Tape Review: Great Muta: Premium Issue

[Guest Black Tiger]

This is my first attempt at a tape review, I find most tape reviews to be a little boring due to the fact that by sitting there are reading the match description, move for move you get a tad bored. Then when the reviewer reccomends it, the point of reviewing it is negated since you just heard the whole match. So just like my ECW top ten list, I just give a list of some highlights.

 

I originaly asked Justin if he ever intended to review it but when he said he prefers Mutoh to Muta, it'd be pretty biased. I've only ever seen one match with Mutoh so I know this will be more objective.

 

This is a release by New Japan about (surprise) The Great Muta.

 

The tape starts with a cool video of Muta and his many types of outfits and enterence robes/hoods.

 

Match 1: Muta and Akira Nogami VS Kurasew and Kim Duk.

 

I had to take a wild guess on Kim Duk's partner, that's the closest I could get to his name from the tape. This match is from sometime in 1991. Muta takes the fight right to the floor and does a nice facebuster to bust open Kim. Nogami takes a ratchet (a recurring weapon in this tape) and busts Kim Duk right in the head. A brawl ensuses and Nogami uses a dragon suplex to pin Kurasew. **1/2

 

Match 2: IWGP Championship Riki Choshu (Champ) VS Muta.

 

Choshu gets in Muta's face and he responds with blowing green mist in the air. Choshu takes it outside and Muta kicks some young guy's ass. I'm not sure if he's a second to Choshu, a secutity guard, or just some young trainee but Muta beats him senseless. Choshu hits his clothesline and goes for a sharpshooter but Muta makes it to the ropes. Choshu puts Muta up on top for a possible superplex and Muta mists him. Muta gives him a moonsault and he kicks out, Muta does another one and Choshu doens't get up. Much better than the tag match, either Nogami is a bad parnter or Choshu is much better to work with than the senior tag team. ***

 

Match 3: IWGP Championship: Great Muta (Champ) VS Scott Norton.

 

These are two guys who I both like so I know this should get a decent rating. Norton is in Muta's face. I can see Norton mouth "Your going down". Muta responds by blowing red mist in the air. Norton attacks him and uses a nice powerslam. Muta ducks a clothesline and throws him in the corner and does his handspring elbow. Muta throws Norton out and does a face buster like he did in the tag match. Muta beats up another kid for fun. Back in and Norton is pushed back into the ref and throws Muta out. Muta gets a ratches and sticks it up his pant leg. Back in and he kicks Norton 3 times. Ref revives. Moonsault, goodnight. ***1/2. Norton didn't always suck.

 

Match 4: Great Muta VS Ray Lloyd.

 

This is from an episode of NWA Worldwide from 1989. JR mentions Sting VS Muta coming up for Great American Bash. Sting comes down to watch. Muta uses the handspring, backbreaker, and moonsault. match was like 2 minutes long. No rating After the match Sting and Muta are face to face.

 

Match 5: IWGP Championship: Great Muta (Champ) VS Sting.

 

This is from 11/22/92. A card I've wanted to get for a long time. Muta is in his KICK ASS white Ninja outfit (see my avatar). Muta and Sting start off fast with kicks and armdrags. Sting hits the stinger splash and goes for the Scorpian but Muta is too fast. Muta gets the ratchet, Sting sees and gives Muta a figure four. Sting gives it to the ref. Muta catches Sting with a surprise kick. Moonsault, 3 count. Not as good as I've seen them go ***

 

Match 6: WCW TV Title Great Muta (champ) VS Lousiana Cajun.

 

Worldwide sqash. Kick, Handspring elbow, Indian deathlock, subbmission. Even shorter than Ray Lloyd.

 

Match 7: Great Muta VS ????

 

Some old guy, it looks sort of like Fujinami, Muta red mists him 10 seconds in, it looks like the guy just walked out of the prom in Carrie and took Carrie White's place. The mist is everywhere. Muta takes ???? to the floor and rams him into the guard rail. Muta beats up some kid again. Back in and Muta uses Green mist. Moonsault, you know the drill by now. ** This sucked.

 

Match 8: Muta VS El Gigante.

 

This is dated 1995 on the case. Muta tries the mist and since he's used to hitting them in the face, he doesn't look up and mists his groin. This pisses Gigante off and they go to the floor. Muta uses a chair and a stretcher on him. Back in with the chair and Muta looks like Baba with his swings, I don't think he could bust a fly open. Muta stands on the chair and mists Gigante, that looked pretty cool. A nice way to sell his height. With Gigante blind, Muta trips him. Moonsault. End. *** not too bad, It'd be lower, but consider the opponent, Muta made it pretty watchable.

 

Match 9: Streetfight: Muta VS Jyushin "Thunder" Liger.

 

To end the debate right now. New Japan spells his name Jyushin, not Jushin, like in the states. Muta wears the coolest pre match outfit ever. the mask is like a skull and the rope hasa huge dragon on the collar, not a picture but an acutal model of a dragon. Muta and Liger get busy off the bat with a table, chair, and even the ratchet. I catch the play by play man mentioning Liger's return so it's soon after he came back from the tumor. Muta knocks him almost out and rips off the mask. Liger has on Muta facepaint and mists him with red. Talk about irony. Muta crawls under the ring and gets a broom. Liger goes under the ring too, so Muta follows. The camera shows Muta looking for him. Muta catches him and chokes him with the broom. He sets a table (not a break away one like on RAW) up in the corner and does his handspring elbow. Moonsault. It's over. ***3/4 Very good.

 

Conclusion: This is a damn good tape. A nice cross between pure and garbage. The only problem is that Muta is like Hogan in the Hulkamania tapes, in the fact that he wins every match. The Norton match was great, Gigante was terrific and Liger was outstanding. Pick this one up if you get the chance.

[Guest EI Cubano]

Great review bro, I think you just sold me on ordering it, what tape dealer did you get it from?

[Guest Black Tiger]

I got from ebay user Jayde8, he incorrectly calls the tape "Great Muta saga". He's a great seller, it takes a little longer to come though since he lives in Canada.

 

Glad you liked the review, I'll do another one sometime.

[Guest Daredevil21]

Yeah he's a good seller. I got a good deal on the Coliseum Video Macho Madness, a couple months back. He does take a while to ship, but it's worth it, at least it was for me.