Found Footage Friday: KACE~! CRAMMER~! LOS COWBOYS~! HAMADA~! BABE FACE~! INDOMITO~! M-PRO 8-MAN~!

Johnny Kace vs. George Crammer NWA Chicago 1961

MD: I was doing so well with the Monterrey footage too, but I just can't resist going for the matches that people are showing interest in with this old US footage. People were describing this as a Regal vs Finlay archetype and I can sort of see it but it almost comes off as a proto-UWF match in some ways. These are two guys that get very little discussion overall. We have maybe two or three other Kace matches, for instance. The 60s are just a black hole relatively, unfortunately. He was the NWA Midwest Heavyweight Champion here and the title was on the line. 

And this was just fifteen minutes of mean, dogged, pro wrestling. Kace charged right in to start with a top wristlock and worked the nastiest hammerlock you'd see. That was the thing with both wrestlers. They constantly worked every hold on both ends. That could mean constantly torquing a toehold or driving down and in with a hammerlock or trying to get some sort of leverage to escape only to have the opponent topple your bridge with a tiny movement. It was constant shifting, constant pressure, constant selling. Constant motion in a way that made the match feel competitive and ramped up the stakes and consequence for everything that happened.

There was always the sense that each wrestlers was one well placed punch away from a reversal. Kace controlled early but Crammer would take over with some gut punches and a hammerlock of his own. They'd work up to slugging one another and then back down into a hold and back up again. Kace was obviously a mean bastard with a mean mug and Crammer had the fans behind him through ruthlessly and mercilessly giving Kace everything he deserved, making him choke on a poetic taste of his own medicine. There was no semblance of shine/heat/comeback here, just constant pressure creating implicit storytelling. Crammer would eventually shift to the leg but Kace snuck out and hit a few backbreakers for the win. Even though he came off as entirely credible in victory, it still felt more like he survived the challenge by the skin of his teeth than anything else. That's how hard they were going at one another.

Gran Hamada/Silver King/El Texano vs. Dr. Wagner, Jr./Indomito/Babe Face CMLL 1991

MD: Good and heated.. The central pairing was Texano and Indomito. If you're not familiar with Indomito, he was a Black Power in UWA and a Payaso (Coco Amarillo) in AAA. In the middle he was dressed in a powder blue Zardoz type gear with poofy Ronnie Garvin hair. He had a boxing background but wasn't really going to compare to the punches Babe Face and Hamada (a secondary pairing) were throwing at each other. This started with a rudo ambush and he was good at directing traffic and keeping things laser focused on Texano, who I think, ended up bleeding. The tecnicos did an unusually good job at rushing the ring time and again to try to take back over, only to get beaten back. Usually it's all just beatings and churning until the actual comeback. My favorite bit in the primera was right at the end; Wagner and Babe Face were getting the submissions in the ring and Indomito just slammed Texano's head sideways into the board around the ring again and again and again. Truly the violence we need in this world.

Rushing the ring did work at the start of the segunda and we got a nice bloody bit of revenge. Indomito's bleached blonde hair was made for it. Tercera settled down to exchanges and a lot of Silver King/Texano's usual double teams which were all ahead of their time and smooth and effective. Finish was novel. Instead of clearing the ring for the final pairing, Hamada had Babe Face in a submission in the corner. Indomito redirected a charging Texano into the ref and took advantage with a foul. Nice little twist on the theme to cap off a good one. I have nothing to say about Wagner here except for how striking it is how little he stands out for basically the first third of his career considering what he becomes later. He's in the right place at the right time doing the right thing mostly, but it's sure not ever interesting.

Jinsei Shinzaki/Gran Naniwa/Hideki Nishida/Kazuya Yuasa vs. Kintaro Kanemura/Dick Togo/Tomohiro Ishii/Macho Pump Michinoku Pro-Wrestling 8/14/02

MD: Tough fan cam angle for this one as we miss the early crowd brawling and then have the babyface corner right in the center of the shot for a lot of the rest but these characters are so larger than life you're never at a loss for what was going on. They spent the first six minutes or so (once they got back into the ring) beating up on Macho Pump. Nishida lit him up with chops. Naninwa stomped all over him. Shinzaki walked the ropes. As with these big M-Pro tags, the section maybe wore out its welcome a little but really, who doesn't want to see Macho Pump get mauled? The heels take over on Yuasa and Kanemura, unsurprisingly, stands out. We really haven't covered enough of his stuff on the site but it all seems so self-evident. Just a big scummy, scuzzy, agile, charismatic, guy who comes at things from unique angles and who isn't afraid to crash and burn. Things eventually break down to Kanemura vs Shinzaki before cycling into pairings and finally landing, after the ring gets cleared, on Naniwa vs Pump, with Pump hitting or trying to hit all of his Rock offense and Nanina always a half step ahead. Structurally this was probably the proper balance but I probably would have liked it a little more if they had cycled through pairings to start as opposed to just having the faces beat on Macho Pump. I felt like we didn't get enough Togo in this one, for instance. 

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New Footage Friday: SATANICO! GARZA! SASUKE! SHINZAKI! NANIWA! ORIHARA! TOGO! BURNETT!

El Satanico vs. Hector Garza CMLL 12/8/95

MD: A lost match building up their big apuestas showdown. It's amazing how much they accomplished with relatively little time here. Satanico was just a master at maximizing every moment, in part by being so thoroughly committed to who and what he was. He fed and stalled immediately, letting Garza shine right from the get go, only to wrench his arm off the top when Garza went up too soon. From there, he opened him up on the outside and goozled him upside-down in the ropes so that the camera and the crowd could all get a good look at it. He then got overconfident allowing Garza to fight back from the outside, including biting. The tercera was fairly even but Garza got the big moment with a huge Finlay-esque whack against the apron. He also scored an escape from a Satan's Knot attempt and avoided a low blow, before Satanico deftly faked the foul for the finish. The goal here was to make Garza look tenacious and fiery while still making it seem like he was in legitimate danger for the apuestas match, all without giving away too much, and it definitely hit those marks.

PAS: This was great shit, a new Satanico singles match is about as great as it gets, and this was a killer Satanico match and a fun Garza performance. Primera Caida was a really fun minute or so, with Garza going up top a little fast, Satanico sidestepping him and putting on a fucking Kimura like he was Demian Maia or something. We get a little juice from Garza and a ton from Satanico, dropping plasma all over the ring. The fake low blow by Satanico was such a great finish. I have never seen anyone fake a low blow when his opponent slides through his legs like that, fun addition. I haven't seen the apuestas in a long time (maybe since 95) and now I really want to check it out again. 

ER: This was some simple, super effective stuff, with really the only highspot coming from a Garza missile dropkick. The rest of this was choking with boots and slamming faces into mats, and knowing it sets up an apuestas match makes it even more effective. I love the story of Garza going for some flash early and Satanico seeing it a mile away, leading to a couple of caidas of punishment. Satanico is such a violent presence that he can get a ton of mileage out of just jamming a guy's face into a turnbuckle or ring apron and then holding it there. Satanico is also so great at bumping for Garza, letting his legs go all rag doll and flop over themselves every time he hit the mat. Garza's big comeback face busters could have looked like junk, but here's Satanico whipping his face into the mat, getting his face nice and bloody while Garza bites at him. I loved how we started with Garza trying more complicated offense and getting his ass kicked for it, so when he comes back it's just him slamming Satanico's face into surfaces. And that's really all you need when you have an all time great like Satanico taking it. The finish was really inspired, loved Satanico going for a low kick but Garza seeing it and scooting back on his heels a bit, then Satanico's faked foul selling when Garza slides through his legs was an Oscar worthy performance of Man Gets Hit With Football. Brilliant.  

The Great Sasuke/Jinsei Shinzaki/Gran Naniwa vs. Dick Togo/Masao Orihara/Macho Pump MPRO 4/1/03 - GREAT

MD: Good mix of wrestlers here. I would have wanted a little more Togo, but you always do, really. What we got of him was great. I loved how competitive the opening exchanges were, with no wrestler hitting much of anything that they wanted to. The best of this Togo him blocking Shinzaki's rope walk strike, but it was all a pretty good opening. The beatdown kept things moving even if it wasn't very memorable. The finishing stretch was fun even if they shouldn't have had Samurai kick out of the double splash when someone else could have broken it up. We've seen a couple of surprisingly fun Macho Pump performances in these and this was no different, as really everyone did their part here.

PAS: Cool example of a MPRO house show from a relatively unexplored period of the promotion. Really enjoy the heel team, great bases for the fancy stuff, and we even got a Macho Pump tope. I don't remember seeing a bunch of Togo versus Shinzaki stuff before and they had some really good exchanges. I thought the the double frog splash probably should have ended it, but I am never going to hate seeing a Sasuke swanton. 

Jason Patrick vs. Malcom Sunshine vs. JM vs. Jimmy Saint vs. Future Mike Daniels vs. Aiden Hollows vs. Aaron Heights EPW 3/27/09

PAS: I asked SC favorite Chase Burnett to send us some stupid shit in honor of his return to Beyond this weekend, and he sent us this scramble match. I had only ever heard of Burnett (wrestling as Jason Patrick), Malcom Sunshine (only because I had seen and reviewed another Burnett match from this era) and Denver Colorado who was managing Saint (current Beyond Promoter). This was a Royal Rumble style scramble match with a new wrestler entering ever minute (which didn't really matter, match started with Sunshine and Patrick, and ended with them, and no one got eliminated until everyone was in). The standouts, were Patrick of course who had some crazy takedowns, a couple of big bumps, and even a moonsault double stomp. Sunshine who was bigger then everyone else and did a bunch of fun throws including powerbombing JM into a wall, and cruicifix bombing Hollows over the top rope. Jimmy Saint was great too, he was all old school execution, great looking fist drop and knee drop, and awesome spinebuster, I also liked how he teased a dive, only to hop off the apron and stiff everyone with chops. Finish came down to Sunshine and Patrick and they probably did a bit too much, although I enjoyed the bombs.

MD: I'm pretty consistent in what I like and what I want, probably to a fault, but when I see a 2000s Scramble Match listed, I know what boxes it's supposed to check. When I was 20 or so, I went to ROH Scramble Madness. I can, at times, put my mind back to that place. You're looking for spots, cool moves, bumps, the sort of stuff that you'll be talking about on the car ride home with about as much depth as the Chris Farley Show. I'd say on that level, this pretty much delivered. Burnett (who had to be pretty young at this point) was wrestling as Jason Patrick here and the throughline, as people came and went, was him and Malcolm Sunshine being in it. Sunshine's not a guy I'm familiar with but he had the sort of basing size you'd want in a match like this, serving as a wall that couldn't be chipped down and as a spoiler to cut people off. 

The fact they had peopled billed from Boston, New York, and LA made the promotion seem a bit more worldly and broad, even if it probably wasn't anyone you'd recognize. If it was ten years prior, they'd be the sorts of names I'd be looking for in the bottom hundred of the DVDVR 500 before going to an indy show. I liked Saint's act and could see him being the Franchise style heel headliner for a local indy, no problem. JM probably had the most of those "moves to be talked about in the car." I was promised Burnett bumps and got a few, including a great DDT bump/sell on the floor and a dive (and there were plenty of dives and a decent amount of standing around waiting for them) that looked gnarly as it wasn't caught quite right. The finishing stretch with Sunshine and Burnett went a little long after the match they'd already been a part of but was overall solid, doing a good job of establishing Burnett as an upstart heel that you have to give something to due to his talent and tenacity even if you're going to be ultimately disappointed by him in the end. For an indy at this level, a match like this accomplished a bunch of thing s and did more good than not.

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New Footage Friday: Kaientai DX! MX! Sabu! Sasuke! Armstrong! Hamada! Candido!

Midnight Express vs. Brad Armstrong/Terry Taylor WCCW 1/14/85

MD: This match has been out there if you were paying attention to season sets of Ft. Worth TV but no one in our usual circles seems to have seen it or written about it. It's a long 2/3 falls MX in Texas match which seems at the very least underlooked and against a couple of fairly unique opponents. Taylor wasn't quite there yet but he had the crowd and you'd like to see him get pounded. The MX were still getting established in the territory and a good chunk of the match was meant to showcase them but they had game opponents. The 2/3rds structure made this a little weird in as you had four hot tags and only the first was really hot. Armstrong and Eaton worked really well to begin. They did the spot later on where Eaton was checking his nails on the apron and Taylor clobbered him. Eaton just had absolutely perfect timing throughout. He'd get his foot up on a corner charge at the last possible second that sort of thing. They filled a lot of time here and it may not have made things as clean as possible. You ended up with unsteady heat but it ultimately did its job in getting the Express over as a threat.

Dick Togo/Terry Boy/TAKA Michinoku vs. Gran Hamada/Gran Naniwa/Great Sasuke CWA 2/16/97 - GREAT

PAS: This was a greatest hits MPRO match, but MPRO playing their greatest hits is like the Rolling Stones playing their greatest hits, they are some amazing hits. This is in a Boston Indy show underneath a Jimmy Snuka vs Kevin Sullivan main event, and you can tell the crowd and the announcers had never seen anything approaching this (although the amazing Boston Sport Radioesque announcers do suggest Devon Storm and Ace Darling as possible future opponents, which I actually wouldn't mind seeing). TAKA and Sasuke were the standouts, both getting big dives (TAKA's spaceman plancha is a contender for best dive ever) and even brawling into the parking lots. Also Gran Hamada running through his signature spots is a reminder how amazing Hamada's signature spots were. As usual I loved all of the KDX triple teams, and wild Sasuke rope running. This is a match I didn't know existed and you love to see it.

MD: Around this time, there was some benefit at being geographically close to a Sheldon Goldberg associated promotion. I caught a Sumie Sakai vs Mercedes Martinez match in NECW a couple of years after this on the same card that had Doug Williams or Fleisch and Storm or something. I think I would have rather had this match though. It was pretty much what you'd expect as they all came to work and didn't hold back even with an unfamiliar audience and a hard floor on the outside. They hit the usual triple teams and the big spots and built to a big comeback and by the end, the crowd was pretty into it. Where the real joy comes from is seeing it in this setting, hearing it with these announcers, who couldn't get over how it was the best match they'd ever seen in the promotion (not a thing to say out loud, maybe?). Very lucky crowd to get to see this and I'm kind of annoyed I wasn't part of it.

Sabu vs. Chris Candido vs. Crowbar NWA-New Jersey 8/17/00

MD: This was glorious noise. I don't think a single person in the building understood the rules of a triple threat last man standing casket match and that's before Sabu flew into it and broke it into a bunch of pieces. Everyone was the most of themselves that they could be. Candido stooged and hit cheapshots. Sabu flew all over the place. Crowbar took a bunch of bumps (but so did everyone else). The fans chanted for tables while a guy was actually in the casket since they didn't get how the rules were supposed to work either. Some of the bumps and chairshots were nasty and not the things you'd want to see today but this is a historical relic and we can't change it by clicking play. Everyone called spots in a way that the mic picked up which was sort of fascinating in its own right because it peeled back a layer or two of thought in a match where they basically just did a ton of entertaining stuff.

PAS: This was dumb shit, but in the best way. Devon Storm is a guy who was basically doing Sabu's shit on Northeast indies which couldn't afford Sabu, so it is fun to watch him hurl chairs and get stiffed by his idol. Candido takes some sick bumps in this, big flip to the floor, a totally unnecessary Misawa german suplex bump and a bunch of wild chairshots. Sabu in a casket match is as great as you want it to be, it ends up splinters by the end of the match, and I loved him propping it up in the corner putting Candido in it and doing a diving springboard kick and smashing the shit out of it. Couldn't have been fun to be in that casket and knowing that Sabu was going to do something dumb.  

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Fujiwara Family: BattlArts Project B Master Plan 1/21/97

Project B Master Plan

Shoichi Funaki vs. Ikuto Hidaka 

PAS: This was Hidaka's debut match and he comes in wearing already wearinf pressure bandage which tell something about the training at the BattlArts dojo. As you might expect this was mostly a squash, although Hidaka gets a big dropkick and super fast flip before being dispatched. Funaki is not the optimal guy you want to see beat on a rookie (I imagine Hidaka was happy he didn't draw Ikeda for his debut) but this was fun.

Naohiro Hoshikawa  vs. Alexander Otsuka

PAS: This was a styles clash with Hoshikawa representing MPRO against Otsuka's BattlArts style, and they really meshed those styles well I liked Otsuka refusing to run the ropes early, only for Hoshikawa to force him and crack him with a jump kick. There was also a fun spot where Hoshikawa throws these theatrical kicks which don't hit clean only to finish the combo with a soccer kick to Otsuka's face, that was a style I was taught in boxing, throw the first couple with speed and land the last couple with force (I was much better with the force then the speed). You come to an Otsuka match primarily for the suplexes and there were some corkers, we get his great hanging German, a blindingly fast high angle capture suplex and a dragon to finish it off which looked incredible, fast forceful and violent, one the greatest dragon suplexes I have seen, Otsuka was a marvel. 

The Great Sasuke/Gran Hamada/Gran Naniwa/Masato Yakushiji vs. Kaientai DX (TAKA Michinoku/ MEN's Teioh/Dick Togo/Shiryu) - EPIC

PAS: This is one of the all time great combinations of guys in wrestling history, just true magic anytime you get a KDX team against a group of MPRO babyfaces. This starts a little diffThis ierent then the traditional matchup with KDX jumping Sasuke's team before the bell and taking them on a destructive arena tour, tossing them into walls, Sasuke gets launched back first into chairs, Yakushiji gets bodyslammed on a table, after that KDX struts back into the ring triumphant. When the babyfaces appear we get some of the fast forward speed action that you would expect from these teams, everybody hitting everything with such grace and force, with just impeccable timing. Much of 2020 wrestling aspires for this level of grace, athleticsim and beauty but no one does it like these guys did it. Awesome Yakushiji performance, he really was Rey Jr., La Petit Prince level fast and agile, and had a perfect group of rudos to work with, He hits a whip kick in this match where he looked like he had super speed. Out of nowhere this match takes a turn, Naniwa get's his mask ripped and gets sliced by Togo and all of a sudden a waterfall of gore just streams out of his forehead (Shiryu looks like he got slammed into barbedwire with the blood on his back, which was all from Naniwa's head). It takes a real turn, with Naniwa getting his head wrapped and coming back triumphant, with no mask to get the win. It's crazy that these guys can still add that kind of wrinkle to their amazing formula.  

ER: What a match. My friend Charlie was over at my house to record a podcast episode, and when we were done he just wanted to hang out for awhile and decompress. He is as casual a wrestling fan as you can get, would never watch wrestling on his own, but always enjoys and immediately gets into it whenever I put it on. And are there really many better styles of wrestling at reaching across that aisle of casual fandom, than a vintage all cylinders MPro multiman? He took to it immediately, and how could anyone not? This is not really even a heralded Mpro multiman, but it's on the level of the greatest ones I have seen, and it is a match I seek out and love. At its heart it has a tremendous bloody fighting babyface Naniwa performance, and it had a tremendous dickhead heel performance from Taka. Everybody else added nothing but positive segments, we built to a fever pitch where guys were flying in and out like a chaotic fight in Enter the Dragon. 

There really isn't a misstep in the whole thing, a real tight 20 minutes that - like the best of this style - felt like a bottomless bag of tricks to pull from. The crowd brawl was a fun diversion and really set the KDX tone, camera cutting all over Korakuen to see them inflicting violence, as Sasuke gets thrown through chairs and has chairs thrown onto him, and Taka instructs everyone to learn from him as he bounces a chair off the side of Naniwa's head. Taka takes that attitude back into the ring as we settle down into pairings, and Taka is the guy out there kicking people in the head and really separating himself from the pack. As Charlie observed while watching, "Some of these guys are hitting a lot harder than the others." Taka especially targets Naniwa, not just smacking him down and landing everything harder than necessary, but every time Naniwa is down Taka just mockingly kicks at his head, just shoving Naniwa's head around with the bottom of his boot. And it leads to a tremendous moment where Naniwa stands up and just wastes Taka with a falling clothesline. Naniwa hits a couple of big clotheslines in this match, but telling Taka he wasn't going to take his shit anymore is one of those immaculate pure babyface moments. Naniwa gets his masked ripped right off his head and bleeds a gusher, all building to him spiking Shiryu with some great sitout gutwrench powerbombs (each one landing higher and higher on Shiryu's shoulders) for the win. Everyone had great moments in this, that shouldn't be a shock. Sasuke had big bumps into chairs and a couple of wild Sasuke dives; Yakushiji reminded me of how damn quick he was and how bananas his headscissor and armdrag variations were, the kind where as he's spinning you don't have any idea what direction either he or his opponent will fly. Everyone looked good, but adding in a huge gusher and triumphant Naniwa return (with big head bandage!) made this one of the greatest MPro multimans ever. It just happened in BattlArts. 

First Tiger Mask vs. Minoru Tanaka 

PAS: It was pretty crazy that the most pure shootstyle match on this card was an old fat guy in a puffy silver mask. This was excellent stuff, old tubby Sayama is my favorite of all Sayama's and he was a machine in this match, constantly coming forward, working the guard, trying to take Tanaka's back and using his hips and foot movement to stay away from Tanaka's kicks. I loved all of the fight for the chicken wing, Sayama really yanked on the neck and arm and kept adjusting to tighten the grip, and then whipped off a beautiful snap german suplex which landed Tanaka directly on the back of his neck, before finally sinking it in. Really cool stuff, one of my favorite Tanaka matches ever, and better then anything Sayama did in his first New Japan run.

 Daisuke Ikeda/Katsumi Usuda vs. Yuki Ishikawa/Takeshi Ono - EPIC

PAS: My god is this match something. The utter reckless disregard for their opponents, the speed and athleticism of the attacks, the clever ways to mix in moments of true horror with moments of beauty.s. This was a battle of four all time greats at their absolute athletic peaks. All of these guys remained great wrestlers well into the 2000s, but their style slowed down a bit as they moved into their 40s and 50s. Here they are all in their mid 20s and the exchanges are so much faster and explosive without surrendering any of the chilling violence. The opening of this match is a great example of the brilliance of this style, Usuda and Ono have this lighting quick intricate exchange of kneebar counters, with Ono getting the advantage, which was quickly snuffed out by Ikeda running in and kicking Ono's head into the fourth row. A Sunday of skill and speed with a cherry of brutality on top. The match continues on that vein, with great exchanges by all of the participants, with all four looking great. Ikeda throws some of his classic crowbar lariats along with nasty kicks and some really good desperate leg selling, selling which was instigated by Ono throwing some of the nastiest leg kicks I have seen in either wrestling or MMA, you could see Ikeda's kneecap shift with each shot. Every move in this match was remarkable, just the force Usuda used to yank in a choke, or the wild reckless punch exchange between Ikeda and Ishikawa which looked like something out a Necro Butcher brawl, to Ono working Usuda's body like a heavy bag. Just perfection.  If this match happened in the 2010s it would be match of the decade material, and it was just another day in the office for the BattlArts boys.

ER: This was tremendous, exactly what I wanted from everyone involved. The MPro showcase earlier, followed by an excellent Tiger Mask/Minoru Tanaka match, felt like a difficult set to follow. But this delivered in an entirely different way, and I'm sure there haven't been many better straight hours of pro wrestling than these three matches. This match has no problem following those matches, as everyone here is in a mood to throw kicks and eat kicks. Takeshi Ono was not nearly as heralded as his contemporaries when these matches were actually happening. Ikeda, Ishikawa, Tanaka, Hidaka, Malenko, and Otsuka were the acclaimed BattlArts guys which didn't leave a lot of room for Ono at the time. Catching up and getting more shootstyle opinions into the wrestling web allows us to reevaluate and find new high value and joy in guys like Ono. Ono is a fantastic shootstyle wrestler, and one of the most compelling juniors wrestlers of the last 25 years. His wrestling instincts are great, he knows when to dramatically go in for the kill, knows how to milk drama out of rope breaks and knock down selling. Having he and Ikeda on opposite sides means you have guys on each side who specialize in kicking people in the face while breaking up pinfalls, and I think everyone in this match takes at least three kicks somewhere directly behind their ears. Ikeda gets his leg attacked and bent in painful ways, Ikeda and Ishikawa dragged things down into the gutter with a nose busting punch exchange, four absolute legends of shootstyle all working at top gear. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DAISUKE IKEDA

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DICK TOGO

FUJIWARA FAMILY

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BattlArts Action-B 4/24/98 + 5/10/98

4/24/98

Masao Orihara/Takeshi Ono vs. Mamoru Okamoto/Masaru Seno

The Orihara and Ono weren't really BattlArtsy, but they were a total blast to watch. Seno starts off with a nice forearm, but then gets totally blizted, face kicked, dumped on his head with a Michinoku Driver and carried out of the ring. Orihara then taunts Hijikata at ringside, until he gets in the ring. He and Okamoto have a moment or two, including a german suplex, but they get worked over too and Okamoto gets powerbombed and pinned, post match they beat both guys up some more including a spiked piledriver. Fun squash which establishes Orihara and Ono as total dicks.

Alexander Otsuka/Mohammed Yone vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Katsumi Usuda-GREAT

The best BattlArts tags are this alcheminical mix of shootstyle and pro-style. This match strayed a bit too much into prostyle and missed that high level. Usuda kept throwing big demonstrative headbutts, Yone came off the tope rope, Ikeda was more rope running and less full on murder bot then I prefer him. There was of course still a lot to love in this match. Otsuka was absolutely slaughtering people with suplexes, including a head and neck throw into a choke for this finish. Any combo of these guys in a tag is going to be great, but this missed that absolute peak.

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Greco

This was an absolute classic, as good as their more well known 1998 match. Greco was basically BattlArts version of Ken Shamrock, and he may have even been slicker on the mat. These are the two most skilled grapplers in BattlArts and they are rolling, grabbing necks, ankles and knees and twisting. Greco has one of the best tendon locks I have seen, he grabs it super fast and really looks like he is shredding tendons. There is some great stuff with Greco taking Ishikawa's back and squeezing a body lock and Ishikawa countering with foot lock. There is some really nasty striking too, some nasty body shots and ground and pound by Ishikawa and an awesome spin kick by Greco. We all know how great Ishikawa is, but the more I watch Greco I think he is a hidden all-timer too.

5/10/98

Masao Orihara/Takeshi Ono vs. Mamoru Okamoto/Ryuji Hijikata

Another fun Orihara and Ono tag as they beat on some lower card guys. Again there wasn't much BattlArts flavor to this, outside of Ono trying to take everyones heads off with kicks. There was some looseness to what Okamoto and Hijikata were throwing, and you can tell why they were slotted where they were. I did like them double stomping Ono, that guy is so skinny that you almost expect their boots to go through his body.  I am excited to check out Ono and Orihara against guys higher up the ladder.

Alexander Otsuka vs. Katsushi Takemura

Takemura is a NJ young guy and gets taken to the woodshed by Otsuka. Otsuka is a great guy to take apart a rookie, and he dumps him on his head with some nasty suplexes, including turning a trapped guillotine choke into a no protection DDT, and high angle piledrive. Takemura gets a nice German of his own, but this was mostly an opportunity to watch Otsuka unload.

Daisuke Ikeda/Gran Naniwa/Yone Genjin vs. Carl Greco/Ikuto Hidaka/Yuki Ishikawa

This was an elimination trios match with some pretty crazy teams. On paper you would think this would come down to a big Ishikawa vs. Ikeda showdown, but Ishikawa is weirdly the first guy eliminated, getting dumped over the top rope. We do get some really great Ishikawa moments first, including him dumping Naniwa square on his head a couple of times, blasting Yone in the ear with a slap and having a cool section versus Ikeda with all you would expect from a taste of that match up. With Ishikawa out early we get to see a lot of the other guys match up with Ikeda and it is pretty great stuff, Hidaka tries a bunch of flipping submission attempts only to homicided by an Ikeda clothesline, landing directly on the top of his head. We get a great Greco vs. Yone and Ikeda section, with Greco being an absolute marvel, whipping off incredibly slick submission counters on Yone. Unfortunately, there is nothing worse then executing a beautiful submission hold when Ikeda is waiting on the apron, as Ikeda tries to drive his foot and knee through Greco's skull every time he has an opening. Totally fun to watch Greco fight against the odds, an oddball set up for a match which totally works.

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Undercover Lover That's Daisuke Ikdea's Heart Now

Daisuke Ikeda/Gran Naniwa/Mohammed Yone vs. Yuki Ishikawa/Carl Greco/Ikuto Hidaka BattArts 5/10/98 - EPIC

PAS: This was an elimination trios match with some pretty crazy teams. On paper you would think this would come down to a big Ishikawa vs. Ikeda showdown, but Ishikawa is weirdly the first guy eliminated, getting dumped over the top rope. We do get some really great Ishikawa moments first, including him dumping Naniwa square on his head a couple of times, blasting Yone in the ear with a slap and having a cool section versus Ikeda with all you would expect from a taste of that match up. With Ishikawa out early we get to see a lot of the other guys match up with Ikeda and it is pretty great stuff, Hidaka tries a bunch of flipping submission attempts only to homicided by an Ikeda clothesline, landing directly on the top of his head. We get a great Greco vs. Yone and Ikeda section, with Greco being an absolute marvel, whipping off incredibly slick submission counters on Yone. Unfortunately,  there is nothing worse then executing a beautiful submission hold when Ikeda is waiting on the apron, as Ikeda tries to drive his foot and knee through Greco's skull every time he has an opening. Totally fun to watch Greco fight against the odds, an oddball set up for a match which totally works.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE IKEDA

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Blowbama Togo They Call Him Living Legend

Dick Togo/Sho Funaki/TAKA Michinoku vs. Gran Naniwa/Gran Hamada/Jushin Liger MPRO 8/18/96 - EPIC

PAS: This match was the speedball that killed John Belushi, just a non-stop lighting bolt. Liger fits right into the MPRO house style and is awesome interacting with all of KDX. He was especially fun against Togo coming off their singles match a couple months earlier, it is a shame those two didn't have a long series of matches against each other. The level of speed and precision on the KDX triple teams is really breathtaking, they just whip that stuff off so fast, it is like watching the Spurs team that won the 2014 finals. We got a great dive train too, TAKA's spaceman quebrada is still one of the great dives in wrestling history. I also loved the big run of Naniwa offense to finish the match off, I remember us thinking Naniwa would ended being a huge start around this time, he was a guy who's career really ended too soon.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DICK TOGO

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Dick Togo is the L. Ron Hubbard of the Cupboard

Sato/Shiryu/Great Sasuke vs. Gran Naniwa/Super Delfin/Jinsei Shinzaki AJW 11/20/94 - GREAT

This was a MPRO signature match on the All Japan Women's Big Egg Universe, and was a nifty version of their signature pre-KDX trios match. This was clearly meant to be a pallet cleanser for a long AJW show, and was more comedy focused then the stuff they were doing on their own shows. Still this shtick is great shtick, and Naniwa and Delfin have great comic timing with each other. Probably goes a bit long to be truly high end, but the finish run was pretty exciting with great dives by everyone including two nutty Sato dives with one being a tope where he almost goes vertical.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DICK TOGO

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Dick Togo Get it Cross State With the Grace of Maria

Dick Togo/Men's Teioh/Shoichi Funaki/Shiryu/TAKA Michinoku vs. Gran Hamada/Masato Yakushiji/Super Delfin/Gran Naniwa/Tiger Mask 4 MPRO 10/10/96 - EPIC

This is the most legendary Michinoku Pro match, and it was interesting to watch it with new eyes. It goes almost without saying that it is a great match. All three sections of the match were just classic. The early section with everyone matching up was special, everyone looked good, but I always love watching Togo flying around with Yakushiji, they are special dance partners, the Rogers and Astaire of lucha. When we moved into the KDX beatdown section, it was great to watch timing those five had on their combo moves, and the slambam finish was the kind of fired up cocaine bender you want, TAKA'S spaceman moonsault went into the sixth row, and Togo floated on his senton like a dirigible of fat ending in a Hindenburg style explosion. However, I think the fact that it went 40 minutes I initially saw as a benefit, I think it is a bit of hindrance here, it felt a bit flabby, and I think I prefer the tighter 20 minute version of this match. Also because this was a showcase, it had a little less specific story then some of the other matches, when you focus on everyone, you kind of focus on no one. Still minor quibbles to an epic match.

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It's Been a Minute So They Ask Dick Togo Where The Fire Went, Kitchen Clean But He Still Got The Pilot Lit

Dick Togo/Men's Teioh/ Shoichi Funaki/Shiryu vs. Great Sasuke/Gran Hamada/Gran Naniwa/ Masato Yakushiji MPRO 12/20/96 - GREAT 

PAS: One of the odder structured of this killer run of matches. Funaki comes in with a wrapped knee and the technicos go after it violently, making him a non entity early, eventually he gets taken to the back by his team mates. You don't usually see the rudo team gutting out a man down advantage, and the match isn't really worked any different because of that. The structural weirdness is the only thing keeping this out of the epic camp, as the actual work was amazing. We get big gobs of Togo v. Yakushiji and Togo v. Hamada which are two of the greatest match ups in history. Hamada hits the single greatest spinning DDT I have ever seen, and Yakushiji almost trumps him with an awesome swan dive Mysterio rana, of course Dick Togo is on the receiving end of both. Men't Teiho is throwing bombs too, splattering Naniwa with a rolling elbow and a Saito suplex, and Sasuke delivers another reckless Sabuish "dead by 30" performance. Finish is the traditional wild adrenaline ride, everyone of these matches is the car chase scene from To Live and Die In LA if it was in a ring in a high school gym in Northeast Japan. 

Dick Togo/Yoji Anjo vs. Tomohiro Ishii/Koichiro Kimura WJ 6/29/03 - FUN 

PAS: Really awesome looking match on paper, as the team of Togo and Anjo is a dream I didn't know I had. It didn't really live up to it's promise as it was more of an undercard tag with some nice moments, then a legendary match. Togo was wrestling more of a heavyweight style as the match was lots of clubbering elbows and such. Yoji was the standout as he was kicking folks in the throat and ended the match with an awesome running european uppercut. I might have to seek out more World Japan Togo/Anjo, I could see them against the SAT's being perversely entertaining. 

Dick Togo vs. Billy Ken Kid 2/11/10 - EPIC 

PAS: One of the best individual performances of Togo's career. I don't get much of a sense of BKK at all, he takes a beating, has a couple of nice highspots, but I get the sense you could grab a guy out of a CZW undercard juniors scramble, slot him in this match and it would have been as good. This was Togo's show, he violently demolishes his opponent early, strutting and smirking as he beats the piss out of the kid. It really reminded of the best of 2010 LA PARK, the way he made an extended one sided beating compelling. He takes a crazy modified Slaughter ringpost bump to put Ken on offense and takes about three other lunatic bumps at other points to transfer momentum. They build the interference spots nicely, so when BKK clears Togo's gang out you really get a sense of catharsis. Normally juniors matches with this many nearfalls lose me, but they built enough goodwill and drama with the first 20 minutes, that they earned the ending they had. Excellent match, one folks should check out if they haven't seen. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DICK TOGO

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Dick Togo is Clearing out the Pipes, Draino Brothers, The Whole Game Got Rollies in Rainbow Colors

SATO/Kendo/Piloto Suicida vs. Super Delfin/Super Boy/Gran Naniwa MPRO 7/94 - FUN 

PAS: This had about 10 minutes clipped, so it was hard to get a huge handle on what was going on. All six of these guys are really smooth wrestlers, and Superboy especially is an athletic marvel, as crazy agile as Dick Togo with 80 more pounds. Hadn't seen much of Piloto Suicida recently and all of his stuff looked great, as did Kendo. The stuff we saw was focused more on the comedy spots then a usual MPRO six-man. That maybe a side effect of the clipping, it may not have dominated as much in a longer match. For what I saw though, it overwhelmed the cool lucha. Finish run was sweet though especially the dive train, and Delfin murdering Pilota with his tornado DDT 

Dick Togo/Tigers Mask/Black Buffalo vs. Tsubasa/Asian Cougar/Billy Ken Kid Osaka Pro 4/29/09 - FUN

PAS: Worked like a traditional MPRO six man, although 2009 Osaka doesn't have the horses that 1996 MPRO had. Tsubasa, Cougar and Kid have nice spots, but their in between stuff didn't look great. This maybe the slimmest I have ever seen Togo, and while he doesn't have the fat boy heft anymore, he was getting freaky height and speed on everything he does. The rotation on his flips, the height on the senton just crazy looking. Asian Cougar isn't afraid to die on a senton on chairs to the floor, and Togo plants BKK with a Pepsi plunge which was pretty sweet. 

Dick Sato vs. Hip Hop Man 100% Lucha 3/9/08 - GREAT 

PAS: Totally awesome 7 minute TV match from Argentina of all places (THE MOTHERFUCKING INTERNET!!). They kick out the jams and go at a crazy pace the whole time. Hip Hop Man is a game dude, he had really pretty ranas and hits a crazy run the ropes flip dive. Togo is clearly trying to impress a new crowd, he breaks out all of his athletic stuff, and even hits a rolling senton off the apron to the floor, which I have never seen before. Pretty much a textbook debut in a new territory. I can totally see the crowd wanting to see more of this invader. This is the kind of thing which would have made an episode of Worldwide. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DICK TOGO

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Dick Togo's Heating Up Like They Wrapped Him In Flannel, Selling Kilos From Your IPOD Nano

Sato/Great Sasuke/Shiryu vs. Super Delfin/Gran Naniwa/Jinsei Shinzaki MPRO 2/4/94 - EPIC 

PAS: Pretty much a perfectly executed MPRO formula six man. It has everything you expect, the intricate lucha armdrags and ranas, the signature comedy spots, the crazy dive train. When these guys get on this kind of roll, it really is something special. Man 1994 Sato (Togo) is one of the most athletic impressive wrestlers in history, the speed and agility he executes his stuff is incredible. He and Delfin match up to start the match, and their exchanges are at Gods Must Be Crazy speed. Sato also wins the dive train which is pretty impressive considering the company he keeps. We get Shiryu and Naniwa next, and they have a more mat based match up, with Shiryu ripping off some really quick amateur rides. It had been a long time since I have seen the Naniwa/Delfin MX arm wringer spot, but man do those guys execute it perfectly. Delfin is great as a cocky douche really getting into working over the arm, and Naniwa is also great as a guy sad and angry at always being a schlemiel. Outside of one awkward Shinzaki spot (and honestly he didn't bring a ton to this) this was textbook stuff, and exactly the kind of thing I fell in love with when I first saw it. 

Dick Togo/Great Sasuke/Nobutaka Moribe vs. Ikuto Hidaka/Minoru Fujita/Macho Pump MPRO 8/22/04 - GREAT 

PAS: Elimination cage match which was relatively uneventful except for a couple of huge moments. Your non FEC team was pretty vanilla and dull, Macho Pump especially is a guy who has never contributed positively to any wrestling match I have seen him in. Most of the action in the match was punch and kick stuff, and not done particularly well. The huge moments were pretty huge though. Fujita hits a nice looking Superfly splash off the cage, Sasuke is battling with Fujita on the top of the cage and basically takes a Shawn Micheals style HIC bump backwards off the cage, and Togo ends the match with a top of the cage senton which is a top five in wrestling history cage dive. Just amazing looking. Feels like what was memorable was memorable enough to recommend the match relatively highly. Dick Togo/Ikuto Hidaka v. Gedo/Jado Riki Pro 1/17/10-FUN 2010 Gedo and Jado both have weirdly oiled up muscled bodies and dark tans, they should find Chapparita Asari, have her grow a poof and work Jersey Shore gimmicks. Good stuff in this, both Gedo and Togo looked great. Togo did a couple of really tremendous moves, I love how he floats mid air with his in ring somersault senton. Gedo does all of the small things really well, punches, bumping and superkicks. Hidaka and Jado didn't bring much at all though, outside of a minute or so of solid Hidaka matwork. Crowd was completely dead, and parts of this fell flat, had a real undercard house show feel, like they were going through the motions. Worth watching for Togo and Gedo, but falls short of a strong recommendation. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DICK TOGO

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