squidlad

This was truly and honestly one of the most beastly matches I have ever seen. Tenryu lays in some of the stiffest kicks and chops of his whole career (and think of the ground that covers) and follows it up with some gnarly chair shots and even dives! And the dives actually look pretty good because they're just this reckless old man throwing his entire bodyweight onto his opponent and hoping the landing doesn't suck. Araya takes a mean kick to the face late in the match and emerges seconds later with a bloody nose, it's such an extreme level of violence. Both guys killed themselves for an end result that probably wasn't worth it but I give them all the kudos in the world. ****1/2.

Would have loved this to be slightly longer but as it stands it's all action and all violence for 10 blistering minutes. Phenomenal bumping from both guys and crazy athleticism in particular from Vader. Crowd goes wild for every moment of offense. ****

I am raving about the Ultimate Triad Match between Shingo Takagi and Aaron Henare. A remarkably coherent 38 match for someone with the skill level of Henare. Shingo deserves huge praise for this. The best worker in the company at the moment.

Tight, no nonsense work and Impeccable selling from both men. I particularly loved Steamboat's selling off the piledriver, wincing like his neck has been compressed rather than the total KO we usually see. I loved everything bell-to-bell but it felt like they left a fair amount on the table for the rematch. ****1/4. I feel like the finish has gotten a bum rap (possibly owing to the angle setting it up not being included in the 1992 yearbook? I'm not sure), so I'll try to explain it: Earlier on in the show Medusa lures the ninja away (who both here and on TV is a man about a head shorter than Ricky Steamboat) from guarding Steamboat's locker room. He is then presumably set upon by the Dangerous Alliance. Later, just before the introductions of the match, 'the ninja' returns. Steamboat comes out of the locker room and takes one glancing look at him before heading to the ring. After which the fake ninja follows behind Steamboat and spends the entire match with his back to the ring. The answer to 'why didn't Steamboat recognize it was a different person in the costume?' is that Steamboat only got a half second look at him before his match started.