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Sphinx

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FantasticaMania, 01/18/15, Korakuen Hall

There are people In the crowd wearing masks. Both lucha and those ones that keep infection out. The idiots.

NJPW World is weird. The sound cuts out when there's entrance music. Annoying.

Gedo, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs Jushin "Thunder" Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Angel de Oro

Liger & Tiger are wearing half of each other's mask.

Ishii wants no part of a tope suicida.

Gedo is such a good dick heel.

Ishii is a magnificent goblin.

Angel de Oro is nothing special but everything he does is done well. If that makes sense.

SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP!

That was a fun opener. We celebrate in silence. „999 eh?

Cavernario Barbaro & OKUMURA vs KUSHIDA & Triton

Hey, it's Cavernario Barbaro! He's dead good! He's teaming with OKUMURA against KUSHIDA & Triton. At least I think it's Triton. Last time we saw him he could barely walk and now he's wearing new gear. *Shrug*

A caveman just did the worm.

Eh, that was alright. Could have gone longer. Cavernario murdered Rey Cometa after the match and it looked at first like he was attacking a fan who had rushed the ring. But then I remembered, "Japan".

Ryusuke Taguchi, Tetsuyo Naito & La Sombra vs Mascara DON, Mascara Dorada & Captain New Japan

It's Taguch-unkhamun! And Mascara Don, who is Nakanishi arsing around.

La Sombra is so cool.

Taguchi just did an ace missed falling headbutt. And now this is just "comedy".

Naito is wearing his goofy mask again. I bet the NJPW guys really look forward to FantasticaMania. I would.

I suppose doing this kind of comedy is good practice for the indysleaze circuit later on in life.

I like the way the ringside photographers are wearing numbered vests, like some crazy football team.

Mascara Dorada's masaca is rojo y verde. *Shrug*

I wish someone would talk me through Captain New Japan.

Ah, nice simple finish. And a grandstand challenge for tomorrow's show!

Volador Jr vs Gran Guerrero

Title match time, and being a title match, they have seconds. Volador has Triton, Gran has Cavernario Barbaro. I'm not sure a caveman is a good choice for a second.

Gotta love the young boys acting as makeshift guard rails for dives into the front row.

Gran Guerrero's ring positioning is awful and he just blew a backdrop. A BACKDROP.

I can't see a lucha shoulder bump without hearing Matt Striker saying, "a bump to make some room".

The seconds are doing some quality towel-wafting.

Oh, I forgot. Volador came to the ring dressed as BIRDMAN.

Gran Guerrero just blew a drop toehold and a magistral. FFS.

I bet he's the kind of guy who turned up at wrestling training and asked how to do a swanton.

Botching simple moves can really take me out of a match. Gran Guerrero is Paddy McGuiness in that regard.

Thank fuck that's over. That was attritional. And I don't know if that's even a word.

Stuka Jr vs Mephisto

Yay, Stuka Jr is out next! I liked him from the other day! He's fighting Mephisto, who's come dressed as Demonic Batman.

Oh, and he's wearing a Bullet Club t-shirt. Demonic Batman Cosplayer is still cooler than Jarrett.

Is this the same Mephisto that was around back in the day? You can never tell with lucha. I will do my RESEARCH.

It is! He's FORTY SEVEN this year. Stuka has a great fatboy tope.

Stuka brings the springboard moonsault on the outside. I heart him.

They are having a perfectly respectable lucha libre match.

Yeah, that was disposable fun. Got a bit backyard in places. But when it's a match between a fat fella and a fella in a Batman costume, you have to expect that.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Stigma & Mistico vs Polvora, Kazuhiko Okada & Shunsuke Nakamura

Facepaint Tanahashi.

Aww, how sweet: this is the Black Cat Memorial Match. Nice touch.

That didn't stop me Dugganing his widow's speech, obv.

At what point did it become acceptable to clang a bell rather than ring it?

Okada faked walking out until the fans chanted his name. Tart.

Tanahashi and Polvora just had a pec flex contest.

If there's a Polvora is there a Superchunkra?

Polvora tried to pull Mistico's mask off and I SAW MISTICO'S FACE! I feel all wrong.

Triple Nakamura vibrating kick thingy from los rudos!

Ugh, Stigma just botched a headscissors.

Oh, it's over. It had its entertaining moments. Nakamura is BOSS.

Atlantis vs Ultimo Guerrero

Their mascara contra mascara was a cracker.

Ultimo Guerrero is wearing his mask again. He's ignoring the ref's requests to take it off. Such a troll.

Guerrero just set up a guardrail entirely so he could jump over it and into Atlantis.

Man, I love the stalling headstand bronco buster that Guerrero does.

The Japanese fans seem keen on Guerrero ripping Atlantis's mask off. What else would you expect from a nation that invented the wasabi KitKat.

These guys are like Flair & Sting. Fought a zillion times, always decent.

Atlantis is bleeding hardway. From his chin.

Oh, I liked that. Good match. And a decent show, though I preferred the tour opener in some ways. Still got the 19/1 show to go. Wrestling is fun again!

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The no entrance music thing is what led me to ditch ICW On Demand after a while. They don't have it due to licensing fees. I'd assume NJPW have a huge budget compared to ICW though so its bloody annoying. Amazing how off putting having no entrance themes is.

 

Anyway, that's the first review I've read of yours! Good stuff, keep it going. I'm really enjoying NJPW at the moment. Looking forward to catching these shows.

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I watched the Tanahashi vs Nakamura Intercontinental title rematch from Invasion Attack a few days back, might as well dump my thoughts in. The match is markedly different to their matches that I had previously seen. Tana works Nakamura's leg for practically the entire match setting up for his Cloverleaf, and acts a dick in front of a crowd that already seemed set on booing him, and being the model pro that he is, he plays up to it wonderfully, probably his best character performance since the Yano match in the 2011 G1. The Cloverleaf when it comes ends up a combination of a traditional version and a Liontamer in terms of how Shinskay gets bent, and looks brutal.

 

The ending is pretty special - Tanahashi hits his crossbody variant of the High Fly Flow but when he goes for the standard one, Nakamura brings his knees up but then sells like it's murdered them - which in fairness, it would. Nakamura grabs a desperation armbreaker but Tana reaches the ropes. As the ref is checking the champ is OK to continue, Nakamura blindsides him with a Boma Ye to the back of the head. He follows up with a middle rope big boot and then the middle rope flying Boma Ye (which perversely is not as devastating as the normal one), then when he goes for a normal Boma Ye, Hash brings up his forearms to block, but indeterred the challenger wipes him out with a seated, sliding version. Both regain their feet and as Tana hunches over, Nakamura clocks him with a running version of the Boma Ye which in truth is closer to a kneelift, and that's enough for to regain the belt he lost at Wrestle Kingdom 8. While I wasn't particularly in awe of that last move, in combination with the rest of the strike flurry, I bought that Tana was a beaten man. I could watch these two wrestle every day.

 

Today I watched Tanahashi VS Shibata from last year's G1 Climax as well. This was another match where Tana worked the leg and was a really exciting match when both were sparring over kicks, Sling Blade and PK attempts. In the end Tanahashi hit his High Fly Flow to the back but when he goes for the regular one (see a pattern here?) he meets Shibata's knees. I love Shibata, he's so sexy. Anyway, they have a fierce forearm battle that ends when Tana foolishly takes the piss with a slap round the face, and Shibata clocks him with a spinning backhand to take the clear advantage. He goes for Go To Sleep but Tana wriggles free but after a subsequent reversal Shibata nails it then immediately follows by smashing Tana with the PK for the win. The match was very good but you sensed they might have a bigger, better match on a bigger, more important show. Which of course, they ended up having.

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I know quite a few matches are like it, but has there been a match since that is quite like Ishii/Shibata from Oct 2013?

 

As in, two guys beating the shit out of each other until one goes flaccid and the bigger dick on the day is left to stand proud? Goto/Shibata from WK8, Goto/Shibata from G1 2014 Finals day, Ishii/Makabe from WK9. They're pretty much cock fights.

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Basically any combination of Ishii/Goto/Makabe/Shibata is two swinging bellends clanging off each other. I know you specified your time frame but Goto/Makabe from the 2012 G1 Korakuen show is a thing of joy. (Sorry, can't resist) I was there.

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Tomoaki Honma matches from the past 12 months are essentially dick swinging contests except everybody know Honma's a bit short in that department. He's 2013 Ishii just without the chance of winning.

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Slightly off-topic, but if anyone gets the chance to watch the Devitt/Finn Balor RTE2 documentary, broadcast a week or so before Christmas, it's well worth seeing. Unfortunately RTE have pretty much had it removed from the web & their site denies access to U.K residents. It features a decent amount of content from Japan; with Bullet Club, out on the town with New Japan sponsors (GLIO), Devitt & Anderson chopping the fuck out of some very willing & pretty reluctant Japanese blokes, at the NJPW Dojo, Devitt preparing for his final match & plenty of other behind the scenes stuff + footage from Devitt in ICW.

 

He also listed his injuries; 5 concussions, separated shoulder (multiple times), hyper-extended elbow, broken wrist, bruised kidney, broken wrist, broken tailbone, knee ligaments, torn knee cartilage, dislocated jaw & burst eardrum.
 

Edited by KingofSports
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I only just spotted you chose Kobashi and Omega for your avatar. Brilliant.

 

"Ritz crackers, Hard Gay, bed."

Best music video ever. Ok second best. And don't think I didn't notice your change too. "Hard toka hard"

 

I saw the trailer for Devitt's doc, the scene where they are chopping some of the sponser lads. And I used to think some Western fans lacked dignity.

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