[1991-09-12-W*ING] Mr Pogo & TNT vs Iceman & Akitoshi Saito (Cage)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Surprised at how much I liked this. It was thrown on here because it was on Jeff Lynch's Best of 1991 set and we tried to include all of that, but that was really the only reason it was here. But this reminded me of some of the better FMW brawls after they started finding their groove later in the decade. Pogo/TNT as a strong heel team to head off Iceman and Saito really worked, and the focus wasn't so much on needless stunts or over the top violence as it was hate and blood. There were a few crazy spots, especially in the oddly-scored post-match angle, but the match felt like a war in a feud instead of people just getting violent for no particular reason. I don't think it's as good as the FMW 4/90 tag, but it's worked in the same spirit.

[PeteF3]

The Japan indy MOTY? Without checking every other comment...yes, I think so. Like a good WarGames or WWF tag cage match there wasn't two seconds going by without some horrific violence taking place, but this also had pacing, structure, and build to the big highspots like Iceman's big dive off the top of the cage. Saito is barely a year into his career and is unrecognizable in a gi, but he looks great and also looks like a guy who should have gone farther, sooner, than he did. This is also easily the best Mr. Pogo performance I've ever seen--he tries to match TNT bump for bump and brings some very cool offense. The top rope splash looked good and his wrapping Iceman up in a chain before bodyslamming him was done and sold great. This also had some great near-falls and saves, some other creative spots like the double-near-fall, and also like a good WarGames it ends with a submission. A decrepit Gypsy Joe tries to break up the post-match beatdown and gets sort of spike piledriven for his troubles, an angle that the crowd seems way into, crowding the ring area out of apparent concern as he's helped out. Really, really good brawl with everybody pulling their weight.

[Kevin Ridge]

Saito looking so slim and agile out there. Good performance by him. I figured this would be mindless garbage but it does grow on me as I watch it. I confused TNT for one of the Headhunters at first. Good violent brawl. We get another example of sturdy Japanese tables as it doesn't break but merely one of the legs gave out.

[soup23]

Glad everyone dug this as I was shocked by how focused and violent built around the hatred it was. Not many stunts that would creep into the style later on it seemed and TNT looked really good here dishing out some vicious punishment. Gypsy Joe at the end was a nice addendum to the whole scene.

[garretta]

This was a well-done four-way brawl, but it was moistly a showcase for Pogo and the future Savio, as they had the bulk of the offense and looked like a couple of real badasses. One of the heels (I forget which one) even got to kick out of Iceman's dive from the top of the cage, after which Savio gats the submission win on Saito. To top it all off, they front-spike piledrive Gypsy Joe on a table twice, which is a spot not even ECW at its most violent copied. Plenty of blood and violence, but as Loss said it felt organic and not just present to satisfy the crowd's bloodlust. For a while it seemed like two singles matches (Saito vs. Pogo and TNT vs. Iceman) cobbled together, but they straightened that out in the second half of the bout. This definitely belongs here on merit.

 

Just as a random aside, I remember Savio from the days when I used to flip through the channels on Monday night and catch Raw from time to time, and I like him better as TNT the sadistic heel than I ever did as Savio Vega the plucky Puerto Rican babyface/little buddy for Razor Ramon. He'd have made a decent challenger for a singles title as heel TNT had Vince chosen to go that route.

[dawho5]

Yeah, I expected to not like this and it kept getting better. The action builds up as the match goes in a very organic way. I thought they could have done with more awareness of what was going on with the other two fighting at times, but overall very very good.