New Footage Friday: Brazilian Riots, Leon Spinks, Shinobu Kandori

Michel Serdan/Moreto vs. Belo/Mumia Negra Luta Livre (Late 80s?)

MD: Sometimes I'll troll around youtube looking for anything under our community's collecitve radar. There are a lot of countries out there and most of them had some tradition or another of wrestling. I don't know about you but I sure haven't seen a lot of matches from Brazil. This felt like an odd mishmash of Puerto Rico chains, celebratory babyfaces, and groin shots and cartoonish Argentinian Titanes with big, over the top symbolic offense, elaborate entrances and, you know, a wrestling mummy. The cappers on this are worth the price of admission alone, as the crowd is massive, Belo and Mumia Negra's entrance is amazing, with a marching brass band, a giant banner, and the mummy dancing. It's obvious that Serdan and to a lesser extent maybe Moreto are absolutely beloved. The ref is some guy in a hat with a cane. The crowd goes nuts for everything. The entirety of the babyfaces offense are these leaping, driving headbutts. Belo has these amazing chain gloves. The babyfaces control for most of this. Moreto eats a huge bump (with in-the-moment slow motion effects) over the top and gets carried out like a fallen hero. The bad guys take over using the chain and the numbers advantage. Serdan finally comes back with low blows. The ref throws out the match. The crowd riots. Chairs come flying in. Everyone carries Serdan out. It is absolutely nuts, yet at the same time, is the same sort of straightforward injury-heel-advantage match we've seen a hundred of times. The french match from a few weeks ago with a lot of these same elements actually. Old belief-based wrestling is universal and it's a universe I wish we were still living in.

PAS: This was pretty tremendous, even with not a ton of in ring skill. This reminded me of a huge Puerto Rico main event, Sedan isn't as good as Carlos Colon, but he appeared to be just as beloved, and the crowd was enormous and rabid. I really liked the babyfaces diving in ring tope's, Moreto's was especially cool looking. Sedan had a great looking headlock punch too, which got the slow motion camera work. Both rudos were pretty solid bumpers and stoogers, I dug the rudo comeback with some meaty chain shots. Mumia lauched Moreto clean over the top rope buckling his knee and both rudos beat on Serdan until a fan runs in and starts winging punches, leading to an absolutely chaotic fan riot. There are multiple out of control fan fights, dozens of chairs come winging into the ring and a bunch of fans rush the ring. Eventually they carry Serdan out on their shoulders. I don't think wrestling can be this anymore, and it is too bad, perfectly synched up clever chants will never be as fun as dozens of maniacal Brazilians hurling chairs.

Shinobu Kandori/Harley Saito vs. Dynamite Kansai/The Scorpion JWP 8/4/91

MD: Jetlag pushed this our way and I'm glad he did. I'm sure some of you, just for the sake of being completionists or rationalizing your Network subscription, watched the hidden gems FCW Kaitlyn vs Rosa Mendes match this week. Masochists. We watched this. This was action-packed with a burst of violence to begin, an opening third or so which was just full of hard, hard shots, outright struggle on every move/hold attempt, no fat, and still a sense of smoothness and forward motion. I really liked the transition to backwork, with Scorpion locking in a tricked out deathlock and finishing with three super precise and laser-focused shots. They meander off of that eventually allowing for a little comeback, more heat (including a great gear-change assisted dive), and ultimately a fairly satisfying finishing stretch with enough break-ups as opposed to kick-outs to make things cumulatively have some weight to them. Scorpion was a bit of a duel-edged sword, doing lots of cool things but placing some of them poorly within the match and having some trouble with others (like a half-flubbed run up the ropes arm-drag which was out of place in the midst of the backwork). The other three were spot on throughout though.

PAS: Tremendous match. The opening sections were right in my wrestling happy place, lots of brutal shots and exchanges with no one standing down even a little bit. Kansai was a bulldozer here, she would throw these forearms where she seemed to be aiming six inches past the skull of whoever she was throwing them at. She was just displacing people. Kandori vs. Kansai felt like it could have been as amazing as Hotta vs. Kandori or Kansai vs. Aja, hopefully their are some singles matches against each other. Really liked Harley as the smaller bulldog desperate to prove she is as tough as the bigger hounds in the yard. Scorpion was fun as the change of pace, everyone would be throwing big KO shots and she would come in with a springboard dive off of Kansai's back or a moonsault. She was particularly smooth, but I liked her role in the match. Kandori just ending the match by yoking her in a jujigatame was a pretty perfect finish. This really delivered on what I hoped it would be.

Mr. Gannosuke vs. Leon Spinks FMW 8/31/93

PAS: This was pre dye job Gannoseke and that dye job did a lot for his aura, he looked like a total shlub here. Spinks was working this like a 3/4 speed sparring session. He had a great looking technical combos, but wasn't throwing them with a ton of force or speed. Gannoseke sold them appropriately, Spinks did beat Muhammed Ali after all, and much of the match was Gannoseke barely getting up at 9. My favorite parts of the match were when Gannoseke would go for a take down and get waylaid by a hammer fist or hook. Post match, Spinks goes to shake Gannoseke's hand and instead clips him with a sucker punch short uppercut. Total dick move by Leon and a nice way to set up Onita coming to kick his ass.

MD: This is slight but sort of fun as a boxer vs wrestler thought experiment. I just love the nuts and bolts of how this sort of thing is put together, because obviously it's not with the sort of care that something like Spinks vs Onita would be. There are openings and there's just how much Spinks is willing to give (and how many times Gannosuke gets up); in that regard it's a bit like poor man's shootstyle, being all about openings and possibilities and what's given. Most of this is Gannosuke getting beaten around the ring, dropping for a while, and making it back up only to get mauled again. He has a couple of missed kicks. He has a couple of absolutely futile drop toe hold attempts. There's a great little rush across the ring dropkick. Once he even gets a hold on but Spinks just strikes his way out. Past the dropkick the most interesting thing here is probably Spinks getting in a jerk post-match shot. This wasn't much but it's odd enough on paper that we were almost obliged to at least check it out

ER: Phil told me to not bother watching this one because it wasn't very good, but that's crazy. Do you know how many Kandori matches are available for me to see? Only hundreds. Now how many Leon Spinks matches are available for me to see? How many times did Shinobu Kandori beat Muhammad Ali? Probably not as many times as Leon Spinks did. Leon Spinks has probably beaten Muhammad Ali in a fist fight INFINITELY more times than Kandori has. And I'm supposed to not watch Leon Spinks fighting in a tiny gym that's about as far as you can get away from Tokyo and still be in Japan?

Phil is not wrong that Gannosuke's bleached blowback really added to his aura, an aura seemingly only attained by stocky Japanese pro wrestlers (see Ueda, Umanosuke or Saito, Hiro). It makes the Mr. Gannosuke name evoke a narrow eyed yakuza sitting in a dark corner of a bar. You don't want to be summoned by Mr. Gannosuke. If you are ever summoned by Mr. Gannosuke, you know there is a 10% chance you won't be leaving that meeting alive. Here, with Spanx shaping trunks, a clean mustache and dark mullet, the name Mr. Gannosuke evokes something entirely different. Here he is Mr. Gannosuke, substitute English teacher who tries to get the kids to call him "Mr. G". He won't be gauche enough to outright tell a student in a one on one situation, "Hey, call me Mr. G." BUT, if it's the end of the school year, and a student asks Mr. Gannosuke to sign his yearbook, he would definitely write "Never Stop Learning - Mr. G".

There are three great moments in this match. The first is the opening flurry by Spinks, with the penultimate punch convincingly sending Gannosuke down to the mat, and we get a fun bit of drama as the crowd starts buzzing when it looks like Gannosuke won't beat the count. The second great moment is when Gannosuke grabs and ankle pick and Spinks timberrrrs over the way a boxer who doesn't understand takedown defense would. Gannosuke grabs a leglock and wrenches is a bit, and Spinks gets out of it by punching at Gannosuke. Then, while Spinks is getting to his feet, he starts shaking his leg out (the leg that had been worked on), looks like Rick Steiner doing his peeing dog taunt. The third great moment is after the match, when Spinks hates going for a handshake and instead smacks Mr. G. What the fuck. What an asshole jock bully. What a fully borne out heel. If I were there that day, I would be wanting to pay money to see Onita wreck Leon Spinks. This match had three great moments. How many matches have you watched in your life that didn't have three great moments?

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PRO WRESTLING FUJIWARA-GUMI 2/28/94

Shoichi Funaki v. Minoru Tanaka

Man this was great. It is so weird that Funaki went from this kind of strict shootstyle to being a beloved comedy jobber in the WWE for so long. Tanaka dominates most of this, throwing big kicks, locking on super tight chokes, even throwing a couple of plausable looking shoot drop kicks. Funaki had some nice takedowns, but spent almost all the match on defense. Finish is great, Tanaka hits a super nasty, super fast judo throw and gets an 8 count. When Funaki gets up, Tanaka rushes him to try for the KO, throwing knees, and Funaki spins him into super fast kneebar/ankle lock combo for the quick tap. It was a very Fujiwara finish to the first match on a Fujiwara show.

Shinobu Kandori/Utako Hozumi v. Harley Saito/Mikkiko Futagami

This was a LLPW exhibition match, and worked like an exhibition match, so the stakes felt sort of low. Still there was a lot of fun stuff in this match. Saito and Futagami are both kickers and they were throwing heat rocks, Saito especially throws with recklessness. Hozumi was very much in the Manami Toyota spirit, but her bodypress and dropkick shtick felt out of place on a card where ladies were headhunting.  I loved Kandori's tribute to Fujiwara headbutts, and her finishing cross face chicken wing submission was really neck cranking.

Next we have a pair of kickboxing matches, which appear to be shoots. Cagematch didn't have match listings, and there were no brutal KOs or anything, so I skimmed past these.

Diusel Berto v. Shupo Toto

Toto is a Thai Kickboxer, and Berto is an early UFC fighter who is the father of ex middleweight boxing champion and Mayweather opponent Andre Berto. This might have been a shoot, as it was a little dull for a work. Berto eats some kicks until he gets close enough to throw Toto and neck crank him for the tap.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Katsumi Usuda

This is a classic Fujiwara versus a young guy match. Usuda throws out everything he has with kicks and takedowns, and Fujiwara counters and perries. The outcome is never really in doubt, and the match only goes about three minutes,  it is more like figuring out when Fujiwara will finish the fight. There are some cool bits of technique, including Fujiwara reversing a top wrist lock from his back, and a nice neck crank. This match up would certainly be better a couple of years later when Usuda wasn't a rookie, but it was fun to watch Fujiwara show off his skill, the way he works an ankle lock is a pretty bit of extreme violence.

Yuki Ishikawa v. Glen Jacobs

This was really good, one of my favorite Jacobs matches ever (admittedly a low bar). Jacobs is pretty great as a shootstyle bruiser he has nasty looking overhead slaps, and he is good at big throws and proto attempts at ground and pound. I loved Ishikawa crawling all over Jacobs like a jungle gym, grabbing and twisting arms and legs. There were also some moments where he just slaps the shit out of Jacobs which feels really satisfying if you have had to sit through years of shitty Kane matches. Liked the finish with Jacobs putting on a grounded full nelson and cranking Ishikawa's neck.

Battle Royal

I am amused how this show ends with a battle royal like every mid 90s US indy show. This was one of those weird Japanese battle royals where someone gets knocked down and they all dogpile on top them. There was a couple of amusing moments with Jacobs ragdolling everyone who attacked him, and I liked Don Arakawa directing traffic. The whole thing seems purposeless though, although it was fast.

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ALL TIME MOTY LIST Head to Head 1990: Onita/Goto v. Kurisu/Dragonmaster V. Shinobu Kandori v. Harley Saito

Shinobu Kandori v. Harley Saito JWP 7/19/90

 

PAS: Our boy Jetlag has been doing some real work in the footage mines uncovering gems like this. I feel like I need to do a Kandori deep dive because she was totally boss in this, hurling Saito to the mat with vicious judo throws, grabbing and twisting limbs throwing big shots, she has these nasty slaps where she uses her whole hand like she is trying to palm Saito face like a basketball. Saito was really game too, she had nasty kicks and refused to back down from Kandori's assault. Some great kneebar spots in this match, with Kandori really cranking back and Saito fighting out like Steamboat in a figure four. Finish was pretty neat as Saito gets a roll up for a super close pin, she thinks she has won and starts celebrating, Kandori is furious and comes back with a fury eventually beheading her with a clothesline and dropping sheer on her head for the pin.

 ER: We start with slaps before the bell, and that quickly devolves into more stiff shots, wrenched in heel hooks and nasty hard landing backdrops. Every bit of the suplexes thrown look tough, the lift looks tough, the landing looks like they're being dropped on concrete. The nastiest stuff is probably not the submissions, but the rifled kicks to the body every time a submission is broken. Saito gets to the ropes, then gets punted in the stomach several times. Kandori does this again, and it only makes Saito more vicious when it's her opportunity to stand above her prone opponent. Saito literally kicks a downed Kandori from one side of the ring to the floor on the other side, kicking her stomach, arms, face, hands, rolling her across the ring with her kicks, kicking her like a bad student kicking their backpack home from school. Saito's half crab is also outstanding, just bending Kandori's leg back diagonally across her body. I usually don't think about the pressure a half crab could put on the hip joint, but this crab looked like Saito was aiming to pop Kandori's femur out. We get some nice tight cradles for nearfalls, and we end on a disputed pin. It would have been a shame had that been the real pin, but we get the restart, and Saito flies across the ring to show Kandori that pin was no fluke. And she does bring a storm, but Kandori weathers it, blasts her with a lariat, and hits a straight vertical drop Tiger Driver (ummmm...so would it actually be a Tiger Driver '90?) for the win. We get a big post match pull apart like all the best interpromotional FMW or WAR matches, except this is the only time I've seen it with female trainees running breaking up the action in their all the colors of the rainbow gym shorts. All awesome stuff.

Onita/Goto v. Kurisu/Dragonmaster Review

Verdict:

PAS: Another hidden gem challenge for the FMW brawl falls a little short. Loved the joshi match, and it really isn't my style, but the kind of hurricane of violence in that tag is really hard to beat. That match just speaks to my soul as a wrestling fan, and as much as I loved this, it didn't reach that level.

ER: I gotta give the slight nod to the FMW tag as well, more as a style preference than anything. Four strangely dressed men getting vaguely unprofessional in violent ways is just turning my dial. But I couldn't be happier that matches like this are showing up for all to see.

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