I am for all intents and purposes what you would call a
“wrestling nerd”. And being such a nerd and also being super young, I am
constantly looking for new, cool stuff that will peak my interests when it
comes to that multi-faceted, wonderful thing that is pro wrestling. That’s why
I’ve started a hopefully reoccurring post on this blog called “What Wrestlefan
Watched”, where I talk about a match, segment or something interrelated with
pro wrestling that I found interesting. So, let’s get into it.
Recently, because of the great stuff that I have seen from
them recently, I have been diving into tons of New Japan Pro Wrestling, a
company rich with lineage and one that I thinks does a perfect job of
intertwining aspects of sport into pro wrestling. One of the examples of this,
which they do every year, is the Best Of The Super Juniors tournament, which is
a round-robin tournament that compiles some of the best junior-heavyweights in
the world, competing for a future opportunity at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight
Championship.
I just got done watching the first night of the 2011
tournament, a show that features great matches like Davey Richards vs. Prince
Devitt in the main, TAKA Michinoku vs. The Great Sasuke as well as the
legendary Tiger Mask taking on TJ Perkins, all of which we’re entertaining
contests. However, the one I want to talk about may be overlooked by some when
watching the entire event, but it is the one that stood out to me.
It pits the well-known Jushin Thunder Liger against CMLL
star Mascara Dorada. Both of these men are great athletes in it of itself, but
the key to this match is how it is composed. The clocked-in match time goes a
little bit over 3 minutes, and I’d estimate that about 10% or less of the
actual match takes place in the ring. That is because a majority of this match
features Dorada continually diving to the outside onto Liger, in order to wear
him out enough for him to get counted out. And, that is exactly what he did.
Now, not to be all uppity about it, but if this same match
was placed in front of an American crowd, I believe, even in it’s context, it would
be met with anger from people. For example, I remember that people were confused
and a bit put off back at the ACW Queen Of Queens Tournament, when Matthew
Palmer beat Rodney Mack in a extremely short match, doing so because he
defeated him in Rodney’s famous “Five Minute White-Boy Challenge”. Even though
they were trying to tell a certain story, some people were upset because they
wanted a longer match between the two. But, to me, that match was perfect. I
think at times companies tend to focus a bit too much on giving fans their
monies worth, meaning giving them a lengthy wrestling match. But, you do have
to stand by the belief that quality is better than quantity. If a shorter,
quick match is used to tell a great story, I am all for it.
This is exactly what this match did. Even with the language
barrier that comes with this match, I understood this story completely. Dorada
was trying to get a quick, easy win over Liger in order to preserve himself for
the 7 other upcoming matches he had in the tournament, so he hit Liger with
everything. They also did a good job of showing how tired and exhausted Liger
was after the defeat, having to be carried to the back afterwards. If instead,
this match was 10-15 minutes long and Dorada and Liger went at each other like
they are known to do, it would still be good, but would not mean as much in the
end.
Overall, I felt thoroughly entertained by this encounter,
and it also made me intrigued for the other matches for these two further in
the tournament. This for sure deserves a watch, as well as this entire show,
because it has something for just about everyone.
So, give this match a look and tell me what you thought of
it. Also, would you like to see more of this column? If you have any
suggestions of things I should watch, leave a comment, tweet to me, or contact
me in one of the many possible ways on the internet. I’ll watch it and write a
500+ word thing about it, because what the hell else am I going to do.
Socialize with people who don’t watch wrestling? Are you kidding me?
Until then,
The Wrestlefan
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