Revolution Calling: Jumbo Tsuruta, Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada

Hey yo Gypsy Queens and Stud Muffins Du Jour,

In the 1980s, All Japan drew around the babyface acts of Jumbo Tsuruta, Genichiro Tenryu, and the Funks (the only gaijin act at the time to be a babyface draw in All Japan and you thought America was xenophobic) against gaijin talent usually the NWA or AWA World Heavyweight Champions or Stan Muthafuckin Hansen. This changed in the mid-80s when Riki Choshu invaded the promotion and the NWA and AWA collapsed. All Japan could not longer rely on a steady stream of gaijin talent and Choshu proved native vs native could draw. So Baba (promoter of All Japan) decided to pit his top two native stars against each other: Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu.

Assuring me positive views

Beats Up Young Punks For A Living

Jumbo was Tenryu’s senior and the bigger star of All Japan thus cast as the ace of the promotion and the man who forged the Triple Crown out of the NWA International Title, NWA United National Title and the PWF Title when Tsuruta beat Stan Hansen. Tenryu and his stable (Toshiaki Kawada was in this stable) attempted to lead an insurgency against the establishment centered around Jumbo Tsuruta. Tenryu finally usurped Jumbo on June 5, 1989 in what is considered one of the best matches of the 80s. His success would be short-lived as he would leave to create his own promotion in 1990 and drop the titles back to Jumbo in April. Seeing the void with Tenryu’s departure, Baba realized he had to push a new native star: Mitsuharu Misawa.

Around this time, Tiger Mask II (a member of Jumbo’s stable) in an attempt to make a name for himself joined himself with Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi to lead a New Generation Army against Jumbo and the veterans. This was no longer Jumbo facing off against a contemporary but another a whole new, younger generation of stars. In May of 1990, Kawada unmasked Tiger Mask II to be Mitsuharu Misawa and it was set for All Japan’s next trip to Budokan that Jumbo would defend the titles against Misawa. However, three days before this match Jumbo lost the belts to Terry Gordy thus rendering the Misawa match a non-title affair. Regardless, the match would go down as one of the most important matches in the history of pro wrestling.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs Mitsuharu Misawa

June 8, 1990 Budokan Hall

My birthday, I officially turned one year old on this day. Weird to think I was celebrating my first birthday and unbeknownst to me all the way in Japan one of the most important matches in history was about to unfold.

The match is designed to make the young, tenacious upstart Mitsuharu Misawa a star, plain and simple. He is basically a completely new wrestler due to his unmasking and thus they wanted Misawa to have a big impact on his first show at the Budokan. Tsuruta was more than up to the task as the grizzled veteran, who treats Misawa as a human who treat a gnat only for him to gain more and more respect for him as the match progressed. The audience sees the world much through the eyes of Jumbo the more he takes Misawa seriously the more they take him seriously. Even before the match, there were loud chants of “Mi-saw-a”, but I do not know how many believed he actually had a chance in the match against the established Jumbo Tsuruta as he was not treated as a main event level talent until the past month. Going into the match, you feel Jumbo is trying to humiliate Misawa not by toying with him, but instead beating him within five minutes by going for all his big offense early. This is a tactic I have not seen utilized in the WWE. Most times they were do the heel gets cocky and toys with his opponent. The heel instead trying to put away the face early and often and face evading the heel would actually be much more effective in getting the face over.

 The first quarter or so of the match establishes Misawa as a force to be reckoned with as he uses his quickness and his knowledge of Jumbo’s tendencies (the high-knee and counter-weighting the back body driver) to evade him and connect with aerial offense. The climax of this early shine is Misawa’s now classic head-and-shoulders fake flip over the ropes into a dropkick here (eventually be an elbow, a little difference in proto-Misawa) and his plancha onto Jumbo.

The match feels almost to reset after this early flurry. Jumbo knows it will be tougher than he thought at the outset; Misawa has gained confidence; the audience believes they are watching a star be born. Jumbo looking to stymie Misawa goes back to what he knows: a Jumbo Tsuruta (an All-Japan?) staple: the surfboard spot, which is preferred way to do a test of strength in All Japan. Much to his chagrin, Misawa wins and then promptly mule kicks him before Tsuruta re-establishes control. Jumbo cant catch a break!

In a moment to prove Misawa has a big set of hairy balls, Misawa slaps Tsuruta off a rope break twice and the crowd loves it. Jumbo says you don’t do that shit to me and obliterates him with his trademark high-knee and grabs the abdominal stretch. Misawa reverses that and does a proper abdominal stretch. GORILLA WOULD BE SO PROUD! Jumbo is still not taking Misawa fully seriously as he attempts to whip Misawa off the ropes and pick him up and drop him twice and the second time Misawa counters with a dropkick. Misawa tries really hard to finally hit a frogsplash and when he does he only gets a 2 in it is the type of anti-climax within a wrestling match that really builds tension. With Misawa having shot his load, Jumbo takes advantage of his indecision to hotshot Misawa in a great moment because the hotshot is usually the move that turns the tide against Jumbo.

Now the Jumbo control segment is in full swing: piledriver, Thesz Press, dropkick, big boot, a flying knee, and a powerbomb all with near-falls after each one as Jumbo is just pouring it on. Misawa is able to negotiate a backslide and then hit a wicked elbow as both men fall to the mat in a great moment. Misawa does another aerial sequence with a baseball slide setting up a cross body block from the top onto the floor. Misawa is wrestling much more like Tiger Mask here than the Misawa we know and love and it is really cool to watch. Misawa hits a wicked spinkick (I am not a fan of Misawa’s kicks but this one was good) to set up another frogsplash, but eats the knees as he went to the well once too often.

Jumbo goes for his trademark Boston Crab and follows it up with a pair of wicked lariats. You get the feeling Jumbo is now a bit worried that he might not win this thing and he is really putting some extra mustard on his moves. He goes for his kill: Backdrop Driver, but Misawa climbs the turnbuckles to partially block it. Misawa connects with a  bridging German suplex, but that does not put him away and attempts for his kill: Tiger Driver attempt, BUT Jumbo back body drops him out of that. Jumbo obliterates him with a high-knee and then crushes him with an elbow when Misawa tries a springboard back elbow. The ending feels like Misawa is in full desperation mode and Jumbo is in control with stiff shots. Then Jumbo goes for a high-risk putaway as he epically misses a dropkick into the ropes. With both weary, Misawa drops down his back on a suplex attempts and tries a Backdrop Driver, but Jumbo counterweights him and at 2 Misawa reverses the cover and WINS!!!! HOLY SHIT!!! MISAWA WON!!!

This is such an excellent first of a series match because it is both satisfying as a match unto itself, but you want to see the next one. Misawa was the definitive winner both in the kayfabe sense and in the eyes of the fans, but he did not vault over Jumbo he just proved he was on his level. In the beginning, Misawa comes off as an offensive dynamo, but after he prematurely climaxes with a frogsplash that does not get a win, he shows off his resiliency and selling skills as he eats all of Jumbo’s big offense. So in the course of the match, the fans know Misawa has fighting spirit and the offense to compete with the big dog. The finish is worked beautifully with both men countering one another finishers. You get a real sense of parity, but in a good way and it just so happens that Misawa falls on top on the last counter. However, it deftly constructed not to feel like a fluke because of how much offense Misawa got and how he was portrayed as Jumbo’s peer through the match. It just felt that both men had expended so much energy in this war of attrition that fatigue was the factor that led to Jumbo’s demise.

This leads to great questions for a rematch: Has Misawa surpassed Jumbo? I think to answer that question Misawa will have to dominate Jumbo, which you never get the feel of here. Misawa is working up to Jumbo, but not looking down on him. Can Misawa withstand a Jumbo killshot? Remember we never saw Misawa take the Backdrop Driver. So the rematch was set for All Japan’s return to Budokan on Septmeber 1, 1990 with number one contendership to Stan Hansen’s Triple Crown at stake. 

Jumbo decking Misawa in mid-air with an elbow as he tries a springboard back elbow 

Jumbo Tsuruta vs Mitsuharu Misawa

Number One Contender to All Japan Triple Crown 

September 1, 1990

The first portion of the match is wrestled much more tentatively as both men better understand each other. Jumbo seems to target Misawa’s mid-section and is looking to set himself up rather than commit himself to the kill early only to have Misawa sting him with counters. They work the same perfunctory surfboard spot. Misawa delivers some big elbows that inspire some “Mi-saw-a” chants only for Jumbo to cut him off with a big boot. Jumbo runs through his ground offense: Boston Crab and abdominal stretch in hopes of grounding the quicker Misawa. It seems Jumbo has learned that in the last match he had played right into Misawa’s hands and is wrestling a much smarter match by taking his time and letting things develop.

The Misawa elbows are established moreso in this match as Misawa’s sort of cure-all to any of his problems. Misawa much like Jumbo is using them to set up a ground based attack. Jumbo says “Enough of that shit” and rolls him with a couple big elbows. Jumbo is running through his offense, but Misawa makes sure to time his hope spots well to keep the crowd guessing. They even play on the finish to the last match with Misawa counterweighting a Backdrop Driver only for Jumbo to roll over this time and almost capture the victory. This sequence had more heat than normal due to the inter-match storytelling, very smart.

Jumbo wins a strike exchange with some vicious open hand slaps over Misawa’s elbows and Misawa powders for an artificial timeout. On the outside, Jumbo goes so far as to hit Misawa with a chair, which illustrates not just the resiliency of Misawa, but also the lengths Jumbo needs to and is willing to go to defeat Misawa. Misawa, ever the fighter, returns the favor with even more elbows. Having Jumbo staggered delivers a diving elbow from the top and then a plancha onto the floor. Misawa’s rope-a-dope tactics seemingly paid off as he is absolute control of Jumbo for the first time in either of their matches. He dominates Jumbo in the corner with elbows in a way that neither man has ever had the advantage over the other in either match.

Jumbo, ever the veteran, busts out some desperation headbutts and a dropkick to create some breathing room for himself as things look bleak. Misawa is able to perform a hurricanrana out of a powerbomb and then execute a bridging German suplex and it seems that Misawa will be taking the mantle of Ace from Jumbo. Jumbo blocks the Tiger Driver and off a fucked up exchange of what appeared to be a victory roll, Jumbo obliterates Misawa with two high-knees. This sets up a superplex into the Backdrop Driver and the commentator absolutely loses his shit when Misawa kicks out along with the crowd. Does Jumbo have what it takes? What more does he have to do? Has Misawa surpassed him? Misawa with elbows, but Jumbo wont be denied as he hits a LARIATOOOOOOOO and now a second Backdrop Driver to finally beat Misawa.

Jumbo proved in this match that Misawa does not have his number and that he too can take a lickin and keep on tickin. In addition, Jumbo still has the bigger bomb so to speak in the form of the Backdrop Driver, while Misawa has the set-up shot with his vaunted elbows.  Misawa proved that the victory was not a fluke and the actually had Jumbo dominated in the corner, but could not put together a winning combination. Misawa needs to a bomb to his amazing flurry of elbows because he feels like he is one move away.

Everyone always says that 6/8/90 is first among equals of these two matches, but I think that 6/8/90 is distinctly better (pretty much the difference between a 5 star match and 4.5 star match, not too much better, but still noticeable). I feel like they sort of went through the motions at the beginning and almost squandered it before Jumbo went on offense. Plus, I liked the story of the first one better, which something they could never re-capture and it has such a great finish. Still an incredible match and I am really splitting hairs here, but I definitely like 6/8/90 better.  

Jumbo Tsuruta would go to win the Triple Crown from Stan Hansen in January of 1991 holding it into the October anniversary show. Jumbo continued his feud with Misawa and Co. At the show, Jumbo would be taking on Misawa’s right-hand man: Toshiaki Kawada in a title match.

All this man on man action: I need a Boob Break. Ok back to elbows!

All Japan Triple Crown Champion Jumbo Tsuruta vs Toshiaki Kawada

October 24, 1991

The thing I was really looking out for here is what Kawada is going to bring to the table that is different than Misawa because clearly the match will have a similar theme to the Misawa matches (young upstart vs grizzled veteran), but since I consider Kawada elite I believe he should be able to put his stamp on this match. By the same token, would Jumbo be willing to adjust for Kawada or would he pull a Flair and just fit Kawada into the formula.

There are two running themes throughout this match that differentiate it from the Misawa matches. The match almost has a Jumbo cosplay feel with Kawada performing the same moves as Jumbo as to prove anything Jumbo could do, Kawada could do better ( ab stretch (2x, I love the second time as a rebound move off the rail), half crab, knee lifts to head, sleeper ). Secondly, Kawada establishes a tenacious side-headlock early and goes back to striking the left side of Jumbo’s face whenever he is in trouble. That is the bit of traditional All Japan psychology I felt was missing in the Misawa matches. Kawada, instead of using high-flying moves like Misawa, is going to attempt to grind it out against the bigger Jumbo and earn his respect and hopefully a victory that way.

Kawada is able to withstand some high-knees to his first big spot about half through a back elbow from the top for a 2 count (one of his mentor’s, Genichiro Tenyru’s, favorite moves). They do the famous Misawa/Jumbo finishing sequence, which was still over with crowd even though it was a year and a half later. The finish sequence is Jumbo attempting to wrangle Kawada into the Backdrop Driver and Kawada doing his damnest to avoid it by cutting off Jumbo with stiff shots to the face. Kawada gets a big pop for kicking out of the first Backdrop Driver and with a well-timed kick to the head it seems like he may have a shot. Except Jumbo wins a lariat battle and hits a finishing combo of Thesz Press, dropkick and Backdrop Driver.

The match is very much different in that Kawada never seems to pose a serious threat to Jumbo Tsuruta. It is much like an underdog that is always hanging around in a game. You never feel like the favorite has let the game out of control, but you know the underdog still has a puncher’s chance. The problem is Kawada had no knockout blow and when it came to crunch time Jumbo still had the big bomb in his arsenal. This match definitely established Kawada as Misawa’s junior, but established Kawada as a gritty, tenacious warrior with fighting spirit (he did kick out of a Backdrop Driver). So even though Kawada never posed a serious threat to Jumbo, you did not feel like he was out of his league you just felt as if he was a year or two away from being big-time player (like lets say the Thunder this past year). The Misawa matches are much better, but they are supposed to be better. This match also suffered from the cosplay as occasionally Kawada would lose focus and do abdominal stretches and half-crabs when it is not warranted. This match is very good for what it is and a very good introduction to Kawada. I need to get this in here somewhere but some of the best selling I have seen happened in this match with great work from Jumbo selling the left side of his head (how many wrestlers actually sell a side-headlock) and Kawada per usual being the master of the loopy, fatigued sell.

In 1992, the New Generation finally climbed the mountain top as Misawa became Triple Crown champion by defeating Stan Hansen. Unfortunately, Jumbo Tsuruta was diagnosed with Hepatitis B in 1992 and would be forced to fade away from the All Japan eventually passing away in 2000. This left the New Generation army to transition into the Four Corners of Heaven, but Kawada would not yet leave Misawa side. Once again during All Japan’s anniversary month (October), Kawada would challenge for the Triple Crown, but this time against his friend and leader, Mitsuharu Misawa.

From their 2005 match, 13 years of fighting, cant we all just get along?

All Japan Triple Crown Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada

October 21, 1992 20^th Anniversary Show Budokan Hall

I will be covering every available match between these matches whilst chronicling the story of All Japan because how integral their story is to understanding All Japan. This match unlike the other matches will be presented as a match where a young Ace is trying to establish a firm grasp on his throne against another claimant (rather than a generational storyline).

Weird note, in what I believe was Andre The Giant’s last match was actually the match before this match on the night. He teamed with the ailing Jumbo Tsuruta, Terry Gordy against Giant Baba, Stan Hansen and Dory Funk Jr. I think I need to check that match out just out of curiosity. For those curious about Kenta Kobashi (noticeable by his absence in this blog), he was on the losing side of his match with The Patriot against Dr. Death and Danny Spivey.

Kawada strikes first and violently with a Backdrop Driver within the first 30 seconds as if to say “I am not fucking around. For the next 30 minutes or so, we aren’t friends, bitch. I am coming for your title and am going to do anything to get it.” Misawa is rolling his neck all like “Ok, punk bitch, if that’s how you want to play…” and the commentator is all like “DANGEROUSSSSSSSS” and Ernie Anastos was all like “Keep Fucking That Chicken”. Kawada seems to designate the arm as his point of attack. He cheapshots Misawa off a rope break and MISAWA IS PISSED~! He unloads with elbows on Kawada’s face.

They do a surfboard spot, man All Japan just dug that with Kawada winning with the mule kick. Misawa targets Kawada’s lower back with some submission moves like a Liontamer and a camel clutch. Kawada regains control with a short spinning heel kick. For those who have never seen a spinning heel kick from Kawada do yourself a favor and seek that shit out. It is so explosive and always comes off as a great sudden momentum swing. Kawada wants to give Misawa a taste of his own medicine applies a Scorpion Deathlock (such a better name than Sharpshooter) and then a Bow & Arrow move. Whenever things get out of hand, Kawada goes back to that short spinning heel kick to set up his offense and it seems like Misawa has not answer for Kawada’s tenacious facelock. Even Misawa’s elbows are not creating sustained offense as Kawada uses his kicks to unleash his first powerbomb, which gets the first big pop of the match.

Kawada applies his preferred submission move: the stretch plum as time went on the stretch plum would be seen as a formality in their matches and not elicit a crowd reaction. However, here it is still very much over and the announcer treats it as a big deal. Kawada seems flusters that he can string together a winning combination when Misawa delivers a HUGE German suplex for a 2 count in Misawa’s first big hope spot. Misawa hits a Tiger Driver, but still only get two. Then he applies a facelock that commentator loses his shit over. It is funny listening to the Japanese commentary because 90% of the time it is in Japanese and I just kind of tune it out. Then all of sudden this guy will be screaming in your ear “FACELOCK! FAAAAACELLOOOOOOOOCCCCKKKKKK!!!” It always makes my chuckle.

Here comes Misawa as he connects with the frogsplash and Kawada powders. You definitely get the feeling the end is near for Kawada and that he missed his opportunity to put his stable-mate away. Misawa flies outside the ring with a diving elbow onto Kawada showing him that he can run, but he cant hide from Misawa’s elbows. Kawada answers the call with a German suplex of his own and then a Dragon Suplex, but still cant hold him down. Misawa elbows him in the back of the head and hits him with a  Tiger Driver and Tiger Suplex and now he cant hold him down. There is an excellent moment where Kawada cant stand and keeps falling down on his ass so he just starts kicking Misawa in the head from the ground. Kawada is so bitchin. Another Tiger Suplex finally does the trick and Misawa wins.

This was a good first installment in the feud that would define All Japan as the greatest in ring promotion in the world throughout the 90s. Once again, you get the feeling Kawada is on the cusp of greatness, but still is not fully extending his opponent. Kawada is in control of most of the match and comes off as a star, but besides the powerbomb never really had any credible nearfall attempts. Even towards the end when he was coming on strong, you could just feel that Misawa was not going to be denied tonight and had delivered too much punishment to Kawada for him to be able to hold him down. The match also set up the split between the two very well. You definitely get the feeling that Kawada wants to step out of Misawa’s shadow and openly disrespects him with cheapshots. As the matches progressed, Kawada would grow even more sadistic as he attempted not only to beat Misawa, but punish him. Kawada’s selling at the end was simply sublime as he struggled to get to his feet only to resort to kicking Misawa from the ground. Misawa for his part timed his hope spots well and sold Kawada’s offense well. Misawa had just won the titles in May and it was important to establish him as the ace of the promotion. This match proved he was the undisputed number one native in the promotion and it was important that crowd credibly believed in him as the standard bearer of All Japan. This match accomplished that. This match lacked drama I would say, if I had to point to one thing holding this match back. Misawa had not perfected his extended comeback and Kawada was not yet the surly bastard to really challenge Misawa. Instead, it feels like a proto-Misawa vs proto-Kawada, which is still better than 90% of all matches ever, but the problem is their name carries such weight you cant help compare it to other matches of the era. It is a great match, but it is not all-time All Japan classic like the Jumbo/Misawa series. However, give it time, as Misawa/Kawada would surpass the Jumbo/Misawa series in quality.

Since the 15^th anniversary of the Montreal Screwjob was this past weekend, I have some late 1997 WWF on the docket. Plus I want to do a big write-up on 1993 All Japan, which is when Stan Hansen (one of my all-time favorites) just tears the house down throughout the year. 

 

2 Out of 3 Falls: Hulk Hogan, Vader, Big Bossman

Hey yo Gyspy Queens and Studmuffins Du Jour,

If voting is so American, why doesn’t it comes with a slice of pie? Poontang Please!

I'll settle for a Firecracker. Ouch. Dont Bite! :)

My sincerest congratulations go out to President Barack Obama. I may be the only American who feels this way, but I think both candidates would have been capable presidents and therefore I would be pleased either way even though I never thought Obama’s victory was in doubt. The most politically relevant news to me of course is that Linda McMahon, wife of Vince McMahon, lost again. This means we get an extended skit of VinnyMac “sticking it” to the Dems. WAHOO?

Of course on these most American days, I could not help, but think that the most fitting wrestler to chronicle would of course be Iron Sheik!!! IRAN NUMBAH ONE! USSR NUMBAH ONE! AMERICA HOCK-PTOOEY!!! Ruh Roh, Sheiky Baby thinks I look like B. Brain Blair. Sheiky Baby take that hostility to the bedroom and far away from me! Instead of getting humbled in the ass, I think will brave some Hulk Hogan matches they cant be worst than his lack of bumping in his own sex tape. He was not selling a gosh darn thing for her and let he expected me to pop for the Hulk Up? Hulk please, you need to work me up first!

THE ULTIMATE HULK-GASM

On a more serious note, the Hulkster does get a sort of bum rap in the ring from “smart” fans. Hogan is an excellent showman that knows how to whip a crowd into frenzy and elicit that pop. When you go back and watch the matches you really see just how over Hogan was with the masses. That is what I have always been most curious about Hogan is how person I think is not especially good in the ring is able to make up for his lack of technical acumen with such effusive charisma. It is probably something you cannot evaluate or ascertain in any concrete way, but it is an interesting sociological study. This being said Hogan has had his share of great matches and is not always the stiff, boring wrestlers he is accused of being by “smart” fans. The big issue with my enjoyment of Hogan matches is his lack of bumping and the cartoony nature of them. I love cartoony, ridiculous matches (see Midnight Express), but usually these matches will add real drama to their matches and often with Hogan it just continues with his schtick. From the a mechanical perspective, Hogan’s offense, selling and the vaunted Hulk-Up are all perfectly acceptable in wrestler, none of those facets will set your world on fire (ok, the Hulk Up can be pretty damn awesome at times). It is the bumping that stops Hogan matches from becoming really fun. The best Hogan matches are the ones against Hennig, Savage, and Flair because they will bump like maniacs for Hogan and are especially bumping for two men. In the other Hogan matches, I wish Hogan would take one big bump just really get into “Oh shit” mode. Of course, the first match I pick features the biggest bump in Hogan’s career, which may seem to render my argument moot, but it is just an isolated incident.

The Man of Law & Order from Cobb County, Georgia

Big Bossman is a wrestler that I do not ever think reached his full potential. His breed of wrestler has all but died off in the wrestling, much to my chagrin. He was a bumping, 300+ lb big man that was agile and looked like a tough muthafucka.  I am surprised he has not had more great matches as the two I am reviewing today are pretty much the two that I think are great. I have not seen his All Japan run in 1993 and that may have some hidden gems as Dr. Death’s tag partner. Overall, I was bit disappointed going back through Bossman’s career.

WHOS DA MAN!

VADER FEELS NO PAIN!!!! Vader is my favorite wrestler behind Flair and Savage and is the greatest big man wrestler ever. Period. Full-Stop. Don’t pass Go, Don’t Collect $200, Sit your ass down and just watch the brutality unfold. I am kinda pissed Vader is sort of playing second fiddle to Hogan in this blog, but Vader will have plenty of chances to shine in subsequent blogs. Vader matches are the ones I love to show marks that think wrestling is not painful because he has the stiffest fuckin strikes in America. When he just starts mauling you in the corner with those bear paws it can get almost uncomfortable. In one match against equally stiff Stan Hansen, Hansen bashes Vader so hard in the face that his eye pops out, but because Vader is ALL MAN~! He pops it back in and wrestles for another 10-15 minutes. Vader is not a man to eat you alive. Vader loves to take crazy bumps for his opponents and really put them over as world beaters with his amazing agility. This is a 400+ lb man that can hit a moonsault for Christ’s Sake. I love Vader’s character. He is a rough and tumble, big, ugly bully. There is nothing fancy about him, no redeeming qualities, just readily hateable and that is what I love about a good heel.

Matches

Hulk Hogan vs Big Bossman – Steel Cage Match

March 18, 1989 Madison Square Garden

Interesting note about this match is they actually had two steel cage matches in the same night, one at MSG and one at the Boston Gardens (two, 15 minute steel cage matches and 4 hour travel in between that is pretty ridiculous). That is just an incredible example of the schedule McMahon expected out of his wrestlers as he was looking to solidify his position as the national promotion of America. Bossman was managed by everyone’s favorit Jive Soul Brutha, Slick and tag partners with Akeem The African Dream. Bossman and Akeem had been the tag team feuding with the MegaPowers (Hogan & Savage) when the MEGA-POWERS EXPLODED~! Wrestlemania V was not for a couple more weeks so in order to keep Hogan busy until his GARGUTAN showdown with Savage they ran a Bossman/Hogan cage match series around the horn.

This match is a one trick pony, but what a trick it is. The Superplex from the top of the cage. 

Tony Schiavone is on commentary here during his cup of coffee with the WWF in 1989 and is an upgrade over the usual hosts of schmucks at this point. The crowd is pumped to see Hogan and Hogan seems to be feeling it tonight. Hogan rips his shirt off and then promptly chokes Bossman out with it and biels him around with it. Hulk Hogan, True American Hero to the Masses, Everybody!!! My favorite Hogan face shine spot is when he irish whips a heel into the corner and follows right up with a reverse elbow. It is one Hogan’s best looking spots. The transition to Bossman heel offense is weak as he just stops Hogan from escaping and does an eye-rake (Hogan had eye-raked him by that point anyways). The reason for Hogan’s heel offense as a babyface can be explained is that how AWA babyfaces acted and Hogan’s first face run was in the AWA.

The matches looks to heat up as Hogan and Bossman tussle from a top of the turnbuckles in surprisingly heated fashion and then Hogan actually takes a back bump off the top turnbuckle. Bossman, of course takes too long to capitalize on this and Hogan is able to recover and stop him from exiting, This leads to the iconic spot of the match and why the match is famous: Hogan superplexes Bossman off the top of the cage. It is one helluva spot and very smartly milk it for all it is worth with Tony losing his shit on commentary.

The finish sequence is pretty exciting. Bossman hits his Bossman slam on Hogan and gets a chain from Slick choking him out with it. They do the double ram into the cage and then Hogan gets the chain and goes to town with it. Hogan is so great at making you want to see him hit Bossman with the chain. Bossman does a good bladejob. After the signature legdrop, the Slickster stops Hogan from leaving so Hogan dispatches of him and handcuffs the Bossman with his OWN handcuffs. OH THE HUMANITY~!

Then it becomes a race between if Hogan can make it over the cage vs. Bossman gets uncuffed and going out the door. Hogan wins and goes over to the unconscious ref (Slick took him out I believe) and raises his own hand, which gets a chuckles out of me. Hogan forces Slick to eat steel. Heels powder, Hogan poses, crowd goes wild.

The Superplex spot is great and the finish stretch is the usual big Hogan fun. Great match! ****

There is nothing more American than giving. Missy is a giver.

Vader vs The Boss
Spring Stampede April 17, 1994 Chicago, Illinois

We transport over to WCW for the rest of column. Spring Stampede is one of the best pay per views of all time with just a BITCHIN card from top to bottom. This match is a great bomb-throwing fests from these two big muthafuckas and one of my favorite matches of all time. The backstory is that Superbrawl IV, The Boss was the special enforcer in Vader’s challenge to regain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Ric Flair. Somehow, Vader got fucked over by The Boss and we end up with this match. I aint complaining.

The Boss does not wait for Vader to hit the ring and takes the fight to him on the elevated ramp. Harley Race, seven-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion and Vader’s manager, hold Boss only for Boss to wrangle himself free and Race eats a Vader flying body attack. Race is already a better bumper than Hulkster. Sorry could not resist. Boss has a brief shine segment that establishes his striking game, but you don’t want to get into a slugfest with fuckin Vader. Vader eats him a live with some of his signature strikes. In an impressive visual, Vader runs down the ramps and jumps over the top rope only to eat The Boss’ knees. Boss takes it to the outside and Vader eats his usual gut-first railing bump only with much more gusto than usual as he tumbles over onto the assuredly frightened fans. It would be rubber pants time if I saw an out of control Vader hurdling towards me. Boss picks up Vader and drops him across the railing. Vader is making the Boss look like a million bucks! Boss again tries to trade strikes with Vader, only to almost get killed on a back body drop over the top rope. Seriously, the Boss saved his own life by catching the rope before crashing onto the floor out of control in a scary spot. Vader is bleeding from his bad eye in what I believe has to be the hardway because there was no spot that warranted a bladejob just a function of how hard they hitting each other.

What time is it? ITS TIME! ITS TIME! ITS VADER TIME~! Vader suplexes the Boss back in and a Vader splash gets two. Then Vader does his usual mauling in the corner with his bearpaw strikes. Boss grabs a belly-to-back suplex in a nice hope spot to keep the fans from thinking it was over. Vader takes his usual slam off the second rope, which was the finish to his Starrcade 1992 match against Sting, but that and a super DDT was not enough here for the Boss to win. Boss’s comeback is ended by Vader slamming Boss off the second rope. Vaderbomb only gets two so Vader decides to squash the muthafucka with a VADERSAULT~! For the win!

One of the best 10 minute super heavyweight sprints you will ever see. Everything was so hard-hitting, impressive and literally no down time. The story was simple but effective. Two big dudes that were just going to beat the piss out of each other until only one was standing and they executed that with great spots. The key to this match was just how unselfish each competitor was bumping for each other and selling each other’s strikes so well. I just love two big uglies going to town on each other.

BONUS MATCH: WCW US Champion Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Vader
Starrcade December 27, 1994

Writing an American-themed wrestling blog without some Hacksaw love is like not dancing like a stripper to Pour  Some Sugar On Me. NOT POSSIBLE! For those who do not know Jim Duggan, picture your uncle, add about 50-100 lbs of body weight, have him grow out his hair and beard. Then have your uncle grab a 2x4, give a thumbs up and yell “HOOOOOOOOOOO U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” that is Hacksaw Duggan in a nutshell. Or you can just look at this picture:

HHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Now wrestling fans most likely knew this about Duggan, but did you know that Jim Duggan was actually once a really good wrestler in Bill Watts’ Mid-South territory feuding with the likes of Ted DiBiase. You did? Well sit down, shut up and stop showing me up on my blog. Hogan had left the WWF for Ted Turner’s WCW and brought along his friends. Thus Duggan won the US Heavyweight Title off some no-name vanilla midget named Steve Austin. I wonder what happened to that guy. I am probably the 1000^th person to make that joke. I hope get a slice of pie as my prize! Anyways, Vader as the resident monster of WCW was being built up for the monster-slayer Hogan and so while Hogan gave his crony Brutus Beefcake a run in the main event. Vader got to play with Duggan in what turned out to be the best Post-Mid-South Duggan match by quite a bit.

As with the Boss match, the match begins on the aisleway as Duggan takes it right to the Mastodon. Duggan throws Vader into railing and Vader if flying all over the place as he makes Duggan look like a million bucks. The crowd chants “ U-S-A!” since Vader is from the very evil, very foreign place of Colorado. As an east coaster, a flyover state probably deserves that rep.  Well there goes my audience in middle America. Good thing I have a burgeoning readership in Russia and Japan. That’s right Im Big In Japan. Maybe the White Castle of Fear is not in America? During this shine, Vader takes his gut first bump into the railing and plenty of wicked lariats (some real stiff shots by Duggan). After about eight minutes of Duggan love, Vader hits a wicked, MONSTAH eye-poke? I LOVE Vader. He has all this raw power and strength, but instead chooses to use an eye-poke as his transition, such a great heel. Duggan tries to stave off the Vader rally, but misses a Tenryu style elbow (second rope back facing elbow drop) to finally put Vader in command. You know Duggan is feeling it when he decides to come off the second rope. Tony is losing his shit over this.

Vader hits the axe-bomber, which sends Duggan careerning into the guardrail from the apron (very nice bump from Duggan). Bobby the Brain unloads one of his funniest lines with: “For Duggan to take a shower is a high-risk maneuver.” I lol’d. Vader smartly attacks the ribs with vicious body punches and tries to polish him off with his powerslam/Vaderbomb combo but Hacksaw is able to get his foot on the ropes. One of my favorite spots is the “Vader Body Attack” where he basically just chest bumps his opponent into oblivion it works so well to cut off comebacks like it was used here.   

Vadersault misses and the fans erupt in “U-S-A” to exhort their fallen leader, Hacksaw Duggan. Duggan gets down into the three-point stance and hits his lariat finisher, but it is not enough. Vader takes his usual slam off the top, but there is NO REF!!! The ref is being detained by Harley Race on the apron, which distracts Hacksaw. The finish is Vader Irish whips Hacksaw into Harley holding the 2x4 into this weird variation of the Glam Slam. It is looked impressive as Vader basically muscled Duggan up, but then couldn’t hold him so he just dropped him on his face. I don’t know what it was supposed to be, but it looked vicious. Vader is the NEW US HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION!

I liked the Boss match a little bit more because it felt more like a struggle between two big dudes throwing bombs. This match was structured in the classical sense with a shine -> heat -> comeback -> finish, which I love and it is the formula for a reason it just was not as fun as Vader/Boss, but this match still was really good and a lot of fun. In 1992-94, Vader comes off as a contender for the greatest wrestler in the world including the All Japan guys as he was taking these average workers and putting on great matches. It is almost completely predicated on how willing he is to make these look good even as he is going to beat them, which make the matches so much more interesting unlike a Hogan who at times could steamroll his opponents and really only put himself over. After all this, I am pretty pumped for the big showdown: Vader vs Hulk Hogan!

I wonder if Vader invited Hogan to the White Castle of Fear before the match?

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs WCW US Heavyweight Vader
Superbrawl V  February 19, 1995 Baltimore, MD

Not much of a story to this one, except it was one of the big dream matches since Hogan had arrived in WCW and really logical. Hogan had made his star by wrestling these big monsters and vanquishing them (Studd, Bundy, Andre, Earthquake). However, there is no more versatile big man than Vader, who combined the size of those men with an explosive quickness. Also, Hogan’s star was on the wane as his 10 year old character had grown stale and passé especially in the South, which expected a higher level of wrestling than the cartoon stuff that Hogan liked to shovel. This led to this weird dynamic of Hogan getting pretty brutally booed the entire match against monster heel, Vader.

Tony lets us know that Ric Flair is indeed here in the front row. Hogan had “retired” Flair in October of 1994. They begin by both men are of equal strength. Hogan unleashes some pretty wicked slaps and his whip/elbow combo. Vader just screams “NO PAIN! NO PAIN!  NO PAIN!” I was totally marking out during this segment. I just wanted Vader to maul Hogan. In a cool twist, Hogan realizes the power game is ineffective and actually attempts to wrestle Vader. WHAT!!??! He even busts out a flying cross arm-breaker (juji-gatame for MMA fans). Vader breaks that up by stepping on Hogan’s face like a boss. Hogan is betwixt and between. Vader mauling in the corner is combined with a wicked short-arm clothesline.

Hogan powders and Vader eats his railing bump and nearly wipes out Flair. Well, I think Hogan may have found something that worked. Hogan works some chops in the corner, the 10 punch count and then a rebound lariat to a small pop. Hogan uses some of his heel tactics: boot on throat and eye-rake, but he goes for the bodyslam attempt too early as Vader drops on top of him. Vader runs through some strikes and then connects with the powerslam/Vaderbomb combo for two. The Vadersault misses and Hogan in desperation whips Vader back into the rail and blasts him with the best Hogan chair shot I have ever witnessed. VADER FEELS NO PAIN! Vader chokeslams the fuck outta Hogan. I don’t think Hogan intended to take that wicked of a bump. The Hulk-Up comes off a vertical suplex. Vader KICKS OUT of the LEGDROP at ONE!!!! HOLY SHIT!

A Vader body attack wipes out the ref and Vader hits the powerbomb and he counts a visual three along with Flair, but there is no ref. Hogan makes his comeback and clears him outta the ring only for Flair to attack. Finally the ref calls for the DQ. Savage and Sting make the save against Flair & Vader.

There is a lot to love about this match up until the finish. I loved the beginning story with Hogan trying to wrestle Vader and then using his own dirty tactics out of desperation because Vader was such a monster. Vader comes across as this unconquerable monster with the no-selling at the beginning, the killer offense and of course kicking out of the vaunted leg drop at one. A lot is made about how, Hogan no sold a Vaderbomb previous to this match and how it killed Vader’s drawing power. I can only say he definitely tried to make up for it in this match because Vader looked awesome here. All of the traditional Hogan transition are ineffective against Vader and they only way for Hogan to sustain offense is through Vader mistakes and illegal tactics like chairshots really makes Vader seem like an unstoppable force. The finish is pretty unsatisfying. A Vader victory and subsequent matches against Sting and Savage would have drawn well while Hogan questions if he still has it would have been an interesting wrinkle to the Hogan character. I like the Boss match better because of the efficiency of spots and the better finish, but this one was remarkably good and one of the Top 5 Best Hogan matches I have ever seen.

Evaluation

Hogan is displayed in two lights here: the standard Hogan popcorn formula against Bossman, which popped the masses in the 80s, but doesn’t feel timeless and Hogan working as a more classical underdog against a Goliath. This would not continue as the subsequent Hogan/Vader rematches were panned, but for one night Hogan structured an interesting match. Bossman is a story of untapped potential as he had all the tools to be a great big man, but was only realized on one night against Vader. Vader comes off great in all these matches as a dominant heel that is ok with the babyfaces getting their offense in to keep the crowd invested. Vader is a wrestler I can never get enough of and even his mediocre stuff seems like so much fun to me. His style is most readily adaptable of any wrestler because of how naturally the "David vs Goliath" or two big uglies barfight fits into any context.

 I am going to try to do a quick turnaround and get an All Japan blog out this weekend and hopefully will have a pattern of doing a non-All Japan one in the beginning of the week and an All Japan one during the weekend. 

Four Corners of Heaven: Mitsuharu Misawa, Akira Taue, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi

Hey yo,

Halloweekend was a rousing success and a strong affirmation of the major impact I have had on local communities. I won Best Costume as voted by the patrons of the Phoenix Landing in what can only be described as a no contest. When you are competing against a Flock of Psy and a Gaggle of Waldo, there was no way the Power of Heavy Metal could be DENIED!!! I view this award as not just a Triumph for Heavy Metal on a single night, but rather as a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Field of Costume Design & Modeling for every single person that has ever dared to mushroom stamp the norms of society that fetter us.  Through LeBron Love Triumphed; In Ke$ha The Truth Lives; From Me Freedom Will Reign In Perpetuity!

God Bless Halloween & Twitter! Remember Rhyming Turns Me On, Ladies! (Credit: Nayer's Twitter)

In more depressing news, the Tigers suck! It is 2006 all over again UGH!

You know what doesn’t suck? 90’s All Japan!

Reputed by most wrestling critics as the pinnacle of pro wrestling, 90s All Japan was centered around four men dubbed as “The Four Corners Of Heaven”. The Four Corners along with the two top gaijin (Japanese for foreigner) talent: Stan Hansen and “Dr. Death” Steve Williams wrestled each other in the greatest matches of all time crafting masterful stories and delivering some of the most outrageously stiff shots and brutal bumps in the history of wrestling.

I have undertaken the project of watching the matches chronologically from Misawa’s first Triple Crown victory in 1992 forward (before I watched them in a random order). I am of the belief that no other promotion has ever done a better job in doing inter-match storytelling. Most wrestling matches focus on intra-match storytelling with only selective matches building on one another. The most recent American example of inter-match storytelling was the Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker series at Wrestlemanias XXV and XXVI. In All-Japan as a result of an incredibly dynamic, but small number of main event performers, the promotion relied on not on the novelty of matches, but building a cohesive story through the matches rather than an American promotion which drives the story through angles.

The 1995 Champions Carnival (annual round-robin singles tournament held in the spring) is an awesome exhibition of the talent and work of the Four Corners of Heaven. Even though Stan Hansen was the Triple Crown Champion at this juncture, he was being phased out as he was getting up their in age and would soon drop the titles to All Japan Ace, Mistuharu Misawa. Dr. Death seemed poised to inherit top gaijin spot from Hansen, having won the Triple Crown himself in 1994, but was busted for drugs and would never fully regain his prominence in All Japan. Thus for the first time in the history of All Japan Pro Wrestling, they would have to rely on a main event that consisted of only native Japanese talent. This Champions Carnival was the culmination of the push of native talent post-1988 after less gaijin talent was making the trek overseas. All Japan was in the fine, reassuring hands of The Four Corners of Heaven.

Green Destiny

Mitsuharu Misawa – The Undisputed Ace of the Four Corners was leader of his generation against Jumbo Tsuruta’s generation (you can read about two of Jumbo’s greatest All Japan matches in the 80s against Ric Flair and Kerry Von Erich here) and was positioned to be the face of All Japan in the 90s. He defeated Jumbo Tsuruta in single competition in 1990 and worked progressively to ascend the top of the mountain. Finally he captured the All Japan Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship in the May of 1992 against Stan Hansen. Misawa embarked on a two year incredible run of stellar championship defenses against friend turned arch-enemy Toshiaki Kawada, perpetual rival Akira Taue, legendary Stan Hansen, and the explosive Dr. Death. In midst of all this, Misawa took on the energetic, lively Kenta Kobashi as his tag team partner and understudy. Misawa is famed for his extended comeback and usage of a long finish run. These long finishes developed incredible tensions in his matches through the use of nearfalls, high-impact moves and timely selling. These finishes and all his offense were set up by his elbow strikes. These elbow strikes were stiff and brutal creating space for him to set up his high impact blows. Misawa was known for his stoic disposition in his matches, giving the fans reassurance that he was always one elbow away from rendering his opponent incapacitated. Misawa has the distinction of being involved in the most matches Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer has rated at Five Stars. Misawa’s most notable trait is his fighting spirit and resilience as he is Four Corner member that wrestled from underneath most often.

DANGEROUS K

Toshiaki Kawada – All Japan’s second banana is one mean muthafucka. You don’t mess with Dangerous K. Kawada began his career in Genichiro Tenryu’s army in his feud against Jumbo Tsuruta’s army in the late 80s. In the early 90’s, he joined Misawa’s army against Jumbo and became Misawa’s number two and steady tag team partner. In October of 1992, at All Japan’s Anniversary show, he wrestled Misawa for the Triple Crown Heavyweight titles falling short in what would be a theme throughout his career. During the 1993 Champions Carnival, frustrated with his loss to Misawa and a desire to step out of his shadow, he formed the Holy Demon Army with Jumbo’s number two: Akira Taue. Kawada and Taue would have many legendary battles against the tag team of Mistuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi for the Double Cup (All Japan’s Tag Team titles) that are considered some of the greatest matches ever. If Misawa is known for his elbows, then Kawada is known for his kicks, which he can hit from any angle with brutality. Kawada ins my mind is a better seller than Misawa, where as Misawa edges him a bit on bumping (Kawada took some nasty bumps, but Misawa really seemed to throw himself into them). Kawada ranks up there with Savage in body part selling and Flair in fatigue selling. Kawada builds matches very well around body part psychology to set up bomb throwing finishes, which include his powerbomb and the DANGEROUS~! Backdrop Driver. I know that I enjoy Kawada more as a performer than Misawa, but yet I enjoy Misawa matches more than Kawada matches (like I think Misawa matches with Dr. Death, Taue and Kobashi are better than their Kawada counterparts). This something I really want to explore because I have not come to solid understanding of it. The point I tried to make in this analysis was why Kawada lost matches. I thought going into that Kawada sometimes let his sadism get in the way of victory. I want to see if that is the real reason for him coming up short. If Misawa’s trait is resilience, I would say Kawada’s is his sadism.

Who Am I To Doubt Akira Taue?

Akira Taue – In terms of the kayfabe, Taue was clearly ranked over Kobashi because Kobashi had yet to earn any singles victories over Taue coming into the 1995 Champions Carnival. Even though in many fan’s minds, Taue is a distant fourth in the Four Corners of Heaven. However, Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi are generally considered to be in the Top 20 greatest wrestlers of all time. So there is no shame being fourth in that category. Taue is often overlooked because of his awkward, gangly body and his lack of stiff/powerful offense. Taue relied on general ruthlessness and a sense of precision that his cohorts lacked. Kawada in all his desire to dish out punishment usually wanted to do it in a way that was fair. He was just mean, but he was not a cheat. Taue did not fucking care, he was out for the win. In a Japan, a closed fist was treated as a big deal and only to busted out in key situations. Taue did not give a fuck because it knew it would give him an upper hand fuck everybody else for not using it. Taue relied more on the straight punch than his cohorts. If Kobashi’s leg was fucked up, he was going to relentlessly attack it. If Misawa had a broken orbital bone, then sure as the sun will come up if Taue was in trouble he was going to claw at his eye. Taue may not have the moves, the graces or the emotion of his compatriots, but what he brought was a great understanding of wrestling psychology and how to be a ruthless heel. Taue was such a great tag partner for Kawada because of the reasons I listed. So what I want to evaluate is how good Taue is and if he really was such a weak link in the Four Corners.

When I watched this in 2006, it hooked me forever on puroresu

Kenta Kobashi – O Kenta and your flair for the dramatic. Kobashi’s youthful virility was the yin to Misawa’s stoic yang. I do not know if Kobashi  always intended this to happen, but his matches more often than not became sort of exhibitions of one-up manship. They usually involve displays of machismo such as chop battles (the chop is Kobashi’s strike of choice) and tests of strength. He has the most extensive offensive arsenal of the Four Corners and he loves to make sure everybody knows it in every match he wrestles. When Kobashi could reigned in by his opponent it could lead some of the greatest matches of all time. For instance Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi in 1993 is my current choice for greatest match of all time. However, some opponents did let Kobashi indulge himself too much and this led to matches going off the tracks think Dr. Death vs Kobashi 9/3/94. I like Kobashi well enough and his matches are never boring that is for sure. His comebacks are just so full of hyper masculine histrionics you just cant help but get into them. They are always setup by his dramatic selling that elicits so much sympathy from the crowd. Kobashi is I believe the general consensus favorite among the American wrestling fans that follow puroresu because of his ability to cross language and cultural barriers better than the other Four Corners. I want to see which opponents are best at managing Kobashi and how well he is at self-editing in this Champions Carnival.

Four Corners of Heaven

BACKGROUND

Heading into the 1995 offering of the Carnival, Stan Hansen was the Triple Crown Champion, but was being phased out due to age. Toshiaki Kawada had dropped the titles to Hansen in March and was looking to pick up some momentum given he had only one successful defense (a 60 minute draw against Kobashi in January). Mitsuharu Misawa was coming off a stellar, but injury-plagued 1994. He lost the titles to Dr. Death in July of 1994. This would be his first major singles since his loss in July and he will be out to prove that he is still the undisputed Ace of All Japan. Akira Taue had a lackluster 1994 and generally took a backseat to his cohorts. Taue will be looking to prove he still belongs in the Four Corners of Heaven. Kobashi has the most positive momentum coming into the tournament. He had very successful 1993 and 1994 campaigns and the fans have really rallied around him. He was able to take Kawada to a 60 minute draw in January in his shot for the Triple Crown. However, Kobashi still has ZERO victories over the other members of the Four Corners of Heaven and he will be looking to remedy that.

MATCHES

Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi
March 21, 1995

The first match is a contest between the two junior partners in their respective teams. It really feels like both these men are out there with something to prove. This gives this match a real sense of struggle as both men are making each other work for their moves. Everytime, Kobashi looks like he is putting something together, Taue will throw him down. There is a theme among most Kobashi matches of his macho posturing costing him matches as he gets too involved in one up manship that he loses sight of winning the match. Taue, for his part, avoids getting sucked into this like Kawada sometimes will by avoiding the test of strength and going for shortcuts like eye-rakes and throwdowns. Taue is going his best to disrupt Kobashi’s offensive flow. For his part, Taue looked his best on offense that I has seen up to that point. His Jumbo high knee and enziguri combo looked fantastic. He delivered some stiff blows a particularly vicious lariat comes to mind.

Kobashi continues this theme of struggle by doing his best to cut off Taue during his offense. Kobashi comes off like a warrior with dogged determination to press on even in bleak circumstance. My favorite spot of the match is when Taue does a throwdown to stop a Kobashi flurry into the corner only for Kobashi to rebound off and lariat him to a great pop. Eventually string together two pinning combinations off of a bridging german suplex and a powerbomb, but then misses his put-away: the moonsault. This gives the feeling that Kobashi was one move away from his getting his big victory.

As part two of my favorite spot of the match, Taue Irish whipped Kobashi into the guardrail and Kobashi went to do a rebound lariat only for Taue to catch him this time and throw him back into the guardrail. That was sweet! Taue follows this up with a HUGE Nodowa (Chokeslam, his finisher) off the apron onto the floor! Kobashi sells it like death. Taue has to bring him back in to get the pinfall, but Kobashi kicks out. Kobashi is working under the “lights are on, but no one is home” guise just trying to extend Taue to a 30 minute draw by rolling to outside. Taue obliges him by powerbombing him on the floor. Taue is such a prick and the fans love it oddly enough as they cheer his name. Taue polishes him off with the DYNAMIC BOMB~! (Sitout Powerbomb). This is Taue’s new and improved finisher to add a bomb to his arsenal.

I liked this match a whole lot as Taue really blew me away with his performance. He reigned Kobashi in and made sure that Kobashi never ate him alive with all his offense. Taue worked hard to impress and deliver some great offense. The match did a great job to put over two moves: the Nodowa off the apron and the Dynamic Bomb. In addition, it really Taue over as a scrappy, ruthless competitor that would never let a match get too far out of control. Kobashi was able to work his moves in a logical fashion and his facial expressions added to put over how much of a struggle this match was. His most important role was selling like he dead after the Nodowa to the floor and really putting Taue over as a threat. It felt like he was one moonsault away from winning, but at the day he went for one too many rebound lariats and got caught. That was turning point because it allowed Taue to set up the Nodowa to the floor. A fantastic start to the tournament and I think one that places the bar very high for all the matches to follow.

BURNING~!

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi

March 26, 1995

Kobashi will look to get himself back on track against his tag team partner while Misawa will be looking to prove he is the Undisputed Ace of All Japan. I was surprised at how vicious Kobashi was towards Misawa. Even after Kawada left Misawa for Taue, Misawa always seemed to wrestle Kawada diplomatically. Going into this match, I expected Kobashi and Misawa grapple until it got to a boiling point and then they went balls to walls. Instead, Kobashi came out to prove a point and he made it loud and clear with his thunderous chops on Misawa’s chest.

Misawa and Kobashi work well together because Kobashi wants to do a ton of shit and Misawa wants to take a lot of shit until he gets to make his extended comeback. Kobashi’s opening shine segment is fun with lots of good moves and plays to both men strengths. Cool spot at the beginning with Misawa doing a monkey flip out of the corner as a hope spot because I had not seen that before. Misawa, of course, goes to his trusty elbows when in doubt.

There is this fuckin wild sequence out of a surfboard that just has to be seen to be fully appreciated. A great instance of Misawa selling is when Kobashi roundhouse kicks in him the gut and he begins to cough. This is a great exhibition for how stiff and violent the strikes in All Japan can be as Misawa delivers some great Fuck You Elbows and Kobashi with Burning Lariats. Kobashi begins to pour it on with Backdrop Driver and German Suplex, powerbomb and moonsault triggering “Mi-Saw-wah” chants and a loud pop on the kickout from the moonsault. I was shocked to as I expected a foot on the ropes rather than a straight kickout. Things are looking bleak for Misawa as he rolls out and trying to extend the match. ROARING ELBOW~! From Misawa regains control for Misawa. Tiger suplex, frog splash get near falls and trigger “Ko-Bashi” chants. I do not know if it was a split crowd or if they just respected the hell out of both men. Kobashi does his dramatic crawl away but a Tiger Driver followed by a Sleeper Suplex finishes off Kobashi.              

This is a great match to get a feel for the All Japan style if you are a first timer. There is pretty of fantastic sequences full of heated strikes and big bombs. Kobashi comes off once again as a wrestler on the cusp of making it big, but doesn’t have enough to put away one of the big guns. Misawa does a good job giving Kobashi a lot before making a typical great comeback (though a bit shorther than his usual). I preferred Kobashi/Taue for the interesting story and heated struggle. Misawa/Kobashi had better strike exchanges and more fluid sequences, but Kobashi/Taue had more emotion.

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada

April 5, 1995

I would hate this to be the first Misawa/Kawada match anyone watches. It is such a classic rivalry and this match disappoints. It disappoints because about 30 seconds into the match Kawada breaks Misawa’s orbital bone legitimately. This obviously causes Misawa immense pain and it is a real tribute to his actual toughness that he continued on for the next 29:30 of the match. It did cause him to botch a couple moves of his routine and for the match to start a bit slower, but he did find his groove eventually.

The spot of the match is Kawada actually busting out a dive onto the outside of his own, which made me go nuts. Misawa blocks a piledriver on the floor delivers a Tiger Driver for the first big move of the match approximately 12 minutes into the match. Kawada still goes after the eye, which makes me cringe. As I mentioned earlier, Kawada had never pinned Misawa before. The injury forced their hand to structure a match where Kawada would be offense for a majority making it feel like Kawada would eventually get that victory. Kawada is really good at nuances like the struggle over a powerbomb. Kawada keeps going back to the stretch plum because of the pressure it puts on the eye.

Misawa lands a spin kick and goes through his offensive arsenal and the Tiger Suplex gets a good pop as a false finish. My second favorite spot of the match is when Kawada is clutching the ropes for dear life fending off a sleeper suplex attempt and then fires off this nasty chop to Misawa’s throat. It was a perfect confluence of desperation, fatigue and dickishness. Kawada lands a brainbuster and a powerbomb but time expires with him in control.

The general theme of Misawa/Kawada matches is Kawada getting closer and closer to pinning Misawa. In 1993, Kawada worked over Misawa’s arm to eliminate Misawa’s vaunted elbows. In 1994, Kawada worked over Misawa’s neck and was even more aggressive in his stance. In this match, he was in control of the match before time limit expiring looking that with just a minute more he would have secured his first victory over Misawa. This was a great effort from both men given the circumstances of Misawa’s unfortunate injury so early in the match. It is match that was very good, but does not hold up against the greatness of the previous two matches.

Focus Group Studies Show: This Chick Brings Eyeballs

Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue

April 8, 1995

THE HOLY DEMON ARMY EXPLODES~! Had to. Taue has a victory on Kobashi and Kawada has drawn Misawa thus for Kawada to advance to the Champions Carnival he needs a victory here and a victory over Kobashi and hope Taue does not beat Misawa. This match is wrestled with this idea in mind. Kawada needs the win more than Taue and thus goes out there and wrestles more aggressively than his partner. Taue, much like in the Kobashi, does his usual throwdown defense, but Kawada catches him early with a wicked, short spinning heel kick.

Kawada is on offense for the majority of the match and employs some wicked submissions, which is something that All Japan matches lacked. This works twofold to put Kawada over a sadistic sum bitch who needs the win and Taue as a sympathetic underdog. Taue times his hope spots well using a Tenryu-style enziguri and his snake eyes moves well, but Kawada remains in command. Kawada relies heavily on his explosive kicks to stymie any Taue flurries. The tension in the match is derived from Kawada’s urgency to win, but Taue is not letting it become a Kawada exhibition. Taue does deliver a DDT onto exposed concrete and a couple Nodowas. In the ultimate display of desperation in puroresu, Kawada uses a closed fist to quash this turn of events.

I never thought I would say so-so is the greatest wrestler at using apron (the edge of the wrestling ring), but Godamnit Taue is the greatest apron wrestler ever. The best sequence of the match is when Kawada Yakuza Kick (high kick to face) on Taue on the apron. Taue returns the closed fist from earlier to set up Taue’s big bomb: the Nodowa to the floor!!!!

Kawada, similarly to Kobashi, sells it like death and the end is inevitable for Kawada as he falls to Super Nodowa (rolls away) and ultimately the DYNAMIC BOMB~!

Best match of the Carnival so far, it does not blow away the competition, but I liked this match the most because of Taue coming from behind and besting Kawada in the upset. As these two are partners, I think Kawada busting out new tricks was his way of keeping his partner off balance. However, Kawada was not able to wrangle Taue into his powerbomb or DANGEROUS~! Backdrop driver, which are his bread and butter. Taue kept his offense very true to form and used his size advantage over his partner to connect with his moves. It almost felt like some an act of hubris with Kawada willing to engage his junior partner on the apron knowing full well what happened to Kobashi. Taue with two victories is guaranteed a trip to the finals with this victory.   

I’m skipping the Carnival match between Misawa and Taue because they will be meeting in the finals. I will be covering the Finals between those two.

Kobashi Defies Death

Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi

April 13, 1995

In January, Kobashi extended Kawada to the limit in his only successful defense of the Triple Crown in a one hour draw. This is their first meeting since that match with both men eliminated from a spot in the finals these men will be battling for personal honor and the fact they plain just don’t like one another.

Kawada immediately indulges Kobashi by engaging in a test of strength, which Kobashi wins. Kobashi delivers a Tiger Suplex out of it and some of his patented leg drops across stuff (guard rails and the middle rope). Kobashi has a lot to prove remember because he is yet to garner a victory over any of the other members of the Four Corners of Heaven. At the same time, Kawada is looking for some positive momentum, but the early going indicates that Kobashi is the aggressor.

Kawada fires off some kicks and then backs Kobashi into a corner before unleashing a barrage of vicious knees to the face. I’m sorry, Mr. Kawada for thinking you were not the aggressor. Kobashi is able to connect with a favorite All Japan spot the rebound lariat off the guardrail. Then we arrive at the hook of the match, Kobashi in his overzealousness high knees the guardrail. Kawada works the knee really strongly. Kawada delivers a shinbreaker onto the neighboring timekeeper’s table another favorite All Japan spot. I approve, Kawada.

Kawada works over the leg some more with a half-crab and Scorpion Deathlock. Of course when Kobashi makes him comeback, Kawada immediately cuts that off with a dropkick to the knee. God Bless Dangerous K! Kobashi dropkicks Kawada’s trick knee (hurt it back in 1993) and then delivers his own shinbreaker onto the announce table. I love the symmetry as now Kobashi utilizes a half crab and Texas Cloverleaf. I am just excited about all this because it means Kawada gets to sell the knee. Kawada on jello legs and his fall across the ring after a Kobashi Irish whip is some of the best wrestling theatre ever.

Lets take this bad boy home!  Kawada manages a desperation DANGEROUS~! Backdrop Driver, but Kobashi blocks the stretch plum attempt. Kawada gets a 2 off one powerbomb, but his leg buckles on the second and Kobashi gets a 2 count just from landing on top of him. Kobashi sets up for the moonsault, but Kawada rolls away. Finally Kobashi connects with a moonsault and it only gets two. The expression of shock on Kobashi’s face says it all.

Kobashi runs through the rest of his bag of tricks: the Burning Lariat, the Rolling Cradle and another moonsault, but he misses that time to give Kawada a near-fall. Kawada delivers another powerbomb and DANGEROUS~! Backdrop Driver for nearfalls, but Kobashi keeps crawling away as the time limit expires.

All Japan was doing its damndest to prove these two men were exact equals with multiple draws in 1995 and 1996. Once again, Kawada was in control when the time limit expired, but did not have enough to put his opponent away. This match is a lot of fun because the symmetrical leg psychology, Kawada’s selling and the great finish run. I would place this behind Kobashi/Taue and Kawada/Taue (remember how I said Taue was the fourth best that argument seems weird now doesn’t it?) because while it was heated, it did not have the emotion of the two Taue matches.

DYNAMIC BOMB~!

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue

April 15, 1995

Champions Carnival Final

I am just going to get this out of the way. This is one of the greatest matches of all time and in top 10 of the greatest All Japan matches of all time. Full Stop. Don’t pass Go and collect $200, sit your ass down and watch this match. I was skeptical of the rep this match has because I did not think Taue as a singles competitor could deliver that time of performance. Who am I to doubt Akira Taue?

The match begins with a series of counters to put over their familiarity with each other. Taue side-steps a Misawa flying lariat and drives him into the ground sending Misawa to the outside. All of sudden, we get Air Taue as he dives onto Misawa on the outside and Misawa chants begin in earnest. I loved this because it established that with both men so familiar with each other that they would have to wrestle outside their moveset to keep their opponent off-balance.

The hook of the match is Taue aggressively attacking the injured eye of Misawa (remember Misawa legitimately broke his orbital bone in match with Kawada earlier). Taue utilized this tactic to cut off Misawa offensive flurries and to setup his own offense. A good example of this is when Misawa slides over the back of Taue on a suplex attempt only to receive a stiff elbow to his eye. Misawa for his part puts on a offense clinic of his own.

Against Kawada and Kobashi, Misawa is more than willing to let them have their spotlight, but against Taue Misawa has more free reign to take larger chunks of the match to himself. Misawa actually taking so much offense is indicator to the viewer that his normal rope-a-dope strategy would not work here because the injury is that much of liability. Thus Misawa is looking to end this match much earlier rather rely on his normal strategy of extending his opponent and then taking advantage. This gives a different feel from normal Misawa matches as he is much more aggressive and urgent with his offense. After a flurry of spin kicks, elbows, two elbows dives and a ROARING ELBOW~!, they actually tease Taue losing by countout. I have to mention the normally stoic Misawa seems a bit pissed that Taue was so willing to take advantage of his injury.

At around the 12:00 minute mark, all hell breaks loose as Taue claws Misawa’s eye repeatedly to stop his elbow flurries. This culminates with Taue stepping on Misawa injured eye. The Japanese crowd and announcers collectively lose their shit at the ruthlessness and audacity of Taue. I have watched a lot of Japanese wrestling and never remember a crowd actually booing a wrestler that is how heated this got. Seventeen years after the fact that spot is still fuckin sweet.

Taue tries to negotiate his kill shot: the Nodowa off the apron to the floor, but Misawa elbows his way out of it. Misawa in desperation runs through more of his arsenal: spinkick, senton, frogsplash, german suplex, Tiger Driver, but can not garner the victory. Then we arrive at the spot of the match and maybe my favorite sequence in all of pro wrestling.

Misawa floats over Taue back on a vertical suplex attempt and lands on the apron. UH OH! Taue immediately takes the edge of his hand and drives it into Misawa’s injured eye. Taue goozles him, but Misawa is clinging to the ropes for dear life, but Taue chops his hand. NODOWA TO THE FLOOR!!!! Now the entire ending is in doubt. Before, Misawa was the favorite even with eye injury because he was the ace and none of the Four Corners had beaten him. However, this is the move that killed Kobashi and Kawada dead. Either ending is totally satisfying to customer as Misawa will either overcome this adversity as before or Taue will prove be the Misawa-Slayer. As a smart wrestling fan, I can predict 95% of the outcomes of all matches because I have just watched that much wrestling. Sometimes the journey is more fun than the ending. However, then there are matches like these when the irresistible force (Nodowa on the floor) and the immovable object (Misawa) meet and I don’t know who will win, but fuck it is going to be one helluva ride.

Taue runs through his offense and punctuates this run with a DYNAMIC BOMB~! MISAWA KICKS OUT!!!! O SHIT!!!! The ending is a great illustration of why Misawa one of the best ever. John Cena would have hulked up and ran through his offense to get the win, but Misawa presents his twist on the babyface comeback. Misawa strikes with his elbows, but with each elbow he is falling down or powdering. He is using these desperation elbows to create breathing room for himself to recover. You get the feeling as a fan that he just did not stop being injured or fatigued, but that he is fighting through it. Taue is both dazed by these vicious elbows and fatigued from running through most of his offense. Taue is still able to kick out of a german suplex and a Tiger Driver. Taue, sensing that the end is near, tries one last ditch effort by clawing at the eye and the crowd is molten with heat at this. Misawa elbows through the claw and TWO Tiger Suplexes finish it for Misawa.

One of the greatest matches I have ever seen. It is one of those matches where you feel like you reached a Pro Wrestling Nirvana as a pro wrestling fan. This is one of the best individual Misawa performances I have ever seen as he puts over Taue as a force to reckoned with and himself as a resilient wrestler that overcomes adversity with his heart and elbows. Taue stepped up his game huge throughout the Carnival and there was no brighter moment than this match where he ate Misawa’s offense well and was totally ruthless against the eye. This match represents what pro wrestling should be: the simulation of human struggle. Taue is struggling to step out from Misawa’s shadow and is willing to do anything to finally end his “Reign of Terror”. Misawa is struggling with overcoming his broken orbital bone and an opponent willing and able to exploit it. When pro wrestling is done right, I do not think there is a greater medium of entertainment. On April 15, 1995, Mitsuharu Misawa and Akira Taue did pro wrestling right.

 

2 Out of 3 Falls: Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, Ultimo Dragon

Hey yo,

What do you when all your friends have jobs and your brother has school? You, of course, call up your septuagenarian friend and have a grand ole time playing tennis and watching ’68 Tigers World Series Campaign (Mickey Lolich hit a homer in Game 2 and Holy Shit were Denny McLain and Bob Gibson absolute beasts!). Tigers Sweep! Lets Go Tigers! Yankees Suck!

So I am going to try to be most efficient in my analysis. This is because of three reasons:

• I don’t have time to write these 10-page long comparative analysis pieces
• You probably don’t have the time to read all that
• Match reviews already exist. There is no point in rehashing it. I want to focus more on analysis

From now, I will provide links to match reviews, which will also give the reader a general feel of the consensus on the match.

Seriously, where do all these girls play tennis??!?!??!!

This week’s 2 Out Of 3 Falls was inspired by a poster (named Loss, who watches a lot of friggin wrestling) at prowrestlingonly.com forums in the 1996 yearbook. In 1996, WCW made their big push against the WWF with the New World Order angle. In addition to a hot angle on top, WCW inject their mid-card with exciting, young international talent especially in their cruiserweight division. Up until 1996, American wrestling promotions featured most of their attention on heavyweights. In an effort to further differentiate their product, WCW made the call to develop and emphasize a cruiserweight division. This division comprised mostly of Mexican luchadores was totally fresh to American wrestling fans who grew to love their breath-taking dives and cool masks.   This week’s piece will look at the beginning of the cruiserweight division through the context of three major superstars of the formative period of the division: Dean Malenko,  Rey Mysterio, Ultimo Dragon (poor Psychosis, he always gets left out). The matches evaluated will  consist of Dean Malenko/Rey Mysterio GAB ’96, Rey Mysterio/Ultimo Dragon.

Iceman

Dean Malenko – “The Iceman” was a part of a dying breed of chain wrestlers with a very workmanlike approach to his wrestling. At his best, Malenko could deliver an interesting, grind-away counterpoint to the flashy style of his opponents such as Eddy Guerrero and Rey Mysterio. However, The “Man of 1000 Holds” often had a tendency to have self-indulgent, ego-masturbatory wankfests for matches. The best way to describe Malenko is that he is like a progressive rock band such as Rush. A very talented individual with lots of moves, but all these moves do not always tell a very interesting story. Originally, he was hailed by smart mark community as one of their darlings and a very underutilized talent. However, in recent years, it seems revisionist history has taken hold and labeled Dean Malenko as boring. By the end of this blog, we will be able to better evaluate if Malenko was a boring, self-indulgent arteest or a highly skilled artist.

Eddie vs Rey what a classic

Rey Mysterio – Between the years 1994-96, Mysterio has the case of being the greatest wrestler in North America. In 1994 and 1995, he was presenting incredible lucha classics against the likes of Psicosis and Juventud Guerrera in Mexico. Lucha is a style that I personally have found very inaccessible. However, even with my hardened heart towards lucha, I have found Rey’s work in Mexico to be interesting and entertaining. In late 1995, Rey and Psicosis took their show on the road to Japan and ECW, where they exposed foreign crowds to lucha libre for the first time to great success. One of my favorite matches of all time is the 2 Out of 3 Falls match between Mysterio/Psicosis in ECW. Thus it was just a matter of time before WCW gobbled up the King of Luchadores: Rey Mysterio to be a part of their new cruiserweight division. In June of 1996, Rey made his debut against the reigning cruiserweight champion Dean Malenko at Great American Bash. I think the comparative analysis of these three matches will allow people to see how well Rey adapted to American audiences and wrestle two very different opponents.

Ultimo Dragon – O Dragon! What a headache you can be, Mr. Asai. Personally, I am a fan of Ultimo Dragon and think when he is on that he is one of best junior heavyweights ever. However, Dragon is prone to fits of laziness or weird psychology. Dragon offers a great array of strikes and high-impact moves (suplexes, powerbombs etc), which are not the specialty of Malenko and Mysterio. Actually he is probably the most well-rounded wrestler offensively of the three as he can take it to the air or wrestle on the mat as well. However, Mysterio blows him away in selling and bumping, which makes hard for Dragon to make up that gap. That is where the Dragon can really hurt his matches. He will oft neglect to sell during latter part of the matches just so he can get all of his cool shit in. His matches can also have poor transitions due to his forgetfulness of earlier psychology and the employment of moves willy nilly. When the Dragon uses his arsenal in a logical fashion and is allowed to control the match, I believe that is when his matches are at their best.

From their July Nitro Match

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Dean Malenko vs Rey Mysterio Jr.
Great American Bash June 16, 1996 ( Scott Keith GAB '96 )

This match simultaneously salvaged the fledging cruiserweight division and made it into a sensation over night. This match is the best exhibition of Malenko’s chain wrestling being entertaining and working well within the confines of the layout. Malenko knows he cannot let Rey create space between them or otherwise face the damage of Rey’s vaunted aerial attack. If he can ground Rey, he eliminates that threat. That is the crux of the match Rey trying to squirm away from Malenko and Malenko trying to wrangle Rey.

From the outset, Malenko is one who is able to strike first with a cool looking Greco-Roman knucklelock arm snapping-thingy. It looked sweet trust me. He works over that arm relentlessly and convincingly with a great variety of moves. It always feels like he is trying to gain a new advantage or add a different degree of pain to Rey’s arm to keep him off-balance. My favorite moment is a flying hammerlock into a kimura that just looks so fuckin sweet. The key in this control segment is that Rey still has hope spots. This was Rey’s debut and it was critical to have these hope spots especially when he did not get an opening shine or you run the risk of jobberizing him.

As the match progresses and Dean is still struggling to put Rey away, you come to see a recurring theme with Malenko he does show emotion. Dean is not more relatable wrestler or the best seller, but he is really good at selling frustration at the inability to put an opponent away. This combined with Rey’s resilience and sympathetic underdog selling creates a very powerful story for the audience that is rooting for the underdog in this debut match against the champion.

When Dean finally does lose control, Rey unleashes that arsenal of aerial maneuvers, which both wow the fans and does a good job displaying why Dean was working so hard to ground Rey. The finish is thrilling with Rey’s quick pinfall attempts and all his quick counters. However, he finally succumbs to a massive powerbomb by Dean, who puts his feet on the ropes for three. The finish is a satisfying climax to this cat and mouse game. Rey looks like a champ with hot finish and Dean is able to retain due to one big move.

Most of what I have read has been in favor of declaring this match a classic, but it feels that many feel the need to defend it against a vocal minority that believes Dean gobbled up Rey for too long. Now, if Dean just sat in an armbar for the entirety of his lengthy heat segment, I would agree. Dean was really active with a lot of gnarly submissions and high-impact blows into pinfalls. It truly felt like he was trying to win a match and I can appreciate that. I think where these critics have a point is that Dean should not have immediately entered into a heat segment. In their subsequent Nitro match in July, Rey has a really cool babyface shine to open it. In that match, it really sets up the idea of what Dean has to fear. If Dean can not ground him, Rey will have him going in circles and Dean really sells that frustration in that match well. In this match, you don’t really get the feeling that Dean has anything to worry about in the context of the match because Rey did not open with anything. The drama in the Great American Bash would have been greatly enhanced by allowing Rey to hit a couple big moves off the bat to demonstrate how he lethal he could be. Since I brought up the Nitro match, the big problem with that match is that Malenko’s heat segment really meanders and is not really as good as this one. The Great American Bash match is a better complete match.

In sum, I think if you tack the babyface shine segment from the Nitro match and splice it into the Great American Bash match you have a Match of the Year Candidate for 1996. As is, it is one of three best matches from 1996 in WCW (Mysterio/Psychosis, Benoit/Sullivan), but doesn’t rank that highly in the world. This heat segment definitively proves in my mind that Dean Malenko is not boring. Can he be boring? Yes and we will see that! But he definitely can be a fuckin fantastic offensive wrestler. I think Dean’s strong suit is as a heel. Malenko is one of the few American wrestlers to always be straddling the face/heel line. I think if the booking team just went full bore with Dean as a sadistic, ground-based heel he would have had more entertaining matches consistently. This match showed how effective he could be as a yin to Mysterio’s yang. Mysterio for his part continued his campaign to be best wrestler in North America. I agree that Mysterio should have worked the majority of the match from underneath. His selling endeared him to the fans, his hope spots were well-timed to keep the audience engaged, and the match was structured to give his aerial spots time to breathe and seem more important to the audience. In the Dragon match, he will not be so lucky. 

One thing I want to debunk is that at least initially the commentary team (sans the Brain) did a very good job trying to get over the cruiserweights. You could feel how excited Dusty was to watch them and how much he enjoyed their work. As time progressed, of course like with all things in the mid-card, the WCW commentary team would just ignore it and talk about the Hogan-related item of the night. 

Thats the fuckin J-Crown. Pretty Badass

J-Crown Champion Ultimo Dragon vs Rey Mysterio Jr.

World War III November 24, 1996 ( Scott Keith WWIII '96 )

[The J-Crown was a set of 8 cruiserweight/junior heavyweight titles from around the world including incidentally enough the WWF Light Heavyweight Title. That’s at the height of the Monday Night Wars the WWF Light Heavyweight Title. The J-Crown always looked impressive as Dragon would walk out with his 8 titles on TV. I actually just watched the two most famous matches from the J-Crown tournament. I highly recommend the semi-final between Shinjiro Ohtani (my choice for best wrestler in the world in 1996) and Ultimo Dragon. The final between Great Sasuke and Ultimo Dragon is a fun high-flying exhibition, but the semi-final is one of the best junior heavyweight matches ever.]

Rey Mysterio had become the centerpiece of WCW’s cruiserweight division, but had dropped the title back to Malenko at Halloween Havoc, the previous month. In this match, it is Rey’s job to cement Ultimo Dragon as the top heel of the cruiserweight division. This is the match where people rightfully so complain of Rey getting gobbled up by Dragon’s offense. Whereas, the Malenko match felt like a struggle where two men were trying to win a match with natural strategies, this match felt like an exhibition of Dragon’s spots. Don’t get me wrong, Dragon has some pretty nifty spots (he busts out the Giant Swing!!!), but never feels like he is trying to win. Instead, he is just trying to show-off all his cool moves. Here is a list of the cool moves:

• Spinning Argentine Backbreaker
• Giant Swing
• Slingshot Powerbomb
• His Intricate Outside the ring sequence
• Spinning Tombstone Piledriver
• Running Ligerbomb
• Brainbuster
• Surprisingly did not do the Asai Moonsault (named after him)

This is the type of story that always falls flat with me. It is simply because there is no story. There is not a struggle. It is just an exhibition. It is fun visually, but not emotionally. In addition, Dragon did really use anything to set up his moves. Usually, he uses a ground game to weaken his opponents before he works his shit in. Instead, it just felt like pick up Rey and do his spots.

Rey be assertive. Where were your hope spots? The match was dying because of the babyface was getting totaled out there. It looked like match I had against my stuffed bear yesterday erm I mean 15 years ago. I totally mean 15 years ago.

Dusty was cracking me up throughout the match, but this quote not only makes me laugh, but is accurate portrayal of the match “This is pants-down momma spankin you whuppin!”  Of course at the finish, Rey does make his comeback and hits his visually impressive spots like his somersault plancha. The finish was hot, but the how fuck would the finish not be hot when you have Dragon with his ZILLION moves and Rey flying around at a mile a minute. They had a perfect ending: Dragon is able to catch Rey Rey off the springboard and hit a fuckin Slingshot Powerbomb (BITCHIN~!) for the win.

I have watched this match a lot because I happen to love watching Ultimo Dragon’s offense, but it is not a very dramatic match and thus loses a lot of points in my book.

Spoiler Alert: Dragon wont sell the leg

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Dean Malenko vs J-Crown Champion Ultimo Dragon

Starrcade December 29, 1996 ( Scott Keith Starrcade '96 )

These wrestlers sure did a great job reinforcing each other’s worst behavior. It was a like a vicious feedback loop where the problems just got compounded as the match progressed. Malenko gave one of his tone-deaf performances where he was committed to wrestling HIS match rather than the match the fans wanted. Dragon was in full one-up manship mode and totally focused on getting his offense over rather than getting the match over. Together these two presented an incredibly disjointed performance. It was not horrible, just really weird and not the classic that I was expecting.

During the entrances, Malenko was surprisingly over with fans especially given he was playing a heel in October against Rey. Though, I think was more due to Dragon playing the evil foreigner archetype than Malenko tweaking his character. The problem with Malenko’s performance was that he would do a big move to pop the crowd and then immediately grab a hold in such a way to kill the excitement of the fans, who just wanted to see him let loose. Malenko clearly wanted to work a mat-based style in order to set up the exciting finishing stretch. Dragon can go on the mat with best of them. His matches with Liger and Ohtani prove that. However, Dragon did not seem to get the memo in this match. I think Dragon was under the impression that American crowds were dumb and they just wanted highspots. So he set out to deliver highspots rather working with Malenko. Ergo the transitions were non-existent and each segment felt artificial and in vacuum.

At the beginning of the match Malenko hit a back drop driver to a big pop only to slap on a chinlock and then have Dragon take over is a perfect example of bringing the crowd up only to let them down. This was another problem with the match it felt too back and forth with not real strong stretch to build heat. Dragon runs through his offense until another Malenko back drop driver wakes up the crowd. Surprisingly, Malenko is selling better than Dragon. In a weird moment, Mike Tenay, resident cruiserweight expert analyst says that Dragon should really be pronounced Dragone for some stupid reason. Dusty thinks this is hilarious and proceeds to call him Dragone the rest of the match. I love Dusty Rhodes and I don’t care who knows it.

The finish is definitely the best part of this match as they just say “Fuck the rest of the match, LETS FUCKIN GO!” Dragon busts out a powerbomb to kick things off and the reverse tombstone spot with Malenko executing is always a crowd-pleaser and a great false finish. Malenko hits a Tiger Driver for 2, which was a killer false finish with Dragon timing his kick-out for maximum effect. Dragon adds the Asai Moonsault and Malenko busts out the Texas Cloverleaf before Dragon is able to garner the victory with a Tiger Suplex.

The finish was fun in the same way a Michael Bay action movie is fun because it is just a bunch of big moves strung together. The body of the match was basically non-existent and did not factor into the finish at all. This match is a perfect case for the detractors of both men as Malenko delivered a rather tepid performance until the end and Dragon focused more getting himself over at the expense of the match.

I have NEVER seen such beautiful and ugly form at the same time!

 I do not if somebody got in Dragon’s ear in WCW or if it was his own perception how to work in America because it seems that he believed in a high-spot laden exhibition was the best way to excel in America. Ultimately, Dragon was phased out of WCW by late 1997, whereas an exciting performer like Rey, who worked hard to get the match over and himself became a two-time World Heavyweight Champion and one of the biggest stars in the WWE. For Dragon, I would check out the two J-Crown matches I mentioned early and his match against Jushin Liger in December of 1995 to illustrate how good Dragon can be.

Deano Machino would keep on plugging away in the WCW mid-card until early 2000 when he jumped to WWF and was totally lost in shuffle. However, Malenko now works successfully as a road agent for WWE. Malenko was a great chain wrestler, who sometimes worked matches that were more self-indulgent than anything else. His match against Rey Mysterio proves how his style can mesh incredibly well by building an anticipation to highspots of his opponents. I recommend his matches with Eddie Guerrero in ECW. I cant recommend his match against Benoit at Hog Wild ’96 in full conscience because I have only seen it once and I don’t remember it clearly.

Rey Mysterio became the breakout star of the cruiserweight division because of his ability to adapt his lucha style to the American style. Almost immediately, he understood the idea of playing a sympathetic babyface and timed his hope spots so well. I think sometimes he does let himself get dominated too much like against Dragon, but usually just the credible threat of his highspots is enough to keep the crowd invested. Rey Mysterio before his first knee injury in January 1998 is one of my favorite wrestlers in the world. If you want a good exposure to lucha, I recommend his 9/22/95 match against Psicosis and any of his matches against Juventud Guerrera in AAA. In addition, I would add his ECW matches against Psicosis and his Bash At The Beach ’96 match against Psicosis, which is my pick for match of the year from WCW and his match against Jushin "Thunder" Liger at Starrcade '96. Rounding Rey’s killer first run, everybody needs to see his match against Eddie Guerrero at Halloween Havoc ’97 as it is the pinnacle of the cruiserweight division and one of the top matches in the history of the WCW.

I have not done any tag team matches or matches from WWF/E so I definitely plan on doing something related to that. Until next time,

Yankees Suck! LETS GO TIGERS!!! WORLD SERIES, MUTHAFUCKAS~!