Post by Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby on Nov 9, 2007 22:02:27 GMT -5
Here's my attempt to be literary about wrestling, inspired by Morishima vs. Danielson. I've seen the legwork in this match given a lot of crap, which is really undue; the legwork was essential to the match and continued to be a factor throughout the match. I hope at least one person enjoys this sucker.
For the record, I only do this sort of thing when I'm really inspired.
ROH World Title Match: Morishima Takeshi (-C-) vs. Bryan Danielson (Manhattan Mayhem II, August 25, 2007)
It has been a while since I’ve seen a Danielson singles match, and the Best Wrestler in the World did not disappoint me in this match, his first shot at the ROH World Championship after losing the belt to Homicide in December of 2006. His opponent is Morishima, the dominant monster from Japan.
The match begins with a brilliant game of cat-and-mouse. Danielson goads Morishima into the standard knuckle-lock test of strength, losing in a millisecond to the gigantic champion. Danielson escapes by kicking Morishima’s left leg, breaking Morishima’s hold. Danielson then avoids the tests of strength, in fact avoids Morishima as much as possible, while continually kicking the leg. Danielson dodges the slower Morishima, and the crowd starts getting excited at the smaller hero’s apparent strategic dominance over the monstrous villain. The beauty of this sequence is that it transitions into a beautiful cutoff by Morishima, who finally manages to catch Danielson and begin bearing down on the smaller challenger. Morishima’s domination period is total, establishing an easy dominance of Danielson that smothers any chance of a comeback; the complete effectiveness of Morishima’s transition into a domination period validates Danielson’s dodging strategy. Morishima shows no adverse effect to his leg at this point, continuing to dominate Danielson. However, Danielson manages to effectively transition into his own domination periods with continued attacks against Morishima’s leg.
After the exchange on the floor and Danielson’s big comeback suicide dive, Danielson begins working on the leg with submission holds rather than merely kicks. Danielson’s holds serve three purposes: they give Danielson a believable domination period of significant length, further weaken Morishima’s leg, and excite the crowd as false finishes. The submission period is critical, because it transitions into the most exciting part of the match: a fierce back-and-forth struggle. Just like the dodging strategy, Danielson’s legwork is subtly validated by Morishima: the legwork gives Danielson an eternal opening, a resource that he can always use to put Morishima back down on the mat. While legwork is traditionally used to set up a leg submission hold, here it becomes Danielson’s equalizer. For his part, Morishima always buckles at the leg attacks and massages his leg at several points, never letting the audience forget about the damage that Danielson has done. Danielson uses Morishima’s weakened leg to transition beautifully into his two key false finishes, the Cattle Mutilation hold and the repeated elbows. These two moves were by far the most effective finishes of Danielson’s title reign, and their mere usage is enough to fool the crowd into believing in the title change. However, Danielson’s big moves are for naught; Morishima battles back, and in a cathartic moment, runs for the first time since Danielson’s submission domination to deliver a world-shattering lariat that sets up Danielson for the Backdrop Driver.
The legwork was the key to the match, but was used in a very unconventional way. Danielson didn’t use the legwork to fuel his key false finishes; rather, Danielson used the legwork to level the playing field against an opponent that both wrestlers established, in the brilliant opening exchange, as a superior and more powerful wrestler. Danielson vs. Morishima is my match of the year so far, based on its beautiful organic structure and crisp offense. Every move had some kind of purpose, whether to set up a future move or to establish one wrestler’s advantage over the other; the pace was superb, never too fast and never too slow; and most importantly, the false finishes were exciting and believable. Bryan Danielson’s long-awaited shot at the Japanese beast lived up to any reasonable expectations. The match was exciting, inventive, emotional, and well-constructed for its audience. **** ½
For the record, I only do this sort of thing when I'm really inspired.
ROH World Title Match: Morishima Takeshi (-C-) vs. Bryan Danielson (Manhattan Mayhem II, August 25, 2007)
It has been a while since I’ve seen a Danielson singles match, and the Best Wrestler in the World did not disappoint me in this match, his first shot at the ROH World Championship after losing the belt to Homicide in December of 2006. His opponent is Morishima, the dominant monster from Japan.
The match begins with a brilliant game of cat-and-mouse. Danielson goads Morishima into the standard knuckle-lock test of strength, losing in a millisecond to the gigantic champion. Danielson escapes by kicking Morishima’s left leg, breaking Morishima’s hold. Danielson then avoids the tests of strength, in fact avoids Morishima as much as possible, while continually kicking the leg. Danielson dodges the slower Morishima, and the crowd starts getting excited at the smaller hero’s apparent strategic dominance over the monstrous villain. The beauty of this sequence is that it transitions into a beautiful cutoff by Morishima, who finally manages to catch Danielson and begin bearing down on the smaller challenger. Morishima’s domination period is total, establishing an easy dominance of Danielson that smothers any chance of a comeback; the complete effectiveness of Morishima’s transition into a domination period validates Danielson’s dodging strategy. Morishima shows no adverse effect to his leg at this point, continuing to dominate Danielson. However, Danielson manages to effectively transition into his own domination periods with continued attacks against Morishima’s leg.
After the exchange on the floor and Danielson’s big comeback suicide dive, Danielson begins working on the leg with submission holds rather than merely kicks. Danielson’s holds serve three purposes: they give Danielson a believable domination period of significant length, further weaken Morishima’s leg, and excite the crowd as false finishes. The submission period is critical, because it transitions into the most exciting part of the match: a fierce back-and-forth struggle. Just like the dodging strategy, Danielson’s legwork is subtly validated by Morishima: the legwork gives Danielson an eternal opening, a resource that he can always use to put Morishima back down on the mat. While legwork is traditionally used to set up a leg submission hold, here it becomes Danielson’s equalizer. For his part, Morishima always buckles at the leg attacks and massages his leg at several points, never letting the audience forget about the damage that Danielson has done. Danielson uses Morishima’s weakened leg to transition beautifully into his two key false finishes, the Cattle Mutilation hold and the repeated elbows. These two moves were by far the most effective finishes of Danielson’s title reign, and their mere usage is enough to fool the crowd into believing in the title change. However, Danielson’s big moves are for naught; Morishima battles back, and in a cathartic moment, runs for the first time since Danielson’s submission domination to deliver a world-shattering lariat that sets up Danielson for the Backdrop Driver.
The legwork was the key to the match, but was used in a very unconventional way. Danielson didn’t use the legwork to fuel his key false finishes; rather, Danielson used the legwork to level the playing field against an opponent that both wrestlers established, in the brilliant opening exchange, as a superior and more powerful wrestler. Danielson vs. Morishima is my match of the year so far, based on its beautiful organic structure and crisp offense. Every move had some kind of purpose, whether to set up a future move or to establish one wrestler’s advantage over the other; the pace was superb, never too fast and never too slow; and most importantly, the false finishes were exciting and believable. Bryan Danielson’s long-awaited shot at the Japanese beast lived up to any reasonable expectations. The match was exciting, inventive, emotional, and well-constructed for its audience. **** ½
