[1996-06-17-NJPW-Skydiving J] Great Sasuke vs Black Tiger

[Loss]

The Great Sasuke defends the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title.   Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Not really that much of a standout match, and more significant for all the title holders throwing all their belts in the ring to set up the J-Crown in August. Not at all a bad match, but historically significant more than anything.

[Bix]

IIRC one of them allegedly had the flu. How many times had that finish been used in major matches at that point in '96?

 

Also, Storm and Yasuraoka throwing the tag belts in is pretty funny.

 

Anyone know why Delphin's belt didn't end up in the tournament?

[PeteF3]

This was okay, but it was basically Eddy methodically punishing Sasuke before Sasuke pulls out a flash win with that familiar Rey Misterio finish. This felt a little more organic, at least, as Sasuke had already kicked out of a conventional BT Bomb forcing Tiger to try a more souped-up version, which backfired. This felt a lot like Malenko/Rey and Regal/Sting, but not as good as either. Sasuke has fallen off judging by his Yearbook performances, and maybe that was inevitable.

[soup23]

I liked this more than everyone else as while Sasuke isn't at the level he was in say 1994, I have still enjoyed his 96 output. Eddy has really blossomed into someone that gives me a really good match almost every time out. I was surprised actually by the finish here given the finish of the BOSJ that we just saw but it does build up a lot of intrigue for the J-Crown overall. ***1/2

[tim]

Sort of a weird match; Eddy is on offense for the entire match until the end. To his credit he does a good job keeping things interesting.