[1991-04-30-NJPW-Explosion Tour: Top of the Super Juniors] Jushin Liger vs Negro Casas

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This had a really hot start. It lost something after the first few minutes, but was still really fun. Casas jumped Liger during the entrances and immediately started busting out highspots, and Liger returned in kind. Casas looks ridiculous in a Felino outfit sans mask. It would be cool to see Casas come in as a lucha style mat worker, but considering what was en vogue in Japan at the time, I understand why he didn't. This was good (and the crowd was GREAT) with a crazy submission finish, but I'm starting to realize that aside from some occasional great matches, the juniors division didn't really start producing matches at that level consistently until about 1994.

[shoe]

A total spot fest. I loved Liger's submission win and would have blown my shit if he worked the leg of Casas. Oh well this was not the match I was envisioning before hand. I wanted some mat work too.

[PeteF3]

Loved Casas leveling Liger with a dropkick as he tries to vault into the ring and the resulting divefest that followed. The matwork portion was pretty perfunctory and disappointing and we ramped up the high flying again before an unexpected flash submission victory, something you'd see in Mexico before you saw it in Japan.

[Childs]

Great opening that didn't portend a great match as it turned out. Both matches that we have between these guys were entertaining but slight.

[Kevin Ridge]

Match had a great start with Liger trying to jump over the ropes and getting hit in midair by a dropkick by Casas. More highspots including Casas having his face rubbed into the floor when he missed one on Liger. I knew they couldn't keep that start up but still ended up being a good match.

[soup23]

This match is a total spot fest and I don't think it is a great match, but I had more fun watching this match as I had in a while as both Liger and Casas busted out a ton of stuff I don't recall from them very often. This wasn't quite the classic I had hoped, but the match was so entertaining, I can't be disappointed

[Zenjo]

More Liger goodness as he demonstrates how adept he was at adapting to different opponents. Casas took the lead and did all sorts of funky stuff. Liger did an amazing job of keeping up with him and guessing what move was coming next. It was all very fresh and different, I certainly enjoyed it.

[garretta]

Put the beginning and ending together, leave out the middle, and you've got one of the great junior heavyweight sprints of all time. High flying, great near falls, and an unexpected submission hold that I've never seen before. Unfortunately, we can't leave out the middle, and that's where this one drags, or more correctly it's where Liger and Casas conserve their energy so they can rest from the beginning and get ready to go all-out at the end. That's not to say that the work is bad, just dull and time-consuming. Plus, it's part of the house style. so I guess it was expected.

 

What exactly was Liger's submission hold called? It looked like an inverted hanging shoulderbreaker, but Casas was selling the back of his neck more than his shoulder after the bout. It looked nasty, whatever it was.

[PeteF3]

Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for the PS2 calls it a "bat hanging lock." Sometimes they fudged move names to get around trademarks but that works for me.

[garretta]

Sounds good to me, too. Thanks, Pete!

[dawho5]

Fun spotfest. Some of them spots never got ripped off by anybody for constant use, which is actually a shame. Some miscommunication between the two in spots.