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Matt D lost a couple bets, and owes us some reviews.


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Work and life have been way too busy. That vacation was a killer. Pregnant wife at home. Lots of catch up. Life should be easier next week but then I've been saying that. In some ways it's good. I LOST a bet. I should be paying for it and frankly, I got off easy to some degree. Go2Sleep wanted to punish me but he picked short matches and I didn't even hate the Powerbomb one because it felt functional and I value function. But the fact that these are lingering means I am feeling my loss. I gave Mayor McUgly a month and I'm still well within that here, so that's good at least. 

Anyway, here's the first of @El Dragon's picks. If you're going to read the notes, you might want to do so first.

Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries - ROH Final Battle 2004

Just off the bat, let me say I enjoyed this. It's been a long time since I saw any 2004 ROH or really any of this era indy wrestling. While I'm sure I saw some Aries at the time, my viewing of him has been a bit of his main event push in TNA and then the last few years, including seeing him life at a NXT show teaming with Joe. There I enjoyed him a lot as a stooging house show heel, feeding for Nakamura's star power and Tye's super-over act. Joe is infinitely watchable, a guy you can just jump into (and bounce off of) at almost any point in his career. I'm not sure I want to revisit the TNA Angle or face tattoo stuff, but in general, he's as watchable a wrestler as exists in this century.

The best part of the match was that everything resonated. Everything was earned. Everything meant something. Everything mattered. They did virtually nothing just to set up the next spot. They gave each other virtually nothing. That shows up right from the get go. Aries is in a headscissors. Aries punches the leg a few times to help get out. It's that sort of WoS bridge that you see so often in a guy like Regal's work where they put in an extra bit of effort to help rationalize escapes and counters. That works on both the small sense and a larger one, where Aries, for much of his offense in the match, relies on kicking out Joe's leg to set up something else. It's note rote limbwork but instead a crutch to even the odds between them. Whenever there's a momentum shift, there's a reason for it, even if it's just Aries taking a moment to sell to help explain it. That's a level of storytelling that's rare in most wrestling these days. Maybe it's occasionally unnecessary, but I'd rather have it than not. Things should happen for a reason and reasons organically stemming from what happens in the match are way better than EXPERT COUNTERS and FIGHTING SPIRIT.

That said, Joe IS giving in another sense. While everything Aries does is earned, Joe respects the value of it. He allows deserved things to impact him and in doing so presents himself as a very three-dimensional figure. Yes, if Aries is going to try to bully him with shoulder blocks it won't go well for him. Yes, if Joe gets Aries in the corner, it's not going to go well for him. Yes, if Aries goes for an ill-conceived headlock takeover, it's not going to go well, but if Aries is on his game, Joe gives. It's very smart, measured, respectful and effective big man wrestling and the crowd responds in kind. I'm not tuned in to 2004 ROH storytelling but I got the sense Aries was part of a successful enough faction but came in here, as a solo, as an underdog. He absolute wrestles this match like a championship contender, like someone who deserves to be there, but the other half of the equation is Joe striking that balance and putting him over as a logical, dangerous threat.

They also built towards the finish throughout the match. Aries doesn't REALLY get punished for his Hogan-esque hubris of going for the brainbuster (which the match teaches us is really his only tool he has to defeat Joe), until the very end. That was an interesting narrative choice, as was choosing to replicate the same "Aries realizes he can't get him up, switches to forearms, has a whip reversed, gets put onto the apron, gets forearmed off, dive attempts" almost exactly. I've rarely seen a match where such an exchange is so thoroughly replicated where it's not due to laziness (see Volador, Jr.). Here it feels like part of the design and the announcers (who are good throughout) jump on it as part of the narrative. When Aries DOES pay for his third brainbuster attempt, it's his fighting back because he wants the win so badly that turns the tide on the match and takes it over the top. I've seen title matches, even surprise title changes, where the challenger just doesn't bring enough to give him legitimacy and it's flat. This was anything but. I have no idea how Aries' run went but they put together and executed a match (which took both wrestlers, the announcers, the layout, the crowd, everything really) that should have set the thing up for success.

Notes:

 

-This is my second time through the match.
-Aries is 26, Joe 25. (I was 23)
-Last ROH I'd seen was Scramble Cage Melee back in August. Homicide beat Joe and Punk on that card. I don't remember that at all. I don't think I remember a single thing from that card, to be honest. I remember the cage match being nuts bump wise but that's it. Ah well.
Ok, the match:

-Aries jumps Joe. Joe shrugs him off and pancakes him. Lifts him. Drops him with a forearm, kick, mare, headscissors. Aries tries to punch the leg to get out. It buys him enough to turn Joe over and flip whips the leg. Nice bridging bit (show your work).
-Reset. Joe headlock. There's no sense that Aries is REALLY a threat here. They're talking about Joe making it to two years. Takeover, Aries headscissors out. They're working it with the positioning. Joe crosses the leg and presses down to get out. Aries rope break.
-Reset. Tease lock up. Aries cheap shot kick. Goes for headlock takeover of his own but Joe blocks with a waistlock, twice, then hits a belly to back. Joe's size is interesting. He's big enough he can use unique power defenses/moves but not so big that he can't be wrestled with believably. It gives him tools to use as opposed to being an object to overcome.
-Mare, chop to neck, kick, misses kneedrop. Aries back to headlock. Joe sells leg and then pushes him off. Collision. Joe gets better but Aries kicks the knee and tries again. Repeat. Third time Joe just slaps him in the face. Locks in a headlock of his own. Storytelling's really solid so far. 
-Aries goes to the gut which lets him whip Joe off the ropes. They're earning everything and it's appreciated. Rope running sequence. Ends with Aries taking out the knee. Joe's hubris. Aries grounded kick. Goes to pick up leg. Slight flub. Gets a dragon screw. Knee to leg and grinding. Joe goes for head (always working), aries hits him and nails the knee. Locks in STF, can't hold it. Joe sells leg. Wobbling. 5 mins in and this is floating by. 
-Aries with another shot to the leg. Shin breaker. Tries again but Joe kick to the back of the head. Joe's big enough to get away with that as a transition even when hurt (and it's only been a couple of minutes). Picks him up and puts him on top sideways. Clobbers. Kicks. Shos in corner. Look great. Kicks him out. Claps. Facewashto stun and running one. Aries turns over onto the top rope and lays his head there for a moment selling, nice touch.
-Rapid fire punches to guts in the corner. Three knees. Aries fires back and it's desperation to cut off Joe just pummeling him. Goes for brainbuster, but that's a big mistake at this point of the match. You don't do that on recovery. He goes back to the forearms, but Joe cuts off a whip and clobbers him off the apron when he floats over. Aries dodges a dive attempt, tries one of his own. Joe cuts him off with a kick and another nice sell by Aries as he dangles between the ropes. Elaborate but believable sequence. (note the brainbuster attempt).
-Joe pulls him out. Puts him on a chair. ole time. Feels like such a missing part of current Joe's act.
-Goes to the well too many times and gets stuck (Brief hesitation). Aries is good at just coming at him here. He's wrestling this match like he deserves to be champion. Sits him down and DK into chair. Crowd pops.
-Rolls Joe in. Stupid springboard in elbow. Right into choke. You get the sense that Aries was just trying anything but it was a miscalculation. I'll forgive it. Aries gets out but runs right into the snap powerbomb. Two. (first pin?) Joe picks him up for powerbomb. Punches. Rana blocked. Powerbomb attempt, big bump rana. DKs in corner. Aries does them well.
-Three corner DKs. Aries selling something which delays him and Joe catches him for an Island Driver. They're adding rationale for just about every momentum shift, which is appreciated. Two. Joe's exasperated. Dueling chants. Joe signals for Muscle Buster.
-Aries hammers back on top. Joe chops him. Goes up. Aries forearms. Gets Joe off. Hits 450 and basically bounces off of Joe. Two. We really haven't hit excess yet.
-Aries goes brainbuster. Aries stops trying and goes for shots. And.. oof, I didn't notice this last time. They basically do the EXACT same sequence, where Aries forearms after he can't get Joe up, whips, is flipped over to the apron and forearmed off. Joe goes fo rthe tope again and Aries is ready and sunset flips for two and then puts on a deep crab. Powered out. (Talk about this).
-Aries gets a fishhook stretch. count on. Good visual. Both guys selling. Giving thing space. In a current match, I think we'd be hitting moves here. Aries goes for buster again. Match FINALLY punishes him for it with punches and a jumping kick. Muscle buster sign. 
-Joe can't lock in Muscle buster. Crucifix bomb counter. Two CL's (rock Joe). Joe pissed. Goes for CL. Aries ducks. Goes to knee one last time. Brainbuster. 450 again. Much cleaner hit. 3. Crowd super into it. Earned. How should I pull this together?

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Amazing Kong vs MsChif, 2007 Shimmer

So this was an interesting one. Back during PWO's Greatest Wrestler Ever poll, I watched a lot of Aja Kong. I didn't entirely mean to because I wasn't really ranking Japan (yeah, I was that asshole that ranked England and Mexico but not Japan, but so many people ranked Japan and not England or Mexico that it sort of evened out). Some of it was the wanting to at least be somewhat conversant in the results pod I was doing with Stacey. Some of it was that the matches are just fun to watch. While the big Kong matches tend to be great, what I really gravitated towards were these 10-15 minute Arison ones that were time-fillers for me. I'd watch a 20 minute match with someone I was ranking and then found this little ~2000 Arison match to fill the time before I had to move on to something else. What was cool about them was that they were almost like thought puzzles. Aja was up against someone who had to figure out how to deal with her, how to tackle her, how to get in that first bit of offense and not get killed by her (kind of like how Hansen matches work but without the go-go-go wild bull of Hansen matches. You can't think in a Hansen match; you can only act and react). I think that's what I was looking for here and I sort of half got it.

The positives first. Kong has presence. She eats up the screen and eats up her opponent. She can do a ton in the ring. She can take big bumps. She can base well. She has lots of varied offense. The course correction splash and missile dropkick she did were very impressive. She has great facial reactions to things that happen in the match and plenty of intensity. While she did work to her size well and filled the time between moves well, I would have liked her to take a bit more of that time. I wouldn't say that she was constantly rushing to the next spot but she was rushing to the next thing (which is different). She'd fill the time but she'd do it a bit too quickly. Things really should have sank in a bit more.

Chif pinballed around the ring well. She had a ton of intensity. She seemed like she belonged there, sure, and to some extent that she was a star (the fans sure bought into her). She's crazy agile, able to get bent in half on bumps and holds, and she uses that to the fullest. Some of her more complex headscissors-into-DDT spots were a bit labored. Some of that can be the size of Kong and getting around her, but some of it came off like a lack of physical finesse (which isn't something I'll hold heavily against someone; it's more the sake that if you can't do a spot and have it look good, do a different spot instead). I think she had some trouble hitting her stuff against Kong in general. Sometimes, it worked into the match (and was a working feature and not just technical difficulty), like when she couldn't move her out of the corner. Other times, less so.

Likewise, certain things seemed a bit too competitive. Not everything, but the arm-grab, rope climb, jumping DDT didn't seem earned at all. That's a huge difference between the Aries/Joe match and this. In that match, everything was earned and nothing felt overly collaborative. Here, there were definitely a few times where Kong was standing around waiting for something or even actively helping which just kills things for me and is frankly unnecessary. If you look at Aries and what he did, I think the most complex thing was that Crucifix bomb, which came at the end of the match and was an exclamation point. Almost every bit of Chif's offense except for a few forearms seemed more complicated than it should have been. On the one hand, it kind of fit into the match that she could only get offense through reversals and twisty finesse stuff, but when that stuff doesn't look so great or is overly collaborative...

Also, unlike the Aries match where they set things up and paid them off well, this one only half did that. The backfist was ultimately paid off and led into the finish but Kong kept going for something out of a powerslam position seemingly solely to set up those twisty turny reversals. I have no idea what Chif's DESECRATOR is, other than a bunch of green construction transformers merging together, but she only got close to hitting it once. Maybe she needed one more bit of hope towards the end in that regard. I don't think it would have harmed Kong at all. The closest she got to a win was a clumsy cradle out of nowhere. 

I don't want to seem like I'm totally down on this, because I did like it, but it had some definite issues too and I'm not going to rush to seek out 2007 shimmer Awesome Kong or MsChif matches like I still do with those Arison Aja Kong matches.

-The Shimmer logo flying across the screen like it's 1992 is great. 
-Kong gets a reaction. I've never seen MsChif. She gets a pop too. Everyone gets a pop. 
-I've come in totally blind on this. She likes to scream. the fans scream back. Don't I get Prazak announcing and giving me context or something?
-They pop for Kong's "none of your damn business" weight announcement. MsChif is "from the Inferno." Of course she is. A MsChif's gonna kill you chant starts. Good for her.
-"Return" of amazing kong. Ok. Well, Chif runs into her and bounces off. Runs back in. Pushed back in a lock up. Deliberate steps. UIp to the top and a momentu, shift to send Kong to the second rope. Right back up and chopping. slightly glacial headscissors. and Kong's off her feet again, right into an crab. Powered out.
-Kong picks her up by the hair. Tosses her about by it. Leg drop, arrogant pin. You have to sort of compare her to Aja and the attitude is there. Choke toss. Eyerake. Just moving her around with chops. Awesome no give clotheslines in ropes. Spots like that are where the theoretical increased agility of women really pay off.
-Kong tosses her into the barricade. I wish she'd work about 15% slower. There was something more deliberate about Joe. Kong's letting things breathe a little, but she's still rushing from one moment to the next. 
-Kong sets her up for something but Chif moves it into a sleeper. One shot into the corner. Chif holds on and she's got it locked in well visually. I like the slow dramatic sense of doom as Kong reaches up for the hair to toss her off.
-kong puts a sleeper on herself, which is sort of a troll move. She spins her around to the ground. 
-Kong tries for that running power slam position again, but Chif slooooowly shifts around into a DDT. 
-I like how Chif has to sort of jump into the forearms. She tries a whip, ends up in the corner, dodges (good), and hits a bunch of forearms, grounding her. Screams. running knee. ("Panic Attack"). I like how Chif can't really even move Kong out of the corner.
-Pulls her out of the corner with hair. Goes to "desicrator?" Doesn't quite work and Kong puts on an awesome Atlantida. Crowd pops. Again the agility thing as she gets folded in half and tossed off.
-Chif catches her on the top rope and goes for ... what, like an angle slam? Physics don't work like that. It sets up an awesome missile dropkick by Kong. 
-Chif tries to roll away from the splash. Kong course corrects. And really this thing should be over. It was two. Chif is selling the damage well. She ducks a chop but she's staggering. Fans think this is awesome. Chif forearms, goes up, half speed as she walks up to top. She shouldn't have hit it. She was up too slow due to the damage and Kong wasn't damaged nearly enough and she basically just let chif climb up and hit the ddt sending her out. It didn't feel earned like much in the Joe match did.
-Chif flies out with a splash to the floor from the top. Obviously Kong's a solid base.
-Long sell here. Gets her in. Double stomp. Standing moonsault. I'm curious if that's the best move for this point of the match. Kong up, Chif ducks the backfist, but ends up right into a killer clothesline. two. 
-Implant buster. No leg hook. two. Kong sells it well with her fial reaction.
-Sit out power bomb. Two. Now Kong looks angry at the ref. She's getting thrown. 
-Backfists, but Mschif hits one, clumsy cradle for two. runs into the backfist (given the set up it could have been highlighted better). Spinning sit out powerbomb for 3. Interesting she never hit something out of the powerslam position. 

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12 minutes ago, S.K.o.S. said:

It's spelled "Arsion" fyi.  Sorry, it just irked me.

Great reviews btw, extremely readable.

There's a funny story about me calling Misawa "Miwasa" when I was 17. 

Second edit: Thanks for the clarification. I'll try to get it right in the future. 

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4 hours ago, Matt D said:

Kong gets a reaction. I've never seen MsChif. She gets a pop too. Everyone gets a pop. 

 

 

I don't know what it's like these days, but SHIMMER fans in 2007-08 were rabid. And yes, pretty much everyone gets a pop because they only taped a few times a  year. (I went in 2008, and they taped 2 DVDs in one night.) Not long after the show you watched, MsChif went on to be SHIMMER champ. She held the belt for two years. (which is about half a dozen title defenses) When I joined DVDVR in 2008, my username was CodeGreen - cuz MsChif was teh coolest.

When I go back to this stuff now, it looks sad and frankly seedy. Many of the ladies had talent and went on to bigger things. And without them, we wouldn't likely have the solid Divas workers we have now. But it's kind of embarrassing to watch. 

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Sorry about the delay on a reaction! Between the 83 project, tons of work, tons of wrestling watching, and trying to get everything set up on my new laptop, haven't been around much.

The Aries Joe review was basically spot on, and is arguably my favorite title change of this century. You also basically nailed the context, though they put in tons of clues that Aries was the guy to claim the belt. Joe and Aries only had one real interaction before this, and it was in the Survival of the Fittest match, which took place just after Generation Next, Aries big stable, debuted, and when all of the GN guys were pretty much unestablished. In there interactions in that match, Aries had very little for Joe, who dominated Austin in most exchanges save for Aries hitting one big Crucifix Bomb. That match was still Austin Aries coming out party, as Joe went out shockingly early in that match to a Colt Cabana Sunset Flip, and Aries made it to the final 2 were he and Danielson tore the house down for 20 minutes. Philly, which is were both the SotF and Final Battle matches took place, kinda became Aries venue, as he scored some of his biggest moments there in 04, including beating Danielson in a 75 minute 2/3 falls match.

That video also doesn't give context of what happened that night to kinda solidify Aries as well. Aries just before intermission kicked Alex Shelley, the previous leader of Generation Next, out of the group with Roderick Strong backing him up, with Aries becoming leader. Even further then that, he came out with new theme music and a much more "big deal" ring entrance before the match. But most people still didn't really think Aries was THE guy to beat Joe. The last time in Philly, Joe had beaten Danielson in a 45 minute classic that is probably the most underrated match in the history of the company (save for Shelley/Jacobs I Quit, but I digress...). The previous show was the conclusion of the Joe/Punk trilogy, with Joe getting a decisive victory over his greatest rival. Aries was a threat, but he wasn't generally viewed as at Danielson or Punks level... in spite of the fact that Aries had beaten both Punk and Danielson in singles matches before.

But yes, as for the match: It was so special to me because Joe's title reign felt huge at the time. He took over the belt from Xavier, and the title was just kinda there, and Joe made it feel special. In a one year time span, Joe took the belt from a guy held by someone nobody cares about, to after a 60 minute draw with Punk, Punk declared the most important belt in North America, and I'll be damned if at that time, you didn't believe him. Joe's title run, to me, was what got me into indy wrestling. Hell, it's probably what made me want to actually learn the business as thoroughly as possible, so this match will always have an incredibly special place In my heart.

 

As for the match itself, I love how well everything builds. At the start, it kinda feels like just another Joe title defense. By that, I mean Aries doesn't feel like a "special" challenger, or at least you don't get the feeling Joe seems to view him as such. Joe always felt really fired up with Danielson, Punk, and Homicide. They all felt like they had there own thing going. Aries in this one Joe just wrestles like Joe as. He's dominant, he's powerful, and he's quick to take advantage of his opponents mistakes. Aries, who hasn't really worked with anyone Joe's size in RoH at this point, and seems to struggle to deal with it. But Aries is a tough SOB, he hits incredibly hard for someone his size (He always has a great velocity in his offensive attacks that makes everything look more painful then you'd assume from a guy his size), and he's pretty damned crafty even at this level of "inexperience". The crowd goes from "this should be a fun defense" to "ooh, Aries is bring stuff here" to "Oh shit oh shit oh shit" pretty well too. It's a great sign when the live crowd goes from kinda into something to going bonkers, and they succeed here. This isn't the best match either of these guys will have in RoH, but it's among the most impactful.

 

I'll probably get more In on the MsChif/Kong match (I can't really disagree with any of your non positive comments, but the first 10 Shimmer shows were such a big deal as it's when I became passionate that female wrestling could be a big deal if given the opportunity, and this was one of my favorite matches from that stretch), but that's enough writing for now. Thank you for the write ups!

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