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1st Round
Match 1: Billy Fives vs. Low Ki
That
was a fun short spot-fest, nothing realy
great. Five s gets some good heel heat
and hits a couple of crisp moves including
a good Fisherman Buster. On the other
side, Ki does fine too, his selling
is quite good, and he beats the living
hell out of Fives with some realy stiff
chops and kicks, including some wicked
Enzuigiri variations that are sure to
make you mark out. The best parts of
the match were a neat roll-up sequence
and a little bit of psychology around
Fives finisher, wich I think is an Implant
DDT. The rest of the match was realy
a spot-fest, they just threw in some
flashy moves and didnt mix it up with
any substance. Low Ki picks up the win
with the Ki Crusher. (8:33)
Match 2: Tony Kozina vs. Jayson Reign
This
started well, with some good chain wrestling,
but quickly enough it turned into a
spot-fest like the previous match, with
Reign dying for us with a rather suicidal
Tope Con Hilo. They work some nice sequences,
with both guys hitting their moves with
solid execution. After some high-flying
spots, Kozina slows down and starts
to work over Reign's leg. Reign's selling
is pretty bad and while Kozina tries
to make things interesting, even busting
out the Minoru Tanaka style Rolling
LegBar, Reign sells everything like
crap. Reign also proves to be quite
a mark for Toryumon's CIMA, hitting
his Cross-Arm Iconoclasm and the Perfect
Driver. The leg-work quickly passes
away as Reign completely forgets to
sell the injured leg as the match moves
on. Reign actually wins the match with
the Reign Drop. (11:30)
Match 3: American Dragon vs. Spanky
So
far, this is the best match of the tournament.
They start off with some chain wrestling,
and quickly start trading spots, but
unlike the previous matches, they actually
put some real psychology into the match,
as Dragon works the arm in a better
way than Kozina, and Spanky's selling
is WAY better than Reign's. Those guys
are Shawn Michaels' TWA rookies, and
they show some amazing potential right
here. They whip out some great counter
spots trough all the match and the fact
that they actually train together and
work against each other alot realy shows.
Dragon's role is to keep the match together,
while the fresh and cocky Spanky uses
some cool highspots. At some point,
Dragon shows he has some good flying
skills too as he leaps off the top on
his opponent with a beautiful Orihara
Moonsault. Dragon advances in the tournament
as he counters Spanky's Acid Drop attempt
with a Dragon Suplex that he transitions
into his Cattle Mutilation variation
for the quick tap out. (9:04)
Match 4: Mike Sullivan vs. Reckless
Youth
Like
the previous matches, they start this
out with some nice chain wrestling that
becomes some realy slow paced lucha
libre. The lucha was so sad to watch,
as both guys slowly trade spots, waiting
for each other to realize what they
are exactly going to do with the whole
sequence. Realy a disgrace to lucha
libre. The match moves on and it gets
a bit better as they both stretch each
other with a few submissions. Most of
the holds looked OK exept a few ones
where Sullivan's selling wasnt too great.
They quickly let go the submission and
the match becomes a spot-fest as Youth
starts it with a nice Tope Con Hilo.
Reckless quickly follows with some cool
spots including a Gran Hamada style
Super Ace Crusher and a CIMA level Frog
Splash that cant put Sullivan away.
Shortly after, Youth rolls up his opponent
with a Tornado Clutch for the pin. (11:04)
Semi-Finals
Match 1: Jayson Reign vs. Low Ki
They
start the match right off with some
spots and Ki hits some realy cool stuff
including a very stiff Jumping Knee.
The only part of the match that i realy
enjoyed is that they built some psychology
around each other's finisher (Reign
Drop, Ki Crusher) between their highspots.
During all the middle of the match,
they dont do anything realy impressive,
as Reign tries to stiff Low Ki with
some bad looking kicks. Then the finisher
psychology comes back in the play as
Reign is able to hit his finisher. Ki
gets his foot on the rope so he tries
again but Ki flips out of hit and drops
him with the Ki Crusher, but Reign also
gets his foot on the rope. With both
guys avoiding defeat by putting their
foot on the ropes, the credibility of
their finishers wasnt hurt. Here, the
best thing to do would have been to
had some depth to the finisher psychology,
by working harder for the actual moves,
and try to hit the thing right in the
middle of the ring. But instead, Ki
counters a German Suplex with a roll-up
to go into the finals. (7:33)
Match 2: American Dragon vs. Reckless
Youth
They
start the match trading some holds and
get to the mat-work using some very
nice submissions on each other. Youth
takes the next part of the match to
hit a few innovative spots and then
im suddenly watching an hybrid AJPW
match. This starts out by a cool All
Japan style striking sequence where
Youth tries to endure the pain of the
strikes but cant stay up after a second
shot. Then they mix the striking with
some realy great reversals, that lead
to a British Fall from Youth, followed
by a Tornado Clutch (The move that got
his win over Sullivan) that cant put
Dragon away this time. After that, Dragon
starts to work for his Dragon Suplex
in an All Japan way once again, as he
weakens Youth with various elbows and
Rolling Elbows, until he stops blocking
the move. We now had AJPW striking,
hybrid reversals and psychology, so
Youth then busts out the All Japan HURTY
moves as he hits a SICK BackDrop Driver
that Dragon takes like a MAN and then
totally KILLS him with one of the stiffest
Lariats i have ever seen. The ending
saw Dragon take Youth off the top with
a Super Wakigatame that he switches
into his Cattle Mutilation variation
for the tap out. (8:51)
Super 8 Finals
Low Ki vs. American Dragon
They
start the match beating the hell out
of each other with various chops and
other strikes. Shortly after, Dragon
starts to work over Ki's leg and Ki
sells very well. Dragon's leg-work is
very solid as he tries to keep Ki on
the mat with submissions to avoid his
dangerous, stiff and high flying offense.
The mat sequences get heated as hell
as Ki tries to kick his way out of submissions
but Dragon takes the kicks like a MAN
and keeps his submissions on while yelling
at Low Ki. This is awesome. After the
leg-work, they start building psychology
around their main finishers (Dragon
Suplex, Ki Crusher) with some realy
cool reversals. Dragon busts out a great
counter as he catches Ki in mid-air
when he goes for his Handspring Enzuigiri
and brings him down with the Dragon
Suplex before hooking on his Cattle
Mutilation variation, but Ki doesnt
tap out. Eventually, Ki also hits his
finisher, the Ki Crusher, but Dragon
also manages to kick out. Since Dragon
cant put away Ki with his main finishers,
he does the smartest thing, and starts
using various elbows to beat him up.
Ki fights back with kicks and this turns
into a nice battle of strikes, until
Ki ducks a Rolling Elbow, spikes Dragon
with the Ki Crusher, but doesnt go for
the cover, because Dragon kicked out
the last time, and could do it again,
instead, he slaps on a Face Lock and
stretches the living hell out of Dragon
for the tap out. Low Ki wins the Super
8 2001. (11:14)
Thanks
to Shuriken for his comments
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Featured Workers: Mike Sullivan,
Jayson Reign, Tony Kozina, Spanky, Billy
Fives, Low Ki, American Dragon, Reckless
Youth
