Jetlag
DVDVR 80s Project
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Everything posted by Jetlag
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Here's a rare creature: a bad Tamura match. There's a few injuries happening in this match, but it wasn't even good up to that point. I blame Naruse, who was way too limited at this point to be going 20+ minutes. Pretty dull opening matwork as it was mostly both guys moving from positions in not partiularily interesting ways. Nothing felt hard fought and I think there wasn't a single submission attempt in the first 14 minutes. Then Tamura injures Naruses leg with a kneebar. Ironically the following short stoppage woke up the crowd and produced some hot striking exchanges, but the match quickly fell apart again as Naruses knee started buckling. The leg injury may have been an abstract work to keep folks believing in the realness of RINGS. Eitherways Tamura beats easily Naruses after 24 minutes of mostly dull shootstyle. See, not all shootstyle is great. Supposedly Tamura got his nose broken too but I didn't notice when. -
The wild ride that is 1998 continues as now Kanako Motoya of all scantily clad joshi fairies is stepping up to provide the kickass grapple oriented pro wrestling. Shockingly great performance from her as she did a great job selling a bandaged leg and also worked that cool convoluted submission based style that was so en vogue then aswell as throwing in some nice high kicks for good measure. Amano is another girl who does the flash submission based style and she does it exceptionally well as she has really cool looking and natural ways to get submissions. Both of them sold extremely well and they did a really nice job working a 50/50 type contest without things getting silly as the selling and fire was in place. Highlights include a gritty palm strike exchange, great sleeper hold spot and whacky La Magistral into armbar. Only nitpick – which might be pretty major depending on what type of person you are – was that they showed the last 9 minutes of what seemed to be a 30 minute contest, so that has to make you think a little. Still what they put together was exceptional & great.
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Bigger and better version of the dome match earlier in the year. Man alive Vader and Hansen are killing machines in this, anytime Vader swings his fist it looks like a potential KO, and Hansen is such a bastard in this too, almost knocking out Kobashi with his punches and kicking him in the face for good measure. Kobashi & Akiyama trying to fight out of this was quite the epic struggle and they ever got their shit in. Vader falling on top of Akiyama when he tried a Northern Lights suplex may be one of the craziest spots of that kind ever. Finish was perfectly executed and filmed. One of the funnest bouts of the year, and that's something that's sorely been lacking in AJPW... fun.
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Wouldn't be shocked if his was the best heavyweight match from a US main promotion in the late 90s. Just a perfectly worked clash of the titans style match which rightfully had the fans flipping out. Opening wrestling exchanges were really entertaining as it was basically DDP trying anything and everything to chop Goldberg down and Goldberg just destroying him. Goldberg tackling him through the ropes and backflipping out of a leg trip is why he's special. He also made an indy-ish twisting suplex move look brutal. Last few minutes were just great as Goldberg sold his vulnerability (including knocking himself out) just right while still retaining his dangerous aura and finishing DDP off quickly.
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Only 4 minutes, but what a great 4 minute match. Volk Han is an undeniable wrestling god, even when he is not on the offense his movements are poetry. I also always get a kick out of Maeda hitting the mat with anyone who's not Takada. I really liked how Volk sold his demise, you'd think how can you sell your demise well in a fluke match, but him howling when Maeda breaks his grip and grabs the kneebar is how you do it.
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These ultra minimalist Hashimoto epics are the perfect antidote to that overly convoluted AJPW trash. Yamazaki targets the leg and this is just another freaking great beat-him-till-he-goes-numb Hashimoto trademark spectacle. Kingsized selling from both guys. Also loved Yamazaki constantly tackling the knee. Folks flip out for an achilles hold and elbow drop. This is how you do pro wrestling. A nice low kick and stiff neck chops will get you further than 10,000 headdrops. So in the span of 48 hours Hashimoto pretty much had the ideal clash of the titans sprint against Tenryu, the ideal youngster beatdown and now a textbook epic performing as a wounded beast, man I should have put him #1 on the GWE ballot.
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Classic, well executed slow burning epic which is only marred by once again overreaching with the absurd length (for a bombfest) and whacky overkill. I want to say they still did the best job they possibly could keeping things believable, as Misawa is the master of the comeback and Kobashi sold his downfall very well and the match never felt dragging, try-hard or overly bloated, so if it happened in 2018 it would probably warrant about 9 ¼ stars. Really enjoyed the early build with both guys busting out some more grounded wrestling moves such as a cool chickenwing crossface into russian legsweep or Misawa turning his facelock into a double armlock, liked Kobashi teasing an early fish with the Backdrops, liked Misawa getting caught hard when he went for a second dive sequence, liked how both guys would eat shit when they tried no selling a suplex, REALLY liked the consisent use of the turnbuckles and Misawa countering the Burning Hammer. Excellent pro wrestling that made sense but was ever tinged with absurdity and madness and that shade of self destruction you always get from watching Misawa get dropped on his head a bunch and lying motionless on the floor backstage.
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Another AJPW match that feels way too damn long and played out. At this point I admit late 90s AJPW might be the most unwatchable good wrestling recorded. That being said this was a fine match with lots of quality exchanges throughout. Kawada hit some huge kicks and did some amusing selling which almost feels Terry Funkish at this point. I especially liked how he would axe kick Akiyama repeatedly as if getting out of bed. Taue worked his usual magic. There was some quite vicious legwork on Akiyama which he blew off easily to undermine himself further in my book. Also really liked Kobashis sleeper for an obvious filler spot. It's kind of amazing how a match like this with this much excellently timed moments and good exchanges can be kind of boring.
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Fun big boy tag at the Dome. Vader is EXCITED to be relevant again! Hansen beats the BRICKS off of these punks! Ace looks good & the Dome crowd gets really into him! Kobashi gets squished like a bug! Everyone gets thrown over the guardrail! Vader looked great here, just beastly, and so did Hansen to be honest. It's too bad Ditch didn't upload more 98 Hansen matches because I refuse to believe he wasn't great week in week out. Loved him going to town on Ace with the table aswell. I thought some of Kobashis and Aces comebacks looked too easy and prevented this from being something more special. For example Ace just hit an Ace Crusher and tagged out after absorbing a ton of punishment. Surreal finish.
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Really solid, simple match built around Booker T. Benoit laced him up good with stiff chops and clotheslines and worked some decent cutoffs. I'm still not sure he was better than Motegi though. Booker T looked really good, selling his butt off, bumping big and hitting some great kicks including one to the back of Benoits head (hm... probably not a cool thing to praise in a Benoit match). Crowd going bonkers for the Dragon Suplex was a nice moment. Hell of an opener.
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I'll watch Inoki destroying a legit guy in 5 minutes everyday. Inokis grappling looked great as usual. IIRC Frye commented that he broke Inokis ribs which is why the match was cut short. If that's try we can officially classify Inoki as the baddest dude to ever live because he completely nosells that, altough you can tell there might be something wrong when he gets up after the finish.
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Ultra-minimalist bar fight between the two baddest dudes in japanese wrestling history. Great in the same way as Lawler/Mantell or Flair/Wahoo. The early going is so awesome as it's all about them throwing a whirlwind of nasty chops and selling „FUCK this is overwhelming“. The leaning against the ropes becomes a plot point, as both refuse to go down. Despite them constantly pounding away, there are some nice subtleties: Tenryu gets an advantage when he rolls out the punches at first, so Hash is quick to cut him off when he tries it again for a second time. Tenryu sells his shoulder, not because Hash was setting up a submission or explicitly targetting that body part, but because he just took 97 chops to that shoulder. Hashimoto catching Tenryu with the spin kick may be the greatest spot in history. It's greater than anything Kobashi and Misawa tried in their annual murderfest for sure. Short, primitive and to the point like a sledgehammer.
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Team UWFi finally steps up. Holy Demon Army are more than willing to threat them as kickpadded jobbers early on, but Takayama decides he's had enough and the kick the shit out of Taue. Unlike what you might expect Taue has the funnest interactions with the shooters in the 1st half, quite similiar to what Tenryu might do with a shooter if he were ganglier and not quite as good. Taue eats a good beating and the 2nd half has some nice stiff moment. I'm a little unsure what to make of this match as it's Takayama & Kakihara finally looking like threats but also Kawada seemed to be mailing it in aside from his obligatory 1 great sell and the match was dry here or there despite not going very long anyways.
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Damn, I didn't expect this to be so good. I mean, I did expect Hashimoto to absolutely beat Kojimas ass, but didn't expect him to build such a genuinely exciting match around that little chump. The first half of this is solid with Hash administering said assbeating and beating Kojima so bad he looked blown out about 7 minutes in. This also includes a gritty unexpected kimura. Kojima is fine giving and taking stiff smacks altough for a chubby guy his elbow drop looks a little weak. I liked how he would turn to the crowd to pose only to turn around and get his chest caved in again. Kojima strikes gold when hits a huge elbow drop to Hashimotos leg which sets up the great 2nd half with Hashimoto doing some great desperation selling and basically dragging Kojima to a poor mans version of his Choshu matches. Kojima has one annoying moment where he just pops up without bothering to transition or anything but Hashimoto makes it all good by beating the pop tarts off of him with crazy chops and DDTs. Especially liked Kojima grabbing his arm and clutching it like his annoying little brother. Absolutely great finish. Best Kojima match ever? I certainly prefer in this kind of unpredictable, exciting little clash over Tenryu trying to carry him through a drawn out epic.
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Motegi is surprisingly effective as surely vet carrying skinny indy juniors and this was no exception. The match had a simple layout that worked: Fujita would get the advantage through a flashy move or highspot, and Motegi would repay him with a gritty stiff receipt. Highlights include a brutal lariat, some nasty as hell work on the stomach and making Fujita faceplant on the floor. Fujita is so skinny the beating looks double brutal and Motegi can just manhandle him. One goofy no selling spot, but this stuff ages better than your average 90s junior match.
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I enjoy this match, but I'll admit that it was more of a fun clash of styles than an epic match. Toyota gets a lot of shit (and rightfully so) but she does a nice job adapting to her opponent here, coming up with a few cool counters of her own and throwing palm strikes . The layout in theory did a good job in hiding Toyotas weaknesses, but there were a few awkward moments and I thought Kandori basically shrugging off Toyotas huge opening barrage took away from the match. Still the bomb throwing and Kandori finding ways to twist Toyota up on the mat was hugely entertaining.
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These two are such hit and miss workers. Half the time they will do generic sprint bullshit and the other half you'll get something really compelling. This was more on the compelling side because they didn't go long and took a more conservative approach & the match was laid out in an effective way. Lots of nice scrambling matwork in the opening minutes with a giant swing and a dropkick being the highspots. The match was then built around gutsy young Kuzumi trying to just blow away Fukuoka with her bombs and Fukuoka putting her back in place. Fukuoka looked convincingly ace-like by not allowing Kuzumi easy comebacks and using offense that wouldnt look out of place on a New Japan/All Japan main eventer (high kick, knee to the face, kick to the spine etc). Kuzumi was like a more limber Sabu, always going for unpredictable highspots and suplexes. Should mention that her almost blowing a springboard move, landing on her feet and hitting a snap suplex on the floor may have been a botch that actually made the match better than if she had just hit her spot. This had 2-3 minor wonky transitions but the finishing sequence was really strong with Kuzumi looking beaten and trying to win with everything she had left in the tank.
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My god what an absolute pro wrestling classic, even better than I remember it being. First fall alone was better than a lot of single matches. Just relentless matwork with Santito wrenching the shit out of Felino. There is a difference between Santo and regular dudes working holds, your average wrestler may work snug, but Santo will add these little touches like driving his head into the other guys spine to increase pressure. Neither guy let up, starting when Felino got a cheap single leg after a ropebreak and Santo later repaying him in kind when he snuck up behind him and caught him in a Cavernaria. Santo constantly working for his finisher on the ground also adds a lot of tension. Felino is also a guy who will bust out judo throws and olympic moves in the middle of luchariffic exchanges and that is always cool. I had no problem with Felino taking the advantage using his quickness after Santo had thoroughly pushed his shit in on the mat. Then you get Felino pouncing on Santos leg. I am shocked nobody has mentioned the greatness of that legwork and selling. Felino looked like a dangerous hooker and Santo was doing everything to prevent him from zoning in on his weakspot. Then you get Santo believably working lucha exchanges and dives while limping. A damaged Santo throwing out huge desperation moves in order to try and turn the tide was pretty great and exactly how you should use spots like that. Will admit that Felino doesn't sell on the level of Santo and the match could've done going a few minutes less, but to hell with the nitpicking. Easy slam dunk lucha MOTY.
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Surprisingly good tag action here. This was really solid and moved logically from one section to another. Nishimura & Yamazaki outskilling their opponents was a ton of fun. I don't think anyone has ever praised Yasuda, but he was perfectly good here as your big sumo guy who will stomp you. Also, reminder that Iizuka was once a perfectly capable grappler. Really liked the finish and the Dome crowd got into Yasuda big time.
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Cool little sprint. All the Ogawa control and cutoff spots ruled. It's not mindblowing when you know Ogawa, but this was him after years of being a nobody. Now this scrawny geek is playing all the cards right and turning the tables on that pushed wonderman Akiyama. I liked this mostly because unlike Akiyamas matches against higher ranked guys earlier, Ogawa doesn't put a metric ton of punishment on his higher ranked opponent, but there is still the illusion that he might bag it if he just puts it all together.
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Fuck that island deathmatch, go watch his Inoki match where they remove the ring ropes, get handcuffed together and beat eachother to a bloody pulp Masa Saito was one of those dudes. One of the baddest ever.
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About 12 of 21 minutes shown. Too bad because this looked like some of the best junior action of the year. The lucha vs. Shootstyle matwork they did was just beautiful – so smooth and Tajiri knew exactly to go into desperation mode whenever Hidaka locked in a hold. These are of course two guys with high end movesets and spectacular spots galore, but everything made sense and they never got overly cute.
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I was surprised that this went by in a breeze. A little by the numbers AJPW epic, and Kobashi was certainly on cruise control for the opening portions, but I always enjoy watching Taue coming up with ways to damage his opponent. Kobashi powering through Taues feeble strikes early on only to get in trouble when Taue started with the clunky high kicks was cool and the apron stuff etc. was really cool. I also liked that at no point did Taue have Kobashi under full control so there wasn't any of that „guy does whatever he wants but still can't win“ stuff from earlier matches. Kobashi once again hangs on by a thread and dishes out the surprise lariats. Not as good as his previous matches but a very good match at minimum.
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For any other two guys this would be a legendary slugfest in their careers. For these two it's the least talked about match in their rivalry. I will never tire of Tenryu and Hashimoto slugging it out. Tenryu putting him through a table only for Hash to come after him was a cool opening and the rest of this was their typical excellent match built around chops, a DDT, a powerbomb and an elbow drop. Tenryu does a Flair flop and some whacky Terry Funk style selling for good measure. Hashimoto refusing to go down was really great as always and him just teeing off on Tenryu in the corner with kicks near the end was a good way to mix up the DDT/Powerbomb throwing. I didn't have a problem with Tenryus execution as he was selling that he was wobbly half the time, altough I think it should've taken another move to put Hash down. I dig that it looked like Tenryu was gonna lose his own belt only for him to catch Hashimoto charging repeatedly.