SLL's All-Request Tuesday Afternoon

The Southern Boys vs. The Freebirds (WCW, 1990)
Requested by Victator

This was the first of a best of three match series for the "Southern Tag Team Championship", which I had never heard of before, and which no records of actually exist. Until someone tells me otherwise, I'm guessing this was the Freebirds' Million Dollar Belt. It's not like I've ever gone out of my way to watch a lot of early 90's Freebirds matches, so I wouldn't really know.

Anyway, one of the big questions working on the Texas set left me with was how did Michael Hayes go from being so great in his '88 World Class run to being so bad in his '89/early 90's WCW run. This match does not provide much in the way of answers, though, because the 'Birds are actually pretty good here. Neither him nor Garvin are what they were in 1984, but they can both still throw hands and heel it up for the crowd, which is all either of them really need to do. Michael Hayes does that terrible "I will pin you by kneeling on your arms and posing so you can take me over in sunset flip position" spot, but other than that, no real complaints about their end of the match. The Southern Boys were a fun, high energy offensive team. Steve Armstrong had really pretty dropkicks, and Tracy Smothers made a great FIP. At one point, he eats a kneelift from Garvin on the apron and flew backwards into the guardrail. Nasty. Their finisher was pretty nifty, too. Not blowaway great or anything, but definitely a fun diversion.

Koji Kanemoto vs. Hayato Jr. Fujita (NJPW 5/26/2011)
Requested by Wrestling_KO Mike

Wow, I actually get to review a good 2011 puro match? It kinda figures, what with these being two really good wrestlers with a proven track record against one another. What's interesting to me though is that looking at it structurally (and taking away the expectations that come with the names "Kanemoto" and "Fujita"), I should have hated this match. It basically breaks down into two halves: one built around back-and-forth strike exchanges (the bane of 21st century puro matches), and one built around back-and-forth finishing hold exchanges (the bane of Kurt Angle-style workrate matches). You tell me that's how a match is structured, and I'll usually actively avoid it. So why does Kanemoto and Fujita trading forearms work when Sekimoto and Soya trading forearms in the match I reviewed last week didn't? For that, I direct you to something I wrote recently at the ProWrestlingOnly forums.

"Sell things the way you want people to buy them."

Kenta Kobashi and Kensuke Sasaki doing their big chop exchange at the Tokyo Dome in 2005 was a big, spectacular moment in a big, spectacular match. The idea that you can just throw that spot into any old match by two guys cosplaying as Kobashi and Kensuke and it will make your match a bigger deal is moronic. Kanemoto and Fujita are two jokers trying to replicate a tired spot that's long since had it's meaning sucked out of it. Kanemoto and Fujita are two angry pricks who are going to keep charging each other until the other goes down, and unlike all the other pretenders, it damn well looks like it. The botched apron double kick spot aside, everything was laid in hard and sold appropriately. The technical exchanges in the second half were super-slick and entirely convincing. Kurt Angle spent practically every match he's been in since the Rumble '03 Benoit match trying to recreate it. Within a month, his routine went from revolutionary to old hat. This felt as fresh and vital as Angle's work doesn't. They took a formula almost perfectly designed to drive me away, and they had me reeled in the whole time. I had not been paying very close attention to the Super Juniors tournament this year, so Hayato Jr.'s win caught me by surprise, too. Looks like it even caught him by surprise. Offhand, it struck me as the least of their three matches, but they are three very, very good matches, so that should not be read as a criticism at all. This is the real deal.

Sheik Khan Abadi & The Suburban Commandos vs. Johnny Plinko & Circum-Sexy (DMW 6/18/2011)
Requested by FLIK

I don't know what a Devil Mountain is, but it sounds like a great place to have a wrestling match. That said, I don't know how I feel about this one. As the unofficial internet consultant to the United Wrestling Coalition, I've watched a lot of poverty row indy wrestling lately. But while these guys were able to pull off bigger spots than the UWC crew usually goes for, I didn't always get the sense that they were any more polished than them. Pretty comfortable saying no one in this match was as on point as 2011 Twiggy Ramirez. And that's not a huge insult or anything, but it's not necessarily a great honor, either. I do want to say I liked the Suburban Commandos. They didn't use "It's a Nice Place to Live (But I Wouldn't Want to Visit)" as their theme, which feels like a missed opportunity, but they had a lot of big offense that I really liked. They had some cool double team spots. The military press dropped into a gutbuster on the other guy's knee was a personal favorite, as was their finish, an inverted flapjack into a powerbomb/neckbreaker combo. One of them also had a nasty snap backdrop. The finishing stretch was pretty suplex heavy, and I thought that was easily the best one. But they also had this one move where one of them had Johnny Plinko in wheelbarrow position, and Plinko willingly suspended himself straight outwards in the air so Sheik Abadi could come off of the ropes with a DDT. Business = exposed. And then there's the matter of the other four guys in the match. Sheiky baby threw some neat kicks and a running double knee, and broke out what I can only describe as a trust fall suicida, but he also had some really awkward moments, like a hot tag where he tried to get a little too fancy knocking the other heels off of the apron, and ended up rolling around out of place like a dolt. He wasn't awful or anything, but he left something to be desired. Then there were the heels. I didn't get the sense that any of them were terrible, but this was not a great showing for them. They tried to do this elaborate heeling shtick at the top of the match, but they had to choreograph it to involve all six guys doing the same thing at once, and the timing was way off. Really made it feel too stagey. They also were not afraid to stand around huddled together on the outside waiting forever to catch dives. That's not entirely their fault. I can understand the trust fall suicida taking too long to set up and them just being stuck waiting to eat it. But does catching one of the Commandos axehandles off of the apron require that much prep work? Beyond that, they seemed pretty non-descript. They also had a really superfluous manager. Seriously, he stood there the whole time during the opening micwork, and I don't think I even realized he was there until after the heels first got driven out of the ring. Even then, I wasn't sure he wasn't just the ring announcer or something. He did get involved later on, but I still don't know why he exists. Yeah, there was some interesting stuff going on here, but overall, it just didn't do it for me.

Eddie Gilbert vs. Ricky Morton (USWA 7/11/1992)
Requested by Tim Evans

Wow. So this is a roughly ten minute match between two really great wrestlers, who have kinda similar skill sets, though they tend to use them in different ways that would compliment each other. Two guys who are very much about dynamic brawling, dynamic selling, and dynamic playing to the crowd. This match is about dynamic nothing. I was genuinely stunned by how much this bored me. Did not see that coming at all. The match is mostly built around Morton keeping Gilbert trapped in an armbar, and these seem like the kind of guys who should be able to make that compelling. And well, it's not like either of these guys are Mutoh sitting around in a hold, but they're not what I expect from Morton and Gilbert, either. There really just isn't that much to talk about here, which is good in that it's Tuesday afternoon, and this was supposed to go up on Friday night, but not so good in that I want Morton and Gilbert to actually give me something to talk about. Kind of a strange finish, as the special TV time limit expires with Gilbert in control, but Gilbert wants five more minutes to put Morton away. He gets it, and is promptly flash pinned by Morton, who seemingly wins the USWA belt, but Gilbert never said anything about the five more minutes being for the belt, so he retains via Dusty Finish. It does, however, lead to a fun post-match angle where Eddie Marlin grants Morton a title rematch with any stipulation he wants, and Morton decides his dad Paul will be the special guest ref for the match (Gilbert: "I THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD!"). Shame the body the match itself wasn't as compelling.

Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Ryota Hama & Manabu Soya (BJW 4/28/2011)
Requested by ダニエル

Well, if nothing else, you've got to hand it to Big Japan. They got a hold of the All-Asia Tag Titles, and they make it a really, really big deal here, even playing the national anthem before the match. It's something that could've rung false, but I totally accepted it here. It probably helps that they were working in front of a really great crowd. Crowd chants "Dai Nihon", and I'm wondering when they last time the interpromotional aspect of an interpromotional feud in Japan actually felt significant. The fact they got over that angle in 2011 is really impressive. Also, damn, is Hase looking old. I mean, I know he was a wrestler and everything, but still, he just turned 50 in May. He probably shouldn't be quite this decrepit.

So the match starts, and it's not long before Sekimoto and Soya are doing the standard chop/forearm exchange. Again. It pretty quickly starts to like like this is going to be second verse, same as first, just with a better atmosphere, and I hunker down and prepare for the worst. And then, something strange happens. Sekimoto and Soya grabs each other by the hair, and Soya manages to push Sekimoto in the corner. Neither man will break, and Kyohei Wada actually has to step in between them, and when he can't break them up on his own, Okabayashi comes in to pull his tag partner off of Soya. Then, when Kyohei is admonishing Sekimoto, Soya pushes him aside and bum rushes Sekimoto. The crowd boos Soya's heelishness as he stomps a mudhole in Sekimoto, and it starts to dawn on me that I may be watching an actual good wrestling match. And then Hama tags in for the first time, and the idea is completely and totally confirmed. First of all, since the last time I saw him, Hama seems to have started taking some stylistic cues from Vader, only with a bit less of an emphasis on stiffness and a bit more on fatness. Secondly, good lord, is Ryota Hama ever fat. I know that's not a revelatory statement or anything, but seriously, that is a fat, fat man. He is built like a Moai head. It's amazing. Third, he kinda looks facially like a giant baby, and he only has one facial expression that he maintains through the entire match, yet he somehow manages to express every emotion he needs to with that one expression. I don't know if it's just some Sergei Eisenstein shit where I'm seeing the same face in different situations and projecting emotions onto it based on context or if he's really just that skilled, but I'm totally digging it. Look at his test of strength with Sekimoto and thrill as the expression he uses to display smug pride as he's winning shows surprise and alarm just as effectively when he's losing. Fourth, good lord, is Ryota Hama ever fat. And he knows how to use it. There are a bunch of great spots built around the fact that he is made entirely of sausages. Standing on Sekimoto's chest (with Soya pushing down on top of him), the rolling senton, the Abdullah elbow drop, the Umaga charging ass into an opponent slumped in the corner. He also makes a great brick wall. I mean, he is not as athletic of a brick wall as Mark Henry, but he definitely has his own thing going for him. Henry is a ridiculously built dude, so charging into him seems like charging into an actual brick wall, whereas charging into Hama is more "NOTHING MOVES THE BLOB!". His Vader Attack isn't as dynamic looking as Henry's Vader Attack, but he can two steps toward a charging Okabayashi, and you buy that the momentum required to move him two steps forward is all he needs to bounce Okabayashi right off of him. Also on the Vader tip, his punches aren't quite as stiff as Vader's (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, anyway), but he's throwing hands in sort of a Vader-ish way, and they do look pretty good, and the Big Van Crush on Okabayashi definitely looked like it could've been a credible match ender.

So this ended up being pretty fun, but it's not just down to pork vacuum Hama. Structurally, this is a massive improvement over the 2/6 match. That was a generic post-2005 puro heavyweight match, which is a shitty match formula that I almost never enjoy. However, most of the first half of this match is worked as an 80's southern tag, and most of the second half as a 90's All Japan tag, which are two awesome formulas that I almost always enjoy. Sekimoto was surprisingly effective working slab-of-beef-in-peril, and while I've already gone over what Hama brings to the table, I do want to say that Soya was very good here as well. He didn't play heel as overtly as a lot of guys do when working as interpromotional invaders, but he gave a hard-hitting, spirited performance, and came across way more determined and hateful here than the bland guy trying to convey fighting spirit in the last match. When he starts doing strike exchanges again late in the match, there's actually some emotion behind it, as opposed to just two guys going through the motions. Okabayashi is also way better here than he was in the previous tag. Admittedly, that's not hard, but he was fun coming in off of the hot tag (I lost my shit when he tried to rack Hama), and he gets a heat segment of his own that's pretty good before it breaks down into the 90's All Japan extended finishing stretch. Key to those is that you have to actually build emotional investment in the match during it's body so that the audience is hanging off of every nearfall at the end, something a lot of current puro matches forget to do. To that end, using the southern tag formula in the body to set up the long finishing stretch was actually an ingenious move, and I'm surprised it's not something that's done more often. This is another match I didn't know the outcome of going in, so Hama's Big Van Crush, Okabayashi and Sekimoto's awesome back-to-back top rope splashes, and Sekimoto's discus lariat (and probably a few other things I'm forgetting) all had me thinking it was over before it actually was. When the Big Japan crew finally does put down the invaders, Hiroshi Hase comes in with their belts and helps Sekimoto back to his feet, and they all hug, and it's one last big match moment that this little match that could actually deserved.

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New Japan BOSJ 2010 Pt. 1

So I am full aware of the insanity of this idea. I have very little tolerance for current Japanese wrestling, and current US Indy wrestling, add to that my dislike of current main event CMLL wrestling, a tourney full of NJ Juniors, US Indy dudes and a CMLL main eventer isn't in my wheel house. Still I used to love the BOSJ back in the 90's, and I have dug recent Hayato Jr. Fujita and recent Koji Kanemoto, and am coming off a bit of a wrestling high from seeing live Jushin Liger. Plus it is the Summer of Segunda Caida and the BOSJ is a summer wrestling event. I could see not making it all the way through, but I am trying to come in with an open mind and I am going to give it a shot.

Looks like the 6/1 matches are the first to go up on NJ's Youtube account

Nobuo Yoshihashi v. Hayato Jr. Fujita

This is the first time I have seen Yoshihashi and I was pretty underwhelmed. He wrestles kind of like a Pequeno Manabu Nakanishi with all that entails. Fujita is probably my favorite guy in this tournament and there were some moments where you got a glance at what makes him special. When you compare how he applies shootstyle moves to how Taguchi applies them, he is clearly on another level. Despite the flashes by Fujita this wasn't a good match, Yoshihashi is lumbering and Fujita is going to have to hit him a lot harder then he did for me to buy a TKO finish.

Ryusuke Taguchi v. Tama Tonga

This was perfectly inoffensive stuff, but nothing particularly stood out. Tama Tonga really needs to wrestle more like a Samoan. I want headbutts, thrust kicks and flying splashes. Instead he was doing a lot of verticle suplexes and rolls of the dice. You are the son of Haku, stop wrestling like the son of Ace Darling. Taguchi does a lot of cross armbreakers and kimuras, he wasn't doing anything particularly interesting with them, but I will see how he does with an opponent more suited to that style.

Jushin Liger v. Gedo

This was pretty great. They open up with some basic mat wrestling with Liger continuously getting the advantage. Gedo gets pissed off, heads to the floor grabs the ring hammer and smashes it into Liger's ribs. Then we get Gedo being a total fucker working over the midsection, and cracking Liger with some rights. Liger is great as a Steamboatish underdog timing all of his comebacks really well, with Gedo taking some really athletic bumps off of shotays. Finish was really cool with Gedo trying for a bunch of close rollups, with Liger countering with a Thez press for the pin. Liger didn't look like he had much left athletically (he looked like Andre Miller on the Thez press) but he can put together a wrestling match. Gedo was awesome and I am really looking forward to him matching up with flashy guys like Sombra and Ibushi.

Koji Kanemoto v. Kenny Omega

I was pretty surprised at how much I didn't hate this. Omega's offense all looked fine and Kanemoto kicked the shit out of him, which is what you want this match to be. Koji is pretty great at spin kicking a guy in the thigh and some of his ankle pick submissions looked really good. I wasn't in love with Omega spring boarding on a bad leg, but that was before Koji really tore it up. Omega kept most of his goofy shit to a minimum and his Street Fighter move actually looked like it connected with some force. Seems kind of bullshit to have Omega go over, but his finisher feels like a finisher so I can tolerate it. So far all of these matches have been kept under 15 minutes which really helps mitigate some of the bloat which can make both US Indy wrestling and current Japanese wrestling difficult to stomach.

La Sombra v. Kota Ibushi

You want a bunch of flips and dives from this match up and they delivered that. Sombra is pretty much a poor mans Dinamic Black, but he hit a nice armdrag and a crazy Orihara moonsault. Ibushi is a guy with some really cool spots who has fooled people into thinking he is a good wrestler. I like Flip Kendrick, I got no beef with a spot guy with cool spots, and this was pretty much just an opportunity to bust them out. His Valiente special off of the ringpost was damn impressive looking, as was his standing 720. If I am going to watch a bunch of Ibushi matches in a row, I imagine his stuff will lose some of its shine, but this delivered what you wanted from it.

I was pretty surprised how easily my first attempt at this went down. One match I really liked, two pretty good matches and two mediocre matches isn't bad at all. Davey Richards and Prince Devitt haven't arrived yet so the waters may get choppier, so far though thumbs up to New Japan.

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FUTEN- 4/9/09

PAS: MOTHERFUCKING FUTEN

TAKA Michinoku vs Shoichi Uchida

TKG: Hey it’s a TAKA match with no superkicks. This is our first taste of Futen. Stylisitically it is worked as a basic undercard indy juniors match with no rope running and a bit more matwork. While there was no rope running, there still was lots of running offense. I don’t think I’ve seen Uchida before, and TAKA does a yeoman’s job of selling for his power offense and lots of really loose crossfaces. I can’t imagine wanting to watch Uchida v a guy who can’t sell as well as TAKA.

PAS: Yeah I didn’t get much of a sense of Uchida, but he didn’t do a ton for me. Most of the match was worked around Uchida’s crossface and TAKA’s facelock. I guess you don’t need a really tight crossface to buy it as a finish in 2009, but it had the look of a Helmsely crossface.

Kengo Mashimo vs Shinjitsu Nohashi

TKG: I was kind of expecting more Mashimo stiffness. Surprisingly, Nohashi was the guy who brought more stiffness to the table for the body of the match. Nohashi had some nasty face stomps and running headbutts. Got the sense that these guys have a touring match worked out and instead of doing something different here, just tried to force it in.

PAS: You don’t expect the midget Shinzaki to be the guy laying it in, but his stomps were by far the highlight of the match. I do prefer these kind of modified Indy juniors matches to whatever Keita Yano is supposed to be doing in BattlArts undercards, but it isn’t anything special.

Mitsuya Nagai & White Moriyama vs Shu Sato & Kei Sato

TKG: Nagai hasn’t had a good match in ages and he looked like complete crap running in for his hot tag fired up offense. Thankfully he wasn’t in this match much. I kind of liked White Moriyama here as his offense was good looking and he was good at working the face in peril role. The Satos are odd in that their stuff can either look super super gentle or absolutely nasty with no middle ground.

PAS: Moriyama comes in with a bandage on his face, and by the first couple of minutes it gets kicked off, and you see a nasty gash on his cheek. It nicely adds to the violence of the Sato’s kicks. I really liked the early Moriyama mat work, he had really fast amateur rides. The Sato’s were pretty good at bringing their indy shtick and working it in this environment, they landed a really stiff top rope dropkick for example.


Koichiro Kimura vs Hayato Jr Fujita

TKG: This was mostly Fujita bringing it to Kimura with Kimura occasionally catching and twisting the fuck out of Fujita. I don’t remember Kimura working like this before. He sold Fujita’s stuff well and when he put him in a sub they were some of the most twisting dislocating subs you’ll see in pro wrestling. I especially liked the half crab he put n for a near fall in the middle of match.

PAS: Fujita is a guy who I have really enjoyed in the past, but he seemed to be pulling his kicks a bit. Kind of weird thing to be doing in Futen of all places. The violence of Kimura’s submission made up for the lack of violence in the strikes though.


Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs Manabu Suruga & Takahiro Oba

TKG: So the thing with Hara is he’s always been a guy who doesn’t sell on the level of the top level BattlArts guys. But here he is really spectacular in role of underdog babyface. I mean this is the best I can ever remember Hara looking. I don’t know what really to make of Oba. He’s really charismatic and has lots of awkward ogreish offense. Not sure if he’s over in a legit Rufus R Jones way or in a more ironic Hack Myers way. But his stuff amused me. But for lots of this it didn’t feel like it mattered who the faces were. As this was just a spectacular Ikeda/Ono as MX performance where they whipped out all their shit allowing both faces to work long in peril section. Ono for a guy who I haven’t seen in forever was as nasty and disdainful as I remember him.

PAS: Just a totally spectacular match. Ono and Ikeda are an amazing heel tag team, like a super violent Anderson brothers as they spend much of the match isolating each guy and murdering them. Ikeda is so great at stopping people from making saves, when Ono is torturing Oba, Ikeda and Suruga(Hara) have this mini Greco pummeling brawl while Hara tries desperately for a save. The finish run with Ikeda and Suruga is as great as any Ikeda v. Ishikawa struggle. They have this spectacular finishing punch section, which combines a violent BattlArts punch exchange with a almost Lawler v. Mantel fatigue war. I don’t remember seeing Oba before, and he had some super goofy shit, but in some way it worked well. He kind of kept throwing himself at the heels in weird way, including smashing Ikeda in the face with his taint. And don’t forget about fuckin Ono who was as huge a cunt as he was ten years ago. He may have been the best guy in the match, stomping, kicking and twisting guys in pretzels. I am going to want to watch it again, but it feels on first watch like the 2009 MOTY.

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BattlArts 2/15/09

( So we watched this show before the 1/10 show, thus our mutual befuddlement at the B-Rules, I get the finish of the Oikawa match now, although it is no less stupid.)


Manabu Hara & Sanchu Tsubakichi vs Fujita "Jr." Hayato & Baisen TAGAI

TKG: Either Baisen TAGAI has gotten better or everyone else is mailing it in here. Tsubakichi looked like the worst guy in this. Baisen TAGAI is a guy with lots of loose body fat, you need to kick him hard enough to get it to shake.Tsubakichi pulled his kicks. The Tsubachiki v Hayato sections were worse than the TAGAI v Tsubachiki sections. And the Hara v Hayato sections were uninspired. A good chunk of this was built around TAGAI and I enjoyed all that. Weird.

PAS: TAGAI was really entertaining, he has almost an American Balloon physique where it looks like he lost 150 pounds just has loose skin, but he did a bunch of cool shit, I especially was into his victory roll legbar. The finish of this was odd as Hayato seemed to refuse to tag TAGAI so he gets beat by Hara, There doesn't appear to be any dissension before that, or any post match angle.

B-Rules: Chihiro Oikawa vs Kana

TKG: I was really enjoying this as all the mat work was crisp and purposeful. I don't get the finish at all. Kana had three rope breaks, Oikawa had two and Kana puts Oikawa in a submission in the ropes to get the submission. I mean if Oikawa had thee breaks I could understand this tribute to ROH pure title finish but as it is I don't get it.

PAS: I wasn't paying a ton of attention to the dots, so maybe the scoreboard operator screwed up, but I really don't understand the booking of this show. Is Ed Ferrerra one of those white guys who gets yellow fever and moves to Japan? Is he teaching English to Ishikawa and mentioned he used to book wrestling?

Alexander Otsuka vs Yujiro Yamamoto

TKG: This was awesome. Yamamoto is becoming one of my favorite wrestlers to watch, he sells really well and does lots of neat scrambling for moves. And well Osuka is Otsuka; a guy who among other things has lots of neat suplexes and throws. They match up really well here with lots of Otsuka beating and tossing Yamamoto around and Yamamoto doing lots of underdog selling and scrambling for hope spots. The finish with with Yamamoto beaten down but trying last leg bar only to be lifted and dropped was just perfect.

PAS: For an undercard match this is about as good as it could get. Otsuka is so great, he may be the most innovative wrestler in the world, and what makes his innovation so great is that it fits the tight constructs of the style he works. There is a point where he tries for his giant swing which Yamamoto counters into a choke, which Otsuka counters into a hellacious brainbuster, just awesome stuff. Yamamoto is also spectacular here, he is just relentless, like a bulldog, he reminds me a little of Uriah Faber, a tiny little guy who is going to overwhelm you with his pace and strength. I am really excited to see what he does this year, he could be truly great.

Katsumi Usuda vs Yuta Yoshikawa

TKG: This is worked surprisingly even. Having seen Usuda v Yano, it took me a while to get comfortable with how even this match was worked. But once I got past that this was a really good even match. Usuda sells the fuck out of his leg and really makes it look like he's in a giant hole as result from leg work. So whenever he has an answer its really exciting. The big choke with bodyscissors that gets reversed into a leg submission by Yoshikawa is especially hot sequence.

PAS: I have not been a huge Yoshikawa fan in the past, and like Tom I initially had a problem with him dominating the early part of the match, I still am not sure how good Yoshikawa is, but I have no question about the greatness of Katsumi Usuda. Just a tremendous performance, as he did an incredible job selling every submission that he got put in, there are multiple frantic scrambles where he appears moments away from a heartbreaking loss. Even when he comes back so viciously (busting Yoshikawa open legit) it still feels like almost a heartwarming tale of overcoming adversity. This really felt like a masterful Fujiwara level performance, which as much as I have liked Usuda in the past, isn't something I would really use to describe him before.

Yuki Ishikawa & Super Tiger II vs Munenori Sawa & Keita Yano

TKG: I have no idea if Yano or Super Tiger II have gotten a lot better or if they're just working each other a bunch on random indies. Are they running this as touring match on Goro Tsurumi fed undercards? Are they training together? I mean these two guys work each other ridiculously well in this. It's completely inexplicable. Not a match with a ton of Ishikawa ( he has a really great infighting section with Sawa at one point and an ok section with Yano). Instead a match with a lot of Yano v. Tiger II and a good match. Who knew?

PAS: This was good, but not as good as the previous pair of matches. You had your two underdog young guys getting worked over by your veteran asskickers. It is a good story, but Yano and Sawa are only okay at the spunky underdog role and we had a bunch more Super Tiger II beatings then Ishikawa beatings, which is fine but not what you would want to see in a perfect world. I hope we get to see a bigger Ishikawa showcase later in the year.

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Thoughts on Dragondoor?Gate? Hole? whatever in Mexico from DVDVR 158

Arena Mexico- 5/13/06

Arkangel de la Muerte/Negro Navarro/Skayde vs. Hayato Fujita Jr. /Kanjyuro Matsuyama/Shinji Nohashi

PAS: We only got about half of this match but it was pretty fun. It is always a treat to see Negro Navarro, and he was pretty great here, locking up a nice submission and doing his great kip-up. Nohashi hit a cool tope with a nice camera angle.

TKG: Yeah that was a great camera angle. Arkangel threw some really nice elbow drops and Navarro took a posting well and any time you get to see Navarro it‘s a treat but there really wasn’t much to this match.

Dark Angel/India Sioux vs. Mima Shimoda/Raven Hiroka_

PAS: Hiroka is the worlds shittiest Etsuko Mita, but she did have a really nice exchange with Dark Angel. Mima Shimoda doesn’t do a ton here, and we didn’t get a ton of time.

TKG: This was real clipped and nothing you want to see again. I liked India Sioux’s version of Virus’ finisher.

Dragon Scramble Match: Matematico vs. Ultraman vs. Kahoz vs. Cuchillo vs. Black Terry vs. Astro Boy Jr.vs. Brazo de Plata Jr. vs. Daisuke Haonaka vs. Hijo del Fantasma vs. Toshiya Matsuzaki

PAS: Ridiculously fun match which was a total train wreck but in a really entertaining way. You got to see a bunch of old luchadores who never see the light of day. Black Terry had an awesome punch exchange with Ultraman. For an ex-high flyer Ultraman has really turned into Jose Luis Castillo in his old age. Cuchillo and Kahoz are guys I haven’t seen in years, and they looked like guys I hadn’t seen in years. Kahoz especially looked shitastic, as he was completely unable to bump over the top on his first attempt, so he has to run to the other side of the ring to bump to the floor Also that actually looked like the real Matematico who must be 70. Total blast.

TKG: Black Terry looked to be guy holding this entire thing together working fun sections with Hijo del Fantasma, Matematico, and Ultraman and one of the Japanese kids. Gran Cuchillo comes out and stretchers the other Japanese kid just smacking him around with the butt of his gun, suplexing him on the ramp and then dropping elbows. Cuchillo hitting opponents with the butt of a pistol may expose the business more than Tiger Jeet Singh hitting opponents with butt of sword. But Cuchillo is way more fun. Cuchillo and Kahoz are really too old to pull off their miscommunication heel double team stuff. But fuck all that other shit: BLACK TERRY~!!!

Brazo De Oro/Brazo De Platino/Passion Hasegawa vs. Mazada/NOSAWA/Katsushi Takemura

PAS: This was alot of fun, the early parts were a little rough, as Platino spent the opening parts just doing all of Super Porky's spots but not as well as Super Porky. However when it got kicking it got really fun. Oro was especially awesome here, especially his stuff with NOSAWA, and his incredible tope. Passion was really fun as the fake Brazo fucking up all of the Brazo spots, and when Platino stopped apeing his brother and started hitting all of his dives he looked great too. Easily the match of the show.

TKG: Was that really Brazo De Platino. I remember him looking more scummy and garbagey. He does all of Platinos big dives but I don’t remember Platino looking that kind of classically handsome. Platino’s section where he was apeing Plata spots wasn’t much and the Passion v. Takemura exchanges weren’t much. But then fucking Brazo de Oro worked his section with Nosawa where they essentially did Ki vs. Red spots with Oro working superfast to dodge all of NOSAWA’s offense and then getting in his own strikes. Brazo de Oro’s speed was just amazing. And then once the match got going it was just on. I think my favorite Passion being too small to do Brazo signature spots was when he kept trying to lay across the heels only to get tossed off while Platino set up his big dive.

4 Way Dance: Averno/Mephisto vs. Trent Acid/American Gigolo vs. Brute Issei/Shigeo Okumura vs. Milano Collection AT/Kazuchida Okada

PAS: The match listing listed the Backseat Boyz, but instead American Gigolo was Trent Acid’s partner. You know someone sucks when you are pissed about being baited and switched out of Johnny Kashmere. Okada took some big bumps, but this match may have been the worst multi man match of Trent Acid’s career. Imagine what that entails.

TKG: The screen says that this went 11:23 but I swear it felt twice as long. They do the everyone puts everyone else in a headlock section before the big guy comes out only to do a big man miss-communication spot two or three times. With Issei really playing poor man’s Pancho Tequilla playing a poor man’s Brazo Platino playing a poor man’s Brazo de Plata. Averno and Mephisto are first eliminated for excessive rudisimo. Yeah so the Arena Mexico crowd is left to watch Issei/Okamura vs. Gigolo/Trent Acid. Do the Arena Mexico fans have any stake in an All Japan vs. PWU match up. All Japan is eliminated for PWU vs. Toryumon finish. This needed Slugger.

Decision Match for the vacant NWA Welterweight Title: La Mascara vs. Hajime Ohara

PAS: This was okayish. Mascara is a little green to lead Ohara through a real lucha title match, and it came off as more of a mediocred BOSJ match which doesn’t make TV.

TKG: Yeah this was where the lucha and the resu in your lucharesu just fall apart. This isn’t worked like a lucha title match at all. There is a cool part early on where La Mascara appears to get pissed as though Ohara is taking liberties with him and the two just start swinging at each other. Baby Richard keeps on trying to remind Ohara about his closed fists and elbows. This would be fine in a lucha brawl but you build to the brawling parts of match. Ohara paces his stuff like a puroresu match so you don’t have the lucha ebb and flow where wrestling section leads to break down into brawling section which leads to a regroup to wrestling section.

Super Libre: Dos Caras Jr./Hijo del Lizmark vs. Mark Jindrak/Johnny Stamboli

PAS: This was a pretty fun WWE Heat main event tag (2002 Heat, all four of these guys are liver enzymerific.) I don’t think this was as good as the technicos v. Stamboli/Palumbo would have been, and definitely not as good as the technicos v. Jindrak/Cade (especially with all the real life familial heat between Dos Caras Jr. and Lance Cade) Still these teams work each other alot, and they have a ton spots with each other. Jindrak looks like a total superstar as he hits all of his high spots and is a taunting fuck, doing a little bird flapping with his arms after he flew. He has crazy ups, and if he actually moves to Mexico he will be a big ass star.

TKG: Not as good as a Heat main event tag…closer to a RAW one. Jindrak’s taunts are great and him and Stamboli work like a touring tag team with lots of heel miscommunication spots that they could work against any face team. They do the old MX arm pull over rope spot that always makes me smile. And well, so about a year ago New York Times printed an article about the success of lucha libre in Mexico. Someone in WWE read the article and said “the only people who watch our shows are gays and wetbacks, we need more wetbacks”. There was all kinds of writing on the internet about WWE bringing in Mistico and Ultimo Guerrero and who they should and shouldn’t bring in. I proposed that they bring in Dos Caras Jr and either Sicodelico Jr or Hijo del Lizmark as they essentially can work you’re basic OVW style and are tall and masked and would be easy to plug in and build around..WWE ended up bringing in a bunch of minis and having them work US midget comedy spots. After watching this match, if I were to fantasy book luchadors in WWE, I’d use Sicodelico Jr as my Dos Caras Jr partner. But still fun, full Worldwide point.

Relevos Increibles: Atlantis/GREAT MUTA/Ultimo Dragon vs. Perro Jr./Dr. Wagner Jr./Ultimo Guerrero

TKG: Man I was expecting this to be BA—AD. Arena Mexico announcer says that Ultimo Dragon is thought of in Japan the way Santo is thought of in Mexico…and I was all ready for the worst type of money mark match. But this turned out to be pretty fun. Dr Wagner and Perro come out and agree to team while Atlantis and Ultimo Guerrero are pissed that they are on opposite sides. And they do a lot of great lucha storytelling throughout the match with Atlantis and Guerrero sparring happily. Guerrero unhappy whenever his partners go after Atlantis. Atlantis and Perro Jr stoked to match up, etc. Atlantis just looks super great in this as he has to carry his team in ring. Ulitmo Dragon has been useless for years and for the most part never eats anything. At least in this match he spent a lot of time eating offense. Muta has had twenty years of great ring entrances and essentially works as Abby here. Guy wandering around looking deranged and scary. His elbow drop isn’t as good as Abby’s and Abby can work a simple effective match around opponent stealing his fork and forking Abby while Muta having opponent dragon screw him really doesn’t mean a ton in Arena Mexico. Also the Arena Mexico crowd has become enough of a heel crowd that they react to Muta’s stuff like its camp while the Coliseo crowd seemed to have a more visceral reaction. Still Muta was hell of fun in this and the movement back and forward from guys just doing shtick and storyline to guys wrestling is what you want out of this type of main event lucha.

PAS: I liked this a lot too. MUTA is fun as an old old guy who still kind of can hit some of his signature spots at half speed. It’s lucha every weekend there are a dozen shows main evented by guys like that. Ultimo who normally works exactly like a old old guy who hits some of his signature spots at half speed, actually seemed kind of energized, with his spots being hit more 3/4 speed.

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