Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #17

 Koki Kitahara & Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa vs Shiro Koshinaka & Masashi Aoyagi & Kengo Kimura, NJPW 11/23/1992 - EPIC

The WAR/New Japan feud is such a special occurance in wrestling history. You basically had all these guys, producing multiple excellent matches per month, all ultra heated, at an excellent pace, packed with violence and great moments. This was no exception, just +20 minutes of scrappy unpredictable chaos, guys running in and out beating on each other, throwing uncooperative strikes, getting blindsided and having he fight spill over and so on and so forth. The NJ crowd absolutely despise Kitahara in this, like they totally resent every fiber of his mulleted kick-throwing shitstirring existance, and he is pretty amazing here just bathing in the hatred, cheap shotting guys, disrespecting Aoyagi, getting his nose bloodied and almost dying in a 3-on-1 gang beatdown from the NJPW crew. Everybody in this match is amazing, though. Koshinaka not being afraid to crush peoples faces with kneedrops and punches, Kimura flying in hitting people with his awesome jumping kicks, Ishikawa trying to stomp people to death, and of course Grande Tenryu really elevating the big fight feel of the match. I also loved Aoyagi who was having scrappy violent exchanges with everyone and occasionally hitting people with his cool flying kicks, really having a GOAT "tough aging karate master going all out" performance. The ending is especially cool, as Tenryu tags in realizing he's facing Aoyagi and gets this amazing smirk, but then gets blindsided and destroyed a bunch for the crowd flipping out at Tenryu potentially being pinned by Kimura. Just amazing pro wrestling, so much fight, attrition, hatred, struggle, great timing, and to think this not in the most talked about matches from this feud is mind boggling.

Koki Kitahara & Genichiro Tenryu vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Jushin Thunder Liger, NJPW 8/3/1993 - GREAT

Another round in this great rivalry. Here we get a great 10 minute sprint. The fast paced Fujinami/Tenryu sections rule, with Tenryu immediately bloodying Fujinamis nose with a kick to the face, and Fujinami trying to destroy Tenruys leg. Once again, Kitahara was insanely hatred - just what did this particular fellow do? But he has the audacity to show up with his dopey mullet and sleazy jeans and karate kick people and that is really fitting for this kind of street fight feud. We also get to see Liger in this kind of heated bloodfeud environment which is really fun, he has some great moments including getting into a shotai battle with Tenryu, and in turn getting kicked in the face. At 9 minutes you really can't go wrong with this stuff with everyone bringing lots to the table and the general "anything can happen-"feel of these matches.

Koki Kitahara Documentation Project

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.

Tarzan Goto Documentation Project

Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #16

 

Koki Kitahara vs. BADBOY Hido, Fuyuki Army 2/19/1998 - FUN

Kitahara, in his rainbow star gi, spits at Hido as their names are announced. Hido goes for an armlock and Kitahara headbutts him right in the face. Kitahara kicks Hido in the face some more, then mockingly does the TNR dance. Kitahara then powerbombs Hido on the floor and stomps on his face again. Then Hido gets hit with the ring bell. A few more kicks to the face later and Hido is finally able to catch something and hit a dragon screw. I assume Hido gets some offence, but STV clips it out and we get more Kitahara kicking Hido in the face. Kitahara lands a spin kick that looked like it nearly shattered Hidos face. Hido kicks out of the powerbomb, but Kitahara makes him tap right away with a nasty nasty leg stretch. You‘d assume that this would set up Kitahara as a WAR invader soon to take on Fuyuki or some other bigger name, but seemingly nothing came of it. Guess it just wasn‘t Hidos night.

Koki Kitahara vs. Shiro Koshinaka, WAR 1/16/1994 - EPIC

This was such a grimy, violent fight. It was also a surprisingly smart match. They go 18 minutes, so obviously there are some holds, but they really come across as being made of pure contempt for each other when going through the motions. So you have Koshinaka really grinding his elbow in Kitaharas face, Kitahara twisting the fuck out of Koshinakas leg while in a basic leglock, and of course, both guys blindsiding each other left and right with some crazy shots. Kicks to the face, sudden headbutt to the jaw, lariat to the throat, there was no safety whatsoever. Koshinaka is impeccable in this kind of brawl. I really liked his flying ass attack which just landed on Kitaharas neck with abadon. We get Kitahara circling Koshinaka and kicking him in the face repeatedly like a shark until blood starts streaming from Koshinakas eye. Ending run had several smart spots and I thought they did a masterful job moving from Kitahara being kind of an underdog getting pushed around by Koshinaka, to Kitahara decimating Koshinaka to the point Koshinaka seemd out of it and hanging on by a thread. This didn‘t have the kind of huge visually impressive bombs you expect from a heavyweight WAR vs. New Japan clash, it was more like a grimey back alley fight as opposed to the big stadium Tenryu boxing matches, and it was really great in its own way.

Koki Kitahara Documentation Master List

RIP Tarzan Goto

Tarzan Goto & Atsushi Onita vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara, WAR 2/3/1994 - EPIC

This is the match that stole the #1 spot from the 6/3/ Misawa/Kawada match in the 1994 Japan Match of the Year awards. That should give you an idea of what kind of epic scope we are looking at for a match here. Of course, it‘s FMW vs. WAR and two of the biggest stars in all of Japan, Onita and Tenryu are involved, so you are going to have absolutely molten heat and crazy reactions for everything compared to the somewhat sterile formality of a Misawa/Kawada match, but this match is way more than just star power. It‘s a remarkably intricate match, really, and there‘s a sneaky Goto performance here as he plays second fiddle to Onita but largely carries his team. They work the early exchanges with insanely high stakes and drop of a hat momentum shifts, guys get thrown outside just to get back in immediately to not risk a brawl outside, later Tenryu immediately tags out after eating an armbreaker from Goto to avoid possible armwork etc. Goto works the early exchanges teasing Onita coming in to square off with Tenryu. When Onita finally tags in the place comes unglued, but he soon gets busted open and kicked to a bloody pulp by Tenryu and Hara. WAR guys kicking a bleeding guy in the face is tried and true greatness, and when someone as charismatic of a bleeding babyface as Onita is on the receiving end it‘s really upper echelon stuff. I really liked how Onitas hot tag seemed to come as a fluke as he just ducked a move, but Goto just immediately tags him in again as if to give the fans some more star action but Onita gets his ass kicked even more. At that point it‘s like Onita is the broken down megastar and Goto starts thinking on how to salvage his team. Tenryu gets a bit too angry at Goto breaking up a pin, rushing him which in turn leads to Goto clocking Tenryu with a chair and bloodying him. At that point the match just becomes this huge Tarzan Goto rally where he just keeps taking people out. He busts out his huge superfly splash to Hara which leads to Hara having to get taped up, later he hits his huge facebuster to Tenryu onto a table which is a fucking nasty move to take on those hard ass Japanese tables. Hara getting taped up after the splash is honestly such a neat detail, how many tag matches do you recall where a guy has to get taped up after eating a finisher to continue the match? It‘s rare but it totally makes sense and it should happen more often, and it made the second superfly splash to Tenryu so much more brutal. When Hara later grabs Gotos leg to prevent him from making another safe it‘s really this crucial moment and maybe most heated moment in the whole match, as Goto has safed Onitas ass for half the match. It‘s really an amazing match full of impeccable timing and psychology, I have to say Onitas basic DDT to Tenruy reentering the ring may have been one of the greatest transitions ever, and Tenryu was world class as usual going from megastar who‘s pained to deal with these garbage wrestling scumbags to being furious and beating the shit out of people to punch drunkenly trying to lariat and abiesigiri his way out of a really tense situation. I also really like Hara just for his crazy facial expressions and selling, he looks mad tough shrugging of Gotos headbutts and strikes initially so when Goto lariats him really hard and his eyes roll back it looks just killer. Really everyone here was great and it‘s no surprise this ended up being the #1 match of the year, heated to the max with a beautiful story where they did a great job going from Onita bleeding and getting beaten to Onita and Tenryu taking guys out and swarming Tenryu, ending with an all-timer of a finish. I mean people can complain about sloppiness or whatever, but for me it doesn‘t get much more real than Tenryu trying to duck an enzuigiri only for Onita to catch him and drop him on his head because Onita is that beaten up and broken. This may not just be the greatest tag of 1994, but the greatest tag match of all time.

Tarzan Goto vs. Cactus Jack IWA 10/5/1995 - EPIC

These two are among the most „crazy brawler“ looking guys in history, and they do a bunch of crazy brawling in this, but there‘s also a surprising amount of wrestling! Jack controls early with a fucking Fujiwara armbar of all things and then works a bunch of sleeper holds. Technical babyface is a bit strange for Mick Foley to work, but they do a pretty fun job at it! Of course, 1995 Mick Foley is also an absolute bump freak and down to trade punches with Goto, and Goto is a great bruiser squashing him with nasty lariats and facebusters. Both guys end up bleeding big and Goto does his classic bloodletting, cracking Foley with a beer bottle and stabbing him in the face. Goto getting heel reactions from his home crowd says alot about what an effective heel he is, and Jack bleeds and sells like crazy. What makes the match is the amount of energy both guys put in, usually in these kind of matches guys will stroll around or lay on the mat while the other guy sets things up, here both guys are constantly reaching for weapons, when Goto goes outside Jack follows him and connects with a nasty hip attack, later Jack catches Goto in a backslide during a lazy moment for a tremendous hope spot. Tremendous Foley performance and Goto is a fantastic antagonist while also putting Foley over huge, and this match was a great example of both guys having the nuts and bolts of wrestling down along with the crazy bumps and blood.

Tarzan Goto vs. Atsushi Onita, FMW 8/4/1990 - GREAT

This was the first ever exploding barbedwire match and also a match that stole the match of the year awards, proving Goto had some serious workrate cred in Japan in the 90s. Unlike later explosion matches where they would milk and tease the falls into the wire to the max this match is chaotic like a warzone as the explosions go of left and right sometimes triggered by guys just stepping too hastily next to the wire. Onita unwittingly triggers two explosions early on and he gets up bleeding from his arm and a nasty cut in his back. Goto is right on him dropping him with fat powermoves and bloodying his face with nasty headbutts and fists. They make up for the shoddy explosions by headbutting each other to a bloody pulp and it's quite gritty. Goto works on Onitas bad leg a bit with some figure 4s that Onita punches and headbutts his way out of and they continue fighting. Goto is bombing Onita and he looks done but Onita is able to ram him into the wire and Goto takes the biggest bump of the match as he gets entangled in barbedwire and explosions. Then Onita keeps dropping him with like a dozen powerbombs and DDTs until Goto stays down. Could've done with another big Goto rally having a go Onitas bad leg like they teased but it was a wild, cool, experimental fight that probably sent the fans imagination running wild in 1990.

Tarzan Goto vs. Toshiaki Kawada, AJPW 11/28/1984 - FUN

What an insane upload. Mostly a fun technical match, with Goto doing the same cool hold for hold work while mixing in cool headbutts he would do later as a veteran. Kawada is a black trunks rookie and pretty athletic, he busts out a few very clean flips and even leaps to the top rope to hit a huge crossbody. Goto takes it in a style with the big Superfly Splash.

Tarzan Goto Documentation

Assorted Japanese Handhelds

 

Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Masakazu Fukuda, WYF 8/4/1998

 

This thing getting uploaded by the cameraman almost 25 years later has to be a near miracle, but then we‘ve seen a lot of miracles by now when it comes to highly improbable things ending up on the internet. This was a great striker vs. grappler matchup. Seeing Mochizuki here makes one sour that he retired to Dragon Gate, as he was throwing kicks a nd hands in a totally unpredictable and non-choreographed way here that was really cool, coupled with some swank agility. Fukudas style is really unique, he is this lanky tall guy who just glues himself to opponents when he grabs them and drags them into his throws and submissions. He also absolutely rattled Mochizukis shit with a nasty dropkick and some stiff strikes, but Mochizuki kept firing back. The match had a few Hondaish moments, at one point Mochizuki went for a punch to Fukuda and Fukuda attached himself to Mochis arm and dragged him into another hold. When Mochizuki went to recuperate Fukuda just dragged him over the ropes and threw him, with Mochizuki landing hard on all his throws. This was to the point and absolutely no nonsense with both guys giving each other little space a nd all the offense looking like it required zero cooperation, I get WYF was a niche indy back then, but this kind of indy match is a real breath of fresh air these days.

 

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Great Kabuki, WAR 11/9/1993

 

These two could have just punched and kicked each other and done some staredowns and it would‘ve been a quite good match, but we got something more neat here. Tenryus resume of great houseshow matches is for sure impressive. We get a fun opening with Kabuki trying to stand up to Tenryu with his great uppercuts, and Tenryu just chops and lariats him in the throat with Kabuki sells passionately. Tenryu seems to have this in the bag easily but then Kabuki catches him with a surprise thrust kick and Tenryu tumbles outside. Immediately a bunch of Heisei Ishingun goons start swarming Tenryu and brawling with his seconds. Tenryu eats chair shots while Kabuki cuts a promo. Back in the ring Tenryu is bleeding and Kabuki takes him apart punching and kicking the cut. Tenryu is able to snap a Fujiwara armbar but has to let go of the hold because his blood is blinding him in a really neat moment. Tenryus facial expressions and body language are outstanding even on a blurry handheld. His exhausted surprise abisegiris were really cool, also. Great little match due to structure and grit.

 

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki, WAR 11/8/1993

 

A unique match for Tenryu in 1993, because he fights his stablemate Fuyuki. So it‘s not gonna be an interpromotional brawl, but then, you have two tubby, surly bastards in a match, how can it not escalate? But they start wrestling, Fuyuki hits a nice scientific arm suplex and Tenryu busts out his cool leg trip. Fuyuki starts the real fun by kicking Tenryu in the back and hitting a fast belly to belly. Tenryu fires back with some light kicks to Fuyukis face, which feel almost like a reminder for Fuyuki not to try anything he would regret. They go back to wrestling and Tenryu lays a really stiff leg kick into Fuyuki, but Fuyuki shows toughness and catches Tenryu with an enzuigiri. Now it‘s Tenryus turn to not break clean and chip away at a prone Fuyuki. The whole match was built like that, lots of cool tubby guy wrestling building to explosions until both guys were punching and kicking each other in the face. I loved Fuyukis punches, and how Tenryu sold them with drool flying out his mouth as he got hit. Fuyuki worked one hell of a match getting fired up and just being this plucky fighter that wouldn‘t back down, and once again Tenryus charisma was outstanding. Some surprisingly great bits of wrestling too such as Fuyuki turning an attempted DDT into a northern lights suplex. Smart match with plenty of violence that told a simple story in a beautiful way, just a houseshow footnote for both guys in 1993 but would be a serious MOTYC if it happened now.

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.

Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #14

Genichiro Tenryu & Koki Kitahara vs. Super Strong Machine & Hiromichi Fuyuki (WAR 2/24/1994)  - EPIC

4 tubby guys beat the fuck out of eachother and it rules, what else is new? The opening minutes were really fun logical pro wrestling. Fuyuki was fired up, ready to take down Tenryu and kick Kitaharas ass. He also looked shockingly good doing sympathetic selling as he got awkwardly kicked in the chin and face repeatedly etc. Kitahara loves demolishing other dudes with kicks but ends up having his leg taken out in a simple spot that looked great. His leg selling was very good as his kicks became mostly useless. Tenryus hot tag was really fun and different as Fuyuki just bitchslapped him out of the ring and proceeded to kick Kitaharas ass some more. Tenryu then hands out some Necro level chairshots only to get brained himself. Super Strong Machine is not a very charismatic dude compared to the others but he is really fun here blindsiding guys, just constantly ramming people in the back of their necks with lariats and chairs when they would least expect it. Tenryu kind of played the role of the megastar who looked like he was on the verge of defeat, always looking like he was gonna go „Damn now I'm REAL fed up!“ and then he would get bonked in the head again. Really cool finish. I'd say this isn't quite up there with the high end WAR material but for the genre this is must watch anyways.

Kitahara & Ishinriki & Takashi Ishikawa vs. Koji Kitao & Masaaki Mochizuki & Akio Kobayashi, WAR 7/17/1994 - GREAT

Pretty cool short match. The first part of this was to put over Kitao as an unstoppable monster, and they actually make him look like such. He devastates Ishikawa and Ishinriki, but Kitahara is able to make some dents in him, which is a pretty cool role for Kitahara to be in. Then Kitao tags in Kobayashi (not sure why, he was destroying everyone) and immediately we get some scrappy violent exchanges starring a pissed off Kitahara slapping the shit out of a snot nosed karateka. Ishinriki also looks good doing wild sumo flailing and throws against the karatekas. Mochizuki frantic exchanges were great. I‘d Ishikawa trying to grab Mochizuki and trying to yank him over the rope also felt crazy. And Kitahara was the man in this.

 

Koki Kitahara vs. Nobutaka Araya, WAR 7/13/2000 - GREAT

One of these violent and out of control spectacles you only really get when two scuzzy thick guys (preferably with mullets) face each other in a WAR match. It looks like Araya is drunk or something here, most of what he does is hit Kitahara with hard crowbar shoulderblocks, awkwardly flopping about the place as Kitahara beats on him, and acting weird and psycho. It takes a look to look up there with Kitahara in the psycho department but Araya does it here. At one point he puts his hands on Kitaharas second Nihao, and it felt like a very real moment where shit was about to go down. And Kitahara looks just disgusted with him and kills him with nasty blunt force kicks. Awkward, violent, seedy match, pure Wrestle And Romance

KOKI KITAHARA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT

Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #13

 

Koki Kitahara vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi, WAR 3/7/1993 - GREAT

Another heated, violent explosion between these two. Man Kitahara may have been Kobayashis best opponent, he really brings out his psycho asskicker more than any guy in a Tiger Mask ever did. There were lot of stiff strikes as you expect, but also an air of palpable hatred between them. Lots of guys spitting on the other, daring to hit each other, going for weapons etc. Eventually Kitahara just claws Kobayashis forehead open, bloodying him and following up by kicking him in the face. This was one of those WAR shows with a ton of NJPW fans in attendance so they get behind Kobayashi huge. Hot finish with a bleeding Kobayashi trying to comeback only to get his lights turned out. Kitahara was cold as hell in this feud.

Koki Kitahara & Nobukazu Hirai vs. Kunaki Kobayashi & Masashi Aoyagi, WAR 3/5/1993 - GREAT

Another pretty underrated/overlooked tag from this epic feud. As always the shear FIGHT was turned up to 11 here, everything looked super uncooperative and unpredictable, even things like guys getting thrown into a corner or being cut off. Hirai was pretty low ranked at this point and he was great here taking a violent beatdown from two badass building up to the eventual explosions between Kitahara and Kobayashi. Aoyagi also looked damn good busting out cool kick variations. The moments where Hirai is able to get in some surprise offense are great, too. It builds to a more elaborate finish than you expect, and it‘s pretty crazy that they kept up the insane heat the whole match. I mean the match starts crazy and heated with guys eating nasty kicks, getting thrown around and hitting baseballs slides across the ring. You‘d think it ends up being a sprint but instead they work a near 20 minute match, and they keep it at that level. Pretty amazing when you think about it.

 

Koki Kitahara Documentation

WAR 6/20/1999

 Masao Orihara vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Both these guys were pretty great in the late 90s, so I was pretty salty about this being clipped down just a couple minutes. Ishii was a wreckingball during this period, but Orihara easily outstiffes him trying to crack his jaw with lariats. We also get Ishii working Orihara over with chairs and whiping him out with a crazy rolling senton to the outside. Fun stuff but I wanted at least 3/4ths of the thing.

Nihao vs. Koki Kitahara

This was a CAPTURE showcase match and holy fuck after this I‘d kill to get the entire CAPTURE back catalogue. Brutal brutal match, just the most primitive grimy shootstyle you can imagine, two guys with gloves trying to pummel each other into oblivion. Nihao takes Kitahara down and bloodies him with punches and headbutts, but the boss comes back just trying to crush his face with punches and teeth loosening kicks. There was one spinkick that would‘ve made Daisuke Ikeda wince, and also at one point Kitahara reverses a takedown into an armlock that looked to almost tear Nihaos shoulder. They showed 4 out of 6 minutes, and really would it have killed them to include those 2 minutes? Still 80 % of a sick spectacle is better than most, and those 4 minutes were some of the most insane of the year.

Ryuma Go vs. Thunder Warrior Alpha

I respect Tenryus tendency to bring in Go to squish random aliens. This was clipped to almost nothing but we got to see Go acting crazy and destroying the alien.

Genichiro Tenryu & Magnum TOKYO vs. Nobutaka Araya & Sumo Fuji

The boss is involved, so we got the full match here. Didn‘t know what to expect from this, but it ends up a really entertaining match thanks to Tenryuisms. Basically Sumo Fuji acts like a big shot and annoys Tenryu some and ends up paying for it. Also really liked Araya as a scuzzy guy potatoeing Magnum TOKYO. Toryumon guys also looked solid in their sections against each other, and TOKYO hit a pretty great top rope asai moonsault amongst other things. Loved Tenryu here, I think he didn‘t even take a back bump but pretty much carried the match by being a prick, as he usually does.

Osamu Tachihikari & Arashi vs. Daikokubo Benkei & Ichiro Yaguchi

We get about 30 seconds of this and I am not bummed at all about that. I liked Tachihikari busting out random moves like an STO and a Magistral.

Yuji Yasuraoka & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Super Delfin & Naohiro Hoshikawa

This was 4 solid pro wrestlers doings lots of solid pro wrestling, building to a pretty exciting second half. WAR reckless kicker Mochizuki ruled, I am just going to pretend he retired after WAR folded. He had some pretty great exchanges with Hoshikawa here, and I loved him flying into the scenery out of nowhere to take out people with spin kicks. Delfin & Hoshikawa worked well together and it was cool to see them acting as a crew. For some reason, juniors getting dumped on their heads or diving around the place was a lot more satisfying to watch in the 90s.

Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Yuji Yasuraoka

I guess Mochizuki wasn‘t happy with Yasuraokas performance in that tag, so he gets on the mic to challenge Yasuraoka to a singles. Yasuraoka then proceeds to hit his awesome dive, getting insane height, and we get a fun short explosion of them throwing bombs at each other. Wouldn‘t have minded if this went longer, but they just did a 17 minute long match before so it made sense for this to be short and intense.

 

Shigeo Okumura, Sambo Asako & Atsushi Onita vs. Nobutaka Araya, Genichiro Tenryu & Shoji Nakamaki

Exactly what it looks like on paper. 6 tubby asskickers brawling all over the place, bleeding and pasting each other with chairs and lariats. That plus the megastar charisma of Tenryu and Onita. Tenryu is such an awesome menace here, punching people in the face and chucking chairs at them. Him vs. Terry Funk would’ve been one hell of a program. Then again, Tenryu was pretty much untouchable at this point in his career. Onita & Asako looked pretty much like regular guys at this point, which made Asako getting abused by Tenryu feel all the more violent. Okumura was in charge with bringing a slight bit of workrate to the match and he did fine, hitting a pretty stiff dropkick. Very predictable match but all too fun.

THE LIBRARY

Koki Kitahara Documentation #12

 

Koki Kitahara & Jun Kikuchi vs. Koji Kitao & Abdullah The Butcher, WAR 6/6/1997 - GREAT

This was pretty much 4 wrestlers who can beat on someone in cool ways beating on eachother in cool ways. Kitao and Abby sure ain‘t gonna bump, what can our man Kitahara and young barefoot Kikuchi do? But Kitahara gets in a surprising amount of offense on Kitao. Loved him walking over and blasting him with a kick to the face, hope Kitao didn‘t beat up Kitaharas wife after the match for that. Abby is all throat thrusts here, although he does cut up Kikuchi at one point, and I loved the moment where he caught a Kitahara kick and chopped him in the throat. He even takes a monkey flip bump at one point. This went about 10 minutes and came out just right and way more interesting than you‘d think.

Koki Kitahara & Osamu Tachihikari vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Koji Kitao, WAR 10/6/1997 - FUN

I am annoyed with Kitahara facing Kitao so much, but I guess I have arranged myself with Kitao somewhat. He will club people in fun ways, hit a nice senton and recklessly piledrive someone. His uranage here was kinda shitty, though. Tachhihikari was unusually effective as a big tubby guy putting the boots down. Kitahara carried this kicking people in the face, brutalizing Mochizuki and spitting on Kitao. Mochizuki isn‘t what you‘d call a polished shootstylist but Kitahara gets some fun hold exchanges out of him. Fun moments where Buko Dojo guys try interferring in the match and piling on Tachihikari. Any WAR match where tubby guys potatoe each other is going to be fun at minimum and this also had the Kitahara factor.

Koki Kitahara vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki, WAR 4/2/1995 - EPIC

These two do a sleazy massacre as well as anyone in wrestling history, and this ended up being just great. Kitahara has a rep for being a violent crowbar, but Fuyuki totally matches him in violence. Fuyuki splits Kitahara open with some nasty headbutts and a hyper brutal chairshot and Kitahara has a bloody brow and lips. Fuyuki ends up spitting blood from a Kitahara choke and it‘s all one big violent toe to toe fight. There are some almost Memphis-like touches, such as Fuyuki tagging Kitahara with punches only to get spin kicked in the face, as well as Jado spraying something in Kitaharas face. The spray attack looked almost as violent as all the brutal headbutts and kicks to the face in the match. I also loved the spot where Kitahara hit this rope assisted enzuigiri. This was pretty much a sleazier Hashimoto/Tenryu match and I loved it.

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Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #11

 Koki Kitahara & Takashi Ishikawa vs. Masao Orihara & Naoki Sano, SWS 6/26/1991 - GREAT

Man, I love SWS tags. This had juniory touches - Orihara and Kitahara do a battle of kip ups of all things to start with, but there was a strong base of guys being chippy and stiffing the hell out of each other. Orihara gets over in a huge way by busting out a bunch of crazy dives and getting brutalized by Kitahara. These two beating the snot out of each other was awesome. Sano as in insane shape here, looking like a superhero, and he does all kinds of fun hybrid junior/shootstyle exchanges throughout. He also clocks Ishikawa with probably the stiffest thrust kick I've ever seen. I wanted a bit more of that shootstyle action - perhaps a Shooto vs. PWFG exchange between Kitahara and Sano - but we got here was damn tasty. Just great action with everyone bringing it and the crowd eating the whole thing up.

 

Koki Kitahara vs. Nihao, WAR 6/20/1999 - EPIC

This was a CAPTURE showcase match and holy fuck after this I‘d kill to get the entire CAPTURE back catalogue. Brutal brutal match, just the most primitive grimy shootstyle you can imagine, two guys with gloves trying to pummel each other into oblivion. Nihao takes Kitahara down and bloodies him with punches and headbutts, but the boss comes back just trying to crush his face with punches and teeth loosening kicks. There was one spinkick that would‘ve made Daisuke Ikeda wince, and also at one point Kitahara reverses a takedown into an armlock that looked to almost tear Nihaos shoulder. They showed 4 out of 6 minutes, and really would it have killed them to include those 2 minutes? Still 80 % of a sick spectacle is better than most, and those 4 minutes were some of the most insane of the year.

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Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #10

 

Koki Kitahara vs. Masao Orihara, AJPW 4/9/1990 - FUN

Basic rookie opening match upgraded to Kitaharas insane level of stiffness. Anytime Kitahara was throwing kicks he was hitting Orihara like a baseball bat. Goodnes gracious. Orihara didn‘t do any flying here but he was spunky and willing the let Kitahara kick the life out of him. I liked how the end of the match is just Orihara working a somewhat dull hammerlock for a while before Kitahara just stands up turns his lights out with an ultra stiff spin kick.

Koki Kitahara & Hiromichi Fuyuki vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Kengo Kimura, WAR 2/14/1993 - GREAT 

Another match from the WAR/New Japan feud, and these matches really eschew traditional pro wrestling structure and even sequences. Everything is more heated, more reckless, and all the wrestlers likeliness to kick another in the face increases tenfold. Most of this was guys blindsiding each other with face kicks, and Kitahara is of course really great at blindsiding people with face kicks. Fuyuki also channels his old Footloose energy, and for such a natural creepy heel he is a really great fat Ricky Morton taking beatings and getting fired up. Koshinaka and Kimura dish out some big ass kickings, old man Kimura even takes some nasty crowbar kicks from Kitahara, and there is a pretty great section where he is punching Kitahara in the throat. Koshinaka is just kingsized here, there is this really violent section where he is just beating Kitahara to a pulp, knuckle punching him in the face, dropping knees with absolutely no light on him. Probably no other feud ever did violent spectacles on this level, and even though this wasn‘t the main players going at it it had that kind of big time feeling.

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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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Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #9

 

Koki Kitahara vs. Masahito Kakihara, WAR 7/21/1996 - GREAT

Kakihara at the time was kind of UWFis budding young hope and raking in wins over guys like Kensuke Sasaki, so it was fun watching Kitahara teach him a lesson here. For some reason the UWFi boys except Sakurabas weren‘t strong matworkers and Kitahara does a cool job containing Kakiharas youthful aggression and countering him. Of course, as soon as Kitahara gets the advantage he almost boots Kakiharas head off. Finish was pretty great as Kakihara went on another juvenile attack only for Kitahara to doge him and unload with an eardrum shattering smack before catching Kakiharas retort kick with a badass ankle capture.

Koki Kitahara & Yuji Yasuraoka vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Arashi, WAR 10/11/1996 - GREAT

This was a clipped match which is annoying as the stuff that is shown looks really good. Tons of brutally stiff blows. The match was centered around the Kitahara/Mochizuki interactions. Mochizuki is Kitahara's boy, which means Kitahara is legally obliged to murder him, which the crowd also senses. Yasuraoka mostly gets kicked in the face, but busts out his really spectacular dive in an awesome moment right after Mochizuki blows his fancy springboard attack and gets mauled by Kitahara for it. Even Arashi busts out a reckless spinkick in this! WAR was a magical place.

Kazuo Yamazaki & Takashi Iizuka vs Koki Kitahara & Nobutaka Araya, WAR 12/13/1996 - GREAT

I like Araya a ton, but this was all about Kitahara being a violent punk. Interpromotional matches is where the man thrives as they supply the perfect environment for him to punch people in the jaw, stomp faces and generally act like a jerk. I was pleased that he got to be competitive with Yamazaki, too, who carried himself like a star in this (although I would‘ve liked him to do more shooty stuff).

 

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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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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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Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #8

 Koki Kitahara vs. Koji Kitao, Kitao Pro 1/21/1994 - GREAT

Kitao Pro was this unique fed that was stylized like a martial arts movie tournament with matches usually going no longer than 5 minutes, and Koji Kitao would always destroy all comers quickly. It's quintessential weird 90s shootstyle crap. For some reason Kitao liked Kitahara enough to always give him some offense, and this was a really fun 4 minutes of tubby martial artists pummeling each other with Kitao even taking one of the craziest bumps I've ever seen as he gets dropped on his head by a Kitahara suplex. He 

Koki Kitahara vs. 150% Machine, UWFi 6/26/1996 - FUN

Supposedly 150% Machine is KAMIKAZE, but he looks to skinny for that. I read somewhere that this match turned into a shoot. I have no idea if that is the case, because Kitahara always works so stiff and like such an uncooperative dick that you really can’t tell. Here, after smothering Machine on the mat a bit, apparently he didn’t like Machines lack of technical skill, so Kitahara decides to just blast him with kicks to the face from left and right. Machine fights back a little and is actually able to clock Kitahara with some good looking high kicks, but Kitahara always pulls himself back up and goes back to trashing the poor guy. The finish is just about the nastiest open hand blow in wrestling history.

Koki Kitahara & Lance Storm & Nobutaka Araya vs Koji Kitao & Nobukazu Hirai & Tommy Dreamer, WAR 6/7/1997 - FUN

Well, this is about as random a WAR matchup as they can get, huh? And this was a pretty fun match. Everyone brought their stuff to the match. So you had Kitao and Kitahara stiffing each other, Araya and Hirai working stiff tubby guy exchanges, Dreamer bringing weapons into the mix, and Lance Storm having his rat tail. I am amused that Kitahara continues to be one of the few people Kitao will bump and sell for (minimally, mind you) and he and Storm even get to take Kitao out with a double team move. The ending is just Kitahara kicking Hirai in the face and Hirai eating a nasty doomsday device and that’s about all you can ask for.

 

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Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #7

 Genichiro Tenryu & Koki Kitahara & Masao Orihara vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Masashi Aoyagi & Kengo Kimura (WAR 10/21/1992) - EPIC

WAR vs. New Japan is one of those few transcendental occurances in wrestling history. This whole match is just from another planet, insane heat, crowd booing and cheering everyone at the same time, dueling chants breaking out, and everyone engages in super uncooperative, violent exchanges. The star of the match is Tenryu as he comes in constantly like a force of nature, there’s an amazing moment where he takes a piledriver on the floor, then cleans house and the camera pans away revealing he has blood streaming down his face, but our boys Orihara and Kitahara are fantastic supporting players. Orihara is young an super fired up, taking big beatings and always firing back, at one point he gets into a fight with Akitoshi Saito who’s outside the ring in his gi and it seems the place comes unglued. Kitahara is right at home in this kind of scrappy match, throwing kicks like baseball bats and looking in shootstyle holds all while drawing baffling heel reactions, I wish he had been in the match a little more. And the Koshinaka/Aoyagi/Kimura was just kicking ass like you wouldn’t believe. Kengo Kimura may have had the night of his life, he is old but he was kicking and punching guys in the face all while acting like a jerk and taunting Tenryu. This was a nice reminder of how much pro wrestling rules.

 

Koki Kitahara & Pierroth & Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Rayo de Jalisco Jr. & Vampiro & Atlantis (CMLL 9/23/1994) - GREAT

Koki Kitaharas stay in CMLL lasted about 4 matches. Japanese wrestlers working Mexico for a brief stint usually doesn’t produce great matches, and I was expecting Kitahara to tone his act down, maybe work a bit more like a junior… but boy, I was wrong. This is classic Kitahara acting like a psycho material. He was hellbent on kicking the dogshit out of Vampiro here. Seeing Kithara punting someone in the face on the floor of Arena Mexico is something else. Pierroth and Wagner also seemed to have had it with Vampiro. I imagine he was being a coked up joker on his stay or something, because they were really pasting him with punches and clotheslines, while being absolutely unwilling to make him look good or bump for him in any way. Really one of the meanest rudo performances I've ever seen. It makes for a pretty compelling match as Atlantis and Rayo De Jalisco basically only make sporadic appearance while Vampiro gets his ass kicked and tries to fire back only to get beaten up some more. In the second fall, Vampiro was hitting his own goofy martial arts kicks and I was starting to groan, but then Kitahra elbowed him in the jaw hard and kicked him in the face some more. After the match Kitahara and Pierroth immediately jump on Vamp with Kitahara raining punches on his face and Pierroth looking like he was either trying to protect Vampiro or choke him out. Either way, it’s rare you see an ass kicking like this in Arena Mexico since they banned blood. I’m wondering why it’s not talked about more, but then again, digging up this stuff is what this blog is for.

 

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WAR 1/5/1994

Masao Orihara vs. Norman Smiley

Oddly enough, Norman Smiley fit perfectly into WAR. I've yet to check out his mexican work but this may be the best stuff he's ever done. He was allowed to work as this tough as nails shooter who would dominate on the ground and potatoe dudes with nasty shots. Basically an UWF version of Regal. His holds looked clinical and when it was time to kick Orihara like a dog he wasn't playing around. I imagine if Smiley had faced Hashimoto in a big match or something we'd all be Smiley superfans. Orihara works as a Smiley opponent because he is CRAZY and will bust out unexpected highspots. Worth checking out.

 

Great Kabuki vs. Nobukazu Hirai

They start exchanging some solid armlocks before we get to the juicy part: Kabuki punching Hirai in the face. Hirai is spry, firing back bringing out some junior spots, but this was over almost as quickly as it began.

Ultimo Dragon vs. Ishinriki

 

This was very much an Ultimo Dragon match, although because this is WAR they potatoe each other on a level above your typical junior affair. Dragon uncorks some nasty spin kicks, and Ishinriki fires back with sumo clotheslines, palm rushes almost killing Dragon with a suplex. I pefer Ishinriki in heavyweight slugfests but he is a fun junior.

 

Mil Mascaras vs. Pierroth Jr.

 I enjoy watching Mil Mascaras grapple, but you can imagine how much offense Pierroth Jr got in here. It felt like a miracle that he was able to make Mil take a bump.

 

Shiro Koshinaka & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Ashura Hara & Hiromichi Fuyuki

Another round of beefy dudes clobbering eachother. This wasn't peak WAR interpromotional material, but I still probably liked the best out of all the matches on the show. Particularily because the whole match felt thoroughly violent, and Fuyuki and Koshinaka were really at each other's throat. They randomly broke out into this super violent exchange that lead to a poor sap getting punched repeatedly and all was right in the world. I continue to enjoy Goto in these Heisei Ishingun tags as old guy with 2 moves who comes in to lariat and backdrop fools and nothing else, altough there was some sloppiness on his part. Hara's career was winding down but he could still take some big bumps. These matches pretty much write themselves but they still work in some things you won't expect.

  

Genichiro Tenryu & Koki Kitahara vs. Keiji Muto & El Samurai - FUN

 

WAR interpromotional tag that lags a little behind the standard for those due to Mutoh and Samurai not being quite up to the violent standards that these matches have. You watch these matches for some kind of violent showdown to happen and these two aren't the types to bring it. Kitahara was also unusually subdued. However I'd still recommend this for Tenryus amazing performance. He would really eat the fuck out of Mutohs flimsy offense and looked great flying around to put over the match. Add in the usual dose of signature Tenryu face kicking, throat chopping, powerbombing and lariating madness and have yourself something fun. 

 

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