Continueing to watch Mutoha and being amazed

 

Ho Death Min vs. Diablo, 3^rd Brand 3/11/2023

This is from 3^rd Brand which is like a brawling-focussed Mutoha side brand. Decreasing the stunt show aspect of modern hardcore wrestling and increasing scrappiness is a really good aesthetic and they pulled off what they aimed at beautfully. Right at the go the match feels unhinged as Ho Death Min comes in with a fucking machete. He has to be held back and Diablo jumps him. They make use of a bunch of weapons that are laying around and they do a really good using them in unique hurty ways. Diablo at one point lands several nasty jabbing hits with a kendo stick to Mins leg, he also tries to behead him with a shovel horror movie style at one point. What really makes the match is the tumbling they do between shots. Often in brawls guys hit with a weapon, then lazily walk to the next location for another spot. That wasn’t the case here as both guys were always fighting, rolling on the floor punching each other, trying to sweep a leg or get in a bite when they were down etc. The laptop destruction is fun because that laptop is probably like half of Mutohas budget. for such a long brawl this never dragged and always kept my attention, I was really invested in some of the super simple things they did like the double clothesline exchange on the floor and they keep the crazy moments coming such as Diablo trying to stab Min with a piece of plastic or fucking Leatherface doing a run in with a running chainsaw. The stipulation of the match is that you have to put your opponent in a big bag to win and it kind of really works in its goofiness. After the match we get more sleaze characters brawling including fucking Katsunari Toi coming out to hit people with a kendo stick. Diablo really works in these kind of seedy brawls and almost 60 year old Poison Sawada worked his butt off. Super fun unique match, I love the technical stuff but I also love that they are doing this kind of brawling. People should pay attention to the art of this stuff just like to the art of something like Arai/GENTARO.

Hiroshi Watanabe vs. Kazuhiko Matsuzaki, Mutoha 2/14/2016

Interesting match because Matsuzaki, while being “old school” is not exactly a technician who will do lengthy hold for hold stuff. And thankfully they worked the match just like that, resulting in a really cool contest. Matsuzaki works  this like an 80s or 90s New Japan heavyweight. He doesn’t want to play Watanabes game and instead tries to go the few impact moves that he has, clocking Watanabe with headbutts and kicks to break the holds. At one point he grabbed a tight headlock and then drove Watanabe hard into the mat with a big bulldog, which is something that pretty much nobody does anymore but it totally rules. Later, Matsuzaki would power out of an attempted Cobra Twist, sell how painful that hold was for his abdomen, then try to put the same hold on Watanabe only for sneaky technician to immediately reverse it and torque Matsuzaki some more. Matsuzakis kicks and headbutts don’t hit as hard as they did in 1993 but otherwise the man did very well. And Watanabe is perfect in this kind of match, too. This match didn’t have much mat wizardry, it was more about timing and struggle, and there was a complete lack of contrived sequences. Very nice stuff without trying to force an epic, this kind of wrestling is so good, give me a good story and a sense of struggle with some cool moments and I will be very happy.

 

Taro Yamada vs Konaka, Mutoha 7/5/2015

Terrific match, Mutoha at its very best. It’s a rounds match that begins in a fashion inspired by World of Sport matches, with both guys displaying slick counters and moving in and out of holds very swiftly, but it quickly becomes a tangled nightmare as both guys would tie each other up in increasingly esoteric ways. Yamada was an absolute monster here, he looked like a true master of the llave style, and he just does things that nobody else does. He was tying up Konaka in so many different ways here, but also putting lots of creativity into his set ups and escapes, it was an absolute onslaught. Yamada is very much the driving force for most of the match, just tying Konaka in knots, and it seems Konaka only survives because Konaka is a flexibility demon and he can be put into contortions that not many other wrestlers could stand being put in. Although Konaka has a few moments where he really catches Yamada and it feels like a big victory each time. Not only were the submissions mind blowing, but so were their escapes from them. It was a display of mat wizardry in the truest sense. They do 20 minutes of outstanding grappling before the fifth round of 5, at which point Yamada loses his cool and finally nails Konaka with that curb stomp he likes to use. After that the time was running out and each moment felt frantic. Really edge of your seat stuff with both guys displaying incredible technical proficiency and body control while maintaining a competitive aura. I have been watching technical matches from Europe, Japan, Mexico, America for 15 years now and this was as good as any that I’ve seen.

More Assorted Japanese Indy Wrestling

 

Diablo vs. Hideaki Sumi, Riki Office 9/26/2010

This was really fucking cool, a karateka vs. a vicious brawler in a chain match. Sumis kicks and punches were great and Diablo was kicking ass here, bloodying his opponent, throwing punches, using chairs and the chain etc. I would have liked to see Sumi kick a bit more ass but for a kind of fast, brief asskicking resulting in blood and mist this was really cool.

 

 

Mentai Kid & Billy Ken Kid vs. Genkai & Ryuta Chikuzen (Kyushu Pro 4/16/2018)

Pretty great match which oddly enough was largely built around the two highflyers doing lots of nasty bodypart work and stiff blows to the grizzled heavyweights. Opening sections were very nice, they kept things simple but worked a scale higher than basic. Match gets really great once BKK hits a double stomp to Chikuzen. They follow up with both Kids unleashing some brutal work on Chikuzens mid section. The whole section was really great and full of nasty stomps, spin kicks, punch combos and excellent cut offs. It’s weird to see a guy like Billy Ken Kid work really stiff and just tag people hard and drop hefty looking bombs but here we are. GENKAI was pretty great in the match too, he largely cut out the WWE spots and was just kicking dudes really hard and hurling them around with hard suplexes. Chikuzen had a Taue-ish vibe, gangly lumbering dude with odd athleticism who will hurl himself at you. GENKAI ended up working overtime to carry his damaged partner through the match and did an amazing job. I dug all the build to the big moves, and that they largely avoided overkill since basic moves like a fallaway slam or hip drop were hitting in brutal fashion. Awesome big match with tremendous heat.

 

Hiroaki Taniguchi vs. Katsumi Oribe, Move-On Pro Wrestling 7/13/2022

 Very cool match which felt a bit like a modern day WAR heavyweight clash. It was a bit slower and not quite as gritty but both guys made full use of the empty arena here leathering the hell out of each other with grimy strikes and slams. Oribe is great, he's a karateka and he throws really beautiful kicks just trying to cave his opponents chest in. Taniguchi is a bit of a slow bloated guy but his slams and lariats were really violent, he also had this really great big splash targetting Oribes back. Some more tricked out sequences than you'd expect, I liked how they didn't just go braindead with endless shoulderblocks and no selling like Japanese heavyweight wrestling often does. I normally dislike the superkick to kneeling opponent but Oribe was hitting them more like thrust kicks and almost taking Taniguchis head off. Good shit.

Mutoha Customer Reviews #2

 Crusher Takahashi vs. Diablo, Mutoha 2018/4/21

Mutoha normally showcases throwback technical matches, this however was a throwback to the brawls of old, with Crusher Takahashi doing a full on Terry Funk impression, punch combo and everything. Diablo is fun as a guy with a basic toolset of hitting good looking throat thrusts and beating on you with a chain, and this was just a fun little brawl between two old guys punching each other and bleeding in a bar. They briefly go outside to fight in the street, with Crusher making sure to leave a bloodstain on a pipe and taking a bump onto the concrete which was pretty sick for such an old guy. Last few minutes were really good with Crusher hitting awesome punches, teasing a Calf Branding etc. and some cool work around Diablos rope strangulation spot which is a different type of nearfall.

Hiroshi Watanabe & Yasushi Sato & Shigeo Kato vs. Masamune & Hideya Iso & Taro Yamada (Unicorn Style 12/24/2018)

This was pretty phenomenal. Unicorn Style means that you get a 1 vs. 1 pairing for the first fall, then a 2 vs. 2, and if it’s 1:1 after that a 3 vs. 3 pairing for the third fall. Apparently the pairings are decided at random right before the match so there’s no rehearsing and every match has to be done on the spot. I have no idea if that’s true, but everything looked like it was improvised right there, old school style. Running a 60 minute match without any rehearsed sequences or planning is pretty damn radical to do, even more so in 2018.

First match is Watanabe vs. Yamada and it’s really great. Yamadas unorthodox attacks ruled and the matwork was some of the best you’ll ever see in a Japanese non-shootstyle match. Just a ridiculously fun mix of Yamadas llave style and Watanabes persistant old school grappling, built around cool indian deathlocks, leg stretches and pin attempts. Yamada found himself outclassed by Watanabes technical skill, so resorted to all kinds of sneaky moves such a as tying Watanabes leg up in the ropes in painful looking fashion. Match keeps building in nice fashion until Yamada started out bigger bomps while keeping it technical, such as a curb stomp and a big leg breaker where he just dropped Watanabe in a nasty way on his knees. There was a great sequence building to a Robinson backbreaker, and the finish was done super well. Extremely impressive stuff.

The subsequent matchups were really good, too. Sato and Kato started using lots of rough tactics while keeping things mat based, so you would see a guy get taken down with an armlock and then get choked with a shin across the throat etc. Katos technical ratboy style is quite fun. Sato vs. Masamune was a pretty great match up, felt like two guys with excellent legit credentials squaring off and proving their pride. Masamune looks always really good when he does technical stuff, it’s kind of a shame he mostly works as a rudo. Sato was probably the best guy in the second half of the match, hitting the mat, working his awesome Russian Leg Sweep and Cobra Clutch spots, later throwing a great punch combo etc. His suplex comeback ruled, too. Iso was really fun here as a guy just torquing people with armbars. The segment where he was shredding Satos shoulder only to get caught in a unique cradle was great. The third fall amped up the pace after the more deliberate technical stuff of the first 2 and everybody got to shine. Super enjoyable and rewatchable match, the first fall was an amazing match in its own right and the rest of the match brought plenty more to the table and set up the ending. Easily 60 minutes of the best wrestling you’ll see in post-FUTEN Japan, strongly recommended if you’re a fan of MUGA, 70s All Japan and quirky indy wrestlers.