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Jetlag

DVDVR 80s Project
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Everything posted by Jetlag

  1. Jetlag
    Well, you've had a good run, you whacky mysterious person. I'm amazed it lasted this long. In honor of our fallen comrade, I will use the But How Does He Compare to Volk Han?-meter as a measuring stick for pro wrestlers from now on.
  2. Jetlag
    Heavily BattlARTS inspired girl wrestling with plenty of brutal kicks, suplexes and flash submissions to entertain you. Yamada looked excellent and her exchanges with Satomura were probably some of the most violent of the year. Kato does not sell on the level of the other women and there were some weak moments, but nothing to detract from the bout in a major way. There was also some fun games around the young girls refusing to tag out which would or would not backfire on them. KAORU held up her end and the finishing run between Satomura & Kato was loaded with cool exciting counters.
  3. Jetlag
    Or does he? I think this Kermit the frog sounding geek is kind of an old weirdo but watching him mark out for Stu Hart's grappling is hilarious. Maybe we should invite him over here? Send him a playlist of Fujiwara/Inoki matches? Get him on a podcast with Parv?
  4. Jetlag
    Really good tag action which was basically built around 2 dynamics. First, you had Satomura & Kato trying to chop down Yamada, who would cut them off with vicious kicks and suplexes. Yamada looked adorably like a middle aged mother in 1998, but still had some of the most brutal offense around. The sections with Kaoru were centered around her just getting smothered while Yamada would run in to save her by kicking people in the face like a BattlARTS tag. Some really cool spots built around a Sleeper Hold amongst other things. Match had focus and did not overstay it's welcome while delivering plenty of high end offense, which is what you want from joshi.
  5. Jetlag
    Eh, remember when shootstyle was fucking great? Kanehara brings a nice unusual to RINGS stiffness to his matches and when he was throwing kicks and knees he was walloping Illioukhine. He was also veteran enough to be competitive on the mat with the russian. Illiokhine's holds were absolutely clinical. Finish wasn't amazing, but solid enough and everything else here was a highly enjoyable grappler vs. Striker matchup.
  6. Jetlag
    It's funny to see WWE, CMLL, NJPW and AJPW get mentioned so much when these promotions have produced so much skippable content. I guess, if you want to only look at peak material... If you go by peak output vs. average output CMLL wouldn't look good at all. Not to mention that if people were to nitpick every stupid booking decision or bad match CMLL has done the way they do with a promotion like TNA. The 2000-2010 period is pretty much a big void for the company too. The most consistant wrestling I've watched is probably the Houston/Mid South stuff that we had on NWA Classics and the 80s set. As far as promotions go where I want to watch every single event they've run, U-Style is at the top followed by Futen and BattlARTS.
  7. Jetlag
    So, since I always wanted to ask this... is it true Giant Baba was considered really handsome back in the day?
  8. Jetlag
    Leave it to a bunch of sleazy dudes and old geezers to have one of the funnest bomb throwing sprints of the year. You know any match with Tarzan Goto & Ryuma Go in it is pure money. If you don't, I hereby decree it. I was expecting a wild brawl, but they mostly stay in the ring and stick to the all star team of Tarzan/Go/Kabuki waffling the shit out of the sleaze greenhorns. Matsuda & Okumura aren't all that great, but that DOES NOT MATTER because they were here to get punched in the face and kicked in the throat a whole LOT. The exchanges between Goto & Yamada were insanely gory and easily the highlight of the match. I also unexpectedly loved Kabuki, who is supposed to be way over the hill and corpse-like at this pound but still BRINGS it - by doing what he always did: throwing punches and thrust kicking dudes really hard. I can't believe people widely don't like this dude - even his nerve hold was awesome! He was KILLING the poor guy with that nerve hold. I imagine if this had a grand stand exchange between Goto & Yamada at the end or something this would have been near all time level, but as it stands it was basically 3 badass vets waltzing in to kick the shit out of anyone and it kind of ruled. Also, do not watch this match if you dislike lariats, because this had about 30 of em.
  9. Jetlag
    Really good match which leaves you with a few realisations: 1. these two kids were insanely talented to have a random indy sleaze undercard match this good 2. damn, that's actually Fugofugo Yumeji and some dork from Dragon Gate before he went to Dragon Gate? 3. These two totally could have and should have been the Yuki Ishikawa and Daisuke Ikeda of sleazy King's Road style, but it just ended up not happening. AAAAAHHHHH it's maddening!! All that squandered potential!!! It's even worse than watching the kids in GAEA!! But, atleast I can watch this match and fantasy book an ideal fed centered around these guy propagating their own vision of brutal & intricate junior wrestling. This match is a lot like two NOAH heavies having a really fun undercard bombfest. It's not flawless, but the potential for this to grow into something beautiful was there. Fujisaki has the cool wrist clutch suplexes and submissions and Saito brings the stiff spin kicks and hurty looking junior offense. The build to the finish was especially cool as it was like a mix of an AJPW "super finisher" and NJPW "You keep blocking this move, so I will use that to set up another move" moment.
  10. Jetlag
    All that is right with pro wrestling. This was kept short and to the point – Porky absorbing punishment and thus garnering love from the audience in a way many younger, fitter, better looking wrestlers couldn't dream of doing, Gran Markus Jr. kicking ass, seconds getting involved in fun ways, multiple awesome fat guy dives and a triumphant finish, Porky avenging his brother. People have said CMLL has cooled off in 1998 compared to the insane years before, but I'm glad after all the high end wrestlers getting to shine we got this little feud to showcase Brazo de Plata, a wrestling god in his own right.
  11. Jetlag
    Just an awesome tubby guy fight & insane car crash sprint. They LAY INTO eachother and less than 30 seconds into the match Tenryu has kicked Araya in the nose! They do a bunch of ECW spots and bring weapons into it except this feels like a fight because these guys are mauling eachother something fierce and not making this overly cooperative. The big guy dives fucking rule because they feel so reckless – Araya almost compressing Tenryu's spine „I don't give a damn if you are in position or not“, and Tenryu later trying to climb the turnbuckle, but then going „Ah, I haven't thought this through – fuck it, I'll just do a forward roll“ and he nukes Araya. Araya grabs a kendo stick and goes MAD waffling the shit out of Tenryu and breaking the stick to stab him further. Araya argueing with the ref works because with all that has gone down you buy into the possibility that he might just beat the shit out of him too. Araya goes for one dive too many and gets wasted by flying chairs. It's such a perfect barfight move – you see a fat mulleted japanese guy getting ready to jump you, you start throwing chairs. By the end punches & kicks with serious contempt have been thrown, both guys bleeding from multiple places and just stubbornly ramming into eachother with stiff old lariats like bulls. Ehh ain't exactly Baba/Destroyer, but you know what you're getting from this. Wrestle and Romance.
  12. Jetlag
    Dan Severn did both. Didn't he come out with both the UFC and NWA title at one point?
  13. Jetlag
    Brief match in which Frye makes Fujiwara look like a huge threat. Frye sold really well and I would have liked to see him working longer singles matches. Worth checking out to see Fujiwara and Frye trading punches.
  14. Jetlag
    CMLL casually throws 4 of wrestlings greatest wrestlers ever in a random TV match and the result is suitably good. What else is new? This starts with a classic opening fall of everyone hittin the mat for 10 minutes. Niebla/Warrior may be the weakest matchup here but was still really good. Some nice athleticism, and Warrior continues to be a bump machine.The Panther/Atlantis section was obviously great (really intricate and fast arm work), but the Casas/Santo battle may have been even better. Just a really great battle of attrition and some nice inventiveness in the holds especially from Casas. The 3rd fall was really intense with Panther and Warrior working a rudo beatdown and Santito having no problem stomping Casas to death and drawing boos. See, old habits die hard. Warrior crushes Casas with a senton which Casas sold like a KO blow and Santito just keeps kicking him in the face. Harrowing. They work a bunch of credible nearfalls and finally a finish that makes you want to see something that probably never happened. Ah well, it's cool that you can pretty much pull out any old CMLL TV with a permutation of these guys and get something fantastic.
  15. Jetlag
    Some pretty high end shootstyle mat exchanges in this contest, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering it's super athlete Tamura vs. A whacky Sambo artist. Match got really great whenever Ilioukhine was outgrappling Tamura and forced him to come up with something. Ilioukhine avoiding losing points when he was knocked off his feet hinted at the Tamura as a surperior striker story, which is not his strongest suit, and selling that shit wasn't Ilioukhine's strongest suit either. I was slightly disappointed by how easily Tamura won this one considering how awesome the earlier sections were. Borderline great match.
  16. Jetlag
    This FMW crew invented that Garbage Meets King's Road style which robbed the garbage brawling of it's craziness (by focussing on spots and less on guys trying to murder eachother) and the King's Road of it's finer aspects (always robotically going through the same mediocre matwork and every match having the same mindless finishing run). Some of the criticisms apply to this match, especially thanks to Tanaka with his no-selling bullshit, but Mr. Gannosuke pretty much carries the match and adds back that much needed grit and face/heel dynamic. Tanaka angers Al Snow too by burying the eye poke and the low blow in the opening section. Ah well, this is fast paced, stiff, and and doesn't get dull. Tanaka going at Gannosuke feels like receipt spots rather than going through the motions, and I thought Tanaka's babyface selling while Gannosuke stabbed the shit out of him was real good. It felt like a heel doing something truely dastardly to the good kid rather than just a gross out spot that has to be shoed in any garbage match. Gannosuke going back to the arm during the finishing run to regain control was neat (even though Tanaka sold about as well as you'd expect Masato Tanaka to sell), and the bomb throwing madness felt like two guys killing eachother. Match wasn't flawless and I'm not sure if this is Gannosuke's finest performance ever wasted, but it has that old charme and grit.
  17. Jetlag
    I never understood the Tenryu criticism that he was "sloppy" or had "bad looking moves". His enzuigiri always looked like a solid kick to the back of the brain and his powerbomb always get the job done, squishing his opponent and getting him into pin position. He also deserves credit for throwing blatantly worked punches that still make you wonder how real they are. Hardy buried his own career with his escapades, but he does deserve credit for getting mad over. But the headlines of him being a dumpster fire overshadowed any discussion of his workrate.
  18. Jetlag
    Grimmas why are you still responding to Shodate. I thought you put him on Ignore like 4 weeks ago.
  19. Jetlag
    @AstroBoy
  20. Jetlag
    Slick and at the same time hard fought shootstyle grappling. They used a lot of rope breaks and a match like this could easily become a soulless repetitive exhibition, but because these guys know how to work the match had lots of highlights and all the nearfalls got good heat. Kohsaka has clearly learned from the russians as he goes right at the cross heel hooks with Zouev. Neat finish too where Zouev goes for the rope again but Kohsaka cranks back and forces the tap.
  21. Jetlag
    This is a weird as hell matchup (with Nick Bockwinkel commentating) where they mesh oddly well. Schuhmann's my boy, a former accomplished amateur who's feuded with Finlay for years and faced a lithany of random foreigners over his years as the CWA middleweight ace. His career and body were deteriorating at this point, but he still busts his ass, bumping big for Severn and hitting his spots. Severn seemed to be holding back a little due to wrestling an opponent with such an unfamiliar style, but still got to look plenty beastly thanks to Schuhmann's bumping. The Severn moment of the match was easily his repeated lift and slams from mount position which was pretty brutal. Overall pretty good stuff considering it's pretty much two workers trying whatever for 10 minutes.
  22. Jetlag
    I am back on top now and reviewed both Fujiwara/Aoki and the Strong BJ tag I was given. Also, I missed the boat last week and forgot to give shodate a match. Sorry. In case you are still up for it, here's one to check out:
  23. Jetlag
    This was the usual "Strong BJ" deal - meaning, do a few basic filler holds at the beginning, then hit eachother a whole bunch back and forth, maybe thrown in a crowd pleasing spot like the double torture rack or two, then do a few nearfalls and call it a day. Not much storytelling or selling whatsoever. It's not horrible, but it's beyond played out at this point. Also, the whole "stand there and ask the other guy to hit you" always detracts from the match feeling like a fight.
  24. Jetlag
    Been a while since Fujiwara faced someone who gave him this much material in terms of mat skill an personality to work with. This was basically the nearly immobile Fujiwara using his old style hooking against the highly flexible Aoki. Watching these guys twist eachother up was so much fun, and Fujiwara did a strong job as usual directing traffic and leading his opponent. Finish came sudden (for me...) but a cool moment. It was an exhibition-y finish to a match that actually felt very unlike the exhibitions Fujiwara has done here and there over the years, both in terms of competitiveness and technique.
  25. Jetlag
    GAEA goes UWF! This was probably the closest you'll get to serious girl shootstyle, as they wore plain black outfits and stuck to working a no frills UWFi style contest. The work won't make you forget your high end RINGS but it was genuinely exciting contest with perfect pace and layout. Uematsu surviving an onslaught of stiff kicks and almost toppling her higher ranked opponent with a knee to the face and palm strikes and hooking the leg was a great moment. Short but good. Also, for the scientific record: KAORU is fine as hell.
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