Some 1980s New Japan

Super Strong Machine vs Akira Maeda, NJPW 8/20/1987

Pretty badass match. Machine is awesome here, facing an overwhelming challenge but trucking on and beating the shit out of Maeda with his straight forward pro-wrestling offense. Watching them wrestle here it’s hard not to think this late 80s New Japan/UWF influenced style is the best stuff ever. There’s intricate grappling, and a general caginess that makes everything really interesting. Great selling from Machine early on as he was quickly limping from Maedas attacks while Maeda was still strutting around confidently. Maeda would constantly get the better of Machine on the mat, and start to destroy him with kicks when standing, so watching Machine close the distance and trying to put Maeda through the wringer with punches, nasty short kicks and headbutts was pretty great. Maeda seemed to be holding back a little early on but once Machine really gets him fired up Maeda would just try to tear through him with spin kicks. Couple great moments including a few awesome counters down the stretch including Machine rolling out of an armbar and locking in a hammerlock to hit the Evil Windmill Suplex which totally ruled, and then we get Machine trying to gut it through his destroyed shoulder. Just really really good pro wrestling.

Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura, NJPW 12/6/1985

30 minutes of great old school pro wrestling. This kind of chess match NJPW style which is not quite shootstyle but done with the same sense of seriousness and spontanity may just be my favourite style of wrestling. What they do is fairly basic without much flash save for one or two moves, but they do it all with such spirit and my god do all these guys make basic stuff look awesome. It never feels like they are just going through the motions. There’s also some cool creativity like Kimura coming down on Inoki with a flying stomp while Fujinami had him in a sharpshooter because why not, the goal is to crush them. First half was pretty much an exercise in all 4 guys always doing something interesting and keeping the crowd engaged. Did I mention the crowd is white hot for this and constantly catching fire just for Inoki or whoever tagging in? It’s the 80s baby. Sakaguchi is always really cool to watch as he comes across as such a monster. There’s a bit of legwork on him that feels slightly wasted but I really liked how he resisted the figure 4. Second half was peppered with a few epic standoffs including Inoki throwing punches at Fujinami and Fujinami spiking him with an awesome suplex, the crowd rallying big behind Kimura while Inoki kept locking in Octopus Holds with the precision of an expert grappler. Kimuras leg lariat may be my favourite piece of offense ever. Pretty great ebb and flow here, anytime it would seemingly die down they would bring the sparks back up with something big like Sakaguchi absolutely launching a guy with a backdrop suplex, Inoki hitting out of nowhere enzuigiris or trying to pry guys apart with Octopus Holds. The last few seconds was right on the money with Fujinami going for the kill with the Dragon Suplex on Inoki and Inoki resisting with all his might. Simply but highly effective pro wrestling.

Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura, NJPW 12/12/1985

More great wrestling very much in the same vein as the above match, and to think they did both these in less than a week is frankly ridiculous. Lots of more great exchanges here, exhilarating pace, still no-nonsense while constantly turning up the heat. I thought it was not *quite* the house of fire that the earlier match was but it’s not much less. However, this one does have an actual finish that is built to in pretty great fashion as Inoki gets caught in a figure 4 and when Sakaguchi tags in his bad leg gave out and Fujinami and Kimura, hungry to get the win did a number on his leg. You rarely see 2 guys working as a team to just destroy a guys leg like this. When Inoki tagged back in he seemed to be limping too and was desperately throwing punches. Really good build to a finish without just going through a bunch of nearfalls. All in all, there’s plenty of really good action to enjoy here and you want to see it just for the conclusion.

Keiichi Yamada vs. Tatsutoshi Goto, NJPW 3/26/1986

You would associate NJPW young lions stuff with black trunks and ultra simplistic wrestling, but they were both wearing bright blue tights here and doing lots of different stuff. With Goto its more of a fun oddity to see him fresh faced and busting out things like a crossbody or chest kicks – I would have thought he was simply born with a mustache and a shit stirrer. As we all know, young Yamada is yoked as hell and bristling with energy. The matwork here they do is really nice – really torturing each other with basic things like a facelock and moving through their holds swiftly without losing the competitive edge. Goto in control is a bit drawn out, though he does crown Yamada with an absolutely harrowing piledriver. He would also do things like hit a powerslam straight into an armbar because that was how things were done in 80s New Japan. You could tell Yamada was a boiling hot talent and the crowd was already buzzing for him even though he hadn’t quite hit his stride yet. It’s fascinating to think he might have joined UWF and become a peer of Tamura or something. His matwork was great obviously, and he also busted out a ridiculously backflipping flying chop. Really liked how Yamada seemingly couldn’t hit a comeback, then survived Gotos (already beautifully deadly) backdrop and was able to score a flash pin for the win. Is it a surprise the top of the cards of 80s New Japan was some of the most fierce and best stuff ever when even the lower card stuff was this good and competitive?

80s AJW

 Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori vs Mika Komatsu & Kanako Nagatomo AJW 6/21/1986

Crazy match that was over 30 minutes of straight wrestling with a ton of intensity and hard-fought chew-em-up style matwork. Really unique from a modern perspective. The match followed a simple formula, they would alternate between matwork and explosive standing moves, but the intensity at which they fought in and out of the holds was great. In terms of moves there was nothing mindblowing happening, but its 80s AJW so it feels somewhat familiar but different, and the real selling point is the struggle. They sold the match like a sporting contest that would occasionally come to a boiling point. The pinfall attempts and the struggle over getting out of them was fantastic – really nailed that amateur wrestling-like feeling of when a guy feels he is about to get rolled in his shoulders and gets into that “oh shit” zone to desperately scramble out. I really liked Kanako Nagatomo here, she hit these cool Zidane headbutts and knew how to work some mean indian deathlocks. Ogura & Nagahori would throw these wild kicks and solebutts, often out of nowhere, and they weren’t afraid to get chippy. At one point you had Komatsu and I think Nagahori going into this almost Lawler/Mantell style strike exchange on their knees with both of them throwing open hands. So the chippiness was great, the matwork was great, and the flying moves were cool (at one point one of them hit this awesome jumping victory roll that looked like the most beautiful flash pin ever). The match didn’t have a ton of limb selling or build to the transitions but they sold the whole thing as an intense sporting contest where either team could take the lead at the drop of a hat, so I didn’t care. Even something like a takedown into an ankle lock felt important, and the way they would elaborate on that really drives the point home. Matches like this that eschew traditional US style ring psychology but still work in their own way are really interesting to me. Really unique, great match that everyone should give a shot.

Chigusa Nagayo vs Lioness Asuka, AJW 6/13/1987

The match begins with a jump start. In the first minute, there's a suplex on the floor and then Lioness misses a crazy dive. Nagayo goes for the kill locking in a sharpshooter, but Lioness scrambles for the ropes. Lioness comes back with a shootstyle armbar and attacking Chigusas arm for a bit. Is Lioness gonna work the arm? No, they reset to a neutral position, working a test of strength before Chigusa takes over. After that the match becomes more focussed on grinding matwork with occasional outbursts of Lioness' kicks, with Chigusa always grinding her back down with headlocks etc. A flick is switched when a tombstone attempt is reversed and they work a 50/50 nearfall run with a lot of big moves. Lioness giant swing as a nearfall is a really cool spot, Chigusas much less energetic version less so.

A lot of cool wrestling on display here with both of them hitting some cool fireman carrys and suplexes. There was considerable struggle and a palpable sense of "grind her down". The UWF influence was really cool. Certainly made me wish this style would come back and be brought to its completion. This match felt a little random to be truely gripping for me but it was cool to watch.

Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs Lola Gonzalez & La Galactica, AJW 10/6/1984

Another really wild match from this era. What makes this stand out is the rudo tour de force from Gonzalez and Galactica. They both did a great job both bumping for their opponents and beating the hell out of them. Gonzalez especially stood out in a major way and I was surprised this match isn't more famous considering she doesn't exactly have a ton of matches on tape. Galactica was a bit more subdued but she got some good licks in. At one point she had this really awesome sugar hold on Chigusa tearing up her leg. Also, Dump Matsumoto and her gang is at ringside and she interfers liberally in this match, at one point jumping straight in the ring to beat on people with an iron rod. If you don't like liberal interferences you'll probably dislike this but I didn't mind it because the action still stayed in the ring and it was all part of the beatdown. In a way mid 80s AJW feels like this corrupt lawless land where all the referees are crooked and you might get stabbed by Dump Matsumoto at the drop of a hat. Of course the Crush Gals are generating molten heat by just existing in this match. There's a minute long Chigusa chant as she's exchanging basic knucklelocks. Any wrestler alive today would give their toe for these kind of reactions. They were super in the moment and feeding off the energy. Some things they did looked a little sloppy or blown, with Chigusas kicks not looking very good yet, and the comebacks felt pretty random (e.g. Chigusa gets her leg worked over and comes back just hitting a random tombstone piledriver), but it doesn't really matter when you have a pair of babyfaces this passionate. The escalating violence towards the end was really great with Asuka bleeding in a really grizzly way, and Gonzalez also getting bloodied with a bleeding Asuka hitting an amazing late match giant swing, fans pelting the ring with garbage in protest to the over the top heel antics etc. Both looked like they wanted to make the cover of an Apter mag. Great spectacle with the atmosphere being off the charts.

Young Shinya

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masahiro Chono, NJPW 3/20/1987

My god did these two look like legends from the very beginning. I mean, Chono less so, but Hashimoto is pretty much as good as you’ve ever seen him here. They do some really cool matwork, really fast takedowns and tight hold for hold work while moving through everything smoothly, Hashimoto absolutely pelts Chono with kicks, they slap the shit out of each other, the crowd is hot, Chono hits an AWESOME out of nowhere backdrop suplex, Hash works a great sleeper… just great energy in this. Hashimotos suplexes were awesome although I can see why he stopped doing bridging suplexes with his frame. This would be a great match for any two wrestlers, for two young lions this was amazing.

Shinya Hashimoto & Masahiro Chono & Keiji Muto vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka, NJPW 7/29/1988

The Three Musketeers unite. Maybe for the first time? This was super heated and action packed because all three young guys basically want to take a chunk out of Fujinami. Fujinami throwing punch combos in retaliation was awesome. And my god does Hashimoto look like a walking badass already. Karate pants, spin kicking people, just being a mean old tank. It's also fun to see these future stars doing some different things from later. Hashimoto hits a crazy spinning gutbuster, Chono does a spin kick. Mutoh was already himself, grinding the match to a halt with a meaningless Figure 4. Aside from that this was a house of fire. Really awesome to check out.

NJPW vs. UWF Handheld Matches

 

Yoji Anjoh & Tatsuo Nakano vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Akira Nogami, NJPW 2/28/1987

What a sick upload. This was 4 young guys going close to 20 minutes doing awesome grappling and kicking the shit out of each other. My god do all these guys look great hitting the mat, just hitting awesome throws and super tight submissions left and right. Anjoh and Nakano already show shades of their later shitkicker personae and Funaki even in his black trunks and on a grainy handheld looks like a star in the making. The second half was really great because black trunks rookie factor is at play, so dropkicks and boston crabs become edge-of-your-seat stuff. Funaki running in to break up submissions by blasting people with dropkicks felt epic and while they largely kept the action basic they mixed in some sweet highlights, for example there was an awesome armbar counter to a backslide, Anjoh getting thrown to the outside by a dropkick, a New Japan guy running into a surprise high kick etc. The scrappy moments where guys would kick or slap the shit out of each other were fantastic and super heated. Great great stuff, this period where you saw New Japan guys mix it up with UWF guys regularily may have been the peak of the promotion.

Yoji Anjoh & Tatsuo Nakano vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Akira Nogami, NJPW 3/26/1987

Very good rematch in the same way as the first one. Anjo and Nakano were really a pair of pricks here brutalizing Nogami with knees and kicks. They did the same things as in the first match in some parts but the general scrappiness and improvized-feeling structure made it still feel different enough. Great heated finish and I dig how the UWF guys keep refusing to run the ropes.

80s Europe #8

 

Marc Rocco vs. Steve McHoy, Wos 2/17/1982

This was from a Royal Albert Hall show. Rocco was set to face Kung Fu but Kung Fu was working Stampede so Rocco gets on the mic and says Kung Fu is hiding because he knows Rocco would kill him in the ring, and that rules. This was such a brawl it barely resembled a WoS much but the heat was super and it was a really fun fast paced bout. McHoy was this Scottish heavyweight and kind of non descript but Rocco made sure the heat was on him by beating on this man with elbows and stomps to the face. I also really liked that little headbutt he threw on the ground. McHoy has some fun comebacks punishing Rocco and Roccos bumping was superb, he made a simple knee lift look devastating. I also really liked the bit where McHoy bitchslapped Rocco and then armdragged him a bunch when he came charging hotheadedly. Big big bump for the finish too. This was a cool sprint.

Johnny Saint vs. Robbie Brookside (4/28/87)

Borderline masterpiece of a British grappling match, maybe the last truely great bout to come out of the country. Not a ton of extended selling or story aside from Brookside being this lanky kid taking it to a master, but there was a ton of really good wrestling. Brookside sure looked sharper than I‘ve ever seen him here. He had some great holds and movements. And Saint cut out the smiles and just wrestled a cutting edge bout. Really liked how Brookside didn‘t let himself get pinned by Saitns signature stuff. The hold for hold stuff was great and there were some fantastic rope running sequences including one where Saint took a really nice missed bump off a crossbody. Also liked how when Brookside had enough of the grappling and started leathering Saint with uppercuts Saint retaliated by dropkicking him flush in the face. Great bout.

 

80s Euro Compendium

GWE watching: Shinobu Kandori

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Even More Rare Assorted NJPW TV

 Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura, NJPW 12/10/1986

Very good, competitive feeling match up. Fujinami controls the initial going by hanging onto Kimuras arm and they go through a few complex reversals before Kengo bitchslaps Fujinami in the middle of a sunset flip. Fujinami takes offense, but finds himself eating some bare knuckle punches from Kimura. After some more back and forth Fujinami eats a nasty leg lariat to the face from Kimura and we get some hot and unpredictable 80s nearfalls. This could’ve gone longer but it was quality shit.

Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Antonio Inoki, NJPW 5/25/1987

I am digging these Sakaguchi matches showing up. This was like Sakaguchi having one last go at his old rival. In the 70s these guys would do hold for hold matches, but this was a real exercise in pacing. They would do some grappling, and then they would do something to heat things up. Inoki tries rushing Sakaguchi at the start, but Sakaguchi blows him off. Then Sakaguchi lands a big atomic drop outside the ring. Suddenly Inoki goes for an enzuigiri, then both guys start throwing hands and Sakaguchi is downed by a huge slap. Sakaguchi really puts Inoki through the ringer with armlocks on the ground, before reversing a back suplex attempt into a Russian Leg Sweep in a great spot. I thought this was building to a classic, but then a weird transition happens where Sakaguchi seems to blow himself out hitting a big Atomic Drop and Inoki just blasts him away with enzuigiris. Still, a great lesson in how to create tension in wrestling matches.

Andre the Giant & Terry Rudge vs. Seiji Sakaguchi & Osamu Kido, NJPW 10/4/1976

Andre and Rudge! That alone makes this a gem. Match was fun too. We JIP to Andre and Rudge working over Kido with painful neck wrenches. Andre is so imposing even working basic holds. Then Andre misses a big splash, Kido makes the hot tag and we get lots of fun Andre stooging. It's a bit weird how the giant is the guy on the team taking the big bumps but it's fun to watch Andre fling himself over the top rope etc. Sakaguchi and Kido don't really sell on the level you want from a babyface team but they have some good teamwork spots. There was also a cool moment in the second fall where Rudge made Kido fly to the outside in a well timed spot. Rudge is one of the all time great asskicking wrestlers, he did kick ass a bit here but it was like 5/10 when it comes to Rudge material. Otherwise this was solid 70s action.

JWP 3/4/1987

 

Plum Mariko vs. Maiko Tsurugi

Oscal Tomo & Smiley Mami vs. Ilia Yonemoto & Eden Mabuchi

Cuty Suzuki & Yu Yamazaki vs. La Venus & Dirty Yamato

Eagle Sawai vs. Xochitl Hamada

Diosa de Plata & India Azteca vs. Esther Moreno & Mayumi Ozaki

Miss A & Rumi Kazama vs. Yuki Ito & Harley Saito

Jackie Sato vs. Nancy Kumi

This was the earliest JWP I've seen so far. There are a few more handhelds from 1987, but most of them don't even have a date. Jackie Sato era JWP is an interesting obscurity to check out. Most of the wrestlers here were really green and much of the undercard felt very basic with wrestlers just trying to string moves together and not have the match break down. There were like a dozen back elbows thrown. Structurally, the matches were pretty lacking.

The one standout in the undercard was Suzuku/Yamazaki vs. Yamato/Venus. It had a clear face/heel structure with Venus engaging in some cool luchariffic exchanges. Dirty Yamato also did her dust powder attack and Yu Yamazaki looked good doing some heated exchanges with Venus and trying to unmask her. The other tag featuring Mexican ladies was also a bit more advanced although sloppy. Esther Moreno decided to do a dozen flips.

The best match before the main event was Miss A/Kazama vs. Ito/Saito. They were also green, but they really kicked the shit out of each other. They really made the right decision putting all the kickpadded girls in the semi main event. Miss A, even though she was a baby here, was already a serious bruiser, but Kazama may have been even more vicious and may have been the best girl in the match. Saito also looked good here and this was a foreshadowing of the cool tags JWP would be doing in the early 90s.

THE MAIN EVENT: Just getting to see Jackie Sato vs. Nancy Kumi in 1987 in JWP is something in itself. These two were great in AJW before the Crush Gals hype took over. These two were very technical wrestlers then, but this match really dialed up on their connection to the crowd. You can tell they were still major stars. The wrestling felt simplistic, certainly not on the level of what they were doing in 1980, but the heat they were garnering was far greater than everything they did in those days. They were working a bunch of tight submissions and scrambling takedowns. Kumi was the aggressor attacking Sato in the ropes and eventually bloodying her and punching her in the face a bunch. That alone should tell you how on fire this crowd ended up getting for the match. The wrestling in this match wasn't as important as their personalities, which may be underwhelming if you were hoping for a purists dream match, but if a heated 80s match between two legends with blood and a bunch of tight wrestling sounds good to you, this was a very good match.