As of today the 2002 moty is

[Guest shlidgn90]

i have watched the overhyped mutoh-kawada match from 2/26 and that is not the best match of the year. heck, it isn't the best match of that day. the match of the year(so far) is maekawa/nakanishi match from all japan's women. this match went 40 minutes that was basically flawless. this match was like an evolved kurt angle match.

[Guest TopSecretMan]

I agree, but an "evolved Kurt Angle match"?? You can't throw something as seemingly absurd as that into the air without some sort of explanation!

[Guest RickyChosyu]

I'm going to play devil's advocate on this one:

 

Despite knowing next to nothing about Joshi, I have heard lots of talk about those two women and the matches they've had together. According to most, they're matches that have gone long have been frustrating because Maekawa isn't good enough to go that long and Nakanishi's offense is too limited, among other things. Now, I could be totally wrong and this and maybe they'll silence all nay-sayers with this match, but when it comes to those two I'm a little skeptical if it's really a MOTYC.

[Guest shlidgn90]

what i meant about the evolved kurt angle was that these two women put on a match angle should be doing now if he could feud with benoit or better talent. maekawa and nakanishi styles are what angle should be at right now. every maekawa match i have seen of her is very good. she takes very good bumps, works at a very high pace without messing up and has an awesome moveset. nakanishi played the underdog role perfectly in this match. nakanishi took an boston crab for over five minutes as maekawa did everything one could think of to hurt someones lower back. the pacing of the match alone makes this a moty canidate.

[Guest TopSecretMan]

RickyChosyu - The thing about their previous matches is that people either tend to overrate (Meltzer) or underrate (DVDVR), with the truth lying somewhere in between. Of their televised matches last year, the only one that was really frustrating was the 60 min draw. It was still a very good match, but in the last 15 minutes they seemed to run out of ideas. This one, however, is a legit MOTYC, they really took care of the problems that plagued the 60 minute draw, and also added a lot of new stuff.

 

Shlidign - I have to cop to not really watching the WWF very often, but I still don't really see the similarity of Angle and either of these two. Just totally different beasts entirely.

[Guest]

i have watched the overhyped mutoh-kawada match from 2/26 and that is not the best match of the year. heck, it isn't the best match of that day. the match of the year(so far) is maekawa/nakanishi match from all japan's women. this match went 40 minutes that was basically flawless. this match was like an evolved kurt angle match.

Kawada vs Mutoh was smoked like a cheap cigar by Tenryu vs Kojima on the same card.  My MOTY so far is Takaiwa vs Marifuji until I get the Fusion de Luganeros vs La Familia de Tijuana stuff from Tijuana- which I'm sure will completely freak me out.  I'm getting that Maekawa vs Momoe match next week.  I really dug one out of their last three and was unenthused about the other two so we'll see.

 

DEAN.

[Guest Jubuki]

Hell, Dean, Hijikata and ah...whoever he wrestled - bad card, I can't be bothered to remember - smoked Kawada/Mutoh.  Good to see you guys got over your Takaiwa hate, although it's in typical overreacting fashion.  I'm guessing this year's best work will almost all come out of Lucha, whereas a lot of last year was Joshi in addition to the Mexico stuff.  But, after the 60-min. debacle, I expect nothing from Momo/Kumiko.

[Guest TopSecretMan]

As an aside, Nakanishi and Maekawa were smoked by Bloody and Sakai as far as 60 minute matches go last year.

[Guest]

Hell, Dean, Hijikata and ah...whoever he wrestled - bad card, I can't be bothered to remember - smoked Kawada/Mutoh.  Good to see you guys got over your Takaiwa hate, although it's in typical overreacting fashion.  I'm guessing this year's best work will almost all come out of Lucha, whereas a lot of last year was Joshi in addition to the Mexico stuff.  But, after the 60-min. debacle, I expect nothing from Momo/Kumiko.

The Takaiwa hate stopped when he figured out how to sell- which he is somehow good at now.  As for overreacting, name the good matches involving Takaiwa that I overreacted to hating there, Sparky.

 

DEAN.

[Guest Jubuki]

Good matches in the past had nothing to do with my comments.  Context clues are your friend, Dean.

[Guest]

Good matches in the past had nothing to do with my comments.  Context clues are your friend, Dean.

So you were less enthused about Takaiwa vs Marafuji?  Clarity is your friend, young Chris.

 

DEAN.

[Guest Jubuki]

You must still be smarting after the beerfest the other night.

 

Nowhere did I even claim I've seen the Marufuji match.  Again, read what's there, not what you're thinking, and thinking in error.  Second, the overreacting bit should be quite obvious when I start bringing up names like Regal, Hoshikawa, Ki', Gedo...put Takaiwa in that group, and the meaning of the comment is apparent.  Takaiwa was never as godawful as some claimed, though he was bad as a New Japan Jr., but he probably isn't as good now as his best may or may not suggest.  I'm even more leery of his sudden "improvement" when people talk about him in the context of Marufuji matches; I seem to remember everyone going gonzo over how good Hoshikawa was against him last spring, when that was a rather balanced match in terms of who was making it good.  I'd like to see for myself, rather than take anyone's word for it.  I may not have seen the recent work, but there's a nice little track record of nuttiness in the corner of public opinion that's hard for me to ignore.

[Guest]

You must still be smarting after the beerfest the other night.

 

Nowhere did I even claim I've seen the Marufuji match.  Again, read what's there, not what you're thinking, and thinking in error.  Second, the overreacting bit should be quite obvious when I start bringing up names like Regal, Hoshikawa, Ki', Gedo...put Takaiwa in that group, and the meaning of the comment is apparent.  Takaiwa was never as godawful as some claimed, though he was bad as a New Japan Jr., but he probably isn't as good now as his best may or may not suggest.  I'm even more leery of his sudden "improvement" when people talk about him in the context of Marufuji matches; I seem to remember everyone going gonzo over how good Hoshikawa was against him last spring, when that was a rather balanced match in terms of who was making it good.  I'd like to see for myself, rather than take anyone's word for it.  I may not have seen the recent work, but there's a nice little track record of nuttiness in the corner of public opinion that's hard for me to ignore.

Well, watch the match and then say I'm overeacting.  It';s not the only good Takaiwa match as of late.  As for Gedo, Hashikawa, Low-Ki and Regal- whatchutalkinaboutwillis?

 

DEAN. Whose drinking is his own fucking business, mom.

[Guest wolverine]

But, after the 60-min. debacle, I expect nothing from Momo/Kumiko.

Get it Chris, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.  Granted, I'd rather watch Momoe-Ito any day, since from watching 9/16 it appears that they have a lot more chemistry together, but it's still a hell of a match, although I wouldn't call it a MOTYC.

 

Momoe hits the Momoracci on Maekawa (2/24/02)

 

New All Pacific Champion!

[Guest Joshi Guerrero]

If we are going with the Meltzer MOTY time-frame, mine is Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura from December last year.

 

I'm very late on this thread I know, but what the hey.

[Guest wolverine]

I didn't hear that one was as good as their 9/99 and 5/00 matches.  BTW, I absolutely loved 9/99.  Awesome stuff, best match of 1999 IMO.

[Guest Jubuki]

Aja wasn't anywhere close to her '99 standards in Dec., (and 99 wasn't nearly as close to 94-95 as some think).  It's a "good" match, I'd say, and it looks like I'm still stuck on the Tenkoji vs. Barton/Steele match as my best one so far...and it's one of those barely-a-****-affair deals.  Year's young, though, and there's lots of Lucha to be seen.

[Guest wolverine]

"Aja wasn't anywhere close to her '99 standards in Dec., (and 99 wasn't nearly as close to 94-95 as some think)."

 

From what I've seen of Aja singles matches, the 9/99 match is one of her career best.  The only ones I'd put ahead of it are the 11/94 with Toyota and the 6/95 with Toyota.....I still need to see her 8/99 match with Yoshida that I hear a lot praise for.

[Guest Joshi Guerrero]

It's not as good as 9/99, and I agree that was the best match of '99. But it's still a very good match, and a nice story with Satomura getting the big win.

 

Tenkoji vs. Barton/Steele is my only other major contender at this point and I like the joshi match better, I'm yet to get the AJPW & AJW pay per views, so maybe things will change when I get around to that.

 

I'm yet to see a MOTYC from the lucha yet, I think the last lucha match that I was really high on was Santo vs. Shocker from monterrey.

[Guest wolverine]

"I'm yet to get the AJPW & AJW pay per views, so maybe things will change when I get around to that."

 

AJPW?  Yuck.

[Guest Joshi Guerrero]

Yes well, I'm not in any great hurry. Most of my money is going to mid 90's Lucha atm.