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Zenjo

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  1. Zenjo
    (30:00) when the time limit expired. There was a chilled out vibe and atmosphere to this one. Going the distance was nid. Consistently good quality action and very easy to watch. There weren't many highs and lows but the time flew by. A nice B show main event. Johnny Ace is the fucking man baby!
  2. Zenjo
    It was decent enough for the first 10m and then like most Japanese 6 mans starts to outstay its welcome. Fortunately they cut to the finish quickly and the crowd briefly exploided. I mean it basically was just a hot finish. Still good enough for a top 100 spot. Super Dolfin isn't a guy that I have a strong opinion on either way. He does what he does well enough without being a standout performer. The Delfin Clutch makes me mark out because it looks so devastating.
  3. Zenjo
    I dislike short matches in general as there isn't time for a beginning, middle and end. It depends on style but any match I consider less than 'full' length will be restricted in what rating it can achieve. The vast majority of TV matches never have a chance to achieve anything because of time constraints. Of course for bad matches, the shorter the better.
  4. Zenjo
    The 10/96 rematch was worse. Doing one broadway was plenty. I don't think I ever managed to sit through the second.
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  6. Zenjo
    There was a big match feel and plenty of intensity. It scores low for workrate and artistic merit, so it's a case of how much the psychology draws you in. There were occasional strikes followed by extended periods of glaring. I found it slow and pretentious. Hash sustained a knee injury in losing, which he would dutifully sell for the remainder of the tournament.
  7. Zenjo
    Whilst it could never hope to equal the original, this was a fine effort to honour the classic of 5 years before. They'd had bouts in '92 and '94 that hadn't delivered, so this was a welcome return to form for the rivalry. The stakes were high with a final spot going to the victor. They produced a fairly lengthy encounter that showed the Strong Style near it's best. The construction was excellent and the pacing spot on. A little excitement to start, followed by purposeful matwork with relevant body part work. Then the build up to a crescendo with a smart finish. The crowd were red hot as well. It could have gone down as a G-1 classic, except that Chono and Mutoh weren't the wrestlers of 5 years ago. They brought their best efforts here but there were some blown spots that hurt it a little.
  8. Zenjo
    GMC is definitely my favourite American announcer. I liked the ever pompous Fink as well, especially after a title change. In Mexico the louder and more dramatic the better. For Japan I'd have to look up the names but the old AJW announcer had a very stylised delivery that I liked. The NJ guy who was with the company for decades. It was always reassuring seeing him there poised with the timekeepers bell, just in case that early match working hold were to lead to an unlikely submission. The comical FMW guy cracks me up in small doses, but soon starts to grate.
  9. Zenjo
    This wasn't technically good from either man. Yet it had a great energy and some excitement. I'll mark it down as a guilty pleasure. Kojima was raw. Koshinaka was a sloppy goofball, but I couldn't help but smile at times. Needing to win the match he was rabid with intensity and the crowd were into it. Kozy was similarly fired up, in a goofy kind of way. 10m of action with plenty of near falls and urgency. The result was another example of the fine margins between victory and defeat. That's part of the essence of the G-1.
  10. Zenjo
    Such an intelligent storytelling match. Really good stuff. Yamazaki came in with two fingers taped together, and Mutoh had been around the block too many times not to take advantage of that. It wasn't just painful, it also meant he couldn't fully lock in his dangerous submissions. With those weapons neutralised Keiji also attacked the knee so he couldn't be kicked either. However he couldn't disable his opponents fighting spirit. Kazuo hung on grimly and then thought something along the lines of: 'Fuck it. I don't care how much it hurts, I've got to give everything on this submission.' And it worked. It reminded me of some of the psychology from Misawa vs Kobashi 1/97, which can't be a bad thing. Afterwards Mutoh was furious at himself for getting complacent and failing to finish off his ailing foe.
  11. Zenjo
    The majority of the time it was the feeling out and matwork section. Then all of a sudden the cameras start rolling and it's hyper turbo stretch time. There was some excitement yet not building towards it is a big limiting factor. I used to like 90's Kosh, but he was nowhere near the level of worker I once thought he was.
  12. Zenjo
    Earlier in the card Chono had gone through a 25m war whereas Choshu was coming in fresh. Because of Chono's exceptional G-1 record and better conditioning it was well set up for the final though. He beat on the veteran for a while which got the crowd going. When the counter attack came it was decisive, as Riki Lariato wins his only Climax. A highly popular decision it was too in a very well booked tournament. There were heated rivalries built up for the coming months, classic rivalries revisited, injuries being perfectly utilised for storyline purposes, as well as plenty of upsets and surprises. It was a huge commercial success too. These days not even Sumo can pack the Ryogoku Kokugikan 5 days in a row.
  13. Zenjo
    Tenzan wisely went straight for the injured knee. Hashimoto was in terrible pain but just would not quit because of his pride. Alas he couldn't fight back much and fell to another defeat. This huge upset win over the IWGP champion became logical because of the injury. Shinya was such a generous worker. The fans didn't care much about Tenzan at this stage, and he'd been buried by Choshu the previous night. Here Hash was able to carry the match with his star power and selling, putting over his opponent as much as he could. Not a great match by any means but top notch storytelling.
  14. Zenjo
    This was a really poor performance from Koshinaka. Yamazaki came in with a visibly injured hand that it took him 10m to get round to attacking. Kosh didn't adapt to his opponent or his circumstances at all. He just wanted to lazily cycle through his regular shitty moveset.
  15. Zenjo
    The Chono goat breathing is definitely weird, but it's never bothered me much. Quite a spirited G-1 opener here with both men working hard. However it was very repetitive considering it's length. Plenty of lariats and Kenka kicks. Kozy showed youthful fire and pushed Chono before Mr. G-1 trapped him after multiple STF's.
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  17. Zenjo
    What an absolute joy and pleasure this was to watch, a real treat. You didn't see matches like this in Zenjo, the style was distinctly JWP. First off it was a high quality wrestling match with everyone looking good individually and gelling collectively. That was only the base really. What made it so special was the superb psychology and acting. Cuty was a delight as she bitched it up and dished out filthy looks like they were going out of fashion. It's hard to articulate how much fun her performance was. The team with Kansai had great chemistry, they were adorable together. The Kicker/Beauty combo was a popular idea at this time. Dyno picked her spots well and looked so powerful. Both opponents facials and reactions helped put over her badass credentials even more. The high flying duo of Fukuoka & Kaoru also had great chemistry as a team of peers. The fight went back and forth with an exciting stretch. Had it been purely action then the crowd heat might have held it back. To me the psychology rendered that unimportant because I was so into what they were doing. This was probably Cuty's finest hour.
  18. Zenjo
    Like a lot of 1996 Joshi this had watchable action, fairly good execution and no edge. It never reached top gear and went on too long. Kyoko pinned Kansai for the first time following a victory over Hotta the previous week. This set her up strongly for her WWWA title challenge in December.
  19. Zenjo
    I should mention that the buildup to this was a pull-apart brawl in a swimming pool! I appreciated this even more 2nd time around. Soup for the wrestling fans soul with a more grounded heavyweight style. The match type favoured the champion as Oz needed a few shortcuts against a stronger foe. Kansai made sure it couldn't develop into an outside brawl. The duration, pacing and structure all felt just right. I was engaged throughout. Ozaki's facials and acting were simply amazing before, during and after the match. As the viewer I was living through the match with her as she unloaded everything she had to try and upset the odds. It just wasn't quite enough as Dyno's additional firepower proved the difference. After a painful defeat a tear came to Mayumi's eye, but she soon thought 'toughen up girl'. Great performance from Professor Oz.
  20. Zenjo
    What struck me is that in late '96 there were two mixed gender tag matches on the Yearbook. In JWP it's good, honest, clean family entertainment. In ECW it's the polar opposite. This was plenty of fun with a notable, yet not overbearing comedy element. The ladies all dressed up like the men with themed masks for the entrance. The JWP wrestlers also adapted to the Lucharesu style with commendable proficiency. There were a few errors but overall the standard was high. With minimal male on female violence there isn't anywhere further you can take the concept. As a one off it was a big success.
  21. Zenjo
    A famous angle as Santo does the unthinkable. It all stemmed from his hatred of Casas, who he relentlessly targeted here. It wasn't until later on that he even engaged with the other opponents. The first two falls were all Negro being triple teamed which lends itself more to storyline development than workrate. The tecnicos fight back in the 3rd and Santo's mask is ripped. One of my pet hates but it's traditional I guess. This certainly had it's moments although brawling tornado trios aren't my cup of tea.
  22. Zenjo
    A week before the super classic, and this was one hell of a dress rehearsal. Bad blood between Taue and Akiyama early on. There was never any question that the two teams didn't hate each others guts. Misawa took a couple of big outside bumps and they did a really good FIP segment. I loved that when Jun came in full of energy he landed a few shots but didn't gain an advantage. Just think about it for a minute. Yes he's the fresh man, but it was still 1 vs 2 whilst Misawa was recovering on the outside. And yes it's going to take Misawa a while to recover from an extended beatdown. It's so much more thoughtful and sophisticated than pretty much any other wrestling. Kings Road, the connoisseurs choice. They moved onto a hot finishing run where they displayed their familiarity by countering. Kawada got isolated for a spell and that led to his downfall. There were a couple of minor bits of selling from him and his partner that I particularly appreciated. Overall it was very well structured and paced. By only going 20m they left themselves a little something for the following week. It's crazy they could be holding something in reserve and still produce a top 10 match in such a great year.
  23. Zenjo
    I wouldn't describe this as a squash, but it was very one sided as the champ worked Rey over. Then it jumped onto a 50/50 stretch. Neither part of the match did much for me. The control segment wasn't all that focused with some debatable move selections. The offense later on was cutting edge, but the type of moves utilised here aren't something I find spectacular or exciting anymore. Wrestling for its era.
  24. Zenjo
    I didn't initially put a review up for this as I'd been planning a rewatch. Finally I got around to doing so and as expected I'd underrated it the first time. Given the degree of love for it here I was hoping I'd underrated it by more than I had done. I've still upgraded it to a top 30 match in one of the greatest wrestling years. I really dug the hard matwork in the primera. Excellent technique on display as two Lucha Gods showed their ingenuity and intelligence on the ground. The rivalry was so strong they were struggling to stay within the confines of the rules. Casas didn't need to cheat to get heel heat. The end of the 2nd fall and the 3rd were quality wrestling and exciting. Yet I didn't feel like both men were at the peak of their form. The move selection wasn't quite there, with some repetition. The execution wasn't always their best either. It was only minor things but they held it back for me. Still there were plenty of things to appreciate over the 30m duration.
  25. Zenjo
    They started off fairly slowly and built it up. Fine by me. Kawada was FIP for a while with his poor old knee being attacked once more. This is Japan so it was just a segment of the match rather than the crux of it. Nice stretch as they wisely kept it south of 20m. There's no need to go too crazy or outstay your welcome, just give the fans a good show and keep something in the tank. As it turned out they were holding back a battalion of tanks for later in the tour.
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