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Post by tetsujin on Jan 7, 2023 19:58:27 GMT -5
I'm gonna keep writing just to catch up with what I have already seen this year.
The Revival vs DIY (NXT Tag Team Championships, WWE NXT Takeover Brooklyn II): I wanted to revisit their more famous 2/3 Falls match, but had to watch this one first for regaining as much context as possible. It was both a good and a bad choice, for reasons I'll explain next. This match is great, the crowd enjoys it more as time goes on, and there's nothing better than a good old classic american tag match formula to make a crowd care. The future FTR guys were already masters of their shit here. ****
The Revival vs DIY (NXT Tag Team Championships, WWE NXT Takeover Toronto): A match that I remembered as excellent, but not anymore. Watching these two bouts back to back made me realize how similar they are. Here, they almost never expanded on the first one, a lot of sequences or dynamics are the same. Add the fact that I usually don't like 2/3 Falls because I tend to nitpick a lot when it comes to pyschollogy in them, and this was not exception (for example: Gargano falls to the Shatter Machine for the first fall, but just a couple of minutes later can survive other moves?). However, I'm not made of stone. This one manages to create an emotional conclussion and a very satisfying moment at the end, so hurray for that. But other than that, I think the first one deserves more recognition. ****
Samoa Joe vs Darby Allin (TNT Championship, AEW Dynamite 4/1/2023): These two were born to fight against each other. Darby looked amazing against Joe when on top, but Joe's control was something else. Darby does not fucking care about his body at all, it's not an exaggeration by any means. The ending came a bit to early considering Joe's aura, but it was worked in a very clever and believable way nonetheless. ***3/4
The Usos vs Drew McIntyre/Sheamus (WWE Unified Tag Team Championships, WWE SmackDown! 6/1/2023): for most of the time this was a very normal tag match to please the crowd and nothing more (but nothing else), but once they arrive to the nearfalls, my god did they made them believable. It's so refreshing to having big tv matches in WWE's programs and the crowd being invested in the matches and stories. ***1/2
Jon Moxley/Bryan Danielson vs Top Flight (AEW Rampage, 6/1/2023): man what a beating. Top Flight looked really promising here, I'm sure that, with a more defined gimmick and screentime, they could become eventual strong tag champs. Mox and Bryan had a lot of fun kicking the living shit outta them and it was contagious. The crowd helped a lot to make this even more enjoyable, for sure. ***1/2
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 7, 2023 20:20:58 GMT -5
Will Ospreay vs Kenny Omega (IWGP USA Championship, NJPW WrestleKingdom 17): Maybe some of you already know that I hate, and I mean HATE, these two. I am a hater of both Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay. I can't stand their worst tendencies, their over the top facial expressions, the massive ego portrayed through their performances, how they both are the symbols of the most brainwashed fanbase ever in wrestling. I know they can be good, really good even, but most of the time I just can't stand their stupid, cartoony, small dick personas. I could go on. But man, this match fucking ruled hard.
Gotta admit I started watching it expecting to laugh at them, but holy shit was I wrong. There were almost zero shred of those bad tendencies, and even the few that were there were just a couple of bad facial expressions and annoying eye contact with the cameras, no biggie. They executed everything they attended to do with such grace and making it look easy, it felt like the clash of two super heroes... until Omega started to destroy Ospreay's fucking back. And it all started very early on: some people say the first half or so of the match was pointless or something, and I will be with you 99% of the time when it comes to NJPW main events, but I swear it didn't feel to me like that this time. Omega controlled almost the whole time and each attack to the back was decreasing Will's chances to win. There are two or three spots here that are absolutely fucking insane, specially that monstruous DDT on the corner. Ospreay's bleeding added an even more special tone to the match, and it didn't overstayed its welcome by any means. Some of Ospreay's selling throughout the worst parts of his in peril segments was just perfect, with things like Kobashi-esque kickouts at 2'99999, baaaaaaarely moving a shoulder for example, and his attempts to coming back felt huge. At that point, I just thought "man, Ospreay really need to start having true momentum if they want me to buy his win", and suddenly Omega won. Very shocking, but it left me wanting more, and I get that's the point and they will probably have a more complete rematch on Dominion or whenever, but man... When a match is becoming something truly special, you just want it to continue its road and reach its full potential, even if it means not setting up a sequel. I wanted a proper Ospreay comeback and some crazy, 50-50 final sequences, with Ospreay winning if possible. For once I can say that I wanted five more minutes in a NJPW big match. But yeah, even with those minor complains, I'm highly impressed, and I'm glad these two reminded me how good they can really be.
The first MOTYC of 2023, and a contender for a GME list, yeah why not. It won't be in mine, but I wouldn't bat an eye if people start to have it on their lower halfs. ****1/4
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 7, 2023 20:30:09 GMT -5
Anarchy in the Arena (AEW Double or Nothing 2022): This is the fourth time I have watched this match since it came out, and now I'm ready to say that it has become one of my favourites. Ever. It is just so much fun. Wild Thing going on and on and on, and the crowd popping for its loop, was hilarious. Jericho cutting the music and gaining major heat was also great. To me, the MVP of the match was the production team, because it isn't an easy task by any means to keep track of all these guys working through all the fucking stadium at the same time, making it an easy experience to digest for the viewers. They did it perfectly. Yeah, Santana and Ortiz and the less important Jericho's minions just showed up for two big spots and that was it, but some sacrifices needed to be made, and honestly I didn't wanted to loose track of whatever Moxley, Jericho and Kingston were doing. Then Mox destroyed the ring, Kingston had the absolute best and most insane moment of the whole match (which is saying something), Jake Hager showed an almost Taue-esque aura of "brutal anchor" being key in JAS winning, and of course Bryan Danielson had to steal the show at the end with an underdog performance that only he could do. It's not the most polished or even best looking of the matches, there's always some shots or moves that may look dumb or weak or whatever, but fuck it, the whole is much stronger than the sum of its parts here.
Another match that can't be anything less than a contender for my top 100. Won't be there, but deserves serious consideration. It might be the best brawl of the last five or so years. ****1/4
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 8, 2023 9:26:50 GMT -5
Petey Williams vs AJ Styles vs Chris Sabin (Ultimate X match, X Division Championship - TNA Final Resolution 2005): Yeah this is one of the best spofests ever done. They use the gimmick so perfectly, and they showcase their unbelievable good shape and athleticism. AJ's the glue that holds this one together (what an all time great year he had) and watching him struggling to hang on with a bad arm was amazing, but gotta give credit to Williams too who played his role very well. Sabin executed everything with a lot of viciousness behind and the match would be worse without him, but he showed no personality whatsoever. I even liked that AJ botched the catch at the end, it was kinda believable to me due to his bad arm and it didn't ruin the awesomeness and shock of the jump. This one doesn't have much more dept, but it is a far more extraordinary pyshical display that you would normally see in any other match.
Yet another match that deserves serious consideration for GME. Hell, I think it's even better than the famous Unbreakable triple threat, and up there with Joe/AJ and the Final Deletion for best TNA match ever. Right now, it aaaalmost makes my list (#104), but with a rewatch closer to the deadline I might end up including it. It is so unique and fun. ****1/4
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 9, 2023 6:38:01 GMT -5
Unlucky round this time.
Zack Sabre Jr vs Ren Narita (NJPW TV Championship, NJPW WrestleKingdom 17): This is the least ZSJ match I've seen of his since... coming to New Japan, probably. It was a bit more generic fighting spirit bullshit, and if Ren Narita wants to go with that overused as hell gimmick, that's such a waste of potential. But whatever, it had its cool moments too, specially near the end once Zack really started to do his stuff. I'm a fan of shorter title matches, but I'm not a fan of creating a whole noew title just for that, it should be the usual norm for every match. A solid match, nothing more, nothing less. I'm sure Zack can do better with this new title. ***
Chris Benoit vs Finlay (WWE SmackDown!, 24/11/2006): For some reason, Meltzer gave this one 4'25*, the highest of their three singles matches that year. I don't understand it, because to me this is clearly inferior to the KOTR and Judgment Day bouts. But hey, it's Finlay and Benoit together so you know you're gonna get something entertaining at the very least. The first lock up of the match is among the very best you will see, but then it becomes a bit too slow for a tv match, and nothing they do is much more special than your average house show exhibition. You have some good shots here and there, but other than that a dissapointing end of their 2006 trilogy. ***1/4
Shawn Michaels vs Steve Austin (WWE King of the Ring 1997): This was weird. Really, really weird. First of all, at the very beginning of the match a kid appears at ringside (he has down's syndrome and apparently he wants to enter the ring and join his idols), and while HBK wants to help him comprehend he has to leave, Austin was more in the "show must go on" attitude and started to brawl with him. They do a couple of sequences but the kid is still there, so Shawn interrupts the match again to help security and the mother of the child to leave. That's sweet, I would have done the same and I'm not critizicing Shawn by any means, but from a match quiality point of view, this is obviously not good. Then the match itself can properly start, and it's too slow and kinda boring. Too many restholds in a match between two guys that are all about explosive momentums, a couple of botches... I know these two never had that kind of chemistry together, but man, it hurts when two fantastic wrestlers just can't connect with one another. The ending is full of ref bumps (in plural) and a double DQ courtesy of Earl fucking Hebner, so yeah, not a good ending either. It has some small decent action near the end and obviously it never was a BAD match per se, but still this is one of the most dissapointing matches I've seen in a while. **3/4
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 10, 2023 9:23:33 GMT -5
Andrade Cien Almas vs Johnny Gargano (NXT Championship, WWE NXT Takeover Philadelphia): One of those times when I can really say without exaggeration that this was an instant classic. Everyone loved this match when it happened, I almost never saw such unanimous five-star consideration for a match in my life. So it's hard to live up to the expectations on succesive rewatchs as time goes on.
While this match doesn't have a strong rivalry behind it (it's more of Gargano's individual journey, and Andrade happens to be the one holding the title at the time), they managed to make their fight feel important not only because of that bizarre, incomprehensible Gargano charisma, but also because they inmediately stablish that they are equals, they are on the same level and the match could go either way at any moment. So the suspense is right there from the very beginning and never leaves, because it's just a back and forth match from beginning to end. And I say that in a good way: some (most, I would say) matches relly on crafting different sections according to who's dominating at the moment (the face-in-peril segment, the comeback, the 50-50 nearfalls, that's elemmentary pro wrestling), specially the ones starring a babyface underdog. But not this one. Johnny Gargano is definitely an underdog, but his story here is not about overcoming the odds, there's no monster heel or powerhouse or authority figure in front of him to beat. His story is just about being purely the best wrestler at the moment, and for becoming that he must defeat the best wrestler at the moment, and both him and Andrade give us two monstruous performances that undenniably scream "we're the best wrestlers in the world for one night". They're just constantly attacking, countering, anticipating what the other will do, displaying athleticism and resiliance... It's almost as if there wasn't no heel nor babyface. Just two great wrestlers at their very peak, fighting for the main gold. As simple as that, maybe even too simple in a GME context (because there are a lot other matches with much more strong, emotional connection to the story and characters). There are some times where you can clearly tell they're collaborating for some of the biggest spots in the first half of the match, but normally it flows very well. And the usually narcisist hardcore crowd of Philly ates it all.
The second half elevates things, as it should. Now Zelina Vega is becoming nervous as fuck, so she starts to interfere, bringing the match to a more classic territory, and I really liked that. But, no matter what, Gargano will not fucking fall. His heroic resistance could have supposed a start making performance if he (or NXT bookers/agents, whatever) didn't use it for the rest of the big matches of his life, but here, just in this match, it definitely works. Candice taking out Zelina was a huge satisfyng moment and probably my favourite of the match (ironic considering it's the only one spot of the match not involving the two wrestlers of it), and it leads to a bittersweet ending with Andrade beating Gargano clean after a BRUTAL running double knees onto the turnbuckle and the upgraded version of his finisher. Yeah, Gargano still wasn't at the status of surviving that, not yet. But still, I believe he should have won here and the Ciampa rivalry should have been for the NXT Title, it was clearly the biggest program of the brand and Andrade ended up dropping the title to Aleister Black just to go to the "main" roster, so fuck it, I think the result kinda hurts the match a bit in retrospective.
Overall, a fantastic match. As I said, it's not GOATC territory for me (very few matches are), but I shall give it the highest score I can give to a match that is not GOATC. ****1/2
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Post by Cap on Jan 10, 2023 10:17:12 GMT -5
I keep meaning to revisit this match. My general disinterest in one of these two guys since the match has colored my memory of it a bit and made it such that I don't really have much urge to go back when there are folks I like to watch SOOOOOOO much more right now. One of these days I'll do it.
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 10, 2023 14:59:18 GMT -5
Let me read your thoughts after rewatching it, because I feel on a desert island with this one somehow. It's obviously a, at least, great match, but for GME I just don't feel it makes it. It is close enough to be in that territory of bouts that I can understand why other people may vote for it, but I'm personally not in that group anymore.
And yes, I think whatever has come after affects it a bit. I would be looking this with other eyes if it really supposed a Gargano (or even Andrade) consolidation.
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Post by [Darren] on Jan 10, 2023 15:05:42 GMT -5
I feel like this match was extremely loved at the time but I hear about it less and less. I think this represented probably the best case scenario for a great NXT match at the time. But wrestling has changed so much in 5 years that folks are realizing that wrestling can still be truly great and best case scenario for something ultimately less than what many folks want might poorly. I’m not willing to give this another watch now but I’d be interested to see if my gut feeling changes in another couple years. Because there’s certainly something here worth remembering.
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Post by Cap on Jan 10, 2023 16:41:25 GMT -5
Maybe I'll try to get to it this weekend if I have time, but I'll prioritize it at some point in the not too distant future. In the meantime I'll jot down some wild speculation on the matter to build off of when I do watch it. Let me wax theoretical about great matches so I don't have to do work for a few minutes.
I wonder to what extent a sort of two sided phenomenon that I talk about a lot is at play here rewatch value and aging. I don't think either is an exact science to sort through, but I get the sense that it doesn't do well in either category for a lot of people. I don't get the sense that this is something a lot of folks return to and talk about over time. That doesn't make it bad. There are lots of matches I absolutely adore, but I need to be in the right headspace to rewatch them for any number of reasons (ebbs and flows in taste, match length, wrestlers I'm in the mood to watch, etc). I do think, however, that when matches don't have that rewatch value they can get a bit lost in the discourse or even feel like boring picks because... well... no one is talking about them (Omega/Okada IV is that to me). It also may just not age well. The difference here is that I do think great matches are great over time. Gargano/Andrade was universally praised in the moment and then that praise seemed to fade (at least in the circles I am a part of). That might just be because the match was great in the moment, but loses some luster over time. There is still great value in a match like that, but it would fall further and further from consideration for me over time. I think something like Thatcher v Walter from the same year is a good juxtaposition. I looked back. I ranked it #6 on the year and ranked Gargano/Andrade #1. I think Thatcher v Walter is much more rewatchable and has stuck with me longer. Gun to my head without looking back at them, I'd probably take Thatcher/Walter at this point.
Darren's point is a good one too. The landscape has just changed and it sort of feels like the bar is on the rise. We are seeing greats from different genres and at least for me a lot of that stuff is drawing my attention away from this particular brand of NXT/WWE greatness.
I'll try to throw it on at some point. I hope I like it still, but I suspect it isn't cracking my top 100 again (pretty sure I voted for it the first year).
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 13, 2023 18:21:20 GMT -5
Dynamite this week was huge, and I watched four different matches that I enjoyed a lot, each one of them in a different way. Also, stay until the end for the review of a random Elimination Chamber match.
Jon Moxley vs Hangman Adam Page (AEW Dynamite, 11/1/2023): great opener, they wanted to go after the other so badly, the intensity was off the charts here and they didn't overstay their welcome at all. I liked the subtle heel work by Moxley progressing through the match until he just got tired of the fans chanting for Hangman and flipped them off, and Page's resiliance and comeback was believable enough, although I didn't like the Death Rider kickout. Moxley gave us an all time great bump for the Buckshot Lariat so props for that as well. I don't think this will be the last for these two, it was a very upsetting victory by Hangman and it seems Mox himself couldn't believe it, and if the original plans for late 2021 were to have a Mox/Hangman rivalry with a proper Mox heel turn, I can see them trying it this time. ***3/4
Bryan Danielson vs Konosuke Takeshita (AEW Dynamite, 11/1/2023): yeah, kinda dissapointed with this. It's still a good match with some very neat moments along the way, but Takeshita's lack of personality and the overall low stakes of the match hurted it, if just a bit. Slightly inferior to the opener for me, because that one had a clear and enjoyable story about those two trying to concuss one another and Hangman wanting to prove to Mox how tough he really is, while neither Bryan nor Konosuke worked any kind of dynamic between the two. Think about it: young buck vs veteran, dickhead Danielson on top against underdog Takeshita, technician vs strong style kinda guy... there were a lot of ways this match could have went and make it more interesting, but they worked a generic 50-50 showcase match instead. Which, again, it's good because they're two good and charismatic wrestlers, but you gotta expect more from these two. ***1/2
Saraya/Toni Storm vs Jamie Hayter/Britt Baker (AEW Dynamite, 11/1/2023): it's been a while since I've watched a womens division match in AEW, but this one caught my attention and it didn't dissapoint me at all. I wasn't expecting something great, and it isn't, but it's still a satisfying match to watch because it proves how much potential this division has and how good things could go for them if treated right. The crowd was kinda lost at times, but all four of them managed to keep them alive enough. The strikes here were very cool looking and the overall pace was right. The ending spot with Shida being dumb hurts it a bit, but not enough to not let me recommend this one to you guys. Give it a try. ***1/2
Death Triangle vs The Elite (Escalera de la Muerte, AEW Tríos Championships match - AEW Dynamite, 11/1/2023): a very, very fun non-stop spotfest, so if you're in the mood for that, do not doubt and go for it. Take a shot every time Pentagón does his cero miedo taunt (gotta admit the "olé olé" mashup was funny). However, the fun will only last if you don't pay attention to the selling or the overall logic and pyschollogy of some of the sequences and/or spots. Seriously, Pentagón suffers a 450 Splash through a table in ringside and, in literally one single minute, he's at the other side of the ring doing his package piledriver at the top of a ladder. That's just the clearest example, but the match is full of stuff like that, as expected. More often than not, the workers had to stand still, or unnaturally change their position (or even stop running), to let the opponent execute his stuff onto them. Guys like Fénix and PAC can make it look good enough, but the Elite has always suffered for this problem. Omega had some neat selling details here and there, too, but nothing stellar. It had some really impressive pacing and athleticism, but objectively speaking this isn't as well, carefuly worked as the other matches. You can definitely enjoy it with the right mindset, and I did, but still. I've seen much better matches of this style. ***1/4
BONUS MATCH!
SmackDown! Elimination Chamber (WWE No Way Out 2008): This match is kinda hilarious. It's basically Batista and -specially- Undertaker burying everybody. They both start the match, and as soon as another guy comes in, they get destroyed for a couple of minutes, but manage to survive everything and put the jobber out of his misery with just two moves. I'm not joking, that's literally what happens to the first two other guys, even if they're monster heels like Big Daddy V and Khali. Finlay lasts more because he's the only other babyface in this, but doesn't do anything memorable sadly. MVP suffers the same destiny of the other midcard heels, but at least he takes the biggest bump of the match. The difference in status hurts this match a lot, and it gets reduced into the absurd quite brutally. Man, at least Batista didn't suffered any finisher until the very end, but I mean c'mon, Undertaker fucking survived the Khali chokeslam, the Celtic Cross and the Batista Bomb before winning the whole thing, by eliminating every single one of his opponents (he doesn't make all the pins, but his moves are the ones putting all them out). I'm not saying it's wrong, because Taker always sells greatly and that superhuman resiliance is part of his character, but that doesn't make it less hilarious. And you know what? Despite everything I'm saying, there's still some... charm to it. Maybe it's my nostalgia kicking in, because this was one of my favourite matches when I was a child (huge Undi fan back then, really wanted to see him destroy Edge), or maybe it is that both Taker and Batista have so much star power and chemistry together that the whole Chamber being 100% focused around them didn't felt wrong anyway, but if I'm being serious, this can't be called a great match, or one of the best Chambers, or stuff like that. But it is good, even if it's silly. ***1/2
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 14, 2023 7:21:55 GMT -5
Friday night cherrypicking + the only Tenryu/Fujiwara singles match ever.
Gunther vs Braun Strowman (Intercontinental Championship, WWE SmackDown! 13/1/2023): two titans clashing, as you cand expect. Really liked Gunther's armwork as the chosen strategy against Strowman, he capitalized on it until the very end. The crowd was going nuts for these two, and they responded accordingly with a lot of intensity. Seeing Gunther in a "kind of an underdog but not really" role is really interesting to me, he has such an aura that even with a huge size and strenght disadvantage he still is the guy on top in most of this match, and that was a super nice dynamic to watch. I've never seen Strowman in a performance as good as this one since his hot run in 2017. ***1/2
Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn (WWE SmackDown! 13/1/2023): obviously this isn't among their best matches, but them working together always put a big smile on my face. The way these two fight each other totally tells the long story between them, there's just a lot of, how can I say it... "unwanted animosity" behind their exchanges and counters and all of that. They wished they didn't have to fight each other, but they do, and Sami specially had a something to prove here, so the match never stopped being exciting. And when the Bloodline interfered and caused the DQ, I was fucking bothered at first because the match was going very fine and it looked like Sami could make it, until I quickly realized that was the point. Sami's facial expressions in the post-match segment are GOLD, you totally get the struggle in his character and he helps you understand how the segment wants to make you feel. The face turn is coming and I wish they pull the trigger in the biggest of ways and let Sami win the Rumble and take Roman out at WM. ***1/2
Darby Allin vs Juice Robinson (TNT Championship, AEW Rampage 13/1/2023): Juice has been one of my favourite wrestlers of the last seven years or so, he's just a perfect underdog babyface and should have been pushed to the moon in New Japan. Now that he's heel, he has had some interesting performances (because he's a good wrestler) but, overall, he's in a hit or miss run right now. Changing the atrocious New Japan for AEW might be a good choice, but it doesn't feel like they're gonna treat him better here. His match with Mox was surprisingly boring (I love their matches together, and the first one is my 2019 MOTY and it is on my GME list), so hw about this one? Nah, this was good. Darby and him showed some chemistry together and in less than ten minutes they managed to get the crowd behind, and while Darby's victory was never in doubt here (Tony Khan, please, stop doing random non-storyline based title matches), they both worked it light it should matter more than it actually mattered. So I ended up caring more for it. A great example of good wrestlers compensating bad booking. ***1/2
Genichiro Tenryu vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (WAR Champion of R' 97): Sadly dissapointing match between two legends. It starts thing off pretty well, with both guys attitudes colliding as expected and some really nasty shots. But Fujiwara expended too much time working restholds, and neither guy did anything interesting with them. You know when for example Buddy Rose is working the mat, being at the correct or wrong side of a hold, he's always doing something? Like, moving his limbs, screaming, trying to reach the opponent in some way, trying to get to the ropes, inflicting additional pain somehow, whatever, you name it, he does it. This is the exact opposite: the hold is there, and neither one is gonna move an inch before casually grabbing a rope. Tenryu's comeback looked dull, his offense has always been inconsistent but his spinning kicks looked like shit here, and the finishing spot is hilarioiusly bad. There's still some greatness hidden here, like when Fujiwara works Tenryu's cut, or basically every Fujiwara facial expression, but not enough to compensate the boring and nonsensical bits. Decent, but faaaaar from what they could have done together, even in such small time. ***1/4
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 19, 2023 5:06:35 GMT -5
Kind of a busy week, but here am I again. Dynamite gave us two huge matches that everyone need to check and I also rewatched a classic from 90s joshi.
Bryan Danielson vs Bandido (AEW Dynamite, 18/1/2023): Far better than the Takeshita match. This one had personality behind it since the very beginning, and all the stuff they do is absolutely wonderfuL. The struggle for every hold, every spot having it's set up and pay off instead of just spamming signatures, every minor detail, all that makes it one of the most organic technical matches you will see in AEW. Bandido looked like an absolute star and the huge crowd being hot as fuck for him reinforced it, what a performance. Bryan was having the time of his life wrestling this guy, because both of them brought a lot of creativity to the table, as this is one of the most original matches I've seen in a while. Seriously, check this out. I want to watch it later without picture-and-picture, because I'm confident in this being another 2023 MOTYC. But, for now, lets go for: ****
Darby Allin vs KUSHIDA (TNT Championship - AEW Dynamite, 18/1/2023): Another very good match from Darby, what a run he's starting to have. I haven't seen KUSHIDA as motivated and energetic since a very long time (I wonder why is that, huh), what a joy. Is not as good as the Bryan/Bandido match, but that's only because that one felt too great for a tv show, but no biggie because this still sits comfortably among the best tv matches of recent weeks. This one has some brutal shots and spots (KUSHIDA's mid air transition to a cross armbreaker will ALWAYS surprise and get a pop out of me), and I really loved Darby's victory in this one: he just survived thanks to a cunning pin, letting KUSHIDA get over as a super credible and dangerous contender. ***3/4
Aja Kong vs Dynamite Kansai (WWWA World Championship, AJW Queen's Holy Night 1995): Great bout, much better than their 1993 title match. These two had a lot of story together at this point and you can feel it just by the presentation and the crowd alone, and it pays off greatly. Kansai was ready for Aja's shit, but the power level difference was still there, and she still looked like an underdog against her. That really elevated the match for me, because every time Kansai landed some shots felt like the beginning of a huge comeback, even if Aja almost never let her have too much momentum. The tension around the Uraken was cool, and Kansai's victory felt huge even if it came a bit abruptly for my taste. It's not one of the very best matches of this period of joshi, but a super strong match nonetheless, I can even see some people pushing this to top 100 consideration. ****
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 20, 2023 7:13:30 GMT -5
I'm obviously have the need to watch Jay Briscoe stuff, so let's start with a bang.
The Briscoes vs Steenérico (Boston Street Fight, ROH Death Before Dishonor V): they spend the first 15 minutes brawling among the crowd, and I gotta say, it was one of the best "brawl among the crowd" segments I've ever seen, among stuff like Austin/Bret or Anarchy in the Arena. Just non-stop insane spot after spot, but they sold everything really well and it never went to overkill territory, as impossible as it might sound. The adrenaline was on full display here for all four guys, and while they all shine equally and there wasn't anyone stealing the show or whatever, I'd say Steen little details got me most of the time, for example when a table he's setting up just casually breaks and he just smiles saying "it'll do its work anyway", or when he's selling a big bump at the ringside and he's whispering "mommy?" while looking at the infinity.
While in the ring, they started things a bit weird with dumb sequences like those four consecutive chairshots, but overall the quality stayed the same. This match doesn't have the strongest of the character works, the violence doesn't go to that *next* level that other matches of its kind have, but it's surprisingly consistent because it starts on fire and stays that way throughout the whole thing, while never tiring neither the crowd nor myself, so big props for that. One of the funniest brawls I've ever seen, not quite GME-contender levels to me, but yeah really great, definitely give it a shot if you haven't seen it already. ****
There's a moment when Jay Briscoe is trying to climb an obviously already broken ladder, and the crowd starts chanting "please don't die". I felt bad for that. He was a really good wrestler and, more importantly, he learned how to improve as a person. A sad lost and I really hope his daugthers make it.
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 24, 2023 4:51:11 GMT -5
More Jay + old and modern joshi.
Jay Briscoe vs Jay Lethal (ROH World & TV Titles, ROH Best in the World 2015): This match is good, but "good" is not enough when you're presenting your supposed biggest match of the company's history. Even with the crowd being into it, nothing here screams greatness to me, sadly. It's fun to see Jay on a different role than his usual stuff with Mark, but at the same time the old school big title match formula doesn't feel right at all for him. That said, he still does pretty well and is clearly the best worker of the match, with Lethal being good but not doing any great touch or little detail that elevates his performance. It's a standard big title match between two good wrestlers, nothing more, nothing less, and that bothers me because if this match needed something it was ambition. ***1/2
Crush Gals vs Lola González & La Galáctica (2/3 Falls match, WWWA World Tag Team Titles - AJW 6/10/1984): Had to inmediately watch this after Andrew's 5* rating on it. And yes, it is quite good, but it never reached the greatness it could have had. Right away all four women show you why they're good, and throughout the match there are a lot of interesting spots or sequences or details that make you thing "man that was good". But, and I know this is a hot take here, I just can't stand Dump Matsumoto. She ruins every single match I've seen her appear, even the ones when she's not directly wrestling like this one. I don't necessarily mind interruptions, and I'm now resignated to the AJW's (very bad) style of doing that stuff; I do mind POINTLESS interruptions, and that's what Dumps brings here. Hell, even the babyfaces didn't care about her because they ignored and/or no-sold her shots, just constantly going after the mexicans like she isn't there. And she doesn't need to be there, if you think about it. What does she bring to the match? More danger to the Crush Gals? Is not like they care, and they end up winning anyway so idk. Dump being there actually hurts the match not only hurting its pace and logic, it hurts both González and Galáctica because she takes their spot away from them. That said, I still like most of the match when it's actually happening, and while the falls resolution were kinda weak, the crowd being fucking awesome as always in 80s AJW and the mexicans doing very original stuff and not letting this match get to "go-go-go style" territory definitely carry this. ***1/2
Kairi Hojo vs Meiko Satomura (World of Stardom Championship, STARDOM X STARODM 2015): The rematch of the highly acclaimed Galaxy Stars encounter. And it's not as good, but that's more because that one is one of the greatest matches of all time and not because this is bad or anything. It is not. It's still a great match with very fun and believable strikes and combos, and really good selling from Kairi, but it's strange how average I found Satomura on this, considering it's her big moment. The Galaxy Stars match had a lot more variety of stuff in it, while this one is more focused in the traditional japanese big match style only, and sadly it gets a bit worse at the end, when they start botching some sequences (but at least they know how to improvise instead of just standing there like idiots and repeat the previous spot like nothing happened). Meiko's win is an upset to me, iirc she has an amazing match with Io Shirai later on, so gotta look for that one soon. This one's great but not that great, so no consideration for my GME list. ****
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