Tarzan Goto Documentation #14

Tarzan Goto & Ryo Miyake vs. Shinichi Nakano & Arashi, WYF 3/20/1997 - GREAT

Nice to see the beginnings of the WYF vs. Shin FMW feud. This wasn’t even a bloodbath like the later matches, it was a cool grumpy heavyweight clash which is also good enough. There’s even a point where Goto teases using a chair on Nakano but puts it down because Goto fights fair now~! Opening Goto vs. Nakano matwork was super fun, just two thicc guys looking awesome taking each other down and rolling around, Goto has a nice bridge and really swift movements for a heavyweight, both guys do a competition of who can hit the coolest wrist arm salto among other cool things. Miyake is the whipping boy in this match as he basically gets bullied a bunch by Arashi and Nakano, Nakano is really good at fucking people at and Arashi who normally sucks looked good here by acting like an asshole, taunting Miyake and even being the first guy to use a chair. Also really enjoyed Goto running over to slap some fighting spirit into his boy and sending him at people like an attack dog. I didn’t expect either Nakano or Arashi to take much punishment so Goto beating the fuck out of Arashi in the second half felt cool and unexpected. Miyake is kind of pathetic but it doesn’t stick out super bad here. Very good mean bastards fighting each other type match and always nice to see Goto putting in a good night of work doing his thing

Tarzan Goto & Jun Kikuzawa vs. Ryuji Yamakawa & Shoji Nakamaki, BJW  5/29/1997 - FUN

This was a double hell barbedwire deathmatch with some thumbtacks. That kind of stipulation means that not much wrestling will happen, so the match lives and dies on brawling. Goto is a really good brawler, his punches and boots look great and he really knows how to hit people with plunder in interesting ways, like driving the pointy end of an umbrella into peoples heads, threatening to throw a table at the audience etc. The other guys in the match are less interesting but they are willing to bleed take painful bumps into baredwire and tacks and do stupid shit. Kikuzawas dive through the wire was definitely the highlight. The match was pretty short and almost a squash with Goto largely fucking people up save for one bump he took into the tacks, but it was fun for what it was. We get some more crazy brawling after the match with Goto dragging bleeding people through the building.

El Hijo Del Santo & Atsushi Onita & Mil Mascaras vs. Negro Casas & Tarzan Goto & Nitron (Tijuana, 5/15/92) - FUN

Now this is a fever dream match up. Onita and Goto enter the ring and immediately start ramming each others heads against each other and brawling on the floor, with both guys coming up bleeding. That’s the first 2 minutes of the match. Oddly enough the Onita/Goto match up kind of takes center stage with both guys always beating the shit out of each other. The luchadores make mostly fun cameos, with Santo vs. Casas being obviously pretty damn good. It was fascinating what Casas could do with Mascaras who refuses to bump and sticks to the same stuff he’s probably been doing for 25 years at this point. Nitron is some comically large guy who’s not very good but him getting bowled around by the force of something like Mascaras flying chops or Santos flying headbutt is fun enough. And Onita and Goto are always there, bleeding and beating the shit out of each other. It was kind of awesome to see that in Tijuana, but the rest of the match was mostly just an oddity.

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I watched a bunch of BJW and the only thing that caught my attention was this Saburo Inematsu match

 

Saburo Inematsu vs. Takashi Sasaki, BJW 11/13/2006

Inematsu was a K-Dojo guy who I remember being a fun addition to BJW multiman tags during this period. I think this was the only bigger singles match he got in BJW at the time, and you kind of have to wonder why because he does really well for himself. The first 5 minutes are the standard forgettable deathmatch opening and not of much interest, but the last 10 minutes or so are really compelling. Inematsu has a lot of fun offense – running headbutts, well timed axe handles, a sick backdrop suplex, big knee drops – that feels really fresh in this kind of deathmatch context. Both guys also bleed like crazy, and increased the violence by really stiffing each other with their slaps and kicks. The struggle for control was really good. When Inematsu hit his big Death Valley Bomb from the top rope it felt like a huge moment not just because it was a huge bump but because of the way Inematsu had been controlling and cutting off Sasaki, it really alerted the crowd that the outsider could put away the established guy and it was really compelling, they maintained that sense of struggle subsequently in nice fashion. I’m not a guy who’s big on deathmatch wrestling but this was really good and fresh.

It's a MEN's World

MEN´s Teioh, Makoto Oishi & Shinobu vs. Onryo, Milanito Collection a.t. & Fantastik, BJW 8/20/2007

When I saw that Fantastik had a few TV matches in BJW in 2007, I was wondering if he still had it. He looks lumpier here than he did in the 90s… but as soon as he steps in the ring, it becomes clear that he still has it. Still has ridiculously beautiful execution, still works really pretty lucha sequences and he still hits that fucking senton to the floor he always does and it looks magnificient. Leave it to a lumpy old luchador to smoke a bunch of slender Japanese juniors with the biggest dive in a match. But, even aside from Fantastik being really good, this was super fun match. I remember these MENS Club matches being kind of last hurrah for Japanese lucharesu. I guess we can pin those matches being good on Men’s Teioh bringing his Michinoku Pro experience and some authority into them. He has fun dynamic hitting all those twinks with cool clotheslines and elbows. They do fun character multiman spots, everyone has some brief neat sequences worked out together, the pace is fast, they move through comedy briefly and with ease, and it doesn’t go into overkill. Onryo looked cool here doing his zombie shtick and ripping out cool flying ranas, including a flying reverse rana which was pretty insane. Nevermind all that shit. FANTASTIK~!

MEN’s Teioh & Mototsugu Shimizu & Hercules Oosenga & Wolf Ozawa vs. Kota Ibushi & Makoto Oishi & Milanito Collection AT, BJW 11/26/2007

Another really good little match from the MEN’s Club crew, this stuff definitely ages better than most other spotty stuff from the era. Big part of that is the ongoing story and character of these matches, with Shinobu playing underdog, the weird kamehameha comedy bit and all the twinks bickering at each other while Teioh looks kind of embarassed to be there and just comes in to hit stiff elbows and european uppercuts. Plus, the match had excellent structure and just the right pace, so compared to how spotty current wrestling is this looks like a fucking Bret Hart match in comparison. Everybody tags in and out fast enough to do something cool and not get exposed, you have a cool Teioh vs. Ibushi face off, Onryo doing his Wolf Ozawa persona (I think there was an angle in 2007 where Onryo came back to life and became Wolf Ozawa but later died again to transform back into Onryo), there’s a good Shinobu FIP section where Oosenga hits a cool second rope elbow (yeah, I remember the second rope elbow in a spotfest! I liked that), several cool synchro dives. And the whole thing doesn’t overstay its welcome. Yeah I’m gonna go on record to say this stuff ruled.

MEN’s Teioh & Onryo & Shinobu vs. Shiori Asahi & Makoto Oishi & Hiroyuki Kondo, BJW 5/26/2006

This was one of the earliest matches of this crew, I am not sure they were going by MEN’s Club at this point but the theme of Shinobu disappointing Teioh was already present. Teioh was great here, doing a bunch of totally awesome maestro exchanges with Oishi hooking him with neat holds and sweet reversals. 3 of the guys in this were really green so they were struggling to draw reactions from the crowd (then again it was Katsura Studio), but it moved into a really good ending section that didn’t feel like overkill. I enjoyed Asahi a lot, cool underrated indy guy who has a number of unique spinning wheel kicks and enzuigiri that look painful, and Kondo is always cool to see.

BJW 1/9/2005

 

They decided to run a cool one night tournament with some interesting participiants for this show.

First Round: Manabu Hara vs. HERO!

HERO! is of course HARASHIMA in his kind of bland masked gimmick. They mesh very nice on the mat, ‘shima has no problem doing smooth shootstyle matwork and Hara mostly dominates the action dominating on the ground and hitting a big suplex, as well as totally stonewalling Harashimas attempts to do anything pro style. I imagine a 10 minute match between them would’ve been pretty good, at 5 minutes this was still a neat bit.

First Round: Kyosuke Sasaki vs. Naoki Numazawa

I’m not sure if Numazawa was a full time death match guy at this point. He was really schlubby in his ill fitting boots, shirt and tights. Sasaki kicks him a bit and Numazawa kills time with solid but boring offense. Sasaki wins with ease. Nothing match but it made Sasaki look strong going into the second round.

First Round: Mineo Fujita vs. Masanori Ishikura

Yes, Ishikura! They got a lot of kickpadded shooters for this tournament. This was 6 minutes and for two indy juniors doing a vacuum junior match it wasn’t bad. Fujita has really pretty execution on all his stuff and Ishikura hits a big jumping knee in his face. Transform this to a WCW b-show and it would have made a great addition to any b-side comp tape.

First Round: Daisuke Sekimoto vs Kunio Toshima

The longest match in the first round even though it had the most basic workers. It was still a pretty good match with Toshima working like Otani. No kidding, he was doing big boots, face washes, springboard dropkicks, working over Sekimotos arm something fierce. Toshimas single minded determination on attacking Sekimotos arm, gnarly big boots and Sekimotos affinity for single-minded matches made this a pretty good encounter. Also, Sekimoto actually sold all that armwork and Toshimas stubborn arm attacks made an armbar finish plausible.

Semi-Finals: HERO! vs. Kyosuke Sasaki

This went 12 minutes and it was the DDT vs. U-Style encounter you never knew you craved. The do a bunch of really nice slick matwork. Sasaki looks really good here kicking the crap out of ‘shima and working a nasty neck crank. HERO! stuck to junior offense but they had a fun dynamic going. They also reference the finish of the first round HERO match so that was a nice touch.

Semi-Finals: Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Mineo Fujita

Fujita tries rushing Sekimoto at the start and hits some offense. Then Sekimoto comes back and hits some offense, pretty much gobbling Fujita up. I liked Fujitas tricky pin attempt but this was extremely forgettable.

Finals: Daisuke Sekimoto vs. HERO!

Opening WoS-like hold exchanges were kind of cool. Sekimoto is so bulky it looks really cool when busts out a smooth takedown, and HERO has a really pretty Santo headscissor. After a big HERO dive, Sekimoto did some nice work on his mid section. Unfortunately they kind of stopped being on the same page for a minute and the rest of the match ended up being listless randomness. Sekimotos lack of intensity was really jarring, like he looked like he was about to check his watch the whole time.

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Tarzan Goto Documentation #12

 

Tarzan Goto & The Sheik vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Tiger Ali Singh, FMW 3/29/1993 - EPIC

This was really fricking great, a raw straight injection of blood and insanity. Singhs swarm Goto right before the bell and Goto is pelted with saber shots. Luckily Sheik makes his heroic entrance as a big chant breaks out. He throws Goto a chair and it‘s go time. The fighting here was just bloody as hell and felt reckless. Singhs looked good just attacking their opponents relentlessly and the face stabbing was sick as hell. Sheik is as good as you need him to be here as a crusty old guy who draws big reactions punching and stabbing people in the face. Really loved the bit where Sheik tries bringing in a fucking beer bottle and gets clocked with the butt of a sword. Goto as good as you know him, bleeding like crazy and throwing great headbutts and lariats. Fucking crazy post match too as Sabu and Gladiator come in, Sheik turns against Goto blowing a fireball and they set the ring on fire. You have to love pro wrestling.

Tarzan Goto & Flying Kid Ichihara & Mr. Gannosuke vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Giant Korean, & Kim Soppo, BJW 6/10/1995 - GREAT

This was an elimination match as a series of singles matches and really unique. Nagasaki teams with two Korean guys, early BJW was weird. We start with Gannosuke vs. Soppo which was between alright and so-so, I liked Gannosukes dropkicks and his indian deathlock, Soppo seemed like a decent wrestler but they were both clearly unfamiliar with each other so they just kept it very basic. The unique thing is Goto and Nagasaki are at ringside and tempers are already flaring, when Soppo gets thrown out and suddenly you have Goto running him across the arena into a wall while Nagasaki throws a table at Gannosuke. Gannosuke ends up going ovoer and against GIANT KOREAN next. Giant looks like he has acromegaly and he wrestles a lot like Baba, brain chops and headbutts which is what you want from a Giant Korean. Still their match up is far from good as the Giant also likes to chinlock, but Gannosuke wins pretty fast with the Gannosuke Clutch. Now is when things get interesting, because Kendo Nagasaki in and he is in Dragon Master mode, just beating the live out of Gannosuke, torturing him with painful holds, he does a Magistral that looked like it almost ripped Gannsukes shoulder. All the while Goto is at ringside and he really wants to have a go at Nagasaki, when Nagasaki throws Gannosuke outside Goto goes after him with the chairs and these moments are over 9000 in intensity level. It looks like Gannosuke is gonna get squashed but he keeps hanging on. Eventually Nagasaki throws him out again and Goto has enough clocking Nagasaki with the chair. Now Nagasaki is bleeding and it seems Gannosuke might have a real chance to win the match 3-0… but then Nagasaki just drops him with the most awful piledrivers in history. 1,2,3, Gannosuke is out. There is a brief confusion where it seems like Ichihara is next but instead Goto comes in with a fucking fire extingiuisher, he doeses the whole ring and then lariats Nagasaki in the fog until he‘s out. This is a weird match to go GREAT on because the first two portions weren‘t much, but they ended up telling a compelling story that really had me at several moments, building to that epic ending, with Goto being integral to the whole match and doing a great job.

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RIP BADBOY Hido

 BADBOY Hido vs. Jushin Liger, Apache Pro 4/14/2006

Awesome 5 minute explosion of hate filled brawling in front of a rabid hot crowd. This was the conclusion of a series of CTU vs. Apache Pro tags in 2006 and Liger is giving Hido hell here. Liger is great as an invader beating on someone, and Hido bleeds and sells good. Hido makes a quick comeback going for his trademark bat shots which look great. Liger pins him pretty fast though and we get the whole Apache Pro roster jumping on him and Hido trying to cut his hair, which leads us to...

BADBOY Hido & Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs. Gedo & Jado & Jushin Liger, Apache Pro 4/14/2006

Also pretty great match, one of those 2000s interpromotional wars with a ton of heat that make wrestling fun and exciting. More hatefilled brawling, Liger getting pissed off at his cut hair was a nice touch, and CTU are a really good heel unit isolating their opponents, working the cuts and brawling. Everyone on Team Apache bleeds big and gives a fired up babyface performance. Normally I dislike Kuroda, but he just did a fired up hot tag here, foregoing his usual comedy spots, and then he also bled and we got more pissed off brawling. Kanemura/Gedo ending stretch was damn good. Hido was mostly selling and bleeding here, although he is a really good FIP and his superplex was a nice well timed moment.

BADBOY Hido vs. Shadow WX, BJW 4/28/2002

One of the crazier things I've seen in wrestling. BADBOY Hido is a complete psycho here. He beats the shit out of Shadow WX and everyone nearby, even some woman (who is maybe related to WX?). It really feels more like a worked shoot angle than a match, as it comes across like Hido is stepping over the line and being a menace, doing things he is not supposed to be doing, and what an achievement that is to create that effect in a deathmatch promotion. The pull part at the end was probably the most pissed off WX has ever looked, and damn do I want to see the bloody payoff that this set up.

BADBOY Hido vs. Hayabusa, W*ING 9/11/1996

We start this with a great rudo Hido section where he carves up Hayabusa, rips his mask, and hits some great looking bat shots. Hayabusa takes he over and is kind of a heel to the W*ING fans, but he's really not a very convincing bad guy. Finishing stretch was fun with Hidos simplistic violence vs. Hayabusa flying moves and the fans getting big into Hido. Hido hits his bat shots with real pop and he makes simple things like a dropkick to the face look very violent.

BADBOY Hido vs. Shinjiro Ohtani, WEW 9/22/2003

This was probably the best match to come out of the now forgotten WEW vs. ZERO1 feud. Ohtani bullies deathmatch boy Hido a bunch, and Hido comes back swinging baseball bats and tossing ladders at Ohtanis head. Ohtani doing garbage spots and bleeding is fun, and so is Hido taking Ohtanis boots to the face and getting suplexed on his head. Bat shots were pretty brutal in this and probably better than the usual lariatfest. Perfect meeting in the middle.

Tarzan Goto Documentation Project #5

 Tarzan Goto & Mikan vs. Musashi Oyama & Lemon, Goto-Ippa 5/10/2009 - GREAT

Goto-Ippa is basically Gotos little wrestling school project. Just tiny shows held so his boys can get some experience and so Goto can carve them up. Musashi Oyama is another unknown sleaze god. He's older than dirt and sports this seedy slicked back long hair look, looking like Gran Hamadas granddad. He's awesome. Mikan and Lemon are two girl wrestlers and they look really untrained. Like "can't take a back bump" level untrained. They don't show up on any other Goto-Ippa cards so I assume they aren't affiliated to Goto. Mikan likes to kick hard so I guess I liked her. Lemon was basically constantly on the verge of killing herself. And this goes 36 MINUTES? What in the hell? It feels amazingly short though and still pushes into borderline GREAT territory, because we are evaluating Tarzan Goto performances, and the man did it all here. He's really old (he retired in the late 80s, for christs sake), but he still comfortably does his thing and never looks out of step or even fatigued. Opening Goto/Oyama sections were pretty great. Goto grappling rules, and Oyama even kicks him in the face pretty hard. Then we get Goto doing about the best job humanly possible to carry Lemon through an FIP section. Really doing the most you can with a girl who can't back bump, only throwing her to the corner and throwing safe but good looking punches and headbutts. When Lemon makes her comeback Goto takes these great bumps for her DDTs. We also get some fun sections with Oyama trying to protect Lemon from evil Goto, and of course Oyama ends up getting carved up. The latter match Goto/Oyama sections are so great as Goto is just brutalizing him with punches, headbutts and lariats as he's bleeding all over the ring in front of probably 30 people. Check this out, fast forward through the girl sections, and enjoy Goto being the man.

Tarzan Goto & Mr. Gannosuke vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Bruiser Okamoto, Big Japan 7/25/1995 - EPIC

This was another one of those stretched out tags from the era where it starts with lots of quality wrestling and then turns into a bloodbath. Goto and Gannosuke are one hell of a unit here. Okamoto is a big, non-descript young guy who works kind of like a shooter, so he‘s a very good dude to slot intot his match. Starts with a great section where he and Gannosuke grapple it out doing kneebars like this is a BattlARTS match, followed by another great section where he tries to grapple Tarzan Goto and Goto just outclassing him. I especially loved how Goto stuffed an Okamoto takedown and just yanked his face with a nasty facelock, it was like something Fujiwara would do. If course this is just a warmup for the inevitable as referee Great Kojika acts shady and this causes Goto and Gannosuke to go to town on Okamoto with chairs and what have. I liked how Nagasaki, when Goto took the match to the floor also started floor brawling and crowbarring Mr. Gannosuke. Nagasaki was in full on pissed off dad mode here and swinging chairs and tables at people. It builds to a great second half with Nagasaki beating the piss out of Mr. Gannosuke while Goto breaks a bottle. The whole matchs was building to a Goto/Nagasaki interaction and when it happens it‘s just Goto coming in to break up a Nagasaki pinfall by cutting his face open. It was such a psycho move and so beautifully well timed. I also liked how Okamoto challenged Gannosuke to another wrestling face off only for Gannosuke to take him down and immediately start clawing at his cut. Beautiful tag psychology crossed with some serious street fighting violence, you can‘t tell me these guys weren‘t masters at this.

Tarzan Goto & Damian 666 vs. Goro Tsurumi & Hisakatsu Oya, FMW 6/19/1994 - FUN

The very definition of a FUN match. Starts out as just an offensive slaughter from Damian, as Goto wails on people with hard lariats and Damian does cool lucha spots and impressions of other wrestlers. You wouldn‘t think these two would work well together but damn they acted like best buddies here. Oya got his ass beaten – taking some tailbone breaking bumps into a table and getting walloped by Goto. Even during the brief section where Damian was in peril Goto came over to kick Oyas ass. Tsurumi looked decent and there was a cool section where he and Goto wailed on each other, I would‘ve liked that to go longer than 20 seconds. Brief but an all around good time.

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BJW 1/ 2/1998

 

BJW 1/ 2/1998

Neftaly vs. Miho Kawasaki

Shunme Matsuzaki vs. Shadow VII

Yone Genjin vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa

Kendo Nagasaki & Gennosuke Kobayashi vs. Masayoshi Motegi & Makoto Saito

Katsumi Usuda & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Tomoaki Honma & Minoru Fujita

Gedo & Jado vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri & Ryuji Yamakawa

Jason the Terrible & Shoji Nakamaki & Mitsuhiro Matsunaga vs. Great Pogo & Shadow WX & Shadow Winger

 

Aaaaand of course a 1998 indy show opens with a forgotten japanese girl wrestler and a luchadora working quasi lucha exchanges. This and the other first 3 matches are really clipped so it's mostly just to get a quick laugh, but what they showed of the ladies match wasn't bad. Neftly hits a nasty senton and wins with a nifty powerbomb variation. Matsuzaki is a sad case as he always looks ridiculously polished (for a guy in the second match of your typical sleaze card) and always gets saddled in some non match, in this case against a mexican Mini-Mr. Pogo (sorry Ricky Santana, you're better at lucha than garbage brawling). All these BJW undercard matches quickly devolve into crowd brawling shenanigans. I would've liked to see more of the BJW vs. WYF tag – because Motegi is GOOD and Saito is COOL and I am actually liking Nagasaki with his nice back elbow and quick bursts of wrestling and actually dangerous floor brawling. The unrecognizable rookie Kobayashi is yet another indy guy who doesn't know how to take Saito's springboard moves properly which almost feels like a rib at this point.

 

So they actually showed the BattlARTS vs. BJW dudes tag in full and it's AWESOME. I am not playing a trick on you here, if that match happened in BattlARTS it would have a good shot at being the tag MOTY. It's not a BattlARTS style match but it has enough cool shootstyle matwork and stiff shots throughout to keep you entertained, and the whole thing is just ridiculously tight, innovative stuff. Hidaka & Fujita are all skinny and young but they join the 98 GAEA crew by looking spunky, inventive and super talented. Pre-bumpfreak Honma is good as your kickpadded guy who sells really well, can work a kneebar or two and gets kicked in the head by Usuda. Usuda looked like a badass black belt tumbling with some purples trying their best to push him. He is a stoic shooter guy with some really spectacular counters and he always works really well with these indy juniors he can just rip apart and this was no exception. I also liked that because Hidaka and Fujita are scrawny 1 year rookies any basic move on them looks like a plausible finish. But the whole thing was just a bonkers match with breathtaking lucha meets shootstyle submissions and counters and nasty double teams and some brutal stand up exchanges (Usuda just dropping bombs) and yeah this is just the kinda gem you hope for when going through this old stuff. Also, great moment where Honma botches a springboard move so Hidaka just pounces on him and they beat the shit out of eachother. That's how you cover up a blown spot.

There was no way in hell that Jado/Gedo vs. Tajiri/Yamakawa could follow up the workrate of the previous tag and they wisely didn't try. They worked more of a US style tag with Gedo and Jado bringing the heel cutoffs and punches and rope stun guns and Figure 4s and what not. Pretty bread and butters stuff but it wasn't a bad match and I always enjoy checking out young Tajiri who is such an ultra sharp wrestler with the kicks and lucha flying moves and so forth.

The main event – well, you know what you're getting. Mostly wandering brawl with 2 guys occasional rolling into the ring to do stuff, then back out. In between that you get shots of Winger putting a headlock on Matsunaga backstage and strolling up the stairs. There were a few cool individual moments, such as the big Nakamaki dive to open the whole thing, Pogo hitting some Tenryu kicks on a bloody Matsunaga, Matsunaga hitting karate kicks and the Undertaker walk on the balcon, Pogo bringing out a barbed wire drill and Jason working Jason spots. This was falls count anywhere so there were also some cool spots where they had multiple referees and fans on the outside would count along when a nearfall happened. Finish is Jason working his „resurrection“ spot a bunch (yeah Shadow WX you loser you're not going over JASON) and winning with a god damn Northern Lights Bomb. Jason The Terrible is indestructable and it rules.

This show top to bottom was not as good as the IWA Japan stuff but it had an absolute killer obscure gem in Usuda/Hidaka vs. Fujita/Honma (I totally expect one of you granddads to tell me how eveerrrryone put that one on their VHS comps back then and talked it up as a **** 3/4 match on random obscure DVDVR offshoot boards). Everything else delivered as you'd expect and I always enjoy checking out a random card like this. 

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