Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

Zenjo

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2204

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Zenjo

  1. Zenjo
    The build here was decent without being standout. Steamboat controlled the mat early on with a series of side headlocks. Austin then took control with the help of a little rule breaking along the way. The stretch got hot in a hurry with some exciting near falls before the retarded finish hurt it bad. Totally unnecessary and the kind of thing that drives me nuts. Just like that you've fallen 20-30 spots on global MOTY lists and for what? The point of a #1 contenders match is to push someone and losing by a flash pinfall to Steamboat does nothing to hurt Austin's status.
  2. Zenjo
    In spite of the numerous close-ups of Javier's nose, this was such a beautiful (and great) match. There were no dives and few frills as this was all about matwork, glorious matwork. Three longish falls all packed to the brim with ground based combat. The moves were applied with grace and artistry, though it was the brutality that stood out. Everything was cranked in and applied hard with a maximum of effort. I loved how body part work from one fall carried over into the next. Llanes had the most offence, but Dandy was the younger man with more stamina. This evened things out with the result in the balance. It was gut check time for Llanes, who gave a performance incomparable to any other that I've seen from him. In Dandy he had one of the greats at the top of his game. The tecnico had huge fan support throughout. CMLL would never be able to do a match anything like this anymore for several reasons. So many golden moments in the tercera. Dandy wanting to counter a Sunset Flip, but he couldn't use a closed fist in a title bout. A lengthy and exciting battle over a figure-four hold. Close calls with submissions and mark out 2.9ers. Rangel was awesome on one near fall where it looked like Llanes had stolen it. The double pin was a poor finish and my only criticism. Yet who could argue that both men didn't deserve to have their hands raised in victory? A supreme technical masterpiece.
  3. Zenjo
    The first two caidas both featured a period of matwork that transitioned organically onto high impact moves to finish the falls. They were doing the right moves, although there were issues with the work. They didn't have the chemistry together and were having to think their way through rather than flowing. It felt like a generational gap between the two. Traditional title bouts like this would sadly disappear from AAA in the none too distant future. The tercera upped the ante with some excellent dives and 19 count spots. A few near falls before the heel ref HSF. The finish was really bad and as flat as a pancake, yet I appreciated a lot of what had gone before.
  4. Zenjo
    Dude I have colour coded versions of yours and Loss' top 100 lists on a Word file. Check back sometime in May or June for this year. 1993 was the second Yearbook I started watching and the 6th I'm going to finish, so I got a bit distracted along the way.
  5. Zenjo
    This is a particularly special match for me due to the impact it made on initial viewing, in what was a pivotal phase of my life. To go further into that wouldn't be relevant to the topic. I'll just say that great wrestling can be truly inspiring. I loved the format, with the micro primera being such a shock before effectively two full length matches. Feathers frequently flying from Toyota's outfit was a bizarre aside. Superb quality work with some jaw dropping mark-out moments. The best of all was a segment where Kansai was kicking the shit out of Yamada. She came firing right back in a pulsating moment. Their interactions were truly special during this trilogy. I would agree with Pete that the off the charts Kansai vs Yamada battles were what helped made the Dreamrush bout so legendary. That could never be replicated, but this was pretty amazing as well. It was also a magnificent showing from Ozaki, making all the right decisions. On the other hand there were a few errors of judgement from Toyota. Despite her flaws she had such a powerful ring presence and a remarkable gift for being able to electrify an audience. She did this insane Quebrada from the inside of the ring onto the floor. Such a sick spot. You take the great, along with the bad. This could've been closer to the original in quality had the 2nd and 3rd falls been switched. The 2nd was 15m of Joshi Puroresu at its finest. The 3rd was still strong, yet couldn't equal what had gone before. The finish was an absolute killer though. Perfect booking too with a feel good moment for the underdog promotion. It's pretty crazy that a match of this calibre wouldn't make my top 5 for a year, but such is 1993. Great memories, classic match.
  6. Zenjo
    The start of an incredible month for Hokuto. Right away Saito's damaged ribs were attacked, which showed great continuity with previous JGP matches. Akira utilised plenty of variety and innovation in her plan of attack. Harley kept trying to fight back but her comebacks kept being cut off. That was before the bad knees started to play up. I don't think it was necessarily planned to unfold this way, and they had to call an audible halfway through. You can tell that the knee injury was legit as Harley was avoiding going for them like the plague. This hurt it from a kayfabe perspective. The latter stages became a test of spirit as both were wounded warriors. The selling was convincing from both parties and the outcome in the balance. In the end the Dangerous Queen was able to scrape through to continue her incredibly valiant campaign. Victory through guts.
  7. Zenjo
    Unfortunately Moolah's girls used to be a staple of 70's AJW and the start of the 80's. They'd just cycle through a very limited array of low grade heel offence. 90% of the match would be the Japanese girl bumping and trying to make something watchable out of the awful style. There were some good gaijins like Monster Ripper and the Glamour Girls, but the majority were inexperienced and poorly trained. Mainly you'd just be hoping for native vs native matches whilst watching footage from the era (hardly anything pre 1978 is available).
  8. Zenjo
    Like Survivor Series 95. You're going to have to watch the Black Scorpion as penance.
  9. Zenjo
    My best explanation for the booking was that Yamada was in the midst of a losing streak storyline at the time. She'd been depushed in AJW during 1996, losing to wrestlers she always used to beat. As the company ace, Chigusa therefore felt it necessary to notch up a crushing win over an opponent who was damaged goods by this point. The following year Yamada would move to GAEA permanently and benefit from the lighter schedule during the remaining years of her career. It was definitely a major coup with Hokuto moving to GAEA. They now had a second major star to headline their shows so it didn't have to be Chigusa main eventing all the time.
  10. Zenjo
    WTF? How on earth does a wrestler die after receiving a light standing dropkick? Watching it back it didn't even look like Perro got hit in the head. The impact of the boots seems to be on his shoulder and upper arm. It must surely have been a pre-existing brain injury that was waiting to go off like a time bomb. Will have to wait for the autopsy results. It was said Misawa died after a 6/10 head bump in terms of severity. That was a 1/10 bump right there and absolutely zero blamed should be attributed to Rey.
  11. Zenjo
    I couldn't make do with just one perfect fantasy promotion. Switching through 3 or 4 different styles each card would be too weird. For sure there would be 1980's fans. Seeing as this is meant to be stuff that actually happened, then my favourite year by any promotion would be AJW 1993. You had a super talented roster, most of whom were in their prime. Long matches as standard with many shows available in complete form. Everyone had so many opportunities to produce strong matches, and the output was phenomenal. Having the interpromotional shows gave the fans completely fresh dream matches featuring every great great female wrestler from the era. It could never last for long, but was close to perfection whilst it did.
  12. Zenjo
    I think that the viewers appreciation of the match style in comparison to the promotions usual style is also a factor in this. People have mentioned the Hammer, so something like Valentine vs Garvin 1/21/90 was nothing like the usual WWF style from the era. Yet I'd consider it a superior style, so it's all good. On the other hand woe betide any outsider who came into 90's AJ and worked light, even if the fans enjoyed it.
  13. Zenjo
    I told you that in 2013.
  14. Zenjo
    A quite reasonable sprint, although it was nothing standout. Probably looks better on highlights than in full. Sasaki was quite a bland power wrestler at this stage with little charisma. He'd get a lot better in the 00's. Wrestling a grand total of 21:29 to win the G1 was a complete joke. The whole event was the shortest in history and felt like a one night tournament watching the comm. This brevity meant that from a match quality, and indeed overall perspective it was the worst G1 of the 90's. Tenzan had been the main story of the event and seemed to connect more with the fans. But Ken'skay was Choshu's boy, and this tournament was Choshu-ism at its worst.
  15. Zenjo
    This was solid enough, but I remembered it as being better than this. The early stages featured some hard hitting. Hash was in control before being distracted by Chono's presence at ringside. Tenzan took advantage and seemed to be heading towards the kill. Then in a bizarre moment he gets his boot stuck in the rope. This mishap cut off the momentum at a key juncture. Tenzan still went on to win after his 4th diving headbutt in a finish I wasn't crazy about. When a wrestler tries a finishing move several times and it doesn't work then it's so much better when they try something else and it gets the win. Afterwards the fans chanted his name.
  16. Zenjo
    The storyline and build up are legendary. The start was breathtaking, as before you know it Hokuto had sucker punched her foe. Fast forward a minute and Akira herself is writhing in agony with an injured shoulder. She put over Kandori's submissions like death. It lasted over 30m whilst feeling like it could end at any time. It's incredible how they managed to maintain the intensity and the tension over such a long period. Early on they arena brawled including the table piledriver leaving its mark. Hokuto did a monster blade job. A great visual with her blonde hair and it's always been a rarity in women's wrestling to see blood. After the early stages they mainly kept inside the squared circle. Kandori never looked quite as accomplished a pro wrestler as she did this night. Akira gave arguably the GOAT performance. Both survived so much punishment. This was war and neither fighter would succumb. Eventually all that they had left was wild haymakers. Both connected, and it was the Dangerous Queen who found the strength of will to crawl across the ring. A perfect ending to an absolute epic. Exhilarating viewing from start to finish. Forget about *****, this is 100/100. Whether it finishes the 90's as my overall #1 remains to be seen. It's certainly top of my all time list for Joshi.
  17. Zenjo
    This show was my first ever experience of Joshi Puroresu, so holds many fond memories. I can remember buying the tape and having absolutely no idea of what to expect. You don't get that sense of diving into the completely unknown anymore. Although I'd happily swap that feeling for Youtube any day of the week. I'd agree with Flik that this is only the 4th best match of the show. That doesn't sound like a compliment unless you watch it in full. Even the 7th best match is good. I can never stop myself from counting giant swing rotations. For the most part decent, but not standout action. The pure workrate needed a bit of spicing up with bitchiness and a rivalry. The stretch got hot with one spectacular Kyoko vs Oz exchange. It left me wanting to see the singles. Takako got a big win over Ozaki, albeit following a double team move.
  18. Zenjo
    A strong final could've salvaged what had been a below par tournament. Instead it was representative of a terrible final day at Sumo Hall. Just an uninspiring bout with yet more legwork and neither man impressing. There was a bit of excitement at the end with the surprise winner. Quite simply both men did not deserve to be there. As they wanted to push a new star then Tenzan, Nagata or even Kojima would've been better options than Nakanishi at this point in time.
  19. Zenjo
    This would be their 4th and final G1 meeting as it was Hash's final tournament. There was some nice rivalry psychology throughout. A slow burner for sure, quite lengthy with solid work. Not always the most dynamic. In the second half Hash had his bad knee worked over. The best moment came when his leg buckled during an attempted brainbuster. Chono's leg work was unimaginative. There was no doubting who the far superior worker was at this point in time. I preferred the other two G1 matches on the set although this was pretty good as well. Even after getting the eventual submission Chono kept trying to damage the leg in post match badd blood.
  20. Zenjo
    Mutoh's knees were shot by this point, but in Nagata he had an opponent who could bring out the best in him. Excellent performance by the rising young star. Plenty of matwork with the champion being outmanoeuvred by the underdog. As it progressed Yuji focused more on the bad wheels and Keiji was clinging on. He had to draw on all of his experience to escape with a fortunate victory. Good stuff.
  21. Zenjo
    This was the strongest match from the '99 G1. Both men brought lots of intensity and emotion from the start, shouting at each other to bring it on. It was very well structured with clear shifts in momentum. An emphasis on strikes helped play to Tenzan's strengths, and obviously his opponent wasn't too shabby in that department either. At one point Hash received a vicious chop block. Although he'd won the opening day match, the leg injury would trouble him throughout the rest of the tournament. It's always wonderful to see how injuries play out from day to day in the G1. All too often the events of one day don't have as much of a bearing on future events as they should. Although he'd lost Tenzan was put over here, and he went on to have a decent campaign.
  22. Zenjo
    This was worked semi shoot style, although I don't recall any ref bumps in UWFI. NJ had just about the worst refs in Puro btw. Plenty of stiff strikes and submissions, with both fighters bringing the intensity. They'd given themselves a strong base but the finish was weak. It felt like half a match. They'd deliver on the promise in next years Climax.
  23. Zenjo
    This had been set up perfectly by Tenryu inflicting a very rare defeat on Inoki. Hash was fighting for the honour of New Japan with a rabid crowd firmly in his corner. It was bubbling under for the first 9m before it exploided in spectacular style for the final 6m. They were stiffing the shit out of each other with ferocious strikes. Excitement abound as the combatants fought with so much pride and intensity. As usual with Tenryu there were some execution issues. It also needed longer at the peak level to reach MOTYC levels. Overall this was an excellent match and an even better occasion. The fans were literally jumping for joy at the end.
  24. Zenjo
    Champion vs Champion. This was a nicely worked contest with Hash giving a lot to Liger and rewarding the fans. Liger was short yet well built, so looked credible where other juniors wouldn't have done. The build was a slow burner with Jushin's arm and Shinya's knee having a hard time of it. Strong selling from both men. Initially it might have seemed a bit too minimalist, yet the contrast when they stepped it up made it worth the while. Liger hit some big moves and lasted a long while, yet he couldn't survive the heavyweights top offence.
  25. Zenjo
    The build here was cerebral, with a quiet intensity. Yamada's offence featured plenty of strikes and submissions zoning in on the injured arm. She had the best of it early on, with Akira selling the damage as expertly as usual. The Dangerous Queen had plenty of her own firepower to fight back with. The battle progressed nicely with consistently good work throughout. They didn't need to go full out with thrills and spills. There was an easy quality to everything, with two greats at the peak of their powers. Bad blood afterwards. Hokuto just casually steps on her opponents head on the way back to the locker room like it was nothing!
×
×
  • Create New...