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Post by elliott on Sept 26, 2019 5:14:31 GMT -5
Spectacular big time main event match. This is awesome and has some huge moments. The early staredown. Tenryu attempting his elbow off the top (and the camera change). Tenryu going outside the ring & Takada jumping up & celebrating on the turnbuckle. Tenryu tossing Takada to the outside and chasing after him. There are some “slow” or “low” moments when theyre on the mat, but they don’t wait too long before bringing things back up. Tenryu is fucking spectacular in this match. His selling and his offense. Takada had at least 5 years of matches like this left in him at this point if not for Pride.
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Post by superstarsleeze on Oct 5, 2019 4:53:46 GMT -5
I prefer this one to the rematch. Huge fight feel to this. The two biggest Japanese independent stars of the 90s have a huge Clash if Titans Dome style match that just rules. Check it out!
The ref spoke perfect English throughout the match. Did anyone else find that weird?
Nobuhiko Takada vs Genichiro Tenryu - UWFi vs WAR 9/11/96
The two biggest, non-NJPW, non-AJPW puroresu wrestlers of the 90s do battle drawing 30,000 to Jingu Stadium. On a card that also featured Hashimoto, Sasaki, SAYAMA!?? & KAWADA?!? against UWFi wrestlers. Tenryu blazed the path for freelance wrestling Japan in the 90s, which became a popular path in the first decade of the 21st Century. While Takada started an incredibly successful shoot-style company in the 90s, which inevitably led to the founding of PRIDE forever changing the landscape of pro wrestling & mixed martial arts. After Tenryu feuded with New Japan from late 92-early 94, Takada feuded with New Japan from late 95-early 96 there was really nowhere left for either to go but into each other arms. UWFi was breathing its last gap and this match popped a huge gate, but it was not sustainable and UWFi closed its doors in December of 1996.
Huge Clash of the Titans feel for this match. Starts off slow but chippy. They established pro style vs shoot style with Tenryu missing his elbow drop from the top early and Takada kicking him out of the ring to a huge pop from the pro-UWFi crowd. Things get chippy when Tenryu does not give a clean rope break and Takada starts firing off kicks, but Tenryu grabs the leg and torques it into a dragon leg screw. The match really takes off when Takada relentlessly knees Tenryu in the face cutting him really badly from the forehead. Nasty stuff and actually set up a huge Tenryu comeback, which was weird because the crowd really loved Takada, but goddamn did I love Tenryu unleashing his classic fury (punches, chops, suplex and Cloverleaf) when he saw his own blood and just ripped into Takada. Tenryu just punching Takada really hard into the side of the head and the way Takada sold it was just magnificent by both men. The ref speaking perfect English throughout the match was odd to me. He told someone to take it easy at one point, which made me laugh.
The cloverleaf was a great visual with the blood pouring down Tenryu face it was like a reverse Bret-Austin. Takada makes the ropes. Tenryu misses the Kappo Kick. The one issue with Takada is that his favorite hold is a kneebar and that is by far the most boring of all shoot-style holds and that's what he goes for here. Takada's offense (kicks and knees) has been great and his selling really, really good too. The kicks to the leg and that MASSIVE LEFT TO THE HEAD had me popping huge. Takada going for a pinfall cover was so strange to me! It looked so wrong! Cross-armbreaker that's more like it, but Tenryu clasps the hands, but Takada breaks it but Tenryu is too close to the ropes. Big lariat from Tenryu for 2! Tenryu misses second lariat and Takada gets an armbar takedown into a Fujiwara armbar. Takada kicks Tenryu in the head a bunch so Tenryu punches him in the head and Takada just melts into the mat. Takada is on fire here. Mack Truck Lariat by Tenryu only gets two and Takada kicks him in the head from the ground massive punch by Tenryu. The Chop-Kick Fighting Spirit bullshit works here because of how big of superstars they are and everything that happened before. Tenryu wins with a huge overhand chop. Tenryu Powerbomb?!? Takada gets the armbar takedown and Fujiwara armbar gets him the victory.
Really amazing Clash of the Titans style pro vs shoot style match. Takada remained committed to who he was as did Tenryu yet somewhere they were able to meet somewhere in the middle without comprising their integrity or match quality. Everything just felt huge. It was a little slow in the beginning, but once Takada busted Tenryu open with those knees, the last ten minutes were amazing. ****1/2
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Post by microstatistics on Oct 8, 2019 18:46:58 GMT -5
Third. Just a notch below the very best matches of 1996 but fantastic nonetheless.
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Post by Control21 on Mar 10, 2024 0:04:42 GMT -5
Clash of the Titans inside a wrestling ring. Nobuhiko Takada overcame the challenge of Vader just a year ago, and now he has to face Genichiro Tenryu, one of the biggest names in Japanese wrestling since the 1980s. This was a dream match of sorts, and it delivered. It starts slow, but it picks up as Tenryu grows into the match and adds some intensity with his hard strikes. Takada fires back and manages to get Tenryu to the canvas a few times. While Tenryu certainly had to adapt to the UWFi match structure and seemed a bit off at times, this was a great match and the last 10 minutes or so are well worth it. Takada manages to cut Tenryu above the eyebrow, which adds to the drama of the match. Great stuff all around, with Takada and Tenryu telling an effective story about how the great pro wrestler Tenryu fell to the submission skills and UWF style of Takada. ****1/2
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