Liger/Sano - The Arm Match

Jushin Liger v Naoki Sano (New Japan, 8/10/89)

Man what is that Liger costume? It's just a red skeleton suit with a set of honest to goodness shoulder pads. Not even attached to the suit itself, they're just strapped up independent of the costume with zero regard for colour clash or anything. A wild boy. This is the arm work match. As in, "what Liger/Sano match is this? Oh it's the arm work match. That one rules." You know if a match is instantly recognisable based on a simple concept - in this case body part work - then that aspect of it is pretty, pretty, pretty good. It's the first time I've watched this since going through the DVDVR set all the way back in 2009. Which is a whole fucking lifetime ago. I remembered Liger's selling being great, but even that doesn't do it justice because after about three minutes I was shortlisting it for one of the best sell jobs in history. What an incredible Liger performance. Almost straight away Sano tries to rip his arm off - so clearly there was some history there and those shoulder pads were not merely a fashion statement - and it basically renders Liger one-armed for the rest of the match. The arm is left dangling by his side when he tries to mount any offence, it's pretty much useless when actually carrying out that offence, then when Sano is beating on him that arm remains limp and offers Liger zero protection against anything. When he went for big and dramatic he nailed it, like when he would clutch it in pain even while he was in control, or howl in agony any time Sano grabbed an armbar. When he went for a little more subtlety he nailed it, like when he couldn't properly apply the surfboard with both hands, or how he'd turn his body away from Sano just to try and shield it. Maybe the hardest part about limb selling is the consistency and he absolutely nailed that too, making sure you never once forgot that his arm was completely fucked, not when he was working from above, not when he was working from below. When he was on offence the selling wasn't as visceral, but the offence itself certainly was. If the arm was useless then what he'd do instead is punt Sano in the face and throw headbutts and pretty much anything else that might get the job done. I love how he turned the regular piledriver into a Gotch style piledriver because it was easier to hook with half an arm, and good grief was he crushing Sano with these piledrivers. Sano was amazing as well. You'd think beating up a one-armed man wouldn't lend itself to garnering sympathy, but you almost forget about that when he faceplants the concrete off a dive and Liger is trying to crack his skull open. From there all those armbars feel like desperation, pure hope spots rather than the sort of savagery it came off as early on. And then when he realises Liger won't submit he just drops him on his head instead, like any sane person would. This had pretty much everything. The violence and seething hatred, the nuclear heat and intensity, the amazing yet different performances from both guys, a crazy dramatic finishing run, just the whole lot. I'm not sure there's been a better New Japan juniors match since.