How Great is Sasuke? (part two of lots)

I turned back to some older stuff last night - I had planned to watch an Ohtani vs. Sasuke match from 1994 (taped from Eurosport, apparently) but that was a no-go as the downloaded file was corrupted or something. So, I content myself with these guys.

Great Sasuke vs. Ultimo Dragon, WAR, 17th July 1994

I didn't get much out of this. First of all, parts seemed a little clumsy and sloppy, which is never good when working the quick stand-off spots they begin with here. I also didn't like the two identical asai moonsault spots. I get that Sasuke was stealing moves a little bit, but Ultimo's version, although happening after, looked weaker in comparison, and didn't make the they were going for at all. By about seven minutes in, it already felt like they were hitting finishers, with loads of powerbombs and headscissors.

Overall, it all felt a little mindless - there didn't feel like there was a solid body or story of the match to build from for an exciting finish. Instead, they basically kept with the back-and-forth stalemate stuff which opened throughout, just using bigger moves. It felt repetitive, and even Sasuke's top rope somersault dive couldn't pick it up. I also thought Ultimo in particular looked a bit lethargic, but I can't really find anything particularly excellent that Sasuke did here, so it's not like I can just blame Ultimo.

Great Sasuke vs. Jushin Liger, New Japan, 8th July 1994

The rematch to the Super-J Cup semifinal. This is really great. There is a real intensity to the entire match. Sasuke comes flying out of the blocks, sending Liger outside, then following up with a wild over the top tope/plancha. Back inside, and Sasuke dominates for most of the first ten minutes, and looks great doing it. His arm work is far from perfunctory - there's this sense that he's pulling back particularly hard. I wish they armwork became important later, but that's an old complaint. Liger seems no less competitive here, firing back early on with a somersault dive off the apron to the outside. The asai moonsault spot and top rope plancha are placed perfectly - at a moment where Liger seems to be getting back into it, Sasuke cuts him off and fires off a couple of his big moves. Sasuke looks to hurt himself from the latter (if it wasn't legitimate, then this was some excellent selling).

I really loved the sense of fatigue and desperation in the finishers and near falls, and the top rope finisher makes the perfect conclusion. This feels like the right length, has great pacing and two excellent performances, making it one of the best juniors matches I can remember. It'll be interesting to see how it holds up when I rewatch more junior stuff.

Actually hard to believe these matches were a week apart, given my diverging opinions of them. I've never been a huge fan of Dragon, and that match just never clicked for me, even though I tried watching it a couple of times. Massively impressed with the Liger match though.