[Recall]

Tried to watch NJPW 1/4/07 Tokyo Dome show yet it skips (not the players), big woop to you IVP.

And Nagata vs. Suzuki is supposed to be off the charts

[Andy3000]

Just watched Mutoh/Nakamura from 4/28. I didn't think it was anythingoverly special, but it was still really good. The crowd were completely pro-Mutoh, and when he picked up the win after a moonsault, the pop was tremendous. The constant dragon screw leg whips were a bit on the repetetive side, but it got Mutoh's stratagey over fine, since it was obviously working. ***1/2

Also watched the 95 J Cup last night. Still as good as I remember. I don't really feel like giving a full review of it, so I'll give ratings and go into detail on the matches I thought were best:

WAR Super J Cup Second Stage, 12/13/95

Damian v Gran Naniwa - *1/2
Shinjiro Ohtani v Masaaki Mochizuki - ***
Shoichi FUnaki v Ultimo Dragon - ***
Gedo v Masayosh Motegi - **1/4
Dos Caras v El Samurai - **1/2
Hanzo Nakajima v Chris Jericho - **3/4

1/4 Final - Jushin Liger v Gran Naniwa
This was definitely one of my favourite matches from the tournament. Naniwa does well to keep up with Liger, and the God himself makes Naniwa's offence look more credible than probably anyone other than Taka Michinoku or Dick Togo, until Liger stops foolin' with the crab boy and kills him the fuck dead with a Liger Bomb. Liger advances and, really, it shouldn't be any other way. Because he's better than Jesus. ****

1/4 Final - Wild Pegasus v Chris Jericho
Another really good match, although I find it a bit overrated as some people are pegging this as "***** by America's standards." which I find to be pretty silly. Still though, Benoit brings out the punkyness in the future Y2J, but kicks his fuckin' head in for the constant taunting he receives. Jericho seems a little sloppy at points here since he's still a relative new-comer, but his "Come on, baby!" and Come on, motherfucker!" outbursts keep him over with the crowd. Benoit wins with a slightly botched second rope tombstone, but it's actually a nice recovery from him as he slips off the rope, which could have resulted in a real bad injury for Jericho had he not adjusted. Really good match, the second of which in the quarter finals. ****

1/4 Final - Ultimo Dragon v Shinjiro Ohtani
Third quarter final, and third great match! This is a great lead in to their classic a year later as it's obvious from watching this that, while a great young line that's full of fire, Ohtani's not on Ultimo's level just yet. He get's to look like gold though, which is easy enough considering he's in there with Dragon, but this is in no way a carry job. Super hot crowd and some killer near-falls are really the icing on the cake. The one thing I didn't like, however, was the pretty stupid spot where both guys just no-sold the others' tombstone piledriver. Twice. Maybe I'm reading too much into it since I'm pretty sure this would be completely shit over in Mexico (Ultimo's Tombstone being no-sold twice?! KILL THE FUCKER!), but it just seemed kinda unnecessary. Dragon's corkscrew splash was completely missed for the finish (as in, he jumped too far and never connected with Ohtani), but he made up for it with a Majistral Cradle, which is credible enough on it's own. ****

1/4 Final - Gedo v Dos Caras - ***

1/2 Final - Ultimo Dragon v Jushin Liger
Not surprisingly, this was the match of the tournament. I realy liked the psychology here with Dragon and Liger going through the match, and coming out of it, looking like equals. Liger does something big, so Dragon does the same; Dragon hits a big move, Liger does it too. It was pretty effin' great. Both guys work the leg, although Dragon forgets to sell at parts, but that doesn't really affect the geratness here. Liger continues his streak of awesomeness with the victory after reversing Dragon's Majistral Cradle, advancing to the finals in the process. Fantastic match! ****1/2

1/2 Final - Wild Pegasus v Gedo - ***3/4

Exhibition Match - Rey Misterio Jr. v Psichosis
This match really couldn't be anything less than good at this point as they were seemingly touring the globe, putting on awesome matches wherever they ended up. It's essentially a spot-fest, but it's a really, really good one that the WAR crowd are totally in to. Their reaction to some of Rey's high-flying offence is great, and he eventually picks up the win with a standing Hurricanrana. ***3/4

Final - Gedo v Jushin Liger - ***3/4 (Liger kills the heap of shit that Gedo was at this point to win his first J Cup. Liger/Dragon should probably have been the final, but I'm guessing WAR wanted to elevate someone other than the already established Ultimo, so this was decent enough.)

Overall - Great tournament. Some excellent matches, as well as some very solid ones. Definite recommendation.

And finally, I have no idea why I seem to be against all of the most highly pimped puro matches in this thread, but I'm not a fan of Kobashi/Misawa 3/1/03 either! I actually preferred Kobashi v Takayama from 4/25/04.

[GenerationNeXt]

Like I said before guys, if there are any Puro matches that you recomend me watching please PM me.

[McQueen]

Some matches I think are essential All Japan matches. Gonna be a big list given All Japan in the late 80's/90's was off the charts awesome. Especially Jumbo.

Terry Funk vs Jumbo Tsuruta 2/3 Falls 6/11/76, NWA Title.
Terry & Dory Funk vs Hansen & Gordy, 8/31/83. Terry's first retirement. (*Note I am admittedly a HUGE Funker mark)
Jumbo & Tenryu vs Choshu & Yatsu, 1/28/86. (This is actually my favorite match)
Jumbo vs Tenryu, Triple Crown, 6/5/89.
Jumbo Tsuruta vs Mitsuharu Misawa, 6/8/90.
Jumbo vs Misawa, 9/1/90.
Jumbo, Taue & Fuchi vs Misawa, Kawada & Kobashi, 4/20/91.
Kobashi & Kikuchi vs Furnas & Kroffat (Can-Ams), All Asia titles, 5/25/92. (Best... Crowd... Ever)
Stan Hansen vs Toshiaki Kawada, 2/28/93
Hansen vs Kobashi, 7/29/93.
Kawada & Taue vs Misawa & Kobashi, Tag League '93.
Kawada vs Williams, Champions Carnival '94 final
Misawa vs Kawada, Triple Crown, 6/3/94 (you might have heard of this one)
Misawa & Kobashi vs Kawada & Taue, 6/9/95 (Best match ever, for real)
Kawada & Taue vs Misawa & Akiyama, Tag League '96 final
Misawa vs Kobashi, Triple Crown, 1/20/97
Kawada vs Kobashi, Triple Crown, 6/12/98
Kobashi vs Vader, 1/22/99

Yeah think I went a little overboard already

[Andy3000]

Originally Posted by McQueen

Some matches I think are essential All Japan matches. Gonna be a big list given All Japan in the late 80's/90's was off the charts awesome. Especially Jumbo.



Yeah think I went a little overboard already

And you could fire an absolute shit-load more on to that as well.

[Claymore]

Originally Posted by rohrecall

Tried to watch NJPW 1/4/07 Tokyo Dome show yet it skips (not the players), big woop to you IVP.

And Nagata vs. Suzuki is supposed to be off the charts

Yeah dude, the same thing happened to me. The disk kept skipping. All I did was e-mail the guy, and he was really cool in sending me a replacement...

[McQueen]

I know

Pretty much anything that includes Jumbo or Dangerous K is worthy of viewing.

I might have to do New Japan next -Blaskoshu-

[-Blaskohiro Tenryu-]

Originally Posted by Andy3000

And you could fire an absolute shit-load more on to that as well.

He forgot to add some New Japan, so I agree.

[JD13]

I know these were mentioned in the NOAH thread, but regardless check these out:

Kobashi foam hand
http://santorini.globat.com/~wrestli...productId=1399

Event programme
http://santorini.globat.com/~wrestli...productId=1355

Streamer pack
http://santorini.globat.com/~wrestli...productId=1356

Event T-shirt
http://santorini.globat.com/~wrestli...productId=1400

The foam hand is awesome. I must have one.

[-Blaskohiro Tenryu-]

That foam hand is the actual size of Kobashi's.