Typhoon vs. Papa Shango WWF Mania 3/6/93 - VERY GOOD
ER: I thought this was really good, even though I barely think about these two existing on the roster in 1993. They were both there through most of the year but my brain doesn't associate them with that year, like they naturally stopped existing in 1992 while still showing up sporadically on TV for another year. Typhoon being around in 1994 is even weirder to me. This was 5 strong minutes of heart rate pushing stuff, and a real standout Papa Shango performance. There aren't many times I've typed the words "a real standout Papa Shango performance". Typhoon still had a good connection with crowds and knew what things would get big babyface reactions, and it looked cool seeing him bump the 300+ pound Shango. Shango really flew on shoulderblock attempts and this got better the more Shango leaned into finding ways to actually knock Typhoon down.
Both men missed big elbowdrops close to each other's heads, and Shango gradually began moving Typhoon. By the time Shango threw a big punch to the mouth and a reared back 0.7 BattlArts headbutt, I was fully in. Shango even throws a full dropkick to Typhoon's chest, which isn't something he pulled out often. Typhoon had several moments where you can see that Earthquake rubbed off positively on his Natural Disaster partner, as I don't recall Typhoon leaning so heavily into the ropes before. Earthquake and Boss Man always have such ballsy trust in the ropes, and Typhoon has the movement down, stretching those ropes far out over the ring apron. There's a long sleeper section that could have ground this down but they pay it off big when Typhoon powers out and sends Papa Shango into a wild bump to the floor off a steamed up clothesline. The match proper ends with Shango hitting Typhoon with...I don't know, some kind of fucking voodoo stick or something, but some of the best hits come after the DQ. Shango deadlifts Typhoon with an impressive back suplex, and Typhoon flattens him with an awesome powerslam and elbowdrop. This was one of the higher watermarks for both men in 1993, worked with a real pleasant, unexpected chemistry.
Yokozuna vs. Typhoon WWF Mania 4/10/93 - SKIPPABLE
ER: Why do they do this to us? The first ever meeting of these two and it goes less than two minutes, and Yokozuna never even looked mildly ruffled! You would think that, as the lone WWF representative of Japan, that he would already be nervous at the news of an incoming Typhoon. They should have made Yokozuna afraid of Typhoon the same way Andre was afraid of snakes; Fuji desperately trying to explain to his client that Typhoon is merely a man, not a weather disaster. Instead, Typhoon is treated like Dale Wolfe. They start great, with Typhoon crashing into Yokozuna with three big shoulderblocks, like so many waves crashing into Kagoshima, and while they put Yokozuna on his heels he manages to time out another and throws that Typhoon with a suplex that would have crushed Kyushu. That's a great start! And that is basically the match. Yokozuna punches Typhoon back into the corner, whips him into the opposite corner, Fuji distracts him, and Yoko counters the Typhoon with an avalanche then sits on the man's chest. This could have and should have been more. This felt like we were missing the last two acts of the match.
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