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Zenjo

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Everything posted by Zenjo

  1. Zenjo
    You'd have never guessed these two were tag partners if you hadn't known. They launched straight into battle and never took a backwards step. Terrific workrate throughout. It never felt like a draw was on the cards. One of the things I love about Taue is that he wouldn't take the worst of it in an exchange because of ego. Because of their pride Kawada, Kobashi and Akiyama would keep exchanging strikes even in situations when their opponent had the upper hand. Taue was all business, he wrestled to win. This was an impressive level throughout and got better the longer it progressed. They battled back and forth until Taue landed the ring apron nodawa. Kawada was in trouble and went into defensive survival mode. He was rolling away and Akira was chasing after him, trying to catch his prey. A high end finish that helps make this a top 10 match for 1995. The result was an upset yet didn't feel like one. It simply felt right and just. The duration, the layout, the final move. All spot on. Taue was on fire and peaking.
  2. Zenjo
    The rivalry between Chigusa and Ozaki was hot. Both have such strong personalities in different forms. Here they were leading their students into battle. The action was relentless throughout as you'd expect in an 8 man. I got thinking how this would've been a mess with just the 6 kids out there. Add in a veteran to each side and there's a huge difference. They provide the structure and the layout, keeping everything under control. Hirota was just starting out so got her ass kicked. Aside from an abrupt finish this was good stuff.
  3. Zenjo
    Hamada looked tiny when in the ring with the roided up Benoit. A watchable match and nothing more. The crowd was dead and it didn't feel consequential in any way.
  4. Zenjo
    During the opening exchange Misawa suffers the injury from an innocuous looking kick. He was initially stunned, but the tough as nails warrior put that to one side and fought on without complaint. He sure didn't ask Kawada to go easy on him or limit the physicality of what was to come. There were a couple of moments when his timing was a little off. But by the end I'd forgotten about the injury. Instead I was remembering last time out. Having watched all the post 95 Yearbooks it's great to go back to a time when this rivalry was hot. Once they got motoring it turned into a hell of a battle. Both dishing out the punishment and going full steam ahead. It wasn't paced like a draw in the middle stages. Then during the final 10m the smart booking of the previous Carny matches bore fruit. They'd had decisive finishes so why not here? Add in a red hot crowd, this was excellent.
  5. Zenjo
    The whole women's division hair extension thing is a hangover from the Diva era. In terms of the in ring abilities of the roster the situation has improved a great deal. The opportunities to have good matches have increased massively of late. The days of Torrie Wilson and Kelly Kelly are hopefully long gone. Back in the John Laurinitis catalogue model days wrestlers were often selected on looks rather than in ring abilities. Now in ring abilities come before good looks. But does this mean that looking pretty doesn't matter anymore? Far from it. All the women are made to look as attractive as possible. Being plastered in makeup every week. And in WWE world female beauty also necessitates having long, straight hair. And because everyone has the same hair it makes sense to have different colour dyes and hair extensions. That way you can colour code the wrestlers. Traditionally that would be done with ring attire, but outfits change more frequently now. Of course you want some of the girls to appeal to the demographic, but to put everyone into the same mould is counterproductive. Take Nia Jax for example. Here's someone who's supposed to be a monster heel. She's supposed to look intimidating. Instead they try and make her look as pretty as possible. Just imagine if Bull Nakano had taken the same approach. No face paint, no scary hair. She'd have just looked like everyone else, except a bit bigger. Compare it to women's MMA. It's not become popular by having hot girls play fighting. Lots of the fighters look like the most badass bitch from a women's prison. They don't make themselves look glamorous before a fight. They put their hair in cornrows because it makes them look tough. It's a combat sport. Wrestling is a combat sport. They should at least make some of the competitors look like warriors about to enter battle.
  6. Zenjo
    There was a sense of anticipation for a title change here. Toyota would go on to complete her journey and reach the top of the mountain in a historic moment. Right away Kong gained control and would not easily relinquish it. She dominated proceedings and the first half was a sustained beatdown. Toyota continued to survive and made it a more even second half. This was a terrific performance by Aja. She led the match and also turned some of Toyota's sloppy execution into something positive mid-move. It takes such quick and clear thinking to be able to pull that off. Manami wasn't near her best so this fell well short of other instalments in the rivalry. Yet I'd still call this a success. They got the crowd cheering for the babyface, told the story and delivered a satisfying conclusion to a major show.
  7. Zenjo
    One of the most brutal matches ever seen in an AJW ring. They were both bleeding from the mouth after the first minute. They proceeded to beat the tar out of each other for the whole duration. They wore gloves and delivered plenty of punches to the head as well as hard kicks. 0 out of 10 dentists recommend this. For the most part it was shoot style strikes and submissions. Hotta found out the hard way the advantage conferred to the attacker when there are no rope breaks. Early on it sure wasn't pretty, but was captivating in its brutality. Later they began adding a few pro moves and down count spots. This really added to the drama and got the crowd involved. After a real war it was Hotta that just came through the fire. She had to take quite a beating, at times screaming out in pain. A memorable battle and a testament to the toughness of both ladies.
  8. Zenjo
    A really fun instalment in this famous rivalry. The two brothers brought plenty of intensity to the table. The pacing was tight with continuous action. Unusually for TV they went full length with a decisive finish. There wasn't any weapons usage or blood and in my opinion there didn't have to be. That's because it was wild and out of control in its context. Both men broke the rules and employed a rougher style. It was cool seeing them work a different type of match without changing who they were.
  9. Zenjo
    This is just the type of bout I want to see in the Carny group stages. Not a balls to the wall Triple Crown epic. But a focused, purposeful, high quality encounter. Physical and high workrate from the off. It was nice to have the crowd on board throughout. It was evenly fought with plenty of stiff strikes and power moves. A precursor to their classics of the late 90's. Of course the man in green and white pulled away eventually. The final move was cool as Misawa busted out a rare suplay. Great to see all these conclusive finishes. It's pretty crazy to think how many better singles matches they had than this actually, because it was really good stuff.
  10. Zenjo
    A really intriguing match going in. I felt like three potential outcomes were about equally likely at this point in time. A Taue win, a Kobashi win or a time limit draw. It was worked as an even battle of peers for a time as they went back and forth. Kobashi certainly looked the more stylish on offence. Yet Taue was every bit as effective in a rougher edged way. The pivotal moment came when Akira delivered a devastating chokeslam to the floor. From then on Kobashi was in deep trouble and fighting defensively to survive. After 25m he could hold on no longer. Though it never threatened higher levels this was a consistently good bout with an effective storyline.
  11. Zenjo
    The Blizzard-o Yuki gimmick drained most of Hasegawa's charisma. Masked wrestlers learn how to entirely express themselves with body language as they can't use facial expressions. It's an acquired skill. This was the final match of a long and rather dull one night tournament. There was also a half hour kickboxing snooze-athon that had killed the crowd. The fans did wake up again for the main event, but the wrestlers got the structure wrong. The opening half was Toyota doing her 3rd FIP segment of the evening. The second half started off with finishers and then seemed to be moving further away from an ending rather than progressing towards it. I would criticize the booking rather than the workers. Their brains must have been fried and their bodies exhausted after 3 full length matches. Kyoko finally ends the tournament with a Niagara Driver on Yuki.
  12. Zenjo
    A Street Fight that quite literally lived up to its billing at one point. The fighting began during the entrances and they had me on board all the way. The high intensity was maintained and they had a strong rivalry to build off. The hardcore environment proved to be a great leveller as Ozaki could go toe to toe with the more powerful Kansai. A chain was frequently used along with other plunder, including the dismantled ring ropes. Dyno bled profusely. All over the ring and floor. There was one sick moment when Oz sucked up some of her opponents blood and spat it at the ref! She bladed herself but nowhere near as heavily. Only high impact moves were utilised along with the brawling offence. That's a sound approach for hardcore matches. I'd have preferred a more conclusive ending than Ozaki winning with a flash pin. Aside from that this had all the right ingredients. Excellent.
  13. Zenjo
    Was there only one Exploding Anal Bomb Death Match, or have I been missing out on all the fun?
  14. Zenjo
    Jun gets the jump start and enjoys some early success. Thereafter it plays out just how I anticipated. Akiyama working from underneath, Kawada laying the smack down. The youngster took his licks (and kicks) before fighting back and showing toukon, before succumbing. There was a minor surprise when it ended with a submission. There was a certain status level in AJ where wrestlers would never submit. Akiyama hadn't quite reached it yet. Rock solid all around.
  15. Zenjo
    Watching this unfold it was obvious that Pegasus was the dominant champion and Kanemoto the underdog challenger. Apart from that wasn't the case. So the story didn't fit. I wasn't impressed by Koji. He lacked experience in terms of move selection and sold poorly. He also represented one of the worst types of champion figure. Someone who isn't ready for the role, but he's being pushed anyway so there you go. So I have to give a lot of credit to Benoit for getting a good match out of him. This is carrying at its most obvious. I'd be receptive to him being called the best Junior Heavyweight in the world at the time.
  16. Zenjo
    High intensity and plenty of rivalry psychology to kick things off. With Ace, Williams and Kobashi in the same ring you had a 10 on the goofy machismo scale. The opening exchanges between Doc and Misawa were fun. They seemed to be building up a singles rematch. The second 10m section was underwhelming as the natives were worked over. The crowd were muted until the 20m announcement when the stretch kicked off. And it really did kick off. Terrific action and excitement as the challengers land some boss offence. It turned into a semi-epic. Near the end Williams had his knee damaged and was desperately trying to save his junior partner. The psychology and storytelling were strong, and the American duo looked as good as they ever would. It's a shame Doc's prime ended here. This had many of the elements to be an AJ classic. But there were flaws too. The build being a bit lacking, odd execution mistakes, peaking 5m before the end. Still up there with anything so far this year.
  17. Zenjo
    Taped on January 25th. This had plenty going for it in the early stages. The crowd was hot. There was a strong rivalry between Bret and both opponents. A nice face shine. Then the beatdown starts. It was long and hard and hey look it's Earl Hebner. Pas pour moi. I suppose it was one of the better WWF tags of the decade. The bar could be stepped over. Interestingly in the TV taping recap it said that Bret was DQ'd in the aftermath for refusing to release the Sharpshooter. The result was overturned. They obviously changed their minds on that, perhaps deciding that it made Bret come across as too heelish.
  18. Zenjo
    The storyline had Fuerza Guerrera taking on two tecnicos who both wanted to take his mask. Fortunately for him he didn't have to take them both on at the same time. There were a series of singles bouts beforehand to determine whose masks would be at risk in a 2 out of 3 falls decider. Fuerza had his mask ripped but defeated Ramirez comfortably. He then got busted open against Octagon yet still pulled out a surprise back to back win. He looked like such a badass coming through the fire like that. Strong performance. Alas the final bout wasn't so hot. They should've just done una sola caida as the first two falls were over in seconds. The fans were displeased about the inevitability of a tecnico losing his mask. Still I dig the psychology of the situation. Going in the two of them must've been confident of ganging up on Guerrera and taking him down. Instead the nightmare scenario had unfolded. Still ya gotta do wha'cha gotta do and the children of the world were saved.
  19. Zenjo
    "Failure is not an option. Failure is a result." Madusa Mad USA wasn't necessarily out of her mind and screaming gibberish during the pre-match interview. This could be a deep philosophical insight. This was a clearly defined heels vs faces contest that you wouldn't see much in AJW over the next few years. Non-stop action with weapon usage. Unusually it was best 2 out of 3 falls. The impressive Bison and Toyota exchanged the first two pinfalls. In the 3rd Takahashi got isolated against Aja and I called the ending right away. I've watched too much wrestling. They did a sound job keeping Madusa out of the ring. Or perhaps it was the All Star Clipping Crew? The camerawork was a bit dizzying. Aside from that a really fun trios with Kong ruling in particular.
  20. Zenjo
    Going only 15m was a smart decision as it was action all the way. The workrate was very high and the intensity relentless. Stanley was the star performer. Jumbo also brought it and the junior partners carried their weight. The Japanese duo followed the strategy of neutralising Stan and pinning Dan. The level was consistently good without ever quite having the quality to move onto higher tiers.
  21. Zenjo
    An enjoyable contest that kept me interested throughout. It was keenly competitive and could've swung either way. The first half featured skilled matwork from both men. Then it switched to striking. This clearly favoured Funaki who was younger and stronger. The vet knew every trick in the book however and worked in his cheapshots. Actually Fujiwara could've written a whole new volume to the Great Book of Cheapshots. In the end youth prevailed as Funaki picked up a big win.
  22. Zenjo
    A rematch from earlier in the month with El Supremo taking on Los Solars. This time he was joined in battle by the son of the gladiator. Gladiador was decent, but I preferred Bala as he was so different to his partner. Both units fought straight up in this lengthy encounter. Like last time it was old school in its approach with a technical focus and clean breaks. There was plenty for the Lucha matwork aficionado to savour. At times it was a little dry though. Once more a miscommunicado caused the final decision.
  23. Zenjo
    I've seen every episode of Star Trek ever made at least once, some many times. And the TOS/TNG movies. But I refuse to sit through the recent movies and find them offensive. Well I did start to watch one and thought it was complete shit. I'll give the new series a chance. It might be okay. Perhaps they'll inhabit an area of space where all the crew members gender and sexual orientation are in a state of continual flux from week to week?
  24. Zenjo
    This wasn't a title bout, but was fought in that manner. The Rudos used a slightly rougher technical style and did some heelish mannerisms. Not outright cheating, it was more subtle than that. Lots of fine matwork followed by fluid uptempo moves. Supremo generally stuck to the ground attacks with Bala featuring more on the running sequences. They fought a hard, full length bout. Great to see the sweat on everyone's backs. My favourite part was in the Tercera when they were fighting over an arm submission. Normally that would be Primera work, but the battle was so competitive that it more than substituted for high flying thrills and spills.
  25. Zenjo
    I'm just glad Paige didn't do something really filthy and sleazy, like posing nude for Playboy.
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