Guest Tim Cooke Report post Posted April 1, 2002 A few comments on some recent matches. American Dragon v Low Ki (2/24/01) Finally a match that didn't make me want to tell Low Ki to go fuck himself. That said, the match didn't over impress me but laid the basics out fairly well. I thought the match overall was a bit rushed going just a tad over 11:00 minutes from my timer, but what they did in that time made up for it as they didn't do a Chris Daniels/AJ Styles spot fest. They were able to lay out the match in a way to build a brand new match but also keeping in mind what had happened previously in the tournament. Dragon looked spectacular as usual with a great showing of pacing, logic, and overall carrying job. Around ***3/4 on my scale. I look forward to checking out the 7/20/01 rematch sometime tommorow. Jay Briscoe v Mark Briscoe (5/12/01) Wow. This match had some really good things but in the end came out a mess. First, the good things. I liked how they tried to actually do some mat work/flashy work without blowing half a dozen arm drags and screwing up headscissors. But from there it goes down hill. The Briscoe's lack any personality or charisma. They just go out there and do there thing and when they try to inject some crowd participation, they look out of place. I hate reading about Benoit not having charisma, which he obviously does or else people wouldn't be able to get into his matches at all. The Briscoe's are a million times worse charismatic wise. They lack the character to differenciate between every day Indy wrestler and "star". Spanky just oozes with personality, American Dragon brings such stellar mat work and skills that they make up for any character flaws, Low Ki has the kicks (even if I disagree with the use of them 1 out of 2 times) while the Briscoe's just don't do it for me. A good attempt and no doubt their best singles matches, barring Jay's match with Spanky at ROH on Sat being better. *3/4 I won't do match by match stuff for the following as it would take forever but go out now and get the Choshu's Army Invades AJPW series if you don't have it yet. I spent a lot of last week dubbing and dubbing these tapes over and over and got to watch the stuff numerous times. The foundation and perspective these tapes lay for the modern AJPW (1990's era) makes them so valuable to see. Plus they are great matches and show how far ahead Japanese wrestling has always been in front of US stuff. If someone were to ask me my favorite or number one wrestler of all time, I would have to go with Jumbo right now, as he has just shined in everything I have seen him in. That's all for now. Tim Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest HopeSpot Report post Posted April 1, 2002 Pride FC "Bad Blood" If you're looking for an introduction to MMA look no further. UFC is second rate compared to Pride as they hit a home run like no other with this show. Ken Shamrock looked fantastic and silenced all of his critics in North America. I'd go into the show more deeply but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, beats Excite Series 2002 as the best Wrestling/MMA event of the year so far. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Tim Cooke Report post Posted April 2, 2002 American Dragon v Spanky (2/24/01) I saw their KOTI 2001 match a few months back and thought it was very awesome. This was their first "National Tape" meeting, excluding the Memphis and WWF develpoment work that they have done against each other. This was way too short as opposed to the KOTI match which probably went 2-3 minutes too long. Even with its shortness, the match was played out to perfection, with Dragon being the elder wrestler, knowing how to break down Spanky by fucking with his arm. Spanky plays the energetic babyface who you want to root for and makes his comebacks great. After this match, all I want is more Spanky and more Dragon. American Dragon v Low Ki (7/20/01) Well, what do you know, its more Dragon. I watched their Super 8 match yesturday and was kind of tired so I don't think I was able to completely grasp it. I was ready to take on this match though and complain about Low Ki's "stiff for no reason" and "horrible selling." After the match, I find myself praising this match a lot. The main reasons why this worked so well was that the match was focused. Dragon carried the main portion of the match, killing Low Ki's arm and Low Ki actually doing a great job selling it. Ki is also able to set up all of his highspots well and they made sense. At one point, he is getting beat down so bad that Dragon Irish Whips him, Ki ducks a clothesline, ducks another, and comes off the second rope with his spin kick. That was a mighty fine transition, as opposed to Ki usually doing it for no reason. Later in the match, Ki kicks out the Dragon Suplex. Dragon has Ki set up for the Dragon Suplex off the top rope, Kik blocks and is able to pull off his 450 thing, which I usually want to throw up at. The only thing that soured me a little on this match was a few of the nearfalls at the end. They did about 3-5 nearfalls just off of stiff shots, which after pulling out Dragon Suplexes and Ki's Fisherman's buster, they were almost anticlimatic. But other than that, I am fully satisfied. ****1/2. Dragon is the BEST US Indy Wrestler currently, hands down. Tim, who finally doesn't have a Low Ki match that makes me pull my hair out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Report post Posted April 3, 2002 I haven't seen the Dragon v Low Ki match, but I just wanted to comment on the fact that they had some near-falls off stiff shots near the end. Haven't quite a few great matches been decided with stiff shots, rather than some elaborate move. Misawa v Kobashi (1/97) and a Hokuta match (ended with a punch) some to mind. Like I say, I haven't seen the match yet, but I quite like it when they do that towards the end of a long match as it kinda adds to the realism, showcasing the fatigue and desperation. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Tim Cooke Report post Posted April 3, 2002 "Like I say, I haven't seen the match yet, but I quite like it when they do that towards the end of a long match as it kinda adds to the realism, showcasing the fatigue and desperation." It depends on the match and how they are working the matches. Misawa v Kawada was deeply rooted in the some of the best spychology ever, in which MIsawa's elbow was a viable way to finish the match. In the Dragon v Ki match, they did such a great job building in the first 18 minutes that I felt the nearfalls involving the forearn smashes didn't make sense in the context of this match. Even so, it is still a fantastic match and something that actually made me see something potentially in Ki and made Dragon a top flight worker in the US right now. The stiffness and blows in other Low Ki matches are hwta bring those matches down to me sometimes. Ki just doesn't look credible doing some of this against bigger guys or guys who have no clue how to sell them. Tim, who doesn't want to even try to explain thoughts on the horrible Ki v Homicide and Ki v Xavier matches. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Captian Linger Report post Posted April 3, 2002 I haven't seen the Dragon v Low Ki match, but I just wanted to comment on the fact that they had some near-falls off stiff shots near the end. Haven't quite a few great matches been decided with stiff shots, rather than some elaborate move. Misawa v Kobashi (1/97) and a Hokuta match (ended with a punch) some to mind. Like I say, I haven't seen the match yet, but I quite like it when they do that towards the end of a long match as it kinda adds to the realism, showcasing the fatigue and desperation. The punch finish to Hokuto-Kandori was so beautiful. Hokuto basically, in matches of the like, gives so much that she puts her body through hell to get the job done. Kandori, having been put through Hokuto's hellish-ness:), had nothing left after about 30 minutes of brutallity they dished out on eachother. Suffice to say, all they could muster were punches after all that. It's on of those 'smart' endings. But I found it funny that the crowd didn't really get it until after the fact. Hokuto covers and NO ONE counts along and all of the sudden the place errupts like 'oh yeah...she's DEAD!!!". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest J*ingus Report post Posted April 4, 2002 I agree that Dragon is very impressive, but you know, there's one thing that keeps me from getting into his matches, and that's his looks. Dragon is one of the ugliest young men that I've ever seen, and his nose/overbite/hairstyle are SO bad that it actually turns me off of his matches. (And I'm a hetero male, so it must be really bad to do that.) I know, it's such a shallow reason to dislike a worker, but I can't help it, I just don't like watching the guy. Especially since he had one of the coolest masks in the history of wrestling back in TWA, which he lost for whatever stupid reason. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Tim Cooke Report post Posted April 4, 2002 "I agree that Dragon is very impressive, but you know, there's one thing that keeps me from getting into his matches, and that's his looks." One of the finer quotes I have heard in 2002. Tim Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest What?! Report post Posted April 6, 2002 Okay, I just have to know. Is there a picture of American Dragon anywhere? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
