2002 MOTY List Update

 Bryan Danielson vs. Low Ki (JAPW 6/7/2002)

Probably the greatest matwork in a US indy match ever. Both guys were incredibly vicious here: Danielson would crossface Low Ki really hard aswell as drop knees on the ground, not to mention just trying to pull Kis head off when working facelocks. Kis focus was basically to create openings using his knee strikes etc. Ki was pretty outmatched, but still came up with a few brilliant counters. While this was largely uncooperative, they came up with a few great holds such as Ki trying to split Danielsons legs. Bryans using the modified surfboard to set up the Cattle Mutilation is the greatest use of that move aswell. Then Ki is able to get out of that too. Ki picking up Danielson and ramming him into the buckles before collapsing was another great comeback. Danielson slapping Ki only to get clocked with a head kick was another all time moment. Danielson moving to the corner as seen as Ki kneed him was a smart use of ring positioning. Danielson crawling to the apron and just taking a bump to the floor when Ki hit him instead of doing some elaborate apron spot was a brief of fresh air compared to current day apron spot obsessed pro wrestling. The match lost a bit of it's greatness when they were fighting on the floor and I thought they could have done a better job with the finish. By all logic, the whole thing should have ended with the 2^nd Cattle Mutilation. I don't want to nitpick though, because this was a seriously great, inspiring match.

Momoe Nakanishi vs. Kumiko Maekawa (AJW 2/24/2002)

Here's something I never thought I would see: a 40 minute long joshi match that I didn't hate. Initially I thought this was the match that Phil infamously picked apart, but apparently that one went 60 minutes. They seemed to have found a decent middle ground here. There were some problems and you could've shaved off 20 minutes and came out with an amazing match, but this is good in its own right. I'd say this was easily better than the 40 minute long garbage NJPW has been pumping out for years, and pretty much any Toyota sprint. You had the psycho violence of Maekawa kicking Nakanishi around the ring, including a crane kick that left Nakanishi spitting blood for the rest of the match, but also a surprisingly great understanding of the mechanics. For example, Nakanishi was initially avoiding the inevitable Boston Crab, which made Maekawa eventually being able to lock it in feel rewarding. It's a small detail but such things help keeping lengthy matches interesting and it shows they gave a shit about more than just hitting their big spots. Nakanishis gradual comeback from getting her back worked over was great as she was initially struggling to hit her spots. Here dives were smart. Nakanishi also showed a surprising amount of violence, aggressively elbowing Maekawa in the back of the head for example and hitting some nasty dropkicks and headbutts. Maekawa, of course, had a brilliant array of brutal kicks. I also loved her breaking out the green mist. All the control segments were well executed and there were few quite great hope spots/cut offs. There were a lot of nearfalls, but due to Nakanishis offense mostly being rollups I thought it never came into stupid overkill territory. Also, the Momoe Latch is a great spot and Maekawa had a few neat ways to counter it. Leg work was obviously filler, but well executed and didn't go long.

 Ian Rotten vs. Tarek the Great (IWA MS 10/4/2002) 

Two pasty tubby methheads in black shirts work a quasi shootstyle match in front of 30 people. While this was a little clumsy and slow in parts this was probably better than any cafeteria shootstyle I've seen from the current generation of US indy wannabe shooters. And in fact they should study this one as it had a lot of stuff that is missing from their attempts: stiff blows while trading holds to create an opening, holding tight to your holds and pin attempts, trying to prevent the other guy from moving etc. There was a neat moment where Ian would apply an STF and headbutt Tarek in the back of his head. Tarek is really hilarious as his entire idea of selling is pretty much „scream really loudly“ so anytime Ian would do as much as squeeze him he would scream like a japanese female wrestler. All in the same tone mind you. He was okay though and Ian looked very good twisting up his leg etc. The headbutts in this were insane especially the falling headbutts that left the lady in the striped pullover wincing. Memorable finish. This is what indy wrestling should be.

Low Ki vs. Amazing Red (PWF 11/10/2002)

Borderline great match well worth powering through the absolutely awful commentary. They worked a slightly more intricate version of their usual match here, adding some especially cool counters and cut offs to the mix. The main reason the work between these two guys ages well is that instead of building to thigh slapping flying knee strikes or Go 2 Sleep variations they add stiff kicks to the chest and nasty turnbuckle bumps to the mix. Note how violent something like Kis hair pulling toss felt not to mention the headbutts. Could've gone longer but I guess that's a good thing.

2002 MOTY MASTER LIST