![]() ![]() Both men go hold-from-hold rather nicely on the mat and then Pug represents his country proud with an All-American eye-poke before going full Aloha Arn on a Sunset Flip. Pug is at least agile & young and he’s going to need to be to hang with Ishinriki the walking energy drink. Not sure what that was about but common sense’s loss is NOW’s gain. Ishinriki is the former Sumo who looked incredibly promising in SWS before retiring and then very quickly un-retiring. Yeah take that WAR! You may have Ric Flair but we’ve got the guy who beat Timothy Flowers on Superstars. We technically got five minutes of nothing here but this was mere preview of Ueda’s later work for NOW. Ueda grabs something out of his tights that may be sharp and sticks Niikura with it for the pin, which shocks the crowd so much that someone throws a drink into the ring. Ueda finally re-appears holding a fire extinguisher while pissing blood. More brawling occurs and the yells from the crowd sound like the string section in a horror film soundtrack. Both men head outside so we can’t tell what’s happening but Ueda emerges shortly afterwards already bleeding. Ueda’s music plays but he doesn’t show up, deciding to stay unpredictable by waiting for it to finish before heading out. Manny was eager but Goro had all the energy of a Shiva. Both men brawl outside but the front row stand up and block the view and that’s that at 7:50. Manny lands a short-arm clothesline to get the first crowd reaction of the match so he sticks to slugging Goro who comes back with a jiu-jitsu headbutt. Goro insisting he’s a shoot-style guy is as sad as Billy Graham insisting he was a karate expert. Manny slows down once he realises Goro’s useless and they attempt to struggle over various holds on the mat. Manny does a terrific job of flying around for Manny’s clumsy shots, just like he did in Da Nang. Manny looks spritely but then again so do most people in the ring with Goro, who looks like he eats his cats when they die. This was a total pantomime show and very enjoyable providing you’re able to keep your tongue firmly in cheek. Crowd laughs at him so Skull dares a fan to get in the ring and the fan responds by standing on his chair and removing his jacket, with Skull deciding to leg it to the back. Skull raises his opponent’s hand before clotheslining him outside so he can salute a few more times. Apollo takes over and the crowd naturally quiets a bit before Skull ends it at 12:41 with a reverse DDT. Thankfully the crowd understands Skull is daft and not to be taken seriously. Skull lands a suplex then attempts to pin Apollo while relaxing on him and is shocked when it’s only a one-count. Skull’s doing a good job of hamming it up if nothing else. Back in, Skull makes Apollo work for a change by making him run the International, before Apollo takes him down with a headlock takeover pin attempt and Skull kicks out yelling “argh!” to the crowd’s amusement. Apollo dumps the flag to the outside and Skull sells it wonderfully before both men head outside for an unseen brawl. Skull cuts a promo in English but the crowd understands the intent and starts booing him, before throwing streamers during his introduction. Hell yeah, the future Big Vito aka The Pavarotti of Hard Shots To The Body! I know his gimmick in ECW was that he “paid his way into America with Jewish gold” so I wondered if he was leaning into that part of his gimmick in 1992 and I was typing that thought he made his entrance and uhhh better crop that screenshot… That was 14 minutes of nothing followed by forty seconds of the most brutal drops since Claudio Ranieri’s 2017. Kawabata can’t be put away with backslides so Oya spikes him again to end it at 14:40. Eventually they get out of the pits and start trading sleepers before Oya delivers a brutal backdrop suplex out of nowhere and God that was a beaut. ![]() Manjiimortal’s favourite wrestler responds with his own stationary holds, great. Oya spends the first five minutes applying ankle locks and it’s the same inanimate stuff he always does and I’m putting more effort in typing about it than he is applying it. Solid stuff here and it turns out Naoi doesn’t have a cagematch profile because he died in January 1993. Crowd is really into the new guy because he’s new so there’s loud NOW OH EE chants as he tries for pinfalls after shoulder tackles before a single crab submission wins it for Hatanaka at 10:49. been-here-a-few-months guy matches and they’re all the same. Toshimitsu Naoi is as green as his tights (he’s wearing green tights) and there’s a million of these just-started guy vs. Audio has a constant buzz so it’s like watching modern day Smackdown. ![]() Like all NOW footage, this is a handheld fan cam so make sure you’re reading this review with a VPN or you’re going to be in trouble. ![]()
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