Phoenix splash but Kanemaru moves out of the way (gets a nice buzz from the crowd). Kanemaru then hits a tornado DDT as the offense keeps going back and forth. Kanemaru for the moonsault for a 1-2-NO! Kanemaru goes for a brainbusta but can't get Ki up due to his arm being hurt so he switches Ki to the other side but Ki reverses into a KiKrusher! Both men are down and Ki cannot capitalize for a pin attempt. They battle outside on the entrance ramp and Ki gets Kanemaru in a fireman's carry (hooked like he's going for the KiKrusher) and runs him and dumps him back in the ring. Ki then hits the Tidal Krush and gets a very near 2 count. Ki then sets him up and hits an AWESOME Phoenix splash but somehow Kanemaru kicks out in the nick of time. Ki then put Kanemaru on the top turnbuckle but Kanemaru fought him off and hit a jumping DDT onto Ki who was on the ground. Kanemaru then planted Ki with a brainbusta for 2. Kanemaru then drags Ki up and hits him with a spiral brainbusta fr the 3 count. REALLY FUN match. Maynard put it up on CZWfans for download if you want to check it out.
Ki looked great in this match. Better than I've seen him look since before his injury in his match versus Wataru Sakata in August of 2003. Can't wait to see more of Ki vs the other NOAH juniors.
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Post by Agent Kev on Oct 6, 2004 21:38:39 GMT -5
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: American Dragon & Curry Man vs Ryusuke Taguchi & Hirooki Goto- New Japan- 3/21/04
This was a fun little match. I really haven't gotten into Taguchi and Goto too much as they are just too bland but Curry Man was the perfect recipe to spice this match up a little bit. Fun stuff and good to see Daniels in an environment where he can show off some of his skills.
GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title: Jushin Thunder Liger vs Masayuki Naruse- New Japan- 3/28/04
The more I watch of Jushin Liger the more I realize that he is the best overall worker in the business. This match, his 1/4/04 match versus Sugiera and his 3/6 match versus Hashi are perfect examples of Liger facing the younger generation of mid-card juniors and elevating them to his level during the match. I'm not a fan of any of those 3 guys but I have loved each and every match they have had with Liger. Liger, despite wrestling under a mask, is a champion of conveying his emotions to the crowd. He just does a tremendous job with body language that really lets you know how he is feeling and what he is going thru in each point during the match. Jushin Liger is your God.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Heat vs Koji Kanemoto- New Japan-3/28/04
Decent but bland match that seemed to be lacking some personality. Overall solid work by both guys but it just didn't draw me in like I hoped it would. Overall, I enjoyed the Kanemoto vs. Tiger Mask IV match from July better than this (as well as their 2003 encounter).
Yuji Nagata vs. Kensuke Sasaki- New Japan- 1/4/04
This was a fun little BARBARIC match. Both of these guys pretty much just tore into each other and they bled all over the place. Pretty enjoyable match and they lost a lot of blood. Great story too, with Sasaki coming back to New Japan after leaving then and Nagata fighting for his company that remained true towards.
IWGP Title Match: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Kazuyuki Fujita (c)- New Japan- 10/9/04
Match started out pretty well with some good striking and decent crowd heat but then Fujita strapped in the sleep 2 minutes in and then took Sasaki down and the ref counted 3 as Fujita's shoulders were on the mat. Very sh*tty ending.
Chris Benoit vs. Raven- WCW- 1/24/98
Raven came out with his flock and got a good "Raven sucks" chant from the crowd. The flock was then banned from ringside. Raven cuts a promo and then Benoit comes out to a nice pop.
Raven attacks Benoit before his gets to the ring with a dropkick thru the ropes and then starts off with an advantage. Raven looks good early with some snapmares and Benoit reversing one with a backslide for a near 2 before Raven gains the advantage again. Raven with a knee to the gut as Benoit came off the ropes. Raven goes for the move again but Benoit gets a surprise roll-up that pops the crowd. Raven gains the advantage again and sends Benoit to the floor and takes a chair to Benoit's back. Raven with an elbow to Benoit's throat. Back to the ring and Raven snapmares Benoit onto the chair. Raven with a bulldog onto the chair. Benoit reverses Raven and hits a drop toe hold onto the chair that pops the crowd. Benoit hits Raven with chops and then a stiff clothesline off the ropes. Snap suplex by Benoit onto the chair. Benoit rips off Raven's shirt and chops him again. Benoit sets up the chair in the corner. More chops to Raven. Raven to the outside, Benoit with a baseball slide sending Raven to the guardrail. Benoit sends Raven into the stairs. They battle up the entrance ramp, Benoit hits a suplex on the ramp. Benoit kicks Raven and he tumbles down the ramp. Back to the ring, and another snap suplex on the chair. Benoit stands over Raven with the chair and puts the chair on Raven's face and stomps on it. Benoit to the top and hits a headbutt onto the chair which was on Raven's face. Both men down. Crowd chants for "Benoit". Benoit covers but only gets 2. Benoit to his feet and goes for a northern lights suplex he lifts Raven but Raven blocks the momentum and hits a DDT. Both men down. Raven goes for a DDT but it is reversed into the crossface which the crowd pops for. Raven seems to be smiling from the pain of the move and refuses to tap but passes out from the pain as the ref raises Raven's hand 3 times with no answer.
Kidman in his itchy attire then comes down but Dean Malenko grabs him and puts him in the cloverleaf. Then the flock comes down and goes to work on Benoit/Malenko as Hammer carries Raven to the back as Malenko clears the ring of the Flock.
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Pike
ROH Pure Champion
Posts: 136
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Post by Pike on Oct 16, 2004 0:03:02 GMT -5
Inoue looks like such a freaking star, and I totally agree with you on Sasuke. I've never seen a highflier last ten years and still be able to do all the insane moves that Sasuke does. He is seriously one tough little bastard.
I cannot wait to see Ki in NOAH... I mean, I am going to mark out huge. I hope the crowd takes to him, I bet they will. If they build up Ki and he gets a shot at Liger I will completely soil myself.
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Post by IWSfan4life on Oct 16, 2004 0:27:25 GMT -5
Benoit/Raven I remember being decent, but I don't remember much about it. I remember Raven being in the Crossface and laughing before he passed out, priceless. I think I need more Raven stuff from WCW actually.
-Jason
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AndyKaid
NWA Champion
Member of Sweet & Sour International
Posts: 662
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Post by AndyKaid on Oct 16, 2004 1:32:48 GMT -5
Was Raven/Benoit as good as Raven/Benoit/DDP from Uncensored 98 (I think)? Oh, and this is POST 100 for this thread.
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Post by Voltage XX on Oct 16, 2004 11:52:14 GMT -5
Oh, and this is POST 100 for this thread. WRONG! It's post 101....REPLY 100. At least I'm pretty sure that's how it works.
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AndyKaid
NWA Champion
Member of Sweet & Sour International
Posts: 662
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Post by AndyKaid on Oct 18, 2004 0:14:37 GMT -5
DAMN YOU VOLTAGE!!!!
You and your damned "math" ruined my evening...
So that means... stylesclash was 100?
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Post by Voltage XX on Oct 18, 2004 0:25:33 GMT -5
I would suppose so. You could go back and count if you so desired. haha
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Post by IWSfan4life on Oct 18, 2004 20:02:19 GMT -5
YES! Go me!
-Jason
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