[1996-06-12-NJPW-Best of the Super Juniors] Jushin Liger vs Black Tiger

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I get to see Liger lose a match and Eddy have a moment in one fell swoop. This is a bit in the afterglow of Benoit/Eddy the night before, but it's still an excellent match, and to this point, probably the biggest moment of Eddy's career. Liger sells the finish for a long time afterward and gives him a tremendous match to get him over. My comments are all about the booking because that's what my favorite thing about this is, but the wrestling is pretty great too.

[Zenjo]

Okay so they produced the type of match they wanted. As the final it had all the trimmings. Yet this was the same formulaic stuff they'd been churning out for years by this point. The Junior style had become so stale and tiresome. Ohtani was performing much better than everyone else in the division at this point because he was adding psychology and a storyline to his matches.

 

Eddy was technically well suited to wrestling in Japan, but wearing the mask detracted from his charisma. I'd much rather watch him in the US, or Mexico in his early career. It was pointless having the Black Tiger gimmick anyway when there was no longer a Tiger Mask in NJ.

[PeteF3]

Now this is more like it. This was a tremendous comeback story for Eddy, who gets used and abused for most of this but finds a way to come back and win, even getting out of the la majistral that Liger put Samurai away with, as well as most of his other finishers. I don't know if this *quite* has enough juice to finish in the top 15 MOTYs, but it would in a weaker year, at least.

[soup23]

Another great match and a capper to the whole tournament. This seemed restrained at times but still delivered enough action and had the dramatic tones to not feel like they were holding back in any other way. The juniors are bringing it in 1996. ****

[tim]

1996 is a great year for NJ juniors. Started off with solid but not really exceptional matwork, but man did it take off once they kicked the match up a gear. They just had really great chemistry and the match-up felt fresh and interesting. Awesome ending with Eddy hitting his super brainbuster after having teased it, coming off of Liger unloading offense and it feeling like he was going to go down at any moment.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Jushin Thunder Liger vs Black Tiger - NJPW BOSJ 6/12/96

Another disappointing outing from these two. It is Liger vs Eddie so it is still good but they don’t really give you much to sink your teeth into this BOSJ Final. The Benoit/Eddie semifinal is a much better match. Opening matwork is solid and more interesting than February Title Match. They each dare the other to do a dive. I thought the match was going to pick up with an Eddie dropkick to the knee and a Figure-4 but promptly goes nowhere as Liger surfboards him and works his back. I thought the match was going to pick up where when Eddie Powerbombs and Eddie Splashes Liger Bur we end up in the Bundle of Leg Locks. Liger gets his first high spot with the Kappou Kick in the corner and a Shotei to knock Eddie off his perch. Liger dives to the outside but shitty camerawork we miss it. Liger hits a couple more bombs. Eddie reverses and he does his Superman Dive to the floor but knees up on the splash. He trade a couple fast paced near falls.  Liger goes for the kill with the SHOTEI~! And a Ligerbomb! Not a good sign for Liger. Tiger throws Liger off on a Tornado DDT attempt and hits a Brainbuster. These transitions have been weak. Sitout Crucifix Bomb. It feels so heatless. Liger reverses his weight on a Top Rope Brainbuster and knee drops the arm and goes for a Cross Armbreaker this match is so weird. Tiger hits the Top Rope Brainbuster for the win which I was shocked by as Tiger/Eddie doesn’t really ever do anything of importance in Japan and seems like a wasted investment in Eddie But Liger probably did not know that at the time. The match as whole felt disjointed. There was no interesting character work or strategy. No hook. It was some mat based moved then some dives and then some bombs. These two are great so it was technically good Bur had no soul. *** 1/4