BJW 2014/10/31

Saikyo Tag League 2014

 (2014/10/31)

Random W-1 Stuff

Wrestle-1 2015/2/13

Ikemen Samurai (Masakatsu Funaki & Jiro Kuroshio) vs. New Wild Order (AKIRA & Manabu Soya)

Good tag team match with Kuroshio as a centerpiece of storytelling. I didn’t like him before, but all this teaming with Masa Funaki is doing wonders for him, they’re such an unusual duo and it works for both. Soya was excellent in this one, by the way.

***1/4

Wrestle-1 2015/2/13

Masato Tanaka vs. KAI

Typical Masato Tanaka tussles have both good and not so good parts. However, the good parts can be really fucking great sometimes and save the match, and that was the case here. He didn’t do his table spot, which is nice. KAI is on the winning streak and ready for a shot at Muto.

***1/4

Wrestle-1 2015/2/13

Wrestle-1 Tag Championship: Too Sharp (Minoru Tanaka & Seiki Yoshioka) vs. Team 246 (Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo) ©

Mostly lifeless match. Minoru is still awesome, though, and you’d think the fallman should be obvious here, but take a better look. Basically, those two things saved the match from being bad. I could live without seeing another Kaz Hayashi match ever again. I wish Kondo would break away already.

**3/4

Wrestle-1 2015/2/22

Yusuke Kodama vs. Seiki Yoshioka

Solid match between the young guys, but could’ve/should’ve been better. I did like the BattleARTS inspired strikes, though. :)

**3/4

Wrestle-1 2015/2/22

Masato Tanaka vs. Shuji Kondo

A Masato Tanaka match. Too bad Kondo’s carryjob button wasn’t on the whole time.

***

Wrestle-1 2015/2/22

KAI, Ryota Hama, Yasufumi Nakanoue vs. Keiji Muto, Masakatsu Funaki, Shotaro Ashino

Very good, hard working 6-man tag with constant movement and well executed spots.

***1/2

Newish W-1

Wrestle-1 2015/1/30

Masayuki Kono vs. KAI

Good enough for me. I actually don’t mind Kono because he’s a very capable worker who can really shine when in the ring with a better opponent, it’s just that his current DESPERADO angle is holding him back and turns his matches into shit quite regularly. It can be fun, but it’s usually a miss. There wasn’t much of that here, the match was rather normal, with some grappling at the beginning, then some ringside brawling before the good closing stretch where they had to improvise due to KAI knocking out Kono during a double lariat spot. I liked this, good match.

***

Wrestle-1 2015/1/30

Hideki Suzuki & Yusaku Obata vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Jiro Kuroshio

Credit for all the stars goes to HIDEKI SUZUKI for being such a marvelous dickbag heel, he hijacked the match and fucking owned it. First he ripped Kuroshio’s jacket apart, then no sold him all the way ‘till the end where he destroyed him ringside while Funaki was busy in the ring. The Suzuki/Funaki heat is amazing and thankfully they’re finally booked for a singles slugfest in March, shit man, that match’s going to rule the world. They really hate each other, so much animosity in the air when they’re in the ring, everything is so natural and organic, that’s what a true wrestling rivalry should look like. On top of that, we also had Kuroshio and Obata smacking each other silly and punching each other after the match. God, I loved this match, such a nifty piece of storytelling.

****1/4

Wrestle-1 2015/1/30

Wrestle-1 Championship: Manabu Soya vs. Keiji Muto ©

Not as great as Sanada defense, but still very good. Muto is slow but he can still bump very well, and it certainly helps to see his opponents adjusting to his style and working his levels of pacing. Plus, of course, Muto’s always been a brilliant tactician and strategist with big ass wrestling IQ, it serves him good no matter the age. Soya is one rough fucker but Muto did his best to tame him and bring down to the ground, there were some neat hold-for-hold spots and reversals on the mat, Soya took a page or two from Sanada’s book. Huge points go to Muto for finishing off his opponents with Figure Four Leglock… in 2015. Like I said earlied, Muto is an amazing tactician whose “less is more” institute is glorious, and it fucking showed in the finishing run. Very good title match.

***3/4

Big Japan in Korakuen: Shinobu/Sekimoto in a Stellar Main Event

2014/6/30

1.      The Brahmans (Shu & Kei) vs. Masaya Takahashi & Takayuki Ueki

Harmless, loony fun. Ueki’s character is pure comedy gold sometimes.

**

2.      Speed of Sounds (Tsutomu Oosugi & Hercules Senga) vs. MEN’S Teioh & Atsushi Maruyama

This was way more light-hearted than expected, and not in a particularly good way. What a waste of Maruyama.

**

3.      Ryuichi Kawakami & Masato Inaba vs. Kohei Sato & Hideyoshi Kamitani

Damn! I was really looking forward to see Kohei smack people silly, but the video is no good motherfucker, such a travesty.

N/A

4.      Ikkitousen 2014 ~ Strong Climb ~ Block B: Kazuki Hashimoto vs. Manabu Soya

Soya thrives in Big Japan like nowhere else, and I’ve really learned to appreciate him this year. He’s a perfect match for the style, as evidenced here once again. And what about K-HASH, you say? Well, he’s turned into a super reliable wrestler and pretty much the Top 10 WOTY material, immense guy.

***3/4

5.      Ryuji Ito, Jaki Numazawa, Masashi Takeda vs. Yankee Nichokenju (Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka) & Kankuro Hoshino

Super fast deathmatch, seriously, the pace was frantic but coherent. Takeda is the man. Hoshino can be a good deathmatch underdog when he tones down the unnecessary comedy.

***1/4

6.      Ikkitousen 2014 ~ Strong Climb ~ Block A: Shuji Ishikawa vs. Shinya Ishikawa

Shuji is a proven badass behemoth and big pain in the ass for entire Big Japan roster. First he dominated the DM Division for a whole year, now he’s trying to do the same with Strong and Tag Divisions, and he’s pretty damn successful so far. Shinya is the Strong Champion, and if anyone stands a chance against the big bad bruiser, it’s him. Great match with a logical and effective layout and strategies.

****

7.      Ikkitousen 2014 ~ Strong Climb ~ Block B: Shinobu vs. Daisuke Sekimoto

One of the pillars of puroresu is rigid hierarchy and long character arcs about improving your game and climbing up the totem pole, it usually takes years to achieve it, but when it finally arrives, the payoff is beautiful. WHAT A MATCH!

****1/2