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tcg91

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Everything posted by tcg91

  1. tcg91
    Good match, helped by a very hot crowd and so maybe everything seemed better than it actually was. Throughout the years, I was happy to find out the Sheepherders were actually a decent team, but here they made a couple of awkward mistakes, while Martel was again just too good to be believed. I found it bit weird for the babyfaces to benefit from a blind tag, rather than the heels but, it was a fun bout and the champions shined all along. The crowd was mad about Martel's final comeback. The finish was quite creative and well explained by the announcer, so kudos to them. ***
  2. tcg91
    This was an enjoyable Carnival fallout. Slater's eye is not taped anymore, which doesn't make much sense (it's only been 24 hours since the final), plus it makes me sad that they are not hitting him there anymore. The more I see Slater and the more I think he's trying to be a little version of Terry, they have good chemistry and Jumbo bumps around for them, as they are smart enough not to overexpose Baba. Baba and Jumbo's work on Terry was a bit lazy, but Funk is so over that the crowd keeps the match alive anyway. The finish is also a bit abrupt, but consistent with the Carnival final, so thumps up. ***1/4
  3. tcg91
    Slater is wearing an eye patch and Jumbo is respectfully staying away from it, instead of taking advantage of it. It's refreshing to see a complete All Japan match, no clipping at all, even though the initial matwork drags at times. I liked the idea of Slater hitting Jumbo in the legs to limit his ability to use power moves. It also makes sense because Slater can win the Carnival with a time limit draw and so he tries to ground Tsuruta as much as he can. The end is really tight and we get a few nearfalls, by 1980 standards this is almost a spotfest. Jumbo gets desperate and stops a submission with brutal kicks on Slater's bad eye, making him bleed, which ruled. Now Slater is desperate, because he can't see properly, so he hits the post furiously and Jumbo finishes him with a belly to back, keeping the bridge despite his bad leg. Man, this ruled on so many levels. Too bad that the first part of the match was so cold. ***3/4
  4. tcg91
    This was great and the best thing of 1980 so far. Rose is wearing a ridiculous mask with a wig, as Roddy Piper shaved him bald, and Martel can't wait to expose him. However, this costs Martel some distractions and Rose just rules when working on his opponent's leg. Martel could be the best seller in the USA in 1980, he's so good and the fans are dying to see a comeback. Martel keeps being a talent in the rough, he still makes a few key mistakes that cost him a lot, like refusing a count-out win and hitting an atomic drop on his comeback, ending up hurting his leg again. This way, the experienced Rose still manages to control the match, despite constantly worrying about his mask and fixing it on his face several times. The finish is great too, Martel finally manages to expose Rose's bald head after a long tease, so Rose quickly covers up and run away to lose by count-out. This surely sets up a title match down the road and I'm looking forward to it. ****1/4
  5. tcg91
    A few minutes are clipped, but this was a blast and I really enjoyed it. Same can be said for the MSG, they were on fire for this. Patterson is not at his best at the beginning when he has to dictate the pace, but he gradually makes Patera look like a million bucks, like when he jumps over the top rope for him or sells the bearhug in a very dramatic way. Patera is another one I was never really too high on, but he looks the part and has good ring presence; everything he does makes sense. We get an actual finish, it might be tainted but it was well done and it's good enough for me. I can't go higher than this because the match wasn't complete. ***1/2
  6. tcg91
    Terry was so great in this. Even before the match, as he wanted to jump on Abdullah and the referee had to desperately restrain him. His forehead was taped and, of course, this quickly led to him bleeding all over the place after just a few minutes. No offence to Abdullah, but this was pretty much a broomstick match, Abdullah couldn't or didn't want to move too much and Terry had to do it all for him. The crowd got excited when the heel started bleeding as well, Funk had a great comeback and some of his ideas were ahead of their time. I liked way Terry worked on his opponent's legs, but it went nowhere because of the usual non-finish. This was better than it had any right to be. ***
  7. tcg91
    This was really fun to watch, but it had a couple of weird moments (like Sayama's timing at the end of the first fall). Sayama throws kicks like there is no tomorrow and it mostly rules, but then he predictably plays the part of the young boy and the rudos beat him down, showing a lot of chemistry between each other. The major focus of the match is Hamada vs Perro and Perro has a clear advantage, as Babe Face continuously interferes and they end up busting Hamada's forehead open. Cool non-finish when Perro kicks Hamada low just to stop his comeback and momentum right when the tecnicos got the upper hand, it fits the story. A fun spectacle. ***1/2
  8. tcg91
    Didn't really enjoy this. This was decent, but you can clearly see the difference between a match with good matwork and a match with stalling rest holds, they milked some of them for sooooooo long and all those submissions didn't go anywhere at the end. Probably Hogan was too green to lead a 30 minutes match and things only got better when he started focusing on Backlund's back, which fits the story because he's so much bigger than the champion. To their credit, the crowd is into the match all along and Backlund's selling was good, he also managed to lift Hogan with one arm only and that is impressive. It's the 80s, non-finishes are very common if a rematch is on the way, but that finish makes Backlund look really dumb **1/2 - **3/4
  9. tcg91
    This is slightly clipped, we get 24 minutes out of 30. I was disappointed with the match and so I had to watch it twice, but sadly I still am. I think Jumbo is the one to blame here; Terry is so much over than him and the crowd doesn't buy his matwork, especially because he doesn't do anything to effective or special. Funk sells, but nothing really good happens until they start throwing bombs in the last 10 minutes, which is understandable but all the limbo work goes out of the window in an instant. Funk is saving the match with his selling and the way he kicks out from Tsuruta's near falls, we get a predictable time limit draw before Terry can come back and bring his experience to the table. ***
  10. tcg91
    This wasn't a masterpiece, but a perfectly enjoyable main event and also a bit better than their previous bout. Inoki wants to block the lariat this time and immediately goes for Hansen's arm, especially because it's taped; the gaijin is overwhelmed by this attack, but dishes some violent shots to Inoki's neck to keep some control. Hansen gets to look good once again, because this time Inoki is saved by the ropes when he eats the lariat. We get another count-out tease, before Inoki's impressive brainbuster from the apron for the 3.1 pinfall, once again Hansen looks strong even in defeat, as Inoki also had to resort to a rare top rope dive to desperately put him down. Quite impressive how this match had like 1 big move and a couple of bumps only and yet everything made complete sense. ***1/2
  11. tcg91
    Another really good Fujinami match, he was so versatile in 1980 and could adapt to any opponent. Here the matwork takes a step back, as Hara hits hard and Fujinami is not afraid to change his strategy and do the same. Once again, they go back to Fujinami's forehead wound, so by the end of the match he's bleeding a ton, but he dishes a lot of punishment as well and is not afraid to push a boundaries a little bit, like kicking Hara while the opponent is at the ropes. This only lasted 12/13 minutes, so there is zero downtime and everything looks so solid. Hara is a big threat and so Fujinami goes back to what he knows best, submitting his opponent to win the match. This was different than what the New Japan Junior Heavyweights were and would become, but it worked really well ***1/2
  12. tcg91
    This has a decent reputation, but it doesn't age that well. It wasn't bad by any means, but the (solid) matwork didn't have enough energy and the crowd seemed to agree, as they only popped when the action became quicker. Hamada was definitely more motivated and took better bumps, while Baby Face didn't impress me that much. The finish was botched as well, as Hamada got a 2.5 count and was declared the winner anyway. I don't know who messed it up, but it didn't look good at all. **1/2
  13. tcg91
    Boy, the MSG was really hot for this. I love storyline progression and here you can see Zbyszko regretting his betrayal, because this time Bruno is not holding back at all and he can't wait to punish his former student. A simple bearhug gets a lot of cheers and Zbyszko sold it like a star. Zbyszko hits and runs, getting momentum in a cheap way at every turn, even trying to prevent Bruno from entering the ring as a whole. Contrarily to what happened in their first match, this time Bruno is the one to snap and he beats the hell out of Zbyszko causing a DQ. This was a notch above the Allentown match and I like the fact that there is more to come from these two. ***1/2
  14. tcg91
    This was a total blast. It's such a natural pairing, because McMichael is an experienced veteran with limited stamina, while Faulkner loves to bump around the ring for him. This also works because it has a bit of everything: solid matwork, good pace, counters and just a little bit of comedy this time around; it's all savvily mixed and it gives us 15 good minutes that are as good as anything else you could see today. McMichael is almost tempted to cheat because Faulkner is too unpredictable at times, but then decides not to and the stalemate gives us a double pinfall at the end ***1/2
  15. tcg91
    Once again, an All Japan match gets clipped and we get only 20 minutes of a match that actually lasted 30 minutes. But, to be fair, this was solid and never became anything special, so this is not a tragedy. The crowd didn't help much, as they sat back for most of it. Murdoch looked good when he got to dictate the pace of the match, while Jumbo seemed to be a bit off at the beginning, before changing gear in the last few minutes of the match and also managing to wake up part of the crowd. It's still a solid match and the best part of it is Murdoch trying to break Jumbo's neck, before Tsuruta finally gets a reaction. I liked the small package from Jumbo at the end, fighting from underneath to make Murdoch look good in defeat ***1/4
  16. tcg91
    Man, Davey Boy was so slim and athletic... it's so sad. This was really good, Breaks is a great heel (the other JP matches I have seen so far had no real heels, so this is refreshing) and keeps messing with the crowd, using all the dirty tactics he knows and always cheap shotting David at the end of each round, until David finally fires back for a great pop from the crowd. What stops this match from being an all time great is how long it takes them to get the focus on David's arm, but when they do it's great stuff because he sells it well and also wears some bandage to get more drama. We get a nice non-decisive finish, as David finally gets a pinfall but he just gets a draw and so the title doesn't change hands ***3/4
  17. tcg91
    This was simple and easy for them, yet still good and what you would expect from these two in just 15 minutes of action. Inoki tries to ground the gaijin, who bumps around for the Ace and can't wait to beat the crap out of the champion as soon as he has a chance to do it. You can tell that they have more matches ahead of them, as the finishing stretch leaves space to future opportunities (the lariat kickout and the double count-out these being two features that they will probably revisit later). Inoki gets protected because the lariat only beats him by count-out, even though this causes a title change anyway. Not a bad finish. ***1/4
  18. tcg91
    This was better than the Steve Keirn match, part of the reason is Dynamite using a different strategy than his partner and aiming to busting Fujinami's forehead as soon as possible (as it was really effective when Keirn did it). Fujinami continuously checks his wound and then sells it really well when he starts bleeding, his strategy went out of the window as he was trying to keep Dynamite off his forehead with some matwork. Dynamite gets to look good, even in defeat, as his pin on the first diving headbutt was too cocky and then missing the second one completely changed the match. They also teased the suicide dive again from a desperate Fujinami, which he missed and seemed to be the end for him before he traps Dynamite with the bridge pin. The crowd was into it all along ****
  19. tcg91
    It's nice to see the Junior Heavyweights main eventing a show, even if it's just a B event. This was solid and good most times, but Keirn controlled the pace with a dull legwork at the beginning and the match was clearly affected by the lack of excitement. There was nothing wrong with his offence or Fujinami's selling, it just never became too good or dramatic. Things got better when Keirn was getting outwrestled and started punching Fujinami to get blood from forehead stitches, causing a disqualification. However, it didn't last long because Fujinami had a quick comeback and won the second fall in a couple of minutes. Seeing a 2/3 falls with a 2-0 result it's also quite fresh, but it's too bad that the match ended when it was getting good ***1/4
  20. tcg91
    This was ridiculously good. The match has the best looking and quickest armdrag/armbar sequences you could ever find, of course Saint was the one mastering the moves, while Grey was selling huge for him and getting a lot of sympathy from the crowd (to the point that Saint was booed by some fans, like a 2005 John Cena!). The control of the pace was nothing but excellent, as the match never dragged because Grey refused to stay down and his quick comebacks were always a treat. Grey's offence got more risky when we headed to the penultimate round and he managed to find two brave pinfalls on Saint, to win a match that seemed impossible for him to fix at that point ****1/4
  21. tcg91
    Portland was such a fun territory. Piper and Martel seem to be having a blast while tagging and dominating the match, interestingly that's the same thing that Martel did against Harley Race a couple of weeks earlier, despite being a babyface (you would think Portland would strive on heels calling the match). The future Bushwhackers here are 10/15 years younger and don't have a silly gimmick, they hold their ground quite well and get decent heat with their dirty tactics (ironically enough, they keep hitting Piper on his ear, a good few years before the Greg Valentine match). We get a non-finish, with the promise of an upcoming rematch, so that's good enough for me. ***1/4
  22. tcg91
    This was taped on January 22nd This is the famous Zbyszko turn and it's really well done. Their wrestling is clean and tight, Bruno keeps outwrestling Zbyszko and the student is clearly frustrated about it. Zbyszko shows fire and wants to win, runs the ropes really fast and clinches the arm as hard he can, but Bruno is clearly on top at every turn. Zbyszko explodes when Bruno shows compassion and starts taking it easy, opening the ropes for him is the ultimate humiliation. Zbyszko is great in his illegal beatdown and the visual of him leaving Bruno in a pool of blood is really effective. It's a match that basically becomes an angle, but the wrestling was solid and the story was told in a perfect way, the fact they did it all in less than 10 minutes is also quite impressive ***1/2
  23. tcg91
    Ken Patera was ripped and this was all about his strength against Backlund's technique. Backlund's armwork got a bit stale and it was quickly forgotten in the second part of the match, so it was just a way to fill some time. However, his selling was really great when Patera got him into a long bearhug and the crowd got into it; but even there, while Vince was teasing Backlund passing out to the bearhug, Patera only ever got flat 1 counts. I feel like they should have milked this to add a bit of drama to the match, as it never looked like Patera was going to be a real threat after that. The non-finish and the final brawl both looked good. Vince saying that there were 42,000 fans at the MSG makes the WrestleMania 3 figure look much more plausible **3/4
  24. tcg91
    This was a really nice Junior Heavyweight showcase, it went 20 minutes and never dragged once. I don't think Dynamite and Keirn tagged very regularly (if they did, I mostly missed it), but I surely wish they did because they showed a lot of chemistry and aggression when isolating the babyfaces, almost like this was a typical 80s Southern tag match. They did a good job at teasing a Dynamite/Fujinami confrontation to build a singles match, they also pinned each other but you never see enough of it, as most of the focus is on the gaijins destroying poor Hoshino. Fujinami gets the quiet crowd to pop big time when he hits a crazy suicide dive on Kid, but this leads to the heels beating Hoshino ***3/4
  25. tcg91
    This was great! Race completely made Martel, giving 90% of the first fall and selling his arm in such a believable way. 24 year old Martel had a lot of fire, but the story is that it takes him a long time to finish Race, while the World champion pins him quite easily in his comeback as he's clearly one step ahead. The crowd was behind Martel during his comeback and it's quite sad for them to see this match end up by a TV time limit, right when their hero had a lot of momentum. A nice bout and, again, Martel looked really good here. My only problem is Race not selling the arm towards the end, but everything else was pleasant to watch ***1/2
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