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Loss

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  1. Loss
    The rough draft is still being developed. I guess really the only recommendations to make are for things that didn't air on PPV, a Clash, or aren't ranked ****+ in the WON. That's pretty much the rough draft at this point, so anything outside of those categories can still be recommended.
  2. Loss
    Curt Hennig in WCW was pretty awful.
  3. Loss
    Tomorrow is the 23-year anniversary of the first Clash of the Champions, if anyone would like to feel old. This is just intended to be a pure nostalgia thread for how great these specials were (most of the time) and how exciting it was to actually watch wrestling during the week at night! What are your favorite Clash matches and moments? The first Clash will always hold a special place with me because it's when I went from fan to super fan. In retrospect, it has importance because it was Crockett's last hurrah and probably the best show ever to air on TBS. My other standouts are pretty much usual suspects: Clash VII with the awesome Luger turn that blew my mind since Luger as a bad guy was something I'd only heard about at the time. Clash VIII with Funk and the plastic bag. Clash IX with Luger destroying Flair's Wrestler of the Decade trophy. Clash X with the Horsemen turn.
  4. Loss
    Clips of a match from Mid South Coliseum. The clips look surprisingly good.
  5. Loss
    Awesome, I've been waiting for this because I haven't see ANY Vader in UWFI. The heat is through the roof and Vader looks fantastic in this environment. Nakano puts him over strong, taking some tough shots and getting a bloody nose. Vader shows just enough vulnerability to show that he's not unbeatable and keep things exciting, but for the most part he looks really strong, just as he should, winning in less than four minutes with a knockout.
  6. Loss
    Tamura and Akiyama in '93 would make an interesting comparison, even though they wrestled totally different styles. But they seemed to be used in similar ways -- young guy going against the big guns early on and putting forth a strong showing. (I realize Tamura had been pro a few years by this point, but I still think the comparison in presentation is a valid one). I'm not sure if it's just reflective of the nature of the yearbooks or not, but UWFI seemed to have more booking cohesion in '93 where they built up challengers and guys were distinct, whereas in '96, it really felt more like just matches being thrown out. Again, that may be more reflective of the yearbook than the booking, but it's still interesting. This is a terrific match by the way. Sano is a great utility guy who can work with anyone and he does a great job of selling his frustration over the course of the match. The layout seems to be Tamura giving a bigger challenge than he expected, as Tamura dominates for a while and even catches him off guard at times when he tries to fight back. The finish felt like a major upset and because Sano did the honors in a way to maximize the meaning, Tamura really gained something from this win.
  7. Loss
    Going back to basics in a rebuilding period -- which this was -- makes sense. So much about this time period explains Vince's mindset today, I think. He parted ways with Hogan, Flair, Savage and Piper, thinking that they had seen their best days and had nothing left to offer and that he needed to go in a new direction. WCW ended up getting some good years out of those guys. He was wrong. So now, he goes with pat hands way too long, I think for fear of leaving some good years on the table like he did with those guys. Back to this angle, this is a clear difference between the WWF and WCW. WCW had some better angles than this in '93, but with such lousy production that it ended up taking the whole presentation down a notch. For example, A Flair For The Gold felt like public access TV, while the WWF talk shows like Funeral Parlor and Brother Love were always immaculately produced and the sets looked great. This was a solid angle made excellent because of the camera work, announcing, lighting, etc. -- stuff where the WWF really knew how to execute. At times, WCW had pretty good production, but their post-production/editing was almost always terrible.
  8. Loss
    This set will be next. It's not coming out immediately or anything, but I need to get the matchlist finalized pretty soon, so if you have any suggestions, please try to provide them in the coming week. Thanks.
  9. Loss
    I think I've said before I don't need wrestling to be realistic, I need it to be plausible. This is the perfect example. This is about as far from realistic as you can get, but I believe that if Terry Funk as I know him from wrestling and Atsushi Onita as I know him from wrestling ended up in this exact environment -- a ring surrounded by barbed wire with a referee wearing a metal mask and bodysuit -- this is exactly what would happen. Death matches to me are about exaggerated selling above all else. Milk small movements for big effect and get over the gimmick. This definitely accomplished that. When the 5:00 countdown and sound effect started, this got insane for me. Even more so with the 1:00 countdown. You take something like a spinning toehold or a DDT -- both nice wrestling moves -- and put it in this environment and it seems life or death. Whether this holds up or not, it was definitely everything it needed to be at this point in time, and it's obvious why it's so fondly remembered. Sometimes, being different in wrestling is better than being good. I will always love Onita getting out of the ring, going back in to get Funk and covering him ... followed by the few seconds of total silence and the sold aftermath. More like simulated cinema than simulated sport, but what can I say, it's fun! I bet Quentin Tarantino would love this. I know I did. Oh, and the press conference is incredible!
  10. Loss
    Lots of good action, and the match built well. Yet another strong performance from Toyota, who spends most of the match selling and seems to be having an excellent year. It's interesting how they react to almost nothing when they try to build sympathy on Toyota, but when Kudo is on the defensive, the crowd starts to wake up. I guess it's because the FMW audience is way more comfortable with Kudo and Toyoda, so they probably should have put the AJW team over a little stronger out of the gate. Because when they start dominating again, now they have heat because they're wrestling against two people the crowd has now seen be effective. Interesting the psychology behind that. This match is terrific for building to what seems to be a finish, then giving a kickout and taking the match to a different level, then doing the same again and again. Yet they are smart enough and in tune with the audience not to take it too far either. Kudo finally pins Toyota, but it takes a doomsday device (which looks incredible), some type of straitjacket powerbomb (which is slightly botched) and a tiger suplex. Excellent match! Stuff like this will never compare to the best All Japan tags of the year, if only because the roles are a bit interchangeable, but then again, the All Japan action will never quite get to this level either. They seem to be setting up something with Kong and Toyoda in the post-match, but she gets along very well with Kudo (and may be asking her on a date ...)
  11. Loss
    WWF booking in '93 was very interesting. The constant line in the WON was that they were doing a lot of things to cater to the hardcore WWF audience (Who knew one existed?) that were atypical.
  12. Loss

    Most Outstanding Wrestler

    Loss replied to Loss's topic in 1996

    I could have looked at this list and moved people around forever, but at some point, I decided to post it. A few months from now, I may look at this and cringe, or I may look at this and think I nailed it, but here are my top 50 wrestlers of 1996, as it see it at this moment and after pondering this for a little while. Ranking wrestlers is waaay harder (and something I honestly prefer way less) than ranking matches, because you're looking less at the sum of the parts and more at the whole. Honorable mentions (in order) are W*ING Kanemura (#51), Yoshihiro Takayama (#52), Masato Tanaka (#53), Bret Hart (#54) and Masa Chono (#55). #50 - Great Sasuke #49 - Aja Kong #48 - Combat Toyoda #47 - Johnny Ace #46 - Yuki Ishikawa #45 - Steven Regal #44 - Yoji Anjo #43 - Steve Austin #42 - Manami Toyota #41 - Takeshi Ono #40 - Riki Choshu #39 - Keiji Muto #38 - Dynamite Kansai #37 - Mankind #36 - Masahito Kakihara #35 - Dick Togo #34 - Kazuo Yamazaki #33 - Daisuke Ikeda #32 - Felino #31 - Shawn Michaels #30 - Kyoko Inoue #29 - Masato Yakushiji #28 - Juventud Guerrera #27 - El Samurai #26 - Owen Hart #25 - Mayumi Ozaki #24 - Dean Malenko #23 - Shiro Koshinaka #22 - Nobuhiko Takada #21 - Steve Williams #20 - Rey Misterio Jr. #19 - Taka Michinoku #18 - Shinya Hashimoto #17 - Volk Han #16 - Eddy Guerrero #15 - 2 Cold Scorpio #14 - Ultimo Dragon #13 - Negro Casas #12 - Genichiro Tenryu #11 - Akira Taue #10 - El Hijo del Santo #9 - Psicosis #8 - Kenta Kobashi #7 - Jushin Liger #6 - Chris Benoit #5 - Jun Akiyama #4 - Mitsuharu Misawa #3 - Shinjiro Otani #2 - El Dandy #1 - Toshiaki Kawada
  13. Loss
    Out of curiosity, was that a deliberate decision or is that all that's available? We were in a crunch for space and cut where we thought we could.
  14. Loss
    Not knowing it's a form letter and thinking WWE is sending them a letter calling them a drug addict.
  15. Loss
    I thought that too, but on every match list I scoured, I could only find the Vader win.
  16. Loss
    There was definitely a similar Cornette story.
  17. Loss
    That's quite the hidden gem you're sitting on.
  18. Loss
    They started doing that post-Benoit. They sent out a form letter to everyone who had ever worked for them that said regardless of the circumstances under which you left, you're eligible. There was a funny item in the WON about Cornette getting the letter and going crazy.
  19. Loss

    1997 Recommendations

    Loss replied to Loss's topic in 1997

    Probably 90s, then early 00s, then we'll alternate between the rest of the 00s and the 80s after the DVDVR project is wrapped up. The 80s yearbooks will have plenty of gems not included on the DVDVR 80s stuff also. We'll eventually do a "decade book" for the 70s, and maybe one for pre-70s also.
  20. Loss
    Funk is at the Double Cross Ranch, and says Eddie Gilbert was supposed to be meeting him there to discuss the rules of their upcoming chain match. He finally finds Gilbert, or rather, a horse's ass, which he thinks is Gilbert. This is pretty funny.
  21. Loss
    I always enjoy seeing Hogan in Japan, because he pulls out the same mat wrestling he knows every single time. That said, I don't care to ever watch this match again, but I'm glad I saw it once. Hogan wins with the Axe Bomber.
  22. Loss
    This was a commercial release and has commentary.
  23. Loss
    Meet Hiroshi Hase, the smilingest wrestler ever. No wonder he went into politics. This is really hot and cold for me -- great moments and dull moments. Uneven overall. The match kicks into high gear when Hase starts throwing the rapid strikes. The finish was kind of abrupt and I think Hase submitted a little too soon, but they did put over the move pretty strong. The match was well-worked, but didn't have much drama.
  24. Loss
    Scott Norton is a bloody mess and does a lot of really good selling. Probably the most inspired performance I've ever seen from him. But the match isn't really that good. It seems really long, despite being only 10 minutes or so. The match is stopped due to blood, which Norton protests by attacking the ref and all the young boys who enter the ring. Sting just casually walks off. Weird.
  25. Loss
    This is a beautiful pro wrestling match. Hokuto is still selling the effects of the match with Kandori and has her arm taped up. Yamada treats it like the neon sign it is and goes right for it, and at one point, Hokuto even has to have her arm re-taped. Hokuto's selling may be the best I've ever seen. She pulls off a LOPSIDED German suplex because she can't use one of her arms. I'm really excited about continuing to watch Hokuto in '93.
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