The Single File #17
Posted: 08/06/01

Special Legion of Violence Update: Ex-L.O.V. member Black Buffalo teamed with Tsubasa to beat Super Delfin and Takehiro Murahama for the vacant Osaka Pro Tag Titles on 7/21/01.

So, anyway, you fine readers may not realize that it's not easy deciding which matches to review for the SF. A match may pop in your head that you think is great, then you sit down and try to analyze it and you realize that it just ain't working. You come up with another stellar match, then you see someone on a different web site has already reviewed it a few days ago. You try another match, and remember you lent the tape to a friend who has since moved out of state. 

Several of these problems had struck me trying to come up with a match. I was at wit's end until I remembered I had a great Lance Storm compilation tape tucked away somewhere. I came up with a few candidates, including a Lance Storm/Chris Jericho ladder match from 1994 and a Storm/Yuji Yasuraoka vs. Jushin Liger/El Samurai bout from Japan. I asked my follow thecubsfan.com staffers what they wanted to see, and although they were curious about the ladder match, the general consensus was "Liger Liger Liger!" And hey, why not? Liger may very well be the best Junior wrestler of all time (1). Every wrestling fan has at least heard about Liger, and if you watched WCW in '91-'92, you got to see Liger's classic feud with Brian Pillman over the original version of the WCW Light Heavyweight title. 

So sure, I'll do a Liger match. And if I'm going to do a Liger match, I may as well do a classic, so let's throw Ultimo Dragon into the mix as well. You probably remember Dragon from his solid run in WCW a few years back, lots of great matches with Rey Mysterio, Jr., Dean Malenko, and Psicosis, racking up a few Cruiserweight and TV title runs. Dragon's another guy who's up there in terms of all-time great Juniors, and is one of my personal favorites. And when you put Liger and Dragon together in a high profile match, you know you're going to get some magic. 

Jushin "Thunder" Liger vs. Ultimo Dragon
When: 12/13/95
Where: Sumo Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Backstory: Hey, it's the semi-finals of the 1995 Super J-Cup. You've probably heard of it-a Juniors tournament featuring wrestlers from numerous federations in a single elimination tournament. The 2000 edition was pretty good, the 1994 outing was awesome, and the 1995 edition was super mega-awesome. How great was it? Well, three of the matches on the card were voted onto the DVDVR Best Japanese Indy Matches of the 90's. I admit, that's a bit of a mouthful, but trust me, this show is the pretzels, and is a great tape to start with if you ever want to see Japanese wrestling. 

Dragon beat Shochoi Funaki (yeah, that Funaki) in the first round and Shinjiro Ohtani in the quarterfinals, while Liger got a bye through the first round (probably because he booked the tournament) and bested Gran Naniwa in the quarterfinals. So Dragon/Liger is one of two semifinal matches (Benoit/Gedo being the other). Dragon and Liger had met in the ring before, but not with the stakes this high.

The Match: Liger's entrance theme sounds like Hagar-era Van Halen. Jushin wears a cape to the ring-you just don't see enough of that in wrestling today. And as soon as I type that, Dragon heads to the ring in a cape. Ultimo's busted out the swank silver outfit for the occasion. We get a handshake, and we're off to the races…

Test of strength to start. Liger forces Dragon down to the mat, but Ultimo bridges with his head and powers his way back up, only to have Liger push him down to the mat again. On the second try, Dragon gets back to a vertical base and starts to force Liger down, but Jushin counters by dropping to the mat, wrapping his legs around Dragon's head, then spins on his head so he ends up locking a headscissors on Dragon on the mat (really has to be seen to be appreciated). Dragon manages to spin so Liger ends up on his back, so Ultimo can escape the headscissors and apply a chinlock. Liger escapes that hold and slaps on a hammerlock. Liger grabs both of Ultimo's wrists and yanks back, but Dragon counters with a kangaroo kick (2). Both men get to their feet and we've got a standoff. 

They go for another tie-up, but Dragon grabs a leg and manages to trip Liger. Ultimo immediately slaps on a kneebar, which Dragon tries to counter by grabbing Ultimo's face. Dragon releases the kneebar and drops a knee on Liger's leg, then applies a bizarre kneeling figure four thingy. Dragon releases the hold, drops an elbow on the leg, and reapplies the kneebar. Liger manages to cradle Dragon for a quick 1 count before Ultimo goes back to the kneebar. Liger manages to shift his legs and counter into an armwringer. Liger applies more pressure and then stomps on the arm. Liger picks up Dragon and applies a wristlock, then does an armdrag (while still holding onto the move) and locks in a headscissors. But Dragon manages to escape by nipping up his feet, and we've got another standoff. 

We go for a third tie up, and this time Liger makes a grab for the legs and brings Dragon to the mat. Liger wraps up the legs and segues through some baffling submissions that sees Dragon ultimately (no pun intended) end up in a Mexican surfboard. Dragon manages to escape and actually falls on Dragon in a pin attempt, but doesn't even get a one count. Dragon gets up and sends Liger into the ropes and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker that gets some applause from the crowd. Dragon tries to send Liger into the ropes again, but Liger reverses and follows with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker of his own (3). Liger grabs Dragon and snapmares him over, then reapplies the headscissors. Dragon manages to twist and escape, then goes for a headlock, but Liger reverses instantly into a double arm submission. Liger segues into a wristlock and lays in two chops, but Dragon fires back with one of his own and sends Dragon into the ropes. Ultimo tries an abdominal stretch, but Liger again escapes before the move is applied and manages to apply a headlock. Dragon tries to escape, but Liger keeps him pinned down on the mat. Liger finally brings Dragon to his feet and sends him into the ropes. Liger tries a back bodydrop, but Ultimo lands on his feet. Dragon tries a clothesline, blocked by Liger. Liger tries a shotay (4), ducked by Dragon, who responds with a kick to the thigh that connects. Dragon tries to send Liger into the ropes, but Liger reverses and leapfrogs over the rebounding Dragon. Liger tries an inverted monkey flip, but Dragon counters by flipping right over Dragon. Liger manages to trip Dragon when he gets up and covers for a 1 count. Dragon gets up and does the same and also gets a 1 count. Dragon gets up, only to be armdragged by Liger. Liger gets up and receives the same from Dragon, and it's standoff #3 of the match. Crowd is really appreciative (as well they should be).

Another tie-up is attempted, but Liger kicks Dragon in the gut and makes the "uh-uh" finger wag. Liger picks up Dragon and whips him to the ropes, then follows with a running baseball slide to Dragon's left leg. Dragon crumples to the mat and sells the move quite convincingly. Liger picks up Dragon and hits a vicious standing dropkick to the leg, then lays in a stomp to the leg. Liger stands Dragon up, then hits the ropes and nails another sliding dropkick to the leg. Liger picks up Dragon and hits a release German Suplex, then drags the Dragon to the middle of the ring and slaps on the figure four. Dragon tries to unlock Liger's legs to break the hold, but no dice. Dragon then tries crawling to the ropes, but Liger just drags them back to the middle of the ring. Dragon tries reaching the ropes again (his only real option (besides giving up)), and this time just does make it. So Liger just yanks Dragon back to the middle of the ring and applies something like the kneeling figure four Dragon used earlier in the match. Dragon tries to small package Liger (I think), but Liger just holds onto the figure four and applies a hammerlock on top of the figure four. Liger finally releases the hold, and applies some other kind of leglock I can't really see.

Dragon does manage to reverse the hold by rolling over and locking on a single leg Boston Crab, then applies the always swank inverted STF. Liger manages to escape by grabbing and twisting Dragon's head. Ultimo lets go of the hold, lays in some stomps, then picks up Liger and tosses him into the corner. Dragon then whips Liger into the opposite corner and hits a perfect handspring elbow. Ultimo follows with a Fisherman's Suplex, but Liger kicks out almost immediately. So Dragon slaps on a Figure Four in the middle of the ring. Liger won't give up (even screaming out "NO!" at the ref), but he also can't reach the ropes. After about a minute in the hold Liger manages to roll over and grab the bottom rope. 

Both men get to their feet and try to get the feeling back in their legs. Liger charges at Dragon, bumps him, and bounces off the ropes. Dragon counters by doing another handspring, and this time hitting Liger with his back. Liger bails outside, while Dragon hits the ropes like he's planning a dive, but instead opts to do a backflip off the second rope. Once he lands on his feet, Dragon charges again and dive through the ropes and nails Liger on the floor. Dragon gets back in the ring and climbs to the top rope, then hits an insane somersault bodyblock to the floor that flattens Liger! Both men play dead for a few moments, then Dragon gets to his feet and tosses Liger back into the ring. Dragon grabs Liger and hits a powerbomb into a pin that only gets 2. Dragon gets up and nails the Tiger Suplex, but that only gets 2. Probably realizing that pins won't work right now, Dragon slaps on an abdominal stretch for a few minutes, then sends Liger to the ropes. Dragon tries a dropkick, but Liger manages to hold onto the ropes and Dragon crashes to the mat. Liger grabs the legs and catapults Ultimo over the tope rope to the floor. Liger heads to the apron and hits a running somersault bodyblock of his own. Liger rolls back into the ring. 

Dragon catches his breath on the floor before getting back into the ring. Liger grabs him and hits a diving powerbomb that gets a long 2 count. So Liger grabs Dragon and splats him with a nasty brainbuster. The ref actually grabs Dragon's wrist to see if there's still a pulse. Liger covers, but amazingly only gets 2! Liger picks up Dragon again and nails a Tombstone, then heads up top and hits a Diving Headbutt. Liger covers, and gets another long 2 count. Liger sends Dragon to the ropes and puts his head down for a back bodydrop, but Dragon punts him right in the face. Dragon tries a victory roll, but Liger reverses it and gets another long 2 count from it. Liger tries a palm strike, Dragon ducks and hits a Northern Lights Suplex for a long 2 count of his own. Dragon picks up Liger, chops him, and tries a corner whip that gets reversed. Liger follows up with a running rolling kick to the head. Liger puts Dragon on top and tries a SUPAFISHAMANBUSTA (5), but Dragon manages to push Liger off the top and immediately hit a Majistral for another long 2 count. Crowd's really going ballistic here. 

Dragon bumps into Liger and hits a Quebrada bodypress, but doesn't go for the cover. He instead slams Liger, heads up top, and goes for a moonsault that (mostly) misses the mark. Liger goes for the kill and hits a Liger Bomb, which should be a sure pin. Ref counts…and gets as close to three as humanly possible with slapping the mat a third time. Crowd goes nuts, Liger can't believe it. So Liger bounces off the ropes and charges at Dragon, only to be met with a drop toehold. Dragon tries the Majistral again, but Liger blocks it in mid-move, has Dragon in a pinning predicament, and finally gets the three (17:19).

Liger's all psyched, while Dragon does a few "I can't believe I lost this match" gestures on the mat. Finally both men shake hands and salute each other, which is cool to see, even if this is a fake sport.

We get some backstage comments from both, but they're in Japanese. I'll assume Liger's happy with the outcome, Dragon is not.

Match was awesome, of course, a textbook example of how to build properly. You see indy matches where guys pull out 450's in the first 30 seconds, and it's like, "Where do you go from here?" This match started out with mat wrestling for a few minutes, built to attempts to work on the leg, and ended up with logical spots that flowed to the end of the match.

Also noticeable was the abundance of mirror spots. Dragon does a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, Liger does a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Liger works on the leg and applies a figure four, Dragon works on the leg and applies a figure four. Dragon hits a flipping dive to the floor, Liger hits a flipping dive to the floor.

Boy oh boy, I wish this match had been the finals instead of Liger/Gedo. This match was special, the finals were not. Still, you have to admire Liger's gumption in wrestling a 17 minute match and still having one more outing in the evening. 

Fallout: Liger and Dragon did meet on a few occasions over the years. They actually wrestled on the 12/30/96 Nitro, which saw Dragon going over. Liger returned the favor in Tokyo on 1/4/01, beating Dragon to win the J-Crown. But the J-Cup match was their best encounter, a great moment in a great night of wrestling.

Liger has pretty much stayed in Japan, although he did make a brief appearance in WCW in late '99 that saw the legend get a Tequila bottle get smashed over his head (ah, the Russo era). He is getting on in years, but trust me, he's got plenty of good matches left in him.

Dragon had a nice run in WCW, but injuries forced him to retire in 1998. It was both a good and bad thing. Bad because the wrestling world lost a great worker, good because Dragon turned his attention to training wrestlers and running his own league, Toryumon (To Ryu Mon means Dragon's Gym in Japanese). Dragon has nurtured prodigies like CIMA, Magnum Tokyo, SUWA, and Dragon Kid, ensuring plenty of awesome highfliers for years to come. And that segues into…

NEXT WEEK: Toryumon! Toryumon! Toryumon! Be there or don't.

Joe Gagne
bwo@telegram.infi.net

Endnotes:
(1) I can already here e-mails being typed questioning my sanity and assuring me the original Tiger Mask is the best ever. Sorry, folks, I stand by my assertion that Liger's the most complete junior ever to compete. 
(2) Dragon jumps in the air, kicks back with both feet, and rolls forwards. I don't know if this is something kangaroo's usually do.
(3) Dragon spent a lot of time in Mexico, where the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker is used more as a humiliation move. So Liger's use of the move would be saying "You're not getting away with that on me."
(4) Shotay = palm thrust, as described in SF #16.
(5) Sorry, that's a Super Fisherman Buster, but the announcer always screams it out "SUPAFISHAMANBUSTA."

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