Review the Last Wrestling Match You Watched

[Horrorfan_1986]

Eddie Kingston (c) vs Vin Gerard - CHIKARA Grand Championship - Caught In The Spider's Den
Kingston's first title defense. Had this match had a different tone to it, I don't think it would have been memorable for me. These two didn't have your typical wrestling match. Instead, they tried putting on a match that looked like a real fight. With the entire build-up being that Gerard injured Kingston's knee, that injury nearly keeping Kingston out of the 12 Large Summit finals and Kingston having to use some stroke to get Gerard rehired by CHIKARA to get a piece of him, that's exactly what the match should have been like. Almost all of Gerard's offense is on Kingston's previously injured knee. Since this was a fight and not a wrestling match, both guys rarely used any wrestling moves. Almost all of the offense by both are strikes. Kingston using plenty of chops while Gerard kicks and stomps on Kingston's knee. The one real negative of the match was Gerard's incredibly weak looking STF. We're talking it looked loose enough that even John Cena would think it looks pathetic. It's made worse by the fact that everything else was built around looking real. So in the middle of this "Real" fight, you had a fake looking submission hold. Lame. Kingston's the man though. His first backfist to the future looked like it nearly knocked Gerard out cold. Although a bit cheesy, Kingston's line of "Get out of my promotion" before Kingston nailed his final backfist was a nice touch to end this realistic grudge feud. It may not be as good as Kingston/Quack, but it's a hell of a first title defense by Kingston. 3 3/4 Stars.

 

[Postman Dave]

Gerard's last match at least he's moved onto better things; picking on bowlers.

That backfist looks straight up nasty.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Respect is Earned
May 12, 2007
PPV #1

BJ Whitmer opens up the very first PPV. He puts over how ROH is a company built on letting the wrestling do the talking. He challenges anyone to fight him right now.

Takeshi Morishima (c) vs BJ Whitmer - ROH World Title
A competitive three minute match built around making Morishima look like an unstoppable monster. While Whitmer does get in a lot of offense to keep him from looking like a jobber, they're careful to make sure that Morishima is never in trouble. After a few hopeless nearfalls by Whitmer, Morishima eats him alive and beats him with a backdrop driver to retain the belt. Morishima's unstoppable and Whitmer's a loveable loser. 2 Stars.

After the match, Nigel McGuinness hits the ring and demands to have the next crack at Morishima's ROH World Title. That brings out Bryan Danielson. Danielson lists some of the men he successfully defended the ROH Title against during his fifteen month reign, including Nigel. A fight breaks out between Danielson and Nigel with Morishima eventually taking Danielson's side in the two-on-one beat down of Nigel. With Morishima distracted with Nigel, Danielson picks up the ROH World Title. Morishima eventually rips the title out of Danielson's hands and leaves. We're only ten minutes into the PPV and we already have three huge future matches set-up (Danielson vs Nigel, Nigel vs Morishima and Morishima vs Danielson).

A vignette for Brent Albright airs. Albright plans on making money by being a gun for hire.

Rocky Romero vs Naomichi Marufuji
Rocky is representing the No Remorse Corps. The early going is built around Rocky working over the arm of Marufuji. From there it shifts to Marufuji spending a lot of time working over the knee of Romero. Romero's selling was pretty damn good while it was happening. It does make for an unusual match layout as the heel (Romero) is basically in the babyface role. Both guys forget about their injuries to give the fans the exciting finishing stretch. Marufuji ends up winning with the Shiranui. The positive to the finishing move is that the commentators were hyping it earlier in the match. So it's a good way to establish that it's Marufuji's top move. The problem is that all of that leg work was without purpose. These issues kept the match from being great, still it's a rather good showing despite the flaws. 3 Stars.

In the back, Larry Sweeney and trainer, Tank Toland, cuts a promo introducing his newest client, Sara Del Rey. Sweeney puts over his full Sweet and Sour Inc faction. Toland promises to transform Bobby Dempsey into a Greek God. Good luck with that, Tank.

Back to the ring and we're in the middle of a fight with Morishima and Danielson once again beating down McGuinness. KENTA makes the save for Nigel. KENTA and Nigel works together to clear the ring.

The Briscoes (c) vs Claudio Castagnoli and Matt Sydal - ROH Tag Titles
How to ruin a great story 101. I thought the first half was great. Everything was built around tag team wrestling. The Briscoes controlled most of that half because of their experience together, quick tags and a lot of double team moves. As good as Claudio and Sydal were, they were just out their league in dealing with these tag team experts. It's around the 10-12 minute mark that they tease a finish with Claudio sent flying out of the ring and Sydal left to take one big move after another. This is where things go downhill. They spent the second half of the match just having this long finishing stretch. There was one kick out after another. All stories of "This is what tag team pro wrestling is all about" is killed off since there isn't any team work. The selling wasn't there and it broke down into a spotfest. Maybe I have an incorrect opinion though as the crowd seemed to love it. I thought what they had going in the first half was better. The one redeeming element of having so many kick outs is that it established the Briscoes' Doomsday Device as a top move that can finish anyone off. 3 1/4 Stars.

After the commentators hype ROH and plug some upcoming shows, Kevin Steen and El Generico interrupt. Steen wants to know when he and Generico will get their ROH Tag Titles shot. This ends up creating a huge brawl between Steenerico and The Briscoes. Good way to set-up The Briscoe's next title defense.

Roderick Strong vs Delirious
A feud that was started at the Fifth Year Festival: Philly after Strong gave Delirious a concussion and then delivered a Gibson Driver on the steel barricade. This is their first singles match since then. Despite the obvious grudge match expectations, you wouldn't have known it was supposed to be one had you watched the match on mute. Neither guy really did anything to play into Delirious' injury. Instead, they worked a normal match with Strong working over the back of Delirious and Delirious trying anything and everything to get the upset. In the end, it doesn't matter as Strong's just too good for Delirious and he wins following a Sick Kick/Gibson Driver combo. Good indy dream match type showdown, but where's the hatred? 3 1/4 Stars.

After the match, the No Remorse Corps (Rocky Romero and Davey Richards) brings out a steel barricade and set it up between the ring and steel railing. Once again, Strong hits the Gibson Driver on the barricade. Despite being late to the party, Resilience member, Erick Stevens, runs out and takes out each member of the NRC. Good feud transition segment.

Adam Pearce cuts a promo hyping Ring of Honor and all of BJ Whitmer sacrifices. Pearce believes Whitmer will never forget that he lost in the very first ROH PPV match. A tease that Pearce could be the savior Whitmer is looking for.

Takeshi Morishima and Bryan Danielson vs KENTA and Nigel McGuinness
A perfect way to conclude the first PPV. Nigel ended up playing the face-in-peril for a good amount in the first half. Undoubtedly, the best sequence was later on with Nigel doing everything he can to inflict some sort of damage on Morishima. Despite good performances by Morishima, Danielson and KENTA, this was the Nigel McGuinness showcase. Near the end, he hit a huge dive to the outside into the fans onto Morishima. That ends up injuring his elbow. Rather than just leaving, Nigel had the ROH trainer wrap up his elbow and Nigel went right back into the ring. With the look of pure grimace, Nigel sucked it up and hit one last slingshot lariat on Morishima, sacrificing his own elbow in order to help KENTA win. It ends up failing. With Danielson trapping KENTA in the Cattle Mutilation, Morishima destroys Nigel's arm to keep him occupied. KENTA's forced to tap out, giving Danielson a rare win over KENTA (I believe only his second loss in ROH). Way better than the other tag match on the show. The match had a story, it flowed nicely, the finisher overkill only occurred when it should have, one guy came out looking like a star (Even in defeat) and you even had Morishima/Danielson showing some rather good tag team chemistry. A tag team MOTYC. 4 1/4 Stars.

After the match, Danielson makes the mistake of picking up the ROH World Title for the second time tonight. Morishima delivers a backdrop driver on his former partner. Being a good sport, Nigel picks up the title and goes to hand it to Morishima. Nigel: "This is your belt *Hands title to Morishima*. I'm going to win...*Morishima lariats the hell out of Nigel*" Awesomeness.

Overall
Back in the day, the biggest criticism mainstream fans had of ROH was that it didn't feature any storylines or feuds. That's a complete lie and this show proves that. Look at what has been set-up during the show: Nigel vs Morishima, Nigel vs Danielson, Danielson vs Morishima, Steenerico vs Briscoes, Erick Stevens (And Resilience) vs NRC and the initial hint of a possible union between Adam Pearce and BJ Whitmer. In addition, you still have Delirious vs NRC and Whitmer's run of bad luck stories going on at the same time. For a company that didn't use storylines, that's a hell of a lot. Star ratings wise, I don't feel as if the show holds up as well as it was initially received. Looking back at old reviews of the show, everyone seems to think every match (Sans main event) as being better than I felt they were. In some ways, my opinion is wrong. For 2007, these were the sort of matches that the ROH wanted to see. So maybe I don't feel as if the Briscoe's overkill style holds up too well in 2012, it doesn't matter. For 2007, it worked. Even with the weaker star ratings, this PPV was still a huge hit. Looking back, ROH picked the right time of the year to debut on PPV. By July (When it originally aired), the WWE was settling into it's uneventful post-Wrestlemania time of the year and TNA had already gone to shit. So if you wanted to see a great PPV in the summer of 2007, you bought ROH's 10 dollar show. For a company that had just lost Samoa Joe, Homicide, Austin Aries and Colt Cabana, they didn't let it hurt their star power during this two hour PPV. Personally, I feel ROH works a lot better at 2 hours instead of 3+ hours.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Rick Rude (c) vs Ricky Steamboat w/Ninja - WCW US Title - Superbrawl II
The build-up to this match included Rude injuring Steamboat's neck with a couple of Rude Awakenings at the Clash of the Champions 18. In addition, Paul Dangerously and Madusa have been barred from ringside. Steamboat's buddy, the the mysterious and masked ninja, is there to make sure Dangerously, Madusa or any member of the Dangerous Alliance doesn't try to cost Steamboat the match. This match may not be for everyone. It has a very slow and methodical pace and that never changes. Likewise, in 2012, it's probably rather easy to guess the finish. In fact, for anyone who's never seen the match, can you guess the finish just by what I've told you already? I'll give you a few seconds to make your guess. When you're ready, click on the spoiler to find out the finish.

Spoiler

The end came when the ninja attacked Ricky Steamboat just as Steamboat was readying for the victory. It was then revealed that the ninja was actually Paul Dangerously, the real ninja was attacked in the back, all along.

Did you guess it right? If so, give yourself a nice Barry Horowitz' pat on the back. Despite the slowness of the match, it is a well worked match. Since Steamboat's going into the match with a bad neck, Rude spends the entire match working over that neck. And guess what? Rude's finisher is a neck breaker, so it's only going to help his chances of winning. In the early going, Steamboat went after Rude's left arm. Shockingly, it's Rude who wins the "Best seller of the match" by selling the hell out of the arm. Even when he was on offense, Rude was sometimes holding his left arm limply by his side. Even when he's posing to the fans, he's selling the arm. When Rude does his trademark hip swivel, he kept his left arm against his ribs. When Rude mistakenly goes for a flexing pose, he screams in pain and holds his arm after trying to pose with it. I feel as if Rude is the worst best wrestler ever. He's the type of guy who can put on an amazing match, but he's had more than his fair share of duds. Yet, this is Rude at his best. Once Rude began working over Steamboat's neck, Steamboat changes his strategy and just tries to win the match. He even busts out a Figure Four. The comeback is good with Steamboat getting his second wind and looking like he was going to have the epic comeback before winning the WCW World Title. Thanks to the finish in the spoiler, Steamboat loses. A Steamboat loss means the feud must continue, which is great news. Great match that shows the US Title can mean something. 4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat - Iron Man Match - Beach Blast 1992
I believe the first Iron Man match in mainstream wrestling. This match was all about time management. Unlike 90% of Iron Man matches where it's all meaningless until the very end (I'm looking at you Cena/Orton), Rude and Steamboat made every minute mean something. A breakdown of the match:

30:00-22:00 - Steamboat in total control going after Rude's ribs with submission moves. Steamboat 0 Rude 0

22:00 - Rude shocks everyone by picking up 2 straight falls after being dominated for the first 8 minutes. Steamboat 0 Rude 2

22:00-13:00 - Rude in total control. Rude sacrifices one fall by going off of the top rope because of the damage it would inflict on Steamboat. Rude makes it up immediately though. Steamboat 1 Rude 3

13:00 - Steamboat comes back and surprises everyone by countering a Tombstone into one of his own for a pin. Steamboat 2 Rude 3

13:00-04:00 - Even contest with both guys in advantage from time to time. Steamboat picks up another fall after countering a pin and getting his own 3 count with a backslide. Steamboat 3 Rude 3

4:00-00:30 - Rude locking in the sleeper on Steamboat and coming close to putting The Dragon to sleep. Steamboat 3 Rude 3

00:30 - Steamboat shocks everyone and gets a pinfall while still in the sleeper (This also plays into Rude's injured ribs). Steamboat 4 Rude 3

00:30-00:00 - Rude hits many quick moves and goes for a pin after each one. Seconds click down until finally it reaches 00:00. Final score: Steamboat 4 Rude 3

This had so many little things that made it great. The impressive thing is that despite being the first mainstream match, WCW just got it right. A lot of gimmick matches takes a few attempts before you got everything down. For one, there was the Rude DQ spot. It's a simple idea, but it's genius. It's rather astounding that the same spot doesn't happen in every match. Likewise, I loved the idea of one little mistake led to Steamboat losing two falls in quick succession. It put over the Iron Man gimmick and how every minute matters. Just like in the Superbrawl match, Rude has some killer selling (This time the ribs) and he still sells it when he's trying to pose. It's unrelated to the Iron Man rules, but Rude's such a great heel as well. Before the match, Steamboat came out with his wife and young son. The bastard that was Rick Rude actually started to come closer to Richie Steamboat, as if he was going to attack the kid! : That made Steamboat begin the match with a lot of fury and anger. At the end of the day, that's what the match is all about. One ultimate babyface who is the stereotypical family man. On the other side is the deplorable heel who will always cheat to try and win the advantage. All these years later, I still feel as if it's the best Iron Man Match. In fact, it remains my favorite match ever. 4 3/4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Rey Mysterio Jr (c) vs Super Calo - Cruiserweight Title - Fall Brawl 1996
Super Calo had just arrived on the scene. I believe he had only had one WCW Nitro match up to this point. As a result, Super Calo isn't over at all. I imagine the big problem is that the fans don't know what to make out of him. He's facing the über babyface that is Mysterio, but Calo isn't heeling it up. He's a babyface without being established in a role where he didn't have a chance in hell at outpopping Mysterio. If you just had to book Calo at the Fall Brawl, book him against a guy like Psychosis or Ultimo Dragon so the fans know how to react to him. Still, Calo puts on a hell of a performance. His strategy was simply to beat the hell out Rey Rey. To accomplish this, a lot of Calo's offense is directed to the arm and back. However, the one constant is just how aggressive Calo is. It really puts over how badly Calo wants to make a good first impression and win the belt. As usual, Mysterio's reliable to get in some of his crazy spots. After surviving a long onslaught of punishment from Calo, Mysterio picks up the win following a double jump (Since there's two set of ropes due to the 2 rings) West Coast Pop. This match was pretty great in spite of the crowd playing a fun game of "Who can be the quietest?" 3 3/4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Rey Mysterio (c) vs Dean Malenko - WCW Cruiserweight Title - Halloween Havoc 1996
This was set-up by Malenko stealing Mysterio's mask on an edition of WCW Saturday Night. That right there is WCW actually putting in effort to explain a purpose of having a CW title match. Pretty pathetic. There was this one stupid spot where Mysterio regained control of his old mask when Malenko was down, so Mysterio carefully pulled off his new mask to put on his old one. What's the point of that? We already know how easy it is for Malenko to tear off that mask. Malenko can easily grab the new mask Mysterio took off. Lastly, the old one barely covers Mysterio's face, so it's easier to rip apart. Why even bother swapping masks? Whatever. Sadly, these Malenko/Mysterio matches haven't aged well. It shouldn't be a surprise though. The big appeal of Mysterio/Malenko was that it was Mysterio's first real showcase in WCW. So just seeing those crazy moves made the matches memorable. 15 years later and those spots aren't anything special anymore. While this wasn't as entertaining as their Great American Bash match, it did feature a kick ass final spot with Malenko hitting a gutwrench power bomb from the middle rope. Malenko regains the belt and the fans shockingly pop big for the heel winning. Good, but nothing to go crazy over. 3 1/4 Stars.

Rey Mysterio vs Jushin Liger - Starrcade 1996
Without even realizing it, WCW had a huge first time ever dream match. It also has significance in the past meeting the future. Liger was the breakout star of the WCW Light Heavyweight Title. Meanwhile, Mysterio is the breakout star of the WCW Cruiserweight Title. Now they're facing each other for the first time at the biggest show of the year? I'm willing to bet there was zero backstory and WCW barely even advertised it. : Liger was just coming off of his brain tumor, so he's showing a lot more aggression than he normally did in WCW. Like most Cruiserweight matches, the fans seem disinterested and only react to the spots. Mysterio gave Liger a good fight near the end, but Liger killed Mysterio with a Liger Bomb to pick up the win. This had more of a direction than the Mysterio/Malenko match even Mysterio was only about the spots. 3 1/2 Stars.

Rey Mysterio vs Ultimo Dragon - Spring Stampede 1997
Mysterio won at Hog Wild and Dragon won at World War III, so this was the rubber match. Sonny Oono is randomly missing from the match, which adds to the story. Being the heel, Dragon's in the mood where he just wants to punish Mysterio. So several times in the match, Dragon pulled Mysterio up off of a pin attempt. The commentators made a big deal out of what a foolish idea this was. The biggest positive of the match was the crowd. They were actually into the action. There was even this one lady in the front row who wouldn't sit down. She just spent the entire match yelling at Dragon or for Mysterio. Mysterio picked up the win after countering several suplexes and pinning Dragon following an inside the ring springboard West Coast Pop. You had a heel heeling it up, an underdog babyface, some fun spots and a crowd that gave a shit. Better than their Hog Wild bout, but a bit under their World War III match. 3 1/2 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

The Steiner Brothers (c) vs Tatsumi Fujinami and Takayuki Iizuka - WCW Tag Team Titles - Wrestle War 1992
The winners also receive an IWGP Tag Team Titles match. The Steiners from 90-92 may be one of my favorite teams ever. When you watched a Steiners match from that period, you knew it was going to be rough and physical. Poor Iizuka found that out the hard way when he receives a bad facial injury after Rick's knee fell on his face from the top rope. Iizuka spent the rest of the match adjusting to a swollen eye and a pair of Steiners that weren't going to take it easy on him just because of some little injury. Another appeal of the match was how they turned a match with zero backstory into a grudge. It got to the point where we saw realistic brawls with the illegal man running in just to get in a few well placed punches. Out of everyone, it was Iizuka who impressed me the most. Rather than just being someone who hit hard and grappled, he was also the flashiest one by hitting somersault sentons, a variety of kicks, ect. As usual for early Scott, he was fearless. Within the first couple minutes of the match, he attempted his trademark standing moonsault bodyslam (Imagine the C4, but as a bodyslam), but he ended up landing directly on the top of his head. What does Scotty do next? He simply attempts it again with the other opponent. : In the end, with Scott grappling with old man Dragon, Rick nails a top rope belly-to-belly suplex to pin Iizuka. Steiners retain their WCW tag titles and they'd go on to win the IWGP tag titles as well. Yet another awesomely enjoyable physical tag match with the Steiners and a couple of guys who weren't afraid to get physical too. 4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Ricky Steamboat (c) vs Ric Flair - NWA World Title -2 out 3 Falls - Clash of the Champions 6
An exhausting endurance match-up. Rather than create a match with one main story, this was just a match where both guys beat the hell out of each other. Steamboat gets his ribs and legs damaged while Flair receives some of the most vicious chops I've ever seen by Steamboat. By the end of the match, the story just becomes a battle of who can outlast the other. Sometimes these long matches can drag on (See: the average ROH main event in recent years), but this is the opposite. The longer it goes, the more engrossed you become. They do subtly set-up the next World Title program by Jim Ross keep referring to whether or not we'll see color commentator, Terry Funk, back in the ring. The big move of the match would have to be the double chickenwing. Steamboat uses that hold to force Flair to submit in the second fall and it's the pinning variation that results in the controversial finish to the third fall to give Steamboat the win, but setting up the big rematch. A very different sort of match from Flair/Funk, but it's equally as entertaining. A rare match that had it been shorter, it wouldn't have been as good. 5 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Katsuyori Shibata vs Minoru Tanaka - NJPW - May 25, 2001
For being such a short match, these two packed a ton in. Minoru (Or how I see him Tanaka #3) throws some awesome looking kicks. They both look good and give off a loud sound. Most of the positives Shibata brings to the match is just refusing to stay down. Whenever you think Minoru has the match won, Shibata's back up. The final minute or so has a lot of nearfalls and can suck anybody into the drama of the action. There's not much I can say other than it's one of the most exciting matches I've seen that happens to be so damn short. As good as Shibata looked, this only made me want to see more Minoru. Minoru ended up winning with a Boston Crab. 3 Stars.

Katsuyori Shibata and Wataru Inoue vs Jushin Liger and El Samurai - NJPW - November 23, 2001
My god, this was an awesome story. Even though I wasn't 100% sure who was the faces and who were the heels, it didn't matter. This was a match between the two veterans (And megastars of the Junior Heavyweight Division) against a couple of hungry young lions and the future of that same division. To say Liger and Samurai controlled the early going would be like saying Vader kinda threw stiff punches. There's even an hilarious moment where Shibata finally gets in the tag after Inoue got his ass kicked for the entire match. Shibata rushes in and immediately gets his ass kicked. : It may have been the weakest hot tag I've ever seen and I LOVE it. If there's one thing the young boys have over the legends it's the fact that they refuse to stay down. This leads to them temporarily gaining the advantage over Samurai. Still, it's two guys still with their brand new car smell to their wrestling career against a veteran. Samurai doesn't even need Liger to make his own comeback. For Liger and Samurai, they added their own greatness by really heeling it up by being way too rough on the kids. To the shock of everyone, Shibata manages to keep Liger at bay long enough for Inoue to lock in some wacky arm submission on Samurai to draw the submission victory. Shibata and Inoue sell it like it's the biggest moments of their lives while Liger and Samurai just look on in disbelief. Such an easy match to love. 3 1/2 Stars.

Katsuyori Shibata vs Yoshihiro Takayama - NJPW - G1 Climax 2003
Shibata in full MMA gimmick mode. This goes nicely with the monster Takayama. Despite being so much smaller than the blonde hair puro star, Shibata does quite well for himself because of his speed and his MMA skills. There's even one point early on when Shibata surprises Takayama with a punch that knocks Takayama on his ass. Despite looking like he could pull off the upset, Shibata couldn't compare to Takayama's size and he ends up losing to a German suplex. Rather short, but I liked the clashes of styles. 2 1/2 Stars.

Katsuyori Shibata vs Yoshihiro Takayama - NJPW - March 12, 2004
I feel like someone played a cruel joke on Shibata. "Oh sure, challenge Takayama again. You can TOTALLY beat him this time!" Shibata once again gets his ass kicked by the larger Takayama. The match was probably only a little over 3 minutes, but it's more fun feisty MMA Shibata trying to beat out the much bigger Takayama. The only disappointment is that neither Takayama match lasted any real amount of time. Shibata put in a good effort and didn't look out of his league, but he was still choked out with the referee stopping the match. 2 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Steven Regal (c) vs Brian Pillman - WCW TV Title - Spring Stampede 1994
This was set-up by Regal hitting a piledriver on the floor to Pillman in a previous match. Your typical Regal TV title defense. Pillman showed some energy by attacking Regal early on, but it doesn't take long before Regal begins locking in one submission hold after another. Each one is just meant to kill time so Regal can possibly retain just by a draw. As expected, that's what happens. The final few minutes does have a faster pace with Pillman trying to end the match quickly so Regal doesn't walk away yet again as champion. Pillman fails though. It wasn't as exciting as some of the other Regal TV matches I've seen since the only story was Regal trying to kill time. Slightly disappointing, but still a smartly worked match by Regal. 2 3/4 Stars.

Kazuyuki Fujita (c) vs Katsuyori Shibata - IWGP Title - NJPW - July 19, 2004
Well this sucked. I checked out Fujita's Wiki page and I see that he was a MMA guy like Shibata. Maybe that's the problem. Most of the match is just one or the other sitting in a hold for a long time. Even though it was only eleven minutes long, it felt twice as long, at least. The one redeeming element was the end with Fujita kicking the shit out of Shibata's head, pulling back to see if Shibata will stand up and then kicking him again to repeat the process. Fujita wins by KO. The first Shibata match that didn't do anything for me. Shibata works a lot better with non-MMA guys. 1 1/2 Stars.

Katsuyori Shibata vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW - G1 Climax - August 4, 2004
The roles seem to be reverse for Shibata compared to the first couple of matches I saw from him. This time around, Nakamura is the fairly young guy and Shibata is the cocky veteran (Well, maybe "Established talent" is a better phrase since Shibata had only been working for 5 years). Shibata ended up controlling most of the match with a lot of kicks. Unlike the last few matches, he worked less of a MMA gimmick. Sure, the kicks felt more of a MMA guy than a pro wrestler, but Shibata seemed to have found a nice middle ground between acting like a pro wrestling and a MMA fighter. Nakamura put up a good fight, but he enough for the bigger star or Nakamura's unbreakable pin attempt. The real interest comes afterward when Shibata and two random guys are cutting a promo in the ring. Obviously, I don't speak Japanese, but I imagine it was mostly gloating and Shibata taking shots at Nakamura. Whatever Shibata said, it set Nakamura off and he ran back into the ring and the two had a brawl. I don't know if they ever had another match, but the post-match events sure made me want to see Nak/Shibata 2. 3 1/4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - IWGP Title - NJPW's Dominion 2012
I'm just going to compare and contrast the match with their original bought at New Beginnings. The big difference is that Okada and Tanahashi are on an even. You don't have the whole "Making a star in one night" story you had in the first match, but instead it's just two huge stars battling, which helped with the early crowd reaction. Even though Okada sold the knee some, he wasn't nearly as good as he was in the first match. Typically, Okada was only selling the knee when Tanahashi was working over it. This time around, I don't have anything to complain about Tanahashi. They didn't have any sort of stupid spot where Tanahashi should have been dead, but bounced back like nothing happened. Maybe it was because Okada was seen as a star, but I didn't feel as if the early portion dragged like it did in the original bout. Both matches does excel at an highly enjoyable final stretch. Even though I knew the result, I was still buying into some of Okada's nearfalls and marking out when Okada managed to get his knees up during the second Frog Splash of his Frog Splash to the back then Frog Splash to the front combo (The same one that Tanahashi used to beat Suzuki at Wrestle Kingdom). Still Tanahashi won with a regular Frog Splash later on and thus ends Okada's IWGP Title reign. It's a shame, Okada had a hell of a title reign. I feel as if Okada still had some momentum going so the title reign didn't have to be cut short. Hopefully, he'll be able to have a longer reign in 2013 after he regains the title at Wrestle Kingdom. Overall, this one had a few less flaws than the original, even if it lacked Okada's star making performance. 4 1/4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs Toru Yano - IWGP Title - NJPW's Power Struggle 2011
This was about as Sports Entertainment as you can get. The match was set-up by Yano attacking Tanahashi and Yuji Nagata and stealing the IWGP Title when Nagata was challenging Tanahashi for a title shot at the last PPV. To add an extra touch, Yano taped a piece of paper with the letter "Y" over the "I" in "IWGP" on the title. For the actual match, Yano tried every cheating move he could think of. This involved plenty of chair attacks, sending Tanahashi into the steel railing, low blows and whipping Tanahashi into the corner after removing the ring post padding. Even though Yano isn't a very good wrestle, I love his ring style. He's unlike anyone else in NJPW. Yano would have fit in perfectly with all of the monsters of the month that Hulk Hogan had to defend the WWE Title against in the 80's. For Yano, he's relentless in both his cheating and his refusal to stay down. I don't know if it's part of his gimmick, but Yano won't be winning any selling awards. He practically no sold everything! Tanahashi was really good in this though. He had an extra intensity and far more aggression than he had in other matches. While I doubt anyone believed that Yano could win the belt, he made for a good token title defense as Tanahashi was made to look like he was in the fight of his life. Tanahashi wins by making Yano submit to a Texas Cloverleaf. Proving that he's a heel no matter what, Yano tries stealing the title once again. Allowing the month long program to come full circle, Nagata stops Yano, beats him up a bit and returns the title to Tanahashi so that he can finish his request to challenge Tanahashi. With that, Tanahashi scores his 9th successful title defense, tying Nagata for most title defenses for the IWGP Title. If Tanahashi wants to break Nagata's record, he literally needs to go through Nagata at the next PPV. Nice. Anyways, the Yano character is a lot of fun even if his matches are rarely good. Thanks to the booking, this was a really good Yano match. 3 3/4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Low-Ki (c) vs Kota Ibushi - IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title - NJPW's Last Rebellion 2012
Not a PPV, but it seems like it's a fairly big B show. Yet another typical Low-Ki match from NJPW. By that, I mean there's some interesting stuff and it's good, but it also kind of drags, it loses some of it's excitement and it's nowhere near the quality you'd imagine from Ki. I don't know what's up with the guy, but he's been stuck in this low 3 star purgatory for months. Ibushi was the star of the match by getting his ass kicked from bell to bell. Late in the match, Ibushi receives a sick looking double stomp where Ki landed on Ibushi's face. There's even an European Uppercut spot where Ibushi sells it as if he's legit knocked out. Same thing goes for a Koppo Kick too. The awesome thing about Kota is his spots. While guys like PAC and Jack Evans makes insane spots look damn easy, Ibushi makes every big spot or dive look fucking beautiful. Ibushi is just very graceful and doesn't even know how to look awkward if he tried. After a main story of Ki working over Ibushi's arm, the finish revolves around the Phoenix Splash. Ki missed his and after setting him up, Kota manages to connect with his to become the NEW IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion. After the match, Kushida comes out and challenges Ibushi for the title. Kushida vs Ibushi for Ibushi's first title defense sounds way better than any Ki title defense. Ibushi made this match and Ki was there to be a bully. 3 1/2 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Dean Malenko (c) vs Chris Benoit w/Woman - WCW US Title - Spring Stampede 1997
Ah...this was soo WCW. On paper, this looked like an easy early MOTYC for WCW. All you had to do is give them a little backstory to set-up the match and then let them tear it up and have a clean finish. There wasn't any need to over think a damn thing, just let them have a match and it'd be great. Instead, WCW did everything possible to try and ruin the match. First, there's zero backstory. It's a match of "Respect". Sorry, this isn't early ROH. That sort of reasoning for a match is fucking lame. Without a backstory, the fans were left only reacting to the occasional spot. The ending is where WCW really shines. To begin the final leg of the match, Kevin Sullivan's valet, Jacqueline, came out to beat the shit out of Woman. Next came Dungeon of Doom manager, Jimmy Hart, to try and steal the US Title. That brings out the injured Eddie Guerrero (The man Malenko defeated for the belt) to try and keep Hart from running away with the belt he cares so much about. Next up is Four Horsemen member, Arn Anderson, to hit Dean Malenko in the back to help out buddy, Benoit. Lastly, Benoit's arch nemesis, Kevin Sullivan comes out with a Singapore cane. Oddly, Anderson lets him pass so Sullivan can hit Benoit in the back of the head with the cane. That brings us the ending of a DQ victory for Benoit...well maybe. Wiki lists it as a no contest. After the match, Jacqueline and Kevin Sullivan drag a confused Guerrero to the back while Jimmy Hart throws the US title on his shoulder. Meanwhile, you have the moron that is Tony Schiavone suggest that Guerrero has turned heel and joined the Dungeon of Doom. WTF? : He's being dragged away! Once everyone leaves, Malenko and Benoit remain in the ring with Benoit stating to Malenko that "HE wasn't supposed to be here." Malenko confirms and agrees that "HE wasn't' supposed to be here." Who's HE? Who the fuck knows! : The ending of this match was a complete clusterfuck of overbooked madness that doesn't make any sense. The only reason this is any good is because Benoit and Malenko were trying to work a physical mat based match where they were showing off moves that weren't too common in the States in '97. It's a miracle it's any good because WCW tried their damnedest to ruin an obvious MOTYC. 3 Stars.

Guerrero totally looks like he's the newest member of the Dungeon of Doom, right?​

Supposedly, this was to be the start of a new faction, similar to what Revolution would be in 1999. The idea is that four young guys would come together and fight the Four Horsemen (Includes Kevin Sullivan?) This new group was to be named Apocalypse and it's members were rumored to be Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and Steven Regal. Personally, I have my doubts on Regal being in the group. For one, he wasn't involved with those other three guys at all. While Benoit, Guerrero and Malenko were involved in the US title picture, poor Regal was being booked in a feud against Prince Iaukea for the TV Title. If there was going to be a fourth guy, my money was on Chris Jericho. He had already had several matches with all three guys and he was sorta drifting along without any real purpose in WCW. Not that it matters, the new faction idea was scrapped (I believe because of Eddie's injury?) so ALL of this BS never meant anything anyhow.