December 1993

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Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels - WWF 12/1/93 Steel Cage Match A match I discovered through Cagematch that got a pretty high rating which I would attribute more to the names participating in the match than the match itself even though I do think the match is good just not great. It is a Coliseum Home Video with Gorilla and Polo on the call. Polo is pretty rough. Bret and Shawn fell out of bed and had a good match. Bret seemed to dog it a little more than Shawn. There are enough on the way of high spots to keep you entertained but the connective tissue is not there. Shawn attacks Bret right as he enters the cage. Shawn’s right cross is so much better than his jab. Br…

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It's nice to see Black Cat get to do something beyond prelim match duty. And damn this is a really really fun match. Koshinaka and Black Cat beating on eachother is really cool, Koshinakas calling really is vicious prick who will forearm you in the nose. God damn Cat looks great beating on dudes here, throwing these cool low thrust kicks and cross chops. There is some vicious arm work, Kabuki and Cat punch eachother in the face, Samurai is fine as energetic junior without unnecessary flashes... we also get a big Kabuki superkick and a fun finish with Koshinaka doing his really amusing cocky strut after the bell.

This would have been very good if JIP for tv. As it is the first ten minutes of matwork didn’t grip me at all and nearly marred the whole match. Once Kengo starts throwing strikes, things pick up and Liger really starts honing in on the leg. Worth watching but not a lost classic. ***

The new Aoyagi singles matches may be the best thing about the flood of NJPW handhelds. This could've gone longer than 6 minutes but for that kind of match it was really fun puncher vs. Counter puncher type stuff. It's about Aoyagis kicks vs. Fujinamis sleeper holds, and both these guys do a really nice job selling kicks and sleeper holds. Fujinami shows more aggression than I expected pummeling Aoyagi and eventually catching him. Obviously Aoyagis kicks and knees ruled.

Well, it's official. Michiyoshi Ohara has more great matches in 1993 than Bret Hart. This isn't New Japan v WAR, but it IS New Japan v Heisei Ishingun, which seems to make things only slightly less nuclear. Ohara had been teaming here and there with Hashimoto throughout the year, usually against the WAR invaders, and usually he got stomped into the floor by Tenryu as Hashimoto would come to his aid. But now Ohara's thrown his lot in with Koshinaka and his HI brethren and thus turned his back on Hashimoto. Maybe Hash wanted to give Ohara a chance to see the light early on because the first few minutes were pretty tentative. Well, maybe not tentative. Hashimoto's not necess…

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Sakuraba slapping Bad News before the match may have been the best part. Of course, Bad News wants to take it to the ground as soon as he can because Sakuraba’s kicks are going to hurt. Your typical Bad News leg trip takedowns following by laying. Sakuraba's double leg takedown>armbar attempt is probably the most exciting this gets before Allen grabs the double wristlock for the submission. Mehhhh.

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The crowd is into it but it doesn't get past the "okay" mark. Burton is sort of the underdog here against the bigger, suplex happy Lydick, who absolutely destroys Burton with a high angle German and taps him with the armbar. See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya.

There's a good sense of urgency throughout. Again, Bobchick looks very doofy but, in fact, he's pretty legit. Shame he only had like five pro matches before he retired. Kanehara manages a very nice front neck chancery takeover, and then feeds Greg plenty of kicks and knees and a shoot enziguri. He counters Greg's reverse armbar with a rear naked choke and when that doesn't do the trick, he taps him with the armbar. Okay match.

A sloppy, clusterfuck tag like most of the UWFi tags but still, some very fun moments and good energy. Yamazaki dismissing Miyato is great. Mark Silver's love handles are on point but he can still throw a sick uranage. The stuff between Yamazaki/Sano is pretty good - Sano catching the kick and kicking Yamazaki while's still got the leg was great, as well as the struggle for the German suplex. At one point later in the match, Sano just cranks away at Yamazaki's ankle, then turns it into an STF when Yamazaki tries to escape. Miyato/Silver gets heated at one point but nothing really comes of it before Yamazaki/Sano are brought back in to finish it off. Yamazaki sneaks away w…

Perfectly solid match between these two, with Dennis looking more aggressive out of the gate and staying dominant throughout much of the bout. Lots of suplexes to wear out Tamura, but Tamura is Tamura so he's able to slip out of holds on the ground and crank on some limbs. He even throws a couple of suplexes himself, with a gutwrench and a backdrop. Strong finish from Tamura with the deep heel hook. Would've liked to have seen more from Tamura but Dennis was one of the stronger American guys, at least in terms of skill level, so it makes sense he was in control.

For starters, this isn't quite as gory as their previous match-up. They take their time feeling each other out until Nakano's had enough and starts cracking Kaki's hamstring with his stubby kicks. When Kaki grabs a leg, Nakano tries to keel his way out of it but Kaki fires off some kicks and slaps and Nakano's such a little shit that he's actually taunting Kaki while getting kicked on the mat. Nakano gets back to his feet, slaps and knees Kaki in the face, clearly pissed off by what's taken place, and perhaps the move of the match is his dragon suplex into the grounded full nelson hold. But Kaki's able to escape out and lock in the sleeper, submitting Nakano but Nakano's …

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This was actually pretty good, with Anjoh working a comedic shithead role and Scott the persistent underdog. Anjoh stepping on Billy’s ankle and shrugging it off like a jerk, only to kick him while he’s down -- classic Anjoh. Lots of holds and reversals from both, with Anjoh targeting the leg with kicks and submissions. Scott hits a great shoot Northern Lights suplex counter but can't follow up off the front mount. Anjoh's strikes are dirty, especially his knees - he hits some grounded ones to set up the double wristlock attempt - but in the end, it's Billy boy who comes away with the double wristlock for the submission. Surprising finish.

Not much of a match. Cairo gets a pretty sick German suplex on Takayama but this is mostly Takayama kicking out Tommy's legs and face and rolling him up with a leglock. Poor Tommy hates the leg kicks.

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