Guide to Japanese Wrestling 2010

[lightningxlock]

I'd actually like to know what old school DDT was like? As i've not seen anything from them since before say, 2006. I think current day DDT is a great little company, tho I havent caught very much at all this year. They've got a really hard working roster that are capable of entertaining matches. It's a good mix of high flying, epic main events that usually deliver the goods, crazy gimmick matches and mind boggling comedy.

[seasider]

PUNQ, here are Alan4L's rating of matches this year. You must be a harsh critic, or he must be easily pleased.

 

Including Dec 2009, Observer style.

 

Shingo vs. BxB Hulk (7/11) (DG) *****

Koji Kanemoto vs. Hayato Jr. Fujita (12/22) (NJPW) *****

Koji Kanemoto vs. Naomichi Marufuji (3/5) (NJPW) ****3/4

Susumu Yokosuka vs. Masaaki Mochizuki (9/11) (DG) ****3/4

Shingo/YAMATO vs. Hulk/Doi (9/11) (DG) ****3/4

Shingo/YAMATO vs. Mochizuki/Fujii (8/5) (DG) ****3/4

Mochizuki/CIMA/Dragon Kid vs. PAC/Hulk/Yoshino (9/10) (DG) ****3/4

Prince Devitt vs. Naomichi Marufuji (6/19) (NJPW) ****3/4

YAMATO vs. Masaaki Mochizuki (5/13) (DG) ****3/4

Naruki Doi vs. YAMATO (3/22) (DG) ****3/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Go Shiozaki (1/4) (NJPW) ****3/4

Prince Devitt vs. Naomichi Marufuji (1/30) (NJPW) ****3/4

Prince Devitt vs. Kota Ibushi (6/13) (NJPW) ****3/4

Bad Intentions vs. Blue Justice (9/26) (NJPW) ****3/4

Takashi Sugiura vs. Go Shiozaki (9/26) (NOAH) ****1/2

Suwama vs. Minoru Suzuki (8/29) (AJPW) ****1/2

CIMA/Dragon Kid vs. PAC/Haskins (9/11) (DG) ****1/2

Shingo vs. Susumu Yokosuka (9/10) (DG) ****1/2

Maraha Issapa vs. Speed Muscle (8/24) (DG) ****1/2

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Go Shiozaki (8/15) (NJPW) ****1/2

Satoshi Kojima vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (8/15) (NJPW) ****1/2

KAMIKAZE vs. Warriors vs. World-1 (7/8 ) (DG) ****1/2

Kensuke Sasaki vs. Go Shiozaki (7/24) (NOAH) ****1/2

Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Kota Ibushi (5/4) (DDT) ****1/2

Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Masa Takanashi (4/4) (DDT) ****1/2

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Togi Makabe (5/3) (NJPW) ****1/2

KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji (6/6) (NOAH) ****1/2

Jun Akiyama vs. Kensuke Sasaki (4/10) (NOAH) ****1/2

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto (4/4) (NJPW) ****1/2

CIMA/Gamma vs. Shingo/Cyber Kong (3/22) (DG) ****1/2

Sawa/Hidaka vs. Mochizuki/Tanaka (3/2) (Z1) ****1/2

Masato Tanaka vs. Manabu Nakanishi (3/14) (NJPW) ****1/2

CIMA vs. YAMATO (1/20) (DG) ****1/2

K-neSuka vs. Speed Muscle (1/17) (DG) ****1/2

Takashi Sugiura vs. Hirooki Goto (1/4) (NJPW) ****1/2

Prince Devitt vs. Naomichi Marufuji (NJPW) (12/23) ****1/2

Takashi Sugiura vs. Go Shiozaki (12/6) (NOAH) ****1/2

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito (8/8 ) (NJPW) ****1/4

Marvin/Ishimori vs. Kanemoto/Tiger Mask (8/22) (NOAH) ****1/4

Daisuke Sekimoto vs. HARASHIMA (7/25) (DDT) ****1/4

KENTA/Akiyama vs. Nagata/Taguchi (7/24) (NOAH) ****1/4

YAMATO vs. Masato Yoshino (7/11) (DG) ****1/4

Yuji Nagata vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (8/6) (NJPW) ****1/4

Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (8/14) (NJPW) ****1/4

Shingo vs. Masaaki Mochizuki (1/17) (DG) ****1/4

HARASHIMA vs. Shuji Ishikawa (12/27) (DDT) ****1/4

Naomichi Marufuji vs. Tiger Mask (1/4) (NJPW) ****1/4

Sawa/Takagi vs. Urano/KUDO (2/11) (DDT) ****1/4

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Manabu Nakanishi (2/14) (NJPW) ****1/4

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Naomichi Marufuji (2/14) (KO) ****1/4

Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jushin “Thunder” Liger (4/4) (NJPW) ****1/4

Naomichi Marufuji vs. Go Shiozaki (4/10) (NOAH) ****1/4

Sekimoto/Sasaki vs. Abby Jr./Sasaki (3/19) (BJW) ****1/4

Kaz Hayashi vs. KAI (3/21) (AJPW) ****1/4

Shingo/Tozawa/YAMATO vs. Doi/Hulk/Yoshino (3/3) (DG) ****1/4

Togi Makabe vs. Go Shiozaki (6/19) (NJPW) ****1/4

KAI vs. Hiroshi Yamato (5/16) (AJPW) ****1/4

CIMA/Gamma/Horiguchi vs. PAC/Doi/Tanizaki (6/20) (DG) ****1/4

CIMA/Gamma/Horiguchi vs. KAGETORA/YAMATO/Shingo (6/10) (DG) ****1/4

Masato Yoshino vs. Takuya Sugawara (6/13) (DG) ****1/4

Sekimoto/Sasaki vs. Miyamoto/Sasaki (5/28 ) (BJW) ****1/4

Kota Ibushi vs. KUSHIDA (6/4) (NJPW) ****1/4

Kenny Omega vs. Hayato “Jr.” Fujita (6/2) (NJPW) ****1/4

Shingo/KAGETORA/YAMATO vs. Yoshino/Doi/PAC (5/28 ) (DG) ****1/4

Super Crazy/BUSHI vs. Kondo/Yamato (4/29) (AJPW) ****1/4

Shingo/Kong vs. K-neSuka (5/13) (DG) ****1/4

KAZMA vs. Shiori Asahi (4/2) (K-Dojo) ****1/4

Jun Akiyama vs. Takashi Sugiura (5/2) (NOAH) ****1/4

World-1 vs. Warriors (Naniwa Elimination Tag) (5/5) (DG) ****1/4

Dragon Kid vs. Shingo (4/14) (DG) ****1/4

BxB Hulk vs. Shingo (4/14) (DG) ****1/4

Sekimoto/Sasaki vs. Kasai/Numazawa (4/28 ) (BJW) ****1/4

Prince Devitt vs. Kenny Omega (9/3) (NJPW) ****1/4

Nakajima/Miyahara/Kajiwara vs. Mochizuki/Shiisa/Mentai Kid (7/19) (KO) ****1/4

Togi Makabe vs. Masato Tanaka (9/26) (NJPW) ****1/4

Hashimoto/Tsukamoto/Okabayashi vs. Sekimoto/Sasaki/Kawakami (9/19) (BJW) ****1/4

Ikuto Hidaka vs. Masato Tanaka (7/24) (Z1) ****1/4

Sekimoto/Sasaki vs. Okabayashi/Shinobu (2/13) (BJW) ****

Takayama/Sano vs. Sasaki/Nakajima (9/26) (NOAH) ****

Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. KENTA (9/26) (NOAH) ****

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Go Shiozaki (6/20) (KO) ****

Koji Kanemoto vs. Davey Richards (9/26) (NJPW) ****

Ibushi/Madoka vs. Oishi/Asahi (2/16) (K-Dojo) ****

Ohashi/Kawakami/Okabayashi vs. Shadow WX/Sasaki/Shinobu (BJW) (4/28 ) ****

Minoru Suzuki vs. Masakatsu Funaki (4/11) (AJPW) ****

Kaz Hayashi vs. BUSHI (4/11) (AJPW) ****

Ohtani/Akebono vs. Sawa/Hidaka (1/27) (Z1) ****

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito (3/20) (NJPW) ****

Naomichi Marufuji vs. Toshiaki Kawada (4/13) (NOAH) ****

Billy KenKid vs. Daisuke Harada (4/29) (Osaka) ****

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kota Ibushi (6/13) (NJPW) ****

Hirooki Goto vs. Masato Tanaka (6/19) (NJPW) ****

Suwama vs. Masakatsu Funaki (4/4) (AJPW) ****

Mascara vs. Caballera 6 Way Survival Cage Match (12/27) (DG) ****

KUSHIDA vs. Hajime Ohara (3/26) (SMASH) ****

Naomichi Marufuji vs. Atsushi Aoki (12/6) (NOAH) ****

Prince Devitt vs. Atsushi Aoki (12/22) (NJPW) ****

Hirooki Goto vs. Masato Tanaka (12/5) (NJPW) ****

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yuji Nagata (12/5) (NJPW) ****

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (1/4) (NJPW) ****

Kings Of Wrestling vs. Morishima/Sasaki (1/17) (NOAH) ****

Suwama/Soya vs. Kono/Sanada (12/13) (AJPW) ****

Super Shiisa vs. K-Ness (2/27) (DG) ****

CIMA/Kid/Gamma vs. Shingo/Tozawa/YAMATO (2/27) (DG) ****

KENTA vs. Atsushi Aoki (8/22) (NOAH) ****

Hirooki Goto vs. Go Shiozaki (8/14) (NJPW) ****

Hirooki Goto vs. Yuji Nagata (8/13) (NJPW) ****

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano (8/13) (NJPW) ****

Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (8/7) (NJPW) ****

Yuji Nagata vs. Go Shiozaki (8/10) (NJPW) ****

KENTA/Sugiura vs. Shiozaki/Morishima (8/4) (NOAH) ****

Taiyo Kea vs. Suwama (4/10) (AJPW) ****

Takashi Sugiura vs. KENTA (8/5) (NOAH) ****

Takashi Sugiura vs. Shuhei Taniguchi (7/24) (NOAH) ****

Ishimori/Marvin vs. Nakajima/Miyahara (7/14) (NOAH) ****

Prince Devitt vs. Atsushi Aoki (7/11) (NJPW) ****

Takashi Sugiura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (7/10) (NOAH) ****

Yoshino/Hulk vs. Shingo/YAMATO (6/24) (DG) ****

Takashi Sasaki vs. Yoshihito Sasaki (6/27) (BJW) ****

Go Shiozaki vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (8/22) (NOAH) ****

Kensuke Sasaki vs. Yutaka Yoshie (7/19) (KO) ****

Hikaru Sato vs. Hiroshi Yamato (7/25) (AJPW) ****

Taiyo Kea vs. Satoshi Kojima (4/29) (AJPW) ****

Marvin/Ishimori vs. Kotoge/Harada (8/20) (Osaka) ****

Suwama/Kono vs. Suzuki/Funaki (4/29) (AJPW) ****

Suwama/Kono/Hama/Sanada vs. Suzuki/Kea/Akebono/Funaki (7/25) (AJPW) ****

YAMATO vs. Naruki Doi (9/10) (DG) ****

[lightningxlock]

I tend to find I agree with PUNQ's assessments more, personally. Alan4L is a very excitable chap it seems, and whilst it's cool he enjoys matches as much as he does I do think he overrates sometimes. But then if you see a match and think it's out of this world, you would. Maybe im just jaded but tho I often see very good matches, I harldy ever jump out of my seat for any

[lightningxlock]

Im sorry tho, but that many matches well on their way to being 5* is abit much

[seasider]

It's such a shame what has happened to Japanese Wrestling over the last decade.... I used to wish I could go when I would watch those George Mayfield videos, I wish I could of gone over in 1994/1995 and see W*ING, FMW, AJPW, NJPW, AJW, Michinoku Pro, UWFi, WAR *BRAIN EXPLODES*

[lightningxlock]

Totally man. Im feeling the burn, because usually when US wrestling was letting me down i'd switch to Japan to restore my faith in wrestling. And whilst theres alot of awesome talent and really productive companies operating over there, it's missing that certain magic that puro used to have. I think the accessibility of it all has knocked it abit for me, used to love tapes arriving at my door with random puro feds on them...

[PUNQ]

Alan4L loves his wrestling maybe a little too much. A little difficult to blame him for that, but for me that's a bit too over-eager with the star ratings. Especially when one comaprte todays product with the all-legendary early-90's footage! With that said most of those matches do have something to offer and he makes it clear with high rationgs which is sometimes the only way to reach non-fans into checking them out. What people got to realize is that a * 1/2 match is still a good match in my book, and there is still a lot to like, but the real magic as lightningxclock mentioned are rare these days.

 

Today there is more footage available in 2 months then what would be available in a year back in the good old days, so here is so much available now that it's easy to burn out and difficult to pick the right shows because the days when you could pick a good show just by looking at the line-up is over.

 

As for DDT, I don't have any experience with them before 2006 when I started doing this project. But since then I've learned to love them and they have seriously become one the most entertaining promotions out there with their unique style. This year they had more good matches then any other indy promotion in Japan it seems surrounding their serious matches around teh KO-D Titles, that thats been one of the few positive things to happen this year.

 

 

 

Ice Ribbon on COMM - January 4, 2010, Tokyo - (1 1/2 hrs)

 

 

January 4, 2010, Tokyo - Shin-Kiba 1st RING

 

- Damn, Ice Ribbon and their kids! The show starts off with a couple of exhibition matches lasting 1 1/2 minute each with two new young students who were probable in their very early teens. Too be fair they did the basics ok, but kids in wrestling as a hobby and getting to shine in front of a crowd.... ugh!

 

 

1. Kaori Yoneyama & Makoto -vs- Natsuki*Taiyo & Chii Tomiya [*]

--- With Yoneyama and Natsuki there this match was going to have qualities even if it does happen in Ice Ribbon. And when Makoto and Tomiya where working on the serious side the match became quite watchable with very few, if any, embarrassing moments. And that is rare for a Ice Ribbon match. Makoto has been trying to be serious for a while and continues that road in 2010 here being Tomiya's veteran handler in this fight. And Tomiya, being one of the promotions more athletic non-credible girls, they kept the pace up until Makoto had landed one too many moves on her.

9:29 of 9:29 - Makoto pinned Tomiya with a double-arm suplex hold

 

 

2. Kenny Omega & Aiko Ando & Miyako Matsumoto -vs- Masahiro Takahashi & Riho & Futoshi Miwa [3/4*]

--- Kenny Omega does Ice Ribbon with a pink ribbon in his curly blond hair! Aaaah, how sweet. This was a modern non-serious entertainment match with the 12 years old being the least childish. But Kenny Omega was in on the fun doing ballett splashes with the girls and rolling fatso Miwa around. And watching the fat one going up against the girls was really some sight to see. This match did what it was supposed to do and Ice Ribbon's main idol girl Matsumoto picks up a lucky win over Riho.

13:24 of 13:23 - Matsumoto pinned Riho with a La Magistral

 

 

3. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Hamuko Hoshi -vs- Nanae Takahashi & Mai Ichii - (Ice Ribbon International Tag Title Decision) [* 1/4]

--- The all important Ice Ribbon International Tag Titles have been vacated! And damn annoying Hoshi along with Nanae gets to win them! And Hoshi really was the one keeping this other decent sprint match down with her headache-creating screaming and running out of steam as this was a long match for them. Needlessly long. And referee Matsunaga had to continually save Hoshi pretending that she kicked out when she in reality wasn't even close to having the power to get her shoulders off the mat. Matsumoto and Nanae in their more heavyweight clashing kind of saved the match even if they also didn't bring all that much to the table. But at least they carried their bit while the other two struggled to keep up. This almost went to a time limit but Hoshi got the pin with just 31 second left on the clock bombing Ichii down for the three.

19:29 of 19:29 - Hoshi pinned Ichii after a modified Ligerbomb. Matsumoto & Hoshi become the Ice Ribbon International Tag Champions.

 

 

4. Emi Sakura -vs- Hikari Minami - (ICEx60 Title/Super Ice Cup - Semi-Final) [3/4*]

--- Sakura carrying job, which proved to be a little difficult. The armbar sequences didn't really work as Minami didn't really know how to sell those spots and while she is kind of tall she doesn't have too much power. They are giving her nearly the same moveset as NEO's Aya Yuki with the Kamikaze Rolls and boots as her main offence. And those moments was ok with her second rope Kamikaze being the main highlight she produced. In the end it had to be Sakura who had to win and she did so moonsault-style.

11:47 of 11:46 - Samura pinned Minami after a moonsault

 

 

5. Tsukasa Fujimoto -vs- Hikaru Shida - (Super Ice Cup - Semi-Final) [1/2*]

--- Two pure Ice Ribbon girls by themselfs trying to make a match. Sure some spots worked, but some spots also HAD to be fucked up. And it was neither all that interesting or impressive apart from a handfull moves that connected well. This was mostly Shida's fault as she over-estimated her own strenght again and again. Fujimoto kept to what she knows and did ok with that and got the deserved win because of it.

9:00 of 8:59 - Fujimoto pinned Shida with a swinging front cradle

 

 

 

6. Tsukasa Fujimoto -vs- Emi Sakura - (ICEx60 Title/Super Ice Cup - Final) [1/4*]

--- What a upset! Fujimoto had her mentor pinned within seconds with her high speed wrestling..... and Fujimoto is now the promotions new ace!

0:08 of 0:06 - Fujimoto pinned Sakura with a swinging front cradle to become the ICEx60 Champion.

 

 

COMMENTS: Ice Ribbon is always a little difficult to care about. Not their worst show, but it did feature most of the things that makes them hard to follow.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

NJPW on PPV - January 4, 2010, Tokyo Dome - (4 1/4 hrs)

 

 

January 4, 2010, Tokyo Dome (41,500 fans)

 

1. Super Strong Machine & Wataru Inoue & Mitsuhide Hirasawa -vs- Jushin Liger & Koji Kanemoto & Kazuchika Okada [* 1/4]

--- A quick opener getting the most meaningless match on the card out of the way as Blue Justice faced the always popular Liger and Kanemoto along with young hope Okada who is far from getting pushed for now getting beat by Inoue in no time to the Triangle Lancer as neither of the veterans was able to save him from Inoue's grip.

5:00 of 4:59 - Inoue made Okada submit to the Triangle Lancer

 

 

2. Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt © -vs- Ultimo Guerrero & Averno - (IWGP Junior Tag Title) [**]

--- Apollo 55 against CMLL's veteran duo Ultimo Guerrero & Averno! Cool to see luchadors in New Japan. That has been a rarety in recent years, but here they bring a couple of capable workers for a IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Title match. And while it wasn't a ultimate experience it did entertain. The Mexicans gave the home New Japan side the fan favourite comebacks and made them look like a millon bucks. Taguchi took care of the pin after they'd landed the Blackhole Vacation.

9:07 of 9:07 - Taguchi pinned Averno after the Blackhole Vacation. Taguchi & Devitt retain the IWGP Junior Tag Title in their 4th defence.

 

 

3. Team 3-D © -vs- Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson -vs- Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito - (IWGP Tag Title; 3-Way Hardcore) [* 1/2]

--- Finally it's time for Team 3D to lose the IWGP Tag Titles! And it's the usual messy Dudley brawl. Some fun stuff, but very autopilot and execution timing looked more comical then anything else and the fans hated Team 3D booing the table stots and refusing to be charmed by Brother Ray even if he could count to 3 in Japanese. Team 3D and Bad Intensions have feuded over the belt a few times in 2009 and have managed to have entertaining matches, but at the Tokyo Dome it felt really out of place what they were doing. The real story of the match was the return on No Limit. They have been in Mexico and Yujiro & Naito like Goto before them return as heavyweights after being IWGP Junior Tag Champions before the left. And now they take the IWGP Heavyweight Tag gold! As they busted out their double-team Ace Crusher move to beat Anderson out of nowhere. No Limit still looked small in this company, but you can see they have learned more how to communicate with the fans trying to express more emotion as they were getting the glory.

13:28 of 13:28 - Yujiro pinned Anderson after the Limitless Explosion. Yujiro & Naito become the 55th IWGP Tag Champions.

 

 

4. Tajiri & Masato Tanaka -vs- Yuji Nagata & Akebono [* 1/2]

--- Man, was this not as special as it should have been. A couple of good sequences of finishers as Tanaka & Nagata rushed through their killers for a few seconds and the end where Tajiri blew mist everwhere and Nagata was battered with even more finishers for the Buzzsaw win for Tajiri.

9:37 of 9:37 - Tajiri pinned Nagata after a Buzzsaw headkick

 

 

5. Terry Funk & Riki Choshu & Masahiro Chono & Manabu Nakanishi -vs- Abdullah the Butcher & Takashi Iizuka & Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii [* 1/4]

--- Special tag match brining in two gaijin legends who have a special place in the hearts of Japanese fans in 65 year old Terry Funk who's always been associated with AJPW, but now makes an NJPW appearence and Abdullah the Butcher who for most of his career was a All Japan guy apart from a period in the 80's (1981-1987) where he was on the New Japan pay-roll and barely got used once 1982 was over. And it was natural to let the two barely mobile workers take the spotlight and seeing Abby and Terry in there was cool even if Abby ended up turning on his team when Iizuka got upset with him. And how awesome was it that Abby used Iizuka's Iron Fingers From Hell to do his throat chops?! That was the highlights along with dropping the elbow on Yano before Nakanishi took care of Iizuka Argentine style.

8:52 of 8:52 - Nakanishi made Iizuka submit to a Argentine backbreaker

 

 

6. Togi Makabe -vs- Mohammed Yone [* 3/4]

--- The 1st of four NJPW vs NOAH matches on this Tokyo Dome show and it was straight to work for these two. It was the least interesting of the inter-promotional matches as Yone as Makabe's opponent was kind of.....blaah! But in a way they mixed well with their stubborn ugly style of wrestling and they kept it short enough so not to make it out-stay it's welcome. And Makabe got to look like the king beating the GHC Tag Champion with the King Kong kneedrop!

5:39 of 5:39 - Makabe pinned Yone after a top rope kneedrop

 

 

 

7. Tiger Mask © -vs- Naomichi Marufuji - (IWGP Junior Title) [** 1/4]

--- NOAH's Marufuji won the Super J Cup in December and here he gets the reward of a IWGP Junior Title match against Tiger Mask the IV. Marufuji is getting the push, but he's been out with injury a while so he's not 100% in the ring yet. Most of the early portion on this match was fairly average. The real change in gear came with something unexpected. Tiger Mask was going for his usual top rope double-arm suplex when he instead ducked Marufuji's head between his legs and pulled out a TOP ROPE TIGER DRIVER!!! The fans exploded for that! And the follow up Tiger Suplex got them in a frenzy. But Marufuji loves to be superman and kicked out of both and made his big comeback with big moves of his own. When the top rope moonsaulting Shiranui didn't work Marufuji did his new Tiger Frosion! And that's all she wrote! And with that Marufuji makes himself the official junior heavyweight master of Japan capturing New Japan's IWGP Junior Title to his long list of merrits which include being junior champion in both All Japan and NOAH before.

14:14 of 14:14 - Marufuji pinned Tiger Mask after the Tiger Frosion to become the 59th IWGP Junior Champion.

 

 

 

8. Hiroshi Tanahashi -vs- Go Shiozaki [***]

--- NJPW vs NOAH and it's the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion against the former GHC Heavyweight Champion that's facing each other. Tanahashi is a lot more established then Shiozaki, but it's a lot of pride on the line. Sadly I find Shiozaki's style so unfinished. All over the place if you will and too animated to really work. And the match suffered a lot because of it. He landed some hard Kobashi lariats which was his main quality as well as the moonsault which Tanahashi kicked out of. But they couldn't really work in the importance of this match apart from the finisher streach which was the usual Tanahashi stuff. Nothing different from any of his other matches except Shiozaki didn't really add anything significant so this felt a little disappointing once it was over with the High Flying Flows. It had a strong ending, but this should have been a Match of the Year candidate and it just didn't reach that high.

19:04 of 19:04 - Tanahashi pinned Shiozaki after a top rope bodypress

 

 

 

9. Takashi Sugiura © -vs- Hirooki Goto - (GHC Title) [** 3/4]

--- While not an all-time great, it was still a high quality bout as NOAH's GHC Heavyweight Champion took on New Japan's Goto for his first defence. And Sugiura was a brute at first not giving Goto an inch keeping him in check with ruthless power. But Goto got the opening he needed when he did a neckbreaker out on the hard apron side with Sugiura hanging off the top turnbuckle before getting knocked brutally down! That was a real turning point moment and Goto continued the slaughter and even landed the Shouten, but sadly for him no win. There was a lot of hard shots in this match and enough fighting to keep the match alive strong enough and worthy enough for a title match. Sugiura kept going for the ankle hold again and again in this bout and that was the key to his success as he finally had Goto trapped once the 20-min mark had passed and Goto had to tap making sure the NOAH wrestler retained his belt.

20:54 of 20:54 - Sugiura made Goto submit to a ankle hold to retain the GHC Title in his 1st defence.

 

 

 

10. Shinsuke Nakamura © -vs- Yoshihiro Takayama - (IWGP Title) [*** 1/4]

--- The Tokyo Dome main event for 2010 is a re-run of the Tokyo Dome main event from 2004. Nakamura is again the IWGP Champion and Takayama is again the challenger. When I first heard about the main event I was disappointed. It had nearly no build-up and Takayama isn't exactly a super performer anymore even if he had a few good matches last year. And again I'm taken off-guard because the match worked in front of the Tokyo Dome crowd and it ended up being my favourite match on the show. And it was the Takayama punishment that made it work. Knee after knee brutally knocking Nakamura down with authority! Poor champion. He got the beating of a lifetime as Takayama pounded him down. And as if the knees wasn't bad enough he also took two big-time suplexes! A Dragon Suplex in over the top rope to the ring and the Everest German Suplex. And in a rare moments Nakamura lived though it all and tried his cross-armbreaker without success. But what was successful was the Boma Ye's! Raming Takayama down with the same authority as Takayama had done with the kneelifts earlier. And therefore it was great seeing Nakamura also use the kneelift on the towering blondy. And once Takayama was a sitting duck for the Boma Ye's kneekicks Nakamura had the match under control and could retian it for the 4th time since winning the title in September! Nakamura is looking strong and once more delivers in a major match.

15:53 of 15:51 - Nakamura pinned Takayama after a Boma Ye kneekick to retain the IWGP Title in his 4th defence.

 

 

COMMENTS: The main matches were good with the main event and the New Japan vs NOAH line-up giving the fans what they wanted. The undercard matches was forgettable though even if it was cool seeing Funk and Abby in the ring together.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[Halitosis Romantic]

PUNQ, you are a truly great man for doing this.

[PUNQ]

Got to have something to do while not at work

 

 

 

NOAH on G+SN - January 9, 2010, Tokyo - (2 1/2 hrs)

 

 

January 9, 2010, Tokyo - Differ Ariake (1,600 fans)

 

1. Claudio Castagnoli -vs- Taiji Ishimori [* 1/2]

--- Not much flow and execution was a little off, but they tried some real cool and spectacular moves in this and that made it have qualities to watch. Loved the helicopter spin Castagnoli did letting go while still spinning Ishimori around. And Ishimori's springboard moonsault out of the ring was a thing of beauty. But for Ishimori he was still a junior heavyweight in with a bigger gaijin and was powered down cross-arm powerbomb style!

8:08 of 8:09 - Castagnoli pinned Ishimori after a cross-arm powerbomb

 

 

2. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi -vs- Yoshinari Ogawa & Kento Miyahara [* 1/2]

--- More ok non-important wrestling. A lot of it was just there, but it had a decent ending with Kanemaru and Miyahara doing their thing. But it was of course a simple brainbuster win for Kanemaru over the young Kensuke Office wrestler.

12:52 of 12:54 - Kanemaru pinned Miyahara after a brainbuster

 

 

3. Go Shiozaki & Akitoshi Saito -vs- Akira Taue & Ricky Marvin [* 1/4]

--- Saito and Taue doesn't have much to offer anymore, so it was up to Go and Marvin to bring the quality. And they did try, however the result was mixed. Didn't really clash all that well. Styles clash I guess. Not a total waste, but hardly as good as it could have been. And since Marvin was the sole junior he does the job in true predictable NOAH fashion.

12:43 of 12:44 - Shiozaki pinned Marvin after a lariat

 

 

4. Takeshi Rikio & Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi -vs- Jun Akiyama & Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Aoki [** 1/4]

--- Spot the junior in this one. Marufuji doesn't count. He's a heavyweight in disguise. No, it's Aoki. And you know what that means? By the booking rules of NOAH that means he's the automatic loser. And Yone was the one to finish him off with a Muscle Buster. How original. Anyway, the match was good. Much do to Marufuji actually, kicking those suckers down. And there was the little bits with everyone showing a little bit of aggression as they went on attack. And since everyone did their part the match became a satifying view. I still feel sorry for Aoki. He deserves better then this.

17:35 of 17:37 - Yone pinned Aoki after a Muscle Buster

 

 

 

5. Takashi Suguira -vs- Chris Hero [* 1/2]

--- The GHC Heavyweight Champion was way too nice to that Hero! Gave him way too much offence and didn't humiliate him nearly enough. The match did have it's moments when Sugiura showed aggression and one or two Hero spots, but overwise felt too random in it's execution and Misawa tributes. Little Sug did win thankfully and he did it Olympic style.

13:05 of 13:06 - Sugiura pinned Hero after a Olympic Slam

 

 

 

6. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma -vs- Bison Smith & Keith Walker - (Global Tag League '10 - Block B ) [** 1/2]

--- The Global Tag League of 2010 starts off with a inter-promotional tag as New Japan's Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma invade the NOAH hall to the boos of the fans. Well, it's not exactly a local NOAH team they are facing, but it's up against two big and strong NOAH regulars in Bison Smith & Keith Walker. A gaijin side which is rather intriguing in it's monster foreigner aspect. Because power they have! And they showed that towards the New Japan guys. However the brains was on the New Japan side as Makabe & Honma kept cheating without a concience and with a grin on their faces. It was wonderful to see them get heat in a difficult arena like Differ Ariake. And the fighting was quite good aswell. And I was happy to see Makabe plant that King Kong Kneedrop in Walkers face for the finish. Good stuff. Oh, and Yone & Rikio were totally over as faces as they attacked the heel New Japan side after the match! Those two sides will meet on January 16th and is already building a buzz.

15:09 of 15:10 - Makabe pinned Walker after a top rope kneedrop

 

 

 

7. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano -vs- Kensuke Sasaki & Takeshi Morishima - (Global Tag League '10 - Block A) [**]

--- Hard knockers. And not too much brains aside from that. Power impact wrestling is these guys speciality and that's what they delviered. But sadly the Sasaki & Morishima team just does not deliver the goods. They are like a super team, but their matches are nothing but random slugfests and it's a shame they can't get more motivated as they only get more lazy tagging with each other. This match did have it's good moments, especially since Takayama was there to add to the star-power, but it never reached the stars with it's stiff blows. Sano ended up being the unlikely winner here kicking Morishima's face in.

15:58 of 15:58 - Sano pinned Morishima after a high headkick

 

 

COMMENTS: NOAH opens the year with a fairly ok show. Nothing terrible and with a few good matches even if it was hardly any MOTYC. Well, it was only a Differ Ariake show and a tour starter and not an al that important one so expecting that would be too much from this one. Cool to see Makabe & Honma come in a heel up the place. More of that please!

 

 

--PUNQ--

[Devon Malcolm]

What people got to realize is that a * 1/2 match is still a good match in my book, and there is still a lot to like

 

Okay, but if we were to do a bit of maths, a * 1/2 basically equates to 3/10, doesn't it? Now, if I saw a match that I regarded as a 'good' match then I would be giving it around 6/10. I would be giving a pile of turd with maybe one redeeming feature 3/10, which is why the ratings often don't actually make sense, when you think about it. This other guy that is mentioned definitely goes too far the other way though with his ratings.

 

I think the time and effort you put into these reviews is great and really useful for a lot of people, but quite often the ratings for the matches don't really equate to the actual descriptions.

[lightningxlock]

I've never really gotten these ratings systems fully. Apart from the obvious 5* = masterpiece, 1* = a shitter, it seems like the inbetween is a free for all. What I do know is somebody giving THAT many matches ****1/4 or ****1/2 seems ludicrous. Especially with wrestling being nowhere near what it was these days. I think it tends to de-value matches that may genuinely be ****1/2 and all the historic matches we've come to know as ***** classics

[seasider]

Meltzer's Five Star ratings

[PUNQ]

I feel my rating system makes sense. I feel people are just to scared of using low ratings. The movie/song/match can be good without blowing your mind. You can enjoy it without it being anywhere close to being a Match of the Decade. What * 1/2 usually means to me is a good match without being anything special. Nearly a standard and then from there try and convince me to boost me up in excitement. When one has seen as great matches as Misawa vs Jumbo '90 and '91, Hokuto vs Kandori x 2 in '93, Inoki vs Robonson '75 and so on, when everything clicks to the fullest in nearly every aspect of the gamem, it's quite far from a regular good match which some good things here and there.

 

 

 

OZ ACADEMY on GAORA TV - January 10 & February 7, 2010 - (2 hrs)

 

 

January 10, 2010, Tokyo - Shinjuku FACE

 

1. Chikayo Nagashima -vs- Nao Komatsu [*]

--- Oz Academy's first offspring gets to wrestle and try and be competitive with the yellow hummingbird Nagashima. Not really too convicing as Nao isn't all comfortable on attack yet, but she's not the worst to come out of a joshi dojo in Japan and might actually have a chance to become half decent over time. Here Nagashima took care of business and wasn't too bothered.

6:31 of 6:31 - Nagashima pinned Komatsu after a top rope dropkick

 

 

2. Dynamite Kansai -vs- Hiroyo Matsumoto [* 1/4]

--- The match took a different turn then expected as Kansai managed to make Matsumoto's back hurt legit on a few stomps and Matsumoto was fairly immobile after that making her a very easy target for Kansai's stiffin'. And the kicks came without any compassion to Matsumoto's growing pains landing the hard kicks to Matsumoto's upper-body and head area. Matsumoto could barely attempt a comeback and didn't stand a chance when the heavyweight fooptstop came flying.

7:58 of 7:58 - Kansai pinned Matsumoto after a top rope double-footstomp

 

 

3. Mayumi Ozaki & Takako Inoue -vs- Aja Kong & Kaoru - (No Rules) [* 1/2]

--- The odds are a little more even here for this tag re-match between Ozaki and Kaoru as Aja is by Kaoru's side which distracted Mika Nishio & Police most of the match while Kaoru focused on Ozaki and Takako. Kaoru still got a solid beating, but she did bloody Ozaki up. The end was kind of lame and awesome at the same time. The referee stopped the no rules match rulling it a no-contest because Kaoru stuffed a fire extinguisher hose down Ozaki's throat!

10:44 of 11:07 - Ozaki & Inoue wrestled Kong & Kaoru to a No-Contest

 

 

4. Manami Toyota -vs- Carlos Amano - (5-Match Single Series #1) [* 1/2]

--- Simple fun match going straight to point. Typical Amano and Toyota. Nothing really different then what they do in a regular match and like their title change match in December it was far from super serious as they both crack each other up by working with each other. Toyota gets her win back, but not Amano's Oz Title.

8:24 of 8:38 - Toyota pinned Amano after a Queen Bee Bomb

 

 

5. Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato & Ayumi Kurihara -vs- Akino & Ran Yu Yu & Tomoka Nakagawa [* 3/4]

--- These girls stick to the one formula style of wrestling they know and have done for mostly 15 years. Run around, full of energy with the moves going back and forth non-stop until someone gets a pin. Fun and all, but it has been kind of stale a while now and not very interesting anymore. I really wish they could break out of that pattern, but I'm not putting any money on that happening any time soon. This time it was Kato's turn to win and she beats one of the Oz Tag champions to set up a title match for the February 7th Osaka show.

12:55 of 22:53 - Kato pinned Yu Yu after a reversed piledriver

 

 

February 7, 2010, Osaka Azalea Taisho

 

6. Aja Kong & Kaoru -vs- Mayumi Ozaki & Takako Inoue - (Elimination) [3/4*]

--- Brawling mess from the veterans! Ozaki was out in no-time when Aja rolled her up in an inside cradle, but that didn't stop her from taking part in the rest of the match along with Police and Mika Nishio with her whip. And on top of that Kaoru and Aja where fighting and saving each other aswell. This match was not pretty at all with some back-firing getting fucked up and Aja slipping on a piece of wood along the way. Team Kaoru gets to beat Team Ozaki 2-0 though, but this was hardly a good match.

0:08 - Kong pinned Ozaki with a small package

5:59 of 5:59 - Kaoru pinned Inoue after a Excaliber

 

 

7. Ran Yu Yu & Akino -vs- Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato - (Oz Tag Title) [** 1/2]

--- As I've mentioned earlier, these girls follow a certain all-action type formula, and this was the same, but this time they managed to build some interest for the final 5 minutes as Ran the champ was knocking Kato silly one finisher at a time. Kato barely survived the elbow smashes, the European Clutch and brainbuster. The way Kato was getting the trashing you nearly expected her to catch the fall and she tried a couple of times with the move she beat Ran with on the January show - the reversed piledriver. But no fall this time. Ran wasn't pinned and could continue the trashing and won using Devil Masami's belly-to-belly piledriver to retain the Oz Tag belts for the 5th time making this Ran & Akino run easily the most successful champion reign in the companys history as most Oz Tag Title matches end with the first defence.

16:23 of 23:15 - Yu Yu pinned Kato after a Fire Valley piledriver. Yu Yu & Akino retain the Oz Tag Title in their 5th defence.

 

 

COMMENTS: The mid-90's generation brings it to the tag title division and it's the most interesting thing thats happening in Oz Academy these days and the Ozaki brawling is getting pretty stale by now.

 

 

--PUNQ--

[PUNQ]

Dragon Gate on GAORA TV - December 25, 2009 & January 11, 2010 - (2 hrs)

 

 

December 25, 2009, Tokyo - Korakuen Hall (2,250 fans)

 

1. Takuya Sugawara -vs- Shingo Takagi [** 1/2]

--- I liked the layout with Sugawara working over Takagi's leg and making that the main story as Takagi was unable too keep up the speed and power to finish off the sleezebag. Sugawara's return to his old Toryumon background is a good thing for him, but he's still suffering from out of shape execution which kind of holds a otherwise fine match down a little. Apart from the old school leg work of Sugawara they did bust out a few killer moves like Takagi's Death Valley on the floor and Sugawara countering a second attempt with a reversed DDT. Takagi also landed the Made In Japan which was kicked out of thanks to a semi-slow cover as Takagi's leg was hurting and several good backdrop suplexes. But the smart legwork gave Sugawara the advantage and he took the match home using his Shiisanputa winning after landing 2 straight ones. Impressive push for Sugawara in Dragon Gate after having focused most of his time in Zero-One since Dragon Gate opend it's gates.

16:44 of 17:43 - Sugawara pinned Takagi after a Shiisanputa

 

 

2. Susumu Yokosuka & K-ness & Mazada -vs- Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk & Dragon Kid [**]

--- The Dragon Gate sprint match with the oddball team of Yokosuka, K-ness and Mazada doing so well that they ended up winning. This is a part of K-ness's push as he got to beat Yoshino. Then again seeing Dragon Kid and Yoshino team is kind of a oddball image aswell and when Dragon Kid's powder throw backfired and hit Yoshino's face it was a easy job for K-ness to win the match.

19:11 of 21:07 - K-ness pinned Yoshino after the Darkness Buster

 

 

January 11, 2010, Nagoya Telepia Hall (544 fans)

 

3. Naoki Tanizaki