Best of the Velocity Matches #6

 Tajiri vs Billy Kidman, 9/17/2002

You give Tajiri 4 minutes to have a match, you're gonna get a really nice match. Even though this was short, it had everything. Cool armwork from Tajiri, Kidman doing a nice job selling said armwork and making one-armed comebacks, surprising nearfalls, and a neat finish. Tajiris kicks certainly hold up very well and his Arn Anderson-like focus is just great.

Albert vs Funaki, 9/17/2002

This was really fun. Albert had it rough in 2002, feuding and trading wins on Velocity with Funaki, but he gave his everything into these matches. Really exemplifies hard work. Funaki barrages Albert with fast dropkicks to start, they do some cool big man vs small man action, and Albert clobbers Funaki with great looking Vader hammers. Crowd is really into hating Albert, I guess looking fat hairy and disgusting is excellent heel work in itself. Funaki working Alberts chest hair rules and the crowd popping big for the finish is once again awesome.

Crash vs The Hurricane, 9/17/2002

This has a really amusing backstage promo. Funaki (who had just taken a beating from Albert) interviews Crash backstage telling him he will face THE HURRICANE and Crash does this really funny terrified face. The match is fun too. Hurricane is an amusing goofy babyface and Crash feeds into him in all kinds of interesting ways. Nobody ever talks about guys like Crash or Hurricane anymore and that's why it's cool to discover how they would work a match. Neither guy here is a generic highflying cruiserweight or technician so just the way they do things is cool. There are some fun reversals, Hurricane teasing the CHOKESLAM, a really well timed nearfall for a pin with the foot on the ropes etc. Just fun all around.

 Crash vs Billy Kidman, 9/24/2002

Crash rules. He's such a great stooge, he's sneaky, and he is great at pulling off odd and interesting stuff without coming across as cute. Kidman doesn't show a ton of fire but he is good enough when he needs to sell and he obviously has the athleticism to go hard.. This had some great backwork from Crash, including dropping Kidman over the guardrail with an awesome backbreaker, Crash feeding into Kidman in interesting ways, Crash countering Kidmans bulldog that normally sets up his finish, and then immediately stealing it, plus the way Crash does the finish is awesome.

John Cena vs D-Von Dudley, 9/24/2002

Rookie Cena is a lot of fun to watch. He has really good form on everything, and you don't know what he's gonna bust out. His cookie cutter arm drags and shoulder blocks control segment is cool, and he takes a BIG bump face down to the floor when D-Von cuts him off. D-Von nails him with a really hard clothesline and then takes a big bump of his own missing an elbow drop off the top. Cena at this point is oddly athletic - he hits a really sweet dropkick, counters D-Vons finisher by backflipping out in an impressive display. Great nearfall here when Cena is able to survive D-Vons nasty looking neckbreaker off the ropes. The finish is neat too as they do a callback to the cut off. Cena wins with a sunset flip over the ropes of all things and whoever does that anymore? I love pro wrestling.
 

Ice Ribbon ADVERSITY NINE 6/25/2011

 

Adversity Nine Match: Emi Sakura vs Hikaru Shida vs Chii Tomiya vs Tsukushi vs Kurumi vs Mochi Miyagi vs Mary Naito vs Maki Narumiya vs Dorami Nagano

This match had an insane stipulation. It was a gauntlet of double round robin singles matches with a 1 minute time limit, with everybody facing everybody for 1 minute each, two times. So that means what you get here is 72 consecutive singles matches in a bit over an hour. That is the kind of insane thing that I absolutely have to check out, and it was absolutely worth it because this ruled and absolutely worked in every way.

A big part of why the match works so well is the set hierarchy and entry order. The wrestlers are ordered from strongest (Sakura) to weakest (Nagano). The clue is that everybody faces each other twice. So, Nagano has to start facing the strongest wrestlers, but after surviving that, the following round the weakest wrestlers are added back to the end of the gauntlet. That means even the high ranked wrestlers would get in trouble, because after facing 8 opponents in a row not getting beaten by the weakest wrestler in the group would be challenging even for them. After going through so many opponents it becomes challenging to not get tapped by even a basic Boston Crab, and that is really compelling.

Another reason for why this match works so well is that everybody here had a character and they were all working their own separate stories. The main goal was clear – for the weaker wrestlers, survive the gauntlet taking as few Ls as possible, and then try to beat the stronger wrestlers later when they have to face you at the end of the gauntlet. For the stronger wrestlers, pick up as many Ws as possible and then try not to lose to weak ass Maki Narumiya or Dorami Nagano. Before watching this I was not familiar with the 2011 Ice Ribbon roster at all. I know Emi Sakura, I vaguely know about Shida and Tsukushi, I didn’t really know anyone else, but watching the match I got really into almost everybody here. You had someone like Shida, who is a badass who can tap out everybody and drop bombs, and then you had the likes of Maki Narumiya with nothing except a good overhand chop and a torture rack. Watching someone like Narumiya fight really hard and try to get a W despite her limitations was really cool. Everybody here brought something unique to the table, and because of the 1 minute format everyone could just get in, try to win, and get out before getting exposed. There was also plenty of stylistic variety - you had the surely badass Shida with her straight forward armbars and knee strikes, the slick technician Chii, the explosive rookie Tsukushi, the more surely power moves of Kurumi or Miyagi, the basic rookie moves of Dorami Nagano etc. I’m not sure if I would want to watch someone like Mochi Miyagi or Dorami Nagano in a normal match but in this setting they were really cool because they played part in a bigger story and freshened things up. The only wrestler who looked downright shitty was Mary Naito, even that can be kind of forgiven because she was never in the ring very long and in some case just got in to lose in 10 seconds.

Because of the 1 minute format, flash pins and submissions became important, which is always nice because it means you get more than just bomb dropping. Ice Ribbon is kind of flash pin central, and there were some really cool ones. Hikaru Shida was by far the biggest badass in the match, she was acing this thing tapping everybody out with cool out of nowhere armbars. I was also surprised by Chii Tomiya, who looked like a really slick wrestler with cool flash pins and a variety of ways to finish her opponents. Emi Sakura is of course the big boss and she played that role to perfection, and when it was time to go hard she did go hard. The first few gauntlets here were compelling due to the story being told with a few great moments and payoffs, but the last couple rounds when it was Tomiya, Shida and Sakura going through the gauntlet were some of the finest wrestling I’ve ever seen. The ‘any move can finish’ factor really made this edge of your seat stuff and there were some awesome counters and upsets, without going overboard. Watching the top ranked wrestlers try to survive the weakest opponents was fascinating. Tsukushi was really young here, and while her execution wasn’t perfect she’s a cool wildcard with her slick flash pins and high energy, also kicked Sakura flash in the face at one point. After the gauntlet is done the two wrestlers with the best score face off for another round to settle it and it’s a really cool ‘throw the kitchen sink and try to win’ scrap. Really one of the most unique matches I’ve ever seen, it was shockingly well put together, told a great story with wide cast of characters and delivered some awesome wrestling while the match time flew by. It’s the kind of insane thing that I would like to see tried again, although I think it can only really work in joshi. Emi Sakura, you are a whacky genius.

 

The Library

2025 Wrestling Week 1

 Michio Kageyama vs Cosmo Soldier, Sportiva 1/1

No better way to start wrestling in 2025 with Sportiva. This was really raw, just two tough old guys trying to smash each other which is kind of the best type of Japanese pro wrestling. Cosmo Soldier is such a force of chaos. He looks like a stereotypical masked hero, but his moves are somewhere between graceful and reckless, and often more reckless. I especially liked his 619 that cracked Kageyama square in the face. Kageyama was up there with him here, trying to smash him with vicious kicks and that old Sportiva bar stool, even tearing off Cosmos protective bandage to kick him in the spine harder.. He acted like a real scumbag, too. There is something savage about Cosmo hitting a suicide dive on that wooden bar floor. Add in some skull cracking headbutts from Cosmo and yeah, this definitely adds up to a match worth checking out.

Yasu Kubota vs Ari Najima, Sportiva 1/1

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. Yasu Kubota is an old scumbag, but he's the champion now and he puts in effort, in his own scummy way. Ari Najima is really good as the young hotness, he's explosive and hits really hard, and it's really interesting to see how the much less physically intimidating champion would respond. The answer is that Kubota put in an almost Bret-Hart-like workman performance, giving Najima a stiff working over. He was really mauling Najima with nasty elbows and really cranking back on those spine stretches, and using his experience to his advantage. So even though Najima is younger, faster, cooler, it was believable that Kubota could put him through the wringer, and that is impressive. I also loved Kubota busting out the reverse gory special to target Najimas weak back further. Smart match that I think people will really enjoy, that really told a good story and was a good long form title match for the small confines of a humble sportsbar.

2025 Wrestling Roundup

2025 Wrestling Roundup

 I admit I have a bit of a tough time keeping up with current wrestling. There is simply a bit much of it, with the stuff that I am interested in being kind of hard to find. To better myself, I will try to watch at least 1 match from the current year, let's see how much good stuff we can find.

2025 Wrestling Worth Watching:

January

Cosmo Soldier vs Michio Kageyama, Sportiva 1/1

Yasu Kubota vs Ari Najima, Sportiva 1/1