Secret Santo 2018-2019

[Jetlag]

I finally watched Backlund/Hart. Wow, WWF had matches like this? Backlund did all this awesome shit, twirling around Bret a bunch and getting cool pin attempts. Bret didn't do a ton and I thought the match ended prematurely but watching Backlund step up and be awesome randomly on TV is something else.

[C.S.]

I'm really glad you liked it, @Jetlag. Yeah, it was definitely wildly different from the norm of the WWF at the time, which made it really special IMO. 

BTW, I haven't forgotten about the match you gave me. Just been having sleep issues lately and feeling, well, jetlagged all the time.  Hoping to get to it in the next day or two. 

[C.S.]

@Jetlag gave me Toshiaki Kawada vs. Tamon Honda (AJPW 1/21/96). I once again can’t sleep and this is long overdue, so here goes…

The match starts off with some amateur type wrestling before morphing into a series of suplexes (very reminiscent of Taz, who obviously borrowed heavily from guys like this) to strong style kicks. Then some nice psychology with Honda trying to ground Kawada to prevent more of those devastating kicks and nice selling from Kawada. 

Everything looks snug and tight. No one was calling these guys fake, that’s for sure!

Kawada turns the tables by grounding Honda in return.

These two seem pretty even, matching each other move for move and strategy for strategy.

Following more hard kicks by Kawada, Honda goes on a crazy flurry of flopping headbutts with an insane airplane spin along the way for good measure.

After a few more minutes of back and forth action mixing strikes with submissions, Kawada gets the hard-earned tapout victory. 

Really fun little match. The only disappointment is that I didn’t get to see the “Kawada smile” made famous on this board by @KawadaSmile.