2002 MOTY Project Update #16

 13. Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar, WWE 10/20/2002

Slow paced, violent, triple juice hell in a cell match. Almost the ideal match for two monsters locked in a cage to have. The opening work around the cast was fun and things got plenty intense once Lesnar started smashing up his hand. I admit I dislike melodramatic overacting in wrestling so I was a bit annoyed by Heyman. Takers punches were weak, but he had a few badass moments such as the big boot that sent Brock into the cell and the weird kneedrop thing that almost killed Brock. Brock was great in the match. He wasn't yet the MMA guy but just this crazy beast and threw Taker around like a puppet. Match went long but ended at just the right time.

32. Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada vs. Aja Kong & Manami Toyota, GAEA 8/30/2002

Classic match built around a pair of rising stars trying to overcome some asskicking veterans. Lots of fiery fighting and great spots. I guess due to the match format Toyotas no selling didn't hurt match. And Aja was just a tank. And Ayako and Meiko - for two talented girls stuck in GAEA limbo - gave their all. Not much to say on this, it's just a straight forward, immensely enjoyable match.

2002 MOTY MASTER LIST

GAEA Storm Signal #3 6/29/1997

 

KAORU vs. Toshie Uematsu

They show about 5 of 17 minutes. I hope this trend of clipped GAEA doesn‘t continue. KAORU was dominant and Uematsu made some aggressive comebacks. KAORU did lots of submissions here and had some slick transitions into the, for example hitting her springboard moonsault and moving right into an armbar. I wanna see more submission expert KAORU.

Sonoko Kato vs. Makie Numao

A match that was also clipped in half. Pretty fun BattlARTS approximation with both girls kicking each other in the face and fighting in and out of submissions. Some neat spots and stiffness level makes most current wrestlers look like absolute wusses.

Sonoko Kato vs. Rina Ishii

I don‘t know why Kato had to do another match against a fresh Ishii. I like Ishii and they had a decent go at each other here. Nothing stood out in particular though and it was hard to make sense of what was going on with the clipping.

Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato vs. Hiromi Kato & Sakura Hirota

Typical GAEA sprint work although clipped down from 17 minutes to like 4 so the whole thing made even less sense.

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Maiko Matsumoto

We get mostly Nagayo stretching Matsumoto and Matsumoto clumsily trying to defensd herself. Nagayo has some cool stretches and it‘s probably her best role. Matsumoto was Matsumoto and didn‘t stand much of a chance. I guess because Nagayo is the boss they showed most of this match.

Meiko Satomura vs. Akira Hokuto

Only 6 of 20 minutes!??! Damn you to hell TV editors, because this looked GREAT! Chigusa was at ringside and initially this was about Hokuto trying to piss her off by torturing Satomura, only for Satomura to catch her with some harder stuff than she expected. Looked like another great match with both of them selling big, but man…. 6 minutes??

THE LIBRARY

RIP The Patriot

  The Patriot vs. Bret Hart, WWF 9/7/1997

 This is a classic heel champ working around a cookie cutter babyface match with Hart doing an excellent job making everyone think The Patriot was gonna take the title. I am guessing the idea behind the masked Patriot was that he represents an everyman, and he has pretty fun everyman offense in armdrags and a really nice dropkick. The opening going was well laid out and the action solid, but inconsequential (some limb work that doesn't go anywhere). The heartpiece was the finishing stretch laid out around Patriot getting nearfalls with Bret hanging on by a threat and some shenanigans happening. I am sure those nearfalls stayed in peoples minds in 1997 and I loved the finish where the Patriot gets cocky enough to put Harts own move on him only for Bret to defeat him on a technicality.

The Patriot & Vader vs. Bret Hart & British Bulldog, WWF 10/5/1997

I don't remember Vader being this patriotic guy, but he is definitely somebody you want backing you up when the honor of your country is at stake. This was a flag match but there are pins and submissions, but we at least get the cool visuals of guys breaking their flags over each others heads. Vader is great here backing up the Patriot, coming in to take people out with big body checks and punches. He also has this insane moment where he goes for his moonsault and lands on his feet then beats the shit out of Davey Boy some more. The match could've used a better structure, Hart Foundation where making cutoffs and trying to isolate the faces but it never really came together for a proper FIP section, and what a weird thing for a match involving a character as southern fried as The Patriot to not be a southern tag,  but what we got was pretty fun.

The Patriot & Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama, AJPW 11/22/1996

It's an AJPW pillars tag baby, so you get the usual cool strike exchanges plus the fun novelty of having The Patriot slotted into the format. You won't get neck chops or martial arts kicks from The Patriot but he is really fun doing his shoulderblocks and clotheslines and dropkicks with real Oomph behind them to fit into the match. I loved the constant teasing and countering of the Full Nelson Slam, and how they protected the move. Great finishing stretch with Patriot first working some pretty complex exchanges with Misawa and Akiyama before some baller nearfalls happen and The Patriot ends up falling victim to the usual Misawa helping out his junior partner shenanigans. You can totally tell when the crowd really catches on fire for this match and it's really fun to watch.

Tanomusaku Toba Documentation Project #13

 

Tanomusaku Toba & MIKAMI vs. GENTARO & Takashi Sasaki, DDT 10/24/2002 - EPIC

This felt like the biggest match that DDT ran that year, and they rolled out all the spots. For that kind of match where a bunch of indy juniors roll out their spots, you can‘t get much better than having Toba in there to punch people in the face. As usual his exchanges with Sasaki were pretty violent and ballsy, and he was up there with all the super athletic guys in the match when it came to producing fireorks. He hit a big Toyota style dropkick to the floor, a nasty flying kick off the top that caught GENTARO in the chin, and a badass elbow/STO combo. GENTARO is really fun too, he was roughing up Toba with snug pro wrestling style strikes, and MIKAMIs highspots were big and crushing looking. The match didn‘t have some kind of epic story or great transitions so it as definitely popcorn material, but there was no over cooperative stuff, no thigh slapping, everything looked hurty. Even the ladder being brought up was used to add a sense of escalation and didn‘t detract from the match. Good stuff, maybe the best popcorn match of the year.

Tanomusaku Toba & Ichiro Yaguchi & Chotaro Kamoi vs. Takashi Sasaki & Kurokage & Sanshiro Takagi, DDT 6/30/1998 - GREAT

A match which was thankfully mostly about TOBA. Yaguchi and Kamoi were kind of treated like comedy jobbers, so they knew who was the man. Early Toba was beastly, his punches were less showy and landing more straightforwardly in peoples face, and he did more crazy kicks than later. Everytime he‘s in the ring the match was just relentless, him just beating on people and then getting hurled around by suplexes. He matches up against all 3 guys and everyone looks good cranking up the violence when facing him. Toba vs. Sasaki is a known guarantee for violent, ballsy exchanges by now. Kurokage is some masked junior and he looked good throwing suplexes, throwing some stiff kicks and locking in armbars. Kamoi is kind of a 99 ct store Toba, he has one fun moment where he leaps off the top rope with a punch but was pretty sloppy otherwise. Yaguchi isn‘t good but doesn‘t drag the match down either. The finish was Toba vs. Takagi and good shit. Bit long at 18 minutes but a fun watch thanks to our thai boxing hero.

 

TANOMUSAKU TOBA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT

IWA Japan NEW YEAR LEGEND 1/17/1999

 Masanori Nakamura vs. ???

Yuki Nishino & Asian Cougar & Phantom Funakoshi vs. Takashi Uwano & Yuji Kito & Tortuga

Akinori Tsukioka & Kyohei Mikami vs. The Great Takeru & Makoto Saito

Miho Wakizawa & Sachie Nishibori vs. Emi Motokawa & Kayo Noumi

Shigeo Okumura & Keizo Matsuda vs. Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono - GREAT

Tarzan Goto & Freddy Krueger vs. Katsumi Hirano & Yoshiya Yamashita - FUN

Barbed Wire Baseball Bat Thumbtack Death Match: Mr. Pogo & Shoji Nakamaki vs. Keisuke Yamada & Takeshi Sato

Another super fun IWA Japan card. The first 4 matches were pretty clipped, but they gave you pretty much what you want, all the fun juniors in those matches busting out sometimes inventive and often crushing offense. My boy Yuki Nishino looked good stomping the crap out of the IWA Japan boys in the 6 man tag, and the other juniors tag was also really fun. Mikami got a bloody nose from a Saito kick, and Tsukioka would potatoe guys with chairs. Junior wrestling really is better when the guys look like they are actually trying to do damage to each other and not run through a routine of elaborate sequences to get brownie points from an audience.

The last 3 matches all had blood - IWA Japan rules, baby. Really liked the Tonpachi Guns, as they have a knack for mixing in unpredictable sequences while keeping the sleaze level high. Takeshi Ono is a treasure in that match kicking and punching people in the face and sometimes in the nuts. Okamura and Matsuda are good enough as thick guys pasting their scrawny opponents with lariats and it ends up a fun match that sadly doesn’t have a finish.

The Goto match was 23 minutes clipped down to about 10. Probably a wise decision, but what was shown looked very good as it was a total slaughter of Hirano and Yamashita. Both guys got busted open and I imagine all their offense was clipped out. Freddy Krueger did almost nothing in that match, which is a good thing as Tarzan Goto is just great as a monster punching and stabbing the shit out of people.

The main event was also really fun, although nearly a squash. Pogo & Nakamaki are like the Road Warriors in that – here to beat the fuck out of the young guys, and not selling shit. It ends up being a really fun match due to the underdog charisma of Yamada & Sato and the character work of Nakamaki and Pogo. At one point Nakamaki stuck his own face in the thumbtacks to prove that he doesn’t give a shit, and later Yamada took a nasty suplex into the tax, coming up looking like a christmas tree. But the story was how long would Yamada and Sato last, and the answer is not very long.

THE LIBRARY

Tarzan Goto Documentation Project #6

 

Tarzan Goto vs. Dan Severn, IWA Japan 8/20/1995 - EPIC

 

Brilliant, virtually perfectly worked match which was basically two beasts having a crazy bar fight. Goto is so awesome here, hitting the mat with Severn, getting in his head, using weapons, bleeding and potatoeing the UFC legend really hard. Imagine someone hitting Khabib with a stiff lariat and chair shots. Severn looks good in other matches, but he looks like a badass killer here, and I suspect no small part of that is Gotos doing. Loved Severn mauling and bloodying Goto on the ground, his crazy suplexes and throwing chairs. Goto escalating the violence by using the beer bottle and chairs and clocking Severn really hard in the jaw was awesome as well. This was everything you want this match up to be and more.

Tarzan Goto & Tomoaki Honma vs. Terry Funk & Abdullah the Butcher, AJPW 10/27/2002 - GREAT

This was maybe Gotos sole return match to AJPW. They really should‘ve used him more as he‘s such a great versatile worker. This was as fun as it looks on paper. You have Funk and Goto trading punches, Goto dropping elbows, Abby chopping and stabbing people, and Honma bleeding and getting bumped around. Goto is actually the first guy to bust out a fork and Abdullah turns the fork against him in a great spot that got a big face pop. 3 out of 4 guys bleed, and Goto chucks tables at the heads of 60 year old men (he is really one of the few guys who can do that kinda spot safely). Finish was unexpectedly violent too (you know, in a match with a bunch of blood and guys punching eachother in the face) with Honma eating some nasty punishment, but that‘s what Honma is for.

Tarzan Goto vs. Gran Mendoza, FMW 8/20/1990 - FUN

 

Gritty 7 minute match with a bunch of blood and guys taking nasty spills into the barbedwire. At this point the barbedwire stuff looked less like guys doing spots and more like guys actually falling into barbedwire. Mendoza was pretty generic but did one or two things I liked, such as his elbows and the cool „punch at nothing“ sell he did. Goto took a beating initially and then came back bleeding big and throwing some cool headbutts before dropping Mendoza hard with his facebuster which Mendoza didn‘t seem to know how to take. Short and very grizzly. 

 TARZAN GOTO DOCUMENTATION

Assorted Mumejuku

 

European Rounds: Hiroshi Watanabe vs. Ultraman Robin, Mumejuku 12/8/2007

 

Nothing says indy sleaze like Ultraman Robin. Every Robin match I‘ve seen has been pretty bad, but Watanabe carries him no problem. Robin doesn‘t look good here, his brief run of standing offense is so non-athletic and embarassing, but he is okay rolling on the mat, and Watanabe is the man. If Watanabe can get a 25 minute match this good out of someone as bad as Robin, then there‘s no limit to what the man can do. This was the usual MUGA style match with Watanabe doing plenty of cool twisting up Robin and neat pin attempts. Especially dug his weird modified indian deathlock. Last round was great as Watanabe was hellbent on grappling it out with Robin until he connected with a rotten enzuigiri out of nowhere.

Hiroshi Watanabe vs. Kosei Maeda, Mumejuku 6/2/2007

Apparently this is from the very first Mumejuku (or Mumejuku-related) show, and what a match to set the tone! Maeda has kickpads and throws some surprisingly violent strikes, and this had the feel of an 80s NJPW vs. UWF match, and that‘s a really cool type of match to start a promotion with. I thought Maeda was along for the ride initially, but he started to win me over as the grappling went on. As usual, plenty of crafty holds and counters from Watanabe, and Maeda did some bigger moves than you normally see in these maestro style matches. Watanabe‘s Inoki inspired-but-not-quite-straight-up-ripping-him-off act was great and the finish was really cool. Another gem, really.