Death From Above Posted July 18, 2020 Share Posted July 18, 2020 KENTA tries to jump Tenryu before the bell. A great amount of hitting in the face ensues. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEAN Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 Akira Hokuto and Bull Nakano beat the hell out of each in what I'm assuming from the post-match hug to be Bull nakano's retirement match. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 What stadium is that in? I don't recognize it at all. Also Tiger Hattori is the ref for some reason? Was this on Collision in Korea or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEAN Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 20 minutes ago, Death From Above said: What stadium is that in? I don't recognize it at all. Also Tiger Hattori is the ref for some reason? Was this on Collision in Korea or something? Oh man, I bet it is. They wrestled each other on the second day and it wasn't on the pay per view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEAN Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 Huh. Pre-Americanized Hikaru Shida works stiffer than pre-Americanized Asuka. Go figure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 I remember catching that match a few years ago. I thought Asuka kind of did the work of 3 women in it. Not so much that everyone else was bad as Asuka was that good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Octopus Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 I saw @Death From Above‘s Negro Casas match posted last week and I thought of this one. Clobber Clobber, friends. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 It's funny, I never really watched much lucha until the lockdown but something about it is really clicking for me these days. And there's quite a bit of the classic stuff on youtube even if that one giant account got sadly nuked not that long ago. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Octopus Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 Last year for me. I think it was an AAA show that had El Hijo Vikingo vs Taurus vs Jack Evans on YouTube. It lead to me finding more modern full shows online. Started reading thecubfan’s Luchablog more in depth. It was a fun new world I knew existed but didn’t invest time into. Old lucha I never really got. The way they moved around the ring was just too different. I remember seeing Negro Casas and seeing there was something there, but I just didn’t fully understand him. US wrestling to Japanese wrestling is an easier transition. Lucha is just a totally different word. Had a similar reaction to Jazz music. Once I saw MS1 vs Sangre Chicano it all clicked. I went into the deep end and I’m still swimming. Anything with Negro Casas, Satanico, or Hijo Del Santo has been a treat so far. Most of my posts in the Lucha page is asking people’s advice on what to watch. To tie it to clobbering, lucha brawls are so great. I always love the visual of a mask getting slightly ripped with blood underneath. I’m sure there’s a lot of LA Park brawls that could fit in this thread. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 I've been watching a bit of old lucha libre from the late 80s and early 90s recently. I will say that some of the best matches I've ever seen are within that style but man, bad lucha is second only to bad deathmatch wrestling and I find even matches that are generally considered great have so much wasted time and space on it, or bullshit like arguing to overturn a result with the commission that takes me out of otherwise very good or great matches often. Like that Satanico/Estrada match posted on here last week had about 15 or 20 minutes of an awesome match but it went 30 and both guys were so gassed by the end it was hard to watch and not in a dramatic way. Jerry Estrada is fucking great regardless, one of my favourite luchadores. But yeah, that's hardly the only match like that. Same show had a good Dandy/Azteca match that went way too long and too much fat on the match too but also had great action in there. I find it frustrating because I'm not going to dismiss those matches as bad but that is such a huge flaw. I'm interested to see if a lot of the Japanese UWF has aged similarly for me because in the handful of those matches we've watched I've felt the same way. "There's a great great 10 or 15 minute match in that 20 or 25 minute slog." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 For me the big issue for years was the way the big shows in Mexico tend to handle 2/3 falls matches all exactly the same way, where there's virtually no nearfalls in the first 2 falls. Especially true with CMLL. The first 2 falls tend to happen really quick where usually the first attempt at a pin or submission works, and then the third fall is where a lot of unpredictable stuff can happen. I found it hard to get invested in it as a formula for a long time, but somewhere it just started to mesh as a stylistic thing I can deal with and accept, and I started enjoying it a lot more. Every company has annoying quirks, that was one it just took me a long time to get past. I'm a giant mark for classic All Japan but I could just as easily see someone being incredibly annoyed submissions mean absolutely nothing in those matches past that one time they swerved everyone and Jumbo tapped out to Misawa's facelock, in a thousand matches. New Japan in the 90's was absolutely ridddled with heavyweight matches that go 15-20 minutes but are paced to go 30+ in the first half. Memphis is comically predictable at times with the "if a heel isn't cheating to get heat he isn't a heel" philosophy. And maybe the less I talk about annoying quirks in WWE style the better. It's just a different quirk but I don't think that means it's better or worse than any other one, at least not anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 While I appreciate lucha libre had a very unique style that was largely isolated from American and Japanese styles until the last 10 or 20 years, there are some really funky things looking at it from a US perspective psychology wise that go way beyond submissions not winning matches against top guys. So many random shifts in momentum and repeating spots that take me out of matches. I get the pacing and constant pandering is more cultural relativism thing, like the super deliberate ref counts (which I enjoy for the most part), you can argue doesn't make things worse but I'm not a fan of it generally speaking. I'm not going to go full Austin and say it has no psychology because there obviously is psychology, it's just different but I prefer the American and Japanese styles for more coherent and tighter storytelling. I have all the time in the world for Blue Panther, Casas, Puma, Virus, Hechicero, and the more mat-based style though and some of the brawls and epics from Mexico are as good or better than the best from anywhere else in the world. I was actually surprised Casas didn't finish higher in the PWO goat polling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimbra Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 On 7/18/2020 at 2:28 PM, Death From Above said: KENTA tries to jump Tenryu before the bell. A great amount of hitting in the face ensues. "Fiery upstart vs surly veteran" might be my favorite genre of wrestling match and this is such a great example of it. Tenryu's palpable disrespect and the dismissive way he cuts off KENTA's attempts at comebacks absolutely own. Somebody (probably D.Z.) posted some slow motion GIFs of Tenryu's punches from this match a while back and I don't know how KENTA's jaw wasn't broken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
For Great Justice Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 After an extensive in depth review of the blood freaks, wrestling machine and clubberin’ threads, I have determined that the clubberin’ genre of the wrestling is the best genre. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 The Takayama/KENTA matches were always my favorites for the same reasons. Shibata also had that whole run against every single big name back when he was starting where he was the disrespectful young punk and it was great seeing him get mauled every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 Takayama/KENTA you say? Oh baby let's go 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEAN Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 Man, this might be the stiffest match since Tenryu retired. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSJ Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 54 minutes ago, DEAN said: Man, this might be the stiffest match since Tenryu retired. I could watch Tenryu stiffing the shit out of fools all day long. Does that make me a bad person? Oh yeah, and watching Kana kick people in the head never gets old... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEAN Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 Oh man, Harley and Kandori try to contain teen Dynamite Kansai who is FIRED UP to kick Harley in the head. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 This is a different beast, but Vic had me watch it. It's basically up there with Dynamics Dudes vs Freedbirds as the most Philly thing ever. Numbered real time comments below: 1. I liked how, when announced, Woman just put a hand on Sandman's shoulder. That's a way to keep the focus on the talent. 2. I thought Konnan should have been doing more when sandman was getting the chair for Woman, stalling a bit. But it's tough when the heel/face roles are sort of reversed. 3. This feels like a good idea. Having your world champ take on an international talent. 4. Early chain wrestling is not pretty. Lots of fumbling, both standing and Konnan trying to lock in his hold. 5. Sandman's reversal out was really cool though. 6. Konnan's roll through into a submission was way better. 7. Yeah, that whole exchange with Sandman trying to get out and Konnan riding him was better. The stalling is still tricky because the backwards crowd 8. Sandman going straight to the kicks/Clothesline after coming in and the crowd chanting ECW totally rejecting wrestling afterwards. Then when Konnan fires back it's with shots but ones that are stylized enough to seem rarefied relative to Sandman. He's basically doing Kawada kicks when the fans want Sandman to piss on him. 9. Sandman's good at spacing things out here, letting them sit in, and being consistent about his lack of finesse. His plancha is just him chucking his body at Konnan. No style to it 10. Konnan sinks to his level with the chair but can't really keep up and is soon overwhelmed. 11. After that it's a mauling. As long as it never gets back to wrestling, Konnan has no chance. Sandman opens him back up and it's this massive celebration of the lowbrow over multi-cultural style and finesse. It's about destroying something beautiful because it dares to think that it's better than you. 12. To that effect, Woman, who often represents something that the crowd can repress (for again seeming better/prettier than it/above its stature even if deep down she's just as dirty and terrible as it is), comes to represent the crowd as she comes to Sandman's defense. That lets him come back without Konnan even really getting a shot in. She's the surrogate for the crowd there. 13. In the end, Konnan is shown to be just as dirty and wretched as Sandman in the crowd, but shamefully, he's not as good or strong or tough as Sandman, who, driven by Woman, who we've shown to be the crowd's surrogate, gets up first. So Konnan's sullying himself was all for nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEAN Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 I almost forget about Arsion but I had almost totally forgotten about Michiko Ohmukai. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 Honestly, Vince signing the Sheepherders to be a comedy act is one of the strangest things he ever made work. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEAN Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 This is closer to Johnny Valentine's influence on Mid-Atlantic so it's STIFF! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 Short but violent. Between Kakihara's kicks and THAT slap from Kitahara, this can probably go here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEAN Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 This is fun. Asuka is such a bitch to all of JWP afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now