KO-D Openweight Title Match: Tetsuya Endo vs Konosuke Takeshita - DDT Max Bump 2017 29/04/2017
An hour draw is always interesting. I don’t believe I’ve seen it in Korakuen Hall, however and I’ve always wanted to see how the crowd would respond in such a place. I think the first half of the match was well worked, albeit stretched out. Not necessarily through pace, because it was done at a normal speed, everything just felt extended. The match escalated well though, leading to a huge blow out for the second half with a bigger crowd brawl than the one they had earlier in the bout and a total bombfest with big suplexes and finishers. Nothing seemed to work, and both guys sold that really well with their expressions and urgency. ****
Katsuyori Shibata vs Tomoaki Honma - NJPW G-1 Climax 2014 Day 8 03/08/2014
Damn I forgot how good Honma was around this period. This had the raw brutality that Shibata matches have but the extra flair and investing focal point in Honma. Shibata batters Honma, Honma more than gives it back, more so you could argue. Honma's selling was awesome. His comebacks were well timed and had some much energy behind them that you can't help, but root for him. The PK block by Honma was a great "WTF" moment and then when Shibata slapped the piss out of him, you expected him to fall but fuck that, Honma says. And he bitch slaps him right back, knocking Shibata for a loop. I got goosebumps for that. Tons of good stuff like this throughout. ****1/2
Empty Arena Match: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano - WWE NXT 08/04/2020
I enjoyed it on some ironic level and I was kind of hoping that it's come full circle into legit enjoyment but the whole match was so messy it could've ever stop stepping on its toes. The trash talking was so bad. It's like they saw the Taker/AJ match and decided to do more of that. Taker vs AJ did it in a more natural way and in away that doesn't come across as so lame. Shouts of "HE'S GOT A BAD NECK" just makes me incapable of taking the wrestling seriously. The portion where they wrestled on top of the truck was so illogical. They had a super kick exchange/double sell spot on top of the truck. They didn't make any use of it at all, there was no purpose for Ciampa to lure Gargano on the truck. He didn't try to throw him off. He didn't slam him on the roof or anything. The only point of the truck was so they could have their signature spot on a truck rooftop. And that sums up the match for me. It was done so it'd be a cool visual and thats it. The finish was so bad. Russo-riffic swerves that make zero sense. Why did Candice LeRae only now coming out to stop the match? Why did she low blow Gargano in the balls only to do it to Ciampa a few minutes later? Why didn't she just do it to Ciampa then? Her acting for the entire bit was horrific, too. Primary school level. No conviction, no believability.
This was clearly a physical match. They bumped big, they wailed each other with weapon shots but it was done in a way that takes all that away. Ciampa took the crutch shots like a champ - god bless him - but the crutch use is so passe at this point in the feud. The ring boards being exposed meant absolutley nothing in the match outside of a visual pin for Ciampa. It was just there. It means nothing to me by this point. And it takes away from the good parts of the match that could've worked if there was something to these spots.
Bad match. I had fun watching but just writing this review showed to me just how bad this match was.
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