A few matches under 10 minutes

 Kengo Mashimo vs. Isami Kodaka, K-Dojo 9/30/2002

Hey... did you know skinny deathmatch wrestler Isami Kodaka was once a skinny shootfighter dressed like a SHOOTO guy throwing wild punches and trying to break arms with flash armbars? You'll be surprised! This was just a hair under 5 minutes and it was like a more primitive version of Ikeda/Ono, so it was still pretty great! Both guys look awesome here. Mashimo doesn't have the hair dye and ponytail yet but he looks like quite the Hashimoto-esque figure here being a karateka dressed in black and taking on a shooter. Kodaka throws wild punches and spin kicks just great. The crazy spill over the rope was awesome  and the way Mashimo just decimated Kodaka with some of the most brutal head kicks and knees ever was harrowing. Quite the sub-5 minute war.

No Rules Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kensuke Sasaki, NJPW 4/9/2001

It’s Shinya Hashimoto vs Kensuke Sasaki in 2001 New Japan in a NO RULES match. So it’s pretty much exactly what you want: plenty violent, short, no filler, just raw straight forward brutality. I had no idea this match even happened until now and it has no ratings in Cagematch, so that tells you this era of New Japan is still kinda underrated. Hashimoto goes into this with MMA gloves and there are some CAPTURE-esque exchanges to start. Sasaki is best as a primitive crowbar and that’s what he does here, Hashimoto would make him eat some hands early on so Sasaki just nuked him with a huge suplex. No Rules means there’s no rope breaks so Sasaki came across like a savage trying to rip out Hashimotos arm when he went for the armbar. Hashimoto came back with one of the nastiest punch flurries I’ve ever seen. After almost knocking Sasaki out, Hashimoto took the gloves off and they agree to a pro wrestling lock up before throwing kesagiri chops which was pretty awesome. Sasaki snatching Hash for the northern lights bomb out of nowhere was also pretty amazing. The car crash violent bomb throwing last few minutes were fairly great. Hashimoto is a king at building long intense matches but this kind of violent outburst also suits him pretty well.

Akira Nogami vs Yuji Nagata, NJPW/AAA 11/16/1994

Great 7 minute match. Young Nagata was working like an aggressive BattlARTS guy here, throwing wild strikes constantly and fighting back against Nogami with shootstyle technique. Nogami, of course, would end up grabbing one of those kicks, twist him over with a Dragon Screw and then stomp the hell out of that leg. Wrestling can be so simple but effective sometimes. Nagatas hulk up was also surprisingly great actually. The finishing stretch while brief was all well timed cool moments, such as Nogami resisting hard against Nagatas belly to belly suplex and hitting a really precise enzuigiri or Nagata unleashing some explosive kicks. Give me two guys going all out for 7 minutes and really comitting even to basic stuff like this any day.

Volk Han vs. Masayuki Naruse, RINGS 10/23/1993

This match has been called a contender for the greatest wrestling match under 10 minutes. It’s certainly an interesting pick. Han is bigger than Naruse so he really ragdolls him. I mean we all know Han is a monster but he was really yanking him around with his signature insanely fast wristlocks and throws, and straight up slamming him here and there. Hans wristlocks certainly have more aura than any other wrestlers wristlocks. This is Han as usual – dominating on the ground and you get some of the wildest submissions and escapes you’ll see anywhere. This man was truly a genius at coming up with unique submissions without getting too cute. Naruse is pretty much overwhelmed, but he gives a gutsy performance. He already loves the spinning back open hand strike and just tries to barrage Han early, but Han would catch him constantly. He does come up with some counters here and there, and Volk lets him have a moment knocking him down with a liver shot. There’s a great nearfall from a cross heel hook with Naruse desperately trying to escape and coming up limping after barely making the rope. He gets one last hope moment throwing some more body shots but Han spins him around for an easy tag. This was a Volk Han special, and the fact that it was pretty much a midcard bout against a much lower ranked opponent speaks volumes to how good Han was that even such a throwaway match would end up feeling special.

Yoshiko Tamura vs. Aja Kong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thSUqf6hgJo

Classic Aja trashing, if you like the Chaparita Asari match you will also like this. Tamura throws the kitchen sink at her to try and stop the monster. Tamura was putting major force even into her slightly goofy flying cross chops. The backfist that Aja nailed her with looked harder than many Kos in MMA fights. Check it out for a hard 2 minute fight.

Eternal GAEA

     Chigusa Nagayo vs Mayumi Ozaki, GAEA 12/9/2001

You know I should just sit down and watch GAEA all day long. This was a chaotic brawl with an insanely gory bladejob from Chigusa, so just what you expect. There’s comical amounts of outside interference from Police and KAORU, chairs are thrown, staffs broken, and Chiggy hits a full on Terry Funk style punch combo to comeback. Chigusa has the unique ability to make even mundane submissions like a sleeper or abdominal stretch look dangerous and they do get a ton of mileage out of that here, as of course Chigusa can drop Ozaki with some mad bombs but the focus was mostly on Nagayo doing nifty submission counters and trying to squeeze out a submission. Ozakis backhands and open hands looked good. Yes yes, they may overdo it a little on the outside interference and I maybe would’ve liked a moment where Chigusa goes full Stone Cold and beats the hell out of everyone, but what we got was pretty nifty, and felt unique, like a joshi take on a WWF Attitude Era brawl mixed with Villano III/Atlantis and a dose of Inokiism.

Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu vs Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada, GAEA 11/30/2003

Incredibly neat match where they basically packed as many nifty moments and transitions into a short match as they could. Nagayo has a bad leg and YuYu and Uematsu are like terriers trying to due further damage. An angry Chigusa would in turn try to snap their legs with some really fast dragon screws. There was also some brutality thanks to Yamada and YuYu, mostly. Uematsu and Ran are so mean here that it seems Uematsu busts out a foreign object, and YuYu keeps trying to strangle Yamada and throwing the refee around, which made for some unusual intensity. After the match Chigusa hits a downright criminal kick to YuYus face. A match where every second was interesting and nothing felt by the numbers. GAEA was wild.

Sakura Hirota & Carlos Amano vs Ayako Hamada & Ran YuYu, GAEA 10/25/2003

Pretty much the Sakura Hirota show. She was on fire here. Mind you, it was comedic, but the match still felt like competitive pro wrestling, and the jokes were funny, creative and displayed considerable skill especially the little lucha routine she did with Ayako, so it was fine by me. Basically Hirotas thing is that she’s a useless idiot, but she keeps on trying despite her failures and she is totally capable of putting someone down for the 3 with a roll up if she just gets things right, so that’s compelling. There’s like a 9 minute stretch or so in this that’s almost all Hirota antics and it’s exhilarating. When Amano is in there’s some pretty damn good straight up wrestling too. It all builds to a really good and quite intricate finishing stretch with Amano hitting flash armbars and Hirota upsetting people with her unique ways. Pretty damn fun and unique match that never missed a beat.

Mayumi Ozaki vs Ai Fujita, GAEA 4/4/2004

Ai Fujita in GAEA?! She was a really fun wrestler. Anyone who can do lucha exchanges and look athletic, bust out slick submissions and shoot punch people in the face has some real talent in my book. It’s a good showing from Ozaki too. Not everything she did landed perfectly but her palm strikes and backfists were pretty fun, really catching Fujita to the mush. She also busted out a cool rolling leglock. Match was going fun but really kicked into next gear once Fujita started punching Ozaki in the face. Her punch combo may be one of my favourite ever in wrestling, it was Takeshi Ono level. Match also had the GAEA-typical odd touches nifty moments. Good stuff, bit unfortunate Fujita retired just shortly after this, though I guess the joshi scene didn’t hold much more for types like her at this point.

Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima vs Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada, GAEA 4/10/2004

Tons of fun, even for a tag that’s kind of on a smaller show. Early goings were basic but engaging, as they put a ton of struggle and vigor even into things as basic as a test of strength or struggling over a top wristlock, and with the people involved there’s always the factor that someone might get kicked really hard. Yamada in her later days may be physically over the hill but I always find her interesting to watch. This stuff rules not because it's hard hitting (it is) but also because they display lots of creativity. Things kick up a notch when Satomura started getting into kick battles with Kansai and Yamada. You know these 3 are GOATs and they are breathtaking to watch even compared to GOATs, every thing hitting snug and they have a bunch of different interesting ways to land their kicks and strikes. Especially dug Satomuras out of nowhere mule kick from the corner. The finishing run is Kansai vs Nagashima and it’s more about Nagashima trying to pull off a tricky pin combination to take down the juggernaut but it’s also pretty great. Kansai is so good even late in her career, her strikes land hard and she knows exactly how to be a monster, these two have a cool dynamic together like a more hard hitting Rey/Psicosis.

Shinya Hashimoto in ZERO1

   

Shinya Hashimoto vs Hirotaka Yokoi, Z1 6/5/2003

This was pretty freaking awesome. It’s Hashimoto vs an aggressive hard hitting shooter in a Korakuen Hall main event, so that shouldn’t come as a huge surprise… still, this a gem. Opening establishes the story of the match nicely as Yokoi came at Hashimoto with a barrage of wild punches but get knocked back by a karate chop. Hashimoto was a total killer here, basically every single thing he did was awesome. Cutting through Yokoi with extremely well timed strikes, trying to break his leg with punches, catching him with a Fujiwaraish leg hook… really had the feel of a wily veteran putting a faster younger fighter through the wringer using experience. So Hashimoto is not just a monster, he is an intelligent monster. Even basic things like a kneedrop looked insanely violent. Yokoi was swinging his fists fast and hard at Hash but kept getting caught by Hashimotos counter kicks and occasionally a shoot heabdutt to the face. At the same time, it seemed Yokoi could beat Hashimoto anytime if he just punched him hard enough or locked in a submission. As such the whole match was intense. Another chapter in the book of Why Shinya Hashimoto is the Greatest Wrestler of All Time.

Shinya Hashimoto & Kohei Sato vs Katsuhiko Ogasawara & Akio Kobayashi, Z1 3/27/2003

Fuck yeah Pro Wrestling vs Karate! Ogasawara breaks a baseball bat with a spin kick before the match to establish dominance. This is really the dream match of every 8 year old kid who loves pro wrestling and karate (now you can guess what I was like at 8). Just 4 men leveling gritty beatdowns on each other for 13 minutes with hardly a breather. The first Hashimoto vs Ogasawara exchange is so awesome as you really get the feeling that Ogasawara was pushing Hashimoto to break out faster and more agile strikes than he usually does. It’s rare Hashimoto faces someone who matches him when it comes to killer strikes but fuck Ogasawara was destroying people here. He looked insanely precise and killer here just stabbing through people with his axe kicks and piercing gut punches. And Hashimoto would always time his strikes and put people down with a big swing. Kobayashi feels very sleazy with his oily hair and colour mismatched taped hands. You look at him and you immediately want to see Hashimoto stomping his guts out and and that’s pretty much what happens. Kohei Sato is kind of the red headed step child here – he’s outmatched against the striking expert. When Hashimoto tags him in, Sato would gleefully take the chance to lay some hard kicks into an exposed Ogasawara. Later we see him going for a running move only to crotch himself in the ropes like a goof ball. One big Ogasawara punch to the gut sent Kohei crawling to the floor clutching himself like he just got his intestines rearranged. Though to his credit Sato fights hard dropping karatekas with some hard suplexes that looked like they had minimal cooperation. It all builds to Ogasawara taking a huge beatdown as Hashimoto just decides to punch him in the face until he starts bleeding. That is actually what happens – Hashimoto nails his signature double stomp, landing on Ogasawara like a fat cartoon dog would land on Tom from Tom & Jerry, then taking a look at Ogasawara and deciding he wants this old man to bleed, and a couple measured knuckle punches to Ogasawaras face later he is indeed covered in blood. The finish is Sato putting the pressure on a seemingly dead Ogasawara only to get knocked out by a lucky hit like the goofball that he is and then crawling all over the referee in confusion. It’s a sudden ending but it makes sense given the build, Ogasawara can just KO anyone with one precise blow. I would’ve hoped this would set up some kind of epic Hashimoto/Ogasawara bloodfeud but instead they only tagged together for the rest of the year because japanese wrestling is like that. I wrote a lot of words about this one but to sum it up they hit each other with lots of really hard punches and kicks and it was great.

Shinya Hashimoto vs Shinjiro Otani, Z1 12/24/2003

I don’t think I’ve seen this match before, and it’s not something that’s brought up much, which is a bit odd because it’s two of the greatest Japanese wrestlers stiffing the daylights out of each other in a big match. Undoubtedly the action here was simplistic, but rather great. These guys really know how to get the most out of everything. During the opening grappling, which was classic New Japan style, simple but believable, they really made basic things like going for an armbar feel meaningful and putting some grit and struggle into it. Of course, Hashimoto is this really towering presence and everyone is thinking if Otani can somehow overcome the king. Everybody knows Otani will probably not tap out to a kimura from Hashimoto 3 minutes into the match but just the way Hashimoto would really crank would let everyone know that he was putting Otani in trouble. Otani knows this so he goes and slaps the shit out of Hashimoto. They stiff the hell out of each other, spirited Otani gets the advantage, he facewashes Hashimoto, and to top it off puts a kimura on Hashimoto for some nice mirroring. Hashimoto would in turn increase the viciousness again, kicking Otani all over the ring, until Otani is the one crumbled in the corner. Otani stopping Hashimotos beastly onslaught with a messy headbutt to the shoulder is so great because it’s simple, believable and Hashimotos selling immediately lets you know that he’s in trouble. Not just because he’s in pain and screaming, but also because he stops using the arm and instead opts for his spinning legsweep in a great spot. This is why Hashimotos just the fucking best, whole match was done in a fairly simple fashion but just oozing with aura and everything meaning something. I could see some people being unhappy with the finish but I thought it was just fine since I am tired of 2.9 ending runs anyways. In a way that would have gone against the story they were telling. Tall that and they absolutely stiffed the daylights out of each other, goodness gracious.

Shinya Hashimoto vs Alexander Otsuka, Z1 7/13/2001

This was kinda like the pro wrestling version of those PRIDE fights with an insane size mismatch. We don’t really think of Otsuka as ‘small’ because usually he works like he’s such a beast, but he does look quite small next to Hashimoto here. This is close to a squash but it’s memorable. Basically Otsuka tries to get something in on Hashimoto and just gets mauled. Hashimoto would shrug off Otsukas early attempts at takedowns and then proceed to try and pulverize him with vicious kicks. Just destroying his shoulders and arms with bone breaking kicks and karate chops. Otsuka looks really tough not backing down against the beast and he gets a few cool hope spots but is quickly destroyed. Highlight was clearly Hashimotos gritty crowbar shoulderblock that blew Otsuka away, and the finishing submission which looked like a killing. Still you want it to be a bit more epic considering it’s Hashimoto vs Alexander freaking Otsuka but sometimes you can’t have it all.

RIP Tadao Yasuda

 

Tadao Yasuda vs Tatsumi Fujinami, NJPW 8/13/1999

Great little sprint from the G1 Climax. I love how it immediately establishes the tone of the G1, everything matters. That is felt very strongly here just from the way Fujinami would move about the ring before locking up, really putting over Yasudas massive size and lumbering danger. They don’t waste a second in letting you know what they are all about, Yasuda rushing with sumo palm strikes, Fujinami always trying to grab a leg and twist it off. I love how Yasuda started pounding away whenever Fujinami tried for the dragon screw, and his own modified dragon screw ruled. Nifty finish. More pro wrestling should be like this.

Tadao Yasuda vs Kensuke Sasaki, NJPW 8/10/1999

Kensuke Sasaki in 1999, already a former IWGP champion. Tadao Yasuda, middle aged, late starter at wrestling, and rocking a sleazy mustache. But fuck all that, this match is all about Yasuda being an explosive surprise. Sasaki goes down for a Yasuda shoulderblock, proving Yasuda is indeed bigger and more massive, and then Yasuda proceeds to stomp a mudhole in him. Really dug Yasudas of the sumo palm strikes in this, even getting the better of Kensuke during a strike exchange, and of course the big one that he caught Sasaki right to the mush with. Sasaki looks really contemptful like he is pissed that this old sumo fart just gave him a beating. Even picking him up for a torture rack just to overcompensate. The crowd is all there rallying behind Yasuda for a possible upset and while it’s not anything deep it’s really fun big boy pro wrestling.

Tadao Yasuda vs Keiji Muto, NJPW 8/14/1999

More Yasuda G1 magic. Normally there is no way Yasuda stands a chance in hell against Muto, but it’s the G1, and Muto is super banged up and barely gets a thing going. This allows Yasuda to really give Muto a stomping further banging on his leg, with an enthusiastic crowd willing him all along the way. Yasudas facial expressions are so great, he’s like a man praying to god when he locks in those boston crabs, like he really wants that shit to work. Yasudas jumping elbow drop where it looks like a fridge was dropped on Mutohs leg is really great. I also love them teasing Yasuda losing in the same way he did to Fujinami earlier, and Mutoh does pull off a really really choice finish. Can’t ask for much more from a 5 minute match.

Tadao Yasuda vs Satoshi Kojima, NJPW 8/13/1999

The biggest match for Yasuda in this G1, because Kojima is about the one guy in his block that he has a chance of beating. As such the match is less about Yasuda the Underdog and more Yasuda standing tall and beating the dogshit out of Kojima with his awesome straight sumo palm thrusts, with Kojima selling in amazing fashion. Kojima had a bit more of a punk heel vibe here, snarling at the audience and trying to do damage to Yasudas limbs, which I think suits him very well. While the build of the match is not mind-blowing greatness it’s a lot of fun, serious pro wrestling enhanced by their eccentrics. Yasuda totally makes the second half of the match with his awesome selling and mannerisms, and the crowd gets behind him in a big way. Kojima slipping behind and struggling for a german suplex is a good example of why slowing down can sometimes make things a lot more epic. Kojima trying to damage Yasudas shoulder, with Yasuda trying to hang on and somehow get the win felt pretty epic, almost like a Hashimoto match. It made sense and paid off the story of the match. Loved Kojimas unique arm submission and his cluster attack at Yasudas shoulder felt like some of the best work he’s done, and Yasudas fire and trying to gut it out was just pro wrestling perfection, felt so raw and real. Yasuda brings such a fun vibe, while his Inokification was good stuff it would have been really interesting to see had he kept up what he was doing here into the 2000s.

Tadao Yasuda vs El Gigante, NJPW 5/1/1994

Not many match ups spark my interest anymore these days. But Tadao Yasuda vs El Gigante? Fuck yeah I’m watching Tadao Yasuda vs El Gigante. Yasuda is very at the beginning of his late blooming career. He has black trunks and lacks his signature mustache and looks a bit like an illegitimate son of Takashi Ishikawa and Osamu Kido. But boy he already has something to him. Enough that this massive crowd breaks out in a big ‘Yasuda’ chant to will him into taking on the Gigante, and popping big when Yasuda just goes into a sumo stance that the giant promptly mocks. Gigante looks comically huge – even next to the very large Yasuda. His build is just that of a fairytale giant. Not much happens here, but you get Yasuda sumo palm rushing Gigante to the crowds delight. Gigante takes some shoulder blocks from Yasuda – in a way that made me think he had no idea how to take shoulderblocks. Yasuda eye rakes to get on offense and goes for another sumo rush in the corner but Gigante stops him with a big boot and calls him a ‘fucking sumo’. The brain claw seals the deal. Guess they were really trying to do something with El Gigante here, but Yasudas triumph would come later.

Tadao Yasuda vs Tatsumi Fujinami, NJPW 2001/8/5

Yasuda lost miserably as an underdog just 2 years before, but now he got the Inoki power upgrade and is a dangerous shooter type, so the dynamic is completely reversed. Fujinami looks very aged but has grown out his curls to mid length just to flex on everyone with his hair genetics. Yasuda throws Fujinami and works him over with some pretty hard knees on the ground and pounding on his head with punches, but Fujinami can always hit a dragon screw and turn the tide. They even reference the finish from the 1999 match in a cool spot. Similiar affair as before but with vastly different roles and it’s cool.

Tadao Yasuda vs Kazunari Murakami, NJPW 2001/8/10

Inokiist dream match! Man these G1s just used to be packed with awesome matches. This is more about Murakami than Yasuda, though Yasuda makes for a cool elder tough guy to the rabid pitbull that is Murakami. Murakami may be the greatest ever at these evil glares and sudden violent explosions. It feels almost a bit like a Wahoo vs Johnny Valentine match. Murakami is so aggressive and unhinged that Yasuda becomes the underdog and has to try and surprise him with something, though I loved how he just threw Murakami over the guardrail.

Tadao Yasuda vs Yuji Nagata, NJPW 6/4/2001

By 2001 Inokiism was fully there, and they both have MMA gloves for this. Much like all your best Tadao Yasuda matches, this is short and sweet. It’s basically nearly full blown shootstyle. Yasuda is big and hard to takedown but tenacious Nagata manages to do it anyways. Nagata bitch slaps Yasuda in the ropes and this triggers an angry sumo rush and signature long legged stomping from Yasuda. However, the more energetic Nagata is able to suplex Yasuda on his neck and then quickly put him to pasture with a series of kicks. Impressive showing for Nagata.

Tadao Yasuda vs Manabu Nakanishi, NJPW 8/6/2001

Killer monster battle with a quick pace. Nakanishi is a total caveman here and he is mauling Yasuda with angry palm strikes and throwing him around. Yasuda can always catch someone with a punch though or choke them out. He is a bit of a weird guy to book as a submission artist but it kind of works. Early 2000s NJPW ‘anything can finish’ factor makes this really compelling and I loved the nifty details, such as the way Nakanishi would use a lariat to the leg to set up his stretch muffler, or hit a spear to Yasudas bad leg, as well as the finish.

Tadao Yasuda vs Yuji Nagata, NJPW 8/8/2001

Nagata is like a hyena here mauling a bigger lion. He’s just all over Yasuda, who is totally backed into a corner, as Nagata takes him apart with relentless takedowns, faster kicks, and trying to tear his arms out. All Yasuda can do is try and go for a choke and maybe punch Nagata in the face and hope for the best. Intense stuff that works mostly because you buy Yasuda could come back with just one submission. There are few wrestlers in wrestling history who had that kind of believability in a basic front choke or sleeper, and for Tadao Yasuda to be that guy is just incredible. Another intense little match and Nagata looked like a killer.

 

Tadao Yasuda & Shinya Hashimoto vs Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue, ZERO1 4/18/2001

 Awesome match. It's early Zero1 vs NOAH so we get heated interpromotional action filmed at glorious dutch angles. This was all action in the best way, just 4 guys constantly going at each other. The early Yasuda vs Honda match up is pretty great, just two big guys pummeling each other and trying to go for chokes, with Honda throwing the bigger man around, even hitting a sweet dead end later. Obviously Hashimoto is really great here and Inoue is great as an outmatched guy throwing everything he has at a monster in sheer desperation, these guys just did this match perfectly as Hashimoto ends up mauling Inoue into oblivion with Inoue unable to continue. Yasuda does look great in this kinda match and he does bust out the old sumo palm strike even with the gloves. It's a bit of a different side to him than the cowardly heel shooter stuff and he is quite suitable here.

Old New Professional Wrestling

 

244 vs Masanori Kaneshima, NPW 12/17/2000

NPW baby. A really old amateur-pro wrestling organization that has been around since 1993. Oh, and they weren’t using a ring, they just put a wrestling mat into what looks like a judo practise hall, and they have those ladder-things for corner posts. That automatically makes it really interesting to me. And through some strange godly blessing, a few match videos of them have survived through the magic of the internet archive. This is a pretty fun 10 minute match. Kaneshima has kickpads and works the faux UWF style with kicks and shootstyle submissions, but blends pretty seamlessly with his opponent. 244 is rocking a CIMA worship look. He does some cool things, like turning a snap suplex right into a cool butterfly necklock. Later he does hit the Mr. Perfect flipping neck snap to set up another neck submission which is pretty cool. This is just a pretty fun match with hard suplexes on that amateur wrestling, both guys hitting the mat, busting out some cool submissions (especially liked Kaneshimas ultra-arm bending kimura) and nuking each other. Something like a missile dropkick always looks double devastating when done on a mat like this, and 244 hits a really hard lariat. Pretty cool.

244 vs Yuji Miyazaki, NPW 12/16/2001

This was worked a bit like a 90s NJPW junior match – meaning they start hitting the mat lots and trying to snap each others arm with super tight armbars, then moving on to some hard as fuck bomb throwing with big powerbombs and hard lariats. It’s serious pro wrestling, focussed on matwork and believable offense and no rope running. You have to love it – how serious these guys were about putting on proper wrestling. There is some cool basic work, like hitting a hip toss and then cranking back hard on an armbar. Miyazaki works as a bit of a heel type, even using the corner platforms to try and hurt 244s arm further. 244 slapping his way out of an attempted Scorpion Deathlock is classic pro wrestling stuff. Miyazaki ends up putting him down pretty hard, though 244 does not go down without crashing on his face in nasty fashion leaping off of the corners trying a Mad Splash. God bless him. Super enjoyable, cool match.

244 vs Kenji Yoshioka, NPW 11/17/2002

Pretty raw match. They were hitting each other hard as fuck here with blistering kicks and chops, diving and slamming each other on the floor. Yoshioka is a pretty fun martial artsy guy who’s not afraid to fly around and hit sick huracanranas into armbars. The match is pretty long and they meander a bit but it’s worthwhile just for both these guys being gutsy and going all out. Some insane slams and throws on the mat too with 244 at point hoisting Yoshioka up to the ceiling and letting him splat face down on the mat from like a 2 meter height, crazy stuff. The no ring aspect adds such grittiness, really wouldn’t mind seeing more NPW especially from the earlier days of the promotion, their archived website lists a lot of DVDs and VHS they used to have for sale, so if any old NPW superfans are reading this, there is someone who is totally interested in seeing more of this stuff in 2025.

The Dynamite Kansai vs Meiko Satomura Match Series

 

Meiko Satomura vs Dynamite Kansai, GAEA 1/27/2001

Obviously the Satomura vs Aja feud is more legendary, but the matches between Kansai and Satomura are also really good. Case in point: this match. The dynamic is different from Meiko/Aja because Kansai doesn’t put on extended beatings on anyone, any kick or lariat from her can KO. This was pretty great as it was Satomura desperately chopping down Kansai and throwing the kitchen sink. After some nifty, unpredictable exchanges early on Meiko was able to catch Kansai with a surprise death valley bomb, which immediately amped up the intensity as now both of them were going for the kill. Meikos Pele Kicks were spectacular and Kansai, while over the hill is still cool as fuck in 2001. Dug all of Meikos arm attacks and Kansais kicks and bombs still look lethal. Great shit.

Meiko Satomura vs Dynamite Kansai, GAEA 9/2/2001

This is from one of those High Spurt tournaments so it’s a sprint with both of them going for the kill the whole time, desperately trying to avoid finisher and busting out more nifty counters in this. GAEA is weird, you’d have your chaotic messy main events, Sakura Hirota comedy matches and then some great straight forward hard hitting pro wrestling like this. Some great counters and nifty spots. Once again Meiko was trying to crush Kansais head with those pele kicks, they also do some things that reference their previous matches. Really good 6 minute sprint or so.

Meiko Satomura vs Dynamite Kansai, GAEA 4/22/2001

First couple minutes of this are fairly great in the same vein as the 2 matches above. Hard hitting, unpredictable, some neat moments. Satomura ends up barraging Kansai with DVBs and Pele Kicks for the win to prove that she’s the real deal now. Still pretty fun!

RIP Gran Hamada

Gran Hamada & Rey Misterio Jr & Latin Lover vs Psicosis & Pentagon & Vegas, AAA 1/26/1996

The obvious main match up here is Rey vs. Psicosis. Instead, Gran Hamada walks over and spits in Piscosis face. They get in the ring, they slap each other, and proceed to deliver some awesomely intense, scrappy wrestling. Totally unexpected and great. The rest of the match settles into more typical trios action, but it still rules. Pentagon in 1996 is just as impressive as a sleazy rudo who stooges really well. With guys like Psicosis, Pentagon and Vegas on the rudo side it’s not hard for anyone to look good, so even someone like Latin Lover gets to have his moments in between comical amounts of gyrating. Of course Rey Jr. was setting the world on fire in 1996 and he’s pretty spectacular here. Still, the main selling point in this match is that opening exchange between Hamada and Psicosis.

Gran Hamada & Silver King & El Texano vs Negro Casas & Rambo & Dr. Wagner Jr. (UWA 2/23/1992)

Absolute crack cocaine firehouse of a trios match. The kind where it starts blazing hot and they just keep going and going and never slow down. That stadium must have been melting that night. They basically start throwing down right away with Rambo jumping in the ring beating on people, and it’s absolutely on. There’s something visceral about lucha brawling, and this feels like an epic fight from the get go, even with the physical comedy spots here and there. Hamada ends up bleeding, and he matches up with Negro Casas a lot and these two guys throwing fists at each other is just beautiful. Man alive is everybody here a great athlete, everyone here has so much velocity and snap in their stuff, makes all other wrestling look like a joke really. King and Texano are great, they are the technicos here but they have such a pissed off vibe to them that matches the general intensity of the match. Casas always looks like the greatest wrestler in any match he’s in, bumping so hard and fast, dominating almost every sequence he’s involved in, and it’s really fun to watch Rambo try to steal the show from this giant. The grand stand exchange between Hamada and Casas in the end was brief but felt epic, and then you have Rambo trying to top it by going out of his way to get snap armdragged on the floor. Crazy crazy match, one of those ‘touched by the wrestling’ gods performances that would be impossible to recreate.

 Gran Hamada & Ayako Hamada & Tiger Mask IV vs Gran Apache & Fabi Apache & Pentagon Black, Michinoku Pro 3/25/2001

This was shortly after the infamous Korakuen Hall match where Pentagon attacked Ayako and Gran Hamada bloodied him and ripped his mask in a trios match. Right at the bell Hamada goes after Pentagon again, punching him in the face and making him take an insane posting, so the Gran Hamada vs Pentagon Black feud is something hot in 2001. Watching this, the main thing I thought is that you nowhere see lucharesu at this level anymore. Sure, you had 6 absolute masters, but this felt on another level. Every exchange here was breathless, original, tight, so fast. The most outstanding thing here is the rudo work from the trios of the Apaches and Pentagon Black. So many great cutoffs, and they really put in the work stooging and basing. Gran Apache is an absolute truck in this, always there to punch people in the face. It builds really well to the eventual comeuppance. G.H., Ayako and Tiger Mask IV all get to look great. Quite a different look for Tiger Mask IV when he matches up with a bunch of luchadores too but he is very good in the technico role without much martial arts. And Pentagon Black is an excellent sleazy foil, really making Hamadas big frankensteiner look amazing. After the match Pentagon spits at Ayako and Papa is right at him again. Pro Wrestling can be great.

Gran Hamada vs Pentagon Black, Michinoku Pro 8/19/2001

This is the match the feud was building, and it pretty much delivers what you want. Pentagon busts some chairs in the old mans face, bloodying him, and Hamada comes back ripping his mask and with fired up headbutts and tornado DDTs. Pentagon Black is no Perro Aguayo but he looked pretty circling around a bloody Hamada and kicking him in the face. Since this is Japan they overdo the kickouts a bit with Hamada getting out of 2 spinning tombstones, but other than that this was pretty great. I also love how Hamada uses that cross armbar as a kill move.

 

Gran Hamada vs Jushin Liger, Michinoku Pro 4/9/2000

This is from the 2000 Super J-Cup. Since this is an opening rounds match and Liger always goes to the finals it easily could have been forgettable, but we get something fairly memorable here.  Hamada is aggressive, working Liger over on the ground with his cool little half-knee drops and attacking his arm. Hamada wins a fair number of matches with a straight armbar so him attacking the arm is a credible strategy. Liger mauling Hamada with open hands and doing some great arm selling reminded me how great he can be. They delve into bomb dropping, and both these guys can drop bombs with the best of them, even with Hamada being 50 years old here. Liger doesn't hold back at all and just goes for the kill. Some great hope spots for Hamada, and a great going out on his sword-style finish. Miss this kind of junior wrestling that has no jokes and no superkicks.

GWE Watching: Ran Yu Yu

 Ran Yu Yu vs. Misae Genki, JWP 12/9/2001

This… this was absolutely awesome. I was notoriously down on their big encounter in 2000, but this… this was a whole world better. Basically they got everything right that the 2000 match got wrong, and on top of that they were downright evil to each other. Just a vicious hard hitting match with blindingly awesome transitions and intense struggle that was on the level of the best 90s NJ junior matches. Yu Yu is so, so good, she has style and grace, and she hits like a tank. And Genki is a big old beast. Early going was basic but really great fighting it out, with Yu Yu trying to ground Genki and zone in on her arm, and Genki hitting back really hard. Both were already brutalizing each other here, Yu Yu caught Genki with a sick looking thai knee and kept slapping her head on the ground, Genki had big thudding boots and a moment where she just wasted Yu Yu with a flurry of hard palm strikes. Even the crowd brawling felt unusually hate filled, there was another nasty knee to the face from Yu Yu here. I am used to Genki being kind of a no selling douche so her paying subtle tribute to Yu Yus arm work wearing her out was a nice touch. The transitions they busted out were great and organic, with each exchange feeling like a fight. There were a number of absolutely fantastic moments, some that stood out were Genki dragging Yu Yu over the rope to strangle her, something that often feels like filler in matches but felt like a murder attempt here and it set up one of the most devastating elbow drops I’ve ever seen. I also loved Genki busting out an awesome chokeslam counter, and her punching Yu Yu in the back of the head to break out of Yu Yus armbar felt straight out of FUTEN. I loved Yu Yu working her way back into the match after Genki had knocked her silly, first trying to slip into submissions or roll ups before she found the strength to swing back and try to KO the monster. Finishing run was amazing as well full of great desperation counters and Yu Yu trying to knock Genkis head off with her elbows. Tremendous, tremendous match full of fight and grit and fantastic wresting, they hit it out the park and they weren’t even the main event.

Ran Yu Yu vs. Carlos Amano, JWP 9/10/2001

I love both these two workers, how on earth did the fact they had TWO full length taped singles matches in 2001 elude me so long?? This was an excellent contest and pretty different from your typical joshi match. The first 12 or so minutes were almost all submissions and groundwork. There were a number of moments where they visibly slowed down to come up with some intricate counters and it was really cool. Amano tried to zone in on Yu Yu’s arm/shoulder but Yu Yu pushed back by almost ripping Amanos leg out with some spinny leglocks of her own. When they stood up they clocked each other with some super hard strikes. Yu Yus turnbuckle enzuigiri and that weird sternum elbow she throws have to be among the best strikes any wrestler has ever had. Amano wasn’t the headbutt machine yet, but her flying clotheslines and spinning elbows land really snug, and both these two time their stuff so well that you never know when their hits are coming. Also Yu Yus diving knee drops are sick. Finish was pretty technical and cool to see in a joshi match, just great stuff overall.

Ran Yu Yu vs. Carlos Amano, JWP 12/18/2001

Not as good as 9/10 match, the matwork wasn’t as good and there was an annoying part where they both started no-selling suplexes. Aside from that this had some excellent standing exchanges, awesome counters and a brilliant finish so I don’t want to call it a miss. I mean just something like Ran Yu Yu catching Amanos flying armbar and turning it into a torture rack is so impossibly cool. Check it out if you are a fan of these two.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #5

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, NOAH 6/9/2001 - FUN

One of those short matches that was meant to showcase how much stronger Misawa is than the midcarders. For a 3 minute match Scorpio really gave Misawa some hellish chairshots and hit a cool punch combo on the floor. Effective for what it was, but you do wish they had done a bit more.

2 Cold Scorpio & Vader vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Izumida, NOAH 11/20/2002 - GREAT

Routine tag but with every part being extremely well executed, a testament to the skill of these guys. Scorpio vs. Misawa exchanges were brief but really good, I imagine if you edited all their 30 second exchanges they had in various multiman tags together you’d have an excellent singles match. Vader is great as a force that waltzes in and destroys people, and he and Scorp set each other up extremely well. There is a heat section on Izumida where you actually buy Izumida getting pinned before the hot tag, and the ending with Scorpio refusing to be a loss post is all kinds of fun.

2 Cold Scorpio & Vader vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Daisuke Ikeda, NOAH 12/2/2000 – FUN

Slower paced beginning here, which is good because it means we get Scorpio working segments with Ikeda and Misawa. You’re not sure how Scorpio would do with Ikeda but they mesh really well, with Scorp doing smooth movements and Ikeda kicking him really hard. I love how they played with averting the expectations of a heat section, and Vader continues to be awesome in these matches. Everytime he steps in and does something it feels like it could believably turn the match. Ikeda trading blows with Vader was also great. The match was cut short by Ikeda getting pinned early, but it was still a cool 8 minutes where every part was a hit.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Satoru Asako, NOAH 11/4/2000 - GREAT

Extremely routine singles match, but every part was very well executed. Scorpios basic rope running and matwork looks really really good as always. Asako is one of the least talked about Japanese wrestlers ever, he’s not bad but he doesn’t do a ton to stand out either, that said if Bret Hart did the leg work segment Asako does here, hitting Scorp in the leg with the ring bell and then working him with a bunch of nice stretches, a lot of people would fawn. Scorp coming back with some well timed kicks while selling the leg was great. Good stuff that does as decent of a job of an opening match you can ask for.

 

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project Master List

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

Scotty 2 Hotty Matches

Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Chavo Guerrero, Jr., WWF 7/22/2001

I really like Scotty 2 Hotty. He was slick, he had good worked punches, great timing and the dance moves are awesome. What more do you want a wrestler to have? Add in the fact that he was almost never given more than a few minutes in singles matches and you have a wrestler with a great portfolio of 3-4 minute TV sprints. And Chavo always busts his ass, so they have an awesome 6-7 minute match on this random HEAT episode. I really wish we could have gotten Chavo Jr. vs. Otani in their primes but Chavo Jr. vs. Scotty is the next best thing. Scotty looks great sliding underneath Chavo really fast, landing on his feet, hitting a great punch on the floor... Chavo always mixes so much high end shit into these short throwaway matches. In this case his springboard moves were awesome. They do a few great cutoffs and some big nearfalls, plus a classic Japanese big move finish. What more do you want?

Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Tajiri, WWF 7/2/2001

Tajiri is another short TV match king and this was basically a get-your-shit in 3 minute sprint with a few dandy moments. Scotty always does different cool things in his matches, talk about knowing how to keep your act fresh. In this case he hits some really fast elbow drops, a great spinning suplex, great superkick, big powerbomb counter, a slick re-entry flip into the ring etc. The finish was brilliant as Scotty gets ready to hit the Worm but Tajiri mists him in the face, in a clash of the coolest WWF moves of the early 2000s. It was like the 3 minute RAW match equivalent of Kobashi slipping out of the Emerald Frosion to hit the Burning Hammer.

Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Tajiri, WWF 1/29/2002

The rematch that also only goes 3 minutes! Man, can you imagine these two being given a proper stretched out 7 or 8 minute match?? This was a breathless sprint and there were some absolutely awesome slick spots. Obviously Tajiri is great with his kicks and smooth moves, but Scotty shows he can hang. Scotty has no problem working a knuckle lock and then dropkicking Tajiri right in the face, or working complicated reversal segments. The finish was absolutely awesome with both guys doing counter after counter, Tajiri having the slickest most awesome Tarantula set up you've ever seen etc. Amazing shit.

Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Dean Malenko, WWF 4/30/2000

Widely considered to be Scottys best match, probably because this one goes over 10 minutes and actually was on a PPV. Some commenters may argue that this was because of Dean, but really, Scotty is the heart and soul of this thing. He opens as a hóuse on fire throwing a wad of punches at Dean, working a fast segment with some cool counters before Dean starts cutting off his leg. Leg work was solid with Scotty making nice comebacks but if you've seen a few Scotty matches you know he was capable of more. The WORM after all the legwork was a bit iffy but what the hell, don't question the magic of something the crowd loved this much. Scottys fire is awesome and Dean just gives nothing. Really solid match with a great random finish.

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

Assorted NOAH

 

Makoto Hashi vs. Takeshi Rikioh, NOAH 3/3/2001

Really good little match. What made it good was that both guys did some actual neat wrestling and not just stiffing each other and doing shoulderblocks all the time. That would‘ve been good, but we got something more complex here. Hashi is outgunned at the beginning, so he decides to wrestle Rikioh down. Normally the wrestling in these heavyweight matches is insanely simplistic, but Hashi did a neat job working over Rikiohs, hitting neat headbutts and locking in a cool rolling neck crank. Rikioh also had this nasty move where he dragged Hashi over his shoulder. When Rikioh was clearly wobbly from Hashis chokes, he came back by almost shattering Hashis eardrum with a big slap. He then tried ripping Hashi in half with a boston crab that would‘ve ended most rookies. The crowd sensed this and got behind Hashi big time. Some actually neat bearhug work ensues, and Hashi makes a really good comeback gradually working his way back in while selling the back work. Last few minutes were on fire with Rikioh trying to shut down Hashi with brutal sumo rushes and lariats. Also, there were some ungodly slaps throughout.

Takashi Sugiura & Tamon Honda vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Ohmori, NOAH 1/18/2001

Sugiura was less than 10 matches into his career at this point, so he was in his singlet and using a more amaresuish style. And damn you wish he had kept working like that his whole career because he was awesome in this, really taking it to No Fear and twisting them in knots while not backing down. The ending with him throwing Takayama around before getting caught with a nasty kitchen sink was awesome too. Everyone else was kind of doing their thing, but I was surprised that Ohmori looked pretty good. He was working in almost a heel technician way to isolate Sugiura and hit a really nice dropkick and thrust kick. Takayama didn‘t and Honda didn‘t do a ton but they were solid and Sugiura was the real story of the match, anyways.

Tanomusaku Toba Documentation Project #18

 Takashi Sasaki & Tanomusaku Toba vs Tomohiro Ishii & Issei Fujisawa (DDT 06/09/2001) - GREAT

We only get the last 10 minutes of a 20 minute draw, but what we get looks like a very good match. Toba being used as a human projectile was fun, I loved how Ishii turned the knife against his opponents by gorilla pressing Toba into Sasaki too. Then we get some fun Sasaki/Ishii exchanges and some awesome Toba/Fujisawa exchanges. Fujisawa was doing a Fake Kensuke Sasaki gimmick but he had no problem taking ultra stiff punches and kicks from Toba, getting fired up and dropping him him with reckless power moves. It was better than any comparable Kensuke Sasaki faceoff (maybe against Kazunari Murakami) that I‘ve seen. The build to the time limit draw was cool too and they never slowed down without just doing brainless kickouts left and right.

Tanomusaku Toba & MIKAMI & Sanshiro Takagi vs. Takashi Sasaki & Asian Cougar & Asian Condor, Onita Pro 9/23/2001 - GREAT

Probably the best match I‘ve seen the DDT crew do in Onita Pro so far. They went 13 minutes so stretched out a bit and did some fun opening exchanges before the Asian Cougars in the match whip out their cool highspots for a frenzy in the second half. Toba/Sasaki exchanges were pretty boss as usual, kicks and punches landing with full force, and you also get to see Toba in peril as he gets ragdolled by triple team moves. Toba really is great at timing his more spectacular kicks for comebacks. The finishing stretch with Cougar hitting all his lunatic legdrops and then trying to tap out Toba was pretty exciting and even though Takagi isn‘t the greatest guy in the match he was fun too. A++ undercard material.

Tanomusaku Toba vs.  Fuminori Abe vs. Shuichiro Katsumura, Ganbare Pro 1/8/2022 - FUN

3 ways are usually gonna be stupid so they can almost never be great matches, but this was one had enough fun action and they seemed to be aware of the stupidity so they just brutalized each other like it was a chaotic fight. Toba is the oldest and most broken guy here but for some reason does the most sections, and he looks pretty good. Made me think he would still be good in NOAH undercards working in the Aoyagi role of old guy who doesn't pull punches. He was really landing some face shattering punches to Abe, who did this amusing psycho laughing. The section where they all beat on each other could have been silly but ended up looking crazy. Even the finish seemed to make fun of the concept of 3 ways. Enjoyable match overall.

Tanomusaku Toba Documentation Project

GWE Watching: Tamon Honda

 Tamon Honda vs. Daisuke Ikeda, NOAH 3/29/2001

Their KBS hall match is more famous and probably better, but this match was beastly in it's own right. There wasn't much matwork, but Ikeda was landing FUTEN level kicks to Hondas face and Honda hit all these beastly throws and counters. Both guys selling was just great, Ikeda would make a random leglock or Honda falling on top of him look deadly, and Honda sold a chokehold as if he was poisoned. Ikeda limping while getting up after a leglock and then rushing over to kick Hondas big head like a football was awe inspiring. I also loved Hondas reversal of the Russian Legsweep and Ikeda hitting the move later in the match was amazing due to the timing and buildup. The crowd for this was at the beginning so quiet you could hear a pin drop but the match won them over and they were popping big at the end so you know it ruled. Also, NAGAI KILLER and some brutal high kicks for the finish.

Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 9/2/2001

Honda is set to face Akiyama for the title, so the purpose of this match was to make him look like a beast. And well, that they do. Honda does some fun grappling with Akiyama, then catches him in a nasty guillotine. Akiyama seems to make a comeback but then Honda just snatches him and dumps him hard with the Dead End. Saito tags in and Honda chokes him out in 20 seconds. Badass show, which is made more badass by how useless Inoue was in the match. Afterwards Inoue raises Hondas hand like „that‘s my boy!“. Great shit, short, neat, told its story perfectly.

Yoshinari Ogawa & Tamon Honda vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura, NOAH 8/24/2002

Really fun story driven tag. Rare instance of a match where not much special happens early on and it adds to it. Ogawa as this unimpressive champion who keeps ratting his way to victory was just great. All his interactions with Takayama were awe inspiring. Ogawa would rake Sugiuras eye and then taunt Takayama („Clean Fight!!“) only to back off, then try to rush Takayama with punches when he tagged in. Then, he would get isolated and tortured by Takayama and Sugiura. Takayama tagging in Sugiura and then sprinting across the ring to have a go at Ogawa was another really amusing moment. Also, all the olympic grappling exchanges involving Honda where great and the finish between him and Sugiura was awesome.

Tamon Honda & Takeshi Morishima vs. KENTA & Akihiko Ito, NOAH 8/23/2009

Really good undercard tag which was a reminder that NOAH was a pretty fun promotion once upon a time. All of Hondas exchanges were so cool here, he rarely works like a beast but he was a slovenly monster here, really establishing that it‘s hard to get him off his feet. His unorthodox grappling exchanges with young Ito were really cool and his brief sections with KENTA really hinted against a great singles match between them. He Dead Ends KENTA hard, and the bit where he snatches Ito and almost strangles him was grizzly. Morishima is really effective in his role of fat dude who tries to ring peoples bell and crushes them with his fatness. Ito is also a really spry fun guy with really good execution, too bad he retired but I guess he dodged a bullet by dropping out of this promotion. Also KENTA bodyslamming fat Morishima onto Honda was such a fun little spot, totally makes a match like this stand out.

Tarzan Goto Documentation #10

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

Tarzan Goto Documentation Project

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #2

 2 Cold Scorpio & Vader vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Takashi Sugiura, NOAH 10/16/2001 - GREAT

Scorpio and Vader had a great dynamic as a team. Scorpio the more elegant wrestler, while Vader is just this hulking beast. As partners they act as foils for each other in a really unique way. This went a little under 7 minutes, but it was laid out nearly perfectly. Everything Vader does looks like he‘s just killing dudes, bashing guys heads in with his arms, body checks that look like they run you over. The crowd even buys a basic back suplex from him as a nearfall. Between Scorpio and Vader laying guys you get some fun character moments from both of them. Ikeda and Sugiura are mostly blown away but they get in some good hopespots. I liked the brief Ikeda/Scorpio section a lot. Ikeda was teeing off on Scorpio with stiff lariats until Scorpio was able to get in some beautiful (probably much less painfull but still hurty looking) kicks. Finish was fun too as Vader randomly seemed to hurt his leg. It may have been a shoot but probably not because Vader kept working matches the next couple days, but it gave the illusion that Sugiura might come back against the monster. The match ended early like a few NOAH matches did back in the day, to remind the crowd that things are important. Not the epic you might hope for when you see Ikeda and Vader and Scorpio in a match but it was healthy booking and the match was still really cool without burying Ikeda and young boy Sugiura.

2 Cold Scorpio & Vader vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 10/19/2001 - GREAT

Another match with a really great layout. Basically Vader is this ridiculously overpowered, but slightly banged up monster. You buy that he can KO people with a random punch or clothesline, or that a random leglock from him might dislocate someones leg. At the same time he‘s vulnerable and you think a random leg kick from Saito might make him give out. Akiyama and Saito try to zone in on Scorpio, he‘s not really the weak link, he‘s just the only one there that they have a chance in hell against. Scorpio feeds really well into their stuff and also sets up Vaders monster spots extremely well while hitting some graceful offense of his own. But the whole match was basically about Vader being an unstoppable force, while Akiyama and Saito still get close to turning the tide. I imagine it‘s pretty difficult to work a match like this and make it compelling but they succeeded here. Great stuff, early NOAH was the best.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. The Goon, WWF 12/2/1996 - FUN

This was Scorpios WWF debut using the terrible Flash Funk gimmick. Nowadays I imagine a guy with spectacular highspots making his debut would just eat the other guy up busting out all his stuff, but here the Goon controls a bit while Scorpio gradually does his stuff. The Goon who looks like some bush league indy dude in his hockey gear has some fun brawling, a nice bump through the ropes and a really nice posting. And Scorpio was pretty much the most spectacular guy in the world in 1996, really busting out complicated dives and rollups on a different level. And because of the match layout he gets over as more than a highspot machine. Fun match despite the unfortunate gimmick.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project 

Tanomusaku Toba Documentation #17

 

Tanomusaku Toba vs. MIKAMI, DDT 4/27/1999 - GREAT

MIKAMI comes out barefoot and with MMA trunks and gloves. Amazing. This was a great little scrap. MIKAMI realizes quickly he‘s outgunned by Tobas striking and just goes for armbars left and right with Toba making dramatic escapes. The fact Mikami could do this kind of match shows why he was a special boy then. I really enjoy this kind of singular focus in shootstyle, and these two did a great job working a 5 minute match around armbars and KO blows.

 

Takashi Sasaki & Tanomusaku Toba vs MIKAMI & Super Uchu Power, DDT 8/30/2001 - GREAT

This was another match that exemplifies what made all these guys so fun back in the early 2000s. We get some cool exchanges between MIKAMI and Sasaki before Mikami and S.U. Power begin putting a beating on Sasaki. MIKAMI has quite good chemistry with the Space Monster, Uchu Power was brutally shoot throwing, stretching and kicking Sasaki, and MIKAMI held up the violence with some full bodyweight flying moves and a neat Tiger Spin kick to the face. Loved Tobas hot tag where he flew into Super Uchu Powers face with a huge, huge knee and then he proceeded to brutalize the Space Monster. Could have done with more Toba content (he only gets in after Sasaki makes the hot tag) but the finish was great with Sasaki trying to finish off Mikami and Toba running in to help with some face kicks.

Sanshiro Takagi & Fake Takagi vs Takashi Sasaki & Tanomusaku Toba, DDT 9/30/2001 - FUN

This was just a 2 minute match. Pretty much just a Toba/Sasaki control segment on Ichimiya before Ichimiya steals the pin with a flash pin to Toba. It was a really good control segment, Ichimiya has worked CAPTURE so he has no problem getting kicked in the face by Toba, and that pushes this into the FUN territory.

 Tanomusaku Toba Documentation Project

Assorted NEO

 

Azumi Hyuga vs. Yoshiko Tamura, NEO 5/5/2003

These two had a more famous 60 minute draw in 2006 or so, this here is much shorter and livelier and more watchable. Opening exchanges were really mean and hard thought, submissions applied with full intent to tap the other person, and dropkicks landing right in peoples faces. I was getting ready to complain when they botched a couple moves and went into a marathon of kickouts and move exchanges (as these joshi big matches go), but then Hyuga hit a huge flying knee to Tamura outside the ring which was sold in a big way and they picked it up for an excellent finishing stretch that saw both women throwing brutal strikes. Real edge of your seat stuff with a killer finish.

Yoshiko Tamura vs. The Bloody, NEO 9/20/2004

Violent, scrappy big match. First 10 minutes of this were just great as it was like they decided to work a BattlARTSian joshi match. Just two ladies kicking the guts out of each other and scrambling for leg bars and chokes. Really nice, scrappy, uncooperative and hard fought stuff. They lost me a bit when they went for the extended outside tour, but it led to Bloody brutalizing Tamura with the chair which in turn caused a sick Tamura bladejob. Bloody continued to wail on her with nasty chair shots and trying to bend her in half with nasty crab holds while seconds jumped on Tamura when she was outside. Tamuras comeback wasn‘t the greatest as she basically no sold a bunch of chair shots but it felt gradual enough. The finishing stretch was neck spiking suplex mania peppered with exceedingly violent strike exchanges. Tamura has great looking elbows, and I also really dug The Bloody‘s double handed chops which she really blasted Tamura in the face with. Could‘ve done at half the length but it was a cool discovery.

Yoshiko Tamura & Carlos Amano vs. Misae Genki & Ran Yu Yu, NEO 5/3/2001

Ran Yu Yu in the early 2000s was a very special worker. Her exchanges with Amano here were fantastic. Tamura/Genki sections were solid, but a step down. They just go through their stuff, while Ran makes hers special. She was doing things no other joshi worker was really doing at the time, like busting out European style pin combos and turning her elbows and european uppercuts into brilliant moments. Her elbow to the sternum has to be one of the best simple strikes I‘ve ever seen. She even imprinted on the finish by hitting one of her signature elbows to set it up. They went for a big finish here but didn‘t overkill or go long, and so it was good. Amano also looked good as usual.

Yuka Shiina vs. Misae Genki, NEO 9/24/2001

Cool 5 minute sprint which had Shiinas unique style written all over it. I have no idea if this Shiina mini push ever went anywhere in NEO, it doesn‘t seem like it, but it was cool that she got to do her own thing for a while. This was Shiina dominating the bigger, higher ranked Genki by putting submissions on her left and right. Just when I thought Genki was gonna make an easy comeback Shiina viciously booted her in the face and went for the kill with another choke. Shiinas style, while basic, got tremendous heat. She even rabbit punched Genki in the back of the head. The finish was well done but I thought Shiina by all logic should have won. Eitherways, Yuka Shiina has my attention now.