OSAKA HURRICANE 03.2.1

February 1, 2003

DAIO QUALLT . . . shows off a few nice things, despite being in a no-win situation.

Tsubasa . . . is the man for doing flashy lucha stuff, and also for putting on a clinic in selling.

Super Delfin . . . defends the O-Pro Title in a match that’s certainly not super.

DAIO QUALLT vs. KINTARO KANEMURA

There are a few nice things from QUALLT that make me want to see more of him, which is more than I’ve ever been able to say about Kanemura. It’s obvious how much thinking went into this when the first spot is Kanemura climbing scaffolding to put QUALLT through a table, but QUALLT quickly gets up, and Kanemura sees him and keeps climbing. Shockingly (or not at all), Kanemura takes the bump. The whole match is pretty much just an exhibition of how to use tables and chairs, without much else. QUALLT takes some cringe-worthy bumps, including a senton from under a table, two powerbombs on an inverted table that finally keep the man down.

TIGER’S MASK/BILLY KEN KID/MIRACLE MAN vs. YUTAKA FUKUDA/KENGO TAKAI/SUPER DEMEKIN

The clip of this shown is pretty much a complete spotfest, with nobody, aside from Miracle Man, looking all that good. BKK only shows up for the finish, and TM gets in a good amount of stuff, but Demekin had to pretty much dive into TM’s Ace Crusher, and Demekin also slips off the top rope. If the little bit shown here was considered good enough to air, I’d hate to see what they left on the cutting room floor.

EBESSAN vs. KUISHINBO KAMEN (2/3 Falls)

Kamen reverses a bodyslam to take the first fall. They work some comedy with Kamen twisting Ebessan’s arm, and then Ebessan twists Ebessan’s arm. Ebessan lulls Kamen into a false sense of security with some dancing and then, being the crafty bastard he is, rolls up Kamen to tie the match. The third fall actually has some good wrestling in it, but the comedy is better, especially the slow motion spots. Ebessan winds up winning with Kamen’s finisher, the Cancun Tornado. This isn’t exactly the sort of match that lends itself well to being reviewed, so, just sit back and enjoy it.

TAKA MICHINOKU vs. GAMMA

I had some high hopes for this match, and, wound up being disappointed. It starts off looking promising, with Gamma doing more than I’d ever seen him do in Dragon Gate, and TAKA busting out a huge dive. Then the match started looking like a NOAH match, with both of them blowing off lariats, kicks, and Gamma even no-sells a foul, and all hope was lost. There’s a little build to the finish, with Gamma always having an escape ready for TAKA’s crossface, and TAKA finally keeping him at bay and forcing the tap out, but, a fun opening clip and the nice finish don’t detract from the mediocre middle.

This is mostly the Lyger and Tsubasa show, and that’s a really good show. Neither Buffalo nor Murahama is bad at all, but they’re nowhere close to their masked partners. Lyger is the grumpy vet who knows he can work circles around these guys, but, instead opts to just smack them around. Tsubasa does a bunch of flashy lucha stuff, and then Lyger kills him with a powerbomb and he sells it like death, and does so for the rest of the match. Even when he’s on offense, or trying to assist Buffalo, Tsubasa sells like whatever he’s doing is taking every bit of energy that he has, even when Lyger breaks up a cradle with a weak stomp, Tsubasa sells like he just got drilled. The powerbomb is also a bit of karma, because the champions had worked over Murahama in the same vein as Lyger, by relying less on cheating, and more on smacking and punting him, but, Lyger puts on the shoe on other foot.

After Tsubasa’s near-death experience, it’s up to Buffalo to keep the titles where they are, he has some success against Murahama, but, he and Lyger cancel each other out, and that lets Murahama gets some rest and then pull ahead. The home stretch looks a bit like a squash, without much offense from the champs, but, that’s because Tsubasa is still putting over the effects of Lyger’s powerbomb. Lyger kills him again with a Fisherman’s buster from the top and then a brainbuster, and just leaves Murahama to pick up the pieces. Tsubasa does his best to keep fighting, but, Murahama eventually puts him away. This isn’t very long, and it’s not as intense or hateful as a good number of the NJPW/NOAH series, but it has better (and smarter) work than most of them. ***1/2

Although this isn’t anywhere close to the level of the tag title match, this is fun at times. For such a big guy, Boss shows some impressive agility, he looks like a big guy who can do all the same stuff as the little guys, and then also throw them all over the place. Boss also shows some nice counters, especially the one for Delfin’s Tornado DDT. The only area where Boss is lacking in is selling, which is a shame. For his part, Delfin is fine, he doesn’t have much more to do than let Boss beat the tar out of him, and he’s up to the task, so it looks all but hopeless for him. The multiple powerbombs are a bit ridiculous, especially after a single one from Lyger had a lasting impact on the prior match. The finish is mediocre, unless the idea was to set up a rematch, with QUALLT misfiring and hitting Boss, and Delfin getting the pin with the Delfin Special. It was fun to watch Boss show what he could do, but other than that, this was forgettable.

Conclusion: This is one match show, but it’s one match that’s worth going after, especially for fans of the NJ/NOAH series.