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MJH

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  1. MJH
    No. The dates in the top-left corner: 5/23. That's on the yearbook too, however - http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?showtopic=11280.
  2. MJH
    Pretty much entirely in agreement with you, Loss. Rinse/Repeat what I said about their Queendom match with regards to them having "their" match, and there's really no need for both to be on the set. That said, I think what makes them work is the contrast between them, both in terms of actual moveset and character.
  3. MJH
    Obviously the best match of the year, if not of all-time. What's left to say only that the more immature side of me gets a kick out of maybe the best match of all-time being the anti-morality tale? Also, is there a better heavyweight tag sprint (inc. out-and-out spot fests etc...)?
  4. MJH
    On the subject of Chigusa vs. Americans... has anyone got the "Chigusa Tours US" tape/DVD? For completist sake (I've got every other comm that I know of through to 1993) I've been meaning to grab that and her handhelds with Madusa, but, y'know... Madusa. :/
  5. MJH
    I'm not upto the Chigusa/Leilani matches on AJW classics just yet... but, yeah, Debbie has to be the pick for best. Not that she was "great", but she slotted in nicely fairly quickly in AJW at a time when they were on fire (or, rather, starting to catch fire). Of course, that was a much better environment for development, even Terri Power was coming along OK. She was never going to be as good as Debbie got, but the difference in 6/8 months from her debut to her match with Debbie in February '93 was certainly noticeable.
  6. MJH
    Rewatched tonight, still think it's the second best tag of the year. Thought Doc looked much better than he's generally given credit for post-bust. Ace is still Ace, however. At least he didn't early crush Misawa's face by not wanting to bump a Tiger Suplex.
  7. MJH
    Well I'm not going to call out wrestlers for not letting someone work stiff with them (I mean, it's not as if Shawn and Taker haven't taken a fucking beating over the years, I don't want to feel how they must now when I turn 45). The thing with Vader was, though, his offence was so intrinsic to his aura. He bumped SO much. He loved to bump for the cheap pop. Someone called him a 400lb Flair once and that's not too far wrong, really. Yokozuna got over a few years earlier without killing people (and he stooged his share, too, I love the backwards through the ropes/stagger into the post spot). Umaga a few years ago had quite the aura for a while for someone who's finish was a running ass to the face and a thumb strike. I think, ultimately, the "fault" (if you want to attribute some) is in various directions than just blaming Shawn. Shawn treating him badly is still, probably, the biggest and most costly, but Vader was talented enough to've done more himself, too. No one should "have to work stiff" in order to get over (not to sound like Lance Storm or someone). And we're talking about the WWF/E. Something like Harts/Steiners gets pimped despite being a mess because "the Steiners were the Steiners! Screwdriver~!" and something like a bridging Tiger/Dragon/whatever would be a "holy shit" spot in 2011 when it's been almost routine (though a strong near fall/finish) in Japan for 30 years.
  8. MJH
    Having such a strikingly distinctive face didn't hurt her cause. She is the Joshi equivalent of Regal/Ohtani. Masami was great. I guess she's somewhat overlooked, but something like her match with Chigusa is far too famous for her to get lost.
  9. MJH
    Kyoko and Toyota have "their" match. Some are better than others, but they're all generally similar. I preferred this to their December one, but I think their 8/94 match is their best pure sprint (even with the botched finish) and their 60:00 is also essential viewing. It's of a certain level by proxy, but as much a fan as I am of them as a pairing (over Toyota/Yamada, personally) this isn't something I'd nominate for MOTYC.
  10. MJH
    Well, Loss, Misawa and Kobashi could both "go" unlike any other two heavyweights ever. Kawada had a much greater moveset than you'd otherwise think from being around these two (Taue, too, for that matter), but yeah. For what it's worth in relation to their other matches, I don't think their main arc begins until the 1/97 classic, really, and this is more "Misawa by numbers". Which is not a bad thing. But it was a special show (one assumes from having this and Kawada vs. Taue) and so they have a much bigger match than they had at the Carnival in 1995, and a much better match than they'd had at Budokan the previous October. Misawa does all he can to sell the crowd on Kobashi maybe getting the upset, and then works his trademark elongated transition at the end. People who don't like Misawa vs. Kobashi for their "overkill" and what-have-you have tended to've looked down on this, from some things I've read. But I want them to "go". No other two heavyweights in the world could've worked this match. Which is not to say it's a spot-fest, at all, but the "action" is a big part of it. It still has great structure/"story"/they know their roles backwards and upside-down etc... It's probably my singles MOTY, and either-way as good a candidate as any.
  11. MJH
    The selling is sublime here. The way Choshu reacts to that first couple of chops out of the lock-up in the corner are perfect. Hashimoto returns the favour on the punch a few moments later. Just the match they were made to work; as El-P said, beautiful in its utter simplicity. Only Kawada, I think, could do this equally as well (some might argue Tenryu too). Slightly borders on going a bit long in the middle (there's a dip in the crowd; 15 minutes over 18, say), but a strong heavyweight singles MOTYC.
  12. MJH
    Surprised this had such little discussion... The one thing I always had against this match was the finish; ie, it's so sudden. I'm not so sure I'd argue it being such now. Yamazaki sells the ribs as well as any of the other more famous "limb selling" performances... to a point where there's just no way you buy him being able to compete with Hash. Him surviving more of a beating than he does would be solely for the sake of "working a long finish" (as they'd probably do now), but this works as well as any sudden finish I can recall. One of the best NJ tags, and really, really fucking good.
  13. MJH
    What OJ said. She certainly started out as one before moving on.
  14. MJH
    Actually, this was my favourite match of the three the last time I watched them. I just think it had the most fun dynamic. That spot where Tamura thinks he's gotten an advantage and BOOM he's trapped in an armbar and FUCKED is one of my favourite spots ever. Absolute MOTYC (ignoring that we know what'll be #1). Side note - as soon as this popped up online 6/7 years ago, I sent the link round everywhere, because I'd pimped the match for years (I think I got the tape in '00, maybe '01). The amount of people who thought it was a shoot... if only UFC fights were like this.
  15. MJH
    So the term "lucharesu" is dead, I take it...?
  16. MJH
    Yes, but generally I've found that people online who were heavily into Dragon Gate were actually the most vitriolic about disliking Lucha. I'm not sure about that... surely the most anti-Lucha brigade are the ultra-dismissive "they're all just gymnasts" crowd? I'd find it hard to imagine them not thinking the same of Dragon Gate, for the same reasons you said (and, perhaps, for others too...). -- But in relation to this Alan/WON/DGluv thing... The Dragon Gate thing is easy to explain - it's the only group from Japan that you could describe as "hot" or having been on an up-swing over the last few years with any conviction; ie in the age of quick uploads. X amount of people will always gravitate towards the contemporary and their style is what "cool" modern wrestling is all about. I think maybe it's down to with houses down across the board they're working "hot", "exciting" matches in the hope that anyone tuning in/whatever will go "oh that's cool!" and hang around. We may not think it's all that great (though I have no real problem with DG, enjoy a spotfest on occasion and so will watch it from time to time) at least, not next to Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi, say, but is there really that much stuff that's so significantly better? I watched Kobashi/Akiyama from the '97 Carnival before and it makes an interesting contrast. It's a match that wouldn't've been that out of place in 2010. It's more back and forth/"action"-based that I recall their '98 one being, there's no real linear story/structure. They know their roles to a tee, of course, and Kobashi is dominant whilst giving the crowd every reason to believe the upset is on (letting Jun win some "battles", keeping Jun "alive" often without working it 50/50 etc...) but they were just better. Their selling/acting/mannerisms/whatever was just infinitely more believable. The match didn't look rehearsed. When Jun caught a spinning chop in the face he had the sense to milk the fuck out of it (and did a great job on that, too)... it's as good if not better than any match I saw in 2010. But... no one's as good as 1997 Kobashi. Or Misawa/Kawada/Hashimoto/Benoit/Eddy/Liger/Han/Tamura/Bret/Austin/Santo/Casas etc... certainly no one in anything close to a mainstream context. I know the IWRG guys have their crowd but they're not in any position to make a dent in the WON voting like those I listed from '97 were. -- As for Alan and it's UK-centricity. Well, I don't really want to see Alan become some hated figure. I might not agree with him all the time, but he's done nothing to turn people against him, he's a really likeable guy; his only "crime" would be liking modern wrestling and DG more than anyone else. Shit, I wish I could be so lucky and not watch/rewatch older stuff knowing there's nothing "new" to come out other than the rare instance of a classics show unearthing some unaired match. The whole TWC thing is BS. There was a big Puro crowd here 10/15 years ago. We had VHS traders making their fair share of £ off of it. The TWC was hardly mass-marketted, the only people who saw NOAH/whatever on there were people who would've been perfectly capable of downloading it anyway. Dragon Gate wasn't shown on there. The only notable thing was them digging out the old World of Sport stuff from the ITV vaults. I'd imagine something like Powerslam (whilst apparently being big on DG themselves as it fits into their "Meltzerian sensibility" or whatever) isn't responsible, either. My guess would be like most media their numbers have dwindled year by year with the internet. Maybe it's just one of those things were a British audience are more reactive to it? Like Cliff Richard... Or there's more wrestling fans (proportionately) here... It's ultimately such a random thing I doubt there's a simple explanation for it.
  17. MJH
    Yeah I remember watching this a few years ago and Ito really stood out as someone ready to get more of a push and quite probably was the best in the match... Yoshida, IIRC, was foreshadowing a bit of her ARSION stuff, but not a great deal, and didn't really have much of a superstar aura at all. I don't think the costume they gave her helped; she benefited tremendously from the re-packaging a few years later.
  18. MJH
    Bret's Iron Man with Owen is significantly better, too, and at least "very good" once the stalling stops.
  19. MJH
    But Shawn showed growth in not succumbing to the same finish of their Survivors '92 match! Kidding aside, yeah, this is... painfully average. I like the 92 title match as the best example of what Bret's matches would've been as NWA Touring Champ... but you can distill everything you need to see in this match in, I don't know, five minutes worth of highlights including the entrance and celebration.
  20. MJH
    Yeah, Stephanie's comments were more stupid than shameless. I mean she was, what, 20 years old at the time having probably lived a fairly sheltered life, really, with her father's indictment being the worst thing she'd gone through. At least there was a positive message about pulling together through adversity there. JBL's blatant war-mongering was far more offensive, really...
  21. MJH
    I'd argue it's only in the last few years that it has become massive... I mean, it was only five years ago he wrestled Mark Henry in a casket match. You had the Orton thing before that, but it's hard to imagine Taker wrestling anyone other than a bona-fide headliner a la Michaels or Batista (ie; Cena) at WrestleMania from now on...
  22. MJH
    I'll come back to these matches in the next week or two... but selling isn't really needed in the style to get over character/drama. It's been a good few years but I remember the September Han/Tamura match having a great veteran/underdog theme to it (and a great, great spot where Tamura thinks he has him and suddenly Han snaps his arm out and Tamura finds himself tied up in a cross armbreaker and the crowd pops huge...). I always remember the matwork being tight enough to avoid the 'exhibition' tag that I could maybe see labelled at other noted matworkers/pairings.
  23. MJH
    There are 'sloppy' moments in the match - more than you might've expected - but, at the same time, it's Austin vs. Rock in the biggest match of the year, judging the match on a mechanical level kind of misses the point. You could argue that just about any Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi match features lazy whips/postings/tie-ups... but, you know? It's the same with the punches, I mean, it's an Austin match and a WWF/E main event. Certain things are par for the course. The WrestleMania XIX match may be crisper, and I can see the appeal in the Austin Gets Rock-Bottomed To Hell Finish... it's a very good match, but taken as a whole I don't see the argument that it's a better match. The story's one of the best the company has ever done on a big stage. Something like HBK/Taker was a "great 'Mania spectacle" but, at the same time, it's a nice little big/small "body", a reset, and a drawn-out finish. Austin/Rock has an even bigger spectacle to it (only Hogan/Andre can really compare), whilst also delivering a strong story of Austin's descent and eventual turn. Obviously, turning him in Texas was not the smartest booking move, and hindsight has shown turning him was the wrong choice period (as much as I love his heel run - and he's utterly FANTASTIC against Benoit in Edmonton walking the line). Like I said, it's the biggest match in the history of the company (or tied for such), a massive spectacle, hugely memorable, and a strong match to boot (give or take the odd sloppy moment, yes). You could possibly break down a few matches they did that year as being better - maybe Benoit/Austin, maybe Rock/Jericho, I haven't seen the Quad tag in far too long to state with any strong opinion on it - but a ****ish MOTYC? Certainly. Taking it as a 'WWF/E Match' it's one of the best they ever did.
  24. MJH
    In terms of $$$, yes... in terms of "he's an evil bastard", I wouldn't call it on a par with Jake's at Survivor Series etc...
  25. MJH
    I'm not sure how/if anything in his second WWF/E run changed his opinion, but in 2002 Eddy said this and his match with Rey were his joint two favourite/best matches... I have this ahead of that on the basis of the action/story being more level in their qualities, but they're both great, of course. I actually watched this a few days after the whole Benoit thing, maybe a week at most, the first match of his I'd watched after it; it didn't affect me then and doesn't now. A beautiful match and my Jrs. MOTD.
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