Short & sweet: AJ Styles had fucking incredible 2014. Words cant do it justice. WATCH! WATCH! WATCH!
Doctor Doctor by the Thompson TWINS
Match Listing:
IWGP Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Kazuchika Okada - G-1 Climax Day 1 2014 ****
AJ as a awesome trash talking heel. Does Okada have a counter for Styles Clash?
IWGP Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Tetsuya Naito - G-1 Climax 2014 Day 2 ****1/4
AJ as a sadistic heel as Naito bleeds for our enjoyment
IWGP Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Minoru Suzuki - G-1 Climax Day 7 ****3/4
Best match of the year? AJ Styles proves himself to New Japan fans and fans worldwide
IWGP Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Hiroshi Tanahashi G-1 Climax 2014 Consolation Prize
Good first encounter that sets up the big championship bout up really well
IWGP Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Kazuchika Okada - G-1 Climax Day 1 2014
I was super pumped to get started on some AJ Styles in New Japan and what better place to start then where he really opened people's eyes in the G-1 Climax. Coming into this match. AJ Styles was riding a two match win streak over Okada having defeated him for the title in early May. I have seen about three Okada matches in my life, two were back in 2012 when he broke out and then one a couple months ago when he was a young boy. I don't have a real feel for him. This match while great did not really lend me anymore insight than I had previously. He seems like he is an all-around capable wrestler who knows how to carry himself, which is critical. Okada's entrance is really cool with the robes and chains. American wrestling needs a colorful figure like that. He is definitely someone I will be exploring in the near future as I plan to catch up on New Japan.
For someone (*cough*Meltzer*cough*) to say this is Styles' best match or best performance is pretty disrespectful to AJ, in my opinion. I have seen a lot of AJ and he has had plenty of matches that are a total level above this match. I am not trying to slight the match. The match was a great match, but it was opening day of the tournament match. It is going to whet your appetite not satisfy it. Plus with AJ's title not on the line and AJ being up 2-0 in his personal series against, Okada you knew it was time for Okada to get his win back so the same level of drama was not there. To make a comparison to American wrestling, I would say this would be a candidate for the Best RAW match of the year, that's level it was at,
AJ yapping it up during the match was awesome. It is a new part of his arsenal (unless something changed late in his TNA run) and I loved it. He was trash talking Okada asking him if that's all he got when he was in a straitjacket surfboard or after he took control, mocking the Okada chants. The verbal beatdown added a lot to the heel heat section. The opening part of the match was well-worked armwrenches before they tease hitting their finishers. From there, Okada takes over with a big back body drop on Styles. Styles lunges at Okada with two fists to the throat. I love that as a heel transition. Like I said Styles heat segment was definitely taken up a notch by his trash talk. Styles brings back the jump over the railing on an Irish Whip. Okada follows up with a cross body. They tease the double countdown. Not much has changed since 2009, I see. :)
Okada puts AJ in a wicked STF (Take notes, Cena) and Styles is very vocal about how much it hurts. AJ uses the suplex into the turnbuckles as a desperation transition as we have seen before. I like that spot utilized for that purpose. He follows up with a torture rack into a powerbomb, damn that was nice. AJ is thinking it is time to end this. First he crashes and burns on the springboard 450. Then he goes for the Styles Clash, but nothing doing. The ref gets bumped (oooooooo that's different from the 2000s). Okada hits a sweet top rope elbow drop, but there's no ref! Here comes Yuijro of the Bullet Club, but he gets taken out with a dropkick to the head. Okada goes for the Rainmaker, but reversed into a German and Pele. The Pele kick is the usual set up for the Styles Clash, but Okada reverses the Clash into a TOMBSTONE! RAINMAKER~!
After succumbing to the Styles Clash twice, Okada had a counter this time with the Tombstone leading to his Rainmaker finish. The early part of the match was carried by AJ with his trash talk. The last part was very solid escalation. AJ took over with the suplex into the corner and began working towards putting Okada away. At each turn, he was just too premature and could not make the most of Yujiro's help. Okada had an answer for pretty much anything Styles threw at him and conquered him with the Rainmaker. It never reached that next level, but it built to a very satisfying conclusion. Can my boy, AJ, pick up the pieces and gain some momentum in night 2 against the up and coming Naito? ****
IWGP Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Tetsuya Naito - G-1 Climax 2014 Day 2
The champion comes in with a loss and looks to get things back on track against Naito, who seemed poised on the cusp of breaking out earlier in the night. In fact at the 2014 Dome Show, he was the challenger for Okada's IWGP Championship, but the fans selected the Tanahashi/Nakamura I-C match as the main event, which showed that in the fans' eyes Naito just was not quite there yet. From what I read, his career was on the verge of collapse until a series with the hard-hitting Ishii over the NEVER title resuscitated his career. I have seen about one or two Naito matches, but don't remember much. I will definitely remember this match as Styles and Naito put on a very dramatic, intense match on the second day of the 2014 G-1 Climax.
AJ continues the chattiness of the Okada match and I am already hooked. Tie up in the ropes "Get him off me! Do your job!" You tell em, AJ! They go tit for tat early trading headlocks and Naito even hitting a Styles-like dropkick. AJ will not be shown up and unleashes a Jim Brunzell-beastly dropkick that reopens Naito's wound on the top of his head. AJ is just all over that wound. He pretty much does everything you want him to do short of gnawing on it. He elbows, knees, and claws at it. This is AJ at his most violent. I always thought he was good at taking the lickin' and keep on tickin' in the violent matches, but I loved seeing him dish it out here!
Naito looks to create some offense, but on the apron AJ trips him and takes a header right onto the apron. Damn! Great cutoff! DId not milk it. Rather they milked a double clothesline for a teased double countout. That would not have been my choice. Just when you think Naito was going to take over with a superplex AJ drops through his legs and hotshots him head first into the turnbuckle. If they just had a little more time and had Naito really sell these cutoffs, this would be a strong MOTYC. AJ runs through his usual high impact spots: pele, brainbuster to set up the Styles Clash. Naito fights out of the Styles Clash and looks for a Super Frankensteiner. BLOCK! He has him in the Styles Clash, but he fights out. Naito dropkicks him as he comes off the top. German suplex by Naito and he fights through AJ's strike combination. Star Dust Press wins it!
Can't believe I am going to say this, but I wanted this match to be longer. I know, I know I kept bitching and moaning about loooooooooooooooong NOAH matches, but if they had more time to flesh this out. This would have been awesome. Styles was violent and Naito was a great scrappy underdog. Let some of those cutoffs breathe and let Naito build towards a satisfying finish (a bit out of nowhere). This is match of the year. As it stands, it is very damn great ****1/4
IWGP Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Minoru Suzuki - G-1 Climax Day 7
Minoru Suzuki is pissed. He is pissed that some arrogant, punk outsider just waltzed in here and is now the champion. This is not time to stick out tongue and play mind games. That shit is reserved for those who earned it. He is here to teach a lesson in respect. Minoru Suzuki walking tall is the best thing ever! I would say this is probably the greatest heel vs heel match ever, but I would hear the argument that Suzuki is just a babyface using violent heel tactics to kick some ass. AJ Styles proves he is here to stay. He can take a lickin' and keep in tickin'. He is going to earn his stripes. Even if that means losing the use of his right arm, he is going to earn the respect of Suzuki and the New Japan crowd. It is amazing that the two biggest heels in New Japan basically play babyfaces in this match because they believe in what they are doing. Minoru Suzuki is going to send this Johnny Come Lately a message and AJ Styles is here to make a statement he won't back down. It just depends on your own sensibilities who your root for and on this night the crowd was 100% behind Minoru Suzuki.
Minoru Suzuki slaps the taste out of AJ's mouth early, but AJ scores a dropkick to retaliate. AJ uses his jump over the railing offensively by hitting a springboard forearm from the railing. I love Suzuki's angry selling. He is pissed that he is getting his ass kicked by Styles right now and there is nothing he can do. There is just a real sense of struggle to everything. Suzuki sees his opening and pounces. He trips up AJ on a springboard move and applies a hanging armbar and then kicks ever loving shit out of that arm. Suzuki is out to rip that arm off and beat him with it. I love him whipping AJ into the railing and then trying to pry the arm off while this Japanese girl just screams the entire in the background. AJ's verbal selling was so good in this. His yelps of agony really took this to another visceral level. AJ is able to roll through a couple arm drags to snap off a suplex into the turnbuckles to stop the bleeding. At this point one of Suzuki-Gun jumps AJ and here comes the Bullet Club. I like the heel gang vs heel gang warfare in the middle. AJ is so committed to selling his right arm, he hits all his strikes with his left hand and they look damn good! I love how quick and explosive this strike exchange was. There was no waiting out, goading people to hit each other. They just both desperately wanted to knock the other out and they ended up knocking each other out.
Then the match goes from excellent to instant classic in one simple moment. AJ does the Bullet Club Gun signal and puts it to Minoru Suzuki's head. Suzuki did not like that. Not one bit and AJ you aren't going to like Minoru Suzuki when he is angry. Minoru Suzuki grabs that finger and tries to wrench it off of AJ's hand, who is screaming in pain. The ref is even trying to tell Suzuki to watch the fingers. Styles tries to come back with springboard forearm, but that is caught into an armbar and Suzuki is going to snap that finger off. AJ is trying to everything and Suzuki just has an answer for everything. It feels almost hopeless for AJ. Suzuki goes for the piledriver, but AJ blocks. AJ knows it is Styles Clash or bust. Suzuki counters into a heel hook and Suzuki sniffs out AJ's second counter and grabs a cross armbreaker. AJ is dead to rights. Oh shit! Oh Shit! OH SHIT! STYLES CLASH OUT OF THE CROSS-ARMBREAKER!!! The kid may just got it. Suzuki spits at him. You feel like they are about to enter into Mortal Kombat. AJ is totally relying on left handed slaps as his right arm is fucked. Suzuki punches him in the face and thinks he has him. PELE~! Suzuki is knocked loopy. Go AJ GO! AJ wastes no time, he fights through the pain, hoists Suzuki up and STYLES CLASH! AJ wins!
AJ did not just win a G1 Climax match. He won the respect of the New Japan fans worldwide with that performance. Both wrestlers were wrestling on a out of this world level. Styles felt overwhelmed. His arm was toast and he could not get anything going. Suzuki was just ripshit the entire match and had every intention of beating AJ into submission. Then just like that a desperation Styles Clash while in a cross-armbreaker and AJ salvages his match. The selling from AJ was off the charts. His desperation in trying to survive was something most of wrestlers could never convey. The true anger of Minoru Suzuki is something you also do not see. This was not hatred. It was anger. It was amazing. Every move felt huge, consequential and urgent. It is a coin flip between Shield/Wyatts Elimination Chamber in this. It does not really matter because at the end of the day, wrestling fans win! ****3/4
IWGP Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
G-1 Climax 2014 Consolation Prize
The biggest star of the company facing the champion for the very first time in the 3rd place match of the G-1 Climax may seem like bad booking, but I think it is really, really good. AJ showed up and won the IWGP Champion and I believe some of that credit is shared among the Bullet Club. Thus AJ has never faced most of these guys. Sure, he is the champion and an experienced vet, but he is inexperienced against this competition. So it only makes sense he slipped up early against Naito. As we know from real sports, it is hard to beat the same twice or three times in the same season so it was bound that Okada would get his win back. He tied with Okada in the block, but Okada had the head to head tiebreaker. It also shows the clear divide between the top four stars (Tanahashi, Okada, Nakamura, and Styles) and everyone else. There is a parity among those four, but they are in a level unto themselves.
Now onto the match, which I think was laid out very well for what it was. People have said it was a bit off, clunky, awkward. I disagree with those negative words. Instead, I think they were showing this was their first match against each other and thus they were feeling each other out throughout the match. Their basic strategies were similar put myself in a position to hit my finish. It was a great first match in the series because they never give away too much, but they are both looking to win.
The start was very even, which really helps Styles' credibility, who looks like a real New Japan star after the G-1 Climax. One weird element was that Tanahashi did a spot that is usually done to heels. The one where you lay out on the top turnbuckle get kicked and then land crotch-first onto the top rope and the babyface shakes it. It was just weird to see the reverse happen. Knowing 2007 Tanahashi as well I do, he must have been drooling to reverse a quebrada into a dragon sleeper and lo and behold he did! Tanahashi cuts off an AJ springboard by tripping him up and that was a nasty fall. My favorite AJ spot ensues, he jumps over the railing, thinks he is so smart and then eats a cross body. Never gets old! In the long standing debate of does Tanahashi's offense looks like it hurts? I think his elbows do, but yes his body punches are Kofi Kingston-light in this match.
Styles obliterates Tanahashi with a spinwheel kick, but Tanahashi grabs a Sling Blade. When Tanahashi pulls down on the head like here, it is a great looking move. The struggle over the Dragon Suplex into a Human Capture Suplex was the best part of this match. AJ really put over how much he does NOT want to go over in this suplex, but his damn arms are trapped, which makes lifting his shoulder very difficult. Tanahashi hitting a Dragon Suplex out of Styles' strike combination was so awesome! AJ has cut off the High Fly Flow twice and the Styles Clash has been cut off once. Tanahashi struggles again on the Styles Clash so AJ hits a GANSO BOMB~! A word on that later. Styles goes for his own High Fly Flow, but eats knees and then Tanahashi hurries to hit his own, but the same fate awaits him. Styles goes for the Styles Clash for a third tim, but Tanahashi is able to get a reverse victory roll to win the match. Bullet Club attacks, Double J feigns the save and smashes a guitar over Tanahashi's head to join the Bullet Club.
As a first match this is perfectly fine. They both had each other well-scouted and Tanahashi was finally able to turn a counter into victory, but it was not definitive. It earns him a title shot, no doubt, but it leaves intrigue open for the winner. Overall, it was just a lot of each wrestler's highspots used against each other without much creativity, It lends itself to that storyline that they were both tentative and working with what brought them to the dance rather than responding organically. Lastly, I wish the Ganso Bomb (it is a safer version than Kawada used as opponent's head does not hit the match) was used more like the Burning Hammer or Emerald Flowsion as AJ Styles' super duper finisher rather than the move that Tanahashi gets up and runs around from 30 seconds later. It is a cool match up and entertaining throughout. I think they set the championship rematch up well. ***1/2
Jim Harbaugh sure has his work cut out for him next season. Ain't going to be a walk in the rose garden.
Yinling the Erotic Terrorist pins DANGEROUS K~!
The same used to hold true for the ultra-hard-hitting All Japan Pro Wrestling of the 90s. After the Split, All Japan was able to survive on the backs of three of the greatest legends in puroresu: Toshiaki Kawada, Genichiro Tenryu and Keiji Mutoh. This model was not sustainable and new stars would need to be promoted. The style redefined. Keiji Mutoh emerged as the President of All Japan and defining his brand as Pro Wrestling Love, which I think is positively awesome and so Inoki at the same time. Pro Wrestling Love was one of the first attempts to bring American style wrestling to Japan.
DANGEROUS KAROKE~!
HUSTLE, fighting opera, run by the one-time ultra serious, shoot-style practitioner, Nobuhiko Takada was an even more over the top attempt to import crazy American soap opera hijinx to Japan. One of my favorite HUSTLE storylines was that the Great Muta sprayed mist into the netherregions of Yinling The Erotic Terrorist. This obviously impregnated her and she laid a giant egg. No, GobbledyGooker did not pop put, but rather sumo wrestler and current All Japan mainstay Akebono. It is absurdly badass in my book. HUSTLE also brought us Nobuhiko Takada and Toshiaki Kawada as karoke singers.
There's the Proud family!
Basically, I did not want to get through these reviews of 2000s Japan and not speak about HUSTLE. All Japan in the latter half of the decade was a more a serious version of HUSTLE. There were rival gangs like the Voodoo Murders and RO'D. Every match is preceded by video packages because of the importance of storylines and angles. There are a lot more run-ins, interference and general shenanigans. The junior heavyweights being pushed more was probably more of an influence of the New Japan juniors of 90s being successful and the rise of Toryumon/Dragon Gate.
The Mutoh name ensured that he would always have access to some of the biggest stars in Japanese wrestling. All Japan throughout the end of the decade was able to secure significant time from high-level freelancers like Kawada, Minoru Suzuki, Kensuke Sasaki and Yoshihiro Takayama. In addition, Mutoh had a strong, very upper midcard act in Satoshi Kojima that he could plug in right away and was grooming the hard-hitting, powerhouse, Suwama to be the next superstar. All Japan was producing the quality of NOAH, but in 2005 & 2006, it was really not far off the mark from New Japan, which had a hit a nadir. Once Tanahashi really rose to prominence in 2007, New Japan outpaced All Japan and never really looked back.
The big shift in All Japan booking came at the beginning of 2005. Throughout 2003 and 2004, Toshiaki Kawada was rewarded with the grand Triple Crown reign he deserved albeit 5 years or so too late. Kawada's best match of the reign was a wild, violent brawl with Naoya Ogawa and the most marquee match was the slightly disappointing dream match with Shinya Hashimoto. However, Kawada simply did not have the opponents to have the reign befitting of him, but he made do. In early 2005, much like his compatriot, Kobashi, it came time to put his reign to and end. Unlike NOAH, I think All Japan made the correct call on who should be the next champion, the crowd favorite, Satoshi Kojima. I have been hard on Kojima for being a generally uninteresting wrestler, but make no doubt about it. He was over like rover. To make matters even better, he would win the IWGP Heavyweight title to be the first man to hold the two top titles in New Japan and All Japan simultaneously. So you can't say they didn't push the dude.
Like I said, try as they might puroresu was in a general malaise and Kojima just couldn't get them out. This leads to them a revolving door of legends like Keiji Mutoh/Great Muta, Sasaki, Suzuki and Takayama. Minoru Suzuki who was oddly quiet in the 2000s dragged one last great match out of Mutoh in what I believe to be Mutoh's last. Takayama had a fun 2009 run as a hard hitting giant and his war with Suwama was reminiscent of his great battle with Sasaki in New Japan. The best matches of All Japan much like in late 90s WCW did not feature their cast of legends, but the up and comers.
In 2008, All Japan brought in the red hot Hiroshi Tanahashi from New Japan, who was fresh off a string of excellent matches in New Japan that revitalized the company after founder, Antonio Inoki's departure. All Japan could not have been disappointed by Tanahashi who had kickass matches with a legend like Kawada and their up and comer, Suwama. Tanahashi played the cocky, pretty boy heel to perfection getting under the crowd's skin and by the end of each the match the place was rocking to see Tanahashi get his shit kicked in.
The best match from All Japan during the time span was from the newly pushed junior heavyweight division featuring Kensuke Sasaki protege and boy wonder, Katushiko Nakajima, who at 19 years old, tore the house down with Shuji Kondo. The match featured some of the best mid-match strategy-altering I have ever seen. As Nakajima looks to take away Kondo's strength advantage by taking out the arm, his neck is severely injured and thus he has to go for big head shots to stay in it. I love when a wrestler takes what is given to him and responds in a natural way. Nakajima was wise beyond his years and Kondo was no slouch in this 2007 Match of the Year Contender.
Nakajima The Supernova
Match Listing: AJPW Triple Crown Champion Toshiaki Kawada vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 02/16/05 ***1/2
Kawada chokes huge. The Kojima Era begins. Pretty good "epic" title change
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.
All Japan Jr. Hvywt Champion Shuji Kondo vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - AJPW 2/17/07 ****1/2
#47 out of 100 - Must Watch
Awesome chess battle it is Kondo's strength against Nakajima's strategy. Nakajima battles neck injury.
AJPW Triple Crown Champion Toshiaki Kawada vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 02/16/05
How did he lose?
CHOKE: Toshiaki Kawada's Soft Drink of choice. How the fuck did Kawada lose this match? He absolutely dominated the first 20 minutes of this match. Kojima looked like the Denver Broncos just overwhelmed and outmatched by Kawada on the biggest stage All Japan could offer at this point. Kojima could not get anything started without Kawada taking over seemingly at will. I did enjoy the throwback to old school All Japan with the surfboard. The only thing stopped me from losing interest in this blowout was that crowd never gave up on Kojima. He was over at the start of the match, when he was getting his ass royally kicked and at the end of the match. Say what you will about Kojima and his modified Ace Crushers, but dude was over and if All Japan had anybody worth a damn at this point he could have been an effective Ace in terms of pleasing their core fanbase. He still cheering for him through the powerbombs, the half crabs and stretch plums.
Now for me, the layout CHALLENGED my interest because I didn't believe that Kojima had a puncher's chance. This style of match is pretty tricky because you either make Kojima look like a jabroni if he loses or Kawada look like the biggest choke if he loses. The drama in this type of match usually comes from the guy working underneath having one big home run shot that he can hit that can change the complexion of the match. The problem is Kojima has no such move. His Ace Crusher, which could be his home run (DDP and Orton have utilized it that way) has not been protected. So you have this jarring discontinuity in the match where Kawada kicks his ass for 20 minutes and Kojima does an extended comeback (At one point, Kojima hits a roaring elbow and Tiger Driver and could help think to myself is this a bad Misawa parody. ) rather than a flash comeback. Based on Kawada's selling, I don't think you can make a case for rope-a-dope because he didn't seem to punch himself out rather Kojima just sort of went from getting his ass kicked, to getting his ass less kicked until eventually he won. Kawada was still hitting Back Drop Drivers and drilling brainbusters. It was making him look more ineffective than Kojima strong. You got to love Kawada though because when it is time to sell he is totally committed as he sells this weird top wristlock/arm figure-4 like death even though Kojima shoulders should be counted down. Kawada hits another back drop driver and powerbomb. From a kayfabe perspective, how the hell did he lose. The Kojima lariat barrage was really well done because of the escalation of the lariats and Kawada's selling.
I enjoy Kawada kicking people's asses, dont get me wrong. I think they tried to shoehorn Kojima into a role that he did not fit. As much as I mocked Kojima for his Ace Crusher variations, he is not a horrible wrestler. They could have worked a momentous title change to mark the passing of the guard from Kawada to Kojima. I just thought the match was far too disjointed from the opening 20 minute ass whupping AND A standard extended comeback when Kojima needed some bigger spots. I know was awfully harsh on this match, but I think it demonstrates a really strong point of how a certain guy is not right for a given layout. That being said Kawada was really fucking good in this match. He escalated his offense throughout and was making Kojima earn his comeback. I just wish there was a stronger spot that said this is where the match went off the rails for Kawada and he really started to have to scramble. It never felt that Kawada was in trouble until he taking lariats and it was over. ***1/2
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. ***
AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs. Kaz Hayashi - Sumo Hall 8/27/06
Probably the most underrated junior heavyweight in history, Shuji Kondo
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
All Japan Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - AJPW 2/17/07
Strategy in pro wrestling is often reduced to being very one dimensional. You work a body part to set up your finishing move. You attack an opponents' strength to neutralize their finisher. I am not saying all good pro wrestling needs more advanced strategy or this specific strategy. What this match offered was a rare instance of a multi-faceted strategy. Nakajima established early that his intention was to neutralize Kondo's strength advantage and his lariats by knotting up his arm. However, Nakajima did not have a finishing hold to directly translate this strategy into a victory. In addition, Nakajima took a nasty spill onto the guardrail that severely fucked up his neck. In a nice touch, Hokuto checked on Nakajima. It can not be underestimated how much Sasaki and Hokuto added to the match by being on the outside cheering on Nakajima. It felt like parents cheering on their kid.
Nakajima pressed on by kicking the arm to keep Kondo at bay, but Kondo overwhelmed with brute power zeroing in on the injured neck. Nakajima realized that Kondo's arm was too strong and that point of attack would not turn the tide. So he began taking head shots. Finally, Nakajima stymied Kondo's onslaught and with a dive to the outside. He levelled the playing field to finally return to his attack on the arm. He utilized mentor Sasaki's arm drag, but could not get the cross armbreaker as Kondo slammed out on it dropping Nakajima right on the back of his head. As much as this match was about Nakajima, Kondo was amazing at selling the arm the right amount. He was not blowing off Nakajima's work, but at the same time Nakajima really had not done enough to damage the arm so that it was totally useless. Kondo was fighting through the pain in a believable way. Kondo's slams really target Nakajima's neck, who cant seem to get anything started. In a great sequence, Nakajima is deadweighting Kondo on a powerbomb so Kondo blasts him with a elbow. Nakajima's sell would make Kawada proud. Kondo then spikes Nakajima on his head with a piledriver, but Nakajima kicks out. I will say the placement of that move was too early. The big flaw of the match begins here as Nakajima starts selling like Kaz Hayashi meaning he sells after he does a move not as he is doing it, but it is not as egregious.
Nakajima at this point has no hope winning this match via arm work (no real submission game) so he goes for head shots to set up Emerald Flowsion and a flying bodypress. Kondo signals for a lariat and Nakajima kicks the arm reversing into a Human Capture Suplex only for 2. I liked how after all the kicks to the arm that Kondo could use his arm properly on his slam so that the full impact was not delivered. It was good selling. I loved the axe kick on lariat arm. Kondo finally gets lariat, but it is not enough. I totally bit on the Northern Lights Bomb finish with Sasaki right there. Nakajima wins the match with a German Suplex.
This match had the potential to be a Match of the Decade Contender. The dueling body part psychology, the appropriate arm selling by Kondo, the amazing neck selling of Nakajima, the two-leveled Nakajima strategy all wove together to create a unique, dynamic match. The finish run did depart from this where Nakajima's comeback became a bit incredulous and his selling uneven and the moves excessive. I am not going to penalize the match too much because the base of the match was still there Nakajima defending against the lariat, working through his early match mishap (neck) and using headshots to create big offense. ****1/2
I wonder how Minoru Suzuki feels about Miley Cryus stealing his gimmick. How bitchin would it be if she stole his hairstyle too? I would become a Miley fan over night.
I would say what I am most surprised about is the lack of love for Minoru Suzuki in this Best of the 00s poll. He has been having a kickass 10s so I just presumed we would see more of him in this decade. Mutoh is a polarizing figure no matter what decade he is competing in. I definitely lean towards the pro-Mutoh SIDE in the 2000s with his barrage of dragon leg screws, basement dropkicks, figure-4s and Shining Wizards. It is really effective work, but it requires the opponent to add something. The maniacal Suzuki does a great job selling and coming off like a total lunatic at the same time.
The opening matwork is a little boring, but it is well-worked. The one THING the New Japan boys had over the All Japan boys was they were more well-versed in matwork so Mutoh does not seem out of place going up against a legitimate shooter even if his double wristlock is shit. Suzuki gets a deep double wristlock and applies the cross armbreaker and we have our first major turning point of the match. Mutoh bails and Suzuki is right on him attacking the arm using railings and the ropes at will. He does get a little cocky and while he is stepping through the ropes Mutoh catches the foot and everybody say it with me: DRAGON LEG SCREW!!! My favorite spot variation on the usual Mutoh work is the dropkick from the timekeeper's table to Suzuki's knee. I dig Mutoh's leg work and Suzuki was great at selling it. What really got my goat in this match was Suzuki worked a short cutoff getting a cross armbreaker and Mutoh totally no sold it by lying there and then just popping out into a figure-4. That really pissed me off because it really ruined what could have been interesting dual psychology and I hate when the cross armbreaker is disrespected.
Suzuki gets an ab stretch while Mutoh is on top and that is the trigger to Suzuki taking over. Suzuki does a great job showing how he is fighting through the pain to kick Mutoh's arm not that Mutoh is really selling it well. Suzuki hits his piledriver and goes back to the abdominal stretch. Suzuki goes to his bread and butter the sleeper. Mutoh is a bit taller than Suzuki so he has a leverage advantage in being able to whip him off and also not feel the full effect, but once Suzuki is able to get him on his back that all disappears and so when Mutoh tried to roll through a second time it almost cost him the match. After a pinfall attempt, Mutoh rattles off 4 Shining Wizards and no pin! Backbreaker, Moonsault, but Mutoh comes down hard on the knee and cant make the pinfall right away. Kick out! Oh so you will sell WHEN YOUR own move hurts you, but not your opponent's moves. I see you, Keiji. He hits a Shining Wizard but uses the hurt knee and again hesitates to make the cover. He looks to hit the backbreaker, but Suzuki rolls into a heel hook. Mutoh makes the ropes. Suzuki mocks Mutoh and gives him a taste of his won medicine with a Dragon Leg Screw, but goes to the well once too many and Mutoh hits a Shining Wizard. Suzuki is rocked and Mutoh goes for the Shining Wizard and Suzuki catches it into a heel hook to retain the Triple Crown.
I was really bothered by Mutoh's selling. He dropped the arm selling even though Suzuki kept going back to it and Mutoh slightly sold for the sleepers, but once he hit his knee on his own move then he starts selling that smacks of egotism. Suzuki was phenomenal in this. He is dangerous and he knows it, but is not afraid to sell. He had a near one year reign as Triple Crown Champion and I think I will go back and watch some of his matches after I finish up everything HERE. The finish stretch here is one of the better ones of the 00s and really liked the Shining Wizard counter to a dragon leg screw only to have the Shining Wizard countered into a heel hook. It is a not match of year contender, but still a great match. ****1/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 2008
This did not make the Best of Japan 00's voting, but could not simply resist watching one of my new favorites against one of my all-time favorite wrestlers. Tanahashi as the cocky, pretty boy that will do anything to win matches is incredible. What makes him such a great heel is that he is always doing something underhanded to take the advantage. Early on, he gets under Kawada's skin by slapping him on a rope break and running away.He transitioned this into a baseball slide and wiping out Kawada with a plancha. When Kawada started kicking his pretty face in with big boots and then whipping him into the railing, he tried to blow out Kawada's knee. Unfortunately for him, Kawada has not sold his knee all decade and he probably is not going to start for this punk kid. Kawada is the perfect foil for Tanahashi. Unlike Suwama and Goto for are ultra-serious Strong Style pro wrestlers. Kawada has character. He holds Tanahashi in contempt for flaunting his hair and being a punk. So when Kawada is beating the snot out of him it is all the better. They do a great build on the outside to a Kawada powerbomb where he just throws Tanahashi DOWN! Tanahashi has been a great bumper in the matches I have seen. He really makes people's offense look good. Just when it looks like Kawada has him beat as he goes for a second powerbomb, Tanahashi low blows him. Awesome! The finish run is very well-done with minimal no-selling. Tanahashi is just absolutely desperate. He throws everything at Kawada going after his knees, throwing out cradles and sprinting for High Fly Flow. Kawada is also working hard to win the match using cradles, hits his brainbuster and kicks to head. There is a real sense of urgency as the clock winds down to a draw. This is the best Kawada match seen since 2005 and is about on par with Misawa Dome match. Tanahashi played to 00s Kawada's strengths and that is just letting him kick ass and work a hot finish. The more I watch the more I believe that if the NWA travelling champ was still a thing that Tanahashi would be the best NWA champion today. He works great with a variety of opponents, he knows how to shine them up, he always gets the crowd invested in his matches, he knows how to work on top as a face or as heel and his finish run lead to a climax. It was great to see Kawada have another great match and this leaves me only more excited for more Tanahashi matches. ****
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Suwama - AJPW Champions Carnival 2008
All Japan, New Japan & NOAH aces all in one photo. Pretty damn cool.
In 2007 it seemed New Japan had left the dark ages of Inokism behind them, but 2008 was like the Black Death before the Renaissance we are witnessing today. Admirably, they tried to create a star on Tanahashi's level by having him drop the IWGP championship to Nakamura on the Dome show. This match did not make the project, but it is definitely, I am going to check out. To see how they since progressed (or perhaps retrogressed) since their great 2006 encounter and to see if Tanahashi plays the heel in the match. Much like in 2005 & 2006, it seems New Japan had partnered with All Japan, which included Mutoh winning the IWGP Championship. This was a death knell for championship match quality for the rest of the year. In addition, we saw Tanahashi wrestle in the Carnival against All Japan's hot, young prospect, Suwama.
I liked this match up a lot on paper before I even saw it for two reasons. One is both wrestlers are on the cusp of becoming The Man in their respective promotions. So you get a hungrier version of an Ace vs Ace showdown. In addition, there are few match ups I like more than the powerhouse versus the cocky pretty boy. This match, especially beginning, felt like I was watch Hiroshi Flair versus Lex Suwama. The cool paradigm shift in this match compared to the Flair vs. Luger series was Suwama was on Tanahashi's level so Tanahashi is even more tenuously in control than a Flair would be.
Hiroshi Tanahashi have the best consistent heat since the Kobashi title defenses. This crowd was red hot. Booing the shit out of Tanahashi and chanting for Suwama throughout the match. It does not matter if it is Greensboro, NC or Tokyo, JP, every crowd is going to love the pretty boy slam -> gloats, but unaware of the powerhouse no-sell -> pretty boy gets slammed. I love when wrestling transcends both time and cultures like that.
INCOMING!!! Huge pop for Suwama's suicide dive! Tragedy strikes for our hero as he was re-entering the ring, Tanahashi grabbed his leg and wrenched it with a timely dragon leg screw. Again, Tanahashi takes away the base of his stronger opponent. He is able to work a body part, but also create an opening for his preferred moves. Plus, cocky, shit-eating grin Tanahashi is awesome at working over the leg. I loved when Tanahashi is jaw jacking with the ref and gets speared, but it is right back to work on the leg. Suwama slaps the ever loving taste out of Tanahashi's mouth to HUGE cheers and mounts the comeback.
Unfortunately, Suwama does not really bother selling and the match does lose its way a bit. It is a bit too easy for Tanahashi to regain in intervening moments when Suwama should either be kicking his ass or making him earn it more. I liked Suwama going for a knee for a knee with a heel hook, but only lasted for a hot second. The Sling Blade countered into a Back Drop Driver is such a great spot. Tanahashi is a crazy bumper. He was getting absolutely tossed around by Suwama. Suwama hits this crazy German Suplex that Cesaro would be proud of, it was a sick dead lift. Tanahashi is overkilled, just like the Goto match, but to an more extreme degree. Tanahashi has not been hit with the powerbomb.
Tanahashi hits a High Fly Flow hits knees in mutual destruction, but Tanahashi comes out on top. He applies the Texas Cloverleaf, which won him the Goto match. This time it was just not in the cards. Tanahashi crumples him with a Dragon Suplex. He goes for another one, but countered into an overhead belly to belly. Here comes the powerbomb, but Tanahashi counters into a roll-up. Tanahashi showboating gets his head taken off with a lariat and finally the powerbomb ends it.
This and Goto matches are very close for me. Tanahashi is really excellent in both of them as the cocky, pretty boy heel that uses the dragon leg screw as a game changer. I loved the addition of the Texas Cloverleaf to the arsenal. I like Suwama better than Goto because he has more charisma and has some cooler power spots. I thought the beginning of the Suwama match was better because it was even more clear in its face/heel dynamic and was really entertaining. However, the finish run was definitely more overkill in this match. Tanahashi should not have survived that many slams on the neck to only get back on offense. The finish of the Goto match overwhelms the beginning of the Suwama match for me to put the Goto match ahead, but both will do very well. ****1/4
AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion Naomichi Marufuji vs Shuji Kondo - AJPW 11/03/08
I have a biger problem with the bomb throwing fests where I run though my moves for a bit and then you run through yours especially in this context because it does not treat the wrestlers as unique entities. Marufuji and Kondo have enough stylistic differences that they should be responding to each other rather than working as if they were against a generic create-a-wrestler. I understand the viewpoint that I should judge the match I got not the match I think I should have got, but I think when the match I get effaces character of the wrestler I don't think it is a very good match. The beginning of the match was easily the best part because you got to see those stylistic differences in action. Marufuji was outwrestling and using his quickness to stay in control. Then he went for a sunset flip powerbomb off the apron and Kondo just stepped on his face. Kondo used his power to attack Marufuji. Then as soon as Marufuji busted out that weak ass transition where the opponent literally carries him over into the ring so Marufuji can suplex him the match just plummeted him for me. It was a blinding barrage of suplexes, superkicks and lariats then just kept on going and going and going. I loved how they did "we are too exhausted to really hit each other" strike exchange about 8 minutes before the actual finish. I was just like fuck both of these asshole and I actually like Kondo. Kondo runs a bunch of his impressive power spots, but when he goes for Splash Mountain it is countered. Now Marufuji hits Spanish Fly, lariats and a Michinoku Driver for the victory. It was not even really that entertaining of a bomb fest. It was just really long, meandering and aimless.
AJPW TRIPLE Crown Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Suwama
Pro Wrestling Love 8 08/30/09
My main main, Takayama has risen to the ranks of ALL Japan Triple Crown Champion as AJPW continues their run of veterans as champions while they continue to build their only viable Ace, Suwama before they switched to their current penchant for sumo wrestlers. Mutoh is not Inoki weird, but definitely cut from the same cloth. All Japan for their troubles actually was not in that horrible shape when compared to Pro Wrestling NOAH. NOAH has a wider collection of young talent, but Suwama is definitely at the same level as all their heavies and is more consistent. I will say I need to see more Shiozaki and have not seen Suguiria. Morishima has been able to hit higher highs than Suwama, but Suwama is the more even wrestler. The problem is AJPW just has no one to pair him with at all. Suwama is pretty good straight ahead power wrestler that hits his spots and lays it in. He could use a little more fire at times, but as a meat and potatoes wrestler I have seen none better in his generation in NJPW, AJPW or NOAH.
Much like Sasaki versus Takayama, this is a fucking war! What I love about Takayama is that he has no obvious weaknesses. He is a giant shooter that can kick your ass with strikes, throws and on the ground. It means his opponent has weather an onslaught and take advantage of any mistake. Give Suwama credit, he does try to take it Takayama first with grappling, but caught in cravat and then a test of strength does not go his way. From what I read of Suwama is that he is country boy strong, the sort of Japanese equivalent of the cornfed farmboys of the Midwest so when his strength is not working then it is not looking too hot for the young stud. Suwama gets an early break when he throws Takayama out on the floor. I dig Suwama's double chops they make a great sound and look painful. Takayama is THE KING of Clubbering Offense. He makes knees and forearms look badass and interesting. Again, Suwama takes advantage by catching an errant Takayama kick and turning it into a throw. Suwama cant keep the advantage and they end up exchanging chops and throws. I just love two big dudes throwing each other around. SUWAMA BIG DIVE~! HOLY SHIT! Somewhere along the line Takayama's eye is swollen shut! The belly to belly throw off the top rope almost kills Takayama, which probably was not a terribly safe spot given Takayama's age and condition. Suwama steals Takayama's Everest Suplex to only get two, which takes to an All Japan video package is how Suwama beat Takayama in a tag match earlier in the summer. Takayama drills him with a nasty Dragon Suplex. Suwama puts up some resistance so Takayama nails him with a closed fist, a headbutt that busts Takayama open and Everest Suplex for win.
The two strikes against this match was that 2009 Takayama just isnt 2002 Takayama. He is a lot slower and not as healthy. He does excel at these gritty contests and his roughhouse style ages well. Suwama is a like a 90s Kensuke Sasaki before he adopted Kobashi-ism. He is a brick powerhouse, but he is has the added advantage of being taller than Sasaki so looking even more imposing. If you watch the video package, you will also see that Suwama has PROBABLY best looking powerbomb ever, but we don't get to see it in this match. The other strike is that it is a little two back and forth. At first, the transitions were Suwama catching Takayama, but not being able to sustain offense, but after a while it just became throw shit out at each other. This is one of the few matches where I felt the finish stretch actually helped the match rating because of how nasty Takayama was on offense and Suwama put up a strong resistance, but it was NOT too ZOMG FIGHTING SPIRIT~! Much like Takayama/Sasaki, I really enjoyed this match, but it is not really a MOTYC, but still very entertaining. ****
AJPW Triple Crown Champ Yoshihiro Takayama vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 09/26/06
I have this weird attraction towards ALL Japan in the 00s. I don't know if it is misplaced loyalty due to my love for 80s and 90s All Japan even though they are the same promotion in name only or if it is because it reminds me of a Japanese version of WCW. They have the strong veterans on top and have some interesting combinations headlining their shows. They use angles/storylines, which are usually stupid, but in a fun WCW way not a shitty TNA way. Most importantly, their wrestling matches feel like a throwback to the 80s and 90s. NOAH is so steeped in Kobashism, unless Akira Taue is wrestling, that you just need a break from all that overkill. New Japan just fucking sucked for years and we will see how it goes once Tanahashi and Co. take over, but All Japan actually has matches that build to a climatic finish rather than the false finish three spots before getting the biggest pop. Akira Taue in 00s All Japan would have been actually really awesome. The Holy Demon Army versus Mutoh/Kojima versus Tenryu/WAR Guy in the early 00s, YES PLEASE! Holy Demon Army versus Minoru Suzuki/Takayama, what a badass match that could have been! There was a lot wrong with All Japan, but my biggest problem has been Satoshi Kojima. I have really wanted to like him. I really did. You know who he reminds me of, 2005 John Cena. When they tried to make Cena into Austin (rebel against Authority, Bischoff), Rock ("funny" promos), Hogan (superman in the ring), Kojima uses Kobashi's chops, Misawa's Roaring Elbow and Hansen's Western Lariat. Who can forget Johnny Ace's Ace Crusher! C'mon dude make something your own.
The match is basically the Suwama match, but worse because Kojima is just mediocre at everything. Takayama beats the living shit out of Kojima and busts up his nose. Kojima tries to make the same comeback as Suwama, but does not have the presence or moveset. Ace Crusher, Kojima does not disappoint! Takayama brutalizes him with knees and he kicks out at 1 for a back drop driver?!?!?!? FUCK YOU PUNCH To FACE! Everest Suplex only gets two!??!!?? Yep, Kojima is winning, but before first, Takayama hits a nasty Dragon Suplex. Takayama is the God King of The Dragon Suplex. I actually liked Kojima popped up lariat when Takayama went for the big knee, but the following Lariats were not Stan Hansen-esque as the announcer was trying to say to win the TRIPLE Crown titles only to drop it to some lame sumo wrestler that is not Akebono.
It is not a bad match, but watching this back to back with the Suwama match you see how much better Suwama is than Kojima. Takayama BEATING up anybody is always going to be entertaining. He makes clubbering look so good. Kojima is just so blase. He was not as over as he was in 2005. ***1/4
The reason Puroresu Thursday got moved to Tuesday was because while I have watched all the badass AJ Styles G-1 Climax footage. I have not yet written it all up so look for that on Thursday!
Last night, count them, not one, BUT TWO girls walked up to me and told me "I love you!". A dude told me I was an inspiration. Just another night for Superstar Sleeze (@superstarsleeze), the hottest attraction in the Greater Boston Area, BABY!
I LOVE ME TOO! We have something in common!
My inspiration as a dance commander comes from my years of the watching the greatest art form that mankind has ever produced, professional wrestling. Arguably, the most outstanding wrestler of the past year in the world was my main man, AJ Styles! AJ Styles is my personal favorite wrestler of the past 15 years and has been very exciting that other people have jumped on the AJ bandwagon after he left TNA for New Japan Pro Wrestling and the US Indy Scene. Even thought, I have been beating the drum for AJ as a great wrestler (I will post those reviews over the course of time) while he was in TNA. He was often lumped in with the general "TNA sucks" talking point. It does bother me that a lot of the praise for AJ's phenomenal often comes with the remark "Look how much better AJ is now that he is not in TNA." It bothers me if people think there was some sort of epiphany AJ had last year and now he is outstanding and somehow sucked before. If the point is more along the lines AJ is so much better offer because TNA is a shitty promotion. Now that I can get behind as I agree TNA's promotional and booking strategies definitely hamstring every wrestler they have ever had. Make no mistake about it, AJ was a badass wrestler throughout the majority of his career.
I was worried though that now AJ was out of TNA. If he was still not well-received, he really would have no excuse. While I would go to like what I like, it always more fun when other people really enjoy what you like. So to have numerous people discussing AJ as a Most Outstanding Wrestler in the World candidate, really brings a smile to face. My smile was only further widen when I found out the Phenomenal One would be coming to my neck of the woods, Rhode Island, January 17th, XWA. Now due to other wrestling watching priorities, I missed out AJ Styles's awesome 2014 save for the ROH show in NYC, which was disappointing. AJ seemed game, but Okada was disinterested and Elgin was all over the place. Now it is time to rectify that.
BEST IN THE WORLD!
I decided to started with the lesser known portion of AJ's 2014 campaign: his US Indies Tour of 2014 because I will be viewing him in that setting. The most famous match of this tour and rightfully so that is against Chris Hero. Hero, much like AJ, departed from a major pro wrestling company, WWE, to strike it out on the road of the Indies and Japan (NOAH). As both were still in the nascent stages of their return to being true independent contractors, they met in one helluva slobberknocker. AJ Styles has this reputation for being a high-flyer and a generally pretty wrestler. Much like Brian Pillman, just because he can fly does NOT mean that is all he does. AJ can take to the mat (amateur wrestling background) and he knows how to get nasty with his strikes. In Dayton, OH, Chris Hero's hometown, Hero returned to take on AJ Styles in a dream match, but also one with high stakes as both men could be potential ROH World Champions in the future (once AJ signed with New Japan that seems unlikely as that is too much of a time commitment.) Hero's was using his knockout head shots like antiaircraft artillery. The story of the match became could Hero knock AJ's head off first or would AJ survive long enough to hit his own big bomb. Even more amazing than the great match was how it was presented as a real Clash of the Titans with a big fight feel. I cited Cena vs. Lesnar as pretty much the only match that could generate that feel for me, but damn did Styles and Hero do that for me and using ROH production values. In the US, I have this only behind the Wyatts vs Shield in my match of the year rankings.
The other marquee ROH match was against one half of the ROH World Tag Champions, the up and coming Kyle O'Reilly. I had seen reDragon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) against the Young Bucks at the ROH show in NYC I attended and it was a spectacular, mindless spotfest (the most entertaining match on the show from a firework perspective). O'Reilly is a little bland and it seems Fish adds the character portion of their team. Still, O'Reilly's violent attack on Styles weak arm from the G-1 Climax was badass. It was the perfect match for O'Reilly to excel and a real meat and potatoes match. Styles worked his ass off here. Just selling the arm like a million bucks. He took a 50/50 crowd to start to being totally pr-AJ in anticipation of his comeback. The Styles Clash teases throughout the match led to a real satisfying finish.
I am little worried about the AJ Styles I'll see because while he has ripped it up in ROH. His two Indy matches outside of ROH I watched were either disappointing or average. The first was not his fault as Kevin Steen just wanted to do a comedy the match. The Ricochet match until the finish was pretty by the numbers spotfest. I would be happy seeing a match like the Ricochet match just because seeing AJ would be a treat, but to see something along the lines of those ROH performances would be mind blowing. It is too bad he paired with Jason Blade and not Buff Busick.
Finally. if anybody has a copy of the AJ Styles vs Drew Gulak from the CZW 15th Anniversary, hook a brother up! Overall, AJ Styles has been really been able to showcase his talents on the Indy scene. He builds to the Styles Clash so well and is just an incredible seller. I always thought he had the best strikes of any X-Division wrestler, but his elbows seem to have a bit extra behind him and I love the addition of that strike combination. I look forward to watching AJ's matches from New Japan and especially this weekend for XWA in Rhode Island!
Match Listing:
AJ Styles vs Chris Hero - ROH 3/22/14
Slobberknocker. Hero's head shots against AJ's survival tactics. Match of the Year Candidate
AJ Styles vs Kyle O' Reilly - ROH 8/22/14
O'Reilly tries to bring AJ's arm home with him. AJ builds to Styles Clash perfectly. GREAT finish!
AJ Styles vs Kevin Steen - House of Hardcore V August 2014
A Steen comedy match. Avoid.
HOG Heavyweight Champion Ricochet vs AJ Styles - HOG 12/19/14
A little all over the place, but really good home stretch until bullshit finish.
Hero try as he might just could not kick AJ's head off his shoulders in this indy dream match, which has never happened in ROH during the Indy Golden years. AJ was not yet IWGP Heavyweight champion. They were touting the reason both men were back in ROH to win the one championship that has eluded them, the ROH World Heavyweight Championship. Chris Hero is the hometown hero in Dayton and I really liked the "Chris Is Awesome" chant. Unlike any other Indy match, this really had a big fight feel. When only a handful of WWE matches could even say they generated that same feeling that a feather in the cap of their reputations and on how they worked this match. It really felt like a Clash of the Titans with Hero trying to take AJ's head off and AJ trying to survive long enough to hit one big bomb to escape the jaws of defeat.
Coming out the nice chaining sequence, Hero gets his first big boot as he swats AJ out of the sky on a leapfrog attempt. AJ says two can play at the disturbing the typical running the rope sequences and gets up a bit early on his dropdown, which fucks Hero enough to hit a dropkick to send him out. They do a great job teasing dives on each other with Hero paying tribute Misawa's head and shoulder fake. AJ wins with a springboard forearm to the outside. Hero cuts AJ off with another big boot as he comes out of the air. Chris Hero is anti-aircraft artillery. AJ runs into the mother of all big boots to his head and does a great death drop sell. It is at this point, Hero knows exactly what his strategy is. Knock AJ the fuck out with knees, elbows and straight front kicks to the head. It was brutal, gnarly and violent. AJ is sick and tired of these kicks and tries to take out the knee with a dragon leg screw so Hero obliterates him with an elbow. But as Hero pours it on, AJ slowly starts to fade. First, he can get a bit of offense here and there and goes for Styles Clash, but then offensive spells get fewer and further between. AJ was just spot on checking to see if his teeth were there, glassy eyed selling, acting concussed. He starts running wholesale into big boots because he doesn't know what else to do. In a last ditch effort, AJ gets a suplex into the turnbuckles and he unloads his new strike combination, which Hero does well countering the Pele. Now it is Hero that is on jelly legs. Styles may have hit the head shot to get him back in it. Styles wastes no time and goes for the Styles Clash. Hero blocks and hits a wicked Akiyama-like elbow to the back of the head. ROARING BIG BOOT~! HOLY SHIT~! That was a great nearfall for Hero. Hero may have punched himself out and AJ has just enough in the tank to come flying back with lariats at Hero. Then he rolls through for the Calf Killer and Hero has nothing left to do but tap out. AJ survives.
It was Hero's anti-aircraft strategy of kicks, elbows and knees to the head against Styles's survival tactics. This felt like an absolute major clash of forces. It was important match for AJ on the indy scene and going forward in New Japan that he could take a licking and keep on ticking. I know he could I watched TNA stuff very closely, but for a lot of people I think they looked at AJ and saw X-Division wrestler, which means pretty flips and choreographed, floor gymnastics bullshit. AJ can take a whupping and deliver one. I don't know how many people thought AJ had this in him before watching this match. I know I did because his matches with Abyss, Bully Ray, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels only showcase this side of AJ Styles. Hero was really good in this and he had a MOTYC last year against Regal. For some reason, I have never sought out more Hero. I enjoy Hero, but he lacks that spark that really gets me interested. Damn, he still impresses. It is not just offense, the key to the match is the pele kick because that is the move that levels the playing field. If he does not sell that well then Styles' victory would ring hollow and he would like a chump for basically choke. Thus it was in his best interest to sell in doing so he got himself, AJ and the match over. This was a standup, knockdown slobberknocker. Definitely in my Top 5 American Matches of the Year so far. ****1/2
ROH World Tag Team Champion Kyle O' Reilly w/Bobby Fish - ROH 8/22/14
Everybody talks about the Hero ROH match from earlier in the year, but damn this is not that far behind it. AJ has been on point in ROH in terms of his selling and his timing his timing. Whether it was acting concussed or glassy eye for Hero's headshots or selling his arm so well for O'Reilly that ROH crowd was clamoring for the AJ comeback. I would say the biggest difference between this AJ and the AJ I knew was that he is definitely laying his strikes in a lot harder. I always thought Styles had one of the better working punches in TNA and is generally underrated in his striking. But here against O'Reilly, during the finish stretch, I was surprised how nasty his clolthesline and elbows looked. O'Reilly has a pretty bland look, but is a fun wrestler. When I went to ROH last year, reDragon (Fish & O'Reilly) had a really fun spotfest with the Young Bucks. O'Reilly wrestled this match much more straightfoward highlighting some "MMA" influences (read: he used kicks and a cross-armbreaker). I really liked O'Reilly focus on the arm and thought he came up with some innovative, but logical spots to attack the arm (hammerlock into a legsweep).
The announcers let us know before the match begins that AJ is coming in with a weak left arm from the G-1 Climax tournament. O'Reilly read the scouting report and goes after the arm early so AJ dumps him to the outside with a bodyslam. It was a great response by AJ to immediately get O'Reilly off him. Fish becomes a distraction and O'Reilly becomes a pitbull on that arm. The way he was wrenching it, you thought he was going to take it home with him. AJ is so great at slowly escalating his selling. AJ gets a quick counter and wants to get this match over with quick and goes for the Styles Clash, but his arm is messed up. He bursts out of the corner with a double fist to maintain control. Styles is able to continue hit other moves like the Skywalker Knee while his arm heals. Then on the outside, Fish distracts him again and O'Reilly whips him down on the bad arm. That's twice now Fish has been able to set up O'Reilly. Now AJ is really starting to milk his arm for sympathy as O'Reilly unloads on it with kicks and wrenches it with holds. Styles is scrappy, but O'Reilly always goes back to the arm. I love that when O'Reilly goes for any overly complicated suplex, AJ reverses it and suplexes him into the corner. AJ is so great on fighting through the pain on this comeback and displaying how he can't capitalize due to his injured arm. He keeps going for his big bomb, the Styles Clash, but this leaves him open for counters like cross-armbreakers and triangle chokes. The teased Styles Clashes really build to a cool climax. When Styles looks like he is done for in a triangle choke and AJ basically hits a one-armed Styles Clash in a desperation move. It was such a badass spot and they really milk with the ref counting both men down and the fans chanting "AJ Styles". Damn, well done. They go into a strike exchange, which as far as strike exchanges go was not that bad and liked the finish being the Pele kick. Crowd was really behind AJ and the crowd interaction made this more tolerable than most strike exchanges. Styles strikes especially the discus clothesline looked great. O'Reilly with great struggle on Styles Clash so what does Styles do he just drops him on his head GANSO BOMB~! That was sick. It should have been the finish, but Styles drives it home with the Style Clash.
It is the Styles Clash against the submissions of O'Reilly. O'Reilly has made it so the Styles Clash is damn near impossible to hit and set himself up for a submission victory. I love AJ's responses. He is injured and needs to get this match over with quickly. At every opportunity, he is going for his big bomb, arm be damned. With each tease of the Styles Clash, the tension mounts. O'Reilly looks like he is prime position when out of desperation hits the Styles Clash out of a triangle choke. O'Reilly was great at struggling through everything and really making AJ earn his comeback. It would have been easy for him to let the veteran, AJ overwhelm, but even after the match started to tip in AJ's favor he was still struggling up until the AJ's ganso bomb. I thought AJ's experience really came through here in how he sold and built his comeback. It went from a split crowd to a crowd that was 100% AJ by the end. Great, great work by AJ. ****1/4
AJ Styles vs Kevin Steen - House of Hardcore V August 2014
What a colossal disappointment! If I paid to see this match, I would have been ripshit. The crowd seemed to have fun with it, which is good on them. I was watching this on Bulgarian Youtube so I did find certain things humorous, but fuck I actually would have been kinda pumped to see this as a wrestling match. This is second time within in a year that Steen's sarcastic wrestling style has actively ruined a match. I thought he really killed the Nakamura match at the ROH show I went to. Some of his stuff was pretty funny like patting down the ref and yelling "Leave me alone" in the middle of the match. However, threatening to stay in a chinlock the entire match and jawing with a Cena fan was eyeball-roll inducing. Though AJ was actually pretty funny in his chinlocks with "I am either going to spoon him all night long or pop his head like a pimple". The best part of the match by far the commentators (Matt Striker was one) played this match super straight. So after the battle of allegedly comedic chinlocks they called this "a chess match" and I actually burst out laughing. They went into a finishing stretch where they hit a bunch of moves on each other with Steen aping the Stunner and the F-5. AJ wins with the Styles Clash. Fuck Steen Fuck! Total waste of AJ and if I was a paying customer, I would have felt ripped off.
HOG Heavyweight Champion Ricochet vs AJ Styles - HOG 12/19/14
Wow, an actually pretty decent indy commentary team! I thought they did a fabulous job putting over Ricochet while still mentioning his weaknesses. They stressed how important the championship is and that the goal of the match is to win, not to entertain. Really I think that is basic stuff, but so many commentators totally whiff on that. What really impressed me was their discussion of the Styles Clash. This was after Styles broke Yoshi Tatsu's neck. The commentators explained how critical the Styles Clash has been to his career and agreed he should use it, but were worried about the danger. It really increased the drama around the match and the Styles Clash.
Ricochet had quite the 2014 and seems like he is poised to breakout this year in a big way. He won NJPW Best of the Super Juniors and Battle of Los Angeles tournaments. He was the inaugural Lucha Underground champion, a key mainstay in Dragon Gate (decorated titleholder), and of course House of Glory champion. I was excited to take a look at Ricochet. I came away thinking he felt really Dragon Gate-y. He is good at incorporating extra flips into his offense and likes modified slams. He is not very good at strikes and is sort of all over the place as a wrestler. AJ did not seem to intent on reigning him in until the end of the match. This was a pretty tame spotfest. The first portion of the match was the best with some good mat wrestling until the finish. Ricochet would gain the advantage do some gloating and AJ would retreat to the corner. Ricochet is established as a grandstanding hot dog that may let his attitude get in his way of winning. AJ shows his veteran experience. Ricochet calls his shot, a People's Moonsault and AJ rearranges his face with a kick. The next five minutes were pretty spotty. AJ's offense looked crisp at least. There was an AJ legsweep and Ricochet started to sell the knee. I was hoping they could salvage something then Ricochet did two backflips and a Pele kick. But wait! Ricichet's knee is really starting to bother him and he struggles to hit a Shooting Star Press. and crashes and burns. Styles drags him over and figure-4 around the post. AJ looks to hit the Styles Clash, but Ricochet flips out. AJ wraps up the leg and CALF-KILLER! Ricochet makes the ropes. AJ is tenacious with a spinning toehold into a wicked STF. Bell rings, but it due to the time limit expires. He agree to five more minutes, but then the Bruiser Brody Midget attacked the both of them.
The beginning and the ending were pretty entertaining, but the body of the match was them just throwing shit out. AJ's offense especially elbows looked great. I really how he is into Styles Clash teases. They could have salvaged a good match with an appropriate ending to the knee work. It must be tough to book AJ because he is not going to job, but you want your top star to look good. It is kind of like the old NWA travelling champion philosophy. I think tag team main events that set up singles matches would be better. It is fine, but nothing that great.
Next time, we will look at the part of AJ Styles' 2014 that really cemented his status as a candidate for the most outstanding wrestler for the year: his run in New Japan Pro Wrestling, more specifically, the G-1 Climax!
How can you not love a world where wonders never cease? Nickelback wrote a really good rock populist anthem! What do we want? We want want change! How are we going to get there? REVOLUTION!!!
Now that's a Shining Star a wise man should follow
WWE fans have been clamoring for change for the past couple years and reached a fever pitch at the last Royal Rumble 2013. The fans in attendance "hijacked" the show shitting all over the Cena/Orton match and actively booing the Rumble itself when Boo-tista won and Daniel Bryan was not even a participant. WWE channeled this into a angle known as #OccupyRAW where Daniel Bryan was granted the right to face HHH at Wrestlemania and if he won fight for WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the main event of Wrestlemania. We all know how that went. At the beginning of 2014, fans thought they were standing on the edge of revolution with likes of The Shield, Wyatt Family and Cesaro taking the mantle of WWE main eventers only to be bitterly disappointed and in my opinion there was no bigger disappointment than The Shield.
Beginning of the Year: Shield Reigns Supreme
It is no secret that I loved the Shield and thought they were redefining tag team wrestling in the WWE especially the six-man tag match. Their all-out, full court press, Havoc offense was so fresh and exciting. It was gritty, organic and heated. If a one member was in deep shit, you best believe the other two members were not just going to stand on the apron. They were going to fuck you up. Once they had the advantage, they were going to suffocate you. Believe the Hype and Believe In The Shield:
At start of 2015, rumors abounded that Shield break up was imminent with a triple threat scheduled for Wrestlemania (see the Shield/Wyatts RAW recap for the seeds they were sowing). I was disappointed that the best act would be ripped asunder when there was still so much potential left in the group. Before they were to be broken up, they passed the torch to the new three-man wrecking crew, the Wyatt Family. Elimination Chamber 2014 was the last PPV before the launch of the Network, which makes it the last PPV I did not see live. I heard all the hype about this great Shield/Wyatts match that tore down the house and was a match of the year contender. Come year's end, there are still people touting it as the best match of the year. That is not just the WWE they mean in the world including New Japan Pro Wrestling and CMLL. Thus there was no match I was more excited to watch than this masterpiece. It was an awesome, heated fight between the six hottest young wrestlers on WWE roster. The Wyatts defeated The Shield at their own game: divide & conquer and taking advantage of chaos. The torch was not passed. It was seized.
How do you follow up the front runner for WWE match of the year? You have the best RAW match of the year of course. Take that gritty PPV match and now add a ton of urgency. They were on pace to even top themselves, but I felt the match was a tad bit too short and the discord angle detracted from it a bit. It was incredible on how chippy and heated it felt. It was a badass match.
Much like Daniel Bryan, the plans changed and The Shield remained intact through Wrestlemania. CALLOOH! CALLAY! After all, there was a natural big match for The Shield. I mean Batista was back and Randy Orton & HHH had been paired for the past year. It was only natural that The Shield face the Evolution. Who was the baddest gang in town? Whose turf was this? The match was great, but a bit of letdown from the awesome violence of The Shield versus Wyatt Family. It felt like best possible standard WWE tag team match where they tacked on a big finish that was able to get it enough juice to be called great.
We all thought we were safe. The Shield would finish the feud with Evolution intact, on top, and hungry for more with possibilities being boundless. Then it happened. Seth Rollins took a chair to the back of his Shield brethren. He had sold out to The Authority for greater singles riches.
He did not sell out! He bought in!
Limbo
I remained optimistic as did many while others decried that the hottest act was just destroyed for no reason. I hate to admit it, but the demise of WWE has had a great adverse effect on the quality of the show. You could not count on a great Shield match a RAW.
Roman Reigns clearly has potential to be the next major WWE main event star maybe even at a level of John Cena, but has been exposed in his new singles role as the new two babyface in the company. This destructive force that ruled the hot tag like before him is having a hard time generating the same exciting all by his lonesome. The electricity is still generated when he is clearing the ring of the bad guys and delivering that sweet, sweet Superman Punch, but over the course of 15-20 minutes, it is not sustained. I never wish ill on anyone, but it may have been for the best that he was injured when he was to avoid his heat totally evaporating. On the other hand, he lost valuable time in the ring where he could develop his skills.
Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins have been in a weird booking limbo where they simultaneously look good and like shit. Seth Rollins has effectively been the number one heel in the WWE since September. That should be great. It just so happens to coincide with three most miserable months of the company. He is being forced to carry 20 minute RAW promos that are just monotonous and downright HHH-ish. I mean HHH from 2003 bad. Between him and Bray Wyatt, the WWE promo landscape is as boring as your Dentist's office with the same Supertramp soft rock on loop. In the ring, the Authority's poster boy has not been doing that much better for himself. The Cena feud has delivered some good matches, but nothing memorable and quite honestly nothing has even reached the level of their excellent 2013 Smackdown match. Much like Reigns, Rollins was best utilized keeping opponents off their feet with speed and be acceleration between The Shield's full court press. Unlike Reigns, I had liked some of Rollins' singles stuff as a member of the Shield, but he has not clicked as a singles heel yet. It has to due with the gimmick change. He is not suffocating opponents with speed and he is still trying to find his way as a chickenshit. I am sure he will find his way especially he seems generally well-liked by the Powers That Be Be. Dean Ambrose has received the worst booking of the three, but it is not as bad as some make it out to be.
Ambrose has main evented the last two out of three PPVs Meatloaf says that ain't bad. He was the number two babyface and is vying with Reigns for that title currently. With Bryan back, both should be taking a back seat. He got main event Hell in a Cell slot over John Cena against ex-partner, Seth Rollins. He has feuded with the resurgent Bray Wyatt the past two months in the second biggest program. It is amazing how hot that feud would have been in March, but fuck did I not give one single shit about it these past couple months. So his card positioning has been fine, but his character has been turned into a moody, sulky spaz that I just detest. His feud with Rollins, which should have been a slam dunk feud of the year was torture with all the start and stop bullshit. Even though they were able to overcome it and have the one great match any Shield member has had since the break up, their RAW Falls Count Anywhere match post-Summerslam. They ratcheted up the violence, but it never felt gratuitous or like a stunt show. Dean Ambrose hated Seth Rollins and was looking to exact revenge. Rollins was trying to survive and rid his life of his lunatic. It made for one helluva brawl. Once Kane got involved, it lost its luster as a heat brawl, but I thought the post-match angle was a great one to really build towards the proper blowoff. Then we got holograms and Bray Wyatt. Fuck WWE!
I don't want to end on a down note because Shield/Wyatts is one of the best damn matches of the year. It is violent, intense and weaves a great story. It is why I watch wrestling and definitely check out both matches!
A Pair of Positive Notes
Match Listing:
The Shield vs Wyatt Family - WWE Elimination Chamber 2014 ****3/4
Front-runner for MOTY. Wyatts exploit chaos and numbers to fight with fire
The Shield vs Wyatt Family - WWE RAW 3/3/14 ****1/4
Urgency and hatred. Feels like a nasty All-Japan six-man from the 90s
The Shield vs Evolution - WWE Extreme Rules 2014 ****
Ambrose Swarms, Rollins Dives, and Superman Punches
Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins - WWE RAW 8/18/14 Falls Count Anywhere ****1/4
Disappointing feud delivers one great, heated brawl between WWE's top young talent
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Shield vs Wyatt Family - WWE Elimination Chamber 2014
Even, I'll admit "This Is Awesome!"
I watched this match and RAW rematch back to back and came away so thrilled about the rematch's chaos that it actually overshadowed this match initially. I went back and rewatched this one and just absolutely loved it even more when paying attention to all the little details. To me, this is the match to beat for WWE match of the year.
It is crazy to think that if they pulled the trigger on a Dean Ambrose/Bray Wyatt feud at this point, I would have lapped it up. By November, I was actively rejecting it as one of the worst things on TV. It tells you how cold the product has gotten and cooled off these two molten characters are now. Ambrose was just rocking it as the firebrand that was the trigger for the chaos. I loved when everyone was turning to go to their respective corners, Ambrose just jumped the Wyatts. The tag wrestling in this was better than in the rematch. I loved how strongly they emphasized getting their opponent into their corner. That's the Shield to exploit the numbers game, but they may have met their match in the Wyatts that will throw that strategy right in their face. Rollins opening with speed to get Rowan into the Shield corner was perfect with Rowan bowling him over to escape. It put over how much strategy mattered in this match.
Roman Reigns versus Bray Wyatt felt huge during their showdown and I loved how Reigns fought through everything. Nothing was given, he had to go through the Wyatts. The beatdwon of Harper in the corner was just classic Shield. That's tag team wrestling baby! They do a great transition where Ambrose's temper gets the best of him as he takes a swipe at Bray on the apron and eats a Harper dropkick. What follows is just badass. Ambrose bites Rowan, Harper steps on Ambrose head and claws at his face. I love it, Michael! The swinging neckbreaker transition is super weak though. Rollins was a great house of fire with great speed moves and climaxing on an excellent suicide dive that got the crowd rocking. He gets the drive by knee, but whiffs on the Curb Stomp and eats a swinging powerslam. The Bray Wyatt senton on the outside looked nasty. My favorite spot of the match was Harper had Rollins by the hair just playing with his food and Rollins slaps him in defiance and Harper slaps the taste out of his mouth. That was powerful shit.
People talk up Ambrose's fighting from underneath prowess, but Rollins should not be underestimated as he fights in the corner with great urgency only for nasty Bray headbutts to keep him at bay. This match utilized Bray better as the game changer for his team. I like the idea of him letting his heavies do the dirty work, but if ever gets out of hand, he is there to keep in check. Ambrose makes the save for Rollins and eats a hellacious big boot from Harper. Rollins hits an enziguiri to get Reigns in the match (I am not digging these transitions). Reigns is so great in these hot tag situations and not just the typical Reigns offense, there is a nasty back elbow to Rowan that keeps you on your feet. In an electric moment, Reigns is thrown outside and just runs around the ring to kick Rowan's head in. AMBROSE SWARM!!! KATIE BAR THE DOOR! There is a pier-six brawl a brewin'! Harper suicide dive and Rollins says two can play at that game. Ambrose and Wyatt tumble into the crowd and Rollins gets double chokeslammed through the table. Hey, come the monitors did not explode when they were ripper out of the announce table. After more than a year of The Shield picking their opponents off one by one, The Wyatts gave them a taste of their own medicine. Now Reigns was left alone surrounded by the Wyatts just as he surrounded so many others. Luke Harper serves a beaten Reigns to his master. I loved how Reigns blocked Sister Abigail and turned it into a test of strength. SUPERMAN PUNCH! Reigns goes for the spear on Bray, but Harper takes the bullet for his leader. In the chaos, Bray hits his wicked cross body and Sister Abigail to win.
I loved the finish. The Shield's strategy was predicated on two tenets: create chaos and divide and conquer. The Wyatts took out two members of the Shield leaving Reigns alone and then in the chaos that ensued Bray Wyatt took advantage to win the match. The match weaknesses: the transitions were lame & uncreative and I would have liked more chippiness. They were too willing to just let one guy have his segment and that be that. The rematch thrives on that chaos and full court press by both teams. I think if you could combine the best parts of this match and the rematch, you would have all-time classic that really could rewrite how North American tag team wrestling is executed and presented. Still if anything can top this I will shocked. Cena/Lesnar had the big match atmosphere and the Bryan Wrestlemania matches will have emotion, but I don't think they can top the chaotic and violent feel of this. As is, it is still an incredible match from both an action and storytelling standpoint as the Shield essentially get beaten at their own game and the torch was seized by new three-man wrecking crew. ****3/4
It was around the Harper double stomp to break up an Ambrose bridging Figure-4 that I thought to myself if the WWE produced a better spot in 2014, I must have a really foggy memory. The sense of struggle and urgency in this match from all six combatants was unparalleled in the WWE this past year and was downright All Japan-ish in nature. Harper was the God King Prick of the match. With the chippy big boot to Reigns' face when he was on the apron, clawing Rollins' face and stepping all over Ambrose's face, Harper did everything he could to get under their skin and hurt his opponents. It was not about entertaining the fans, it was about inflicting pain and proving the Wyatts were the top faction in this turf war. His counterpart was the crazy, violent Dean Ambrose. It is amazing that in nine months, I find Ambrose to be this lame, moody, and sulky spaz. This Dean Ambrose in this match. He is the fucking man. The Ambrose Swarm is the greatest thing ever. He is just bowling people over with his boundless rage. Even the little shove he gave Bray had me and my brother marking out on initial watch because it is so atypical in the neat, orderly WWE matches. I want it rough around the edges, I want it RAW, goddamnit. Ambrose gave that performance. From the craziness that was Ambrose, there was the high flying excitement of Seth Rollins. I watched a lot of 2013 Shield matches at the beginning of 2014 and remembering being impressed by Rollins' ring awareness and movements in the tag settings. In this match as a babyface, he was finally set free and opened the match up with gangbusters, but unfortunately a skirmish between Ambrose and Bray caused him to lose his balance on the top rope. Ambrose losing his cool and Reigns being belted cost Rollins the ability to make a tag, but is finally able to tag Ambrose. Ambrose is just a burst of energy onto Rowan and does some quick, but effective leg work on Rowan to set up a figure-4, where he bridges on his head for more pressure!!! HARPER DOUBLE STOMPS AMBROSE!!! I LOVE THIS MATCH!
Let's talk Rowan, dude was a beast dismantling Ambrose and keeping him contained. Harper is the firebrand like an Ambrose he is going to get shit started and be a jerk. Rowan is there as a heavy hitter that is going to pummel you. Crowd chants for CM Punk, fuck them! If you want pro wrestling, watch what is going on in front of you, numbskulls. Ambrose hits a JBL-Orgasm-Inducing clothesline, but Harper hangs on to tag in Bray Wyatt. Ambrose with a DDT. Wyatt comes in and wipes Reigns out. Ambrose hits a DDT on Wyatt. Rollins is all pissy and leaves Ambrose hanging because of what happened earlier. Fine be a bitch, I am going to go destroy everything. Roman Reigns is an amazing ring clearing presence. The Superman Punch is just fucking cool. He just goes to town on the Wyatts. Ambrose holding Harper down for the Reigns dropkick was awesome. The Spear onto Rowan was badass and Harper wipes Reigns out with a suicide dive then sends Reigns flying. Somewhere in there, Ambrose was just swarming muthafuckas with punches. Wyatt picks his spot and hits his wicked cross body block on Ambrose and hits Sister Abigail as Rollins watches.
Finally, lets talk about Wyatt, who carefully waited in all the chaos with all the bodies piling up to attack Ambrose and swing the match in their favor. At Elimination Chamber, the Wyatts were able to out-Shield the Shield by taking out one at a time. Here, the Shield collapsed on itself and the Wyatts took advantage of the chaos to win the match. Rollins and Reigns were used perfectly to get the crowd hot as hell at the beginning and end. Ambrose anchored the middle and showed why he is an incredible face in peril. He can sell, but he is always fighting. It is always chippy. That's what made this match special was the constant struggle and urgency everyone displayed. This sounds shocking, but I thought this was a bit too short. I think they could have added more to the beginning and more to why Rollins was pissed to really drive home the point. As a fan of chaotic, urgent matches, there are none better this year. ****1/4
I really do miss The Shield. Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns were just so much better as a package deal. All three members of the Shield came out looking like a million bucks in this. Rollins used to have such a great working punch, what the hell happened. I loved the use of a Rollins dive early to perk up the crowd. Ambrose has just been on fire in these matches. He wrestles with such a great urgency that it is irresistible. I know others have talked up his face in peril work, but really shined here. You can feel the anguish, but he was always fighting through it, always looking for that opening. Reigns is just perfect in those short hot tag bursts. Evolution were perfectly capable in their roles and each took turns showing a vicious side, but none of them could sustain high level of urgency like the Wyatts. The match overall resembled more closely a standard WWE tag match than a normal Shield match. It was a little too neat at time. Bless Dean Ambrose, he did his best to keep people on their toes, but overall it felt more normal. It was the best possible normal WWE tag match, but we did not get to see that typical havoc offense that Shield usually employs.
The high point before the big finish run was without a doubt the Dean Ambrose segment. From the get go, he burst into the ring and swarmed Orton. He was hitting anything that moves and was going to apply a figure-4. Reigns tried to take advantage of the chaos, but speared the ringsteps. A good example of how this was standard WWE was that Ambrose was forced to sell a weak submission breakup for a considerable length of time so not to upstage Reigns. Typically, Ambrose would keep it moving and wait for the big move to start selling, but because of a misstep in the layout he was forced into WWE box rather than doing the organic thing. Ambrose rocked the face in peril segment. I loved HHH's punch combinations in the corner and how Ambrose was throwing wild swings like Terry Funk. Ambrose staggering into a spinebuster was awesome. Back drop on the Pedigree and a DDT afford Ambrose to tag out. Again, transitions like that just lack creativity and I think Shield is better than that frankly.
The finish stretch is very exciting. Reigns rocks the hot tag as he usually does. Once the chaos kicks in, The Shield is really in the element. I am talking Rollins flying into TV screen from out of nowhere only to crash and burn or Ambrose jumping across two announce tables to swarm HHH and Orton. They actually cover pretty well for Batista and Reigns needing to sell for considerable amount of time while they arena brawled. Reigns took an RKO and Pedigree while Batista took the Triple Powerbomb. I am not thrilled about guys lying around and then popping up magically once Rollins hits his big dive. They at least tried to cover for it. Reigns and Batista work a short, fun sequence with a great Superman Punch and then Reigns channels the Ultimate Warrior's Gods to hit his spear. The Spear and Superman Punch should be his big transition moves. The powerbomb should be his finisher.
Straight up, I thought Evolution slowed Shield down a touch and limited them. I am not calling for a street fight or anything. Rather a return to that full court press and making everybody earn their offense. Also, I did not sense an overarching story. The transitions to the two face in peril segments did not really weave a story. One started by a HHH clothesline on Rollins and the other because someone broke up an Ambrose figure-4. The Shield really did not make any mistakes. Evolution did not really cheat. It is not like Evolution really leveraged their experience advantage. The Shield won because once the match broke down that where they are dangerous, but that was just the last quarter. Ambrose and Reigns gave stellar performances and Rollins was able to shine in his big spots. I would say Evolution's performance was too safe to take this to the next level. I would say this is the best possible version of WWE's sterile style, but they need to either add more hate or a story to take it to the next level. ****
Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins - WWE RAW 8/18/14 Falls Count Anywhere
CINDER BLOCKS~!
From my recollection, this was the best of the disappointing Ambrose vs Rollins feud. It should have been a slam dunk feud, but the WWE got in their own way and cooled this way down before the anticlimatic blowoff. I wanted to include something from the feud, but this is not a sympathy pick. Upon rewatch, I definitely think this holds up as one of the more better and more entertaining matches of 2014. It was not just a match filled with weapons and gimmicks. There was malice behind those shots from Rollins and hatred poured from Ambrose. Rollins turned his back on the Shield and screwed him out of the Money In The Bank contract and he was going to have to exact a modicum of revenge the only way it was afforded to him by beating the holy hell out of Rollins.
Rollins' working punch was on fire early and I loved that sense of struggle to begin the match. The Rollins throat thrust to take over was killer. Rollins gets a little too cocky and Ambrose blows him away with a dropkick. Ambrose tags him back with a throat thrust. I love the tit for tat. Ambrose bodyslams Rollins and the chair together and chairdrop from the top rope. Ambrose is kicking ass, but in desperation Rollins sends Ambrose into the chair. We come back from commercial to see Rollins crossfacing Ambrose with a kendo stick, I love it. Rollins playfully taps Ambrose face with the kendo stick and that pelts him with shots. There is a tenedency in these matches to focus on the spots and forget to be a heel. Rollins did not give an all-star heel performance, but there were glimmers. it helps Ambrose was giving a great babyface performance fighting through pain and whipping the crowd into a frenzy with his out of control antics.
The kendo stick catch and Ambrose hulk up only for Rollins to duck the lariat and hit a jumping high kick was perfect wrestling. They brought the crowd up and then cut them off. Really good shit. Maybe I have not been paying attention recently, but Rollins ought to bring back the roundhouse kick back. It is a great cutoff and he executes it so well. The double cross body block is killer and they really went all out on that collision. That's how you get a match over. I loved Rollins whacking Ambrose with a kendo stick to no avail to try to avoid being catapulted. They really kick it into high gear with Rollins powerbombing Ambrose through a pile of chairs and Ambrose superplexing Rollins through a table. Ambrose hits a wicked clothesline and Dirty Deeds (I am glad they changed that to a double arm DDT), but Kane interferes. Ambrose hits out of control suicide dive onto Kane and Rollins. He has Vegas rocking, BABY! Ambrose runs across the announce tables to SWARM Rollins and Kane. He is outgunned. Rollins hits a nasty curb stomp on the announce table and then one through the cinder blocks to send Ambrose to Hollywood.
I thought the Curb Stomp on the table actually looked better than the gimmicked the cinder blocks. They overthink these things. The big negative is no doubt the selling. Being powerbombed on a pile of chairs and then superplexing someone through a table is a bit much. Ambrose did a relatively good job to fighting through pain unlike Rollins, whose selling was lacking. Also, I would have liked to see Rollins be more heelish. There were times when it was apparent, but that it became more about trading spots. What carries this is that you want to see Ambrose kick Rollins ass, but if Rollins is not reminding us he is a backstabbing chump then it takes a bit of wind out of the sails. The good definitely outweighs the bad. It was never a mindless brawl with you hit a move then I hit a move. Each move had weight and there was a great sense of urgency from both men in their movements. You definitely felt like both men hated each other and there was a reason for why they were inflicting so much pain. Rollins was trying to put Ambrose out so he can cash in Money in the Bank and Ambrose wanted to hurt Rollins for all he did. Both succeeded in beating the hell out of each other, but with a little help from his friend, Rollins got the upperhand. Definitely one of the better brawls of 2014. ****1/4
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While The Shield may have ended the year sour, our next spotlighted star did not. It is "The Showoff" Dolph Ziggler who after years floundering in midcard limbo scored a huge upset victory at Survivor Series to vanquish The Authority for one month and then followed it up with one of the most violent and brutal matches to ever take place in a WWE ring with Luke Harper in a Ladder Match of the Intercontinental Championship.
