Zenjo

This was Hase's finest match in an All Japan ring. Only this and the 2001 Mutoh encounter were keepers from his ultimately disappointing run. With only working part time his performance level fell a lot from its peak. It wasn't so much a blending of styles as Kobashi working exactly the style of bout that his opponent wanted. I feel like this should be pointed out as it may have escaped some viewers notice. A highly technical encounter with lots of chain wrestling. Quite deliberately paced. Kobashi's poor old knees took the brunt of the damage, back in the days when they still could. Seeing such an emphasis on body part work and submissions was really refreshing. Whenever they exchanged strikes it was clear that Kenta had a big edge in that department. Through 33m they always held my attention and everything came together nicely down the stretch. Both men emerged with a great deal of credit, especially KK. Giving is rewarding.

Within the first minute Watanabe had been blitzed, bloodied and pinned. Tomoko was a really good babyface and this early assault added to that appeal. LCO of course heeled it up with a hardcore element. Maekawa was also juicy. She had her limitations, but was a big match performer. The dynamic between the teams was really good and I love some of the other matches in their rivalry. This edition had it's moments but was a hot mess. Structurally it was all over the shop. Great start. Then the segunda went on far too long and went off the rails. In the 3rd as well there were far too many near falls and repeated big moves. It had entertainment value, they just needed to reign in what they were doing.

After 12 years of blood, sweat, tears and near misses the eternal bridesmaid finally wins the big one. It can't have felt as sweet with the company crumbling around her. I can't begrudge Hotta a WWWA title reign, though 3 of them was too many. There was some clipping again on the TV taping, I'm not sure how much. This did have excitement with the high probability of the title changing hands. Technically it wasn't that good however. It's not recommended supplemental viewing. Hotta was sloppy and her offence had become too shoot style oriented. It took me back to the final days of Chigusa in AJW 1989 where she was working a style that wasn't compatible with the rest of the roster. Here Yumiko just did hard kicks and submissions to weaken Kyoko's arm and leg. She legitimately couldn't ascend the ropes at one juncture because of leg damage. Hotta managed to kick out of the Niagara Driver and secured the win with a Jujigatame. Kyoko departed the scene, but would return to the title picture down the line.

Because of the clipping this felt a little disjointed at times and didn't always flow. Perhaps JIP would've been better than clip? About 18m of the draw was shown. It's surprising a comm of this show was never released. It was AJW's final ever visit to Da Budokan and it drew poorly with an announced attendance of 6,000. Like others have mentioned Toyota vs Kong was a long running rivalry. The match was over familiar and felt post-prime. It was good action however with some fantastic moves on display. The layout was solid as well. Manami was hanging on at the end as Aja walked away from Zenjo with her head held high.

My only goal for 2017 is to finish my 1990's project, which started back in 2012. It's going to finish this year no matter what. I'll decide on my top 900 matches of the decade and then close that chapter of my journey (or something like that). My goals for 2018 and 2019 are to watch nothing from the 90's. I've got 40-50 matches left from 1997 so that should get finished in early February (Tennis Grand Slams = No time for wrestling). Then I've got the whole of 1995 to sink my teeth into. Yeah I'm going to finish in the middle. Bring on the Broadways and bad gimmicks. I'll put reviews up here on PWO for every match in my top 900. I'm sure I can locate the 'Start New Topic' button if I look hard enough. I'll watch some other stuff as well and possibly start another insane project.

This. Sure wrestlers in the past were putting on performances to entertain fans. But the majority of those fans were marks who believed in wrestling. The ambience was very different with the audience invested in outcomes rather than processes. I've been alienated from the vast majority of the wrestling fanbase for 15 years. It just means you're superior to them, don't worry about it.

For my 1K post here I reviewed the 1996 MOTY. For my 2K post I've seemingly progressed 9 months. This was the biggest Lucha match of 1997, being the main event of 64th Anniversary Show. It felt like it as well with a great atmosphere. The rich backstory and history of this feud dated back over a decade. Their first famous battle was in 1987. Like people are saying this is a great match in isolation. That's what I thought the first time I saw it. But having closely followed this rivalry over all the years makes it all the more rewarding now. The extra knowledge and experience unlocking a new level of appreciation. They'd had classic matches before, including my 1991 MOTY no less. On 9/19/97 the Santo vs Casas rivalry reached its zenith. Unusually only una sola caida. A change that worked really well. It went full length, yet had no breaks to the relentless intensity. They began with matwork. Not the kind that's for show, it wasn't about looking flashy. It was hard and rough. The stiffness and ferocity kept on rising and rising until full on warfare broke out. The intensity level was off the charts. The emotion overwhelming. I was in tears the majority of the match. The drama unfolding was so breathtakingly powerful. There were no rules, no pacing, no structure anymore. They'd ceased to matter. Everything had completely broken down into a fight to the death between two men who hated each other to the core. And it was glorious! There was no blood and no mask ripping. Yet it felt savage. During the course of the bout there were several moves that were countered due to familiarity. So it was fitting that a surprise move like the Jujigatame should claim the victory. And the Rudo winning elicited an overjoyed crowd reaction. Several things were out of the box and different with the layout and structure. The storyline as well was far from your typical good vs evil wrestling narrative. The best rivalries go so much deeper into the very essences of the men involved. I didn't fully understand the aftermath. It was pretty tasty no doubt. In January I was half complaining about the MOTY for 1997 coming so early on in the year. Well I've changed my mind on that. It's touch and go, but this just shades it. The greatest Lucha match of all time.

Happy Birthday and a happy New Year to PWO. Forums will probably be as popular and relevant as Scott Keith in 10 years time, but here's to the next decade anyway. Most of the posters here will still be wrestling fans.

Hey at least his greatness got discovered in his lifetime (just). I'm sure that his final days would've been made all the brighter by reading select English language wrestling forums. Now he can be reunited with his long lost fingers in Lucha heaven (if it works like that). RIP Mocho Cota

It's the 30th Royal Rumble, so perhaps another number would be more appropriate? They tried 40 one year and decided it was too many.

This got off to a slow start as a 'special' fan fell over the barricade. It makes me laugh sometimes how much more PC my reviews become on screen than on paper. Both participants were faces, but it certainly wasn't nicey nicey. Austin wrestled like a heel. Pretty good action and it was looking like a very successful outing. Then a horrible finish strikes. US fans are never happy with draws, yet surely a DCO or double pin would've been better than that.

The Elbow of Death goes over in the first exchange, so Kawada goes about neutralising the weapon. Yeah good luck with that. Tosh just never learns as he goes head to head, blow for blow against his nemesis once more. This added little to the rivalry. The only different aspect was the volume of throwaway headbumps. Not a positive development. The structure was a long way away from your traditional beginning, middle and end format. There wasn't any escalation and hence little excitement. The headbumps were only there to pop the crowd and try to paper over how lacking this was fundamentally. I would've said low end top 100 before the miscommunication between wrestlers and referee on the final pin.

A Super Junior classic. Some nice matwork to open proceedings. Then the intensity went up a notch as Kanemoto began targeting the knee. I appreciated how the damage inflicted would go on to influence the rest of the bout. Because of the leg work there was a real urgency to Koji's submissions in the 2nd half. They mixed this nicely with big moves including a top rope reverse huracanrana headbump! One of the most awesome moves I've ever seen. There was some spikiness to the rivalry early on. This kept escalating over time before reaching a crescendo of fury at the end. Kanemoto made the big mistake of tearing off Samurai's mask, trying to humiliate as well as beat him. I loved Liger's reaction on the apron. This insult enraged Sammy and brought him back from the brink. With adrenaline and rage running through his veins he dropped KK on the side of his head, the front of his head and finally the back of his head. A trio of devastating moves provided a jaw dropping finish to a great match. Wonderful layout, superb execution, perfect pacing and master psychology. A MOTYC.

Most of the posters in these threads are fans who have some or a lot of Puro knowledge from years past. AJPW and NJPW being the most watched overall. So viewing New Japan from the Yearbooks is about rediscovery and reanalysis as well as discovering new things. Coming at things with a clean slate is going to give you a fresh and different perspective at times. That and your forthright opinions make your posts interesting to read, whether I agree with them or not. And unless a fan lived through an era or watches lots of footage from the time period there's plenty of guesswork and speculation involved. Following a certain promotion through the Yearbooks involves trying to fit the pieces together as best you can. It's not ideal, but it is the most efficient and fun way to experience 90's wrestling.

To me Strong Style fitted in with the King of Sports moniker. Most NJ matches were portrayed as a sporting contest rather than fitting into a narrative such as good vs evil. In other promotions wrestler X would keep beating wrestler Y until there was an upset and that formed a storyline. In NJ it would be more like a favourite would win say 70% or 90% of the time depending on the matchup. The aim was to make wrestling a hard hitting, athletic contest with the feel of a legitimate sporting event.

Criticising the Fujunami win is in view of the tournament as a whole rather than this one match. Hase didn't have to win the final to make it a great push for him. I just can't see a lot of benefit to pushing the Dragon anymore by this point. It's too hard to decide on which joke to insert here. This paragraph is contradictory and complete conjecture. Only a brief clip of Fujinami's R1 match and about half of his QF match were ever shown on TV or Comm. They were wins over fellow veterans Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Osamu Kido. Then he beat Mutoh in the SF. There wasn't a particular theme of accumulated back damage. It's also hard to see how Fujinami's run could be viewed as a Cinderalla story in the context of the time.

Awesome Top 500 Loss. The upper echelons of the list are obviously wall to wall classics. It's not until the mid 30's I could find successive matches I wouldn't rate as great. The depth is super strong as well. I was trying to find a run of 3 matches in a row I'd disagree with. It doesn't happen until the 190's. I'm consistently loving stuff through the top 300. When it gets into the 300's there's more variation. I'd probably add more supplemental matches when it gets into the late 400's. The by promotion breakdown that Trav posted is interesting. Over the course of the 90's I would agree about the top 6 promotions being AJPW, NJPW, WCW, WWF, AJW & CMLL. In a different order. I'm shocked at your #1. Not because it's a crazy choice, there are only a handful of matches from the decade I'd take over it. In your initial 1992 top 100 you only had it at #25. It is the greatest crowd in Pro Wrestling history. In terms of pure fun and enjoyment it may be the best match too. It's amazing how little Tamura vs Yamamoto got discussed before this project. I'd never heard of it before the 1999 Yearbook got released. When you think how much love Tamura vs Kohsaka from a year earlier got. That and the miracle of Uematsu vs Tamura (no relation) have been the Puro revelations of the 90's for me. Great matches can only stay hidden from the hunters for so long!

A pleasant surprise. Sasuke's trousers couldn't hide his knee brace from the predatory Dick. A fun control segment as Togo has plenty of charisma. With Sasuke selling the injury like death I was expecting him to instantly forget it and fly around for 5m. Whisper it quietly, his selling was good today. He came back by attacking the arm for a spell before they moved onto the stretch. A nice finishing run ensued as everything flowed logically and made sense. There are very few MPro singles matches I've enjoyed as much as this. It combined being fundamentally sound with being fun. Usually doing one would lose the other. It's ironic when I think of the Great Sasuke 'classics' I've been the low vote on through the Yearbooks. Then when I find one of his matches I like everyone else seems lukewarm about it.

Ken wasn't at all ready for this push. He had yet to become a ring general. Showing uncertainty at times and selecting the wrong moves as well. For anyone unaware he was booker Riki Choshu's pet project. JIP 11m of 17m shown. There were some hard strikes and decent moments. The atmosphere certainly wasn't one worthy of a world title bout. Sasaki adds the IWGP Title to the G1 Title and becomes the New Japan ace. On paper at least.

An epic LCO brawl lasting 33m (27m shown). From start to finish there was wild and crazy action. They fought all over the arena and had all sorts of extra-curricular activities involving the balcony, green mist and countless chair shots. The fire extinguisher was a wacky addition. Especially as it set off the fire alarm! Aja bled a bit as well. It wasn't just hardcore as they incorporated plenty of high impact wrestling moves. Energy is a key component of these type of matches, and they had plenty of it here. They had me on board most of the way. At one stage I thought it was going a bit too long, but the length came back to help it later on when the epicness factor came into play. That may or may not make sense. The finish was strong. Good choice for the set.

From the Japan Grand Prix. There was a B match vibe to it. They worked hard, though it didn't have the intensity of a feature bout. By this stage Ito had morphed into a power worker so slowing down the pace was to her advantage. Toyota was still the aerialist. It built up nicely and was heading for a good rating. The execution was fine, but the stretch and finish weren't satisfying. Toyota's poor selling didn't help. I didn't care for the booking of the tournament either. Ito should've been getting pushed hard as the JGP winner, not appearing lucky. As these threads are seemingly never going to be dated this match was on 8/9/97. The following day 8/10 was the final day of the JGP. Ito picked up a win over Watanabe to leave her top on 18pts. Toyota was on 17pts and needed a win over Shimoda to become champion. Mima sprung the upset however which left Ito as the surprise champion.

MPro brings the fast paced Lucharesu once more with fun moments along the way. This was potentially really good but had severe flaws. Oriental should've accidently eliminated himself early on by jumping over the top rope onto the floor. The ref decided to sweep the mistake under the carpet as it wasn't supposed to happen. What's more, Oriental would go on to make me pine for Gran Naniwa. No really. Far too long before the first elimination. Some unexpected booking as Kaientai win 4-0. When 1-4 down and about to get a pin Hoshikawa decides to pick up his opponent instead and punish him more. I refuse to believe anyone would be that stupid in that situation.

A consistently solid encounter. Bubbling under for the most part without hitting high gear. There was an undercard vibe to it, which is fair enough as it was the undercard. Haseman does have terrible skin. He was a reasonable worker if unspectacular. Naruse wasn't yet ready to take the lead.

Tenzan gets his reward for defeating Hash in the G1 Semi-Final. It wasn't a rewarding match for the viewer. A slow and plodding strikefest that I was hoping to finish several minutes before it did. Tenzan needed a few more years of seasoning and wasn't ready for the IWGP title scene.

The biggest match in the history of Monday Nitro to this point. Obviously. The commentators put over how hard hitting Hogan's offence is, rather at odds with the visual evidence. He just looks old and past it. The crowd reactions show that he was still viewed as the top dog however. The title is in jeopardy at the end so the NWO runs in for the standard BS finish. Hey wait a sec... Luger wins! A feelgood moment as WCW reclaims its World Title, complete with babyface locker room celebrations. I love when they do that. Lex's 3rd and final title reign begins.