[[Remedial Wrestling] #1: Misawa/Kawada and Friends]

 

 

And to me strategy is what these matches lack from a macro level.  What is Misawa trying to do to win?  What is his game plan?  Because it seems like he is there to do his thing and that's that.  This isn't 'grab a wristlock and work to an arm bar' either because I don't know what Kawada is trying to do either.  It just feels like the only way anyone wins these matches is because they out-willed the other guy that night.  But there is no reason demonstrated reason why the one guy's will was higher other than they got the last series of moves.

 

This is the problem with taking a small sampling of matches and watching them without the bigger picture and without the surrounding matches for context.  Generally, I think matches should be able to be viewed individually but in some cases, specifically All Japan, you benefit much more from watching matches chronologically and not just the big matches.  Back stories, hierarchy of wrestlers, and individual motivations are much more apparent when watching like this.

 

This isn't the most accurate comparison, but you can't just jump into a season 3 episode of a show like The Wire, Deadwood, etc. and expect to understand the big picture, none the less the subtleties of what is going on with these shows.  I'm not saying that any wrestling comes close to that level of story telling but the general point remains the same. 

 

 

[Atlantis y Lizmark vs. El Egipcio y El Faraón (2/17/84)]

I thought this was excellent.  Agree with Soup's assessment on this being very much a traditional technico vs. rudo match, with Atlantis and Lizmark breaking out awesome flying and Egipcio and Faraon bring good punches, really solid kicks, and some nice knees.  This type of match is very accessible to non-lucha fans as it plays more to the standard US tags of having saves and double teams that revolve around cheating.  Santo/Atlantis vs. Rubio/Fuerza was a similar match in terms of the technicos bringing awesome offense but the rudos didn't hold up their end on offense (bumping and selling were on par with each other).

[1980s AWA Viewing Deadline - UPDATED OCTOBER 13TH]

Sounds like the Lucha set is almost done.  Any word on when the 80's boards will be back up?