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Post by elliott on Dec 4, 2017 23:00:50 GMT -5
Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto (WAR - 03/02/1994) This is another one of my favorite matches ever. Japanese Interpromotional is one of the most consistently awesome styles of matches and Tenryu is the undisputed interpromotional king. This was Onita at the height of his popularity going against motherfucking Tenryu so this has a super hot crowd as four big surly dudes beat the fuck out of each other. Death match Onita is great, but I really prefer these "straight" Onita matches where he's just an out of control brawler getting headbutted to death instead of getting blown up. Awesome match.
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Post by El Mckell on Jan 12, 2018 16:22:44 GMT -5
A real big fight feel and a chaotic feeling match. This match probably breaks some kinda record for number of headbutts delivered. Everyone but Ashura Hara gives a really good performance here.
Seconded ****
Also Onita's outfit decision here is suburb. It's a straight tag match but he does not wear traditional wrestling gear. He's in wrestling boots, straight leg jeans, knee pads, a t-shirt that at first i thought had the sleeves cut off but in fact they are rolled up all the way for some reason, of course a random bandage on his arm and a year's supply of athletic tape around his fists and wrists. ALL HAIL ONITA.
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Post by gordi on Jan 26, 2018 21:32:14 GMT -5
Thirded.
I absolutely object to "Everyone but Ashura Hara gives a really good performance here." Hara was superb in his role: going after Onita early and busting him up, then getting out of the way for Tenryu to go to work. Goto played essentially the same role for his side.
Then Tenryu and Onita finally go at it, and the crowd and atmosphere are just great. You really get the feeling that this is something special. Tenryu's selling is sublime. The sloppiness works in this setting. Onita shows he he doesn't need gimmicks, he can work a straight brawl just fine.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2020 23:05:32 GMT -5
Headbutt City. Hara and Goto are fine in their support roles and then Tenryu locks horns with Onita so this kicks up several notches. Like Elliott, brawling Onita > deathmatch Onita for me as great as he is in that setting. Are there any other Tenryu-Onita singles matches apart from 5/5/94 Barbed Wire?
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Post by bossrock on Dec 22, 2020 0:29:51 GMT -5
A very fun, hard-hitting tag match. Does a good job setting up the barbed wire cage match and Onita's victory feels like a big deal. ****
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Post by elliott on Dec 22, 2020 17:33:48 GMT -5
Headbutt City. Hara and Goto are fine in their support roles and then Tenryu locks horns with Onita so this kicks up several notches. Like Elliott, brawling Onita > deathmatch Onita for me as great as he is in that setting. Are there any other Tenryu-Onita singles matches apart from 5/5/94 Barbed Wire?No other singles matches unfortunately. There are some 8 man tags in 1999 that are pretty fun though.
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Post by jetlag on May 30, 2022 17:18:14 GMT -5
This is the match that stole the #1 spot from the 6/3/ Misawa/Kawada match in the 1994 Japan Match of the Year awards. That should give you an idea of what kind of epic scope we are looking at for a match here. Of course, it‘s FMW vs. WAR and two of the biggest stars in all of Japan, Onita and Tenryu are involved, so you are going to have absolutely molten heat and crazy reactions for everything compared to the somewhat sterile formality of a Misawa/Kawada match, but this match is way more than just star power. It‘s a remarkably intricate match, really, and there‘s a sneaky Goto performance here as he plays second fiddle to Onita but largely carries his team. They work the early exchanges with insanely high stakes and drop of a hat momentum shifts, guys get thrown outside just to get back in immediately to not risk a brawl outside, later Tenryu immediately tags out after eating an armbreaker from Goto to avoid possible armwork etc. Goto works the early exchanges teasing Onita coming in to square off with Tenryu. When Onita finally tags in the place comes unglued, but he soon gets busted open and kicked to a bloody pulp by Tenryu and Hara. WAR guys kicking a bleeding guy in the face is tried and true greatness, and when someone as charismatic of a bleeding babyface as Onita is on the receiving end it‘s really upper echelon stuff. I really liked how Onitas hot tag seemed to come as a fluke as he just ducked a move, but Goto just immediately tags him in again as if to give the fans some more star action but Onita gets his ass kicked even more. At that point it‘s like Onita is the broken down megastar and Goto starts thinking on how to salvage his team. Tenryu gets a bit too angry at Goto breaking up a pin, rushing him which in turn leads to Goto clocking Tenryu with a chair and bloodying him. At that point the match just becomes this huge Tarzan Goto rally where he just keeps taking people out. He busts out his huge superfly splash to Hara which leads to Hara having to get taped up, later he hits his huge facebuster to Tenryu onto a table which is a fucking nasty move to take on those hard ass Japanese tables. Hara getting taped up after the splash is honestly such a neat detail, how many tag matches do you recall where a guy has to get taped up after eating a finisher to continue the match? It‘s rare but it totally makes sense and it should happen more often, and it made the second superfly splash to Tenryu so much more brutal. When Hara later grabs Gotos leg to prevent him from making another safe it‘s really this crucial moment and maybe most heated moment in the whole match, as Goto has safed Onitas ass for half the match. It‘s really an amazing match full of impeccable timing and psychology, I have to say Onitas basic DDT to Tenruy reentering the ring may have been one of the greatest transitions ever, and Tenryu was world class as usual going from megastar who‘s pained to deal with these garbage wrestling scumbags to being furious and beating the shit out of people to punch drunkenly trying to lariat and abiesigiri his way out of a really tense situation. I also really like Hara just for his crazy facial expressions and selling, he looks mad tough shrugging of Gotos headbutts and strikes initially so when Goto lariats him really hard and his eyes roll back it looks just killer. Really everyone here was great and it‘s no surprise this ended up being the #1 match of the year, heated to the max with a beautiful story where they did a great job going from Onita bleeding and getting beaten to Onita and Tenryu taking guys out and swarming Tenryu, ending with an all-timer of a finish. I mean people can complain about sloppiness or whatever, but for me it doesn‘t get much more real than Tenryu trying to duck an enzuigiri only for Onita to catch him and drop him on his head because Onita is that beaten up and broken. This may not just be the greatest tag of 1994, but the greatest tag match of all time.
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Post by mvz on Feb 6, 2023 21:33:08 GMT -5
I thought this was fantastic, and view it as a contender for the list, particularly because of Tenryu’s selling which is some of the best I have seen from anyone. He is his usual self in the early going but it really comes across that some of Goto’s big moves took the steam out of him. Watch it if you can.
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