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
    This feud was pretty much Santo vs Broom. Metal was so average in ability, but was crucially good enough to be carried by the great tecnico. Compared with the May match there was less matwork and more flying. It wasn't like Metal was captivating on the mat so I enjoyed both about the same. Some fun action here and the crowd were really behind Santo. The tercera went to a double pin, but was thankfully restarted for the feelgood ending. The restart didn't help or hurt the match really, making it kind of pointless. Overall I was entertained and cheering for Santo like a mark in the audience. He's my hero too!
  2. Zenjo
    If a match of this quality happened this decade it would be winning MOTY awards. As it was 20 years ago it's barely talked about, so surrounded as it was by greatness. Tokyo in the summer of '93 was wrestling heaven. It was strange having this one day after the G1 Final, so that this was the biggest match of the tour rather than the tournament. In later years the G1 would become the centrepiece of the NJ calendar, but it wasn't yet established to that degree in 1993. Comparing this to their June encounter is like comparing NJ to WAR. It was very much a traditional big match, with a cautious start slowly building up to a crescendo. There was no need to rush into anything as the fans were right with them from the start. It had interpromotional heat and a strong rivalry that they had built up. Both men brought their A game and executed the match they had set out to do. It satisfied all of my expectations. The only criticism is that AJ had raised the bar so high for heavyweight wrestling that NJ couldn't match it's top end.
  3. Zenjo
    JIP 17m in of a rare 45m draw. It was one of those matches that could definitely inspire both love and hatred. I enjoyed it quite a bit in spite of its flaws. Parts of it were really good. Devil was plenty of fun with her facial expressions and touches of psychology. There was one time when she was caught in a sleeper and was scratching herself to stay conscious. Ozaki heeled it up and Fukuoka held up her end. Kaoru was the weakest from an execution standpoint but really got the crowd behind her. Whenever the opponents tried a double team move she would fly in with a counter. There were loads of complicated move sequences. Herein lies the problem with going so long. They sometimes looked a bit lost and were having to think their way through the stuff they had planned. This meant it lost the flow at times. It would've definitely been better going 30m instead.
  4. Zenjo
    Probably a top 10 match from the promotion for me. They had a fantastic Carny bout a few months earlier and this took it up several levels. The start immediately engaged as Orange Crush dominated the opening stages. After weathering the early storm Hansen came up with a great counter and the momentum reversed in a hurry. Quite a straightforward build that was so effectively done. There was such a natural chemistry between the combatants who were both perfect in their roles. Kobashi unloaded absolutely everything he had in search of the win. All his top end offence, any cradle he could think of. Damn I was marking out hard. Yet Stan kept on kicking out and refused to stay down. Amazingly this ended up putting both men over for their superhuman efforts. And then the final lariat in the corner was ridiculously awesome. A perfect finish to an all time classic.
  5. Zenjo
    A unique and touching tribute to the departed Plum Mariko. It reflected how deep the bond was between the girls. I always got the impression that JWP was the most close knit group of wrestlers you'd find anywhere.
  6. Zenjo
    This had a big match feel and I appreciated the traditional start. After 5m business started to pick up. Unfortunately they had a bunch of lariato's in the middle rather than at the end where they should have been. Low power to medium power to high power is what I want to see in my Strong Style. It still ended up as a decent marquee match but could've been much better had it been constructed more to my liking.
  7. Zenjo
    I wouldn't compare this to AAA Minis because that was midget wrestling and this isn't. In CMLL it seems to be a weight category rather than being based on height. Anyway this was great fun with high quality action all the way. They were clearly experienced opponents who worked smoothly together. Impressive on the mat and even better in the air. There were some spectacular exchanges as both men impressed me equally. It's great how they were given the showcase to go full out and have their best possible match. After winning Guerrero did an Ohtani celebration. I agree that it was an excellent match but there wasn't a strong enough emotional involvement to take it to the top echelon. It needed more heelishness or some other added psychology. Maybe some more 2.9ers at the end too.
  8. Zenjo
    The crowd were unsurprisingly a bit burnt out after the Lord Mayor's show. The build was very restrained and patient. I was waiting for it to burst into life. It developed into decent enough finish where Misawa unloaded a devastating salvo of suplay and came through with conviction. He had paced himself like a long distance runner. Not their best bout of the year but even their lesser matches were still good stuff.
  9. Zenjo
    A nice little match, very Juniorish in style. They made no concessions to the popcorn munchers, who seemed to enjoy it anyway as it's good wrestling. Nicely constructed, with leg work during the build and highspots later on. They went back and forth before a well worked clean finish. It was great that they were allowed full length on a TV match so they could have a proper B, M & E for once. Both guys impressed me. I'm not always a fan of Malenko but here he was focused with a quiet intensity, which made him look like a no nonsense badass.
  10. Zenjo
    Yagi's retirement match. Don't worry, this is wrestling. They packed a lot into the time frame. Indeed it was too frenetic and spotty in the middle stages. It was more aerially oriented than the January encounter which put over the Champion more than the challenger this time. Execution was generally strong and it got better with near falls at the end. Not as impressive as last time out but good overall.
  11. Zenjo
    This had a really fresh feel and was an exciting title match. I love to see two young wrestlers levelling up. A nice mixture of matwork and high flying. There wasn't a wasted moment and they went full out. Hyuga's inexperience could be seen at times. Yagi was super talented. She did a couple of mid-move adjustments here that took my breath away.
  12. Zenjo
    What the hell was that?! I've seen somewhere between 50-100 Toshie Uematsu matches and there's been nothing within light years of the performance she produced here. Sure there were strong performances in her early years but she was the #5 GAEA girl. It was definitely her there in body. In spirit it was like the ghost of peak Hokuto had possessed her for one night. I thought I'd seen all the truly great Joshi matches on tape. Thanks to Flik for his Yearbook recommendations as this match had never been pimped as far as I was aware. I'm waiting for the 98 & 99 sets to come out before going back and adding to my 96-99 GAEA collection with stuff from your top 20 lists. This is my new favourite match from the promotion. The wrestling quality was amazing. Great construction, everything flowed, the pacing was spot on. Body part work was an integral component. They kept going back to Uematsu's injured leg with neat psychology circles. It was put together like they were two seasoned vets when they were in fact 3rd year pro's. Over 20m they went full out with twists, turns and some thrilling 2.9ers. There were times when Tamura showed minor signs of inexperience. As a performance it was ahead of her years and at the level of her future peak. Whilst her effort was exceptional it was also believable. Uematsu was off the charts. Such immense pride was shown at representing her promotion, it wasn't so much about the title. It made what was a fairly minor match feel like the centre of the Universe. Her selling was incredible, screaming in pain and even getting angry at her own body for giving out on her. It felt like any of the submissions might end it, and then they survived no end of potential finishers. For a second I started to wonder if they should've ended it after 15m as it was outstanding already. Yet they went on and it kept getting even better. The most freakish great match I've ever seen.
  13. Zenjo

    DISC 1

    Zenjo replied to soup23's topic in 1980s Lucha

    You have a wife who not only watches wrestling with you but enhances the viewing experience. Dude you hit the jackpot there. The occasional mystified comment and borderline toleration of your viewing are the best most guys can hope for.
  14. Zenjo
    Your conversion from Joshi hater into Joshi sceptic into mild Joshi fan into eventual crazed Joshi fanatic seems to be well on track Pete.
  15. Zenjo
    I wouldn't choose to watch either of them wrestle. RVD reminds me of the Dude from the Big Lebowski so I'll go with him.
  16. Zenjo
    Okay you've just scored ***** on the obscurity scale here.
  17. Zenjo
    This segment perfectly represented what the NWO stood for. Nash is a guy I can't stand usually, but he was absolute gold in this. Hell I'll say it was the most entertaining thing he ever did. The prosthetics were hilarious, not least because Nash and Arn were actually the same age. There were some awesome lines, the "Days of Our Lives" one made me laugh most. I watched the retirement promo right before this and the parody was almost spot on recreating the promo. Syxx was great back up too with his Flair. I wish Mongo was as quiet as Konnan. Bagwell was fine but should've come out with 20 pieces of gum in his mouth and spewed them throughout the performance.
  18. Zenjo
    Great promo from AA to announce his wrestling days are over. It's so fitting that he uses this moment to help put over another wrestler as well. It was good that Arn got to announce his retirement to the world. Most American wrestlers have either left the mainstream promotions or have nothing made of it when they decide to call it a day.
  19. Zenjo
    I thought this was surprisingly fun for a cross promotional exercise. The chefs were good as wimpy guys trying to be heels.
  20. Zenjo
    I'm fairly sure that MAD USA was the original idea behind the Madusa name.
  21. Zenjo
    This was really fun with Mankind having his Superfly moment. That series of interviews was such a great idea as they got him over like never before. Then the foot tapping for the Dude Love transformation ruled too.
  22. Zenjo
    If we were to do an all time wrestlers dancing competition Alex Wright would have to rank up there. It might be slightly worrying how long the list would be.
  23. Zenjo
    It's just painful when the announcers are going on about Sting's betrayal when it's so obvious to the audience that it's a fake.
  24. Zenjo
    The magic of live TV. No match for Booker's promo but this is pretty good.
  25. Zenjo
    This is great. Someone apart from me going on about what a awful referee Earl Hebner is.
×
×
  • Create New...