Tim Cooke

It's been said before, but it sucks that Sasuke and Taka went to WWF and this feud never got beyond stage 1. The non-MPro rules make this a little more disjointed than a regular MPro 10 man, but it's still worth watching to see the seeds of what could have been the juniors feud of the year.

Maybe the perfect Nitro lucha trios match.

RINGS Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Mikhail Ilyukhin (01/21/98 - Mega Battle Final) Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Valentijn Overeem (04/16/98 - shoot, but short and exciting and the reason they had to get the title off of Tamura since he lost this one) Tsuyoshi Kosaka vs. Volk Han (05/29/98 - final match between these two) Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Bitsadze Tariel (05/29/98 - Tamura loses title due to his real loss in April) Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (06/27/98 - best RINGS match ever? Best shoot style match ever?) Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Wataru Sakata (07/20/98 - short but very good. Stylistically where RINGS could have continued with realistic works) Yoshihisa Yamamoto vs. Akira Maeda (07/20/98 - Retirement Match #1) Christopher Haseman vs. Wataru Sakata (09/21/98) Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto (09/21/98 - good match, especially as an intro to their 1999 classic)

This is a great tag ANYWHERE in the world. Just wait until you get to the October trios match.

Excellent match, much better than their January 1999 fight. This seems to be a shoot but I can't say for sure. Arguments against it being a shoot is that Kohsaka reverses position from the bottom with a leg sweep and later in the fight, Tamura is able to block it (almost a learned spot). But I've seen Kohsaka pull that off in plenty of legit fights. The finish also makes me think shoot as well.

Excellent choice to make the cut. El Dandy's best singles match in WCW.

http://iwamidsouth.proboards.com/index.cgi...mp;page=2#84737

Jerry's criticism of Tully is very valid, especially in the Garvin match. I need to watch it again because I still come out of that match thinking it is the best TV match of 1986 but its still a reasonable critique.

When WCW hit the Dakota's and surrounding area's in August 1999, the crowds gave a lot of the wrestlers good heat, which was virtually non existant for the prior 2-3 months. Even Goldberg's temporary bad music was a little bit over. On the downside, Hogan got more over in these territories and that certainly didn't hurt his face turn.

April 2000 he wrestled Tommy Rogers on one of the last Saturday Night's before it became a clip show/cancelled. WCW aired generic video pieces for him leading up to his debut in the cruiser weight tag tourney. Since WCW never did stuff like that, at least in the prior year or so, it felt a little special and he was more over than you would expect a new cruiser weight to be.

Good find Bix

I believe incorporating shoot style is a Meltzer talking point.

Figured that was coming sooner than later. No doubt he will come back with another alias in the future

10/18 Nitro is the first Russo/Ferrera show. Thunder that week had the absurd Nasg commentary for most of the matches.

Who are the wrestlers that Dylan likes who have offense softer than Cotten candy?

I like the G-1 Final from 1995 and Choshu/Hashimoto from the 1996 G-1 a little better, but this a tremendous match that has more heated nearfalls than almost any other NJPW match of the 90's. I completely agree with Loss about watching this against the best All Japan singles matches of 1991 and thinking how Muto and Chono would be right with Misawa/Kobashi/Kawada in terms of work.

9/6 Nitro was the last Bischoff Nitro but I'm with Loss in thinking he was faded out before that. I don't recall the WON's at the time really giving any in depth information, other than a new committee taking over with Busch, Sullivan, Nash, JJ Dillon, and a few I'm forgetting.

Marty2Hotty and the guy that used to run the old Oratory forums swore by Russo for years and years.

When and where did the Bob Armstrong match take place?

Will and Loss have done an awesome job of making this the go to place to discuss current and historical wrestling.

I also think he is shown during the 1/21/96 Samurai match

I just watched the final 4 minutes of the match and it's easy to see why Dave was super impressed with this at the time. Toyota hits a german suplex for a near fall, a tope, a plancha, top rope moonsault, and then a tiger suplex for a nearfall - all in a row. Toyota misses another moonsault, with Kyoko getting a surfboard. Kyoko hits her top rope reverse elbow drop for a near fall. Kyoko tries for a powerbomb and Toyota rolls through for the closest near fall of the match. Kyoko gets a headscissor roll up for near fall. They pretty much peaked in terms of crowd heat here as the rest of the near falls aren't nearly as big as the prior but they still bring out a top rope suplex, Kyoko sit down powerbomb, Toyota with a Japanese Ocean Suplex, Kyoko chokeslam, and then a Toyota Japanese Ocean Cyclone suplex (first time she ever did it?) for the win. That's an enormous amount of high spots for 4 minutes of a match, which in 1992, especially on AJW TV with seamless edits, seemed like *****++ as Dave gave it back in the day.

Recent WON HOF'er who is having more matches circulated with the recent Japanese Comm releases (though many of those were already available from Lynch prior). Schmidt vs. Verne Gagne (Buffalo - early 60's) This is from Lynch Oldies #1 and is a terrific match. I can't pin down a date but it would appear to be the early 60's as the TV announcer mentions the SF 49'ers as "long standing" team in the NFL and they started in the NFL in 1950. 10 years seems like a decent length for a long standing team this early into a league's history. Schmidt starts out very Stan Hansen like (as has been described by Steve Yohe and jdw) with clubbering forearms, a knee drop, and a snap mare to open. Gagne hits a couple of neat shoulder blocks to come back, very much in the lucha style of bouncing off your opponent to create some distance to run the ropes. It's much more theatrical here and a very cool visual. At one point early on, Gagne tries for a soccer kick to Schmidt's face. Schmidt tries to bring a chair into the ring, creating a stir at ringside (ala Hansen again). They run through a test of strength spot, then Gagne gets a body slam, followed by a series of arm drag reversals with Gagne holding on to keep in control. This wouldn't look out of place in the early 80's so it's really cool in the early 60's. Schmidt does an Eddy like boot scrape on the face but Gange is able to get a go behind and a nice takedown into a reverse crucifix, another mat high spot that is fantastic. Gagne works the arm with some arm wringers, which Schmidt wants no part of and he actually jumps the top rope to get out of the ring and away from Gagne, a nice piece of athleticism and a spot you don't see at all these days. While on the outside, Schmidt stooges by slapping the ring apron angrily. Schmidt gets a side headlock and takeover, with Gagne reversing with a bridge out, similar to what All Japan Women wrestlers were all taught to do at some point in most matches. The next "wow" mat high spot is Schmidt in Gagne's guard, which is closed. Gagne lifts his legs and does a Santo headscissors takeover. Again, early 60's, in Buffalo? Just awesome. They continue with a whip off a side head lock and do a criss cross, ending with both cracking heads in a realistic manner. It didn't come off as theatrical or WWF 80's cartoony, just high impact. Schmidt was able to get up first for a 2 count. Gagne does a really nice punt to the ribs, along with a stiff stomp. Schmidt lands an elbow smash and a nice backbreaker for 2. Schmidt tries for another backbreaker but Gagne reverses with a flying headscissors take over. It's the 1960's heavyweight version of Rey Jr. vs. Eddy. Gagne starts to work on the knee, slamming it into the mat 7 times and the bell rings for what I believe was the 20 minute time limit. Schdmit attacks from behind as Gagne tries to leave. He raises his hands and gets nice heat from the crowd. Gagne gets back into the ring and they brawl. The TV announcer starts yelling, "How do you like them apples" at Schmidt as Gagne pays him back and throws him out of the ring. They go to a three judge decision. Gagne wins 1 card, the other 2 are draws, thus the match is a draw. Terrific match, almost worked in a sprint style. I put this in the Schmidt thread since I have more of him to watch but this match is also every bit the showcase for Verne.

Dustin's slam into the post from the apron bump to be eliminated from the Rumble was incredible. Best bump for a Rumble elimination that I have seen. Dusty/Dustin vs. Cody/Sandow at WM would be cool. Even Booker/Dustin vs Rhodes/Sandow would be cool.