Loss Posted February 18, 2011 Report Share Posted February 18, 2011 Talk about it here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted March 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 I'm not sure why these two chose to have a match this good on a small show that never even got released commercially, but they did, and it's awesome that someone in the audience had a camcorder to capture the match. This is worth going out of your way to see. Not only is it a MOTYC, it's probably as good as anything either guy has ever done. I'm going to put this in the "watch again" pile before doing my top 100 matches of the year, but it's outstanding. The match isn't laid out much different than most juniors matches -- feeling out --> matwork --> highspots --> nearfalls -- but everything is executed so well, especially the final stretch. Outside of that, everything building up to it is really good too. Ultimo finally catches Samurai in a quick rollup pin after a series of cradles and reversals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resident Evil Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 Incredible match. I remember being really impressed by this one. Highly reccomended. Camcorder version? Cool I thiught I watched this from one of the NJPW classics or history tapes. I can't remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Schneider Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 This was damn good. The fact this was WAR v. NJ added a ton of heat to the match, and gave this much more of story then your usual juniors style exhibition of moves. They added a lot of little dickish touches, like Ultimo punching Samurai in the ear to escape a submission hold. There is this great moment where Samurai dismissively side steps a pescada, the crowd starts booing, only to have the NJ fans start a Samurai chant. Ultimo gets beat on, only to take control again when he gets a receipt by sidestepping Samurai's pescada. The finish run was really exciting including some very slick dives which we didn't catch fully because of the HH. It actually made them look cooler because it looked like they were flying into the abyss. I actually liked they indy roll up section, because it came near the end of the match and felt less like diddling around and more like guys pulling out everything to get a pin. Less Lynn v. Storm and more Steamboat v. Savage. Samurai refusing the post match handshake actually got the heat RF was hoping for back in the day. Easily the best Ultimo performance I have seen so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted July 14, 2011 Report Share Posted July 14, 2011 This was just amazing and I even like it a tad more than the Casas match. Like Phil said the NJ-War feud added to the heat hear which was off the books. In the final stretch when Ultimo gives Samurai the Straight Jacket suplex was all sorts of awesome. Great great match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenjo Posted February 13, 2013 Report Share Posted February 13, 2013 Really good atmosphere with the fans cheering for both men throughout. Plus there was extra intensity with fighting for company pride. Standard Jnr structure from the era with a particulaly exciting stretch. I had no idea when it would end as they tried every move and pinfall combo they knew to try and grab the win. Fun match. Bit of a mystery why this show wasn't taped with multiple interpromotional contests on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ridge Posted July 16, 2013 Report Share Posted July 16, 2013 The video quality on these Japanese fan cams can be impressive. You don’t see all the dives hit but you have a good enough idea what is going on. WAR fans behind Dragon. He misses a splash to outside as Samurai moves out of the way. Fans giving it to Samurai but he plays to them and gets some chants in return. Later on Samurai misses the same type of dive on Dragon and the crowd cheer for it. I like the organization loyalty by the fans. This turned out to be a pretty incredible match. Loved the exchanges on pinfall attempts late in match and everything was executed so well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteF3 Posted November 12, 2013 Report Share Posted November 12, 2013 Holy shit, my disagreements on everything outside of shootstyle have been minor for the most part. But I thought this was the absolute pre-eminent Yearbook example of the worst of '90s junior wrestling. We open with a shitty "matwork" portion that involves Samurai putting a bunch of holds on Dragon, none of which mean anything and none of which are done with any sort of struggle until we get the Samurai Clutch, which is sold nicely and Dragon fights out of. It's the best part of the match. We seem to miss a key transition on the floor--the camera's fault, not the wrestlers--leading to a nice Asai moonsault. Then both guys throw a bunch of my-turn-your-turn near-falls at each other until one of Dragon's rollups arbitrarily ends the match. That was one cooperative-looking closing stretch. Go back and find my post in one of the AJPW threads about psychology centering around imaginary video game "energy bars"...well, this is the diametric opposite of that idea. The closing stretch was heated and the moves themselves were sort of well-executed but it was all stereotypical indy 2.9 wrestling, with no moves or holds carrying any actual meaning--just excuses to get to the next spot. Since this presumably wasn't taped for official release I don't really know why they worked the "perfunctory matwork before going to the highspots" style of match--that works with a JIP match but it came off very badly in this setting in particular. Most disappointing match of the first 3.25 years--I actively disliked this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 Really terrific video quality for a handheld. Love the heat and clear heel/face structure this takes on a WAR show. Samurai with some nice, stiff kicks and elbows, then a jumping tombstone for a near fall. He works for an extended body sleeper as he goes for a submission. We then move into the flying part of the match and this does not disappoint. Dragon really does contort himself pretty spectacularly on his Asai moonsault. Great, quick countering and pinning attempts down the stretch. Everything is so fast and smooth which requires such a high skill level. Dragon takes it on yet another nice reverse while Samurai refuses to shake hands afterwards. I love that even on the junior heavyweight level WAR/NJPW is heated and doesn't disappoint. **** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 You are on an island with this one Pete as I thought this was spectacular. I thought the opening matwork perfectly set the tone for the match and it played off as an even contest where neither man wanted to let them self, their promotion, and the fans down. The stuff with the missed dives and dickish touches really added a sense of intrigue as did the hot crowd with some dueling chants. The finishing promotion felt less exhibitionary to me and more about both men emptying out their arsenal to gain the victory. Between this and DWB vs. Smothers, I am loving the hidden gem feel of this disc overall. ****1/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garretta Posted July 9, 2016 Report Share Posted July 9, 2016 Add me to the chorus of those who liked this. Samurai may be the best opponent Liger's ever had, so it makes sense that he'd shine just as brightly against Dragon, and he did. The first three-quarters of this one was his, as he worked over Dragon's neck and back looking for a submission. He didn't get it, but once Dragon took the advantage, he knew he has to end the match quickly so Samurai didn't catch him again. Meanwhile, Samurai was just as desperate to attain the victory that had slipped through his grasp earlier. This mutual desperation made the usual nearfall sequence at the end mean more than it usually does, and when Dragon got the pin, his sense of relief nearly jumped through the screen. The crowd was a lot more partisan here than in the heavyweight matches, although both men got chants by the end in appreciation of their hard work. I got the impression that Samurai didn't refuse Dragon's handshake at the end just to be a jerk; while he's certainly capable of being a jerk, I think he was also disappointed in himself for letting New Japan and its fans down at a time when they needed a win desperately. I hope we see these two face off again at some point, because this one certainly deserves a rematch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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