Matches from AJPW 11/25/90: WALKING TALL DORY~! NO RESPECT DYNAMITE~! KIDNEY PUNISHING HANSEN/KAWADA~!

The Funks vs. Dynamite Kid/Johnny Smith AJPW 11/25/90

ER:  A pretty amazing match that I had never seen, with four standout performances. It's so hard hitting, and these new All Japan Classics episodes showcase that in the best way. The sound on these episodes is incredible, and it puts you right in the middle of this high impact style. I can't imagine what it was like sitting front row for such a physical style as All Japan - let alone be a participant in it! -  but this video makes it feel like I was there 35 years ago. It's one of five Tag League matches smack in the middle of the show, and they kill each other and treat it like a match with actual stakes. It's an awesome Dory match and more evidence that Dynamite Kid's Winter 1990 is him at one of his highest levels. Dory comes off like the tougher, harder hitting Funk, an actual Cool Dory match. The match peaks with the Bulldogs working over Terry's Not As Damaged 46 year old legs in ways that contributed to Terry's Old Knees while Terry scrambles in half a dozen of the greatest attempts at making a hot tag, a face in peril to his big brother's ass kicking tough guy. 

Johnny Smith is at his absolute beefiest; Dynamite is at his most bitter and dangerous, a little guy starting the most violent fights at the bar. It's a great team. Dynamite looks angry the entire match, on the apron, in the ring, and treats Terry like an old man to be put to pasture. Terry works lighter to come off as vulnerable to loss as possible, and is at perhaps his most sexy. Sexy Terry working as Pretty Ricky. Ponytail Terry with his little mustache and the best body of his career. I love Hot Ponytail Terry in his Body Glove tights, and here's Dory in his blue trunks working stiffer than anyone in the match,  maybe anyone on the show (Eric's Note: Kawada and Hansen kick each other so hard in the kidneys later on the card that Dory Funk would have died so let's leave it to saying he worked stiffer than anyone in this match). It adds up to a middle of the card tag match that was worked as a small show main event. 

Listen to how hard they're all smacking each other! Dory's contact on his collar and elbow tie-ups with Johnny were the sound of bodies used to taking hits. When Dory is in against Dynamite, he hits him with uppercuts that are so hard that I don't think Kid had to sell his limbs all going numb. He looked shocked that Dory was hitting him so hard. He tees off hard on Smith and really looks like a mat expert going after Smith's knee and ankle. Everyone worked this super honestly, but Dory's work was the most honest and well executed of all. And here's Dynamite, the by far smallest man in the match and the guy who I'd least want to confront about anything. He goes after Terry with no respect. Maybe my favorite spot in the match, is when Terry is hitting Johnny with headbutt after headbutt before they both go down. Johnny goes down, Terry spirals down after, and the second Terry hits the mat Dynamite's eyes go wide and he scrambles up to the top rope to hit a headbutt to Terry's stomach. He pulls it off so hastily, making it look like a snap impulse, and his knees land full weight one inch from Terry's face. It looked so dangerous and was only one of the things that made this match play so tough. Dynamite is so geared up when he's in against Terry, that they even do a spot where Dynamite presses Terry off him on a kickout and Terry flies several feet from it, like Dynamite was Yokozuna. Dynamite kills Terry with clotheslines to the back of the head, throws him to the floor with a back body drop, and - most incredibly - drags him into a standing stretch muffler that blew me away. Dynamite's body had to be in constant agony and as he locked in the muffler and stood to his feet, clasping his hands while the much larger Terry was hanging upside down in a headstand, his pain was as palpable as any I've seen.  

The Bulldogs working over Terry's knee was some excellent third act cutting off the ring. Dynamite wanted that knee all match, and when he got it he was like a dog with a chew toy. He was slamming Terry's calf over his knee and it looked like one of the most violent pieces of work I've seen. Terry's selling was incredible, crawling and leaping towards Dory while Smith and Dynamite had to keep tackling and blocking. There were some nearfalls that got the big crowd to bite, like one of the most well-used and well-executed rolling inside cradles. Dory pulled the cradle and Smith rolled it over and the movement was so good that Yokohama bought in. Terry's win over Smith was so well done, as Dynamite had totally drained Terry and suddenly one of the biggest stars in wrestling history looked like he could be beaten by Johnny Smith. He has to resort to scrambling on top of Smith during a pinfall exchange and just weigh his body down. The Bulldogs looked like a tough vital team against two legends, and The Funks looked legitimately at the top of their abilities. 

Andre the Giant/Giant Baba vs. The Land of Giants AJPW 11/25/90

ER: Phil and I wrote about this match 7 years ago and I don't think I appreciated it enough then. It seems funny to say that I didn't appreciate an Old Andre match enough, as I think every single review of any Old Andre match I've ever written is me appreciating and analyzing every step he takes. I love the 1990 Tag League old broken but still proud Giants, and we should all be thankful that we got to see them against the worst Fake Road Warriors team ever assembled in a respected promotion. I cannot and will not say it is a great match, because it is not. The Land of Giants - Skywalker Nitron especially, specifically - are total cornballs. Nitron is the goofiest of all, almost surely the goofiest wrestler All Japan used in 1990. You're off the hook Richard Charland and David Sammartino. But part of what makes the match great, is that Andre and Baba know that these two are cornballs, and the gift that brings us is a very active Andre match. 

Andre is old but not nearly as old as he'd look in 1992. He was in the ring a lot against both cornballs and had a bunch of great ideas and ways to attack both of them. He looked really strong, even if Nitron sold some of his offense with the goofy acting only seen from people reading stories to small children in libraries. Andre looked like he had a lot of fun beating these two goofs up. He had two different cantaloupe fist punches, one while holding Nitron in a headlock and the other just thrown to the face and followed up with a NOAH worthy headbutt. He grabbed Masters in a knuckle lock and made it look like he was crushing his hand. The camera had a zoom in on Andre interlacing his fingers with Butch and his fingers were so big they looked like they were forcing Masters' fingers to break apart. It looks like something that would and did drop Masters to a knee. The best part is when he broke the knuckle lock by rearing back and punching Masters in the fingers. 

This match has Andre the fucking Giant holding Rob Zombie's Michael Myers in a bearhug. Freddy vs. Jason is my least favorite Nightmare on Elm Street movie and my least favorite Friday the 13th movie, but Andre the Giant vs. Michael Myers is a horror movie showdown we needed to see and I would have paid money to. There's no way I would have gone into that movie and gotten Andre keeping his bearhug locked in by pulling on The Shape's rattail. Moustapha Akkad wouldn't have had the guts. 

Stan Hansen/Danny Spivey vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Mitsuharu Misawa AJPW 11/25/90

ER: The Funks vs. New Bulldogs was a hard hitting match. Every open hand on chest and back landed with a loud crack and Dory Funk threw in a last hurrah before his 50s with a great Walking Tall badass role. It's great. But then two matches later Kawada and Hansen took such righteous anger out of each other's kidneys that it made me think *I* was going to piss blood. This is some of the toughest wrestling you'll ever see. Hansen is in full force of nature mode and he hits Kawada like a kid in training camp. Every chair, every shoulder, every godforsaken kick, was felt thoroughly. Hansen is such a force of nature, that you're not expecting Kawada to take such a force so head on. Kawada kicks Hansen back even harder and cracks baseball bat shots off the old cowboy's torso. Kawada makes such wicked contact that Hansen's pancreas selling looks like the man is learning how to sell a bruised pancreas in real time. Hansen is the best Train Running Off the Rails impacter in wrestling and it was amazing to see Kawada throw his whole body at a moving train. The finish is incredible and features one of the greatest low bridges I've ever seen. Misawa flies over the top rope with such speed that I jumped in the same way I do in the movies when a car gets unexpectedly T-boned. Spivey's team with Hansen took his timing to a really high level. Misawa is there one second and gone the next and as he's flying one direction, Hansen runs the other and knocks Kawada into the sky with a western lariat. Later, Doc and Gordy try to hit harder clotheslines on Taue in the main event and make fine cases. Later still, Jumbo and Taue outdo them all with their clotheslines to Gordy. It's show-long clothesline oneupmanship I can support. And then Jumbo gives Gordy another. 

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Found Footage Friday: RESURGENT DYNAMITE~! YOUNG ROCCO~! GYPSY JOE~! WOLFIE D~! THE LAND OF GIANTS~!

Mark Rocco vs. Terry Jowett WoS 5/24/73

MD: Amazing historical find by Allan here. This has to be the earliest Rocco we have, and maybe even by a couple of years, right? He was only around 22 here, already a three year pro. And it's fascinating to see what he was doing at this age and how he was presented. Jowett had ten years experience on him and Rocco, despite winning out in the end with a near tilt a whirl slam off the ropes, was the underdog and it was ultimately an upset. 

Along the way, there was a ton of entertaining spots, though maybe not the exhausting (in a good way, in small doses) Rocco trademark I'd expect. All the explosiveness and dynamism in how he hit stuff and took stuff but not consistent, if that makes sense. Jowett was a great counter to his antics, and I'm personally sympathetic to his hairline (Rocco's was shaggy and he already had the trademark mustache).

There was a rough around the edges feel to this, that would, in years to come, conform into Rocco's edge of your seat style. We come in during the third here (and leave two rounds later with the finish) and there are lots of quick and deep pin attempts. After one escape where Rocco just sort of stumbled out to the crowd's amusement, he was quick to go for a joking handshake, great instincts in not losing his focus and in keeping the crowd engaged, in making it seem like they were seeing a show instead of making one of their own out of what they were watching. 

Some of the comedy spots were great, whether it be Jowett booting Rocco on a drop down, or criss crossing his own limbs and rolling about so Rocco couldn't get an advantage, or my favorite, when Rocco started his hyperactive roperunning only for Jowett to run in place instead, making Rocco out to be the fool. Very funny stuff. 

Rocco would get dirtier as the match went on. Interesting, after he started clubbering for the first time and drew a public warning, Walton chastised him for it, not for the cheating itself, but because he didn't earn much from the warning. He only took over really when he dropped a knee (legal apparently) on Jowett's throat, and then only until the end of the round as he leaned in on the arm while he could. Lots of imagination in both his offense and his bounding and bumping (one time fliping all the way over and sailing between the ropes) and towards the end, he had these cobra clutch ripcords I can't remember seeing much otherwise. 

Really just a great historical snapshot of one of the most dynamic wrestlers of all time early into his development. One of my favorite finds this year. 

ER: Remember how much we, as an online contingent of pro wrestling writers and historians of Noticers used to criticize Rollerball Rocco? He was the British embodiment of the same criticisms we held towards Kurt Angle, the all flash-no substance, looks cool-means nothing type of wrestler who fell out of favor with us. I don't think we could have anticipated the Kurt Angle/Dean Malenko style of constant movement detached from meaning would become the predominant pro wrestling style in every company in the world, so much so that things have looped back around. Now, watching even the "worst" era of Mark Rocco indulgence gives me new respect for his style and ability. 

The first British wrestling I was exposed to was a Johnny Saint/Rollerball Rocco match and that match was at least a decade after this one, and it is an entirely different Rocco. It should be, he's incredibly young and only three years into his career. As Matt says, he is the underdog in the match and commentary frequently talks about him like a baby who they impressed made it even this deep into a wrestling match. But he does not wrestle like a stupid little baby, he wrestles like tough guy with a real cool command of physics. His snapmares play like violent offense, his timing is impeccable, and his strikes always looked damaging. He was adept at comedy (Matt mentioned the very funny rope running spot where he ran back and forth as Jowett mocked him like Bugs Bunny) and really the only inexperience I saw was how he didn't always seem to know what to do next, never capitalizing on snapmares and kind of waiting around for Jowett to stand back up (which is another hilarious Kurt Angle parallel). I thought that actually worked for his young mustachioed punk character as it made him look like he was big timing the veteran Jowett. Rocco's bumping for the finish was excellent, a real rewind worthy moment where he back bumps and then handsprings back through the ropes feet first and takes another pratfall on the floor, a comedy bump that looked like either the greatest lucha rudo comedy bump or the payoff to a John Cleese bit.    

The Land of Giants (Skywalker Nitron/Butch Masters) vs. New Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid/Johnny Smith) AJPW 12/1/90

MD: I'm pretty well suited to know what's new and what's not new from 89-91 AJPW or so, and I'm pretty certain this classics drop is new. We're going to cover it anyway because that's what we do, cover Land of Giants matches. We get about six minutes out of the nine here, with a clip in the middle that annoying means we lost the transition to heel offense, but you can imagine it for the most part. 

And honestly, I liked this a lot. I have issues with late era Dynamite but this was one of the best performances I've seen out of him from 89-90. The most important thing is that he needs opponents he can't just chew up and you can't chew these guys up. They're huge. This started with Smith vs Nitron and I thought they actually matched up well, too well. Some of that was Nitron not working big enough but some of it was Smith not working small enough. He wasn't acting like he was in there with a giant. Even though Masters worked bigger, he'd still do the same thing against him later. 

Dynamite knew how to get the most of them though. When he came in, he had some awesome looking stuff, a fistdrop from an angle that you don't usually see it, a headbutt followed right by a jawbreaker. He was punching up and he was valiant for doing so and he wanted everyone in the crowd to know it. We get the clip then and come back to Masters working over the back, and it's honestly one of the best sells for a bearhug I've seen in a long time. I've criticized Omega's selling of his diverticulitis lately because while it's probably accurate, real to how he feels, it comes off as hokey. Dynamite knew what back pain felt like; he was probably feeling it there depending on how much he had chosen to dull it that night, but he was able to project it to the back row in the best of ways. Nitron's bearhug wasn't quite as good but the effect was still the same. 

The comeback was pretty huge as Dynamite fired up to the top as Masters was inexplicably headed up there to put him away and they did a huge superplex. Smith came in and cleaned house. Finally Smith slammed Masters and Dynamite came off the top with the headbutt much to the crowd's delight and they won as simple as could be. Not sure what was in those lost three minutes (when we came back in Masters was beating on Dynamite on the floor) but the six we got were pretty good. 

ER: This was probably the most entertaining Land of Giants match I've seen, and it was because of a more interesting and risky Butch Masters performance than I expected, and a downright fantastic "late era" Dynamite performance. This whole thing was totally worth it just to see Dynamite as a sincerely scary looking man going hard as fuck after Masters. Dynamite's face is scarred, his body is stiff, but the man feels like a threat at all times. Johnny Smith was at his beefiest in this era, so it actually works when he's throwing down with Nitron and Masters, but this is Dynamite's match. Dynamite hits an incredible fistdrop on Masters, a lunging fist torpedoed into Masters' throat, so perfect that I watched it half a dozen times. I would have said this match was incredible if everything else in it looked like dogshit. After that fistdrop he throws Masters to the floor so hard that it turns into what has to be the biggest bump of his career. Dynamite is great at running face first into boots and was good at drawing sympathy as both Giants take him to The Land of Bearhugs, but the big shock is him hitting a superplex on Masters. I have no idea what Butch was going to do up there, but whatever it was I wasn't expecting him to get suplexed off. When Smith tags in, Masters leans all the way into a stiff missile dropkick to his upper chest and gets wrecked by a Smith clothesline that I think hit harder than all of us expected, especially Masters. 

The icing on the cake was Dynamite hitting a flat out disgusting diving headbutt, smashing his forehead into Masters' teeth. You can see a knot already starting to form on the right side of Dynamite's head and Masters lies on the mat holding his face. Dynamite looked and wrestling like a pilled up psychopath, in the best way. That headbutt was one of the meanest things I've ever seen in a wrestling ring. Smith sets Masters up over halfway across the ring and Dynamite wants him there. He does a shoot headbutt to a man's face and Masters has no idea what hit him. It is Dynamite's head whipped into the entire side and mouth of Butch Masters, like a soccer hooligan leaping off the bleachers. 

Wolfie D/Steven Dunn vs. Gypsy Joe/Danny D Evansville 9/20/00

MD: I don't know. Sometimes you just want to see Wolfie D (here in full Slash mode) go up against Gypsy Joe? And there was some of the early, with a feeling out process and then the first (shorter) of a double heat after Wolfie took Joe down with a hairpull. Pretty simple control stuff with Danny getting drawn in to allow for the blind switches. Joe eventually made a comeback off of a whip reversed and teased a stinkface maybe, because it was 2000 after all. No punches here though. That's important because those were saved to the end.

Danny got leaned on for most of the rest of the match, and it made sense because even though Dunn was a pro and Wolfie a pro's pro I'm not sure you wanted them stooging for this lanky guy with dubious agility all that much. But it was a joy to watch Wolfie just destroy someone and they worked him into a few solid hope spots, including out of a bodyscissored full nelson. When Joe did make it back in (on a hot tag which was earned but not quite maximized re: the timing) the punches came out and they went into a pretty quick roll up win. You never quite know what you're going to get with the Bryan Turner uploads until you get there but this was pretty well worked overall.

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Found Footage Friday: TIGER MASK~! DYNAMITE~! HOSHINO~! GAETANO~! DANIELSON~! SWIFT~! SAMOANS~! SANTANA~! PUTSKI~!

MD: Brief programming note here at Segunda Caida. Expect some disruptions over the next few weeks as we have some vacations and big life events coming up. As noted a few weeks ago we've done NFF/FFF every single week straight for five years. I can see that lapsing in the near future and we may miss a week here or there. Likewise with Panama. We have an awesome match for everyone next, something so good that it might be one of the top lucha trios of the 80s period. We'll get there soon. Plus there's another project coming later in the summer that I think people will enjoy, very on brand. So stick with us. Thanks for reading.

Tito Santana/Ivan Putski vs. Wild Samoans WWF 4/12/80

MD: If this actually had a finish, it'd be a pretty solid find. There are certain formulas in wrestling that always, always work. One of the best is a tag match where a guy gets taken out mid match and then comes charging back, taped up and bloody. That happened with Putski here and, like always, it was awesome, right until it wasn't when the ref called for an instant DQ. Then it was just sort of ok. The match up to that was fun though. Putski and Tito were the champs. I don't think Tito was quite there yet. He had fire but his stuff didn't fully back it up. He was well on his way though. Putski is probably a guy we have to dig deeper on given what we've seen lately. Under a certain definition of pro wrestling, he was lacking, but if you ask me, it's that definition that's lacking, not him. 

This is an aside, but I was talking to someone the other day who didn't think Buddy Rose's matwork was up to par with Fujinami's. He was comparing the two of them because they both end the 70s and start the 80s against a wide and varied range of opponents. Point being, there's matwork which is all about tight holds and complex reversals and then there's matwork that's about being active in a hold, making engaging facial expressions, using your body language to rouse the crowd, and creating an emotional effect. Probably the absolute best would be when both things happen at once, but if you got too far in either direction, you can create some unique magic despite it all, and that's exactly what Putski was able to do here just with a seated arm puller. 

This had a fun structure too, with the Samoans ambushing early and both teams playing the numbers game back and forth until they finally got some heat on Tito and Putski got a hot tag and the Hammer. It got broken up and he got opened up but it was a pretty complete match before they went into the high two-on-one struggle setting up Putski's return. It was a big moment when Tito helped Putski to the back and then rushed back into the ring to fight off both Samoans himself and a bigger one when Putski stormed back. It's just a shame they couldn't give this thing a real finish in front of a crowd in Landover, Maryland. What's the harm?

Tiger Mask/Kantaro Hoshino vs. Dynamite Kid/Bobby Gaetano NJPW 4/1/83

MD: This was on the road to the last Dynamite vs. Tiger Mask match. Gaetano is not someone we've written a lot about but he's a lot of fun to watch. Very unique in how he moves, how he comes at offense, how he balances technique and style. You know what you'll get with Tiger Mask and Dynamite, but it was the other pairings I found most interesting. There was a level of abrupt violence with Hoshino and Dynamite and that mix of over the top movement and grounded hanging on to a limb when Tiger Mask and Gaetano were in there. The match did feel somewhat like it was building to a clash between Dynamite and Tiger Mask, with both having a chance mid-match to dominate their rival's partner. It opened up to heat when Dynamite came in to save Gaetano in the midst of that and then built to an eventual recovery comeback from Hoshino two tags later. Maybe my favorite bit in all of this was when Tiger Mask got a tag mid-heat and Gaetano wanted out quickly and Dynamite wanted nothing to do with it. Those little moments of character go a long way in a match that leans towards being all action.

Bryan Danielson vs. Dave Swift (Cage Match) ECCW 9/29/01

MD: As cage matches go, this was a match that happened to be in a cage. Past a couple of nods to the escape possibility (pinfalls counted too) over the last couple of minutes, it didn't come into play at all. It came into play less than it did in Luger vs. Windham from the 91 Bash, and that's saying something. That sort of follows Danielson's attitude here, so it's ok. The match itself was okay. Swift had a ton of 01 indy power offense and it all looked ok and Danielson took it well. Danielson's kicks weren't quite what they would be and his top rope elbow drop was dubious but the forearm/elbow he won with looked like a million bucks. The best stuff, however, was Danielson's histrionics, whether it was an eyepoke or hanging on to the ropes as Swift was trying to drag him off or doing the Rick Rude swivel before dropping back onto the leg, he was certainly flexing his heel mannerisms. The promo before the match when he tried to discuss why they shouldn't be having a cage match set the tone. It's unfortunate watching this back twenty two years later that the tone was a back and forth sprint instead of the two of them grinding their heads into a cage, but for a match that just happened to occur within a cage, this was still pretty good.

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Found Footage Friday: NEW BULLDOGS~! OLD FUNKS~! IWRG RETRO~! LA CORPORACION~! TEAM CASAS~! LAWLER~! MERCURY~! COACH~!

New Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid/Johnny Smith) vs. Terry Funk/Dory Funk Jr. AJPW 11/20/90

MD: I don't think this is an all time classic, but I do think it's a bit of a "for want of a nail" scenario. Let me put it this way: if this match had existed on tape in the mid-90s, I think it would have been put on a lot of comp tapes and traded around. I think it would have ended up as a match with a "rep." We look at things with different eyes in 2023 than in even 2003 though, and that means maybe not being quite so amazed by the most novel thing in the match and instead really appreciating certain other elements. 

As such, it was a tale of three or so matches. There was a lot of Dory being down on the mat with Johnny Smith and less of hm down with Dynamite. Smith, against Dory, felt smooth, credible, like he belonged. They kept things moving. The matwork was more explosive with Dynamite and that's actually impressive in its own right, just the notion that matwork can be explosive. Then there was Terry feeding, primarily for Dynamite, though with a bit of being stuck in Smith's headlock too. That style of chain wrestling is just so different from what we see today, less set spots and exchanges and more of Terry just grasping at anything he can to try to escape. When in there with Dynamite, Terry bounced around the ring as they crashed into each other at high speed.

The match shifted gears when Terry got Dynamite out and started to beat on him on the floor. My favorite version of the Funks is the bloody, scrappy one where they're fighting monsters, but my second favorite is when they're outright bullies, like that really fun Martel/Zenk match from 86 where they treat Martel with respect but wipe the mat with Zenk. That's what we get here, first on Dynamite and then, after he rolls limply over to Smith, onto him. Tag. Pile driver. Tag. Pile driver. Seven times on Smith in a row. It's just a remarkable two minutes. He kicks out (too much) and is saved in the end and it has some reaction from the crowd, but maybe not as much if they really milked it instead of doing it so matter-of-factly. Moreover, after Dynamite makes it back in, Smith is back on his feet and rolling just a minute later. Still, definitely 1998 comp tape material and certainly a worthwhile match for anyone with even a vague interest in either of these teams, something that should definitely see the light of day and now it has.

IWRG Retro 4/6/23

La Corporacion (Black Tiger/Pentagon Black, Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro/Veneno/Scorpio Jr.) vs. Negro Casas/Felino/Heavy Metal/Matrix/Black Dragon/Mike Segura/Fantasma, Jr. IWRG 7/4/2005

MD: The     other half of the IWRG show and it got a ton of time (35 mins or so). It was good too, constantly moving with a lot of solid exchanges. I wouldn't say anyone stood out more than anyone else, really and no one looked terrible, though maybe Matrix or Fantasma, Jr. and Veneno were the weakest on either side. Maybe. There weren't any long bits of momentum from one side or another, just a lot of resets and into the next exchange. There was more of a sense that if you got into the wrong corner, you might get swarmed, in that sort of big NJPW multi-man tag style that you don't see in lucha as much.

Big indy moves had definitely reached lucha indy matches. Mike Segura managed to land on his head with some pretty crazy stuff from Cerebro Negro, for instance. And Pentagon Black was doing an Argentinian backbreaker into a cutter/facebuster sort of finisher. There was only one real dive but it was a huge one, with Black Dragon pressing up against the corner and going head first over it out of a running start. Despite a lack of major momentum shifts, there were patterns; Heavy Metal took out three guys with his bridging fisherman's suplex. Black Tiger got a couple of lucky fouls in. It ended with La Familia Casas vs Pentagon Black, Black Tiger, and Scorpio, Jr. with Metal outfoxing the rudos' interference for a deep roll up win on Scorpio, Jr. who had done a pretty good job asserting his physicality up until there. There was always something happening with characters that jumped off the screen just enough to keep you eternally engaged. Not at all a bad use of 35 minutes.

Jerry Lawler vs. Jonathan Coachman/Joey Mercury NEW 4/28/07

There was a similar handicap match vs. Romeo Roselli the night before and I'm glad we have this one instead. I loved the ebb and flow of it. They started off on the mic with Coachman bringing out Mercury as a surprise partner and teased a bit of Coach getting into it before starting with a big chunk of Mercury vs Lawler. It was all based around punches and it was all very, very good. King snapped his head back for Mercury's, of course, and he had a great tease high, go low that played off of Mercury's reconstructive face surgery.

When it was time for Mercury to take over, it was with a bunch of standard stuff like slams and back body drops but they all looked big and impactful and lived up to the moment. King got a comeback in when Mercury got distracted by the valet but he was able to take back over. Likewise, the first time Coach came in to pick at the bones, he got distracted as well, but they held off him getting his comeuppance. Eventually, Mercury went to the top rope double axehandle well once too often and ate the shot to the gut, the fistdrop, the pile driver. I would have liked them to find a better way to get Coach into the ring after that. He sort of just asserted himself to try to break things up and was pinned anyway. I would have preferred Mercury stumbling back into him or something along those lines. Regardless, he took two of the worst stunners imaginable, so bad that they were comically good, before Lawler pinned him for the feel good moment. There's a really good match with Mercury and Lawler from later in the year that felt more like a Memphis classic, but this was just straight up well executed and laid out and a lot of fun.

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Found Footage Friday: PANAMA~! SANDOKAN~! KATO KUNG LEE~! OLIMPICO~! GIGANTE TATAKI~! DYNAMITE~! CANEK~! KIMURA~! TAKANO~!

Sandokan/Kato Kung Lee vs. Gigante Tataki Panama 

MD: Tataki was Walter Quisbert Limachi, a 7'5" Bolivian giant who had been a boxer before getting into wrestling. They get around twenty minutes out of this before it breaks down completely. Tataki was fairly agile for his size, with a ton of presence. At one point, he gets Sandokan down and just bounds up to the second rope to miss a stomp. When he took and when he gave was a little suspect and he sure liked to bump out of the ring whether it was warranted or not. In general though, this all worked pretty well. Early on Sandokan and Kato Kung Lee used a lot of kicks to the legs and tried to play cat and mouse with the giant. If he got his hands on either of them, he could chuck them across the ring without any issue. The first time he stepped through the ropes to give chase, you could hear all of the kids screaming in horror. When they were double teaming him they were able to bound over him to hit sunset flips and what not. Unfortunately for the heroes, around halfway through the match, he got them both outside and smashed Kato Kung Lee with a chair. That was it for him and he got taken to the back. After that, Sandokan put up a valiant attempt, staggering Tataki with ten punches for every one that Tataki could throw, but after getting knocked to the floor, he recovered and started tossing Sandokan around again, including hitting a kneeling pile driver and this great toss where he grabbed Sandokan's singlet and rolled backwards. Both Sandokan and Kato Kung Lee were more than happy to fly around for him. Eventually, Olimpico (I think) came out to even the odds allow Sandokan to recover. Even then, they could barely hold the giant at bay, but after getting posted, he eventually got angry and went to the back, only to come back to sign a contract for the apuestas match we have upcoming. This wasn't Der Henker vs LeDuc/Corn or anything, but it was a pretty solid way to fill almost half an hour as a total package. All we have is the footage to go off of but Sandokan continues to look impressive as a local Carlos Colon type ace. Tataki may have given a little erratically, but for a guy his size he had a lot of presence and surprising athleticism. 

Sandokan/Olimpico vs. Gigante Tataki (Hair Match) Panama

MD: This falls on the spectacle side of apuestas matches as opposed to the bloody sort, but it was a hell of a spectacle. Sandokan and Olimpico started like the tecnicos did in the last match, throwing kicks in and darting around so Tataki couldn't get them. He sold the leg kicks as if he was taking bullets, but he'd also bound to the second rope threateningly. It didn't take him long to separate his opponents, given that he was able to toss them around so easily. Things opened up once he hit his kneeling piledriver to Sandoken on the floor. Once they could no longer double team him, he'd pummel one and then the next. The comeback was big, but it could have been bigger as he just missed a big splash in the middle of the ring. It was fun though, with Sandokan running up to sit upon Olimpico's shoulders so he could smash Tataki on the head, right until he'd get rolled forward, forced to victory roll his own partner. They kept bounding up and doing it again though. I was picturing Carlos Colon and Invader 1 doing it to Andre, and it was all pretty wonderful stuff. Tataki wasn't exactly subtle in his shift from taking to selling, but he sold enthusiastically when it was time. Even then, he was able to separate his opponents and was taking back over again with huge hanging tree slams onto Sandokan, until the ref ended up distracted by Olimpico and Tataki ate a mule kick to the groin. He sold this bigger than anyone has ever sold anything, basically, falling out of the ring and spasming across the basketball court towards the crowd. That set up the absolutely iconic finish with Sandokan and Olimpico throwing chairs at Tataki one after the other, burying him so he couldn't answer the count.

Dynamite Kid/Canek vs. Kengo Kimura/George Takano NJPW 4/3/81

MD: Chippy stuff actually. Early, early 80s mean jerk Dynamite is the best Dynamite and here he had a couple of kids to beat all over the ring. Canek tried to keep up, which was welcome, but he wasn't nearly as mean. Kimura and Takano had something to prove so it ended up being a little less cooperative than you'd think. Less artful exchanges. Kimura was especially good at hoping into the ring to assert himself and break things up and just swipe from the outside in general; good fire overall. When they could work together, they had a chance and Dynamite wasn't afraid to bump for them when warranted, even if he was less eager to sell. In return, they went up for all of Kid and Canek's stuff (butterfly suplex, delayed vertical, gutwrench suplex, clothesline onto the top rope, Canek's plancha, the press slam into a backbreaker that ended it). Like I said, Canek was fine but whenever he was in there, you wanted him to tag out just because you knew Dynamite was going to throw a nasty European uppercut or drop a headbutt.

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New Footage Friday: All Japan 11/19/90

Masa Fuchi/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Ricky Santana/Doug Furnas

MD: In general, it's astounding that these AJPW Handhelds are as well-shot as they are. Occasionally you're bound to get a match like this where there's just nothing the poor guy shooting can do to capture the action. We got glimpses of Furnas powering people about, maybe the tiniest hints that Ogawa was starting to put a few things together, a buzz for Fuchi doing awesome Fuchi things, and some energetic stuff (stooging? flying? who knows!) from Santana, but mostly, we're looking at the back of people's heads. Ah well.

ER: Matches like these remind me how often I take handhelds for granted. For all the amazing handheld footage we have of various territories and eras, we don't really have a ton where 75% of the match is blocked by someone's head. What we do see are some moments that make Doug Furnas come off like a monster heel, Fuchi like a VERY relevant 36 year old (that man was prematurely shunted to openers and old man trios), and Ogawa like a guy that big crowds are really getting behind. Furnas had this kickass muscular athlete spot where he hit a press slam and then did a back handspring into a running shoulderblock that sent Ogawa flying. Fuchi works super fast exchanges and comes in at the end to hit a sick kneedrop off the top rope. Fans went nuts thinking they were seeing Ogawa pin Furnas with a nice bridging German, but Furnas knows just how to egg them on and rubs their faces in a strong belly to belly. 


Mitsuo Momota/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Dynamite Kid/Johnny Smith

MD: This one we could see clearly and it was fairly good stuff. Johnny Smith didn't have Davey's likability and oafish charisma, but he was a physical force and very athletic. In some ways, his edge synced better with Dynamite's. Kikuchi already had a lot going for him in 1990: His stuff snapped, he could draw sympathy, and he had fire in his comebacks. Momota was fine here but he worked best as an underdog and Kikuchi was there to play that role. Good finish, getting him out of the way for the bodyslam tombstone and headbutt.

ER: I really like the Dynamite/Smith team. Smith is a sound wrestler but pretty colorless, and Dynamite is a broken down 32. But the team dynamic is stronger than the Bulldogs dynamic would have been at this point, as Dynamite doesn't have to provide nearly as much flash and instead can rely on his strengths as an asshole. Here he's mostly utilized as a guy stopping Kikuchi's momentum and saving Smith, and it works really well. Dynamite looks and acts like a real tough guy piece of shit, with his slicked back hair and sideburns, and I loved every instance of him breaking up a pin with a boot to the back of someone's head, stopping a Kikuchi Boston Crab with the hardest chop of the match, and coming in late to smack Kikuchi off the top rope. We missed the first couple minutes of this, and that's likely where most of the Dynamite/Momota exchanges happened. The little bit we got looked great, with Momota working some fast juniors exchanges and then stopping Kid short with a straight kneelift. Dynamite's finishing 1-2 was really nasty, deadlifting Kikuchi into a scoop tombstone (that had to be hell on his back) and hitting a crippled (but still crazy) version of his top rope headbutt that inadvertently adds a forearm across Kikuchi's throat. This was a different Dynamite Kid than his uninjured heyday, but this iteration of him sees him picking and choosing how to use his fading athleticism, while increasing the emotional heft of his selling (the way he sells a falling headbutt looks like he rung his own bell). It's a different way of doing things, but I always get engaged seeing a wrestler operating at his base muscle memory. 


Haruka Eigen/Motoshi Okuma vs. The Land of Giants (Skywalker Nitron/Butch Masters)

MD: Eigen and Okuma get a solid B- for effort in trying to fend off Masters and Nitron, including chaining some strikes together to finally get one of them down, but the finish was inevitable from the start. Land of the Giants had presence due to their size and worked best when hammering down on their opponents or lifting them up. Their other strikes, including the kicks in the corner? Less so. This was still effective enough in presenting an attraction and making fans wonder how a more accomplished team might fare against them.

ER: Man, the fans in Niigata LOVED The Land of Giants. At least during their entrance. When the two giants stormed out and ambushed the natives you'd think the crowd was watching the Road Warriors. Land of the Giants might be the actual worst of the big league Road Warriors knockoffs, but I'll always think a pair of teaming giants has a high floor, no matter how glaring their weaknesses might be. And there are weaknesses. Nitron is very tentative with all of his stuff, almost always double pumping or stuttering a bit before making a move. Masters has a lot more confidence and has better timing, but neither of them have good strikes. It shouldn't be difficult for two legitimately huge guys to just swing their arms and voila, Good Looking Strikes, but pro wrestling doesn't really work that way. The best stuff here came from Okuma and Eigen making inroads and the fans getting excited about the distant prospect of an upset. Okuma especially got them fired up, taking advantage of a (really nice looking) missed Masters avalanche and helping Eigen knock him to the mat. I laughed at Eigen grabbing a single leg and Okuma kicking Master's plant leg out from under him, and Okuma misses his diving headbutt by whipping his forehead down into the mat. I also really loved Okuma's delayed reaction sell of the double big boot, looking up at them as if to say "TWO boots??" before falling to his back. The assisted legdrop is a cool finisher for Land of the Giants, but of course Nitron hesitates twice before finally lifting Masters. 

Rusher Kimura/Mighty Inoue vs. Stan Hansen/Dan Spivey

MD: Mighty Inoue really wrestled like a million bucks, but here he also got exposed as being really tiny. What was striking, however, was that Hansen and Spivey actually made him LOOK like a million bucks here, letting Inoue outmaneuver them. That lasted right til the end where he somehow rode Hansen's attempt to interfere into his somersault senton and took Hansen out (and literally out of the ring) before the distraction had him walk right into the Spivey Spike DDT. Kimura was only in for a little, but but he got to give Hansen a taste of his own medicine with the world's longest eyerake. If Inoue was two or three inches taller, he could have been one of the biggest stars of the 80s. Sometimes you get these bizarre house show performances where Hansen will give a ton to someone, like we saw some months back with Blackwell. Here, though, Inoue made it all seem earned. 

ER: This is a great house show curiosity, a match that looks like a surefire on-paper steamrolling and instead is worked as if the teams were equals. Hansen and Spivey paid a lot of reverence to the two old men (Rusher Kimura here is 8 years older than I presently am), with Spivey selling Rusher's headbutt like a real momentum shifter multiple times. Hansen runs over several audience members on the way to the ring, but he generously sells for Inoue, and the two big men getting knocked around by two smaller/older guys is incredibly entertaining. Spivey was smart about what to sell, not going down for every move but every other move, consistently selling the headbutts as a big move but merely getting knocked on his heels by shoulderblocks and lariats. Rusher has a fun hot tag where he punches Spivey right in the neck, Inoue hits a big bulldog on Spivey and has a great run of flying shoulder tackles (including one that Hansen bumps to the floor), but he misses his beautiful somersault senton right after disposing of Hansen and Spivey pounces with his spike DDT. I always get excited for new All Japan handhelds, because there are always weirdo gems like these where we get glimpses of guys working outside of the established All Japan hierarchy.


Dr. Death/Terry Gordy vs. Kenta Kobashi/Johnny Ace

MD: We get a few really good minutes of footage if you skip past the handheld issues that start this video out. There's a 50% chance that's all you'd get anyway with a match like this if it was filmed for the TV, so I can't complain too much. The clarity comes in right when Williams had Kobashi in a bear hug and the fans were going nuts for him to escape. Instead he ate a belly to belly. From what we could see, everyone looked great. Ace is an underrated apron cheerleader, not that this crowd needed much leading. Kobashi had been in the spotlight for about a year and a half at this point and he definitely already had It here, working from underneath and unleashing his fire when it was his time to get revenge. Unfortunately, the few minutes of clarity we got just made you want to see more since this looked like a great one overall.

ER: This was just the final 5 minute stretch of a 17 minute match, and I'm sure we at least got the best and hottest 5 minute stretch of the match. Sure it would be nice to have full matches on handhelds, and a lot of people would be excited for new Kobashi footage, but I like that we got complete versions of the other matches and just the finish of this one. The crowd is over the moon for Kobashi here, but on this same show I've been way more into babyface performances from Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Motoshi Okuma, Rusher Kimura, and Mighty Inoue. I don't even think Kobashi was the best babyface in his own match, as this felt way more like a great Johnny Ace show. Kobashi had goofy slaps during his big hot tag, and meanwhile Ace is taking big bumps off the top and breaking up pins with his whole body, really knowing when to let Kobashi shine and when to step up. Gordy and Doc looked exactly how you'd expect them to look, and the hot crowd made the match-finishing Gordy powerbombs feel even bigger. 


Andre the Giant/Giant Baba vs. Kimala II/Abdullah the Butcher - GREAT

MD: This was fun for what it was and you knew what it would be coming in. Andre vs. Abby is a rare match-up if not a completely unique one, and both Abby and Kimala II were respectful and willing to put over the grandeur of their opponents. It was interesting to see a 1990 Giant Baba match where he did the brunt of the work. The highlight was the corner battering ram spot but Abby's timing was as good as ever. It was a crowd-pleaser though it was funny that Abby and Kimala got some chants from obvious dissidents before the match started.

PAS: I thought this was awesome. I am an end of the road Andre super fan, and watching him throw hands with 1990 Abby is really thrilling. We don't get a ton of it but it ruled. There is a 2/3 falls Abby vs. Andre match from 1977 in Houston, and it's probably in Billy Corgan's garage. DAMN YOU CORGAN!!. I enjoyed Kimala bringing the athleticism. He just flew into all of Baba's stuff, hit a dropkick, dove off the top, really wrestled around Baba and made his stuff look good. I would have loved to see the crowd brawling between Andre and Abby, but what we got was a blast.


Mitsuhara Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada vs. Terry Funk/Dory Funk Jr.

MD: This went all the way and from what we could see, which admittedly wasn't everything was really good. The crowd was up for it and made it feel like a big deal, a sort of parallel to Tsuruta-gun vs the Super Generation Army, but the latter facing legends in the Funks instead. It had just about everything you'd want: Dory throwing forearms instead of sitting in holds, Terry getting a ton of sympathy as he took all of Misawa and Kawada's stuff, a big comeback with an amazing exchange ending in him ducking a Kawada kick and flooring him, and an incredibly exciting and increasingly wild last ten minutes as they built up to the draw. Dory and Terry rose to the occasion, including tossing out a standing double hip toss which seemed pretty unique from them. I loved the bit where Misawa and Kawada both tried a Scorpion Deathlock since that's a death move in AJPW. And it ended with Kawada surviving the spinning toehold as the clock ran out and a show of respect from the four.

PAS: Terry vs. Misawa is a match up that only happened here (Terry worked with Tiger Mask II in the 80s) and they really had great charisma with each other, Misawa's stoicism blended nicely with Terry's wild shit. We get some fun feeling out stuff with Dory early and it built to a pretty exciting finish run, with Terry hitting his piledriver on Kawada and Misawa and Kawada trying to finish the Funks with scorpion death locks. I liked how the finishing run felt frantic, sometimes draws just finished, but here both teams felt like they were working against each other and the clock. 


Joel Deaton/Dick Slater vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue

MD: This had a sense of inevitability from the start, but it was still pretty good for what it was. Deaton and Slater were able to maintain control when they leaned into their teamwork. Taue wasn't quite there yet but he was closer than he was and could better use his size and presence, though in this match he was there to set up the big tag to Jumbo. Inevitability is the best part about Jumbo, that last minute where his opponent survives but where everyone in the crowd knew the hand would be raised and the backdrop was coming. Slater, despite being past his prime still came off as fairly credible in this setting.

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New Footage Friday: Gypsy Joe, Hara, Billy Robinson, Ray Stevens, Chic Cullen, Dynamite Kid, Bruce Hart

Billy Robinson vs Ray Stevens AWA 9/13/81

MD: The Ray Stevens Rule is as follows: No matter what wrestlers say about another wrestler, if the footage doesn't bear it out, we have to see it as suspect.

With every new (or more complete) Ray Stevens match, I hope to find some hint that proves every other Ray Stevens match I ever saw wrong. I never do. Yes, he's old. Yes, he's broken down from a life of bumping and partying and fast driving. Yes, there's so much we don't have. None of that matters. Why? Because we have other old, broken down guys and you can see it so clearly in the ruins of their movements. Why? Because we have old Flair, who idolized him, and while old Flair is heavily flawed, the remnants of wonder are still there. Why? because we have plenty of Stevens' partners, Bockwinkel and Patterson, and they are two of the most amazing 40-something wrestlers ever.

And you know what? He's pretty good here. He's pretty good at garnering heat in the beginning through stalling. He's pretty good at stooging for Robinson throughout. He's got some good back and forth punching. He's ok, decent enough, with his King of the Mountain segment. He takes a great beating, both physically and emotionally. I'd say a lot of the rest of the stuff he did on top wasn't very interesting, but he did manage a nice little headbutt to the gut out of the corner.

Unfortunately, he's in there with a far, far more memorable verison of Billy Robinson. This is Billy Robinson the master, Billy Robinson the trickster, Billy Robinson the super-over babyface in a territory that values the idea of wrestling skill more than any other. It's a Billy Robinson who is out there to make a fool of his opponent and then to fire back after he's kept out of the ring by him. He's great. He's larger than life. I've seen some great Billy Robinson matches, but I've never quite seen him so triumphant. He completely and utterly eclipses Ray Stevens in maybe the best Ray Stevens performance I've ever seen and you know what, unless you find me some 1960s footage, I don't think I ever need to see another Ray Stevens match. I've seen enough. He's not that great. Billy Robinson, on the other hand, absolutely is.

PAS: I enjoyed Stevens in this, he came off as a less sprightly Dick Slater, a tough guy who will oversell and stooge but still dish it out. Of course poor man's Dick Slater isn't an all time great wrestler, and it feels Stevens maybe a Sayama/Brody style lie. Any chance to see Robinson do his thing is awesome and he does a ton of nifty little twists and additions to the match. I liked how he got a little aggressive and ended up hurting his own neck, allowing Stevens to get some shots in. I also really dug how he worked his way into the Boston Crab reversal which led to the pin. This felt a little undercardish for a match between two such legendary wrestlers, but I liked what we got.

Davey Boy Smith/Bruce Hart/Keith Hart/Robbie Stewart vs Duke Myers/Kerry Brown/Dynamite Kid/The Great Gama Stampede 10/9/81

MD: Ed Whalen is the king of jerks. I knew when this was announced as a 20 minute clip, it wouldn't be a full match. It made me wonder just how long the original match actually was. This shows us about five minutes of shine early on, another ten of the finish, and a promo from each team. It's still a meaningful chunk of Stampede and well worth watching. The very worst thing about it was Whalen saying "hoo boy, I wish you could have seen that action!" or whatever when it came back. He was the asshole who decided to (litearlly) cut the tape!

Anyway, this was the Chic "Robbie Stewart" Cullen show, and how cool is the idea of that showing up on the WWE Network in 2019? The bits of shine we got were great, but also suffered from diminishing returns. All action, quick tags, just go go go in a way that wouldn't seem out of place today. There's no denying how workrate heavy Stampede was. I will say this though. The crowd was buzzing at the start of the five minutes and they weren't at the end, except for maybe when a groin shot was teased. It was great, but maybe too focused on one heel without enough teased even exchanges. They were pacing for sixty minutes but as five taken in a bubble, it was unsatisfying (but tasty) candy.

The heat was really strong, though a bit too focused on ref ineptitude/chicanery. Instead of them booing the heels (or even JR Foley), the crowd was shouting about wanting a real ref. I'm not sure what they went back with on this, but if it was something with Stu as a special ref, for instance, that's totally fine. In a bubble it was a bit of a shame because there's better way to get heat.

Cullen's a perfectly serviceable, very solid, brit wrestler in a lot of the 70s-80s footage we have of him. Here he got to shine as a highly sympathetic face-in-peril with some really great hope spots (including an absolutely lightning cross body out of nowhere). I'm guessing they put so much of this on him so that the Harts and Davey could be the ones to clean house at the end. There was a great moment where Keith (I think) rushed around the ring on the outside and just brutalized everyone in a mob scene.

The heels were more than capable in repressing Cullen. The tension kept getting ramped up because and in spite of the ref. The hot tag was well timed and hot. The babyfaces got to run riot on the heels to the crowd's delight. The finish was wonky and had to be hugely disappointing for everyone who just sat through 60 minutes, but I bet they all came back the following week anyway. Very fun footage, both ahead of its time and of its time in both good and bad ways, and it's a downright crime that all of this footage was cut and lost forever.

ER: I really loved all the action we got here, and came away super impressed with all of these Stampede babyfaces. Matt did a tremendous job of laying out the joys and frustrations, the ebb and flow, the reasons Ed Whalen can suck it, so I can just focus on how much I loved literally all the action. I have seen hardly any Chic Cullen/Robbie Stewart and he came away from this match looking like an all time great babyface. He was super fiery and fun on offense, loved his piledriver on Kerry Brown. Brown is a big guy and Stewart really looked like he had to strain and muscle him up to hit it, which only added to it for me. Also loved him hyperextending legs and threatening to drop his head to groin, and when the match quickly became him as the FIP it was as good as any FIP work we've seen. He bumped big (look at that grisly suplex over the top to the floor that Dynamite gave him!) and his small stature and teen idol feature hair made him come off like "The Cute One" in a boy band. But I thought all the babyfaces looked great. Apparently Bruce Hart throws the best elbowdrops this side of Hansen, really fast and full weight, and Bruce worked really violent in general, also hit a mean elbow off the top, and came off like a cool asskicking babyface. He always looked vicious when he would come in, and his viciousness made Stewart come off even more sympathetic. Davey Boy looked exactly the same as Dynamite, same size and look, even moved the same as Dynamite. He came in and hit a great jumping headbutt and later in the match Dynamite did one exactly like it. Davey Boy had these long arms and I thought he did a great job every time he tried to save Stewart before being sent back to the apron. Keith wasn't in as much but he also looked good in limited time, hitting a cool dropkick right under the chin. The heels were at minimum serviceable and it was great seeing Gama kick Stewart between the eyes, they all looked good bullying Stewart around. Dynamite was a clear standout for the heels, bumping huge to the floor off a miscommunicated dropkick, dropping Stewart with suplexes and a great high kneelift, and that killer suplex he hit to the floor, and his always strong strikes to a prone opponent (he hit this awesome falling lariat/fistdrop on Stewart that someone should steal). Preaching to the choir, but obviously it is a major crime that so much of this footage is completely gone. What we have here is gold.

Gypsy Joe vs. Ashura Hara AJPW 2/4/82

ER: I love an early 80s AJ garbage brawl, and this one felt like we had a cool layer of "is this FOR REAL!?" Gypsy Joe is almost 50 here and is a total savage, with William Murderface hair and a cinderblock forehead. He has a bunch of great strikes that all seem to land hard, probably because his strikes all land hard. Hara is no pushover, obviously, the dude played professional rugby through his athletic prime (weird he wasn't a Schneider guy earlier) so he's going to hit hard and absorb a beating. Hara surely threw some meaty chops, but Gypsy Joe looked dangerous. Hara would hit him with a shot and Joe would just stare at him and hit him back a couple times, harder. Joe had sharp uppercuts and these whipping shots to the the head and back of neck, and clonked Hara a bunch with headbutts from his big flat forehead. Hara kept getting pissed off and they played it like Joe was being unprofessional, so Hara kept going to the floor for chairs and he absolutely blasted Joe with a couple shots, getting that great Japan seat popping visual as it flies off Joe's head. But you know Joe gets that chair and hits Hara in the face with it, right with the fucking edge, then chokes him over the bottom rope and keeps bouncing Hara's head off it. You knew this wasn't likely to get an actual finish, but who cares as this had all the charm you wanted and even more of the violence than you could have expected.

MD: We've been doing this since May or so. I will admit I get some real enjoyment when I find something I know Phil or Eric will love. This one was totally down Phil's alley and we had to rush it to the front of the pile. It's an iconic Gypsy Joe performance. He's been in all sorts of spatterings of matches over the years, but this feels absolutely iconic. It's violence that doesn't stop and that goes on for a few more minutes than you'd expect. It takes one of my least favorite tropes, the idea that someone would just stand there and brace himself and take a chairshot, and somehow makes it completely and utterly believable. It's not about some sort of manliness or some sort of obtuse turn-taking when Joe braces himself in the corner and awaits the chair to come. It feels more like inevitability, like he somehow how knows this is his fate and his lot and all he can do is weather the storm. The affront offends him and he answers in kind, but he has seen the hopelessness of life and knows that all any one person can ever do is to meet it head on. Or it's just a fifty year old taking unnecessary chair shots. What do I know? It's still a really cool find.

PAS: This two are frequent dance partners (I remember an awesome IWE match between the two from 79, which I have to find and review now, and they matched up a bunch in AJ during this time), and there is no mystery to why it is a great match up. Both guys are willing to dish out and receive grim and grizzly amounts of violence, Joe walks forward and eats these sicko chair shots to his head and shoulders, and Hara absorbs some brain melting headbutts. Joe may have the most unprofessional and violent looking headbuts this side of Kurisu and he wallops Hara with them, along with a nice tasting menu of his famous lung flattening chops. Of course we get a double count out, but it would seem silly for this to end in a pinfall, of course it ends with both guys wandering around in the stands bleeding and hurling things at each other.

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Fire Fundraiser: Buddy Rose/Curt Hennig/Billy Jack Haynes vs. Dynamite Kid/The Assassin/Rip Oliver 9/10/83

Buddy Rose/Curt Hennig/Billy Jack Haynes vs. Dynamite Kid/The Assassin/Rip Oliver 9/10/83

1st Fall

2nd Fall

3rd Fall

Now this is a rematch of an earlier match I wrote up with these same 6 guys. The other match happened in June '83, here we are 3 months later. Don Owen before the match announces that Andre will be flown in from New York in a couple of weeks. The thought of Andre wandering Portland is glorious to my brain. It's a 3 fall match as is the way of Portland. That must have been so strange live just sitting there while guys went to the back between every fall. How long were they back there? You'd think it would really interrupt the momentum of a match. But, the crowd is just as hot at the end of this as they were at the beginning so obviously Owen understood his little bubble. And one thing I love about these Portland 6 mans is my favorite guy in the match changes so damn often during the match. Even a guy like Billy Jack who's clearly not as good as the others at least knows how to work face real well and knows what the crowd likes. Rip Oliver knows how to feed and he stooges hard for Jack's clotheslines. We don't get tons of Buddy in this, but we DO get tons of Curt Hennig giving one of his best performances I've seen. His work in the 3rd especially is just tremendous. Once he tags in he starts throwing the best punches of his life, these beautiful and violent short right hands, looking like a total wrecking ball, and then does the greatest sunset flip I've ever seen. Ever. No hyperbole. It looked gorgeous and felt like something that could actually finish a match. He leaps way into the air and arcs perfectly into rolling up Dynamite, but Oliver saves him. Assassin continued looking great. I enjoy Dave Sierra, but I've NEVER seen him like this. He throws out multiple backdrop bumps a match, works super quick, I love the loaded headbutt gimmic, perfectly plays up the strength of BJH by getting pressed way off on kickouts. And sheesh Dynamite has been so damn good in these Portland matches. Everything he does hits with force. He tosses out just the nastiest fistdrop into Hennig's throat. God it looked brutal. He and Hennig match up beautifully, love the finish with Dynamite's perfect kneedrop being treated like a death blow. Dynamite even takes a massive bump to the floor, getting thrown by Buddy. Just a super fun match. Also, everybody here knows how to throw a nice elbowdrop. Dynamite has a quick one, BJH throws a better one than you'd guess. And I'm a guy who likes elbowdrops, so that was just tasty pointy icing for me. I am loving this Portland. I may wind up in a dangerous Portland rabbit hole...


I want to thank Pete again for the donation, and continue urging others to donate. I'll link again to my original post, and I'll post an update on things soon. I love all the requests I've gotten, and I'll continue writing all of it up!! You guys are awesome. Thank you so, so much. Seriously.


***I'm probably sounding like a skipping record (like my Metal Health LP that awesomely skips during the first chorus of "Cum on Feel the Noize", so it just gets stuck perfectly on Kevin DuBrow yelling "Mooore moooore moooore") at this point but I'm still trying to raise money for my friend and coworker whose home burned down, completely disappearing every single one of her possessions. The donations have slowed but no matter, I still have plenty of neat requests to fulfill and WILL be continuing to fulfill them! I'm matching EVERY contribution and will continue writing above and beyond for those who donate. You donate $1? That's awesome. Whatever you can do, and then you get to make a request. This means SO MUCH to me and you all are making me so happy***

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Fire Fundraiser: Buddy Rose/Curt Hennig vs. Dynamite Kid/The Assassin

Buddy Rose & Curt Hennig vs. Dynamite Kid & The Assassin - Portland Wrestling 11/12/83


Another 2/3 Falls Portland tag, requested by Pete who was nice enough to donate to my co-worker Jan's cause.

Last Portland match we watched saw Dynamite looking like a fairground demolition derby speed dealer, here he looks more like the sergeant at arms for the Creativity Alliance. He has a bulked up body, Bic'd head and red lightning bolt tights (ohhhh so close to having two little lightning bolts right next to each other), but it was another fine Dynamite performance. His work with Hennig was real good, especially once he started with the leaping headbutts. He hits his perfect middle rope knee drop, really probably has the greatest flying kneedrop in pro wrestling, and here it actually wins a fall! That was wonderful. I've seen plenty of matches where he hits this skull crushing knee drop, far and away the most violent thing on the whole card, and it gets a two count. Here he launches into camera frame with a middle rope kneedrop right into Hennig's stomach, really looks like Hennig is going to start coughing up blood. And - as it should - it ends a fall.

Assassin was a real revelation here, again. I did some digging and realized it was likely not Jody Hamilton, but more likely David Sierra. That would make sense as Assassin is super spry in both these matches, really flies into moves at a crazy speed. I doubt a 45 year old could be moving like this...but I've also never thought "Cuban Assassin? Oh yeah, super fast bumper." But I've also never seen Sierra when he was 23, so maybe he had a young masked deathwish. I am more used to differently enjoyable chubby bullshit artist Sierra. Either way 1983 Assassin was awesome.

We really don't get a whole lot of Buddy in this, which is disappointing. We do get him during the smart/unique/horrible finish. I didn't really understand what happened during the finish, or more what was *supposed* to happen. Depending on what was supposed to happen it was either executed perfectly, or one of the worst ways to end a match. It started awesome. Assassin grabbed Buddy in a waistlock, with Buddy ducking just in time to allow a Dynamite missile dropkick to nail Assassin right on the point of the chin. It looked brutal. So Buddy locked Assassin in a waistlock after dumping Dynamite, then Hennig hit his own dropkick. I assumed Buddy would then German suplex Assassin, but instead he just fell backwards and awkwardly lay there with his legs in the air while Assassin lay on top of him. So, either Buddy was supposed to act knocked out, which is kind of a good finish even if it looked awkward...or it was supposed to be a "both men get their shoulders counted down" and instead it was just Assassin lying on Buddy. It looked weird. I don't get it.

Sandy Barr, like he does, looked like a dental lab technician showing up for work.

Also, one of the announcers had a call that made me laugh just because it was such a failure and he still kept committing to finishing the horrible train of thought. Hennig launched Dynamite into the buckles and the announcer went "THAT'LL reset your...uh...clock...back to uhm...daylight savings time...or whatever." I love how he started out excited for his declaration and by the end, just one sentence later, he just kind of loathed it.

Thank you again PETE for the donation! You're awesome.


***I'm still desperately trying to raise money for my friend and coworker whose home burned down. The donations are coming in and the requests are getting weirder and I fear they're going to start purposely torturing me. BUT NO MATTER! I'm matching every contribution and will continue writing above and beyond for those who donate. This means a lot to me and you all are making me so happy***

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Fire Fundraiser: Buddy Rose, Curt Hennig & Billy Jack Haynes vs. Dynamite Kid, The Assassin & Rip Oliver

Buddy Rose, Curt Hennig & Billy Jack Haynes vs. Dynamite Kid, The Assassin & Rip Oliver (6/25/83)

I am a Portland novice, familiar with the guys who worked other territories, unfamiliar with the local heroes. But Portland is a city I've been to many times over the years, as we've always had friends who lived there and it made for a great excuse to go visit. I love the town and would have loved to have been alive to experience the territory days in such a neat little community. Territory wrestling always takes these large cities and makes them seem like little bubble communities, when you can see the same fans showing up each week, the same families sitting together. Portland just seems like the perfect place for a territory. And this match was a real hoot. I'm a guy who really strongly disliked a lot of Dynamite Kid as "New Japan revolutionary junior heavyweight" but as scummy shitheel with bad skin and bad hair and who bumps like a loon? Yeah, I'll take that Dynamite. Here he looks like a dude selling weed in the parking lot of a Molly Hatchett concert. His elbows look great, he throws nice kicks to the stomach, he always has one of the finest kneedrops, takes a mammoth backdrop bump, flies to the floor off a big Rose dropkick. I'm kinda loving stateside Kid. Assassin looked great in this, and if this is the same guy I'm thinking of (Jody Hamilton) he must have been in his mid-to-late 40s here. You'd never know it by the way he was moving. He had a real immediacy to everything, threw a great kneelift, really knew how to bump around for the good guys, went fast at Hennig and Haynes. Billy Jack is a guy I never enjoyed much in WWF, but here you can tell he has his place with the Portland crowd. He's got a crazy build and knows how to connect, Dynamite throws himself into a stiff arm BJH clothesline, and Haynes even takes a backdrop bump of his own. Hayne's powerlifting Dynamite up into a press slam was impressive as all hell. I didn't remember Haynes having such a gorgeous press slam, and I'm a guy who LOVES press slam spots. He drops Dynamite down from a crazy height, onto a mat that doesn't give an inch. Ouch. Buddy had unreal agility and he clearly loved showing it off, leaping over the top to the floor, throwing out some kip ups, cartwheeling, really trying to show off his speed. You could tell he loved working Portland crowds. This says it's 2/3 falls but I couldn't find the other falls. What we get is a blast though. It should also be noted that Sandy Barr looks like every single photograph of everybody's father.

THANKS FOR THE DONATION PETE!!


***I'm still desperately trying to raise money for my friend and coworker whose home burned down. I'm matching every contribution and will continue writing above and beyond for those who donate. This means a lot to me, guys***

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New Japan 80s Top 30 Countdown! Match #23

Match #23: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid, 2/5/80

Dynamite's stock has fallen a bunch in recent years, as DVDs have made having every single match ever in existence easier than ever before, and people can finally go back and reevaluate "classic" matches. Dynamite's main supporters used to give him and Tiger Mask ridiculous credit for their "innovative" offense. Hindsight shows that all they innovated was current indie main event dream match style, replete with pointless/endless move counters/pinfalls/big moves, horrible pacing, no selling, etc. Dynamite was one of the best examples of a .gif wrestler. Somebody having him taking a massive bump to the floor as their avatar or crushing somebody's face with a kneedrop would only be telling 6 seconds of Dynamite's story, and that story would look amazing. Within the context of one of his juniors matches, though, that crushing kneedrop would lead absolutely nowhere and it would probably result in his opponent just transitioning right back to offense.

But this match. THIS match RIGHT HERE is the finest example of all the things people like about Dynamite, all rolled into one awesome match. The Tiger Mask series looks horribly dated through 2010 eyes, but this is the kind of match that I can see looking better and better as the years go by.

Dynamite is at his hate-filled, prickish best here, starting with some nice European uppercuts and really slamming Fujinami on a bodyslam. He goes to a smarmy, mocking octopus hold like 1 minute in and chooses to gain leverage in a test of strength by headbutting his way out of it. Forget silly flipping knucklelock counters, I'm just gonna bang my head against yours while tying up your hands! A couple more headbutts and some kicks to the stomach, followed by a nasty clubbing forearm to the back has Fujinami fighting from the bottom right out of the gate.

DK throws two punches right at a bandaid on Fujinami's forehead, and Tatsumi is already checking to see if it opened up on him. He rattles off a couple armdrags and locks in DK's arm to try and slow down the beating, but DK merely stands up and throws some sick elbows to the face, then boots him right in the head. He goes to the octopus again, but Fujinami bails through the ropes.

DK forces him to the mat and starts lacing into him with some great knees to the ribs and forearms to the chest, the type of things you normally do not see when juniors work the mat. DK tries to break Fujinami's bridge by coming down full weight on top of him, and Tatsumi catches him in an awesome body scissors on the way down. DK just grabs Fujinami by the hair and throws some non-pulled punches right at that same cut, which soon after opens right up.

DK goes right back to working that cut, throwing in succession: a punch, an elbow, a kick, a stomp, and two kneedrops, followed by one fucking BOSS fistdrop (and I'm a man who luuuuuuvs his fistdrops!!). This clearly isn't graphic enough, so he just starts BITING the fucking cut!

Fujinami gets a flash roll up for a nearfall and the fans get way into it, and it was really nicely done. It was fast enough and snug enough that you bought that DK could be held down for the three count. Instead, though, DK kicks out, elbows him to the mat and stomps his face from the middle rope!! Good lord!

Fujinami is still trying to use his speed to counter, but it's failing miserably because Dynamite is equaling him in speed. They rope run and Fujinami goes for a dropkick, but falls to the mat as DK does the manliest fucking saunter right out of the way. Does it blow the physics of all the other rope running he does? Of course it does, nerd, but fuck YOU for being such a geek for pointing something out like that. Wrestling needs more Lucy's pulling the football out from under Charlie Brown.

DK heads to the top and puts every one of Chris Benoit's diving headbutts to shame. That wimp just turned his head to the side and aimed for the shoulder! DK decides "What's the WORST that could happen if I just do a shoot headbutt here? What could possibly go wrong over the next 25 years? How bad could the effects REALLY be? Who will be foolish enough to use ME as their life's example?" And then he just lands forehead to forehead with Fujinami. I want you to go back and pause the match during the moment when DK goes for the pinfall. The smile spread across his face is one of sheer madness (and this sequence really would actually make a great fucking animated .gif).

We continue with more elbows right to the face, and Fujinami gets a feeble sunset flip that nobody believes. The dude is barely hanging on at this point. DK has controlled about 98% of this thing and Fujinami is a mess. DK slams him and heads up for headbutt #2...and Dynamite does the most INSANE faceplant that I've ever seen a man PURPOSELY do.

I love missed moves in wrestling. It's something that doesn't get talked up that much, but it's something I always look for. I love it when somebody is supposed to miss a clothesline, and they REALLY make their opponent duck under that clothesline. They throw it as if they were gonna take somebody's head off, but it missed. I hate when a guy is supposed to miss a clothesline, and instead of throwing it like normal, he throws it as if he's throwing a fastball. People, you need to throw your missed clotheslines like Dan Quisenberry, not like Nolan Ryan. More Kent Tekulve, less Roger Clemens. A missed move should look like it would look any other time you try it, but some moves are much more insane to miss on purpose.

To miss this headbutt, DK plummeted to the mat and broke HIS OWN NOSE by choosing to go face first. He knew he was missing it! And he CHOSE to go FACE FIRST into the mat. I can't really endorse it, but I would be lying if I said I did not rewind it 7 times.

This is the PERFECT time for Fujinami to transition into offense (really his first offense of the whole match), and he unleashes on Dynamite, sending him to the floor. Fujinami has him reeling, so FLINGS his body over the ropes to the floor...only for Dynamite to casually saunter away again, sending Fujinami face first into the floor with limbs flying every which way. Two of the greatest intentional missed moves I've ever seen, 45 seconds apart from each other. Fujinami's miss was so spectacular that for all I know it was supposed to hit DK square in the face.

We go back inside and Fujinami takes far too long to just roll up DK for the finish. Well, that was a poor finish. BUT I can't stay mad at this match. Would it have been infinitely better if DK had just dickishly rolled back into the ring, leaned against the ropes smiling like a huge cock and gotten the count out victory? Yes, yes, god yes. This was one of the few times I was rooting for a count out finish. but Fujinami goes over with his least "out of nowhere" roll up of the match, and that's that.

I did end on that flat note, but it also had 15 minutes of severe ass beating preceeding it, so what more could you want? This is the ultimate Dynamite Kid showcase match. Maybe it's better that most indie workers decided to emulate the DK/TM series instead of this one, as we already have seen what happens when a nutbar emulates THIS Dynamite Kid. But holy cow, this match was awesome. Fujinami took an insane beating, and DK was game to keep dishing it out. So, so awesome.

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