All action sprint with all kinds of flying. Even when they weren't doing big spots, someone was usually running the ropes and the pace was so fast. The rudos slowed it down a little bit to kick and punch or play to the crowd, but that was about it. The rudos totally made the match because they made Shiryu & Fleisch, who are green flyers, look like spectacular seasoned veterans. They did most of the work when Shiryu & Fleisch were in, so those guys just had to hit their flying moves for it to be really good. That can be a task considering some of the stuff Fleisch tries, although he wasn't quite as daring here.

"Daring is a relative term here. Even toned down, most of the spots he tries are beyond the realm of possibility for just about everyone else," wrote Mike.

Fujita can hold his own with anyone, and was up to the task of doing some fast complex sequences of counters with CIMA. The match was great when those two were in together, and really it rocked any time Fujita was in, but the main thing of importance was the rudos were able to hold it together when the other two were in.

The bulk of the match was precise offense by the rudos, with the technicos having their spectacular moments. One awesome spot saw Super Boy get on all fours so CIMA & Curry could run from the corner and springboard off his back onto Fleisch. Well, Fleisch saw this coming a mile away and he's faster than these other guys, so he beat Curry to Super Boy's back (of course Curry "never saw Fleisch coming"), springboarded from Super Boy to Curry's shoulders then from Curry's shoulders into a corbata for CIMA.

Another cool spot saw Shiryu hold onto the ropes when he saw Super Boy was ready to avoid his dive. What made it cool was all in one motion he used his momentum to pull himself into corbata position and take out CIMA, who was standing a little behind Shiryu watching. Shiryu did an awesome no touch tope atomico, while Fleisch did a shooting star attack to the floor. Fujita landed on his feet to counter Curry's spicy drop finisher and went right into his northern lights suplex.

To show the kind of action this had, at the same time Super Boy gave Shiryu a quebrada, Fleisch gave CIMA a swandive shiki no ultra huracanrana for a near fall. Fleisch did an awesome swandive shiki no swing DDT where he started facing his opponent, but turned 180 degrees when he slinged to the top then turned 180 degrees when he jumped off the top to catch his opponent for the DDT. It was goofy as hell since it did no more damage than the normal version, just was so much more difficult to execute, but this match was just about looking good.

"The swandive shiki no swing DDT was totally preposterous. That said, I think it was my favorite spot of the match edging out Shiryu's no touch tope con hilo," wrote Mike.

The match, of course, had a lot of near falls although I can't really say there was much drama to them. It came down to Fleisch and Curry Man. Fleisch used his shooting star press, but Curry's partners made the save. CIMA & Super Boy did suicidas while Curry was recovering. Instead of trying to put Curry away while his partners were outside the ring, Fleisch decided to do one of his breathtaking springboard dives. He totally forgot about Curry while he was setting this up, which cost him because Curry got up and was "hiding" out of Fleisch's sight. When Fleisch started running for the dive, Curry ran up right behind him. Curry jumped to the top a second after Fleisch, but he wasn't too late because Fleisch was still balancing himself on the top. Curry grabbed Fleisch while they were both balancing on the top rope toward the middle of the ring and slammed him to the canvas with something of a uranage. The timing and difficulty of this was tremendous because this wasn't two guys standing in the corner. It's hard enough to do one of these springboard moves as it is, much less Fleisch trying to balance himself while Curry landed on the rope and then both men keeping their footing while Curry grabbed Fleisch and they jumped off. They actually put this spot over, as CIMA & Super Boy held Fujita & Shiryu outside the ring while Curry hit his spicy drop for the win.

"I was really impressed with the top rope spot that set up the finish. While I was watching it for the first time, I was almost expecting them to blow it but they pulled it off," wrote Mike.

The problem with this match was that beyond the spots, there wasn't a lot to it. They didn't really build anything. It felt more like a Lucha match from Mexico where there were no rivalries so they just try to impress the crowd with the moves. The rudos were rather dickish, and beyond a couple really great spots, their teamwork was the best thing about the match because they did a lot of different and unusual spots. I guess in a way I've been spoiled by Michinoku's past because the structuring of the Seikigun vs. DX matches, even though it was pretty much always the same, was the best thing going when it came to junior tag matches with things constantly heating up until it really took off for a long dramatic finishing sequences with a zillion saves. Those matches were exhibitions in a sense, but they never felt like it because they were so intense. This match, even when they were doing heat spots, gave you more of a feeling of guys trying to get themselves over than guys really sticking it to their opponent. That said, in the days were these fast paced exhibitions are plentiful, this was definitely one of the best and most glamorous.

Special thanks to: Mike Barnes

Rating: