Sky's Good Matches Thread (formerly You Decide What Sky Watches)

[Sky]

I only submitted one match in this entire time, and you already did a review on it, lol.

So you're telling me the little hundreds of old CMLL matches on the wheel aren't from you??

 

[Jay-Ashley]

So you're telling me the little hundreds of old CMLL matches on the wheel aren't from you??

Surprisingly, no. Assuming it is someone else who really loves Lucha or CMLL. Though looking back I should have just sent in a lot, and I may send in some more if I find some good ones.

 

[Sky]

Match #84
Terry Rudge vs. Steven Regal
Catchen auf dem Heiligengeistfeld - October 7, 1988​

Oh boy, time for some more European action... and it's a fan camera. I don't know how watchable this one is going to be. I can only tell the difference between the two by the fact that Terry Rudge is wearing a singlet. Bear with me on this one, and forgive me if I'm a little harsher, because I can't see shit.

Cagey start, neither engaging, until Rudge gets a headlock. Regal tries to toss him out of it, but instead he gets grounded and his neck cranked. Back to feet for a while until Regal gets Irish whipped and overpowered. The veteran Rudge continues working the neck. Then back to feet again, Regal ducks this time when Rudge whips him, but doesn't duck the second time. Back to ground, Rudge wrenches the neck... until Regal's able to snap him over his shoulder! That's the secret: don't let Rudge try the Irish whip. Good to know he learned the third time. Regal starts to apply a stretch to the left arm. There's a skip in the middle of the footage and now Regal has the same arm twisted - I assume little has happened in that skip except that Rudge has gotten to his feet again. Rudge tries to down Regal but can't get him off his arm! He's only stopped by what appears to be a rounds break.

Back to neutral for round 2. Rudge goes for different tactics, trying to snap Regal's left leg off at the knee. He pulls all kinds of tricks to damage that knee - even when Regal gets to the ropes, Rudge just ass-drops the joint. When they're back on their feet, Rudge keeps trying to back Regal against the ropes (to the displeasure of the referee, who has a whistle because this is Europe) until Regal tosses him over the ropes and out of the ring! Rudge decides he'd rather stay outside of the ring, stalling for a bit. Regal's got Rudge running scared - maybe it's because he fears anyone with a full head of hair. Test of strength, which Rudge wins with a cheeky little headbutt. Regal's down until he kips right back up, starts overpowering Rudge, Rudge tweaks his knee, and that's round 2!

Round 3 and Rudge downs Regal with what I think is a knee to the stomach but looks like a low blow. He goes back to working the neck, Regal fights out, but the resulting scramble just sees him in a grounded choke. Rudge pulls Regal up for a few clobbering strikes... but Regal downs him with a dropkick! And then a crossbody for a two count! Then a slam for another two! Crowd is now loudly counting with the referee whenever Rudge is out of the ring / on his ass. Rudge does manage to drop Regal with a shoulder, and then goes for a rope choke - he's given up on winning fair! Round 3 ends with Rudge in control but clearly rattled.

Round 4 and Regal's trying his hardest to pull Rudge into position. Rudge topples Regal with a double leg takedown, but Regal fights up and tries to get Rudge's shoulders down. It's end-to-end as we get into the late stages of the match - first Regal's on top, then Rudge is, and several European uppercuts are exchanged in the interim. Regal goes for his dropkick and crossbody again but only gets two! Regal's tossed out of the ring, and when he gets back in, his legs seem very shaky - thanks to Rudge's early work on them! Rudge gets a single leg crab and Regal quickly gives up! Rudge doesn't seem to get the message until the referee tells him to stop (in English).

Really well structured match, this is pretty much what I think of whenever people talk about the classic European wrestling scene. More of this, less boring series of holds (looking at you World of Sport).

 

[Sky]

Question: In this thread, I'm thinking of also posting reviews of old matches/events I watch that aren't on the wheel, so I can stick them on the ranking and compare them to the wheel matches. Would anyone be opposed to this?

 

[Bobby Barrows]

Question: In this thread, I'm thinking of also posting reviews of old matches/events I watch that aren't on the wheel, so I can stick them on the ranking and compare them to the wheel matches. Would anyone be opposed to this?

It's your thread, you do what you like, but I have no objections to it, would be really fun to have!

 

[Chris]

The more the merrier

 

[Storm Trooper]

I like the idea but I'd make sure to differentiate what's a wheel choice and what's a Sky's choice.

 

[Sky]

Side Match #1
Kento Miyahara vs. Akira Jo
IGF Genome14 - February 5, 2011​

Here's something different. These aren't wheel matches, so they aren't numbered in the same way, but they will get put on the list with the other wheel matches and will count towards the most appearances tally in this thread. I thought it would be interesting to see how both better-known matches and more obscure matches measure up to the wheel matches. So I decided to throw on an IGF event from 2011, simply because in my TEW research I've found out a lot of weird stuff about IGF. It's similar to RINGS/PWFG in that it's (1) shoot style and (2) filled with a bunch of martial artists that hadn't wrestled before. Did you know Hideki Suzuki got his start here? I didn't until yesterday! Anyway, here's NOAH's Kento Miyahara, making his only IGF appearance, against Akira Jo, a man who debuted in IGF but has had a fairly decent (if obscure) career after that.

Kento is clearly not a fan of this short bald dude, even when he manages to get the first takedown and put the boots in. Kento gets in a few pretty nice elbows, so Akira recognises the threat and starts isolating the arm. Kento manages to scramble out and wrench Akira's left leg. Akira looks like he's about to choke Kento (which would make the current combination of holds look like a kinky sex position) but instead he just drags himself to the ropes. The two start slapping each other before Akira awkwardly gets Kento to the ground. Akira grabs Kento's left leg and Kento sells it harder than anything that's happened before now. Kento gets a headlock but Akira pushes them into the ropes.

The slapfest resumes, now with kicks. Akira grabs on to Kento's arm, and brings him down with that classic shoot wrestling technique: "stepping on a man's toes". Akira twists the arm and Kento looks screwed until he gets a rope break. Return of the slaps, until a Kento superkick makes the difference. A bodyslam and a Boston Crab wins it for Kento!

Not bad, but not anything special. Probably hurt by only going 6 minutes or so.

 

[Jay-Ashley]

Side Match #1
Kento Miyahara vs. Akira Jo
IGF Genome14 - February 5, 2011​

Here's something different. These aren't wheel matches, so they aren't numbered in the same way, but they will get put on the list with the other wheel matches and will count towards the most appearances tally in this thread. I thought it would be interesting to see how both better-known matches and more obscure matches measure up to the wheel matches. So I decided to throw on an IGF event from 2011, simply because in my TEW research I've found out a lot of weird stuff about IGF. It's similar to RINGS/PWFG in that it's (1) shoot style and (2) filled with a bunch of martial artists that hadn't wrestled before. Did you know Hideki Suzuki got his start here? I didn't until yesterday! Anyway, here's NOAH's Kento Miyahara, making his only IGF appearance, against Akira Jo, a man who debuted in IGF but has had a fairly decent (if obscure) career after that.

Kento is clearly not a fan of this short bald dude, even when he manages to get the first takedown and put the boots in. Kento gets in a few pretty nice elbows, so Akira recognises the threat and starts isolating the arm. Kento manages to scramble out and wrench Akira's left leg. Akira looks like he's about to choke Kento (which would make the current combination of holds look like a kinky sex position) but instead he just drags himself to the ropes. The two start slapping each other before Akira awkwardly gets Kento to the ground. Akira grabs Kento's left leg and Kento sells it harder than anything that's happened before now. Kento gets a headlock but Akira pushes them into the ropes.

The slapfest resumes, now with kicks. Akira grabs on to Kento's arm, and brings him down with that classic shoot wrestling technique: "stepping on a man's toes". Akira twists the arm and Kento looks screwed until he gets a rope break. Return of the slaps, until a Kento superkick makes the difference. A bodyslam and a Boston Crab wins it for Kento!

Not bad, but not anything special. Probably hurt by only going 6 minutes or so.

Should has asked Sasha about IGF. She knew pretty much everything about it

 

[Sky]

Side Match #2
Hikaru Sato vs. Taka Kuno
IGF Genome14 - February 5, 2011​

On to the next match on this show, and this is what I'm talking about with weird matchups involving random martial artists. Hikaru Sato, of both DDT and AJPW at the time, faces a 44-year-old judoka who had previously tried MMA but failed at it. One who uses special metal steps to get in the ring, and looks like he needs it.

We get a typical shoot-style start: long, cagey staredown, with occasional attempts to sweep the leg. Kuno gets a hold of Sato's leg, which leads to quite a long wiggle for position. It's quite hard to describe in words, just a pure scramble, both men attempting holds but neither really achieving one. The closest anyone gets is a Sato front facelock that lasts about two seconds, but eventually he just says "screw it" and kicks Kuno. Back to neutral, then Kuno takes control of both of Sato's arms, which leads to a double arm suplex. Actually, I may have been too harsh on Kuno in the above intro, as he manages a pretty clean bodyscissors takedown and transitions it into a kneebar. Even though Sato gets a rope break, the assault on his right leg doesn't stop, but he does manage to get a hold of Kuno's leg and take him down. Kuno separates Sato's legs, and we're back to standing neutral again, though with a limpier Sato.

Sato gets down into the cross-arm breaker position but can't extend Kuno's arm - he just lets Kuno add more pressure to that right knee. Sato's in the beached turtle position. Kuno kicks those knees a few times before trying to extend his leg again, and Sato reverses that into some open-handed ground and pound. He tries to go for an armbar but Kuno's grip won't break so he just pushes him into a pinning combo for two. Now it's Kuno's turn to weaken the arm, it looks like Sato's about to counter, but they're next to the ropes. Sato corners Kuno and applies some strikes, but Kuno takes him down. Having established a full waistlock, he rolls Sato into a pin that is broken by the ropes.

(Side note: the video player on the site I found this is absolutely godawful, buffers like hell)

Kuno looks to be dominating, wrestling Sato to the ground repeatedly. Eventually, he gets a spinning backfist, a knee, and a Water Wheel Drop to finish it!

Pretty decent match, I was pleasantly surprised by Kuno. Still nothing amazing though.

 

[Jay-Ashley]

Sato was trained by Minoru Suzuki

 

[Sky]

Side Match #3
Masked Genome Jr. vs. The Hurricane
IGF Genome14 - February 5, 2011​

Okay, this is a WEIRD matchup. The debut of this special "Masked Genome Jr.", a weird masked mascot for this promotion, facing off against of all people, Shane Helms. Wouldn't expect to see him in a shoot-style environment, especially not in this gimmick (though he does wear red and go without the domino mask). A quick look suggests that the man under the Masked Genome Jr. mask is the only French man in Mexico, Heddi Karaoui. At least there's some legit credentials there. His getup recalls a mix of Spider-Man and Venom - Spider-Man 3 was way too long ago for that to be a reference, so he just looks stupid.

Genome does a weird, slithery crawl. The two exchange snapmare takedowns before one of those martial-arts standoffs that you see in so many matches these days. A test of strength spot sees Helms overwhelm and bridge Genome easily. He tosses Genome to the outside, goes for a slingshot plancha, misses, then Genome goes for a dropkick to the outside which misses. They slide back in and stare down - this pops the crowd. This lot are easily impressed by missed moves. I notice that either Shane Helms is taller than I expected, or Karaoui is much shorter... I looked it up and Helms is somehow 6 feet tall. This must be how regular AEW watchers felt when they saw Billy Gunn next to current indie stars for the first time.

Those Spider-Man comparisons might be warranted, because Genome does a spider-cling on the ropes. He tosses Helms to the outside and shows him exactly how to hit a slingshot plancha. Helms does a flapjack throw that Genome sells like he's been headbutted in the crotch (which he has). He looks close to dominating Genome and choking him out, but the rope break eventually comes. Genome eventually out-agiles Helms, breaking a long string of dominance with a dropkick, and then a top rope dropkick. He then lands a single knee backbreaker followed by a back cracker. Not a huge fan of that combo, it's not one you can really string together. A Genome springboard splash gets two.

Helms soon gets back in control, breaking out his million signatures, with the Top Spin followed by the Calm Before the Storm/Death Wish/Underdog Drop/whatever he calls it now. (Why yes, I did have to look that one up!) He even tries to break out a chokeslam (which he did use as a finisher sometimes!) but Genome packages him and rolls him up for two. Genome tries a sunset flip but Helms drops down for another two count. Genome hits an enzuigiri, then goes for a springboard flying nothing, but Helms catches him into the chokeslam for the win! Guess Genome is just Masked Jobber Jr., huh?

Another decent match, one that feels quite oddly out of place with the sort of thing Inoki would like.

 

[Sky]

Side Match #4
Atsushi Sawada/Erik Hammer vs. Bobby Lashley/Shad Gaspard
IGF Genome14 - February 5, 2011​

Yet another of the bizarre matchups you won't see anywhere else. A legit martial artist who as far as I know only showed up to IGF for a payday, a guy with MMA cred but no MMA record from what I can see, and two ex-WWE guys. And if that feels like an insult to Lashley, in 2011 he's very much just an ex-WWE guy with big muscles, he hasn't become the badass he would be. Just think: this could have been Lashley/Cryme Tyme against three legit guys who are possibly phoning it in, if WWE didn't insist on pointlessly keeping JTG on their books at the time.

God, Sawada looks like a complete charisma vacuum, the way he carries himself. We open with Hammer and Lashley, and they go straight into snugly battering each other. That's a change of pace, and it's fairly refreshing after the last "proper IGF" match had a few too many staredowns. Just power on power, absolutely smashing themselves into each other. Hammer gets the early edge, and feels confident enough to "whoo" to the crowd (you're not Ric Flair, stop it), before charging into the corner and finding nothing but ring post. Lashley's vertical suplex only gets a one count, so he just starts pounding. He goes for a headlock, but Hammer just lifts him up into a Torture Rack (0/10, he didn't even jerk Lashley's body once).

Hammer corners Lashley to tag in Sawada, and they both batter Lashley with some nasty forearms... Wait a minute. This is sports entertainment! I wouldn't have thought there'd be sports entertainment in the "I Think MMA Is Best But Instead Of Making MMA Myself I Will Make MMA Guys Do Pro Wrestling And Win" promotion! This is a real turn-up.

...and while I finish that thought, I notice Lashley's fought out, where he grabs one of Sawada's legs and does nothing with it. Shad tags in, he and Sawada have a forearms vs. chops battle, then they run the ropes until Shad hits a clothesline. A Shad elbow drop gets two. Sawada gets a takedown and goes for a pin of his own, to no success. Shad hits a pumphandle suplex but then wastes time before going for the pin and he can't win. He tags in Lashley, and now it's time for Team WWE to corner their opponent. Hey, at least these guys respect tag rules. Lashley gets over-the-shoulder gutbuster, and the pin is broken up by Hammer. To which Lashley SCREAMS like a raging demon!

It's now Shad against Sawada, and Shad really milks a powerslam. He then rides Sawada like a pony. That is, if you wanted to break the pony's back. We get a double-team move, as Lashley punches Sawada in the gut while he's in an abdominal stretch. Delayed vertical suplex by Lashley, because that is the spot all big men must do. Lashley then punches and chokes Sawada while between the ropes, which makes me feel both of these teams are cheats. So it's heel/heel? Shad hits some sort of over-the-shoulder slam and is indignant that a move he used that wasn't his finish didn't get the three. Shad establishes a headlock that last about 40 seconds until Sawada drops him back.

Lashley tries to continue the War against Sawada's Spine, but Sawada counters a suplex attempt into a spinning neckbreaker, and now Hammer's in! He goes corner-to-corner to pound both his opponents, then hits Shad with a really weak-looking spear for the three and the win.

This match started far better than it finished. I would have loved more of Lashley and Hammer just whacking each other, and less of them doing what is essentially a WWE lower-card tag team warm-up match.

 

[Sky]

Side Match #5
Original Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger V
IGF Genome14 - February 5, 2011​

I know the history. I know about Satoru Sayama and the original UWF, Shooto, Vale Tudo Japan. I know he was a protege of Inoki's. And I know he had his own brand of not-quite-wrestling, not-quite-MMA at this point in Real Japan. But it's never not going to be weird to see a masked-man-on-masked-man match in the promotion that also hires a bunch of serious MMA guys. The Black Tiger at this time was Tatsuhito Takaiwa, a man who from what I can find of his career didn't do the flippy things that other juniors did and just settled on hitting guys really hard. So him vs. old man Tiger Mask should be interesting. Not necessarily good, but interesting. Let's see how this goes.

TM goes for a spinning kick but it misses. Crowd oohs at this. Again, easily pleased by moves that don't land. TM gets his signature spinning drop toe hold out of the way early. This match is already noticeably slow. TM's working the leg a bit, BT is getting a bit of offense of his own, it mostly being kicks and elbows. BT doesn't even sell too much when TM is working him. TM gets in a few of his high-impact kicks to take BT, then it's time for the Tiger Feint kick. I'm pretty sure he was the last person to use the Tiger Feint kick as an actual feint and not an offensive option of its own (e.g. the 619). I'm glad he did that, I'd fear for this guy's safety if he actually did the dive.

Back in the ring, BT topples TM with a lariat, then stomps and pounds him, even trying to rip off the mask against the ropes. TM isn't really selling that much. Even when BT applies a crossface (which commentary sells as a "Crippler Facelock" - should someone tell them?) he's just resting. When TM recovers he does a bit of a dazed spot as if he's in a fighting game, which is the most he's sold all match. For all I don't really like BT's basic offence, at least he tries to make TM's stuff look like it hurts. TM's snap DDT gets two. TM hits a Tombstone but holds BT up and lets him flop down. He goes to the top but BT meets him and hits a superplex. BT hits a Tombstone of his own, then a diving back elbow that gets a two count. TM teases the Tiger Suplex but BT hits the Death Valley Bomb... and TM kicks out! TM gets a spinning kick and nails the Tiger Suplex for the win!

Not a fan of this match. Satoru Sayama at this stage is the wrong end of 50, and is clearly too old for this shit. He's only really playing the hits, and not very well either. Low selling, low intensity, just low everything. Takaiwa was not impressive either, didn't show much variety of offence.

 

[Sky]

Side Match #6
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Mil Mascaras
IGF Genome14 - February 5, 2011​

After a break which features such important things as Showing The Belt, and An Inoki Promo, we get... Oh shit. There's a combined age of 125 in this match. And I can't imagine Mil Mascaras will be willing to sell that well, even for a legend like Fujinami so it'll probably suck ALL the fuck.

MM gets the best of the first grapples, and Fujinami tries to get out of his double leg hold by wrenching his neck down, which I'm sure has a legitimate basis but to me just looks like a romantic gesture. Fujinami locks the arm, then MM seems to be trying a single leg crab but Fujinami grabs the ropes. MM gets a headscissors, and when Fujinami fights out and applies a headlock, MM just does it again. Fujinami does that handstand escape from a headscissors, but MM just lets it happen. That's one of the few times I've actually seen that work. After another grounded headlock-fest, the two old men collide with each other. MM tosses Fujinami to the ground but ends up in what seems like a weak attempt at a rocking horse hold. MM starts trying to work the arms and shoulders, but they're both old so all the holds feel like they last a lot longer than they should. The first pin attempt comes off a flying cross chop from MM.

Fujinami rests out of the ring, and when he's back, he soon tries an octopus stretch, but MM fights out of it. MM gets a hammerlock that is broken by the ropes. After a long front facelock, Fujinami gets the Dragon Sleeper! MM gets out of this with a genuinely creative play - grind his free thumb into Fujinami's elbow joint so his opponent has to break the hold on his head. Now it's Mil Mascaras time, with headlock punches followed by the flying cross chop for two. MM goes to the top and hits a big crossbody, but Fujinami kicks out! MM tries to lock the arm and get a submission, but Fujinami fights out and tries for the Dragon Sleeper again, failing to lock it in. He instead goes for a mask rip but MM beats him into the corner... until the bell rings for a time limit draw.

Yeah, that wasn't great. Competently structured, and there were some fun spots like the elbow-joint-abuse by MM, but aside from that, it was just two old men having an old match. That finish felt anticlimactic, but it's probably because of Mil Mascaras' "no yob" clause where he never has to look like he's in any real danger. Up next... a match that I've heard a lot about, none of it good.