JvK reviews pimped matches from late 90s-10s

[JerryvonKramer]

Wild Pegasus vs. Great Sasuke (4/16/94)

 

Sasuke is probably the sort of guy who gets really short-changed by GWE, just not very en vogue, let's see how this one holds up. The ring announcer here looks like someone from Takeshi's Castle.

 

You can see why Meltzer would have loved this: all action, all workrate, huge spots. And some of those spots -- missile dropkick to the outside, gutwrench suplex from the top rope -- are still very cool. I struggled to get into this one emotionally and it lacked any sense of real drama for me, but it's still a very good showcase of what these state-of-the-art guys could do.

 

****

 

Ultimo Dragon vs. Shinjiro Ohtani (8/4/96)

 

Another match from another match J-Crown tournament. To say NJ 90s juniors is not much in my wheelhouse is an understatement, but I'm giving everything a chance and this match has always had a huge rep.

 

This is a really exciting bout and I found myself getting into Ohtani a lot during it. The work on the mat is actually pretty engaging, and the action is really crisp. They build it really nicely towards a hot finishing stretch with several great nearfalls. Ohtani seems so genuinely crestfallen not to win and it's difficult not to feel bad for him. I really loved this match, I forgot it was juniors, it was just a straight up great match. I also dug the drama of going behind stage after it.

 

****1/2

 

Jushin Liger vs. El Samurai (4/30/92)

 

NJ was so much more rock n roll than staid old AJ wasn't it. I've always thought that El Samurai's mask looks ridiculous. He looks like a fish or something. Just weird. It's Liger in 92, and this match has been highly pimped forever, so my expectations are sky high for this.

 

I dug El Samurai getting himself over as a massive douchebag heel in the first minute of the match. Immediately helped me know where I was with the dynamics and the beer bottle assault looked sufficiently brutal. Don't really expect that from NJ juniors. And then this match turns into something like the wrestling equivalent of Oldboy as Liger exacts his revenge, ripping off Samurai's stupid shitty little fish mask in the process. I was pretty into this, the hatred was real. If I have an issue with it its that the retribution went on a little long. Samurai's time on top is seven minutes max, and then Liger gets literally about 18 minutes of kicking the living shit out of him. Seems excessive to me and I'm not sure about that as a narrative, makes the babyface seem like a bully a la Shawn Michaels in the Rose / Somers cage match. Still this is a captivating match by any standard.

 

****1/2

 

Jushin Liger vs. Naomi Sano (1/31/90)

 

Another Liger match. This was one of the few matches I saw when I was keeping pace with the Yearbook crowd.

 

Has lost none of its impact. Just a hot match, fiercely worked with great bombs. Mask ripping and hatred and so on. I liked this about as much as I did the first time. Another good showing for Liger.

 

****1/2

 

Wild Pegasus vs. El Samurai (5/15/93)

 

Benoit vs. El Fishy Mask now. To add insult to injury, tonight he's wearing a pair of tights befitting of Arachnaman.

 

This match is mechanically very good, but for some reason feels like it is worked in a vacuum. The commentators just don't seem into it and it makes it feel like this could just be any match even though these two are busting their asses doing super-back suplexes and such like for almost the entire running time. The powerbomb from the top rope is a sick spot and still is a wow moment. But this is your stereotypical all-workrate, no atmosphere NJ juniors match.

 

Has the feel of a lost gem buried away on an old episode of Saturday night or something like that. But hurt by muted / vacuum-y feel for me. Rating is for cold mechanics alone. Not a bad showing for El Samurai tonight.

 

***3/4

 

Great Sasuke and Black Tiger vs. Wild Pegasus and Shinjiro Ohtani (10/18/94)

 

Black Tiger is Eddie, of course. There are three all-timers in this match, and Great Sasuke, who is good on a good day. So this is promising.

 

Eddie's suplexes in this match are a thing of beauty. Actually, basically everything he does looks tremendous. His offense, his bumping, his selling, his heeling, his character work. Just such a good performance from him and a reminder that he's one of the most naturally gifted wrestlers of all time. I mean he just had everything. Most definitive MVP of a match I've ever seen, and that's saying something because I thought both Benoit and Ohtani brought it in this match too. Someone might tell me that I'm going over the top. But I think Eddie in this match turns in one of the all-time best performances, literally everything he does is perfect, and it is a rare thing to see.

 

Ohtani is a very engaging babyface and I enjoyed him struggling back after the FIP sequence. Benoit was Benoit which means mechanically exceptional but somehow "in a vacuum" -- Benoit to me is the ultimate vacuum worker. Sasake plays his part too, taking a huge dive from the top to the outside at one point and taking his fair share of big bumps. But this match is all about Eddie and his greatness. It's a masterclass performance that has to be one of the highlights of his career.

 

Terrible botch on the finish from Othani and Benoit stops this being an all-time classic in my book, the excessiveness of the style getting them a bit carried away there, but this is still a damn fine match with three very good performances and one all-time great one.

 

****1/2

[Jimmy Redman]

Funny, I also happened to watch Benoit/Sasuke yesterday. I basically had the same thoughts as you, it was a pretty good looking juniors spotfest, but it didn't really have an extra hook or emotional appeal, apart from Sasuke being the unlikely finalist.

 

Parv have you watched the Liger/Sasuke semi final from the same show? It has much more of a story to it with Sasuke being a huge underdog and going up against King Ace Liger, which plays into everything they do. I think it's miles better than the final.

 

You sold me on that tag match though.

[JerryvonKramer]

Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA (9/16/06)

 

This is from ROH. Hey, at least it's not TNA. Bryan is the world champ and carrying a shoulder injury from which he's coming back. KENTA meanwhile is on an undefeated streak.

 

I found this pretty slow going for long portions. All the elements are there: crisp work, focus on an injury and limb work, call backs, genuine strategy, big spots, a pretty hot crowd, and touches of character work from both Kenta and Bryan, the highlight probably being Bryan shouting "Fucked up? I never fuck up!" The violence also escalates as the bombs get bigger and more ambitious as the match progresses. So why do you feel there's a big "but" coming? Well, it feels like a smart fan's idea of a five star match being played out in front of me. And it probably is many smart fans' idea of a five star match. I will say that the hard elbows by Danielson in the finish are pretty disturbing in their intensity, and you buy that Kenta taps. The finish is really good. But I guess what I'm saying is that this is the wrestling equivalent of a "worthy" Oscar film, it seems designed to win awards and accolades and I'm not sure I can get behind that degree of self-consciousness. Technically, there's no flaw I can point to, the match tells a story, it is well executed, it has heat, it has intensity and a real sense of high stakes. And yet ... It left me cold. I've had meals like that at top restaurants, y'know, everything about it was technically perfect -- designed to dazzle critics and garner Michelin stars -- and yet it doesn't give you that warm feeling inside that a tub of Mac n Cheese from a shack at a street festival might. I see this as the wrestling equivalent of that meal. Probably says more about me than it, but I can't imagine myself ever watching it again or recommending it to anyone even if it was entirely successful it what it set out to achieve.

 

****

 

Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness (6/23/07)

 

This is ROH again, of course. Fans do duelling chants for both Bryan and McGuinness. The winner becomes number 1 contender for the title.

 

Some Jim Breaks-style wrist work at the start of this from Bryan. This feels a lot more gritty than the last match with this British-style matwork. I found it a lot easier to get into Bryan's stiff and intense offense here too, the whole thing felt less self-consciously aiming for accolades. Great match if you are a mark for the European uppercut (as I am). This has a perfect mixture of stiff strikes, gritty and sick matwork, and a super hot finish with the blood. Really good stuff here. This match was good enough, and heated enough, that I could mostly ignore the sycophantic crowd and post-modern setting.

 

****3/4

 

Daniel Bryan vs. Dolphins Ziggler (10/24/10)

 

This is in WWE, at some low-rent PPV of this era called Bragging Rights. Vicki Guerrero comes out and the crowd boo her. She introduces the IC champ Ziggler, who comes out to zero reaction. Music is awful. Bryan is the US champ. 2010 WWE crowd probably more annoying already than 2006 ROH crowd.

 

This just felt like any other match from the past decade to me, good enough but also more or less instantly forgettable and I can guarantee you that if Chad brought this up six months down the line, I'd probably have forgotten that I'd seen it. In some ways, this had an old school feel to it, with Ziggler's larger than life selling and little touches like the ref spotting a foot on the rope in the middle of a count. But in a vacuum no aspect of it feels important or special in any way. It's just a match. For some reason I imagine it didn't feel that way at the time. Perfectly solid work but little else.

 

***

 

Bryan Danielson vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima (9/20/08)

 

Back to ROH. For some reason, I get the impression this one is gonna be good. I'd really prefer this ROH stuff to have no commentary. Sorry for being such a grumpy curmudgeonly fuck, but hey, at least I'm honest about it.

 

This was a lot more spot heavy than the previous matches. Nakajima really seems like a very spotty worker to me. This is still a pretty hot match despite that, however. Bryan is just so intense with his relentless uppercuts and the "kick his head in" spot is all kinds of American History X brutal. For sheer violence, I'm not sure how many would even be in the conversation with Bryan. Vader possibly? It's not simply stiffness a la Wahoo or Tenryu, it's all out borderline psycho violence, and it has a disturbing edge. The repeated elbows are another spot like that. I thought Bryan was really good in this match against someone I'm not that familiar with but who I assume is a two-a-penny modern NJ-type guy. He definitely has something special about him beyond the mechanical perfection of a Benoit or the flash of an AJ Styles. Which is to say, that I've always understood the hype about Bryan and he does live up to it, even in these settings I'm disposed not to like and against these basically nothing opponents.

 

****1/2

 

One other comment I want to make, and perhaps it is just a quirk of this random sampling, but going back to my Roman Reigns article, it strikes me that Bryan was booked really really strong. I mean four matches here and he won every single one by tap out. Just something to show that the general principle I was talking about in that article still applies to modern wrestling.

 

Looking forward to more Bryan, he's a beast.

[Timbo Slice]

Yeah, the ROH commentary at the time with Lenny was just...well, actually has ROH EVER had a good regular PBP guy? I'm trying to pinpoint one and I'm not coming up with one.

 

That Driven match was tremendous and made my Top 100 ever.

[Jimmy Redman]

Bryan vs Dolph stood out way more in the context of 2010 than it would now. 2010 was a relative low-point for the quality of week-to-week WWE wrestling, and was bookended by strong years in 2009 and 2011. So when Bryan and Dolph had that kind of strong, drawn out kind of wrestling match on PPV in that context (and then repeated it twice more that week, when multiple great TV matches in a week wasn't commonplace) it was quite noteworthy. It was also noteworthy for being Bryan's first chance to have a long workratey singles match on PPV, which is something people would have been waiting for at the time.

 

I've always found myself rating it lower than most, I never saw it as the MOTYC some saw it as, even a WWE MOTYC. They're (that plus the two TV matches) just really good, well worked matches that, like you say, aren't really memorable beyond that.

 

I actually think Bryan vs Miz from 2010 is better.

[benjaminkicks]

I think I'm the minority on this, but I think I prefer the Bryan/KENTA rematch from '07 over that '06 title match. Of course if the first one left you cold, chances are the rematch might do the same. I think it's a great match though, and you should give it a watch if you get the chance.

 

They also had two singles matches in NOAH that are both quite good, and maybe it'll be easier for you to get into that matchup in that setting.

[Jimmy Redman]

I hate to pile on, but if you're taking requests I recommend Bryan vs Sheamus, 2/3 Falls at Extreme Rules 2012.

[Laz]

No arguments about ROH commentary. They've never had a great team, barely even having a good one (I think Corino and Nigel have been fine as the veteran color guys when they've been on), and it's the largest strike against them outside of the lame (even by indy standards) production.

 

If you're still taking Bryan recs, the Morishima feud is the side of Bryan that we ended up getting in WWE heading into WM30.

 

(Ignore that if you've already reviewed them and I'm missing it.)

[Mr. Lacelle]

It's too bad that Danielson/Ki match with Steamboat as the ref is nowhere to be found, I remember loving it.

[Bierschwale]

I hate to pile on, but if you're taking requests I recommend Bryan vs Sheamus, 2/3 Falls at Extreme Rules 2012.

 

Bryan's last ever singles match against Sheamus is pretty awesome, too.

 

Important for role consideration, Bryan-Regal in a high school gym for Memphis TV in 2001. I think that you're out on Regal, but there's nothing to lose by seeing Bryan as a 19 year-old pulling out his tricks for a classic audience.

 

[DR Ackermann]

That's not a high school gym, that's the Mid South Coliseum.

[MFoy]

It's too bad that Danielson/Ki match with Steamboat as the ref is nowhere to be found, I remember loving it.

 

I remember the one with Shamrock as ref. Which promotion had the Steamboat one?

[MFoy]

Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA (9/16/06)

 

This is from ROH. Hey, at least it's not TNA. Bryan is the world champ and carrying a shoulder injury from which he's coming back. KENTA meanwhile is on an undefeated streak.

 

I found this pretty slow going for long portions. All the elements are there: crisp work, focus on an injury and limb work, call backs, genuine strategy, big spots, a pretty hot crowd, and touches of character work from both Kenta and Bryan, the highlight probably being Bryan shouting "Fucked up? I never fuck up!" The violence also escalates as the bombs get bigger and more ambitious as the match progresses. So why do you feel there's a big "but" coming? Well, it feels like a smart fan's idea of a five star match being played out in front of me. And it probably is many smart fans' idea of a five star match. I will say that the hard elbows by Danielson in the finish are pretty disturbing in their intensity, and you buy that Kenta taps. The finish is really good. But I guess what I'm saying is that this is the wrestling equivalent of a "worthy" Oscar film, it seems designed to win awards and accolades and I'm not sure I can get behind that degree of self-consciousness. Technically, there's no flaw I can point to, the match tells a story, it is well executed, it has heat, it has intensity and a real sense of high stakes. And yet ... It left me cold. I've had meals like that at top restaurants, y'know, everything about it was technically perfect -- designed to dazzle critics and garner Michelin stars -- and yet it doesn't give you that warm feeling inside that a tub of Mac n Cheese from a shack at a street festival might. I see this as the wrestling equivalent of that meal. Probably says more about me than it, but I can't imagine myself ever watching it again or recommending it to anyone even if it was entirely successful it what it set out to achieve.

 

****

 

Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness (6/23/07)

 

This is ROH again, of course. Fans do duelling chants for both Bryan and McGuinness. The winner becomes number 1 contender for the title.

 

Some Jim Breaks-style wrist work at the start of this from Bryan. This feels a lot more gritty than the last match with this British-style matwork. I found it a lot easier to get into Bryan's stiff and intense offense here too, the whole thing felt less self-consciously aiming for accolades. Great match if you are a mark for the European uppercut (as I am). This has a perfect mixture of stiff strikes, gritty and sick matwork, and a super hot finish with the blood. Really good stuff here. This match was good enough, and heated enough, that I could mostly ignore the sycophantic crowd and post-modern setting.

 

****3/4

 

 

Funnily enough, I was at both of these matches live and at the time, the McGuinness match in Philly felt more self-conscious. Not that the work wasn't great, but it was an unannounced match that was taped for PPV (the rest of that particular card was not taped for PPV). As soon as the crowd found out that it would be on PPV, they completely changed their tone, and all of the heat felt like an act, at least at the beginning of the match. By the end they were genuinely into it. However, McGuinness and Danielson hadn't had any singles matches in about 9 or 10 months, so this didn't feel like a continuation of their feud. It felt kind of tacked on, for the purposes of having a great PPV singles match between the company's two most popular stars at the time. I want to be clear; I love the match, I just don't think it was as organic as it might seem today.

 

The KENTA match, on the other hand, followed a McGuinness vs. Marufuji match that completely wore out the crowd, and Danielson and KENTA had to work to get them back to the level of intensity they eventually got up to. The way they paced it was perfect and necessary for the audience they were wrestling in front of.

[andrew79]

I remember the one with Shamrock as ref. Which promotion had the Steamboat one?

ECWA 7/21/01

[Bierschwale]

That's not a high school gym, that's the Mid South Coliseum.

 

The video says that it was taped in Jackson. Did Power Pro/MCW ever actually run out of the Coliseum? I'd love to be wrong.

[Tim Evans]

Power Pro did in the early days. That's where Jerry Lawler vs Kane w/Jim Cornette took place. That does look like the MSC.

[joeg]

Bryan Danielson vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima (9/20/08)

 

Back to ROH. For some reason, I get the impression this one is gonna be good. I'd really prefer this ROH stuff to have no commentary. Sorry for being such a grumpy curmudgeonly fuck, but hey, at least I'm honest about it.

 

This was a lot more spot heavy than the previous matches. Nakajima really seems like a very spotty worker to me. This is still a pretty hot match despite that, however. Bryan is just so intense with his relentless uppercuts and the "kick his head in" spot is all kinds of American History X brutal. For sheer violence, I'm not sure how many would even be in the conversation with Bryan. Vader possibly? It's not simply stiffness a la Wahoo or Tenryu, it's all out borderline psycho violence, and it has a disturbing edge. The repeated elbows are another spot like that. I thought Bryan was really good in this match against someone I'm not that familiar with but who I assume is a two-a-penny modern NJ-type guy. He definitely has something special about him beyond the mechanical perfection of a Benoit or the flash of an AJ Styles. Which is to say, that I've always understood the hype about Bryan and he does live up to it, even in these settings I'm disposed not to like and against these basically nothing opponents.

 

****1/2

 

 

Was there live. great match. And as great as it was I would say it was probably the 3rd best Danielson match I've seen live.

[JerryvonKramer]

What were the other two?

[Laz]

One of Bryan's huge appeals is that you can tell, with every movement and every match, that this was what he always wanted to do. That sort of passion shines through in everything he's done.

[JerryvonKramer]

Vader vs. Antonio Inoki (1/4/96)

Even though at this point in his life Inoki had awesome grey silver fox flecks in his hair and a general look of experience and wisdom in his face, I still hate the boring fuck unreservedly and am readying myself to see him get his ass kicked. It's only thirty years too late. Got to give him this though: he's in good nick for a 52 year old. The same cannot be said for Vader here, who is in bad shape.

I like to imagine as Vader is throwing the table on top of Inoki He's shouting *thats for that fucking 1980 Bob Backlund match* *And THAT'S for the interminable broadway with Dory* *And that's for every time you've made Parv fall asleep and wake up in a pool of his own drool, you boring fuck!* This is cathartic.

Of course, this also has the holy shit release German suplex in it. To me this match is the epitome of being memorable without being "great".

***1/2

[JerryvonKramer]

Kenta Kobashi vs. Takao Omori (4/15/00)

 

I thought this was an awesome match with Omori targeting the leg with some pretty focused work early and then Kobashi letting him have a shit load of the bombs in his arsenal. The final lariat takes his head off. Just super duper fun and such a breezy watch.

 

****

 

Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama (12/23/00)

 

The diving knee from the top rope onto Kobashi's arm onto the railing is an awesome awesome spot. Half Nelson suplex on the ramp onto Akiyama's head is also an awesome spot. However, the match is a good twenty minutes too long. And its basically twenty minutes of excessiveness. Kobashi has a massive shiner by the end though, and that visual is pretty awesome.

 

If this was like even 15 minutes shorter it would be the best spotfest of all time. As it is, it's just got too much bloat. Seems like 2000 AJPW gorges itself until it throws up.

 

****

 

Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (5/26/00)

 

It's remarkable how grizzled Kobashi looks by 2000. Takayama has somewhat of a fish face.

 

This is another really great match. More of your classic babyface getting beat down and then coming back with fire / fighting spirit. And by God Kobashi's comeback here might be my favourite one ever, even over Lawler vs. Bock in 10/25/82. The backfists were some real Guy from Final Fight shit. Incredibly hot finishing stretch.

 

****1/2

[WingedEagle]

Kobashi & Takayama would top this one in '04. Should also check out Misawa-Takayama from the following year. 4/15/01. A real classic. 4 3/4 in my book.

[JerryvonKramer]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minuru Suzuki (08/10/12)

 

Sorry guys, I really found this boring. I mean holy shit it was dull to the point where the slap exchanges just feel random, mindless and incongruous compared to the previous ten minutes or whatever of lying around.

 

I can't really get behind guys trying to create drama through lying in a hold and screaming at each other. It's just not my thing you know. I don't really understand what a match like this is trying to be or what it is. No sense of flow really, no stories that I could detect beyond the merest gesture towards the idea that Suzuki was sort of targeting Tanahashi's leg, sort of. WTF is this? I am basically not adequately qualified to review a match like this. It's like taking a village idiot to a modern art gallery and asking him for his analysis of the best rated piece there, or something.

 

I'd love to read some write ups of this that have 5-stars as a conclusion. This is so totally far from where I am as a fan that I'm basically refusing to rate it. My rating is a shrug. Apologies I don't really have anything better.

 

I saw one of the best matches of all time today, it took place in New Japan, and it happened in 1984.

[WingedEagle]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minuru Suzuki (08/10/12)

 

Sorry guys, I really found this boring. I mean holy shit it was dull to the point where the slap exchanges just feel random, mindless and incongruous compared to the previous ten minutes or whatever of lying around.

 

I can't really get behind guys trying to create drama through lying in a hold and screaming at each other. It's just not my thing you know. I don't really understand what a match like this is trying to be or what it is. No sense of flow really, no stories that I could detect beyond the merest gesture towards the idea that Suzuki was sort of targeting Tanahashi's leg, sort of. WTF is this? I am basically not adequately qualified to review a match like this. It's like taking a village idiot to a modern art gallery and asking him for his analysis of the best rated piece there, or something.

 

I'd love to read some write ups of this that have 5-stars as a conclusion. This is so totally far from where I am as a fan that I'm basically refusing to rate it. My rating is a shrug. Apologies I don't really have anything better.

 

I saw one of the best matches of all time today, it took place in New Japan, and it happened in 1984.

 

At least you took it for a spin. Thought it was a remarkably unique affair with both doing a phenomenal job working and selling a limb, as well as the absence of any near falls. Somehow thought it'd be throwback enough to be your cup of tea, but different strokes and such.

[JerryvonKramer]

I guess I don't have much of a sense of what the "norm" is for either guy. It felt very shoot-y to me. And the limb work needed to be more marked and obvious for me to follow the narrative thread. I mean now that I think of it, the big clue should have been the fact that they were sitting in a figure four for the best part of 15 minutes, but since the camera seemed more interested in Suzuki screaming with his tongue sticking out, it was kinda lost on me. I was struck by the methodical pacing of it, but after it failed go anywhere or build coherently I started to zone out. What I'm trying to say is that it's probably me, not it. Which is why I'm not giving a rating.