1990 Match of the Year

Atsushi Onita/Tarzan Goto v. Kendo Nagasaki/Masanobu Kurisu FMW 4/1/90

PAS: Just a hellacious balls to the wall street fight, taking everything great from Memphis brawls like Fabs v. Moondogs and amping it up just a bit. The crazy thing about this match, is you know that there is a directors cut of this match which is just as good focusing on the other two guys off camera. When we are watching Nagasaki recklessly hurling chairs at Goto's head, Kurisu is assuredly off camera kicking Onita with toe of his boot in the eye. This feels like a career match for Nagasaki who is an unhinged maniac, he comes into the match dressed in sweatpants and a white T-shirt looking like a guy home sick with the flu, and he is a whirling dervish, chasing Goto through the audience flinging chairs like Donkey Kong throwing barrels. We get some great Onita melodrama selflessly covering Goto with his body to ward off chair shots and emoting deeply. Kurisu may be one of my favorite wrestlers ever, this shlubby fat balding guy, who comes into a wrestling match with no fidelity to the traditions of safety and appropriateness that wrestling has been bound by. He will kick you with the toe of his boot, headbutt you in places you aren't suppose to be headbutted in, chop you in the throat, chair shot you with weird angle and edges. This kind of reckless disregard is perfect for this kind of brawl. Everyone is Kurisu here and he is the king of this grubby kingdom. The whole match goes 9 minutes, doesn't outstay it's welcome, and ends when it should. It is problamatic that enjoy this kind of crazy violent shit, it would be healthier for me if I didn't, but this match appeals to my darker angels and does it well.

ER: What a match! This really feels like a total Segunda Caida match (whatever that means). Nagasaki really is dressed as Man Playing XBOX on a Wednesday and Kurisu is dressed as Man Running Errands; Goto is dressed in comfort fit sweat attire, truly the worst collection of tight fitting sweat clothing you've seen, and Onita is all mummied up in bandages and tape, and we have a fight. I agree with Phil about Nagasaki in this match, really did feel like a career performance. I've never seen him look this inspired, and the hate in his eyes as he beats up Goto makes it look as if he were told he would not be paid tonight, right before the match started. Nagasaki knows how to make use of a bunch of chairs here, hitting both Onita and Goto with them at totally unpleasant angles. Kurisu doesn't even look like a guy in this match, just wandering around in his button down tucked into jeans. Then he pairs off in the ring with Goto and heeeere's where Kurisu gonna Kurisu. The boots he throws at Goto are the best you've ever seen. Watching those kicks and you finally understand what it means to put the boots to someone. He just beats the hell out of Goto, throws some famously nasty headbutts, and Onita drops him a bunch with his great over the shoulder powerbombs. This was all epic painful madness, the best part of those early year FMW shows. It was a fed where Jimmy Del Ray could just hang around and not look like the biggest skuzz.


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