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G. Badger

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  1. G. Badger
    A perfect little match for where it was on the card. A nice bit of psychology with Austin working on the ribs. Very good pace and all action. Enjoyed the tombstone spot especially when it hit! Highly recommended
  2. G. Badger
    10 years too late I bought the WWE Ladder match v. 1, Ricky Steamboat, and Eddie Guerrero - Viva La Raza comps. Psyched on watching those in the next couple weeks.
  3. G. Badger
    That's pretty cool! I miss that- when a small package or roll up would win a bout. It works well in a tourney and it puts a guy over as a technician. Steamboat, Fujinami, Danielson winning on a pinning combo was a beautiful and satisfying win in my book. Which match or what promo was the Punk - Cabana match in BTW? I'd like to see that
  4. G. Badger
    Kudos for going through 1987 AJPW! Its a very Wajima - Ishikawa heavy year plus random NWA gaijin. Definitely going to check this match out based on your review. Hara is a total overlooked talent. BTW from what I've seen '87 AJ Dibiase is good stuff as well.
  5. G. Badger
    Unfortunately, I have only seen the parts with Takada & Fujinami since I have this in part on a couple of comps. I'll share my view on what I have Takada vs Keichi Yamada - It really may be one of the coolest NJ mat matches for its time. You know Takada's going to win but you don't know when or how. Yamada really made Takada work and therefore scrapped his crappy tendency to do things out of logical order and lay in a rest hold. Yamada was great even before Liger. Great match Takada vs Seiji Sakaguchi - I've never really heard anything good about Sakaguchi but, um I haven't heard any overwhelming criticism either. This was very good match especially when you see how big Sakaguchi is compared to Takada. He looks like how Giant Baba "should" look & he's credible in this style because if I'm correct he's a champion caliber Judoka. Fujiwara vs Tatsumi Fujinami - This begins with Fujinami coming out to a hero's welcome and Fujiwara standing, scowling, bleeding in the ring like violence personified. They generally work around the sleeper hold and no one does it better than 'wara. If he's not selling like someone hit him with Sarin gas, he's going for an escape or counter. Eventually, the action spills outside and 'wara is like an animal trying to maim or put Tatsumi to sleep...perhaps trying for the double count out win for UWF. After the piledriver on the bare floor (!) both are bleeding but, 'nami looks like a red face painted Muta. This encourages Fujiwara who blasts 'nami with a European uppercut to the face...but therein lies his downfall. Classic stuff Fujinami vs Akira Maeda - Tatsumi gets a chance to wipe up a little and catch a breath as Maeda comes out. Despite the sanguine spillage, he's still spry. They take it to the mat right away. Clearly, the fresh Maeda has the advantage but, NJ's last chance is fighting at every opportunity. This gets rough and tumble as things go. Mr. Maeda even kicks Fujinami back open with short soccer kicks to the face. Even when the match is over, the animosity is still in the air. Classic match up which sets up their 6/12/86 bout. These four matches which play into the larger elimination match are the epitome of original or perhaps true Strong Style.
  6. G. Badger
    Seiji Sakaguchi's out there. Hey! Why don't you whisper into the mic some more? I kid! Liger comes out in some red long johns like he's my grandpa. Of course Liger doesn't have a set of false teeth like gramps has or maybe he does??what do I know? The costume change must be meaningful because he's full of the piss and vinegar I keep hearing about. What he didn't count on was Kikuchi and Kanemaru drank jugs of old apple cider too! They bring the business to the NJ Jr. belt holders. Who's tough now Liger? Hahaha! It doesn't stop Minoru from being smug and I love it. But, the story of this match stems from the man with the Rising Sun on his pants. To address this, I present a series of questions. What words does Kikuchi croak out of that cigarette and sake scarred gullet? Is it "Kill me?"Or "Maim me?" I ask this because if these are his wishes, Liger is the genie of the lamp! Oh, tag out man! We get it! You're tough!! I love it though. These men deserve a round of applause; this is the match you wanted all along.
  7. G. Badger
    Every wrestler here fit their role perfectly. The standouts were Baba with decades of skill and experience, Fuchi with smarts and skill and Tenryu, the god of grump. No one is better than Tenryu in showing strength and weakness simultaneously...other than Kawada and Terry Funk IMO. One really felt that the Triple Crown champ was on the ropes when 1000 year old Rusher Kimura was head butting him but, seamlessly, Tenryu would chop Kimura in the fucking throat and change the momentum. Brilliantly, Fuchi would storm in like Jr. Tenryu that he is and get brutal even on the bully champ. Fuyuki and Kawada were perfect lackeys in this match and kept their schtick simple. This benefitted Kawada the most. Here he looked like the Kawada who would bloom fully in late 1991 and 1992. Godbless Dangerous K. This period of wrestling is full of diamonds in the rough and this is a perfect example.
  8. G. Badger
    This was/is on the DVDVR Top 150 of the AJ 80's...whew that's a mouthful...anyhow it's near the bottom. So, my expectations were super low which I've found is an awesome place to be in! If this is the worst on the list then I really ought to see the other low end stuff! The Funks were in effect as always and Ueda (from 3/26/86 NJPW fame) and Buck Robley were just great cheatin' mid-carders. Like most great Funk matches the brawl after the match was as good or better than the actual bout. Really enjoyed this one. Great match
  9. G. Badger
    So there's been a bunch of stuff said about this match. I'm sure everyone's read something positive and negative about this one. That's cool because it's a really great match. It' got a Champion's Carnival vibe to it because they go for broke with a sense of urgency. I think it's because it's 1999 and these guys aren't spring chickens anymore. It kinda reminds me of the 1995 Champion Carnival match in that the desire is to not only win the match but, survive. Also, there is an allusion to the 1993 Real World Tag league finals too. I haven't read anyone else saying that but, I think it's there. Also this reminds me of the 9/02/95 Hokuto vs. Toyota match. If you're into those matches then, you'll dig this.
  10. G. Badger
    Misawa is such a dick here. He slaps Taue during a rope break & when they go to lock up he hits him with a stiff elbow shot. Taue gets his revenge though throwing up some mean boots, dumping a couple Samoan drops & even throwing our little superhero on a row of chairs. Misawa only get pissed and gets his comeback mojo going by countering the DDT with a northern lights suplex (never seen him do that one!) and getting a nearfall with the Tiger Driver. Still it's not enough for Taue! Then Misawa does the unspeakable, whether it was planned or improvised, he performs the first Tiger Driver '91!!! It's still the most dangerous finisher & establishes it's reputation soundly. Taue isn't kicking out or really even moving that much afterwards. Me thinks Jumbo & Taue want payback...bad. Relatively short match but all action. Great match
  11. G. Badger
    I'm going to have to disagree with the overall view of this match. It's lacking something that pushes it into top gear. It lacks any sort of organization or logic most importantly. Guys are tagging in, then back out for apparently no reason other than to set up the next spot or sequence. Additionally, there's no focus on who to attack or to work over body part etc. It just seems like they said, "hey we're in good shape let's do 15 minutes at full tilt and throw some rest holds in there to catch a breather." Also this why each team did like a dozen tags...So, there's no really selling of the damage and no intermatch story or drama. Plus the finish was goofy. Muto did 4 moves in a row as he likes to do and then eats a lariat and gets pinned with a Northern Light suplex?? I get these were their finishers but, nothing else led up to Muto being worn down or beat up. Again, he was flying around the ring seconds earlier. I really really wanted to like this match as I rewatched it twice in two days. Plus I'm a Hase & Chono fan and an overall sucker for tags from the late 80s & early 90s. It just never seemed to come together as something wholly great. Complaints aside it was fun and I would highly recommend others check it out as I'm in the minority.
  12. G. Badger
    I always liked Bill Alfonso as RVD's manager. More of a hype man like Flavor Flav to Chuck D. That's the way to book a babyface manager... A guy that's gonna pump the fans up to see his star plus give comedic relief and occasionally bail him out of tough spot. I think this echoes the above point, it was a heel manager gimmick that became beloved...comedy plays a big part in making that shift. Corney, Hart especially have that comedic value as managers.. They play it up more when working as faces though.
  13. G. Badger
    This is the perfection of the Bruiser Brody memorial match on 8-29-88. Holy cow is this match some closed fisted, sweat swapping wrestling. People don't talk a lot about Yoshiaki Yatsu or Ashura Hara yet they are total skull crushers. Yatsu is a real top talent and is worthy of a spotlight review because I know he's a tag master! This match is just another fine example that our chubby cheeked friend will smash his elbows into your skull and eat your brain!! Maybe not so much on the second part. So, Ashura Hara is equally vicious especially his Crowbar Lariat. I can't remember where I heard it called that but, shit! Its about as stiff as one. Love it and his jehri curl. Tenryu rocks one as well and everyone loves Tenryu. I am really glad that I have this match because it is a true classic and maybe a forgotten one at that. I never hear it batted around as one of the "all time never forget this date" classic AJPW matches. I think people get confused with the finish. I have no idea why though. This bout becomes a whirlwind of legs, arms and bodies by the finish. And it ends perfectly for me. Go see the Tenryu-Jumbo singles matches, and see this match because it's just as essential as any of those:P Classic Match
  14. G. Badger
    I can see why some people wouldn't like this match. The Inoki drama plays into this match big time. Even if you didn't know this, the NJ production people give a great build-up of clips to show the Hvy. Wt. matches leading up to this date as well as the history of Inoki in Japan. In regards to the match, it was a gruelling 60 minutes of struggling to gain the upperhand. Inoki probably controlled more than Fujinami (60-40) but, Fujinami had youth on his side. Just an amazing display of endurance and athleticism and a perfect story showing the fighting spirit, strong style and NJPW leading up in essence to this very match. It's not really an ending but the continuation. The clips really helped get this across especially after the match. The definitive Inoki strong style epic, a puroresu must-see.
  15. G. Badger
    I thought 6/11 was better overall. The only tremendously stiff kick was the one that put Maeda down. Maeda's shots were pretty good but loose as if he's afraid that he'll hit Takada full force and blow the finish of the match ala 6/12/86. This was shoot-style though with no pick-ups or snap mares etc. but they didn't bring the stiffness like the June match. Still it was good in building to the equality of the two men. Takada has got his kicks yet is credible on the ground as his three submission attempts toward the end showed. Maeda is credible with his kicks but they lack the strength (at least here) but, he is deadly on the mat, opting to slide out of holds rather than use precious rope breaks. What's special about this match is that they use the new rope break/downs system to maximum dramatic effect. Knowing the outcome may have hurt my opinion: Great match but, not a classic encounter.
  16. G. Badger
    I believe this was the second show of UWF 2nd stage and so they did this match as a bit of strong style in it's stiffest format. For example, they picked one another up, there was a snap mare and a large number of rope breaks instead of escapes. So with that said, it's totally understandable that they opted to do this. They had to ease people back into the U-style and not discredit everything they did in '86, '87, and the first half of '88. That's wild when you think about it. There was a three year gap and three years in wrestling is a long time...basically a seachange from 1985 to 1988. Ok so we take this more as a NJPW match. If that's the case then this is awesome! The submissions aren't as believable until later but the kicks are vicious. Even the submissions were very dramatic because you never knew the one Takada was going going to tap to & Maeda was eating kicks. Really cool brutal stuff. The stiffness didn't take this over to the level of violence that was shown in 7/24/89 & that was beautifully teased in the Yamazaki/Fujiwara match. Not quite the same type of match though so it's hard to reconcile where this fits in the shoot-style paradigm. A classic for a strong style match but not up to credibility standards for UWF or shoot style...got to rate it more as straight pro-wrestling.
  17. G. Badger
    This is a really slept on tag match (as is the 12/93 tag). People really need to go out of the AJW bubble because JWP has got the great stuff too. The only problem with this match was that Ozaki was paired with really lesser wrestlers. She was at a disadvantage but a few times it looked like they had the win on Chigusa who wasn't necessarily treated on the level of Dynamite & Devil. Plum was very good here & Cuty was only in enough that you wouldn't get tired of her. I thought she was better than Takako in the 7/31/93 Thunderqueen match & she might have been but, overall she is worse than Takako. She is quite limited in the basics of pro-wrestling where Takako is AJW trained goodness. Everyone else here was amazing especially Ozaki, Devil, and Chigusa. And to top it off the 2 count rule was worked to perfection, almost to the point where I think they should use it all the time in 6-person tags. Classic gimmick match
  18. G. Badger
    Cuty is pretty crumby in general but she played her role here as did Plum who is a bit better than Cuty as she actually understands ring positioning, taking bumps properly etc. But let's be honest this is all about Devil & Chigusa and it did not disappoint. There was a real strong focus on submissions and it really seemed any of the later ones could have done it for both women. Chiggy & Devil show why they are wrestling heroes...especially when the Crush Gal almost got murdered with powerbombs & suplexes. She legitimately looked F'ed Up at the end. This is really cool considering I'm using their classic match from '85 as my primer for this one! A lost joshi classic
  19. G. Badger
    Fall #1 A very long and mat based fall. Some of the holds and escapes are really painful & remarkable. Some are pedestrian - one hold segment in particular comes to mind- Inoki's head scissor control segment. It goes on a bit too long but, there is some nice movement on Bill's part. It kinda looks like the Snake Pitter is wrestling himself rather than Inoki in this part. The finish saves us from this little lull. It's quick and surprising. Fall #2 This carries over from the end of fall # 1. It is much more physical & heated. It's uncooperative in the best way-stiff blows and hard-fought suplexes. Fall #3 This is quick, hard-hitting and heated fall. It's not over, even when it's over! Classic match
  20. G. Badger
    Not to be outdone by little girls, Aja and Bison beat the living shit out of each other. It's not so much a wrestling match as an assault! Oh wow, that was good! In fact this is one of the earliest matches that I've seen where we have the prime era Aja Kong. She has shed the punker image and is now just full on brutal woman-beast. And if anyone wants to take it and keep kicking ass its Bison. She is by far one of the toughest wrestlers I've ever seen. There's one time during the match when guest commentator Debbie Malenko goes, "Is she bleeding from the head or the mouth? I can't tell" Yeah,this match is badass. Great match
  21. G. Badger
    An awesome match with multiple levels of false finishes. The survival tag format made it interesting because expectations were much different from what transpired. The match showed two teams go at it and then whoever was defeated would be eliminated and would be replaced by a new member. Essentially, it was an Iron Man tag match for KENTA and a lesser extent Kensuke Sasaki. Those two, in particular showed tremendous endurance. That statement doesn't mean to diminish Nakajima or Kobashi though. They weren't in as long but, *ahem* that just means they were in 15 less and this thing went an hour! The excellent team dynamics were played up early on but the inevitable tag match took place and in essence the real match began. The two teams of mentor and student showed equal amounts of toughness and skill. They were able to work complex sequences deep into the match as well as pull out K-Hall awesomeness like you know they could! The diehard crowd was hot throughout (even though I watched this with no sound) and the selling was strong especially in the case of KENTA. The length harkened back to the great AJ 6 mans in 90-91. Like those, I just didn't want the match to end. The men showed maximum heart, ability and toughness.
  22. G. Badger
    Found my old review: Baby Toyota vs. Baby Hokuto! This is full of nice surprises especially from Toyota who doesn't have her 90's moveset just yet. So there are no moments where she bites off more than she can chew nor, times where you can call which one of her favorite tricks she is going to do. Here she has a solid match which is fought manly on the ground. This works because Joshi puroresu is still in the old style where singles matches are mat matches with nice highspots serving as points of action and transition. I like this because moves in this match and other great matches of its ilk are used to secure pinfalls or to shift momentum and then take control back on the mat with a hold. So, with that being my preference when all is said and done, I really enjoyed this match. I would call it a great match but, not tremendous in terms of moves or brutality as many of their 90s matches would be. Again, the style had not shifted at this point but, if you want to look at where it would be going-look to this match. It bridges the gap by pushing the speed, complexity, and accuracy of maneuvers, while working submissions aggressively and inserting classic pinning predicaments.
  23. G. Badger
    AJ took it right to Joe and set the tone for this match. Intense and physical as hell. It was full of nice surprises,teases, hard way blood from both guys, and fantastic pacing. Plus, the post match kept the story going setting up Daniels vs Joe. This really is a classic match alongside anything they did in ROH. Its really a testament to how TNA was mismanaged. Styles, Joe, and Daniels could have been having classics like these for the Heavyweight belt for a few years instead we got 2000 era WCW redux and all kinds of other stupidity.
  24. G. Badger
    This was indeed an epic encounter. Stiff, hard fought, with plenty of little touches of violence like a Tsuruta & Tenryu match. It was a little rough around the edges and could have been a minute or two shorter but, that helped in a way. It looked like they really were trying to kick each others ass. Paul London is on of the greats from ROH that may be most overlooked. He was there for a short amount of time relative to Danielson, Daniels, Joe but, was clearly on their level or beyond. Perhaps he went to WWE too soon or he should not have gone at all. Also these earlier matches lack the production quality (announcing is pretty terrible) so they seem more Indy-like than later stuff. Also unavailability of the early shows or even comps has hurt his ROH legacy. He really does shine despite these things. ROH has a Best of Year 2 DVD 2 disc set from 2012 available still which is how I watched this classic match.
  25. G. Badger
    Some thoughts on this match: Larger arena and card than the Champ. Carnival matches from 2016. Very nice to see AJPW in a venue of this size. Its nice to have SUWAMA back as the roster is kinda sparce. On to the match: Great heelish tactics from SUWAMA. Strong focus on the sleeper hold and trying to damage Kento's neck. Fantastic strike exchanges and selling by both but, esp. Miyahara as the babyface champ. Glad to see zero flip bumps taken from a lariat. Miyahara finally looked like a world champ here and felt the torch has been passed in this match. Rather than "put the belt on the young handsome babyface." Traditional puro with little flash or gimmicks. An alternative to the current NJ style. This was a classic encounter especially for 2010s AJPW.
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