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.
Thursday, July 25, 2024
Tarzan Goto Documentation #15
Monday, August 8, 2022
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.
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.