Ditch
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Everything posted by Ditch
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I'm left wondering what the hell happened to the footage from the next-to-last show (with Vader vs Mutoh and Choshu vs Hash). I've seen a couple things to suggest they had cameras rolling, but clearly NJ would have released that show at some point in the '90s if they had it on tape. The concept of an un-taped event at Sumo Hall is mindboggling.
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[1992-08-22-AJPW-Summer Action Series II] Stan Hansen vs Mitsuharu Misawa
Ditch replied to Loss's topic in August 1992
The DVDVR vote was done as well as possible for just after the decade ended, but it did have some issues. I get a sense that many voters hadn't seen more than a couple dozen matches. JDW casually (and correctly) dismissed a TON of bouts in his pimping post that got votes, many even getting multiple. My vote had the benefit of time and cheaper web/DVD distribution. DVDVR vote really nailed the top tier, which is what matters most. -
I think Tenryu started peaking in '88. Something like New Japan vs WAR is more consistent match-for-match than Choshu vs All Japan or Jumbo & Co vs Tenryu & Co. There are plenty of matches on the AJ set that included Tenryu and I either didn't like them or barely did. Whereas I find myself enjoying just about everything Tenryu did in the '90s. I was won over by Tenryu the more I watched him, and it's the '90s that did the most. On a related note, I think Jumbo from '90-'92 is easily his most consistent period. Part of it is who was around him, but he also got in a groove. Heh. As though they only had one standout match.
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[1992-08-22-AJPW-Summer Action Series II] Stan Hansen vs Mitsuharu Misawa
Ditch replied to Loss's topic in August 1992
A bit late on this but what a confusing statement. I seem to be the main proponent of the match and I wouldn't put it in the top 100 matches for AJ in the '90s, let alone top 50. I doubt anyone would. So there's no surprise it wasn't nominated. I'll add that none of the three matches they reference (which I run through in my writeup above) have come up yet on these sets. Without the full context I can understand not liking it... after all, I didn't like it for years. -
...why?
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Dick Murdoch was so cool that Coors paid him to go to bars and be seen drinking and putting over the beer.
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Recently re-watched his match with Killer Karl Kox from All Japan (1976) and it's all kinds of fun, as long as you can stand a match that's 90% about punches. GREAT punches, mind you, but not a lot outside punches. It's no-DQ, and Murdoch is a face who slowly becomes more and more willing to fight dirty in response to Kox's heel tactics. Murdoch's selling is so good. Also: punches. His 6/19/86 match vs Inoki is my favorite. Masterful demonstration of controlling a match, great technical work, but also very much a Dick Murdoch match.
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[1990-08-11-NWA-World Championship Wrestling] Interview: Sting & Lex Luger
Ditch replied to Loss's topic in August 1990
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You hear stories about pretty much every wrestler and how they're a jerk (or worse) at some point. I can't recall anyone saying anything bad about Bryan or Kane. They really seem like genuinely good people.
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I don't think Terry's available technical match footage is enough for him to be considered one of the best technicians ever, but it IS enough for him to be a better technician than many highly-rated wrestlers. If one discounts matches with blood (which is funny coming from a Flair fan ) and brawls, yes that weakens his appeal tremendously. Again, I don't consider Terry to be GOAT, but he's exceptionally well-rounded. I think there's enough '70s-early '80s footage to establish that he was fine in clean matches, but not enough for that to be at the crux of the case for him as GOAT. Murdoch is a good comparison. I think Terry smokes him as a sympathetic babyface, and was able to get more heat as both a face and a heel. Better promo. Comparable brawler and technician. I can see preferring Dick overall, and I can see how they would be considered peers, but again it comes down to Terry excelling at more aspects and accomplishing more.
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It seems like it's impacting your impression of him, unless you haven't had a chance to see more of his technical work in Japan.
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Yatsu had a couple good outings after leaving AJ but he definitely lost a lot of steam from where he was in '88.
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The Funks vs Bockwinkel & Lanza, and vs Baba & Jumbo, from the 1978 Tag League, are good Technical Terry bouts. Also the JIP match vs Bock from '83 on the AJ '80s set, and the mid-83 Funks vs Hansen/Brody tag. Terry's versatility is what strikes me most about his GOAT case. -Solid technical wrestler when called upon to do so. I wish there was more 1970s Terry footage from the US. -Great brawler. -Great babyface. He's a fantastic FIP and a good hot tag. He didn't just get "you're a good wrestler I respect you" face heat in Japan; he would regularly get bigger face heat than Baba. -Whether you like him as a heel would depend on how you like his brawls and promos. Anyone making the GOAT case would say he's a great heel. -Longevity and ability to get over everywhere he went are vital to the case. I don't know that I would put him in the top 5, but I will say that he struck me as being top 2 in Japan for the period before '85.
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[1990-08-25-WWF-Superstars] Brother Love: Hulk Hogan & Big Boss Man
Ditch replied to Loss's topic in August 1990
The Tugboat injury thing was miserable. 1. Tugboat wins a squash 2. Dino Bravo runs out to attack him, and it's totally anticlimactic. The announcer's reaction was pretty much "bo-ring". Tugboat gets the better of him. 3. Earthquake runs out, Tugboat gets double-teamed and injured. Meanwhile, all of that took several minutes and nobody bothered to help Tugboat. -
Memphis: the highest highs... the lowest lows.
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Not his daughter. At least, per Wikipedia, he didn't have any children until 2000.
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8/92 was really good in the context of Misawa's shoulder injury from the previous tour.
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Misawa vs Hansen was uneven. -This match in full is largely Misawa working the arm, which leads to absolutely zilch because the finish is still One Lariat. -CC '91 round-robin match has a dull start but a good finish. -3/4/92 TC match is forgettable, one of the worst TC matches of the decade. -CC '92 final is forgettable. -8/22/92 TC is really good. -CC '93 matches are better than the '92 one but still not thrilling. -5/21/93 TC is really good. -10/93 TC is a total letdown in the context of how they got there. -5/95 TC is a total letdown. 10 matches, with only 2 standouts. I've seen people here-and-there give kind words to some of the 'other' 8 (ie. CC '93 final) but never high praise. Considering how many of those are high-profile, and how reliable these two were in the clutch otherwise, this series didn't click the way one would expect.
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Come to think of it, the TC was all over the place for the first couple years as well. 6 title changes and two decision matches between April '89 and January '91.
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I might not have seen the 6/30/90 6-man. Don't have the disc, and I don't think I've seen the match put online. Lynch has it, so I'll grab it in my next order. As you say, it's not going to be an earth-shaking match to add to anything, but it's probably good. And good is all I need!
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Strange bit of booking here. Why knock the MVC off after a couple months for the sake of pushing a newly-minted team with Kabuki? Heck, MVC even got to beat the Baba/Jumbo superteam in May. Give 'em more than 4 months with the belts...
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I'm amazed by how over Kikuchi is in this. Granted, it's a good match and he does his part well, but he hadn't become part of the Jumbo/Misawa feud on TV yet. Kikuchi was over from the start. Maybe the crowd was pumped because they anticipate a juniors version of Jumbo vs Misawa from 6/8.
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I vividly recall how amped I was for Summerslam (at age 8). I should add that I really wanted to see Hogan *and Tugboat* get revenge... poor Tugboat.
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RF didn't do anything like "ushering in the tape trading boom". Way too many people involved.
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Both guys run through their (remarkably similar) movesets so Gordy does something different (DDT) and wins.