Thoughts On Wrestling: A Blog on Wrestling

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Punk!Rey!Cena!

I intended to stay up-to-date on my Best of WWE this year. Also intended to keep up last year, and then intended to do a year-end deal last year, and then finished 3/4 of it and quit. So yeah, I suck. But here I go again.

CM Punk vs. John Cena - House Show in Oklahoma City, OK - 3/13/11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GZgzyjAqDyI

Punk rules the world during the pre-match. Mason Ryan yells in Welsh which Punk translates as a declaration that Punk himself is the greatest man in the world. Then he smarmily rants about his love for OKC and his plans to buy real estate there after beating Cena. He gets heat, puts over his match with Cena, and sells his Mania match with Orton. And after Cena's intro, he flips into the ring, smiles, and draws out his removal of his shirt. It's amazing. The match itself is a blast, too, about on par with their great TV matches from early in the year. Punk's early antics are great, and his control segment, focused on Cena's neck, is plenty good and has tons of Mason Ryan interference. Cena busts out great strength spots. It basically has all the strengths of their TV matches, plus more Punk playing with the crowd. The finish is great, too, just the kind of triumph you want at a house show.

ADDED:

#3: CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio - Capitol Punishment 6/19/11

These two have incredible chemistry and have had enough matches together that they can work a match centered on familiarity and have it work brilliantly. This one came close to their best matches from last year, and they definitely had the feud of the year in 2010. Opening is a tad slow, but then Rey teases a 619 and Punk dodges only to eat a baseball slide that knocks him outside. Rey goes for a senton off the apron, but Punk catches him and tosses him face-first onto the rail. Not quite as awesome as that transition spot in their 2/12/10 match, but close. Punk then works the ribs and it's great even though the announcers can't figure out what to call a bodyscissors. Rey gets in great hope spots and Punk becomes gradually more aggressive with his 619 counters. Rey does successfully connect with a 619 in the counter after Punk went shoulder-first into the ring post, which looked awesome. There's an incredible exchange of dodged and blocked kicks that must be seen, and it works perfectly due to their familiarity. The whole stretch run is beautifully executed and plays off their history together, and the finish is terrific. Tons of great near-falls and plenty of heat. Awesome match.

ADDED:

#1: CM Punk vs. John Cena - Money in the Bank 7/17/11

What a special match. Chicago crowd is nuts, totally pro-Punk and preposterously anti-Cena. The entrances and intros are stunning. The start slow, which works: both guys understand the stakes and don't want to make mistakes. The matwork at the start is awesome: slow but physical and natural and with strong psych. Not basic limb stuff, but each guy has his strengths and plays to them and tries to avoid his opponent's strengths. Cena is strong but Punk has the kicks & the quicks, basically. They put over Punk's dangerous legs early and play to that throughout the match. The crowd rules throughout this stuff, and Punk plays with them brilliantly during the "You can't wrestle!" chants. Match builds slowly and takes off on Punk's botched crossbody, which turned out to be the best thing ever. He hit Cena's knee, and Cena sold that knee throughout the match. That also led to Cena hitting on awesome suplex on the outside, and from there, Cena worked from the top for the most part. He added a bunch to his arsenal and really went to town on Punk, and Punk turned in his best babyface performance ever. His comebacks are awesome, particularly one where he hits a Savage knee to the back to knock Cena on the outside, yells "Chicago!" and then hits his best dive ever and high-fives his mom. Incredible. But his facial expressions throughout are so great: the desperation, the need to win, and the selling of exhaustion are all terrific. Cena is great, too, selling the knee often enough and reacting to Punk's kickouts. Punk takes more than anyone has and Cena finally loses it and chews out the ref, which was un-Cena-like & perfect. Punk's counter to the desperation top-rope AA attempt was awesome as was the whole finish, which protected both guys and let us see Johnny Ace get punched in the face. Minor execution issues aside, this match was perfect and one of the best WWE matches ever. Both guys threw everything they had and more, busting out a bunch of new stuff, including Punk's awesome variation of his running knee where he hits it against the ropes rather than the corner. There were a bunch of awesome strikes, a bunch of great selling, one of the best crowds ever, and it all tied into one of the best angles the WWE has put together, surrounding two of its biggest & best characters and also two of its best workers, and possibly the best pairing in current wrestling.

ADDED:

#2: John Cena vs. Rey Mysterio - Raw 7/25/11

Red-hot, fresh, and terrific. They establish the strength vs. speed dynamic early and explore it brilliantly throughout the match. Rey hacks at Cena's legs with kicks, and they're terrific kicks, the best I've seen from Rey, and the addition of such great strikes makes Rey even better, which I wouldn't have thought possible. But every time Cena gets murderous every time he catches Rey. He destroys Rey on the outside with a clothesline and then bullies him for a while. Every time Rey gets going he busts out slick stuff, cool counters, etc, and Cena comes back with awesome strength spots. The whole stretch run is terrific and features a bunch of cool stuff plus great selling from Cena. The spot where Rey counters an STF with an STF only have Cena power out of it, only to have Cena collapse on his bum knee: that was amazing. A terrific title match, and it's strange they chose to give it away for free.

Best of WWE 2011: THE LIST

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Best of WWE 2011 - Elimination Chamber

ADDED: #8

Edge vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Wade Barrett vs. Kane vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Big Show – Elimination Chamber 2/20/2011

I seem to have liked this less than most, but I agree with most of the praise it has received. Rey turned in an amazing performance. Not on par with what he did on the Raw chamber in 09, but not many performances are even close to that. He pinballed around and ate the nastiest things and took lawn dart bumps like it was his job or something. Barrett was fine and had some good stuff; Kane was surprisingly good and threw a bunch of uppercuts. Drew McIntyre had an awesome run when he first came in. Totally murdered Rey and everyone else. Show destroyed Barrett and looked like a beast. I appreciated the booking, which made him look like a giant by having him eat a million finishers before getting eliminated. But the whole thing felt a tad contrived, perhaps because Rey telegraphed it by climbing the pod so early, perhaps because it went on for so long. Granted, it needed that length to give him the giant booking he deserves, but whatever. I also didn't like the decision to give Kane the monster push. He looked fine in getting 2 straight eliminations, but really, why not give that push to McIntyre, who is actually good and has a future? I try to judge matches based on performances rather than booking, but that decision really bothered me, and the match would've been better with more of McIntyre murdering people. His ass-kicking section felt too short. Biggest problems with the match, though, revolved around Edge. He opened the match with Rey and looked fine, except he was a top babyface throwing a long-time friend (Cole even mentioned their friendship later in the match) into the grating and the glass and shoving him under the rope and across the grating into the glass. After that spot, Barrett threw Rey back into the ring rather than torturing him out there, which also didn't make sense. I don't want that to sound like a “babyfaces should play nice” argument, but I had problems with the whole thing. They try to put the chamber over as a career-threatening structure, and then they let one of their good guys-- the top good guy on the show, in fact-- go out there and try to maim an old friend. Throughout Edge's babyface run, he really hasn't spent much time in the moral right and hasn't been a likeable character. Other problem with the match was the finishing run. Folks have praised it, and I'd agree that Rey looked great and made Edge look great, which is no small feat. But it was far too your turn/my turn for my liking, and it went on for quite some time. I dug the drama on the first watch, but on the second, it felt like two guys doing cool stuff for 7 minutes, and whatever to that. So a bit of a mixed bag but more good than bad, and the good was really great.

ADDED: #1

The Miz vs. Jerry Lawler – Elimination Chamber 2/20/2011

Tons of emotion and drama, and great storytelling. Lawler looked amazing. I loved how he went for roll-ups early. He also took a fantastic bump into the ring post. His facial expressions and punches ruled. And Miz more than hold up his end of the bargain, with good facial expressions, bumping, and control stuff. Everything around the ring was great, too, from Riley's interferences to his ejections, to Lawler throwing Miz into Cole, to Booker's reaction to Cole getting smashed, to Cole's reaction to Miz's win. Plus, Lawler hit this great superplex where he turned a bit and made it look like a falcon arrow. And his counter to Miz's first Skull-Crushing Finale attempt ruled. And his fist drop spot was awesome. He dropped the strap before he hit it: amazing. And he forgot to hook the leg, so Miz got the rope, and Lawler's reaction was great. The final near-fall-- a back body drop countered into a sunset flip-- was a truly great moment, and I actually thought Lawler might win. Really dug the finish, too, as it was decisive but allowed us to believe in Lawler, at least for a while. I liked how quickly Miz got up and hit that boot, which looked good. Kinda gave the impression that the younger guy simply out-lasted the veteran: Lawler seemed to be running out of gas at the end, and though he was smart and well-prepared and determined throughout the match, he just didn't have enough to beat a guy half his age.

ADDED: #3

John Morrison vs. Sheamus vs. Randy Orton vs. CM Punk vs. John Cena vs. R-Truth – Elimination Chamber 2/20/2011

Thought this was the better of the two chambers, though I seem to be in the minority. The main criticism has been that the opening stretches were pedestrian, and I'd agree with that. I thought the opening of the SD chamber was offensive, though, and I'd take “pedestrian” over “offensive.” Morrison and Sheamus's exchanges were fine, and the addition of Orton didn't hurt anything. Punk was probably the best guy even in this section of the match, as his faces were truly outstanding. The whole restart business with Punk was amazingly well done. Totally not something I'd expect to work, but they did it really well. I was gutted and pissed after the quick elimination, and then the GM alert made me smile. Sheamus jumping Cena before Cena could get going was really great. Sheamus rocked throughout here. Didn't deliver a compact and perfect ass-kicking segment like McIntyre, but he got more time and did more and looked great throughout, and he took some great stuff on the steel, including an awesome hip toss from Truth. Truth didn't need to be there, and I think they knew that and got him out quickly. His dodging of Sheamus was cool, and his flurry looked fine, and he allowed Sheamus to hit a nasty nasty brogue kick. Awesome. Punk then came in and his elimination of Orton was great. He also mocked Orton. Duh, that rocked. Like, a lot. Also liked Cena eating on RKO on the steel. I'm not a fan of dudes fading out of these types of matches for a long time, but if you have to do it, use a spot like that. I thought the pod spot with Morrison/Sheamus was good. I would've liked the payoff to deliver more impact, but it was plenty dramatic and dangerous. The finishing three stuff was amazing. Punk ruled, thoroughly, and Morrison proved that it was a perfect scenario for him to bust out cool stuff. He busted up his own knee taking chances and then sold his ass off. Cena didn't do anything great but looked good enough. I was hoping for a bigger Cena/Punk showdown at the end, but they kept Morrison around and he looked great, so it worked out.

ADDED: #12

John Cena, Rey Mysterio, Edge, R-Truth, Randy Orton, & John Morrison vs. Sheamus, CM Punk, Kane, Wade Barrett, Drew McIntyre, & Dolph Ziggler – Smackdown 2/18/2011

Big tag match to build toward the two elimination chamber matches. Should've been mostly forgettable: opening stuff was fine and Morrison worked a solid FIP spell, but nothing spectacular. But Punk and Rey were both so amazing here. Punk's role wasn't huge, but when he was in, he looked like an ass-kicker, and his exchanges with Rey were stellar, and he mocked guys. Punk mocking guys might be the best thing in pro wrestling right now. Acting like he was crying at Morrison after spraying Morrison in the eyes with mace a couple weeks earlier: brilliant. And Rey had a really good FIP segment, bumping around and taking his face-first slide to the outside and onto Punk's knee. Finishing stretch was typical WWE finisher-fest stuff, but I always have fun with those things, and this had two standout moments with Truth taking a dramatic bump off a Barrett black hole slam and Ziggler taking a preposterous bump off an Edge spear. Bunch of fun.

Best of WWE: 2011: THE LIST

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Best of WWE: 2011

Right. I intended to do something like this last year but got a late start and never recovered. Basically, my goal is to keep a running list of the best matches WWE runs this year, with links to the blog post where I talk about all those matches. There'll probably be multiple matches in each post, so if you click the link to Punk/Cena to find me rambling about Miz/Morrison, don't worry: you didn't do anything wrong, and I'd never do anything wrong.

Starting to get rolling with this for real. Going to drop it to a top 25 for now, though as I watch more that I want to keep listed, I might expand to a top 40 or something. Everything the slides off I'll drop into a pile called THE REST, which will basically be a bunch of matches, listed chronologically, that I'd call worth seeing, either because of high quality or surprising quality, as is the case with Striker/Young from NXT 8/9.

THE REST:

Best of WWE: 2011 - First Batch

The Miz vs. John Morrison – Falls Count Anywhere – Raw 1/3/2011

Morrison gets a shot at the title after ending 2010 on a strong note, and these two went out and had a great little match. They start brawling on the ramp: it's fairly pedestrian as neither guy is a great brawler and the big high spot off the WWE logo doesn't look to impressive. But it works fine enough, and back in the ring they have some neat exchanges that lead to Morrison hitting his springboard kick and his running knee, both of which look good. Riley breaks it up, so Morrison murders him. This opening segment worked better in theory than in execution: I like the idea of the brawl and of Morrison roughing up Riley to look like a badass, but Morrison is really erratic with his strikes, and this wasn't one of his better ass-kicking segments. Still, it leads to Miz making this awesome “Holy shit, he's scary” face before the commercial, and it sets up what comes after the break, which is all awesome. We've got a champ who's been booked extremely weak going against a red-hot babyface who happens to be his ex-partner, and this is really the Miz's first time all by himself with the title on the line. It makes the title seem truly at risk, which is difficult to do these days in a match on Raw. They come back from commercial on the outside with a dramatic exchange around a guard rail that leads to Morrison getting tossed onto it. That looked really good. Miz's facial expressions throughout are incredible: he conveys a sense of desperation, and it all seems genuine, which isn't always the case with him. Morrison looks tough for hanging in, and Miz looks tough for kicking out of Morrison's finisher, and the table spot really delivers. Felt like the whole match built toward that, and it was everything I wanted. Morrison staggering to his feet after nearly dying made him look tough but also solidified Miz's legitimacy by allowing him to win with his finisher rather than by a fluke table accident.

I guess this is something that I really dug in spite of its flaws. That's not to say it's a heavily-flawed match: it's still really good, but there are definitely problems that you'll see when you see it. Still, it was great for both guys and characters and did a lot of good for Miz as champion and for Morrison as a rising babyface.

Daniel Bryan & Mark Henry vs. Tyson Kidd & Ted Dibiase – Superstars 1/6/2011

Bunch of fun. Starts with some really cool exchanges between Bryan and Kidd, which left me wishing they decided to give those two a lengthy singles match at some point. Then Dibiase and Henry get a fun turn: Dibiase looks like a punk and tries to slap Henry, which leads to satisfaction. Bryan is a riot on the apron throughout all of this as he looks like a goofy guy who's genuinely having the time of his life and making bank. Bryan gets a good little FIP spell, and Henry does, too, and the finish itself is good except I'm not sure why Kidd pinned Bryan if they weren't giving him a US Title shot. I guess I heard the whole Hart Dynasty got in some sort of trouble, hence the burials.

Big Show vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Cody Rhodes – Smackdown 1/7/2011

I can't think of many 4-ways better than this. Big Show gets to work like a true giant babyface monster, which he does perfectly. It helps that he has three magnificent heel bumpers to toss around. Beginning sees all of them trying to gang up on Show only to get tossed around like sacks of trash. All three of them were very good, but special credit goes to McIntyre, who tossed himself over the top rope and outside at least a half a dozen times, and he threw some great tantrums out there. Ziggler maybe took the best bump of the match in a spot where Show tossed both Ziggler and Rhodes over the top in the corner and Ziggler really whacked the apron on his way down. Psychologically-sound match, too as everyone seemed to work smart: the little guys tried to gang up on the big guy, which prompted the big guy to try to isolate someone to get a quick pin, which lead to the little guys breaking up pin attempts until they finally threw Show through the barricade. Barrett interference worked fine, and it set up a cool sequence where everyone tried to put Show away only for Show to keep tossing dudes until Ziggler finally came up with a smart plan. Also, props to both Show and Cody for making the Zig-Zag look better than in normally does. Also, it's a bit of a bummer than nowadays Ziggler looks like a goon who can't win the title even with his gf handing it to him, and Show got pinned by a clothesline followed by a DDT a little while back. Granted, it was a ZEKE clothesline, but still.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio – 2/3 Falls – Smackdown 1/7/2011

Plenty of intensity here as both guys put a lot into their strikes. I really dug the structure: Del Rio dodges a 619 early and locks in the cross armbreaker for a quick submission, which showed the familiarity between the two, put over the hold as a deadly finisher, showed intelligence on Rey's part as he avoided a serious injury, and set up the limb focus for the rest of the match. Del Rio constantly goes back to the arm and busts out some nifty counters, the most notable of which is essentially a Codebreaker to the arm, which looks great. He also goes for the cross armbreaker again in the second fall, only for Rey to counter by rolling through into a school boy for a fantastic near-fall, which then led to a fun sequence that resulted in Rey getting the second fall with one of the best-looking roll-ups I've seen in a while. Rey busts out some slick offense in this match, including a diving missile headbutt off the top rope. Set up for the finish was cool, and the finish was clever and would've been great to set up another match, a big-time blowoff. As it stands, we still haven't gotten that blowoff, which makes the finish to this a disappointing feud conclusion. But I'll still hold out hope for a resumption of the feud and a big PPV match, maybe at Mania, though I also want to see Cody/Rey in a match involving masks. Anyway, great little match. Maybe not as good as their best 2010 match (I suck at remembering dates), but still awesome.

William Regal, Zack Ryder, & the Usos vs. DH Smith, Yoshi Tatsu, Primo, & Darren Young – Superstars 1/13/2011

I was kind of irritated when I first saw this and realized they gave the FIP segments to Smith and Young instead of Primo and Tatsu, but whatever. DH Smith had some fine leg selling, and Young has proven he's willing to eat a bunch of nasty shit. Basically, this is a bunch of fun. Primo usually works heel, so it was refreshing to see him clean house as a babyface because I like him a fair bit. Smith rocks when he's busting out big power moves and tossing dudes for no reason. He should start eating clotheslines like a madman and landing on his head and barking like a dog. Young's FIP spell is better and he really leans into everything. Regal rocks because he's Regal, and Ryder is pretty good. Fortunately, the Usos don't do much, and unfortunately, Tatsu doesn't do much. Awesome chaos at the finish.

CM Punk vs. John Cena – Raw 1/17/2011

Man, this felt like a huge match. Crowd was totally electric. Start is awesome as Cena cuts through all the bullshit and wallops Punk, throwing a bunch of awesome body shots and other punches. Punk's facial expressions are awesome here, as he looks totally taken aback. Then Punk takes control and looks like a legit ass-kicker. Don't want to talk about strictly the spots, but there were a bunch of awesome ones: Cena powers out of Punk's figure-four headlock only to have Punk counter and hit a DDT; Punk busts out a Koji Clutch, which allows Cena to show off some awesome nearly-passing-out selling; Cena counters the GTS into an STF; they battle it out on the corner and Cena headbutts Punk to set up his leg drop spot, which leads to the best near-fall of the year, on a move that he's never won with. Awesome. Finish leaves a bit to be desired, but this was a great match. They showed a lot of stuff we'd never seen before yet left me thinking they have much, much better matches in them, and I desperately want to see those matches.

Tyson Kidd vs. Yoshi Tatsu – Superstars 1/20/2011

I like Tatsu a lot. Not entirely sold on Kidd, but he does a lot of things well and is athletically gifted. They get in some fun exchanges early, and they establish characters: Kidd taunts and grins and looks like a douche; Tatsu puts his hands up and looks like a fighter, all heart. Kidd's shtick will likely divide some, but I'm fine with it. I guess I dig how he busts out athletic spots and then taunts and wears this face that says he's doing it just because he can and he's an ass. Really awesome transition spot before the break as Kidd catches a Tatsu kick from the apron and hits a dragon screw over the ropes. After the break, Kidd goes to town on Tatsu's knee, wrenching and yelling and twisting. Tatsu sells his ass off. Really inspired performance. He hits a spinning kick to the gut with his good leg and then collapses on his bad leg. He hits a northern lights suplex but can't bridge on one leg and loses the pin. Awesome stuff, and an awesome out-of-nowhere finish. Fantastic match that seems to have been slept on a bit.

Daniel Bryan vs. Ted Dibiase – NXT 1/25/2011

Haven't seen any recent NXT stuff other than this, but evidently, they're doing a bunch of whacky camera angle stuff, and Josh Mathews doesn't care much about the matches, and the other pros sit by the entrance area with microphones and talk the whole time. Add to that that Dibiase isn't great, and Bryan has a mountain to climb in this one. He succeeds and has a very good match that opens with fine mat work. Bryan wrenches on Dibiase's arm and it looks good, but we don't see much of it because Mathews is trying to hit on Maryse at ringside. Match takes off when Dibiase starts to work over Bryan's neck. Bryan's selling is top notch, with a couple awesome moments, including a spot where he hits his running elbow and then sells the neck after landing on it. He does the same after hitting his missile dropkick, and then he goes for a pin rather than kipping up. Some really fun sequences down the stretch, and a fairly cool finish.

CM Punk vs. John Cena – Raw 2/14/2011

Not as good as their first match this year, but still a lot to like. “There must be a winner,” so Punk looks focused, and Cena laughs at him early on and then misses a charge and goes shoulder-first into the buckle. They didn't bust out as much cool stuff as in their first match, but I liked how far this match went to establish Punk as a legit guy. He really took it to Cena, and his facial expressions were great as he struggled and clawed to put Cena away. Of course Cena looked tough in hanging in there, and he got in some impressive power spots. I liked the finish quite a bit: Punk cheated and won, but the match still legitimized him and made him look strong and intelligent. Very good little match. Their 2/7 match is much shorter and not really a complete match, but I dug it for what it was and would consider it worth tracking down.

The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan – Raw 2/14/2011

Not on the level of their NoC 2010 match, but this was still fantastic. Opening wasn't spectacular, but I liked how the Miz silenced a pro-Bryan crowd with a nasty shoulder block. One awkward spot that clearly didn't go as planned, but they recovered quickly and moved to some awesome stuff on the outside, including a great running knee off the apron and onto the floor by Bryan. Plus, there was a fantastic neckbreaker spot on the apron that looked totally devastating, and Bryan ate it like a champ. Everything after the break was great: bunches of awesome near-falls, a bunch of awesome kicks from Bryan, good facial expressions from both guys, good woozy selling from Bryan near the finish. The whole finishing stretch was about as good as their NoC match, frankly, but this didn't have the awesome limb work in the first half to set up the awesome selling down the stretch.

Best of WWE: 2011: THE LIST

Monday, October 4, 2010

Hell in a Cell 2010

Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz vs. John Morrison - Submissions Count Anywhere

This had the potential to be either really fun or a complete mess. It turned out mostly fun, with a bit of messiness. The opening segments were plagued by the non-sensical isolation stuff present in most triple threats these days. Miz played the coward and ran away for a while, which was nice: if they're going to do the isolation segments, they should set them up by having two guys take out one, and that's what they did. Bryan whiffed on a sliding kick-- it looked like Miz moved away-- which was unfortunate but not a big deal. Morrison busted out a cool tarantula on the ropes; Bryan used his leg lock and cattle mutilation and teased the Lebell lock. The match picked up when Bryan put Miz in a leg lock: they traded boots to the face until Morrison broke it up with maybe the best Starship Pain he's ever hit. He landed right on both dudes' legs and it looked devastating. Then he too Miz out through the crowd, and the rest of the match was a pretty wild brawl with guys coming in and out. Miz was at the focal point most of the time because both babyfaces hated him, which made sense. Everyone looked good during this segment: Morrison did his nifty parkour spots; Miz brought some viciousness and used his surroundings; Bryan took some nasty bumps into barricades and onto steel. Bryan kept going for holds on the Miz, and Miz kept busting out counters, including an awesome one where he kicked Bryan into the barricade to escape a Fujiwara armbar. Really showed some growth on Miz's part as he previously didn't have an answer for any of Bryan's holds. Morrison climbed some stuff and hit a big splash, which was the most contrived spot of the match. He followed it up with a Texas cloverleaf, which I maybe bought into for a second thanks to Miz's selling. Alex Riley's interference was perfectly-timed and created the perfect opportunity for Bryan to win in the right way.

Not as good as a Miz/Bryan singles match would've been, but still a solid bucket of fun. I hope we get one more Miz/Bryan match. On a side note, there was a great commentary moment. Striker was babbling about cattle mutilation, and Lawler called Striker's commentary cattle mutilation, and then Striker threatened to ask Lawler a million questions. I love how they've taken Lawler's legit irritation with Striker and turned it into a running joke. Good stuff.

Randy Orton vs. Sheamus - HIAC

I haven't loved the matches between these two in the past, but I thought this was really good for the most part. Not great-- I don't think these two can have a great match together at this point-- but better than I expected and about as good as it could've been. Sheamus looks good on offense but still works with too limited of a moveset to be really great working offense for an extended period. Orton can sell and bump, but I still don't think he's fully adapted to working babyface. It's a difficult character to work: he's this emotionless killer-type, but he has to make the crowd cheer for him, and it seems he hasn't figured out how to draw major sympathy in that role. Sure, the crowd goes wild when he goes on offense, but they also sit on their hands for long segments of the match when he's getting beaten up. Not sure what the solution is, but his facial expressions were a lot better here, and his selling was great. I'd call Orton a good bumper, but the way he goes limp and slinks to the ground seems like a heel-ish way to bump. I guess I just want to say that Orton isn't a great babyface at this point.

But the match: they went back and forth in the opening stages and Sheamus avoided the cell when he was in danger, but then he rushed to use it when he was in control. When Sheamus went on offense, he targeted the ribs, and he eventually hit an awesome gordbuster outside the ring onto the steel steps. Awesome spot, and from that point forward, Orton's selling was terrific. He timed his comebacks well, and Sheamus always went back to the ribs to cut him off. There was a great moment where they were trading punches to the face and the crowd was boo/yeah-ing in favor of Orton, and Sheamus threw a nasty punch to Orton's gut to stop it. They did some cool stuff with the steel steps and Sheamus took some nasty bumps. Sheamus conveyed desperation and the stuff with the chair was awesome. He really needs a new finisher because his boot won't finish anyone major unless he hits it 5 times, and his lack of finishing potential hurts his matches. But we all knew Orton was retaining here, and the finish was great, and Orton's rib selling was tremendous, and Sheamus was as focused as always, and he busted out some cool spots. Match was probably a tad longer than it should've been, but still really good. Felt ***1/4-ish.

Edge vs. Jack Swagger

I guess Edge is turning face again. I'll try to be optimistic because he looked great breaking a computer last week on Raw, but his last run flopped and he stunk then and now. Pre-match promo started with Del Rio, and then Edge called him stupid, and then Swagger came out and complained about how Edge speared his bird, which was nice because Swagger is great at comedy. Match was a big old nothing for the most part. Swagger looked good on offense at points, but then Edge kicked out of the gutwrench powerbomb for no reason, and then it looked like he hurt his leg, so Swagger locked in the ankle lock. Edge countered and shook it off and then hit a spear, no-selling everything and burying both of Swagger's finishers. Nice.

I can't help but think that this whole angle was intended for Jericho-- they teased a face turn for him several times this year, and he was the first one to bitch about the GM-- and it really would be better with Jericho. He looked great as a pseudo-babyface at SummerSlam and in a couple random tags, and the crowd totally dug him, unlike Edge. But he's gone now, and so Edge gets another random turn, and Swagger takes another step backward, which is unfortunate.

John Cena vs. Wade Barrett - If Cena loses, he joins Nexus; if Barrett loses, Nexus disbands

This was very good thanks to an awesome performance by Cena and surprisingly good booking and a lively crowd. Cena schooled Barrett early, and he's really great in that role, taking dudes to the mat and out-grappling them. He gave Barrett a smile, and he looked to be in complete control. But then Barrett started throwing punches and brawling and Cena was generous in how much he gave and how well he sold. Interesting to see Cena make a rookie look like a million bucks after Edge buried a former world champion. Anyway, Nexus came down to the ring early to provide a distraction. Barrett yelled at them but took advantage of the distraction to control the match. The crowd was totally alive and there was an audible minority on Barrett's side. When Cena first started to roll, Nexus movee in, so a bunch of WWE dudes rushed the ring to clear them out, which means Goldust, Bourne, and Masters all made cameos. Barrett went back on offense and Cena continued to sell his ass off: he made everything look painful, made every bit of Barrett's offense seem like a big deal. Totally awesome stuff. Barrett eventually hit Waste Land after countering an Attitude Adjustment, and I thought it was awesome that Cena let him get his finisher clean. Cena kicked out and popped up with an Attitude Adjustment, and I was totally shocked to see Barrett kick out. Really, I can't stress enough how much Cena was willing to give in this match, and how much his giving nature helped the match. He went for the STF, and then they did a distraction thing and some guy hit Cena in the face with a pipe and Barrett won and Cole nearly cried and then they got a bunch of awesome close-ups of shocked people in the crowd and kids who wanted to cry. Awesome reaction from the crowd. Million stars for how stunned people were. Probably a ***1/4 match or so. Tremendous performance by John Cena.

Michelle McCool vs. Layla - Unified Divas Title

Lawler told LayCool to slip into a coma after the match. Awesome. Wasn't much to the match: LayCool did some distraction stuff, Layla screamed a bunch and provided some great comedy stuff at ringside. The finish was pretty cool as they traded submissions-- Sharpshooter to heel hook and then back-- and then the awesome-est DQ of all time happened when Layla threw her shoes at Natalya. Michelle kicked Layla inadvertently during the match, another hint at a LayCool dissolution, which would stink.

Kane vs. The Undertaker - HIAC

I wasn't even slightly excited about this feud when it started, but their NHB match was fun and better than I expected, so I tentatively looked forward to this. Didn't like it much at all. They made a point of turning Taker back into a monster after the return of Paul Bearer, and he squashed Punk. But then Kane rocked him pretty good early on and for some reason started doing knee work. ??? Yeah, kinda silly. Taker came back from that pretty quickly and then they went back and forth and brawled sluggishly for a pretty long time. They traded bombs, which was what the match should've been from the get-go, but it wasn't nearly as fun as at Night of Champions. Taker sold the leg work, but it felt a bit like an after thought, and this was the worst limb selling I've seen from him all year. Finishing stretch was silly and a bit fun/frustrating. PAUL BEARER HURT UNDERTAKER WITH LIGHT FROM AN URN. Nice.

Overall, I'd call it an ok show. Good opener and two really good matches. But a PPV without Punk in 2010 is stupid.

Friday, October 1, 2010

When I Met Fujiwara

I decided to attempt to tackle PURO, so I've been feeling my way around, checking out the most heavily-pimped guys, trying to find a starting point. Thus far, Fujiwara has stuck out as the guy who most appeals to me. Basically, that means I prefer shoot-style stuff to the grandiose slugfests put on by AJPW heavyweights and the athletic sprints put on by Liger & co. Not that I dislike the other stuff, but yeah, Fujiwara's been rocking my world. So, bear with me: I'm going to do my best with analyzing and assessing a style that's brand-new to me. I've been watching early UWF stuff, which maybe still had elements of traditional pro-style stuff, but they're clearly working towards something new and more realistic, etc.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger (Sayama) - UWF 9/7/84

Evidently, UWF pioneered shoot-style. Also, Super Tiger is the same Sayama who worked as Tiger Mask against Dynamite Kid, but this is much better than I remember those matches being. Watching this, you wouldn't believe it's the same dude who has a rep for whiffing kicks and no-selling. This was totally awesome, btw. They work the mat ruggedly and realistically, struggling for everything, and my favorite part is that they continuously go for kimuras and cross armbreakers and triangle chokes, but they don't get them locked in. The other guy always protects himself, and whenever it looks like the hold is cinched in, the guy in the hold sells it like death and yells and rushes to the ropes to break the holds. They make it seem like their arm's about to break because their arm is about to break because those two arm holds will break arms fast.

Story-wise, Fujiwara establishes himself as the superior mat worker. He doesn't dominate, but he definitely looks to have the other hand. He targets the arm but, like I said, Tiger can hang well enough to keep it from getting locked in. Sayama is known as a martial-artist, so he relies on kicks. Fujiwara sells his kicks like death, and aside from one bicycle kick attempt that goes awry, Sayama's kicks look stellar. He eventually goes to the air to try to put Fujiwara away and misses twice and maybe lands on his knees, so Fujiwara switches his focus to the leg, using a half-crab and a figure-four, which are less lethal holds, but they take a lot away from Sayama's offense. Sayama does sell the leg work and he sells it well, but he still manages to make his comeback. Fujiwara backs him into the corner and grabs a leg, and Sayama counters with that mule kick that Jeff Hardy does. He really nails it, and he follows it up with another great kick, and Fujiwara sells both like death, and then Sayama goes for a crossface chickenwing. Felt a bit out of nowhere for a finish, but with the way they put Sayama's kicks over, I'd buy that two big kicks nearly twenty minutes in would rock Fujiwara enough for Sayama to look in a hold that would finish him off.

Bunches of other awesome stuff in this match. Loved they way they struggled for holds and avoided and sold the dangerous ones; loved the way Fujiwara sold Sayama's kicks; loved how his strategy evolved throughout the match. Also, there was this great moment where Sayama slapped Fujiwara in the face. Fujiwara didn't have to do a lot with his face to look pissed because he was a naturally grumpy-looking dude. He lures Sayama to the corner and then throws him into the buckle and slaps the piss out of him. Fujiwara didn't go to strikes much, so that slap felt significant. There was also a really cool exchange where Sayama went for a triangle but Fujiwara didn't let him have his arm. Fujiwara then pulled his head out of the triangle and countered directly into a piledriver and then immediately went for the kimura again. Sayama sold it like death and went to the ropes and it was awesome.

Not sure how to rate/rank something like this, but I thought it was legit great.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger - UWF 9/11/84

Didn't like this quite as much as the first, but it was still really awesome. More great mat work, and they made Sayama's kicks an even bigger deal. Opening stages are really cool, as Sayama threatens with kicks to back Fujiwara off, and you can tell Fujiwara wants to get in close to take Sayama down and neutralize his kicks. There are a lot more strikes in this one, and Sayama goes deeper into his kick arsenal, which is a bad thing: the more complicated the kicks get, the less they connect. Still, Fujiwara sells them like death, and they do a few awesome things with the strikes. At one point, Fujiwara gets pissed and takes Sayama to the corner and decks him in the face. It's awesome. Later, he tries the same thing in the opposite corner, but Sayama blocks the punch and throws one of his own, then hits a spin kick to the gut in the corner. Fujiwara's sell rules. Later, he blocks that same spin kick attempt. Basically, it was awesome to watch strategies unfold simultaneously for the mat work and for the strike exchanges.

Finish was really great, too. Sayama hit that same mule kick that set up his victory in the first match. Fujiwara sells it brilliantly and then backs off into the corner to try to protect himself. Sayama pulls him out in a waistlock; Fujiwara elbows him in the face and immediately goes into a Fujiwara armbar. Awesome callback. Awesome awesome match. About on par with the first one.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Kazuo Yamazaki - UWF 1/7/85

Man, this was totally awesome. They open up with mat work and look pretty even until Yamazaki kicks Fujiwara's face off. Fujiwara sells kicks perfectly, so from now on, whenever I say someone kicks Fujiwara in the face, assume that kick is followed by top-notch selling unless I say otherwise. Ditto for if he gets kicked in the gut, leg, arm, etc. Wherever he gets kicked, he sells it well. Better than well. Anyway, Yamazaki backs Fujiwara into the corner and kicks the piss out of him, and Fujiwara balls up in the corner and covers up, and it's really something to see that grumpy-looking badass get leveled by a skinny dude. Fujiwara has been totally willing to put his opponents over with his selling, which is really awesome. He eventually gets up, though, and then he throws Yamazaki into the corner and throws these gorgeously nasty punches to the Yamazaki's mid-section. Just all over the place, wherever Yamazaki leaves an opening.

And from then on, these dudes are just mean to each other. It's really a battle of Yamazaki's kicks against Fujiwara's punches, with some beautiful slaps sprinkled throughout, until Fujiwara finally gets fed up and grabs Yamazaki's leg and takes him to the ground and starts tearing at his leg. Then they go back to mat work, and though I didn't like this as much as the Sayama matches on the whole, I'd say the mat work was even better. The stuff they do makes so much sense: they find openings and grab limbs and wrench on them, and then they sell and it's awesome. There's nothing fancy or clever, and I find it weird that a lot of this surprised me because it really looked so natural. This looked like two guys fighting on a mat. There was this awesome moment where Fujiwara went for a figure-four, and he had Yamazaki's left leg wrapped up, so Yamazaki just grabbed his right leg and held it in so Fujiwara couldn't complete the hold. Then, Fujiwara just sat on Yamazaki's left leg. Brilliant. Finish was great, too: Fujiwara locked in the kimura and Yamazaki went to the ropes, so Fujiwara picked him up, slapped the piss out of him, and then took him back down. Yamazaki kept sitting up to prevent Fujiwara from getting full pressure on the kimura, so Fujiwara turned it into a rear choke. No body scissors or anything: just one arm wrapped around his neck until he submitted. Fucking awesome. Yeah: stiff strikes, realistic mat work, perfect selling, and a general feeling of flat-out dislike: I loved this.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Hero/Richards; Hero/Hidaka

Chris Hero vs. Davey Richards - PWG Seven 7/30/10

I haven't seen a Davey Richards match in a long while. Probably saw him back in January when I tried to keep up with ROH on HDNet. Anyway, I figured I should check this out because he's a pretty divisive dude, and I've had mixed feelings about him, and I like Hero a fair amount. Match works like a typical indy main event dream match-- they open with mat work, and then they do some strike exchanges and dives to the outside, each guy gets a brief control segment, and then there's a finishing stretch where they beat the heck out of each other and there are about 30 2.9999 counts, half of which would've been much better finishes than the actual finish of the match.

But it's not as irritating as most matches of this type for a handful of reasons. First reason is that both guys hit really hard. Like, really hard. Looked like they were trying to kill each other. Second reason is that Hero's selling was really good down the finishing stretch. Davey worked the knee for a while, and Hero sold like a champ. Tons of neat little stuff where he alters his offense to show he's protecting the bad knee. Opening parts of the match were good, too, as the mat work was well-paced, and it looked like they were picking their spots and struggling and all that. Early strike exchanges were tremendous-- tons of nasty stuff. As for Davey, I wouldn't say I thought he was great in this match. He can do things well-- he hits like crazy and can sell when he wants to. But he tends to get so caught up in his own seriousness, his own love for competition or whatever the fuck, that he actually becomes a caricature of "serious" pro wrestling. His expressions and mannerisms and yells become so overwrought that I stop taking the match seriously. That thing he does where he kicks out at 2.9999 and yells and grabs his stomach drives me crazy.

But he sold well during most of the early exchanges, and he made the knockout blows look convincing. Hero's stuff looked awesome-- bunches of great forearms and elbows and knees and punches. Way too many of them, actually. The finishing stretch was really the match's biggest problem. About 20 minutes in, the crowd started chanting, "This is awesome!" and so both guys decided to start hitting the poop out of each other and then kicking out. Fortunately, Hero's selling made this part of the match a bit more tolerable than most matches that end like this, but it still hurt the match a fair amount.

I'd still call this good but didn't think it was as good as any of the Danielson matches from this year.

Chris Hero vs. Ikuto Hidaka - EVOLVE 2 3/13/10

The first half of this match was truly great. They work the mat, and Hero is awesome on the mat, and Hidaka kept up. Both guys worked slow and picked spots; Hero targeted Hidaka's left arm and Hidaka targeted Hero's left leg. Hero does a lot of little selling things throughout the mat work: he yells when Hidaka locks in a new hold and rushes for the ropes when he's in serious danger. All those little things make the mat work more engaging and believable without reaching Davey's preposterous levels of SERIOUS COMPETITION. Once Hero picks out the arm, the match gets insanely good: Hidaka rolls out of things and comes up with nifty counters, always going back to Hero's leg, but he can barely hold onto anything because Hero always finds a new way to go back to the arm, grabbing it or kicking it or stomping on it or whatever. He uses all of his long limbs to his advantage. Hidaka's selling isn't great by any means, but it's better than what I'd expect to see from a Japanese junior in 2010. Better than any of the Dragon Gate dudes. He always shakes it off when he locks in a leg hold, and it becomes clear that the arm damage will continue to prevent him from making a serious comeback on the mat. Still, he does enough to Hero's leg to force him to start selling, and Hero's selling is great throughout.

Eventually, Hero starts going for knockout blows, probably because he's frustrated that his leg hurts and Hidaka's arm isn't broken yet. Hero's strikes are really great, and I liked how his frustration opened a window for Hidaka to comeback. Hidaka tried to comeback with headbutts to the midsection, but Hero pushed him off and hit some back splashes to Hidaka's midsection for payback. Here's when Hero started being a dick and left the window open for Hidaka to get back in the match. Rather than going back to the leg, he started busting out DDTs as hope spots. Finishing stretch is alright-ish. Hero continues to sell well but Hidaka forgets for the majority of the time he's on offense. He goes back to the leg after he weakens Hero, and Hero's selling gets even better while Hidaka's stops. Then they go through a whole bunch of big strikes and teased knockouts, and they all look cool, but I really wish the finish had gone back to the limb work, and I also wish they shaved about 5 minutes off the match length.

Still, this was a mostly great match. It looked like it was about to be my indy MOTY before the finish, but even with the problems in the finishing stretch, I'd only put this a notch below Danielson's matches with Fish and Kingston.