Best Matches Seen March 2022 |
UFC Fight Night 205 3/26/22
Kai Kara-France vs. Askar Askarov 3R. Askarov was a big favorite, and round one was business as usual, with Kara-France getting taken down before he could get any striking going, and never getting the monkey off his back. Granted, Kara-France did do a good job of fighting off the initial takedown attempt in the first round, and getting back to his feet quickly, the problem was Askarov refused to release the body triangle, and came much closer to the choke standing then he had on the ground. Kara-France did a much better job using controlled aggression in the second round, coming forward or at least holding the center, and keeping Askarov on his back foot. When Askarov was able to back Kara-France, it was much easier for him to get a takedown, especially against the cage. Kara-France wasn't landing that much in the second still, but finally hurt Askarov with a left hand with 1:15 left. Askarov desperately wanted the takedown now, but off his back foot due to Kara-France's pressure, it was too easy for Kara-France to see it coming, and Kara-France secured the 2nd with a couple more big shots. Early in the third, Askarov made a great move out of the clinch to climb the fence and get the standing body triangle again. This again had him up on the cards most of the round, as even though Kara-France was able to escape the body triangle easier this time, and "control" the final minutes with pressure, his pace was still too slow for his own good and he was largely missing with his punches. I thought he clearly won the decision watching it live, but the crowd being so much in his favor definitely influenced that. I don't think this was a bad decision per se, but round three really could have gone either way because neither fighter was able to do what they wanted, or much at all. This was an intense fight, and an interesting old school battle of styles, but it seemed a lot better the first time I watched it in terms of either having any real success offensively. Kara-France won a unanimous decision 29–28. Good match.
Bryan Barberena vs. Matt Brown 3R. Another close fight with Brown, the hometown fighter, looking for big spots, either to dominate with the takedown or land the powerful strike, particularly to the body or a big elbow on the inside, while Barberena aimed for consistency, and was throwing a ton of light kicks to the lead leg as well as jabs. Normally there is a very small difference between strikes and significant strikes the way UFC keeps the stats, but in this case, Barberena was credited with landing 75 insignificant strikes. Barberena did a good job both of waiting for Brown to take the step forward to land his counter or of coming forward himself and scoring consistently, but most of what he was doing wasn't really that impressive because he wasn't really committing to it, and was more trying not to get taken down then anything else. He was not particularly successful in that either, as Brown had five takedowns in the fight, doing a really nice job with the foot sweep to win the first round. Barberena hurt Brown with an elbow midway through the second round, but Brown immediately took him down for the 2nd time in the round. Brown wound up way too high when he went to take the back, so even though he tried for an armbar, Barberena just waited it out, and then did the better damage on the ground with elbows. Brown was looking really winded when he got back up, and was now kind of flat footed, so Barberena was able to recognize this and hit him with some power shots. This final portion of the second round was some of the best action of the fight, as they just took turns landing big combos. Barberena won the exchanges as a whole, and the round, but Brown did some of his best damage in this portion, as well. Brown seemed the more fatigued fighter in the third round in terms of moving slower, but he was still the one coming forward, even if mostly just through willpower and determination, while Barberena wasn't moving effectively enough to stop what Brown was trying to do. Brown got another foot sweep, and while he wasn't able to keep Barberena down long, as usual, Brown was really good at then landing a and big elbow or two on the inside before Barberena could get free. Brown had worked up a big lead in this round, but Barberena finally came alive after getting up from the second takedown, with Brown now clearly being the more exhausted of the two, if he wasn't before. Barberena landed some big uppercuts, and was definitely connecting on more strikes, but Brown did hurt him back with a left hook. Barberena managed to wobble brown with about 5 seconds left, which was not a good Brown going to the judges. Again, standing toe to toe and exchanging in the final portion of the round was great action back and forth but a clear advantage to Barberena, but in this case I thought that the first 3 1/2 minutes were pretty lopsided in Brown's favor, and unless you want to say that Barberena was about to finish him, which is a potential argument, I think Brown clearly did more good work throughout the course of the round. Given the crowd advantage swayed the judges in the previous close fight between Kara-France and Askarov, I was pretty shocked that the much more heavily supported Brown did not win this split decision in his back yard. Good match.
NOAH 1/1/22 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, GHC National Title: Keno vs. Kaito Kiyomiya 24:42.
DC: Keno is one of the best workers in NOAH, and Kiyomiya is pretty much the future of NOAH. This match had a slow methodical pace with a focus on execution and selling. One of the main spots was Kiyomiya hitting a tremendous tope con giro. Another really cool spot was a big double footstomp off the top rope by Keno onto Kiyomiya on the rampway. Kiyomiya’s movements were slick, and he took a wicked bump over the guardrail when Keno threw him into the guardrail. Keno hit some stiff kicks, but Kiyomiya showed he could take it and hit a couple of stiff uppercuts as a reply. Near the finish of the match, Kiyomiya hit a superbly-executed tiger suplex. Keno deserves credit for being the aggressor, and for being responsible for the ebb and flow of the match. All in all, this match featured a strong guiding performance by Keno, and Kiyomiya showed why the future of NOAH doesn’t necessarily have to look bleak and black. ***½
NOAH 1/1/22 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, GHC Heavyweight Title: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Go Shiozaki 30:10.
DC: On the first day of the year 2022, NOAH already gave us an excellent match. This was the battle between kicks and chops. Katsuhiko Nakajima’s kicks are perhaps the best kicks in pro wrestling today, and that’s why it was no surprise that Nakajima’s kicks were one of the main reasons this was a brutal match. Shiozaki showed a lot of intensity when he hit his chops. This would be a good recent match to show to people wondering what the difference is between Japanese wrestling and American wrestling, because it has the feel of a serious contest and the stiffness of a brutal war; it felt like a match between two competitors trying to beat each other. One of the sickest spots was Shiozaki suplexing Nakajima off the ramp to the floor. This was an excellent match. They way they worked this match, it possibly would have been a quarter star more if they would have cut it 5 or 10 minutes shorter, because 30 minutes felt slightly excessive. ****
NJPW 1/5/22 Tokyo Dome, STARDOM Special Match: Mayu Iwatani & Starlight Kid vs. Saya Kamitani & Tam Nakano 9:14.
DC: For the first time ever, a STARDOM match made it to the main card of a NJPW Wrestle Kingdom show at the Tokyo Dome, which is usually considered THE biggest event of the year. Everyone tried their best, and there was lots of action. Everyone did well, but Saya Kamitani and Starlight Kid were probably the most impressive here. Kid did an Asai moonsault, and Kid leaped off of Mayu Iwatani’s shoulders while Mayu was standing on the second rope. Kamitani pinned Kid after a spectacular phoenix splash. It was a good match, and a good way to introduce STARDOM to potential new fans. It was less than ten minutes, but it hopefully served its purpose of getting more people interested in STARDOM and joshi puroresu in general. ***¼
NOAH 1/16/22 Sendai Sun Plaza, GHC Heavyweight Title: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Masa Kitamiya 28:40.
DC: Katsuhiko Nakajima’s selling and pacing were some of the key factors of this being good. Masa Kitamiya, a Masa Saito enthusiast, did his best to constantly show intensity. Kitamiya’s moves always looked powerful, not only because of his size and strength, but also because he was able to execute his moves well. Nakajima did a good job putting over Kitamiya as a strong challenger, while at the same time still showing why he was the champ. Both contestants hit a released German suplex on each other, which took quite a bit out of them. Nakajima came out on top during an elbow exchange. At some point, Nakajima knew it was time to start using his strongest weapon - his vicious kick - more often. Perhaps he saved most of them for later in the match because he wanted to weaken the powerful Kitamiya first. Kitamiya wasn’t weakened and tired enough yet, because Kitamiya hit a well-executed spear, which he followed up with a big senton. Kitamiya really played his role as a powerful wrestler well without compromising anything from the quality of the in-ring work. Kitamiya hit several Saito suplexes, but Nakajima was still alive and kicking. Nakajima hit some vicious slaps and a devastating brainbuster that got him the victory. It kinda felt like this match came to an end abruptly and unexpectedly, which may sound weird when you consider it was a 28-minute hard-hitting contest. Anyway, this was a really good match and another really good title defense by Nakajima, who once again proved his excellence. Kitamiya also deserves credit for his strong performance though. ***¾
NOAH 2/9/22 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Go Shiozaki vs. Masato Tanaka 20:12
DC: This was the second in the four-match series of Go Shiozaki’s quest to become the #1 contender for the GHC Heavyweight Title. He was defeated by Takashi Sugiura on 1/27/22 in the first match of the series. Early in the match, Tanaka worked over the right knee of Go Shiozaki. Whenever Tanaka felt Shiozaki needed to be worn down a bit more, he would hit a few stiff elbow smashes. Shiozaki managed to fight back occasionally, and when he did, he made sure to keep selling his knee, which was a nice thing to do, since Tanaka had spent so much time working it over. Shiozaki’s vicious chops matched the stiffness of Tanaka’s elbows. When Shiozaki went for a moonsault, Tanaka got his knees up. They kinda stopped focusing on Shiozaki’s right knee during the second half of the match, with Shiozaki kinda selling overall damage, not overly focusing on selling the knee. As Shiozaki was trying to bite the pain and fight back, Tanaka started relying more on straight-forward action. After the match, Shiozaki still sold the knee well though, as he had trouble walking to the back. The pacing of this match was that of a '90s heavyweight title match, with a focus on trying to make every move seem meaningful, and little need for over-the-top spectacle, yet still plenty of room for stiff hard-hitting action. Even though this was the main event of this show, it wasn’t for any title, but the way they wrestled, made it feel like an important bout. Of course, just having these two face each other should peak the curiosity of most puroresu fans, if they are aware of the reputation of these two workers. ***½
NOAH 2/11/22 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Go Shiozaki vs. Keno 17:46.
DC: This was the fourth in Go Shiozaki’s series of matches that saw him challenge four of the top stars in NOAH to attempt to become the #1 contender. He had lost the first three matches, which were against Takashi Sugiura, Masato Tanaka and Naomichi Marufuji on 1/27/22, 2/9/22 and 2/10/22 respectively. Shiozaki showed the urgence of a man wanting to win this match no matter what, because he wanted to prove to everyone, and most importantly himself, that he was worthy of being the #1 contender at this stage of his career. Keno was also eager to win this, because he would love to be the man to destroy Shiozaki’s hopes and dreams, as that would be quite the feather in his cap. It should come as no surprise that this match featured lots of stiff chops by Shiozaki and stiff kicks by Keno. They beat the crap out of each other, which resulted in both their chests turning red from the stiff striking. This was a really good match overall. In the end, Shiozaki also lost this fourth match in his failed attempt to become the #1 contender, which means he lost all four matches as part of his challenge. You have to wonder what Nosawa Rongai is thinking with these recent booking decisions. Shiozaki will hopefully be the #1 contender later this year. At least we can count on Shiozaki delivering good matches even in defeat. More worrying is probably the decision to let Katsuhiko Nakajima’s excellent title reign come to an end on 2/23/22 by losing to 51-year-old Kazuyuki Fujita, a man who has no business being a main eventer in NOAH as the GHC Heavyweight Champion. Questionable booking decisions aside, it will be interesting to see what the developments in NOAH will be in upcoming months. ***½
STARDOM 2/23/22 Nagaoka Aore, High Speed Title: Starlight Kid vs. AZM 17:03.
DC: These two eternal foes have been feuding for years, and they have been two of the most exciting workers in STARDOM for a while now. Finally, they got the opportunity to face each other in a singles match that was longer than the amount of time they usually get. This enabled them to take their time a bit more, for their standards. It definitely didn’t feel as rushed as most of their shorter matches. On average, the seven singles matches they worked against each other previously were usually around four to eleven minutes long (with the only big exception being their 6/3/18 15:00 draw). After running towards the corner and walking up the ropes without using her hands, AZM executed a beautiful top-rope plancha to the floor onto Starlight Kid. The sequences they worked in the ring were all smoothly executed, and their familiarity with each other certainly helped a lot. The final minutes had lots of near falls, with a good deal of urgency displayed by both. After AZM executed the Spanish fly, AZM immediately countered with a Fujiwara armbar, but Kid reached the ropes. AZM tried to pin Kid with two Azumi sushi attempts, but Kid kicked out on both occasions. In the end, AZM got the victory by making Kid submit to a modified armbar. It was an excellent match that particularly stood out because it was nice to see these two get the opportunity to face each other in a longer match as the semi-main event of a major show. ****
STARDOM 2/23/22 Nagaoka Aore, Wonder of STARDOM Title: Saya Kamitani vs. Natsupoi 21:55.
DC: This was the first singles match between these two. It was nice to see Natsupoi in the main event, as she had been one of the more underrated workers in STARDOM. Saya Kamitani had proven in 2021 that she is indeed main event-worthy, especially thanks to her excellent match with Tam Nakano on 12/29/21. The opening minutes were all about them displaying their athleticism and how evenly matched they are in terms of speed and agility. Natsupoi hit a German suplex on the apron, which was taken and sold well by Kamitani. Poi followed this up with a top-rope plancha to the floor. Even though the selling was good enough, whenever they weren’t doing super exciting and athletic spots, it felt the time in-between the spots didn’t really matter much, and it gave Kamitani more time to act overly dramatic. Luckily, they kept going at it and the spectacular moves were so awesome that it didn’t really matter much what they did when they weren’t hitting highspots, but it would have been nice if they tried some more counters or basically anything useful during the time they weren’t flying. They teased a double-count out when they were trading elbows, but they made it back in the ring on time. Once they were in the ring, there were some moments of melodrama that Tam Nakano and Giulia would be jealous of. For example, as they were both trying to get up, they grabbed each other’s hand and looked each other in the eye as they made their way to their feet. They kept the action going as the match progressed, with both workers continuing to give a strong athletic performance. In the end, Kamitani got the win via the phoenix splash. It was a very good match, and they did a good job trying to match the intensity of the previous match on this show, which was the excellent match between Starlight Kid and AZM, a match that was probably slightly better overall because SLK and AZM had about an equal chance to win their match and they put that over well through more interesting sequences and counters. Kamitani never seemed to be too much in danger of losing the main event, despite her and Poi doing a good job of matching each other’s agility. Nonetheless, even though SLK vs. AZM would have been a better choice as main event, Kamitani and Poi proved that they were worthy main event workers. ***½
