80s AJW

 Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori vs Mika Komatsu & Kanako Nagatomo AJW 6/21/1986

Crazy match that was over 30 minutes of straight wrestling with a ton of intensity and hard-fought chew-em-up style matwork. Really unique from a modern perspective. The match followed a simple formula, they would alternate between matwork and explosive standing moves, but the intensity at which they fought in and out of the holds was great. In terms of moves there was nothing mindblowing happening, but its 80s AJW so it feels somewhat familiar but different, and the real selling point is the struggle. They sold the match like a sporting contest that would occasionally come to a boiling point. The pinfall attempts and the struggle over getting out of them was fantastic – really nailed that amateur wrestling-like feeling of when a guy feels he is about to get rolled in his shoulders and gets into that “oh shit” zone to desperately scramble out. I really liked Kanako Nagatomo here, she hit these cool Zidane headbutts and knew how to work some mean indian deathlocks. Ogura & Nagahori would throw these wild kicks and solebutts, often out of nowhere, and they weren’t afraid to get chippy. At one point you had Komatsu and I think Nagahori going into this almost Lawler/Mantell style strike exchange on their knees with both of them throwing open hands. So the chippiness was great, the matwork was great, and the flying moves were cool (at one point one of them hit this awesome jumping victory roll that looked like the most beautiful flash pin ever). The match didn’t have a ton of limb selling or build to the transitions but they sold the whole thing as an intense sporting contest where either team could take the lead at the drop of a hat, so I didn’t care. Even something like a takedown into an ankle lock felt important, and the way they would elaborate on that really drives the point home. Matches like this that eschew traditional US style ring psychology but still work in their own way are really interesting to me. Really unique, great match that everyone should give a shot.

Chigusa Nagayo vs Lioness Asuka, AJW 6/13/1987

The match begins with a jump start. In the first minute, there's a suplex on the floor and then Lioness misses a crazy dive. Nagayo goes for the kill locking in a sharpshooter, but Lioness scrambles for the ropes. Lioness comes back with a shootstyle armbar and attacking Chigusas arm for a bit. Is Lioness gonna work the arm? No, they reset to a neutral position, working a test of strength before Chigusa takes over. After that the match becomes more focussed on grinding matwork with occasional outbursts of Lioness' kicks, with Chigusa always grinding her back down with headlocks etc. A flick is switched when a tombstone attempt is reversed and they work a 50/50 nearfall run with a lot of big moves. Lioness giant swing as a nearfall is a really cool spot, Chigusas much less energetic version less so.

A lot of cool wrestling on display here with both of them hitting some cool fireman carrys and suplexes. There was considerable struggle and a palpable sense of "grind her down". The UWF influence was really cool. Certainly made me wish this style would come back and be brought to its completion. This match felt a little random to be truely gripping for me but it was cool to watch.

Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs Lola Gonzalez & La Galactica, AJW 10/6/1984

Another really wild match from this era. What makes this stand out is the rudo tour de force from Gonzalez and Galactica. They both did a great job both bumping for their opponents and beating the hell out of them. Gonzalez especially stood out in a major way and I was surprised this match isn't more famous considering she doesn't exactly have a ton of matches on tape. Galactica was a bit more subdued but she got some good licks in. At one point she had this really awesome sugar hold on Chigusa tearing up her leg. Also, Dump Matsumoto and her gang is at ringside and she interfers liberally in this match, at one point jumping straight in the ring to beat on people with an iron rod. If you don't like liberal interferences you'll probably dislike this but I didn't mind it because the action still stayed in the ring and it was all part of the beatdown. In a way mid 80s AJW feels like this corrupt lawless land where all the referees are crooked and you might get stabbed by Dump Matsumoto at the drop of a hat. Of course the Crush Gals are generating molten heat by just existing in this match. There's a minute long Chigusa chant as she's exchanging basic knucklelocks. Any wrestler alive today would give their toe for these kind of reactions. They were super in the moment and feeding off the energy. Some things they did looked a little sloppy or blown, with Chigusas kicks not looking very good yet, and the comebacks felt pretty random (e.g. Chigusa gets her leg worked over and comes back just hitting a random tombstone piledriver), but it doesn't really matter when you have a pair of babyfaces this passionate. The escalating violence towards the end was really great with Asuka bleeding in a really grizzly way, and Gonzalez also getting bloodied with a bleeding Asuka hitting an amazing late match giant swing, fans pelting the ring with garbage in protest to the over the top heel antics etc. Both looked like they wanted to make the cover of an Apter mag. Great spectacle with the atmosphere being off the charts.

EMLL in 1990 #7 - 2/16/1990

Lola Gonzalez/Irma Gonzalez/Irma Aguilar vs. Martha Villalobos/Rossy Moreno/La Diabolica (Arena Coliseo, 2/16/1990)

Fun match from the ladies. Almost nobody ever talks about Mexican womens wrestling but these ladies could go. Match had an extensive opening fall with lots of fun matwork which is always nice to see, lots of stooging and fun multiperson spots. Pretty much all you want from a lucha trios. The biggest standout in the match was Martha Villalobos, who does not look very athletic but she can wrestle and stooge in fun ways, and also has that sense of comedic timing and swagger you want from the standout of a heel trio.

Ringo & Cachorro Mendoza/Kung Fu vs. Hijo de Gladiador/El Egipcio/Emilio Charles Jr. (Arena Coliseo, 2/16/1990)

A well rounded trios. Lord knows all is right in the world when everybody just gets down and does their thing in a trios. Even with not many stars in the lineup, everyone here is at minimum a good wrestler, and everybody had a cool moment. You get a long first fall that really allows you to the get into the match up, a quick and mean asskicking from the rudos, and a well executed finish that felt unpredictable. The star of the match was Emilio Charles Jr., he went from having some fun mat exchanges with Ringo Mendoza to absolutely beating the dogshit out of Kung Fu. His knee strikes and punches looked like something out of PRIDE and made me wonder if this would kick off a blood feud between him and that goofy martial artist. Kung Fu was in the spotlight a lot, meaning that the rudos stooged a lot for his stuff. While he is sort of goofy, him crane kicking people in the face and throwing fast punch combos is something different. I also like Ringo Mendoza, he is not super spectacular, but every promotion needs a stumpy legged unassuming old man technician who can grapple and bust out a neat move here and there. Hijo de Gladiador had some mean punches to the midsection and Egipcio did good stooging and at one point bitchslapped a Mendoza off his feet. Sometimes that’s all you need to do. They did not go all out because lord this card also has a hair match and a title match, but for undercard action this stuff well and truly serves its purpose.

Comando Ruso vs. Remo Banda

For a hair match this was lacking a bit in intensity. They got the formula right, but didn't really deliver the asskicking to kick it up to the next level. Comando Ruso kind of looked like he was about to check his watch in between hitting Remo. The first two falls were well done but rather short and without surprises. The last fall was much bigger with Banda bumping really big and some huge dives. The best part when both guys started fighting over a superplex and traded punches. They really needed to trade more punches like that. Comando started Remo when he was down and ended up disqualified, which has to be one of the lamest ways to lose your hair. Not horrible but not really worth going out of your way to see, proving that listless big matches with quick opening falls have been a thing in lucha libre for a long time.

Brazos vs. Ulises/Pierroth Jr/Gran Markus Jr.

A title match that delivers. All the falls were pretty short but they went hard delivering everything you want. Matwork, fast exchanges and Brazo de Plata bringing that extra WHOMP that he is so good at. For a bunch of tubby dudes with short legs the Brazos are really damn good wrestlers, really fast moving through intricate exchanges, really good snap on their armdrags and bumps that puts many skinnier wrestlers to shame. The rudo team played fair and they were allowed to look good showcasing their wrestling ability. Brazo de Plata was the man who got the match to the next level, as he really punctuated every fast, slick exchange with his behemoth wrestling style. There is such a real edge to what he does, like he will go for an amateur ride and just flatten his opponent with his sheer size, at one point he grabbed the almost equally massive Markus Jr. and throw him effortlessly with a belly to belly suplex that was awe inspiring. His kip ups and cartwheels were on point and bumped and flew with abandon. It was probably his physical prime and he went hard. There's dive train here that's absolutely spectacular, and I always love the star. I was expecting more intensity considering these teams had some quite heated face offs previously, but what we got was a really cool slice of unique wrestling.

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