Loss Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 I've always had a soft spot for Norio Honaga and I have really loved some of the late 90s Yoshinari Ogawa performances I've seen recently. In both cases, you had guys working as American style heels and sneaking in eye pokes and low blows in a style where that doesn't happen very often. I haven't seen the match for myself but I know people made similar comments about The Cobra vs Don Arakawa on the New Japan 80s set. I've also always popped for Chono sneaking in the low blow behind the referee's back. Anyway, I wanted to see if I could get some recommendations for the best cheating performances in Japan. I'm not thinking modern New Japan as much even though I know there's plenty of it now (too much, which makes it seem less special), and I'm not referring to outside interference as much as I am eye poking, low blows, using ropes for leverage, positioning the referee in an advantageous way, etc. What do I need to see? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 70s and 80s Joshi, obviously, though it's fairly monotonous. M-Pro? You've probably seen all that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 M-Pro I've seen, yeah. Seems like it would be hard to do much cheating in 70s and 80s Joshi since rules are never enforced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 They should have had the refs act tougher. Commissioner Ueda was useless as well. I think that was part of the show, though. That these bungling Japanese men couldn't stop such strong willed Japanese women. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantastic Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 Genichiro Tenryu and his love for throwing water bottles, tables and chairs at his opponents in majestic displays of disrespect! Not really cheating, it's more Tenryu being a miserable angry bastard. Can't really do this without mentioning The Great Muta, particularly in the early to mid 1990's. I like his match with Liger, the one where Liger first unveield the Kishin Liger character and basically turned Muta's cheating ways against him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Cooke Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 SUWA vs KENTA 9/18/05 NOAH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawho5 Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 Ogawa vs. Akiyama 9/11/98 is a great Ogawa performance. He's doing everything he can to keep Akiyama neutralized and work towards a huge upset. He also has a great match against Takayama in 2004. The 9/11/98 match is on Dtitch's AJPW chronological site. The Takayama is in best of 2000s project. If you decide to look up that Takayama match above, look into the Kanemoto vs. AKIRA match on 3/23/03. It's dickweed Koji vs. cheating bastard AKIRA in a legwork duel to the tapout. The sense of animosity between the two of them makes for good fun. A couple of the NJPW vs. NOAH tags with Liger have cool sequences built around Kanemaru's mule kick to the groin. And a shit ton of heat. Same goes for the 2000 Kanemoto/Tanaka vs. Ohtani/Takaiwa. Early offense for Ohtani and Takaiwa is basically corner heel stuff. Ikeda vs. Ishikawa from 2005 has a great heelish Ikeda performance. And if you've watched any Battlarts, you know Ishikawa isn't letting that fly. There's a few matches where Omori shines on that AJPW chronological listing as well. The tag where Kobashi is extremely pissed at NO FEAR has this great Kobashi slow burn on Omori and Takayama. If you're really in the mood for cheating, check out the Omori vs. Akiyama match that goes like 30 seconds. The match where Kawada "leaves an impression" on Misawa is all kinds of awesome for the heel stuff there. And the incredible payback. If you can find good Jado/Gedo tags, those dudes love to cheat something fierce. So much so that I've seen matches where it just degrades into them doing heel cheating over and over again until you wish they'd stop. The 1995 Flair vs. Chono match from the G1 has a really great story of Flair trying to come in and win clean, but having to go tit for tat with Chono's heel tactics. It's not the greatest match ever, but the way it plays out is pretty fun. I know there's stuff I'm missing, but a lot of the above are the more enjoyable things I've watched recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 Akiyama vs Ogawa from 9/11/98 is actually what inspired this thread more than anything! I'm looking forward to watching the other matches mentioned here too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawho5 Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 Glad I'm not the only one who absolutely loved that match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donsem43 Posted June 25, 2014 Report Share Posted June 25, 2014 Dump & company were good at the "hide the foreign object" game, as well as just bullying in general. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted June 25, 2014 Report Share Posted June 25, 2014 Ueda's suicide double elimination spot from 3/86 NJPW elimination tag isn't really really cheating, but it was against the spirit of the match, and is one of the best spots in the history of wrestling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Crackers Posted June 25, 2014 Report Share Posted June 25, 2014 The ultimate Ogawa performance is the GHC title match against Kobashi. Ogawa is a dick and Kobashi gets revenge leading to Ogawa blading which due to it's rarity feels like a huge deal. To add to the Tenryu mention, he is excellent at sneaking in punches in traditionally clean strike exchanges. It gets awesome heel heat in most of his NJPW appearances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawho5 Posted June 26, 2014 Report Share Posted June 26, 2014 Yeah, that Kobashi/Ogawa match is pretty great. We even get to see the good Kobashi come out of hiding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ridge Posted June 28, 2014 Report Share Posted June 28, 2014 SUWA vs KENTA 9/18/05 NOAH Yep, this is the one that came to my mind. SUWA ripping up the proclamation and getting in the face of Joe Higuchi. Big reaction from the crowd on that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.