[1992-09-21-UWFi] Nobuhiko Takada vs Gary Albright

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Just like I like the other Takada/Albright matches, I like this one, but they do tend to run together and go too long. For the occasional suplexes Albright is good for, there is quite a bit of laying on the mat. Takada's late rally with kicks to Albright's knees is terrific. Good match, but nothing I feel compelled to ever watch again.

[Ditch]

The Albright series always gets brought up as an example of Takada as an all-time great. I think it proves quite the opposite.

[Tim Evans]

This had it's moments especially towards the end but the beginning and middle were kinda boring. Crowd really got into it though.

[shoe]

Started off kinda boring. We'd get some cool suplexes from Albright to keep things interesting. The end stretch was pretty dramatic. Takada is put over big with Thesz, Robinson, and a 3rd guy I didn't recognize.

[Zenjo]

The rematch and Takada's revenge. They started off slowly and built it up. Being such diverse workers who combined so well is what makes this series special. The attacks were nicely balanced between strikes, moves and holds. Allbright was a hulking beast who carried an air of danger with his size and sumplexes. But he had to be wary of Takada's strikes and technique. It got red hot in the 2nd half with a big match feel. Takada barely managed to avoid the most dangerous sumplex and locked on the jujigatame for the victory. Intelligently worked, and left me wanting to see the next match in the rivalry.

[PeteF3]

The opening was slow, but I think it's a little tough to say they were "laying around." It wasn't overly dramatic but Albright was working hard and long to lock in a kimura at one point. Great build to the closing stretch--Takada can't apply the cross armbreaker and that looks like the last bullet he has, but he manages to either avoid or withstand Albright's suplexes and keep him at bay with kicks long enough to take him down and apply it for the win. I wouldn't say this is the shootstyle MOTY but it was very good, even if it seemed like Albright was mostly leading the way.

[WingedEagle]

The Albright series always gets brought up as an example of Takada as an all-time great. I think it proves quite the opposite.

Wow. I did not realize it was looked upon that fondly other than maybe as an example of Takada as a draw. This was another enjoyable offering from UWFI but far from anything great. We get the simple story of Takada's working on the ground for a submission vs. Albright's slams. Nice setup for the finish with Takada taking things this time around.

 

***1/4

[garretta]

I'm going to comment before I even see the whole match, because a mistake on UWFI's part has made the whole thing irrelevant to me. To wit, where's the score at the bottom? Where are the shots of the scoreboard so we're supposed to tell who's winning and losing? Without either of the above, shoot-style is like watching a gym workout, and as is the case most of the time when I see a match I neither understand nor care about on these discs, I keep wishing for this to turn into a Flair-Dusty confrontation in the TBS studios circa 1986, or Hogan vs. a random heel on SNME, or anything else but what I'm actually seeing.

 

Stuff like this Is why even the worst American segments and matches mean more to me than almost anything from a foreign country. I watch the international stuff on these discs because I paid for it; I enjoy most of it, but there are times like these when I realize that I'll never be as cosmopolitan in my tastes as some of you, nor do I care to be.

 

Shoe, I'm pretty sure that the third judge is Lord James Blears.

[superkix]

Albright representing Nebraska, USA who loves to clobber and suplex but otherwise, doesn’t have a whole lot else going on, especially on the ground. Takada isn't very good on the ground either so there's a lot of lags in the pacing to kill time. Not a great match but it had some fun moments and by the end of it, the fans were sold. Albright's definitely working lighter against Takada but Takada gets in some stiff shots, like that knee to the mouth. When Takada his the backdrop suplex, the Russian commentator's "oi yoi yoi" is muy bueno. Albright finally kills Takada with a belly-to-belly to set up the finishing stretch and Takada's classic finish. 

[dawho5]

Groundwork was slow, but they were generally working towards something the whole time.  Admittedly not the most exciting matwork you'll see.  Exciting finish, pretty good match.  Will agree with garetta on the lack of scoring being shown.  Kinda need that as I don't mentally keep track of all of the KDs and rope breaks.

I enjoted the whole "3 judges watched and agreed that Takada won" deal.  If they hadn't agreed would Takada have not won the title??

[fxnj]

Surprised to see people so down on the matwork here. It wasn't anything fancy, but I thought it was solid minimalist tension building and it always built to some kind of big moment in the match. I loved how they played up the size/strength difference and Takada having to struggle so much to get in an armbar against a much larger opponent is something I can relate to. Takada going to leg kicks to take down the giant was a cool strategy and I liked the detail with Albright actually checking the leg kicks. Not seeing where the "UWFi is fake shootstyle, RINGS is real shootstyle" talking point came from. Albright delivered on the big suplexes I love him for in AJPW, and there was a pretty awesome near fall on a german. Crowd also gets huge into by the end with some dudes at ringside going crazy, and I found it hard not to get into it myself from that.

This was my first time watching Takada in the 90's outside the Vader matches and I have to say I'm impressed. He also seems to have improved greatly on his ability to work leg locks compared to the 80's. That's much appreciated given killing cool exchanges by sitting in boring leg locks is my biggest memory of 80's Takada.