2011 Match of the Year

Dick Togo vs. Antonio Honda DDT 1/30/11

PAS: This was right in the middle of the unbeliveble Dick Togo retirement tour. He was having brilliant match after brilliant match, often with questionable dudes who never reached those heights before or after. Honda is a comedy guy and used to be Togo's partner in the DDT Italian Horseman. This is clearly the match of his life, and I give him a ton of credit for stepping up and bringing it to Togo like he did. Early part of the match had Honda working over Togo's arm. Togo did a really nice job selling, and it makes total sense to give him a ding to make Honda's offense credible, still Honda's attack was a little pedestrian. Match really kicks it into gear when Honda hits a nice tope and comes up bloody. After that, the match morphs into a Mid South Coliseum main event, with Togo working over the bloody babyface and Honda making awesome valiant comebacks. Togo has him in the corner, smashing his head into the turnbuckle and punching him, and Honda does a full on Lawler 1986 TX Death Match comeback, dropped strap, 17 punch combo ending in a huge uppercut for a near fall. Such a neat moment, which Togo sold perfectly. We get a big near fall run, which is really something that Dick Togo does better then anyone in the world, and then take a trip back to TN with an awesome Lawler v. Mantel style toe to toe punch exchange. Hell of match, the kind of thing only Dick Togo could deliver in 2011.

ER: This is one of those all-time special matches that completely exceed any sort of realistic expectations, at least if they had seen prior Antonio Honda matches. He's a guy who looks like a Masao Inoue/Maximo puro lovechild, and the only reason you would go out of your way to watch a match he's in is if Dick Togo was also in it. And this really is the match of his life. I think the opening armwork is a step above cursory, and it was an important part of the story as otherwise the match shouldn't have been so competitive. And while Honda's end of the armwork isn't interesting at every moment, TOGO'S end of things is awesome. The screams of agony when Honda would start manipulating pressure points made Honda seem like Stu Hart, and Togo seem like a guy who showed up at the Hart mansion with a greeting of "Every wrestler I've ever met is a pussy!" Togo's anguish sounded real to me, man, made me buy right into Antonio Honda and his goof mushroom cut. Togo peppers in some brief comebacks but Honda is always smart to aim for arm and take back over.

I have no idea how Honda got busted open, but Phil is right, things just change from that point forward. Togo starts working him over, like a Dick, punching his cut, raking his boot eyelets across Honda's head, just beating him up...and then Honda makes just the most awesome strap down Lawler comeback, throwing the biggest nastiest punches of his life and then the match kicks into an entire DIFFERENT awesome gear. This thing just keeps peaking and every time I think Honda is finished he makes another plausible comeback. Togo goes into awesome Togo overdrive, hits one of the all time great fistdrops, both guys keep emptying out the tool bag with some awesome offense, and misses lead to comebacks. Honda jams his fist into the mat on a missed middle rope fistdrop, Togo misses a senton, gets dumped with a huge suplex, this whole thing is just killer. Both guys go down in flames with maybe the greatest bombs exchange ever, both guys throwing blows simultaneously, just completely bonkers. But Honda goes down first and Togo plops him with the senton. What a special match.


ONGOING ALL TIME MOTY LIST