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Post by microstatistics on Jul 19, 2020 18:18:03 GMT -5
Los Gringos Locos vs. El Hijo del Santo/Octagon (AAA, 11/6/1994)
Lucha icon El Hijo del Santo and his partner Octagon took on Eddy Guerrero and “Love Machine” Art Barr in a double Mask vs. Hair match. This took place in Los Angeles, and the crowd absolutely despised the Locos for their xenophobic anti-Mexico sentiment. They especially hated Barr. New Japan juniors-style bombs and shady tactics secured Eddy and Barr the first fall and they even eliminated Santo in the second fall. This left Octagon with the gargantuan task of saving the legendary Santo mask, which he just about managed as Locos paid the price for their complacency. The third fall started out evenly as both teams were more cautious, until Love Machine delivered the notorious (and illegal) tombstone piledriver to Octagon behind the referee’s back. Octagon did a stretcher job as Santo was left to weather an absolute blitz of high impact offense. A piledriver from an interfering Blue Panther to Barr was poetic justice and slightly evened the odds for Santo, allowing him to rollup Eddy and claim his opponents’ hair. The execution was a little faulty (particularly Eddy’s of all people) and there were a few miscommunications here and there. But overall, this was still a terrific achievement as it effortlessly combined action, story, stakes, and micro and macro payoffs to deliver a satisfying conclusion. ****3/4
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Post by microstatistics on Jul 19, 2020 18:18:49 GMT -5
Volk Han vs. Mitsuya Nagai (RINGS, 12/24/1994)
Han pretty much squashed Nagai in their previous two matches so all signs pointed to another cakewalk. Han tried to go for the kill right away, but Nagai refused to go down without a fight. He displayed more tenacity on the mat and delivered fierce bursts of strikes during stand-up. Han was still in control for the majority of the match, but Nagai’s resistance and defiance flustered him, leading to some close calls. He was forced to resort to an unorthodox submission to pull off the win, which suggested he was struggling more than he let on. Excellent matwork and a great story of Nagai’s determination getting him much further than expected. ****3/8
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Post by microstatistics on Jul 19, 2020 18:20:13 GMT -5
Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 4/15/1995)
Taue was in red hot form, having beaten Kobashi and Kawada earlier on with the Nodowa Otoshi (NO) off the apron + Dynamic Bomb combination. On the other hand, Misawa was nursing a broken orbital bone and had an underwhelming Champion Carnival record (having never won a tournament before). Despite this, because of who he was, Misawa was still the slight favorite at the opening bell. Taue wrestled the perfect match to start off, employing well-timed cutoffs and submissions that targeted Misawa’s face. Yet, following a stiff elbow barrage, he almost lost by KO nine minutes in. So, he abandoned all pretense and just started tearing into Misawa’s face. His increasingly ruthless attack on the eye eventually set up his NO off the apron, followed by the dynamic bomb, only for Misawa to kickout at 2. This threw Taue’s entire strategy out of the window and he was left frustrated and scrambling for ideas. Meanwhile, Misawa slowly recovered with the help of some clever distancing and his trusty elbow and took charge. Taue desperately clawing at the eye to salvage his cinderella run was such a great moment, as was Misawa emphatically flinging Taue aside and finishing him off with tiger suplexes to complete maybe his most hard-fought victory. ****1/2
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Post by microstatistics on Jul 19, 2020 19:07:54 GMT -5
Kenta Kobashi/Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue/Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 6/9/1995)
Kawada’s desire to beat Misawa had become an obsession while Taue was determined to make amends for his crushing Champion Carnival final loss. Tag champions Kobashi and Misawa were both in their primes, but were coming in with leg and eye injuries, respectively, and hence were more vulnerable than usual. The manic start really set the tone for the match as it was clear that the Holy Demon Army (HDA) was going to do anything and everything to win. In the ‘worst’ segment of the match, the pace settled down slightly as Kobashi and Misawa asserted themselves. That was until the Holy Demon Army established dominance by savagely attacking their opponents’ wounded body parts. Misawa and Kobashi slowly fought their way back until it looked like Misawa was going to kill Kawada off yet again. But Taue stamped his authority, attacking the eye to setup the Nodowa Otoshi off the apron while Kawada kept Kobashi at bay, who was virtually immobile by that point. Kobashi’s leg selling might be the best of all time and of course him covering Misawa was the standout moment. I like to think that initially it was to thwart the HDA and buy Misawa some time to recover. But later on, he couldn’t care less about the tag titles and simply wanted to protect his friend. Misawa teased an epic comeback, but Kawada’s singular objective was all-consuming and finally proved too much for Misawa to overcome. Everyone came out looking like a million bucks. Kawada exorcised his demons, Taue got his redemption, Kobashi was the biggest babyface in history and Misawa looked like the toughest wrestler ever. You can nitpick here and there, like a spot on the apron where Kawada could have kicked Kobashi in the knee rather than the chest. But, as a whole package, this is as close to perfection as you can get in pro wrestling. *****
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Post by microstatistics on Jul 19, 2020 23:30:10 GMT -5
Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon (WWF, 8/27/1995)
The rematch of the famous Wrestlemania X match with the roles reversed since Razor was the heel intercontinental champion this time around. The pre-match ladder portion included some gigantic bumps and I liked the mixture of learned psychology and repetition of mistakes. For instance, Razor evaded Shawn’s baseball slide into the ladder but when he tried the Razor’s Edge too close to the ropes, he got backdropped to the floor again. Shawn’s knee got entangled in the ladder at one point and Razor’s attack on it was creative and brutal. There was a little too much downtime near the end and Razor probably oversold but I didn’t really have a problem with the ‘blown’ finish. In fact, it was quite realistic since Michaels was pretty battered. Maybe the best match of its kind. ****1/4
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Post by microstatistics on Jul 19, 2020 23:52:15 GMT -5
Shinjiro Ohtani vs. El Samurai (NJPW, 1/21/1996)
Gritty juniors title bout where both wrestlers employed specific strategies which they stuck with right to the end. Ohtani ripped away at Samurai’s knee while Samurai retaliated by targeting his arm, and both went back to attacking the respective limbs the moment an opportunity presented itself. The selling on offensive was far from flawless but nothing was too egregious. While this was primarily mat based, they didn’t shy away from the high impact offense typical of the New Japan Juniors style. In fact, they incorporated it into their strategies as the dives were sometimes modified to zero in on the opponent’s injured limb. In classic Ohtani fashion, he became more emotionally charged as the match went on. This was in contrast to Samurai’s calmer demeanor, which arguably made the difference since his cooler head allowed him to deal the fatal blow to Ohtani’s arm and retain the title. ****1/2
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Post by microstatistics on Jul 23, 2020 23:57:53 GMT -5
Black Tiger II vs. Wild Pegasus (NJPW, 6/11/1996)
This was the famous semi-final of the 96 BOSJ, and it ages well due to the tight strategy and action. A matwork dominated section got things underway. Nothing was mind-blowing but the work was solid and purposeful and established Benoit’s power advantage. However, Eddy’s explosive and speedy bursts troubled Benoit, and so he decided to resort to a sleeper hold to keep Eddy in check. Up to that point, Eddy had acted like a heel, but the crowd began to root for him since Benoit repeatedly went back to the sleeper anytime Eddy mustered any momentum. This led to a bomb-heavy finishing stretch with Benoit marginally ahead and Eddy trying to climb out of the hole he was in. Some transitions were imperfect, but Eddy’s disoriented selling was a thing of beauty. They teased Benoit’s avalanche tombstone, the fatal move that put Eddy down in their 1995 semi-final meeting. But this time Eddy evaded it and hit his killer offense to move on to the final. ****1/2
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Post by microstatistics on Jul 24, 2020 4:02:01 GMT -5
Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind (WWF, 9/22/1996)
Shawn was resilient and had flashy offense but there were circulating doubts about whether he possessed the mean streak and killer instinct needed to be a successful world champion. Now he was facing the dangerous and highly unpredictable Mankind and had to turn up the violence. He displayed the necessary fight as he had no problem ramming Mankind’s head into the concrete or clobbering him with near shoot punches. He then demolished Foley’s knee, which the latter did a great job selling. He used the leg for offense, which was in character for Mankind, but hobbled around and desperately tried to assuage the numbness. They even went back to the knee later on as Shawn hit it with a chair, to setup the destruction of Mankind’s hand. The carnage was far from one-sided though as Shawn also absorbed quite a lot of punishment from Mankind, who proved to be surprisingly resourceful in his attacks. The double table spot was huge, and both sold it well as Shawn crawled back into the ring while Foley clumsily staggered around. The chair-assisted superkick felt like the climax but it’s a shame that wasn’t the actual ending and they dicked around with the interference and post-match antics. Regardless, this was an absolute masterclass of pro wrestling. *****
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Post by microstatistics on Jul 24, 2020 4:55:19 GMT -5
Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (WWF, 11/17/1996)
Bret returned after a hiatus to take on the rising star fixated on wrestling and humiliating him. Technical wrestling started things off as Bret controlled Austin via the arm, until he ate a stun-gun. Accordingly, Austin targeted the throat and chest area in grinding fashion as Bret worked primarily from underneath, through small fightbacks and veteran counters. I liked that while Austin was skilled and tenacious, he was quite impetuous and would often times arbitrarily play to the crowd rather than go in for the kill. This might have been a factor in the finish when Austin recklessly held on to the million-dollar dream to force a submission, despite the danger of being pinned. Rock-solid wrestling. ****1/4
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Post by microstatistics on Jul 24, 2020 4:59:40 GMT -5
Halfway point. I hope anyone following along is getting something out of this. I am trying to focus more on story than anything so as to better capture what makes these matches special.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2020 7:41:04 GMT -5
Great stuff. I must check out Han v Nagai 12/24/94
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Post by nintendologic on Jul 24, 2020 14:27:04 GMT -5
I'm digging these write-ups, although I've found that approaching matches analytically and trying to flesh out what works for you and what doesn't is its own reward. Also, I very much prefer reviews that focus on themes and standout moments rather than play-by-play, so good on you there.
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Post by microstatistics on Jul 25, 2020 15:25:15 GMT -5
Thanks guys. Yes, I suppose there are several ways to review a match and each approach has its merits.
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Post by microstatistics on Jul 25, 2020 16:41:39 GMT -5
Volk Han vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (RINGS, 11/22/1996)
This was their third meeting of the year after Kohsaka’s skill had placed Han in perilous situations twice, leading to two desperation fueled finishes. Kohsaka had only become more dangerous and perhaps Han realized this as he displayed an unusual level of urgency. Kohsaka had proven himself to be a mat wizard during their previous encounters, and this time even grappled his way out of several deadly Han holds, resorting to rope breaks only when it was absolutely necessary. His mat game allowed him to make some major in-roads during stand-up fighting. Han’s defeat seemed certain, as Kohsaka grabbed a final, definitive submission, until he pulled a rabbit out of the hat counter to lock in a fatal submission and secure a series clean sweep. ****3/8.
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Post by microstatistics on Jul 25, 2020 16:43:46 GMT -5
El Hijo del Santo vs. El Dandy vs. Negro Casas (CMLL, 12/6/1996)
Santo had famously turned rudo during the 11/22 trios while Casas and Dandy got some measure of revenge during the 11/29 rematch. The initial portion here was an elimination three-way, with the eliminated competitors having to wrestle an apuestas right after. Unsurprisingly, Casas and Dandy teamed up to get rid of Santo relatively quickly. I really liked how Casas and Dandy almost came to blows but kept their cool as they realized getting Santo to put his mask on the line was the #1 priority. Santo was still the rudo but was favored by the crowd, perhaps due to the significance of his mask, or maybe because the fans did not appreciate the 2 on 1 tactics. Casas injured Dandy’s knee to eliminate him and gloated as he left with his hair safely intact. A vengeful Santo returned to further damage Dandy’s knee and take the first fall. He continued to extract revenge as he busted Dandy wide open, to the point where Santo’s own tights and mask were completely stained with Dandy’s blood. But Dandy pulled off the second fall with the la magistral leading to a more attritional third fall. The pacing in the third fall was a bit too deliberate for my liking, though the finish and Dandy’s post-match reconciliation with the crowd were well done. I thought the initial Casas involvement was vital and the Santo vs. Dandy portion was a pretty great mix of story, brawling and crowd interactions. ****5/8
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