Eric's Working 2009 MOTY List!!

Eric's 2009 MOTY List!!

There's no way I'm making it to the end of 2009. I got like 800 matches I want to watch. This thing'll be complete come 2011. Changed around some placements, added some new stuff.

1. Last Man Standing Match: Sami Callihan vs. Greg Excellent (CZW, 1/10/09)
2. Mitsuharu Misawa/Takashi Suguira vs. Shinsuke Nakamura/Hirooki Goto (NJPW, 1/4/09)
3. Masao Inoue/Mitsuo Momota vs. Jun Izumida/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (NOAH, 1/12/09)
4. No DQ Match: William Regal vs. C.M. Punk (WWE Raw, 1/19/09)
5. Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle (TNA Genesis, 1/11/09)
6. Averno/Ephesto/Mephisto vs. Volador Jr./Mistico/La Sombra (CMLL, 1/9/09)
7. Osamu Nishimura/Masa Fuchi vs. Minoru Suzuki/NOSAWA (AJPW, 1/3/09)
8. Ladder Match: Equinox vs. Vin Gerard (Chikara, 1/25/09)
9. Negro Casas/Mr. Niebla/Villano V vs. Blue Panther/Toscano/Shocker (CMLL, 1/16/09)
10. Undertaker vs. Shelton Benjamin (WWE Smackdown, 1/9/09)
11. Necro Butcher vs. Bill the Butcher (IWA-MS, 1/3/09)
12. Averno/Mephisto vs. Volador Jr./La Sombra (CMLL, 1/16/09)
13. Bryan Danielson vs. Scott Lost (PWG, 1/10/09)

4. No DQ Match: William Regal vs. C.M. Punk (WWE Raw, 1/19/09)

This match took place in Chicago, and Punk was over HUGE. I really miss the Regal/Layla duo. Not only do they just look awesome together, but she is one of the more engaging seconds in all of wrestling. Her work in this match was real great. Real good facials, good distraction spots, genuine concern for Regal. One great spot was where she went to save Regal from a submission in the ropes, and she was realllly pulling with ALL her weight. She really could've eaten shit the way she was doing the spot.

But Regal and Punk were just meshing incredibly well here. After the big Layla spot, Punk was distracted and Regal tripped him up on the apron, following up with a NASTY kick sandwiching Punk's head in between his kick and the ring post. No matter what angle they showed it from it looked gross.

There were so many cool moments, like Punk taking a great spill into the buckles from a drop toe hold, Regal reversing Punk's bulldog into a great half nelson suplex, shoot, just the way Regal sells getting kicked in the back would've been enough to get this match on here. The end struggle as Punk goes for the Go 2 Sleep but Regal desperately knees him over and over was a great finish. Punk selling both the knees, and the difficulty of holding up a larger opponent WHILE getting kneed, before fighting through and nailing the GTS was just epic. Even Lawler gets a great line in afterwards: "Finally Chicago has something to cheer about." I doubt I will be more enthralled with a 6 minute match the rest of this year. I'm not a guy who needs a match to be 20 minutes to consider it a MOTY. At this point in my wrestling viewing I find myself appreciating guys who can get the most out of the least amount of time. I don't need a bunch of perfunctory matwork to start, then some hott spotts and some 2.9s. If you can make a compelling story with 6 minutes to work with, you got the goods in my book.


5. Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle (TNA Genesis, 1/11/09)

I'm a guy who will give credit when credit is due. I watch TNA more than most, despite rarely liking anything that they actually put on my screen (hey, Impact is free and I can get through it in 20 minutes, and sometimes there's a good Jethro Holliday or Amazing Red match). So I really can't stand the promotion, although I do get perverse entertainment out of it. But even TNA can occasionally put on an awesome match, and this right here is the best match in the entire history of TNA. I know, I know, that's faint praise from a promotion where the pimped matches have usually been "AJ vs. Sabin vs. Petey - Ultimate X!!!" or some other garbage.

But this is the best match in the history of TNA. Even better than when Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle revolutionized the sport by including.....some MMA-ish spots? It was like an MMA FIGHT! It had submissions! And like...enzuiguris...and was in a hexagon...and Joe was wearing shorts...

This match didn't need much bullshit. Both dudes just decided to stop fucking around and stiff the hell out of each other for 20 minutes or so, and let the work do the talking. Angle was on fire here, throwing the best punches of his career, being a jerk, and even selling Jarrett's spots!! I like Angle more than most, but this was his best performance in years, easily.

But while Angle looked really good here, Jarrett was the real marvel in this match. Performances like this make you wonder how he hasn't done ANYTHING CLOSE to this cool for the last 10-15 years. I remember a six man from Impact a few years ago where he looked like the best in the world (don't remember the details...but I think it had Lance Hoyt...I gotta go back through my perm tapes and dig that one out...), and I remember a really fun Brian Christopher match from like 1993, and I've never actually SEEN the Michaels match that has gotten praise...

I just don't remember ever seeing Jarrett look this impressive. Shouldn't there be MORE performances at least KINDA approaching this level...Somewhere?! He just takes a phenomenal beating here, leaning right into everything. Takes some great punches, leans RIGHT into a nasty ring bell shot from Angle, makes the freaking ANGLE SLAM look like a credible finisher! In 2009! The Angle Slam off the rampway was an awesome spot, and the way the whole match unfolded was really terrific.

Not sure if the end was a cool improv, but when Jarrett picks up the guitar (which just crumbles in his hands, as his guitars are basically made from painted construction paper and scotch tape), it almost seemed like there was a moment where JJ just looks at his 5th grade craft project of a guitar, sees how pussy it would look to hit Angle with it, then decides to just concuss the shit out of him with a chair shot. So maybe I'm giving too much credit and reading too much into it, but that's what you're supposed to do when you watch a fucking match, right? Pretend you know what's going through guys heads, make analysis where there might not be any? Is Deckard a replicant? I don't know. I don't know what JJ was thinking, I don't know why they meshed so well, but they did. They fucking did, and TNA deserves credit for having a match on one of their shows that is legitimately awesome.


8. Ladder Match: Equinox vs. Vin Gerard (Chikara, 1/25/09)

I really like Chikara. I'm the rare breed that looks forward to Chikara shows and IWA-MS shows. I get different things from each promotion. IWA has a wrestling style I prefer, but I do enjoy the vibe of Chikara, and legitimately like a bunch of their wrestlers (although I can't think of many IWA workers who I dislike as much as the Egyptians or F.I.S.T.). But as much as I do like Chikara, I usually don't come away from a show thinking about all the great matches I saw. I have a hard time right now thinking of truly awesome Chikara matches (have not watched the King of Trios Team Uppercut match yet)..but this match was pretty awesome.

Phil likes his ladder matches with 4 ladders, but I was content with just one ladder. There weren't tons of crazy spots as most ladder matches have, no innovative spots, just some solid work (especially from the VERY underrated Jimmy Olsen, who can throw a fine punch and take some nasty bumps) all around. Vin Gerard is no great shakes, but he serves his purpose here just fine as the heel, dishing out a decent beating and looking hateful while doing so. His legwork was good, and Equinox sold it admirably. Equinox is insane towards the end of the match, taking a CRAZY DDT off the ropes, really rewind-able spot. Really good match.


9. Negro Casas/Mr. Niebla/Villano V vs. Blue Panther/Toscano/Shocker (CMLL, 1/16/09)

This had a lot of fun action, and Panther/Villano squaring off is still super fun to me, and Toscano really isn't that bad, and Shocker really isn't good anymore, but MY GOD are Niebla and Negro Casas AMAZING. They just own this whole match. The looks they give each other when one blows a spot, or there's a miscommunication, are classic. They turn old boring crowd heat spots into stuff that makes me rewind! When was the last time you saw the ol' "I'm climbing this turn buckle to get heat, now YOU do it, then we'll compare and contrast the results!" spot and want to rewind it because of how fucking awesome it was!!?? That's never happened! Niebla is back, baby. I need to see every single match where he teams with Negro. But Negro Casas. Negro. Casas. He is this match. I just didn't want to take my eyes off him! I mean, sorry if that sounds super gay, but I was transfixed by Negro Casas in this. I must've rewound so many of his spots in this, and not usually offense, most often just a glance he would shoot someone, or a goofy pose he would do (the dropkick followed by him lying on his side, propped up on his elbow was a good one), or him pointing and threatening someone in the crowd. Negro Casas, #1 worker of 2009?

12. Averno/Mephisto vs. Volador Jr./La Sombra (CMLL, 1/16/09)

This was a very well worked 2009 lucha style main event. A couple of rudos who can be really good bases for a couple of fliers, and a couple of fliers who can bust out some great spots. And there were some great spots. A couple of really big dives, and INSANE Sombra spot where he gets tossed overhead, lands on the top rope, and then jumps backwards into a hurracanrana. A lot could have gone wrong with that one. And then it does, as Mephisto rudos it up and Sombra goes spinning RIGHT into the floor on a missed tornillo. I mean he just really went splat.

The rest of the match was pretty much worked as a 2-on-1 handicap with Averno/Mephisto beating up on Volador with Sombra laid up on the outside. Everybody does a great job building everything. Volador works nicely to steal a couple falls from the bumbling rudos, and we get to the 3rd fall, where Volador puts away Averno, and Mephisto puts away Volador. The crowd really gets buzzing when they realize Sombra is still in the match, and then the interactions between Mephisto and Averno get really great. Mephisto is always the 2nd banana behind Averno, but now HE'S the man, HE'S the one who didn't get pinned, HE'S the one who's going to save their tag titles. All he has to do is pin this twerp he injured last fall. So he's getting rather cocky, and he's does a couple big moves, EASILY enough to win the fall...but this is MEPHISTO'S moment! Everything's coming up Mephisto, baby!! Averno is flipping out on the outside, but Mephisto can't hear him. He's in the zone. He's hungry. The people are here to see HIM!! And of course he gets rolled up and is left all fag-faced. The crowd goes nuts, rudos fail. Real fun main event match. Sombra really turned in quite the nice performance here.

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SEGUNDA CAIDA RADIO

For real this time

TUE 11pm EST

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/segunda-caida/2009/12/02/segunda-caida-radio-episode-52

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Queens Lucha Libre ROAD REPORT 11/23/09

PAS: I wake up at 6am (7 hours earlier then I usually get up on Sunday) and head down to the Greenbelt metro station to meet Childs. Tomk is surprisingly only 15 minutes late and we head off to Queens.

TKG: It is Sunday and it took me longer to get to Greenbelt than I expected. At every bus stop there is an old lady carrying a full grocery cart on to the bus. We get to Queens with plenty of time to spare. Every time Phil says ”we’re making good time” I tell him not to jinx us and we immediately get caught in a goofy detour or mess. We find the location, confirm that the show is taking place and get some food to eat. We are all Allen Iverson fans.

PAS: Long line snaking around the block, it gets split into two lines and the start of the show is completely disorganized as people don't even start getting in until 2pm.

TKG: Security seemed surprised by the size of the crowd. There were three levels of tickets sold ( $85-75, $50, $40), plus people who were buying tickets on day of show. All of them were in the same line. To keep the line from snaking around the block they separated into two lines and then couldn’t figure out order of people. They seemed to be letting in ten people at a time. There also was a required coat check which slowed stuff down. It was a large dance hall space (approximate 800 capacity without ring-700 with the ring), with good lighting rig and sound system set up (they had the guys from Sonido Caluda running the sound), a mask table inside, two bars, a food vending area, beer girls walking around, girls running a clamato promotion, girls offering you prices on pictures with the wrestlers (back room set up for pictures), a bathroom with a really fancy trough urinal ( I don’t think I’ve seen a trough that elaborate at any baseball stadium) and a bathroom attendant, and Super Porky in sandals running a gimmick table in the back.

LOCAL v LOCAL: AZRIEL v DANNY DEMANTO v BANDIDO JR

TKG: First match was advertised as local v local. Phil predicts this will be Danny Demanto v either Azriel or Bandido jr. It turns out to be Demanto v Azriel and Bandido Jr.. They then introduce heel ref Jaquetas. I got the sense that the JAPW guys intended to work a three way dance and Jaquetas forced them instead to work an elimination triangular. When we went to the Delaware show I talked about the misscomunication between U.S. indy ref Brice Rensburg and the Mexican workers. That was nothing compared to the misunderstanding between US indy workers and heel Mexican ref. This match was totally defined by that misunderstanding. The JAPW guys tried to have a match whithout getting sidetracked by Jaquetas stuff. Jaquetas would try to set up heel ref spots, pulling Azriel’s hair, holding back his punches, fast and slow counts. The JAPW guys didn’t know how to work those spots and tried their damnest to keep it from throwing them off their game. I don’t think Bandido Jr was supposed to eliminated at the point he got fast counted out of match.

PAS: I enjoyed Danny Demanto as tubby stooging heel, a lot more then enjoyed him as tough guy kicking out of burning hammers in JAPW. Despite that this was a total mess. It felt like you JAPW guys were trying, but it didn't matter what they did this match was going to be about Jaquetas. I really can't stand heel ref lucha, I remember five years ago or so, Alfredo would get in DVD's of Arena Coliseo Monterrey shows, and they would have these amazing looking match ups. You would be excited to see Blue Panther v. Felino and what you would get was Blue Panther and Felino working spot with El Mulatto the heel ref. Azreal and Badido Jr. are not Blue Panter and Felino, but I still would have liked to see what they could have done without Jaquetas shitting all over the match

SWAT KAT v BAZOOCAA

TKG: Swat Kat and Bazoocaa are both Chicago luchadors and got the impression that they have lots of experience working matches with lucha heel refs. No culture clash here as they really knew how to work those heel ref spots and work a match around the heel ref being the real star. It doesn’t make it any better but they knew that formula. They hit some nice stuff early on: Swat Kat hit a huge tope into a woman holding an infant, followed by rana’ing the large heavyweight Bazoocaa into a woman holding a newborn. But this match went on forever (2/3 falls) and really was completely formless. Not completely formless…just totally built around Jaquetas. Non ref interaction sections had any rhyme or reason and there was a lot of bad execution. At one point Swat Kat decides the match needs blood and raises some bruises on Bazoocaa’s forehead and then squeezes them the way you would squeeze a pimple. Some of the Jaquetas spots might make for amusing comedy but three falls of it was really dull and had drunk patron attacking him.

PAS: I thought this was close to the worst match I have ever seen live. Not only did we have more endless dull Jaquetes horseshit, but the execution on the wrestling the guys actually did was abominable. It must have gone close to 30 minutes and outside of the rana into the baby there wasn't a single redeeming moment. Some real awkward obvious moments of cooperation and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to when El Jaquetes would count fast and when he wouldn't.

TKG: After this we go to intermission, and Blue Demon’s merch table is set up.Show advertised Cassandro v Aguila del America, Mascarita Sagrada v Octagoncito, Super Porky v Hurricane Ramirez Jr. Two matches and an intermission, I don't know how they'll make it through the rest of card and still get to Jersey.

PAS: There are scantly clad waitresses coming around with free shots of Clamato. I have done some nasty things before for and too pretty girls, but I can't see why you would drink the clam juice in shot form.

SUPER PORKY/TZUKI v AGUILLA DE AMERICA/OCTAGONCITO

PAS: Aguilla de America comes to the ring with his kids, one about 4 and one about 8 in matching gear. The 8 year old is pretty much the third guy on the rudo team and significantly better then his father. Aguila de America has to be the loosest wrestler I have ever seen live. I mean nothing made contact at all. The match was pretty much built around Porky and Tzuki sticking their nuts in the rudos faces, lots of different variations of nut facing dudes. Pretty uncomfortable to watch a match like that, when one of the rudos is 8 years old, added a weird tension I really felt like I was about to witness a molestation, it was like watching the scene in Happiness between Dylan Baker and his son. Porky is charismatic as fuck, but seems to have lost a little something off his athletic fastball, he was getting no height on his splashes and was moving way slower then last time I saw him. The mini were really mailing it in too, mostly working comedy spots and not athletic spots at all. It was like Tzuki remembered Vince bringing him in and told Octagonicto "this is how midgets work in NYC."

TKG: Porky tried to hold something together by working blue on the mic and doing his filthy vaudeville spots in the ring… but yeah the whole match was being built toward child molestation spot, to where you were actively surprised you didn’t get it. Every other heel in the match got repeatedly fondled, teabagged, covered in soda and spanked with a belt, etc. Eight year old thankfully manages to avoid that fate. The eight year old does do a dive on Porky who then chucks him into the crowd. Perhaps he was manhandled by the audience then. Tzuki and Octagoncito are essentially doing nothing but Cuije v Chuukky house show spots. But its Tzuki, and he’s one of the fastest wrestlers in the world…so his teabagging spots are really fast and vigorous.

HIJO DEL SANTO v BLUE DEMON JR v BORDER PATROL OLIVER JOHN

TKG:Oliver John comes out first as Border Patrol gets on the mic talks about all the illegals in the audience and how they all need to show him there green card and how some people say Blue Demon is a legend but he is just another illegal who needs to be deported. Basic cheap heat gimmick that works at riling up the crowd. Then Blue Demon as Mexican Savior with the Mexican Flag comes out to great musical fanfare and does some mic work, then Hijo Del Santo comes out and the announcer poorly explains the concept of a triangular match. Santo has to ask for mic and then explains the rules of the match to crowd. Referee is Jaquetta and while normally your rudo ref will not engage in shenanigans to help a foreigner (nationalism comes before rudoism) here he seems to interfere against Blue Demon no matter who the opponent. Demon and Santito do their awesome opening matwork exchanges and Santo whips out his scarecrow climbing stuff that I really like (standing choke into octopus variation etc), Oliver John does a bunch of stooging bumping and flies around for Blue Demon’s hand clapping strikes. John gets eliminated and then comes back out in Santo mask to cheer on Santo and interfere in match on Santo’s behalf which pisses Santo off. Post match Blue Demon challenges Santo about how he can’t win without outside interference andis always running from facing Demon one on one or in a mask match, challenges for a mask match back in NY, Santo counters with challenge for MSG and actually does a nice job convincing me that I should call all my friends so we can fill up MSG for that match, Blue Demon accepts and calls for the support of his Blue Demonites and then Blue Demon challenges Oliver John to a title match. Oddly booked match where Santo does all the work and gets the win but still is booked as secondary star.

PAS: This felt like a show money marked by Blue Demon, as Santo came off as an attraction, but not the big deal. The way Beastmaster Rick Link might bring in Wahoo to tag with him, Wahoo is the star, but Rick Link is the focus. It really makes no sense, nor does flying in Oliver John to work your generic Border Patrol heel. If for some reason you have to make this a triangular, just stick Danny Demanto in Border Patrol gear, it isn't like John did anything Demanto can't do, and then maybe you could have flown in Cassandro like you fucking advertised. Santo is always worth watching, this was Santo by the numbers, but they are awesome numbers. We got the Santo tope and plancha, plus some pretty sweet mat exchanges with the carriable on the mat Blue Demon. Demon isn't worth a shit on his feet and has some of the most obvious hand clap punches I have ever seen. Still as much as he sucks I would still be all about MSG. Maybe put Bruno v. Perro Sr. on the undercard.

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The VAMPIRE DIARIES Pt 3: IWA East Coast Masters of Pain 11/07/09

WHACKS v. Mad Man Pondo

WHACKS is the Smartmark video camera man with the distended ear lobes, who has carved out a niche as a last minute fill in for death match tournaments. Which has to be one of the top 5 strangest niches in all of entertainment. WHACKS isn’t really a wrestler so this was just a collection of bumps, he seemed to have trouble locking up. Pondo pretty much squashes him, and cuts him up really bad. Pondo debuts a new move, smashing a cinder block on his opponents head with a sledgehammer. For some reason WHACKS kicks out which seemed to piss Pondo off, as he smacks him with the stop sign and quickly pins him. Nothing to see here.

Drake Younger v. Supreme

I hadn’t seen Supreme in years, but he was a guy I always dug in XPW. This was pretty short, but pretty good. Both guys were really beating on each other, with Supreme having some especially nice looking hooks. Drake hits a sick looking DDT on broken glass and Supreme really starts bleeding badly. Finish had Drake hitting a DVD through a pain of glass which is a finish for sure.

Sami Callihan v. Danny Havok

This is shaping up to be one of the feuds of the year. I didn’t like this as much as their two CZW matches, but it was still damn good. This had a bed of nails and boards with nails on the ropes which is a super nasty gimmick. Doesn’t really cause a lot of blood, but I would not want to get slammed into nails. They had a fun crowd brawling section with Callihan taking a spectacular bump on the bleachers. The end got a little overkilly, as they had three or four points that could have ended the match. They were doing a good job of selling the moves, but I thought it went slightly past the crescendo.

Devon Moore v. Yuki Miyamoto

First part of the match was both guys using a staple gun. Then Moore brings in a table and tries to hit a Michinoku Driver off a scaffold through a table, the table doesn’t break, but Moore’s tailbone might have. Moore then hits a shooting star press off the scaffold again failing to break the table. They do some more stuff and eventually Miyamoto staples Moore to a second table and moonsaults him through it off an even bigger scaffold. More of a stunt show then a wrestling match, but it did have some crazy stunts, still everything in between was the wrestling equivalent of plot development in a porno.

Drake Younger v. Mad Man Pondo

Basically a comedy match, as both guys hit each other with ridiculous contraptions put together by the sociopaths in the audience. High point of the match was Pondo slamming Younger into the thumbtack strewn titties of a rat in the audience. Pondo also dunked Drake through a lightube nerf hoop and the finish saw Pondo powerbombed on a spinning light tube cabin. Amusing match.

Danny Havok v. Yuki Miyamoto

This was a zipline and lightubes deathmatch. First time I have ever seen zip lines used (maybe the first time they had ever been used) and they worked pretty well. Miyamoto used them as assists on dropkicks and they looked pretty cool. Lots of pretty crazy bumps into lightube bundles and by the end of the match the ring looked like a Basra marketplace after a suicide bombing. Danny Havok is really good at taking headrops on lightubes, it is always super nasty looking, and he eats a Rikishi driver on a dozen lightubes for the finish. Better then the first Miyamoto match, and Havok is the man of the tourney so far.

Drake Younger v. Yuki Miyamoto

No rope barbedwire match with lightubes and barbed wire boards propped between the ring apron and the guard rails. Match was worked like a Big Japan title match, building around big spots and two counts rather then brawling and hate. Not a style I am in love with but they did it well. The running Michinoku Driver through the barbed wire boards to the floor was one of the crazier looking spots I remember seeing, and the match was hurt a bit by that being too early in the match. Finish run was pretty dramatic with Drake surviving some big moves before falling victim to a lightube moonsault off a ladder.

Pretty good show overall, with some crazy looking gimmicks. Still a little too genial for me, with Havok v. Callihan being the only match which felt like a fight. It might be a bit before I review the KOTDM and the first TOD, as I a bit lightubed out, but I will get there eventually.

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UWF 6/21/90

Mark Rush v. Tetsuo Nakano

PAS: Mark Rush is a burly amateur wrestler who has a real Bear look which you would figure could get him a current ROH booking. Match opens with some pretty solid matwork between the two which isn’t normally Nakano’s thing. It gets chippy and Nakano is awesome at getting chippy as he unloads with some punches to the back of Rush’s head and some nasty bodyshots. Not a great finish which is the only thing that keeps this from being a totally high end Nakano match.

TKG: This was a real Mark Rush showcase as he has lots of really nice looking slow lift suplexes. He doesn’t really put Nakano down hard but still impressive. Rush isn’t really a guy with great looking strikes but he has these really light kicks which feel like the kind of kicks an amateur wrestler in the UFC would have. Kicks that annoy and distract setting him up for his next move. Match is all about showcasing Rush while Nakano tries to fight back and looks tough for hanging on. Right as they went to the finish this had the feel of something on the way to being epic.

Yoji Anjoh v. Minoru Suzuki

TKG: This was really fun in the beginning as it was two guys working really evenly fast scrambling. It never really settled into anything and was just two guys doing fast scrambling for whole match. Suzuki had the cooler spots: nasty looking throw, a cross arm breaker with a leg drop, an almost figure fourish kneebar, and an awesome turn. But worked evenly. I was surprised that Anjoh won, but nothing in this would lead me to believe that it was an upset.

PAS: This was a great 7 minute sprint which got bloated into 17 minutes. Felt like a PWG match.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Shiego Miyato

PAS: Really fun extended squash with Fujiwara putting on a super impressive squashing a guy performance. This is the most Bernard Hopkinsy I have ever seen Fujiwara look as he was all about using distance to blunt Miyato’s attack. There was this great moment, where Miyato makes his big run off offense, he gets Fujiwara in the corner and Fujiwara dodges and parrys his attack until Miyato punches himself out and gets winded.

TKG: This was completely one sided as Fujiwara worked as guy who completely outclasses his opponent. Your long one sided worked shoot matches can often be dull as higher tiered worker will just work disinterested. Fujiwara instead works guy having fun, and playing around. He gets hit a couple times cleanly in the Miyato’s corner run and does some spit selling but for the most part dodges the shots and puts Miyato away easily.

Kazuo Yamazaki v. Masakatsu Funaki
TKG: Wow I had no expectation that this was going to be as good as it was. They start off with some fast exchanges and then Yamazaki unloads with super fast handed shotays. And I don’t remember either of these guys really trading hands before, but it’s a great addition. They slow it down for a bit and then get to some kick exchanges and then it’s back to the hands. The whole thing is paced nicely with the action moving up and down and the final exchange that leads to the stoppage is super hot.

PAS: I was not a big fan of most 80’s Yamazaki, but he was damn good in the 1990 stuff so far, and this was right up there with his career performances. This was a pair of athletic young guys, but they did much more of a brawl then a juniors shootstyle match. Goddamn was the end choice too, as they just go toe to toe throwing blows, before Funaki catches him and drops him. It felt like Castillo v. Coralles.

Akira Maeda v. Nobohiko Takada

TKG: These two have had some great matches against each other. I don’t think this was one of them. Both guys came off really bloated and slow. They didn’t look beat up and slow but more like the kind of tired and slow you feel after eating a big steak. All the downs and near falls were really neat looking and exciting but the stuff between them really wasn’t much. On some level there slowness made the near falls even more exciting as it was like they were shooting from nothing. I really liked an early Maeda knockdown where he hit several uppercuts to the gut and then broke through to Takdada’s jaw. Takada’s kick to Maedas eye was also crazy. The submission attempts also had the same kind of feel of really hot moves that they really had to work past the food fatigue to apply.

PAS: I liked this a bunch more then Tom did. I liked how Maeda came into this fight like 2008 Misawa, an old sort of broken down guy who was going out on his shield. I will admit the dynamic was hurt a bit when the young guy also looks broken down and fat. They big strike exchanges didn’t have the speed of the Yamazaki v. Funaki exchanges, but it had the desperate feel of the 14th round of 70’s boxing slugfest. Tom is right that the stuff in between the near falls wasn’t great, but exciting dramatic nearfalls will get you pretty far in my book, and this felt like an epic main event

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SLL Flies Under the Radar: Part the Second

Evan Bourne vs. Zack Ryder - WWE 6/11

"Long Island was once a place where good people lived for hundreds of years. Our history is rich with accomplishments. From the first submarine base in New Suffolk to Charles Lindbergh's historic trans-Atlantic flight. From the humble origins of Grumman and the building of the Lunar Module (the ship that landed on the moon) Long Island has had a glorious history. Good and hard working people made long island what it is today, but that existence is being threatened by the growing "Guido" phenomenon. As many of us know, the social fabric of Long Island is crumbling. A new self centric and materialistic attitude originating from the boroughs of New York City has been pushing its way across the island. The result of this push is an influx of vain and materialistic teens and young adults who feel that the key to life is spending their parent's money, tanning themselves and giving people attitude wherever they go. Those of us that know the phenomenon best like to call them Guidos. Below is a brief overview and description of a typical Guido, taken from the Webster's Urban Dictionary: "The Guido is an entirely American phenomena, with its epicenter in the New York/ New Jersey metropolitan area. Most individuals become Guidos in an attempt to achieve an identity- in fact any identity. The Guido is highly recognizable by his attention to muscular development, status symbols, and regional dialect. Their shortcomings include a tendency toward alcoholism, legal problems (usually related to assault, reckless driving, noise violations), and an inability to compete in legitimate business. Fortunately for them, they usually live an exciting, care-free existence. They are easily satiated by tacky mall attire, drunken nights with similar-minded women, and nightclubbing. In the end, although they maintain a unique sense of identity and pride, their superficial lives often leave them empty. The tolls of excessive grooming products, STD's, and alcohol abuse age these specimens quite poorly. The time spent in fitness clubs is usually far offset by their lifestyle choices." The shear number of Guidos on Long Island has grown exponentially over the past decade. And the problem is only getting worse, as lost teens across Nassau and Suffolk county fall victim to this plague in an attempt to achieve any type of identity."

-www.getoffourisland.com

I have spent pretty much my entire life on Long Island, and consequently, Zack Ryder's new gimmick resonates very strongly with me. I have known this guy. In fact, I have known several of this guy, and I've spent a good deal of time and effort trying to avoid them. Most of them are harmless and well meaning, I grant you. They're just unlikable, and I'd prefer not to hit the tanning salon with you, bro. Ryder's "guido" (not my choice of terms...the first time I saw someone with a "Guidos? Not on my island!" bumper sticker in my neighborhood, I was stunned at the balls you would have to have to openly proclaim your hatred of Italians around here) act has been well recieved across the board. Still, it probably hits hardest with people like myself who have experienced that phenomenon firsthand. Evan Bourne is a great wrestler, and he delivers the goods as usual here. But this match is almost a Ryder one-man show. Your eyes and ears (his in-ring talkativeness is one of his best traits, bro!) are always attuned to him, which is saying something considering how eye-popping Bourne can be. Woo woo woo...you know it.


Finlay vs. Zack Ryder - WWE 6/23

"We can only offer an educated guess as to why the Guido Phenomenon is growing, it is a vast collaboration of issues that we will try and sum up the best we can. We would like to begin with this quote - Joseph Chamie of the UN Population Agency recently stated: "People today are more concerned about their appearances, [rather than family and moral values]" (Buchanan 2002, 99). This effect is not only present and flowing through the western world but is growing in each progressive generation as the average American two-parent family breaks down as it has over the latter half of the 20th century. With the growing absence of something such as parent's attention to their child or merely a simple dinner family conversation, the younger generation looks to television, media, and the culture around them for what they want and what they strive to be. Unfortunately, the message being pushed on us today through television, the mass media, commercialism and advertising leans much more on what is good for the individual rather than the group. Harmless on the surface it would seem, but the underlying effects of this surge in materialism and hedonism are more frightening. The basic values of love, friendship and family are being replaced with material possessions and an illusion of self-importance. We believe that this is why the Guido Phenomenon grows. The individuals that young people look up to are no longer their family, but extravagantly rich and vain athletes, rappers and music stars they see in the media. On a more local level, they see this phenomenon being portrayed in their Guido classmates, their attention to their looks and attitude are looked up to by lost children searching for an identity. This phenomenon is the seed that has created the vast surge in the Long Island Guido population that we see today. Those who turn down the Guido's road to happiness strive for three things: vanity, materialism and attitude."

I have hit this talking point hard on other boards, but pretty sure I haven't said it yet on Segunda Caida, so here goes: the story of Finlay in 2009 is that he is a guy legendary for having great matches built around him beating the shit out of his opponents, who is now building his great matches around his opponents beating the shit out of him. Other story of Finlay in 2009 is that he went to SmackDown, and now JR keeps calling him "The Quiet Man of WWE", either because Finlay killed an opponent and retired back to Ireland in despair, or because JR thinks all movies about Irish people are the same. "Bah God! It's Finlay...the Darby O'Gill of WWE! Business is about to pick up In the Name of the Father! Celtic Cross from the Informer of the WWE! FRUITY DELICIOUS BARRY LYNDON!" But go back and watch the Finlay/Tyson Kidd match they were talking up on the podcast (seriously, that match was awesome, check it out if you haven't). They are talking about Finlay beating the shit out of Kidd - which he does - but it is also a match built largely around Kidd ripping up Finlay's leg and Finlay really getting it over with his selling. That's largely what's going on in this match as well. Finlay delivers a Finlay-grade beating early on, but then re-aggravates his eye injury, and now we get a match built around Finlay being hit in the face. Ryder's strikes are not something I ever really gave a lot of thought to before, but they are pretty good. He makes a lot of use of his knees, throwing a lot of good kneelifts and kneedrops that really look they're fucking Finlay up good. The finish seemed a bit off, and it still feels a little bit like a carryjob, but it's not like Ryder is getting smoked here. Finlay is just creating the opportunity for him to look good, and in '09, that's really what Finlay does best.

Kofi Kingston vs. Montel Vontavius Porter vs. Matt Hardy (US Title Match) - WWE 6/25

I love Matt Hardy, and I still hold some small degree of fondness for MVP. That said, this is not a match I go into with high expectations. I'm not a big fan of three-ways, and Kofi Kingston stinks. On top of that, I prefer four-ways, and had already seen the four-way from Extreme Rules that had these three guys and William Regal, and that wasn't really any good. So no reason to expect that a three-way that cut out the four-way's best worker would actually be a major improvement. But that's why I watch the matches. Every now and then, you get taken by surprise. I think the key here is that this is not worked in the usual three-way style where one dude is unconscious for a ridiculous period of time while the other two "have their turn". Much of the match is worked like a game of King of the Hill, where the wrestler in control is trying to put down one opponent in the ring while keeping the other opponent out as he constantly tries to get back in. It makes more sense and makes for a more compelling match. Also important is that Kofi actually gives a pretty good performance here. He's been in matches that I've enjoyed...it's just been a while. Here, he is a fine fired-up babyface who's high energy never turns into meaningless spot-fu. As the lone heel in the match, Hardy keeps the story moving nicely. Heel-turned Hardy wasn't delivering as consistently as he was beforehand, but he didn't exactly suck, either. He is masterful at playing King of the Hill here, and there are several spots where the guy on the outside (usually Kingston) makes it back in and hits him with a surprise attack that are very satisfying. MVP is sort of the odd man out. His contributions to this match are not that big, but he generally looks good, and that boot he delivered to Kofi near the end was brutal. All told, this delivered.

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The VAMPIRE DIARIES Pt 2: CZW TOD 8.5 10/25/09

Figured since I reviewed the Carnage Cup, I might as well give this a run too. I am a pretty big Switchblade Conspiracy fan, and have enjoyed some other guys in this tourney as well. So LIVE FROM DJ HYDE”s BACKYARD, it the Tournament of Death.

Sami Callihan v. Danny Havok- Caribbean Spider Net

This is the kind of death match I like, no good natured sportsmanship, no respect knucks. Just two guys who hate each other trying to kill each other. Callihan jumps him before the bell, and this is a heated nasty little fight. Callihan was my discovery of 08, and while he hasn’t had the opportunities he had in IWA, his death match run in CZW has been pretty great. Both guys take some grizzly bumps into the Spider Nets, although Havok totally wins the bump contest, by flying off the tope rope into some metal contraption with barbed wire and glass. Callihan was a real prick in this, throwing broken glass in Havok’s face and jamming it into his mouth. Finish was nasty as fuck with Sami hitting his headlock driver on a giant bundle of tubes. Bump of the show, and absolutely the right thing to end the match on.

Thumbtack Jack v. Jon Moxley- Dog Collar and Four Corners of Fun

This was another pretty sweet match. Pretty great old school dog collar spots, with both guys getting yanked around by their neck and smashed with chains. Moxley is really great at regular wrestling bumping, as he really makes all of the falls and trips with the chain look awesome. Finish run got a little into the Jackass self mutilation stuff I don’t like about current death matches, but Moxley is such a dick he kind of makes it work. Imagine Tully putting a mousetrap on Scott Casey’s tongue. Finish was pretty brilliant, Moxley gets tied into the ropes with a chain, Jack grabs his stupid acupuncture needles and relives Moxley’s cluster headaches, then he lifts a cinderblock, but before he can smash him with it, Moxley quits. Totally awesome dick heel move for this kind of Jersey sociopath audience, he came off like such a pussy, especially when the whole point of this stuff is to take punishment to prove what a tough guy you are.

Masada v. Brain Damage- New Age Texas Death Match

Pretty disappointing, as these are the two big dudes who hit hard, and I was hoping for a Necroish brawl. This however was a bit meandering, there was a big bump or two, and guys got punched in the face, but both guys looked sluggish. I think Damage may have hurt his knee, which explains it, but this never got out of first gear.

Zandig v. Nick Gage – Pain in the Glass match

Zandig has a cueball shaved head, and all those roids he took when he was a fake Ultimate Warrior have left him with gyno and a giant gut, he looks like Ronnie P. Gossett. This was basically both guys awkwardly flying through glass windows. Zandig kept having to pull up his acid washed jeans after big bumps. Gage makes these ridiculous faces, he gets presslamed through a pain of glass and table, and he just lies there crying with his Trig Palin face and meth teeth, I have no idea why he isn’t bigger heel, is super hateable . Despite myself I actually kind of enjoyed this match, both guys stink, but they were trying hard and it had some real face v. heel stuff. I don’t know if Zandig is as good as late 90’s Kojika, but he does have similar charisma.

Scotty Vortex v. Greg Excellent v. Rich Swann

Basic indy highflyer 3-way. A couple of cool spots, and I got the sense that all three of these guys were decent. Greg Excellent looks like a young David Crosby, which makes his cannonball look really nasty. Vortex had nice kicks, still fuck a 3-way.

Sami Callihan v. Thumbtack Jack- Casket Match

Sami Callihan is really great at these kind of toe to toe brawls. Both guys go straight at each other, throwing punches and forearms without out ever taking a breath., reminded in parts of the awesome Necro v. Sami match. Both guys took some big falls on the casket which looked nasty. Finish was the only issue, they both end up in the casket together which looked a little like a pair of emo boys exploring their boundaries in seven minutes of heaven. Callihan comes up with a knife, and Jack comes up with a needle, and Callihan gets stabbed and they close the lid.

Masada v. Nick Gage- Home Run Derby Match

This wasn’t very good, both guys pretty much wandered around and hit each other with lightubes and thumbtack bats. Gage took a bump or two, but nothing special. Masada throws some really shitty elbows for a guys who throws a bunch of elbows, the strong style tough guy exchanges were pretty bad. Gage passing out in a clover leaf was shit on by the crowd and a real weird way for a heel to lose a match like this.

Devon Moore v. OMG

Moore comes out with a Barbed Wire Board, I don’t get the point of running a non-tournament deathmatch during a DM tourney. This really seemed pointless as the barbed wire board stuff served no purpose in the match. Outside of the couple of board bumps this was a below average juniors match.

Masada v. Thumbtack Jack – House of Pain

Large parts of this were pretty great, lots of times Death Match tourney finals under whelm a bit, guys are just too busted up to really go crazy, but this match had some of the nuttiest bumps of the tourney. I was especially impressed by Masada getting monkey flipped on a chair and barbed wire bat, and Jack getting slammed on broken pieces of ciderblock. Masada also hits a big powerbomb on a lightube and cinderblocks which really should have been the finish. Most of the stuff after that move wasn’t very good, they start sticking things in each others heads, and jabbing syringes through cheeks. That kind of thing is both gross and low impact, it just kind of grinds the match to a halt. They never really regain the momentum they had before and it ends up a bit flat.

Pretty good show, the Switchblade Conspiracy matches were better then anything on the Carnage Cup, and I want to see everything those guys do.

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BattlArts 8/03/09 - Show 2

Alexander Otsuka/Bison Tagai vs. Ryuji Walter/Satoshi Kajiwara

TKG: Ryuji Walter is a guy who I enjoy doing standup, but for the most part he was doing matwork here. Really undynamic matworker. There were a couple moments where Kajiwara looked like he was anticipating spots too early but for the most part I dug his sections with Tagai. This match was kind of just there and never kicked in to a second gear.

PAS: I thought as usual Otsuka was the highlight, pretty by the numbers performance by him, but he is a top five guy in the world, so his numbers are pretty high. There was an especially cool moment where he backs Kajiwara into the corner and forearms him in the kidneys, and his delayed german suplex is one of the best moves in wrestling.

Tiger Shark v. Keita Yano

TKG: In the morning show Keita Yano was able to pull off a decent inoffensive work the arm strategy. Here he tries to work the back and it is painfully ugly. Ole could work a match around working an arm or work a match around working the back. Yano really can only pull off the arm stuff, not as multifaceted as Ole. I mean everything Yano did looked crappy and awkward. And this was a match built around him controlling. Yucky.

PAS: Yeah this was all of the worst aspects of Yano, I could imagine this match worked hold for hold on the undercard of an EVOLVE show and getting good reviews by indy wrestling fans, but this was a pile of shit. It did have an awesome finish, with Shark hitting a nasty kick from his back, KO Yano right into a omaplata. Still the first 9 minutes of this 9:12 match sucked.

Yujiro Yamamoto v. Super Tiger

PAS: Spectacular match, add this to his match earlier in the day, and Yammamoto pretty much cements himself as one of the greatest wrestlers in the world. Whole match is built around Tiger being this nasty brusier punishing Yammamoto with kicks and punches, and really using his strength to control parts of the matwork. Meanwhile Yammamoto is using his speed and technique to pull off some amazing looking reversals and counters.

TKG: Yeah holy fuck this was amazing. Yamamoto is awesome at selling a beating just splaying and fighting back weakened. There is a point where he sells a kick to the chest while Super Tiger II does a bunch of weak looking spots, and he really gets over the idea that the wind from the kick made al the other stuff worse. He sells a Super Tiger awkward elbow drop as though his neck is really fucked…which makes the follow up tease of a german super tense. He is also a guy with tons of really intricate ways to get in reversals and change momentum. There is an awesome reverse kick at one point and a ton of heel hooks that are just really dramatic.

Yuki Ishikawa v. Yuta Yoshikawa

TKG: Yuki Ishikawa aged 15 years since his morning match. He looked like current Great Kabuki. This was really great Ishikawa performance. This was less Ishikawa standup and more him as superstar on the mat.Yoshikawa is doing a move and hit deal where he’s trying to avoid getting caught on the mat for any length. Ishikawa suddenly looking geriatric kind of makes Yoshikawa’s strikes seem more vicious.

PAS: Ishikawa did look awesome here. Yoshikawa really needed to bring the pain more for the amount of selling Ishikawa did. It was really awesome selling though. Finish was sweet with Ishikawa eating knees to the head, and grabbing a really great armbar for the desperation submission. Don’t really understand why he needed a desperation submission, but it was a cool moment.

Katsumi Usuda v. Munenori Sawa

PAS: Pretty disappointing. Usuda has had a monster year, but he couldn’t do anything here. Individually cool stuff, but Sawa was indulging his worst impulses. There was a moment in the corner where he unleashed this totally corny punch combo, totally took me out of the violence. Really nasty leglock finish, but the worst Usuda match of the year.

TKG: Apparently Sawa and Usuda are on the same tier or at least they are working this as though the two are really even. I almost expected a two count roll up exchange. This wasn’t good.

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Flying Under the Radar: SLL Pimps the Unpimped

Every now and then, I like to at least try to actually contribute something to this blog. With the Segunda Caida 500 officially announced, I am now watching a shit-ton of wrestling trying to make myself a valuable member of the team, so I thought I could use that as an excuse to create content.

Basically, it occurs to me that Goldust is apparently having this awesome year of work, but the only thing that really gets talked up is the Seamus feud. I mean, it is kinda incredible that Dustin would just roll into ECW and turn a random midcard feud with a green FCW alumnus into something epic. You watch it and you know that Goldust in '09 is the real deal, but that by itself probably doesn't translate to a guy who will likely land in the top 20 of the 500. You have to dig a little deeper than that. Phil does his part with the Fab Five WWE Matches of the Week, but I figure it wouldn't hurt to have one more guy digging up rad matches that no one else is really talking about.

John Cena vs. Chris Jericho - WWE 2/2

Cena is right up there with the best workers in the WWE this year. He is still a guy who eats a beating spectacularly and makes great babyface comebacks, but he's made real strides with his offense in 2009. No big additions to his arsenal, but his brawling looks so much better now, and he can actually carry a match on offense as a result. Guy who used to do his best work against monsters who would beat the shit out of him, and can still do that as the awesome Big Show feud proved, but now also looks really at home in matches with dudes like Michaels and Jericho where he is beating the shit out of them. Cena rushes the ring and is just absolutely pummeling Jericho. He always had good wild haymakers, but now he's throwing big overhand blows, some nice shots to the face, and a lot of great body shots, which not a lot of other wrestlers use. He gets backed off by the ref, which allows Jericho to charge out of the corner and blast him with a forearm in the back of the head. Then Jericho does this great bit where he pulls Cena's shirt over his head and beats on him like a hockey fight. First half of the match is all about these two just wailing on each other. Second half is more like your classic Cena match, as Cena eats a nice back-first bump into the announce table and now has to work from underneath, but even here it feels a lot more evenly contested, with both guys finding counters and escapes for stuff and neither man holding an advantage for very long. Cena finally manages a nifty counter of the Walls of Jericho into the STF to get the win, and I guess one could question the booking wisdom of giving Cena the win in a non-title match leading up to the Elimination Chamber title defense that Jericho was in, but fuck it. I'm starting to think Cena's '09 may be almost as good as his '07.

The Undertaker vs. John Bradshaw Layfield - WWE 3/20

Kinda weird that the main event of Smackdown's 500th episode special goes overlooked. Well, main event was an angle with Cena, Edge, and Show, but whatever. I guess I was just the only one who liked it, in which case the rest of the world has shitty taste in wrestling. This is a match between two old guys who are really good at punching people in the face, and it is built around them punching each other in the face. JBL hits the ring, IC Title in hand, holds it up defiantly in front of The Undertaker, and Taker socks him. Punches the shit out of him all over the ring until JBL manages to land a shot of his own, and starts knocking Taker across the ring. I think the first time it really occured to me how great JBL was and that he wasn't just an Eddie creation was a match he had in 2005 with Taker. Undertaker was a guy who worked a lot of feuds with people who would cut promos about how they weren't scared of him, how his mind games wouldn't work on them, but in the end they always were scared. JBL was the first guy I saw say he wasn't afraid of The Undertaker and then have a match where he actually wasn't afraid of The Undertaker, and spent most of the match on the offensive, which was especially surprising since he had been booked as a guy who worked cowardly heel against faces half his size. JBL still isn't scared, and he takes nasty shots at The Undertaker every time he gets an opening. There is also a lot of stuff with JBL working over Taker's leg after he dodges a big boot on the outside and Taker gets hung up on the security wall. Despite being off TV for much of the year, '09 has seen Taker undergo a bit of an interesting transformation as a worker. Apparently there was a plan to bring up Hade Vansen - a British FCW cruiserweight working a "Fallen Angel" gimmick - and put him into a feud with Taker for Mania this year. Vansen got released, so obviously it never happened, but it still seemed to get the idea into Taker's head that he would have to figure out a way to work big matches against small opponents. The result is that he now will have matches against guys like CM Punk and Shelton Benjamin where he is still presented as this big scary asskicker, but where his seemingly overmatched opponents will put up a game fight against him, and where he will allow himself to show some degree of weakness to get them over as credible threats. JBL isn't exactly Punk or Benjamin, but we see here that Taker's change in style has been carried into other matches as JBL works over his leg. Since when does Taker do body part selling? Well, he does it now, and he does it pretty consistently through the rest of the match. Yeah, he still does the snake eyes/big boot/leg drop combo, but he is limping to the corner to deliver the snake eyes, he loses his balance and staggers into the ropes after the big boot, and he comes off the ropes slowly to deliver a leg drop that doesn't get much height. We see he's beatable. Indeed, the previously dopey Devil's Gate now becomes useful as a flash submission to get Taker out of a jam in several matches, including this one. JBL doesn't instatap like people usually do, but on a certain level, that seems fitting. This will, after all, probably be JBL's last great match, and it felt right that he didn't go down easy.

John Morrison & Cryme Tyme vs. The World's Greatest Tag Team & Ricky Ortiz - WWE 5/22

Going into this year, this is not a match I would have been particularly excited about. But 21st century WWE may be the most schizophrenic wrestling promotion ever. They will make moves almost completely at random, and the guy who is brilliant one week will be completely overhauled the next for no real reason at all and re-emerge as something you no longer want to see. The opposite can happen to, and for equally flimsy reasons. In December '08, John Morrison is an awesome heel who works stiff and has a lot of nifty highspots, Cryme Tyme has developed into a perfectly fine tag team with JTG looking actively good and Shad being passable, Benjamin is pretty much useless outside of Money in the Bank matches but gets fawned over because of his track and field skills and superfluous workrate matches, Haas is working a gimmick based around impersonating other wrestlers that is not particularly funny and doesn't make him any better in the ring but does at least get the crowd to respond to him for the first time in his life, and Ortiz is a babyface who is not completely terrible in the ring but is so douchey and unlikable that you have no desire to watch him. Fast forward to May 22, 2009. Morrison was turned face and started working pretty loose, though the highspots remain nifty. Cryme Tyme is still a perfectly fine tag team, but JTG has slipped and Shad has stepped up to become a real solid hand, really holding the team together. Benjamin had by far the most bizarre transformation. After spending much of his run going in and out of the doghouse because of his failure to live up to his potential, he was suddenly declared by the powers that be to be a great wrestler, without really changing anything about his work at all. Not only that, but MVP - who was really over as a heel and was consistently delivering big in the ring - was thrown in the doghouse because he now didn't know how to work despite being pretty much exactly the kind of wrestler that the WWE loves (except black), and that he should be more like Benjamin, the kind of charisma-free workrate-for-workrate's sake wrestler that the WWE always hated. MVP made it out the other side as a babyface, with his charisma intact and his talent semi-intact, but he's never really been the same since. But the insane kicker to all of this is that somewhere near the end of MVP's fall from grace, Benjamin - who had been ordained as a great worker that others should aspire to be like - completely changed up his game. He dropped the pointless athletics, he developed an actual personality, he even learned to throw a punch, for God's sake! He is not as good as MVP once was, nor is MVP as bad as Benjamin was, but they came pretty close to swapping places, and Benjamin is now a guy I enjoy watching. I still don't get much from Haas, who dropped the impersonations bit and went back to being the dry Benjamin tag partner that he was being routinely mocked for in the first place. And while Ricky O's douchebaggery made him unwatchable as a face, somebody had the decent sense to turn him heel. Everything that made you hate him as a face now makes you love him as a heel, and he is probably the star of this match. Then he got fired. Whatever. This is a really cool match featuring six guys at really weird intersections of their careers in 2009.

John Morrison vs. Umaga - WWE 5/29

I kinda feel for Umaga. Not so much in regards to him getting canned. He really dug his own hole on that one. Just his career arc in general. He had this huge, year-long undefeated streak that effectively established him as an unstoppable monster. It culminated in a pair of matches where he got to beat the shit out of John Cena, and then a match that was realistically the main event of the biggest card in professional wrestling history where he got to beat the shit out of Bobby Lashley and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. And then...that was kinda it. I mean, I guess you have nowhere to go but down from there, but they really did kind of a mediocre job of sidedraining him after those feuds, sorta leaving him in that Kane status of "you must be able to beat this man in order to be a main eventer". I mention all of this because one of the reasons I continue to defend the brand split is that it creates an easy mechanism to sidedrain guys, almost replicating the territorial system of days gone by where a wrestler could come in, run his big angles, and then head somewhere else before he wears out his welcome. After Mania 23, they had three opportunities to use this mechanism with Umaga, and they waited for the very last one, at which point he only had two months left before he got busted for the final time, and I question their decision to wait so long to pull the trigger on that one. I realize this is an oversimplification of the situation. It was a decision effected in large part by a lot of other questionable booking decisions, and if we were to take a look at all the questionable booking decisions made by the WWE over the last few years, we'd be here all month. But it's regrettable that there are two years worth of Umaga/Rey and Umaga/Taker matches that we never got. The last few months of Umaga's WWE run are our consolation prize. This is basically a one-man show. Umaga is forced to sell Morrison's dainty offense - and when you're up against Umaga, you really get to see just how dainty the offense is - early on, but Umaga comes back strong with an eye-popping military press into a Samoan drop and dominates the rest of the match. There's also some nerve-lockery here, and while I'm not opposed to nerveholds, they are kinda dependent on how they are sold, and Morrison is not really up to task. Still, Umaga is a guy who delivers a hell of a beating, and the one he delivers here is enough to sell me on this match. The post-match beatdown with the Samoan Strap is great and CM Punk running in for the save is a lot of fun, too.

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Bryan Danielson Final Countdown tour Report #1

I was live at the 2001 Super 8 tourney, where American Dragon blew on to the indy scene. Having watched some TWA, I remember commenting "This Dragon dude sucks, they should have gotten one of the Board of Education." I was live for the Ki v. Dragon ECWA rematch, the King of the Indies win, and tons of his big ROH matches. It is certainly time for him to move on, but I figured I would review his final Indy run.

Bryan Danielson v. Chris Hero PWG 9/4

These are a pair of guys who have wrestled each other dozens of times over the last 6 or so years, and have never really had a great match. This had its moments, came close, but ultimately fell short. This had the classic PWG flaw, it was a great 25 minute match stretched to 40. Lots of times that means you stick 10 superfluous minutes at the end, or have 10 time killing minutes at the beginning, but this felt like it had 10 meaningless minutes in the middle.

The opening mat work was really great, these are probably the two best US mat wrestlers, and they did a bunch of nifty things to start out. I especially loved all of spots they worked around the punch to the ear. You had this super hot section near the end with Danielson diving face first into a chair, getting busted open and Hero working the cut, and you last couple of minutes were pretty sweet with the triangle choke turned into a nasty stretch. Lots to love about the match, but it had some big problems. Hero’s young KO kid elbows are awesome, they are really nasty sounding, and he has a bunch of different cool variations. Still they are better used sparingly, there were too many moments were he cracks him with a viscous elbow for a close two count. First couple of times are cool, you do it too much it stops mattering. If Hero is going to work 40+ matches he needs to save the elbows, you don’t see Hansen hitting a lariat at minute 6, minute 12, minute 22, minute 25, minute 30, minute 32, minute 38 and minute 40 of a match. It stops being so deadly when you see it so much. That was kind of indicative of a lot of this match they had cool ideas but seemed to be doing basically the same thing multiple times. I didn’t kill me like overstuffed PWG sometimes does (I gave up on the Hero v. Tornado cage match), but I am looking forward to seeing what they do in a hopefully less expansive ROH Match.

Bryan Danielson v. Naruki Doi DGUSA 9/6

I thought this was an actively bad match. Danielson had some pretty cool armwork at the beginning. I especially liked the really awkward looking wrist lock. Still it isn’t like the arm work meant anything, as he switched to the leg in the second part of the match, and Doi didn’t really sell either body part. Dragon had some other nifty individual moments, I thought the ankle lock into a german suplex looked cool, and I though his Goodrich elbows looked pretty badass, still those were small moments in an otherwise poor match.

I don’t get Doi, I really don’t care for the style he works, but even with that caveat he really showed me nothing. I thought there were some moments where he looked physically awkward, especially in the two count roll up series. I also thought his shots looked pretty loose, especially in your big strike exchange. Shit he didn’t even have any cool moves. That Doi fives thing looked like Nova and Kanyon sat around a waffle house table with a sketch pad and some action figures. I mean if we are going to have mindless spot wrestling at least give me some cool spots. This reminded me of watching Eddie Guerrero vs. Adam Flash, with Doi not being as good on the mat as Flash was. Danielson trying to work a indy classic with a really limited guy, and not really pulling it off.

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