Dropping The Ball: WCW February-March 1998

Hey yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Dropping the Ball: Sting vs. WCW

The common position asserted is that WCW mismanagement of Sting's return and its immediate aftermath dissipated all the heat built up in 1997 for Sting. I would contend that Sting did more to torpedo himself than WCW did to fuck him up. I have no idea if Sting was trying to reinvent his wrestling style to match his new darker, edgier persona or if he legitimately just could not give two fucks about wrestling, but he absolutely shit the bed in every match I have seen him in during this time period. The only thing could save him was DDP's safety net of pre-planning his matches and DDP's ridiculous work ethic to drag him to a good Nitro main event. Even then, he was clearly the worse of the two wrestlers. I know this will sound counter-intuitive to most wrestling fans, but it is not like his opponents were dogging him. Hogan at SuperBrawl clearly had his game face on and was constantly moving the action forward. It was Sting's shitty staggered selling and bored movements that were dragging the match down.  Hogan looked like a man ready to compete to keep his top spot and Sting looked like he rather be anywhere else. There was one point where Sting just stopped selling like it was not even a no-sell spot. He just stood up straight and nothing happened. It was like what the fuck, dude. There is just no way a promotion can survive with that type of performance from their champion.

WCW's hotshot booking did Sting no favors. He was shoehorned into the NWO Civil War fighting Savage in his first televised match since the Hogan/Sting rematch when it really did not revolve around him. Sting should be the catalyst for the NWO Civil War because he has taken the title not in these throwaway main events. It seems all of Hogan's focus is on the Macho Man and the NWO dissension. It would have be a simple plot device to have Hogan and Savage gunning for Sting to prove to the rest of the NWO, who the top dog is by defeating the Stinger. In this scenario, Sting becomes important because he is a measuring stick for greatness rather than taking a backseat to Hoagn and Savage. It only gets worse in March when Hogan/Savage main event over him and Hall. Hogan & Savage was clearly the bigger match, but Sting/Hall felt more like an upper midcard match rather than a co-main event and was wrestled like a comedy match (that was Hall's prerogative not Sting's, still Hall's schtick was way more entertaining than Sting's general shittiness). Having Sting play second fiddle to Hogan/Savage does no favors for Sting, but his performances are as much to blame as the bad booking. In the next month, I will argue in favor of WCW's booking decision to relieve him of the title so soon because he was clearly flopping in the ring.

Uncool 

The MEGAPOWERS EXPLODE~! Ten Year Later

 I would have executed this story a little differently, but overall I like the fact there is a direction and it feels important. Hogan has his major main event aura that carries any program he is involved in and Savage is so unpredictable and dangerous that really creates a buzz when he is in the ring. It is funny Savage is known for his heavily pre-planned matches because almost everything he does feels organic and wild. The problem stems from the fact that story never advances in a meaningful fashion. Hogan/Savage keep going back and forth as friend and foe. I know, I know they are wrestling's ultimate frenemies, but at some point the story has to advance and they actually have to break up. The Uncensored cage match should have been that point of no return, but the next night on Nitro they are teaming against Sting and Luger. Do not get me started on the fact that Uncensored Cage Match just ended without a pinfall or submission. It was just a standoff and Savage decking Sting. I get they wanted to set up Savage and Sting for the next PPV, but that was so ham-fisted. This was when I first thought WCW's egos and mismanagement was harming the company. The direction had become muddied. Sting was bombing as champion and Hogan/Savage was having trouble moving forward. They could not decide if the NWO was falling apart or regrouping. Hogan/Savage should have been the catalyst for something bigger, but it really never amounted to anything. At the end of March, WCW feels a little stale and confused, but with potential Hogan/Hart and Hogan/Nash matches very much salvageable.

Bret Hart Is In WCW...Doing Nothing

Starting a new job usually means a week or two of just not doing a whole lot in my estimation. Yes, there is some training, but everybody is so busy, you sort of fall through the cracks. Well, Bret Hart has been in WCW for a couple months and they just do not have anything for him. Really Crush turns on him in Nitro! He would go out and call out Hogan and the consequence is that he is top on the NWO B-Team's hit list? The fucking B-Team? He is wrestling a washed up Curt Hennig, are you shitting me.  It would only get worse for Bret once WCW made him actually you know do stuff, namely be Hogan's lackey. Don't worry Bret, Ric Flair and Lex Luger are also doing nothing.

The greatest problem plaguing WCW in 1998 was the lack of direction in the main event, which is already evident as everyone is taking a backseat to Hogan/Savage and even that feud is having a hard time moving forward. It will only get worse. In 1997, Hogan/Sting was the overarching story, but you had compelling main event feuds like Hogan/Luger, Savage/DDP and Outsiders/Flair&Piper that kept the viewer constantly hooked and provided direction. Instead, now if your name is not Hogan or Savage you are left to twist in the wind.

There are incredible number of pictures of Bischoff acting as Hogan's mic stand on the internet

Recommended Match: WCW World Champion Sting vs WCW US Champion DDP - Nitro 3/24/98

Stupid Angle: Ending of Hollywood Hogan/Randy Savage Uncensored Cage Match.

Randy Savage vs Lex Luger - SuperBrawl VIII

I was actually pretty excited for this coming off Souled Out and Luger had his ribs taped so I was expecting a nice wrinkle. These guys have great chemistry, but this is not as fun as the Souled Out match. I like Luger establishing early that his ribs are injured and he can't do a basic press slam. That is how you establish a hook to a match. Savage cheapshots and works the ribs while being his usual wildman character. Luger makes his inevitable comeback and as the NWO swarms the ring. Luger and Savage fight them off together. Hogan leaves Savage for dead as he gets racked. This would come back to bite Hogan. This was pretty much the end of Luger's status as a major player in WCW until late 1999 as he stuck in the dead end Steiner vs Steiner feud and then in the Wolfpac and finally injured. It was a decent match, but I enjoyed the Souled Out match more.

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Hollywood Hogan vs Sting - WCW Superbrawl VIII 

Vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship

Sting looked like and wrestled like a sad mime. it was one of the most pitiful performances on a grand stage I think I have ever seen. Sure some wind had been taken out of his sails because they botched Starrcade '97, but still they put him over at Souled Out. Booking or not, when you are out in front of those fans, you control your destiny. He just did not want it. He did not look like gave one single fuck. Hogan on other hand was on his A-game. I was shocked at the amount of effort he was putting into this match. He was working a ton of great heel tactics. He was constantly moving and there was a sense of urgency. You got the impression the belt meant everything to Hogan. At first, he was not taking any chances. He was going to whip Sting with the belt and he was going to cheat like a muthafucka. You felt his desperation. Like any egomaniac, his hubris seemed to be his downfall, he would begin to toy with Sting and Sting would get a hope spot and he would quickly cut off as if it was a wake up call. On top of that you got the sense of entitlement from when Nick Patrick came in. "Do you know who I am, I am Hollywood". The egomania, the entitlement, the desperation, the cowardice all was a perfect confluence of a heel. Hogan has his limitations, he can't bump at all and his offense is pretty straightforward. It was never really all that boring because he was always moving and always coming up with a  new way to cheat. Sting looked like all his charisma has been sucked out by a vacuum. His selling was awful. Standing around and staggering a bit is not selling. Get fucking pissed that this asshole is treating you like shit. Let the crowd know you are in pain. Anything besides what ever the hell that was. Maybe the problem was he was trying to get over a new gimmick he was not suited for. Sting the overgrown child hopped up on sugar in the ring suited him so well that this solemn and somber character was just hard for him to really execute. He needed to be a badass and he just felt like a sad mime. The finish sucked so hard. Savage clearly should have fended off the NWO members while Sting made Hogan tap to the Scorpion Deathlock. Having Savage scoop up Sting's heat and just have Sting pin Hogan right after the spray paint can shot was so lame.

I don't really feel bad for Sting. I don't think he deserved the title after that performance. Did Hogan gobble him up at the outset? He sure did, but Sting could have done things to make that worthwhile. He could have called for more hope spots, he could have shown more fire, more pain, more anything really, but we got apathy. Hogan wrestled like his career was on the line and did a great job. Sting needed to carry his weight. I do not fault them one iota to going back to Hogan to transition to Goldberg. Sting blew it.

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Look at Hennig's friggin arm! WOW!

Bret "Hitman" Hart vs Curt Hennig w/Rick Rude - WCW Uncensored 1998

Of all the stars of yesteryear that I have seen in 1998, Curt Hennig has been the absolute worse for wear. I felt so bad for him because he could not do any of his famous bumps. At one point he tries to do his spin out bump, but looks like shit. He gets pissed. You can't tell if it is because he is selling being outwrestled by Hart or if he is pissed that he is not able to perform at his old level. During Hart's comeback, they tried to wrestle their usual sequences but Hennig was taking all his bumps so awkwardly to avoid landing on his back that I was worried he was going to hurt himself. In actually, reminded me of Rude in 93, who would contort himself in such weird ways to avoid back bumps. On top of that, he was working extra light and just not very convincing. From what I saw, Rude should have been the one in the match. He looked great cheapshotting Hart, moved well and even took a bump off the apron. Hell after the match he did a Rude Awakening coming down right on his back. Rude looked great and was doing his best to add heat to the match. Bret wrestled his standard stuff, but due to Hennig's limitations there was just not much he could do. When it came to selling Bret did the best he could to make Hennig's stuff look credible, but there was just no heat. Hart wins with the Sharpshooter, but is left laying by Hennig and Rude. The angle going in is that NWO has a target on Hart's back. We saw that play out a little during the match with Hennig & Rude targeting the knee, but would have liked to see something more violent. This is not a good match at all and it is depressing to see Hennig in that condition.

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WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting vs Scott Hall - WCW Uncensored 1998

Crow Sting is just a shitty wrestler. The Avenging Angel character is wicked cool and a really genius idea, but fuck Sting just sucked at this point of his career. Hall was pretty damn funny with all his stooging and falling outside of the ring on his ass. I was always a mark for his staggered Giant walk after a chokeslam. Sting could not fucking sell cheap central heat to Eskimos. The Sting falling face first into Hall's junk was also pretty funny. Should they really be having a comedy match with Sting and the World Title? No, they shouldn't but it was the best part of the match by far because Sting could not work anyways. There is interference, a ref bump, Dusty Rhodes drops an elbow, but Sting hits the Slop Drop to win. Nothing match. If Hall was wrestling in the midcard and doing this schtick, it would have been awesome. If Sting were not wrestling at all, it would be even more awesome.

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Hollywood Hogan vs Randy Savage - WCW Uncensored 1998

Worst match ever? No. For instance, I thought their Halloween Havoc 1996 match was much worse than this. Once again, Hogan looked game to have a good match and was very energetic. I really don't understand the complaints of the match plodding. They were cutting a good pace and Hogan never really rested once. I don't know if Savage's knee is already hurt, but they go into Savage babyface match mode, which means he gets the shit beat out of him for most the match. The big difference between this and Sting match is that Savage is selling incredibly well. You really feel like he is hurt and a bit discombobulated by all of Hogan's offense. Hogan whipped him pretty good with belt and wish Savage whipped back a bit harder. I liked the first Hogan cutoff sending Savage into the cage hard on a backdrop, which is the only spot to get universal praise from the reviews I read. If WCW were a bunch of pansies and let use see the double juice, I think this could be more entertaining. I am surprised how dead the crowd was for this because everything I saw was pretty decent and given the personalities I thought that would magnify the reaction. Savage hitting the double axe handle from the top of the cage was a crazy spot that woke the crowd up. The ref just letting them out of the cage to do some basic brawling and then head right back into the cage was lame. The finish was fucking atrocious with Savage & Sting standing off against Hogan & Disciple for an eternity only for Savage to deck Sting. Maybe the reason why Sting did not give a flying fuck was because he was booked like a dope. Stupid shit aside, this is not the worst match of all time. I think the cage inhibited them more than anything else because could have been helped by more brawling around the ring. It is a pretty average match, but Hogan and Savage both seem to have some gas in the tank.

The Song Remains The Same

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WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting vs WCW US Champion Diamond Dallas Page WCW Nitro 3/23/30

DDP is in that period of being a super hot midcard act like Austin in 97 or Rock in 98 that is useful to creating some really dynamic booking and fun matches. What I love from a guy like DDP in this spot is that he has a enough natural buzz and charisma that he generates a lot of interest and heat going up against one of the top dog in spite of the fact he is most likely going to lose. He still gains plenty of momentum from just being shown as an equal to the World Champion and there is no booking anxiety stemming from his jobbing.

DDP does a great job throughout the match expressing through his body language and actions how important this match is. He is focused and determined to prove that not only he belong with Sting that he was a very credible threat to being World Champion. The intense lock up and just his posture made you believe he was taking this match very seriously/ Larry Z added a ton to this match by commenting that DDP may have jacked himself up too much and that the calmer, more experienced Sting may be able to take advantage of this. You see just that as Sting almost hooks the Scorpion Deathlock on a overzealous Page. Page sells how quickly it all could have been taking away. He doubles down and goes for the Diamond Cutter, but is thrown off. They hook each other in chinlocks and I am not too enamored with either of them going for it. I did not think either one needed to use the chinlock. Sting has looked the best he during this stretch because he looks to be trying harder on offense and also wrestling he did before the Crow gimmick. I think he was just more comfortable with that level of energy, facebusters and the out of control splash. Not everyone can reinvent themselves in the ring and once he got back to doing what brought him to the dance, he felt more natural and interesting. His selling still left a lot to be desired. I liked DPP getting the knees up on the out of control splash and he goes for the Diamond Cutter out of the corner, But Sting reverses into the Scorpion Death Drop to a huge pop. I loved the beginning and the finish. They definitely would go on to build off this foundation to have an all-time great WCW match the following year on Nitro. ***

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In March of 1998, the Austin Era officially had gotten underway and with a little help from Mike Tyson, WWF was poised to reclaim its throne. WCW may have had a weak two months, but a reset to Hogan as champion is certainly building to one of two major marquee matchups: Hogan vs Hart or Hogan vs Nash, right? Right? Still in the wings you have the People's Champion and blue collar Diamond Dallas Page and the monster Goldberg surging up the card to inject life. Will WCW rebound with a newfound direction in spring?

The Fall of the New World Order: WCW Souled Out 1998

Hey yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Guess who is back in circulation? I don't know what you may have heard, but what I need right now is good-time American pro wrestling.

Ryback's Motto

So that is not exactly what Diamond Dave said, but the point remains I needed to something different from all the puroresu from the 2000s, which I will get back to this week. For now, I just needed something different and it does not get much more different than WCW in 1998. I cut my teeth on WCW 1998, but because it is what I grew up on, I have rarely looked back on it. Rather than leave the memories alone, I decided to go back and revisit my childhood. Much to my surprise, I found WCW Souled Out 1998 to be such a  good show, I have decided to review it.

Review & Analysis of Booking:

When you think of 1998 WCW, you think of mismanagement, celebrities, lack of direction, meandering faction warfare, bad Ultimate Warrior appearances and a held down midcard. Watching Souled Out 1998, I saw a  vibrant wrestling promotion that had rebounded nicely from the royal clusterfuck that was Starrcade 1998. The company had four very strong programs on top that would keep the viewer hooked week to week, but also could deliver a strong payoff if booked properly. The most prominent was the dissension within the New World Order.

The eventual New World Order civil war should go down as one of the great booking atrocities in pro wrestling. I would go as far as to say this is an Invasion-level botch. The WWF fucking up the Invasion basically brought it down to its current level of popularity and WCW fucking up the NWO civil war tanked the company to the point it no longer exists. If you watch Nash powerbomb Hogan on the April 20th edition of Nitro, you will see people were rabid for Nash vs Hogan. The New World Order Civil War could have carried them through 1998 in a similar vein to the overarching Sting avenging angle story of 1997. 1997 WCW was characterized by strong focus in the main event with interesting programs like Hogan/Luger, Savage/DDP and Outsiders/Flair &Piper where everyone had a direction. In January of 1998 with the full-time return of Sting and Bret Hart, the Civil War and a red hot midcard, there seemed to be no reason to doubt WCW's health.  At this point in January 1998, the Civil War was still in the nascent stages and they were using the unhinged, paranoid Randy Savage as the catalyst for NWO dissension.

Savage was having issues defeating  WCW stalwart and flag-bearer Lex Luger, but that is not why they were given the main event slot. They were positioned there for two really well-thought out reasons. First and foremost, the NWO dissension was being positioned as the number one program for the year and thus was given the main event status. Secondly, for once, WCW was actually going to send the crowd home happy with Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock and Luger racking Nash. WCW was finally winning over NWO because there are cracks within NWO. Ending the show on this note, emphasizes the ramifications of the WCW World Title being in jeopardy and how Savage's possible secession was affecting the NWO's efficacy. Sting and Luger are finally turning the tide and we need to watch next week to find out what is going on with Hogan, Savage & The Outsiders.  In addition, the second biggest program, the status of the World Heavyweight Championship played a big role in heightening the tension. Hall had been promised a World Title shot in February, but was now being put on the backburner for a Hogan/Sting rematch at SuperBrawl and he walked away disgusted at Hogan getting another shot.  Without the title, things were starting to fall apart around Hogan, which is good booking progression. Taking the Starrcade debacle as a given, the best thing for them to do was use this PPV to promote their rematch at the next PPV and keep moving forward.

Outsiders vs MegaPowers: Tell me that wouldn't draw

The match that most feel deserved top billing was the great Bret Hart vs Ric Flair match that was wrestled for purely pride to see who the best was. In a promotion filled with WCW vs NWO, it was refreshing to watch two world class wrestlers compete for the sake of being called the best. Much like the NWO Civil War, WCW bungled Hart's run, but for one month they used him perfectly. The match set him up immediately to be a major main event player in WCW before that all went to hell. I understand that this was a feud featured prominently and was the best match. The match really did not have any consequence and it was not going to be the vehicle to carry the company forward. It is the perfect No. 2 or 3 match because it features main event players with a strong story, but does not carry the company. The other major match was the Clash of the Titans to find out who the True Giant of WCW was. Again it is a simple hook, but incredibly effective especially when you see The Giant and Kevin Nash go toe to toe.  Them playing up Nash's no show at Starrcade by having them both put up 1.5 million dollar bonds really added to the atmosphere.   I can't remember the last non-Wrestlemania where the WWE presented four marquee programs that made me want to tune in for a PPV.

But wait there is more! WCW actually had midcarders that were over. Say what! Yes people actually chanted things like "Raven Sucks!", "Jericho Sucks!", and raised the roof with Booker T. People were invested in the wrestlers not just the moves they were doing or the amount of nearfalls there were. To think, DDP nor Goldberg were even on this card! WCW had a roster that would make the current WWE very envious. Souled Out 1998 is missing that one blowaway classic from being considered an all-time great PPV. Hart & Flair and Benoit & Raven are both great wrestling bouts, but they are not at the elite level to carry this consistently good PPV to the next level. Still from top to bottom, this card was always very good from the lucha libre opener to Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock. Easily one of the best WCW PPVs of the NWO era.

Highlights:

Match of the Night: Bret Hart vs Ric Flair

Honorable Mention: Chris Benoit vs Raven

Funniest Moment of the night: Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff trying to act.

Match Reviews:

Juventud Guerrera/Super Calo/Lizmark Jr/Chavo Jr. vs 

Psicosis/La Parka/Silver King/El Dandy - WCW Souled Out 1998

Forget the NWO Civil War, the Chairman of WCW was their biggest missed opportunity!

Perfect opener in getting the crowd energized for the rest of the card. I always thought Super Calo was anything but cool with his silver surfer mask and shades, but he was not half-bad. It may have been that Psicosis was bumping for him. Psicosis was great as usual bumping around for everybody and wish we got more of him. Surprisingly what really grabbed this crowd's attention was a wicked intense chop exchange between Silver King and Lizmark Jr. I know that Silver King is known for working a bit of a stiffer style in Lucha and have always wanted to check more of him out, but Lizmark really surprised. I thought he was easily the second best guy in this match. He was kicking ass in there. Juvy got his 450 splash in, but I was a bit surprised he did not get more time to be featured. I know everybody loves El Dandy, but this match did not showcase his talents. The dive train was fucking excellent and definitely the best part of the match. Chavo really did not do much besides get the win to set up his big push into an angle with Uncle Eddie. Without a doubt, the big star of the match was La Parka. Even though, I have not watched La Parka's new Lucha stuff, I am always so happy to hear how well he is doing because he is always one of my favorites as a child. He just owned this match with all his antics. It was so immediate how much charisma this guy had and the crowd totally latches onto him. I loved him falling flat on his the apron. The corkscrew Asai moonsault was sick. The crowd ate up La Parka's chair rampage. Doing his strut on the chair and then the way he walked away so proud was hilarious. La Parka is the MAN! Very fun spotfest. ***1/2

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Raven vs Chris Benoit - WCW Souled Out 1998

"Raven Sucks!" chants ring out early and are eventually replaced by "Benoit! Benoit!" chants. Midcard acts that are over, well how about that! I am a pretty big fan of Raven character, but I freely admit he has very few great matches to his name, but this is probably his best in WCW. He really looked on his A-game punishing Benoit and working hims over with simple, but effective moves. The early surprise attack with dropkick off the apron and then using the railing and bulldog on chair were all great moments to keep relentless Benoit down. Benoit did a great job selling all these attacks and how even though he usually only has one gear: forward; Raven has effectively stymied. The one issue with this segment was Raven almost worked it too neutral. The reason he was getting heat was because his character was so detestable, but besides the sneak attack he was not really doing anything reprehensible. I think with some more heeling and bit more chickenshit, this would have built to an even better Benoit home stretch and a bigger crowd reaction. Still for Raven on offense this was really good shit. I love the Benoit transition being a drop toehold onto the chair calling back to Raven doing that to Scotty Riggs (one of most impactful moments of my childhood. I thought that was some fucked up shit back then). Benoit absolutely and royally kicks the ever loving shit out of Raven. Give Raven credit he was selling, bumping and stooging for Benoit and making him look great. I wish I watched the angle leading up to this because it would have made the beating all the sweeter, but I remember enough about Raven to get me behind Benoit. In what may have been the stupidest fucking thing of all time, Benoit does a diving headbutt onto a chair that is Raven's face. My Dad used to shit all over Benoit for just doing the diving headbutt. This just takes it to a whole new level. The finish stretch is short and compact and put everything that needs to be. They tease a bit of drama with Raven nailing a DDT out of a Northern Lights Suplex. So now you don't know who will win because Raven is beat up he can't capitalize. When he goes for it again, Benoit puts him in the crossface, Raven enjoys the pain of the Crossface before passing out. You put over Raven as this sick masochist and Benoit as a unrelenting badass. I think if Raven reminds us why he is a heel during that opening stretch that this becomes the match of the night on a surprisingly great card. As it stands, it is very good match, but just missing that little something. ***3/4

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WCW Crusierweight Champion Rey Misterio Jr vs Chris Jericho - WCW Souled Out 1998

I thought they worked smart match around Rey's knee going above and beyond the typical Jericho works Rey Jr.'s knee over. Again it is so refreshing to watch a midcard match where both acts are over, huge "Jericho Sucks" and Rey is generally well-liked by WCW fans. Jericho is great at false sincerity early interacting with the crowd I wish they would give him the mic to cut a promo beforehand. The early part of the match establishes Jericho is a dick and has the weight advantage. Rey is able to overcome this with his speed, but eventually this cost him his mobility when he goes for the proto-619, which he used as a fake out move. I liked how after that Misterio tried other tactics to stay in control like grounding Jericho and even going after Jericho's illustrious mane. Rey is really good at selling the knee, but how much is really selling, we don;t know. Rey goes for another high risk move but Jericho hotshots on the top rope. Jericho is great at showboating. Rey works through the pain and gets one last ditch high risk move (somersault plancha). He blows out his knee. Rey tries to persevere, but they work a great finish where Jericho counters the hurricanrana off the top rope into a Liontamer. The Liontamer and Crippler Crossface both over on the same show was cool. I love the Jericho character and they work the best possible match given Rey's limitations.

Role Model for the Free World

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Promo Theater with Jo Jo Dillon, Roddy Piper, Scott Hall, Hollywood Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Sting.

Piper is insufferable. I thought he was so fucking lame as a child and nothing has changed. He says some really bad jokes when it is time to be serious about what is number 1/2 (NWO dissension and the fate of the World Title are pretty intertwined) program in WCW. Hogan wants Hall to jump Sting, but he walks away disgusted because his World Title shot gets postponed. Ooooo drama! Hogan and Bischoff do a hilariously bad job of acting. While Sting has a weird conniption fit of crotch chops. I loathe Crow Sting. Sting is just so terribly uncool, which is what made his original, "overgrown child hopped up on sugar" gimmick so much fun.

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World TV Champion Booker T vs Rick Martel - WCW Souled Out 1998

I am a pretty big Martel mark after watching some of his AWA stuff and especially his Strike Force work. I know how much people rave about his two month resurgence in WCW before injuries finally coerced him to retire so I was pretty amped for this. It was the only match on the card I was let down by. Martel was just wrestling his standard Model match and holding Booker's hand through the whole match. I have never been a big Booker fan. I get why he is cool. He definitely has a presence to him. The dude had no clue what he was doing out there. He would just keep going back to that weak armbar to just go back to his next spot without really doing anything to the arm. The match picks up once Martel is on offense. Credit where credit is due, they work a pretty cool transition where Booker seems to have accidentally heabutted Martel in the family jewels on a leapfrog, but Martel was just faking and exploited Booker's sympathy. From there it was your basic Martel Model match work the lower back in a smart, concise fashion to set up the Boston Crab. Once he finally applies it, Booker makes the ropes and then hits his axe kick and a shitty and dangerous Harlem Hangover to win. Has there ever been a non-shitty, non-dangerous Harlem Hangover. WHAT?!?!? You build your entire offense to this move and then it gets blown off by Booker making the ropes and just hitting two moves to win. Where are the transitions? Where is the consequence? It is a decent little match, but the finish sucked and Booker is so limited. 

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Scott Hall w/Madonna's Boyfriend vs Larry Zbyszko w/Dusty Rhodes - WCW Souled Out 1998

Is that Eddie Trunk? Say it aint so, Dream!

Hall is the master of making old guys seem like credible threats. At Slamboree 1997, the Wolfpac put Flair, Piper and Greene over huge and here he made this match so much fun. I loved him starting off cocky and Zbyszko showing him up with some amateur moves. Hall gets more and more frustrated as this goes on. They do a great job building that tension that if Hall can just walloop Larry with a right that the match will be all over. Eventually Larry can't keep it up because of Louie Spicolli  (Madonna's Boyfriend is such a great gimmick name) and Hall catches him with a wicked right while he is down. The crowd tells me why Larry may not have been the best choice for this role because there is a pretty big Larry Sucks chant. Then a Hall Sucks chant follows and back to Larry Sucks. This is not some sign-songy bullshit. You see people in the crowd pointing at each other telling to shut up. I was getting into the heat and Hall did a great job manhandling Larry Z. Then of course in the moment everyone wanted to see here comes Big Dust. What a moment! The crowd was jacked for this and everyone was on their feet to see Dusty deliver the Bionic Elbow. Then he hits the Living Legend and Dusty reveals the nWo shirt and I am pissed. Hall should have gone over Larry Z and they should have built to Dusty vs Hall! Tony and Bobby reacting in shock and disgust came off really organic like they were shoot pissed off. It added to the moment, but I think Dusty lacing it up one more time for WCW would have been huge, but maybe he physically just couldn't go. This was a really fun match between Hall and Zbyszko, who both knew their roles well. Hall was great clowning around for Zbyszko, but when it came time to get heat he got mean. You can't ask for much more for a heel exactly what you want. Larry is not the most likelable guy and thus was not a great fit for this role, but he did wrestle a strong babyface performance. Last good Scott Hall match? ***1/2

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I didn't watch Ray Traylor & The Steiners vs. NWO B-Team because I actually have other things to do in my life. They were playing up Scotty Steiner's short fuse around this time and then once he turned heel he was a chickenshit. Go figure. He is much better as a loose canon once WCW starting booking him that way.

Holla if ya hear me!

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Kevin Nash vs The Giant - WCW Souled Out 1998

This was way more entertaining that it had any right to be. There was major heat for this and it felt like a real Clash of the Titans. Can't think of a time after this where The Giant ever felt like such a big deal. I guess Maywheather? WWE eventually found their footing with him as an upper midcarder they could plug into the main event when needed. Here, he felt like one of the hottest superstars on Earth. Nash to his credit seemed very willing to put him over and stooge for him. They did some great spots to build the tension and then The Giant just steamrolled him with great action. Nash actually busted some shit I have never seen from him, a fucking leapfrog and a tope. I don't care if the tope does not look like Psicosis the fact he tired was pretty damn cool and out over the aura how much this match meant. The Giant catching Nash and throwing him into the post was awesome. Nash is a big dude and it was crazy seeing Giant pick him up and just move him around at will. They sort of lost steam until the end when Giant was signaling for the Chokeslam. Hot coffee is back, BABY! Nash hits a low blow and then GANSO BOMB~! Seriously, a very scary looking spot and I am glad The Giant was ok. All in all an entertaining clash between two super heavyweights when I expected shit. Souled Out 1998 maybe the best PPV of the NWO era, everything has been at least good and am actually going to watch the entire PPV because how good the marquee matches have been. ***

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Bret Hart vs Ric Flair - Souled Out 1998

The last great Ric Flair match or just the last great Flair match in WCW? I can't think of another great Flair match in WCW after this. Even a year later with Hogan, Flair still had some gas in the tank, but he was not given the opportunities just like Hart was given the opportunities. However, on this night, they made the most of what they were given to have one of the best WCW main eventer vs main eventer matches in the NWO era. What I loved about this match especially in stark comparison today is the the two-spot transition. It is never an abrupt change of control everything is earned. Hart shows Flair up early on the mat and with a figure-4. So Flair regroups and realizes that he ain't winning this one fair and squared. In typical Flair fashion, he takes over in the corner, but Hart still has enough left that Flair needs a back suplex out of a headlock and a well-timed low blow to consolidate control. Then similarly when Flair is chopping away in the corner, Hart fires up with punches, but it is the swinging neckbreaker and an attack on leg. It is a false transition as Flair pushes Hart into the railing and begins working over the knee. Flair worked the leg really well, but also kept up the illegal tactics. Hart busted out a nice enziguri, which I don't remember him using all that often. It was a great hope spot. I have not seen Flair/Hart from 92 in years so does Hart always do the strap down no-sell in these matches because that was a cool touch. I wish he deviated from more from his usual finish run and just beat the shit out of Flair and maybe threw some more cheap shots back in Flair's face. The superplex/Sharpshooter finish is quite decisive and a victory like this should have warranted a WCW World Title shot. But WCW's booking was in such disarray post-Starrcade that they never followed up on it until they turned Bret heel. Bret looked to pick up right way he left off in WWF with crisp offense and selling the knee well. Flair looked inspired, but a little gas. He made up for it with his tried and true tricks and his great verbal selling. It was a great story with Flair looking to prove he could still hang even if it was through cheapshots, but coming up short and thus making Bret Hart look like one of the big hitters if WCW was competent. ****

WCW did not know what you were all about.

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Randy Savage vs Lex Luger - Souled Out 1998

I always thought these two had great chemistry with one another. I know a lot of people will write this off because of the participants and the year, but this was really energetic. It shows how much the knee injury fucked up Savage because he looked great here. He was flying around taking cheapshots. Savage and Liz were such a great heel tandem at this point with just non-stop heeling. Luger always seems motivated against Savage and was cutting a good pace here trying to get out from Savage's nefarious tactics. I liked the short quick crowd brawling and Luger really urgent on countering Savage. Luger's cliche finish sequence was pretty lame, but hell Torture Rack finish to win the match. I know Savage/Luger was hardly the biggest match on the card with Nash/Giant and Flair/Hart. However, neither of those matches would have finished the show with the image of Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock and Nash in the Torture Rack. WCW sending the crowd home happy is definitively a novelty. I thought it was a fun sprint, not PPV main event worthy, but a fun match. ***

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Souled Out looked to set the table for another banner year for WCW. They had hot midcard acts like Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, DDP, Raven, Goldberg and Booker T that could grow with each other as evidenced by the future Benoit/Booker, DDP/Raven and Jericho/Malenko feuds. On top of that, WCW would look forward to Sting's reign as champion, the imminent NWO civil war and Bret Hart shaking up the main event offering fresh match ups. However, as the next months bear out, it is not too easy to predict the future and some of it is not even WCW's fault.

You suck! You really, really suck!

KENTA Speeds At Night: KENTA, SUWA, Daniel Bryan (Juniors Japan, 2005-2006)

Hey yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Beef stew is good stuff, man. 

I spent the majority of last year watching puroresu matches from the 2000s decade to determine my Top 100 matches for the Best of Japan in 2000-2009 project. In doing so, I wrote a review for every match I watched and was published them here on RidingSpaceMountain.Blogspot.com, but began slacking. Now I am making up for it with Puroresu Thursdays! Every Thursday I will publish a blog looking back on the 2000s of Japan. 

We begin where I left off which in the middle of the decade, 2005 & 2006, looking specifically at the junior heavyweights. At this point in time, KENTA (now Hideo Itami in WWE's NXT) had cemented his place as the number one junior heavyweight superstar in Japan. On the strength of KENTAFuji tag team, KENTA was poised for a big junior heavyweight singles run, while Marufuji was promoted to the heavyweight division to shore up a lack of depth. 

Going into this project, KENTA was one of the wrestlers I was most interested in exploring. Here is well-regarded as one of the premiere super workers of the 2000s. His work in 2003 & 2004 garnered him such a large following in the US that he is brought into Ring of Honor as a special attraction draw for dream matches against the likes of Bryan Danielson and Low Ki. His proponents point towards his ultra fast-pace, athletic style with stiff strikes and innovative spots as what makes him one of the best workers of the last decade. His detractors with equal zeal attack his tendency to rush from spot to spot, blowing off selling and generally disregarding the structure of a wrestling match to pack more shit in. The truth for me is somewhere in between. Overall, I side with the detractors in that if KENTA is left to his own devices, he is generally not very good for what I enjoy in pro wrestling.

The key phrase is "left to his own devices". If there is someone like a SUWA, who reigns him in by delivering one helluva classic heel performance, or a Bryan Danielson, who reigns him in by slowing down the match, then KENTA becomes one of the most exciting and entertaining workers of the last decade. It is like SUWA and Danielson held KENTA's hand through. They just offered KENTA a structure whereas his strengths could be best displayed. KENTA is in a lot of ways the junior heavyweight equivalent of 00's Kenta Kobashi. He is a destroyer. He is going to plow through you with a combination of speed and power. It is this general, head-down, bulldozer, meathead-like approach that wins him matches. Just like Kobashi when he sells, he is very, very good. He is great at evoking sympathy and making you root for the comeback and just like Kobashi he is at his very best up against a strong heel.

SUWA was that strong heel for KENTA like Takayama was for Kobashi. SUWA just knocked it out of the park at being the biggest piece of shit ever. He picked on old legends, blasted KENTA with a briefcase, berated the ref, and cheated like a violent muthafucka. The whole crux of the match (as I explain below) is that after SUWA intentionally blasted KENTA to get disqualified early. It is NOT KENTA that demands the restart. It is the ref. The ref wanted justice to be served so badly to this prick that even if KENTA was injured, he was the best man to do it. Throughout the match, the ref is powerless to stop SUWA. SUWA punts KENTA right in the balls, but the ref believes in KENTA and his faith is rewarded when KENTA unleashes the a most unholy ass-whupping on SUWA. In that my friends, was the best damn KENTA singles match ever.

BAD GUYS WEAR PINK~!

KENTA vs. Bryan Danielson was a classic clinic of great pro wrestling that featured a great build from the mat to the air and to an amazing finish stretch and for my money the second or third best KENTA singles match. This blog ain't all about KENTA. In fact all the promotions get some love on this blog. New Japan offers up a tag team bloodbath featuring Gedo & Jado against Kanemoto & Inoue, which I thought went on a bit too long, but it has a good hook. The surprise to me was how fun All Japan's junior heavyweight division was with Shuji Kondo (formerly of Toryumon) at the helm. Kondo is a short, stocky powerhouse that is a ton of fun. He does a bit of trouble remembering to sell, but he is just so much fun to watch. His real classic is against my personal favorite, Katushiko Nakajima in 2007. However in 2006, he has a fun, bullshit match with AKIRA and a marvelously executed match with Hayashi. The Hayashi match just missed my top 100 for lack of a story and good selling, but the offensive execution is flawless and breath-taking.

This was the nadir for the junior heavyweight division before the resurgence in 2007, but for nadir, the top shelf quality is pretty damn high as KENTA delivers some hellacious matches.

Match Listing:

Gedo & Jado vs Koji Kanemoto & Wataru Inoue - NJPW 3/4/05

Bloodbath. The beating on Wataru is the hook, but goes too long and hot tag is not satisfying.

NOAH (Mitsuharu Misawa & Kotaro Suzuki) vs. Z-1 (Shinjiro Otani & Tatushito Takaiwa) 

Honestly don't remember one memorable spot. Boring. 

GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion KENTA vs SUWA - Budokan 09/18/05 ****1/2

Classic, classic babyface versus heel match. Master class in heel heat and babyface comeback.

#16 out of 100 - Must Watch

AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs AKIRA - AJPW 1/8/06

Fun American-style bullshit with interference and cool spots. Kondo is a great powerhouse

AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs. Kaz Hayashi - Sumo Hall 8/27/06 ***3/4

Flawless, marvelous offensive execution. Weak on selling, transitions and story.

KENTA vs Bryan Danielson - NOAH 12/02/06 ****1/2

Home Run Blows against slow & steady offense, makes for a cool clash of strategies.

#24 of 100 -Must Watch

Cleans up nicely, don't he?

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Gedo & Jado vs Koji Kanemoto & Wataru Inoue - NJPW 3/4/05

Weirdly enough, the only Gedo & Jado match I have ever seen was live at ROH this past May. I actually enjoyed that match as I believe the opener (may have been second on). I read some reviews for this one and Gedo/Jado are famous enough that I ought to watch some more to get a feel for their work. I know their rep as Southern-style workers in Japan that sometimes suck out loud, but then can always flip a switch and rip it up.

That being said, I do not think Gedo & Jado are not the critical drivers that will determine your feelings for the match. That will rest with Wataru Inoue. I remember Wataru Inoue as the young punk badass from the first Liger/NOAH tag match, but this match almost seems like retrogression as he young boy victim for the brutality and violence of Gedo and Jado. This is easily one of my favorite styles of Japanes wrestling: Veteran & Young Boy versus the brutal heels. I did not think this one really superseded some of the better ones I had seen (Miyamoto and Shiga). The strong point of the match was also the weak point. They lived and died by that heat segment. Inoue getting blasted by that chair and tapping a gusher was great, but then he just died. I need some hope spots. Otherwise, it is really no different than finish run overkill. Hope spots can be generated from Kanemoto, who only interfered once. Inoue deadweighting and then kicking out was just not sitting well with me. It was all there for them to knock this one out of the park. It is one of those things where too much of a good thing (babyface selling) did them in. The transition to get Inoue out of there was pretty lame. He basically just hits a flip lariat after Kanemoto had some interference and they ran a tease spot. Don't get me wrong, it gets a huge pop. There was just not much struggle, it was abrupt and it was a just generally lame move.


As for the rest of the match, the beginning was boring as all hell, just fast forward to the chair shot. Kanemoto is a pretty good house of fire because his facewashes are a great crowd-pleasing spot, but he seems to be looking for the tag too quick. The double heel hook was a great visual. I liked Kanemoto saving Wataru from the crossface and the superbomb, but he needed to do that earlier. Jado reminds us it is 2005 with rolling Germans and a barrage of Crippler's Crossfaces. Wataru goes for flash finishes with a cradle and then gets a submission does not even hurt. He literally has the arm bent in a way it should go. This was sillier looking than the Cena STFU (let me squeeze my biceps together). The match has a ton of potential, but suffers from too many problem for me to consider this in my Top 100. It is entertaining with a hot hook and a great crowd. I recommend it for a watch, everybody else seems to like it more than me, but I think mileage may vary based on how much you liked that heat segment. ***

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NOAH (Mitsuharu Misawa & Kotaro Suzuki) vs. Z-1 (Shinjiro Otani & Tatushito Takaiwa)  NOAH 3/5/05

Ohtani & Takaiwa versus Kanemoto & Minoru this was not. It is a rock solid match, but really only Otani gives an inspired performance. The other three gave the type of performances you would expect on a weekly RAW. Dont get me wrong, this match would win match of the night on most RAWs. It is just the usual lazy transitions and hit my spots type wrestling with a bigger finish run than you would expect Stateside. What was the point of this match? Was it to lead into a Suzuki/Takaiwa Junior Heavyweight feud? Was Misawa just in there to lock up with Ohtani?
Ohtani is heeling it up early mockingly giving the crowd a pair of thumbs down. Thats right crowd, you suck! Suzuki gets the jump on Otani and hits a big splash to the outside and tags out to Misawa. This is the whole point of the tag match from my perspective. Misawa vs Ohtani, baby! What makes Ohtani better than most Japanese wrestlers in the 00s is that he actually sells the elbows like they hurt before winding up and delivering a chop. It is much more entertaining than the interminable Kobashi/Sasaki CHOP WAR~! After destroying both Otani and Takaiwa with elbows, Misawa tags out to the kid, thinking he cant possibly get into trouble. Of course, two  seconds later Suzuki is in a half crab. Ohtani during this heat segment is the whole point to watch this match.

Otani busts out some great heel gold here, Not just the basics like eyerakes and fishhooks, but also an awesome punt to the nutsack when Suzuki was looking to fire up and mocklingly leading a Kotaro chant before dropping him on his head and pinning with one foot. In what became a sad precedent we get a lame transition to a Misawa tag. Misawa ends up in peril and this leads to an Otani facewash, which is a highlight. Misawa then decides lets go home and hits a Tiger Driver and tags in Suzuki. The finish run like the rest of non-Otani parts of this match was mediocre. You know its 2005 because Suzuki dials up a 619! Misawa and Suzuki hit a couple double teams and his big false finish is a Gory Special. After this Takaiwa kills him dead with a double powerbomb and a DVD. Misawa does not even bother to act like he cares to save him and basically gives up.

Three wrestlers were just going through the motions and Ohtani's actions were not enough to make this into a great match. The transitions in this were some of the laziest I have seen. ***

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GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion KENTA vs SUWA - Budokan 09/18/05

Some things transcend language and CULTURAL barriers, one of those things is old men ready to put a snot-nosed punk in their place as the Budokan roared when Joe Higuchi almost came to blows with the ultra-prick,  SUWA. SUWA just owns this match and gives a career performance as a total unlikeable dick. You know that boring proceeding before every NOAH title match where the old dude (Joe Higuchi) reads off a scroll. SUWA spices that up and rips the scroll out of his hands and tears it up.  KENTA gives him a kick in retaliation and is ready to kick some ass. The Japanese announcer lets us know that the Champ Is Here!!! So not only did CM Punk and Daniel Bryan rip off KENTA, but Cena too!


The backpeddling SUWA grabs the ring bell and blasts KENTA with it. SUWA uses a briefcase to batter KENTA in plain view of the ref, who has no choice but to disqualify him to a chorus of boos. SUWA revels in his DQ loss knowing he beat up the champ.

 Upon rewatch, I have a newfound appreciation for the match because I missed the real key of the story. At the beginning, SUWA pisses KENTA off by disrespecting Higuchi. In his fury KENTA leaves himself vulnerable to a ring bell shot and then SUWA attacks KENTA with his steel box. Now the ref lets one of these shots go and my reasoning is not because he is a bad ref. It is because SUWA wants to be disqualified. He wants to beat KENTA up and embarrass him by leaving him laying. Yes, KENTA will win the match, but he will leave the battlefield able to walk. On the second shot, the ref is hand is forced and he has to disqualify SUWA. SUWA celebrates a loss and this gets the crowd riled up as KENTA is writhing in pain. Here is the key to the whole match. It is NOT KENTA that demands the match be restarted. It is the ref. The ref is pissed about SUWA's behavior and he wants to see SUWA's ass handed to him. He restarts the match because he believes in KENTA so much to put SUWA in his place even if this puts KENTA's title at risk. SUWA realizes this and knows he has carte blanche. The ref won't disqualify him again because the ref, the people, Higuchi and KENTA want to kill him. SUWA pulls out all the heel stops with my favorite being probably punting KENTA right in the balls in front of the ref. The ref is totally powerless. SUWA even spanks the ref with the turnbuckle pad and and throws it Higuchi. He has free reign is taking advantage of it all. However, the ref's confidence is paid off as KENTA delivers one helluva asswhupping to SUWA. I just watched KENTA/Akiyama before this and KENTA whiffed on pretty much every head kick. In this match, I really don't know how SUWA's head stayed on his body because KENTA was nailing him with those kicks. The Holy Shit Go 2 Sleep out of that position and a barrage of knees to the head were amazing.

 Some dude at ringside just decides to restart the match and KENTA runs the down the ramp to go attack that asshole, SUWA. SUWA proves too much for him and he is just getting everyone hot. Joe Higuchi is ready to take off suit and trade hands with him. He takes off the turnbuckle pad and hits the ref with it. The ring crew and young boys are hot at him. SUWA just openly punts KENTA in the nuts and then rams him testicles first into the post. A man with no cares is a dangerous man and SUWA is a dangerous man. KENTA is struggling and trying to fight back, but SUWA always seems to have a closed fist waiting for him. Finally, KENTA hits a springboard clothesline to turn the tide. SUWA's answer for this a big suicide dive through ropes and KENTA whacks his back on the railing. This is the big countout tease of the match. I am not usually one for an elaborate sequence, but once we are back in the ring they do a nice sequence that looks they actually to hit each other only for SUWA to hit his big blowaway dropkick which KENTA takes the Dragon Kid bump for. SUWA goes for he Pedigree, but KENTA counters into a Go 2 Sleep. I love how they have a closed fist exchange instead of a chop or elbow. It really sells the intensity and hatred. You know the kicks to the head that Daniel Bryan always whiffs on well KENTA actually hits those here. He hits three and they look nasty as fuck. An exploding knee later and he retains his title over that jerkface SUWA!

KENTA when not moving a million miles an hour and being forced into working underneath is one of the best workers in the world. Takayama, SUWA and Danielson all had KENTA's best matches by forcing KENTA to work underneath, hit hope spots and make a compelling finishing run. They reign him in and don't let him fall prey to his worst habits. KENTA is no Kenta Kobashi, but stops this from becoming a Kobashi/Ogawa or Kobashi/Takayama classic is that KENTA is too stoic on his comeback. Yes he hits him hard and yes he has urgency, but does not seem all that much different than he is wrestling Marufuji. Kobashi is more expressive and I would have loved to seen more anger from KENTA. SUWA just ripped it up in there with a total master's class in heeling. KENTA is not as easy opponent, you have to suffocate him or he will get away from you and make you wrestle his match. If KENTA found that extra gear in the finish stretch, I would say this is the 2005 MOTY, but it falls just short. ****1/2 

I reward those who keep reading

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AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs AKIRA - AJPW 1/8/06

AKIRA brings out a scale with him to have Kondo weighed before the match. Automatic *****! I actually like how Americanized All Japan was in this period. It was really different than New Japan and NOAH. This is a match that may benefit from watching it in 2014 instead of 2006. I may have been sick of liberal outside interference in 2006, but in 2014 it is pretty fresh (i don't watch 2014 New Japan so the Bullet Club is not something I see). I thought it was a nice little device in this match. Another thing I love about All Japan is they have video packages before their matches reviewing the angles. Awesome, now I know this is going to be hot and heavy instead of a championship style match. Kondo was really into dueling limb work, but blowing off the arm selling when necessary in 2006 & 2007. I do enjoy him as a junior powerhouse, but we did not get to see much of that. AKIRA was really fun in this, but it does not reach the level of the Kanemoto or Minoru Tanaka matches.

The match starts off with some decent amateur wrestling, but could be hotter given what I saw in video package. Kondo lariats the post. So we expect AKIRA to exploit this and remove this weapon. All Japan was really into selling an injury, but then doing a move anyway. I still can't figure out how I feel about that versus outright no-selling. AKIRA misses a kick and his foot gets in ropes and BOOM chair shot to the knee by who I assume is Brother YASSHI, but I could be wrong. The knee work is solid and I love the fact Kondo uses the outside to great effect and throws AKIRA into his buddies. Kondo stupidly sets AKIRA up for a superplex. I hate that why would you give someone the high ground. AKIRA snaps the arm over the top rope. AKIRA works the arm and YASSHI gets nervous climbs on the apron, but brains Kondo with the briefcase. AKIRA climbs to the top and SPLASH! But only two. Kondo abruptly puts Akira in an inverted Texas Cloverleaf. Could have used a better transition there. Then the outright interference happens after a ref bump, but AKIRA's buddies chase off YASSHI. Kondo still hits a superplex. The finish run was concise and mostly well-done. AKIRA gets his hope nearfalls, a nasty German and backslide. Then Kondo hits two wicked lariats to win.

This a fun, breezy 15 minute match. It is entertaining and easy to digest, which I appreciate. Are there flaws, yeah, but it is a fun way to spend 15 minutes. ***

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AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs. Kaz Hayashi - Sumo Hall 8/27/06

The one constant of All Japan from the 70s through now is their disregard for the junior heavyweight division. Even NOAH as a spiritual successor to All Japan cultivated a strong juniors division led by KENTA and Marufuji. Even though Mutoh took over AJPW in the 00s coming from NJPW with a strong junior's division did not seem to change AJPW's stance on juniors wrestling. With that being said the token All Japan match of 2006 is a junior heavyweight encounter between two of Ultimo Dragon's students, Hayashi and Kondo.

Before, I get to the match a very skinny Stan Hansen gets into the ring to do the duties of reading from the scroll before a championship match and it was just such a cool touch to see Hansen again. He was wicked over.

This is one of the prettiest matches I have ever seen. It was like you strip Dragon Gate matches of any comedy and just have them play it totally straight, which makes sense since they are both Dragon's students. I can appreciate beautiful execution and from a technical level this is nearly perfect. Hayashi has the best looking hurricanarana I have ever seen and Kondo is one of the best at taking it. Hayashi really looks likes he is grabbing with his legs and forcing his opponent over. Kondo really throws himself into the bump. Hayashi's middle rope senton was fan-fuckin-tastic. He was going a million miles an hour. On the SLOW motion replay, he still looked like he was going fast. Kondo is a great powerhouse junior like a smaller version of Sasaki. He was really able to work on Hayashi's knee and some very impressive powerslams and one great spear. Of course if you are a powerhouse in Japan, you best have a nasty lariat and his destroys Kojima's and looks badass. Hayashi is a big fan of Emerald Flowsion, but when that can't secure him a victory he does what every wrestler does he tries the move from the top rope. In a move, I never EVER thought I would see. Kondo hits a Flip DDT. When we were growing up, my younger brother always said his finishing move was going to be the Flip DDT. I don't know if he is going to be crushed or excited that someone finally pulled off that move. A moonsault and lariat polish off Hayashi and Kondo retains the belt.

So now the other SHOE drops, this match is great eyecandy, but there is not substance to any move. Kondo moves over Hayashi's knee really effectively. I love when he caught a Hayashi rana attempt and put him in a Boston Crab. What does Hayashi hit as his comeback move a wicked fast back handspring elbow. O BUT HE REMEMBERED TO SELL AFTER THE MOVE! He would do this for his 3 next big spots that required the knee, hit the move and sell the knee, before abandoning it altogether. I am happy he did put some effort in, but c'mon man! Look, I don't think just because someone attacks your knee you have to be crippled, but maybe you could hit your spots at half-speed or at least show you are struggling. The end of the match is a total bombfest with very little selling. 

To me this is the PERFECT MATCH to show fans or up and coming wrestlers look you are not going to get a better executed match, but see how they just rattle off moves and without that framework it is all inconsequential. Hayashi and Kondo are amazing to watch and I am sure if you put them in there with a Liger, 90s Sasuke, 90s Otani that they would have had some phenomenal matches. You pair this execution with a great layout, I am seriously saying five star classic without it you are just left wondering what might have been. ***3/4 

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KENTA vs Bryan Danielson - NOAH 12/02/06

This may shock a lot of PEOPLE but the amount of matches I have seen Bryan Danielson wrestle as Bryan Danielson is probably only a handful and the vast majority are live. I was just never one to really ask my parents for money to buy wrestling or any item for me. Of course, my Dad would take me to the matches when they came to town and usually one 1-2 PPVs a year, but other than that not much. This mentality would continue into college. I always saw live events as special exceptions and would go to ROH whenever they were in town, but never felt that my limited college money should be spent on indy wrestling. I am hoping to change this in the near future and really hunker down and watch some golden age ROH. This match gives me hope that really is all that it is cracked up to be because Danielson was amazing in this match.

As I said in the SUWA review, the one constant in great KENTA matches is make KENTA work for it. Don't let him work his million mile an hour match, but make him sell and build up to that frenzy. What is interesting is I really feel like 2013 Daniel Bryan and mid-00s KENTA are really similar in working style. Bryan is better at building a match and slowing it down on his own accord. However, he has been prone to blowing off selling to get his shit in and his real selling point in the ring is his million miles an hour pace. Having not seen a lot of Daniel Bryan as Bryan Danielson, I was interested if they were going to try break the moves/minute record or something. I was very pleasantly surprised at how well this turned out. 

The one odd thing to get out of the way is that the crowd is dead throughout the majority of the match. Was this one of Danielson's first tours in Japan? Were they just unfamiliar with him? The feeling out process is slower than I expected and very mat based where Danielson seems to have the advantage. KENTA looks to pick up the pace, but Danielson gets a hiptoss and converts that into a cross armbreaker. Excellent wrestling as KENTA is more as home with an uptempo pace so Danielson wisely slows it down and at the same time damages the arm. KENTA freaked out that Danielson almost got a submission victory actually slows down the match with a chinlock in a way to reset the match because he has been outclassed thus far. Once Danielson get back on top he is just working that arm relentlessly with all sorts of crazy submission moves. KENTA hits a snap powerslam and is still selling. Danielson's answer to KENTA is a Robinson backbreaker and a diving headbutt. I get a little worried here because they move quickly into a roll-up barrage when the diving headbutt was such a big spot. Danielson continues to go for home runs as he hits a huge splash to the outside over the guardrail on KENTA, but in the process hurts his knee.

After the big dive, Danielson sells the knee kipping up on one knee after a missile dropkick, but KENTA had taken more punishment up until that point. So Danielson started back on offense with the missile dropkick. The knee messes him up a bit and KENTA hits a guillotine DDT, which he usually does not expect his opponent to sell (ala the Harley Race piledriver) so he looks to follow that up with a springboard move, but Danielson catches him with a German and then goes to lock on the Chickenwing Crossface (having had worked on the arm). There is a great struggle over this hold and here at his first real chance to pick the knee KENTA does. He applies the Texas Cloverleaf, but Danielson makes the ropes and when Danielson does put on Cattle Mutilation he cant hold it because his bad knee. There is an excellent headbutt vs kick war and Danielson was throwing some Garvin like nasty headbutts. Danielson goes for the Crossface Chickenwing again, which would avoid bridging on the bad knee and almost assuredly secure the victory, but KENTA fights like mad to get out of it. The next time KENTA gets on offense he goes back to Texas Cloverleaf, but gets countered into a pinning predicament. After that Danielson is relentless with a barrage of Cattle Mutilation. He attempts to hit a Tiger Suplex/Cattle Mutilation combination, but KENTA is able to bridge one into a pinfall. Awesome spot! At this point, KENTA has solidly got his ass whipped. He gets an Ace Crusher and quite naturally starts bust out his big guns: Exploding Knee and Kicks. Danielson's last stand is a roll-up barrage, but KENTA is stringing together too many kicks at this point. He hits the Go 2 Sleep to secure the victory.

I love this match as a game of strategies. Looking at this from a kayfabe perspective, Danielson is a better all-around wrestler. KENTA thrives in the uptempo game and with his kicks. Danielson stymies him early and never really lets him get going. Danielson is working the arm effectively, but does not have the knock out blows like KENTA so he goes for big gambles like the diving headbutt and the big splash, but this costs him his knee, which messes with one of his best submissions: Cattle Mutilation, which requires bridging. KENTA goes after the knee, but he is not very adept at working over body parts and nearly gets burnt with a cradle counter to a Cloverleaf. So KENTA has a fucked arm, has been getting his ass beaten and cant really take advantage of the knee, but has an opening with an Ace Crusher. So he goes to what brought him to the dance, big fuckin home run swings right at Danielson's head. KENTA always has the puncher's chance and he landed some big ones late. Danielson should have stuck to the arm game plan, but got lured away with big gambles then ended up ruining his chances to apply Cattle Mutilation. If only he was able to get that Crossface Chickenwing. Larry Z would have been proud at this exhibition of the HUMAN game of chess. My match of 2006 so far! So I went back and rewatched Akiyama/Taue GHC Championship and by the slimest of margine, I am putting that one over this one because the continuity from beginning to end. ****1/2

A True Happy Ending

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Next week for Puroresu Thursdays, we cover all the best All Japan matches from 2005-2009 highlighting such awesome matches like Nakajima vs Kondo and Tanahashi vs Suwama.

Best of Toryumon: Genki Horiguchi, Magnum Tokyo, CIMA (Toryumon, 2000-2003)

Hey yo Stud Muffins and Foxy Ladies,

THANK YOU ALEX! THANK YOU ALEX! THANK YOU ALEX! 

Toryumon, the predecessor to Dragon Gate, doubled as a wrestling school and promotion for the students of Ultimo Dragon. Ultimo Dragon spent his formative years in Mexico having been told he was too small to wrestle in Japan even though he was trained in New Japan dojo by notable lucharesu wrestler Gran Hamada. In fact the first lucharesu promotion in Japan was run by Gran Hamada known as the UWF (not to be confused with the shoot-style promotion in Japan, Bill Watts' UWF or Herb Abrams UWF). Long story short dont name your promotion UWF unless you want to go out of business in two years. Lucharesu is just as it sounds the combination of lucha libre and puroresu usually practiced in Japan by the junior heavyweight wrestlers.

The next lucharesu promotion was Great Sasuke's Michinoku Pro, which gained a cult following in the US in the mid-90s especially when they were featured on the ECW first PPV Barely Legal and Sasuke and Taka Michinoku were featured on WWF's Canadian Stampede. The Kaientai stable that some fans may recognize from WWF Attitude Era were all wrestlers from M-Pro. Dragon Gate would eventually become the M-Pro of the mid-00s gaining a cult following among indy wrestling fans as they showcased their styles for the ROH crowds in similar vein as the M-Pro wrestlers did for the ECW crowds. This actually led to the formation of Dragon Gate USA promoted by ROH's former booker Gabe Spalosky and is the first serious Japanese led promotion in America that comes to mind. It allows American fans to see the Japanese stars live and in vivid technicolor against each other and some of the best of the American indy wrestling scene. Before all this, Dragon Gate was just Toryumon, the wrestling school for the students of Ultimo Dragon.

Ultimo Dragon, well-versed in lucha libre and puroresu, had become a major star throughout world as a junior heavyweight including one of the big three stars in WCW's hot crusierweight division of the late 90s. Dragon decided to open a school and a foster a culture of learning similar to his own upbringing in puroresu and lucha libre. WCW fans may remember one of his students, Magnum Tokyo getting actual airtime as a member of the Dancing Fools, Alex Wright and Disco Inferno. Growing up as a kid, I was a total mark for dancing gimmicks and loved Alex Wright and Disco Inferno. To this day, the Alex Wright is over like rover at the dance club. I would like to personally thank Das Wunderkid for the bitchin' Saturday I just enjoyed. ;)

Toryumon is known for its impressive multi-man matches filled with comedy and high-flying acrobatics. I am not a total curmudgeon, but this is not exactly up as alley as I prefer violent street fights or well-worked ground warfare. What I love about pro wrestling is how there are some many styles and there is a little bit of everything. There is definitely a place of wild, million miles an hour spotfests. Toryumon is exactly the type of wrestling I would show non-fans because anybody could appreciate the athleticisim  on display. I would not go far as to say that Toryumon openly mock pro wrestling as a work or it is too self-aware as some promotions *cough* Chikara *cough*, but they wink and nudge at the audience and it is clear from the comedy that it is to be treated more like a violent form of Cirque Du Soliel. I am not saying that everyone who sees Toryumon will love it, but I think of all the styles of wrestling it is friendliest towards non-fans.

Besides the comedy and the high-flying, I really loved how when it came time to get down to business for the finish of the match it really started to feel like a contest. I loved Don Fuji taking on 9 men in a chop war, but thats for shits and giggles. However, in the last 5 minutes of a Toryumon match, it was always on!  I thought the matches definitely improved once the hair-thinning Genki Horguchi gets involved. Horiguchi's gimmick is that he gets upset when fans and wrestlers mock his receding hair line. This leads to hilarious SCALP PSYCOLOGY~! in his matches. It gives the Toryumon wrestlers a really strong tool in their arsenal to pop a crowd and he is just a great heel. He clowns to make the faces look good, but can be violent when it is time to get heat. I highly recommend the 4-team trios match from 2003 with a ton of comedy, high flying and a crazy finish run.

HAGE~!

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1. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 02/27/00

2. GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 03/01/03

3. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Budokan 04/25/04

4. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - All Japan 05/26/00

5. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01

6. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - NJ PPV 12/14/00

7. Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Genichiro Tenryu & Jun Akiyama - Budokan 9/18/05

8. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Tokyo Dome 07/10/04

9. GHC Tag Team Champions Misawa & Ogawa vs KENTAFuji  Budokan 04/25/04

10. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshinari Ogawa – Budokan 11/01/03
11. GHC Heavyweight Champion Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 01/22/06

12. Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 12/23/00

13. IWGP Jr Hvywt Tag Champs Ohtani & Takaiwa vs Kanemoto & Minoru - NJPW  6/25/00

14. IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - 10/00 Tokyo Dome Non-Title

15. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Togi Makabe - NJPW 07/06/07

16. Keiji Mutoh vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 04/01

17. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Akira Taue - NOAH 09/10/04

18. Toshiaki Kawada vs Naoya Ogawa - Zero-One 12/14/03

19. Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki vs Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima - NOAH 11/5/05

20. IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka vs Takehiro Murahama - NJPW 4/20/01

21. Shinya Hashimoto & Takashi Iizuka vs Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murkami - Tokyo Dome 01/04/00

22. Toryumon Trios Four-Way - Toryumon 08/30/03

23. KENTAFuji vs Jushin Liger & Murahama - GHC Jr Heavyweight Tag Title Final 07/16/03

24. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Tamon Honda - NOAH 04/13/03

25. Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki vs Jun Akiyama & Genichiro Tenryu - Budokan 4/24/2005

26. Genichiro Tenryu & Masa Fuchi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Nobutaka Araya - AJPW 6/30/01

27. Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori - Champions Carnival Final '00

28. Akira Taue vs Yuji Nagata - NOAH 6/6/03

29. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW 12/10/06

30. AJPW Triple Crown Champion Toshiaki Kawada vs Shinya Hashimoto - AJPW 02/22/04

31. GHC Tag Team Champions Sterness (Akiyama & Saito) vs Burning (Kobashi & Honda) - Budokan 6/6/03

32. GHC Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 07/27/01

33. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada - Tokyo Dome 7/18/05 

34. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yuji Nagata - Budokan 9/12/03

35. New Japan (Liger & Minoru ) vs. NOAH (Kikuchi & Kanemaru) - NOAH 4/7/02

36. GHC Tag Champions Akiyama & Saito vs Kobashi & Shiga - NOAH 10/19/02

37. Toshiaki Kawada & Genichiro Tenryu vs Stan Hansen & Taiyo Kea - Budokan 07/23/00

38. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Kensuke Sasaki - 01/04/00

39. Genichiro Tenryu vs Toshiaki Kawada - Vacant All Japan Triple Crown 10/28/00

40. Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Hiroyuki Ito - U-Style 08/18/04

41. KENTA vs Yoshihiro Takayama - NOAH 06/27/04

42. Yuji Nagata vs Koji Kanemoto - NJPW G-1 Climax 08/12/06

43. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Minoru Suzuki - Budokan 01/08/05

44. Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kensuke Sasaki - G-1 Climax '04

45. Kenta Kobashi vs Naomichi Marufuji - Budokan 4/23/06

46. Low Ki vs AJ Styles - Z1 01/05/03
47. KENTAFuji vs Wild II (Morishima & Rikio) - Budokan 7/16/06

48. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival '00

49. Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - NOAH #2 08/06/00

50. Genichiro Tenryu vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - Vacant IWGP Championship 02/15/04

51. GHC Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa - Budokan 09/23/02

52. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Vacant GHC Title 04/15/01

53. Genichiro Tenryu vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 07/07/02

54. Akira Taue vs Naomichi Marufuji - Budokan 3/6/04

55. M2K vs. Do Fixer - Toryumon 6/29/03

56. Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki - Tokyo Dome 7/18/05

57. Yuji Nagata vs Giant Bernard - New Japan Cup Finals 04/30/06

58. U-30 Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuyuki Fujita - Vacant IWGP Championship 6/5/04

59. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Takeshi Morishima - Budokan 3/5/06

60. IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshihiro Takayama - Tokyo Dome 05/02

61. Kiyoshi Tamura vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka - U-Style 02/04/04

62. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Vader vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 2/27/00

63. All Japan Triple Crown Champ  Toshiaki Kawada vs Katsuyori Shibata - NJPW 11/03/04 Non-Title

64. IWGP Jr Tag Champions Kanemoto & Minoru vs Liger & Makabe - NJPW 9/12/00

65. KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji - NOAH 11/13/04

66. Keiji Mutoh vs Yuji Nagata - Sumo Hall 08/12/01 G-1 Climax Final

67. Jun Akiyama vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan - G-1 Climax Finals 08/17/03

68. Takaiwa & Hoshikawa vs Dick Togo & Hidaka - Z-1 12/26/03 

69. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Champions Carnival '00

70. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata - Budokan 02/17/02

71. Mitsuharu Misawa & Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama - NOAH #1 08/05/00

72. Kenta Kobashi/Kensuke Sasaki vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Katsuhiko Nakajima - KO 2/11/06

73. New Japan (Liger & Inoue) vs NOAH (Kikuchi & Kanemaru) - NOAH 2/17/02

74. IWGP Jr Hvywt Tag Champs Liger & Minoru vs. Kikuchi & Kanemaru - NJPW 8/29/02

75. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Giant Bernard - NJPW 06/18/06 Vacant IWGP Championship

76. Sterness  vs. Burning 8-Man Tag - NOAH 08/03

77. Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi - AJPW 01/17/00

77. Genichiro Tenryu vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 02/24/02

79. Yoshihiro Takayma vs Osamu Nishimura - G-1 Climax Semifinals

80. Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kensuke Sasaki - G-1 Climax Round Robin

81. Toryumon Trios Three-Way - Toryumon 7/7/02

82. SUWA vs Dragon Kid - Toryumon 08/24/00 Hair Vs Mask

83. GHC Tag Champs Misawa & Ogawa vs Saito & Inoue - NOAH 9/10/04

84. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Masato Tanaka - Zero-One 3/02/02

85. Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase vs Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata - Tokyo Dome 10/08/01

86. NJPW(Liger, Minoru , Makabe) vs Osaka Pro(Delfin, Murhama, Tsubasa)-NJPW 12/14/00

87. Toryumon Trios Three-Way - Toryumon 08/14/01

88. Toshiaki Kawada vs Vader - AJPW 2/17/00

89. Shinya Hashimoto & Yuji Nagata vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama - Zero-One 3/2/01

90. GHC Jr Heavyweight Tag Champs KENTAFuji vs Kanemaru & Hashi Budokan 9/12/03

91. U-30 Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - Tokyo Dome 01/04/05

92. Toshiaki Kawada vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 06/06/01

93.  Naoki Sano vs Minoru Tanaka - Battlarts 01/30/2000

94. Dick Togo vs Tiger Mask IV - M-Pro 08/25/02

95. GHC Tag Team Champions Wild II vs Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito - Budokan 9/23/02

96. GHC Heavyweight Champion Naomichi Marufuji vs KENTA - Budokan 10/29/06

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SUWA vs Dragon Kid - Toryumon 08/24/00 Hair Vs Mask 

This was different thats for sure. It was like someone took ECW/Lucha/Japanese Juniors put in a blender and out came this oddly fun match. There was a lot leaving me scratching my head. Was it 2 out of 3 Falls or did Ultimo Dragon just restart the match? Maybe if I spoke Japanese that confusion could have been avoided but that was 2000 WCW at its worst there. Still maybe it is because I grew up in the late 90s, but there is something about gratuitous interference that does not bother me as much as other wrestling fans. It is entertaining its own way. Actually most of my problem with this match was with Dragon Kid. His offense was so Indy-riffic and pointless. I thought Kojima was bad with Ace Crusher variations, Dragon Kid was killing me with all these setup spots for his stunners. Then add that he will get his ass kicked and just pop up. You are the tiniest dude on the roster you can butter your bread selling. Like for instance SUWA makes a big deal that he is going to elbow Dragon Kid in the balls and he does. Immediately Dragon Kid avoids his next move and does a somersault off the top rope onto the floor. It was a ball shot, dude. Given the two other reviews I read for this match I agree that SUWA was very good and could have been something more if he ended up in a different promotion. Though my disagreement with the previous reviewers is I liked the first/fake fall (?) more. Dragon Kid leaping out onto SUWA during his entrance. Then SUWA as his only defense chucked a chair at Dragon Kid when he tried coming off the apron. I loved SUWA throwing him into the chair and punching young boys. Even though he is bigger than Dragon Kid he still rakes the eyes as a cut off and then goes and rips the mask. At that point, I was just thinking this maybe a fun lucha brawl. I was not buying Dragon Kid's hope spots at all. I was glad SUWA pinned him with a powerbomb, but I think Ultimo Dragon restarted the match because his feet were on the ropes. Dragon Kid tries the only strategy he seems to know and that is bullrushing, but SUWA just uses his momentum against him. I actually dug the dropkick spot where SUWA dropkicked him and Dragon Kid went halfway across the ring. It is worth checking out. Kid hits a rana off a splash mountain attempt. Ref bump. Melee ensues with what seems like the entire roster in the ring. I was digging the chaotic feel of this. I thought the ending was the weakest part, but others seemed to like it. Dragon Kid should stick with hurricanranas because he hits those a lot more wickedly than those awful Stunner variations in his comeback. They hit this convoluted powerbomb that looked like it should be an gymnastics routine where basically does a 360 front flip. I will say the Dragonrana was pretty fuckin bitchin'. Evil Dragon Kid beats up Dragon Kid, but Dragon kid still has the wherewithal to shave SUWA's head. SUWA extends the hand in respect. The audience applauds and then SUWA kicks a field goal right through the uprights. He fuckin destroys a chair around this young boy's head. SUWA is pretty awesome. I didn't hate this. I actually found it a breezy, entertaining 25 minutes. I would not want all wrestling like this but SUWA gave a pretty good heel performance and Dragon Kid was not too cumbersome a piece of luggage. ***1/4

You have not even seen SUWA's performance against KENTA, yet! Get a grip, lady! 

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UWA World Trios Champion Crazy Max (CIMA, SUWA, Big Fuji) vs. Sekigun (Magnum Tokyo, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito) vs. M2K (Maasaki Mochizuki, Kanda, Darkness Dragon) - Toryumon 08/14/01

Nothing like jumping feet first into Toryumon with their first three-way trios match. Dragon Gate is always something I read about, but never really took the time to watch. Who has time for Dragon Gate when they are watching 90s All Japan for the first time? I don't know if it would help or hurt this match if I understood the backstory better. From my understanding, M2K (leader, Mochizuki) and Crazy Max (leader, CIMA) are both heel stables, but M2K is more heelish. Sekigun (leader Magnum Tokyo), meaning home army, was comprised of two of Toryumon's biggest babyface stars, Magnum Tokyo and Dragon Kid, both of who I remember appearing in WCW in 1998. I was really into dancing gimmicks as a child and I have very fond memories of Alex Wright, Disco Inferno and Magnum Tokyo stable. My perception of Ryo Saito was that he was any up and coming babyface and the general whipping Boy. Darkness Dragon is the evil mirror universe Little Dragon. Kanda, Mochizuki and SUWA are you standard heel Japanese characters. Fuji is notable for being bigger than the average Toryumon competitor (Magnum Tokyo is also pretty big). CIMA is a lot more fliptastic than your standard heel.

All that being said, I don't always turn my nose up at spotfests especially when the out and out intention is just have a fun spotfest, but this did have long stretches where not a lot seemed to be happening. I liked the tentative beginning between the three leaders and their knucklelock, before a weak melee broke up. I enjoyed little spots like messing ultra-heel Mochizuki by knocking out all his tag partners out and doing a dive train on him in the corner. Fuji turning on Saito with a lariat was fun, but set up a boring heat segment. Dragon Kid was much better in this setting than in the singles match with SUWA with all his flips. I liked Darkness Dragon dropkicking Dragon Kid while he was in a Giant Swing. Also the double huge bump off SUWA dropkick was cute. SUWA hits a super bomb for two on Dragon Kid. In a melee, CIMA takes a slam and La Magistral cradle (yep its Ultimo Dragon's promotion) by Darkness Dragon eliminates Crazy Max. Surprisingly, the finish run is pretty boring. Dont get me wrong a Shooting Star Press is always a badass grand finale, but the run-up was pretty dull. This was pretty underwhelming by normal spotfest standards. ***

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UWA World Trios Champions Crazy Max (CIMA, Don Fuji, TARU) vs Sekigun (Maasaki Mochizuki, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito) vs. 

M2K (Magnum Tokyo, Darkness Dragon, Genki Horiguchi) - Toryumon 7/7/02

Crazy Max comes into the annual Trios Squared match with the titles again, but will they retain them. CIMA has dumped SUWA for another Caps Lock fiend, TARU, who is a scary looking muthafucka. Big Fuji is no longer Big. Instead he is a Don with the slick black hair, which I dig. The other change-up is that Mochizuki and Tokyo have switched sides, which I think better suit their personalities. Mochizuki was too bland to be a heel, but as a babyface he fits right in with Dragon Kid and Saito. The cocky Tokyo can use his flash to really draw the ire of the fans. I have decided that it is is the nine men that really ruin the flow of the match. Whenever, two teams are building some sort of rhythm all of sudden you have another team getting into the fray and it is jarring rather than chaotic. Most of the heat was between Dragon Kid and M2K, but Crazy Max would keep ruining the flow. Really I felt like Crazy Max did not have much to offer in this match in terms of the storytelling of the match.

The 2002 incarnation of this match was much more action packed the 2001 match and for that reason I enjoyed more. I liked spots like Horiguchi playing up his surfer past by riding the "waves" on the back of two opponents. My favorite spot was when sworn enemies Darkness Dragon and Dragon Kid team up on TARU. Only for Darkness Dragon to turn on Dragon Kid. The Fuji chopfest where his six opponents chopped him and he chopped each one of them was also cute. All the suplex stuff was not as fun. I liked Tokyo fucking around with Dragon Kid and wish that it was just M2K vs Sekigun because I think that would be a badass match. Dragon Kid spikes someone with a hurricanrana, but Darkness Dragon swipes his mask and in the shock he is pinned. Great first elimination and sets up the mask vs mask blowoff. Again, I didn't think the finish run was all that strong, but then again the heat was not really between Crazy Max and M2K. CIMA wins with one of his slams (Schwein, maybe)

I am still waiting for Toryumon to really knock my socks off. ***1/4

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I wish that was Dragon Kid holding a picture of himself holding a picture holding a picture of himself holding a picture of himself

UWA World Trios Champion M2K (Genki Horiguchi, Ryo Saito and Susumu Yokosuka) vs.

 Do Fixer (Maasaki Mochizuki, Dragon Kid, Kenichiro Arai) - Toryumon 6/29/03

A year later and once again the complexion of the Toryumon landscape has greatly changed. Plucky upstart Ryo Saito has been seduced by the Dark Side and now rides with M2K. Genki Horiguchi has parlayed his LeBron-esque hairline into a huge heel gimmick as he is quite annoyed the Japanese fans keep heckling him with "Hage" (Bald). In addition, he has developed a new weapon that all have fallen prey to: The Backslide From Heaven. Even though I have not seen Susumu Yokosuka yet, he is quite important as he is a original founder of M2K. In fact, his original last name was Mochizuki, no relation I believe. When Mochizuki turned face, they feuded over the surname ala Booker T and Big T with Mochizuki winning the name and forcing Yokosuka to change his name. Kenichiro Arai is just a longstanding Toryumon babyface. Do Fixer is a babyface stable that was born out of the conclusion of the Dragon Kid/Darkness Dragon feud with Dragon Kid winning Darkness Dragon mask and his respect. The three formed Do Fixer the first permanent babyface faction to my knowledge in Toryumon.

Sometimes less is actually more because these six guys rocked it in a way that past nine have not achieved. It was not just telling a more coherent story that helped because it did break down into a spotfest, but there was more rhythm to the spots. It is hard to explain but everything seemed more natural. The beginning was actually some pretty good fundamental wrestling. It did get boring at times, but there was plenty of quality. I really liked them playing up Horiguchi's receding hairline by him selling them yanking his hair so well and begging off. The Arai hand heat segment was really well done. It actually did play a part in the rest of the match. I liked that a simple elbow kicked it off, but if your hand was taped and elbow you would be hurting too. Lots of stomping, taunting, biting and chair slamming always equals great work. Then they ratcheted everything up. I love Mochizuki's axe kick. They did some great work eliminating by attacking his knee. Dragon Kid was really good in this with a spring hurricarana to the floor and his spike one with a nice break up by dropkicking him in the head. Horiguchi was so great at being a heel, violent on offense (especially attacking Arai's hand) and a chump on defense. BACKSLIDE FROM HEAVEN~! Kick out at 2!!!! WHAT!?!??!! Arai is getting his ass kicked. Arai able to get the Double Chickenwing but all focus on the blue briefcase and dropkick by Horiguchi. Mochizuki blasts Horiguchi with blue briefcase and a Arai Tiger Suplex wins the titles!

I loved that the whipping boy of the match was able to get the big win over the main heel. Dragon Kid was great as a spot monkey. Arai was awesome as the face in peril. Mochizuki has a strong leadership quality to him. Ryo Saito was awfully quiet and thought he would deliver more. Susumu did not show much either. Horiguchi was definitely the star of this match and I look forward to more of his matches. ***3/4

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UWA World Trios Champions Do Fixer ( Maasaki Mochizuki, Dragon Kid, Kenichiro Arai) vs M2K (Genki Horiguchi, Magnum Tokyo, Susumu Yokosuka) vs Crazy Max (CIMA, SUWA, Don Fuji) vs Italian Connection (Milano Collection AT, Condotti Suji, YOSSINO) - 

Toryumon 08/30/03

This is the Three Stooges if the the Three Stooges were twelve wicked athletic Japanese guys, three of whom think they are Italian. The first half of this match is some of the best comedy wrestling you will ever watch. I loved the thread that was woven throughout this whole match was gang up on M2K. When Dragon Kid and Arai turned on Horiguchi and worked over his scalp that was hilarious. I thought the testicular psychology of Liger/Minoru vs Kanemaru/Kikuchi was bitchin, but the SCALP PSYCHOLOGY~! of Horiguchi matches has been so funny. I am not going to ruin this match with some recap of the spots. Go and watch these dudes rip it up in the ring. Also a midget in a Gorilla costume gets involved. This match has everything. What is great when it comes to time to hit the finish, they get more serious, but still keep it fun. Everybody has a chance to shine. I had always heard of the Italian Connection and on paper is sounded tremendous and they did not disappoint. I highly recommend watching the other Toryumon matches first even though they are not as good because it gives you a feel for the style and an appreciation for how bitchin this is when it all comes together. ****1/4

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We got the Best of the Junior Heavyweights in 2005-2006, the Best All Japan in 2005-2009 and the Best of BattlArts in 2005-2009! WOOHOOOO!!!