Jetlag
DVDVR 80s Project
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Everything posted by Jetlag
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I am back on top now and reviewed both Fujiwara/Aoki and the Strong BJ tag I was given. Also, I missed the boat last week and forgot to give shodate a match. Sorry. In case you are still up for it, here's one to check out: -
This was the usual "Strong BJ" deal - meaning, do a few basic filler holds at the beginning, then hit eachother a whole bunch back and forth, maybe thrown in a crowd pleasing spot like the double torture rack or two, then do a few nearfalls and call it a day. Not much storytelling or selling whatsoever. It's not horrible, but it's beyond played out at this point. Also, the whole "stand there and ask the other guy to hit you" always detracts from the match feeling like a fight.
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Been a while since Fujiwara faced someone who gave him this much material in terms of mat skill an personality to work with. This was basically the nearly immobile Fujiwara using his old style hooking against the highly flexible Aoki. Watching these guys twist eachother up was so much fun, and Fujiwara did a strong job as usual directing traffic and leading his opponent. Finish came sudden (for me...) but a cool moment. It was an exhibition-y finish to a match that actually felt very unlike the exhibitions Fujiwara has done here and there over the years, both in terms of competitiveness and technique.
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GAEA goes UWF! This was probably the closest you'll get to serious girl shootstyle, as they wore plain black outfits and stuck to working a no frills UWFi style contest. The work won't make you forget your high end RINGS but it was genuinely exciting contest with perfect pace and layout. Uematsu surviving an onslaught of stiff kicks and almost toppling her higher ranked opponent with a knee to the face and palm strikes and hooking the leg was a great moment. Short but good. Also, for the scientific record: KAORU is fine as hell.
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Another sprint where they avoid overkill and instead focus on bringing the asskicking. I think I prefer the GAEA sprint over your typical back and forth spotfest because it comes across as too eager workers pushing really hard rather than two workers trying to get every move in. Satomura looked badass again – brutal strikes, arm-snapping flash submissions – and Sato had some neat selling and brutal stomps. Her chopping down Meiko with stiff backfists was impressive too. Effective finish.
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Makie Numao works that BattlARTSian style of flash submissions and hard kicks, and she ain't bad at it. This was another sprint where Numao gives it all while trying to avoid any contact with Chigusas own kicks and submissions. It's a format that should've been ripped off widely because it's immensely enjoyable and it works much better for Chigusa than lengthy overwrought epics. That was the case here aswell.
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May have been even better than Kato/Nagayo. Uematsu just threw the kitchen sink at Nagayo and it ruled. Incredibly vicious. Matches had the nifty submission counters and Nagayo kicking her in the face aswell. Nagayo had that Inoki vibe where she looks like she could snap a limb anytime. Sick near dislocation finish too. All in less than 6 minutes! Dig it.
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I've seen way too many LCO brawls, but this was a good one. Satomura & Kato get bloodied and knee'd in the face a bunch which is far better than the usual hair pulling shit. Satomura's fire just dwarved Kato. On the other hand I thought the match was way too long and they shoed in too much back and forth stuff. Also, the way the Mini Chigusas got in position for the LCO dives was cringeworthy. Cool match.
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CMLL was ridiculously loaded with great wrestlers in the 90s. It was funny to watch Santito and Negro Casas working as a best buddy tag team complete with synchronized sequences and hot tag after their year long rivalry. This was a high end workrate tag, the afromentioned Santo/Casas double teames were extremely intricate and executed perfectly. Also, because Casas and Fuerza were somewhat feuding at this time („Somewhat“ because nothing really seemed to come out of it... thanks, CMLL bookers) their exchanges were pretty violent, Fuerza throwing punches and Negro booting him in the face. It may come as a shock since he's been a clown for so long, but once upon a time Mr. Niebla could bring the workrate too. Black Warrior took some huge bumps and hit a great dive. This hit all the spots.
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Who do you rate? In 2018? Nobody, I guess. I tried to watch some matches from that Black Label Pro show the last weekend and it almost put me on life support.
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I feel like a dick now because I don't really like anyone mentioned in this thread. I guess Thatcher is fine and Zack, to a degree. Hideki Suzuki is so frustratingly inconsistent I've pretty much given up on him. Why did Fred Yehi get pinned with the "technical wrestler" gimmick? Every match I see him in he quickly moves on to hitting his stomps and other funny spots. I like him and with a little more focus and a subtle meanstreak he could become the indy Finlay. I'll take indy guy with a legit background working as Mongolian Stomper over any other indy guy for sure.
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This may have been in some ways been better than Finlay/Benoit because this told a real story with Booker T coming in with a wounded leg from his match with Benoit earlier. So, of course, Finlay works a bunch of really cool takedowns and twists his leg up in all kinds of different ways. Probably the most matwork I've seen Finlay do in WCW, and how weird that it's against Booker T. I was ready to praise Booker for his selling until he made a doozy do comeback hitting his kicks and then they butcher a tombstone reversal completely. Booker T hits a ganzo bomb for the random but convincing finish.
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Obviously nowhere near their 2006 classic, but still fun, really stiff pro wrestling. The opening sequences had some cool euro reminescent sequences and then Finlay just started lacing up Benoit with hard, hard clotheslines, uppercuts and elbow drops. He had vicious cutoffs too, altough the suicide dive into the chair was Benoit's signature bump I guess. Loved Benoit's lightning fast counter into the attempted crossface. Booker T coming in to distract Benoit didn't detract much from the match and lead to a sickening kick to the back of the head from Finlay. I guess Benoit was a little too eager to go back on offense and Finlay could have done a better job selling the double german suplex.
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Average opening section. The whacky car brawling and bumps were the highlight and Austin selling his peril was really good, on the other hand the quick transitions kept taking me out of the match. For example, Austin would hit a stunner or just blast Foley with a chair shot, but after it was revealed that it wouldn't be the finish, Foley would pop up and reverse immediately. Also, add that fucking sunset flip on the concrete to the List of Stupid Things Foley Does.
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my views have never been liked any were overall so parv hating them/me is nothing new and no here to ruin the art form he loves why would i ruin something i also hold dear Hey, I do like your views Don't listen to the haters. And the same goes for Parv to.
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I wouldn't exactly call him underrated considering his status as one of the first guys that come up when talking about mexican wrestling, his matches being gateway lucha introductions (well... atleast I hope that they are... Atlantis/VIII is one of the most watched lucha matches by non-lucha fans thanks to Meltzer approval) and his mask being one of that last huge prices in wrestling next to La Parkas... he did finish in the GWE Top 100 and even one spot ahead of Hogan, so I'd say the word has gotten around by now... personally I think the guy has been nowhere near as consistant as fellow maestros in the last decade, but in the grand scheme of things, he is probably a second tier lucha guy when it comes to work... behind your top guys in Casas, Santito, Satanico etc.
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Another night, another town, another good match between the BattlARTS crew. These guys had ridiculously high workrate. Even though they didn't go for broke, every exchange delivered, and there were a few great spots. Ishikawa/Ikeda was Ishikawa/Ikeda, but I think I prefer the Ishikawa/Greco matchup on these small shows. Greco is such a killer, always pushing the pace and going for the tapout and suplexing the shit out of everyone. Greco/Otsuka is a matchup that makes you salivate at the mouth thinking of it and it delivers good here. This also had a bit of that tag psychology with Greco & Ikeda using some double teams until it backfires for a great nearfall with the Cobra Twist.
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Ishikawa was on a roll in 1998 and barefoot Greco means business. This was lengthy, and accordingly great. They largely kept it to the mat with the exception of Greco landing a crazy flying kick in the corner and Ishikawa rolling out the big suplexes in the last few minutes. The matwork was just a joy to watch and highly aggressive, athletic and unrelenting stuff. Dug Greco's defense too and watching Ishikawa being put to the test against Greco and coming up with counters to the assault was fascinating to watch. Also, another great Cobra Twist spot here. A great prelude to their masterpiece a decade later.
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The Ishikawa/Usuda matches are not talked about as much as the Ishikawa/Ikeda series, but may be just as violent. I mean, I don't recall Ishikawa bloodying Ikeda's nose with a punch. They have a different dynamic too because Usuda has the vibe of someone who kills fast, both with strikes and submissions. Him mixing up the body shots and palm strikes was dope too. This had lots of super nifty grappling and that trademark BattlARTS grittiness where one guy would eat punishment and then pay it back in kind later. Dig the Inoki tribute spots too. Last few minutes were utterly brutal and world class. Face punches, neck-breaking suplexes, flash submissions, it's all there. BattlARTS guys were work horses in 1998.
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He's just really sensitive about his art form. It all boils down to "Those evil hipster communists are ruining muh pro wrestling/video games/movies" etc.
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Wild wild brawl where plenty of punches are thrown. Hansen tries to hit the lariat any chance he gets. I agree the match could've benefited greatly from some form of extended heat section on Bruno, but as it was it was a wild spectacular fast paced fight, the sort you can back to 40 years later and enjoy.
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May very well be the greatest ECW match ever. Ladders are flung about, dudes tr y to kill eachother and it's all one merry acid fueled carnage. Sandman's drunk selling and stumbling about works way better than your usual wandering crowd „brawling“, I also liked how he would take weapon shots and the simple elbow drop adds a lot to an otherwise wild brawl as an old school move. This feels unpredictable and uncooperative through the reckless use of props and neither guy looking like he was willing to take the punishment. Sabu fighting through the broken jaw was super gritty and didn't detract from the brutal fight going on. Plenty of crazy spots and that classic barfight finish.
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Brazo de Plata, baby. This is not a match people would seek out on paper. Well, if YOU would seek this match out on paper, then I want to shake your hand and call you friend. If YOU, as a wrestling fan, can't get excited about a violent brawl with this many fat guys in it, shame on you. Or shame on me. Porky and Markus Jr. are killing eachother and it's awesome. Steele is a canadian guy with abs who has a solid enough punch and a funny bump over the top rope to entertain, and he gets slapped around plenty by Headhunter. He tries to speak spanish, and just gets walloped in the mouth. Still, you want this for the awesome Markus Jr. punch combos, blood, biting, Plata's fat guy fire and dive and general porky asskicking going on. Shit finish, but they were setting up an apuestas, baby.
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How much STYLE-E is there available though? I think Lynch only has stuff from the later years, which is far less interesting than the early period which had dudes like Crafter M etc. Some of these cards look really interesting: STYLE-E @ Chofu 15. Januar 2005 @ Nishi-Chofu Combat Arena in Chofu, Tokyo (Japan) Kyosuke Sasaki © besiegte Hidehisa Matsuda (22:49 Minuten) [sTYLE-E Openweight Title]