SEGUNDA CAIDA DECLARES WAR!!! 2/12/93

WE DECLARE WAR

ER: This is a handheld, and I can't think of a much nerdier way to spend a Saturday morning than watching a camcorder-documented recording of a small Japanese wrestling promotion from 20 years ago.

PAS: People have been going nuts over New Japan slugfests lately, but Ishii v. Shibata would be the third stiffest match on an average WAR show, so we are bringing back WAR Wednesdays!!

1. Yuji Yasuroka vs. Bestia Salvaje

ER: This match is joined in progress so we only get 3 minutes or so, but even in 3 minutes of matwork, a lightning fast majistral and a big dive you could tell how amazing Salvaje was in the 90s.

PAS: This would have been a fine CMLL tourney lucha match, but hard to get much of a sense of a 2 minute finish

2. Yoshiro Ito vs. Koki Kitihara

ER: This is also joined in progress and then we also get the back of an Asian man's head in the way of the camera for the first couple minutes. He was in the way of all the punches, and then moved in time for the chinlock sequence. Good gag, dude. But we still get a few awesome minutes of no-cooperation suplexes and hard kicks to the face and chest. Felt like something if we got even 7 minutes of it uninterrupted, could have been a lost 90s gem.

PAS: I am not sure about a gem, as Ito has never shown me much, but Kitihara is perfectly willing and able to face kick and clothesline and I enjoyed it.

3. Chavo Guerrero/Masao Orihara vs. Kodo Fuyuki/Nobukazu Hirai

ER: Fuyuki and Hirai beat the piss out of Orihara which is what you wanted out of this because Fuyuki and Hirai can dish a beating and Orihara can die. But then it grows into something much more and gets GREAT. Once Chavo tags in Hirai starts bumping all around and we get all sorts of great sequences with Orihara tagging in and getting beaten up in between trying death defying stupid moves to the floor. Orihara is obviously a bump machine but also has really great offense, dishing out a brutal clothesline and piledriver and a mad senton. Hirai dishes out the chubby frankensteiner and holy shit this gets goooooood. I really liked the team of Fuyuki and Hirai (Fuyuki especially is really awesome in this, as even though he was a part of some awesome Footloose tags a few years earlier I really love tubby Fuyuki the best), and Chavo works stiffer here than I recall him working in any of the 80s sets (though not a shocking thing to see happen in WAR). The dead lift suplex that Chavo ends the match with would impress Karelin.

PAS: Yeah this was totally badass. Total treat to see Chavo do his thing, he was still really agile and impressive at this later part of his career, the finish run was pretty intricate and fast and he worked it perfectly, in between wandering in and slapping dudes in the mouth. Orihara takes some nutty bumps and unloads quite a bit, Hirai hit all of his stuff which he doesn't always do, and fat pissed off Fuyuki was great. I loved him running in to break up a pin and just smashing Orihara's head into the mat like he was trying to break a coconut. Very good match

4. El Samurai vs. Ultimo Dragon

ER: This right here would have been the reason I bought this show if it were 1998. Now I'm far more interested in watching the barrel chested guys punch each other in the neck. This ends up going full 30 minute draw and it's pretty damn good and more proof that Samurai was the most underrated junior of the 90s. The opening matwork is really engaging as they trade submissions and reverse holds in cool ways. It never really felt like they were just filling time. Samurai goes full on dick city and Garvin stomps every inch of Ultimo's arm, then wraps him up in all sorts of triangle variations that probably seemed pretty far out 20 years ago (and still look cool today). Dragon eventually don't give no damn about it, but you all expected that so oh well. Ultimo still does some cool and unexpected things, like muay thai knees from the clinch and a sweet dive past the turnbuckles, so I can't hate too much. Crowd goes nuts for the home stretch, and this didn't feel anywhere close to its 30+ minute run time. FAR exceeded my expectations.

PAS: Yeah I was dreading watching these guys go 30, but this was pretty good. It reminded me of the really great Eddie v. Dragon WCW houseshow match I saw back in the day. All the matwork early looked good, and they had some fine midrange stuff too. I thought the end run was pretty great as both guys showed a ton of desperation trying to get the win.  You don't normally see juniors go this long, but they filled the time.

5. Takashi Ishikawa vs. Curtis Iaukea Jr.

ER: Dull match format is dull as Iaukea controls with chinlocks and stomps, before Ishikawa takes it home by getting all his fun old sumo man offense in, with cool falling clotheslines and uppercuts. There may be a good match here if you switch up some move order and control segments. This wasn't it. I hate 50/50 move trading matches, but one guy taking his 50 up front, when the other guy takes his 50 on home is pretty pointless.

PAS: Some OK Ishikawa stuff, but this was a waste of that awesome dude

6. Ashura Hara vs. Masashi Aoyagi

ER: This was really cool and was probably the match I was most looking forward to on paper. Aoyagi brings an "invader" vibe to a pro wrestling ring and the fans are amped for him as he kicks at guys wearing WAR track suits. Hara comes out to Van Hagar and the fans are down. And then we get 10 awesome minutes of a karate guy kicking Hara around the ring while Hara worked in comebacks. Hara worked this match as a cool fusion of Fujiwara and Tenryu, really taking a beating and selling like Fujiwara, just trying to avoid kicks and stumbling all around before launching back with headbutts. But then carried himself like Tenryu, throwing nice clotheslines and attempting to bully Aoyagi. Aoyagi showed tons of charisma and the fans were way into him, throwing a chair at Hara and launching all sorts of kicks and strikes at him. He built up to an awesome spot where he tore off his gi, a really cool strap lowering spot...but then followed it up with backing away from Hara. Huh. Needed some work on his timing there. I like the gi tearing in theory, then. Aoyagi was good at showing shortcomings in his style, as he would go for big kicks and miss, which would always allow Hara to get back in the game. Ending felt like it needed one more big move, but overall this delivered big.

PAS: This is a match which on paper could go one of two ways, it could be a lumpy violent enjoyable potato fest, or it could reach that next level of transcendent brutality which makes WAR, WAR. This was closer to the first then the second. I love the awkward recklessness of Aoyagi's style, every kick doesn't land clean, but when it does it lands with an explosion. I did also think this ended a bit abruptly, it didn't need an endless finish run, but a couple more exchanges might have pushed it.

7. Genichiro Tenryu/John Tenta vs. Great Kabuki/Haku

ER: Hashimoto shows up at ringside before the match and the fans go apeshit as Tenta holds Tenryu back. They desire Hash's amazing brand of asskicking. This is a 17 minute match that almost seems too short. I would have loved this as a 30 minute draw. You really get a sense of how massive Tenta is when he matches up against Haku and just towers over him. Tenta works a little too soft at first for WAR but soon realizes where he's at and dishes some great elbow drops and knee lifts. Haku and Kabuki more than make up for any early softness by dishing a fierce beating to Tenryu. Kabuki's short left uppercut is a thing of beauty and Tenryu sells every shot to his ear and/or throat great (there is an above average chance that Tenryu was just getting hit in the ear and/or throat). Haku busts out some neat stuff too, just unleashing an insane slap/chop attack on Tenryu at one point, just flying at him with both arms before dealing a great sit out powerbomb. Kinda looked like he may have been pissed at Tenryu for kicking him with the toe of his boot one too many times. Kabuki and Haku make an awesome team of two asskickers, hardly ever using moves, just being vicious ear/nose/throat specialists. Tenryu's comebacks are the best, throwing some of the hardest chops I have EVER seen him throw. The last 5 minutes are just incredibly great with Kabuki decimating Tenryu's ear some more, Tenta tagging in and beating down some dudes (GREAT spot included Tenta setting up the Earthquake splash and the crowd going nuts, but then Kabuki hitting him with the mist after Tenta runs the ropes). This was all awesome stuff and pretty much exactly what you'd want.

PAS: I loved this match, this was that next level shit the previous match didn't get to. Haku is a really hit and miss guy during his career, you get flashes of the psychotic ass kicker you want him to be, but sometimes that guy isn't there. He is the distillation of all your hopes and dreams here, and Haku and  Tenryu just tear into each other and it is glorious. Kabuki is great too, I love his little uppercuts and Tenryu sells them like he had a roll of dimes in his hand. Finish run got really exciting and I loved the Kabuki mist counter of the Earthquake splash, felt like something which would have been a legendary spot if 1989 Muta worked 1990 Earthquake at a Summerslam.