A Modest Response

This week, I take it easy as you get Ollie Sutherland’s views on psychology and storytelling, Gary Wiest’s Claudio Castagnoli push, and Hayden Munro’s fabulous defense of Joe vs. Kobashi.

News of Honor

Glory by Honor weekend is done as is Mitsuharu Misawa in the USA

Check results of Night 1 in Philly here and my review of Night 2 in NYC here. NYC is among the best ROH shows ever, so be sure to check out the review.

The Hangmen 3 of Brent Albright and BJ Whitmer have taken out Kevin Steen and El Generico

In actuality, Steen’s having a baby, so congratulations.

12/29 in the Manhattan Center will be a PPV taping and 12/30 at the same venue is Final Battle 07

Both shows are huge and sure to be great. If you’re local, be sure to make it a priority to try these out.

Nicholas Cage and Darren Aronofsky were at this weekend’s ROH shows

They interviewed wrestlers and watched the show in preparation for the movie The Wrestler. This is great exposure for ROH.

This Week on Inside Pulse

Today is the last day to enter the Broken Dial 1st Birthday Giveaway. Celebrate with SMS and crew by winning tons of free stuff!

Hayden Munro, HayHay17 of the ROH board has joined the Pulse staff and has great analysis of Live in Osaka.

The Top 100 Returns.

Kirschner reviews Best of Chikara a must-buy that is released in national outlets like Best Buy for only $10. Check out American-puro-lucha today!

Phil Clark along with Mike Campbell are interesting and insightful in their analysis of every title in Japan’s big three.

It’s Razor vs. The 123 Kid. The best random shocker ever, quite possibly and a really good feud. Thanks Brashear!

Mark Allen discusses the best Survivor Series of my youth.

A Modest Response: 2 different interpretations of storytelling by Ollie Sutherland

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been asking myself a certain question over and over again. Is there more than one type of storytelling in pro wrestling? A normal story in a pro wrestling match can be summed up in one sentence, ie “the story of the match was the young underdog trying to defeat the cocky veteran”. Then there’s the deeper way of summarizing the story, (frequently used by Pulse Glazer) that consists of a sort of play by play of the match, saying what happens (but not necessarily calling the moves, eg. “so and so used his speed to gain the advantage”) and explaining why whoever did it, what the consequences were etc.

Here’s a more detailed example, using Shuji Kondo vs Katsuhiko Nakajima from AJPW – Feb 17th, in an AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title Match. By the way, try your hardest to track down and watch this match from anywhere, because it’s really really really super awesome.

Type 1: This match had the old epic story of the bigger, cocky veteran heel (Kondo) vs the young underdog (Nakajima) trying to get the biggest win of his career.

It’s a simple way of explaining it, but it makes perfect sense and doesn’t spoil the match. Note this method pretty much breaks kayfabe (that’s not a bad thing though, I’m sure everyone knows wrestling’s fake)

Type 2: Kondo has ran through every challenged for a year and a ½ now, so he starts off cocky expecting nothing from ‘just’ another challenger (Nakajima) for the belt. Nakajima gets over how serious this is to him by showing he’s done his homework on Kondo, having an answer for all of Kondo’s usual mind games. Kondo gets pissed at this, gets more aggressive and works over Nakajima’s neck. This also a nice touch, as Kondo isn’t just working over any old body part, he’s trying to slow down Nakajima and eliminate the possibility of Nakajima’s Bridging German Suplex finisher.

Nakajima connecting with his Bridging German Suplex also epitomizes the story well, because if Kondo took Nakajima seriously earlier he could have weakened his neck so much that Nakajima couldn’t actually execute that hold.

Now obviously, that method is far more complex, but explains the story very well. Note this method does not break kayfabe – it looks at everything being real (as in what the wrestlers do isn’t planned).

So the question is, are both of those valid interpretations of storytelling? An interpretation of storytelling has to explain the story of the match, and both of those (despite doing it differently, ie one using kayfabe and one not) explain the story of the match, so yes, both of those are valid interpretations of storytelling in Pro Wrestling.

A Modest Response: The Final Push for Claudio Castagnoli by Gary Wiest

Claudio is definitely in some people’s eyes, a main eventer. Fans of his work outside of his ROH career have known this fact for over a year or more. ROH fans have only known him since mid 2005 and he didn’t really gain a lot of popularity in ROH (besides with the guys who were fans already or were becoming fans, but still new to his work in ROH that pretty much included just his feud with Nigel and an awesome opener against Alex Shelley) until him and Chris Hero started teaming together after Claudio turned on ROH and joined sides with CZW. The Kings of Wrestling were really over with the crowds, which a lot of that comes from Chris Hero, who has always been a huge heat magnet. But ever since he signed with the WWE and the subsequent release because of Visa problems, Claudio was pretty stagnant in ROH until very late in March when he was a part of the ROH Dream Team at All Star Extravaganza 3. Since then he’s been on a roll in matches against the Briscoes, Hero, Sydal, and a host of other guys. Once he won the Race To The Top Tournament though, it was meant to be his coming out party since the big guy won the tournament and put on a hell of a match against fellow tournament co-MVP, El Generico. The next month he was given a title shot against Morishima and his popularity was at an all-time high. He may have lost the match, but he was a main eventer in the eyes of everyone…

Or was he?

Skip forward till last night. He really hasn’t done much in ROH besides participate in a Four Corner Survival at the 3rd PPV (which rocked btw), had a rematch against Morishima in a three way that also included Brent Albright, fought Chris Hero at MM2, a good showing in Survival of the Fittest, and been in several exhibition matches against mid carders or Chikara talent in between those. Those are all fine things for a wrestler since a lot of those matches were said to be excellent and great showings for Claudio and helped further some storylines along, but where was this main event push everyone expected for Claudio? The rematch against Morishima in the three way certainly wasn’t it.

Last night, at Glory By Honor VI in the Manhatten Center, Claudio Castagnoli defeated NOAH superstar and former GHC Champion, Naomichi Marufuji. That is a huge deal. First off, it was said to be a great match, and secondly, Naomichi Marufuji is in a league above the ROH roster. Granted there are some who are on his level (i.e. Danielson, Aries, maybe Nigel), but when it comes to a NOAH wrestler coming in who isn’t a rookie (like Go Shiozaki, one of the best young talents in NOAH, will hopefully be doing next year), it’s expected the NOAH wrestler will win and the fans usually are hard pressed to think the ROH talent facing them will win. This has been the case with many of KENTA’s and Marufuji’s matches, even Morishima’s. Fine examples are Delirious vs. KENTA & Matt Sydal vs. Marufuji from Reborn Again. Both very good matches, but it’s clearly obvious that the fans think of the NOAH stars as a level above these guys and even though they will cheer for the ROH guys, they ultimately know they will lose. This certainly isn’t a bad thing, it’s hard to think a guy like Delirious can go toe to toe and beat KENTA, a guy who has fought the toughest opponents that NOAH has to offer.

Another key thing about it being Naomichi Marufuji is that he was a former GHC Champion. The likes of Akiyama, Kobashi, Taue, Ogawa, Takayama, and currently Misawa have held that belt. It takes a tough and great wrestler to fill those shoes and wear that belt. It’s unprecedented that Claudio beat him, not only because of the facts I stated before, but also because this is the 2nd only singles loss in Marufuji’s ROH career. Until tonight, the only other man to beat him was Bryan Danielson. Not even Nigel McGuinness, the current ROH World Champion, has beaten him. This is a huge step for Claudio…but it’s not the final one for his main event superstardom.

Claudio doesn’t need a main event feud with Danielson or Nigel or to even win the ROH World Title to hit true main event status and a possible spot on the “Mountain of Perpetual Overness” (or however it was phrased). No…Claudio needs one thing, and I hope Gabe Sapolsky is smart enough to book it for the 6th PPV (or any other high profile show).

Claudio Castagnoli must defeat KENTA.

KENTA is truly one of the most unstoppable monsters in ROH history. He’s only been beaten once, also by Bryan Danielson, and even beat Low Ki. It’s pretty common knowledge that NO ONE beats Low Ki (unless you’re someone from TNA and are being booked by incompetent monkies). Everytime KENTA comes in, EVERYONE expects the highest quality of match. Nothing short of 4 stars. Nothing short of “must see.” But also, everyone expects KENTA to win. There has never been a time except for KENTA vs. Danielson I & III and maybe KENTA vs. Aries did anyone expect KENTA to lose…

This is where Claudio steps in. Claudio, besides Danielson, The Briscoes, and Austin Aries, is one of the most over guys on the whole ROH roster. In one year, he went from “the guy that tags with Hero” to “The Man” in ROH. He might not be “The Man” in terms everyone thinks of, but his popularity would make you think otherwise. Claudio is one of the few guys on the ROH roster that can believably beat KENTA and the fans wouldn’t think for a second that Claudio couldn’t going into the match. A win over KENTA would be what Claudio has been waiting for. He’d be only the 2nd guy to do it and probably the last (unless ROH somehow got Joe back for one more match). As Aries’ win over Samoa Joe at Final Battle 2004, this win would launch Claudio higher than he’s ever been…and ROH could use another big star.

As great as a victory over Marufuji is, a victory over KENTA in ROH is just even more important.

A Modest Response: The Apology of Joe vs. Kobashi by Hayden Munro (aka Glazer’s favorite thing ever)

Anyone with a background in Philosophy is aware of the story of Socrates, the brilliant Greek philosopher, who was executed for being a man who “who corrupted the young, did not believe in the gods, and created new deities”. At his trial, according to the account by his student Plato, he delivered an amazing and influential speech in defense of himself. Socrates was a man highly regarded in Greece at the time, but in many ways became a victim of his own success. What exactly does this have to do with ROH’s 2005 Match of the Year? Well just as Socrates deserved the chance to be defended against the charges he faced, I believe so does Joe vs. Kobashi. It has, in recent times anyway, come under attack as being nothing more than a strikefest, a manly pissing contest, but empty of any story or technical merit. The detractors would have you believe that this match was over-hyped, under-worked and undeserving of its fame. I have heard everything about this match criticized, from its booking, to its execution, to even its promotion. To be honest, I’ve had enough. It’s gone on too long, and just as history has found Socrates innocent of the crimes he was executed for, I hope that eventually people will see that Joe vs. Kobashi is innocent of what it is accused of.

So what, exactly, are the accusations facing this match? The first is the most obvious, that it relies too heavily on striking. This is not a wholly inaccurate view of course, a LARGE proportion of it is strikes, in fact nearly every transition in the match happens due to a strike. The argument is that a pro wrestling match, by its very definition, should have more holds, throws etc. Overlooking the obvious counter argument to this, that being that an entire story point is built around the struggle over the screwdriver face lock that both men employ during the match, this argument ignores the fact that strike based matches have historically shown themselves able to pack in large amounts of story. No
one could argue that Tenryu vs. Hashimoto or Hashimoto vs. Kojima, both from the G1 Climax in 1998, were empty matches, despite the heavy use of strikes. Kawada vs. Kensuke from 2000 is an even better example of this, as it told the story of an excellent clash of styles. So if we accept that a strike based match can be considered great if it effectively tells us a story, the question then becomes, did Joe vs. Kobashi tell a story during its strikes? If you’ve watched the match, the answer is obvious: yes they did.

The story of the match overall, is Joe stepping things up a notch in an attempt to defend his companies reputation, and prove himself once the eyes of the world are upon him. While at the same time, the story of the match sees Kobashi prove himself to still by ahead of Joe, cementing his legend in front of an American audience. It’s important to understand that this is the central story that is being reinforced by everything done in the ring. As the story evolves we can see a clear theme emerging, one that demonstrates to us just to what extent Joe is going above and beyond what he would normally do.

This is evident from the very first major move on the match, the slap Joe throws at Kobashi from the rope break at the very start of the match. We see this theme presented again in the first major strike exchange of the match, one that Joe wins, surprising given Kobashi’s amazing reputation has a striker. The story comes into play through the use of layered offence, a technique used heavily in All Japan during strike exchanges, and one that has carried over into NOAH. The exchange proper starts with Joe throwing a chop against Kobashi who is in the corner, Kobashi fires back with one of his legendary chops, and they go chop to chop, with Joe selling very well, it becomes clear that chop for chop, Kobashi will have the advantage. Joe then goes to the next level of offense in his striking arsenal: his kicks. He rocks Kobashi with them, once again tying into the overall theme of the match, Joe stepping things up to compete with the legend. The problem is: Kobashi won’t go down. In front of an American audience for the first time ever, the legend is living up to his reputation and he simply will not go down. So once again Joe turns it up a layer, and NAILS Kobashi with a leaping enziguiri and to a huge roar from the crowd, the legend falls. Joe has just out struck Kenta Kobashi and the ROH crowd is loving it, Joe is showing himself to be on the same level as arguably the best wrestler in the world. At the same time though, he did have to step it up three “levels” of offense, and resort to what is, besides his charging lariat, the biggest striking move in his offence, just to beat Kobashi’s normal chops. So while Joe has just won a huge victory, Kobashi is still definitely in this match. Both men are made to look great from this exchange, Joe for stepping up and Kobashi for being so hard to put down. So much for that whole, no story in the strikes thing huh?

The other thing that this match is criticized for is, surprisingly enough given the Internet’s love of all things Gabe Sapolsky, the booking. The problem that people seem to have is twofold, one that Joe was beaten so easily, being the ace of ROH, and two, that he lost at all. The second argument is pretty stupid, Kobashi is the biggest draw in Puro at the moment, untainted by MMA, with the same legend as people like Misawa and Mutoh, but still able to turn out high quality matches at his age. His star power is such that Joe winning is completely unbelievable. It is the first argument however that can’t quite be so easily dismissed. Samoa Joe was built as damn near unbeatable in ROH. For twenty-one
Months he fought off every challenger thrown at him. He beat Dan Maff; a guy who uses all sorts of Kobashi derived offence. He was built up as a monster, and even through out 2005, after he dropped the title, this was still reinforced, especially during his pure title reign. If ROH has an ace, he is it. So why then was Kobashi able to kick clean out of the muscle buster, counter the choke, and not have to use anything more than a lariat to put him down?

In the expression of such sentiment, I find the main motivating factor behind such views to be ignorance. To me, it seems the people that view this as a squashing of Joe simply haven’t watched enough Japanese wrestling, and definitely not enough Kenta Kobashi. The match is worked in the Japanese style, in particular the NOAH style. It relies on
Japanese story telling conventions, uses Japanese techniques such as the aforementioned layered striking, and tells the atypical Japanese wrestling story: the home town ace stepping up to battle the foreign invader. At the same time it also uses another Japanese convention: someone being made stronger in defeat. Since you, my educated reader, did not come here to be treated as a moron, I will assume that you do not believe that from a booking standpoint, Samoa Joe was ever going to beat Kenta Kobashi. Mitsuharu Misawa simply could not allow his ace, the man on whose shoulders rests the entire drawing power of his company, and I’m not exaggerating, look an NOAH’s attendance since Kobashi left with cancer for proof of his importance, to be jeopardized with a loss to the ace of a foreign independent company. It would be as if Vince McMahon decided that Triple H would lie down for Ryu Saito in Dragon Gate, it simply could not happen. The match, much to the workers credit, was worked with this in mind. The crowd knew that Joe was outmatched in this match, you can tell this by the strength of the pop that Joe’s early control segment gets. The crowd expected Kobashi to crush Joe, and the hometown boy taking control early comes as a pleasant surprise. So with the fact that he was obviously loosing in mind: how can Joe be made to look good? The answer is simple: at every opportunity tell the story of Joe working as hard as possible to avoid the loss that the audience suspects. In doing so, in acknowledging the obvious, they begin to create a bit of doubt in the audiences minds, to the point where the Muscle Buster is actually bought as a potential finisher by the audience, as evidenced by the gasp when it was kicked out of. So how exactly was this doubt created? In examining how it was done, we see the match was not the “squashing of Samoa Joe” that it is often incorrectly described as.

One of the major detractors of this match is Mike Campbell, 411’s reviewer, who wrote a review of it on that website, now while I have a HUGE amount of respect for Mr. Campbell, I have to say he got it wrong in this case, and his assumption that this match is about Kobashi squashing Joe is one of the main reasons. In his review Campbell states tha t”And while they didn’t mean anything in the long run, Joe’s use of the Soccer kicks and Stretch Plum were nice little bits for those in the know. But they were just that. Fun little bits that didn’t mean anything.” Who am I to disagree with the esteemed reviewer? Well to me at least, its obvious Mr. Campbell has missed completely the intent of the use of those moves. Joe is, as previously known, far below Kobashi on the totem pole, the heavy emphasis on rank in this match another example of the use of Japanese conventions in this match. Joe’s moves are obviously not going to put Kobashi down on their own. So Joe, in kayfabe terms, needs to work smart. He needs to try the things he KNOWS can put Kobashi down. And so he subtly changes his game plan up, switching from the suicide tope to an elbow suicida, a move Misawa uses to get himself a control segment on 1/20/97 against Kobashi. He uses the stretch plum, a move that Kawada used to great effect on Kobashi back in the early nineties. He also relies on Kawada’s soccer kicks, something he uses sparingly in other matches, but more often here in order to put
Kobashi away. Joe’s variation of his moves here is an acknowledgement of that unlikelihood of a victory for Joe under normal circumstances: yet by going to what has been established to work against Kobashi, he builds himself up as a smart worker, while convincing the audience that tonight, things are different than normal and he just might have a chance.

None of this is not used, as Mr. Campbell suggests, as merely a fun tip to the Puro fans in the know, but is in truth a very smart way of working the crowd, given the context of the match. Not only that, but it, and I believe it is here that most people Mr. Campbell included miss the point, treats the audience with some respect. Those ROH fans in attendance on that night paid to see Kenta Kobashi, make no bones about it. Now that implies they know who he is, or at least will have seen a match or two of his. Now ask yourself, if your going to see a Kenta Kobashi match, is there any chance you’re going to overlook his matches against Misawa and Kawada? Of course not. The use of the Tenryu jabs is a little vaguer, as Tenryu and Kobashi’s 2005 NOAH feud was not as widely viewed by American audiences, but it still serves the same purpose, Joe is changing up his offense to compete with the legend. This respect that the workers have for their audience is what allowed for the great self referential nature of nineties All Japan, and was an integral part of what made the Kings Road style so technically satisfying. In replicating that for the ROH crowd, Joe and Kobashi create something that in my opinion is the point of the appeal of the Indies and Puro to those growing up on a diet of American mainstream wrestling: intelligent pro wrestling. The audience is treated with respect and the workers in the match look better for it.

The other attack that Mr. Campbell, and indeed many other critics of this match make, is that Kobashi both kicks out of too much of Joe’s offense, and does not use enough of his wide arsenal of big match offense to put Joe away, thus making Joe look weak. The first part of this is something that can again be put down to ignorance, although in the case of Mr. Campbell, who I know has seen the matches I will refer to, I can’t seem to find any explanation for such an opinion, other than sheer negativity. Kenta Kobashi is a man whose ENTIRE persona is based on being the biggest bad ass in Japan. He is the man who takes the big bumps, survives, powers up and fights through the pain to win the
match. That’s his gimmick; he’s the epitome of fighting spirit. Let’s be quite clear the sort of punishment were talking about here: this is a man who took a tiger suplex off the apron, a German suplex onto the ramp, a top rope exploder suplex to the floor, a northern lights bomb to the floor, a western lariat off the top rope, kicked clean out of the Tiger Driver 91. He is unparalleled in all of wrestling in terms of what, in a kayfabe sense, his character can kick out of. When placed next to such offence, I don’t see how Mr. Campbell can see Kobashi kicking out of the Muscle Buster as such a travesty. Nor can I see Kobashi blocking the second Ole kick as anything but an example of the fighting spirit his character is famous for.

In these cases, it’s a simple difference of opinion between me and Mr Campbell, however Mr Campbell also has a problem with Kobashi countering the choke, seeing it as an example of Kobashi disrespecting Joe’s offense. In this case, Mr Campbell is just plain wrong. Countering a move is a Japanese convention, used to put the move over. If a wrestler fears a move to such an extent they fight out of it, it leaves the question in the audience’s mind: could the match have ended if that move was hit. For evidence that this convention is one Kenta Kobashi has employed before, go and watch his dome show match against Akiyama, and his escape of the Sternness Dust, or his match against Rikio in 05 in which he lost the title, were Rikio escapes the Burning Hammer. This is done to put the move over as being a match ender if it was hit. And in this case, the one move that could conceivably put Kobashi away is treated with the respect it deserves. In kayfabe terms, given the abuse Kobashi has kicked out of in the past, the Muscle Buster cannot be expected to put him away, his burning spirit is just too strong. However fighting spirit means nothing if a two hundred and eighty-pound judo trained Samoan is choking the air out of you. The choke is the move that Joe could beat Kobashi with, it is the only way he could have done it, and Kobashi shows us this by countering it. It is not, despite Mr. Campbell’s erroneous views, an example of Kobashi pissing on Joe, but an example of him putting over Joe’s offense as able to put him away, which is, given Kobashi’s enormous reputation, a HUGE thing for Joe, and especially generous of Kobashi given the circumstances. In true Japanese fashion, Kobashi has put Joe’s offense over, with an eye to the context of the match. The result is that Joe is put over, in a fashion that is realistic and believable. It is this sort of slow yet tangible progression of stars that typifies Japan, especially NOAH and All Japan, were Kobashi “grew up” as a wrestler. So now that we know that Mr. Campbell was wrong about Joe’s offense, what can be said for his views on Kobashi’s?

Mr Campbell, to his credit is right about the relatively low-end offence Kobashi puts to use in putting down Joe. He uses the Half Nelson suplex twice, the sleeper suplex and the five spin chop/ running Burning Lariat to put Kobashi down. Given Joe’s place in ROH, surely Mr. Campbell would have preferred an Orange Crush, a moonsault and maybe even the Burning Hammer? However once again Mr. Campbell has missed the point, and again it seems that he hasn’t quite grasped what was going on in the ring. Mr Campbell says in his review “Kobashi is a walking definition of having a big match arsenal, and all he uses on Joe are tons of chops, two Half Nelson suplexes, one sleeper suplex and the lariat to finish him off. Which anyone at all familiar with Kobashi knows is barely scratching the surface. One thing the match could have hugely benefited from would be some sort of incident where it becomes apparent to Kobashi that he’s going to have to dig down a bit deeper in order to put Joe away. ” Now how is he mistaken?

Well Mr. Campbell is right in saying that this does not really scratch the surface of the vast array of finishers that Kobahsi has, it does not mean that the moves used were not high up in terms of Kobashi’s layered offense. The sleeper suplex is a move he uses once the Half Nelson doesn’t do the trick, the Half Nelson itself being an incredibly nasty head drop, which Joe takes like a man in this by the way, in its own right. It should also be noticed that Joe treats this move with respect, not kicking out but instead grabbing the ropes, a time honored method of putting a move over. Kobashi’s use of the sleeper suplex is an acknowledgement that Joe is going above what usually works. This puts over Joe’s fighting spirit, while still putting over Kobashi in terms of him being able to deal with Joe’s extra effort. The finish of the match is one that completely undermines Mr. Campbell’s argument. While Joe does fall to a Burning Lariat, Kobashi’s standard match winner, he does not fall to the regular version. The lariat that Kobashi uses to fell Joe is the straight arm running variant, preceded by a barrage of spin chops, the most powerful strike Kobashi employs. This finishing combo was first used against Kensuke Sasaki at Destiny 05, and that was only after moves like the Moonsault, a move Kobashi practically has to kill himself to perform, had failed. It is at the very top of Kobashi’s range of finishers, perhaps below only the Burning Hammer. Again it seems to simply be a case of Mr. Campbell missing the point. Joe’s strategy was working, he nearly got the choke on, and Kobashi knows he could try it again. He NEEDS to finish the match, so he busts out the uber lariat. In doing so he puts over the urgency of finishing off Joe, making Joe look good. At the same time he restricts himself, not being unrealistic in his choice of finisher, as he was against KENTA this year. The Burning Hammer is reserved for legends, and Joe is not one, but he does get the next best thing. Kobashi’s choice of finisher would seem to fit perfectly into the theme of the match: Joe steps it up, but Kobashi is good enough to come up with an answer. Both men are made to look great, and both are elevated.

There is one final oft-repeated critique of Joe vs. Kobashi that I find somewhat harder to reply too, that being its heavily referential nature. The match is full of nods to past matches, mostly from Kobashi’s early career in All Japan. Now this is both a positive and a negative. The negative being, of course, that it turns off new viewers, who will not pick up on the small touches and thus cannot appreciate the story, leading to the belief that the match is nothing more than a strikefest. The positive side of this nature is how rewarding it is for long time fans. If you’ve seen Kobashi’s matches, and from the crowd response
on that night, many in attendance had, the match is that much more satisfying. However, I am willing to admit that perhaps Kobashi and Joe took things a little too far. Without knowledge of the history of the new moves that Joe is using, and the ability to understand them that comes with it, so much of the story is lost. All the effort Joe and Kobashi put into the story of Joe working smartly to put down the legend and overcome the mismatch is lost on the viewer with out previous knowledge. It is here that a very interesting point is raised: how much is too much? The classic All Japan matches are filled with these little
references, for example the ending of the 1996 Real World Tag League Finals, where they put Akiyama in Kobashi’s role, desperately stretching out to try to break up a pin fall. This of course played off a tag match from the year before it, and the match was made that much better for those who had seen the previous tag. However, having seen the earlier match is not crucial to the understanding of the tag finals. That spot still works within the context of the story of the match. When I first saw the tag finals, I had not seen the match it references; in fact it was the first Puro match I ever saw. I was still able to find the match incredibly satisfying. Actually that’s an understatement; as far as I was concerned I had just witnessed the pinnacle of human evolution, but that’s beside the point. The point is that the match worked on its own. Throwing in references to past matches is a fantastic way to reward long-term fans with knowledge of your product, but you do run the risk of alienating a new audience. It is my personal opinion, however, that Joe and Kobashi took a calculated risk, and the crowd response on the night shows that no one in that building was lost. One could argue that it was a dream match, the crowd was going to be hot either way, but if the Misawa vs. Chono dome match from 2002 has taught us anything, it’s that a dream match has to be great in its own right, and cannot stand simply on reputation.

Joe vs. Kobashi was a dream match, but it remains unique amongst dream matches in terms of how smartly it was worked and the thought that went into it. It is sad that this thought is missed by people like Mr. Campbell, who are so quick to make judgment, without giving the match the proper examination that it deserves. Socrates himself began his apology with the acknowledgement that his jurors did not truly understand him, and that is the reason he is on trial. The same must be said of this match. If one is patient enough to allow the story to unfold and observant enough to understand it, the match lives up to the hype and is truly deserving of its place in wrestling history. My plea is that people take a closer look at this match, and take the time to understand it. If the Apology of Socrates shows us anything, it’s how far a little understanding can go.