God Bless DDT

Never Mind 2015

(2015/12/23)

G1 Climax 25 - Final Day

G1 Climax 25

(2015/08/16)

G1 Climax 25 - Day 14 (from Korakuen, aka the REAAAAL G1 Begins!)

G1 Climax 25

(2015/08/09)

G1 Climax 25 - Day 2 (Lazy-Ass Edition)

G1 Climax 25

(2015/07/23)

Chismo Pick: Best of 2014

I just realized I never posted the list of my favorite matches of 2014, so here's my Top 15. Now, why 15? Why not 10? Or 20? Fuck me if I know. 16 is my fave number but I can't go with that. So I'm going with the closest thing. Then why not 17? Oh well... It needed to be more than 10, though, because 10 matches is way too few considering the fact there are thousands of televised pro-graps matches every year. Ergo:

Dominion

Dominion 2015

(2015/5/7)

Dramatic in Korakuen

King of DDT 2015

(2015/6/28)

All Japan 3/27

Dream Power Series 2015

(2015/3/27)

All Japan 3/14

Dream Power Series 2015

(2015/3/14)

Wrestling Dontaku '15

Wrestling Dontaku 2015

(2015/5/3)

Wrestling Hinokuni

Wrestling Hinokuni

(2015/4/29)

Road to Invasion Attack

Road to Invasion Attack 2015

(cherry-picked)

Invasion Attack

Invasion Attack 2015

(2015/4/5)

NJPW on AXS TV: Episode 11

New Japan Pro-Wrestling on AXS TV

Episode 11, March 27th 2015

They aired the very clipped version of Naito/Ishii from Invasion Attack 2014. Shame, it was a great match, but I do realize it was a warm-up for the main event. We still got to see Ishii dropping Naito on his head repeatedly. Damn, that was nasty! Go and check the full version of this match!

Somewhere in the studio, Tana is talking about the third Nakamura match in only three months.

Invasion Attack 2014

(2014/4/6)

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi ©

The very best Nakamura/Tanahashi match, the ultimate edition, the pinnacle of the rivalry, I gave it five stars last year and was pretty much alone in doing so, I literally don’t remember anyone other than me going full boat on this masterpiece of pro-wrestling. Hopefully there’s someone out there who came around. I bet that in 20-30 years there will be some kids on some message board discussing about “hidden gems” of pro-wrestling and this match is going to be a hot topic for awhile, someone will dig it out beneath all the famous Ishii, Shibata and Okada well-known classics.

They start things with some neat catch wrestling packed in the feeling out process, there were sweet reversals and patient, defensive wrestling, but then Tana gets bored and goes into semi-full heel mode. He goes after Nakamura’s left leg and is fucking relentless in doing so. Think a honey badger attacking a cobra. He just won’t let it go. Tanahashi puts on the Tanahashi pace and makes everyone know this is a Tanahashi match, through and through. Basically, he’s a dick. He’s sick of working with Shinsuke again and doesn’t care from the crowd boos, he’s just here to fuck up Shinsuke’s leg. Shit man, it is a thing of beauty watching him work over it, every time Shinsuke is about to make a proper comeback, Tanahashi simply goes after his leg again and again and again… Truly relentless. The match is full of amazing little details that display their big wrestling IQs, full of twists and turns, but the main plot is still Tana destroying the challenger’s left leg. There’s an occasion or two with Shinsuke kind of “forgetting” the previous legwork, but Tana always “kindly” reminds him what the match is all about. Shinsuke eventually makes a proper comeback after working from behind for a whole match and throws a plethora of super nasty blasts, including punches, and then a series of Boma Yes brings Tana down and bang – Nakamura regains his white strap.

What a fucking masterpiece!

*****

Backstage, Tana mumbles about something.

Inside the ring, the Gracie duo arrives and Daniel challenges Nakamura. But first, it’s the Gracies vs. Nakamura and Sakuraba!

Somewhere in the studio, Tana is reflecting on the match, he’s talking about respect Shinsuke’s grown for him and how it was an honor to hold the IC strap.

NJC '15 - Final Day

New Japan Cup 2015

(2015/3/15)

1.       Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi, Mascara Dorada vs. Jushin Liger, KUSHIDA, Jay White

***

2.       Yuji Nagata & Sho Tanaka vs. Satoshi Kojima & Yohei Komatsu

***1/4

3.       New Japan Cup 2015 – Semi-Final: Hirooki Goto vs. Togi Makabe

**3/4

4.       New Japan Cup 2015 – Semi-Final: Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito

***3/4

5.       Katsuyori Shibata & Tomoaki Honma vs. Tama Tonga & Cody Hall

***1/4

6.       Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Cpt. New Japan

***1/4

7.       CHAOS (Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Bullet Club (Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi)

****

8.       New Japan Cup 2015 – FINAL: Kota Ibushi vs. Hirooki Goto

***1/2

Fun show, easy to sit through. There were no MOTYCs, though, and there was “only” one great match, but literally everything was good except Makabe/Goto. The BC/Chaos 8-man tag was great, the match of the night, full of twists and turns. Shibata and Honma are literally a perfect tag team. The Cup matches didn’t deliver the way it was expected and that’s why this show won’t be remembered as a must-see. But still, this was Kota’s night and a successful one.

All Japan 2/20: Aoki vs. Kotaro

Excite Series 2015

(2015/2/20)

1.       Naoya Nomura vs. Shigehiro Irie

***1/4

2.       Yuma Aoyagi vs. Masanobu Fuchi

bad

3.       Takeshi Minamino, Hikaru Sato, Keisuke Ishii, SUSHI vs. Ultimo Dragon, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Soma Takao, Yohei Nakajima

**

4.       KENSO, Akebono, Yutaka Yoshie vs. Go Shiozaki, Kento Miyahara, Zeus

**1/2

5.       AJPW World Tag Team Championship: Suwama & Joe Doering vs. Wild Burning (Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori) ©

Manly match for sure, but needed more color for greatness, there were middle parts that were just… there. Too by-the-numbers, I guess, something like that. That FIP session on Omori should’ve been longer. Not to mention very weak execution at times. Good match, though, all the pairings were fine enough, especially Suwama/Akiyama and the awesome climax with Omori and Doering. I loved Doering here with all the headsweeping Hansen lariats. Pure force of nature he is, he’ll also piledrive you into oblivion. But there is one problem – sure, he and Suwama are a good, compelling duo, but they’re struggling to find a formula that leads to excellent matches, unlike Akiyama & Omori and Go & Miyahara who make good shit out of thin air.

***3/4

6.       Jr. Battle of Glory 2015 – FINAL: Atsushi Aoki vs. Kotaro Suzuki

AA is probably my favorite Junior in the world in the past two years of so. He works a sluggish heavyweight style and is a relentless dick. Here, after a couple of stand-offish minutes, he targets Kotaro’s arm and works over it viciously, using some very innovative and dangerous looking moves. Great work by Aoki and Kotaro sold it perfectly, there was struggle for every move and Kotaro had to dig down very deep in order to survive, and this is where all the Misawa trainings came into play as Kotaro’s elbows proved to be the key, seriously, that finish was fucking fabulous. This was a rough and punishing Junior match, and with Aoki in charge (plus Hikaru Sato lurking somewhere) All Japan Jr. Division has profiled itself as unique in Japan, nurturing slow paced, human chessgame and highly punishing style.

****1/2