Kid Ego: Dolph Ziggler (WWE, 2014)

Hey yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

WWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I got a free burrito from Chipotle a couple days ago because of how well I WOO! Man, I love Ric Flair and I love pro wrestling! WOOOOOOOO!

I am every woman's dream burrito, zero calories, but just as filling 

I love Dolph Ziggler's shirts! Definitely the only wearable shirts that WWE makes and they go great with my Zubaz. So Ziggler has that going for him. Also, I dig his throwback long, bleach blond hair. Let's see what else...hmmmmmmm. 

The internet wrestling fan has rallied around Ziggler because of his athletic ability, a distinctive look and his pinball bumping. The night after Wrestlemania 29, the smart mark-laden MSG crowd went bonkers for Ziggler's World Title victory over Del Rio. If I was running a NYC-only promotion, there is no doubt I would want to build around Ziggler as my ace face. At this year's Royal Rumble, the first chant I heard as we were walking to our seats was "We Want Ziggler". Besides Ambrose, he was the only wrestler still over with the pissed off Philly crowd. Yet, Dolph Ziggler just does not seem to do it for me.   I see Ziggler as someone who lacks credible offense, and relies Randy Savage's babyface formula, Mr. Perfect's over bumping and the worst of Shawn Michaels' catchphrases to skate by. The Randy Savage babyface formula is take heat from the get-go and for the majority of the match, hit one big comeback spot (Ziggler's dropkick) and then run through the finish (for Savage this meant a victory with the Big Elbow, Ziggler is not always as lucky). My major malfunction with this formula is that it lacks  struggle. A recent RAW match against Wyatt saw Ziggler press harder earlier and show a more pugnacious style. Hopefully that performance is a harbinger of things to come. More than the match layout, I find his in-ring style is not credible and not engaging.

Dolph Ziggler feels ultimately to me like a Mr. Perfect tribute act. By the time Curt Hennig, his best years were already behind him. He masked his lack of offense and his injuries with his over the top bumps. Ziggler is similar in regards to Hennig in how he uses his bumps to oversahdow his lack of offense. Unlike Hennig, Ziggler's strikes are piss poor at least Hennig could rely on his chop. His punches where he punches with the inside of his fist look like shit and his superkick does not look much better. The rest of his offense besides his nice dropkick is made out of ridiculous 2000s-y offense like the fameasser and facebuster. I actually think the Zig Zag is a fine finisher because it at least looks like a possible KO blow. The last bothersome Ziggler in-ring trait is his inability to modulate his selling. He is either flopping around like a deadfish or running full speed ahead. This 0 to 60 style is jarring and can happen multiple times in the same match. I appreciate that he sells more than the average WWE wrestler in 2014, but he needs to modulate better. Where everybody else needs to add more selling, Ziggler needs to add more of  a register. You never want to die because once you do it makes everyone look  bad unless you are going to lose of course. In the Survivor Series match, on rewatch, I think is the best example of Ziggler modulating his selling well and gradually gaining strength against seemingly insurmountable odds. Again, let us hope that is a harbinger of things to come. More than the match layout and the in-ring, there is nothing more annoying about Ziggler than his character.

Who is Dolph Ziggler? He dresses kind of like Don Johnson and has LMFAO-inspired ring gear. He likes to Show Off, I hear, but really does not do that anymore in the ring. He likes to talkreallyfastonpromosuntilhegetstothe *pause* punchline. He is kinda a ladies' man. He is sorta sleezy. Oh I know he likes to steal the show and entertain the fans. Hold on, while I puke. Overall, I am a pretty big Shawn Michaels fan, but nothing annoys me about Shawn than when his gimmick basically became I put on great matches and who cares who wins, it was awesome to watch. Wrestling should be about competitors struggle to win a contest. If that is your gimmick, you need to go home. Wade Keller on The Steve Austin Show made a great point about Dolph Ziggler's lack of killer instinct on the stick. Ziggler just had the biggest win of his career beating The Authority to send them home; looked great as the ultimate underdog; the push came out of nowhere, but was well-received. In the post-match promo, Ziggler said he did what anyone else would do in that situation, he went out to entertain the fans. WHAT THE FUCK? Dude, you are there to kick ass and defend your co-worker's jobs. Fuck the fans, you are there to win. UGH! Excellent matches like the one against Luke Harper in a ladder match at TLC may be able to wipe away this character and replace it with one that claws for everything he gets. In the match Ziggler is faced against a sadistic beast that just tears into him and has no regard for his well-being. Ziggler takes advantage of every opening and struggles to win the match in front of his hometown. It was the first time winning I-C title felt like a huge deal in years because Ziggler had to struggle and claw to win the match. That's what entertains the fans, Dolph, not you telling us you are going to, but you are looking invested in the outcome of your match. Once again, I hope this is a harbinger of what is to come.

A Godsend that goes perfectly with Hot Pink & Black Zubaz!Atreewq

I am hard on Dolph Ziggler, but I think I am fair. He showed strong improvement in key areas as I pointed out. It feels like the company was getting behind late in 2014, but with the returns of other key babyfaces, he may be forgotten again, but right now he still looks in good shape. I hope he builds on these good performances and leaves his bad tendencies behind. At the very least, come out with another badass shirt!

Match Listing:

WWE Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett vs Dolph Ziggler - WWE RAW 6/23/14

Disposable RAW mid-card match. Ultimately forgettable. Crowd worked the workers. 

WWE Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler vs Cesaro vs Tyson Kidd ***3/4

Fun Spotfest. Tyson Kidd got to shine. Cesaro great strength spots. Ziggler looked strong as champ.

Team Cena (John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, The Big Show, Ryback, Rowan) vs 

The Authority (Seth Rollins, Luke Harper, Rusev, Kane and Mark Henry) 

WWE Survivor Series 2014 ****1/4

Big match feel. Great use of characters. Exciting narrative. Logical, cool swerve. Great Ziggler run.

WWE IC Champion Luke Harper vs Dolph Ziggler WWE TLC 2014 Ladder Match ****1/2

Awesome sadistic performance by Harper. Great heroics by Ziggler. Felt like a BIG win!

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WWE Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett vs Dolph Ziggler - WWE RAW 6/23/14

Take a pair of semi-over midcarders and tack on a couple nearfalls and you get "This is Awesome". I remember watching this match and thinking this was one of the most egregious examples of the overexposure of the "This Is Awesome" chant. My beef with "This Is Awesome" chant is that it tends to be the MOVEZ~! that are over rather than the individual wrestlers. If Ziggler was so over. how come Ziggler was not being cheered? A lot of it has to do with how the match was presented and laid out. What did Barrett do that was particularly heelish? Really the only reason Barrett was the heel was because he is the bigger of the two and he would cut off Ziggler. It was a very neutral performance from Barrett and I have noticed over very neutral performances from midcard heels especially Cesaro. It is funny that all these old time great wrestling minds can't put their finger on why these wrestlers can't make it to the next level. I would start right there. Obviously, booking is critical, but if you are talking about things a wrestler can control, it is stronger heel performances. It seems the heels are too concerned with being considered "great" wrestlers, which in the modern context means MOVEZ~!

I wanted to review this match because it made one list of top WWE matches of the year I read and I wanted to look at a Ziggler match from before his late year push. I remember ZIggler utilizing the babyface mid-90s Savage formula of taking heat, hitting one counter move and then going home. Of course, Savage would win his match with the big elbow, but most times Ziggler would lose. I think the match would have benefited from that formula.  It would afford the opportunity for Barrett to look like a violent bully and for Ziggler to build sympathy for his big dropkick comeback. Instead, it was just I hit a move, you hit a move. There was no sense of struggle or real desire to win. Hell, you can't even claim they had good escalation: The Zig Zag was used as a throwaway transition, which built to a commercial and within one spot, Barrett was up and hitting the Cactus Elbow. Plus Barrett's natural size was totally undermined by the match. Ziggler was countering at will Barrett's offense and it was not like he was using great speed. The selling was generally not good and even when it happened like Ziggler not being able to capitalize the selling felt false (more like frustration) and did not feel warranted based on the limited punishment he took. The finish was pretty awesome with Ziggler going for the Stinger Splash and Barrett hits him with a KO elbow.

I think Barrett and Ziggler have great potential, but have their limitations. Barrett really is not a good bumper or seller, which he does not have to be, but it will limit him. Ziggler has the worst punches in the business today and his deadfish/pop-up selling is annoying at best. However, I think even with those limitations, they can construct great matches against other people using Barrett's brute and Ziggler's bumping ability. Tag team wrestling could have taught both these guys a lot. Alas, it is a shame.

The match was designed to impress the crowd. You work the audience. Don't let the audience work you. Disposable, mindless match that is fun to watch with your brother on Saturday morning, but not worthwhile on rewatch.

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Man, I used to have a lot of hair!

WWE Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler vs Cesaro vs Tyson Kidd 

 WWE Smackdown! 11/14/14

First thing's first, the new Smackdown ring announcer is realest. I may just start watching Smackdown for her. Hot damn.

This match is a great spotfest and besides the Money In The Bank Ladder match, I can't think of a better one this year in WWE (reDragon vs Young Bucks, which I saw live was the best spotfest of the year and one of the best of all time). Spotfest is a loaded word after all wrestling matches are a collection of spots. It is your fireworks spectacle in lieu of a compelling story. I think there is very much a place for them on pro wrestling cards (no more than one a card). If you are going to have one, then commit to it. The reason I was so down on Barrett and Ziggler is they had a spotfest, but they were just hitting their stock moves on each other. These three came up with creative, fun, and eye-popping spots. Sometimes they got too smart for their own good like trying a more complicated Tower of Doom spot that looked like shit. However, fun stuff like Cesaro covering Ziggler while in the Sharpshooter or Kidd hitting a Blockbuster on Cesaro onto Ziggler's knees. I also have to say after watching all that 00s NOAH that Cesaro hitting a big boot to start a match and then an exploder is the most NOAH beginning to any WWE match ever. In fact, if NOAH ever had a junior heavyweight triple threat match, I would say it would look a lot like this only with more strike exchanges. I liked the opening part with quick pinfalls by each competitor really put over their desire to eliminate a wrestler and setup a one on one match for the title. They also managed not to fall into the triple threat trap of having one wrestler sell for long periods of time on the outside. They all just kept going at each other with vigor. I would say that is what would separate this match from a lot of other typical WWE matches is the urgency of the wrestlers.

The finish stretch begins with a Kidd sharpshooter/Cesaro crossface combo on Ziggler. The storyline behind this was that Authority was setting Ziggler (then the only member of Team Cena) to lose his title because of the stacked odds. While Cesaro and Kidd never formally teamed up, these moments drove home that angle. In an idiotic moment, Kidd breaks the hold to attack Cesaro and gets the Giant Swing. Cesaro hotshotting Ziggler into a kick by Kid was sick. Kidd has some really good kicks in this match. Ziggler hits the Zig Zag, but Kidd being the gloryhound he is (remember the storyline with Nattie) he tosses Ziggler out so he can get the pinfall. I like the respect shown for the Zig Zag. Kidd had a really good string of offense on Ziggler and you really felt him press his advantage with nice kicks. He tries for the Sharpshooter, but it is reversed into a cradle and then ZIG ZAG! Ziggler survives with his championship reign intact.

There was no great overarching story and the selling was nothing to write home about, but for a spotfest you could not ask for much more. There were a lot of fun spots that escalated to a satisfying conclusion. Plus Kidd got some time to shine, which is nice and showed some promise. Good shit. ***3/4

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Team Cena (John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, The Big Show, Ryback, Rowan) vs 

The Authority (Seth Rollins, Luke Harper, Rusev, Kane and Mark Henry) 

WWE Survivor Series 2014

When Survivor Series Elimination Matches are done right they are hard to top. A booker can take advantage of more moving pieces in terms of the number of wrestlers in a match and the number of finishes afforded to him. It allows for more pairings and no dull moments with each tag there is a new combination. The arc follows a more traditional sports-oriented approach where there is a scoreboard and teams fall behind and have to work hard to catch back up. I think this match should go down as one of the best Survivor Series Tags of all time.

The hardest thing for Survivor Series tags to overcome ususally is the stigma that they are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. While it turned out to be true that this Survivor Series tag was just as inconsequentlal as most, at the time, this match really felt huge and meaningful to everyone in the match, outside the ring, the announcer and the live audience. I would say in terms of big match feel this ranked only behind Cena/Lesnar at Summerslam and the Bryan matches at Wrestlemania. Everyone played their roles to a T. Triple H and Stephanie just absolutely and totally rocked it on the outside. I loved HHH firing up Mark Henry and really laying it on thick only for Henry to walk into the WMD. Damn! It was the perfect start to the match. Triple H goes from all revved up to total dejection. The heels fell flat on their faces. The babyfaces start hot and the crowd is whipped into a frenzy and they never really let go.

One of my biggest hang-ups watching this live was the treatment of Ryback. I am a Ryback fan. When Ryback was at nadir of his career teaming with Curtis Axel against the Dust Brothers for the umpteenth time at the Money In The Bank, I got a "Feed Me More" chant started because damnit, I was not going to let him die. They redebut him and he feels like a big deal. He is presented as the piece that will tip the scales in either team's directions. Then he is the first person pinned on Team Cena!?!?!?! Do I think that if you switch Ryback and Big Show's roles that the story, the match and the aftermath would be 1000000x better? Yes. Did I overreact and basically underrate a match because of it? Yes. I just wanted to get that out there.

I love that babyfaces got a long shine by modern WWE standards. This is what Rollins brings to the table that really not other heel does right now. He can pinball bump like a muthafucka and really create energy for a babyface. Whether it is being swatted by the Big Show or Ryback tossing him up, it takes the onus off the babyface to solely get the crowd involved. To be fair to their treatment of Ryback, he does get a huge run of offense before he is eliminated. Rollins gets tossed around. Harper takes a stalling suplex. Kane comes in gets his ass kicked. Hell, Rusev looks vulnerable before in all the chaos Rollins takes advantage with a timely Curb Stomp and eliminate him. I love the heels taking advantage of a melee like that.

What is interesting is I remembered that Rusev was presented as the game-changer for the heels, but that was incorrect it was always Harper. Rusev was special because any nearfall or any time he looked vulnerable triggered a big reaction, but it was Harper that actually turned the tide for the heels. Show actually looked strong against Rusev, but it was a well-timed dropkick by Harper that gave the heels their first advantage. The Big Show face in peril segment was the lull in the match, but it was to set up Dolph's first entry into the match and he was supposed to be the star of the show. Ziggler gets a quick burst of offense before Harper plants him. The Ziggler face in peril set up the in-match swerve and the finish beautifully even if it was a bit boring. Rusev busting out the knees again was awesome! After a Ziggler hope spot nearfall, a melee ensues, but this time does not benefit the heels as Rusev belly flops onto an announce table while HHH was egging him on. Triple H's frustration at Rusev not being able to make it to his feet and J & J desperately, but futilely trying to carry Rusev to the ring was the great character work that enhanced the atmosphere of this match. The babyfaces are up at this, but they are not soaring quite as high as earlier in the match.

Down 4-3, Rollins took the match into his own hands and executed Shield tactics that being create havoc and always press. The curb stomp to Cena to save Kane forced Cena to tag in Rowan. I did not even notice how awesome Harper/Rowan was. Harper is fucking amazing. It was just a gnarly powerhouse fight. Again, Rollins took advantage and flew in with a knee to the side of the head so that Harper could collect the victory.

This all sets up the Big Show turn beautifully. Ziggler is out on the floor from his face in peril and Cena is staggered from the Curb Stomp. It is effectively 3-on-1 and BOOM! Awesome in-match heel turn, logically sound. Triple H handshake was great and Steph doing the Yes! Chant to Cena was awesome. Loved the St. Louis crowd chanting for Randy Orton twice. A member of the main roster is actually over now that is awesome! This is the part of the match I expected to hate, but I actually thought Ziggler was really, really good in this. I expected it to be dead-fish sell and then zero to sixty, rinse, lather, repeat. I thought he did a great job actually building to climaxes and not switching shit off and on. The segment with Kane was worked beautifully. Kane looks like it is a slam dunk, Ziggler staggers and hits his KO blow to eliminate. He has life and the crowd and HHH & Steph respond accordingly. The worst part of the match is actually this Harper segment. Harper mauls him and then loses to a roll-up. It is really hard to book this middle segment. Either scratch it or they could have had Ziggler beat Harper like he did Kane and then when Kane comes in he just destroys him no selling. The Harper beating made it look too incredulous when Ziggler got the roll-up. I thought they did a great job in the Rollins segment building to everything. Rollins was on top, but Ziggler kept hitting more and more moves. Ziggler really paced his offense well and he seemed to be getting stronger with every shot. The interference was well-paced. Ziggler gets a close nearfall and here come the stooges which sends Steph into HHH. Ziggler gets the Zig Zag and HHH says fuck it and Pedigrees him. I wish it was Orton that came out and RKO'd HHH, but Sting was pretty cool. Just do not give a single fuck about Sting/HHH. The finish pretty much sucks because they had built Ziggler into a believable babyface winner over Rollins and he just needed a bit of help like an RKO to Trips, but instead it became all about HHH/Sting, which is too bad.

The aftermath and the finish take a lot of wind out of the sails of this one, but for the vast majority of this match is incredibly compelling and you really did not know what would happen next. Everything felt urgent and immediate. The babyfaces were on fire early and you thought they could run away with this. Rollins using Shield tactics to create opportunities for his partners was greta heel strategy. Harper being the heel stud badass was great. The Big Show turn even if Ryback would have been better was freaking awesome. Hell, even the majority of the Ziggler run was some of the best Ziggler ever as he actually modulated his selling and bursts of offense well. Very, very entertaining and like most WWE matches wish they followed up on this better! ****1/4

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WWE Intercontinental Champion Luke Harper vs Dolph Ziggler 

WWE TLC 2014 Ladder Match

Luke Harper may look like Bruiser Brody, but he wrestles like Stan Hansen and the world is a better place for it. He had a total disregard for Ziggler and his own welfare. Having watched wrestling for seventeen years now, it takes a lot to make me cringe, but repeatedly I was wincing in pain with each punishing blow. It was so violent and I even questioned if it was all worth it. I hope it will be because I thought this be HBK/Mankind match for Ziggler. Shawn Michaels needed the match with Foley to establish that he dish out the pain as well as he could take it. It is similar to how in the 80s pretty boy tag teams would be positioned in brutal fights with gnarly heels to show they were tougher than they look and earn credibility with the audience. To keep the Shawn Michaels thread going, matches like The Rockers versus Rose & Somers bloodbath in the AWA come to mind. If exploited properly, this can be that very match. It is so difficult in this day and age to be an asskicker and not come across as a cool babyface. Harper was able to tap into such an uncomfortable violence that he was booed heavily. Yes, eventually there was the obligatory "This Is Awesome" chant, but for the vast majority of the match the people cheered Ziggler and booed Harper. It helped a lot they were in Ziggler's hometown of Cleveland, but regardless, to see such an outpouring of emotion to cheer for one wrestler was so refreshing in this day of "appreciating the match" and other such hogwash.

On the rewatch, with a closer attention to detail, I realized how much Harper really destroyed Ziggler for the opening half of the match. It is a testament to Ziggler that when I was watching with my family that I really never felt like he was totally out of it and that he was always struggling. Too often he can rely on deadfish/pop-up selling, but here, I thought more often than not he kept it a competitive style of selling. Harper established the perfect pace for this brutal masterpiece. It never plodded, but they never rushed to the next spot. He was going to let that ladder just fall on Ziggler's head and then climb the ladder to retain his title. Those ladder timber spots were vicious especially the one that clipped Ziggler in the head. The most violent spot of the match was without a doubt the Harper suicide dive onto the ladder where he basically piledrove himself into a ladder. How he did not break his arms and/or be concussed was beyond me. I could barely watch. The Ziggler pop up and scramble up the ladder was perfect, because up until that point he had basically no offense and now the monster has basically impaled himself it was time to take advantage. It was great drama as the Creature from the Black Lagoon rose again and stopped him. Not to be topped Ziggler took some hellacious bumps like on a powerbomb onto a Ladder (the ladder did not break) and then being catapulted into the middle rope with the ladder around his head (concussion city and getting busted open). Ziggler breaking free of the doctors to stop Harper from climbing the ladder was an awesome moment.

This should not be lost in the shuffle, but the effort they put into this and how much they were willing to risk made the Intercontinental Championship feel like a big deal for the first time in forever. As I survey the damage, Ziggler is bleeding from the face and fingers while Harper is bleeding from all sort of odd places on his body. You really felt like whoever wins this demolition derby deserves it. Ziggler makes his grand comeback, but what's great is that it is not just one move. He has to keep beating Harper back, first it is a facebuster onto the ladder, then it is DDT off the ladder, then dropkicking the ladder into his face and finally the superkick off the ladder that wins ZIggler the match. The fact that it was Ziggler had to earn every single step by constantly hitting Harper with big shots really you made it feel like he could earn it.

Ziggler proved he could withstand the punishment doled out by one of WWE's most sadistic monsters. Harper made him earn this every step of the way delivering one of the most malevolent performances of the year. Harper gave as good as he got as proved by that suicide dive. For Ziggler, we see if the WWE exploits this newfound credibility as a tough, die hard son of a bitch. The negatives are slight. but apparent: Ziggler's punches still look like shit and they did lose a bit of steam towards the end as the spots got a bit more contrived. In terms of a violent spectacle, where the pretty boy babyface not just survived the monster, this match deserves to be ranked among the best ladder matches of all time. ****1/2

A Flair For The Inzayn: Sami Zayn, Charlotte, Adrian Neville (WWE NXT 2014)

Hey yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

I tried to come up with a  funny way to introduce just how much fucking snow there is right now in Boston, but then is absolutely nothing funny about the personal Hel I am currently living in. Ragnarok is coming. 

How come she did not fall from the sky?

Sami Zayn is coming and ain't nobody going to stop the best damn pure babyface on the roster besides Daniel Bryan Zayn is on a quest to prove that white meat, underdog babyface is not dead in the water. Whether it was as a plucky upstart against Cesaro or finally getting the monkey off his back defeating Adrian Neville to win the NXT Championship, Zayn is making it cool to be good again. Against Adrian Neville at the December NXT Special, the match was humming along just fine and I was enjoying it as another great Zayn selling performance with some cool spots thrown in like the Dragonrana. Then at the end of the match, something special happened. The crowd was so invested in the Sami Zayn character that they cared that he not only won the match, but how they won the match. When Zayn stood above a prone Neville with championship belt cocked and ready, the crowd chanted in unison "NO!". It restored my faith that real babyfaces could still exist in this often jaded, cynical wrestling universe. They did not want Zayn to compromise his morals or take shortcuts to win the title. They wanted a Sami Zayn that was true to himself and won on his own merits. They got just that when Sami Zayn defeated Adrian Neville clean in the ring to win the NXT Championship and prove that he can indeed win the big one.

However, this is not where Zayn best showcased his talents as one of the great potential future WWE superstars. It was on the very first NXT live special on the Network in the very first match against Cesaro that Zayn shined brightest. He proved that even in a loss that sometimes you can come out looking like a million bucks. He gave a heroic underdog babyface performance of the ages against the arrogant bully, Cesaro. He craves that respect from Cesaro and earns it the hard way, but never saying die and always moving forward. Sami Zayn has been the cornerstone of NXT and development as a star has been the hook.

Lately, Steve Austin has been on a kick of asking people pro wrestling or sports entertainment. NXT is pro wrestling to WWE's sports entertainment. Recently, I have noticed some more WWE-centric and indy traits bleeding into the NXT product, which disappoints me. However, those first two or three NXT special just exuding pro wrestling to me. It was a promotion built on wins & losses, pride & respect, fun characters, video packages that fleshed out characters and explained matches. Recently, where have those video packages been for Finn Balor and Hideo Itami? Early on, I loved the packages that chronicled who Bo Dallas, Tyler Breeze or Tyson Kidd were. Take Bo Dallas for instance. On the main roster, he was an annoying knock off of Tony Robbins. If you watch NXT Arrival, you realize how they just took one small facet of the character "Bolieve" and totally abandoned the entire character. That was a champion who delusionally believed he was beloved. I loved his response to "No More Bo" that they wanted to "know" more about Bo Dallas. NXT did a great job fleshing these characters out and perhaps there is no better example than in their flourishing women's division.

Every corner of the internet seems abuzz with NXT Women's division and how it is a paradigm for the what main roster's women's division could be. It begins and ends with how the NXT women are promoted. They are treated seriously and usually as the semi-main event fight. They have unique, interesting characters that are striving to win the championship. Even though, my favorite women's match was between two ladies that would soon leave for the main roster, Paige & Emma, the women's matches have been the most anticipated for me personally. I am not what you would have called a women's wrestling fan until NXT. There has been a lot of hype around Charlotte/Natalya, which I think is a bit over-blown from a purely in-ring perspective, but there is no denying its importance. It could be a harbinger of things to come and turning point for how women are viewed in WWE. It was promoted and treated  as serious fight with important consequences and the second most important match on the card behind the NXT Championship match. The announcers and the crowd were equally invested in the outcome and  it has continued in all of Charlotte's matches. Charlotte, much like her father, has redefined pro wrestling only she has done it for women. Her athleticism and confidence has made people take notice. It needs to be mentioned she has the best entrance music in wrestling today. She has had good to great matches with Nattie, Bayley and Sasha Banks and just gave a great performance this past week in the fatal 4-way. She is the perfect anchor to build a division around. She has all the offense to be a great babyface, but has the attitude and size to be a heel. Matches against Paige and Nikki Bella are on the top of my dream match list and that's not something I would thought I would have said just a couple weeks ago. 

We can't talk about the women's division without talking about my favorite character in wrestling Mmmm you maybe gorgeous, Tyler, but you take a backseat to the Boss. I was super pumped that she won the NXT Divas title this past week as she definitely deserves it. She has her gimmick down pat and she is just a badd bitch. Calling Charlotte "generically basic" and trash talking the entire division has been the highlight of these NXT specials. I really enjoyed her match against Charlotte because of how pure her heel performance was early when so many heels are afraid to be hated, Sasha Banks revels in it. I look forward to many title defenses and after Bayley showed some incredible fire in the fatal 4-way, I can't wait for them to hook up.

The year 2014 was a breakout year for NXT as WWE's developmental/alternative brand. I hope they continue to focus on wins and losses and unique characters that are motivated in the ring by who they are and the context of the story. That is pro wrestling and I hope NXT keeps it alive.

Match Listing:   

Cesaro vs Sami Zayn - NXT Arrival 2/14 ****1/2
Cesaro best heel performance. Zayn rocks as the never say die face. A Matter of Respect. MOTYC.

NXT Women's Champion Paige vs Emma - NXT Arrival 2/27/14 ****
FIGHT! Paige was vicious, just gnarly kicks. Emma is underrated. Best women's match of the year.

Charlotte vs Natayla - NXT Takeover 5/29/14 Vacant NXT Women's Championship ***1/2

A statement on what the division could be. Felt too much like an exhibition.

NXT Champion Neville vs Zayn vs Kidd vs Tyler Breeze - NXT Takeover 9/14

Decent action, but loved the finish. Finish sets up Zayn vs Neville perfectly. 

NXT Women's Champion Charlotte vs Sasha Banks -NXT Takeover REvolution 12/11/14 ***1/2

Sasha Banks is Da Boss! Great heel performance early. Finish stretch went too long. 

NXT Champion Adrian Neville vs Sami Zayn - NXT Takeover REvolution 12/11/14 ****1/4
Sami finally wins the big one in grand fashion with an incredibly dramatic finish. NXT on fire with finishes!

Cesaro vs Sami Zayn - NXT Arrival 2/14

NXT is where pro wrestling lives, baby! Where has this Cesaro been on the main roster? No, it is not completely booking's fault. I am taking that bully mentality and those violent heel tendencies. Cesaro is damn great wrestler, make no mistake about it, but he has the same problem that many midcard heels on the main roster have. They do NOT do anything heelish in the context of the match. This is why "This is awesome" is so prevalent because there can't be good without evil and no one is evil in the ring. On this night, Cesaro was a total, unmitigated, unadulterated prick. Zayn is the consummate babyface. He is the lovable underdog character that you believe can win, but know it is not going to be easy. You know he is going to leave it all in that ring and you will never be disappointed by Zayn win, lose or draw.


Watch the two out of three falls match first, before you watch this match. Ok, you watched it now, good. Unlike most modern WWE series of matches, this series actually builds layers on top of other matches. The only WWE series that comes close recently is Cena/Lesnar. The beginning of this match was probably my favorite beginning to any match of 2014. It was just so perfect. Zayn has proven from the previous matches that his best chance to elude Cesaro with his quickness, but now being familiar with Cesaro he is combining his natural elusiveness with actual scouting experience. Cesaro shows him up early with his power and gives him a playful slap to the back of the head that gets a rise out of everyone. Cesaro goes for the Giant Swing, but Zayn eludes it with a armdrag to the outside. Zayn goes flying out onto Cesaro and it is fastbreak offense that gets the crowd rocking. Cesaro nips in the bud by catching Zayn off the top and into a backbreaker. Cesaro is just in total bully prick mode throwing Zayn around on the outside and he looks to use the post, but Zayn yanks Cesaro into the post with his feet. Zayn looks to repeat his awesome dive through the turnbuckles, EUROPEAN UPPERCUT! HOLY SHIT! Cesaro had it scouted. Now, we get Cesaro going back to the post and wrapping around the post. Cesaro working the knee was incredible and some of his best work in the WWE. Zayn is killing it selling, but also mixing in hope spots. I loved the whiff on the enziguiri triggering the single leg crab. I love sequences like that. His next spot was for Zayn was his split legged moonsault caught by Cesaro and slams him into the ramp. Damn! That was actually credible countout finish tease and you really feel Zayn's grit and determination to return to the ring.


Zayn's first big score is the Exploder into the turnbuckles. I agreed that Zayn needed to get hit some offense at this point in the match, but I thought it was a bit too easy for Zayn and felt more like it was his turn than him earning it. Cesaro goes back to the knee to cut off Zayn’s string of offense and applying a leg wrench using his neck as a fulcrum. Then you move to another interesting aspect of the characters. Cesaro starts to get a little cocky and Zayn takes advantage with roll up out of the Giant Swing. I love how Zayn fights during the Swing; it really makes for an awesome visual and puts over Zayn’s character. During a sloppy Cesaro cover Zayn slides Cesaro over for a two count. Cesaro almost more pissed at himself for letting that happened, crushes Zayn’s head with a double spot that had me popping like crazy. Zayn has another burst of offense using a hurricanarana off the top to set up his Yakuza Kick (I could not understand what Zayn’s name for it is.). Zayn won the first fall of the last match with that move. 1-2-NO! OH shit, you just gave Cesaro your best shot and that has to take a lot of wind out of your sails. Cesaro starts to obliterate with European Uppercuts and Zayn is just rocked, but won’t stay down. Zayn  has one last burst of burst and the fists start flying. He throws a wicked German. Can he pull it off? I love Zayn’s selling with him holding his mouth, fighting through the pain and showing great fire looking for that Yakuza Kick, but Cesaro demolishes him with a big boot. Cesaro throw him up and European Uppercut only get one, but Cesaro will not be deterred and hits a roaring European Uppercut and Neutralizer for the win!


Zayn and Cesaro just crushed it out there. If there is any NXT match as good as this, then hot damn I am going to be in for one helluva run. Cesaro showed some of his best character work here as an arrogant bully. Zayn’s story of craving that respect and proving himself by defeating the main event bully made for a great hook. He fought to the very end, but eventually succumbed to Cesaro. Then Cesaro comes back to the ring and gives him that respect in the form of a hug. This is a perfect representation of how to get someone over by losing. Everyone came out looking better from this masterpiece. ****1/2

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NXT Women's Champion Paige vs Emma - NXT Arrival 2/27/14

Sorry Nattie/Charlotte, this is the women's match of the year for me. Paige is so good at intensity compared to the rest of the women's division. I was watching the match with Brie from this past week's RAW and Paige looks like the only one on the roster male or female who cares if she wins or loses. Poor Emma, I maybe biased because I think she is super cute, but I really like her as a wrestler. I think she was really good as the underdog in this match. Paige gets right up in Emma's face and piefaces her. This is definitely the hottest start to a women's match in quite some time. I loved Paige's dropkicks to midsection. I really wish she would bring back her midsection work. Emma is looking for that slingshot, but Paige blocks into the chinlock, which kills the match a bit. I love the Paige spot where people catch her foot and she takes a header. Emma gets the first part of the Emmalock with the slingshot, but Paige counters. Again, Emma takes out Paige's base, which makes sense since Paige is a giant. She is a long drink of water. Emma runs through some good babyface offense that riles the crowd like the Dilemma and Emmamite Sammich. I really loved the surfboard especially Paige's selling. Paige rocks Emma with an elbow on the apron out of desperation, but Emma still in control and hits a powerbomb. Emma is slapping Paige around, fuck I love this. This feels like a fight! Paige hits a wild slap. HOLY SHIT KICK TO THE MIDSECTION! Page Turner, but it only gets two! Paige debuts the Scorpion Crosslock to get the submission victory.

This was just a gnarly fight between two badass women. I loved this match. There was nothing cute. It was a bomb throwing sprint. Paige was going to destroy Emma's midsection and Emma looked to take out Paige's base. Emma got off a nice string of offense, but did not have enough in the tank. Paige was able to hit a wild slap and wicked kick to the midsection. Women's match of the year. Damn what a fight! I am so pumped for Paige vs Nikki. ****

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Charlotte vs Natayla - NXT Takeover 5/29/14 Vacant NXT Women's Championship

I can understand why this match is being pointed to as what the women's division can be if probably promoted, why it is being lauded as the greatest women's match in WWE canon and a turning point for women being taken seriously under WWE umberella. This is not just a match that is being trumpeted by WWE.com as a means to canonize (thanks Charles) this as a great/historic match; it finished #20 in Voices of Wrestling poll for 2014. WWE took the women seriously and in turn so did the pundits. I think that is the strength of this match more than anything than they did in the ring. This is the first women's match since Trish/Mickie/Lita that felt like it had a big fight feel. You had the Nature Boy going crazy at ringside cheering on his daughter and the stoic Hitman coaching up his niece. The announcers treated the match seriously and the crowd was fully invested in the outcome. I was at the Royal Rumble during what I thought was a really good Bellas vs Nattie/Paige tag match where you could hear a pin drop and no one gave one fuck about the match. The crowd is crucial in developing that atmosphere they wanted for this match. Honestly, this match felt like an exhibition to me. I think the cool story for a while was Nattie's submission ability against Charlotte's length. Yes, Nattie could grab the holds, but Charlotte was too damn long for Nattie to be able to hold her in those holds. Still, the match lacked quality transitions. I am a huge fan of chain wrestling that gets chippy and we get that with some nice slaps and then Charlotte smoking her with a spinning back chop. RIC FLAIR IS HYPED! He is all over the fallen Nattie, Wooing in her face after he she had that audacity earlier in the match. Then Nattie is just running the ropes and taking control. This is my next problem with the match. Women need to accentuate their positives and hide their weaknesses like any other wrestler. So just because men run the ropes, does not mean you should. Nattie with her little legs looks ridiculous when she is trying to run the ropes and Charlotte has to wait for her. This is something I noticed about the Charlotte/Banks match is that Charlotte is so athletic that she is showing up her fellow women. She can run the ropes and do convoluted sequences and look badass. Making Banks do those sequences or making Nattie try to keep up by running the ropes exposes both competitors. I like the figure-4 headlock a lot and Nattie trying to escape only to have Charlotte roll through showed how Charlotte's natural length thwarted Nattie. Then you get bullshit like Charlotte hitting a dropkick only for Nattie to hit a butterfly suplex. I liked the Charlotte Flair Flip into Nattie blasting her off the apron with a forearm. Nattie should focus on strikes, submissions and throws and forget about running. Charlotte whips her off the apron in a nasty bump. Then Charlotte misses the moonsault and Flair losing his shit. Flair should be her full-time manager, he adds a lot to this match.  Nattie applies the Sharpshooter, but Charlotte reverses into the Figure-4. This was the worst figure-4 sequence I have ever seen and actively detracted from the match for me. Charlotte applied it and just because Nattie rolled through onto her back does not mean she is applying pressure. From there, they just start no-selling it and look confused. Then they trash talk and it is like somebody needs to start selling because this looks ridiculous. I am surprised they did not have Nattie properly reverse the pressure because that is actually a Sharpshooter (is just a standing reverse figure-4) and it would have been a counter that got a big pop. Anyways, Charlotte hits Bow Down to the Queen a way better name than Natural Selection to win the match. I feel like Paige/Emma had way more intensity and Charlotte/Banks had more interesting character work. Both of those matches felt like struggles. This match just felt like they were showcasing what women's wrestling could be rather than looking to win a match. ***1/2 

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NXT Champion Adrian Neville vs Sami Zayn vs Tyson Kidd vs Tyler Breeze - 

NXT Takeover 9/14

Overall, I tend to like NXT crowds they remind me of ECW crowds where they are smart and play along. I think the best representation of this was the double chant of "Nattie's Better!" "That's a fact!". That might be the most creative and appropriate chant ever. I love chants that exist to get under the heel's skin like Paula and are sorely missing in today's current product. The NXT crowd really nailed it with that one. While they did chant "CM Punk!" "999" and then "This Is Awesome" during the finish, they can't do any wrong in my eyes after the awesome double chant.

So talking about the crowd as the opening may seem pretty damning for the content of the match, but I thought this was a pretty good fatal 4-way. Everyone plays their character really well, the spots were fun and the finish was great and really sets up the next show. Before we get there, lets talk about the match. Early on the best spot is Zayn getting one up on Breeze and then taking a selfie, which is a fun early spot. Kidd/Breeze take out Neville and Zayn with double suplexes on the entrance ramp. I like Kidd's selling on those suplexes let's you know how much damage is really dished out. The best part of the match up until the finish was Kidd playing King of the Mountain on Neville. He was relentless keeping Neville out of the ring and I loved it. Breeze standing on Zayn's head is something we need to see more out of him. Kidd vacillated between being awesome and boring. The slap exchange with Zayn was great, but then he would lock on a chinlock. There is the right time for a chinlock and a wrong time. It really feels like he is squandering his isolation advantage (loved that term from either Byron or Tom). Finally, Neville breaks into the match and it does not get nearly the reaction it should have based on the King of the Mountain earlier. The announcers let us know that Neville and Zayn are friends. Neville steals Zayn's thunder doing top rope Asai Moonsault onto the two heels. We get the Zayn/Neville teaser that the crowd eats up. I really like Kidd shooting Zayn like a dart up onto Neville who was on the top rope and it is a nasty bump. I liked that spot a lot. Zayn is looking for a Yakuza Kick, but is intercepted by a Beauty Shot from Breeze. Breeze was slotted in the Rollins opportunist role and did a fine job, but nothing spectacular. He can't get the pin and that leads to Tower of Doom. Renee asks "What do you call that? Have you ever seen that before?" "Tower of Doom and Yes I have in every multi-man match featuring midcarders post-2002". Now Zayn cant get the pin. Zayn eats a foot from Neville and takes a Shooting Star Press. Breeze throws Neville out and looks for pin, but cant get it. He takes an eternity to follow it up. He squanders his opportunity and Kidd applies the Sharpshooter. Neville stops Breeze's hand from tapping and Zayn breaks it up. Zayn goes for his big tear. Neville takes a HUGE bump to the outside, Zayn dives through the post onto Breeze, YAKUZA KICK TO KIDD! HE IS GOING TO DO IT! 1-2-NEVILLE PULLS OUT THE REF! Gold is a powerful force. Zayn is in shock and Neville cant seem to believe he did it himself. Zayn eats a superkick and Neville hits the Red Arrow on Kidd to win.

Breeze was mostly a non-factor and had some decent moments as the opportunist. They showcased Kidd early as the main heel and he demonstrated some violent tendencies and loved King of the Mountain. Then he is sort of disappears and eats the pin. Neville and Zayn were the stars and did great in their roles. Zayn as the underdog babyface just does all the right things, he pops the crowd early with the Breeze selfie, then selling with Kidd and that absolute tear that just has everyone rocking. Neville was the frustrated champion. He was constantly undermined at first with the King of the Mountain, then Zayn being catapulted into him, Breeze stealing the Shooting Star Press. I would be frustrated too that I am the champion and I just can't get anything going. Here I am about to lose my damn title, but I never really got  a chance to kick ass and I would just lash out and grab the ref. Great build up to that moment and him snapping. He really sells it like "I can't believe I just did that." I have been liking these NXT shows, but I think what has been missing is the hook for the next show and now i am just itching for Neville/Zayn. The match content was fun, but that finish really makes the match for me. ***1/2

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NXT Women's Champion Charlotte vs Sasha Banks -NXT Takeover REvolution 12/11/14

It was love at first sight for me and The Boss. I could just tell from her mannerisms that she would be a Sleeze Favorite, then she called Charlotte, "generically basic" and I knew she could do no wrong. However, this Lady (She ain't ratchet!) from Titletown, USA (Home of Winners such as the New England Patriots, John Cena, and Myself, the First Ever Winner of the First Ever Pro Wrestling Trivia Internet Podcast, Brainbuster), is no slouch in the ring and most importantly is not afraid to heel it up. Whether it was getting into Charlotte's face like who ya think ya are or taunting Charlotte with Woos making me laugh like heidy heidy ha, Sasha Banks was wrestling this match like a Flair. Hell, she even had the Flair transition of using the outside and corner to your advantage. Ric Flair is perhaps the greatest corner wrestler of the time. It was in the ropes that Flair was at his most dangerous because that is a break in the steady-sate action of wrestling and he was used these transients to get one-up on his opponents. Here, we see Sasha bait Charlotte to the outside, yank hair from the corner (never turned you back on an opponent, Charlotte, love how Sasha made her pay for the lapse in focus), or the the drop toehold in the corner. The announcers were on point noting these elements of Sasha's game plans, kudos. What they missed and this where Bobby Heenan really would have shined is that Sasha Banks was not just taunting Charlotte by using the chop and the figure-4 headlock, she taught Charlotte those moves! That was one of the cruxes of the video package. Heenan would have been right on top of that and BANG! We would have gotten the will you stop from Gorilla. One last thing, I dug from Banks early on, when Charlotte looked to regain the advantage, we saw Sasha tackle her into the corner and deliver double knees in the corner. it showed a desperation and violence mixed together. It was a wrestler that knew their grasp was tenuous at best. I liked Charlotte using her natural strength to overcome Sasha. Charlotte is an interesting case. I don't if she would be better suited as a heel or face. I liked her as a heel in the Bayley match a lot, but I feel like her natural gifts and moveset would make her a babyface. I think starting off as a heel and maturing into the face is always the safest route, but I could see her going either way. Towards the match got all move trade-y and athletic and stuff. I have seen it all folks, a strike exchange in a WWE-sponsored women's match. That damn fucking sequence is going to follow me to my grave. I thought I was safe, but they went and pulled it out. Admittedly, I liked Charlotte shortening the ring up on the tackle to end the exchange. Charlotte's moonsault into a somersault senton was very, very impressive. There were a couple other spots, but I was disappointed they abandoned a great narrative to hit MOVEZ~! Certain people would say that would be the most Flair thing to do. :P That being said it does play into the fact that in an athletic match Charlotte would smoke Sasha so once Charlotte could set her pace and implement her gameplan it was over for The Boss, but constant move trading took away from any sort of hot crescendo. Anyways, first half of this match Sasha Banks wrestled this match Like A Boss and the best pure heel performance in a WWE ring since Stephanie McMahon at Summerslam. The second half is not bad, but it is forgettable, but the story hook is eschewed for moves. ***1/2  

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NXT Champion Adrian Neville vs Sami Zayn - NXT Takeover REvolution 12/11/14

NXT crowds are far from perfect, but for this match they were undoubtedly perfect. This match goes from a normal MOVEZ~! match to a great match and a star-making performance for Sami Zayn because this crowd was totally invested in the Sami Zayn character. They also proved me wrong. The past couple of years my confidence had been shaken that babyfaces could exist in this cynical, jaded wrestling climate.  When Sami Zayn had the chance to blast Neville with the championship belt, they all chanted "NO!" in unison throughout the segment. They cared about how Zayn won the match and that meant a lot to me. It restored my faith that real babyfaces can still exist in this world. The pop for his victory would have been the feel good moment of the year if not for the amazing Daniel Bryan story that began the year. 

The match also represented something that I personally fear the growing homogenization of American and Japanese wrestling. The match felt like a very good Pro Wrestling NOAH main event circa 2009, more than a big time WWE match. You had these moves alone: Split Leg Asai Moonsault, Kawada Kicks, a convoluted Blue Thunder Bomb, Koji Clutch (called by the announcer as that!), Dragonrana, Half Nelson Suplex, and Exploder into the turnbuckles. Of course, the most telling sign was the strike exchange. It was such a barrage of moves that I felt that the humanity of the match sometimes was stripped from it. The Zayn story was sometimes lost in getting to next spot. Kudos to the crowd for never faltering and always making this about Zayn with their constant exhorting of Zayn and Ole Chants. Besides the finish, I liked the beginning of the match the most because it exploited the more interesting parts of the story: Zayn's confidence and crowd dynamics.

Neville was doing all the little things to mitigate Zayn's crowd advantage and stop him from getting out of the gates hot. The chain wrestling was very entertaining and a great way to bottle Zayn up. Then he would get into his heads with the front handsprings to show him up. Neville gets too cocky is caught with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Zayn goes on that early fast break run with a split leg Asai moonsault. There is a weak transition that allows Neville to get back on top. Again, Neville is bottling Zayn's excitement up with a reverse chinlock and kneedrops to the face. Again, Neville cocky hits some playful kicks to the face before the Kawada Kicks. Zayn hits a nice swandive to the outside. I liked how Zayn was not letting Neville breathe and forced his advantage. After this, it got a little move trade-y. The setup for the Powerbomb was lifting from Japanese in a very good way. I liked how Neville had to use a forearm sledge, withstand a Zayn counter, and kick him in the head to hit the powerbomb. That is pro wrestling at its best, having to earn that move. As much as I may be complaining, I marked out for the DRANGONRANA~! I just think it would have looked even cooler if it was not surrounded with other standard big spots.

The ref bumps were perfect and returned the match back to the story. The crowd was on point telling Zayn to not worry about the ref only to eat a thrust kick and the Dragonrana. The crowd was so pumped for that kick out. Then again during the aforementioned "Should I blast him with the belt or not?". The crowd pleading with Zayn not to do it only for Neville to sneak in with the roll up. These were great false finishes. Zayn winning with the Yakuza Kick was a spectacular moment after not being able to win the big one during his career. He pulled out all the spots in this one and still held himself to his moral code. It was nice to see fellow Quebecois, Kevin Steen (now Kevin Owens) and Pat Patterson celebrate with him. Even Nevilled embraced Zayn. However, just as they were going off the air, supposed best friend Kevin Owens threw Zayn down on the back of his head on the ramp and then brutally powerbombed him on the apron (that's just Indy, :) ). I thought these NXT shows needed a big angle to hook you into the next show and this was perfect. ****1/4 

It's Raining Dropkicks: Kazuchika Okada (NJPW, 2014)

Hey yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

How come no one talks about Northern Cyprus? It fascinated me when I was a child and I have not thought about in about decade, but what the hell is going on out there?

The Pride of Northern Cyprus

I was asking myself that on multiple occasions watching New Japan Pro Wrestling's hot new wrestling star during a sampling of his critically acclaimed output from 2014. "The Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada came to prominence just as I was checking out of puroresu which I means I missed the big resurgence in popularity that Okada helped to cultivate. However, when people discuss modern New Japan the two wrestlers attract the most discussion are Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura. Tanahashi is a lightning rod of controversy over whether he is a great worker and I fall in the pro-Tanahashi camp, which is a topic for another blog. Nakamura is the fan favorite of American fans of New Japan and rightfully so as you will see below and his amazing match with Okada. However, you don't read much about Okada personally. You will see the major proponents of New Japan tout Tanahashi/Okada as the best series since Misawa/Kawada or Misawa/Kobashi. Even so, I can't see to find much discussion about Okada individually. What else to do but hit the primary source material.

First thing is first (I'm the realest), I don't ever watch matches in chronological order so it just so happened I watched three of the more lackluster Okada performances first and you should be able to tell, which ones I was down on him before my slight turn around on him. Before that, I felt like Okada was totally emotionally checked out of the match. He is terrific at technical execution of most moves especially the dropkick and the big elbow drop. Yes, his tombstone and The Rainmaker needs more impact, but overall he is one of the more fluid and graceful of all pro wrestlers today. The problem is much like Nakamura circa 2008, he just is not does not seem invested in the outcome of the match. There is no sense of urgency, struggle or desperation. His moveset seems like a weird mish-mash of cool moves and there is no real sense of direction to the payoff being the Rainmaker save for the dropkick, which I get to later. It has just been going through the motions while others are being awesome around him. Now because he is so naturally gifted, he has not gotten in the way of Styles or Suzuki having a great match, but he has not contributed either.. He just seems so disinterested.   

After the watching the Ibushi and Nakamura match, I can see what Okada can be. He has all the fundamentals to be one of the greatest workers of all time, he just needs to add that emotion and charisma element to it. In those matches Okada cares about winning. In the Ibushi match, he has everything to lose and Ibushi has everything to gain. It is the Heavyweight Champion against the Junior Heavyweight Champion and if he lost he would be a laughingstock. He underestimates Ibushi early, but as Ibushi overachieve, he becomes more and more frustrated and desperate. Ibushi pulls his trigger on the Phoenix Splash, but misses and Okada picks up the pieces to win. In the Nakamura match, it is the opposite dynamic and Okada is trying to prove himself to Nakamura and he is not taking any chances. Sure he is still the cocky, punk Rainmaker, but when it comes down to business, he does not fuck around. There is nothing that proves this more than Okada hitting not one, not two, but three Rainmakers before even daring to pin Nakamura to win the G-1 Climax. 

I will let you dropkick me if I misbehave

Lastly, while Justin Timberlake may have brought sexy back, Okada is bringing the dropkick back. A transition/jabroni move for over a decade now, Okada has developed to be his version of Misawa's elbow. It is his game-changer and his 'ol reliable. I poke fun of it during the Naito because Naito also hits a shit ton of dropkicks and I was also unaware that was how he used the dropkick, but once I caught onto it I really liked it. The dropkick if you think about it is a incredibly impact move especially targeting the head and thanks to Okada's natural athleticism he is almost always able to connect with his opponent's head. Unlike the elbow, it is slightly more high risk, which is why you see him miss at least once a match to convey the risk he is taking. It is most effective in the Nakamura match where he uses it to stymie Nakamura's Boma Ye Knee. 

Overall, I think if Okada can convince me he is invested in winning every match and that is the most important thing in the world to him then I think he really is someone I am going to enjoy to watch. After all, the nickname "Rainmaker", the entrance with falling money and the boss entrance attire is just begging for me to like him. 

Match Listing:

IWGP Champion Okada vs NEVER Champion Tetsuya Naito - NJPW 01/04/14 Tokyo Dome

Boring. Dropkicks galore. Just does not seem to go anywhere. Avoid

IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada vs IWGP Jr Hvywt Champion Kota Ibushi - NJPW 3/6/14

Ibushi the overachieving underdog up against the increasingly frustrated Okada. 

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs AJ Styles - NJPW 5/3/14

Great AJ heel performance switching from outside interference to knee psychology. BULLET CLUB!

IWGP Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Kazuchika Okada - G-1 Climax Day 1 2014

AJ as a awesome trash talking heel. Does Okada have a counter for Styles Clash?

Kazuchika Okada vs Minoru Suzuki - NJPW G-1 Climax 8/8/14

Minoru Suzuki rules the school, while Okada just doesn't meet him at that level.

Kazuchika Okada vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW G-1 Climax Finals 8/10/14

Okada's dropkicks & heart vs. Nakamura's counterwrestling & knees. Epic War!

THE RAINMAKER~!

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs NEVER Champion Tetsuya Naito 

NJPW 01/04/14 Tokyo Dome

SHOW SOME FUCKING EMOTION! That felt good. This was one of the most boring matches I have watched in quite some time. It just seems like they are going through the motions for over 30 minutes and there was no discernible narrative. My only enjoyment came from ridiculous amount of dropkicks hit in this match. The first fifteen minutes was particularly dry. Naito wins the first exchange with a dropkick and gets a painful looking arm submission. Naito gets a little too cute and Okada dropkicks him off the apron. Okada does a weird submission on the ramp, which strikes me as an odd thing to do, but then does the normal thing a running dropkick on the ramp. Okada is so damn slow in the ring. Even the Japanese announcers are bored and they start talking you about Tanahashi/Nakamura coming up. I shit you not, I was so bored I tried understand as much Japanese commentary as I could. Naito hits that cute dropkick and now more dropkicks. This is when I was like damn there has been a lot of dropkicks. Finally some heat when Naito won't let Okada up in the corner by putting his boot on the throat this draws boos! Naito hits a springboard dropkick and goes for his Koji Clutch. Naito is just not following up his work. Okada starts goading him and Naito gets wild with headbutts. Ok, here we go, Naito goes up top. Okada counters with a dropkick, of course and Naito wrenches his knee on the way down. That might be a cool hook, here we go. Okada hits his hangsman DDT and I am liking his aggression. They milk the count and Naito makes it back in. Okada hits the big elbow drop and Rainmaker Pose! Naito counters the Rainmaker into the DDT. Okada misses the dropkick. NAITO HAS IT SCOUTED! Naito runs through his shit: Koji Clutch, enziguiri, German Suplex looking for Stardust Press, but Okada breaks it up. Okada hits a flapjack and DDT. There is some nice struggle over the Tombstone and Naito hits a big forearm. I like Naito's staggered selling after scoring that big forearm and is best selling of the match, which has not had much. Naito hits more offense, but crashes and burns on Stardust Press. Rainmaker is reversed into the rollup and then exactly what this match needed a strike exchange. OKADA DROPKICK! WHAT ELSE! Rainmaker->reverse->Dropkick BABY! I would have rather Okada won with a dropkick, but we get a pair of Tombstones and the Rainmaker to win.

Blame the Dome maybe, but there was no heat for this. One of the better things about Okada is using the crowd loves him, but he does not have the Dome presence that a Choshu, Hashimoto or a Kobashi does. There were flashes of aggression, but it sure felt perfunctory until the end. I would say Naito two runs to Stardust Press, which did not feel like much to me at least had some sort of direction. I have to say the Rainmaker reversals are fun and the best part of Okada matches. Okada looking more and more like Orton for me. C'mon brutha, lets pull this one out of a tailspin.

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IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Kota Ibushi - NJPW 3/6/14

Ibushi would need to be having one of the best nights of his career just to hang with Okada, but to beat him he was going to need that rare A+ performance. That is the story of this match, this is not a junior heavyweight underdog hanging on by a thread against the Man. This is the underdog totally overachieving and beating the champion for the majority of the game. Ibushi came to play and Okada clearly underestimated him. Early on, you see Ibushi beating Okada to a dropkick and having Okada's dropkick scouted. Okada because he is the champ did eventually get things under control with the dropkick his preferred momentum-changer. The Hangsman DDT off the railing put him in a strong position and again he starts to gloat. It is the one foot cover and the crowd is booing. Okada is taking his time between moves and fixing his kneepads. He is going to take care of his light work when it suits him. Next thing you know, he is thrown to the outside by an Ibushi hurricanarana and then is taking a moonsault press on the floor. Sleep on Ibushi and he will make you pay. Okada has the double jump moonsault scouted with knees. For the first time watching Okada in 2014, I get that feeling of desperation. The pressure is on him as Heavyweight Champion to win the match. Ibushi is one with nothing to lose and everything to gain. Okada hits his pretty big elbow drop and the prelude for the Rainmaker. When you got nothing to lose, you can take big chances and that's what Ibushi did in the match. He smacks Okada in the face with a Pele kick. Okada roars back with a massive sitout dropkick. He is getting frustrated. I like this, Okada. Ibushi has all of Okada's moves scouted the Tombstone and The Rainmaker even hitting his own version of the Rainmaker. Okada desperately tries to climb to the top rope to hit a bomb and Ibushi nails him with a backhandspring mule kick, which was fucking awesome! The crowd seemed behind Ibushi most of the way, but Okada fans have become more vocal as it seems that their boy may actually be out of it. Ibushi is feeling it and he goes for the home run. The Phoenix Splash and he crashes and burns. It was an excellent run, but you can feel that it is over for Ibushi. Unfortunately, they do go a little longer than necessary with a strike exchange and Okada hitting a couple counters. Finally a dropkick to the head, a nice stacked up German and The Rainmaker wins it. 

All the build was to the Phoenix Splash, once you hit that payoff, there is no real reason to delay inevitable. I would have had Ibushi struggle for a bit then go with dropkick, stacked up German and Rainmaker. Best Okada performance yet, where you feel like he actually cares about the outcome of the match. He is cool and cocky early, but as thing get out of head he becomes frustrated and desperate. Ibushi was great as overachieving underdog. He left it all in the ring and he pulled the trigger on his best shot. It missed, but he can at least say he tried. Very well-done heavyweight vs junior heavyweight match that stayed true to both characters. ****1/4

THE RAINMAKER~!

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IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs AJ Styles - NJPW 5/3/14

AJ Styles proves that he has more tricks up his sleeve in his first match as a full-time New Japan wrestler and competing for Okada. The hallmark for AJ matches in 2014 was the struggle to the Styles Clash and combining his move combinations to successfully pull the trigger on the most devastating move of 2014. In this match, he goes a different route and looks to set up his Calf Killer, which won him his match against Chris Hero in ROH. AJ Styles working over Okada's leg shows that he is just as adept at limb work as he is at heeling and offensive escalation and furthermore how versatile he was in 2014. I freely admit that the Fukuoka did not seem to give one single fuck about AJ and while it was a great performance, it did take the G-1 Climax for AJ Styles to firmly cement himself among New Japan's big four. I am glad that Gedo & Jado had the faith in AJ Styles to get himself over all while carrying the strap.

In contrast, Okada is super over with the live crowds and I have found that to be best quality is how much the crowd loves him. I have only watched three Okada matches, but he has not set my world on fire. He is very solid and there is nothing wrong with him. He just is not connecting with me. I love his entrance, but in the ring he is just seems plain good. There is nothing extraordinary. I hope to look back on these sentences and eat them, but these are my feelings now. Okada controls AJ early with a side headlock and AJ just seems overwhelmed with the moment and can't get anything going. Okada hits the Rainmaker poses to mock all the Bullet Club posturing early. Styles desperate lunges with a double thrust to the throat and hits a snap suplex into the turnbuckles to finally swing the momentum in his favor. Styles makes use of the Bullet Club tossing Okada to the outside as they attack Okada. I like the ref not willing to count because he knew there were shenanigans going on even if AJ had obstructed his view. Okada wipes the entire Bullet Club and AJ out with a nice dive over the top, cool moment. My major malfunction with Okada is that his offense seems aimless. He is just going through the motions and while I know that Rainmaker is the end goal there seems to be no destination in mind. AJ Styles catches Okada's foot swings him around and rifles him in the leg with a kick. AJ's leg work to set up the Calf Killer was excellent everything looked like it hurt and he was great being smug while working on top. Okada did not really sell, so that sucks. Again, once Okada battles back there is a string of pedestrian moves. AJ with an eye gouge and a tremendous springboard forearm. AJ is cheating and has a game plan and is laying everything in. It is hard to argue he is not the better wrestler in this match. Okada catches AJ up top with a dropkick and now a kip up. AJ does not jump over the railing and eats a big boot for it. Hanging DDT and tease a double countout, but Okada throws him back in. Okada hits his big elbow drop the set-up for the Rainmaker. Rainmaker reversed into the Calf-Killer was the spot of the match (hey Okada sold) until the AJ Styles strike combo->Rainmaker tease-> PELE KICK! Finish run has picked this match up quite a bit. The first Styles Clash attempt is reversed into White Noise and they go into big move trading with the most surprising thing being that Styles misses Spiral Tap. The only time I have seen him attempt it in 2014. Bullet Club runs in and Yujiro turns on Okada and becomes the first native Japanese member of the Bullet Club. The Styles Clash wins AJ Styles the IWGP Championship in his first match.

AJ have an awesome performance early as a big bumping heel and using his friend. Then he switched gears to go after the knee from there they had some great spots late. They went for two or three spots too many before the Bullet Club run in. I think if the Bullet Club ran in aftter White Noise they would have been better off. Okada is over, but he gave a pretty lifeless performance and could have used at least more selling and purpose to his offense. Still there is plenty of AJ goodness in this match to make it a worthwhile. ***1/2

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IWGP Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Kazuchika Okada - G-1 Climax Day 1 2014

I was super pumped to get started on some AJ Styles in New Japan and what better place to start then where he really opened people's eyes in the G-1 Climax. Coming into this match. AJ Styles was riding a two match win streak over Okada having defeated him for the title in early May. I have seen about three Okada matches in my life, two were back in 2012 when he broke out and then one a couple months ago when he was a young boy. I don't have a real feel for him. This match while great did not really lend me anymore insight than I had previously. He seems like he is an all-around capable wrestler who knows how to carry himself, which is critical. Okada's entrance is really cool with the robes and chains. American wrestling needs a colorful figure like that. He is definitely someone I will be exploring in the near future as I plan to catch up on New Japan.

For someone (*cough*Meltzer*cough*) to say this is Styles' best match or best performance is pretty disrespectful to AJ, in my opinion. I have seen a lot of AJ and he has had plenty of matches that are a total level above this match. I am not trying to slight the match. The match was a great match, but it was opening day of the tournament match. It is going to whet your appetite not satisfy it. Plus with AJ's title not on the line and AJ being up 2-0 in his personal series against, Okada you knew it was time for Okada to get his win back so the same level of drama was not there. To make a comparison to American wrestling, I would say this would be a candidate for the Best RAW match of the year, that's level it was at,

AJ yapping it up during the match was awesome. It is a new part of his arsenal (unless something changed late in his TNA run) and I loved it. He was trash talking Okada asking him if that's all he got when he was in a straitjacket surfboard or after he took control, mocking the Okada chants. The verbal beatdown added a lot to the heel heat section.  The opening part of the match was well-worked armwrenches before they tease hitting their finishers. From there, Okada takes over with a big back body drop on Styles. Styles lunges at Okada with two fists to the throat. I love that as a heel transition. Like I said Styles heat segment was definitely taken up a notch by his trash talk. Styles brings back the jump over the railing on an Irish Whip. Okada follows up with a cross body. They tease the double countdown. Not much has changed since 2009, I see. :)

Okada puts AJ in a wicked STF (Take notes, Cena) and Styles is very vocal about how much it hurts. AJ uses the suplex into the turnbuckles as a desperation transition as we have seen before. I like that spot utilized for that purpose. He follows up with a torture rack into a powerbomb, damn that was nice. AJ is thinking it is time to end this. First he crashes and burns on the springboard 450. Then he goes for the Styles Clash, but nothing doing. The ref gets bumped (oooooooo that's different from the 2000s). Okada hits a sweet top rope elbow drop, but there's no ref! Here comes Yuijro of the Bullet Club, but he gets taken out with a dropkick to the head. Okada goes for the Rainmaker, but reversed into a German and Pele. The Pele kick is the usual set up for the Styles Clash, but Okada reverses the Clash into a TOMBSTONE! RAINMAKER~!

After succumbing to the Styles Clash twice, Okada had a counter this time with the Tombstone leading to his Rainmaker finish. The early part of the match was carried by AJ with his trash talk. The last part was very solid escalation. AJ took over with the suplex into the corner and began working towards putting Okada away. At each turn, he was just too premature and could not make the most of Yujiro's help. Okada had an answer for pretty much anything Styles threw at him and conquered him with the Rainmaker. It never reached that next level, but it built to a very satisfying conclusion. Can my boy, AJ, pick up the pieces and gain some momentum in night 2 against the up and coming Naito? **** 

Rainmaker or not, you aint kicking out of the Styles Clash

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Kazuchika Okada vs Minoru Suzuki - NJPW G-1 Climax 8/8/14

This match takes place from the last night of the round robin portion of 2014's G-1 Climax. If Suzuki wins the match, then Okada will not go to the finals and Styles would enter the finals. For these high pressure stakes, I don't think Okada is wrestling like this at all like anything special. Minoru Suzuki is wrestling at a very high level throughout match and really carries the day. Okada disrespects early with the cocky clean break. Suzuki takes exception and takes him down with an armbar. Okada lunges for the ropes. Suzuki is relentless on the arm using the Tarantula and his big kick on the apron. Suzuki has worked the arm pretty well and Okada just blows it off with some elbows. He hits his big elbow drop early so he calls for the Rainmaker. Suzuki goes right for that arm and when Okada misses the dropkick. Suzuki rifles the arm with a kick. There is a nice progression in the armwork now with Suzuki using submission moves that could lead to a submission: Fujiwara Armbar & Cross Armbreaker. In an absolutely awesome moment, Suzuki plays possum by not being able to run the ropes so Okada looks foolish on a leapfrog and when Okada turns his back Suzuki drills him with a dropkick. Suzuki is so fucking good. Suzuki applies a sleeper and is looking for the piledriver to win, but Okada escapes with the White Noise on the Knee. We finally get the strike exchange which Okada wins with a pretty dropkick. Okada hits the weakest Tombstone ever. Suzuki blocks the Rainmaker and BIG CLOSED FIST! GO SUZUKI GO! Okada hits a pretty dropkick and the Rainmaker to win!

I don't know about this Okada guy. He is just there in these matches. He is pretty, adequate at everything and has a really pretty dropkick, is he the Randy Orton of New Japan? It is just a small sampling size so we shall see. Okada could have sold more and had more emotion in this finish stretch, but still he was fine.  Suzuki is so awesome in this match and is just a great showcase for him. ****

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Kazuchika Okada vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW G-1 Climax Finals 8/10/14

The dream match that NJPW booking has wisely put off since Okada burst onto the scene in the beginning of 2012 pits two stablemates from CHAOS against each other for the G-1 Climax Championship and pretty much a mortal lock to headline the 1/4 Tokyo Dome show. Okada has reminded me a lot of old Nakamura. From a technical  execution standpoint, Okada is a great wrestler, but he seems disinterested in the outcome of a match and just is not showing passion. In this match being challenged by one of the other two top natives in NJPW, he seems hungry to assert himself as the premiere pro wrestler in the world. I want see more of that from Okada. Nakamura has been great in the matches I have seen in 2014. His new oddball persona of wearing Michael Jackson-inspired jackets and dancing like MJ is entertaining outside the ring and inside he is the last of the Strong Style workers which means a heavy emphasis on counter submission wrestling and strikes especially blows to the head. It is not fancy, but it is going to get the job and it may get it done quickly. Okada does not really have a flash submission or knockout in his arsenal so he is susceptible in his long setup times to a wrestler like Nakamura. Nakamura is what made this match dynamic. He forced Okada out of his comfort zone and to react to how he was wrestling, which made it more compelling than the Okada-style which can be mechanical at times. 

Early on, it was all about posturing and bravado. Psyching each other out in a macho pissing contest, Okada does his cocky clean break so Nakamura responds with stare at the belly button. Because these two have never faced off, Nakamura feels like the favorite because of his experience in big time matches. So when Nakamura is fucking around during this break, Okada immediately clamps on his a DDT. Right there, I know Okada came to play. Okada is still a cocky punk so he can't resist putting his one foot on Nakamura's chest and hitting the Rainmaker pose. We get the first strike exchange and of course the King of Strong Style wins with a knee lift. Okada has to avoid those exchanges because that is an area that Nakamura will crush him in. Nakamura just lays waste to Okada in pretty much every conceivable fashion of using a barrage of knee lifts. Now it is Nakamura's turn to get cocky and does little playful kicks to Okada. What is going to be Okada's strategy? When Tanahashi feels overwhelmed, he neutralizes his opponent by attacking the knee. What does Okada have in his arsenal to set up the Rainmaker? The answer is of course, his dropkick. 

Nakamura goes for a running knee one too many times and Okada is able to counter by setting him up top hitting a dropkick causing him to tumble all the way to floor. Okada presses his advantage on the outside with a  Hangsman DDT. Normally, Okada would let this run for a countout, but he is not fucking around in this match and he is not going to give Nakamura a second to breathe. Big Elbow Drop! Okada really has a case for best elbow drop ever. It is fucking pretty. RAINMAKER POSE~! GEDO IS JAAAAAACCCCCKKKKEEEDDDDD! Now this is where Nakamura shines, his counterwrestling game. First it is a lungblower to buy himself time. Then when Okada goes for a submission, he walks right into the trap. Nakamura gets a rear naked choke and is looking for a cross armbreaker, but settles for a Triangle. As Okada stands to reach for the rope, Nakamura uses his long legs to force him over into a cross-armbreaker. Gedo is freaking out as Okada writhes and flops around looking for the rope. Perfect way to respect the cross-armbreaker. Nakamura buries knees deep into Okada and is looking for the Boma Ye. Okada counters with the White Noise into the Knee (not my favorite move). Okada successfully avoids Nakamura's wild roundhouse kicks and uses dropkicks to set up the Tombstone. Now it is time to Make It Rain in Seibu, FLYING CROSS ARMBREAKER OUT OF THE RAINMAKER~! Holy shit! Definitely one of the best spots of 2014! Nakamura the counterwrestler strikes again. Okada steps on his face to force the release. BOMA YE~! to the back of the head. This is treated like it levels the playing field, but i felt like Nakamura was in the driver's seat. Strike exchange ends with an Okada dropkick. Nakamura pulls one out of the Suzuki game plan and baits him into hitting dropkick again. He collapses on a rope running spot and Okada goes for the dropkick again, but Nakamura was playing possum so Okada crashes and burns and BOMA YE~! KICK OUT! Okada will not be denied tonight. Nakamura gets a running start but as we saw in the Shibata match if you can guard against that it is his downfall. Okada hits with a dropkick on the button. Nakamura blocks The Rainmaker with a knee and looks for Boma Ye, but Okada closes the gap by running towards it and grabbing the leg. Love that! Nakamura uncorks two closed fist to set up Landslide, but Okada reverses out with a backslide. When Nakamura kicks out, Okada hangs on to hit not one, not two, but three Rainmakers to win the G-1 Climax.

That was the story of this match Okada was not fucking around and he was taking no chances. I loved that there were no kickouts. It was Okada ensuring his victory. Okada looked like a boss here using the dropkick liberally like a Misawa would with his elbow to set up his offense. We saw with Shibata how you can defend against Nakamura's Boma Ye and Okada executing that strategy perfectly. He survived Nakamura's counterwrestling and the Flying Cross Armbreaker out of the Rainmaker was an awesome spot. Kicking out of Boma Ye was definitely a big star-making move! You really felt like Okada wanted it more on that night. I distilled action down to its best parts but there was some fluff and overkill late paired with a lukewarm beginning that I think this is behind Styles/Suzuki and Nakamura/Tanahashi, but I would peg this no worse than a top 5 NJPW Match of the Year and Top Ten Match of the Year overall. Nakamura's counterwrestling/strikes versus Okada's dropkick & heart made for one epic story on this night.  ****1/2 

Match of the year?