Sunday 18 October 2020

Liger v Sasuke - The Rematch

Jushin Liger v Great Sasuke (New Japan, 7/8/94)

Here's a story I know you'll all give a shit about - this was the very first match I ever ripped from a DVD and uploaded to the internet. I know you can find basically anything and everything wrestling-related online nowadays, but back in the 2007 this was nowhere to be found, so I don't think it's an overstatement to say I was nothing short of a god when I put this on megaupload for the masses to download and watch at their leisure. Anyways this was pretty great, and very different to the J Cup match. Where Liger dominated that from the start, this time Sasuke dropkicks him at the bell, throws a few Liger-esque shoteis and a koppo kick, then wipes him out with an awesome psycho tope. Sasuke knows he can't let Liger come out the blocks hot again and tries to continually press the advantage. Whether it was a deliberate callback to the J Cup or just a standard "I think I'll work that body part tonight" decision, I liked how Sasuke was determined in going after Liger's arm, which was a cool role reversal from April. Sasuke isn't as assured working from above and at times he almost looks overeager, but you kind of expect that considering who he's in there with. Think of all those times Golden State would be down by double digits only to come back and blow teams away by 25. You can't let up for a second and Sasuke knew not to take his foot off the gas. That his flying was treated as being a proper game-changer was a nice and probably necessary touch. It helped that all of that flying looked great, especially the Asai moonsault where he ends up front row in someone's nachos. Finishing stretch hits a decent level of drama, one of the big nearfalls from the J Cup gets rolled out again to good effect, then Liger does what he does fisherman busters someone's neck to bits. 

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