Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #17

 

Takeshi Ono vs. Carl Greco, PWFG 6/18/1995 - FUN

4 minute match which really could‘ve gone a bit longer. Basically a series of intense mat scrambles, Ono is so slick and Greco tosses the fuck out of him. Just a taste of the great dynamic between these two, but it was still cool to check out. Nasty double joint breaking finish.

Takeshi Ono & Masao Orihara vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Great Sasuke, Michinoku Pro 8/16/1998 - FUN

Ono was doing his Masked Tiger gimmick and Ishikawa came in wearing a Sasuke outfit. Fun brawl which was basically a sprint with Ono flying into the ring with flying kicks and stomps and sometimes chairs and Orihara employing his usual scummy tactics. Sasuke hit some big dives and the finish was between Ishikawa and Ono and while it was brief it was as fun as you expect it to be.

Takeshi Ono & KAW KAW & Etsuko Mita vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Candy Okutsu & Ai Fujita, 3/12/2000 - SKIPPABLE

This match has the dubious honor of being the first skippable Ono match in this project. Mostly perv comedy with so many low blows and stepping on mens genitalia you have to wonder if it was the producers fetish. Girl on girl sections were kind of sloppy, and Ishikawa no selling Mitas piledriver pissed me off. There was one decent Ono/Ishikawa exchange in there but nothing you don‘t get in any other Ono match.

Takeshi Ono & Masao Orihara vs. Alexander Otsuka & Mamoru Okamoto, BattlARTS 2/7/1998 - FUN

Pretty much all 4 guys dropping bombs on each other. I expected the Tonpachi Machine Guns to dominate with their usual cheating and double teams, but instead Orihara took a big beating and Ono would rush in to save him, usually by kicking people recklessly to break up their moves. Otsuka is totally game in this kind of match, gorilla pressing Orihara and hurling him around with giant swings and suplexes like a rag doll. Eventually Ono embraces Oriharas rotten ways and punches Okamoto in the balls. The Guns continue to lay in a beating with chairs and stomps after the match. The early stages of a wonderful cooperation.

Takeshi Ono vs. Hiroyoshi Kotsubo, Futen 4/24/2005 - FUN

Nasty sub 5 minute squash. I kind of liked the opening movements with Kotsubo being a pure amateur style wrestler and Ono being the complete fighter. Kotsubo quickly proves himself to be useless hitting a crummy German suplex and lariat and Ono goes nuts punching him out. Short, painful, fun to watch.

TAKESHI ONO DOCUMENTATION PROJECT

EMLL in 1990 #1 - 1/5/1990

El Supremo & Hijo de Gladiador & Herodes vs. Ciclon Ramirez & Pantera II & Aguila Solitaria

Well this was just a classic lucha romp with that rudo/technico dynamics. Tons of highly entertaining technicos one upping the clumsy bad guys sequences. The rudo trio is pretty dedicated – Hijo de Gladiador takes a front flip bump when he misses a punch, and Herodes is just gleeful about his own evilness, while El Supremo has a very different presence. I liked how the rudo beatdown started with Supremo basically having enough and clocking Pantera with a stiff elbow. Of the technicos I'd say I liked Pantera II the best who has such beautiful armdrags and his trademark rope running spot altough everyone did something cool. The 3^rd fall had some really amusing chase spots. I was surprised how easily the rudos won this one. 

Angel Azteca & Super Astro & Kung Fu & Emilio Charles Jr. & Jaque Mate & Espectro Jr.

Long, quality lucha that told a story. Early on Emilio Charles Jr. gets the better of Azteca during a wrestling exchange. Of course Angel takes great offense to this and immediately goes after Emilio. Azteca going out of his way to ram into Emilio with a huge forearm while in the middle of a rope running exchange with Espectro was straight out of the AJPW playbook. Of course Emilio Jr. makes him pay dearly later when he slaps the hell out of him during the beatdown. That along may have been the highlight of the match along with Aztecas bumping, including flying with his back into the edge of the ring apron. Of course Super Astro and Kung Fu also do lots of fun wrestling. Astro is such a trip to watch with the insane height on all flying moves, while Kung Fu manages to not suck doing his faux martial arts stuff and hitting weird/cool kicks, punches and leg trips. We also get the awesome and devastating tope to the floor from Super Astro aswell as Emilio Charles Jr. not falling for The Star.

El Dandy & Mogur & Popitekus vs. Pierroth Jr. & MS-1 & Ulises

Quality main event. There are some rudo interference shenanigans early on, but we get a long 1^st fall with everyone wrestling. You know it's gonna be good when El Dandy is in his Kazuo Yamazaki tights and UWF kickpads. I especially liked the Dandy/MS-1 matchup. MS-1 is a trickier grappler than he looks like and they play up the size difference. Popitekus is an awesome big tubby luchador and also way brave as he bumps bigger and more often than a guy his size should. Pierroth Jr. deciding to work over Mogur with stiff kicks to the spine was quite unexpected and things took a harsh turn when Mogur decided to fight fire with fire and also rip his mask. Pierroth cracks him open and we got ourselves a heated third fall with a bloody and beaten Mogur trying to stand up to him. At one point El Dandy was hitting these fast enzuigiris and spin wheel kicks before Mogur clocked Pierroth Jr. with a desperation lariat for a big nearfall and it's like this is NJPW now or something. Cool finish which reminds the fans every move is important. I think the match didn't even have a dive so reminder that lucha can be cutting edge and economic too.

 THE LIBRARY

RIP Brazo de Plata

 

Brazo de Plata vs. Universo 2000, CMLL 12/16/1997

What a great little match. CMLL in 1997 was rapid firing all time classics at it‘s audience, so I‘m not surprised this isn‘t talked about much, but it‘s a rare Porky title match. Brazo de Plata was doing it all here, hitting the mat doing cool exchanges and busting out cool holds. Porky really works his weight too, he is hard to get off his feet, and when he comes charging he just blows Universo 2000 away. His splashes hit like a ton of bricks. Universo is getting eaten up until he trips Brazo while he‘s working an indian deathlock. It‘s such a minimal spot but Porky really sells that minor trip like a big deal, he is a powerful fat guy and a heavy hitter, but he will also take heavy falls. Universo then just leans back and Plata is trapped likea beached whale. The 3rd fall wasn‘t as epic as the first 2 promised but we get an awesome Porky dive plus a crafty finish.

80s Europe #5

 

Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey, 1/31/1981

Here‘s something you don‘t see every day: a WoS sprint. This was no rounds with 10 minute time limit. Just a barrage of pin attempts and credible nearfalls. Plenty of fast, intricate rope running too. Greys dropkicks ruled. And Saint completely tuned out the jokes for a change. Very nice stuff.

Jon Cortez vs. Bobby Barnes, 3/31/1981

Great match. Holy lord was Cortez brilliant here. I mean, he is usually brilliant, but he was just completely on here. Barnes was a proficient wrestler himself but Cortez had him with his back against the wall here. Cortez was busting out all kinds of graceful transitions and even made shit like the trite Zach Sabre escape look great. I love that Barnes transition to offense is him and Cortez going into an unusually grumpy amateur style scramble for a pin attempt and then Barnes just stands up and stomps Cortez. Barnes doesn‘t even work an exaggerated heel persona here, he is just pissed off with being shown up and goes to boot this jocks ass. Barnes launched a vicious heel assault full of underhand punches and vicious forearms and Cortez made some slick comebacks. Cortez dropkicks were just great. This was a formula match for sure but executed on a ridiculously high level.

Jim Breaks vs. Steve Grey, 5/12/1981

Another excellent signature Breaks match. Breaks played fair early but snapped soon. As usual, plenty of great armwork. Grey didn‘t leave his imprint on this match like others but he was as technically brilliant as they come and they crowd loved him. 

 

1980s EURO COMPENDIUM

LLPW Ichi Mouda Jin 10/9/1994

 

Shinobu Kandori vs. Mikiko Futagami

This was totally awesome. It easily could‘ve been a bullshit squash, but we get little Futagami stepping up to Kandori, and Kandori letting her shine while retaining her on status as the ultimate badass. Starts out great with Futagami fucking slapping and spitting on Kandori. Obviously there were gonna be beatings in this match, but both girls also hit the mat and Kandori allows Futagami to look on her level. GAMI is such a cool stoic grappler, and Kandori really sets herself up as a foil for that stoic charisma by amping up her own presence, she‘s like The Rock reacting to Futagami trying to blindside her. The grappling was super cool with Kandori using her shoot submissions and Futagami mixing in lucha holds and pins in seamless fashion. Along with that there were some serious beatings in the match, Futagami tries to cut down Kandori with some vicious running boots and Kandori pays her back with some super gnarly boot scrapes (the kind of simple thing which Kandori has a knack for making it look really violent). Fantastic finish too. I was shocked when this ended and the graphic showed it only went 9 minutes, it felt like a much bigger match with a ton of content to it.

Mizuki Endo vs. Michiko Ohmukai

Hey look, it‘s Michiko Ohmukai. This was fun due to how into it the crowd was. As a match it was just two young workers running through their offense – with Endo having little high impact offense and mostly grounding Ohmukai with holds. Ohmukai had some cool knees to the back of the head and some really cool bridging. Endo picks up the win with a cool double stomp, though, which surprised me.

Miki Handa vs. Carol Midori

Extremely generic match between two generic workers. Surprise suplex to start, then half crab a bunch to kill time before somebody hits a random move. Add a bunch of pointless legwork and you have yourself a bonafide nothing match! The finishing sequences were well executed, but again, nothing that will stick in your mind.

Harley Saito vs. Rumi Kazama

Kazama doesn‘t have much of a rep, but time and time again she proves that she could go. I was surprised they started this out with a bunch of lucha armdrags and counters. It felt like two veterans trying to prove they were on a different skill level, and it was cool. Harley though soon reminded everyone who she was by blindsiding Kazama with an absolutely rotten kick to the face in the middle of an exchange. The following kick battle as awesome. Kazama fired back with some ringers of her own and Saito just wasted her with high kicks in the corner. After that series of BattlARTS level near Kos they settle down into a pro-style finishing run which was a bit disappointing but still cool. Kazama does some cool Dragon Sleeper work and whips out a spinning wheel kick from the top. I like that Harleys tiger suplex was protected. Really good little match overall.

Noriyo Tateno & Kurenai Yasha & Michiko Nagashima vs. Eagle Sawai & Jenn Yukari & Jun Yamashita

This is not something people would seek out on paper, but it ended up being pretty fun. Basically an escalating violent tag. Jenn Yukari is Yukari Osawa who I didn‘t like much but she was fun here kicking people hard. Yamashita is some rookie who debuted just 2 months before and played the underdog taking a beating. Kurenai was super cool as usual. It‘s remarkable how she doesn‘t do martial arts kicks or anything but stays vicious looking and interesting on offense. Sawai played the Tenryu role having staredons and always looking like a big deal when she stepped into the ring simply by running people over with her size, and she‘s fun in that role. I expected more brawling and blood and the finish was a bit sudden (although cool) but this was a good main event overall.

THE LIBRARY

2021 MOTY Project Update #3

 6. Yu Iizuka vs. Takuya Nomura, GLEAT 7/22/2021

Basically a slightly stiffer U-Style match. Both guys beat the hell out of eachother with shots to the body and later open hand strikes. Nomura is always great in shootstyle matches, I have no idea why he wasn't utilized as the Hiroyuki Ito of GLEAT from the beginning. Nomuras submissions were great as usual too and both guys produced some slick mat exchanges. This is all about the last minute where Iizuka is down 2-1 and both guys start throwing hell at each other with Nomura trying to stay on his feet. Very satisfying use of the points system.

2021 MOTY Project MASTER LIST

Koki Kitahara Documentation #12

 

Koki Kitahara & Jun Kikuchi vs. Koji Kitao & Abdullah The Butcher, WAR 6/6/1997 - GREAT

This was pretty much 4 wrestlers who can beat on someone in cool ways beating on eachother in cool ways. Kitao and Abby sure ain‘t gonna bump, what can our man Kitahara and young barefoot Kikuchi do? But Kitahara gets in a surprising amount of offense on Kitao. Loved him walking over and blasting him with a kick to the face, hope Kitao didn‘t beat up Kitaharas wife after the match for that. Abby is all throat thrusts here, although he does cut up Kikuchi at one point, and I loved the moment where he caught a Kitahara kick and chopped him in the throat. He even takes a monkey flip bump at one point. This went about 10 minutes and came out just right and way more interesting than you‘d think.

Koki Kitahara & Osamu Tachihikari vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Koji Kitao, WAR 10/6/1997 - FUN

I am annoyed with Kitahara facing Kitao so much, but I guess I have arranged myself with Kitao somewhat. He will club people in fun ways, hit a nice senton and recklessly piledrive someone. His uranage here was kinda shitty, though. Tachhihikari was unusually effective as a big tubby guy putting the boots down. Kitahara carried this kicking people in the face, brutalizing Mochizuki and spitting on Kitao. Mochizuki isn‘t what you‘d call a polished shootstylist but Kitahara gets some fun hold exchanges out of him. Fun moments where Buko Dojo guys try interferring in the match and piling on Tachihikari. Any WAR match where tubby guys potatoe each other is going to be fun at minimum and this also had the Kitahara factor.

Koki Kitahara vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki, WAR 4/2/1995 - EPIC

These two do a sleazy massacre as well as anyone in wrestling history, and this ended up being just great. Kitahara has a rep for being a violent crowbar, but Fuyuki totally matches him in violence. Fuyuki splits Kitahara open with some nasty headbutts and a hyper brutal chairshot and Kitahara has a bloody brow and lips. Fuyuki ends up spitting blood from a Kitahara choke and it‘s all one big violent toe to toe fight. There are some almost Memphis-like touches, such as Fuyuki tagging Kitahara with punches only to get spin kicked in the face, as well as Jado spraying something in Kitaharas face. The spray attack looked almost as violent as all the brutal headbutts and kicks to the face in the match. I also loved the spot where Kitahara hit this rope assisted enzuigiri. This was pretty much a sleazier Hashimoto/Tenryu match and I loved it.

KOKI KITAHARA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT

A Treasure Trove of Command Bolshoi

 

Command Bolshoi & Yumi Ohka vs. Kaori Yoneyama & Megumi Yabushita, JWP 8/24/2008

Command Bolshoi is dropping unseen matches on us on her YouTube channel, which is something more Japanese indy wrestler who have been working most of the 2000s without making tape should do. Bolshoi and Yabushita just rule the show here. Yabushita is really underrated and may be close to Yoshida levels when it comes to forcing opponents to the mat and pulling them into submissions. She is just grabbing crazy armbars left and right and her flying armbar may be the best in history. Most wrestlers doing flying armbars still look like they are doing a spot, she looks like she is actively pulling and spinning wrestlers around and its great. The section where she and Bolshoi tried tapping each other out was awesome. Bolshoi has a few crazy submissions of her own, including one where she does this flying bodyscissor and slides into a rolling calf slicer, its flashy but it makes so much sense. I love any match where two master grapplers are in the focus, but Yoneyama and Ohka were pretty fun here too. Ohka is a different kind of wrestler, tall girl who will boot you in the face, and Yoneyama is such an energetic wrestler and honestly the modern day Kyoko Inoue. The finishing run is Yoneyama trying to put Bolshoi out after she got softened up by Yabushitas armbars and its really good edge of your seat stuff. Those kinda reversal ladden junior ending stretchs can get hokey but that wasn‘t the case here, Yoneyama went for the kill, and Bolshoi was worn down but clearly still able to catch her in a tricky move. The finish was totally awesome with some great partner spots (especially loved Yabushita pushing Yoneyama out of the way while connecting a shotai to Bolshois face) leading up to Yoneyama landing this nasty solebutt to Bolshois face before going for her finisher only for Bolshoi to slip out and lock in a crazy Volk Han submission for the tap. No filler, no overkill, everyone sticks to what they do well, and a bunch of unique wrestlers get showcased, this is everything you want from a joshi match.

Command Bolshoi vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki, JWP 8/2/2009

Kuragaki is one of those insanely talented wrestlers who just ended up not quite having the career they should‘ve had due to the industry tanking in the 2000s. So a match like this ending up on my internet is very pleasant. This is the kinda stuff that really bums you when it doesn‘t make tape so bless Bolshoi for granting us the watch. And well this was really really good too. These are two wrestlers who can do a ton of cool shit, and they do a ton of cool shit, and really work together in almost a Rey/Psicosis fashion. Kuragaki is just great basing for Bolshois crazy lucha moves, there was Mysterio Rana into a rolling legbar which just looked insane, 10/10 in execution really. Kuragakis power offense mixed with swank backbreaker holds and hard lariats, as well as the bits of athleticism she sprinkles in all make for a really compelling match. And Bolshoi is a great Rey. Her flash submissions rule as usual, and she also laid in really hard with the kicks to Kuragakis leg and back area, way harder than you expect from a match that would go unseen for over 10 years. It builds to this really sweet finishing stretch with Kuragaki selling the leg while trying to take Bolshoi out with lariats and powermoves. Really liked the spot where they tease Kuragaki reversing Bolshois leglock into a Scorpion Hold but then it just doesn‘t happen. The spot where she lifts Bolshoi from her leglock into this gigantic suplex was also out of this world, and the sequence of nearfalls as the time limit ran out was excellent stuff. I absolutely lost it for Bolshois kido clutch. Just a super well executed match, which had enough cool shit in it that 3 wrestlers could steal all the stuff in it and each one would be considered really fresh and unique in 2021.

Command Bolshoi vs. Arisa Nakajima, JWP 3/16/2008

Bolshoi gets up and carries young Nakajima to her career match, and this is just another gem right here. I liked Nakajima a lot better here than later in her career, but she is very much a hyperactive young girl wrestler here and Bolshoi is running the show carrying that hyperactive wrestler to something really good. Bolshoi is unusually overdog here, really working in a very Regal-esque manner controlling Nakajima through armholds, and countering Nakajimas hyperactivity with some great Fujiwara-esque counters and as usual ripping out awesome holds left and right. So yeah, picture a more lithe, clown-like Regal working like Fujiwara in a military getup and you have Bolshoi in this. That is an awesome way to work a match. And Nakajima is totally fine here doing a good job selling that armwork, hitting her suplexes and showing good aggression. Really liked the struggle over the german suplex outside the ring, as well as Nakajima taking a splash into Bolshois outstretched legs. And all that makes a really good match.

Command Bolshoi vs. Tiger Honey, (2 Count Match) JWP 8/12/2005

This is something you normally only see as clips on Occupation of the Indies. Tiger Honey is apparently Azumi Hyuga, and she is kind of more effective doing a masked technician gimmick than as herself. She has a really pretty Tiger Suplex. This was mostly a slick technical exhibition and really fun. Hyuga integrates the Tiger spots really well into a joshi pace match and Bolshoi is just a spectacle doing wonky pin combos and submissions and generally just being her fabulous lucharesu sambo clown technician self.

GAEA DEAD HEAT 7/6/1997

 Chigusa Nagayo vs. Makie Numao

Surprisingly cool match. Pretty much shootstyle and Nagayo gave Numao a lot. Numao thought hard and they had some good exchanges as well as traded some gross kicks. Of course, they only shoed 10 of 20 minutes. Numao getting to go that long against Chiggy is impressive though.

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

Pretty much Kato and Hirota doing their best to annoy Hokuto by double teaming her. Hokuto pretty much took the night off and Matsumoto tried to make up for it by being more energetic. Another very clipped match.

KAORU vs. Rina Ishii

About 5 minutes of 16 were shown. Would‘ve liked to see more of this. Ishii hit her stiff well and KAORU once again busted out a bunch of submissions. Nasty crab finish.

Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato vs. Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato

Usual sprint action peppered up with some mean kicks and stomps from these girls. Once again, Only about 5 minutes of 17 were shown. Interesting that they let these girls get the main event over all the big stars on this show, though.

THE LIBRARY

RIP Paul Orndorff

 

Paul Orndorff vs. Bob Orton Jr., WWF 5/25/1985

Pretty much an 80s US heavyweight workrate match. Fast pace, with unpredictable structure. Both guys throw a tons of great punches, and them putting over the momentum swings looked awesome and totally credible. Anybody Orndorff gets punched he‘s bowled across the ring and selling in such a way that you really buy a simple punch as a momentum changer. Orton Jr. Has the cast on his arm and there is some brief but vicious looking armwork from Orndorff. Fun spot where Orndorff counters a piledriver and Orton drops into a tree of woe. Some great looking punch combos to end it before Orndorff punches the referee. This looks like a great feud.

Paul Orndorff vs. Sgt. Slaughter, WWF 6/2/1984

Yeah this rules. Orndorff is super hated and the fans pelt the ring with garbage at his sight. Slaughter catches Orndorffs back to start but Orndorff starts beating him back down fast. As usual, Orndorffs bumping and offense were super on point. Slaughter is a bloody mess soon and Orndorff is all over him working his cut with any method he can find. Slaughter makes a big comeback – only to get launched into the turnbuckle chest first and tumbling outside. That would be a throwaway spot now but here it‘s sold like a huge deal and sets up another great heat segment. Orndorff landing a running knee to Slaughters cracked ribs and then limping was just great. That‘s how you put over that you‘re in a gritty dangerous fight. The ending makes you want to see more of these two tearing each other up but apparently this was their only televised singles. Travesty.

PWC 3/22/1993

 

PWC 3/22/1994
 

Shunji Takano & Katsunari Toi vs. Yukimasa Watanabe & Hiroshi Shimada
KAZU vs. Tsunehito Naito
Ultraman Robin vs. Poison Sawada
Hiroshi Shimada vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda
Iron Horse vs. Benkei
Isao Takagi vs. Gerry Morrow


PWC is top shelf level bizarre wrestling material. This show had a lot of unprofessional beatings.

The opening match already was something else. The story of "Sad Genius" Yukimasa Watanabe is that he was a rich boy who had his mom pay to fly him to the US and get trained by Lou Thesz. Thesz was able to get him a NJPW deal, but because Watanabe wanted to be a star right away and skip the black trunks rookie phase, it fell through. Then, he somehow joined PWC. On a previous show, he took a nasty, one-sided uncalled for beating from Shinichi Nakano. Here, he either injures his leg, or he is the best in the world at selling a leg injury. His leg just gives out and he can't continue the match. But they keep dragging him back into the ring. Toi potatoes him with some chairs. Shunji Takano was an absolute menace in this. What a maniac. The finish is Shunji finishing off Watanabe with a kneedrop off the top rope that couldn't have been pleasant.

Later, Watanabe started a promotion called UNW where he booked himself against guys like Naoshi Sano or Gypsy Joe. Apparently he also badmouthed Shunji Takano and PWC a lot. Who can blame him, his experience must have been a nightmare.

The next match had another borderline unprofessional beating. UWF boy Naito tries to work the mat with indy random KAZU for a minute or so before realising that KAZU is useless. Then he just waffles KAZU with open hand strikes and kicks before spiking him with a series of Dragon Suplexes.

The next match had Ultraman Robin and Poison Sawada. Apparently, Ultraman Robin is another money mark/fellow backyarder. These guys absolutely suck, but they also potatoed each other a little.

Then Shimada shows up again to fight a rookie Tetsuhiro Kuroda. This was mostly Shimada taking down Kuroda and controlling with amateur style matwork. Kuroda has nothing going for him and sucks even at this point but I enjoyed Shimada working like a proto-Honda.

Then, Benkai, who is Hideki Hosaka in a goofy costume, faces a big kickpadded gaijin, Iron Horse. Benkai sucks and also has nothing going for him, but Iron Horse potatoes him a lot with some kicks. Terrible match, but I wouldn't mind seeing more of Iron Horse.

The main event has an old as dirt Gerry Morrow, who I believe used to work IWE. It's a lumberjack match for some reason. All the lumberjacks will just roll you back in the ring, except Shunji Takano, he will hit you with a chair. Morrow does the fun thing where he receives a batch of flowers and then attacks his opponent with the flowers. He also has really great punches and a nice european uppercut. Isao Takagi absolutely blows in this. I wouldn't mind seeing more Morrow.

 

THE LIBRARY

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #16

 

Takeshi Ono vs. Yuki Ishikawa, BattlARTS 4/6/1996 - FUN

This is from that weird psychedelic background studio TV show they ran. This was these guys going at each other for 5 minutes, and these two are going to give you something good when given 5 minutes. Mostly Ono being pesky, trying to outgrapple Ishikawa and absorbing his size advantage. Though Ono does connect with a brutal face kick at one point because he is Ono. Sick finish where Ishikawa reverses an Ono leg lock and just tries to rip his foot off. Good stuff but gee, 2 or 3 minutes more of this couldn‘t have hurt.

Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Naohiro Hoshikawa, BattlARTS 10/2/1996 - GREAT

I think the earliest showing of Ikeda and Ono teaming, and they are already a unit. This wasn‘t an all out brawl like many of these matches, but the opening Ikeda/Ishikawa work was tough as nails. These guys locking in submissions look like they‘re trying to bend iron bars. Hoshikawa was solid, and got punched in the face for his troubles by Ono when he tried going for an Irish Whip. Ono and Ikeda eventually cracked up the violence attacking people two on one, Ono kicking people in the face hard and both guys landing some brutal saves. It ended a bit early as Ikeda bloodied Hoshikawas nose and dispatched him like a piece of trash so you didn‘t get a grandstand final, but the match delivered everything you want from Team Taco.

Takeshi Ono vs. Ryuji Hijikata, BattlARTS 3/1/2001 - GREAT

Hijikata always has better matches against Ono than anyone else, and this was no exception. They settle out for a really stiff undercard brawl. Hijikata was really laying in his lariats and kicks, and Ono was firing back hard trying to kick his head off and doing slick submission grabs. No trained monkey show for sure. Hijikata is limited but the match ends up being great anyways due to Onos selling and aggression. There was one exchange where Ono ate a lariat to the face and sold it in a real jump out of your seat way. Pretty great 7 minutes.

TAKESHI ONO DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST

80s Europe #4

Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey, 1/28/1980

Johnny Saint is the World Champion here. Steve Grey has beaten him the year before, can he do it again? Something I love about old european wrestling: the weight classes that protected these lighter guys.

This is an utterly incredible match. Easily the best Johnny Saint match ever. Part of why the match is great is the high speed, super athletic, tricked out technical stuff they do, but how they build it into an intense contest is magnificient. This is not the smiling, funny Johnny Saint who does jokes and tricks, it's Johnny Saint as the focussed, skillful champ against the most determined guy in the world. Walton puts over how impressive it is that Grey can even throw Johnny. They also map out the action beautifully, with some spots teased early on that get played off later, repeated sequences leading into transitions etc. Always with the focus on the challenger trying to topple the champ. Then you also have all these insane fast and intricate rope running exchanges.

Another thing I like about this bout is that it's not nice. It's an all technical match with no strikes, but they were punishing eachother here. Each hold or takedown would be really wrenched in, Grey was constantly trying to snap Johnny's wrist. Grey would also claw his hand in Saint's face, Saint would smash his shoulder into the mat, elbow on the face when trying a pin, etc. I also really liked the use of the arm wringer bump or missed dropkick, these simple bumps look great in World of Sport and were timed perfectly.

Grey is a crazy good babyface. He is great at putting over how fierce the bout is and how he was pushing himself to the limit to beat Saint. His selling was fantastic: He would slump over exhausted but then get up, or get Saint in a basic hold so he could regenerate his injured leg. Saint was less expressive but perfect for his role.

 All time great match. May be a serious GOAT contender even. But that's up to how much one can enjoy this kind of face vs. face technical match. For what it is I can't recall many instances where it's been done better.

 Jim Breaks vs. Jon Cortez, 2/2/1981

Great TV match. The usual Breaks heat mongering, coupled with his ferocious arm attacks and Cortez' technical brilliance. Even though this is both guys bread and butter, there was tremendous attention paid to basic holds. Check out Breaks trying to crush Cortez with a bearhug to counter his chancery, as well as some great struggle over a headscissor reversal and a shoulder pin. 

Gerard Herve & Tony Lamotta vs. Golden Falcons, France 8/11/1980

2/3 Falls match going about 30 minutes. French pro wrestling was nearing the end, but tag team wrestling could still deliver, and this delivered. Fast intricate exchanges, a pair of masked guys who can stooge and deliver a beating… yeah, this is pretty much Lucha. Also, both teams wore matching outfits , so they understood the crucial parts of tag team wrestling. Gerard Herve is Flesh Gordon as some young stud and a quite polished technico. Lamotta is balding and grey, but still really athletic with great looking ranas and flips, although he wisely leaves the bulk of the work to his partner. I didn‘t know what to expect from the Falcons (what kind of heel persona is that, anyways?) but they were ready to wrestle and bump and had good heel timing. There were some heel ref shenanigans with Michel Saulnier again, but to be honest he may have carried the heel beatdown section with his amusing ways to sabotage Herve. The european uppercuts landed loudly and the crowd was into this. The last fall is really short but the ending move is a good one.

1980s EURO COMPENDIUM

LLPW DREAM TARGET 1/4/1993

 

Utako Hozumi & Mizuki Endo vs. Noriyo Tateno & Yukari Osawa

Match was clipped nearly in half from 20 minutes to about 10 minutes. Hard to make a sense of what was going on, and looked like a typical undercard sprint. Tateno landed some nasty boots to Endos face.

Rumi Kazama & Eagle Sawai vs. Midori Saito & Rumi Yasuda

Another pretty clipped down match. Saito and Yasuda just got their asses kicked pretty much due to the difference in rank.. Kazama dished out stiff kicks and the ending was brutal with a spike tombstone piledriver and Sawai dropping her opponent with a nasty fire bomb.

5 vs. 1 Gauntlet Match: Shinobu Kandori vs. Harley Saito & Michiko Nagashima & Mikiko Futagami & Leo Kitamura & Miki Handa

Yes, it‘s Kandori taking on 5 girls in a row. It may sound preposterous on paper, but it ends up totally working in practise. You can talk about how this may have buried half the LLPW roster, but realistically only Saito and Handa have a chance of lasting longer than 5 minutes against Kandori here, and both are smartly placed at the beginning and end of the match.

This first match up is Kandori vs. Saito. I was worried about this, thinking Kandori might squish Saito, but they had a fierce competitive match. Both went for the kill right out of the gate and it was intense stuff. Saito belted Kandori with her signature hard kicks and Kandori fired back with her stiff offense and flash submissions. It was reminiscent of their classic 1990 encounter, not quite on that level, but it was damn good shit. Saito ends up pushing Kandori to the limit and Kandori wins on a fluke.

Pretty interesting way to start the match. Instead of a power start Kandori just went through a fierce 18 minute match against Saito and she looks pretty beaten up already. Nagashima comes in next. She‘s a rookie at this point so she does rookie stuff. She flies right at Kandori with a big dropkick and gets in some hip attacks, but Kandori snatches a half crab and almost rips her in half for the tap after about 1 minute. So now everyone remembers Kandoris submissions are really dangerous, and in retrospect Saito looks tougher for surviving them.

GAMI comes in next. It looks like Kandori wants to be nice to her and challenges her to a grappling match. They do about a minute of cool grappling before GAMI decides to stomp on Kandoris face and hit a pretty nasty knee slide. Big mistake as Kandori flips out and beats the shit out of her. GAMI lasts a bit longer and can get in some offense on Kandori – making you respect her – but falls to a nasty powerbomb pretty fast.

Leo Kitamura is #4. And Kandori is looking pretty spent now. I don‘t think Kitamura has ever looked threatening in a match, but damn she looks threatening now. She has the night of her life taking it to Kandori, trying to roll her up and hitting nasty looking elbows. Kandori catches her in a sleeper and she‘s fighting for dear life, and – the bell rings? Oh, this match had a 30 minute time limit? Kandori says she‘s done here, call it draw, but Leo is pissed off. Kandori seems to leave, but Kitamura gets on the mic and says something that causes her to come back. The match is restarted and Kitamura is going even harder at Kandori now, but Kandori keeps surviving until she‘s able to lock in a nasty chickenwing that fucks up Kitamuras shoulder. You did your best, Leo Kitamura, but Kandori was in beast mode that night.

The last one in the match is Miki Handa, and she goes for the kill out the gate dropping Kandori fat missile dropkicks and germans. Kandori looks done, but Handa misses an elbow. Now Kandori is all hitting crazy Fujiwara armbars from angles and just working like a wounded beast trying to tear someones shoulder out. Handa isn‘t much special but she can drop bombs and sell desperation. 44 minutes in and Handa ends up losing on a technicality and Kandori just walks away not giving a fuck while Handa looks on the verge of tears.

Post match Hokuto and her crew come in to wreak havoc, and we get a face off between her and Saito. This match was pretty unique and honestly great, if you can stomach watching something different. But Kandori looked like an absolute monster here destroying people left and right hich is what you want to see, and while she looked beastly she had to work hard for her wins, so you end up respecting everyone coming out of this. 

THE LIBRARY

Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #11

 Koki Kitahara & Takashi Ishikawa vs. Masao Orihara & Naoki Sano, SWS 6/26/1991 - GREAT

Man, I love SWS tags. This had juniory touches - Orihara and Kitahara do a battle of kip ups of all things to start with, but there was a strong base of guys being chippy and stiffing the hell out of each other. Orihara gets over in a huge way by busting out a bunch of crazy dives and getting brutalized by Kitahara. These two beating the snot out of each other was awesome. Sano as in insane shape here, looking like a superhero, and he does all kinds of fun hybrid junior/shootstyle exchanges throughout. He also clocks Ishikawa with probably the stiffest thrust kick I've ever seen. I wanted a bit more of that shootstyle action - perhaps a Shooto vs. PWFG exchange between Kitahara and Sano - but we got here was damn tasty. Just great action with everyone bringing it and the crowd eating the whole thing up.

 

Koki Kitahara vs. Nihao, WAR 6/20/1999 - EPIC

This was a CAPTURE showcase match and holy fuck after this I‘d kill to get the entire CAPTURE back catalogue. Brutal brutal match, just the most primitive grimy shootstyle you can imagine, two guys with gloves trying to pummel each other into oblivion. Nihao takes Kitahara down and bloodies him with punches and headbutts, but the boss comes back just trying to crush his face with punches and teeth loosening kicks. There was one spinkick that would‘ve made Daisuke Ikeda wince, and also at one point Kitahara reverses a takedown into an armlock that looked to almost tear Nihaos shoulder. They showed 4 out of 6 minutes, and really would it have killed them to include those 2 minutes? Still 80 % of a sick spectacle is better than most, and those 4 minutes were some of the most insane of the year.

KOKI KITAHARA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST

2002 MOTY Project Update #16

 13. Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar, WWE 10/20/2002

Slow paced, violent, triple juice hell in a cell match. Almost the ideal match for two monsters locked in a cage to have. The opening work around the cast was fun and things got plenty intense once Lesnar started smashing up his hand. I admit I dislike melodramatic overacting in wrestling so I was a bit annoyed by Heyman. Takers punches were weak, but he had a few badass moments such as the big boot that sent Brock into the cell and the weird kneedrop thing that almost killed Brock. Brock was great in the match. He wasn't yet the MMA guy but just this crazy beast and threw Taker around like a puppet. Match went long but ended at just the right time.

32. Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada vs. Aja Kong & Manami Toyota, GAEA 8/30/2002

Classic match built around a pair of rising stars trying to overcome some asskicking veterans. Lots of fiery fighting and great spots. I guess due to the match format Toyotas no selling didn't hurt match. And Aja was just a tank. And Ayako and Meiko - for two talented girls stuck in GAEA limbo - gave their all. Not much to say on this, it's just a straight forward, immensely enjoyable match.

2002 MOTY MASTER LIST

GAEA Storm Signal #3 6/29/1997

 

KAORU vs. Toshie Uematsu

They show about 5 of 17 minutes. I hope this trend of clipped GAEA doesn‘t continue. KAORU was dominant and Uematsu made some aggressive comebacks. KAORU did lots of submissions here and had some slick transitions into the, for example hitting her springboard moonsault and moving right into an armbar. I wanna see more submission expert KAORU.

Sonoko Kato vs. Makie Numao

A match that was also clipped in half. Pretty fun BattlARTS approximation with both girls kicking each other in the face and fighting in and out of submissions. Some neat spots and stiffness level makes most current wrestlers look like absolute wusses.

Sonoko Kato vs. Rina Ishii

I don‘t know why Kato had to do another match against a fresh Ishii. I like Ishii and they had a decent go at each other here. Nothing stood out in particular though and it was hard to make sense of what was going on with the clipping.

Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato vs. Hiromi Kato & Sakura Hirota

Typical GAEA sprint work although clipped down from 17 minutes to like 4 so the whole thing made even less sense.

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Maiko Matsumoto

We get mostly Nagayo stretching Matsumoto and Matsumoto clumsily trying to defensd herself. Nagayo has some cool stretches and it‘s probably her best role. Matsumoto was Matsumoto and didn‘t stand much of a chance. I guess because Nagayo is the boss they showed most of this match.

Meiko Satomura vs. Akira Hokuto

Only 6 of 20 minutes!??! Damn you to hell TV editors, because this looked GREAT! Chigusa was at ringside and initially this was about Hokuto trying to piss her off by torturing Satomura, only for Satomura to catch her with some harder stuff than she expected. Looked like another great match with both of them selling big, but man…. 6 minutes??

THE LIBRARY

RIP The Patriot

  The Patriot vs. Bret Hart, WWF 9/7/1997

 This is a classic heel champ working around a cookie cutter babyface match with Hart doing an excellent job making everyone think The Patriot was gonna take the title. I am guessing the idea behind the masked Patriot was that he represents an everyman, and he has pretty fun everyman offense in armdrags and a really nice dropkick. The opening going was well laid out and the action solid, but inconsequential (some limb work that doesn't go anywhere). The heartpiece was the finishing stretch laid out around Patriot getting nearfalls with Bret hanging on by a threat and some shenanigans happening. I am sure those nearfalls stayed in peoples minds in 1997 and I loved the finish where the Patriot gets cocky enough to put Harts own move on him only for Bret to defeat him on a technicality.

The Patriot & Vader vs. Bret Hart & British Bulldog, WWF 10/5/1997

I don't remember Vader being this patriotic guy, but he is definitely somebody you want backing you up when the honor of your country is at stake. This was a flag match but there are pins and submissions, but we at least get the cool visuals of guys breaking their flags over each others heads. Vader is great here backing up the Patriot, coming in to take people out with big body checks and punches. He also has this insane moment where he goes for his moonsault and lands on his feet then beats the shit out of Davey Boy some more. The match could've used a better structure, Hart Foundation where making cutoffs and trying to isolate the faces but it never really came together for a proper FIP section, and what a weird thing for a match involving a character as southern fried as The Patriot to not be a southern tag,  but what we got was pretty fun.

The Patriot & Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama, AJPW 11/22/1996

It's an AJPW pillars tag baby, so you get the usual cool strike exchanges plus the fun novelty of having The Patriot slotted into the format. You won't get neck chops or martial arts kicks from The Patriot but he is really fun doing his shoulderblocks and clotheslines and dropkicks with real Oomph behind them to fit into the match. I loved the constant teasing and countering of the Full Nelson Slam, and how they protected the move. Great finishing stretch with Patriot first working some pretty complex exchanges with Misawa and Akiyama before some baller nearfalls happen and The Patriot ends up falling victim to the usual Misawa helping out his junior partner shenanigans. You can totally tell when the crowd really catches on fire for this match and it's really fun to watch.

Tanomusaku Toba Documentation Project #13

 

Tanomusaku Toba & MIKAMI vs. GENTARO & Takashi Sasaki, DDT 10/24/2002 - EPIC

This felt like the biggest match that DDT ran that year, and they rolled out all the spots. For that kind of match where a bunch of indy juniors roll out their spots, you can‘t get much better than having Toba in there to punch people in the face. As usual his exchanges with Sasaki were pretty violent and ballsy, and he was up there with all the super athletic guys in the match when it came to producing fireorks. He hit a big Toyota style dropkick to the floor, a nasty flying kick off the top that caught GENTARO in the chin, and a badass elbow/STO combo. GENTARO is really fun too, he was roughing up Toba with snug pro wrestling style strikes, and MIKAMIs highspots were big and crushing looking. The match didn‘t have some kind of epic story or great transitions so it as definitely popcorn material, but there was no over cooperative stuff, no thigh slapping, everything looked hurty. Even the ladder being brought up was used to add a sense of escalation and didn‘t detract from the match. Good stuff, maybe the best popcorn match of the year.

Tanomusaku Toba & Ichiro Yaguchi & Chotaro Kamoi vs. Takashi Sasaki & Kurokage & Sanshiro Takagi, DDT 6/30/1998 - GREAT

A match which was thankfully mostly about TOBA. Yaguchi and Kamoi were kind of treated like comedy jobbers, so they knew who was the man. Early Toba was beastly, his punches were less showy and landing more straightforwardly in peoples face, and he did more crazy kicks than later. Everytime he‘s in the ring the match was just relentless, him just beating on people and then getting hurled around by suplexes. He matches up against all 3 guys and everyone looks good cranking up the violence when facing him. Toba vs. Sasaki is a known guarantee for violent, ballsy exchanges by now. Kurokage is some masked junior and he looked good throwing suplexes, throwing some stiff kicks and locking in armbars. Kamoi is kind of a 99 ct store Toba, he has one fun moment where he leaps off the top rope with a punch but was pretty sloppy otherwise. Yaguchi isn‘t good but doesn‘t drag the match down either. The finish was Toba vs. Takagi and good shit. Bit long at 18 minutes but a fun watch thanks to our thai boxing hero.

 

TANOMUSAKU TOBA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT

IWA Japan NEW YEAR LEGEND 1/17/1999

 Masanori Nakamura vs. ???

Yuki Nishino & Asian Cougar & Phantom Funakoshi vs. Takashi Uwano & Yuji Kito & Tortuga

Akinori Tsukioka & Kyohei Mikami vs. The Great Takeru & Makoto Saito

Miho Wakizawa & Sachie Nishibori vs. Emi Motokawa & Kayo Noumi

Shigeo Okumura & Keizo Matsuda vs. Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono - GREAT

Tarzan Goto & Freddy Krueger vs. Katsumi Hirano & Yoshiya Yamashita - FUN

Barbed Wire Baseball Bat Thumbtack Death Match: Mr. Pogo & Shoji Nakamaki vs. Keisuke Yamada & Takeshi Sato

Another super fun IWA Japan card. The first 4 matches were pretty clipped, but they gave you pretty much what you want, all the fun juniors in those matches busting out sometimes inventive and often crushing offense. My boy Yuki Nishino looked good stomping the crap out of the IWA Japan boys in the 6 man tag, and the other juniors tag was also really fun. Mikami got a bloody nose from a Saito kick, and Tsukioka would potatoe guys with chairs. Junior wrestling really is better when the guys look like they are actually trying to do damage to each other and not run through a routine of elaborate sequences to get brownie points from an audience.

The last 3 matches all had blood - IWA Japan rules, baby. Really liked the Tonpachi Guns, as they have a knack for mixing in unpredictable sequences while keeping the sleaze level high. Takeshi Ono is a treasure in that match kicking and punching people in the face and sometimes in the nuts. Okamura and Matsuda are good enough as thick guys pasting their scrawny opponents with lariats and it ends up a fun match that sadly doesn’t have a finish.

The Goto match was 23 minutes clipped down to about 10. Probably a wise decision, but what was shown looked very good as it was a total slaughter of Hirano and Yamashita. Both guys got busted open and I imagine all their offense was clipped out. Freddy Krueger did almost nothing in that match, which is a good thing as Tarzan Goto is just great as a monster punching and stabbing the shit out of people.

The main event was also really fun, although nearly a squash. Pogo & Nakamaki are like the Road Warriors in that – here to beat the fuck out of the young guys, and not selling shit. It ends up being a really fun match due to the underdog charisma of Yamada & Sato and the character work of Nakamaki and Pogo. At one point Nakamaki stuck his own face in the thumbtacks to prove that he doesn’t give a shit, and later Yamada took a nasty suplex into the tax, coming up looking like a christmas tree. But the story was how long would Yamada and Sato last, and the answer is not very long.

THE LIBRARY

Tarzan Goto Documentation Project #6

 

Tarzan Goto vs. Dan Severn, IWA Japan 8/20/1995 - EPIC

 

Brilliant, virtually perfectly worked match which was basically two beasts having a crazy bar fight. Goto is so awesome here, hitting the mat with Severn, getting in his head, using weapons, bleeding and potatoeing the UFC legend really hard. Imagine someone hitting Khabib with a stiff lariat and chair shots. Severn looks good in other matches, but he looks like a badass killer here, and I suspect no small part of that is Gotos doing. Loved Severn mauling and bloodying Goto on the ground, his crazy suplexes and throwing chairs. Goto escalating the violence by using the beer bottle and chairs and clocking Severn really hard in the jaw was awesome as well. This was everything you want this match up to be and more.

Tarzan Goto & Tomoaki Honma vs. Terry Funk & Abdullah the Butcher, AJPW 10/27/2002 - GREAT

This was maybe Gotos sole return match to AJPW. They really should‘ve used him more as he‘s such a great versatile worker. This was as fun as it looks on paper. You have Funk and Goto trading punches, Goto dropping elbows, Abby chopping and stabbing people, and Honma bleeding and getting bumped around. Goto is actually the first guy to bust out a fork and Abdullah turns the fork against him in a great spot that got a big face pop. 3 out of 4 guys bleed, and Goto chucks tables at the heads of 60 year old men (he is really one of the few guys who can do that kinda spot safely). Finish was unexpectedly violent too (you know, in a match with a bunch of blood and guys punching eachother in the face) with Honma eating some nasty punishment, but that‘s what Honma is for.

Tarzan Goto vs. Gran Mendoza, FMW 8/20/1990 - FUN

 

Gritty 7 minute match with a bunch of blood and guys taking nasty spills into the barbedwire. At this point the barbedwire stuff looked less like guys doing spots and more like guys actually falling into barbedwire. Mendoza was pretty generic but did one or two things I liked, such as his elbows and the cool „punch at nothing“ sell he did. Goto took a beating initially and then came back bleeding big and throwing some cool headbutts before dropping Mendoza hard with his facebuster which Mendoza didn‘t seem to know how to take. Short and very grizzly. 

 TARZAN GOTO DOCUMENTATION

Assorted Mumejuku

 

European Rounds: Hiroshi Watanabe vs. Ultraman Robin, Mumejuku 12/8/2007

 

Nothing says indy sleaze like Ultraman Robin. Every Robin match I‘ve seen has been pretty bad, but Watanabe carries him no problem. Robin doesn‘t look good here, his brief run of standing offense is so non-athletic and embarassing, but he is okay rolling on the mat, and Watanabe is the man. If Watanabe can get a 25 minute match this good out of someone as bad as Robin, then there‘s no limit to what the man can do. This was the usual MUGA style match with Watanabe doing plenty of cool twisting up Robin and neat pin attempts. Especially dug his weird modified indian deathlock. Last round was great as Watanabe was hellbent on grappling it out with Robin until he connected with a rotten enzuigiri out of nowhere.

Hiroshi Watanabe vs. Kosei Maeda, Mumejuku 6/2/2007

Apparently this is from the very first Mumejuku (or Mumejuku-related) show, and what a match to set the tone! Maeda has kickpads and throws some surprisingly violent strikes, and this had the feel of an 80s NJPW vs. UWF match, and that‘s a really cool type of match to start a promotion with. I thought Maeda was along for the ride initially, but he started to win me over as the grappling went on. As usual, plenty of crafty holds and counters from Watanabe, and Maeda did some bigger moves than you normally see in these maestro style matches. Watanabe‘s Inoki inspired-but-not-quite-straight-up-ripping-him-off act was great and the finish was really cool. Another gem, really.