Big Mouth Loud 12/29/05
Osamu Kido vs. Don Arakawa
WWE would do alright if they brought in occasional old school guys to wrestle one-on-one, just for kicks. *
Manabu Hara vs. Munenori Sawa
Shoot-style, huh? Bitch-slap style is more like it. Why didn’t they punch each other in the face like the Murakami/Inoue match? Good match, stiff, sometimes unbelieveable in that escapes seemed obvious, like two guys training as opposed to really going toe-to-toe. The mix of pro wrestling moves with shoot was good. ***
Katsumi Usuda vs. Masanobu Kurisu
Dig the psychology of the old warrior versus the younger fighter. **1/4
Kengo Mashimo/KAZMA vs. Yuki Ishikawa/Hiroyuki Ito
I was digging Kengo’s dickiness. They went over strong in a match that didn’t feature that much except the shoot-style. I liked it the first time, less so when I rewatched. **1/4
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Akitoshi Saito
I like my Saito blonde. I envisioned Fujiwara in WWE coming in to teach Gunner Scott and talking with Chris benoit and then someone disrespects Fujiwara and he beats their ass. Fujiwara > Bullet Bob. *3/4
AJ Styles vs. Petey Williams
I wasn’t into it. I reviewed this match early in the year. “Meh” was the feeling then and now. **
Kazunari Murakami vs. Enson Inoue
This started so well and ended so shitty. I like seeing people punch each other in the face. I mean that in the sense that it looks real and these were not shitty John Cena punches. So much left on the table here it seemed to me. Dissapointed comes to mind. *1/2
Satoshi Kojima vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Great match in many ways but it seemed caught in a culture shock, or stuck between two worlds. Heavyweight style certainly doesn’t do it for me like juniors can, and after watching three straight D-Gate shows the strong-style/shoot-style leaves something to be desired. Not that both men were not execellent in this match. **1/2
