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.

Ricky Fuji Produce Ricky Fuji Wild Night 3/20/04

 60 Minute Ironman Match: Ricky Fuji vs. MEN's Teioh

Yes, this is the only match on the card. Just that good old high confidence indy sleaze. Teioh is the perfect Bret Hart to Fujis sleazy Michaels. They start by hitting the mat for 15 minutes or so with Teioh looking really great. It's fun to think that Teioh is such a nerd for western style matwork he'd track down shit like World of Sport tapes or random GCW TV episodes to nick mat moves from Ole Anderson, like we track down these Japan sleazy MUGA matches now. Fuji does some fun things too including busting out a neat body scissor Full Nelson Hold. I'm not sure anyone has ever praised Ricky Fuji, aside from his amazing Rockers worship act and being Ricky Fuji, but he looked like a really solid wrestler here and his act feels fresh compared to other more generic juniors. I was surprised how well they planned this match out. They went a really long time and never looked lost or like they were doing filler stuff. There are some insanely well worked Figure 4s, and while the match didn't have long term selling they made that stuff convincing and engaging. They also had other fun things, like one guy taking the lead with a flash pin and the other having to chase him for a while. Blood comes into play, and we get to see Teioh doing cool Terry Funk punch combos. Fujis punches were a bit Shaw Michaelsish (no wonder), but that was the only criticism of him. The one hiccup in the structure came at about the 45-50 minute mark where it seemed the guys had overestimated the time passed and had to do some filler moves, although a 2 count for something like a knee drop (both guys had some ridiculously great knee drops in this by the way) 49 minute into a match is a lot more interesting. The ending had great drama and you saw Fuji unloading more moves than in probably any other match of his. This was honestly better than I expected, just both guys doing a ton of cool stuff in a well structured 60 minute match.

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Assorted NJPW Handhelds

 

Koji Kanemoto vs. El Samurai, NJPW 3/17/1996

Crazy stiff match that builds to a huge finish. A nice reminder of how good the NJPW juniors could be in the 90s. Samura is fired up to begin, slapping the taste out of Kanemotos mouth before hitting a big dive. Samurai is this weird guy who is often dull but when he‘s on he‘s pretty great. He was on here working like Fit Finlay, dropping elbows across Kanemotos face, even headbutting him in the nose. Of course Kanemoto is a right fucker too and when he comes back he cracks Samurai with nasty stomps to the skull and kicks to the ribs. The whole match was pretty much all guys stubbornly sinking into submissions, not cooperating on basic moves and brutalizing each other. It builds to a pretty big crescendo, Kanemoto is slapping around Samurai, pulling him up spitting on him. He goes for a big German Suplex off the apron (you know, this was before moves like that were thrown out 10 times a month) but hits his own head weakening himself, his hatred got the better off him. Samurai in desperation mode trying to inch out a win after being beaten to a pulp was great, hell this whole thing was pretty great. Apaprently before there was only an 8 minute TV version of this available before so praise the lord for handhelds like this so we can get the full undistilled brutality.

2/3 Falls Match:  The Great Sasuke & El Samurai & Super Delfin & Gran Hamada & Norio Honaga vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Dick Togo & Men’s Teioh & & Hanzo Nakajima, NJPW 5/3/1997

That is a serious amount of raw talent in this match. No way this wouldn't be good at least, and it ended up being more than that. Mostly the heel side (Kanemoto et al) playing the numbers game and double teaming the techicos. Kanemoto and Otani also got pretty scrappy and stiff with their opponents. Double teams were cool (dug the series of elbow drops and flip sentons, and the synchronized dropkicks from Kanemoto and Otani), and there was one badass moment where Sasuke had enough of Kanemotos shit and perforated his guts with crowbar spin kicks. Also due to the rules we got more than one really good finish. Nakajima and Honaga are kind of the odd men out in this lineup of junior legends, but they do fine. Honaga even gets some very nice face reactions for his scuzzy heel tactics amid a sea of talented flyers. Great dive sequence, too.

Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kengo Kimura, NJPW 5/3/1997

Two pissed off old guys slap the fuck out of each other, how can it not be good?! These two are fired up and the crowd loved it. Awesome bit where Kimura almost KO's Koshinaka with punches. Got a bit slow and rest holdy here and there, but they pick up in a big way for the finish. Just two mad old geezers dumping each other with crazy powerbombs and suplexes. Somebody really should steal Koshinakas flying butt to the back of the neck move.

Oriental Pro 1/20/1993

 Oriental Pro 1/20/1993

1. Kazuhiko Matsuzaki vs. Ryo Miyake
2. Miguel Perez Jr. vs. The Winger
3. Yoshihiko Abe vs. Katsumi Hirano
4. Great Sasuke & TAKA Michinoku vs. Super Delfin & Terry Boy
5. Handicap: Toyonari Fujita & Hideo Takayama vs. Masahiko Takasugi
6. OPW vs. W*ING Elimination Gauntlet Match: Kazuhiko Matsuzaki & Nobutaka Araya & Hiroshi Itakura vs. Masayoshi Motegi & The Winger & W*ing Kanemura

This was another fun Oriental Pro card. You're always going to get some largely unspectacular but snug and solid pro wrestling with Oriental Pro, which is much needed these days. You had a nice 10 minute draw in the opener with enough stiff shots to keep it interesting, a nasty one sided wrestler vs. karateka squash where Abe kicks Hirano in the eye over and over and his students jump into the ring axe kicking Oriental Pro wrestlers after the match, plus a fun squash in the Takasugi handicap match where he just tears up the future Badboy Hido and Magnitude Kishiwada.

The standout matches were a) the M-Pro tag, where they worked a straight match with no shtick and basically showed off their superior athleticism and skill level and b) the main event.

The opening half of this was fascinating and made my respect for Masayoshi Motegi shoot up tenfold. Motegi came in with a bandaged shoulder. His first opponent was Kazuhiko Matsuzaki, who immediately begand attacking that shoulder which made their basic opening exchanges highly interesting. Motegis amateur moves were great and Matsuzaki looked like a mini-Hashimoto when he started throwing kicks. Motegi caught him in a surprise suplex though and quickly put him away, leading to Motegi vs. Araya being next.

Araya, who was skinny at this point, then proceeded to tear up Motegis shoulder for another solid 10 minutes, inbetween throwing him around and hitting stiff chops and clotheslines. It probably got excessive as Motegi just kept surviving, but it was fascinating to watch Motegi get out of one armbar attempt after another through bridging etc. Araya also had a bandaged lower back, and his immediate desperation selling when Motegi was able to hit a basic slam followed by a half crab was great. The spot where Araya attempted a lift and collapsed followed by Motegi going for his german suplex only for his destroyed shoulder to give out was great and the last pinfall was epic. One of the best payoffs to an injury centered matchup I've ever seen.

The weakest matchup there was Winger/Itakura, although it was pretty much the best use of Winger I can imagine as he got in a series of quick hopespots before being handily put away by Itakura, who was pretty much the ace of Oriental Pro at this point.

The last matchup was Itakura vs. Kanemura, which promised to be interesting as Kanemura was already a sick freak at this stage. It started out strong with Kanemura eating a nasty surprise savate kick and powerbomb, then he started biting and using chairs. Itakura came back bleeding and they produced a dramatic finish which such a big convoluted match deserved. Overall all the parts of the match worked by themselves and also formed a compelling whole interacting with eachother, which is why I'm nominating it as one thing.

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Indy World 5/21/1998

 The show starts with a bunch of rookie exhibition matches involving IWA Japan guys, with most matches ending in time limit draws. And then we move right on to...

Tarzan Goto vs. Chainsaw Charlie

What a matchup, and it ends up delivering exactly as it promises. Incredibly gory, violent and chaotic brawl. I am not super well versed in Terry Funks 90s output but from what I’ve seen this is easily among his greatest matches of the decade. The Chainsaw Charlie character is so fun, and Goto holds nothing back just tearing him up. I want nothing more from a brawl than two crazy characters throwing punches and sometimes guardrails at each other and taking crazy out of nowhere bumps, and this delivered that in spades. Terry throwing chairs across the arena and then getting a barbedwire board in his face was pretty damn crazy, same for the further barbedwire spots. Goto mockingly putting a spinning toe hold on Terry only to end up eating the barbedwire himself was also a really fun character spot. Then, after getting buried underneath a bunch of plunder, Goto suddenly emerged with a broken battle to carve up Terry further. I mean, the broken bottle is pretty much a regular spot in Goto matches, but it really felt like an escalating barfight move in this. Just as Tarzan decided to reprise the 1977 Funks/Arabs match and stab the shit out of Terrys arm and I was thinking the match was moving into MOTY territory, all hell broke loose with a bunch of Kai En Tai dudes running in to attack Goto on behalf of WWF. Still we gut more props thrown around, Victor Quinones getting walloped and Wally Yamaguchi taking a nasty powerbomb from Goto. Even with the non finish, this was everything you hope for and more. I’m kinda shocked this match is not legendary as it’s just incredibly bloody and also a well worked match. If it happened on a WCW PPV people would be talking about it to this day.

Masashi Aoyagi vs. Katsutoshi Niiyama

We get like 2 minutes of this and what was shown looked rather forgettable.

Gran Hamada & Ringo Mendoza & Akinori Tsukioka vs. Great Takeru & Asian Cougar & La Ning

Mendoza and Hamada are very fun additions to the indy scum juniors. Mendoza was basically working like a maestro here and just locking in cool submissions. Wish he had been in the match more, I guess he had a great match against Cougar on a ZIPANG houseshow the following night. Tsukioka was a hard worker at this point and dutifully ate all of Asian Cougars sick offense. I haven’t seen La Ning before, but he had a cool twisting dive and then a funny moment where he completely overshot on a moonsault. The match was basically a spotfest with everyone rolling out their offense, but everything made sense and looked good, so I had fun.

The Great Kabuki vs. Shinigami

How bad is Shinigami? Bad enough he couldn’t have a decent match against Kabuki. This was clipped down and still pretty bad.

Goro Tsurumi & Apollo Sugawara vs. Devil #2 & The Bulldog(?)

Devil #2 is some weird indy scum monster in a skeleton suit. He has multiple doppelgänger at ringside and sometimes they switch places by doing a thimble rig switching motion. The Bulldog is a big tough looking foreigner and actually seemed like a decent worker, but with the rest of the guys here this was never going to be anything more than a bullshit match.

Dick Togo & Shoichi Funaki & MENs Teioh vs. GEKKO & Palomino & ZAP

Classic Kai En Tai rudo performance. What made this unique was Masao Orihara in his goofy GEKKO costume doing his best to outscum them, spitting on people and kicking everyone in the balls. Palomino is Ikuto Hidaka and it was nice to see him work some cool sequences against his trainer Funaki and hit a big dive. Togo also had some cool exchanges with Orihara in this, including one where he hits this awesome spin kick. Finish was pretty great too, Orihara goes for his Spider German Suplex and Togo nails him with a dropkick while he’s in the tree of woe, then Teioh jumps on him to kick at Orihara some more while Togo hits the big senton for the easy victory. ZAP is tubby dude in a goofy costume and perfectly average. This was lacking in structure (people were just constantly punching eachother in the nuts to transition to offense) but it was a cool slice of pro wrestling.

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