Rate These Matches

[Guest wolverine]

Yeah, neither did Meltzer apparently, as I'm looking at this Observer from 10/97 and he basically called it an 'excellent' match. And aside from what Tim has told me, I've found zero reviews for it, just several people saying it's *****. Ah well, looks like I'll have to judge for myself shortly.

Both matches (1/97 and 9/97) were absolutely incredible. I'm probably going to have to rewatch both several times to determine which one I like better, but I do know that they are WAY up there as far as the best men's singles matches I've ever seen. I really dug Han's work, busting out submissions left and right. And then we had Tamura kicking the piss out of him, as well as doing some wild stuff I didn't think I'd ever see in a shootstyle match. If I had to rate them, I think I'd go ****3/4 on both, but again, I need to rewatch. For first viewings, I definitely enjoyed these more than the Tamura-Kohsaka 6/98, but I think that was largely due to inexperience with the RINGS style, as I eventually caught on and realized that it was the best wrestling match I was going to see. Anway, super high recommendations on all of this stuff.

[Guest Tim Cooke]

Ah, you finally got to see them.

 

IM me later as I want to know what else you saw.

 

Tim

[Guest wolverine]

I'm in an internet cafe right now, so I don't have much time, but I finally saw the Aja/Bull vs. Hokuto/Kandori 3/27/94 match as well. This thing fucking ruled. Aja and Hokuto both impressed a ton. I would definitely put this match above the 4/11/93 Toyota/Yamada vs. Kansai/Ozaki, but I'm less certain if I think it's better than the 8/30/95 Double Inoues vs. Toyota/Hasegawa for 2nd best women's tag ever. Easy ****1/2 match. I'll try to IM you later if I get a chance.

[Guest XdojimeX]

"If I had to rate them, I think I'd go ****3/4 on both, but again, I need to rewatch."

 

Only problem I have putting the Tamura/Han matches that high is the relative brevity. They're brilliant sprints but the Kohsaka match is epic in comparison. Hell it's epic period. Not that length for the sake of length means anything but the Kohsaka match feels like it's operating on a deeper level because of it IMO. For 30 minutes in that style, the unblinking parity is pretty amazing. And they had the audience locked the whole way.

 

Then again outside of the match with Kohsaka and maybe Takada/Yamazaki as a precursor I don't really have another reference for shoot-style of that high end. Han's work is so unique it's almost another genre.

[Guest Tim Cooke]

The Tamura and Han matches are short but I think they work better that way. I notice, particularly in the 9/97 match, that at one point, both seem to look a little lost as to what to do next. It is just momentary but it was noticable enough that it brought out 1/97 higher in my eyes.

 

As for the 3/27/94 tag...until I see 8/30/95, it is number 2 easily for me. Too much depth in it...plus the Inoue's don't do it for me so I am not sure that match will really kick me in the balls hard enough. The major reason that 11/26/92 stays ahead is it just has so much fire and intensity. It is also the first Joshi match that really brought that intensity, minus stuff that I may have not seen.

 

Tim