Jetlag
DVDVR 80s Project
-
Joined
-
Last visited
Everything posted by Jetlag
-
Mariko Yoshida vs. Megumi Fujii (ARSION 5/24/2003) It's pro wrestling's female top grappler vs. her MMA equivalent. This was before Fujii made her MMA debut, but she was already a seriously great grappler. And thus a great matchup for Yoshida to test herself against. Yoshida is a worker and thus carried this nicely, and Fujii's grappling was just a trip to watch. For someone who was pushed as the top submission artist in her promotion for years, Yoshida had no qualms about putting her significantly smaller opponent over as an ultra dangerous force. Early on Yoshida was outmatched on the ground, so she quickly went to her feet and landed a big impact move to gain the advantage. Later she tried standing up again, only to be caught in a whacky twisting armbar. Yoshida looked credible grappling with Fujii and dished out some nasty boots to her face for good measure. Fujii had some ultra impressive counters and didn't have any hiccups for someone who's never done fake fighting before. I'm generally a fan of wrestler vs. MMA fighter matches and this went smoother than most. Last sequence was kind of ridiculous and awesome, like one of those Okada/Omega sequences if they knew how to fight. -
Interesting thought, but I've seen both Kikuchi and Kikuzawa and they are not the same guy. There are tons of late 90s japanese undercarders no one remembers and a few of them have been subject of theories regarding what happened to them. Takeshi Sato, YUSAKU, Hidetomo Egawa, Basara, Cosmo*Soldier, junji.com, I'm collecting 'em like by Pokemon by now. It probably says a lot about me that I know at one point people theorized Basara may have been Yuichi Taniguchi (I doubt it, by the way). It's a miracle Mochizuki and Ishii ended up becoming big stars given how almost everyone else was lost to time or become some type of gimmick wrestler.
-
Leave it to a pair of 18 year old girls to have an excellent lengthy match in 1998. The cool thing about the mat stuff they did here was that it wasn't shootstyle stuff, but closer to NWA-ish legbars and kneedrops, executed in really vicious fashion. Sugar doesn't have the high end offense of Satomura, but I thought she did well enough to mix it up and keep the match going. Everything made sense and built really well to their respective finishers (Death Valley Driver vs. Liger Bomb), and while there wasn't any super-focussed extended selling they worked hard to put eachother's offense over as devastating. Plenty of neat spots, including Sato finding ways to counter Satomura's arm attack stuff. Best GAEA match of 1998?
-
Finally, a bit of a return to form for Misawa. This wasn't a bad match and had plenty of neat exchanges throughout. I really enjoyed Kawada selling the elbows and Misawa did a neat job putting his banged up leg over early in the match (not that it was much of a factor later on... but I liked it!). On the other hand, it was yet another near 30 minute epic that took a long time to get hot. The work was less randomly thrown together than their match earlier in the year, but still left something to be desired. Also, I thought there could have been a better layout. Much of the early part of the match is Kawada trying to hang on and finding a way to isolate Misawa's weaknesses and Misawa cutting him off. Then at the end Kawada gets a sudden run of big moves together to put his rival away. I think the match would've been more effective if it were Kawada working over Misawa and cutting off his comebacks, then putting that brilliant sequence together. Yeah, I can armchair book too! I don't know whether to love or hate Misawa eating a series of armbreakers and then hitting elbows with that exact arm and then having it hang like a limp noodle. Armbreakers were used much better in GAEA and BattlARTS for sure.
-
I actually thought the opening mat exchanges were the highlight of this match. Akiyama lost his calling as a shootstyle grappler, and it's really nice to see an All Japan match open with guys working leg rides and fighting over single legs and the crowd reacting to the small victories in all that. But after that... man, fuck this match. Anytime someone he gets hit he starts no selling while continueing to block incoming hits with his face. Some long and meaningless legwork ensues, three dozen suplexes are thrown... fuck that suplex exchange. With a VENGEANCE! Man, I hate wrestling.
-
This is a match that left me really dry. You can only watch so many AJ epics before it gets irritating. The "fast paced opening with surprise big moves" would be a lot more exciting if those big moves didn't get no sold constantly. Then a bunch of filler stuff ensues and Akiyama out of nowhere almost breaks Misawa's face with the reverse calf branding and drops him straight on his head with the GANZO PEDIGREE and you wonder what the hell the point of all this is. The one cool thing in the match was Misawa countering the attempted exploder outside the ring.
-
Jun Akiyama has a mustache! „Maybe if I grow this beard, I will finally be taken seriously as a main eventer?“ Man, what the FUCK is going on in AJPW with every match going 30 minutes?? Make this a little more compact, and you would've ended up with a serious MOTYC. Peppering things up with some holds and teasing spots rather than hitting them adds a lot to the usual AJ formula. Akiyama going for Dragon Screws after getting punished with crossfaces and boston crabs was so much better than Akiyama hitting a bazillion exploidas and heinys. The same can be said for Kobashi who came back with a big chop that nearly broke Akiyama's face. They miscalculated the match pacing, so they were forced to do a bunch of laying around between nearfalls and the last 10 minutes of this were just really stretched paper thin and somewhat forced. Still, the struggling and teasing over big moves was world class (of course being 1998 they also throw out a little too many big moves. Man, it's weird when the Orange Crush is just another move to throw out for a nearfall). Kobashi had one of his better days, hitting an awesome STO and being on point with his leg selling.
-
This was like a sleazy little version of Liger/Sano as Gedo immediately pounces on Tajiri's bad arm while every move Tajiri hits is either a kick to the face or some crazy highspots. Really great selling Tajiri performance with the consistent armselling and constantly working to draw the audience in. Gedo's arm work wasn't frantic but he hit some hard dropkicks and stomps and had a few cool holds to torture him. The explosive sequences towards looked great after they had suckered the audience in with a few double counts and I loved that the work on the shoulder would set up the Gedo Clutch as a dangerous move. Smart indy junior match and an early career highlight for Tajiri.
-
Where is the anywhere version of Bull Nakano? Moreover, can someone please create another Fujiwara in a petri dish?
-
Solid match with lots of neat exchanges throughout. However, it was reaaaal long and also felt really inconsequential. Kawada opens by hitting a big brainbuster, which allows him to work on Misawa's neck for a little, then Misawa nearly KOs him a couple times, then Kawada works his back some... and so forth. It doesn't feel like it's building anywhere, and there was very little urgency. Really one of the most obvious 30 minute draws I've watched. I enjoyed the finish, which saw them bust out things like a Chaos Theory, big knee drop or neckbreaker drop for nearfalls to keep things a little fresh. I also dug the double Tiger Driver spot, „yeah, it's 28 minutes into the match now, I could go for a pin... but I know you're way tougher than this, so have another you son of a bitch.“
-
Parts of this came across as an AJPW epic on autopilot, which is, however, still a really good match. Some really good strike exchanges, Akiyama trying his best to stay in control early on, only to eat a nasty Backdrop Suplex which lead to some gritty work on his neck. Akiyama fights back hitting a Dragon Screw which in turn sets up some good legwork (including a killer spot where they struggle over a Sharpshooter) and some excellent selling from Kawada. It's this kind of A leads to B match structure that is really simple and maybe predictable but still ends up producing an enjoyable match. Finish run had some badass strikes such as Kawada hitting an awesome Abisegiri and Akiyama desperately escaping a Powerbomb only to eat a lariat to the back of the head. Some of the obvious „prolonging the match“ stuff such as Kawada locking in another Stretch Plum only to release it and go for a pin (something that about never produces a finish) or Kawada suddenly deciding his leg was hurt again felt pretty dated. The one thing I actively disliked was how everytime Kawada hit a yakuza kick Akiyama would hulk up immediately. Stop hitting that strike then, will you?
-
Always good to see the UWFi crew kicking ass in AJPW. Akiyama grappling with Kakihara is so much more interesting than the usual opening. Takayama mauling everyone ruled. Unfortunately, I thought Kobashi was kind of lousy here aside from one awesome suplex on Kakihara. He didn't really sell a great deal to get the crowd invested and his choice of comebacks was poor. Akiyama looked excellent, he should have worked shootstylists on a regular basis. Crowd didn't seem to know what to make of Kakihara's submissions which led to some awkward silence despite the work being good.
-
I'll be disappoitned if all this doesn't lead to PWO doing a HOAT project The individual discussions probably wouldn't be that different from how we evaluate workrate. "I thought Sunny was hot when I was 12, but her post prime material has put a real dent on her. I've grown to value longevity over peak attractiveness." "Sable is canonized as the hottest wrestler of all time, and anyone who thinks she shouldn't be #1 is a COMMIE HIPSTER" "You didn't have any mexican workers in your Top 70? Racist. Is it not obvious that western fans are more looking towards japanese workers because they are insecure about their own masculinity?" "Some may say Harley Race was boring and has aged badly, but I still prefer him over today's hairless skinny boys." "I think Mighty Inoue deserves more discussion." "How come no female workers made the Top 30? Sure an influx of outside voters has something to do with this." Shodate Rule: "but how do they compare too Volk han. his look wa for more realistic which i value more than any1 ehere it seems"
-
Headcheese
-
Finlay's last great match was the year he retired against Tajiri (2012). There may have been others that year but that's the Finlay Of the Year IMO. So that makes 30-29 years for him. Not bad.
-
IWA Japan Battle Station 4/8/98 SPRING BREEZE Tour '98 taped 3/13/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Takeshi Sato & Turtuger vs. Cosmo * Soldier & The Great Takero Masao Orihara & Hidetomo Egawa vs. Perseus & Akinori Tsukioka Benkei Daikokubo & Katsumi Hirano vs. Nuruka & Shinigami Sumie Sakai vs. Emi Motokawa Keisuke Yamada & Keizo Matsuda & Shigeo Okumura vs. The Great Kabuki & Ryuma Go & Tarzan Goto Well I'll be damned, because this was a damn cool little card where every match delivered something worthwhile. Well, except that tag with Benkei and Shinigami maybe - aaaahhh let's not talk about it! The opener was a cool little junior's match which they totally should not have clipped. Cosmo Soldier always adds a sense of unpredictability even to standard opening exchanges. He will hit a stiff dropkick and then start working mount and then hit an insane tope con hilo, all in the span of 2 minutes. Same for the 2nd match, which had some nice hate filled exchanges and sleaziness. Never seen Hidetomo Egawa before, but he was working a kickpadded quasi-BattlARTS style, so that's great, and Tsukioka is looking like one of the best undercard workers around. The semi main event was like the perfect 90s match to put on a VHS comp - just one nifty move after another. Also, impeccable fashion sense that both girls displayed! Color combinations like this will never come back. The main event was great too and I wrote up a full review in the match discussion archive. So,this show was a breeze to watch and every match left me wanting to seek out more of the guys involved. Wrestling in 1998 was a blast.
-
The opening of this match is great – unpredictable, and set the tone for the match. But after Akiyama hits the tombstone on the floor, the whole thing just falls off of a cliff. Akiyama is doing everything he can possibly do to keep control and put Misawa away, but it doesn't work. Misawa kicks out of his own move at 1 and no sells back to offense. By all logic Misawa should have lost this. As a result of the choppy put together structure they keep losing the crowd. In the end Akiyama looks like a wuss because none of his killer moves could get the job done, and Misawa ended up on top through the power of booking. A perfect example of how a match between two great wrestlers can screw itself over through bad layout.
-
Johnny Ace – least talked about 90s AJ guy? He was a pretty good stand in for Misawa as Kobashi's tag partner here. His stuff is not as overexposed as the rest of the AJ crew and his games around hitting Ace Crushers and DDTs are neat. I really liked the parts where they beat the shit out of eachother. Lots of kicks and slaps to the face. The early going was around the Holy Demon Army trying to exploit weaknesses, and the Dynamic Dudes trying to, you know, prevent them from doing that. Eventually though Kawada almost decapitates Kobashi with a nasty headkick which allows Taue to set up some leg work. The leg work ended up being filler but was gritty enough and didn't go long. Quite the epic destruction of Kobashi towards the end with a great build to an apron spot. Some neat sequences around Kobashi & Ace trying to prevent the inevitable. The main thing I didn't like was the tendency to absorb a strike, and then hulk up and hit a strike of your own, which had crept into All Japan at this point. There's nothing dumber than making an angry face after you got kicked in the face. Other than that, good job crew.
-
Ayako Hamada vs. Chihiro Hashimoto (Sendai 4/19) was a really fun match between two thickly built wrestlers. I really liked the opening exchanges, nice matwork and shoulderblocks, with Hamada's snappy lucha armdrags looking credible against Hashimoto's amateur stuff. I loved how well they worked stuff like abdominal stretch reversals and with Hashimoto moves like a hip toss or senton look brutal because she's so thick. The match didn't have great direction but there was some sense of build (e.g. building to Hashimoto hitting the 2nd rope senton, building to the first german suplex, building to first big Hashimoto nearfall with the short arm clotheslines etc). Ayako Hamada has been one of the sharpest wrestlers in the world for years and her picking apart Hashimoto with kicks looked great.
-
I also watched a fun Dradtion opening tag - Super Tiger & Sanshu Tsubakichi vs. Ryuta Hasumi & Nobuyuki Kurashima (4/20). Kurashima has been an opening match guy for 20 years and he is an underrated dude. He will always do something cool like bust out a nice judo throw or look in a nasty hold. He also has a mustache now so he looks like 60s-70s era JWA midcarder and he hit some nice european uppercuts and back elbows too. Some cool matwork, stiff shots especially from Tsubakichi, young guy Hasumi looking fine and Super Tiger 2 getting the most out of his miserable self hitting a nice kick combo and cool Octopus Hold variation for the finish.
-
Aja Kong -- 27 years tag with Grizzly Iwamoto, Nakano and Bison Kimura in 1990 vs Chihiro Hashimoto (2017) Two others who are approaching that level: Meiko Satomura -- 22 years vs. Toshiyo Yamada (1996) vs. Io Shirai (2018) Ayako Hamada -- 20 years vs. Mariko Yoshida (1998) vs. Chihiro Hashimoto (2018)
-
The Fargo match is just a clip though, right? And yeah I forgot about that tag with the exoticos. That was a riot indeed.
-
This post cannot be displayed because it is in a password protected forum. Enter Password
-
Yeah - technical wrestling! BORING! Honestly, I thought this was a terrific match. They whip out a bunch of cool western style matwork and it's awesome. Teioh lost his calling as a studio TV worker - he looked up THERE, working cobra clutches and dropping the elbow on the joint. I honestly think with better/more straightened out limb selling his would have a serious shot at junior MOTY. Souhern scientific matwork, shootstyle leglocks, funky lucha submissions, it's all here, and they worked it all really tight. They did a great job drawing the crowd into what was ultimately a long match between two guys who are not the biggest stars on the roster. I thought the Shawn Capture stuff was a little overdone, but hey, that stuff was HOT in 1998. I dug all the tricked out reversals - especially Teioh spinning out of the Sharpshooter attempt. The finisher reversal stuff worked too, as they basically had the best possible US indy match - 10 years ahead. Rollups looked ultra tight and actually ended up meaning something. Yeah so what, I enjoyed this.
-
Who has a claim to have had great matches in 2 years the furthest apart? Examples Terry Funk -- 35 years vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (1976) vs. Jerry Lawler (2011) Johnny Saint -- 35 years vs. Jim Breaks (1973) vs. Mike Quackenbush (2008) Yoshiaki Fujiwara -- 33 years vs. Super Tiger (1984) vs. Shinya Aoki (2017) Jerry Lawler -- 30 years vs. Terry Funk (1981) vs. The Miz (2011) Negro Casas -- 29 years vs. Fuerza Guerrera (1986) vs. Dragon Lee (2015) Antonio Inoki -- 27 years vs. Chris Markoff (1969) vs. Vader (1996) Hijo del Santo -- 26 years vs. Espanto Jr. (1986) w Villano IV vs. Hijo del Solitario & Angel Blanco Jr (2012) Verne Gagne -- 24 years vs. Billy Goelz (1950) vs. Billy Robinson (1974)