Zenjo

Like Liger will ever lose the mask. Not that he isn't a good looking guy. This didn't feel any different to their regular matches. I guess the stipulation didn't mean that much outside of Mexico. They did go full out though with some spectacular high flying. Justin won with the deadly top rope DDT. It's not a surprise he stopped using it as the move was just too dangerous. I think Benoit was legit hurt afterwards, it's very good selling if he wasn't.

31m of pure workrate. They clearly had a lot of experience facing each other having come up through the system together. Whilst continually solid it lacked the narrative to be anything more. They could've done something more interesting with the structure, or possibly shown more character and had a bit of animosity. Head down work is fine but it needs to be embellished.

Right off the bat a brutal affair with some plain nasty strikes. Hash gave some out but was mainly on the receiving end. This put over how tough he was as Vader could sure dish out the punishment. A few submissions but it was mainly standing/striking. I certainly enjoyed this one.

Yoko could actually move pre-WWF. Plenty of beef on the foreigners team, they must have re-enforced the ring. They were such a random collection of individuals and the match was fresh and unique. Vega looked impressive with his artistic kicks. Fast paced action in the opening fall. They couldn't keep up that level so it's a good idea they cut it short whilst it was still fun overall.

Bloody hell I wasn't expecting that! PWFG hasn't impressed me much on the yearbooks, I much prefer UWFI and Rings. This was an interpromotional encounter and had an incredible atmosphere. The fans were rabid from start to finish and helped the 30m just fly by. The wrestling was such high quality with technique, variety and flair. It never got repetitive or dull. No shortfall in the stiffness department either with an intense rivalry. Both men worked their asses off and made it through on adrenalin. There were times when they were struggling physically but kept on bringing it back. Afterwards the combatants realised that they'd been part of something special. One of my favourite matches of 1991 and a shoot style classic.

Never less than watchable. It was mostly low key and low intensity straight up wrestling. The closing moments were definitely the highlight as it ended on a positive note.

This was taped June 7th. Hansen was the standout performer. There was plenty of animosity between him and Tosh. The build had a variety of body part work. Hansen shoulder, Misawa knee, Spivey shoulder. His partner was ailing at the end but the lariato came through. Hot start, thrilling finish and pretty good in the middle.

Plenty of bomb throwing and high impact action. Hardly any downtime although 5m was clipped. Hot crowd and a decent contest between two closely matched rivals (kayfabe). Lacked have the narrative to go higher and didn't flow at all times. They needed more experience facing each other in singles, but this was a fine way to start.

Only airing 9:30 still sucks. What made the cut was tremendous action with a red hot crowd. Orange Crush unloaded lots of offense and looked credible against the veteran. Exciting stuff and probably would have gone higher in full. There's only so high I can rate it given what was missing.

Amazing pre-match video. Classical or dance is so much better for these than the dreaded wrestling-nu metal fusion they'd have by the end of the decade. This was 11m of fast paced, high impact action. The execution wasn't always there but it was certainly exciting. No beatdown to hot tag here baby. The ending was memorable as Koloff interfered and Sting saved Luger. Fun match.

I was expecting this to be good, but was not expecting my MOTY for 1991. For 1990 & 1992 my no. 1 match was what I expected coming in. Not so this time. In the early 90's Lucha still had a certain charm and innocence that had been lost elsewhere. You'll never see two wrestlers work a crowd any better than this. Santo was the perfect technico. Clean, sportsmanlike and honest as the day is long. But he's only a man and bah Gawd there's only so much you can take. All his actions were either morally correct or justifiable retaliation. Casas was the perfect rudo. Slimy, arrogant, sneaky, cheating, dishonest and with no sense of honour. They started out with expert technique and pureness. But Negro soon started cheating behind the referees back and it became more blatant as the match progressed. After winning the primera the Son of the Saint sportingly helped his adversary back to his corner. So post-segunda Casas decided to return the favour. It was so awesome as you just knew the cheap shot was coming. With perfect timing he kicked him in the nuts and the fans exploded with anger. There were many wonderful moments and this was the best of them all. It set up an electric tercera with great tension and real doubt over the result. 30m just flew by and was mark out mania for me. All the timings were just right, the wrestling was great and the psychology was perfection. At the finish Casas choked him out and thought he had won. But cheating did not pay, the hero prevails and justice is done. Lucha at its very best.

Full of the joys of Spring. Complete of pureness, they really gave the fans a show. A lengthy 28m encounter that never got dull thanks to the strong technical work throughout. The workrate was impressive and they mixed in highspots to create a nice flow. Plenty of well thought out arm attacks and neat little touches of psychology. Liger threatened the upset before Hase took control at the end and beat the time limit. Wholesome, and great fun too.

Vrij was being a bit of a dick and really letting the kicks fly. This is a work dude! Maeda can certainly absorb punishment and had to weather the storm before getting his opportunity on the mat. Had it's moments I guess.

Not much body fat between these two. Ka-ki looked quite raw at times but made up for it with his fighting spirit and aggression. They certainly weren't holding back much with the strikes. Tamura looked more experienced and balanced, so was always the likely winner. Not great technically but spirited and fiery.

The TOSJ Final and they went full out aiming for classic. Honaga was sportsmanlike during the early sparring, but his true colours would come to the fore as it progressed. Mask ripping tilts the hell out of me. The second anyone starts doing it my blood starts to boil! All the trimmings down the stretch. Whilst being good overall it was only a partial success given what they were aiming for. The problem was that Honaga wasn't good enough. He was only passable athletically with a soft, pudgy physique. The execution wasn't always there and he was lacking in charisma. Liger did his best to carry him but there was only so high he could take it here.

More Liger goodness as he demonstrates how adept he was at adapting to different opponents. Casas took the lead and did all sorts of funky stuff. Liger did an amazing job of keeping up with him and guessing what move was coming next. It was all very fresh and different, I certainly enjoyed it.

I found an old review of mine from a decade ago when I thought this was a MOTYC. Forgive me, for I was young. As I've said in other threads the Junior style doesn't hold up. This was a good match, simple as that. The action was impressive athletically as both were strong aerialists. Owen fitted into the division very well. Some mildly diverting but meaningless matwork. Nice finish as Liger nails him with a top rope DDT. That could be dangerous if you landed wrong.

The action was decent enough as a stand alone, but this was severely lacking in structure and psychology. There was no overriding theme to the match, and with veterans vs youngsters this should have been straightforward to do. Guys just got in the ring and worked a few minutes before tagging out. There were no beatdowns or periods of momentum. It stood out how much Sasaki was trying to be Rikki Jnr. The former tag champs gained nothing in defeat and I didn't like the booking.

What a card! Whatever order you want to rank them in I don't think AJ had a show with a superior 3rd best match to 4/18/91. JIP 5m which was probably irrelevant. Started off as a US style tag with Hansen FIP. The big Texan was bleeding and getting kicked in the head a lot which really got the fans behind him. It's pretty awesome that he was able to play this role so well when he's nearly always been on the other side. After the tag it became more puro style with an unusual type of stretch. Williams was in the ring and kept trying to finish off weak link Spivey. Gordy kept knocking Stan out of the ring but he always fought back to make the save. Then finally after 2nd ref screwiness he made it back in to hit the lariat. Got better the longer it went.

Most wrestlers would kill for a career match as good as this. It was their 5th best singles match out of 5 which is totally insane! I would rank them 1) 9/1/90 2) 6/8/90 3) 4/2/92 4) 3/9/88 5) 4/18/90 ranging from great to really good. This was a fulfilling encounter that was never less than captivating. A patient build moving onto a strong stretch and finish. Jumbo went over quite convincingly at the end. After going 1-1 in 1990 this confirmed that he was still top dog for the time being.

I enjoyed this even more than last time out. Like then Taue bled, although not as heavily this time. Kawada's knee was also a focal point. Had a lively feel to it with the feud growing ever more intense. Very well structured match with an exciting stretch. Kawada wanted to powerbomb Taue on the concrete, but it was he who took the hard bump that ended the match. Countouts didn't used to be done this well back in the 80's.

Zenjo's Top 100 Matches of 1991 100) Jushin Liger vs Akira Nogami (NJ/WCW 3/21/91) 99) Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue vs Akira Hokuto & Manami Toyota (AJW 11/15/91) 98) Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Masanobu Fuchi & Akira Taue (AJ 1/27/91) 97) El Hijo Del Santo vs Negro Casas (UWA 3/1/91) 96) Kiyoshi Tamura vs Masahito Kakihara (UWFI 5/10/91) 95) Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue vs Bison Kimura & Aja Kong (AJW 10/4/91) 94) Akira Hokuto vs Bat Yoshinaga (AJW 3/7/91) 93) Kenta Kobashi & Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue & Masanobu Fuchi (AJ 9/7/91) 92) Jushin Thunder Liger vs Norio Honaga (NJ 3/14/91) 91) Angel Azteca, Atlantis & Super Astro vs Blue Panther, Fuerza Guerrera & Pierroth Jr (CMLL 11/8/91) 90) Toshiyo Yamada vs Kyoko Inoue (AJW 8/18/91) 89) Big Van Vader vs Scott Norton (NJ 8/9/91) 88) Keiji Mutoh & Masahiro Chono vs Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki (NJ 7/4/91) 87) Bull Nakano vs Kyoko Inoue (AJW 9/7/91) 86) Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Shinya Hashimoto, Keiji Mutoh & Masahiro Chono vs Big Van Vader, Bam Bam Bigelow, Wild Samoan, Great Kokina & TNT (NJ 7/24/91) 85) Manami Toyota vs Kyoko Inoue (AJW 8/18/91) 84) Masahiro Chono vs Shinya Hashimoto (NJ 8/11/91) 83) Takako Inoue vs Debbie Malenko (AJW 11/15/91) 82) Manami Toyota vs Akira Hokuto (AJW 1/11/91) 81) Manami Toyota & Etsuko Mita vs Yumiko Hotta & Bat Yoshinaga (AJW 10/4/91) 80) Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey (AJ 11/16/91) 79) Akira Hokuto vs Aja Kong (AJW 3/17/91) 78) Emilio Charles Jr, La Fiera & Fuerza Guerrera vs Misterioso, El Hijo del Santo & Ultimo Dragon (CMLL 11/22/91)) 77) Jushin Thunder Liger vs Pegasus Kid (Mask vs Mask) (NJ 7/4/91) 76) Kyoko Inoue vs Bison Kimura (AJW 8/18/91) 75) Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi (AJ 8/18/91) 74) Harley Saito & Shinobu Kandori vs Dynamite Kansai & The Scorpion (JWP 8/4/91) 73) Sting vs Cactus Jack (Submit or Surrender) (WCW 11/22/91) 72) Arn Anderson vs Dustin Rhodes (WCW 12/16/91) (92 Yearbook) 71) Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto vs Aja Kong & Bison Kimura (AJW 12/8/91) 70) Volador vs Pirata Morgan (MTY ?/91) 69) Jushin Thunder Liger vs Norio Honaga (NJ 4/30/91) 68) Jushin Thunder Liger vs Negro Casas (NJ 4/30/91) 67) Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Steve Williams & Terry Gordy (AJ 12/6/91) 66) Neftaly vs Xochitl Hamada (WWA 7/19/91) 65) Devil Masami vs Itsuki Yamazaki (JWP 8/30/91) 64) Jumbo Tsuruta vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJ 4/6/91) 63) Rick & Scott Steiner vs Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki (NJ/WCW 3/21/91) 62) Big Van Vader vs Tatsumi Fujinami (NJ 1/7/91) 61) Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue vs Bison Kimura & Mika Takahashi (AJW 3/17/91) 60) Kazuo Yamazaki vs Billy Scott (UWFI 7/30/91) 59) Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Steve Williams & Terry Gordy (AJ 2/26/91) 58) Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase vs Shinya Hashimoto & Scott Norton (NJ 12/16/91) 57) Chavo, Mando & Eddie Guerrero vs El Satanico, MS-1 & Masakre (CMLL 8/23/91) 56) Atlantis vs Blue Panther (CMLL 8/9/91) 55) Ric Flair vs Brian Pillman (WCW 4/1/91) 54) Jushin Thunder Liger vs Owen Hart (NJ 4/28/91) 53) Steve Williams vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJ 6/1/91) 52) El Brazo, Brazo de Oro & Brazo de Plata vs MS-1, Pirata Morgan & Satanico (CMLL 11/22/91) 51) Harley Saito, Hikari Fukuoka & Itsuki Yamazaki vs Dynamite Kansai, Eagle Sawai & Reiko Hoshino (JWP 12/7/91) 50) The Scorpion vs Cuty Suzuki (JWP 10/10/91) 49) Bull Nakano vs Bison Kimura (AJW 4/21/91) 48) Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masanobu Fuchi (AJ 10/15/91) 47) Fuerza Guerrera vs Gallo Tapado (CMLL 3/1/91) 46) Akira Taue & Jumbo Tsuruta vs Kenta Kobashi & Toshiaki Kawada (AJ 9/27/91) 45) Yoji Anjoh vs Kiyoshi Tamura (UWFI 7/3/91) 44) Sting & Lex Luger vs Rick & Scott Steiner (WCW 5/19/91) 43) Bret Hart vs Mr Perfect (WWF 8/26/91) 42) The Scorpion vs Cuty Suzuki (JWP 8/30/91) 41) El Hijo del Santo & Black Shadow Jr vs Fuerza Guerrera & Octagon (WWA 12/15/91) 40) Atlantis vs Emilio Charles Jr (CMLL 3/22/91) 39) Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko vs Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes (WCW 11/19/91) 38) Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey vs Steve Williams & Terry Gordy (AJ 4/18/91) 37) Big Van Vader vs Shinya Hashimoto (NJ 7/19/91) 36) Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue (Hair vs Hair) (AJW 1/11/91) 35) Jumbo Tsuruta vs Kenta Kobashi (AJ 5/24/91) 34) Royal Rumble Match (WWF 1/19/91) 33) Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue vs Aja Kong & Bison Kimura (AJW 12/8/91) 32) Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJ 11/21/91) 31) Fuerza Guerrera vs Misterioso (CMLL 12/8/91) 30) Akira Hokuto vs Suzuka Minami (AJW 4/29/91) 29) Octagon vs Fuerza Guerrera (CMLL 2/1/91) 28) Toshiyo Yamada vs Yumiko Hotta (AJW 5/26/91) 27) Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey (AJ 6/7/91) 26) Manami Toyota vs Suzuka Minami (AJW 3/17/91) 25) Dynamite Kansai vs Harley Saito (JWP 11/2/91) 24) Jumbo Tsuruta vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJ 10/24/91) 23) Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue (AJ 1/15/91) 22) Aja Kong vs Bison Kimura (AJW 8/18/91) 21) Randy Savage vs Ultimate Warrior (WWF 3/24/91) 20) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jumbo Tsuruta (AJ 4/18/91) 19) El Satanico vs El Dandy (Hair vs Hair) (CMLL 12/6/91) 18) Masahiro Chono vs Shinya Hashimoto (NJ 8/9/91) 17) Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masanobu Fuchi (AJ 4/20/91) 16) Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue (AJ 4/18/91) 15) Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue (AJW 6/18/91) 14) Big Van Vader vs Keiji Mutoh (NJ 8/10/91) 13) Bull Nakano vs Yumiko Hotta (Cage Match) (AJW 1/23/91) 12) Sting, Brian Pillman, Rick & Scott Steiner vs Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Larry Zbyszko & Sid Vicious (War Games) (WCW 2/24/91) 11) Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga vs Akira Hokuto & Sakie Hasegawa (AJW 5/26/91) 10) Jushin Thunder Liger vs Hiroshi Hase (NJ 5/6/91) 9) Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs Manami Toyota & Esther Moreno (AJW 4/29/91) 8) La Fiera vs Jerry Estrada (Chain Match) (MTY ?/91) 7) El Hijo del Santo vs Brazo de Oro (UWA 1/13/91) 6) Manami Toyota vs Aja Kong (AJW 5/26/91) 5) Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (AJ 11/29/91) 4) Akira Hokuto vs Bull Nakano (AJW 1/4/91) 3) Naoki Sano vs Minoru Suzuki (PWFG 7/26/91) 2) Masahiro Chono vs Keiji Mutoh (NJ 8/11/91) 1) El Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas (WWA 5/17/91)

Having now finished the set I was going to echo what Loss has said here. I got through the yearbook quicker than any others so far. The matches that slow me down are actually the classics or really long ones. I have to be in the right frame of mind to be concentrated and appreciate them fully. Good matches on the other hand are easy to watch in volume. Having previously watched 1990 & 1992 it's unsurprising that I'd rank 1991 between the two of them. It's nice to fill in all the gaps and complete the early 90's. As usual anything in blue is not on the set. I've done a top 85 rather than 100 as I didn't want to fill it with marginal stuff I wasn't that fond of. It's been the first year when my no. 1 wasn't what I expected going in.

This was more like a game from American Gladiators than a cage match. It was pretty much non-stop climbing. And instead of blood they have male nudity.

You're not the only one. It's not often I find myself wishing to hear the voice of Tony Schiavone. I might have to try this with the sound off.