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[2nd RD] AJ STYLES vs. VOLADOR JR


AJ STYLES vs. VOLADOR JR  

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15 minutes ago, Chicken Sandwich Carl said:

Yeah, AJ has just been a freak this year. Hopefully, people are watching Volador matches, though, and not just voting AJ because AJ.

One would hope since Volador Jr. is a fucking ace.

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1 hour ago, Chicken Sandwich Carl said:

Yeah, AJ has just been a freak this year. Hopefully, people are watching Volador matches, though, and not just voting AJ because AJ.

I have been watching Volador, Jr. for sure, but man did he get a bad draw here.

Also can't get over him looking like Chris Kattan.  Somebody pointed that out before and I can't un-see it now.

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Volador jr. deserves a better fate than this, the guy is really, really fun to watch. However, AJ has a pretty compelling claim to being the best in the world right now.

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Again reposting my Volador vs Dorada rant because I'm petty and this is the last chance.

Volador has absolutely been the ace of CMLL this year. You can't even question it. They've used him in big (and little) singles matches all year. They've used him in tournament finals. He's a very hard worker. He has incredible execution and athleticism. He's also one of the worst wrestlers I've ever encountered when it comes to bestowing meaning upon a match. 

Here's my review of Volador vs Dorada from Liga Elite:

https://youtu.be/or2OOkQPiXI

--------------------------

I don't know why I keep doing this to myself. No, I do know. It's because I really want to find a match that I like. Volador is talented. He's hugely talented. He's able to really go. He's able to hit some complex stuff. People say that he's really thoughtful about wrestling and constantly trying to improve. These are people who have spoken with him that I believe. I think he DOES think about wrestling. It's just that he thinks about cool spots and not things like storytelling. And even that would be fine, but I think he thinks of seven cool spots instead of just one or two and then tries to do them all at once.

I really thought this one had a chance. For one thing, Volador's at his best when he's playing a subtle heel. He does it differently than someone like transitory Rush who is resentful. Instead he's arrogant and matter-of-fact in his smarmy self-assuredness. Dorada can hit even more things even more gracefully at times and is more of a natural tecnico so it should have been a good match. Moreover,  it was a single fall match, a souped up lightning match, so there was no real worry about that third fall bloat that usually drives me insane in Volador's matches.

And what we got was something that would have been an excellent nine minute match, a really good ten minute match, a decent if flawed ten minute match, and a miserable twelve minute match that I wish I hadn't watched.

I really liked the story of Dorada being one step quicker and more daring but Volador being meaner (ending in him having enough and pulling out the apron DDT and the thumbs down; I wish the match had ended after the powerbombs that followed), the symmetry in the counters, and the sheer inventiveness. I even liked the first ten minutes of nearfalls because the selling seemed to warrant them, but it just kept going and going and going, and instead of escalating, the diminishing returns kicked in. Even if it had ended after the awesome Dorada crazy dive rana into the ring that would have worked because of the symmetry that led to it. EVEN if it ended after the backcracker I could have lived with it (even if I didn't like it) because that was the first giant move after the crazy stuff, but it had to stumble to the finish with a no sell out of the corner and the ridiculous Canadian destroyer. At least it didn't end with the no selling of that and another one by Volador's opponent like the last Sombra match I saw with him did. Spectacular moves. Spectacular spots. Could have been a good match if they just took it home when it still felt like it mattered. They didn't. Way worse than the sum of its parts. Watch it for the dynamic, high impact stuff, sure, but it's just more tinder for the endless Volador tire fire in the end.

I keep giving him tries and he keeps proving that he's nothing but a spot monkey that doesn't know when to stop. One of these days at least I'll smarten up enough to stop. That'll be one of us.

Edited by RIPPA
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Everything I've seen of Volador has been good. 

AJ's year has been a case study defending "AJ Styles is the best wrestler of the last 20 years."   And if he'd have been in the WWE the whole time, this would not even be a question. 

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55 minutes ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Everything I've seen of Volador has been good. 

AJ's year has been a case study defending "AJ Styles is the best wrestler of the last 20 years."   And if he'd have been in the WWE the whole time, this would not even be a question. 

I don't believe this is what you are saying but I do want to make it clear that AJ was in the WWE for the entire voting period

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I didn't watch TNA outside of the highly acclaimed matches,so I'll ask: when did AJ Styles move away from what Volador Jr. is now to what AJ currently is? Volador Jr. is a fantastic athlete, with incredible spots, but needs help to tell anything more than a basic story. This is how I viewed Styles until his NJPW run started to completely turn me around on him. Was it towards the end of his TNA stint? Did he always have compelling psychology and I'm just blind?

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The NJPW run was definitely pivotal for him turning the corner in the ring.  However, he had a great run as a stooge heel in TNA (I forget the time period, but a while back when Jarrett was still around...err, the first time) that I think was just as informative of his current act.

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7 minutes ago, EVA said:

The NJPW run was definitely pivotal for him turning the corner in the ring.  However, he had a great run as a stooge heel in TNA (I forget the time period, but a while back when Jarrett was still around...err, the first time) that I think was just as informative of his current act.

Were there any standout matches or was it more of a slow evolution where he started to put things together? I admit that his ability to play a heel in New Japan surprised me.

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6 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

Were there any standout matches or was it more of a slow evolution where he started to put things together? I admit that his ability to play a heel in New Japan surprised me.

If we look at A.J.'s recent career a couple of things become apparent, the main one being that for a guy who has been very successful at what he does, he's not afraid to move out of his comfort zone, even in his late thirties. A.J.'s at the age when most guys (even ones I hate saying this about like Tanahashi & Nak) are figuring out ways to coast and pick up a check, and here you have A.J. rolling out surprise growth spurts coinciding with each new milieu.

TNA: Work as a stooge heel, did not see that coming.

NJPW: Full-blown gaijin heel; sort of surprising, but leader of a faction ?

WWE: Of all the things that I expected from A.J. Styles, becoming great on the stick was not one of those things. No, he isn't Arn Anderson or Jim Cornette, but he's perfectly fine at getting his talking points across without sounding like a doofus. No, that isn't right, he's better than that, a lot better. He's compelling on the mic with the same old-school earnestness that you got from the two gentlemen that I mentioned, or the recently departed Outlaw Ron Bass. He's got you reaching for your wallet to order tickets for the next house show or ppv as the case may be. That next show is a big deal because A.J. Styles said so, and you believe him. That A.J. is continuing to work on improving when no one would begrudge him a bit of coasting at this point in his career speaks volumes about the man's work ethic. Nothing but respect from here.

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You don't see the similarities between TNA Styles and Volador Jr.? I remember recently re-watching that three way he was in with Joe and Daniels and just rolling my eyes at how movez-y it was.

What should I be watching of his time in TNA?

OSJ, his mic work was shockingly great. They wouldn't let him near a mic initially because he's SUTHRN or something. They had Jericho do pretty much all of the talking while AJ established himself in ring. Then he was going toe-to-toe with Cena in the summer and looking the better of the two sometimes. He's THE TOTAL PACKAGE right now and so malleable for an older guy, as you mentioned. DDP was the last guy that I can think of that improved so much at such a late age, but DDP hadn't been working the past 20 years before doing so.

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I'd never seen Volador Jr. I enjoyed what i saw on youtube b/c of this matchup. But AJ might be the best wrestler on Earf right now. I can't imagine he doesnt make the final four at minimum.

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13 hours ago, odessasteps said:

The temptation is to,say that once he went to NJPW, Dave began pushing him as best wrestler in the world and many people followed the talking point. 

I'm not sure exactly what you're saying here.  Are you saying AJ was already the best before Dave started saying it?  AJ had a phenomenal..  year in NJPW there's no question.  Was he the best?  I don't know. But at some point he did become the best in the world and he hasn't let up.

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