Posted June 22, 200916 yr comment_5441030 12/27/87 Keiichi Yamada vs. Masakazu Funaki - When it comes to juniors, I understand why people don’t like them going to the mat but Yamada and Funaki were keeping it interesting early on. Yamada must have been watching some lucha tapes because he was twisting Funaki into a pretzel. Really loved when Funaki took over on offense and hit a sweep only to try it again and for Liger to counter with a kick to the head. Mix in some cool counters (Yamada’s deadlift powerbomb), Funaki’s insane kicks, and the great stretch run of Yamada trying to put it away and we have an easy nomination. The end pin looked pretty sweet as well. Loss made the point that you could argue that Liger is the greatest wrestler of all time. Even his early shit as Yamada is freaking awesome. NJ Classics 276
June 23, 200916 yr comment_5441041 I liked this but thought it was a little short. Maybe I'll have to take another look. You're right on about Liger. He was awesome from the first moment he made tape.
June 23, 200916 yr Author comment_5441042 I remember this going more than ten. Maybe the tv version had a subtle clip.
June 24, 200916 yr comment_5441066 I definitely missed some of this in the TV version. It was a nifty match with some counters and mat stuff that you wouldn't see in any other juniors match from the decade. Funaki got a little sloppy at times but fuck, he was only 18. I think it's worth having at least a match or two to show how precocious he was before he went shootstyle. And this seems as good a choice as any.
July 17, 200916 yr comment_5442061 This didn't do much for me at all, Funaki had really Yoshi Tatsuish kicks and he really looked in large parts of this. Some okay stuff here but the good didn't outweigh the bad, and we have better Yamada.
