Chess Knight
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Another good trio, even if not a great one. It took a bit for the Dandy vs. Satanico violence to really get its spotlight. Prior to that, there were more moments in this one compared to 11/16/90 where it felt like people were moving around with less purpose (think a Royal Rumble with 13 guys biding time…but not THAT bad). I obviously have to highlight Dandy vs. Satanico itself, and Chicana’s selling again, though. Endless love for those three. They call back to the liar low blow of the super libre match, and milk it even more with Ulises giving Satanico stretch exercises, which was entertaining. Dandy comes over and legitimately headbutts Satanico in the balls for a big pop. These moments were cool, but I think it might juuuust be a bit late in the feud to do that instead of focusing all on violence. At least that’s how I feel coming off the pure venom from the 11/16/90 trio. Might have all been worth it to see Satanico sell it in post, though. I’m about convinced he is the best worker of 1990 by now. I could barely even tell what the finish of this was, I think overall the booking hurt this for no reason this close to the hair match.
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Awesome mix of chaotic all-over-the-place brawling, and then a fairly traditional trio, then even more chaotic all-over-the-place brawling. Satanico and Dandy are obviously at each others’ throats for a lot of it and you can guess what I thought of that. Some of their exchanges were actually even more intense and violent than in the October super libre match, which makes me giddy as a child on eight kilograms of ice cream for their hair match. Sangre Chicana was so fucking good. Smooth as silk on some cool, bizarre Lucha offense and an absolutely all time great seller. Mendoza kicking Blondy’s ass was a lot of fun. Blondy didn’t strike me as a very good worker with fundamentals, but had a strong personality, and when stooging he felt a bit like the EMLL answer to Bobby Heenan (though nowhere near the bumper Heenan was). Unfortunately, I was a little deflated by the end of this. The violence between Dandy and Satanico was incredible to the point where I was thinking I would rank it ahead of the super libre match, but then it just kind of ends with Blondy of all people getting his hand raised. With a heavy third fall thrown in I may have called this a MOTYC. As it is though, still a heavy hitter and a fantastic continuation of maybe the two best wrestlers in the world at the time chewing at each others’ bloody foreheads. I could watch it again right now and enjoy it just as much.
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Satanico turned on Dandy about a month earlier and is largely the actual rudo rudo of the two here, with Dandy from what I can tell even being announced as “rudo tecnico.” And they apparently don’t piss about with a basic singles match leading up to this and go right into the heated forehead biting. I’ve always been under the impression that “super libre” just meant “no dq,” so I’m not sure how the ref cared about a low blow to end the first fall (even if it wasn’t real and Satanico was a liar), but it was amusing either way. The second fall had an even more bizarre ending but watching the ref flail after getting hit in the face like that, again, amusing. You know I always assumed Dandy would remain my 1990 WOTY but Satanico felt like the stand out between the two here. Super vicious in throwing his offense, and makes even the most basic of moves look like they have the malice of the actual Satan behind them. The vq is bad and all but I can just see the guy grimacing on everything like he’s an aging gangster rubbing a cigarette in a guy’s face. I mean it takes a special kind of wrestling sadist to think of ripping armpit hair out during an armbar. Not to mention this bit - when Satanico starts bleeding in the first fall, he only recognises it when he wipes his forehead and checks his hand, and once he realises it, sprints for Dandy and starts chewing the forehead. One of the best damn things I think I’ve ever seen in a match. I obviously have praise for Dandy too, as all of that Satanico viciousness had to be for a reason, and the match was gradually Dandy being built up as a more sympathetic tecnico despite his own remaining viciousness. I’ve already rattled on about him being a great seller while talking other matches. Serious contender for top ten match of 1990, and I am damn hyped to see that hair match again.
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Some of what they do in this match is actually beyond description. I’d have to list where each body part is to try to put into words what is going on at times. Not everything looks entirely unco-operative, but if we cared about it to that extent then none of us would like any match with an Irish whip or arm drag. The first two falls mostly come off to me like Azteca confidently reversing Dandy, and how much mileage Azteca can get out of his holds. He isn’t able to keep on each one for a terribly lengthy amount of time in the first fall especially, but he’s able to slap on several different holds and apply a lot of pressure on each. Every time Dandy stands up, you can see how much of a toll it’s taken on him through his selling (his left arm alone was aching only a handful of minutes in). Dandy getting outdone again and again and resorting to slams, a lariat and a leg drop was more of the fed up, annoyed Dandy that we saw in some of the trios leading to this, but Azteca had just worn him down too much for it to really matter. Each guy had a lengthy leg-based hold in the second fall, which was great, and although I wished there was a little more limping especially from Azteca, it mattered a lot later when Dandy failed a surfboard in a pivotal moment in fall three. I loved how that third fall started. It was small, but Dandy dodging the dropkick felt like Azteca didn’t have the same smooth confidence that had carried him through most of the match. Fall one and two he could have begun with that and nailed Dandy in the chest, but by now he’d been drained from the leg hold and then was flash pinned in a way he didn’t expect (and heavily trying to kick out before the one count was a good way to put it over). Some of the work around the legs to start the third fall is just outstanding. Again I can’t even try to play-by-play where each of the eight limbs are to try to get across some of what they were doing, but I can at least tell you Azteca has a hell of side Russian leg sweep - a move that rarely actually looks good. Dandy’s fatigue selling was completely fantastic, he looked so beat by everything that he struggled to capitalise on the big moves he did get, I particularly loved how he rolled out of the ring for separation. Azteca isn’t as great a seller as Dandy, but taking his time after his own moves landed helped make the your turn-my turn finish stretch feel more justifiable to me, when I often dislike that kind of thing. It’s such an incredibly built match, especially how they get all the use in the world out of grappling - from the simple to the indescribable - to wear each other down, until we hit the peak of tercera caida excitement. People who don’t like lucha, especially the ground work, will get pretty much nothing from this, but I can happily report to myself from over 10 years ago that 2024 you still sees a huge achievement in mat based wrestling.
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And here we start the classic six man pairing. The first fifteen minutes wouldn't necessarily make for an all time great match, but there are so many awesome, violent shots, heat between the teams, terrific selling from Taue on the ground and plenty of memorable moments to still keep it awesome to watch. One of the highlights was Kobashi having a single leg Boston crab on Taue and shrugging off Fuchi's blows, only for Jumbo to come in and bounce off the rope, and Kobashi - knowing he couldn't shrug this one off - lets go and swings with a lariat. Jumbo sells it ideally too, not going all the way down (due the different in pecking order) but stumbling to the side in surprise until he has to force the landing. Kawada and Taue pretty much hate each other by now and I don't know if they have one exchange that doesn't feel like they aren't going to at each other in the locker room. Loved Kawada dumping Taue on the floor and then as an amusing disparity, Kobashi calmly going out there and bringing Taue back to the ring to roll him in. Kobashi going from the bleeding-by-the-nose weak link to the never-say-die survivor was probably the main thread of the match by the end. Fuchi drills a chair into his nose and then the Jumbo team basically shoot hit him in the face a bunch of times. Taue probably has a stomp as good as Kurisu here during that and Jumbo certainly did not hold back on those lariats. Loved when Kobashi got this one flash of hope offense in, but unfortunately for him, he pushed Jumbo toward the Misawa/Kawada corner so Jumbo blocked the tag more easily - made for an amazing small moment. The last six minutes are crazy with Kobashi really getting his spotlight, and the audience losing their shit when we get Misawa vs. Jumbo. Kawada ducked a Jumbo lariat that got a big pop (fits perfectly in the "Jumbo is annoyed and dismissive of Kawada" tale), hits a spin kick, and then the pop got four times as big when Misawa tagged in. Taue tags in soon after and Misawa ignores him to follow Jumbo outside (incredible to watch) until his overconfidence gets the best of him and Taue lands a dive. It's pretty remarkable how many little hierarchy stories are playing all at once here, and we can get them one after another with immediately understandable results and an elevation of each talent. The climax of Kobashi surviving the big nearfalls was phenomenal, and Taue interrupting the moonsault nearfall caused everything to erupt for a moment. Kobashi could have maybe been a little less fresh after the powerbomb kickout but the rest were great high drama. Holy shit-level great match.
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45 minutes is a long time for a match and it did have its down time, but overall it was pretty stunning how well the time was used here. I didn't expect this to be such a Taue-focused match, and I couldn't be happier with the result. Misawa and Kawada were such punks to him (probably still considering him a huge turncoat), giving him an early onslaught by reopening a bandage on his head so he's bleeding immediately, and just basically bullying him for a lot of the runtime including several direct blows to the cut. Misawa had just become essentially the company's flag bearer, and here it is uncaring about boos as long as he can get a cheap shot in when Taue was doing well for himself. Kawada at one point brings Taue to where the audience are and basically just chucks him in the corner of the room as if he isn't even a participant in the match, but an unwelcome intruder. Taue was fantastic as the large, yet struggling underdog (if that is the right word in this context). My favourite moment of his was probably where Kawada was walking away from him, ready to tag out, but Taue blindsides him and violently clubs his back, as if saying ''how dare you think I have so little in me that I couldn't get back up and stop you ASSHOLE.'' Kind of wild there was a bit of a Jumbo hot tag in here; very stark contrast to Kikuchi and Kobashi tagging out in future tags between these two groups. I fucking adore the Kawada vs. Jumbo match up in 1990. Kawada wants to be taken as seriously as Misawa despite obviously not being there yet, so he's very tenacious and acts a thorn in Jumbo's side, while Jumbo is aggressively dismissive of him and seems to not want to admit Kawada even exists. Kawada is light years ahead as a worker from where he was in January. I haven't seen any Footloose in a long time but in that one tag I watched he looked awkward and sometimes lost at what to do next. Here you can see him call spots to megastar legend Jumbo Tsuruta (not loudly, but like, if you know what a spot call during a headlock looks like then you'll catch it). Actually now that I mention it, that first Kawada/Jumbo interaction ruled, Jumbo struggled to get out of a headlock and just rapid shot a back drop leaving Kawada flat on the ground. I mentioned in the August tag that the feud was starting to feel more personal, and this is them getting there to end all doubts. They're honest to god just wrestling now like people who do not like each other. Japanese MOTYC.
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These All Japan tags are never gonna have quite the chaos level of some of the joshi stuff or your inter-promotional murder fests, but rewatching some of these again I really don't think they bring any less heat than those do. There's still such a wild nature to everything and this particular feud definitely has heated up by this point to feel more personal - with all the cheap shots that go with it - instead of just a 'series of matches.' I can't imagine Misawa wrestling this frantically against another the way he did here especially vs. Jumbo, as an example. There's also quite no other sound like an All Japan crowd elevating. It gives me such a specific feel. The Kawada vs. Jumbo bits were gold, with Kawada quickly picking himself up once he realised Jumbo was in and then beelining for him before getting shut down. He just makes Jumbo so annoyed and I am probably going to go nuts watching their 1992 singles matches again one of these days. At least Kawada fares better against Jumbo than Kikuchi, who even gets invited to attack Jumbo around the 15 minute mark and you can guess how that went. An earlier bit had Jumbo locking in a Boston crab on Kikuchi before Misawa comes in and slaps him right in the FUCKING face and people I lost it. Fuchi also lets Kikuchi eat a lot of shit too and they actually start the match with some piss and vinegar (I did watch their July match and its really good but I didn't bother talking about it). I don't have much to say about Taue specifically in the match but trust that he brought the violence. Misawa's team actually had tried to put him out near the end while keeping Jumbo and Fuchi away, but unfortunately for them it meant leaving Kikuchi alone with Taue, which didn't quite work out despite the junior's best efforts. I preferred the 5/26/90 tag but this will still rank among my 25 best matches of the year.
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Figured I'd squeeze in one other Dandy vs. Azteca trio before The Big One, and it's a very worthy one to choose. Though if I'm honest it felt little more like Dandy and Atlantis were rivals in the match instead of Dandy/Azteca, despite being a week away from the big title match. I don't know if Satanico's team here was full rudo yet but like the March trio I watched, I certainly got the impression they had disdain for the opponents whenever they got shown up during the graceful, very rule-abiding exchanges. Which was a fair bit especially in the first fall, ranging from Dandy taking shit to his arm to Satanico taking shit to his leg. Speaking of which, Cruz kinda fucked up what he was going for while targeting Satanico's leg, but that gave Satanico the perfect excuse to finally reverse something into an armbar. Which he kind of fucked up on purpose because he was still shaking the leg away, giving me the perfect excuse to tell you he's an elite seller. Also one of the only people ever to make the bulldog look good to me. The aforementioned Dandy/Atlantis exchanges was the best match up, but Azteca was definitely smooth as hell. Its crazy how little of that guy I can tell you about after 1990. I loved him selling a Charles clothesline by holding his throat like he was choking, too. I wish Charles got a more offense in the match actually, though seeing him sell Cruz's backbreakers was a delight. The closing moments of each fall had everyone in sync even if it can be kind of questionable why everyone comes in without breaking up the pin already happening (though, again, graceful and very rule-abiding!). Not a MOTYC but if you're to watch EMLL 1990 then essential viewing still.
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Ok so if I have this right, Bull is your monster ace, Kong is your hopeful monster ace and Grizzly and Bison are on either side for some reason I dunno. And they all have animal names. They probably did a bit too much in this match, I lost track of piledrivers and I'm not sure that cane had much use considering Grizzly and Bison couldn't even take each other out with it. Kong and Bison are at one point whacking Bull with it and she's showing how much it doesn't bother her, which may have been great, if we hadn't already seen the lower ranked women also not get taken out by it. The good, though, was extremely good. I liked every match up here, and the Kong/Bull hostility trickled down well to Grizzly and Bison. Bison was screaming while attacking Grizzly like they were dating and she caught her cheating. Lots of hair pulling early and the four of these women certainly had a lot of combined hair to pull at. Bull was mostly dismissive of Bison, shrugging off a lot of what she did and bloodying her up. She throws her to Kong's corner at one point, Kong tags in, and we get a stare off before this incredibly awesome moment where Bison dropkicks Bull out of thin air....which Bull of course shrugs off and proceeds to kick the shit out Bison for. Kong kinda tries to stop Bull but eventually just lets it happen, maybe to leave Bison in the deep end and see how she swims. At the time of watching, I had wished that the outcome of that was an actual Kong/Bull interaction, but it leading to Grizzly/Bison round...3 or whatever, at least allowed Bison have some offense again, and we got our moment upcoming so maybe it was better this way. Kong vs. Grizzly didn't feel like quite the slaughter Bull vs. Bison did, but I think maybe the point was that Kong was using Grizzly as a punching bag to shove it in Bull's face, instead of actually being as enthusiastic to kick the shit out of someone the way Bull was. Bull doesn't even try to stop the double teaming against Grizzly until Kong and Bison are both biting her bloody face, which results in them getting to bite Bull's face when she tried to intervene. The small sliver of double teaming against Bull worked, until it didn't, and then we finally get the proper Kong vs. Bull 1v1. It starts off AMAZINGLY as Bull hits a follow up clothesline, and Kong does the weeble-wobble stumble-bumble selling as well as I can possibly imagine it ever being done, at least in this context. She stumbles all the way to a turnbuckle corner and we get a rad shot of Bull's reaction and Kong's smile before they clash more and Kong does go down again. Kong catches Bull with a spinning backfist though which popped people big, and then struggles to get Bull up for what you may possibly call a suplex (but Kong might not as she slams the mat and screams in anger on the kick out). The frustration between the teams builds from there and we start getting more weapons, some arena brawling, and kick out interruptions. I thought it built very naturally (even if, like I said, not every interaction is great), so I think they missed a bit of opportunity for the match to end and its highest heat point by getting back in the ring and working a little too 'normally' after too brief a moment of real chaos. The finish was fine in booking I thought, at least with the little information I have about this promotion in 1990, but the energy was at its flattest of the entire match. All in all I think I'd say like 80% a really great match?
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[1990-07-07-NWA-Great American Bash] Midnight Express vs Southern Boys
Chess Knight replied to Loss's topic in July 1990
One of the thing that separates this from other similar tags I think is how much of a bruiser team the (Wild-Eyed!) Southern Boys come across as in their shoulder tackle, kick-heavy offense. Smothers is so fun to watch here, landing several awesome kicks but somehow making most of them unpracticable in some way. Catching Eaton on the outside with a bit of a fakeout was a huge highlight. The karate bit is perfect, Lane getting those successful shots in only to have his leg caught - and have a look on his face like he forgot that maybe he's not in the dojo right now - not only got a reaction, but actually worked as a tiny bit of 'different style fight' amongst the wrestling (albeit in a humorous way). Smothers wanting to kick everything that moved after that and almost knocking Cornette's teeth down his throat until Cornette bolts it off the apron was the cherry on top. The blind tag during the roll up was terrific and Smothers takes some great barricade smacks, including one where Lane just straight up shoves him off of the apron recklessly. MX were especially tenacious and hasty on top. Eaton's selling after his Alabama jam was awesome. Loved Lane taking some time to taunt Smothers whenever he could. Smothers pulling the ropes so Eaton somersaults to the outside was a great little hope spot. Armstrong's bump on the rope ruled. Great heat on the nearfalls. Cornette looked like a kid who failed a Dracula Halloween costume. If you mentioned everything good about this match you would just have to run a play-by-play of it. Endlessly rewatchable classic. -
Muto is much more engaging working holds than I remember, and busted this awesome tricked out armdrag out of a collar and elbow while kicking his legs in the air that I can't justify with words. There's a sternness on his face when just keeping basic holds on too that helps take them seriously, instead of assuming he's time-wasting. Sasaki avoiding holds to focus on explosive power moves of course made sense, and also made him stand out as the hungry youngster of the four out to prove himself. It helped add a different flavour to the first ten minutes too since the other three were mostly grappling with the odd stomp or elbow. My favourite bit with Sasaki came when Chono holds the ropes to avoid his dropkick, and its prime opportunity for Chono tag out - he's shaking his head in pain and taking a bit of a walk - but maybe he doesn't need to against such a lower ranked guy and so just stomps directly on Sasaki's head a bit. that is, before crumbling toward his tag corner selling his head more, realising, yeah maybe he needs to get out of there. It's pretty much here where the grappling ends and the genuine attempts at submission really begin. Hase trying to save Sasaki from the STF with a defending Muto was awesome, awesome stuff and the reaction for the rope break was big. So was the one for Sasaki planting Chono in a reversal. Muto getting booed after frustratingly breaking submissions also. Hell the crowd in general started becoming unglued and made for a bastard of an atmosphere in the closing stretch. I think my top 2 New Japan matches of 1990 are pretty unfuckwithable by now, but this is likely #3. Am a little surprised at how great I thought it was.
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I don't think I've ever seen Mogur outside of trios. If you asked me about Pierroth I would have said I was a fan but it's been so long that I couldn't tell you why aside from the cool mask. I will say this about these two, I pretty much knew just looking at them that Mogur was the tecnico, thought maybe its because he kind of looks like Tito Santana from a distance. The roles were confirmed for me pretty quickly when Mogur's second turned out to be Mascarita Sagrada, not to mention Pierroth's second (Hijo del Gladiador) distracting the referee so Pierroth could break some rules. The first fall was good on its own and great in setting the ground work for a longer match. Pierroth tried multiple times to get a good position going but Mogur just kept one-upping him. Favourite moment being Pierroth getting some awesome armdrag slams down and slapping on a hammerlock to keep pressure on the same arm, only for Mogur to have a badass counter where he rolled up and basically powerslammed Pierroth while on his knees. Maybe could have sold the pain of the arm a bit more but we're talking about a couple minutes of work if memory serves correctly. Pierroth was great in the second fall, he looked almost hopeless for most of it (he struggled to even begin it, really) until delivering a PHENOMENAL low blow headbutt while he was trapped in a head scissors. Awesome rudo move. The third fall was a really good back and forth momentum shifting bout, with the kind of full circle drama that a lucha title match should do well.
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[1990-06-17-AJW-Grand Prix] Manami Toyota vs Yumiko Hotta
Chess Knight replied to Loss's topic in June 1990
I said to myself "of course" when Toyota started this with a sprinting dropkick. Little did I know she would follow that up with some of the more aggressive offensive outbursts I've seen in the 1990 viewing so far. Hotta was already bleeding a little by the time she tried to mount an offense of her own, and that she did, by delivering several violent palm strikes and kicks (at least a couple to the face). Hotta tries to put Toyota away with some disgusting looking Boston crabs before the five minute mark and Toyota struggling so early made for a great context that maybe her early hastiness was ill-thought. There was one single leg Boston crab where Hotta was leaning in such a way on that it almost looked like a Fujiwara armbar. Toyota took a beating with of course more than just Boston crabs and, despite all that, I liked the bridge up kick out as a sign of defiance. Hotta was clearly tiring herself out too which to me, added some believability for a potential opening Toyota could find to work her way back. That moment of course did come, and while Toyota was her go-go-go sprinty self for some of it, I liked how she initially just tried to choke Hotta out because it put over her own punishment. This did however fall kind of into the trap of spotty sell territory, though both women were also clearly exhausted which made me see them as mostly pushing past pain and fatigue instead of ignoring it. Mostly. Could have done without that much running from Toyota. I still thought this was pretty great overall. -
Misawa hasn't entirely washed the Tiger Mask away from himself, but he certainly feels like a guy ready to climb to the ace position. Obviously the focal point of the match was him vs. Jumbo, in fact it's basically beginning of their feud, and correct me if I'm wrong, might be the actual first match where All Japan starts heading into a different era, instead of just planning for it. Not all of the Misawa/Jumbo interactions in this were Tenryu/Jumbo-good, but there was a pull apart where Jumbo dashed over to Misawa after everyone had thought it'd cooled down that lit things all the way up. They got some stiff shots in when they saw an opportune moment if the other was on the apron, too. For it being their first real heated interaction with each other, it was about what you ask for considering the feud was about a torch passing (or taking) and not really about 'disdain' per se. Kobashi, being like two years a pro, took a pretty large beating in this and regularly looked like the weak link, yet a resilient ride-or-die one. Jumbo levelling him really violent body slams was a highlight, I always forget how nasty he was with them sometimes. Kabuki and Fuchi liked to target different limbs of Kobashi's and of course tensions are high enough that Taue and Misawa come in to interrupt things. There were at least two moments where one of them came in while Kobashi was taking a beating, and the other signalled Kobashi over to tag in, which I liked a lot. Hot, loud end stretch as you'd expect. Maybe a questionable selling choice or two but that's one or two among 20+ minutes. Great match.
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You'd maybe think with 20 minutes there'd only be so much that can be done when you need to get at least two falls in and allow everyone to shine, to justify this match even having this many people, but that memo was thrown in the trash. Choshu is obviously the star, but other than maybe Kobayashi I wouldn't say anyone took a backseat and didn't get appropriate highlights. Saito takes some of the most lunatic back-first spills into a barricade from the apron I think I've ever seen. Hamaguchi has a body like a shrivelled Ivan Putski but unlike Putski has as much energy as anybody in the match. Was delighted to see Hoshino again after all these years removed from the NJPW 80s set; he's such a fun and energetic offensive wrestler. Kurisu becomes furious out of nowhere when Koshinaka gets spilled to the outside and drills chair shots into his head and might even try to spit at the referee when reprimanded. Kurisu actually was the most booed guy in the match which ruled and made every moment with him memorable. Koshinaka kind of felt your New Japan Kikuchi by taking a shit kicking and needing to tag out to someone else on the more babyface-feeling team, before later getting the second fall for his own group. We get moments of bedlam and anybody breaking the rules at any given moment pretty much through the whole run time. The set up for the finish was phenomenal, with Kurisu getting struck by surprise to a massive reaction. Must-see.