This is a review a while ago for probably my favourite match of all time. It's not the same style of review I write now, but I thought I would be fun to dig it out. Enjoy.
Misawa/Kobashi vs Kawada/Taue
6/9/1995 - All Japan Pro Wrestling
Kobashi and Taue start off. Taue gets the early advantage and twists on Kobashi’s arm. Bashi slowly reverses, only for Taue to kick him in his bandaged up leg. RUDO! Kawada is in to receive some delicious Kobashi chops. He resists being whipped across the ring for ages, before running across to kick Misawa right in the face. Haha Kawada is so awesome. This is made even better by Kobashi thinking ‘Oh shit’ and going over to check if Misawa is okay. Misawa wants in now. He and Kawada exchange all sorts of chops, elbows and kicks until Kawada turns around and boots Kobashi right in the face and off the apron. I LOVE KAWADA. Taue tags in and gets worked over by the face team. He escapes to the outside and Misawa fakes a tope, only for Kobashi to hit a lariat from off the apron. Kawada runs in and is introduced to Misawa’s big fucking elbow. Misawa decides he actually will do a tope and flies into Taue. He is brought back into the ring and gets worked over again. Kobashi comes off the second turnbuckle, but Taue rolls away and tags out. Kawada now mercilessly attacks Kobashi’s bad leg and Bashi sells like a champ. Heels viciously work over the leg and it is great. Kobashi’s selling here is fantastic. He escapes the beating and tags Misawa who unleashes on Taue. Misawa ends up putting Taue into a crab, which leads to Kawada casually walking up and kicking him in the face. This is why I love Kawada. He tags in and goes to town on Misawa. Breaks down into a four-way but Bashi can barely walk. Misawa takes on both guys and does well for himself. Then in the greatest move ever, Taue chokeslams Misawa onto Kobashi’s injured leg, which Bashi’s sells by acting like he’s been shot. Kawada then double knee drops it from the second rope. So, so awesome. Heels work over Misawa, then after what seems like fucking ages Kobashi gets back in the ring, but Taue fucks him up by taking him back outside and dropping his leg on the guardrail. He comes back again and looks pissed. Lariat on Taue! Kawada tries to beat him down, but they end up hitting lariats on each other at the same time. This is so great. Kobashi ends up going kick for kick with Kawada and just won’t stay down. KOBASHI RUSH! He goes for a moonsault but gets cut off. Misawa gets the hot tag and hits a tiger driver on Taue for two and our first near fall. Kobashi is tagged back in and hits Taue with a german suplex. Another moonsault attempt is blocked. Kawada tries in vain to backdrop Kobashi and then eats one himself. Really breaks down here. After many failed attempts Kobashi hits a moonsault on Kawada but only gets a two count. Misawa the tags in and kills Kawada with a german. Tiger Suplex is bridged and only gets two, and a Tiger Driver pin is broken up by Taue. Taue then proceeds to place Misawa on the top rope and give him a big fucking chokeslam from it. At this the point the Japanese announcer is losing his voice, which makes this even more awesome. Chokeslam from the apron to the floor, by Taue on Misawa! Ouch. Kobashi now tries to lie on top of Misawa to protect him. Kobashi is so awesome. Bare in mind he is still selling the fuck out of his injured leg. Kawada is determined to get the pin on Misawa, but he keeps slipping away, and Kobashi keeps trying to protect his partner by sacrificing himself for him. The heels pull Kobashi off Misawa and hit a chokeslam/backdrop double team. Kawada hits a sick backdrop driver on Misawa, but he still kicks out. Kawada then hits a powerbomb for the pin at around 42 minutes. That was so, so great. Everyone did there job perfectly and it all came together. Possibly the best tag match I’ve ever seen. Kobashi sold his leg like a motherfucker and Kawada was brilliant in his desperation to get a pinfall over Misawa. Unreal.
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
Monday, 22 October 2007
The Goodness of 2007 #2
Danielson vs Necro Butcher
7/29/2007 - Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
FIGHT~! What a great brawl this was. Danielson comes off looking like a total killer and Necro is just good ol' Necro. They start up with some mat wrestling, but it's the kind of mat wrestling your stupid buddies do after 8 pints and some serious goading and shit stirring. Needless to say, it's awesome. Danielson tears at Necro's forehead, ripping it apart until it's a raw and bloody mess, and the favour is repaid by Necro who sets upon belting Danielson with chairs. I love indy brawls like this. Really I do. In the best spot ever Butcher suffocates Dragon with a plastic bag. Maybe with all that's gone on in 2007 it could be argued that suffocation spots aren't the most tasteful things to do, but fuck it this was greatness. Danielson fights his way back and screams about being the best in the world, which is exactly how the best in the world should behave. Dragon ends it with his deadly elbows, which are very much over by the way, and I rejoice. This was on the short side at around 10 minutes, but they were the among the best 10 minutes of my life. These men must rematch!
Cena vs Michaels
4/23/2007 - WWE
Now I'm not a big mark for either of these guys. Generally you'll find people that worship HBK and hate Cena, and you'll find people that worship Cena and hate HBK. For me, neither of them are great, but neither are particularly objectionable. I came into watching this match with some pretty high expectations after it had been pimped mercilessly by fanboys of both guys. They started off well enough with Cena trying to entrap Michaels in his dreaded STFU. Then Cena locked on some awesome headlocks. I know its sounds really smarkish to gush over how great Cena's headlocks were, but that whole section was great. They built the match really slowly, which I enjoyed, but wasn't really loving it. What I did love was Michaels schtick in the second half of the match; walking around like his body is completely fucked up (which it probably is) and trying to survive against the best guy in the promotion. Cena did a great job too at pulling out everything to put this man down and getting more and more frustrated. The finish run worked really well, with Michaels really milking his crawl to the ropes to break the STFU and trying his fucking hardest to get the cover on Cena after his first superkick. I really enjoyed Michaels being out on his feet, but always having the secret weapon of the superkick to keep him in the game. In the end HBK reverses another FU, hits his Sweet Chin Music and falls right on top of Cena for the pin. This was a fun match, but not one of the very best I've seen this year. It will be interesting to watch it again without the breaks, but I doubt it will greatly improve it. Fun match, but not the epic I was expecting.
7/29/2007 - Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
FIGHT~! What a great brawl this was. Danielson comes off looking like a total killer and Necro is just good ol' Necro. They start up with some mat wrestling, but it's the kind of mat wrestling your stupid buddies do after 8 pints and some serious goading and shit stirring. Needless to say, it's awesome. Danielson tears at Necro's forehead, ripping it apart until it's a raw and bloody mess, and the favour is repaid by Necro who sets upon belting Danielson with chairs. I love indy brawls like this. Really I do. In the best spot ever Butcher suffocates Dragon with a plastic bag. Maybe with all that's gone on in 2007 it could be argued that suffocation spots aren't the most tasteful things to do, but fuck it this was greatness. Danielson fights his way back and screams about being the best in the world, which is exactly how the best in the world should behave. Dragon ends it with his deadly elbows, which are very much over by the way, and I rejoice. This was on the short side at around 10 minutes, but they were the among the best 10 minutes of my life. These men must rematch!
Cena vs Michaels
4/23/2007 - WWE
Now I'm not a big mark for either of these guys. Generally you'll find people that worship HBK and hate Cena, and you'll find people that worship Cena and hate HBK. For me, neither of them are great, but neither are particularly objectionable. I came into watching this match with some pretty high expectations after it had been pimped mercilessly by fanboys of both guys. They started off well enough with Cena trying to entrap Michaels in his dreaded STFU. Then Cena locked on some awesome headlocks. I know its sounds really smarkish to gush over how great Cena's headlocks were, but that whole section was great. They built the match really slowly, which I enjoyed, but wasn't really loving it. What I did love was Michaels schtick in the second half of the match; walking around like his body is completely fucked up (which it probably is) and trying to survive against the best guy in the promotion. Cena did a great job too at pulling out everything to put this man down and getting more and more frustrated. The finish run worked really well, with Michaels really milking his crawl to the ropes to break the STFU and trying his fucking hardest to get the cover on Cena after his first superkick. I really enjoyed Michaels being out on his feet, but always having the secret weapon of the superkick to keep him in the game. In the end HBK reverses another FU, hits his Sweet Chin Music and falls right on top of Cena for the pin. This was a fun match, but not one of the very best I've seen this year. It will be interesting to watch it again without the breaks, but I doubt it will greatly improve it. Fun match, but not the epic I was expecting.
Sunday, 21 October 2007
The Goodness of 2007 #1
So since the year is rapidly coming to a close I decided to start on making some 'Best of 2007' comps to document it. After the first volume was complete I then decided to review some of the matches as a way of giving back. This won't be in any chronological order, I'll just review as I watch them. This is simply some good and possibly great matches from this year that you should go out of your way to see.
KENTA vs Danielson
6/23/2007 - Ring of Honor
There's not a lot more that needs to be written about Bryan Danielson. He's the best in the world no doubt and although he's missed nearly half of it he'll still likely end up as most people's wrestler of the year. This match was really a showcase in why I love this man. Firstly, the tease of the 'I have 'til five!' He builds it up and builds it up and finally when it he does deliver the line the crowd pop huge. It's little things like that which make me love wrestling and which prove Danielson is great at his job. The best wrestlers in the world excel at the little things that draw you in, the things that cause you to sit watching a match with a huge shit-eating grin on your face. Flair does it, Kawada does it, Hansen does it, Austin does it and Danielson does it. Secondly, the finish is awesome. Danielson has a habit of creating an epic sense of tension and excitement during the finishing stretch, and he does this with aplomb in this match. Often people will bitch about no-selling, but fuck it's pro-wrestling, it's a show. Everything just clicks here from the trading of each other's signature moves to the huge amounts of under-selling them. The actual finish comes as Danielson is hammering elbows down onto KENTA's head, to which KENTA responds to by lifting Danielson up onto his shoulders and hitting a Go2Sleep, despite Danielson still belting him with elbow strikes. I've made this sound all about Bryan, when actually KENTA is awesome here too. He takes an awesome bump from the apron and brings extra fire with his strikes. But ROH is the Danielson show, and this match not only proves it, but also make me remember why I love pro-wrestling.
KENTA vs Danielson
6/23/2007 - Ring of Honor
There's not a lot more that needs to be written about Bryan Danielson. He's the best in the world no doubt and although he's missed nearly half of it he'll still likely end up as most people's wrestler of the year. This match was really a showcase in why I love this man. Firstly, the tease of the 'I have 'til five!' He builds it up and builds it up and finally when it he does deliver the line the crowd pop huge. It's little things like that which make me love wrestling and which prove Danielson is great at his job. The best wrestlers in the world excel at the little things that draw you in, the things that cause you to sit watching a match with a huge shit-eating grin on your face. Flair does it, Kawada does it, Hansen does it, Austin does it and Danielson does it. Secondly, the finish is awesome. Danielson has a habit of creating an epic sense of tension and excitement during the finishing stretch, and he does this with aplomb in this match. Often people will bitch about no-selling, but fuck it's pro-wrestling, it's a show. Everything just clicks here from the trading of each other's signature moves to the huge amounts of under-selling them. The actual finish comes as Danielson is hammering elbows down onto KENTA's head, to which KENTA responds to by lifting Danielson up onto his shoulders and hitting a Go2Sleep, despite Danielson still belting him with elbow strikes. I've made this sound all about Bryan, when actually KENTA is awesome here too. He takes an awesome bump from the apron and brings extra fire with his strikes. But ROH is the Danielson show, and this match not only proves it, but also make me remember why I love pro-wrestling.
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Lazy as fuck
Okay so I'm really lazy and haven't been too bothered about reviewing a shit-ton of wrestling. However, I plan to reform my ways and to do that I'm going to scrap reviewing all of 1990's All Japan since I'm never going to get around to it. Instead I'm just going to review as I watch so we'll see what happens. I will try my best to post stuff regularly though.
Tuesday, 28 August 2007
Best Of All Japan 1990 #2
Fulton & Rogers vs Kikuchi & J. Malenko - 9/1
Fun little sprint match from these guys that basically consists of The Fantastics beating the ever loving fuck out of Kikuchi. He bumps like a madman, including a bodyslam from the apron to the floor which is just sick. Oh how I cringed. Fulton and Rogers majorly go to work on him but he won't stay down no matter how many times he's dropped on his head. Combine Kikuchi flying all over the places with Malenko's intensity and the Fantastics stiffness and it makes for a great little match. Finally after being dropped from a great height for what must be the thousandth time Kikuchi stays down for the three count, but his complete disregarded for the well being of his body has to be commended. This isn't an epic clash like the main-event of this show (see below) but it's not supposed to be. It's a fast and furious mid-card entertainment and it's a fine, fine match, but unfortunately it can't hold up with some of the intense and epic bouts that its surrounded by. So whilst a fun diversion it'll probably be lucky to break into the prestigious the top 50.
Jumbo vs Misawa - 9/1
This is the big rematch. Jumbo is out to prove that he still can hang with the young guys and Misawa wants to prove his earlier victory over Jumbo was no fluke. This has everything I wanted from their first encounter in spades, with huge intensity, crowd heat and drama. Jumbo is a man possessed and really looks like he wants to murder young Misawa just to prove a point. He hits him with everything, including some awesome looking ground and pound and a chair shot in the crowd. Misawa brings his great athleticism and spirit, but Jumbo is just on fire here. Towards the end he looks so desperate to put away Misawa, hitting him a lariats, superplexes and backdrops, but he just can't keep him down for three. Finally a bridged back suplex gets Jumbo the win, but Misawa still looks strong as he survived a mega onslaught here. This is perfect pro-wrestling filled with danger, intensity and emotion. Some of the near-falls are unbelievable and both guys come out of it looking like megastars, which perfectly sets up a rematch for somewhere down the road. This should be a definite top 10 pick, but if there's another 10 matches of this caliber yet to come you won't hear me complaining.
Jumbo/Taue vs Kawada/Misawa - 9/30
The first time that these two teams met out of a total of four meetings. Quite slow and steady in the early going I thought. One major highlight was Kawada and Taue brawling in the crowd until Kawada gets bored and throws Taue into a cupboard. Awesome. Fairly steady and entertaining action, but things relly kick off whenever Jumbo enters the ring. Everything is great when it comes to 'house of fire' Jumbo. He throws laraits and suplexes around like no one's business and comes off as still very much the man. Not a bad match by stretch of the imagination and healthy entertainment, however it just doesn't really do enough to be highly regarded. It'll be borderline if this gets in or not.
Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi vs Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi - 10/19
There were so many great little pieces to this match that it's hard to do it justice. Taue was great at being the whipping boy for the older team, and his interactions with Kawada were gold. Firstly, Taue bodyslams Kawada on the outside, so he retaliates by suplexing Taue on the wooden floor a little bit later. Then when ever they're in the ring they just try the rip each other apart. This match also goes further in cementing my love of all things Kawada. His kicks are lethal and he has this brilliant 'cannot be arsed' look that makes him a complete badass. Kobashi's selling is great as the older team decide to work over his face with all manner of punches, kicks and chairs (well a chair). But things really get turned up when Kobashi hot tags Kawada and from that point on it's completely crazy. Bodies are flying everywhere and the intensity doesn't drop at all. We also get a Kobashi-sault which immediately makes this match worth a million stars. Finish comes with young Kenta surviving a huge onslaught from Jumbo, including an avalanche-backdrop, before eventually being put down. This match made everyone look good, especially Kobashi as he almost gets a fall on Jumbo, and is worth everyone's time. Definitely should make the list.
Fun little sprint match from these guys that basically consists of The Fantastics beating the ever loving fuck out of Kikuchi. He bumps like a madman, including a bodyslam from the apron to the floor which is just sick. Oh how I cringed. Fulton and Rogers majorly go to work on him but he won't stay down no matter how many times he's dropped on his head. Combine Kikuchi flying all over the places with Malenko's intensity and the Fantastics stiffness and it makes for a great little match. Finally after being dropped from a great height for what must be the thousandth time Kikuchi stays down for the three count, but his complete disregarded for the well being of his body has to be commended. This isn't an epic clash like the main-event of this show (see below) but it's not supposed to be. It's a fast and furious mid-card entertainment and it's a fine, fine match, but unfortunately it can't hold up with some of the intense and epic bouts that its surrounded by. So whilst a fun diversion it'll probably be lucky to break into the prestigious the top 50.
Jumbo vs Misawa - 9/1
This is the big rematch. Jumbo is out to prove that he still can hang with the young guys and Misawa wants to prove his earlier victory over Jumbo was no fluke. This has everything I wanted from their first encounter in spades, with huge intensity, crowd heat and drama. Jumbo is a man possessed and really looks like he wants to murder young Misawa just to prove a point. He hits him with everything, including some awesome looking ground and pound and a chair shot in the crowd. Misawa brings his great athleticism and spirit, but Jumbo is just on fire here. Towards the end he looks so desperate to put away Misawa, hitting him a lariats, superplexes and backdrops, but he just can't keep him down for three. Finally a bridged back suplex gets Jumbo the win, but Misawa still looks strong as he survived a mega onslaught here. This is perfect pro-wrestling filled with danger, intensity and emotion. Some of the near-falls are unbelievable and both guys come out of it looking like megastars, which perfectly sets up a rematch for somewhere down the road. This should be a definite top 10 pick, but if there's another 10 matches of this caliber yet to come you won't hear me complaining.
Jumbo/Taue vs Kawada/Misawa - 9/30
The first time that these two teams met out of a total of four meetings. Quite slow and steady in the early going I thought. One major highlight was Kawada and Taue brawling in the crowd until Kawada gets bored and throws Taue into a cupboard. Awesome. Fairly steady and entertaining action, but things relly kick off whenever Jumbo enters the ring. Everything is great when it comes to 'house of fire' Jumbo. He throws laraits and suplexes around like no one's business and comes off as still very much the man. Not a bad match by stretch of the imagination and healthy entertainment, however it just doesn't really do enough to be highly regarded. It'll be borderline if this gets in or not.
Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi vs Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi - 10/19
There were so many great little pieces to this match that it's hard to do it justice. Taue was great at being the whipping boy for the older team, and his interactions with Kawada were gold. Firstly, Taue bodyslams Kawada on the outside, so he retaliates by suplexing Taue on the wooden floor a little bit later. Then when ever they're in the ring they just try the rip each other apart. This match also goes further in cementing my love of all things Kawada. His kicks are lethal and he has this brilliant 'cannot be arsed' look that makes him a complete badass. Kobashi's selling is great as the older team decide to work over his face with all manner of punches, kicks and chairs (well a chair). But things really get turned up when Kobashi hot tags Kawada and from that point on it's completely crazy. Bodies are flying everywhere and the intensity doesn't drop at all. We also get a Kobashi-sault which immediately makes this match worth a million stars. Finish comes with young Kenta surviving a huge onslaught from Jumbo, including an avalanche-backdrop, before eventually being put down. This match made everyone look good, especially Kobashi as he almost gets a fall on Jumbo, and is worth everyone's time. Definitely should make the list.
Monday, 27 August 2007
Best Of All Japan 1990 #1
Jumbo, Kabuki & Fuchi vs Misawa, Kobashi & Taue - 5/26
This one is pure story-telling all the way. Firstly you’ve got the theme of the young upstarts against the old guard. Then within that you’ve got Jumbo against Misawa. Jumbo is clearly the man and he’s out to prove it to these punks. Kobashi shows balls early on by trying to chop the shit out of old Jumbo, but he quickly gets paid back with a flying knee to the face. Kobashi is great here as he just takes a shit load of punishment, but keeps coming back with more and more fire inside of him. Taue is great too, throwing his size around and beating on dudes. But Jumbo is excellent and when the match breaks down into a pull-apart in the middle he looks like he wants to murder Misawa for even challenging him. However as the match wears on he looks more and more like his age is catching up to him and as his allies fall around him he can only watch as his position as top dog looks increasingly unsteady. Misawa finishes Fuchi with a Tiger Suplex and walks away victorious, leaving the unanswered question, ‘Are Jumbo’s days at the top numbered?’ This was simple pro-wrestling done perfectly and set up the next match on list which took place a few weeks later. Not the greatest match ever, but for history it’s very important.
Jumbo vs Misawa - 6/8
Many people will call this a classic, and hell it’s very important in the evolution of All Japan in terms of ‘making’ Misawa. However for me it just doesn’t cut it as an all time classic match. It builds really well with Misawa getting some really credible offence in the middle and Jumbo sells like he’s really fighting to stay in it. Then Jumbo brings the bombs and the many, many lariats, but can’t keep Misawa down. There are some great dives to the outside from Misawa and he really shows off his athleticism well here. For me though the match never enters the super intense zone, in fact I thought the crowd heat was a little low in the early stages, although these two do a good job of drawing them in. I will admit the finish is great, with Jumbo launching himself at Misawa and getting all hung up in the ropes and then a series of reversals ending with Misawa rolling up Jumbo. Great entertainment and a fine match, but does have that hatred that I need to rank it really high up.
Kobashi vs Kroffat - 8/26
A short one as the video is under seven minutes long, but very intense and very stiff. Kroffat kicks the fuck out of young Kobashi here and dominates most of the match. I do wonder why he never made it as a singles star in the US, because he has bags of intensity, talent and great look. Kobashi has great comebacks and he crowd are really behind him. The only thing is, nothing really happens here. Kobashi wins by reversing a dive into a spinebuster, but it looks a bit shoddy. Nice little diversion, but you’ll forget it as soon as you watch your next match.
So there we have 3 down and 5 to go for the rest of 1990. Please leave any comments below or drop me an email and wheatbox@gmail.com
This one is pure story-telling all the way. Firstly you’ve got the theme of the young upstarts against the old guard. Then within that you’ve got Jumbo against Misawa. Jumbo is clearly the man and he’s out to prove it to these punks. Kobashi shows balls early on by trying to chop the shit out of old Jumbo, but he quickly gets paid back with a flying knee to the face. Kobashi is great here as he just takes a shit load of punishment, but keeps coming back with more and more fire inside of him. Taue is great too, throwing his size around and beating on dudes. But Jumbo is excellent and when the match breaks down into a pull-apart in the middle he looks like he wants to murder Misawa for even challenging him. However as the match wears on he looks more and more like his age is catching up to him and as his allies fall around him he can only watch as his position as top dog looks increasingly unsteady. Misawa finishes Fuchi with a Tiger Suplex and walks away victorious, leaving the unanswered question, ‘Are Jumbo’s days at the top numbered?’ This was simple pro-wrestling done perfectly and set up the next match on list which took place a few weeks later. Not the greatest match ever, but for history it’s very important.
Jumbo vs Misawa - 6/8
Many people will call this a classic, and hell it’s very important in the evolution of All Japan in terms of ‘making’ Misawa. However for me it just doesn’t cut it as an all time classic match. It builds really well with Misawa getting some really credible offence in the middle and Jumbo sells like he’s really fighting to stay in it. Then Jumbo brings the bombs and the many, many lariats, but can’t keep Misawa down. There are some great dives to the outside from Misawa and he really shows off his athleticism well here. For me though the match never enters the super intense zone, in fact I thought the crowd heat was a little low in the early stages, although these two do a good job of drawing them in. I will admit the finish is great, with Jumbo launching himself at Misawa and getting all hung up in the ropes and then a series of reversals ending with Misawa rolling up Jumbo. Great entertainment and a fine match, but does have that hatred that I need to rank it really high up.
Kobashi vs Kroffat - 8/26
A short one as the video is under seven minutes long, but very intense and very stiff. Kroffat kicks the fuck out of young Kobashi here and dominates most of the match. I do wonder why he never made it as a singles star in the US, because he has bags of intensity, talent and great look. Kobashi has great comebacks and he crowd are really behind him. The only thing is, nothing really happens here. Kobashi wins by reversing a dive into a spinebuster, but it looks a bit shoddy. Nice little diversion, but you’ll forget it as soon as you watch your next match.
So there we have 3 down and 5 to go for the rest of 1990. Please leave any comments below or drop me an email and wheatbox@gmail.com
Wrestling Potpourri # 1
Terry Funk/Dory Funk Jr. vs. Hansen/Gordy
8/31/1983 - All Japan Pro Wrestling
It’s Terry’s retirement match so being the huge dick that he is Hansen attacks Terry straight after the intros, fighting through all of the thousands of streamers that are still in the ring. They spill outside and it’s a glorious mess with streams of coloured paper and numerous Japanese folk running for cover. Hansen is just a fired-up bastard heel and beats and beats on Dory forever. Gordy plays his role really well, nicely supplementing Hansen. Terry Funk is indescribably brilliant and plays the babyface as only Terry can, and runs wild on the hot-tag. He’s running around all bloodied up, selling a fucked up knee courtesy of Mr. Hansen and it’s just great. Finish comes when Gordy fucks up a top-rope splash and lands on his face, which leads to Terry hitting a Super Sunset Flip. Post-match Hansen beats the shit outta Terry some more and the lays out one of the ring guys with a lariat, which is sold like death, complete with his buddies carrying him out because he’s so fucked up. Then Terry gets on mic and gives a farewell speech which consists of him screaming ‘Japan! Number One! Forever! Forever!’ over and over again. Words cannot describe the brilliance of this video. Pure greatness.
And also a review of the Joe/McGuinness match from ROH in Liverpool earlier this year:
McGuinness vs. Samoa Joe
3/3/2007 - Ring of Honor
So this is Joe's second last match in ROH, against the future ace of the company in the future ace's home country. So right before anything has happen this is already completely awesome. The crowd are pretty split, but maybe a tad more in favour of Joe since he's leaving. Nice show of respect at the start, but then that goes all out of the window when Nigel slaps the fuck out of Joe. Like the most disrespectful, loudest, most awe inspiring slap ever. Then then proceed to punch and kick the fuck out of each other in an awesome manner. Nigel has some awesome lariats now. All of them just look brutal, and the rebound one on the outside was sweet. They tease a Tower of London onto the apron, but then deliver a fucking Muscle Buster on to it instead. That was such a brilliant spot. Nigel is now dead and has to be helped out, but Joe wants him to shake his hand. He shouts at him for a while and then calls him a 'British pussy'. Oh snap. Nigel then comes back to the ring to defend Brits and pussies everywhere, but is still dead from the super Muscle Buster. Joe beats the fuck out of him and hits a normal MB. But is Nigel just going to lay down? Fuck no! He kicks out and proceeds to do the most amazing 'fish out of water, fuck you Joe, I won't be pinned' flopping I've ever witnessed. Then Joe kills him with a lariat and he kicks out, followed by another and he kicks out at one! At this point I have the biggest shit-eating grin on my face, for this is great. Nigel then tries a slick roll-up, but to no avail and then Joe kills him and gets the win. Really Nigel should have pinned him here, because the crowd was totally ready for it, but you can't predict these things ahead of time. Still if Nigel was going to pin Joe once during the FYF I have no idea why they would choose Philly over England. Still this was a great match, not MOTY but still immensely entertaining.
8/31/1983 - All Japan Pro Wrestling
It’s Terry’s retirement match so being the huge dick that he is Hansen attacks Terry straight after the intros, fighting through all of the thousands of streamers that are still in the ring. They spill outside and it’s a glorious mess with streams of coloured paper and numerous Japanese folk running for cover. Hansen is just a fired-up bastard heel and beats and beats on Dory forever. Gordy plays his role really well, nicely supplementing Hansen. Terry Funk is indescribably brilliant and plays the babyface as only Terry can, and runs wild on the hot-tag. He’s running around all bloodied up, selling a fucked up knee courtesy of Mr. Hansen and it’s just great. Finish comes when Gordy fucks up a top-rope splash and lands on his face, which leads to Terry hitting a Super Sunset Flip. Post-match Hansen beats the shit outta Terry some more and the lays out one of the ring guys with a lariat, which is sold like death, complete with his buddies carrying him out because he’s so fucked up. Then Terry gets on mic and gives a farewell speech which consists of him screaming ‘Japan! Number One! Forever! Forever!’ over and over again. Words cannot describe the brilliance of this video. Pure greatness.
And also a review of the Joe/McGuinness match from ROH in Liverpool earlier this year:
McGuinness vs. Samoa Joe
3/3/2007 - Ring of Honor
So this is Joe's second last match in ROH, against the future ace of the company in the future ace's home country. So right before anything has happen this is already completely awesome. The crowd are pretty split, but maybe a tad more in favour of Joe since he's leaving. Nice show of respect at the start, but then that goes all out of the window when Nigel slaps the fuck out of Joe. Like the most disrespectful, loudest, most awe inspiring slap ever. Then then proceed to punch and kick the fuck out of each other in an awesome manner. Nigel has some awesome lariats now. All of them just look brutal, and the rebound one on the outside was sweet. They tease a Tower of London onto the apron, but then deliver a fucking Muscle Buster on to it instead. That was such a brilliant spot. Nigel is now dead and has to be helped out, but Joe wants him to shake his hand. He shouts at him for a while and then calls him a 'British pussy'. Oh snap. Nigel then comes back to the ring to defend Brits and pussies everywhere, but is still dead from the super Muscle Buster. Joe beats the fuck out of him and hits a normal MB. But is Nigel just going to lay down? Fuck no! He kicks out and proceeds to do the most amazing 'fish out of water, fuck you Joe, I won't be pinned' flopping I've ever witnessed. Then Joe kills him with a lariat and he kicks out, followed by another and he kicks out at one! At this point I have the biggest shit-eating grin on my face, for this is great. Nigel then tries a slick roll-up, but to no avail and then Joe kills him and gets the win. Really Nigel should have pinned him here, because the crowd was totally ready for it, but you can't predict these things ahead of time. Still if Nigel was going to pin Joe once during the FYF I have no idea why they would choose Philly over England. Still this was a great match, not MOTY but still immensely entertaining.
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