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[Guest Black Tiger]

TOSHIAKI KAWADA/RICKY FUYUKI vs DOUG FURNAS/DANNY KROFFAT (6/5/89)

A ton of fun to be had with this match. Especially if you watch it with someone who has the state of mind that Puro is strictly just about athletic competition, without any sort of face/heel structure to it. This is designed much like a Fantastics vs Midnight Express match, with only one really puzzling aspect. Footloose (the natvies) play the heels. It still works in a way, because you can correlate Kawada, kicking the hell of them, with Stan Lane and his "educated feet". The control segments from Footloose are great, as is the big comeback by the Can-Ams. The only part I didn't like was the ending, because with Fuyuki getting cut off, Kawada was having to keep kicking out himself. So with Fuyuki unable to do so, it would have made sense for the Can-Ams to go all the way to keep him down, rather than a simple Tiger driver. Its still an excellent match, you should really check out.

[Nevermortal 0]

Recently:

 

Bob Sapp v. Kensuke Sasaki (3/28/04)

 

- Very interesting. Wouldn't call it good, but it's very, very interesting. Especially the Akira Hokuto battle with Makai and Bob Sapp taking one huge motherfucker of a Northern Lights Bomb.

 

Genichiro Tenryu v. Yuji Nagata (8/8/04)

 

- Posssibly the most fun I've ever had watching a match in a LONG time. From Tenryu's retaliation from Nagata not breaking a hold, to Nagata no selling a Tenryucanrana and PASTING him with a charging knee, there's infinite amounts of awesome contained in a 15 minute match.

[Guest jobsquad]

Ryuji Ito & Daisuke Sekimoto Vs The Akarangers (GENTARO & Takashi Sasaki)9/11/04 apache troop

 

Awesome tag match very heated. the apache crowds were somehow transported from lawler era memphis to modern kouraken hall(they cheer the faces boo the heels). This match more then makes up for the rather poor wj Vs apache troop main event.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura v Yuji Nagata and Hiroyoshi Tenzan - 1/30/05

 

This is the IWGP Tag Team Title match from this past Sunday night. Everything looked good, as you would expect, but the crowd heat wasn't there, even in the closing stretches of the match. The big story was Tenzan having to get his back attended to at ringside, leaving Nagata to go it alone for most of the remainder of the match. The star of the match was Tanahashi, who looked the most vibrant and alive of the four participants, and showed the most fire. The ending was good, with some nice false finishes, but the crowd just didn’t come alive, even though the action itself was good. In front of a hotter crowd, this would have probably hit ****, easy, and hopefully they’ll go at it again sometime.

 

Sadly, the most newsworthy aspect of this was the condition of Hiroyoshi Tenzan. I don’t know how bad his nerve problems are, but I can only assume they must be real bad, because he looked like a completely different person in this match. He’s lost a good 20lbs since the Tokyo Dome in January, and his arms looked shockingly thin and haggard. Also, and I don’t know how this works, but he looked shorter for some reason. I don’t how to explain that last one, but Tenzan looked in terrible shape physically, and I hope he gets better soon.

[SinToxic 0]

I've been feeling nostalgic towards tournaments lately, so I planned to start a G1 marathon, hopefully finish it completely so I can finally decide which one is my favorite. The feel of interpromotional matches is what's missing in the tournaments in general these days.

[Jingus 0]

Picked up the NOAH 7-10-04 Tokyo Dome show, and I've been watching my way through it. Haven't gotten to the Misawa/Mutoh tag match or the much-ballyhooed Kobashi/Akiyuma bout, but here's a few thoughts so far:

 

-Momota and Eigen seem like they break all the natural laws of biology at least once in all their matches. How do these two senior citizens pull off a prettier sunset flip than most of the guys half their age?

 

-Masou Inoue is still boring as hell.

 

-Too Cold Scorpio looks like shit these days, with a beer gut and less hair than Hogan, but then... he climbs to the top rope, and BOOM, still delivers some of the most beautiful highspots you'll ever see. I still can't believe how every single company in the US completely pissed away this guy's talent like they did.

 

-Marafuji/KENTA vs. Kashin/Sugiura was really fun, with the guys switching seamlessly from goofy comedy to cringe-inducing highspots like they were straight outta Toryumon. It's weird to see a powerbomb from the apron to the floor portrayed as a laff riot, but hey, that's them wacky Japanese for ya.

 

-Liger still fucking rules, as he absolutely made Kanemaru's career with their title match, bumping and selling and jobbing like the god of wrestling that he is. HOWever, it's kinda sad to see the Finisher Overkill trend has even gotten to Jushin these days, as they burned through about a million palm strikes/powerbombs/brainbusters, even going so far as to throw a Ligerbomb within the first thirty seconds (and have Kanemaru kick out and practically no-sell it afterwards).

 

Well, now to go watch the main event. It HAS to rule like ****** MOTD, cuz Meltzer said so! [/fanboy]

[Jingus 0]

Well, finally finished watching the tape.

 

-I wish I could speak Japanese, just to know what the hell Rusher Kimura is saying in all his post-match promos that's so damn funny.

 

-I don't get the love for Takayama. He's just big, bland, and boring to me. And yes, I've seen his matches against Misawa, and I still wasn't impressed. Maybe Chono pulled some miracles out of him, but I doubt it. He's better than former tag partner Omori, but that's kinda like Gedo being better than Jado. He can take a helluva beating and dish one out too, but so can Pogo the Clown, and I don't see fanboys claiming he's putting on MOTYCs.

 

-Misawa/Ogawa vs. Mutoh/Kea was just weird. They'd do one spot that's great and innovative and made you crave more, and then follow it up by botching or no-selling something else. And if you can't look at the people in the match and tell me who pins who with what, then you sure as hell haven't watched any NOAH before. At least Mutoh was trying (his moonsault is still a thing of beauty), even if Misawa seems to get more and more Flairish with every passing year by his reliance on his ever-dwindling bag of old tricks. (Replace chop/low blow/figure-4/Flair flop with elbow/tiger driver/emerald fusion/head drop).

 

-And here's one part of the match that deserves its own section: Former GHC "Heavyweight" Champion Yoshinari Ogawa. He still sucks. His offense is still nothing but moves that The Rock has employed at some point or another. He damn near kills Tea with a fucked-up double team at one point. Ogawa wrestling inside the ring while Taka Michinoku waves a flag outside it must be in violation of some religious commandment somewhere. Ogawa could be wrestling himself in an empty ring and still not be the best wrestler present.

 

-Kobashi vs. Akiyuma was really fun, much more so than the overrated 3-03 Kobashi-Misawa bout. For once, here's a match where (gasp!) the wrestlers actually build up the impact of their offense throughout the match, so they're using the most dangerous spots and the biggest finishers at the END instead of some arbitrary time beforehand. Simple logic, but for some reason it escapes a lotta workers. The much-talked-about suplexes to the floor were neat and wince-y, but I was more entertained by the ridiculous spot where Kobashi drags Akiyuma to the corner and proceeds to chop him 73 times in a row (yes I counted).

 

All in all, an above-average show, definitely worth picking up sometime.

[SinToxic 0]

-I don't get the love for Takayama. He's just big, bland, and boring to me. And yes, I've seen his matches against Misawa, and I still wasn't impressed. Maybe Chono pulled some miracles out of him, but I doubt it. He's better than former tag partner Omori, but that's kinda like Gedo being better than Jado. He can take a helluva beating and dish one out too, but so can Pogo the Clown, and I don't see fanboys claiming he's putting on MOTYCs.

 

-Misawa/Ogawa vs. Mutoh/Kea was just weird. They'd do one spot that's great and innovative and made you crave more, and then follow it up by botching or no-selling something else. And if you can't look at the people in the match and tell me who pins who with what, then you sure as hell haven't watched any NOAH before. At least Mutoh was trying (his moonsault is still a thing of beauty), even if Misawa seems to get more and more Flairish with every passing year by his reliance on his ever-dwindling bag of old tricks. (Replace chop/low blow/figure-4/Flair flop with elbow/tiger driver/emerald fusion/head drop).

Takayama can be rather slow sometimes but when fired up like he was against Nagata or smaller opponents he can be fun to watch. It weird how half a decade ago no one would see him become what he has now, with the top single reigns and high profile matches.

 

In the tag match, Misawa seemed very reckless with Kea. You could just see how careful he was with Muto but the Emerald Fusion drop could have fooled me into believing that Kea was seriously damaged.

[Jingus 0]

I watched the match again, and damn you're right, it looked like Misawa was trying to fuckin' kill Kea on those last two moves. He dropped him right on the top of his head. (Digression: despite what some fanboys might tell you, it's actually pretty rare for a wrestler to really be dropped on his head. Workers create the illusion of headdrops by taking the impact on their shoulders, putting an arm down to block the move, or just rolling with it. The only real headdrop is one where the guy's arms are at his side and you can clearly see his cranium burying itself into the mat, which is pretty much what happened with Kea here.)

 

On a second viewing, I liked the match even less. As interpromotional "dream" matches go, the Misawa/Chono vs. Kobashi/Taue match smoked this one like a cheap cigar.

[Guest Black Tiger]

I think Misawa dumped him like that, because Kea fucked up the first attempt at it. Either unintentionally due to fear, or he sandbagged Misawa on it. Hence, Misawa spiking him for the second one.

 

As interpromotional "dream" matches go, the Misawa/Chono vs. Kobashi/Taue match smoked this one like a cheap cigar

 

I've never seen that match actually, every time I try to get the tape, something happens and I don't get it.

[Guest Black Tiger]

KENTA KOBASHI vs TOSHIAKI KAWADA (6/30/90)

 

This was SO much fun, especially with the hindsight of how their rivalry would play out starting in 1993. Now they're just two young wrestlers showing what they can do. Both of them pull out stuff you'd never see them do today. Kawada with a somersault tope, Kobashi with a cross body press off the top to the floor. Kobashi targets Kawada's knee. When Kobashi's regular submisisons don't work, he goes one-up by using a kneebuster, into the submissions. Kawada sells like the king he would soon become. Kawada even goes as far as to crumple onto the mat from a single kick to the midsection, after Kobashi got done tearing it up. Kawada gets a huge near fall with a Crucifix, and then reverses a Kobashi roll up for the upset. And afterwards, they all shake hands and show respect, because in 1990, their rivalry wasn't personal.

[SinToxic 0]

I think Misawa dumped him like that, because Kea fucked up the first attempt at it. Either unintentionally due to fear, or he sandbagged Misawa on it. Hence, Misawa spiking him for the second one.

Gave it a glance just now, obviously giving this botched up match more viewing than it deserves. Misawa is just bleeding with sweat and completely out of breath. He doesnt actually position Kea properly and it looks like a rapid body slam into Emerald Fusion (Kea's body still twisted in the air) with Miasawa not finding strength to hold him for the drop. Maybe that's why he went for the 2nd EF from the suplex or just to make it look more damaging to Kea who was kicking out from everything.

 

Just started watching NJ's 8/12/92 show. Barbarian looks out of fucking place.

[Jingus 0]

I had the same reaction. 1st one looked like a simple fuck-up, 2nd one looked intentional as hell. Why Mitsuhara did it, I have no idea.

[Nevermortal 0]

Fuck the Screwdriver Emerald Frosion. Fuck it forever. That's a broken neck waiting to happen.

 

Kendo Ka Shin/Kazuyuki Fujita v. Shinsuke Nakamura/Manabu Nakanishi (11/13/04)

 

- Quite the interesting encounter here. Nothing really all that good, but it wasn't slow for the most part and I liked the Nakanishi/Ka Shin interactions. The ending gets points for being RIDICULOUS. Fujita DRILLS Nakamura with a powerbomb, but Nakamura kicks out at one, so Fujita knees him square in the face, kicks him in the ribs, then bounces off the ropes and hits Nakamura with literally the stiffest kick to the head I've ever seen for the win. Afterwards, Inoki runs in and beats the shit out of Nakamura for not showing enough Fighting Spirit. Well then.

[Copper Feel 0]

- Posssibly the most fun I've ever had watching a match in a LONG time. From Tenryu's retaliation from Nagata not breaking a hold, to Nagata no selling a Tenryucanrana and PASTING him with a charging knee, there's infinite amounts of awesome contained in a 15 minute match.

now im no expert on puro but how can no selling be considered anything but abysmal?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

- Posssibly the most fun I've ever had watching a match in a LONG time. From Tenryu's retaliation from Nagata not breaking a hold, to Nagata no selling a Tenryucanrana and PASTING him with a charging knee, there's infinite amounts of awesome contained in a 15 minute match.

now im no expert on puro but how can no selling be considered anything but abysmal?

When it makes sense within the context of a match, ie; a babyface making his fiery comeback.

[Copper Feel 0]

When it makes sense within the context of a match, ie; a babyface making his fiery comeback.

but from the brief amount of puro ive seen. ( mostly noah) its not rock style fiery comebacks. but rather one wrestler just stops selling and stares at the other.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

When it makes sense within the context of a match, ie; a babyface making his fiery comeback.

but from the brief amount of puro ive seen. ( mostly noah) its not rock style fiery comebacks. but rather one wrestler just stops selling and stares at the other.

Watch more Puro. It'll make sense then.

[Nevermortal 0]

- Posssibly the most fun I've ever had watching a match in a LONG time. From Tenryu's retaliation from Nagata not breaking a hold, to Nagata no selling a Tenryucanrana and PASTING him with a charging knee, there's infinite amounts of awesome contained in a 15 minute match.

now im no expert on puro but how can no selling be considered anything but abysmal?

When it makes sense within the context of a match, ie; a babyface making his fiery comeback.

Or, WATCH THE MATCH

 

Tenryu gets cocky and does pretty much the worst 'rana ever so Nagata's all like "Fuck that" and Tenryu gets creamed.

[Copper Feel 0]

Or, WATCH THE MATCH

 

Tenryu gets cocky and does pretty much the worst 'rana ever so Nagata's all like "Fuck that" and Tenryu gets creamed.

tenryus crappy execution dosent give nagata the right to treat a high end move like a rana like shit.

[Guest The Masked Avenger]

But it does.

See if a wrestler hits a crappy move, and his opponent sells it like death, it shatters the realism they are trying to build. Sort of like the famous Hardy Boyz drp kick where one misses with a mile and the other sells it.

 

-TMA

[Guest Black Tiger]

HIROYOSHI TENZAN vs KENSUKE SASAKI (IWGP TITLE - 12/12/04)

A fun little match, thanks to both men. Kensuke for being able to come across like the man, even though he's not even a NJPW wrestler. He's got that aura that says "I am the best, and you'll have to damn near kill me to win". He has a big sneer on his face when he's pelting Tenzan with forearm shots, and even using Tenzan's own Mongolian Chops and TTD, just because. Tenzan for his part, just has to go with the flow. He uses a few moves that aren't normally seen out of him, to get over that he's wrestling with everything he has.

 

The big drawback to this comes in Tenzan's first advantage, which he gets by targeting Sasaki's arm. They run the sequence though and then just forget about it. They could have played off it much later, to show that Tenzan won due to his thinking and foresite. The ending was missing the big dramatic sequence when Tenzan fires everything he has at Sasaki, and its still not enough and then having to dig way down, to find the thing that finally works. Which would have really gotten over how big this match was for Tenzan. Any match for the IWGP Title is big, but when you consider how Tenzan was just put on the back burner for most of the year and how they only went back to him when they ran out of choices. It really puts into perspective exactly how big this was. The moonsault finish works for being such a killer. But just running though the Anaconda Vice, then TTD, then moonsault does nothing for build. What about the diving headbutt? The Anaconda Cross? If you're going to use what's arguably your most deadly move (and risky considering how often Tenzan has hurt himself doing it) then at least have the forethought to try to make it mean more than "I won the IWGP Title with the moonsault".

[Copper Feel 0]

But it does.

See if a wrestler hits a crappy move, and his opponent sells it like death, it shatters the realism they are trying to build. Sort of like the famous Hardy Boyz drp kick where one misses with a mile and the other sells it.

 

-TMA

so all of the punishment wrestler a has taking beforehand, suddenly disapeers because wrestler b screws up a move?

[Guest The Masked Avenger]

Nooo... but it still doesn't mean that he should sell a move which clearly hasn't got any impact. Everyone knows that wrestling is worked these days, and selling shitty moves is just fueling the flames of those who love to diss it for being "fake". If you really want to rationalize it, you could say that the missed move gave him some time to recouperate, but I think that if you really want everything to make perfect sense, you'd be better off with UFC/Pride/K1.

 

-TMA

[Copper Feel 0]

Nooo... but it still doesn't mean that he should sell a move which clearly hasn't got any impact. Everyone knows that wrestling is worked these days, and selling shitty moves is just fueling the flames of those who love to diss it for being "fake". If you really want to rationalize it, you could say that the missed move gave him some time to recouperate, but I think that if you really want everything to make perfect sense, you'd be better off with UFC/Pride/K1.

 

-TMA

i dont generaly think pro wrestling needs to be super realistic, but you were arguing that no selling poorly executed moves, adds realism, when in reality it dosent as the pain from the earlier offense, should still exist.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

i dont generaly think pro wrestling needs to be super realistic, but you were arguing that no selling poorly executed moves, adds realism, when in reality it dosent as the pain from the earlier offense, should still exist.

If a move misses, and people can see it missed, selling the move is unrealistic, because people know the move didn't hit. It makes sense for the move to be no-sold, because to do so shatters the illusion of reality.

[Copper Feel 0]

i dont generaly think pro wrestling needs to be super realistic, but you were arguing that no selling poorly executed moves, adds realism, when in reality it dosent as the pain from the earlier offense, should still exist.

If a move misses, and people can see it missed, selling the move is unrealistic, because people know the move didn't hit. It makes sense for the move to be no-sold, because to do so shatters the illusion of reality.

it dosent sound like nagata sold the lonterm effects, of tenyrus not blown offense.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

i dont generaly think pro wrestling needs to be super realistic, but you were arguing that no selling poorly executed moves, adds realism, when in reality it dosent as the pain from the earlier offense, should still exist.

If a move misses, and people can see it missed, selling the move is unrealistic, because people know the move didn't hit. It makes sense for the move to be no-sold, because to do so shatters the illusion of reality.

it dosent sound like nagata sold the lonterm effects, of tenyrus not blown offense.

Watch the match in question, and you might find out that he did.

[Copper Feel 0]

i dont generaly think pro wrestling needs to be super realistic, but you were arguing that no selling poorly executed moves, adds realism, when in reality it dosent as the pain from the earlier offense, should still exist.

If a move misses, and people can see it missed, selling the move is unrealistic, because people know the move didn't hit. It makes sense for the move to be no-sold, because to do so shatters the illusion of reality.

it dosent sound like nagata sold the lonterm effects, of tenyrus not blown offense.

Watch the match in question, and you might find out that he did.

do you know a site i can download it from?

[SinToxic 0]

Havent followed Joshi for almost 2 years and figured I needed to see what has happened to my favorite butch girls on the depleting scene. Obviously this isnt the best way to get back into Joshi but it was a freebie I stumbled upon and since most Joshi recommendations I get from people I either already have or seen this JD show was just a time killer.

 

9/19/04 - JD Star

 

1) AKINO def. Shuu Shibuya. Always liked AKINO but this match had no sparks.

2) Kei Akiyama def. Fuuka

3) baby-M & Mickey Yuka def. Drake Morimatsu & Mizuho Ishikawa - probably the most fun match on the card, Mizuho is very sexy and that shoot style isnt a bad thing either.

4) GAMI def. MARU

5) Ranmaru def. Sakura Emi - Too long for what it should have been but amazing how such young and inexperienced girls can work a botched comedy match and still make it look better than WWE's over-staged women's matches.

6) Mariko Yoshida def. Yumi Ohka. Yoshida just seemed uninspired and brain dead in this match but so was the crowd. She's still my favorite.

 

Here's the link to the streaming files, hope they work for you:

 

http://sports.livedoor.com/battle/jdstar/result.html