Matches From 1992

[Guest Zander]

Skipped ahead a little in my 1992 AJPW viewing to the 5/25/92 TV, taped at Miyagi Sports Center. I'd already seen the famous Kobashi/Kikuchi vs. Kroffat/Furnas match, and after many rewatches it's still marvellous fun. The crowd wasn't quite as insanely hot for the rest of the show, but was still better than most and added to the whole episode. The second match shown was only a small clip, and was the typical Baba comedy match featuring the debut of young and rather nervous looking Jun Izumida. Even in his first match he had his "hard head" gimmick, leading him to stand up to Masanobu Fuchi and have a great battle of the headbutts with Motoshi Okuma, with both ending with the veteran on top despite young Izu's efforts.

 

Most of the next match was also not shown: Misawa/Kawada vs. Patriot/Smith. I think this was the Patriot's first All Japan tour, and I've found him fun so far. His whole look, from the colourful US mask and tights to the general WWF level of steroid use makes him stick out. He even did a missile dropkick here. The inevitable loss for his team came when Kawada kept Patriot outside the ring, while Misawa finished the Brit with a Tiger Driver.

 

The last match was the standard main event trios with Jumbo teaming with Taue and Ogawa against the gaijin team of MVC and Richard Slinger. Shockingly enough, Ogawa and Slinger escaped the loss as Williams pinned Tsuruta with the Oklahoma Stampede to set up a tag team title shot for him and Gordy. Very good match, which was helped by the lively crowd. For example, Ogawa having a quick spurt of punches on every member of the opposition was made more fun than normal due to the hot crowd. They also seemed happy to cheer both sides, and not just the little guys, with Williams at one point receiving a rousing cheer after one of his odd celebratory dances. But aye, very good match.

 

Despite the annoying level of clipping, 1992 AJPW TV <3

[MikeCampbell]

Los Cowboys vs. The Freebirds 6/16/92

 

This is just a blast to watch. The Freebirds are clueless as to how to work with the luchdores, so Los Cowboys just bust out a whole bunch of great offense, while the Freebirds look pretty much lost.

 

War Games

 

The match that pretty much defines 1992 for me. This is the model for how War Games should go. Buckets of blood, the pairings and order of entrance making sense with current rivalries, a little twist here and there to keep the match from feeling like it's falling into a rotation. Plus the conclusion of the will he/won't he mystery whether or not Sting can trust Nikita.

[Tim Evans]

Is that from the great Tag team tourney from Clash of the champions? That Freebirds match was awesome just becuase Garvin and Hayes looked pissed.

[pantherwagner]

AAA in Torreon, Coah. - 10/11/92

Super Astro, Solar & Panterita del Ring vs. Blue Panther, Jerry Estrada & Ice Killer

 

As soon as I got this DVD I went straight to this match. I hadn't seen it in years but I remembered it perfectly as the match hat sold me on ICE KILLER.

 

Anybody that has been watching lucha for a while knows that lucha libre is all about hierarchies. When matches start out clean and there aren't feuds/angles to develop, most of the time the dance pairings are based on hierarchy, which is based on a mix of experience, success and legit aura. That's why El Dandy always starts out with Brazo de Oro and not Plata, and why Brazo de Oro starts out with Satanico and not Pirata Morgan. Here the standard pairings are pretty easy: Panther-Solar, Estrada-Astro, Killer-Panterita. Since Panther and Astro were feuding at the time, you figure Solar and Astro would switch roles.

 

Well, this time Solar was paired up with Ice Killer and not only that, Killer was traeated like a peer when exchanging holds, and not exactly in a "here is me feeding you my arm so you can put on an armbar" way. When you work the mat with Solar you better bring you A game or you'll be lead through the motions. Ice Killer wasn't walked through exchanges at any point and always took the initiative on his own, which is why for years I thought there was some forgotten 80s veteran under the mask. I have never been able to identify him so I guess Ice Killer was simply Ice Killer. Pretty good stuff - and I know it's a simple move, but I liked Killer's Death Valley Slam into a keylock, as keylock holds is usually a focus of the Solar matwork style.

 

Astro and Panther were building to a title match (that you should see if you haven't already done so) so they did a bunch of technical wrestling - which was also great. Man I'm glad the late 90s "Super Astro is pretty limited" school of thought is dead, as his matwork is extra cool because he has the same grace and smoothness to it that he has in his flying.

 

Panterita was out there in the impressive local flyer role. He was good, but not impressive, especially when in the earlier match you had Misterioso, Volador and Rey Misterio Jr. Also, it's no secret that Jerry Estrada is awesome. The usual arguments are his insane bumping, his quickness, his brawling, but he's totally underrated as a master storyteller. This match was not about him, but he did perfectly all he had to do, whether it was taking some slap comedy bump for Astro or flying outside the ring after a dropkick. And the great thing is that this match wasn't about Estrada so you really don't realize how freaking great he was in this match until you are walking back home talking to your friends about the match, or you finished watching the video, and reality sinks in. John Williams once wrote a great post about Jerry talking about this, hopefully somebody can rescue it because it was a great read and this bout is a perfect example of what he was talking about.

 

Also here we had a good example of the relative importance of dives or cool moves in lucha libre or any other style. When it looked like Super Astro was going to dive onto Panther and start a chain reaction, each guy was dropkicked out of the ring or stopped by somebody else. When it was pretty clear Jerry was going to be the one diving over Panterita, Solar stopped him and it got a bigger pop than an actual dive would have gotten - plus it cleared the way for Astro to come back to the ring and actually use his tope atomico on Panther.

 

This was not a classic, but a pretty good match that is an excellent representative of the mid 90s AAA style.

[jdw]

John Williams once wrote a great post about Jerry talking about this, hopefully somebody can rescue it because it was a great read and this bout is a perfect example of what he was talking about.

Here goes. Smooth's comment quoted by me as a springboard, then Smooth's follow up that does a good job of rounding out Jerry. I don't know if you came in later, Jose. That was a long ass thread and one blows up fast trying to sift through it.

 

------------------

 

jdw

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 11:01 am

Post subject: The SC top 444 wrestlers of all time countdown!

 

Smoove Luv B wrote:

Estrada was fucking great, if I had to list the 10 dumbest bumps I've ever seen from an actual pro he's probably taken five of them. Absolute master of the unprotected face first bump from the top rope to the floor, or the out of control crash into the front row of Arena Mexico, and has the Rude/Rocco absolute scumbag vibe around him. Not a stretch in his case, as I understand it.

 

 

What's funny about Jerry is that when he would come out, the fans would really love the guy. He was a Rudo... but he was a lovable Rudo to start out with. I literally watched a woman in the front row next to us hold up a her baby for Jerry to give a kiss to... which Jerry did with a big dopey babyface smile. Of course at some point during the match, if it was his role, he'd do something to drive the fans nuts. But for a guy with a sleazy pornstar scumbag vibe, the fans really loved him as their sleazy pornstar scumbag Rudo.

 

One of the things I love about Jerry in trios is that he was an old pro master of the form. Lots and lots and lots of trios have a primary storyline to tell - Technico X and Rudo A are going to beat the snot out of each other to heat up their coming singles match. Now Technico B and Rudo Y might be longstanding rivals, while Technico C and Rudo Z have a little issue as well. But the main storyline was that Technico X and Rudo A were going to be on the mic at the end challenging each other back and forth.

 

Jerry was a master of both the Rudo A and Rudo B & C roles.

 

As a Rudo A, he would lay down all the early spots of the feud with Technico X... and mix in some comedy and so high spots. But overall he would slow build it to just snapping off like a motherfucking in the 3rd fall for the hate to go over the top between the two, making the fans really want to see these two get into a single match. Lots of luchadors are good at this because it's not too tough to shine when the spotlight is on. Jerry was very, very, very good at this, though, as he just knew how to lay it all out from start to finish, and the point where he or the babyface snapped off seemed to have some of the best intense edge to it in lucha.

 

As Rudo B & C... I think there are few better than Jerry that I've seen. There are two ways that role can go wrong - sleepwalking through the match since it has nothing to do with you, or shining so brightly that you step on the focus of the match. Jerry walked the middle ground perfectly. He brought out the signature spots, he sold, he did comedy... but he picked his spots then blended back well when it was time for the primary storyline to take centerstage. He also helped sell for the central storyline, and even at times lead some of the younger, less swift guys into what needed to be done next to get their primary storyline over.

 

There were some guys that you would look at and say were masters of certain things in lucha. Blue Panther and Fuerza Guerrera were the best second that I ever saw live... to the point we were down in Mexicali that when Fuerza came out to second someone in a singles match that I leaned over to the person I was sitting next to and told him to keep an eye on Fuerza and how he works the second role like the best managers in the US work the manager role - enhancing the match, picking it up at times when it needs help, but not stepping on what's going on in the ring to get himself over. And that's exactly what Fuerza did.

 

In the Volador vs. Mysterioso mask match in TJ, I said the same thing to Keller about Panther coming out to back Mysterioso... with not a clue of how Pena booked the finish. And of course Panther was off the charts there... the *perfect* person to put in that role since he would know exactly how to play it, set it up and then deliver the high spot.

 

Jerry... he's a master of the trios form. I'm not saying he's the best trios worker I've ever seen. But he's a bit like Arn Anderson or Toshiaki Kawada in mastering the tag team form in their respective countries - they might not be the "best" tag workers, but they really know the form, how to play their roles and what needs to be done in those matches.

 

 

John

 

----------------

 

Smoove Luv B

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 11:33 am

Post subject: The SC top 444 wrestlers of all time countdown!

 

This is one of the great things about lucha, that structurally you can have awesome matches even if you have huge holes in your game. Estrada could bump with anyone ever and John did a fantastic job outlining what you might call his mental approach—but that and his charisma were all he had. I can't really remember Estrada ever pulling off a great mat sequence or any kind of offensive move that didn't involve nearly killing himself falling from somewhere; had a good punch but not a great one by the standards of where he was working; wasn't particularly fast; wasn't a horse to where twenty minutes into a match he'd still be going strong. A guy with the equivalent skills and an equivalent look couldn't get out of the indies in Japan and would be a jobber in America; lucha accomodated what he could do.

[pantherwagner]

That's a fantastic post, John. That should be a required read for anyone who already feels comfortable with the lucha style and wants to notice things you won't notice at first sight.

 

Re: Smoove's reply to your post, Estrada had some lightning quick rope game, Jaguar Yokota or Ricky Marvin level of flawless speed/execution. I'm surprised I have never seen anybody stealing his trademark spot where he'd be sent to the ropes, stop by grabbing the ropes, and then continuing on running the ropes but knowing he's got the advantage now. I know that was not a good explanation but those familiar with Jerry would know what I mean.

[jdw]

Since writing that, we re-watched the When Worlds Collide match at the last KOC. It brought back how Panther was exceptional again as a second there. The big payoff was a slow burn, perfectly tying in not only to what happened early in the match, but also to the prior Panther-Love Machine feud.

 

I love work like that by managers and seconds. You have some managers like Albano and Heyman who think the who thing is about themselves. The hog the spotlight, taking it off the people they're managing, and often do a poor job of getting across their own guy or the match that's going in.

 

Cornette at his best was one who walked the fine line almost to perfection. He was a critical component of "The Midnight Express with Jim Cornette" trio. Part of the psych of the trio was to get heat on Jimbo, and often for the babyfaces to get payback in a way that had him stooging his ass off. But even while drawing so much attention, go back and watch a best of the MX+Corny tape and pay attention to what Jimmy does. He's always trying to get across his own team, not just in a "writing checks that their asses cann't cover" fashion, but in getting across their *skill*. In matches, there are always some spots that draw loads of attention to him. But there are also all those Tag Team 101 spots that he helps with the put more heat on the *match*. Distraction spots are basic tag team work. With Jimmy there, it doesn't always fall on the heel wrestlers to do it - Jimmy can slide in there to either draw the refs attention, or cheese off the face on the outside at just the right time to draw him away from being in position for a hot tag. Lots of managers would try similar things. Jimmy had just the right way of doing it so that it wasn't always a Look At Me! spot.

 

The MX vs. Fans at Clash 1 is just a perfect example of how great Jimmy was at ringside... along with how down the four wrestlers were with their roles and tag team work. There are better tag matches than it. But it's a wonderful match to study because while it condenses so much down to a short match length, it still retains a tag team match layout that builds to certain highs without feeling rushed. It's probably the greatest Nitro Style match of all-time. It's a bit like Vader not letting the limitations of a Strap Match get in the way of him having a great match with Sting. Here, Jimbo, Bobby, Tommy and the Boyz looked at the amount of clock time they were being given, and seemed to say, "No problem... we can still wrestle a *match* in that amount of time. Let's rock..."

 

Okay... I'm rambling, and totally in the wrong year as well.

 

 

John

[ohtani's jacket]

Pirata Morgan vs. Masakre, hair vs. hair, 2/28/92

 

Pirata Morgan was the KING of hair vs. hair matches at this time... I think this might be better than the El Faraon match from 1990. The great thing about lucha is you can take a standard lucha brawler like Masakre & put him in the ring with a great worker like Pirata Morgan and have an awesome hair match. It's the same with an older guy like El Faraon. I can't think of another style of wrestling where older or more limited guys come off better -- and in a singles environment no less. Pirata puts on a show here & Pierroth gives a master class in being a second. This isn't the first time that I've seen Pierroth give a master class as a second, but here it has a sweet payoff, since Pirata milks these hair vs. hair matches for everything they're worth.

 

I once asked Jose who he thought the best worker was in Los Infernales & I'm pretty sure he said Pirata Morgan. There's a compelling case for each of them, and I reckon if there was more MS-1 footage available Pirata might bow to the real king of these type of matches, but man this was good stuff from Morgan.

[ohtani's jacket]

Selected matches from All Japan.

 

Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi vs Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi, 1/24/92

 

Eh, there were early signs here of a move away from heel work, injury angles & face in peril stuff. Kinda makes me wanna jump off the early 90s bandwagon, but I guess this feud was running out of steam. There's only so many times you can rough up a young guy before he needs to show something... That he can not only work through it, but prevent it from happening in the first place. There were a few opportunities for sustained heat here, but it felt like the young guys wanted more of an even keel.

 

Jumbo/Taue vs Kobashi/Kikuchi, 1/26/92

 

OK, but the intensity wasn't there. Kobashi & Kikuchi's double teaming is really annoying.

 

Kawada vs Taue, 3/31/92

 

Blah, this is one of those cases where the workers don't know what kind of match they want to work.

 

Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi vs Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi, 5/22/92

 

A last hurrah? Honestly, there wasn't much life to this feud anymore. There was still a lot of heat, but it wasn't the same shock and surprise as before. Nothing really new about this match, except for Taue's injury angle (which was a shoot & then adlib, if you ask me.)

 

Jumbo/Taue vs Misawa/Kobashi, 6/5/92

 

Excellent, slow burning tag. This felt like the first "90s" tag match of the era. Jumbo was getting smaller and smaller throughout '92 (both physically & presence wise), but this was a big match performance from him. They managed to blend Jumbo being Jumbo with the kind of big tag build that was pressing. Some kinks, but one of the better matches from '92. Strange year. The work wasn't bad, but there weren't as many epics.

[ohtani's jacket]

Misawa/Kobashi/Kikuchi vs Taue/Fuchi/Ogawa, 7/21/92

 

Eh, throwaway match. Misawa's injury was a major disruption.

 

Misawa vs Kawada, 10/21/92

 

I don't think it's fair to judge this match on anything that came before it or anything they did afterwards. It was a particular moment in time when they were trying something new. The first half is like a traditional heavyweight match, which is more or less a feeling out period. The last third or so is where they start kicking out of each other's finishers. The first part is either a slow rhythm builder or meaningless, depending on how you feel about this sort of thing. In a sense it's time killing, but Misawa and Kawada knew as well as anyone that a match has to build to a climax. The opening minutes aren't a great hook, but it builds from there and does so naturally. There wasn't a lot of depth & no amazing story, it was just a match. But it was a match the fans wanted to see, and they wrestled to the best of their ability in October, 1992. The stretch run was just an idea at this point, and like any idea they needed to sketch it out. No, we weren't in Norman Mailer territory here (i.e. his account of Rumble in the Jungle), but it was well paced.

 

All in all, a hell of a lot more positive than most of the All Japan from '92.