Muta/Tenryu (Battle of the Dicks)

WAR 1996/10/11

Great Muta vs. Genichiro Tenryu

Tenryu throws the ceremonial flowers at Muta and makes it clear this is going to be his grumpiest edition yet. And it really needs to be, because Muta is a different kind of foe, totally dangerous, violent and unpredictable. What a magnificent and spectacular dance of death this match was! Muta stalls for awhile before tricking and busting Tenryu wide open with a broken beer bottle glass, Tenryu’s face is soaked in his own blood but his face also says “man, this is gonna hurt you more than me, Muta, just wait and see”. Shit man, Muta was causing havoc right, left and centre, he was a true demon of mayhem here with all the maliciousness, zero-fucks-given cheating and brutal displays of violence. You got the unsettling sense of Tenryu facing something completely unknown to him and WAR, a new and frightening kind of monster. Owning Tenryu on his own turf is a remarkable achievement, so you can imagine Muta’s incredible efforts. Sick fuck 101. Tenryu’s eventual comeback was epic, stiff punches were thrown back-and-forth, weapons were used, the entire thing was just one violent spectacle. Finishing stretch was such a sweet little candy, it was relatively short yet so fucking dramatic, watching these two soldiers trying to outdick each other was beautiful.

*****

NJPW on AXS TV: Episode 10

New Japan Pro-Wrestling on AXS TV

Episode 10, March 20th 2015

Tanahashi talks about the special appeal of his matches with Nakamura, he’s proud that the fans voted this match for WK8 main event. He also mentions the differences in philosophies between him and Shinsuke.

Wrestle Kingdom 8

(2014/1/4)

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura ©

First things first, the entrances for this one were absolutely spectacular. Tanahashi got Marty Friedman, Nakamura got some strippers. Great spectacle. As it usually goes with January 4^th matches, this one also gets overlooked all the time simply because it happened so early in the year. But I understand, because not only that New Japan had a fantastic year loaded with classics, it’s also that this actual pairing alone produced three better matches later in the year (February, April, August). The layout and the story were quite simple here, Nakamura was working over Tanahashi’s midsection for awhile, and Tana was aiming for, you know it, Nakamura’s leg. The only (and crucial) difference was that Tana didn’t abandon his game plan unlike Nakamura, and it paid off big time for him. The match had a flaw or two, but the awesome moments were truly awesome, such as that grueling strike battle before the finishing stretch and the cloverleaf into Styles Clash sequence. Overall this was another great effort from the majestic Nakamura/Tanahashi workshop.

****1/4

Backstage, Nakamura talks about his elevating of the championship. He talks some other… stuff… as well.

Inside the ring it’s time for a vintage Tanahashi closing promo, he loves us all and all that jazz. Air guitar! Marty Friedman again!

Somewhere in a NJPW office, Tana is reflecting on the match, yada-yada-yada, eh, same old stuff about believing in his style, etc.

Hijo del Perro Aguayo Passes Away

Terrible and devastating news. You’ll be missed Perro. Just yesterday, during Muertes/Fenix coffin match, I was thinking how insanely over Perro would be at the Temple.

Shit man, he was basically in his prime. He was supposed to headline this year’s TripleMania with Myzteziz in a mask vs. hair match, it was supposed to be a blow-off to the 10 year long feud. Perro was charisma personified, one of those rare heels who always stayed credible despite losing and goofing around all the time. One of the biggest stars in Mexico too, this is a really hard hit to the scene.

He was wrestling since he was 15, he literally lived and died pro-wrestling.

 

RUDO!

NJPW on AXS TV: Episode 9

New Japan Pro-Wrestling on AXS TV

Episode 9, March 13th 2015

There was an interesting story behind this match, Naito didn’t gain a lot of momentum following his G1 victory, Gedo & Jado did quite a number on him with the horrible booking giving him Tanaka and fucking Yujiro as a preparation for the Dome show. That’s just bad, lackluster booking right there. On top of that, the IC title match had Tanahashi and Nakamura. What New Japan did here was that they basically recognized the tone of the situation and let the fans vote between the two matches to close WK8. The fans picked Tanahashi/Nakamura.

One thing is fascinating here, in the interview reflecting on the match/situation, Okada didn’t blame Naito, he blamed himself considering he was the champion, he felt he wasn’t qualified enough as the champion. Very interesting to hear things from his POV.

Wrestle Kingdom 8

(2014/1/4)

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada ©

This was much, much better than remembered. Did Ranallo and Barnett on commentary provide some new sides, angles and soft eyes to the match? Possibly. These two have a captivating chemistry and while they’re never going to touch their Korakuen masterpiece from 2012, they still produce good-to-great matches every time they face off. As good as this one was, I kind of wish they did a G1 style sprint instead of an epic. But still, this was good enough, they kept the crowd engaged and it was easy to catch up with the rhythm set.

***3/4

Backstage, Okada is bragging. Naito is angry but promises to rise again.

Once again we see Okada reflecting on the match, he felt Naito wasn’t as tough as before, he also said he didn’t care nor watched the IC title main event. Dat smirk!

Lucha Underground: Episode 19

Episode 19

aired: 2015/3/18

 A great feud-reminding video package making us ready for the episode.

Aerostar/Drago was awesome. They got enough time and damn sure they used it to the maximum. They even did some submission work the beginning. The match did have a flaw or two, but no biggie there really.

KONNAN~ is playing chess with Puma. Konnan talks strategies. Konnan is smacking some wannabe thugs with his brand new cane. Konnan! Best video ever. Cage is fucked.

Cuerno is cruisin'.

Ryck/Crew was an amazing conclusion to their heated feud, just a perfectly booked piece of storytelling. Vampiro described it as a prison fight, and he's spot on. Shit was brutal, man. Mr. Cisco was bleeding and some very rough smacks were thrown around. Ryck looked glorious. Sexy Star interfered near the end, she was another puzzle of the story. Can't stress enough how much I enjoyed this, the best handicap match ever.

Main event was simply fucking amazing, it was a gnarly and surly lucha tussle. Hard-hitting blasts, mask ripping, Fenix bleeding buckets, brawling all over the place... Just perfect. Mesias was a vicious predator on a mission of ending Fenix's life, and Fenix was an excellent underdog in peril. He was bumping and selling like a motherfucker. What a tremendous piece of storytelling this was, easily the best match in company history. The taping reports were raving about this one, and I did expect a great match, but man oh man, they just blew my mind.

1. Aerostar vs. Drago ***3/4
2. 3-on-1 HANDICAP NO DQ ELIMINATION MATCH: The Crew (Cortez Castro, Mr. Cisco, Bael) vs. Big Ryck ****1/4
3. GRAVE CONSUEQUENCES MATCH: Mil Muertes vs. Fenix *****

MiSu/Harada and TAKA/Marufuji

NOAH 2015/2/11

Minoru Suzuki vs. Daisuke Harada

Damn, MiSu’s in a tremendous shape! Harada sucker-punches the malicious invader from New Japan and it works in his favor for awhile, but the goblin is too much for him to handle eventually, Harada take helluva beating outside the ring. He gets his ass kicked and it’s all good and simple pro-wrestling. Harada still manages to sneak in a nearfall or two but no one’s buying that he could shock us all. One of the many insanely cool things about Suzuki is how he uses simple things such as SLAPS to turn things around, in this particular instance poor Harada could Usain Bolt the ropes all day long but to little or no avail.

***1/2

NOAH 2015/2/11

TAKA Michinoku vs. Naomichi Marufuji

Fun TAKA carryjob. Cool thing about Suzuki-gun invading NOAH is that we get all these short ‘n’ sweet TAKA matches that are totally cute and a great reminder of his huge wrestling IQ. He was great here in cheating and working over Marufuji’s leg, but it takes two to tango, and of course Marufuji didn’t bother to sell any real damage. That useless sack of penises! With a better seller (or a seller of any kind), this would’ve been a borderline great match.

***1/4 (credit: TAKA)

Young/Roode and Spud/Carter

So I watched some T&A last night, for the first time in months, Young/Roode and Spud/Carter. Two excellent matches, and in front of the nice looking and red hot Wembley Arena crowd it was easy to forget what a struggling cesspool this company is. Two old school matches with lots of great looking punches.

TNA 2015/1/31

LAST MAN STANDING: Eric Young vs. Bobby Roode

The first LMS match in ages that didn’t spam 10 counts. Fuck me, this was just an amazing brawl, the majority of the first half were great looking punches from both dudes. Eric Young was surgically precise, I’m impressed. Even later in the match, Roode was using punches on few occasions to regain the control over the match. I can’t stress enough how much I enjoyed it. The match was highly physical and punishing, the finishing run and the finish itself were all good. The best match of both guys careers.

****1/2

TNA 2015/1/31

Hair vs. Hair: Rockstar Spud vs. Ethan Carter III

As the strict bell-to-bell match itself this was great but slightly below Young/Roode, however it’s the post-match stuff with Carter being the biggest asshole in the world that makes this an epic story. Great crowd for Spud in his homeland. This was also a punch-heavy match, they worked a helluva brawl where Spud looked amazing in working from beneath. That sequence where he was channeling the big stars of the past was super. I was shocked to see an old school brawl with a simple pacing and layout worked in TNA, this was very well done.

****1/2