Coffin Surfer

10/93 is an excellent match. Nowhere near the same level as their MOTYC eariler in 93 during the Champion's Carnival, but it's still excellent. The build was slow, but still great, foreshadowing some important spots in 12/93 tag match. But around the middle of the match, Kobashi and Kawada seemed to have some communication problems. Kobashi wanted to turn it up way too early, hitting his Moonsault finisher out of nowhere, and as result Kawada had too slow things back down and put the match back together. Kobashi also gets a little goofy at the end, going overkill with the Backdrops, and working way too much desperation offense after the first Powerbomb. Kawada also uses way too many Backdrop Drivers, but unlike Steven Williams, he smartly gives Kobashi enough time to put them over. Still, there's so many great things in here like Kawada's selling of the Sleeper that really make the match. I would put this match way ahead of their 95 TC draw, both of their 96 matches, and Williams/Kobashi from the same year.

The ones I listed are the big ones, certaintly bigger than those Kobashi/Kawada borefests on the tapes. For just the same ten bucks, you can get the April-July 93 T.V. block, that has a shitload of great must see matches on it. Or get some of 95 Champion Carnival for the same ten bucks. Once again, tons of great matches. Not just a handful of matches. Those tapes are a complete ripoff. The 95 Carnival and 93 T.V. are loaded with "big matches", not to mention, they are very easy to get into without sarcrificing drama of the big three: 6/3/94, 6/9/95, 12/6/96. You should check out the other matches to see if you like the style, since you can see more variety, rather than just the big pay off matches.

Why shoot you? Hogan vs. Hansen is a very good match. Until I see the acclaimed Hogan/Backland matches, I would put it as the best Hogan match I've seen, and at that time, it was one of Hansen's best singles performances. Make no mistake, it is Hansen's match. The match follows the same formula as most 90s Stan Hansen matches, and it's obvious during the transitions that he's calling the shots. Still, as in most Stan Hansen matches at that time he does let the other guy(Hogan in this case) get a great deal of offense in while letting him control the body of the match. Hogan does indeed do a good job of using his time effectively, displaying a decent midrange offense that he rarely used in the WWF. However, Hansen is the one who should be credited for keeping this portion of the match interesting. Hansen is the one who keeps the match moving by constantly roaming around the ring, and falling to the floor while selling, forcing Hogan to stay on the move. Hansen also forces Hogan to keep the rest holds brief, like when he breaks up the Adbominal Stretch rather quickly. Hogan is solid in the match, and never resorts to Hulking Up and no selling. But Hansen's performance was incredible. Just compare this Hogan/Savage, and it's obvious who did the better job of working with Hogan. I have heard good things about Hogan's work in the early 80s, and I would very much be interested in tracking some down when I get the time and money.

How could anyone find that match entertaining in the least? I'm sad to say that I've sat down, and watched that piece of shit two times in my life in one sitting. The only conclusion that I came up with is that I want those 120 minutes of my life back. The match is operated at a very......slow........sluggish..............snail pace, yet they still blow their load, and finish the match by the thirty minute mark(a pretty dull by the numbers Kawada/Kobashi match at that). As a result the last thirty minutes is pointless sloppy head dropping, inbetween endless resting and laying around. I prefer to watch Kawada and Kobashi wrestle as opposed to lying on their backs for extend periods of time with their stomachs pumping up and down like their dying. This match is a fucking mess with no redeming qualities. Even the opening hot spot is unwatchable because of Kobashi's retarded selling of the Backdrop Driver, where he frantically crawls back and forth the ring like 3 times, like he's doing laps or something. Compare this to 4/93 where they do more in 10 minutes than in the entire 60 minutes of that adbomination of a match. Or even compare it to Taue/Kobashi 96 TC, which smokes it in every single way. The 96 draw sucks! The 95 draw on the other is a good match, actually better than the highly praised Flair/Steamboat Clash 2/3 falls match. A much more advanced match that continuously progresses despite the extreme length. Still, I have no desire to watch either match ever again. Meanwhile, I could sit down and watch the 10/95 60 minute tag draw, over and over again.

93 tape looks great for All Japan, but still, there's a shit load left off. You'd be better off getting all the 93 T.V. shows from All Japan, trust me, it's worth it. If your looking to get into mid 90s All Japan, these tapes really aren't a good introduction. 94 tape is obviously missing the Kawada/Williams Carnie draw, and their masterpeice of a match at the finals. The superhot Williams/Misawa 94 TC match is also missing. The excellent 5/94 tag match that leads into 6/3/94 is also missing. I would get the 95 Champion Carnival, since it not only contains classics not featured on the tapes like Kawada vs. Akiyama, Misawa vs. Kobashi, Kawada vs. Taue, and Misawa vs. Taue, the matches also help to set up the story leading into 6/9/95. On the bright side, the 96 tape does have: 5/23/96 and 12/6/96. 12/6/96 is in an all time classic, while the other match helps to set it up. Other great 95-96 stuff not included on tapes: Kawada vs. Kobashi 95 Carnies Sold seperately, worth going out of your way to see. Kawada vs. Misawa 7/95 -Bombs away. 20 minutes of signature moves and surreal selling. Taue vs. Misawa 9/95 -See above. Kawada vs. Albright 10/95 -Unique All Japan/UWFi hybrid with a huge emphasis on flash submissions. Probably one of Kawada's top 3 greatest performances. Misawa/Kobashi vs. Kawada/Taue 10/15/95 -Despite the epic length, all four men do a great job of keeping the match interesting with very smart work. Kawada vs. Taue 96 Carnies -Super smart work from the masters. Misawa vs. Kobashi 96 Carnies -Fun, fast, and loaded with action. Taue vs. Misawa 5/96 TC -Fun 16 minute sprint that plays off their pevious matches: including their unreleased Carnie match where Misawa goes over with a Diving Neckbreaker Drop leading to the big shocking finish. Misawa/Akiyama vs. Kawada/Taue 11/29/96 -MUST SEE match that perfectly sets up 12/6/96. Unworthy matches included on the tapes: Kawada vs. Kobashi 95 and 96 draws -95 match is solid, but terribly boring. 96 match is a total mess...a 60 minute mess. Kobashi vs. Taue 96 TC -Fun to see the supposedly limited Taue use a gigantic bad ass moveset that puts most wrestlers to shame, while also doing his fair share of bumping. Still, Kobashi brings the usual goofiness, and the match turns into a no sell a thon during the final run. Good, but nowhere near the best of the year. Exceptional perfromance from Taue, however. Also: Highspots tape quality is lacking, when compared to dealers like Jeff Lynch, but they are very cheap, so that is to be expected.

Ohtani's matches also increased his profile as he pushed Lyger to the limit, and was finally able to defeat Beniot. Taue got a match out of a declining crack head Steven Williams(who looked totally lost until the end of the match) that was better than Micheals' Mindgames match with a very capable Foley. Truth be told, Taue not only put together a better match, he and Williams actually out bumped or did just as much bumping as HBK and Foley too. 96 HBK get's the nod because the people making the list didn't see enough wrestling out of side of the WWF, or either they choose to ignore it, or they are irrational HBK marks.

Well, that just killed this magazines credibility. 94. You could make a good case for Beniot, Kawada, Misawa,....etc., not HBK. 95-Misawa had a fantastic year, but Kawada's matches with the same wrestlers are on the same level or only a notch below Misawa's performances. Plus, Kawada had great matches with Akiyama and Albirght, guys Misawa couldn't do dick with. 96-Micheals had a good year, but there's no way you could rank him above Ohtani who had a string of MOTYCs with multiply wrestlers ranging from El Samurai to Lyger. Misawa was All Japan's top worker, and even Taue had better performances than HBK throughout the year. 97-From what I've seen, I'd go with Misawa. Sorry Bret, but nothing you ever did can touch the three televised Kobashi/Misawa matches this year, or possibly even the Misawa/Taue Triple Crown match or the Kawada/Misawa Carnie draw.

There is no such thing as perfect selling, except maybe Kawada at 12/3/93. Though London's selling of the leg was perfectly accepetable in the match. He only hit the Powerbomb after AD climbed on his shoulders in the corner, and London barely took a few steps to bring him out with the Powerbomb. London didn't even use his leg when he was climbing to do the SSP. For a brief second, he quickly balanced himself, leaped up and hit the move. In order to beat Dragon, he had to take the ultimate risk, and hit the SSP even if was to do more damage to his knee. If Dragon would have kicked out, he would have been fucked, but that's the risk he had to take. Very good storytelling. London's solid selling>Steamboat's cheesy overdramatic selling.

Words that will probably never be spoken again. I never saw the match, but from my understanding Hogan once had to carry The Great Muta in a New Japan match. Considering how bad and lazy most of Keji Mutoh's work as the Great Muta is in the early 90s or almost any time frame actually, it really isn't that hard to imagine Hogan outworking him.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm saying. You did the right thing by saving alot for the third fall, but there's still room to build many climaxes to the individual falls(I think that came out right). The punch was a good spot that I forgot to mention.

The 2/3 Falls Formula has always been built up like one match divided into three acts. The offense is usually built up with weaker stuff, before it's bombs away in the third fall. Still, there are ways to let the individual falls climax and heat up other than a flash pinfall/submission out of nowhere. Also, this usually involves building off the previous falls, continuing the same story. The falls do usually shortening as they progress, like in one Robinson/Jumbo match the thrid fall is just like 5 minutes of Suplexes. Unless their are special circumstances like a flash pin in the first fall, or a quick ass kicking in the second...etc.

Hendrix and The Velvet Underground were influenced by Bob Dylan if that counts for anything. Velvet Underground, Lou Reed in particular were obviously influenced by alot more than Dylan's "spirit", since you can hear alot of Dylan in Reed. Dylan also has had a ton of songs covered by everyone from Johnny Thunders to Guns N Roses, which in most cases, means the bands were at least fans of the original versions, and somewhat influenced by them.

Flesher vs. Ejiro 2/3 Falls. Fall 1. The first fall opens with Ejiro determined to out wrestle Flesher, but he can’t, so he turns it into a brawl. Flesher wins the brawl, but ends up crouching himself with a missed Yakuza Kick. Ejiro’s selling is solid during the transition as he takes a little time to put over Flesher’s Suplexes, before going back on offense. Ejiro controls with some pedestrian offense, before Flesher catches him in a Nagata Lock for a quick submission. Overall, I wasn’t feeling this fall too much. It just never seemed to warm up at all, neither’s guys offense was ever threatening, and than it just kind of ended. Fall 2. For the injury to be a trick, Ejiro sure dragged it out long enough, I guess he was waiting for the right moment or something. The playing possum gain an advantage is a good idea, but Ejiro never really takes advantage of it like he should. Once again, Ejiro just runs through some non threatening pedestrian stuff, before Tom makes a comeback, which kind of defeats the purpose of the extended “fake injury” sequence since the fall ends with a fluke roll up on the ropes. Slightly better than the first fall, but it would have been nice to see something as smart as the fake injury leading to something more important. Fall 3. Eager to make the last fall up, Flesher busts out a few of his more threatening moves for nearfalls, before Ejiro hits his Bridging Backdrop Pin. Once again, Ejiro taking the time to put over Flesher’s offense is a nice touch. Nice to see at least one spot play off the previous falls, with Ejiro finally countering the Belly to Belly. The ending with the Super Orange Crusher was good and smart, since it kept Tom looking strong, while also going all the way back to Tom’s U.S. Title loss to TNT where he lost to same move, making it look his Achilles’ heel or something. I would have liked to see the first two falls be more meaningful, rather than just run of the mil stuff with a fluke ending tacked on. The third fall was good, but it would have been nice to see more continuation from the previous falls.

On deadline day, I had finished everything, but the introductions with a few hours to spare. Feeling sick, I decided to take a nap, wake up an hour before due time, and finish the match. However, when I woke up, I had a 102 degree fever, and ended up spending the rest of the night in burning agony, trying to break my fever. Luckily, the show got delayed, so I was able to throw together a quick introduction in 5 minutes, and send it in just before the show got posted. Which is why it's short and rushed. I actually think it was two finishers, the Stretch Plum and Surprise Witness. I kept the Plum's credibilty the best I could, by having Danny use the ropes instead of kicking it out. Making it look more like a mistake from the Judge, rather than a Hulk up. Plus, I put it over with a roll out, and some stalling. The Surprise Witness/Ace Crusher always struck me as one of the Judge's weaker finishers, so I didn't see the harm in kicking out of one of them. I was more concered with keeping the credibilty of his Suplexes and Straight Jacket Powerbomb, which is why didn't use them at all. Thanks for the comments, it's always appreciated.

Tiger Driver-Sit out Double Arm Powerbomb. Release Tiger Driver-Knee Drop Double Arm Powerbomb. Tiger Driver 91-Vertical Sheer Drop Release Double Arm Powerbomb. Not a piledriver, which would need a head scissors. Double Arm Powerbomb-What Jamie Knoble does. Tiger Bomb-I believe the origion of the term is when Joey Styles made this name up to call the Lyger Bomb, because he didn't want to call it a Lyger Bomb. Now it's used to miscall the Double Arm Powerbomb in the WWE.

Sabbath is obviously one of the exceptions, since their style would later be developed into what is now known as Doom Metal and Sludge Metal. Still even alot of modern Doom Metal now has a classical influence like My Dying Bride. Of course with Sabbath, this is when Metal was first being developed so it shouldn't come as a suprise that more ingredients would be added to the mix down the road. But if your looking for something that links most metal subgenres like Speed Metal, Power Metal, and even Death Metal, than look no further than the classical influence in the gutiar work. Something that is usually absent from alot of Hard Rock and the so called "Nu Metal", though once again, not always.

I've been told by a few different local gutiarists, and heard else where that for metal to be metal it must have a classical influence, which can be found in metal bands ranging from Iron Madien to Metallica to Nile. While it's obviously not always true(nothing ever is), it is one possible criteria to consider for determining the difference between metal and hard rock(which often has a strong blues influence, rather than classical).

Uh, somebody needs to delete this thread's last three posts(including this one). This isn't a thread for discussion, it's a recommendation thread for web sites where you can find puro related information. JustJoe: There was a thread like this not too long ago, probably on the second page. Still, I will answer your question with a pm, if you want others' opinions, start your own thread, or dig up the old thread.

MC5-Kick out the Jams!

The same reason I don't think they tape shows there. You see, the Japanese don't hoot and holler like Americans do. They sit and watch the matches, paying attention to the little details. American crowds will watch a match, and if there isn't a crazy spot within the first couple of minutes, they chant "booooring, boooring." Basically though, if WWE ran a TV show or PPV there, it would seem like the crowd was dead, and would hurt the enjoyment of the Western fans. Plus, it would have to be on a tape delay because of the time zone differences, and they typically want PPVs to be live all the time. Much like in America, it depends on the arena, promotion, and the wrestlers involved. All Japan in the late 80s/early 90s featured some of the loudest and hottest crowds of all time. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a match in America as hot as Kobashi/Kikuchi vs. Can Am Connection. Hardly the passive fans, sitting at attention that you described. New Japan Heavies had good crowds too, back in that era. While, the juniors weren't draws, guys like Lyger usually got a good reaction out of the crowd too. But as the work of the major promotions detoriated, so did most of the crowds, who became conditioned to pop for crazy bumps, finisher kick outs, and little else. But still, matches like Chono/Hogan got super crowd heat this year. And IIRC the 1990 WWF show at the Dome with Hogan vs. Hansen, had a pretty good crowd. And I would have to agree with Brian, that the crowd today would act no differently to a WWE show than an American crowd, maybe even louder since they don't get to see them in person as much as we do.

Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero "Black Tiger" Top Of the Super Juniors 96. I would chose this as Benoit's greatest match, placing it over the Sasuke JCup match. Much like Lyger/Samurai and Ohtani/Samurai, this match breaks away from the traditional junior formula to create something memorable and special. The body of this match features some of the most brilliant wrestling I've ever seen from anybody as Beniot draws the normally "dead for juniors" New Japan crowd into the match, and right into the palm of his hand, getting the reactions that he wants, when he wants. Beniot's repeated use of the Sleeperhold, gives him incredible heel heat, while at the same time, transforms Black Tiger into a uber baby face. Eddy's performances is incredible too, catching on to what Beniot is doing, he starts to epically sell the Sleepers while on offense, given Benoit plenty of openings to catch him with it again. This is the type of match that many of the WWE's current roster could learn from. Instead of letting the crowd control their actions, Beniot and Eddy control the crowd.

I really enjoy the second fall of the Clash match. They totally break away from the usual Flair/Steamboat formula, and continue to further the match by telling the story of a fired up Steamboat determined to make up for the last fall. If I recall, Steamboat even busts out the Flying Body Press very early for a nearfall. However, the work regresses in the third fall as they go back to the usual by the number Flair/Steamboat spots. The first fall was solid, and Steamboat smartly ditched his determined challenger persona in favor of a more confident World Champion role. ex. Not trying alot of flash pins, cranking the headlocks instead of desperately holding on to them.etc. Still as usual, they tend to get stuck in neutral alot, killing time with repetive sequences instead of progressing the match. Overall, I find Chi-Town to be the superior of the other two. It's faster, more consistent, less repetitive, and much more smarter and intresting than the other two.

That really doesn't matter, since it was put over as a back submission in the first match thanks to JR's commentary and Steamboat's back targeting offense to set it up. But in the next match he starts working the arm to set it up. I wouldn't detract from the match because of it, but it is odd, and inconsistent.

Flair/Steamboat Wrestlewar 89 is pretty far from being the greatest match ever. It's not the best match on U.S. soil, and it's not even the best match of the series. I don't have a problem with Flair's selling of the arm, as it's intent was to set up the Double Chickenwing(which oddly enough in the Clash match was put over as a back targeting submission, but whatever), not to limit his offense. I prefer Chi-Town, because not only is it much more exciting, and better put together, but the psychology goes beyond targeting a limb. Just the opening spot of Steamboat trying to catch Flair off guard with a flash pin after a shoulder block is smarter than anything you'll find in Wrestlewar.

If I recall correctly, I defended the U.S. title against you around the time you first got bumped. It's the one that ended with the Powerbomb. The second time we met it was a submission match, right after I jobbed the title to Francis. I know that for sure, because I can remember ending the match with J.D.'s Avenage so that I didn't overkill the Juji-Gatame(which got two falls in the Iron Man match with Francis). So you had one U.S. Title match against me. This goes back to the Genesis Awards, where everyone seemed to confuse my U.S. title defenses (the Annie, Francis, and Ejiro matches) with my ICTV regin(which I only defened once against Wildchild).