Assorted JWP

 

Kaori Yoneyama vs. Masa Takanashi, JWP/Yoneyama Produce 12/13/2011

This was excellent, basically a 30 minute epic that had everything and told a great story. The match works because the size difference between Takanashi and Yoneyama isn’t huge, and Yoneyama can be really vicious. They start with 10 minutes of opening grappling before they morph into a story about Yoneyama having to work hard to overcome Takanashi. Takanashi is a really good grappler and they go through some nice smooth armrolls and fast switches. At one point Yoneyama had enough and started raining some really vicious looking ground and pound, but Takanashi took her down again with a crafty drop toe hold. Takanashi starts gaining control and working the arm with Yoneyama making some really great comebacks. It was awesome to see Takanashi going along with Yoneyamas high speed athletic joshi stuff, and Yoneyama in turn having no problem meshing with Takanashis tricky technical style. Lots of cool pin attempts, and eventually Yoneyama deals some damage to Takanashis arm to even things out. The arm work doesn’t take center stage but whenver they go back to it it’s really good and it makes sense because it sets up Takanashis Yoshi-Tonic finisher. The big strike exchange with Takanashi connecting a sick headbutt before Yoneyama hit some brutal knees to his head was by far the highlight of the match. Yoneyama trying to catch up to Takanashi was really fascinating as they spent the second half to Yoneyama finally getting that big pinfall. Really tremendous match, it had the kind of relentless pace and big moves you expect from a big match but with an engrossing story cool technical stuff and some brutal strikes. One of the best matches of the year, maybe even of the decade.

Leon vs. Hanako Nakamori, JWP 6/12/2011

This was also really excellent and kind of felt like a major hidden gem. I mean joshi was flying off the cliff at this point, and this match was not just good for that period, you could have had this take place in the 90s and it would be a top match, I mean these two easily run circles around something like Otani vs. Ultimo. Just a really good longform juniors match. For a 2010s match the action was refreshingly no frills, from the opening groundwork which was smooth and tight, to the choice of offense that both had. Nakamori was really good here as the aggressive younger wrestler trying to push her more experienced opponent, her offense was mostly basic dropkicks and such but she would really amp up the aggression at key points, really waffling her opponent with nasty palms face stomps and scrapes. Leon is a pretty cool wrestler, who does some flying but mostly hits cool slams and makes really good use of the spear, and fires back against Nakamoris aggression nicely. There is some backwork which is integrated into the match in really organic ways and Nakamori sold the fuck out of it, which sets her above your typical Manami Toyota/Azumi Hyuga types. Match had great pace and ebb and flow to it, a few neat spot and felt like an intense struggle as they kept increasing the viciousness throwing harder and harder kicks and elbows. Dug all the build to Leons big spots and the way Nakamori kept surviving and countering her, especially the reversals of the spear. I had no real opinion of either of these two workers going into this but they just had an amazing match.

Kana vs. Hanako Nakamori, JWP 10/14/2013


It's clown shootstyle, baby. Nakamori has kickpads here and she's basically all kicks. Opening exchange felt like one of those Kansai/Yamada exchanges from the golden age, both them just absolutey whiping each other out and trying to kick heads off. There is a somewhat lackluster crowd brawling section somewhat upgraded by the general high level of violence in their kicks and stomp, before we move the match back on track with Kana doing a fun performance being the superior grappler and constantly reversin Nakamori in slick ways. Last couple minutes were excellent and reminescent of Futen - I didn't get the sense Nakamori was a generic kicker here, she had some greatly timed and accentuated moments such as clocking Kana with a hard open hand, clocking here with a nasty back headbutt or breaking out a huge Destiny Hammer. Kana is really good doing these quasi-BattlARTS matches, it's too bad she ended up retiring to WWE. Really good stiff match that should have been on my radar in 2013.

More Dandy/Casas

 Dos Caras/El Dandy/Lizmark vs. Negro Casas/Bestia Salvaje/Chicago Express (5/31/1996, Arena Coliseo)

It’s hard to believe Negro Casas wasn’t the best wrestler in the world in 1996. He is just dominating every match he’s in. This was basically a really great Dandy/Casas singles match with occasional appearances from the other guys. Everyone else in this match is good-very good of course, but these two take center stage and it was awesome. First fall had some great Dandy/Casas matwork before Casas cheapshotted Dandy at which point the intensity was sent through the roof. Really good mix of hold for hold and more high impact stuff such as Dandys out of nowhere Backdrop suplex. Even a fairly standard spot like countering a back body drop with a kick felt brutal and huge. Second fall Casas starts kicking Dandy in the face and bloodying him which was also really great. The third fall sees a pissed off Dandy comeback and now Casas is bleeding too and both guys are bleeding all over the place and just tearing each other up and this is fucking epic. Man the blood ban really was the worst thing to happen to CMLL, the intensity of these two just blows everything from now away, and the face kicks looked Shibata/Fujita tier violent (tho probably a lot safer). Like I said everyone else is good though their appearances are only brief. Chicago Express is hilarious, he has this ridiculous fluffy mop of hair with a bald spot and goofy singlet. I guess he was trained in Mexico because he wrestles like a luchador, although he looks like the protagonist of an 80s comedy who accidentally ended up in a Mexican wrestling ring. That aside, holy fuck Dandy and Casas are freakin great.

Elimination Match: El Felino/Emilio Charles Jr/Dr. Wagner Jr/Negro Casas vs Pantera/Silver King/El Dandy/El Texano, CMLL 12/15/1995

I am tracking down all the matches with Casas and Dandy on opposing sides because that is clearly a match up that delivers (shocker, I know). They were mostly teaming in 1995 but this seems to be the first time they face off. It’s in a big elimination match where everyone is giving their all, and yet their stuff still feels like it takes an extra stage of importance. The whole match was absolutely excellent, early on we get a great mix of chain wrestling and hard hitting. Casas and Dandy weren’t as hate filled but they already had their dynamic going. They started grappling and then Casas started throwing kicks. I love how Dandy caught his leg, took him down and punished him with a really fast leg twist, such a cool way to make an already impressive spot make sense and look even cooler. Everybody else was awesome too and hitting awesome lucha exchanges left and right without a slip up. I especially loved the Charles/King segment which was really vicious, they did this great squence struggling over abdominal stretches. King ends up putting on an indian deathlock pushing at Charles chin and throwing punches, so Charles reverses and viciously chinlocks king. The athletic stuff of Panter and Charles slow lumbering presence were really cool and mixed it up in a matchup full of stocky middleweight. Lots of cool rope running, snug clotheslines and submissions, everyone is really fast. Elimination can happen anytime but they manage to not rush. The match peaked with Casas suddenly eating powerbombs and giving his all to survive, with the crowd absolutely loving the technicos taking the lead. The match was still very good afterwards, though I was slightly annoyed with Wagner Jrs lack of selling. He and Charles were pushed to the limit facing a 2 vs. 3 disadvantage against the technicos, but it didn’t really translate to Wagners performance as he’s a bit robotic. Still everybody else was great, there was a fantastic dive train with Dandys huge tope being absolutely incredible, and the twists and turns felt earned. 30 minutes of amazing wrestling, CMLL was spitting fire in the mid 90s.

Negro Casas & Felino & Black Panther vs. El Dandy & La Fiera & Silver King, CMLL 12/22/1995

Yeah put 6 awesome wrestlers in a trios why not! We get a nice King/Panther segment (Panther being Black Warrior) before Casas and Dandy match up. They do some intense wrestling that already feels like their hatred for each other is rising, with Dandy grabbing a handful of hair here and Casas really bending Dandys wrists in nasty ways there. It turns into one of those annoying trios matches where the rudos keep running in to break up the chain wrestling which sucks, but the intensity keeps increasing and eventually we get Casas sucker punching Dandy. It does lead to some intense hate filled brawling, with the second fall having another brief but awesome Dandy/Casas exchange and a fantastic dive train with old guy Fiera somehow having the biggest and most awesome dive, and then Casas kicks Dandy in the nuts. Everyone looked good and the match had some awesome stuff, they didn’t go full bore but they set the stage for the more bloodthirsty Casas/Dandy stuff that was to come.

Negro Casas, Apolo Dantes & El Satanico vs. El Hijo del Santo, El Dandy & Silver King (2/2/1996, Arena Coliseo)

Yeah, throw in Santito and Satanico into the mix too, why not! Casas and Dandy largely stay apart, although we get a brief moment of Casas brutalizing Dandy during the beatdown section. Dandy mostly matches up with Satanico, and that is a really good match up. Their matwork is very good, with Satanico busting out some crafty reversals, and their standup stuff is also neat. Dantes vs. King was a hot feud so the crowd was super hype for them, and likewise Santo/Casas was hot fire. Their stuff was great. Chaotic brawling in the 2^nd half was fun and lead to some more violent Casas/Santo exchanges as well as Dantes being quite mean to King. Ending was not huge or epic but still great. It served to heat up the rivalry which is what you want. You could really feel they were just gearing up for what was to come in CMLL later down the year, as all these feuds and characters mingling feel fantastic.

Random CMLL

 

El Dandy & Silver King & Lizmark vs. Negro Casas & Satanico & Felino, 6/28/1996

I knew this was gonna be good when I saw who was in the match, but it ended up being even better. I think a CMLL trios where everyone has their working boots may be the best wrestling ever and this was pretty damn incredible. First 10 minutes were insanely scrappy and uncooperative. Dandy vs. Casas face punching showdown was incredible, Casas may be the best ever at transferring that kind of stuff on to a big stage, it really felt monumental as Casas would land a punch, do a smug self satisfied little dance before getting popped in the mouth, all to great effect. Casas was full of smirks and antics in the match but still bringing the right amount of legit pro wrestling with his cool spin kicks and blows. Dandy was in his UWF black trunks and kickpads get up so he meant business. Felino and Silver King was on the same level, with both guys being really stubborn and uncooperative going for takedowns, blocking and bitchslapping each other. Satanico/Lizmark was the most traditional pro wrestling in the match and still pretty great and scrappy looking. Rudo beatdown felt intensely violent due Casas trying to choke Dandy out and kicking him in the head, Lizmark taking a beatdown in the corner and almost having his mask pulled off. King getting his head bashed into the post was also really grizzly. At one point Casas was fucking biting Lizmark and you could see the flesh between his teeth before he gives the crowd a smug look, incredible. 3^rd fall retains the uncooperative, violent vibe really well and has some nice retaliation. Especially loved Casas complaining of a foul only to eat some UWF kicks from Dandy who was sick and tired of his shit. I thought it may have needed a bigger showdown considering how incredible the build throughout the match was but Casas getting his head kicked in was nice. Felino and Silver King continueing to streetfight was also excellent and Dandys big dive was thoroughly nuts. Dug the use of the ring with guys taking brutal looking postings and getting bashed into the ring edge.Really excellent match where they went for something pretty unique and everyone looked great, it felt like lucha crossed with WAR Memphis and UWF in the best way.

 Ultimo Dragon vs. Negro Casas, 8/28/1992

Pretty epic destruction of Casas. Dragon has it all here, he unloads all of his high end japanese offense on Casas who basically just takes a beat down. Dragons kicks actually look like he is kicking the shit out of his opponent here instead of going through a kick choreography, and he presses the action early on locking in a figure 4 in the first fall instead of the usual chain wrestling. There is some nice wrestling going on but Dragon is the dominant force and Casas is on offense for maybe 30 seconds in the whole match. Casas selling performance was quite amazing as it looks like he got fucked up early on by Dragons kicks and bombs and hanging on by a thread. There is a point where Casas is able to kick Dragon in the back and is unable to follow up so Dragon turns around to kick his ass some more. I was rooting for Casas and wanting him to stage some kind of epic comeback but he is too smart for that and he ends up just capitalizing on Dragon slipping and makes him pay for it. Crowd was mad hot for Ultimo and the match had such a unique vibe. It's rare that you see a title match in lucha be this one sided while going long. Dragon was on and Casas performance was amazing making this really memorable.

Norman Smiley vs. Vampiro, 10/30/1993

 At last, we talk about the truely fascinating stuff on this blog! Norman Smiley being a megastar in Mexico feels so unlikely. Especially since he wrestles the same dry technical style, but I guess the crowds just took a liking to him. Stardom in wrestling is sometimes bestowed in mysterious ways, but I think the guy deserves it just for being unapologetically himself. It's something that almost never gets brought up, as the English speaking internet is largely ignorant to lucha and I imagine the few lucha diehards are also ignorants towards the likes of Smiley and Vampiro since 'it's not real lucha'. This is a pretty interesting match. It's not some kind of hidden gem, but it ain't bad, and they do lots of curious things.  Immediately they start with grappling and trading some hard kicks. I thought Smiley was punishing Vampiro at first, kicking him really hard when he was down and locking in legit holds, with Vampiro looking sloppy and out of position. But Vampiro fired back with stiff looking kicks of his own, even kicking Smiley in the head while he was trying for a UWF leg lock. Smiley torquing 'piro on the ground is good, and Vampiro manages to string some decent power moves together to end the first fall. Vampiro soon goes back to looking like he barely belongs in a ring. He sure is a funny wrestler to watch when he tries. There are some fumblings, and poorly thought out structure, but by gawd they do try hard to work some epic twists and turns and have a lengthy match that succeeds in not stinking it up. I dug Smiley big bump to the outside, and the nonchalant foul he gave Vampiro amping up the pressure in the match was pretty well done. It was not a flawless match but I'd rather watch something like this over generic junior workrate fest #9000.

LLPW Single Title Next Challenger Decision Tournament 1/15/1995

 Watch

LLPW Single Title Next Challenger Decision Tournament A Block: Eagle Sawai vs. Rumi Kazama

Kazama is an offensive slaughterhouse here, kicking Sawai really hard in the head, keeping her grounded with some cool wrestling, and hitting impressive suplexes. Sawai kind of doesn’t fire back enough considering the asskicking Kazama was giving her, which is a bit weird, though Sawai does sell very well and remains credible as a monster when coming back with her body attacks and lariats. Kind of a one woman show from Kazama, but it was spectacular, just taking her opponent apart in impressive ways.

LLPW Single Title Next Challenger Decision Tournament B Block: Mizuki Endo vs. Carol Midori

Not a flawless match but it was kind of fun to watch two greenish young wrestlers put a longer match together and win the crowd over. The surely style of Endo vs. Midoris highflying made for a nice contrast. There was some nice legwork where Midori really put on some nasty leg stretches on Endo and Endo fought back in interesting ways. It didn‘t mean much but it was good filler weardown type work to set up a finishing stretch that had lots of nearfalls. Not super great or anything but it felt like a well executed hard fought basic match and I enjoyed it.

Shinobu Kandori & Leo Kitamura vs. Michiko Omukai & Hatsumi Tawada

Apparently Tawada was/is part of „a famous comedian duo“. I‘m not sure if that was her gig at this point already or if she was just trying to be a wrestler. Anyways, about a minute into this Tawada takes a body slam which seemingly knocks here out legit and she doesn‘t kick out of the pin. After the match everyone looks pissed with Kandori immediately kicking her in the head, lots of yelling and even her own partner slaps her. And Tawada was never seen in LLPW again.

LLPW Single Title Next Challenger Decision Tournament A Block Semifinal: Eagle Sawai vs. Harley Saito

It‘s too bad Saito didn‘t get much to do in LLPW because she could still go hard. This was a lot like Sawai vs. Kazama from earlier, with Harley throwing the kitchen sink at Sawai and brutalizing her, and Sawai not being quite the monster that she should be. Sawai did hit an absolutely disgusting powerbomb early on, which made the whole match, as Saito spent a long time selling how fucked up she was from that powerbomb and desperately trying to cut down Sawai. Harleys head kicks, arm attacks were all great. It needed more fire and creativity from Sawai but it ended up being a good match thanks to Harley.

Noriyo Tateno & Mikiko Futagami vs. Jenn Yukari & Michiko Nagashima

Fun tag due to Tateno showing more energy than usual and Yukari kicking the crap out of people. Nagashima annoys Tateno so Tateno looked pissed firing back at her. Later Nagashima refuses to back down from Tateno in a really cool moment. Futagami had good underdog charisma. Things were a bit inconsequential – there is a segment where GAMI gets her leg worked over which ends up meaning nothing – but they move quickly through the match and deliver a good finish where they keep guessing which loss post will go down, so it was an easy watch.

LLPW Single Title Next Challenger Decision Tournament B Block Semifinal: Miki Handa vs. Mizuki Endo

Really good match and kind of a coming out party for Endo. Handa is higher on the totem pole, so Endo controlling her early amps the stakes of the match. When Handa comes back she really feels pissed off that this nobody showed her up and they start fighting hard. Tempers flare, Handa kicks Endos ass, and when Endo starts coming back the crowd is absolutely on fire for her. The wrestling early was basic, simple, tightly executed, but they story they told got it to the next level. I really liked Handas elbows to the head and booting Endo in the face, and dropping knees on her back, Handa is small and not particularily intimidating but she can step up and kick ass. The ending run was kicked off by Endo landing a super nasty double stomp and after that they were off to the races with a frantic ending run that had molten heat. It was Handas suplexes and technical moves vs. Endos power moves and lariats, with Endo having the factor that she was fighting like it’s the night of her life going for her, and they both threw down and went all out in just a few minutes. Very good stuff and an example of how basic opening action can set up a hot second half.

The Library

Of all things... a Yusaku Ito Deep Dive

 Yusaku Ito vs. Koji Kanemoto, Kobe Meriken 3/17/2023

Yusaku Ito is this scuzzy little guy who will kick you hard and blast you with nasty headbutts. He reminds me of the indy guys who would sometimes work Fu-Ten undercard matches, he’s not quite a shooter, but he hits some awesome strikes, really makes his pro style moves hit hard and as a knack for timing a cool transition, like he’s a lost 3^rd Brahman brother or Shoichi Uchida dance partner. Kanemoto is 56 here and while he doesn’t kick as fast as he used to he will still kick a scuzzy indy guy in the face and do random dick moves like stopping Ito by kicking him really hard in the leg. This takes place in some dingy bar and is filmed by a single webcam so we don’t get the brief brawling portion outside, we just Kanemoto leaving the ring, then we hear some clanging banging noise as if from a metal tin can and when they come back Yusaku is in control so you kind of imagine what happened. Ito is not afraid to hit the old man in the face, and he earns his sault leaping into Kanemotos spin kicks and knees. Really really fun stuff.

Yusaku Ito vs. Toru Sugiura, FREEDOMS/Sugiura Pro Wrestling 12/10/2021

Sick fucking match. Japanese wrestling is in this weird state right now where most of the wrestling you see is a bunch of fucking nothing, but occasionally you will get something fucking crazy on the smallest of stages. This was worked like a big match and really great, there is lots of basic but extremely tight and well executed opening hold for hold work. You gotta appreciate that Ito is this scuzzy guy but he can also do things like hit a really slick dragon screw. Opening going reminded me of a great 90s NJPW juniors match due to the tight basic work and both guys peppering in some psycho headbutts and elbows. Toru Sugiura is kind of the scuzzy king of the Japanese indies and I liked how he established himself as a class above his opponent, 1) in terms of wrestling by reversing a leglock from Ito into a cool leglock of his own and 2) by acting deranged and scummy as fuck. Middle portion was a bit middling but the ending portion is one of the sickest finishing stretches I’ve ever seen, just pure insanity with both guys trying to annihilate each other with crazy headbutts and elbows. Just a hair below the best of FUTEN and they worked some great transitions. Match had a bunch of well executed tight wrestling, head dropping moves and truly psycho violence, Japanese indy wrestling at its best.

Yusaku Ito vs. Konaka, Sportiva 12/16/2020

 

This was a rad 7 minute match. Konaka is like a freaky lithe Arn Anderson working a studio TV match here, just constantly attacking Itos arm, while Ito beats him around the ring with his cool kicks, back elbows and headbutts. Everything Ito does lands really solidly and the Konaka arm attack stuff is great. I imagine a 20 minute match between them would be epic considering both these guys are quite the hidden gem workers but sometimes it’s cool to see two talented guys having a unique short little match that has maybe 1 or 2 back bumps.

Yusaku Ito vs. Konaka, Sportiva 9/15/2021

Well, I just said a main event between the two would be epic, and here’s a main event between the two and it’s really good! Mind you it’s a weekday show in front of like 12 people, but that’s kind of the best match these two will do. And this was really good, almost scientific. We start with some really fun matwork with Konaka doing a cool job catching Ito in pins and submissions. The transition is Ito catching Konaka with a sleeper, which Konaka fights out of but Ito keeps knocking the wind out of him with blows to the body. Ito constantly going back to locking in cool chokes was really good. Konaka is such a fun wrestler, I love how he sets up his comeback and ends up working Itos legs over. The finishing stretch was Konakas leg stretches vs. Itos chokes and it was really smart and great. These two are awesome, and it was cool to see Ito in a really good match without brain damaging stiffness that was built around cool submissions and counters.