Super Dragon Doesn't Want the Pistols to Whistle

Super Dragon is back!! After a six year hiatus (which followed a three year hiatus, which followed another three year break) Dragon came out last night at the PWG return to jump Bandido and form a heel trio with Taurus and Flamita. Who knows how many matches we will get (if any) but I am amped. Figured I would review a couple of his big matches and pump up the Super Dragon C+A

Super Dragon vs. Bobby Quance APW 10/25/02 - EPIC

SR: This was a serious contender for the greatest US indy match I've ever seen. Virtually flawlessly worked 30 minute junior epic which had everything – matwork, storytelling, selling, devastating moves and guys slapping eachother in the mouth. We start with 10 minutes of nearly uninterrupted matwork which was ultra tightly worked, smooth stuff. Quance is someone nobody really talks about anymore, but he was a great talent and just mindlbowingly good for a dude in his 2nd year of wrestling. The matwork they did here was much better than the wristlocky WoS imitation stuff you usually get in US indies and closer to lucha matwork with a bit of japanese influence sprinkled in. Quance would shoot for double leg takedowns and judo legtrips, while Dragon just pounces on him like a snake, in between working ultra tight pin attempts and slapping eachother. Quances tiger feint rana may be the single coolest move a skinny US junior has ever invented. This is 2/3 falls and both the first 2 falls have really smart finishes that pay off in the long run of the match. Dragon was incredibly vicious here, modifying his signature offense to work Quances arm, but he also did a great job selling a big head kick. Quances arm selling was pretty much flawless as he was struggling to hit his offense for the rest of the match and he looked quite sympathetic trying to take down his bigger, more vicious opponent. There were also numerous great counters from Super Dragon, ranging from Fujiwara armbars to turning a DDT into a powerbomb mid-air. He also had this amazing flying armbar. Match also had all the usual brutal offense, neck-compressing suplexes, huge double stomps and lariats etc. The finish is fucking infuriating, but please don't let that detract from the amazing work these two did here.

PAS: I didn't like this quite as much as Sebastian, the knife's edge between a pro-wrestler and a reckless maniac which Super Dragon lives on is what makes him so compelling. This was much more a typical juniors match, although admittedly one worked at a super high level. I loved all of the arm work and the different ways Super Dragon whipped into them, he feels like he could have been the world best Minoru Tanaka, and this match really made me think about how great Super Dragon would have been in BattlArts. Quance was a bit colorless, but I was super impressed with his matwork, and that 619 rana was excellent. His shooting star landed with a real thud too, which was nice. Finish had a ref bump and imposter Super Dragon run in and get the win (two matches two imposter Super Dragons), a bummer considering how good the work was, but it was still a treat to watch 

Super Dragon vs. Samoa Joe PWG 2/12/05 - EPIC

PAS: This is the rematch after Joe was able to beat Dragon by count out in their previous match. This was as border line unprofessional as you want a match up between these two to get. Dragon and Joe are just unloading with slaps, headbutts, chops and kicks, and every couple of minutes they interrupt the wrestling match they are having and just start a double murder. They do a cool countout tease with Joe crushing Dragon with a spectacular elbow suicida, and Dragon barely beating the 20 count. Joe almost gets the pin with a sick death valley driver, but Dragon is able to fight back, hitting a gross curb stomp where he grabs Joe by the nose, a top rope double stomp to Joe's neck and a psycho driver which dumped Joe right on his hot dog neck. Joe rolls to the floor and is able to get a flurry of slaps, but Dragon sneaks in right at 20 to steal a count out win. Though the fake Super Dragon jumping SD 1, kind of Shelton holed Joe a bit, but otherwise this was a classic, totally what I love about both guys. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE SUPER DRAGON