JJZ: I have no fucking memory of ever seeing this before. But if you watch this and go JJZ, I played this his for you in 2007 after we drove to Edison NJ for an ROH show I wouldn't be shocked. This is a little stiffer than I expected. Ricky and Misawa are really laying it in. I honestly can't remember the Dragon wrestling in Japan that much so this was a welcome surprise. The crowd was white fucking hot. I mean popping for everything. Great finshing stretch imo. Hope this is new to you!
CJD: This one is new to me and a real curiosity indeed. Misawa got an NWA Title shot?? Hot damn. Steamboat is another guy who doesn't have a great reputation for his stuff translating in Japan, like DiBiase last week, but this match made me interested to see him in this kind of role over there more. There was a good amount of working holds but they meant something and built a good pace. There's something about Ricky that is a little like Terry Funk, where some of his mannerisms or ideas are a bit too goofy, but the sum of the parts is such a great pro wrestler that you just roll with it. Or at least I do. I really love how much he'll extend his entire body on certain bumps or spots. There's a controlled grace to his body language. I will say he had one pretty bad no sell, but no selling piledrivers in Japan is a thing to do so I guess let's just forget about that one. Also the match was really heating up at that point and the crowd wanted them to keep the pedal down. Misawa as TMII was interesting. I honestly think he was better in the gimmick than a lot of people realize. He wasn't a natural under a mask but there's something about the no nonsense way he approaches a cartoonish gimmick that built his credibility beautifully. Like I used to buy the narrative that the fans knew who he was, knew how talented he was, and were just dying to see him take it off and show what he could really do. And yeah that's all probably true but it's matches like these last two that built his lore. Where you can feel the crowd investing in him more and more. I really liked looking at this portion of his career a little closer baby! Now where to go with the Dragon next week?
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