European Catch Catch-Up

 

Mick McMichael vs. Vic Faulkner, WoS 6/28/1972

Very nice and unexpected to see a previously lost WoS match surface. These two have kind of a reputation of being jokers, but there was some amazing hard fought technical wrestling in this. Maybe one or two jokes and the match never got truely nasty, but I be damned if this wasn‘t some great pro wrestling. These WoS guys really make the most basic stuff look awesome. Holds clamped on super tight, fast and snappy bumping, and the pins and reversals are just on a different level. In between that you had some fast, beautiful and effortless rope running and they keep peppering in nearfalls that the crowd went really loud for. This is 2/3 falls and the finish to the first was just fantastic. After that both guys were more cautious and the crowd was really wary about another fall happening. The equalizing fall was tremendous as well. Exhaustion in the last round was just great with both guys taking some amazing missed splashes, so were Faulkners out of nowhere bumps. Just two absolute pros having a high end 1972 level workrate match, going 25 minutes and making it look so easy for a crowd that loved everything, yeah this is why World of Sport ruled.

Vasilios Mantopolous vs. Anton Tejero, France 10/21/1967

 Mantopolous is a monster technician. Tejero is a monster stooge. Obviously this was really entertaining, and had tons of smooth and athletic movements and tricks from Mantopolous. Tejero wasn't exactly non-competitive, but he kind of got smoked. Mantopolous was extremely dominant and Tejero only got a few licks in on him. It's still a super impressive match to be this one sided and nearly 30 minutes and not boring. It really makes you want to see Mantopolous against someone who can stand up to his skill, and we'll have to see if we can find a match like that.

 Batman vs. Teddy Boy, France 9/30/1967

I love that they just had a Batman running around in the French pro wrestling scene. This went 9 minutes which is the equivalent of a short Saturday Night squash, but really lively and fun. Batman has some impressive cartwheels. And Teddy Boy just beat the shit out of him. Even though the match was short, Teddy Boy probably got in more offense than Tejero did in the previous match. Some really nice punches and stomps from him. And Batman was Batman.

Tarzan Goto Documentation Project #7

 

Tarzan Goto vs. Leon Spinks, FMW 3/25/1992 - EPIC

Awesome, awesome Goto performance getting a great spectacle out of the in a pro wrestling context very limited ex boxing champ Leon Spinks. First round is just Goto as an offense juggernaut, he opens by flattening Spinks with a punch to the face and then just moves in for the cool, constantly pressuring, landing headbutts to the eye, fast takedowns including an awesome plausible drop toe hold. He even hits a great dropkick and enzuigiri all while the crowd is having a meltdown for Goto. I also really dug Gotos and stance and head movement. Second round Goto continues to pressure until Spinks finally catches him with a punch. Spinks wasn‘t exactly hitting hard but him punching a grounded Goto in the face looked gritty. Goto, of course, bleeds and from then on it‘s all drama with Goto eating punches and near Kos and trying to survive. After the match Onita immediately jumps Spinks and we get a big pull apart (with Mike Awesome and Dr. Luther amongst others seconding Spinks). This was kind of a Goto as Onitas right hand man goes down to put over how dangerous Spinks is match to pave way for the bigger Spinks/Onita showdown but on it‘s own it was pretty damn great.

Tarzan Goto & Sambo Asako vs. Masanobu Kurisu & The Shooter #1, FMW 5/14/1990 - EPIC

Classic unexpectedly violent indy sleaze fest, really the best kind of match to discover when going through a bunch of random handhelds. This was really all about Kurisu and Goto trying to outdo each other by putting an even more sickening beating on the other guys partner, with both guys doing comically little to protect their own partner. Goto starts the fun by immediately opening with a headbutt to Shooters eye, then later we get Kurisu putting his trademark sickening beatdown on Asako. At one point both guys run in to the ring to stomp on the other guys partners head, later they do the same with chairs while eyeing each other. The brief Kurisu/Goto interactions are great (and probably braincell killing, these guys were maniacs with the headbutts), but the rest holds up too. Sambo Asako is a fat kid who can take some insane punishment and has fun sambo submissions and throws, and Shooter is a sleazeball shooter who doesn‘t seem to be able to control his kicks much so when he goes for a kick combo it seems more reckless. Once again Goto‘s offense was insane, he busted out an awesome German suplex, Capture suplex and even a gnarly super kick when interacting with Shooter, inbetween trying to kill guys with brutal headbutts and occasionally trying to shatter Shooters ear with a slap. Would‘ve pushed into MOTYC territory for me if there had been another Kurisu/Goto standoff down the stretch.

Tarzan Goto & Ricky Fuji vs. Atsushi Onita & Mr. Gannosuke, FMW 11/4/1991 - GREAT

Classic Goto tag where he puts a graphic beatdown on a clear underdog. In this case that is young boy Mr. Gannosuke. Even though this was presumably a houseshow, Goto beat the shit out of the kid, full on stiff lariats and chair edges to the face, and Gannosuke bled a good deal. I enjoyed Ricky Fuji here too, as he hit some nice worked punches and elbow drops to the cut. Onitas hot tags are of course super over, and I really liked the ending run with Gannosuke getting to shine a bit with some basic dropkicks and suplexes. Facebuster finish looked brutal as hell, too.

TARZAN GOTO DOCUMENTATION

EMLL in 1990 #2 - 1/12/1990

Watch

Aguilita Solitaria & La Aranita & Mascarita Sagrada vs. Espectrito & Pequeno Goliath & Piratita Morgan

Minis get to stretch out for 3 long falls and do their thing and the result is accordingly good. Lots of fun matwork and armdrags ensue. Pequeno Goliath carries himself with some amazing swagger. The standout was obviously Mascarita Sagrada who just does amazing stuff. Lots of complex sequences built around whacky armdrag variations. I liked how the rudos would continue with their tactics throughout the 3^rd fall, building to another great technico comeback. They tease a big Espectrito/Mascarita showdown which is the hottest matchup here but end the match a little prematurely. Still, nothing to complain when you get 20+ minutes of quality lucha.

Mogur vs. Pierroth Jr.

On 1/5 we got a couple very good trios matches, and one week later we get the singles matches we want to see most coming out of each. Booking can be so easy. And this was a great little match between two overlooked workers. We start in great simplistic fashion with both guys really cranking a side headlock and a waistlock each. The whole match they did a great job working around simple moves. Pierroth Jr. works over Mogurs shoulder using repeated armdrags, really whipping him into the mat and Mogur wincing. Later Mogur gets some nice revenge by locking in ultra tight headscissors, he has a brutal looking armwringer too that drives Pierroths shoulder into the mat. They do some more swanky lucha moves aswell such as a cool sequence where they move from a pin attempt into tombstone reversals, and Pierroth has a few cool submissions including a sweet crucifix lock. There is some cheating – after all Pierroth Jr. had reduced Mogur to a bloody pulp the week before – and he hits one of the sneakier low blows you'll see here - but they deliver a great sheninangless 3^rd fall. Pierroth Jr. destroying Mogur by picking him up and ramming him into the posts repeatedly ruled. Mogur builds a nice comeback out of that and we get a classic lucha third fall with crazy dives, desperation selling for an attempted surfboard etc. I bit on the nearfall for the crucixion hold and I really liked how they would take short breathers to how how spent they were. Finish was a simple move and worked. Not the most epic lucha title match, no top rope moves or big bumps, but they made everything they did count and built a great match. Classy stuff, maybe a hidden gem (does it count as hidden if it was on OJ's blog?).

 Angel Azteca vs. Emilio Charles, Jr.

Good title match as you'd expect from two of mexicos most reliable workmen. However the match was a little short and it lacked the selling that the previous Pierroth/Mogur match had. On the other hand it was more spectacular with big dives and both guys taking huge bumps for maximum drama. I would've liked to see more matwork.

The Library

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #18

 Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka, Michinoku Pro 1/14/1997 - EPIC

These matches were the BattlARTS guys show up on random Michinoku Pro cards to scare the fans with their violence are always awesome and this was no exception. There were some pretty high end shootstyle exchanges here, Onos slick grappling and Otsukas wrestling stood out, but they uncorked some heinous violence too. Ikeda and Ono did their thing, throwing Otsuka to the floor where the would send him into the rows street fighting kicks. At one point Ikeda was unloading bare knuckle fists left and right to Otsukas face, who could only try to buckle him to the ropes and go for a suplex (as Otsuka does). Great moment where Ishikawa connected a headbutt to the back of Ikedas head to help Otsuka land a suplex. Ono looked fierce again throwing punches, kicks, and getting ragdolled by Otsuka throws. Ishikawa wasn't in the match a ton but rest assured he and Ikeda had their moments punching each in hurty fashion. Finish was pretty brutal too as an Ono kick almost turns Otsukas lights out. He barely gets to his feet only to eat a brutal Ikeda lariat right to his face followed by an absolute slaughter of a kick combo. Otsuka is dead and Ishikawa has a go at Ikeda after the bell. Classy stuff.

Takeshi Ono & Masao Orihara vs. Mamoru Okamoto & Ryuji Hijikata, BattlARTS 5/10/1998 - FUN

Dominant showing from the Tonpachi Machine Guns. They just kicked ass and made their opponents eat shit. While Ono was fully embracing Oriharas scumminess at this point, he was still lighting up people with some spectacular kicks and submissions. Okamoto and Hijikata ate lots of painful looking kicks and knees in this. Kind of liked Okamoto who's an FMW guy trying hard to pass as a BattlARTS dude, kind of the Fake Ikeda to Hisakatsu Oyas Fake Ishikawa. He had a nice German and nice kicks. Other than and a nice moment where he and Hijikata hit a train of double stomps on Orihara this was kind of a squash. I enjoy the Tonpachi Machine Guns show so I enjoyed this.

TAKESHI ONO DOCUMENTATION PROJECT