Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #2

 Command Bolshoi vs. Kaori Yoneyama, JWP 2/11/2008

Another excellent late 2000s Bolshoi singles. Yoneyama had yet to find her personality (give her a year or so to max out her afro), but she could go hard at it with a tough veteran. Early going was really good with slick mat movements and neat standing exchanges. Bolshoi countering the Muta look into a freaky sambo choke was such a master grappler moment, and I love her mixing up the Tiger Feint Kick by turning it into a foot stomp, she‘s just the queen of cool offense. Second half was the kind of rush of big suplexes and fast movements you expect from joshi, but it had the Bolshoi touch of added swank technical moves and neat counters, plus some well timed open hand blows. Yoneyama freaking out and just demolishing Bolshoi with brutal elbows and knees was completely unexpected and awesome, and the build to the eventual ending was great with both girls busting out some crazy top rope move reversals. I‘m pretty desensitized to pretty reversals but Bolshoi turning Yoneyamas avalanche Shiranui into a huge Uranage had me freaking out. Yoneyama was a little sloppy here or there and I can‘t really see her having a match this good against anyone else, similiar to the Nakajima match. Was Bolshoi actually Top 5 in the world in 2008?

Command Bolshoi vs. Kagetsu, JWP 1/29/2017

I‘ve quite enjoyed Kagetsu here and there and she has a fanbase with the joshi crowd, so this is a hot matchup that eluded me. To be honest Kagetsu annoyed me early on, she kept going for those weak chops in the ropes, and her spear and handspring elbow looked laughably weak. That said Bolshoi had her working boots on and pretty much carried the first half of this with some great groundwork. Her sprawling armlock and ultraslick leglock were just incredible, such a great grappler. Second half was really good with Kagetsu pulling herself together and busting out some cool flying armbars of her own before a great ending sequence. They weren‘t exactly going for EPIC here, but it ended up being a solid workday.

 

Command Bolshoi & Azumi Hyuga vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki & ECO, JWP 2/4/2007 (Body Slam Only)

This is a Body Slam Only match which means you can only pin your opponent after hitting a body slam. I am a sucker for weird rulesets and this came out really great. The body slam thing really adds a ton to all the exchanges, as everyone is now building to a bodyslam, and everyone has their own unique ways to get out of attempted bodyslams. Size difference is also at play, as Kuragaki can bodyslam people at will, but everyone struggles to body slam her. Of course these are also 4 workers who can just go hard at each other and produce some great exchanges. ECO (masked kickpadded lady wrestler) was cool, Hyuga was going hard, and Bolshoi and Kuragaki were such stars here. Kuragaki is pretty much Bolshois greatest dance partner, these two always do some mind blowing shit, and Kuragaki looks great in her own right here. Loved the big bodyslam teases. Pretty great match for what I assume was a funny idea for a dojo match.

2021 MOTY Project Update #5

1. Kyosuke Sasaki vs. Daisuke Nakamura, Kyushu Pro 9/6

Proper 20 minute shootstyle main event. Sasaki has been a bit hit or miss in Kyushu Pro, but he cut out the bullshit here and had a real U-Style worthy contest with Nakamura who's like a great 20 year late RINGS worker. Opening grappling was the best shootstyle grappling in years. Both guys were of course ultra slick, but the refusal to go for the ropes created some great counterwork and intense scrambles. Highlights include a neat Kimura counter and a credible battle of shootstyle Figure 4s. Second half was pretty great too since both guys kept internal logic consistent. For example, Sasaki was able to overwhelm and down Nakamura with a  series of leg kicks, but once things went to the ground it immediately became difficult again to force submissions. Sasaki also had this sick looking choke attempt. Finishing run was pretty great with both guys grabbing submissions left and right and some dramatic near KOS. Gotch piledriver tease was tremendous as both guys sold it that you knew the match would be over if it was hit. The 1-1 situation at the end was pretty intense. I liked how Nakamura ate a head kick and fell on top of his opponent into another scramble to credibly not lose a point. Great match.

 

5. Keita Yano vs. Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 8/13

Yanos redemption is coming along nicely. This was the best striker vs. grappler match in a while. It was straight out of PWFG. Normally I associate Yano with carny matwork, but he really decided to be a makeup wearing Tamon Honda in this. Really cool dynamic in this with Yano going for fast takedowns and quirky stretches and Sato lighting him up. I've never been a Hikaru Sato fan but he was there to light  Yano up and he did just dead. Brutal, brutal ending that saw both guys throwing some insane shoot headbutts and bare knuckle punches. Actual finish was a thing of beauty.

7. Keita Yano vs. Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 8/26

Even more esoteric match which saw both guys grappling it out for 17 minutes. If you can get into that, this was excellent. No strikes, but a perfect balance between shootstyle grappling and carny holds. Yanos chokes were great. This may have been the best actual wrestling Sato was involved in. He did some cool things like a sweeping hip throw, or busting out a cool double leg stretch (which Yano reversed in a great moment). It can be hard to just grapple and keep momentum going and not put your audience to sleep but they succeeded here. Great little match. Is Yano the best wrestler in the world now?

2021 MOTY List

Assorted Japanese Indy Wrestling

Fugofugo Yumeji & BUKI vs. Kikujiro Umezawa & Martn Pain, EXIT ?/???? (probably 2013)

EXIT is Fugofugos fed. It's kind of like an even sleazier CAPTURE. And well, this match was fucking insane! Kikujiro Umezawa never stood out to me much before, but holy hell he was a killer here. Working like a WAR heavyweight, doing cool sumo spots, and just working insanely stiff. Whenever he and Fugofugo matched up it felt like someone was about to die. Insane headbutts and lariats. Fugo even busts out some crazy kicks including an abisegiri right to Umezawas head. Even Umezawas big splash landed in a brutal way. BUKI also looked good - a mini Great Kabuki with ultra stiff neck chops and trust kicks is something else. At one point he landed a thrust kick to Umezawa where Umezawa ran into it in a way like he didn't expect to eat a thrust kick. Martn Pain is an Austrian guy and doesn't stand out much, but he ate some stiff shots and didn't get in the way much. Still, holy fuck this makes me want to get all of Fugo and Umezawas back catalogue.

Daichi vs. Yousei Estrella, Llave Libre Workshop ?/2017

This match was „Llave Libre“ style, a style created by Japanese indy luchadore Jiraya, which is basically shootstyle grappling meets lucha matwork. Think if Negro Navarro gave the U-Style roster a training session. There is also a weird points system and rounds. Pretty fun to look at two grapplers scrambling in and out of crazy lucha submissions. Some insanely tight submissions here, and the scrambles and avoiding the dreaded 5 count where really fun. Wouldn‘t mind seeing more Llave Libre.

Yasushi Sato vs. Hakaru Imai, Jishidan 11/27/2016

Some may remember Hakaru Imai as HYOMA or Plug Imai. He‘s a scum indy guy how tried to come up in BJW sometime in the 2000s. He looked a lot fatter, and balder here, but he was game to go at it with Yasushi Sato. This was a weird rules match – the first fall had 3 count rules, the second 2 count, and the 3rd one counts. This was a Yasushi Sato signature match with lots of matwork and some great psychology. For a fat old guy, Hyoma was pretty fun hitting some fast takedowns early on for a fat old dude. Sato was quite vicious, dropping a nasty knee on Imais ankle as well as trying to scratch his head open. Aside from the grappling both guys also laid into each other with some stiffer than usual strikes. As usual with Sato matches, there was an excellent build to his russian legsweeps. Lord knows that man puts the entire industry to shame with how he makes the most basic move interesting. Second fall was really great as Imai was down 1-0 and all Sato needed was another legsweep to get the fall. Imai to his credit made a great comeback. His fat man moonsault ruled. 3Rd fall was tricky with the one count rules and once again had some great moments centered around the russian leg sweep. Also dug the backslide spots. Not sure if the ref bump was needed but it was funny. Another inexplicably great Sato match in front of a tiny audience.

 

European Catch Catch-Up

 

Mick McMichael vs. Vic Faulkner, WoS 6/28/1972

Very nice and unexpected to see a previously lost WoS match surface. These two have kind of a reputation of being jokers, but there was some amazing hard fought technical wrestling in this. Maybe one or two jokes and the match never got truely nasty, but I be damned if this wasn‘t some great pro wrestling. These WoS guys really make the most basic stuff look awesome. Holds clamped on super tight, fast and snappy bumping, and the pins and reversals are just on a different level. In between that you had some fast, beautiful and effortless rope running and they keep peppering in nearfalls that the crowd went really loud for. This is 2/3 falls and the finish to the first was just fantastic. After that both guys were more cautious and the crowd was really wary about another fall happening. The equalizing fall was tremendous as well. Exhaustion in the last round was just great with both guys taking some amazing missed splashes, so were Faulkners out of nowhere bumps. Just two absolute pros having a high end 1972 level workrate match, going 25 minutes and making it look so easy for a crowd that loved everything, yeah this is why World of Sport ruled.

Vasilios Mantopolous vs. Anton Tejero, France 10/21/1967

 Mantopolous is a monster technician. Tejero is a monster stooge. Obviously this was really entertaining, and had tons of smooth and athletic movements and tricks from Mantopolous. Tejero wasn't exactly non-competitive, but he kind of got smoked. Mantopolous was extremely dominant and Tejero only got a few licks in on him. It's still a super impressive match to be this one sided and nearly 30 minutes and not boring. It really makes you want to see Mantopolous against someone who can stand up to his skill, and we'll have to see if we can find a match like that.

 Batman vs. Teddy Boy, France 9/30/1967

I love that they just had a Batman running around in the French pro wrestling scene. This went 9 minutes which is the equivalent of a short Saturday Night squash, but really lively and fun. Batman has some impressive cartwheels. And Teddy Boy just beat the shit out of him. Even though the match was short, Teddy Boy probably got in more offense than Tejero did in the previous match. Some really nice punches and stomps from him. And Batman was Batman.

Tarzan Goto Documentation Project #7

 

Tarzan Goto vs. Leon Spinks, FMW 3/25/1992 - EPIC

Awesome, awesome Goto performance getting a great spectacle out of the in a pro wrestling context very limited ex boxing champ Leon Spinks. First round is just Goto as an offense juggernaut, he opens by flattening Spinks with a punch to the face and then just moves in for the cool, constantly pressuring, landing headbutts to the eye, fast takedowns including an awesome plausible drop toe hold. He even hits a great dropkick and enzuigiri all while the crowd is having a meltdown for Goto. I also really dug Gotos and stance and head movement. Second round Goto continues to pressure until Spinks finally catches him with a punch. Spinks wasn‘t exactly hitting hard but him punching a grounded Goto in the face looked gritty. Goto, of course, bleeds and from then on it‘s all drama with Goto eating punches and near Kos and trying to survive. After the match Onita immediately jumps Spinks and we get a big pull apart (with Mike Awesome and Dr. Luther amongst others seconding Spinks). This was kind of a Goto as Onitas right hand man goes down to put over how dangerous Spinks is match to pave way for the bigger Spinks/Onita showdown but on it‘s own it was pretty damn great.

Tarzan Goto & Sambo Asako vs. Masanobu Kurisu & The Shooter #1, FMW 5/14/1990 - EPIC

Classic unexpectedly violent indy sleaze fest, really the best kind of match to discover when going through a bunch of random handhelds. This was really all about Kurisu and Goto trying to outdo each other by putting an even more sickening beating on the other guys partner, with both guys doing comically little to protect their own partner. Goto starts the fun by immediately opening with a headbutt to Shooters eye, then later we get Kurisu putting his trademark sickening beatdown on Asako. At one point both guys run in to the ring to stomp on the other guys partners head, later they do the same with chairs while eyeing each other. The brief Kurisu/Goto interactions are great (and probably braincell killing, these guys were maniacs with the headbutts), but the rest holds up too. Sambo Asako is a fat kid who can take some insane punishment and has fun sambo submissions and throws, and Shooter is a sleazeball shooter who doesn‘t seem to be able to control his kicks much so when he goes for a kick combo it seems more reckless. Once again Goto‘s offense was insane, he busted out an awesome German suplex, Capture suplex and even a gnarly super kick when interacting with Shooter, inbetween trying to kill guys with brutal headbutts and occasionally trying to shatter Shooters ear with a slap. Would‘ve pushed into MOTYC territory for me if there had been another Kurisu/Goto standoff down the stretch.

Tarzan Goto & Ricky Fuji vs. Atsushi Onita & Mr. Gannosuke, FMW 11/4/1991 - GREAT

Classic Goto tag where he puts a graphic beatdown on a clear underdog. In this case that is young boy Mr. Gannosuke. Even though this was presumably a houseshow, Goto beat the shit out of the kid, full on stiff lariats and chair edges to the face, and Gannosuke bled a good deal. I enjoyed Ricky Fuji here too, as he hit some nice worked punches and elbow drops to the cut. Onitas hot tags are of course super over, and I really liked the ending run with Gannosuke getting to shine a bit with some basic dropkicks and suplexes. Facebuster finish looked brutal as hell, too.

TARZAN GOTO DOCUMENTATION

EMLL in 1990 #2 - 1/12/1990

Watch

Aguilita Solitaria & La Aranita & Mascarita Sagrada vs. Espectrito & Pequeno Goliath & Piratita Morgan

Minis get to stretch out for 3 long falls and do their thing and the result is accordingly good. Lots of fun matwork and armdrags ensue. Pequeno Goliath carries himself with some amazing swagger. The standout was obviously Mascarita Sagrada who just does amazing stuff. Lots of complex sequences built around whacky armdrag variations. I liked how the rudos would continue with their tactics throughout the 3^rd fall, building to another great technico comeback. They tease a big Espectrito/Mascarita showdown which is the hottest matchup here but end the match a little prematurely. Still, nothing to complain when you get 20+ minutes of quality lucha.

Mogur vs. Pierroth Jr.

On 1/5 we got a couple very good trios matches, and one week later we get the singles matches we want to see most coming out of each. Booking can be so easy. And this was a great little match between two overlooked workers. We start in great simplistic fashion with both guys really cranking a side headlock and a waistlock each. The whole match they did a great job working around simple moves. Pierroth Jr. works over Mogurs shoulder using repeated armdrags, really whipping him into the mat and Mogur wincing. Later Mogur gets some nice revenge by locking in ultra tight headscissors, he has a brutal looking armwringer too that drives Pierroths shoulder into the mat. They do some more swanky lucha moves aswell such as a cool sequence where they move from a pin attempt into tombstone reversals, and Pierroth has a few cool submissions including a sweet crucifix lock. There is some cheating – after all Pierroth Jr. had reduced Mogur to a bloody pulp the week before – and he hits one of the sneakier low blows you'll see here - but they deliver a great sheninangless 3^rd fall. Pierroth Jr. destroying Mogur by picking him up and ramming him into the posts repeatedly ruled. Mogur builds a nice comeback out of that and we get a classic lucha third fall with crazy dives, desperation selling for an attempted surfboard etc. I bit on the nearfall for the crucixion hold and I really liked how they would take short breathers to how how spent they were. Finish was a simple move and worked. Not the most epic lucha title match, no top rope moves or big bumps, but they made everything they did count and built a great match. Classy stuff, maybe a hidden gem (does it count as hidden if it was on OJ's blog?).

 Angel Azteca vs. Emilio Charles, Jr.

Good title match as you'd expect from two of mexicos most reliable workmen. However the match was a little short and it lacked the selling that the previous Pierroth/Mogur match had. On the other hand it was more spectacular with big dives and both guys taking huge bumps for maximum drama. I would've liked to see more matwork.

The Library

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #18

 Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka, Michinoku Pro 1/14/1997 - EPIC

These matches were the BattlARTS guys show up on random Michinoku Pro cards to scare the fans with their violence are always awesome and this was no exception. There were some pretty high end shootstyle exchanges here, Onos slick grappling and Otsukas wrestling stood out, but they uncorked some heinous violence too. Ikeda and Ono did their thing, throwing Otsuka to the floor where the would send him into the rows street fighting kicks. At one point Ikeda was unloading bare knuckle fists left and right to Otsukas face, who could only try to buckle him to the ropes and go for a suplex (as Otsuka does). Great moment where Ishikawa connected a headbutt to the back of Ikedas head to help Otsuka land a suplex. Ono looked fierce again throwing punches, kicks, and getting ragdolled by Otsuka throws. Ishikawa wasn't in the match a ton but rest assured he and Ikeda had their moments punching each in hurty fashion. Finish was pretty brutal too as an Ono kick almost turns Otsukas lights out. He barely gets to his feet only to eat a brutal Ikeda lariat right to his face followed by an absolute slaughter of a kick combo. Otsuka is dead and Ishikawa has a go at Ikeda after the bell. Classy stuff.

Takeshi Ono & Masao Orihara vs. Mamoru Okamoto & Ryuji Hijikata, BattlARTS 5/10/1998 - FUN

Dominant showing from the Tonpachi Machine Guns. They just kicked ass and made their opponents eat shit. While Ono was fully embracing Oriharas scumminess at this point, he was still lighting up people with some spectacular kicks and submissions. Okamoto and Hijikata ate lots of painful looking kicks and knees in this. Kind of liked Okamoto who's an FMW guy trying hard to pass as a BattlARTS dude, kind of the Fake Ikeda to Hisakatsu Oyas Fake Ishikawa. He had a nice German and nice kicks. Other than and a nice moment where he and Hijikata hit a train of double stomps on Orihara this was kind of a squash. I enjoy the Tonpachi Machine Guns show so I enjoyed this.

TAKESHI ONO DOCUMENTATION PROJECT