UWF 1/16/90

We are back on our 90's Indy kick, with reviews of al of the UWF shows from 1990 forthcoming.

Shigeo Miyato v. Kevin Kastelle

PAS: Kastelle was almost assuredly a Bart Vale trainee, and he had the South Florida service station black belt look, common amongst your Bart Vale guys. Miyato is a guy I remember from the late 80’s UWF as being really phlegmy although here he appears to have gotten some antibiotics. This was surprisingly good, I don’t remember caring for Miyato before, but he was bringing it here, with some really stiff kicks with an especially nasty Ringo Mendoza spin kick, and Kastelle sold pretty well for a guy who seemed to not know what he was doing.

TKG: Kkaselle is the taller of the two and they kind of work dominating American v underdog Japanese guy. Kastelle throws some mediocre kicks for dominating big guy. He has some really nice body shots to the belly and a couple of neat throws. There are a couple moments where he either does a nice job selling or is hurt. The match itself is bizarrely fun as it rally feels like a shoot match carefully scripted by DDP. Lots of spots that callback to earlier sections, things building toward payoffs in a really scripted way.

Minoru Suzuki v. Wellington Wilkins Jr.

PAS This was also really great. Wilkins spent a lot of time working a really nasty cravate variation, while Suzuki was dominating the stand up with some super nasty shots, including a totally potatoe shot dropkick which looked like it knocked Wilkins goofy. Suzuki also was really starting to develop his dickhead charisma, Wilkins isn’t the most demonstrative guy in the world but you were rooting for him.

TKG: Wilkins dominates large portions on the mat but Suzuki shrugs a bunch of his things off and keeps on knocking Wilkins down. And fuck is Suzuki a douchbag! At one point Wilkins is laying face down and Suzuki just stomps on his head. Wilkins has this complete “What the Fuck is wrong with you?” look. Suzuki knees Wilkins in the back during a rope break and Wilkins is just too much of a sportsman to have any enthusiasm in executing the receipt spot.


Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Tatsuo Nakano

TKG: Yeah this is the stuff. Nakano is great at this kind of hardhitting fast brawl. Nakano has gotten really slick and almost elaborate in his mat work. Whole story here is Nakano challenging and taking it to Fujiwara and Fujiwara catching Nakano with stuff. Nakano headbutts Fujiwara multiple times in the back and side of head. Fujiwara busts Nakano in the jaw multiple times with headbutts. The two trade nasty bodyshots. This was badass.
PAS: Nakano works this match like a guy in a boxing match down on the scorecards going into the last round. Not a ton of defense just a bull rush, Fujiwara is really great at countering and using his aggression against him, and there are also moments where he clearly gets pissed off and throws receipts. For a match built around body shots and headbutts, you got a pair of dudes who can throw a body shot and a headbutt.

Kazuo Yamazaki v. Yoji Anjo

TKG: When I last saw Yamazaki he could either work junior sprint or lethargic slow. Here he starts out fast and then moves into role of veteran guy who is pacing himself smarter than sprinting opponent. I think my favorite spot was Yamazaki eating a high Anjoh knee in order to catch it into a throw. Anjoh is really charismatic and does a fun post knck down grab-onto-the-bottom rope till the ref puts another distance between the two.

PAS: Yamazaki was in my top OJ 80’s ballot match, and some of my least favorite matches on the set. This may be the period he started to get good, as this wasn’t just Fujiwara dragging by the neck into something watchable. It is also possible that this was when Anjoh started getting really good and Yamazaki was yet again along for the ride, but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Nobuhiko Takada v. Akira Maeda

PAS: This is a matchup that can be really great, but this wasn’t one of those times. Really listless for large sections of the match, with neither guy showing much emotion. Individual spots were okay, but this felt like they were sleepwalking. They heated it up for the finish, but at that point it really was too little too late. This was the worst match on the card which is pretty bad for you two biggest stars.

TKG: Both of these guys have bulked up. Takada looks like if Samoa Joe ate Dick Slater with Maeda looking like if Dick Slater ate Samoa Joe. Although that would be a more dynamic match. They do an eye-poke restart. Takada pokes Maeda in the eye, they have to stop the match and look at Maeda’s eye before they can start again. I like match restarts but this one left me feeling like the two were jus futzing around till the eyepoke to do the hot restart. Felt like shoot Pat Patterson should have spent less time laying out the body of the opener and more on the main. Creative finish isn’t enough.