Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #15

 Takeshi Ono vs. Katsumi Usuda, BattlARTS 5/31/1996 - GREAT

This was 5 minutes of seriously competitive shootstyle. Basically like another take on the grappling match these two had in 2001, but with strikes. Ono didn't have the gloves yet, but was a tenacious grappler. His hair as also amazing. Usuda battered himself early on with nasty kicks and knees but Ono made himself respected. Some pretty great stuff here, including Ono hitting a monster german suplex, or eating a backhand from Usuda only to pick him up and slam him. Great finish. These two always make the most out of every given second.

Takeshi Ono vs. Katsumi Usuda, BattlARTS 8/31/1996 - FUN

These two always wrestle a different match against each other. Ono has the gloves here, and both guys are barefoot. There are some brief moments where Ono tries to punch Usuda out but this was mostly grappling. Really really slick stuff. Only 4 minutes where shown and I would love to see the whole thing because it looked like another goodie. Absolutely worth checking out the grappling here, though.

Takeshi Ono vs. Daisuke Ikeda, BattlARTS 9/1/1996 - FUN

Only 4 minutes shown, but it was 4 minutes of that sweet BattlARTS action we all crave. You get some smooth matwork, Ikeda suplexing scrawny Ono around, and some brutal near KOs. Pretty much a short highlight reel of what these guys can do, and these are two of the best Japanese wrestlers ever so it was really cool. Especially dug Ono unloading the punches and a jumping knee, as well as Ikeda trying to make him throw up with a nasty spin kick to the stomach.

Takeshi Ono vs. Mr. Sakai, BattlARTS 8/12/2001 - FUN

Mr. Sakai is a sleazy indy lucharesu guy and I assume he owns the ring or something and that‘s why gets to go even with Ono. There was some actually really cool lucha vs. Shootstyle matwork here. Mr. Sakai looked more sloppy in the standing sections but Ono did what was needed and punched him hard in the face.

Takeshi Ono vs. Super Rider, BattlARTS 1/7/2001 - FUN

More fun junior/shootstyle hybrid wrestling. Ono mostly just brutalized Rider here, who came up up with some fun counters. Rider kind of blew 1 or 2 spots but Ono is so good both dishing out offense, as well as putting over and countering his opponents offense that it doesn‘t matter. And Rider had the guts to take more punches and kicks from Ono than his usual opponents.

TAKESHI ONO DOCUMENTATION PROJECT

LLPW DANCING HEROINE 5/29/1994

 Michiko Ohmukai vs. Leo Kitamura

Hey look, it‘s Michiko Ohmukai. Kitamura has been around a while, but Ohmukai squashes her completely smacking and stretching her and connecting some nasty knees to the back of her head.

Jenn Yukari vs. Michiko Nagashima

Pretty bad match. There were some attempts at armork and some violent kicks, but the whole thing as pretty sloppy and directionless. Blew the finish, too.

Carol Midori & Mizuki Endo vs. Miki Handa & Yasha Kurenai

Bigger and better match than you expect from midcard joshi. This was quite scrappy and all 4 beat the hell out of each other. I‘m used to kickpadded girls bringing the stiffness in joshi, so this kind of WCWSN style snug ork was a nice surprise. Some big forearms, back elbows and hip drops. Kurenai and Handa mostly kicked ass, with Midori and Endo fighting back valiantly. Midori had some fun athletic moves and Kurenai looked really good. Girl who wrestles like a pissed off, staff wielding Akira Taue adds some nice grounding to a joshi match. Add in some cool 90s nearfalls (people flipping out for a Vader Bomb or running powerslam) and you have yourself a fun little discovery.

Harley Saito & Eagle Sawai vs. Noriyo Tateno & Rumi Kazama

This started out very good. It was pretty much a total slobberknocker from the Saito & Sawai tandem. Sawai was just running over people with body checks and lariats, and Saito was killing it throwing stiff kicks and slipping into shoot submissions. They ended up picking Kazama leg apart in Anderson bros fashion. Tatenos hot tag was kinda lame – she just hit two moves, then tried a surfboard hold on Kazama, failed and then tagged out. I was fine with Kazamas selling initially, she stumbled around, hit some cool one legged kicks to Sawais face – but then her leg was never brought up again. Kazama and Tateno dominated way too much of the ending section. There was a badass moment where Sawai stormed into the ring and went Steve Austin on everyone with the chair, but I wanted Saito and Sawai to be put over more as the dangerous unit they had been through the first half of the match. Instead Kazama and Tateno did some lame outside brawling. The finish was a nasty move, but the match ended in kinda weird fashion. Eh, I grew new respect for Sawai from this.

Shinobu Kandori & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Ishinriki & Utako Hozumi

Hozumi is Ishinrikis bride, so that makes for a fun dynamic. This was a light hearted match that was worked competitively and never exposed the business. Fujiwara sells pretty much how you expect for Hozumi. The Fujiwara/Ishinriki sections were fun, with some cool wrestling and a surprising amount of stiffness. There was one moment where Ishinriki palmed Fujiwara pretty hard on the ground, and then stomped on his head. Another singles match between the two would‘ve been amazing. Hozumi was sloppy here and there but the finish was between her and Kandori and really cool. This was kinda more like a 2nd match on the card comedy tag than a main event but I had fun.

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80s Europe #3

 

Jon Cortez vs. Keith Hayward, 11/5/1980

These two always did very no-nonsense technical matches together, and this was no exception. Big emphasis on amateur moves like single leg takedowns, firemans carries, pick-ups etc. There were some flashier moves, but most of this resembled a World of Sport take on shootstyle. Some top notch stuff in this. Bit slow paced and some moments in the last round felt blown, but keep in mind the much decorated Hayward was pretty much a rookie here. Quite impressive showing.

Johnny South vs. Ringo Rigby (8/5/80)

Tough contest in front of a really hot crowd. South looked like a hard man. His subtle heel moves early on where great - defensively shoving Rigby around, crawling to the ropes - and the crowd was super uptight about every bit of it. They ain't letting you get away with shoving a guy in the ropes in World of Sport. There were some cool holds early on, including a great struggle over a surfboard hold, but Johnny South then unleashed an asskicking. Really dug his face scrapes and forearm drops. Rigby looked quite good as a fired up young guy. He fired back with some cool double handed chops and big dropkicks. It builds to a series of pretty great strike exchanges and there was an insane spot where both guys ran heads first into each other. Simple but super enjoyable.

Jon Cortez vs. Pete Lapaque (1/28/80)

This was a totally dope match. Just the kind of random World of Sport bout you can turn on and get lost in. Jon Cortez was so great at crafting these throwaway matches as intense struggles. Pete LaPaque is a cool, chubby rudo, but this is all about Cortez who is such a graceful, awesome wrestler. Starts of with some slick grappling, then great arm work from LaPaque, Walton talking endlessly about how to tell wrestlers apart, and then lots of niggle and head to head wrestling with plenty of neat spots. One might complain about the kind of flat endings but don't forget this was just an undercard bout to the bigger Saint/Grey match later. As such it was real good.

 

1980s EURO COMPENDIUM

GAEA STORM SIGNAL 6/13/1997 + 6/22/1997

 GAEA 6/13/1997

Meiko Satomura vs. Hiromi Kato

This was a shootstyle match. Aw yeah! Pretty much 6 minutes of smooth grappling. Then they kick the shit out of each other for about 20 seconds, and then Satomura chokes Kato out. Short, but cool.

Sonoko Kato vs. Makie Numao

Another shootstyle match. This was a bit more aggressive than the previous match, so I guess it was better. These girls will really scramble for chokes and armbars. Numao kicks the shit out of Katos bandaged shoulder and then wins with a cool arm submission. Dig it.

Over The Top Rope Rule 5 vs. 5 Elimination Match: Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima & Hiromi Kato & Toshie Uematsu & Maiko Matsumoto vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada & Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato & Makie Numao

I wasn’t sure how this would play out considering one team was heavily lopsided with Nagayo and Yamada and nobody on the other team really being near their level. However they end up doing fine with Nagashima & Sato as leads. Fun match with some good exchanges throughout and good use of the over the top rope rule. It rules that kneebars and armbars were put over as deadly finishers in GAEA. I disliked how people that were eliminated kept interfering in the match and the match could’ve been a bit more focussed, but it was a good show, overall.

GAEA 6/22/1997

Sakura Hirota & Hiromi Kato vs. Akira Hokuto & Maiko Matsumoto

Hirota and Kato are about the two lowest ranked girls on the roster. You can imagine how much Hokuto sold for them. There was one cool moment where Kato was able to put her in a surprise Torture Rack and that was about it as far as offense they got in. This was about Hirota and Kato working together to survive and try to take out Matsumoto. Amusing match but went a bit too meandering. Dig Matsumotos Atomic Drops.

Mayumi Ozaki & Sugar Sato vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Sonoko Kato

Solid stuff here, but the match went too long and had too many sections. It tired me out. Starts chaotic with a bunch of underlings jumping Chigusa and Ozaki. Then we got Chigusa and Ozaki bullying the others tag partner before their big face off. Chigusa brutalizing Oz was cool but got lost in the shuffle. Even Hokutos heel(?) turn where she attacked Chiggy felt like it got lost. Kato bled and gave a good performance being valiant and throwing kicks. Sato also participated in the match but left no impression.

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2021 MOTY Project Update #2

3. Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Kaito Kiyomiya, NOAH 6/13/2021

This reminded me of a Destroyer carryjob. Ogawa is in his mid 50s now and for some reason he gets a longer match than I can ever remember him in during his prime. Opening battle of side headlocks was just beautiful and felt like a struggle for control. Kiyomiya reminded me a bit of a young Jumbo, as in he did everything right, trading holds and going along for cool things like criss cross spots, but didn't do anything outstanding. I liked how he bridged out of Ogawas headlocks and that about was it. Ogawas ratboy tricks and veteran moves kept the match entertaining. I especially liked the bit where they ended up in a side headlock on the outside, one of those examples of an old wrestler breaking out an exciting new trick. Kiyomiya struggling out of Ogawas stretches was nice, but his dainty offense didn't do anything for me. Thankfully, we get a very good section of Ogawa twisting up Kiyomiyas leg and essentially bullying him. Kiyomiyas tried his hardest to ruin the match by acting like superman, but Ogawa saved the whole thing by busting out some amazing counters. Beautiful, beautiful finish. Best 70s style match since... Nishimura/Tajiri, I think?

 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

Assorted DDT World

Super Uchu Power vs. DAISAKU (DDT 2/28/1999)

DAISAKU is a kickboxer dude who has worked CAPTURE, so can handle himself against a stiff monster. Doesn't matter though cause S.U. Power just crushes him. Daisaku puts on a good fight but is put to sleep in about 3 minutes. Very brief but very painful looking. Amazing promo after the match and Super Uchu Power struts away as the theme from Terminator 2 blasts from the speakers. All hail the Super Cosmic Force!

MIKAMI vs. Yuki Nishino (DDT 3/25/1998)

Younger years Mikami really was something. His combination of sudden athletic bursts, grappling and willingness to exchange manly assbeatings made for a quite compelling wrestler. Nishino is an SPWF guy with a crazy mullet who works kind of like a sleazy Finlay. He keeps it simple, and puts a major assbeating on Mikami, hitting some sick headbutts, chops and lariats, and Mikami cracks him back hard on the occasion, and sometimes he will hit a huge powerslam or suplex. In a different universe Nishino had Tomohiro Ishiis career. This was simple and to the point and a really fun undercard match built around two guys crushing each other until one stayed down.

 

MIKAMI vs. Takashi Sasaki, DDT 12/22/1999 

Cool, somewhat experimental junior style big match. This was Mikami as a slick junior before he started the Ladder thing, here he was just as prone to bust out slick armbar transitions aswell as fast springboard huracanranas. I really liked how they started out simple working headlocks and hammerlocks and slowly morphed into more tricked out stuff. Mikami looks damn good, technically sound and unpredictable on the mat, while pre-deathmatch kickpadded Sasaki is a perfectly good second rate Ikeda spin kicking him in the throat. The match turns into a style mix where they land stiff kicks and work flash armbars building towards AJPW style headdrops and Mikamis big flying moves. It's pretty much the ideal indy style match as they take from various styles and produce something that feels sound and fresh. The finishing run is great as they just kill eachother. Not only do they bust out the big moves, but there's also some thudding strike exchanges. When a springboard dropkick and lariat feel just as deadly as the big Emerald Frosion style finisher the execution is on point. Really cool to check this out, I would really like this type of indy wrestling to make a comeback. 

Sanshiro Takagi & Kazushige Nozawa vs. Super Uchu Power & Super Rider, DDT 3/25/1997

Out of the ruins of Pro Wrestling Crusader, a new creature emerges. Who would've thought Takagi and Nozawa would control Japanese wrestling 20 years later? And it all began with them absolutely getting their asses beat by a pair of space monsters. This was just a merciless beatdown. Takagi and Nozawa have some fire, but are outgunned. Rider has some crappy junior moves, but is good hen he is kicking the shit out of people. And Super Uchu Power was just a fearsome menace here. Always trying to pop peoples jaws with kicks and lariats or hammering them into the mat with big throws and slams. Not a pretty match, but it felt like a fight and got pretty visceral the more Takagi and Nozawa ate shit.

GWE Watching #8: Yuji Nagata

 Yuji Nagata vs. Kazuyuki Fujita, NJPW 6/6/2001

This was quite great. They had the MMA gloves and did hybrid style match. It wasn't UWF 2.0 or a BattlARTS knockoff match, they did their own thing here. The match felt like it could end at any moment, and the heat was off the charts. They really use things like the struggle over a takedown or Fujita trying to get mount to full effect. They really made people believe Fujita was gonna crush Nagatas skull once he got to mount position. Nagata looked like quite the valiant fighter trying to not get his head caved in by this beast. And well, then Fujita pretty much just smashed him. They never should have ditched the gloves.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Yuji Nagata, NJPW 11/3/2003

I am so used to seeing these two guys do a bunch of love tapping while making goofy faces that I was caught off guard by this being a no frills contest. Suzuki was projecting the aura of a killer at this time, and there was some really good grappling in this. He reminded me a bit of Negro Casas and that is huge praise. Nagata was a surely company ace here. Suzuki putting a random sleeper on Nagata and Nagata selling it like death created huge drama. Then you had Nagata catching Suzuki with a suplex and just trying to crush his shoulder with kicks. Suzukis selling actually was the right mix between being in serious pain and putting on his psycho act. Really good ending to an intense match.

Yuji Nagata vs. Enson Inoue, NJPW 7/21/2003

For some reason, I find Nagata tangling with some semitrained crowbar more entertaining than him dealing with his dojo mates. Enson was swinging wild punches here and trying to knock Nagatas block off. Nagata mostly used grappling to defend himself and looked solid. Then he nailed Inoue with a big suplex and that as it. Solid showing from Nagata, although he kinda needed to unleash a bigger asskicking to look truelybadass in a Hashimoto way against the fighter.

Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuyori Shibata, NJP 8/14/2003

Shibata is all punk here, throwing flurries of strikes and his gloves at Nagatas face. Nagata does a lot of grappling in these matches. I've really noticed it before, but I guess they were pushing his strength as a grappler since he had submission finishers and all. This was Shibata acting like a fucker and Nagata punishing him with some nasty face grinding and hard smacks. Nagata putting the boot down is no frills, mean and effective. Shibata looked like the more exciting wrestler, even as he got the snot beaten out of him. Unfortunately, the crowd was dead silent for Shibatas offense. Finish was fun with Stone Cold Nagata taking a chair to Yasuda.

Tanomusaku Toba Documentation Project #12

Tanomusaku Toba vs. Yukio Sagakuchi (DDT 11/15/2019) - FUN

This was from a martial arts tournament which in style of modern DDT had a lot of silly buggers going on. Toba is an old man now and he moves a little slower. This was just a 2 minute match but there was still a really fun punch exchange and a cool finish with Toba sidestepping his higher ranked opponent and blasting him for the upset win so it’s pushed into FUN territory.

Tanomusaku Toba vs. HARASHIMA (DDT 11/15/2019) - FUN

This was the finals of the tournament. It was just a 6 minute match (probably a good think considering Toba has a gut now and looks alcoholic) with the first 3 minutes being slow anticipating moments, but the last 3 are fun enough with Toba uncorking another nasty load of potatoes in the corner and a cool finish where Harashima somehow springboard dives into a leglock which Toba frantically tries to fight out of so Harashima giant swings into a boston crab for the tap. That kind of struggle is always going to get a match on my good side.

 

Tanomusaku Toba & Takashi Sasaki & Nihao vs. Asian Cougar & Super Rider & Yuki Nishino, DDT 11/25/1999 - GREAT

Another very good early DDT tag. BattlARTS level stiffness mixed with crushing junior highspots. Plenty of brutal spinkicks. Nihao and Rider had some cool exchanges here. Both guys have lineage to Sayama with Rider being a Shooto guy and Nihao being trained by Kitahara who was Sayamas student. Nishino works like a pro wrestling crowbar and he had some really fun exchanges with Toba. He also hulked up during an attempted 3 on 1 section which was a rare macho moment in Japanese wrestling that actually meant something and was cool. Also, as usual, Cougars legdrops were just insane. The match needed more extended Toba sections to push into epic territory, but he was the Toba we all know and love.

 

TANOMUSAKU TOBA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST

Oriental Pro 1/20/1993

 Oriental Pro 1/20/1993

1. Kazuhiko Matsuzaki vs. Ryo Miyake
2. Miguel Perez Jr. vs. The Winger
3. Yoshihiko Abe vs. Katsumi Hirano
4. Great Sasuke & TAKA Michinoku vs. Super Delfin & Terry Boy
5. Handicap: Toyonari Fujita & Hideo Takayama vs. Masahiko Takasugi
6. OPW vs. W*ING Elimination Gauntlet Match: Kazuhiko Matsuzaki & Nobutaka Araya & Hiroshi Itakura vs. Masayoshi Motegi & The Winger & W*ing Kanemura

This was another fun Oriental Pro card. You're always going to get some largely unspectacular but snug and solid pro wrestling with Oriental Pro, which is much needed these days. You had a nice 10 minute draw in the opener with enough stiff shots to keep it interesting, a nasty one sided wrestler vs. karateka squash where Abe kicks Hirano in the eye over and over and his students jump into the ring axe kicking Oriental Pro wrestlers after the match, plus a fun squash in the Takasugi handicap match where he just tears up the future Badboy Hido and Magnitude Kishiwada.

The standout matches were a) the M-Pro tag, where they worked a straight match with no shtick and basically showed off their superior athleticism and skill level and b) the main event.

The opening half of this was fascinating and made my respect for Masayoshi Motegi shoot up tenfold. Motegi came in with a bandaged shoulder. His first opponent was Kazuhiko Matsuzaki, who immediately begand attacking that shoulder which made their basic opening exchanges highly interesting. Motegis amateur moves were great and Matsuzaki looked like a mini-Hashimoto when he started throwing kicks. Motegi caught him in a surprise suplex though and quickly put him away, leading to Motegi vs. Araya being next.

Araya, who was skinny at this point, then proceeded to tear up Motegis shoulder for another solid 10 minutes, inbetween throwing him around and hitting stiff chops and clotheslines. It probably got excessive as Motegi just kept surviving, but it was fascinating to watch Motegi get out of one armbar attempt after another through bridging etc. Araya also had a bandaged lower back, and his immediate desperation selling when Motegi was able to hit a basic slam followed by a half crab was great. The spot where Araya attempted a lift and collapsed followed by Motegi going for his german suplex only for his destroyed shoulder to give out was great and the last pinfall was epic. One of the best payoffs to an injury centered matchup I've ever seen.

The weakest matchup there was Winger/Itakura, although it was pretty much the best use of Winger I can imagine as he got in a series of quick hopespots before being handily put away by Itakura, who was pretty much the ace of Oriental Pro at this point.

The last matchup was Itakura vs. Kanemura, which promised to be interesting as Kanemura was already a sick freak at this stage. It started out strong with Kanemura eating a nasty surprise savate kick and powerbomb, then he started biting and using chairs. Itakura came back bleeding and they produced a dramatic finish which such a big convoluted match deserved. Overall all the parts of the match worked by themselves and also formed a compelling whole interacting with eachother, which is why I'm nominating it as one thing.

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Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #10

 

Koki Kitahara vs. Masao Orihara, AJPW 4/9/1990 - FUN

Basic rookie opening match upgraded to Kitaharas insane level of stiffness. Anytime Kitahara was throwing kicks he was hitting Orihara like a baseball bat. Goodnes gracious. Orihara didn‘t do any flying here but he was spunky and willing the let Kitahara kick the life out of him. I liked how the end of the match is just Orihara working a somewhat dull hammerlock for a while before Kitahara just stands up turns his lights out with an ultra stiff spin kick.

Koki Kitahara & Hiromichi Fuyuki vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Kengo Kimura, WAR 2/14/1993 - GREAT 

Another match from the WAR/New Japan feud, and these matches really eschew traditional pro wrestling structure and even sequences. Everything is more heated, more reckless, and all the wrestlers likeliness to kick another in the face increases tenfold. Most of this was guys blindsiding each other with face kicks, and Kitahara is of course really great at blindsiding people with face kicks. Fuyuki also channels his old Footloose energy, and for such a natural creepy heel he is a really great fat Ricky Morton taking beatings and getting fired up. Koshinaka and Kimura dish out some big ass kickings, old man Kimura even takes some nasty crowbar kicks from Kitahara, and there is a pretty great section where he is punching Kitahara in the throat. Koshinaka is just kingsized here, there is this really violent section where he is just beating Kitahara to a pulp, knuckle punching him in the face, dropping knees with absolutely no light on him. Probably no other feud ever did violent spectacles on this level, and even though this wasn‘t the main players going at it it had that kind of big time feeling.

KOKI KITAHARA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST

Assorted Japan Indy Wrestling

 

2/3 Falls: GENTARO vs. Masamune, VKF 9/23/2008

Borderline modern classic where they go balls deep going 60 minutes, and succeed. Who knew GENTARO would be the modern day Jack Briscoe having all these 60 minute epics? This starts with both guys doing some fun matwork before they settle into the main groove of the match: both guys doing gruelling body part work and struggling over basic holds. Gentaro starts the fun by working over Masamunes arm and Masamune defends himself by cinching tight headlocks and working his neck. Gentaro kept trying to force a tap with armbars while some of Masamunes holds damn near seemed to pull his head off so the work never got stale. They end the first fall on a cool note and then settle into doing some dueling legwork. The transition from armwork/neckwork into the legwork was pretty impeccable as they didn‘t just move on to do another thing, there was a logical shift in necessary strategies. Duelling legwork was also pretty intense and bordered on a Destroyer classic. Gentaro sunk in some Figure 4s and there was a great moment where Masamune countered one of them by grabbing Gentaros leg and trying to twist it off. There‘s also some absolutely stellar work around Gentaros Sharpshooter. I was expecting them to keep grinding it out on the mat, but they settle into a cool finishing run with some great pin attempts, nearfalls and choice counters, while keeping the focus on the leg stuff. Last move was just a thing of beauty. Yes this was slow and a bit repetitive in parts, but both guys did a phenomenal job struggling in and out of holds, and it all felt spontanteous. Really a gem of a match, if you are the kind of purist who can get into a cool 40 minutes of brainy duelling limbwork.

 

DAISAKU & YUSAKU & Naoshi Sano & YOSHIYA & Ishinriki vs. Masayoshi Motegi & Hirofumi Miura & Shinigami & Fukumentaro & Shigeo Kato, NMC Pro 10/21/2001

Fun sleazy brawl with zombies, karatekas and wrestlers brawling all over the building, bleeding, and taking mean bumps. There is a car at ring side and a good chunk of time is spent with guys taking nasty bumps into the car. Sano was quite the whipping boy here, taking a fisherman buster on top of the car, and another one on top of a truck, before getting carved open with a hatchet. These guys all have no problem working stiff and throwing big suplexes so the non brawling portions were cool too although the match suffered a bit from having only one camera.

LLPW The Kageki Renaissance! Grand Opening 8/29/1992

 Leo Kitamura vs. Mizuki Endo

Clipped down match which looked like solid rookie action. Kitamura attempted some more elaborate moves and slipped up. Endo looks nearly unrecognizable. Really liked when Endo powered out of a full nelson and Kitamura hit this neat jumping headbutt to her shoulder. It‘s little moments like that which really get me even into a brief rookie match.

Midori Saito & Rumi Yasuda vs. Mikiko Futagami & Yukari Osawa

Osawa is a JWP veteran from the original class of 1986. This was pretty much your typical joshi undercard action, lots of moves done in quick succession. Futagami looked spunky. Things got heated for a minute when Osawa got busted open and ate some elbows to her cut, but it didn‘t build much further.

Eagle Sawai vs. Michiko Nagashima

Pretty much a clipped down squash with neither of them looking all that impressive.

Noriyo Tateno & Harley Saito vs. Miki Handa & Utako Hozumi

They went 36 minutes here, full bore. I enjoyed the opening going a lot with Saito and Tateno working together to cut off and isolate their opponents. A bunch of limb work happens that doesn‘t go anywhere and they lose me a bit in the middle, since nobody except Saito here is very interesting, really. Saito was fun running in to kick people hard. There was a section where she just destroyed Hozumi with kicks. Hozumis big comeback was supposed to be a dive but she got caught on the rope and landed on her face. Tateno doesn‘t do much interesting on offense but she was in he position to bring some character to the match and for someone who really doesn‘t have much charisma or character she did a fine job. Handa and Hozumi doing everything to edge out the win towards the end was really fun and the crowd reactions to the nearfalls were amazing. I could see people enjoying this because it‘s a slower paced, different type of joshi match, but temper your expectations.

Shinobu Kandori vs. Rumi Kazama

Badass match. Basically what you want from two wrestlers trying to establish their new promotion, just two ladies swinging for the fences, working cool grappling exchanges and mauling eaching other in violent fashion. Kandori looked like the baddest woman on the planet as usual, and Kazama was quite the fine Hotta stand in throwing absolutely rotten kicks to Kandoris face. I like how Kazama challenged the grappler Kandori to a wrestling exchange and Kandori just punted her. Middle portion was slightly meandering although the work was good and everything made sense. Ending was just a brutal onslaught with Kandori surviving several suplexes, then mauling Kazama on the ground before clocking her with a sick lariat, it was straight out of the BattlARTS playbook. 

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2002 MOTY Project Update #15

 

Genichiro Tenryu & Nobukazu Hirai vs. Kaz Hayashi & Satoshi Kojima, AJPW 10/6/2002

Hirai is an ex-WAR junior with a kind of amusing scuzzy charisma. He is fun as a misplaced guy in a big main event and has some cool exchanges with Hayashi. That said, this is 1000 % the Tenryu. He looks like you'd expect a Top 5 all time wrestler to look like. Just being a wrecking ball, throwing punches, chairs, spilling water, generally treating Hayashi and Kojima like garbage, and it all ruled. This wasn't just a "Tenryu walks over and potatoes somebody" stifffest, there was plenty of fast paced, thinking heavyweight wrestling going on. Kojima and Hayashi were pretty much warm bodies here, although I guess they tried a little harder than usual here throwing punches of their, but their main job was to be there and get swatted and kicked around by Tenryu, and it was a great little match.

 

Genichiro Tenryu & Arashi & Nobutaka Araya & Nobukazu Hirai vs. Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase & Jinsei Shinzaki & Satoshi Kojima, AJPW 9/16/2002

Also a pretty great 8 man tag. Tenryu bringing the Wrestle And Romance to AJPW ruled. The Mutoh side of the match was pretty loaded, so Team WAR did a neat job cutting off the ring and playing the numbers game to prevent Team Nu AJPW from doing their thing. Whenever Tenryu was involved the match was literally a string of great moments. Him blocking Shinzakis rope walk chop and hitting him in the throat was just badass. Then you had Tenryu carrying an Arashi in ring section by throwing objects at Mutoh. Also loved him trying to use the chair only to get bloodied himself, then losing it an beating the snot out of Kojima with blood streaming from his eye.. Match build to a series of pretty great cutoffs in the final act, including Tenryu even busting out the mist, Hirai finding a neat way to neutralize Mutoh and Team WAR overcoming the odds. Also was impressed that they were able to make that slug Arashi look like a big deal.

2002 MOTY PROJECT MASTER LIST

GWE Watching #7: Serena Deeb

 Serena Deeb vs. Riho, AEW 5/30/2021

This blog takes its first dips into relevance, for AEW matches are being reviewed now. Serena Deeb reminded me a bit of Eddie Guerrero. Working a tight, simple style with lots of stretches, some neat counters and being fully dedicated to her heel act. I haven't seen Riho before, and she is another dainty Japanese girl who doesn't have much athletic ability - her dropkick and high knee got pitifully little height - and can't make Serenas work on her leg very compelling. I was impressed with how good Serenas basics looked. Really good side headlock, really good european uppercuts. Her set ups were quality, too. The neckbreaker in the ropes looked like a vicious spot Finlay would do and the finish itself was great, too. I respectable performance from Deeb considering how limited Riho is.

Serena Deeb vs. Taynara Conti, AEW 1/13/2021

Conti is this brazilian martial artist. She's not very good yet, clearly gifted but stumbling around awkwardly. I wonder if Serena will ever face an opponent who adds something in AEW? This was Deeb carrying her opponent through a fun 5 minute TV match. I once again liked her stuff around her submission finisher, as well as the badass corner stretch.

Serena Deeb vs. Thunder Rosa, AEW 11/18/2020

This was your bog standard 2021 indy match upgraded to be worked a little tighter, and a little less silly buggers thanks to Deeb. Enjoyed the opening mat work. After that the match seemed to go too long, random leg work and apron bump occurs, convoluted booking happens etc. Deeb looked solid, especially dug the quick drag into the Figure 4, but this was a get your shit in type match which is something I don't care for much.

Serena Deeb vs. Syuri, Reine 7/10/2015

A pretty random pairing to happen on a Japanese indy card. Syuri isn't a super interesting wrestler, and this ended up being rather forgettable. Deebs offense looked good - especially dug the punches and knees - but she didn't show any of the ring general ish touches she would have 5 years later. I imagine a rematch 5 years later would be pretty cool.

GAEA PERFECT GAME 5/10 + 5/25/1997

 

KAORU & Chihiro Nakano vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Makie Numao, GAEA 5/10/1997

Wish we had gotten more than 8 minutes of this. KAORU and Nakano were hellbent on taking down Chigusa here. In the end, KAORU kept coming back, but got blindsided and had to tag in Nakano. This lead to a Nakano/Numao finishing stretch with Nagayo and KAORU trying to help their girls. Very well done stuff with lots of neat, well timed moments and momentum swings. Once again TV editors prove to be GAEAs #1 heel stable.

 

Chigusa Nagayo vs. KAORU, GAEA 5/25/1997

This exceeded expectations. Basically a sprint where both ladies were hellbent on forcing the other to tap. Started like an Ikeda/Ishikawa match with Nagayo landing a running punt to KAORUs face before KAORU caught her in a rolling armbar. Nagayo is established that she can end a match with any submission so all the submissions felt important and there was some great counter work going on. KAORUs athleticism was also peak level. There were one or two ugly no-sells keeping this from being truly high end. Still, a great discovery.

Toshiyo Yamada & Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Akira Hokuto & Toshie Uematsu & Maiko Matsumoto, GAEA 5/25/1997

A wild 6 girl tag. Young girls were working hard, Satomura got her arm worked over and brought some great selling and fire, and I really liked how Matsumoto taunted her and then went straight for the arm. Uematsu got her ass kicked too and seemed to be falling apart. Hokuto and Yamada mostly let the youngins do their thing, with Hokuto coming in to torture Satomura and Yamada coming in to kick peoples heads off. I really liked how they basically stopped the wild pace of the match in the middle of it to do their showdown. In the end, and after some unpredictable momentum swings, it came down to Satomura vs. Uematsu, the two people who had taken the biggest beatings. Pretty great finish and and it got both of them over in a big way. I genuinely wanted them both to win.

THE LIBRARY

Tarzan Goto Documentation Project #5

 Tarzan Goto & Mikan vs. Musashi Oyama & Lemon, Goto-Ippa 5/10/2009 - GREAT

Goto-Ippa is basically Gotos little wrestling school project. Just tiny shows held so his boys can get some experience and so Goto can carve them up. Musashi Oyama is another unknown sleaze god. He's older than dirt and sports this seedy slicked back long hair look, looking like Gran Hamadas granddad. He's awesome. Mikan and Lemon are two girl wrestlers and they look really untrained. Like "can't take a back bump" level untrained. They don't show up on any other Goto-Ippa cards so I assume they aren't affiliated to Goto. Mikan likes to kick hard so I guess I liked her. Lemon was basically constantly on the verge of killing herself. And this goes 36 MINUTES? What in the hell? It feels amazingly short though and still pushes into borderline GREAT territory, because we are evaluating Tarzan Goto performances, and the man did it all here. He's really old (he retired in the late 80s, for christs sake), but he still comfortably does his thing and never looks out of step or even fatigued. Opening Goto/Oyama sections were pretty great. Goto grappling rules, and Oyama even kicks him in the face pretty hard. Then we get Goto doing about the best job humanly possible to carry Lemon through an FIP section. Really doing the most you can with a girl who can't back bump, only throwing her to the corner and throwing safe but good looking punches and headbutts. When Lemon makes her comeback Goto takes these great bumps for her DDTs. We also get some fun sections with Oyama trying to protect Lemon from evil Goto, and of course Oyama ends up getting carved up. The latter match Goto/Oyama sections are so great as Goto is just brutalizing him with punches, headbutts and lariats as he's bleeding all over the ring in front of probably 30 people. Check this out, fast forward through the girl sections, and enjoy Goto being the man.

Tarzan Goto & Mr. Gannosuke vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Bruiser Okamoto, Big Japan 7/25/1995 - EPIC

This was another one of those stretched out tags from the era where it starts with lots of quality wrestling and then turns into a bloodbath. Goto and Gannosuke are one hell of a unit here. Okamoto is a big, non-descript young guy who works kind of like a shooter, so he‘s a very good dude to slot intot his match. Starts with a great section where he and Gannosuke grapple it out doing kneebars like this is a BattlARTS match, followed by another great section where he tries to grapple Tarzan Goto and Goto just outclassing him. I especially loved how Goto stuffed an Okamoto takedown and just yanked his face with a nasty facelock, it was like something Fujiwara would do. If course this is just a warmup for the inevitable as referee Great Kojika acts shady and this causes Goto and Gannosuke to go to town on Okamoto with chairs and what have. I liked how Nagasaki, when Goto took the match to the floor also started floor brawling and crowbarring Mr. Gannosuke. Nagasaki was in full on pissed off dad mode here and swinging chairs and tables at people. It builds to a great second half with Nagasaki beating the piss out of Mr. Gannosuke while Goto breaks a bottle. The whole matchs was building to a Goto/Nagasaki interaction and when it happens it‘s just Goto coming in to break up a Nagasaki pinfall by cutting his face open. It was such a psycho move and so beautifully well timed. I also liked how Okamoto challenged Gannosuke to another wrestling face off only for Gannosuke to take him down and immediately start clawing at his cut. Beautiful tag psychology crossed with some serious street fighting violence, you can‘t tell me these guys weren‘t masters at this.

Tarzan Goto & Damian 666 vs. Goro Tsurumi & Hisakatsu Oya, FMW 6/19/1994 - FUN

The very definition of a FUN match. Starts out as just an offensive slaughter from Damian, as Goto wails on people with hard lariats and Damian does cool lucha spots and impressions of other wrestlers. You wouldn‘t think these two would work well together but damn they acted like best buddies here. Oya got his ass beaten – taking some tailbone breaking bumps into a table and getting walloped by Goto. Even during the brief section where Damian was in peril Goto came over to kick Oyas ass. Tsurumi looked decent and there was a cool section where he and Goto wailed on each other, I would‘ve liked that to go longer than 20 seconds. Brief but an all around good time.

TARZAN GOTO DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST