Board 8 > Board 8 Discords #wrestling's Match of the Week - now featuring 100% less Punk

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome back to the board 8 wrestling intelligentsias quest to share really good wrestling with each other.

Each week* someone will nominate a match that the rest of us watch and talk about it.

Last week we enjoyed some vintage CM Punk with the Second City Saints vs The Briscoes.

It had 1 rating of 4.0.

Now its Bidoofs turn to nominate!

The current queue is:

1. Eddv
2. Steiner
3. Maniac
4. Chilly
5. Bidoof (if no one else signs up)

If you wanna get in line just stay so

*give or take a few days or weeks

And with that I give the floor to the Doof

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Sorry about the delay. Had a couple of issues come up, not the least of which is trying to find the match I wanted to show. I'll hopefully have something this evening for everyone.

Well. I can at least guarantee there is 100% less Punk in my featured match this week.

Crazy MAX (CIMA, Don Fuji, SUWA) vs. Do FIXER (Genki Horiguchi, Susumu Yokosuka, Magnum TOKYO) vs. Shin M2K (Kenichiro Arai, Dragon Kid, Masaaki Mochizuki) vs. Italian Connection (Masato Yoshino, Shuji Kondo, Milano Collection AT)
Toryumon, Verano Peligroso 2003 (8/30/2003)

Match Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfbIFYEvd-k

Confession time - this has been kind of a hectic week for me professionally and personally. I guess shame on me for expecting anything different going into a holiday weekend. I had something completely different lined up for you guys but the link I had saved on my original spreadsheet for tracking MotW suggestions is dead and I can't find an alternate version of anything approaching decent quality. So I went with the old stand-by - Toryumon/Dragon Gate action. Funny how this promotion keeps finding its way into various recommendations.

Normally I would give you some insight into the story going into this match but honestly? This match doesn't need it. In the grand tradition of multi-stable Toryumon tags, this match is just one gigantic spotfest. You're going to see some exciting high-flying, inventive team offense, and some fun comedy that doesn't take you out of the match (unlike a certain other recent match I saw from a popular company). There's no real "down" period to this match and thus the nearly 30 minutes flies by. It's kind of the perfect match for a holiday, something that is very good but you don't really need to have your brain on for it. Just sit back, relax, and watch a bunch of Japanese guys bust their ass to a hot crowd. I hope this puts a smile on your face like it did mine.

Oh good another match where my review is gonna be like "was that...Shuji Kondo?"

Im looking forward to it.

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Took advantage of there not being anything really interesting happening tonight wrestling-wise to watch this, so let's go.

There's three things the Toryumon system consistently does better than any other company around: nonstop action, enjoyable and harmless silliness, and legitimate moving emotion. In a multiman match like this, you're pretty much guaranteed to get both of the first two at minimum, and this match delivers there.

I have a reputation in our little circle here for being "super serious anti-fun" guy in wrestling. On one hand, it's well earned. On the other hand, I think the actual truth of the situation is that most wrestling companies just suck at doing fun. These guys don't have that problem, so even though the first fifteen minutes of this match are primarily comedy, I still had a great time with it. After all, so much of comedy is in good timing, and if there's one thing you can trust the Toryumon system to beat into every worker that ever came through it, it's good timing.

And then when the match picks up toward the end... Well, I mean, just look at the ridiculous talent in that lineup. CIMA, Susumu, Mochi, and the freshly retired Yoshino (sad face) are all-timers in every sense of the term. Genki is the best tag team "glue guy" ever, full stop. Milano and Dragon Kid are as smooth and creative as they come. Even outside those guys, there's no weak point here; they all bottom out as being very good, and they play their small roles to perfection in a match like this.

You won't see a match like this anywhere else, for the simple reason that no one else could pull it off. Which is a good thing, because I wouldn't want every match to be like this - as previously stated, I certainly love my epic struggles through sport. But did it put a smile on my face like Bidoof hoped? Heck yeah, it did. It always does.

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The queue bit was good, the hair joke was ???, Dragon Kid good. I was expecting more from the comedy bits but they hit more than they missed I guess.

I know the match I want to use. I should see if it's actually up free anywhere.

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That was a fun chaotic silly match. Best large group spot was the queue bit.

Only guy I know by sight in this match is Milano who is always good. Honestly my biggest problem with the match is that by the half way point my favorite team was Shin M2K who got eliminated first.

One thing I am confused about is the face/heel dynamics here. I assumed from the beginning that FIXER must be the biggest heels since every other team repeatedly worked together against them and many refused to work with them (leading to a great betrayal spot 20+ minutes in when two teams are working against them only for one to betray and instead work with them). But then they pulled out instruments after the group submission and the crowd cheered like crazy to rally their team back. Does this fed just not really do normal Face/Heel or did I completely misread the situation?

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Ive spent two days trying to think up takes for this but theres not a ton to say.

This was just a really silly well worked spot fest and I really liked it. Just a ridiculous collection of talent showing off the absurd riches of talent that Toryumon had to work with at this time.

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