They Say Dan Severn Has a lot of Water on His Brain

Dan Severn vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri NWA New Jersey  6/24/95 - EPIC

PAS: This was probably a bad match to start this project with, because it really sets an impossibly high bar. This was on a high school football field in Williamstown New Jersey, and Tarzan Goto is sitting on a folding chair on the track watching the match. This is worked like a super amped up PWFG match, with Severn aggressively shooting in for takedowns and suplexes and Tajiri throwing kicks and using his speed to counter Severn's power, it feels like I was watching an Earth 2 Tajiri where he ends up trained by Funaki and fighting in Pancrase. Tajiri hits a plausible shootstyle enziguiri. Severn is awesome in this, he is totally amped up and just hurls Tajiri with suplexes, he reminded me a bit of peak Brock here especially in the where he walks through a low kick by Tajiri, hurls him with a belly to belly suplex, right into a german suplex, right into a choke. I couldn't believe how good this was, I would have lost my shit watching this in the bleachers at a 1995 indy show.

ER: I don't think my brain would have actually understood this match had I seen it live in 1995. I'm almost positive I would have thought it was a UFC fight. Just think how much this match must have stood out on this card, which was likely littered with Ace Darling and Tommy Cairo and Metal Maniac and Johnny Gunn matches. Those matches would have looked like normal pro wrestling to me. In comparison, this glorious 4 minutes would have looked like something vaguely unprofessional was happening. I had no idea these two ever even crossed paths, had no clue Tajiri even worked in the states in '95, and felt bad for the promotion since apparently they only sold one ringside VIP ticket and it was to Tarzan Goto. I assumed Severn just worked local heavyweights, or top heavyweights for whatever promotion brought him in. And I've never seen Tajiri work anything close to shootstyle, and from this match he seems really good at it! The whole thing is perfection. The ring is outdoors on a high school football field, Severn is warming up on the track in between the ring and bleachers, an old woman who looks like an overly nosy neighbor is holding Severn's belts, and the camera lingers on Tarzan Goto - arms crossed, pantless - sitting ringside. God, what if Goto fought Rockin' Rebel on this card?? The match itself is hot, Tajiri throwing low kicks, Severn throwing his major size advantage into takedowns, and some of the best grappling I've seen all year (and right now we're not exactly lacking in guys working a grappling style). Severn tries to sandbag Tajiri to the mat and seeing Tajiri reverse was really exciting, felt like seeing Royce maneuvering guys into danger. The enziguiri was really great and reminded me of shootfight nonsense that Sakuraba would pull. The final roll through was awesome with Severn trying to choke and roll, moving to mount, and then we get a couple Lesnerian throws with a huge belly to belly and a low fast German, locking in the choke for good measure. I had not heard one note of this match's existence until now, and here we are, witnessing 90s indy greatness.

Dan Severn vs. Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart 10/28/95 NWA New Jersey - SKIPPABLE

PAS: This would be sometime in between the Anvil's two WWE stints, right after his brief WCW run. This was pretty basic stuff, Severn out powers Neidhart, Anvil stalls a bit, takes over with a cheapshot, hits some forearms and more cheapshots, eventually gets caught and beat. Severn didn't really do anything to distinguish himself outside of the final throw and armbar. Most of this match was worked like Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart v. the masked WHO. Anvil does have really nice forearms and the finish was ok which almost kept this out of the skippable realm

ER: That other match felt beamed from another dimension, but THIS match feels like a perfect representation of what 1995 indy wrestling was all about. Neidhart works like a name guy who doesn't really want to bump, and Dan Severn's part really could have been played by any half trained meathead babyface. It felt like a minimal bump veteran working against a local popular former football player who set the state high school rushing record 15 years prior, or a match against the owner of a popular local chain of pizzerias. But that's not really a bad thing. I've watched and enjoyed plenty of those kind of matches. Neidhart wants to avoid getting thrown by Severn, and there were a couple moments of him scrambling for ropes once Severn gets his mitts on him. I wish after getting to the ropes Neidhart had thrown more cheap shots instead of stalling on the floor. The match could have used much more of either guy in control, or more of either guy doing anything. The finish is great though, as Severn upends Neidhart with a big throw and locks in a side choke and armbar.