I always get a bit nostalgic watching the 90s New Japan juniors. That era with wrestlers like Liger, Ohtani, Eddie and Benoit as Black Tiger and Wild Pegasus, Kanemoto, Samurai, the M-Pro guys showing up, even Ultimo Dragon - I was drawn to that period in an almost obsessive way and it was the first time I properly tried to procure as much footage as I could get my hands on. Before RINGS or 1990s CMLL or Battlarts there was the New Japan juniors. Of course I've told that story before, and I've talked about how it's not really a period or style I care too much about at this point, but when it still clicks it CLICKS. It just hits different, as the wee ones today might say. It's like going back and watching a cartoon that you loved as a kid and finding that, hey, this shit actually DID rule and my childhood wasn't merely a façade. And I thought this held up as being one of the best juniors matches of the decade. Liger was fucking incredible here, a performance right up there with his very best. It's not something I'd call a carry-job because a big part of what made it so good is Sasuke's willingness to be crazy, but Liger pretty clearly holds it together and works most of it in control. He pretty much tortures Sasuke for about 10 minutes, stretches him at all sorts of angles, drops him on his head and firmly establishes himself as the king of kings. The longer it goes the more it looks like this indie scrub has no shot. It was a fool's errand rolling into Liger's town, thinking he could challenge Liger in his own tournament. It's the Super J Cup fer chrissakes, how could Sasuke ever hope to beat the Super J himself? I don't even know how many times I've said it on this dumb blog but it's always amazing how Liger can convey such obvious emotion despite never showing his face. His body language is impeccable and even with the mask you know exactly what his facial expressions are underneath. He's dismissive to start out and you can see it plainly. When he can't put Sasuke away he gets frustrated and I loved the part where he just recklessly suplexed him from the apron outside the ring. When Sasuke makes his comebacks - usually by being a maniac - Liger is almost desperate. You can tell he doesn't have that same level of control he had in the beginning. My favourite moment of the match might've been after he dickishly sat across Sasuke's chest to pin him and almost got rolled up for a three count. He about shit himself then, checking that the ref' only counted two, visibly relieved and fist pumping the air that he'd escaped. There was also an awesome bit of selling after Sasuke drilled him with a powerbomb. He kicked out, but he was clearly groggy for a little while after it, clearly had to shake the cobwebs, and it made you wonder if Sasuke might have a way back into the match despite being swung about for most of it. Obviously the finish is iconic. It's probably the best adlib to a botch ever, how Liger applauds this idiot for faceplanting on his one last Hail Mary, only to underestimate that same idiot one time too many.
Jushin Liger v Super Delfin (New Japan, 5/30/94)
Liger must be sick of these M-Pro numpties. They think they can roll up on his turf and win New Japan tournaments, and what's worse this particular numpty has shown up dressed like Liger himself. This wasn't as good as the Sasuke match but it was alright, if kind of weird. The roles were reversed a bit in that Delfin was the cocky one this time, although you'd think some of that was probably hubris. It's one thing showing up in Liger's house in a Liger suit; it's another thing dicking about with his usual shtick like this was a young Taka Michinoku he was in there with. You don't tug on Superman's cape and you sure don't pull the horns on Liger's mask. Liger giving him a shotei across the jaw was a fitting response and there was that body language again, showing you exactly what he thought of Delfin. Where it started to get weird was in the back half, not so much in terms of what they were doing or how it was paced because I thought all of that was good. It was weird because Delfin had obviously started out as cocky heel and even blatantly mule kicked Liger low, except the crowd were behind him doing the upset and so he more or less worked babyface from about halfway in. Liger never started working heel as such and it's not even a criticism really (Hogan/Rock basically did the same thing on a much grander scale and that match is bananas great), it was just a wee bit jarring. Finishing run had some big time dives and I liked Liger taking it upon himself to answer Delfin's flying by crushing him dead with an insane somersault senton. The Sasuke match was a blemish he wouldn't let be repeated.
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