AKIYAMA! "Champion DOWN! Champion DOWN!"- and other stuff I saw and heard about this week!
Howdy!
I got a bitchin tape from m'man Phil, with lots of cool stuff on it so I
figured I'd tell y'all about it.
-I saw a bunch of All Japan TV. I'm guessing it was from May or June
because Taue defended the Triple Crown against Kawada, but I could be
wrong. I think they took the belt off ol' Akira because he is can't
consistently deliver the great matches, because this one was kind of
lacklustre, and great matches against Kawada should be a given. I think
Kawada is a great but this wasnt all that it should have been. I think
its because Taue has too many goofy spots that he does, like that leg
lift thing where he wrenches the head of his opponent. Kawada has that
dopey "little kicks to the head" spot that is pretty goofy, but he has so
many other things to take your mind off of it (like kicking the f*uck
out of his opponent:)), so it doesn't hurt him as much. Kobashi has that
Minami Toyota rolling on the ground thing that is pretty goofy but he is
twice the wrestling machine that these two are, so I'm guessing that is
why he has the hardware, trophies and certificates. Taue wins the "Most
Stoic" award over anyone in All Japan, which is his coolest aspect. I am
actually starting to really dig Akira Taue, and that is a lot easier to
do when he isn't wearing the Triple Crown when there are guys who can
wrestle circles around him, like Kobashi.
-Saw two Misawa/Akyama tagteams. The first one was the best, against
Doctor Death and Johnny Ace. Steve Williams looks like he is back in
wrestling form and Ace just rules. Ace really rocked in this match. His
Ace Crusher looks so much cooler than DDP's. It's hard to believe that
he was a Dynamic Dude at one time in his life. What is that suplex that
Akyama kept doing called? It's a variation of a Northern Lights Suplex
kinda. The best part of the match was when Akyama amd Ace were pretty
much wrestling a singles match for seven or eight minutes with Williams
and Misawa outside beating the heck out of each other but always running
the ring to make the save at the last minute out of nowhere. Misawa
wasn't afraid to take every bump imaginable as All Japan moves deeply
into the state of never having a suplex that doesn't drive the recipient
directly on his head.:) Thus, it must really suck when Doc is doing the
suplexing. This was one of the better matches I've seen in a long while.
The second was Misawa/Akyama vs Kobashi/Diet. Diet is very old school
pro style and looks like a rangy Texan type. He did a cool released
Niagra driver. Kobashi stole the show as expected and Misawa did a lot of
elbows and generally ruled. I'm guessing Akyama is one of the young
punks that will be moving up the ladder as Kobashi takes the next step
and is leaving a place vacant, as he was quite impressive, working as
stiff as his elders and not being smoked completely by Kobashi and Misawa
(unlike that six man tag with Van Damme I saw a few weeks ago). Diet
seemed young and to have a lot of potential, and he could easily be
stolen back to the United States for the big two.
- I finally saw Skydiving J yesterday and there was tons that ruled! To
HELL WITH IT! I'm going on record as saying that Michinoku Pro
Cruiserweights are better, man for man, than New Japan Cruiserweights!
They smoked them on this night in terms of innovation, bumps taken and
matches delivered. TAKA Michinoku and Super Delfin had the match of the
night as TAKA really pulled out the stops including a springboard plancha
from one top rope to a cattycorner top rope that had me rewinding a
couple of dozen times. I don't know what I was thinking when I thought
that Delfin was overrated! The last three matches I've seen him in have
been absolutely great! And he definately had the hippest mask on earth.
It was kinda burgundy and earth tone. Very Stylish! TAKA pulled off one
his fabulous TAKA drivers (or Michinoku Special #2, or whatever!:)) and
took it to the mat and to the air with equal intensity. THIS GUY WHIPS
ASS! He has passed Sasuke as the best wrestler in Michinoku Pro and is
closing in on the divine Gran Naniwa as my personal favorite.
The Liger/Dick Togo match was, despite reports to the contrary, pretty
choice. Liger was great as an absolute prick, and did a Fargo Strut
better that JJ or even our man Stevie! The big surprise for me was
handsome Dick Togo. I had never seen him before and somebody told me
that he was actually a repackaged Terry Boy or Shiryu. He came out with
Shiryu and he didn't look like Terry Boy, so I don't know. He was not
afraid to take a bump- my favorite being Togo trying a ring apron
hurricanrana and Liger turning it into a powerbomb onto the floor to a
very sickening thud. Togo got way too much elevation on it for any sane
man to get, knowing that he is about to eat a lot of floor. All through
it, Togo made Liger's already impressive power moves look twice as
hellish, especially the toprope Fisherman buster after the missed Togo
senton (which was after he had made two of them.) Liger was great and
Togo was impressive, if not in Liger's league yet.
The Sasuke/Black Tiger match was pretty grounded which would have been
fine with me if it hadn't been so slow in large portions. Eddie was
really aggressive and I'm starting to like him more as Black Tiger in the
ring than his stateside version, I'm just wondering if there is some way
to translate it into his stateside persona. Sasuke was intense enough
but it was pretty flat overall. They would never succumb to the Lucha
leanings that each have, which would have been a great addition to the
sometimes clumsy submission stuff, and would have really been cool to
see someone with Sasuke's ring speed with someone who is a master of the
style. I guess they were trying to stay within the New Japan Junior's
style, and that limited the range of what these two could do between the
ropes. The end was the exact one as Misterio/Psicosis at BatB,
Hurricanrana out of a DieHard Kansai, so I'm guessing our AAA fellas
watch tapes (unlike WCW announcers).
The Ohtani/Kazushi Sakuraba was pretty great. It was your basic "UWFi
guy doesn't work with the New Japan guy on pro style stuff, so New Japan
guy whips his ass shoot style" and Ohtani is the master of this and tears
Sakuraba a new one. TAKA and Ohtani are becoming the most versatile
wrestlers in the world, not unlike budding Benoits, with TAKA having the
lead because he can work Lucha style and I've never seen Ohtani try to
work that style. They can both work UWFi and New Japan Junior styles. I
read that Yamamoto was hurt and couldn't do the match, but this was
probably the same match, without the bleached hair. Sakuraba was as
impressive as all the young guys in UWFi are with all the cool snap
suplexes and stiff kicks. Ohtani hits a beautiful dragon suplex but goes
for the submission instead of bridging for the pin, sort of like Takaiwa
when he does a Boston Crab for the submission after he hits the totally
disabling Death Valley Driver (a New Japan Young Punk trend!)
The rest was short highlights, the highlights of the highlights being:
Takaiwa dickishly Death Valley Driving Gran Hamada.( HEY! C'MON HE'S
OLD!) but doing the job for Hamada anyway (it is Hamada. You wouldn't
have a job if it weren't for him selling the Junior Hvywt style to the
public years ago, ya punk!:)) The highlights of the Naniwa/Dragon match
looked cool, though I read that the match sucked. I'd like to decide for
myself though.
The lowlight was the divine Shiryu jobbing to the pretty useless Motegi.
Oh well, at least Motegi has won a match that has reached the States.:)
Shiryu's new mask kicks ass, and the highlights showed some impressive
highspots, though Shiryu didn't land on his feet during that weird tope
thing he does and there wasn't enough to capture the intensity that
Shiryu has been reaching in his last couple of matches.
The end set up this months tournaments with everybody throwing all their
belts in a pile in the middle of the ring and agreeing to unification
tournament. If it is for one unified title, they should do the great
thing and have the champion carry around all eight belts at once
after he wins, like the Triple Crown holder does with those three belts.
-Phil gave me a Silver King/Texacano vs Super Astro/Miguel Perez Jr match
from IWA, and Silver King and Super Astro combined to show the origins of
a lot of moves that are being gotten over by Misterio in WCW. Astro is
best chubby guy in wrestling, though SATO would take him to the limit in
the ring and at the buffet line.:)
-I got a big batch of ECW I hadn't seen from Saint Phil :). Too Cold
Scorpio is the best wrestler at ECW and he should be wrestling worldwide.
He carried the adequately talented Shane Douglas and the psychologyless
Sabu each to Match of the year Candidate this year. Notice how much was
Too Cold in the Douglas match and you will see that Douglas is working
his ass off and Too Cold is making his spots look spectacular (especially
the sling shot suplex onto the guard rail.) Scorpio can make a good
wrestler look great and can settle a great but disorganized wrestler down
to the point of creating a great match as opposed to one filled with just
highspots. If Scorpio was in a bigger organization right now he would be
recognized as being in the list of top twenty workers in the world. And
Sabu is developing a sense of psychology. I noticed this in the Stevie
Richards match, where it worked back and forth in a logical sequence and
built to a coherent ending. Of course, that could have been Richards,
but I'm giving Mr. Brunk the benefit of the doubt.
The best wrestler I can't stand watching is Rob Van Damme. I don't
understand it. He is great here and in Japan and has been in some of the
best matches I've seen this and last year. His match against Sabu (the
second one, I think, is the one I saw yesterday) was flawless with the
exception of one overselling of a Sabu punch. That was pretty much what
ECW would want to be known for, hardcore but more real wrestling than you
would ever want; a really different style that straddles mainstream and
Japanese garbage wrestling, kind of like if all the WCW cruiserweights
watched way too many Terry Funk matches. It was a perfect mix. Maybe
with Van Damme I just can't stand that pony tail or something, or his
goofy unneccessary gymnastic embellishments. I need to get over it,
because he is great. I saw a match on Wrestling Power 96 where he carried
Gorgeous George III to a *** star match on an independent card, so I got
a clue there. Add that to the Kroffat match I saw him in last year and
he is developing an impressive resume, and his style is pretty unique.
The Luna Vachon/Stevie Richards cage match was great. Vachon should be
picked up by WCW and they should have her be the #1 heel in a Women's
division. Her and Medusa could be conduits for bringing in Japanese
counterparts. I'm also thinking that GAEA wrestlers would be a better
fit for the states than any other group, in that Chigusa has a better
grasp of the heel/face structure than her Japanese counterparts, and
Vachon would be able to hang with Chigusa easier than having to hang with
Inoue or Minami level wrestlers (God knows Medusa can't). Plus
Vachon/Combat vs Medusa/Chigusa would go over in the States better than
anything else I could think of. Vachon was impressive and she should be
in a ring more often. The testicular claw was absolutely brilliant!
The Sandman/Whipwreck ladder series was truly impressive. The Sandman
was the best I've seen him and for some reason Mikey was eternally a
non-entity. He would do all these things that would be impressive, but
the presence of Sandman totally overshadowed him; Mikey became another
person being beaten to death by Sandman who somehow won the third match.
I think that is the allure of Sandman. his ring presence is undeniably,
you can't look away. I saw all three and they smoke the Micheals/Ramone
series like a cheap cigar. Sandman's leg drop off from the rafters, the
insane plancha by Sandman on to the ladder as it was draped over the
security rail and the great interveiws by Steve Austin before every match
were all amazing, a true pinnacle for that type of match.
The Gangstas/Dreamer vs Eliminators/Brian Lee match was AWESOME! The
Eliminators are WAY TOO talented for such big men. Tommy Dreamer has
gone from being the Kanemura of the US to becoming the Nakamaki of the
US, so he is going more laterally than forward, but he has made some
progress. The Kronos flying space Tiger Drop made my day! These guys
are Cruiserweights trapped in heavyweight bodies! I was disappionted
that Prime Time Brian Lee didn't come out to "Train, Train" by Blackfoot,
but he brawls with best of them. This IWA deal should be a godsend for
Dreamer, who should fit in snug like a bug in a rug.
- I saw the Rey/Juventud cage match from AAA television and it rocked.
REASON #1328932 to be a Juventudiac: The first move by Juventud was that
Akyama suplex that I didn't know the name of up there. Mexican cage
matches are the best in the world because everything happens on top of
the cage and they always end up climbing overtop of each other to get
out like people would end up doing in real life.:) The ending was
anticlimatic but the rest of the match made up for it. Juventud's
rolling Guillotine legdrop from the top of the cage was pretty choice.
-Saw the Konan/Psicosis match on the Pro this morning. Hey Dusty, you
fat piece of sh*t, if you don't think Psicosis is tough enough, I have a
barbwire cage match from Tijuana with Psicosis and Halloween beating the
crap out of Leon Negro and Ultraman 2000. And he can also jump off the
ground which you definately couldn't do, you fat useless nothing.
Next week: Dean get's tapes of Rey Misterio Sr's WWO from Dams and
watches all of it in one sitting! It may not be for the weak of heart!
NANIWA!
Dean Rasmussen, Juventudiac!
