| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Mike Rome
2680 Posts |
 Posted - 12/06/2004 : 04:11:59
|
These were off the ****ing charts. Honestly, the rest of the 11/6 card is pretty much trash, and 11/5 sucks ass until the Lethal/Joe tag, but these matches alone are worth the buy easy. Tim told me you could throw them on the end of a famous Liger matches comp and not be disappointed, and he's right.
11/5/04: Jushin Liger vs. Bryan Danielson: In the opening promo Danielson hypes all of the juniors he's beaten in New Japan, noting that he's beaten all the big ones except Liger. He says that tonight is his match because it's in the promotion he built. The opening is real nice role establishing stuff. Danielson heels it up right away throwing his cape at Liger. This is his home, he is the star here. Liger gets a massive ****ing reaction, and he's pumped. Danielson tries to do the surfboard but Liger counters and gets his own. They do a bunch of things that result in dragon being frustrated, and then Liger gets a nice run of offense including a tope to the floor.
Danielson takes over in the ring, and has a really good heel segment as he turns on the crowd 1,000 times harder than they turned on him. As they pop for Liger and boo him, he flips them all off. Danielson's run includes a butterfly suplex, a slingshot suplex, lots of uppercuts and chops, and a really great cocky mask-ripping segment. There's also a great airplane spin, and Danielson misses the headbutt. Liger misses a headbutt of his own, which was a real nice way to move the match along.
Liger gets a comeback with a series of shoteis followed by a top rope rana for 2. He goes for another shotei, but Danielson dropkicks the arm. Nice sequence here where Liger blocks the Dragon, so Danielson hits a bridging German for 2, right into Cattle Mutilation. This was so perfectly done, it's too bad the crowd was in no way buying nearfalls on Liger. Those criticizing the decision to put Liger over are on crack--had he jobbed the crowd would have **** all over it. Danielson goes for the Dragon again, but Liger gets a rollup counter. Danielson comes out of this with a harsh rolling elbow, followed by that bridging Dragon for a long 2, and then right into the Cattle Mutilation again. This was a beautifully built near-submission, but like I said, the crowd didn't buy Liger tapping for a second. Liger keeps blocking a suplex, and gets his brainbuster. He goes for the Ligerbomb, but Danielson slips out, only for Liger to nail him with the koppo kick. He then hits the Ligerbomb for a fantastic nearfall. Liger puts him up top for the super brainbuster, Danielson fights, but Liger shoteis him one more time up there and hits it for the win.
This was the best Liger match in like 6 years plus. There were people after the show wishing there was more limbwork, but I think that's part of the misconception of some ROH fans that psychology is only about limbwork. This was 2 of the best in the world putting together a great match for 18-19 minutes, and in front of 700 they put on a better NJ juniors match than any I've seen from NJ in ages. ****1/4
11/6/04: Liger/Joe vs. Danielson/Ki: Going into this, I sort of expected more of a great spectacle than a great match. However, I think this was slightly better than the previous night's match. They work the southern tag to perfection, really the best I have seen in years. This smokes the 4/99 Benoit tag held up as the last great southern tag. Early on, Dragon gets owned by Liger and Joe, and then Joe/Liger hit stereo dives to the floor. Actually, I think Liger hits a cannonball. Soon after this however, Liger gets trapped in the wrong corner, and Ki nails him in the face with a dropkick. The heat on Liger is really awesome, as Ki is the greatest heel bastard in the world and totally outclasses Dragon in that respect. It was funny to see Ki not stiffing Liger with kicks or chops because it's ****ing Liger. Hilarious spot with the airplane spin slam, as Dragon accidentally wanders into Joe's corner and gets creamed with a forearm, so he has to tag back to Ki. Joe is awesome on the hot tag, finally getting a piece of Ki and murdering him with the bootscrape. He hits the Ole kick on Ki, and then Liger hits the Ole kick on Ki. The final run is honestly the best part of the match, and I don't want to ruin it here. They do such a great job putting **** together, and the finish is such a sweet payoff that you need to see it for yourself. ****1/2
More thoughts on WOT sometime soon. |
|
|
Shiranui
9405 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2004 : 04:19:57
|
| I agree 100%. I had the pleasure of viewing Danielson/Liger live on 11/5 and I was blown away. Seeing Liger live was a dream come true to me and the match delivered as expected. I marked out like crazy for the Shotei's, Romero Specials, Koppou Kicks, Brainbusters, and the Ligerbomb. This match was more about Liger getting all his classic spots in but it was done perfectly. Liger got a GIANT reaction, hopefully it came across well on the release. Anyways, nice review. I'm looking forward to picking this doubleshot up on DVD. |
 |
|
|
Tim Cooke
675 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2004 : 06:42:54
|
I watched the 11/6 main event again yesterday and it was even better the second time.
Easily the best ROH tag match ever. Punk/Cabana vs. Briscoes series was fun but the work and story was never able to come within reach of what these four did.
Two more MOTYC's.
Tim |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Liger match thoughts
