El-P

Terrific short match. Exactly what the Mutoh match should have been but wasn't. And once again, sorry I have to do that but... Yeah. That's kinda the point. Shoot-style vs pro-style, ya know. And that's how every match on the card was contested. The UWF-I matches with two guys from the promotion (which at this time was only two undercard matches) were contested under UWF-I rules, with the points and KO system. All the other UWF-I vs NJ matches were contested under NJ rules. UWF-I was dead anyway, as clearly the audience was totally NJ. Yay, consistency actually. First off, Kosh never got up and waited for a ten count after the brainbuster. He slowly turned around and covered Takada, who was selling. He's a pro-style worker, he goes for the pin. Makes sense. Then when Takada does his fired-up comeback and kicks Kosh into oblivion, he turns his back and goes to his corner expecting a ten count, because that's what a UWF-I guy would naturally do. Yay, consistency and actually psychology too. And then when Kosh gets up, here he goes again but this time won't take the ten count and chooses to get Kosh back up and go straight into a submission. More on that later. I'll pass on the idea that Takada is spending the whole match laying on the mat, because it's just ridiculous, anyone actually watching the match without blinders can see it. Actually, Takada gets some quite badass moments, as when Kosh dropkicks him toward the corner and Takada immediately turns around after registering the shot and punts Kosh right in the face, like "WTF was that weak pro-wrestling shit ?", which people would gush for if anyone else but Takada was doing it (if Fujiwara or even Maeda did the exact same spot, people around here would collectively cum all over the board) Indeed, Kosh wasn't exacty running for the ropes that time around. However, the very first time Takada applies the same hold earlier in the match, Kosh reverses it by going to his feet with much urgency. Likewise, when Takada applies a leg hold at one point, Kosh sells like like death and jumps to the ropes like Ohtani or any good UWF-I guys would. So, what about that last time ? Well, it's good to mention that just before being put into the hold, Kosh was basically KOed by Takada, as showed by the straight bump he took from the kick, then Takada only puts him into the armbar to put the cherry on the cake. Did he took too long to tap out ? Might say yes, but really at this point the "credibility" of the shoot-style has been killed by Takada submitting to a figure four and Choshu no-selling everything by Anjoh then Kakihara at both Dome shows. It's not like Kosh did any damage to that hold, like I said he was KOed just before plus he submitted anyway and sold the arm as he sat up afterward. So yeah, terrific short match, and really cool to see these two old rivals get at it once again (likewise Sano vs Liger). As far as dogshit performance, Mutoh delivers one for the ages on the same show. Absolutely hilarious at points. I don't think anyone stayed longer in a heel hold while not selling it nor going to the ropes. Then selling it for two seconds on his feet then not selling it at all again. Then winning with the figure four *again* against poor Sano who worked his ass off and could have gotten a better match than Takada because his style suits the dynamic of the match better, but Mutoh was so hilariously bad here that it was just impossible to save this debacle.

Another feather in his cap is how well he worked against the UWF-I guys. He was easily the best at it. Granted, it was during his peak years, and he looked like the best worker ever during that short time. Still, it was a stylistic shift and he made it work without trying to ape the whole shoot style.

Sasha Banks or The Young Bucks ? Choice easy made.

Much much better than the infamous and insanely overrated Tokyo Dome match, because for once, there was a focus in a Steiner match.

They really went All Japan on our asses and it was excellent, but the crowd was spent after getting crazy for Rocky & HHH. Their best match together, before their feud would degenerate into actual awful boring matches thanks to idiotic gimmicks and the involvment of Kane.

Agreed. It's the Graal of shoot-style fans, but it's a bit hardcore if you're not completely into the style or even into Tamura, who is the purest artist (yes, I said it) of shoot-style pro-wrestling.

Word. The 30mn draw with Khosaka is my favourite match ever.

This is not the match is should have been, and it's entirely Mutoh's fault. Here he's in half-"fuck you" mode (as opposed to complete "fuck you" mode in January 96). He works a bit during the mat exchanges, but that's Keiji Mutoh doing NJ matwork, which doens't cut it against the top UWF-I guy, although Takada was never a great mat worker himself. Solid is the right word. Then, Mutoh manages to totally no-sell a heel hold, and that's where it gets problematic. From there, it's been established that the dangerous shoot-style submissions just don't cut it. The finishing stretch of the match is quite good, with the exception of Mutoh selling an arm-bar like it's not that much, and most of all the total no-sell of Takada's enzuigiri (granted it wasn't a great looking one, but still). Yeah, there's a trend here. Ok, sorry but this is ridiculous. First, Takada just ate a german suplex and a backdrop driver just before the moonsault spot. He rolled out the way, and I guess if he had just gotten up, he would have been criticized for shitty selling. After rolling out of the way, Takada sat up, took a breath and as soon as Mutoh was up he was right there kicking him in the face and the knees. Absolutely nothing wrong with this. Then, his kicks. I just watched his two classic matches with Maeda & Fujiwara from 90 just before this one. He kicked just as hard in the three matches, especially toward the end of the Mutoh match. No difference at all. And yes, Takada worked as much as he could against a guy who just wasn't into selling his shit, he worked the mat early on, tried submissions, kicked a lot and in the end sold that stupid figure-four spot as well as anyone could (I mean seriously, a figure-four submission in Japan in 95 against a shoot-style ace). Takada was game, Mutoh wasn't. They could have had an excellent match together, but Mutoh hates shoot-style as much as Choshu does, and it really showed here. Didn't sell the submissions right, didn't sell the KO right (he was pulling up his kneepads while doing his sole KO spot of the match) and although he did work a bit on the mat, he just wasn't interested in having a good match. Of course it's nothing compared to the following January's episode, where he was doing the job. I like Mutoh more than most, but when he's into "fuck you" mode, good luck. In the end, I'd say this ended up being pretty decent all in spite of Mutoh.

The day I'm getting back into watching this guy, he's top 5 easily. Greatest shoot-style worker ever.

Fuck yeah. Great wrestler. Totally underpushed and undersold these days. Gotta love his "apathetic gaze" like GOTNW said. He was not laid back, he downright looked stoned, or not giving a fuck. And then he kicked you in the head. And sold like a motha. Career cut short by injury too. Shoot-style needs more love, this guy was terrific.

More Ric Flair talk in an Haku thread. ZZZZzzzz….. (and really, more Ric Flair talk = ZZZZzzzzzz at this point. If he ends up N°1, it will be both hilarious and kinda sad. Flair will probably make my top 20 this time around though)

Not hard. That match was horrendous. It's impressive how Rocky improved over the next two years, as they were able to have an excellent 1hour Iron match in 2000, although it's the epitome of Attitude era overbooking that works, which helped both of them quite a bit.

Yeah. Bob Backlund, basically. AH !

This ladder match is exactly the point where I began to dislike ladder matches, because of stupid ultra-slow climbs and illogical use of objects (like using a chair to beat on a ladder prone on a guy's body, how in the hell that's supposed to hurt more than a simple chair shot ?). Take away the crowd heat, and I don't think it's that good of a match. Maybe my opinion would change today, but last time I checked, it was all heat over an awkward gimmick match.

Mostly agree with this. A really good match, but not a MOTYC or anything to me. I thought Maeda was clearly the better worker here, reigning down Funaki's atheticism and terrific stand-up striking. Coming just after Fuji vs Takada, it's striking to me why Takada was so great. Although he was nowhere as good a striker that Funaki was, and not that great on the mat either, what makes the difference is how much better he sells the near-submisisons and KO (a bit like Onita would actually). He makes everything means so much, whereas there were a bunch of very slow, totally devoid of urgency escapes by Funaki here, including in the middle of the match, which kinda dragged a little at points because of it. Maeda was much better at this, and it made Funaki look dangerous. Anyway, this was still really good of course. Maeda as the surly veteran always works well and Funaki brought spunk in spades. His mullet was horrifying though. What the hell ?

Great match. Two masters going at it. Everyone is gushing (rightfully so) about Fujiwara, but Takada was at his best here too. The way he milks the rope escapes and the KO's are fantastic, from his body language to his facial expressions, both the care which he tends to approach his opponent with because he knows shit is coming if he gets caught on the mat or in a corner, and the urgency he puts into his flurries of offense. Both Maeda and Takada had their best matches, and MOTYC, with Takada in 90, while their match together just didn't reach that level. Just sayin'

Let's not be US centric.

Really, if you watch that Yankem match now, it's like Jacobs never really improved. They could have as well called him Unabomb instead of Kane.

Wat can you say ? Just a classic match. Both guys are awesome here, the sense of flair and drama of Takada really shines, while Maeda manages to get sympathy for himself as an underdog against the young star. Terrific exchanges, great urgency, great selling of KO's and near-submissions. Shoot-style at its best (and no, I don't mean at its technical best, but shoot-style isn't strictly about that).

Bad match, unless your idea of a good match is Hogan dominating Fujinami with matwrestling for a while then this ending stretch, which really isn't good either. Fuji has one burst of energy during a good minute and a half at the beginning, then delivers the typical 90's Fuji performance of not doing shit until he slaps on the sleeper. Yeah, Hogan looks ridiculously thin here. He also found a way to give his favourite croonie a Tokyo Dome spot. And I'm not talking about Jimmy Hart, who's useless as usual, but Brutus Beefcake who gets to grace the Tokyo audience with a single match of his own on the undercard, and winning no less. Ah, Hogan... Chono vs Hash was a good ten minutes too long, but the last half was very good, although it's obvious Chono wasn't the same guy he was from 90 to 92. Still showing some signs of smart work though, since that's how he got by later in his career. Choshu vs Fujiwara couldn't have done less, really. For what it was, I guess you could say there were seeds of a good match, but it just ended when it was getting started, so. At least they did something, as opposed to Fuji, but this kind of show really speaks poorly of the NJ guys in the 90's : lots of jacked up boring gaijins (Jurassik Powers in a terrible match against the Hellraisers, the Steiners being somewhat fun but not really good either, Beefcake for goodness sake, and Hogan who at least worked a big harder but still had a bad, boring match), a bunch of bad matches in the undercard invovling Heisei Ishingun, an underwhelming junior match which didn't get over in the Dome setting, the veterans of the 80's totally mailing it (although I haven't watched Tenryu vs Inoki which I'm sure was much better) and a decent main event that was just not on the same planet as what AJ was doing at the same time (or the women for that matter).

Like every NJ Steiner Brothers match : overrated. Mutoh and Hase hold this one together, but although I enjoy some amateur stuff thrown in the right context, there it meandered for too long and really didn't mean much (as opposed to Doc & Gordy showing the Steiners they weren't all that). Some good action especially toward the end, but the Steiner can't work a smart tag match to save their life. Rick kinda sucked here, and was already sloppy as hell. Scott had awful hair and threw some terrific suplexes like they were nothing, as always. I don't think it was even that impressive in therm of bomb throwing match, but the screwdriver was *amazing*. Of course it led to : nothing. I'd call this a good match thanks to the action, but nothing special at all.

His Tiger Mask stuff is quite underwhelming. After the original one, I don't think anyone really did the gimmick right until Tiger Mask IV. Kanemoto found himself as a dick junior later in the 90's, and from then on, he's one of the most consistent worker you can find. He's also very respected by his peers I believe for being extremely safe (despite the stiffness).

Please no. Don't do that. Ever.

The third rate little Kawada of SWS/WAR, but what a fun worker he was. Always the most solid of these promotions undercards, with legitimate excellent performances when he got the opportunity (like against Hase in WAR). Lumpy, not overly charismatic but still connecting with his indy audience, better worker than a bunch of the main promotions undercard guys, would probably be a top 100 worker if he had more opportunities to shine, but in his own setting, he was often a blast. I believe he ended up promoting in his own area, some sort of shoot-style promotion with no ring and just a mat on the floor.

Disagree. He didn't had the great matches (although the Hara one is the closest to be legit great to me), but he had a shitty opposition, working against guys like Takano and washed up Yatsu. I don't see the issue with him giving a lot to his opponents as he's great at taking a beating too. His SWS work is definitely a plus to me, as all the tag matches against Yatsu & Haku were all good/very good, and he had a bunch of good singles match against not so good opponents. What more can you ask, really ? Of course the NJ stuff is much better, but hewas working against a much better opposition in a different setting where he got heel heat, which gave matches a different dynamic to begin with. His work in the 00's, at the very least the early 00's, is also a big plus, considering how old he was (compared to say… gasp… Flair doing shit at the same age).