I spoke in my 1991 video about how much I loved the Liger/Honaga Top of the Super Juniors final that year. This isn’t quite that, it’s not the thematically rich morality tale that I loved so much from the former match. What it is though is just another really great and enjoyable Junior Heavyweight Title match from these two.
Liger is, as ever, our beloved hero taking on dirtbag Honaga. Liger gets the better of Honaga early in a wonderful babyface shine but Honaga’s a slippery enough customer to be able to find himself in control in the middle of the match. He does a lot of small heel things that I’ve always really loved like putting Liger in a headlock to punch him with a close fist out of the referee’s line of sight. He’s also pretty good at doing a focused control segment, ramming Liger’s body into the ringpost, and then later draping him over the top rope. We even get some delightful nerdbait when Liger’s unable to lock in the Romero Special because of the damage done to his midsection. It’s all good, mean bully stuff from Honaga trying to take any advantage to get one over on Liger.
Luckily, Liger doesn’t commit the same mistake as the Top of the Super Juniors final. Instead, he sticks to his own strengths. He uses his high flying and daredevil offense to overwhelm Honaga and get the victory. A straightforward but wonderfully executed match showcasing Liger against one of the New Japan juniors of the 90s that has really surprised and impressed me.
