From: hekunze@jeeves.waterloo.edu (Herb Kunze)
Subject: Re: First Impressions of Herb's Tape
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 13:58:12 GMT

In article <12364@operator>, oliver@Software.Mitel.COM (Oliver Postlethwaite) writes:
> Dump Matsumoto/Chigusa hair feud and Bull Nakano & Condor Saito vs. Dump and
> someone - The video quality of these matches is just too poor to make them
> watchable. They are very noisy too.

  Unfortunately, the tapes that I mail out are two generations ahead of my
  personal copies.  So far, that's one "watchable" and one "unwatchable"
  for these guys.  Sorry about that.  I thought they were watchable on
  my VCR.  

> Esther Moreno/Manami Toyota vs. Bison Kimura/Aja Kong 
> This was possibly the best match on the tape and
> that I've ever seen (although it has competition from some others on the tape)

  I voted this the best match I'd seen in 1991 when I did last year's 
  achievement awards.  All the women were great, but wasn't Esther just
  unbelievable?

> Jushin Riger vs. Naoki Sano series - These are all brilliant matches on there
> own but I found them too hard to watch all together. I found them to
> be pretty similar with the same high spots. I mean, it was kind of like
> Riger had to jump of the 3rd rope out of the ring, he had to use the
> bow and arrow submission, etc... The 4th match is highlighted by Riger having
> his mask ripped off (it hangs off his face) and bleeding. It's funny because
> right before this match I was wondering if Riger had ever (and could) juice.

  I love watching them together!  In the first match, they each get their
  high spots on the other.  In the second match, they each have a counter
  for the other's spots.  In the third match, a counter to a counter.  The
  plot of the feud was great, I thought.  You never really knew how each
  spot would come out.
 
> Keiji Muto/Masa Chono vs. Hiro Hase/Kensuke Sasake-This is another that could
> be my favourite from the tape.  

  Wasn't it better than Steiners vs. Hase & Sasaki?  Considering how many
  people thought that the Steiners match was a match of year last year,
  that's saying a lot.

> Steiners vs. Road Warriors - Much better than I expected (Herb only gave
> it a 2.75/5, I would give it a 3.5/5) but too short. They never really
> got into it. It was mostly just throwing people into the ropes and giving
> a clothesline or a suplex... the Steiners wrestled better than the Roadies
> but don't look as cool. I agree that it was a cheap ending.

  I think that this match stands out as the worst on the tape by a large
  margin.  But it was voted in because it features two dream teams against 
  each other.

> Stan Hansen/Bruiser Brody vs. Dory and Terry Funk - Pretty good match but
> not as good as was rated. I still don't think Brody's that good.

  It's a different style of wrestling/brawling.  I guess it takes a little
  to get used too.  I really enjoy this match; it's my favourite Brody
  match.
 
> Earthquake vs. Koji Kitao (sp!!!) - Kinda dull. Earthquake realizes
> that Kitao isn't going to cooperate and swears up a storm. The mostly
> just slap each others wrists until Kitao pushes the ref and gets DQ'd.
> I liked the smug look on Kitao's face as he could tell 'Quake was
> getting worried.  

  Actually, the official story was that Kitao was pissed about the takedown
  that Tenta put on him right at the beginning of the match.  If you watch
  it again, you'll see that Kitao leaves the ring really pissed after that
  move.  Tenta seems to be unaware that he was too stiff; so, maybe Kitao
  was just upset that he had to job for another former-Sumo two nights in
  a row (he'd jobbed the night before).  

> Randy Savage vs. Genichiro Tenryu - Not a bad match but not what I expected
> from Herb's 4.5/5 rating (I'd give it a 4/5). Savage takes a powerbomb
> very poorly. Surprise ending for me!

  That's the first power bomb Randy has ever taken.  I probably gave the
  match an extra 1/4* for Sherri's work.

> Clips from New Japan - Clips of Vader and Inoki and Hase and Shiro Koshinaka.
> I can't say too much about this so I won't.

  They show clips of Hase & Koshinaka against different opponents to set
  up their match.  If you look closely you'll see Koshinaka against a 
  guy in long red tights.  That's Keiichi Yamada, pre Jushin Riger.

                                                                Herb...