Terry Funk vs. Onita, A Barbed Request

Terry Funk vs. Atsushi Onita FMW 5/5/93

ER: Ah yes, nobody ever expects the No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Exploding Ring Time Bomb Death Match, the only wrestling match stip with as many words as a Billy Ocean song title. This was the huge main event of FMW's 4th anniversary show, held in Kawasaki Stadium with over 40,000 people there buzzing to see two men get ripped up by barbed wire and then potentially explode. The video even starts with shots of fans doing the wave, reminding us that not only were we watching pro wrestling in a baseball stadium, but a baseball stadium in hell. Funk enters the ring to a kind of instrumental video game version of Peter Gabriel's "Big Time", and I found myself thinking about how these American wrestlers didn't really know what they were getting into. Terry Funk was a star. He was still a popular gun for hire, a guy you could bring in to add instant credibility to a card, but how well could they have really communicated what was going to happen in this match? Surely he understood the barbed wire ropes, but how well could he have really understood how the explosions were going to work? And how much concern was lingering in his head? There can never be 100% confidence when explosions are involved in any stunt, and I would love to know what kind of waivers had to be signed before even agreeing to this match, and how much his payday was.

Onita comes off every bit the legend, X's take on Wild Thing feeling like the iconic version of that song in this moment, reminding us of what Major League taught us, and reminding us that we were still in a baseball stadium. Funk meets Onita in the entrance way with Onita merely addressing him by saying that he's now going to walk this way to the ring, brushing past to Funk's left, with Funk eyeballing him and following him into the ring. A stadium filled with youth in jean jackets singing along to Exene Cervenka is always going to be a killer visual, and I wonder if X knew, and when they found out, that their cover was being used in such an iconic way. And why was X never offered the chance to play Onita out to the ring? To add to the spectacle, the referee is decked head to toe in silver: silver boots, slim cut silver pants, a long silver coat tied at the waist, and a helmet that made his entire outfit look like one of Palpatine's Royal Guard reimagined for Woody Allen's "Sleeper". Funk is wearing his black on black jolly roger tights, while Onita is wearing his Donkey Kong Jr. gear.

Our armored referee actually checks both men for weapons before the match, sticking to protocol while surrounded by barbed wire and explosives, hoping his routine will calm the storm. It won't matter. Both men struggle to shove the other into the explosive barbed wire, Onita's face selling some great anguish of locking up with Terry. Terry breaks first and cracks him with an elbow, a great headbutt, and a huge chop. The fans actually start getting behind Terry as he dances around Onita while throwing punches; a hard jab into Onita's ear, and then a big swinging left before Onita - earlier than expected - flies backwards into the wire, sticking to it momentarily while the flash of explosions goes off, Onita falling forward with actual blackened char marks on his back and a series of cuts all over his arm and body which will soon be dripping with color. Onita sells the shock of that hit well, lying on his stomach while Funk rips at his tank top, trying to unceremoniously drag him off the mat, while Onita just needs time. Funk hits a great piledriver, and Onita gets Irish whipped into the wire from all way across the ring, and Onita really commits fully and runs into those ropes full speed, the wire taking his weight and gripping him. As Funk tries to force Onita eyeballs first into the wire in what would have been the most disgusting moment of any death match, Onita saves his eyesight and hits a big back suplex, then a DDT that spikes Funk vertically, and Funk also goes into the wire. He doesn't appear to take as bad a hit as Onita, but Funk sells it like the explosives short wired a circuit in his brain. Onita gets recovery time from his injuries while Funk staggers around the ring, off balance and stumbling towards every side, fans getting noticeably louder every time he staggers anywhere near the wire before faceplanting onto the mat. He staggers towards ropes the same way Mr. Magoo would stagger towards construction sites. Funk's forehead is dripping with as much blood as Onita's body.

We build to Onita repeatedly headbutting Funk, no hands, just thrusting his head into Funk's head, Funk staggering inches away from the barbed wire with each headbutt, four headbutts, Onita timing them to catch Funk as he staggers away from the wire, all building to the killshot. But when Onita rushes in for that fifth headbutt, Funk sidesteps him and sends him hard into the wire, Onita's full body weight now being supported by the wire, no part of him touching the mat, just Onita tangled in that web. He tumbles to the floor, freshly sporting a few deeper wounds: A deep cut into his back and what appears to be some badly mangled fingers. Onita's hand appears to be damaged, the way he holds it away from Funk, the way he barely uses it the rest of the match, the way he appears to panic while looking at it after getting up from his trip through the wire and out the other side.

And then the countdown starts. 10 minutes gone quick, and an alarm begins to sound, the kind of alarm that sounds when some idiot hits the self destruct button and you realize you have only 5 minutes to locate survivors, kill the queen, and save your cat before holing up in an escape pod. Funk drops odd, drunken, dog paddling blows onto Onita back in the ring, and we go into a few bomb trading exchanges, more staggering, more headbutts, and a fantastic spinning toehold spot: Terry locks it on (unexpectedly paying off a kneebreaker he hit early in the match), but Onita kicks him off and Terry takes a spectacular explosion into the wire. But the fans are left surprised after Onita wins with a DDT, more than a couple minutes before the ring is set to explode. Both men are covered in blood, and Terry doesn't want to leave. He wants to keep fighting. He knocks the ref's helmet off with a brutal downward strike lariat to the back of the neck - crueler than maybe any strike he dished out to Onita's body - and chokes Onita with wrist tape. Onita hits a couple thunder fire powerbombs, dripping blood while doing them, and leaves Funk to explode. With 1 minute left before self destruct, an ear piercing air raid siren goes off. What must the fans front row ringside be thinking? They have listened to 4 minutes of alarm, and now another, far louder alarm is sounding, and here they are waiting 10 feet away from a bomb target.

Onita is not a man driven by sane thoughts. He rolls back into the ring with 10 seconds to go before detonation. Did he want to save Terry? Did he feel remorse for leaving a soldier? He slaps Terry a few times to rouse him, attempts to drag his dead weight, but with 2 seconds realizes that escape is impossible. He throws his body over Terry

And then the bomb goes off.

What happens next is incredible. We see nothing but smoke, smoke passing through the remains of the wire, looking not unlike the playground chain link fence Sarah Connor stands at, yelling, warning of the pending nuclear explosion. And then a single, clear guitar solo begins to play. We hear no crowd, we don't know how they're reacting. We hardly see any humans. We hear guitar, and our camera follows the gray brown smoke as it lifts up and off out of the stadium. A mournful guitar weeps and moans as we see the two men lying in the ring, doused with water, gray with soot, blood mixing with ash and lycra, guitar solo doleful but still clear as a bell. And Onita begins to stand. And as he stands, he lifts Terry up with him, two men no longer in a war against each other, both men rising from the ashes of a future time war, having taken down the death machines risen from the rubble. Butch and Sundance ride off into the apocalyptic radioactive sunset.

They now stand - barely - as two men, survivors of the same war. Terry says he fought Onita under Onita's terms, and next time Onita would meet him on his own terms, his own ground. Onita begins to cry as if his father just walked out on him.

But they would never have a return match.

 

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Until There's a Kurisu...

The joy of Kurisu, a man with a legit long career in both New Japan and All Japan, he was around during the start of FMW, during an important year of WAR, and trained guys like Koji Kanemoto. He's also a guy I don't believe I've seen footage of before the age of 40. Kurisu exists as this perpetually middle aged Japanese Randy Marsh, whose interests include chair shots and shoot kicking people in the face. Until There's a Kurisu is a foundation dedicated to raising awareness of the pain caused by chair edges to the back of heads.

Kurisu vs. Shoji Akiyoshi (FMW 12/10/89)

Good grief, Kurisu. I think we all use the words "destroy" or "nasty" or similarly animated words to describe wild moments in the wrestling that we watch. But this match probably belongs in its own category. Because it's basically just Kurisu kicking rookie year Jado in the face for a few minutes until he's actually knocked out. Now, there is other stuff. It's not some weird snuff film where a stationary camera just zooms in on a man's face as you watch life drain from his eyes. There is a competitive (sort of) nature to it. But no matter what happens, it always comes back to Jado getting kicking in the face. This is the type of desultory beating that could really turn somebody into a vengeful psychopath, something that could really alter you. You can picture Jado visiting elderly Kurisu like Vito Corleone visiting Don Ciccio. So yeah, Kurisu kicks face, and as Akiyoshi is selling being kicked in the face he gets kicked more in the face. He finally escapes to the floor, which just leads to Kurisu getting on the apron and kicking him in the face, pre-dating Trevor Lee by 25 years. Then he grabs a chair and literally just hits Akiyoshi as hard as he can with it, several times, and kind of leaves him for dead. Back in the ring, though, Kurisu gives him a little comeback. Akiyoshi locks on a crab and Kurisu actually sells his back nicely for him. Akiyoshi goes up for a missile dropkick (inexplicably going to the turnbuckle farthest away from Kurisu) and eventually drops him. But then Kurisu has had quite enough of that and goes right back to kicking face, with the final kick catching Akiyoshi right under the chin and legit turning off the lights. The craziest thing about it is Kurisu goes to pick him up for more of an ass beating, realizes immediately that he is picking up a corpse, and then makes a face like "oh yeah, that makes sense!" and pins him. The screen freezes and fades to black and white, and I was half expecting to see a "In Memoriam" graphic pop up for Akiyoshi. He certainly earned his long career with this one.

Kurisu vs. Jang Yong Wow (FMW 1/7/90)

Kurisu against a karate guy, in the opening round of a tournament. "Japanese indy scum vs. Karate guy" is pretty much a guaranteed source of pro wrestling joy, as I imagine almost all of the scenarios involved some guy from a local dojo offered money to fake wrestle once, and the person he's wrestling eventually flips the script and goes off page on him. And that's what happens. Wow throws some spin kicks in the 1st round, 2nd round is Kurisu being Kurisu: throwing the nastiest unprotected chairshots to an unsuspecting Wow (his reaction made it seem like he knew Kurisu would be hitting him with a chair, but something tells me the shots were explained differently to him than the ones he got blasted with) and then back in the ring he allows himself to be dumped on his head with a Saito suplex and lies there while Kurisu puts him in a half crab. This was clipped to hell, and the match never had that wrestler vs. karate guy moment where the karate guy realizes he's being fucked with, instead Wow just kinda rolled over and played ball. But damn those chair shots.

Kurisu vs. Matsunaga (FMW 1/7/90)

I wonder how the transition happened, when Matsunaga went from normal karate guy to crazy deathmatch guy. Is it like prostitution? You're looking for a way to make some quick money one summer, and the money turns out to be WAY better than you anticipated, and then pretty soon you're doing it full time, and then the drug use kicks in, and eventually some long haul trucker buries you out on Long Island Sound and a jogger finds you a year later. The death match money likely doesn't come close to a night of hooking, but it's somehow less dangerous. But I really am wondering if one day you're a karate guy and then they convince you to let Kurisu hit you with a chair and then a week later you're in a piranha tank with your gi hung neatly in your locker. If you had never seen 90s Matsunaga you wouldn't have given him a second thought in this match. He was very much a karate guy who didn't look like he knew pro wrestling. And he was clearly told the same thing Jang Yong Wow was told in the first match: "Throw some pulled kicks throughout the 1st round, then in the 2nd at some point Kurisu will hit you with a chair." I am operating under the assumption that they expected the chairshots because it looked like they were waiting and bracing themselves to be hit by a chair. Kurisu even makes them wait a little too long. But yeah, Kurisu eats some nice low kicks eventually catches a kick and kind of muscles Matsunaga over the top to the floor. And then you see it: Matsunaga lying on his stomach, knowing that this is when he gets hit with a chair. And Kurisu finds a chair, and literally walks around Matsunaga's body, craning his neck in to look for the most painful angle bounce a chair off him. And he finds it. Kurisu ends up teeing off golf style with the edge of a chair to Matsunaga's head, then gives him a few shots to the body....then grabs a couple more chairs and gives him a few more shots, and then rolls in for the count out victory. If I had to guess, Matsunaga knew "take a chairshot, get counted out". Something tells me he was not told there would be 14 chairshots.

Kurisu vs. Tarzan Goto (FMW 1/7/90)

This is the finals of FMW's weird karate fighter tournament, with all the lumpy scuzzy indy guys advancing. Goto comes into this with his ribs wrapped and his mullet all wooly and fluffed, and wouldn't you know it, Kurisu goes after Goto's ribs. Goto punches him out of the ring to start and then goes up for a dive off the top, and Kurisu ole's him right into the floor. Kurisu grabs a chair and begins doing his signature move, that being "hit opponents' tender spots with a chair at a violent angle, repeat". And that's the story of the match. Kurisu targets the ribs, kneeling on them, jamming his fists into them, at one point he is literally just leaning on Goto's taped up area. They also find plenty of time to headbutt each other. We get tons of moments of these two just looking each other in the eyes and clonking heads in painful ways, until Kurisu keeps deciding he's had enough of Goto's giant dome and goes back to kicking him in the ribs. Goto doesn't last long, whole match goes maybe 8 minutes. These kinds of matches can't go too long as they were just out there taking tons of shots to the head. If this was booked to go 20 they'd both be vegetables by the end. But it's definitely a mistake to go into a Kurisu match with something taped up. It would be like me walking through the Richmond BART station asking if anybody has any change for all of my hundreds. Onita comes out afterwards and he and Kurisu go at it, with Kurisu leaping at him off the apron with a chair. We get a bunch of still photos progressing the action, as though Chris Marker suddenly decided to make a poetic garbage wrestling documentary. And then I've never wanted to know how to speak Japanese more, as Onita cuts an insane, passionate crying promo backstage, just sitting there in his blue tiny trunks with belly bulging in white tank top, hunched over awkwardly, bleeding, and passionately crying. This is the kind of promo that can go viral. GIFs of his plaintive eyes can easily be inserted into any conversation thread. Crying Onita can become our Crying Jordan. Crying Onita has always been our Crying Jordan.

Kurisu vs. Onita (Barbed Wire Board Match, FMW 2/12/90)

I really liked this, but it's the type of match that I don't really think would play today due to the desensitization of death match culture. This is before the death match boom, and you don't get any guys taking stunt falls into elaborate weapon structures here. Instead, you get two men not at all dressed for a death match, actively trying to avoid falling into barbed wire. Death matches were still in their incubation period here. It would still be MONTHS before some weirdos decided to throw a cobra into a ring sealed by saran wrap or fight in the middle of a grocery store. So Kurisu and Onita wrestle in their normal trunks as the ringside area is completely covered in barbed wire boards. And these two insane men sanely do not want to land in the barbed wire. But they are vicious in how they each want the other to land in the barbed wire. Kurisu especially just jams his boot into Onita's throat to try and force him over the apron and into the wire. There are some great shots of Onita dangling perilously off the apron as Kurisu's outstretched leg pushed at his throat and jaw, forcing him down into the wire. And when he finally does fall into it, we don't get a modern back bump we've all grown bored of, we get a guy reacting the exact same way you or I would react if we accidentally fell into barbed wire. There's no rolling around in it, just a man trying to move as slowly as possible so as not to rip the shit out of his skin. Sheesh Onita is kneeling in it while trying to get his singlet untangled. His kneepads are not covering his knees. Personally, I hate kneeling on any hard surface, so I can only imagine how awful is it kneeling in barbed wire. Kurisu keeps kicking Onita into the wire, and in a great moment Onita finally catches Kurisu's leg and starts yanking him towards the wire. And man Kurisu does NOT want to go into the wire.

When I was 13 my mom let me throw a back to school pool party. It being a pool party, there were moments of meatheads throwing girls into the pool. My friend Brigit had just started her period and really had zero interest in going into that pool, but meatheads trying to throw someone in a pool LOVE resistance. They love the chase, they love the screams. They are monsters. Brigit eventually went into that pool, but man did she put up a fight on the way there. It took a few guys to drag a 115 pound girl into a pool. Kurisu held onto that bottom rope as strongly as Brigit held onto every damn thing she could get her hands on to slow down her eventual drop into the pool. Kurisu looked like a guy who had been promised backstage that he wouldn't have to go into the wire...and was realizing in real time that Onita was going to get him into that wire. Kurisu looked like a kid who had been tricked into going to the dentist, with Onita as the dad trying to drag him out of the damn car. Onita gets far more cut up by wire, Kurisu mostly avoids it by hanging on as long as possible and mostly falling underneath the apron, away from wire, and then taking his time to carefully get out of it. Again, he looked exactly how any of us would have looked in the same situation. And before long Kurisu is back on the apron and they're laying in shots to each other. The barbed wire stuff is amusing, but I like these two punching face. And we get some face punching, and Kurisu does a not recommended superplex. It looked like two people trying out a superplex for the first time. And then Onita decides to punish Kurisu for all of those shoves into the wire by just absolutely planting him with the thunder fire bomb. I mean vertically planting him. I wonder how many young boys watching secretly celebrated as Kurisu was just driven headfirst into the mat? It's not enough to stop Kurisu, so he gets another bomb for his troubles, and even then kicks out the as soon as the 3 is counted. Again this was a match that I don't think would go over today, but due to the personalities involved and the time it happened, I really enjoyed it. FMW was such a strange turning point in wrestling history.

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1990 Match of the Year

Atsushi Onita/Tarzan Goto v. Kendo Nagasaki/Masanobu Kurisu FMW 4/1/90

PAS: Just a hellacious balls to the wall street fight, taking everything great from Memphis brawls like Fabs v. Moondogs and amping it up just a bit. The crazy thing about this match, is you know that there is a directors cut of this match which is just as good focusing on the other two guys off camera. When we are watching Nagasaki recklessly hurling chairs at Goto's head, Kurisu is assuredly off camera kicking Onita with toe of his boot in the eye. This feels like a career match for Nagasaki who is an unhinged maniac, he comes into the match dressed in sweatpants and a white T-shirt looking like a guy home sick with the flu, and he is a whirling dervish, chasing Goto through the audience flinging chairs like Donkey Kong throwing barrels. We get some great Onita melodrama selflessly covering Goto with his body to ward off chair shots and emoting deeply. Kurisu may be one of my favorite wrestlers ever, this shlubby fat balding guy, who comes into a wrestling match with no fidelity to the traditions of safety and appropriateness that wrestling has been bound by. He will kick you with the toe of his boot, headbutt you in places you aren't suppose to be headbutted in, chop you in the throat, chair shot you with weird angle and edges. This kind of reckless disregard is perfect for this kind of brawl. Everyone is Kurisu here and he is the king of this grubby kingdom. The whole match goes 9 minutes, doesn't outstay it's welcome, and ends when it should. It is problamatic that enjoy this kind of crazy violent shit, it would be healthier for me if I didn't, but this match appeals to my darker angels and does it well.

ER: What a match! This really feels like a total Segunda Caida match (whatever that means). Nagasaki really is dressed as Man Playing XBOX on a Wednesday and Kurisu is dressed as Man Running Errands; Goto is dressed in comfort fit sweat attire, truly the worst collection of tight fitting sweat clothing you've seen, and Onita is all mummied up in bandages and tape, and we have a fight. I agree with Phil about Nagasaki in this match, really did feel like a career performance. I've never seen him look this inspired, and the hate in his eyes as he beats up Goto makes it look as if he were told he would not be paid tonight, right before the match started. Nagasaki knows how to make use of a bunch of chairs here, hitting both Onita and Goto with them at totally unpleasant angles. Kurisu doesn't even look like a guy in this match, just wandering around in his button down tucked into jeans. Then he pairs off in the ring with Goto and heeeere's where Kurisu gonna Kurisu. The boots he throws at Goto are the best you've ever seen. Watching those kicks and you finally understand what it means to put the boots to someone. He just beats the hell out of Goto, throws some famously nasty headbutts, and Onita drops him a bunch with his great over the shoulder powerbombs. This was all epic painful madness, the best part of those early year FMW shows. It was a fed where Jimmy Del Ray could just hang around and not look like the biggest skuzz.


ALL TIME MOTY MASTER LIST

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Within Segunda Caida's Wheelhouse: FMW vs. UWF vs. Barbed Wire

Yoshihiro Takayama/Masakatsu Funaki/Takuma Sano/Mitsuya Nagai vs. Atsushi Onita/Ricky Fuji/NOSAWA Rongai/Raijin Yaguchi (No Rope Barbed Wire, FMW 6/21/16)


ER: I have no idea what this was, or who it was designed to appeal to, or...well I guess I just don't understand Japan. The cat is outta the bag. What would be the American equivalent to this? Maybe an old timers softball game, except when Ozzie Smith picks up a ball then Dave Winfield is allowed to punch him in the dick? This match feels one step removed from WWE including a clause in their Legends' Contract stating "We reserve the right to one day film a WWE Network reality show where you may be hunted for sport". Several of these guys had very respectable, high end careers. Funaki is a pioneer, Takayama had one of the great puro runs of my lifetime, Sano has had great matches spanning decades, just seems a weird and sad and weird match to even be taking place. Nagai is the lone UWF guy with the sense to show up in jean shorts and a t-shirt. Takayama, Funaki and Sano are all in their trunks and kickpads, looking older and confused, as if they were tricked into being there. I refuse to believe that Takayama still regularly wrestles for actual real promotions. He wrestles the way people think they remember brain damaged Terry Gordy wrestling. I don't think he was able to throw one kick without immediately losing his balance and stumbling backwards. Sano now weirdly resembles Bob Backlund in the face, and I would be greatly interested in seeing a 2016 Backlund/Sano match. I guarantee you by the end of the year I'll have watched good matches featuring older luchadors. NOSAWA looks the same as he always does, Ricky Fuji looks like old weird Gregg Allman, Yaguchi looks like glam Kabuki, and Onita still *looks* like a fucking rock star. Dude could be playing bass in Guitar Wolf for all I know. I do hope he plays bass better than he approximates pro wrestling though. This was about 10 minutes of guys trying not to touch barbed wire, caring mostly about seeing where the barbed wire was in relation to their person, instead of caring about throwing decent strikes. We got SOME decent strikes. Onita took a kick to the eye. Onita also took a couple whips into the wire. I actually thought Funaki was going to be crazy enough to go into the wire, but he reversed Onita into it. Takayama got slammed through a barbed wire board, Sano got hit with a chair and fully looked like he did not want to be there. Some brawling on the floor made up in spirit what it lacked in quality. Onita won with some sort of chickenwing choke on Sano that was so loosely applied that I did not realize he had a chickenwing choke on Sano. I thought he was holding him or something, so that another old FMW guy could inflict actual damage on him. This was a match with old FMW guys and old UWF guys and barbed wire for ropes. I am going to go ahead and assume that all puro is currently just like this.

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MLJ: Atsushi Onita, Mil Mascaras & El Hijo del Santo vs. Tarzan Goto, Negro Casas & Giant Warrior

Atsushi Onita, Mil Mascaras & El Hijo del Santo vs. Tarzan Goto, Negro Casas & Giant Warrior
05/15/92 Tijuana, B.C. El Parenke

This was one night before the CA show, just with Goto on the other side and Nitron and Mascaras (there's a toss up) in the match instead. It's well worth watching as well, though, because while there were similarities, enough was different.

Similarities first. There was no reason in the world for Casas and Santo to not do the same exact opening exchange the next night. The crowd would almost certainly be mostly different. And lo and behold, it's move for move the same. That's okay though, because they hit it so quickly and so smoothly and so beautifully that it's actually a joy that we get it from a different camera angle.

That's really the only thing that's the same here. Mascaras' presence and Goto being paired against Onita changes everything. Mascaras is amusingly annoying. He'll sell for Giant Warrior but won't give Casas a single thing. At times, it gets hilarious as he just eats him up. Obviously, if Mascaras is going to be crushing someone, you want it to be someone who can make it entertaining and Casas can do that. It's still fairly bemusing though. Worth watching but bemusing.

Goto and Onita do their thing, and that's a lot of fun in this setting too. Goto is such a force, flying about with headbutts, and the sheer shining babyface charisma out of Santo and Onita paired together works better here because the match never really spirals around the arena like the one in CA did. It felt more contained with more interaction between the competitors.

I wish there were another ten of these matches from this tour because the two that we have are just a blast.

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MLJ: Atsushi Onita, Tarzan Goto & El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas, Horace Boulder & Tim Patterson

Atsushi Onita, Tarzan Goto & El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas, Horace Boulder & Tim Patterson
05/16/92 Los Angeles, CSLA Gym

What the hell guys? Why didn't any of you tell me that this existed? It was from some FMW USA tour or something but it was in a gym (Cal State?) with a hot crowd, lots of Japanese people there to see Onita, lots of people there to be Santo.

And this was a blast. It's exactly what you'd expect, really. The only shame is that for the most part, Santo and Casas work each other and Goto and Onita work Patterson and Boulder (one of which you barely even see in the match, really).

I mean, it's really exactly what you'd expect, like a greatest hits of this sort of thing. Goto was awesome bouncing off the ropes and headbutting people and clotheslining them left and right. Onita brawled around the crowd, had dueling chair wars and the world's most charismatic DDT. Santo and Casas worked some of their super fast, super smooth, 1992 exchanges. Santo hit his senton/tope into the corner, and this was a crowd that knew him well enough to expect it, so time seemed to absolutely freeze in the moment.

We get spattering of Casas shtick too. He wants nothing to do with Onita after stealing the second fall with La Casita. Earlier on when Goto threatened to come in after all of the outside the ring extracurricular, he actually used Santo as a human shield for a few seconds, which is, again, awesome. Patterson and Boulder were just there, neither helping nor harming the match, really, but playing their role so that Goto and Onita could play theirs. It was a whole lot of nothing but man is it ever glorious nothing. This must have been so great to be at live.

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Yoshiaki Fujiwara Has a Hasty Temper and Exalts Folly

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Daisuke Ikeda v. Horace Boulder/Hisakatsu Ooya FUN 12/12/95

This was more of an FMW tag with PWFG dudes in it, then a PWFG tag with FMW guys, the latter would have been more interesting. Boulder and Ooya are fine here, Boulder's skullet is magnificent and he hits a nice tope, Ooya has a great back suplex, but Fujiwara and Ikeda working figure fours and elbow drops is fine, but not what makes them compelling. Reminds me a little of weak sauce NOAH Ikeda, you can still tell how great they are, but they are a little stuck in second gear.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE FUJIWARA

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE IKEDA

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Best of the 1980's Project: Reviews and Results

The DVDVR 80's project has always been tied closely to Segunda Caida. I came up with the project during a conversation with Bix and Kris Zellner, and took the lead in bringing in Goodhelmet, Tomk, SLL and EricR have all helped with match selections, it is as much a SC project as a DVDVR one. So we have decided here to review the top 30 finishers for each of the sets. Results are below with links to reviews. Check in for Top Thirty Thursdays where we will be adding new reviews every week.

Other Japan Results -Top 30
Statistics

1. Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda UWF 11/10/88
2. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger UWF 12/5/84
3. Nobuhiko Takada vs Bob Backlund UWF 12/22/88
4. Riki Choshu vs Genichiro Tenryu JPW 2/21/85
5. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger UWF 7/17/85
6. Masakatsu Funaki vs Tatsuo Nakano UWF 7/24/89
7. Super Tiger vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara UWF 9/7/84
8. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Kazuo Yamazaki UWF 1/7/85
9. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger UWF 9/11/85
10. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada UWF 8/13/88
11. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Kazuo Yamazaki UWF 7/24/89
12. Super Tiger/Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda/Yoshiaki Fujiwara UWF 7/23/84
13. Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki UWF 5/12/88
14. Atsushi Onita vs Masashi Aoyagi FMW 10/6/89
15. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada UWF 9/11/85
16. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Akira Maeda UWF 3/02/85
17. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Nobuhiko Takada UWF 10/22/84
18. Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara UWF 10/25/89
19. Yoji Anjoh vs Masakatsu Funaki UWF 6/14/89
20. Super Tiger vs Akira Maeda UWF 9/11/84
21. Super Tiger vs Nobuhiko Takada UWF 9/6/85
22. Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki UWF 5/21/89
23. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada UWF 5/4/89
24. Bob Backlund vs Masakatsu Funaki UWF 5/21/89
25. Atsushi Onita vs Masashi Aoyagi UKIKM 6/2/89
26. El Gran Hamada vs Perro Aguayo UWF 4/11/84
27. Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda UWF 1/10/89
28. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada UWF 12/5/84
29. Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara UWF 7/8/85
30. Super Tiger vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara UWF 6/24/85

Mid South Results -Top 30
Statistics

1. Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (No DQ, Loser Leaves Town, Coal Miner's Glove,Tuxedo, Cage match) 3/22/85
2. Dick Murdoch vs. Barry Windham 7/11/87
3. Ted DiBiase vs. Ric Flair 11/6/85
4. Hacksaw Duggan vs. Buzz Sawyer 11/11/85
5. Mr. Olympia vs. Chavo Guerrero 6/24/83
6. Butch Reed vs. Dick Murdoch 9/22/85
7. Ted DiBiase vs. Jim Duggan (No DQ) 3/8/85
8. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ, Tulsa) 5/27/84
9. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Butch Reed & Jim Neidhart (Cage Match) 12/25/83
10. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Matt Borne (Loser Leaves Town) 10/27/82
11. Butch Reed vs. Dick Murdoch 10/14/85
12. Chris Adams vs. Terry Taylor 5/3/87
13. Rock N Roll Express & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Ernie Ladd 6/8/84
14. Jake Roberts vs. Ric Flair 11/24/85
15. Ted DiBiase vs. Dick Murdoch (No DQ) 12/31/85
16. Terry Taylor vs. Ric Flair 6/1/85
17. Terry Gordy vs. Dr. Death 6/22/86
18. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase 7/6/84
19. Ted DiBiase vs. Dick Murdoch 12/27/85
20. Ric Flair vs. Wahoo McDaniel 7/12/85
21. Dick Murdoch vs. Dr. Death 6/13/87
22. Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (Street Fight) 7/29/83
23. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ, OKC) 5/27/84
24. Ric Flair vs. Butch Reed 8/10/85
25. Ric Flair vs. Terry Taylor 4/28/85
26. The Fabulous Ones vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero (Mexican Death Match) 1/24/86
27. Ric Flair vs. Terry Taylor 5/3/85
28. Dick Slater vs. Jake Roberts (No DQ, Dark Journey In A Cage) 2/28/86
29. The Fantastics vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero 10/12/84
30. Buzz Sawyer vs. Jim Duggan (Dog Collar Match) 12/27/85

Memphis Results -Top 30
Statistics

1. Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (Loser Leaves Town) 6/6/83
2. Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (No DQ, Loser Leaves Town) 12/30/85
3. Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (No DQ) 3/23/81
4. Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantell (Barbed Wire Match) 3/29/82
5. Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantell (No DQ) 3/22/82
6. Jerry Lawler vs. Austin Idol (Hair vs. Hair, Steel Cage Match) 4/27/87
7. Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (No DQ, Loser Leaves Town) 7/14/86
8. Koko Ware vs. Ric Flair 11/18/85
9. Jerry Lawler vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (Texas Death) 9/7/86
10. Jerry Lawler vs. Randy Savage (Loser Leaves Town) 6/3/85
11. Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (Empty Arena) 4/6/81
12. Jerry Lawler & Dutch Mantel vs. Bill Dundee & Buddy Landel 3/10/86
13. Jerry Lawler vs. Nick Bockwinkel (No DQ) 11/8/82
14. Tommy Rich & Eddie Gilbert vs. Pretty Young Things (Falls Count Anywhere) 5/18/84
15. Jerry Lawler vs. Ric Flair 8/14/82
16. Jerry Lawler vs. Nick Bockwinkel 10/18/82
17. Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantell (Loser Leaves Town) 3/27/82
18. Jerry Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich (Texas Death Match) 3/23/87
19. Jerry Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich (Double Jeopardy Match) 3/16/87
20. Fabulous Ones vs. The Moondogs (Stretcher Match) 5/2/83
21. Jerry Lawler vs. Curt Hennig (Title vs. Retirement) 5/9/88
22. Bobby Eaton & Sweet Brown Sugar vs. Dutch Mantell & King Cobra 7/19/82
23. Jerry Lawler vs. Nick Bockwinkel 10/25/82
24. Jerry Lawler vs. Rick Martel (Nashville) 10/12/85
25. Ricky Morton & Eddie Gilbert vs. Masa Fuchi & Atsushi Onita (Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl) 9/4/81
26. Bill Dundee vs. Sweet Brown Sugar (2/3 falls, Scaffold Match) 6/21/82
27. Ronnie Garvin vs. Randy Savage (Cage Match) ICW 1982/83
28. Jerry Lawler & Randy Savage vs. King Kong Bundy & Rick Rude 9/10/84
29. Fabulous Ones vs. The Sheepherders (Cage Match) 8/6/85
30. Jerry Lawler vs. Crusher Blackwell 5/4/81

New Japan Results -Top 30
Statistics

1. 5-on-5 Gauntlet Challenge 4/19/84
2. Andre the Giant vs. Stan Hansen 9/23/81
3. Tatsumi Fujinami, Keiichi Yamada, Shiro Koshinaka, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura vs. Hiro Saito, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Super Strong Machine, Masa Saito & Riki Choshu 9/12/88
4. Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Umanosuke Ueda & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki 3/26/86
5. Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 6/9/87
6. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda 6/12/86
7. Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano 8/10/89
8. 5-on-5 Challenge 5/1/86
9. Andre the Giant vs. Killer Khan 4/1/82
10. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu 4/3/83
11. Inoki/Fujiwara/Sakaguchi/Hoshino/Mutoh vs. Fujinami/Choshu/Maeda/Kimura/Super Strong Machine 8/19/87
12. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. George Takano & Super Strong Machine 3/16/89
13. Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 2/6/86
14. Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda & Super Strong Machine vs. Antonio Inoki, Dick Murdoch, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi 9/17/87
15. Shinya Hashimoto vs. Vader 4/24/89
16. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu 8/4/83
17. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu 4/21/83
18. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura 1/2/87
19. Riki Choshu vs. Big Van Vader 6/27/89
20. Tatsumi Fujinami & Antonio Inoki vs. Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis 12/7/84
21. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu 7/7/83
22. Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito 4/27/87
23. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid 2/5/80
24. Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 2/5/86
25. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Vader 4/24/89
26. Antonio Inoki vs. Dick Murdoch 6/19/86
27. Shinya Hashimoto vs. Victor Zangiev 4/24/89
28. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura 9/25/80
29. Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 1/10/86
30. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu 6/24/88

World Class Results - Top 30
Statistics

1. Terry Gordy vs. Killer Khan (Texas Death Match; Special Guest Referee, Kerry Von Erich) 11/22/84
2. The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs 7/4/83
3. Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich (2/3 falls) 8/15/82
4. Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich (Cage Match) 12/25/82
5. Harley Race vs. Kevin Von Erich 6/17/83
6. Gino Hernandez & Chris Adams vs. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich (Hair vs. Hair Match) 10/6/85
7. Kerry Von Erich vs. Michael Hayes (Loser Leaves Town Cage Match) 11/24/83
8. Ric Flair vs. Kevin Von Erich 4/1/83
9. Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts vs. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich (Badstreet Match) 2/12/88
10. Jimmy Garvin & Terry Gordy vs. David & Kevin Von Erich (2/3 Falls) 8/15/83
11. Ric Flair vs. Chris Adams 2/3/84
12. The Fabulous Freebirds & Jimmy Garvin vs. The Von Erichs & Iceman King Parsons (Elimination Match) 5/27/83
13. Kevin Von Erich vs. Ric Flair 5/5/85
14. Terry Gordy vs. Kerry Von Erich (World Title Match) 5/7/84
15. Gino Hernandez, Chris Adams & Jake the Snake vs. The Von Erichs 12/31/84
16. Ric Flair vs. David Von Erich 10/11/82
17. The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs (Lumberjack Match) 2/18/83
18. The Fantastics vs. Midnight Express 1/11/85
19 .The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs 9/5/83
20. The Fantastics vs. Midnight Express 12/25/84
21. The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs (Bunkhouse Elimination Cage Match) 9/3/84
22. Abdullah the Butcher vs. Bruiser Brody 8/4/86
23. Jimmy Garvin vs. Chris Adams (Cage Match) 1/30/84
24. Ric Flair vs. Terry Gordy 2/4/83
25. Jimmy Garvin vs. Kevin Von Erich 7/18/83
26. Gino Hernandez & Chris Adams vs. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich (Lumberjack Match) 2/22/85
27. Eric Embry vs. Jerry Lawler 9/8/89
28. Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich 5/11/84
29. Chris Adams vs. Kevin Von Erich (No DQ) 9/2/85
30. The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs (Badstreet Match) 7/4/84

All Japan Results - Top 30

1. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (6/5/89)
2. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy (12/16/88)
3. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu Yoshiaki Yatsu (1/28/86)
4. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen (12/6/89)
5. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Ric Flair (6/8/83)
6. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kerry Von Erich (2/3 Falls) (5/22/84)
7. Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen (11/29/89)
8. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (8/31/87)
9. Riki Choshu vs. Killer Khan (7/31/86)
10. Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen (4/14/83)
11. Toshiaki Kawada & Ricky Fuyuki vs. Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas (6/5/89)
12. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (10/11/89)
13. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (10/28/88)
14. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada (2/26/89 TV)
15. Billy Robinson vs. Nick Bockwinkel (12/11/80)
16. Jumbo Tsuruta & Kenta Kobashi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen (7/15/89)
17. Dory and Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy (8/31/83)
18. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Stan Hansen (10/21/86)
19. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (2/5/86)
20. Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. Dory and Terry Funk (12/13/81)
21. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Ric Flair (6/8/82)
22. Toshiaki Kawada & Ricky Fuyuki vs. Shunji Takano & Shinichi Nakano (7/19/88)
23. Genichiro Tenryu & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Killer Khan & Riki Choshu (8/2/85)
24. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Stan Hansen (3/27/88)
25. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Tiger Mask (3/9/88)
26. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (1/24/87)
27. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Stan Hansen (7/27/88)
28. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Dick Slater (5/1/80)
29. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (2/5/87)
30. Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuo Momota (3/29/89)

AWA Results - Top 30

1. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Curt Hennig (11/21/86)
2. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Midnight Rockers (8/30/86)
3. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Midnight Rockers (Cage Match) 1/17/87)
4. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Wahoo McDaniel (8/28/83)
5. Stan Hansen vs. Curt Hennig (5/31/86)
6. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Midnight Rockers (Cage Match) (12/25/86)
7. King Tonga, Masked Superstar & Sheik Adnan Kaissey vs. Crusher Blackwell & Sgt. Slaughter (Cage Match) (4/21/85)
8. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Curt Hennig (5/2/87)
9. Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (12/13/88)
10. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Rick Martel (9/20/84)
11. Tito Santana & Rick Martel vs. High Flyers (8/29/92)
12. Jerry Lawler vs. Curt Hennig (7/16/88)
13. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Rick Martel (9/29/85)
14. Crusher Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Kaissey vs. High Flyers (Cage Match) (4/18/82)
15. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Midnight Rockers (1/27/87)
16. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Curt Hennig (12/25/86)
17. Ken Patera, Jesse Ventura & Bobby Heenan vs. Hulk Hogan & High Flyers (3/13/83)
18. Da Crusher & Greg Gagne vs. Crusher Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Kaissey (Cage Match) (3/25/84)
19. Crusher Blackwell vs. Mad Dog Vachon (Algerian Death Match) (5/22/83)
20. Stan Hansen vs. Crusher Blackwell (6/28/86)
21. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Ric Flair (1/17/86)
22. Adrian Adonis & Bob Orton Jr. vs. Midnight Rockers (January 1988)
23. Mr. Saito vs. Rick Martel (4/24/85)
24. Ric Flair vs. Magnum TA (9/28/85)
26. Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. High Flyers (11/24/83)
27. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Curt Hennig (3/7/87)
28. Stan Hansen vs. Nick Bockwinkel (4/20/86)
29. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Rick Martel (8/16/84)
30. Stan Hansen vs. Sgt. Slaughter (2/23/86)

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Yoshiaki Fujiwara Sustains the Humble, But Casts the Wicked To The Ground

Yoshiaki Fujiawara v. Joe Malenko PWFG 6/1/93-EPIC

PAS: This was so much fun, just a pair of true maestros pulling pushing and twisting each other until someone gives. This wasn't an exchange of holds, it was a constant battle by both men to find some advantage or defense. This was really a Malenko show, as he controlled with great takedowns, and constant attacking, with Fujiwara really focused on defense. Of course Fujiwara is the greatest defensive pro-wrestler of all time, so the defense stuff ruled.

TKG: This was a Malenko show. My favorite thing that he did was use his knee and shin as simple machine, constantly pushing it against stuff to act as a lever, inclined plane or wedge to force Fujiwara to move one body part or another, worlds most violent physics demonstration.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Daisuke Ikeda v. Ricky Fuji/Hitsakatsu Ooya FMW 5/5/95-FUN

This is for the FMW tag belts, and was on the undercard of one of the big FMW 5/5 shows. There was a bunch of stuff I enjoyed here, Fujiwara and Ikeda are both bleeding and do a good job of getting the crowd behind them. We get to see Ikeda kick some folks really hard, including a spin kick right to Fuji's face which looked like it chicleted his teeth. The finish had Fujiwara whipping out flash armbars, including catching Fuji off the top. Still lots of the match had the FMW team beating on Fujiwara and Ikeda, and there was nothing compelling about it. Lots of weak forearms and stomps, you are going to have to hit both guys way harder then that to have me buy into it.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Shinya Hashimoto/Naoya Ogawa v. Tom Howard/The Predator/Steve Corino Zero-One 5/19/02-GREAT

A match which ends up on the low side of great, but had enough stuff I enjoyed to push it over the top. This is part of the big UPW/NWA v. Zero One feud which lots of times came off as a giant money mark fantasy for Fred Rubenstien and Rick Bassman. This did have heel ref shit and a post match brawl with Mr. Fred throwing powder, but for the most part it was focused in the ring. Fujiwara had some cool flash submissions and got in his ring bolt comedy spot, but the star of this match was Hashimoto. The gaijin team is pretty limited, but Hash had some excellent battle of the titans spots with all of them. I especially love his work with Howard, who is someone I am really starting to dig while watching all of this Zero One. I loved how he wasted Hashimoto with a superkick after suckering him in with his hands behind the back gimmick. Finish had some cool OH Gun combo moves including a nasty STO/German Suplex. Cool stuff.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE FUJIWARA

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