All Things Inoki

Antonio Inoki is quite the man. Certainly one of the rare wrestlers where you could accuse someone who likes them of being a shill paid by Kim Jong Un. His magnificent jaw has inspired generations and his business decisions, taste in wrestling and wrestling skills have caused debate and polarizing reactions for years. I quite like him.

Classic
Antonio Inoki vs Tatsumi Fujinami-NJPW 8.8.1988.

Great
Antonio Inoki vs Kintaro Oki-NJPW 10.10.1974.
Antonio Inoki vs Kantaro Hoshino-NJPW 5.12.1978.
Antonio Inoki vs Andre The Giant-NJPW 1.6.1979.

Very Good
Antonio Inoki vs Andre The Giant-NJPW 30.5.1978.

Good
Antonio Inoki vs Karl Mildenberger-9.11.1978.
Antonio Inoki vs Shota Chochishvili-NJPW 24.4.1989.

Antonio Inoki vs Andre The Giant-NJPW 30.5.1978.

You could classify the matwork here as "NWA" style-in  that holds are worked and worked over until there is a transition and that transition really determines the quality of the match. Sometimes it feels like a waste of time but sometimes it's worth sticking through it. It's worth sticking with it here. Before the match Andre gets annoyed by Inoki getting a bigger reaction than him and refuses to shake hands. He attacks Inoki's arm early on-no sitting in a hold for five minutes but repetead wristlocks and armlocks that really establish his dominance. Andre easily drags Inoki to the middle of the ring once Inoki reaches the ropes and does a cool hammerlock slam, both of which make for cool visuals. Andre gets frustrated with the ref over.....something, leaving himself open to Inoki who goes for his leg, thereby establishing Inoki could get in control that way. When Andre goes to attack Inoki's arm again Inoki tries to kick away at Andre's legs, but they don't transition into Inoki's control quite yet. Eventually Inoki manages to counter Andre's armlock with a Headscissors-which looks amazing. Andre then manages to cross over Inoki's legs and changes his focus on attacking them. Inoki eventually manages to counter that with a Keylock-another big visual. They do tease Andre countering it a couple of times but before countering it Inoki turns him back into the Keylock to further establish the armwork. Once Andre does pick Inoki up into the air instead of placing him on the top rope like the norm is in 70s matches he throws him out of the ring, putting over the peril of the situation. Andre nurses his arm for a bit but Inoki quickly returns to the ring and we get to the finishing stretch, with Inoki nailing a couple of big Enzuigirs that connected well and Andre doing a Suplex and a ot of headbutts. I particularly liked the Canadian Backbreaker counter where Inoki pushed the corner-post instead of the ropes to counter Andre into a Back Body Drop. Unfortunately politics get in the way here-as Inoki can't even get a visual count-out win, Andre immediately no-sells him and only loses because he started brawling with a remember wrestler ringside, then gets back in the ring and lays out Inoki to get his heat back. Damn that 50/50 booking :) Very good match based around strategy, though I doubt Andre had the skills to produce anything truly great with lots of matwork. ***1/2

Antonio Inoki vs Andre The Giant-NJPW 1.6.1979.

The opening is fascinating-Fujinami's leg is injured and Inoki goed to check on him. You could interpret is as Inoki being worried about his dear student, kicking him to test the strength of his leg, seeing he cannot fight Andre as he is and bravely stepping up and challenging Andre. You could also interpret it as him further injuring Fujinami, stealing his apotlight and conning everyone into cheering him by successfully BSing them. Talk about art imitating life. This was worked differently than their 1976 match and played to Andre's strengths more (and I have to say matches like this one are making me appreciate him a lot more). The match starts with Andre just mauling Inoki, using his size abd clubbibg flows to punish him. Inoki goes after Andre's legs because really what else is he gonna do? This match serves as a great example of what Andre could do-he doesn't really need to take a Back Body Drop, a Sunset Flip and a Backslide. Yet they manage to believably work all of them in AND all of them look good and fluid! Andre's acting here was great-I loved his evil laugh when he took Inoki down, as if he'd finally figured out how to stop him, him telling the referee Inoki's leaning onto the ropes in his Back Suplex attempt only to cheapshot Inoki as soon as the ref was out of position, and more than anything the moment where he became frustrated the crowd was cheering for Inoki and left the ring and went into the crowd. Seeing the people flee from a giant was surreal, like something out of a Godzilla film. But Inoki deserves a lot of credit too cause I doubt anyone else could push Andre to all of that and react to him as perfectly as Inoki did. When Andre leaves the ring OF COURSE Inoki is going to start stomping on him and go all out. And when Andre pushes him against the ropes he'll use them for these amazingly athletic counters and kicks that are hard to even properly describe. Andre also did a Bow and Arrow and a Surboard/Romero Special which just shows you how preposterous this match was-but when he did the bow arrow Inoki followed it up with picture perfect selling-his body language conveyed a giant man doing a back focused submission as good as humanly possible. And when Andre overreached with the surfboard Inoki urgently climbed to the top rope knowing how rare of a opportunity he has. Even the non-finish has Hansen coming in and them having a really fun brawl. Great match. ****

Antonio Inoki vs Kintaro Oki-NJPW 10.10.1974.

This match is a master class in delayed gratification, working and getting over in professional wrestling. Before the bell even rings Inoki potatoes Oki with a punch. They seperate them, and the match starts. They don't just immediately start brawling-there's lots of lock-ups, some of them include hair-brawling, and pretty much all of them ending with the ref coming in between them. You can feel the tension-it legitimately looks like they hate each other but are also simultaneously not trying to lose their temper and get DQed-the wrestling is really good, nifty takedowns, pretty suplexes-but where the match really excells is when all hell breakes loose. Oki hits about Inoki with about a million headbutts-each sold gigantically, knocking Inoki down. Inoki goes down again and again and then fires up. daring Oki to headbutt him some more. His mannerisms are simple and primal which is precisely what makes them so cathartic. When he punches Oki in the comeback for the first time you feel ane explosion of all of the frustation that boiled in you during the FIP section and you remember why people watch so many movies that rely on cliches they're aware of. It's because they work. Inoki Bom-ba-ye. ****1/4

Antonio Inoki vs Kantaro Hoshino-NJPW 5.12.1978.

This match is such a huge mismatch-Inoki is like two heads taller than Hoshino and their difference is status is even larger. It's worked like that and that's precisely what makes it so intriguing. Hoshino has to desperately throw everything at Inoki not to get 2.99 counts that and interpreter then twists as "surviving"-he has to do that just to make Inoki register his offence. When Inoki trips Hoshino it's a show of dominance. "look how easy it was for him". When Hoshino does that he has to time it perfectly because he doesn't have Inoki's strenght and size that would allow him to just push him away-and the narrative makes it work even more when you add the meaning of a payback spot to it. Hoshino's offence consists of super awesome punches that Inoki sells *perfectly* which ties into the finish-in a modern match after Hoshino's managed to weaken Inoki you'll usually see a wrestler in his position spam go into the *I do big moves/nearfalls now*. Inoki still fights him off-culminating in one of the best Snapmare spots I've ever seen if not the best (I doubt those 2006 ROH "Snapmare is suddenly the world's deadliest move" matches are going to hold up seamlessly). And then, in the portion of the match where you'd usually just have Inoki go on a rampage Hoshino immediately dives at his legs because he knows he's dead if he doesn't stop him. Hoshino sells Inoki's palm strikes like death which adds another dimension to the strike exchanges and makes them feel more significant and consequent AND they do the "Jumbo slams Misawa's head into the canvas" spot 12 years before Misawa/Jumbo! ****

Antonio Inoki vs Shota Chochishvili-NJPW 24.4.1989.

What better way to kill time than to watch Inoki fight a Georgian Judo olympic champion? The match mostly consisted of Chochishvili slamming Inoki-and you'll be shocked to find an olympic judo champion has good looking slams. Inoki's comebacks looked goofy as Chochishvili didn't really know how to react to strikes and kicks, but he's charismatic enough that it almost doesn't matter, at least in terms of getting the match over. A one handed Inoki firing up was quite the visual, tailor made for a magazine cover. **3/4

Antonio Inoki vs Karl Mildenberger-9.11.1978.

Karl Mildenberger is a german boxer. He was the european boxing heavyweight champion and even fought Ali for the title. Hence this being billed as wrestler vs boxer, though the boxing part is more present in how they lay out the match. They both wear boxing gloves and Inoki tries to hang with Mildenberger on the feet. Occassionally he tries leg kicks and takedowns but they get blocked, don't do much damage or the ref makes them stand up. Initially it starts out with a lot of swaying, gauging the distance and the stuff you'd expect from an actual boxing match but as it progressess Mildenberger manages to find openings, first cornering Inoki and making him go on the defensive and then repeteadly knocking him down. At the height of Inoki's puril at the opening of the fourth round MIldenburger rushes him with a flurry, Inoki escapes with a clinch, the ref breaks them up and in the split second Mildenberger takes to complain to the ref Inoki lands a BEAUTIFUL Enzuigiri that knocks him down and quickly follows that up with a Boston Crab and it's all over. Boxing gloves make a lot of submissions virtually impossible, and with the ref not allowing them to spend much time on the ground I doubt one could've come up with a better finish that woud play up to everything that they set up during the match as well. ***1/4

Antonio Inoki vs Tatsumi Fujinami-NJPW 8.8.1988.

I'm trying to put into words how much I liked this match but I don't think I'll be able to do this justice. If the match was about ten minutes shorter I think it could've rated it as a top ten match of all time. It's still an absolutely incredible match, an the crowd never really dies but after a certain point they just aren't buying the submissions as much as they did and it's more of a "clap for rope breaks/escapes/general effort" thing. This was a perfect showcase for both wrestler's abilities, the matwork was phenomenal and they managed to escape a perfect sense of one-upmanship. It is a match that manages to excel both at the little things and the big things, there's a moment where Inoki does a bridge and Fujinami tries to drive him to that and I swear Inoki did the most beautiful bridge I've ever seen, the kind of thing that could only be possible because of stuff like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnHmKPSYxPo

The crowd was fucking insane, you get shots of people standing up and not leaving their feet for about ten minutes just mesmerized by the drama of the match, Inoki firing up while Fujinami had him in a Figure Four was one of the greatest spots I've ever seen and Fujinami responded appropriately by pushing himself up as far as he could and trying to rip apart Inoki's leg, the struggle over everything was so well done here and the match also served as a great display for their character though I'd find it understable if people used to gigantic bumps for irish whips and WWF wrestling didn't pick it up (not actually trying to call anyone out here fwiw), Fujinami has a chip on his shoulder and while being a great athlete in his own right doesn't really possess Inoki's strength and they play it up really well, Inoki goes for an illegal Sleeper in the beginning and Fujinami sells it like a huge threat, later on Fujinami uses the same maneuver several times but never manages to damage Inoki as much as Inoki had damaged him, I think that came off really well every time Fujinami would grab a hold for a longer period of time where, he'd just come off as the most tenacious wrestler ever, and later in the match when Inoki stars slapping the shit out of him and Fujinami sells it enough so it doesn't come off as no selling (especially with his facial expression) but no sells it enough so the crowd can put his awesome facial expressions together with him refusing to go down to Inoki's strikes and it's this humongous amazing moment and everyone is losing their shit and pro wrestling fucking rules mate. I also find it amusing how Fujinami's character seems to consistent both in his on air presentation and in scummy backstage videos and stories (him slapping Kevin Nash comes to mind, also there was a video where him and Inoki just yell at each other for five minutes and Fujinami responds to Inoki's weak fifth grader bully slap by Bas Ruttening him). ****3/4

All Things Kazuyuki Fujita

By now you're probably familiar with my love of Inokiism and Kazuyuki Fujita is one of the wrestlers that best encapsulates the aspects of the style I find dear. A badass amateur wrestler with a heard head and an awesome collection of PRIDE fights, he got a bad rep like everyone who worked shooty during those days (and some politics and screwy finishes certainly didn't help his perception) but what YOU should really care about is that once he steps into the ring he just mauls people and it's a joy to watch.

 Classic
Kazuyuki Fujita vs Katsuyori Shibata-NJPW 19.7.2004.

Great
Kazuyuki Fujita vs Hiroshi Tanahashi-NJPW 5.6.2004.
Suwama & Yuji Okabayashi vs Kazuyuki Fujita & Daisuke Sekimoto-Tenryu Project 15.11.2015.

Very Good
Kazuyuki Fujita vs Kensuke Sasaki-NJPW 8.10.2001.
Kazuyuki Fujita vs Toshiaki Kawada-NJPW 14.8.2005.

Good
Kazuyuki Fujita vs Sean McCully-NJPW 11.10.1999.
Kazuyuki Fujita vs Kensuke Sasaki-NJPW 9.10.2004.
Kazuyuki Fujita vs Tatsutoshi Goto-NJPW 4.8.2005.

 

Kazunari Murakami & Minoru Suzuki vs Suguru Miyatake & Yoshihiro Takayama-Tokyo Gurentai 1.12.2015.

Yeah this was really good. Miyatake is a DDT DNA guy and the kind of guy you'd bet your house on on taking the fall and they treat him like that, the exchanges between him and Takayama are pretty hilarious as was Suzuki just dismissing him as a threat. I love the way Takayama throws forearms, they look like punches half the time. While this wasn't a comedy match per se I spent a good chunk of it laughing, it doesn't get much better than Murakami taunting Takayama before they start blasting each other with brutal shots while commentary makes Fist Of the North Star references. Suzuki is great at spots where he milks a submission for all its worth and he even made it a viable false finish here. I loved Takayama cutting off Suzuki's Piledriver attempt, it completely caught me off guard. ****

Kazunari Murakami vs Kensuke Sasaki-Big Mouth Loud 22.3.2006.

This might be the greatest squash I've ever watched. I love watching Kensuke beat the shit out of people, there a lot of guys that use offence similar to Kensuke today like Sekimoto, Okabayashi, Hino etc., part of the problem with them is probably that they're too selfless and end up doing shitty modern puro tropes and as a result neither guy in the match looks good, Kensuke only cares about looking strong and he is much better at projecting himself as a badass asskicker than the modern guys and he also does a lot of great looking combination and moves current guys don't like the sandwich lariats, chops to the throat and neck etc. His matches are also a lot less likely to feel stale-there is a lot more urgency behind his movement and it feels like he is trying to win when he throws himself at his opponent with these big power moves. So yeah. That should have been my Kensuke Sasaki GWO case. Sorry mate. I'll do you justice by 2026 I promise. Anyway. Kazunari Murakami is amazing at getting annihilated-he takes an insane bump over the top rope for a chop and just generally does such awesome facial expression while getting beaten up and tries to fight out of the position he's in. He never quite does-he hits some nice punches and kicks for a moment but quickly loses control. Still the match feels like a lot more than just a squash. I loved Kensuke's Ipponseoi counter to Murakami's haymaker and liked the restart of the match-the thirty additional seconds we got felt like an ending of an all time classic. I hope their match from Kensuke's vanity fed is still preserved somewhere I have to rewatch that one as soon as possible now. ***1/2.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Minoru Suzuki vs Kazunari Murakami & Kensuke Sasaki-Big Mouth Loud 19.4.2006.

Total dream match for me right here. Ten seconds in Kensuke and Murakami quarrel over who's going to start and chop and punch each other for a second before Kensuke starts things off, that spot is awesome in that setting but when you have like, Sekimoto and X modern puro guy doing it for twenty minutes it's boring. MiSU-Kensuke interactions sound least intriguing since I've seen them go at it plenty of times including a 40 minute match. They do a quick strike exchange and Kensuke irish whips MiSu into the ropes and-stare offs might not work in junior matches after doing kung fu sequences but they totally work here when MiSu suddenly stops as Kensuke is going to chop him. That's UWF blood for you. Fujiwara and Murakami do some nice grappling and MiSu stomped Murakami when they were near his corner which was a great touch and him not so subtly repeteadly kicking off Murakami's feet of the ropes to break the rope break was awesome as well. Murakami is just the best, he might be the greatest ever at conveying disgust and disdain through facial expressions. Minoru Suzuki can phone it in but man he is great when he wants to be, it's so much fun watching him troll Murakami and just act like a dick. The Murakami peril in section was absolutely hilarious, you gotta love the tremendous pastice of shoot style and comedy Fujiwara and MiSu present here. Loved the way Fujiwara fell down after Sasaki Lariated him, it looked like a beast of a man hit him in the back of the head and that's how he sold it. I fucking lost it when Kensuke fucked up the save, laughing out loud while Fujiwara punches people in the face is about as ennjoyable as wrestling gets and they immediately followed it up with Suzuki stomping on Murakami's head in the corner (which is Murakami's signature move), Fujiwara shitbeating Murakami and then choking him when Murakami yelled at him in an insulting matter AND then Fujiwara distracting the ref so Suzuki could choke Murakami and just pull his nose and do all these disgusting things. Murakami's comeback is the world's greatest uppercut (boxing, not european) and the finishing run is awesome as Kensuke Sasaki runs over people, Murakami and MiSu beat the shit ouf of each other and Fujiwara bleeds a lot at the age of 200. ****1/4

Kazunari Murakami & Enson Inoue vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka-Big Mouth Loud 26.2.2006.

I lost it when I saw this existed, Murakami-Nagata is a New Japan MOTD candidate and we get to see them go at it again, life is good. Enson Inoue is a guy I assume was universally hated at SSS ten years ago that I totally love and I'm not sure whether this was before or after Iizuka was broken down, I'l assume before because I'd like to stay positive and think BML wouldn't book someone that bad. And also he's still a face here and he turned heel after the injury so. My only problem with this is that Nagata has already picked some of his annoying quirks here like his goofy selling (especially the facial expressions he makes while doing so) and I also find his slapping style annoying, stomping the ring like some wrestlers do when punching while throwing slaps that make fine sounds on their own is just stupid in my book. This was still an awesome chaotic brawl though, Murakami is just wonderful and as of this moment is my favourite wrestler, Enson Inoue's com logic is basically full mount>face punch and his chances of making my GWE 2026 ballot improve with each match watched, I love the spot where he climbed onto the first rope while Holding Nagata in a Guillotine Choke as it looked like something done naturally to prevent Nagata to counter it by hitting him with body blows in the courner AND it was also a great way to feed Nagata a counter with a Northern Lights Suplex. Iizuka was good here too, viciously brawling, hitting people with brutal knees, stomps and punches, still Murakami vs Nagata is the main draw and they deliver, punches, shoot headbutts, kicks, they unload on each other and it rules. ****

Kazunari Murakami vs Hiroshi Tanahashi-NJPW 28.10.2001.

A bizarre and awesome match, probably the closest we ever got to Tanahashi doing shoot style. You'd get tricked into thinking he is a good wrestler by watching this, he put his amateur wrestling skills to use and did some really nice takedowns and matwork. Eventually he tries to trade strikes with Murakami and dies via face punching. Super fun match, I doubt anything from this year's G1 will endear itself to me as much as this little bout did. Inoki come back. ***-***1/4

Kazunari Murakami & Tomohiko Hashimoto vs Hideki Suzuki & Yuji Hino-Tokyo Gurentai 4.4.2016.

Not the awesome all out brawl this would've been if Suzuki was around for Big Mouth Loud but still a fun time. Murakami might not do much these days but he's absolutely hilarious and I loved the way he and Wada played off each other here. T-Hash wrestling in an Iverson jersey may not even have been the most random outfit of anyone in the arena as I'm pretty sure I saw fans with ECW, IGF and Slayer shirts in the front row. An entertaining comedy match. ***

Kazunari Murakami & Zeus vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Super Tiger II-Alexander Otsuka Produce 28.10.2015.

This was really cool. The Sekimoto and Zeus interactions were the least interesting portion of the match, not that they were bad or anything but they were as standard as they get, Sekimoto is a one trick pony and his trick was never that good to begin with. Super Tiger II may not be a shoot style master but just his willingness to do shooty stuff is enough to make matches more interesting. Murakami was the star of the match as expected, I could watch him just taunt Sekimoto and his stupid face for twenty minutes and he seemed unusually motivated here and did way more than I expected him to. Highlight of the match was the finish, after some dull crowd brawling Murakami just goes berserk and starts blasting Sekimoto with punches in the face and starts throwing chairs around, it was the kind of awesome chaotic brawling I'd like to see more out of japanese wrestling these days. ***1/4

2017 MOTY List

2016 MOTY List

2015 MOTY List

2014 MOTY List

2013 MOTY List

2012 MOTY List

2011 MOTY List

2010 MOTY List

2009 MOTY List

2008 MOTY List

2007 MOTY List

2006 MOTY List

2005 MOTY List

1. Kiyoshi Tamura vs Josh Barnett-U-STYLE 23.11.2005.
2. Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki-NOAH 18.7.2005.
3. Koji Kanemoto vs Yoshihito Sasaki-ZERO-1 10.10.2005.

2004 MOTY List

1. Toshiaki Kawada vs Shinya Hashimoto-AJPW 22.2.2004.
2. Kazuyuki Fujita vs Katsuyori Shibata-NJPW 19.7.2004.
3. Kazuyuki Fujita vs Hiroshi Tanahashi-NJPW 5.6.2004.
4. Kensuke Sasaki vs Yuji Nagata-NJPW 4.1.2004.

2003 MOTY List

2002 MOTY List

2001 MOTY List

2000 MOTY List

1. 1. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama-AJPW 27.2.2000.
   2. Yuki Ishikawa vs Takeshi Ono-Battlarts 18.6.2000.

1999 MOTY List

1998 MOTY List

1997 MOTY List

1996 MOTY List

1995 MOTY List

1994 MOTY List

1993 MOTY List

1992 MOTY List

1991 MOTY List

1990 MOTY List

1. Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara-UWF 25.10.1990.

1989 MOTY List

1988 MOTY List

1987 MOTY List

1986 MOTY List

1985 MOTY List

1984 MOTY List

1. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger-UWF 5.12.1984.

1983 MOTY List

1982 MOTY List

1981 MOTY List

1980 MOTY List

Suwama & Yuji Okabayashi vs Kazuyuki Fujita & Daisuke Sekimoto-Tenryu Project 15.11.2015.

Let me tell you something, I don't care what anyone says, I don't care what the fans in the arena thought, this match ruled, the modern New Japan fans and all the weaklings that have been conditioned to have their wrestling clean can buzz off. Suwama and Fujita have REAL HEAT, and the match begins with a long staredown which feels like something out of those epic Hashimoto matches I rated seventy six stars, the crowd is perplexed that they would do this and of course turns on them but Suwama and Fujita proceed to have out of this world amazing interactions regardless, slapping the shit out of each other, brawling all over the place, legit busting each other open, it's amazing. Okabayashi and Sekimoto have their usual interactions, and I like two big dudes running into each other with shoulder blocks and exchanging a million chops as much as the other guy but the money is in what Suwama and Fujita do. For all the shit Fujita gets he had no problem getting his ass handed to him here as he suffered severeal visual defeats in the end. Sekimoto and Okabayashi are way more interesting when they're pushing people off the apron and fighting in a match with actual heat. Awesome WAR tribute match. Man do I regret not ranking Kazuyuki Fujita. ****1/4

Kazuyuki Fujita vs Sean McCully-NJPW 11.10.1999.

Fun little match in the vein of the faux shoots that started becoming more prominent around the time. McCully didn't do anything of note, lots of kicks and punches that looked ok but were mainly there so Fujita could counter them with takedowns and also picking McCully up in the air like a child and slamming him down. **3/4

Kazuyuki Fujita vs Tatsutoshi Goto-NJPW 4.8.2005.

This was a blast, Goto really took it to Fujita, busting out a bunch of nasty Backdrops together with Lariats and other offence you'd expect from a lumpy old guy who worked WAR. The match was essentially a three minute long finishing stretch, Fujita played FIP for most of the match and couldn't go all out with the violence because of who his opponent (the clubbing blows to the back and stomps don't really suit him) was but he still managed to throw a brutal counter forearm and a Frankensteiner of all things. ***

Kazuyuki Fujita vs Kensuke Sasaki-NJPW 8.10.2001.

Ah, the glorious period of New Japan when wrestlers were forced to shave their heads and wear gloves. It is always interesting to see what conclusions workers came to when doing matches like these. Kensuke's Lariats and Strangle Holds aren't exactly shooty, but they don't feel *that* out of place in these hybrid matches either, and certainly give the match a unique flair. There's a lot of face punching, which is enjoyable on its own but these two find smart ways to incorporate them into transitions as well as make it look like a struggle-you'll see dodging, shoving, blocking and so on. Kensuke's great timing maximized the value of his flash attacks and hearing the echo of the Dome crowd is always a special feeling. Fujita's side mount knees were a nice callback to what he was doing in PRIDE at the time and the TKO finish was worked about as well as it gets. ***1/2

Rush vs LA Park-Elite 14.7.2016.

Well this was something else. I liked them starting the match off with brawling on the ramp as that's something a lot of matches I like do in CMLL but then there was a portion where they kind of, uhm.......just kinda walked around without much intent to hurt each other and it felt like the type of Attitude Era brawls stuff that also had insanely hot crowds but wasn't any good. Then they just started killing each other and I was all in. cubsfan described the weapon thrown as a wooden cooler-which sounds pretty insane but I have no idea what it was so let's run with it. It was nice to see blood in Arena Mexico once again and that, combined with the insane crowd heat really made it feel like a special match. The no-finish actually helped-as fans became furious and started throwing garbage into the ring-only for Rush and Park to continue brawling to even louder reactions. Park being an old fat dude also adds a sense of danger any time he goes for a move like a dropkick or a dive. ****1/4

Roman Reigns vs Samoa Joe-WWE Raw 6.2.2017.

Not seeing the hype on this one. Joe's beatdown was pretty pedestrian, too many shots that obviously missed, Reigns is willing to sell and bump to put someone over but he could only do so much. Transition watch: a Back Elbow from a rope running counter that worked due to the threat of Reigns' Jumping Clothesline (validated by him using it later in the match) and a simple irish whip counter. They did a pretty good job of building up signature spots in a manner that was used to be pretty common a few years ago using delayed gratification (ie. Reigns goes for a Samoan Drop, Joe reverses avoids it, runs the ropes, Reigns goes for the Samoan Drop again, Joe fights off>Reigns puts him down and Uppercuts him, leaving the Samoan Drop for Joe to use as a pop up counter for the Facewash) and that, Reigns' performance in general and a quality distraction finish entertained me well enough. **3/4

Braun Strowman vs Big Show-WWE Raw 20.2.2017.

As I've become gradually more obsessed with wrestling I've gone full circle to getting bored with a lot of it and watching a lot less of it, so I'm more interested in deconstructing the patterns present in certain styles, their merits and how much I can get ouf of them. This match looked unique enough in that the conclusions they'd come to appeared interesting.

The opening matwork was fun, though it's impossible to say for me that seeing GIF of them doing the same on house shows didn't lessen its impact. It's a double edged sword-if you don't practice a spot you might blow it, if you do it's gonna be as big of a deal for at least someone. The use of the irish whips and rope running was good-Show attempted the classic New Japan "hit a move after your opponent runs the ropes" cut off but Strowman avoided that and took him down instead, successfully used running moves and so on. Strowman's control segment was a little disappointing, throwing people around and beating them senseless is what really made me love him and he couldn't really do that against Big Show. The actual transitions were predictable, not to a huge detriment-but when you know a suplex counter is coming or that Big Show's Vader Splash wont' connect it isn't adding to the match. The finisher kick-outs worked in that they were unexpected for the occasion, unforced and added to the atmosphere of the match without going overboard. Strowman laid in some nice shots but I couldn't shake the feeling that even when the ideas were good (like Big Show attempting a desperate Chokeslam before being put away) there was just something a little artifical about it. I'm not sure I buy into the idea the crowd was constantly into it when they would go silent for long stretches before popping for the highspots, though that isn't really that much different than all other WWE wrestling that just has more highspots. **3/4

Kota Ibushi vs Brian Kendrick-WWE CWC 26.8.2016.

Another very good match from the CWC that had many of the qualitites you'd want in a workrate match without going overboard in excess with big moves and nearfalls and managing to have a coherent and logical narrative. Ibush outclasses Kendrick in direct showdowns so Kendrick avoids them, and follows up on his first big chance with the neckbreaker on the ringpost rope by dedicating his game plan to attacking Ibushi's neck. The way Kendrick uses his surroundings at all times was neat and reminiscent of Finlay, and the structure of this match was reminiscent of the kinds of matches Misawa, Kobashi, Takayama, Akiyama etc. would have in NOAH against lower ranked opponents, where they'd throw out everything to try and make you believe they could pull off the upset. They really hit the sweet spot in giving Kendrick enough to produce the drama without it turning into him hitting big move after big move, and I loved the High Kicks Ibushi used to quickly cut him off in the finishing stretch.  ***1/2

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama-AJPW 27.2.2000.

After a rewatch this is a serious best All Japan match ever candidate for me. For example I'd easily have it over the 9.6.1995. tag and Jumbo/Tenryu 1989.


It was structured and worked pretty much flawlessly. Miasawa's early dominance was something to behold-I'm not one to praise the sheer speed one moves at, but watching Misawa go is magical. Akiyama couldn't touch him. I LOVE the overhead camera and here it significantly added to my viewing experience-you could FEEL Akiyama's frustration as Misawa was mauling him with elbows in the corner. Akiyama's first opening came off a Misawa crossbody he countered by smashing his head into the mat. Misawa sells the neck and thus sets the narrative for the match and we go into the first Misawa FIP segment. Misawa's neck selling is absolutely sublime-he walked the line of clueing in everyone he was hurt and not going overboard about as perfectly as one could. Akiyama's attacks are all vicious and directed towards the neck. There's no wasted movement in this match. Not ONE move that doesn't make sense in the context and that doesn't advance their narrative. It's not there. I watched this match many years ago but was uncertain how to rate it, I wasn't certain how to feel about Akiyama's heat segment in particular. This time I think it's pretty clear it was crucial for the match to work as well as it did. If Akiyama just hits a million DDTs and Neckbreakers or whatever when he gets Misawa in the ring the match doesn't work to the extent it did. It gave the crowd a little break, allowed Akiyama to continue his limbwork and gave Misawa a way to make a believable comeback. Misawa's offence is of course breathtaking-and Akiyama Dropkicking him off the top rope was about as perfect of a way to transition into Misawa's second FIP segment as there was. It's something about Akiyama's character I've talked about before-he won't overwhelm others in strike exchanges and dick measuring contests (at least not Misawa/Kobashi/Kawada). He has to think up gameplans and bide his time and take advantage of every opportunity he can. Akiyama's neckwork in the first Misawa FIP section was pretty brutal on its own but it escalates even further here culminating with the disgusting Gotch Style Tombstone that Misawa reacts to with an all time great sell. Of course-since this is a big Misawa match-his comeback comes into play eventually. And boy is it awesome here. He busts out an awesome corner kick neither me nor the commentator ever remember seeing and just stiffs Akiyama on everything he does, including a nose breaking knee drop. There is struggle over all the big moves as there should be-but Misawa is just unstoppable here. And Akiyama starts feeling like an underdog yet again despite putting Misawa through so much. Until.......until one of the best sequences I remember seeing in wrestling-EVER. If you think there's no room for no selling in pro wrestling you're flat out wrong, and I'm not talking about it in something minor either. This match is a perfect example how special no-selling can be when done right. When Misawa blasts Akiyama with that Rolling Elbow you're 100% convinced Akiyama he's done-but then he just wills himself to throw himself at Misawa and hits him with an Exploder and by god you won'tever see a man running portray frustration and aggression like it did here. And then Misawa gets back up. Because of course he does. Maybe Akiyama can't win after all. An elbo-no? Another quick Exploder? Maybe he can do it after all! And then Misawa tries to get up, and I think ok, this is just getting absurd, is he superhuman or what? And they both fall down. I get he watched All Japan when he was a teenager but I wish Sekimoto and his friends wached this sequence over and over again and thought about why it worked. It's about as powerful of a momentum shift as there is. *****

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Masa Kitamiya-NOAH 24.12.2016.

The children of Kensuke Sasaki are keeping the tradition of meathead battles alive. I am so glad that in this age of flash and GIFs someone is doing a Masa Saito tribute gimmick, Kitamiya may not be able to do the Omaga/Okada feats of athleticism and do Moonsaults over the guardrail but he has really good basics. So many wrestlers these days don't know how to stomp, kick a lag or throw a bodyslam, all things Kitamiya is great at. Even his legwork was badass. They built a smart match with a beginning, middle and end and a clear trajectory. If there was a criticism I could point at the match it's that shaving a couple of minutes would've made it even better, because it seemed they could produce something REALLY special and making it more concise would've certainly helped. These two put in great effort, keeping their offence varied and also keeping the viewer on his toes, constantly modifying sequences you thought you'd already know how they'd end. When Kitamiya way about to shoot Nakajima off the ropes Nakajima would pull him back in a Headlock and start really wrenching it, when it seemed Kitamiya was gonna Shoulder Block Nakajima Nakajima kicked him in the head and they built to a shoulder block, making everything feel earned. Kitamiya feels so refreshing, here's a guy who turns a Samoan Drop into a holy shit spot and has all these awesome hulk ups and knows how to get the crowd riled up. It comes as a given they worked incredibly stiff. Nakajima's biggest stregnth may be how great his cut-offs are-he really knows how to time and adapt a kicking variation to best match the moment. ***1/2

Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega-NJPW 4.1.2017.

I've made my peace with what modern New Japan is and try to make use of my time and watch matches with an open mind and distance myself from the hype surrounding them since I'm so apart from the way most people watch these matches that I'd just be a waste of time to get into useless arguments. I enjoyed the match-about as much as I could without getting emotionally invested in it whatsoever. To say they did nothing for the first 20/30 minute or so would just be wrong-they did a lot of stuff. There was some teasing of the big moves that would come latear, a perfectly logical thing to do when you're working such a long match, and there were some big spots. What they cared about was those big spots. Inbetween it felt like they were just kicking things off a bucket list-ok, we do the headlock now, now the armdrags, now we're gonna go outside....and so on. They went through a lot of stuff without giving any of it meaning or establishing any sort of narrative. And I'm the last person to cry about "storytelling" in pro wrestling but if you're working a match this long there should at least be a focus. I didn't see any in this match. You could probably make up one about limbwork but the reality is that it just happens 80/90% of wrestling moves are done on the head/neck and back. The true focus of the match was the drama and the physicality of it. And, maybe if I were watching it live, without thinking about wrestling critically, I would've loved the match a lot more. But that's not where I am as a fan, and even just watching it the first time it was clear to me this match wouldn't have the staying power that I look for these days. The six star rating reminded me of the Ibushi/Omega match at the Budokan and how someone said something along the lines of it reaching " a new standard in workrate". I like that match a lot more because it was straightforward in what it was and didn't take almost 50 minutes. I also found the spots a lot more impressive and memorable. There was really nothing innovative or never seen before in this match-I've seen top rope Dragon Suplexes before, I've seen dumb table spots before, every New Japan match these days is built around finishing countering and selective selling. I understand why people think it's the greatest match of all time, because it embodies everything modern New Japan style is, and it was longer and featured more of the elements that people enjoy in it than any New Japan match since the style changed in 2012. Personally I can't say it really connects to what I want out of wrestling or that it even impressed me as a piece of art I might not personally favour but recognize as a peak of this dedication to recklessness and craziness. Not when you have Omega throwing himself from the second rope, rolling backwards and sprinting up, or him and Okada dancing through a German Suplex. Not when you have a million basic strikes inbetween all of those spots that look eye rolling. Not when Okada's big submission looks like a man in a midlife crisis in his first kung fu practice. I commend them for managing to have a match that garnered such buzz and discussion, but as someone familiar with the patterns that sees the important thing here is what works in the moment I give this ***. There were a lot of moments and I like my moments to sink in and be parts of significant control shifts in the match and so on. They have a different vision, that's fine, like what you like.

Vader vs Jun Akiyama-AJPW 23.1.2000.

I think the biggest problem of the match was its length and how it was structured. It was too long to be worked as a sprint but with how these two were in 2000 it was unlikely they were gong to have a classic structure. So you end up with them meeting in the middle, and Akiyama really takes it to Vader in the beginning, almost shockingly so, completely dominating that portion of the match. And with how Akiyama was positioned it makes sense that they'd showcase him like that, but as Akiyama was doing German Suplexes in the first minutes of the match you can't scale back, and Vader had to get his heat back after Akiyama's shine. So you get a long Vader control segment with a lot of offence but not a lot of urgency, the crowd can clearly tell there's no way they're gonna go the finish and that's after you've had Vader Chokeslam Akiyama on a table and Powerbomb him on the floor. There was really nowhere left for them to go-with what they chose this was probably as well as they could've done, but they made a grave mistake and you could tell that by the crowd reactions. Vader's and Akiyama's offence as well as some of the ideas they came up like Akiyama getting a Dropkick in but Vader quickly cutting him off with an Elbow Drop since Akiyama was still laying, the build to the Exploder, Vader adapting the Chokeslam cover after Akiyama countered that with an Armbar etc. were enough to make it very good, but it didn't manage to go beyond that. ***1/2

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka-RINGS 23.1.1999.

One of the talking points on this board I've found eye-rolling has been OJ's that UWFi was "fake" shoot style and RINGS was the real deal. He has his stylistic preferences and maybe he just deems the RINGS crew better workers, but until the Vader/New Japan stuff kicked in the RINGS stuff is every bit as if not more flashy than UWFi. You see it in the way they built drama, the use of rope breaks, knock downs, numbers of convoluted submissions used in matches and ways they're set up and so forth. I mean Volk Han matches are awesome but they're not how real combat looks. This felt like the match from the RINGS OJ was talking about. I've laid out my suspicions on some of Tamura's MMA matches being works or at least having worked elements (the RIZIN tag and his fight vs Hideo Tokoro) but this is really a match that should at least be properly discussed and remembered. A very sophisticated attempt at using all the new knowledge they'd acquired at the time in how real fighting works and using that to try and con people into making them think what they are watching is real but still allowing them to manipulate their emotions. So yeah-pro wrestling, but at a level unseen anywhere else. Most of the match is almost completely devoid of drama-the focus is on on how they defend against submissions and get into positions for them as much as it is on the techniques themselves. The pace and the disposition of the action mimick a fight very well and they walk the line of not doing stuff that would make it look fake and doing enough stuff to keep you both invested and entertained perfectly. Tamura's flurry ruled, and Kohsaka's selling was more reminiscent of a boxer going down from a body blow than Volk Han doing the same thing. The finish fascinates with its simplicity-it may be the greatest comeback I've ever seen in a wrestling match. The reaction it garnered was amazing, as was the execution of the whole thing. I can see some stuff here being a little hard to get into for people who aren't big on real grappling but the finish is something that I can't see not universally resonating with fans of pro wrestling. ****3/4

Tetsuya Naito vs Hiroshi Tanahashi-NJPW 4.1.2017.

The thing about the rope running counters are that they aren't inherently bad-they worked great in 80s/90s All Japan-but you need moves and peril behind them. Naito and Tanahashi did have them-Naito in the Running Low Dropkicks and the Flying Elbow, Tanahashi in the Slingblade. But they opted to not use them for dramatic purposes, and that and the lack of big moves and spamming nearfalls is what made me go "that's it?" when the match ended. I realise these two are never going to do it for some people since they're Keiji Mutoh fanboys and their offence is juniorish in a way some dislike, but I think they structured a very good match that combined the best elements of the matches they worked back in 2010/2011 and the matches they worked now and recently. Tanahashi's character is one who often tries to match his opponents, which is one of the biggest reasons I disliked their 2015 G1 match a lot. It's much more interesting when one is reacting to Naito's character, but one also has to actually have a character to be able to do that. That Tanahashi didn't mimick Naito at all made his taunt after he laid him out at ringside mean much more as you could hear in the pop it got. Naito's character allowed him to to keep his legwork interesting by constantly finding ways to make basic spots fresh and varied-him directing Tanahashi's leg at the referee and using that split second to quickly quick it was brilliant, and I loved the desperate rope pull he did that prevented Tanahashi from hitting the High Fly Flow. Naito's Bridging German where his leg gave out at first but he used his other leg to kick himself back up and hold Tanahashi for the count was a neat detail and something that fits into how they treat limbwork very well. Them exchanging low kicks did look weak but outside of that they handled the mirroring spots surprisingly well. Not the match I'd have expected to most differ from New Japan conventions but I'm glad it did. ***1/2

Katsuyori Shibata vs Hirooki Goto-NJPW 4.1.2017.

I was excited to hear this was worked differently than their usual matches but after watching it I don't think that was such a good idea after all. In the typical Shibata/Goto match you'd get 1-2 no-sell sequences, usually one in the middle of a match and one to tease a double KO since that's how one of their matches finished, but here it was just non-stop. I quite liked the opening and how Shibata dominated, his headlock escape was lovely, but the terrible no-sell sequence in which Goto came back to control turned me off big time (seriously. he didn't even bother selling Shibata's corners Forearms by falling down to convince you Shibata could hit his corner dropkick, which in turn also made Shibata look stupid for running to the other corner instead of hitting Goto some more). They play to the worst and most predictable tendencies of the modern New Japan style  that I've brought up a million times before (rope running when there's no move to be hit just to eat a move, questionable selling where counters delete all damage previously accumulated-unless of course you're doing a sequence or hit your finisher too early; then both wrestlers fall down). I enjoyed Shibata's offence as I always do, but Goto's was just terrible here as it always is, his Headbutts aren't really shoot headbutts, they can make impact but Goto's really hitting the chest/shoulders of his opponent and it's the sudden surprise of them that makes them work. When he's doing a flurry of those headbutts it looks really ridiculous, someone like Makabe would be dragged endlessly on all the hip social media if he were to do the same thing. Not a fan of all the backbreakers/neckbreakers that rely on him driving the opponent on his knee either, they look like he'd have to botch them for them to hit clean. I'd say your enjoyment of this depends on how much you like/tolerate modern New Japan cliches but that's where ratings for the match have quite surprised me. Maybe it sounds like I'm super negative on this but it's easier for me to write about things I think are bad than it is to write about five sentences about how Shibata hits hard, and I don't think the match had much other going for it. **3/4

Kensuke Sasaki vs Naoya Ogawa-NJPW 4.1.2002.

I've seen a lot of Inokiism stuff, some of it it good, some of it is weird, inexplicable and beyond ratings, I fully expected this to be chaotic and unconventional but the match ended up being absolutely amazing as well. The first thing that came to mind with the length is the Ikeda-Ono match, but this one is just better and I don't think it's close even. Saying this would be hailed as a MOTYC by the crew that pimps Futen and Battlarts if it had happened that would almost be instinctive but also undermine everything this match was. It was more than that. It was a pastiche of the Futen violence, the morality, stable wars and art of the no finish (best showcased in the 80s wrestling everyone loves so much) and real life politics blurring the line between reality and pre-determination. If you haven't seen it I urge you to watch the match with an open mind. If you have, I'd urge you to rewatch it since 2002 was a long time ago, you're distanced from the impact of the match on the business side of things now, and also your taste has probably changed, I don't think I've seen a single person talk about this *match* since I started discussing prowres online, so it's not exactly like it's been mandatory watching for now. The rest of the review includes spoilers and I think it's better to watch it without reading them, but suit yourself.



When Kensuke knocked Ogawa in the beginning of the match it was not only a wonderful moment of violence, but also incredibly symbolic. We had seen Ogawa in positions of peril-but it was the first time someone had done something so shocking and so direct as to just smack him and start mounting on him. It was a true moment of peril-one after which it only made sense his stablemates would run into the ring. That and it was before the bell making it illegal. The next couple of minutes are as tense as any match I've ever seen, and really sophisitcated and simulatenously barbaric. The violence of a takedown, a throw, a punch and a kick are all well known, but displaying that well in a worked environment can be tricky and they absolutely nailed it. I remember hearing Jim Cornette saying something about how a criteria for a perfect match included everyone believing it was real-which sounded silly coming from him-but I don't think there's a match that's as good at that as this one that didn't turn into a real fight. And when Ogawa started shoot kicking Kensuke you even start questioning that-the images of the 1999 incident are just too visceral to ever be forgotten. But here Kensuke recovers, and goes after Ogawa, and hits him and throws him and makes him retreat, which is analogous to a count out victory over Andre, even if the scoreboard may have had it as a no contest. ****1/2

Kazunari Murakami vs Yuji Nagata-NJPW 4.1.2006.

This would've been a great match if Nagata was as good as Murakami. The opening was sketchy as that was where Nagata had his shine, and it had him do weird slap-claps on Murakami's back, bad looking worked spots and just generally offence that would look bad for a house show tag, let alone a big Dome match, and his timing in general seemed off. Then we get to the meat of the match, which is Murakami's beatdown, and it rules every bit as much as you'd hope, he beats the hell out of Nagata with all sorts of awesome punching and kicking variations, awesome throws and so on. May not be the best one he's ever done, but still totally badass. Then it's time for Nagata's revenge and he amps up the violence, laying in some nice kicks, but it's clear his ideas on how to project violence without actually hitting someone aren't nearly as good as Murakami's, he can throw a good kick, and he can even throw a good knee once in a while, but when he's forced to rely on them too much he wasn't able to maintain that level of believability for long,  when he was on the outside throwing knees that Murakami bladed for they looked quite good, but by the time he went for them again in the ring they'd already started looking head scratching. His headbutts were just disappointing, the idea of him throwing headbutts so the blood spills from Murakami's forehead to his was cool, but the actual headbutts weren't very good looking, someone like Akiyama can make headbutting his own hand look way more violent than Nagata does actually connecting with the move (maybe that's the problem-if you connect you need to go all the way ala Ikeda/Ono while working allows more room for misdirecting the viewer). I did like the finish a lot-Murakami continuing to get up despite beating to a pulp was something resembling a movie more than a wrestling match, maybe it's just that his facial expressions are so big and memorable that one can't help think he'd make a great villain, it was quite well done, Murakami's last flurry of throwing desperation shots looked exactly like he was gassed/spent, and when he went for a throw Nagata easily countered it with a Backdrop. I also enjoyed how the crowd bit on the penalty kick as a nearfall because they'd teased it in the beginning and they were conditioned to matches ending at any time because of Inoki's insanity, and the post-match brawl was lovely, I almost expected them to shake hands or show some kind of respect when they kneeled in front of each other but instead they just slapped the taste out of each other's mouths and it turned into a gang war. Not on the level of their 2002 classic but still very much worth watching. ***3/4

Minoru Tanaka vs Naoki Sano-Battlarts 30.1.2000.

Very interesting match, particularly because the weird shooty junior style it's worked in doesn't exist anymore. The first half of so had the kind of unique matwork you could only see in Battlarts, where they'd work the counters and the flow of it like it was a lucha match but use holds that were either straight out of RINGS or a 1978 Fujinami match. That portion of the match was a little disappointing, since there wasn't really much struggle out urgence in it. A lot of ideas of used here could've turned out great, but it did feel a little exhibitiony. Maybe it's the fact that the 2/3 falls lucha structure allowed something like Atlantis-Panther to essentially work a 20 minute match where holds don't lose meaning because there's never a portion of the match in where they're doing matwork that couldn't lead to a finish, maybe it's that some of the shooty holds here weren't fit for this type of use. Maybe they could've just executed it better. As it was I don't think it's much different than the million other mmatches where the opening is slower and means less and then the second half is bigger and more exciting, and the matwork at least kept my attention. They did work an exciting fiishing stretch-getting the most out of simple cradles, building up Tanaka's Armbar and milking every properly locked in hold as much as they could without slowing the match down and keeping the pace they established. ***1/4

Daisuke Ikeda vs Mitsuya Nagai-Battlarts 30.1.2000.

You'd think I'd be the biggest supporter of a Battlarts match but I was slightly disappointed by this, I like Nagai as I do pretty much every RINGS alumni but he is more of a guy Volk Han had a great match with than a great Volk Han opponent and him dominating Ikeda so much was not exactly the ideal way to lay this out. I didn't really buy into his submissions (neither did the crowd), his knee strikes looked weak and he seemed lost at times (like when clearly evaded an Ikeda high kick but sold it like it hit clear and when he awkwardly pushed Ikeda around the ring and hit him with a weak throw). His kicks were fine but he lacked the presence to really make the most out of the structure, he hit some nice spots like the Powerbomb>Leglock combo and chanelling Maeda and Sayama but nothing that would really make me think more of him as a worker or a potential star. Maybe the "Nagai was ahead on points" narrative would have connected to me if Battlarts actualy had a point system . It's a little harder to react that way when I've seen Ikeda come back from some downright insane beatings, this was not one of them. ***1/4

Kota Ibushi vs TJ Perkins-WWE CWC 14.9.2016.

Early on Perkins avoided Ibushi's kicks by checking them, countering them with a Dragon Screw and so on, did a lot of matwork, really leaving an impression he had come prepared to face Ibushi, as in Ibushi's last two matches were him just surviving insane bomb throwing. But with them showcasing Ibushi as the favourite to win the tournament, it'd only make sense that it almost didn't matter if Perkins did all that and went to the trouble of cutting off Ibushi's dive, Ibushi was gonna get it in anyway. Whereas that dive cut-off felt like a big- elaborate counter-move from Perkins Ibushi doing something like staying on the apron and hitting a Springboard Dropkick after Perkins had tried to set-up a dive with his rope trick looked like it just naturally came to him. The context really makes the finishing stretch work-it would seem bloated and cliche that was how they'd worked every match. But even in the last two big Ibushi matches the big nearfalls were based on novelty and them doing a good job of setting them up and not so much, well, *really* buying into that they were going to end the match. And that was the case here. It didn't matter how the Sitout Last Ride was used in the rest of Ibushi's career, in this tournament it was a killshot, and this match was the pay-off that they could have and did afford due to the uniqueness of the tournament. And for Perkins to beat Ibushi at his own game it would take a bunch of bombs of his own, and hitting his biggest bomb over and over again and modifying it and boy did they ever accomplish everything this match could've and should've been. ****

Yuki Ishikawa vs Takeshi Ono-Battlarts 18.6.2000.

Ono was just unreal here. He's wearing gloves, but MMA type ones and not the boxing ones I'm used to seeing him wear, but he throws all the boxing combinations you loved his 2010 run for as well as all the junior flash submissions you could think of. It was like watching a combination of 2010 Ono and the world's greatest Ikuto Hidaka, a really remarkable performance. Of course Ishikawa is no slouch either, his stiffness and high level matwork added to the match as much as you'd expect but this was more of an Ono showcase. There was no wasted motion, the match pretty much started with a nearfall in Ishikawa catching an Ono takedown attempt into a Guillotine, and from there on it was just non stop smashmouth action. Ono hit a quick head kick combo to pay him back and then dramatically threw himself on the floor to recuperate which was a great spot, melodrama isn't exactly the first thing associated with Battlarts but in a small dose it can work great. ****1/4

Jushin Liger vs Koji Kanemoto-NJPW 4.1.2000.

I would probably Liger a lot more if his work connected with me in a way that made me perceive it as more violent. I'm a completely unapologetic lover of Battlarts over the top stiffness, but I love Kanemoto matches just as much, and he doesn't take any shots that make you question the safety of his work, but still resonate as badass and violent. The Liger I want to see sometimes crawls through when he's faced with young lions, working opposite Sano or on an JIP against Kengo Kimura from 1996 where, I have no godly idea why he decided to so thoroughly beat the shit out of Kimura but boy did he ever.

This is usually a match up that one would associate with overblown junior wrestling, lots of highspots and nearfalls and all that but the moments where they worked it evenly really made it seem like they could've had a great brawl. As for what it was, Liger had some nice moments of violence in the beginning, but for a match where 95% of his move-set was made of slaps he didn't really give an impression he had mastered slaps as much as you'd get from say chops in a Kobashi match. Asking how stiff should something be worked may be a slippery slop but the violence of most of Liger's offence didn't quite live up to what you'd ideally want out a match structured like this, especially when he *did* lay his shots in at times, making the contrast that much more obvious. Kinda like how Lesnar shoot slapping Reigns at Wrestlemania was a great moment but only made him throwing worked slaps a minute after that much more eye rolling. A fun little match nonetheless. **3/4

John Cena vs AJ Styles-WWE Royal Rumble 2017

This definitely wasn't a PWG stlye match. The beginning of the match was worked at a very slow pace with them taking bumps for weak strikes. You don't have 50 thousand fans going insane before the match starts at PWG either, so no need for that portion where you calm them down. And once they started with the workrate they did plenty of selling and didn't just move from move to move, and that there were touches like Styles doing so much cool kicking offence and Cena busting out Lariats and his most ridiculous Prototype facial expressions are probably what made me enjoy it more than their Summerslam match. It was a match very much built around the workrate, and they did have some nice build around their signature spots when they started with it (the Frankensteiner counter to the Backdrop Suplex was neat), but after a while I just began to wonder whether all of the Cena matches from 2011-2013 would really hold up. The submission countering can be interesting to see what stuff they come up with, but for a match really aiming at that excitement and flash it's completely devoid of drama, Cena hasn't been nearly as graceful in his finisher becoming less efficient as Choshu, Misawa and many others have where they'd adapt to it by treating it differently, coming up with other moves and so on. IDK, I hardly see greatness in Cena sloppily hitting dumb Electric Chairs and indy spots. Stlyes' offence wasn't any different either, nothing carried the sense of actually being a threat to ending the match. ***

Antonio Inoki vs David Schultz-WWF 28.12.1984.

Schultz is the guy that slaped a reporter once right? Seems fitting he'd be challenging Inoki for the World's Martial Arts title. This was fun-Schultz controlled the match with basic holds but Inoki's comebacks were really good-he went after Schultz with nice slaps and awesome looking punches. Schultz also executed a Suplex by dropping Inoki more on his head/neck which was....not exactly what I excpected out of 1984 WWF. **3/4

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger-UWF 5.12.1984.

This is my favourite Fujiwara/Super Tiger match. They work it with Fujiwara having the upper hand on the mat and Tiger being the dominant striker but the gaps aren't huge and both can hang and fire back in both departments. Fujiwara is awesome here, busting out awesome takedowns, countering Tiger's strikes, reversing his holds on the mat etc. but he also has all time great punches and just rocks Tiger with them when they're standing. There's a really great moment when Fujiwara starts choking Super Tiger with a Sleeper and Sayama sells it with this disgusting cough. Finishing stretch is just unreal with Sayama killing Fujiwara with brutal kicks seemingly forever and his knee drop is also up there with the best there have ever been. Fujiwara is the master at blocking kicks and reversing everything so you can buy he could come back at any time but Sayama just keeps on kicking him in the head and destroying him and it's this super dramatic struggle and then one time when Fujiwara finally gets a comeback in he gets cocky and throws a headbutt that knocks HIM down. That spot played up so many things, from Fujiwara's arrogance to the damage of Sayama's offence neutralizing a spot that I don't think had ever been neutralized before. And he just keeps on killing him and pretty much invents the shoot style KO/TKO finish in the process.*****

Toshiaki Kawada vs Shinya Hashimoto-AJPW 22.2.2004.

Hashimoto, the previous champion, challenges Kawada to take back the Triple Crown Championship he'd never lost. Hashimoto had to vacate the title after a shoulder injury. This was actually one of the first Hashimoto matches I'd ever seen. When I watched it I thought it was a great match, but I watched it in a vacuum, not understanding all the nuances and psychology that were present in this match, and also with a much different mindset than the one I currently have (All Japan is the best wrestling ever, Marufuji is the best, more apron moves please). I thought it was a great match because they hit each other hard. But that's kind of omnipresent in every Hashimoto and Kawada match. This isn't worked like any other Hashimoto match and definitely not like any other Kawada match. I swear this was going to be at least **** for me for the entrances alone. Man Hashimoto just looks so cool. He comes out and he has the flashy jacket and the bandana and the crowd is losing their shit and I'm losing my shit and Hashimoto just carries himself like this is the most important thing we are ever going to witness. Then Kawada comes out and he's got the flashy robe and the cool belts and the crowd is going wild once again. Man the feeling out process in this one was super great. Just them stretching and staring at each other manages to be incredibly captivating and super awesome. First bigger thing Hashimoto does in this one is a Hane Goshi and it's hard to describe just how much the beauty of the technique resonated with me. That's one of the biggest strenghts of this match-every transition managed to look great, feel great and make sense in the context of the match. They go the strike exhanging and Hashimoto hits Kawada so hard he starts bleeding from his ear. That's right. I've seen a lot of fucked up things in professional wrestling, whether they be in FUTEN folks punching each other as hard as humanly possible or various deathmatch stuff but I don't ever remember feeling as horrified as I did once it hit me what had just transpired. They engage in a kick battle which you would want from famed kickers and the commentators bring up their fighting backgrounds and how that affects their kicking technique. Man this match rules so much. Hashimoto's karate proves to be stronger than whatever the hell Kawada did. That might have been the best Suimengiri he had ever done. Hashimoto attacks Kawada's leg and the commentators bring up Hashimoto submitting Kawada in a big tag match with a Kneebar which I'd kind of forgotten about despite watching the mentioned tag match. Kawada attacks Hashimoto's injured shoulder in return. That is such an important part of what makes this match work, tapped up shoulder Hashimoto is an amazing character, a couple of months beforehand he had a match vs. Ohtani that featured one of the most unique finishes in wrestling history and it really adds a lot to this match because there's a feeling Hashimoto could fall apart at any given moment. Hashimoto makes sure to beat the shit out of Kawada's leg enough to make you feel the same way about him as well. Kawada initially tries to fire back by using the same leg Hashimoto had started attacking but Hashimoto (no)sells them perfectly as Kawada was throwing them both with a weakened limb and from a really terrible position. Hashimoto did register the kicks Kawada threw with his left leg. Of course-kicks are too big of a part of Kawada's offence for him to give up on them entirely, but despite hitting them he always sells sells the pain while setting the move up and after hitting it, in a way most wrestlers who "fight through pain" simply don't. There's a pretty great moment where Hashimoto goes for another Hane Goshi and there's a struggle over whether he's going to throw Kawada or Kawada is going to throw him by countering it with a Backdrop Suplex (like in that awesome Kawada-Naoya Ogawa match) and despite managing to throw Hashimoto he doesn't really do it with the force he usually would due to his leg giving out. There's a lot of drama over whether or not they are going to be able to execute a certain move due to the damage their injured limbs have suffered which is constantly played up, especially in the final strike exchange. Finish is about as fitting as it couldv've been. This was fucking amazing. I wanted more though which is how I don't feel about the Hashimoto matches I've rated as perfect. Maybe I will improve its rating after another rewatch. ****3/4

Kazuyuki Fujita vs Katsuyori Shibata-NJPW 19.7.2004.

Calling this match shoot style or just shoot inspired might be the easiest way to get it over it but it would provide a shallow and historically inaccurate description. Shoot style was the creation of 1984 and 1988. New Japan continued to have its own style that would come in contact with the shootiness, but really started seriously flirting with it when they had the UWFi feud and then started bringing in Naoya Ogawa, Don Frye and so on. It peaked in the early 2000s as that was the peak of both PRIDE and Inoki's insanity, and you can see it in this match. It doesn't feel like UWF or RINGS or UWFi or PWFG. There's a distinct flair and style in this match-one that has maximized many of the elements of New Japan training Maeda used when creating the original style, but they also appropriate many of the elements used in modern combat fighting of the times such as soccer knees, knees on the ground etc. I know many aren't really fans of it, and politics and workers that couldn't thrive in the style could detract from it, but as far as looking for a good example of it being done right this might be your best bet. The brutality is just off the charts, but watching them fight for guard positions and takedowns and seeing how they set up the big spots is just as interesting. Shibata soccer kicking Fujita right in the eye is up there with the most brutal spots in wrestling history and you get a bunch of zoom ins at Fujita's swelling too. There was something chilling about the whole thing that's hard to put into words, during his entrance Shibata just completely covered his face with the towel and he ended it laying on the mat looking lifeless, as if he was a young lion going to a battle he wasn't ready for. ****1/2

Minoru Suzuki vs KENTA-NOAH 27.8.2005.

KENTA attacking Suzuki before the bell here was very well done, he just dashed at him and booted him in the head, and Suzuki's towel blocking his vision made for a great detail. KENTA brought great fire and his offence was as crisp as I remembered it to be. I loved the transitions Suzuki would use-the Front Necklock/Guillotine where he left KENTA hanging in particular was a fascinating visual, and he was at home when it was time to stretch KENTA, but I wasn't in love with the portions in the match where in the middle where he was outstriking KENTA. Due to their difference in stature KENTA had to sell really big for Suzuki and he did, but Suzuki isn't big enough and didn't hit hard enough that it'd make those long moments of selling after every strike fitting. The match went into another gear when they moved onto the finishing stretch and started working more evenly, Suzuki's Leglock counters were awesome as was him busting out a Giant Swing out of Half Crab and they smoothly worked them into the match since KENTA has enough kicking offence he doesn't have to to pointless rope running of doom with no moves being attempted in them, and the final slap battle was perfectly done with Suzuki evading KENTA's strikes and gaining a bigger and bigger advantage until finally just nuking him and putting him away. ***1/4

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto-RINGS 24.6.1999.

This has dethroned Takada-Koshinaka 5.8.1986. as my best match of all time, which is honestly something I never expected to happen. I still kind of wish Takada/Koshinaka was my #1. I certainly think it is the most ambitious and fascinating pro wrestling match ever. And it's the one match that I thought could have reached pro wrestling perfection. I did think it had some flaws (I didn't like a revenge tombstone and it had a blown spot or two too many). Still the way they seamlessly transitioned from using shoot style to junior to classic wrestling stuff is just unreal.

This match wasn't as ambitious. It just happened to be the perfect shoot style match. And shoot style is my favourite pro wrestling style, and Tamura is the wrestler who best encompasses what I want out of shoot style. This is his masterpiece.

It's hard to put the beauty of some of the grappling sequences into words. Does "the best stuff ever done in wrestling" sound like a good enough visual image? If there's one thing I dislike about RINGS it's that I feel they sometimes used rope breaks as a cheap way to generate heat and kick things into another gear. That's pretty much everything Tamura stands against as a wrestling character. He refuses to use rope breaks unless he is in mortal danger. He's always looking for a counter to a submission. Maybe it's his supposed inferiority complex, maybe it's his insane drive to be the best-it doesn't really matter one way or the other. I love the way this match progressed. The insanely hot crowd chanting both fighter's names before the beginning of the match is the kind of stuff that instantly slaps you in the face. That something so simple could add to the match so much. There's no wasted movement, no down time-it's not 20 minutes of nearfalls, but it is constant action. Not constant highspots even. But they're always looking for an opening. Always looking for a transition. There are several moments in the middle of the match where they tease you with a bigger submission nearfall only to counter of it. And the match builds and builds and then it just explodes into the most dramatic best thing to ever happen. Tamura and Yamamoto put on a clinic in selling fatigue-and even in the amazing final battle manage to throw in neat touches playing up to Tamura's character. Despite always being a wrestler who insisted on winning using his ground skills Tamura throws that all out of the water and dares Yamamoto to get up and continue their striking battle. It's an all time great moment based on his performance in the match and execution alone but the backstory adds to it as well. And when it's becoming obvious neither of them are going to prevail he shoots for a takedown right at the end to try to win, which may be the ultimate Tamura moment. *****

Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara-UWF 25.10.1990.

A classic and a truly fascinating match, especially if you take their february match into account. Fujiwara comes out swinging early which sets the pace of the match-he rocks Takada with brutal punches and headbutts and establishes dominance early on. Takada is extremely cautious in his attacks against him having already been reversed in their february bout. The majority of the knockdowns don't really serve as nearfalls, rather their point is to establish who is in control off the match and set the stage for the finish. The exception to this is the last time Takada is knocked down as he falls down before just making it to his feet at the last second. That moment completely changes the atmosphere kicks off the finishing run. Takada's selling is crucial to the match quality-the way he wobbles after Fujiwara's Leglock and slowly falls down after a standing knock down in the corner keeps the crowd on their toes. Fujiwara's downfall is his character-whenever he goes for his usual quirks it costs him. Him laughing about finally getting Takada in a dangerous Leglock allowed Takada to counter it by palm striking the shit out of him and thus gaining one of his first openings in the match. Takada's strategy is to kick through Fujiwara-and he varies his kicks and strikes a lot due to Fujiwara's amazing defence. If he kicks too high too early he'll get reversed and leglocked. If he doesn't time a low kick well it's getting checked. That creates and unparalleled sense of struggle giving everything that happens importance, and the action itself is just epic-Takada kicking Fujiwara in the face is an amazing spot on its own but context allows it to truly bloom. *****

Beth Phoenix vs Melina (WWE Royal Rumble 2009)

I watched this match because of a GIF. I vaguely remember this stuff, but the aesthetic of Melina's red carpet entrance, some weird Beth-Santino storyline and Lawler commentating it all in the manner of a 2009 diva match ended up being quite the trip. It was six minutes long, and I like short matches, so maybe my next endeavor could be revisiting the divas division before giving up matches in and then not watching wrestling for a month. A lot of the moves they do don't look polished, but it doesn't matter that much. Many of the men in WWE have had shitty strikes as well and have been given a pass, they're just quick transitions, it doesn't matter much in the WWE style. The lay-out was really interesting-you had Phoenix dominating by outpowering Melina and recklessly throwing her around, maybe she's actually the divas version of Rick Steiner. Melina's comebacks were brief and included doing really wacky springboard axe quicks, roll-ups and a La Mistica, I loved just how ridiculous the whole thing was and the finishing stretch was chaotic, some might be botehred that there are times where you're not sure what's exactly happening and the correct person is registering pain after a botch, but it has a certain charm when you know the match isn't going long and every move could legitimately end the match. And the aforementioned GIF included Phoenix holding Melina in a Stretch Muffler and kicking Melina in the head with Melina's own leg and yeah that spot ruled. Fun match. ***

Volk Han vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto-RINGS 24.1.1994.

What I'll remember this match for most is probably Yamamoto's second and how his advice lined up with the action. He yelled at Yamamoto to attack the body for a minute and then when Yamamoto finally did so he started celebrating, it was quite the endearing moment. When Yamamoto had control the second would yell at him to watch out, yell at him if he thought a move was coming and so on, and it lead to several cool moments, Yamamoto would get control of Han, and cautiously avoid his counters, but when he'd go for a hold himself (the wesome Reverse STF particularly stood out) he'd often get countered. Yamamoto is polished both standing and on the ground but wherever the fight went it didn't feel like there was a chance for him, he played the roled of the fired up youngster well, but this was more about Han and his awesome highspots, with him kicking away at Yamamoto's hands to break his grip and dragging him across the ring as a bonus. ***1/2

Volk Han vs Nikolai Zouev-RINGS 18.11.1993.

I've said before that one of the difficulties I've had in my wrestling fandom was properly analyzing shoot style and lucha matches that consisted mostly of matwork, as the beauty of the great stuff seemed so evident I wouldn't even know where to start. Looking at it now it's obvious I just wasn't good enough at noticing the patterns of the matches and expressing my thoughts on them. RINGS, and Volk Han matches especially tend to be very reactionary. Watching a Volk Han match is akin to watching Seinfeld-it works perfectly in a vacuum. Sure, occasionally there will be some references to what happened previously, but that's really not the main point. The style is action packed, and honestly if someone were to accuse them of just spamming nearfalls I wouldn't even try to argue against it. In this match it's basically what they do the entire time. Experienced RINGS viewers will notice that despite the conditioned crowd reacting to everything loudly there are distinctive elements to finishes and potential finishes and that is something that you really won't see abused and overused, quite the opposite actually. The big spots often look like they could finish the match but a few seconds later you see the wrestlers change positions hinting that an escape or a counter is coming. The finish here plays off the established structure of match finishes neatly, as you get a brief moment of absolute peril, where an ending seems imminent, a breif attempt to reach the ropes and then the tap out. It works, it's beautiful, and it feeds on the established formula instead of letting it destroy the match and suck all of the excitement out of it. How many times have you seen wrestlers in WWE and New Japan dramatically crawl to the ropes before grabbing them? Too many. I don't find that spot exciting or interesting, I know how it's going to end because the result is the same in 99% of cases. If there is going to actually be a tap out in WWE or NJPW it isn't goint to come after dramatic rope crawling, it's going to come two to five seconds after the hold gets locked in. The rope crawling spot could be this huge, dramatic exciting spot if the percentages of the times it gets the tap out was higher. Back to the match-Zouev may be my second favourite russian from RINGs, but I also remember taking him a while to really *get it*. He seemed outclassed here, especially in striking-Han brought awesome knee strikes, slaps and punches and Zouev's stand up attempts were just there. He did have some strong selling moments, like the over the top selling of Han's knee strike and doing a forward roll to escape Han's standing double wristlock. I had wondered how people bought matches that had so many highspots and ridiculous armdrags as being so realistic, but then I realised Aikido is a thing, watched some old propaganda Judo clips, remembered how great japanese people can be at bullshitting things and suddenly it made perfect sense. The creativity of Han and his ability to come up with so many situations of danger and transition to the next one so quickly is unmatchable-though I don't think it quite makes for my favourite shoot style. ***1/2

Braun Strowman vs Sami Zayn-WWE Raw 2.1.2017.

The Zayn that sells is much more interesting than the Zayn that does Half Nelson Chickenwing Suplexes and Michinoku Drivers, his grin before the match when Strowman's music was such a nice touch, Kevin Dunn did well. Strong performances by both men, Strowman's feats of strength were unique, looked great and Zayn bumped great for them, while the DDT counter was hardly the most original spot it was definitely well done as Braun just annihilated Zayn with a Forearm. The match had its limitations due to them adhering to a formula of "Braun dominates-Zayn reaches for a weapon-Braun fights off-repeat" in building the body of the match but it did play to both of their strengths and was definitely a step in the right direction. ***1/4

Braun Strowman vs Mark Henry-WWE Raw 13.2.2017.

Really fun and concise hoss battle with them smartly using the 5 minutes they had. I'm not the biggest proponent of sound effect strikes but they can work just like anything else and Strowman's were similar to Reigns' and Harper's who do them well too, the WSS weight shift was a smart counter you don't see often since there aren't a lot of wrestlers bigger than Henry that'd make that spot make sense. Henry catchin Strowman's arm when he went for the clubbing blow is something I could see annoying an all knowing WWE binge watcher if the "go for the move again once you've executed it correctly only to get it countered" pattern is super prominent in WWE (I'm not convinced of that, I think they vary things enough to that it isn't really an issue in general, only when someone telegraphs it) but Henry made it look so cool by milking the arm catch and following it up with a great fired up comeback. ***

AJ Styles vs Randy Orton-WWE Smackdown 7.3.2017.

Just looking at the transitions WWE style looks way more sophisticated than it's usually given credit. Doing limbwork is one of the first ideas that comes to mind when wrestles think of ways to fill their control segments, and while AJ's bumping may be strong enough that he can turn an irish whip into a corner into a believable beginning of a back work Orton in control feels like it was thought up by an e-fed writer, just a lot of moves that target a body part done consequently, not that much different from the logic used in spotfests. Styles carried those segments with his bumping and acting and when in control did some nice kneework, but what I most liked about it is how rough the match felt. Orton's sprawls when AJ would go for his leg, the sandbag on the Styles Clash and Styles sucking Orton in on a Springboard RKO counter everyone expects by this point created a level of struggle you don't see in an average WWE TV match. ***1/4

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue-AJPW 26.1.1991.

This was an interesting, although slightly disappointing match. Misawa's aggressive onslaught in the beginning was awesome, totally caught me off guard and for a moment it looked like it could turn into an awesome brawl, but the next thing was Misawa transitioning into a hold and them just having a standard match, which was nowhere near as interesting. There are moments where you see signs of the nastiness that will come of Taue in the following years but you can also see he's still too fascinated with jumping of things and what he can physchically do to really dedicate himself to the snugness. They both have good offence, some sloppy (jumping) middle kicks aside, the rope running transitions are something All Japan handled perfectly and Misawa's misaed Lariat (and following elbow comeback) was a thing of beauty. Still, this didn't really feel worthy of such a big move debut. Others will probably enjoy it a lot more since I presume they're not as focused on structure as "holy shit Taue did a somersault!" and that's valid too. ***



Tako mi je drago šta tu ne moram koristit debilne američke datume. Jebo te Fahrenheit i stope.

Alexander Otsuka vs Takashi Sugiura-ZERO-1 18.4.2001.

What a match. It's always neat to see amateur wrestling stuff incorporated into prowres, and these two did a really neat version of that while simultaneously gradually increasing the intensity, with it just exploding in the finishing stretch. That damned Headbutt may be the most a wrestler's ever bled from one, talk about a spot that insantly completely changes the flow of the match. Of course the Suplexes were just beautiful, but they also smartly build the nearfalls playing off previous spots, and the execution was amazing, you don't see anyone else do a gutwrench suplex counter into a leglock, let alone done as smoothly as here. ****1/4



Pičku materinu kako je jebački ovaj meč bio jebate.

Uvodna Objava

Dobro došli! Ja sam GOTNW i ovo je moj blog. O kečerima. Za ime bloga sam izabrao novokovanicu koja mi je puno prikladnija za kečere nego za helikopter, pogotovo onako kako se stereotipno doživljavaju. Osnovao sam ovaj blog prvenstveno radi toga kako bi arhivirao svoje kečerske recenzije, a i također zato što su me označenice na PWO forumu (tj. njihov nedostatak u određenim dretvama i različita uporoba od korisnika od korisnika) počele živcirati jer su mi otežavale pretraživanje recenzija koje bijah prethodno napisao. Inače toplo preporučujem svakome tko je zainteresiran da ga posjeti, odlično mjesto ako želite naučiti više, pogotovo dijelovi koji se strogo vezuju za kečere poput podforuma za recenzije mečeva i diskutiranje o općenitim pojavama u kečera. Možete to učiniti na sljedećem linku:
http://prowrestlingonly.com/
Moji drugi interesi uključuju borilačke vještine, bilo MMA, judo, sumo, kikboks ili nešto petnaesto, sumnjam da ću pisati o njima ovdje (uopće ili puno) ali ako me mislite pratiti na twitteru očekujte dosta sadržaja vezanog uz njih. Većina recenzija će biti na engleskom jer ih takve trenutno pišem iako možda postavim stare recenzije na hrvatskom ili neke isječke iz rasprava koje su naravno mnogo sočnije tako.

Welcome! I am GOTNW and this is my pro wrestling blog. I started it for I wanted to archive all my wrestling reviews and because I the lack of/incosistent use of the tags in the PWO forum threads made my search for all reviews I wrote there harder. It's a great place which I urge everyone who wants to learn more about wrestling to check out, I provided the link above.
Zrakomlat roughly translates to air puncher, it's a croatian neologism for a helicopter. I found it fitting.