Tarzan Goto Documentation #11

 Tarzan Goto vs. Mr. Gannosuke, FMW 6/28/1994 - EPIC

When Gannosuke trained in the FMW dojo under Goto, he was pegged as the #1 student over Hayabusa. This kinda match gives you an idea of what position that put Gannosuke in as he takes a murderous assbeating from Goto. Starts fun enough with Goto doing some chain wrestling which is always fun. You can kind of tell a faint influence of Baba in Gotos style of grappling as positioning and setting up bigger moves are important when he‘s rolling and out of armlocks, and he is really good at sneaking in headbutts and punches between the holds that hit hard. Naturally the match soon turns into a gruesome beatdown with Goto bloodying Gannosuke, hitting him in the face with the wooden hammer and just generally dropping him with nastier and nastier moves. It was the kind of beatdown that felt like it lasted around 10 minutes, it starts pretty violent and then it just keeps escalating until it looks like Goto is dragging a corpse around the ring. Gannosuke got the soul beaten out of him but it was kind of awesome how fired up the crowd got when he showed he still had a little life in him as Goto tried slapping his limp body back to consciousness. And the Gannosuke Clutch is always an awesome nearfall especially in 1994.

Tarzan Goto vs. Buh Buh Ray Dudley, IWA Japan 8/8/1996 - FUN

Two tubby guys wailing on each other in front of a surprisingly hot crowd. This was one of Bubuhs few Japan experiences and he was there to bring it. He hits some impressive splashes, big suicide dive and plants himself through a chair while acting like a simpleton. And Goto is not afraid to beat on a fool with headbutts to the face and some jaw cracking lariats. The brainbuster to big Buh Buh was sickening, totally spicked him. Really fun under 5 minute match.

Tarzan Goto vs. Perry Saturn & John Kronus, IWA Japan 8/10/1996 - FUN

Eliminators have a rep for their work not aging well, but they do a fun job swarming Goto here and not letting up. Yes, there were some crappy punches, but I really liked how the just started throwing chairs at Goto at one point. Pretty unusual Goto performance as he was mostly eating offense and taking big bumps, but he looks great doing that stuff. And the few comebacks he has are great and feel like a barfight as he just starts wailing on people with headbutts and chairs, exactly what you would do if you were outnumbered in a fight. Eliminators are a workrate team but they knew how to work with some necessary edge (e.g. hitting a mean doomsday device where Goto was brained hard with a chair). I kind of expected Goto to just start destroying them so the finish surprised me a bit but it was logical.

Tarzan Goto Documentation Project

Distillated HEAT

 Dean Malenko vs. Joe Legend, WWF 8/8/2000

This was when they tried to give Malenko some colour by giving him a ladys man gimmick. So he struts out with two hot ladies to grapple with Just Joe. This is one of those 5 minute HEAT matches where I assume both guys agreed that they wouldn't take any bumps so they just arm lock each other a bunch and it's awesome. Really eschews a traditional match structure and they do things like awkwardly kicking each other in the shoulder and just aggressively going for arm attacks. It was stuff you'd expect in an Otani match. Joe works the DOUBLE CHICKENWING and the commentators have no idea what to make of this. Malenko goes for a backdrop and Joe counters but instead of bumping him he just goes for a hammerlock. Joe has a fun spot where goes for a superkick and gets his leg caught on the top rope. The finish is Joe goes to hit Malenko with his belt (It's a title match baby!) and Malenko pins him with Fujinami leg pin. Completely inexplicable and cool.

Essa Rios vs. Billy Fives, WWF 4/10/2000

Rios didn't go far in WWF but he was an athletic machine, probably the most spectacular wrestler in the world at that point. Billy Fives is an indy random and for some guy who's not a luchador and only had this 1 match on WWF TV he bases well for Rios stuff. Rios does all this awesome stuff including superkicking Fives hard, nice punch combo, cool powerslam and hits a hard clothesline. Lita is with Rios so she whips out her awesome apron rana followed by the insane Rios flip dive. Rios actually gives this indy random some offense and Fives makes the most of it hitting a martial arts spin kick to Rios' ribs in the corner and a nearly rib crunching frog splash. Rios with the insanely gorgeous moonsault is always great.

Perry Saturn vs. Chad Collyer, WWF 9/18/2000

Just a 3 minute match, but Saturn in syndicated matches against indy scum is guaranteed entertainment. This had the structure of an indy juniors match sandwhiched into a 3 minute slot, starting with mat work to a little heat section before Saturn gives Collyer some offense and then finishes him off. Saturns matwork looks really good, really dragging Collyer around, the heat section is good as Saturn throws Collyer around with some hurty suplex and a brutal Aja Kong style corner gutbuster, all while playing to the crowd working his valet. Collyer hits a nice German on Saturn and eats a cool Death Valley Driver.

Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Essa Rios, WWF 5/15/2000

Nobody really talks about Scotty 2 Hotty as a great worker, but with his dance moves, cool athleticism, punches and Memphis-taught understanding of how to 'rassle, I sure wish there were more Scotty 2 Hottys around and less kickpadded genericos. Really fun 5 minute match centered around the face charisma of Scotty, with Lita again whipping out her awesome rana and Rios taking huge bumps including the gigantic missed moonsault into the ring. The psychology around the WORM is fun, as Scotty hits it to the crowds delight, Rios gets up immediately and get caught in another move and pinned.

2002 MOTY Project Update #18

 

74. Perry Saturn vs. Paul London, WWE 3/9/2002

Classic inexplicably great 6 minute TV squash. Saturn must‘ve liked London because he seriously gave him a lot of offense in this. He puts a big beating on London and throws him about the ring like a grappling dummy, as if he wanted to try some moves he normally can‘t do against your typical WWF guys. Highlights include a cool tomoe noge from the bottom, nasty back elbow, booting London in the face a bunch and a cool quarter nelson neckbreaker. It was the right mix of being an offensive machine without doing too much. London makes the most of his brief offensive runs including a nice dropsault, landing a spin kick in Saturns face and planting hard on a missed SSP. Kicking out of Saturns picture perfect elbow drop was a nice moment and seemed to give the feeling that an upset might really happen.

42. Goldust & Booker T vs. Christian & Chris Jericho, WWE 12/23/2002

Most of 2002 WWE looked like Smackdown vs. Raw, but they worked an old school structure here. Everyone here was really good, but obviously Goldust was the standout. From selling, to crowd control, do hitting great punches and excellent timing. The crowd psychology was excellent with the story being Goldust trying to prove himself as not being the weak link and they got nuclear heat. Goldust looked like a million bucks. Jericho and Christian were a really good ratty heel team too, and Booker Ts stuff looked great too. Extremely worthwhile and holds up unlike a lot of the more hyped Smackdown stuff.

2002 MOTY Master List