X's Reviews/Match Ratings

[Барбоса]

I have seen that Misawa - Kobashi match before and I enjoyed it.

That said I always think that there is something missing from a Japanese heavyweight contest. Maybe because I don't now any of the storyline build up to these matches, I find each match to be lacking a layer of emotion or perhaps acting skill.

No, I can't believe I wrote that either.

I just think that there is more to wrestling than two gifted athletes slapping the hell out of each other and dropping each other head first for 40 mins. To me this can make even the biggest Japanese matches somewhat one-dimensional.

 

[X]

So your problem with Japanese wrestling is that you don't know the storylines or feuds going into watching a match. No offense Barbosa, but that's your problem, not theirs. It has nothing to do with them missing a skillset, it has to do with you not speaking Japanese and thus not knowing what they're saying. Which, again, isn't their fault that you don't speak their language.

 

[Барбоса]

So your problem with Japanese wrestling is that you don't know the storylines or feuds going into watching a match. No offense Barbosa, but that's your problem, not theirs. It has nothing to do with them missing a skillset, it has to do with you not speaking Japanese and thus not knowing what they're saying. Which, again, isn't their fault that you don't speak their language.

This probably has something to do with it. I do not think that it is the only reason why I can only watch one of these kind of matches every so often.

I watched KENTA-Aries from 6/24/06 straight after Joe-Kobashi and found it far more interesting. Granted it did have ROH commentary but I have no problem watching a KENTA contest with Japanese commentary. Perhaps it is because the Junior heavyweight contests are more fast paced.

I have to ask then, X. Do you have any problems getting into the story of a match without understanding the commentary or even the background?

 

[X]

This probably has something to do with it. I do not think that it is the only reason why I can only watch one of these kind of matches every so often.

I watched KENTA-Aries from 6/24/06 straight after Joe-Kobashi and found it far more interesting. Granted it did have ROH commentary but I have no problem watching a KENTA contest with Japanese commentary. Perhaps it is because the Junior heavyweight contests are more fast paced.

I have to ask then, X. Do you have any problems getting into the story of a match without understanding the commentary or even the background?

Not really, but that's also because I like to try and educate myself a bit before watching each match-up. I'll go online and check out a few of the different puro sites I frequent and just get a nice little synopsis as to what lead to certain huge match-ups and whatnot.

But even if I don't know the background to a certain match, nah, I don't have any problem getting into it. Obviously if I did know the background I'd be more into the match up, but it doesn't bother me really. I watch wrestling for the in-ring action, the angles are secondary to me.

Didn't really watch any wrestling worth rating last night, mostly just watched old episodes of Raw from 1999. I'm too sick to bother putting on something different. Maybe I'll watch some good stuff later tonight to rate.

 

[Барбоса]

I watched the Briscoes defend the ROH World Tag Titles against Naruki Doi and Shingo on 3/3/07 in Liverpool last night. Great match. Had a more traditional beginning before kicking into high gear for a prolonged finish.

One thing I particularly liked was when one of the Briscoes came in to save the other from a pinfall, Shingo ran in to stop him but the Briscoe broke through this interference to break up the pin.

Not an awe-inspiring moment but a touch of realism I found somewhat refreshing

 

[X]

Shingo is just a pleasure to watch, same with Naruki Doi. Dragon Gate has some really great workers, have you ever seen BxB Hulk? Such a fun guy to watch. I'd recommend checking out the recent Dragon Gate USA shows if you liked what you saw out of Shingo, he had some fan-fucking-tastic matches at the first and second DGUSA PPV.

If you ever want any recommendations or anything let me know. Since you like the junior heavyweights more than the heavyweights, I'd HIGHLY recommend you check out KENTA vs. Katusuhiko Nakajima from March 1st of last year. Let me see if I can find a link to it...


Here you go, I think this may be more up your alley.

​

Mostly just stayed in bed today being sick and watching old episodes of WWF Primetime on WWE 24/7. I'll update the ratings tonight with a few minor additions.

 

[Барбоса]

Thanks, X. I'll give this a view tonight when I am not supposed to be doing some thesis work.

 

[Барбоса]

Great contest. Was a little confused as to who was supposed to be the face and who was the heel to start off with, although I have that problem with many KENTA matches. He exudes an almost arrogant streak that would place him on the heel side of things in the US but the Japanese crowds love him for it.

The last 8 mins were fantastic. Nakajima's counter out of the Tiger suplex and KENTA's into the second GTS were awesome.

Opponents of CM Punk need to watch some of KENTA's matches to see how to sell the GTS more realistically. If it is supposed to be so deadly, you wouldn't fall over like a tree that has been cut down; you would crumble to the mat like how Nakajima does

 

[X]

Great contest. Was a little confused as to who was supposed to be the face and who was the heel to start off with, although I have that problem with many KENTA matches. He exudes an almost arrogant streak that would place him on the heel side of things in the US but the Japanese crowds love him for it.

The last 8 mins were fantastic. Nakajima's counter out of the Tiger suplex and KENTA's into the second GTS were awesome.

Opponents of CM Punk need to watch some of KENTA's matches to see how to sell the GTS more realistically. If it is supposed to be so deadly, you wouldn't fall over like a tree that has been cut down; you would crumble to the mat like how Nakajima does

Glad to see you liked it, I figured you would. KENTA and Nakajima had an absolutely fantastic feud in 2009, you should check out their Kensuke Office match about a month prior to that one (Kensuke Office is a promotion that Kensuke Sasaki created that basically cross promotes with every other promotion in Japan and uses all of it's different stars for mega-shows).


And totally agree on the GTS, the way Nakajima just crumbles like that at the end after that final GTS from KENTA is just masterful selling, love the finish to that match. Really just love that match all around, hard to go wrong with KENTA and Nakajima.


Okay, so tonight I shall make my return to updating this with more ratings as I've collected the ratings I've had for the last day or two where I've been sick and just had a ton of wrestling to watch. Expect a moderately large update tonight.

 

[X]

Tonight's update:

WWE
2/5/96 Hakushi vs. 1-2-3 Kid - ***1/4
2/16/97 Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin vs. Vader vs. Undertaker - ****3/4
6/27/99 The Undertaker vs. The Rock - ***
7/5/99 The Rock vs. Triple H (Cage) - ***
2/19/06 Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker - ****1/4
4/14/09 John Morrison vs. Evan Bourne - ***3/4
10/4/09 John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler - ***

ROH
8/12/06 Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness - ****1/4

WCW
5/23/93 Hollywood Blondes vs. Dos Hombres (Cage) - ***1/2
2/19/96 Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage - ***1/4

ECW
11/30/97 Chris Candido/Lance Storm vs. Tommy Rogers/Jerry Lynn - ***1/4
2/5/00 Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka - ***1/4
3/10/00 Tommy Dreamer/Masato Tanaka vs. Raven/Mike Awesome - ***

 

[jmt225]

2/5/96 Hakushi vs. 1-2-3 Kid - ***1/4

Very, very nice. One of my favorite openers in the history of WWE pay-per-view.

2/16/97 Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin vs. Vader vs. Undertaker - ****3/4

WHOA... you think THAT highly of this?

3/10/00 Tommy Dreamer/Masato Tanaka vs. Raven/Mike Awesome - ***

I was actually disappointed with this one. Raven just didn't give a fuck during his 2nd ECW run. It was such shit.

 

[Thriller Ant]

Is the Anger/Taker match the simultaneous tap-out and pinfall match? I remember seeing it once and thinking it was pretty good, but I feel like it wasn't that great. The ladder match with Jeff Hardy on Raw that week was much better.

The Danielson/McGuinness is Unified, correct? Maybe I had really high hopes going in, but I felt like it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I mean, it was still a great match, but I built it up in my head and I don't know if it reached that.

 

[X]

Very, very nice. One of my favorite openers in the history of WWE pay-per-view.

Oi? It's actually from an episode of Raw. Hakushi and Waltman locked up quite a few times on Raw and on PPV during their time together in the WWF, and the results were always awesome. I'd have loved to have given this a higher rating if it was longer.

WHOA... you think THAT highly of this?

FUCK yes man. That match is about as perfect of a brawling main event as you could imagine, Vader gets fucked up in that match and is just gushing blood everywhere and he still pulls out every trick in his book like the moonsault, and I mean just everyone in that match is on their top game. It's just 30 minutes of pure absolute god damn fun, awesome match that's always had a soft spot in my heart.

I was actually disappointed with this one. Raven just didn't give a fuck during his 2nd ECW run. It was such shit.

I wasn't too high on this match either until an absolutely vicious spot that saw Dreamer take a drop toe hold face first into the edge of a table. Doesn't sound that bad, but the way the table just fucking crumbled as his face smashed into it was absolutely one of the most brutal things I think I've ever seen in wrestling. That mixed with my intense man love for Awesome and Tanaka led me to go ahead and give it ***. Probably wasn't worth it, but oh well.

Is the Anger/Taker match the simultaneous tap-out and pinfall match? I remember seeing it once and thinking it was pretty good, but I feel like it wasn't that great. The ladder match with Jeff Hardy on Raw that week was much better.

Yep, that's the one from No Way Out 2006. Great match.

The Danielson/McGuinness is Unified, correct? Maybe I had really high hopes going in, but I felt like it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I mean, it was still a great match, but I built it up in my head and I don't know if it reached that.

Yeah that's the Unified one and I totally agree witih you Thriller, that's a match that suffers from too much hype. It's good, it's damn good, but it's not this 5 star classic it's made out to be. Still, very good match.

 

[klunderbunker]

I think I gave the Final Four main event something close to an A+. Fantastic match.

 

[Shocky]

I'm so glad to see others share my love for that Fatal Four way match with those guys. Truly a lost great from a time no one watched the WWF.

 

[klunderbunker]

My rating:

Rating: A. This was a very fun match and the key to it was you knew there was going to be a new champion at the end so you had to watch all of it. Another key was that no one was eliminated until over half of the match was gone. This kept things fresh and made you want to stay until the very end to see how everyone went out. The leaving the ring was key as well as it allowed three separate one on one matches to occur throughout the match. Great match indeed and very fun.

Jake called it brilliant too.

 

[X]

I'm so glad to see others share my love for that Fatal Four way match with those guys. Truly a lost great from a time no one watched the WWF.

It's a damn shame WCW was beating WWF's ass in 96-97 because that was one of my favorite eras in WWF history, so many hidden gems. 1997 especially was just a fucking epic year from start to finish.

Yeah that four way is a classic. I didn't want to go overboard and give it the full ***** treatment, but it was damn close.

 

[Shocky]

For my money, WWF 1997 was the best year in the history of that company. Enjoyable in every aspect from story telling, to new stars rising, to great matches.

 

[klunderbunker]

I love me some 97 WWF. Austin vs. Hart was totally underrated stuff as was the entire Border War.

 

[Барбоса]

Austin vs. Hart was totally underrated stuff

One of the last times we had a drawn out old school type feud were the face could never quite get a victory over the heel. I remember popping when Austin got a DQ victory over Bret (IYH 14?) and then held him in the Sharpshooter for what seemed like years. Great stuff

 

[Shocky]

I still make the argument that Austin should have beat hart in Canada for the title at Survivor Series.

 

[jmt225]

Oi? It's actually from an episode of Raw. Hakushi and Waltman locked up quite a few times on Raw and on PPV during their time together in the WWF, and the results were always awesome. I'd have loved to have given this a higher rating if it was longer.

Shit, my bad man. I just saw "Hakushi vs. 123 Kid" and instantly thought of their Summerslam match, which like I said... is perhaps my favorite opener in history (the only match I can think of that comes close to rivaling it is Angle vs. Mysterio at Summerslam 2002).

But yeah... honestly, I loved the 123 Kid's run period. KB can shit on Waltman all he wants, but in my estimation, he's the greatest American little man from the nineties. The guy was unbelievable, and even Shawn Michaels cites Waltman in his book as the "perfect worker".

And I need to see that Fatal Four-Way. I wonder why it's never been included on any of WWE's DVDs?

 

[X]

Shit, my bad man. I just saw "Hakushi vs. 123 Kid" and instantly thought of their Summerslam match, which like I said... is perhaps my favorite opener in history (the only match I can think of that comes close to rivaling it is Angle vs. Mysterio at Summerslam 2002).

Hell yeah man, I actually have their Summerslam match listed on here I believe at ****, LOVE that opener as well. But they met up more than once and the results were almost always good. Oh how Hakushi rocked.

But yeah... honestly, I loved the 123 Kid's run period. KB can shit on Waltman all he wants, but in my estimation, he's the greatest American little man from the nineties. The guy was unbelievable, and even Shawn Michaels cites Waltman in his book as the "perfect worker".

Eh you know KB, he's weird about some things. Waltman was indeed a damn good worker and was one of the best light heavyweights of the 90s.

And I need to see that Fatal Four-Way. I wonder why it's never been included on any of WWE's DVDs?

Yeah you should track it down, you can most certainly find it online on one of the video sites. I guess since it's just kind of such a unique match that kind of twisted in several different feuds and storylines that it never really seemed specific or relevant enough to be on the best of DVDs of some of the guys in it.

Yeah, awesome match that is. Classic In Your House hidden gem.

 

[klunderbunker]

Gave the 95 SS opener a B. Decent stuff.

 

[X]

B is above average to me. Since C is usually considered average.