Loss Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 Talk about it here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 Dave gave this ****3/4, which is nuts. Even though the match is worked very well and has some great action, it was also pretty tone deaf, which is what keeps it from getting to the next level for me, even though they really were going all out. The crowd really wanted to respond to the USA vs Foreigner stuff, and the match was worked to build sympathy on Ultimo with Dean as the aggressor, leading to Ultimo's highspot-based comeback. Dean does some really excellent limb work and looks really good as an asskicker, but I'm not sure that was the right approach for this crowd. Dean regains the cruiserweight title that he lost at Starrcade. Ultimo has gone from having nine belts to none in a matter of weeks. Poor guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted July 31, 2013 Report Share Posted July 31, 2013 Enjoy the RF Video sign along with the phone number. I also never understood why they did these shows 4 days before a PPV. This is my favorite Dave rating since the 1/94 6 man he went the full monty for that didn't' sniff my top 100. This match is fine but felt very exhibitionish and I couldn't connect to the story going on. Malenko worked over the legs a ton but nothing felt very consequential. After seeing Misawa still feel the consequences of his elbow 22 minutes after it got worked on, Ultimo came back from the leg work very easily. Malenko regains the title in the cloverleaf which at least did play off the limb work and and Ultimo has had a rough January. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ridge Posted August 10, 2013 Report Share Posted August 10, 2013 I enjoyed this one a lot back in the day as I taped this show and watched it many times after. That said, I do not see Meltzer's rating for it. I hate when announcers go all dumb when someone mentions a wrestling move name they pretend to not know. There looks to be a brawl in the crowd that gets everyones attention. Not as good as I remembered but still a decent match. Dragon dropped a bunch of belts quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert S Posted August 15, 2013 Report Share Posted August 15, 2013 The crowd really wanted to respond to the USA vs Foreigner stuff, and the match was worked to build sympathy on Ultimo with Dean as the aggressor, leading to Ultimo's highspot-based comeback.I think that was the biggest problem with Dragon's WCW run. He is just too used to work as a face (and Malenko as a heel) that the psychology often was backwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenjo Posted September 26, 2013 Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 A nice little match, very Juniorish in style. They made no concessions to the popcorn munchers, who seemed to enjoy it anyway as it's good wrestling. Nicely constructed, with leg work during the build and highspots later on. They went back and forth before a well worked clean finish. It was great that they were allowed full length on a TV match so they could have a proper B, M & E for once. Both guys impressed me. I'm not always a fan of Malenko but here he was focused with a quiet intensity, which made him look like a no nonsense badass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptCabana Posted October 3, 2013 Report Share Posted October 3, 2013 By far, my favorite portion of this segment is the fact that the "Power Pin Replay of the Night".... ....is a submission. Oh, the delicious irony. Suck it, Alanis! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted May 7, 2014 Report Share Posted May 7, 2014 The crowd really wanted to respond to the USA vs Foreigner stuff, and the match was worked to build sympathy on Ultimo with Dean as the aggressor, leading to Ultimo's highspot-based comeback. Hum… from where do you get that feeling ? The crowd went nuts for Malenko anyway, this got over by the sheer quality of the work. Ultimo was a better opponent for Dean than Rey because he didn't allow Deano Machino to ground him and bore the crowd with endless control segment going nowhere. And Dean is a better fiery babyface than he is a Iceman heel, really, his best work and matches always came in this kind of setting. Dean working on Ultimo's leg was no different from Bret working on some heel's leg, it was not designed to get sympathy for Ultimo. Just a terrific junior match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superstar Sleeze Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 El-P, they were chanting USA loudly at the beginning and a couple more times in the match. They clearly wanted Malenko to kick more ass. I agree this was the worst of the NJPW Juniors style. WCW Crusierweight Champion Ultimo Dragon vs Dean Malenko - WCW Clash of the Champions XXXIV Malenko will you come up from your leg bar and let the fans love you? You gotta let the fans love you before they fall asleep. The fans at the Mecca in Milwaukee wanted desperately to cheer for Dean Malenko to kick some ass. Literally, every Malenko highspot gets a pop and they go wild for the finish. However, Malenko and Dragon seem committed to reversing the psychology much to the chagrin of the fans. Malenko vs Dragon is my least favorite crusierweight/junior heavyweight match up of the 90s. Building an entire match around Ultimo Dragon selling the leg is a risky proposition and as expected he does not sell in the long run. Which makes the fact that Malenko won't work a hot sprint, fist-throwing sprint all the more frustrating. Instead, they settle for the worst indulgences of 90s NJPW Junior match meaning first 75% is perfunctory submission, limb psychology before kicking into high gear. The perfunctory submission was actually very well sold and Malenko worked over the knee really well, but I knew Dragon would be up hitting Asai Moonsaults and landing on his knees without pain so it was just a waste. It was doubly so because this was a crowd begging to cheer for Malenko. They popped for a kneecrusher for Christ Sake! Anytime, Malenko did anything besides a hold they were ready to cheer. You know what they did not want a Dragon comeback, but that was the only possible option after Malenko basically took a heat segment. I really enjoy Dragon's offense, but it is so frustrating because Malenko did such a stellar job working over the leg. Dragon's opponents should only work the arm. The finish run built to the climax of Malenko decking Sonny Onoo and applying Cloverleaf pretty well and the crowd popped huge for it. Deano Machino was over despite himself. Maybe he was playing hard to get? *** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteF3 Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 Fuck it, I liked this more than Starrcade. I find it hard to criticize a match for being "tone deaf" when it involves the crowd this much, all the way until the brawl or whatever sapped everyone's attention. I didn't find myself caring much about any heel-face dynamic or lack thereof this time (and I'm a guy who's absolutely hammered Ultimo for bad/nonexistent character work), I was just biting on who was going to win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drew wardlaw Posted December 4, 2015 Report Share Posted December 4, 2015 Fuck it, I liked this more than Starrcade. I find it hard to criticize a match for being "tone deaf" when it involves the crowd this much, all the way until the brawl or whatever sapped everyone's attention. I didn't find myself caring much about any heel-face dynamic or lack thereof this time (and I'm a guy who's absolutely hammered Ultimo for bad/nonexistent character work), I was just biting on who was going to win.Agreed, I liked this one better. More intensity, and I liked that the finish built off the finish from the Starrcade match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruiserBrody Posted January 24, 2016 Report Share Posted January 24, 2016 The WON says Malenko got a stiff shot to the spine around the five minute mark and worked the last 8 mins not being able to feel his legs. Ironically, the injury was around the same time that the match took off to the next level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KB8 Posted February 16, 2019 Report Share Posted February 16, 2019 This isn't really the kind of thing I care too much about in 2019. It had some okay bits, though, and tbh I probably liked it better than Starrcade as well. Crowd were actually super hot for Dean and plenty of his legwork was pretty good. The dynamic is sort of backwards because he - the babyface - works more like a heel while Ultimo - the heel - does babyface highspots, but the crowd cheer Malenko and boo Ultimo so I guess it works fine? Ultimo doesn't give a rip about selling any of that leg work and planchas out the ring landing on his feet like those last several minutes were a mere fever dream. I guess we'll go with the finish paying it off anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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