Back Next Week

Hey all you PIFfies, one of the CJD household's pets started this week off in the hospital. She's home and doing much better now but combine that with the fact that I'm wrapping up a month of 3rd shift and this week became a lost cause for the blog. We'll be back Tuesday with a wild ass 4 way and get right back into the swing of things. Have a good weekend and give your furry ones an extra pet for me!

Forever Forward Fridays

LuFisto VS Kimber Lee - Women Wrestling Revolution 4/10/2016

CJD: I've watched a lot of LuFisto matches for PIF at this point. But I've yet to see a bad one. The dynamic here is so different than last week's as Kimber Lee clearly has LuFisto's respect but still has so much to earn. I loved how big they made this match feel, how hard Kimber Lee had to work for what she got, how they took a generic crowd brawl and made it organic and awesome, and how they brought things home. LuFisto just carries herself like everything matters, she projects such a big presence. And Lee was right there with her standing her ground and then some.

JJZ: So before we started Play It Forward I didn't even know who LuFisto was. Now I think I can confidently say she is a top 20 all time women's wrestler. She has such spectacular fundamentals. She does the little things so well. And getting to see her work with such a baby faced Kimber Lee was such a treat. I'm a big fan of the Princess also and I'm pretty sure this is the earliest match I've seen of her. The dynamic between the two played out great and they both didn't hold back at all. Kimber proving herself to the old Lioness. The vet showing the younger wrestler how it's done. Just good shit. Loved the finish, totally believable.

Suzuki Goon

Zack Sabre Jr VS Trent Seven - Kamikaze Pro 2/2/2018

JJZ: I really like Trent Seven. Especially his selling. Zack Sabre Jr is easy but also hard to play forward. Easy because he has wrestled every one ever but hard because he is so damn good that I don't want it to seem like I'm just sharing the first thing I watched. So this was the second match I watched! The first was a Tyler Bate match, and while it was good it wasn't great and maybe over-stayed its welcome. Then I went over to Trent. This match had some really special things in it. First Trent's selling. Tremendous. I was really marking out on the selling of his own offense. A lot of the time he made it feel like he was just throwing shit out last minute hoping it lands. And Fucking Zack. I swear he really just makes shit up as he goes. I was falling for the falsies and loved the home stretch. Enjoy my boy.

CJD: One thing I love is watching great wrestlers wrestle in front of different types of audiences and seeing how they adjust. This match accomplished that big time compared to what I'm used to from these guys. It was super cheeky at times, a little touch and go at other times, and then it landed exactly where it needed to. I agree completety that it felt like they called a good amount on the fly which I loved. The announcers cracked me up by how knowledgable they tried to sound on the submissions. "He's got a Crippler Crossface combined with a Michinoku Driver combined with a La Magistral!!!" This was a really good match that didn't take itself too seriosly but still delivered big time for the crowd it was in front of. Nice find baby, and I'm glad you didn't go with the first match you stumbled across.

Forever Forward Fridays

LuFisto VS Jordynne Grace - Beyond Wrestling 5/29/2016

JJZ: So I think this is the first time we are playing a match forward of a tag team working each other. This was an old lion vs young lion style match. LuFisto really controlled this one for most of it. Grace's selling was way better than I've seen from her before but to be honest this might be the first time I've seen her working from under this much. Really solid psychology trying to work on Grace's core. Some innovative transitions and some really stiff strikes. I popped a few times with LuFisto's aggressiveness. I feel like this was a giving Jordynne the business kinda match. Making her earn her stripes so to speak. The home stretch was was a lot of fun and the finish caught me off guard.

CJD: I expected this match to be good. I didn't expect it to be great. But I'd say it pretty comfortably was by the end. I also think this is the first significant partner VS partner match we've featured which is interesting because which one of these ladies is technically our imaginary FFFriday Champion right now?? Is the belt held up?? Anyway, they weren't teaming yet at this point I don't think but knowing Grace so clearly earned LuFisto's respect in matches like this one makes me appreciate their team that much more. I loved how engaged in the moment both ladies were, how much they were feeding off each other. The grimey hold for hold stuff combined with the chippy shots gave this the feel of early 2000s IWAMS or something generally from a different era. That's an aspect of LuFisto's style that I really enjoy. Her being such a student of the game and paving the way for the likes of Jordynne gave the young lion aspect of this that much more gravity.

Supernova Goes Pop

Yoshinari Ogawa/Zack Sabre Jr VS Muhammad Yone/Katsuhiko Nakajima - NOAH 2/22/2015

CJD: This match brought a smile to my face because it brought me back to PIF's roots almost 4 years ago. After developing this idea for a long time we kicked things off with a series of matches that I still think define our mission statement here, one of which was a ZSJ/Ogawa tag. So why not revisit this underrated tandem?? And how about a workman's team if I ever saw one in 2015 mohawk Yone and "finding himself" puffy pants Nakajima?? This match had me guessing after talking about booking with a real sense of hierarchy, because everyone here has a clear place on their team, and all these guys were typically booked with purpose. Still this match feels a little thrown together, like something to round out an undercard, yet it still builds to a really nice finish. You get the sense these teams could run a rematch for the tag titles in a high profile match and knock it out of the park. For what this was I would have loved 5 more minutes but what we got still left me very satisfied and felt very on-brand for PIF.

JJZ: I would put Zack Sabre Jr and Ogawa as one of my favorite tag teams over the past ten years. Their feuds with Tiger Mask IV/Jushin Liger and Kotage/Harada are low key some of the best junior tag matches in recent memory. This match is wonderful Chris. Just good solid wrestling. Yone is great for this match. He doesn't bring it down at all. Just adds baby. Chubby Nakajima was so much fun. This was before he fully joined NOAH and they still used him in odd spots. I don't know if you remember but I showed you a singles match between Zack and Naks right around this timeframe. Anyway. Good shit baby cakes. It was such a fun watch, I just enjoyed what was on the screen for 17 minutes.

Forever Forward Fridays

Team PAWG VS Chuck Taylor/Orange Cassidy - Beyond 9/24/2017

CJD: I've been thinking about what a great career LuFisto has had despite the odds, so happy for her Indie HoF induction. So this match caught me at the right time, plus OC ties perfectly into last week's match even without Chuck Taylor as his partner! I gotta say Freshly Hungover Orange Cassidy isn't my favorite version of his schtick but he really grinds this one out if he is indeed hurting as bad as Bryce implies. This match was the type of goofy fun you'd expect and by the end it had me grinning big time on my lunch break. Gotta love Beyond bringing the goods with the YouTube uploads as always. This is familiar FFFriday grounds but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.

JJZ: I love this venue! This was such a fun match. Chuck and Orange are the perfect dance partners for an intergender tag match. I thought everyone looked very polished and experienced. Besides LuFisto everyone is pretty young still. I think this is such a good match before the main event. I wish Orange still did a few of the things he did in this match. Like the hand fake outs and the sunglasses flip. I got a real kick out of the finish. Gotta stay strong brother!

CJD: Yeah man, if I was going on in the main event after this I would thank every one of these four individuals. Give em a good ol worker's handshake. This must have set the table beautifully.

Forever Forward Fridays

Best Friends VS Santana & Ortiz - AEW Parking Lot Brawl 9/10/2020

JJZ: First of all. I'm so sorry about these ads. I try to avoid Dailymotion for this reason but I always wanted to hear your thoughts on this match. Short backstory for you CJD. Santana and Ortiz busted up Trent's mom's minivan weeks back and this was the blow off. Loved this feud and loved this match. The parking lot brawl was a great idea during the no fans era of Covid because it felt like a normal feud ending match even without a live audience. I always love a good PLB because I actually think it's a hard match to pull off. It gets boring just throwing your opponent into cars. I believe these four guys really did some innovative stuff here. Following the feud I enjoyed the finish. Towards the end of the match I thought to myself that I'd love to know how much money the damage to the cars cost??

CJD: This is one of the only pandemic matches that was made better due to the situation. Other matches and promotions got creative, or had an unique atmosphere, but this is a stipulation that's essentially a cinematic match before that was a concept. So you can tell a light went off for everyone involved and they were determined to take this opportunity to have a match in a vacuum at a time when everyone else was working with a handicap, and deliver something in that vacuum that would stand the test of time as an all-time classic. And they delivered. Everyone in this is great but god damn does Santana look like a star. The heels act like heels. The babyfaces are infinitely likable even though these are some damn cool heels. The pace for this style of brawl is perfect. The spots are vicious. Tony Khan says this was all one take and I believe it because it just feels authentic. The commentary is among the best I've heard from this team. This match is magic and one of the brightest spots in one of the darkest eras imaginable.

Who Is NOAH??

Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) VS Go Shiozaki - NOAH GHC Heavyweight Championship 1/1/2022

JJZ: I still fucking hate that Nakajima changed his music. I truly loved his last song. Also didn't know this was Go's big return from surgery. I know this is a little off topic but I got a question for you. With NOAH and NJPW working together again who would you want to wrestle Okada? Personally I'd kill for Nakajima to work him. They have the whole angle with Kensuke built in already. Back to the match. So from watching recent NOAH and recent NJPW I feel like NOAH has had a better crowd through the pandemic. I understand they are both under the same restrictions but the NOAH crowd has had far better energy imo. More than any fans I know me and you have this special attraction to NOAH. I remember the first NOAH match I've ever seen was when you showed me Misawa vs Kobashi when Kobashi won the GHC title. I've been in love ever since. That green apron held a special meaning. Sharing NOAH matches with you means more than any promotion to me. So let's talk about Nak's kicks. I mean does anyone even come close at this point? I think not. The sound better than when my karate teacher is laying into the heavy bag. Fucking damage is being done. Loved the ramp spots. Some 2000s NOAH call backs. This match was a master class in a striking based match. Just two men going shot for shot to see who is tougher. The spots are hit well and timely to accent the aggression in the match. It did not overstay its welcome and had me on a couple falsies. Great selling by both guys. And personally I like this one more than their other recent jawn.

CJD: So first of all, thank you for working behind the scenes with me to get to this match. I was dying to see it. Their 2020 jawn was one of my favorites of the year and on first watch I agree that this might have been even better. I also agree that NOAH crowds are really committed to their product despite the pandemic restrictions. It's the only current Japanese wrestling I get excited to watch. As for the match. There's just something about the way these two match up that works so well. I'm honestly kind of sick of "shot for shot" wrestling as you called it, at least when it's lacking in selling, emotion, and drama. This match wasn't lacking in any of these areas. The story of AXIZ torn apart still adds so much but even without that layer just Go's return after his historic title reign, coming back for his title, drives the story of this match so much. Shiozaki wrestles like he has a new lease on life. Nakajima wrestles like he trained to prepare for whatever Go would throw at him. Like you said the build is pitch perfect and the selling makes everything feel so high stakes by the end. I loved the actual finish and the symbolism of it. I also loved your comments about our bond watching mid 2000s NOAH together! That's something I appreciate that NOAH retains to this day, that feeling handed down from Baba's booking that hooked us, that wins against the top guys matter so much. When you saw Baba, Jumbo, and then eventually Misawa, Kobashi take a L, even in a tag setting, you knew you were seeing something special. That's how I feel about how they've built Go at this point, and that's why I wanted to see this match spoiler-free. I didn't expect him to win the title back, but I definitely wasn't ruling it out, because I know his losses at this point matter. This match delivered on the expectations of that standard of booking that we've fallen in love with over the decades. As well as those holy shit moments that came along with those early emerald green ring classics.

Oh and to answer your question, I'd book Okada VS Kaito!

Forever Forward Fridays

Fight Or Flight VS EYFBO - C4 5/27/2016

CJD: I'll start right off by saying I liked your Fight or Flight match better. But this match is trying to accomplish something different and it's interesting to see how a young Santana & Ortiz work differently against the local babyfaces than SSB did. This match has more gaga, a few iffy moments, but some that really popped me too. I haven't seen a lot of their EYFBO days and I enjoyed watching this side of them as a tag team. I was also surprised that FoF looked much more comfortable here even though this match takes place earlier in the same year your SSB match did. I watched a bit more of Vaughn Vertigo (what a name) and Gabriel Fuerza than just these two matches and while they didn't knock my socks off they are a capable tag team for this kind of popcorn match.

JJZ:  I'll tell you what my friend. I really enjoyed this. This was such an indy show opener style of match. I got such a kick out of the backyard overly ambitious spots. I can totally picture the guys talking about them driving over to the VFW. This was the definition of a junk food match. I didn't even know that Santana and Ortiz use to go by that name before. EFYTOBQRST or whatever it was. I think you can really see the potential in all four these young pups. FoF is so raw still but Santana/Ortiz really match their wildness. Good shit.

CJD: EYFBO- Entertain Your Fucking Balls Off if I'm not mistaken.

Ace In The Hole

Hiroshi Tanahashi VS Go Shiozaki - NOAH 7/10/2010

CJD: To pull back the curtain a bit, I told you I was thinking about playing this one forward to you, and you told me you've played it for me before IRL. But you said bring it on because you remember loving the match. I always want to zag when it's time to zig though, so I went and watched a few Tanahashi matches VS Goto. And those matches basically were trying to accomplish what this match did, but didn't do anywhere near as good of a job of it. So I went back to my original plan and holy shit- how did I forget that moonsault?!? The fact Tanahashi is able to finish the match after that is incredibly tough (or incredibly stupid with 2022 eyes) and he really goes the extra mile to make Go look like a star here. When you played this match for our gang the room was very much split, half not sold on Tanahashi, half not sold on Go. I'm hardcore, I'll take them both! I don't think Shiozaki had put it all together as he tried to become a top guy at this point but he had great fire and both wrestlers lived in the moment to take this crowd on a ride. Even with some rough edges it was fun to refresh my memory with this one.

JJZ: I'm really glad you went with this one. At the time I didn't appreciate Tanahashi like I do now. So this is like watching with a different set of eyes. I also really like that both our Tanahashi matches aren't from NJPW. I did watch the match these  two had in NJPW and I think this one is a lot better. The moonsault really knocked Tana into a fog. He probably shouldn't have finished the match but major respect for him doing so. I loved the build to the chops and the crowd's pop proved they did a nice job of executing. Also love when Go hits a great Go Flasher!