Ditch

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Morton might have been Brad Pitt in comparison to Gibson, but he's gotta be top 5. Short (for wrestling), not impressively built, stereotypical bad '80s hair, and not remotely handsome.

NJ was #1 but they were spending several times more than NOAH, between a bigger roster, higher salaries, bigger venues, and far more expensive outsiders for major events.

As with Misawa/Kawada, I think it's worth including this in full on a leftovers set.

Jado & Gedo vs Kanemoto & Wataru Inoue, New Japan March 4th 2005 Background: Wataru Inoue, who struggled to progress from the 'young lion' phase of his career without becoming a jobber, is given an opportunity to go for the junior tag titles in the main event at Korakuen Hall. This is a rematch from the previous July, when Jado and Gedo narrowly retained. Why I think it's underrated: Jado and Gedo have this weird on/off switch with the quality of their wrestling. Either it's lazy choking and filler, or high-end Southern-style heel aggression. This features "good" Jado and Gedo. More importantly, this is given extra time because it's the main event, and they use that time to build a big-match structure. Kanemoto is effective as the Big Man On Campus, and Inoue is effective in the Ricky Morton role. Top it off with a hot crowd and you get something memorable. What it deserves: Top 100, and maybe even top 50. I really think this is something any wrestling fan can appreciate, and with Inoue having retired this is almost certainly his best match in the New Japan ring.

Just saw a fantastic bit of selling that is worth noting in the context of my last post. Kojima & Nakanishi vs Nagata & FFujita from the 8/8/98 dome show. Nagata applies the Nagata Lock (a leglock) to Nakanishi. Kojima delivers an elbow drop to Nagata to break it up, then he and Nakanishi get in position for a sandwich lariat from opposite corners. Kojima does his part, but Nakanishi's leg gives out and he drops to a knee. Big crowd reaction, and Kojima smacks Nakanishi on the back of his head out of frustration. They delivered a pop and put over Nagata's then-finisher through logical selling. It's that easy!

On limb work, I've had many drawn-out arguments on the subject with people who aren't much concerned with selling and think I'm being overly critical. But I'm not expecting someone to sell a kick to the knee for 15 minutes; I think it should be proportional and consistent. -If someone works a limb for a minute, sell it for a minute. Shaking it off a couple times is enough. -If someone works a limb for an extended 5 minute control segment, it should be sold longer and should prevent certain moves from being done. Otherwise, the limb work was filler, and I'm not a fan of filler. -"My limb hurts too much to do (move)" is vastly more compelling than "ow I just did (move) and now my limb hurts but I'm going to keep doing moves with it". For instance, a much-hyped match between KENTA and Nakajima on 3/1/09 featured Nakajima going after a leg constantly, and KENTA still was able to do his full arsenal of athletic moves without problem aside from selling afterwards. Very problematic. -"(body part) of iron" can be fun, but it needs to be established and sold as such. Another match that I debated about was Tanahashi vs Nakanishi from 5/6/09. Tanahashi worked the legs, and Nakanishi ignored it the entire time. The announcers kept putting Nakanishi over as "leg machine", i.e. his legs are so strong that Tanahashi's attack doesn't hurt much. Given that Tanahashi goes after the legs constantly, I would have no problem with Nakanishi no-selling or semi-no-selling some of those attacks since they're stale and it would be dramatic. But it needed to be *active* no-selling to demonstrates the "leg machine" gimmick. Instead he would sell the move and then not sell the leg once on offense. There are times when limb work goes bad because of the person doing the focus, but mostly it's on the recipient's end. What I find especially wrong-headed is that selling goes a long way towards building heat and drama. Someone who's going to win the match has even more reason to sell, because it makes their win seem more meaningful; that they overcame adversity. Selling is something wrestlers can do to entertain and get over without taking bumps/risks. With how much of a physical toll wrestling takes, I'm amazed that guys won't do everything possible to get over with things like selling.

Misawa & Ogawa vs Saito & Inoue, NOAH September 10th 2004 Background: Saito spent several years as Akiyama's right-hand man only to be cast out during the summer. He ended up forming a midcard stable named Dark Agents. He and Inoue earned this tag title shot by beating former champions Kobashi and Honda. That match was decent but did nothing to suggest what we'd get at Nippon Budokan. Why I think it's underrated: It lacks the stiffness and bombs of, say, the Kobashi vs Taue match that followed it. Masao Inoue's athletic ability, execution, and moveset are not exactly impressive. Yet the story it tells of a life-long jobber trying to make good and beat the odds is very compelling. Things like layout, structure, timing and selling are what make this work. I've typically seen two reactions to it. Either people love it, or they're turned off by Inoue. I've seen more of the former than the latter, so this is well worth checking out. What it deserves: Top 50. Misawa, Ogawa and Saito all play their roles very well while giving the spotlight to Inoue's career performance.

Tamura vs Ito, U-Style August 18th 2004 Background: Semi-final in a tournament to crown the promotion's champion. As it turned out there was never a title defense, because the promotion essentially shut down at the end of the year. Thankfully their abortive championship produced this gem. Ito is a massive underdog, lacking the experience and crisp execution of the promotion's ace. Why I think it's underrated: Tamura/Kohsaka was somewhat overlooked at the time, and this was even less prominent initially. While it doesn't match the smoothness of the February submission-fest, it does have a solid story and much more drama in the final minutes. Ito delivers quite the effort. What it deserves: As with Tamura/Kohsaka, top 100 in general and top 50 if you're favorably inclined to the style.

3 links updated in the file.

Tenryu vs Tenzan, New Japan February 15th 2004 Background: An impromptu final in a one-night title tournament. Tenzan gave Nagata a legit KO with a moonsault in the second round, which messed up the plan. Tenzan was already busted up in his first round match with Sasaki, while Tenryu has taken almost no punishment thusfar. Why I think it's underrated: This is a big show main event but isn't worked in an "epic" style, so it wasn't going to attract MOTYC attention when considered alongside what was happening in NOAH. Yet it's just the sort of second-tier bout that deserves attention in a vote like this. They do a great job of mixing things up in their strike exchanges. Tenryu chipping at a wounded Tenzan is a great use of the lumpy old man, and the finish is quite satisfying considering the length of the match. All the more impressive in the context of Tenzan having wrestled two physical matches already. What it deserves: Top 100. I think a similarly worked match in WWE would be raved over. .

I can only paste text when I put it into a code box. NOTE: using IE. edit: If I turn the text options off, I can paste.

Just to make sure I'm not going crazy: there's no way to paste text?

Keep in mind that the 'western puro fans' world is very different from Japan. NOAH got more attention in the west than NJ from 2002-2006, but NJ was the #1 company during that span and typically by a wide amount. Minoru Tanaka was as accomplished as any junior in NJ over that span. Also, KENTA and Marufuji benefitted from NOAH having a hard time developing heavyweights, which gave them a lot more spotlight than juniors normally receive (especially compared to NJ).

The sense I get is that steroid use is very common, but not in the kind of quantity per user seen in the '80s. Japan has two things to make staying in shape the right way easier: less travel time during tours and more time off the road, meaning less wear & tear on the body. That said, after '92 we get the very questionable physiques of 1997 Sasaki and post-knee injury Kobashi, not to mention a very bodybuilder/steroid focused culture in Dragon Gate.

That forehead. Lordy.

Kawada's work in the footloose team from '88-'90, when he first got regular TV time, was very much junior-flavored. He was also small compared to Baba, Jumbo, Tenryu, Yatsu, etc, so it made sense to be more athletic in nature. He and Kobashi became power guys as they filled/roided out and moved up the card.

That is a strange error. Links are an all-or-nothing proposition, so try re-downloading. Also, if you're not using VLC player, you should download and install it. Besides that I dunno. Also, I'm a big fan of chronological order, and Japan has much stronger continuity than the US, so my recommendation is to generally watch things as they happened.

Yeah, I for one don't think mentioning the username is out of the question...

Good exchanges involve mixing it up and ramping up selling. Bad exchanges involve doing the same strike endlessly and nobody selling until they decide to sell. It's the same with the use of highspots: selling and mental effort are more important than anything else.

The concept of Dewey Foley as a 20-something adult is mindboggling.

I never got the love for that match other than a couple moments.

Hansen & Spivey > Gordy & Williams. Thoughts?

Bret/Owen Summerslam is an instance where I don't see the case for it being rated that high. Something like Toyota vs Kyoko Inoue from '95, I vehemently disagree but I can at least understand. Bret/Owen wasn't historically significant, wasn't a spotfest, wasn't technically great, wasn't super-heated...