Tarzan Goto Documentation #15

 Tarzan Goto & Mr Gannosuke vs Jado & Gedo, WAR 7/7/1995 - EPIC

Molten heat for this match, you think the FMW guys must have killed someone to be this hated while scumbags Jado and Gedo are treated as gods by the WAR loyalist. The match begins hot with Goto kicking ass and punching people in the face, then it settles down into a fun segment of Jado and Gedo shining with their array of double team moves and the crowd amusingly cheering every dirty move they do. Then it gets hot again, as Jado eats a nasty surprise powerbomb, which he sells as an awkward landing on his shoulder, and Goto immediately capitalizes by attacking the shoulder. Goto is pretty great destroying a guys shoulder while acting like a scumbag. Just the way he would casually crush Jado with a big splash and then mockingly bitchslap him was amazing. The last third of the match sees Jado and Gedo getting destroyed and trying to protect each other while making desperate pin attempts. Gedo getting bloodied and then looking like the life was going out of him while Goto rained punches on his head was some great simplistic brutal pro wrestling. It was clearly inspired by the famous AJPW tag from the month before but the drama worked really well and the desperation was palpable. Great match with a ton of violence heat and drama with Goto looking like an evil monster as usual and Gedo and Jado doing a great job playing the more sympathetic bastards.

Tarzan Goto & Grigory Verichev vs Sabu & Horace Boulder, FMW 5/24/1992 - GREAT

What a certified crazy match up. The match ended up being pretty damn great too, really the kind of wild chaotic spectacle you only get in the 90s. It delivers everything you want basically being an all out brawl from the get go with a breathless pace and no time. Goto was absolutely killing Sabu here, launching tables or chairs at his head, there was tons of blood, Verichev in his gi launching dudes around with huge suplexes. Horace Hogan is perfectly fine as a big sleazy dude that will flatten the smaller guys with lariats and occasionally something odd like a stiff missile dropkick. At one point the Sheik does a run in to stab Goto in the face. Goto was great as usual both taking a big beating, bleeding, kicking ass, and coming back lariating peoples heads off. Also you get Sabu and Goto throwing punches and that's really cool. Gritty finish too.

Tarzan Goto & Shinigami vs Yuiga & Drake Morimatsu, Yuiga Produce 10/30/2004 - FUN


A match that is, thankfully, centered around Yuiga vs Tarzan Goto. Yuiga is a Kurisu trainee so she is really tough, and she looks credible going all out to try and take down the big man. Goto of course delivers a hellish bloody beatdown. Shinigami doesn't drag down the match much, and Morimatsu is fine though she does little. The story of the match is Yuiga as she engages in a bloody battle with Goto. The barbedwire boards actually make this feel like a warzone rather than a standard deathmatch and Yuigas judo throws were great. Goto delivers his usual beatdown, nothing mindblowing if you have watched him a lot but it always delivers. A GREAT match from Yuigas standpoint and a FUN entry into Tarzan Gotos resume.

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W*ING 1/2/1994

 

Crypt Keeper & Nightmare Freddy vs. Jason the Terrible & Shoji Nakamaki

This was a tornado tag and some of the best stuff I've seen from the horror creatures. That doesn't say much, but the layout was right, as Keeper & Freddy were the heels beating down on the faces, while Jason & Nakamaki were your charismatic babyfaces bleeding, being charismatic and making fun comebacks. Keeper was really spry here, doing a flip entrance to the ring and then landing huge boots to people's faces like he was Kawada or something. I feel like a hypocrite for it, but Jason is really fun to doing his Undertaker stuff and hitting absurd spin kicks.

 

Shinichi Nakano vs. The Winger

Post-SWS Nakano matches are rare as hen's teeth, which is awful because he is such an interesting worker, as his basic technical stuff looks tough as nails, and then he will stand up and kick you in the kidney. This was an extremely basic juniors match (that was half missed by the camera guy) where Winger added nothing, but was still a decent Nakano carryjob. Nakano made Winger struggle for everything, and at one point popped Winger straight in the mouth with a huge punch and then proceeded to stomp and kneedrop the back of his head as if trying to give him brain damage. Japanese sleazy unprofessionality at it's best.

 

 

Head Hunters vs. Jado & Gedo

This was pretty much a sprint and made me think the Headhunters might be one of the most underrated tag teams ever. This was not just funny sleazy pro wrestling, it was basically like a Twin Towers vs. Rockers match, except far seedier, blood-drenched and violent. Headhunters were absolutely pasting the Twins with chairshots, powerbombs and their combined FATNESS, and I loved every second of it. Meanwhile Jado/Gedo were hitting superkicks and flying around, and the Headhunters did a really good job setting themselves up for their offense and bumping around like huge bowling pins. Also, the guy operating the camera finally gets his shit together and we get a full picture of this match. The only bummer was that the camera missed a huge Headhunter dive outside the ring. Watching this grainy footage zooming in on a Headhunter rampaging about in the stands of Korakuen Hall felt kinda like a found footage monster movie. The finish - a giant Headhunter moonsault - was one of the most ridiculous spots I've ever seen as the poor little japanese guy lying in the middle of the ring basically disappeared underneath as this giant fat dude splashed into the ring like free willy. Fantastic match

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Matches from an old WAR Comm. Tape

 Genichiro Tenryu vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki & Jado & Gedo, WAR 7/28/1995

This was a 3 on 1 elimination match in a cage. Pretty insane ultra heated spectacle match where everyone does a great job. It‘s basically Jado & Gedo frantically swarming Tenryu while Fuyuki does his crazy high pitched yelling and beats him down further and it‘s awesome. Tenryu is The Rock here with the badass turned up a 100 times, getting huge reactions by looking at people and just looking like the ultimate walking tall & kicking ass babyface. I‘m a huge fan of Japanese ace figures destroying lower ranked wrestlers and Tenryu did just that to Jado & Gedo. Gedo looked great here, bleeding big, getting beaten to a pulp by Tenryu kicks and lariats, flying into the cage taking nasty bumps, jumping on Tenryu in the worst moments being a pesky annoyance, he also hit this absolutely lunatic cage dive to the floor, it really made me want to forgive him for ruining NJPW later. Fuyuki is his usual self here and acts like a prick, always coming in to stomp on Tenryus face and do his psycho screeching. Then you have Tenryu bleeding, random chaos breaking out with Tenryus crew brawling with Fuyukis underlings, plus a huge huge huge finish. Could have done with Tenryu kicking out of less moves but yeah fuck that criticism, Wrestle and Romans times 1000.

11/21/95 Korakuen Hall: Genichiro Tenryu vs. Shinichi Nakano

Only a couple moments of this were shown :( Tenryu hits an enzuigiri to Nakanos stomach that looks cool because Tenryu just does random things and makes them look cool. He also hits a kick that looks like it broke Nakanos jaw. Nakano is bleeding and taps out to the WAR Special soon.

1/23/96 Korakuen Hall: Genichiro Tenryu vs. Shinichi Nakano

Looks like it‘s the full match. Fast, brutal sprint. Tenryu beats the soul out of Nakano. Holy hell Nakano was taking kicks and punches here that would make Yuki Ishikawa wince. He bled, too, and seemed to be bleeding from the back of his head as well. Nakano barely made comebacks but he looked tough as nails even doing something as simple as shoving Tenryu. Also loved Nakano frantically avoiding the WAR Special. Gotta love Tenryu putting over Nakanos Fujiwara Armbar even though Nakano is way below him. Nakano is out of his depth but still fights for his live and punches Tenryu in the face. Awesome shit. There‘s WYF guys in jackets and Koki Kitahara looking like they want to jump into the fray. Nakano is done soon but he went down like a (very outmatched) hero. Pure ultra heated 90s magic.

FULL 6/21/1992

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 Sankigake Gantetsu vs. Super Tigrito

Gantetsu is a young, mulleted Dick Togo. Super Tigrito is probably not a luchador going by how he wrestles here, throwing kicks and working kimuras. Both guys seemed green but this went 5 minutes and they hit enough fun moves for this to get the full Japan indy opening match point. At one point Togo hit this really beautiful twisting senton where he ran up the turnbuckle. It was a fun match.

Kendo & Super Delfin & Robin Hood vs. El Engendro & Rocky Santana & Rambo

This had some unusual sloppiness to begin, but then Engendro took this huge bump to the outside and we're off to the races. Robin Hood and Kendo are so much fun, their stumpy legged athleticism is just the best, and the expert rudo team of  Engendro/Satana/Rambo making young Delfin look really good was great too. They certainly knew how to make these trios matches fun back then and not just a series of highspots. There was a lot of spice due to the rudos antics plus ref comedy and what not. Rambo hit a great looking flying clothesline at one point and you have to love that. Kendo also won the dive train with a huge body press over the top rope.

El Pantera vs. Ciclon Ramirez

I love how booking two luchadores in a singles match in Korakuen Hall is basically always a challenge to them to deliver lucha at the highest level of the artform. This had some fantastic scientific lucha matwork and tricked out armdrags to start. I think Pantera is a pretty underrated luchador and he looked really good. The second half felt a bit like they were wrestling in a vacuum - probably due to all the complicated shit they were doing - but they won the crowd back over with some huge dives which is what counts.

Shu el Guerrero & Scorpio Jr. vs. Bulldog KT & Coolie SZ

Bulldog and Coolie are Jado and Gedo. Gedo has a neon singlet, a mullet and a mustache here and he looks really pudgy. This also had the schizophrenic problem of having Jado and Gedo be the faces. They delivered some decent wrestling, though. I always love seeing Shu El Guerrero and he carries young Gedo no problem through some lucha matwork. Gedos fat boy ranas were actually great.  I don't think I've ever seen a match where Scorpio Jr. looked great but he looked fine here. Eventually Gedo turns heel on Jado for some reason and beats up Kendo. Jado eats a beatdown but actually wins the match with a rollup then gets his ass kicked by Gedo some more. It's unclear how this angle further played out since they actually won the tag titles here, but it seems Gedo won the vacant titles later that year teaming with fucking Pat Tanaka, which I'm gonna have to seek out just for the morbid curiosity of it.

Dos Caras & Gran Hamada vs. Villano IV & Villano V

This starts with the Villanos kicking a lot of ass and taking names. They were like the Miracle Violence Connection in this, except moving faster. One Villano hitting a suicide dive then chucking a chair in Hamadas face was awesome. There was also a great looking solebutt that caught Hamada in the chin. The eventual comeback from Caras and Hamada was fired up, but it looked a bit too easy. They tried to increase the intensity by doing some mask removal spots which lead to Dos Caras and Villano having to wear each others mask which is always fun, but I wanted blood or something. Actually Hamada ends up getting attacked by Gedo after the match and bleeding while garbage is thrown at the ring. It was a little weird that he would wait to do that until after the match.

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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.

WAR 4/27/1994

 Nobukazu Hirai vs. Yamato

Yamato is Tachihikari doing a face painted gimmick. Man, Hirai looks good here. Just rushing Tachihikari with big forearms and dropkicks, and even clocking him in the back of the head hard. Tachi fires back with sumo rushes and potatoeing Hirai and all is right in the world. Hirai does this cool thing where he powers out of a powerbomb attempt and weakens his own back. Later he hits a missile dropkick and can't get up because his back is messed up. And Tachihikari is kind of more effective as a goofy facepainted guy putting Iron Claws on people than as himself. I need more of this Hirai.

Koki Kitahara & Takashi Ishikawa & Ultimo Dragon & Masanobu Kurisu vs. Jado & Gedo & Ricky Fuji & Super Strong Machine (Elimination Match) - GREAT

Fun match that suffered a bit from one team being severely overpowered. There was just nobody to stand up to the violent asskicking that the Kitahara/Ishikawa/Kurisu trio can unleash. Strong Machine tried, hitting some stiff lariats and potatoes, and it was decent enough. Jado/Gedo were kinda clunky at first, but eventually settled into their rhythm when they started cutting off the ring and hitting double teams. Still, their stomp-punches don't quite do it for me in a WAR environment. Ricky Fuji was also clunky, but at least they eliminated him quickly. Ultimo Dragon was there to get his shit in. The finish was really cool with Kitahara standing up to a 3 vs. 1 match up and a hot finish between him and Machine.

 
Ashura Hara vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki

This was slow, but I still thought it bordered on nomination worthy. Two thick guys beating on eachother with lots of character selling from Hara. Fuyuki certainly was really good in 1994.

Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras vs. Chris Jericho & Ishinriki

Lucha guys did their thing here. Dos Caras looks very good, he really should've worked a WCW PPV or something. You can imagine how much offense Mascaras gave to his opponents. I could imagine better uses for Ishinriki, but Jericho looks where he belongs getting stretched by Dos Caras. Short and pretty much a complete showcase for the luchadores.

 Arashi vs. Genichiro Tenryu (Rounds)

This Arashi is Daikokubo Benkei under a mask. He was part of a stable of sumo wrestlers and squashing his way through WAR for a bit in 1994, which somehow earns him a match against Tenryu. This was two angry ex-sumos mauling each other, which is why you watch WAR handhelds. Arashi was willing to take punishment here and Tenruy was just tearing into his blubber. Arashi wailing away with his sumo palm strikes at Tenryu in the corner was great. His basic throws also looked good thanks to Arashi being a massive fat guy. The crowd actually buys Arashi as a threat, which helps a lot. Tenryu sold those beatings in a big way, and he comes back in a big way himself cracking Arashi hard in the back of the head and then just destroying him. That stretch submission was a nasty nasty move to put on such a fat guy. Nice reminder how great Tenryu was that he could get a match this fun out of a guy like Benkei, who basically had no good matches ever after this.

 Koji Kitao vs. Meng

Compelling matchup, when you consider that Kitao might blow a tantrum and Meng might rip his eye out. This was short. Both guys hitting the mat was fun, and then they move on to maul each other, so it was great. Kitao was squashing everybody in seconds, so the crowd went wild for Meng making him his bitch. Highlights include an awesome corner dropkick, and big piledriver and suplex on the big gi wearing slug. Wish Meng had went down with a little more fight but at least the finish looked nasty.

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WAR 6/30/1994 Part 2

 Hiromichi Fuyuki & Jado & Gedo vs. Chris Jericho & Brett Como & Dos Caras

This was just a 10 minute match with Jericho, Como, Jado and Gedo trying to cram in as many moves as possible. Dos Caras and Fuyuki were barely in the match and there was no real heat unlike other Fuyuki Gun matches. Jericho and Como hit this doomsday device move on Jado followed by a big gutwrench bomb and Jado completely no sold it. Jericho locked sloppy. I imagine this is the match 90s tape traders liked the most on this card. I will say that at least they got it over quickly.

Genichiro Tenryu & Koki Kitahara & Animal Hamaguchi vs. Great Sasuke & Shiryu & Masao Orihara - EPIC

This was a blast. Basically the juniors doing everything they can to annoy the heavyweights, who retaliate in pretty violent fashion. Lots of great triple teams and assist spots, all really well timed. Sasuke sumo pummeling Tenryu was really funny and he looked like the real deal bouncing around evading Tenryus offense. Hamaguchi and Kitahara were great here delivering some violent asskickings. Loved Hamaguchis elbows, headbutts and the weird stretch he broke out. So many neat moments. This was short but honestly a really unique match and totally delivered.

Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama vs. Eagle Sawai & Harley Saito

Yeah, give us a LLPW showcase match, why not! This was pretty fun and more structured than the constant back and forth you often get with joshi showcase matches. There wasn’t much depth, but I still prefer a structured match. Everyone stuck do what they do best: Kazama and Saito throwing violent kicks, Kandori busting out flash submissions, and Sawai being a big powerhouse. It’s good stuff throughout and builds to a really fun, unpredictable finishing stretch with Saito and Kandori showing off their great chemistry together. I was wary about how this being the 8^th match on a really long card but they kept me and the crowd engaged.

Chris Jericho & Brett Como & Dos Caras vs. Great Sasuke & Shiryu & Masao Orihara

Yeahh, give us a 3^rd place match in this long ass 1 night tournament too, why not! It speaks volumes about these guys that they had all wrestled about 40 minutes already, but they still keep going hard in this and pop the crowd by doing all their shit. Dug Dos Caras busting out the whacky lucha holds, and Shiryu was pretty much the MVP here having fun sequences with Jericho and Como. The match had no depth, but that would’ve been too much at this point, and there is an artform to just rolling out spots for 15 minutes, and they did it well.

Genichiro Tenryu & Koki Kitahara & Animal Hamaguchi vs. Jado & Gedo & Hiromichi Fuyuki - EPIC

Alas, the final! And this was a total blast, too. Basically Fuyuki Gun try to do their usual spiel and run into a brickwall. Tenryu and crew wouldn’t have their triple teaming shit, and Fuyuki and his goons got the tables turned on them. Mostly Hamaguchi and Kitahara potatoeing and stretching Jado and Gedo. Anytime Tenryu would come in he would kick someone in the face or chop them in the throat really hard. Fuyuki looked damn great and may have been the best guy in the match. He would constantly run in to make these really violent saves by kicking people in the face, then drop elbows, slap Tenryu, are lariat someone in the jaw. It was as if you had two Tenryus in the match! It builds to a really hot second half with Hamaguchi running wild, and Kendo Nagasaki running in to cause more chaos with a fire extinguisher. It could have ended on that interference spot Attitude Era style and it would’ve been pretty great, but then we also get Kitahara having his leg taken out and stubbornly trying to survive against the nefarious Fuyuki. Great shit, a worthy cap of to this great tournament that produced more great matches than an entire month of 2021 pro wrestling. Wrestle and Romance.

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KOKI KITAHARA DOCUMENTATION

 

WAR 6/30/1994 Part 1

 Nobukazu Hirai vs. Yuji Yasuraoka

Yasuraoka may have been the pinnacle of 90s wrestling fashion. He wasn’t at his most extravagant here, but looked like a total gangster coming In with his mullet, baggy pants, martial arts belt and shoes.This was a basic opening match upgraded to WAR-appropriate level of violence with both guys really cracking each other when throwing hands and trying to rip each other in half with half crabs. Starts a bit slow but gets going good with Yasuraoka busting out his cool high spots and Hirai trying to crack his jaw with some mean elbows. Also, because it was the 90s, when they do moves they do cool moves like flying back elbows or sidewalk slams, and execute them with real thud. Hirai may have been at this best as a WAR opening match guy potatoeing his fellows and hitting big elbow drops, and he even wins this match with a really cool huracanrana into a neck crank. Very satisfying.

Hiromichi Fuyuki & Jado & Gedo vs. Hiroshi Itakura & Ichiro Yaguchi & Hideo Takayama

It’s nice to get a full version of that NSPW main event. And this was a pretty great match. Everyone looked good potatoeing the shit out of each other. Fuyuki was so great here punching and stomping these kickpadded wannabe shooters into oblivion, at one point even doing a Terry Funk combo, and as usual there were numerous cool cut offs and double teams from Fuyuki-Gun. Yaguchi was doing a sambo gimmick here, and he is a lot better as a dimestore Volk Han with cool kicks than as a shitty facepainted brawler. At one point he just ragdolled Gedo with a cool wrist throw and that was probably the coolest thing he ever did. Itakura was cool here working fast paced junior sequences with Jado and Gedo, and Hido was there to kick, bleed and get the life beaten out of him. Miss when wrestling was simple and violent.

Dos Caras & Bret Como & Chris Jericho vs. Ashura Hara & Arashi (Benkei) & Super Strong Machine

Now this is a WAR 6-man, baby. And… this went the absurd length of 30(!!!) minutes! It ended up not being a bad match, too! Dos Caras was great here, being pretty much a highspot machine and doing lots of amusing shtick to fill the time, such as challenging Arashi to a posing contest, and trying to unmask everybody else. He was the only on his team to hit a dive! Como and Jericho are more interesting thumbling with some fat sumos than doing their regular junior stuff, and Hara potatoeing them was amusing. And the Arashi sections manage to not stink, even though that guy couldn’t do anything besides some sumo pummeling at this point. After the time runs out Team Caras is awarded the victory. Talk about going to lengths to have Hara and his mates not drop a pinfall.

Great Sasuke, Masao Orihara & Shiryu v Koji Ishinriki, Masanobu Kurisu & Takashi Ishikawa

Man, every match on this card is a main event. This was pretty great too. It was basically a straight WAR match that saw Kurisu and Ishikawa potatoeing guys while the junior side saved their highspots for later, no trained monkey show here. Loved the Kurisu/Shiryu opening segment which saw Kurisu meeting Shiryus lucharesu tendencies by hitting a rope walk armdrag, and also Kurisu stomping and chairing Shiryu really hard. Ishikawa may have been even more vicious as he was kicking Oriharas head like a football. Orihara looked pretty great here (rocking an ultra spaced out 90s look too), and the crowd was insanely hyped for Sasuke, even though he did very little in the match. Ishinriki was wearing a Jason Vorhees mask in this for some reason and basically only in the match to eat the pin while Kurisu did the bulk of the work headbutting guys into oblivion. Finish was great with Sasuke, Orihara and Shiryu hitting a damn triple missile dropkick on Ishinriki before Ishinriki powerbombs Sasuke only for the actual legal man, Orihara to roll him up.

Genichiro Tenryu & Koki Kitahara & Animal Hamaguchi vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Ryo Miyake & Kishin Kawabata - GREAT

Well, it’s a bunch of beefy dudes potatoeing each other. Almost like this is WAR or something. This was one of the most one sided matches so far as Kitahara and Hamaguchi just mercilessly potatoed Miyake and Kawabata. I think both Miyake and Kawabata got in like a combined 5 offensive moves in this match. Kawabatas piece of offense was a really nice dropkick that caught Tenryu in the mouth, and Miyakes was a pretty pathetic looking dropkick cause Miyake sucks. Other than that, they were there to get kicked in the face and elbowed in the throat by Kitahara and Hamaguchi. Kitahara looked like a killing machine, just killing these poor guys, and Hamaguchi dropped some hard elbows and samoan drops. The match built to a Tenryu/Nagasaki face off, and while it was pretty brief it was cool with Nagasaki smashing Tenryu in the face with chairs. Every match on this card is overdelivering like mad and this was also really cool considering this could’ve been a nothing squash.

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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. 

THE LIBRARY

IWA Japan 8/8/1997

Keizo Matsuda vs. Keisuke Yamada

Keisuke Yamada comes in with a shaved head. Maybe this match was to apologize for their weirdly blundered main event 2 months before? This match was a lot better though and a great opener. Started fun with some tight grappling before both guys start smacking the shit out of each other. Yamada was certainly starting to look really good at this point. Although they clipped a 19 minute match in half, but what we got was really fun.

Yuji Kito vs. Hidetomo Egawa

Great 7 minute match of two black trunks rookies slugging the hell out of each other. Really not holding back on their slaps and elbows, both guys uncorking some big suplexes. Egawa looks like the real deal here and I'm sad he disappeared early. Kito is non-descript but he hits back and gets dropped on his head with the best of them. Finish was great as Kito hits a big knee drop to Egawas spine, Egawa makes the rope on the boston crab attempt but Kito just pulls back and nearly bends him in half.

The Great Takeru & Tortuga vs. Hiroyoshi Kotsubo & Kamikaze

They pretty much clipped this down to the highspots, which I'm okay with, since Kotsubo is useless. Kamikaze looked good here hitting an awesome tubby guy asai moonsault, Takeru didn't embarass himself, and Tortuga may have been the funnest guy in the match. He hit a cool springboard back senton (that Kotsubo completely failed to catch), some nice flying clotheslines and a great splash that looked more hurty than anything sloppy ass Takeru hit.

Akinori Tsukioka vs. Masao Orihara 

Great start to this as Orihara kicks Tsukioka in the face hard before going Steve Austin on him with chairs. Unfortunately a video glitch happens and the rest of the match remains a mystery. Shame shame shame, I hope Samurai TV will reair this card in the next 40 years because this was looking great.

 
CULT HEROINE MAJOR CHALLENGE: Emi Motokawa vs. Aja Kong

Half of this was also eaten up by that glitch. We do get to see Motokawa getting some token nearfalls before Kong crushes her with neck spiking suplexes and a big splash. Too bad because I as looking forward to this.

BRAND NEW HERO BIG CHALLENGE: Takeshi Sato vs. Kodo Fuyuki

Man, I could watch Fuyuki do high pitched yelling and beating the crud off of a sucker all day long. Really fun match with Sato hitting hard kicks from odd angles and Fuyuki just creaming him.

Jado & Gedo vs. The Black Hearts

It's the Black Hearts!! The masked guys did okay, but on a card where every match has been stiff and exciting so far this really didn't stand up to the level. It just kind of went along, and while Jado and Gedo probably got a kick out of working a pair of gaijins they deserved more exciting opponents.

Elimination Match, Super Extreme Monster Rumble: The Great Kabuki & Benkei Daikokubo & Katsumi Hirano vs. King Kong Bundy & Leatherface & Freddy Krueger

This was a fun gimmick where the team members come into the match after a certain time. This needed a bit less guys leaning onto eachother doing choking and more crazy brawling and blood, although I did love King Kong Bundy who was super fired up. He even picked up the win with an Argentine Hold on poor useless Hirano. That was about the most memorable thing to happen in this match. IWA Japan was in kind of a weird state at this point as the undercard matches are always more fun than the main events, but I'm sure they'll get out of the rut as soon as they figure out  Hirano and Benkei are useless.

THE LIBRARY

IWA Japan CRAZY CIRCUS & AGGRESSIVE WARRIORS

 6/25/1997

Tortuga vs. Yuji Kito

 Kito debuts with the Yuki Ishikawa wrestling shoes and white socks look. This was decent and mostly the turtle doing his thing. Tortuga hit some nice kicks. The referee also continues to amuse by doing a Tiger Feint Kick and a very pretty flying headscissor.

Emi Motokawa vs. Sachie Nishibori

Motokawa gives Nishibori the business with stiff dropkicks and thrust kicks. This was clipped down and made to look pretty much like a Motokawa squash although Nishibori hits one smooth rana.

The Great Takeru & Akinori Tsukioka vs. Masao Orihara & Hidetomo Egawa 

Another clipped match mostly narrowing it down to their highspots. These guys have cool highspots though, especially enjoy Tsukiokas Cancun Tornado. The best spot was Tsukioka going for a diving headbutt only to land face first on Oriharas outstretched legs. Egawa always looks impressive in these matches for a guy with very little experience.

Benkei Daikokubo & Katsumi Hirano vs. Takeshi Sato & Kamikaze

This was clipped down to almost nothing and I'm completely fine with that. Benkei  and Hirano blow.

Leatherface vs. Freddy Krueger

Freddy Krueger debuts, along with the mysterious whip-carrying lady! They engage in some baffling scientific wrestling to start with Leatherface hitting a Dragon Screw on Freddy. This doesn't last long as the match is taken to outside the ring with some rather standard brawling before Krueger wins the match in rather bafflingly easy fashion. Well, this wasn't exactly an epic clash of legendary horror monsters.

The Great Kabuki & Tommy Rich & Terry Gordy vs. Kodo Fuyuki & Jado & Gedo

I would have liked to see more of this. The Kabuki/Rich/Gordy team is super lumpy and old, but Rich still looks spry here. He throws some nice punches, bleeds big and even flings himself over the top rope. He was also wearing these really amazing colorful tights. The only thing we saw Gordy do in this was hit a stiff lariat. And Fuyuki Gun is Fuyuki Gun. They really brought in these guys just to clip the match down to 4 minutes!?

Keizo Matsuda vs. Keisuke Yamada 

Bit of a weird choice for a main event, but these guys were payrolling everyone else, so I guess they get to play big time. Matsuda is questionable but Yamada is really good, and this had some nice stiff exchanges and big bumps for a couple green guys. Matsuda wins with an avalanche spinebuster and that kind of rules, although it seemed Yamada was shoot KO'd taking the bump. The audience was certainly baffled with this being over after a mere 8 minutes.

They also showed highlights of the following on this TV episode:

7/5

Keisuke Yamada & Akinori Tsukioka vs. Masao Orihara & Hidetomo Egawa
Leatherface & Freddy Krueger vs. Benkei Daikokubo & Katsumi Hirano
The Great Kabuki & Keizo Matsuda & The Great Takeru vs. Kodo Fuyuki & Jado & Gedo

7/6

Keisuke Yamada vs. Yuji Kito

Emi Motokawa vs. Sachie Nishibori

Benkei Daikokubo vs. Dr. Luther

The Great Kabuki & Keizo Matsuda vs. Kodo Fuyuki & Gedo 

These were mostly wayyy to clipped down to assess, although Fuyuki Gun once again looked very good in their matches with all their cool cut off spots. Great Takeru blew stuff even in the clips.

THE LIBRARY

IWA Japan 3/3/1997

Emi Motokawa vs. Mima Shimoda

Rookie vs. Veteran match that exceeded expectations, considering it could’ve been just a worthless squash. But they actually managed to construct a logical match that was highly entertaining. I watched a ton of shitty Shimoda matches in ARSION, but this was a nice reminder that she was really good at one point. She really gives Motokawa the business here booting her in the face and waffling her with chairs. Motokawa looks spunky and gets a big rub going 15 minutes against Shimoda in a match with hardly any let down.

Metal Face & Katsumi Hirano vs. Crusher Takahashi & Shigeo Okamura

Metal Face is just a skinnier version of Leatherface with some tinfoil on his mask. Was he a young Japanese guy, or just a boy from the States getting a small break in Japan? His wrestling was quite harmless and un-serial killer like. Then again, he was no Leatherface. He did leapfrogs and powerslams and dropkicks and what not. This was perfectly average wrestling, which only went too long at 16 minutes length. 3 out of 4 of these guys really don’t have the kind of offense needed to make such a long match worthwhile, and even Crusher Takahashi can’t salvage a match by his own when he’s tangling with the likes of Metal Face and Katsumi Hirano.

Tortuga vs. Akihiko Masuda

This was clipped down and almost exactly like their previous match. The ref hit a suicide dive. Masuda doesn’t hit any stiff kicks, making himself even less interesting. He really needed to become the Great Takeru at this point and just be mediocre with a mask instead.

Akinori Tsukioka vs. Onryo

Another very clipped down match. Tsukioka tries hard to make this good, suplexing Onryo into chairs to begin and then hitting a swank Moonsault from the bleachers. Onryo however may have been at his worst here. He blew several spots including the finish, and he is just so awkward when controlling the match. To make things worse he did such a bad dust throwing spot the crowd started laughing.

Jun Kikawada vs. Chotaro Kamoi (Rounds)

Jun Kikawada has kickpads and MMA gloves. Kamoi is a sleazy boxer. This was worked MMA fighter vs. Boxer, went about 1 round + 2 minute and consisted mostly of Kikawada taking down Kamoi with judo sweeps before sitting on him and lightly punching him. Really a nothing match although the finish with the towel being thrown in as Kikawada had Kamoi in the STF and Kamoi acting upset about it like fucking Chotaro Kamoi won’t give away a clean victory was amusing.

Kishin Kawabata vs. Takeshi Sato

Classic Japanese wrestling unprofessionalism, the reason why one watches these sleaze shows. Takeshi Sato comes out trying to stiff Kawabata and Kawabata just delivers him a brutal mauling. It’s just a nasty trashing from there, Sato gets his bell rung with open handed strikes and almost gets his chest crushed by Kawabatas knee drops. He mounts a small comeback hitting another potatoe kick of his own and trying a half crab, but Kawabata just muscles out and nails him with a deadlift piledriver. Short match (6 minutes) that I’m sure Sato wished was shorter.

Takashi Ishikawa & Shunme Matsuzaki vs. Keizo Matsuda & Daikokubo Benkei

This is a rough looking match up on paper, but it way over delivered. Shunme is my boy Kazuhiko Matsuzaki, and almost immediately he brains Matsuda hard with chairs. Matsuda ends up bloody and getting kicked in the face a bunch. Ishikawa had a good night, potatoeing people like it’s 1992 again. Matsuzaki also has great looking stomps. I like how Benkei got the hot tag, then did a splash, a lariat and a boston crab and then tagged in Matsuda who was pretty beat up again, “I did all my moves, now it’s your turn”. Benkei was quite fun here though as a tough big guy absorbing punishment and hitting lariats and splashes. I loved how big of a heel reaction Ishikawa got by clocking Matsuda with a chair. In IWA Japan of all places! After the match Ishikawa and crew continue beating down on Matsuda 5 on 1 and I actually wanna see where this feud goes from here.

The Great Kabuki & Masao Orihara & Keisuke Yamada vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki & Gedo & Jado

This is an awesome looking match up on paper, and it really delivered on it’s promise. The Fuyuki & underlings trio really is one of the most consistently entertaining acts of the 90s in their scummy evilness. And Orihara is a sleazy treasure in this match, flying in and out of the scenery, having heated exchanges with Gedo etc. Kabuki is also awesome just tagging in, hitting awesome punches and superkicks and spraying mist. The juicy part is the heat segment on Yamada, which is really well executed and also really bloody. There was also an unusual intrusion when Yamada’s sister(?) tried to save her brother from Fuyukis nefarious tactics and Fuyuki shakes the shit out of her, it was totally unexpected an really underlines Fuyukis scummyness. Yamada survives a ton of punishment in this, almost too much, but then again he was bankrolling everyone and putting all these awessome IWA Japan shows together, so I guess I am fine with it, and the finish is a good one.

 

THE LIBRARY

NSPW 9/24/1994

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

NSPW (or maybe: NFPW) was a shootstyle indy that went for serious fighting ala UWFi. Now that's something you don't see everyday. Actually, TV Tropes of all places has a bit of info on this, describing it as "regional UWF". Now, how cool is that? The japanese wiki says the promotion folded after all the fighters got their asses kicked in Shooto, and we mourn the loss of an obscure micro-shootstyle indy. But at least, we still have this tape.

Hiroshi Osuma vs. Katsumi Hirano

Yukimasa Yokota vs. Shingo Shigeta

Takashi Hara vs. Masamitsu Kochi

Yoshiro Ito vs. Keisuke Yamada

Koichiro Kimura vs. Fumio Akiyama

Ricky Fuyuki/Jado/Gedo vs. Hiroshi Itakura/Hideo Takayama/Ichiro Yaguchi

 

Most of the fights were too clipped up to be assessed, but the fighters looked polished and worked plenty stiff, with Shigeta taking a pretty brutal beating in the second match but refusing to give up. Osuma vs. Hirano was a boxer vs. Wrestler match that was actually pretty good, which is a rare accomplishment. I assume most of these guys are from SAW given that Koichiro Kimura is also on this card, but that's pure speculation as I can't find any info at all on this fed.

Ito vs. Yamada was shown in full and was a pretty cool little clash, like a poor man's Vader/Tamura. Lots of potatoe shots, and Ito, who could still move well at this point, was slamming the fuck out of Yamada with pro style powerbombs and suplexes. Yamada is the future Black Buffalo (of all people) and had some cool judo throws on Ito's roided ass. Yamada looked the most talented of anyone on the card and it feels like a waste that he went on to do garbage wrestling for the rest of the 90s. 

Fumio Akiyama seemed to be embarassing himself in the semi main event. Not sure what was up with that.

The main event was a typical Fuyuki/Jado/Gedo affair where they beat the shit out of the NSPW guys, bloodying and triple teaming them and waffling them with chairs. The NSPW all had kickpads (future face painted garbage brawler Yaguchi was doing a sambo gimmick at this point) and liked to kick hard, the future Badboy HIDO also doing a kickboxer gimmick, Itakura had a really nice dive aswell, but it seems most of their offense was clipped out which is a weird decision. They just got destroyed and the Fuyuki trio hit all their huge triple team moves including a powerbomb off the top and a huge assisted butt drop from Fuyuki. Fun stuff and Fuyuki is such a bastard in the match.

THE LIBRARY

Koki Kitahara Documentation #4

 Koki Kitahara & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Jado & Gedo, WAR 12/8/1995 - GREAT

The kind of stuff that made WAR undercards so awesome. Kitahara is a walking terror in this, just treating Jado & Gedo like garbage. They don't even do anything in particular to upset him, he's just out for blood from the go, throwing hellacious kicks, chairs and bitch slaps like only he can. Then, after absolutely kicking Jados ass, he turns around and spits on Gedo for no reason. Just about the most "I've contempt for these guys" performance I've seen from a wrestler. Mochizuki was all reckless kicks at this point, and he is a super fun reckless kicker with a few fancy kick variations, few wrestler do this kind of minimalistic "I am really good thing" these days but it makes for a fun match up against a pair of juniors. For a pair of cheating scummy heels, Jado & Gedo know how to play a Rock'n'Roll express. They get their ass kicked a bunch until they are able to kick someone in the balls or poke their eye. Anytime they seemed on the verge of winning, Kitahara would roll in like a wall of doom to fuck them up even more. It made the eventual finish very satisfying.

Koki Kitahara vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi, NJPW 6/25/1993 - EPIC

A nice reminder why the NJPW vs. WAR feud was one of the greatest things in history. A mix of great heat and messy out of control violence. This is really pro wrestling vale tudo, two guys trying to fuck eachother up, they would go to the ground, but there would be eye gouging there and as soon as they got up they would throw kicks and headbutts again. Kitahara was just killing Kobayashi here with brutal kicks to the eye and Kobayashi holds up his own just running into Kitahara with headbutts repeatedly. The "deathmatch" rules in this were a little weird, there doesn't seem to be pinfalls and Tiger Hattori is watching from ringside like a super libre match. At the end one guy takes a series of brutal DDTs and is choked out and after lying motionlessly for what felt like an eternity they decide to stop the match. Pretty unique and stands out as one of the most brutal match endings in the feud which covers a loooooot of ground. It definitely suits something labelled a death match.

Koki Kitahara & Shinichi Nakano vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara, SWS 2/14/1992) - EPIC

Tubby japanese guys slap the shit out of eachother for 20 minutes. Love this because it's a really good example of how to build a lengthy match around a handful of strikes. Nakano and Kitahara are not over at all due to the SWS midcard being almost meaningless, but they give their all taking on these tanks and get the everliving crap kicked out of them.  You can tell why both these guys said "Fuck it, I'm starting my own promotion" after the nasty asskicking they receive here. Hara & Tenryu deserve some credit for selling a good deal for these middleweights while outgunning them completely. Lots of neat spots and there are some good examples on how to make basic strikes interesting by SELLING. See: Tenryu getting caught in the ear by an enzuigiri or selling Nakanos corner dropkick. Hara is also really good at taking kicks to various body parts and refusing to bump. By the end Kitahara and Nakano are basically beaten half to death. There is one great sequence where Nakano is giving everything he has hitting several dropkicks and enzuigiris only to be forced to tag back in and run on empty. Tenryu just powerbombing him is an example of no selling that works because it was done in context of the match with a set up and purpose. Kitaharas leg selling was also cool and added some direction. This is a rare match where one side never comes close to winning but still ends up being great in my book.

KOKI KITAHARA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST

IWA Japan 2/8/1997

 Tortuga vs. Akihiko Masuda

Akihiko Masuda is the future Great Takeru. He wasn’t much more exciting here than as Great Takeru, although he was able to string some decent move sequences together including a pretty nutty double jump spaceman dive. This was a perfectly acceptable lucharesu opener. Could’ve been a little shorter since these guys don’t have enough material yet, but Tortuga is my boy, and I always enjoy him no matter what.

Hiroyoshi Kotsubo vs. Takeshi Sato

Fun 7 minute BattlARTS-style match. Kotsubo can be pretty bad but he was fine here, there were some heated moments where they slapped the shit out of each other. Unfortunately Sato blows his springboard move and Kotsubo just finishes him. Could’ve been better, although I ended up happy.

Akinori Tsukioka vs. The Wolf

It’s the motherfucking Wolf. A kickpaddded WYF undercarder with very little matches on tape. This was the funnest of the undercard junior matches so far, just two guys with a cool variety of strikes pasting each other. Tsukioka was in his Onryo-getup again and he wipes The Wolf out with a big dive. The Wolf is a complete random but he had few cool kicks and nice suplexes. You know indy wrestling was good then when every other guy was some esoteric semi-shootstylist.

Leatherface vs. Kishin Kawabata

I was surprised to see Kawabata looking energetic as he went to beat on Leatherface to start this, but then he reminded me what a load he usually is by immediately following up with a chinlock. This was low tier houseshow stuff. I am giving Leatherface the benefit of the doubt as he was doing double duty on this card.

Bison Kimura & Emi Motokawa vs. Esther Moreno & Alda Moreno

This was a match where the ladies were more athletic than all the men on the card. The Morenos made this fun with their athletic lucha stuff and Motokawa had a big asskicker in Bison Kimura for a partner. It was kind of a get your shit-in match as opposed to the underdog stories Motokawa usually works, but you can do worse than this.

Hiromichi Fuyuki & Jado & Gedo vs. Daikokubo Benkei & Leatherface & Katsumi Hirano

There were some shitty wrestlers in this match, but you have to be deaf, blind and lame to have a bad match against Fuyuku Gun. Watching a lot of Fuyuki Gun stuff, I have to wonder if they are among the most underrated trios in wrestling. Sure they do the same stuff in every match, that is eating up their opponents with foul tactics and fun offense in between comical amounts of high pitched Fuyuki yelling, but it always provides an entertaining match. In this they waffle the shit out of Hirano and Benkei with chairs thrust kicks and lariats and good times were had. Leatherface did almost nothing in the match but he hit a nice dropkick at one point which was more impressive than about anything Benkei and Hirano could do.

Great Kabuki & Keizo Matsuda vs. Takashi Ishikawa & Shigeo Okumura (Double Chain Match)

I wanted this to be better, but in the end it was a bit too much choking with the chain and too little beating the shit out of each other. There are some brief awesome moments where Kabuki is bleeding and throwing punches, but far too little in a mud of weak brawling. The post-match brawl where Keisuke Yamada runs in on crutches hopping around on one leg to beat on people while Kabuki was smashing dudes with the crutch was much better than the match itself.