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I was thinking about starting a thread discussing classic puroresu. Maybe what your favorite match is, or who your favorite/underrated wrestler is and why. I’ve been trying to watch a joshi match a night and extend that to watching something classic from somewhere to expand my cultural tastes.
I just watched Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu from June 5, 1989. Absolutely brilliant how the match builds. I’ve loved what I’ve seen from Tenryu. He’s a name I’ve probably slept on because I’ve been more historically interested in the Four Pillars era of All Japan. So much I love about Tenryu. Even how he stands out by wearing the yellow trimming on his boots. It’s simple and not bombastic, but still makes him stand out.
Can everyone using a Powerbomb as a finish please take note from Tenryu? The way he has the move countered in his matches just makes you want to see it more. Of course his opponents avoid it like the plague. It just makes it the forbidden fruit of the match. The pop Tenryu gets when he hits one on Tsuruta in this match is huge. Lots of wrestlers have taken the idea of hitting multiple finishers in their “epic” matches. Not many have taken how important it is to build and that if you hit one of your finishers, you better get a heightened reaction for two or three.
The way Tsuruta and Tenryu make you want to see what they’re showing you. Brilliant. And when something works for a guy in the match, they try it again. It doesn’t feel repetitive so much as it feels like a guy exploiting the same weakness he perceives his opponent to have. I love it when a guy hits a move and if it doesn’t finish the match, his mentality is like “Well let’s see if you can take another one.” Too many guys get cute with arranging their matches to be these set pieces of counters to counters to counters that don’t come organically from what kayfabe strategy and moments the wrestlers find themselves in.
A hidden highlight of this sort of style, when I feel it is done right, is when the “flow” of the match kind of breaks because a guy is just clubbing the other guy because he hasn’t been beaten yet, so he’s got to come up with his next big move. It feels like their strategy has kind of been thrown out, and it all feels very organic. It’s all got that mentality of the guys are trying to win, and they’re selling just how tough the other guy is. And they will make mistakes and go the long way about doing things sometimes, which is a great in-built excuse for losing, if that’s the way the booking goes.
Absolutely sublime pro-wrestling.
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