La Zona Muerta

A little something for the weekend; some (mostly but not all) pleasant viewing as the GRADE ONE CLIMAX begins over in the hallowed halls of SHIN NIHON PROWRES.

A word about this year’s G1; I’m not super into it. I realize that this is a transitional year, a year where they are starting to elevate and push new faces, but I’m not a big fan of several of those new faces, and my favorite wrestler (Tetsuya Naito), sadly is getting to the point where maybe he shouldn’t be doing this anymore. He’s not quite Tanahashi or anything; he’s not completely shot, but he’s getting there.

Here’s the thing; I don’t know if there are ANY surefire recommendations from either of these shows. There were some good matches, some really decent matches, but I don’t know if there was anything to recommend you go out of your way to see… but I will talk about some good stuff and some bottom of the barrel stuff as is my wont.

My poor, beloved Naito. I’d like to say he just needs some time away, but…

This is a bit of a surprise, but I’d say my favorite match and one I’d almost say go out of your way on night one to see was Zack Sabre Jr. and Great O-Khan. ZSJ almost always can draw a match out of anyone by getting them to conform to his style (fast paced grappling) but O-Khan is… let’s be nice and say “variable” in ring. He doesn’t have a huge list of great, must see matches… but when he and Zack clicked, it was probably the best GOK performance I can recall since that really good match he had with the mighty Shingo Takagi. The match even had a crowd brawl, which I loathe… but they did it uniquely instead of the boring Gabe Kidd style walk and brawl. They sort of cleared out space in the middle of some seats and squared up like they were going to fight for real and I have to say, it got me a little more interested than the usual outside of the ring shenanigans. Not much came of the outside fight, though and when they got back in ring, GOK pulled some stuff out of his amatuer wrestling repitiore with a couple of really solid throws and some good jockeying for position. ZSJ secured the win with the Zack Driver (the Michinoku driver as bequeathed to him by Taka Michinoku when Taka was serving as ZSJ’s hype man in Suzuki-gun) and I came away from the match pleased.

Another good match, and one that probably had some actual interest and hype built behind it was Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yota Tsuji. Tsuji is a big dude, barrel chested, but you tend to forget that Takeshita is HUGE, at least a good couple of inches taller than Tsuji. Tsuji is SO GOOD at everything in wrestling except one thing… the in-ring. That’s not to say he’s horrible; he’s not… it’s just that he hasn’t quite put things together enough to deliver on a consistent basis. Working against men like Takeshita will only help him sharpen his skills… at least, that’s my hope. Takeshita, of course, remains amazing, completely underutilized by AEW who recognize his ability enough to sign him but, as until now have only really given him a couple of opportunities to truly shine. Hopefully, Tony Khan’s wrestling nerd instincts will see Takeshita here and utilize him more fully upon his return to the States.

Shingo Takagi ALMOST got a really good match out of Tetsuya Naito, but, alas, Naito really sort of fell apart at the end. Let’s say it was pretty good for about the first fifteen minutes. Inter-Los Ingobernobles matches are about the only exciting thing New Japan has left that can actually draw fans to venues, so setting up a Naito title defense against Shingo between now and the Dome makes a lot of sense.

I’m gonna have to do this again in October?!

The only thing I found truly disagreeable, truly heinous was the “debut” of Jake Lee as he wrestled basically what you could call a squash match against my beloved SANADA.

Look, I get it. You need to put the newcomer over strong. SANADA is damaged goods; a former IWGP champion who did not do so hot on top. They sacrificed him here to give Lee a hot start out of the blocks. I get all of this on an intellectual level.

It doesn’t mean that it didn’t suck or that I have to like it. A prominent wrestling personality who I enjoy and generally find myself in lockstep with said of this match that “If you like it or don’t, you have to get behind it because New Japan are behind it.” I most certainly do NOT have to get behind Jake Lee in any, shape or form. He was TERRIBLE in the last year of NOAH, going over all of their top stars, only finally losing to KENOH and then drifting along for a few months before apparently legitimately leaving NOAH for New Japan. BOY, is the NOAH and New Japan relationship odd. Anyway, I get what they were trying for here but Lee is the epitome of a guy who gets chance after chance after chance because he’s tall. He stinks. He may LITERALLY stink; part of his new gimmick (which is apparently THE SMART BASTARD, and yeah, I guess he is smart to bail out of NOAH at this point; he sucked it dry of any interest) when he comes out is to APPLY COLOGNE TO THE HOLLOW OF HIS THROAT AS THOUGH HE WERE PREPARING FOR A DATE. I suppose he wants to impress his opponents with his scent?

Night two was probably a little better overall, just in general match quality. Again, nothing I would go out of the way to see, but there was some decent stuff.

Yuya Uemura and Hiroki Goto had what I would consider a very good match; I’ve never had a lot of time for Goto but the older and more surly I get, the older and more surly he gets. This was very much a “I’m the gatekeeper, the measuring stick, youngblood” type match and Uemura, to his credit took the beating Goto laid down and gave it all back. This was good stuff, very solid.

Oleg Boltin and HENARE beat the crap out of each other. I haven’t decided yet if I dig Oleg or not. I don’t dislike him, certainly and I appreciate any foreigner who makes a concerted effort to learn the Japanese language but I’m worried that his strongman spots will grow repetitive and dull with overuse, particularly his spectcaular swinging deadlift of his opponent. I get that it’s his signature move but it’s gonna get tiresome.

ZSJ got a good match out of Naito. They always have great chemistry and Zack’s style limits the stuff that Naito is having a hard time doing. I would LOVE to tell you that ZSJ is gonna win this whole thing as he’s probably the only guy on the roster who can give Naito a Tokyo Dome main event quality match this coming January… but I have ZERO faith that New Japan will go in this direction. ZSJ did steal the title at the end of the match and posed with it, so they may have Zack challenge PRIOR to Wrestle Kingdom. I don’t know.

Finally, I’m going to have to do something I’ve never done before… I have to praise a match with David Finlay in it. Finlay and Yota Tsuji had a VERY good match; if the opening stretch weren’t so standard, I’d recommend this one whole heartedly.

Here in Seattle, we’ve had a gross, moist heat wave that has been a huge energy suck. Yesterday was the first day that’s been under eighty degrees in a couple of weeks, so the living room was actually almost tolerable in regards to warmth and comfort. The pleasantness of the ambient temperature triggered the hibernation reflex in me and I felt myself drifting off a little bit as the match started… and when I snapped back into attention, my jaw about dropped.

DAVID FINLAY WAS HAVING A GOOD MATCH. I love Tsuji but let’s face it; that guy is not in a position to elevate or carry anyone yet in ring. Finlay was in there, man, he was doing it. Suddenly they were trading powerbombs and lariats, Tsuji delivering killer head stomps and his desperation tide turner, his killer headbutt. Finlay desperately tried lariats and his powerbomb series but Tsuji delivered his spear (best spear in the business currently; everyone else give up), a rope assisted head stomp and got the win. I was VERY pleasantly surprised by this match. Finlay has had a LOT of chances and I don’t think he has ever truly delivered when given the opportunity, but he did here.

The missus suddenly developed a masochistic streak and declared she would sit through Jake Lee vs. EVIL. I took that opportunity to get up and start the preparations for dinner. She DOUBLE SUFFERED for her perfidy; the NJPW World site only had the match in English for some reason, so I heard from the kitchen the New Guy blithering on about THE THREE I’S as the match started. Why? Kurt Fucking Angle had nothing to do with this! I’m not even sure that New Guy was fucking BORN when the Three I’s were a going concern! It is so goddamned frustrating to hear EVERYTHING have to be shown through some sort of WWE lens and I find that particularly foul in New Japan. I have no idea what the point was but I was also reliably informed that New Guy was making up story points (much like Kevin Kelly before him, one of the things that really turned me against Kelly as an announcer), so… no thanks. I’m out on New Guy. He no longer exists. I have basically been one of those Puro snobs that despise English commentary and haven’t acknowledged it but it’s clear I have joined their snobby ranks. Just listen to Japanese commentary! Milano Collection AT knows all the holds and calls them all in English, anyway; you’re not missing anything.

Overall, a solid two nights. Not as bad as I feared, not enough to hype me up for the remaining tournament. I’ll probably only pick and choose from herein, but it was certainly a pleasant enough way to wile away the weekend with my old lady.