Assorted Japanese Indy Wrestling

 

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Chocoball Mukai, Fuyuki Army 12/5/2003

Mukai usually was this scuzzy character, but here he‘s an asskicker wearing MMA gloves and kickpads beating the hell out of Ishikawa. Everyone gets to work stiff when facing Ishikawa I guess. And this is really one hell of a match. Mukai gives his all beating the shit out of Ishikawa, hitting some gnarly punches, joint-popping arm holds and even bloodying Ishikawas mouth. Ishikawa is who you think he is, busting out some neat counters and letting Mukai look way way better than he has any right to. Add Chocoball Mukai to the list of guys to have their career match against Yuki. 

Rikiya Fudo & Raito Shimitsu vs. Tatsuhiko Nakagawa & Akira Jo, ?? 1/11/2020

Glad this kind of modern scum indy match is now seeping onto YouTube so I can watch and cherish it. This is labelled DARK KARATE vs. WRESTLING HEAVYWEIGHTS and that's really all the story you need. Akira Jo is this Ex-IGF guy who kind of turned into an Oriharaite, and Nakagawa looked pretty badass with his gloves and overall just punching and kicking people. Shimitsu is the perennial good little worker of these trash indies with his amateur style and energy, and Fudo is that old CAPTUREhead who comes in to chop hard and drop really violent elbow drops and splashes on people. I think current day Ishii vs. Fudo would be pretty amazing. Great moment where Fudo busts Nakagawa in the face with a chair, Nakagawa comes back bleeding and pulls a belt out to choke Fudo. Then you get Shimitsu unloading his cool suplexes for the finish, Nakagawa spin kicking him in the face etc. Good shit.

GWE watching: Shinobu Kandori

 

Jackie Sato & Miss A vs. Harley Saito & Shinobu Kandori, JWP ?/1987

Super cool find from the mysterious 80s JWP era. This was just a year into the company so everyone besides Jackie was green here, but they could all bring it. Saito was quite fiery here, lighting everyone up with stiff kicks and shoot submissions. I‘d love to see more Jackie Sato from this time period as she seems to have reinvented herself completely doing slick grappling sections against Kandori and Saito. Kandori wasn‘t quite herself yet, but engaged in some stiff exchanges with Miss A. A also looked green, but was already quite the crowbar having some brutal exchanges against both opponents. Her hot tag looked too easy but it lead to a heated Sato/Kandori exchange. The finish isn‘t what you want, but the action was good and most of all really interesting in this.

Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito vs. Choi So Ra & Lee Hye Ran, LLPW 10/31/2004

Choi and Lee are a pair of Korean girls. I have no idea what their backstory is, did they come from the Korean wrestling scene or where they just a pair of Korean idols who ended up doing Japanese pro wrestling for a bit? Lee Hye Ran had really nice kicks and she had a really cool kick battle with Harley Saito. Choi So Ra didn‘t look bad either. She mostly just got ripped apart by Kandoris submissions but was able to lock in an impressively smooth Fujiwara armbar of her own. She also took some Tenryu level violent kicks to the face from Saito. Kandori was not really in top shape here anymore but she was still quite charismatic and produced some good moments. This was short and neat.

Harley Saito & Mizuki Endo vs. Shinobu Kandori & Noriyo Tateno, LLPW 6/21/1998

More Kandori being a charismatic badass grapppler. This was all about Endo trying to step up to big bad Kandori, and Saito trying to help her in the process. Kandori was trying to snap limbs and not taking shit. There were also some brief, good Saito/Kandori exchanges for old times sake (where is their big nostalgia singles?) including an awesome moment where Endo gets a nice nearfall after Saito landed an Ikeda esque kick to Kandoris face. Endo is a fun plucky grappler, and probably would‘ve been a minor legend if she had joined ARSION or something.

Shinobu Kandori vs. Noriyo Tateno, LLPW 10/30/1992

I can‘t decide whether or not Tateno sucks. Her moveset is so generic, she really has no charisma and she doesn‘t sell on a deeper level, but this ended up being solid due to Kandori being Kandori. Kandori is just a beast who will pummel you with open hands and throws and submissions that force anyone to the rope fast, and that makes for a an entertaining match against nearly anyone. Tateno just kind of barrages her with offense – I liked the two diving knees – and I gained a bit of respect for her when she gutted it tthrough Kandoris brutal subs and slams in the finishing run. She also took a pretty big bump. She was no Itsuki Yamazaki as a singles wrestler, but few are. And Kandori is Kandori.

BATOS CAFE 2/23/2020

 Manabu Hara vs. Onryo

It's BattlARTS vs. WYF baby! Just 20 years late! Onryo in his broken down old age has become a good little worker and this was a ton of fun. Opening grappling where Onryos radiation dust kept annoying Hara was really fun, and Onryo produced a nice highlight when he caught Hara in a neat pin combo. They made it clear the ghost wasn't on Haras level as a grappler but he could do hang on and maybe do something ghostly to catch the shooter. Onryo controlling by working Haras leg was a bit trite and didn't mean much. The finishin stretch on the other hand was made fun by Onryo busting out some surprisingly slick moves while Hara just tried to armbar the zombie. Satisfying match up.

SUSHI vs. Kagura

Kagura is some sleaze junior in a cheap skull mask. He seems to be decently athletic. This was a slow junior match and kind of trite. They really needed to work some decent basic opening exchanges or something. SUSHI I think has worked AJPW but he really doesn't show much at all here, and he was supposed to be the face, Kagura did all the somewhat cool things. Crap finish too.

Yasu Urano vs. Hiroshi Yamato

Wow! Surprisingly fun match. Is matwork becoming trendy on the Japanese indies now or something? I'm here for it. They honest to god did some pretty good matwork here. Urano had these neat leg stretches and takeovers and looked like he should be with the Mumejuku crew. There was also a sequence of duelling strait jacket holds that was straight out of WoS. Yamamoto looked pretty decent. They also went into a sequence of armdrags at one point that felt honest to god spontaneous and cool. The finish wasn't as exciting as they went for comedy for some reason. Still, I probably should watch more of these guys.

Yuki Ishikawa vs. GENTARO

This was all grappling, if you can get into match that is all matwork you will like this. Honestly thought the grappling here was up there with Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Greco. Ishikawa is a bonafide master at this stage, and GENTARO is really tenacious and matches him. They make no secret that Ishikawa is dictating things with all the awesome and unusual stuff he was doing, which makes the match. GENTARO doesn’t get to grapple often but he’s really good at it. He kept locking in hammerlocks and short arm scissors from odd angles and it made it feel like Ishikawa was facing a 50s grappler. Several amazing moments (the painful leglock battle, all the choke attempts including GENTAROs sleeper, the leglock/head and arm choke battle, the ending) and Ishikawa honestly looked like the GOAT.

Yuiga vs. Rion Mizuki vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Minoru Tanaka

On a show full of serious undercard matches, they do a weird 4 way dance where they break every other minute to drink shots. Some solid individual exchanges here, especially dig Yuiga who's such a crowbar, but everyone just did their bread and butter and you can imagine there wasn't much depth with the stipulation. I would've rather seen this run as a tag as I imagine Yuiga and pretty boy Mizuki vs. the junior vets would've been pretty cool.

THE LIBRARY

Distillated HEAT

 Dean Malenko vs. Joe Legend, WWF 8/8/2000

This was when they tried to give Malenko some colour by giving him a ladys man gimmick. So he struts out with two hot ladies to grapple with Just Joe. This is one of those 5 minute HEAT matches where I assume both guys agreed that they wouldn't take any bumps so they just arm lock each other a bunch and it's awesome. Really eschews a traditional match structure and they do things like awkwardly kicking each other in the shoulder and just aggressively going for arm attacks. It was stuff you'd expect in an Otani match. Joe works the DOUBLE CHICKENWING and the commentators have no idea what to make of this. Malenko goes for a backdrop and Joe counters but instead of bumping him he just goes for a hammerlock. Joe has a fun spot where goes for a superkick and gets his leg caught on the top rope. The finish is Joe goes to hit Malenko with his belt (It's a title match baby!) and Malenko pins him with Fujinami leg pin. Completely inexplicable and cool.

Essa Rios vs. Billy Fives, WWF 4/10/2000

Rios didn't go far in WWF but he was an athletic machine, probably the most spectacular wrestler in the world at that point. Billy Fives is an indy random and for some guy who's not a luchador and only had this 1 match on WWF TV he bases well for Rios stuff. Rios does all this awesome stuff including superkicking Fives hard, nice punch combo, cool powerslam and hits a hard clothesline. Lita is with Rios so she whips out her awesome apron rana followed by the insane Rios flip dive. Rios actually gives this indy random some offense and Fives makes the most of it hitting a martial arts spin kick to Rios' ribs in the corner and a nearly rib crunching frog splash. Rios with the insanely gorgeous moonsault is always great.

Perry Saturn vs. Chad Collyer, WWF 9/18/2000

Just a 3 minute match, but Saturn in syndicated matches against indy scum is guaranteed entertainment. This had the structure of an indy juniors match sandwhiched into a 3 minute slot, starting with mat work to a little heat section before Saturn gives Collyer some offense and then finishes him off. Saturns matwork looks really good, really dragging Collyer around, the heat section is good as Saturn throws Collyer around with some hurty suplex and a brutal Aja Kong style corner gutbuster, all while playing to the crowd working his valet. Collyer hits a nice German on Saturn and eats a cool Death Valley Driver.

Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Essa Rios, WWF 5/15/2000

Nobody really talks about Scotty 2 Hotty as a great worker, but with his dance moves, cool athleticism, punches and Memphis-taught understanding of how to 'rassle, I sure wish there were more Scotty 2 Hottys around and less kickpadded genericos. Really fun 5 minute match centered around the face charisma of Scotty, with Lita again whipping out her awesome rana and Rios taking huge bumps including the gigantic missed moonsault into the ring. The psychology around the WORM is fun, as Scotty hits it to the crowds delight, Rios gets up immediately and get caught in another move and pinned.

Assorted AJW Handhelds

 

Aja Kong vs. Mariko Yoshida, AJW 2/7/1995

This was before Yoshida was the master grappler and instead a highflyer. Individual parts of this match were pretty great, just needed slightly better selling and transitions to make a classic. Opening has Aja crushing Yoshida with fat kicks and elbow drops, really says a lot about Ajas status as an all time great monster that she is destroying people on house shows. Yoshida works Ajas leg, and while Aja doesn‘t really sell it the section didn‘t go long and I loved Yoshida going to town on Ajas leg with Ajas trashcan. Kong going to toss Yoshida around outside the ring (camera guy misses most of that part but from what we hear it sounds like Yoshida took a bunch of nasty bumps into metal) was cool and the finish was pretty great with Yoshida throwing hands and both fighting fierce. Yoshida even kicking out of Kongs basic moves got big reactions and her graceful flying is still really cool. The thud when Yoshida flew right into a kick had to be one of the sickest I‘ve heard. Nasty, well-timed face crushing backfist finish too. This really feels like a match they should‘ve run on a bigger stage even in 1995.

Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta vs. Aja Kong & Kaoru Ito, AJW 1/25/1995

Pretty great, fired up house show main event tag. Kong always beats the fuck out of Toyota, and there are one or 2 badass exchanges between her and Hotta in this. It was all about how young Kaoru Ito would hold in a main event with the big players, and she does pretty fine as the plucky sidekick to juggernaut Aja. Opening with Ito setting up her higher ranked opponents to be pulverized by Ajas crushing moves was really great, and Toyota and Hotta are really good at cutting off and isolating their opponents. It picks up strong for the ending phase as Ito stands stronger than you expect against her opponents. I was ready to complain about Toyota making an easy comeback, but then Ito just tried to stomp her guts out. Incredible vicious double stomps that girl had. Finish with Toyota & Hotta turning Itos and Kongs double teams against them was surprisingly smart. Trickier match than you‘d expect.

Matches from and old Scott Mailman comp tape

 Watch

 

 Takashi Sasaki vs. Sanshiro Takagi, DDT 9/30/1999

Pretty good quasi-BattlARTS match. Sasaki was the real deal ripping out fast submissions and landing knees to Takagis face. I didn't really appreciate Takagis stomp-punches-Stone-Cold-Stunner style much next to Sasakis cutting edge spin kicks and cool Destiny Hammers, but to be fair Sasaki ate the fuck out of those Stunners. Takagi kind of redeemed himself busting out some cool backfists. Full indy scum point to this match.

Asian Cougar & Kurokage vs. Kyohei Mikami & Takashi Sasaki Onita Pro 9/16/1999

This is a really 'comp tape' match. They do some brief opening work and then get to their cool highspots. Sasaki looked good once again being surprisingly vicious to Kurokage. It's nice to have a guy who can kick ass and while punch the shit out of people inserted into a more spot oriented junior undercard match. Dive train on the concrete was really sick and the neck-crunching big move ladden ending run was choice without getting on your nerves. I miss when juniors did moves like Powerbombs or Flying Armbars instead of superkicks and canadian destroyer like shit all the time.

Asian Cougar & Yuki Nishino vs. Takashi Sasaki & GENTARO Onita Pro 12/1/1999

Even more 'comp tape' highlight reel match, since they clipped a 9 minute match down to five or so. This was worth watching though. Nishino is my boy and he and Sasaki beating on each other with lariats and running headbutts was pretty badass. After that we get a Korakuen Hall upgraded run of sick highspots mostly involving Asian Cougar. He hits the chair senton to the floor, a bunch of whacked-out legdrops right on peoples jaw etc. Sasakis spinning kick to an opponent placed against the apron was a pretty sick regular spot. Full point, once again.

Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #5

 

Command Bolshoi vs. Kaori Yoneyama, JWP 3/12/2006

 

Another pretty high end workrate match. Opening had some really fun, fast lucharesu exchanges and Bolshoi constantly getting the better of Yoneyama on the mat. These two bust out slick counters and exchanges like it‘s nothing. There wasn‘t some kind of epic story but the action was fast and good and everything makes sense. Yoneyama matches up really well with Bolshoi, she bases extremely well for Bolshois more complicated moves, and her high spots look hurty. Once again, Yoneyama flipping out and beating the soul out of Bolshoi with a brutal barrage of elbows, double axe handles and knees was the highlight of the match. They spent good amount of time building to Yoneyamas Code Red and it was the most I‘ve cared about a Code Red in a match in a while. And Bolshoi was great as usual with her submissions and open hand attacks which she times great.

Command Bolshoi vs. GAMI, JWP 8/18/2013

This would‘ve been a super dream match in 1998, it was a pretty fun veterans contest in 2013. GAMI will bust out the paper fan and hit you upside the head, she‘s a bit slower but still a smart worker as evidenced by her excellently timed eye pokes and boot scrapes, you can kinda see here as a more credible Giant Baba. Bolshoi matches up really well against GAMIs trickery and busts out lots of neat submissions and out of nowhere stiff palm strikes. I really liked the dueling Stretch Plums, and also this was 2 count rules and that can be really fun as almost everything produces a credible nearfall.

BONUS MATCH - 

Command Bolshoi vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto, Ice Ribbon 12/26/2010

Tsukasa ain‘t much special, but she has some neat pin variations and is over with her Ice Ribbon crowd as an underdog. I can‘t imagine wanting to watch Tsukasa against mostly everyone else, but Bolshoi is a master grappler and this is her match. Really resembled a prime Yoshida the way she pulled Fujimoto into one submission after another. Her rolling calf slicer was awesome, and she just sets her stuff up incredibly well. Fujimoto also took some harder than usual open hand strikes from Bolshoi and timed her comebacks well. Quite great 9 minute match and Bolshoi was pretty unreal at this point.

Kings Road Hataage 1/15/2006

 Yuki Ishikawa vs. Shota Takanishi

Kings Road was this weird kind of low budget project that tried to simulate a classic All Japan feeling on a small stage. But they bring in Yuki Ishikawa to have a match against their bland rookie, so it's all good with me! About as good of a 6 minute rookie squash as you can ask for. Takanishi only has elbows and a boston crab and Ishikawa still makes him look like a threat while lookin like a badass himself. Check out how Ishikawa would put over a basic side headlock or Takanishis elbows. Really good brief mat-work section too. And then Ishikawa just choked the poor kid out. I'm guessing Takanishi was an AJPW Dojo reject because he kept working Zero1 never achieving much and quietly retiring 5 years later.

Yuto Aijima vs. Daisuke Ikeda

Aijima is a roided West Japan scum who surfaced in post-split AJPW. I'm guessing he owns the ring or something and that's why he's booked to look strong, that or it's just the fact they didn't have a roster for this fed. Ikeda mostly reverses Aijimas holds by doing biting, eye pokes etc. and does flash pins while Aijima huffs and puffs. Really not how you want this to be worked at all.

Gran Naniwa vs. Fake Tarzan Goto

Weird angle where real Tarzan Goto ands up coming in to kick ass. I don't get that if you have Actual Tarzan Goto and are running with a roster this thin why not just give him a match. Real Tarzan Goto vs. Gran Naniwa would rule.

Koichiro Kimura & Tomohiko Hashimoto vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Takao Ohmori

Slightly better match than you expect, as it had something resembling a story as the AJPW vets didn't take their indy scoundrel opponents very seriously at first only for Kimura and Hashimoto to isolate them. Kimura really can't abuse these vets like he can abuse random DDT and FUTEN undercarders to there was a ceiling to how good the match could be but it was solid. Koshinaka and Ohmori ate some stiff kicks and there were some big spots including a 3 man German suplex and Koshinaka busting out hip attacks left and right. Not much depth (Ohmori kind of no sells Kimuras arm work) but I would classify it as a working boots match for them.

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Kazushi Miyamoto

Kazushi Miyamoto was the guy they put their hopes in to carry this weird fed. At this point he was like every first guy you make in the CAW mode when you play around with a new wrestlin game, he had borrowed all the cool moves from popular guys and he was a solidly trained wrestler, so he was capable of having good matches. He reminded me a bit of Jumbo in the 70s as he was largely inoffensive and solid but really doesn't add many flourishes. And Tenryu works this in the Jumbo role, and they lay the match out kind of like Flair vs. Koko B. Ware in Memphis as they start basic and then build to increasingly intense strike exchanges where the star fools people into thinking the nobody could win. So it's 70s Jumbo vs. Tenryu playing 90s Jumbo worked like Flair vs. Koko Ware... IT'S KING ROAD BABY~! Tenryu is really good here and Miyamoto is game getting punched in the face and catching tables with his head. Really liked all of Tenryus selling that he got caught by surprise from Miyamotos attack. Like he's shrugging off Miyamotos chops then suddenly goes OW MY THROAT and the crowd wakes up and there's actual excitement in this. Really liked the bit where Miyamoto hit this reckless headbutt to Tenryus jaw and then followed up with an even more reckless moonsault that was like an avalanche Pele Kick that also caught Tenryu weirdly. And you can make fun of Miyamoto for being a CAW but he was smart enough to open up Tenryu with punches and then do the Kawada kicks to Tenryus bloody face and putting on the Stretch Plum. Really really fun 2000s Tenryu main event overall.

The Library

Tarzan Goto Documentation #10

Tarzan Goto vs. Katsuji Ueda, FMW 8/25/1990 - GREAT

I always wanted a Katsuji Ueda showcase match, and here he is against Goto!! I don‘t know much about Ueda, but he is someone I buy as being tough just by looking at him. Mustache, boxing gloves, taped ankles for some reason. And Goto doesn‘t care about any of that – as he opens by moving in and trying to headbutt Ueda into oblivion right at the go. Ueda throws punches and kicks and this is really like a martial artist vs. Bar fighter match. Goto moves close enough to Ueda where in a normal sport the referee would break it up – but this is FMW, so Ueda eats headbutts to the face. Goto also has some pretty fast ankle picks for a fat guy. Ueda soon puts a pretty big beating on Goto, knees to the face, elbows to the back of the head. It‘s rough and grizzly and Goto is soon bleeding like crazy and getting knocked out over again. Pretty great transition from Goto bullying this guy around Goto putting over how dangerous his strikes are. It looks like Goto is done but he is able to catch a kick, pop Ueda with another headbutt and sink in a Figure 4 of all things. Some really great falling headbutts to Uedas leg later and he‘s out. I would‘ve liked a bigger 3rd stanza with Goto throwing Ueda around some more, but it made sense since Goto looked on the brink of defeat. Great match, anyways.

 

Tarzan Goto vs. Masaru Toi, FMW 2/19/1994 - GREAT

Curious match up because it‘s Toi working a main event singles (unless there was a match after this that the camera guy missed). The match was almost a total squash too, albeit a memorable one simply due to the sheer violent asskicking Goto unleashed. Toi paid his dues working in Calgary so he was never really on young boy duty and instead the guy delivering punishment when it comes to his matches in W*ING, PWC etc., so Goto kicking him all over the place here felt different. Goto was like a more violent Regal early on, cutting off Toi in different ways with knees to the face, punches, headbutts to the side of his head etc. Soon Goto was chucking tables at Tois head and bloodying him. Toi made the most of his brief offensive runs catching Goto with some kicks to the chin. Goto mostly catches them and continues the beatdown so when Toi finallly slowed him down with his gnarly solebutt to the face it felt rewarding. Of course Goto soon just dropped him with a Hashimoto level brainbuster and pinned him. For how one sided the match was, it was pretty great.

Tarzan Goto vs. Viking Taniguchi, Onita Pro 9/23/2001 - FUN

Merciless, Necro-level one sided beating by Goto to Taniguchi. Taniguchi isn‘t very good and his one comeback is pretty lackluster so it was probably for the better he barely got any offense. Goto did it all here, chucking chairs, tables at him, beer bottle, violent lariats and punches. He also beats on referees and ring announcers after the match, I‘m not sure of the monster Tarzan Goto run ever happened in Onita Pro but it looked promising here.

Tarzan Goto Documentation Project