Joseph and Colette Discuss Jushin Liger vs. The Great Sasuke

Sometimes you biff something and it's for the best.

Sorry to be running behind, y’all, but let’s get going: Liger vs. Sasuke is a Super J-Cup classic, one of the reasons those early tournaments are remembered as a cornerstone of junior heavyweight wrestling in the 1990s, arguably its peak. It needs no introduction. Here, if you haven’t seen it, is the spot it is most famous for:

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I swiped this from the internet, which is why Sasuke’s rebound hurricanrana win isn’t included. Clipped like this, it’s another “aww, man, Jushin Liger is the goddamn best” moments, but it’s unfortunate that the finish isn’t included because it’s a perfect encapsulation of most of what was great and wonderful about this style of wrestling in the 1990s, the cool, practiced technical ability of Liger against the reckless Sasuke, who, like many have said of wrestlers like Sabu, is willing to crash and burn, to hurt himself, if there’s a chance he’ll hurt you twice as much. It rocks, man. Wrestling rocks.

Joseph: Jushin Liger and The Great Sasuke Steal the Show at Super J-Cup
Colette: Jushin Liger and The Great Sasuke are Icons in the Coolest Sense of the Term

Next Up: Joseph and I check out our second apuestas match, this time visiting the storied Toryumon as Dragon Kid and Darkness Dragon put their identities on the line. I’ve never seen it. I hear great things. Those great things are probably true!

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Joseph Anthony Montecillo
So this week's match is a pretty big one as far as the "canon" of pro wrestling goes. Arguably the most famous match from one of the most famous events in pro wrestling history, the Super J Cup. I want to start with the show as a whole. It's one of the shows often pointed to in the best wrestling event ever discussions and yet I think I still have yet to see the whole event in full. I always seem to come to it in bits and pieces, a Delfin match here, a Liger match there. What's your experience with the Super J Cup?

Colette Arrand
The same. I think the only J Cup I’ve seen in whole was NJPW’s most recent one, because I’m a glutton for punishment, but I know the 94 and 95 editions in particular are as complete a picture of a style of wrestling in its time as is possible on one card. I want to rectify that, but I have a pretty hard limit when it comes to Chris Benoit, so I’ll probably be a real freak and watch the M-Pro one from 2000.

Joseph Anthony Montecillo
I've only seen the Delfin match from the first round from when I did a month of Delfin reviews. And then for the purposes of this week's pieces, I watched both of Sasuke's and Liger's matches coming into the semi-final. Pretty interesting note that I may have glazed over is that Sasuke actually received a bye into the second round which means that Liger had accumulated more total ring time heading into the semi-finals. That being said, Sasuke felt like he snuck out the win over El Samurai in a similar way to how he eventually gets Liger in this match too.

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