Found Footage Friday: I SHALL RETURN TO YOKOHAMA~! TIGER MASK~! ANJO~! DANDY~! SCORPIO~! SABU~! TAKAYAMA~! ABBY~!

Tokyo Pro 8/25/96

MD: This is more Found than New, with the Scorpio vs. Sabu match being the one most seen/known. Some of this you can find online.

First Tiger Mask/Yoji Anjo vs. Takashi Ishikawa/Yoshihiro Takayama

MD: Of course this is Takashi Ishikawa but that's ok because Takashi Ishikawa is still great. Here he's even older and has a mullet, grizzled as can be, trademark purple trunks a big more voluminous. Anjo and Tiger Mask are such a weird pairing, but they crack each other up in the pre-match interview and it's charming. I'd like to see a sitcom with these two. Anjo can be such a jerk. Sayama can be such a jerk, but it's weirdly wholesome when they're together. And of course Takayama is imposing and looks here like he could have been the villain from Karate Kid Part III. 

I'd love to say that my favorite stuff here was Tiger Mask up against some unique opponents, but we don't see him a ton against Takayama (mostly grappling when we do), and it just doesn't clear Anjo flexing. He does pretty well against Takayama honestly, but it's Ishikawa chopping the hell out of him in the ropes that stuck with me. Actually, Takayama wailing on him with forearms did too. I do love to see Anjo get beat up, sorry. That's not to say that Tiger Mask vs Ishikawa wasn't great, because it was. Tiger Mask did his spin out drop toe hold and looked as good as ever. He bridged up on his head just to show everyone he still could. He had his blue gear here, looking more inspired by Liger than inspirational to him. Finish had Anjo break up an Ishikawa Scorpion but then Ishikawa not break up Anjo's cool modified figure four, instead shouting for Takayama who had to tap. Overall, unique and a lot of fun.

ER: What a great mix of personalities and stiff work. Ishikawa looks so professional in his sit down interview because you can't see the mullet, then in the match he looks like he's doing Riki Choshu cosplay and it rules. It also rules that he clearly can't stand Yoji Anjo. Anjo is a guy who it seems a lot of people cannot stand, a babyface here only because of being teamed with Tiger Mask, but otherwise a man who is clearly miserable and cocky in equal measure, and I love that kind of self loathing overconfidence in a dangerous wrestler. Takayama during this era is the closest he ever can to being Hot. He had the slick back in the ponytail, his face wasn't yet entirely messed up, still had the one weird eye, but he wasn't as lumpy and horsey as he'd become in a few years. 

This was short but intense for the full nine minutes. Takayama and Anjo really went at it, loved the ways Anjo would drop fast hard knees into Takayama's legs (leading to the eventual tap) and the way Takayama started punching down to Anjo after letting him up from an armbar. Ishikawa only wanted to fight Anjo and Anjo hilariously played it off nonchalantly. When Ishikawa locked in a Scorpion Deathlock because he is TPW Choshu, he points over and yells at Anjo to no reaction from the crowd, and Anjo just kind of ignored it, shrugged, and adjusted his gear. I loved When Anjo threw several stiff kicks as the illegal man, dashing three hard shots off on Takayama before calling for Tiger Mask to throw a sweeping kick to finish. Tiger Mask looked good, and I was especially impressed by this wild physics-breaking moment where Takayama had him in a heel hook, and TM did his front roll kip up to escape, while Takayama never let go of him. I don't know how TM made it to his feet so smoothly while being trapped in a submission. 

Sabu vs. Black Wozuma

MD: This is Scorpio under a mask that has a bit of a stormtrooper or Stuka vibe to it. I don't know why Scorpio is under the mask but it doesn't hinder his work. He does a bit more with body language or head movement to help, but it's clearly Scorpio. No one else moves like him. This was exactly what you'd expect it to be and exactly what you'd want. Sheik is on the outside. They mat wrestle to start, and it's pretty gritty but it's not really what you came for. When things pick up, they really pick up. Sabu goes for a triple jump dive to the floor and Scorpio tosses a chair at him. After that, they play the hits. Sabu flies all over the place. When Scorpio flies, it's interesting, his slingshot somersault splash (which I've only seen Tiger Mask do so it's fun they're on the card together), a twisting splash, a splash allllll the way across the ring. Sabu hits an amazing triple jump back DDT. Scorpio catches his once with his side body attack but then gets nailed off the top rope with it a second time. Sabu goes through a table that doesn't look like it should break. That's when he gets the chants from the crowd, by the way. The hits played well for a game crowd. Post match, after he wins, Sabu tries to go through another table that looks like it shouldn't break and this time it doesn't, even after he keeps trying. They appreciate the effort. I'm wincing decades later. Wherever he is now he's still feeling that.

ER: What a strange happening in the uniquely cursed PACIFICO Yokohama. Why are the ceilings of this convention center so high? What happens in this building? Why would the ceilings possibly need to be so high and what kind of gas are they pumping into this preposterously cavernous room to make the crowd this quiet. This was the quietest crowd I've ever witnessed, in the most echoing building created, and it led to a fascinating study in Sabu and Scorpio having a full conversation in the ring. You didn't get to used to see something like this. Supposedly 4,500 people are there. It looks like 1,000 but the building is haunted and someone clearly fucked up a measurement somewhere so maybe there are 4,500 there who knows. Whatever is happening, there appears to be a moment where Sabu and Scorpio are working to get people involved, and they aren't really getting there, and the silence as they ramp up the action means we get an inside look at two greats calling their way through a match. 

At first, you get simple spot calling like "Watch the kick" and then it grows into an amusing back and forth between two of the best. Scorpio waffles Sabu with a clothesline and as he's pinning him says,"I got you there. You okay?" And as the hits get bigger, the banter evolves to a couple guys who sound like they're having a goof, while also killing each other with shots. Before Scorpio's slingshot splash, as he's dragging Sabu into position, he says, "It's gonna be stiff." It is! When he sets up much too far away for a top rope splash - I mean way across the ring - Sabu is chanting the entire time, "Oh you're gonna kill me. You're gonna break my ribs." It's an incredible look behind the curtain of two guys stiffing the hell out of each other, Scorpio landing heavy weight on Sabu's ribs a half dozen times, Sabu takes multiple bad crashes on moonsaults and takes a dive through a table on the floor. By the time this was over, Sabu had gone through three tables on four attempts. The fans catch up with them as the landings got worse, and the entire time our heroes sound like they're just having a laugh while beating each other up. I loved their fist fight after the bell and Scorpio's heavy pescado, Sabu still feeling the need to put himself through unbreakable tables in 1996. He moonsaulted ankle first onto a table that didn't budge, but I'm not sure it was worse that Scorpio doing a tumbleweed crotch first onto a chair. 

El Dandy vs. Gekko

MD: Gekko is Masao Orihara. He came out with a mask and then took it right off. This went five minutes or so before they did a great ref bump where Dandy move out of the way and Orihara flattened him with a dropkick to draw a DQ. Then Orihara went nuts including really lawn darting Dandy into the chairs and they restarted the match. He was maybe on the verge of victory when the bell ran again for the time limit and he obviously didn't like that. 

Along the way, Dandy looked like a million bucks. He was just hitting killer lariats and then clapping after the fact. He controlled a lot of this and everything he did looked great. The crowd didn't seem to want to go up for it until after the ref bump but afterwards they were with him. Late in the match he had a Gory Special on and brought the arms together and it looked pretty nasty. Orihara was a bit more all over the place, but he his springboard moonsault on the outside and was game taking all of Dandy's stuff. He almost won it with a kappo kick out of nowhere, but it wasn't meant to be. I'd call this a good Dandy showcase made better by Orihara's antics.

ER: This rocked, all of it. All of it rocked. Orihara is one of my very favorites, for his sincere punk attitude and the authenticity he brings to any match. He's extremely tough, works fast and stiff, and wears his emotions externally in a way I respond to (and crowds and wrestling officials seem to respond to). He's a menace in every way, attacking Dandy before he's announced and throwing him with a cool unstoppable overhead belly to belly. Everything Orihara does in a match is fueled by spite, and his sequences are so tight. Every landing looks hard, and yet he's clearly not unprofessional. He throws working punches, he feeds for Dandy when it's time for that, but in between he's just a damn menace. My favorite thing about Orihara is his commitment, specifically the way he commits to missed offense. He threw a missed clothesline here that was so beautiful I watched it a half dozen times. I don't tend to judge people negatively for poor missed clothesline, but I praise a wrestler to the heavens if he has a great one. Orihara's miss is one of the greatest I've seen. He swings so hard with his miss that it sends him off balance careening into the ropes, and he gets up looking pissed that it didn't land, just before he gets wasted by Dandy's. Everything about it was perfect. 

He's just a menace. His stomach kicks might be the best in wrestling. There's never light, always a firm connection, great placement. The way he strings his offense is so tough, the kind of guy who will suplex you but then run and drop a knee or senton on you before you even know he's approaching. His moonsault is a wrestling gift, never thrown with any kind of arc, just a violent fast whip onto Dandy. I even got into his (ever-present) beef with officials of all kinds. The way he dropkicks the ref to draw the DQ was such a great spot, as he had previously back elbowed the guy and shoved him across the ring, but this miss was another Classic Orihara Miss, where the dropkick landed flush while also looking like a complete accident. Great way to set up a mid-match DQ. When he convinces everyone for 5 more minutes, one of the first things he does is hit Dandy with a truly disgusting piledriver, dropping that man right on his head  and leaving Dandy looking like a man who did not expect to be dropped on his head. Maybe the thunder fire powerbomb after will snap him awake. When the time runs out on Orihara's second attempt at beating Dandy, he again argues with the ringside official for more time, and the exhausted look to the side this man gives is perfect. I'm surprised Orihara didn't knock him over the table.  

First Tiger Mask/Yoji Anjo vs. Abdullah The Butcher/Daikokubo Benkei

MD: Past a couple of Six-Mans from 82, this is the only Tiger Mask vs Abdullah encounter (and one more tag in September), and if youw ant to see Tiger Mask stomp and kick the crap out of a grounded Abdullah, this is the match for you. Overall, he wasn't in a ton. Pre-match, Abdullah did a promo backstage in English talking about how tough his partner was, or at least repeating it a few times. Always surreal to see. The joy here was Abby taking the fork to Anjo and then Anjo fighting back. Just when that was getting good and Anjo was getting revenge on the timekeeper's table with the fork, Benkei broke it up. Overall, he was fine, a big solid dude, but he's not the guy we were here to see. The previous tag was for the #1 Contendership and this was for the title and Anjo won it turning a bodyslam into a great Fujiwara Armbar. There are other encounters in Tokyo Pro between Abby and Anjo and now I'm curious if any made tape.

ER: A good match with a solid formula of cutting Anjo off from Tiger Mask, that would have benefitted from more Tiger Mask involvement. Daikokubo Benkei is a unique man with an extremely large head, but he is also not great and not a guy I'd like to see working the bulk of a tag. During the pre-match promo it really seems like Abdullah knows next to nothing about Benkei, referring to him almost exclusively as My Partner before eventually referring to him by a name that almost sounds close to Benkei. Tiger Mask's match opening work with Benkei might be the best part of this, as Tiger Mask shoot punches Benkei twice in the stomach while Benkei looks like he might toss his cookies. When Tiger Mask tries to snapmare him after, Benkei blocks it like a badass and stays standing. Anjo punches him in his giant head and hurts his hand doing so, it's the best. 

When the match settles down into a southern tag, it's from Abby stabbing Anjo with a fork while shrieking in the echoing Pacifico. Yes, this match settles down when the stabbing starts. Abby gives Anjo a tour of ringside so everyone can see how hard Anjo is getting stabbed and it gets good when a bloodied Anjo starts fighting back. But it's crazy how Abby somehow seems more violent doing his taped up finger strikes than he does literally stabbing someone. There was a slick moment where Abby caught a kick and swept Anjo's plant leg from under him. It got more heated and electric whenever TM would come in and save Anjo or fight off Benkei, and it was a great moment where Anjo started spiking Abby and drew the man's poisoned blood, leaking it all over the timekeeper's table before dropping several knees into his cut. I love how Anjo started shrieking like Abby during his comebacks, and how much louder Abby started shrieking while Anjo was driving knees down onto Abby's arm. Sick style clash, I had no clue how seldom Abby and TM ever crossed paths, and I wish we got them truly going at it. Glad we got what little work we did.  

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