Joseph and Colette Discuss Kong/Ozaki vs. Satomura/Kato
3/4 of a star separate Joseph and Colette on this incredible GAEA tag. How far apart are they on the MASTERLIST?
I kinda started doing star ratings on a lark and largely question their utility in my writing. If you've seen my Letterboxd account, you already know that I can be a bit liberal with the asterisk, and Joseph straight up called me out eons ago for giving the Volk Han match we covered five stars. All well and good. This time, I'm not backing down: this tag team match is five stars, all-timer stuff, the sort of match I will hype to people who ask me about wrestling and do not do Joseph or myself the kindness of subscribing to this here blog.
But to Joseph, it's four-and-a-quarter.
I think the BIG EGG MASTERLIST aspect of this lil' project has been fun as Joseph and I approach these matches from radically different angles, regardless of how close our ratings are. Today, we end up navigating how wide the 3/4 star gap between our respective evaluations is. Pretty wide, it turns out! This is probably the best MASTERLIST conversation the two of us have had, as well as the most contentious, so if you're looking for a place to hop on as a paid subscriber or haven't dipped into these convos too often, here's a good place to start. Before that, here's Joseph with a preview for next week...
Up Next: Next week, depending on how things go for Colette's rewatch, I actually expect another very drawn out MASTERLIST debate because we're talking about one of the most iconic wrestling matches of all time. What happens when Meiko Satomura runs into Akira Hokuto in the building where Hokuto's legacy as a legend was cemented? Find out next time on the EGG.
Colette Arrand
Colette Arrand
I’m not sure where to start on this one, dude. Part of me wants to slam my cards on the table and state exactly where I think we should place this on the MASTERLIST, but I know the value of the paywall and will instead posit something I said towards the end of the GAEA stream we did: Is Chigusa Nagayo one of the great finish bookers in wrestling history? My perspective is limited, but the fact that I’m asking two weeks into GAEA month, having been delighted and perplexed and made frankly fucking jealous about how fearless these bouts are in resolving in weighty, consequential fashion, I need to know what you think.
Colette Arrand
Joseph Montecillo
I couldn't tell you exactly how much Chigusa had weight on individual finishes. Odds are fairly significant, but I don't know the exact details of how all these came together. To be honest, I never really thought about how unique these finishes felt until you brought it up. There's a lot of commonality in stuff we've covered here and will cover soon that stretches out to a bunch of joshi tropes. I will say that I think one of Chigusa's better choices for GAEA as a company was really distilling their style to something so forceful and powerful by the time 99 and 00 roll around. At this point in company history, we're entering the peak of its tenure.
Joseph Montecillo