Puroresu Nominees

THIS LIST:

Ryota Hama/Akebono vs. Daisuke Sekimoto/Yuji Okabayashi, AJPW 1/3 - 8 YES
Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori, AJPW 2/3 - 5 YES, 2 NO
Tajiri vs. Finlay, Smash 2/19 - 4 YES
Kana vs. Syuri, Smash 2/19 - 3 YES
Sami Callihan vs. Yoshihito Sasaki, BJW 3/26 - 7 YES
Kana/Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Shuri/Daisuke Ikeda, Kana Pro 6/17 - 4 YES
Viktor Kruger/Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Mohammed Yone, Futen 7/8 - 3 YES
Jun Akiyama vs. Masakatsu Funaki, AJPW 8/26 - 3 YES
Great Sasuke vs. Villano IV, Michinoku Pro 8/31 - 6 YES
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Suwama, AJPW 9/23 - 3 YES
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki, NJPW 10/8 - 8 YES
Yuki Ishikawa vs. AKIRA, Kana Pro 6/17 - 3 YES, 1 NO
Finlay vs. AKIRA, WNC 5/24 - 3 YES

THE NOMINEES:

Suwama vs. Daisuke Sekimoto, AJPW 1/2 - 2 YES, 1 NO
TenKoji vs. Bad Intentions, NJPW 1/4
Aja Kong vs. Ayako Hamada, Bull Nakano Produce 1/8 - 1 NO
Tatsumi Fujinami/Mitsuya Nagai vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Yuki Ishikawa, Legend Pro 1/8
Fujita "Jr" Hayato vs. Kento Miyahara, Diamond Ring 2/11 - 1 YES
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada, NJPW 2/12
Danshoku Dino vs. Antonio Honda, DDT 2/19
Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito, NJPW 3/4 - 2 YES, 2 NO
Jun Akiyama vs. Keiji Mutoh, AJPW 3/20 - 1 YES
Meiko Satomura vs. Nanae Takahashi, Stardom 3/20 - 2 YES, 2 NO
Sekimoto vs. Sasaki, BJW 3/26 - 1 YES, 3 NO
Kenny Omega vs. Shigehiro Irie, DDT 4/1 - 1 YES, 1 NO
Kazuaki Mihara/Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Yun Gang Chul vs. Hideyoshi/Kuuga/Masamune, Osaka Pro 4/29 - 2 NO
Kenou vs. Fujita 'Jr' Hayato, Michinoku Pro 6/3 - 1 YES
Alexander Otsuka/Mitsu Nagai vs. Yuki Ishikawa/Super Tiger, 6/20
KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji, NOAH 7/22
Hiroshi Yamato vs. Koji Kanemoto, AJPW 7/29
Yuki Ishikawa vs. Mitsu Nagai, RJPW 9/21 - 2 YES
Alexander Otsuka vs. Super Tiger 2, RJPW 9/21 - 1 NO
Josh Barnett vs. Shinichi Suzukawa, IGF 10/16 - 2 YES
Jushin Liger/Negro Casas/BUSHI vs. Low Ki/Kendrick/Jado, NJPW 10/25 - 2 NO
Fujita Jr. Hayato vs. Great Sasuke, MPRO 11/10 - 2 YES
Rui Hyugaji vs. Daichi Sasaki, MPRO 11/10 - 1 YES
Kengo Mashimo/Ryuichi Sekine vs. Taishi Takizawa/Akito, KDOJO 11/13
Masato Tanaka vs. Tomohiro Ishii, NJPW 11/19 - 2 YES, 2 NO
Shinsuke Nakamura/Tomohiro Ishii vs. Minoru Suzuki/Kengo Mashimo, NJPW 11/24
Katsuyori Shibata/Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Shinsuke Nakamura/Tomohiro Ishii, NJPW 12/2 - 2 YES
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Minoru Suzuki, NJPW 12/23 - 1 YES

This post has been edited by Wrestling_KO Mike on Mar 29 2013, 01:16 AM

NOMINATE - TenKoji vs. Bad Intentions - NJPW 4th Jan
The only match from the show that I'd say is nomination worthy, I thought this was pretty damn good. Anderson really stood out for me, despite being someone I've never paid a lot of attention to in the past. I thought Tenzan was the star of the match, a ton of intensity and great facial expressions. He does "epic" really well. They didn't go into overkill teritory, in fact it would have probably been improved with a slightly longer finishing stretch, but this was fine pro wrestling and I look forward to the rematch.

Nominate

Aja Kong vs Ayako Hamada, Bull Nakano Produce 1/8

I think this would have come off much better with a hotter crowd, but the match itself was very good. Essentially an extended version of the match they had in Chikara, with a more satisfying finish. Kong was great, but Hamada is no slouch either and can hang with her trading blows and is willing to sell and bump her ass off. Finishing run was very fun, and the finish was a cool pay-off to Hadama's strategy. Not the sort of match that will be a MOTYC for anyone, but enjoyable joshi nonetheless.

Nominating

Suwama vs. Daisuke Sekimoto, AJPW 2/1

I watched this on a whim with little real expectations of actually liking it, nevermind nominating it. I'm probably the only guy here who would, and this may be the product of lowered expectations for modern heavyweight puro, but it is what it is. The match mostly eschews most of the standard schlock that drags these kind of bouts down for me in favor of a back-to-basics hierarchy-based match. Suwama is an established name star of All Japan (insofar as All Japan has "names" and "stars" anymore), and Sekimoto is the scrappy little indy underdog who's making inroads into the company. And Sekimoto starts out going full-tilt at Suwama, repeatedly charging him and trying to initiate strike exchanges and whatnot, and Suwama reacts like the big dog in all those old Looney Tunes cartoons with the big dog and the little dog, and the little dog is jumping around all hyper and yapping his head off at the big dog, and the big dog just tries to ignore him because he's beneath him and doesn't want to deal with his bullshit until he finally gets sick of it and *WHAM* - down goes Sekimoto like a sack of shit. Suwama isn't a guy I hate so much as a guy I never cared enough about to form an opinion of, but he is really good working as the big dog early, cutting off all of Sekimoto's offensive flurries and working over his half-taped ribs with aplomb. Then Sekimoto has a really nice comeback. He resists the urge to blow off the ribwork, and while he does get off a few big power moves, it's pretty labored on his part. They do end up doing a strike exchange, but they actually built to it, so it actually meant something, even though it was still the least appealing part of the match to me. And the dueling enzuigiris was just a headscratcher, but all in all, I really liked this. It was just nice to see a match in 2010's AJPW that was laid out like a match from 1990's AJPW exclusively featuring moves no more high-end than what you would find in 1980's AJPW.

Aja Kong vs Ayako Hamada, Bull Nakano Produce 1/8 - NO
I liked it, although the silent crowd didn't help much. But then they just did way too much. After a while, the near falls stopped being dramatic and were just tedious to sit through, and they ended up hurting the match in my eyes. Nothing I'd want to see again, and I'm quite the fan of Hamada.

Suwama vs. Daisuke Sekimoto, AJPW 2/1 - NO

Your description of the match was more entertaining than the actual match SLL. This felt like slow motion and the subpar mat work was laughable. I used to like Sekimoto when he tagged with Mammoth but he seems to have gone backwards. The finishing segment was ok but not enough to make this nomination worthy.

Suawama vs Sekimoto - YES. Could have done without 2 long Boston Crabs, but otherwise I agree with SLL. Both guys did a good job playing their roles and they told this story well. Suwama has been making strides over the last 6 months, he looks like he finally "gets" how to project himself as the ace, and he worked a very smart match. Also like all the struggling over suplexes. Opening part established their roles effectively, the middle was kept interesting thanks to the rib injury, and the finishing stretch was pretty great.

I'm 99% sure they didn't do any matwork.

Suwama vs. Seikmoto - YES. Nice slow building match that featured some excellent back work by Suwama which paid off in the finish. Seikmoto also did well in not blowing off the selling throughout the match. Not the most exciting, action packed match, but it told a real good story and worked towards a nice finish.

Nominate - Ryota Hama and Akebono vs Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi (AJPW 3rd Jan)

I always wrote Akebono off and never watched his matches, but this stuff I've been seeing recently has been a revelation - he really can work his arse off and he was great here at being a giant, unmoveable prick. One who happens to through great elbow drops too. The story of the match was really well done, with Okabayashi never really being able to get either man off of their feet without help from Sekimoto, and the finishing stretch was a great payoff to that story. Went just the right amount of time, and everyone looked good in it, though particularly 'Bono and Okabayashi. My favourite match so far this year.

Ryota Hama and Akebono vs Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi (AJPW 3rd Jan)

YES

Never would have guessed that almost a month in, my two favorite puro matches so far would involve Sekimoto. This match was really good and using the power of Seikmoto and Okabayashi vs. the size of Bono and hama. Everything that everyone did felt clunky and painful and the ending with Okabayashi overcoming the odds was actually very inspiring.

Ryota Hama and Akebono vs Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi (AJPW 3rd Jan)

YES. You know how this goes. Beefed up meatheads vs obese blobs. The unstoppable forces vs the immovable objects. Throw in the interpromotional heat and spite, and a bunch of clobberin', and it's a fun match.

Nominate

Jun Akiyama vs Takao Omori, AJ 2/3

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xoiedz_04...-02-03-12_sport

Korakuen Hall backs Omori BIGTIME! They do some stuff and then Omori injuries himself on a big spill and Jun Akiyama: Ripper Of Limbs takes over. He does a good job focusing on the injury and they sustain the heat throughout, leading to a dramatic end run where they keep the story of Omori trying to overcome the odds and Akyiama shutting him down. I remember digging their 2001 match, and this was like that but "bigger".A better match than Suwama vs Akiyama (as it's good throughout rather than just the final 1/3), and the best TC match in a good few years (not that I thought it was blowaway great, but yeah).

Omori vs. Akiyama 2/3 AJPW YES

I thought the build up to this was better than the finishing run but still a very good match. I was really digging the arm work Akiyama was doing in the middle portion and wish it would have had more of a payoff in the end. The crowd believed in Omori a good deal which helped the finishing run but I thought it was pretty lackluster end overall.

Omori vs. Akiyama 2/3 AJPW YES

At the start Omori came across as this indy sleaze loser who somehow was granted one last shot at the title. He looked somewhat nervous, failed a takedown attempt and took two bumps (one being especially nutty) due to being overzealous. So just when I start to think the guy has talent, he under-sells his arm and then makes the shittiest comeback I've seen in a long time. Really disappointing finishing run as Omori's indy offense was repulsive and they were working fairly even. But this is definitely a yes thanks to Akiyama's blow away great arm work. He looked world class here, just ripping apart Omori's arm. Omori seriously should have been crying like a little baby during the arm section. Great Akiyama performance, and overall a good match.

Voting:

Sekimoto/Okabayashi vs Akebono/Hama- 1/3/12 YES. One of my favorite matches of the year. SMOP played their role of the giants that cant be taken down in this match. This is already one of the best feuds of 2012.

Jun Akiyama vs Takao Omori-2/3/12 YES. Akiyama is never ceases to amaze me. Another great performance. Match started slow but really built well with both guys hitting their big moves.

Nominating:

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada-2/12/12. This was excellent world title match. It started slow with some nice selling by Tanahashi and ended with big moves and some really good near falls.

Fujita "Jr" Hayato vs Kento Miyahara-2/11/12 Diamond Ring. This was a hot match! Fujita just killed Miyahara with kicks. Kento made a nice comeback in the match.

Fujita "Jr" Hayato vs Kento Miyahara-2/11/12 - Yes

Was thinking about nominating this myself, think it's worth a yes. They don't get a ton of time which is probably a blessing as they manage to cram a ton of violence into ten minutes instead of dragging it out. Hayato's kicks look pretty great, super stiff and he looks like he gets everything behind them. He's still the smaller guy, though, so when Miyahara comes back and starts pounding him outside the ring, it looks awesome. A couple of exchanges are a little off, but not really enough to drag it down too much, and overall I liked it more than the tag already listed. And it had ear blood and everything.

Nominating Tajiri v. Finlay Smash 2/19/12

I am a Tajiri mark and I am a Finlay mark. Still this is 2012 and while I have had some of Tajiri's Smash matches pretty fun, I have not loved any of the ones I've seen and I came into this with the hopes that it would be a good match. This makes me want to go back and watch all of them, because this just an awesome match, and an early MOTYC for me.

Knowing that SMASH is going out of business really added to the feel of the intros with the national anthems as Tajiri - who might have my all time favorite facial expressions in wrestling history - has this great stoic look to him as he mouths the words, while the image of the Japanese flag is stands fading behind him. Has a total "Tajiri's last stand" feel to it and the match reflects that to.

There is a ton of stuff I loved in this. Right out of the gate Finlay flecks sweat at Tajiri who mocks that he has grabbed it and runs his hand on the top rope to cleanse himself of Finlay's filth with an almost Regalesque comedic smirk on his face. Then they go onto have a totally unexpected matwork exchange that is really tight with both guys working really rough, including a sick take down from Finlay and some really nice exchanges from Tajiri who hones in on the leg of Finlay. Nothing was given here as we've got Tajiri scrapping to stay up on a drop toehold attempt (he fails and taste the mat) and Finlay desperate not to give up position to Tajiri who keeps breaking through. Tajiri finally throws some kicks, including some stomps that looked really great right to Finlay's knees, which Finlay sold well even as he struck right back.

Tajiri's frustration selling was pretty neat and both guys have great facials throughout this. Finlay going for the Celtic Cross early was a cool touch as it really put over the fact that he was trying to finish Tajiri and wasn't toying with him which is a mild criticism I have of him at times. Really all the big spots in this were great and the theme of Tajiri going for his signature spots only to get caught was pretty awesome, with the tarantula counter being especially awesome. Some will complain about the slight flub on the baseball slide/apron spot but I thought it was kind of neat as it blocked the contact and Tajiri had this great look to him like he was totally perplexed as to what was holding him up.

Finlay's control was perhaps a hair less intense than I would have liked, but it was a mild criticism and I actually liked Finlay's persistent hatred for Starbuck leading to another teased Tajiri comeback. Incidentally Finlay took Tajiri's kicks unbelievably well here, selling them with this huge whiplash bumps, including one where he spilled to the floor. Tajiri going back to the leg toward the end and getting a great near fall on a head kick really had me marking out hard. Tajiri managed to fight through one tombstone, survived a sucker job with the Shillelagh, and nearly fought off a second tombstone attempt before finally eating it for the fall. Totally exceeded my expectations and if this was Tajiri's big match swan song it was a hell of a way to go out.

I really need to see that match, do you have the link?

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xowlq3_ta...lay-smash_sport

Thanks a lot.

Tajiri v. Finlay Smash 2/19/12 - YES

Highly doubt this will fall out of my top 10 this year. There was tons of struggle, interesting matwork and everything felt really important. Finlay narrowly escaping the tarantula was such a great spot. I'd like to see Finlay vs an even better striker because here, once again, he made Tajiri's kicks look absolutely devastating. I also really loved how Finlay would desperately stop the kicking onslaught by shooting in and grabbing a leg, executing a slam etc. Great match.

Jun Akiyama vs Takao Omori, AJ 2/3 - NO

This started out super hot with a good build and fun work with a great crowd and culminated in the usual crappy never-ending finishing run. Akiyama looked pretty awesome but Omori barely sold the arm, basically slept through Akiyama's holds, he had fun moments and some cool punches but when the Jun Akiyama demolishes your limbs like that you really need to do a little more than just shaking to show that it hurts. I also thought his comebacks sucked. Then the usual predictable suplex no-selling bullshit with barely any interesting twists to it. Sorry but I just don't buy some broken down vet living through 4 Exploders, a Guillotine Choke and a million Akiyama knees.

Strong BJ vs SMOP, January 3rd-YES

This was a blast. Everything that pro-wrestling should be, bizarrely muscular men hammering full force at bizarrely obese man. I really wanna see either of these getting signed to WWE now, Okabayashi charging himself like that against Mark Henry or Hama clobbering it out with Ezekiel Jackson. Akebono was one of the first wrestlers I ever saw on TV... I don't remember him having that awfully creepy discrepancy between the size of his belly and his arms and legs, he looks like a bad Fire Pro edit. The big fat guy formula really forces the Strong BJ guys to do everything right, no Suplex or Lariat overkill here besides the one Suplex near the end that Hama really shouldn't have kicked out of.... aaaahhh the overkill. You know it's gotta be a Japan MOTY when it feels like it should have ended with that vertical suplex.

Tajiri vs Fit Finlay - SMASH 19/2 - YES
Easy yes too, currently my MOTY. Finlay's selling of Tajiri's kicks was some of the best I've ever seen, and made the little comebacks that Tajiri got in after taking such a lenthy beating seem really believeable. Great escape of the Tarantula, those headbutts looked great. Finlay is Mr "Little Things", spending several seconds on a drop toe-hold takedown is something that nobody does.

Really nitpicking, it was a bit annoying that the ref pretty much saw the weapon shot near the end of the match, but I guess DQs aren't total guaranteed in Japan with moves like that as they would be in, say, WWE. I thought the finish was really well done, giving Tajiri just a little hope spot trying to wriggle out of the piledriver, but eventually getting caught by it.

Nominating

Tatsumi Fujinami & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Yuki Ishikawa- Legend Pro 1/8

A fantastic effort from all four men. Starts off a little slow because Fujiwara and Fujinami can’t get on the same page but once Ishikawa tags in this turns into a melee. Nagai’s kicks looked really sharp and I enjoyed watching Fujiwara trying to sucker him into his trademark submissions. Solid stuff. It would’ve been great if it had gone longer but for what it is it’s pretty damn good.

Danshoku Dino vs. Antonio Honda- DDT 2/19

This was a bizarre match that escalates into something great. You’re going to think I’m bullshitting you because of how poorly it begins but once it gets going they really go all out. Dino and Honda bleed all over the place and engage in some awesome Memphis style brawling. I loved the added layer of Honda working over Dino’s right arm so that he only has his left to punch. I think that really put it over the top for me. The Dino schtick is probably going to a deal breaker with some but it didn’t bother me here. It actually made for some interesting visuals in a ‘shock rock’ sort of way.

Nominating:

Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito-3/4/12. This was a great match. Okada is starting to develop some charisma. Match had a big match feel with both guys hitting big moves. Okada has some interesting submissions.