Jetlag
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Everything posted by Jetlag
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I looked through the thread and I'm a little shocked no one has dropped Santo/Casas from 1997. Mike from WKO picked that, and I just re-watched it and it really is a great pick. It has the same bar fight/two guys trying to murder eachother feel like Chicana/MS1, Lawler/Dundee or the best of WAR/BattlARTS etc., but mixed with modern athletic death moves and sports-like feeling and awesome "swinging pendulum" build like Misawa/Kawada. I really need to find their match from Tijuana again.
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The thing that most stood out to me was how violent this felt. Early on Bret was just knocking the dogshit out of the Kid, who bumped amazingly. Just how the Kid would get drilled into the mat by a basic back elbow made me think Kid vs. Stan Hansen would've been amazing. When Bret was throwing european uppercuts in the corner he was just mauling Kid. Waltman on the other other hand threw these highly precise kicks that wouldn't have looked out of place in a BattlARTS match. When his flash rollups didn't work, he would just attempt to kick Bret's head into the 6th row. Waltman repeatedly crashing and burning trying anything to crush Bret in the last couple minutes was highly entertaining aswell. Bret was almost Jumbo-like here as he came across as a pissed off heel but at the same time maintaining his ace status by repeatedly drilling the Kid. That Bulldog may have been the most brutal I've ever seen. I guess parts of the match were a little robotic.
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Naming ONE MATCH gets old. I think a top 100 matches ever project and poll similiar to the Top 100 wrestlers ever from last year would be really interesting.
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Semi Finals of the Sky Tournament Ayako Hamada vs. Mari Apache (7/25) I am stupidly excited for this match. It's the kids of Gran Hamada and Gran Apache battling it out, how can it not be cool? And this match really was that. I imagine some of the exchanges here weren't much different from what their papas would do. The flying and armdrags and dives and all that were above what your average tape watching indy yokel could do. Really graceful, swank and intricate stuff. They hit the mat aswell. Because Mari is chunky, her busting out a fast takedown or twisting around looks double cool. This pretty much ruled. Mika Akino vs. Chaparrita ASARI (7/25) Another nifty match. Less armdrags, more flash submissions vs. headscissors and pins type of match. Gotta give them huge credits for putting this stylistic cocktail together so well. Some creative spots and exchanges here, and they actually had me guessing who could take the victory home. Akino is the „project“ and seemed highly confident, but Asari didn't let the shooter walk all over her.
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I went with Garvin, mostly because I really love his style. Altough Microscopes post made me want to check out some Bret Hart matches.
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Sky Tournament 99 First Round Matches Ayako Hamada vs. Tiger Dream (7/25) A flyer's tournament! Kinda mean to separate the flyers from the grapplers, especially considering how awesome Hamada vs. Yoshida was before. This was clipped to shit. The editors still made sure we got to see Tiger Dream falling on her face trying a move. Classy there. Other than that it looked like a solid match. Ayako's always doing something nifty, and there was an impressive spinning headscissor type move. All the high spots looked great. And Ayako easily wins this with her impossibly convoluted, but always neatly applied Ayakita Special Move. Ayako Hamada 1999 Megapush continues. Mari Apache vs. Ring Star (7/25) Match only goes 5 minutes, and they show about 40 seconds of it. Ring Star is some mexican with good execution. The some of this match: swank armdrag and dives, Mari throws bombs and it was done. Full worldwide etc. Mika Akino vs. Gami Metal (7/25) Gami Metal is Futagami in a cheap mask, working kind of quasi-comedic heel, adding a little more character to this match to the previous two. They showed a little more of this match so you could get a sense of it. Some unusual moves, altough execution wasn't top. Ai Fujita vs. Chaparrita ASARI (7/25) ARSION really has fully turned into WCW Worldwide. Asari is the girl who did all the weird flips in some AJW tags and once had her nose broken by Aja Kong on Raw. Probably the most prolific name in the tournament. On the other hand, Ai Fujita had the 450 Splash, one of the hottest moves in wrestling at the time. This was all FLIPS and DIVES and also the first match they showed in somewhat full. They kept it together, and the match ended up being cool. Full worldwide point.
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They show about 25 minutes of 45 minute match + 5 minute overtime. The clipping is so seamless that you don't really notice anything missing. This starts out awesome with Ikeshita wearing gloves and working over Kumi with boxing punches and eyerakes like she's Takeshi Ono. Kumi scores a single leg and Ikeshita decides to take the gloves off and WRESTLE! I've come to learn that Ikeshita could go on the mat, but Kumi kind of kills it by being a total bore. Ikeshita would get a waistlock, and Kumi had to use the ropes. What the hell? Ikeshita, for once, wants to wrestle you and not stab you in the face, and you don't want to wrestle her? So Ikeshita starts stabbing her with a foreign object to get some fire out of her, but Kumi was like Tom Tyrone here. I'd say the majority of the match was a decent Ikeshita carryjob and they eventually do a nice, exciting end run with big moves and bumps that they sell really well. Kumi kind of redeems herself, but I can't forgive how lame she was earlier in the match. The actual finish when they go into overtime after the 45 minute draw was lame too compared to all the wrestling that came before, altough it fit their characters. I'd say this should go on your watchlist as it's a bonafide 70s joshi epic that brings the good stuff, but I can't help but feel Yumi Ikeshita deserved better than this.
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[1993-02-28-AJPW-Excite Series] Stan Hansen vs Toshiaki Kawada
Jetlag replied to Loss's topic in February 1993
I think this is the 3rd or 4th time I've rewatched this classic. May be the baddest slugfest ever. Any basic move like a stomp or kneedrop here felt like a potential KO and the fighting over basic holds and moves was awesome. Hansen gave this masterful performance of an aging behemoth who was slowly running out of energy but could still crush his opponent. Kawada's bumping was really great as he would just get drilled into the mat whenever Hansen smashed him. God damn Hansen's shoulderblocks were amazing. I guess some of Kawada's comebacks were a little easy, but what do you want. It's 24 minutes of some of the baddest pro wrestling on film. A Top 5 AJPW match. -
[1995-08-29-ECW-TV] Eddy Guerrero vs Dean Malenko (2/3 falls)
Jetlag replied to Loss's topic in August 1995
This was a pretty good match. These ECW matches usually have a kind of chopped up rhythm but they approximated an almost lucha title match vibe, starting with matwork into armdrags into bigger throws and then back to matwork again. It had a nice resistance to basic holds, learned spots and counter moves vibe that made it feel competitive enough. I don't see how the match was "even" - Eddie controlled standing, Malenko was better on the mat, later on Malenko had to make a comeback (and a nice one he made, ramming into Eddie's leg to create an opening). I hate it when wrestlers stand there and listen to the crowd chanting, so the working in a vacuum here was fine by me. Admittedly the finish to the 1st fall was kind of blown and poor, but most of the other work they did was pretty fantastic without going overboard. Didn't have a problem with the double pin ending because really who gives a shit when both guys left the company anyways. Navarro/Solar matches also end in double pins, so what? This was not Navarro/Solar but a lot better than your typical 90s junior stuff. -
The Most Ultimate of Warriors goes to germany and do battle for the Power Wrestling Trophy (amazingly pronounced by Manfred Koch). This is more fascinating than good - altough it's probably one of the more fun matches the Warrior has been in. If you are not familiar with Ulf Herman: he is basically the most pro-wrestler looking dude to come out of germany. I mean, if you had a sitcom or something where a guy who you look at and makes you go "Yep that is a pro wrestler" was supposed to appear as a spoof pro wrestler Ulf would be the guy. This is from some commercial tape - I assume the CWA organizers were getting desperate and trying to cash in on the WWF fanbase - this match didn't even have rounds, altough there are still fines. I am sure the Warrior immediately regreted smashing Herman's head into the announce table when he was given a fine of 200 Deutsche Mark. The Warrior is all energetic and Herman and the insanely hype crowd makes this really fun. Herman busts out dives and actually gets to have somewhat of a match against Warrior, but ultimately falls victim to the Ultimate Splash. Also the commentating Peter William does is hilarious, if you speak the language. You can tell when Peter is really hype for a match (e.g. Finlay vs. Mile Zrno) and when he is trying his darndest to sell something.
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Bob "UFO" Della Serra (the UFO nickname coming from his time when he wore a mask) is like Moose Morowski a dude from the canadian scene who has nothing but a handful of 5 minute TV matches available and then probably his longest matches on tape in germany. I know next to nothing about canadian wrestling but if somebody could find tapes of his long arena matches in their garage I'd appreciate that. Bob carried himself like quite the badass. He was Axel's tag partner in this tournament, so this was mostly a clean wrestling contest, altough a pretty tough one with a lot of intensity. The low end grappling early on reminded me of shootstyle as it had the kind of struggle and nifty little touches and leverage fighting I really like, and they do some really intricate work around a neck chancery and hammerlock. Those holds aren't exactly the most fancy but what they did with them was really cool. The bridge up spots (also seen in Yokota/Lioness) are especially impressive for a pair of heavyweights. Axel does some big time selling and Della Serra attempting to bash his skull in in the final round with Vader-like clubbing blows to the head and brutal european uppercuts was something else. Axel really was at his best when he was taking and selling a beating. Really good match for something that could easily have been a friendly throwaway bout.
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The Chain/Strap/Bullrope match (basically anything where it's two tough dudes tied together to beat the shit out of eachother) is really interesting because it may be the most universal gimmick match ever. They've had them everywhere: in the US, Mexico, Europe, Puerto Rico, japanese girl feds, etc... and a number of legendary workers, from Wahoo McDaniel to Fit Finlay to John Cena have been in them. And looking at the list of contenders, there's quite a few all-time great matches there: Greg Valentine vs. Roddy Piper, 11/24/83 - one of the ultimate gruesome wrestling bloodbaths. I remember thinking this is a top 10-20 match ever the last time I watched it. May be a little too simplistic for some however. Vader vs. Sting, 2/21/93 - may be my favourite WCW match. Another incredibly violent bout, with an all time babyface vs. heel peformance. Also may have the best power spot I've ever seen when Sting carries Vader which just turns me into an excited 10 year old anytime I watch it. La Fiera vs. Jerry Estrada, 1991?# - this is like two gangsters battling it out to prove something to their gang. Really awesome gritty, seedy brawl, only with a lousy finish. Carlos Colon vs. Stan Hansen, 1/10 - remember this being really sensational when I saw it, have to rewatch. The best from the awsome Colon/Hansen feud which speaks for the strength of the gimmick Shinobu Kandori vs. Bull Nakano, 7/14/1994 - I don't love this, but a lot of people are really into it and it's still two of the baddest ladies ever tearing into eachother. Franz van Buyten vs. Dave Taylor, 10/5/1986 - I dunno, for me this is like the Misawa/Kawada of european wrestling. The confusing clipping and lack of a great finish probably puts it out of GOAT contendership, but the work here is unbelievable. Isami Kodaka vs. Yuko Miyamoto, 3/19/2010 - this is one of those more hyperactive deathmatches, but the Strap gimmick makes it focussed and they do some innovativ stuff with it. One for the more modern type wrestling fans Raven/Stevie Richards vs. Pitbulls, 9/16/1995 - haven't seen this and can't imagine liking it, but I've heard a few people really loving this. Other (please name) - Missing anything? Drop in your recs.
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This was, I believe, the first time Mile wrestled in the Hannover tournament. So, this is the new kid taking on the aging heavyweight top babyface. In hindsight, Axel Dieter is a pretty good veteran technician. Not a master, but he could go in this type of high workrate "young athlete takes the old vet to the limit" match. He didn't have a problem going along with Mile's highly athletic moves. The structure in these matches is always a little rough, I assume because there was no TV wrestling or tapetrading in germany and workers were adjusting to the changing nature of wrestling that came with the new import wrestlers on the fly, but they are wise enough to tease an early finish,have Dieter be the one to start roughing Mile up (with interesting fan reactions) and then work an enduring contest that puts Mile over big time for going the distance.
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Finals of the Tournament Michiko Ohmukai vs. Hiromi Yagi (5/4) Yagi just went through a war against Yoshida, not mention her partner in the 1st round. Ohmukai hasn't even done 7 minutes of wrestling that night. This was Ohmukai's kicks and bombs vs. Yagi's flash submissions. Yagi was really the story of the match, as she tried her darndest to beat Yoshika in the Semis and now had to do it again against the fresher, bigger Ohmukai. Fine bout, altough Ohmukai is nowhere near as good as Yoshida at selling submission nearfalls. Rie Tamada/Hiromi Yagi © vs. Ayako Hamada/Mika Akino (Twinstar of Arsion Tag Titles, 6/30) The Hamada/Akino story continues. Hard for me to say how good this was exactly – the match had a nice pace, was unpredictable, and everything was hit nicely (aside from Akino falling on her head one time), so I'd say it was good. Hamada and Akino were the story of the match because D'aaaawww look at these little puppies going for the big gold! Akino has some pretty intricate rope climbing moves and Ayako looks like total star material at this point. I'm a little grumpy at the lack of cool matwork and Yagi, however. Mima Shimoda/Etsuko Mita vs. Yumi Fukawa/Rie Tamada (7/25) Las Cachorras Orientales enter. God lord how tall are LCO? Or, how short are Fukawa and Tamada? I suspect Mita is like 5'6, but she looked like Kevin Nash next to the other two. And this was kind of worked like Kevin Nash & Scott Hall vs. Dean Malenko & Billy Kidman. Or one of these NOAH opening tags were a pair of old geezers annoy two rookies. Except uhm, it was kind of... good? LCO's uncooperativeness added a lot to the match as it actually meant something when Fukawa and Tamada got a move in on them. Match was worked slow and stayed in the ring and was shockingly efficient for what it was, drawing big reactions from the crowd. It's crazy that Fukawa's flash armbars can still be this exciting after she has done nothing else for so many matches. Credit to LCO, I knew they were capable wrestler before, but they were perfect here in a completely different way than I'm used to.
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A great match! Feels like something that should be a staple for the "joshi for people who don't like joshi" pile. It has the legwork/tease the Figure 4-story that so many wrestling fans can understand, plus a classic story with Aoyama having a go at the ace. It also has that "Wow!" factor with state of the art flying moves and big time bumps used for great drama. Aoyama is pretty overzealous, but Sato is pretty much her ideal matchup and Sato has such a tremendous connection to the crowd that anything she's in automatically becomes above average. The matwork is all freaked out and luchariffic with a ton of indian deathlock work and a bunch of twisting around to escape the Figure 4. I imagine this is how they mostly worked big matches at big shows. Notice how easily they fill the time while still ending the match early enough to leave plenty on the table for the future. Just a great main event that would work anywhere in the world.
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The "no selling" of limbwork is something almost all AJW matches from the time period have. It simply was not what they were going for. They would "sell" as in acknowledge that a leg was being weakened, but didn't do the Rude/Steamboat Beach Blast 1992 style constant selling.
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A very fast paced big match. So fast paced that it almost feels rushed at times. First fall had some nice armlocks, mostly carried by Terry Funk being really great at making even a basic arm hold seem meaningful. He always adds so much urgency to his wrestling - and Terry was pretty on point here in general, throwing punches and doing his ridiculous selling including at one point being draped upside down over the announcers table. He added some much needed drama to the match with his in-peril selling, on the other hand Jumbo and Baba barely seemed to be in trouble. They use tag psychology and double team moves in pretty clever ways building the bout nicely with bomb throwing, toe-to-toe strike exchanges and character work. I don't find Baba to be a very exciting worker - yes I know we are supposed to look at him and remark how smart he is, but his matches always go back to him hitting his signature moves. Dory is mechanically sound, but I was glad his role in the match was limited. At one point, Jumbo grabbed him and launched him in the air with this awesome deadlift suplex, but seconds later Dory was back on offense. Dory really lacks some of the things Terry has to an obscene degree, while Terry is the complete package. Finish was funny in the way life will sometimes leave you on your back and we can all feel on bord with Terry's reaction to it. Good match and a piece in japanese wrestling history as the tag psychology here felt like the same that was at work in all those great 90s tags.
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This is for the vacated All Pacific title match and a hell of a fight. Wait, it's Yumi Ikeshita - surely there's gonna be a ton of cheating? Well, believe it or not, but Ikeshita actually left her foreign object aside for a few minutes and went at it with Lucy on the mat. And bah gawd Yumi Ikeshita was quite the skilled grappler! She had some swank arm locks and takedowns including a really rocking flying armscissor and was just as good at dominating on the ground as she as at dominating with cheating. Eventually Lucy gets the better of her leg and Yumi actually resorts to foreign object shenanigans while hobbling one one foot and making a comeback. They go back to the wrestling though and work some pretty spectacular spots including both of them crashing and burning on dives (Lucy Kayama surely was not afraid to die) and lots of nearfalls. If this had blood and maybe a bit more ideas from Lucy this would be a slam dunk MOTYC. Still you completists will want to note it down because it's Yumi Ikeshita grappling baby!
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Jaguar Yokota & Jackie Sato vs. Nancy Kumi & Jumbo Hori (AJW 1981) Utterly brilliant match. I've seen this before, but after watching a bunch of 70s/early 80s joshi, this kind of feels like the quintessence of the style. And it emphasizes how distinct the girl wrestling at the time was from everything else. So, this is like a lucha trios or one of those french tags: Graceful, unique wrestling. Just the stuff I like so much. Being that it's joshi the pace is fast, and being that it's the early 80s the match is built around cool throws and hard fought submissions. Tons of awesome flying headscissor work too (I don't mean that in the crazed wrestling fetishist way). This project is about Jaguar, but the standout is Jackie (like in almost any match she is in). You can tell she loved this kind of pure wrestling contest and was a total wrestling machine. Damn what a badass grappler. Jumbo Hori also looks really great, with her size advantage and power adding a different dynamic.Yokota looks like motherfucking Jaguar Yokota, doing some stuff vastly beyond the ability of most wrestlers. Hori and Kumi have to fight hard, and there's the sense that they don't stand much chance against the two women who would compete for the top belt the same year. I could see some people having a problem with the sheer speed and number of spots as well as flowing partner-in-and-out structure, but that was the style of the day and how hard they are sprinting here for 20 minutes and doing all this awesome no-bullshit wrestling is endearing to me. It's way better than the joshi sprints from 20 years later that's for sure. Also, the rhytm of the bout was right and there were a number of really well timed spots, proving that they were thinking on their feet as they went. Great match.
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This was a stupidly effective and smartly worked skill vs. Power match. Sato is a wrestling machine, but Ripper can power out of anything she tries. Ripper even lies down for Sato to pin her and just pushs her off to demonstrate that. Ripper is so self confident here it's lovely. Ripper takes control by grabbing Sato's hand and crushing it with her grip. Ripper throws Sato around and a second has to re-locate Sato's leg at one point. The schoolgirls are in tears at this point. Sato really puts on a tremedous selling performance here and has to use stalling tactics and last ditch takedowns, making this look like Monster Ripper is the challenge of her life and not even she knows how she is supposed to win. The finish and the build to it feel suitably great, everyone freaks out and they continue to brawls afterward with all the seconds getting thrown around. This was a great piece of TV.
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Two fat bastards punching eachother a lot. Same deal as usual with Wanz, right? Well, this was the early 80s and Wanz was in way better shape than later on. He was still a fat bastard, but actually looked like an in shape fat bastard. He doesn't do anything out of the extraordinary but there are some impressive floating style lifts. Sailor White can punch Otto in the ear and does some impressive bumps for a short fat dude with comical arms. Dare I say - he was pretty clever with his bumps. The problem with the match is that it goes needlessly long - pretty sure not even Sailor White himself knew why the hell he would be booked in a match this long, but this was the convention for german main events - so probably could have shaved off a resthold or two. Also, unlike in other matches Wanz didn't seem to be in much peril. As usual the surrounding presentation is of the match is off the charts as all the austrians pile up when the action spills to the outside. Oh and Wanz has Mile Zrno and Steve Wright as his seconds, with Wright doing all kinds of fist pumping and looking like he wants to jump into the fray himself. The unusually gruesome finish makes up for it though as Wanz just kicks a bloody Sailor in the kidneys and ribs until the ref stop. Enjoyable bout.
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Semi Finals of the Tournament Mariko Yoshida vs. Hiromi Yagi (5/4) Re-take of their classic from February. Yagi even wears the same outfit as if to intimidate her opponent. Yoshida is wounded from the previous match against Fukawa, and Yagi pounces on her arm from the beginning. For a match that is „another piece“ in the rivalry this was great in it's own right. Yoshida does some really great selling, including contorting her body in crazy fashion to avoid the armbar, and strategic adjustments when she realizes she is too damaged to do her signatures properly, so modifies a few leg submissions so she can do them without using her arms. Pretty great stuff and shows she could do more than just lock in spectacular submissions. Yoshida had been nigh invulnerable before, and even with her not being at 100% they do a fantastic job making you wonder if Yagi can really do the impossible and beat her. Hard to do that kind of that match that keeps you guessing, but they did it here. Another match that was helped by the booking, as the previous tournament matches had established a match can end at anytime. Michiko Ohmukai vs. Candy Okutsu (5/4) Candy has really done a number in 1999, making me hate her and her bullshit moonsaults. I just wanted Ohmukai to flip out and bash her brains in. And bah gawd she actually did it! Uranage, Solebutt, 1, 2, 3 and it's over.
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[1976-06-11-AJPW] Terry Funk vs Jumbo Tsuruta
Jetlag replied to Superstar Sleeze's topic in June 1976
Even after years of watching shootstyle, lucha title matches, World of Sport and funky ARSION matwork, the deliberate technical work in this bout has lost nothing of it's fascination. The match starts great enough with a tireless chant for Jumbo, while Funk shoots for the leg, Jumbo sprawls and they end up doing a lock up on their knees, with Funk sliding across the ring on his knees. This whole match with it's graceful wrestling and proper title match atmosphere feels like the equivalent to Atlantis/Blue Panther, Myers/Grey, whatever you like.Then Funk brings forth the greatest arm work I've ever seen. I hate when lousy wrestlers go for trite wristlocks over and over, and it is so nice to see Funk making so much out of one of the most simple holds. Really, the whole match is a testament to the greatness of Terry Funk: we love him as the psycho brawler, the erratic madman, but in this match he looks like the greatest wrestler to ever live. Always keeping things interesting with his unique counters and aggression, brilliant transitions, impeccable timing. The headbutts from the greco roman lockup, elbow grinding Jumbo in the face, making great use of the rolling pin combo, working the neck, conveying desperation and of course his awesome signature weeble wobble selling. It's a masterclass if I've ever seen one. Jumbo is quite good as the unstoppable olympic superman - I liked how he would knock Terry's arm down from the lockup, and he can deliver quite the bomb throwing with his slow motion suplex moves, bringing Terry to the edge of defeat, understands how to sell (at times) - still it's hard not to see this match as Terry dragging Jumbo by the ear to a great match, and not be a little disgruntled Jumbo takes so much of the work, with his stuff just not being on the level of Terry. Well, I won't hold it against him, because Terry was #1 that night. Terry Funk, what a wrestler you are. -
Jaguar Yokota vs. Mimi Hagiwara (early 80s handheld) This is some handheld from YouTube without a date. I assume this is early 80s before Yokota lost her hair. A period that seems like one of the best for women's wrestling to me. This match is easy to hate, because it has a bunch of legwork that isn't sold a ton, but there's lots of good wrestling to make up for it. Yokota controlling on the mat and constantly attacking the leg, even reversing Hagiwara's desperation rollups into leglocks, was really great. They make good use of the bigger submissions, with Hagiwara locking in a surprise Scorpion Deathlock after Yokota had controlled her so long that got a big reaction, then move into a finishing run that's as intense and dramatic as in any other wrestling match at any point in history, like a high end lucha title match. They actually build to the big spots well, exhaustion selling kicks in, time limit comes into play and Hagiwara dishes out some insane moves. It's worlds apart from your typical run of the mill workrate match too, as small details such as Yokota taking huge bumps for a posting or Hagiwara following up a piledriver with knee drops to the back of the head add so much to the competitiveness. Is this match a classic, one for your laundry list of all time greats? Who knows, I don't even give a shit anymore. I know the talent on display is incredible.
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Maki Ueda!!! At this point, I'd kill to see some of those longer title matches from the Budokan that AJW had. This was quite the spectacle - as it was a 20 minutes clean technical bout. Just a chance to see Ueda being quite the skillful grappler. Kayama was good too, but kind of along for the ride. Not for the faint of the heart, as they do a bunch of limbwork that isn't really sold, but it's such an oddity that I can forgive it. Interesting holds and throws a plenty. Interesting fact: According to wrestlingdata, both Maki and Jackie Sato were trained by Umenosuke Kiyomigawa. Who is Umenosuke Kiyomigawa, you ask? Kiyomigawa is a guy who has spent quite a bit of time wrestling in central europe, and is the one japanese guy that I've heard european wrestlers speak highly of. Klaus Kauroff even credits Kiyomigawa with training him. Maybe that explains the unique grappling style the AJW girls used that seems more advanced than anything I've seen from japanese natives at the time, besides the occasional Fujinami match.