Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

Jetlag

DVDVR 80s Project
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2334

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Jetlag

  1. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a password protected forum. Enter Password
  2. Jetlag
    It's a wild, bloody Puerto Rican brawl; what's not to love? Miguelito looks so great here as the worlds most badass/hairiest Freddy Mercury. A guy with great punches, throwing lots of punches is probably the easiest match formula for a good match. He had some fucking crazy "fired up" selling too and I liked how he started bitch slapping his opponent as if he wanted more of a fight. Both guys get thrown over the announce table awkwardly, barfight style, and chairs thrown in their face while security guards anxiously watch for potential knife attackers. Castillo's transition to offense was a little weak but his offense looked plenty violent. I also liked his bloody 1000 yard stare. Some bullshit going on for the finish involving Carlos Colon and some other guy which actually ended up being cool aswell.
  3. Jetlag
    Damn, I didn't expect to like this so much. Any Fujinami big match is guaranteed to have a ton of wrestling, and there was a lot of that here, but there was also a ton of disdain right from the opening which has Chono spitting Fujinami in the face. Chono is far from a great matworker, but he was game here, busting out an awesome calf slicer and a flying clothesline that was like something Necro Butcher would do. He also wasn't afraid to get into stiff slap battles and I liked his headbutts and mafia kicks he would use to combat Fujinami's mat prowess. Fujinami on his side had one of the most brutal dropkicks I've ever seen and an epic dive. This was a very typical NJPW style match, there was no grand finishing run with a ton of big moves to be kicked out of or something, instead it was about avoiding the other guy's finisher when push came to shove. That and the fact both guys sold a ton of exhaustion made the second half of this pretty great. Little bit of a lucha title match influence here with some dramatic bumps for momentum shifts and that sick guardrail dive from Fujinami. Great stuff, glad that this was brought up as the 232nd best match of the 90s
  4. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a password protected forum. Enter Password
  5. Jetlag
    The Thesz/Gotch team may be old school wrestling incarnated. You have Gotch, that gentleman european technician who is just a trip to watch, with his beautiful judo-esque throws, slick transitions and all kinds of funky moves, including a physics defying bridge. And then there's Thesz, who will cheap shot and stall incessantly and knee you in the face in the middle of a grappling exchange. Don't get me wrong, Thesz was gold here. In fact the whole match was gold. This was really long, but there was not a single dull moment. Just one cool exchange after another. Well, if you like grappling, that is. I really enjoyed Thesz' psychology as his strategy was basically about countering into a backdrop or Thesz press. He hits some great backdrops too. The whole match was built like, there would be hold exchanges, but occasionally one guy would attempt a move and then the other would try to counter into a potential finisher and then it was all about squirming out of that situation. And sometimes one guy would slap the other's shit too. That's how you keep a viewer on the edge of his seat. Well, it worked for me atleast. Also, Sakaguchi's reaction to Gotch lifting Inoki with one arm was priceless. I also really liked how he got fed up and almost choked Thesz out with a nasty front choke. The japanese team won't leave a huge impression on you but they are perfectly fine in their roles and the Thesz/Gotch duo was a delight to watch.
  6. Jetlag
    Probably the strangest and most wonderous grappling in a World of Sport match that there is. Not counting anything hypnosis related that may or may not have happened in certain Kendo Nagasaki matches. It's not just about the moves and escapes, but the sheer consequence this is wrestled with. Normally, in WoS you will see a lot of guys agreeing to a stalemate and giving up their position and holds. Here, that is reduced to a minimum and both guys are determined to wrestle to the limit. This leads to them pretzeling into and out of positions that would make Solar step back and say "Woah there" for a moment. They really explore the basic holds, like a toe hold and short arm scissor to the max. There's also lots of tripping the other guy in mid movement and struggle over escapes to make you appreciate the eventual succesful counters. The short arm scissor sequence seen here may be text book example of how to work a damn hold and escape sequence without much flash. Also, I dug the old lady giving advice.
  7. Jetlag
    3 rounds of high end slick WoS grappling. Thomson is a great guy, not only because he knows a million tricks, but because he always cranks up the intensity. It was a friendly, loosy goosy polite contest, but Thomson would constantly chuck Sarjeant to the mat really violently and try to force a submission. Sarjeant is like the british reverse-Volk Han and Thomson gave him plenty to work with. Too many great moves to name them all, but my favourite was probably Thomson's ultra fast arm takedown from the strangle hold, aswell as the proto-Omoplata escape. Also, him grabbing the chin and pushing his opponent further into the bridge is such an "oh shit" spot. I'll leave no comment on the finish.
  8. Jetlag
    This was pretty much a rehashed version of the match they had earlier in the year. Mostly Breaks torturing Saint and bumping and selling in hilarious exaggerated fashion and Saint looking impressive with some fast technical moves and great agility. Breaks is bitching about Saint the whole match but when attacks Saints nose he gets his own smashed and bloodied. Saint continues to attack the nose which in turn leads Breaks to start smashing his face into the canvas, bloodying Saint in return. There aren't many WoS matches where both guys bleed and the face bumps by Saint near the end were really intense. The finish wasn't clean but I thought it was really smart. You can never go wrong with Jimmy Breaks and him against Saint is some of his best work.
  9. Jetlag
    This is just a masterfully worked match between two wrestling masters. The early hold exchanges are textbook old school goodness - simple, tight, with both guys fighting in and out of them. At no point would one guy sit in a hold. Billy would put on a headlock, and the next thing was that Verne was pushing his knuckles into his face. Verne would get an armlock, and Billy would start maneuvering and shifting his weight. Because of Billy using his holds to set up impact moves and Gagne's dangerous sleeper hold, the hold for hold work never feels pointless. Billy is a wrestling machine, but Gagne looked really great too and at least as good. In the first fall, Billy would get the advantage in the grappling, so Gagne was forced to try and outsmart him. The shoulderblocks in this match were just awesome and Gagne's use of them so inspiring. Should also mention that Gagne's selling and bumping was worldclass. When he would get thrown into turnbuckles, he made it look like he was launched out of a car with his back to a steel post. The final shoulderblock bump looked like it would force a KO aswell. First two falls had brilliant finishes, each fall playing off the previous one, and the last fall had superb build with Robinson chasing his opponent down. That bearhug was one for the ages for sure. By the end of this the folks in the crowd are jumping up and down with excitement, smiling and going bonkers for ever false finish. Man I wish I had a bulk of matches from the 70s of Verne available.
  10. Jetlag
    Thanks. Your match is
  11. Jetlag
    I wrote up the Starr/Invader scaffold match. Good match, but it's def. not the kind of wrestling I love. Not to sound overly conservative, but it's a wrestling match. What the fuck is a scaffold doing there?
  12. Jetlag
    Scaffold Match. What a fucking stupid stipulation. Putting the utter absurdity of all things relating to two guys having a wrestling match on a scaffold aside (those being, how come anyone stay on the scaffold longer than 2 minutes when in a regular match dudes get bumped around the ring within seconds? how anyone who's halfway dangling off of a scaffold can hang on while another grown man is punching and kicking him? why didn't he just suplex him straight off of that thing? etc.) this was pretty good mostly due to Invader's excellent punches and the wobbly selling mentioned above. Chicky doesn't have punches as good or very interesting tactics but what do ya want, he was busy having a wrestling match while not falling to his death. Altough I gotta admit I do not take kindly to this kind of idiotic spectacle. Also, even while 30 feet in the air heels aren't safe from having trash flung at them, so that's great.
  13. Jetlag
    Match for dawho5: Tarzan Goto/Masashi Aoyagi/Azteca vs. Kai En Tai (Indy World 7/22/98) https://youtu.be/NbkZPy6JU8s
  14. Jetlag
    Cool list, I appreacite it. You are right on the money about Harley Saito & Eagle Sawai. Rumi Kazama, I'll see about her, altough she is underrated for sure. I will watch all of James Stone & Jumbo Hori I can find now.
  15. Jetlag
    Pretty much the UWF equivalent to the later RINGS grappling matches. Funaki in his shoes is hilarious. Really enjoyed the early amateur style work especially the toe holds. Then, after some slick but strugglesome grappling Suzuki goes on a tear against Funaki with tight submission attempts only to be caught by surprise. Little too short and sudden to amount to much but I always enjoy a fun undercard match like this.
  16. Jetlag
    2004.04.11 Fuke vs. Ishikawa GENTARO vs. Kondo [EAGLE All Eagle! Eagle Festival!] 1998-07-05 Asuka/The Bloody vs.Yokota/Kosugi 1994-07-29 Hart vs Flair 1992-12-05 Medvedev vs. Takahashi 2002.01.27 Tamura vs Genki I'll be checking out all these for sure. EDIT: Where was Fuke/Ishikawa? I thought U-Style but it doesn't seem to be in any matchlist. EDIT2: Okay, it's BattlARTS. Did you see that match live or do you have a video?
  17. Jetlag
    Rah's match is El Hijo Del Santo vs Negro Casas - 12/1/95
  18. Jetlag
    Reviewed Vader/Misawa: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/28305-vader-vs-mitsuharu-misawa-ajpw-tokyo-dome-050299/&do=findComment&comment=5832680
  19. Jetlag
    When I first watched this, I thought this was a contender for the greatest match I'd ever seen. On rewatch, it's not quite at that level, but this is still one of the most memorable lucha bloodbaths. Everything about this match is ridiculously high end: of course the blood is great, but they remind you with every move that they are world class pro wrestlers. One of the greatest DDTs I've ever seen is casually thrown out, both guys throw great punches; Faraon has some cool Mr. Perfect-esque corner bumps (for a dude in his mid 40s). All the basic stuff, like a chest bump into the corner or a backdrop is executed perfectly. There are also some pin combos and dives executed past the capability of most wrestlers on the planet. The layout is strong with Pirata immediately getting the advantage, but Faraon is always fighting back. Pirata tries to grind it out with some holds but Faraon turns the tables on him. Pirata was a total bump freak here including flying over the top to the outside. After Pirata started gushing blood, it was something else to watch him refusing to quit even while close to passing out, and the doctor trying to hold him back. Faraon bashing Pirata's head into the post was such a sick moment and the punch exchange felt epic. You can debate on the ending, but I thought it nailed the story of the match. Near transcendent stuff and one of the finest on Pirata's resume.
  20. Jetlag
    I swear I already had a review of this somewhere. Ah well. It's Vader/Misawa, so you know what you are getting. Vader previously destroyed Misawa easily in a short match, now he immediately goes to town on the top guy and completely dominates him for the opening of the match, tagging him with fast combos and landing a massive powerbomb on the floor. Misawa comes back pounding Vader's head with his thrusty elbows and sending him over the rope and this is almost like a Vader/Wanz match. It gets back to AJPW soon enough as soon as Vader breaks out the first german suplex and they start running through big moves. I still have no idea how Misawa was able to take those suplex bumps and not die... well, atleast not die right then. Admittedly some of it feels a little dry, such as Misawa just casually setting up Vader on the top rope and hitting a DDT... well, Vader is more that willing to bump his ass off here aswell. Misawa pouncing on the big guy with Elbows on the ground and finishing him with a KO was great though. Just felt a little abrupt. It's Vader in AJPW so it's not exactly his greatest work. He does come across as a beast though, and Misawa sold great. I think if this were a little more strike focussed this could have been epic, but they still delivered what you want from a Dome main event.
  21. Jetlag
    Good to know I can STILL thrust myself from 6 years ago. This was awesome, bloody and ass-stomping indeed. The cool thing about these 80s main events from germany/austria is that you get to see guys like Slaughter stretch out and do these ultra simplistic carnage ladden main events with no fluff whatsoever. So, after some warm up stalling and heat mongering, this is largely Slaughter wasting Wanz with punches and awesome knees on the ground. We also get Slaughter throwing chairs and bashing a bloody Wanz's head into the glass barrier. The announcer was telling the fans to stay in their seats for their own safety at that point. Wanz didn't get a lot of offense which is not a huge problem, and when he did something Slaughter would bump like a motherfucker. Another strong finish. This type of super minimalist wrestling is not anything that will blow people's minds but still extremely enjoyable.
  22. Jetlag
    This was in the same style as the March tag and good in the same way, altough not as great and nowhere near as exciting. For some reason, the elements that were very strong in the march tag were not as emphasized here. Hence the action, while good, felt a bit run of the mill and the Ogawa relation to his partner and his opponents was not as pronounced, detracting from the fascination of the matchup. After a somewhat weak transition, Ogawa is isolated for a bit, but it doesn't reach the same intensity and as soon as Misawa tagged in it was back the same old dance. They did finish with a bang, though.
  23. Jetlag
    I prefer Ogawa spitting water and stepping on Kobashi's face over your generic japanese main event type wrestling. I dunno about the complaints, what the hell did people want to see? A fast paced show? Hell no. Kobashi gets MAD and chops him to death! Ogawa actually sells Kobashi's chops like they really are devastating! Ogawa weasels and rats his way around Kobashi and there are few wrestlers greater at believably controlling a bigger opponent than Ogawa. At no point did it look like Ogawa had an easy time. Ogawa uses every trick in the book including comical amount of heel tactics, even attacking Kobashi's weak leg with the bell because why not? It all comes back to him and this really turns into a full on 1980s US match with Ogawa eating a brutal posting, bleeding and getting punched in the face by a pissed off Kobashi. Kobashi has HAD IT with this punk and his bullshit eye pokes! He is so mad he doesn't even care about bringing the workrate anymore, there is not even a Half Nelson Suplex in this match! Ah well. I thought Kobashi could've done a better job selling his leg, but as it stands this is pretty much the dopest match.
  24. Jetlag
    IT SAYS GHC CHAMP ON OGAWA'S SHORTS!!! This is about the quintessential Ogawa match, as swamp monster Takayama is coming after him and Rat Boy has to weasel his way out of this without getting murdered. Ogawa is so great in the opening, throwing punches and eye pokes like a ratty, sleazy heel mini Jerry Lawler. Takayama puts a fulls sized ass beating on his undersized ass and about 5 minutes in the match, it seems like Ogawa is done already. Ogawa makes great use of the TREE OF WOE~! does a mighty great control segment on Takayama. My favourite thing about Ogawa here was that everything he was able to do was capitalizing on something else, he was never merely running through his offense. Takayama gets in a SINGLE BLOW which is enough to almost put Ogawa on the shelf and we get a brief but awesome finishing run built around Takayama throwing bombs and Ogawa throwing Rat Boy'isms. Ogawa's bumping was great here as he was just flying around for Takayama and Takayama himself did a great job putting over the champ as a champ.
  25. Jetlag
    About the first half of this was solid AJPW style action with lots of fun Ogawa-isms thrown in for a breath of fresh air. BURNING rudo it up! Misawa uses lucha moves and comebacks to counter the double teams! Ogawa beats Kobashi in a strike exchange! (apparently the trick is to just punch him). Kobashi rewards him with one of the nastiest stretches ever! The 2nd half was about as great as any AJPW style finishing stretch with Misawa being taken out and Ogawa having to step up big time, and the added bonus of Ogawa's cradles and jawbreakers being a nice change from the usual bombs and stiff movezzz. Plenty of great double team/partner help spots like you only see in those AJPW epics. How they could put all that stuff together so well in a 30 minute match is beyond me, but that's the magic of pro wrestling!
×
×
  • Create New...