I watched a bunch of BJW and the only thing that caught my attention was this Saburo Inematsu match

 

Saburo Inematsu vs. Takashi Sasaki, BJW 11/13/2006

Inematsu was a K-Dojo guy who I remember being a fun addition to BJW multiman tags during this period. I think this was the only bigger singles match he got in BJW at the time, and you kind of have to wonder why because he does really well for himself. The first 5 minutes are the standard forgettable deathmatch opening and not of much interest, but the last 10 minutes or so are really compelling. Inematsu has a lot of fun offense – running headbutts, well timed axe handles, a sick backdrop suplex, big knee drops – that feels really fresh in this kind of deathmatch context. Both guys also bleed like crazy, and increased the violence by really stiffing each other with their slaps and kicks. The struggle for control was really good. When Inematsu hit his big Death Valley Bomb from the top rope it felt like a huge moment not just because it was a huge bump but because of the way Inematsu had been controlling and cutting off Sasaki, it really alerted the crowd that the outsider could put away the established guy and it was really compelling, they maintained that sense of struggle subsequently in nice fashion. I’m not a guy who’s big on deathmatch wrestling but this was really good and fresh.

More Dramatic Fantasia Outtakes

 MIKAMI vs. HARASHIMA, 11/27/2007

It’s the two top juniors in DDT in a big title match. If you know and like these two you will like this a lot, if you don’t know these you will be positively surprised. While the match was a bit spotty here and there, both guys can bust out unpredictable highspots. Like MIKAMI can always hit an odd 619 or springboard move from any angle, and HARASHIMA can just kick you in the head. Ladder stuff didn’t detract from the match and lead to a few big crazy bumps and moments. I was also surprised they didn’t go into finisher overkill, instead focussing on MIKAMI avoiding the Somato like death. Also got a kick out of HARASHIMA going ‘fuck you’ to the ladder.

HARASHIMA vs. Kota Ibushi, DDT 12/30/2007

This won a “match fans want to see the most” contest. With that kind of set up you can expect them to bring the goods, and they did. If you like 2010s HARASHIMA you will like 2000s HARASHIMA because he’s nearly the same wrestler. He was smart enough to work some basic exchanges with Ibushi early on, making the highspots they did look bigger. He also worked Ibushis arm, so even though Ibushi didn’t sell anything it wasn’t super exposed and Ibushi could still hit all his highspots. Both guys did some amazingly spectacular counters and sequences like you expect from an Ibushi match. The match had handsprings, reverse ranas and all that, it was like 2022 match except this was actually good because they had good pacing and structure. Also both guys weren’t afraid to hit each other hard. Recommended if you just want to see a cool MOVEZ match/spotfest and don’t expect a deep story.

 

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Shuji Ishikawa, DDT 2/24/2011

Shuji is way bigger and a damn old crowbar. Kikuchi was on the way out, but he could still take a murder asskicking. Goodness gracious. Ishikawa just brutalizes him with his big knees and headbutts and Kikuchi bleeds hardway and hits a really pretty suplex on the bigger guy and it’s just really gutsy and gritty. Wish they had aired the whole thing because those 6 minutes were pretty insane.

Shuji Ishikawa vs. Kengo Mashimo, DDT 10/3/2010

God I am MAD they only showed 5 minutes of this because this looked like an epic, FUTEN-esque battle. Both guys bleed hardway and they beat the shit out of each other. Brutal kicks and knees left and right. Check it out for some old-fashioned violence.

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #23

 Takeshi Ono vs. Ryuji Hijikata, BattlARTS 4/17/2001 - FUN

Their shortest encounter as it‘s JIP so it‘s just 4 minutes. Hijikata took most of what was shown so we get to see Onos really good selling and bumping, he‘s really good taking hits and just barely keeping himself up while getting into position for the next move. Hijikatas kicks and hold were good and Ono beat him easily but decisively so it was a good win.

 

 

Takeshi Ono vs. Osamu Tachihikari, BattlARTS 11/26/2000 – GREAT

How great was Ono in 2000? Great enough to get a honest to god great match out of Tachihikari, who may be among the most useless guys in the history of Japanese wrestling. Think of what an achievement that is. But Ono is totally awesome here as he beats the shit out of that big sad goof and sets himself up for Tachihikaris offense in awesome ways. Working some great counters, challing him to a sumo faceoff only to slip right into an awesome Octopus Hold, hitting a slick dive, big damn punch combos, all while he was selling and eating the fuck out of Tachihikaris clumsy offense. Coming up glassy eyed after getting suplexed, turning into a noodle for Osamus clumsy lariat, the crowd go from laughing at Tachihikari to being on fire for the nearfalls that they were working. Tachihikari does one cool thing in this match and that is palming Ono in the face pretty hard. Still, if Ono could have a match this good with Tachihikari, there’s truely no limit to what the man could do.

 

Takeshi Ono & Ryuichi Sekine vs. Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei, FUTEN 6/27/2010 - GREAT

Great undercard action, this kind of thing made FUTEN so good. Everyone just goes hard, all killer no filler, each exchange had a cool touch. Brahmans were pretty great undercard wrestlers at this point, they had no problem doing cool matwork, hitting hard an busting out unpredictable things. Sekine stuck to his underdog role and kept things nice and basic, with a good sense of aggression. ONO was of course the king of this match. He just goes for the kill all of the time, like as soon as an opponent was slightly prone he would go for a headkick. He was at his best here whenever he tagged in to punch people in the face, knee them in the head or lock in slick Octopus Holds. Still the match was quite heavy on the Brahmans and Sekine, which is not a bad thing, it just stood slightly in the way of another truly epic Ono performance, although this was just a mid card match. But for that it was excellent and would pretty much rock MOTY lists now.

Takeshi Ono Master List

LLPW Kageki Violence ~ Time of the Wave ~ 11/5/1995

 Mizuki Endo vs. Michiko Nagashima

See this is why I watch LLPW. You put on a random match like this and just turns into a gritty violent brawl. Endo socks Nagashima in the back of the head to start and soon they are chucking chairs at each other. Loved the uncooperative early goings, even the joshi staples like a hair pull snapmare or dropkick looked hatefilled, and soon it turns into a Nagashima asskicking as she brutalizes Endo with chains and kendo sticks. It wasn’t the ECW kind of violence where do you really showy hits and stunts and wait for the audience to cheer, Nagashima came across as a psycho genuinely trying to kill Endo with the kendo stick. Even when a table was brought in that feeling remained, there was no theatrical build to a big fancy table spot, Nagashima just decided to punish Ende some more so she set up a table and smashed Endo into it. Some nasty as hell chain punches and knuckle face grinding. Endo came across really gutsy hitting big suplexes and really wanting to win while Nagashima was just a violent psycho. The finish was a bit weird as Nagashima beat the heck out of the referee and then hit a victory roll where the referee counts the 3, maybe he really didn’t want to piss Nagashima off after that. Anyways for an inexplicably violent opener I enjoyed this a lot.

Jenn Yukari vs. Michiko Ohmukai

Ohmukai was just your standard dropkicks and suplexes pretty girl wrestler at this point, but Yukari is a pretty fun worker. Yukari really blisters Ohmukai with kicks which makes you wonder if this made Ohmukai put on kickpads later. I really liked how Yukari would headbutt the shoulder before locking in a nasty arm stretch. The last few minutes had some nice back and forth and a neat spot where Yukari caught Ohmukai who was coming down with a flying knee with a kick to her leg. Pretty good although only 7 minutes of 13 were shown.

Rumi Kazama & Karula vs. Mikiko Futagami & Carol Midori

Karula is Harley Saito in a silly crow mask. But as soon as she steps into the ring, holy fuck she is just Harley Saito in a silly mask because she is immediately kicking the shit out of people. Futagami and Midori control early on with some basic ground stuff but soon Kazama and Karula start potatoeing the hell out of them. There was a moment where Kazama was kicking Midoris head like a football. This surely has to be a contender for the most violent to feature somebody in a silly crow mask. Futagami and Midori don’t stand a chance in hell but they make a nice rally at the end getting some decent nearfalls over the badass veteran team. Futagami even teased hitting a tombstone off the top but Kazama reversed it with a big headscissor in a cool spot. I really liked that when Karula did a ninja pose Midori just ran over and kicked her. That’s the spirit. Fun match all things considered.

Shinobu Kandori vs. Noriyo Tateno

Basic match, but does it really matter when they are getting great reactions by staring at each other? Traditional wrestler Kandori is not quite as exciting as shooter Kandori, but she did a solid job carrying the notoriously dull Tateno. The ending was quite great as Kandori sold the fuck out of a shoulder injury and survived Tatenos onslaught.

Eagle Sawai vs. Yasha Kurenai

Wow, I didn’t think this would be so good. These are two of the most unfairly scolded by joshi fans wrestlers ever and I’m a fan of them, but they still blew me away here. First half was about as perfectly worked as you can work an extremely simplistic big vs. little match. Sawai would stick to her clotheslines and body charges which she would run Kurenai over like a truck with. Kurenai was outgunned, unable to even sweep Sawai or do much of at all. There are a number of neat spots, such as Kurenai trying to pull off Sawais kneepad to attack her leg, and a number of moments where Sawai just shrugged off Kurenais attacks and it was really cool. Kurenai would try to taunt and hit a throat chop but was met with even more brute force. Kurenais Ogawa-like eye poke actually slowing down Sawai briefly was really cool. Still Kurenai couldn’t do much against Sawai, until Kurenai got her staff and hit Sawai in the shoulder in a very well timed moment. After that it was a bunch of really great Kurenai armwork. Kurenais arm locks and attacks came across as really scrappy which makes sense since she's basically a rowdy street brawler, not a slick shooter. The sequence where Kurenai kept ducking Sawais clotheslines until she got caught in the face was outstanding. The rest of the match was built around Sawai trying to reestablish herself as a monster while selling that armwork for every bit it was worth. The character moments and especially the charisma of Kurenai were great, as when she had decimated Sawai to the point Sawai had to roll outside the ring which is Kurenais domain it really felt like a big moment and Kurenai accentuated it perfectly when she grabbed her staff and looked ready to move in for the kill. The simplicity was great and made this feel like a Tenryu or Choshu match, especially the bit where Kurenai kept landing running boots to Sawais shoulder while Sawai seemed to be falling apart. The last couple minutes saw both of them rolling out all their moves with some extremely well timed hope spots for Kurenai. Sawai being a monster was always a factor but I really liked how something like Kurenai kicking out of a move seemed to break her confidence. Perhaps the ending run was a bit standard but fuck it when you have this great of a buildup I don’t really care. Awesome match which was about as sensibly worked as you will ever see a 90s big match from a joshi promotion. Great story told in beautiful way, plenty of cool character work, whiplash-inducing hard moves

The Library

Keita Yano Documentation #4

 Keita Yano vs. Katsumi Usuda, BattlARTS 11/16/2008 - EPIC

Really great match which I have no problem calling a BattlARTS classic. Back then a lot of BattlARTS diehards hated Yano for bringing some of his whackier ideas into that promotion, but to me he added a lot to this match. He has hanging really well with Usuda on the mat, producing some really good straight shootstyle exchanges, he was able to credibly to do some damage to Usuda standing and otherwise, and he added plenty of neat touches such as turning a stretch into his cool bridging choke during the last few minutes. When Usuda started blasting him with kicks, he would take Usuda down and immediately try to take the wind out of him with some vicious knees on the ground. Later he‘d cut Usuda off with a flurry of open hands and spinning backhand before nailing Usuda with a nasty dropkick to the head. The one questionable thing he did was the attempted lariat from the ropes, and that led to him getting kicked in the face. Usuda was tremendous here, really punishing Keita with painful holds and some of the most brutal kicks ever caught on film. He did a tremendous job turning Keitas zealousness against him while also selling for him and allowing him just enough offense to not look like a chump. All-time series of brutal kicks leading to one of the sickest match endings of all time was one hell of a way to end this. Incredible match considering Yano was barely in his second year as a wrestler.

Keita Yano vs. Yuki Ishikawa, BattlARTS 3/21/2011 - GREAT

I remember watching this at the time. Yanos Joker makeup was new and we all thought he was losing his mind. Little did we know what was to come. This was about as good as I remember it being, lots of really fun matwork with Yano doing some cool unorthodox chokeholds and both guys ripping each others legs up. Yano did hit some great looking european uppercuts and aside from one slightly awkward lariat he had no goofs. And Ishikawa was Ishikawa. I felt like it didn’t quite push into next level territory but it was a really good match up.

 

Keita Yano vs. Shota, Tenryu Project 8/17/2022 - FUN

Nice match between two guys who totally have an epic in them. This was just a 3rd match on the card so they didn‘t exactly go all out, but it was all in all one of the niftiest matches of the year. They start with a 70s style control segment about hitting armdrags and reversing armdrags before moving on to trickier stuff with Yano working over Shotas leg. Yanos bridging indian deathlock was obviously the highlight, and Shota sold really well. Shota is honestly a pretty underrated indy talent himself, he had some neat transitions and never overreached. Really well done technical match, only criticism is that I wanted more but I always want more wrestling like this.

Keita Yano Documentation

It's a MEN's World

MEN´s Teioh, Makoto Oishi & Shinobu vs. Onryo, Milanito Collection a.t. & Fantastik, BJW 8/20/2007

When I saw that Fantastik had a few TV matches in BJW in 2007, I was wondering if he still had it. He looks lumpier here than he did in the 90s… but as soon as he steps in the ring, it becomes clear that he still has it. Still has ridiculously beautiful execution, still works really pretty lucha sequences and he still hits that fucking senton to the floor he always does and it looks magnificient. Leave it to a lumpy old luchador to smoke a bunch of slender Japanese juniors with the biggest dive in a match. But, even aside from Fantastik being really good, this was super fun match. I remember these MENS Club matches being kind of last hurrah for Japanese lucharesu. I guess we can pin those matches being good on Men’s Teioh bringing his Michinoku Pro experience and some authority into them. He has fun dynamic hitting all those twinks with cool clotheslines and elbows. They do fun character multiman spots, everyone has some brief neat sequences worked out together, the pace is fast, they move through comedy briefly and with ease, and it doesn’t go into overkill. Onryo looked cool here doing his zombie shtick and ripping out cool flying ranas, including a flying reverse rana which was pretty insane. Nevermind all that shit. FANTASTIK~!

MEN’s Teioh & Mototsugu Shimizu & Hercules Oosenga & Wolf Ozawa vs. Kota Ibushi & Makoto Oishi & Milanito Collection AT, BJW 11/26/2007

Another really good little match from the MEN’s Club crew, this stuff definitely ages better than most other spotty stuff from the era. Big part of that is the ongoing story and character of these matches, with Shinobu playing underdog, the weird kamehameha comedy bit and all the twinks bickering at each other while Teioh looks kind of embarassed to be there and just comes in to hit stiff elbows and european uppercuts. Plus, the match had excellent structure and just the right pace, so compared to how spotty current wrestling is this looks like a fucking Bret Hart match in comparison. Everybody tags in and out fast enough to do something cool and not get exposed, you have a cool Teioh vs. Ibushi face off, Onryo doing his Wolf Ozawa persona (I think there was an angle in 2007 where Onryo came back to life and became Wolf Ozawa but later died again to transform back into Onryo), there’s a good Shinobu FIP section where Oosenga hits a cool second rope elbow (yeah, I remember the second rope elbow in a spotfest! I liked that), several cool synchro dives. And the whole thing doesn’t overstay its welcome. Yeah I’m gonna go on record to say this stuff ruled.

MEN’s Teioh & Onryo & Shinobu vs. Shiori Asahi & Makoto Oishi & Hiroyuki Kondo, BJW 5/26/2006

This was one of the earliest matches of this crew, I am not sure they were going by MEN’s Club at this point but the theme of Shinobu disappointing Teioh was already present. Teioh was great here, doing a bunch of totally awesome maestro exchanges with Oishi hooking him with neat holds and sweet reversals. 3 of the guys in this were really green so they were struggling to draw reactions from the crowd (then again it was Katsura Studio), but it moved into a really good ending section that didn’t feel like overkill. I enjoyed Asahi a lot, cool underrated indy guy who has a number of unique spinning wheel kicks and enzuigiri that look painful, and Kondo is always cool to see.

Misaki Ohata Matches

 Misaki Ohata vs. Mio Momono, WAVE 3/18/2018

This match reminded me of late 90s GAEA, which is very high praise if you know me. Really good little scrap. Momono is an underdog who tries to go for flash pins and annoying Ohata. She also has some great arm attack stuff. The match had some really snug strikes, boots to the face, Ohata throws these great looking double handed blows to the face… some really nice inventive spots in this and the underdog story with Momono trying to topple Ohata while surviving some nasty submissions and suplexes makes this compelling. Selling wasn’t very deep and I was a bit iffy at Ohata hitting three curb stomps in a row but joshi is like that sometimes. At 11 minutes they hit just the sweet spot. Super enjoyable stuff.

Misaki Ohata vs. Hiroe Nagahama, WAVE 3/11/2018

This was more good stuff from Ohata. No doubt if more than a handful of people paid attention she would be regarded as one of the better workers of the later 2010s. Here stuff was just vicious, trying to break her opponent in half with Fuchi-ish submissions and bending her spine against the ropes in nasty ways. Her boots, stomps etc. are all really good looking. Nagahama is just solid but this was a great showcase from Ohata. Nagahama does get it together hitting some slick flash pins and the build to the finish is really good.

Misaki Ohata vs. Ayako Hamada, WAVE 4/21/2018

I was thinking Ohata keeps facing these underdogs who can only win by rollup, so here is Ohata against an offensive monster in Ayako Hamada. This honestly ruled really hard. They basically go all out dropping bombs and doing all these awesome standing exchanges and counter work. They do a nice job tricking you into thinking that it could end in the first 5 minutes and then they go the rest of the match in style without just hitting move after move. Hamada rules, her offense is so sharp and she has no problem doing the slick stuff. Really liked how Ohata would time her stiff strikes. Best sprint of 2018?

Misaki Ohata vs. Ryo Mizunami, WAVE 2/11/2017

A really good slow building big match. Opening matwork was nice to see knowing that Ohata is a Mariko Yoshida trainee so she can really slip into leg and arm popping submissions nicely. After that, they just had a really good hard hitting contest with some excellent transitions and a general hard fought feeling. This was one of the better Mizunami performances I’ve seen, she was putting it all together here whipping Ohata with hard clotheslines and doing cool power moves. She also does the Olympic Hell which is always cool. Ohata was really good once again, less off a domineering stretching machine and more trying to survive Mizunami and try to take out her out by landing quick blows. The build to Mizunamis crazy finisher was impeccable. Strong recommendation if you like the Japanese big match formula. These matches made me want to check out what Ohata has been up to lately and… oh, she retired in 2018. Oh well, I guess I’ll watch some more of her matches on the WAVE Netwo- that’s dead too. Oh, okay I guess.

Kitao Pro 2/21/1995

 Watch

 Card:

Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Masanobu Kurisu

Koji Kitao vs. Richard Byrne

Akio Kobayashi vs. Hiroshi Itakura

Al Snow vs. Takashi Okamura

Akio Kobayashi vs. Koki Kitahara

Koji Kitao vs. Osamu Tachihikari

Al Snow vs. Koki Kitahara

Koji Kitao vs. Masaaki Mochizuki

Ryuma Go vs. Kazuhiko Matsuzaki

Koji Kitao vs. Koki Kitahara

 

Ohh boy this card. In case you are confused – this is a tournament, with Tachihikari and Kitahara getting a BYE for some reason to skip the 1^st round. They removed the ring ropes for this show – smart move. Let's do it quick: Mochizuki/Kurisu was Mochi throwing really hard kicks and Kurisu throwing really hard headbutts and stomps for 3 minutes – so about what you expect. Then Mochi downs Kurisu, causing him to slip over the edge of the ring and almost land on his head outside, dear good. Kitao/Byrne – Byrne has an amazing Jerry Flynn/Bart Vale like american bullshido master look, but is squashed in 40 seconds when Kitao catches him with an admittedly pretty cool Volk Han like wrist lock. Itakura/Kobayashi – Itakura looks like the lost great talent of the 90s, as he wrestles like a tubby Kota Ibushi, fast, stiff, capable on the mat, cool spots – but gets kicked in the face by the lousy Kobayashi and fails to get up. Poor Itakura always gets the short end.

 

Snow/Okamura – it will never cease to amaze me how Snow got roped into doing this shit. Snow earns my respect by working a pretty solid 5 minute match against the not very good Okamura, hitting stiff palm rushes and actually getting the crowd behind him. Snow also eats one of the most brutal koppu kicks I've ever seen. Kobayashi/Kitahara (FUN) – Kobayashi is a slimy hateable dipshit, and Kitahara gets a surprisingly decent 3 minute match out of him where Kitahara sells for him a good amount but also tries to cave his face in. Kitao/Tachihikari – for a few seconds this was two fat sumos clobbering each other, and all was right in the world, then Kitao wins another 1 minute squash. Don't exhaust yourself, Kitao.

 

Snow/Kitahara (FUN) – this is the most promising matchup cause both these guys can actually work. Snow gets dropped on his shoulder with a german suplex and Kitahara painfully picks his shoulder apart. Snow tries hard, but at 3 minutes the match fell short just as it got really good, 1 or 2 minutes longer and it would've been more than just a pretty good little match. Kitao/Mochizuki – Mochizuki is next on Kitao's short pointless squash list. Ryuma Go/Matsuzaki – Go saves this show by beating the snot out of Matsuzaki with ultra stiff punches and headbutts and then tortures him on the mat and then some. Go is INSANE and I love him.God bless you, Champion of the Galaxy. Kitao/Kitahara (FUN) – Kitahara is the first guy who gets to do actual harm to Kitao. They beat the shit out of eachother and Kitao throws these brutal Vader Hammers, and brings out the Kitao Driller again. Eh I guess this was solid, brutal enough to be worthwhile, altough with a match as short as 4 minutes you have to go a little more all out than this for it to be something special.

 

The Library

Koki Kitahara Documentation Project Master List

 

Assorted Joshi

 

Akira Hokuto & Chigusa Nagayo & Hiromi Kato vs. Meiko Satomura & Toshie Uematsu & Sakura Hirota GAEA 2/22/1997

I think this may have been a GAEA match that didn't seem to air on TV, although I may be misremembering. Another really good upload, whoever is curating this channel is really doing a good job. Loved the opening, where first Satomura et all try triple teaming Kato, then Hokuto runs in to save her but they end up triple teaming her, which backfires to Hokuto and her team trying to reverse the numbers game only for it to backfire and Team Satomura triple teaming Kato anyways. The match plays out nice and story driven, as Kato takes a beating but whenever Hokuto or Nagayo tagged in the would destroy the rookies and send them into desperation mode. Hokuto almost kicked Satomuras head off with her big spin kick. I loved all the Satomura/Nagayo interactions, Nagayo blew off her strikes so Satomura later went for a bunch of great desperation armbars at her. As usual with peak GAEA the match had a few fantastic moments. Great finish aswell. Another piece in the fantastic year this company had.

Mariko Yoshida vs. KAORU, AJW 8/28/1994

Yoshida had been injured and out of the ring for over 20 months. This was her return singles match, and it‘s one hell of a show. Even though this was not spider lady Yoshida, she was at her a-game. The match resembled a MUGA match, with both girls doing some intense grappling and stretching, and the few strikes they threw were hard as all hell. There were also a few neat spots and smart counters and learned spots. KAORU came across as quite the killer in this, focussing on Yoshidas neck, either elbowing her or applying painful looking bends, with Yoshida doing a great job selling the increasing trauma. Yoshida came across as giving her all in the match. It made the last couple minutes feel even greater as Yoshida seemed on the verge of securing the win before KAORU nailed a tombstone piledriver out of nowhere, followed with a wiping out quebrada and then just crushed Yoshida with 3 moonsaults in a row before getting the victory. After such a competitive match such a non-even finish felt like a real exclamation mark and Yoshida was pretty emotional in her post-match promo. Such a unique match that really stands out against the usual AJW midcard stuff and an absolute banger. It foreshadowed how these two would go on to make other promotions so much more exciting than AJW.

 

Azumi Hyuga vs. Kaori Yoneyama, JWP 2/20/2005

Really great match that crosses the high-impact go-go style of these two with plenty of vicious rookie-veteran cut off spots. Plenty of Yoneyama smacking the shit out of Hyuga, and Hyuga in turn punishing her with mean stomps on her head and face. Hyuga can be questionable in lengthy workrate sprints but she was impeccable here cranking up the viciousness and doing some very tight wrestling, while knowing when to sell in order to put her opponent over as pushing her to the limit. Yoneyama looked great here, tremendous energy and working really stiff, elbowing Hyuga in the head, spin kicking her in the face etc. Plenty of cool details, such as Yoneyama starting to run when Hyuga was on the top rope only to eat a really fast missile dropkick. Yoneyamas blown Yoshitonic may have actually added to the match as it came across as a desperation move gone awry that knocked both of them loopy. Yoneyamas constant nastiness throughout the match kept building and building until she just exploded with an insane flury of elbows to a grounded Hyuga, by the far the highlight of the match. The ending run was pretty grandiose but really well executed with plenty of neat finisher teases and counters. By far one of the best singles matches of 2005.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #4

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Taz, ECW 1/10/1998 - GREAT

Cool TV match. Taz has his flaws, but the suplex and submission style is crazy over with me. This had a nice opening with both guys going to the mat and working some cool basic exchanges, with the ECW crowd showing an unusual appreciation for the mat stuff. They get more into ECWisms as they start brawling around the ring and smashing into chairs, but the finishing run was really nice with Taz busting out gnarly suplexes that Scorpio bumps huge for and Scorpio hitting some devastating highspots before a neat finish. A good night of work from Scorpio.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, NOAH 11/5/2005 - GREAT

This was for NOAHs 'Hardcore Title'. Not a great title, but god damn this was Scorpio with his working boots on, and working boots Scorpio is amazing. He hits some cool punch combos, talks shit and really goes out of his way to make Kanemaru look amazing. I imagine Scorpio called the action because I don't recall many instances where Kanemaru looked as great as he did here, hitting some cool twisting headscissors before connecting with a huge dropkick to the outside and a big knee drop to the back of the head as Scorpio was dangling from the ramp. Scorps selling was pretty much masterful as he sold the fuck out of Kanemarus shitty low blows, to the point where even the crowd started giving a shit and caring for the possibility that Kanemaru might upset Scorpio and take that stupid belt. Even paying attention to the time limit rule in Hardcore title matches! The clothesline Scorp hit during the finishing stretch felt more important than a probably 99.9% of clotheslines ever thrown and Kanemura did something right by taking a hellacious bump for it. Really amazing what you can get when you let a guy like Scorpio do his thing.

 

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Go Shiozaki, NOAH 4/3/2005 - GREAT

Scorp leads Shiozaki through a really nice solid match. Really liked the opening hold exchanges, Scorpio feels so forceful  when he takes a guy down. Shiozaki was just doing basic stuff but that was alright. Loved Scorpio kneeing Shiozaki in the kidney and slapping him in the face to escalate the violence. We get some brutal kicks from Scorpio in this, some great jumping knees and big boots that left Shiozaki bleeding from the nose. Scorpio pin point punching a bleeding Shiozaki in the face was about as good as pro wrestling gets. Finish was somewhat routine, but you have to remember Shiozaki was a rookie at this point. It does make you wonder why they didn't let Scorpio do this kind of match more often because he looks great leading to a guy to a classy 15 minute bout. Certainly, Shiozaki might have turned into a good wrestler if they had let him wrestle Scorpio more often.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project

BJW 1/9/2005

 

They decided to run a cool one night tournament with some interesting participiants for this show.

First Round: Manabu Hara vs. HERO!

HERO! is of course HARASHIMA in his kind of bland masked gimmick. They mesh very nice on the mat, ‘shima has no problem doing smooth shootstyle matwork and Hara mostly dominates the action dominating on the ground and hitting a big suplex, as well as totally stonewalling Harashimas attempts to do anything pro style. I imagine a 10 minute match between them would’ve been pretty good, at 5 minutes this was still a neat bit.

First Round: Kyosuke Sasaki vs. Naoki Numazawa

I’m not sure if Numazawa was a full time death match guy at this point. He was really schlubby in his ill fitting boots, shirt and tights. Sasaki kicks him a bit and Numazawa kills time with solid but boring offense. Sasaki wins with ease. Nothing match but it made Sasaki look strong going into the second round.

First Round: Mineo Fujita vs. Masanori Ishikura

Yes, Ishikura! They got a lot of kickpadded shooters for this tournament. This was 6 minutes and for two indy juniors doing a vacuum junior match it wasn’t bad. Fujita has really pretty execution on all his stuff and Ishikura hits a big jumping knee in his face. Transform this to a WCW b-show and it would have made a great addition to any b-side comp tape.

First Round: Daisuke Sekimoto vs Kunio Toshima

The longest match in the first round even though it had the most basic workers. It was still a pretty good match with Toshima working like Otani. No kidding, he was doing big boots, face washes, springboard dropkicks, working over Sekimotos arm something fierce. Toshimas single minded determination on attacking Sekimotos arm, gnarly big boots and Sekimotos affinity for single-minded matches made this a pretty good encounter. Also, Sekimoto actually sold all that armwork and Toshimas stubborn arm attacks made an armbar finish plausible.

Semi-Finals: HERO! vs. Kyosuke Sasaki

This went 12 minutes and it was the DDT vs. U-Style encounter you never knew you craved. The do a bunch of really nice slick matwork. Sasaki looks really good here kicking the crap out of ‘shima and working a nasty neck crank. HERO! stuck to junior offense but they had a fun dynamic going. They also reference the finish of the first round HERO match so that was a nice touch.

Semi-Finals: Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Mineo Fujita

Fujita tries rushing Sekimoto at the start and hits some offense. Then Sekimoto comes back and hits some offense, pretty much gobbling Fujita up. I liked Fujitas tricky pin attempt but this was extremely forgettable.

Finals: Daisuke Sekimoto vs. HERO!

Opening WoS-like hold exchanges were kind of cool. Sekimoto is so bulky it looks really cool when busts out a smooth takedown, and HERO has a really pretty Santo headscissor. After a big HERO dive, Sekimoto did some nice work on his mid section. Unfortunately they kind of stopped being on the same page for a minute and the rest of the match ended up being listless randomness. Sekimotos lack of intensity was really jarring, like he looked like he was about to check his watch the whole time.

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FUTEN undercard matches

 Shoichi Uchida vs. Mitsuya Nagai, FUTEN 4/24/2010

That moment you watch a random FUTEN undercard match and it’s better than pretty much anything you’ve watched from recent times. Hellish match where Nagai was trying to blast Uchida to smithereens with his kicks. Uchida was gutsy really gutsy here, I really liked how he kept shooting for desperate takedowns which Nagai kept stuffing, really nice example of big vs. little psychology in a shootstyle match. Nagais submissions were ultra nasty and Fuchi-ish. Uchidas one bit of offense was really cool, Nagai goes for another big kick but got his foot caught in the ropes allowing Uchida to hit a suplex and then immediately trying for a choke on Nagai. Nagai then proceeded to try to rip Uchida in half some more. And one points both guys traded absolutely sickening headbutts. Gnarly stuff, wish we still had this.

Manabu Hara vs. Brahman Kei, FUTEN 10/24/2010

 

Nifty undercard match. Kei can’t stand up to Hara but he uses some heel tactics to even things out. Basically anytime Hara was able to stand up and go on offense, he was crushing Kei with brutal kicks and lariats. Kei threw some hard kicks of his own and there were a couple neat transitions. His desperate armbar counter was really good and the finish was neat. Amazing how much you can do in a 6 minute match without coming across as forcing it.

Tamon Honda vs. Brahman Shu, FUTEN 10/24/2010

Really fun match built around Shu mostly kicking Honda in the leg really really hard. It’s odd that Honda is this well respected veteran but Shu really kicks the crap out of him, FUTEN factor I guess. Shu having to build up a simple suplex because Honda is such a beast was cool and his kicks and slaps were landing really hard. Honda had almost no offense in the match except his Dead End and Olympic Hell but he’s awesome regardless.

Taro Nohashi vs. Yoshinari Narita, FUTEN 12/19/2010

Quick FUTEN opening matches where two guys just blast each other may be among my favourite things in wrestling, and this one was totally awesome. Narita is a BattlARTS guy and he has gloves and kickpads and Nohashi has his hands an a really hard head and they lay hellish beatings on each other for 6 minutes. NARITA tagging Nohashi with fast punches and bloodying his mouth was great. Intially Nohashi tried to grapple with NARITA but by the end he tried to just knock him out with crazy headbutts to the head and face. You don’t see a monk vs. an MMA fighter everyday but this was tremendous.

Dramatic Deep Cuts

 

Kota Ibushi vs. Taro Nohashi, DDT 9/23/2007

NOHASHI SHOWCASE MATCH! Man, I am glad I had a hunch that I should watch this. I had no idea Nohashi was this awesome in 2007. This was the kind of performance that makes you fall in love with wrestling all over again. Nohashi doesn’t care that he’s stocky and doesn’t stand a chance against the better looking, taller, chiseled Ibushi, he was gonna go hard and do a bunch of awesome shit. Nohashi had a bunch of cool ways to attack Ibushis leg, a bunch of awesome old school spots weaved perfectly into a modern day juniors match. It meshes really well with Ibushis athletic style, so you’d have Nohashi do a thrust kick and Ibushi would kip up and right into a tight Octopus Stretch. Ibushis leg selling wasn’t very deep but you can do some spectacular stuff with Ibushi and they did that here but man Nohashi is so much cooler. Nohashi was also taking all of Ibushis stiff shoot kicks like a champ. Loved the Mandara Hineri variations from Nohashi, the crazy floor dropkick, the headbutts etc.. The man was on like no tomorrow that night, total hidden gem performance.

TAKA Michinoku vs. MIKAMI, DDT 5/4/2005

This is MIKAMIs comeback match, which means TAKA is a total piece of shit to him. TAKA won’t bump for a MIKAMI headscissor, he sidesteps a MIKAMI dive, he even blocks MIKAMIs 619 and kicks out of 1 after MIKAMI hits his big senton. So MIKAMI has to bring the fight if he wants to get anything in this match. Taka was really punishing Mikami too with his tight headlocks and headscissor neck crank, and his fancy jump kicks were hitting hard. He also kept MIKAMI scurrying for the ropes with his out of nowhere facelock attempts. The insta-tap finish was great, too. Really gnarly, hard fought, unique match where it felt like TAKA was channeling Fujiwara.

Sanshiro Takagi vs. Masa Takanashi, DDT 7/20/2008

DDT is this weird promotion that puts on a ton of filler and lame jokes but sometimes you get a creative gem. This was a T2P style match that works both as a parody and a serious attempt at the style. Takanishi is really smooth and Takagi is surprisingly adept at this. These two have Skayde-ish transitions down pat and bust out a bunch of cool holds before a smart finish occurs. Fun in the same way like the first time you saw Johnny Saint wrestle.

REAL BLOOD The Maximum 12/26/2022

 Keisuke Goto vs. Tomoki Hatano

Boxing Gloves: Raito Shimizu vs. Rocky Kawamura

Hiroshi Yamato vs. Ryo Inoue

Daisuke Kanehira vs. Shingo

Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Super Crafter U & Rikiya Fudo

Slightly disappointing card mostly because it was rather pro style and they wrestled in a ring. Opener was just a route rookie squash with Hatano getting some bits of not very impressive or spectacular token offense, and Goto hitting some fun offense but not really brutalizing Hatano enough to make it special. Shimizu vs. Kawamura didn't get much going in the first two rounds mostly because they tried to do some ill-fated grappling. It's a boxing gloves match stupid, just hit each other in the face instead of trying to tumble on the mat! The 3rd round was pretty fun though.

The best and most solid match by far was Yamato vs. Inoue. Yamato is a real workhorse and pretty much carried this match against a bland kicker with his cool submission work and suplexes. The last two matches were alright but could have been better. Shingo did some cool submissions and counters which made his match interesting while Kanehira was mailing it in. The main event was a pro style match and felt like wasted potential considering how awesome the last REAL BLOOD main event was. Fudo was cool but everyone else was pretty much going to the motions. I am gonna blame this one on a Christmas hangover. We need a real CAPTURE show again, isn't Nomura their champion or something? Please dial Kitahara.

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