The Goodness of 2008 #1

Yeah, so I've been a tad lazy of late with doing anything really, but Christmas came around and then I tried to get a real job (and failed epically) and you know how it goes. Maybe this time will be different. Anyway I'm kicking off with some early in the year stuff from ZERO-1 MAX. ROH and DG show reviews to follow. Also if you've any feedback at all please leave a comment or shoot me an email at wheatbox@gmail.com.

Shelley/Sabin vs Togo/Hidaka

1/1/2008 - ZERO-1 MAX

Since I don’t really ever watch TNA I don’t have enough Machine Guns in my life. Whenever I see them I always think, ‘Wow, I should check out more of these guys’, and then inevitably fail to do so. In fact I think the last match that watched which featured them was their one off appearance in ROH last year against the Briscoes. I’ve seen people criticise this match for being too spotty and whatnot, and whilst it’s not a tag classic it’s still quick, slick and entertaining. There weren’t any sustained periods of either team getting the heat, instead there were just a lot of cool double teams, but coming out of the gate you should probably know to expect that. Shelley really shone here, but he took a ridiculous flip bump from a low dropkick to the knee. I mean it looked cool and all, but it struck me as overkill. And that was the story of this match. Sure everyone’s double teams look great, but there was nothing beyond that. I can’t justify saying this was bad match or there was much wrong with it. Togo ruled it as did Shelley, and Sabin and Hidaka didn’t slouch off by any means. However, as slick and modern as this match was, I got left with the feeling that it simply lacked any substance. Some guys did some moves and the Machine Guns won. This wasn’t a heated title bout, nor was it a Match of the Year candidate. It was simply easy to watch pro-wrestling, but no one will be considering it come the end of the year.

Tanaka vs Sekimoto

1/1/2008 - ZERO-1 MAX

I didn’t make any notes on this match; I just sat back and enjoyed it. And it was pretty fucking great. I harbour some huge manlove for Sekimoto. This guy is just so strong and so awesome. Tanaka looks very skinny these days, but I suppose next to Sekimoto anyone would look stick-like. They went through all your typical test of strength spots early on, which was fine because Tanaka really look like he was struggling to rein young Daisuke in and broke into a mighty sweat. They wrestled this match like a standard heavyweight affair, with a few cool junior spots thrown in. Half way through I was thinking that it was a fine match, but nothing special. It felt a whole lot more natural than the tag match however, because their was some actual downtime and not just a constant stream of moves (although I suppose it’s important to bear in mind that the tag match was clipped some). Then Sekimoto just started throwing Tanaka around with these deadlift German suplexes. This man is freaky strong. He hit about four or five and none of them could put Masato away. It was so awesome, because you could tell Sekimoto didn’t really have anything left in his arsenal to throw, so just kept repeating what he’d already done, but to no avail. Tanaka then proceeded to hit a bunch of Sliding D’s, which are basically roaring elbows to a seated opponent, and finally after the third or fourth attempt Sekimoto was vanquished. There’s a lot you could be critical of here, overkill of moves, plenty of no selling, lack of variation; but really the intensity, crowd heat, and Sekimoto’s crazy strength left me loving this match. Not a Match of the Year contender, but one of those matches that reaffirms my love for Japanese wrestling. A simply story well told.