Joseph and Colette Discuss Volk Han vs. Mitsuya Nagai

Joseph makes fun of Colette for star inflation.

Fighting Network RINGS

For those of y’all who aren’t in the paid tier, towards the end of this piece Joseph hints at a new BIG EGG feature that we’ll be rolling out soon. This ties into how the piece begins — with Joseph poking fun at me for going full five on Volk Han vs. Mitsuya Nagai — because much of BIG EGG is concerned with Joseph and I discussing the best wrestling and greatest wrestlers of all time, when we’re not talking about Triple H. Volk Han, I’m pretty certain, is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. At the very least, he has thus far lived up to the hype the two of us have heard over the years.

But … a full five?

Maybe! Maybe not! Time (and a ruthless assessment of my personal taste and experience) will decide, but read on if you wanna see Joseph accuse me of dishing out stars like Dave Meltzer. Also, shout out to JR Goldberg for suggesting this one.

Up Next: Joseph is out of country next week, but expect an update on BIG EGG’s future before we venture to Kawasaki Stadium for FMW’s 6th anniversary, where Atsushi Onita wrestles Hayabusa in one of his many, many, many, many retirement matches. Does he pass the torch to FMW’s soon-to-be-crowned ace, or does he keep all the glory for himself? He’s Atsushi Onita, so what do you think?

Meanwhile: If you’re starved for more reviews while we’re away, why not check out Joseph’s website? You can check my website out, too, but there’s decidedly less to read.

Oh Yeah: Next week BIG EGG will also feature bits of my interview with Sting that did not make it into Pro Wrestling Illustrated, including his pitch for what a final iteration of the character would look like, as well as Tony Khan’s pitch to Sting to keep him involved in AEW. Go on and grab a copy of the May issue!

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Joseph Montecillo
All right, Colette, here's your chance. Right here for the benefit of all our paid subscribers, you have the opportunity to let everyone know that your finger slipped. It's hard to count asterisks, you know? They all bleed together when you bunch em all together like that, no numbers to break it up. So please, you can do it right here at the top of our convo, you can tell us you didn't actually mean to go five stars on this, surely.

Colette Arrand
I knew this was going to be how we started this conversation, but look, there was a lot going on in my head before I hit that final asterisk: my friends who wanted me to check him out (one of whom texted me within an hour of the piece going up), my reaction to the brainbuster, watching my boyfriend get really into it during my fourth time through the match. I would say this: four of those stars are earned, one is sentimental, and, the way your ratings of matches from January may go up or down when you rewatch them in December, the rating on this will naturally slide down the more into Han I get. But it’s kinda hard to look at someone you love who is like ten matches deep into watching wrestling be awed by something as niche as RINGS and not feel a kindness!

Joseph Montecillo
I mean I get kindness, but saying this is one of the greatest matches of all time! This might not even crack a top 10 Han matches if the legends are true!

Colette Arrand
…oh, is that what star ratings are meant to track?