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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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?

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.

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?

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.

Outside of a few WWE PPVs and a handful of matches from elsewhere I don't even keep up with current wrestling, and I've still got way too much stuff to watch. There are several hundred discs in boxes that I'll never ever manage to get through. I can also never stick with the one thing long enough to finish anything, either. I'm pretty similar, only with me it's monthly cycles as opposed to yearly. It's the same with most of my hobbies. I'll go a few months consuming a bunch of wrestling, then I won't watch a thing for a couple months after that. I really don't follow any promotion at this point, but when I'm on a wrestling kick I'll check out the weekly WWE threads and I always pay attention to the match discussion archive, so that way I guess I'm at least getting a sense of who's prominent at the time.

The Rousey train keeps on rolling and this was the best Sasha's looked in aaaaages. I was hyped for this and it totally delivered. Everything around the arm was great. Sasha had a bunch of awesome and nasty looking ways of working it over and Rousey continues to be the best seller in the company. The ringpost spot to set it up was killer just for the visual of Ronda literally punching the lights out and she really never looked back from there. She had lots of great little moments around that busted up hand/arm, like throwing punches primarily with her left hand and never being able to throw rights without impunity (and she only threw a couple before abandoning the idea anyway), climbing the ropes using only her left hand, visibly leaving it hanging close by her side -- she never let you forget it was hurt and once or twice it prevented her from grabbing a submission she'd ordinarily have no trouble locking in. Sasha had about as many of those great little moments working from above and some of it was downright Finlayish. Stomps to the hand and fingers as Ronda tried to rope break the Banks Statement, using her own ring attire to get some extra torque on the crossface (as she was selling her own arm at the same time), driving her knee into Ronda's forearm as she tried to pull herself up by the rope. That armbar where she about had Rousey's elbows touching behind her own back was fucking disgusting, then she went even beyond that by adding in the joint-manipulation and finger-bending. I haven't really been interested in Sasha for quite a while, but it looked like she held a lot of this together on the offensive and it was a quality performance from her. Bunch of other cool parts as well, like Sasha hitting a tope early then trying it again later only to be caught and dragged into the armbar, and this might've been the best Rousey's throws have looked yet, she was just whipping Sasha around the ring one-handed and Sasha was snapping into bumps like a pro. Ronda's shit talking ruled yet again and the first time she picked Sasha up she made it clear that this was for all the folk who said she couldn't wrestle. It's still kind of amazing how she'll keep finding ways to hurl herself into submission attempts - like the cross armbreaker while draped over the top rope - and she'll bust out at least one strike per match that looks like it'd cave someone's face in. This time it was a step up knee coming off the ropes, but her body punches early on looked super tight as well and at one point she got surly and front kicked Sasha straight out the ring. Dug the finish too, especially Rousey's "this is over" exclamation between the gutwrench powerbomb and Piper's Pit. Loved this. Ronda is an absolute treasure and if she really does leave after 'Mania it'll feel like one of the biggest missed opportunities ever.

Man, when Lesnar gives a shit that guy is unbelievable. And he clearly gave a shit here because this was a crazy fun nine minutes. I have no use for Finn Balor and his Lash LeRoux offence but I guess Lesnar decided he was worth working with and boy did Finn take his chance. Lesnar took all of his double stomps right in the guts and I love how he ate those three dives by letting Balor land with his entire weight across his shoulder and neck. He never caught Balor the way most folk would catch a dive, he just lowered his head and let himself be squashed by the wee human full speed somersaulting towards him. Lesnar's diverticulitis coming to bite him after those nasty table bumps ruled and when he can be bothered selling big for someone he's absolutely sensational at it. All of those grimaces, the "ah SHIT!" as he tried to pick Balor up for the German, even struggling to hoist him for an F5 gave Balor that extra bit of time to regroup and reverse it into the DDT. Crazy Lesnar Face making an appearance at the end as he tried to snap Balor's arm like a tree branch was fucking amazing. There have been more than a couple misses in there for sure, but ever since he came back with that Cena match in 2012, motivated and in-the-mood Lesnar is the best big match wrestler in America. This totally smashed my expectations to bits and it was one of the better sub-ten minute matches WWE's had in a while. It's also the most I've ever enjoyed Balor by some distance.

This had a solid enough first five minutes and they had some nice ideas, though it felt a bit back and forth and didn't totally grab me. Asuka paintbrushing Becky and Becky looking at her like "okay we're doing this now?" was a cool moment. I'm definitely behind Becky getting the big push and think it's awesome how she's gotten herself mega over, but a bunch of her facial expressions can be pretty hokey and I think overall she's a step behind a few of the other women. Still, this picked up when she started going for the Disarm Her and I liked Asuka's sell of the arm for a while after that, especially from the armbar under the turnbuckle bolt. Asuka looked badass here, bunch of really snug strikes and she made those that missed look like she was trying to actually connect, really making Becky work for everything. She also had a few big hip attacks and took a couple nasty bumps, especially the neckbreaker/fisherman buster off the apron that both women crashed hard and awkward on. The struggles over each submission attempt towards the end looked appropriately ragged and Asuka doing a chickenwing Cattle Mutilation was a great finish. I probably wouldn't have had Becky tap clean, but I don't see it hurting her too much and if they're serious about building Asuka back up then fair fucks.

I think that raggedness often actively offsets the fact that a lot of Rousey's matches are pretty heavily micromanaged as well. She's already incredibly good at adding cool little touches to matches and her selling is outrageously on point not even a year in, but I'm usually impressed by how her matches seem to communicate that struggle and grit even when they're apparently laid out to a tee. I thought Sasha/Rousey was MOTN pretty handily and that's the best Sasha's looked in aaaaaages. Asuka looked really good against Becky and Brock was incredible against a guy I have absolutely no use for whatsoever. Bryan/AJ felt like a match that might've been good but I really didn't care too much about it and I wound up thinking it was like, the fifth best match on the show. Women's rumble was rough for the first third, then there was a middle third that picked up a bit, and the final third brought it home really well. I haven't watched a lot of Tamina but she does not seem...good. Rhea Ripley looked pretty awesome and the Kacy Catanzaro stuff was fun, especially the spot where she slithered her way up the ring post back into the ring (even if those spots are sort of tired at this point. I mean, "both feet must touch the floor" is being taken more literally than ever and if your whole ass body is chucked out you should probably be eliminated). Becky shouting "put me in, Fit!" and Finlay being all fuck it then go on and the pop ruled. I still figured Charlotte was winning so it was a cool moment when Becky actually pulled it off.

That was such a blast. I still can’t believe how good Rousey is.

Epic, all-time level slugfest and probably my favourite of their epic, all-time level series. What a match-up this is. It's largely built around strikes, but if I'm going to watch two guys work 20+ minutes largely built around strikes then these are probably the two I want to see. Without going full old man yelling at clouds, nobody does strike exchanges like this anymore. The selling was obviously spectacular, but it wasn't just the selling when taking the strikes that was great, the selling while throwing those strikes ruled and it was that that really told the story. Tenryu was dismissive, ornery and frantic, depending on which stage of the match you chose to look at. Hashimoto was gutsy, defiant and relentless, depending on whichever depth of himself Tenryu's horseshit had pushed him to. It might actually be my favourite Hashimoto performance and that covers an absurd amount of ground. One of the best things I've ever read about him was written by OJ few years back now, I think during the GWE project. It was about how Hashimoto was a man of honour, how he had bushido, how he embodied traditional Japanese values and carried himself the way a samurai should. Tenryu couldn't give a shit about any of that and will make a fight as dirty as he needs to. Sometimes he DOESN'T need to, he'll just do it anyway because it's in his nature. That sort of comportment pushes most men to dish out receipts in kind, but besides one early moment Jetlag mentioned where he flew at Tenryu in a rage, Hashimoto held his head high and resolved to win on his own terms. I mean he still tried to kick Tenryu's pancreas into the twelfth row but at least he wasn't a prick about it. As an awesome counterpoint, Tenryu was a prick about everything, most of his offence for about three quarters being boots to the eye socket and Adam's apple chops. The hip throw to set up the arm work was a tremendous spot and set the back half on a tremendous roll. Those last ten minutes were sensational with Hash trying to kick and tear Tenryu's arm off while Tenryu has dig himself out of the hole his own bullshit put him in. Tenryu's desperation selling, the last ditch bulldog, Hashimoto gritting his teeth and shooting Tenryu this incredible "fuck you and everything about you" look before taking a koppo kick square on the forehead...all of it was great. That last slap flurry as he's dead on his feet was total Hashimoto. Phenomenal match, even better than I remembered.

Yeah, I'll probably check this out over the next few days, but I'm not too hot on the card either. I'm most interested in the women's title match because Belair has been really fun the few times I've seen her. Riddle/Ohno has always been a fairly enjoyable match-up so I guess that could be good too. It's usually the Velveteen Dream match that has me hyped for these cards so with him not being there this time I'm not nearly as interested.

Yeah, this is the business. I think if you'd asked me ten years ago where I'd put this on an all time list I'd probably have gone somewhere around the top 20. I guess it's a decent barometer of where I'm at with the pro-wrestling these days because it probably wouldn't be within a hundred spots of that now, but even still it's a cracking match. Ageing star trying to hold onto his place in the world is one of my favourite stories in wrestling and this is mostly an awesome telling of that story. Misawa's already beaten Jumbo once. Jumbo's been blitzed by those elbows and still hasn't quite figured out what to do with all that cruiserweight offence. So he either comes up with some answers or he'll be handing over the reins long before he's ready to. Like the June match I thought the first few minutes were shit hot. Misawa throws his first elbow but Jumbo knows all too well what to expect and gets a block. Jumbo then tries his own and Misawa has that scouted...so Jumbo just knees him in the guts. Last time he couldn't deal with Misawa flying around, so this time he won't let him get the chance. The knees to the body and the clubbering looked good too, so that was a bonus. I thought the middle part meandered a bit, much like in the first match. They worked a few holds and it wasn't as if they sat in them for minutes at a time, but it didn't feel like there was a great deal of urgency to them either. A headscissors, an abdominal stretch, Jumbo wearing Misawa down without it ever really grabbing me. There were a few cool moments sprinkled in, though. They play off the finish to the first match with the roles reversed, this time Jumbo flipping the pin attempt for a nearfall. Misawa had some of that flying to fall back on as well, like his Super Astro headbutt off the turnbuckle, and those elbows were always useful in a pinch. He came across as more of a heavyweight this time, whereas before it was a bit closer to cruiserweight stepping up a division. Then Misawa drills Jumbo in the ear one time too many and Jumbo goes apeshit. He didn't survive two years of Tenryu chopping him in the throat only to have his brains scrambled by the new kid's elbows. The new kid had even been Jumbo's understudy for chrissakes! He just batters Misawa all over the place, slams him over a table, hits him with a chair, dismissively chucks him through the ropes when Misawa makes it back in. The crowd can boo if they want but Jumbo's had enough and it's time for this foolishness to end. Everything that comes after this is pretty tremendous. Jumbo walked that line between desperation and frustration and his progressive selling for Misawa's elbows was amazing. The moment he snapped again and started throwing headbutts was doubly amazing, like a man who'd exhausted all other options and been driven to near frenzy. I loved the spot where Misawa tried the same leap off the turnbuckle from earlier only for Jumbo to finally have it scouted and drive him to the mat. Of course that little glimmer of hope is squashed not long after as Misawa catches him AGAIN coming off the top. It's like whack-a-mole where every time you get rid of one problem another one pops up. Misawa combining his two biggest weapons and hitting an elbow off the top rope was awesome, but I guess it was fitting that he went to the well once too often and it ultimately cost him. He had his own little glimmer after kicking out of the first backdrop, but Jumbo catching him with the lariat as he fires up for another elbow was a fitting way to shut him down for good. There are clear parallels between this and things like Hansen/Kobashi. Jumbo was probably as good in this as Hansen's best with Kobashi, but the best Hansen/Kobashi engaged me way more from start to finish. I think the biggest strengths of both matches is how the young guys came out looking great in defeat while the old dogs showed they weren't ready to step down. It's just that neither victory came decisively and you knew it wouldn't be long before those victories stopped coming altogether. I'd comfortably call this great, but I'm not sure it's what I really want to be watching at this stage in my fandom.

I haven't watched this in close to fifteen years. I imagine that, like a lot of people, it was my gateway to 90s All Japan. I remember reading back then about the deep storytelling and how you really needed to watch a lot of it chronologically to pick up on all the intricate details they were weaving into these matches. 6/9/95 is the pinnacle of pro-wrestling but you better check out these fifty three matches that came before it to REALLY get a handle on the tale they're telling. It was kind of carny in retrospect, but the passion folk had for writing about it was infectious and it's certainly a major reason why I started watching stuff outside of my WWF/WCW comfort zone. This always made sense as the place to dive in. You got the ageing ace of the 70s/80s and the future ace of the 90s. You got to see where Misawa cemented his spot. You got to see King's Road in its infancy. Plus you needed to see this for the sixth interaction between Misawa and Kawada in the fourteenth Misawa/Kobashi v Kawada/Taue match to truly resonate the way it should so really it was the perfect place to start. I don't remember exactly what I thought about it on last watch, never mind the very first watch. In 2019, at a point where I've mostly closed the book on 90s All Japan, I thought it had a great opening five minutes and a great closing five minutes, but like a lot of folk here it had a middle fifteen that didn't really do a ton for me. I guess I'd rather be watching Battlarts? The opening ruled and I thought they did a solid job establishing both guys' strengths. Misawa wrestled more like a heavyweight than he did as Tiger Mask, but he only shed the hood a couple weeks ago so he still had some of those tricks up his sleeve. He had to get squirmy to escape a backdrop, reversing it into a pinning situation which I guess is a cool bit of foreshadowing for the finish. Then he went to the fake-out tope and dropkicked Jumbo into the barricade. That was an awesome spot because Jumbo obviously wasn't seeing anything like it from the heavyweights he was used to wrestling. It established a point of attack for Misawa that Jumbo probably didn't have an answer for (yet). Jumbo hitting the high knee and 'OH'ing with the crowd felt appropriately dismissive, but then Misawa slapped him across the face because he's here to stay. At that point you expect Jumbo to maul him, but they mostly settle into a steady wrestling match and Jumbo working from above wasn't the most compelling. I remembered Misawa's strikes playing a bigger role as well, especially after the six-man that started the whole thing where he was scrambling Jumbo's brains with elbows. Or maybe it was the rematch where they really played that up. I did like that Misawa's flying bailed him out a few more times in the body of the match and the big plancha to the floor down the stretch looked killer. Even when Jumbo was dominant there was always that danger of Misawa being agile enough to pull *something* out the bag. That of course plays into the finish and I still think it works really well, as does the set up with Jumbo taking the crazy bump into the ropes (which I'd forgotten about). Misawa managed to hang with him and it always felt like he was in with a chance, even if it was because of how different he was to Jumbo's most recent rivals. He may not have won decisively, but he used that athleticism to best Jumbo when he needed to and a three count is a three count. I always thought the rematch was the real classic so maybe I'll check that out again soon. I haven't seen that in about fifteen years, either.