Tanomusaku Toba Documentation #7

 Tanomusaku Toba & MIKAMI vs. Kota Ibushi & Daichi Kakimoto, DDT 12/28/2005 - EPIC

Spectacular indy match upgraded to a Toba-style stifffest. Ibushi was way better here than in their 2008 singles. In that match he played kind of a moronic overdog to Tobas underdog, here he is underdog while Toba demolishes him and it’s way more compelling. Tobas initial flurry of KO’ing Ibushi over and over was great and it set up a great Ibushi offense where he was kicking the crap out of Toba with a serious sense of pissed offness. So obviously I loved the Ibushi/Toba slaughtering each other sections, but MIKAMI and Kakimoto hold up their own. Kakimoto is a really fun thick guy who throws suplex and potatoes people with elbows and lariats, which is exactly the kind of simplistic pro wrestlers. I’ve seen people call MIKAMI a poor mans Marufuji before but from everything I’ve seen he is worlds better than Marufuji. MIKAMI really knows how to time his stuff, knows how to fly into the scene with a thudding missile dropkick or flying rana at just the right moment. He knew Ibushi and Toba were gonna be stiff and understood he had to land his stuff with real oomph to it. His senton to Kakimoto may have been among the most crushing moves I’ve ever seen. He and Toba also exhibit great veteran chemistry working several cool cutoffs against Ibushi and Kakimoto. The finishing run was grand with several twists and turns and a few epic saves, but didn’t overstay its welcome. I’m surprised this match doesn’t get more play, really stiff, compelling action with enough athletic moves to keep even a more casual audience entertained, the perfect hybrid of 90s and 2000s Japan indy action.

Asian Cougar & Tomohiko Hashimoto v Showa & Tanomusaku Toba (Onita Pro 10/28/2001) - GREAT

DDT crew bringing the goods on a random Onita mark show. I am 99% sure Showa is just Phantom Funakoshi in a cheap mask doing a tribute gimmick, which is not as cool as him just being a guy who happens to wrestle like the old stylists. Still, match was quality shit between 4 juniors who all have unique styles and personalities.. Starts great with Hashimoto ragdolling Toba around and dropping him on his head with a crazy Randleman like throw. We get everyone doing their cool shit, Toba busts out his apron kick, nice dive train etc. Asian Cougar seemed to be holding back at first, and it made his big spots later seem cooler. There was an unfortunate moment where Toba slipped on a double team move, but other than that he was the Toba we all love, kicking hard, punching guys in the face, and getting spiked with some of these throws.

Tanomusaku Toba vs. Shintaro Karasu, Onita Pro 5/4/2001- FUN

Shintaro Karasu is a flier who looks like a mini Hayabusa but with a weird birdlike mask. Normally he’s just your average spotty undercarder, but he takes a pretty big asskicking from Toba here and responds in kind with big swinging open hand strikes and a nasy solebutt. They only showed a few minutes from a short match, would’ve liked to see the whole thing, but it serves as a nice career highlight for the mysterious Shintaro Karasu.

TANOMUSAKU TOBA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST

West Japan Pro Wrestling 6/21/1995

 West Japan Pro Wrestling was a promotion founded inspired by the success of Michinoku Pro, bringing in some unique masked gimmicks while utilizing the tried and true cast of 90s Japan sleaze characters. They also had a shootstyle division. The promotion was struggling since they had no main draws and the outsider workers they hired (ranging from Shunji Takano to Poison Sawada) kept leaving. Not much of this promotion is around, so the little that is there is worth analysis. And this commercial tape gave us one of my all time favourite indy sleaze matches

Masahiko Kochi vs. Kenichi Kawasaki

Kochi is a thick, kickpadded SPWF boy. Kawasaki is also very thick, mulleted and kickpadded. They work a quasi-shootstyle match which is sadly clipped down to them kicking each other hard before a flash finish occurs.

Guerrero Diablo vs. Toyonari Fujita

Guerrero Diablo went on to become the even less originally named DIABLO, Aztecas longtime arch enemy in the KAGEKI promotion. I think he was trained in Mexico and he was rocking a very cool 90s lock here with a sleazy mask, black T-shirt and shorts. Toyonari Fujita is of course, the man of a thousand masks mostly known as Magnitude Kishiwada. This was also clipped and I really would've liked the whole thing. Fujita gives Diablo the business with chairs, both guys have ridiculous distance on their flying moves, and Fujita hit these cool bridging suplex before the time limit ran out. Yeah, they went broadway~! I love me a sleaze indy broadway. Still hoping out for a handheld of this to appear.

Dokugas Mask vs. Crusher Takahashi

Dokugas Mask is Survival Tobita in a gas mask. He does this awesome entrance where he storms through the crowd with a blowtorch. Eat your heart out, Leatherface! We got about 1 minute of the match but it was 1 minute of Takahashi throwing nice punches and Mask hitting some cool headbutts. Crusher Takahashis Terry Funk worship act is really cool.

Koichiro Kimura & Hopper King vs. Black Hole & Fumio Akiyama

A bunch of legit martial artists and strange masked gimmicks step up to work a more surrealist BattlARTS match. Lots of nasty potatoes and credible shootstyle exchanges. Black Hole was  inspiring - a fat dude with a genuinely cool mask, clubbing Vader like blows and judo throws. Hopper King is Super Rider and doesn't hold back with the kicks. Most importantly this had the kind of chippy fighting that elevates pro wrestling. Loved how Kimura wouldn't accept Akiyama breaking up his submission attempts. Then Kimura tried tooling Black Hole only to get rocked by those swinging fists. Even the crowd brawling was fun and the finish absolutely nasty. This was everything. 

 Masaru Toi & Hiroshi Hatanaka & Mitsunobu Kikuzawa vs. Shigeo Okumura & Kenshiro Yukimura & Hiroshi Shimada

We get about 5 minutes of a 21 minute match :( What was shown looked like a fun SWS tag with lumpy guys potatoeing each other, hitting cool power moves and being generally brawl-happy. Really liked Kikuzawas big wipe-out dive aswell as the gorilla press from tiny Kenshiro Yukimura. Hatanaka is the SWS veteran and he was stiffing everyone in this path. The finish is a crossbody from the top and that rules.

Flag Death Match: Mitsuteru Tokuda vs. Poison Sawada

Flag match means they just had to drape their opponents flag over them to pin them. Poison Sawada was doing his evil facepainted Vietnamese Ho Death (or Des) Minh gimmick here. I've been unsatisfied with much of what I've seen from Sawada in this era but this match hid his problems well. It was just a straight up brawl where Tokuda was juicing immediately and they went to town on each other with chairs and tables. Tokuda had one or two cool martial arts moves which is enough for me to like him. But you can tell their intention was to impress the audience with those table bumps. Ho Death Minh was super over and drawing chants, even though he was playing an evil foreigner gimmick. I guess cool facepainted guy wins over martial arts guy in black pants #48. This was under the 10 minutes but they showed the whole thing and it was a fun way to cap off the show.

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Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #8

Takeshi Ono vs. Mitsuya Nagai, FUTEN 7/25/2010 - EPIC

One of the greatest FUTEN singles matches, and it's basically all Ono. Nagai hasn't done much since getting squished by Volk Han in RINGS, there is basically one thing he does really well and that is crowbarring people really hard, and this match is built entirely around that. Nagai is just destroying Ono here from the get go with kicks that hit like baseball bats and some insane elbows on the ground. Onos selling was just great here as he really flings his body around to put Nagais kicks over as super dangerous, and looking convincingly punch-drunk/near KO'd. All the while Ono is doing everything he can to fire back, then be overwhelmed again, then try to slip into a submission hold only to get mauled even more. He is also pretty great at slipping out of Nagais throw attempts and it builds to another great finish.  Really ballsy to have a match built around taking brutal shots from a guy who once nearly killed another guy and really tells what a master Ono is to make such a match this compelling.

Takeshi Ono vs. Mitsuya Nagai, Futen 7/18/11 - GREAT

Very deliberate match. Nagai was off here, but Takeshi Ono is the GOAT and makes any match he‘s in must watch. This was mostly about Ono avoiding the thrashing he got from Nagai in their previous singles match while Nagai was trying to get his win back. There was some amazing legwork from Ono, and he is just great both fighting from underneath as well as destroying a guy. Nagai wasn‘t really suited to play his role well here, it just doesn‘t suit him like the out and out steamrolling he gave Ono in 2010 and he seemed to be struggling to hit his signature spots. I wouldn‘t say he outright sucked though, as I enjoyed all the submission work. Still, you want to watch every match Takeshi Ono is in.

 

Takeshi Ono vs. Shoichi Funaki (BattlARTS 5/21/1997) - GREAT

Great 5 minute sprint. Ono was ultra vicious here (really!), and Funaki basically acted like a piece of scum. Great start with Ono hitting a big thai knee, pummeling Funaki and immediately establishing himself as a dangerous no nonsense shooter before Funaki kicks him in the balls. Funaki does some cool leg attack, including some good mat scrumbles. Neat spot where Ono catches another low blow and turns it into an ankle hold. Great finish where Funaki goes for a flying move only for Ono to catch him with a kick and then proceed to just turn his lights out.

TAKESHI ONO DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST

Assorted LLPW

 Shinobu Kandori & Yasha Kurenai & Rumi Kazama vs. Eagle Sawai & Michiko Nagashima & Sayuri Okino, LLPW 2/15/1998

Amazing match, which on first watch I thought was seriously fucking with some of the absolute top brawls in history. This was insanely heated and everyone was brutalizing each other, but even more they succeeded in conveying real desperation on the babyface side without going into hammy territory. Whole match was violent to the core and they never let up, these girls didn't hold back with chairs, kendo sticks, other plunder and just straight up kicking eachother in the face, and the heel team of Sawai, Nagashima and Okino was great at working cut offs, isolating their opponents and swarming them. Of course Kandoris superstar charisma is outstanding, and she will do cool things like look in flash submissions during brawling exchanges or counter a chain attack with a judo throw, but the stars of the match are somehow Yasha Kurenai and Michiko Nagashima. Eagle Sawai is also good her as just a big monster crushing people with body attacks and power moves, and Rumi Kazama is solid as a veteran lady wrestler who can kick hard. Nagashima looks damn good punching people in the face with her fist wrapped in a chain, hitting unexpectedly violent offense and taking nasty bumps. Kurenai is fierce booting peoples heads off and the heat segment on her ended up being seriously great due to being smartly laid out (in such a way that when you'd guess the hot tag would happen, it doesn't). It sets up a tremendous second half where Kurenai keeps running in, being a bloody mess and looking half dead, and going fucking crazy on the heels with kendo sticks and even a scissor, trying to take chunks out of Eagle Sawai. You really end up wanting her to get to win but also dreading her getting pinned due to how sympathetic she is set up to be. Shark Tsuchiya and Lioness Asuka interfere in the match along with like a dozen tracksuited ringside girls from LLPW and JD' trying to jump into the free, and while I normally dislike liberal interference in joshi matches, it felt like a frantic gang war here. I could see some folks being irked by them teasing some hot nearfalls and then doing an elaborate chain spot followed by another heat segment, although I thought everything worked and it was a suitably crazy moment. Finish was completely unexpected but great. I think the match would have moved into all-time territory if we had gotten Kandori choking some people out and Kurenai being involved in the finish to pay of her story more, but those are very minor criticisms for what was a damn great unpredictable brawl.

Yasha Kurenai vs. Michiko Nagashima, LLPW 6/21/1998

These two looked great together in that 6 man, and this was another wild workrate brawl. Great start with the floor brawling and both ladies punching each other in the face. We got lots of fast transitions, big bumps and both of them beating the hell out of each other with chains, chairs, tables and trash cans. In some ways this is an ECW brawl with more savage fighting. I loved Kurenai repeatedly burying Nagashima with the chairs, and Nagashima busting out a spike and stabbing the shit out of Yasha was sick. After she got stabbed Kurenais selling performance became a lot more desperate and exhausted. Great punch-out in the finish followed by sick chain strangulation finish. Apparently this was Nagashimas retirement, while retirement matches can often feel like exhibitions that absolutely wasn’t the case here, crazy fight through and through.

Yumiko Hotta vs. Mizuki Endo (LLPW 6/13/1998)

Cool little match which showcases Endos unique flash submissions and Hotta stomping on her face. Unfortunately only 5 minutes where shown and the camera men missed some of the action. Still worth seeing if you wanna see the cool shit Endo can do.

Shinobu Kandori vs. Shark Tsuchiya, LLPW 4/27/1998

I imagine this is the kind of match smarks haaaated at the time but I liked it. Basically, Kandori is the WWWA and LLPW unified world champ and Tsuchiya desecrates the title by using all kinds of foul tactics instead of having a noble workrate match. Shark is full blown comical evil here, taking a sickle to Kandoris face, having about a dozen minions jump into the match to take Kandori. I also thought Shark was effective trying to put some holds on Kandori early on with Kandori mocking her lack of skill. Kandori bled big and her eventual comeback was awesome. This also didn't overstay it's welcome. Better than a lotta Toyota WWWA title matches.

WAR 1/5/1994

Masao Orihara vs. Norman Smiley

Oddly enough, Norman Smiley fit perfectly into WAR. I've yet to check out his mexican work but this may be the best stuff he's ever done. He was allowed to work as this tough as nails shooter who would dominate on the ground and potatoe dudes with nasty shots. Basically an UWF version of Regal. His holds looked clinical and when it was time to kick Orihara like a dog he wasn't playing around. I imagine if Smiley had faced Hashimoto in a big match or something we'd all be Smiley superfans. Orihara works as a Smiley opponent because he is CRAZY and will bust out unexpected highspots. Worth checking out.

 

Great Kabuki vs. Nobukazu Hirai

They start exchanging some solid armlocks before we get to the juicy part: Kabuki punching Hirai in the face. Hirai is spry, firing back bringing out some junior spots, but this was over almost as quickly as it began.

Ultimo Dragon vs. Ishinriki

 

This was very much an Ultimo Dragon match, although because this is WAR they potatoe each other on a level above your typical junior affair. Dragon uncorks some nasty spin kicks, and Ishinriki fires back with sumo clotheslines, palm rushes almost killing Dragon with a suplex. I pefer Ishinriki in heavyweight slugfests but he is a fun junior.

 

Mil Mascaras vs. Pierroth Jr.

 I enjoy watching Mil Mascaras grapple, but you can imagine how much offense Pierroth Jr got in here. It felt like a miracle that he was able to make Mil take a bump.

 

Shiro Koshinaka & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Ashura Hara & Hiromichi Fuyuki

Another round of beefy dudes clobbering eachother. This wasn't peak WAR interpromotional material, but I still probably liked the best out of all the matches on the show. Particularily because the whole match felt thoroughly violent, and Fuyuki and Koshinaka were really at each other's throat. They randomly broke out into this super violent exchange that lead to a poor sap getting punched repeatedly and all was right in the world. I continue to enjoy Goto in these Heisei Ishingun tags as old guy with 2 moves who comes in to lariat and backdrop fools and nothing else, altough there was some sloppiness on his part. Hara's career was winding down but he could still take some big bumps. These matches pretty much write themselves but they still work in some things you won't expect.

  

Genichiro Tenryu & Koki Kitahara vs. Keiji Muto & El Samurai - FUN

 

WAR interpromotional tag that lags a little behind the standard for those due to Mutoh and Samurai not being quite up to the violent standards that these matches have. You watch these matches for some kind of violent showdown to happen and these two aren't the types to bring it. Kitahara was also unusually subdued. However I'd still recommend this for Tenryus amazing performance. He would really eat the fuck out of Mutohs flimsy offense and looked great flying around to put over the match. Add in the usual dose of signature Tenryu face kicking, throat chopping, powerbombing and lariating madness and have yourself something fun. 

 

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KOKI KITAHARA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT 

2002 MOTY List Update #9

 

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Katsumi Usuda (BattlARTS 6/9/2002)

  Our only BattlARTS main event of the year, but it's a good one. These two always have good matches, and this time they went for a full blown 19 minute main event. What was cool about this was that normally you had Usuda as the aggressive striker with Ishikawa working counters. Here Usuda was still aggressive but Ishikawa gave him back good, so Usuda was also using his defensive tools more, which is something he does very well, and you had a match basically built around who could turn the others aggression against himself first. Match has lots of good matwork and also some insanely stiff headbutts and kidney shots. I especially like anytime Usuda would get aggressive on the mat, normally you would go to the mat to seek safety from a striker, you aren't safe from Usuda though. It really is a crying shame Usuda was so underutilized on the indie scene, atleast Ishikawa got himself a spot on Michinoku Pro undercards that year. Usuda takes as good as he gives, taking some crazy crazy suplex bumps. There are some excellent submission teases and the finish was pretty epic with multiple face shattering kicks and Ishikawa just rattling Usuda with a big punch. The finish plays up the story of the match as it was all about who would get the deciding counter.

Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson (RoH  3/30/2002)

  Not as great as the JAPW match, but still insanely tightly worked, stiff pro wrestling that blows away all the current wannabe shooters (and everyone else too). They mostly struggle over holds while pounding the daylights out of eachother. Kis stiffness was just crazy as he would rough up Danielsons already bruised face with out of nowhere kicks. At one point he just grabbed Bryans head and went loose with Kawada kicks sending him to the outside. Most of this match was both guys fighting over holds or working eachother over with stiff kicks and chops. Ki blocking a Dragon Suplex only to be thrown with a back suplex was like something out of 80s NJPW. I also loved how Ki, after choking the air out of Danielsons lung would immediately follow up with double stomps to the stomach. Unfortunately Danielson made an easy comeback soon after that and the finishing stretch was not as great as the body of the match as they mostly stick to throwing big old bombs back and forth for like 10 minutes. Still, match felt like a classic in large parts. 

 Ikuto Hidaka & Super Boy & Curry Man vs. Tiger Mask IV & Kazuya Yuasa & Hideki Nishida (Michinoku Pro 3/10/2002)

Michinoku Pro could still deliver dope 6 man tag action in the 2000s. This a trademark high spot filled formula tag with everyone playing their roles. Curry Man is a pretty good use of Christopher Daniels as he doesn't pretend to be a master worker but just acts like a tool. His missed dive was pretty insane. Super Boy always looks so great in M-Pro (where the hell is his lucha material?) and this was no exception, he is so awesome as a massive fat guy crushing the tiny dudes with flippy moves, and working miscommunication spots. Hidaka was also a really good team captain, trying to unmask TMIV and attacking his bad arm, twisting up Yuasas leg and getting kicked in the face etc. Nishida as a Spike Dudley inspired guy working highspots with Super Boy was really fun too. This is the kind of match that is completely predictable but still puts a smile on your face.

Low Ki vs. Amazing Red (TNA 7/24/2002)

About as perfect a 7 minute opener as you can ask for. This was Reds TNA debut and they work a slightly more traditional style (if you can talk traditional when you have crazy moves dished out by the minute) with some arm drags and Ki beating him down good with his awesome neck headbutts etc. They pull out some of their spectacular kung fu sequences later for great effect. Amazing how these two always managed to mix up their stuff.

Antifaz/La Fiera/Safari vs. Averno/Mephisto/Zumbido (CMLL 1/11/2002)

This was given plenty of time. Cool 10 minute opening fall with Safari looking especially slick, nice rudo beatdown with plenty of elaborate double times and some more heated than usual exchanges between Safari and Mephisto, culminating in Safari hitting a sick dive that Mephisto failed to catch properly, which only increased the intensity. The main reason I'm adding this though was La Fieras awesome performance. I didn't know he was even still around by 2002, but he looked like he had aged just right here. Basically acting like Tenryu, working as "I've been doing this for 30 years and I'm hurting in place I didn't even know existed, but I'm still gonna kick the shit out of you". He hits all these graceful kicks and takes some big bumps. Finish was charming and the crowd went wild for it.

 2002 MOTY MASTER LIST

 

Koki Kitahara Documentation #6

 

Koki Kitahara & Riki Choshu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Tatsumi Fujinami (Rikidozan Memorial6/30/1996) - EPIC

Match at a big show involving 3 of Japans greatest stars where the standout is somehow, Koki Kitahara. Tenryu and Choshu did their thing, shoving each other, staring, creating some big time heat, and then Kitahara is there on the side eager to get into the fight while Tenryu is ignoring him completely. The opening exchange here really sets the tone, Tenryu and Choshu are the stars, Kitahara gets mauled by Tenryu, but is somehow able to get up and fire back with some hard shots of his own and even blindside Tenryu with a great kick to the back of the head. Kitahara ends up with a bloody mouth, but he never backs down. Tenryu and Choshu were also cracking each other hard here and I enjoyed Fujinami surprise catching Choshu after he got clocked with a lariat. The finish is, of all matchups, Tenryu and Kitahara again and it’s pretty great with Kitahara hitting one of the hardest punches I’ve ever seen in a pro match and Tenryu firing back with punches of his own and trying to chop Kitaharas head off. Really gritty, well executed match with big heat and a cool underdog story.

 

Shinichi Nakano & Shunji Takano & Akira Taue vs. Tatsumi Kitahara & Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 5/14/1990) - GREAT

First match I’ve seen from Kitahara in pre-split All Japan. This was a cool match which feels like a “what could have been” as 3 guys who ended up leaving AJPW soon mix it up with known greats Kobashi, Taue and Kikuchi. This was basicallly a short undercard tag where 6 young guys swing hard at each other. Kitahara is only in briefly, but when he is in he is just throwing brutal kicks with great technique left and right, including wasting Takano in the corner with a sick combo, and launching Nakano over the top rope. Everyone else was laying it in too, I especially enjoyed all the Kikuchi related exchanges as everyone always slaps the shit out of that guy. Kobashi in his baby state is fun doing things like hitting snug european uppercuts and big leg drops, and Taue had some big powermoves. Takano also looked great in his usual role of a tall psycho potatoeing guys.

Koki Kitahara & Arashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Mitsuya Nagai (AJPW 11/24/2001) - GREAT

Kitahara vs. Kawada is an obvious dream match, however, they only had one real exchange in this that lasted ca. 30 seconds. They traded some good looking kicks, though. I noticed that Kitahara was going softer than usual on Kawada, so I wondered if he had gotten softer for this AJPW stint, but then Nagai tagged in and immediately Kitahara stomps on his face, spits on him and slaps the taste out of his mouth. I guess it was a thing about ranks. This was short but tremendously heated. The crowd were super into Nagai, who was kind of an underdog in this. Kitahara is mostly there to run in and potatoe Nagai for great heel reactions. This was by far the most fired up I’ve seen Arashi look. I mean, he wasn’t exactly moving fast or anything, but he was taking real punishment and dishing out back. Kawada was just brutalizing guys with kicks, and I think he didn’t take a single bump in this. Lotta promotions in the world now would kill to have this kind of heat.

KOKI KITAHARA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST

IWA Japan CRAZY CIRCUS & AGGRESSIVE WARRIORS

 6/25/1997

Tortuga vs. Yuji Kito

 Kito debuts with the Yuki Ishikawa wrestling shoes and white socks look. This was decent and mostly the turtle doing his thing. Tortuga hit some nice kicks. The referee also continues to amuse by doing a Tiger Feint Kick and a very pretty flying headscissor.

Emi Motokawa vs. Sachie Nishibori

Motokawa gives Nishibori the business with stiff dropkicks and thrust kicks. This was clipped down and made to look pretty much like a Motokawa squash although Nishibori hits one smooth rana.

The Great Takeru & Akinori Tsukioka vs. Masao Orihara & Hidetomo Egawa 

Another clipped match mostly narrowing it down to their highspots. These guys have cool highspots though, especially enjoy Tsukiokas Cancun Tornado. The best spot was Tsukioka going for a diving headbutt only to land face first on Oriharas outstretched legs. Egawa always looks impressive in these matches for a guy with very little experience.

Benkei Daikokubo & Katsumi Hirano vs. Takeshi Sato & Kamikaze

This was clipped down to almost nothing and I'm completely fine with that. Benkei  and Hirano blow.

Leatherface vs. Freddy Krueger

Freddy Krueger debuts, along with the mysterious whip-carrying lady! They engage in some baffling scientific wrestling to start with Leatherface hitting a Dragon Screw on Freddy. This doesn't last long as the match is taken to outside the ring with some rather standard brawling before Krueger wins the match in rather bafflingly easy fashion. Well, this wasn't exactly an epic clash of legendary horror monsters.

The Great Kabuki & Tommy Rich & Terry Gordy vs. Kodo Fuyuki & Jado & Gedo

I would have liked to see more of this. The Kabuki/Rich/Gordy team is super lumpy and old, but Rich still looks spry here. He throws some nice punches, bleeds big and even flings himself over the top rope. He was also wearing these really amazing colorful tights. The only thing we saw Gordy do in this was hit a stiff lariat. And Fuyuki Gun is Fuyuki Gun. They really brought in these guys just to clip the match down to 4 minutes!?

Keizo Matsuda vs. Keisuke Yamada 

Bit of a weird choice for a main event, but these guys were payrolling everyone else, so I guess they get to play big time. Matsuda is questionable but Yamada is really good, and this had some nice stiff exchanges and big bumps for a couple green guys. Matsuda wins with an avalanche spinebuster and that kind of rules, although it seemed Yamada was shoot KO'd taking the bump. The audience was certainly baffled with this being over after a mere 8 minutes.

They also showed highlights of the following on this TV episode:

7/5

Keisuke Yamada & Akinori Tsukioka vs. Masao Orihara & Hidetomo Egawa
Leatherface & Freddy Krueger vs. Benkei Daikokubo & Katsumi Hirano
The Great Kabuki & Keizo Matsuda & The Great Takeru vs. Kodo Fuyuki & Jado & Gedo

7/6

Keisuke Yamada vs. Yuji Kito

Emi Motokawa vs. Sachie Nishibori

Benkei Daikokubo vs. Dr. Luther

The Great Kabuki & Keizo Matsuda vs. Kodo Fuyuki & Gedo 

These were mostly wayyy to clipped down to assess, although Fuyuki Gun once again looked very good in their matches with all their cool cut off spots. Great Takeru blew stuff even in the clips.

THE LIBRARY

Even More Rare Assorted NJPW TV

 Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura, NJPW 12/10/1986

Very good, competitive feeling match up. Fujinami controls the initial going by hanging onto Kimuras arm and they go through a few complex reversals before Kengo bitchslaps Fujinami in the middle of a sunset flip. Fujinami takes offense, but finds himself eating some bare knuckle punches from Kimura. After some more back and forth Fujinami eats a nasty leg lariat to the face from Kimura and we get some hot and unpredictable 80s nearfalls. This could’ve gone longer but it was quality shit.

Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Antonio Inoki, NJPW 5/25/1987

I am digging these Sakaguchi matches showing up. This was like Sakaguchi having one last go at his old rival. In the 70s these guys would do hold for hold matches, but this was a real exercise in pacing. They would do some grappling, and then they would do something to heat things up. Inoki tries rushing Sakaguchi at the start, but Sakaguchi blows him off. Then Sakaguchi lands a big atomic drop outside the ring. Suddenly Inoki goes for an enzuigiri, then both guys start throwing hands and Sakaguchi is downed by a huge slap. Sakaguchi really puts Inoki through the ringer with armlocks on the ground, before reversing a back suplex attempt into a Russian Leg Sweep in a great spot. I thought this was building to a classic, but then a weird transition happens where Sakaguchi seems to blow himself out hitting a big Atomic Drop and Inoki just blasts him away with enzuigiris. Still, a great lesson in how to create tension in wrestling matches.

Andre the Giant & Terry Rudge vs. Seiji Sakaguchi & Osamu Kido, NJPW 10/4/1976

Andre and Rudge! That alone makes this a gem. Match was fun too. We JIP to Andre and Rudge working over Kido with painful neck wrenches. Andre is so imposing even working basic holds. Then Andre misses a big splash, Kido makes the hot tag and we get lots of fun Andre stooging. It's a bit weird how the giant is the guy on the team taking the big bumps but it's fun to watch Andre fling himself over the top rope etc. Sakaguchi and Kido don't really sell on the level you want from a babyface team but they have some good teamwork spots. There was also a cool moment in the second fall where Rudge made Kido fly to the outside in a well timed spot. Rudge is one of the all time great asskicking wrestlers, he did kick ass a bit here but it was like 5/10 when it comes to Rudge material. Otherwise this was solid 70s action.

Assorted Japan Indy Wrestling

 

Keita Yano vs. Taro Yamada (WALLABEE, 6/14/2012)

Damn great match, I imagine if Yano had never stunk up BattlARTS and instead was only known for doing weird technical matches while wearing his joker makeup and clown singlet in a tiny gym we’d all be Yano superfans. Taro Yamada is the last guy in Japan still holding up the T2P style matwork and one of the most underrated grapplers on the independent scene. This was 25 minutes of matwork that was like a great IWRG style title match. It was a mix of Yamadas llave holds with Yano going along and some cool RINGs-like leglock work thrown in, with both guys doing a great job escaping and transitioning between holds. Whole match felt fresh and competitive and never was like a derivative or weird LARP, these guys were trying to pop each others shoulders and/or ankles the whole time. There were one or two geeky moments where Yano did some “rope running” although it was more like a comedy spot with Yano hooting like an owl, and both these moments lead to cool spots, one where Yamada actually trips Keita with a drop down and another where Yano tricks Yamada into his special hold. There wasn’t some kind of story if you are into that but there were a few great nearfalls and I deeply respect these two for just grappling it out for 25 minutes without slowing down, and never throwing a strike or even a body slam, it was all submissions and funky cradle pins (especially loved Yamadas weird Delfin Clutch variation), just really tightly worked stuff that wouldn’t look out of place in a WoS or lucha title match. I did love Yanos dickish knee slide across Yamadas face and the moment where Yano had enough of the llave holds and challenged Yamada to an amateur match was really cool. Finish was great aswell. Best Yano match I’ve seen by far and actively a great match, which is a major shocker. Yamada played a huge part too but I’ll be damned if Yano wasn’t feeling it that night. Apparently there have been a few matches between these two and I look forward to checking them all out but as it stands this is the best I’ve seen from Yano by a mile.

Yu Iizuka vs. ZIMA Yoshida (RAW 9/30/2018)

ZIMA Yoshida makes his return to the blog. This Yu Izuka is a HEAT-UP guy. While Heat-Up is technically the follow promotion to Style-E, it doesn’t really do shootstyle, but Izuka works full shootstyle here, and actually looks like a guy with lineage to Tamura. Really promising performance from Iizuka, throwing wild spin kicks and looking in cool submissions while doing lightning smooth mat transitions. Our man ZIMA is overwhelmed but he manages to lock in a cool leg lock/neck crank submission of his own. Def. Would’ve liked this to go longer.

Hideki Suzuki & MIKAMI vs. UTOMARO & Yuiga (Batos Cafe, ?/?/??)

Not a pleasant match. Yuiga is a NEO-wrestler who has been working scum indies for 20 years. She tries to take it to Hideki Suzuki in this, who responds by punting her in really violent, unpredictable ways. Yuiga is throwing some crowbar shots and sick headbutts but it seems Suzuki is untouchable. He even no-sells UTOMARO completely. Their match up is really intense and it builds to a great moment where Yuiga is finally able to get something in when she counters a sleeper attempt into a judo throw and tries to sink into a desperation armbar. MIKAMI and UTOMARO basically just provide some fluff between the Yuiga vs. Hideki sections. Great sleeper hold finish.

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #7

 Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Manabu Hara & Takahiro Oba, FUTEN 4/26/2009 - EPIC

Man, is Team Taco the greatest tag team ever, or what? Is FUTEN the greatest promotion ever? Those 24 shows between Bati-Bati 1 and 26 that we don't have are sorely missed. This is head and shoulders the best thing to come out of Japan - and probably all the world - that year. 28 minutes of pure hybrid shootstyle greatness. The great thing about this post modern shootstyle is that it allows for plenty of character work and psychology while also delivering high end exchanges and insane stiffness in spades. Ikeda and Ono are predictably great here cutting off the ring, isolating guys and beating the tar off of them, but there's also plenty of fairly great wrestling exchanges. Ono is king sized here, both delivering some really slick grappling and punishing guys with precise striking. There is a great section where Ono and Ikeda are stretching the shit out of Haras leg, really Regalesque torture holds that you don't see much in shootstyle, and it really underlines what a pair of pricks they are. Oba & Hara are a revelation here totally holding up their side of the match. Haras athletic moves are a cool change of pace from the hardened tough veteran asskicking that Ikeda and Ono bring to the table, and Oba is on fire in this match as an eccentric tough guy with supreme idiot strength. Several great spots throughout the match, and it keeps building and building to the eventual explosion when Ikeda and Hara really start killing each other. Ikeda is a fucking god here, and Hara holds up in a stretch that is up there with the most insane Ikeda/Ishikawa ending stretches. Bare knuckle boxing exchanges, Ikeda almost crushing Haras face with probably the craziest spin kick caught on film, Hara dropping Ikeda with a completely out of nowhere Tiger Driver 91, both guys were just raining hell on each other and it was truely transcendent. Ikeda is one of the few guys you buy as tough enough to survive this kind of punishment, and Hara is really elevated by making it through this madness even as he gets trapped. Tremendous, tremendous match, pro wrestling at its absolute best.

Takeshi Ono vs. Ikuto Hidaka (BattlARTS 4/15/1997) - FUN

It’s fun to watch Hidaka progress through getting his ass kicked by Takeshi Ono. Hidaka lasted about a minute longer in this than in their last match, but may have taken an even worse beating. Ono was unloading with some sick kicks and headbutts here. Also dug his knees on the ground. When Hidaka briefly got the advantage on the mat, he was met with another kick in the face swiftly. Talk about earning your stripes.

Takeshi Ono & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Alexander Otsuka & Katsumi Usuda (BattlARTS 5/18/1997) - GREAT

Back then you could throw almost any combination of BattlARTS guys into a tag and you were basicallly guaranteed a great match. This was basically a barrage of great grappling and vicious strikes. Usuda and Ono were just killing people here with their kicks, you don’t see people getting walloped like that anymore. Ono came across as this ultra vicious little bastard. He had some cool power vs. sheer scrappiness exchanges against Otsuka, including Otsuka deadlifting him from a hold into a Takaiwaeske piledriver in a sick moment. Finish was great as Usuda just barely got the drop on Ono and Otsuka ran in to nuke him with suplexes. Ono did this really excellent KO sell as he tried to regain his equilibrium. My only gripe with this is they clipped a 15 minute match down to 9.

TAKESHI ONO DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST

WMF 8/28/2002

WMF was Hayabusas promotion after FMW folded. I wonder why it's not talked about more, since a promotion with lots of cool juniors, sleazy ex-FMW guys and centered around Mammoth Sasaki as heavyweight star sounds  badass, so it's time to find out by watching some shows.

Ricky Fuji vs. Curry Man vs. Seiji Ikeda

I am normally opposed to 3 way matches, however this ended up short and fun enough to be inoffensive. Seiji Ikeda was doing a super fanboy gimmick and was mostly bystanding trying to snatch fotos and autographs from the wrestlers which was pretty amusing and protected the match from the typical nonsense of 3 way matches.

Kaori Nakayama vs. Miss Mongol

We only get about 80 seconds of this as they JIP straight to the bomb throwing section of the match. Suplexes were nice, but they ended the match on a kind of crummy looking unprettier.

Flying Kid Ichihara vs. Soldier

We once again JIP to both these guy hitting their spots. This is a 2 hour show, what's with all the matches being clipped? Nothing here stood out, but I kind of dug Soldier who felt like a junior very influenced by WWF style wrestling. And Flying Kid Ichihara is a legend.

Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask IV & Dragon Kid vs Onryo & Goemon & Darkness Dragon

Really fun match which had juniors from Michinoku Pro, FMW and Dragon Gate mixing it up. These guys aren't used to eachother so they were working a more solid, less intricate match, but it was good and everyone brought something worthwhile to the table. There were also several huge dives and Dragon Kid looked good hitting all his freaky stuff. I also liked the spot Dragon unmasked himself in an Eddie Guerrero style attempt to get Kid DQ'd. The next moment they both unmasked eachother and were forced to wear their opponents hood. This kind of stuff won't win you workrate awards but it's what keeps the love for pro wrestling flowing. Sasuke looked sharp, TMIV hit some stiff blows and GOEMON & Onryo looked like good bases as well with Onryo hitting particularily huge bumps and dives. FEAR THE ONRYO CLUTCH! 

Mr. Gannosuke & Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Hisakatsu Oya & Tetsuhiro Kuroda

Most of this was these guys doing their stuff, but everyone had their working boots on so it ended up fun. Well, everyone except Kuroda, who should've been quarantined to undercard comedy tags the second he first decided to make a scene around smashing his opponents leg into the buckle. I dug Oya in this, who has such a cool sleazy grappling pseudomaster vibe. This ended up being merely an excuse for a Matsunaga run in, who came in with a barbedwire bat, then gave GOEMON a high five and stared down Hayabusa in his wheelchair. I wanted a bit more out of this but ended up being reminded of how badass Mr. Danger is.

Mammoth Sasaki vs. Garuda

Unexpectedly great indy main event. It's pretty cool to see two underexposed guys who can work step up and deliver their idea of a big match. Both guys were bumping big to get this match over, not just taking big dangerous bumps, but also bumping big for basic moves like a shoulder block. Garuda looked like he just got hit by a truck during the opening exchange and the crowd response underlines that. Meanwhile Sasaki was flying around to put Garudas dropkicks over. Between the big slams and flying they were working a pretty solid groundbased match. Mammoth has really good looking basics, really awesome body slam, huge leg drop, kicking Garuda in the spine between moves etc, while Garuda actually looked like the legit succesor to Hayabusa, hitting thudding kicks, cool submissions and flying around. The finishing stretch was probably better than the stuff many bigger name workers would do that decade. While they did a lot of big moves, there were some really cool cut offs, everything was built to, and they had people believing in a powerslam or schoolboy. Loved Mammoth powering out of a backslide too. The only sour thing about this match is the clipping which was really unnecessary on a TV show that had a 2 hour timeslot. 

 

THE LIBRARY

2002 MOTY MASTER LIST

 

Assorted Onita Pro

 So someone put up a boatload of Onita Pro shows from 1999-2002 up on the internet archive. While I don't care a ton for Onitas late career work (although it is solid in the sense that you always get a fast paced brawl with a bunch of dudes bleeding, flying through tables and Onita doing almost nothing but hitting powerbombs and DDTs) the man was booking all kinds of weird and cool matchups on his cards using DDT guys, random luchadores and various indy scum, so that is excellent blog material.

MIKAMI & Sanshiro Takagi vs. Takashi Sasaki & DAISAKU (Onita Pro 12/26/1999)

 I see matches like this as the equivalent of a great WCW syndicated match. 6 minutes in length, and all these guys roll out their cool stuff, while maintaining a tight pace and a good level of stiffness. Lotsa stealworthy speats, my favourite being the running spin kick from Sasaki that really bent MIKAMIs spine across the ring apron. DAISAKU is a CAPTURE regular with a cool style largely based around kicking his opponents really hard. MIKAMI looked really good here as well, a guy who was comfortable both hitting slick ranas and slapping the shit out of his opponents. All his exchanges with Sasaki were really good, he hit a great dive and got turned inside out by a nasty Sasaki lariat for his troubles. Takagi is the least guy in the match but manages not to fumble anything. Full japan indy point.

Tomoya Adachi & Asian Cougar & Starman vs. NOSAWA & Heaven & Arkangel De La Muerte (Onita Pro 7/20/2000)

Bless Onita for bringing in these random luchadores. This was like a slightly sleazier approximation to an M-Pro tag. I dug Adachi here, cool dude who could both do smooth matwork and hit big dives. NOSAWA was already comfortable in his stooging role. Asian Cougar also looks good without even hitting his crazy highspots, mostly doing swank lucha armdrags instead. I was expecting them to have Arkangel and Starman married to each other, but instead they shuffle through all kinds of possible matchups, and everything went smoothly.

Takashi Sasaki vs. GENTARO (Onita Pro 3/14/2000)

Cool 8 minute match where they showcase their stuff. Starts with some cool matwork before both guys go through their bread and butter. GENTARO has some fantastic athleticism and Sasaki mostly just smacks him hard with kicks and lariats. GENTARO blows a Space Tiger dive but redeems himself immediately by hitting a springboard senton with amazing height. Full japan indy point.

Tomoya Adachi & Asian Cougar & El Matematico vs. Babe Richard & Heaven & NOSAWA, Onita Pro 5/21/2000)

 Ahhh what the hell, they flew in Matematico and Richard for one match? I assume they went on an extensive tour with ZIPANG that month in Japan. To be honest, Matematico is old as hell here and his exchanges with Richard weren’t great, but I loved his big plancha to the outside and him picking up the victory with the Muscle Hold. They also clipped this in half (whole thing went 18!!! minutes), probably for the wiser.

Masanobu Kurisu vs. Kengo Takai (Onita Pro 6/27/1999)

Kurisu beats the dogshit out of this DDT boy with the most violent headbutts, stomps and chair shots you’ve ever seen. Takai retired to Osaka Pro shortly after.

IWA Japan 3/3/1997

Emi Motokawa vs. Mima Shimoda

Rookie vs. Veteran match that exceeded expectations, considering it could’ve been just a worthless squash. But they actually managed to construct a logical match that was highly entertaining. I watched a ton of shitty Shimoda matches in ARSION, but this was a nice reminder that she was really good at one point. She really gives Motokawa the business here booting her in the face and waffling her with chairs. Motokawa looks spunky and gets a big rub going 15 minutes against Shimoda in a match with hardly any let down.

Metal Face & Katsumi Hirano vs. Crusher Takahashi & Shigeo Okamura

Metal Face is just a skinnier version of Leatherface with some tinfoil on his mask. Was he a young Japanese guy, or just a boy from the States getting a small break in Japan? His wrestling was quite harmless and un-serial killer like. Then again, he was no Leatherface. He did leapfrogs and powerslams and dropkicks and what not. This was perfectly average wrestling, which only went too long at 16 minutes length. 3 out of 4 of these guys really don’t have the kind of offense needed to make such a long match worthwhile, and even Crusher Takahashi can’t salvage a match by his own when he’s tangling with the likes of Metal Face and Katsumi Hirano.

Tortuga vs. Akihiko Masuda

This was clipped down and almost exactly like their previous match. The ref hit a suicide dive. Masuda doesn’t hit any stiff kicks, making himself even less interesting. He really needed to become the Great Takeru at this point and just be mediocre with a mask instead.

Akinori Tsukioka vs. Onryo

Another very clipped down match. Tsukioka tries hard to make this good, suplexing Onryo into chairs to begin and then hitting a swank Moonsault from the bleachers. Onryo however may have been at his worst here. He blew several spots including the finish, and he is just so awkward when controlling the match. To make things worse he did such a bad dust throwing spot the crowd started laughing.

Jun Kikawada vs. Chotaro Kamoi (Rounds)

Jun Kikawada has kickpads and MMA gloves. Kamoi is a sleazy boxer. This was worked MMA fighter vs. Boxer, went about 1 round + 2 minute and consisted mostly of Kikawada taking down Kamoi with judo sweeps before sitting on him and lightly punching him. Really a nothing match although the finish with the towel being thrown in as Kikawada had Kamoi in the STF and Kamoi acting upset about it like fucking Chotaro Kamoi won’t give away a clean victory was amusing.

Kishin Kawabata vs. Takeshi Sato

Classic Japanese wrestling unprofessionalism, the reason why one watches these sleaze shows. Takeshi Sato comes out trying to stiff Kawabata and Kawabata just delivers him a brutal mauling. It’s just a nasty trashing from there, Sato gets his bell rung with open handed strikes and almost gets his chest crushed by Kawabatas knee drops. He mounts a small comeback hitting another potatoe kick of his own and trying a half crab, but Kawabata just muscles out and nails him with a deadlift piledriver. Short match (6 minutes) that I’m sure Sato wished was shorter.

Takashi Ishikawa & Shunme Matsuzaki vs. Keizo Matsuda & Daikokubo Benkei

This is a rough looking match up on paper, but it way over delivered. Shunme is my boy Kazuhiko Matsuzaki, and almost immediately he brains Matsuda hard with chairs. Matsuda ends up bloody and getting kicked in the face a bunch. Ishikawa had a good night, potatoeing people like it’s 1992 again. Matsuzaki also has great looking stomps. I like how Benkei got the hot tag, then did a splash, a lariat and a boston crab and then tagged in Matsuda who was pretty beat up again, “I did all my moves, now it’s your turn”. Benkei was quite fun here though as a tough big guy absorbing punishment and hitting lariats and splashes. I loved how big of a heel reaction Ishikawa got by clocking Matsuda with a chair. In IWA Japan of all places! After the match Ishikawa and crew continue beating down on Matsuda 5 on 1 and I actually wanna see where this feud goes from here.

The Great Kabuki & Masao Orihara & Keisuke Yamada vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki & Gedo & Jado

This is an awesome looking match up on paper, and it really delivered on it’s promise. The Fuyuki & underlings trio really is one of the most consistently entertaining acts of the 90s in their scummy evilness. And Orihara is a sleazy treasure in this match, flying in and out of the scenery, having heated exchanges with Gedo etc. Kabuki is also awesome just tagging in, hitting awesome punches and superkicks and spraying mist. The juicy part is the heat segment on Yamada, which is really well executed and also really bloody. There was also an unusual intrusion when Yamada’s sister(?) tried to save her brother from Fuyukis nefarious tactics and Fuyuki shakes the shit out of her, it was totally unexpected an really underlines Fuyukis scummyness. Yamada survives a ton of punishment in this, almost too much, but then again he was bankrolling everyone and putting all these awessome IWA Japan shows together, so I guess I am fine with it, and the finish is a good one.

 

THE LIBRARY

Tanomusaku Toba Documentation #6

 

Tanomusaku Toba vs. Takashi Sasaki (DDT 11/19/2000) - GREAT

Not as good as their match earlier in the year, but there was still plenty of badass violent pro wrestling going on here. Loved the opening with both guys beating the shit out of each other in the corner and Toba throwing some nice combos. There a few more spots here, such as Toba hitting his awesome apron kick and even a frankensteiner, but less Rocky-style exchanges in the finish. Takashi Sasaki once again looks really good, throwing a nice variety of kicks and these two have such excellent timing on their exchanges.

 

Tanomusaku Toba vs. Kota Ibushi, DDT 2/3/2008 - FUN

Sort of a kickboxing approximation to a Japanese big match. Ibushi was pretty goofy here and there too many back and forth strike exchanges. Even though the match was wrestled in Tobas style, it seemed to be all about Ibushi, which I didn’t like. There was a moment where Ibushi moonsaulted right into Tobas fist which looked really stupid. It still holds up better than your typical Japanese big match full of pointless elbow throwing and restholds, though. Lots of nasty strikes, including a great moment where Toba destroyed Ibushi in the corner. Finish was downright disgusting. Overall, his could’ve been way better.

Tanomusaku Toba & HARASHIMA vs. Takashi Sasaki & Masashi Takeda (HARD HIT 1/25/2009) - EPIC

Great great match. DDT guys have done matches with shootstyle elements in the past, but they went full on BattlARTS style here. It was nice to see the deathmatch boys go back to their roots. Harashima/Takeda grappling throughout was pretty great. It was slick U-Style matwork and a joy to watch. Takeda is actually a Tamura guy and it was nice to see he could still do that. Harashima looked really slick too. Of course, the main attraction was Toba and Sasaki going back to the kind of stuff they were doing a decade earlier. You could tell they were excited to get kill each other again. All their exchanges throughout were pretty great and pretty violent. I like how Sasaki blew a gasket for a moment, throwing Toba outside and prompting another streetfighting section, which earned him a yellow card. The finish was between Toba and Takeda and really good also. Toba was anticipating Takedas attacks (something I’ve noticed is one of his go-to tricks) and destroying him with superior strikes. Tobas spinning back elbow to Takedas throat was sick and probably the highlight of the match. Toba going into desperation mode whenever Takeda went for a suplex or submission also was fantastic. Great stuff, wish they had done this kind of thing more often.

Tanomusaku Toba & MIKAMI vs. Hikaru Sato & Akito, DDT 9/29/2013 - GREAT

This was all about Toba vs. Sato. I’ve been pretty critical of Sato, but he was great in this match. Great opening section between him and Toba where he worked over Toba with some disgusting leg kicks. Of course, Toba came back punching his jaw out. I also loved Satos reversal to MIKAMIs 619. This is the first time I’ve seen Akito, and he stinks. However, he never got to drag the match down because Toba and Sato were constantly coming in to crush someone with brutal strikes. The finish was between MIKAMI and Akito and it was short and well executed. Apparently this was the only time Toba and Sato really interacted. Travesty.

 

TANOMUSAKU TOBA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST 

2002 MOTY List Update #8

Shinya Hashimoto vs Masato Tanaka (ZERO1 3/2/2002)

Tanaka disrespects the belt, and Hashimoto makes an example of him. This is among the greatest squash matches of all time, as Hashimoto looks like an unstoppable killing machine, and Tanaka looks like the gutsiest dude on earth for surviving. Tanaka is „deathmatch tough“ so you buy him surviving all the punishing blows and maybe decking Hashimoto with a potatoe of his own. Him being unable to hold on to a sleeper simply because he took a beating to every part of his body was pretty great aswell. Still this was all about Hashimoto destroying a poor fella. He may be the best ever at utilizing a basic karate chop to look like a badass. 

Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka vs. Wataru Sakata & Hirotaka Yokoi (ZERO1 7/7/2002)

Two shooters demolish a pair of established stars. Really fun uncooperative stiff battle. Tanaka potatoeing shooters is certainly way more interesting than what he is usually doing. Really good babyface performance from him as he absorbed a nasty nasty assbeating, all his throws were really well timed. And Sakata is basically a violent killing machine in 2002. His high knee has become one of my favourite strikes in pro wrestling ever. Yokoi was pretty game as a guy with gloves pounding on dudes. Otani outgrappling Yokoi repeatedly was really fun. Also, that out of nowhere missile dropkick was just amazing and one of the best spots of the year. Yokoi being able to hang with Otani for a bit by beating him silly during the finishing during the finishing section was really cool. The finish itself has Otani rolling out the Dragon Suplex and while a Dragon Suplex is pretty much a transition move now here it felt like you were watching the poor guy get killed.

Shinya Hashimoto & Katsuhiko Ogasawara vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Tatsuhito Takaiwa (ZERO1 8/2/2002)

Plenty brutal match that was characterized by Hashimoto looking great and and Ogasawara having an absolute meltdown, resulting in some gritty highly uncooperative exchanges. Ogasawara seemed too concerned with protecting himself so Takaiwa at one point just starts decking him for real. To make up for the chaos surrounding the karateka, there were some damn good exchanges between Takaiwa and Hashimoto. Hashimoto looked peak level sharp, including busting out some awesome submission counters dropping his full weight on Takaiwas shoulder, and Takaiwa looked great as a gutsy underdog trying to cut through him with lariats. There were some choice Fujiwara/Hash exchanges too altough Fujiwara went to his comedy later.

Ryouji Sai vs. Hirotaka Yokoi (ZERO1 6/27/2002)

Another fun, scrappy, hate filled bout. Both guys were spitting venom and fighting like maniacs. Sai was pretty lively here, way better than the duller Nagata I've seen him be in other matches, he was throwing fists at Yokoi and putting up a major fight. His suplexes ruled. Yokoi aside from being a glove wearing shooter who will batter opponents with punches and chokes has really fun mugging facial expressions here. I loved all the non-clean hit strikes. Best 5 minute match of the year?

 Shinjiro Ohtani & Masato Tanaka vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Katsuhiko Ogasawara (ZERO1 9/16/2002)

This was pretty much 4 guys potatoeing each other hard to great entertainment value. I am digging Ogasawara, as anytime he's in the ring guys crank up the intensity and really crowbar him across the ring. Ohtani is especially nasty in this. Ogasawara also dishes out some pretty great looking kicks here. Tanaka looked damn good here, as his exchanges with Hashimoto were reminescent of their singles match. Tanaka tried working the leg, and he is quite good at basic things like shooting in for a takedown to get a leg, and then Hashimoto would feel disrespected and just maul him. The sports entertainment moment with Tanaka turning on Otani and leaving the match was stupid and prevents this from being higher on the list, although the nasty 2 on 1 thrashing Otani ate after that was one of the more harrowing pay offs to such an angle I can remember.

 

2002 MOTY Master List

Indy World 7/22/1998

 Perseus vs. Hidetomo Egawa

We join this 6 minute match 90 seconds in progress. Perseus is a scummy indy junior with a cool look, and Egawa is Masao Oriharas boy, although he was a flavourless rookie here. This goes straight to both guys uncorking their big moves, which look good. Egawa kicks out of Perseus triple powerbomb, but takes the pin after a superplex, which rules.

Mach Junji vs. Ryuji Hijikata

This was similiar to the previous match, JIP to them hitting their big moves, but had the extra level of BattlARTS stiffness. Hijikata clocks Junji in the back of the head with a lariat and works him over with kicks, Junji fires back with massive open hand strikes. Really nice shoulder-popping armbar sequence here. This goes to a time limit draw and I wouldn't mind if a handheld showed up to give us the whole thing.

Chihiro Nakano & Miyuki Fujii vs. Kyoko Ichiki & Chiharu

We only get about 5 minutes of a 16 minute match, but what was shown was full of swank moves and counters. Rolling armbars and legbars were hot shit in 1998 so everyone here was doing them, inbetween Chihiro Nakano clocking people with high kicks. Chiharu is an SPWF girl who looked pretty bad in SPWF matches I've seen but was fine here, she had a cool reversal from a samoan drop lift into a rolling armbar and a nice suplex. Ichiki also looked good here, hitting a Sabu chair dive, cool victory roll into legbar move, cool flying knee attacks and a nasty finish where she crushed Nakano with a rolling senton.

Yumiko Hotta & Kumiko Maekawa vs. Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue

We get 8 of 17 minutes. I didn't like this as much as the previous joshi match, I don't care much for what Toyota and Inoue bring to the table, although the match was savaged somewhat by Hottas and Maekawas cool kick variations.

TAKA Michinoku & Asian Cougar vs. Masao Orihara & Palomino

What do you think happens here? They nuke eachother with highspots nonstop, fuck all rhyme or reason, but the match stays short enough to not piss you off. The first 2 minutes of the match have 5 Michinoku Drivers – with TAKA eating 3 of them in a row and laughing about it a minute later. If you can get over that kind of idiocy, there was some fun to be had here. Cougar and Palomino bring the highspots, Cougar hits about half a dozen guillotine legdrop variations, and Palomino has nice height on a standing huracanrana and a great tope. TAKA and Orihara add some character work – meaning middle fingers and low blows. Taka also flops his dive and ricochets into a bunch of teenage girls. The most important thing is that this didn't overstay it's welcome and didn't do a bloated, tryhard finishing run.

Tarzan Goto & Masashi Aoyagi & Azteca vs. Dick Togo & Shoichi Funaki & MENs Teioh

Big badass brawl pitting Goto against Kaientai (who are all in WWF gear and have Yamaguchi-San with them), but mainly Goto against Togo. I loved the opening, which has Goto attacking Yamaguchi only to be hit by big Togo diving senton. Then chaos ensues and Togo is recklessly flying into chairs. Easily one of the better „opening brawling“ segments I can remember from a match in Korakuen Hall. Togo ends up busted open and has his cut worked over. Togo gives a really great performance here, and Goto and Aoyagi are great working the cut (Azteca is decent too).Goto uses foreign objects, while Aoyagi throws punches and kicks at Togo's face. Goto is so great here as a grotesque lumbering psycho destroying the little dudes, and Aoyagi working exchanges with Kaientai and laying into them with kicks is all kinds of fun too. It gets to the point where Goto gets ready to carve people up with a broken beer bottle and you wonder how Kaientai are gonna get out of this alive. I actually loved the sports entertainment twist right before the finish too as it resulted in a badass character moment from Aoyagi. Match probably needed a big dive train or something, but as it was it was a spectacular fight.

Ryuma Go & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Tatsuo Nakano vs. Hiroshi Itakura & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shigeo Okumura

This was a really fun trios where guys mostly run in to do fun shit. Itakura likes to throw stiff kicks, but ends up taking a big beating and ends up suplexed into a bunch of chairs. Fujiwara was mostly slapping the taste out of people's mouths and Nakano, for a UWF guy, mostly focussed on bringing hurty looking strikes, at one point raining punches to the back of Itakura's head from back mount. Go was off the chain here and acted like a crazy motherfucker you wouldn't want to confront, ramming into people with headbutts like a madman. Yatsu and Okamura were decent enough but mostly this was a showcase for the fun stuff the Fujiwara/Nakano/Go dream team could do.

 THE LIBRARY

Exploring the YouTube Channel of ISAMI Part 2

 

GAJO & TB vs. ISAMI & Akira Tei(?), ?? 10/28/2018

I am pretty sure TB is Takahiro Tababa, but he is even announced as “TB”. ISAMI was rocking a karate gi and MMA gloves look. This may have been the best ISAMI has looked, as he was punching and kicking people hard. Entertaining match where everyone beats on each other hard, especially liked all the exchanges between ISAMI and TB. Akira Something is an ultra scummy looking dude who doesn’t do martial arts stuff but is able to work a no nonsense match working over GAJOs leg. I thought it was gonna build to another hot tag but instead Akira went to town with a chair and got a surprise tap via kneebar leading to a post match pull apart with a bunch of ISAMIs karate gi wearing seconds jumping into the fray. That kind of stuff is among my favourite things about Japanese wrestling and it’s good to see that at least one low level indy somewhere is still doing pull aparts with gi wearing dudes jumping on eachother.

ISAMI & Tatsuhiko Nakagawa vs. MAX Yoshida & Mitsuyoshi Nakai, ??, ?/?/??

Lord help me, there’s not even a date for this. It’s probably the best match of these so far, though. This was two guys in karate gis vs two guys in kickpads and MMA gloves, kicking and punching each other hard. Clearly Nakai and Yoshida didn’t think much of their opponents early and were taunting them. This lead to Nakagawa blowing a gasked, clocking Yoshida with a chair, bloodying him and then trying to hang him with his karate belt in a crazy ending. Really liked MAX Yoshida here, just a dickish looking dude swinging punches, he felt like he would make a decent Goro Tsurumi level Kazunari Murakami stand in. Just give me more stiff brawls with crazy endings like these.

Yuki Ishikawa & Zeronosu vs. ISAMI & Tatsuhiko Nakagawa, ?? 9/23/2018

It’s Yuki Ishikawa teaming up with a tubby masked guy against two karatekas in a small Japanese community theater hall, what a legend. This was alll about Ishikawas grappling with ISAMI and Nakagawa occasionally teeing off on him with kicks. Zeronosu wasn’t in the match much but did decent when he was in. Great moment where Ishikawa put a gi choke on ISAMI and he sold it like he was really getting strangled to death. Cool finish where Ishikawa was getting pulverized 2 on 1 by karate kicks only for him to catch another blow and lock in the Octopus Hold for the tap.

ISAMI vs. Katsuhiko Ogasawara, ?, ?/?/??

Katsuhiko Ogasawara, baby. He was pretty old in Zero1, so for him to be still going 15 years later is pretty legendary. He still has good form on all his high kicks and hits hard. This was just a short exhibition of two guys tagging eachother with punches and kicks but I liked it. Dug all the karate punch combos to the upper body especially Ogaswaras nasty sternum punch that left ISAMI gasping.