Global Force Wrestling!

[schisno]

Did AJ break another neck?

[Hammer]

wow, nakamura/ibushi was absolutely awesome. that was just all around amazingness.

[Witlon]

Did AJ break another neck?

Nope. He did botch a neckbreaker though, that looked really bad. And then almost fell on his head to the outside.

[Witlon]

wow, nakamura/ibushi was absolutely awesome. that was just all around amazingness.

Now comes the interesting part. Will you like Nakamura/Ibushi or Tanahashi/Okada better. Woo!

[Hammer]

Now comes the interesting part. Will you like Nakamura/Ibushi or Tanahashi/Okada better. Woo!

wow. do i have to pick? i probably enjoyed tanahashi/okada a smidge more. the story told in the ring, and the lead up as told to me by striker, made for a better story. i also enjoyed the slower pacing throughout the match. but both were absolutely brilliant. loved both of those matches, and makabe/ishii was very enjoyable to me as well. im totally down for the next ppv... i dont know if id do 35 bucks, but id do 35 bucks for another card like this... especially now that im more familiar with most of the guys... before i did 60 for wrestlemania.

on another note, i was never really much of a matt striker fan when he was with wwe. but i thought he did a very very good job on this show. jr was out of place, it was nice to hear him again, but i could do without him on the next one. but i was real impressed with striker.

[Witlon]

Without the English commentary it was only $9 US with New Japan's version of the Network, so it's a hell of a buy once you get used to the guys.

Striker was quite good early in his commentary days on WWECW. When he moved to a show that Vince watched, he got really old, really fast.

Rest of my ratings coming post haste.

[Witlon]

Some thoughts up to where Hammer is in the show, because I don't want to spoil the big three matches for him...

Quick and Dirty Ratings and Thoughts for WK9:
1. 4 team tag: **1/2. Standard ROH tag opener from 2006. A little less spotty than I expected, but I'm just so disappointed we didn't get the Dolorean this year from the Timesplitters that I can't push my rating up higher.

2. 6 man tag: (NR/below **)I liked Kojima quite a bit in the early/mid 2000s. This was just there. Honma got a big win though, after losing every match in the G1. Back to the NEVER title with him, though, please.

3. 8 man tag: (NR/below **)Sheesh, Shelton...what happened to that skinny guy from '05 WWE? Nothing bad, but this feud isn't going anywhere. Sick Archer chokeslam, though.

4. Suzuki/Sakuraba: **3/4. A bit disappointing. The brawling on the ramp irked me a bit. Someone said that this is what it would look like if WWE tried a shoot-style match, and I agree wholeheartedly. Fun, but forgettable.

5. Ishii/Makabe: ***. Really shined due to card placement more than anything. Makabe's weak worked punches shine through more a second viewing and the style has been done better millions of times. (I was ***1/2 on my initial viewing, which is I guess all that matters when I bought the show.)

6. Omega/Taguchi: **. Indy showcase with Taguchi doing an Eddie Guerrero tribute gimmick and Omega trying to be the offspring of Scott Hall and Dallas Page. Fun MOVEZ! but no real structure. The spray spot should've lead to the finish, instead of being the turning point. (I had forgot it even happened until someone mentioned it post-show.) The arm hair chainsaw spot is something I've never seen before, and it was probably Striker's peak moment in pointing it out in advance.

7. Gallows-Anderson/Goto-Shibata: ***1/4. Again, good storytelling by the announcers, as they put over the underdog story well enough. Standard TNA-level tag match, with a ton of fun spots, but no real heat segment/structure. I prefer the Southern Style, but I can certainly appreciate this.

3 matches left...and they blow away everything we've seen so far. (Ooops, spoilers.) I'll get to them as Hammer does.

8. Styles/Naito: ****. This was really good, minus the one Styles botch. There's just something so familiar about every Styles match I see(and to be fair, I haven't seen that many), so it kinda dulls his matches for me. I feel like I should like them more, but it just feels like deja vu with him. In any event, people are saying their G1-Climax match was better than this, so it might be worth seeking out on Youtube. (I haven't seen it yet.)

9. Nakamura/Ibuchi: ****1/4. Fabulous. Nakamura is my favorite wrestler in the world right now, and this is the reason why. The finishing sequence felt a little rushed to me, and that's what keeps it from being a legitimate match of the year contender.

10. Tanahashi/Okada: ****. Let me preface by saying that I like Tanahashi about as much as I like John Cena. The match was fine, and I understood the story telling of going back to the High Fly Flow after every little bit of leg work and hitting them from different angles. It's something you don't see much anymore. But this...annoyed me to no end. I was vehemently cheering for Okada and it just kinda ended the show with a thud for me. Not to mention the stupid fucking air guitar garbage celebration at the end. Fuck off, Tanahashi.

[Hammer]

"Not to mention the stupid fucking air guitar garbage celebration at the end. "

that was pretty lame, agreed. i got the same feeling about tanahashi, that he was japans version of cena. and yes, nakamura was fucking awesome, instant mark for the guy. ibushi i had seen a handful of matches from before, but i didnt know much about nakamura. walked out loving both guys.

i didnt think styles/naito was as good as you did honestly. i thought it was good, but i didnt think it was in the same hemisphere as the last two. i enjoyed makabe/ishii more in fact. naito didnt really do much for me honestly, but since that was the first time i had ever seen naito, maybe checking out more of his work, id appreciate him more.

[Witlon]

I need to find you some good strong style stuff, because Makabe/Ishii is quite middling compared to even some of the NEVER matches from when Honma was the champ.

See, I feel like if anything, I'm low on Styles/Naoki. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

[Mach]

where was Masato Tanaka?

[Witlon]

I think he had a match with a hologram of Mike Awesome at one of Tommy Dreamer's reunion shows.

[Mach]

the fat chick thriller!

[Hammer]

meltzers ratings...

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match ****
Tenzan, Kojima and Honma vs. Bullet Club **1/4
Marafuji, Yano and TMDK vs. Suzukigun **
Suzuki vs. Sakaruba ***3/4
Makabe vs. Ishii ****½
Omega vs. Taguchi ***3/4
Shibata and Goto vs. Bullet Club ***½
AJ vs. Naito ****1/4
Nakamura vs. Ibushi *****
Tanahashi vs. Okada ****3/4

he seems to have quite the boner for this show. but he also agreed makabe/ishii was better than aj/naito. so go me! i think everything is overrated, though i really have no problem with the two main events getting over 4 stars. i dont know if id give anything else 4 stars though. of course, i dont have an exact system here... i just know that 5 stars = all time memorable, 4 stars = pretty goddamn awesome, and so on.

[Slyder]

The problem I have with Meltzer is that he and many others on the Internet throw around that 5 star rating waaaaaaaaay to much. Much like WWE crowds with "This is Awesome" for what use to be above average stuff cheapens what you are watching. I haven't watched any of the show but judging by the star rating he's trying to do whats best for him (#asspocket/his daily job) and make this show into something it probably wasn't and thats an all time great PPV.

[schisno]

It's easier to give puroresu and indy stuff 4 and 5 stars cause its not wwe