2026 Matchguide #2

Yuki Ishikawa & Fuminori Abe & Shuji Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Ali Najima & Kazunari Murakami, Kakuto Tanteidan 7/1

Impossible not to love this match. Chaotic and frenzied with everyone potatoeing each other a ton, which is probably the best possible approach they could have taken. While there wasn't much refined shootstyle going on I really liked that Abe armlock early on that nearly dislocated Najimas shoulder. Najima was pretty much a whipping boy here, eating punishment from all 3 opponents early on. Shuji Ishikawas a pretty effective crowbar as almost everything he does looks downright murderous.  It's also pretty cool that we got a little Yuki Ishikawa/Najima section. Ishikawa crowned him with a pretty sick headbutt too. I was also pleased that there was no stupid Abe comedy, instead he and Najima developed a really amusing hatred for each other throughout this with Najima going at him aggressively constantly. Really hope they can face each other at Sportiva sometime soon or something. Floor brawling section wasn't amazing but we got to see chairs being used and Abe knuckle punching Najima in the crowd. Ishikawa/Murakami exchange was fun and nostalgic with Murakamis mugging and Ishikawa still being willing to take some punishment. Match went to the next level with the Ikeda shoot headbutt section. Shuji Ishikawa seemingly trying to drill through Ishikawas face with his head may have been the moment of the match. I did not think they would be able to keep up that level of violence, but the Abe/Murakami section surprisingly delivered thanks to Abes punches causing hardway blood and the violence of Murakamis face kicks and punches. There was also an attempted eyerake that looked like Murakami was really about to rip Abes eye out, so just the right kind of grizzly violent little thing. Abe also may have had the most violent save of the match with his flying face stomp. Great match, delivering plenty of sick violence without overstaying its welcome, and a bunch of these guys pretty much had their best performance in forever here.

Kosuke Sato/Ryuma Sekimo vs. Ali Najima/Hinata Kasai, Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura Produce 7/1 

 
Pretty great hard hitting  high adrenaline opening  match like a Fu-Ten or WAR match. Basically they tried to put some scrappy violence into every exchange, along with a few unexpected moments and succeeded. I've not seen Sekimo and Kasai before, but they knew what they had to deliver here. Sekimo seemed a little goofy but he was throwing really violent hands and working a camel clutch like he really wanted to torture the guy. Also liked how he just rammed into Najima with his head. I also really enjoyed Kasais throat jumping outburst towards the end. I like how guys were really trying to crank necks with their headlocks so the way Kosuke Sato snatched a surprise front headlock was pretty great. Nomura was quite the bruiser here also and Kosukes dropkick on the armbar was another great moment. Other highlights include some brain-scrambling headbutts and a straight face punch as well as Najimas face stomping. 

 

 Hideki Suzuki vs. Go Shiozaki, AJPW 5/17

 
I haven't cared about Shiozaki since he adopted the embarassing Fake Okada look, but his banged up performance was pretty good here. The gritty out of nowhere lariat was great. What followed was the usual tour around the ring, made a little better by Suzuki resisting some of Shiozakis attacks. After some mediocre minutes the match got back on track when Suzuki would use the guardrails to hurt Shiozakis taped up ribs. What followed was some nice violent work in which Suzuki took some pages out of the playbooks of Terry Rudge and Johnny Smith. I was even somewhat okay with Shiozakis no-selling comebacks as he looked like such a zombie, and him coming up with a bloody nose and actually starting to put some spirit into his Baba chops was a cool moment. The finishing stretch wasn't super interesting aside from Suzukis comical pedigree, but I did like how Suzuki went back to smashing the fuck out of Shiozakis rib section. I'm a bit lukewarm on this overall as it suffered from typical modern day Japanese big match problems but there was some fun violence here.

 

HII vs. The Wolf, fight of the ring 1/18/2026

The Wolf's return to pro wrestling is something I have glossed over a bit and I probably need to cover it more. I mostly remember him as a reckless kicker from his WYF days, but he was quite good doing maestros style technical work here, busting out a cool peterson roll amongst other things, and generally looking pretty adept. HII has also become a pretty interesting worker at this point. This didn't really shift into next gear with its intensity, but it was two old technicians doing some fun pro wrestling and that's always right up my ally. 

Chon Shiryu vs. Rina Yamashita, Choco Pro 2/25

 I'm a shameless sucker for Chon Shiryu, the representative of the 2 coolest martial arts in the world, pro wrestling and kung fu. Yamashita is not super interesting but she is big enough that she can credibly fight against Shiryu, and she has some good power offense including a nice harai goshi. That said the bulk of the match was carried by Shiryus crazy kung fu antics and unique spots. Early minutes had some good hard fought hold for hold wrestling, including Shiryu making sure to put extra torque into a basic wristlock like Pai Mei torturing Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. Shiryu is able to make even a fairly rote strike exchange look interesting with his kung fu poses, he also makes even his basic kung fu strikes look pretty hard hitting. Most of the early parts of the match is the Shiryu show with him busting out crazy transitions and set ups for odd 619s, including a few things I've never seen him do before, he's always coming up with new tricks. He does take a pretty reckless looking bump when Yamashita catches him on an attempted springboard, and later he hits his springboard rider kick to the floor which is a crazy spot from a 47 year old guy. Finishing run had both of them selling damage to their legs when they got their knees up on flying moves and some crazy rollups, which was a lot more interesting than the usual bombfest, and Yamashita coming alive a bit. 

  

2026 Matchguide 

Bart Gunn Matches

 Bart Gunn & Johnny Ace vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama, AJPW 6/9/1999

I imagine the 20 or so diehard traders of Japanese tapes who existed at this time scoffed at MOVEMENT, the team of Johnny Ace and Bart Gunn/Mike Barton. Even today some people scoff at Aces AJPW work, saying he was carried. But fuck that because Johnny Ace ruled and he was hanging and banging with Kobashi and Akiyama and post-Brawl 4 All Bart is such a great character and nothing to scoff at. The opening of this is really solid and full of cool little moments with real emphasis placed on solid moves like a Kobashi hitting a stalling vertical suplex on chunky Johnny Ace, or Barts really high jumping dropkick. The fun begins when Ace hits a surprise Ace Crusher to Akiyama on a chair outside the ring. We get a really solid control segment with Ace and Gunn really stretching Akiyamas rattled head and neck, building to Kobashi getting the hot tag only for Ace to catch him with a surprise Ace Crusher after an awesome sequence that was like a fast junior sequence except done by chunky heavyweights. They build to Akiyama getting another nice hot tag and it sets up this really awesome second half of the match with Ace busting out his awesome Ace Crushers left and right to crack people and Bart threatening to KO Kobashi with his dreaded punch. Bart looks absolutely massive so when he gets dropped on his neck with a half nelson suplex or Exploder it's double awesome. The nearfalls towards the end of this are real edge of the seat stuff, you get awesome moments like Gunn & Ace busting out a fucking Splash Mountain into a Neckbreaker, Akiyama getting absolutel spiked on Aces Cobra Clutch suplex, Kobashi being saved from a dangerous move at the last moment etc. Great shit and felt like MOVEMENT were putting it all together and working their absolute A-game to contain the power of BURNING.

Bart Gunn vs. Hardcore Holly, WWF 2/16/1999

The two sides of wrestling in 1999! This is Barts only WWF match besides the Butterbean fight in 1999, and he wouldn't come back until 2003 when he did 2 dark matches teaming with Jim Steele. This is a hardcore title match. While the hardcore title was mostly supposed to be comedic I guess, but these two work it without any humor at all, Holly hits hard as fuck, boots to the face and hard punches and they keep bringing out more and more  ridiculous props to smash over each others heads. Both guys take hard as fuck bumps on the steel ramp and then they just keep killing each other with the ring bell, a crate of bananas, water melons, a bag of flour etc. Finish has some guy in a weird mask doing a run in on Bart and throwing him off the stage with Bart taking this sick as fuck shoulder bump through a table. Brutal and comical stuff.

Assorted 2003 AJPW

 Yuki Ishikawa & Tomoaki Honma vs. Ryuji Hijikata & Shigeo Okumura, AJPW 2/16/2003

This has to be one of the most criminal examples of clipping I‘ve ever seen of a Japanese match. We get 10 minutes of a 20 minute draw, but what we get is completely awesome. Ishikawa vs. Hijikata was as brutal as you expect, but the Okumura/Honma WAR sections completely blew me away. I should probably check out more Okumura from this time period as he looked awesome mauling Honma with WAR-like slaps and elbows. Okumura was in crush mode and it ruled. Honma kicking him in the back of the neck was the kind of unprofessional violence you want from a random Japanese undercard tag. Where‘s the rest of this, GAORA TV?

 

 Rikiya Fudo & Hideki Hosaka vs. Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi, AJPW 7/19/2003

This is one for the enjoyers of FUDO. Sato and Yokoi have absolutely no heat with the AJPW crowd at this point, but they can throw some fun punches and head kicks, and Fudo is great mauling them. He is way less fat in 2003 than 2022 but he still looks convincing crushing much bigger guys. He was a lot faster too so his lariats and jumping kicks really hit the shooters like a train, just trying to take peoples heads off. Hosaka is average but he doesn't suck and you have to admire how he tried to polish his look for his big AJPW run with some really nice tights, a cool belt and slicked back black hair.

Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi vs. Tomoaki Honma & Kazushi Miyamoto, AJPW 7/19/2003

Tumeric Storm, what a team! Coming into this the ring is already covered in Honmas blood from the previous match, and immediately Honma gets busted again and bleeds like crazy. Talk about loving the taste of your own blood. Yokoi and Sato finally get over with the AJPW fans by being nasty pricks kicking and punching a bloody Honma in the face, and Honma is a really great underdog. Especially loved all the bits where Sato kicked Honma in the skull really hard. Miyamoto is perfectly good as an athletic guy who tags in quick to hit some snappy offense and Honmas underdog performance is impeccable as always.

Nobutaka Araya vs. Arashi, AJPW 7/13/2003

How do you get a good match out of Arashi in 2003? By making it really short, really bloody, and chock full of violent strikes of course! Araya rules so hard here, busting a toolbox over Arashis head and then bleeding like crazy and eating really vicious strikes. Those jaw punches were awesome and sick. Arashi is pretty good as a phlegmatic Tenryu here destroying Araya with brutal punches and face kicks. He even surprised me by almost crushing Arayas face with a crazy fat guy dropkick. If you want to watch two fat ex sumos bleed and destroy each other for 5 minutes check this out.

RIP Goro Tsurumi

 

Goro Tsurumi & Animal Hamaguchi vs. Great Kojika & Motoshi Okuma, AJPW 11/3/1977

A rare lock at pre-heel turn Goro. This is JIP 10 minutes in so unfortunately we don‘t get any young Goro matwork, but what we got was really fun. Plenty of Goro and Animal running wild on offense. Animal is notoriously an offensive dynamo and his dropkicks, airplane spin etc. all looked great. Goro also shows a big offensive variety, throwing big dropkicks, as well as things like a swinging neck breaker, kitchen sink etc. Of course the best part were Goros punches which he lands right to the throat. Okuma and Kojika are as good a pair of nasty bastards as you need them to be, trying to rip peoples nose of, generally being really vicious etc. Also loved all of Okumas headbutts. 3Rd fall was the kind of heated bloody affair you want from these 70s matches, Goro takes a bunch of postings and takes a beating while selling his life draining out of him. Needed a couple more Tsurumi punch combos to be epic, but Kojika taking the win with a surprise knee off the top to the back of the head was quite great. This was really fast paced, heated, and fun.

 

Goro Tsurumi vs. Fumihiro Niikura, NOW 12/11/1992

This low key ruled. Stubborn, uncooperative veteran battle with a few great moments, mostly Niikura punching Tsurumi in the face. We start nice with Niikura bitchslapping Tsurumi in the ropes. Tsurumi goes right to try and work over Niikura with some toe kicks, but Niikura connects a leg kick. Clearly neither of these guys are taking bumps. They work the mat for a bit with Tsurumi doing a cool rolling, really hooking Niikuras arms and shoulders, and Niikura twists out into an armbar in slick fashion. They stand up and now things get really good as Niikura starts raining his awesome crazy punch combos on Tsurumi. Tsurumi gets fired up and tries to fire back with his own cool punches and backfists but Niikura is better and keeps hitting awesome punches and kicks. Niikura has a really great counter where Tsurumi tries for a Fujiwara armbar but Niikura reverses it into one of his own. He tries it again but Tsurumi kicks him in the balls and pins him. And not a single bump was taken!

Assorted Japanese Handhelds

 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Masanobu Fuchi, AJPW 3/24/1992

This channel is really dropping gem after gem. The crowd for this was super hot, and kind of split between their love for Misawa and wanting Fuchi to pull off a huge upset. Naturally Fuchis reaction to becoming a fan favourite is being a dick, like he gets a big pop and the first thing he does is go over and grind his elbow in Misawas face. This was all about how Misawa could blow away Fuchi in 45 seconds if only he got to unleash his elbows but Fuchi works a smart match evading his downfall for as long as possible. Really nice basic work of Fuchi controlling early and putting over Misawas elbows as absolutely devastating whenever they connected. A cool cut off happens and Fuchi starts stretching and twisting up Misawas leg. Misawa does his cool stoic "acting unphased but hobbling across the ring" selling. I loved how Misawas first move after the comeback is the facelock which is a move that is established as being able to beat Fuchi in 1992. They even protect Fuchis finisher! And the crowd went nuts for those nearfalls. I kind of wanted Fuchi to make another big comeback rally, but I always want more Fuchi. Really good match, anyways.

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Shunji Kosugi, NJPW 11/19/1984

Young lion Hashimoto footage is kind of scarce, so any find like this is welcome, and against the mysterious Shunji Kosugi no less! This was a typical NJPW young lion affair, lots of groundwork. The trademark viciousness of Hashimoto was not all over the match but it was present, at one point he hit a vicious kick combo. He also busted out a really fast belly to belly suplex, and really grinded into holds with his bodyweight. I thought this was gonna get really good in the last minute when Hashimoto turned up the heat hitting some gnarly headbutts and bitchslapping Kosugi, but then Kosugi just kind of pinned him.  Still it's very nice to see all the basic ingredients of what made Hashimoto so great being in place in his first year of wrestling.

RIP Tarzan Goto

Tarzan Goto & Atsushi Onita vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara, WAR 2/3/1994 - EPIC

This is the match that stole the #1 spot from the 6/3/ Misawa/Kawada match in the 1994 Japan Match of the Year awards. That should give you an idea of what kind of epic scope we are looking at for a match here. Of course, it‘s FMW vs. WAR and two of the biggest stars in all of Japan, Onita and Tenryu are involved, so you are going to have absolutely molten heat and crazy reactions for everything compared to the somewhat sterile formality of a Misawa/Kawada match, but this match is way more than just star power. It‘s a remarkably intricate match, really, and there‘s a sneaky Goto performance here as he plays second fiddle to Onita but largely carries his team. They work the early exchanges with insanely high stakes and drop of a hat momentum shifts, guys get thrown outside just to get back in immediately to not risk a brawl outside, later Tenryu immediately tags out after eating an armbreaker from Goto to avoid possible armwork etc. Goto works the early exchanges teasing Onita coming in to square off with Tenryu. When Onita finally tags in the place comes unglued, but he soon gets busted open and kicked to a bloody pulp by Tenryu and Hara. WAR guys kicking a bleeding guy in the face is tried and true greatness, and when someone as charismatic of a bleeding babyface as Onita is on the receiving end it‘s really upper echelon stuff. I really liked how Onitas hot tag seemed to come as a fluke as he just ducked a move, but Goto just immediately tags him in again as if to give the fans some more star action but Onita gets his ass kicked even more. At that point it‘s like Onita is the broken down megastar and Goto starts thinking on how to salvage his team. Tenryu gets a bit too angry at Goto breaking up a pin, rushing him which in turn leads to Goto clocking Tenryu with a chair and bloodying him. At that point the match just becomes this huge Tarzan Goto rally where he just keeps taking people out. He busts out his huge superfly splash to Hara which leads to Hara having to get taped up, later he hits his huge facebuster to Tenryu onto a table which is a fucking nasty move to take on those hard ass Japanese tables. Hara getting taped up after the splash is honestly such a neat detail, how many tag matches do you recall where a guy has to get taped up after eating a finisher to continue the match? It‘s rare but it totally makes sense and it should happen more often, and it made the second superfly splash to Tenryu so much more brutal. When Hara later grabs Gotos leg to prevent him from making another safe it‘s really this crucial moment and maybe most heated moment in the whole match, as Goto has safed Onitas ass for half the match. It‘s really an amazing match full of impeccable timing and psychology, I have to say Onitas basic DDT to Tenruy reentering the ring may have been one of the greatest transitions ever, and Tenryu was world class as usual going from megastar who‘s pained to deal with these garbage wrestling scumbags to being furious and beating the shit out of people to punch drunkenly trying to lariat and abiesigiri his way out of a really tense situation. I also really like Hara just for his crazy facial expressions and selling, he looks mad tough shrugging of Gotos headbutts and strikes initially so when Goto lariats him really hard and his eyes roll back it looks just killer. Really everyone here was great and it‘s no surprise this ended up being the #1 match of the year, heated to the max with a beautiful story where they did a great job going from Onita bleeding and getting beaten to Onita and Tenryu taking guys out and swarming Tenryu, ending with an all-timer of a finish. I mean people can complain about sloppiness or whatever, but for me it doesn‘t get much more real than Tenryu trying to duck an enzuigiri only for Onita to catch him and drop him on his head because Onita is that beaten up and broken. This may not just be the greatest tag of 1994, but the greatest tag match of all time.

Tarzan Goto vs. Cactus Jack IWA 10/5/1995 - EPIC

These two are among the most „crazy brawler“ looking guys in history, and they do a bunch of crazy brawling in this, but there‘s also a surprising amount of wrestling! Jack controls early with a fucking Fujiwara armbar of all things and then works a bunch of sleeper holds. Technical babyface is a bit strange for Mick Foley to work, but they do a pretty fun job at it! Of course, 1995 Mick Foley is also an absolute bump freak and down to trade punches with Goto, and Goto is a great bruiser squashing him with nasty lariats and facebusters. Both guys end up bleeding big and Goto does his classic bloodletting, cracking Foley with a beer bottle and stabbing him in the face. Goto getting heel reactions from his home crowd says alot about what an effective heel he is, and Jack bleeds and sells like crazy. What makes the match is the amount of energy both guys put in, usually in these kind of matches guys will stroll around or lay on the mat while the other guy sets things up, here both guys are constantly reaching for weapons, when Goto goes outside Jack follows him and connects with a nasty hip attack, later Jack catches Goto in a backslide during a lazy moment for a tremendous hope spot. Tremendous Foley performance and Goto is a fantastic antagonist while also putting Foley over huge, and this match was a great example of both guys having the nuts and bolts of wrestling down along with the crazy bumps and blood.

Tarzan Goto vs. Atsushi Onita, FMW 8/4/1990 - GREAT

This was the first ever exploding barbedwire match and also a match that stole the match of the year awards, proving Goto had some serious workrate cred in Japan in the 90s. Unlike later explosion matches where they would milk and tease the falls into the wire to the max this match is chaotic like a warzone as the explosions go of left and right sometimes triggered by guys just stepping too hastily next to the wire. Onita unwittingly triggers two explosions early on and he gets up bleeding from his arm and a nasty cut in his back. Goto is right on him dropping him with fat powermoves and bloodying his face with nasty headbutts and fists. They make up for the shoddy explosions by headbutting each other to a bloody pulp and it's quite gritty. Goto works on Onitas bad leg a bit with some figure 4s that Onita punches and headbutts his way out of and they continue fighting. Goto is bombing Onita and he looks done but Onita is able to ram him into the wire and Goto takes the biggest bump of the match as he gets entangled in barbedwire and explosions. Then Onita keeps dropping him with like a dozen powerbombs and DDTs until Goto stays down. Could've done with another big Goto rally having a go Onitas bad leg like they teased but it was a wild, cool, experimental fight that probably sent the fans imagination running wild in 1990.

Tarzan Goto vs. Toshiaki Kawada, AJPW 11/28/1984 - FUN

What an insane upload. Mostly a fun technical match, with Goto doing the same cool hold for hold work while mixing in cool headbutts he would do later as a veteran. Kawada is a black trunks rookie and pretty athletic, he busts out a few very clean flips and even leaps to the top rope to hit a huge crossbody. Goto takes it in a style with the big Superfly Splash.

Tarzan Goto Documentation

Going through Shodates Best Matches of the 90s List Part 6

 The List

223. Akira Taue vs. Toshiaki Kawada, AJPW 6/7/1996

This has the rep of being „disappointing“ because it went a mere 18 minutes. That shows what kind of grandeur 90s AJPW was. This is one heck of a really good match though. I really liked the opening where Kawada seemed to be the superior striker, until Taue just casually shut him down by nuking him with big boots and a German suplex. Taue continued his assault until Kawada was able to snap a Fujiwara Armbar and work his arm. Taue getting fired up and Kawada frantically trying to cut him off was really great. The armwork also led to a fun spot where Taue tried blocking the gamengiri but ended up damaging his shoulder further in the process. Kawada got so pissed at Taue he chopped him in the face. Kawada destroying Taue with kicks to the face in the corner only to get blown away by a Taue shoulderblock and neckbreaker was also fantastic. These two are just a really fun match up with Kawadas vicious kicks vs. Taues lanky powerhouse style. Taue also hit this really great jumping big boot flush in Kawadas face. Punch drunk Taue hitting a weak chokeslam was also great. You know what are getting from these two in 1996, everything made sense and was sensible, and on top of that you get a bunch of neat moments and kicks to the face. I can see this may have been disappointing to the hardcore workrate AJPW fans considering there wasn‘t even a dive or an apron move, but by itself it was a great match.

137. Yoji Anjoh vs. Masakatsu Funaki, UWF 5/28/1990

Funaki was in peak physical condition here and looking like a movie star. Anjoh is a bit flabby and wears these ridiculous purple leopard print tights. And the crowd is absolutely on fire to see Anjoh taking down Funaki! They just came unglued whenever Anjoh was threatening Funaki in the standup. Funaki has some really nice punch combos and does his ducking and diving thing, but man, this is the Anjoh show. For a guy who is famous for being a fantastic prick heel, he is one hell of a tenacious babyface standing up to a bigger wrestler. The mat work is nice as it was that mix of slow lulls with faster, slicker movements, and the whole match had a great build. Really cool moment where Anjoh has Funaki in a cross heel hold and Funaki has to slap him to break out, Funaki had this facial expression as if he really didn't want to continue fighting. Later Anjo lands an insane near KO where Funaki barely makes the 9, and Funaki has a nice desperation  moment where he keeps kicking at a downed Anjoh. Crafty finish. A nice reminder of how great peak level shootstyle can be.

RIP The Patriot

  The Patriot vs. Bret Hart, WWF 9/7/1997

 This is a classic heel champ working around a cookie cutter babyface match with Hart doing an excellent job making everyone think The Patriot was gonna take the title. I am guessing the idea behind the masked Patriot was that he represents an everyman, and he has pretty fun everyman offense in armdrags and a really nice dropkick. The opening going was well laid out and the action solid, but inconsequential (some limb work that doesn't go anywhere). The heartpiece was the finishing stretch laid out around Patriot getting nearfalls with Bret hanging on by a threat and some shenanigans happening. I am sure those nearfalls stayed in peoples minds in 1997 and I loved the finish where the Patriot gets cocky enough to put Harts own move on him only for Bret to defeat him on a technicality.

The Patriot & Vader vs. Bret Hart & British Bulldog, WWF 10/5/1997

I don't remember Vader being this patriotic guy, but he is definitely somebody you want backing you up when the honor of your country is at stake. This was a flag match but there are pins and submissions, but we at least get the cool visuals of guys breaking their flags over each others heads. Vader is great here backing up the Patriot, coming in to take people out with big body checks and punches. He also has this insane moment where he goes for his moonsault and lands on his feet then beats the shit out of Davey Boy some more. The match could've used a better structure, Hart Foundation where making cutoffs and trying to isolate the faces but it never really came together for a proper FIP section, and what a weird thing for a match involving a character as southern fried as The Patriot to not be a southern tag,  but what we got was pretty fun.

The Patriot & Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama, AJPW 11/22/1996

It's an AJPW pillars tag baby, so you get the usual cool strike exchanges plus the fun novelty of having The Patriot slotted into the format. You won't get neck chops or martial arts kicks from The Patriot but he is really fun doing his shoulderblocks and clotheslines and dropkicks with real Oomph behind them to fit into the match. I loved the constant teasing and countering of the Full Nelson Slam, and how they protected the move. Great finishing stretch with Patriot first working some pretty complex exchanges with Misawa and Akiyama before some baller nearfalls happen and The Patriot ends up falling victim to the usual Misawa helping out his junior partner shenanigans. You can totally tell when the crowd really catches on fire for this match and it's really fun to watch.

Tarzan Goto Documentation Project #6

 

Tarzan Goto vs. Dan Severn, IWA Japan 8/20/1995 - EPIC

 

Brilliant, virtually perfectly worked match which was basically two beasts having a crazy bar fight. Goto is so awesome here, hitting the mat with Severn, getting in his head, using weapons, bleeding and potatoeing the UFC legend really hard. Imagine someone hitting Khabib with a stiff lariat and chair shots. Severn looks good in other matches, but he looks like a badass killer here, and I suspect no small part of that is Gotos doing. Loved Severn mauling and bloodying Goto on the ground, his crazy suplexes and throwing chairs. Goto escalating the violence by using the beer bottle and chairs and clocking Severn really hard in the jaw was awesome as well. This was everything you want this match up to be and more.

Tarzan Goto & Tomoaki Honma vs. Terry Funk & Abdullah the Butcher, AJPW 10/27/2002 - GREAT

This was maybe Gotos sole return match to AJPW. They really should‘ve used him more as he‘s such a great versatile worker. This was as fun as it looks on paper. You have Funk and Goto trading punches, Goto dropping elbows, Abby chopping and stabbing people, and Honma bleeding and getting bumped around. Goto is actually the first guy to bust out a fork and Abdullah turns the fork against him in a great spot that got a big face pop. 3 out of 4 guys bleed, and Goto chucks tables at the heads of 60 year old men (he is really one of the few guys who can do that kinda spot safely). Finish was unexpectedly violent too (you know, in a match with a bunch of blood and guys punching eachother in the face) with Honma eating some nasty punishment, but that‘s what Honma is for.

Tarzan Goto vs. Gran Mendoza, FMW 8/20/1990 - FUN

 

Gritty 7 minute match with a bunch of blood and guys taking nasty spills into the barbedwire. At this point the barbedwire stuff looked less like guys doing spots and more like guys actually falling into barbedwire. Mendoza was pretty generic but did one or two things I liked, such as his elbows and the cool „punch at nothing“ sell he did. Goto took a beating initially and then came back bleeding big and throwing some cool headbutts before dropping Mendoza hard with his facebuster which Mendoza didn‘t seem to know how to take. Short and very grizzly. 

 TARZAN GOTO DOCUMENTATION

Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #10

 

Koki Kitahara vs. Masao Orihara, AJPW 4/9/1990 - FUN

Basic rookie opening match upgraded to Kitaharas insane level of stiffness. Anytime Kitahara was throwing kicks he was hitting Orihara like a baseball bat. Goodnes gracious. Orihara didn‘t do any flying here but he was spunky and willing the let Kitahara kick the life out of him. I liked how the end of the match is just Orihara working a somewhat dull hammerlock for a while before Kitahara just stands up turns his lights out with an ultra stiff spin kick.

Koki Kitahara & Hiromichi Fuyuki vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Kengo Kimura, WAR 2/14/1993 - GREAT 

Another match from the WAR/New Japan feud, and these matches really eschew traditional pro wrestling structure and even sequences. Everything is more heated, more reckless, and all the wrestlers likeliness to kick another in the face increases tenfold. Most of this was guys blindsiding each other with face kicks, and Kitahara is of course really great at blindsiding people with face kicks. Fuyuki also channels his old Footloose energy, and for such a natural creepy heel he is a really great fat Ricky Morton taking beatings and getting fired up. Koshinaka and Kimura dish out some big ass kickings, old man Kimura even takes some nasty crowbar kicks from Kitahara, and there is a pretty great section where he is punching Kitahara in the throat. Koshinaka is just kingsized here, there is this really violent section where he is just beating Kitahara to a pulp, knuckle punching him in the face, dropping knees with absolutely no light on him. Probably no other feud ever did violent spectacles on this level, and even though this wasn‘t the main players going at it it had that kind of big time feeling.

KOKI KITAHARA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST

2002 MOTY Project Update #15

 

Genichiro Tenryu & Nobukazu Hirai vs. Kaz Hayashi & Satoshi Kojima, AJPW 10/6/2002

Hirai is an ex-WAR junior with a kind of amusing scuzzy charisma. He is fun as a misplaced guy in a big main event and has some cool exchanges with Hayashi. That said, this is 1000 % the Tenryu. He looks like you'd expect a Top 5 all time wrestler to look like. Just being a wrecking ball, throwing punches, chairs, spilling water, generally treating Hayashi and Kojima like garbage, and it all ruled. This wasn't just a "Tenryu walks over and potatoes somebody" stifffest, there was plenty of fast paced, thinking heavyweight wrestling going on. Kojima and Hayashi were pretty much warm bodies here, although I guess they tried a little harder than usual here throwing punches of their, but their main job was to be there and get swatted and kicked around by Tenryu, and it was a great little match.

 

Genichiro Tenryu & Arashi & Nobutaka Araya & Nobukazu Hirai vs. Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase & Jinsei Shinzaki & Satoshi Kojima, AJPW 9/16/2002

Also a pretty great 8 man tag. Tenryu bringing the Wrestle And Romance to AJPW ruled. The Mutoh side of the match was pretty loaded, so Team WAR did a neat job cutting off the ring and playing the numbers game to prevent Team Nu AJPW from doing their thing. Whenever Tenryu was involved the match was literally a string of great moments. Him blocking Shinzakis rope walk chop and hitting him in the throat was just badass. Then you had Tenryu carrying an Arashi in ring section by throwing objects at Mutoh. Also loved him trying to use the chair only to get bloodied himself, then losing it an beating the snot out of Kojima with blood streaming from his eye.. Match build to a series of pretty great cutoffs in the final act, including Tenryu even busting out the mist, Hirai finding a neat way to neutralize Mutoh and Team WAR overcoming the odds. Also was impressed that they were able to make that slug Arashi look like a big deal.

2002 MOTY PROJECT MASTER LIST

GWE Watching #6: Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

 

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa, NOAH 11/25/2001

Man, NOAH missed out not giving Kikuchi a big singles run. It would’ve made me care about NOAHs junior title much more than all that shit involving guys like Marufuji and Kanemaru. This was super raw, hard hitting pro wrestling. There was some no selling because Takaiwa is who he is, but they make up for it by trying to kill eachother. At one point Kikuchi was getting into his machoism asking Takaiwa to hit him harder and Takaiwa almost caved his face in with a sick dropkick. Kikuchi repaid him later with an insane headbutt. I enjoyed the leg work Kikuchi did, even if Takaiwa pretty much ignored it. Takaiwa kind of redeemed himself taking a really great corner bump and then almost dying on a spider german suplex. Finishing run had plenty of brutality, including Takaiwa swatting Kikuchi off the ropes and Kikuchi countering the endless Powerbomb in a really cool spot.

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jushin Liger, NOAH 5/21/2004

A match I‘ve never heard of until I decided to YouTube search Kikuchi today. I‘m surprised by that, because this was pretty excellent. I guess it didn‘t fit the kind of nearfall-ladden fast paced junior epic mold that was en vogue with fans at the time. But, this delivers the kind of scrappy, uncooperative exchanges you want from this. Kikuchi looks great here opening with an awesome sliding enzuigiri and big, microphone enhanced headbutts. There‘s some great dueling armwork, with both guys selling fantastically. I really liked Kikuchi playing hard ass shrugging off Ligers basic throws and Liger then gleefully tearing apart his bandaged shoulder. It‘s a great mixture of looking tough as hell and vulnerable which Kikuchi does extremely well. Loved the spot where Kikuchi went in turn to choke Liger with his bandage and Liger headbutting his bad shoulder. The match was full of gritty struggle like that, such as Kikuchi manhandling Liger by the mask, or trying to shrug off his palm strikes. Ref spots were fun and didn‘t hurt the match, and the match ended on two perfect nearfalls. Very refreshing stuff.

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 7/27/2001

Kikuchi is ranked way lower than Saito, but he won‘t go down without a fight! This was two guys mauling each other and it was pretty great. Notice how the match never turned into a predictable „I hit you – you hit me“ slog. There were a few smart moments: Kikuchi rolling outside and the grabbing a streetfight leglock was really great. As was him going down from a single slap from Saito and having to go for the leg again. Really dug his leg stretch in the ropes. Saito doesn‘t really sell the legwork and wins pretty easily to show that he is much stronger, which prevents this from being great, but I really loved Kikuchis performance.

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Akira Taue, AJPW 1/21/1992

Kikuchi vs. Taue, in 1992! What a matchup! And this is just wonderful. Taue gets huge heel reactions. He doesn‘t do much out of the ordinary, except try to rip Kikuchi in half with some mean submissions and just generally act like a jerk, but Kikuchi, man! He was at his best here, bumping big, selling, and being so ferocious when attacking Taue. At point Taue does a neck chop and Kikuchi does this pained collapsing sell. He really makes you believe in a neck chop like few other wrestlers. Last couple minutes had some fantastic and were just lovely. Kikuchi wanted that German Suplex like all hell, and YOU believe in it. Just a short little houseshow match, but an example of what makes Kikuchi so special.

Assorted AJPW and SWS

 

Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Shunji Takano & Earthquake, AJPW 1989

Absolute slobberknocker of a match, just 4 guys going all out for 10+ minutes. It pisses me off so bad that heavyweight wrestling now is just guys shoulderblocking and back and forth hitting each other a lit, because there was none of that here, and it was supremely more entertaining to watch these guys suplex and kick the hell out of each other. Shunji Takano was basically a more unpredictable, psycho version of Jumbo here, trying to cave Tenryus face in with a dropkick, suplexing Kawada across the ring, randomly busting out stiff kicks. Earthquake always looks great, and he has some brief but killer interactions with Tenryu as well as acting like a brickwall towards Kawada to add some structure points. Kawada is fun laying into the heavyweights with his kicks and taking beatings, and Tenryu is of course great in these kinda matches. Super enjoyable 15 minutes, and I appreciate that no finishers were kicked out of.

Fumihiro Niikura vs. Masakatsu Funaki, SWS 4/23/1991

I had no idea this match happened, let alone that it was filmed! And I care!! Y’know, I’m a Fumihiro Niikura fan. He was a good grappler, he had cool punches, and he had a similar scuzzy charisma to Yuki Ishikawa. Funaki completely destroys him here, though. I mean, it’s kinda what you expect, but damn. Funaki does all kinda neat stuff to turn and twist Niikura, and he hits him with some hard strikes. Niikura tries to fight back but has no answer. A german suplex, and a nifty crook headscissor/armbar combo, and Niikura is out. Fumihiro Niikura, at least you tried.

 

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Toshiaki Kawada, AJPW 10/8/1989

This was apparently the first Kawada/Tenryu singles. Pretty great rookie vs. established star match, basically the whole match was Kawada just kicking the living shit out of Tenryu and Tenryu coming back with increasingly violent retaliations. Tenryu was really great at putting over Kawadas kicks early on, flying over the guardrail and generally looking like he got his bell rung. Really liked how he broke out of a leglock and just stomped on Kawadas face before trying to break his jaw with a lariat. Kawada retaliated with some jaw loosening kicks of his own until a classic “Tenryu has had enough” moment where he kicked him in the face and folded him with a lazy but hurty looking powerbomb.

Koki Kitahara Documentation #6

 

Koki Kitahara & Riki Choshu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Tatsumi Fujinami (Rikidozan Memorial6/30/1996) - EPIC

Match at a big show involving 3 of Japans greatest stars where the standout is somehow, Koki Kitahara. Tenryu and Choshu did their thing, shoving each other, staring, creating some big time heat, and then Kitahara is there on the side eager to get into the fight while Tenryu is ignoring him completely. The opening exchange here really sets the tone, Tenryu and Choshu are the stars, Kitahara gets mauled by Tenryu, but is somehow able to get up and fire back with some hard shots of his own and even blindside Tenryu with a great kick to the back of the head. Kitahara ends up with a bloody mouth, but he never backs down. Tenryu and Choshu were also cracking each other hard here and I enjoyed Fujinami surprise catching Choshu after he got clocked with a lariat. The finish is, of all matchups, Tenryu and Kitahara again and it’s pretty great with Kitahara hitting one of the hardest punches I’ve ever seen in a pro match and Tenryu firing back with punches of his own and trying to chop Kitaharas head off. Really gritty, well executed match with big heat and a cool underdog story.

 

Shinichi Nakano & Shunji Takano & Akira Taue vs. Tatsumi Kitahara & Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 5/14/1990) - GREAT

First match I’ve seen from Kitahara in pre-split All Japan. This was a cool match which feels like a “what could have been” as 3 guys who ended up leaving AJPW soon mix it up with known greats Kobashi, Taue and Kikuchi. This was basicallly a short undercard tag where 6 young guys swing hard at each other. Kitahara is only in briefly, but when he is in he is just throwing brutal kicks with great technique left and right, including wasting Takano in the corner with a sick combo, and launching Nakano over the top rope. Everyone else was laying it in too, I especially enjoyed all the Kikuchi related exchanges as everyone always slaps the shit out of that guy. Kobashi in his baby state is fun doing things like hitting snug european uppercuts and big leg drops, and Taue had some big powermoves. Takano also looked great in his usual role of a tall psycho potatoeing guys.

Koki Kitahara & Arashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Mitsuya Nagai (AJPW 11/24/2001) - GREAT

Kitahara vs. Kawada is an obvious dream match, however, they only had one real exchange in this that lasted ca. 30 seconds. They traded some good looking kicks, though. I noticed that Kitahara was going softer than usual on Kawada, so I wondered if he had gotten softer for this AJPW stint, but then Nagai tagged in and immediately Kitahara stomps on his face, spits on him and slaps the taste out of his mouth. I guess it was a thing about ranks. This was short but tremendously heated. The crowd were super into Nagai, who was kind of an underdog in this. Kitahara is mostly there to run in and potatoe Nagai for great heel reactions. This was by far the most fired up I’ve seen Arashi look. I mean, he wasn’t exactly moving fast or anything, but he was taking real punishment and dishing out back. Kawada was just brutalizing guys with kicks, and I think he didn’t take a single bump in this. Lotta promotions in the world now would kill to have this kind of heat.

KOKI KITAHARA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST

2002 MOTY List Update #5

 Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (NOAH 9/7/2002)

IT SAYS GHC CHAMP ON OGAWA'S SHORTS!!! This is about the quintessential Ogawa match, as swamp monster Takayama is coming after him and Rat Boy has to weasel his way out of this without getting murdered. Ogawa is so great in the opening, throwing punches and eye pokes like a ratty, sleazy heel mini Jerry Lawler. Takayama puts a fulls sized ass beating on his undersized ass and about 5 minutes in the match, it seems like Ogawa is done already. Ogawa makes great use of the TREE OF WOE~! does a mighty great control segment on Takayama. My favourite thing about Ogawa here was that everything he was able to do was capitalizing on something else, he was never merely running through his offense. Takayama gets in a SINGLE BLOW which is enough to almost put Ogawa on the shelf and we get a brief but awesome finishing run built around Takayama throwing bombs and Ogawa throwing Rat Boy'isms. Ogawa's bumping was great here as he was just flying around for Takayama and Takayama himself did a great job putting over the champ as a champ.

Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (NJPW 8/29/2002)

NOAH vs. NJPW! Everyone acts like a heel! Liger is a disdainful prick! Kikuchi gives a top level performance! Tanaka and Kanemaru actually add to the match! I dunno, this was very enjoyable. Liger pummels the hell out of the NOAH guys and acts like a bastard, while Kikuchi is equally fired up and takes some murderous bumps and hits. The most amazing thing about the match is probably that it works while Minoru Tanaka and Kanemaru are in it. Those guy tend to be lousy, but they are effective here. Don't be fooled Kanemaru is still Kanemaru and has no presence whatsoever, while Tanaka falls into get-this-shit in territory at times, but Kanemaru hits his moves well and Tanaka heels it up nicely, so their stuff comes across as less dull than usual. The heel moves and chippiness aswell as some really fun, borderline Monterrey-like sequences keep it entertaining the whole way and they end the thing at the right time. I dunno if all that is merriting of all-time classic status but it's one of the better 2 vs. 2 junior tags I've seen in japanese wrestling that's for sure.

Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya vs Kazushi Miyamoto & Taiyo Kea (AJPW 4/27/2002)

These WAR revival in AJPW Tenryu performance are always a highlight when it comes to 2000s puro. No dumb shit, just a lot of fire and disdain at play. Miyamoto wants to stand up to his much tubbier, bigger opponents and as a result gets his nose busted and kicked in the face a bunch. Bully Tenryu is always great, but Miyamoto looked seriously good here aswell. His selling was pretty nuanced – I mean he was probably legit taking a lot of pain, but he even made glancing individual blows look really hurty. His comebacks looked good, and he was able to pull off a parkour spot that actually looked cool. Kea is someone who just never reaches greatness, but he was energetic and always there to put a thudding kick on Tenryu when it counted. Tenryus facial expressions and selling were out of this world as usual, anytime he took a blow that knocked him off balance he would look like a teacher in a high school comedy that just got pie faced. Tenryu casually strolling over to teach Kea a lesson while Araya and Miyamoto were fighting is why he's special. I found it almost comical how cooled down Araya was compared to everyone else here like this was just another tuesday. He looked good raking Miyamotos bloody nose a bunch and taking a massive bump on a german suplex for a fat aging guy.
  

Shinya Hashimoto vs Masato Tanaka (ZERO1 3/2/2002)

Tanaka disrespects the belt, and Hashimoto makes an example of him. This is among the greatest squash matches of all time, as Hashimoto looks like an unstoppable killing machine, and Tanaka looks like the gutsiest dude on earth for surviving. Tanaka is „deathmatch tough“ so you buy him surviving all the punishing blows and maybe decking Hashimoto with a potatoe of his own. Him being unable to hold on to a sleeper simply because he took a beating to every part of his body was pretty great aswell. Still this was all about Hashimoto destroying a poor fella. He may be the best ever at utilizing a basic karate chop to look like a badass. 

 

2002 MOTY MASTER LIST

Takeshi Ono Documentation #4

 Takeshi Ono vs. Yuki Ishikawa, BattlARTS 6/18/2000 - EPIC

From what I've gathered, Ono in these days was relegated to lower carder status whose single matches were either clipped, or against total scrubs, which is a shame. This is a rare chance to see a proper match, and it seems Ono at this point was not much less good than he was in 2010. They make the most out of an 8 minute match, Ishikawa is bigger and much higher ranked, but he takes a bit of a backseat and lets Ono go all out. Match has some pretty spectacular matwork, Ono is amazing at diving for submissions at lightning speed, which gives Ishikawa a good opportunity to show off his mat skills against a highly skilled opponent. To supplement the matwork Ono beats Ishikawa full force, including pounding on his head with fists and knees on the ground. The last couple minutes are especially off the charts, a proper main event between the two would've been amazing.

Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Mohammed Yone & Masao Orihara, BattlARTS 6/25/1999 - EPIC

This is an awesome match; it's not very BattlARTS-alike as it's more pro-styled with no real matwork and not a lot of impact moves, but instead everyone in the match straight up dishes out the punishment left and right. Battle of shitheads pretty much sums it up as neither team is playing nice, Ikeda tries to claw Yone's face off a few times, while Orihara and Ono are at their sleazy best. You wouldn't think Orihara fits well into BattlARTS but he adjusts nicely, including an awesome one inch punch to Ono's face and a truely Usuda-styled breakup of a pinfall. I recall thinking Yone kind of sucked back then, but he was impressive as a tank just taking it to Ikeda, and his goofy leg drop was deadly looking. Ono was a little different then, less of a boxer more of a wrestler, but he was punching and kicking people in their faces as good as 11 years later, and his flying around and ballsily eating of an Orihara dropkick was cool. Ikeda was the Ikeda we all know and love. You will want to watch this.

Takeshi Ono vs. Mohammed Yone (BattlARTS 10/26/2001) - GREAT

This was one of the last regular BattlARTS shows of the first period and they are wrestling in a really rickety ring with a ton of sponsorship logos, end days BattlARTS was weird. This was peak Takeshi Ono, ultra precise, vicious strikes, lightning fast transitions and grappling. He was the worlds most spidery William Regal here trying to take out Yones arms and legs. Yone is pretty worthless as he doesn’t sell shit, but he was working a bit stiffer than normal and didn’t run the ropes as much due to the ring, he also took a nasty bump for an Ono suplex and got kicked in the face. This stuff why you have to watch everyone Takeshi Ono has done, just single-handedly salvaging throwaway matches like it’s nothing.

Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa, AJPW 6/29/1997 - FUN

Ikeda and Ono come in and get a really nice reaction, then Kikuchi and Ogawa kind of eat their lunch. Kikuchi was uncooperative to the max and didn't sell a thing. Ogawa just did his usual spiel. There were some stiff as hell moves here, including Ikeda dishing out some of his stiffest shots I've ever seen on Kikuchi, Kikuchi firing back like a madman and Ono responding to Ogawa's pro style punches with shoot strikes, aswell as a brutal series of german suplexes to Ono. Fun match, but I would've liked a real match and not something borderline unprofessional.

This was about the only match of Ikeda in AJPW where he was treated as anything special. I wonder if this was some sort of test as lot of AJPW guys were watching from the side.

 

TAKESHI ONO DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST