July 2022 Wrestling Discussion

[Gordlow]

On 7/10/2022 at 11:03 AM, DEAN said:

You know that Fuminori Abe RULES, right? Daimonji Sou is a Colega Pro regular, which means he's perfectly fine if you get him out of Colega Pro and in a normal promotion.

 

On 7/10/2022 at 11:41 AM, Curt McGirt said:

Well you should also know Yuko Miyamoto, even though he's always listed as 666 he's been in BJW forever and I believe currently All Japan. His scaffold and light tubes match with Takashi Sasaki is possibly the highest mark for a BJW death match since the heyday of Honma/Yamakawa. 

 

 

On 7/10/2022 at 6:28 PM, Kropotkin's Beard said:

Not the biggest BJW watcher in the world, mainly because I sub to so many other services that it is hard to justify adding BJW Core to the list. But of the stuff I do check out here's the guys who I'd say are worth keeping an eye on.

Dean mentioned Fuminori Abe but let me second that, Abe is fantastic. So is his regular Tag partner Takuya Nomura (he was a standout in this year's great AJPW Champion Carnival), similar violently stiff guys.

Daichi Hashimoto is Shinya's son & he's really found himself in the last couple of years, he was a little bland but he's a real force now who is almost always worth watching.

I'd also say that watch for Kosuke Sato, he's still at young boy status but he's a really good prospect.

And yes, for some reason Google translate keeps liking to insist Kodaka is Kitaka, and Kodaka & Miyamoto do still often Tag together. Miyamoto had a really good Scaffold deathmatch with Drew Parker earlier this year, I think on the 5/5 Yokohama BJW show.

As far as the deathmatch scene, Big Japan really has stagnated. It's all guys who were around a decade ago. Yuki Ishikawa is really the only younger DM guy worth keeping an eye out on. All their other younger talent like Ueki, Sakuda, Parker ends up in Freedoms.

As for why? These people are proper mad, they love doing deathmatches for some inscrutable reason. I remember an interview with Suzu Suzuki where she talked about wanting to be able to show off scars from doing deathmatches while wearing her wedding gown one day. And this is a girl (19 year old) who not only has the talent to be at the top of any joshi group she wanted to, she has the look too. But she really enjoys doing deathmatches. 

Takes all sorts!

 

On 7/10/2022 at 10:10 PM, Octopus said:

You deserve some good fun, @Gordlow! Have some fun watching light tubes and beefy grappling. I expect a write up and pictures.

I am "on a break" until the start of Secret Santo... but I feel I owe y'al! at least a mini road report after you gave me all that good advice. The advice was absolutely on point as well.

And I don't wanna let Octopus down. Enough unhappy octopi in the wrestling world today already.

Basically: I am glad I went. All the matches were good. It was nice to see some old friends again. Live pro wrestling is the best pro wrestling. 

BUT

Corona precautions are still in full effect over here. 

It is VERY WEIRD to sit quietly, clapping politely, while dudes are getting slammed into thumbtacks. It's sad to see old friends but not share drinks with them, to not chat with them or the wrestlers I know. to not embrace anyone. To not take pictures with anyone...

The wrestling - per se - was good, though. Often very good indeed. 

I woke up nice and early to catch the Death Before Zero Hour pre-show, and the PPV up until half-way through the Deeb vs Martinez match which is when I had to go and catch my train.

My free ticket was literally in the top corner of the arena, but those were still pretty good seats. It was in the small hall. nice venue. Good neighbourhood. I'd estimate about 300 people in attendance. Atmosphere was friendly and happy but subdued due to the Corona restrictions. 

You could get a picture with Okabayashi with a social distance screen between you and he... but non fan club members had to pay for it. I am willing to pay for pics with Joshi legends only, out of respect for tradition.

Every match had something for me to hang my hat on. 

Dark match was Dyna Mido vs a grouchy veteran. I met the Dynamite Kid tribute guy at the Matrix Charity Show party years ago. The match was brief and amusing, due to grouchyness.

The actua! first match featured my boy Quiet Storm, who very recently became the first gaijin to win the Osaka Pro championship. He is massive.

Next match featured my boy Ultimate Spider Junior. He's really fast and athletic. Nice contrast in matches. A fair bit of comedy in every match. I wonder if that's something BJW does in Osaka. Osaka=comedy. Spidey was supposed to semi-main in a Jr. Title match but Sekifuda got injured, if I understand correctly.

Daichi Hashimoto & Daisuke Sekimoto vs (my boy) Shigehiro Irie & Takuho Kato was an excellent little match. Irie is great. Shinya's kid kicks REALLY hard. Sekimoto is even more massive than Quiet Storm.

Then there was a trios comedy death match! It must be an Osaka thing. Yukking it up between staple gun and cinder block spots. Ishikawa was in this one. Surprisingly, (spoiler!) he got pinned (if I'm remembering correctly).

TLC & Pushpin Death Match:

This was the weirdest match to watch without yelling.
Yankee Two Kenju (Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto) vs Abdullah Kobayashi & Jaki Numazawa ended with a piledriver from the top rope!  (Through a Japanese table)! That had echoes later! Thanks to Curt and Beard I was properly pumped to see Miyamoto and Kodaka. They were great. There was some thumbtack-based comedy, too.

Then there was a break and they replaced the whole ring canvas. That was interesting. 

UWA World Tag Team Title Match:
Eisa8 & HUB (c) vs Brahman Brothers (Brahman Kei & Brahman Shu) ,

Okinawa Pro vs Michinoku Pro (kind of)! Straight up comedy match. My first time seeing the Brahmans live, I believe. I guess we got this to make up for no Jr. Title match.

BJW Tag Team Title Match:

Astronauts (Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura) (c) vs Kazuki Hashimoto & Koji Kanemoto was f'n excellent!! They beat the hell out of each other! Just vicious strikes and really snug holds. Lots of hatred. Thanks to Dean and Beard and my friend Rod I was mentally prepared for this level of violence. 

is it racist to assume that every Japanese wrestler who kicks really hard and is named Hashimoto and works for Big Japan is related to Shinya? Because I was surprised that Kazuki Hashimoto is apparently not related. Good heavens, he kicks hard.

Fuminori Abe is my new favourite wrestler.

BJW World Strong Heavyweight Title Match

Yuji Okabayashi (c) vs Daimonji Sou was 20 plus straight minutes of Big Meaty Men Slapping Meat. These lads gave us a Main Event!

it was weird just to go home after the show. My wife was surprised that I came back sober. 

i got back just in time to catch Tana vs Naito (very epic G1 match that Rod saw live) and then I watched the rest of the ROH PPV.

And I have to say, that long Bricoes vs FTR match held me rapt for all three falls. Pretty impressive! What a match! what a day of wrestling!

 

 

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by Gordlow

[SirSmUgly]

I enjoy pics and posts of @Gordlowliving his best life. You are an inspiration, my man. 

[Octopus]

You have made me a very happy Octopus, @Gordlow

[Technico Support]

I finally got a chance to catch up on some old wrestling in my 80s WWF chronological nostalgia kick, starting SummerSlam 88.  I remember this as the last PPV before I started high school, as I am old.

What I remember most about this show, even watching it when I was 14, was how most of these matches were one-offs, completely unrelated to ongoing storylines.  As I think we discussed when I posted about Mania 1, this was clearly because house shows were still king as far as money was concerned, so you needed to save Rude/Roberts, for example, for the houses.  Aside from that example, I can barely recall who was in programs with who back then.

Because Jesse is reffing tonight's main, we have to suffer through Superstart Graham on commentary.  Take a shot every time he says BROTHAHHH and you won't make the last third of the show.

Rougeaus vs Bulldogs: am I right in my recall that somehow this match started the real life beef between these teams?  Like maybe the Bulldogs wanted to go over but the Rougeaus weren't having that and then we were off to the races?  See more in the Dark Side of the Ring thread as some people argued that Jacques was an immature shit while I argued under the legal precedent of "don't want none don't start none."  Anyway, when I think of "do a hot opener to start the show," my mind doesn't immediately go to "20 minute tag team draw."  I know this is MSG but did Vince really need to do a callback to those 80s house shows where Tony Garea and Mike Sharpe would kick off the show with a draw?  Fuck.  Honestly, the match isn't horrible and the heat segment, with Dynamite playing scumbag in peril, is good.  Just...a 20 minute draw?  Really?

Bad News vs Ken Patera: I assume Patera was using the Olympics Theme at this time and that's what was dubbed out.  Fun little brawl.  Brown is clearly angry about Patera's cultural appropriation of the afro.  Bad News wins with THE GHETTO BLASTER, which suffers from an awful, Dunn-esque camera cut at the point of impact, as I laugh to myself about how nobody under 40 watching this today knows what a ghetto blaster is.

Rude vs JYD: Every time I see him work, I'm struck by how damn good Rude was.  JYD, as I probably mentioned on the last show I watched, has fallen off considerably.  He still loves taking that "falling tree" style bump, though.  I legit LOL in my living room at Rude's JYD tights.  DQ finish as Rude strips to reveal Cheryl Roberts' face on his cock and ass and it's too much for consummate family man Jake to abide.  

Powers of Pain vs The Bolsheviks:  I remember when the PoP were put together as Paul Jones' answer to the Road Warriors, kicking off a hot feud that saw them break Animal's orbital bone during a power lifting contest, culminating in a scheduled series of scaffold matches.  PoP noped the fuck out of JCP rather than take scaffold bumps a few days a week, as one does.  Maybe that last part was kayfabe?  Who knows anymore?  Hey, remember when Baby Doll managed Warlord?  Weird.  Anyway, this is just a 5 minute squash to heat PoP up for something with Demolition and the upcoming double turn at Survivor Series.  Vince should have put Warlord and Barbarian back together for a brief run against Men on a Mission, as MoM vs PoP would have been a really relatable feud for kids from broken homes like me!

That's where I stopped during this session.  Honky Tonk has an open challenge next for the IC title!

Edited July 25, 2022 by Technico Support

[The Natural]

@Gordlow: Cheers for sharing as ever, my friend.

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

Twitter sez WWE put out a press release naming Triple H as head of creative.

Skeptical this is a great job for a guy with a heart condition.

[Phantom Lord]

1 hour ago, Tarheel Moneghetti said:

Twitter sez WWE put out a press release naming Triple H as head of creative.

Skeptical this is a great job for a guy with a heart condition.

Well  if Vince is gone, there goes most of the stress one would worry about.

[(BP)]

Vince was the real Heartbreak Kid. 

[Log]

There are a bunch of dignitaries from Ghana touring my workplace today.  No sign of Prince Nana, though.

[赤い竜]

Triple H is the Head of Creative now, the position Vince used to control. Bruce will be working under Triple H.

I've read Vince has been removed from the board of directors.

[Dog]

1 minute ago, Blue Dragon said:

I've read Vince has been removed from the board of directors.

Did the fungus tell you that?

[赤い竜]

1 minute ago, Dog said:

Did the fungus tell you that?

The official WWE corporate website did.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Blue Dragon

[nate]

1 hour ago, Log said:

There are a bunch of dignitaries from Ghana touring my workplace today.  No sign of Prince Nana, though.

Did you have shrimp cocktail out for them, eh?

[赤い竜]

WWE stock up today 

71.53.

[Greggulator]

Is Darby right now as good as Rey Mysterio at his peak in the “smaller dude with insane moves getting wrecked by a bigger dude” category?

[AxB]

If anyone is following Pro Wrestling NOAH and likes predictions contests, here is something for the N-1:

https://forms.gle/zVCxexgL854zSobS6

[Pedro]

12 hours ago, Technico Support said:

I finally got a chance to catch up on some old wrestling in my 80s WWF chronological nostalgia kick, starting SummerSlam 88.  I remember this as the last PPV before I started high school, as I am old.

What I remember most about this show, even watching it when I was 14, was how most of these matches were one-offs, completely unrelated to ongoing storylines.  As I think we discussed when I posted about Mania 1, this was clearly because house shows were still king as far as money was concerned, so you needed to save Rude/Roberts, for example, for the houses.  Aside from that example, I can barely recall who was in programs with who back then.

Because Jesse is reffing tonight's main, we have to suffer through Superstart Graham on commentary.  Take a shot every time he says BROTHAHHH and you won't make the last third of the show.

Rougeaus vs Bulldogs: am I right in my recall that somehow this match started the real life beef between these teams?  Like maybe the Bulldogs wanted to go over but the Rougeaus weren't having that and then we were off to the races?  See more in the Dark Side of the Ring thread as some people argued that Jacques was an immature shit while I argued under the legal precedent of "don't want none don't start none."  Anyway, when I think of "do a hot opener to start the show," my mind doesn't immediately go to "20 minute tag team draw."  I know this is MSG but did Vince really need to do a callback to those 80s house shows where Tony Garea and Mike Sharpe would kick off the show with a draw?  Fuck.  Honestly, the match isn't horrible and the heat segment, with Dynamite playing scumbag in peril, is good.  Just...a 20 minute draw?  Really?

Bad News vs Ken Patera: I assume Patera was using the Olympics Theme at this time and that's what was dubbed out.  Fun little brawl.  Brown is clearly angry about Patera's cultural appropriation of the afro.  Bad News wins with THE GHETTO BLASTER, which suffers from an awful, Dunn-esque camera cut at the point of impact, as I laugh to myself about how nobody under 40 watching this today knows what a ghetto blaster is.

Rude vs JYD: Every time I see him work, I'm struck by how damn good Rude was.  JYD, as I probably mentioned on the last show I watched, has fallen off considerably.  He still loves taking that "falling tree" style bump, though.  I legit LOL in my living room at Rude's JYD tights.  DQ finish as Rude strips to reveal Cheryl Roberts' face on his cock and ass and it's too much for consummate family man Jake to abide.  

Powers of Pain vs The Bolsheviks:  I remember when the PoP were put together as Paul Jones' answer to the Road Warriors, kicking off a hot feud that saw them break Animal's orbital bone during a power lifting contest, culminating in a scheduled series of scaffold matches.  PoP noped the fuck out of JCP rather than take scaffold bumps a few days a week, as one does.  Maybe that last part was kayfabe?  Who knows anymore?  Hey, remember when Baby Doll managed Warlord?  Weird.  Anyway, this is just a 5 minute squash to heat PoP up for something with Demolition and the upcoming double turn at Survivor Series.  Vince should have put Warlord and Barbarian back together for a brief run against Men on a Mission, as MoM vs PoP would have been a really relatable feud for kids from broken homes like me!

That's where I stopped during this session.  Honky Tonk has an open challenge next for the IC title!

88-91 WWF is a fun period.  I loved Jacques and Raymond and wish they would have done more with the Rockers. Obviously as both were heel I wouldn't have minded A Rougeou-Orient Express match either for shits and giggles.

[Pedro]

1 hour ago, Greggulator said:

Is Darby right now as good as Rey Mysterio at his peak in the “smaller dude with insane moves getting wrecked by a bigger dude” category?

there is a difference. Rey had a wicked offense and had a lucha crispness to his move set where as Darby doesn't give a F about his body and will do some insane stunts. He isn't at Rey level yet but if he can stay healthy he damn sure will get there. 

[Pedro]

12 hours ago, Technico Support said:

I finally got a chance to catch up on some old wrestling in my 80s WWF chronological nostalgia kick, starting SummerSlam 88.  I remember this as the last PPV before I started high school, as I am old.

What I remember most about this show, even watching it when I was 14, was how most of these matches were one-offs, completely unrelated to ongoing storylines.  As I think we discussed when I posted about Mania 1, this was clearly because house shows were still king as far as money was concerned, so you needed to save Rude/Roberts, for example, for the houses.  Aside from that example, I can barely recall who was in programs with who back then.

Because Jesse is reffing tonight's main, we have to suffer through Superstart Graham on commentary.  Take a shot every time he says BROTHAHHH and you won't make the last third of the show.

Rougeaus vs Bulldogs: am I right in my recall that somehow this match started the real life beef between these teams?  Like maybe the Bulldogs wanted to go over but the Rougeaus weren't having that and then we were off to the races?  See more in the Dark Side of the Ring thread as some people argued that Jacques was an immature shit while I argued under the legal precedent of "don't want none don't start none."  Anyway, when I think of "do a hot opener to start the show," my mind doesn't immediately go to "20 minute tag team draw."  I know this is MSG but did Vince really need to do a callback to those 80s house shows where Tony Garea and Mike Sharpe would kick off the show with a draw?  Fuck.  Honestly, the match isn't horrible and the heat segment, with Dynamite playing scumbag in peril, is good.  Just...a 20 minute draw?  Really?

Bad News vs Ken Patera: I assume Patera was using the Olympics Theme at this time and that's what was dubbed out.  Fun little brawl.  Brown is clearly angry about Patera's cultural appropriation of the afro.  Bad News wins with THE GHETTO BLASTER, which suffers from an awful, Dunn-esque camera cut at the point of impact, as I laugh to myself about how nobody under 40 watching this today knows what a ghetto blaster is.

Rude vs JYD: Every time I see him work, I'm struck by how damn good Rude was.  JYD, as I probably mentioned on the last show I watched, has fallen off considerably.  He still loves taking that "falling tree" style bump, though.  I legit LOL in my living room at Rude's JYD tights.  DQ finish as Rude strips to reveal Cheryl Roberts' face on his cock and ass and it's too much for consummate family man Jake to abide.  

Powers of Pain vs The Bolsheviks:  I remember when the PoP were put together as Paul Jones' answer to the Road Warriors, kicking off a hot feud that saw them break Animal's orbital bone during a power lifting contest, culminating in a scheduled series of scaffold matches.  PoP noped the fuck out of JCP rather than take scaffold bumps a few days a week, as one does.  Maybe that last part was kayfabe?  Who knows anymore?  Hey, remember when Baby Doll managed Warlord?  Weird.  Anyway, this is just a 5 minute squash to heat PoP up for something with Demolition and the upcoming double turn at Survivor Series.  Vince should have put Warlord and Barbarian back together for a brief run against Men on a Mission, as MoM vs PoP would have been a really relatable feud for kids from broken homes like me!

That's where I stopped during this session.  Honky Tonk has an open challenge next for the IC title!

I tried to give someone the ghetto blaster when I was in 7th grade and broke my wrist and arm in 3 places. I did this while in school and had to go to the ER.  Long story short my friend came at me in the hall to throw a clothesline and I put my foot up jokingly, he caught it and I went to do the ghetto blaster/enziguri and landed on my wrist/arm.   Missed Basketball season, pissed off my coach, and mom.  Never tried to do the move again. 

Bad News made it look so good it's criminal. 

[Cobra Commander]

6 hours ago, Blue Dragon said:

WWE stock up today 

71.53.

Kinda wild that the stock goes up on the day of news about the former company boss committing probably-fraud with earnings reports because of the optimism because Vince is out

[Dog]

Well, optimism that they're now more willing to sell, which would likely boost the share price hugely.

[赤い竜]

I miss the 1890's Wrestling.

[Octopus]

25 minutes ago, Blue Dragon said:

I miss the 1890's Wrestling.

[The Natural]

Daniel Cormier is a wise man. Fuck Hogan. Get well soon.

[Infinit]

On 7/25/2022 at 7:59 PM, Tarheel Moneghetti said:

Twitter sez WWE put out a press release naming Triple H as head of creative.

Skeptical this is a great job for a guy with a heart condition.

Is scripting 2 weekly shows really that difficult, especially with all the writers and support staff? They aren't trying to find a cure for cancer lol