Match of the Year time. Depending on whether you count December or not, we only have 3 weeks to go, and with the exception of TLC (which could have a decent match on top, who knows) all the nominees are in. The Meltz is gonna go with Ishii vs. Shibata, Tokyo Sports went with Nakamura vs. Ibushi (which has every right to win), but I'm going with this one, the best of their 6-match series. This is the best Main Event, Battle of the Titans, Epic Title Fight style match I have ever seen. However, if one of the other two matches previously mentioned should win, I will not complain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY82DLsEw-Q
I'm with Dave. This was pretty awesome, though, and hard to go wrong with Tanahashi.
Rey Mysterio in that backstage segment with Big Show cracked me up. What is with the small superstars this week acting like little kids. First you have Daniel Bryan act like a make a wish winner, then you have Rey hopping around all happy and excited like he's hanging out with his hero.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed all the NJPW I saw this year, but since I don't follow the promotion the matches all seem to run together. All the main events I saw were definitely good. I think WWE wise it is between Cena/Punk from Raw, Punk/Taker or Cena/Bryan from SummerSlam. A few indie matches that may be in the running if indie wrestling is your thing: Kyle O'Reilly/ACH from PWG BOLA night 2 and Adam Cole/Michael Elgin ROH title finals. Also, Cole/Elgin/Jay Briscoe is this weekend and should be outstanding. And next weekend has Cole/Hero, which has huge potential, but that won't be released until next year
ReplyDeleteRock vs Cena won the slammy, which is the only award that matters.
ReplyDeleteI just watched this and I really enjoyed it. The presentation was fantastic as I knew how important the IWGP championship was to both men despite the language barrier. I was however I disappointed I didn't get to hear the announcers call a brainbuster.
ReplyDeleteFor me, Brock/Punk is my Moty. I wouldn't argue to hard against any of the options presented though.
ReplyDeleteChristmas is in less than two weeks and they're getting HHH dolls with five action packed phrases including
ReplyDelete"In THIS BUSINESS"
"Unlike the internet geeks"
"That's NOT best for business"
*labored grunting*
and "Isn't that right Steph?"
Water bottle and manly jean/leather jacket sold separately.
Cena's promos have been pretty good recently.
ReplyDeleteI may open up a can of warms here, but I've seen NJPW's product this year and in my opinion it doesn't live up to its hype. If you are sick of WWE's style and want something different, you should watch it.
ReplyDeleteBut I saw Japanese wrestling in its golden age with some of the best pound for pound wrestlers that mastered the strong style like Jumbo, Misawa and Kobashi. Everyone thinks that strong style is all about taking a beating. It has more to do than that. And I am kind of tired of seeing so many people try to impersonate it, forgetting the secret ingredients of why it worked so greatly in the first place: psychology, selling, and story telling.
People like Davey Richards have no clue what they're doing. They try to over top the previous spot to get an even bigger reaction, and are destroying every move's credibility by repeatedly no selling them.
Wrestling is about suspending disbelief, creating an illusion in your head that what you're watching is real. Everything about some of these strong-style wrestlers feels too much like a cartoon.
The indies are the worst offenders for defiling the art form, and then people wonder why "Generic Joe" isn't offered a spot by WWE.
ReplyDeleteAll one of them.
ReplyDeleteI could actually see those being made.
ReplyDeleteThere was about 20 minutes of matches on this show and all of the pairings have been done to death. I really wish they have everyone go in new directions after the ppv. Or at the very least have one person go in a new direction. To end on a more positive note, at least no black people danced tonight. I take what I can get!
ReplyDeleteHHH, is that you?
ReplyDeleteIf it was indeed HHH, he'd be telling you how much of a masterpiece his performance was at WM and how many people were crying thinking it was the end of his career due to his selling when he was in peril.
ReplyDeleteHe would also tell you that the Slammys are what's best for business.
ReplyDeleteHHH vs. Brock at 'Mania should really be at the top of any list I don't know why it isn't being discussed
ReplyDeleteBut what about Extreme Rules?
ReplyDeleteAJPW heavyweight style was kings road not strong style /purogeek
ReplyDeleteThey're basically the same thing.
ReplyDeleteSaw most of the hyped about Njpw matches this year. My favorites were sakaraba/nakamura, ishii/Shibata, and Shibata/Goto. Shibata had a fuckin awesome year and probably should have been elevated by now to a feud with Tanahashi for the 1/4 show (with Nakamura vs. Okada as the main). But it looks like politics and probably him being a douche in real life means he's still stuck in a never-ending feud with Goto.
ReplyDeleteIs that a crack that they're all the same or that he's stopped talking as much?
ReplyDeleteY'know I'd rather see black people dance than white people.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, Fandango's moves are...well...
Scott had a NJPW thread back in October where MadDogJoeDeCurso put together a top ten NJPW list for 2013 with links to youtube/dailymotion. Here's the link to the thread:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rspwfaq.net/2013/10/njpw.html#disqus_thread
Either/or.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of critics were unhappy with the ring steps run-in. I was fine with it, but I thought they should have followed with a one on one match between Brock and the ring steps, as they had proven to be his ultimate foe in the 'Mania match.
ReplyDeleteTriple H wouldn't know what's best for business if it Daniel'd him in the Bryan.
ReplyDeleteCan't really take you seriously when you mention selling, psychology, and story telling. Pick any Tanahashi/Okada/Bullet Club/Nakamura match from pretty much anytime and to me they will incorporate all that with the suspension of disbelief that isn't present in the US companies today.
ReplyDeleteHell, I don't speak Japanese and I understand what NJPW is trying to accomplish in every match/angle. The same can not be said about WWE. Maybe I need to learn WWE-ese? All I've learned so far is that "download the app" means "turn the show off."
word.. The only thing I would change on that list would be going with my gut and putting Nakamura/Ibushi second.. I refrained, influenced by lack of agreement from others, assuming I was 'on one'..
ReplyDeleteand then it won Tokyo Sports MOTY and I felt so good about myself.. Nakamura/Ibushi is the only match I've watched more than three times this year.. i've watched it like 6 times, it's like a great film.. Vertigo, All About Eve, American Beauty, something like that..
Some jap dude winning MOTY? 2 of them? How can you be MOTY while wrestling in a shanty? Give me a break, it's Punk/Brock, and that's just that.
ReplyDeleteI dare one of you to give me some story on this match,
ReplyDeleteIshii said Shibata racks disciprine, and Shibata said Ishii is vely dishobolable.
ReplyDeleteWell, any match watched in a vacuum can tell a story by virtue of it being about two guys pulling out all the stops to win. I've watched plenty of matches that I didn't know the backstory of that I loved.
ReplyDeletePunk/Brock was truly an epic match but I just watched Ishii/Shibata and that was maybe the best match I've EVER seen period. This is what 'New Age Wrestling' should be. I know it's brutal, but if the WWE wants to make a comeback they need to freshen up the entire style they use today.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reminding us that your criteria is how everyone else is supposed to judge what they enjoy. Could you give us your criteria for movies? I may have to go back and change which movies I liked.
ReplyDeleteThe Rainmaker is a great simple-but-effective finisher. I think Luke Harper should try using it just to give some difference to his current Clothesline from Hell JBL homage
ReplyDeleteThe Usos deserve a run with the tag titles. WWE is teasing a Shield breakup, and if it's true that they're also working toward Cody and Goldust breaking up for a WrestleMania feud, there will be a void in the tag division that the Usos can fill. And has anyone seen Los Matadores lately?
ReplyDeleteAt least Fandango has an actual gimmick that requires dancing. If they gave a guy a "b-boy" gimmick and he danced that's fine. But the whole black person=dancer has got to stop.
ReplyDeleteNow if they gave the Funkadactyls stripper gimmicks then well.......
Wow.
ReplyDeleteI cant upvote this enough. I got nothing against indy wrestling, or tgeir fans, but some of them think its so cool to like something "counter culture" or non mainstream that they dont see this.
ReplyDeleteBecause HHH.
ReplyDeleteI think Meltzer should wait a week because no doubt Orton/Cena is going to win everyone's MOTY awards. If Cena can carry Bryan's B+ ass to a ****1/2 match, can you imagine what Cena would be able to do with an A+ guy like Orton? Plus with both titles being on the line, I'm sure both guys will pull out all stops to make this a classic and we might just witness the first ever ****** match.
ReplyDeleteHe must have really liked those "jbl showers"
ReplyDeleteNJPW reviews? Anybody?
ReplyDelete...ooh, ooh. Let me try.
ReplyDelete1.) Wrestler A has the title
2.) Wrestler B wants the title.
3.) Wrestler B works his way up the card and challenges wrestler A for the title
4.) Wrestler A agrees and they wrestle.
I know this lacks a back story like shampoo commercials, evil GMs, dancing Negroes and what not, but that's what I got.
Because Brock has a manic phobia of any type of steps, as they are his weakness.
ReplyDeleteHe should consult Kane and DBry's therapist about that.
HHH wouldn't be on the internetz because he hates us all.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's not what they mean when they say download the app. Here, let me explain how to download...
ReplyDelete"But that wasnt written by flunky soap opera writers. Itll never work in wrestling!"
ReplyDelete"Some jap dude winning MOTY? 2 of them? How can you be MOTY while wrestling in a shanty?"
ReplyDeleteBy Shanty you mean selling out the 60,000 seat Tokyo Dome? Meltzer and others ARE following the stories in Japan and not "watching in a microcosm" you arrogant, and likely racist, twat-waffle
You can almost see that happening. HHH winning and declaring himself the face of the WWE. I know it's wrong but I did miss seeing Benoit in that video montage on Raw about all the WWE and Word Champions.
ReplyDeleteNo, they had a King's Road. Do you know the difference between Strong Style and Kings Road?
ReplyDeleteVoices of Wrestling is pretty good on that score. They also watch the PPVs live and will shoot the shit with you on Twitter about it.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'll check it out
ReplyDeleteUpvote for "twat-waffle." Anytime you can ccombine a curse word and a food, and it works, I'm all for it
ReplyDeleteYou're going to tell me that their matches didn't have a lot of heavy strikes, kicks and punches?
ReplyDeleteAre the iPPVs from NJPW good quality? I saw they use Ustream, and I've heard bad things about it being a heavy Twitch.TV user. I'm considering buying the January 4th iPPV as it has a few people I'm familiar with (love Ibushi, Shelley and Shelton Benjamin). Do KENTA and Marufuji wrestle for NJPW often or are they more special attractions?
ReplyDeleteWhat are you talking about man. Strong Style and King's Road are entirely different philosophies and approaches to building a wrestling match. In fact, you can't even truly break down King's Road in a single match, its told over a long series of matches ie. Tsuruta/Misawa and Misawa/Kobashi.
ReplyDeleteIt's not about what kind of strikes or moves are being used.
My buddy explained it perfectly 4 years ago
ReplyDeletehttp://www.examiner.com/article/a-primer-to-strong-style-and-king-s-road-styles
When I was a kid I loved The Great Muta in WCW. I think WWE is missing a huge opportunity by not bringing in someone like Tanahashi.
ReplyDeleteHarper looks a helluva lot like Bruiser Brody, so I wonder if he's a fan of Brody and Stan Hansen. Or I could just be wishing he picked up the lariat from Hansen instead of JBL.
ReplyDeleteTNA had Okada some times ago and managed to do absolutely nothing with him... As for WWE that would be nice to have someone like him there but I fear he would get the Yoshi Tatsu / Taka Michinoku / ... treatment
ReplyDeleteI also liked the little diaporama of all the precedent champion at the beginning. Is a little touch that kinda make the match feel more important and part of a bigger thing
ReplyDeleteThey're probably on Superstars and Main Event.
ReplyDeleteThat's racist.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, the only two wrestlers that had vaguely b-boy gimmicks were both white dudes (Morrison and Jack Evans).
I popped more for that than for the match... and the match was pretty damn great. But THAT is how you "honor" your past, your history, what's gotten you to where you are.
ReplyDeleteTwatwaffle's a slightly older fave of mine. As is Fucknugget, like what Mr. Michaels above also is.
ReplyDeleteNo, but that doesn't make it the same style anymore then both Lacrosse and Hockey having fighting makes them the same sport.
ReplyDeleteCop out.
ReplyDeleteKENTA is the Pro wrestling NOAH champion.
ReplyDeleteThat was a terrible movie.
ReplyDeleteIs there anywhere you can buy current njpw dvds that work in region 1? Highspots only has old stuff and the sites I've seen online only have recorded/compilation stuff.
ReplyDelete