What are you watching?

[World's Worst Man]

Muto vs. Hashimoto G1 1995 Finals

 

Great slow build match here. I liked Muto's early matwork, as he wasn't singling out a leg, but rather he was just trying to get any leg he could get. This makes sense because the matwork was competitive, and Hashimoto was doing a good job of avoiding and counters Muto's shots. The last 10 minutes was just great back and forth, with awesome selling from both. I wish Hashimoto had won, but Muto pretty much had to take it after hitting 2 moonsaults. Maybe the best NJ heavyweight match I've seen, pending a re-view of Muto vs. Chono's G1 91 final.

[silverwidow]

Maybe the best NJ heavyweight match I've seen, pending a re-view of Muto vs. Chono's G1 91 final.

Hashimoto/Hase, 12/13/94 kills them both in my opinion, particularly when it comes to the build. It has a nice blend of urgency and patience during the first half that I didn't find in the Mutoh matches. All in all, very passionate matwork where almost every hold was a struggle.

 

Plus, if you're an All Japan fan, the stretch will seem wonderfully familiar.

[Tim Cooke]

Kenta/Marifuji vs. Hidaka/Fujita (5/8/05 - NOAH)

 

Don't know what to say about this other than it was long, was full of juniors spots, and didn't do anything for me. If you want a Kenta match, the Suwa match is where to go and I am guessing Danielson/Marifuji from ROH will satisfy a Marifuji craving (if there is such a thing).

[Loss]

Wow, Tim, Memphis has really become the death of you, hasn't it?

 

 

Are you still finding it difficult to enjoy non-80s Memphis and NWA footage?

[Mad Dog]

I wouldn't blame him for not enjoying that as 3 out of the 4 guys in that match aren't anything special. KENTA can't carry the whole load in the match.

[Mad Dog]

Impact, great show this week. Styles/Sabin/Daniels vs. Generation Next was good stuff. The end segment was pretty funny despite what some of the spoilers were claiming. James Storm flapping around during the end brawl was hilarious for the most part. Eric Young also got in a good one liner in the backstage area.

 

I also like how they had various guys sharing their favorite Sting moments.

[Loss]

Bret Hart v Yokozuna - WWF 08/20/93 San Francisco, CA; Cage Match

 

HOLY SHIT! I've seen the match on the Inside the WWF set, which I thought was really good, but this one is even better. This is probably a top five Bret Hart for me and it's easily miles above anything else Yokozuna ever did. 25 minute Yokozuna escape rules cage matches don't sound particularly good on paper, but Bret made it work. There's only so much Yoko can do, and Bret got the most out of all of those things, building up Yoko's three big moves (legdrop, Bansai drop, belly-to-back suplex) to the absolute maximum. There's a real horror movie feel to the climbing here, where you're practically screaming at Bret to get out of the cage because you know time is limited, and I think that's the desired reaction. When the Best of the 90s WWF set happens here at NMB, this is a match I insist on including. There are a few repeated sequences, which does drag the match down a little, but Yoko keeps trying the same big moves and Bret's counters are always different. Yoko, to his credit, does some great "Timber!" bumps. I prefer this to Bret's matches with guys like Nash and Undertaker, even though those guys are better athletes than Yoko, just because there's so much more melodrama here. Bret can somewhat reasonably have a competitive match with guys that size, but here, he has to be a little more creative, and he is. Also, to Yoko's credit, Bret's clotheslines and punches are put over as very meaningful, and there are really good payoffs for all the heel work and manager interference. Every action in this match sparks a reaction.

 

****1/4

[Tim Cooke]

"Wow, Tim, Memphis has really become the death of you, hasn't it?

Are you still finding it difficult to enjoy non-80s Memphis and NWA footage?"

 

Not so much now. I watched Misawa vs. Taue from 2/28/93 and enjoyed the hell out of it. Also watched the 11/30/93 Baba/Hanson vs. Misawa/Kobashi and dug it more than ever.

 

Now juniors, whether it is New Japan, US Indy, Lucha, is not going well at all.

 

But I am still so heavily influenced by Memphis right now that both RnR v Savage/Poffo matches are still two of my favorite matches ever for the time being. I can really only add Eddy/Rey from Havoc 97 as a match that I have watched way too many times but still love it so much.

 

And I still need to see Bret/Yoko. I got the Bret DVD for Christmas via my brother and watched the Nash match up against the Nash/Michaels from 5 months later. Bret/Nash is more dull compared to the wild bumps Michaels takes, but way better in terms of building the drama. With all the crap Bret had to work with, I wish he would have got a sustained run somewhere else where the opponents weren't Nash or Undertaker.

 

Tim

[Resident Evil]

Bret Hart v Yokozuna - WWF 08/20/93 San Francisco, CA; Cage Match

 

HOLY SHIT! I've seen the match on the Inside the WWF set, which I thought was really good, but this one is even better. This is probably a top five Bret Hart for me and it's easily miles above anything else Yokozuna ever did. 25 minute Yokozuna escape rules cage matches don't sound particularly good on paper, but Bret made it work. There's only so much Yoko can do, and Bret got the most out of all of those things, building up Yoko's three big moves (legdrop, Bansai drop, belly-to-back suplex) to the absolute maximum. There's a real horror movie feel to the climbing here, where you're practically screaming at Bret to get out of the cage because you know time is limited, and I think that's the desired reaction. When the Best of the 90s WWF set happens here at NMB, this is a match I insist on including. There are a few repeated sequences, which does drag the match down a little, but Yoko keeps trying the same big moves and Bret's counters are always different. Yoko, to his credit, does some great "Timber!" bumps. I prefer this to Bret's matches with guys like Nash and Undertaker, even though those guys are better athletes than Yoko, just because there's so much more melodrama here. Bret can somewhat reasonably have a competitive match with guys that size, but here, he has to be a little more creative, and he is. Also, to Yoko's credit, Bret's clotheslines and punches are put over as very meaningful, and there are really good payoffs for all the heel work and manager interference. Every action in this match sparks a reaction.

 

****1/4

Did you see the MSG match that I sent to you yet Loss? It'd be interesting to see what the best of the lot is.

 

So there are 4 of these matches from what I gather. The one you just watched, the commercial release, the handheld from MSG and I once saw someone selling an international match between the two.

[Marty]

I've been going through the WM Anthology boxset. I'm up to WM16, which I watched last night for the first time in a while. Some thoughts on the last bunch:

 

- WM13: I think I like this show more than a lot of people do, mainly due to the midcard. Bret-Austin has been talked about millions of times, but the matches surrounding it weren't exactly horrible either. The street fight was fun stuff, better than a lot of the hardcore stuff they've done since, and may be Ahmed Johnson's best match with the company. The heels vs. heels tag looked questionable on paper, but with Bulldog still in quasi-face mode, he and Owen did a good job playing impromptu babyfaces, so well that Owen even had a solid portion of the crowd on his side. Goldust-HHH was okay, and I credit that to Dustin, as it was possibly one of the last stronger performances for him before he got out of shape. The rest of the card stinks, but that middle portion is quite fun. Far from the worst WM ever, in my opinion.

 

- WM14: Still a damn good show to watch, with the cruiser match, mixed tag, HHH-Owen, dumpster tag, and main event all watchable->good matches. The other three matches stank, but even they had their positives, with the LOD going over (which got the crowd hot, so it was a strong way to start the show), the Rock's mannerisms, and the atmosphere early on of Taker-Kane. Call me crazy, but I'm still a mark for Taker's entrance here.

 

- WM15: Everyone's made a point about Russo's goofiness with this show before, and I still feel that way, but the one new thing that stood out for me here was how this show felt very little different from a show of today, which isn't a good thing. Watching the IC title match, with Michael Cole calling a portion of the match with Road Dogg and Ken Shamrock in there made me truly realize how far too long the WWF style has been in existence and how the promotion really needs a shake-up today if they really want to hit a "boom" period again. I didn't think I'd get a realization like this from watching a show like this, but it's really amazing now how little has changed and how things really do need to change.

 

- WM16: This show is really tough to sit through today. The main event, bad ending and all, really looks like crap today with all the outside-into-the-crowd brawling used to fill time. Watching it also reminded me of a short essay Loss wrote a little over a year ago about HHH-Maven on RAW and how Maven and all the faces with him were awfully heelish. I felt that with Rock and Foley in their doubleteams of HHH and how they also used somewhat heelish tactics. It's more forgiveable here, within the confines of this match, but if a first-timer watched this, they'd almost be clueless as to who the heels and faces are. Benoit-Jericho-Angle is tough to sit through too, because the match is generally a dumbed-down Angle-style spotfest, and the only guy in the match who's really over is Jericho, yet the announcers (well, Lawler at least) focus on Angle, which in retrospect, is foreshadowing as to who would get the push later in the year. Oddly enough, but not really, the most over match felt like the mixed 6-man tag, probably because the show was in LA and Eddy was in the match. It's not like that was a good match or anything either, but damn, 2000 was one of Eddy's worst years in wrestling, and yet, he was actually one of the better performers that night, even in a match that's one of my least favourites of his.

[Loss]

I agree that the WM 14 entrance for the Undertaker was pretty awe-inspiring.

 

The Benoit/Jericho/Angle match at WM 2000 is sort of a microcosm of the way the company has booked for years now, booking that makes everyone equal without letting anyone stand out -- Jericho and Benoit trade wins and Angle loses two titles without jobbing.

[Guest TheShawshankRudotion]

But nobody loses the way! Win Win Win. Isn't that the most desired goal? To keep everyone strong (but not let anyone stand out above the others)?

[World's Worst Man]

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Nobuhiko Takada (4/29/96)

 

I think this was the best 12 minute match I've seen. Almost a true-blue UWFi match, showing how great Hashimoto was that he could actually work the style. Hashimoto's brainbuster was built to beautifully, and it was even executed in a more "realistic" fashion, as Takada looked like he was just deadweight as Hashimoto lifted him up.

 

This must have been the match that really vaulted Hashimoto to the top of the heap in New Japan. As I've been watching early 90's NJPW, it seemed to me that Muto actually had more success and was more over than Hashimoto. After this match and in the subsequent years, it seemed that Hashimoto was then the #1 guy.

[World's Worst Man]

Akira Maeda/Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Osamu Kido/Nobuhiko Takada/Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Antonio Inoki/Tatsumi Fujinami/Kengo Kimura/Umanosuke Ueda/Kantaro Hoshino (3/26/85)

 

Holy cow~! This elimination match was incredible. Pretty much everyone was fired up for this, and the first 5-10 minutes was just a whirlwind of incredibly heated and fast-paced mat/submission work. Crowd heat is absolutely off the charts, as every move and every time someone tags in, the crowd goes apeshit. It eventually slows down (it had to) and we get a couple of early and nifty eliminations. First to fall was Yamazaki with a backslide, and it really got the crowd going nuts for a later backslide attempt by Hoshino on Fujiwara. Some of the eliminations were brilliant. When it was 4 on 3 for the UWF side, Fujiwara sacrificed himself and got a double over-the-top elimination with Fujinami, leaving Inoki and Ueda (who had done almost literally nothing, and looked apprehensive) against Maeda/Takada/Kido. But god damn, here comes Ueda for the first time he's been in longer than 3 seconds, against Maeda, and what does he do? Grabs Maeda, falls through the ropes and pulls Maeda with him, leaving Inoki against Kido and Takada. Even though it left Inoki in a 2v1 predicament, it was a great tradeoff of UWF's ace for NJ's weak link, who wasn't able to hang at all in the match. Inoki makes a big comeback against the relatively inexperienced Takada, and finishes him with a sleeper, then takes victory from the jaws of defeat by hitting a big enzuigiri on Kido for the win, after nearly losing himself.

 

Just for comparison's sake, this match absolutely buries the Canadian Stampede 10 man. We're talking an absolute massacre here, and I'm not even someone who takes crowd heat into account when rating a match. If someone did take crowd heat into account.. good lord. Fantastic match.

[World's Worst Man]

Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima (11/5/05)

 

Wow, just, wow. This match was beautiful. Great stories throughout the match, great execution, great build, great selling (for the most part). This was dangerously close to being the full monty for me, which is saying something. If not for a couple of selling silliness (surprise, surprise), it would have been. Matches like this have an advantage, because they have history, and obvious story-arcs to use (since it was student & mentor vs. student & mentor), but it still has to be played out in the ring, and these guys did a masterful job of it. This is my MOTY for 2005, and best match I've seen since October 1997.

[goodhelmet]

5/14/05 Perro Aguayo Jr. vs. Mistico (CMLL)

 

I just watched this for the first time tonight. Man, I'll have to rewatch Rey-Eddie but this may have it beat. I have also heard differing opinions on Joe-Kobashi and its merits so I do not know which one will be my MOTY. However, this one is up there... way up there.

[Guest Bruiser Chong]

Went through the 4/86 Detroit WWF Arena show. Pretty clunky stuff, including one of the worst Bret Hart matches I've ever seen. The Tito/Orton match was good stuff and Savage/Hogan was, too, except it's more or less the same match they ran at MSG.

[Loss]

Rockers v Powers of Pain - MSG 01/15/90

 

This was a surprising match. I haven't been sure really what to make of the nouveau Barbarian love online, but watching this match certainly helped me understand it. The Rockers were considered a good-great tag team in their era, but if they debuted today, they'd be considered the best tag team in wrestling. Just awesome chemistry and a pretty endless series of fun doubleteam spots, my favorite of which was Michaels nailing Warlord with one good punch and Jannetty getting behind him and tripping him to throw him off his feet. Barbarian is also pretty insistent on flying here and taking major bumps for face in peril Jannetty. If Jannetty was as good all the time as he was in this match at playing FIP, he'd be talked about on the same level as Ricky Morton and Tommy Rogers. There's this really amazing 30 seconds or so where he's trying so hard to shake off the pain and fight back and just can't. This match is much more NWA than WWF in feel, with the heel manager assisting them in getting a win and then participating in a long, post-match beatdown while the ring feels with referees before Shawn Michaels comes back in the ring with a chair to make the save. If in the NWA in 1988, the Fantastics had faced the Road Warriors, this is what I would imagine the match would have been like. Very good, even better than the more famous Harts/Rockers tag from the SNME a few months later.

 

***1/2

[Loss]

Bob Backlund v Don Muraco - Philly 09/21/81

 

I don't know. This is a really good match, but it's not as great as I thought it would be based on the praise it's gotten. I'm a Backlund fan in most matches, even when he does the silly stuff, but I just can't stay with him in this one. He's out of place for Muraco's clothesline, or forearm, or whatever it was coming off the ropes early on, and sells it anyway. That's not the only spot where someone is out of place, with the other being the ref seeing Muraco's chairshot and letting the match continue. I think the idea was that he wasn't supposed to see it, but he was looking right at Muraco when it happened. I also wasn't too big of a fan of Muraco's nerve hold thing, or whatever it was, and Backlund tended to stay stationary a little too long. But with the bad out of the way, the good of this is when they take it to the mat and stay basic, which they do for much of this match, and which is why I think I'll prefer the 60-minute draw much more when I watch it. Muraco working over Backlund's stomach is top notch stuff, and Backlund, as always, is great for some pretty awe-inspiring strength spots. Still, this was missing something, but I think the 60-minute draw on 10/17 will do plenty to make up for it.

 

***1/2

[Resident Evil]

Rockers v Powers of Pain - MSG 01/15/90

 

This was a surprising match. I haven't been sure really what to make of the nouveau Barbarian love online, but watching this match certainly helped me understand it. The Rockers were considered a good-great tag team in their era, but if they debuted today, they'd be considered the best tag team in wrestling. Just awesome chemistry and a pretty endless series of fun doubleteam spots, my favorite of which was Michaels nailing Warlord with one good punch and Jannetty getting behind him and tripping him to throw him off his feet. Barbarian is also pretty insistent on flying here and taking major bumps for face in peril Jannetty. If Jannetty was as good all the time as he was in this match at playing FIP, he'd be talked about on the same level as Ricky Morton and Tommy Rogers. There's this really amazing 30 seconds or so where he's trying so hard to shake off the pain and fight back and just can't. This match is much more NWA than WWF in feel, with the heel manager assisting them in getting a win and then participating in a long, post-match beatdown while the ring feels with referees before Shawn Michaels comes back in the ring with a chair to make the save. If in the NWA in 1988, the Fantastics had faced the Road Warriors, this is what I would imagine the match would have been like. Very good, even better than the more famous Harts/Rockers tag from the SNME a few months later.

 

***1/2

I know the Rockers are great but this one surprised me too when I watched it. The Rockers when they wanted to could have a good match with almost anyone. In my opinion Michaels was actually better as a tag team wrestler back in the day than he was in singles.

 

WP -- On the Babarian bandwagon since 89 though I almost jumped off after he dropped Benoit on his head in 96 and from what I hear legit injured him.

 

 

Since I'm making a comp today for someone else I've been watching a few matches:

 

 

Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero Nitro -- Benoit's WCW redebut

 

Great stuff but Eddie being gone hit me hard here.

 

Eddie and Benoit are so much better against each other when they don't have to wrestle the WWE style. Now I don't think the WWE style is nearly as bad as people make it out to be but it's just criminal watching this and realising that a lot of this match would be banned from the eyes of the WWE's fans. Let Benoit do a full nelson suplex you bleeping f'n bleeping bleepers.

 

 

Sabu vs Lightning Kid NWA 93 -- This was pretty good. Full of highflying moves but the best part of the match was actually the commentary as their excitement in their voices was contagious

 

 

Bret Hart vs Bam Bam Bigelow -- So I was looking through tapes and came across a best of 93 tape that I had lost for awhile. So yeah, I got distracted (see Sabu vs Lightning Kid) and eventually stopped on this handheld match. I have no idea where it occured at.

Really good match with a beginning that laid out some fundamental groundwork. Bigelow's more powerful and dangerous but Bret's more crafty and quicker. Really nice transistion here to offence as Bret tries a Lou Thez press! from the ring apron to the open arms of Bam Bam Bigelow who than solidifies his status as a heel by ramming Bret's back into the ringpost.

 

Of course Bret's back is now hurt and Bam Bam starts to work over it. It's a little slow here but it's hard to judge because the footage suddenly cuts into Bret's comeback. There's a real nice near fall here where Bret tries a suplex but his back is not strong enough for that and Bam Bam counters into a lateral press. A good ending stretch overall and we find ourselves a very good match overall

 

Regal vs Benoit WCW PRO 12/95 -- Pro matches never last that long but this one got a little bit of time and Benoit and Regal take advantage of it with their typical greatness. The scary thing about this is that Benoit and Regal do a long running pinning sequence that I've only ever seen 1 time again. That was in a Jamie Knoble match. Is he that big a fan?

 

Now the American Males are on and Bagwell's going through two tables.

 

The Ringmaster vs Matt Hardy!

[silverwidow]

Getting a chance to kick back and watch wrestling on a holiday is a beautiful thing!

 

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Genichiro Tenryu, NJPW, 2/17/94

 

An absolutely thrilling 15 minutes of action -- just a whole bunch of ass kickery from two guys fired up for a big match. Old Man Tenryu's limitations do pop-up when he tries to get too fancy (his enzuigiris are typically lame), but luckily for him, Hash turns in one of his most inspired efforts in carrying this thing.

 

Great match -- highly recommended viewing as a change of pace from the usual NJPW heavyweight formula with its obvious All Japan feel. It's similar to the 4/96 Hash/Takada Dome match in terms of heat but on a smaller scale. ****

[Mad Dog]

It's fucking pathetic that the WWF Champion is getting beat up by a 55 year old man right now. Remember when they used to make fun of WCW for having 45 year old men in the main events?

[Loss]

Wild Pegasus v Black Tiger - NJPW 07/04/95

 

Awesome match! Thanks to WP for sending this my way! I like the match layout here far more than I normally like NJ juniors match layout, with the matwork being fairly brief before tempers flare and a brawl erupts. This is sort of what I think an NJ juniors match would have been like if it had been booked by Bill Watts, with brawling around the ring and a slugfest on the apron mixed in with the great highspots and typically great false finishes of the era. Not their best match together, but still a great one.

 

****

[Coffey]

It's fucking pathetic that the WWF Champion is getting beat up by a 55 year old man right now. Remember when they used to make fun of WCW for having 45 year old men in the main events?

..but he's a SIXTEEN TIME WORLDS HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION and his DAUGHTER IS IN THE FRONT ROW~!

 

Yeah, it didn't make a whole helluva lot of sense to me. Why would Flair want to do a TLC match? Why would Edge, when he just won the belt?

 

It was just lazy booking. Edge will be lucky to walk out of next Sunday's PPV with the title.

[Loss]

Rey Misterio Jr & Batista v MNM - WWE Smackdown 12/16/05

Rey Misterio Jr & Batista v MNM - WWE Smackdown 12/23/05

 

Just two really outstanding matches. MNM are the modern-day Arn and Tully, doing the tag formula better than anyone has done it in years. The nuances that have been forgotten over time have been brought back in a major way -- wrestling on their half of the ring, singling out a body part and destroying it, repeatedly cutting off hot tags, spending the first five minutes of the match doing great comedy and bailing outside. MNM have managed to get me excited about tag wrestling again, because it proves that it's not forgotten, and there's still hope. Both have Rey as FIP, and I can't really think of anyone you could ask for in wrestling today who would be better at that role. Batista takes no offense for MNM whatsoever, but he's also the world champion and I like that approach because each team member has a role instead of them being two equals. I much prefer this to the standard Shawn Michaels RAW tags we've seen for the past year or two with two FIP segments that are the exact same with restholds on the babyfaces and no attempts to cutoff the hot tag at all, with the babyfaces getting it on the first try. MNM have brought back ref distractions, doubleteam offense, they look like a tag team, and they have probably the best second in wrestling today in Melina. Melina is a fresh face and I like that they gave her Henry to manage as well. If I were booking SD, I'd give her an entire stable, as she's a terrific actress, over as a heel and can be put in some interesting situations. After WM, moving Trish to SD to feud with Melina would be pretty cool as well. Anyway, back to this match. The first match sees Rey do all sorts of ducking and rolling and reversals attempting to get the hot tag and getting cut off every time. It's really awesome to watch, and took great timing from everyone involved. The second match featured a little more complex stuff, with Rey doing the same things, only for MNM to expand on that by trying a quick mid-move double vertical suplex, only for Rey to counter with a double DDT. I hate to use this term because it gets misused sometimes, but learned psychology spots where you can tell the guys are familiarizing themselves with each other and learning new counters every time out really do rock. Anyway, I'd go ***3/4 for the first match and **** for the second match, which sees them destroy Rey's knee and sees Rey pull out his GAB '04-style selling that he used against Chavo, where he holds his leg while limping off rope running sequences and hobbles out of desperation just to perform all of his most basic offense. Rock on!