2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

14. Genichiro Tenryu/Akebono/Ultimo Dragon v. Suwama/Atsushi Aoki/Hikaru Sato AJPW 1/31

PAS: Total blast, Tenryu is completely old and broken down, but still so much fun to watch. He gets into these nasty exchanges with these young guys, who seemingly can't believe how hard this fossil just smacked them. Meanwhile he sells ever shot like his heart is about to stop. There is this amazing moment where Sato backs him into the corner and starts unloading with fast kicks and Tenryu just wipes him out with a straight right. Liked Akebono in this too, but this was a great farewell lap Tenryu performance, and that is what got it on this list.

ER: I have a lot of "match types" I like, obviously, but some combos excite me way more than they excite most people. I like two fat guys in a match. I like two old guys in a match. But my favorite type of match in the history of wrestling is old past his prime guy taking abuse from young punk. Nothing draws more sympathy for me than an old guy getting picked on, and nothing makes me cheer more than that same old guy making a comeback. It just works for me. Fujiwara of course was the master of this, as the ancient dude who always had a couple tricks up his sleeve and was just waiting for a young kicker to slip up and hoping his body could withstand the abuse up until that slip. This isn't *quite* that style, as this is more a victory lap for Tenryu, with him now working more like Rusher Kimura than Fujiwara. But Tenryu makes a really really fun Rusher Kimura. Tenryu is older than my father. My father is a man who hates going on walks. But my father CAN walk. At the moment it appears that Tenryu is a man who cannot actually walk anymore. Tenryu does not appear to have the mobility of late career Rusher Kimura. So this match is mostly some bullies picking on an elderly man who cannot move, but then those bullies getting walloped when they get just a biiiit too close to Tenryu. Because he is a man who can still wallop. Much of the match is him being backed into various parts of the ring with chops and kicks, kind of selling them the way modern Super Porky sells strikes (i.e. not moving his body much, as if he hadn't actually been struck), and then throwing chops and punches every bit as vicious as they've ever been. Old man can still light up a chest and rattle a jaw. There are some wonderful moments like him breaking out the rolling koppo kick (and...not really being able to stand up afterwards), and Suwama and Aoki being good sports and taking some classic Tenryu kicks to the face. I really loved Ultimo's rolling headscissor/neck crank, and Akebono is just great. One of my favorite guys of the last couple years and I am always in awe of his strength. His throwing strength is Andre-esque and I love his giant elbow drop and falling fat guy "splash". Guys work him like he's Andre in Princess Bride and it's always awesome. Tenryu hot tags him in with a Ricky Morton somersault tag, which is bittersweet. I hope this is all for this fine old man and excellent pro wrestler. It was great getting to see him punch guys in the chin, and his jab combos are still incredible. But we also never wanted to see Dick Clark trotted back out on NYE, so fare thee well Tenryu. You were the lumpiest.


2015 MASTER LIST

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All Japan Real World Tag League 11/20/10

These Puro tourney Project always tend to flame out (SLL's G1, my attempt to get through the BOSJ), but this is a tourney with Joe Malenko and Tamon Honda so we might make it.

Dark Ozz/Dark Cuervo/MAZADA vs. Kaz Hayashi/Shuji Kondo/BUSHI

This had its moments, but it was underwhelming at the end. There was some pretty lucha exchanges with Hayashi and one of the fake Charlie Mansons. I have been watching a bunch of MPRO six mans and back in his Shiryu days he was one of the best at quick armdrag and rope running. Ozz (or maybe Cuervo) has a really nasty finishing piledriver. Still much of this was pretty sloppy and awkward looking. It kind of sucks that AJ sends their rookies to IWRG but brings over AAA guys, this match would have been much better with the Terrible Cerebros or Oficiales as the rudo team.

TARU/Minoru/Voodoo Mask vs. Masanobu Fuchi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Tamon Honda

Not a long match, mostly comedy stuff with Kikuchi making faces at TARU. I am always happy to see Honda as he got to break out some Olympic Hell and his great deadlift German. This was undercard trios match, and really worked that way. No one was going to stretch out, they were going to do some shtick and hit some spots and go home.

Hiroshi Yamato vs. Keiji Muto

This was Muto diffidently squashing a young guy. He looked kind of bored and it resembled the laziest of Inoki New Japan matches. I remember Yamato kind of stinking up Black Terry matches in IWRG, but he seems to be someone they are pushing and I don't see any point in something like this.

KENSO/KONO vs. Seiya Sanada/Manabu Soya

I hadn't seen any of these guys before (outside of Kenzo Suzuki), and was pleasantly surprised at this ending up decent. First part of the match wasn't much, mostly Soya throwing clotheslines and KENSO choking folks with his scarf. The match built to a nice exciting finish. KENSO has a really cool looking dive and he hit it twice, and Soya and KONO did a cool near fall exchange with KONO hitting a nasty knee drop, not sure if I recommend the match, but I dug the end.

Masakatsu Funaki/Minoru Suzuki vs. Osamu Nishimura/Joe Malenko

This was as fun as I was hoping it would be. Malenko didn't look like he missed a step. We got a long awesome Malenko v. Funaki mat stand off in the beginning of the match which really had the feel of watching Navarro or Panther work holds. Suzuki and Nishimura had a really cool mat opening too, I loved the twists they put on the MUGA headscissors stuff. The match was pretty good when it sped up too, Malenko and Suzuki throwing headbutts on the floor was sweet. The draws you end up getting in these kind of tournaments can be kind of a buzzkill, but the finish run was awesome with Suzuki trying to lock on his sleeper and Malenko countering it with an ankle lock and both guys fighting over it. Really good stuff and I am hoping all of the Malenko shows up.

Taiyo Kea/Akebono vs. Suwama/Ryota Hama

Wow, I was pretty shocked at how much I dug this. Really had the feel of a solid WAR tag with a bunch of big heavyweight dudes pounding on each other. I always love battle of monsters and while I don't really get the sense Akebono or Hama are very good, their exchanges really felt like a pair of Bison smashing into each other. I was also really into Suwama v. Kea, their opening mat work was pretty great, with Kea doing some awesome amateur rides. The middle portion of the match was just guys pounding on each other, there is a great spot where Suwama just slams Akebono with short lariats until he finally chopped him down. Finish was really cool, Suwama had a very cool wobbly sell of a suplex, and you buy Kea getting the pin as a big moment.

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