Childs
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Really good match that had a chance to be great if they didn't go for the quick DQ finish. They established a nice little story, with a fired-up Rich trying to brawl with Hansen early but struggling to find success until he adopted a more stick-and-move approach. Hansen didn't unveil his full All-Japan arsenal, but the basic stuff he did looked nasty. And he really sold for Rich. I understand why they had Hansen toss Rich over the top and then lariat the ref; they wanted to establish him as an out-of-control force. I just wish they had given them five more minutes to cement it as a top-notch TV match.
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I expected this to be good but was shocked to find that it was my second or third favorite All-Japan match for the year to date. I just loved the tone they set from the drop, when Fuchi locked up in super-aggressive fashion and bulled Kikuchi into the ropes. Kikuchi's rallies made the match, however. He showed incredible fire with his first flurry of forearms, and his mid-match run of missile dropkicks looked fantastic. Then he had the crowd going crazy with his last, desperate attempts to fight out of trouble down the stretch. It was really signature stuff from him, even though he was just beginning his run as a featured worker. Fuchi wasn't quite as dickish as he would become in the later Jumbo-Misawa six-mans. But he was rock-solid as the tough veteran working on top for most of the way. I imagine this will hold up as the year's second best Japanese juniors match behind Liger-Sano.
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I have watched this match probably a dozen times over the years, and it has never disappointed me even a little bit. I love the way they tweaked the normal rhythms associated with Southern tag formula to make the match feel special. For example, the Southern Boys came out hot, as expected, but they didn't simply go into peril mode when the MX asserted themselves. They kept finding ways to counter and retain the advantage. This really helped establish them as a team that could play at the top level. Then they closed out with those tremendous nearfalls, which felt all the more dramatic because these types of matches usually ended quickly after the hot tag. The Lane-Smothers carny karate showdown was also a terrific standalone set piece. The combination of riffing on the Southern formula and high-end action made this pretty unique in the NWA/WCW tag canon. I think I like it a touch better than the R'n'R-MX classic from 2/25. My only regret is that I didn't attend the show (think I was at camp instead.)
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I think a lot of us who have gone back and watched significant amounts of Portland footage consider him an elite, elite worker. I wouldn't speak for Dylan or Will, but I think both might have him in or near their all-time top five.
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I think of Sting as more like a Steve Garvey (albeit less of a creep.) Long career as a star on on a high-profile team. Very good player in his best years. Remembered as a HOF type for fans in a fairly narrow age range. Performance doesn't stand up that well to detailed analysis. Garvey even had his TNA run with the Padres!
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They did a nice job with the Tessa angle here, making it seem like she just might go back to Tatum until he superkicked her in the back of the head after the match. That was a nasty-looking spot, borderline inappropriate for television. The match itself was pretty good as well, with Dundee landing some awesome punches from unusual angles before Tatum cheated to win the title. I agree with Loss that this gallant babyface run suited Dundee well.
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Terrific brawl. Jarrett was all fired up after Falcone and Torres threw hot sauce in his eyes during a previous episode. And boy did he show his Memphis heart here, building an excellent match almost entirely on emotion and punches. Not a lot else to say, except this kind of match never gets old. -
I don't think this match was from June, because they made reference to snow outside (seems unlikely, even in Minnesota.) Regardless, it was another great showdown between these two, a touch less spectacular than the previous match but more hate-filled. Waltman had such presence for a young guy -- just little stuff he did like stopping to lick Lynn's blood off his hands while he stared into the camera. This did not feel at all like the indy showcases we would see a decade later. It felt like a territorial brawl with some flashier moves tucked in. Very little fat.
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I have always enjoyed this match. Give me two fat behemoths trading bombs and I'm likely to be pretty happy. I remembered this as a toe-to-toe war, which it was at times. But it was structured more as Vader beating the piss out of Wanz for a few rounds and Wanz staging a gutsy rally in front of the home folks. The twist came near the end, when Vader hurt his knee attempting to avalanche Wanz in the corner. I don't know if he legit hurt it and they decided to improvise off of that or if it was a planned spot and he sold the hell out of it. The fact that I wasn't sure was a testament to the performance. Anyway, the drama of a hobbled Vader still throwing knockout shots while Wanz went after his leg was pretty cool. If you like Vader and haven't seen this match, track it down, because it's not quite like anything else he ever did.
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Totally out of curiosity and not meant as "LOL PROVE IT!" type of troll, but who are some other names you think are HoFer's that would generally be dismissed? The problem with your argument is that Sting isn't really regarded as a master of the "hillbilly performance art." His case for the Hall of Fame is built on the idea that he was a big star. And if basic data shows substantial holes in that case, shouldn't it be part of any robust discussion?
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Oh, that makes a lot more sense. They made some reference to jumping ahead in the action, but I had no idea it was that much. I wish the whole match existed on tape. I bet it was really good.
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This NOAH story strikes me as a sad one. Kobashi became a great performer in a still-thriving industry, no doubt assuming that if he traded his health for glory, the company would always take care of him. And now the world that he knew 20 years ago is just gone. I know it's an economic story that gets repeated over and over throughout history. You could probably write the same thing about an auto worker who started a job in Michigan in 1985. And I'm sure Kobashi has done better financially than most, so I don't weep for him. But there's something poignant about a guy who threw so much of himself into his craft watching his entire context slip away.
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Maybe he doesn't give a shit about social issues and just doesn't like paying taxes. Speaking of Helms supporters, it always cracks me up when Bob Caudle gets Steamboat and Youngblood confused during the Final Conflict cage match. I guess they all look the same to him. I wonder if the WWE locker room would poll much differently than the general populace on gay marriage at this point? I know, having covered the NFL and MLB, that the athletes in those sports tend to be not so progressive (though we did have a Ravens player emerge as a leading spokesman for the Maryland ballot initiative this year.)
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Steven Wright continues to be near the top of my list of guys from whom I wish there was more footage. I don't always love Finlay from this period, but his rugged, brawling performance offered a perfect contrast to Wright's mat-based athleticism. Good stuff.
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So what was the deal here? Was Steamboat semi-retired and simply taking a quick payday? In any event, these were a well-executed but very compact pair of matches. Steamboat and Borne filled their time with some intense strike exchanges, and then Ricky hurt his knee while delivering a move. Borne looked set to capitalize only for Steamboat to catch him in a quick roll-up. Steamboat, of course, sold the hell out of the knee, which carried into the tournament final against Fuller. They worked it as a doomed effort, with Steamboat showing his fighting spirit for about a minute before succumbing to Fuller's assault on his leg. Again, this was a solid, professional effort from everyone involved, but I was surprised they didn't go for something more drawn out given that it was a championship tourney and that they paid to bring in Steamboat.
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This was an interesting contrast to the Misawa-Kobashi match from March. It was more spirited and exciting than that but kind of a mess tonally. They started out wrestling a flashy cruiserweight match. Then they went to a testy brawling sequence, which was cool but quickly forgotten. Then Kobashi moved into a long sequence of working over Kawada's leg, which was well-executed but dragged. Finally, they went back to the cruiserweight stuff, with both guys attempting springboard moves to the outside (I say attempting because Kobashi blew his pretty badly) and Kawada selling the leg intermittently. I guess it's not surprising that two talented young wrestlers, given 25 minutes to work a singles match, would deliver a mess with a lot of interesting ideas swirling around in it. It certainly wasn't boring.
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The whole "come back Hulk" angle was fairly cheesy, but this video package was very well-executed. I particularly liked the maudlin, instrumental version of "Real American" playing underneath the footage. Whatever you want to say about the WWF, they were on a different level of sophistication with this kind of stuff.
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I wonder what it is about Flair's particular form of low-lifery that compels him to keep getting married. Yes, his existence would be a mess of self-destruction regardless, but at least he'd owe money to fewer people.
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Hoshinoooo! A beloved "discovery" from the '80s project makes his yearbook debut and does not disappoint. New Japan 10-mans are among my favorite things in wrestling, and this was a great one. The crowd was batshit, the hatred palpable, the action wild and unstinting. This was 2/3 falls instead of elimination but no matter. Everybody in the match got a moment to shine, from Koshinaka as the face in peril to Kurisu as a badass invading wild man. The sequence outside the ring with Kurisu fighting Choshu's whole team was particularly great as was the moment when Hoshino played king of the mountain, continually dropkicking opponents off the apron and into the guard rail. Ultimately, these matches were the perfect vehicle for Choshu, because he could wrestle in explosive bursts, which he did as well as anyone ever. He came off as about the biggest star in the world here, and there was no doubt he could regulate whenever he chose. I had a grin on my face for the duration of this, and I can't see it falling out of my top 10 for the year. I had to stop watching wrestling for the evening, because I knew anything else would be a letdown.
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Oh Leon Spinks. Oh my. This feud continued to be a highlight of the year, with Lawler seeming to begin a turn after the former heavyweight champ screwed him. But the Spinks promo was the highlight -- laugh out loud funny.
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I mean, it's Terry Funk taking bumps into a river. The match itself wasn't much, but it's still one of those great wrestling things that has to be seen.
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This blew away their January match. I know I often rag on Takada, but he turned in a really aggressive performance, to the point that the crowd treated Maeda as a sympathetic underdog. The key difference here was that every time they went to the mat, I believed someone was going for a submission and that the other guy desperately wanted to get the hell out. I loved the sequence where Maeda was rocking Takada with knees only for Takada to catch him in a heel hook. It was almost like Takada channeling Fujiwara. There were some great exchanges near the finish, with both guys eating big shots and staggering around like they were in the late rounds of a heavyweight fight. The finishing submission was nicely executed as well. This was probably their second best match behind the 11/10/88 classic. Great shit.
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Was that something you observed or something one of the guys said somewhere? I hadn't thought of the match from that perspective but now that I do, yeah, it helps explain what made it feel different.
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Another good match between these teams, though not top tier for their rivalry. This one featured a more frenetic pace than usual, without the long, well-defined face-in-peril section you expect from Morton. It was pretty much the only praiseworthy thing from an underwhelming Clash.
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I never thought I could be this bored by a match between these two, but God, it dragged on forever. Stan Hansen stalling on the outside? Vader lying on the mat and working holds? For 22 minutes? And we still got a shitty, inconclusive finish. This made me appreciate what they did in the eye match that much more.