Welcome back!
I will always start this series with this opener, so let’s get it over with. I am still a relatively newer fan to the this side of wrestling, like Lucha, Puro, Joshi and the like, and so there are many matches and classics I have never seen. Many people send me recommendations, which many regard as being the greatest bouts of all time and so, I must watch these and educate myself. I want to be able to watch all the wrestling I can, worldwide classics, niche matches, lesser known genres of wrestling, golden eras and more. These are things I want to be able to say I have watched and enjoyed myself, both to expand my wrestling knowledge and learn more about wrestlers I might’ve never seen before.
I also want to watch many lesser known but equally awesome matchups that I don’t even know about yet, ones with small crowds and little fanbases online. Thanks to the wonderful means of YouTube, Google Drives, VK and the many wrestling enthusiasts I talk to, I can get recommendations on what to watch and also be able to watch everything I’ve not yet seen.
With that out of the way, let’s begin with the November Review! This has, again, been a quieter month for me. I’ve passed by some academic deadlines, but I still had a lot to do. It was also November, which is NaNoWriMo season (National Novel Writing Month) and so I was writing a 50,000 word novel in November too. However, I can greet you all with 4 match reviews from the 11th month of 2023, I watched very little for legacy this month, but these were the ones I wanted to write about. Next month is December too, so I’ll be getting some Secret Santa recommendations I’ll be reviewing here too.
Without further ado, let’s begin.
Miyuki Takase Vs Miyu Yamashita – 05/06/22 – 4.66 Stars
Since getting a DPW Subscription, I’ve loved looking through their catalogue, and this has been on my radar for awhile. Miyuki Takase is awesome, I love her as a wrestler, she has such versatility and she’s just a great performer. Miyu Yamashita speaks for herself, she’s tough as nails and will boot your head off. I know this match was only last year, but that count’s for the Legacy Review series!
Miyuki starts off great in this match, and she is beast for wanting more kicks from Miyu, sitting back down on the mat and begging her for kicks, demanding more, showing her grit and her determination. Miyu’s kicks are nuts man, I haven’t been a Yamashita enjoyer much until recently (Far was not pleased with my statement that she was overrated) but so far I’ve enjoyed her here more than other matches. In hindsight, I think this match made me wake up to Miyu, more than her and Mizuki.
This first time match up is very entertaining to watch as these two aces of Joshi are going at each other. Outside the ring, Miyuki takes the dominant position, and her crowd based chops and clotheslines are great, especially the crowd getting louder and then the big wind up running around, a classic DPW spot. James on commentary makes me happy because I feel like a kid again listening to him, I remember watching him when I was younger, and he’s part of the reason I got into this whole funny thing to begin with.
The in-ring quality is also great and these two women can really put on a show, they tell a story through their offence and how they want to hit eachother, and I think they both rock with all they’re doing. Miyu did a very cool takedown whilst locking in a modified choke hold, and I hadn’t seen anything like that before, she has a lot more technique and skill than is on the surface, and she’s really feeling powerful in this match.
Takase balances her very well, and these two have some very good chemistry in my opinion. They have some great exchanges and manoeuvres all throughout this match, but it’s especially seen in the classic stiff forearm strike exchange, I do love these things. The two then had a chop and kick exchange of which was totally beast because Takase just got straight back up after 4 straight kicks to the chest, tanking them all and getting a proper pop for her efforts. Miyu ended up with the win with an attitude adjustment then a spin kick, her patented kick after her patented slam. Great match, all around fun watch, great skills highlighted from both women. DPW is so wonderful for allowing us this awesome matchup.
CIMA Vs T-Hawk – 03/11/18 – 4.5 Stars
This is a showcase match from OWE (CIMA’s promotion) over in Berlin, something I didn’t know at all when I opened this match! Obviously, this is between two Dragongate legends, and I love me some Dragongate, so this is immediately something I was hyped for. A teacher vs student matchup, CIMA the superioer, T-Hawk his youth, his protégé. This bout is one which is within the first few minutes showing off to be absolutely awesome.
Fast paced action as per usual with these guys and this style, this is DG we’re talking about. CIMA genuinely doesn’t slow down ever, his age has never caught up with him, what did they do in the DG Dojo, because Dragon Kid is the same too, and Naruki Doi, they’re all crazy fast and crazy good. I honestly just enjoy watching these matches rather than reviewing them in detail, it’s that type of wrestling which is spectacular, you get absorbed and want to just watch, not think about it.
That type of style is always fun, it always has spectacles in the ring, big spots and wrestling that is super speedy and rapid, with aggression and elegance. On top of that, they’re always technical too, they get some submissions in, some working in, all typed of holds and manoeuvres on show, this is the definition of what a showcase match should be. I ended this match feeling like I should actually watch some OWE, and I’ve never one before looked at them.
CIMA is always a wonder to watch in the ring even now in the 2020s as I said before, despite this being 2018. This match taking place in Germany feels odd, the crowd are hard to tell if they’re into or not, but I definitely enjoyed it and the rest of the crowd seemed into it as well, despite the front row looking dead. These guys submission work is great, some really wrenching holds which got that wince from me, especially with the way they moved with them, the modified calf crusher into the Red Ink amonst other things got me sat up, keenly watching the match.
T-Hawk gets a lot of time and focus in the showcase within this match too, being able to show off his power and his striking, but then also giving lessons to CIMA, showing him he’s not his student anymore, but his own man, his own wrestler. CIMA returns those lessons though, and also hands back the strikes, giving him a punishment just as hard and fast as T-Hawk can, perhaps more so. As this match continued, the action became more rushed and more willing to get a win, they looked more desperate, more intent on destruction, the kicks increasing power and the slams become more creative, more flowing, more intense. CIMAs meteora will never get old, the knees slamming into T-Hawk’s face just as brutal as in the 2000s, and I think that move will forever look painful, standing or sitting or kneeling, but it wasn’t enoug, T-Hawk powered through and upset his mentor, the look in his eyes was confused. T-Hawk ends up turning the pace finally, getting back his grip over his teacher, and wins with the Nighthawk in what was an epic match, a proper showcase.
Naruki Doi Vs Bryan Danielson – 06/09/09 – 5.5 Stars
Where to start. What a goddamn match. Incredible is an understatement. I was sat up the entire time. Not one point I was bored, or wanted to look away. It was gripping. This was Omega Okada levels of talent and prowess. The story of two aces yet again, meeting in the home of Danielson before he departs to the big leagues, the promised land of WWE.
The crowd was very much into this match before it even began, and Danielson’s entrance was just him appearing in the ring which was kind of epic, just an apparition. This is my first time seeing a proper young Bryan Danielson match and I’m going to get into him more as I go along. I have an entire list of his matchography I have to work through, up next for Decembers review is him and Morishima, for my Secret Santa reccommendation.
Early 2000s crowds are honestly so loud it feels like a big deal no matter who is in the ring. I really miss this atmosphere, and current wrestling needs an injection of this because they seem less hardcore than they used to be, less of superfans and more muted, more subdued. This is another ace vs. ace match, this time between ROH and DG, I had no idea he had signed with WWE already at the time I was watching, but they mentioned it on commentary and how Danielson still wanted to face the best there was, head to head, and he needed to in order to offered himself before he went away. That’s really interesting to know and find out, considering the run he’s on today as well in AEW and how he’s going back to this exact thing after his WWE run, proving himself after a GOAT worthy career.
It’s really mesmerising to watch Danielson in this year because his technical prowess really shows off and it really compliments with Doi as well, as he utilises speed and high impact effectively against Danielson’s offense. This match was shown to be a heavily technical bout, with both wrestlers showing their skills in every way possible, their individual prowess, and their capabilities against each other as both technical and aggressive wrestlers. Danielson is a menace, he’s brutal, he’s violent. He’s punishing every single part of the body possible, he works Doi’s arm for like a minute or two and it’s just complete destruction of every section of it, methodically and slow, crushing damage on it before putting in a cross armbreaker after bending the arm many ways it shouldn’t, an utter dissection of the limb.
Doi gets control back by shifting to his other arm eventually, and changing how he wrestles to adapt to his situation, and he hit some high octane moves, but it becomes an even playing field once again and both men exchange moves, making the speed of the match increase from the slowness of the previous few minutes of working. There was then a set of reversal exchanges to do with roll-ups and pinning manoeuvres and the speed of which they moved around and the referee caught up was wonderful, shout-out Bryce Remsburg, he doesn’t get enough recognition in today’s world.
Danielson is actually mental with some of these submissions and reversals, he’s on another playing field in 2009 here, how have I missed this before, why didn;t I watch sooner? These guys have some insane work together, they flow like a river does through a valley, and they compliment each-others styles so well. BCC-Style elbows looked crazy here, just nutty elbows to the face, what a wrestler Danielson is. His kicks have the same feeling that Kana gave off at the same time, and the return strikes from Doi feel just as painful, but the open hand strikes of Danielson are just not comparable to all, this man is a perfect wrestling specimen. This has gotten me to want to watch every match of his in ROH now, now that would be a proper review series.
Doi gets his own back by hitting his signature manoeuvre from the top rope before sending a boot to his face as Danielson was sitting and both got kicked out at two, but finally, a muscular bomb drove Danielson’s neck straight into the middle of the mat for a 3 count, something I didn’t see coming at all. The move made me jump up a bit, it was actually incredible, an insane way to end a match with a move like that. What a wrestler Danielson is, and what a competitor Doi is, I think a 2023 runback would be just as cool, just as mesmerising.
This match really showed off the gruesomeness of technical wrestling and how one competitor can be completely isolated with their body worked to its breaking point, but even after all of that punishment Naruki Doi faced, he could come back to hit some incredible moves, show his heart, wear his spirit with pride to finish off the match. It really did highlight his resilience and a textbook way to show off how good of a competitor he really is. Danielson is a perfect fit for a wrestler like him, and honestly Doi is just as good that he could easily be placed as one of the best of all time, but not above Danielson, because the way he worked this match was just second to none. Bravo
CM Punk Vs Samoa Joe (1) – 12/06/2004 – 5.25 Stars
When I review normally, as we’ve seen throughout this article and the last few, what I usually do is write whilst I watch. I think doing that has made it more difficult for me to actually consume matched, because I write in too much detail (ask anyone who knows me) and I end up not watching the match as much as a whole, but more as a review. This time, for this review as it is such a historical match and so long, I will add some comments as I watch the match but I won’t review it in that way as I usually do. This match is an hour long and so I want to watch it all properly, reviewing it as what it is.
Obviously because of the events at the moment surrounding CM Punk, and numerous tweets with edits of pre-WWE CM Punk, I wanted to watch some of his ROH work. I have only seen him vs AJ Styles before, and because I’ve never seen this match, I wanted to start here. So lets strap in and see what I have to say. Trust me, after watching this, there’s gonna be more from this 5 part series in the next months,
I can see how the headlock game is so famous for this match, and it’s in play here from the opening minutes. This match series is famous for it, and with the combination of the monstrous reign of Samoa Joe as ROH World Champion and with the size difference between the two men, it’s needed for Punk. This process of wearing him down with various headlocks is clearly his tactic immediately – trying to control the tempo and dictate what happens. Elements of puro which I love are shown here too, with the mutual respect and not giving in no matter what. Their stand offs here were awesome, but them standing in the centre of the ring and telling each other to run into a certain rope to try knock eacother down is always something I like to see, and Punk used this tradition to further his headlock goal too, showing the deep psychology behind this match.
These crowds always play into match very well, loud, rowdy, hyped up and all paying for this one event. They were pretty much 50/50 throughout, not one side relenting, and that’s utterly brilliant. I love what they did with that one fan through up the Punk X at Joe, just for him to flinch out when Joe pretended to hit him, made me giggle, and when Punk went to handshake the guy to console him and then juked him aswell, it made me properly laugh. Poor guy.
Some of the submissions in this match were absolutely butal as well, there was one specific Boston crab which looked like Punks legs could’ve snapped off, I haven’t ever seen a submission so powerful and so wrenching, it was beautiful.
I think this match is an easy 5 stars. I mean the entirety of the match was a story from start to finish, a play on a David v Goliath story but David had some tricks up his sleeve and Goliath has a muscle buster. There was non-stop action and all of it was based around the story and the size difference, it slowed down at points but the feeling didn’t diminish. They didn’t lose momentum at all, and the amount of headlocks and chin locks in various wear down manoeuvres that Punk used served to show a dynamic between the two. It wasn’t like that old timey sort of rest lock wrestling, it was used as a weapon and it was used on purpose. It was just constant and made the final stretch of the match on how completely exhausted they were, leading to that perfect finish to the match. Punk up top, getting the Pepsi Plunge after so long, and him falling to the outside immediately, landing on his injured legs from the Plunge, and then scraping and trying so hard at getting back inside all to start battling on the top rope with Joe after a solid minute of pain, and then both still just scrapping, just throwing all they had at their fight in the last 30 seconds to see who could go, who would crumble, and neither did.
A crowd chant of 5 more minute was deafening for the next minutes after the match ended, longer than the 5 they wanted for.
Perfect Match – Very Easy 5.25
To finish November:
Thank you all for reading my November Legacy Review, these reviews allows me and others to take a look back at how I thought about wrestling over the years, and I hope to continue this as long as possible. It serves to show my evolution as a fan, and I know that many of you do know and love these matches already and have your own thoughts and opinions, but for me being able to talk and share what I watch and how I feel about these matches I’ve never seen is wonderful. It’s a fun thing to be able to do really, and I thank my position here at 6to10 for it. My ratings do change over time, but all I write is accurate to the time of publishing.
I recently published an articles about ‘The Window Into My Mind’ – It contains 3 reviews of which I feel are my favourite matches of all time and describe me as a wrestling fan. You can also go back and check out previous months of this series, as well as my Twitter for more about me as a fan. Next month expect it to be relatively ROH heavy, and probably some Mio Momono.
Once again, a big thank you to all who read this article, and I hope to see you all again soon! I appreciate you all for reading my reviews of these matches, expect some more reviews soon and for next month’s watch list! Let me know on Twitter (@BCubePuro) about any other wrestling matches, albums, movies or games you’d like me to write about next!
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