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NintendoLogic

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Posts posted by NintendoLogic

  1. Let me begin by saying how jarring it is to see Casas as a smiling babyface. Not that he's a bad tecnico (he's a great one, in fact), but it's just so far removed from what I expect to see. On that note, I was kind of surprised to see Santo on the rudo team. I thought he had returned to the tecnico side by this point. I guess not. Santo/Casas and Atlantis/Panther obviously need no introduction, but I have no idea what beef Niebla and Warrior have with each other, if at all. The first fall is mostly contested on the mat, and it's as good as you'd expect. I especially liked Warrior and Niebla busting out the Rick Rude tombstone spot. The second fall is kind of perfunctory to the point where I can't remember anything that happened in it. The third fall is when all hell breaks loose. It's one of those falls where so much is happening that it's hard to keep track of it all. It probably comes across a lot better watching it live in the arena. We get a cheap unmasking DQ finish, which I assume was an attempt to set the table for an Atlantis/Panther apuesta match that obviously never happened. Fun match overall. It wouldn't be my pick for 1998 MOTY (neither would Kandori/Hotta, for that matter), but I'm glad I watched it.

  2. If you haven't already, you all need to check out Flair's title defense against Brett Sawyer in Portland from October 1982. It's probably the closest he's ever come to coming across as a pure asskicker.

    For non-US bouts, Jim Breaks vs. Johnny Saint is a good choice. It's chippy the whole way through, but it reaches another level once Saint goes up a fall. When Breaks realizes his belt is in serious danger, he goes berserk and just beats the fuck out of Saint until the referee has to stop the match.

    Also, Vader vs. Jun Akiyama from All Japan in 2000.

     

  3. Quote

    Can you imagine Vader/Hansen mauling the Rock and Roll Express or having a punch out with the Steiners?

    Hansen actually worked a match against the R&Rs in 1988 (Dan Kroffat was his partner). All-time great asskicker Hansen against all-time great asskickee Morton sounds awesome on paper, but it didn't really work for me because neither R&R could conceivably pose a credible threat to Hansen. They should've just brought in Morton and had him team with Jumbo or Tenryu.

    Anyway, if you liked this match, the 1999 version with Hansen and Taue teaming up against Burning is even better.

  4. The joshi match immediately piqued my interest. I've been a Kandori advocate for a while now, but I don't think I've ever seen a Saito match before. And I didn't know that she had died until a few weeks ago.

    Anyway, this match is presented as a straightforward styles clash. Kandori controls the mat while Saito has the advantage in the standup and striking portions. It feels like one of those early UFC events before everyone started cross-training or Ryu vs. Zangief in Street Fighter. There's a double pinfall a little more than 15 minutes in which leads to a restart, and they kind of lose me from that point as it becomes a bit nearfall-heavy for my tastes. But the finish redeems it, as Kandori comes dangerously close to inventing the Tiger Driver 91 a year early.

    To be honest, it feels like the germ of an all-time great match that isn't quite fully realized. Still worth checking out, though.

  5. Whenever I go back and revisit him, I'm blown away by what an amazing worker John Cena was in 2007. The beauty of this match is that it seems minimalist on the surface but is actually quite rich in detail for those willing to pay attention. Note the little touches like Cena coughing after escaping a chinlock and Orton selling the STF's impact on his leg after hitting an RKO. I recall reading at the time that there was a conscious attempt to dial back the style after the Benoit tragedy. It's a shame that this direction wasn't explored as much as it could have been.

     

    • Like 1
  6. How did I not post in this thread previously?

    Anyway, here's a pair of classic WCW tags:

    Then there's this:

    Amazingly, this is only their second-best match with each other.

  7. On 6/18/2017 at 11:58 AM, cwoy2j said:

    I've been on a big Flair 87-90 kick lately. Kinda weird b/c he's already accepted as an all-time great in the ring so it's easy to gloss over just how good he was. He really was awesome at being a dick when going after a guy's knee. Letting them get comebacks and then just kicking their leg from under their leg (tm Owen Hart). I rewatched a couple of draws he had with WIndham (the Worldwide match and a couple others) and the way he sold getting put in a headlock was amazing to me. They made restholds look like actual moves that were designed to wear a guy down. It wasn't just a lazy "slap on a chinlock and sit there" sort of thing. Windham would put him in a headlock and they'd go through a series of reversals and pinfalls off it. Actually working. That's the sort of stuff I love.

    On a similar note, I've been watching quite a bit of 92-93 Flair lately, and what struck me was the quality of his arm work. Dude could work an arm like an Anderson when he wanted to, which makes sense since they were kayfabe cousins.

    Also, 1993 Rick Rude is due for a re-evaluation. Conventional wisdom states that he fell off a cliff after his neck injury, but I'm not finding that to be the case at all. In particular, the Iron Man match with Dustin Rhodes has been unfairly maligned.

    • Like 1
  8. For a more outside-the-box pick, I'll go with Sekimoto/Okabayashi vs. Akebono/Hama on January 3. Power wrestler vs. fat wrestler is pretty much an idiot-proof matchup. It's on Ditch's website.

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