I just spent a solid two minutes trying to come up with a name for this strip. It was not two minutes well spent. You know what’s a better way to spend time now that you’ve read the strip? Check out the Vader vs. Misawa match I posted on the HEAT blog. It’s about 20 minutes and awesome. Vader does an actual, proper, moonsault. It’s terrifying.
As people who follow my Twitter are already aware, I’ve been watching a lot of All Japan Pro Wrestling lately, and as a result I’ve seen a shitload of back suplexes, which are for some reason called back drops. While this particular back suplex drops Smashmouth Smith mostly on his neck and shoulders, it’s not nearly as brutal looking as the shit Misawa was taking on a nightly basis. The King’s Road was lined with skulls of CTE sufferers, apparently. Oof. Still, the matches. Oh man. They’re good.
Next: Bret Hart was used for photo reference, and also I need to do another bulk scanning day. Not a fan of those days.
That All Japan shit was crazy scary. I don’t know if they planned the head drops so that it looked more authentic or just because it was easier that way.
I have a feeling that they were doing it for authenticity, because King’s Road was a more physical version of NJPW’s strong style. And also a terrible idea, really, because OUCH. And that whole “it killed Misawa” thing.