Matches that you don't get

[Guest Black Tiger]

It always happens at some time or another, you've read on a message board or in a review that "such and such" match is really great and ***** and all this, then you actually sit down with the tape and your reaction is "that's it?". Well hopefully in this thread we can help one another out.

 

The match that does it for me at the moment is Mitsuharu Misawa vs Steve Williams from 7/28/94. I feel the booking was good because Misawa was going on two years as champion and a change was needed. But for the life of me I cannot understand why this gets pimped as being so good. I watched this match only 24 hours ago, and I'm remembering next to nothing about it other than Misawa doing all he could to avoid the backdrop (pretty obvious). Just out of curiosity I checked JDW's AJPW Pimpin' Post on Death Valley Driver and he even says its a "nifty great match" If anyone has any insight as to what makes it so great I'd love to hear it.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Hansen/Kobashi, dunno the exact date, but it immediately starts off with Kobashi taking it to Hansen. It's basically ALL Kobashi until Hansen lariats him off the top rope (as in Kobashi was going up, Hansen got on the apron, and lariated him off). I was bored to shit with this match.

[Tawren 0]

Honestly...most of the 1994 Super J Cup, ESPECIALLY Liger/Sasuke. It's not all that great. Ditto with Liger/Ohtani 3/17/96 (haven't seen their 97 match). Liger is _REALLY_ overrated.

[Guest Black Tiger]

Hansen vs Kobashi is from 7/29/93 and it's all about storytelling. Kobashi was just an up and comer then and not even close to being a top guy. The idea is that if he can beat Hansen who was a legend in AJPW then he'd take a big step in that direction. He attacks Hansen right from the get go and uses all his big moves (which does some great selling for). The finish, with Hansen hitting the Western Lariat off the rope, did two things (in my mind). 1. It added a little bit of power to the move so that Hansen didn't take all of Kobashi's big moves and then have Kobashi job to a simple lariat. (that's just my opinion though). Also it was the legend Hansen taking advantage of a mistake by the younger guy and using his experience to get the win, even though he didn't have such a great looking moveset.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Lyger/Sasuke is sometimes overrated, but it's still a very good match and the second best one from that tourniment. Liger does a good job of bringing the offense and letting Sasuke up every once in a while to build up his come-backs. He's not as surly and mean as he would become in later years, but still great as the King of Juniors, dominating Sasuke and stepping up his game to try for the win. Not great, but very good.

 

Liger/Ohtani is one of the best Juniors matches of the decade and probably a career performance for both men. Liger is great at playing the grumpy top dog out to prove his superiority, and Ohtani, at that point, was ideal for his role of up-and-coming challenger. Along with selling for each other and bring plenty of offense, they both add little touches that help the match a lot, like Ohtani's expresion of grief after Liger barely escapes from getting pinned, or Liger's frustration after Ohtani disrespects him.

 

So I'm not sure what you mean by Liger being overrated based off of those two matches. I've heard good arguments for Liger, at times certain points of his career, being overrated, but not at the time that those matches took place.

[Tawren 0]

Lyger/Sasuke is sometimes overrated, but it's still a very good match and the second best one from that tourniment. Liger does a good job of bringing the offense and letting Sasuke up every once in a while to build up his come-backs. He's not as surly and mean as he would become in later years, but still great as the King of Juniors, dominating Sasuke and stepping up his game to try for the win. Not great, but very good.

 

Liger/Ohtani is one of the best Juniors matches of the decade and probably a career performance for both men. Liger is great at playing the grumpy top dog out to prove his superiority, and Ohtani, at that point, was ideal for his role of up-and-coming challenger. Along with selling for each other and bring plenty of offense, they both add little touches that help the match a lot, like Ohtani's expresion of grief after Liger barely escapes from getting pinned, or Liger's frustration after Ohtani disrespects him.

 

So I'm not sure what you mean by Liger being overrated based off of those two matches. I've heard good arguments for Liger, at times certain points of his career, being overrated, but not at the time that those matches took place.

I get the stories of the matches, I just find them overrated. The Liger/Ohtani match in particular. They take a long time lying around and then Ohtani hits a move, Liger kicks out, lie around, Ohtani hits a bigger move, Liger kicks out, lie around, repeat a few times, Liger gets up and one punches (or one palms, whatever) Ohtani, match is over. I really can't see how it is one of the best Junior matches of the decade.

[Coffin Surfer 0]

The match that does it for me at the moment is Mitsuharu Misawa vs Steve Williams from 7/28/94. I feel the booking was good because Misawa was going on two years as champion and a change was needed. But for the life of me I cannot understand why this gets pimped as being so good.

I think it's an excellent match, though obviously a step down from Williams work with Kawada.

 

I don't recall the match being rated that highly, but as far as Williams' performances go it's probably one of his better peformances in terms of him filling his time and building to his offense(once again not as good as job as the 94 Carnies).

 

Still, the final run is pretty fun, with the ending left in doubt to the very last Backdrop Diver, I can imagine that doesn't help much if you already knew the outcome, which most do since it's Misawa's big Triple Crown loss.

 

Misawa doesn't roll out alot of his trademark bombs in his final serious offense run, which smartly makes it appear that he's saving some stuff to put Williams away. Misawa even bails after the Backdrop Driver, just like Kawada making it appear as if he's going to squeek by as well, and make another comeback. However, Williams isn't gonna let another one get away, he just gets pissed, grabs Misawa, and kills him with a second Backdrop Driver. The best part is how they had the crowd in their hands, playing them pefectly to generate in insane amount of heat.

 

 

Corey: As far as Kobashi/Hansen being one sided and boring, what match were you watching? Kobashi controls the first five minutes, than Hansen beats the piss out of him in some of the most cringe inducing moments in wrestling history, from there the match goes back and forth.

[Coffin Surfer 0]

I get the stories of the matches, I just find them overrated. The Liger/Ohtani match in particular. They take a long time lying around and then Ohtani hits a move, Liger kicks out, lie around, Ohtani hits a bigger move, Liger kicks out, lie around, repeat a few times, Liger gets up and one punches (or one palms, whatever) Ohtani, match is over. I really can't see how it is one of the best Junior matches of the decade.

God forbid they actually sell the moves they are doing to each other.

 

And if you don't get the finish, than you obviously don't understand the story.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Man, this thread is asking for trouble . Of the matches mentioned here, the only one I haven't seen is Williams vs Misawa. As for the rest, I find it hard to believe that people don't love these to death. They all immediatly stuck out to me as gold. My friend who watches some puro with me once in a while was blown away by Hanson vs KObashi 7/29/93 and it remains one of his favourite matches. I've seen people that never watch puro before be impressed more by Liger vs Ohtani than anything going on in the WWF (But to be fair this was 1997). I think part of the problem here is that there may be no emotional attachment to the wrestlers and that's one of the keys to getting into a match. For example, take a side headlock by two of your favourite wrestlers and than take that same headlock done by two wrestlers that you really don't know too well. I guarantee you that you'll find the headlock between your two favourite wrestlers more interesting simply because you know them. So keeping that in mind, keep on watching puro and let the emotional attachment grow to the wrestlers. Than when you go back, you'll probably find stuff like Liger vs Ohtani and Hansen vs Kobashi more interesting and discover you don't think it's overrated anymore.

[Tawren 0]

I get the stories of the matches, I just find them overrated. The Liger/Ohtani match in particular. They take a long time lying around and then Ohtani hits a move, Liger kicks out, lie around, Ohtani hits a bigger move, Liger kicks out, lie around, repeat a few times, Liger gets up and one punches (or one palms, whatever) Ohtani, match is over. I really can't see how it is one of the best Junior matches of the decade.

God forbid they actually sell the moves they are doing to each other.

 

And if you don't get the finish, than you obviously don't understand the story.

Yes, I do understand the story. Liger is out to prove he can hang with the up and comer trying to take his spot as top dog, Ohtani is out to prove he can beat the top dog, so Ohtani pulls out all the stops but just can't put Liger away, which is evident in Ohtani's frustration after Liger keeps kicking out. I GET IT, THAT ISN'T MY PROBLEM. I just don't like it as much as I have seen it pimped. Explain to me how me not liking Liger one punch(palm)ing Ohtani to finish the match out of nowhere means I don't get the story. Sheesh.

[Coffin Surfer 0]

The finish, with Hansen hitting the Western Lariat off the rope, did two things (in my mind). 1. It added a little bit of power to the move so that Hansen didn't take all of Kobashi's big moves and then have Kobashi job to a simple lariat. (that's just my opinion though). Also it was the legend Hansen taking advantage of a mistake by the younger guy and using his experience to get the win, even though he didn't have such a great looking moveset.

Not really, this finish isn't about Hansen taking advantage of the young guy's mistake as much as it's about the vet just killing Kobashi's run cold. It was like, enough of this bullshit, I'm putting the breaks on, you an't going nowhere punk.

 

And I've also thought Hansen had a great looking bad ass move set myself. He had one of the more creative mid range brawling move sets in history(just look at the the thousands of intresting things he does at 2/93 with Kawada).

 

The Cowboy kick has obviously been imitated by everyone now days, his Powerbomb had bad intentions, his Backdrop occasionally drifted into Steven Williams' territory, the Western Lariat is one of the most badass finishers in history, and he had a nice Tope for a fat man. How is that not a great looking moveset.

[Coffin Surfer 0]

I get the stories of the matches, I just find them overrated. The Liger/Ohtani match in particular. They take a long time lying around and then Ohtani hits a move, Liger kicks out, lie around, Ohtani hits a bigger move, Liger kicks out, lie around, repeat a few times, Liger gets up and one punches (or one palms, whatever) Ohtani, match is over. I really can't see how it is one of the best Junior matches of the decade.

God forbid they actually sell the moves they are doing to each other.

 

And if you don't get the finish, than you obviously don't understand the story.

Yes, I do understand the story. Liger is out to prove he can hang with the up and comer trying to take his spot as top dog, Ohtani is out to prove he can beat the top dog, so Ohtani pulls out all the stops but just can't put Liger away, which is evident in Ohtani's frustration after Liger keeps kicking out. I GET IT, THAT ISN'T MY PROBLEM. I just don't like it as much as I have seen it pimped. Explain to me how me not liking Liger one punch(palm)ing Ohtani to finish the match out of nowhere means I don't get the story. Sheesh.

Dude, don't you get it, it's a fluke knockout.

 

Ohtani is the firey underdog, he gets to firey, and stupidly runs into his own demise. It's a fitting ending to cap off the match's theme.

[Tawren 0]

I get the stories of the matches, I just find them overrated. The Liger/Ohtani match in particular. They take a long time lying around and then Ohtani hits a move, Liger kicks out, lie around, Ohtani hits a bigger move, Liger kicks out, lie around, repeat a few times, Liger gets up and one punches (or one palms, whatever) Ohtani, match is over. I really can't see how it is one of the best Junior matches of the decade.

God forbid they actually sell the moves they are doing to each other.

 

And if you don't get the finish, than you obviously don't understand the story.

Yes, I do understand the story. Liger is out to prove he can hang with the up and comer trying to take his spot as top dog, Ohtani is out to prove he can beat the top dog, so Ohtani pulls out all the stops but just can't put Liger away, which is evident in Ohtani's frustration after Liger keeps kicking out. I GET IT, THAT ISN'T MY PROBLEM. I just don't like it as much as I have seen it pimped. Explain to me how me not liking Liger one punch(palm)ing Ohtani to finish the match out of nowhere means I don't get the story. Sheesh.

Dude, don't you get it, it's a fluke knockout.

 

Ohtani is the firey underdog, he gets to firey, and stupidly runs into his own demise. It's a fitting ending to cap off the match's theme.

I understand that, but my main point is that it comes out of nowhere (which a fluke has to, but still), they spend way too much time lying around (selling a move is fine, but they spent so much time just lying there), and how weak the finish is. Seriously, Liger could use his brainbuster or Ligerbomb or even a lariat and it would work more than just a one punch(palm) to win. I like the match, I just really don't get how people call it so great and one of the best matches out there.

[Coffin Surfer 0]

I understand that, but my main point is that it comes out of nowhere (which a fluke has to, but still), they spend way too much time lying around (selling a move is fine, but they spent so much time just lying there), and how weak the finish is. Seriously, Liger could use his brainbuster or Ligerbomb or even a lariat and it would work more than just a one punch(palm) to win. I like the match, I just really don't get how people call it so great and one of the best matches out there.

Yeah, Lyger and a killer Lariat. (rolls eyes)

 

A Lyger Bomb and a Brainbuster wouldn't be that much of a fluke now would it.

 

The Palm Strike was a new move he wanted over, and it looked as fucking devestating as any Lariat, so I don't see how it's weak or anything.

 

I don't recall either of them every just lying there, especially Ohtani who's always doing something, crawling around in a stupor, pounding his fists, whatever.

 

What junior matches are better?

 

Maybe Lyger/Samurai and Ohanti/Samurai.

[Coffin Surfer 0]

So I just watched the match, and I don't see any unnecessary lying around. Their either selling, or arguing with an official, and it's usually kept brief. So I have no clue what your talking about.

[Tawren 0]

What junior matches are better?

 

Maybe Lyger/Samurai and Ohanti/Samurai.

Off the top of my head:

 

-Both Wild Pegasus & Shinjiro Otani vs. Great Sasuke & Black Tiger 2 from the Super JR tag league 94

-Ohtani/Ultimo Dragon from the J*Crown 1996

-Benoit/Samurai from BOTSJ 1993

-Benoit vs Guerrero from BOTSJ 1995

 

As for lying around, sure maybe they are grimacing or holding their arms, but they are on their backs on the mat, mostly towards the end with Ohtani hitting his fishermans buster and dragon suplex, as they lie there for a while post-move before getting up and hitting the next move. Again, they're selling, but they are also just lying around and it is hard for ME to find a match ****+ and one of the best matches of the decade when lots of the time is spent lying around.

[Coffin Surfer 0]

What junior matches are better?

 

Maybe Lyger/Samurai and Ohanti/Samurai.

Off the top of my head:

 

As for lying around, sure maybe they are grimacing or holding their arms, but they are on their backs on the mat, mostly towards the end with Ohtani hitting his fishermans buster and dragon suplex, as they lie there for a while post-move before getting up and hitting the next move. Again, they're selling, but they are also just lying around and it is hard for ME to find a match ****+ and one of the best matches of the decade when lots of the time is spent lying around.

Bah, this is retarded.

 

They do not spend lots of time lying around, I don't even know what the fuck your talking about any more.

 

After the Fisherman Buster:

 

Lyger cover. Ohtant kicks out. Lyger sits up on his knees like,"What the Fuck". Ohtani crawls to the ropes in a stupor. Lyger jumps and poses, signalling that he's going up stairs. He grabs Ohtani and sits him on the top rope. All of this over the course of 15 seconds.

 

Yes, this sounds like lying around to me.

 

After the first Dragon Suplex:

 

Ohtani immidately picks up Lyger and hits another right afterwards.

 

After second Dragon Suplex:

 

In a classic moment, Ohtani realizes he screwed up and throws a hissy fit. Ohtani than rolls on his back to show exhaustion and how drained he is after just throwing everything he has at the Man. He than gets up, and sits Lyger up for another Dragon Suplex.

 

Total time Ohtani is on his back: a staggering 7 seconds.

 

Damn them for all that laying around. Damn Ohtani for showing emotion in the most important match of life at that point, and damn them for taking a couple of seconds to sell their finishers.

[Tawren 0]

Bah, fine, whatever, you win. I didn't like the match. There ya go, there is my reason. I felt they were lying around too much because that is what it seemed like while I was watching it...whatever.

[Guest Ray]

Hokuto/Kandori. You know the one. Still don't get it. And I'd like to. Yep.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Bah, fine, whatever, you win. I didn't like the match. There ya go, there is my reason. I felt they were lying around too much because that is what it seemed like while I was watching it...whatever.

That's a pretty bad cop-out. Blowing him off with the dismisive "whatever" after he went back and took notes on the match to prove you wrong is pretty lame. He hasn't been too "nice" about arguing this, but if someone makes a good argument, it's usually best to listen instead of ignoring them. How are you supposed to get anything out of a discussion if you won't listen to others's opinions, especially when they've made a good point?

[Guest RickyChosyu]

-Ohtani/Ultimo Dragon from the J*Crown 1996

What's interesting about this pick is that there's plenty of "lying around" (ie: selling) in this match, too. With pretty much every big move that Ultimo kicks out of, Ohtani gives the same, exasperated, "I can't believe this shit" look on his face that he had in the Liger match. In both matches, it helps the match by adding more drama to the moment. Ohtani could shrug his shoulders and move on to something else, but that wouldn't be appropriate for either match; he's throwing absolutely everything he has at his opponents in hopes of scorring a big win, but for whatever reason, falls just short of that.

 

In both matches, Ohtani is doing nothing resembling "just lying there," he's making the most out of the big moves he hits and advancing the story.

[Guest Ghettoman]

Man almost all puro gets overrated by general 'smarks'.

 

It's easy to go indepth about the story there trying to get across and how the crowd was into it, but no one ever talks about how they supported the story throughout, what it took to get the crowd into them and just how into it they were.

 

I've never, ever seen a puro match that had me going 'omg this is so awesom0rz' when it was all over, simply because it's pimped as the best ever and it just doesn't hold up to that image.

 

I think I was watching Jumbo vs Misawa(not sure), and I was told it was the perfect match for a young gun vs older stud match. Not at all. The basics of the match weren't even perfect so how the story could be is beyond me.

 

There's a lot of good stuff, but with everyone feeling empowered by the whole 'jumbo goes on offense quick, so he knows the young misawa won't get anything early, this shows perfectly how blah blah blah' it's a lot fewer and far between than many would believe.

[Coffin Surfer 0]

Man almost all puro gets overrated by general 'smarks'.

 

It's easy to go indepth about the story there trying to get across and how the crowd was into it, but no one ever talks about how they supported the story throughout, what it took to get the crowd into them and just how into it they were.

 

I've never, ever seen a puro match that had me going 'omg this is so awesom0rz' when it was all over, simply because it's pimped as the best ever and it just doesn't hold up to that image.

 

I think I was watching Jumbo vs Misawa(not sure), and I was told it was the perfect match for a young gun vs older stud match. Not at all. The basics of the match weren't even perfect so how the story could be is beyond me.

 

There's a lot of good stuff, but with everyone feeling empowered by the whole 'jumbo goes on offense quick, so he knows the young misawa won't get anything early, this shows perfectly how blah blah blah' it's a lot fewer and far between than many would believe.

Please don't call me a smark, it insults my intelligence.

 

Apparently your reading the wrong reviews.

 

"The basics of the match weren't even perfect so how the story could be is beyond me."

 

Care to take some of your own advice, and explain what the hell your talking about? It's easy to just say something without backing it up in the slightest.

 

 

Jumbo and Misawa 6/90 perhaps, does an excellent job of getting across the story through the actual work, because you know, that's what story telling is, you make it seem like were making this shit up. Now I will explain why, even though I'm probably wasting my time:

 

Jumbo easily toys with Misawa early, dominating him with simple stuff like a Scoop Slam. Taking him far to lightly, he goes for his Backdrop finisher waaaaaaaaaaay to soon. Misawa counters and uses his youthful quickness to kill Jumbo with a barage of dives. Jumbo has a problem now, Misawa is no longer the scared kid who had to control him with a headlock, he's a serious threat who's capable of scoring big when he makes even the smallest mistake. It's on the screen, it's really happening, I'm not making this up.

 

From there Misawa bullies Jumbo with his elbow smashes, which have proven to be a serious threat to the Man, as evident in a six man tag leading to the match where he got k.o.ed by one when wasn't expecting it. But when Misawa makes the mistake of slowing things down, Jumbo out wrestles him, and muscles him around in the Surfboard. However, Misawa uses his superior athleticism to escape. There's that the whole storytelling thing, you say doesn't exist.

 

Getting cocky, Misawa starts disrespecting Jumbo with bitch slaps on the rope breaks. Jumbo doesn't like this, and knees the shit out of Misawa with a cheap shot of his own. He than slows the tempo back down to his favor with the Cobra Twist. Jumbo continues to wear down his faster foe with ease, but when he goes to the well one to many times with that gut buster thingy, Misawa breaks away, and hits the a high flying move. Once more, Misawa capitlizes on Jumbo's mistake by brutallizing him with a series of dives. More of that storytelling stuff.

 

Jumbo plays with imagery from his own past throughout the match, such as when he uses the Jumbo Killer(Stun Gun) to stop Misawa's run in a simlar manner the vertern Terry Funk used the desperation move to stop the upstart Jumbo in their 76 classic.

 

Jumbo's scared now, and he starts covering Misawa after every little move, further showing his desperation. Watch the match if you don't believe me, this is actually happening, it's real. Not wanting to risk the Backdrop again, Jumbo recycles his moveset, and goes for the double arm Suplex again. Misawa smartly counters, and hits an elbow. All the head trauma is accumliating, and Jumbo collapses from just the single elbow.

 

However, when Misawa goes for the Frog Splash again, Jumbo gets the knees up, showing that he's not the only one using his brain tonight. Jumbo smartly slows it back down with the Crab, wearing Misawa down, while he recovers from the last run. Jumbo hits some more bombs, but he still can't find anything that can put the young lion away. Having no choice now, Jumbo has to use his finisher to put down Misawa.

 

But Misawa kicks off the ropes, pushing Jumbo's already fragile head into the mat. Misawa hits his German Suplex finisher, but it's gonna take alot more than that to put away the Man. Misawa goes for the Tiger Driver, but Jumbo's to big, and crushes him into the mat. However, Jumbo crouches himself on a Dropkick to reinforce the fact that the win's gonna be fluke. And of course we all know the fluke roll up ending to show that while Misawa can't beat Jumbo decively yet, he's still the chosen one of his generation.

 

Now do you see how they use their actions to tell the story. I can write a seperate novel on why the crowd reacts to each individual spot, but do you really need everything fed to you like a baby?

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

Man almost all puro gets overrated by general 'smarks'.

 

It's easy to go indepth about the story there trying to get across and how the crowd was into it, but no one ever talks about how they supported the story throughout, what it took to get the crowd into them and just how into it they were.

 

I've never, ever seen a puro match that had me going 'omg this is so awesom0rz' when it was all over, simply because it's pimped as the best ever and it just doesn't hold up to that image.

 

I think I was watching Jumbo vs Misawa(not sure), and I was told it was the perfect match for a young gun vs older stud match. Not at all. The basics of the match weren't even perfect so how the story could be is beyond me.

 

There's a lot of good stuff, but with everyone feeling empowered by the whole 'jumbo goes on offense quick, so he knows the young misawa won't get anything early, this shows perfectly how blah blah blah' it's a lot fewer and far between than many would believe.

Not to be a smartass, but don't you think that you should actually make sure that you watch the match that you are talking about or make sure it's the one that everyone is talking about before you condemn the match?

[Guest Ghettoman]

No I remember the match, I'm downloading it now so I can get into this further, I'm just not good with names and dates so I never assume I'm correct on that.

 

And Coffin, please don't take general statements overly personal, it's just incredibly annoying.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

Man almost all puro gets overrated by general 'smarks'.

 

It's easy to go indepth about the story there trying to get across and how the crowd was into it, but no one ever talks about how they supported the story throughout, what it took to get the crowd into them and just how into it they were.

 

I've never, ever seen a puro match that had me going 'omg this is so awesom0rz' when it was all over, simply because it's pimped as the best ever and it just doesn't hold up to that image.

 

I think I was watching Jumbo vs Misawa(not sure), and I was told it was the perfect match for a young gun vs older stud match. Not at all. The basics of the match weren't even perfect so how the story could be is beyond me.

 

There's a lot of good stuff, but with everyone feeling empowered by the whole 'jumbo goes on offense quick, so he knows the young misawa won't get anything early, this shows perfectly how blah blah blah' it's a lot fewer and far between than many would believe.

Please don't call me a smark, it insults my intelligence.

 

Apparently your reading the wrong reviews.

 

"The basics of the match weren't even perfect so how the story could be is beyond me."

 

Care to take some of your own advice, and explain what the hell your talking about? It's easy to just say something without backing it up in the slightest.

 

 

Jumbo and Misawa 6/90 perhaps, does an excellent job of getting across the story through the actual work, because you know, that's what story telling is, you make it seem like were making this shit up. Now I will explain why, even though I'm probably wasting my time:

 

Jumbo easily toys with Misawa early, dominating him with simple stuff like a Scoop Slam. Taking him far to lightly, he goes for his Backdrop finisher waaaaaaaaaaay to soon. Misawa counters and uses his youthful quickness to kill Jumbo with a barage of dives. Jumbo has a problem now, Misawa is no longer the scared kid who had to control him with a headlock, he's a serious threat who's capable of scoring big when he makes even the smallest mistake. It's on the screen, it's really happening, I'm not making this up.

 

From there Misawa bullies Jumbo with his elbow smashes, which have proven to be a serious threat to the Man, as evident in a six man tag leading to the match where he got k.o.ed by one when wasn't expecting it. But when Misawa makes the mistake of slowing things down, Jumbo out wrestles him, and muscles him around in the Surfboard. However, Misawa uses his superior athleticism to escape. There's that the whole storytelling thing, you say doesn't exist.

 

Getting cocky, Misawa starts disrespecting Jumbo with bitch slaps on the rope breaks. Jumbo doesn't like this, and knees the shit out of Misawa with a cheap shot of his own. He than slows the tempo back down to his favor with the Cobra Twist. Jumbo continues to wear down his faster foe with ease, but when he goes to the well one to many times with that gut buster thingy, Misawa breaks away, and hits the a high flying move. Once more, Misawa capitlizes on Jumbo's mistake by brutallizing him with a series of dives. More of that storytelling stuff.

 

Jumbo plays with imagery from his own past throughout the match, such as when he uses the Jumbo Killer(Stun Gun) to stop Misawa's run in a simlar manner the vertern Terry Funk used the desperation move to stop the upstart Jumbo in their 76 classic.

 

Jumbo's scared now, and he starts covering Misawa after every little move, further showing his desperation. Watch the match if you don't believe me, this is actually happening, it's real. Not wanting to risk the Backdrop again, Jumbo recycles his moveset, and goes for the double arm Suplex again. Misawa smartly counters, and hits an elbow. All the head trauma is accumliating, and Jumbo collapses from just the single elbow.

 

However, when Misawa goes for the Frog Splash again, Jumbo gets the knees up, showing that he's not the only one using his brain tonight. Jumbo smartly slows it back down with the Crab, wearing Misawa down, while he recovers from the last run. Jumbo hits some more bombs, but he still can't find anything that can put the young lion away. Having no choice now, Jumbo has to use his finisher to put down Misawa.

 

But Misawa kicks off the ropes, pushing Jumbo's already fragile head into the mat. Misawa hits his German Suplex finisher, but it's gonna take alot more than that to put away the Man. Misawa goes for the Tiger Driver, but Jumbo's to big, and crushes him into the mat. However, Jumbo crouches himself on a Dropkick to reinforce the fact that the win's gonna be fluke. And of course we all know the fluke roll up ending to show that while Misawa can't beat Jumbo decively yet, he's still the chosen one of his generation.

 

Now do you see how they use their actions to tell the story. I can write a seperate novel on why the crowd reacts to each individual spot, but do you really need everything fed to you like a baby?

I think that this match is worked in a very "smart" style and it's one of the better worked matches I've ever seen. I could understand people not understanding how they work(if they are new to puro or it's not their thing) but otherwise, this match is incredible.

[Coffin Surfer 0]

No I remember the match, I'm downloading it now so I can get into this further, I'm just not good with names and dates so I never assume I'm correct on that.

 

And Coffin, please don't take general statements overly personal, it's just incredibly annoying.

Generalizing is incredibly annoying. I also find stereotyping to be terribly offensive, even if it's just wrestling fans. It also comes off very ignorant.

[Guest Ghettoman]

Oh I see where the problem comes from, I was just confused with you taking it personal and all.

[Guest JebusNassedar]

There are only two puro things I dont get.

 

One: the appeal of (insert item hear) deathmatches. Or, most of FMW's weirdass deathmatches.

 

Two: Antonio Inoki. All the matches I've seen him in, he;s underwhelming at best. I'd much rather watch anything with Fujinami than with Inoki. Although the way he took Vader's release German is just great.

 

Other than that, I dont have any specific match problems.

[Guest Black Tiger]

the appeal of (insert item hear) deathmatches. Or, most of FMW's weirdass deathmatches.

 

You're not alone in that aspect. The only death match I've ever seen that I enjoyed was Kudo vs Toyota vs 5/5/96 and that was because it was some of the best ringwork I'd ever seen. The electrified barbed wire was mainly used just as an enhancement to make the crowd/viewers yell "holy shit!"

 

 

Antonio Inoki. All the matches I've seen him in, he;s underwhelming at best. I'd much rather watch anything with Fujinami than with Inoki. Although the way he took Vader's release German is just great.

 

Can't really help you out TOO much here, but from what I understand, Inoki fought a lot of "legit" fighters back in the 70's and 80's like Muhammad Ali in some vain attempt to prove that NJPW was the strongest fighting group in the world or something like that.