Loss Posted August 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2009 I watched Taue/Nagata from 6/6/03. A little one-sided, but a fun match that put Nagata over strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2009 KENTA/Marufuji vs Kanemaru/Hashi from 09/12/03 in NOAH was a pretty awesome spotfest. I think Kanemaru & Hashi seemed like more complete wrestlers than KENTA and Marufuji, but all four were still awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2009 I watched Lawler/Keirn from the IWA in Florida in 1990. Awesomely fun match, with Lawler doing his "hide the foreign object that isn't even there" schtick, and also doing some great heel work, to a point where despite the arena being nearly empty, the crowd is pretty loud. Keirn's offense looks great also -- he does the Flair drop weight on the guy's leg after draping it on the rope spot, only he doesn't jump up at all, so it looks really snug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2009 Rey/Juvi from 6/16/95 was good. I think they only had one singles match that made tape prior to this, and you can tell they are still working out some of their kinks, but once they get going, this turns into a really good match. AAA camerawork is frustrating -- slo-moing the awesome opening spot of Juvi hitting Rey with his championship belt mid-air is exposed by Rey putting his hands up when shown in slow motion, and the camera cuts away to show a replay right as Juvi is about to dive to the floor at one point. They would have better matches later, but this is still very good and worth watching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Posted August 9, 2009 Report Share Posted August 9, 2009 I watched Lawler/Keirn from the IWA in Florida in 1990. Awesomely fun match, with Lawler doing his "hide the foreign object that isn't even there" schtick, and also doing some great heel work, to a point where despite the arena being nearly empty, the crowd is pretty loud. Keirn's offense looks great also -- he does the Flair drop weight on the guy's leg after draping it on the rope spot, only he doesn't jump up at all, so it looks really snug.I just watched the Funks vs. Sheik/Abdullah matches from the late 1970s. It's amazing how blatant Abdullah works a foreign object to the point where you wonder how the hell the referee can miss it. Lawler by comparison is an absolute master. He hides the object in such a manner that you're convinced the referr could not have seen it. His Superclash III match against Kerry is still the greatest example of cheating I've ever seen in a wrestling match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2009 Rey/Santo/Parka/Octagon vs Fuerza/Psicosis/Pentagon/Panther from 6/18/95. This may be the best non-All Japan match of 1995. I mentioned earlier a good primer to lucha libre for those who have never really watched it, and I think this fits that description even more than some of the previous matches I mentioned. Everyone is really at their best. Octagon and Pentagon don't really do much, but then again, you don't expect them to. The other six wrestlers are among the best of all time, and this match really displays them all in the most flattering light possible. The first fall, and a good chunk of the second fall, is wrestled like the best possible first 10 minutes of a Midnight Express match. Lots of athletic heel clowning spots mainly putting over Rey and Parka, as Octagon and Pentagon are kind of off in their own world, and Santo doesn't even enter the match until the middle of the second fall. They do some great footwork spots with the rudos trying to attack La Parka and him moving his feet so quickly every time they try to grab him that they all end up missing. It's really a lightning fast sequence better seen than described. This also appears to be around the time Rey started to become awesome. I still wouldn't call him a ring general at this point, but his highspots are pretty jawdropping to watch, even in 2009. Santo and Psicosis are doing a bit of a mini-feud. Psicosis brings in a chair and destroys Santo with it, which is followed by a hilarious comedy spot where the rudo ref just casually sweeps the chair out of the ring after being conveniently distracted when the bad stuff happened. Santo ends up getting his revenge in the third fall by putting the chair around Psicosis' neck and driving him into the ringpost. While other guys do their share of dives, it seems like there's a deliberate intent to keep it to a minimum -- at least to a certain degree -- to make Rey's highspots stand out even more. Fuerza is Fuerza, always awesome. Lowblowing everyone in sight, and faking being lowblowed every chance he gets, including, hilariously, after a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker where it would have been impossible to low blow a guy. He at one point early on goes for Parka's mask, and Parka comes back after his toward the end of the match. Santo and Panther also work well together, just like always. If the early parts of the match resemble the early parts of a MX match, the rest of the match feels like War Games, with everyone in and brawling at the same time before building to a series of revenge spots and a conclusive finish. I'm not sure what was specifically being praised from AAA in 1995, but if this wasn't getting praised, this falls in the category of a lost classic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2009 I watched Lawler/Keirn from the IWA in Florida in 1990. Awesomely fun match, with Lawler doing his "hide the foreign object that isn't even there" schtick, and also doing some great heel work, to a point where despite the arena being nearly empty, the crowd is pretty loud. Keirn's offense looks great also -- he does the Flair drop weight on the guy's leg after draping it on the rope spot, only he doesn't jump up at all, so it looks really snug.I just watched the Funks vs. Sheik/Abdullah matches from the late 1970s. It's amazing how blatant Abdullah works a foreign object to the point where you wonder how the hell the referee can miss it. Lawler by comparison is an absolute master. He hides the object in such a manner that you're convinced the referr could not have seen it. His Superclash III match against Kerry is still the greatest example of cheating I've ever seen in a wrestling match. Very true. Perhaps the most awesome part with Lawler is that most of the time, he didn't even have a foreign object. He just acted like he was reaching for something and pretended like he did, but the people were convinced he had something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Pentagon, or at least the guy who played him (Espanto Jr.), was also a really great worker. That's one of my favourite AAA trios. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Rey/Juvi vs Psicosis/Parka from Nitro 12/15/97 was really, really awesome. I'm not a fan of modern spotfests, but this match reminds me why I used to like them, because while this is pretty much nonstop highspots, this match is also a logical progression, a clear face/heel divide, and the wrestlers don't blend together because they're each doing something different. Rey and Juvi are great opponents, but what a terrific babyface team also. Psicosis and La Parka are two guys who have grown on me more than ever lately with all the AAA, and of course, they're great here too. Seriously, Psicosis doesn't get talked about much, but his match resume looks good next to just about anyone's. Rey/Juvi from Thunder 1/16/98 was also really fun, although it was not really the match you'd expect to see from these two. It's a bit slower-paced and wrestled in more the heavyweight style. Of course there are some great highspots too, but it's cool to see that side of these guys. Rey/Jericho from Nitro on 8/3/98 was also super fun. I never thought much of their Souled Out match, which is why originally I wasn't sure what to expect from their feud in 2009. But that may have been a fluke with Rey wrestling injured, as this match shows me maybe they always had good chemistry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 I'm about to go through the list and take some matches off. I think the problem before was that I let the list get out of hand and didn't even remember watching some things. Commenting on almost everything briefly does help that, but really, if I've forgotten something less than a week after watching it, it's probably not one of my "favorite" matches. So we'll see what gets the axe. ETA: 103 matches cut. Some will reappear after I watch them again, as there were some I was unsure how I'd rank in comparison to other matches. Some will not reappear. I still intend to comment on everything in this thread though, whether the match ends up making my list or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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