Minoru Suzuki vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima (NOAH, 2/24/16)

What a match. Awesome performances from both men. Tons of drama, tons of arm brutality, Minoru Suzuki being the best heel in the world, and Baby Naka summoning up the fighting spirit of his ancestors to win this thing. Even from the get go, we see the hesitancy of Nakajima to lock up with mean-spirited ground-and-pounder Suzuki. I don't blame him. The ring awareness of Suzuki was so fun to watch. In the initial arm struggle, Suzuki slickly slips out (five times fast) of a side headlock and gets control of Nakajima's arm. The Fujiwara armbar takedown out of the brainbuster attempt, the complete control over Nakajima as he tries to roll through. He just wrecks poor Naka's arm with that cross armbreaker and when you think Nakajima has a way out, Suzuki slams that escape hatch shut. He's a complete dick in this match.  He bails early to fix his hair and fuck around. He bullies Nakajima on the outside and gives the referee shit but props to the ref, who really controlled this match. That corner tarantula-style armbar was pretty gnarly. The sympathetic Baby Naka and his never-say-die attitude was the perfect contrast to Suzuki's bully. He attacks Suzuki until it hurts (literally). Those kicks to the chest were brutal. Suzuki wanted to break his arm and Nakajima sold it like he did. After the sleeper hold, Suzuki can't even stand him up for the Gotch-style piledriver. But after Nakajima fights out of it, he makes his sudden and triumphant comeback, knowing he can only defeat Suzuki with those big kicks. After three thrust kicks, a pele kick, and a PK, Nakajima puts Suzuki away with the brainbuster. The ending was a bit of a surprise but it sold Nakajima's brainbuster as the killer "Game Over" screen. Very minor drag time for a 25:00 match -- very little that didn't add to the compelling story being told. One of my favorite matches of the year so far, an easy MOTY contender. 

Kamaitachi vs. Máximo (CMLL, 1/1/16)

I don't watch a lot of lucha. It's not that I don't find it entertaining, I just don't really go out of my way to see it. Having watched the Dragon Lee/Kamaitachi feud from last year (extending into this year), I wanted to check out Kamaitachi's hair vs. hair match with Maximo. Right out of the gate, Kamaitachi just starts destroying Maximo's knee, playing to the crowd while Maximo is suffering on the mat. Kamaitachi utilizes his double knee drop to further cripple Maximo before submitting him early with a modified leglock. But what's great about Kamaitachi is that he doesn't waste a lot of time going right back to the bad knee during the second round. At one point, he just drags and drops Maximo right out of the ring. Maximo does a great job expressing pain -- stumbling around, limping, with a look of 'fuck'. See, this is where Kenny Omega takes this believability in selling a limb with great facials and hindered movement and dials it up to 11. Maximo scores the second fall after a springboard armdrag into a single leg crab (all day) for the submission. The third fall is all about dives and dropkicks, and Kamaitachi abandons his strategy of stretching the bum knee on the mat and uses the weight of his dives to collapse Maximo. There's a great spot where Kamaitachi is clutching at Maximo's hair and Maximo slaps his hand away and finally whips him in the face with his hair. There were some shenanigans in the end but honestly, for this type of match, with these two guys, it didn't really disrupt the flow of things and it wasn't too long-winded. Maximo wins with a pop-up Liger Bomb. Again, a simple story being told in the ring where Kamaitachi's crazy high-impact offense is a little more subdued and targeted at putting constant stress on Maximo's bad knee. Maximo does a great job of selling his pain in a believable manner, and it doesn't magically disappear but carries on through the duration of the match. Awesome stuff!

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW, 2/11/16)

A macho tale of the thresholds of pain tolerance and how to break them. Maybe not as cringe-inducing as their Wrestle Kingdom 10 match-up but perhaps a more complete round of friendly violence. Shibata mocks the neck chops early on, which leads to an extended forearm battle. The "suplex me" sequence is silly but for this kind of manly competition, it totally works. Shibata chops the spit out of Ishii's throat and he sells like he's about to die -- Ishii was great throughout. Shibata took a sensible approach and tried to choke out/pass out Ishii, which made the finish extra special. The headbutts to the chest were a little easier on the ears but not that final spurt with the Shibata spinning backhand and subsequent slap-the-shit-out-of-each-other battle. The crowd was hot, commentary was vocal, CJ Parker was looking on from ringside. All in all, a great night for a fight. An inch above the WK match.

Yuji Okabayashi vs. Ryota Hama (BJW, 1/24/16)

Fun fat man vs. strong man match, with Okabayashi making Hama look like beast-mode buttercup. Hama does what Hama does, throwing his body weight around while Okabayashi sells the flab attacks. The strong pro-Okabayashi crowd really helps this thing. He's trying everything to chop down the big ole jiggly tree, including boob chops, a butt lariat, and some big left-arm lariats. He teases the impossible with the Argentine lift and when he tries for a scoop slam, Hama just falls on top. After powerbombing Hama from the top, the crowd is fully invested in Okabayashi and he goes on the final offensive, suplexing the big baby and then back-to-back Golem Splashes to retain. I'm not really a Hama fan but I love Okabayashi and he sold wonderfully for the big baby Hama assault. You can't help but smile while watching this match. 

Go Shiozaki vs. Minoru Suzuki (NOAH, 1/31/16)

Welcome back, Go. Yours truly, Minoru. P.S. – This is going to hurt. On paper, I was curious about this match. I like Minoru Suzuki. Go Shiozaki had some pretty good matches in AJPW last year but I’ve yet to see his return work in NOAH. The crowd clear doesn’t care that he’s back. Throughout this match, he tries to get them on his side but they don’t bite. Suzuki is just a DICK and it’s so much fun to watch. Of course, there iares shenanigans in this as its building to Kanemaru’s betrayal but there’s a lot to like here: the Suzuki bitch-style slaps, the screwdriver to the head, the arm work, Shiozaki’s selling. That armbar takedown by Suzuki looks painful as he just wrenches Go to the canvas. Even when Shiozaki manages a little bit of a comeback, Suzuki cuts him off and goes right back to humiliating him. The Go Flasher literally got no reaction but let’s be honest…it’s a pretty lame move to begin with.  In the end, Kanemaru turns, Suzuki defeats Go with the Gotch-style piledriver, and Maybach Taniguchi comes out to make the save, unmasking to become…Shuhei Taniguchi.

Ikuto Hidaka vs. Ryota Nakatsu (BASARA, 1/21/16)

I loved the underdog story and nuances of this match. A respectful Ryota holds back with the early strikes and Hidaka encourages the fire. Hidaka cinches his teeth into Ryota's leg early on, hitting a nasty dragon screw legwhip in the corner. While Ryota sells on the outside, Hidaka asks "what is this weakness?" and proceeds to dropkick his leg. Great desperation struggle over the figure-four leglock and finally, Nakatsu puts some heat behind his trikes. He hits a single-leg kick, a running apron PK and a second PK before going after Hidaka's arm. The roll-through Fujiwara armbar was a nice spot. The legwork is consistent, the selling is great, with Nakatsu clinging to Hidaka's leg to prevent the Shawn Capture.  He captures Hidaka with the armbar and sends Hidaka scrambling for the ropes. Awesome spot where Ryota goes to block a kick and Hidaka straight-up punches him in the face. The finishing stretch was believable and spirited, and although Hidaka won, Nakatsu came away looking like a million bucks.