April 1996

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

I enjoyed this a lot. They really put a lot of compelling stuff into a slow, mat-based encounter. Funaki could really, really go on the mat, and the pudgy little technician vs. dirty heel mauler was a good story for the match. Ikeda was super gritty here. His legbar was such a Johnny Valentine move. Great finish. Check it out if you're a fan of this stuff.

The ring here is terribly squeaky. It appears to be in a TV studio in front of a psychedelic background. It's Post-Modernist Shootstyle Wrestling Daddy!!! You may want to watch this for gorgeous Otsuka suplexes. A little uneventful undercard match otherwise. The BattlARTS matwork was pretty rough in 1996, and they didn't quite succeed here in making it compelling. I do appreciate the the uncooperativeness, though. Usuda looked legit as hell.

Talk about it here.

This repeats some of the bits from their first match together but also recontextualizes them in cool ways, like Amano's hit and run antics from the last match getting swiftly shut down quickly while Bolshoi changes focus from the arm to instead the head for this outing, going for really mean-looking sleeper holds while wangling on the mat. Watching the first match to this, you can really see the tangible improvments from the two in terms of how they're stringing things together, even if there's still occasional sloppiness. Amano in turn decides "hey that's pretty cool" and decides to also spam them out herself via using Bolshoi's mask for leverage. They go from that to Bo…

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Welp, here's two matches I didn't even know existed on tape until last week. They didn't make the Best of BattlARTS comp – which is some serious bollocks if you ask me, because both these were excellent and immediately skyrocketed towards the top of my list of favourite Greco matches. The first match was a full shootstyle main event and as cool as you imagine it to be. They had the BattlARTS roster (and even Dieseul Berto) watching from ringside. (...) Even after watching so much Greco footage, I was surprised with all the cool shit Greco came up with in these two matches. I've said it before that Greco brings the best out of his opponents, but it was striking that Usuda …

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Steven Regal vs Fit Finlay - WCW Saturday Night 4/13/96 Coming out of the violent Uncensored match where Regal's nose was demolished, Regal felt like the more sympathetic character and I feel like they played that up with him being more of a babyface here. He takes the match to Finlay early and it looks like he may trying to go for a nose for a nose with those nasty palm strikes. Finlay actually begs off before he gets a vicious elbow to the nose and he looks to keep grounded. He misses an elbow and Regal pounces with a double wristlock. It does not last long as Finlay gets a nasty thumb to eye and a wicked headbutt. Finlay looks to take Regal's arm off and beat him w…

Welp, here's two matches I didn't even know existed on tape until last week. They didn't make the Best of BattlARTS comp – which is some serious bollocks if you ask me, because both these were excellent and immediately skyrocketed towards the top of my list of favourite Greco matches. (...)The second match also had a cool atmosphere as it took place in a hotel with folks watching from fancy dining tables. The tag had a cool layout too, as Ishikawa and Ikeda avoided eachother for the first half of the match, allowing for lots of good matwork involving Greco early on, before all hell broke lose in the second half. Even after watching so much Greco footage, I was surprised …

I love Bison here, cutting off Toyota and not allowing her to run through her usual opening bullshit. She also hit a cool dropkick to the knee while Toyota was in the tree of woe and then gave her a good stretching, really bending the leg while applying the STF, and also doing a cool amateur style leg stretch and carny choke hold. Really nice struggle over a Tapatia there too. Toyotas selling was obviously non existant and the match soon turned into her typical mindless affair, but I somehow liked how her blowing spots allowed Kimura to regain control at times. There really is a world difference between Bison and Toyota here, Bison stumbling around, looking disoriented et…

I don't think I've ever seen a Jaguar match before, nor have I seen Lioness in her "home element." Jaguar is *so* smooth and lithe and agile that even though this isn't a great match, you can see where her reputation as a worker comes from. She does about the most natural and realistic-looking bridge-out-of-a-pinfall spot I've ever seen. When Lioness is on top this is a lot less interesting, and the finish is pretty weak as Asuka kicks out of a double underhook piledriver but goes down to a flash victory roll. Not a lot of heat and not really an outstanding match but it did make me want to see more of Jaguar.