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dawho5

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Everything posted by dawho5

  1. dawho5
    I'd never seen this match before and it had me popping like crazy. Kawada finally putting the bodyscissors sleeper on Jumbo, basically anything Kawada and Jumbo related in this match is great. Doesn't hurt that Kobashi is all kinds of fired up and wants a piece of both Taue and Jumbo. Kobashi's run of offense near the end on Jumbo and the payoff is off the charts great. Kawada's lariat on Jumbo to start that offense is sublime. I can't believe this match didn't end up getting all kinds of pimped for how great it is.
  2. dawho5
    Actually, you should wait until I finish All Japan again and have time to go through it all first. Great stuff so far and I'm looking forward to the second half of 96.
  3. dawho5
    Some small things about this match because the big things have been covered. Kobashi hit an enzuigiri from the apron that Hansen banged his head into the top turnbuckle selling. On purpose or not that was fantastic. Hansen chopping Kobashi in the corner after the second vicious floor beating of Kobashi (body slam into the rail and Oklahoma stampede into the post) and turning to jaw with Higuchi only to eat a side kick from Kobashi was so fucking great. The sleeper sequence was mentioned, but the floor lariat that Kobashi sprints into afterwards and the desperate struggle to get off the floor afterwards are awesome. As is the fight to get back into the ring that ends with a Kobashi crossbody for his biggest nearfall of the match. I would put this behind the 7/29/93 match and ahead of the 4/93 fancam match and the 94 CC match. I'm not sure which of those two I have a 3 and 4, but I can say that any feud wth that kind of quality is something else. Also, at this point of 91 this is right behind 4/20 as my MOTY for All Japan.
  4. dawho5
    The sleeper was to build for Kawada vs. Jumbo. Kawada had beaten Fuchi and then Taue with his bodyscissors sleeper around a month or two earlier. So Jumbo using it to finish (obviously had to be Kikuchi) here seemed like a message to me.
  5. dawho5
    Those are great ideas, but I don't know that they'd be as good as the WWE list podcasts. The WWE lists seem pretty all over the place with enough goofiness, favoritism and attempts at representing a particular style or promotion with more than likely the wrong match to make for really good discussion material. Stuff like the DVDVR lists probably won't have near as much of that as the WWE lists.
  6. dawho5
    Great stuff on the tag team episode. I would agree with Parv on the pairing. I wonder, if either Kelly or Marty have watched much 80s AJPW and how the style was not as hard-hitting as one would assume based on the 90s, if Hansen in that environment was similar to Valentine in the 80s WWF?
  7. dawho5
    That Ladd promo was really great. Loved how he got excited then went back to the more subtle menacing tone. The Howlin' Wolf tune before the easter egg was sweet also. As for the easter egg I'm just glad I never went to college in Texas.
  8. dawho5
    I thought "fun" was about right as far as describing this match. Kawada vs. Hansen was the best part for sure. Spivey not killing the match could also be considered a highlight. About midway through 1991 I'm in complete agreement with Ditch. Hansen/Spivey are more consistently good and somehow far better at filling time in matches than Williams/Gordy. I guess we'd be looking at it differently if the MVC would have been booked in 15 minute and under matches more consistently.
  9. dawho5
    100% in the Loss/Pete/Chad camp. This match bored me after the good opening.
  10. dawho5
    Oh man, that match and the Kobashi match the night before are among my favorite Hansen matches. I would have to rewatch the Taue match to see if I thought it was in the same vein or not. I think the best comparison I can come up with off the top of my head is the 99 RWTL Final with Taue vs. Kobashi/Akiyama. The crowd so wanted the old school revival (Taue was almost like a fill-in for Baba as Hansen's partner) team to come through with the win against a heavily favored Burning team. Made for a completely different Stan Hansen match.
  11. dawho5
    Yeah, Hansen as the sympathetic babyface is so freaking great. But I still prefer Hansen the force of nature at the end that even Gordy couldn't keep under control. One thing about Hansen a lot of people miss is his selling and ability to switch gears when he needs to. He's always remembered as an all-time great for his offense, but he's the complete package.
  12. dawho5
    Just watched the 4/18/91 tag and I think it deserves a spot up there with some of Hansen's best for radically different reasons than most of the Stan Hansen matches I've seen that have already been mentioned. Hansen as the face-in-peril is incredible when it happens and it's really hard to believe that unless you've actually seen it.
  13. dawho5
    Some things I found worth mentioning on my first watch ever of this match. The crowd is chanting for Misawa (as loud as the music when it hits ) before the music starts. Holy fuck is that awesome. I thought Jumbo doing small things really made the middle and the end. Like where he heard the chants for Misawa after a few nearfalls, pauses to react to the fans and gives Misawa the rana reversal for a nearfall. That's some genius shit for a much bigger pop than you'd think a rana would get in a heavyweight match. Then things like the twitch after the DDT make me love Jumbo so much. I thought this was better than the June match by a long way but shy of the September one. Jumbo's quest to stay on top makes that match transcendent to me, where this is as much Misawa's Kawada in 6/3/94 performance. The first match he got lucky with the timing of things when Jumbo crotched himself on the ropes after hurting his arm, which opened up the rollup being a possible finish for Misawa. The second match was where we saw that Misawa was still a clear number two with some work to do before he stood a chance at beating Jumbo. This match Misawa really threatens Jumbo late, even hitting an elbow (reminded me of the Williams match in 94 a lot) after the first backdrop driver that forced Jumbo to up the ante with two in order to put him away. Great match for sure, but not their best. I would say that was as much because of the focus of the match as anything. Misawa just was not as compelling as the guy trying to catch Jumbo compared to Jumbo as the veteran trying desperately to show he was still number one. If you look at it in terms of All Japan booking the matches all have a purpose which they serve really, really well.
  14. dawho5

    Updates!

    dawho5 replied to WingedEagle's topic in 2016

    Yeah, I'd have a hard time putting Kobashi anywhere below 15 despite my absolute hatred of the excesses he indulged in. At his best he was an incredible worker with a great understanding of how to get a crowd behind him. And even on his worst days the guy was giving 110% for the entirety of every match.
  15. dawho5
    This was a really good listen for me. It highlighted some things that I really don't think about a lot and I probably ought to. Gives me another way of looking at wrestling, which is a huge plus. Thanks to Tim, Will and KrisZ.
  16. dawho5
    This match is great for so many reasons. It plays off of a lot of stuff that has led up to it. It is at Korakuen and Kikuchi is in it. Kikuchi actually gets to look good on offense for a few brief stretches, despite the whiffed diving headbutt. There's a lot of stuff in here that is a callback to things that have happened in the months prior. Oh, and Kawada slamming Taue down on the piece of railing Misawa and Kikuchi took out and laid on the floor is incredible. It's not a 10/90 or 4/91 level awesome 6-man, but it's right up there behind them.
  17. dawho5
    Taue's offense in the full version is very un-Taue in nature. Unless there was a clip I missed it came in at about 8 minutes.
  18. dawho5
    Man, I am two behind. That Flair promo on Hogan from 99 was absolutely amazing. Loving these, keep up the good work.
  19. dawho5
    This Parv vs. Pete feud better live up to all of this hype. Also, I think Steven has to be on the second one to avoid the asterisk. Can't have Martin calling himself the undisputed champ when it is, in fact, disputed. Great stuff though. I look forward to the encyclopedia guys being on there and seeing what kind of ridiculously obscure questions Johnny will come up with for them.
  20. dawho5
    What happened to the New Year's resolution Johnny? I'd be disappointed if it wasn't funny stuff.
  21. dawho5
    Don't get me wrong, I'm just asking questions. I tend to cherrypick matches a lot myself so I completely understand. I just know that when I have watched all the lead-ins I tend to enjoy the match more for it in a well-booked feud. I was just wondering if you saw any difference between cherrypicking the present and the past. The rest was just stuff that popped into my head as I was typing that up.
  22. dawho5
    Okay, here's a question for you then just for the sake of discussion. IF you separate the wrestling from the booking and watch for the good matches, what is the difference between that and watching a match from the past with little to no context? Isn't it a very similar thing once you think about it? And another question. How can you have truly great wrestling matches without context derived from a well-booked feud? What makes matches great is often something more than just the work in the ring. It's the meaning of what's going on in the ring as it relates to the feud between the workers. Does the lack of a consistent, well-crafted narrative outside of the matches in a vacuum have an impact on the matches themselves? Which leads me to yet another question. Is this what Vince means by "sports entertainment"? Is that a part of his disconnect from what he would call "pro wrestling"? It's obvious that there are aspects of the older styles that he doesn't care for and has done away with. Or it could be just a side effect of the philosophy that the brand is bigger than any of the stars that work within it.
  23. dawho5
    Didn't Lanny work one match as the fake Jericho during the Malenko feud? A bit off-topic, but I would swear he did.
  24. dawho5
    Kikuchi was big in the early 90s as the whipping boy for team Misawa. He was essentially THE face-in-peril and you have to realize that guys get over big in Japan on showing spirit. Which happens to be a huge strength of Kikuchi's along with selling. I have to think you'll eventually at least like Kobashi's offense. The suplexes will probably win you over even if the crying doesn't. I am one of those few who is very down on Kobashi's later career work with the exception of certain matches. I almost hate you for being down on Kawada. But I will forgive. It seems like you are skipping an important match in 8/92 Misawa vs. Hansen. It's one of the matches that cements Misawa as a force to be reckoned with. Also, one of Hansen's few really great matches with Misawa. Great listen guys, keep up the good work.
  25. dawho5
    Just rewatched this and it is only the second match of 1990 that had me going all the way through. Everything is sharp, well-placed and brutal. Only thing that comes close to this so far in 90 is Fuchi vs. Kikuchi as a total package. The Misawa vs. Jumbo rematch on 9/1 has an incredible finishing run to go with the incredible story of Jumbo's fight to remain on top, but the lulls drop it just below this one. The wrestlers and the crowd were on fire from the get-go and it's a great, great watch.
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