>>15564608They are working, anon. It's just that they're working at a very high level, walking on the razor's edge. There's a reason Kobashi only did the Burning Hammer 7 times and it's not because it wasn't a cool move or anything: it's because so few guys were good enough at bumping to somewhat safely take it.
The reason these guys are doing all of these dangerous bumps and head drops is because they are the best in the business at protecting themselves and bumping. Misawa would have never done the Tiger Driver 91 if he didn't know, for sure, that Taue would tuck his chin properly for it, and so on and so forth.
This was at a time when AJPW was taking on NJPW head-on, two prominent promotions where if NJPW is 1A then AJPW is surely 1B.
Those bumps, that was what differentiated them from NJPW, that and the unique psychology of their matches, how multiple moves could get 3 counts, so you never really knew what was going to happen or when a match would end, and every 2.9 actually got your ass.
They did it because they /could/ do it where many other wrestlers would've died if they had tried taking those bumps. It's skill, anon.
There's a reason guys like Kurt Hennig and Bobby Eaton are praised so highly in the west too -- for their bumping ability. Not just looking good, but protecting themselves doing dangerous bumps.
