Bloodsport II presented by Josh Barnett - *WATCH PARTY 4/6 11AM ET STREAMING LINK IN OP*
- Thread starter Jmare007
- Start date
TrueEpic08
Dum Shiny
So yeah, I really liked this, but that shouldn't be surprising.
First two matches were a little ropey, what with the weird ass Baroni/Garrini match/finish and Kratos and Grimm not quite getting how to put together a match for this environment (the finish to the latter was fantastic, though). Once DBSJr and Killer Kross went on, though, things started to get really good.
I loved that the best matches usually featured guys adapting the style they were best at to the environment, which made for some very compelling takes on what a Bloodsport match could be.
Takeda/Gresham was a good mixture of amateur, pro, and shoot with just the right amount of crazy BJW thrown in (basically, Takeda reminding people that he trained at Kiyoshi Tamura's U-File camp before training with Jun Kasai).
dikkinson/Williams was basically just two big dudes barely trained in MMA/Shoot style beating the shyt out of one another in a shoot environment.
Mir/Severn was two high level grapplers fighting over the most minute aspects of their craft to gain an advantage (if anything, this was too subtle even though I loved it. They worked a fake grappling match that contained more realistic fake grappling than just about any other match on the card, but didn't quite work for the crowd because it was about the details of wrestling and BJJ rather than the grand gestures of pro wrestling. Case in point: the finish was actually kind of brilliant in its subtlety, with Mir slowly changing his grip from the survivable kneebar to the very much unsurvivable heel hook, which also worked very well as a callback to his win over Brock Lesnar. Thing is, no one in the crowd could really see it. Still, I'd be interested in seeing more Frank Mir shoot style in the future).
Suzuki/Thatcher was just amazing catch wrestling/pro wrestling shyt, featuring the stiffest collar-and-elbow tie up I may have ever seen (which made me kind of hate the Gargano/Cole match at Takeover off rip, as theirs had zero intensity whatsoever and nothing they did was even 1/10th as tight and purposeful as what Suzuki and Thatcher offered us here), Thatcher making the simplest restholds look like they're causing intense pain, and Suzuki doing his usually amazing Billy Robinson derived work. Really top quality stuff here.
And Barnett and MiSu brought it home with a classical Shoot-style match that brought me back to those UWF/UWFi/Pancrase days I loved so much. Great example of the wrestling guys like Suzuki, Funaki, and Fujiwara thought was the logical next step from Inokiism. Really loved this match.
Hopefully they'll continue putting on these Bloodsport cards, and I'd even be up for seeing them more often throughout the year if Barnett/GCW could make it work. In any event, if somebody could give me a Barnett/Hideki Suzuki rematch at some point, I'd be a very happy man.
First two matches were a little ropey, what with the weird ass Baroni/Garrini match/finish and Kratos and Grimm not quite getting how to put together a match for this environment (the finish to the latter was fantastic, though). Once DBSJr and Killer Kross went on, though, things started to get really good.
I loved that the best matches usually featured guys adapting the style they were best at to the environment, which made for some very compelling takes on what a Bloodsport match could be.
Takeda/Gresham was a good mixture of amateur, pro, and shoot with just the right amount of crazy BJW thrown in (basically, Takeda reminding people that he trained at Kiyoshi Tamura's U-File camp before training with Jun Kasai).
dikkinson/Williams was basically just two big dudes barely trained in MMA/Shoot style beating the shyt out of one another in a shoot environment.
Mir/Severn was two high level grapplers fighting over the most minute aspects of their craft to gain an advantage (if anything, this was too subtle even though I loved it. They worked a fake grappling match that contained more realistic fake grappling than just about any other match on the card, but didn't quite work for the crowd because it was about the details of wrestling and BJJ rather than the grand gestures of pro wrestling. Case in point: the finish was actually kind of brilliant in its subtlety, with Mir slowly changing his grip from the survivable kneebar to the very much unsurvivable heel hook, which also worked very well as a callback to his win over Brock Lesnar. Thing is, no one in the crowd could really see it. Still, I'd be interested in seeing more Frank Mir shoot style in the future).
Suzuki/Thatcher was just amazing catch wrestling/pro wrestling shyt, featuring the stiffest collar-and-elbow tie up I may have ever seen (which made me kind of hate the Gargano/Cole match at Takeover off rip, as theirs had zero intensity whatsoever and nothing they did was even 1/10th as tight and purposeful as what Suzuki and Thatcher offered us here), Thatcher making the simplest restholds look like they're causing intense pain, and Suzuki doing his usually amazing Billy Robinson derived work. Really top quality stuff here.
And Barnett and MiSu brought it home with a classical Shoot-style match that brought me back to those UWF/UWFi/Pancrase days I loved so much. Great example of the wrestling guys like Suzuki, Funaki, and Fujiwara thought was the logical next step from Inokiism. Really loved this match.
Hopefully they'll continue putting on these Bloodsport cards, and I'd even be up for seeing them more often throughout the year if Barnett/GCW could make it work. In any event, if somebody could give me a Barnett/Hideki Suzuki rematch at some point, I'd be a very happy man.
krackdagawd
Inspire.
Watching for Suzuki later 
MenacingMonk
Tranquilo
I've seen Kratos wrestle out here. Decent cat. Surprised to see him in this.
They had Grill 'Em All as a sponsor. I went there to watch Mania a few years back.
They had Grill 'Em All as a sponsor. I went there to watch Mania a few years back.
MenacingMonk
Tranquilo
Davey/Cross was dope.
MiSu going back to normal hairstyle, huh?
MiSu going back to normal hairstyle, huh?
MenacingMonk
Tranquilo
This high school kid reffing the min event.
Good ME. MiSu gives no fukks.
Good ME. MiSu gives no fukks.
OmegaK2099
Gettin' It In
I wanted to watch this but it was Saturday morning and I wanted to sleep in 
PlayerNinety_Nine
Produced, Arranged, Composed and Performed by....
Looks like Mox wasn't just there as an observer, last time....
......
Looks like Mox wasn't just there as an observer, last time....
I can't wait for this shytImma needa takeda Gresham rematch my boy Gresham had him. I swear it
I don't ever wanna see garrini doing this shyt again unless he reffing.
Dbs vs Barnett would have been my guess if it wasn't Mox
Gcw minus the backyard shyt got the juice
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PlayerNinety_Nine
Produced, Arranged, Composed and Performed by....
Too bad AEW probably won't let Mox take outside bookings once TV starts, because the GOAT ending to this show would be :misuz: walking out to tell the winner
He's already made it known that he wants that Mox smoke too
He's already made it known that he wants that Mox smoke too
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PlayerNinety_Nine
Produced, Arranged, Composed and Performed by....
He might be busy with his 9-5
Doesn't look like he's aged at all either
Blackman don't crackman
They need to hit up Ken Shamrock for the culture too.
Jmare007
pico pal q lee
I think Bloodsport deserves it's own thread for every show. I'll do it when it get home at night if no one else does first
Edit: Mighty did it
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