Post by concrete1992 on Apr 14, 2020 9:59:45 GMT -5
I'm not going to make the argument that Ki was better this decade than last BUT the general public needs to come to terms that the gap isn't as large as it might feel on first blush. Sure, you don't have defining work like the AmDrag series or the transcendent Amazing Red sequence or the bulk of his TNA run which isn't LEGENDARY but strong TV wrestling.
What you DO have is largely enjoyable NJPW run where you get the Hitman cosplay that managed to become more en vogue as the decade went on. His four matches for Evolve in 2012 are very good to great, including when he knocks Ahtu into next year. There is a Sonjay Dutt match during his TNA run that I don't think is the best match in TNA history but some would say it is. The Sami Callihan match from AAW in the middle of the decade is one of the best indie matches of the decade and maybe the best match in AAW history. The Rey Mysterio match for JAPW feels like a fever dream. Doesn't feel like it should have happened but it did. Would have expected one of them to mail it in but they didn't. His tag with WALTER against Starr in Devlin for OTT is probably a top 5 Euro tag match of the decade. Ki wrapping up his decade in MLW sort of cemented him as maybe my favorite non-WWE TV wrestler of the decade. That's not a super crowded field I guess but he gets to have these compact Low Ki matches with awesome opponents. Not much to dislike.
Time to give Ki his due for this decade. Felt like it was ten years of folks saying he had fallen off the map. Not going to say that 289 matches (according to Cagematch) is a HOT PACE but that's an average a couple of matches a month for the decade. Not a ton of filler in there either.
What you DO have is largely enjoyable NJPW run where you get the Hitman cosplay that managed to become more en vogue as the decade went on. His four matches for Evolve in 2012 are very good to great, including when he knocks Ahtu into next year. There is a Sonjay Dutt match during his TNA run that I don't think is the best match in TNA history but some would say it is. The Sami Callihan match from AAW in the middle of the decade is one of the best indie matches of the decade and maybe the best match in AAW history. The Rey Mysterio match for JAPW feels like a fever dream. Doesn't feel like it should have happened but it did. Would have expected one of them to mail it in but they didn't. His tag with WALTER against Starr in Devlin for OTT is probably a top 5 Euro tag match of the decade. Ki wrapping up his decade in MLW sort of cemented him as maybe my favorite non-WWE TV wrestler of the decade. That's not a super crowded field I guess but he gets to have these compact Low Ki matches with awesome opponents. Not much to dislike.
Time to give Ki his due for this decade. Felt like it was ten years of folks saying he had fallen off the map. Not going to say that 289 matches (according to Cagematch) is a HOT PACE but that's an average a couple of matches a month for the decade. Not a ton of filler in there either.