RIP Tarzan Goto

Tarzan Goto & Atsushi Onita vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara, WAR 2/3/1994 - EPIC

This is the match that stole the #1 spot from the 6/3/ Misawa/Kawada match in the 1994 Japan Match of the Year awards. That should give you an idea of what kind of epic scope we are looking at for a match here. Of course, it‘s FMW vs. WAR and two of the biggest stars in all of Japan, Onita and Tenryu are involved, so you are going to have absolutely molten heat and crazy reactions for everything compared to the somewhat sterile formality of a Misawa/Kawada match, but this match is way more than just star power. It‘s a remarkably intricate match, really, and there‘s a sneaky Goto performance here as he plays second fiddle to Onita but largely carries his team. They work the early exchanges with insanely high stakes and drop of a hat momentum shifts, guys get thrown outside just to get back in immediately to not risk a brawl outside, later Tenryu immediately tags out after eating an armbreaker from Goto to avoid possible armwork etc. Goto works the early exchanges teasing Onita coming in to square off with Tenryu. When Onita finally tags in the place comes unglued, but he soon gets busted open and kicked to a bloody pulp by Tenryu and Hara. WAR guys kicking a bleeding guy in the face is tried and true greatness, and when someone as charismatic of a bleeding babyface as Onita is on the receiving end it‘s really upper echelon stuff. I really liked how Onitas hot tag seemed to come as a fluke as he just ducked a move, but Goto just immediately tags him in again as if to give the fans some more star action but Onita gets his ass kicked even more. At that point it‘s like Onita is the broken down megastar and Goto starts thinking on how to salvage his team. Tenryu gets a bit too angry at Goto breaking up a pin, rushing him which in turn leads to Goto clocking Tenryu with a chair and bloodying him. At that point the match just becomes this huge Tarzan Goto rally where he just keeps taking people out. He busts out his huge superfly splash to Hara which leads to Hara having to get taped up, later he hits his huge facebuster to Tenryu onto a table which is a fucking nasty move to take on those hard ass Japanese tables. Hara getting taped up after the splash is honestly such a neat detail, how many tag matches do you recall where a guy has to get taped up after eating a finisher to continue the match? It‘s rare but it totally makes sense and it should happen more often, and it made the second superfly splash to Tenryu so much more brutal. When Hara later grabs Gotos leg to prevent him from making another safe it‘s really this crucial moment and maybe most heated moment in the whole match, as Goto has safed Onitas ass for half the match. It‘s really an amazing match full of impeccable timing and psychology, I have to say Onitas basic DDT to Tenruy reentering the ring may have been one of the greatest transitions ever, and Tenryu was world class as usual going from megastar who‘s pained to deal with these garbage wrestling scumbags to being furious and beating the shit out of people to punch drunkenly trying to lariat and abiesigiri his way out of a really tense situation. I also really like Hara just for his crazy facial expressions and selling, he looks mad tough shrugging of Gotos headbutts and strikes initially so when Goto lariats him really hard and his eyes roll back it looks just killer. Really everyone here was great and it‘s no surprise this ended up being the #1 match of the year, heated to the max with a beautiful story where they did a great job going from Onita bleeding and getting beaten to Onita and Tenryu taking guys out and swarming Tenryu, ending with an all-timer of a finish. I mean people can complain about sloppiness or whatever, but for me it doesn‘t get much more real than Tenryu trying to duck an enzuigiri only for Onita to catch him and drop him on his head because Onita is that beaten up and broken. This may not just be the greatest tag of 1994, but the greatest tag match of all time.

Tarzan Goto vs. Cactus Jack IWA 10/5/1995 - EPIC

These two are among the most „crazy brawler“ looking guys in history, and they do a bunch of crazy brawling in this, but there‘s also a surprising amount of wrestling! Jack controls early with a fucking Fujiwara armbar of all things and then works a bunch of sleeper holds. Technical babyface is a bit strange for Mick Foley to work, but they do a pretty fun job at it! Of course, 1995 Mick Foley is also an absolute bump freak and down to trade punches with Goto, and Goto is a great bruiser squashing him with nasty lariats and facebusters. Both guys end up bleeding big and Goto does his classic bloodletting, cracking Foley with a beer bottle and stabbing him in the face. Goto getting heel reactions from his home crowd says alot about what an effective heel he is, and Jack bleeds and sells like crazy. What makes the match is the amount of energy both guys put in, usually in these kind of matches guys will stroll around or lay on the mat while the other guy sets things up, here both guys are constantly reaching for weapons, when Goto goes outside Jack follows him and connects with a nasty hip attack, later Jack catches Goto in a backslide during a lazy moment for a tremendous hope spot. Tremendous Foley performance and Goto is a fantastic antagonist while also putting Foley over huge, and this match was a great example of both guys having the nuts and bolts of wrestling down along with the crazy bumps and blood.

Tarzan Goto vs. Atsushi Onita, FMW 8/4/1990 - GREAT

This was the first ever exploding barbedwire match and also a match that stole the match of the year awards, proving Goto had some serious workrate cred in Japan in the 90s. Unlike later explosion matches where they would milk and tease the falls into the wire to the max this match is chaotic like a warzone as the explosions go of left and right sometimes triggered by guys just stepping too hastily next to the wire. Onita unwittingly triggers two explosions early on and he gets up bleeding from his arm and a nasty cut in his back. Goto is right on him dropping him with fat powermoves and bloodying his face with nasty headbutts and fists. They make up for the shoddy explosions by headbutting each other to a bloody pulp and it's quite gritty. Goto works on Onitas bad leg a bit with some figure 4s that Onita punches and headbutts his way out of and they continue fighting. Goto is bombing Onita and he looks done but Onita is able to ram him into the wire and Goto takes the biggest bump of the match as he gets entangled in barbedwire and explosions. Then Onita keeps dropping him with like a dozen powerbombs and DDTs until Goto stays down. Could've done with another big Goto rally having a go Onitas bad leg like they teased but it was a wild, cool, experimental fight that probably sent the fans imagination running wild in 1990.

Tarzan Goto vs. Toshiaki Kawada, AJPW 11/28/1984 - FUN

What an insane upload. Mostly a fun technical match, with Goto doing the same cool hold for hold work while mixing in cool headbutts he would do later as a veteran. Kawada is a black trunks rookie and pretty athletic, he busts out a few very clean flips and even leaps to the top rope to hit a huge crossbody. Goto takes it in a style with the big Superfly Splash.

Tarzan Goto Documentation

2022 MOTY Project Update #2

 Charlie Dempsey vs. A-Kid, WWE 4/21/2022

Charlie Dempsey is Regals kid, and by god he wrestles and looks like a slightly skinnier Regal! He was awesome in this. Great bridges and nifty technical moves galore. A-Kid is kind of a generic indy kickpadded workhorse. His stuff looks a bit awfully light and dainty, but what can you do. He goes along well with Regal Jrs. technical stuff. The first round alone (this was rounds for some reason) would have made a great opening round to any WoS match. Loved all the Regal suplexes and the butterfly suplex sequence was fantastic. The first two finishes were really good, dug the slick back switches. The last fall was a bit of a let down as it was basically an RoH finish and not some kind of cool technical conclusion, but that's purely a purists concern. Hearty recommendation to check this out just for all the cool stuff little Regal can do.

2022 MOTY List

CAPTURE International 5/8/2022 Night Show

  Buy it here

1. Takahiro Tababa & Rocky Kawamura vs. Raito Shimizu & Hiroshi Yamato

Another solid 6 minute CAPTURE opener where everyone gets to look good in short bursts. I really liked how Shimizu tried to play tough guy against Kawamura and Kawamura just punched him in the face hard, that should happen more often. Tababa then came in and bruised Shimizus mid section with some crowbar kicks. Yamato looked good again, busting out another crazy headbutt and his jumping kick is a pretty cool spot.

CAPTURE Tournament Semifinal Matches:
2. Super Crafter U vs. Takuya Nomura

Short match where they basically went for the kill from the start. Crafter U has some nifty kicks for an old looking guy, and he does a nice job turning Nomuras aggression against him.

3. Rikiya Fudo vs. Naoya Nomura

This was an awesome violent sprint that felt like it could end at any moment, Nomura being the young hotness in CAPTURE facing the monster that is FUDO. Fudo may have the most violent offense on the planet , tight face-wrenching headlocks, lung-bursting chops, big Vader Hammers and lariats, an elbow drop and senton that looks like it would leave a man with internal bleeding, Fudo just doesn‘t hold back on anything and it‘s awesome. Nomura was great absorbing the punishment and trying to take him down, and seeing him reach deep and hit those left-right elbows was awesome. His selling was really good too, as even after he hit a move he could barely get up, probably both from the punishment he took and from how much power he had excerted. The match ends in a flash, but what the hell, for a 5 minute match this was insanely good.

4. Keisuke Goto & Kosuke Sato vs. Daisuke Kanehira & Mizuki Watase

For a bunch of indy guys, this was really good, really stiff action. They do a mix of fun grappling and trying to crack each others jaws with nasty elbows. The elbow exchanges were a bit veering into your turn-my turn territory but at least they hit each other insanely hard. I really enjoyed Goto once again as a tubby guy who just shoulder blocks people really hard and squishes guys with sentons, and Sato was really energetic. The HEAT UP team held up their end giving and dishing some nasty punishment. Because it‘s CAPTURE you expect any move to be a finish, and even a basic vertical suplex looks absolutely brutal because they are wrestling on that tin mat. CAPTURE magic was at play, but they did a nice job working with the points system making this really good indy shootstyle overall.

5. CAPTURE Title Tournament Finals MMA Gloves Match: Super Crafter U vs. Naoya Nomura

This tournament has been one hell of a ride, and this was a worthy finale. Super Crafter U had some nice Fujiwara-ish counters to Nomuras size and aggression. Once they stood up and threw strikes things got intense, even a main event can end anytime in CAPTURE and that was felt with each move. Spear spots felt really violent, also due to Nomuras selling as he made it look as if he was wrecking himself too. The finish was cool and felt like a moment where someone kicking away at a prone opponent backfired. I was not sure how Nomura would continue to do going into this tournament but I am on board with him at this point.

The Library

80s Europe #9

 

Marty Jones vs. Dynamite Kid, WoS 1/19/1983

Kid sure has got on the good stuff while abroad. Even Walton couldn‘t help but point it out. This match had some nice wrestling, but they soon got to business: Kid deciding he doesn‘t give a damn about the british rules anymore and just deciding to beat the shit out of Jones. It just turns into a super heated slugfest with both guys dropping bombs and stiffing each other. Jones going berserk at the sight of his own blood was great and Kids turnbuckle bumps shocked the audience. Dug all the brutal looking knee drop. They may have gotten a bit carried away bending the rules but what the hell, it was a great match.

Terry Rudge vs. Pete Roberts (WoS 3/21/83)

Nifty bout that was worked without rounds and just 2/3 falls. Rudge fucking rules sneaking in headbutts and working the cravate. His selling of the little things, like putting a random arm whip over by having his shoulder go limb and stumbling over in pain is so good. This had a nice mix of wrestling and niggle. Rudge never unleashed his full ass kicking tendencies, but they worked a breathless pace. Roberts looked good. The match had two cool finishes and some really nice nearfalls in the 3rd. Good shit.

Steve Grey vs. Steve Speed (1/25/84)

Here‘s the rarest creature in the world: A World of Sport sprint. You know it‘s gonna be good when a guy named Steve Speed is in it. Speed was really lean and could go hard. Chock full of great exchanges, and I loved how competitive they made this. Most workers would just go from one spot to another, but they took the time to work the holds and pins. Speed gets a nosebleed and as soon as Grey notices he elbows him in the fucking nose and stomps on his face. Grey could be a right prick when he wanted. Speed went hard hitting surprise dropkicks but in the end the champ was too much. Pretty great under 10 minute match.

 

80s Euro Master List

LLPW Burning Gaze ~Gateway of Passion~ 5/11/1993

Miki Handa vs. Mima Shimoda

Hey look, it‘s an interpromotional match! These matches are always super heated and everyone works urgent, so this ended up being fun. Both blocked each others basic moves to begin and that‘s totally enough to get me into a match. Shimoda looked good directing the action, and even Miki Handa can bring the heat given the circumstances. It was pretty clipped, but I think we got a good idea of the match.

Noriyo Tateno & Kurenai Yasha vs. Shinobu Kandori & Mizuki Endo

Really great opening minute here as Tateno suicide dives into nothing. Kandori gets on the mic to shit talk her but Kurenai elbows her in the back of the head! Yasha follows up by trying to take Kandoris eye out, to which Kandori responds by getting up and punching Yasha in the face. Awesome stuff. Yasha was pretty great here in general, booting people in the face and really knowing how to be a pest at the right time. Kandoris shoot submissions were great and sent people into a frenzy to get to the ropes. The action was much more basic when Endo was in, although Tateno and Kurenai knew to put the heat on her. I‘ve been shitting on Tateno a lot but she was good here just flying into people with knees. It was a 14 minute match clipped in half and I really would‘ve liked to see the whole thing because what we saw was great.

Suzuka Minami & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Rumi Kazama & Yukari Osawa 

HOLY SHIT!! I LOVE PRO WRESTLING!!! This was absolutely awesome. Why nobody ever talks about how LLPW was the promotion that ran all these crazy heated, stiff main event brawls? This was the joshi equivalent to something like WAR vs. New Japan, really violent crazy match with a relentless pace where nobody holds back. Bat Yoshinaga is this scuzzy AJW undercarder with a karate gimmick and she has the night of her life here, holy lord she was awesome squaring off with the LLPW wrestlers and throwing kicks. She was getting massive face heat too so everyone in that arena that night knew she was awesome! 3 out of the 4 workers here throw kicks and they were all landing, there are a number of really violent saves where someone was going for a pin or submission and then got blindsided with a kick to the back of the head. Minami is the one worker who doesn‘t have much strike based offense but she does a good job tightening her stuff up and there are a few moments where she also kicked the shit out of her opponent. Kazama likes to play shooter so Minami frantically kicking her way out of her leglock was really cool. Most of the match was violent, scrappy standup interspersed with Minami and Kazama doing some cool wrestling and awesome Bat Yoshinaga character moments. There was one moment where Yukari tried breaking up one of Yoshinagas holds with kicks and Yoshinaga just give her this amazing disdainful look, totally not giving a damn about how hard Osawa was kicking her in the head. Later in the match it‘s Osawa who‘s putting a half crab on someone and the camera does a really nice job catching her glare over at Yoshinaga, who struts into the ring and pops Osawa with a single blow. That moment may have made the whole match, but I will also give credit to Yoshinaga putting on the single greatest iron claw in history on Kazama. The match builds to a flurry of big moves as many joshi matches do but they retain the aura of a crazy fight. I really liked how Minami and Yoshinaga initially dominated, but the match slowly began to slip away from their control. Kazama and Osawa seemed to have it in the bag until Yoshinaga made an awesome rally spin kicking everyone in the face. Everyone here fought hard but it was Yoshinagas night, and the ending really underlines that nicely. What a gem of a match.

THE LIBRARY

Going through Shodates Best Matches of the 90s List Part 6

 The List

223. Akira Taue vs. Toshiaki Kawada, AJPW 6/7/1996

This has the rep of being „disappointing“ because it went a mere 18 minutes. That shows what kind of grandeur 90s AJPW was. This is one heck of a really good match though. I really liked the opening where Kawada seemed to be the superior striker, until Taue just casually shut him down by nuking him with big boots and a German suplex. Taue continued his assault until Kawada was able to snap a Fujiwara Armbar and work his arm. Taue getting fired up and Kawada frantically trying to cut him off was really great. The armwork also led to a fun spot where Taue tried blocking the gamengiri but ended up damaging his shoulder further in the process. Kawada got so pissed at Taue he chopped him in the face. Kawada destroying Taue with kicks to the face in the corner only to get blown away by a Taue shoulderblock and neckbreaker was also fantastic. These two are just a really fun match up with Kawadas vicious kicks vs. Taues lanky powerhouse style. Taue also hit this really great jumping big boot flush in Kawadas face. Punch drunk Taue hitting a weak chokeslam was also great. You know what are getting from these two in 1996, everything made sense and was sensible, and on top of that you get a bunch of neat moments and kicks to the face. I can see this may have been disappointing to the hardcore workrate AJPW fans considering there wasn‘t even a dive or an apron move, but by itself it was a great match.

137. Yoji Anjoh vs. Masakatsu Funaki, UWF 5/28/1990

Funaki was in peak physical condition here and looking like a movie star. Anjoh is a bit flabby and wears these ridiculous purple leopard print tights. And the crowd is absolutely on fire to see Anjoh taking down Funaki! They just came unglued whenever Anjoh was threatening Funaki in the standup. Funaki has some really nice punch combos and does his ducking and diving thing, but man, this is the Anjoh show. For a guy who is famous for being a fantastic prick heel, he is one hell of a tenacious babyface standing up to a bigger wrestler. The mat work is nice as it was that mix of slow lulls with faster, slicker movements, and the whole match had a great build. Really cool moment where Anjoh has Funaki in a cross heel hold and Funaki has to slap him to break out, Funaki had this facial expression as if he really didn't want to continue fighting. Later Anjo lands an insane near KO where Funaki barely makes the 9, and Funaki has a nice desperation  moment where he keeps kicking at a downed Anjoh. Crafty finish. A nice reminder of how great peak level shootstyle can be.

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #21

 

Takeshi Ono & Super Crazy vs. Great Sasuke & Ryuji Hijikata, BattlARTS 4/13/2001 - FUN

This was BattlARTS style mixed with ECW style plunder and high flying. Basically Ono and Hijikata did their usual sections kicking and punching each other hard and Sasuke and Crazy did high flying and hitting each other with plunder. It was a bit more of a novelty match than something crazy and unpredictable. Ono didn‘t really interact with the plunder aside from one moment where he tackled Hijikata into a bunch of chairs which was cool. Hijikata looked good as he usually does opposite Ono and there were a few amusing dives from Sasuke and Crazy. Not crazy enough to move into GREAT territory but it was a fun match.

Takeshi Ono vs. Mohammed Yone, BattlARTS 3/31/2001 - FUN

This was grappling only. Yone is bigger but Ono completely dominates him and armbars him in like 90 seconds. A cool little scramble and nice to see Ono picking up a win.

 

Takeshi Ono vs. Great Sasuke, BattlARTS 5/10/2001 - GREAT

Onos biggest singles match of the year! This was pretty great as Sasuke basically flips-flops into Onos fist a bunch and Ono has a bunch of cool ways to prevent Sasukes high spots and entangle him into submissions. Ono constantly working over Sasuke with stiff punches and kicks was also great. Sasuke was already starting to loose his mind here and he busts out his crazy tope to the apron. GREAT finish, too. One of the smartest junior matches of the decade, honestly.

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project Master List

2002 MOTY Project Update #20

 

Yuji Nagata vs. Manabu Nakanishi, NJPW 2/1/2002

Surprisingly a really good match. It was all about Nagatas technique and precision vs. Nakanishis hulk strength. You forgot that Nagata can be a really good wrestler. I mean, this felt like a great midcard match rather than a great main event, but his wrestling skill is not to be denied here. Nagata shooting in an hitting a shoot exploder on an uncooperative Nakanishi was pretty great. Then, you get Nakanishi slowly falling apart while trying to shrug off Nagatas offense. They worked really stiff and Nakanishi is the kind of guy who‘s basic power moves feel like they will destroy you. Nagata desperately trying to avoid the Torture Rack was also really good, so was Nagata escaping only fro Nakanishi to judo throw him immediately. Nagata never came close to being another Hashimoto, but damn he tried the way he was braining Nakanishi with his kicks. Very NJPW-style match meaning it felt like it could end anytime due to the crossover with martial arts, and both guys real skill being a factor. No macho exchanges, just two guys trying to break eachother. I miss this kind of Japanese wrestling.

Command Bolshoi & GAMI vs. Azumi Hyuga & Ran Yu-Yu, JWP 4/14/2002

Bolshoi and GAMI make one hell of a team, and they had their working boots on here. Imagine how dull you have to be to not acknowledge the greatness of GAMI. The paper fan was used sparringly here, in funny ways, and later in the match it even felt pretty mean. The rest of this was chock full of highly intricate wrestling, just both Bolshoi and GAMI rolling out all their technical skill to be competitive with Hyuga and Ran. Just what these tricky, eccentric veterans do best. Ran and Hyuga are the workate queens of JWP and meant to be a higher rank, so Bolshoi and GAMI had to use all their ability. I really liked how Hyuga initially refused to tag out but her situation got increasingly desperate as GAMI and Bolshoi kept isolating and making dents in her. Then, she kind of botched a comeback move so Ran refused to let her tag out, as if she was saying „that was luck, go make a real comeback.“ The switch from GAMI and Bolshoi dominating to Hyuga and Yu-Yu standing tall and running over their opponents with their high end suplexes and strikes was really good and we got a fantastic ending run built around underdog GAMI and Bolshoi. Says a lot about how good two wrestlers are that they can rock two entirely different roles in the same match and make it believable and really good. Excellent match overall, very joshi flavoured, but it totally hit the right spots.

2002 MOTY Project Master List

Tarzan Goto Documentation #11

 Tarzan Goto vs. Mr. Gannosuke, FMW 6/28/1994 - EPIC

When Gannosuke trained in the FMW dojo under Goto, he was pegged as the #1 student over Hayabusa. This kinda match gives you an idea of what position that put Gannosuke in as he takes a murderous assbeating from Goto. Starts fun enough with Goto doing some chain wrestling which is always fun. You can kind of tell a faint influence of Baba in Gotos style of grappling as positioning and setting up bigger moves are important when he‘s rolling and out of armlocks, and he is really good at sneaking in headbutts and punches between the holds that hit hard. Naturally the match soon turns into a gruesome beatdown with Goto bloodying Gannosuke, hitting him in the face with the wooden hammer and just generally dropping him with nastier and nastier moves. It was the kind of beatdown that felt like it lasted around 10 minutes, it starts pretty violent and then it just keeps escalating until it looks like Goto is dragging a corpse around the ring. Gannosuke got the soul beaten out of him but it was kind of awesome how fired up the crowd got when he showed he still had a little life in him as Goto tried slapping his limp body back to consciousness. And the Gannosuke Clutch is always an awesome nearfall especially in 1994.

Tarzan Goto vs. Buh Buh Ray Dudley, IWA Japan 8/8/1996 - FUN

Two tubby guys wailing on each other in front of a surprisingly hot crowd. This was one of Bubuhs few Japan experiences and he was there to bring it. He hits some impressive splashes, big suicide dive and plants himself through a chair while acting like a simpleton. And Goto is not afraid to beat on a fool with headbutts to the face and some jaw cracking lariats. The brainbuster to big Buh Buh was sickening, totally spicked him. Really fun under 5 minute match.

Tarzan Goto vs. Perry Saturn & John Kronus, IWA Japan 8/10/1996 - FUN

Eliminators have a rep for their work not aging well, but they do a fun job swarming Goto here and not letting up. Yes, there were some crappy punches, but I really liked how the just started throwing chairs at Goto at one point. Pretty unusual Goto performance as he was mostly eating offense and taking big bumps, but he looks great doing that stuff. And the few comebacks he has are great and feel like a barfight as he just starts wailing on people with headbutts and chairs, exactly what you would do if you were outnumbered in a fight. Eliminators are a workrate team but they knew how to work with some necessary edge (e.g. hitting a mean doomsday device where Goto was brained hard with a chair). I kind of expected Goto to just start destroying them so the finish surprised me a bit but it was logical.

Tarzan Goto Documentation Project

EMLL in 1990 #3 - 1/19/1990

 

Martha Villalobos & La Diabolica vs. Pantera Surena & Zuleyma

Rarely do you see the ladies get +20 minutes in a CMLL TV match. The result was basic but a good match. Diabolica and Zuleyma did some fun wrestling to start. Villalobos was cool here, looking scuzzy and immediately using her size to squish people. They move to the beatdown section pretty fast. I know Surena as a kind of a superworker from her matches in AJW, but she didn‘t get to do a ton here. The 2nd fall had some really great, elaborate stooging spots. They did some more good wrestling in the 3rd before escalating the brawling again as Diabolica had apparently done something that really pissed off her opponents and they tried to unmask her. Some biting and hair pulling ensues. The rudas get the win even though it looked like excessive violence to me. Will be interesting to see what else we will get from the ladies in 1990 as this felt more like a taste of what they can do.

Canelo Casas & Panico & Comando Ruso vs. Remo Banda & Rokambole & Rafaga Azul

Canelo Casas – so young, so talented. Already really dedicated to being evil and bumping his ass off, but also looking like a talented wrestler on the offense. He was the standout in what was otherwise a quick undercard match. I mean, the video was well over 20 minutes, but it felt like a breeze. All the technicos got to do quick standing exchanges in the opening fall where they one upped the rudos, then we moved right on to the beatdown. Banda tries to be spectacular but had one slip up, and Rafaga looked quite graceful and cool. Comando Ruso is a short stocky guy who doesn‘t look like much at first with his Zbyszko stalling, but he is an effective rudo. I dig any wrestler who will take a flip bump when he misses a punch, and he hit a really, really pretty dropkick at one point. The 3rd fall could have been better as the rudos took the match quite easily. I look forward to seeing more Canelo Casas.

Javier Llanes & Americo Rocca & Huracan Ramirez II vs. Ulises & Pierroth Jr. & Super Halcon

This was one of those matches that makes you go „Man, Lucha Libre is beautiful.“ It wasn‘t some kind of grand classic but it was chock full of wonderful wrestling. The previous match mostly had standing exchanges, so here they start with some matwork and more story driven wrestling as Llanes and Pierroth went at each other, immediately teasing a brawl but going back to wrestling. Llanes looked really good here, like he could do it all. Super Halcons section with Americo Rocca was also quite beautiful and classical. Ulises and Huracan kept it simple and effective, with Ulises triumphing initially by hitting 3 really fast and pretty hip tosses, and then Ramirez retaliates by hitting 4 really fast and pretty hip tosses. Pierroth Jr. Is a monster rudo here, as he catches Llanes flying at him with a big punch, later he drags him over the ropes by the hair, just working exchanges in really rough fashion while stooging beautifully for everything the technicos did. The rudo beatdown starts in a really cool way, Halcon swings at Rocca and catches him in the face, it didn‘t even feel like it was a blow that was intended to hit but it caught Rocca by surprise, so Halcon shrugs and commences the beatdown. He had the feel of a guy who didn‘t mean to be a rudo, but god damn it he‘s old and lost his mask, he doesn‘t give a fuck anymore, he‘s gonna kick some ass. Ulises kicking Rocca in the face and in the nose was also quite Fuchi-like and unexpected. The third fall was quick as the technicos seemed to stage their grand comeback but then Halcon just kicked Llanes in the balls and pinned him casually. No rudo theatrics to that at all, just took advantage of the ref looking away and collected a pin.

Super Astro & Angel Azteca & Mascara Sagrada vs. MS-1 & Tierra Viente y Fuego & Herodes

This was a match that was buzzing from the get go. The faces wanted to throw hands with the rudos immediately and guys were attacking guys on the apron as if it was a heated AJPW 6 man. They worked some fast exchanges, but the animosity was always there. Astro as always looks incredible and the other two also got to look really good. Rudos were excellent stooges as you‘d expect. The match seemed to be building to a big cathartic ending but then it just ended, which was a bit of a weird choice for a main event. I expected the technicos to give the rudos an epic comeuppance but it just wasn‘t. Slightly disappointing although the first half or so was really good.

The Library

Unseen GAEA

 Meiko Satomura vs. Carlos Amano, GAEA 1/17/1999

I tried tracking this down years ago but the TV version ended up being quite clipped, so getting the full match after 20 years is really nice! And the complete version made a whole lot more sense than the clipped version as we get a bunch of really cool opening matwork and the story of the match unfolds. Basically Satomura thinks Amano is beneath her but Satomura comes in with huge disadvantages, as her shoulder is bandaged AND Amano has a bunch of hostile OZ Academy punks at ringside. These two are really tenacious wrestlers and they do a bunch of great wrestling really ripping into each other with submissions and hard shots and not letting go whenever they grabbed a limb, and the outside interference stuff was done in such a way that it didn‘t hurt the match but instead added to the story of Satomura having to fight through. The bandaged shoulder stuff was cool as there was never a point where Amano controlled Satomura for a long time working the shoulder, but she would tear into it here and there and it always came across as a nasty heel move. Great ending run as Satomura did her darndest and it really felt that if she just hit the Death Valley Bomb she could win. Amano wasn‘t yet the headbutt machine but her grappling and submissions were great as always and she did a nice job showing a mean streak being an asshole. Really really good match with some great wrestling and a they did a great job slowly escalating it and maintaining the emotional connection to the crowd.

KAORU vs. Yasha Kurenai, GAEA 4/15/1995

The GAEAISM channel continues to deliver, this match seems like it wasn‘t on the Comm. Release so this is another hit upload. Ultra heated spectacle match, the kind of thing Kurenai is so good at. Hot start with KAORU diving right into a chairshot and eating a big chokeslam. KAORU going back to her heel Infernal KAORU roots to combat Kurenai was fun, and the match ended up being about KAORUs skill vs. Kurenais rough style. Loved Kurenai busting out the staff, and the ending run was really good, KAORUs springboard moonsault may be one of the prettiest moves in wrestling history. And the heat was just off the charts.

Eagle Sawai & Jenn Yukari & Michiko Nagashima vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Bomber Hikaru & Sonoko Kato, GAEA 3/25/1996

Sawai is a monster here and dominates Chigusa early, so Chigusa busts out a bullrope! The LLPW girls bust out a chain to counter! Everyone on the GAEA team wears the same outfit! Fun chaotic match. Unfortunately we only got about 5 minutes of 18, but it was fun to check out. Kato was fired up and almost choked out Yukari at one point which was cool. The Yukari/Hikari finishing stretch also doesn‘t suck.

Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #6

Command Bolshoi vs. Kayoko Haruyama, JWP 10/10/2010

Epic match that was just an amazing struggle from the first lockup. First half was built around Bolshoi controling Haruyama using her slickness and amazing submisisons and inventiveness, and Bolshoi looked like the slickest of all time here. Haruyama also had a great performance always barraging Bolshoi with her hard hitting and quick hands, while selling really well for Bolshois submission attacks. Haruyama slowly gaining control was done really well and the second half with Haruyama trying to put the nail in the coffin was just out of this world. Bolshoi has so many different ways to slip out of her opponents moves and lock in a crazy submission or pin that she can credibly roll out even against a beastly opponent, and they all look fantastic here. Build to the finish was amazing as well. Best non-FUTEN singles to happen in Japan in 2010?

Command Bolshoi & Rabbit Miu vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kaoyko Haruyama, JWP 3/4/2012

Pretty fun tag built around Bolshoi tagging with a much lower ranked partner to take on a couple powerhouses. I‘ve never seen Miu before, but she was fun slipping underneath for weird pins and taking beatings. And Bolshoi is a great Misawa dragging her through the match. As always, Bolshois chemistry with Kuragaki is all time level. The Atlantida squence early on where Kuragaki kept pulling her up was incredible. I‘ve no idea how these two aren‘t dropped more commonly among the best pairings in pro wrestling history, because they always do outstanding stuff.

Command Bolshoi vs. Arisa Nakajima, JWP 7/28/2013

Best post-comeback Nakajima match I‘ve seen by far. Well, they had a few matches that I haven't seen, so one of them may have been better. That doesn‘t say a ton because Nakajimas a pretty terrible worker at that point, but Bolshoi brings the absolute best out of her. The match was a slow building epic that stayed in the ring, and Bolshoi was working underdog and timing her comebacks against Nakajimas constant barrage of offense hiding Nakajimas lack of selling, so that fixes a lot of the usual problems. Opening matwork was good hybrid grappling and they mix in some impressive sequences. Bolshoi was a master grappler as usual, I really dug her little tricks such as changing an armbar into a shoulder lock, it adds some nice nuance to big move ladden match. Nakajimas offense was fine here, I liked her crowbar knees, other than that she just did dropkicks and suplexes. There was some Angle/Benoit ish exchanges and no selling in the match which left me with a slightly bad feeling in my stomach and Nakajimas winning move felt random. It‘s good to know Bolshoi could do this kind of high endurance workrate match no problem but choose to be a smarter worker most of the time. Good stuff that is worth watching overall and blows a lot of RoH matches in the same vein away.

CAPTURE International 5/8/2022 Daytime Show

 Buy it here

1. Keisuke Goto & Raito Shimizu vs. Sanshu Tsubakichi & Takahiro Tababa

Nice to see my boy Shimizu work a CAPTURE show again. This was two kickpadded crowbars facing a pair of thick powerhouses and pretty fun, clearly meant to set the mood for the day. Everyone hits hard and does their thing. I continue to be invested in Keisuke Goto who has the potential to become a cool mini-Yoshie, his clubbering and big senton are really nice. Shimizu hit some big throws and Tababa and Tsubakichi hit some snug kicks, and Tsubakichi had a nice STO. The whole thing was really short at just 6 minutes too to remind everyone CAPTURE matches can end at any point, I really liked the finish as Tababa had a sleeper on Goto, who signaled for his partner to come help him only to be choked out anyways moments later. I dig a short match that puts over the sleeper hold.

2. Takuya Nomura vs. Mizuki Watase

This was pretty much your typical indy undercard match with no ring and the stiffness dialed up to 11 because it‘s CAPTURE. Solid effort but it‘s feels a bit controlled compared to your better CAPTURE affairs, they did some perfunctory matwork and then moved on to back and forth strike exchanges, which is something you see in basically every Japanese match now, but this was kept short at least and the stiffness was high. Watase brained Nomura with an absolutely murderous headbutt, but he also pissed me off a bit by no selling a German suplex on that thin mat. Violent finish. Perfectly fine short undercard as we move on to the really good stuff.

3. Super Crafter U vs. Kosuke Sato

This was much better, exactly that dungeon shootstyle goodness you are looking for and eschewing a typical by the numbers indy match structure. Sato is a BJW rookie and he has serious fight in him. Crafter U is kind of lumpy and old, nobody knows who he is and I wonder if he‘s some U-Style leftover who put on some pounds, whoever he is he is a really fun worker as he can do both the sick hard hitting as well as bust out some nifty surprise submissions and kicks. This was the right mix of guys dropping bombs on each other when standing and neat matwork, with a nifty finish.

4. Naoya Nomura vs. Hiroshi Yamato

I‘d never have expected it, but Yamato is starting to grow on me. Even though he doesn‘t have shoot style strikes, he is a really good scrambly matworker, and largely made this match. I really liked how when Nomura started to kick at Yamatos arm/shoulder, Yamato immediately seeked to equalized by attacking Nomuras leg. Yamato also uncorked another absolutely brutal headbutt. Nomura worked this match like a big powerful guy who will ram you and throw the fuck out of you, and that really works considering he has size and is a rugby guy. It also helps that a simple body slam will look absolutely devastating on that thin mat. Really good little match with a few nifty moments.

5. Rikiya Fudo vs. Rocky Kawamura

Fudo looked like a monster in this, tanking Kawamuras body shots and almost taking his head off with a huge Vader Hammer. Fudo took Kawamura down and then really grinded him into the mat, locking in a kesagatame that looked so heavy like it would make Kawamuras chest explode. Kawamura gets in an awesome desperation punch combo, but Fudo just crushes him. Once again Fudos big splash looked like it weighted 10000 kilos. This was one hell of a squash match.

 

The Library

Assorted Japanese Handhelds

 

Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Masakazu Fukuda, WYF 8/4/1998

 

This thing getting uploaded by the cameraman almost 25 years later has to be a near miracle, but then we‘ve seen a lot of miracles by now when it comes to highly improbable things ending up on the internet. This was a great striker vs. grappler matchup. Seeing Mochizuki here makes one sour that he retired to Dragon Gate, as he was throwing kicks a nd hands in a totally unpredictable and non-choreographed way here that was really cool, coupled with some swank agility. Fukudas style is really unique, he is this lanky tall guy who just glues himself to opponents when he grabs them and drags them into his throws and submissions. He also absolutely rattled Mochizukis shit with a nasty dropkick and some stiff strikes, but Mochizuki kept firing back. The match had a few Hondaish moments, at one point Mochizuki went for a punch to Fukuda and Fukuda attached himself to Mochis arm and dragged him into another hold. When Mochizuki went to recuperate Fukuda just dragged him over the ropes and threw him, with Mochizuki landing hard on all his throws. This was to the point and absolutely no nonsense with both guys giving each other little space a nd all the offense looking like it required zero cooperation, I get WYF was a niche indy back then, but this kind of indy match is a real breath of fresh air these days.

 

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Great Kabuki, WAR 11/9/1993

 

These two could have just punched and kicked each other and done some staredowns and it would‘ve been a quite good match, but we got something more neat here. Tenryus resume of great houseshow matches is for sure impressive. We get a fun opening with Kabuki trying to stand up to Tenryu with his great uppercuts, and Tenryu just chops and lariats him in the throat with Kabuki sells passionately. Tenryu seems to have this in the bag easily but then Kabuki catches him with a surprise thrust kick and Tenryu tumbles outside. Immediately a bunch of Heisei Ishingun goons start swarming Tenryu and brawling with his seconds. Tenryu eats chair shots while Kabuki cuts a promo. Back in the ring Tenryu is bleeding and Kabuki takes him apart punching and kicking the cut. Tenryu is able to snap a Fujiwara armbar but has to let go of the hold because his blood is blinding him in a really neat moment. Tenryus facial expressions and body language are outstanding even on a blurry handheld. His exhausted surprise abisegiris were really cool, also. Great little match due to structure and grit.

 

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki, WAR 11/8/1993

 

A unique match for Tenryu in 1993, because he fights his stablemate Fuyuki. So it‘s not gonna be an interpromotional brawl, but then, you have two tubby, surly bastards in a match, how can it not escalate? But they start wrestling, Fuyuki hits a nice scientific arm suplex and Tenryu busts out his cool leg trip. Fuyuki starts the real fun by kicking Tenryu in the back and hitting a fast belly to belly. Tenryu fires back with some light kicks to Fuyukis face, which feel almost like a reminder for Fuyuki not to try anything he would regret. They go back to wrestling and Tenryu lays a really stiff leg kick into Fuyuki, but Fuyuki shows toughness and catches Tenryu with an enzuigiri. Now it‘s Tenryus turn to not break clean and chip away at a prone Fuyuki. The whole match was built like that, lots of cool tubby guy wrestling building to explosions until both guys were punching and kicking each other in the face. I loved Fuyukis punches, and how Tenryu sold them with drool flying out his mouth as he got hit. Fuyuki worked one hell of a match getting fired up and just being this plucky fighter that wouldn‘t back down, and once again Tenryus charisma was outstanding. Some surprisingly great bits of wrestling too such as Fuyuki turning an attempted DDT into a northern lights suplex. Smart match with plenty of violence that told a simple story in a beautiful way, just a houseshow footnote for both guys in 1993 but would be a serious MOTYC if it happened now.

Speaking of the noose in the country of the hangman

Der Henker vs. Jacky Corn,  12/12/1970

Really solid match that shows the wrestling ability of DER HENKER. Quite a lot of good wrestling here, and I really liked how Henker basically worked like a Greco roman wrestler with a touch of evil. Really liked how he snatched a bear hug into greco roman slam at one point. As usual with French wrestling both guys throw really stiff, great looking European uppercut. Until the hangman started working Corn over with elbows to the face. Corn ended up with a nasty cut and the drama turned up huge before Henker hit a Tombstone Piledriver and Corns second threw in the towel, a finish that should be more common for when a masked evil guy slays a fan favourite in pro wrestling.

Der Henker vs. Gilbert Leduc, 7/31/1971

Wonderful title match which was all about Leducs beautiful technique vs. the imposing force of the hangman, building to an excellent blood drenched finale. Leduc works some great escapes and holds with Henker occasionally powering out of holds and going for nerve holds and chokes, retaining his status as a mysterious powerful evil guy. It seemed to be Leducs match until the Henker started bombing him with some high impact power moves and beating Leducs head into the mat. Leduc came up bleeding and it seemed like a matter of time until the towel would have to be thrown in, but with a last ditch effort Leduc escaped the dreaded piledriver and made a valiant and dramatic comeback throwing his awesome looking left-right elbows and european uppercuts. Really classy but also gritty stuff and just a beautiful match.

Der Henker vs. Gilbert Leduc & Jacky Corn, 7/5/1972

Der Henker has left both these men a bloody mess before, so it is not far fetched that a handicap match would be in order. Both Leduc and Corn worked some energetic exchanges with the hangman to begin. Der Henker is just great as this unrelenting evil force, though and you buy that he can beat two men at once with how he would roll with their shots and keep coming back. Soon enough he has rammed Corn into the ringpost, bloodying him and giving him a piledriver in the center of the ring. Corn barely got out and had to be carried to the back, and now this place is really coming unruly. Intense moment when the Henker fell outside the ring and a huge crowd started ganging up on him. Leduc does an awesome job trying to batter the evil masked man with his elbows and uppercuts, but soon the hangman got the upper hand back demolishing him with big forearms of his own. Leduc ends up bloody and dropped on his head and it seems all hope is lost until Corn comes back to make the hottest of tags. Corn throwing punches andlaunching the ref around was great, as it felt like he was done with the straight wrestling and just tried to combat this monster with all he had. We get a hot ending run with Leduc and Corn finally inching closer to making a dent into the Henker but in true European weirdo fashion the match goes to a time limit draw. I guess that was supposed to get people to come to a follow up match, and I must say I am now thoroughly invested in this feud. Leduc and Corn looked like heroes and DER HENKER is great as an evil monster that won't quit.

LLPW Live Battle '97 8/15/1997

Watch

Sachie Abe vs. Miho Watabe

Watabe is the future Baby-A. She is really short and stumpy legged and has some fun spots. Abe didn't look like a good base but Watabe had the crowd behind her making this fun despite some hiccups. They clipped a 13 minute match down to 4 or 5 though so not much to say on this other than it looked like a fun match.

Miyuki Sogabe vs. Keiko Aono

 Forgettable clipped match between two no name workers. Aono would go on to put on kickpads and be better in JWP.

Harley Saito vs. Noriyo Tateno

 I was wondering how good of a match you can have with Tateno. Saito immediately went to batter Tateno with her kicks, but Tateno stood up and slapped the taste out of her mouth. The rest of the match was decent fast moving action, but that slap promised a more heated battle than what we ended up getting.

Handicap Elimination Match: Rumi Kazama & Michiko Omukai vs. Michiko Nagashima & Sayuri Okino & Miwa Sato

Really good, heated match considering this was the middle of the card. The heel trio played the numbers game and turned this into a  brawl from the get go and brought chains, kendo sticks and biting. They isolated Kazama & Omukai and worked a few great cut offs creating tremendous heat. Kazama got choked out with a chain, which made the subsequent chain chokes feel more dangerous and also added even more heat when Omukai got beaten down while Kazama was laid out. Omukai wasn't yet the supermodel kickboxer, but she had serious fight in her and got insane crowd reactions. Everyone on the heel team looks good, and I loved the out of nowhere mist spot. Really good stuff that could've main evented other cards.

Shinobu Kandori & Mizuki Endo vs. Yumiko Hotta & Kumiko Maekawa

 This was pretty great and if you added 10 counts you'd have a high end BattlARTS match. Hotta & Maekawa were just ruthless here as they would attempt to pulverize their opponent with kicks aimed at the face and head whenever they found an opening. And they really emphasized the striker vs. grappler matchup here as the LLPW team used almost no strikes. The beginning is 100% already, Endo rushes Hotta and tries to land punches from the mount, but a few seconds later she eats a punt to the eye and gets just destroyed from there. Kandori was in the Tenryu role as the tough asskicking boss, drawing amazing reactions with STARES and GESTURES. There were also plenty of great reversals courtesy of her, including turning a sleeper hold into an STO. Also, Kandori choking Hotta unconscious after she made repeated saves was such a simple, great spot that really should be used more often. This was also the best I've seen Maekawa look as she was basically all flashy kicks that landed. I liked that when she missed an especially flashy kick, she just immediately kicked her opponent in th face. Endo didn't look too great but proved she was worth her salt by grappling it out. Awesome match, pro wrestling isn't the same these days anymore.

Eagle Sawai & Shark Tsuchiya & Lioness Asuka vs. Mikiko Futagami & Yasha Kurenai & Carol Midori

These heated LLPW main event brawls may be the best thing from the 90s that nobody talks about. Futagami, Kurenai and Midori wore matching outfits and tried to take down the monster trio of Tsuchiya, Lioness and Eagle. Tsuchiya and Lioness had their working boots and, they kept the match in the ring and worked a few fantastic cut offs mostly dominating the action and doing a great job creating heat. Yasha Kurenai was the star of the match once again, she got Sharks sickle to the face and the rest of the match lived off of her bleeding and showing awesome babyface fire. She got kicked and punched in the face a bunch during the heat section and knew exactly to show the right amount of fight before getting cut off to the keep the crowd engaged. When she tagged back in and went crazy with her staff beating the bricks off of the heels the crowd went nuts and it felt like the roof was about to fly off the building. Futagami and Carol played supporting players to Kurenais story, but they did a nice job. I liked how Carol, after getting the hot tag tried for a flash pin on Asuka, it was a small detail but it made sense to go for that kind of move on a megastar, you can hardly get a straight pin on her but a random flash move might work. I also really liked Sawai, who is basically Vader sized compared to everyone on the face team, so whenever she ate a move it felt huge, even though she actually bumped her ass off. Sawai and Lionesses double team moves were brutal, these two had a kind of HDA chemistry, I wonder if they have more great performances like that. Really a tremendous match, and just the second best on this card but still really great, I cannot recommend this stuff enough.

The Library

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #3

 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Dean Malenko, ECW 3/3/1995 - FUN

Cool houseshow match with Scorpio doing some more technical work. It's funny how you can watch a ton of wrestling and a random Scorpio houseshow match from 27 years ago has some stuff you've never seen. Really liked Scorpios kneedrops on Deans face too to break up the niceness of their wrestling. Malenko is bland but insanely crisp. His control segment was a bit trite, but I liked his big stomp to cut off Scorpio. Boring chants start to come up so Scorpio just punches back to offense and starts hitting his high spots to shut the crowd up. The timing on the time limit draw was really impressive as the bell rung just as Scorpio hit the moonsault and had Dean beaten, although it may have been worked time.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Lord Steven Regal, WCW 7/27/1993 - GREAT

Regal trying to take Scorpio apart in a really technical manner for 10 minutes. Great stuff, and Scorpio can hang very well in this kind of mat based match. When Scorpio got the advantage, Regal just stomped on his face  and proceeded to grind him down even more viciously. Some great stretches and holds in this. Scorpio makes this big comeback with a great punch combo and starts blasting Regal with his supreme high spots just as the time runs out. Regal getting hit with a 450 splash in 1993 is something else, would he have thought that would happen within 5 years as Kendo Nagasaki put a spell on his partner in Britain in 1988? Really good match though.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Minoru Suzuki, GCW 4/23/2022 - FUN

Fun veteran match. I enjoyed these two trading holds and wish they had done a bit more of that, and Scorpios awesome punch combo on the floor. Could have done with a bit less back and forth strike exchanges, but that is how these guys get their paycheck now, and Suzuki doing stares to get reactions is effective. Scorpios high kicks and splashes aren't as smooth as they used to be but still look good, and I didn't expect him to take a boot to the face from Minoru.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Master List