The Call of the Underground #1

 Fugofugo Yumeji & BUKI vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Johta, EXIT 7/14/2018

Now this… this is a damn MATCHUP!! Fugofugo going toe to toe with Ishikawa is a weird fever dream of this blog… and in this match, holy fuck they go toe to toe! Everything you can ask for from a match in a tiny ring with chains instead of ropes held in a Tokyo merch store. You get Fugofugo and Ishikawa brutalizing each other (including Fugo almost shattering Yukis face with pretty much the most god awful headbutt in the history of the world EVER), but you also get plenty of neat Ishikawa matwork. BUKI and Johta are really fun complementing characters, BUKIs super stiff mini Great Kabuki act is so cool, and while Johta was slower compared to his CAPTURE days he was willing to hit and get hit which is all I ask for. This went +20 minutes and had a really nice ebb and flow structure to it. The finish was between BUKI and Johta and while maybe that wasn‘t the epic Fugo/Ishikawa showdown you hoped for it was primitve and violent. Besides both the old guys were probably on the verge of brain damage at this point. Really extremely well done stiff quasi-shootstyle brawl, felt like one of the better Japanese tags of the 2010s.

2002 MOTY Project Update #17

 36. Kensuke Sasaki vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, NJPW 8/3/2002

Insanely violent fight in front of a hot crowd. The psychology here was caveman level simple. Sasaki is able to throw off his opponent at first but Takayama re-establishes himself as the monster. Eventually it just devolves to both guys stubbornly trying to crack each other. The level of stiffness provides more than enough entertainment though, and Sasakis wild flailing plus things like Takayamas full weighted knee caving into Kensukes chest were far more entertaining than the usual elbow fest. No idea how those lariats didn‘t break Takayamas jaw. Finish was simple but super well done and Takayama punching Sasaki in the back of the neck was fairly crazy. This was easily Sasakis most exciting match of the year I‘ve seen so far.

35. Yuka Shiina vs. Yoshiko Tamura, NEO 10/22/2002

 Interesting match. Shiina was on fire, throwing out one crazy submission reversal after another. By far the best I've seen her look. She was hellbent on forcing a tapout from Tamura. Yoshiko Tamura is someone who frustrates me as she clearly is a competent pro wrestler, but she has this tendency to throw it worthless ace crushers and DDTs that serve no purpose. This match was short and mat based, so it ends up one of the better Tamura bouts of the era. The match was almost all submissions, but they walloped each other with some kicks between the holds. Tamuras cross legbar reversal towards the end was pretty great. I need to see more of this Shiina. 

34. Kengo Mashimo vs. Sambo Oishi, K-Dojo 4/20/2002

I think this was Mashimos second match ever. It was one hell of a match for a second ever match. There were a couple damn great exchanges here. Tenacious grappler Oishi ruled, too. Mashimo wasn‘t fully embracing his later dickhead character, but when it was time to throw kicks he beat the shit out of Oishi. Some outstanding submission work. There were some pro style touches but they were executed in a really explosive way and integrated perfectly. Really made me want to get both guys back catalogue. Best 6 minute match of the year?

25. Koki Kitahara & Johta vs. Nobuyuki Kurashima & Masayuki Mineno  (CAPTURE 12/8/2002)

Exactly what Capture promises, 4 guys just beating eachother silly in savage ways. The Mineno/Johta sections were really fun with both guys throwing fast hands and kicks, all ultra stiff of course. Then you had the heavyweights – both Kitahara and Kurashima looked like they were twice the size of either Johta or Mineno – bullying the little guys around. Kurashima is a MUGA boy and he mostly sticks to matwork here, altough he does punish opponents with some brutal throws and inventive submissions. At one point he did a Backlund lift from an armbar into almost a One Winged Angel. Kitahara was an absolute bastard once again, stomping on Minenos face and sucker punching him from behind. Match is really good shootstyle in parts but starts breaking down into chaos towards the end with the referee losing control over who is legal and who isn't, so you would get Kurashima tackling Kitahara while Mineno would try to kick him in the face. Still this is what Capture promise and each fall had a great finish.

2002 MOTY Master List

LLPW Battle Winter 2/13/1992

 

Michiko Nagashima vs. Mizuki Endo

Rookie match with some basic moves and lots of stretches. Really nothing match here. Both these two turned into good wrestlers later but they had nothing going for them at this poitn.

Yukari Osawa & Mikiko Futagami vs. Utako Hozumi & Leo Kitamura

16 out of 22 minutes where shown. Pretty dull match without much heat until they started doing nearfalls. Hozumi and Kitamura controlled most of the action until Futagami pulled out a surprise win. Good for GAMI.

Kurenai Yasha vs. Midori Saito

Kurenai seems like a fairly underrated worker. She dominated most of this and she knew how to beat on Saito for 10 minutes and make it not boring. She did cool things like drop elbows on her face, bust out a bottle or throw a row of chairs at Saito out of nowhere. She also made some nice cutoffs and it was a cool seasoned rudo performance which was impressive considering she was still pretty early in her career. Saito had one nasty boot to Yashas chin but didn‘t impress me much otherwise. Yasha takes it with the chokeslam and this came across as almost a squash.

Rumi Kazama & Noriyo Tateno vs. Eagle Sawai & Miki Handa

 Pretty decent match worked at a medium pace. Kazama, Handa and Sawai all looked good. Tateno is usually pretty boring but Sawai was fired up, just running over her with body checks and lariats, and that got Tateno to show a bit of fire of her own. Kazama had her working boots on and was working stiff as usual. And Handa did some pretty good work too working over Tatenos spine with nasty looking knees and elbows. The finish was really good - Handa rolled up Tateno into a boston crab. Kazama landed a kick to make the save, but the resulting force pushed Handa further into the hold and actually forced a submission. Nice win for Handa and felt like something that should happen more often.

Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito vs. Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita

Okay, wow. The opening of this was like a bomb going off. Super heat, intensity to the max, scrappy fights breaking out, everyone trying to kill each other. They had a bunch of AJW fans attending this cheering for Minami and Mita so this had the kind of insane heat these interpromotional matches have. The first 10 or so minutes were pretty damn amazing and up there with any WAR/NJ tag. Kandori is such a damn superstar, outgrappling everyone while making jokes and then snapping, buckling people against the ropes and mauling them with nasty lariats and elbows. And Mita and Minami brought the heat. The sequence where Kandori choked Mita out and Minami cleared house to safe her was another level of urgent and badass. Makes you wonder why that kinda stuff doesn‘t happen more often. Harley Saito is also quite the effective plucky sidekick to Kandori. The second half this was more of a typical joshi match but still, it was a damn hot ending run that the crowd went crazy over. And all I want from a match with a hot ending run is a hot opening that gets me into it, and they did that here. Real gem, and another piece in Kandoris amazing string of 1993 performances.

The Library

Assorted Early FMW

Atsushi Onita & Lee Gak Soo vs. Mitsuteru Tokuda & Sambo Asako, FMW 6/2/1990

Early FMW was a pretty interesting promotion, like a seedier, more garbage brawling heavy BattlARTS. Here Onita tags with a crazy Korean Taekwondo(?) guy against two gi clad grapplers. Lee Gak Soo honestly looked amazing in this, his kicks were super violent and he was hitting so many pretty variations, landing his soles right in peoples faces. It felt like a fight to the death whenever he was in the ring. My boy Sambo Asako is a damn champion here once again taking violent assbeatings from Gak Soo and nasty headbutts from Onita, bleeding and getting fired up. Tokuda is a bit non descript but he does some solid throws and grappling and at one point busts out a god damn Cattle Mutilation. This thing was pretty one sided with Gak Soo and Onita mostly kicking the snot out of their opponents, so it felt like a big moment when Asako was able to hit a basic suplex. Also, the heat was off the charts. Really violent, crazy spectacle feeling, no down time, pretty much exactly what you want.

 

Atusshi Onita vs. Lee Gak Soo, FMW 5/19/1990

Not quite as violent as the above tag, but still Gak Soo axe kicks Onita in the face a bunch. Onita hits some violent throws in retaliation including a backedrop that spiked Gak Soo. All time brutal finish where Onita drops Gak Soo with an insane thunder fire bomb but the bell saves Gak Soo so Onita drops him with another in the next round.

Lee Gak Soo vs. Yukihide Ueno, FMW 5/12/1990

I expected this to be a complete squash, but Ueno (who is the future Battle Ranger) smacks Gak Soo at the bell and then downs him with some big kicks! Gak Soo comes back with a rage though and beats the tar out of Ueno with crazy punches and kicks, while doing his amusing high pitched yelling. Ueno becomes more cautious and does more grappling, including hitting some really nice throws before Soo takes off his jacket and finishes him off. Fun stuff, and impressive for even a rookie like Ueno at the time to be so proficient.

Masanobu Kurisu vs. Shooter #2 (FMW 3/10/90)

 Kurisu beats the life out of this poor sap. Shooter won't go down without a fight and gets in a nice stiff lariat and a big suplex, but Kurisu just brutalizes him. Nasty stomps galore. Kurisu nearly sprained the Shooters ankle with a nasty toe hold. Kurisu was an asskicking machine in 1990 and it was awesome.

SPWC 3/29/1999

 Watch 

Yoshiya Yamashita vs. Gilgilgan, Jr.

 

Gilgilgan Jr is a masked guy in a plain black drunks outfit. This was pretty basic like a rookie match. What, it's an SPWC show and you're not gonna be outrageous? I guess having a ring made them up their standards. Yamashita worked nice and snug and the masked guy hit some okay-ish dropkicks. Yamashita with a really nice chokeslam for the win.
 

Chotaro Kamoi vs. The Karate Devil

Karate Devil wears a gi and a Destroyer mask. NATURALLY. Kamoi has been dreadful whenever I've seen him, but he was actually laying in his punches here. He beat the devil pretty fast. Nothing much else to say on this.

 

Toshiyuki Moriya vs. Edward Sexton

Moriya would later assume the Fake Onita personality. Sexton is a pudgy and unassuming gaijin who wears scuzzy judo pants and boxing gloves. Yes, this is really like the scuzziest low level FMW parody. Sexston does some leglocks too but nothing about him is very impressive. He defeats Moriya pretty fast, at least. If Edward Sexton is still around I'd love to hear his story on how he got to work for Survival Tobita.
 

Naoshi Sano vs. The Karate Devil

The previous two matches were part of some kind of tournament, and this is the match for the lowest rank in that tournament... because why not?! Where's the 3rd place match? Sano tries working a wrestler vs. karateka match in this, but man he doesn't have the skills to pull it off at all. Karate Devil beats him good. Another so-so-mhm-I-guess-there-were-some-cool-punches-and-kicks-in-this short match.

 

Chotaro Kamoi vs. Edward Sexton

This is the finals. The guys with the boxing gloves going to the finals is some next level scuzzy indy shit. Couldn't they get another martial artist with a different style? Like Seikendo Vader, or one of the CAPTURE opening match grapplers? I guess boxer vs. undefined martial artist is interesting enough for the Japanese fans because they actually got excited for this. And both guys laid in some combos. They went long too, almost going broadway~! I dunno, it was fun I guess.

Survival Tobita vs. Ape Man Virgon

 

This is what drew the house. No offense to Edward Sexton and The Karate Devil, but everyones here for Tobita fighting a monster. Naoshi Sano is actually at ringside for this, indicating he is not portraying Ape Man Virgon. This goes almost the same as the Tobita/Virgon match from Michinoku Pro. Virgon doesn't really have interest in fighting and just terrorizes the arena. The back bump into the ropes Tobita takes on the first throw is a thing of beuty. Sano gets whipped around too and gets his shirt torn! I love dedicated whipping boy Sano. They go to a Double Countout~! and restart the match and Tobita ends the monkey. It rules that the Ape Man has super strong shoves. If he actually knew what fighting is he would've ended Tobitas life, but our camo pants sporting hero prevailed. It's amazing how perfectly they put this bullshit together.

The Library

Going through Shodates Best Matches of the 90s List Part 5

 The List

231. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Shinjiro Ohtani vs. Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka, NJPW 10/11/1999 

This has to be among the stiffest matches I‘ve ever seen the NJPW juniors division produce. Seriously, they went out of their way to make every second of this as unpleasant as possible. Kicks, smacks, Otani facescrapes, Takaiwas level, everything was executed at maximum violence. Even something like a Takaiwa elbow drop landed with a smack. Loved the pissed off exchanges involving Otani and Kanemoto. Everyone here was catching hands, though. You know it‘s great when even Tanaka is laying it in and taking beatings. The match didn‘t have some kind of arc or story, it was just one violent exchange after another. It builds to some huge sequences before the finish, though. Takaiwa looked great pounding dudes into paste with his multiple powerbombs and death valley drivers. Greatest junior match in the Dome ever? It was certainly the loudest.

 

234. Mayumi Ozaki & Cutie Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Sumiko Saito, JWP 8/9/1992

Ah let‘s see… fast pace, hot crowd, insanely stiff, simple moves…? It‘s the early 90s baby~! Seriously pro wrestling just doesn‘t feel like this anymore and it‘s sad. This was hard working and exciting. Sumiko Saito was a rookie who didn‘t stay around for long, but she looked tenacious here. She was paired with Kansai who as usual acted as a super asskicker, so you got a match built around Kansai kicking ass when she was tagged in, and Saito getting her ass kicked when she was tagged out. As usual Ozaki looks good working against Kansai, and Cutie throws some beautiful suplexes. The stretching holds actually felt meaningful in this due to Saito fighting hard and trying to evade the rookie beatdown. Couple really good moments here. Notice how epic the superplex reversal felt due to both womens selling. This was 2 Count Rules for some reason and while it didn‘t really factor into the psychology much it made their athleticism more impressive I guess.

 

31. Yoshihisa Yamamoto vs. Georgi Kandarahki, RINGS 7/13/1993

Young Yoshihisa Yamamoto takes on Georgi Kandarahki… Kandealaki… Keandelaki..?? Ahh to hell with it! Kandarahki has boxing gloves, a singlet and boxer trunks. He looks like a basketball player decided to be a boxer. Yamamoto doesn‘t have gloves. If you can get over the silliness of that, this was pretty fun. Kandarahki throws lots of nice combinations and this had some heated moments where he came close to punching out Yamamoto who fired back with spirit. Obviously Yamamoto was gonna dominate on the ground but they do a pretty decent job making it not too obvious or drab. This went 5 rounds (OF COURSE!!!) and didn‘t drag and was pretty fun overall. So… the 31.th best match of all of the 90s? Probably not but I enjoyed discovering this for Yamamotos fire and Kandarahkis cool punches.

Tanomusaku Toba Documentation #16

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

Man, I love the fact Takashi Sasaki had an Ishikawa/Ikeda like feud going with Toba. Whenever these two stepped in the ring against each other the violence just reached next level. They just go toe to toe the whole time and it‘s a rush. It wasn‘t your turn-my turn style exchanges either, both guys were rushing and trying to outgun each other. Aside from all the stiffness there are some really good moments of countering the other guys onslaught. I once again loved Toba busting out his insane apron kick, as well as the huracanrana into punch rush. Really good finish, too. This wasn‘t quite as epic in scope as their singles earlier in the year (that was a main event while this was a semi) but this was still 8 minutes of super badass pro wrestling.

Tanomusaku Toba & Tomohiko Hashimoto & Jason the Terrible vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Issei Fujisawa & Shigeo Kato, DDT 12/12/2001 - FUN

Now this is a match up! This match has honest to god Jason The Terrible hitting the mat with Shigeo Kato. Outside of that this was really fun. Hashimoto is cool just pounding people into the mat with STOs over and over, and Kato is a fun heel who knows how to turn up the violence. Whenever Ishii and Toba were facing each other the violence increased a lot, mostly just Ishii brutalizing Toba, right in the opening he hits a jaw cracking lariat on Toba, then launches him over the rope with a gorilla press before hitting a reckless dropkick on the floor. Toba held the match together taking an asskicking from the heel team and being sympathetic. We don‘t really get him teeing off on somebody but he has some cool moments hitting flying kicks and a cool double team with Hashimoto where Hashimoto hits an STO while Toba kicks the guy in the face. Jason looks good hitting cool spin kicks and powerslams. Fujisawa is the Kensuke Sasaki imitator and he was imitating multiple wrestlers in this and he was a bit clunky but didn‘t derail the match with jokes. Weird to see a match with this many whacky characters in it be played completely straight but it was good.

Tanomusaku Toba vs. Yasu Urano, DDT 8/10/2008 - FUN

 One of those examples of a random midcarder suddenly working a bit harder when facing the mighty force that is TOBA. Urano seemed to be laying in his dropkicks and lariats harder and some quality stiff exchanges resulted. Toba also busted out some great offense, such as his springboard enzuigiri and a bunch of awesome looking rollups. Perfectly entertaining 5 minute snack.

TANOMUSAKU TOBA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST

Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #3

 

Command Bolshoi vs. Saori Anou, PURE-J 9/13/2017

GREAT 4 minute sprint! I‘ve never seen Anou before, and while she was a bit of a generic joshi worker she was a perfectly good dance partner for Bolshoi. This was the Bolshoi show, though. She packed the match with neat pins, badass submissions and open palm strikes. Her timing was fantastic and her turning Anous aggression against herself was really cool. Loved the carny BJJ moves and the finish.

Command Bolshoi vs. Erika Watanabe, JWP 11/14/2004

Have never noticed Erika Watanabe before, but she was quite good here. She does some neat submission work and has cool judo throw offense and that makes a nice match up against Bolshoi. This was just 8 minutes of cool exchanges with no down time.

Command Bolshoi vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki, JWP 12/7/2003

These two have some truely great chemistry together, and it‘s cool to get an early match up between them. Kuragaki was a bit less thick here so this was less of a big vs. Little match, and more of a straight up 50/50 no thrills encounter. Some really good lucharesu exchanges here, at this point I don‘t need to establish both of them have really good offense, and Kuragaki has really pretty flying moves and armdrags along with her intricate power moves and holds. Finishing run was great with Kuragaki busting out some huge suplexes and some great spots centered around headbutts and lariats before a highly complicated technical move decides the match. The match could‘ve used a bit more of a story but the action was very good and these two really know how to accentuate their stuff. These shoot headbutts were awesome, and not just due to being violent but also do to being timed perfectly.

 

Command Bolshoi & Dynamite Kansai vs. Cutie Suzuki & Plum Mariko, JWP 7/10/1994

Great match – which was mostly about Kansai being an unstoppable juggernaut, and Suzuki and Mariko trying to find ways to deal with her. There were a couple really good, intense exchanges – loved Kansais opening barrage punting Suzuki around the ring. Mariko catching a Kansai high kick and turning it into an Achilles Hold forcing Kansai to scramble for the ropes was such a small, simple moment executed just tight enough to make everything look so much more real. I‘m also always amazed about what mean stomps and elbows Suzuki throws. Then she tried ripping out Kansais nose. Their interactions throughout were pretty great. Bolshoi was pretty early in her stage of being Bolshoi, when she came in she was working at a more generic joshi pace, but doing some cool spots including one awesome tricky leg grab and throwing big suplexes. The finishing run was great with Kansai constantly being put over as a monster while Bolshoi was trying to itch out a win.

Command Bolshoi vs. Hikari Fukuoka, JWP 9/23/1993

Another pretty great match, which I have no problem calling a minor classic. These two definitely felt like rookies here, but they built a big match, and they did it well, and told a tremendous story. They start slow with some cool hold for hold work and basic arm drags which they do very well, then build to some big suplexes and flying moves and finally a really effective dueling limbwork story. Bolshoi in her early days was a different creature, she did more flying moves, she had these cool one legged dropkicks, and her submission work was more basic, but incredibly tight, and she reminded me a bit of Otani. Fukuoka has a bandage on her shoulder and that shoulder comes into play in a really natural way. Bolshoi doesn‘t attack it initially but after a couple moves Fukuoka starts favouring it, and when Bolshoi doesn‘t get the pin with her regular offense she starts going after that shoulder. Fukuoka in turn attacks Bolshois back, which also makes a ton of sense, I am wounded so I‘m gonna wound you to, and her back slams and stretches and nasty dropkicks were cool. It‘s strange that Fukuoka was a Manami Toyota worshipper at this point but she sold that shoulder better than anything I‘ve ever seen Toyota sell. The finishing stretch was really great with Fukuoka going for back stretches and suplexes and Bolshoi going for Uranages and all kinds of arm submissions, there were a few moments of tremendous struggle plus some nice desperation. At one point Bolshoi went for a Tiger Feint dive fake and Fukuoka just grabs her and yanks her outside only for Bolshoi to brutalize her further with a chair. Epic last pinfall too.

IWA Japan Grand Opening Stage Battle States 5/23/1994

 

Watch

Johnny Gomez vs. Hiroshi Ono

IWA Japan was basically W*ING 2 at this point, so we get all kinds of cool random Puerto Ricans working here. Johnny Gomez looked really good here, he had a bunch of good looking offense and did a neat job directing young nondescript future deathmatch bleeder Hiroshi Ono along. Ono didn‘t show much but he hit a nasty back suplex at one point. Gomez had a really nice thrust kick (always loves those) and the finish was really brutal looking with Gomez hitting a dropkick where he basically landed on Hiroshi Onos face. This went a bit under 5 minutes and was just right.

El Oriental & Crash The Terminator vs. Miguel Perez, Jr. & Winger

What amount of drugs could dream up this match up? And – this match ended up being kind of insane and great! Before the match Oriental cuts a promo where he mentions being the brother of the Moreno Sisters, which is kind of cute. Oriental always looks really good when I see him, and he looks really good here getting decent exchanges out of Winger. Then you get Hugh Morrus and Miguel in workrate mode – as both these big guys step up and do a bunch of athletic moves and bumping! Suddenly the match was chock full of memorable moments, such as Crash leaping to the 3rd rope and then hitting a great spinning crossbody – that misses – before Miguel hits an equally great spinning senton of the 2nd rope. Then you get the heavyweights bullying the junior guys around. The section where Crash stooges a bunch for Wingers lucha moves, then catches him on a dive before gently placing him down and getting back into the ring was so out of left field and great. He‘s CRASH THE TERMINATOR, face painted maniac with a skullet, but brawling with a smaller opponent is somehow beneath him, he just wants to wrestle him fair and square in the ring! Perez Jr./Oriental sections where also great. Perez hits a really crazy lariat that drops Oriental on his neck and then Oriental fires back with this awesome front flip kick in his face. Finish was way bigger than you‘d expect too with Miguel busting out a bunch of dives including a crazy huge Asai Moonsault, Winger eating a powerbomb on the floor and Oriental taking a giant chokeslam. For a second match on a card with a bunch of thrown together wrestlers this was about as good as you can ask for.

Dick Murdoch vs. Masayoshi Motegi

Another insane match. Is this Motegis biggest match ever? Bigger than him facing Liger? It definitely felt more meaningful. The first 10 minutes of this were really great and textbook stuff. Both guys were just chain wrestling, but Motegi was going after Murdochs arm like mad and Murdoch did all these neat maestro-ish touches, such as blocking a takedown attempt, sinking in Fujiwara armbars. Despite the size difference they meshed very well. When Murdoch was cutting off Motegi, he always clocked him with a bionic elbow or punch to the face, while selling the arm. Motegi hit these neat punches and kicks to Murdochs arm. Obviously Motegi was a bit limited in terms of what offense he could do to Murdoch, and that held the last couple minutes of this back a bit. Still I was shocked how good this was, as they did a bunch of really good intricate wrestling while keeping it tight.

Shoji Nakamaki vs. Kintaro Kanemura

This was the first match on the card that was entirely within the ordinary. Kanemura gets a barbedwire bat and brutalizes Nakamaki a bunch. Nakamaki makes one fired up comeback and hits a nice diving headbutt. Kanemura takes a nice clothesline bump, but soon goes back to beating on Nakamaki before pinning him quite easily. Good enough to keep things moving and put over Nakamaki as an underdog taking beatings, although I think Nakamaki never really did move on beyond that.

Silver King vs. El Texano

There aren‘t many Texano single matches around that I know of, so this was cool to have. Pretty much a stocky guy workrate match. Both these guys execute all their stuff at a ridiculously high level. Starts great with an amazing looking Texano punch in the ropes before they unroll a bunch of spectacular rope running sequences. All super tight executed. There are some great dives and Texano gets amazing height on a big splash. Not much of a story, but they went out to get pops, and that they did.

Headhunters vs. Nobutaka Araya & El Misterioso

 

Putting Misterioso in the main event?! You better believe it. This was sloppy, but fun. Pretty much a sleazy Twin Towers vs. Rockers match. Headhunters hit a bunch of stiff clotheslines and big body splashes. We get a bunch of cool Big vs. Little interactions between Misterioso, plus a few crazy high spots. Araya hits a huge moonsault to the outside, there‘s a flip dive from a Headhunter. The sloppy/unprepared moments, such as Araya violently lariating an unsuspecting Headhunter over the ropes may have added to the mayhem. The ending is pretty brutal with Araya taking a bunch of Headhunter splashes and a moonsault that seemed to knock him loopy before the doomsday bulldog finish. I always enjoy me some Headhunters and this was a fun main event to cap off this insane card.

 

The Library 

Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #13

 

Koki Kitahara vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi, WAR 3/7/1993 - GREAT

Another heated, violent explosion between these two. Man Kitahara may have been Kobayashis best opponent, he really brings out his psycho asskicker more than any guy in a Tiger Mask ever did. There were lot of stiff strikes as you expect, but also an air of palpable hatred between them. Lots of guys spitting on the other, daring to hit each other, going for weapons etc. Eventually Kitahara just claws Kobayashis forehead open, bloodying him and following up by kicking him in the face. This was one of those WAR shows with a ton of NJPW fans in attendance so they get behind Kobayashi huge. Hot finish with a bleeding Kobayashi trying to comeback only to get his lights turned out. Kitahara was cold as hell in this feud.

Koki Kitahara & Nobukazu Hirai vs. Kunaki Kobayashi & Masashi Aoyagi, WAR 3/5/1993 - GREAT

Another pretty underrated/overlooked tag from this epic feud. As always the shear FIGHT was turned up to 11 here, everything looked super uncooperative and unpredictable, even things like guys getting thrown into a corner or being cut off. Hirai was pretty low ranked at this point and he was great here taking a violent beatdown from two badass building up to the eventual explosions between Kitahara and Kobayashi. Aoyagi also looked damn good busting out cool kick variations. The moments where Hirai is able to get in some surprise offense are great, too. It builds to a more elaborate finish than you expect, and it‘s pretty crazy that they kept up the insane heat the whole match. I mean the match starts crazy and heated with guys eating nasty kicks, getting thrown around and hitting baseballs slides across the ring. You‘d think it ends up being a sprint but instead they work a near 20 minute match, and they keep it at that level. Pretty amazing when you think about it.

 

Koki Kitahara Documentation

Assorted NJPW Handhelds

 

Koji Kanemoto vs. El Samurai, NJPW 3/17/1996

Crazy stiff match that builds to a huge finish. A nice reminder of how good the NJPW juniors could be in the 90s. Samura is fired up to begin, slapping the taste out of Kanemotos mouth before hitting a big dive. Samurai is this weird guy who is often dull but when he‘s on he‘s pretty great. He was on here working like Fit Finlay, dropping elbows across Kanemotos face, even headbutting him in the nose. Of course Kanemoto is a right fucker too and when he comes back he cracks Samurai with nasty stomps to the skull and kicks to the ribs. The whole match was pretty much all guys stubbornly sinking into submissions, not cooperating on basic moves and brutalizing each other. It builds to a pretty big crescendo, Kanemoto is slapping around Samurai, pulling him up spitting on him. He goes for a big German Suplex off the apron (you know, this was before moves like that were thrown out 10 times a month) but hits his own head weakening himself, his hatred got the better off him. Samurai in desperation mode trying to inch out a win after being beaten to a pulp was great, hell this whole thing was pretty great. Apaprently before there was only an 8 minute TV version of this available before so praise the lord for handhelds like this so we can get the full undistilled brutality.

2/3 Falls Match:  The Great Sasuke & El Samurai & Super Delfin & Gran Hamada & Norio Honaga vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Dick Togo & Men’s Teioh & & Hanzo Nakajima, NJPW 5/3/1997

That is a serious amount of raw talent in this match. No way this wouldn't be good at least, and it ended up being more than that. Mostly the heel side (Kanemoto et al) playing the numbers game and double teaming the techicos. Kanemoto and Otani also got pretty scrappy and stiff with their opponents. Double teams were cool (dug the series of elbow drops and flip sentons, and the synchronized dropkicks from Kanemoto and Otani), and there was one badass moment where Sasuke had enough of Kanemotos shit and perforated his guts with crowbar spin kicks. Also due to the rules we got more than one really good finish. Nakajima and Honaga are kind of the odd men out in this lineup of junior legends, but they do fine. Honaga even gets some very nice face reactions for his scuzzy heel tactics amid a sea of talented flyers. Great dive sequence, too.

Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kengo Kimura, NJPW 5/3/1997

Two pissed off old guys slap the fuck out of each other, how can it not be good?! These two are fired up and the crowd loved it. Awesome bit where Kimura almost KO's Koshinaka with punches. Got a bit slow and rest holdy here and there, but they pick up in a big way for the finish. Just two mad old geezers dumping each other with crazy powerbombs and suplexes. Somebody really should steal Koshinakas flying butt to the back of the neck move.

FMW 1/10/1996

Ricky Fuji vs. Hayato Nanjyo

Two juniors you don‘t see work a lot. They did a RVD/Jerry Lynn like routine of dodging spin kicks and going for ground moves early on. Then they settle into slow, pointless, time killing matwork routine before they whip out their cool highspots. Nanjyos asia moonsault was pretty beautiful and Fuji spiked him hard with Tiger Driver style moves. Crowd popped huge in the last couple minutes. Both guys also had good fashion sense, Fuji rocking some tasteful tights with tassles and his glorious dyed mane and Nanjo a cheap but charming looking silver costume with a red scarv belt.

Bad Nurse Nakamura vs. Yuki Nabeno

A surprisingly heated little match. Nabeno laid a ton of spice into her moves, dropkicking Nakamura in the face. Bad Nurse looked like quite the badass tearing up Nabenos bandaged shoulder and then finishing her with a nasty STF.

Daisuke Ikeda vs. Hisakatsu Oya

This was a truely mouth-watering match up. Ikeda vs. Ishikawa is one of the greatest matchups of all time, and Oya is the sleazy Fake Ishikawa. And they duke it out in a BattlARTS-before-BattlARTS style match here! Mostly gritty matwork in between Ikeda kicking the dogshit out of Oya. Oya took some manly ass kicks and then dropped Ikeda on his head with those big backdrop suplexes of his. 11 minutes of exactly what you want it to be.

Megumi Kudo vs. Chigusa Nagayo

Bomb-dropping sprint with some smartness displayed. I loved how they would put over the sleeper. Kudo was a bit sloppy here and there so I give Nagayo credit. She handled herself like a badass and put Kudos submissions over really strong, in between destroying her with kicks and throws. When she fought out of a sleeper, then collapsed, barely hit a counter move and tried to shake of the cobwebs it was like something that should be hammered into every aspiring wrestlers head on how to sell chokeholds. After a match a pull apart happens between all the girls in FMW and GAEA tracksuits and Nagayo bleeds and jumps on Miwa Sato like she is going to kill her because that‘s what Chiggy does.

Aja Kong vs. Combat Toyoda

Another sick ass match up on this card, what was Arai on when he put all this awesome shit together? These two could have an intricate epic match, but fuck that this is FMW, they chuck tables at each others heads and bleed. Opening brawling with Toyoda smashing things over Ajas head and then suicide diving right into an Aja trashcan shot was just great. Both women bleed, and then we get them both exchanging stiff blows and crushing each other with suplexes. I‘d say the lariat trading here was better than usual in Japanese matches because these two are supposed to be crazy monsters so you buy it more. Excellent build to the finish. This hit all the spots.

 

Hayabusa & Koji Nakagawa & Masato Tanaka vs. BADBOY Hido & Mitsuhiro Matsunaga & Kintaro Kanemura 

This had barbedwire ropes, spider nets and they brought in a ladder among other things. It was like a pretty typical multiman match involving all those things. At first guys try not to get thrown into the barbed wire, then they do get thrown into it, some highspots and a heel control segments happen before the bomb throwing finish. The brawling here wasn't super exciting although technically there was a cool matchup in Hayabusa/Matsunaga. The highspots were pretty good with some big dives over the barbedwire and a splash off the ladder to the outside. Bomb throwing was also gnarly but didn't go long. Overall this was a solid entry to the genre.

The Library

Matt Borne in South Africa

 Matt Borne vs. Danie Voges, South Africa ?/1980s(?)

Matt motherfucking Borne. From what I've seen South African wrestling was similiar to European wrestling, but this was like something out of Memphis. Aside from the stylistic unusualness of this being rounds and 2/3 falls, they could've worked the same match in the mid south coloseum and it would've gotten pretty over. Mostly Borne generating some insane heat and some great looking punch exchanges. Voges wasn't very charismatic but he threw a surprisingly good right hand and wasn't completely clueless what to do. I also liked how ran into Bornes big boots as if he wasn't expecting to eat big boots. And Borne was just relentless. His heat mongering between moves was world class and when it was time to throw hands he looked great. It made me think him vs. Lawler would've been an all timer. The posting outside the ring was one of the loudest I've ever heard, too. Borderline epic third fall with the local boy bleeding and Borne decking him with punches until a towel is thrown in. I love me a towel finish. This was raw pro wrestling.

2021 MOTY Project Update #6

 

6. Bryan Danielson vs. Dustin Rhodes, AEW 10/23

Pretty interesting match between a hybrid wrestler and an aging heavyweight star. Dustin is lower ranked, so Bryan was absorbing most of his moves and obviously the superior technician. It builds to a handful of excellent Dustin comebacks. Obviously the superplex felt like an epic moment, and when he hit that powerslam it felt like the whole match had built to that. Great cover after the reverse DDT as well. When Dustin hit the lariat, it felt like Jumbo on his last legs trying to shut down Misawa. Danielson was a bit go-go when he went back to offense, but Dustin kept edging out nearfalls so you knew Dustin was close to pulling off an upset. Really cool how they eschewed a traditional match structure and just had a really good match.

8. Josh Barnett vs. Tiger Ruas, Bloodsport 10/22

I thought this was well nomination worthy. Ruas was winning the match through elite level grappling and superior conditioning, so Barnett was left to rely on blasting him with suplexes and strikes. Mat section had a number of slick moments and was extremely well executed. Ruas was controlling and throwing strikes on the ground. Even after Barnett had hit a big suplex and hit some strikes from mount, he looked pretty spent. Ruas capeoeira kick was an amazing spot as not only was it cool looking but also extremely well timed. Barnett was just making his big comeback and then Ruas bounced back with THAT. It made Ruas look unstoppable. Finish worked as an out nowhere bomb being dropped. Barnett had been the biggest badass to walk the US indy scene so Ruas pretty much destroying him made for an exciting match. Great stuff and probably better than the recent Bryan/Suzuki match

10. Bryan Danielson vs. Minoru Suzuki, AEW 10/15 

This had a bit too many Your Turn/My Turn exchanges for my taste. I get Suzuki probably has to do these because he has to be pretty banged up at this point but too much of this felt like a glorified Nagata match. I also don't by Bryans character engaging in that macho stuff since he is supposed to be a smart technician. Outside of that this was very good. Opening PANCRASE grappling was cool, dug Bryans fast shoot for the single leg, and there were plenty more great transitions and counters throughout the rest of it. I was a bit annoyed with Bryan doing things like the face stomps and elbows mid-match since I see those as finishers, but what can you do. Submission work was great and I dug all the pins. 

 

2021 MOTY List 

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #19

 Takeshi Ono vs. Alexander Otsuka, BattlARTS 8/29/1999 - FUN

Only 3 or 4 minutes where shown here, but every second was great. Otsuka at this time was experimenting with pro style moves a lot, and he was working Ono like a Power Plant guy using a grappling dummy here, just ragdolling him around. There were a few great moments, such as Onos rolling leglock, and Otsuka scrambling over Onos low blow and dumping him with a big suplex that Ono desperately tried to counter. Of course, we get a big Giant Swing spot where Otsuka just launches Ono across the ring like a cartoon character. Finish was totally great with Ono scrambling out of a Dragon Suplex and locking in a slick armbar. Crowd went nuts for Ono tapping out Otsuka and rightfully so.

Takeshi Ono & Mohammed Yone vs. Katsumi Usuda & Daisuke Ikeda, BattlARTS 9/23/1999 - FUN

Exciting looking match, but we only get the second half. Good stiff BattlARTS action. Yone was tolerable as he was there to eat brutal kicks and lariats from Usuda and Ikeda. It‘s always stunning how good Usuda looks even in short clips. His backhands are awesome. The finish was Ono vs. Ikeda and it was some great bomb throwing and counters. Another great finish with Ono scrambling out of Ikedas Death Valley Driver and into another neat lucha rollup turned armbar. Seems Ono was raking in some big surprise wins towards the end of 1999 but it didn‘t seem to go anywhere.

Takeshi Ono vs. Ryuji Hijikata, BattlARTS 12/25/1999 - GREAT

One of the few Ono matches that year to even air in full, and it‘s a great one. Mostly just Ono being a freak, putting on slick submissions on Hijikata, busting out neat counters and punching and kicking him in the face. A lot of Onos stuff could easily be stolen in a pro style context, it just looks so good and makes sense. Hijikata was green-ish but he could strike back when it counted. Loved Ono struggling against Hijikatas Fisherman Suplex. Well executed finish. This hit all the marks in 9 minutes and was just a great opener.

TAKESHI ONO DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST

NOW FIRE ENDLESS BATTLE 2/14/1993

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxxqLxVAjdg

1. Kishin Kawabata vs. An Che Honn

2. The Equalizer vs. Kim Chon Hyon

3. Buddy Landell vs. Rod Price

4. Hisakatsu Oya vs. Alex Porteau

5. Manny Fernandez vs. Apollo Sugawara

6. Ishinriki vs. Hiroshi Hatanaka

7. Atsushi Onita & Kendo Nagasaki vs. Goro Tsurumi & Umanosuke Ueda

  This was another really fun NOW card! We start with 2 singles matches starring obscure korean workers. Korean pro wrestling seems to have a similiar history to japanese pro wrestling only that it kind of died off over the years, but it's such a great unknown on the english speaking internet. In a different universe we are all raving about korean pro wrestling while nobody knows who Rikidozan is. I've only seen glimpses of korean wrestlers and all of them were from japanese promotions pitting them against japanese workers, which I assume is kind of a barrier, assuming there is a language barriere there and these workers come from different backgrounds and styles. Plus, with 1992 undercard indy matches, you mostly check them out for curiousity, especially when such illustrious names as Kishin Kawabata and The Equalizer are in them. And these undercard matches delivered all you can ask for. Kawabata vs. An Che Honn was pretty much a showcase of fun offense – with Kawabata hitting big headbutts, kicks to the spine, biiiiig jumping elbow drops and sentons – and An Che Honn hitting some pretty agile junior offense. The korean was doing standing moonsaults, backflips, flip sentons where he landed with his hip first in really hurty fashion. Dare I say, was this guy an unknown innovator from 25 years ago? Or was he just imitating what he saw on Peruvian wrestling tapes from 20 years prior? Then he hits this cool punch/kick combo and I'm all on board for the Korean Pro Wrestling train. Eitherway, that match didn't have real structure as basically Kawabata went back to offense immediately after An Che had hit his spots, but it was a fun showcase. Kawabata wins with a big leaping elbow drop and that rules. The next match had slightly better structure – I've never seen The Equalizer before and he looks like a fake Kevin Sullivan – google tells me he was a Kevin Sullivan gimmick brother – apparently he was in WCW. If you are a Fake Sullivan superfan you probably need to see this match, because it's like a really fun WCW TV match for a minute. Equalizer works „I'm bigger and you can't knock me over“, and Korakuen Hall pops when the obscure korean finally bodyslams him! Fake Sullivan hits a BIG second rope legdrop! Kim Chon Hyon hits all kinds of fun out of nowhere kicks! Equalizer brawls his way to the countout finish, and because the camera guy filming this is kind of slow you don't really get what's happening. After the match Tsurumi comes out and looks pissed at the koreans!

 

Landell vs. Price – this is what US Indy workers working japanese promotions used to look like!! Tubby blonde dyed white guys who don't care about impressing anybody and instead just work a psychologically sound match! And well I'll be a son of a bitch, because these two go out of their way to work a Southern BattlARTS match! They hit snug elbows, thundering chops and hurty looking punches and toe kicks, and also work fun drop toe holds and fireman carries into leg rides on the ground. It was a slow paced, deliberate match, mind you, but damn! I wanna see more wrestling like this!! You are probably thinking to yourself „Oh you lying german bastard. You spent 4$ on this tape and now you are imagining things to trick yourself into thinking this was good.“ Well bugger off, because this low key ruled. Price absolutely clocks Landell with a stiff clothesline out of nowhere. Landell works snug wristlocks and toeholds (inbetween Wooo!s for the crowd) only for Price to come up and punch him in the cheek. Price blocks a surfboard so Landell goes for a single leg crab instead and kicks Price in the ribs while holding that. Price fights out of an armbar and locks in a UWF leglock which Landell sells like a Figure 4 with his shouders down for the pinfall. Landell comes up limping and Price immediately follows up with more snug lowkicks. What the hell is happening?? Landell dares Price to take him down, who promptly does just that. Landell fights off the Price takedowns – including one by doing an awesome Fujiwara sprawl and now the crowd is really digging all this was we move closer to the 20 minute mark in a match with a 20 minute time limit. They really go broadway here and work nearfalls for sleeper holds and Figure 4s. Prices last move before the draw is a 10 Punch in the corner for a close 2 count. This was such a weird broadway but they really did a pro job working a sound match that won everyone over.

 

After that we get two more matches featuring US guys. IT'S HISAKATSU OYA vs. THE PUG!!! And they hit the mat!! Damn, is NOW scientific wrestling central of the 90s japanese indy scene?! Oya looks better here than he did in both BattlARTS and MUGA. He really wrenches Porteaus t shoulder and arm with some snug holds. Porteau is on the very, very bland side here. He has a nice headlock punch though. But before The Pug can bore you to sleep Oya absolutely KILLS him with the backdrop suplex! Golly!! Nasty Oya submissions and that insane bump are totally enough for me to give this the Full Japan Indy Point. Next up is Thee Manny Fernandez vs. Apollo Sugawara. And that was a fun short match too. Fernandez has the Finlay mullet and his charisma and mannerisms shine through even on a handheld. Match was fun in that short WCW TV match way. Sugawara still has really nice dropkicks and Fernandez takes a really nice backdrop bump for him. Fernandez also hits some really nice slug clotheslines. He also wins with a nasty shootstyle toe hold which is unexpected and rules, like pretty much everthing on this card so far.

 

Ishinriki vs. Hiroshi Hatanaka was, unlike pretty much everything else on this card, something you could've shown to your average juniors loving 90s smark and he would've agree that it was a cool match. Two pudgy juniors go 20 minutes and there are some big nearfalls down the stretch. I really enjoyed the match as they did a good job filling the time, these two guys have really good looking basics, really fast explosive shoulderblocks and armdrags etc. Hatanaka looked especially good, hitting lariats with a ton of snap, big kneedrops and leg drops, really nice powerslam etc. His Fujiwara armbar counter may have been the highlight of the match. He also hit at one point a huge legdrop that looked like it would shoot KO someone and Ishinriki was either legit knocked loopy or Ishinriki is really good at selling „I just had a 280 pound japanese dude drop his weight on my jaw and I don't know where the fuck I am“. It's this kind of match that gets you really over with japanese crowds and they both came out looking like they should've been kings of the indies but instead they just completely fell off the map in the mid 90s. I thought the match could've been really great with a little more stiffness and hatred – they tease flaring tempers in the first minute and never really follow up – or maybe some kind of more pronounced story, but they achived what they were going for without hiccups and this was just a really cool match to see.

 

The main event was all about the superstar charisma of Onita as the crowd is absolutely white hot for him. Unfortunately once again some kind of sports entertainment crept into it as Ueda refused to cooperate with Tsurumi. To be fair, Tsurumi looked good here, and the guys potatoeing eachother sections were fun. Tsurumi was doing the backfists before the were cool and hitting nice punches, also Nagasaki has ridculously great kicks here, just trying to boot dudes heads off, plus Manny Fernandez was at ringside with a kendo stick. But once again the match ended early. The coolest thing to come out of this was a brief Manny Fernandez/Tarzan Goto face off which is the greatest match of the 90s that never happened.

 

So there you have it. Two really good matches, fun undercard, lots of coolness throughout, Tarzan Goto in a funny 90s getup... I'm all on board for the NOW hype train by now.

The Library

Assorted NEO

 

Hiromi Yagi & Carlos Amano vs. Yuka Shiina & Chaparita ASARI, NEO 5/4/2001

This is the kind of joshi I love and miss dearly. 4 crazy grapplers going all out busting out crazy armbars and legbars left and right and fighting fiercely. My girl Yagi totally stole the show having some great exchanges. I was also super impressed with Asari. She is someone I usually enjoy, but she totally adapted to the others style and busted out some super dope shit including her awesome swinging rana into an armbar. I‘ve never noticed Shiina much but she was hellbent on choking someone out. Amano was her usual self. The finish was great with Yagi pulling out an incredible counter. It was something Fujiwara would do if he was a 95 pound lithe athletic girl.

Hiromi Yagi & Yuka Shiina vs. Tanny Mouse & Yuki Miyazaki, NEO 5/3/2001

Not a match people would seek out on paper, but there were some good standing exchanges here. Miyazaki and Tanny where kind of a workrate team in NEO while still doing some comedy. Some moments felt comedic but not like contrived jokes. And the rest of this was quite good, mostly built around flash submissions and cool hard head spots from Tanny. Shiina was once again working like a submission artist and I think she's becoming one to watch. She's really putting the Sleeper Hold to use and that's something that will always get a wrestler on my good side. The ending was built around her trying to choke Tanny out, finding various ways to lock in sleepers and Tanny desperately avoiding them until Tanny caught her in a her weird Pallo Special to get the submission herself. Fun match and an example of sprinty joshi done right.

Yuka Shiina vs. Chaparita ASARI, NEO 12/7/2001

Awesome match! Pretty much Shiina countering Asaris flying into her grappling moves, and Asari countering with surprising grappling skill of her own. I love a match where wrestler not famous for grappling reveals themself to be good at grappling, and this was that. And they stuck to this simple story and it really worked in getting me into all their exchanges. Once again Shiina was hyper focussed on the sleeper. It build to a great ending with ASARI trying to knock her out with shotais and Shiina going for Sleepers from different angles. It's kind of mind blowing how simple great matches can be sometimes. Add a neat finish and you have one of the best joshi matches of the year.