Found Footage Friday: KUNG FU~! ROCCO~ HANSEN~! JUMBO~! TENRYU~! AWESOME KONG~! DEVIL~! BORSHOI~!

Kung Fu vs. Rollerball Rocco UK 11/19/85

MD: Rocco is a guy who always feels like he's too bombastic for the style, always ready to explode out at any moment, always too quick to rush back to action, never settling for the comparatively refined (even when entirely dirty and underhanded) World of Sport wrestling. Here, he was able to draw entirely outside the lines and it felt like Cheshire by way of Puerto Rico, especially in the first few minutes which had brawling around the arena, a low blow, a flip bump from the stage back into the ring, moves off the top, choking with a cord, the corner pad taken off and the buckle used as a weapon. It was all pretty wild. Meanwhile, Rocco was leaning in and through and around and up and over for all of Kung Fu's offense, making kicks and straight shots look absolutely deadly, and more than happy to hit some bombs of his own, like dropping Kung Fu with a back bump pile driver of sorts. It calmed down a little in the back half and felt more like a normal Rocco match, to the point where the escalation almost went in reverse, but it was all quick enough that you never were too far away from that crazy beginning. Primarily, this whole thing made me badly wish that 85 Rocco vs 85 Colon in a baseball stadium in San Juan had somehow happened.

PAS: This was great, totally different then you would expect from a match in England. Matt's comparison with Puerto Rico was on point, because it totally had that unhinged vibe, it also reminded me a bit of Poffo's ICW. Rocco was great in this bringing intensity from the beginning, All of the brawling on the stage was awesome, including Rocco eating an insane beal from the stage into the ring. Really liked Kung Fu's Chuck Norrisish martial arts, that thrust to throat looked sick, and his kicks were more Stan Lane then Low-Ki, but great looking Stan Laneish kicks. These guys matched up a bunch, and I want to watch them all, it feels like two guys that meant to be matched up.


Jumbo Tsuruta/Yoshiaki Yatsu/Great Kabuki vs. Stan Hansen/Genichiro Tenryu/Samson Fuyuki AJPW 7/3/89

MD: This was recently uncovered by the new round of Classics and it's a match that fits the moment, that period where Hansen had just joined with Tenryu, a month after Tenryu had taken the title from Jumbo. The clash up against each other with absolutely no give for thirteen or so minutes here, never, ever, allowing for the least bit of disbelief. It's all suspended the whole way through. There's no space for doubt. Revolution controls the ring better, but Jumbo's more than happy to charge in and assert himself when he's not the legal man. In the few matches we have of them working together, Fuyuki always seems more confident when he's with Hansen. Here, even though he eats the early big boot by Jumbo (and Jumbo loved to do that to Footloose), he comes back with his own later as Jumbo's trying to get into the ring. That would set up the exchange they'd have towards the end when Jumbo finally put him down. The match opens up a bit after Hansen and Tenryu hit an assisted powerbomb on Kabuki. 

Yatsu ends up brawling on the outside with Hansen but Jumbo targets Tenryu, absolutely crushing him with a jumping knee in the corner, which led to bleeding and Jumbo being absolutely unrelenting with repeated stomps. Kabuki having to shove Jumbo to get him off felt like a real lost (and now uncovered) definitional moment for 89 Jumbo and the fury he felt towards Tenryu, the only person who could really get under his skin. For all of Jumbo's high and mighty sportsman's nature and noble chin, Tenryu could bring him down to his level, in the gutter with blood and violence. Otherwise, Kabuki was in there to lose the offense a few times (as was Fuyuki) and launch those awesome uppercuts at Tenryu and Hansen. Fuyuki made a try at it towards the end, but he was overexuberent and Jumbo caught him off the ropes with a hotshot and the belly to back for the win. Post match, the violence unsurprisingly continued with bullropes and tables getting involved. This was a worthy release from the AJPW archives that sums up the moment in time very well.

PAS: Goddamn was this my shit. Just six nasty crowbars unloading on each other. I am a low voter on World Champion title match Jumbo, but pissed up Jumbo stomping and punching Tenryu until he is bleeding I am all the way in on. Hansen was great as a background character in this match, a half blind bulldozer smashing everything in sight, I loved the sections where he was getting strafed by Kabuki uppercuts until he unloaded with a knees and punches. Yastsu, Hara and Fuyuki also bring the appropriate level of crazy and this match basically never lets up. This was WAR before WAR, mixing in pissed off Jumbo and reckless Hansen, and I couldn't recommend it more. 

Command Bolshoi/Devil Masami vs Amazing Kong/Haruka Matsuo JWP 9/18/05

MD: Interesting match that covered a lot of ground. Very different Bolshoi than what we've been seeing from her stuff a decade later. Here she was competent and quick but not some sort of maestro. Kong was probably still finding her legs to a degree. She worked to her size fairly well but not so much so as she would a couple of years later. Some of her positioning felt a little more obvious. Each of the exchanges here were a little bit different and the most memorable probably ended up being Matsuo vs Masami, where Masami was just an absolute tank against her. At one point, she ate a dropkick right in the face while she was kneeling, to the point that you could see the flesh move, and she just shrugged it off and pressed on. Later on, she not only prevented Matsuo from making it to the corner with her hair alone, but then threw her across the ring with said hair. It was pretty wild and maybe not something I'd want to see over the span of multiple matches, but dropping in to see her as a force of nature counterpoint to Kong with Matsuo just bouncing off of her was ok for one match. And Matsuo, while she earned many of her openings with Kong's help, did certainly throw herself with everything she had against Masami. I would have been curious to see what the Bolshoi we've been seeing lately might have been able to do with a Kong from a few years later. 

Read more!

New Footage Friday: ANDRE~! PIPER~! SNUKA~! BORSHOI~! CHENE~!

Larry Chene vs. Bobby Nelson Chicago 1954?

MD: This was young, Leaping Larry Chene, though Davis never calls him that and he didn't do any leapfrogs and just hit one dropkick. He did launch a headscissors out of nowhere which caused Nelson to land on him with a shoot Death Valley Driver so that was something to see. So, no leaping, but what we got was a flash babyface, hugely explosive and endlessly scrappy. Nelson was a balding bruiser, with big clubbering blows, mean slams, and every dirty trick in the book, including a signature tights pull headlock takeback into a choke or press pin. He'd win rope running shoulder block exchanges, but seemed more at home launching a headbutt or leg dive from a kneeling position. Where Chene stood out was how quick he was in returning favor, going after the nose or not wanting to break clean off the ropes. Davis said that despite being such a crowd pleaser, he was the sort that you wouldn't want to meet in a back alley. Chene would hold an advantage for a lot of this, going back to a grounded inner toehold where he could get in some gut shots as well, whereas Nelson would go for the hair again and again to get out. Over time, Nelson seemed to wear Chene down to the bit to the point where he could unleash a few more throws and slams, but Chene was unrelenting and Nelson eventually got frustrated enough to get DQed. Unsatisfying finish but good showcase for Chene, with Nelson giving him a lot as a contrast and foil.

Andre The Giant/Jimmy Snuka vs. Roddy Piper/Dr. D David Shultz WWF 3/25/84 - EPIC

PAS: Total blast of a match which really demonstrates the greatness of Piper and Andre. Really fun start with Shultz and Piper being flummoxed by the immovable Andre, stooging big for all of his spots, while Andre smirked at them. Shultz is able to get a bit of an advantage which leads to Piper working over Andre like a heavybag with punch combos. Piper then pulls out a pair of brass knuckles and splits Andre to the white meat. Andre is leaking and gets helped to back, and we get a bit of Snuka taking on both before an enraged Andre comes rumbling from the back and clears the ring.  We get both immoveable and vulnerable Andre, a big time blade job and Piper ruling the roost. Great discovery. 

MD: This came out with the last MSG dump, actually, but we overlooked it because a clipped version had showed up on a WWE DVD. This is the full thing though and it's a big spectacle at a very specific point in time. This was early in Piper's run and directly between the Piper's Pit where Andre pulled him out of the chair - which just aired - and the Piper's Pit with the coconut angle, which would tape four days later. It chugs along like you'd expect, with Piper dodging Andre and Schultz mystified by him and walking into all of his spots, including some scrappiness by Piper when Schultz is able to get Andre from behind. That was part of Piper's deal. He was chickenshit until he saw an opportunity but then he'd strike, and if it didn't work, sunk-cost fallacy won the day. Once Piper was in the water, he'd do his best to swim. It gave him a sort of rabid credibility that you wouldn't expect at first glance. 

Anyway, it went just like you'd expect, right until it didn't. Snuka was drawn in. The ref was distracted. Piper unloaded on Andre with some knucks and the rarest of things happened: Andre's blood began to flow. They targeted the wound doggedly until the match grinded to a halt as the doctor came in. Andre stretchered out but Snuka refused to quit, causing MSG to erupt. At that point, they had them and could do no wrong. I think, despite how big and strong he was, people had less reason to expect Andre to come back, just due to the effort it took to get him out and how much girth he had to bring back. Come back he did though, and the place erupted doubly for the image of bloody, bandaged, monstrous, unleashed one-man Brute Squad Andre coming down for revenge. Schultz took the beating. The heels escaped both with their lives and a DQ win, and the wheel kept on turning with Piper's ascension. They milked everything in this one for all it was worth, though, and you have to love the effect it had on the crowd.

ER: This was great and really managed to be a showcase for the specific ways all four are great. You can look at every minute of this match and make the case that a new guy was the best part of this match. This was one of the most fun David Schultz performances we have, and his whole extended routine with Andre was the best. Schultz looks like and wrestles like house show Steven Austin (only with top ramen hair) and has a bunch of great stooging comedy. They have some real great chemistry together and it sadly only produced one (very fun) singles match. There is an incredible spot here where Andre does a dropdown in a surreal visual, but also smart because once he drops down to trip a running Schultz and Shultz really has to leap to clear him on the run. The moment jumps to incredible when Andre is getting to his feet after, and a rebounding-off-the-ropes Schultz runs straight into Andre's gigantic bent over three point stance ass, Schultz selling it like he was a cartoon character who got a bowling ball thrown into his midsection. If you want to see Andre doing what looks like a legendary Super Porky spot better than Porky could have done it, then you need this. 

Schultz is great at taking things right to Andre regardless of getting his ass kicked, and he transitioned to offense in a cool way, eating a huge Andre shoulderblock in the corner but getting his knee in the way of a second block. Schultz is fun on offense, but Andre is a megastar at taking offense too, and it leads to another incredible spot where from his back Andre straight legs Schultz out of the air to block an elbowdrop. Schultz was in full lean to drop an elbow, and Andre timed the kick perfectly from his back. Who knew we had Randre Gracie working from his back over here? When Schultz and Piper really lay into Andre it's a glorious thing, and there's never been and never will be a wrestling who is as good at Andre at being a dying wooly mammoth. The way Andre can animalistically stagger around the ring while taking shots from all angles is second to none, and when he takes the first knux shot his fall is such a beautiful tumble. By the time he's lying against the middle rope bleeding his acting is second to none, he provides non-stop incredible visuals as he bleeds out, flattening the bottom rope to the mat with his resting weight. 

I always love what a spectacle it is to see Andre taken from the ring. Pat Patterson is perfect on commentary through it all, laughing at the thought of how many men it's going to take to get an incapacitated Andre to the back, and what they would possibly use as a stretcher. And he's right! I love when Andre needs to somehow be moved somewhere and you get a lot of men standing around scratching their heads like they're on a job site and the boom truck tipped over. Snuka gets his great moment during Andre's absence, insisting the match continue and getting insanely loud reactions from 22,000 people as he sends Piper and Schultz bouncing with his leaping headbutts. When Andre does return it's almost impossible to believe. He roars out from the back looking - honestly - the scariest I've ever seen him look, his head wrapped in this disgustingly sloppy head bandage that makes him look a freak failure of surgery or and insane lost Hammer Studios Mummy/Frankenstein crossover film. This whole thing was nothing but spectacle, nothing but perfect pro wrestling. Everyone was so dynamite and at the top of their game, and a match where everyone's stock is raised will always be a special thing.  

Command Bolshoi vs. Hanako Nakamori Pure J 1/14/18

MD: The first third of this where they kept mostly to the mat was great. The rest had a lot to see with big bombs and exciting nearfalls and a lot of stiff kicks but I would have been happier if they never stopped chain wrestling. They started with dueling front facelocks, well worked, and then Bolshoi started to chip away at the arm. Nakamori was forced to resort to kicks, which went ok for her until Bolshoi caught a leg. Lots of really tricked out hold attempts here, but it all looked more painful than cooperative. Nakamori had to end up throwing everything she had at Bolshoi just to stay in it, and that worked for the match pretty well until they started trading DDTs. The selling after that was spotty, even as the bombs were huge and the kicks plentiful. Given the frequent time announcements, you got the sense they were working towards a draw, and they were, but I would have been perfectly fine with this ending after Bolshoi's second Tiger Suplex, as she had worked hard for the first. This definitely had build and escalation and it was obviously the match they wanted to wrestle, but I liked the first half of this more than the rest.

SR: Another excellent match, which felt like one of the best joshi matches in years. I haven‘t seen Nakamori before, but she was this big lady who liked to throw stiff kicks, and she was pretty good. As usual with Bolshoi matches there was some great, tricked out matwork, with Nakamori also bringing stuff to the table such as locking in a cool Takogatame. There was an absolutely sick Volk Han-like sleeper from Bolshoi that left Nakamoris face turning blue. The later goings of the match were exciting with Nakamori landing some FUTEN level kicks in Bolshois face, and Bolshoi firing back with her trademark shotais. The most impressive thing was how well the match flowed, there were sections were one of them was focussing on attacking an arm or a leg but it never went long and never felt like filler, and all the transitions fell into place naturally. Just a tremendous pace for a 20 minute match without feeling go-go.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE ANDRE THE GIANT

Read more!

New Footage Friday: Virus! Commando Bolshoi! Ace Rockwell! Jimmy Rave!

Virus vs. Super Nova Nuevo Leon 5/4/08

MD: The problem with Virus is always footage. We have him as a role player in countless trios but save for when he had a title in CMLL and some late career indy matches (which are still great), it's a lot harder to find him in showcase matches. Even the ones we know about often aren't online for people to see (like the Valiente lightning match that I had to put back up recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfqlxHTQrHs). Another problem is that it's a lot easier to search YouTube for "Negro Casas" or "Hijo del Santo" than Virus, but that's sort of beside the point.

Why is footage a problem? Because the guy is bulletproof. He can do just about everything well, but without the footage (or the opportunities), it's tough to make a case for just how good he is. This is him in a supre libre match and he absolutely delivers on all fronts. Because of his diminutive stature, he can take dropkicks straight to the skull, which is how the match starts, but he quickly locks in the vertebreaker (which is a killer move in 2021 but even more so in 2008) to take a quick first fall and the beatdown ensues after that. It's a great one too, with mask ripping, an awesome posting, just tossing Super Nova over the rail into empty seats and wound biting. Everything you'd want in a rudo beatdown, which means when the comeback happens, it's very deserved and very satisfying. It's all the more so when Virus himself goes sailing into the crowd and bleeds a gusher, basing and feeding and catching the whole way. It builds to a tecera with a lot of selling that actually feels warranted for once, and here he plays around with his clever hooking to score some nice nearfalls before they take it home. Great, visceral showing where Virus basically does everything there is to do.

PAS: Virus is undeniable, much of his stuff on tape is super fast and intricate matwork, and world class basing for high flyers, we don't really have a lot of Super Libre brawls, but of course he is brilliant at that as well. I loved the Veterbreaker as a killshot, setting it up in the first fall allows them to tease it big later, with Nova reversing it to get a submission in the segunda. The rudo beatdown was great, opening up Nova's mask and enraging the crowd, we had some great looking lucha libre fan characters, a big old lady who looked like she was going slap Virus, a weird Dee Snider looking rocker who was enraged by his behavior, real weirdos are way cool then internet weirdos. Nova was kind of along for a ride, although he hit a nice asai moonsault, I kind of didn't buy him rolling up Virus for the pin, Virus is a master, can't believe he don't spin out of that weak inside cradle, otherwise this was great.

Jimmy Rave/Mike Posey/Chip Day/Corey Hollis/Sal Rinauro vs. Kyle Matthews/J-Rod/Ace Rockwell/Patrick Bentley/Adrian Hawkins RPW 10/30/11

MD: It's a War Games that breaks all the rules: the babyfaces start with advantage; it ends up 4 on 4 as people get out of the cage (and head to the back, even). There are only pretty much the only two rules to break: heels get the advantage and there's no escaping the cage. The third one would be that color is needed, I guess, but this checked that box. Despite the broken rules, this still pretty much works. How? Because it leans harder into the traditional shine/heat/comeback structure given the booking. There's a clear two-on-one shine on Jimmy Rave, with him begging off, taking his licks, and bleeding early. It looks like the faces are going to cruise through the periods until the turn happens. After that Matthews gets a hope spot for his side until the numbers game overtakes his side (the babyface advantage doubly damns them due to the turn; for a while there it's 4 on 2 and then 5 on 3). I wish the announcers had built the Rinauro issue through the match a bit more, but I'm sure the crowd watching knew what the story was. He played his part well when he came in and by taking both he and Rave out of the match, they evened out the numbers advantage in a way that made the finish possible. On the one hand, I would have rather some things not be fully resolved (like Matthews tapping Bentley; he could have just contained him or beat on him while the submissions were happening and then gotten a real win later on), but I guess they knew what they were doing for that crowd since they were going to be right back in front of it a week later. I'd say they beat the odds and had a good War Games despite breaking the rules, so full credit to them on this one.

PAS: This had a superkick or two too many for a Wargames match. Jimmy Rave Approved were a bunch of fresh faced youngsters here and I think that this would have worked a little better with the later more grizzled versions of these guys, fat greasy haired Chip Day, the Corey Hollis of Yard Call etc. I also think two turns in a War Games is two turns too many. I still was really into this though, the offense looked like it hurt, the blood was really flowing (especially from Ace Rockwell, that guy was a hidden gem of 2000s wrestling, he always rules). Fun to see Matthews, who was always a technician work in this setting, the Hidaka Octopus hold was surprisingly good War Games submission. I did think they need something to change the babyface advantage in War Games so in that sense the turn worked, but you could get around that by not having a babyface advantage. 



Commando Bolshoi vs. Akira Nakajima JWP 3/16/08

MD: A few moments really stand out here to me. The match started with Nakajima just an absolute dynamo of energy, hitting shots from every direction with wild abandon. She finally gets Bolshoi down and is just pounding on her and time seems to slow down as Bolshoi's leg comes around to catch the pounding arm changing the course of the match instantaneously. Nakajima would wrestle the rest of the match favoring her arm and unable to capitalize on her hobbled offense because of it. The second moment has her catching Bolshoi off the ropes with a sweeping takedown only to get punched straight in the face from underneath; from there, Bolshoi did this spinning armtrap from her back before locking in a triangle of sorts that was just magic. There was one point where Nakajima was laying in shots with her hurt arm, but each one took more out of her than the last and there was just an almost tragic sense of inevitability, one that carried over to her lightning pinfall attempts. It all felt like a matter of time in the best way. I think they ultimately went a little too long with this because of that. It probably should have ended with Bolshoi's triangle and not gone back up to the top again, but the stuff from the top was pretty nasty and dramatic, as was Bolshoi's late Tiger Suplex (easily locked in when she was blocked earlier) because Nakajima had nothing but desperation and hope left. Nakajima never gave up but you spent good chunks of this match eagerly waiting for her to get caught to see what Bolshoi would do to her next. While that admittedly says more about us than the match, it also says something about Bolshoi's wizardry here.

Read more!

New Footage Friday: LARRY Z~! KERRY~! BOLSHOI~! KURAGAKI~ ICEBERG~ HAYES

Larry Zbyszko vs. Kerry Von Erich Guam 6/22/90

MD: This was presented as a title vs title match and it's Larry vs a game babyface in front of a crowd more than willing to throw dangerous objects at him. I'm preaching to the choir here but the idea that Larry is anything but a hard worker is nuts. And that doesn't even account for the way he throws himself into a match once the stalling ends. There isn't a second he's not working and engaged and giving it his all when he's engaging with that crowd. He riled them to the point where just saying "Guam sucks" into the mic had them dangerous enough that they had to ask them to stop throwing things over the house mic. Of course he was going to stooge all over the ring for Kerry's spin punches later on too. You sort of knew this was building to a non-finish and I'm not sure, by this point of his career, Kerry was in any shape to maximize his opportunities against an opponent like this, but it was still a pretty fun spectacle as a unique match-up in a unique locale.

ER: I always love seeing pro wrestling presented in a country where I have zero clue of the pro wrestling culture, seeing two pros work a simple formula that almost always gets rabid heat. I have no idea what wrestling any resident of Guam had scene at this point, no clue what territory guys would have been recognized as draws, but this crowd is into every single second of this match and I love it. I'm with Matt as a big Larry Z fan, and the "lazy worker" talking point only sounds more ridiculous every year removed from his career. This may have been a simple match, but neither of these guys were dogging it. It was belt vs. belt (with one of the commentators frequently trashing the "gaudy" AWA belt) and the fans wanted Kerry to knock Larry's block off. I don't know why I'm so tickled by "Larry Sucks" chants in 1990 Guam, but when Guam gets on the mic to say that he doesn't suck GUAM sucks, the commentary crew immediately complains about getting hit in the back of the head with garbage, and garbage pelting a wrestling ring is always the best. This is worked around Larry avoiding Kerry and taking these perfect timberrrrr back bumps off of Kerry's discus punches, before suckering Kerry into discus punching the ring post. It's a great spot and it gives us several cool moments of Kerry still firing off discus punches that clobber Larry, but leave von Erich hopping and shaking out his fist (sadly von Erich just totally abandons the very interesting hand selling for the finish and just goes right back to punching and going for the claw). Both guys land hard vertical suplexes and the double count out finish is done satisfyingly, with Larry dodging the claw by throwing Kerry and himself to the floor, then firing into Kerry's head with his best punches of the match. Fans ate it all up, and why shouldn't they? 

   

Commando Bolshoi vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki JWP 8/2/09

SR: Kuragaki is one of those insanely talented wrestlers who just ended up not quite having the career they should‘ve had due to the industry tanking in the 2000s. So a match like this ending up on my internet is very pleasant. This is the kinda stuff that really bums you when it doesn‘t make tape so bless Bolshoi for granting us the watch. And well this was really really good too. These are two wrestlers who can do a ton of cool shit, and they do a ton of cool shit, and really work together in almost a Rey/Psicosis fashion. Kuragaki is just great basing for Bolshoi's crazy lucha moves, there was Mysterio Rana into a rolling legbar which just looked insane, 10/10 in execution really. Kuragaki's power offense mixed with swank backbreaker holds and hard lariats, as well as the bits of athleticism she sprinkles in all make for a really compelling match. And Bolshoi is a great Rey. Her flash submissions rule as usual, and she also laid in really hard with the kicks to Kuragaki's leg and back area, way harder than you expect from a match that would go unseen for over 10 years. It builds to this really sweet finishing stretch with Kuragaki selling the leg while trying to take Bolshoi out with lariats and power moves. Really liked the spot where they tease Kuragaki reversing Bolshoi's leglock into a Scorpion Hold but then it just doesn‘t happen. The spot where she lifts Bolshoi from her leglock into this gigantic suplex was also out of this world, and the sequence of nearfalls as the time limit ran out was excellent stuff. I absolutely lost it for Bolshoi's kido clutch. Just a super well executed match, which had enough cool shit in it that 3 wrestlers could steal all the stuff in it and each one would be considered really fresh and unique in 2021.

MD: This had a little bit of everything (and no, I won't make an "and the clowns too" joke) and it was all good. Speed, tenacity, and technique vs incredible strength and daring, full of escalation, callbacks, payoff. It was equally smooth as silk and gritty as hell, from the opening matwork to the crowd brawling in the chairs to the holds later on to the bombs at the end. They made each other work for everything but it was often still pretty to watch. Nothing was easy. Kuragaki would power towards the ropes after being stuck in an Octopus only for Bolshoi to roll it at the last second so as to trap her in a different hold in the ropes. Bolshoi would crotch Kuragaki on the top to stop a top rope move only to get caught in an over the shoulder backbreaker and shrugged down to the floor (only for Kuragaki to wipe out big on the missile dropkick attempt). There was a sense that either could get an advantage on almost any exchange. Maybe Bolshoi would be able to flip around and lock in la mistica or maybe Kuragaki would catch her for an Atlantida that led to a brutal faceplant into the corner. Kuragaki was a great base here, letting Bolshoi fly around her and falling right into her tricked out holds but you had the sense she could swat her like a fly at almost any moment. It made every small victory, even just getting Kuragaki to go for a more desperate, reaching rope break instead of power out of a hold feel important. Ultimately, there was a stretch of advantage from Bolshoi towards the end (after Kuragaki missed another shot off the top; killshot if hits but too much hubris for her size) but she wasn't able to put her away, not there or in a flash pin attempt that followed and the size advantage ended up just too much in the end. Really good stuff though. Everyone should check it out.

ER: Man you could not get more Wrestling Blindspot for me than late 2000s joshi. But since joshi kind of froze in time during the 2000s it is not surprising to see two of my favorites from 2001 JWP tapes were still wrestling in 2009 JWP. I really liked their chemistry and was really impressed with Kurogaki's ability to maneuver Bolshoi around without showing too many seams. This was not at all a go go go spotfest, instead working through some stiff body work and snug submissions before building to some fireworks. There was this really cool early spot where Bolshoi locked in an abdominal stretch and Tsubasa staggered over into the ropes, so Bolshoi rolled under and shifted the hold into a sick bottom rope tarantula. Bolshoi has a neat habit of ending some kind of juniors roll with a stiff strike, so you get cool spots like a Tiger Mask feint that ends in a hard right uppercut or swinging in with a knee, and I loved the way she used the ropes for leverage on a big stomp to the lower back. Tsubasa is great at using her size, powering out of Bolshoi holds and blocking ranas. I loved her lifting Bolshoi into a powerbomb from a rana, then lifting the powerbomb even higher, then lifting her into a splash mountain, before swinging her down into a nasty Iconoclasm. The ending nearfalls were really hot and well timed, didn't feel like wasted flash as they all actually looked like something that could get a flash pin. Joshi is probably the thing we talk about the least on this site, so I love when we pop in to a completely weird point in time for the genre and pull out something cool like this. 

PAS: I am not someone who as a rule searches out rare Joshi, but this was pretty great. You felt like these two ladies were a great matched pair, and this felt like a killer WCW Rey Jr. TV match, with a great base. I adored all of Bolshoi's tricked out spinning kneebar attacks, just momentously cool shit and a great way for someone so much smaller to stay in the game. Kuragaki hit some big throws out of those attacks and did a great job selling and putting over Bolshoi while remaining big and menacing. 

Iceberg vs. Bobby Hayes UIW 10/15/16

MD: I was a little apprehensive for the first few minutes here as the chain was a non factor from the start except for to prevent any distance between the two, but once Iceberg got massive color (blood all over the floor color) and Hayes started to really use the chain, it really picked up. Iceberg was always going to come back but the big turning point was him hitting his hand on the post. You got the sense that he had a window to open Hayes up and since he didn't manage to do it, time and blood loss were against him from there on in. Hayes would go to the hand now and again to keep control and Iceberg would get a little bit of hope but there was a weird sense of inevitability to this on the back end given who was in there. Once it got going it was good though. Though I bet it served its purpose for the indy, it was a little too one-sided overall to climb over the Fun barrier to Great or Epic.

PAS: This was really fun stuff as you would expect from an Iceberg chain match in a Southern indy. It is weird to see later career Iceberg, he had lost so much weight, that he just wasn't the elemental force he was when he was younger. He is bigger then Hayes, but not much bigger and is working as an underneath babyface which is an odd role for him. He is good at it though, bleeds a bunch, times his comebacks well, throws cool punches. Still he was so protected for so long in Cornelia, it is strange to watch him dominated and beaten clean.

Read more!