January 1993

Not a great match but it had its moments. There are a lot of love tap kicks to open -- you know, to re-familiarize themselves. The matwork is on the slow/bland side but at least Yamazaki has a bit more charisma to make the holds seem interesting. Loved Yamazaki's quick go behind into the German suplex but Takada's able to grab the double wristlock upon impact. Yamazaki mirrors this later in the match, grabbing the neck crank off Takada's backdrop suplex. Good defense from Yamazaki throughout as he's able to block the armbar attempts, rallying the fans around his cause. Takada figures out the armbar isn't gonna work so he first kicks Yamazaki in the chin, then the face, an…

If anything, UWFi have established that the American dudes can suplex. This was probably the worst match on an otherwise good show, and while Takayama gets to show off a bit more on the mat, Fleming isn't doing anyone any favors and wins with his shitty STF. Pass.

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Chris Benoit vs Brad Armstrong - WCW Clash of the Champions XXII Great showcase for Benoit and his offense. Really liked the chain wrestling early thought Brad Armstrong kept up well with Benoit using dropkicks and armbars to control the Canadian Crippler. The real value of the match is Benoit kicking ass it really felt like Benoit could have gone somewhere as early as 93 in WCW. He hangs Armstrong out to dry and then hits a wicked springboard reverse clothesline out to the floor as Armstrong was on the apron. Jesse marked out for that one. The Body was definitely a mark for Benoit. Benoit looked great kicking ass here. Benoit crashes and burns on diving headbutt. Ho…

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Sting, Dustin Rhodes & Cactus Jack vs Vader, Barry Windham, Mr. Wonderful - WCW Clash of the Champions XXII Thundercage The beginning of the big Cactus Jack babyface push that ended up in the Lost in Cleveland (a fate I would not wish on my worst enemy), but the first four months were awesome. Cactus vs Orndorff faced up a couple days before to see who join Vader's team. Vader, Orndorff & Harley beat up Cactus then cut a heel promo only for Cactus to come back and lay them all out with a shovel. The majority of the match is three on two with no Cactus Jack as Van Hammer is out (thankfully) and Cactus not actually a legitimate substitute. The biggest miss o…

Masa Fuchi puts on a clinic here during a buildup tag to Kobashi vs Taue. Taue and Kobashi do great as well, especially Kobashi, but this is Fuchi's match.

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Ric Flair vs Tito Santana - WWF RAW 1/18/93 Flair/Tito are a pretty natural pairing and it is a shame we never got a Tito run in Crockett in the late 80s especially post-Strike Force when Tito really was not given much. Flair/Tito have a longer more heralded match in 1991 which I remember liking. Flair is definitely a wrestler who does better with more time because he uses a lot of wrinkles and nuances to establish plot points so compressed Flair is usually not as good. I thought was a good match but they clearly have a classic in them. It is just the WWF environment is not conducive to that happening. In a lot of ways you can imagine this match happening in you…

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Hey, this was a really nice, spirited little contest. The stand-up was sharp and clean and I dug Naruse playing underdog. He sold getting knocked around pretty well and I loved how he used the ref' to drag himself back to his feet after the penultimate knockdown. Nagai hurled a few mean leg kicks but still wasn't the full crowbar Nagai that I'm used to, as it was crowbar Nagai that was my first introduction to Nagai way back whenever. They sure telegraphed Naruse catching that high kick, but to their credit they threw a curve ball and switched up the finish nicely. Not spectacular by any means, but definitely fun and a super breezy nine minutes.

Kind of a poor man's Eastern European grapplefest, but a fun one and with another few fights under his belt Todorov could be really good (I'm sure I've seen later Todorov fights, but I don't remember anything about them). Gotchev had a bunch of nice throws again, almost setting them up via bearhug before heaving Todorov over and practically onto his head. At one point he hoisted him up, walked around the ring and hit a body slam. I'm not sure what Todorov's discipline is, but he had a killer harai goshi and once or twice he almost tied Gotchev up in suitably RINGS fashion. Finish was really cool too. There's something about a shoot style STF that's just aesthetically plea…

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