Top 30 Thursday - Other Japan #29. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara, UWF 7/8/85

This is real interesting as it comes just two weeks after the match that placed at #30 on the OJ ballot, which was Fujiwara getting kicked around by Super Tiger before sinking in a knee bar for the win. In theory Takada should be studying tape, remembering what Tiger did right in that match (pick Fuji apart with leg kicks that he couldn't catch), and what he did wrong (wing kicks into Fuji's waiting arms, allowing him to be taken to the ground and dismantled in Fujiwara's element). Takada is a kicker, so we'll see how this goes.

Takada actually takes it to the ground fairly early, locking in a side headlock, but you get the feeling that Fujiwara knows he's not in danger, and (as Fuji does) he calmly waits for his opening before getting an easy sweep and dropping down with a kneebar. Takada starts wildly kicking him with his free leg and that really does seem like a good way to get somebody to stop twisting you knee, and eventually just gets to the ropes. Fujiwara gets a great takedown and pretty much toys with Takada on the ground. Goes for a kimura from the bottom, then easily takes Takada's back when he feels like it. Takada gets to the ropes and Fujiwara shows he is the originator of the "I got 'til 5" as he just rests on Takada's back as Takada's face is smooshed into the mat, waiting for Fuji to get off him. THEN FUJIWARA STOMPS HIM AS HE'S STANDING UP!!!!

Oh that's fucking awesome. 2 minutes in and already Fuji is smacking this kid around on rope breaks. Takada gets up PISSED and rushes him into the corner and kicks the shit out of him, slapping him on the back of the head until Fuji is curled up in a ball letting the ref break it up. And Takada rushes around the ref and toes Fuji in the head!!

More grappling and Fujiwara does one of my favorite takedowns ever by just grabbing a leg and deadweighting it, forcing Takada to have to drop to the mat with him. Fujiwara is going to take that leg home and mount it in his fucking bathroom. It makes me think that Takada's kickpads and boots are probably working against him in this kinda situation. They seem to be giving Fuji something easy to grab onto and twiiiiisssst. But Takada keeps grabbing ropes and then standing up and leg kicking the holy hell out of Fuji's legs, making him curl up in a ball in the corner again. The ref breaks them up again and Fuji is so fucking awesome as he stoicly limps out to the center of the ring to meet Takada. He worked every goddamn day at that factory (double shifts when he could get 'em!) and you never heard him complain, not ONCE!

God those leg kicks all caught up at once and Fujiwara is a sitting duck. Orrrrrr he's playing possum and suckering Takada to get in close for some grappling. Look, I don't care how fucking cute that baby bear that you saw while backpacking looks, do NOT go near it. That fucker weighs 200 lb. and you know mama is lurking nearby. Just keep walking...or take it down with leg kicks. Fujiwara goes back to yanking the leg off and Takada barely makes those ropes this time, but Fuji just YANKS him back to the middle with evil intentions! The ref breaks it up though and Takada soccer kicks Fuji as he's getting up! These guys are breaking rules like motherfuckers and it is AWESOME!!

And 10 seconds later Fuji does Takada a favor. To get him from thinking about how sore that knee of his is, Fuji decides to just kimura the hell of that arm, trying to touch that hand to the back of Takada's head. Takada taps, and I pray Fujiwara stands up and does an exaggerated Vince strut around the ring on his bum wheels, but dude is hurting. We fade out with Takada being tended to as Fujiwara hunches over, massaging his swollen legs. Both guys are gonna be hurting in the morning.

80's Results and Reviews

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NWA Wildside- Throwback Review Episode 36

NWA Wildside was an awesome early 2000's promotion run out of a barn in the middle of nowhere Georgia. They really were one of the only promotions to pull off R rated sex and violence wrestling without devolving into puerile Russo humor. More Abel Ferrera then Dennis Dugan. Guys like AJ Styles, R-Truth and Abyss started out there, and they had a bunch of really fun Southern veterans, and the best promo guy in indy wrestling history in Jeff G. Bailey. Episode 36 is the earliest they have up, and I will do a couple of these a week until I catch up to them

http://www.twnworldwide.tv/nwawildside36.html

5/14/00

Show starts with a Pulp Fiction style rundown of previous weeks. They are setting up a Shank v. Scottie Wren match, and Shank is as awesome as I remember him. He is working an Oz inmate gimmick, he has crazy tattoos, a creepy high pitched voice and tells Wren he has to bend over and take it like a man. We also get an quick intense Jim Cornette promo with the Cole twins talking about Bad Attitude.

Rusty Riddle v. Skyfire

Riddle is an 80's WWF job guy who was working a biker gimmick. I remember him in a pushed tag team at one point in Wildside, although this appears to be before that. Skyfire worked as EZ Money in ECW and Jason Jett in the dying days of WCW. This was kind of a mess, as they seemed to be on different pages for most of this. Riddle had an impressive rope walk, but no other big spots. Finish had an unnecessary ref bump.

We get a pretty generic Jeff G. Bailey promo, he does compare team NCW to the Cornelia chapter of Act-Up and call someone a dirty Mexican who wants to steal the hubcaps off of his Corvette, but this was mostly just a typical heel manager promo. I know I will see better from Bailey in the future.

Silky Boom Boom v. Ricky Noble

This was Noble's debut and he had a nice monkey flip, but kind of blew his finisher. Nothing to see here

Scottie Wren v. Shank

Shank is a better promo then a wrestler, but he did have kind of an enjoyable Ahmed Johnsonish green guy doing awkward highspots charm. He went up early for a plancha, slipped off and then just threw himself over the top with a nasty tope. Wren had some nice fatboy highspots too, although much of this match was pretty ugly. Finish comes with a Timber the Lumberjack chair shot to Shank, and then a save from champion Stone Mountain (currently stinking up TNA as Abyss)

Eddie Golden v. AJ Styles

Eddie Golden is a long time Southern indy guy, he is the nephew of Jimmy Golden and really great. Styles is a little green at this point, but an athletic freak and he and Golden work really well together. Golden works him over nicely with Styles bumping big and breaking out a nice highspot or two. Still will all of AJ's backflips, I was probably most impressed by Golden's nasty back elbow. Finish gets telegraphed a bit as babyface color guy Steve Martin (not working a Steve Martin gimmick) mentions that AJ Styles and Rick Micheals are the only two guys he can trust. Ref gets bumped and Martin slides in the ring to make the count on Golden (he has some sort of power in the company, I am just jumping in here), Styles gets up before 3 and attacks Martin, AJ then jumps his tag partner Jorge Estrada and we get a big AJ heel turn.

Very watchable overall show, the Golden v. Styles match and post match angle was definitely the highlight, but we really didn't get any of the transgressive weirdness or crazy violence that made Wildside so awesome.

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