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Zenjo

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Everything posted by Zenjo

  1. Zenjo
    Chops are legal. Punches are illegal. You don't have to use your imagination with a chop. For every Lawler there's dozens of guys who throw shitty punches.
  2. Zenjo
    It would have to be Kobashi. In the latter years of his career when his athleticism had greatly diminished he still had entertaining bouts that basically revolved around chops. Fast, slow, spinning, hard, harder, different swings. He turned the chop into an art form. My favourite chop battles were in the Flair vs Steamboat series. They added a stiffness and intensity to what were already technically excellent wrestling matches.
  3. Zenjo
    Sure you often get one team tanking, towards the end of the season especially. And I'm always suspicious about the amount of times a team builds up a big lead, lets their opponent draw level before pulling away at the end. But that Kobe game was pure Hollywood. You couldn't have scripted it any better.
  4. Zenjo
    The key difference is the audiences they're performing to. Wrestling fans used to go to shows and allow the performers to entertain them. Sure they let their feelings be known, but they didn't think they could do their job better than them. In 00's ROH and 10's WWE the fans tell the sports entertainers and bookers what they want them to do and give feedback. In 90's AJ any 'self-conscious epic' aspect was the aim to top what they had done before. It wasn't done with snowflake accumulation in mind.
  5. Zenjo
    Hokuto was planning to retire before later changing her mind. A rarity in wrestling I know. Her knees were in such awful shape that she worked a grand total of 3 shows in 1994. They were the 3 biggest AJW events of the year as well. It was miraculous that in the first two she managed to produce a MOTYC each time. Lightening didn't strike thrice at this show. All three of her matches were ropey with her performances well below par (opponents as well). The other four U*Top bouts on the Yearbook were pretty awesome mind you. Kong had amazing stamina for a competitor of her size but there were limits. I thought this was a total snoozefest. Hokuto eventually won after delivering a 5th NLB. Almost everyone in the tournament had the credibility of their finishers damaged. Emotional scenes in the aftermath. Akira winning the tournament was basically a way of saying 'thank you' for all that she had done, and to go out on top if this was indeed the end. Thankfully her injuries healed to an extent, and the Dangerous Queen was far from done.
  6. Zenjo
    This was undoubtedly the highlight of Big Egg from outside of the U*Top tournament. Plenty of heat for the Kandori vs Yamada exchanges. It was all about those two facing in a first time dream match. A singles would've been far preferable, but it was still plenty of fun. Watanabe showed a few nice moves. To describe Futagami as an irrelevance would not be unfair. Some of the execution wasn't so hot. They should've had Kandori in the tournament as LLPW's biggest star.
  7. Zenjo
    If you wanted to do some pruning to this show you'd best call in a lumberjack. There were six matches on the show that weren't women's pro wrestling for starters. LCO being carried out to the ring was certainly the highlight. The match itself was a poor effort as the teams didn't combine at all well. Plus Dome acoustics FTW.
  8. Zenjo
    Solid enough fare, yet hardly the best semi-final for a major card at Sumo Hall. The underdog duo impressed more than the two former WWWA champs. Kansai was slowing down as the years began to take their toll. An upset here would've been a nice surprise.
  9. Zenjo
    A bizarre, brutal and infamous match. It was all over the shop. Went 10m but felt way longer due to the intensity. Fuchi is a sadistic torturer with his favourite subject at hand. Poor Kikuchi has his brains scrambled by 10 brutal backdrops. It was quite hard watching him getting beaten up so badly, even though it's always fun seeing him take a hammering. The urban legend is that he was never the same after this night. The guy was definitely a can short of a 6 pack. My advice to any young wrestler is that it's better to give than to receive. Those with little offence usually have to take a pounding to have good matches.
  10. Zenjo
    All the way through there was a great atmosphere. It felt like a huge event. The heel ref Chocolaté was an integral component, and actually delivered a great performance himself. Furious and intense from the get-go with a strong rivalry. In the primera Aguayo was very harshly DQ'd for a low blow that wasn't quite that low. In the 2nd Dos Mil quite blatantly used a pair of brass knucks. He may have lost the fall, but Perro was now bleeding a gusher. The tercera was absolutely electric. Half of Mascara's mask had turned from blanco to tinto. Some killer near falls and knife edge submissions. Lucha at its most dramatica. Throughout the contest Ano 2000 had been cheating and this escalated to hitting Perro whilst the ref was distracted. The grizzled vet was so enraged that he deliberately low blowed the rudo scoundrel. He put his head in his hands: 'What have I done?!' Half a second later he realised the ref had been admonishing Universo 2000 on the outside and hadn't seen it! An ingenious finish and the acting was absolutely perfect. It was a morality play with the cheat getting exactly what he deserved. The awesomeness wasn't even done there as Chocolaté got roughed up and had his shirt torn by the furious rudos. He couldn't fight back physically, so he went and theatrically raised Perro's hand. Effectively saying a massive 'fuck you'. At one point during the match my face started hurting because I'd probably been smiling for 10m straight! MA2K played his role in proceedings to a tee and wrestled several levels above himself. It was Aguayo's incredible charisma and likeability that helped make this a classic. AAA rating.
  11. Zenjo
    A high quality match that benefitted from a sound structural base. Simple and effective. Some lovely technical work in the primera, with the style handing Lizmark the advantage. The villainous Estrada fought back by roughhousing and bending the rules to breaking point. I appreciated how they gave the title match format a certain rudo twist whilst still maintaining its sanctity. There was a brief lull in the middle stages. They then went back and forth in an exciting stretch that wasn't overdone. They got the balance just right and told a good story. I loved Lizzie's jump for joy after winning an exciting contest. Jerry was a talented worker when not stoned, radiating sleaze. Lizmark was the pure and noble tecnico. I don't know if he was still Doña Vicky's favourite boy, but he did show lovely form on his dives and was scientifically rock solid. Both men were as good as I've seen them.
  12. Zenjo

    Matches of the month

    Zenjo replied to Loss's topic in 1991

    You can definitely finish the 90's Yearbooks at some point during the 20's Vinnie! But hey, the past isn't going anywhere. I've watched/rewatched over 7.5 years in my 90's project and the only two matches I'd describe as perfection came in 93 and 96. I think 91 was an excellent year for wrestling, but 92 is one of the greatest years in history. The best is yet to come.
  13. Zenjo
    A little gem from a professional hand-held. I had no idea it existed before last year. Yumi is looking as QD as ever. Some mighty fine matwork and chain wrestling as you'd come to expect from this rivalry. They were the two best proponents of the early Arsion style. The structure wasn't quite all there. With the technical quality I felt like they should've been heading for a higher rating. It looked like Fukawa was going to get a push by going to a 15m draw. Instead she claimed a submission victory for one of the finest wins of her career.
  14. Zenjo
    This was taped 4/14/99. Given my feelings about Gami I wasn't filled with optimism going in. She was an obscure LLPW undercard wrestler in the years before Arsion, and became an extremely annoying semi-comedy worker in the 00's. If you've never witnessed her hitting someone with a paper cone, count yourself lucky. This turned out to be a really good match that wasn't just a Yoshida carry job either. Futagami held her end up in what was a career highlight. During the build it was looking good but no more. The crowd wouldn't have popped for a beheading. Then it transformed during a couple of lengthy submissions, where the end looked nigh. Both women fought through the pain barrier and the tension kept escalating. As did the quality until a couple of silly no sells near the end. It snuck up on me and became a fine title bout. Yoshida was outstanding.
  15. Zenjo
    I was surprised by how evenly they worked this given the status disparity. Ozaki was smaller than most of the 80's girls and Hiromi was advanced beyond her years. It was mainly technical with some nice submission work from both. A couple of forays to the floor were out of place and disruptive. I liked the pure wrestling just fine. Yagi pushed her hard before Oz came through after 20m. Her generosity was rewarded because she had an opponent deserving of it.
  16. Zenjo
    They'd had an ideal build up with the 9/6 trios. Three weeks down the line was the payoff, and nobody could feel short changed. It would've been a tragedy if Charles' awesome hair hadn't been saved. It was Mima Shimoda '93 type of volume. The primera was over in 30 seconds. The pacing had to be tight, yet they found enough time to fit everything in. Both men bled and there were plenty of near falls. King was as good as I've seen him here. Aside from a couple of ill advised move choices he was working well above his midcard level. Emilio was hugely fun with his larger than life character.
  17. Zenjo
    Interpromotional hotness throughout in a rabid Korakuen Hall. Exciting from the get-go and it never let up. You had Yamazaki and Tenryu building up a singles feud. They were ably supported by their partners in the secondary role. All four men brought it. Tenryu was a truly incredible wrestler, the way he was able to have heated feuds with such a wide variety of opponents. He spent the 90's facing every major or minor heavyweight star across Japan. And he beat them all.
  18. Zenjo
    The main takeout for me was also that Misawa couldn't adapt as well as Kawada to the unique challenge of facing Allbright. They still did quite a nice job of mixing the two styles in this Triple Crown contest. It all revolved around the suplexes, which were incredibly over and generated a real sense of danger. Misawa cut out some of his flashier moves and concentrated on hard strikes. Had it's moments and there was some excitement. Ultimately they needed more ring time together. It's a shame there wasn't a rematch as I'd have liked to see where they would've gone.
  19. Zenjo
    This was all about building an ongoing storyline and rivalry. Akiyama's ascent to the main event was a key theme in 1996 Zen Nihon. The exchanges he had with Kawada were the highlight in this one. The way the status gap appeared here it's incredible the youngster would beat him so soon afterwards. A couple of lulls, but a satisfying Budokan Hall semi-final that achieved its objective.
  20. Zenjo
    I love Volk Han. The very first move that the Russian did had me marking out. He's such an original thinker, his brain is wired differently to other men. With his skills he just needs someone to hang with in order to produce a good match. Nagai was up to the task, and helped provide some quality matwork and reversals.
  21. Zenjo
    One of the greatest title reigns in the history of wrestling comes to an end. It was also the greatest moment of Steve Williams career. I really appreciated the restrained pacing as they moved slowly through the gears. There was never a point where the work wasn't captivating. Williams had come such a long way with his knowledge of match construction and timing. Regularly being in the ring with great opposition had taught him how to fully utilise all his strengths. I liked how he forgoed the usual no selling spots. Attempting to psych out Misawa was a total waste of time. They battled back and forth until crunch time. The previous month Kawada had thrown absolutely everything at the champion, and it still wasn't enough. At the end here Williams was unloading his full arsenal, and it was enough. The Dangerous Backdrop was the key weapon that ended the battle. Misawa never had the chance to hit his top end offence so the result was totally believable. Joyous celebrations from Doc afterwards with past and present teammates Gordy and Ace.
  22. Zenjo
    An interesting one to analyse because there were such wild fluctuations in the quality level. To start it was very reminiscent of a strong opening fall in a Lucha trios. Matchup dynamics being established and fast paced, high quality action. The heels were bumping around and the faces shining bright. Then it was like stepping off a cliff. Some abysmal wrestling with Sting against both opponents. All three were on totally different pages. The match lost all sense of structure and cohesion. Some order was thankfully re-established with a FIP segment. They desperately needed to head to the finish after that. The second beatdown phase was turgid. The eventual finish was a mess, whilst having a great spot the other side of the ring. An average match where so little was average.
  23. Zenjo
    Whilst watching this match I asked myself a question; and it's a question I feel every serious wrestling fan should ask themselves at least once in their lifetime: Q. Is Johnny Ace the greatest wrestler of all time? After an unduly long period of contemplation I decided that no, he is not. The blonde bomber did hold his end up very well in this one however. With Ace, Doc and Kobashi in the same ring there was a risk that the goofy machismo would be overdone. It was confined to the early stages as it happens. Terrific workrate, going the best part of half an hour with no downtime. The Americans had more of the offence, although it certainly wasn't one sided. Consistent quality through the build, with the excitement naturally rising for the stretch. It went on a few minutes too long. Never threatened higher levels. Very good overall. Everyone contributed and I look forward to the rematch.
  24. Zenjo
    Misterio had some awesome outfits over the years, and this one has to be near the top of the list. The opening fall was certainly the best as they worked hard for once. I say that as a criticism of the house style rather than the workers of AAA at the time. The Santo vs Panther and Rey vs Psicosis exchanges both impressed. One on the mat, the other in the air. The second fall was rudo beatdown as well as the first half of the tercera. A few nice dives to finish and the wicked Frankensteiner finisher. One of the better trios this year.
  25. Zenjo
    There's a whole load of backstory here. After her first retirement Jaguar was one of the trainers at AJW, passing on her great wisdom to all the star names that you'll see in the golden era. She was teaming up for the first time with former student Shimoda, having previously only been on opposing sides. On the other team were two more of Jaguar's disciples. Cooga (Miori Kamiya) had retired from AJW in 92 before returning to competition with the launch of Jd' 11 months before this. She was a familiar foe to Shimoda in her first career, yet they hadn't fought in years. Finally 'The Goddess' Chikako Shiratori was a 4th Zenjo Trueborn. Since her 1991 debut she had been Shimoda's second and clearly idolised her. It was cute the way she'd try and copy her mannerisms and demeanour. She'd never made it in AJW but had improved a lot since showing up in Jd'. Earlier this summer she'd teamed up with Mima in interpromotional tag competition. So what made this most fun were the interpersonal dynamics and the way Cooga and Shiratori were fighting to prove themselves. The opposition represented the #1 company in women's wrestling, a place where neither of them had really made it. So there was an inferiority complex they were fighting to overcome. The match was all I hoped it would be. Quality action with Shiratori working far above her usual level and the three veterans all on form. Shimoda showed typically sadistic delight in punishing her former ring girl. For once the crowd brawling segment wasn't for the hell of it. The underdogs were getting their asses kicked in the ring so they mixed things up by making it more of a fight. They put up strong resistance and displayed growth in a highly satisfying main event.
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