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KB8

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  1. KB8
    Fucking hell I love this match-up. I wish they wrestled seven hundred times. Their G-1 match from earlier in the year is one of the best five minutes matches ever and this is worked in similar fashion, with Shibata showing all kinds of disrespect and trying to hospitalise his elder while Tenryu throttles him for his temerity. Tenryu as badass Clint Eastwood putting a young jock in his place is really the perfect dynamic. Right at the start Tenryu meets Shibata on the ramp and throws him off the stage into a row of chairs, then a little later Shibata drags him to the same spot and I thought for a second he was going to chuck the old man to his death. They do a back and forth in the ring where Shibata punts Tenryu in the chest, Tenryu responds with a punch and one of those low angle brainbusters, and they basically repeat that sequence three times until Tenryu comes out on top. It was kind of dumb but also awesome in that egregiously stupid sort of way. Tenryu hitting a draping DDT from the top rope to the floor was sheer fucking lunacy and I don't know how he never killed him. Shibata popping up and deciding it's his turn to throw potato shots a couple minutes later was a wee bit rubbish, but he doesn't get much offence in before Tenryu chokes him half to death. I can see someone thinking the finish was a touch flat, but for as annoying as Shibata dropping all selling can be, the way he staggered around like a man ready to be put out his misery was great. And of course Tenryu doesn't need to be told twice.
  2. KB8
    Man, I know it's been a minute since I finished the '96 yearbook and everything, but where the fuck did all these ham 'n' eggers come from? Did they add like six guys to the nWo at the office Christmas party? Is that Rotunda? I don't even remember them pulling the trigger fully on Patrick. Whatever though, this was tremendous. Hogan and Bischoff blatantly lying about stuff rules and it's a cool new layer Hogan added to his gig after Starrcade. The facade was beginning to crack, he finally lost...so fuck it, just lie through your teeth and say you didn't. And YOU believe he's paranoid enough that HE believes it. The stuff with the Giant was great, Bischoff's futile axe handles, the crazy Nick Patrick bump, the inevitable swarming and beatdown, Bischoff's incredible smugness, and Vincent's greatest moment in WCW. I remember crowds were all the way on the Sting train towards the end of 1996 and this one was in full "we want Sting!" mode again. I haven't watched ANY of this stuff since it happened so I'm super hyped to see how everything with Sting plays out over the year. My ten year old self would be absolutely geeked.
  3. KB8
    I pretty much agree entirely with Pete on the match, especially the bodyslam which I had no recollection of but instantly hated. Other than Lawler making note of it the thing didn't seem to count for shit, either. I mean, that's pretty dumb. This being the tail end of a marathon taping session makes sense because nobody gave a rip about Austin being out there at all. Sid bringing the cameraman back with him was indeed a cool touch and I actually like the powerbomb on Pete Lothario in isolation, but it had no heat at all because he's some schmuck related to the old fella (who may have been a fucking awesome wrestler, but nobody had any reason to care about him at this point) who was tagging along with the guy crowds were already getting sick of. I thought WWF started getting a few things right towards the end of 1996, but it's still night and day compared to what's going on over on Nitro.
  4. KB8
    "You have to kick...or be kicken! You have to hit...or be hitten!" Sid talking about the ring being what he refers to as the dying field and how he was born the man and fuck it, how can you not get a kick out of Sid? Just all over the place and crazy as shit. His reaction to Michaels doing the striptease was tremendous and it was no wonder he was routinely being cheered over Shawn. We're entering that real obnoxious stage of babyface Michaels and I'm honestly quite hyped to see it play out again. I welcome it.
  5. KB8
    I didn't outright hate this, probably because I had no expectations of it actually being any good in the first place, but yeah, this wasn't much. Kojika is dressed like my 90 year old grandfather and moves at about the same clip. I can never be too critical of the old fogies trying to recapture that lightning in a bottle but he sure wasn't good and his opponents never really helped matters. I wasn't sure where they could go after the crazy scaffold senton into the wire at the start and the answer involved much walking around while lightly directing a designated partner to various walls so they could leave blood prints. I'll give them one thing, though -- that finish achieved what not a whole lot of deathmatches achieve and that was cap things off with the absolute craziest spot of the match. That was just absurdly brutal.
  6. KB8
    I've had similar issues to Rah with pacing in joshi before, but I actually found the rhythm in this far easier to get into. Maybe it's just because I found myself really liking a bunch of Kandori during the GWE and she became a bit of a favourite where most other joshi wrestlers leave me cold, but I thought this was pretty good. They definitely resort to the tired trope of dragging each other around the building, but I thought everything felt manic and they punctuated it with crazy enough shit that it didn't come off as being too ridiculous. For the most part the big spots carried weight and I didn't think it came close to the level of blowing shit off that a bunch of other joshi street fights have reached. The powerbomb across the upturned table looked brutal, the chain spot where Kandori tries to strangle her was almost disturbing, and even if the finish was a bit daft in theory I guess the threat of attempted murder will plausibly force you to tap out. I was fine with this.
  7. KB8
    Mr Backlund is losing his shit so naturally I'm on board. Vince as goofy chinos-wearing dad was also my first thought. I haven't seen any of these shows in forever, but based on this it feels like maybe he'd be able to let his hair down a little and probably enjoy himself (if he continues with announcing duty, anyway).
  8. KB8
    Agreed on Sunny with the subtle jealousy being fun. She was the best. Marlena was also stupid hot in '97 and I'll never not love old man Backlund going apeshit about whatever nonsense.
  9. KB8
    Yeah, this was daft as hell and feels like the perfect little canvas for Vince to chuck a bunch of stuff at to see what might work. Mother Smucker has to be one of the earliest attempts at a blatant bit of SMUT~ on the WWF's part, right? Attitude be comin'...
  10. KB8
    I was also sort of stunned that they were running around New York in winter wearing Daisy Dukes and crop tops. Stevie superkicking Santa was always a given because no way Santa Claus makes an ECW appearance and doesn't get hit in the mouth.
  11. KB8
    This was the business and a great Dome main event. Man Hashimoto's the best at this kind of match. Choshu as well tbf, and this might be top 3 for this match-up. They set the tone straight at the bell with the tie-ups. So much struggle and nobody works a collar-and-elbow like Hashimoto. And the build over simple moves, the way it escalates while maintaining that struggle; I could see someone thinking it dragged a bit in the first half, because it's a decent bit longer than their usual match together, but I'm fine with them taking their time over everything. Choshu kicking Hashimoto's leg out to set up the sharpshooter felt like the moment where you knew they were starting to go for the kill, then Choshu went to the lariat and Choshu trying to lariat Hashimoto's sternum to bits is never not awesome. I loved his progressive sell of his own lariat arm as Hash continued weathering the storm. Weathering the storm is pretty much a theme the rest of the way, much like it usually is between them. Can Choshu put Hash away with the lariats? Can Hash withstand them long enough to spot an opening? Can Choshu get past Hash trying to chop his arm off at the shoulder? The two superplexes felt huge and the fight over the brainbuster/DDT even more so. I do think there's something to OJ's point about Choshu maybe getting in a lariat or five more than he should've given where both guys were at this stage in their careers, but there's something about Hashimoto absorbing Choshu lariats that just feels right. Maybe it's an honour thing. Maybe I'm just a sucker for it. Either way this was badass and the kind of New Japan main event build I much prefer to something like Mutoh/Chono or whatever we get today.
  12. KB8
    Yeah, the gold outfit really is the swankest. I feel like I've seen this match-up a hundred times and at this point and I don't really have any interest in watching it again, but that finish feels like a new wrinkle for them.
  13. KB8
    Considering Liger himself has had a whole bunch of cool outfit variations over the years, does this Super version of it even rank inside the top 10? I remember (I think) Jericho saying in his book that this was mostly a disaster and that there was one spot where he just about landed on his head and broke his neck. The part we JIP'd to had both of them up on the top rope so I was half expecting something horrific to happen. Nothing horrific happened but it wasn't all that good, either. I guess it's not too surprising they mothball'd the Super Liger thing in short order.
  14. KB8
    Yeah, I'm with the rest of you who thought this held up. To the degree it did was quite shocking, tbh. I get criticising Michaels for doing all this crazy shit with a ladder that the crowd will pop for rendering it counterproductive to him as the heel, but at worst I don't really care and at best I might be able to convince myself it actively added to the match; or at least added to my enjoyment of it. Razor punches him around the place and I bought Michaels only being able to win by getting creative with that ladder. He wasn't winning with fisticuffs but hey, there's a big fuckin ladder you're allowed to bonk someone with so that's a decent equalizer, right? Plus everything looked super nasty and like it was designed to actually hurt Razor, rather than hunt for the almighty pop. I mean, all that carny shit about him having a five star match with a ladder that Scott Hall happened to be window dressing in is obviously silly, but I thought this was largely Michaels being a bump machine and Razor plugging in his spots and selling well when he needed to. There were also clearly moments where Shawn was leading him through spots. Michaels just picking up the ladder and flinging it at Razor's kidneys was brutal and in that instance I'm not sure how much of Razor's selling was actually selling. When he made his comeback and clotheslined Michaels over the top (which Michaels took an awesome bump off of) he could've climbed the ladder and tried to win, but I bought him wanting revenge for being smashed in the gut and kidneys five times with the ladder. He basically used it to throw an uppercut at one point and naturally Michaels took a killer bump to the floor. The slingshot into the ladder, the splash off the ladder, that thing Michaels did out the corner that was also a splash only ladder-assisted; all great spots. The baseball slide into the ladder was also one of the better of its ilk. There were moments as well where Michaels would add a nasty little touch out of nowhere, my favourite being where they both take a spill off the ladder and he just kicks it over so it lands across Razor's back. Thought the finish was basically perfect as well. The bit with him getting tangled in the ropes is great and I love how he milked the shit out of all that, going from having his leg caught and escaping only to get his arm wrapped, juuuuuust inches away from being able to shove that ladder over. But the way he set it up to climb initially by standing it over Razor's body was a really cool little touch. Razor already walked under it pre-match and this was Shawn being overconfident. Why would he ever pass up a chance to rub salt in the wound? I guess the opening few minutes before the ladder gets introduced was a bit vanilla, but it's about the only part that didn't feel like a gnarly fight. Obviously the highspots are dated a quarter century later, but I think having such vivid memories of this as a kid and being blown away by what they were doing at the time will always stick with me. It never felt like just a collection of cool moments. It was rugged and mostly coherent and I'll probably always get at least a little enjoyment out of a Shawn Michaels bump show.
  15. KB8
    This was billed as falls count anywhere but in reality it was falls count anywhere except in the ring. It was sort of convoluted. You can't pin your opponent in the ring, but pinning them anywhere else in the arena or city of New York is fine. It also had a Texas death match twist to it in that after each fall the loser had sixty seconds to return to the ring. If he couldn't do so, the match was over. In practice it only went about eight minutes but it was an okay little brawl. Few are better than Savage at communicating the hatred of a feud that's supposed to be built on hate and he came out the gate jumping straight at Crush's face. You bought that he hated him, basically. They did some cool stuff, like a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on the floor, a big Savage bump across the guardrail, Crush hit a nice superkick that busted Savage's mouth open, and then the finish was pretty amusing even if it didn't work entirely as intended. Crush kind of stunk for the entirety of his career but this iteration of him with the face paint and cool ring gear and aligning himself with Fuji was probably my favourite Crush. Neo-Nazi biker with tire track forehead tattoo, big goofy surfer bro, nWo lummox with sunglasses and Kronik-era hired assassin who slicks his hair back with Nutella just didn't click in the same way.
  16. KB8
    I watched this in full as well but didn't think too much of it. It was mostly punch-kick, and even if it was decent punch-kick with Bret's stompy punches and Yoko cutting him off, I was probably more interested in Piper taking no shit from anybody. That headbutt spot did kind of rule, though. Last few minutes picked up as well and a couple of those nearfalls gave the crowd a kick up the arse. I had no recollection of how they actually ended this and that finish was...something. Was Yoko chasing Piper supposed to suggest he had something to do with it? Or did they just run the straight banana peel finish? Either way the post-match was a cool moment. Even as a kid I could never quite get behind Bret, but I sure liked him more than Yoko and I had no real interest in Luger either. Seven year old me would've had Savage in the main event but nobody ever did listed to me.
  17. KB8
    I've always really liked this without loving it. Last time I checked it out was for a Greatest WWF/E match ever poll about a decade ago, and even if it wasn't a personal favourite I thought it was pretty great. I figured it would hold up, and it did. I've seen Bret a hundred thousand times at this point and I know what I'm getting with him. He was good in this like you'd expect. All of his stuff looked nice and crisp, he sold well, bumped well, and the layout was simple yet effective with transitions that held weight. I like that about the longer Bret matches. Loss mentions it a page back about how they're usually broken down into clear chapters, and the progression from chapter to chapter makes sense. It's pretty standard Bret Hart layout, but I absolutely don't mean that in a bad way. But man, this was Owen's chance to shine and shine he did. The early stuff is pretty basic, mostly being armdrag/armbar work, but Owen is really fun during it. He celebrates everything like it's a victory, grabs hair and subtly cheats, then gets indignant when Bret does the slightest thing well. So he just slaps him real hard across the face (which we get a great payback to shortly after). There were two extended runs of offence for Owen in this, the first where he works over the back and the second, which comes after a short Bret comeback, where he works over the leg (including kicking his leg out of his leg). Offensively he dipped into his New Japan bag because he was throwing out all sorts of cool stuff for 1994 WWF. He hit a bridging German suplex (which looked better than most German suplexes thrown in WWE in years), did a couple dragon screws, put on a funky Indian deathlock thing, sat in a camel clutch while yanking hair and shit talking at the same time, etc. Just a really fun offensive display. Bret's offence was mostly his usual stuff; the back breaker, the side Russian leg sweep, elbow off the middle rope, all the hits you expect him to play. I like the finish a lot as well. Did Owen get lucky? Maybe a little. But was it luck that he knew to make that counter in the first place? Was it luck that he was able to execute it properly and keep Bret down? Was it luck that he controlled most of the match and showed he could hang? Maybe Bret wasn't all there mentally, having the title match later to think about and never being completely happy about wrestling his brother anyway, but that wasn't Owen's fault. Next time Bret should know better. I don't think this is the best WWF match of the 90s or anything (I don't know if it's the best WWF match of 1994), but it had a well-told story, lots of nice little touches, cool paybacks, smart callbacks...yeah, it was pretty great.
  18. KB8
    That Piper/Valentine match that got put up on the Network last year is also a tremendous brawl and doesn't feel a million miles behind the dog collar match (which I think is legit in the conversation for best gimmick match ever and an incredible brawl). This is really good, though, and one of PIper's best performances. I know he'll never blow you away with his technique and Piper throwing a hip toss isn't the most crisp thing you'll see, but I love how he does everything like a wildman and even those hip tosses have an element of frenzy. I'll always dig the story of him reverting back to some of his saltier ways as the match goes on. I actually watched this and Bret/Perfect from King of the Ring '93 back to back earlier, and I thought Hennig was overall more overt in his heeling than Piper was in this, which I wouldn't have said based on memory alone. I know there's the ring bell spot and this had the blood, but Hennig was way more surly and I'd have expected him to actually hit Bret with the bell. It may be hokey WWF melodrama, but I thought that ring bell spot came off great and puts most spots of its ilk these days to shame. Maybe it was because the commentary wasn't trying to obviously ram it down our throats, maybe it's because Piper's a decent actor; either way it totally worked for me. I also forgot the set up to Bret getting opened up, but it ruled. You're thinking Piper opening the ropes to let Bret back in is always ending up with Bret getting suckered, but Piper actually lets him in clean. Maybe we're underestimating Piper's strength of character. To be fair to him, Bret's been trying to get under his skin all day and that bit earlier where he faked the shoulder injury only to roll him up was a bit of a dick move in its own right. It's no wonder Piper slapped him. But hey, it's all good now and we'll no doubt see a clean contest from here on out. Piper telling Bret his lace is undone and popping him with an uppercut was amazing and he never looked back from there. Bret was a perfect foil for him, but Piper listening to the devil on one shoulder while the angel on the other tried to rein him in was a super fun story. The part where he unloads with a flurry of jabs to the eye was where you had to stop and go "yep, that's the Roddy Piper we always knew was in there." Or maybe it's the part where he was biting Bret in the cut and I guess I'll retract that horse shit about him not being that surly. Finish is fairly iconic in WWF lore and there's one guy in the crowd with a Hot Rod t-shirt who's just distraught when a) Piper decides against bludgeoning Bret with the bell, and b) when Bret reverses the sleeper. Piper's become a huge favourite of mine in recent years and this held up really well.
  19. KB8
    You know, for a guy who has a rep in some circles of not being all that good, Jarrett has a decent resume of fun stuff. Still think this is his best match and probably his best performance. It wasn't a carry job by any stretch but this was total Memphis and I'd guess it was him who laid the thing out. Sure looked like he was having a blast the whole time. All the early horse shit rules, fun stalling, great shtick. Michaels' bump over the post is a doozy and works as a quality transition. I thought Jarrett's control segment dragged just a bit at points and his abdominal stretch was pretty muck, but they're minor quibbles. Finishing stretch lasts longer than I remembered but it was also good stuff. The double clothesline leading to the nine count before Michaels does the kip up is effective in that it plausibly allows him some extra time to recover. I don't mind the kip up in general but I know it's an irritation to lots of folk. Plus this was the smoothest kip up ever because he does it straight after the flying forearm and just kips right up without his feet touching the mat first and McMahon blew his knickers off I bet. Roadie was also a fun annoying shit all the way through this and the finish was a fun payoff to that. Mega fun match. Top 3 WWF match of the year? Top 10 US?
  20. KB8
    This was an absolute hoot. Is Espectrito the best mini wrestler ever (I don't count Virus in that because he's spent the last twenty years working with the main rosters)? Sagrada has a shout as well, but I'm partial to Espectrito because he's an incredible base, an incredible bumper and an incredible rudo dickhead bully. The chemistry between them is really awesome though and they did a bunch of neat shit together in this, like Espectrito gorilla pressing Sagrada and threatening to fling him into the first row (some guy is like no no please don't throw that man into my grandmother's face and beverage) and the amazing bump he takes off the ropes just as you think he's about to Fuerza Bump it to the floor. Half pint Octagon might be a better wrestler than full pint Octagon and he got the absolute dogshit beaten out of him, then hit mini Estrada with a fucking CORKER of a tope. Jerrito looks about as sleazy as the actual Jerry Estrada and I want you to think about that for a second because that is some outrageous amounts of sleaze. He was also really fun in this but I don't think he was even a wee bit blootered or unfit for work so I question his dedication to the character. Third caida had some awesome rudo bullying and the part where Espectrito full force booted Octagoncito's teeth out the back of his head was absolutely spectacular.
  21. KB8
    Yeah, our boy Nathan isn't great or anything but he's strong as an ox, impressively agile and clearly looks imposing. I mean Hashimoto isn't a small man but he's dwarfed by Jones. It's easy to see why McMahon wanted to do something with him. Maybe his WWE run even underrated him a little (I am in no way committed to that) because he at least had the physical tools. Either way he had a couple awesome Cesaro-ish strength spots, that suplex from the apron inside being super impressive because it didn't look like Hash jumped into it at all. The slingshot clothesline, the ode to World Class with the claw, etc. were all fun. He even managed to sell the toll Hashimoto's chops were taking over the course of the match. Early on he was asking for more, then by the end he either needed to connect with one of those lariats or Hash was for chopping his arm off. Hashimoto selling for the bearhug is yet more evidence of his greatness, largely because as soon as he found himself in it he immediately started cracking Jones in the neck and ear. There were a few moments where Jones looked a bit lost and unsure where to go next, but you expect that and if nothing else the way Hash sold for him made him look as dangerous as he did confused.
  22. KB8
    Not really the wild or awesome spectacle you'd hope for, so in that sense I suppose it's a touch disappointing, but it still had enough Murakami horse shit to be fun. Unfortunately Misawa didn't seem all that interested here. On the one hand it was pretty amusing seeing him act above engaging in Murakami's antics. Murakami would try and get a rise out of him by throwing dickish jabs and gloating, outright standing on his face while Misawa lay slumped in the corner, stepping onto the ramp and beckoning Misawa to follow, but by and large Misawa played it by the book. A couple times his composure cracked and he drilled Murakami with some elbows, but if that had been Hashimoto in there he'd have taken Murakami behind the woodshed and slaughtered him. Murakami getting cut open and rising from the grave like a sneering zombie ruled though, even if this was one of those NOAH crowds that was more likely to respectfully applaud than bay for blood. And if you're not there rooting for Murakami to wreak havoc then what's the point?
  23. KB8
    This was the match that really sold me on Murakami. Back in the faraway time of 2007 when my stupid young self had more interest in hunting down 90s New Japan junior heavyweights or keeping up with Japanese wrestling in general, watching every single thing Murakami had ever done wasn't really a priority. A lot can change in twelve years and I remember even then, watching this on youtube or Veoh or whatever streaming site after it had been posted on the DVDVR board, knowing that Murakami was someone I'd one day come to cherish like my own son. The shaved head, the death stares, licking Marufuji's blood, the straight punches to the jaw. At that point I still actually liked Marufuji, and he was fine in this, but it was the Murakami show and it opened my eyes to a whole new world of crazy. Maybe this as much as anything shaped my tastes in wrestling going forward. So there's a story for the grandkids.
  24. KB8
    Yeah, as a six minute prison brawl this was pretty dang fun. I had no recollection whatsoever of Enson Inoue working New Japan but I guess putting him in with Murakami works fine. Murakami's sneer as he gets back to his feet after the initial beatdown might've been the very greatest Murakami sneer in history. The palpable crowd reaction of "holy fuck this guy is truly psychotic" was both warranted and amazing. Eating those punches was wild enough but then he started wiping his blood with his hand and licking it like a cat cleaning its paw so maybe this was the quintessential Crackpot Murakami performance?
  25. KB8
    Agreed with you both that this felt almost Hashimoto-v-Choshu-Lite, not just for the parts with the lariats and Hashimoto staring them in the face but also for the parts with the lariats and Hashimoto staring them in the face. But hey, if you're going to work a low carb version of a famous match-up then I'm on board with a low carb Hashimoto v Choshu. For real though, Hashimoto was stupid great in this. Any time he gets pissed off enough to double stomp someone's intestines out their mouth you know you're onto a winner. Kojima isn't particularly good nor interesting but he'll at least throw lariats that make a thud, and really that was about all Hash needed to make this work. It's never not amazing to see how Hash will sell progressive damage, how those shots take their toll over the course of a match. He is so good at it. I don't think anybody's ever held a candle to him in making those "let me stand here while you take your best swing at me" spots not look cliche or downright stupid. We've already established that he's a man of honour and a man of honour will give an adversary fair opportunity. But son, you better make the most of it because he will vaporize you if you don't. Match went up a level when Kojima hit the top rope elbow to the knee. Kojima going after the leg made sense if for no reason other than to lessen how hard he'd be kicked in the sternum. Hashimoto's sell of it was impeccable, especially during the figure four, really walking that line between embellishment to ramp up the drama while maintaining a sense of realism. His response of moving away from the kicks in favour of trying to overhand chop Kojima's arm off was of course great. The way he used it in the first instance to block an attempted lariat ruled, as did him going berserk a bit later with a huge flurry to the shoulder. I could've done without Kojima's goofy no-sell Jetlag mentions, but I guess it's still Kojima and you make peace with that fact. Hash going to the cross armbreaker to seal the deal after the previous DDTs hadn't put Kojima away was a smart finish as well. I should check out that Triple Crown match at some point.
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