Never fear, the original alternate is back with topics including:
– There was a little man in the ALF suit?
– The natural hockey hotbed of Las Vegas Nevada
– The WWE Cruiserweight World Classic and its interesting possibilities
– The fabulous Starrcade ’90 flashbacks featuring Canadian grappling luminaries Troy Montour and Danny Johnson
– The Horsemen’s inspirational message to “Get In Touch With Your Emotions”
– Thoughts on the New Japan Best of the Super Juniors aka the Taguchi revival series, Ricochet, Will Ospreay, Kota Ibushi’s shadow, Hiroshi Tanainjury, New Japan’s top six situation, the upcoming Dominion lineup, sending good vibes to Yumi Fukawa, Did someone say Pro Wrestling Bezzle?, Shimmer, and much, much more.
Lazier than Al Perez’ one eye, yet still deeper than Ole Anderson’s fake ass voice. It’s the Black Scorpion of radio shows (there’s only one, Sting…); It’s the Adam and Mike BIG AUDIO NIGHTMARE proudly here at F4WOnline.com.
We roll on to day nine of New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, as the morning of 5/31 brought us more action, this time from the A Block. Matches held on this day were in Hiroshima:
Bushi vs. David Finlay
Nothing wrong with this, but felt like every young lion match you’ve seen. Makes sense as Finlay is a young lion. This was solid, but patterned in other words. Finlay made a comeback, Bushi cut him off and pinned him with the codebreaker off the top rope.
Rocky Romero vs. Matt Sydal
Good match. Solid work here as well. Romero got the heat at one point by dousing Sydal with what looked like a water bottle and gave him a sliced bread on the floor. They went back to the ring exchange some strikes .Sydal took Romero out with a powerbomb and went for the shooting star press but Romero blocked it, throwing him off. Sydal came back with a rana to the floor and pinned Romero with a shooting star press.
Gedo vs. Kushida
Really good match, best out of all four here. Kushida worked on Gedo’s arm throughout the entire match and came back to it whenever he had the chance. Gedo had a lot of offense and looked tremendous. I think he’s secretly the MVP of this tournament even though there has been a lot great matches without him. Kushida went for the armbar but Gedo countered with a roll up and did some great near falls. Crowd was really into this too. Gedo went for the Gedo Clutch but Kushida kicked out. Kushida sinked in the hoverboard lock again and after rolling around to the middle of the ring Gedo submitted.
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Another good match! There were some pre match shenanigans as Taguchi wanted the ref to pat his crotch area. When he refused, Taguchi took out a banana, because he’s wacky, you see. It’s kind of funny as Taguchi can be a pretty great worker at times, but the comedy stuff is total prelim level. There was a cool spot early where O’Reilly went for the leg sweep but Taguchi jumped, then dropkicked O’Reilly in one swift motion. They exchange leg submissions and went back and forth on another another. Taguchi grabbed the leg again and dropped in elbow, and that caused O’Reilly to eventually submit.
The Best of the Super Juniors tournament continues with A block matches in Osaka.
After the foreigners took center stage on Friday in Tokyo with the Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet match everyone is talking about, it’s the Japanese in the main event tonight with Kushida (1-2) facing Ryusuke Taguchi (3-0). In addition, we’ve got Matt Sydal (2-1) vs. Kyle O’Reilly (3-0) in what should be a great match, plus Gedo (1-2) vs. David Finlay (0-3) and Rocky Romero (2-1) taking on Los Ingobernables de Japon member Bushi (0-3).
Given the records, you can probably figure out the results but we’ll see how they get there.
WILL OSPREAY & TRENT BARETTA & TOMOHIRO ISHII VS. HIROYOSHI TENZAN & VOLADOR JR. & MICHAEL ELGIN
Heated crowd tonight. Very good opener but usual rush job with all this talent. Tenzan had one of his better nights. Ospreay and Volador stole the show with some great spots. Ospreay has started to just take over and knows he’s the big deal now and the crowd already treats it like he’s something special when he tags in. The finish saw Elgin pin Baretta. Baretta went for a codebreaker but Elgin blocked it and power bombed him.
JUSHIN LIGER & TIGER MASK &. MANABU NAKANISHI & YUJI NAGATA VS. KATSUYORI SHIBATA & JAY WHITE & BOBBY FISH & JUICE ROBINSON
Another very good match. Nagata and Shibata are going to tear the house down when they come back for their singles match in Osaka on the 19th. They were super hard hitting and solid with everything they did. Nakanishi actually came off the top rope twice in this match and worked surprisingly well with Robinson, who is more animiated. But it was another rush job. Nakanishi and Nagata double-teamed White with a chop off the top by Nakanish and enzuigiri by Nagata at the same time and Nagata put him way with the bridging back suplex.
DAVID FINLAY VS. GEDO
Another good match, very physical. Gedo was on fire here doing all the little things that most don’t do as far as bringing intensity and selling Finlay’s stretch muffler. Early on he used the ring bell hammer, a chair and and rammed Finlay’s head into the table a few times. Finlay’s work and comebacks were solid all the way across. Finlay got a cradle and a big crowd pop for the upset.
ROCKY ROMERO VS. BUSHI
Better match than you’d think largely due to Romero. Again solid wrestling with strong heat. Bushi did a good tope and most of his spots. Good counters and near falls at the end. Bushi blew green mist when the ref was distracted and then came off the top rope with a codebreaker and got the pin.
INTERMISSION
SATOSHI KOJIMA & YOSHITATSU & CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN & RICOCHET VS. BAD LUCK FALE & KENNY OMEGA & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & CHASE OWENS
Another match better than you’d think largely due to Ricochet, Kojima and Omega and even Captain. Omega was the star of the match. Ricochet worked great spots with him including doing a twisting dive over the top. In the end, Captain came in and got great near falls on Omega that the crowd bought including a uranage and frotn rolling cradle. But Fale squashed Captain in the corner and Omega used Hiroshi Tanahashi’s big moves, the sling blade and high fly flow for the pin. After the match Omega hit Captain over the head hard with a garbage can. Even with an object that gives they can lay off the hard head shots.
KAZUCHIKA OKADA & HIROOKI GOTO & YOSHI-HASHI VS. TETSUYA NAITO & SEIYA SANADA & EVIL
Great match. Real wild with super heat, paricularly Okada vs. Nito and and Yoshi-Hashi vs. Sanada. Crowd is really into the latter feud. The finish saw hard hitting action with Goto and Evil and Goto scoring the clean pin after a guillotine ino a final cut. Naito threw the belt i the air again. Naito grabbed Milano Collection A.T. after. Okada stomped the hell out of Evil. Goto wanted a singles match with Evil. Yoshi-Hashi and Sanada brawled some after the match.
MATT SYDAL VS. KYLE O’REILLY
This is quite the show. Another great match here showcasing two of the best wrstelers in the world right now. Hard hitting solid, some great moves by Sydal and great submission set ups by O’Reilly. Sydal won when he knocked O’Reilly off the top with a head-butt from superplex position and hit a double kneedrop off the top and followed with the shooting star press.
KUSHIDA VS. RYUSUKE TAGUCHI
Excellent match. I can’t even remember the last time Taguchi was in something this good. He hung wih Kushida for 16 minutes and both were drenched when it was over. What’s interesing is that the super juniors usually means a lot of high flying but this year it’s more solid wrestling for most guys and the high flying was left to Ospreay, Volador and Ricochet. Lots of near fall and submissions. Kushida once did a divoce court off the apron and a running flip dive. Kushdia kicked out of the Dodon and Taguchi escaped the hoverboard lock. The finish was a series of reversals and Kushida went for an armbar but Taguchi cradled him. But Kushida then got the armbar again and Taguchi had to tap out. Kushdia did an interview after.
Overall one of the better shows of the year. Everyone worked hard and the key matches they were building for Dominion all hot had a lot of intensity.
The original alternative is back with 45 minutes of New Japan pro graps gooeyness!
Some time has passed since the New Japan-Ring Of Honor joint show in Chicago Ridge, but it allowed Adam’s thoughts to ferment like a cold bottle of Arbor Mist purchased at a gas station…and we’re gonna open that bottle and let them flow right down your earhole. We talk the greatness of seeing some greats, the main event angle, unbridled joy for KAMAITACHI (and Dragon Lee too), Adam sees your ‘Kyle O’Reilly as pioneer’ argument – and then completely smashes it into dust, the first few days of NJ’s Best of the Super Juniors, Chase, Will, Beretta, KUSHIDAMANIA, Pittsburgh’s HBK line, and much more.
It’s the radio show that wonders if other radio shows have ever put the Ronnie James Dio in radio; it’s the latest edition of the Adam and Mike BIG AUDIO NIGHTMARE~!
