Loss Posted October 21, 2014 Author Report Posted October 21, 2014 Last few minutes of Akira Maeda's retirement match. To his credit, he stayed gone. This is followed by a Maeda video to the Sid Vicious version of "My Way", which is the PERFECT song for him. Quote
PeteF3 Posted November 3, 2014 Report Posted November 3, 2014 Getting Karelin to do this was such a big deal that this match got coverage in places like the New York Times. How many other Japanese wrestling matches can say that? (Yes, I know the Crush Gals got a Wall Street Journal write-up in their heyday, which is how and why the WWF ended up booking them). Quote
Tim Evans Posted January 5, 2015 Report Posted January 5, 2015 It's kinda funny that this is shown after Shane Douglas's "retirement". That music video was awesome. One of the guys he's shown fighting looks like Brandon Baxter. I'm guessing the fight was a work but you never know with RINGS. Quote
Lee Casebolt Posted January 6, 2015 Report Posted January 6, 2015 Definitely a work. They didn't really put much effort into making it look like a shoot. Still, for those of us who took every opportunity to watch Karelin chuck people through the air, it's a fun watch. Quote
soup23 Posted March 2, 2015 Report Posted March 2, 2015 Maeda gets his send off here and actually stayed true to it. Touchy stuff with the My Way video. So long Akira. Quote
Zenjo Posted July 25, 2015 Report Posted July 25, 2015 The match is really weird. It looks like Karelin keeps setting Maeda up and waiting for him to pull off a big counter move. But Akira has absolutely nothing in the tank and the ref has to make a mercy killing. The tribute video afterwards was pretty cool. Quote
PeteF3 Posted March 13, 2017 Report Posted March 13, 2017 Not really much of a match, as Maeda basically just goes into a shell. Karelin attempts his famed Karelin Lift but can't quite execute it. Eventually the match just sort of stops with Karelin being given the victory. Great heat, though, and as I already posted, getting Karelin to work a match was a major coup. The highlight video is the best part of this. Quote
Control21 Posted September 26, 2023 Report Posted September 26, 2023 This match really flies under the radar if you ask me. It holds up well with every viewing. Karelin looks pretty solid here I think and the crowd eats it up the whole way. Maeda plays his part of course. It's Aleksandr freakin' Karelin. I'm surprised this match isn't more well known. Quote
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