Found Footage Friday: MAEDA~! MURDOCH~! BLEARS~! ROMERO~! KOX~! DANCIN' DICK~!

Dancing Dick Nelson vs. Herb Gerwig (Killer Karl Kox) Buffalo Late 1950s

MD: Another upload from the family of Killer Karl Kox. This was before he had the gimmick. He was the straight man here to the Dancing Polar Bear from Lansing Michigan, Dick Nelson. Nelson had a bit of Rikki Starr in him, but maybe by way of an elk's lodge. He had musical notes on his jacket and just didn't stop, a constant blur of motion as he boogied to a song only in his own head. He was still a scrapper however. They clashed before the bell and Gerwig went right over, the victim of a monkey flip. He took a powder and Nelson kept on dancing.

Gerwig played the straight man here, feeding as much as anything else. Nelson was a scrapper. We saw a couple of colorful bumps and some stooging from Gerwig but he wasn't fully formed yet. He was there to be Nelson's dance partner, which meant eating his share of monkey flips until he managed to take over with some 60+ year old hide the object. Until he ate yet another monkey flip and it was all over.

ER: How gigantic was this ring to make Karl Kox - erm, Herb Gerwig - look like a normal size, or even small, man? A normal size man who somehow doesn't throw a punch, and is only there to be upset by Dancin Dick, a man wearing a homemade sweater with musical notes on it. Dancin Dick also has this weird compulsion to constantly smooth his hair forward and touch his face. He's like a one man 3 Stooges, just constantly slapping his hair forward and, as commentary says, "being realll herky jerky in there". Gerwig is really good at feeding for him, playing into all the shtick. He takes a pre-bell monkey flip right on his butt, there's a great spot where he catches one of Dick's kicks and does a slick single leg takedown only to get upset when Dick crawls through his legs. There's a complicated spot where Nelson holds Gerwig's legs spread and starts mule kicking every time Gerwig tries to sit up, and Gerwig could not have fed for it better. This was not really a "full" match as Nelson got the pin by kind of just lying down on Gerwig (and Gerwig's hidden weapon raking across Nelson's eyes never went anywhere once it stopped) and you wouldn't really have been able to tell what kind of wrestler Karl Kox was going to become, but I'm loving these early career looks at the legend. 

Lord James Blears vs. Enrique Romero (NAWA Long Beach, CA, 03/10/1961)

MD: This was mostly a friendly contest even if Blears had a number of "sharp tricks." You get the sense that he had been reviled at some point but was just a wrestler with affectations now, including the monocle he took off before the match. Romero (Who I assume is a young Ricky Romero) had the athleticism advantage but Blears would sneak a kick around and into his back or tap on said back in order to trick him into breaking the hold, that sort of thing. Blears also had this great way putting on various leglocks or deathlocks but then building to a teeter totter fall. 

It got a little chippy after Blears hit one two many of those sneak around kicks including a huge clubber to the back by Romero but for the most part it was them working in and out of holds. That included a great rolling arm scissors by Blears and both men trading arm pullers. Blears had a great cut off where he kicked the back of Romero's head and then a nice bridging flip over to escape Romero's later on. This built to a nasty drop toehold into a leg stretch by Blears but Romero escaped and hit a shoulder tackle only for the bell to ring as the time limit expired. Fun stuff though it did seem like Blears was leading for the most part.

Akira Maeda vs. Dick Murdoch NJPW 5/17/86

MD:  If you're keeping track, we already had a June 1986 Maeda vs. Murdoch match that was part of the IWGP League and set up a Murdoch vs. Inoki final with a count out (can't have Inoki vs. Maeda in a tournament final because one of them would have had to lose after all). This was a month earlier with lower stakes, and it felt a little like a UWF match instead. 

Maeda spent a lot of it targeting the arm while Murdoch just tried to contain him and stretch him however he could. They worked a headlock right back into a hammerlock quite a bit which was the sort of stooging that Murdoch could still make work within this setting. Murdoch sold it throughout in large and small ways. Whenever Maeda tried to escalate to kicks, Murdoch shut him down, first by fighting out of the corner and pressing his head back over the top rope to elbow him in the nose and then later, after a great spin wheel kick to the face, by just biting his nose. It had highs and lows, escalating to suplexes and charges into the corner, and then ultimately, to the two of them spilling out so it could get thrown out. Pretty amazing performance to show Murdoch's versatility (which we know from the first two thirds of the Kox match, but...). He could do all the things we know him for but he could do this as well.

ER: I thought this was really excellent and provides some really impressive context for Murdoch. The next night he has one of the best matches of his career against Inoki, a grueling 30 minute match that might have been Inoki's best match of the decade. It is Dick Murdoch working essentially shootstyle, a look at Murdoch in UWF that we cruelly never got to see, and you will be shocked at how proficient he is. Well, maybe not shocked, because anyone reading this is already going to know that Murdoch is great at wrestling, but it's kind of amazing to see how well he works against a real shooter, how he responds to all kinds of kicks, how he handles takedowns, and how he doesn't shy away from any of it. It is not overt Shootstyle Murdoch, but he doesn't wrestle this like a typical Dick match. For an almost 20 minute match he does not use many punches, saving them for moments where they really stand out. When Maeda backs him into the corner with kicks - hard kicks, Murdoch absorbing them with his arm and body - that's when he comes out of the corner landing a couple. 

This was never a punch out in any way, but when Murdoch threw any of his few punches it was always in a way that made you go "oh yeah this could go that way at any time". I love how he sells Maeda's big dropkick, running face first into it and dropping to his knees, holding his face. That's a style. Murdoch wrestles with style that is unmistakably his own. This handheld could have been barely visible and I would have instantly recognized the way his butt and legs look during a north-south headlock. Nobody can work Murdoch's style. Our styles are too homogeneous now. The wrestlers who all wrestle the same all look to those who wrestle like them to further themselves wrestling like themselves. But then Murdoch punches Maeda and briefly holds him still so he can hit his own - impressive and ugly - heavy dropkick to knock Maeda to the floor. I don't know how exactly Murdoch was deemed the winner - they were both outside the ring when the bell sounded - but that's not important. This is an essential match in the story of Dick. 

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Found Footage Friday: KOX~! SHEREEF~! WRESTLING LA RAMS~! MAEDA~! YATSU~! LUCHA ROBOCOP~?!

Killer Karl Kox/El Shereef vs. Don Chuy /Joe Carollo WWA 2/2/67 

MD: The family of Killer Karl Kox shared this and I think it's the earliest Kox footage we have on tape. Chuy and Carollo were LA Rams (offensive tackle, I think) and they did this during their off season. They even had runs in Japan (teaming with Kox) if I'm not mistaken. Shereef brought bigger bumps and Kox brought ones that went over with a bit more effort and grounded things. Things got a little disjointed towards the end of the first fall as Kox jumped in once to break up a pin but was supposed to get shaken off the second time and the ref didn't quite stop the pin. Things reset and the football players hit their big charges and back body drop charges.

Second fall stared with some crowd pleasing grinding headlocks, lots of big selling and arm waving, that sort of thing. The heels took over though but the Rams fought out of the corner and hit a series of double charges until the ref threw it out. The third fall was quick, just three minutes and it ended with Kox planting Carollo with the brainbuster. I knew he did it in the 70s but's crazy that he was doing this as early as 66! It was treated like absolute death Carollo was out for the rest of the match. They did a fourth fall due to the thrown out second and they made short work of Chuy, two on one, and he fell to the brainbuster too. Great look at mid-30s Kox and maybe historical for the Rams on top of that.

PAS: So cool that this showed up, Kox has maybe 10 matches in full that are out there, but looks incredible in all of them. I also just love this kind of match with local heroes, bumping around willing heels. I dug how so much of the Rams offense was tackles and blocks, and all of the crowd pleasing payoffs, like Kox jumping off the top with stomp to break a Chuy headlock, and then when he tries it again Carollo shakes the ropes to spill him off. This must have been building to a big rematch of some sort, because Kox really dominates the end of the match, spiking both Rams with his brainbuster for clean pins in both falls. Would definitely make the fans buy a ticket to next month to see their heroes try to solve the problem of the Killer. 

Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu NJPW 1/6/84

MD: Maeda and Yatsu were more or less finding themselves here. This would have really been something three and a half years later. As it was, though, they had all of the prerequisite skills. Both could take it to the mat. Both weren't afraid to strike. Both had a suplex or two. They also had plenty of animosity for one another based on the fact that they were on opposing stables and in plenty of tags and trios against one another. This had been out there but only in the form of a tiny, unwatchable, real player sized file. This is much more watchable. They'd go at it from the bell to the post-match after a double count out and it wasn't in the least bit refined, but it was chippy and active, including some armwork by Maeda and a nice seated octopus by Yatsu. Once they started throwing suplexes, Maeda somehow managed to drop Yatsu exactly on his head but Yatsu was unfazed and stumbled up to hit a belly to belly of his own. It was pretty grisly stuff. Overall this was rough around the edges but full of fire, so they definitely had that bit down. 

ER: I thought this was incredibly cool, a very grown up version of a match I wouldn't have expected from either at this point. This felt like a couple older pros, especially Yatsu, who moved spry and almost like a cruiserweight but obviously not. Both looked lithe and had incredible ring confidence. It was some great halfway point between Choshu/Fujinami and Young Lions. Maeda was about to go on a pair of month long WWF excursions, but Yatsu feels like the perfect 1984 WWF Japanese wrestler. Yatsu works this like  shootstyle Mr. Fuji, with some fast unstoppable throws, takeovers and strong-cradled pins, but with a throat thrust and elbowdrop assortment that would play well in Buffalo working Terry Daniels. Akira Maeda got to work a couple months of WWF as Akira Maeda. If I was given the information that a) Akira Maeda worked a couple WWF tours in 1984, and b) worked a tour somewhere early in his career as Kwick-Kick Lee, I would bet so much money on there being a New Haven card with a Kwick-Kick Lee vs. Rene Goulet time limit draw. Yatsu's quick, strong style would have fit well in 1984 WWF, even if it would have just inevitably lead to a tag team with Tiger Chung Lee. 

The submission work and movement within holds was really captivating. You could see the legitimacy in how they worked to prevent the unpreventable or grapple like real heavyweights. Maeda almost scorpions Yatsu with an overhead belly to belly - it's not as bad as it initially looks, with Yatsu taking a lot of it on his forearms and not his neck - and plays it as a successfully blocked takedown, scrambling straight up to his feet and Maeda's waist to pivot into his own belly to belly. It reads as a real way an Olympic level freestyle wrestler would sell the same. They're so good at grappling that they manage one of the great abdominal stretch spots, some beautiful work of real cool fighting over who could secure an abdominal stretch, sending both tumbling hard through the ropes. The way I wrote about it makes it sound like an inevitable end to that spot, but they way they did it didn't feel like it was going that way. It was this shoot authenticity they worked their pro wrestling with, an abdominal stretch do-si-do leading to the stiffest strikes of the match being thrown on the floor to double count out. They could have worked this exact same match just two years later, nothing changed about the wrestling, but now perceived as bigger and bigger stars. They got big reactions for what they didm, and the crowd reacted to this like a fight between two names. But nowhere near the names they'd become, but the wrestling was real. 

Principe Franky/ROBOCOP vs. Ministro de la Muerte I/Ministro de la Muerte II CMLL 1992

MD: This is blurry but kind of novel because I'm not sure how much Robocop footage we actually have. Franky had been Polimero Espacial but lost his mask quite recently in a tag with Latin Lover against Sangre Chicana and El Sanguinario, also in Monterrey. From what we see, he looks solid. There's a fun moment late in the match where his partner teases a dive and we just see him come flipping from off the side of the screen as a blur instead. Robocop is, as promised, Robocop, with a plush looking but intricate costume, visor and all. It's a much more elaborate costume than the other match we've covered years ago. He moved surprisingly well in there, able to do a couple of tricked out armdrags and to finally win it (after teasing that dive) with the diving back headbutt off the ropes. He actually had some presence too. When he came in to break up a submission, there was a little extra swagger in how he moved. Los Ministros are pretty generic rudos but played their part well in this sub-ten minute match. That meant basing for a guy dressed like Robocop and throwing fouls when Robocop was duly distracting the ref. This was undercard stuff and didn't go long but it was fun while it lasted, for the novelty of Robocop as much as anything else.

ER: I can't pretend to know any of these guys and I can't pretend I knew there was a lucha Robocop but I assumed that was likely. I was impressed at how good the Robocop suit looked. I'm not sure what I was specifically expecting from lucha Robocop but this was a quality looking suit. Intricate, as Matt called it, but allowing for smooth movement. No way a 1992 Monterrey luchador working a Robocop gimmick should have a Robocop suit this good. In our grainy tracky footage he looked like La Parka, or a Storm Trooper. He moved smoothly for being the largest guy in the match (maybe some of that was suit weight and mask height) and had an armdrag reversal on the back end of a backdrop that surprised me, and his topes en reversa landed firmly. Ministros were my kind of rudos, guys who would each take a backdrop and are good at catching dives and taking complicated armdrags, working over Franky's knee in a way appropriate in a short lucha match. Franky's dive looked crazy, visible only in the background, Robocop in the foreground, Franky already upside down when he enters the frame. Cameras catch the wreckage on the floor and Robocop wins right after. Opener undercard lucha remains winning.  

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Found Footage Friday: FUJIWARA~! ANDRE~! SAYAMA~! MAEDA~! KIDO~! HOSHINO~! KURISU~!

Tiger Mask/Osamu Kido vs. Kantaro Hoshino/Masanobu Kurisu NJPW 12/19/82

MD: I always get a little surprised when a new NJPW Tiger Mask HH comes up because I just assume they had a pro shot of it that they released on a twenty disc DVD set at some point. This does seem new though, and it's a great collection of talent. Overall, it's a little formless and exhbition-y, except for a stretch where Kido and Tiger Mask were working over Kurisu in the corner. That was my favorite part, by the way, as Tiger Mask was working like a flittering chickenshit heel to some degree, sneaking in shots that didn't do damage to distract him so Kido could hit more substantial cutoffs. Then when Kurisu rolled over to Hoshino finally, Tiger Mask got right out of the ring and tagged Kido back in. I think he was just having fun on an untelevised show for a bit though, hard to say.

In general, every exchange looked good and while they could change speeds and switch from strikes to holds to rope running, each pairing felt a little different. You could see it even in just how they moved. Kurisu found the path of least reistance with his takedowns, just a percussive series of thuds as he worked in tight or dropped a couple of knees. Tiger Mask was loose and fast to the point where sometimes he wasn't even hanging on to anything as he was spinning and you just had to sort of go with it. He came off like a movie fencer whipping the sword around wildly while Kurisu was an Olympic fencer, precise and with the smallest motion necessary. Kido and Hoshino were somewhere in the middle; Hoshino especially had to base for Tiger Mask and make it all somehow work. Sometimes things didn't feel resonant enough as they moved on to the next move. There was a pile driver from one side and a tombstone from the other in short order and I don't remember who took either. Tiger Mask pulled out his fairly rare slingshot 450 (that I only really remember Scorpio also using) for the win. It wasn't the sort of match that was ever going to come together but you can't really fault the action.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Osamu Kido vs. Super Tiger/Akira Maeda UWF 11/15/84 - EPIC

PAS: I can't believe we are still getting brand new incredible HH matches from 40 years ago. God bless the guy sneaking in a video camera. This is as great as it looks on paper, four all timers in their prime, having a hideously violent proto-shootstyle match. Kido is a bit dry, but a tremendous technician, kind of the Tim Duncan of the UWF, Maeda is one of the most charismatic offensive dynamos in wrestling history, although he played a bit of a supporting role here. The focus of this match is Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger, which is truly one of the all time great matchups ever. It is the incubatory version of Ishikawa vs. Ikeda, a brilliant tactician looking for every opening to take advantage of, against a hellacious violence dynamo trying to knock his opponents brains out of their ears. The Sayama kneedrop on Fujiwara is one of the most violent signature spots ever, I don't understand the magic, he lands so hard right on the temple, Fujiwara looks like he should have his skull flattened like when Christopher Lloyd got run over by the tractor in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Meanwhile Fujiwara is dishing out shots of his own, working Tiger's body in the corner like a heavy bag, drilling him with headbutts, yanking and pulling at his limbs. Every moment of it was special and we got a lot of them. The finish run is a bit clipped sadly (I imagine the HH guy was running out of film.) So we don't see every moment of Fujiwara maneuvering into submissions (which is a shame because he is the greatest small movement wrestler ever), but what we got was such a mitzvah.  

MD: Phil likens Super Tiger vs Fujiwara to Ishikawa and Ikeda and man, I don't know. It felt more like Buddy Rose vs Matt Borne during those few months where Buddy Rose was allegedly engaging in frequent acts of domestic violence against Borne's sister and they were trying to draw money off of it. Does Sayama have a sister? Because that's the level of violence he was rising to in the way he was beating on Fujiwara. In the NJPW tag below, Sayama wins with a crazy slingshot 450 that you don't see almost anyone do ever. The moment where Fujiwara starts to come back out of the corner and hit his headbutts and Sayama just clocks him in the jaw to cut him off just blows that out of the water when it comes to pro wrestling being amazing. Maeda and Kido do their part here too. I know Kido's dry, but he's dry like the desert. You can't get one over on him. He stretches for as far as the eye can see and you have to walk a thousand miles to endure all of his takedown attempts. Each of the pairings here were different and when he was in there against Super Tiger, he even tried to match him in stand up striking (he failed) which is not what you usually see out of Kido. Meanwhile, Maeda and Fujiwara contrasted with the dangerous explosiveness of the Sayama/Fujiwara pairing. It was all about positioning and little bits of leverage, constant hand motion, Maeda using his reach to press his hand upon Fujiwara's head and Fujiwara trying to slip around and lock something on. And yeah, when Fujiwara finally did get the chance to get revenge (which had previously been cut off with that Sayama punch) it's grisly, gripping stuff. The clipping's unfortunate but I figure the camcorder just couldn't handle much more of what it was seeing. It switches from wrestling found footage to a found footage snuff film, where we blink and Fujiwara's trying another attempt at the chicken wing, blink again and he's turning it into a headscissors. After all we just saw, it almost even worked in its own startling way.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Andre the Giant NJPW 5/27/86 - EPIC

MD: When you watch mid-80s New Japan, that month of the IWGP league when you get a bunch of weird singles matches alongside the usual tags is a treat. Granted, we didn't get to see most of these on the TV but that's the miracle of HHs still sneaking their way through (you get the same thing with the CC in AJPW where you'll suddenly get Misawa vs Cactus Jack or something, just like how with the tag league you'll get all the possible pairings if you're lucky). Therefore, seen minutes of Fujiwara vs Andre. It's only seven minutes, really only five given the entrances. You wish it was fourteen, but the taste that we do get is pretty much as iconic as you'd hope that it'd be.

Andre contains Fujiwara in the corner, tries to treat him like any other opponent he might manhandle, as if he was in there against 86 Kengo Kimura. Fujiwara constantly works his way to a neutral point causing Andre to shift holds repeatedly. He has the advantage, is able to shut Fujiwara down when he tries to headbutt, but is also forced to use escalating offense, including a mean shot to the gut off the ropes you rarely see Andre do. There a sense that if Andre lets up for one second Fujiwara is going to come back and cut him down to size. While Andre is unquestionably dominant and winning by points, Fujiwara through presence and motion, makes it seem closer than it ought to be. That leads Andre to take a risk, one that backfires, setting things up for Fujiwara's comeback headbutts. Andre's just too big though and is able to pull them both out and once out, Wakamatsu gets involved forcing the countout. You watch this and almost can imagine what a WrestleMania 3 match between these two might have looked like.

PAS: These two are 15 best wrestlers of all time (10 best? Maybe 5 best?) and while the version of this in my head is an all time great main event collision, this 6 minute undercard match is still pretty great. We get Fujiwara, an all time great pro-wrestling problem solver, tasked with lumbering Andre, an all time great wrestling problem. He prods and pokes looking for openings, and even makes the mistake of trying to hit Andre with a headbutt, which goes as well as one would expect. The match goes to a count out before Fujiwara finds a solution, which is a bit of buzzkill, I can imagine how amazing a UWF main event between these two would have been two years earlier or three years later, but it is amazing we got it at all.

ER: I actually think we're all being a bit too calm about this match. This is the literal only Andre the Giant/Yoshiaki Fujiwara match that ever happened. Andre the Giant and Yoshiaki Fujiwara, two guys who are even more than Top 5 Guys, they are two guys with a legitimate claim to #1. Andre the Giant is my #1 wrestler, and if not now I believe Fujiwara was Phil's #1 at some point. For me, expectations were out the window. The literal only singles match between two giants of my wrestling fandom, a match nobody could have reasonably expected would have ever shown up on tape after nearly 40 years, is suddenly in our hands and it looks, plays, and feels like Yoshiaki Fujiwara forcing Andre the Giant to wrestle shootstyle. 

Yes, I repeat, Yoshiaki Fujiwara prods Andre into wrestling shootstyle, and it is incredible. You want to watch the most fearless knee ripper in wrestling history force Andre to standing grapple for almost an entire match? I sure as hell did. I should have been shocked that Fujiwara walked straight up to Andre and tried to put him in a headlock. Did you see how huge Andre looked in this match? How was Andre the Giant even possible? You know supposedly the Big Show was physically larger than Andre? It makes no sense. Andre looks like a forest ogre forced into working double underhooks with a shooter, Big Show looks like a really big guy stocking shelves at Costco. Andre is shaped like the perfect Giant, the thick legs and comic book distended torso, a Popeye Goon fleshed out into a God. Have we ever seen anyone try to grapple with him as long as Fujiwara did here? 

That's at the core of why I think this match should be so celebrated. To me, this felt like one of the greatest examples of someone Lasting With Andre while taking the game directly to Andre. Fujiwara is perhaps the greatest worker of all time at biding his time for a winning shot, a thing he does against men his own size all the damn time, and here he is against the opponent who makes the literal most sense to avoid while remaining as coiled and prepared at all times to strike one cobra shot. Andre presents Fujiwara with the most logical opponent ever to work a classic Fujiwara lay in wait, and this All Time Motherfucker goes at Andre from go and works for fucking single legs against a Fujiwara size leg of a man. Fujiwara forces Andre to work shootstyle and grapple and be a Force against him for what feels like longer than I've seen anyone do in any other match. Looking at this match as a potential all timer cut short into a 6 minute taste, is not seeing how rare it was to get a six minute stretch in any Andre match where someone takes it to him the way Fujiwara pushed him here. 

Do you know how quick I scooted forward in my chair when Fujiwara looked like he was going to topple Andre onto his butt with that single leg? Can you imagine headbutting the Stay Puft marshmallow man in the stomach? Did you see Andre drop to a fucking knee to clothesline Fujiwara in the stomach? Have you ever seen something so cool? How does every single year of Andre have him doing things that nobody has ever been able to do as well as Andre the Giant? That drop to one knee clothesline I've never seen before leading to one of the all time greatest missed headbutt spots is one of thousands of Andre moments that illustrate his creative brilliance. Nobody has worked with their aging body more creatively than Andre, giving more than any other wrestler has ever physically given and finding new vaudeville acts when he no longer had the reflexes to juggle. He lugged that trunk to all parts of the globe. 

Imagine Andre the Giant navigating Japan during the worst most painful physical year of his life! Andre turned 40 years old as a man knowing he wasn't seeing 50, and a week later was forced to be the largest shootstyle wrestler we've ever gotten to see in a match we didn't know existed until now. This is two Number Ones strengthening their status as Number Ones in a way we haven't seen. The greatest wrestler of all time against the greatest wrestler of all time and every second felt like they understood each other's importance to pro wrestling. 

 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE ANDRE THE GIANT

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Found Footage Friday: KIMURA~! FUJINAMI~! INOKI~! HULK~! CHOSHU~! YATSU~! KHAN~! MAEDA~!

Kengo Kimura vs. Tatsumi Fujinami 11/19/82 NJPW

 

MD: Another day, another Japanese HH channel. This one feels particularly interesting as it's a new challenge by Kimura for Fujinami's title and in some ways it feels like a precursor to their 86/87 singles feud after they have great success as a tag team. Kimura comes in with a chip on his shoulder, refusing to shake Fujinami's hand and then immediately bypassing the early feeling out process for a belly-to-back and a jumping kick to the head off the top. Throughout this match, Kimura would strike first, but Fujinami would shut him down until slowly, surely, he rose to a level of competitiveness and likely anger to meet him in the middle. Case in point, Fujinami would wrestle his way back into the match, containing Kimura, but Kengo would refuse to break clean in the ropes, slapping at Fujinami multiple times before Fujinami started to return the favor. No matter how much aggression Kimura showed, Fujinami could hit a dropkick out of nowhere and get back in it. Eventually, Fujinami had enough and started working at the leg. Kimura took advantage of that eventually by catching a kick and hitting a dragon screw. That opened Fujinami up for a pile driver. He was able to fight back though, reversing a whip into the rails on the floor before eventually taking over just enough to hit a belly-to-back (with a close kickout) for the win. I know it took a few more years for it to all bubble over, but Kimura did not look like a guy who fully got it all out of his system here. Definitely an interesting piece of the puzzle.

Antonio Inoki/Tatsumi Fujinami/Akira Maeda vs. Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu/Animal Hamaguchi NJPW 10/19/83

MD: I've seen a bunch of these tags and six-mans from this feud but I don't have a chronological sense of everything and how this one fits in. The universal traits are all there though. Over time, six-man tags have been about a lot of different things. Right now, very often, they're an opportunity to get in as many spots as possible, to keep cycling through to ensure that the action never ends. Here though, it was all about the mood of danger. If you got too close to Choshu's corner, you were going to pay. If you couldn't stop them from pulling you back in that direction, you would pay. The extra person took up an extra ten, fifteen percent of the apron and created an additional danger zone. Likewise, if you were able to roll towards your corner desperately, there was that much more chance you'd be able to tag your partner. The physical space of the ring had a different value assigned to it than in normal tag matches and they leveraged that value to create an overarching sense of peril and opportunity. It's fun to watch it play out in the moment. Everyone had a chance to face everyone else here. Maeda got to hit his suplexes and spin wheel kick, Fujinami his dropkicks, Choshu to throw some lariats. Obviously, the most electric pairings were Inoki vs Choshu and Fujinami vs Choshu, but everything felt dynamic. There was a moment where they were able to down Inoki with a couple of double teams (which contrasted with the moment early on where Inoki shrugged off a double headbutt to burst out of their corner), and Choshu, sensing the opportunity rushed at full speed towards him to lock on a Scorpion as only he could. Choshu just had an extra theatrical gear he could tap into that electrified the crowd and made everything feel larger than life, and of course, if he was doing with Inoki, the effect was multiplied. Things broke down eventually, as you'd imagine, but Inoki got at least a moral win by throwing everyone out as the bell rang. Nothing particularly stood out here relative to other matches in this series but it's all good so that's ok.

Antonio Inoki/Hulk Hogan/Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Killer Khan/Tiger Toguchi/Yoshiaki Yatsu NJPW 11/19/83

MD: What stands out immediately is just how hot the crowd was for this, or at least how hot they were for Hogan and most especially Inoki. He was getting chants far before arriving and when he and Hogan came out in matching robes, the place went nuts. This was more or less back and forth but I didn't agree with all of the backs and all of the forths. Starting with Fujinami and Toguchi made sense. Things cycled around with a slight good guy advantage until Khan carried Fujinami over to his corner so they could double team (a fireman's carry clubber followed by an Argentinian backbreaker clubber). Then the other side cycled around on Fujinami until he came back on Khan. That was unfortunate. I don't mind double heat with some comeback/control in the middle but it would have been better if it was, let's say, Yatsu getting his leg worked over as opposed to the monster. There was a bit of a foreboding feeling as it cycled back around to Fujinami doing it as you just knew Khan would come back, and of course, he did. Eventually Fujinami got a hot tag and Inoki and Hogan cleared house. Things built to Hogan vs Yatsu, which went about as you'd expect. At one point, Yatsu half ducked an Axe Bomber and I'm not sure Hogan expected it as he followed up with some big clubbers before doing it again. Things devolved into chaos and everyone getting counted out shortly thereafter. Hogan was repeating himself a couple of times and Yatsu especially wasn't there yet, but they were very, very over and that's always fun to watch.

ER: A very entertaining Tiger Toguchi and Killer Khan match, with them and Yatsu carrying a kind of uninspired Hogan and Inoki (Fujinami was plenty inspired). Inoki has this major presence and the crowd is dying for him, so it's funny when he finally gets into the match and just ices everything down with a standing leglock. 1983 Hogan in Japan has that Bodybuilder Dauber Dybinski posture, lumbering around and looking like a neanderthal with no juice. It's alarming how wild the crowd is for Hogan as he doesn't acknowledge them once the entire match. But if Hogan was a first year Batista and Inoki was mostly indifferent, Toguchi and Khan knew how to keep this moving. 

Toguchi looks like the largest possible Japanese member of Mamas and the Papas and I love how he never hesitates to step to Hogan or Inoki. The longer the match goes, the bigger Toguchi bumps, and he has this great Clumsy Taue motion. He gets run upside down in the corner and takes a big bump through the ropes to the floor from a Hogan knee. He bumps so hard to the floor, and Hogan just stands in place like Bull Buchanan. Killer Khan has to jump to the floor and tell Toguchi to stop selling and get back in the ring because Hogan wasn't budging. Hogan didn't budge until Yatsu ducked instead of taking an axe bomber, but wound up making the spot cooler by getting scalped and stumbling face first into the ropes. Hogan doesn't see it that way and is suddenly Stan Hansen but in a kind of bratty way. Look at the slappy stampy way he tags out after stiffing up Yatsu and hitting his Realest axe bomber. Hogan stiffs up Yatsu and suddenly looks really overpowering, and it stands out as the first time he's looked alive all match. The thing is, that's basically how overpowering Khan looks whenever he is in. Khan is a huge guy who knows how to wrestle big. He's one of the all time great Hogan and Inoki opponents because he could push pace and fall big for stars. But you see Inoki's jawline and pompadour and it's pretty easy to see why he still gets the biggest reaction in Chiba for his loaded up enziguiri. 

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Found Footage Friday: ANDRE~! INOKI~! MAEDA~! CANEK~! CHOSHU~! RUSHER~!

El Canek vs. Riki Choshu UWA 12/19/79 

MD: Title match for the UWA World Heavyweight Title in Mexico City. We're lucky to have it more for Choshu being in the spot than anything else as it feels like we're much more apt to have Fujinami in a match like this. It went less than fourteen minutes over three falls. Choshu wasn't fully Choshu yet, but he was more than competent, hanging on to the arm for a lot of the first fall; it was about 60% of what we'd get from France just a few years earlier given such an exchange but 60% of that is still solid if you ask me. Canek was going through the motions of trying to escape but without some of the intensity we're used to. Canek took the early advantage when they picked up the pace, but Choshu caught him with a suplex and Scorpion Deathlock to end the first fall. Second was more back and forth with chippy strikes in between holds and Canek barely getting Choshu up with a press into a backbreaker. Tercera had some good nearfalls as they played into the title drama. Occasionally they were just a little off on some of their spots, but it was never anything that really took you out of the match. Finish was Canek tossing Choshu off the top and following it up with a flying body press. More enjoyable than great, but still a very complete match overall.

Antonio Inoki vs. Rusher Kimura NJPW 3/17/1982

MD: Kimura had come into New Japan to face Inoki late in 81 and they had a blowoff Lumberjack match in October. Kimura reemerged to menace Inoki at the end of his January 1982 series with Abdullah (which is all worth watching) and they were paired up in February and here in March. They come off as two alpha bulls of the 1970s, standing tall right around age 40. Kimura was a couple of years older than Inoki. The fans were into this and they almost got more reaction just standing, staring, posturing, or clapping to build anticipation than with the actual action. The holds were simple and hard-fought, straightforward grinding.

Midway through the match, Inoki, as he was want to do, became a complete jerk, starting a double knucklelock lock up and then just slapping Kimura, wrenching the arm into a pumphandle over the shoulder, and locking in a cross armbreaker. The fans loved it as they always did. Kimura came back with incredibly hard shots in the ropes and a massive running forearm, following it up with some brutality with a weapon on the outside (weapon shots were ok so long as they weren't in the ring in NJPW at this period). Inoki fought back hitting the enziguri to knock Rusher out and they brawled hard on the outside for the countout. Nothing was proven but the fans, so into this, got most of what they wanted to see, two big stars butt heads and egos with one another, and yeah, Inoki being a triumphant jerk. More heel-coded behavior that was wildly over for an ace babyface. Everyone loves a bully so long as he's your bully.

Andre the Giant/El Canek vs. Antonio Inoki/Akira Maeda NJPW 5/24/83

MD: Lots to see here. They had Maeda work almost all of this, likely because it wasn't taped. I haven't seen a ton of pre-UWF Maeda and it was strange to see him a little less confident than usual. Still, having Andre in the match will do that to anyone. The early minutes where Maeda had Canek in a standing toehold were interesting because Andre kept menacingly entering the ring. It ended up a bit like a pitcher who was thrown off by having to repeatedly look at the runner at first. I can't remember that same sort of feel in a lot of other matches, but that was the threat of Andre. They eventually did have Andre run in only to get single-legged himself and Inoki and Maeda locking in a modified version of the estella on Canek and Andre to a big pop.

Canek worked heel for the most part and had some good stuff (Neckbreaker drop, flying forearm, gutwrenching power slam, this great standing knee strike springing off the bottom rope like Abby's headbutt) though he was often working from underneath. Andre and Maeda really worked well together, surprising as that might be. Andre beat him around the ring, including the hugest chop. At times Maeda seemed unsure but Andre took his stuff, staggering for a dropkick and going all the way down for the spin wheel kick, the second time perfectly getting caught in the ropes. Brilliant Andre-in-Japan spots to end this. Inoki and Maeda kept tossing Canek into Andre as he was caught, so Andre, fed up, put his foot up to take out his own partner. Then Andre caught a massive Maeda dive only to help him over the rail for the DQ. I enjoyed this a lot even if it's not much of an Inoki tribute.

ER: Every new Andre match that shows up from any year only cements his status as the greatest wrestler of all time. Here we get Andre as a super active complainer, getting into and out of the ring a dozen times in a huff, threatening a walk out, it's all incredible stuff. This is a match where Inoki is hardly present, and Andre works the entire thing from his entrance to minutes after the bell. Andre moves as fast as anyone in the match, walking straight over the top rope and back the whole time, even exiting the ring like he was fucking Marty Jannetty or something. We get to see Andre as a Zbyszko stalling tactic guy, which is just what I wanted to see tonight without knowing it before watching it. This gigantic man just runs up and over the ropes and stamps his feet about Inoki being a sneaky opportunist and it rocks. His physical acting is the best in wrestling history. His apron work is incredible, but look at his in-ring selling. 

Watch Andre sell la estella better than any luchador I've seen; the way he howls and grabs at his hamstring and how Maeda goes right after the hamstring with kicks until Andre wedgies him like a little baby. Andre is a real showman, drawing boos from the fans while also drawing laughs, like when he does his throaty Giant Laugh while Maeda is crawling at his feet, then settles into working quick tags to cut Maeda off. I don't know why it's so funny seeing Andre work quick tags and keep stepping over the ropes just to come in and hit a punch. I love him. Maeda didn't always seem like he knew what to do with Andre, working a couple sequences uncharacteristically tentative. I guess I don't blame him for thinking twice about a sequence that ended with him taking one of the biggest chops ever. Maeda's comeback spinning heel kicks were fantastic. Andre took a big bump off the first and then got caught in the ropes on the second. Andre's bump over the top to the floor was amazing, just insane that he was taking bumps like that on shows that weren't being recorded. What a god. Him catching a Maeda pescado and trying to crush him over the guardrail, then chasing Inoki and Maeda all around the ring while yelling on the house mic, it's just great. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE ANDRE

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Found Footage Friday: LAWLER~! DUNDEE~! FABS~! BACKLUND~! INOKI~! FUJINAMI~! IRON MIKE~! 87 NJPW 5x5~!

Antonio Inoki/Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bob Backlund/Iron Mike Sharpe NJPW 5/18/85

MD: There was some bluster between Sharpe and Inoki, as a foreigner punching above his weight class by trying to call Inoki into a match was common for mid-80s NJPW, but this was really about Backlund and Fujinami. You'll get through this and you'll remember their rope running and chain wrestling to a degree, as they were pretty perfectly matched up against one another. You'll probably note the moment when Sharpe and Backlund took over and how Backlund was more aggressive than usual, sportsmanlike but still something of a de facto heel, which is interesting in 85. His running powerslam was especially great. What will stick with you the most - and really what you should watch this for - is the long short arm scissors sequence towards the end. You watch a hundred Backlund matches and half of them, at least, will be about him working towards picking someone up from a short arm scissors. But this was still really well worked, with the fans going up for every attempt and Fujinami believably maintaining control, even if he wasn't the world's heaviest guy. I really love Backlund's footwork and positioning here as he tries to work into the Gotch lift, which is more elaborate than what I remember out of WWF Title era. It feels like a huge deal when he finally muscles Fujinami onto the top rope. Of course, not long after, Sharpe gets kicked in the back of the head by Inoki, but what are you going to do? 

ER: I didn't plan on falling in love with Iron Mike Sharpe over the past year, but I think it's important to follow your heart wherever it might take you. My love of Iron Mike Sharpe has, up until this point, never ventured outside of the States. It hasn't really ventured that far outside of New York State, specifically. I love Sharpe most in his early 90s house and Raw appearances, when he's at his best combination of big bumping stooge and local institution. I've never seen a single Mike Sharpe match from Japan, so this is a very exciting find for me. And whatever my thoughts on the match, you have to love that at one time Sharpe was doing his near constant grunting and growling through a sold out Korakuen main event. Inoki actively avoids Backlund and Sharpe takes on a lot of dirty work, No No No No No'ing his way through an Inoki octopus and several ankle picks that left him defenseless. This was no cheating, stooging Sharpe, this was a guy who shook his head and yelled in submissions while hoping to land big swinging body blows and heavy kneelifts when able to stand. 

The one amusing piece of offense Sharpe got in on Inoki was while Inoki was bending his leg, and Sharpe fought free from the move by clasping both hands around Inoki's chin. Clasping onto Inoki's chin is at least tantamount to tugging on Superman's cape, so I call this a win. The fans were excited to see Backlund, and after this one week New Japan tour his visits would all be separated by periods of several years. Backlund and Fujinami had several singles matches against each other and had nice rhythm. Backlund's headscissors had a nice snap and I like how he bumped dropkicks sideways into the ropes. Their rhythm is most apparent during the short arm scissors sequence, with Backlund working through it with an on the nose promptness. He begins every scissor legged roll through lift attempt at near exact 80 second intervals, with each 80 second stretch containing different obstacles, all building to the successful lift. Sharpe was run over soon after, but I liked his and Backlund's excitingly simple finishing stretch of hard bodyslams. Imagine Bob Backlund and Mike Sharpe representing North America to the fine people of Japan, two weirdos who made a whole nation believe we all constantly make Popeye sounds.  

Elimination: Tatsumi Fujinami/Riki Choshu/Akira Maeda/Kiyoshi Kimura/Super Strong Machine vs. Seiji Sakaguchi/Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Nobuhiko Takada/George Takano/Keiji Mutoh NJPW 10/6/87

MD: This only really gets fifteen minutes bell to bell, which isn't *nearly* enough time for one of these, especially given who's in there. But it does give the match a sort of sprint feel, with a lot of quick action and a lot quick switches. Honestly, this almost felt like a Survivor Series version of a classic New Japan 5x5, only with more violence and harder strikes. It's also a lot more one sided than most of these that I've seen, which sort of makes sense when you realize the murderer's row of NJPW stars on the one side of the ring, and George Takano and Keiji Mutoh on the other. You could have stacked a couple more minutes at almost any point of this and it would have been good wrestling, but where I wish they did more was right at the end. You had Fujinami, Choshu, Maeda, and Kimura all on one side, with only Fujiwara on the other. Fujiwara survived for a bit but even he couldn't last long against those four. Given the numbers game and the lack of big stakes and big narratives, it ended up like the exception that allows for the rule on other elimination matches which all end up as one on one big drama affairs.

Jerry Lawler/Bill Dundee vs. The Fabulous Ones MCW 5/1/99

ER: I had never seen this, and it was so great. The ultimate crowd pleaser, in front of one of those great big Nashville Fairgrounds crowds. It wasn't a super common thing to see Lawler and Dundee tagging, but this crowd couldn't care less because it was WAY less common to see the Fabulous Ones.  They hadn't tagged for nearly 4 years at this point, and neither were what you'd call Active since that last tag. Lane was fully retired and Keirn mostly ran his wrestling school in Florida, occasionally (very occasionally) working. It probably also helped that Lane and Keirn showed up and actually looked good for their age. This wasn't a paunchy retirement tour, these were two guys in their late 40s who looked GOOD for their late 40s. The fans are loud for the Fabs the whole match, and Dundee and Lawler lean into it. Lawler took two great backdrops and would run squealing to Dundee on the apron, and Dundee stooged around for the Fabs, always getting caught with a Lane kick after gloating about something (the best was when he banana peeled after getting his legs swept by Lane while strutting). 

Stacy Carter starts passing a weapon back and forth to Lawler, and it rules. He hits a bunch of great short right uppercuts to Lane. Lawler keeps cutting Lane off from Keirn, and it just makes the fans chant louder for Steve and Stan. We even get an extra tease before Stan makes it over to Steve! I love when the hot tag doesn't come when it looks like it's going to come, and here Lawler knocks Lane into the ropes while Dundee runs all the way around the ring to knock him to the floor. The hot tag to Keirn is hot as expected, and the finish is a perfect fusion of 1999 Jerry Springer wrestling with classic Tennessee: Carter gets on the apron and starts a striptease, drawing all of the Fabs' attention, meanwhile Lawler and Dundee are gathering the high heels that she's thrown. It leads to the hilarious moment of Lawler getting brained by a high heel at the hands of Dundee, and immediately pinned. A heel Lawler/Dundee team against a babyface Fabs was the exact thing I needed, and I wish we had more heel Lawler from this era.

MD: Eric had watched this years ago but it's finally back up again thanks to Bryan Turner. He hit the high points really well, but I'd like to add an overall feeling I had for it. I think there was a certain freedom to Memphis in 1999 that may not have existed ten years earlier. It was always broad, of course, but it was always well aware of its broadness, well aware of what worked for the crowd, but still having to balance that with the understanding of how it was viewed by the rest of wrestling. That meant that even as they had the Bruise Brothers strut around or Kamala tromping through a back yard or the House of Gullen or Hector Guerrero and his chili powder, it never quite let itself go all the way over the top in the ring. They always wanted Lawler to be world champion somehow someday. By this point, though, the ship had sailed, the ambitions had shrunk, and it wasn't even about survival anymore. It was a cherry on top, and that let this match really sing and soar and go wildly over the top in being as Memphis as something could possibly be in all the best ways. It felt like this perfect cross-section of masters still being able to go at a high level and any semblance of forced legitimacy just totally gone from their antics. In short, it was a blast.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE JERRY LAWLER

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Found Footage Friday: TIGER~! MAEDA~! FUJIWARA~! KIDO~! TENRYU~! KABUKI~! MOCHIZUKI~! FUKUDA~!

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Osamu Kido vs Super Tiger/Akira Maeda UWF 10/5/84-GREAT

MD: You could more or less sum this one up as two of the most dynamic offensive wrestlers of all time against two of the greatest defensive ones, though that would be understating Kido and Fujiwara, both in general and in this match. It's undeniable that Tiger and Maeda were the aggressors here for the most part though, constantly driving forward, constantly throwing kicks and suplexes and leaps from the top, all with varying levels of complexity. Meanwhile, Kido and Fujiwara would get battered, would endure, would capitalize on a mistake or create an opening and would fire back, Kido with forearms or Fujiwara with his headbutts, only to get cut off once again. The magic of this style and the magic of the Fujiwara/Kido team is that you know that no matter how thoroughly Maeda and Tiger might run up the score all it would take one moment, one mistake, one opportunity for Kido to escape or Fujiwara to win the day. So while you watched the cumulative damage rack up, the tension always increased. Unfortunately, the finish was almost perfectly clipped to make it look like Fujiwara was pure magic, but you can connect the dots in your head to figure out how they got there. Still, a little frustrating after almost thirty minutes, but you can hardly fault the journey for a technical blip upon arriving at the destination.

PAS: New Fujiwara is basically Christmas for me, and especially this period where he was smack dab in the middle of his prime, lots of tiny little moments of genius from him, along with some great stuff from Kido who is kind of the Dick Slater to Fujiwara's Terry Funk. The highlight of this match for me was Super Tiger, I have no time at all for NJPW Sayama, but UWF Sayama, a Sayama where he just embraced his inner crowbar was perfection. He is just killing Kido and Fujiwara with sick unpulled kicks to the head and stomach and some uncalled for jumping knees, at one point he splits Fujiwara with a knee, and we get see our guy Yoshiaki work his way through the blood in his eyes. So amazing that there is still new HH from 1984 which just show up on the internet on a random Tuesday

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Great Kabuki WAR 11/9/93

MD: As a general rule, I prefer Kabuki in tag matches over singles. He's great at coming in and disrupting things, with two of the great sudden strikes in wrestling history between his uppercut and the cut off kick to the face, but sometimes he has a tendency to take a relatively short singles match and eat up too much time with holds when you'd rather see him scrapping. I wasn't too worried about that here since he was up against Tenryu so you know that one, the holds will all be full of struggle and two, eventually, Tenryu will get him up and to the ropes and will throw some killer chops. Then, you know, Kabuki will come back with the uppercut and things will be off to the races. That's what happened here after a methodological start. It bled into mid match heat where Tenryu got roughed up on the outside and a great comeback where he blocked the uppercut and drove forward with the sumo palm strikes across the ring. Finishing stretch was Tenryu overwhelming Kabuki and Kabuki just getting points for surviving as long as he did. Nothing overly surprising here, but you don't watch something like this for a surprise. You watch it to see Kabuki and Tenryu hit each other repeatedly.

SR: These two could have just punched and kicked each other and done some staredowns and it would‘ve been a quite good match, but we got something more neat here. Tenryus resume of great houseshow matches is for sure impressive. We get a fun opening with Kabuki trying to stand up to Tenryu with his great uppercuts, and Tenryu just chops and lariats him in the throat with Kabuki sells passionately. Tenryu seems to have this in the bag easily but then Kabuki catches him with a surprise thrust kick and Tenryu tumbles outside. Immediately a bunch of Heisei Ishingun goons start swarming Tenryu and brawling with his seconds. Tenryu eats chair shots while Kabuki cuts a promo. Back in the ring Tenryu is bleeding and Kabuki takes him apart punching and kicking the cut. Tenryu is able to snap a Fujiwara armbar but has to let go of the hold because his blood is blinding him in a really neat moment. Tenryus facial expressions and body language are outstanding even on a blurry handheld. His exhausted surprise abisegiris were really cool, also. Great little match due to structure and grit.

Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Masakazu Fukuda Yume Factory 8/4/98

MD:  This went a little over 11 minutes but I wouldn't necessarily call it a sprint. There was just a bit too much substance to it for that. Mainly, it was Mochizuki's kicks against Fukuda's throws (and general sense of resilience because Mochizuki struck first and frequently), but what I loved the most about it was how well it implemented pro wrestling tropes or spots to make them feel organic and natural. Mochizuki would cycle his brutal kicks right into a ten punch in the corner. The match turned on him missing a clothesline into the post but it wasn't telegraphed or set up or winking. Nothing about it felt like a spot, but instead a thing that just happened to occur during this fight. Tack on to that a really strong finishing stretch with a few near-falls that got me and you get a great hidden gem.

SR: This thing getting uploaded by the cameraman almost 25 years later has to be a near miracle, but then we‘ve seen a lot of miracles by now when it comes to highly improbable things ending up on the internet. This was a great striker vs. grappler matchup. Seeing Mochizuki here makes one sour that he retired to Dragon Gate, as he was throwing kicks and hands in a totally unpredictable and non-choreographed way here that was really cool, coupled with some swank agility. Fukuda's style is really unique, he is this lanky tall guy who just glues himself to opponents when he grabs them and drags them into his throws and submissions. He also absolutely rattled Mochizukis shit with a nasty dropkick and some stiff strikes, but Mochizuki kept firing back. The match had a few Hondaish moments, at one point Mochizuki went for a punch to Fukuda and Fukuda attached himself to Mochis arm and dragged him into another hold. When Mochizuki went to recuperate Fukuda just dragged him over the ropes and threw him, with Mochizuki landing hard on all his throws. This was to the point and absolutely no nonsense with both guys giving each other little space a nd all the offense looking like it required zero cooperation, I get WYF was a niche indy back then, but this kind of indy match is a real breath of fresh air these days.

PAS: This was really cool, Fukuda has kind of a tragic story, but he was on his way to being one of the coolest Japanese wrestlers of the 90s. I just love how he would clasp and throw Mochizuki. Always finding cool ways to cut off Mochi's flurries of offense. Mochizuki is pretty great here, as he is just a kicking machine and not a spot guy. His big kicks meshed really nicely with Fukuda's grappling, and you never got a sense of who was going over and the finishing slam by Fukuda was a great coup de grace on a very exciting finish run. Really makes me want to see more WYF stuff. 

 

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New Footage Friday/Fujiwara Family UWF 4/23/85

PAS: A whole new UWF 1 handheld got unearthed, lots of British guys worked the early tours, but not much of the footage is available. Finlay and Rudge in UWF is still the holy grail, but it's cool to see guys like Singh and Martin as well.

Ray Steele vs. Osamu Kido

MD: I'm fairly high on Steele generally but I like him most in matches with contrast, him vs a scoundrel. Here, despite doing a fairly solid visual John Saxon impression, the actual work was sort of lacking that. It came off dry and exhibition like, with fair struggle but no real fire. When they built to something, like the Scorpion Deathlock, it ended up really not mattering. The finish of Steele grabbing a late headlock and getting suplexed felt pretty lazy for the setting too, even if they twisted it slightly with the submission after the suplex.

Caswell Martin vs. Nobuhiko Takada

MD: I had seen the Steele vs Kido match before this one and I was sort of wondering if it'd just been a while since I'd seen UWF undercard footage and things were just more laconic than I was remembering. No, no they were not. This was top notch. Right from the get go, it had a different sort of aggression, even with Martin's first press into the ropes. Martin really stood out here. There was the sense that Takada had him on holds, on strikes, maybe even on leverage and trickiness, but Martin came off like a true powerhouse with a ton of throws, including this great spin out deadlift gutwrench. My favorite Takada moment here was him slapping Martin in the face on a reset and then drawing him in to stand up striking through it which wasn't at all to Martin's advantage. Just a dynamic match all around. This felt like a real find.

PAS: This was really excellent, Martin fit this style perfectly and I am not a Takada guy, but he was great too. Martin had some killer throws, just popped his hips deadlifted and threw. I also thought he had some fun nifty tricks from the bottom, including grabbing and turning the arm. I liked Takada targeting Martin's gut with spin kicks and whip kicks which really looked like they sucked. He had some nice throws as well, and had his moments on the mat, and never really sat in kneebar which can be the downfall of Takada, in fact his one kneebar attempt had Martin working hard to twist out and counter and was a highpoint of the match. Real gem of a match.

Super Tiger vs. Masami Soronaka

MD: In my head, this was about Sayama being incredibly dangerous and explosive and Soronaka mainly trying to contain him as Sayama worked from underneath. The work mostly bore that out. Sayama just came at you in so many differnet ways. He had the kicks, the lethal headlock suplex, a nasty headlock takeover that took Soronaka's face off, a lightning cross arm breaker, and the northern lights style throw that set up the finish. From underneath, he struggled a bit but could still all but flip out of things. Soronaka put up a pretty solid effort and might have come out close to even on points, but it was just a matter of time before Sayama took him down.

PAS: This was structurally very similar to the all timer Tiger vs. Fujiwara series, with the wily mat wrestler attempting to subdue and ground the explosive striker. Soronaka is very much not Yoshiaki Fujiwara, and I mostly ended up resenting him stifling Sayama and all that he can do.When Sayama gets him in the corner and finally unloads it was very cool, and Soronaka had a trick or two, but I needed a bit more pop.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Akira Maeda vs. Omar Atlas/Tiger Dalibar Singh - FUN

MD: Interesting dynamics here. There was a solid Atlas/Maeda exchange to start, smooth but competitive. Singh was clunkier but his stuff had impact. Fujiwara seemed fairly content to feed for him. On the other hand, he leaned on Atlas a little more. For instance, when Atlas didn't quite hit him hard enough in the corner, he turned it around and smacked him on the face. This faded off towards the finish with Fujiwara and Maeda firmly in charge, with crabs and countless great Fujiwara headbutts, which is as good a final image as any if you're going to have a tape abruptly end.

PAS: Definitely a bummer that this gets cut off, because I would have liked to see where it was heading. I as usual am going to focus on Fujiwara and what he brought to the match. I really loved his section with Atlas, he really dominated the standing grappling, locking in the double underhooks and not really letting him go anywhere, shifting and countering any attempts to escape. When Singh gets the hot tag he really puts over those uppercuts and the big suplex, something which meant more considering how tough Fujiwara looked before. It did feel like it was building to something, which we didn't get, but what we got was pretty neat.

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Problematic Hall of Fame: Gerard Gordeau

Gerard Gordeau vs. Akira Maeda UWF 8/13/88

ER: Gordeau's pro wrestling debut, main eventing against the biggest shootstyle star in the large Ariake Coliseum, carrying on that Japanese Different Style Fight tradition. The Different Style allowed the match to stand out in a different way from the excellent Yamazaki/Takada match that came right before it. This match was less "clean" so felt more like a shoot, with Gordeau throwing high kicks and hard punches to Maeda. Gordeau would follow up with shots after knockdowns, but without being a real heel, leading to cool moments like him going down but landing an upkick to Maeda's eye that swung the advantage right back to Gordeau when he pounced for a rear naked choke. Gordeau has Maeda beat on reach, and Maeda gets that his best bet is to catch one of Gordeau's long limbs and start bending it, so when he finally drops to the mat and puts all his weight into down dogging it into a kneebar, it felt big. 

Gerard Gordeau vs. Brian Johnston UFO 10/24/98

ER: Johnson had a wrestling career similar to something you could picture Gordeau having if things had gone differently. Johnston was like a smothering if somewhat dull shootstyle Davey Boy Smith, but he got a strong 3 year run in New Japan during 1999-2001, an era that isn't really circulated much online. Gordeau feels like someone who could have had a similar midcard gaijin run in New Japan, and it would have yielded some great stuff. But I like his career as more of a high card special attraction, and it's got some insanely impressive milestones: Main event of the biggest show in reboot UWF's first year, main event of the biggest show in RINGS' first year, the first fight in UFC PPV history, a Tokyo Dome match against Inoki on a huge drawing show, Naoya Ogawa's BODYGUARD on the night Ogawa shot on Hashimoto, and now the semi main of the first show of Inoki's new UFO fed. There's a lot to be said about Gordeau's place in wrestling history, being used as a genuine special attraction draw as a major part of huge wrestling and fighting shows. He creates genuine buzz and looks like a guy who would have a really impressive heavy metal record collection and entirely unpleasant views on a lot of social issues. 

Johnston smothers him while Gordeau keeps distance when he can with high warning kicks, but Johnston is bigger and is able to pounce on him. Gordeau is patient and avoids damage, but Johnston does get a heavy armbar that leads to a nice Gordeau standing escape. Gordeau doesn't mess around once he's standing, and then his specific scumbag charm comes out as he starts throwing harder and more purposeful kicks at Johnston's head. He kicks Johnston right in the eye and sends him running out of the ring injured, and then there's a big scrum in the ring between cornermen, the kind of thing you would tell a ton of people about if it happened at any fighting show you'd attended. The cornermen keep going at it (Different Style Fight cornermen brawls are among the truest joys in pro wrestling), Gordeau gets on the mic and he's this incredible heel who has built up an old school 50s mythical heel character as a man known to permanently damage eyeballs and faces, as the cameras cut to Johnston holding his eye in the entrance way and a cornerman doing a double leg takedown in the ring. 

Gerard Gordeau vs. Naoya Ogawa UFO 12/30/98

ER: We get a cool Gordeau heel promo package, showing his unprofessional moments from other fights, showing his last UFO mic grab where he talks about when he fights there are no rules and makes threats about taking eyes. He says Ogawa might have a chance against him on the ground, but standing he is going to kill him. And as this match goes on we get more and more heel cheap shot character Gordeau, and it's great. Ogawa tries to tie him up, but Gordeau is a stronger striker and is able to keep knocking Ogawa to the ground. He starts acting incrementally unprofessional, and those incremental steps are key to the brilliance of Gordeau's heel character. He isn't out there doing some Nazi canned ham Sam Adonis bullshit, he's not out there seeking the glory for the heel heat. A heel who isn't showing any signs of enjoying his villainy is a colder, scarier, more intimidating heel. There needs to be a theatrical disconnect from your heels, that need to see them enjoying how bad they are being, that need to see them getting SOMEthing from their bad behavior. Instead, Gordeau always has the rushed unsmiling expression of a man who is trying to finish his cigarette outside while it's drizzling. 

Gordeau starts kicking at Ogawa's legs and sweeping them, and starts sneaking in shots that become more and more blatant, while his legal shots become more violent. After the legsweeps he hits some sicko punch combos to Ogawa's abs and kidneys, all legal but aggressive. But then Ogawa backs him into the corner and Gordeau starts throws a couple headbutts at Ogawa's eye, then actually gouges at it before punching Ogawa in that eye after gouging him down to a knee. But the face/heel dynamics are actually pretty funny, as Ogawa jumped up to his biggest level of stardom after shoot attacking Hashimoto, so them building up Gordeau as the cheapshotting asshole means that this is just a case of fan's cheering on *their* asshole. They are me, loving Jeff Kent as a Giant and hating Jeff Kent as a Dodger. Gordeau and Ogawa are like two internet trolls who can actually back up their words, and Ogawa will not be out-trolled. Ogawa does get Gordeau to the mat and does tap him with a rear naked choke that he holds a little bit too long, then he tries to bait Gordeau into starting a post-fight brawl. Ogawa was 100% the southern heel who was trying to bait the babyface into attacking him, knowing that there was a $5,000 per punch fine attached to each babyface punch until their big match. But again, Ogawa was *their* asshole. Ogawa is on his back trying to taunt Gordeau into getting tapped again, and the fans are into seeing their problematic guy rubbing it in. 

Gerard Gordeau vs. Enson Inoue BML 9/11/05

ER: This doesn't even go 3 minutes, but plays out as one of the hottest rounds in no holds barred fighting history. Gordeau doesn't once attempt to hide his cheating. No, now Gordeau is in his mid 40s, and is similar to how Abby did less bumping and more fork stabbing the older he got. Mid 40s Gordeau just throws high kicks and tries to thumb out eyeballs. He kicks Inoue to the floor then starts right in on thumbs to eyes, like Inoue was his Creator and Gordeau has now met his Creator and must kill him. Gordeau really goes after both eyes with both thumbs, even breaking up a potential choke by gouging at the eyes. Inoue gets his back in a great spot where Gordeau misses a high kick and Inoue takes him down while Gordeau's follow through has him turned around, and gets his back. Gordeau keeps cheating all the way to the finish, when we get this incredible fight over Inoue's match finishing armbar. Gordeau desperately looks like a man holding onto a cliffside root, and the ref completely ignores Gordeau's feet when they make the ropes multiple times, and you can see how disgustingly Inoue hyperextends Gordeau's elbow. Best of all, Gordeau - of ALL people - stands up and immediately demands answers, immediately demands Inoue explain what that unprofessionalism was all about. Where did this unprofessionalism come from Enson? No, we're not talking about the eye gouges Enson, what was that business with the armbar, hmmmmm? This was three of the wildest, unprofessional shootstyle pro wrestling minutes we have, pure lowbrow pit fighting, with the Japanese fans again getting to cheer for their problematic - but less so - homegrown jerk. 

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Fujiwara Family: RINGS Astral Step: Final 12/7/91

Grom Zaza vs. Koichiro Kimura 

PAS: The Russians are here! Zaza is completely relentless, constantly swarming all over Kimura, trying to grab and arm, leg or neck to twist. Kimura fends him off for a while with kicks and punches, but eventually just seems to try to survive scrambling to the ropes and turtling . Eventually Zaza grabs his neck in almost a shoot full nelson for the tap. I am excited to see more Zaza, but this got dull and was really long (and may have even been clipped if the time stamp was right).

Herman Renting vs. Nobuaki Kakuta 

PAS: I am not sure what or why this ways. Kakuta was a popular karate fighter who represented Japan in international compition, and really over with the crowd. This might have been a shoot, or a dull work. First three or so rounds they just circled each other and feinted. Everytime Kakuta threw anything the crowd would go bonkers, but I am not sure he landed a single solid shot. Renting, who looks like the evil neighbor kid in Toy Story, gets a knock down with an illegal closed fist, which suggested work to me, but this ended with an unsatisfying draw which kind of suggests shoot. Either way I suggest that you don't watch it. 

Chris Dolman vs. Tiger Levani

PAS: Levani is another Russian from the Zaza and Han family. He shoots for limbs, but gets stuffed by Dolman on almost all of his attempts. Dolman gets a neck crank for the tap. Hard to really get a sense of Levani, as Dolman ate him up. Pretty dull although at least it wasn't super long.

Dick Vrij vs. Willie Peeters

PAS: This has been a rough show so far, but this was awesome. These are my two favorite pre-Russian gaijin, and they go after it. Really aggressive match with both guys winging kicks to the head and wild punches. Vrij has heavy kicks and drops Peeters with both a head kick and scything body kick. Peeters is a spunky energetic babyface, and I loved him trying to break down the bigger Vrij with hard body shots and he even gets off a couple of throws. Peeters eventually gets dropped by a a awesome three kick combo, right to the body, left to the body, right to the head to crumple him. Every moment was exciting, loved this.

ER: I skipped past the other matches right to this one, Phil took the body shots on the first hour of the show. And this might have been the best 10 minutes we have in RINGS so far, especially in terms of big moments. This felt more like the final fight in a movie, where both guys keep knocking each other down after initially looking like the fight would be over a minute in. Peeters gets a big belly to belly but gets absolutely leveled by a Vrij high kick shortly after, and while Peeters got up at 5 he looked like a guy who shouldn't be getting up at 5. I thought Peeters was a sitting duck, he kept lasting, and started getting very vocal with Vrij. Peeters might keep getting knocked down, but he keeps springing back to his feet to shove it in the much larger Vrij's face. The whole match was nothing but finishers, the moments of Peeters actually making Vrij sweat were great, and each new explosive Vrij strike kept looking like it should leave Peeters motionless. BUT, Vrij kept breathing harder and harder, and the possibility of Peeters surviving and outlasting became more real. I got really into Peeters' babyface performance, probably my favorite in RINGS so far.  Vrij goes full bully when his breathing gets harder, shoving Peeters into the ropes and catching him with a knee on the recoil, and Vrij's final left-right-left kick combo was devastating. Two body shots and that left high kick, and the way Peeters fell the ref knew to immediately wave it. This whole match is a highlight video. 

Gerard Gordeau vs. Mitsuya Nagai

PAS: Gordeau is a kickboxer who got to the finals of the first UFC, and fought in Zero-One and New Japan. He might also be a Nazi, although he claims Jewish heritage and says his swastika tattoo is the Buddhist symbol (take that with the coke rock sized grain of salt in deserves). Gordeau is a guy who was known for taking liberties and he roughs up Nagai, bloodying his nose and finishing him with a sick guillotine. Pretty one sided. I would have liked to see later years crowbar Nagai against Gordeau.

ER: Gerard Gordeau is a real problematic wrestling legend. He's a scummy Dutch guy who had to work for a living as a child after he lost his dad, and used karate as a way out. He's Daniel Larusso, if Larusso were a Nazi in the early 70s. But Gordeau has been in some major historical portions of Mixed Martial Arts history. He broke his foot on future Hawaii 5-0 actor Teila Tuli's teeth in the first UFC fight ever. He's got less than 20 worked matches in history, yet he's faced Inoki, Hashimoto, Naoya Ogawa, Akebono, Maeda, literally the biggest legends of Japanese wrestling. He's a methlab Kazunari Murakami (who Gordeau also faced!), just with a more vacant serial killer face than an anime villain. 

He really overwhelms Nagai, and Nagai is a really tough guy. Nagai is a rookie in RINGS going up against a bunch of way bigger Dutch dudes, and now he's in his early 50s and still going at it. But Gordeau is all sharp knees and kicks thrown so hard he doesn't care if he falls over. Nagai is constantly on his heels with Gordeau lurching in. He catches Nagai with two different sick standing guillotines and then just drops him like a dead body. The second one finishes Nagai, but the fight went into the 4th round and it was so totally one sided that Nagai came out more impressive for surviving. Gordeau came off like a real killer, and it's too bad we didn't get to see him against any Russians. Maybe that's for the best though. 

Masaaki Satake vs. Hans Nyman

PAS: This also might have been a shoot. Satake is an original K1 guy who is probably best known for getting German suplexed nearly to death by Rampage Jackson in Pride. No finish in this match either, but it had a lot of activity especially by Satake who threw constantly kicks, hooks to the body and straight punches. Nyman fired back too, and while this never came close to a finish, but it was at least brisk. 

Volk Han vs. Akira Maeda

ER: I didn't realize Han debuted in the main event, against the biggest star, on the biggest RINGS show (up to that point of their history). They obviously saw something special in him, because of course how could you not? We get a good feeling out process, Han looking to get Maeda to throw first by throwing little slaps to Maeda's stomach and cheek, checking leg kicks. And once Han starts to do Volk Han things, it's like Maeda instantly gets dragged into playing Han's game when Han times a Maeda strike to hit a flying armbar. Han is the guy most likely to destroy someone's legs with a shoot figure 4 variation, and the way he makes knots out of Maeda's legs is pure art. It looks like he knows dozens of different pressure points in the legs, and it's amazing to watch him make even slight movements to apply different pressure. Maeda has to scramble for the ropes pretty quick a couple times, and that's when he decides to go for suplexes. There were some great suplexes in this fight, with Maeda's snap vertical looking picture perfect, and Han gets a huge deadlift belly to belly and back suplex, and even spikes Maeda with a kind of DDT. Maeda seems somewhat befuddled by Han, who keeps flinging himself at Maeda's legs and gets an absolutely disgusting kneebar that was hyperextending Maeda's long leg at such a gross angle that the biggest crowd in RINGS history had to think the ace was leaving limbless. 

Maeda gets a miracle rope break, and Han really starts looking like a monster. He steps out of the way of Maeda's big leaping heel kick and starts taunting him to do it again, then starts basically knocking Maeda to the mat. Han catches a high kick and just shoves Maeda over, then sweeps his leg like a real jerk after Maeda gets up. BUT, fighting over those suplexes and going full strength with submissions start to suddenly, visibly catch up to Han, as he appears to gas out down the stretch. At first it looks like Han is baiting Maeda into throwing some more, some obvious trick by resting his hands on his knees and leaning in with his face. It looks like a total trap, and Maeda treats it like a trap, until he realizes that Han is washed. NOW that leaping heel kick doesn't miss, and Han eating canvas felt like a triumphant moment. After barely beating the count from that kick, Han uses the rest of his strength to throw Maeda with a big uranage, but doesn't have quite the same energy to tap Maeda, legs getting all pretzeled together again, and Maeda taps him with a toehold as Han is bending at Maeda's knee (for the dozenth time). I spent so much of this match wondering how Han was able to keep up such a furious pace, and well, eventually he was not. This was such an excellent way to close out the first year of RINGS, Han the invading Russian who almost embarrassed the ace, no doubt setting up huge things for the next year. 

PAS: What a debut for Han, right up there with the greatest debut matches in wrestling history. We all know Han as a master of technique, smooth, violent, innovative, his execution is unparalleled, but man did he just get pro-wrestling as a storytelling medium so quickly. I loved the way this progressed, with Han showing such virtuosity early and Maeda seeming taken aback at the speed and force of his attacks. That first leaping cross armbreaker threw Maeda both literally and figuratively. Then Maeda seemed to adjust and find moments to shine, a kick which lands, a snap suplex, and Maeda doesn't die with some of those submissions, he just lives another day, and eventually that is enough. Han starts to wilt, his hair starts to get mussed (shout out to my brother from another Tomk for coming up with his theory about Han's hair selling), and Maeda hits his big spin kick, dropping Han like a stone. Han is able to get back, hit a throw and tie up Maeda again, but Akira pulls out a trick and is able to snatch an ankle before Han can snatch a knee. Man am I excited to revisit this match up again, what a pair of legends. 

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New Footage Friday: FUJIWARA! KIMURA! FUJINAMI! MAEDA! NAVARRO! SOLAR! KATO! DIABLO!

Tatsumi Fujinami/Kengo Kimura/Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Maeda/Nobuhiko Takada/Yoshiaki Fujiwara NJPW 3/1/86 - GREAT

MD: The handheld nature of this one let us really hear the crowd, and they were super into this. The makeup of these wrestlers and this feud meant that there was so much anticipation for almost every exchange; just a constant feeling out process that got the fans ready for the payoff of the actual contact each and every time, which almost never disappointed. Whenever one of the NJ guys would switch in, the fans switch the chant for them like clockwork. The first minute or two was really fun as Fujiwara controlled the center of the ring and drew people in however he could (including a slap punch in the corner) and then just dominated on the mat. Lots of brutal kicks from the other two UWF guys and a healthy amount of Koshinaka getting tossed around. Towards the end, the NJ team figured out they could hold an advantage with some teamwork but it broke down pretty quickly into a chaotic and violent scene.

PAS: New Japan versus UWF maybe the greatest in ring feud in wrestling history, and it is a real mitzvah to get another installation. Unsurprisingly I loved Fujiwara in this, swaggering badass who is so slick in the way he counters attacks by all three New Japan guys. Fujiwara and Fujinami tragically never had a singles match during this period, but they were incredible dance partners, and had some very cool exchanges here. Maeda really ramps up the violence in the end of the match pinning Fujinami against the ropes and winging kicks, including a headkick which felled him like an oak tree. Love Akira starting the 10 count with the rent, felt like the kind of taunt Alan Iverson might do. Finish was a wild breakdown and the crowd was going bonkers. Great stuff, super glad it showed up. 

Solar/Stuka Jr./El Gallo vs. Negro Navarro/Barbaro Cavernario/Rafaga CMLL GDL 12/1813

MD: It's been a while since I watched any 2013 lucha even though that was probably the height of my writing about it here and this was a mix of comfort food overlaid with maestros. The Rafaga vs Gallo pairing wasn't much (and good on Solar for clapping for them from the apron; nice guy) and Cavernario and Stuka went all out with their primera pairing but for less than a minute. The primera then was therefore all about the five minutes we got of Solar vs Navarro, which had all of the charm and skill you'd want out of these two in this setting. About half the time, it shifted to a close-up, high quality camera shot which really let you see what was going on. My favorite bit was early on when Solar hooked Navarro's arm with his legs and took him over into a cross arm breaker and Navarro responded by waving his hand in a "Yeah, that was so-so, I guess" sort of manner. Cavernario wasn't in much here but whenever he was he brought a ton of energy and motion. He let Solar catch him head-on to set up the finish and post-match everyone posed together. Hopefully we get more like this soon.

ER: This was really fun, and I loved some of our HD camera angles that we got. I always love seeing Solar and Navarro play their hits live, as they never play them exactly the same. Most of the highlights of this were Solar/Navarro, and while I wish we had gotten actual significant Stuka/Navarro and Barbaro/Solar interaction, I loved all of our maestros. Solar broke out a few tricks that are super impressive for a guy in his late 50s, and I thought he was excellent at playing into Navarro's subs. Like Matt, my favorite moment came when Solar totally caught Negro, flipped him halfway across the ring with a leg drag, and Navarro sat there on his butt, doing a 50-50 ehhhhhh shaky hand. I love the way they tangle their legs, and each knows the right amount of pressure to apply to not slip out of holds and made them look strong. Stuka and Barbara looked really exciting when they were in. Barbaro came off hyper and fun (and skinny!), and Stuka's rana, handspring headscissors on the floor to Rafaga, and his match finishing torpedo splash all looked great. I love nearly every Navarro/Solar match I see, but I think I like this format more. It gives the two maestros natural breaks while keeping the match centered around their work. We get some entertaining sideshows, and seeing brief flashes of them working with their younger new partners, then they come back to escalate their own personal 30+ year battle. 

PAS: Solar vs. Navarro is something we have in numerous variations, but it is cool to see a 2013 version pop up with both guys in their 50s not in their 60s. There is still some athleticism in their exchanges, not just pure skill, grab an arm, grab a leg spin counter, reverse. They always have a new wrinkle or two in their game, although here this really felt like a them doing their thing for a different audience. Everyone else in this match was fine, and Stuka Jr. has one of the great top rope splashes of all time, but this was getting to watch two Jazz greats noodle away and that is a pleasure.

Shigeo Kato vs. Diablo Mumejuku Pro 2/5/17

SR: By god, is Segunda Caida the Shigeo Kato superfan blog now?! Diablo is a guy who is also around for a really long time, he was a +20 year veteran in this match. This was the best Diablo match I’ve seen, as it is a bloody brawl, which was worked exactly like how a bloody brawl should be worked. Kato was a part time wrestler at this point and for a guy who was a skinny ratboy in his heyday, he seemed to have no muscle mass at all here, but he could still go like a wrestler. Really loved how he just stomped on Diablos face during the opening brawling portion. Then an exposed turnbuckle comes into play and Kato is soon bleeding all over the place. Katos selling was a millions bucks here as he looked to be hanging on by a thread (maybe he was also legit blown up) . I’m not going to pretend Diablo was brilliant, but he knew exactly what to do, punch the cut and waffle Kato with a chair out of nowhere. There’s an actually great Figure 4 Leglock spot and the ending felt appropriately murderous. Not gonna see these guys are superworkers, but I respect them for producing a match like this even with little athletic ability. Proof that structure is everything.

MD: Nice focused brawl. I have no idea who these guys are. Kato took it to Diablo early, working the mask. I loved the ref bump where Diablo caught Kato's kick and spun it into the ref's groin. High comedy there. After that, he landed a low blow on Kato and pulled the corner guard off and just unloaded on Kato. Once he got him upon with his chain, the woundwork was incredibly on point. He got a lot of value rubbing his head against the top rope, more than you'd think, but it felt pretty nasty. I liked Kato's hope spot where he went to the top and shouted woo just to get thrown off. He finally took over by taking out Diablo's leg, though they went away from it before long and Kato shouted out "Brainbuster!" like he was pointing into the stands for a home run and then couldn't hit it. A for bloody effort though. Lost focus towards the end but some great woundwork and it didn't wear out its welcome.

PAS: I thought this was cool shit, a couple of guys who have been around for a long time, beating on each other like veterans do. All of the stuff with Diablo and the chain was sick, there was some real thump on those punches, and his opening a cut punches with the fist would have made Harley Race proud. Kato had good fire as a bleeding old guy coming back with vim and vigor, and really took it to Diablo in the early going. I want to see all the variations of this feud, really feels like something a territory could work around the horn for months.

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Fujiwara Family: RINGS Astral Step 3rd KAMUI 9/14/91

ER: Last RINGS show we got a cool pre-show video showing all of the combatants warming up in the arena, and this time we get a couple of Maeda trainees (there is a chance they are known guys, but I'm at the age where I am not going to be recognizing every Japanese young boy on sight) doing a demonstration for the crowd on what strikes are allowed under RINGS rules. It's presented like two flight attendants going through the machinations of how to apply your oxygen mask or use your seat as a floatation device, but instead showing how to legally use palm strikes, upward elbow strikes to the cheekbone, and soccer kicks to the haunches. 

Mitsuya Nagai vs. Herman Renting

PAS: This is a rematch from an earlier show, but was a way more killer version. I got the sense that this was both guys figuring some stuff out. It starts tentative, but gets nasty quick with Nagai trying to behead Renting with a soccer kick. Renting responds with a soccer kick of his own later, and some very cool takedowns. Nagai hits this somersault enzigiri which was the single coolest spot of RINGS so far, before Renting is able to take him down and choke him out. Cool energetic fight that got me more excited about future RINGS undercards. 

ER: Yeah this match was a huge step up from their opening fight from the last show. The highlight of that match was Nagai missing a spinning heel kick that would have rearranged Renting's face, and here Nagai got to hit a version of that kick. Before that awesome kick (a rolling kappo kick that connected with a real hook), this really kicked up to a new level when Renting checked a hard Nagai kick with his bicep, and Renting goes full wartime beast mode and demanded Nagai kick him harder. From there this was intense as hell, with hard fought rope breaks and big swinging knockdown attempts. Renting really made me buy into his psycho kamikaze routine, and Nagai tried to stay measured while being more careful with his hard shots. The finishing stretch of knockdown to rope break to knockdown was really exciting. 

Willie Peeters vs. Bert Kops Jr.

PAS: Peeters continues to be super entertaining, both guys had some really impressive throws, full hips, big tourque high air. That was pretty much the extent of what Kops could do, but they looked cool. He also hit a body shot or two that looked good. Peeters also had some great looking shots, including a cool moment where he gets thrown by Kops but comes up with a slick little uppercut to catch him. Peeters also put him down in convincing and nasty fashion. This was pretty long for a RINGS match and at one point Kops tweaks his knee, I think with a minute or two shaved this is a hidden gem. Even at its length it was entertaining stuff. 

ER: I thought this was exciting as hell, I thought it really turned into a big time movie fight. This was long for the big swings and throws they were taking, and it sustained the craziness for a longer time than most are capable. We had a ton of cool moments, like a GIFable 3 seconds of them going Low Ki/Red when Peeters misses a convincing front spin kick and Kops dodges 2 inches away from a follow up right cross. Kops fights for and gets a bunch of really impressive lifts where he really sticks with them until he wears Peeters to the mat. Kops had some annoyingly persistent strikes, at one point it looked like he kept targeting Peeters' hip with kicks right to the bone. This kept evolving into such a slugfest, and the finish came off insanely violent. Peeters hit Kops with this quick 5 strike combo that looks kung fu deadly. It was like Peeters hit in his 5 pressure points ending with a knee right to the mouth. Peeters even has this great expression on his face afterward, this real "Why did you make me kick your ass like that?" tenderness. If Shawn Michaels was able to pull off Peeters' face, body slumped over the ropes after getting the match finally called in his favor, it would have been way better than I'm Sorry I Love You. 

Dick Vrij vs. Ton Van Maurik

PAS: This goes five three minute rounds, which you know, why? I like both of these guys and you could clip this to a fun 7 minute match. Van Maurik bullies Vrij into the ropes and strafes his body with knees and body shots. There is a fun spot where they fall awkwardly to the floor. Vrij nearly beheads van Maurik with a high kick, which really should have been the finish, but they go another round and a half and end things with a C- armbar. I have liked how RINGS kept it tight and fast on previous shows, this one has started to feel the bloat. 

ER: I really do not like rounds in my RINGS. I think the breaks in between are too long, and I would much rather see my fighters get out of a bad situation with cunning, rather than end things with a clock. I think RINGS matches can really benefit from some short length, and I think a long match like this needed more of a flow and no round breaks. This had a lot of these two doing things I liked, it all just felt too broken up and stretched out. All of the knockdowns looked good, and Vrij showed a kind of tantrum heel here in certain parts, like a frustrated teen athlete who gets frustrated at being shown up and shoves a ref. Phil is right, this could have really been a throw down if the time was cut in half, but this felt like a bad use of two cool personalities. 

Akira Maeda vs. Willy Wilhelm

PAS: This was pretty nifty with Maeda opening by catching a Wilhelm kick and spinning into a big snap german suplex. Wilhelm controls the middle of this, hitting some big judo throws and trying for submissions, including a deep single crab for a big near fall. I liked Wilhelm no-selling the Maeda body kicks by slapping his fat belly like Kamala. The finishing rush by Maeda was super impressive, he hits a cool low kick into a head kick, and a spinning kick which looked as nasty as the one which cut Fujinami, before ankle locking him for the tap. 

ER: I thought this was two really great characters telling a really great story, loved this as a showdown. I've been really getting into Wilhelm as a RINGS heel, he's like a Dutch take on Scott Norton. He's an Olympic judoka working a Crusher iron beer belly gimmick, and it rules. I loved last show when their intro video showed all the fighters warming up and sparring, it only showed Wilhelm sitting in the crowd with this arms crossed over his belly, talking about how he's going to beat everyone. He's cocky and kind of a wrecking ball, and Maeda is this cool stoic figure who had the right strategy and stuck to the plan. Viewing these '91 episodes of RINGS as a season, I really like the Maeda bad left knee as a returning theme. We've seen promos every show where he's getting his knee iced or rubbed down or taped up, and now I can't take my eyes of Maeda's left knee in matches. 

Wilhelm makes a big show of being too large to absorb Maeda's strikes, trying psych out Maeda by requesting Maeda target his stomach, and Maeda sticks to the plan and keeps hacking down that tree. Wilhelm was smothering early, walking through strikes to hit nice judo throws, working (the right) knee over with a great single crab. Is he targeting Maeda's better knee because Maeda is really hurt? Or was it just the leg he happened to grab? But it keeps getting harder to walk through the strikes, because Maeda was not psyched out. And soon Wilhelm isn't walking through strikes, he's absorbing strikes. I love how Wilhelm begins to realize what he's done, you can see these leg kicks really affecting him, and Maeda is able to land an insane German suplex that absolutely dumps Wilhelm. He starts landing harder kicks as Wilhelm is becoming a slower and open target, and nails him right in the thigh with a hard kick and sneaking in his surprise left high kick. The final submission was a terrific shot, Wilhelm trapped in Maeda's leg lock and stretching out as long as possible, still not near the ropes. This was some great RINGS storytelling in an awesome match. 

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