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Proposal for 2018: Match Review Trades


Matt D

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There you go then. Two of the more recoginizable WoS guys having a great match. Three parts on youtube.

Thanks

 

I am giving you one of my favorite matches of all time. Matt says I take leaps of faith on things. I saw a picture of this in PWI and wanted to see it.

 

Dan Severn vs Tarzan Goto

 

 

 

I liked the early establishment of advantages and trying to avoid giving the opponent their strong suit. I did think the first time Severn rolled out that Goto not following didn't follow the story they had laid out with the opening. Goto tossing chairs down at Severn was a great, great visual. The announcing could have used a lot of work, but American announcing of Japanese matches was never that good. I also wish Goto had sold the water wheel drop more, but Goto is not known for his selling. Good match even with the warts. Got brought the stiffness and weapon shots you expect. Severn played his role really well.

 

As an aside, was wrestling considered the big leagues in 1995 while the UFC was still on the rise? Seems like Severn should have been in MMA at the time not wrestling.

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Dan Severn did both. Didn't he come out with both the UFC and NWA title at one point?

Severn won a UFC tournament as NWA champion. UFC was doing well in 95 and even then people were spelling doom and gloom for wrestling.

 

Sorry for the American commentary. Should have used my upload.

 

I will review my match soon.

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Matt D, my pick for you is Stan Hansen vs Toshiaki Kawada from AJPW Champions Carnival 1994 (3/24). If you have already seen it, let me know, I got another match on tap in case.

 

 

I can't find a thread on this but it feels weird to me that there wouldn't be a thread on it, so I'm not making one as of now for the sake of not accidentally creating a duplicate.

 

Given the time and place and Kawada, I have this gut feeling that I would have liked it more if I had gone back and rewatched the 91-93 matches between them since some things are definitely callbacks. Then, however, I think about it some more, and I start to wonder if I wouldn't feel the opposite. This felt a little like a greatest hits version of those matches, but without some of the sharp focus or the outright, over the top, slugfest feel. Case in point: Hansen hits the dropkick/tope combo from the 93 version. The camera angle feels a bit better, the speed of the tope a bit more intense. There's a DDT on the floor with the pad removed and an early transition comes with Kawada reversing a suplex on the floor. There's the sort of legwork you'd see in earlier matches but while it's good, it's blown off.

 

This, to me, has a lot of Hansen being Hansen, and I am the lowest guy on the board on that. He's a force of nature. Nothing matters for long. Kawada really doesn't break the code on how to fight him in this match. He gives up on the legwork. He does about 16 jumping kicks to the head in the match. Hansen blocks the last one, which is nice. There are always touches like that in these matches. I half feel like Kawada's entire plan was to get to the point of the lariat and lock in the Fujiwara armbar. Hansen blocks it the second time which leads to the finish. I'm not sure if it's because of Kawada being a thread or Hansen selling his age more, but there were a few moments of Hansen actually having to hulk up a bit (utilizing the Crusher Blackwell dead-stare hulk up), which you don't always see him do, and in those moments I felt the "oh crap." sense that Kawada was about to die.

 

I don't know. I think matches where Hansen's opponent cracks the code are more interesting than matches where the opponent tries for twenty minutes to crack it and never quite gets it. It's remarkable just how good Hansen's offense is, especially for his age and for 1994. He has so much stuff, some of it little (kicking the arm away so he can elbow drop Kawada), some of it bigger (doing the second rope bounce on the elbow drop). He accomplishes more visual damage with a stomp than almost anyone. His piledriver was almost a fall-down/fall-back piledriver plex. But in the midst of it, I was never really waiting for Kawada to comeback. I didn't feel like there was going to be a key moment where he found the fire within or capitalized on a mistake. Maybe Hansen would just have to take a breath.

 

Speaking of that, they went all out at the beginning with the early tope/dropkick/ddt on floor and there was a Kawada chinlock early on which was 100% a resthold, right before the legwork. I don't think it really served any purpose in the match other than "Kawada contains Hansen for a minute as he gets his plans together," and it felt pretty out of place in the match and to me, felt like a direct cost of that dynamic, crazy opening. A pacing consequence. They could do what they did but there was a narrative price.

 

Kawada throwing a lot of kicks, staggering Hansen, but ultimately being unable to crack the code is a pretty compelling story for 91 or early 92. I'm not sure that it's what I wanted in 94, especially not after their other matches. A lot of times, when I come out of a mid 90s AJPW match feeling this way, I think it's half their fault and half mine (just for missing a dozen points of nuance as I'm watching the match out of context).

 

The dropkick/tope combo was sure breathtaking here though.

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More reviews:

 

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/16115-dave-finlay-vs-doink-the-clown-cwa-121794/?p=5846528

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/41892-mao-kazumi-kikuta-dinosaur-takuma-kotaro-yoshino-vs-sanshiro-takagi-ryuji-ito-dick-togo-taka-michinoku-ddtbjpw-toshikoshi-pro-wrestling-123117/

 

I tried to create a thread for the minis match as well, but I kept getting a driver error, so I'll just post the review here.

This was HeadCheese's backup Secret Santo pick in case I couldn't access Rutube. I'll take them both, I'm hardcore.

 

This is a torneo cibernetico for the Pequeños Reyes del Aire competition. They don't appear to be divided into teams, so it's every man for himself the whole way. But I'm pretty sure every rudo ends up getting eliminated by a tecnico and vice versa. This being the minis division, we get wrestlers with actual dwarfism mixed with guys who are simply manlets (Mr. Aguilita in particular looked like a giant in this match). Sometimes this led to cool spots like Mascarita Dorada doing a somersault plancha between the second and third ropes. Other times it led to ridiculous spots like Tzuki pinning Pequeño Black Warrior with a crucifix.

 

As for the match itself, it's a nonstop car crash. No deep storytelling or fancy matwork, just eight guys going balls-out for fifteen minutes. Unlike in WWE multi-man spotfests, there were no stage-managed set pieces, so it felt like a breath of fresh air. Of particular note were Pequeño Damian 666 landing a Kinniku Buster and Mascarita Dorada hitting the 2 Cold Scorpio slingshot 450. The future El Torito picks up the win with an octopus hold. Fun times.

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IWA: Ricky Banderas, Hijo del Santo, Jesús Cristóbal vs. Antifaz, Bad Medicine, Rey Bucanero (1999)

 

There wasn't enough going on in this match to warrant its own thread. By the time all six men were in the ring there was about ten minutes left on the video. I was hoping to get a sprint full of high spots or an all-out brawl but this was a pretty nothing match. There wasn't much from any of the participants save a few athletic spots from Santito and some chicken shit stalling from Antifaz. This is just a placeholder in a feud between Santo and Antifaz that's not worth discussing.

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I reviewed Randy Savage vs Bret Hart at Slamboree 98 for IpponDropkick here:

 

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/27059-randy-savage-vs-bret-hart-wcw-slamboree-051798/&do=findComment&comment=5846794

 

I'm going to say it, I don't think Bret Hart is even a top 10 American worker for the 1990s. Outside of a few matches I think he is one of the least compelling wrestlers ever.

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Week 18. Astroboy off for a bit. Grimmas is back on.

 

jetlag
Matt D
Grimmas
SirEdger
DR Ackerman
Victator
JoeG
HeadCheese
shodate
IpponDropkick
Nintendo Logic
oldbirds
Tim Evans
dawho5
jetlag, I will scour all of wrestling history to try to find something for you soon.
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For you, Grimmas, I picked Matt Sydal vs Ricochet from EVOLVE 32. If you have seen it, let me know, I have a few backups in case.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DlbKv4XEQo

Never saw it, so going to be something.

 

For you, I have back ups if you've seen it:

 

Deonna Purazzo vs Karen Q in a No DQ match. Love Purazzo and this is a fun little brawl.

 

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SmartMark15:

 

 

Rose/Wiskowski vs Martel/Piper in three parts.

 

I don't see a thread here, but here's the SC review:

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/10/1980-match-of-year_25.html

 

There are actually a pair of threads for it here, in both the 80s folder as well as the Portland-dedicated folder:

 

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/35875-buddy-rose-ed-wiskowski-vs-roddy-piper-rick-martel-23-falls-8280/

 

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/22466-buddy-rose-ed-wiskowski-vs-roddy-piper-rick-martel-pnw-080280-23-falls/

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SmartMark15:

 

 

Rose/Wiskowski vs Martel/Piper in three parts.

 

I don't see a thread here, but here's the SC review:

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/10/1980-match-of-year_25.html

 

There are actually a pair of threads for it here, in both the 80s folder as well as the Portland-dedicated folder:

 

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/35875-buddy-rose-ed-wiskowski-vs-roddy-piper-rick-martel-23-falls-8280/

 

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/22466-buddy-rose-ed-wiskowski-vs-roddy-piper-rick-martel-pnw-080280-23-falls/

 

Thanks for that. I tried a search but just ended up with the neverending Buddy Rose thread which didn't survive the switch to a new board upgrade years ago without formatting getting demolished.

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SmartMark15:

 

 

Rose/Wiskowski vs Martel/Piper in three parts.

 

I don't see a thread here, but here's the SC review:

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/10/1980-match-of-year_25.html

 

There are actually a pair of threads for it here, in both the 80s folder as well as the Portland-dedicated folder:

 

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/35875-buddy-rose-ed-wiskowski-vs-roddy-piper-rick-martel-23-falls-8280/

 

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/22466-buddy-rose-ed-wiskowski-vs-roddy-piper-rick-martel-pnw-080280-23-falls/

 

Thanks for that. I tried a search but just ended up with the neverending Buddy Rose thread which didn't survive the switch to a new board upgrade years ago without formatting getting demolished.

 

 

Tell me about it. I'm constantly referring to that thread whenever I get around to watching Portland. It makes for long afternoons :)

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