cactus
Members
-
Joined
-
Last visited
Everything posted by cactus
-
I love the structure of the first two falls. MS-1 takes out Chicana in the first fall, beating him until he bleeds and picking up an easy win after a top rope splash. The beating continues during the second, but Chicana is able to swing the momentum of the match with one lucky punch. That was a glorious transition and it ends up giving the babyface a countout win to finish the second fall. Sadly, I thought the wheels fall off this one during the last fall as they spend the majority on the ground selling their blood loss. Lads, it's great that you're selling your injuries, but too much downtime is going to take me out of the match. MS-1 taps after Chicana gets on his submission. Both guys played their roles well and I thought this was a very good match overall, but I'm not seeing this as a GOAT match or anything. ★★★¾ -
Not like other big Misawa matches. He's taken on a monster heel and he's well and truly the underdog here. The first ten minutes of this felt slow and lifeless, things are good once Williams starts tossing Misawa around like a small child. The entire match is built around Dr Death's Backdrop Driver and the crowd go apeshit once Williams is able to land it, with Misawa using all the energy that he had left to throw himself to the outside in an effort to prolong the inevitable. This might be Steve's Williams' best match. ★★★★½
-
-
I've seen people prefer Dynamite's matches with Fujinami over his more famous series with Tiger Mask and I can see why. For starters Fujinami brings out more of the heel side of Dynamite Kid. Kid would pepper in some stiff headbutts in between the quick and fluid technical exchanges. He would also arrogantly side step out of the way of Fujinami's attacks. This also a clean and satisfying finish, a rarity for a puroresu match from this time. This was brisk, stiff and vicious technical bout that's done and dusted all in under 15 minutes. ★★★★
-
This was a fun, compact TV title defense marred with an utterly crap finish. After the first intense lock up, Austin sets his sights on Benoit's taped up ribs, which he keeps going after for the duration of the match. Vince arguing with Earl Hebner was entertaining, but the Montreal callback was less so. As soon as they introduced Hebner as the referee, I'd knew that they would go for some BS finish. ★★★½
-
While this isn't a total Austin carry job, Austin calling this match stopped Angle from leaning back on his worst tendencies. Angle bleeds a gusher and sells his beating well, and his sudden comeback when he locked on Ankle Lock on Austin as he was climbing back over the barricade looked organic and put over his submission as a huge threat. I love how they could work this as a technical match while still keeping the hate flowing. The ending is overbooked with multiple referees going down, but it's the good kind of overbooking. Austin looks like a psychotic monster and Angle looked like the biggest babyface one the planet once this was all wrapped up. ★★★★¾
-
We are only a year removed from Hokuto and Kandori's famous match at Dreamslam and they're teaming together to take on the monster heel team of Aja Kong and Bull Nakano. They still do not like each other and their interactions here are golden and they even start brawling with each other during the match. Aja is a total beast. This is messy and disjointed like a lot of the big joshi matches of the time, but they make the big moments matter. Hokuto is a total babyface and we cheer on Kandori by proxy, even if she isn't completely on Hokuto's side. I can't understand a lick of Japanese, but the post match drama had me completely enticed. Ain't pro-wrestling great? ★★★★¾
-
It's so nice to see Taue finally get a chance to shine in singles action. When his unique offence isn't keeping Misawa down, he goes for the eyes to keep control. Taue was never presented as Misawa's equal, but on this night he makes you think that he might actually have the chance to topple the ace, chokeslamming him to the floor and using his new Dynamic Bomb finisher to attempt to get the win. There are parts of this that actually felt like a sprint and the 27 minute match time felt more like 15. This is an underrated gem for AJPW! ★★★★★
-
Robinson reminded me a lot of Fit Finlay in this. He has a very European way of doing things. The opening exchanges don't go anywhere, but they do a terrific job of putting over Robinson's suplexes as a threat. Robinson has all kinds of ways to both put on a hold and to escape one. At one point, he uses his own head to wretch on Baba's leg! This is a Robinson carry job, but Baba knows when to bring out his big chops and boots to enhance the action. Perhaps it was the three falls breaking apart the action, but this match flew by and it's essential viewing to anyone who wants a taste of 70's AJPW, a very underrated decade for the company. ★★★★¾
-
What more needs to be said about this? I might prefer the first Misawa/Tsuruta, Tsuruta/Tenryu and the 6/9/95 tag over this, but this is an absolute classic. The finishing stretch in this in insane and it feels very modern for 1994. Is this the first time Misawa used the Tiger Driver '91 since the 1991 Taue match? ★★★★★
-
Kawada's turned his back on Misawa and Kobashi and has joined forces with his former enemy, Akira Taue. Kawada starts this one off as a arrogant yet in control turncoat, but as soon as Kobashi starts returning his leg kicks, Massive Dickhead Kawada comes out in full force. Those uncharacteristic leg kicks from Kobashi sends Kawada to ground, clutching his leg in agony. It's redundant to say what a great seller Kawada is at this point, but this match might feature his best sell job. Him not being able to bridge on a German suplex because of his hurt wheel might be my favourite piece of singular selling ever. Taue plays his role as Kawada's heavy well by holding the fiery Kobashi back while Kawada stretches out Misawa. The finishing stretch is all kinds of fun, with non-stop action and constant momentum shifts. Excellent stuff. ★★★★¾
-
Aja had previously lost to Hotta before and she's pissed off about it. She wastes no time absolutely brutalising her. This is one of the best Aja heel performances ever, so just so unlikable. Hotta gets a moment where it seems that she's stunned Aja with some slaps, but it's not to be as Aja swats her away and continues the destruction, which sees Hotta piledriven through a table. I thought the middle section where Aja worked holds felt too much like an obvious rest hold, but this becomes great again once Aja moved onto breaking Hotta's hand. Aja kicking away at Hotta's bloodied hand was absolutely disgusting. Hotta's only chance of survival is if she can land her big finish, but Aja keeps cutting her off. I thought the finish came out of the blue and the middle section leaves a lot to be desired, but this was a shockingly brutal match which stands out among all the big 90's joshi movefests. ★★★★¼
-
This was a surprisingly good match. Being 80 years old, I expected this to be a slower worked match with not much here for modern eyes, but there's some good stuff to found. The grappling and hold trading had a lot of intensity. The pace is quick and both guys look like they are technically solid. Nagurski throwing out the big football tackles looked good and made sense given his background. ★★★½
-
Kobashi isn't quite on Hansen's level and has to rush him if he wants to stand a chance. This is a great Kobashi fiery babyface performance and Hansen was great at show vulnerability when he needed too. He's also deceivingly agile, he dives out of the way from a Kobashi aerial attack in a dramatic fashion. The finish is iconic and it's the most famous 90's AJPW finish not featuring a Tiger Driver '91. Perhaps I've hyped myself up too much, but I thought this was just a great match and I can comfortably name 10 other King's Road era matches that I prefer over this one. ★★★★¼
-
This was your typical big Ishii bombfest. I'd say it's a fair criticism to say that Ishii can only work one type of match, but what a match it is. Just balls to the wall action with zero downtime. Shibata's the perfect dance partner for Ishii and I adore the part where they get down on one knee to allow their opponent to land a strike. Once Ishii isn't able to brush off one of Shibata's strikes, Shibata is like a shark who smells blood in the water. Some of the later exchanges which involve a lot of no selling get a bit ridiculous, but the crowd ate it up, so who am I to judge? ★★★★
-
A hellish brawl, with some excellent selling from Kawada. I agree that the first ten minutes felt directionless but once things are more controlled, this was ace! Hansen is as stiff as ever and even hits a freakin' suicide dive! The contorted face Hansen makes once he's locked in the Stretch Plum really sold the move's danger. Kawada seems to not care all that much for his well being as he takes a lot of stiff strikes and spikes himself on his head when he's bumping. Hansen hits a Beat Head (a Smackdown 2 reference for you) and Kawada sells it like he's been Backdrop Driver'd! Kawada shows a lot of fire, but it's not to be his night as Hansen is able to score the win with a brutal Western Lariat. ★★★★¼
-
The team of Misawa, Kobashi and Kawada isolate the lesser experienced Taue and work on him. Taue and Kawada hate each other and start brawling whenever they are near each other. I love the spot where Kawada makes a point of throwing Taue out to the floor and slamming him in the crowd area, just because Taue did the exact same thing to him earlier in the match. The first ten or so minutes are smartly worked, but this really shined when Kobashi is worked over by Tsuruta. Kobashi lands a lucky lariat on Tsuruta when Jumbo tries to save Taue, and now that Jumbo has got Kobashi in control, he's going to make him pay. Fuchi busts Kobashi nose with a chair and Jumbo makes him eat some brutally stiff clotheslines. Kawada goes for the ace and the Korakuen explodes with joy. Both Kawada and Kobashi benefited greatly by being able to stand with the mighty Jumbo. This gives the 4/20/91 tag a run for it's money. ★★★★¾
-
A ★★★★ match with a ★★★★★ crowd. Kikuchi puts in a performance of a lifetime in front of his hometown, but I thought Kroffat and Furnas stole the show as the smug American technicians, They might not be known for their charisma, but they brought it all out here. This is a great match for puro newcomers due it's American-style layout and it kills the idea that Japanese crowds are quiet. ★★★★½
-
Ikeda cheap shots Ishikawa at the start and this puts Ishikawa as the babyface of this match and it's nothing but pure violence from here on out! . He gets stiffed and ends up bleeding from the mouth. I had no idea how Ishikawa throws his audibly loud punches and not seriously hurt his opponent. He's a darkhorse pick for best puncher ever, even if I can't tell if he's pulling his punches or not! There's not a phony moment to be found here as these two just whack the shit out of each other for 15 minutes. This is a great introduction to shoot-style. ★★★★
-
Nakamura weird charisma and mannerisms works exceptionally well for a big dome audience and Ibushi is a plucky underdog who fights with his heart and not his brain. Trading strikes with Nakamura is not a good idea, Ibushi. You beautiful idiot. Nakamura gradually heeling it up once he realises that Ibushi isn't going down was when this match really took off, with Nakamura having to pulverise the poor boy with strikes and even bust out a rare Landslide. I still prefer Nakamura's match with Sakuraba a few years previous, but you really can't go wrong with a Nakamura dome match. ★★★★¼
-
I really want to like this and a lot of the other higher end RINGS stuff more than I do, but it never clicks with me and wows me like other highly rated matches do. This is two of the best technical wrestlers trading holds at a break-neck pace. Not only are they technically sound, but their body language is top notch. Objectively, this is obviously a great match, but I don't think this is for me. ★★★¼
-
A 50+ year old broadway sounds like it has the potential to be a complete snoozefest, but Destroyer injects a boat load of personality and comedy into this that keeps your attention even during the many, many lengthy holds featured here. Baba has a good grasp on psychology and knows when to throw a big strike and he's surprisingly good at keeping up with Destroyer once the technical exchanges pick up in speed. Destroyer uses a lot of a wide array of subtle heel tactics to gain an advantage, including concealing a foreign object in his trunks and then using it 20 minutes later to bust open Baba. The comedy here is strong too, as I really dug when Destroyer would do all kinds of technical spots which would always end up with him with his head locked into a leg scissors, frustrating the masked gaijin to the delight of Baba and the crowd. The finish is a bit crap, but there's so much to love about this once you give it you give it the patience it needs, that I can overlook it. ★★★★½
-
Big moves and even bigger dives. This is a highly influential spotfest. I thought Togo and Hamada worked well as the match's sole mini hosses, and Yakushiji hits some insane moves and felt like a natural babyface. Just when you think that this is starting outwear it's welcome, they wow you with a big spot, athough I agree that this would of benefited from a bit of trimming. ★★★★¼
-
For whatever reason, I was under the belief that this match pales in comparison to their June match. Thankfully that wasn't the case and this more than delivered. There's a lot of callbacks to their last match and the crowd are molten hot and are dying for Misawa to shock Japan yet again. Tsurata puts in a wonderful performance. He's grumpy and pissed off, but you can see that he's starts to doubt himself. He blocks Misawa's first elbow and neutralises Misawa from doing any of his junior stuff by going after his abdomen. The middle portion of this match loses some steam, but once Tsuruta starts getting frustrated and releases the hate, the match becomes shit hot again. Misawa stuns the audience by kicking out of a Backdrop Driver, but he has no chance of kicking out of a second. Good shot, rookie, but you've got plenty to learn! ★★★★¾
-
An absolute masterclass on how to wrestle as a heel by Jumbo. He stiffs Tenryu and takes a few liberties here and there, but it's never over the top. It's always subtle and feeds fuel to Tenryu's comeback. Tenryu sneaks in a quick German for a two count early into this, but it's mostly Jumbo taking control after that. Watching the faces in the crowd looking more and more shocked every time Tenryu kicked out made me realise I was watching something truly special. This blew me away when I watched it for the first time and it gets even better with age. This is where King's Road began. ★★★★★