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Matt D

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Everything posted by Matt D

  1. Wrestling doesn’t have to follow the laws of physics but it does have to follow the norms of wrestling physics. That did not.
  2. Very glad I stuck with it. This is great stuff. Go watch the matches down below before reading my stuff. 6/10/87: Masa Saito vs Kengo Kimura: Very, very good. Saito's amazing. He has this thing where he kicks his legs up when he does an armdrag as if he was a junior, and he moves so lithely going in and out of holds. But he's as thick as a wall. Kimura tried to hang with him on the mat early and did well enough. Mid match, he opened things up with the punches and Saito made them seem legit. He did more to get Kimura's new act over here in a few seconds than anything else has so far. He was able to snap a Saito suplex though. The match opened back up from there and went back and forth until Kimura's bandaged knee started giving him trouble and Saito honed in. Kimura survived a crab and hit the leg lariat but couldn't capitalized. He followed up with kicks instead of punches and that was a deadly mistake for Saito caught the third one and hit the dragon screw. He locked in the Scorpion but Kimura valiantly got to the ropes. Kimura ended up outside the ring, fought his way in and had a picture perfect near fall off of a sunset flip in, but he missed the knee off the top and Saito locked in a grisly prison lock. Kimura fought but to no avail. Really good stuff. 6/12/87: Choshu/Kobayashi/Super Strong Machine vs Takada/Fujiwara/Kido: This was fantastic too. One of my favorite matches in this project in forever. These guys were such a breath of fresh air for NJPW at this point and it was so cool to see them up against the UWF team. It felt like such a big deal. A lot of it was shot from ringside aimed up and it gave it this epic feel too. Fujiwara and Choshu were both bandaged up from their previous match and they started to a big buzz and just sort of postured up against one another as two giants could do. Kido came in and immediately asserted himself on Choshu. Kido is the most credible guy in the world. He might not be able to put people way all the time but he can open them up and take them down. Choshu and co have all the big teamwork moves and that helped Kobayashi come in. He, at this point, was this great mix of the old NJ juniors style and some All Japan grime to make it relevant again in 1987, so he was explosive but could back the style up with substance. Kido made it to Takada and the place exploded for the Jr. champ vs a guy who was Tiger Mask's rival. I wasn't expecting them to be so into this but it did make sense. Guys like Cobra (before the switch) and Black Tiger felt like relics after the UWF guys came in but Kobayashi immediately felt relevant. When SSM came in, again, he felt like something that didn't exist in the company except for maybe some outsiders like Masked Superstar or Murdoch. He was just weighty, a low point of gravity, big thudding shots and takedowns. Takada was finally able to get the kicks going against Choshu and Fujiwara came in hot with headbutts as the place came unglued. But Saito got under him and suplexed him over. SSM leaned on him a bit until Kobayashi tried a crab and Fujiwara did his signature crab attempt reversal witht he bridge and the twist and the flip and it's so good. I don't know if I pop for anything in pro wrestling like I pop for that. The match really went back and forth from there. We had Takada and Kobayashi go at it again and SSM and Kido. Choshu's team could take back over with their big double teams (spike piledriver, the belly to back/clothesline off the turnbuckles/a double suplex), but the UWF guys had too many counters and holds and bombs. They had a stretch of just running through Kobayashi (Takada tombstone, Fujiwara headbutts, Takada German, Takada chicken wing) but he made it to Choshu. Choshu ate a bunch of Takada's stuff but jammed him on a dropkick and hit a belly to back. He went for the Scorpion but was positioned to see Fujiwara coming in. He dropped the hold, hit the lariat, turned back around and crushed Takada with it for the definitive pin. Such good stuff. Choshu is so hard to describe. He has this presence that's almost unmatched, this confidence, this matter-of-fact inner strength. It's sort of subdued but somehow entirely different than Tenryu. Tenryu's easy to write about. Sometimes I have trouble explaining what I like about Randy Savage and Choshu sort of hits me that way as well. Don't say I've never given you guys anything: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gqa9DYKEApV6nKZYHaS8QH_vkmsi7ktM/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OqYxDRZQOpOc3TEg1OnRqM40U_hJo8uA/view?usp=sharing
  3. The change is very interesting. I just tried to put into draft form... 6/10/87: Kimura vs Saito 6/10/87: Inoki vs Barbarian 6/12/87: Inoki vs Saito 6/12/87: Chono/Kimura vs Von Erich/St. Clair 6/12/87: Choshu/Kobayashi/SSM vs Takada/Fujiwara/Kido and two were "blocked" despite being in draft from but I can still watch them and the Inoki vs Barb match was just wiped but it wasn't my third copyright strike. I don't know if it's YouTube or NJPW that's coming down harder, but someone definitely is. I'll have to catch that Inoki match on the laptop.
  4. @Casey, I wanted to give you something WWF for March. I didn't want to go to the top of the 80s set though, so I'm giving you something quite similar. The Alley Fight between Sgt. Slaughter and Pat Patterson. https://drive.google.com/file/d/16WunibwWA2PyNsSyoTr-88bYC8zh1MzS/view?usp=sharing
  5. 2/3rds through. Loved Mercedes' entrance. There was a moment where the music stopped and the chants continued and then the music hit again with it and that was amazing. Promo was fine. You know what we have to compare it to after all. It felt a little bit too planned and not planned enough all at once. Like she could have gone either way with it and she didn't. I get that she was lost in the emotion and you could feel it. She's naturally confident but she couldn't have fully expected the reaction. There were some very good moments in Joe vs Wardlow but it needed a little more at the end, I think. I would have liked Wardlow to get away the first time and then Joe not jump onto his back until a third attempt maybe. I completely tuned out on the six-man when Red Jackson and PENTA squared off. I did want PENTA's bullshit there and for the Jackson to react to it, not immediate cutters and superkicks. So many superkicks. I liked Okada ducking Kingston at least. I know what I'd do next week (Have the Bucks break the no interference rule and have the match thrown out and then protect themselves from consequence with their titles to get heat). I'll have a lengthy write-up about selling and consequence for White vs Darby on Monday, I think.
  6. Now help me figure out how to tell them apart by what they do and how they move.
  7. I imagine the timeline will work a little like Danielson. He was a face for his first feud and then right into bullying the Dark Order to get at Hangman Page. They'll have a couple of months of celebratory Mercedes and then things will work their way naturally.
  8. They think that wrestlers are their friends now?
  9. Hey, there's a show tonight: White vs Darby: Fresh match up. That slight on White that he's defined by the person he's wrestling isn't... untrue, really. But here he's got someone who should be able to do some really interesting things with him. I can't even picture this one in my head past the first minute or so, so I'm curious how they go about it. Jericho/Hook vs Gates of Agony: Logic here is that Jericho was Lionheart when he interacted with Taz so he'll be Lionheart here. It's spurious at best. You should really have Jericho be the FIP so hook can come in hot with all the suplexes but is he really going to get sympathy? I'd feel better if they had three house shows to work this out on first. Willow vs Riho: This should be delightful. I like the idea of Willow being unable NOT to bully her even though she doesn't want to just due to the size differential. Joe vs Wardlow: We've seen this before but it was all based around Wardlow's bodypart selling then. This will probably be very different. Bucks/Okada vs PAC/Eddie/PENTA: equal parts annoying and sublime. Maybe more annoying than sublime actually? Mercedes: My gut still says that she doesn't quite know what she's stepping into yet, but that she'll absolutely love it once she figures it out.. if she figures it out.
  10. You get old enough, you get good at taking a breath and just backspacing the sentence you were starting to write away.
  11. Bowens is pretty endearing: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/anthony-bowens-aew-wrestling
  12. 6/9/87: Kevin Von Erich vs Kido: Past Kevin being super aggressive to start like he always is and one crazy missed charged into the corner, this was pretty technical and sportsmanlike. Oh and maybe one claw attempt towards the end but that's just to be expected with these guys. Kevin hung a little, though some of that felt like Kido making him look good to be honest. He had that cross armbreaker takedown where you hook the leg under the arm and flip the guy but he couldn't get a cross armbreaker out of it, just an armbar. The ending was pretty ugly as they stumbled around the ring for thirty seconds until Kevin could get a small package. Needed either more of Kevin being a jock jerk or Kido having someone stronger to roll around with. 6/9/87: Barbarian vs Ueda: Just 3 minutes here but they said we were 4 minutes JIP. Ueda was already bleeding which was dumb considering what was coming later in the card. Barbarian beat the crap out of him and then brought his second, Killer Brooks in and slammed Brooks onto Ueda which drew a DQ. Post match they destroyed him with the chain until he started firing back with a chair. I vaguely got the sense this was setting up a tag with Sakaguchi but if that was the case Sakaguchi should have made the save, so maybe not? 6/9/87: Fujiwara vs Choshu: Choshu's back! Finally! Let me double check. He's been wrestling since the start of June. We just don't have footage. A singles match vs Kimura in there too. Anyway, this was #5 in the 80s set and it's pretty awesome. It's in Way of the Blade too. They start brawling on the way down and Fujiwara takes an immediate advantage with headbutt after headbutt after headbutt, opening Choshu up. Choshu finally fires back in the ring and it's great because Fujiwara takes it and there's a sense of fighting spirit and a hard head but then Fujiwara just walks forward and goozles him! Like fine, do the fighting spirit stuff, sure, but then immediately there after, try to kill your opponent! That's so much better than chop fests. Choshu gets a belly to back out of nowhere shortly thereafter though and locks in the Scorpion. He presses the advantage even after Fujiwara makes it to the ropes but Fujiwara gets the armbar! Then Fujiwara tries to take off the corner buckle, but Choshu reverses a whip. Then he hits a lariat, but Fujiwara gets the armbar again on an attempt of a second one! Choshu rolls out and busts Fujiwara open huge on the outside. He comes in and hits lariats until Fujiwara gets knocked out. Just a great, measured, passionate, bloody, headbutt-laden war. Here it is on dailymotion if you haven't seen it for a bit: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3m34p8 EDIT: Oh yeah, I watched Harley Race/Marty Jannetty vs Choshu/Hamaguchi since I had a few minutes to kill. Race actually imposes on Choshu here because Jannetty wasn't going to be able to do it. It's the Race you want in Japan that you so rarely get.
  13. Bowens is basically the most likable guy in the company.
  14. I'm pretty sure they're going to turn Stat at some point soon. If they do, putting Kamille and Bayne with her as a team of jock bully powerhouses is definitely the way to go.
  15. He did once stuff Chinese food into Heenan’s face on Prime Time.
  16. No one who died due something that happened in a non-WWE ring would get in. They don’t want people associating that with them.
  17. I gave that a quick read a few minutes ago and it puts Khan in a knowledgeable fixer sort of role, though with a lot of hedging. I'd have to reread the lawsuit again to get a real sense of it. I remember from the first pass that it certainly wasn't good thing to be "Corporate Officer No. 1" though.
  18. He was part of the concussion lawsuit.
  19. PENTA vs Andretti from Rampage was the funniest match I’ve seen in a while just for how many times Andretti jumped into a superkick.
  20. He’s in the legacy wing already.
  21. Treadmill kicked my butt but I'm back in business. 6/1/87: Inoki/Fujiwara vs Choshu/Scott Hall: Pretty weird match! They're playing up Inoki and Fujiwara being aligned now and Saito on the other side. Hall was sort of a warm body for these guys to do things to (like Fujiwara headbutting him in the face) despite his size. Saito just got it so well. Knew exactly what to do to have the biggest most meaningful impact at any moment. He started the match by crowding out Fujiwara in the corner but later when Fujiwara took him down out of nowhere and almost got on the arm bar, he scooted out of the ring and sold it like the most momentous thing imaginable. This was building to an Inoki/Fujiwara win, most likely, but the PIRATE came out to cause trouble and beat the crap out of Fujiwara on the outside. Inoki and Fujiwara stood tall in the end though. 6/1/87: Takada/Kido vs Kevin Von Erich/Tony St. Clair: Still pretty weird! Kevin was as aggressive as ever, including hitting the Regal double knee lift which I'm not sure I've ever seen him do before. They bullied Takada pretty well actually. This is probably the best I've ever seen St. Clair look in one of these. Lots of killer European uppercuts and clotheslines. Kido was able to come in and shut things down and when Takada got back in, it was with kicks a'flying. Kevin could hit a dropkick out of nowhere but there was a pretty good chance it might hit someone in the stomach, so only so impressive. Finish was great as St. Clair went for the tombstone on Kido but Kido turned it into a cool cradle midway through. Never seen that before. As an aside, we're seeing some production changes due to the tanking ratings. There was a pre -match video setting this up and you can see bits of the hosting. 6/9/87: Inoki/Takada vs Saito/THE PIRATE: This was one that I couldn't post, which is especially frustrating as I could really use the translated subtitles here. Like it seemed like the Pirate was a surprise partner for Saito that he called out and everyone was shocked. Takada being Inoki's partner seems weird too. This had a ton of heat. Crowd was up for everything, especially Takada's comebacks and literally everything Inoki did. Early on Saito matched up with Inoki but Inoki tagged to Takada after avoiding the Saito suplex. They took over on him outside with the Pirate swarming and then controlled with chinlocks and sleepers (and mask shots). Before, the Pirate was Black Cat, but Black Cat was on the card earlier apparently and he does look a little taller than Saito so I honestly don't know. He's got a hockey mask (and came out with ANOTHER guy with one) but it's hard to tell from the working. Anyway, Takada came back by turning a headlock into a belly to back and hitting a bunch of other suplexes. He definitely feels elevated here. Saito and Pirate would regain control and did have a bunch of the sort of doubleteams you'd expect out of Saito. He couldn't get the scorpion successfully on either Inoki or Takada though. His chinlocks sure were gritty though. His facial expressions while he has holds on are some of the best all time. There was a great moment towards the end where Inoki escaped from the Pirate with this really iconic grounded double kick to let Takada back in to hit all of his big stuff (huge kick, tombstone), but the heels took over for one more bit of heat, including this really cool belly to back/elbowdrop or clothesline type thing, before the Pirate hit a clumsy Thesz press to actually win. Some cool moments in here but more weird than anything else.
  22. There used to be a match like that every week on Elevation.
  23. Collision is looking pretty fun overall: Danielson vs Shane Taylor Mistico vs Angelico May vs Adora Jarrett/Lethal/Briscoe vs HOB Jericho vs Titan
  24. I decided to start using twitter to do more than follow news two weeks ago. Oops.
  25. Tunnels are back! Re: Perry: I actually thought his performance against HOOK was quite good and there might have been something there as a heel. He worked the match very differently than he would have as a face. Ah well.
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