Chon Shiryu vs Keisuke Ishii, Ganbare Pro 7/15/2024
Chon Shiryu big match!! I love Chon Shiryu, and this was a nice chance to see him do his thing. He is still really fast and slick, and his kung fu technique really add a lot to the Japanese big match formula. Initially Keisuke Ishii did not impress me, but he redeemed himself when he started destroying Shiryus mid section with violent looking knees. Ishii dropping Shiryus throat across the rope with a nasty move and then going for a piledriver on the apron made things quite intense. Shiryu pulls off some great transitions as usual that are a level above what you usually see in these matches, and his signature odd angle 619s and diving kicks still rule. Last couple minutes were buil around Shiryu taking crazy bumps, trying to crush Ishiis throat with his flying stomps, and delivering some really great glassy eyed selling as he kept dying and ressurrecting over and over. Could have done with a few nearfalls less, but what the hell, you don’t get to see Shiryu doing matches like this often! I also like that they made a spinning wheel kick into a finisher in 2024.
Super Taira vs Kenta Kosugi, Sportiva 10/30/2024
Really good match that told a great story, was interesting all the way
through and had some great wrestling. I really like Super Taira, who has
such a diverse skillset. In this case he was facing Kosugi who is like
twice his size, so he couldn't do much lucha libre or llaves, so Tairas
answer was to just try and rush him with leg kicks. Taira kicking at
Kosugi and trying to hurt his legs was simple but really good. Anytime
Kosugi fired back, he looked like an absolute bear. I cannot emphasize
enough that every single moment in this match mattered and added to the
story. I loved the way Kosugi would slap his knees to try as if to try
and get some feeling back into it after taking damage. Taira using his
agility in interesting ways and trying to grab submissions was really
good. There were some really choice counters without being too cute. By
the end Kosugi was basically an angry bear mauling Taira with Taira
trying to hit a desperation move and get a flash pin or submission. I
really like a simplistic wrestling match that ads some interesting
touches, and this one really hits thats spot.
Demus vs. Lunatik Xtreme, Zona 23 1/21
I am not super interested in deathmatches at this point, there are only
so many idiotic bumps one can see before it gets old, and I have little
interest in seeing guys stand around and rubbing light tubes in each
others face. That said the psychotic violence here was really fun with
the apocalyptic junkyard bumps. Early brawling could have been better,
aside from Demus great elbows there was still a bit much of idle walking
around and an exhibitiony feeling to me. Match took a steep upturn when
Xtreme started hitting those wild stomps. After some fun comeuppance we
get Demus throwing what is pretty much the greatest punch combo I've
ever seen in a match and some savage headbutt exchanges which were
easily the highlight. I honestly expected the match to go longer so the
finish was an amusing surprise. I didn't like it as much as I liked
Black Terry vs Wotan or Ricky Marvin from memory, but it was a fun slice
of psycho violence.
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