Other 1993 worth watching

[FLIK]

Some stuff from the WAR vs NJPW feud that sliped through the cracks

 

WAR

 

2/14/1993 Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Hiroshi Hase - One of the best matches of the series that i've been able to find, in a really stacked year not quite sure how high this would be but it's easily top 50 & possibly top 30 or higher material.

 

NJPW

 

8/2/1993 Tatsumi Fujinami, Masahiro Chono & Shinya Hashimoto vs Tenryu, Ashura Hara & Takashi Ishikawa - Closer to something in the lower half of a top 100 but still really great

 

8/8/1993 (Anti Player's Confederation) Kengo Kimura, Shiroh Koshinaka, The Great Kabuki, Kuniaki Kobayashi & Masashi Aoyagi vs Tatsumi Fujinami, Masahiro Chono, Keiji Mutoh, Takayuki Iizuka, Michiyoshi Ohara

 

9/20/1993 Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Kido vs Genichiro Tenryu & Hiromichi Fuyuki

 

Last two fall into the short but really good/fun catagory. Ohara turns "heel" in the 10 man but he leaves with kind of a "yeah fuck those guys you go man" feeling during it

[Matt D]

Aw, you didn't include the hype promo for Summerslam where all the wrestlers come down from the crowd with tiny American flags and Yokozuna covers his ears. The best part of that is Rick Steiner and the Bushwhackers interacting

[FLIK]

Takako Inoue vs. Harley Saito - 05/08

Harley badly injures her ribs and fights through it to the draw. I don't think the pre-injury stuff is that remarkable, but the post-injury part of the match is great.

FINALLY watched this today & I have to agree with the above. It's a match that's always had a strong rep among joshi fans and I started out thinking "boy this isn't living up to the hype" early on and ended up thinking "fuck this exceded the hype" by the end.

[FLIK]

Also from 5/8

 

Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota vs Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada - Not a major match in the grand scheme of things so no deep story or anything but it's the main event of a K-Hall show so they go out and bust ass for 20+ anyways and have a great 4* ish range match.

 

Says a lot for how deep AJW was at the time because in many other promotions this would stand out as one of the best matches of the year, but for this time frame it's something that seems to have been a little forgotten and i'm not even sure if this cracks the top 20 AJW matches in the first 6 months of 93.

 

Post match Rumi Kazama & a bunch of LLPW roster members who were watching in the crowd came in the ring & had a big confrontation with Hokuto, LCO, Suzuka & Bat (Suzuka & Mita had a damn good match on the undercard of this show too)

[Jetlag]

Terry Boy vs. Jinsei Shinzaki - Michinoku Pro 7/24

 

Mens Teioh is one of my favourite hidden awesome japanese wrestlers and this is an early great of his. At this point he had some kind of Terry Funk tribute act going and this match is an M-Pro match heavy on the Southern 'Rasslin. Shinzaki comes in with an evil facepainted manager and is showered with boos. Terry crushes them both with a big crossbody then gets on the mic imitating american slang. He and Shinzaki's manager start argueing about something something involving SLEEPER HOLD leading to Terry Boy getting slapped and sleeper'ing the facepaint guy allowing Shinzaki to crack him from behind and taking control. Teioh takes this absurd huge ass beatin, taking bumps into chairs and over the ropes, gets carved up, crushed by double stomp from a height, gets some big metal cubic thing dumped on him and beaten up by the crazy manager several times. He makes one comeback and lays a big crushing stomp right on Shinzaki's face that gets an awesome reaction but wounds up getting beaten up even worse. Eventually he goes Full Funk and cracks Shinzaki with punches before Sleeper'ing his manager once again. Crazy match, with an awesome layout.

[alexoblivion]

Watched the Jerry Estrada/Lizmark title match from AAA (6/18/93) again last night and it's excellent. OJ did a great write-up of it for his blog and it's definitely something worth adding to a supplemental set. It's probably a top 10 match of the year for me, actually.

Agreed, the match, as well as OJ's write up of it, is excellent. The psychology and build was phenomenal. I think that both guys were able to get across the feeling that they were pulling out all the stops.

[ohtani's jacket]

Lizmark vs. La Parka from the first Triplemania is something you should check out. I actually really like the Perro Aguayo/Mascara Ano 2000 hair vs. mask match from that show as well for all the spectacle you'd expect from that sort of semi-main.

[alexoblivion]

I need to watch it again, but the Lizmark Vs La Parka match was indeed awesome. I love their selling of the dives and the count out teases. It makes me wonder how much other La Parka and Lizmark from AAA is worth seeking out.

[FLIK]

11/12/1993 Eddie Guerrero, Love Machine & Jake Roberts vs Perro Aguayo, Konnan & Blue Pather

Crazy clusterfuck of a brawl in the best possible way. Art puts on Panther's mask and attacks Konnan & Perro to trick them. Konnan & Perro then beat up Panther after the match, Cien Caras saves him

[KB8]

The Tenryu/Ishikawa v Hashimoto/Ohara tag from the 6/14 New Japan show is a match I thought was genuinely tremendous when I watched it earlier this year (meant to mention it in this thread, but clearly forgot as I'm wont to). It's handheld, so I'm not sure if there's a TV version out there, but I thought it was one of the best sub-15 minute matches I'd ever seen on first watch. It's everything you love about the WAR/NJ feud. Buckets of hate and heat and violence and Tenryu/Ishikawa are just a pair of grade-A assholes to Ohara. I know Ditch has this, because that's where/who I got it from.

[Loss]

Watched the Jerry Estrada/Lizmark title match from AAA (6/18/93) again last night and it's excellent. OJ did a great write-up of it for his blog and it's definitely something worth adding to a supplemental set. It's probably a top 10 match of the year for me, actually.

Agreed, the match, as well as OJ's write up of it, is excellent. The psychology and build was phenomenal. I think that both guys were able to get across the feeling that they were pulling out all the stops.

 

Yeah, just watched this and it was phenomenal. As I'm tweaking my top 500 list, this is the most I've liked any match that hasn't made the yearbook to this point. Currently going through all of these threads for each year, by the way, watching whatever I can find online.

[PeteF3]

The Pete Watches the Other DreamSlam Matches That Look Interesting portion of our show...

 

Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo

 

Going back to the first DreamSlam for this one as it looked like a lot more interesting match involving the FMW ladies. This had a slow beginning and Team FMW simply wasn't very interesting, and outside of her big fat plancha Toyoda still isn't. Other than that she contributes very little to this. I should be a fan of a team slowing the pace of a joshi match down, as they did here, but it didn't really work. This turns into a good to very good match, but it strikes me as a Toyota/Yamada carryjob--it's amazing how Toyota has been carrying herself as a grizzled veteran in these bouts, having a real knack for timing and building up to the big spots. The whole layout really seems to be dictated by the AJW team. On top of that Toyota decides she's going to murder herself getting the FMW ladies over, most notably including a HOLY SHIT backflip off a Combat lariat. Just an array of one sick bump after the other before she starts her comeback, leading to a fun stretch run with Kudo finally deciding to pull her weight. We get an incredibly clever finish--Combat saves Kudo from one Japanese ocean cyclone suplex, so Yamada stands in front when Toyota goes for a second attempt and then ducks away when Combat tries for a second save, suckering her into clobbering her partner. Toyota then hits the JOCS cleanly for the win. Even in a match with probably one too many miscommunication spots down the stretch, that stood out. The result of this, despite the loss, was sort of a coming-out party for the FMW ladies. But it came off more like a selfless performance from the AJW team to get them over, rather than Combat & Kudo doing a ton to get themselves over. This was a good match but an overall fantastic performance from Toyota & Yamada, saving this from a dull start.

 

 

Kyoko Inoue, Takako Inoue, & Yumiko Hotta vs. Bolshoi Kid, Plum Mariko, & Cuty Suzuki

 

The only other Bolshoi I've seen is a submission match with Plum that's worked like joshi UWFI, so I confess between that and this that I still don't quite know her deal. That match was worked completely straight and here we get a comedy opening that's out of a Brazos match. It is amusing shtick and probably fits in well with the overall card, and Kid brings the goods when it comes to offense and bumping and selling later in the match, being the real workhorse of her team. That being said, there were long stretches of this that were loose and cooperative-looking as hell, and other than the dive train, Plum's cool takedown and leg submissions, and the JWP team doing a bunch of top rope double stomps in a row, very little of this stood out. Almost totally heatless, to boot. Kyoko pretty convincingly kills Bolshoi dead to end a disappointing match. Grover talked about this whole card aging surprisingly poorly--I don't know if that's the case, as the main event sure didn't seem to, but this would be a match to point to to support that assertion.

 

 

Bull Nakano vs. Chigusa Nagayo

 

What was Nagayo doing between the Crush Gals and this show, anyway? Or until the formation of GAEA? I do admire the booking of this show for laying out so many disparate styles, especially for a big joshi show where one of my criticisms is that the styles and matches tend to run together. This is a hard-hitting slugfest between two old rivals, with some crowd brawling and some intense submission work before we start hitting the near-falls. I don't know what Nagayo's status was but for a legend-returns-to-the-ring match this was pretty awesome, and she didn't look to have lost a step. Nagayo gets a nice comeback after kicking out of the Guillotine Legdrop, before Bull shrugs it off to put her away.

 

 

Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori & Eagle Sawaii

 

Definitely up for seeing more of Hokuto vs. Kandori, but the Kandori/Aja dynamic gets a lot of play here as well. Lots of spots of Kandori trying to take Aja down and bouncing off of her like a Nerf ball, lots of intensity when Hokuto's in the ring. Great closing stretch of bombs being unleashed on everybody, even if Sawaii is just along for the ride. Lots of mirror spots from the Dreamslam 1 match as well, climaxing with Hokuto stealing Kandori's Fujiwara armbar the same way Kandori stole Hokuto's finisher the week before. But Kandori counters it and then goes back to Hokuto's arm, bending out of place again while Sawaii holds Aja at bay on the floor. The referee steps in and this time the match is stopped. Hmm...ideal booking would seem to have this match first to set up Dreamslam 1 later, where Hokuto weathers the arm work and comes back for a dramatic victory. Seems kind of backwards, but this does nicely set up at least a theoretical Kandori vs. Aja Kong match, as evidenced by the post-match confrontation, and that's something I can definitely get behind.

 

I would love to know the politics of all these interpromotional matches, with regard to who could job to whom and in what capacity and who got to get "paid back" for who put whom over, not to mention who booked what. It all sounds so complicated that I can scarcely believe these shows ever got put together. The other striking thing is how decisively AJW put over the other, smaller promotions here. Was this a case of AJW struggling and needing the other promotions' support, or AJW somewhat generously figuring that stronger rival promotions would be better for joshi as a whole?

 

Without going through every match, Dreamslam II may be the most significant women's card ever and certainly the highest-drawing at least to that point, but there's no way I could rank it ahead of Dream Rush as far as highest-quality cards ever go, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't put it ahead of 6/5/89 or possibly the 4/18/91 Budokan show either. Dream Rush beat this as far as in-ring action and despite the presence of four different promotions coming together, still felt like it had greater historical impact with Bull passing the torch to Aja. That said, DSII is a hell of a show with some pretty great wrestling and booking, and I can't see anything else touching this for Best Major Card when I get to the '93 year-end awards.

[Zenjo]

What was Nagayo doing between the Crush Gals and this show, anyway? Or until the formation of GAEA?

She would do commentary on the TV shows sometimes. After her comeback she would wrestle a series matches for JWP over the next couple of years before GAEA got up and running. It's amazing how strong most of those matches were considering her inactivity. She was upset at being forced to retire in 1989 when the mandatory retirement age was still in effect. Clearly Chigusa had a lot more to give.

 

this does nicely set up at least a theoretical Kandori vs. Aja Kong match

In terms of singles it stayed a theoretical idea unfortunately.

 

I would love to know the politics of all these interpromotional matches, with regard to who could job to whom and in what capacity and who got to get "paid back" for who put whom over, not to mention who booked what. It all sounds so complicated that I can scarcely believe these shows ever got put together. The other striking thing is how decisively AJW put over the other, smaller promotions here. Was this a case of AJW struggling and needing the other promotions' support, or AJW somewhat generously figuring that stronger rival promotions would be better for joshi as a whole?

 

Over the year and a half there were many interpromotional shows. After the Tokyo Dome show it just became appearances from a few outside wrestlers rather than whole events. Ultimately AJW had the most booking power and that could be seen in the long run. They didn't necessarily need outside help at the time but rightly saw it as an opportunity to help business. Before 1992 relations with the original JWP were non-existent. When they split into 2 new companies in JWP and LLPW that helped things along too.

 

 

Without going through every match, Dreamslam II may be the most significant women's card ever and certainly the highest-drawing at least to that point, but there's no way I could rank it ahead of Dream Rush as far as highest-quality cards ever go, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't put it ahead of 6/5/89 or possibly the 4/18/91 Budokan show either. Dream Rush beat this as far as in-ring action and despite the presence of four different promotions coming together, still felt like it had greater historical impact with Bull passing the torch to Aja. That said, DSII is a hell of a show with some pretty great wrestling and booking, and I can't see anything else touching this for Best Major Card when I get to the '93 year-end awards.

 

It's Dreamslam I that was the bigger card and the most talked about show. It was in Yokohama drawing 16,500. Dreamslam II was in Osaka and drew 6,500.

[PeteF3]

Thank you for all that. I'm trying to build my joshi (and lucha) knowledge while spoiling as little of the rest of the '90s as possible.

 

In terms of singles it stayed a theoretical idea unfortunately.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

[PeteF3]

Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Hiroshi Hase, 2/14/93

 

This is definitely up there with any other NJPW/WAR bout you'd care to name--from work, pace, heat, and drama standpoints. Tenryu and Hase absolutely beat the shit out of each other and Fujinami is pretty feisty himself. Meanwhile Ishikawa works most of this like a '70s style babyface until the end, when he's put in the unusual position of savior, as the NJPW team isolates Tenryu and absolutely brutalizes the shit out of him. Tenryu gets leveled with double-teams and most of Hase's big moves and I really thought he was going down. It takes two Ishikawa saves and every effort to neutralize Fujinami for Tenryu to land a power bomb to escape with a win. One of the most breathless finishing stretches of any match this year, right now sitting as a top 10 bout.

[PeteF3]

Lizmark vs. La Parka, TripleMania

 

I could only find a severely clipped (5 minutes or less of ring time) version that appears to have been recorded with a potato. There was enough to make me interested in seeking out more but really hard to get any kind of grasp on how the match went. A skilled clip job can make any match look like a classic but this wasn't quite it.

 

Perro Aguayo vs. Mascara Ano 2000, TripleMania

 

Mascara is pretty limited--he can't do much more than punch, kick, and roll people up. But damned if this isn't a Pat Patterson-level booking masterpiece. The first two falls are over quickly in that perfunctory "let's get them out of the way" manner, but the finishes are delightfully screwy. First, Aguayo is going to town on 2000 in the corner, raining punches on him, when suddenly Chocolate calls for the bell for a low blow. Very cool and out-of-nowhere finish and good use of the standard long lucha replay, as we break down whether or not Aguayo really punched him low or not. You can almost see Chocolate under the hood trying to find "indisputable evidence" whether or not to overturn the call. The ruling on the field stands, and Aguayo is down 1-0 before he has a chance to take a breath. Universo 2000 makes his presence known in the second fall than then Mascara gets greedy, clobbering Aguayo with brass knucks so blatantly than even the heel ref Chocolate has to DQ him for it. That's two falls out of the way in about 5 minutes, leaving about 20 for the rest of the match. Aguayo does a monster blade job off the knucks shot and levels Mascara with every bit of offense that he has, while Ano is just trying to keep his head above water with small packages and cheap shots from Universo. Eventually Mascara's mask is all red, and I can't tell if it's because he bladed himself or it's Aguayo's blood. Universo nails Aguayo as he bounces off the ropes, and as Chocolate goes over to reprimand him, Aguayo recovers to BLATANTLY uppercut Mascara in the nuts as the crowd loses their shit. Universo throws a fit, but Chocolate doesn't see anything and Aguayo covers for the win and the mask. The crowd loves it, and I rejoice never having to tell Universo and Mascara apart again going forward.

 

One of the most markout-worthy finishes on any Yearbook, a perfect poetic-justice ending built across three falls. I tend to dislike the heel ref shtick in lucha because they never seem to get any comeuppance, so when they inadvertently aid the babyfaces through their own incompetence that sort of feels like a satisfying payoff. AAA would copy this sort of layout with Tirantes, Los Gringos Locos, and Blue Panther in the famous double apuestas match the next year, to similarly great results. As a match, this wasn't as good as Cien Caras' mask loss, but from a booking standpoint it's a highlight of any year. This also has Universo, who does one of the greatest jobs of a ringside second I've ever seen.

[Gregor]

If you're still interested in watching it, I think that

is a nearly full version of Lizmark vs. Parka, incorrectly labeled as Lizmark Jr. vs. Parka.

[PeteF3]

Lizmark vs. Jerry Estrada, 6/18/93

 

This is a hell of a match indeed, with a terrific Lizmark performance for the first fall and Estrada stepping up his game in the third. The psychology surrounding the Tirabuzon submission is great--Lizmark outwrestles Estrada at every turn, but Estrada seems to have one submission in his holster that Lizmark doesn't have an answer for. After tapping him to win the second fall the third fall is about Lizmark trying to escape being put in that hold again. I think I have the 2/14 trios match as the current Lucha MOTY but this is a solid #2.

[PeteF3]

I mentioned this in one of the threads, but if there's a '93 Errata set then it needs to touch on the Brian Christopher vs. Chris Adams feud from July, with Toni Adams as Christopher's heel valet. Thanks to an accident of timing, the significance of that feud wasn't as obvious as it was once the 1990 set was out.

[ohtani's jacket]

This has the most complete version of Parka/Lizmark that I know of --

 

I think someone broke it into smaller files if you want to watch it that way --

[PeteF3]

La Parka vs. Lizmark, TripleMania '93, Take Two

 

The one-fall stip threw me, twice over--once at the false finish and again after the restart. This still built well from matwork to lots and lots and LOTS of near-falls, probably the most of any lucha match I've seen. Also countout teases for near-falls. All the bailouts gave this a very disjointed feel, but it did make the counts more meaningful. Speaking of which, the story here is another officiating controversy, and again it's done in an ambiguous, real-sports bad-officiating way rather than just a plain blind referee. Gotta say that having this on the same card as Aguayo/Mascara is overkill, even by lucha standards where the heel refs are part of the show. La Parka gets every benefit of the doubt on every close two-count and at least one near-COR, though replays seem to support the referee. He then ties up Lizmark and gets a three-count, with Lizmark not getting the same benefit. Replays again seem to support the referee, and Dr. Morales and Arturo Rivera sound like they're one step away from coming to blows themselves in the booth. But after a LONG delay, long arguments, and a conference with the Box y Lucha commission, apparently the match is restarted and we pick up where we left off. The turning point is Parka taking a horrific bump into the corner post, and it's pretty much downhill from there, as Lizmark locks on a shootstyle side mount submission.

 

This was good, and a really coming-of-age performance for La Parka, but as I said--disjointed. The match was building up a ton of momentum and I'm not opposed to the idea of the restart, but the absurd length of time it took (it must have been close to 5 or 6 minutes, or more) stopped things dead in their tracks. And the officiating controversy didn't pay off as spectacularly as it did with Perro and Mascara Ano, though Lizmark deciding to go with a submission after not making any headway with pins was a clever touch. One for a La Parka comp, no question, but overall not quite as fun as the mask match on the same card.

[ohtani's jacket]

Maybe it would've been better to watch the version Gregor posted that cuts out the stuff with the commission. I need to do a full write-up of that match because I think you cared too much about the reffing.

[PeteF3]

It's the one thing about the style that annoys me, even if there are things about it that I admire, in that it looks like NBA or NFL replacement ref officiating--i.e., realistically bad/controversial--rather than referees being blind incompetent narcoleptics. When it works, like it did with Aguayo and Mascara Ano or at When Worlds Collide, it works great. But too many times I want the ref to stay the fuck out of the way and not in a "drawing heat" sense, in a "go away" sense, because I know there's going to be bullshit that draws attention to the ref without him getting his comeuppance (except in the aforementioned examples).

[Kevin Ridge]

Razor Ramon, Marty Jannetty, 1-2-3 Kid and Randy Savage versus IRS, Rick Martel, Diesel and Adam Bomb - Survivor Series

 

On the Raw leading up the Survivor Series, Ross and Monsoon were talking about how Perfect was going to step aside for Savage to take his place. Does not make sense since Crush was not involved in same match. More of a cover for Perfect not being involved but still surprised me as I thought it was surprise inclusion by Savage in match. Razor gets a big pop for his entrance. Ramon buries Perfect on the mic by saying he tagged out before the match even started. Razor has a backup though as we get Randy Savage! Crowd loves that.

 

Good back and forth between Razor and Martel to start the match. I would have much preferred Martel getting IRS spot as challenger to Ramon at Royal Rumble. Bomb sucks and even with his radioactive contact lenses he still comes off generic in the ring. We get some heel miscommunication where Martel clocks Harvey Wippleman. Type of thing that would turn you face. Bomb against Kid is better as he gets to throw around Waltman for a few. Diesel one ups Bomb with a huge biel throw and gutwrench suplex. We are not in Dieselmania yet though as Savage tags in and puts away Diesel very easily.

 

Heels start using very quick tags and keeping Razor in their corner. Savage dominating IRS but Crush wanders out to distract Savage. Macho Man ends up getting pinned and chase after Crush. Martel and IRS could have worked as a tag team. Razor's Edge for IRS which does make you wonder why they continued that program through the Rumble. IRS hits Razor with a briefcase and Ramon gets counted out. Well there you go. Stealing the gold around Razor's neck will help too.

 

Down to a two and two tag match. Kid does a dive through the ropes but Bomb catches him and then connects with a bodyslam on the floor. Love the finish with Kid getting a sunset flip pin on Martel and making a quick tag to Marty. Jannetty then gets his own sunset flip on Bomb for the win. Fun elimination tag team opener. Savage/Crush feud gets continued. The set up the Ramon/IRS match up for the IC title. Then Kid/Jannetty are established as a tag team. Martel clearly had more legs as far as being used in WWF.

[WingedEagle]

Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi 1/26/93

 

Kobashi on fire early but Taue puts a quick stop to that with a Nodowa sending him to the floor. Such great back & forth offense with Kobashi looking to show he belongs on this level with the opposition's de facto ace in Jumbo's absence. Taue does so many little things here add up. His facials while wrenching an abdominal stretch and punching Kobashi's ribs. The way that much of his offense looks clumsy, but is so deliberate and impactful. Meanwhile Kobashi looks like someone who just got a huge weaons upgrade but doesn't quite know how to put it all together yet. The crowd is huge behind Kobashi looking for the upset and setting the stage for a year's worth of that. Really fun. Not sure why this was left off of the set, but glad I checked it out.

 

***3/4