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Post by lemming on Feb 28, 2023 16:59:54 GMT -5
This was one of the first matches I rewatched when I discovered this board, having read the negative reviews above.
I still loved it. Very likely makes my list.
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Post by KB8 on Jun 19, 2023 9:52:03 GMT -5
Aside from Misawa/Kobashi 1/20/97, literally every 90s All Japan match that I've re-watched in the last ~10 years has landed at least a little flatter with me than it had in the past. Both Jumbo/Misawa matches from 1990, Misawa/Kobashi v Kawada/Taue from the '93 Tag League final and 5/21/94, the 10/90 six-man where Fuchi stomps on Kobashi's broken face, the 11/91 Misawa/Kawada v Jumbo/Taue match where Jumbo and Taue work over Misawa's eye, Kawada/Williams '94 Carnival final, the '96 Tag League final. All of them. Some only by a little, some by a lot, but either way, they've all dropped to some degree. And I guess this follows suit, though more to the extent that it'll be somewhere between 50 and 75 this time around rather than just outside the top 20 where I had it three years ago.
I get the criticisms of it outlined in here, and some of them I maybe even agree with (to a lesser extent). I would've been fine with them shaving five minutes off, although I think they used that extra time to sell the toll of what they were doing to each other, which is always going to be preferable to having five minutes of more STUFF. I don't think it was aimless, or at least I never felt like they were just doing shit to be doing it, but if you did then I won't bother trying to change your mind. I thought there was some nice escalation to what they were doing and the selling reflected it, how by the end they both looked like they'd crawled out of a car crash. I thought the violence in general escalated and there was enough PSYCHOLOGY~ around that particular aspect of the match that it never just felt like two guys whomping each other. It was fairly back and forth, but I thought the transitions were worked and timed well and momentum shifts weren't abrupt. But shit, if you're bored by something then what am I going to do? Tell you you're wrong and that no, you were not in fact bored? Beauty in the eye of the beholder and all that shit. It's like the Gringos Locos v Santo/Octagon match from When Worlds Collide. Never has it resonated with me the way it does for a bunch of folk here - folk whose tastes in wrestling are pretty close to my own - and it just never feels like anything special when I watch it and at the end of the day it's like, okay, it probably won't ever land with me so I'll just go watch some Tonga Kid matches or something.
Hansen was amazing here and it's probably one of my favourite Kawada performances to boot. Hansen is a steamroller, but an ageing one, so he has to work a little harder to take control and then more so to keep it. Kawada hits like a bastard and it was wearing the big fella down, but then Hansen would do something TRUCULENT like punt him in the liver or take the jaw off him with a punch. I don't even want to open the can of worms that is Kawada doing the KO sell but I didn't think any of those moments where he got dropped here were egregious. Well maybe one at the end where he came back a little quickly, but I think I subconsciously put a microscope on that now because we've talked about it so much. The first one where Hansen punches him from his knees and Kawada staggers back I thought was perfect, though. Then Hansen fucking volleyed him in the spine and Kawada's eyes about popped out his skull. They established the struggle early when they went outside and Hansen looked like he was trying to either backdrop Kawada on the floor or pick him up and yeet him over the barricade and Kawada was holding on for dear life, eventually countering by ramming Hansen into the post. There was another bit on the floor later where Hansen tried to up the ante and hit a suplex on the exposed concrete, and Kawada reversing it felt like a really cool moment in the bigger picture sense because he probably wasn't doing that a couple years earlier. The Hansen dropkick that sent Kawada to the floor in the first place was a corker and of course that follow-up tope was maybe the greatest tope ever hit outside of Mexico. Just imagine a big tobacco-chewing torpedo fucking launching itself into your sternum. I could see people thinking the brief leg work part was a little out of place, but I didn't mind Hansen going after the leg to begin with since it's Kawada and everyone knows about that dodgy knee and if someone was booting me full force in the kidneys I'd probably want to take that weapon away as well. Everything after Hansen adjusts the elbow pad is great. The sheer dread whenever he gathers some steam is palpable and I guess it was warranted because he about took Kawada's head off with the first one. And the final one to the back of the head was disgusting.
A match not without flaws, one that some folk think is actively terrible, but it held up better for me than the vast majority of 90s All Japan I've watched in the last decade.
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Post by Cap on Jun 19, 2023 13:46:45 GMT -5
I've been trying to spend all my extra wrestling time on list-related stuff. I threw this on while I was straightening some things up yesterday and yeah... this still rules.
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Post by puropotsy on Jun 24, 2023 15:16:34 GMT -5
I decided to go back to this after watching Hansen vs Kobashi July 93. This isn’t as good but is still great. It was more of an ass-kicking by Hansen with Kawada still getting plenty. Hansen had some amazing lariats at the end. A great addition to the list but near the top for me.
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