Found Footage Friday: R2W!? TARZAN~! FUJIWARA~! ORIHARA~! KURISU~! GORO~! AOYAGI~! NOSAWA~!

R2W True Winner 1/28/98

Akira Kawabata vs. Kenji Fukimoto

MD: Hey, it's an opening match. These guys hit the mat hard. My lasting memory of it will be the sound of them doing so again and again and again. Constant noise in this one. You weren't going to get much crowd noise as this place was either sparsely attended or people just hadn't filed in yet (we'll see on later matches). But for this crowd and this spot on the card, they worked hard. I will admit it was a little "your move, my move" or in this case "your earnest offense ending with a half crab, my earnest offense ending with a half crab" as they went to that well again and again. Cross arm breakers too, but mostly half crabs. And the transitions weren't much to write home about, a couple of caught kicks, a couple of opportunistic shots. Lots of rope breaks. After one, Kawabata hit a waterwheel drop and locked in a cross armbreaker of his own for a quick tap. 

ER: It's weird that Akira Raijin was just in TNA for a couple years. What a stupid promotion. Here he is young and has baby fat, working a young lions match with another Kurisu guy. Kurisu Young Lions sound like they should create some horrific violence, and while we didn't get there I felt it rose to something prickly by the finish. I found the matwork scrambles engaging and could have seen a lot more before we moved into the half crabs. Fukimoto had this charming thing where he would stumble over his own feet no matter what he tried, but not in a clumsy way? It looked more like he was putting his whole body into everything, overly committing his weight, and would lose his footing if Akira shifted. They don't budge on a stiff shoulderblock, Akira has a wicked spinning heel kick, and the submission trading at the end felt like Fukimoto was seriously trying to make Akira tap by putting his full weight into half crabs. No prior limb work was necessary, he was trying to fuck up Akira's knee and lower back. When Akira made the ropes and put a hand on his love handle, I don't doubt that lower back was sore. Fukimoto's quick armbar looked like it might get the tap as Akira kept missing the ropes with his swiping boot, but once he got there and earned the break he had much better ring placement with his armbar. 

Chihiro Nakano vs. Misa Okada

MD: Can't say I'm too familiar here. Okada had facepaint and crosses on her gear and a size advantage. Nakano was pretty spry and had a clear technical advantage. Lots of great struggle early on be it over a headlock or Nakano trying to hit a slam or just getting her legs up to block kicks. Okada was able to impose with her size but Nakano was quick to come back with kicks or a flash takeover. At one point Nakano stopped and screamed at Okada only to get run over anyway. When Nakano finally did hit the slam she could have made a slightly bigger deal out of it before hitting the kneedrop. There were a couple of bits of weird positioning where Okada wasn't quite where she wanted her to be and moving her took away just a little snappiness/plausibility maybe. The stretch had some very tricked out stuff though, including some nice roll throughs into leglocks by Nakano and a great go behind into a bent-in-half German by Okada. Eventually though, one of those leglocks did Okada in. Not the smoothest thing at times but great effort overall.

ER: Nakano is a Tarzan Goto trainee and looked confident, while Okada looked much less trained and much less confident. Okada had no idea how to sell offense, she only knew how to take one specific kind of back bump. Any strike that landed, and offense that landed, she froze; but if it was something where she could do her one kind of back bump - a measured, disconnected from impact, wrestling school back bump - then brother you know she was falling to her back. Nakano had to actually slow down her work because Okada kept freezing and not blocking anything. I appreciated how sound Nakano's snapmares were, how she cast a long arc and actually looked like she was flinging Okada onto her back. Nakano was, at times, moving around a corpse and it's a miracle the match looked as much like a match as it did. Okada really gave Nakano nothing to work off, even though Nakano was the one almost always in control. Hilariously, Okada breaks out two gorgeous suplexes during the finishing stretch, a German and a high bridge northern lights, and they were so unexpected because nothing else she did looked anywhere near as good as those suplexes. We needed more of her folding Nakano rather than being mystified by what a kick is supposed to be doing. 

Kazushige Nosawa vs. Masashi Aoyagi

MD: Oh hey, these guys I know. This went pretty much like you'd expect. Aoyagi came out striking, knocking Nosawa all over the place with kicks and throat shots. Lots of variety, with a spin wheel kick, spinning kicks, roundhouses, axe kicks, etc. Nosawa got a few leglocks and even caught a kick and slammed an elbow down on the knee which let him take over for a minute or two, but when Aoyagi had enough he took over with a corner charge that sent him out of the ring, coming back in with a overhand chop off the top. When he lost the gi jacket, you knew it was over, and one kick later, it was. He was quite nice to Nosawa after the fact though, so I guess despite the beating, he could be glad he didn't draw Kurisu instead.

ER: Nosawa is in a green and orange singlet with yellow fringe down the sides, and with his faded red kneepads he looks like he's wearing the fringed singlet version of Tito Santana's El Matador gear. Aoyagi is in a black karate gi and shows no emotion. It's so cool Aoyagi became a NOAH lifer after the first decade plus of his career spent as a karate guy whose style often didn't fit into other feds (in a way I liked). Misawa had such a great eye for talent, all the Japanese veterans and indy scum guys he brought in fit the style so well. He had that vision that led to karate guys like Aoyagi and Akitoshi Saito, BattlArts guys, the kind of mixed fight/background guys that Baba didn't want in Kings Road. 

But what surprised me about this, is that I appreciated what Nosawa brought more than what Aoyagi brought. Aoyagi, a decade into his career, looked like the guy less aware of how to put together a wrestling match. The crowd was rightly into him because of his aura and gave the first somewhat noisy reaction of the night to his big spinning heel kick, but this got good when Nosawa took over and made it a fight. When Nosawa caught a kick and turned it into a hyperextended kneebar, it looked like something that could have actually gotten a quick tap from Aoyagi. Nosawa stood up and knocked Aoyagi around much more than I expected. The way he hammered Aoyagi's leg and threw a dropkick to the kneecap was fired up tough stuff, and his running dropkick to Aoyagi's chest was 0.7 on the Joshi Dojo scale, knocking him dangerously back into the ropes. Fans had been reacting to Aoyagi from his first kicks, but Nosawa had to win them over by establishing toughness. 

Aoyagi removes his gi (!) before delivering his match winning roundhouse to the chest. Nosawa was recovering from a near fall spin kick that could have hit better, and the gi removal was the right call. I've never seen anyone remove their gi as a Lawler strap spot, let alone the stoic Aoyagi, who for all the expression he was showing may have just been removing it because he was hot. 

Yuka Shiina vs. Kiyoko Ichiki

MD: Kiyoko Ichiki came out to Heaven is a Place on Earth, so that's how we're starting this one. She did great to start too, ambushing Shiina and tossing her into the (empty, so, so empty) chairs and then grabbing a chair and hitting a triple jump plancha to the floor like she was Sabu! Then she wiped out completely on an inner springboard attempt and Shiina took over. Ok, ok, I had to stop to watch the rest of the match and Ichiki is pretty great actually. She's definitely someone who went under the radar as best as I can tell. She had mean, mean shots, would step on both hands at once to jump on them, would do a mare and then hang on to the hair to bridge to the next move. Speaking of bridges she had one really clutch bridge out of a pinfall late that was a killer moment too.

But they also did a ton of STUFF down the stretch. This had a sunset flip power bomb and a top rope armdrag. Shiina won it with a series of missile dropkicks including one that was like a sniper rifle to the back of the head. Definitely an ambitious match but they hit the mark more often than not and kept things chippy and mean-spirited the whole way through. I'd like to seek out some more of her stuff.

ER: I instantly fell in love with Ichiki when she came out to "Heaven is a Place on Earth" because you can tell she really loves the song. She waits to enter so the song can build, she takes a circuitous route to the ring so the song can play longer, and at the bell she ambushes Shiina and drives a knee into her hip. I don't know where cagematch got the 1,200 attendance number, but I think these Tarzan Goto indies were cooking some books, as was Japanese tradition. The bulk of this match focused on meanness and had great energy, and that was the stuff that carried this. I liked it less when they went into a few pin sequences that felt out of place for the match they had been working. Despite the pin sequences looking fine, you can tell the crowd also thought they were unnecessary, as they were some of the only parts that got meek reactions. 

No, you wanted Ichiki jamming the sole of her boot into Shiina's face and both stomping and stretching the other's knees. Ichiki's triple jump plancha looked awesome, whatever joshi trainee did a great job of making it look like she was actually checking on Shiina while getting into position to help catch the dive. Shiina's dropkicks all looked really good, punctuated by how quickly she was able to get to an elevated position before delivering them. She gets quickly to the middle buckle before jumping around with the kicks, all in one fast motion, and later delivers the same from the top. There was one moment where Shiina slipped climbing the ropes, that would have been a good time to acknowledge the work done on her knee, but instead she just looked frustrated and climbed back up. No matter, the crowd bought into this because it was good, and the loud ring made every impact of the top sound huge. 

Masanobu Kurisu vs. Goro Tsurumi

MD: Tsurumi was around 50 here. Kurisu was a couple of years older. Kurisu held out a hand. Tsurumi didn't shake it. Kurisu gave him the middle finger. Why would you antagonize Kurisu? Why would you antagonize Tsurumi? This was a war and is, as much as anything else, why we go back and watch these things. Sometimes something is everything you'd want from a pairing. This was probably more.

Kurisu was the early aggressor, brutal shots interspersed with insulting slaps. For the most part though, it was like attacking a giant tree trunk. Tsurumi absorbed everything, even stomps, and then, to Kurisu's misery, the tree trunk started to hammer back with headbutts and shots of his own. Eventually, Kurisu finally opened things up by grinding is foot in Tsurumi's face, getting him to the floor, and burying him in blue plastic chairs. 

Tsurumi decided to get back at Kurisu by prying off an arm, working it int he ropes and then bending it on itself to step on the elbow once or twice. Kurisu returned favor by prying off a leg and forcing Tsurumi into the craziest split imaginable, something you wouldn't imagine this big fro-clad older warrior would be able to manage. Kurisu stayed on the leg, putting it on top and working it. There were little moments of whimsy among the violence here, Tsurumi grabbing at the ref for not breaking it, for instance. Then when Goro took back over and slammed a chair repeatedly into a prone Kurisu and then knocked him off the apron, Kurisu tried to toss a chair into the ring, failed, and then walked right over and sat down in one of those blue chairs, making a scene of it. 

Things devolved into both men working king of the mountain or pulling each other out and walking to a far wall to slam each other's head into it, or trying to use the post, only for the ref to intervene one too many times and get manhandled for his trouble, calling for the DQ. It should have been unsatisfying but it was pretty much the only way this thing was ending. Our last image is of Kurisu bringing in a trash can to try to cause a bit more chaos but finally just giving up on it all. Hell of a thing, this one.

ER: The exact kind of fun, disrespectful old man fight you would want when you see a Kurisu match, with the great twist that old man Goro is actually the one being disrespectful! Kurisu was out here working a regular (i.e. Great) stiff old guy match with sharp chops, forearms that actually look good, headbutts to the jaw and face...and then Goro is the one who turns up the heat with chops to the damn neck and the kind of punches that can only lead to bad things. Tsurumi has the kind of short stiff punches - several variations, lefts and rights, right to the chin and mouth - that fucking KURISU has to sell. Kurisu is an expressive, loud seller, letting out multiple loud yells after getting dropped to his knees with stomach punches. Kurisu, forced unexpectedly to scream his own screams, is forced to make Goro scream.  

Kurisu does this by bending Tsurumi in a way I've never seen Tsurumi bend. Kurisu steps on Goro's instep and forces him into a splits, and the way Goro screams when Kurisu gets him in a wishbone...you never could have convinced me that 50 year old Goro Tsurumi could do the splits. Kurisu stands on the man's back and neck AFTER forcing him into a splits and brother, I don't think I've never seen anything like it in a wrestling ring. Old man Tsurumi is somehow so flexible that I don't think a stump puller would even work as a submission on him. Their fighting is so good, trading shots that all feel like direct reactions to the strike that just landed. Kurisu kicks him in the knee, Goro back chops him in the neck, Kurisu slaps him across the face, it all feels like escalation and a response that says, "Oh yeah, you old fuck? How about this?" 

Kurisu starts throwing chairs into the ring and it builds to a great moment where Kurisu angrily drags a chair to the ring just to use it as a step up to the apron, a hilarious moment in a fight just before the fight is thrown out. 

Mitsunobu Kikuzawa/Shigeo Okumura vs. Crusher Takahashi/Masao Orihara

MD: This could have been a super indie tag five years later (maybe without quite as many low blows?). Really, this is 18 minutes of Orihara (and to a somewhat lesser extent Takahashi) being an absolute jerk. Pure cruiserweight bully stuff. It starts with him chucking the flowers out of the ring. It ends with him killing Kikuzawa (Ebessan/Kikutaro) with a sit out power bomb for the win and leaving the ring with a backlip just because he can.

In the middle, it's just one nasty piece of offense after another. On a lockup, he kicks the leg out brutally. He hits Kikuzawa with a pile driver where he turns to face all four sides of the ring before dropping him. He jams a rana off the top with the meanest sheer drop power bomb. And in between there's all the connective tissue of headbutts, kawada kicks, raking the eyes, that you'd want. Takhashi has a killer brainbuster and one of the meanest snap suplex you'll see too. And then to their credit, Kikuzawa was scrappy, headbutts, throwing himself at his opponents, and a nice leaping tornado DDT.

There was a completely absurd bit in the middle where Orihara would pile driver Okumura, Okumura would snap back up, Orihara would hit a low blow, do it again, and he'd pop up. He'd get one of his own before Orihara finally kept him down with the third. It was entertaining at least. It knew it was absurd and leaned into it. Nothing boring about this match even though it was pretty much a one sided mauling with a bit of hope/retribution here or there. 

ER: Awesome tag with a ton of pride and ego and bad attitude. It's a given that a match with Orihara would have bad attitude, you just never know who exactly he's going to take it out on. Before their opponents are even entering, Orihara shoves the ref with one palm to the chest. Orihara shoves the ref not in the way a heel would, but in the way a bully who does this to someone every single day of their life would. He is one of the most watchable wrestlers and seems like the most unpleasant prick. Crusher does not match Orihara's asshole energy but he understands his mission. He's the one who goes after Okumura's taped up shoulder. Orihara does not target existing injuries, he just focuses on finding how many ways he can kick Okumura in the face. 

Everyone is catching strays. Kikuzawa almost gets his nose busted when Okumura tags out while throwing Crusher into the corner, as the throw whips Crusher's elbow back into Kikuzawa's face. There's some great face in peril work as they isolate Kikuzawa. Orihara throws punishing corner clotheslines, drops Kikuzawa with a brainbuster, the spikes him with a piledriver after showing it off to people on every side of the ring. I get excited for such a great piledriver, and I had no idea we were yet to see several of the most disgusting piledrivers ever to be publicly inflicted on a man. There's a real nasty double team when Crusher locks on a Boston crab so Orihara can come off the top with a double stomp to Kikuzawa's back. 

There's a great bit where we learn that Kikuzawa has the head strength of a Tongan, where Orihara starts dishing out headbutts and does more damage to himself. Orihara is always unprofessional, always a punk, but he's also a gifted salesman with great ideas. I love the way he staggered and dropped himself to his knees after repeatedly, stubbornly headbutting Kikuzawa Fifita. It leads to us witnessing some horrific neck and spine trauma as Orihara and Okumura refuse to sell each other's piledrivers, several times, even though you can see how badly their heads are connecting with the mat on each one. These are some of the most disgusting piledrivers I've ever seen, just intentionally stuffing head and neck into the mat. The way Okumura's legs whip forward on each one just focuses more of the impact and I have no idea how they kept getting up. To add perfect insult to certain injury, Orihara swiftly kicks Okumura in the face before delivering his final one. Imagine already knowing you're going to be dropped full weight onto your head, ducking down to wait for it, and getting a fast kick to the nose and teeth before it happens. That's Orihara, baby. 

Ichiro Yaguchi vs. Rikio Ito

MD: I don't know. Do you guys know about Ichiro Yaguchi? We've only done one match of his ever on SC. He's a big guy, dressed in sort of blue scrubs with holy crosses on them, in red. He has a phantom of the opera deal and long bleached blonde hair. He comes out to Hell's Bells and has Kiyoko Ichiki with him. He's a character and is bombastic, over the top. Plays to the crowd, the ref, his opponent, though not quite as consistently as I'd like. Anyway, they sort of hit each other hard, I guess. My favorite part of this was Yaguchi making a huge deal out of turning Ito over for a Scorpion Deathlock like he was Choshu, arm up in the air, wide stance. Ito immediately forced his way out and stepped on Yaguchi's throat. I got a kick out of that. This ended in a double countout after which Yaguchi chucked out the ref and raised Ito's hand. I don't regret watching it. Yaguchi could have had a pretty fun Onita match at this point but he spends a few years later fighting Nise Onita instead (though he's with him a lot in the 2010s and I don't really want to know this honestly. I just want to get to the Fujiwara vs Goto tag).

ER: Yaguchi has undeniable presence, a big dude with black metal face paint and crosses on his gear. Had he come out to King Diamond rather than "Hells Bells" I would have considered doing a full Yaguchi deep dive with Matt. Black Metal Mr. Gannosuke sounds like one of the coolest Japanese wrestlers of the 90s, even if this dude doesn't wrestled anywhere near as well as Gannosuke. Ito might be the better worker, Yaguchi feels like kind of deadweight (but not in a way that's fully detrimental to the match). Yaguchi is so-so Gannosuke, Ito is so-so Arashi, and honestly I wish a lot more wrestlers now were so-so versions of 90s Japanese scum guys. I really wanted Ito to go through with his press slam, because it looked insane that he was even attempting it from a deadlift. It was used only so Yaguchi could slip out, but I appreciated the ambition. Ito had better clotheslines, but if Yaguchi learned to do Kabuki-level throat thrusts he could have been a legend. Crowd loudly boos the count out finish, as they should. I suppose we need to keep Yaguchi and Ito strong for the next weird empty show in a giant convention center. 

Keisuke Yamada/Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Katsutoshi Niiyama/Tarzan Goto

MD: Best as I can tell this was the first encounter between Goto and Fujiwara. They both toss the flowers out into the crowd to start. Yamada wants to start but Fujiwara doesn't let him and that means Niiyama leaves the ring so Goto can come in as well. This is still a sparsely attended crowed relative to the single level rows of chairs around the ring but they do realize that they're about to see something entirely novel.

It's a game of inches to start, Goto prying an arm off. Fujiwara works him into the corner and batters him though. Then he starts with headbutts with dramatic hairpulls to keep it when Goto tries to shove him off like they were working in the WWWF or something. Fujiwara tagged Yamada (who would be Black Buffalo) in. Yamada was incredibly game in this match. That didn't mean he didn't run right into Goto's crashing weight and go down though. I'd say Niiyama was much more of a weak link, but that primarily meant Fujiwara and Yamada would take back over on him as opposed to letting him hit dubious offense. That let them control for a few minutes before Goto finally took over on Yamada.

The rest of the match wasn't the direct Goto vs Fujiwara match up we might want but it was indirectly wonderful. Goto took it all out on Yamada instead, taunting Fujiwara, rubbing it in his face. At times Yamada would heroically fight back, showing wild fire, only for Goto to cut him off like only he could. At one point, Fujiwara had enough and dragged Niiyama into the ring, punishing him, but Goto didn't care one bit, not like Fujiwara seemed to care about Yamada. 

Yamada finally got free from Niiyama and made a big hot tag. They were able to play the numbers game for a minute but Fujiwara was too much and got the armbar on Niiyama. People streamed from the back to interfere, taking Fujiwara out of the match and leaving things Goto vs Yamada. You'd think that'd be the end of it, but Yamada had one last huge heroic moment, reversing a whip into a barbed wire board. Goto survived that and slammed him down upon it for the win. Things completely broke down after that but as best as I can tell, this never led to anything. Still, so much of what we did get here was iconic.

Read more!

Found Footage Friday: I SHALL RETURN TO YOKOHAMA~! TIGER MASK~! ANJO~! DANDY~! SCORPIO~! SABU~! TAKAYAMA~! ABBY~!

Tokyo Pro 8/25/96

MD: This is more Found than New, with the Scorpio vs. Sabu match being the one most seen/known. Some of this you can find online.

First Tiger Mask/Yoji Anjo vs. Takashi Ishikawa/Yoshihiro Takayama

MD: Of course this is Takashi Ishikawa but that's ok because Takashi Ishikawa is still great. Here he's even older and has a mullet, grizzled as can be, trademark purple trunks a big more voluminous. Anjo and Tiger Mask are such a weird pairing, but they crack each other up in the pre-match interview and it's charming. I'd like to see a sitcom with these two. Anjo can be such a jerk. Sayama can be such a jerk, but it's weirdly wholesome when they're together. And of course Takayama is imposing and looks here like he could have been the villain from Karate Kid Part III. 

I'd love to say that my favorite stuff here was Tiger Mask up against some unique opponents, but we don't see him a ton against Takayama (mostly grappling when we do), and it just doesn't clear Anjo flexing. He does pretty well against Takayama honestly, but it's Ishikawa chopping the hell out of him in the ropes that stuck with me. Actually, Takayama wailing on him with forearms did too. I do love to see Anjo get beat up, sorry. That's not to say that Tiger Mask vs Ishikawa wasn't great, because it was. Tiger Mask did his spin out drop toe hold and looked as good as ever. He bridged up on his head just to show everyone he still could. He had his blue gear here, looking more inspired by Liger than inspirational to him. Finish had Anjo break up an Ishikawa Scorpion but then Ishikawa not break up Anjo's cool modified figure four, instead shouting for Takayama who had to tap. Overall, unique and a lot of fun.

ER: What a great mix of personalities and stiff work. Ishikawa looks so professional in his sit down interview because you can't see the mullet, then in the match he looks like he's doing Riki Choshu cosplay and it rules. It also rules that he clearly can't stand Yoji Anjo. Anjo is a guy who it seems a lot of people cannot stand, a babyface here only because of being teamed with Tiger Mask, but otherwise a man who is clearly miserable and cocky in equal measure, and I love that kind of self loathing overconfidence in a dangerous wrestler. Takayama during this era is the closest he ever can to being Hot. He had the slick back in the ponytail, his face wasn't yet entirely messed up, still had the one weird eye, but he wasn't as lumpy and horsey as he'd become in a few years. 

This was short but intense for the full nine minutes. Takayama and Anjo really went at it, loved the ways Anjo would drop fast hard knees into Takayama's legs (leading to the eventual tap) and the way Takayama started punching down to Anjo after letting him up from an armbar. Ishikawa only wanted to fight Anjo and Anjo hilariously played it off nonchalantly. When Ishikawa locked in a Scorpion Deathlock because he is TPW Choshu, he points over and yells at Anjo to no reaction from the crowd, and Anjo just kind of ignored it, shrugged, and adjusted his gear. I loved When Anjo threw several stiff kicks as the illegal man, dashing three hard shots off on Takayama before calling for Tiger Mask to throw a sweeping kick to finish. Tiger Mask looked good, and I was especially impressed by this wild physics-breaking moment where Takayama had him in a heel hook, and TM did his front roll kip up to escape, while Takayama never let go of him. I don't know how TM made it to his feet so smoothly while being trapped in a submission. 

Sabu vs. Black Wozuma

MD: This is Scorpio under a mask that has a bit of a stormtrooper or Stuka vibe to it. I don't know why Scorpio is under the mask but it doesn't hinder his work. He does a bit more with body language or head movement to help, but it's clearly Scorpio. No one else moves like him. This was exactly what you'd expect it to be and exactly what you'd want. Sheik is on the outside. They mat wrestle to start, and it's pretty gritty but it's not really what you came for. When things pick up, they really pick up. Sabu goes for a triple jump dive to the floor and Scorpio tosses a chair at him. After that, they play the hits. Sabu flies all over the place. When Scorpio flies, it's interesting, his slingshot somersault splash (which I've only seen Tiger Mask do so it's fun they're on the card together), a twisting splash, a splash allllll the way across the ring. Sabu hits an amazing triple jump back DDT. Scorpio catches his once with his side body attack but then gets nailed off the top rope with it a second time. Sabu goes through a table that doesn't look like it should break. That's when he gets the chants from the crowd, by the way. The hits played well for a game crowd. Post match, after he wins, Sabu tries to go through another table that looks like it shouldn't break and this time it doesn't, even after he keeps trying. They appreciate the effort. I'm wincing decades later. Wherever he is now he's still feeling that.

ER: What a strange happening in the uniquely cursed PACIFICO Yokohama. Why are the ceilings of this convention center so high? What happens in this building? Why would the ceilings possibly need to be so high and what kind of gas are they pumping into this preposterously cavernous room to make the crowd this quiet. This was the quietest crowd I've ever witnessed, in the most echoing building created, and it led to a fascinating study in Sabu and Scorpio having a full conversation in the ring. You didn't get to used to see something like this. Supposedly 4,500 people are there. It looks like 1,000 but the building is haunted and someone clearly fucked up a measurement somewhere so maybe there are 4,500 there who knows. Whatever is happening, there appears to be a moment where Sabu and Scorpio are working to get people involved, and they aren't really getting there, and the silence as they ramp up the action means we get an inside look at two greats calling their way through a match. 

At first, you get simple spot calling like "Watch the kick" and then it grows into an amusing back and forth between two of the best. Scorpio waffles Sabu with a clothesline and as he's pinning him says,"I got you there. You okay?" And as the hits get bigger, the banter evolves to a couple guys who sound like they're having a goof, while also killing each other with shots. Before Scorpio's slingshot splash, as he's dragging Sabu into position, he says, "It's gonna be stiff." It is! When he sets up much too far away for a top rope splash - I mean way across the ring - Sabu is chanting the entire time, "Oh you're gonna kill me. You're gonna break my ribs." It's an incredible look behind the curtain of two guys stiffing the hell out of each other, Scorpio landing heavy weight on Sabu's ribs a half dozen times, Sabu takes multiple bad crashes on moonsaults and takes a dive through a table on the floor. By the time this was over, Sabu had gone through three tables on four attempts. The fans catch up with them as the landings got worse, and the entire time our heroes sound like they're just having a laugh while beating each other up. I loved their fist fight after the bell and Scorpio's heavy pescado, Sabu still feeling the need to put himself through unbreakable tables in 1996. He moonsaulted ankle first onto a table that didn't budge, but I'm not sure it was worse that Scorpio doing a tumbleweed crotch first onto a chair. 

El Dandy vs. Gekko

MD: Gekko is Masao Orihara. He came out with a mask and then took it right off. This went five minutes or so before they did a great ref bump where Dandy move out of the way and Orihara flattened him with a dropkick to draw a DQ. Then Orihara went nuts including really lawn darting Dandy into the chairs and they restarted the match. He was maybe on the verge of victory when the bell ran again for the time limit and he obviously didn't like that. 

Along the way, Dandy looked like a million bucks. He was just hitting killer lariats and then clapping after the fact. He controlled a lot of this and everything he did looked great. The crowd didn't seem to want to go up for it until after the ref bump but afterwards they were with him. Late in the match he had a Gory Special on and brought the arms together and it looked pretty nasty. Orihara was a bit more all over the place, but he his springboard moonsault on the outside and was game taking all of Dandy's stuff. He almost won it with a kappo kick out of nowhere, but it wasn't meant to be. I'd call this a good Dandy showcase made better by Orihara's antics.

ER: This rocked, all of it. All of it rocked. Orihara is one of my very favorites, for his sincere punk attitude and the authenticity he brings to any match. He's extremely tough, works fast and stiff, and wears his emotions externally in a way I respond to (and crowds and wrestling officials seem to respond to). He's a menace in every way, attacking Dandy before he's announced and throwing him with a cool unstoppable overhead belly to belly. Everything Orihara does in a match is fueled by spite, and his sequences are so tight. Every landing looks hard, and yet he's clearly not unprofessional. He throws working punches, he feeds for Dandy when it's time for that, but in between he's just a damn menace. My favorite thing about Orihara is his commitment, specifically the way he commits to missed offense. He threw a missed clothesline here that was so beautiful I watched it a half dozen times. I don't tend to judge people negatively for poor missed clothesline, but I praise a wrestler to the heavens if he has a great one. Orihara's miss is one of the greatest I've seen. He swings so hard with his miss that it sends him off balance careening into the ropes, and he gets up looking pissed that it didn't land, just before he gets wasted by Dandy's. Everything about it was perfect. 

He's just a menace. His stomach kicks might be the best in wrestling. There's never light, always a firm connection, great placement. The way he strings his offense is so tough, the kind of guy who will suplex you but then run and drop a knee or senton on you before you even know he's approaching. His moonsault is a wrestling gift, never thrown with any kind of arc, just a violent fast whip onto Dandy. I even got into his (ever-present) beef with officials of all kinds. The way he dropkicks the ref to draw the DQ was such a great spot, as he had previously back elbowed the guy and shoved him across the ring, but this miss was another Classic Orihara Miss, where the dropkick landed flush while also looking like a complete accident. Great way to set up a mid-match DQ. When he convinces everyone for 5 more minutes, one of the first things he does is hit Dandy with a truly disgusting piledriver, dropping that man right on his head  and leaving Dandy looking like a man who did not expect to be dropped on his head. Maybe the thunder fire powerbomb after will snap him awake. When the time runs out on Orihara's second attempt at beating Dandy, he again argues with the ringside official for more time, and the exhausted look to the side this man gives is perfect. I'm surprised Orihara didn't knock him over the table.  

First Tiger Mask/Yoji Anjo vs. Abdullah The Butcher/Daikokubo Benkei

MD: Past a couple of Six-Mans from 82, this is the only Tiger Mask vs Abdullah encounter (and one more tag in September), and if youw ant to see Tiger Mask stomp and kick the crap out of a grounded Abdullah, this is the match for you. Overall, he wasn't in a ton. Pre-match, Abdullah did a promo backstage in English talking about how tough his partner was, or at least repeating it a few times. Always surreal to see. The joy here was Abby taking the fork to Anjo and then Anjo fighting back. Just when that was getting good and Anjo was getting revenge on the timekeeper's table with the fork, Benkei broke it up. Overall, he was fine, a big solid dude, but he's not the guy we were here to see. The previous tag was for the #1 Contendership and this was for the title and Anjo won it turning a bodyslam into a great Fujiwara Armbar. There are other encounters in Tokyo Pro between Abby and Anjo and now I'm curious if any made tape.

ER: A good match with a solid formula of cutting Anjo off from Tiger Mask, that would have benefitted from more Tiger Mask involvement. Daikokubo Benkei is a unique man with an extremely large head, but he is also not great and not a guy I'd like to see working the bulk of a tag. During the pre-match promo it really seems like Abdullah knows next to nothing about Benkei, referring to him almost exclusively as My Partner before eventually referring to him by a name that almost sounds close to Benkei. Tiger Mask's match opening work with Benkei might be the best part of this, as Tiger Mask shoot punches Benkei twice in the stomach while Benkei looks like he might toss his cookies. When Tiger Mask tries to snapmare him after, Benkei blocks it like a badass and stays standing. Anjo punches him in his giant head and hurts his hand doing so, it's the best. 

When the match settles down into a southern tag, it's from Abby stabbing Anjo with a fork while shrieking in the echoing Pacifico. Yes, this match settles down when the stabbing starts. Abby gives Anjo a tour of ringside so everyone can see how hard Anjo is getting stabbed and it gets good when a bloodied Anjo starts fighting back. But it's crazy how Abby somehow seems more violent doing his taped up finger strikes than he does literally stabbing someone. There was a slick moment where Abby caught a kick and swept Anjo's plant leg from under him. It got more heated and electric whenever TM would come in and save Anjo or fight off Benkei, and it was a great moment where Anjo started spiking Abby and drew the man's poisoned blood, leaking it all over the timekeeper's table before dropping several knees into his cut. I love how Anjo started shrieking like Abby during his comebacks, and how much louder Abby started shrieking while Anjo was driving knees down onto Abby's arm. Sick style clash, I had no clue how seldom Abby and TM ever crossed paths, and I wish we got them truly going at it. Glad we got what little work we did.  

Read more!

Found Footage Friday: MACHO PUMP~! KOMACHI (MISTICO)~! TOGO~! ORIHARA~! SABU~! TAKA~! SASUKE~!

Masao Orihara/Macho Pump vs. Sabu/MIKAMI Michinoku Pro-Wrestling 10/16/03

MD: We come in a little JIP here but you get the idea quickly. Orihara and Pump grind down on Mikami and it's ok. It's consistent and competent but it's lacking the pep of havint Togo in there. You're just sort of waiting for Sabu to get in. That's the point though, because once he does get in, it's electric. They try to double team him and he just is having none of it. Then he puts the chair in the center of the ring and hits a jumping knee into Macho Pump in the corner; Pump immediately falls throat first onto the opened chair and it's brilliant. Eventually Mikami ends up back in and this turns into an Andre tag where the partner keeps getting dragged down to build up the anticipation for a little bit of Andre. After the second Sabu showcase we get the finishing stretch which has Mikami finally getting to shine with a ton of interesting and seemingly physically impossible roll up attempts on Orihari before Sabu has his final burst and wins the day. Pretty fun stuff once it got going. 

Dick Togo/Masao Orihara/Macho Pump vs. Kesen Numajiro/Hayate/Komachi (Mistico) Michinoku Pro-Wrestling 10/19/03

MD: We've got people kicking and screaming and begging to see a sparring content in front of no crowd between Malenko and Mistico and they can instead watch baby Mistico get beaten on by Togo, Orihara, and Macho Pump. People's priorities are all messed up. This was very good. Bad guys ambushed right from the start and took the first three-fifths before things broke down for the rest. It was a near-perfect balance enabled by the lack of a shine or a feeling out process.

They started on Komachi (who was in matched gear with a matched act with Hayate), and he had one good bit of hope towards the end of this with a handspring but generally just got beat on and screamed. He was figuring it out though his natural instincts were pretty good. They spent longer beating on Numajiro though. Sharp stuff from the rudos though they didn't have a lot of tandem offense. It was more one guy setting up the next for something nasty. As always Togo stood out but everyone carried their weight.

Eventually Numajiro ducked for a heel miscommunication spot and Hayate and Komachi came in hot with big offense and dives. They cycled through a bit after that with everything feeling earned and most things having a little twist to them before Togo finally flattened Numajiro for the win. This went down smooth. Just real easy wrestling to watch and enjoy.



The Great Sasuke/Jinsei Shinzaki/Hayate vs. Dick Togo/Taka Michinoku/Macho Pump  Michinoku Pro-Wrestling 12/16/03

MD: The great thing about heel TAKA is that not only is he a total dick, but he makes everyone around him more of a dick as well. That means that you don't just get him paintbrushing Sasuke in the corner, but you also have Macho Pump playing with Sasuke's mask tassel at the same time. The match was full of stuff like that, but counterbalanced by the fact that the other side, most especially Shinzaki, weren't going to put up with it.

So you got that great mix of the bad guys being really bad and then getting justified and satisfying comeuppance, stooging and bumping and flying around the ring for the other side and taking all of their signature stuff. The video goes around twenty and is a little more back and forth than the other matches we're covering this week but doesn't feel nearly that long at all. Things would build to chaos and calm back down and build back up again until finally boiling over into a hot finishing stretch. We ended up with three different variations of the theme this week (as you might expect) but all three were very watchable. It's so easy to just drop into this stuff and visit for a bit.

Read more!

Found Footage Friday: SASUKE~! SHINZAKI~! TOGO~! ORIHARA~! BATMAN~! POTRO~! HALCON~! WILD RED BERRY~!

The Great Sasuke/Shinzaki Jinsei/Hayate vs. Dick Togo/Masao Orihara/Macho Pump Michinoku Pro-Wrestling 5/17/04

 MD: It's been a while since I've seen any M-Pro but this was the right guys in the right match at the right time, mostly. Every some early brawling that made me worried about the camera angle (it's fine for the rest), they got in and out of the opening exchanges (Pump/Sasuke, Togo/Hayate, Orihara/Shinzaki) fairly quickly. The faces got to show their flair and signature stuff that would hold up today for the most part and Pump got to preen; he always looks better than I expect in these when it comes to power moves, asserting himself, and even strikes. Mainly though, what stood out, and of course this wasn't a surprise, was just how good Togo could look in one minute of snapping stuff off and basing like a rooted tree standing in the center of the ring.

They went into a long, long heat, with the hope spots either being based on the faces getting a tag or one of them trying to interfere. There was that gang mentality of heels in M-Pro and it's often full of varied and interesting offense but it could get a little exhausting. You almost need the heat to go as long as it did because that helps to justify the fireworks of the extended finishing stretch but they would have been better served by a double heat or just meatier hope spots and comebacks, or maybe even a more defined central storyline. They tease Orihara and Sasuke having a beef but it's never really played up. That's really more of a nitpick or just expressing something that would have taken this over the top, because what we did actually get here was very good. 

Batman/Potro/Milo Caballero vs. Halcon de Oro/Diluvio Negro/Mongol Chino CMLL 1991

MD: Just a bit clipped up (we lose how the rudos take over in the primera, for instance, which is annoying) and I'd say just a little unfocused as well, but overall a fun undercard match. I don't have a great sense of who Potro is but he's got fun gear in blue and white with colts (horses) all over it, and something going on with the eyes. He's pretty smooth in there, including a fun spot where he armdragged everyone, including the ref. I haven't discussed just how racist the Mongol Chino look is, yellow gear with a yellow mask with a black fu manchu Hogan style mustache and slanted eyebrows. So that's not great. His rapid fire uppercuts are though, if that helps? Halcon de Oro is a perfectly fine undercard director of traffic in a beatdown and he had a nice whirlybird over the shoulder drop to end the primera.

The underlying story was rudo miscommunication that led to them almost coming to blows a couple of times, especially between Halcon de Oro and Mongol Chino. It sort of took the place of a central pairing but instead of it paying off towards the end, they just went into a dive train in the tercera and then some fun tandem submissions ending with Milo sneaking in and pinning the rudos after they had turned over a 5 person submission. You almost never see that actually ending a match so it was a bit shocking and probably good to condition fans to the possibility overall, but it also made everything feel anti-climactic.

 

Wild Red Berry vs. Carlos Guzman Long Beach, CA 5/22/52

MD: I know I said I wasn't going to skip around but I really wanted to see more Berry after that last tag I saw. This was interesting for some of the names of holds as much as anything else. An Irish Whip was a Kansas Cyclone. When they did cross-cross rope running it was a "Razzle Dazzle" and Berry's standing Figure Four that he won the first fall with was a Gilligan Twist. When Berry feigned arm damage after a series of Guman dropkicks that ended the second fall, a "Robin Hook" was Guzman draping Berry's arm over the rope and kicking it. Towards the end of the match when Berry started on the leg, he leaped down on it while it was dangling on the ropes and this was called a "Cannonball." We don't always see those differences in old footage so it was interesting.

I love Berry's act. He comes to the ring in his robe, signing autographs for kids and even giving them candy. Then the second he gets to the ring, everyone boos him and he's miserable. He's quick to tap his head, to complain, to make a big deal about the pre-match rule discussion with the ref. When he wins a fall, he celebrates  to the full extent. He seemed to drag Guzman down to his level to the point where both of them were sneaking in shots to each other's nose or playing dirty on breaks.  He reminds me, more than anything else, of Jonathan Harris in Lost in Space. Basic civility is impossible when he's around. It means that the matches never rise to a level of technical skill that some people might want from the era, but they're very entertaining in almost every moment.

Read more!

Found Footage Friday: SEGUNDA CAIDA DECLARES WAR!!! Matches from WAR-ISM 11/11/93

Full Show 11/11/93 Handheld

 

1. Ultimo Dragon vs. Dan Sileo

ER: Is this the same Dan Sileo who was a football player and lame sports talk host on Bay Area's KNBR in the 2000s? I didn't know his football career but I remember him on KNBR, but it can't be the same guy. That guy was a defensive lineman and this guy doesn't look that much larger than Ultimo, but whoever it is, this True Blue Rex Kwon Do practitioner really adapted to pro wrestling almost shockingly well. I thought this was great, and I loved every part of it. Sileo has a gaudy stars and stripes gi and, while I know the Danny McBride strip mall karate guy is an easy and well-used reference at this point, goddamn is this guy just the millionth strip mall karate guy to look exactly like that. 

I loved the way they kept advancing this. The leg work was really cool, with nasty heel hooks off caught kicks, and a cool deathlock where Sileo was applying different kinds of pressure and then even ripped his gi off before rolling through the deathlock (which I don't think I've seen before?). When he got frustrated and threw a chair into the ring, Ultimo did incline push-ups off the chair and then had the ref hold his ankles down while he did a couple sit ups. Everything had nice snap to it, from things like (both men's) chops, to a super impactful version of Dragon's handspring elbow, to all of the kicks everyone threw. Sileo had an impressive command on selling, too. I was really impressed when Dragon whiffed on a spinning heel kick over Sileo's head, and he knew not to bother selling it and instead went right after Dragon. That's not an instinct most heavily trained wrestlers would have. Sileo broke out a majistral that looked as impressive as any I've ever seen Ultimo do, and the two counts down the stretch were all incredibly well done and worked through. This is the first time I've seen Dan Sileo and I am now honestly wondering how Dan Sileo didn't become a bigger star. This man understands pro wrestling, has great instincts, and is incredibly entertaining. This man takes a German suplex high up on his shoulders and somehow has great suplex selling? Who the hell is this guy? 

There is an incredible moment when Sileo is whipped into the buckles and does this awesome cocky flip over the top to the floor, landing on his feet, posing for the crowd, and by the time he turns around thinking he had evaded Ultimo, Dragon was already doing a suicide dive past the ring post into him. I did not think we'd be seeing Ultimo hitting a dive onto a some karate guy, trusting some strip mall karate guy to catch a high speed tope, a high speed tope that is already well in motion when Sileo is facing away from Dragon. This spot was timed so well, it was somehow a great catch, and Sileo was able to be facing away for most of it and turn around just in time to be annihilated. The most seasoned wrestler you know will never look this natural while waiting to catch a blind dive. I am going to need to write about more Dan Sileo matches. Complete & Accurate Bonecrusher Sileo coming soon!

PAS: Rewatching WAR over the years, I have been pretty underwhelmed by the Ultimo Dragon matches, but I guess I just needed to see him working ex-NFL linemen in Gi's rather than juniors matches where he's being outclassed by luchadors. Loved this, an awesome weirdo fight, with Ultimo ruling and Sileo being really fun too. Loved Ultimo doing pushups on the thrown in chair and hitting a wild tope on Sileo while he was celebrating. Sileo's entire shtick was great, he took a German suplex right on his neck and hit a cool jumping La Magistral. I really need to see Sileo work Dave Taylor and Ulf Hermann in Germany, and I really wish that Ultimo got a chance to work Jerry Flynn on a WCW Pro or something. 

2. Nobukazu Hirai vs. Shigekazu Tajiri

ER: This was a rounds match between a gi guy and a pro wrestler, and the best parts of this had the bad blood that we all associate with pro wrestlers vs. gi guys. There were multiple moments, in the first round especially, where it was clear that Tajiri did not want to cooperate, which is a best case scenario for a match like this. A couple of things got crossed up, Hirai grabbed Tajiri aggressively by the gi lapels, and then you had Hirai forcing his way into a shoot northern lights suplex and shoot bodyslam with Tajiri very clearly trying his hardest to sandbag. Hirai had started all this chippiness by throwing a playful kick at Tajiri when the former was entering the ring for the match, and that energy kept coming back, like when one of the rounds ended and Hirai kicked Tajiri in the ass on the latter's trip back to his corner. Not all the kicks land, and that plays to the match's benefit, as one of the best moments is Tajiri suckering Hirai into doing a spinning heel kick and just ducking it, then kicking Hirai in the face. Hirai does some great cocky shit like throwing a couple of German suplexes and then standing on Tajiri's neck, then deciding to let the ref count Tajiri down for a potential KO. I don't think the submission or kicks in this worked as well as the ones in Dragon vs. Sileo, but the 3rd round build was satisfying, and I liked Tajiri increasing the use of spinning heel kicks down the stretch. His (surprise) winning spinning heel kick looked Hashimoto level.

3. Masao Orihara vs. Satoshi Kojima

ER: I have a feeling there are a LOT of unseen or unheralded classics in the WAR vs. NJPW feud and this is ranks with the best of them. This was the only time Orihara and Kojima wrestled each other, and brother, I don't know why that is but based on this match alone they seem to fucking hate each other. These two are total assholes to each other for over 10 minutes, egging each other on into really violent match that stayed within a pro wrestling framework, just a really stiff constantly-verging-on-unprofessional pro wrestling match. The fans chant for Orihara at the bell, but after Kojima refuses a handshake and instead slaps him and German suplexes him on his head before the bell, then throws elbows as hard as possible and dumps him with a powerbomb, and the fans start chanting KOJIMA. 

Every single thing in this match was thrown with the intention to hurt, and there were a ton of great moments that looked like they were luring each other into fully committing to a move only to pull the rug out at the last possible moment. Kojima goes for his elbowdrop and lands teeth first into Orihara's boots, but the elbow was thrown with the confidence of someone who never thought his face would meet boots. Orihara does a pescado into nothing and his body does not look like someone who expected to be diving into an empty pool. They manage to make missed dropkick and sidestepped spinning heel kick spots look good, because every single thing done in this match was thrown with real intent. Orihara's leg work and heel hooks were as violent as anything you'd see in a Fujiwara fed, with the holds really sunk in. You could see how suctioned he was to Kojima's leg when Kojima was trying to yank away like he was in a bear trap but Orihara's grip only tightened, so Kojima had to start throwing legit strikes to desperately try to force some kind of break. 

It's tough to find cool examples of no-sold piledrivers but I'll have to tip my cap to them here, because this was it. Orihara spikes Kojima on the top of his head with a classic Lawler piledriver and Kojima rises to his feet and attempts to cripple Orihara with a Tombstone like he was Undertaker working Hogan in 1973 PRIDE. Orihara responds by spiking Kojima even harder with another Lawler piledriver, and brother, it feels okay to throw selling out the window when your neck is suffering this much real impact. These were piledrivers thrown by men who wanted to just feel something. No move is guaranteed to land, and it doesn't stop either man from throwing everything with full conviction, and yet the whole match maintains a vibe of "worked pro wrestling" while also feeling like both guys are sneaking in offense that the other wasn't expecting. It sure didn't look like Orihara was expected to be dumped on the back of his head by a couple different suplexes, and it sure didn't look like Kojima expected to take two boots up kicked into his chin....and yet it also seems like both guys fully expect it? Let me tell you, *I* did not expect Orihara to hit his insane moonsault over the ringpost to the floor, because I cannot imagine the level of trust it took in Kojima - a man who had not felt trustworthy at any part of this match - to even think about hitting that moonsault. Orihara wins by kicking Kojima in the eye and rolling him up with la majistral, and Kojima is so pissed after that he starts punching Orihara, and Orihara just leaves the ring, no selling all of the punches as he goes. YES!!

4. Arashi vs. Yuji Yasuraoka

ER: Arashi is in his mask and just poured into his bicycle shorts. He looks like a dream scenario where they brought in Giant Brazo as part of Los Brazos. He is humongous, and his tits are spectacular. This was short but entertaining, with Yasuraoka throwing kicks as hard as fast as he can but none of them ever phasing Arashi, so Arashi just lets the man kick him for a bit and then just starts throwing him around the way a large sumo would throw around a smaller man, with years of training and muscle memory behind the throws. The finish is great, as Arashi absorbs kicks and decides to let Yuji know what striking is really like, and so bullies him into the corner with open hand sumo thrusts and I swear, Arashi is just palm striking Yasuraoka's head back and forth between his open hands like he was forming a pizza dough. Arashi wins the match with two headlock takeovers, locking his arm around Yasuraoka's neck so tightly and then rolling over with his own large body with such force that it looks like he's trying to pop Yuji's head off his own body like a Barbie doll. 

5. Great Kabuki vs. Tommy Rich

ER: Tommy Rich still comes out to REO Speedwagon's "Roll With the Changes" in 1993 and it's hard not to think of this song within the context of Tommy Rich's life. 23 years old, making towns around Georgia in his Ford Fairmont, waiting to see if there's another radio single off You Can Tune a Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish before committing to buying the 8-track. Rich and Kabuki go way back and worked each other several times over the preceding decade, but it's hard not to be disappointed with this match. You could not call this a bad match, but on this card it kinda was. I love Tommy Rich kneeling on the inside of Kabuki's leg and throwing worked elbow strikes, complaining to the ref about hair pulls and shit, but this was a show where every match so far has had moments where someone almost got knocked out and moments where guys were actively trying to knock the other out, so the bar had been raised pretty high over the first half of the show. The final stretch of this was great, when Rich blasts Kabuki with a stiff clothesline and a perfect fistdrop off the middle buckle, and Kabuki starts throwing knee trembling thrusts to Rich's throat, but Rich losing to a small package is going to feel like a downer after the violence that had taken place in every match prior. 

6. Black Cat vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki

PAS: Total out of nowhere classic. This was a lumberjack match and part of the WAR vs. NJ feud, with Black Cat coming in as a New Japan stalwart and trainer to take on Fuyuki. Just a pair of barrel chested bruisers clocking each other with clotheslines and hard punishing shots, each one a little further then it was supposed to go. Cat, for example, cracked Fuyuki right in the eye with a short elbow and Fuyuki responded by splitting his head open on a turnbuckle bolt. Cat then proceeds to lose blood at an alarming rate, leaving stains over the mat. Cat fought valiantly, but eventually was felled by a pair of super nasty looking powerbombs. Hard nosed violent WAR style stuff, just an ugly treat to watch.

ER: The WAR/NJPW feud has produced some of the most agreeably great matches ever, an incredible success rate, unparalleled heat, and this show has two more of them that we've never seen. Orihara/Kojima and Black Cat/Fuyuki are completely different matches and completely great additions to the WAR/NJPW legend. The latter has great blood and is much more punch based, the former is two guys doing pro wrestling moves as stiff as possible. It's wild that the one with juniors and without blood is more violent, but even without blood the hate was palpable. This match felt less like hatred, and more like a great bloody pro wrestling dramatic-selling brawl. This was long, nearly 20, and I don't think the holds moved the match along as well as Orihara's leg attacks did, but this was a bloody match between two brick shithouses cracking jaws, and we don't have to choose a favorite. This was also a Lumberjack Death match, and I wish I knew all the things that went into these two needing a Lumberjack Death match. WAR really wasn't a gimmick match fed, choosing instead the superior gimmick pairings. Who needs stipulation matches when you can just team weird guys up against each other? 

Fuyuki looked like the best version of Takeshi Morishima, or perhaps a more accurate comp to Gordy than Morishima was. This felt like the most violent version of a classic Crusher match, two guys with barrel torsos throwing hooking punches across each other's jaws and throwing clotheslines set to smash. Fuyuki's diving clotheslines were engulfing, blowing through Cat with insane closing speed. Black Cat threw short elbows across Fuyuki's temple and Fuyuki threw down right back, and whenever it threatened to spill into the middle of warring WAR vs. New Japan Lumberjacks, it only got better. This feud was so perfect, because everybody involved on both sides of it was a total asskicker, and everybody seemed like they really fucking hated each other. Satoshi Kojima acted like a fucking asshole to Orihara, Tenryu trolled Tatsumi Fujinami so hard earlier in the show that Fujinami got Actually Upset and ripped off his suit jacket while needing neck tendon flaring restraint from Manabu Nakanishi. Tommy Rich and Bonecrusher Dan Sileo are left looking like cornered southerners trying to stay between the WAR gang and New Japan crew whenever Fuyuki got an asshole smirk across his face and threw Cat into the fellers. The blood came midway when Cat got run face first into a turnbuckle bolt, and Fuyuki must have sent the sole of his boot into Cat's cutout least eight times. Black Cat wobbled his legs and fought back and Fuyuki managed to dominate and make Cat bleed out without coming off like a bad guy, instead looking like a man representing his cause. Sometimes a 30 year handheld shows up online and when you're done watching it you can say that you've seen upper echelon Kodo Fuyuki, Satoshi Kojima, Masao Orihara, and Black Cat performances, and everything feels right. 

7. Koki Kitahara/Super Strong Machine vs. Heisei Ishingun (Kengo Kimura/Tatsutoshi Goto)

ER: This is a really cool tag that brings together four guys who I think are almost always universally underrated as workers. Out of these four, I think Kengo Kimura probably gets the most respect as a worker, and when was the last time you saw literally anybody talking about how much they love the career of Kengo Kimura? Super Strong Machine is the best possible Bison Smith, throwing nothing but hard elbows and clotheslines and slams, Vince McMahon's idea of a perfect wrestler in 1977, and I don't think I've ever not been entertained by a SSM match. Koki Kitahara is a WAR punk through and through, and it gave this match a fun dynamic, as he was the one WAR guy in with three NJPW guys, with Strong Machine the guy who's playing both sides without acting passionate allegiance to either side. So This match was all about three of these guys having a tough but professional tag, while Kitahara tried to get under everyone's skin before eventually succeeding in doing just that. Everyone else has no problem throwing spirited elbows and clotheslines but Kitahara's the one kicking people in the eye and throwing kicks at knees, with Kimura's Red Gi crew yelling at him from the floor only causing him to act like more of a pudgy punk. It all escalates when Masashi Aoyagi gets on the apron to try to settle him down, and Kitahara chooses to go after AOYAGI with a chair! Kitahara is enough of a crazed asshole to go after AOYAGI with a chair and you just have to love and appreciate a psycho like that. I love how Kitahara finally gets Kimura to snap, kicking at him mockingly while he's down, and getting the vet all riled up until Super Strong Machine can't save him. I loved Aoyagi sneaking in at the finish to hit Kitahara with a spinning heel kick to set up the finish, and thought the tag unsurprisingly kicked ass. 

8. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Ashura Hara

PAS: This delivered everything you want from this matchup on paper. A pair of guys built like sacks of flour chopping, lariating and headbutting each other in unsafe and violent ways. Not a lot of fancy moves, although Tenryu did hit a enzigiri right to Hara's eye and cheek, but just crazy violent shots. I love how Tenryu just lets his chops float. At one point he catches Hara right in the trachea and the ref looks at him like "c'mon man I am just trying to do my job." Hara doesn't back down at all either, laying in some really meaty clonking headbutts, and sick lariats right into the clavicle. This is WAR as WAR gets.

ER: I always associate Hara with Tenryu. Hara was the longest term Tenryu tag partner in Revolution, left All Japan at first opportunity to join him in SWS and then retired in WAR in 1994. Hara is a Tenryu guy, and that means that we really don't have many Tenryu/Hara singles matches. I think they had less than 5, and I'm sure this is the only one I've actually seen. This is Tenryu VERSUS Hara and that is an incredibly cool thing. And this really is the exact thing you would want from a Tenryu/Hara match, which is two best friends trying to urge the other one to hit them harder and harder, except you've never had a friend who wanted you to hit them harder and harder because we've never done competitive sumo. Tenryu and Hara hit each other so fucking hard in this match and I've never known another person in my life who could hit somebody this hard. WAR Hara is the fattest Hara which makes him the coolest Hara, and he looks even cooler when Tenryu runs into him incredibly hard with a shoulderblock and then drops his shoulder and winces hard and shakes out that limp arm after Hara doesn't budge an inch. 

After Tenryu hurts his shoulder on Hara's torso and Hara didn't even give him the liberty of acting like he had even been touched, Tenryu makes it his match long mission to make Hara lose sensation in at least one of his arms. These two are old ass running buddies and if you are old sumo running buddies that means that sometimes one of you will get chopped over and over in the neck and slapped insanely hard across the face. Hara does his best to not budge whenever Tenryu hits him and is shockingly successful, and none of us can ever comprehend how hard Ashura Hara has been hit in his life, and how hard he has hit people. You have to get hit in the face and neck an absurd number of times to be able to take six straight chops to the neck from Genichiro Tenryu without registering any pain. Hara is able to walk through a shocking amount of pain to repeatedly murder Tenryu with his perfect lariat, but Tenryu drops him to his knees with a chop right to the throat. The only time I even notice the referee in the match, is after that throat chop when he steps up to Tenryu like "hey man that guy is your best friend." Hara can't use one of his arms his whole chest and neck and shoulder is all purple bruising just a few minutes in, so he has to just spam Tenryu with lariats from the arm he can lift. When he keeps hitting Tenryu in the ropes as hard as he can, he gets a full head of steam for a killshot and flies hard through the ropes to the floor when Tenryu just drops to the ground as his only possible defense. Hara's sell of Tenryu's enziguiri is more perfection, taking it to the teeth and crumbling to his chest and knees, butt up in the air. 

Imagine the ways these two could have surpassed Ikeda and Ishikawa if only their friendship was just a little bit different. I'm glad we got them murdering each other a few times over the span of their Revolution. 

Read more!

SEGUNDA CAIDA DECLARES WAR: WAR 6/20/99

WAR 6/20/1999

Masao Orihara vs. Tomohiro Ishii

SR: Both these guys were pretty great in the late 90s, so I was pretty salty about this being clipped down just a couple minutes. Ishii was a wreckingball during this period, but Orihara easily outstiffes him trying to crack his jaw with lariats. We also get Ishii working Orihara over with chairs and whiping him out with a crazy rolling senton to the outside. Fun stuff but I wanted atleast 3/4ths of the thing.

Nihao vs. Koki Kitahara

SR: This was a CAPTURE showcase match and holy fuck after this I‘d kill to get the entire CAPTURE back catalogue. Brutal brutal match, just the most primitive grimy shootstyle you can imagine, two  guys with gloves trying to pummel each other into oblivion. Nihao takes Kitahara down and bloodies him with punches and headbutts, but the boss comes back just trying to crush his face with punches and teeth loosening kicks. There was one spinkick that would‘ve made Daisuke Ikeda wince, and also at one point Kitahara reverses a takedown into an armlock that looked to almost tear Nihaos shoulder. They showed 4 out of 6 minutes, and really would it have killed them to include those 2 minutes? Still 80 % of a sick spectacle is better than most, and those 4 minutes were some of the most insane of the year.

Ryuma Go vs. Thunder Warrior Alpha

SR: I respect Tenryu's tendency to bring in Go to squish random aliens. This was clipped to almost nothing but we got to see Go acting crazy and destroying the alien.

Genichiro Tenryu/Magnum TOKYO vs. Nobutaka Araya/Sumo Fuji

SR: The boss is involved, so we got the full match here. Didn‘t know what to expect from this, but it ends up a really entertaining match thanks to Tenryuisms. Basically Sumo Fuji acts like a big shot and annoys Tenryu some and ends up paying for it. Also really liked Araya as a scuzzy guy potatoing Magnum TOKYO. Toryumon guys also looked solid in their sections against each other, and TOKYO hit a pretty great top rope asai moonsault amongst other things. Loved Tenryu here, I think he didn‘t even take a back bump but pretty much carried the match by being a prick, as he usually does.

Osamu Tachihikari/Arashi vs. Daikokubo Benkei/Ichiro Yaguchi

SR:We get about 30 seconds of this and I am not bummed at all about that. I liked Tachihikari busting out random move like an STO and a Magistral.

Yuji Yasuraoka/Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Super Delfin/Naohiro Hoshikawa

SR: This was 4 solid pro wrestlers doings lots of solid pro wrestling, building to a pretty exciting second half. WAR reckless kicker Mochizuki ruled, I am just going to pretend he retired after WAR folded. He had some pretty great exchanges with Hoshikawa here, and I loved him flying into the scenery out of nowhere to take out people with spin kicks. Delfin & Hoshikawa worked well together and it was cool to see them acting as a crew. For some reason, juniors getting dumped on their heads or diving around the place was a lot more satisfying to watch in the 90s.

Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Yuji Yasuraoka

SR: I guess Mochizuki wasn‘t happy with Yasuraoka's performance in that tag, so he gets on the mic to challenge Yasuraoka to a singles. Yasuraoka then proceeds to hit his awesome dive, getting insane height, and we get a fun short explosion of them throwing bombs at each other. Wouldn‘t have minded if this went longer, but they just did a 17 minute long match before so it made sense for this to be short and intense.

Shigeo Okumura/Sambo Asako/Atsushi Onita vs. Nobutaka Araya/Genichiro Tenryu/Shoji Nakamaki

SR: Exactly what it looks like on paper: Six tubby asskickers brawling all over the place, bleeding and pasting each other with chairs and lariats. That plus the megastar charisma of Tenryu and Onita. Tenryu is such an awesome menace here, punching people in the face and chucking chairs at them. Him vs. Terry Funk would’ve been one hell of a program. Then again, Tenryu  was pretty much untouchable at this point in his career. Onita & Asako looked pretty much like regular guys at this point, which made Asako getting abused by Tenryu feel all the more violent. Okumura was in charge with bringing a slight bit of workrate to the match and he did fine, hitting a pretty stiff dropkick. Very predictable match but all too fun.

Read more!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read more!

Fujiwara Family: BattlArts B-My Baby 11/5/97

BattlArts 11/5/97

Ikuto Hidaka vs. Mamoru Okamoto 

PAS: This goes really long for a undercard young guys match, but they have enough cool stuff to fill the time for sure. Okamoto was the bigger hitter, and he threw a couple of nasty kicks including a high kick which crossed Hidaka's eyes and some body kicks, he also had some simple but deeply executed submissions. Hidaka was early and career but started to mix in his fancy stuff, flipping senton, flying armbar and a cool victory roll into a kneebar for a tap. This probably would have been better at 10 minutes instead of 16, but I enjoyed what we got. 

Carl Greco vs Takeshi Ono 

PAS: These two guys are the badass B-Sides of BattlArts, Ishikawa, Ikeda, Otsuka, those guys are the big radio hits, the encore songs, Ono and Greco are the deep cuts  BattlArts super fans really love. This was killer stuff, almost all on the mat and full of grappling at the level wrestling has rarely reached. Greco is one of the best to ever do it, he moves in and out of holds with such grace and speed, constant movement, always looking to improve his position or twist a body in a different way. Ono is super skilled on the mat too, and looks a little outclassed, but in a way that fits the story of the match. We only get a couple of reckless Ono strike flurry, and maybe could have used one more, this is the midcard version of this match, a main event version could have been an all time classic. 

Yuki Ishikawa vs Mohammed Yone 

PAS: This was really cool too, man could BattlArts deliver on a show. Yone jumps Ishikawa before the bell, and the story of the match was Yone trying to earn his stripes against the top dog, and failing. It was a very Tenryuish performance from Ishikawa, except more nasty chokes from the ground and less short jabs. Loved how Ishikawa turned it up in the final moments, Yone fights the German suplex attempt, and Yuki lands two jumping headbutts to the back of his head, hits a German, lands another gross headbutt to the back of the head and sinks in a choke. I have been rabbit punched before, I hope Yone had someone sitting with him at night to make sure his brain didn't swell. 

Minoru Tanaka vs Masao Orihara 

PAS: Really fun mix of BattlArts style and sleazy Orihara shit. I am a low voter on Tanaka, especially on this rewatch, but he was really good here, using BattlArts style to counter Orihara's low blows and moonsaults. He aggressively takes him to the mat and works on an ankle pick which Orihara escapes by punching him in the dick. Eventually Tanaka just gets fed up and kicks him to death, winging hard shots at the kind of gross looking bandage on Orihara's arm until he brings his head low and gets put to sleep. I wonder if that bandage was from a wrestling injury or a shooting gallery abscess. 

Daisuke Ikeda vs Alexander Otsuka - EPIC

PAS: Big time violent BattlArts main event. Ikeda is a bulldozer here, opening the match by stuffing an Otsuke shoot with a uncalled for head but and a running stomp to Otsuka's face sending him out of the ring. Ikeda is kicking, punching and headbutting him with real violent force, and throwing some just ungodly hacksaw lariats like he is reaping wheat.  Otsuka meanwhile is focusing on the mat, with some slick looking leglocks, a tight triangle, and a really awesome looking la magistral into a chickenwing choke. This builds to a really epic finishing run with Ikeda throwing massive KO shots, dazing Otsuka all around the ring, only for Otsuka to duck under and catch a couple of his monster suplexes, including a brutal dragon which was able to get the KO. Ikeda was almost like an MMA fighter who throws so many huge power punches that he gassed himself out, with Otuska being able to rag doll his way to an upset. Great stuff between two all timers. 

Read more!

Fujiwara Family: BattlArts Action-B 4/19/98

ACTION B

Ryuji Hijikata vs. Mach Junji

PAS: This was pretty early in both guys careers when they had nothing but potential. I don't think either guy had the careers this match predicted, but this was a damn fun example of young guy Battlarts. Junji had some fun leg work including a nasty kneebar which drove Hijikata's knee to his chest. We had some hard kicks and punches by both guys and then a couple of 95% Otsuka level suplexes by Hijikata where he just collapsed Junji. 

ER: I thought this was raw as hell, can't remember a Junji performance I liked more. He had this wild eyed, all out there performance and attacked Hijikata's leg like a guy who had been locked in a cage all day. He works a kneebar and does not want to let go of that leg, and it's great. He also throws these nasty knee lifts in the corner and blasts Hijikata in the back of the head with a downward lariat. I'm so into wild rookie Junji! Hijikata pays him back by dropping Junji a couple times in freakshow Karelin ways, folding Junji's legs in ugly ways over his head. Then, decides to fold him just as bad to win with a single leg crab. These rookies are hungry!!

Kasumi Usuda vs. Hidetomo Egawa 

PAS: I thought this was a totally rad 7 minute match. No idea who Egawa was (according to Cagematch he worked some WAR undercards, and IWA Japan stuff in the late 90s), but he was pretty great here. He had two cool german suplexes and a nasty back suplex and had this way of whipping his head back when he was selling high kicks that made Usuda look like prime Mirko Cro Cop. Usuda is always worth watching, and he lands some big shots and slick counters, including nearly getting a tap with a straight armbar counter out of a german suplex. Total hidden gem of a match.

ER: Yeah this ruled. I am also an Egawa novice, but he took a fierce beating from Usuda. Usuda really looked like a hit man here. Usuda often looks like a hot man. He has these focused eyes and just goes Energizer Bunny on Egawa. Egawa rose to this challenge and got run through like a champ, not slowing down despite knowing his odds kept getting worse. He had a couple nice suplexes that landed hard, but Usuda sold them like a guy getting out of bed to pee and was totally unflappable. He throws kicks in such great order, never getting trapped in overly similar combos, just throwing legs out constantly. His submissions always look like he's trying to break a limb as quickly as possible, his armbars have probably left so many people with creaky elbows from being briefly hyperextended a couple dozen times by Usuda. This is 7 minutes, feels like 3, all killer. 

Masao Orihara/Takeshi Ono vs. Mohammed Yone/Mamoru Okamoto 

ER: Orihara/Ono is such a badass tag team. You can picture them being a mid movie mini boss in a Jason Statham movie, Statham opening the door in a kingpin's office to find these two in black tights, black gloves, weird hair, swinging chains. And it's weird seeing Yone with a bowl cut, it's like seeing Sam Elliott without a mustache. Orihara is one of my favorite assholes in wrestling history. Here he swings hard on clotheslines, hits powerbombs and suplexes as unprofessionally as possible, shoves the ref when he gets in the way of Orihara hitting the ropes, headbutts Yone in the balls, all cool asshole things. Ono is focused on bending legs, and he really tries to pick on Okamoto, who has some nice moments (like surprising Ono with a dragon screw). I didn't love how Yone and Okamoto made their big comeback, felt a little like they skipped a couple steps. Yone took Orihara's nasty spider suplex, then Orihara hit a moonsault that I think was supposed to hit Yone's knees? But it looks mostly like a normal Orihara moonsault, and it looked dumb when Yone got right up and immediately went on his first big offense run of the match. His offense looked good (and Okamoto came in and hit a nice spin kick, also dropped Ono with a fast German), but I would have liked them coming up with a more interesting way of getting to their comeback. But the final run is a real winner, stacking up some crazy things on top of each other. Yone hits a big hang time crossbody off the top and basically bounces off a brick wall of Orihara, Ono dumps Okamoto with an insane tiger suplex, they hit a tandem vertical suplex on Yone with Orihara kicking him in the temple right after, a nice violent run to the finish line and an overall good match. Ono's octopus is the cruelest chiropractor in the ocean. 

Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Ikuto Hidaka 

ER: This was more down-paced than anything we've had on this show so far, and it's kinda tough to follow a couple of hot 7 minute sprints when your match is those 7 minutes with 7 slower minutes of rope break knee bars before it. The pace felt like a deliberate cool down, and I thought they did a good job building from sparklers to cherry bombs. I liked Hoshikawa more a couple years later, when he was more of his own thing and less Minoru Tanaka-lite. Hidaka had a lot of the same arsenal but it wasn't as refined in '98 as it was a year later. He was doing the same kind of suplexes transitioned into kneebars and chained suplexes, but they had a lot more poise a year later. Still, they go for some nice and risky stuff, like Hidaka dropkicking Hoshikawa's knee from the top rope, and Hoshikawa hitting an awesome dropkick while Hidaka is perfectly upside down in an Asai moonsault. That latter spot came off especially nuts, and you gotta like guys trying to stand out like that. Weakest match on the show, but you still got to watch guys take hard kicks to the arms and body, see a couple suplexes. 

Minoru Tanaka vs. Tiger Mask IV 

ER: This started with a cool package showing Minoru Tanaka as the proud UWA World Heavyweight champ, a belt that I'm sure has a very long complicated history of different wrestlers or promotions controlling it, but I liked them highlighting Tanaka as a guy constantly defending the belt with his spinning armbar. They worked this like a serious title match, but I think that held it back from what it could have been, especially compared to the rest of the card. Most minutes of this card were filled with a real immediacy and guys really going for the kill, and it's tough to jump into cold water like this no matter how safe it is. They work some competent mat stuff but it never has the danger of any of the submissions from the first three matches. They take their time working holds and while I can like methodical wrestling, some of this felt like they were lying in holds a bit too long. And while the prior match started slower, I felt they turned the dial up nicely to build to the finish, and this match didn't get to that. Even the highlights of this match didn't feel like they lived up to the highlights of Tanaka's other UWA title defenses. This was sound stuff, but didn't have anywhere near the dynamite of the rest of the card. 

Yuki Ishikawa/Alexander Otsuka vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Carl Greco - EPIC

PAS: Man alive was this tremendous. These may be my top four BattlArts guys (Ono and Usuda are obviously contenders as well), and they just stretch it out for a big time main event BattlArts tag. Greco is incredible in this, what a monumental and underused talent. He hits this gator roll into a side choke here which is breathtaking in its speed and violence. He has killer grappling sections with both Otsuka and Ishikawa that are cool in very different ways. The Ishikawa sections are chess matches with both guys countering attacks, the Otsuka sections are speed chess, they put the fucking clock on and just attack and overwhelm. To add to all the mat wrestling, Greco is as cool on his feet, throwing super fast hands, using great head movement, and landing a fucking Jean-Claude Van Damme jumping side kick from across the ring. We also get Ikeda vs. Ishikawa aka The Greatest Match-up in Wrestling History, and it is what it always is. Otsuka throws a couple of big throws, and even hits a tope to cut Ikeda off during this finish. Matches like this are why I am doing this project, couldn't recommend it more.

ER: When you are in the mood to watch BattlArts, this is the kind of match you hope to get. This really captures the overall energy of this really great show, as you have three of the Batt Mount Rushmore (also agree with Phil that Greco/Usuda/Ono would be the ones vying for that 4th spot) going full blast for 18 minutes. When a match starts with Ishikawa/Ikeda doing the things those two do, you'd think it would be hard to maintain that energy over a full match, but that would also mean you wouldn't be giving enough credit to Otsuka or Greco, which is a mistake. Ishikawa and Ikeda are fired up at the bell, no build to their violence, just starting off with fast grappling and quickly getting to Ishikawa raining down punches and elbows into Ikeda's face and neck. Ikeda doesn't forget those, as he spends the rest of the match taking any chance he gets to land cheapshots, my favorite a running punt to Ishikawa's t-zone just to break up a submission (2nd place goes to him leveling Ishikawa with a lariat to the back of the neck after the match). Ishikawa has this great wedding singer hair that makes him look like a real madman trading punches, and you know he and Ikeda were trading punches. My favorite exchange between them might have been this sick 1-2 combo, where Ishikawa threw a right to Ikeda's jaw while Ikeda was already throwing a right to Ishikawa's body, leaving both of them momentarily stunned. 

But the Greco/Otsuka exchanges were a different kind of wild. Greco has such insane enthusiasm and Otsuka easily matches it. Their throws are so quick that I have to assume they have no idea what part of their body is going to hit the mat first. There was one exchange where Greco did a Karelin lift that flipped Otsuka over in a 360, and as he was landing Otsuka was already picking up Greco to do a similar more violent lift. Greco had a moment earlier in the match where he suplexed Ishikawa and landed with a freaky dragon sleeper, actually looking like he was going to separate Ishikawa's head from body. This whole match was a scrap, and scraps with actual technicians always produce some killer results. The whole match was hot, and the finishing stretch turns the heat up even more, with Otsuka sending Ikeda flying with a great tope and Ishikawa flattening out Greco with a grisly rear naked choke. You want BattlArts? This is peak BattlArts. 

Read more!

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

4/24/98

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

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

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

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

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Greco

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

5/10/98

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

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

Alexander Otsuka vs. Katsushi Takemura

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

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

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

Read more!