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Jetlag

DVDVR 80s Project
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Everything posted by Jetlag

  1. Jetlag
    These two are such hit and miss workers. Half the time they will do generic sprint bullshit and the other half you'll get something really compelling. This was more on the compelling side because they didn't go long and took a more conservative approach & the match was laid out in an effective way. Lots of nice scrambling matwork in the opening minutes with a giant swing and a dropkick being the highspots. The match was then built around gutsy young Kuzumi trying to just blow away Fukuoka with her bombs and Fukuoka putting her back in place. Fukuoka looked convincingly ace-like by not allowing Kuzumi easy comebacks and using offense that wouldnt look out of place on a New Japan/All Japan main eventer (high kick, knee to the face, kick to the spine etc). Kuzumi was like a more limber Sabu, always going for unpredictable highspots and suplexes. Should mention that her almost blowing a springboard move, landing on her feet and hitting a snap suplex on the floor may have been a botch that actually made the match better than if she had just hit her spot. This had 2-3 minor wonky transitions but the finishing sequence was really strong with Kuzumi looking beaten and trying to win with everything she had left in the tank.
  2. Jetlag
    My god what an absolute pro wrestling classic, even better than I remember it being. First fall alone was better than a lot of single matches. Just relentless matwork with Santito wrenching the shit out of Felino. There is a difference between Santo and regular dudes working holds, your average wrestler may work snug, but Santo will add these little touches like driving his head into the other guys spine to increase pressure. Neither guy let up, starting when Felino got a cheap single leg after a ropebreak and Santo later repaying him in kind when he snuck up behind him and caught him in a Cavernaria. Santo constantly working for his finisher on the ground also adds a lot of tension. Felino is also a guy who will bust out judo throws and olympic moves in the middle of luchariffic exchanges and that is always cool. I had no problem with Felino taking the advantage using his quickness after Santo had thoroughly pushed his shit in on the mat. Then you get Felino pouncing on Santos leg. I am shocked nobody has mentioned the greatness of that legwork and selling. Felino looked like a dangerous hooker and Santo was doing everything to prevent him from zoning in on his weakspot. Then you get Santo believably working lucha exchanges and dives while limping. A damaged Santo throwing out huge desperation moves in order to try and turn the tide was pretty great and exactly how you should use spots like that. Will admit that Felino doesn't sell on the level of Santo and the match could've done going a few minutes less, but to hell with the nitpicking. Easy slam dunk lucha MOTY.
  3. Jetlag
    Surprisingly good tag action here. This was really solid and moved logically from one section to another. Nishimura & Yamazaki outskilling their opponents was a ton of fun. I don't think anyone has ever praised Yasuda, but he was perfectly good here as your big sumo guy who will stomp you. Also, reminder that Iizuka was once a perfectly capable grappler. Really liked the finish and the Dome crowd got into Yasuda big time.
  4. Jetlag
    Cool little sprint. All the Ogawa control and cutoff spots ruled. It's not mindblowing when you know Ogawa, but this was him after years of being a nobody. Now this scrawny geek is playing all the cards right and turning the tables on that pushed wonderman Akiyama. I liked this mostly because unlike Akiyamas matches against higher ranked guys earlier, Ogawa doesn't put a metric ton of punishment on his higher ranked opponent, but there is still the illusion that he might bag it if he just puts it all together.
  5. Jetlag

    RIP Masa Saito

    Jetlag replied to ...TG's topic in Pro Wrestling

    Fuck that island deathmatch, go watch his Inoki match where they remove the ring ropes, get handcuffed together and beat eachother to a bloody pulp Masa Saito was one of those dudes. One of the baddest ever.
  6. Jetlag
    About 12 of 21 minutes shown. Too bad because this looked like some of the best junior action of the year. The lucha vs. Shootstyle matwork they did was just beautiful – so smooth and Tajiri knew exactly to go into desperation mode whenever Hidaka locked in a hold. These are of course two guys with high end movesets and spectacular spots galore, but everything made sense and they never got overly cute.
  7. Jetlag
    I was surprised that this went by in a breeze. A little by the numbers AJPW epic, and Kobashi was certainly on cruise control for the opening portions, but I always enjoy watching Taue coming up with ways to damage his opponent. Kobashi powering through Taues feeble strikes early on only to get in trouble when Taue started with the clunky high kicks was cool and the apron stuff etc. was really cool. I also liked that at no point did Taue have Kobashi under full control so there wasn't any of that „guy does whatever he wants but still can't win“ stuff from earlier matches. Kobashi once again hangs on by a thread and dishes out the surprise lariats. Not as good as his previous matches but a very good match at minimum.
  8. Jetlag
    For any other two guys this would be a legendary slugfest in their careers. For these two it's the least talked about match in their rivalry. I will never tire of Tenryu and Hashimoto slugging it out. Tenryu putting him through a table only for Hash to come after him was a cool opening and the rest of this was their typical excellent match built around chops, a DDT, a powerbomb and an elbow drop. Tenryu does a Flair flop and some whacky Terry Funk style selling for good measure. Hashimoto refusing to go down was really great as always and him just teeing off on Tenryu in the corner with kicks near the end was a good way to mix up the DDT/Powerbomb throwing. I didn't have a problem with Tenryus execution as he was selling that he was wobbly half the time, altough I think it should've taken another move to put Hash down. I dig that it looked like Tenryu was gonna lose his own belt only for him to catch Hashimoto charging repeatedly.
  9. Jetlag
    Welcome and good luck with this project
  10. Jetlag
    Usuda vs. Indy junior continues to produce the goodness. This was worked exactly as it should be – Usuda being the far superior shooter who would dominate on the ground and Fujita as the gutsy flyer who'd use quickness and determination to survive. Fujita can get aggressive and Usuda is a great counterwrestler to work with that aggressiveness. The middle portion of this match where both work the mat and refuse to go for ropebreaks while coming up with counters was solid gold. Highlihts include Usuda locking in an ultra tight Chickenwing Crossface which seemed to almost pop Fujita's shoulder, a pissed off Fujita raining headbutts from mount (and receiving a receipt in kind later on), Usuda countering Fujita's finisher etc. Fujita eats some huge blows in the standup section while finding believable ways to come back. This was largely excellent, logical junior vs. Shooter action which is only brought down slightly by 2-3 blown/weak looking spots.
  11. Jetlag
    JIP 1 minute in. The opening exchanges are solid, but this really gets hot when Tenryu kicks Kojima in the face and his nose starts gushing blood. Tenryu & Koshinaka proceed punch and twist his nose to a smear and this is pretty grizzly and great. Some surprisingly clever spots ensue (I love that Fujinamis Dragon Screw is a super dangerous move), Koshinaka looks really good hitting people in the back of the head with his ass, there is also a really nice Fujinami/Tenryu showdown with Fujinami again busting out a huge kneedrop in a great moment. Kojima is not super compelling here getting punched in the nose, but he is perfectly alright as your dime store japanese heavyweight who can hit a hard lariat and Tenryu just beating him down was amusing.
  12. Jetlag
    Hiromi Yagi, we meet again!! Yagi is a hidden great wrestler and it's always great to see her get a chance to stretch out and work her magic. This was a pretty kickass fight between two girls with legit ability; JD' was pretty judo-centric (they had a judo jacket shootstyle match earlier in the show) and that was felt very strongly in this. Modern day junior workers should study matches like this, as this was fast paced, unpredictable, hard fought, exciting pro wrestling, and every move they did required minimal cooperation. There was no time killing or filler work, both ladies just went for the kill the whole time, always fighting for an armbar or chokehold. I dug the matwork and Sakai adds a lot, and when they weren't fighting like mad for the advantage there were a few neat spots. Yagi is a rare joshi worker who understands how to add meaning to sprint sections by resisting basic spots. Yagi refusing to be thrown makes Sakai following up with a dropkick a lot more logical, Yagi selling the fuck out of her arm added some sense of desperation to her comeback, Yagi going into a bridge and forcing Sakai to elbow her in the stomach is such a simple spot that makes even a simple pin attempt look important. She also knows how to make believable comebacks, as most of the time she would counter with a flash submission, until she had gained enough momentum to hit her big throw, which felt like a big moment. That is not to put down Sakai because she is a badass suplex & submission artist of her own. Textbook finish very well executed. This rocked.
  13. Jetlag
    These type of garbage brawl meets Kings Road matches haven't aged very well. The dueling chairs spot, guys getting hit in the head with trash, the wandering crowd brawling, you've just seen it too many times, and FMW seeming dry and heatless by 1998 doesn't help. Still Kanemura's performance here was enjoyable, he worked the arm like a fiend during the opening section, even going back on it with some nice Fujiwaras later on, bloodied his opponent and worked the cut good, and bumped like Misawa, taking a german suplex on his head and a nasty guilltone drop into the corner steel. Kuroda pretty much does the same spots in every damn match he's in so Kanemura getting some interesting exchanges out of him was impressive.
  14. Jetlag
    No sane person will look at this matchup and expect any oustanding wrestling exchanges. However, as a spectacle this was insanely effective and super entertaining. This mostly stays in the ring, Matsunaga is in his gi and anytime he's throwing crazy kicks it's great. But of course, this is about heatmongering and the BattlARTS dudes doing their best to come across as slimy pricks, so the biggest pop for the crowd is when the Big Japan guys finally get them outside the ring and get to bowl them into the chairs. I also liked Yamakawa as the worlds bravest white belt trying to roll with Usuda, right at the go he goes for a feeble takedown and ends up eating a bunch of stiff knees and high kicks in a moment that mirrored real life fighting. Him struggling to lock in a basic Figure 4 when he finally got the advantage was the icing on the cake. Some effective nearfalls at the end, Matsunaga bringing in a baseball bat (leading to some amusing attempted disarming), and of course Matsunaga punching a bloody Ishikawa in the face. No #1 babyface Matsunaga coming to save the day swinging weapons and fists may be almost as good as evil psycho Matsunaga.
  15. Jetlag
    Fun short match which was actually quite slow and gave everything time to breathe. Kakihara annoys Kawada some with nice stiff palm strikes and judo moves, so Kawada just kills him dead. Some of the stiffest shots he's dished out all year. Kawada doesn't even need to kick you in the head, he KO you with a basic slap. Rating: Watch if you're in a sadist mood.
  16. Jetlag
    I enjoyed this. Young Booker T with the super athletic kicks really was something. Some surprisingly fun opening exchanges before Benoit starts beating him down. It's always weird to see the smaller guy beat up the bigger, muscular dude. It's also weird to see Bookers axe kick not being a finisher. I thought Benoits control segment was merely okay. Booker sold well but didn't push back much. Dug the random finish. Fine TV match. Benoit hasn't really set my world on fire in 1998.
  17. Jetlag
    I'm not a huge fan of these "poor mans AJPW" type matches. It's all very formulaic, being long, having some body part work and a slew of big moves being thrown, but nothing they did really drew me in. Gannosuke looked good, selling his leg very well (not that the legwork wasn't pointless and boring), and I liked how he caught Hayabusa with the Gannosuke Clutch in the middle of a boring control segment to wake the fans up, I also liked how he just punched a flying Hayabusa in the face. Still this felt extremely long and they didn't have any great ideas for the big move trading.
  18. Jetlag
    The opening exchange felt a bit like something from these Ricochet/Ospreaye matches. Flips galore! But the match works because Juvi is viciously cutting off Rey the whole time. Lots of big moves, bumps and some amazing sequences. I actually didn't feel the match was crammed because they let everything breathe just enough. Agree about that legdrop not looking so dandy. As far as spectacular wrestling matches go you can never go wrong with these two.
  19. Jetlag
    I really like the Best of BattlARTS comp, however, the fact that matches like this are missing from it – and thus are being overlooked – is crazy. Believe me when I say this was crazy good, not just „eh, why not check out this match, some good matwork and stuff“, seriously probably the best tag they did that year. This matchup the previous month was more of your typical slow building BattlARTS main event with solid mat exchanges throughout and so on, this on the other hand was a fucking house of fire, and it was very different, while still sticking to the story of Honma & Fujita as trying to prove themselves in the house of BattlARTS. So right at the get go Honma starts dropping bombs on Usuda, hitting him with a diving headbutt in the middle of a mat exchange and following up with a huge dive and some crazy high kicks of his own. Usuda desperately using his superior shoot skills to regain the advantage was really great and the opening exchanges really made me believe the match could end at anytime. To follow that up, all the Ishikawa/Usuda exchanges were insanely violent, full punch-you-in-the-face-kick-you-in-the-eye barfight mode, setting the table for their singles match. Fujita was great once again, having an awesome slick mat exchange with Honma and constantly working for his signature submission hold, he also dumped him with one of the most brutal german suplexes I've ever seen, not just from a tiny dude like him. I also loved how he desperately tried to escape Ishikawa's armbreaker. Seriously this whole thing was so intense and hard fought, both the BJW boys really lost their calling as BattlARTS/quasi shootstyle guys. Really loved all the Usuda/Honma exchanges as whenever these two started trading you felt someone was about to get knocked out, and Usuda twisting up Honma on the mat near the end was just spectacular. There is one major goof where Fujita no-sells a brainbuster, but honestly the rest of this was so fucking good and just classic BattlARTS hybrid wrestling material that I can forgive it.
  20. Jetlag
    I actually enjoyed these opening exchanges a lot. Resisting and countering basic moves works a lot better for me than throwing out „surprise“ suplexes in the first minute, also really liked the bit where Kobashi sought to rip Akiyama in half with the Octopus Stretch. I think it says something about AJPW that people praise this match while saying that the promotion went off the rails with overkill in the late 90s ---- as in any other promotion this match would be considered insanely excessive. Kobashi hits 3 huge headdrops in the middle of the match – all in a row – and Akiyama's legwork has several big spots of it's own. It has the same problem as Akiyama's earlier match with Misawa – where Akiyama pretty much does as much as humanly possible to put his higher ranked opponent away, but it just doesn't happen. That being said – Akiyama's legwork was super brutal, Kobashi sold fairly well (aside from popping up after eating a suplex once or twice), Kobashi's chops and surprise lariats ruled (he was just smashing Akiyama), and everything made sense. I still thought they could've done a smarter job with the ideas they had (Akiyama putting on the Figure 4 for the second time is an example of a spot that may have worked in a different context but was just killed dead here).
  21. Jetlag
    BattlARTS vs. MUGA, baby. We all know Otsuka can be a really great grappler when he wants to, but he is often tangled up in doing all kinds of weird experimental stuff. MUGA boy Takemura is the type of guy to get a nice all-grappling shootstyle match out of him. Takemura isn't GREAT and doesn't bring a ton to the table here but he meshes really well with Otsuka a and they move nicely from smooth rolling to zit-poppingly tight holds. Takemura's unpolishedness may have added to some of the reversals towards the end feeling more uncooperative. Of course Otsuka also just ragdolls him and it's beautiful.
  22. Jetlag
    With the camera work this looks a little like something that would air on MTV. They battle in an imitation UFC cage while a ref watches from above! I dunno, this is conceptually interesting and it's cool that they did this, but I can't get into this late 90s WWF stuff much with the constant back and forth. The first couple seconds were intense but Shamrock standing up while he was pounding Owen on the ground took me a bit out of the whole thing and it just turned into a more regular, slightly clunky wrestling match. The slams into the cage etc. looked great but guys would just go on offense after absorbing this stuff. Owen has really great looking slams etc. and the spot where he tackles Shamrock into the cage after the Sharpshooter. Shamrock does some weird athletic stuff like bouncing off the cage etc. I guess they wanted him to be their version of Goldberg but it doesn't really work for me.
  23. Jetlag
    The Dungeon is a creepy place. Can you imagine what that room smells like?! This had a cool novelty flair with every punch and bump being felt more directly. It is to 1998 WWF matches what the fistfight from They Live! was to hollywood movie fights, in a way. Being WWF it all feels very pre-planned and crammed together, but the rams into the wooden wall looked genuinely brutal and the environmental usage/Dungeon is Owen's tag partner stuff was cool and well executed. Lawler awkwardly joking over what felt like very real violence compared to your average WWF match at the time worked. It's da attiduuuuude era so we gotta have a silly ref bump and finish. Who on earth buys Severn falling for that? Atleast the dumb bell shot looked sick and drew an audible reaction from the crowd.
  24. Jetlag
    3 out of these 4 guys had an absolute banger the previous month in BJW, and now swap in Yuki Ishikawa. This wasn't a state of the art inventive junior sprint like the january match, but just a really good BattlARTS formula tag. It is really cool to see Honma and Fujita adjusting into this environment, they aren't shootstylists, but they can grapple and hold their own and you can totally see them getting the hang of it, aswell as believably working moves like armdrags and huracanranas into shootstyle exchanges. These two having lengthy quasi shootstyle runs would have been awesom- ah let's not talk about it. Aside from lots of quality mat exchanges there is some nice disdain, as Ishikawa disrespects Fujita in the opening minute of the bout, so later Fujita to break up submission nearfalls would just pounce on Ishikawa like a mad dog. Fujta would get one back on Ishikawa by actually hitting him with a suicide dive. It was a cool dynamic that got paid off nicely in the second half of the match when Fujita took a sick beatdown. Honma is a guy who can drop bombs and after 15 minutes of matwork something like a piledriver or brainbuster has extra snap. Of course Honma is a guy who has no problem to get powerbombed into barbedwire so he also has no problem getting kicked in the skull by Usuda. Brutal finish. Gutsy as hell match and they worked this for like 70 people in attendance, current indy wrestlers aren't that stupid anymore, but it has made wrestling less fun.
  25. Jetlag
    See the problem with 1998 WAR is that there's so little of it. This was realy clipped, showing 8 minutes out of 13, however what was shown was some insanely violent, pissed-off scrappy pro wrestling. 1998 Ishii is just as brutal as during his more famous New Japan run, but in 98 he didn't do any overly long strike exchanges and was slightly more athletic, hitting a beautiful dropkick. Yamada always looks good giving and taking a beating, he is a deathmatch guy so he can totally do savage headbutt trading and has creativity for huge but not overly elaborate spots. He sure gives Ishii the business in this one, busting his nose with a spin kick, dropping some mad DDTs and just killing him with one of the most dastardly kneedrops ever caught on film. He was also not having Ishii's macho bullshit, shoving a chair in his neck when he tried blowing off a chairshot. Not a mindblowing match by any means, but I always get a kick out of a savage violent spectacle like this.
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