Board 8 > Board 8's Match of the Week (MotW) - Familiar Faces in Strange Places

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Hello One and All and welcome to another week of Board 8's Match of the Week series.

Last week was a great success as we dipped our toes into attitude era WWF, Indie Golden Age, and 00s Dragon Gate, all in short bite sized chunks.

This week we will be doing "Familiar Faces in Strange Places". We did not have a volunteer to guest spot with us so it will once again just be Iceman, Bidoof and myself. The idea here will be to see a star who was famous elsewhere working a spot in an unusual promotion for them.

Next week will be a themeless week so if you are out there with a match you want people to discuss, please be sure to chime in so you can join us next week.

Eddv's Match of the Week
The Big Boss Man and Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi and Mitsuhara Misawa
AJPW 7/9/1993
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fApSzZLQ7KI

This match is the source of a fairly famous gif, the one that gets shared every time people want to talk about Boss Man's unusual athleticism. Curiosity led me to view the whole thing and well - its an AJPW match featuring two of the four pillars. So yeah its naturally pretty good. But what this means is that I have cast The Boss Man as my star for this writeup. It is interesting to see him in this context He's bumping like a boss, he's coming off the top rope and he's working with some serious workrate.

It becomes easy I think to not appreciate work like this from Boss Man in light of guys like Luchasaurus and Brian Cage to see him going like that but he sort of comes off as like a second Hansen and while he does take the fall here he acquits himself well and hits a silky smooth counter-boss man slam.

In the scheme of AJPW tags this is nothing truly special but I have always had a soft spot for the boss man.

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Bidoof's Match of the Week

The Undertaker vs. Jinsei Shinzaki
Michinoku Pro: 4th Anniversary - 10/10/1997
Match Link: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV11V411d7bu?from=search&seid=17002893024923378383

Alright, let's start with the easy part. Why is this happening? Well, Jinsei was killed by the Great Muta in a previous match and, since The Undertaker exists between life and death, Jinsei Shinzaki must defeat him in order to return to life. Makes perfect sense.

This match is part Undertaker showcase as the Deadman goes through all of his signature offense on a barely responsive Shinzaki to the Japanese fans. Shinzaki is dead, remember? But along the way, we see him begin to revive and that's when the match really begins as Jinsei fights back against the insurmountable power of the Undertaker. We get some great demonstrations of both men's athletic abilities and some solid selling from Taker when Shinzaki finally gets some ground on him. It's not a very long match but it's a pretty fun ride and probably one of Taker's better matches from the 90s given that he spends a good chunk of the decade wrestling various stiffs in crap gimmicks. Enjoy!

Okay, sorry for the delay, folks.

Iceman's Match of the Week

Chris Sabin vs Katsuhiko Nakajima
AJPW Pro-Wrestling Love In Ryogoku Vol. 3 - August 26, 2007
Match Link: https://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/k34tJU2QWitz68w2oTb

The "familiar face" in this one is, of course, Sabin making a rare singles tour of Japan, but for a lot of fans, Nakajima, who has spent more than a decade now as one of the most enduring and consistently good members of NOAH, could probably also qualify, especially considering he's walking in as the champion.

Sabin earned this challenge by winning AJPW's Junior League over such names as TAKA Michinoku and, many years before his dick kicking and garrote wiring escapades, Dick Togo, including a victory in the finals over Shuji Kondo, who had just recently held this title for an almost-500-day reign. Sabin was doing some of the best singles work of his career at this point, and his booking everywhere he went reflected that.

If you're not familiar with Nakajima, suffice it to say that he was a prodigy in every sense of the word. He's 19 years old here and already in his fourth year as a pro. And considering he was good from the time he first stepped in the ring, that's a great combination. And that puts Sabin in a fun position; he was no grizzled vet by this point by any means, but he got to work like one, punishing every mistake his overaggressive opponent makes and showing some great smarts by targeting the leg and trying to take away his brutal kicks.

Brutal kicks still abound, though. Oh, do they ever. This match is much more violent than you may expect, with some of the best looking strikes you'll ever see coming from both guys. It's fast-paced and exciting and, for two guys that have had careers in which AJPW was pretty much just a blip on the radar, it's a hell of a hidden gem.

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Ah damn Ive been slacking

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Eddv posted...

Ah damn Ive been slacking

At least you're not alone. My week has been insane but I'll do my best to watch these recommendations soon.

AJPW Tag
Well, three of the wrestlers in this match made it onto my ballot for our little Top 100 Ever project, including the guys in the top two spots, so yeah, like Ed said in his post, this was never gonna be anything less than enjoyable.

I will always especially love the pairing of Hansen and Kobashi. No matter how far the latter got in his career, Hansen always seemed to take particular offense anytime he hit him, and watching the big gaijin proceed to beat the crap out of him every time never got old. And some of that certainly showed up in this match towards the end where the Americans are just taking wild swings at the kid.

The biggest compliment I can give Boss Man here, who I haven't really seen much of in total, is that he definitely doesn't look out of place at all. He gives good effort, he's pretty smooth when the situation calls for it, and he works the style well. I can see from Cagematch that he had way more All Japan matches than I'd have guessed, and it makes sense after seeing how well he fits here. Some of that obviously comes from working with three of the greatest to ever do this, but he pulls his weight just fine.

Not much more to say about the match itself except that I really enjoyed the finishing sequence. It's just dang good tag wrestling, and I'll always enjoy a match like that.

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Taker vs Shinzaki
I'll be up front that this match kinda had an uphill battle on its hands for me. I've never been an Undertaker fan - I don't even like his absolute best stuff as much as most people do - and when you throw in the kind of gimmicky supernatural stuff that the match was apparently based on that everyone knows I'm not a fan of and we're working on a bit of a shaky foundation.

Luckily, said gimmicky stuff falls by the wayside fairly quickly, and even up to that point it is pretty entertaining to watch Shinzaki jump into orbit on chokeslams and bump around like a crazy man for all of Taker's strikes. And I can't deny, the top-rope headbutt that Taker avoided by sitting up was a legitimately awesome and clever spot.

Past that, though, it'd be hard for me to sit here and say that this was a match that ever really grabbed me at any point. The work was certainly solid; nothing wrong with it by any means, and considering it was meant as an Undertaker showcase before anything, I can't claim it didn't accomplish its purpose.

Perfectly good for what it was - it was entertaining enough and didn't overstay its welcome - but what it was wasn't necessarily for me.

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NBIceman posted...

Okay, sorry for the delay, folks.

Iceman's Match of the Week

Chris Sabin vs Katsuhiko Nakajima
AJPW Pro-Wrestling Love In Ryogoku Vol. 3 - August 26, 2007
Match Link: https://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/k34tJU2QWitz68w2oTb

The "familiar face" in this one is, of course, Sabin making a rare singles tour of Japan, but for a lot of fans, Nakajima, who has spent more than a decade now as one of the most enduring and consistently good members of NOAH, could probably also qualify, especially considering he's walking in as the champion.

Sabin earned this challenge by winning AJPW's Junior League over such names as TAKA Michinoku and, many years before his dick kicking and garrote wiring escapades, Dick Togo, including a victory in the finals over Shuji Kondo, who had just recently held this title for an almost-500-day reign. Sabin was doing some of the best singles work of his career at this point, and his booking everywhere he went reflected that.

If you're not familiar with Nakajima, suffice it to say that he was a prodigy in every sense of the word. He's 19 years old here and already in his fourth year as a pro. And considering he was good from the time he first stepped in the ring, that's a great combination. And that puts Sabin in a fun position; he was no grizzled vet by this point by any means, but he got to work like one, punishing every mistake his overaggressive opponent makes and showing some great smarts by targeting the leg and trying to take away his brutal kicks.

Brutal kicks still abound, though. Oh, do they ever. This match is much more violent than you may expect, with some of the best looking strikes you'll ever see coming from both guys. It's fast-paced and exciting and, for two guys that have had careers in which AJPW was pretty much just a blip on the radar, it's a hell of a hidden gem.

Oh hey, Chris Sabin with knees! I had forgotten what that was like. Man, that made this a treat to watch after years of seeing him in his current condition.

If any of you haven't seen Katsuhiko Nakajima before, this is a great introduction to him and his style. He loves his kicks and his kicks look amazing. He hasn't changed that much from his younger years but he also hasn't really needed to. His stuff is great and he's stayed healthy. I just wish he'd spend more time in promotions that weren't circling the drain. <_<

I think what I really loved out of Sabin is that it was clear he came into this with a game plan. He was going to work that leg, try to take away Nakajima's offense, and hopefully that will leave him in a position to be able to get a Cradle Shock for the win. Sabin showed off some really great submission offense and impressive quickness with his ability to keep slipping Nakajima up whenever Nakajima seemed like he was going to take control back. That dive spot where Nakajima nailed him with a perfect high kick was excellent.

I guess my final thought on this is how much it sucks to be Chris Sabin. At this time, he was a part of the conversation for being one of the best juniors in the business. However, the back-to-back ACL tears completely derailed him and I feel as though he's never been able to adapt to it. It's a shame that so much of his career is tied to TNA where they never really used him or Alex Shelley to their fullest and we didn't get more performances like this.

Eddv posted...

Eddv's Match of the Week
The Big Boss Man and Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi and Mitsuhara Misawa
AJPW 7/9/1993
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fApSzZLQ7KI

This match is the source of a fairly famous gif, the one that gets shared every time people want to talk about Boss Man's unusual athleticism. Curiosity led me to view the whole thing and well - its an AJPW match featuring two of the four pillars. So yeah its naturally pretty good. But what this means is that I have cast The Boss Man as my star for this writeup. It is interesting to see him in this context He's bumping like a boss, he's coming off the top rope and he's working with some serious workrate.

It becomes easy I think to not appreciate work like this from Boss Man in light of guys like Luchasaurus and Brian Cage to see him going like that but he sort of comes off as like a second Hansen and while he does take the fall here he acquits himself well and hits a silky smooth counter-boss man slam.

In the scheme of AJPW tags this is nothing truly special but I have always had a soft spot for the boss man.

Ray Traylor doesn't feel like he gets enough appreciation from modern fans. For a guy of his size, he was so athletic and it felt like he could perform well with a variety of opponents. Though he's the worst worker in this match, he holds his own in there and has a couple of moments where he shines. Oh, and the other three men in this match are on most people's shortlists for all-time greats.

As you said yourself, this isn't anything special or memorable in the realm of AJPW tags. Still, it's a very solid tag match that the crowd absolutely loved. The way everyone lit up any time Misawa entered the ring is a reaction that I don't think anyone in modern wrestling can get (even if we weren't in COVID-land). Finishing stretch is very well done but I feel like I could say that about any AJPW tag from this era. I guess the main fault I have against it is that it's just a pretty good tag match in a company where you're used to seeing the best.

Gonna bump this by taking the opportunity to post an archive of past weeks that I'm gonna keep updated for as long as this project continues just in case anyone ever wants to take a look at previous matches or something. Has all the links and so forth.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VXMwXb2uwSjPwWNR0BUhh9xNa68amq8dMeXwS_sY5h4/edit?usp=sharing

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Holy shit ed watched the matches finally but is almost out of time on his lunch break

Taker vs Shinzaki

This was a really fun little diversion. Youre absolutely right this is not a technical wrestling clinic but it does very much feel like a Chikara before it was a thing moment. The in ring story telling was wild and exaggerated but still decent. What a strange little chapter youve exposed me to.

Sabin vs Nakajima

Like everything Iceman nominates the work here is top notch and very fast. Sabin is an incredible worker back in his prime and Nakajima is definitely able to keep up. The psychology here is also really fun. Its a shame that Sabin and zshelley dont get to go down as all tine great juniors just because of when they came up.

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