Found Footage Friday: BLACK TERRY~! CEREBROS~! CUBAN ASSASSIN~! GRINGOS~! KANEMOTO~!

Koji Kanemoto vs. Cuban Assassin 11/4/95

MD: We rarely get to highlight what our old pal over at Armstrong Alley posts because it's usually in full episode form, but this absolutely stands out. Kanemoto was in the States for WCW syndi tapings to hype up Starrcade. Both he and Assassin were working these at the start of November but I have no idea where this is or how the booking came to be. There's some of what you'd expect here, Assassin going on the mic pre-match and calling everyone American Dogs and saying that he shook Kanemoto's hand because he wasn't an American Dog or just everyone getting to see Kanemoto do the Tiger Mask headlock to drop toe-hold spot or even the bs double count out finish where Assassin's valet stopped Koji from getting back into the ring. 

But in between all of that stuff, they were really going. Assassin asserted himself in the best ways, just powering Kanemoto over with a shoot-looking belly-to-belly and then dropping headbutts off the turnbuckles. He was more than happy to throw some standing ones too. Kanemoto, in return, would just chop him in the face or throw wild spinning kicks. This was in the old Tampa Sportatorium and these two did not feel at all out of place with whoever might have been destroying some poor jobber for Eddie Graham's amusement. Even in front of this mysterious indy crowd, even when they didn't have to, they came to work.

ER: When we heard a new Kanemoto American indy match had surfaced, America collectively held their breath while we waited to see which of the Jerry Flynn matches it would be. The singles match draw? The tag with Nishimura against Flynn and Dudley Dudley? Has American finally been given the Kanemoto/Dudley Dudley exchanges we've We still don't have the Flynn matches, but this is a fun one in its place. What this match has, that I can almost certainly guarantee the Flynn matches do not have, is a referee wearing a broad shouldered glittering tasseled blouse like he was the ringleader for an off-strip Las Vegas big cat show. Talk all you want about David Manning or Red Shoes trying to steal attention away from the wrestlers, I love a referee wearing the most garish shirt in Florida while working as an otherwise completely normal match. I also love the one commentator who, several times, insists that Ricky Santana is a much better wrestler than David Sierra, refusing to drop the argument after the other commentator said Sierra was the best Cuban wrestler he knew. 

But Cuban Assassin Sierra really did look great here. If a wrestler in 2023 wrestled the way Sierra did here, he'd be one of my current favorites. He was great at taking Kanemoto's strikes and had a lot of nice offense that he wasn't really allowed to do in his WCW role. Give me his short elbowdrop across the throat or his kneedrop springing off the bottom rope or his diving headbutts off the middle buckle and middle rope. Sierra will throw a baseball slide dropkick to set up a missed baseball slide that leads to him getting his ass beat around ringside, taking a nice posting in the process. He throws a powerbomb like Onita and takes a backdrop like a fat guy. 

I didn't really fall in love with Kanemoto until 2001/2002, but here he was a fun junior being held back by his choice in ring gear. If I took a shot every time he adjusted his obnoxious sash belt while he was supposed to be selling, I wouldn't have made it to the end of the match. He felt like a guy working worse versions of Tiger Mask and Muta spots - losing contact during the TM fast spinning drop toehold, overshooting and barely making contact on a moonsault - but looked far better just throwing kicks or elbows, or kneeling on Sierra's head while holding a single leg crab. Just because 1995 Kanemoto isn't as good as 1995 Cuban Assassin doesn't make this any less of a fun oddity, and now we know that David Sierra once hit a piledriver on Koji Kanemoto.

IWRG Retro 17 12/30/23

Miss Gaviota/Dinamic Black vs. Hammer/Eterno 1/22/11

MD: IWRG started doing the Retros a couple of weeks ago and we just figured it out. We'll catch up on the ones we missed later. Hammer here is Danny Casas. The match was best when he and Gaviota, being a very solid exotico, were in there together. They had the better, more competitive matwork, with Dinamic Black and Eterno half a step slower and more going through the motions. I didn't mind Black as a second banana rudo buddy here though. He just had less opportunity to do things as Gaviota got bigger reactions and took bigger, nastier bumps (including off hair throws). It went 3 falls with the rudos taking the first and Eterno getting to show off his big moves (Styles Clash and cross legged fireman's carry driver) in the latter two. Solid undercard stuff with a range of talent and experience overall, but it's the next match that's going to be the draw.

Terribles Cerebros (Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro) vs. Gringos VIP (Hijo Del Diablo/Avisman/Bombero Infernal) 1/22/11 - GREAT

MD: This hit just right. Primera was blink and you'd miss it but you'd miss a hell of a stage dive from Dr. Cerebro. Segunda had some control from Terry and co, fancy while keeping the gang warfare feel, until he edged too close to the wrong corner and got swarmed. That led to a massive beatdown full of Diablo honing in on his wound. The ref called the fall with Terry getting held and kicked over and over again. The tercera had escalating Gringos VIP beatdown, swarming and then having fun with some whips, and then allowing each guy on the other side to valiantly try to come back before stomping him down. They teased a few false comebacks there before Bombero and Avisman missed charges into the corners and ate dives by the Cerebros to set up Diablo and Terry and the savvy finish. I would have enjoyed a bit more coldhearted, bloody revenge from Terry, but a slick win is a revenge of its own, I suppose. Past that, this was pretty much what I wanted it to be.

PAS: This is always a great matchup. The peak of this feud was the year before, with Gringo Loco in the Bombero spot, but Bombero is always welcome. I just love when Black Terry gets into the crowd. He is such a force of nature, throwing chops and headbutts against Avisman to start the match and set up the Cerebro dive. Terry starts the match with a bandage on his head, and that obviously gets ripped off and he starts dripping. We get some brisk brawling lucha after that, and a fun finish. It isn't top level transcendent Terry, but an example of the great stuff he was doing week in and week out.