NOAH IWTV Workrate Report
WHAT WORKED:
TKG: Fuck IZU's gotten great. Rhodes and Yone are a real sweet team as both are really great at the selling. Rhodes really sells more like Dick Murdoch then like Dusty, which rules. Trevor doesn't sell getting hit in the cock as well as Dustin though. Yone's sell for a Sano german is the highlight of the match. Yone also takes a rail ride really well which is a requirement in NOAH. Fun lil match. I'd like to see Rhodes work as part of Battlarts trio with Ikeda and Yone.
PAS: Took a while to get going, but was alot of fun by the end. Rhodes is a blast in this as he looks like the best guy in the ring. I would really like to see a Trevor Rhodes/Frank Murdoch Texas Outlaws 2000. Shit Modest brings over every ex-APW trainee that they haven't killed yet, why not Murdoch.
TKG: Holy shit is Momota over like a mutha. When Suzuki is in with Marvin he looks good, but in a real touring indy way. When Suzuki's in with anyone else it falls apart. Honda and Ikeda are awesome working each other and I want to see a singles match. Suwa/ Marvin is really a great pair of rudos. they should be able to do something with the mediocre flashy technicos that hold the belts. Suwa shows up in dress slacks and a black polo shirt, which makes him almost look classy. I don't know wether you should introduce Suwa to your audience as a classy looking guy.I wish Arakan had also escaped the Russo booked Matrats that is Dragon's Gate. Really as that would be the best of all worlds. I wouldn't have to buy Toryumon to see their two best workers. And the U.S. Toryumon fans wouldn't have to worry that Suwa or Araken's ugly mug will show up on the TV screen killing the mood right as they're trying to polish one off.
PAS: 8 man tag was the world's best 4 minute Impact main event. Marvin does an awesome job of rudoing for useless Suzuki, as he really only looks like a wrestler when he is working Marvin. Honda and Ikeda are alot of fun brawling outside the ring, they have had a half a dozen singles against each other and they never show up on tape. SUWA is the only guy in Dragon's Gate I ever want to see wrestle so I am jazzed he is out of that shithole. I like him dragging away Marvin, and Marvin's distressed look, I would be distress too, SUWA is way facially uglier then Negro Casas. Last time Marvin was accosted by a guy with a face that pockmarked he had a gun pointed at his head.
TKG: Hey Takayama at ring side. I'm really glad that he's out of the hospital. But when exactly did he become a scenester? He's got the bleached hair, the ironic mustache and the Thrift store bowling shirt with Gordon stitched on the pocket. Is Morishima still sporting the dyed jet black hair? Cause a hipster vs. goth heavyweight feud might rule. Either that or NOAH needs to bring in Swoll.
PAS: Yeah he looked like the bassest in the Fiery Furnaces. You're Takayama the best heavyweight in the world, you don't need to troll rock shows for medicated outcast chicks.
PAS: Motherfuck was Marifuji v. Suzuki fun. All of the old school babyface avoidance was great, and the reversal finish stuff was just awesome. The middle section where Suzuki was torturing Marifuji was a bit long, they should have cut five minutes or given Marifuji some more hope spots. For sloppy highspot guy v. backyarder this was way better then the Jardi Franz v. M Dogg 20 match from PWG.
TKG: OOH I dug this a ton. Marifuji is good at eating offense and being fired up and just played his part perfectly. I was less bothered by the torturing section than Phil. Match started with underdog junior face getting a bunch of offense on heavyweight before the torturing section started. The torture section did feel a little one sided as Marifuji should have gotten one or two escapes during it. So yeah Phil may be right but I still dug it. But everyones offense felt sensible. Both played their roles really well. While match wasn't worked Pancrase style at all , I liked the way that all the near falls had feel of worked-shoot Pancrase near falls, all about putting on the submission near the ropes and then they would go for the PRO-style delayed reaching for ropes heat spot. Neat lil match.
PAS: Man Low-Ki v. Kanemaru was the best Low-Ki match in ages. Ki looked like the better guy here, as his stuff looked awesome. I especially liked the transition from the Dragon clutch to the rope assisted crossarmbreaker, crazy cannonball double stomp and the Phoenix splash where he got unreal hight. Kanemaru was pretty great although some of his stuff was a little off, he had alot of nifty ideas to sell his arm (floor DDT, the brainbuster switch) but would forget to sell in the middle sections. I did like how he would trap the leg and arm when Ki was pinned near the ropes. Great finish too, as Ki barely kicks out of the first brainbuster, but is done and Kanemaru has to drag him up deadweighted to hit the second. I haven't seen the Danielson TOSJ or Jack Evans Wrestle Aid Project stuff, but this is the best ROH guy in Japan match I have seen.
TKG: Best ROH guy in Japan? I think Ox Baker may have worked Rusher in a cage once. And well I liked Ogawa vs. Doug Williams, although this was better than that. I mean ooh this was sweet. I dug Ki vs. Styles in Japan but ham having a hard time remembering any other high end Japan Ki.This was high end. The Ki splays his legs to go deadweight on second brainbuster thing that Schneider mentions made the finish. Ki does a RIdiculous frogsplash into double stomp getting big height. I've never been a big fan of Tajiri's submission in the ropes spot which became the INDY move of 1999, but here Ki is working the submission as a heel spot instead of jut a pop the audience spot and it works nicely, as he forces Kanemura into one rope assisted wear down hold after another. Came off dickish, and worked well in the match. They should save Ki vs. Aoyagi for Onita's next retirement tour.
PAS: Jesus fuck I am a Dark Agents mark, but I wasn't expecting this. My NOAH MOTY, best tag I have seen all year. This was Inoue's match, and it was the performance of a career. He starts out playing the pussy heel he played in the other tags, poking Misawa in his eyes, begging off and looking shocked everytime he hit something, over the course of the match though he grows, and by the end he has a cocky smirk on his face as he is hitting his spots. Even his stuff looked good, as he was throwing some nasty lariats, which usually stink from him. Everyone else was really good in this too, as Misawa continues to work like Fuchi, as he and Ogawa were just contemptuously beating on Inoue, including smacking him in the back of the head, every once in a while he would wander in the ring and elbow the shit out of someone. Ogawa works the majority of the match and plays his scummy role to the tee, while Saitio is just a wrecking machine. Inoue is Von Erich over, and the crowd goes bezerk for his near falls. Dumb marks talk shit about Misawa as a booker, because he doesn't always book the match which would sell the most Lynch tapes, but they don't know shit, Motherfucking INOUE is like Carlos Colon.
TKG: Man the thing about Misawa working like Fuchi here is that Inoue is not Kikuchi. No not at all. As Misawa is working old man disrespectfully torturing and abusing Inoue but Inoue isn't working spunky underdog. Inoue at beginning of the match is working guy who deserves lack of respect. Inoue starts match working pretty much solely eye rake offense. Doing the standard eye rake as well as the Bobby Eaton TV champion drag across top rope eye rake to two sides of the ring. Misawa is just kingsize at selling an eye rake. The other important thing that gets established early in the match is the difference between Inoue and Ogawa. As Ogawa is at his best working as scummy guy who doesn't deserve to be GHC champion, weak guy who gets by through guile. Inoue is a different kind of weak as there seems to be no guile behind it. The contrast tween the two is big part of the match. Ogawa disrespectfully waves Inoues hand in front of Saito for Inoue to tag out so a real wrestler can tag in, Saito stomps on Inoues chest "c'mon toughen up this is for the belts". And he does as he is working the match of his life, including just a awesome awesome escape into backslide nearfall. Damn that was a great backslide. Ogawa sells an Argentine backbreaker better than anyone you've ever seen. Inoue realizes that he's in the match of his career and there is this whole what will it take to put him away section. I normally don't like "what will it take " sections. but this one really worked in the context of this guy deciding that this was going to be THE MATCH of his career. Great finish, hot crowd, mist and me at home popping for backslides.
TKG: I don't know really after the tag nothing was gonna really impress me. They really needed a heat killer match or something. Taue gets in a bunch of athletic highflying stuff in early. Really athletic pretty looking enzigiri, a pretty dropkick and his great tope. And when that much big athletic offense is front loaded like that you kind of expect, well if they're loading it all in the front than they aren't going to give him alot down the stretch. Well your expectations are wrong. As they work the entire match as Taue athletic highflyer vs. Kobashi guy trying to ground him. Really not the way you'd expect these two to work each other. Taue does some of the Kobashi buy the numbers put Kobashi in a figure four stuff, but Taue has a couple interesting leg things he can do; Indian deathlock, drop kick the knee into dragon screw, etc. Kobashi sells the leg work less than he does in most of his matches. Taue ranas into position to hit his Chichubu cement, Kobashi kicks out and its essentially over. Which is one of my problems with the Kobashi title matches is that he essentially kills his opponents finisher. Akiyama hits top rope exploder. Kobashi doesn't go to ropes or anything he just kicks out and the audience is left going "well Akiyama has nothing left in his bag of tricks". Taue hits rana , top rope SUPAFLY splash and chichubu cement, Kobashi kicks out at 2.9. At least if he rolled out of ring you might think Taue has a chance. but after kickout its just foregone conclusion. Taue rules and this is good match, but really nothing was gonna impress me after the Darkness Agents.
PAS: Considering Taue is Kobashi's senior, it was really weird that they worked this as a KENTA trial series match. Taue has really sweet highspots, the tope had a real Satanico feel to it. Both guys really chopped the shit out of each other, with Taue having some especially nasty chops to the neck. Taue also hits an I AM TAUE to the floor to set up his second long section of offense, and Tom is right about Kobashi shrugging stuff off. You almost want him to go back to crying. The trapped arm Burning Hammer is a nasty bump for a lumpy old man to be taking on his neck.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
TKG: Wow the health club works as Kawabata has really slimmed down. He looks like he could challenge for the Jr belt. This match was a mess. Reminded me of Sano vs. Takayama as yes it was stiff, but two guys never on the same page.
PAS: I usually enjoy Family Gundan matches, but this really felt like it needed Momota to hold it together. They were chopping the shit out of each other, but not much more.
TKG: Go is supposed to be the new heavyweight and he doesn't look much bigger than Hashi. Akiyama really doesn't give Rikio enough. Pacing felt all off and this was kind of meandering. Hashi looks to have waxed his eyebrows thin. That plus his new haircut make him look like Rudy Reyna, which adds a whole neat gay spin on the older man toughening up younger man thing him and Akiyama have going. Neither guy is particularly pretty so I don't think this angle has any chance of sucking in the Dragon's Gate fans. They have Owashi for their bear needs.
PAS: Go has multiple really nice variations of 60's style back bump dropkick, and eats stuff well, but he isn't as good as your average New Japan Young Lion. His strikes can be stiff, but he really throws these ridiculous looping Gene Snisky style forearms. Akiyama v. Hashi is always fun, but Akiyama seemed to be doing even less selling then usual in these matches.