New Footage Friday: HASH~! VADER~! DR. DEATH~! KOKINA~! KURISU~! CHONO~! MUTOH~!

New Japan HH 7/8/90

Black Cat vs. Takayuki Tizuka

MD: Iizuka is Takashi Iizuka, in his mid 20s here. This was a nice opener, with Cat leaning on him with holds and clever little whacks to keep control (an elbow out of a straightjacket choke, an elbow drop to reverse a drop down, a senton near fall towards the end, swatting away some dropkicks) with Iizuka fiery and aggressive. I loved the way he stalked around the ring when Iizuka was trying to get back in, for instance, and how he went right to the attack the moment that he did. Cat played to the crowd a couple of times and they were appreciative and up for it which bodes well for the rest of the show. Good finishing stretch with a couple of near-falls you could predict as spots (like the sunset flip reversal to the second shoulder charge into the corner) but couldn't predict the kick-out 100% as it was an opener and it takes less to end it. There's a certain freedom in opening up a show and they took advantage of it well.

Osamu Matsuda vs. Kantaro Hoshino 

MD: Matsuda is a year away from being El Samurai. He was spry and energetic here but I don't think this quite had the rhythm as the opener. In fact, it felt a little more what I thought an opener would feel like, with longer holds moved in and out of, without entirely coming together as a greater whole. Hoshino vs Momota in 89-90 would be an interpromotional match I would have liked to see. I liked all of his neck crunching offense and his power bomb to finish it was pretty nasty.

 

Osamu Kido vs. Apollo Sugawara 

MD: Solid match up. The brunt of it was Sugawara working over Kido's legs and then Kido returning the favor. A little extended selling, especially from Kido, might have given it all a bit more weight and stakes and made the revenge mean something more. The finish sort of came out of nowhere, but that was the joy of Kido's wakigatame.

Strong Machine/Pegasus Kid vs. Hiro Hase/Kensuke Sasaki 

MD: Very much what you'd want this match-up to be. They hit hard, leaned into things, kept it moving. Visually, Pegasus Kid and Super Strong Machine made a good pairing, at least given the HH quality. They looked almost like blue and purple variations on the same theme. Hase and Sasaki worked well together early but got a little too cute trying to get masks off. That led to a hearty beatdown on Hase, until he was able to roll through or power away on a brainbuster (it was a little hard to tell but I didn't love it as a transition regardless). After that, it was more back and forth with some nice parallels towards the end with partners breaking up bridges by kicking the legs out and a nice, definitive finish.

Jushin Liger/Shiro Koshinaka/Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Tatsutoshi Gotoh/Hiro Saito/Norio Honaga 

MD: This was a pretty satisfying example of delayed gratification with a trio of gritty bastard bases holding down your flying, technical guys. They cut off the ring well and were relentless in the beatdown and when comebacks started, they were quick to cut them off with cheapshots, low blows, and interference, so that when the butt butts, babyface doubleteams, and Liger's big stuff got to finally happen, it felt like a big payoff.

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Brad Rheingans - FUN

PAS: This was pretty short, but any Hashimoto match is going to have cool stuff in it. My favorite section was the first minute with Rhiengans and Hash locked up in a Greco clinch and doing some standing switches. Both guys have such strong bases and I enjoyed the struggle. Hash hits some nice body kicks and DDT to win, but I never got much of a sense of Brad outside of that first section. 

MD: You always wish these Brad in Japan matches went a little bit longer. This had some good close up grappling for position and some really nice suplexes though. Brad stooged just a little, in as he sold broadly for Hashimoto when he did get shots in, but he made him earn those shots too. Obviously the best part of this was when Brad jammed him off the ropes and hit a big belly to belly and then a belly to back. It ended abruptly, but believably so.

Masa Saito/Kengo Kimura vs. Steve Williams/Masanobu Kurisu 

MD: Kimura refusing to spend even a second on the floor with Kurisu at the start was the most sympathetic bit of wrestling I've seen in a while. Thankfully, Kurisu got to show everyone exactly why Kimura felt that way later in the match by being an absolute maniac with a chair. Saito vs Williams was a larger than life pairing. It had Williams wild energy and Saito's heft and presence but they still let it breathe. This was going at a real good pace with everyone bringing exactly what you'd want out of them (Saito firing back with a chair and clotheslines, Williams with the stampede, Kurisu's headbutts, etc.) until Kimura got in a flying kick out of nowhere onto Kurisu's skull and Saito came in with his suplex for the win. Like the Brad match, I wish it had another couple of minutes but this was a more complete and satisfying unit and you can't fault what we got.

PAS: You have to give it to Kurisu. I mean if there is anyone he might not pull his shit on, it's Masa Saito, an olympic wrestler who is crazy enough to fist fight 10 cops. Kurisu doesn't give a shit though, he is out there throwing those gross headbutts to Saito's cheek and those chair shots with the edges. He pays for it a bit, it looks like he gets a stinger when Saito and Kimura hit a pretty unsafe looking spiked piledriver, and Saito hits him with a great looking version of his titular suplex. Williams and Saito are always a fun match up too, and I love the idea of a Williams/Kurisu tag team. That is a Miracle Violence Connection I can get behind. 

Riki Choshu/Keiji Mutoh/Masa Chono vs. Van Vader/Kokina/Samu

MD: Kokina and Vader were such an imposing pair and it was obvious they knew it, with double charges in the corner and teamwork on the outside. Vader used himself as a wall with his short clothesline and Kokina was happy to use him that way too. Every bump Vader took meant something and was earned. Kokina's meant something too, though he maybe took too many and too big, though that was part of the attraction. Samu was there to lose the offensive for his team and ultimately lose the match. Choshu got to clothesline people. Mutoh brought the flash. Young Chono was in there the most though, holding his own at first but ultimately playing a face in peril.

Read more!

Otto Wanz Upload Challenge 5: Black Bart and Great Kokina

Otto Wanz vs. Black Bart (Johnson) CWA 7/9/88

MD: This was legitimately good. Very good maybe. Black Bart is a guy that would make every roster in the 80s better. That doesn't mean you'd put him at the top, but he added depth and played a role in the undercard and if need be mid card. He had size and presence and while you might not expect him to win, he could believably do damage. He was a much better opponent for late 80s Wanz than Ottman. He also got to put his hand over his heart for the bugler playing the national anthem which felt like a big moment for him. There was nothing pretty about this. They did the unclean breaks and revenge bit to start, but on a Wanz clean break later, Bart got a hammering cheapshot in and stayed on top for most of the rest of the match, broken up by rousing Wanz comebacks (including the slam and senton after Bart failed at a slam of his own). Bart didn't try anything too. He punched, kicked, hammered, clubbered, but it was all appropriate. He took up time and ate up space and sucked the air out of the proceedings. All Otto had to do was sell and fire back when he had the chance. Wanz even bladed on the outside, which felt like a big deal, and led to some satisfying woundwork. Eventually, Bart missed a charge and went flying over the ropes, and then bladed big himself as Otto got revenge on the outside, setting up the slam and the splash for the win. Otto gave a ton here and the crowd hated Bart for it, but that just meant they went up all the higher for the win. No restholds here (and I never use that word lightly), nothing fancy, just straightforward beatdown, selling, and comeback, and it 100% worked. Otto was secure enough in himself to give what he needed to Bart to make it happen. 

Otto Wanz vs. Great Kokina, Prince of Hawaii CWA 12/17/88

MD: Not great. A story of two matches. When they were really laying it into each other, it was enjoyable. The rest was a litany of nerve holds, forehead claws, and chinlocks. I don't think Otto was bad from working underneath, but he wasn't great either. He just wasn't. He had the crowd naturally but he didn't lead them. There wasn't a build to a big moment in fighting out of holds. There wasn't an ebb and a flow. He was better at timing comebacks fighting out of the corner, for instance. This too, by the way, like apparently every Wanz match, started with just that. Kokina could bump big at this point, but he only did once, early. The match had no sense of escalation or build, just a constant drone of back and forth blows and revisiting holds. I did like the last minute or so, with a larger than life overhead shot and Wanz hitting a big slam. It's just that a guy like Hogan, for instance, would have teased that earlier in the match to make the payoff more meaningful. Wanz doesn't often get to that level of storytelling. Then again, if you listen to the fans, he doesn't necessarily have to.

ER: See I thought this was pretty great, kept me exciting the entire time listening to the loud Bremen crowds "OttO! OttO!" chants to rally every second of Kokina control. I love that we can go back to 1988 Germany to find a match where Kokina is the smaller guy in the match, and it's the kind of minimalist heavyweight wrestling that really appeals to me. I am becoming a big fan of the Otto Wanz slow motion between-round recaps, love watching Kokina take a snapmare and thinking it looks like Kobashi taking a backdrop driver. Otto is great at selling in nerve holds, with his expressive color changing face and excessive sweating, beating his chest and pawing at Kokina's hands. Both man had nice bumps, though Kokina didn't bump nearly as much as he would in just a year or two. He still landed heavy whenever he went down, made it look like Otto was really throwing around a boulder in there. Both he and Otto had a quick bump through the ropes to the floor, and it felt epic whenever we got a knockdown. The strikes all looked good, loved whenever Otto would back up Kokina with his forearms to the chest, and Kokina had big chops of his own and clonked him with a headbutt. I wish we got a better shot of Otto's rolling senton and bodyslam to finish the match (we cut away to a top down view for some reason, only time in the match), but this was what I wanted to see. 

Read more!

Andre Runs Around in the Rain with a Hole in His Brain

Andre the Giant/Villano III/Canek vs. Kokina/Buffalo Allen/Black Scorpio UWA 5/17/92 - FUN

ER: I had always seen this match on paper and thought it looked like an excellent WAR combination of guys (man I would have loved to see even this era of Andre in a trios with some WAR sumos) but had never watched it. It doesn't get crazy, but it's very satisfying doing what it does. Andre looks mammoth here, big belly and butt, a curly shag and sideburns that makes him look like a spitting image of George Demosthenes Savalas from Kojak, only doubled in size. He's also wearing a red singlet which just looks weird, but I like the attempt at switching up his looks for a different area. It's wild to think of Andre working Mexico this late in his career. It's Juarez, so he didn't have to fly deep into Mexico or anything, but I am dying to know more about end of days Andre bumming around Mexico and southwest Texas for a month in between gigs. The dates he worked Mexico in '92 are close enough together that I imagine he just stayed there and didn't opt to fly in and out several times in a month. I imagine he was keeping air travel to a minimum at that point, but I don't know! I need to know more. It would make a fantastic article. I would write the article! I just have no idea where to start looking for info.

Andre in 1992 still throws some of my favorite punches, just these big round fists slowly lunging at guys; they look like someone getting hit by a breaking pitch that didn't break. He throws big chops, sits on guys for a pinfall, and even sits on the back of Allen's neck (while Allen is in a seated position, so Andre's butt was forcing Allen's head down between his own legs) which isn't an Andre spot I remembered. He also gets trapped in the ropes - my favorite - and gets members of his team thrown into him. It's fun. The rudo team is great, made up of guys who worked Mexico who nobody thinks of as guys who worked Mexico. Black Scorpio is 2 Cold under a mask, best shape of his life, landing absurdly light on his feet for everything (can't imagine how dope a 450 splash must have looked to a 1992 Juarez crowd). This whole thing really deserves to be the Kokina show, as he's taking these great stooge bumps inside and out of the ring, and we get cool glimpses of the most famous giant of all time vs. one of the most famous big men of all time. Canek gets some great moments including two effortless press slams on Scorpio (one of them throwing him onto Kokina and Allen). Sadly V3 felt a little underutilized, but there were huge fat guys and a mysterious masked flier and major star Canek, so somebody was going to get lost in the shuffle. I would love more lucha Andre.

PAS: Andre is pretty much just a boulder that needs to be moved, or has guys thrown into him, but he is a great fucking boulder.  2 Cold didn't have a huge role in this match, but man did he look light on his feet, I kind of like later in his career bruiser 2 Cold the best, here he looked Ricochet fast and jumpy which was cool and different. Allen is a guy who was always cooler than great, but he is pretty good at bouncing off of Andre. This wasn't the match where Andre pooped on Bad News, but knowing that story adds a bit of extra drama to the match, you are constantly wondering whether the poop is coming.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE ANDRE THE GIANT

Read more!

My Eyes May Grow Dim, But Shinya Hashimoto is My Gibraltar I am Trusting in Him

Shinya Hashimoto/Masa Saito vs. Vader/Great Kokina NJPW 1/31/90-GREAT

ER: This is juuuuuust about too much hoss to be contained by one ring. It's sad that one month ago we could have bemoaned the fact that half the participants had passed. And now? Well, at least these four larger than lifers crossed paths several times. What a fun tag with great contributions from everyone. Vader in Japan was such a great before the bell shit stirrer, really setting up hot tags before introductions had even been done. And I love how Hashimoto took it to Vader, catching him in the gut with a kick on an overzealous charge, hitting a big vertical suplex right away, tossing him with a judo throw (and I loved Vader blocking that throw a couple times) and going after his arm. You knew it wouldn't last, but I liked that early aggression. Vader pays him back later by standing on Hashimoto's face until Hashimoto gets up with a bloody nose. I really loved Kokina here, a nice size complement to Vader, but quick in different ways and with a very different big man arsenal. I liked fired up babyface Masa Saito. We get a lot of stoic badass Saito, because arguably nobody in wrestling history reads visually as more of a badass that Masa Saito, who looks like he could take a baseball bat to the sternum and not blink. Kokina has a bunch of fun heavy offense and moves real quick, and I loved him punching down Saito leading to a classic babyface comeback. Kokina was moving around a ton, throwing headbutts (standing and falling), nice strikes, big bumps (I always love his banana peel slip bump), and both monsters were great at getting the monsters-to-most-men openings, Vader especially made every opening look like a gift. At one point Vader swung so low on a clothesline that Hashimoto ducked, that Hashimoto's counter attack came with the relief of narrowly avoiding a car accident. Saito gets smooshed a bunch, but it makes his redemption more fun, including a big lariat that Vader generously bumps to the floor. There was next to no chance I was going to be disappointed with this lineup.

PAS:  This match was basically a hybrid monster movie and western, Mothra and Godzilla invade a town and the two biggest swaggering badasses come in and take them down. Is there a cooler tag team in wrestling history then Shinya Hashimoto and Masa Saito, two charismatic dudes built like bourbon barrels who are smoother then a rapids stone. I loved Masa Saito getting himself amped up to slam Kokina, he tries once, fails, lands some big chops, tries again, fails, pumps up the crowd, and finally finishes the job. If the Intrepid challenge ended with Masa Saito slamming Yokozuna I might have actually watched the footage the Network put up. I did think the finish was a bit easy for such a monumental task, and this was more a fun crowd pleasing tag, then epic orgy of violence, but it certainly pleased the crowd.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE SHINYA HASHIMOTO

Read more!