Into a heart of darkness

 Beautiful areola Hikaru vs. Thick and hard Hoshino Kankuro, AZW 2024/11/16

I'm not the biggest deathmatch fan, but every once in a while something comes along where I can't deny the fascination, and this match is like it crawled out of the seediest darkest hole. This was an utterly deranged spectacle as you can tell by the names of these two. They are doing a lighttubes deathmatch in this claustrophobically small venue which is pretty unhinged to begin with, the fans having to shield themselves from flying glass shards, and it just gets more and more deranged as it continues. Both these guys are amateur-pro wrestlers, so they don't have the 'wrestlers' physique. In a way seeing two guys with normal people physique butcher each other and bleeding like crazy feels more unhinged. Especially when one of them is fat and seemingly turning very pale from losing blood. This was a deathmatch built around freakish gimmicks and insane acts, and they were pretty freakish and insane. There's a dracula cape covered in razor blades, a brick with forks sticking out, and the most infamous moment of the match of course when both guys fucking skewer each other through the mouth and then proceed to trade forearms, run the ropes and take bumps. Aside from the freakshow acts there was some pretty good wrestling, with both guys doing a good job actually working the transitions and keeping things moving, even working in some basic psychology like building to an Angle Slam. Hikaru (the fat guy) has some cool headbutts and lariats and largely sticks to things he can do well.  'Kankuro Hoshino' is not the BJW guy, he's a skinny guy who wrestles like an amalgamation of several guys but mostly Jun Kasai and Masashi Takeda, and he moves pretty well throwing his skinny body around. Also both guys made sure to act like total psychos throughout. You have to admire the confidence to get skewered like that and continue wrestling, or take the moment and phantomime a conductor before going ahead with said skewering.

Suicappu Kenjiro vs Shikotte 2 Hotte, CWP ??

Pretty great semi-pro match with a ton of energy and snap to everything. The best semi-pro matches are slightly outside of what you normally see in pro wrestling, maybe slightly messy if you will, but still maintain good enough execution and psychology to be enjoyable, will bringing lots of creativity, and that was the case here. Both guys threw really hard kicks and strikes, not holding back at all, and each had something going for himself. Shikotte 2 Hotte is a really impressive serious junior, aside from one moment where he goes for the worm. His movements area really explosive, he hits hard kicks an he has lots of nasty offense like great looking flying knees and nasty dropkicks to the prone opponent. He was really good here also trying to stay on the arm and constantly busting out surprise armbars which I loved. Kenjiro is clearly one of the cooler guys from this scene, as he wrestles a really straight to the point style that he does really well, sticking to blasting his opponent with kicks and some amazing ragdoll suplexes. They work a relentless pace building to some big moments with hardly any letdowns, really impressive match that blows a  lot of ‘pro’ work from the last couple years out the water.

Dekai Ichimotsu vs Hareta Kogan, Health Pro 2018/3/18

Really cool technical match between two guys who have a unique approach to things. Early goings are a lot of fun with Kogan going for the arm and Ichimotsu focussing on the neck/head. We all know Dekai is badass but Kogan also brings a lot of cool stuff to the table. The match gets really good when Dekai would start kicking Kogan in the head from close angles. His stomps, flying dropkicks etc all look really great. He also has an awesome out of nowhere Abisegiri and at one point just hurls himself handspringing into another headkick. The focus of the match is pretty unique with Ichimotsu constantly going for a chancery and trying to build it into a finish. Kogan also does a cool job trying to set up a cobra clutch move, and his big flying dropkick was awesome. Really efficient nifty match, a real showcase for the kind of unique and compelling wrestling this scene can produce.

Hangyojin Masakazu vs Sho Karasuno, TDR 2023/10/29

Hangyojin Masakazu is really cool. He looks old as dirt, but the spirit of Inoki keeps him strong. He does a really good job with his tribute act that somehow still feels competitive. I mean, there aren't many wrestlers around busting out awesome old timey flying headscissors and gnarly sleeper holds like he does. I haven't seen Sho Karasuno in years (never would I have thought that I would see him again after stumbling across him one time as he faced Yujiro Yamamoto), and I thought he might have changed a little, engaged in some serious grappling exchanges early, but he soon returned to his old ways as he kicked Masakazu in the nuts. Old Masakazu taking shoot kicks and other offense from Karasuno is really fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him laying waste to that scoundrel.