Sheamus Vs Cesaro - WWE Monday Night Raw (29/08/16)

We’re in Houston Texas for match #2 in the series.  There are a couple of interviews from both guys to give their thoughts on the series so far before this match starts; Nothing ground-breaking as you’d expect from these two on the mic, but I did have a wry smile at Sheamus saying Cesaro is just like Suicide Squad, a lot of hype and then he underdelivers.  If nothing else it’s a reference that lets you know we’re in the Summer of 2016.  If you would like another reference point, this is the Monday Night Raw episode where Kevin Owens wins the world title via Triple H assist. 

My interest in this match is seeing how they approach the 2^nd match of the series.  Do they just do a TV version of the match they had at Summerslam or attempt to put on something different?  That question is answered right from the off as they start the match quite differently to Summerslam with fast paced mat work with Cesaro going for some quicker pins – commentary declaring this is because he’s down in the series and needs the win more.  Sheamus takes a tumble out of the ring and lands elbow first on the apron and out of nowhere this match goes in another direction.  Cesaro now sees a new avenue for victory by targeting the elbow.  Cesaro works this over for a while, until unfortunately this story is rather forgotten about. 

The match for a bit then moves into more of a balanced affair that showcases the great chemistry between these guys.  The ducked Brogue Kick into the springboard uppercut spot was magnificent, as was the little details in how Cesaro escaped the Cloverleaf by using his strength to break the wrist grip of Sheamus.  Typically Cesaro's strength showcase spot comes in something flashier like the giant swing, but here he's calling on his muscles to get him out of submissions lying on his back.

Then we get to the finish which is the best thing about the match.  Both men are on the outside of the ring and Cesaro charges at Sheamus who counters with a backbody drop INTO the turnbuckle post and it’s an incredible bump for Cesaro to take spine first into the post.  Sheamus then rolls Cesaro into the ring, locks in the cloverleaf and Cesaro taps out immediately – whether that’s self preservation for the rest of the series or because his back is that fucked is up for speculation, but both scenarios absolutely work.  It’s both a very creative way to end a match, and a finish that starts a story that can develop through this series.  Not only is Cesaro 2-0 down, but now he has a back injury going forward.  

Overall I'm happy with the 2nd chapter of this series.  They worked a different style of match, they sowed seeds that may have consequences in the future and we got a memorable finish, much better than somebody else used the hammer this time.  

Sheamus Vs Cesaro - WWE Summerslam Kickoff (21/8/16)

So a lot has been said this week of the ongoing best of 7 match between The Elite and Death Triangle and how tricky these overindulgent teams will find it to have 7 consecutive matches that don’t feel like repeats.  I've watched the first two matches of that series and I've already had my fill, and when we all know this is leading to The Elite regaining the titles in the 7th match there's not much of a pull here for me to continue watching the series.  Instead I’ll spend my time rewatching a best of seven series from the (recent) past from two great wrestlers, Sheamus and Cesaro, as they found themselves at an impasse in their careers in the hope I'll find it more rewarding.  Sheamus was back as a singles midcard wrestler after the League of Nations fell apart, while Cesaro was sporting the 007 rip away tuxedo's and had been feuding over the Intercontinental Championship on Smackdown before his draft to Monday Night Raw in the latest brand split attempt.  My memory of WWE in the second half of 2016 was that Smackdown absolutely rocked, while Raw absolutely sucked outside of some Sasha and Charlotte matches, but surely this series would have been a highlight for the Raw brand during this time. Funnily enough Cesaro and Sheamus had two singles matches on Raw in early August with Cesaro winning both of them, so if you want you could consider this a best of 9 series.  

But I would prefer not to write 9 reviews, so I'm not counting those.

***MATCH 1***

So this best of 7 series is kicking off like Elite Vs Death Triangle at a PPV, however these guys are sentenced to the TWO HOUR PRE-SHOW where this match would have been a welcome relief from Booker T and Jerry Lawler breaking down the hot prospect Dolph Ziggler’s chances of becoming WWE Champion.  We get around about 15 minutes of action here (just one network commercial break to temporarily break up proceedings) and it’s obviously a very good standard of action.  They do some quick finisher teases at the start with the Brogue Kick and neutraliser attempts dodged and countered.  The theme of the match is that these are two very evenly matched wrestlers who keep cancelling each other out.  They beat the hell out of each other inside and outside of the ring and look to hit their big power moves when they can.  The highlight of the match had to be Cesaro doing his impression of Fenix and jumping from the steel post to the top rope displaying great balance and coming off with a gorgeous crossbody.  For a man of Cesaro’s size to jump onto the top rope and not fuck up the spot is impressive.  The Brogue Kick is countered into a sharpshooter attempt, but Sheamus jams a thumb in Cesaro’s eye to escape, posts him, and then lands the Brogue Kick to win the match.  Sheamus gets off to a 1-0 advantage in the series, but he has to cheat in order to get there. 

Overall we're off to a good start here.  This felt more like a very good TV match rather than a blowaway PPV affair, and on a night where AJ Styles and John Cena had an excellent match and Brock Lesnar busted open Randy Orton hardway in the main event, this wasn't the time for them to steal the headlines with their series.  A big tick in this series’ box is that there was no finisher kick out in the opening match. That’s a great thing to have in the back pocket for future finishes or big nearfalls.  I don’t want to feel like I’ve already seen these two do everything they could possibly do to one another in the first match. 

Match of the Week - Austin Aries vs. Nigel McGuinness - ROH Rising Above 2007

At the last Ring of Honor pay-per-view, Nigel McGuinness finally managed to capture the Ring of Honor World Champion after defeating Takeshi Morishima. However a torn bicep kept him out of a couple of shows including Glory by Honor VI. Meanwhile Austin Aries returned to Ring of Honor at the Driven pay-per-view and is now here vying to become ROH's very first two time champion, having previously ended Samoa Joe's two year championship reign back in 2004. I did always love how rare it was for a guy to become a multi-time champion in Ring of Honor, and how important it was made to feel when someone did eventually achieve it. 

The reason I mentioned Nigel's arm injury is twofold. First of all, it is the basis of some of the story of this match. But it's also a catalyst to why ROH fans turned on Nigel in late 2007 that ultimately led to his heel turn during his title reign. ROH had an irritating habit of not pulling the trigger on guys at the right time, letting them lose a bit of steam, and then their title win is less satisfying as a result. Nigel was no exception to this after losing multiple big matches in the two years leading up to his eventual title win. When he got the title, he dared to miss time for injury - even though a torn bicep was a pretty reasonable excuse for missing time if you ask me. Not only this, but Nigel had been getting more and more vocal criticism from ROH fans at the time for his matches. I remember frequenting the ROH forums at the time, and Nigel had many critics based on his over-reliance of the lariat. It also birthed slander names such as Nigel McLariat, for example. 

This match feels like the turning point in fans' perception of Nigel going forward and a point of no return. There is a very noticeable crowd contingent that despises him, and chanting "fuck you, Nigel" and "same old shit". In a bizarre way, it feels like Chris Jericho vs. John Cena from Summerslam 2005 where it basically signalled the end of crowds unequivocally loving Cena and Nigel respectively as the booker intended. 

I've made no secrets about my admiration for Austin Aries as a wrestler. To me, he's one of my favourite wrestlers of the 2000s. He also has the distinction of having one of the most beautiful suicide dives in wrestling history. I say that to say that within 5 minutes of this 25 minute match, Aries hits the suicide dive at his typical rocket speed. Nigel goes head first into the steel guard rail, cut above his eye immediately, and is knocked completely loopy. This match was always hard to watch, but knowing what we know about Nigel's health issues that ultimately led to his retirement makes this even more uncomfortable to watch. Uncomfortable, yet compelling.

Aries can now focus on two parts of Nigel - his head and the already injured arm. There's an ever so slight lull after they get back in the ring after Nigel gets knocked out, which I don't blame them for as they were likely just re-calibrating. Aries becomes incredibly aggressive at this point, even more so when McGuinness taunts Aries after a blocked dropkick. Aries in his prime always felt like he was wrestling with more speed and intensity than just about everyone else. That fits well into a main event title match because I feel like his intensity inherently brings prestige to the match. 

Thanks to the injury issues, this felt like a believable place for a title change. Nigel could have easily dropped the belt, gotten surgery and I don't think anyone would have been upset. Well, maybe some people on the ROH Forums would have found a way to be upset. But thanks to the head injury, it put Nigel in a situation where he's the underdog. One thing I loved was how Aries began to utilise some familiar Bryan Danielson strategy. Bryan had beaten Nigel before via referee stoppage with elbows to the head, and that's something Aries tries to emulate in this match. Fantastic storytelling. 

I love how this match is paced in spite of the issues they had because it felt like everything continued to escalate. Nigel was on the defensive for a lot of the match and that made the big moves he was throwing out feel like the act of a desperate, injured champion. My favourite spot in the whole match is when Aries takes a top rope lariat and falls to the outside in a visually incredible moment. Surprisingly they don't overload the match with false finishes, and the finish itself is smooth as hell. Aries had been countering the rebound lariat in many creative ways through the match, but only through Aries' own counter was Nigel able to find the opening to hit the rebound lariat. Aries sold it by landing directly on his head, giving this vicious match a fitting ending.

In a lot of ways this is difficult to review because I think it isn't a good look for anyone involved given when it took place. A part of me hates that this exists as it does. But on the other hand, it's that head injury that turns this from being just another great ROH title match to one of the more compelling ROH title matches in history. It's not a match I'm enthusiastic to rewatch constantly, but I think it shows the best and worst habits of both of these tremendous, tremendous wrestlers. I think this is their best match together, even moreso than their Supercard of Honor III rematch. I would like to have seen what could have happened in a world where Nigel wasn't injured (they had an okay match at Unscripted II but that was on a much smaller scale than a main event match).  

Match of the Week - Team TNA vs. Team Japan vs. Team Mexico vs. Team International - TNA Victory Road 2008

Ahead of a totally legitimate world sporting tournament, for this week's match we look at a different totally legitimate worldwide competition. As part of the 2008 World X Cup, we have for this week a 12 man elimination tag team match, with the competitors below:

Team TNA - Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, & Curry Man

Team Japan - Masato Yoshino, Milano Collection AT, & Puma

Team Mexico - Averno, Rey Bucanero, & Ultimo Guerrero

Team International - Alex Koslov, Doug Williams, & Tyson Dux

Far be it from me to question the wisdom of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. But naming the teams Team TNA and Team International give me real Reverend Lovejoy talking to Apu vibes: "be they Christian, Jew or ... miscellaneous". But in all seriousness, I did enjoy the World X Cup concept and think this kind of thing has always had an untapped potential in wrestling. I feel like with a proper commitment to the cause, a wrestling company could produce a truly compelling tournament based on nationalities. Rules are simple - two guys in the ring at once, once a competitor is eliminated they're gone. I enjoyed Don West commenting about the psychology of the match where you may not want to get involved in the match. If you're not in, you can't be eliminated. This does play into the match a little bit, which we'll get to shortly.

First thing's first. Masato Yoshino is outrageously fast. Most famous in the US for that six man tag at Supercard of Honor 2006, and even in that insanely paced match he felt lightyears faster than anyone else. He's worth spotlighting since this match is predominantly focused around him. Of course, as a TNA opening match of a PPV, this is as electric as you would expect. When I initially got into TNA in 2005, it was these sort of quick X Division openers that sucked me into the programming. They were providing a style of wrestling that wasn't easily accessible on TV at the time. Between that and the 6 sided ring, those are always what stood out to me and gave TNA its niche that I, and many others, originally latched onto.

In that regard, this match is not one for thorough play by play commentary. Puma and Milano Collection AT (who had a couple of awesome Matrix-like spots) are eliminated early, leaving Yoshino all by himself on his team. I loved that he never got a tag out for ages in the early going because it makes complete sense that nobody would want to tag him when he could be easily eliminated and take Team Japan out of consideration. I was thinking that would be a cool storyline point, but after he manages to get a pin on Averno, he rolls out the ring and then is no longer the legal man. I think there was some potential for a bit of storytelling using strategy of tags, but they went in the direction of not caring about tags. I don't necessarily think it's bad, as this is better for match flow and they did return to this storyline beat later on.

With 11 eliminations to get through, the eliminations come quick and often, even at a match that lasted over 20 minutes. However it's certainly not a Survivor Series "guy gets eliminated by a suplex" situation as most of the eliminations feel like moves fitting of pinning a guy. But having 12 men in the match does lead to several wrestlers feeling inconsequential. A better example of this kind of match would be the Genesis 2005 elimination match which was a similar length with 8 competitors, which felt like it had more time to breathe. That's not to say that this match is bad by any means, but with 12 men there's only so much attention that can go around even in 24 minutes. 

As well as Yoshino's survival, the other story is that MCMG manage to get the man advantage for Team TNA. Once all of Team Mexico is eliminated and we're left with just Alex Koslov, Masato Yoshino, and MCMG the match focuses on MCMG's tag team prowess. They begin to hit a bunch of fantastic looking, albeit slightly contrived, tag team spots. But it worked because they were the only team with the man advantage, so its logical that they'd be able to use that to set up big tag team spots. 

Eventually Chris Sabin is eliminated, leaving just Alex Koslov, Alex Shelley, and Masato Yoshino. Yoshino manages to eliminate Koslov, and goes from a dire situation where he'd potentially win 0 points for Team Japan to guaranteeing at least 2 points. This match did a tremendous job of putting over Masato Yoshino as well as MCMG as a team. It's kind of scandalous that this would be Yoshino's final TNA performance because I think he certainly warranted a shot, and he was presented as a guy that they had future plans for. Perhaps it wasn't so much a lack of interest on TNA's part, but rather contract, or overseas obligation, I couldn't say. 

Overall I thought this match was a blast and a great example of how you can add a slight bit of storytelling to make an otherwise enjoyable opening spotfest that much more enjoyable. This is an ideal PPV opener that feels important, sets the correct tone, and pleases the crowd. Say what you want about TNA, but this is the stuff that made the promotion a lot of fun around this time.

Match of the Week - The Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather - Wrestlemania 24

Following on from a spectacular celebrity match featuring a cocky boxer this past weekend, our match of the week takes us back to 2008. At the time, this was widely considered one of the best matches featuring a non-wrestler in WWE history. The match came about following Big Show's return at No Way Out 2008, where he came back 100lbs lighter and in the best shape of his life. However, in typical Big Show fashion, he turned heel about 5 minutes into his return as Rey Mysterio had the sheer audacity to be injured, stealing Show's spotlight. In one of the best segments of the year, Floyd Mayweather came in to stop Big Show. Big Show even knelt down to allow Mayweather to strike him. Brave man. Needless to say, Mayweather wasn't used to pulling his punches, so he ended up breaking Big Show's nose. The weeks leading up to this match originally had Mayweather as the babyface, until everyone remembered he's a cocky piece of shit, and it was leaked that he was receiving $20 million for the match. WWE saw the writing on the wall, so he was quickly retconned as the heel of the match. 

That wasn't the only tumultuous part of this build up. According to an interview by Big Show, the original plan going into 2008 was to have a tag match between Big Show and Mayweather against Rey Mysterio and Batista. Prior to No Way Out, Mysterio had torn his bicep right off the bone, leaving Big Show to wrestle Mayweather, while Batista was left shoehorned in a filler match with Umaga. 

One thing that this match does have is it feels fitting for the spectacle of Wrestlemania. WWE steered a little bit away from the celebrity side of things for a while in the 2000s. Wrestlemania 24 followed the success of Wrestlemania 23 with Donald Trump as its headline act - at the time the highest grossing Wrestlemania of all time. WWE went to the well once again, making an outside celebrity the big draw of Wrestlemania. This benefited from the fact that Mayweather was a legitimate world renowned athlete at just about the peak of his prowess - this wasn't some Butterbean situation.

Not only that, the obvious size contrast makes it a fascinating spectacle. Put Mayweather up against a wrestler his own size and everyone would rightfully assume Mayweather would obliterate him. But put him up against the largest athlete in the world makes it far more interesting. I remember a forum I was on at the time having a big discussion about who would win a shoot fight, and is a question that still pops up on r/whowouldwin from time to time. 

Early going starts as you would expect with Mayweather using his quickness to avoid Big Show and get in some body shots. They don't seem to have much affect, but that changes when Mayweather actually manages to get Big Show's chin, which gets an audible gasp from the crowd. I loved the strategy of Big Show going for the hand - it shows that Big Show respects the danger that Mayweather presents, while also being a total dickhead thing to do in his own right.

Given Mayweather's commitment to his own sport, there was a lot of question about how much he'd bump and be willing to take. How can they make a match between babyface Big Show and heel Floyd Mayweather work? And truthfully there's nothing too dangerous - everything looks and feels safe, which is a negative to the match. It's understandable, but I think that more modern celebrity matches have spoiled us in our expectations (think Bad Bunny and Logan Paul in recent times). What Mayweather does have is character and personality. He's such a little shit, but he's also willing to give a lot to Big Show. Show dominated most of this match and Mayweather sold like a madman for him. Mayweather's entourage takes a lot of the big bumps in this match and I loved how they used his henchmen to tease the spots down the line - in particular the big chop.

The finish was simple, but incredibly smart. It worked into Mayweather being a complete prick, and managed to make the Big Show look dominant even in defeat. 

Overall I think this match has aged a bit since it happened. People like Bad Bunny and Pat McAfee have pushed the bar for celebrity matches high since then. You still get your duds even today, and it's easy to see the celebs that are willing to give their all and those who are there for an easy payday and publicity. On the other hand, some things are timeless in wrestling and character work, selling, and spectacle are three of those things. This match certainly feels special and way overdelivered. It can't have been an easy match to plan out given how different they are, and their respective alignments - so it's a testament to everyone involved that this match is the success it is. 

Gunther Vs Rey Mysterio - WWE Smackdown (4/11/22)

David Vs Goliath is one of the classic stories told in wrestling down the years and this week on Smackdown we were treated to a enticing version of it with two guys born to play the roles perfectly.  Rey Mysterio has been billed as 'The Biggest Little Man' by WWE for the best part of 20 years and is undoubtedly one of the best underdog babyfaces the world has ever seen.  Gunther meanwhile has made a name for himself over the last decade as a fantastic 'final boss' style wrestler, walking into numerous promotions worldwide, destroying the competition and winning their top championship from PWG to Progress to OTT, and later NXT UK where he held their title for over 2 years before he dropped it ironically to another great 'David' in Ilja Dragunov.  On paper this felt like a perfect casting for a main event match.  For me this match takes on extra intrigue as Walter and Mysterio are two of my favourite wrestlers ever so to see them finally share a ring together made for a special night.   

The match starts off with some nice cat and mouse teases, with Rey even in his late 40s using his quickness to avoid Gunther, but it wasn't long before he was caught in the mouse trap, hung over the top rope with Gunther's boot on his throat.   This started a period of control from Gunther with the highlight being an powerbomb on the ring apron to set up a countout tease once we came back from the commercial break.  Mysterio has plenty tricks up his sleeve to turn the tide against bigger opponents, but I didn't expect to see him block a scoop slam attempt and turn it into a crucifix to take Gunther off his feet.  Gunther knew what to do to counter Rey's sleeper though - climbing up to the second rope and launching himself backwards with Rey taking the worst of the damage on the landing.  

Something I loved about this match was the way they cleverly sprinkled in the counters, and sometimes a counter the counters.  When Rey goes for his first 619 attempt, Gunther isn't dazed enough and leaves the ropes, only for Rey to kick him back into the ropes immediately before connecting with the 619.  Later when Rey headbutts Gunther in the gut on the top rope, it seems to set up for a big frankensteiner; Gunther holds onto Rey and tries to reverse into a powerbomb, but it's reversed again into a mid-air rana.  The way they pulled the audience this way and that way was brilliant and not too telegraphed.  When Gunther nails the John Woo dropkick into the corner and follows it up with the big powerbomb, it's a totally convincing nearfall - but Rey survives.  The beauty of Gunther is that any move he does, no matter how basic, is a convincing nearfall because he comes across so powerful in everything he does.  Against Ricochet and Nakamura he won with your standard powerbomb, In Cardiff he finally defeated Sheamus with a clothesline.  Here he picks Mysterio off the ground with his left arm, and kills him with a clothesline using the right.   

Looking towards the future in WWE, I feel like Gunther is a more exciting 'final boss' wrestler than Brock Lesnar and that should be an avenue explored by Triple H.  With Gunther you get the aura of him being this monster of a competitor, a huge dragon for any hot dragon slayer to come up against and try to defeat, but you don't get the same old formula match we've seen for 8 years, stale matchups and a part time schedule.  Take this match for example.  It might surprise you to hear that Gunther threw exactly one chop in this match, a stark contrast to his strike heavy match against Sheamus at Clash at the Castle, or his plunder filled performance in the six man tag at Extreme Rules.  I've long banged the drum that Gunther is the best wrestler of his generation and I'm loving the versatility we're getting from him in this main roster run.   

Triple H is currently receiving a lot of criticism for how he hasn't really grabbed the opportunity to put a positive stamp on WWE, and rightly so because bringing back one of his NXT children every week isn't a drastic enough change from Vince's vision of the current product, but the one thing he should be praised for is the booking of Gunther.  Since Triple H took over the company, Gunther has been reunited with Giovanni Vinci to bring Imperium back to full strength, had a stellar feud with Sheamus and the Brutes, and his Intercontinental Championship feels like one of the biggest prizes in the company, further backed up by this great TV main event with Mysterio.  Long may all of that continue.  If only Trips had taken over at the start of the year and we could have done without all the unnecessary Imperium name changes.   

Ed's Kings Road Journey - Part 3: Hansen wins the gold in early 1992

Jumbo, Fuchi and Ogawa Vs Misawa, Kobashi and Kawada 10/1/92 - BABY OGAWA, I had no idea he shows up so early in AJPW. This wasn't a match Steve recommended to me, but I wanted to check it out to see Ogawa and my interest in seeing a different opponent added into this feud. Good match.

Misawa Vs Fuchi 21/1/92 - This is on the undercard of the Jumbo/Kawada show and is a little gem of a match. Before this project I had previously thought of myself as someone that didn't like Misawa and found him hard to root for because he was more stoic than Kobashi, but this project has changed my mind on this. I now think of Misawa as a GOAT tier seller and I think it suits him that he does do OTT facial expressions, a grimace across his face is enough for me to know he's in pain but about to unleash an elbow in return. In this match, Fuchi has control for at least the first half of the match, working over Misawa's left leg and Misawa does so well for the rest of the contest hobbling around and building sympathy for his comeback. And how about a word for Fuchi, he's great in this and does the little things so well - he has to destroy Misawa's leg to stand any sort of chance of going one on one with him and it's a strategy that works for a while. He doesn't just sit in the sleeper hold finish, and he doesn't just wave his hands in the air rapidly showing his struggle before slumping to sleep, this fucker tries to fight out of it first with some eye racks and some hair pulls. I so rarely see wrestlers do this when it's the most logical thing you'd do rather than sit and have your fate sealed. Misawa holds strong though for the submission. I was on the fence on whether I needed to see this, but glad I took the punt.

Jumbo Vs Kawada 21/1/92 - I preferred their 1991 match, but that doesn't mean this isn't very good either. Jumbo gives Kawada a lot and perhaps his role in Kawada's rise in the company (TC challenger to Misawa by the end of the year) isn't given anywhere near the same praise as his credit for establishing Misawa as a main player.

Jumbo, Taue and Fuchi Vs Misawa, Kobashi and Kawada 24/1/92 - Another great 6 man between these two teams, and also water is wet. This goes long, but Misawa's incredible sell job and face in peril sequence holds interest.

Jumbo Vs Hansen 28/1/92 - Hansen wins the Triple Crown title from Jumbo. This was alright, but weaker than their match in 1991 I enjoyed a lot. I'm realising now that working over Hansen's left arm was a common theme in his big singles matches.  With both men staggering about at the end of the match, Hansen absorbs a running Jumbo knee and fires off a desperation lariat to win the belts.

Kawada and Kikuchi Vs Can Ams, 22/2/92 - I have seen THE can ams match before that's coming up in a few months, but it was fun to see them in another match for a change and after watching a good 20 matches from this era, I think I needed the shake up of new wrestlers for these guys to interact with. Super good match and a breeze at 15 minutes. This is the best Kikuchi has looked so far

Jumbo Vs Kobashi 27/2/92 – I thought this was pretty disappointing given the names on show here.  Just never grabbed me.  

Match of the Week - AJ Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki - NJPW G1 Climax 2014, 1st August 2014

A few days ago on the discord we were discussing AJ Styles' best match. Me and Ed seemed to agree that the choice was likely his TNA match with Samoa Joe at Turning Point 2005, though other matches were mentioned. Both of us were interested in revisiting his New Japan work, as it marked a career resurgence for AJ Styles after stagnating within TNA. His NJPW work elevated AJ back to the forefront of everyone's mind when discussing the best wrestler in the world, and that is why I chose this match for the Match of the Week. Watching AJ here is such a joy. He's still amazing today, but he's into his 40s at the time of writing - here he's so agile and fluid in his movements, which is a reminder of what a special, special talent he is and was.

My immediate impression of this match is that Suzuki's facial expressions throughout this are priceless. Odd thing to notice first, but I love that he's just an angry old man and he's here to let AJ Styles know it. Within the match itself it's as if he's getting frustrated that AJ would dare to even strike him. He brought the violence to the match, which was complemented by some fantastic selling by AJ. The audible selling of Styles is magnificent. It's the sort of thing I've always lauded Ric Flair for in the past, and I give similar praise to Styles here. It truly put over the nasty work that Suzuki was doing to his arm. This is a prime example of two guys using their strengths to improve the match. Speaking of which, I think this is a feather in the cap of both men considering how wildly different their styles are, that they were able to have a match of this quality.

I loved the limb work, in particular the nasty little touches that Suzuki would do. He wouldn't just put in an arm bar, he'd twist at the fingers, or he'd move to a crossface. He wouldn't just stretch the right arm, he'd start working over the left one if it was available. Every hold he put on worked because of how he mixed it up. This is how you do engaging holds. For a match that concentrates a lot of work on more subtle aspects like stretching fingers, AJ's audible screams helped put it over to the crowd. Visually, this arm work looked stunning, and suitably aggressive for what they were going for. 

This in turn led to Styles himself becoming noticeably more aggressive later in the match. He'd gone from being flashy AJ Styles in the first few minutes, to a guy that had to do the nitty gritty stuff to compete with Suzuki. In turn, that puts Suzuki over even in eventual defeat - he's beaten by Styles, but he forced AJ to come out of his comfort zone and gave him the fight of his life. 

While Suzuki's offence looked fantastic, and certainly warranted the selling that Styles delivered, it's the performance of Styles that puts it over the top. From the subtle way he'd try and regain feeling between moves, to the moment where he stops using it because it was a liability. He made us, the viewer, feel every bit of pain in his arm. 

The best part of this match is the struggle between moves. Each move used feels like either guy has to fight tooth and nail for. In particular the suspense they built up down the finishing stretch for their big moves. I loved Suzuki's strategy of using the ankle lock to bait Styles into a counter that would expose the injured arm, leading to a wonderful tease and struggle in an arm bar. That arm bar leads to a Styles Clash that AJ can't capitalise on due to his injured arm. The finishing sequence had practically no near falls, but the drama and energy was built from the previous arm work that made the finish exciting in spite of a lack of near falls.

One glaring negative is I did think the interference was totally unnecessary. It added nothing to the match, nor did it add any drama - especially coming right in the middle of the match. Instead it just felt like a distraction to a match I was already thoroughly enjoying. 

Overall I had a blast revisiting some NJPW AJ Styles work. This might not be his best match from this run, but it's certainly up there and a match I wouldn't mind watching again and again. An excellent match from two great wrestlers.