STEINER!

BTW Legends of Wrestling

 (2015/6/7)

Scott Steiner vs. Rob Van Dam

Well hello there, this is a good, fun match. Steiner is the undisputed, undefeated king of trash talking and I could watch him do it all day long. He was having fun out there, and so was the crowd. His second was Doc Gallows who was great in the role. This was your basic “heel constantly cheats” match, but done in such a right fashion, I really liked it. Steiner was an awesome aggressor and Bob was bumping well for him. Steiner needs to rule Jarrett’s GFW.

***1/4

Shitty Lucha!

Lucha Libre BOOM 2015/2/28

LUCHA EXTREMA: Nicho el Millonario vs. Pagano

This has to be the biggest trainwreck of the year. It was so fucking bad it was actually good, you know, that sort of thing. Psicosis was definitely drugged up here, he looked like a discount Sangre Chicana, he botched about 70% of his offense, his movements were shaky as hell and just in general he came across as someone wrestling for a shot. Anyway, this was a deathmatch, but there was no any order to it, they were just randomly doing crazy stuff to each other with little to no selling, unless that moment or two where they really fucked up each other as a result of off-sync cooperation. But that wasn’t selling, that was them moaning in pain. Some spots were just hilarious and the finish was crazy funny, man, this shit needs to be seen to be believed. Nothing will top this in the trainwreck department.

GOLD

AAA from Arena Naucalpan

AAA 2015/1/23

Ludxor, Venum, Dinastia, Arez vs. Carta Brava Jr., Apache, Mini Psycho Clown, Ciclope

Here we have 8 flippy guys who somehow managed to keep it real and deliver a good, purposeful match, it’s pretty much always a plus in my book. You don’t have to do crazy aerial stuff all the time just because you can. Arez is a daredevil bump machine from the indies (those two Pentagon slugfests, daaayum), it’s cool to see him in AAA.

***1/4

AAA 2015/1/23

Australian Suicide & Bengala vs. Pentagon Jr. & Joe Lider

Good shit with AS and Pentagon continuing their beef from last year, hopefully it culminates in a crazy ass mask match. Lider looked solid, Bengala was good, probably for the first time under my watch.

***1/2

AAA 2015/1/23

Hell Brothers (Cibernetico, Averno, Chessman) vs. La Parka, Drago, Jack Evans

bad

AAA 2015/1/23

Rey de Reyes 2015 – Grupo 1 Eliminatoria: Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs. Monster Clown vs. Super Fly vs. Aerostar

At least Aerostar did a crazy tope into paying customers.

bad

AAA 2015/1/23

Hijo del Perro Aguayo & Texano Jr. vs. Myzteziz & Psycho Clown

Crazy, nasty and funny out-of-control brawl that had Arena Naucalpan going wild, Perro and Texano made sure there’s tons and tons of heat on them, they got hit by beer and beer cups quite a few times, Perro was loving it, he was constantly bickering with the fans. The place went absolutely nuts for Psycho Clown, they cheered like crazy for literally anything he did, lol. The match was your typical AAA main event brawl, but Arena Naucalpan proved to be a major novelty, it felt like very important ingredient of the match, almost crucial. They did some awesome dives into the crowd, they brawled all over the place, the fans loved every second of it. Great, awesome mayhem in AAA style, excellent atmosphere and well done storytelling, must-see match.

****1/4

All Japan 2014/12/14

Kyohei Wada Produce

(2014/12/14)

1.      Yuma Aoyagi Debut Match: Yuma Aoyagi vs. Kento Miyahara

What an awesome debut match, probably the best one I’ve ever seen unless I’m missing something embarrassingly obvious. Miyahara was such a proper and surly aggressor towards Aoyagi who took the beating like a true pro, but he also gave him a lot, totally did not expect that. Obviously the kid is immensely talented and it showed in his debut already, and of course Korakuen recognized it and gave him good time. Damn good match with a great story.

***3/4

2.      Hikaru Sato vs. Yohei Nakajima

Tight little match that built and built until the satisfying finale, poor Yohei was doing everything in his power to fight off the savvy shooter, it looked like a mongoose vs. snake fight, awesome shit. The defensive portions of the match were shooty, loved it. Yohei removing the mask half a year ago and abandoning the Menso~re Oyaji persona did wonders for him, he’s a great lowcard underdog now, and Hikaru Sato is continuously one of the most underappreciated wrestlers on the planet. I knew this would rock, and it did.

****

3.      Osamu Nishimura, Ryuji Hijikata, Naoya Nomura vs. Tamon Honda, Masao Inoue, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

Kikuchi still looks good and can go. And someone book Nishimura in a singles match please.

**

4.      Mascara vs. Mascara: Masked Burning No. 2 & Ultimo Dragon vs. Mr. Christmas & SUSHI

Decent semi-comedy match.

**1/2

5.      GAORA TV Championship: KENSO vs. Kotaro Suzuki ©

Great match with KENSO’s nose being busted open, it added to his character here, the brawling portions of the match were rough and awesome. This was your classic big guy vs. small guy structure done right, the selling was excellent and the finishing run was well done. After the match Ryuji Hijikata came out to challenge the new champion KENSO and I have no idea why, he just lost the title match two weeks ago, ffs.

****1/4

6.      AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Masanobu Fuchi vs. Atsushi Aoki ©

Smart match worked around Fuchi’s athletic limitations, simple and clever contest with lots of pure struggle, Aoki did a fine job in adjusting to Fuchi’s pacing.

***1/4

7.      Kyohei Wada 40^th Anniversary Match: Akebono & Takao Omori vs. Suwama & Go Shiozaki

Really fun match built around the intriguing Suwama & Shiozaki one night only partnership, and that was the story of the match, there were awesome interactions and tension between the two. Omori was great here with all the punches, uppercuts and big boots, Akebono was his normal self (weight and all that jazz), and together they made for a good foe duo to fight against the Dream Team. Quality entertainment.

***3/4