Friday, May 20, 2022
Forever Forward Fridays
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Kick It!
Friday, May 13, 2022
Forever Forward Fridays
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Sho Can Go
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
A Malenko By Any Other Name
Carl Greco VS Shoichi Funaki - PWFG 5/12/1993
CJD: We're getting into the weeds with this Shootstyle Sidequest. The Greco options that don't have Ishikawa in them were really limited so I had to start combing through some uploads of entire PWFG shows like this one to see what caught my eye. I try to avoid sharing stuff like this because I don't want people to have to click around but it's the first match on the show 6 minutes in and you can see more of Kane warming up for his match later with Fujiwara (!) as an added bonus. This is the earliest match I've seen from Greco or Funaki and while this honestly pales in comparison to your match last week, for the opener of a fairly low key shootstyle show I thought this did a very nice job. The opening feeling out is organic and exciting. I did think it was a little dry in the middle stretch but both guys did a very good job fighting for ring position and stressing the importance of trying to finish things out of the reach of rope breaks. Which kind of plays off of your match even though it's 15 years in the future! The finish capped it off as a "yes, I'll play that forward" moment. This doesn't go big but it does get the crowd warmed up and ready and makes both young fighters look full of potential. And I'm not going to lie, I'm just grinning thinking about the transition the past month and half going from WALTER, to Ishikawa, to Kane, back to Ishikawa, to Greco, to Smackdown's #1 Announcer. Where are we taking this wild ride next??
JJZ: The joy that this match brings me just seeing the opening is something that only Play it Forward can do. How in the hell did we get here (thanks for that little recap). How great is this Chris! Funaki really impressed me in this one. He can go. This match is extremely well done on a technical level. The reversals from hold to hold were so smooth. Both guys did an excellent job on the fundamentals of grappling that made the match feel so authentic. I do wish they had a limit on rope breaks though. I found myself at times thinking, "try a kimura! Go for a knee bar!" and the guys actually went for it. Loved that little touch. Great finish. I could've watched this for another 30 minutes!
Friday, April 29, 2022
Forever Forward Fridays
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
MDTSOCWWKD Tuesday Favorites
As advertised here are our picks for our Top 5 favorite Tuesday posts from March 2021-March 2022! There are some absolute bangers mixed in here (so much so that we had three of the same picks!!), while our Friday Top 5 had one hell of an eclectic range of matches. Which is pretty on-brand for PIF but you never know when Tuesdays will go down a rabbit hole of Kane shootstyle exploits! We always keep them guessing.
CJD:
https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2021/06/crazy-insane-kid-or-insane-crazy-kid.html?m=0
https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2021/08/bad-lad-bad-boy.html?m=0
https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2022/01/who-is-noah.html?m=0
https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2022/01/do-that-voodoo-murders-that-you-do-so.html?m=0
https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2022/01/destructive-power.html?m=0
JJZ:
Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) VS Go Shiozaki - NOAH GHC Heavyweight Championship 1/1/2022
Yoshihiro Takayama (c) VS Satoshi Kojima - AJPW Triple Crown Championship 9/26/2009
KENTA VS Eddie Edwards - NOAH 11/25/2007
Orange Cassidy (c) VS Joey Janela - ICW IWTV Championship 5/18/2019
Can-Am Express VS Toshiaki Kawada/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi - AJPW 8/27/1992