My Kinfolks Tell Me Masashi Aoyagi's A Street Fighting Man

Masashi Aoyagi vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi NJPW 6/9/92 - EPIC

MD: This was about what I wanted to be, an absolute war with a few narrative checkpoints to keep it honest and an inconclusive finish based on the idea that they weren't done fighting until the moment that they finally were. Kobayashi ambushed with a forearm and a DDT right at the start and the next few minutes were about Aoyagi working from underneath and getting cut off and brutalized. That included a capture suplex and some nasty, nasty headbutts in the corner. When he came back, it was with all of the wrath and violence that you'd expect, but a bit of interference he had to swipe at from the outside meant that Kobayashi could get back in it. From there, they just went at each other until the ref seemed to want to call a stoppage. It didn't work. It didn't even come close to working until by the end they were just throwing shots and DDTing each other and it was like the tide going back out to sea as they laid there and finally decided it was enough. Dawn had come. It was time to pick up the pieces, patch up the wounds, and prepare to do it all again the next night.

PAS: Man this is my kind of wrestling, just an uncooperative fist fight with real malice behind every blow. I love how uncooperative all of the Karate fighters vs. HI matches feel, it really seems like there were just a bunch of guys in a dojo who developed a blood feud with a bunch of pro-wrestlers. Aoyagi with the thick beard, Gi and crimson mask is one of the most badass looking guys in the history of wrestling, and Kobayashi just gives no quarter, The ref basically throws the match out twice, not because of any interference or a double count out, but just because these two fuckers were going to kill each other, and it seems absolutely justified. It was all fun and games, but it got ugly and it felt like any moment now Aoyagi would jam his thumb in Kobayashi's eye socket and try to pop out a ball, and the ref wanted no part of what seemed inevitable. Pretty much the definition of an EPIC.

JR: At its core, professional wrestling is about structure. It’s about finding a pattern and a process and exploiting it. Like a line in chess it’s about knowing the variations, understanding the innate rhythms and positions and finding ways to subvert them until there is a singular moment of advantage.

Aoyagi finds structure in struggle. He finds ways to ply up the different style fight. He walks into simple moves and holds and finds himself overmatched. His inexperience manifests as a sort of uncooperativeness as Kobayashi struggles to suplex him or throw him.

As he searches for space, Aoyagi looks at times like an overmatched boxer, unsure of exactly how much space he should create or take away. He desperately goes for the clinch and finds himself thrown. He seeks the safety of the ropes and traps himself in the corner, stalked by Kobayashi and headbutted repeatedly.

Despite this, Aoyagi understands the moment and he understands the structure necessary to build to that moment. By closing the gap so repeatedly, Aoyagi baits Kobayashi into creating space, enough space to finally throw kicks. They stun Kobayashi, again like a boxer who finds himself able to fight through on adrenaline for a few seconds before collapsing. There is true dynamism here. Aoyagi in control feels different, a shift not only in tactics but in energy.

Eventually both men find themselves spent. The referee tries to stop everything and fails, facing two men with a fetish to physical contact. They find themselves only able to do the things they’d found success with earlier; DDTs and headbutts, powerful thrust kicks and wild strikes. They struggle. They collapse together. The structure collapses with them.

Masashi Aoyagi/Abdullah The Butcher vs. Mr. Pogo/Masanobu Kurisu Tokyo Pro 5/30/96 - GREAT

PAS: This delivered what you would expect, lots of grody stabbing, some solid Kurisu and Aoyagi chaos and a bunch of blood. The match had some clips, and the camera was focused primarily on Abby and Pogo when all four were crowd brawling, it made me want to see the Aoyagi vs. Kurisu focused cut of the match. The bits we got of both Aoyagi and Kurisu were pretty fun stuff, stiff each other and Pogo and Abby with kicks and chair shots, the Abby meat cleaver elbow drop is one of the greatest finishers in pro-wrestling history, I wouldn't have been shocked to see Kurisu's head rolling off his shoulders and out of the ring.

JR: This match is built upon faith. There is a 400 pound man with a serrated blade held to his forehead and his partner does not help him. He simply trusts him. He does karate, knowing that the 400 pound man has had too many blades held against his skin to count.

Instead of helping Abdullah the Butcher, Aoyagi continues to kick the shit out of Kurisu, that bald fuck. He is despicable and opportunistic and he finds himself repeatedly punished. His subconscious cowardice lends itself to a structure here. Despite dressing like Abdullah and antagonizing Abdullah, Kurisu largely stays away, creating a tag match that is largely composed of two separate but equally compelling singles brawls. Kurisu fights Aoyagi, which largely stays in the background of the larger and more vibrant brawl between Pogo and Abdullah.

What we have here is clipped and probably only a small portion of the actual match, but it remains an interesting artifact if nothing else. There are compelling pots and transitions throughout; the aforementioned faithful lack of a cut off from Aoyagi, some hand karate on the outside from Abdullah, Pogo stalking the ring with his evil looking weapon, dead set on hurting people. It sets up a quick but fulfilling finish when Aoyagi finally takes on Pogo, long enough for Kurisu to find himself caught. Never one to play the chickenshit, he is outmatched nonetheless. He falls immediately to the elbow drop. Aoyagi’s faith is rewarded.

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Found Footage Friday: FUJIWARA~! ANDRE~! SAYAMA~! MAEDA~! KIDO~! HOSHINO~! KURISU~!

Tiger Mask/Osamu Kido vs. Kantaro Hoshino/Masanobu Kurisu NJPW 12/19/82

MD: I always get a little surprised when a new NJPW Tiger Mask HH comes up because I just assume they had a pro shot of it that they released on a twenty disc DVD set at some point. This does seem new though, and it's a great collection of talent. Overall, it's a little formless and exhbition-y, except for a stretch where Kido and Tiger Mask were working over Kurisu in the corner. That was my favorite part, by the way, as Tiger Mask was working like a flittering chickenshit heel to some degree, sneaking in shots that didn't do damage to distract him so Kido could hit more substantial cutoffs. Then when Kurisu rolled over to Hoshino finally, Tiger Mask got right out of the ring and tagged Kido back in. I think he was just having fun on an untelevised show for a bit though, hard to say.

In general, every exchange looked good and while they could change speeds and switch from strikes to holds to rope running, each pairing felt a little different. You could see it even in just how they moved. Kurisu found the path of least reistance with his takedowns, just a percussive series of thuds as he worked in tight or dropped a couple of knees. Tiger Mask was loose and fast to the point where sometimes he wasn't even hanging on to anything as he was spinning and you just had to sort of go with it. He came off like a movie fencer whipping the sword around wildly while Kurisu was an Olympic fencer, precise and with the smallest motion necessary. Kido and Hoshino were somewhere in the middle; Hoshino especially had to base for Tiger Mask and make it all somehow work. Sometimes things didn't feel resonant enough as they moved on to the next move. There was a pile driver from one side and a tombstone from the other in short order and I don't remember who took either. Tiger Mask pulled out his fairly rare slingshot 450 (that I only really remember Scorpio also using) for the win. It wasn't the sort of match that was ever going to come together but you can't really fault the action.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Osamu Kido vs. Super Tiger/Akira Maeda UWF 11/15/84 - EPIC

PAS: I can't believe we are still getting brand new incredible HH matches from 40 years ago. God bless the guy sneaking in a video camera. This is as great as it looks on paper, four all timers in their prime, having a hideously violent proto-shootstyle match. Kido is a bit dry, but a tremendous technician, kind of the Tim Duncan of the UWF, Maeda is one of the most charismatic offensive dynamos in wrestling history, although he played a bit of a supporting role here. The focus of this match is Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger, which is truly one of the all time great matchups ever. It is the incubatory version of Ishikawa vs. Ikeda, a brilliant tactician looking for every opening to take advantage of, against a hellacious violence dynamo trying to knock his opponents brains out of their ears. The Sayama kneedrop on Fujiwara is one of the most violent signature spots ever, I don't understand the magic, he lands so hard right on the temple, Fujiwara looks like he should have his skull flattened like when Christopher Lloyd got run over by the tractor in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Meanwhile Fujiwara is dishing out shots of his own, working Tiger's body in the corner like a heavy bag, drilling him with headbutts, yanking and pulling at his limbs. Every moment of it was special and we got a lot of them. The finish run is a bit clipped sadly (I imagine the HH guy was running out of film.) So we don't see every moment of Fujiwara maneuvering into submissions (which is a shame because he is the greatest small movement wrestler ever), but what we got was such a mitzvah.  

MD: Phil likens Super Tiger vs Fujiwara to Ishikawa and Ikeda and man, I don't know. It felt more like Buddy Rose vs Matt Borne during those few months where Buddy Rose was allegedly engaging in frequent acts of domestic violence against Borne's sister and they were trying to draw money off of it. Does Sayama have a sister? Because that's the level of violence he was rising to in the way he was beating on Fujiwara. In the NJPW tag below, Sayama wins with a crazy slingshot 450 that you don't see almost anyone do ever. The moment where Fujiwara starts to come back out of the corner and hit his headbutts and Sayama just clocks him in the jaw to cut him off just blows that out of the water when it comes to pro wrestling being amazing. Maeda and Kido do their part here too. I know Kido's dry, but he's dry like the desert. You can't get one over on him. He stretches for as far as the eye can see and you have to walk a thousand miles to endure all of his takedown attempts. Each of the pairings here were different and when he was in there against Super Tiger, he even tried to match him in stand up striking (he failed) which is not what you usually see out of Kido. Meanwhile, Maeda and Fujiwara contrasted with the dangerous explosiveness of the Sayama/Fujiwara pairing. It was all about positioning and little bits of leverage, constant hand motion, Maeda using his reach to press his hand upon Fujiwara's head and Fujiwara trying to slip around and lock something on. And yeah, when Fujiwara finally did get the chance to get revenge (which had previously been cut off with that Sayama punch) it's grisly, gripping stuff. The clipping's unfortunate but I figure the camcorder just couldn't handle much more of what it was seeing. It switches from wrestling found footage to a found footage snuff film, where we blink and Fujiwara's trying another attempt at the chicken wing, blink again and he's turning it into a headscissors. After all we just saw, it almost even worked in its own startling way.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Andre the Giant NJPW 5/27/86 - EPIC

MD: When you watch mid-80s New Japan, that month of the IWGP league when you get a bunch of weird singles matches alongside the usual tags is a treat. Granted, we didn't get to see most of these on the TV but that's the miracle of HHs still sneaking their way through (you get the same thing with the CC in AJPW where you'll suddenly get Misawa vs Cactus Jack or something, just like how with the tag league you'll get all the possible pairings if you're lucky). Therefore, seen minutes of Fujiwara vs Andre. It's only seven minutes, really only five given the entrances. You wish it was fourteen, but the taste that we do get is pretty much as iconic as you'd hope that it'd be.

Andre contains Fujiwara in the corner, tries to treat him like any other opponent he might manhandle, as if he was in there against 86 Kengo Kimura. Fujiwara constantly works his way to a neutral point causing Andre to shift holds repeatedly. He has the advantage, is able to shut Fujiwara down when he tries to headbutt, but is also forced to use escalating offense, including a mean shot to the gut off the ropes you rarely see Andre do. There a sense that if Andre lets up for one second Fujiwara is going to come back and cut him down to size. While Andre is unquestionably dominant and winning by points, Fujiwara through presence and motion, makes it seem closer than it ought to be. That leads Andre to take a risk, one that backfires, setting things up for Fujiwara's comeback headbutts. Andre's just too big though and is able to pull them both out and once out, Wakamatsu gets involved forcing the countout. You watch this and almost can imagine what a WrestleMania 3 match between these two might have looked like.

PAS: These two are 15 best wrestlers of all time (10 best? Maybe 5 best?) and while the version of this in my head is an all time great main event collision, this 6 minute undercard match is still pretty great. We get Fujiwara, an all time great pro-wrestling problem solver, tasked with lumbering Andre, an all time great wrestling problem. He prods and pokes looking for openings, and even makes the mistake of trying to hit Andre with a headbutt, which goes as well as one would expect. The match goes to a count out before Fujiwara finds a solution, which is a bit of buzzkill, I can imagine how amazing a UWF main event between these two would have been two years earlier or three years later, but it is amazing we got it at all.

ER: I actually think we're all being a bit too calm about this match. This is the literal only Andre the Giant/Yoshiaki Fujiwara match that ever happened. Andre the Giant and Yoshiaki Fujiwara, two guys who are even more than Top 5 Guys, they are two guys with a legitimate claim to #1. Andre the Giant is my #1 wrestler, and if not now I believe Fujiwara was Phil's #1 at some point. For me, expectations were out the window. The literal only singles match between two giants of my wrestling fandom, a match nobody could have reasonably expected would have ever shown up on tape after nearly 40 years, is suddenly in our hands and it looks, plays, and feels like Yoshiaki Fujiwara forcing Andre the Giant to wrestle shootstyle. 

Yes, I repeat, Yoshiaki Fujiwara prods Andre into wrestling shootstyle, and it is incredible. You want to watch the most fearless knee ripper in wrestling history force Andre to standing grapple for almost an entire match? I sure as hell did. I should have been shocked that Fujiwara walked straight up to Andre and tried to put him in a headlock. Did you see how huge Andre looked in this match? How was Andre the Giant even possible? You know supposedly the Big Show was physically larger than Andre? It makes no sense. Andre looks like a forest ogre forced into working double underhooks with a shooter, Big Show looks like a really big guy stocking shelves at Costco. Andre is shaped like the perfect Giant, the thick legs and comic book distended torso, a Popeye Goon fleshed out into a God. Have we ever seen anyone try to grapple with him as long as Fujiwara did here? 

That's at the core of why I think this match should be so celebrated. To me, this felt like one of the greatest examples of someone Lasting With Andre while taking the game directly to Andre. Fujiwara is perhaps the greatest worker of all time at biding his time for a winning shot, a thing he does against men his own size all the damn time, and here he is against the opponent who makes the literal most sense to avoid while remaining as coiled and prepared at all times to strike one cobra shot. Andre presents Fujiwara with the most logical opponent ever to work a classic Fujiwara lay in wait, and this All Time Motherfucker goes at Andre from go and works for fucking single legs against a Fujiwara size leg of a man. Fujiwara forces Andre to work shootstyle and grapple and be a Force against him for what feels like longer than I've seen anyone do in any other match. Looking at this match as a potential all timer cut short into a 6 minute taste, is not seeing how rare it was to get a six minute stretch in any Andre match where someone takes it to him the way Fujiwara pushed him here. 

Do you know how quick I scooted forward in my chair when Fujiwara looked like he was going to topple Andre onto his butt with that single leg? Can you imagine headbutting the Stay Puft marshmallow man in the stomach? Did you see Andre drop to a fucking knee to clothesline Fujiwara in the stomach? Have you ever seen something so cool? How does every single year of Andre have him doing things that nobody has ever been able to do as well as Andre the Giant? That drop to one knee clothesline I've never seen before leading to one of the all time greatest missed headbutt spots is one of thousands of Andre moments that illustrate his creative brilliance. Nobody has worked with their aging body more creatively than Andre, giving more than any other wrestler has ever physically given and finding new vaudeville acts when he no longer had the reflexes to juggle. He lugged that trunk to all parts of the globe. 

Imagine Andre the Giant navigating Japan during the worst most painful physical year of his life! Andre turned 40 years old as a man knowing he wasn't seeing 50, and a week later was forced to be the largest shootstyle wrestler we've ever gotten to see in a match we didn't know existed until now. This is two Number Ones strengthening their status as Number Ones in a way we haven't seen. The greatest wrestler of all time against the greatest wrestler of all time and every second felt like they understood each other's importance to pro wrestling. 

 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE ANDRE THE GIANT

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New Footage Friday: SANTO~! CASAS~! DINAMITAS~! KURISU~! KAWADA~! BAM BAM~! RED BULL ARMY~!

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Masanobu Kurisu 6/11/87

MD: I've seen spatterings of 87 and before Kawada but even up until the end of 88 and Hara leaving, you still tend to see him in the context of Footloose tags. Lots of action, some nasty shots, but more of AJPW Junior Tag affirs. I wasn't quite expecting him to have quite the usual chip on his shoulder here and the first few minutes bore that out with a lot of mat containment by Kurisu. By the halfway point, though, the match opened up and became a real scrapfest. Maybe Kurisu had told Kawada that he was going to hit him as hard as possible and that he wanted Kawada to return favor. Maybe Kurisu just hit Kawada as hard as possible and Kawada knew the only way he was going to stop the beating was to fire back with everything he had. The end result was a pretty brutal few minutes though, with Kawada holding his own to the point where it wasn't at all the one-sided mauling I expected and the finish actually came off as believable.

PAS: If you are in there with Kurisu you are going to fight or die, and even young boy Kawada isn't going to die. Kurisu is his usually crowbarry self, driving his knee really nastily into Kawada's arm and landing hard shooty headbutts, Kawada is game for that, and he really wastes Kurisu with a spin kick and some hard chops. It ends up being a really chippy little fight. These guys matched up a bunch in 1987, and I imagine they were all fun. A 1994 version of this would be an under the radar all timer, but I am glad that they crossed paths at all. 

Bam Bam Bigelow/Darryl Peterson/Steve Williams/Rip Morgan/Italian Stallion vs. Salman Hashimikov/Victor Zangiev/Vladimir Berkovich/Wahka Evloev/Timur Zalasov NJPW 5/17/89

 
MD: This started with Italian Stallion vs. Zalasov and it was like nothing we've seen recently with the Russians. Stallion was goofy, refusing Zalasov's increasingly close-talking attempts at a handshake, complaining about tights and hair pulling, overly celebrating whenever he got an advantage, including with the Fargo Strut, clubbering and throwing a dropkick, jawing with the crowd, pulling Zalasov's ears. It was pretty glorious contrast and Zalasov played along to an admirable degree even as both guys jockeyed for position and throws. Eventually, he got behind him and Stallion ate a German for a much deserved bit of comeuppance. He'd continue to be annoying on the outside for the rest of the match.

Morgan vs. Evloev was quick but interesting. Morgan had a size advantage and Evloev was able to avoid him until he wasn't. Then Morgan had a clear advantage with a cross toehold and even a leg drop right until he punched his way into a nasty armbar takeover and an immediate tap. So far, these have been structured in a way where Russian grappling was superior to over the top American pro wrestling.

Which set up Williams vs. Berkovich perfectly. It was an absolute battle of the titans with real attitude underneath. Doc posed to start only to get immediately taken over. Later on he'd throw a kick during a shake and work to press Berkovich over his head. They kept close contact for the most part, but here, Williams was able to get his advantages with pro wrestling sneak shots, either on that shake or in the corner to set up the Stampede and the pin. I guess American Pro Wrestling works so long as it's Doctor Death, Steve Williams. At least they shook after the bout.

Peterson vs. Zangiev leaned even more into the size differential, though Zangiev had the most pro wrestling instincts of the Russians. For the most part Peterson was able to bully him around the ring until he missed a splash and Zangiev got under him for a huge throw. Weirdly this put the tally to 3-1 already, so you figured something might be going on with the last one.

The opening of Bigelow vs. Hashimikov called back to the cross armbar that got Morgan but Bigelow was able to escape. This generally followed the lines of what we've seen so far, Bigelow's size and tendency to throw in cheapshots against Hashimikov's leverage and tenacity. The crowd popped huge for him taking three tries to get Bigelow over with a double underhook throw for instance. The finish made the structuring make sense. It went full pro wrestling with Stallion distraction and outside tripping to the dismay of the Russians. I don't think this was as gripping as the last 5x5 we saw but it did show the versatility of them as foils as they so smoothly worked into very different structures in interesting ways.

Negro Casas/Universo 2000/Máscara Año 2000 vs. Dos Caras/Hijo Del Santo/Rayo de Jalisco Jr. CMLL 9/22/95 - EPIC

MD: The first half of this was good with a nice opening exchange with Casas and Santo and then an enjoyable beatdown where Casas got to direct traffic for the Dinamitas. That started as a swarm in response to Santo getting a nice back headbutt to Casas in the ropes. The last few minutes, however, had an all time brutal comeback from Santo. It started with Casas missing an assisted kick on the apron and Santo just smacking his head repeatedly into the post and it didn't stop from there. Anytime Santo could get Casas close enough to the post, he'd just machine gun launch his skull into the metal. When they made it back to the center of the ring he layed in big shot after big shot. Meanwhile the other guys were working around them with classic spots and even comedy which created some real dissonance to the violence that occurred whenever Santo could get his hands on Casas. In that, the last few minutes reminded me a little of the Santo/Onita/Goto vs Casas/Boulder/Patterson match to some degree, except for this time around it was Santo and Casas that were bringing the violence instead of the flash.

PAS: What in the hell did I just watch, I mean we are reviewing a Kurisu match this week and by far the most violent unprofessional beating of the week is by El Hijo Del Santo. I mean my god did he try to crack Casas's head open like a casaba melon on the ringposts, and just obliterated him with kicks to the head until the ref had to pull him off.  Last week we reviewed a Santo vs. Casas match which was all grappling, and her we get a trios encounter which is FU-TEN level violence. I have more time for the Dinamitas and Rayo then most, but we came to watch Santo and Casas and man did we get that. Casas is really great of course and feels like he did plenty to rile up Santo, but man alive did he get the full experience and much more. Incredible stuff, all time horror. 

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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.

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On Brand Segunda Caida: Kurisu vs. Tenta

John Tenta vs. Masanobu Kurisu AJPW 5/9/87

PAS: Awesome short match between two Segunda Caida faves. This is the second match of Tenta's pro career and legendary crowbar Kurisu is a good guy to beat you into a gang. Kurisu unloads some very heavy chops, one of his unprofessional headbutts, and some nasty cranking arm work. Eventually Tenta gets tired of this little tubby guy banging on him, and he hits a big powerslam, a killer looking chicken wing Argentinian backbreaker and a belly to belly for the pin. Kurisu is always worth watching and it is fun to watch baby Tenta figure out this whole pro-wrestling thing.

ER: This is a great example of two guys whom I didn't realized crossed paths. Tenta is not quite 24 and easily the smallest I've ever seen him in a pro wrestling ring. Tenta is downright lean, with a slender face, kind eyes not as pushed in by expanding face. Coming from sumo, Tenta was clearly a guy who had already been through some grueling training, and so of course Kurisu walks right up to him and slaps him. Kurisu works over Tenta the way he would any rookie, except this looks fascinating because I'm so used to Kurisu picking on wrestlers his own size. Kurisu laces into Tenta as if Kurisu were the larger man, and I'm not sure even Tenryu chopped Tenta as hard as Kurisu did here. Tenta is real green, and it's good (?) to have a guide like Kurisu in there, and when Tenta freezes up a bit at one point Kurisu just drags him by the ears and neck scruff and throws him through the ropes (with Tenta taking a real hard bump to the floor). Kurisu was a real prick about going after Tenta's arm (which I guess is a reason why we are here writing about this), always going back to the arm to try and force Tenta to the mat, then finally tying him up in the ropes and WAILING on him. Kurisu throws four punches to the meat of Tenta's arm that look like he's just punching Tenta as hard as he can, and Tenta reacts like some dude just punched his arm as hard as possible several times. Tenta has an awesome stretch of offense leading to the finish, with a great Canadian backbreaker, a huge rotation powerslam, and then an Albright-esque belly to belly for the win. 

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Lucha Worth Watching: Recent CMLL, Recent Kurisu

Hechicero/Negro Casas/Mephisto vs. Soberano Jr./Hijo de LA Park/Flyer  CMLL 8/24/18

ER: You ever see a match with sloppy execution and some flubbed sequences, but think that's it's good fun despite its flaws? That would be this kind of match right here. A few of the guys didn't have their best night; Flyer worked like a young guy wrestling the top stars for the first time, really hesitant for some reason, Casas having to really telegraph and lead and RE-lead him through some spots. I've enjoyed Flyer, but this wasn't quite his night. There were plenty of misses here, but the energy kept the crowd way into it and played well. Casas got to work with all three young tecnicos throughout and he looked like he was having a ball. Flyer looked like a real choad trading push kicks to the jaw with him, and the fans were getting way more into rudo Casas as he kicked face and mule kicked his way gleefully around the ring, fouhgt on the apron with Parkito, and took a nice crazy DDT from Park right on his head. Hechicero had one of his best performances of the year, and while the match wasn't quite working, well nobody ever told Hech that. He took big flying moves from everyone, took big bumps to the floor (watch him get flung through the ropes and sprawl out on the floor), dropped a cool elbowdrop from the apron to Park draped over the barricade, and covers nicely for some out of position whoopsies: Late in the match he goes to hit his fast middle rope springboard dropkick, only to find Soberano not in the middle of the ring to get kicked, but waiting in the corner. Hechcero lands on his feet off the springboard and hitting the ground running his does a 360 and perfectly hits his mark to strike Soberano in the corner. All the tecnicos got to fly, and Soberano broke out his big tornillo (one in ring and one to the floor), Park hit a big moonsault, Soberano hit his handspring flipping rana to the floor only to get caught and swung hard into the barricade by Mephisot (Mephisto, who was decked spectacularly out in Villano pink/purple), so as I said the heart and energy was clearly full in this one. This thing threatened to fall apart but never did, it just kept chugging ahead with the aspirations of having a classic.

Rush/Cavernario/Bestia del Ring vs. Volador Jr./Matt Taven/Caristico  CMLL 9/7/18

ER: This was a good, fun-sized snack best enjoyed stoned in the dark in the movie theater. It's that fun-sized pack of Reese's Pieces I grab and throw in my pocket on my way out the door to catch a last minute flick. By the time I'm sitting there an hour into the film, those Pieces are little crunchy manna from heaven. The match is about 6 minutes long, is disposable and forgettable like tiny portion-sized candy, but enjoyed to the fullest in its moment. Rush is in full asshole mode, and we peak with Rush high kicking Matt Taven in the balls in full view of every human in Arena Mexico. To describe Matt Taven's look would be to describe a man who looks like he deserves to have his balls kicked in. We get flash highlights: The rudos kicking around a soccer ball head, Volador flying fast over the barricade, Volador hitting a big flip dive, a stiff lariat from Bestia, big splash from Cavernario, a stiff frog splash from Taven to end it; it was a short hot match. The match went 7 minutes, and had plenty of worthwhile fun in 7 minutes. It definitely made me want to see the hair match.

Masanobu Kurisu/Okumura/Felino vs. Solar/Mano Negra/Villano IV Lucha Expo 9/15/18

PAS: I have no idea how Kurisu ends up working a lucha expo at a museum in 2018, but god bless the guy with the handheld which lets me watch it. We get a bunch of the Kurisu greatest hits, he blasts people with that headbutt right to the side of the head, sick body shots and some nasty chair shots. I really enjoyed the Villano IV vs. Kurisu sections that feels like the great bloody apuestas match which never happened. There was also a moment where Solar gets smacked by Kurisu and remembers he is a tough fucker who had a MMA fight in his 50s and starts wailing away. Solar tried a couple of things he could do in his late 50s, but not in his early 60s and nobody was really taking bumps, but it fuck it, its 2018, its Kurisu, its lucha libre, god is great.

ER: I would wager we've never seen any lucha Kurisu, though we can probably assume that the term "lucharisu" clearly came about due to a portmanteau of Lucha Kurisu. I assume every smaller worker from All Japan or New Japan during that era had at least one Mexico tour, and obviously Kurisu's was historic. This was almost exactly what you would expect, although I didn't expect Kurisu to be wearing baggy denim Dockers shorts and a large weight belt. He looked like an old dad doing yardwork on the weekends. He threw headbutts like Kurisu and choked out people with his boot like Kurisu and got a chair involved like Kurisu, so we can confirm that early 70s Kurisu is still Kurisu. I don't think I've ever witnessed Solar wielding a chair before, so Kurisu is responsible for that. He's a bad influence. Kurisu hits guys in the back with a chair, they all get to hit him, we have fun. The tecnicos all seemed to be in really good shape considering their ages, and we got some fun quick exchanges with V4 and Felino, and even though Solar bailed on something a bit complicated on the ropes, he also ran and booted Okumura hard in the stomach, a stomach kick that looks better than most today. This never really gets past a certain level, but maintains its fun and weird pace throughout, and still maintains it's status as "most unexpected thing to catch my attention on a Monday".

PAS: Did a luchablog search on Kurisu, there are a handful of matches between 1979-81(Including a Gran Hamada title match, and a tag with Scorpio Sr. against Brazos Oro and Plata) and then nothing until 2018. Someone said "Remember that guy from 1979, that we haven't seen in 37 years? Does anyone have a contact number?"

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New Footage Friday: Aoyagi, Kurisu, Kobayashi, Hoshino, Regal, Brookside

Masashi Aoyagi/Masanobu Kurisu vs. Kantaro Hoshino/Kuniaki Kobayashi NJPW 1/4/91

PAS: In a better and more benevolent universe Kurisu and Aoyagi would have had a long worldwide run as a tag team, brawling with the Moondogs in USWA, pounding on the Rock and Rolls in SMW, bleeding with the Infernales in CMLL. We didn't get that run, but we do get to see them against a fun undercard NJ team. I really dug Aoyagi in this, he really ran off some fun kick and punch combos and threw some great spin kicks. Kurisu actually spent a lot of the match selling which was a different look for him, we did get some awkward chair shots and I loved his hulking up when Kobyashi started headbutting him. Ending fell a bit flat, but I did like the post match brawl a bunch.

MD: I liked the change of pace here. This was pretty structurally sound, actually. It was strange to see Kurisu in something straightforward. Hoshino and Kobayashi attacked from the get go. They controlled using the numbers game. When he could isolate, Kurisu would fight back with his toughness and meanness. He'd get quasi-hot tags to Aoyagi who would then be one and only one thing (kick-based karate guy) but as much of that one thing as humanly possible in demolishing his opponents. I like it when he sneaks in the insult to injury kick to the butt. I'm easily amused. Then the numbers game would allow Hoshino and Kobayashi to take back over. Honestly, I think my favorite part of this, even more than the kicks and chair shots and headbutts and chaos as it all broke down at the end was the glimpse of camaraderie between Kurisu and Aoyagi after we've seen them kill each other in the past.

ER: This was not the match I was expecting, and I like that. As Matt said it's a more straight forward tag match, although we do get a Kurisu chair beating (that leads to a nice moment with Hoshino using the chair back on him), but the thing that surprised me most was the aggression from Hoshino and Kobayashi. Hoshino is always a fun ball of energy, but usually his job is to come in, pump his arms a bit, and then get wrecked. Here he's fired up the entire time and really fights back, and I was just expecting him to be demolished by Kurisu, not Kurisu selling for two juniors. I love how Kurisu no sells chairshots to the head as if he was Samoan, and I absolutely loved Aoyagi in this. Aoyagi had to have kicked Kobayashi in the back of the head in at least three different times throughout the match, hitting a cool spin kick, and even better axe kick, and I love how it all built up to Kobayashi catching a big spin kick in a great looking spot. I loved this new look at Kurisu, him stomping around, kicking in the guardrail, selling, really these handhelds have dramatically increased the amount of Kurisu we have out there. The finish is bizarre and pretty stupid, with Kobayashi breaking up the pinfall literally the entire 3 count, and the ref just counting 3 anyway. But the post match was great with a fired up Kobayashi ripping off Aoyagi's gi, and both teams showing nice camaraderie. I love that little tiny Hoshino is the person we've now seen Kurisu be perhaps the most generous in the ring with. Something we'd not have known without some guy recording wrestling with a no doubt giant camcorder.

Keiji Mutoh/Sting vs. Akira Nogami/Hiroshi Hase NJPW 9/21/91

MD: I see this as sort of a palette cleanser for us, a good counterbalance to the other two matches this week. It felt like a modern WWE dark match after Raw where the top babyfaces team up against some game heels. You have to love the commitment from Muta, who is 110% engaged with everything going on, and even from Sting who has a sort of over the top hero-in-a-world-he-did-not-make vibe. What'll stick with me the most are the two big spots though, Muta getting absolutely crunched due to the recoil on a powerplex and then Sting flying high on a splash with Muta actually rocket launching him out of the corner. If you don't love the ridiculous rapid-fire facebuster bulldogs or the serene handspring elbow followed by the Stinger Splash to set up the finish, I'm not even sure what to tell you. Sometimes wrestling is Kurisu jabbing a chair in your face and sometimes it's this, but it can all be great.

PAS: Really fun nicely paced tag match. Teaming with Sting seemed to light a fire under the ass of a sometimes lethargic Mutoh (who was rocking the orange Mutoh tights with Sting facepaint.) I loved the double dropkicks and Sting pressing and throwing Mutoh at their opponents. Sting is a guy who got tarred with the 90s smart fan bias against muscle dudes, but he is a super entertaining wrestler who nearly always brings something special to matches he is in. There was a bit of sloppiness, but energy can overcome a lot of flaws. Enjoyed Hase a bunch in this, I always love when he shows off his greco throws, Sting is a big guy and he gets tossed around with suplexes, by a guy 50 pounds lighter then him, and it is all core strength.

Lord Steven Regal vs. Robbie Brookside WCW 1993

PAS: What a fascinating bit of footage to bubble up on youtube. This is an hour long Powerplant sparring session worked almost completely on the mat. It is pretty unique because it isn't a match meant for an audience (unless it's Dave Sullivan and briefly Tony Schiavone), it is instead a test of endurance and technique. They decide to grapple for an hour in 90+ degree heat to see if they can, and it is pretty cool that we get a chance to see it 15 years later. Regal is such a joy to watch on the mat, I especially loved his constant limb control, in headlocks, headscissiors, pin attempts, he was constantly grabbing an arm to tighten control, he would also really attack limbs when he was countering out of Brookside's attacks. Brookside was a bit flashier, you could see the WOS inspired fast counters, to Regals more grinding approach. I especially loved all of the work they did out of Brookside's bodyscissors, just both guys having a bunch of different ways to add spice to a basic spot. While there was a bit of quick roll ups near the end of the match (counted by guest ref DDP, who just jumps in the ring at about the 15 minute mark and starts reffing), this didn't really have any sort of build, it was just two master grapplers, grappling for an hour. The most unique match that has shown up since we started New Footage Fridays for sure, and a really great bit of errata to be able to see.

MD: Regal occasionally tells the story of arriving to the US in 93 and having no idea how to work a 6 minute TV match, not even fully understanding the concept of what was being asked, because they used to go an hour every night. It's hyperbole on both ends, but that doesn't make it any less of a joy to watch him fill time for an hour.

There's a lack of build towards climax but I was never bored throughout. Here Regal really holds advantage for a good chunk of it, moving in and out of holds, always grabbing for the next limb to reestablish control but never quite focusing long enough on any one part for Brookside to rationalize long-form selling. He, on the other hand, has flashy counters and what ultimate end up as hope escapes, before finally taking over about 35 minutes in. Regal sells as loudly and emotively as if there were thousands of people out there and not just six or seven. Occasionally it picks up with forearms and uppercuts or whips, but it always goes back to the competent but theatrical grinding.

The long period of pseudo-heel control followed by a revenge-laden limb manipulation comeback reminded me a little of the long Bockwinkel matches we have. The difference is the stakes. Everything feels earned but nothing matters to an iota of the level of, let's say the Bockwinkel-Brunzell broadway we have. I think it gives a very good picture of what a genuine 60 minute Regal performance might have looked like, though. I didn't have much doubt before and I have even less now.

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New Footage Friday: Can-Ams, Kikuchi, Kobashi, Aoyagi, Kurisu, Steiners, Eaton, Enos

PAS: Pete from PWO drops another awesome batch of Handhelds including another Can-Ams vs. Kobashi/Kikuchi match, so despite the Network pooping out another turd, we get a great week of New Footage.

ER: Phil is an old crank, and let me say that for people of a certain age, Lex Luger slamming Yokozuna was a big deal. Preteen me loved seeing and hearing about all the different athletes from different sports, all wanting to slam Yoko. I loved that they got a tiny jockey to give it a shot, the whole thing made it seem to me that pro wrestling was a lot bigger deal than it actually was. I still remember how excited I was when Jim Duggan knocked Yoko off his feet in a match, and as we didn't have cable I actually went over to my grandparent's to watch the aircraft carrier showdown. I think a full upload of the Intrepid footage is something that would be extremely exciting to people who are currently age 31-37, and absolutely not interesting to anybody else. Phil's not wrong for being unexcited for uncut Intrepid footage, but it ain't for him.


Dan Kroffat/Doug Furnas vs. Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi AJPW 6/1/91

PAS: This is a previously unseen precursor to their all time legendary match a year later. It doesn't reach the highs of the 1992 match (few matches ever really do), this had many of the elements that made that match so special. Kikuchi is an all time great face in peril, he takes huge bumps (the doomsday device DDT here is especially grotesque), gets his body bent in sick ways (both Can-Ams were trying to touch his heel to his head in Boston Crabs) and times his moments of hope and counters perfectly. Kobashi is a tremendous hot tag too, he has such a variety of big and great looking offense, and while I have sometimes found that tiring in singles matches, it is great in a tag format. Can-Ams have some really impressive tag offense, Furnas may not have been a complete wrestler, but man was he an athletic marvel, and when he starts throwing those monster dropkicks and ranas it is something special. The final set of near falls in this match really had the crowd rocking, and only the ref blowing the finish and counting three, when it clearly was two, keeps this from that rarefied air of top AJPW matches. Still what a discovery to unearth

ER: What a spectacular discovery, maybe the most fun tag match to get unearthed in the last year, four super creative guys all flourishing, really feels like these guys have enough material to work 45 without the match ever seeming long. From the beginning Kroffat is working the match with an immediacy that makes it feel like the match is going to be an under 10 minute burner, but they keep that energy up for 20 minutes. As I was watching this I kept thinking "Man I'm really impressed with Kroffat in this match..." then a second later "Man I'm really impressed with Kobashi in this..." and then "Man I'm really impressed with Kikuchi in this..." Sometimes when watching a match I'll be internally ranking who I think is having the best performance in a match, just automatically. And this match had me flipping out because everyone was in the running for best in the match. Kobashi is a guy we've all seen enough of at this point, but seeing him as the fired up hot tag protecting his buddy is reinvigorating, and it was a kick watching him toss off big Saito suplexes and unhinged lariats (one sees him spill into Kroffat's legs right after landing it and following through). Kroffat and Furnas were insane athletes, and here Kroffat is moving as quickly as I've ever seen him, all of his chops and strikes have this fast snap, and all of his cool kick combinations landed with precision. Kroffat threw one big crescent kick that landed fresh right across Kikuchi's chin, landed hard on a senton, was always where energy was needed. Furnas - as Phil noted - is not really a complete wrestler, but is a super fun wrestler in this setting. He has world famous power, and it's so cool to see his deadlift throws, and in a great spot he caught a Kikuchi crossbody and shifted his weight enough to show he had caught him, and then quickly planted him with a belly to belly.

Kikuchi was at his best here, at his most fighting spirit, able to crack you with an elbow and almost steal pinfall victories the whole time, and catching a mean beating from the Can Ams. His timing is always so good about going for roll-ups that you always buy them as possible match enders. We built to a lot of great saves and some big moments, the fans really getting understandably whipped up. I have no actual idea how Kikuchi survived the top rope DDT, it looked like a move where we should have been saying "Oh whoa footage of Kikuchi's final wrestling match finally got found", but both teams were just so good with saves and building nearfalls that Kikuchi just must have used the adrenaline from having not just died to ramp up his performance even more. The finish, clearly, is a damn shame. I'm sure the match was ending shortly anyway, but man what a shame. Wada calls for the bell on a pin that clearly gets saved by a diving Kobashi, and then it's one of those awkward situations where there's a language barrier and everybody keeps wrestling. What a bummer of a momentum killer to a match that still manages to be a straight classic. This match is right around the top of the best handhelds we've seen uncovered in the last year. A real find.

MD: What a find. The match we have between them is one of the best AJPW tags of the 90s. I personally like it more than some that are more touted. A lot of that has to do with Kroffat's oozing character and near memphis-esque grounding of things.

Botched finish aside, this was a blast. Obviously, I wish we had it pro-shot because Kikuchi's expressions and Kroffat's swagger were two of my favorite things about the match we had, but we're just lucky to have it at all.

There are a bunch of highlights, but what stood out the most were Kroffat and Kobashi going at it full intensity to begin. It's one of the best opening exchanges to a tag match you'll ever see. Add in a loose narrative of the Can-Ams taking more than not, with multiple fairly hot tags and an incredibly hot finishing stretch with believable kick outs underpinned a bunch of 2-count partner break-ups and even the botched finish really can't take this down too many notches. 


Masashi Aoyagi vs. Masanobu Kurisu NJPW 9/21/91

PAS: This is the second Kurisu vs. Aoyagi match unearthed from Pete's treasure trove of HH's. I thought their February 91 match was kind of a puro indy scum version of Necro Butcher vs. Samoa Joe, this was kind of like the later IWA-MS rematch, still great, still violent as hell, but lacking some of that kinetic energy. They actually start by feeling each other out a bit, before it breaks down. Kurisu lays in some of his trademark off putting stomps and headbutts, and he really crushes Aoyagi with some of his side of the chair shots. Finish has Aoyagi ripping off his gi, and throwing a bunch of big spin kicks until he lays Kurisu out for good. It never totally broke out into a riot, which is what you want from platonic ideal of this match, but I certainly enjoyed it and was jazzed that it showed up.

MD: I liked this as a second Kurisu vs Aoyagi datapoint. I'd only seen the first match in the run-up to watching this, but that was immediately iconic, both in the Aoyagi mad rush to begin and in the virtual stabbing Kurisu gives him with the chair. Still, that match was like lightning and it always interesting to see if it can strike twice.

This was fairly validating in that regard. While it may not have had the same level of raw violence as the first one, there were some different elements I enjoyed. I liked how Aoyagi started far more gingerly and carefully. It didn't help him but it added some variation and a sense of strategy. Kurisu was still the same descending fog of chaos. He chokes people as well and as believably as anyone I've ever seen. When Aoyagi would sell not having any wind, you more or less believed it as legit.

What I liked best was the comeback though. The spin-kick out of nowhere in order to counter a brutal beating was La Fiera/Sangre Chicana level of great. It was just one of those moments that really and feels like pure payoff, especially, in this case, because I wasn't expecting it after the last match. 

ER: Love that this showed up, anything to add to our pile of both Kurisu and Aoyagi, and even better when it's against each other. Here we get a glimpse of evil goatee Kurisu and he takes nothing but hard kicks in the early parts, enough that I don't know how he's going to make it back into the match. But oh, right, it's Kurisu, so he finally catches a baseball bat kick to the chest and loads up one of the greatest headbutts you've seen. The kind that's so hard that he has such heat on his forehead afterwards that he keeps checking it, positive that he's cut himself open. And then we get to the real plain leveler of Kurisu, when he grabs a chair from ringside. Kurisu - much like Necro Butcher after him - is a true artiste with a folding chair. Necro's specialty was his precise aim in chair throwing, Kurisu's is in the fine art of landing a chair into the side of someone's neck. He does this, several times, and you can tell when Kurisu is pulling his chair shots, and he's someone with a great worked chair shot. Some benevolent soul needs to bring us an LA Park vs. Kurisu Chairman of Wrestling match. There were a dozen worse vanity matches at the most recent Mania Weekend shows, surely someone recognizes what a draw Park will be, and what an...additional expense Kurisu would be? Kurisu kills Aoyagi with chair shots, including a masterpiece with him leaping off the ropes. Once his chair is taken away he just goes on to stomping neck. I really dug Aoyagi's gi removal as a Hulk up/Lawler strap move, and his standing spinning heel kicks were great. Kurisu was super smart about selling them, as you can tell one was supposed to be the finish but Aoyagi kicked low and swung into Kurisu's arm, so Kurisu just got up and let Aoyagi spinkick him in the head again, so the finish looks better. Awesome.


Steiner Brothers vs. Mike Enos/Bobby Eaton NJPW 2/16/94

MD: It's a joy to get to see Eaton do his thing like this. For 94 Eaton, there was an extra bit of oomph to it all, including a big bump over the guard rail off an apron dive by Rick and a near tragic attempt at letting Rick reverse a Doomsday Device into a belly to belly.

It's the nuts and bolts stuff that stand out. Enos is a little flashier but past his opening handshake with Scott, every single thing that Eaton does has meaning and serves the purpose to get the Steiners over as faces. It's perfectly distilled tag team wrestling which is somehow more enjoyable for the setting.

Otherwise, this is pretty much everything you'd want out of 94 Steiners in a 10 minute match. Scott has his matwork shine (including a nasty STF). They do a big, perfectly timed spot with Rick plowing through everyone. Rick's a wrecking ball. Scott's a machine. Enos and Eaton are the foils who can take their stuff and grind them down for the last comeback. Past the crazy botch (which the crowd loved because of Enos' unwitting posturing after the fact, so it more or less worked anyway), this was spot on for what it ought to have been.

PAS: Puro Bobby Eaton is the best, he had a couple of tours of New Japan (including a tag run with our boy Tony Halme, which is true dream match material). He has a bunch of experience working with the Steiners and there are bunch of fun moments, I especially loved the early amateur scrambles with Scott, which he breaks up with one of his classic uppercuts. Nothing I love more then Rick Steiner clotheslines and he has some great ones here, including a great one off the apron which sends Eaton into the front row. I liked Enos trying (and failing) to match Rick suplex to suplex. I didn't mind the doomsday device counter, it wasn't cleanly hit but it looked devastating.

ER: This is really fun, and for a show that wasn't taped these guys all take some nice spills. Eaton takes a hard Scott lariat over the top to the floor, then moments later takes a big bump into the crowd on a lariat. Enos goes toe to toe with the Steiners and keeps getting shown up in amusing fashion, challenging Rick with a huge powerslam and getting upended by one moments later, trying to get underhooks on Rick, who easily adjusts and hurls him with a belly to belly, Enos tries to muscle Scott into a top wristlock and Scott flips both Enos and Eaton. Enos' meathead charisma really helps this in unexpected ways. It's a neat combo and we've seen a few Eaton/Arn tags against the Steiners, but Eaton with Enos is like a more fun version of Eaton and Kenny Kaos. The Doomsday Device belly to belly suplex counter is just a nutso spot to even attempt, that you can't really criticize for not working out (since nobody got killed). A few years ago a friend criticized Rick Rude for not hitting a clean kneedrop in the Piper/Rude cage match, but it's a freaking kneedrop off the top of a cage! To hit it cleanly would have meant certain death for Piper. The move was crazy to try, but Enos gets some laughs by prematurely celebrating, which turned the spot into a dangerous - but saved - stooge spot instead of a botched dangerous spot. Awesome stuff, great action for a match that wasn't taped.

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Aoyagi Drank That Poison Whiskey Until It Killed Him Dead

Masashi Aoyagi vs. Masanobu Kurisu NJPW 2/5/91 - EPIC

PAS: Just a sleaze indy dream match. It is weird that this is New Japan and not main eventing a NOW or ZIPANG show. Aoyagi comes out jumps the rail, and spin kicks Kurisu right in the mouth, and it is fucking on! Aoyagi beats Kurisu around the ring a bit, and is really laying in to him, you know Kurisu is going to potato you, so you got to throw spuds at him. Kurisu fires back with those odd angle vicious headbutts, unprofessional stomps and chair shots where he digs the corner right into the throat, the whole Kurisu shebang. There is this great moment where Aoyagi blocks a headbutt with a karate forearm block and thrust Kurisu right in the throat. The match stays ragged and unprofessional throughout, lots of wince inducing shots and a DQ finish that has Kurisu violently chair shotting Aoyagi, the ref and multiple trainees. This is part of a batch of new NJ HH's unearthed by Pete over at PWO, this is what I was dreaming it was going to be like when I saw the match listing and it lived up to every second.

ER: Phil and I spoke today and he told me about this match, and when I asked how it was he said, "Close your eyes and picture what you think a Kurisu/Aoyagi match would be like. It's that. It's exactly that." And wouldn't you know, it's exactly that! Kurisu matches always have a vague feeling of unprofessionalism to them (and, you know, sometimes a very blatant feeling of unprofessionalism to them) and this is no different, just a bunch of kicks to parts of the body that don't get kicked, kicks that get caught when the kicker doesn't expect them to get caught, half crabs sunk in deep (while holding onto the ropes for dear life!), Kurisu standing on Aoyagi's neck while Aoyagi holds Kurisu's other boot from going god knows where (that throat standing getting paid back with a nice thrust back to Kurisu's throat), and of course Kurisu eventually getting sick of things and grabbing a chair. Kurisu really should have been the man given the Chairman of Wrestling gimmick. At one point the action wanders off the camera to the right while the mysterious cameraman is asleep at the wheel, but we assume, obviously, that it is an artistic choice, like Tarantino panning away from Mr. Blonde hacking a cop's ear off. We know that the unseen violence is made that much worse by forcing us to imagine the horrors that could be happening. Wrestler vs. karate guy matches are always the best, trainees always get shoot beaten, chaos always ensues, and Kurisu is creator of chaos. Phil was right, this was the match you pictured when you dreamed of Kurisu vs. Aoyagi.

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Monday Night Recipe: Sweet Kurisu Bacon Hash

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masanobu Kurisu (NJPW 8/3/90)

ER: When you're making a sweet Hash and it contains delicious Kurisu'd bacon, you know the recipe is going to call for extra potatoes. Tons of potatoes. Hash brings big kicks and within a minute it looks like Kurisu is gonna fold, but he manages to catch a leg and tries to drag Hash to the floor. Hash is a predictably difficult man to drag anywhere, and whenever they're in the ring Hash controls. Kurisu still manages to land headbutts but Hash mixes up all the shots, big uppercut here, beastly chops there, and is mostly good about staying out of Kurisu's danger zone. Kurisu eventually does get to use that chair, and really plasters Hash with it, throws it at him, tries to blindside him, and this allows him to take over with tons of great thrust kicks to Hashimoto's face. Kurisu worked this almost like a Fujiwara/Necro Butcher blend, right down to catching a kick the exact same way Fujiwara would. Kurisu's shortcuts could only take him so far, and before long he's taking some of the grossest DDT bumps you've seen. We've gotten so used to acrobatic flippers taking pin straight DDTs and making them seem normal, that you see Hashimoto attempt to flatten vertebrae. Seeing Hash do a few DDTs and seeing the way Kurisu takes them, and it's impossible to not see it as a devastating finisher. I love these two, and this was more than you could ever hope for between them. A dream match that lived up to its billing. There was not one shot in this match that landed soft, a true celebration of potatoes.

PAS: What a cool matchup. Kurisu is my favorite all time puro indy crowbar. A balding dumpy looking dude who hits quite a bit harder then is called for. Hashimoto is also willing to hit harder then necessary, and won't take any bullshit from an FMW scrub. Kurisu keeps trying to draw Hashimoto to the floor where he could smack him with the chair. Hash and Kurisu smack the crap out of each other in the ring but Hash obviously has the advantage. Kurisu is able to take over when finally gets Hash outside where he can recklessly crack him with a chair. It can't last forever though and Hash absolutely plants him with a bunch of DDT's at weird unsafe angles. I totally loved this, exactly what you want from this matchup. a couple of guys with a tendency to be unprofessional, losing their cool.

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Yoshiaki Fujiwara's Power is Made Perfect in Weakness

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Masanobu Kurisu v. Kuuga/Magnitude Kishiwada AJPW 12/7/16 - FUN

I love the elderly asskicker team of Kurisu and Fujiwara, they are really in their dotage now but they would have been such a killer team 25 years ago, when they were just really old instead of Octogenarian. Kurisu looks like Wilferd Brimley but will still jab the edge of a chair into someones throat. Fujiwara spends most of the match wandering around and headbutting random masked dudes, but they did have a cool finish with Fujiwara turing a double team into a Fujiwara armbar where he used Kuugas fist to punch Magnitude.

Complete and Accurate Yoshiaki Fujiwara

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Until There's a Kurisu...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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1990 Match of the Year

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

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

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


ALL TIME MOTY MASTER LIST

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Yoshiaki Fujiwara Seizes and Devours the Flocks

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Masanobu Kurisu v. Kintaro Kanemura/HASEGAWA Apache Army 2/21/16-GREAT

Everything you would expect from this match on paper. A pair of violent old fuckers beating the piss out of a spunky kid while Kanemura nods off in the corner. Kurisu has gotten older, fatter and less agile, however you don't watch Kurisu for his athleticism, you watch him for his uncalled crowbarism, and that is still here. He stomps HASEGAWA in places you aren't supposed to stomp guys and hits some nasty looking headbutts right to the temple and point of the jaw. Fujiwara enjoys brutalizing the kid on the mat some and really twists at his limbs. Kanemura gets some offense in, but he really isn't trying hard. A little one sided to be a real MOTY contender, but man did I love every second of this.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE FUJIWARA

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Digging in the Crates Podcast #1

Welcome to my new podcast, as Phil and guest create an on-air Schneider Comp, we pick a couple of matches each episode, discuss what we dig about them and at after a half dozen or so, we will have a new comp.

Digging in the Crates Episode #1

Here are links to the matches

Riki Choshu, Kantaro Hoshino, Kuniaki Kobyashi, Kantaro Hoshino, Kensuke Sasaki v. Animal Hamaguchi, Super Strong Machine, Tasutoshi Goto, Hiro Saito, Masanobu Kurisu 2/3 Falls (New Japan 6/26/90)

Negro Casas v. La Fiera Cabellera contra Cabellera EMLL (1/10/93)

Yukimiko Hotto v. Aja Kong (AJW 1/21/94)

Low-Ki v. Chris Dickenson (JAPW 3/21/15)

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SEGUNDA CAIDA DECLARES WAR!!! 3/2/94

WE DECLARE WAR

Jado/Gedo v. Nobukazu Hirai/Masanobu Kurisu

Both Jado and Gedo had really weird hair. Gedo had the sides of his head shaved with a long black half mullet half ponytail, while Jado had hair like the guy from One Tree Hill who is directing Atlas Shrugged. This was pretty JIP, but I enjoyed what we got. Kurisu leveled one of the nastiest beatings I have ever seen against Jado on one of the early FMW shows, so I was hoping for that match up to pop more. Pretty exciting finish run, I am looking forward to some good Jado and Gedo during this project. This wasn't it, but it wet my whistle.

Koki Kitahara v. Kim Duk

This is definitely a JIP match I would have liked to see in full. Duk is such a nasty fucker, he throws these short little punches to the kidneys and throat which look like they totally suck. Kitihara throws a couple of sweet kicks too. Still we don't get enough of this to get much of a sense of the match.

Riki Fuyuki v. Arashi

Another pretty clipped up match I would have enjoyed seeing in full. This was a rounds match and Arashi is in a yellow mask and sumo gear. Fuyuki has the kind of weird charisma that can make this kind of thing work, and from the clips we got this was chaotic, heated and fun.

Ultimo Dragon/Masao Orihara v. The Great Sasuke/SATO

This had some really strong moments and good performances, but I just don't think these kind of matches are doing a ton for me in 2010. It went too long, even with a clip in the middle, and didn't feel like it had much of a structure. Just a lot of guys doing a bunch of things, some of the things are really cool, but it didn't build much of a coherent tale. I really like Orihara as either an underdog fighting through a beating, or a dickish asshole stiffing people. He can do both in one match and make it work, but here it felt a little like he was shifting back at forth randomly. Also Sasuke brutally blew the Sasuke Special #2 which ruined what had been an awesome dive train. Otherwise Sasuke was pretty great, as he really has a awesome overall shtick, graceful and crazy, as adept at quick lucha exchanges as lunatic bumping. Man is SATO (aka Dick Togo for yall that don't know) stellar too, such crazy agility for a stocky dude, he had the best dive in a match with Orihara, Ultimo and Great fucking Sasuke which is really something. Ultimo had some nice moments, I loved him dickishly breaking up a pin by kicking Sasuke in the eye Tenryu style, but he is still consistently the least guy in almost every match I see him in. I think folks will enjoy this, but I wanted it to be better.

We now get about 90 seconds each of Chris Jericho v. Super Strong Machine and Haku v. Mr. Hughes. From the clips I wouldn't have minded seeing more. Haku was just chucking Mr. Hughes around. DAMN YOU WAR EDITORS

Koji Ishinriki vs. Koji Kitao

Have no idea who Ishinriki is, I would assume some sort of shoot style guy by his boots and manner, but the name doesn't ring a bell. No matter as this is basically a Kitao sqaush, Ishinriki gets a takedown and works an armbar for a bit, but Kitao kicks him in the face and steamrolls him for a KO. Nothing to see here, keep it moving.

Genichiru Tenryu/Ashura Hara v. Atsushi Onita/Tarzan Goto

This match won the Tokyo Sports MOTY for 1994. That is 1994, the year of Misawa v. Kawada, Vader v. Takada and the Super J Cup. Still you watch this match and think "Yeah fuck a Misawa v. Kawada, this is it right here." Epic match with everyone playing their parts perfectly. Both Goto and Hara are awesome as the bruiser tag partners whose job is to beat on the opposing teams big hitter. Hara brutalizes Onita early with headbutts busting him open, while Goto cracked Tenryu with lariats, superfly splashes and a a face first piledriver on the table. Then they clear out and let the two megastars match up. The finishing run may not have been the smoothest wrestling I have seen, but holy shit are Tenryu and Onita pair of charismatic motherfuckers who know how to draw you in a match. Tenryu's selling was brilliant here, at about the ten minute mark of the match he gets caught with a big DDT from Onita, and he is never able to shake off that shot. He goes back on offense, hits some big moves, but he has this awesome thousand yard stare even when he is firing back. When he finally goes down, it is a huge monster deal, but I buy Onita getting the win, even without explosions. The main event interpromotional WAR tag is one of the greatest thing in wrestling history.

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