Other Matches from 1992 worth watching

[jdw]

Loss:

 

Something I mentioned early: maybe a General Subform where all of these can go for easier finding when it comes time for the Errata set?

 

Anyway, here's one we just talked about:

 

10/23/92 - Korakuen Hall - WAR Card (11/21/92 NJPW TV)

Tenryu & Kitahara vs. Koshinaka & Kimura (19:46) ****1/4

 

May be available in better VQ on a later Classics type airing. Dan would know. I would think all of it aired on TV since just two matches were on that show: the tag and Akitoshi Saito vs Orihara. The pre-match and post match are all keepers for the batshit intensity of it all.

 

John

[Loss]

Thanks. Yeah, during the downtime between this and the '95 yearbook coming out, I want to peruse all the match threads to make sure anything recommended in passing gets compiled in a single place. I'm still not sure what form a supplemental/Errata set will take, but we'll figure that out later.

[Ditch]

Taue, Fuchi & Ogawa vs Misawa, Kobashi & Kikuchi, July 21st

 

Unique match because of how it plays out; a bit more intensity/drama than the standard 6-man; sets up a lot of the psychology of the Hansen vs Misawa match a month afterwards.

[Matt D]

Michaels/Snuka: 1/31/92:

 

Definitely not set worthy but a surprisingly good late career Snuka match and Michaels finding his own as a heel.

[El-P]

Michaels/Snuka: 1/31/92: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icr8oGE7lYY

 

Definitely not set worthy but a surprisingly good late career Snuka match and Michaels finding his own as a heel.

There's a good Shawn Micheals vs Virgil match from MSG too. I don't know the date, but it happened before Mania 8 I remember.

[Ditch]

Saito vs Orihara from NJ 10/23 has insane heat for D-level stars. What a feud.

 

edit: Oh and the tag is tremendous. Maybe even more heat than Can-Ams vs Kobashi/Kikuchi.

[Ditch]

I'll add that Lynch has a comm version of NJ 10/23 with just those two matches. Saito/Orihara is slightly clipped on TV and lacks the entrances. The entrances there REALLY set the table for how insane the crowd is. For instance there's a shot of a random guy giving the double-bird towards the ring and just losing it. Unreal.

 

WTF caused all that heat in that feud?! Who cared enough to hate SWS and its offspring, especially from the NJ point of view? I can see if it was All Japan. Oh man... WAR vs AJ would have caused riots.

[jdw]

Tenryu in New Japan caused the heat. It was a new thing, and New Japan fans always ate up interpromotional stuff if there was at least a Star anchoring it.

 

I'm not sure how much AJPW fans would have eaten up AJPW vs WAR at this point. Tenryu had been in AJPW forever prior to leaving, which wasn't all the long ago. My recollection is that they looked down their nose at SWS and WAR, and felt they were proven right when it bombed out and the guys who stayed stepped up to become big stars. The guys who jumped from All Japan to SWS saw their careers hit a brick wall, other then Tenryu in the long term.

 

There's also the booking question.

 

Tenryu over Kosh

Tenryu over Choshu

Choshu over Tenryu

Tenryu over Hashimoto

Tenryu over Hashimoto

Fujinami over Tenryu

Tenryu over Hase

Tenryu over Chono

Tenryu over Fujinami

Tenryu over Inoki

Hashimoto over Tenryu

 

There probably aren't perfect analogies here, but perhaps something like this:

 

Kosh = Kobashi

Choshu = Hansen (since Jumbo went out)

Hashimoto = Misawa

Fujinami = Williams (since Gordy OD'd)

Hase = Taue

Chono = Kawada

Inoki = Baba

 

Which creates:

 

Tenryu over Kobashi

Tenryu over Hansen

Hansen over Tenryu

Tenryu over Misawa

Tenryu over Misawa

Williams over Tenryu

Tenryu over Taue

Tenryu over Kawada

Tenryu over Williams

Tenryu over Baba

Misawa over Tenryu

 

Uh... yeah... that never would happen.

 

John

[soup23]

Came specifically into this forum to recommend the 10/23 tag. I watched that match off of Ditch's site tonight and it was incredible. I never thought I would experience that type of crowd heat in Japan.

[Matt D]

The 5/2 Ottawa Bret vs Shawn match is really good but I'm not sure how it compares to, let's say, the 4/29 Syracuse match on the Bret vs Shawn dvd

[Matt D]

Beverly Brothers vs Disasters at Summerslam 92 is slept upon as it's a pretty smart match, and both Earthquake vs Dibiase and Jannetty vs Skinner are good relatively short matches from PTW in November. I think Undertaker vs Haku from Japan (SWS I think) is a fun novelty too.

 

I think of the pre-survivor series TV Bret Title defenses (Berzerker, Shango, Kamala, Virgil), the only one really worth watching is Kamala. There are better Bret vs Nord matches, but it's a rare 1992 Kamala match where they don't portray him as a moron. The Michaels IC title defense vs Virgil is more fun since Heenan is inexplicably rooting for Virgil until he catches himself. There's a fun Bossman vs Michaels match from right around this point but it's a bit anti-climactic.

[Frankensteiner]

Beverly Brothers vs Disasters at Summerslam 92 is slept upon as it's a pretty smart match, and both Earthquake vs Dibiase and Jannetty vs Skinner are good relatively short matches from PTW in November. I think Undertaker vs Haku from Japan (SWS I think) is a fun novelty too.

 

I think of the pre-survivor series TV Bret Title defenses (Berzerker, Shango, Kamala, Virgil), the only one really worth watching is Kamala. There are better Bret vs Nord matches, but it's a rare 1992 Kamala match where they don't portray him as a moron. The Michaels IC title defense vs Virgil is more fun since Heenan is inexplicably rooting for Virgil until he catches himself. There's a fun Bossman vs Michaels match from right around this point but it's a bit anti-climactic.

Jannetty/Skinner is a pretty sweet little match. Definte reccomendation.

 

Of the Bret matches, I liked the Kamala match but the Shango match was decent too. Maybe Shango's best ever (setting bar real low)? It was just an energetic match. The Berzerker and Virgil matches are meant to be total squashes so there's not much there. The Bret/Virgil match is slightly notable because it's worked like a proto-version of Bret/Kid. And you gotta check out the pre match hand-shake.

[Matt D]

Not necessarily GOOD per se but..

 

The Fancam of Warrior vs Flair is hilarious just because when Warrior is doing all the foot stomping and rope shaking as part of his final comeback, he sells the leg Flair had been working on ONCE, for just a second, and it's the most disjointed thing. Then Flair keeps trying to give it a little kick as Warrior stomps around in a big circle and he keeps missing it as Warrior warriors away. He eats the clotheslines big time though.

[FLIK]

World Wide 1/11/1992

Arn Anderson, Steve Austin & Bobby Eaton vs Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes & Ron Simmons

 

Follows the usual Dangerous Alliance vs Random group of Sting's Buddies formula but as far as those go I thought this was a really great example of it and they got a little more time then usual going 14-15 mins.

 

Thought this was better then the Rude/Austin/Eaton vs Sting/Steamboat/Bagwell and Arn/Larry/Rude vs Steamboat/Dustin/Simmons matches from Jan 92 that did make the set

[FLIK]

Loss' Re-watch & 1st time viewing thread reminded me I haven't gotten around to doing a joshi list for this thread

 

Stuff from my top 20 list that didn't make the set

I'll post other recomendations later on when i'm not lazy.....

 

#5 AJW 7/15/1992 (3WA Tag Titles - 2 out of 3 Falls) Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada © vs Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue

#6 FMW 9/19/1992 Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyoda vs Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto

#11 AJW 8/30/1992 Bull Nakano, Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs Akira Hokuto, Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda

#13 AJW 5/24/1992 Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita

#18 AJW 6/27/1992 (AJW Title) Mariko Yoshida © vs Etsuko Mita

#20 JWP 10/7/1992 (JWP Tag Titles) Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki © vs Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka

 

There's reviews on my blog for anyone that wants actual detailed thoughts

I'd copy them over but the post would be gigantic & the spoiler feature on this board is lame

[FLIK]

Loss:

 

Something I mentioned early: maybe a General Subform where all of these can go for easier finding when it comes time for the Errata set?

 

Anyway, here's one we just talked about:

 

10/23/92 - Korakuen Hall - WAR Card (11/21/92 NJPW TV)

Tenryu & Kitahara vs. Koshinaka & Kimura (19:46) ****1/4

 

May be available in better VQ on a later Classics type airing. Dan would know. I would think all of it aired on TV since just two matches were on that show: the tag and Akitoshi Saito vs Orihara. The pre-match and post match are all keepers for the batshit intensity of it all.

 

John

God damn was this one awesome, top 10, possibly top 5 match of the year for me. Figured it would probably be pretty good but largely went in with no exspectations and it just completely blew me away. So much hate, so much heat, so much greatness

[Zenjo]

Comments have been moved...

[Zenjo]

...to the Supplemental Viewing folder...

[Zenjo]

...so check there for match recommendations.

[FLIK]

NJPW 9/23/1992

 

Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Osamu Kido & Takayuki Iizuka vs Kengo Kimura, Shiroh Koshinaka, Masashi Aoyagi & Akitoshi Saito

 

One thing i've always liked about New Japan is that 8 & 10 man tags are a pretty big staple of their booking as i'm always a huge fan of those. This isn't an elite lvl one or anything but it's really good. Everyone's fired up for this as Koki Kitahara & Masao Orihara are at ringside with the WAR feud about to kick off. Pre match Choshu gets in their face and they bow in respect, Kimura steps up to em on his way to the ring and isn't so nice slapping Kitahara in the face and a mini pull apart breaks loose.

 

Interesting match layout to this one with the Karate Army/Skinheads clearly being the more heelish of the teams but they basicly ended up working babyface by the end. After starting out with your typical multi man back & forth action things settle into a long FIP section on Saito with the NJPW team taking turns destroying his arm. Koshinaka finally tags in but gets cut off and we get a 2nd FIP with him getting bloodied up leading to a big Koshinaka chant as he fights back. Kimura gets the hot tag but they cut him off too and it looks like he's also about to take a beating until Saito who has his arm wraped up in a makeshift sling they made out of Aoyagi's belt swoops in to save the day knocking down Kido long enough for Kimura to pin him with Choshu a half a second away from breaking it up. Post match Choshu & the rest prove to be sore losers continuing the attack and then beating the dog crap out of the referee. Fun times

[Gregor]

Blue Panther vs. Angel Azteca from 9/4/92 is probably worth a look, given how well received the match with El Dandy was. Not that this match is on the level of that one (I've never actually seen Dandy vs. Azteca!), but it's another chance to see Azteca in a title match against one of lucha's greats.

[Bix]

I haven't watched it yet but the Eddie Gilbert and Vic Steamboat vs Kevin Sullivan and Tazmaniac match from the Century Wrestling Alliance that showed up on YouTube feels like the kind of thing that should be represented.

[Ditch]

I haven't watched it yet but the Eddie Gilbert and Vic Steamboat vs Kevin Sullivan and Tazmaniac match from the Century Wrestling Alliance that showed up on YouTube feels like the kind of thing that should be represented.

...why?

[Matt D]

There's a Steamboat promo from mid-April right after his nose got busted which is one of the best I've ever heard him give. He invokes young Ritchie and it's all pretty epic.

[PeteF3]

Jungle Jack vs. LCO, 5/24/92

 

Per advice from Zenjo in the thread on the other joshi tag from that date. I liked this one quite a bit better than the Toyota/Hasegawa match. The stuff I complained about re: lack of structure, and lack of differentiating attributes to each wrestler, wasn't here at all. LCO comes in with a definite gameplan (TM Jim Ross)--work over Bison, keep Aja out of the ring and preferably off the apron as much as possible. When Aja is in, try to double-team the shit out of her. They still cut a fast pace but the overarching strategy went into just about everything the workers did. A ton of near-falls towards the end when it really looks like the divide-and-conquer strategy is going to pay off, but Bison hangs on just long enough for Aja to recover from the piledriver on the floor and tag in, and then it seems as their final chance to win has slipped away. Unfortunately there's some really badly timed stuff in the closing stretch--Hokuto is supposed to counter a second-rope power bomb into a huracanrana that doesn't work well, and then it seems Mita gets knocked legitimately loopy on Kong's spinning backfist, leading to a stretched-out and rather woefully done finish with Aja pulling a Sabu and repeating a spot that didn't work the first time. I think I have this as the #3 joshi match of '92 that I've seen, behind the 2/3 fall Jungle Jack tag and Aja vs. Bull.