New Footage Friday: FUJISAKI! KATO! LAWLER! BRUISER! ICEBERG! DUSTY MAC!!

Tadahiro Fujisaki vs. Shigeo Kato WYF 1998?

PAS: Fujisaki is the future Fugo Fugo, a long time Segunda Caida favorite, and he shows that early in his career he had that same lack of regard for his own and his opponents well being. This is 10 minutes of two George Takano trainees trying to impress their mentor by holding absolutely nothing back. Fujisaki opens the match with a sick lariat and they do some pretty good scrambling on the mat. Kato tries to break a kneebar by elbowing Fujisaki right in the back of the head and neck, Fujisaki responds by scrambling to his feet and reckless stomping Kato in the head and we are off. Kato gets cut from a head butt and tries to drive his knee through Fujisaki's head. There is a section with Kato working a figure four, which isn't what we came for, before we get back to slapping each other in the face until Fujisaki starts spitting blood. We get a cool offensive run at the end with Fujisaki winning with a crazy slam into a chokeslam. Sebastian is so great at digging up this indy sleaze, and this was a gem.

MD: This gave you a little bit of everything in <10 minute package. These two are Shinichi Takano trainees and they leave it all out there. I liked Fujisaki a lot here. You got the sense he knew he wasn't Kato's equal on the mat so he rushed him with a clothesline to start and when he got some distance later after getting stretched a bit, he just stomped him mercilessly in the face. Kato decided the best way to respond was to mostly wipe out on a flip dive. By the end of it, both guys were bleeding and slapping each other head on, with Fujisaki escalating things to a couple of big bombs including the press up turning chokeslam that he won it with. His bleeding maw post-match was a face that only a mother or a trainer could love.

ER: Not a ton better than an unseen Japanese indy scum match surfacing, with two young workers stiffing each other for 8 fun minutes. The poise isn't there, but who needs poise when you can throw a lariat as mean as Orihara and palm strikes nastier than Liger's? Fujisaki's match starting lariat really sets a ton, and I was into all the ways Kato would fight back from that. Kato was more comfortable on the mat and threw sharp knees dead on. Kato even breaks out a surprising tope con hilo (that Fujisaki doesn't totally bother catching) and that reminds me of Orihara too. I know these are Nakano trainees but maybe he got some other SWS alumni to help. Fujisaki throws some of the hardest palm strikes I've seen. No glancing blows, just full straight arm shots, like he's throwing a shot put. They really highlighted the actual power of palm strikes as usually they don't read as well as even worked punches. Fujisaki bleeds from the mouth and Sato hits a lariat maybe as hard as Fujisaki's match starting shot. These are the Young Lions matches we as a people need. Great find. 

Jerry Lawler vs. The Bruiser MCW 11/10/01

MD: Bruiser passed away from Leukemia back in November. He was a stalwart MD wrestler for years and years. This was a good showing, really one of the better 00s Indy Guy vs Lawler match you'll see. Bruiser measured his time and interacted with the crowd well and his punches were top notch, with Lawler answering in kind. That was a lot of the early structure actually, with Bruiser trying something (like punches in the corner or a kick out of a test of strength) and Lawler answering threefold. Lawler was actually a little too dominant here, but that's because Bruiser was ultimately going over, I think. I would have liked a couple more minutes of Bruiser leaning on Lawler (after a mule kick in the corner gave him an advantage) before the strap went down and we got the pile driver(s) and screwy finish, but it's really hard to fault the execution of anything here.

ER: This was fantastic, one of the best Lawler vs. Local Indy Star matches we've seen. MCW was one of those feds that I was inordinately familiar with just because of their PWI presence. Earl the Pearl, Romeo Valentino, Jimmy Cicero, I knew these names better than my own grandmother's. Bruiser was someone who I had on a couple VHS but haven't actually thought about in years, and this match makes me want to go out and find all the Bruiser that exists. This was Lawler working with a best case Louie Spicolli, and it was tremendous. Lawler takes an excellent high backdrop bump, throws a dozen different punches from a dozen different angles, and Bruiser staggers around constantly checking his mouth and nose for blood. Bruiser has a gorgeous right hand of his own, and there is literally nothing more I want from pro wrestling than a couple nice bumps, and several great punches. It's my base wrestling desire, and this is a great version of that. Lawler keeps setting up Bruiser for different kinds of perfect punches, like letting his sit up before flattening him with a right hook, or dropping straight down with a fistdrop, or throwing a combo before a snapmare to set up a middle buckle fistdrop. The crowd is hot for all of it, which makes it so much better. I love how Bruiser would pop Lawler and Lawler would fire back with his own, can only imagine how stoked I would be if I were there in Hampstead. The announcers absolutely lose their minds when Lawler drops the strap, audio going into the red, just losing it for Lawler strap down punches. The finish has a bunch of well done bullshit, like Bruiser shoving Lawler hard into the ref (nice ref bump into the ropes), two Lawler piledrivers, and a hard hidden weapon punch "not like this!!" finish. RIP Bruiser, you were clearly gifted. 

PAS: I went to a bunch of MCW shows around this time, and didn't have particularly fond memories of the Bruiser, but this really made me want to revisit that stuff, because he looked great here. Lawler is both the greatest puncher and the greatest seller of punches in wrestling history, but I think you have to give Bruiser some credit for how nasty his stuff looked. Just a classic Lawler punch out, with King throwing hands against a younger stronger kid (I loved the homer announcers saying "Lawler has been in there with some tough wrestlers, but Bruiser maybe the best guy he has wrestled). I didn't even mind the Lawler stunner which is normally the bane of my existence. You don't normally see the King lay down in these Indy matches, but a wrench to face will do it. Classic stuff. 

Iceberg vs. Dusty McWilliams PWA 12/26/15

MD: Methodological violence. Iceberg (and Bailey) was a face here and this was an escalation from a bullrope match the show before. As a face, he played to the crowd at times without ever losing what made him so imposing. This was a cage full of weapons where the weapons come into play far more than the cage. There's a brand of cage match (generally my least favorite) where the cage is primarily used to help guys who don't usually go up get to the top rope. While this fell along those lines, it was really mostly to contain the action and center the weapon shots. Transitions were good, with McWilliams taking things early, switching from weapon to weapon, until he gave Iceberg too much distance and he just plunged into him. Later on, he took back over after Bailey got Iceberg a fork and he decided to use that instead of bats and chairs. Finish centered around thumbtacks, with McWilliams grimly missing a moonsault and Iceberg hitting a splash. The match definitely lived up to the gimmick, though the cage was really just to steady them on the top.

PAS: I thought this started out pretty bad, with kind of bad german suplex and some shots with a cookie sheet which looked weak and didn't even sound cool. It picked up big time after that with an awesome looking spot where McWilliams tries to hang Berg with a noose by climbing to the top rope, only for Iceberg to throw him over head off the top rope. We get some sick weapons shots, including some sort of hard plastic contraption which splinters in a sick looking way. Matt thought that Bailey handed Berg a fork, but that wasn't a fork it was the implement of destruction, which is a fucking paring knife. That Iceberg top rope splash is one of the great high spots of the 21st century, just a crushing monstrous violent crushing blow. McWilliams is fine, and I am adding the dog collar match to the queue, but this was an Iceberg show and he is just a force of nature. First ballot US Indy Hall of Famer.