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Everything posted by ohtani's jacket
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The All Japan style, though to be fair it's a criticism that could be extended to most Japanese promotions. Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu (8/30/88) Rare to see the same match-up two nights in a row. I thought this had a much better beginning, focusing initially on the animosity between Jumbo and Tenryu and then on Tenryu and Hara trying to re-injure Jumbo's knee from the night before. You could possibly argue that Jumbo blew off the knee work a bit, but I thought he brought a high level of intensity to the bout and was involved in a number of clever payback spots. The transitions were really good and usually involved some form of stiff lariat or uppercut shot, and I also thought the nearfalls were effectively spaced both off the Yatsu german and the Tenryu powerbomb. Even more impressive was the fact that Tenryu using a table to attack Jumbo with, and Jumbo retaliating by throwing him over the barricade and using some plunder of his own, came across as being "in the moment" and not the forced momentum lifter it often is in these bouts. The match seemed to flow better, and I wasn't aware of how much time had elapsed when the ring announcer called 10 minutes then 20 minutes. There was a problem, however, with the phantom three count that occurred around the 25 minute mark. I didn't bother checking, but I suspect it was botched somehow. Sometimes that type of confusion can add to the drama, but here it took the wind out of their sails a bit. I also thought they leant a bit too heavily on the All Japan trope of partners saving each other from being pinned; to the extent that Hara wouldn't leave the friggin' ring. I was getting annoyed at Wada for not forcing him back to his corner, and I wasn't sure how I felt about the sandwich pin at the end. The sympathy for Tenryu was amazing, and man did Jumbo suplex him out of his boots. It was interesting to see Hara do the Kobashi spot from 6/9/95 and throw himself over his partner, but the sandwich pin felt a bit bush league. That's the kind of finish you'd expect to see in a comedy match or some squash match, not in a world title match. Other than that it was an excellent match and clearly better than the night before. No surprise then that it finished lower in the DVDVR voting than 8/29.
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Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu (8/29/88) The first half of this seemed pointless to me. There was no direction, no narrative, and no real flow to it. Neither side seized the momentum, there was no discernible strategy, and no hook. It wasn't until Jumbo injured his knee that the match took any shape and that was almost 20 minutes into the bout. The stretch run was a mess as well. Guys kept tagging in and out instead of the obvious trope of Jumbo being cut off from Yatsu. They ran with it at first, then Jumbo tagged in Yatsu, and he had an incredibly awkward exchange with Hara. That killed the momentum so they switched back to Jumbo in jeopardy with Yatsu taken out on the outside with a power bomb Tenryu was unable to execute properly. Jumbo couldn't find his partner when he crawled back to his corner, but instead of a pay off, he went on the offensive for the remainder of the finishing stretch. Tenryu clipped Jumbo's knee to finish the bout, but they went with a small package reversal which is an ugly visual for guys as cumbersome as this. It worked in the sense that both guys were desperate and had thrown everything they had at each other, but wasn't a satisfactory pay off for the only point of story the bout had. This had the heat you'd expect from an All Japan tag, but not the crescendo. Hara's hair was amazing, though, and he it was weird seeing him mobile and actually trying to wrestle. Yatsu was weak, though. Often it felt like he and Jumbo were wrestling different matches given the contrast each time they tagged in. Tenryu wasn't really clear in what he was doing either. Long tags have never been this style's forte, IMO.
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Wow, I had no idea about that.
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Baby Jesus just cried.
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The Beginner's Guide To British Wrestling
ohtani's jacket replied to ohtani's jacket's topic in Megathread archive
I don't think so. There were three Jones vs. Rocco matches that aired on The Wrestling Channel. One from '76 and two from '78. Two were available online and the third I had to custom order. I can rip the third one for you if you like. -
'74? What match is that?
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Did Vince give himself an award in MSG?
ohtani's jacket replied to Sidebottom's topic in Pro Wrestling
I hate to be a killjoy, but it's probably in that giant warehouse where they keep all the props from previous PPVs. -
This was a nice rib. Unfortunately, I don't think there's enough van Buyten on tape for him to make it, but a great worker. I'd have him in my top 10 Euro guys for the 80s without hesitation.
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The Beginner's Guide To British Wrestling
ohtani's jacket replied to ohtani's jacket's topic in Megathread archive
THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR Ep 23 Kevin Conneely vs. Carl Jason (Aberystwyth, taped 1983) One of the strangest things about this Reslo footage is seeing Irish comedy worker Kevin Conneely appear on TV a good six or seven years after he was last on World of Sport. Apparently, he jumped to All-Star at some point; and since most of Dixon's guys worked for Reslo at some point or another, here he is. He was more or less the Irish version of Les Kellett and cracked jokes the entire bout long. Allegedly, he was tough as nails and a legit shooter, but you'd never know it watching his bouts as he didn't have that hard edge that Kellett possessed. I don't think the Welsh crowd got his humour as much as the English halls did, or perhaps they didn't enjoy it as much. I can't imagine it came across that well on commentary either, as Walton was always on hand to explain some banter Conneely was having with the audience whereas the Reslo commentary was in Welsh. Anyway, Conneely's bouts were rarely as good as Kellett's; and while I enjoyed Carl Jason in his bout with Jackie Robinson, he was the butt of Conneely's jokes here and it's difficult to shine in that sort of role. Giant Haystacks vs. Rory Campbell (11/25/87) Giant Haystacks vs. Rory Campbell (10/20/90) A pair of Haystacks matches. Rory Campbell was 6'4 and 16 or 17 stone but looked about half the size of Haystacks, who was being billed as 45 stone at this point. The first match was Campbell's television and the crowd had no idea who he was. Haystacks threw him about for a bit in a heatless bout before getting on the mic and screaming; "I told you, no more Mr. Nice Guy!" I didn't realise he'd been playing nice. The second bout was filmed in Aberdeen, Scotland after wrestling had gone off the air, and featured dubbed in Walton commentary that Arthur Psycho quipped sounded like he was covering snooker. All the crowd wanted was for Scotsman Rory Campbell to knock Haystacks on his arse, but the fucker wouldn't go down for anything, not even in Aberdeen. That was bullshit, I thought. Steve Taylor vs. Beau Jack Rowlands (Merthyr, taped 1983) Steve Taylor was the brother of Dave Taylor, but very much the Ross Hart of the family. Okay, maybe not that bad, but this went a good 15 minutes and I can't remember him doing anything special. There wasn't a single hold or move that looked snug or was especially well executed, and Reslo didn't shy away from using injury finishes either, which made this seem like an even bigger waste of time. You really want the brother of Dave Taylor to be some lost great worker, but it ain't happening folks. -
Breaks at 11 is really high considering you haven't fully dived into his work.
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Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada (9/3/89 TV) Highly enjoyable bout. It was full of just about every All Japan trope you could imagine, but they were well executed, and in essence I suppose the reason they became tropes is because they worked so well. Tenryu vs. Jumbo really is one of the all-time great in-ring feuds. I'm leaning toward it being Tenryu's best rivalry, even better than his work with Hashimoto. This is the perfect bout to watch if you want something easily digestible as opposed to that all-out effort at an epic I watched the other day. Giant Baba, Rusher Kimura & Masa Fuchi vs. Genichiro Tenryu, Toshiaki Kawada & Ricky Fuyuki (9/24/89 TV) This was part of month long celebrations for Baba's 30th anniversary. I believe it was commemorated at the 9/2 Budokan show and again at this Korakuen Hall show. Then they celebrated it again the following year. Baba made his debut on 9/30/60, so at first I thought they were using the Asian custom of counting the first year as 1, but Inoki made his debut on the same day and held his anniversary celebrations in 1990. Baba held an anniversary show on the same day as Inoki, so either he was trying to save face, fucked up the previous year, or was milking it for more money. Anyway, since it was his anniversary, the commentary was dominated by useless facts about Baba -- favourite foods, favourite drinks, etc. Seventeen minutes had gone by without much excitement then Tenryu picked up a chair and attacked Fuchi for no real reason. I guess he thought he needed to make something happen, but the random chair spot was a bad habit of his. The stretch run had its moments, but wasn't worth sitting through the full match for. Would have been better as a clipped TV match. Baba looked better than in the tag match, but I can't take Rusher Kimura seriously when he looks like a dude who should be preparing my dinner. Tenryu worked hard, but Footloose didn't look great and Fuchi was underwhelming.
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I dunno. The WWE have had a partnership with the Make-a-Wish foundation since the mid-80s, are the biggest sponsors of the charity among the major American "sports" organisations and have granted something like 5,000 wishes. The average Joe watches a short vignette, gets a bit teary-eyed, enjoys a feel good moment then forgets about it instantly. The amount of work that goes into fulfilling that wish, coupled with the wishes that don't make vignettes, dwarfs whatever goodwill or PR they get from it. Just about every sports organisation involved in Make-A-Wish run vignettes about their involvement, as does the charity itself. I'm sure the current WWE management lack tact when it comes to this sort of thing, but at the same time Cena granting 500 wishes is newsworthy and would make the press regardless of whether Cena was a wrestler. So long as they kept sponsoring the charity and continue to grant kids' wishes, I don't think it really matters how they frame it. I watched a random vignette on YouTube about the WWE's involvement in the Make-A-Wish foundation and it seemed sincere to me. At least it was handled in a sincere fashion:
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Well, we know that's not true, but it a match is considered good, I fail to see how a deeper understanding of the context can't enrichen the viewing experience. I think of the Davies/Veidor match which was well received. Most people were quick to single out Davies for his performance but didn't seem to give as much credit to Veidor. I think if they'd seen more of his work, and understood the type of stylist he was and the lengths he went to in order to make his bouts more exciting than the typical heavyweight matches of the day, they'd realise he played a huge part in that being a classic heavyweight match. That doesn't mean they'd necessarily enjoy it any more than the first watch, but it would affect their appraisal or critique of the match, and oftentimes that's where context comes into play. Context matters more when people are criticising a match they don't like. You've written a ton about the Funks in All Japan. If o watched one of their matches at random and criticised it reasons you felt were untrue or unfounded within the context of the Funks work in Japan or some other wider context like 70s wrestling, you'd probably be a bit irked. This type of thing happens all the time when people watch something new, or watch a match at random, and make broad comments about how the match made them feel. Context doesn't matter if everybody agrees that the match is good, but when there's differing views that's when it becomes prickly. You can argue that context shouldn't matter and a great match is a great match, but not all matches are received the same and there's no guarantee that people will be able to enjoy a contextless great match on structural merits alone. I think that's particularly true of new or recent matches which haven't had a chance to stand the test of time. On the other hand, you could give me all the context in the world and I still wouldn't enjoy some matches as they simply do nothing for me. Anyway, I'd say context is a great thing if everybody is singing from the same page, and a defence reflex when they're not that's sometimes justified and sometimes not. It helps to have more of it if you're going to stick the knife into a match, but it's unlikely to change your views much unless your criticisms were specifically to do with a lack of backstory or info about the wrestlers. The majority of the time people complain about more mechanical flaws like pacing, structure or execution than storytelling and characterisation. I also think there's a big difference in people who try to provide an objective analysis of a match and those who simply share their gut feeling. Context is likely to have more impact on the latter rather than the former. The former may come around in time, but based on their own mood and whims and not necessarily additional information and supplementary viewing. Some people may be bothered that they're missing out on someone and want to understand the context and others simply won't care because it didn't hit them in the gut. Both seem like typical responses to me.
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The Beginner's Guide To British Wrestling
ohtani's jacket replied to ohtani's jacket's topic in Megathread archive
THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR Ep 22 Giant Haystacks & Drew McDonald vs. Pat Roach & Robbie Brookside (Machynlleth, taped 2/5/91) This was the best Drew McDonald has looked on the Arthur Psycho Hour. The McDonald/Brookside exchanges were fantastic w/ Brookside being a guy who clearly brought out the best in McDonald. Haystacks squashed Brookside like a bug, which is no surprise given the size difference between the two, and Brookside was forced to leave the ring. That left a grizzled Pat Roach to take on Haystacks and McDonald by himself. He swatted away McDonald and for some reason the ref treated it like an elimination match. I have no idea why McDonald was sent to the back, but he stuck around at ringside and just as we were about to get a Clash of the Titans moment in Roach v. Haystacks, he tripped the Birmingham big man and got his team disqualified. A really great tag match up until that point, but if it ain't BS, it ain't Haystacks. Roach got on the mic and told Haystacks he wasn't worthy of a World title shot, though I'm not sure what belt he was talking about at this point. Johnny Saint vs. Kung Fu (Porthmadog, taped 1988) Another decent, pared-down Johnny Saint match. Paring back his style may take some of the charm away from Saint, but it's allowed me to focus on how good he was mechanically. I do think Saint vs. Kung Fu in their primes would have been interesting. I don't know if it would have necessarily been good, but it would have been interesting. Owen Hart vs. Steve Logan (12/7/83) Owen was about 18 years old here. Walton kept talking about how Logan was more experienced and Owen had a bit to learn yet it went to a draw. Go figure. Clive Myers vs. Lucky Gordon (2/2/81) This was better than I expected. Myers was one of the flashier, more dynamic workers around while Gordon was arguably the most limited of the heels Joint employed yet the dynamic totally worked and it proved a worthy showcase for Iron Fist. As far as crappy one episode tournaments go, this was as good as it gets under those pretenses. Mick McMichael vs. Mike Jordan (3/4/86) Another committed McMichael effort. More comedy than in the Valentine bout, but McMichael was still hellbent on proving he belonged in this Golden Grappler trophy tournament. For some reason, Jordan couldn't eat a proper pinfall or submission, so they went for the usual outside the ring injury finish, but don't let that detract too much from a more focused McMichael run than he'd put on in years. -
English bachelor's degree here and I was taught that it's impossible to ignore context when talking about anything because the meaning behind the language of a text (or the wrestling moves in a wrestling match) is ultimately a direct product of context. Even when people claim to be looking at something "out of context," they're really just looking at it in a different context than it was intended to be viewed in. So it makes no sense to me to say that you rate matches while ignoring context. People watch matches out of context all the time. I watch matches out of context most days of the week. The very first pro-wrestling match I watched was completely out of context. To say that I don't watch things out of context because I contextually understand how a pro-wrestling match works isn't really what people mean by context in this situation. If I encourage people to go watch a Brian Maxine bout, the majority of people on this site will have never seen him work before. No doubt they'll be able to judge the match based on whatever experience they have watching British wrestling in the past or indeed their collective experience of watching pro-wrestling, but aside from making loose associations to other wrestles or other styles (namely Jerry Lawler in the case of Maxine), they'll be forced to piece the context together through Maxine's behaviour and Walton's commentary and come to some form of understanding of the characterisation of the Brian Maxine character. But even then they have nothing to judge it on having never seen Maxine work before. Unless Walton manages to clue them in somehow, they have no idea whether he works like this all the time or if this is a deviation from his standard bouts. Context is something you piece together over time through repeat viewings of the same wrestler, the same promotion and the same style. It may be omnipresent, but that doesn't mean you can just tap into it. When I was a kid, I learned to understand and enjoy pro-wrestling by watching it on a week to week basis and I don't think that process changes simply because I have thousands of matches under my belt. You learn as you go and you piece things together.
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Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen (12/6/89) Different dynamic here with the big boys squaring off. It was the final night of the tag team tournament If I'm not mistaken w/ a winner takes all scenario, so they set about creating a showpiece. We often talk about wrestlers who make a lot out of a little. I sometimes feel like Japanese wrestlers make a lot out of plenty. This was a really dense match. There were so many moves, so much action, so many passages of play that I almost felt like I needed to watch it two or three times to catch all the details. Case in point, I was "rewinding" to catch a transition I'd missed and went too far. Before I knew it, I was re-watching the previous 10 minutes and picking up on a ton of details I'd missed. That type of match is rewarding, but it requires a huge amount of concentration and if you're looking for a quick and easy match that grabs your attention it's a bit like watching a difficult foreign movie when you'e really in the mood for Laurel and Hardy. With so many moves happening, it's easy to zone out and forget who's attacking whom. It didn't really settle into a rhythm until Hansen ripped off Yatsu's head gear and they began working him over and even then it wasn't super compelling. I kind of question the logic of Yatsu throwing a bunch of headbutts when he had a head injury. I know Baba tried to explain it away on commentary, but still. What was really good about this was the stretch run. That was kind of the whole point since they built the entire thing to a grandstand finish, but it was still cool. You had Hansen bleeding, Yatsu with his head all taped up, and Jumbo and Tenryu's personal vendetta spilling over into the battle for the yusho. Again, the Jumbo/Tenryu dynamic was outstanding, and I wonder if what was missing from the Tenryu/Hansen series was the heelish, nonchalant attitude of Tenryu's when he went up against Jumbo. With Hansen he more or less played the native underdog against the big, bad foreigner, but with Jumbo it was a mix of disrespect and spite. Far more layered and much more compelling. Match was long and demanded repeat viewings. Full of All Japan tropes, which aren't so exciting the millionth time around, but in fairness they delivered on their showpiece. Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen (11/29/89) This was a fun match, but at the end of the day it was still Tenryu and Hansen beating on a pair of geriatrics. Baba stayed down for a long time after Tenryu's tope, which was more like a flying forearm smash in execution. For some reason, the ring boys worked on Baba's chest and stomach instead of his head, but with Baba's minimal selling it didn't make much difference anyway. He looked pretty bad in this. You could kind of suspend disbelief because of how beloved he was, but I've never seen Hansen or Tenryu pull their shit as much as they did here. When Hansen bodyslammed Baba, he pretty much laid him down on a bed of feathers. The Baba vs. Hansen and Tenryu segments were cluttered and the whole thing dragged on for too long. You'd have to really be into the storyline to think this was one of the best All Japan matches of the 80s.
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I'll probably be exploring a bit more Grey in the coming days, so I'll put this here to begin with: Steve Grey vs. Ritchie Brooks (7/3/86) Excellent bout, and refreshing too after watching so much shoddy wrestling of late. I have no idea whether I've seen this before as Brooks is the kind of guy I would have turned my nose up at in the past. Reminds me of the Sanders/Grey feud I overlooked in the past because of my prejudices. I'll have to take a look at the other Brooks matches, and the series with Danny Boy Collins as well, as Grey clearly wasn't as washed up as I thought in '86. It was weird seeing the beefed up, mulleted Brooks as a lightweight. He acquitted himself well, I thought. It was a title match, which naturally brought out the best in Grey, but Brooks showed more talent than I've given him credit for in the past. Egg on my face? A pleasant surprise? I won't mind being wrong if the other Grey matches are this good. Steve Grey is incredible. He really is. Every time you watch him it's the same thing yet every time it's awesome. How does that work? Such a class act.
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The Beginner's Guide To British Wrestling
ohtani's jacket replied to ohtani's jacket's topic in Megathread archive
THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR Ep 21 Steve Grey vs. Ritchie Brooks (7/3/86) Excellent bout, and refreshing too after watching so much shoddy wrestling of late. I have no idea whether I've seen this before as Brooks is the kind of guy I would have turned my nose up at in the past. Reminds me of the Sanders/Grey feud I overlooked in the past because of my prejudices. I'll have to take a look at the other Brooks matches, and the series with Danny Boy Collins as well, as Grey clearly wasn't as washed up as I thought in '86. It was weird seeing the beefed up, mulleted Brooks as a lightweight. He acquitted himself well, I thought. It was a title match, which naturally brought out the best in Grey, but Brooks showed more talent than I've given him credit for in the past. Egg on my face? A pleasant surprise? I won't mind being wrong if the other Grey matches are this good. Steve Grey is incredible. He really is. Every time you watch him it's the same thing yet every time it's awesome. How does that work? Such a class act. Dave Finlay vs. Steve Logan (2/29/84) This was during Finlay's metamorphosis into his "Superman" Fit Finlay gimmick. He was growing out his skinhead and had grown the beard that would eventually be trimmed into the goatee. He'd also begun wearing the green and white tights with the shamrock, and Paula was in his corner. The difference was that he was still a wrestler and not a brawler. This was also a title match. Marty Jones was at ringside at the beginning and end wearing those horrendous bifocals of his that made him look like a certifiable psycho and carrying a cheaply made "Finlay is a fake" placard. He looked like a school teacher on a rampage. Think Olivier Gourmet in that Dardenne brothers' film The Son. This was a good match with Finlay looking sharp. Travesty is too strong a word, but it's a damn shame that he moved away from this style of wrestling. There was some conjecture over whether Walton accidentally gave away the finish. The first I time I watched it I thought it was the sort of mistake he occasionally made, but this time it sounded like he completely let it slip. He also kept mentioning that Logan had put on two stones while he was in Canada and how they like to build up bodies over there. Suspicious! -
Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada (2/26/89 TV) What the hell happened to Yatsu? I know something happened to Yatsu as people always talk about it, but surely he wasn't that physically shot between this and his SWS run. Must have been one fat paycheck. It doesn't take a genius to figure out the dynamic here. A side from Kawada looking to get noticed, there were some important teases for the next Jumbo vs. Tenryu match. At one point, I was a pretty big Jumbo fan; not so much anymore, but he was excellent at nailing the big spots that send a roar through the crowd. Tenryu as challenger is glorious and a thing to be savoured. Pretty much note perfect. I thought this was a notch or two tighter than the previous bout. It's always tough when you have to stretch out a bout to fill in the allotted time like this, but the stretch run was a step above the Kobashi bout, and they dreamed up a better finish than Hansen and Jumbo buggering about on the outside . Good match. I even heard "soccer kicks" dropped so Tenryu wasn't far from his WAR-self.
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Jumbo Tsuruta & Kenta Kobashi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen (7/15/89) This was a solid TV main event. Everyone had clear roles, which I think helps in Japanese bouts. Kobashi was stepping up into a main event role and Jumbo had pre-existing rivalries with both Hansen and Tenryu. This was shortly after the Budokan match between Jumbo and Tenryu, but they didn't let that dominate proceedings. In fact, there was more emphasis on Hansen and Tenryu's team work and Kobashi finding himself in the main. I liked Tenryu's attitude here. He was much more vicious than during the Hansen feud, and the look on his face whenever Kobashi dared press the attack spoke a thousand words. This was a teaser for what Tenryu vs. the Young Generation Army might have look like and it as pretty cool. The match lost steam towards the end as they went around the bend too many times, and the submissions were awful all match long w/ "Jumbo pace" being no bloody good, but those were the only weak points. Jumbo sometimes comes across as a bit ungainly to me, but he was awesome whenever he focused his attack on Tenryu. Kobashi also went hell for leather whenever he was paired w/ Tenryu. I loved the slaps he rattled off. They were ill-advised, but drew Tenryu's ire. Tenryu delivering a kick to the ribs at the end was classic Tenryu. I need to back track to the point where he no longer gave a fuck. The low blow in the 10/88 match against Jumbo was the walk off home run of not giving a shit and and he worked this in the same vein. Consider me satisfied.
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[1990-02-27-UWF-Road] Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara
ohtani's jacket replied to Loss's topic in February 1990
You're overlooking the fact that it's a stupid hold to put on someone during the finishing stretch as it never gets a submission. Since Fujiwara was so shaken, if he'd gone for a proper submission hold like an arm bar or a different sort of leg lock, he would have gotten a pop, but the crowd knew that Takada's leg lock was a base hold he used whenever he was pooped. That doesn't excuse Fujiwara's selling as he could have grimaced more and fought to free his leg, or gone for the reversal sooner, but nobody's popping for that leg lock as the finish. And even if Fujiwara had gone down on the corner kicks, the chances are Takada would have still had to take it to the mat. The leg lock was his go-to takedown. It was like muscle memory for him. Unless they worked a finish where Fujiwara caught a kick and countered with a take down or submission, or went back to the headbutt, that leg lock was coming into play.- 28 replies
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- UWF
- Nobuhiko Takada
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[1990-02-27-UWF-Road] Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara
ohtani's jacket replied to Loss's topic in February 1990
Takada wasn't all that bad in this just as he wasn't all that bad in the Tenryu matches I watched. Time to call a truce on all this Takada bashing.- 28 replies
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- UWF
- Nobuhiko Takada
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(and 5 more)
Tagged with:
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Paula was his first wife, a British female wrestler who became his manager "Princess Paula" up until they split in the early 90s. They had this act going where Paula would demand the MC introduce her as the "beautiful, vivacious Princess Paula" or something similar. Finlay wouldn't begin wrestling until he'd gotten a kiss from her and if he lost a fall she'd tear strips off him. She'd interfere in his bouts and they'd have miscommunication spots; all of which was commonplace in US wrestling but like nothing the UK had ever seen. Since Joint Promotions didn't promote women's wrestling, Paula was essentially the first woman to appear on ITV as a performer. Together they got tremendous heat, but the quality of Finlay's work took a nosedive. He went from feuding with guys like Marty Jones to working squash matches and main eventing against Daddy. His NJPW stuff is another dull patch. I wonder if people who's first introduction to Finlay was the Regal feud realise how atypical that was of Finlay at the time.
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Finlay in the early 80s was a super worker on par with anyone you care to name in the UK. He was even part of a tremendous tag team with Skull Murphy and British wrestling doesn't do tag wrestling well. When Paula got her mittens on him, he made a pile of money working for Wanz, Williams, Crabtree and Dixon, but his matches became shorter, screwier, and full of shtick. And the heavier he became, the worse his wrestling got. He was tremendous as a mid-heavyweight, but pain sufferingly boring as a heavyweight. There is a good ten year period from 1986 until he shows up in WCW in 1996 where he's as frustrating as Rocco, another great wrestler who was shtick mad. Ten years is a long time to remain frustrating. That's a fair whack of his prime. I doubt many people will care as they're more familiar with his American work, and can probably tolerate or even enjoy his earlier stuff, but having seen how good he was before he hooked up with Paula, to me it's like when a favourite band stops putting out albums worth listening to. My current frustration is with his Reslo work, but his ITV stuff after wrestling became a stand alone show is just as bad.
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If I were making a list this guy would have slid right off.