RIP Jimmy Rave

Jimmy Rave vs. Bryan Danielson ROH 4/25/09

MD: Very role-driven and giving performance by Rave here. Despite a successful heel hook towards the end to make it exciting, one that Danielson wasn't afraid to sell as dangerous and damaging, this was almost all Dragon. He had this way of just crashing downwards onto Rave from any angle with brutal elbows, nasty holds, a dive, or even just these little grounded kicks whenever Rave actually did buy himself a moment to gloat. And of course, when Rave tried to hit one of those kicks himself, Danielson dodged it leaving him looking like a fool. Rave took everything, fed, and sold that the crowd was getting under his skin from the glorious pre-match moment where he had toilet paper on his shoe to shouting that he hated them as much as they hated him. Still, when Rave hit a knee out of nowhere or landed a quick pinfall or hold, he came off as credible and capable of turning the match around with a lucky shot or some help from Nana, even if he was ultimately at Danielson's mercy. Even as a wrestler that could have hit all sorts of things, he did exactly what he was supposed to serve the match and give the crowd what they were there to see.

Jimmy Rave vs. AKIRA NJPW 5/31/08

MD: Great showing by Rave, who felt like he more than belonged in this setting. I actually kind of loved the layout here, though I wish they leaned just a tiny bit more (not even a ton more) into it with the selling. After an even opening exchange of hard-fought but classy chain wrestling, Rave got knocked to the floor with a dropkick and turned on a dime, as he was so good at doing, by cheapshotting AKIRA as he was opening the ropes for him to get back in. The big turning point after that was Rave catching AKIRA with a gutbuster reversal off a plancha on the floor. Throughout the rest of the match, AKIRA's stomach and Rave's knee would be entry points to cutoffs and comebacks for each wrestler but wouldn't necessarily be overtly sold. They'd have other offensive focuses, but Rave would be able to cut off with a quick knee or by hitting a dropkick counter to shut down a top rope move by AKIRA, while AKIRA got some hope by working Rave's knee after catching him in a tree of woe. It all led to a big spot where Rave got his knees up to counter a top rope splash and both guys ended up reeling to set up the finishing stretch. So it was a big part of the match and interestingly used, but didn't wholly dominate the match as a whole, letting it be other things as well. I still would have liked a little bit more buckling of the knee for the last set of counters, but considering Rave was going over, it probably protected AKIRA a little bit that he didn't show that damage. Anyway, this was a really good showcase for a lot of the different things 2008 Rave could do and could be.

ER: Did you know Jimmy Rave worked a BOSJ? I certainly did not. I somehow remember Rave working Dragons Gate but had no idea he worked some New Japan dates. This match is the same length as the Slim J match down below but paced very differently, working some slower deliberate grappling and saving some bigger spots for the finish. I still think Rave was somehow faster at age 36 than he was at age 26, and it's neat to see how his skillset evolved over the decade. One of his best skills is really committing to running into offense, and it provided some of the best moments here. I love the way he charges into AKIRA's boots and holds his jaw after, occasionally going back to that jaw even while selling his knee later. He's great at taking hard dropkicks right to the chest, never bumping early to cheat. I always praise Jerry Lawler for fully understanding punches, not just how to throw them but how to sell them. Jimmy Rave is like that with clotheslines. 

Rave throws a killer clothesline and lariat, throws excellent missed clotheslines, and takes and sells clotheslines in an incredibly aesthetically pleasing way. Like Lawler, he's also great at taking and selling punches. Watch the way he whips his hair after a few straight AKIRA punches and marvel at how good he is at getting his hair whipped off his face as an incidental fallout from being punched. Next time you see an old HHH match (if you're the type who revisits HHH matches) you'll immediately notice how each hair whip sell just looks like a guy whipping his hair, disconnected from the strike. Rave's running STO is one of my favorite moves and I'm not sure anyone else does one like it. There are plenty of people with bad spears - a move much harder to hit and damaging to your own body - and yet Rave looks like he steamrolls people with his STO. In the same way Bill Dundee would set up his sleeper by hitting a lariat (before wrapping the arm around), Rave throws a lariat into an STO, and it looks awesome. Very cool seeing Rave get a win in a BOSJ tourney, and even cooler to see the ways his game kept evolving. 


Jimmy Rave vs. Slim J SFCW 6/4/16 - EPIC

ER: Man 2016 feels like an eternity ago, and it doesn't help that this may as well have taken place in 2002 Wildside. Slim had a boy band bowl cut and both moved as fast as I've seen them. The best part of Slim J is how he combines his awesome speed with some super hard hit strength, and the best part of Rave is how he uses his surprising speed to shut that down. It's kind of unreal how fast Rave takes Slim J's armdrags. Rave takes an armdrag as fast as I've ever seen Psicosis take one, but Rave also takes his with ring-shaking impact. I'm not sure the last time I rewound armdrags, but I kept wanting to see what Rave was doing and how he was doing it. The speed from both kept surprising me the entire match, like that slick Slim J monkey flip into armbar, done as quickly as possible after Rave had continually rolled to the floor to avoid a lock up. Rave took over with a short clothesline that flipped Slim into an incredible bellyflop, looking like someone running as fast as they could without realizing they were about to hit, well, a literal clothesline. The way Slim's body kept traveling forward after hitting Rave's arm looked like it defied gravity. Rave has so many great tricks and a very impressive spatial awareness, always knowing how close he is to the ropes and right where he needs to be to catch Slim. 

There were some great Rave STO cutoffs, used more like a brick wall that uses Slim's momentum to put him down, Rave shooting forward with his weight at just the right time put Slim hard on his back. Slim bumps hard, runs into offense harder, and makes big impact when it's time for his comeback. He nails Rave with two hard lariats and swings even harder and lower on a miss, but winds up bouncing Rave off his shoulder with a flat footed southern lariat that looked like it would have put down any man. Rave tries to duck Slim again by sliding past the ringpost on an Irish whip, leading to this great moment where Slim - sick of Rave rolling to the floor any time there's a momentum shift - doesn't miss a beat nailing a tope con giro over the post without hardly giving Rave time to turn around and catch him. These two are true highlight reels and always have at least a couple surprises, like Slim deadlifting Rave into a northern lights suplex, or Rave throwing Slim with maybe the farthest flung superplex I've ever seen, practically throwing him into the opposite corner turnbuckles. That Slim's great Manami Roll finish (and how Rave took it) isn't even one the 10 coolest looking things they pulled off here is a testament to their creativity, and you get the sense they could have wrestled a half dozen other times in 2016 and given us something new each time. 

MD: For some reason I figured these two were at least slightly more married to each other in their career. According to cagematch, at least, that really wasn't the case as it says that they hadn't wrestled each other for twelve years before this. It's such a natural, effective pairing though and you wouldn't have known it by this match. Rave, by this point, was so good at the little things, looking out to the crowd during holds, taking his time, maximizing the value of moments, not to mention the great punches and chops. Slim J's always excellent at working from underneath and could pull out that explosiveness and completely change the composition of a match just like that. His bump off of Rave's clothesline was wild, and to be fair Rave paid it back later in the match by taking Slim J's clothesline with really close, snug contact. Despite running the gamut from chain wrestling to strike exchanges to Slim J's crazy flip dive over the turnbuckle, nothing ever felt stilted or inorganic. The best example of that was probably towards the end, after a late strike exchange when each guy rushed to the corner to create distance and build momentum only for the other one to charge after. I wouldn't at all call it no selling which is how that usually plays out; instead you could really feel the ground down desperation at play as they worked to cut the other off before the advantage could shift too far. This came off like an inevitable collision, a match that really just had to happen. Hopefully the 2/3 falls match from a couple of months later is out there as well.

PAS: This is a classic hidden gem, really on the level of the best 2010s juniors matches anywhere. They really felt like classic dance partners, with Rave selling and bumping for everything Slim did perfectly, laying in the leather when necessary and working some complex exchanges pretty organically. The flip dive over the ringpost was insane, and fit perfectly with the pace of the match, Rave protected him really well, but turned right into it without ever having to stand around and wait. What a pair of pros these guys were, roll out of bed after not wrestling each other in a decade and look like a pair of guys touring the country with this match every weekend. 

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New Footage Friday: ISHIKAWA! AKIRA! SANTO! CASAS! EMBRY! LAWLER!!

 El Hijo Del Santo/Mr. Atlas/Porthos vs. Negro Casas/Willy Cortez/Tahoma Kid - EPIC

MD: It's 2020 and we're the guys watching blurry lucha from ages ago. There are ample opportunities to figure out who the other guys are (past Cortez of course) but it's beyond me. They're all serviceable and enjoyable enough, even with some fun armdrag moments, but this is Santo and Casas and that's all you really need to know. They worked the mat. They threw themselves into the rope running. They gave each other a spirited and feisty hand slap of rivals after an exchange. Santo fought the world. Casas was everywhere at once during the beatdown, just a vulture picking at bones, diving in again and again. We miss the comeback but get the finish, where Santo stumbles on the senton/tope in a way that I'm not sure I've ever seen before but no one cares much once he goes diving past the turnbuckle. It's always great to see them and even a bit novel to see them anchor a local trios like this. They may have been running this sort of thing all the time but we only have so much of it so we're grateful for every new example.

PAS: Negro Casas comes into the ring with a top rope backflip, which I think places this match in the late 80s or early 90s, but it is hard to tell. I imagine Casas and Santo just did this kind of thing multiple times a week, come to a town and serve as the anchors of a trios match with locals. It isn't the kind of thing which normally made tape, so it is awesome that we get a window into what that looks like. Everyone else in this match were solid journey men, Porthos had a nice dropkick, Mr. Atlas had a fun signature bump etc. Santo and Casas of course are all time greats and they showed why. Loved the first stand off the most, with Santo putting on a front face lock and them working cool spots around it, both guys were at their athletic peak at this point, and the stuff that would be cool 10 years later a little slow, was done with real speed here. We get the senton/tope combo from Santo and some nice brawling on the floor. These guys came to town and delivered their show.

ER: Santo/Casas is one of the greatest matchups in the history of wrestling, two dance partners impossible to critique whenever they're paired. It's one of the most inventive and innovative pairings, moving in ways I've seen wrestlers duplicate but never as well. The Santo/Casas exchanges in this match were among the greatest I've seen from them (two men with nothing but greatest) and evokes the same brightness as the best of the unearthed French Catch. The movements are really breathtaking, and the fans reacted like they were seeing the greatest tumbling act at a circus. I love Casas back flipping into the ring, because he's been great in so many different ways using so much different athleticism that he somehow surprises you every match no matter the era. The pendulum roll throughs and monkey flips and snap armdrags and fast dropkicks are all gorgeous. Santo does more cool floatover takedowns than I've seen in a match before, each one different and each one using differing body physics. But by the Segunda it's Casas holding Santo up in the corner just so he can continue kicking his ass. And boy does Casas kick Santo's ass, throwing bull body punches at the face and chest and then lifting Santo back up into position again. The other guys were no slouches either, and I was especially a fan of Willy Cortez, had a loudmouth Mocha Cota/Karloff Lagarde Jr. vibe to him. With quick hard attacks and bumps that make the tecnicos look like superheroes. I thought this was all fantastic, the greatest kind of lucha, that offered more than just some of the the best sequences from the greatest luchadors of the past 40 years. 

Jerry Lawler vs. Eric Embry USWA 7/21/91 - GREAT

MD: Glorious Embry performance here. It's a masterclass in hiding the chain, including using his mouth multiple times to do it, made all the better by the fact it's an actual chain. Despite that, my favorite bit is when he plays hide the pile driver, getting the ref distracted by fans complaining about the chain and sneaks one in. Lawler eventually drops the strap and gets his revenge, though they go an extra loop around as he misses the fistdrop. That lets the ref get in on the act as well and everyone goes home happy (but Embry of course). Perfect Memphis BS made better by the small and intimate setting. I'm not sure the mouth stuff would have worked as well in an arena.

PAS: This was Lawler really taking a backseat and letting Embry cook. This was mainly an early 90s feud so we don't have the MSC arena footage, but from what we have Embry is up there in the top tier of Lawler opponents. They are very similar wrestlers, Embry is like Lawler if his sin was stiumlants instead of young girls (or in addition to young girls, I don't know what Embry was up too, but I am sure nothing good), and this is a very heel Lawler performance, hiding the chain, sneaking a piledriver, riling up the crowd. Lawler was there to take the cheap shots and come back huge. The strap drop was a monster moment and Embry really flies around the ring for the big comeback. It's cool to watch small club Lawler like this. I imagine the Memphis Lumberjack match between these two this same month was a monster, but watching them riff is really fun too.

ER: I always view Embry as a stooging extension of Dutch Mantel. Lawler/Dutch is an all time great pairing, and Lawler/Embry makes a great pairing for the same reasons. Embry has a harmless scumbag vibe that plays well to these great crowds, and is a type Lawler can strongly play off. Embry stalls with a hidden weapon but does it more like a bleacher bum than Mantel. Is Eric Embry the best possible Brooklyn Brawler? I think we finally got there. Lawler's comeback is one of my favorites I've seen of his in a while (and I watch a lot of Lawler matches), a great mix of fiery and funny perfectly executed. You can tell the strap is coming down and watch it build, and the timing on it is so perfect and joyously followed with him rustling up his own hair like a Three Stooges fight. His run of punches are as good as those punches get, really knocks Embry's block off. We build to a wild finish with Embry bumping a tough old man ref (I don't know him so somebody outshine me with you knowledge). That old man ref comes back and he and Lawler pinball Embry back and forth with increasingly great punches. The slow build pays off the finish so well, gives us a match that would warm your fandom if you were there live. 

Yuki Ishikawa vs. AKIRA Kana Produce 6/17/12

MD: The last Ishikawa we saw for NFF was a far off camera shot. I get the notion that wrestling needs lots of quick cuts if you're close up and in HD. I don't believe it but I at least understand it. Obviously, that's not the case with the close-up limb manipulation magic of Ishikawa and we're better off that this is up close and personal. You get all the little detail work from him, including the way he splays his fingers to get just a tiny bit more leverage on a hold. AKIRA is a game opponent who can both hang on the mat (not win, but hang) and as a lot of cool flourishes he loops in. There's one funny moment in this (where AKIRA goads him on the outside and Ishikawa teases a dive) and one hilarious one (where AKIRA goes to the top so Ishikawa scuttles back and sits cross-legged, only to give the biggest surprised/horrified face as AKIRA dashes at him with a low dropkick). Ishikawa damages the arm early with a pumphandle, and does some fun stuff like an Octopus. AKIRA targets the leg more as the match goes on, including with a bunch of dropkicks to it. They escalate to striking and then a couple of bombs, before AKIRA damages the arm more on a top rope splash(!) but manages to snag a small package at the moment Ishikawa was set to capitalize it. This never got too serious, but it was a grab bag of variety and fun.

PAS: Post prime Ishikawa is really amazing stuff. He has been an occasional wrestler for a decade or so, but pretty much every time he has popped up it has been class. AKIRA is also a guy who has been more of a part timer for almost his entire career, and this was a really cool style clash I had never thought about before it happened. AKIRA is a really slick pro-style mat wrestler and it was nifty to watch that clash with the Fujiwarsism of Ishikawa. Yuki is always find nifty ways to insert moments of violence, he breaks an armbar by punching AKIRA right in the bursar sac, and takes control on the mat by punching AKIRA hard in the forehead. I loved the silent comedy face Ishikawa made on the low dropkick, and AKIRA's superfly splash looked awesome, more wrestlers should be using a simple top rope splash rather then just trying to flip and spin a bunch. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE JERRY LAWLER

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE RIVALS SANTO AND CASAS

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Best of Japan 2000-2009: AKIRA vs. Koji Kanemoto, NJPW 2/20/00

AKIRA vs. Koji Kanemoto, NJPW 2/20/00

I knew something was gonna give. The work was too good, they were kicking and stomping each other too hard. And then in the lamest Shyamalan twist possible, it turns out that Kanemoto has BIONIC KNEES! AKIRA is stomping away at them (and AKIRA is a guy with some great stomps), tearing Kanemoto's kneepad off, stomping some more and Kanemoto is feeling it. He hit knees on a moonsault, and AKIRA started after that poor knee of his and didn't let up. Kanemoto is screaming and clutching his knee...and then, it turns out, kicking at his knee makes him STRONGER! Suddenly he's begging for AKIRA to stomp on his knee, even turning it and adjusting it so AKIRA can stomp on every single part of it. All those joints and muscle fibers, he wants every one of 'em stompled! Stomping on that super vulnerable and easily injured part of the body would seriously cripple most humans, but it gives Kanemoto ENERGY! So AKIRA keeps stomping, and Kanemoto keeps getting stronger, and everything about it is the dumbest thing ever. And then it doesn't matter as Kanemoto gets shoved into the ref, dropkicked (brutal dropkick with insane height from AKIRA) and dragon suplexed for the loss anyway. Wah wah.

It's quite a shame, as 80+% of this match is really great. Really the first 6 minutes are totally awesome. Kanemoto and AKIRA go at it like Wild Dogs (or erm Mad Dogs I suppose) with Kanemoto dishing nasty leg kicks and ripping AKIRA's forehead appliqué off (with AKIRA screaming like in a dubbed Shaw Bros. flick) and hits a beastly corkscrew moonsault. AKIRA is a great heel in this and really puts over the knee work well. It started falling apart on AKIRA's comeback, as the match had been all Kanemoto, and then he (sorta) hit knees on a moonsault, then AKIRA got up, hit a bodyslam and then a big splash and was fully in control. A missed moonsault and bodyslam seemed a little too light to get Kanemoto selling just as much as AKIRA up to that point, who had taken a 5 minute beating at that point.

It's too bad the structure went from hot to questionable to laughable, as the actual execution from both guys was top notch.



BEST OF JAPAN MASTER LIST

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