2015 MOTY contenders

[shoe]

Who got to Roddy/Tanahashi from WOTW night 2? That match cracked my top 10 for the year so far easily

 

Definitely have Roddy/Tanahashi as a top 10 MOTY thus far.

It didn't make my 10. I thought it was a 4* match. Thought Tanahashi's intensity was really lacking compared to Strongs.

[Grimmas]

Samoa Joe vs Chris Hero (Smash June 6)

 

This match was all about finding new ways to kick, punch or elbow the other guy in the head. There was neat counter after neat counter into a huge variation of strikes that I have never seen before. Did I mention stiff?

Think Finlay-Regal with more strikes and less submissions. One of my favourite spots in years takes place, but I don't want to ruin it. Think Bret Hart though with a modern twist.

 

Easy 4 1/4 stars if not more, loved it! Plus it was for charity.

[shoe]

I finally watched Cena vs Owens 5/31/15.

 

 

This was fantastic. I loved how it built and built. My only complaint the finish felt abrupt. 4 1/4*

[shoe]

Kushida vs O'Reilly BOTSJ Finals

O'Reilly really has an opportunity to show a huge audience what a great worker he is. Kushida reminds me a lot of Rey Jr. I think besides Nakamura, Kushida is a guy who could get over huge in the States. We're mat wrestling to start. The struggle here is well done. O'Reilly going after the arm, and he's bringing new stuff to the dance here. O'Reilly is really torturing him on the mat. Kushida is doing his part selling underneath. Kushida after the arm. Kushida mounts a comeback. Going after Kyle's arm, reversal. Front guillotine by Kyle. Kushida reverses. Kyle with a flying arm breaker from the top. Kushida with a German than a Dragon Suplex. Kushida again ripping at the arm. Kyle counters with a sleeper. Flip dive by Kushida. Holy Moly Kushida does a moonsault into a triangle. Everything goes back to the arm. Kyle with a belly to back suplex from the top. A strike exchange that leads to some suplex throw by Kyle. The drama here is off the charts. Both wrestlers are just bringing it. Look at these guys selling the arms. Kushida with a vertical suplex on the apron. Fish has been a great 2nd. What a match. My complaint is they could have wrapped it up between 3-5 earlier. 4 1/4*

[donsem43]

Kairi Hojo vs. Mayu Iwatani (5/17/15) Stardom - World of Stardom title

 

Great showing for two women working their first main event singles match. I really like how both of them focus on a specific body part in an attempt to neutralize a major part of her opponent's offense. Iwatani goes after Hojo's arm to take away her elbow based offense. Hojo counters by going after Iwatani's abdomen to prevent her from hitting her dragon suplex, which legit KO her in a tag title match earlier in the month. With the way that both women work the selling into the match, it turns into a story of who is willing to work through the pain to hit her finisher first. Iwatani wins that battle but ends up landing too close to the ropes with Hojo rolling outside to recover. Hojo hits her top rope elbow drop but is too hurt to cover. They run through a bunch of desperation rollups but Hojo ended that with a couple of nasty back elbows to setup another top rope elbow for the win.

[Parties]

 

Kushida vs O'Reilly BOTSJ Finals

O'Reilly really has an opportunity to show a huge audience what a great worker he is. Kushida reminds me a lot of Rey Jr. I think besides Nakamura, Kushida is a guy who could get over huge in the States. We're mat wrestling to start. The struggle here is well done. O'Reilly going after the arm, and he's bringing new stuff to the dance here. O'Reilly is really torturing him on the mat. Kushida is doing his part selling underneath. Kushida after the arm. Kushida mounts a comeback. Going after Kyle's arm, reversal. Front guillotine by Kyle. Kushida reverses. Kyle with a flying arm breaker from the top. Kushida with a German than a Dragon Suplex. Kushida again ripping at the arm. Kyle counters with a sleeper. Flip dive by Kushida. Holy Moly Kushida does a moonsault into a triangle. Everything goes back to the arm. Kyle with a belly to back suplex from the top. A strike exchange that leads to some suplex throw by Kyle. The drama here is off the charts. Both wrestlers are just bringing it. Look at these guys selling the arms. Kushida with a vertical suplex on the apron. Fish has been a great 2nd. What a match. My complaint is they could have wrapped it up between 3-5 earlier. 4 1/4*

 

Obligatory opening mat work feels a bit loose, but at least they were quick on their feet and went into more strike and suplex-based stuff quickly. Some nice kicks and fishhooking from O’Reilly. He also hits a really nice scoop suplex about halfway through this (Kushida’s brain buster on the apron is nice as well). There’s some spotty stuff: O’Reilly and Kushida taking turns doing Ambrose’s stupid fall through the ropes before lariating opponent is just wildly dumb. But thanks largely to a very good closing stretch kept largely on the mat, this is the coolest BOSJ final I can recall in some time. I agree that the crowd and announcers getting passionate helped this.

[donsem43]

Kairi Hojo vs. Meiko Satomura (6/14/15) Stardom - World of Stardom title

 

They work a 30 minute draw that never drags. While Satomura is terrific, it's Hojo's performance that really makes the match. Early on in the match, Hojo quickly establishes that she not afraid of going toe-to-toe with Meiko. She hits Satomura with a nasty backfist out of the opening collar & elbow, and breaks up a Boston Crab attempt with an even nastier slap. Of course, this doesn't always work out well for Hojo as she running into some nice submission counters and eating some really brutal looking shots.

 

Around the halfway point though, you see Satomura start to get more aggressive. After Hojo rolls out of the ring, Meiko follows her out, drags her to the entrance, then lands a DVD with a sickening thud. She follows that up great looking backdrop suplex and the best looking sleeper you'll see. Hojo sells all of this beautifully but still manages to keep fighting back. She never just pops up and goes on offense, she seems to slip through a crack in Satomura's attack and get back in control through her own sheer will. Just an amazing must see match.

[WingedEagle]

Prince Puma vs. Johnny Mundo (Lucha Underground 6/17/15)

 

C/Ping my comments from the LU thread in case it encourages anyone who's not a regular LU-er to check this one out.

 

 

I absolutely loved Mundo-Puma to the point I thought it was far and away the best match LU has produced and probably a top 10 MOTYC to date. It never dragged which is quite the feat for going so long, mixed in spots, wrestling, strikes and some absolutely top notch violence and hardcore ish outside. Weapon shots may be overdone, but if you're going to go that route then make it matter like they did hear with the crowbar. Ton of credit to everyone involved laying this out. I had it as an easy 4.25 stars.

 

[shoe]

 

Prince Puma vs. Johnny Mundo (Lucha Underground 6/17/15)

 

C/Ping my comments from the LU thread in case it encourages anyone who's not a regular LU-er to check this one out.

 

 

I absolutely loved Mundo-Puma to the point I thought it was far and away the best match LU has produced and probably a top 10 MOTYC to date. It never dragged which is quite the feat for going so long, mixed in spots, wrestling, strikes and some absolutely top notch violence and hardcore ish outside. Weapon shots may be overdone, but if you're going to go that route then make it matter like they did hear with the crowbar. Ton of credit to everyone involved laying this out. I had it as an easy 4.25 stars.

 

 

I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as you. I liked the 1st 15-20 minutes right up to Mundo started working Puma's arm. After that I felt they were exposed. I like both guys. Though their work usually needs to stay in the 12-22 minute range. All the weapons, and the stacking of the tables for the holy shit spot was YUCK for me, Multiple crow bar shots should send some one to the hospital. We got our sports entertainment spots with Patron interfering. Everything from Iron Man stips to all the weapons and setting up plunder felt totally inorganic to me We've seen matches go pretty long in the last month with Kushida/O'Reilly, and O'Reilly/Lethal and felt Lucha All Night didn't come close to the drama as the other 2. . 2 3/4*

[WingedEagle]

Interesting, I definitely liked this more than the BOSJ Finals and O'Reilly/Lethal as both dragged for stretches at times where I'd end up checking the phone or computer. This one I was locked in on the whole way. Different strokes for different folks!

[Dylan Waco]

Akito © vs. Shigehiro Irie in a Texas Death Match for the DDT Extreme Title (DDT - 05/17)

 

This was billed as a last man standing match but its actually a Texas Death match which is a big plus in my book. Great, great stuff. They built a match that expertly played off of their individual roles and standing within DDT. Irie is the guy with a bunch of championships within DDT (and some outside of DDT) who also has the big size advantage. Akito is the underdog both in terms of accomplishments and size. They stick to those roles and build a match that tells that story even if you know nothing about them going in. I am not sure if I have seen a match this year with such a well thought out structure that is executed so thoroughly. There were a couple of parts that I didn't totally care for (really just a couple of pet peeves) but otherwise the execution was spot on. The ropes were loose throughout the match with I don't believe was on purpose, but they incorporate that into the match in a couple of clever ways. The falls are well-timed and well thought out. I think the best part of the match is how they establish the internal logic really early and stick to it throughout. Some matches are hurt by having such an uncompromising layout, but this one really wasn't. They go 30-minutes but it never felt that long and never felt like they got overly repetitive in telling the story they wanted to tell.

 

My only big concern is I watched the first time without sound. The show as in front of 1,000 fans in Nagoya so I am worried the heat won't quite match up with the action but if it is does this *might* be my MOTY so far.

 

I finally watched this last night and well...I don't think it was even close to a MOTY and I am probably one of the bigger fans of focused limbwork you will find on this board. Don't get me wrong. It was a fine match all things considered. The guys had to deal with a ring busting early and I thought they did an admirable job saving a match that by all rights should have run off of the rails. That said I think saying the execution of this was on point is a bit much. There were several times during this where things didn't seem to come off right and/or both guys appeared to be standing around almost lost about what to do. I honestly didn't fault them much for this given the condition of the ring, as at least a few times I suspect that was the reason for hesitation, but it was still really obvious. The story of Akito going after the body part of the bigger, tougher guy did work, and was an effective way to build the match, but I wanted more drama surrounding the bum wheel then I got. I did like the falls themselves, and the stretch was well built to and largely delivered. That said I left the match fairly amazed that people were rating it so highly. I would recommend people watch it, as it was a smart match, and a match where two guys who I am sort of iffy on showed that they could adapt well to a less than ideal environment, but three have been a lot of DDT matches alone this year that I thought were clearly better.

[BillThompson]

I gave that match a go a few weeks ago; found it incredibly bland. Nothing wring with the match per se, but the sort of match that I was able to move past as soon as it had finished.

[stomperspc]

 

Akito © vs. Shigehiro Irie in a Texas Death Match for the DDT Extreme Title (DDT - 05/17)

 

This was billed as a last man standing match but its actually a Texas Death match which is a big plus in my book. Great, great stuff. They built a match that expertly played off of their individual roles and standing within DDT. Irie is the guy with a bunch of championships within DDT (and some outside of DDT) who also has the big size advantage. Akito is the underdog both in terms of accomplishments and size. They stick to those roles and build a match that tells that story even if you know nothing about them going in. I am not sure if I have seen a match this year with such a well thought out structure that is executed so thoroughly. There were a couple of parts that I didn't totally care for (really just a couple of pet peeves) but otherwise the execution was spot on. The ropes were loose throughout the match with I don't believe was on purpose, but they incorporate that into the match in a couple of clever ways. The falls are well-timed and well thought out. I think the best part of the match is how they establish the internal logic really early and stick to it throughout. Some matches are hurt by having such an uncompromising layout, but this one really wasn't. They go 30-minutes but it never felt that long and never felt like they got overly repetitive in telling the story they wanted to tell.

 

My only big concern is I watched the first time without sound. The show as in front of 1,000 fans in Nagoya so I am worried the heat won't quite match up with the action but if it is does this *might* be my MOTY so far.

 

I finally watched this last night and well...I don't think it was even close to a MOTY and I am probably one of the bigger fans of focused limbwork you will find on this board. Don't get me wrong. It was a fine match all things considered. The guys had to deal with a ring busting early and I thought they did an admirable job saving a match that by all rights should have run off of the rails. That said I think saying the execution of this was on point is a bit much. There were several times during this where things didn't seem to come off right and/or both guys appeared to be standing around almost lost about what to do. I honestly didn't fault them much for this given the condition of the ring, as at least a few times I suspect that was the reason for hesitation, but it was still really obvious. The story of Akito going after the body part of the bigger, tougher guy did work, and was an effective way to build the match, but I wanted more drama surrounding the bum wheel then I got. I did like the falls themselves, and the stretch was well built to and largely delivered. That said I left the match fairly amazed that people were rating it so highly. I would recommend people watch it, as it was a smart match, and a match where two guys who I am sort of iffy on showed that they could adapt well to a less than ideal environment, but three have been a lot of DDT matches alone this year that I thought were clearly better.

 

 

Out of curiosity, what were those points? I've watched it twice and the only part of the match where I thought they significantly lost momentum was the one prolonged strike exchange they had. I don't recall any standing around and figuring out what to do next, which is something that usually bothers me. For example, I think A.J. Styles matches (particularly in New Japan) tend to suffer from "do something, pause, do something else unrelated, pause, do something else, ect." but didn't get that vibe at all here. I thought the transitions were largely very good and that the breaks in action were generally meaningful (ie. allowing time for a move to sink in or for a guy to sell). I am not a huge sticker when it comes to how clean moves are hit so maybe I am overlooking some stuff that bothered other people but there was no offensive execution that stuck out to me poor.

 

Also curious what were the better DDT matches this year? In terms of offensive execution, the second HARASHIMA/Ibushi match had a lot more issues than this one. The first had the total momentum killing stage segment. The Kudo/Harashima match had too much strike exchange stuff for my liking and wasn't totally crisp either.

[benjaminkicks]

Not sure how others feel about it, but I just watched Yuji Okabayashi vs. Daisuke Sekimoto from the 7/20 Big Japan Sumo Hall show, and I thought it was an easy MotYC. I have it around the ****1/2 to ****3/4 range, and it's probably in my top 15 or 20 matches of the year so far.

[donsem43]

Io Shirai vs. Mayu Iwantani (8/23/15) Stardom - 5 Star Grand Prix

 

If I did a standard play by play description of this match it would come of as the same as a thousand other joshi matches, but what really makes this match work better is the strikes and the big bumps that they take. They start off with a pretty standard lucha sequence but then Iwantani just boots Shirai in the head Hotta-style and they don't really lay off each other for the rest of the match. It also seems like they watched some of the bumps that Sasha Banks took a few hours earlier and thought "Hey, we can top that!" Mayu takes a nasty slam on the apron, then later tries to destroy her kidneys on the apron after getting dropkicked from the top rope. Meanwhile, Io tops that by taking Iwantani's dragon suplex on the floor, which given the way she does the move is a nutty bump in general. Overall, while not quite up there with the high-end women matches this year, it's still well worth going out of your way to see.