Anything you feel like

[Guest PlatypusFool]

I'm starting this thread because there has been no activity on the foreign board for nearly 24 hours, since Nagata Lock posted in the Jado thread. I hate to see no activity here so I'm starting this thread to discuss literally anything we feel like. Hmm, how to start...

 

Ogawa went over Taue this last few days and successfully defended his GHC heavyweight title... good? bad? or VERY ugly? I say the latter...

 

BOSJ 02, looks pretty good so far from the match times etc. and I'm liking Lyger's involvement. God, I love Lyger, he's great. I ordered 'Wonderland Liger' episodes 1 - 4 recently from paltaper, arriving shortly, a whole load of his early matches from late 80's and early 90's. God im looking forward to those...

 

Hmm, what else can I ramble about today? I think I'll plug Kawada / Tenzan from AJPW vs. NJPW 2001 again - such a good match, and so ignored! Alright, Tenzan no sold, but it was set up why he was no selling in the early stages of the match. Since all of Kawada's offence worked on the head and neck, which it was established were too hard to be hurt, Tenzan no sold it. Fine by me because it works with the context of the match and the story. Kawada should, of course, have realised this and started working the arm or leg im preparation for a submission, and if the match had been given more time, im sure he would have done, but as it stands, the match is still great...

 

I can't think of anything else to spout about right now, if anyone else has any random comments / thoughts / bollocks, please post below and we can all have fun!

[Guest Jubuki]

Match isn't even as good as Tenryu/Kojima from this year.  Tenzan's selling at the end sucks that much, on par with Doc/Kobashi '93 level of suck.  You don't no-sell at the end of a match you're jobbing in, for any reason, and you sure as shit don't no-sell the moves you're going to job to, especially at the end.  Plenty of better ways to get the hard head crap over, or just make Tenzan look stronger overall, without taking a big shit on Kawada's biggest moves, as I've mentioned well in the past.  No need to project "what Kawada should have done" onto the match, either; Kawada hasn't frequently worked submissions into his matches since, oh, 97 (and hasn't won with something like that since the Albright matches), and Tenzan wasn't exactly going to go to the mat with him.  Wasn't what either one did.  When will people learn?  Selling > No-selling.

 

Their January '01 match smokes this one like a cheap cigar, for that matter.  That's the good matchup.  And if there were any shot at more interpromotional stuff, I'd say they could have another very good match.  The one in June just isn't it, though.

[Guest]

BOSJ does look excellent this year, absolutley. TM vs. Tanaka is one match I'm dying to see, along with many others, like BT vs. Liger.

 

I'd also like to give props to one of my Top 5  favorite junior matches ever: Jushin Liger vs. Owen Hart from TOSJ '91 (4-27-91 I think is the date). Anyway, I LOVE this match for some reason. Maybe because I'm an Owen mark. Maybe because I'm a Liger mark. Maybe it's both. But I just love this match to death, and the finish was pretty brutal to match, yet it was excecuted so perfectly, so no one was killed. This match doesn't seem to get as much love as a bunch of other Liger or mid-late 90's Junior stuff too........

[Guest Black Tiger]

I think Misawa is a nutcase for putting it on Ogawa. With their history together Takao Omori was the perfect guy for it.

 

A. Debuted same year as Akiyama

B. Held All Asian Tag Titles w/ Akiyama

C. Won quickest match in AJPW history over...Akiyama

D. Lost in 1st round of GHC tourny to...Akiyama.

 

If anyone can tip me off on where I can find part 4 of the 1995 Champion Carnival (Kawada vs Kobashi), let me know. Stuart says that in 1994 and 1995 AJPW released four parts and the finals, the 4th parts of both shows are both pains in the ass to find.

 

Whoever is running All Japan needs to get their head out of their ass. Three of the top feds in Japan are on the same page right now. NOAH, Zero-One and New Japan. All Japan needs to get in on the action. They could play up so many different types of cross promotional storylines and continuity bits. I can think of two of them off the top of my head.

 

1. Taiyo Kea vs Jun Akiyama. Akiyama just formed his stable with Kea as #2 man when he left for NOAH, Akiyama became Ace and Kea became Mutoh's bitch.

2. Tenzan vs Kojima, former partner explode, Kojima left for greener pastures and broke up the best team in New Japan history.

[Guest wolverine]

Random thought:

 

Was watching Misawa/Kawada vs. Jumbo/Taue 12/7/90 last night, and what was noticable is how awesome the heat at Budokan was for it.  I mean, when you fast forward to late '97, it's almost like a tomb in there in comparison (i.e. Misawa vs. Akiyama 9/97, Misawa vs. Kobashi 10/97).  It's sad that Misawa and Kobashi were having an awesome match in there, and all the fans would do is pop when Misawa would give Kobashi a 1/2 Nelson Suplex on the floor and little else.  A stark comparison to 1990 when they were popping for EVERYTHING.

[Guest J*ingus]

Has anyone seen the Misawa vs. Chono match yet?  It was said to be a bit disappointing, but I still want to see it.  RFVideo seems to be the only people who have it so far, and I don't want to have to fork over my money to them to get it.

[Guest Jubuki]

I would bet Lynch already has the TV; there's a good chance Adam Swift or Barnett would, too.

[Guest wolverine]

Well, Meltzer gave it **1/4.  

 

The Ito/Momoe vs. Toyota/Hotta didn't make the TV, but I'm presuming it'll be on the BS-ASAHI version.  I want to see it for collector's purposes, just to see Momoe get the pin in front of the largest crowd she'll ever compete in front of most likely.  I don't expect a great match in 12 minutes, but it should be fun.

[Guest Dangerous A]

Here's some more random puro talk.

 

 

Do you guys think any of the New Japan bookers will be able to do what they want without having Inoki ruin it or are they gonna have to wait until Inoki croaks? It seems that Chono and whoever else they have put in charge get shafted the minute their vision conflicts with the pointy chinned one. What must be done to correct this. Will there be anything done to correct this.

 

 

I read on Stuart's site that Tenryu has asked Kawada to retire from wrestling to help restore the "king's road" back into All Japan and away from Muto's vision of where he would like the company to be. Can that be possible. Doesn't Motoko have final say in who will end up being president after she is done with wrestling? Or is this just Tenryu's way of having to ever return the job he owes Kawada if and when he comes back?(which isn't for about another year, fuck)

[Guest wolverine]

Well, I think Kawada should retire, since he's got nothing else to prove.  I actually think it's time for the Big 3 to all hang 'em up (Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi).

[Guest Stuart]

Kawada may want to prove two things before he retires. Firstly, that he can lead All Japan. He's never had the chance. Tenryu took his reigns after the split, but it seemed like they may finally give Kawada a run as the real "top guy" when he won the 3-Crown before his injury. Of course, the Curse of Kawada struck him down. Secondly, Kawada may want to prove that he can beat his mentor, Tenryu, in a singles match, which they seemed to be setting up as well, and which may be the next 3-Crown switch.

[Guest Black Tiger]

I think instead of just hanging it up. Misawa should keep doing what he's doing now and just fade himself out. He's still in the spotlight but he's not going over big name guys like Akiyama.

 

While I'm thinking of NOAH, is Omori injured? I haven't seen his name on any of NOAH's tours.

 

I think Kawada's loyalty is getting the better of him. He stayed in AJPW after the split, got passed over for Tenryu as TC Champion, He finally gets the damn titles and now he's hurt. After he recovers, if AJPW is still fucking him over, he ought to hit Zero-One. That'd be a big boost to the promotion and All Japan would be back in hell.

[Guest Jubuki]

As far as I can tell, Omori is fine and, aside from the big weiner up his arse, is still working tours.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

Keep up to date guys...

 

After doing that tag match against Takayama on the recent big NOAH show, Omori is booked to travel around America and appear on some cards for quite a while. He'll be back soon enough, and with added status hopefully. For more info i suggest checking out puroresufan.com/njpw for more information (if that news piece is still up).

[Guest Stuart]

Omori's "last" NOAH match (he'll be back, unless he suddenly got some sense and jumped to a promotion that would appreciate him) will be on 6/12 against Akiyama at Korakuen Hall. If they hadn't buried Omori, this could have headlined Budokan. Instead, this is the semi final at Korakuen, behind...

 

...

 

...

 

...

 

...

 

...

 

Ogawa vs. Rikio

[Guest J*ingus]

Um, I'm not a NOAH expert or anything, but who the hell is Rikio?  You'd think that on a booking sheet, the part labeled "have casual fans ever heard of this guy?" should be checked YES if they're gonna throw him in the main event.  Oh well, at least it means that they're not letting Ogawd squash another top guy.

[Guest Stuart]

Well, Morishima and Rikio are their big young prospects and have actually gotten pretty over. They have that big man monster thing going and a lot of fans seem awed. Since the day he debuted they've been grooming Rikio, a former sumo, for a top spot. He's not bad, but he's just kind a brutally strong power guy that has nothing that really makes him an exciting wrestler. Still, I hope he mauls and destroys Ogawa, but knowing Cracksawa's recent booking, he'll probably catch his foot on the ropes and trip, leading to Ogawa using a jackknife hold cradle for the win.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

More random stuff...

 

Received my best of early Jyushin 'Thunder' Lyger - the wonderland collection - earlier this week, and I must say that I have been blown away so far. I've watched just one quarter of the tape, and haven't reached the infamous Naoki Sano matches yet, but the stuff I've seen has been awesome.

 

Before this I had only seen Lyger in the J Cups, and he had made me a big fan of his with the whole 'I am the best, I will destroy any young wrestlers that come in my path, and I will do it with a casual attitude as well' thing of his. Here though, he proves that he can also play a superb 'young lion' character, working off experienced heelish wrestlers very well. In his 'debut' match against Kuniaki Kobayashi, he seem to know the exact times to pull out the face comebacks and big moves to get the maximum reaction from the crowd. He bumps like a madman for Kobayashi, but always manages to keep himself looking strong with the well placed comebacks. Post match, when Kobayashi nearly manages to rip Lyger's mask off, and Lyger retaliates with a well placed gob of spit before celebrating his win, it was clear that Lyger was going to be something special.

 

Three months later, after gaining the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title from Hase, Lyger had another significant match against the first Black Tiger. Much like the Kobayashi match, Lyger takes a beating from the clearly stronger Black Tiger, but always knows exactly when to pull the big face comeback and a big move out of the hat. The main awesome thing with this match though, is that the wrestlers clearly show that their hatred for one another is so large that it cannot be contained by the rules of wrestling. Each time they begin to wrestle, one of the two wrestlers, more often Tiger, breaks the rules and the match has to be paused by the referee while they recover from whatever occured. Using these pauses, the wrestlers show that their spite for one another just cannot be contained by the wrestling system. When the final stretch comes, Lyger has a chance to get a measure of revenge on Tiger, being in the perfect position to nail him with a low blow. Lyger hesitates just before kicking Tiger i nthe groin though, and backs off. This allows Tiger to get the upper hand, but it also forces him to become complacent, eventually allowing Lyger to hit the Lygerbomb and retain his title. By constructing the match in this way, Lyger has shown that, although he may sometimes let his emotions get the better of him, his honour will always carry him through the most difficult of situations.

 

I look forward to the Naoki Sano matches with baited breath...

 

Also, I will take this opportunity to plug the site I got this tape from - http://homepages.iol.ie/~snackbox/paltapes/ - His quality is awesome, and his range of tapes far outstrips Strong Style. One of the tapes I ordered from him broke after I received it, and even though it wasn't his fault he is replacing the tape with a new one, so he even has great, friendly service into the bargain. If you live in the UK, then this guy is class.