WWE NXT 01/09/19: Fabian Aicher & Marcel Barthel vs. Hector Kunsman & Stanley Watts
An absolutely AWESOME sub-5 minute competitive squash. Barthel was such a
delight on the offense; lovely, violent stuff on the ground - totally
popped big time for him putting his foot on top of his opponents face
during the beginning when he took him down by the wrist immediately.
Gave me some Regal vibes. Aicher was very good w/ his power moves too,
and the two jobbers were goddamn great with their short comeback bursts -
such great, scrappy energy behind everything they did, in particular w/
Stanley Watts. They also bumped their asses off for Aicher &
Barthel, and truly made them look like the most interesting tag going in
their TV debut. Well worth the watch! ***1/2
NJPW G1 Climax 23: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii
A motherfuckin' slugfest & a half (to say the least) w/ an
exceptionally explosive pace right from the get go - loved the crowd
when Ishii & Shibata started pacing on their corners before the bell
rang, and oh boy when that bell did rang, they just went at it w/ hard
hit after hard hit, bomb after bomb, bomb after bomb. The strikes, the
explosiveness, the length of the thing + the amazing timing of the
'can-be-corny'-Fighting Spirit stuff make this a real special deal.
****1/2
NJPW Battle Rush 1995: Lord Steven Regal vs. Shinya Hashimoto
The greatness starts right as the bell rings as Hashimoto immediately rushes Regal, only for Regal to evade & react to it amazingly. I think his reaction to that start really showcased the beauty of the differences in their in-ring styles. Then once they lock up, it doesn't take long for Regal to ground Hash, and then bust his nose open by brutally holding him down. After that it's mostly Regal on top, with Hash making a few explosive comebacks here & there, and it's just absolutely fantastic - Regal eventually decides to go after Hash's face because of the blood coming from his nose, and he does all kinds of mean, nasty & violent things to it. My goodness. The post-match w/ them showing respect to each other by hitting each other HARD is one of my things ever, too. Just about everything you could ask from a Regal vs. Hashimoto match, really. One of my favorite matches of all-time, and something I'll never get tired of watching, BUT still feels like it is missing something to get the full fiveski. ****3/4
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