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I stayed up late Saturday night/early Sunday morning to watch Wrestle Kingdom 9 live on pay-per-view. I was hyped for the show, not just because of Jim Ross on commentary, but because it was a stacked card, and I wasn't about to miss Okada Vs. Tanahashi, or Nakamura Vs. Ibushi. Plus, DirecTV wasn't showing the 7pm replay here, and I was a bit miffed about that. The only negative to the English language version of WK9 was that I'd have to hear Matt Striker on commentary. Striker has gotten better since his days of ruining my audio in WWE. His style is more subdued in Lucha Underground, and I think he's started coming around.
The first match was the four way junior heavyweight tag team title match. It featured the Young Bucks, who I'm not a fan of, only because I see them as a couple of disrespectful millennials who are remarkably talented. Also, there was Alex Kozlov and Rocky Romero, the Forever Hooligans, a couple of butt kicking rowdies. The Timesplitters were also there. I was never an Alex Shelley guy, but his time tagging with Kushida has been great, and I'm this close to being a fan of the former Motor City Machine Gun. The last team was reDRagon, the current IWGP Junior Heavyweight, and Ring of Honor tag team champions. I met these guys, Fish and O'Reily, at a Buc-Ees just outside of San Antonio after a show. They're a couple of stand-up gentlemen. The match went a mile a minute as expected. Ross, the old school guy that he is, couldn't really keep up with the action as fast as it was going. Lots of super kicks by the Bucks, as expected, and one of my favorite moves, the Meltzer Driver. For a second it looked like the Time Splitters were getting the go ahead in this match to win the straps, but ultimately reDRagon came away with the victory, hitting their famous Chasing the Dragon move on Kozlov after doing almost nothing in this match.
The first two matches on the card had a very western feel to them. The four way tag match looked like something I'd see at an ROH or PWG show, while the second match reminded me of mid-era TNA. There was a 3D, Jeff Jarrett accidentally hitting his own partner with a guitar shot, and Karen Jarrett on the outside trying her damnedest to interfere. I've always been a fan of Karen, even more so now that she's put on a few pounds and finally has some nice love handles. The match is won when Tomoaki Honma executes a beautiful diving headbutt and goes for the pin.
It was good seeing Lance Archer in Japan. I'll always put Lance over, as he got his start locally in a gone but not forgotten promotion, PCW. Lance and Davey were out there with Shelton Benjamin, who looks like he might have gone up in weight class, as he's bulked up quite a bit. The coolest spot in this match was Archer doling out the biggest chokeslam I've ever seen. Also, one of the guys from the other team was going to give Davey Boy Smith, Jr a powerbomb, but then as a sign of respect, put him down when he realized it was not only his move, but his father's move as well. At least that's why I think he put him down.
My initial match of the night was Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Minoru Suzuki in a shoot wrestling match held under Union of Wrestling Forces International rules. UWFI was a shoot wrestling organization that ran through the 90s. These were two older men who felt that taking bumps was too much work, and they'd rather slap and pound the crap out of each other instead. I've seen guys work stiff, but these guys did a great job of convincing me that they had true animosity for each other. Sakuraba put the Kimura Lock on Suzuki on the ramp, and I thought Suzuki was done for. However, the ref broke it up because you had to win the match inside the ring. After the two guys went at it some more the match finally ended when Suzuki, bad arm and all, applied a sleeper hold to Sakuraba and he passed out. As as I said, this was originally my match of the night.
Then Nakamura happened, and I changed my mind. Nakamura, who I saw wrestle at Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling's joint event War of the Worlds, is a modern day warrior. I don't mean in the vein of someone like Brock Lesnar, but more like he can command a crowd, put them in a palm of his hand and delight them with his in-ring technique and his amazing showmanship. WWE's Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt have both admitted to borrowing from this man, and Wyatt has even admitted that Nakamura is his favorite wrestler. Jim Ross put the man over huge, saying that he could go anywhere at any time and be a legend. When you get the Jim Ross rub, that says something right there.
Nakamura put his IWGP Intercontinental Championship on the line against Kota Ibushi. The match started slow, then Ibushi stole one of Nakamura's signature moves, and that seemed to have awaken the beast. The two men wrestled a classic, doing things in that ring that seemed basic, but the two gladiators seemed to put their own flare and spin on it to make everything they did look epic. I've never seen a Springboard German Suplex before, but gosh darn if Ibushi didn't turn me into a fan with that move. Nakamura eventually won with the Boma Ye, his own version of the running knee strike. Apologies to Tanahashi and Okada, but this was match of the night.
After the Nakamura match I was pretty much wiped out. I don't remember much of this match, only that I was rooting for Okada and he didn't win. I do remember that when Okada hit the Rainmaker and Tanahashi kicked out the wrestling world exploded. Tanahashi won with a Dragon Screw and High Fly Flow. Tanahashi at 37 was doing moves that I didn't think anyone at that age was capable of doing. It was an emotional night as Okada wept as he made his way backstage. The man cried real tears. That's one thing that WWE in this day and age will probably never be able to do, give us a moment like that that would elicit that kind of emotional response. At that moment I felt what Okada felt as he was being helped to the back by Gedo. Tanahashi got on the mic and put over his opponent huge, ending the night with an air guitar show.
The best thing about Jim Ross being on commentary for this was that the man knows how to work as an announcer. He got off to a slow start, but as he got into his groove he settled down and called the matches brilliantly. The man knows when to hype it up, when to slow it down, and when to be quiet. Young commentators can learn a lot listening to Jim Ross on the microphone. This is part of why I didn't care for Striker, as I thought he talked way too much, and said stupid smarky things that Jim Ross politely admonished him for. I cringed when Striker said "swerve." Ross, like a pro simply said "I don't know what that word means" which was him slapping Striker on the wrist. Brilliant.
I think I slept most of the next day, as the show wasn't over for me until 5am my time. I don't even remember what time I woke up, but I know it was pretty late. I remember watching Smackdown after WK9, and I wanted to die. It was an absolutely wretched show put on after what is so far show of the year. I just hope Raw at least tries to step it up. They won't, though.
The first match was the four way junior heavyweight tag team title match. It featured the Young Bucks, who I'm not a fan of, only because I see them as a couple of disrespectful millennials who are remarkably talented. Also, there was Alex Kozlov and Rocky Romero, the Forever Hooligans, a couple of butt kicking rowdies. The Timesplitters were also there. I was never an Alex Shelley guy, but his time tagging with Kushida has been great, and I'm this close to being a fan of the former Motor City Machine Gun. The last team was reDRagon, the current IWGP Junior Heavyweight, and Ring of Honor tag team champions. I met these guys, Fish and O'Reily, at a Buc-Ees just outside of San Antonio after a show. They're a couple of stand-up gentlemen. The match went a mile a minute as expected. Ross, the old school guy that he is, couldn't really keep up with the action as fast as it was going. Lots of super kicks by the Bucks, as expected, and one of my favorite moves, the Meltzer Driver. For a second it looked like the Time Splitters were getting the go ahead in this match to win the straps, but ultimately reDRagon came away with the victory, hitting their famous Chasing the Dragon move on Kozlov after doing almost nothing in this match.
The first two matches on the card had a very western feel to them. The four way tag match looked like something I'd see at an ROH or PWG show, while the second match reminded me of mid-era TNA. There was a 3D, Jeff Jarrett accidentally hitting his own partner with a guitar shot, and Karen Jarrett on the outside trying her damnedest to interfere. I've always been a fan of Karen, even more so now that she's put on a few pounds and finally has some nice love handles. The match is won when Tomoaki Honma executes a beautiful diving headbutt and goes for the pin.
It was good seeing Lance Archer in Japan. I'll always put Lance over, as he got his start locally in a gone but not forgotten promotion, PCW. Lance and Davey were out there with Shelton Benjamin, who looks like he might have gone up in weight class, as he's bulked up quite a bit. The coolest spot in this match was Archer doling out the biggest chokeslam I've ever seen. Also, one of the guys from the other team was going to give Davey Boy Smith, Jr a powerbomb, but then as a sign of respect, put him down when he realized it was not only his move, but his father's move as well. At least that's why I think he put him down.
My initial match of the night was Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Minoru Suzuki in a shoot wrestling match held under Union of Wrestling Forces International rules. UWFI was a shoot wrestling organization that ran through the 90s. These were two older men who felt that taking bumps was too much work, and they'd rather slap and pound the crap out of each other instead. I've seen guys work stiff, but these guys did a great job of convincing me that they had true animosity for each other. Sakuraba put the Kimura Lock on Suzuki on the ramp, and I thought Suzuki was done for. However, the ref broke it up because you had to win the match inside the ring. After the two guys went at it some more the match finally ended when Suzuki, bad arm and all, applied a sleeper hold to Sakuraba and he passed out. As as I said, this was originally my match of the night.
Then Nakamura happened, and I changed my mind. Nakamura, who I saw wrestle at Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling's joint event War of the Worlds, is a modern day warrior. I don't mean in the vein of someone like Brock Lesnar, but more like he can command a crowd, put them in a palm of his hand and delight them with his in-ring technique and his amazing showmanship. WWE's Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt have both admitted to borrowing from this man, and Wyatt has even admitted that Nakamura is his favorite wrestler. Jim Ross put the man over huge, saying that he could go anywhere at any time and be a legend. When you get the Jim Ross rub, that says something right there.
Nakamura put his IWGP Intercontinental Championship on the line against Kota Ibushi. The match started slow, then Ibushi stole one of Nakamura's signature moves, and that seemed to have awaken the beast. The two men wrestled a classic, doing things in that ring that seemed basic, but the two gladiators seemed to put their own flare and spin on it to make everything they did look epic. I've never seen a Springboard German Suplex before, but gosh darn if Ibushi didn't turn me into a fan with that move. Nakamura eventually won with the Boma Ye, his own version of the running knee strike. Apologies to Tanahashi and Okada, but this was match of the night.
After the Nakamura match I was pretty much wiped out. I don't remember much of this match, only that I was rooting for Okada and he didn't win. I do remember that when Okada hit the Rainmaker and Tanahashi kicked out the wrestling world exploded. Tanahashi won with a Dragon Screw and High Fly Flow. Tanahashi at 37 was doing moves that I didn't think anyone at that age was capable of doing. It was an emotional night as Okada wept as he made his way backstage. The man cried real tears. That's one thing that WWE in this day and age will probably never be able to do, give us a moment like that that would elicit that kind of emotional response. At that moment I felt what Okada felt as he was being helped to the back by Gedo. Tanahashi got on the mic and put over his opponent huge, ending the night with an air guitar show.
The best thing about Jim Ross being on commentary for this was that the man knows how to work as an announcer. He got off to a slow start, but as he got into his groove he settled down and called the matches brilliantly. The man knows when to hype it up, when to slow it down, and when to be quiet. Young commentators can learn a lot listening to Jim Ross on the microphone. This is part of why I didn't care for Striker, as I thought he talked way too much, and said stupid smarky things that Jim Ross politely admonished him for. I cringed when Striker said "swerve." Ross, like a pro simply said "I don't know what that word means" which was him slapping Striker on the wrist. Brilliant.
I think I slept most of the next day, as the show wasn't over for me until 5am my time. I don't even remember what time I woke up, but I know it was pretty late. I remember watching Smackdown after WK9, and I wanted to die. It was an absolutely wretched show put on after what is so far show of the year. I just hope Raw at least tries to step it up. They won't, though.