French Catch Catch-Up

 Batman vs. Cesar Leoni, 9/26/1970

Man, it never ceases to be funny that they had a Batman running around in the French wrestling scene. The fact he doesn't wear a mask makes it even weirder. Batman is a great worker though and Leoni looked like a really good rudo too. These guys have really fast armdrags that they bump hard for, really good arm hold work that looks good even after you've seen a million workers do arm hold work. Batman is such a fun technician, he will do a whacky escape and then suddenly bust out a fast Fujiwara armbar. Leoni is clearly a really good wrestler too, and then suddenly he just increases the violence by smacking Batman hard in the jaw and following up with really nasty stomps and kicks. They keep wrestling but Leoni would always try to cheapshot Batman and punch him in painful places. He even removed the corner pads but it ended up costing him and he ate a nice decisive tombstone for the finish. Really nice 15 or so highlight reel of what made French wrestling so cool.

Le Hippie du Ring vs. Gilbert Bernaert, 9/26/1970

It's the Hippy of the Ring, baby. And well I did not expect this to have a bunch of awesome greco roman work, but it did! Bernaert just grabs and shoot suplexes the Hippie and they scramble to the ropes right at the start, and it's clear that Bernaert is not much on board with peace and love. But the Hippie could grapple too and they had an intense contest with some great greco roman throws. Eventually Bernaert starts brutalizing him with cheapshots, really lighting him up with kicks to the back, the chest... Bernaert was quite the stocky baby faced fucker here. Add a cool boston crab finish and a big bump and you have yourself one hell of a match. This ruled, honestly.

Guy Cavillier vs. Albert Sanniez, 2/1/1969

1 Fall match going about 18 minutes. It‘s Cavilliers second match on TV in about 12 years (that we have). Weird how that happens. Cavillier seems to have filled out a bit and was rocking a singlet here. This was the kind of smooth, beautiful lightweight style we‘ve come to associate initially with French pro wrestling. Cavillier drew some boos when he threw the first european uppercut, but they kept the bout in a light hearted direction, even doing some ref comedy (which, thankfully, did not derail the contest). Sanniez was stunning here, doing some excellent bridging work. Cavallier looked more secure too than he did 12 years earlier (shocker!), bouncing around in agile fashion. Like many of these friendly European matches where the referee becomes the butt of jokes there was no winner, so keep in mind that the journey is more important than the destination here. And there was some quite excellent wrestling on that journey.

KEITA in the VKF

 

Keita Yano vs. GOA, VKF 9/29/2019

GOA has also gone by HUB and a bunch of other names. I've only seen him in Fire Pro Returns so it was cool that the gimmick is still around. But he was a straight forward wrestler here and game to have a really good little match with KEITA. This starts with a bunch of indy WoS matwork which is something that can be trite in 2019, but Keita is pretty much a master at this point. Just the way he gracefully slips beneath to lock in a surfboard hold is a class above. GOA was a bit bland initially but he came into his own as the match went along busting out neat offense. I really liked his strangle holds and the following llave exchange, as well as the crazy pin combo he busted out. And Yano feeds really well into GOAs offense, such as eating a shining wizard to the back of his head while getting his leg stuck in the ropes, and timing his comebacks such as an inside cradle really well. I also really like his backbreaker with the arm behind the back, and the Yano Lock variations. Another neat finish.

Keita Yano vs. GOA, VKF 2/1/2020

This also opens with about 10 minutes of sublime matwork. I think GOA may have taken one of those Wallabee seminars as he matches up extremely well against Keita and adds a lot of nifty touches this time, such as turning a basic headscissor into a strangle hold. Keita of course is king of the mat now and was just the right mix of vicious and esoteric. At one point he did this great pin hold that looked to nearly pop GOAs shoulders. Really slick transitions between the holds while both guys busted out some great llaves, it was basically high end IWRG matwork. The standup portion was similiar to the previous match as they did a few callback spots and even teased the finish from the last match, so that was really neat. GOA did these cool moves where he did the Low Ki shining boomerang kick or whatever its called and he would spin into armbars. Keitas out of nowhere pin combos always get great reaction. Good shit and it says a lot that KEITA has been able to work himself up to an indy main eventer (well, this show as attended by 200 people, but its still something).

A few Matches from LLPW The Kageki Renaissance! Grand Opening 2nd 9/24/1992

 

Watch

 

Harley Saito vs. Leo Kitamura

This was a clipped match I would‘ve loved to see in full. Kitamura had some serious fight in her in 1992. She want at Saito all fired up and then Saito would brutalize her with kicks and shoot submissions. Saito looks unstoppable for a minute and hits one of the craziest punt kicks to Kitamuras face I‘ve ever seen in a match in this. The match ended up being about who could weather the others storm first and it ended up being a nice little fight. I have no idea if Kitamura landing on Saitos legs with the moonsault was intentional but her following up with stomps to the legs was nice.

Utako Hozumi vs. Rumi Kazama

About everything you want from your 10 minute joshi match. Both these two are better than history gives them credit. Really nice aggressive fighting early, I really liked Hozumi working over Kazama with open hands and Kazama landed a hard open hand shot of her own to shut it down. I also enjoyed Hozumi landing a splash with Kazama pulling up her knees and Kazama then working over her stomach with more nasty kicks and stomps. A really simple bit that they moved on from quickly but it made the whole more entertaining. These two know how to hit their stuff in a bit more interesting ways than most girl workers and the finish was really nice with Hozumi moving into her suplexes from unusual positions and trying to catch Kazamas kick combos. Hozumis suplexes were cool, and Kazamas kicks looked brutal. I miss 90s wrestling.

Shinobu Kandori & Midori Saito vs. Noriyo Tateno & Mikiko Futagami

Interesting match up here as they paired the stars with rookies. Futagami trying to stand up to Kandori was fun and Kandori is just a walking badass in 1992. She will make even a bodyslam look brutal and her submissions are great. Tateno is too limited to really be a good antagonist to the mighty Kandori, but their exchanges still had a few cool moments. I thought they would go the cheap routine at the end by having Saito job to Tateno, but instead Kandori tagged herself in and slapped on a perfect armbar that stopped the match. Tateno got up and pulled a Gracie match claiming she didn't give up. And... that's it? Not even a post match brawl? Maybe it was clipped out. This only went 10 minutes and I wonder if they did that because they knew the commercial tape would only be 1 hour. Regardless, Kandori is great.

THE LIBRARY

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #2

 2 Cold Scorpio & Vader vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Takashi Sugiura, NOAH 10/16/2001 - GREAT

Scorpio and Vader had a great dynamic as a team. Scorpio the more elegant wrestler, while Vader is just this hulking beast. As partners they act as foils for each other in a really unique way. This went a little under 7 minutes, but it was laid out nearly perfectly. Everything Vader does looks like he‘s just killing dudes, bashing guys heads in with his arms, body checks that look like they run you over. The crowd even buys a basic back suplex from him as a nearfall. Between Scorpio and Vader laying guys you get some fun character moments from both of them. Ikeda and Sugiura are mostly blown away but they get in some good hopespots. I liked the brief Ikeda/Scorpio section a lot. Ikeda was teeing off on Scorpio with stiff lariats until Scorpio was able to get in some beautiful (probably much less painfull but still hurty looking) kicks. Finish was fun too as Vader randomly seemed to hurt his leg. It may have been a shoot but probably not because Vader kept working matches the next couple days, but it gave the illusion that Sugiura might come back against the monster. The match ended early like a few NOAH matches did back in the day, to remind the crowd that things are important. Not the epic you might hope for when you see Ikeda and Vader and Scorpio in a match but it was healthy booking and the match was still really cool without burying Ikeda and young boy Sugiura.

2 Cold Scorpio & Vader vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 10/19/2001 - GREAT

Another match with a really great layout. Basically Vader is this ridiculously overpowered, but slightly banged up monster. You buy that he can KO people with a random punch or clothesline, or that a random leglock from him might dislocate someones leg. At the same time he‘s vulnerable and you think a random leg kick from Saito might make him give out. Akiyama and Saito try to zone in on Scorpio, he‘s not really the weak link, he‘s just the only one there that they have a chance in hell against. Scorpio feeds really well into their stuff and also sets up Vaders monster spots extremely well while hitting some graceful offense of his own. But the whole match was basically about Vader being an unstoppable force, while Akiyama and Saito still get close to turning the tide. I imagine it‘s pretty difficult to work a match like this and make it compelling but they succeeded here. Great stuff, early NOAH was the best.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. The Goon, WWF 12/2/1996 - FUN

This was Scorpios WWF debut using the terrible Flash Funk gimmick. Nowadays I imagine a guy with spectacular highspots making his debut would just eat the other guy up busting out all his stuff, but here the Goon controls a bit while Scorpio gradually does his stuff. The Goon who looks like some bush league indy dude in his hockey gear has some fun brawling, a nice bump through the ropes and a really nice posting. And Scorpio was pretty much the most spectacular guy in the world in 1996, really busting out complicated dives and rollups on a different level. And because of the match layout he gets over as more than a highspot machine. Fun match despite the unfortunate gimmick.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project 

FULL 6/21/1992

 Watch

 Sankigake Gantetsu vs. Super Tigrito

Gantetsu is a young, mulleted Dick Togo. Super Tigrito is probably not a luchador going by how he wrestles here, throwing kicks and working kimuras. Both guys seemed green but this went 5 minutes and they hit enough fun moves for this to get the full Japan indy opening match point. At one point Togo hit this really beautiful twisting senton where he ran up the turnbuckle. It was a fun match.

Kendo & Super Delfin & Robin Hood vs. El Engendro & Rocky Santana & Rambo

This had some unusual sloppiness to begin, but then Engendro took this huge bump to the outside and we're off to the races. Robin Hood and Kendo are so much fun, their stumpy legged athleticism is just the best, and the expert rudo team of  Engendro/Satana/Rambo making young Delfin look really good was great too. They certainly knew how to make these trios matches fun back then and not just a series of highspots. There was a lot of spice due to the rudos antics plus ref comedy and what not. Rambo hit a great looking flying clothesline at one point and you have to love that. Kendo also won the dive train with a huge body press over the top rope.

El Pantera vs. Ciclon Ramirez

I love how booking two luchadores in a singles match in Korakuen Hall is basically always a challenge to them to deliver lucha at the highest level of the artform. This had some fantastic scientific lucha matwork and tricked out armdrags to start. I think Pantera is a pretty underrated luchador and he looked really good. The second half felt a bit like they were wrestling in a vacuum - probably due to all the complicated shit they were doing - but they won the crowd back over with some huge dives which is what counts.

Shu el Guerrero & Scorpio Jr. vs. Bulldog KT & Coolie SZ

Bulldog and Coolie are Jado and Gedo. Gedo has a neon singlet, a mullet and a mustache here and he looks really pudgy. This also had the schizophrenic problem of having Jado and Gedo be the faces. They delivered some decent wrestling, though. I always love seeing Shu El Guerrero and he carries young Gedo no problem through some lucha matwork. Gedos fat boy ranas were actually great.  I don't think I've ever seen a match where Scorpio Jr. looked great but he looked fine here. Eventually Gedo turns heel on Jado for some reason and beats up Kendo. Jado eats a beatdown but actually wins the match with a rollup then gets his ass kicked by Gedo some more. It's unclear how this angle further played out since they actually won the tag titles here, but it seems Gedo won the vacant titles later that year teaming with fucking Pat Tanaka, which I'm gonna have to seek out just for the morbid curiosity of it.

Dos Caras & Gran Hamada vs. Villano IV & Villano V

This starts with the Villanos kicking a lot of ass and taking names. They were like the Miracle Violence Connection in this, except moving faster. One Villano hitting a suicide dive then chucking a chair in Hamadas face was awesome. There was also a great looking solebutt that caught Hamada in the chin. The eventual comeback from Caras and Hamada was fired up, but it looked a bit too easy. They tried to increase the intensity by doing some mask removal spots which lead to Dos Caras and Villano having to wear each others mask which is always fun, but I wanted blood or something. Actually Hamada ends up getting attacked by Gedo after the match and bleeding while garbage is thrown at the ring. It was a little weird that he would wait to do that until after the match.

THE LIBRARY

JWP Title Matches

 

Hikari Fukuoka vs. Yasha Kurenai, JWP 12/6/1997

The more Kurenai I watch, the more I think she‘s among the most underrated women in joshi history. This was an epic JWP title match all about the yanki ways of Kurenai. It‘s easy to dismiss her as a run of the mill brawler… but she will chop you in the throat, boot you in the face and hit you with a kendo stick, all done in a way that sets her a step above. She has no problem going Fukuokas speed, and Fukuokas workrate spots are made a lot more interesting by the factor of Kurenai smashing her with a chair in the middle of a handspring move. Kurenai kind of no-sold a Fukuoka tombstone, but it was a pretty soft tombstone, and she came back chucking a chair at Fukuoka, so I guess it was a rightful no-sell. I have no problem calling her performance here flawless. I thought Fukuoka was no selling Kureanai here a bit, but then Kurenai kept coming back (without being your turn-my turn) and making bigger and bigger dents in her. Early on Fukuoka was pelting Kurenai with nasty kicks and you got the sense she considered Kurenai an annoying lower ranked LLPW scoundrel, but Kurenai soon put some respect in her. Loved how Fukuoka went into panic mode whenever Kurenai went for her signature submission. Her moonsault to the outside also felt like an epic spot due to it being late in the match and the elaborate set up. Another highlight was Fukuoka blocking a chokeslam in cool fashion and then hitting an out of nowhere high kick. Overall I‘d file this as an excellent nuanced ace performance from Fukuoka. Kurenais last hurray being her hitting Fukuoka in the leg with the kendo stick out of nowhere also ruled. Great match between two workers people should talk about more.

Ran Yu-Yu vs. Azumi Hyuga, JWP 12/23/1999

Hyugas 1999 title run has to be up there with the greatest in joshi history. Too bad it was largely overshadowed by what Yoshida was doing in ARSION, but these matches still hold up. This was another excellent contest. Yu-Yu got to look like dynamite here. She is such a unique wrestler while being able to go the usual joshi pace. This didn‘t have some kind of hook-sinker story like other Hyuga title matches, but the work was consistently strong and everything made sense. Just the way Yu-Yu would work a random sleeper was outstanding. And she was fierce and competitive against the champion. Hyuga has a rep for being queen of workrate matches, but I thought Yu-Yus athleticism easily overshadowed her. They had excellent chemistry and made the whole match look like a struggle. I especially appreciated how hard they worked to build to the bombs, without just dropping them one after another as you often see in joshi matches. The finish felt a bit easy and an unbecoming end to Hyugas great reign, but you end up happy for Ran Yu-Yu.

A very GAJO new year!

  GAJO vs. Takahiro Tababa, 2018/7/8

Simplistic, insanely violent, gory match, which resembled a mix of early 2000s NJPW, FUTEN, CAPTURE, EXIT and an especially brutal sparring session. If that description isn't enough to sway you into watching this, both these guys are thickly built and pissed off. GAJO violently shoving Tababa into the corner to start was a nice basic opening. Tababa then dodged him and went to town beating the soul out of him with gross kicks, a big double stomps and punches to the skull. Gajo is busted open but comes back taking down Tababa and busts him open with some sick elbows to the head. Wonder why you don't see those more often. The spear spots in this match were brutal and made me think I was watching the worlds most violent Goldberg match. Just as Gajo was trying to decapitate Tababa with lariats I was wondering how the match could get more violent, and then a crazy bump into the chains/wall happened. This was just barbaric but well executed, didn't get boring, had credible transitions and an arc, never did I think I was watching two backyarders engage in a senseless gross out spectacle, while it retained that sense of chaotic brutality. Genuinely great match, thank to Ohtanis Jacket and his wife for helping to provide this.

GAJO vs. Takahiro Tababa, IMPACT 11/1/2020

This was not quite as crazy from the get go as the previous match, but it was still about 10 minutes of two thickly built lunatics beating each other to a bloody pulp. Another primitive shootstyle brawl where the fun really started when Tababa connected some nasty headbutts in the corner and GAJO came back opening him with those elbows. Another really violent standoff ensued. There was another sick bump into the wall, and Tababa trying to kill GAJO with gnarly kicks. There was a subtle build to GAJOs spear to add some semblance of psychology to the carnage.