Stardom Goodies

Stardom 2015/5/17

Wonder of Stardom Championship (vacant): Nikki Storm vs. Io Shirai

First time watching Nikki Storm and I’m impressed. Imagine if Fit Finlay was a female from Scotland. Yep, that! This match was so simple in its structure and everything was executed down to a T, and Nikki was a major part of it, she was controlling the pace throughout the match, she was kicking Io’s ass all over the ring and ringside. There were two big, prolonged beatdowns on Io, both very brutal and punishing as Nikki was like a relentless honey badger going after a snake, everything she did felt “real” and painful, all the neckbreakers, slams, nasty holds, etc. She was cutting her off like a badass bitch, plus all the trash talk was neat. Io’s first comeback was kind of selling-free, but fortunately it didn’t last too long, because Nikki regained control very soon and this time she was even more vicious on offense. Naturally, it made Io’s second comeback way more ferocious, deserved and fighting spirit-heavy, it was finally her time to dish out some smackdown. And of course, it was great, it also led directly to the finish, which is not something I was expecting, and I love it. Totally great match right here!

****1/2

Newish CMLL

CMLL 2015/5/29

Ingobernables (Rush, Sombra, Tetsuya Naito) vs. Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Thunder

Naito el Ingobernable is fantastic, and if he carries over that attitude to New Japan, it might end up being epic. He slaps people around, steals UG’s signature hand gesture, constantly does the obnoxious eye thing, his offense is stripped down, just in general he looks and acts mean. And then when it’s time for bumping for tecnicos or doing highspots, he does it perfectly, he’s simply an outstanding rudo invader from Japon. This trio brawl was excellent, the first two falls got plenty of time for developing plots and stories, I was positively surprised to see the segunda getting WAAAY more time than your typical CMLL segunda caida. Ingobernables slapping the Guerreros and Thunder around and decimating them was wonderful, the comeback was well done, and then we got UG and Thunder developing/accelerating their own beef by stealing falls on Rush from each other. Needless to say, they were noth involved in some heavy smackfests with Toro Blanco, and it was great. You know what, I’d totally like to see them doing a 3-way apuesta clash, would be radical! And to cap off this entire thing, we got an awesome post-match tussle, pure chaos and beatdowns everywhere. Excellent match!

****1/4

Dramatic in Korakuen

King of DDT 2015

(2015/6/28)

Gulak!

CZW Dojo Wars 28

 (2015/5/20)

George Gatton vs. Drew Gulak

Good match that could’ve been amazing if Gatton didn’t get so much offense. I mean, he took like 45% out of the match, wtf… Strange, because he’s a rookie and I thought this’d be prolonged rookie punishment schooling, but instead Gatton got to bust out some serious strings of attacks and even big nearfalls in the climax. Nothing against Gatton really, but in this instance it didn’t look too compelling, as Gulak is not only much larger, but also way more experienced. Gulak was still awesome at doing his own thing, though, and that’s what saved/made this match, everything he did inside that ring was intense, punishing, purposeful and methodical. The way he finished off Gatton was breathtaking and almost made up for the entire “Gatton got too much” thing.

***1/2

Tracy Without Gulak - Still Awesome

CZW Dojo Wars 28

 (2015/5/20)

Tracy Williams vs. Qefka the Quiet

I really wanted to see what Tracy can do with Gulak out of picture, and to no one’s surprise he’s still damn good. He has tons of talent and potential, his moveset is awesome and the way he carries himself and sells the game is highly promising. Qefka is your generic fake luchador whose only quality is bumping around for bigger dudes, but hey, it counts for something, right? This was your typical match with big dude dominating and calling the shots, and with underdog working from behind, it was done right and the finishing run was sweet.

***1/4

EVOLVE 37 (Cherry-Picked)

EVOLVE 37

 (2015/1/10)

Timothy Thatcher vs. Roderick Strong

Thatcher might be charisma free, but he’s a damn fine seller, I’ll give him that. But his total lack of charisma makes it really hard to root for him during FIP segments, as evidenced in this match once again. I just don’t buy into Thatcher being this Billy Robinson-like mat wizard messiah of catch-as-catch-can and semi-shoot style, I just don’t see it, no way. He does have many fancy grappling moves and combos, but there’s something off-putting about him and the way he does it. Roddy was better on the mat here, and better overall, especially the way he roughed it up was awesome, he’d stomp on Thatcher’s head every time possible. The strikes later in the match were all good, basically the whole match was laid out quite well, it’s just that, like I already said, Thatcher’s not that good or interesting character capable of spicing things up, hence why I can’t go ****+ on this match, it lacked on emotional side.

***3/4

Lucha Underground: Episode 33

Episode 33

Based Joshi!

Stardom 2015/6/14

World of Stardom Championship: Meiko Satomura vs. Kairi Hojo ©

Goddamn it, what a match! For some irrational reasons I cannot really explain, I was never really into Joshi, despite being super aware of their awesomeness and hard-boiled work ethics. I just never found enough free time to watch and cover them consistently, hence why they stayed under my viewing radar. This match got so much praise I simply had to watch it, plus Satomura is in there, and she kind of owns, so yeah, this was a must-watch by all accounts.

Phenomenal clash, it starts super intensely with Hojo throwing a super stiff backfist at Satomura during a regular “lock-up-leading-to-clean-break” sequence. It was a beautiful “making a statement” moment that set the tone for the rest of the fight. It was an immediate early wake up call for Satomura, because Hojo might look very feminine and semi-fragile, but she can also fuck you up truly hard, hence why we got Satomura simply boosting her level of stiffness a level or three every time Hojo tried something strike-heavy later in the match. Great storytelling. Sweet thing about this match is you wouldn’t expect it to go long based on the vivid opening minutes, but they just kept going and going, without the match losing its rhythm and organic nature, the overall pacing was mostly excellent.

Basically and TLDR, this was glorious, it had big drama, logical nearfalls, rough smacks thrown all over the place, wonderful selling and two babes scrapping and grappling really hard to call it a day. Amazing match, right up there with Becky/Sasha, like 1A and 1B, I just can’t decide yet which one deserves the A.

****3/4

Global Wars 2015 - Night 1

ROH/NJPW Global Wars 2015

(2015/5/15)

All Japan 3/27

Dream Power Series 2015

(2015/3/27)

Do People Actually Think Park Isn't the Best?!

TXT 2013/5/11

LA Park vs. Dr. Wagner Jr.

Legendary blood brawl of modern lucha. And it gets better on every viewing. The first two falls are perfection, the tercera not so much. It’s still great and stiff, they worked a regular fall, but the ref bumps kind of drag the match down a notch. But no biggie there, because this is still a fantastic piece of pro-wrestling, the first two falls are as good as it gets in the lucha massacre department. Park dominated Wagner for 13 straight minutes, the entire primera and good part of segunda, it was nasty and brutal, Park was one mean motherfucker, his asskicking aura shined like almost never before. He looked and acted frightening. Hard chairshots, mask-ripping, blood licking, brawling through the crowd, punches, kicks… Glorious shit. Wagner was selling everything like death. The crowd was extremely pro-Wagner here, there were numerous “Parka es puto” chants as he was decimating their hero. When Wagner finally made his comeback, the place exploded, Hulkamania style. Obviously Wagner gave Park a taste of his own medicine, as it was his turn to unleash violence now. He fucked up Park pretty bad with a beer bottle, Park was bleeding buckets, to the point they had doctor stopping the match for awhile to patch his forehead. Also, huge props to Black Terry for being such an awesome and easy-going ref, he let them go as hardcore as they wanted. Sweet!

This is an amazing match and a must-see for every lucha fan out there.

****3/4

Drew & Tracy - Making Garage Wrestling Cool Again

CZW Dojo Wars 26

 (2015/5/6)

Curt Robinson & George Gatton vs. Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams

Amazing trainee punishment match, this rocked. It’s fascinating how they managed to make an awesome match in the first two thirds even though you knew Curt and Gatton stood no chance against Drew and Tracy, I mean there was no drama about who might win this, no, the entire body of work was nothing but Drew and Tracy stretching the shit out of Curt and George. Honestly, it didn’t even feel like a pro-wrestling match, it rather looked like a gnarly sparring session for Drew and Tracy. And shit man, it was fantastic! Curt looked better than his tag partner, and he’s like, what, 17-18 years old? He let us know he might surprise with his unpredictable mat tricks, but every time he tried something like that, it just angered Drew and Tracy even more. Gatton is a vanilla midget personified, he looked totally average at first, but then came around later in the match, gotta give him credit for all the beatings he took, it was very nasty. The last third of the match was also great, but in a different fashion, because the trainees managed to sneak in few dangerous nearfalls, and I honestly thought they might pull it off on Tracy that one time. But they didn’t.

Amazing match, this is exactly what indie wrestling needs more of, when I look at these guys, I say let WWE raid all the Garganos, Ciampas, Elgins, Lethals and Coles of the world, they all suck hairy balls anyway, guys like Gulak and Tracy are true talents, and I totally see Curt Robinson developing into a good CZW prospect in few years.

****1/2