I finally got around to watching Takada vs. Albright, from UWF-i (first match). I have a few things to say.

1. If I were ever to start up a promotion in 1993 in North America, the first two guys I would sign would be Nobuhiko Takada and Gary Albright. Above everyone else at that time, these two guys were fucking awesome in their roles. And I say that with full knowledge of how good Kobashi, Lyger, Misawa, Benoit, etc. were at that time. Gary Albright should have been a huge star, in my view. I love his promos, because the dude doesn't really cut "promos". Whatever he says, it sounds like he's saying it honestly and that he means it 100%. He's a big guy, but he's humble. He knows his strenghts and his weaknesses and he knows his opponents strengths and weaknesses and he talks about thim with this sincerity that you don't get anywhere else in wrestling.

I love his wrestling style, and he gets dogged on way too much. He wasn't one of the best workers, but he was incredible at playing the monster role. He was a damn good wrestler. He has the best suplexes ever. He sold very well. And he knew when to let his opponent get the advantage and for him to look weak, and he knew when to turn it up. Takada is near perfect in the way he mat wrestles and strikes and sells both giving a beating and taking one. Very few have been able to pull of "the man" like Nobuhiko Takada.

2. I love watching the UWF-i Bushido shows because you get the British announcing. The commentary team is this straight laced American, and this sorta gruffed up Brit, and they work well with each other. I love listening to footbul commentary more than actually watching the games, and if they could bring one of those announcers over to wrestling and convey the same sort of drama and emotion that they do for footbul, then wrestling would be much better for it. I watched some ROH yesterday (Generation Next show), and the announcing was the complete opposite of that. The announcing here really builds up this epic feel where both guys are undefeated and one must lose. Even if you haven't seen a whole lot of UWF-i or know alot about these two guys, you still buy it. They start off with interviewing Albright, they show the two fighters entering the ring, and they have the national anthems play

3. UWF-i fucking rocked. A completely different spin on professional wrestling with the point system that was used REALLY well here. They start off with 15 points, you lose a point if you get caught in a submission or need a rope break or get taken down, and you lose 3 points on the knockdown and they give you a 10 count to get up. The effect of being down on points (or being up) can make for some nice drama. Near the end of the match, with Albright so close to losing on points, him managing to pull it out with 2 huge german suplexes which KILLED Takada, was tremendous storytelling. No matter what happens in a fight, the monster is still the monster. The psychology is as pure as you can get for professional wrestling because they treat it as a real fight.

The match itself is, to me, a **** affair. There's plenty of action - Takada throws some sick kicks which Gary sells brilliantly - Gary throws some beautiful looking suplexes including a rolling belly to belly and the aforementioned german suplexes - the ground work is not at the leve of Takada/Tamura, but it's still pretty good. The fight itself is decided really on their feet where Takada tries to win with striking and Gary with Grappling. The finish astonished me, which is a testiment to how well worked the match was.