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Ferrante

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About Ferrante

  • Birthday 05/26/1998

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    Portland, Maine.

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  1. 09/04/91 – Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue Before I begin this review, I would like to give a quick introduction. My name is Nick Ferrante but everyone just calls me Ferrante. I am a young adult who did not start watching wrestling until 2011. Most of you are lifelong fans possessing a deep personal history with the artform. Conversely, I am playing catch up.The history of wrestling and puro in general intrigues me. I reached out to Parv for some help as a mentor as he has been mentioned on twitter as a historical subject matter expert. Since New Japan is my favorite current company, 90s All Japan seems like a solid jumping off point. Parv and his colleague Grimmas recorded a series of podcasts covering the all japan excite series. The link is here http://placetobenation.com/category/podcasts/all-japan-excite-series/page/2/ Parv suggested I review some of the matches for the board. My goal is to review the matches before getting any of Parv of Grimmas’ feedback so my thoughts are my own and uninfluenced by others. My goal is to not only learn about the history of All Japan but to also become a better a wrestling critic. Like all of my pursuits, I must go in with my full ass. The crowd is fired up for this match. Big match feel is in full effect. Reactions during the intro are telling. Misawa gets the largest pop followed by Kawada. Jumbo gets a mixed reaction with the boos coming in about a 70/30 ratio. A possible sign of respect yet dislike? During the intros, as Jumbo receives jeers with limited cheers the camera pans to a group of young adult men losing their minds for Jumbo in a snarky, almost ironic fashion. I wonder if the contrarian smark was in full effect in 1991 japan? Taue and Kawada have a nice gentile lock-up that lasts for all of 10 seconds before Taue bitch slaps Kawada. Taue and Kawada’s feud is in full effect at this point. Why bitch slap Kawada just to unleash the attack dog? The battle lines have been drawn here: Taue hates Kawada and Misawa wants to prove he’s the top dog. I loathe reviews that simply break down the sequential action so I am going to focus on the major takeaways. There are two throughlines in this match: Misawa’s shoulder, and Misawa/Kawada working as a team contrasted by Taue and Jumbo being fueled by personal vendettas. There is a medium length segment of shoulder work by Jumbo on Misawa which eventually leads to him being taped up by some trainers/young boys. Misawa’s shoulder is the centerpiece of this match. Jumbo uses a bunch of abdominal stretch variations to work the shoulder. Additionally: Jumbo makes sure every backdrop he does on Misawa lands on that diminished shoulder. Everything Jumbo does looks impactful: even the basics. Gringas mentioned this: his bodyslams look like finishers. This is no easy feat. The shoulder taping segment reminds me of the classic WWE stretcher jobs, but a little more tasteful and believable. Athletes has to exit all the time to get taped up. If you’re on a stretch: chances are you’re done for the day. Misawa ripping the tape off is a classic moment. Wrestling is all about the big moments and this is one that will stick with me. Misawa and Kawada do a much better job of working as a unit. They watch out for each other and break up pins/holds. To contrast this, if Taue or Jumbo break up a hold or pin it’s typically to get an unprotected lick in on the guy they are feuding with. It appears to be coming more from a place of ill will towards the opponent vs care for the partner. M and K also hit a bunch of classic tag team tandem moves: duel drop kicks, dual suplex, flying stereo strikes. Taue/Jumbo hit one tandem move the whole match: a brutal doomsday device backdrop meant to destroy the shoulder. This is almost as if they do not realize they are a tag team until the closing minutes. The finish is the main takeaway from this match so let’s unpack. Jumbo’s head and neck area is focused on throughout the match by Misawa and Kawada. There are multiple facelock attempts by Misawa which at the time just seem like attempts to wear down Jumbo. I was not buying them as a finish. Jumbo eventually succumbs to the face lock. Shocking. The crowd explodes! One issue I had with this match was that when non-feuding partners were in the ring I would check out a bit and just wait for the feuding partners to get in there. The clearly drawn battle lines were a net plus in this match greatly enhancing the storytelling. This was a minor annoyance, yet pervasive. All in all, I loved this match. The in ring action was great, but not all time All Japan standards. What truly made this match was the multiple layers of psychology at play. You have two young bucks proving this is their company now and that the old man has to take a step back. Additionally you have two men blinded by anger and blood-lust allowing their personal feuds to distract them from the prize. Kawada and Misawa prioritize love and care for partner coupled with a desire for greatness to triumph over personal beef. 4 ½ stars. Great but not all-time elite in ring action. Amazing psychology. Big soaring moments.
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