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Zenjo

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Everything posted by Zenjo

  1. Zenjo
    I guess they were doing these matches at most house shows so they established a smooth formula. It was all blood and thunder for the first 10m. By 20m it had really worn out it's welcome. Ideally it would have been sub 15m but at least it didn't go on for an eternity like later matches of this type. This was solid overall but the 6 man tag format is ultimately very limiting on what you can do compared with tags and singles. There has to keep being high workrate and highlights all the time because it's inherently a meaningless match underneath and there's the constant battle to disguise that. 6 mans have their place as set up or just holding matches. It's a lot easier for the boys halfway through a long tour if they aren't having to have 15m of in ring time every night. But 6 mans as great matches? Absolutely not in my eyes. Over time I've come to realise that the best matches are the big matches. The ones with titles on the line, a blowoff to a big feud, matches that mean something. I don't mean they have to be the main event, they can be midcard matches if it's an important match for the wrestlers involved. The overated ones are the build up or random matches, and that's what 6 mans nearly always are. They're not special and don't mean anything beyond the night. The AJ tag from 5/90 was an exception to this but that's very rare. Even at it's best it can't compare to the quality and satisfaction that a strong AJ singles match brings. Six mans are a good way to mask deficiencies. Wrestlers can just tag in, do a few moves and tag out. I can't tell you the amount of wrestlers who have been entertaining in protected tag environments and then looked desparately lacking in the singles arena where there's no place to hide anymore. But the format also prevents strong workers from fully displaying all their skills, and that's what you need for the great matches.
  2. Zenjo
    USWA Texas isn't my type of promotion at all but against expectations I ended up enjoying this feud. The women really added a lot to it. Jeanie was a devious minx and the best promo of all of them at the time. Initially I didn't find Toni attractive until I got a better look at her deformed plastic titties. What a slutty crackwhore! Onto the match which was very silly but ridiculously fun. Easily the best of the feud. Austin running head first into the post and knocking his helmet off was so awesome.
  3. Zenjo
    Not in the same ball park as the 80's 10 man classics. Just looking at the line ups beforehand there's a huge imbalance of talent. None of the heel team are anyone I want to see in singles matches. Still the format does a great job of protecting wrestlers weaknesses as they don't have to be in the ring for long at a time. This meant that only Hiro Saito sucked ass in this one. What an awful worker he was throughout his wretched 3 decades in New Japan. A big beneficiary of the old Japanese jobs for life culture. Fortunately on the other side you had superstar Rikki Lariato, it would've just been a midcard match without him. And then there's 10 man specialist Kantaro Hoshino. What a spunky little scrapper he was. Plus a strong face/heel dynamic and a hot crowd. Some inevitably ropey moments but goodness also.
  4. Zenjo
    They could've done anything and it would have been okay as long as they put the strap on Sting. The title change felt inevitable. Ideally they'd have gone longer with some real legwork but then it might have ended up like Kobashi's aborted comeback in Feb 2002. Sting wasn't ready for a long match yet. He also did way too much no selling. The ending wasn't done right either. I want to see the new champion go over with conviction, not with a lame inside cradle. Despite the problems I still got some enjoyment as a Sting fan. A new era had begun, or had it?
  5. Zenjo
    A match to put a smile on my face. Sure I think it's way overated but it's still plenty of fun. It had added JR commentary laughs with him calling every single kick variation a "Savate Kick". Eric Bischoff hated on him for this once and he was so right. There was plenty of face shining including the cool little Karate segment. The FIP segment wasn't too onerous and we even had a stretch for once. The finish wasn't so hot as the final kick didn't connect very well. There was also the inappropriate usage of the Alabama Jam mid way through the match. But that's nitpicking because this kills 99% of US tag wrestling.
  6. Zenjo
    A bit of a hidden gem here. The Survivor Series had nothing on these girls. This wan't the Tarantula that was around in the early 80's. Frenetic action like you'd expect and I was surprised how high the quality level was. Moreno really impressed ahead of her stellar 1991. The fans didn't really know Toyota but she stood out as team leader. The funny thing was that heel Aja was hugely popular and got chants every time she did a move! The booking was well catered to that as Kong came back from 1 vs 3 to prevail. It had just about enough time although eliminations were very rapid at the end.
  7. Zenjo
    I am such a Sagrada match. Not only does the lil' guy look adorable, he's a spectacular athlete as well. He's too small to lift opponants but works around physical limitations with lightening movement, reflexes and smart move selection. Oh and Espectrito. An amazing worker with the ring presence of a man 3 times his size. Piratita is another strong rudo and Solitaria kept up his end of the bargain. They kept it short and I'm longing for more.
  8. Zenjo
    Sharp, hard hitting action from the get-go. Both men were at the top of their game, and the audience were most appreciative. Well paced, with a nice variety of holds and strikes from two masters of the style. Towards the end Takada was looking younger and stronger, he had clearly overtaken Maeda. The veteran was able to use his experience to sneak the fortunate win. Given the flow and feel of the match the other result would have been more fitting.
  9. Zenjo
    When I first watched this it was with no context, just a match out of time. Now I've seen what came before and what happened after I can truly appreciate what a special night this was in the history of Puroresu. Not only was this a classic match, it's also a great one. Misawa was already super over as the hot new star and looked totally credible as a main eventer. What followed was expert storytelling and wrestling from two masters of the Kings Road. Excellent start and a good middle. My thoughts echo previous posters that this was the part of the match that could use a little improvement. The closing stretch was top notch and near the end when Jumbo gets caught in the ropes is one of the most thrilling moments ever. The fans lapped it up as Kawada and Kobashi lifted the "New Hero" on their shoulders. And Misawa even cracked a smile for one of the very few times in his career. This was exactly what AJ needed with a new superstar to replace Tenryu. With this changing of the guard moment the golden era of the 90's had begun.
  10. Zenjo
    I love seeing Dandy as an out and out heel. He's best suited to being a rudo. Satanico can also be relied on to make me mark out with his mannerisms. Good stuff here with nicely flowing action. Azteca also performed well. I loved how they made the tags mean something, but didn't have to get bogged down in FIP segments to accomplish this. How I wish more wrestlers knew how to work the tag format this well. There were frequent shifts in momentum as it progressed. Atlantis took it downhill with a couple of errors only to bring it back with a sharp finish and redeem himself.
  11. Zenjo
    I think the finish was really flat and that might leave people with a more negative view of it than it deserves. Overall I thought it was quite a solid Dome match and hey it's still Hansen and Vader beating the crap out of each other for 20m.
  12. Zenjo
    Real top of the range 6 man tag. And when it comes to 6 mans I am very hard to please. It's amazing how Misawa went from being an underachieving midcarder into a main event star overnight. The 1st half was all about setting up him vs Jumbo, which they did a superb job of. They even had to be pulled apart by teamates. They then went on and had a really good match afterwards. Kobashi was an astonishing rookie and had the underdog role down. Taue was also on top of his game. Kabuki was lame but you can't have everything I guess.
  13. Zenjo
    Another Muskateer test for the legend. An intense battle with some hard hits. Both were going at it full steam ahead. This time Hash was the one surviving punishment before quickly coming back for the upset win. They could've done the finish better and it wasn't conclusive, but breakthrough results like this were establishing Shinya as a main event star. I thought it shaded the Mutoh match from earlier in the week.
  14. Zenjo
    Decent contest that peaked down the stretch. Young Mutoh brought explosivity, but at times was sloppy and chose the wrong move. Choshu survived all his opponants offence before putting him away. It was a stern test. This had the feel of an important match.
  15. Zenjo
    Okay match, nothing to remember. Grizzled Vet was a better worker than Father of Ayako. Plus he wore fluffy boots and looked manly doing it. I love that guy.
  16. Zenjo
    Drinking games. Both of Doom sure were powerhouses. Hacksaw had terrible dexterity with it. The 1st half was strong as the Steiners dominated proceedings. At this stage it looked like it was going much higher than it eventually ended up. It cooled off big time during the "hot" tag period and then the almost equally traditional microstretch. It did have a clean heel win, a rarity.
  17. Zenjo
    Quality level was between the 2nd and 1st trios matches of the month of May. Generally good action again with some sweet mat exchanges. Went downhill a bit in the tercera. Cruz was again a weak link. Some moves he did were well executed, others certainly not.
  18. Zenjo
    This is more like it. Strong primera with hot CMLL action. They couldn't keep up the same standard thereafter but it was a good 6 man. Cruz struck me as the weak link of these 6. I'm not sure if that was just here or generally yet.
  19. Zenjo
    The workrate was reasonably good but the action was uninspiring and the execution was iffy. Just cruised along in low gear.
  20. Zenjo
    The shackles of the dreaded mask were finally cast off and Misawa is born. OK so I knew that was going to happen but holy crap this was a horrible match. Yatsu was unbelievably bad. Someone here described him as falling off a cliff with his ringwork, it was so sudden and dramatic. And was Fuyuki pregnant? Wow did he gain weight quick. I'd be willing to bet that he had an eating disorder. He went from being a hot young talent to a fat bum in record time. SWS was a blessing in disguise where they could offload the dead wood. 1989 AJ was so incredible yet it didn't carry over immediately into the next decade. The Tenryu vs Tsuruta feud had run it's course and the only high points of the first 5 months of the year were interpromotional matches that proved to be one offs. But with the accursed mask in the dustbin and the green tights in the the production line they could begin the new era in June.
  21. Zenjo
    The match was ruined by horrible booking before it even started. There was nowhere they could go after the prematch. I look forward to seeing Tenryu back in All Japan 10 years down the line when they needed him again.
  22. Zenjo
    Quite the show here. I dug both main event matches. This one saw a fine array of techniques utilised and also had some superb selling, particularly from Fujiwara. The way he fell after the final KO shot was a thing of beauty. I can see why people love this guy and I'm a fan too. Yet he always has these strange moments during matches where he does wierd stuff. Everything is going along great and I'm loving the match but then he'll do something slightly odd and disconcerting. It's hard to put into words, but there's always something holding me back from total enjoyment. Joyous celebrations from Yamazaki after the upset. It's always great when they look genuinely happy after a big win.
  23. Zenjo
    Had a nice underdog dynamic. At times Takada was schooling the young upstart, but soon found he was being given all that he could handle. Anjo showed plenty of fire and was also willing to fight dirty to get the job done. There were some brutal shots exchanged and exciting moments. It even looked like the upset was on at one point. It could easily have gone higher without a few quiet holds whilst they had hot momentum. Takada comes across to me as such a cerebral wrestler, always looking like he's thinking and strategising.
  24. Zenjo
    What's come over Hogan this month? Working his ass off and having good matches. Like most guys his size he was physically quite limited, but was a decent wrestler when he so desired. The Hulkster went toe to toe with the badass Texan and even busted him early. The favour would be returned. It was no classic but more than good enough to make an impact. Great to see a clean finish instead of the expected shennanigans.
  25. Zenjo
    It had the feel and atmosphere of a great occasion as two superheroes collided. Going north of 20m wasn't ideal as they both had poor cardio. It was turgid at times during the rest hold segments. The ref bump, and indeed Hebner himself were horrible as usual. Yet it was always intriguing and quite well layed out as a 50/50 face vs face battle. The Warrior just edged it at the end. About as good a match as they could have realistically hoped for given their limitations. At the time it must have seemed like a changing of the guard moment. It was actually just the Warrior's high point.
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