Found Footage Friday: WAR GAMES~! MISAWA~! KOSHINAKA~! PIRATA~! COLOSETTI~! BENETTO~!

Shiro Koshinaka vs. Mitsuharu Misawa AJPW 10/14/83

MD: As best as we can tell, these next two haven't been in easy circulation. Thankfully gus came through and figured out how to get them off of a tricky disc and upload them. This one started out as one thing and morphed into something entirely different. People should go out of their way for it.

Where it started, and where I figured it would end, was as Young Misawa putting Young Koshinaka through his paces. He controlled for basically the first two thirds of this as an undercard young boy cruiserweight bully. They both had red trunks and Misawa really did a number on Koshinaka, grinding down on the arm. A lot of shots of the back of Misawa's head and emotive selling from Shiro. Shiro would try to escape and Misawa would get him back in. There was a nice floatover arm twist and some rolling with the short arm scissors, etc. Eventually, Shiro turned things into a cross toe-hold and took over with that and later a Romero Special.

When things picked up, though, they really picked up. Shiro's butt butt, sure, but also Misawa doing a front flip into a kick off the top, followed by a huge dive to the floor, and then Shiro hitting a double stop off the top. It felt like whoever was agenting the match went on a smoke break and they just decided to do whatever they wanted for the last two minutes before Shiro finally dragged Misawa down with a bulldog. Misawa looked more like the guy who would become Tiger Mask II than the guy who would become Misawa here, but he looked like the best possible version of that guy.

Shiro Koshinaka/Mitsuharu Misawa/Halcon Ortiz vs. Coloso Colosetti/Pirata Morgan/Tony Benetto 3/16/84

MD: This is likely one of Misawa's first matches in Mexico. He was matched up with Colosetti here in the initial primera pairings and it went mostly ok. There were one or two times where he seemed just a little lost, like when it was time to tag Shiro in after Coloso left the ring, but in general, he did fine. Colosetti had great for-the-last-row body language, really working big, both when matched with Misawa and during the comeback in the tercera as he was batted around the ringside area. Shiro was matched with Benetto; basically a lot of Kato/Bruce Lee back fists but he did get his double stomp off the top in too. Ortiz and Morgan worked well together, as you'd expect, the best pairing of the three even if maybe that's not why we're here.

Morgan did get to match up a little with the Japanese contingent, most spectacularly for a spot towards the end of the primera where they basically hit a veg-o-matic (bearhug, lean back, kneedrop) on him. Most memorable, though, is the ending image of him as Misawa and Koshinaka were getting the win on his partners; Ortiz decided to just bodyslam him over the top, not touching the rope, so he could hit a dive. The heat during the segunda was effective and efficient though there could have been more of it maybe; possibly a small clip at the start of the tercera to give that feeling. The comeback was fun with plenty of Koshinaka backfists. Misawa was just finding his way here but it's a good way to spend twenty minutes.

War Games: Hotstuff Hernandez/Jeremy V/Jimmy Rave/Onyx vs. Iceberg/Jason Cross/Justice/Rainman NWA Wildside 06/28/03 - EPIC

MD: Are there just an infinite number of these matches hidden away somewhere? Is there some sort of alternate reality that we can just endlessly pull these from? Or are we coming to the end sometime soon? We've covered so many over the years and they're all great and this is no exception. Wildside was just amazing for the sheer diversity in the ring, every size, shape, temperament. And it all came together and it all worked. It was like the entirety of possibilities of what pro wrestling could and should be were in the ring together. Just wild stuff. 

They started with Jeremy and Rainman, maybe not the pairing I would have chosen myself even though they'd been feuding but Rainman was a pro in these and kept things moving. Right when Jeremy (who got color early) was gaining control, Bailey's team won the coinflip and Cross came in, absolutely crushing Jeremy with a dragon suplex and brainbuster and setting the tenor for the rest of the match. Jeremy, Jimmy, and Jason had a high hill to climb here since not only were they in there with monsters of various shapes and forms, but the monsters almost all did crazy stuff. There was a Superplex on Iceberg (I think by Onyx). Iceberg used the cage to steady him to hit a top rope elbow drop, etc. And Justice (being Abyss) came in as the mystery man and towered over everyone. Hernandez was like a missile when he came in to even the odds. They managed well enough by flying around though, Cross hitting a ton of offense, Jeremy showing heart (and getting the win in the end with his camel clutch/cobra clutch combo), and Rave maybe getting the spot of the match with a sunset flip powerbomb on Justice off the top.

Look, during the same year, Cage of Death was going on in Philly. I get that Blood and Guts take more from that than from classic War Games, but these Wildside and Anarchy attempts really show how you can bridge the gap between the two.

PAS: This didn't have pools of gore that some of the other all timer Landmark Arena War Games had, but it felt kind of on the level of them. This was like a version of the 1989 War Games, with a lot of huge dudes throwing each other with big power moves. This might have been the most I have ever enjoyed Abyss, and it felt like the slugfest between him and Hernandez felt like a huge big man showdown. Iceberg not being a huge star in the 2000s was a big mistake by the wrestling world, he was a monstrous force of nature, who would still bump big, Iceberg taking a superplex felt like felling a Redwood tree. His top rope Sudanese Meat Cleaver was truly disgusting looking I expected Jeremy V's head to pop off like a Pez dispenser. Finishing submission looked great although that kid did take a whole hell of a lot of punishment to end up winning. Classic stuff, in the upper tier of these matches which is a hell of an upper tier. 

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New Footage Friday: TANK ~! BOSS MAN~! DEVIL'S REJECTS~! NWA ELITE~! FUGO FUGO~! ISHIKAWA~!

Big Boss Man/Tank vs. Pomp and Circumstances NAWA 2004

MD: This was a fun local match with a big star, though it was definitely much more of a Tank match than a Bossman one. That said, this was a younger, spry dominant clapping babyface Tank and no one's going to complain about watching him crush Rockwell and Tempers. The few times where Tank and Bossman did some stuff together were a hit, obviously. I thought Rockwell was more the stand out in bumping and feeding here, really flying around the ring. The transition, fairly deep into the match, was a low blow and the heat mainly about working Tank's leg and that was fine. When they swarmed him or cheated, they controlled things. When they let Tank create some distance, he got hope spots in. There was a fakeout hot tag that the ref didn't see. Because of that, I didn't like the lead in to the hot tag where Tank walked over to the corner and hit a superplex despite the bad leg. He could have just walked over to his own corner instead. It would have worked better with just a basic toss off the top. The finish was pretty much what you'd expect in a situation where they didn't want Rockwell and Tempers to lose clean. Overall, this was fun stuff though.

PAS: This was a fun Southern tag, with some big babyfaces mostly bumping around weaselly heels, MX vs. JYD and Bill Watts with Bossman in the role of Watts. Not sure of the date of this match, but Bossman would be dead in August 2004, so this was one of his last matches. He still came off like a star, but was clearly diminished. We have Devil's Rejects Tempers this week too, and it is fun to see him as a pretty boy heel as opposed to a face painted psychotic. It is a different role for Tank too, and one he does well. Nothing that will blow your mind, but something that delivered for sure.

Devil's Rejects(Tank/Iceberg/Shawn Tempers/Azreal) vs. NWA Elite (Kory Chavis/Jeff Lewis.Michael Judas/Onyx) NWA Anarchy 12/30/06

MD: This felt like the first chapter of the next book of the saga, a transitioning from the Rejects vs NWA Anarchy to the Rejects vs NWA Elite, something to whet people's appetites for the escalating violence to come. They always do an amazing job of making everything feel like it has gravitas and lore. There's just a lot of weight and inertia behind what was going on in the promotion. Everyone involved had a history with one another, with Bailey, to a degree with Wilson since he'd been the voice of the company for years. They were all former champions in Wildside or Anarchy or both. This expanded, extended Elite was made up of former allies and enemies, and they always seemed to work surprises in. In this case it was Mikael Adryan returning from Puerto Rico as Mikael Judas and Kory Chavis returning for the Elite even though they'd been enemies in his last appearances. It did hammer the notion that the Elite was elite which was necessary given the sheer force and dominance of the Rejects. 

And I know all this because they spent the first five or six minutes of the match not actually calling anything but just laying it all out. I'm not sure how much use that was to people closely following along in 2006 but I appreciated it fifteen years later. If I spent most of this review just setting the stage, it's because it was a stage worth setting. This feels like the most important thing in the world for the residents of Cornelia, Georgia. Past that atmosphere, the most impressive thing about the match was the restraint. While there was some interference from the outside, some foreign object use, Wilson involving himself a little, it was primarily kept to standard tag rules, with believable and fairly even momentum shifts and transitions, for an astounding amount of time. When it broke down and got violent, they built to a few big, memorable spots (primarily the massive, seemingly impossible razor's edge out of the corner by the returning Judas) and the arrival of Dominus who was best used as a tease anyway. It moved things along, gave the crowd a taste of what would come, decided nothing, reintroduced some players, and fit well on a card that also had a couple of title matches and AJ Styles. Maybe not the over the top spectacle we're always hoping for looking back, but a good piece of business overall.

PAS: This was the first match in this feud, we have the Wargames blowoff and are anxiously awaiting footage to drop of their fans bring the weapons match. This feud got covered in great detail on the Way of the Blade pod I did with Jeff G. Bailey and Rev. Dan Wilson which is a great listen. This wasn't one of the wild brawls that would follow, but a more traditionally worked tag that built to a pretty big crescendo. I liked the early Onyx stuff with Iceberg and Tank, he came off like a total horse throwing those huge guys around. We get some violent interference from both Bailey and Wilson behind the ref's back. It breaks down at the end with Judas hitting a razor's edge on Iceberg which was wild, and we had a lurk in by Dominus and the Rejects lay out Judas with two huge Iceberg splashes, and a sick top rope double stomp where Judas was being lifted off the ground. Totally did the job of making folks wanting to see the Elite get back their win.

Yuki Ishikawa/Joeta vs. Fugofugo Yumeji/Buki WUW 7/14/18

PAS: This is in what looks like the back of a comic shop in Tokyo somewhere. There is a tiny ring with chains instead of ring ropes and Japanese indy legends Yuki Ishikawa and Fugofugo Yumeji bringing along two guys I hadn't heard of to have a violent punch out. They couldn't run the ropes or do any complicated sequences in that ring so it was all punishing grappling and hard shots. Buki and Joeta were in the spirit of things, and their exchanges were nearly as violent as Fugofugo and Ishikawa. Buki especially was a nasty little prick yanking at Joeta's face and stomping on limbs. Ishikawa and Fugo is as great as that match up promises on paper, Ishikawa is a more skilled grappler working out of the guard, but Fugofugo throws some gross headbutts and uses his strength to move into positions. Really nice mix of FUTEN/BattlArts style stuff and backroom violent indy sleaze.

MD: Phil covered this well, but I'd like to double down on the sense of confinement. This ring was tiny. It was surrounded by chains. While they never came into play, all it took was one hard shot to knock you back to your own corner. When Ishikawa and Fugofugo tested each other with early grappling, there was a sense of extra care to it. Movement was limited and they were very much aware of it and working all the harder not to allow for openings or make mistakes. Buki came off like a real bastard throughout most of this, just a guy with a huge chip on his shoulder. Joeta held his own, just solid throughout, especially when going strike for strike against Fugofugo. As this escalated and became more and more violent, you lost sight of what was on the walls behind them and only focused on the cage and the tiny box which it enclosed. It gave everything almost a pitfighter atmosphere that really encapsulated the underground feel they were going for and that I imagine most of the rest of the card couldn't begin to manage in the same visceral way.

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Wednesday Morning War Games: NWA Wildside Team NWA Elite v. Team Wildside

NWA Elite (Justice/Jason Cross/Adam Jacobs/John Phoenix) v. NWA Wildside (AJ Styles/Onyx/Air Paris/Stone Mountain) NWA Wildside 7/7/01

This didn't do very much for me. This was less a violent fight and more a chance for athletic guys in jnco jeans to do backflips. I liked the opening section with Styles and Adam Jacobs, it was juniors wrestling, but well worked. Styles took some nutty bumps into the cage, which is something he is still doing 16 years later, and Jason Cross has a nice brainbuster, but otherwise this was forgettable. Justice is Abyss and looks even dumber in an Andre the Giant singlet. Finish has Stone Mountain return to the fed as the Wildside team's surprise partner, he then turns on his team and they have a long beatdown section with Jeff G. Bailey yelling over the microphone. Wildside did War Games a bunch of times, hopefully I will find a great one, this wasn't it.

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NWA Wildside- Throwback Review Episode 41

http://www.twnworldwide.tv/nwawildside41.html

6/19/00

Jesse Taylor v. Mickey Richards

Competitive squash. Taylor has a nice belly to belly

Shank takes the belt he stole last week to a pawn shop. He tries to get $25,000 for it, but settles for $500. Comedy Shank isn't as good as terrifying Shank

Mick Tierney v. Smasher

Tierney beats on Smasher for a bit, and we get a Ron Studd run in, and an addition stringy haired guy also managed by Luther Biggs. The road to Tierny v. Studd continues

JC Dazz/Stone Mountain/David Young/Rick Michaels v. AJ Styles/Onyx/Eddie Golden/Bill Behrens

Really fun 8 man tag. We start out with Styles and Dazz, and they do a mirror section. Not a huge fan of mirror wrestling, but this was done really fast and ended in a great Dazz powerslam. Most of the match is Michaels getting his knee worked over with Behrens doing a nice job in the chickenshit manager role, including putting on a figure four. Finish comes with everyone in the ring brawling. Other members of the NWA Elite come in and they handcuff Stone Mountain (aka Maybyss) to the ropes. Steve Martin (not working a Steve Martin gimmick) returns to make the save with a chair. If you have ever seen wrestling before you know what happens next. The crowd is just pelting the ring with garbage at this point, and while I haven't cared for this whole angle, obviously Martin turning heel is a big deal to the crowd.

We end with a post match promo with Steve Martin and Jeff G. Bailey crowing about turning on Rick Michaels

First part of the show is skippable, but the eight man tag and post match angle was good stuff.

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NWA Wildside Throwback Review Episode 40

http://www.twnworldwide.tv/nwawildside40.html

6/12/00

Show opens with Rick Michaels, the newly appointed head of NCW running through the card. Beherens and Bailey come out and they do a back and forth about the card. Nothing is more tiresome in wrestling then dueling matchmaker stuff, and I hope they moved past this soon.

Jason Cross v. Jon Phoenix

This is a debut for both guys, both of whom would get big pushes later. This is pretty much the kind of spotfest debut match you would expect Ian Rotten to come from the back and give a speech about. They seemed to try every flip and highspot they knew. No real story, just both guys moonsaulting, shooting starring and 480ing. Not something which ages particularly well, but they did some fancy stuff.

Sean Royal comes out for his rematch with Rusty Riddle. He hands him a beer and suggests they team up. Wouldn't have minded seeing a rematch, but I do remember them being a fun team

Scottie Wren v. Ricky Noble

Semi competitive squash. Wren hasn't done a ton for me so far. He uses Stone Mountain's finisher to taunt the champion. Steve Prazak's has been doing color the last couple of weeks, and his catch phrase seems to be "That's very white of you."

Christian Strong Man, Christopher Sampson is back out, and he calls out Terry Knight and Candy. Sampson apologizes for losing his temper last week. Terry Knight slaps him in the face, and Sampson turns the other cheek, he gets slapped again, leaving him no more cheeks to turn. This sets up Knight v. Sampson at their next big show. This is kind of corny, and neither Sampson or Knight are great on the mike, but the pure pro wrestlingness of this angle makes me smile.

Bill Apter talks to Ricky Steamboat about Brian Pillman

Shank is in the back with a cast on his arm and he is stealing a belt from someones kit bag

Lazz v. Onyx

We get the dancing intros of both guys, including Lazz doing the entire Brittney dance number from Oops I Did it Again, including lap dance to uncomfortable looking ringside security. We only get about 30 seconds of the match post commercial break before everyone runs in.

Not much of a show. I am digging the Sampson v. Knight feud, and Cross and Phoenix did a bunch of moonsaults, but not enough Bailey and Shank and no Eddie Golden or Styles makes kind of a rough show.

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NWA Wildside- Throwback Review Episode 38

http://www.twnworldwide.tv/nwawildside38.html

5/28/00

Show starts with folks running out to see Shank writhing on the ground in the parking lot claiming Timber smashed his hand in the door of his truck. Pretty dastardly by Timber, although Shank did threaten to murder Timbers grandmother, so smashing his hand seems like a measured response.

We have a match between two guys interrupted by White Trash, who hits them both with a stop sign, then he is interrupted by Big Ron Studd, who chokeslams everyone. Kind of a lazy ECW pastiche, and Big Ron Studd is a crappy 911, although actually tall.

Lazz v. Gemini

Lazz is a guy doing a Brittney Spears imitator gimmick, and an act I remember really digging back in the day. Gemini is apparently a Sheik trainee and RVD buddy, and works as kind of a fake RVD with Muta facepaint. This only goes a couple of minutes before Ron Studd comes in and chokeslams Lazz. Then the three guys from the last match attack Ron Studd only to get chokeslammed (Big Mick Cool is only guy who takes the chokeslam well.) Then we get a Mick Tierney run in and a pull apart. Lots of stuff, none of it particularly compelling, although I could see people who didn't know who Mick Tierney and Ron Studd were, anticipating a Mick Tierney v. Ron Studd match.

Onyx v. Adam Jacobs

Fun early 21st century juniors match. There was a little too much spinning on clotheslines, but otherwise it was some nice athletic moves hit well. Onyx is only about 5'8 but cut as shit, he does sort of a Chippendale's gimmick which he executes in a really assholish way. Finish had some mishigos from Jeff G. Bailey and Eddie Golden and the NWA Elite gets another belt

Short Bailey and Onyx interview where Bailey calls Onxy "Blacker then South Atlanta and twice as Dangerous"

Fired up Bad Attitude promo promising to take all the belts. Basic stuff, but well done.

Jeff G. Bailey comes out with his crew, talks about the fine Christian athlete AJ Styles coming to his sense. Says JC Dazz is in a film and he is happy he got to bottom Jeff Strykers cock, then says they are sending Jorge Estrada back to Tijuana to work the door at his madre's donkey show. Wasn't this show on TV? Jeff G. Bailey folks.

AJ Styles/Eddie Golden v. JC Dazz/Jorge Estrada

Best match I have seen so far. Most of the match had Styles and Golden working over Estrada and Jorge takes offense really well. He goes sky high on backdrops and slams. Golden has really great basic asskicking offense and Styles is great as a flashy douchey heel. I didn't like Dazz doing a rope running section off a hot tag, but the near fall section was pretty exciting. I really love the Golden and Styles team, I am not sure how long it lasted, but they could have had a big run, because they complemented each other really well

First part of the show was forgettable, but start at the 30 minute mark and watch the Bailey interview and final tag.

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NWA Wildside- Throwback Review Episode 37

http://www.twnworldwide.tv/nwawildside37.html

5/21/00

We open with a night vision promo from SHANK!! He is in the woods outside of Timber's parents house. "I'm in your backyard boy. I see you parents right now through the window eatin dinner. Your grandma pulled up in the driveway. When they go to the door and they don't see her come in, but her cars outside. They may find the body, they may not." Yes that is a babyface credibly threatening to murder the heel's grandma. Shank is the best.

JC Dazz v. Gemini

Gemini is rocking face paint and doing kind of a fake Muta. He is exactly as good as one might expect a GA indy fake Muta to be. JC Dazz is an ex Scotty Wrenn tag partner and has the same kind of tubby jeans shorts highflyer look (he had long pants, but he looked like he should've had jeans shorts.) They do some stuff for a while and AJ Styles and Eddie Golden run in and attack Dazz.

Mick Tierney v. Stone Mountain

Tierney is a Bassman trainee who would have a cup of coffee in WWF Developmental. He is a pretty big guy who got tapped by Oleg Taktarov in a submissions tourney and played Canadian football. He wrestled like an early 2000's fake MMA guy, think Kama the Human Fighting Machine. Both of these guys looked like heavyweights which is something Wildside always had. The match sort of had that awkward feel of a Zero One mainevent without Hashimoto or Ogawa to bring things together. This ended with a Ron Studd staredown and Scotty Wrenn run in. I am starting to notice a trend here.

They have a promo with Steve Martin (Not working a Steve Martin gimmick) and Rick Michaels where they discuss AJ Styles leaving and the issues with the NWA board. Felt very expositional, if it was on Game of Thrones they would have at least shown us some titties.

Jorge Estrada/Jessie Taylor v. Onyx/Terry Knight

Onyx and Knight are Jeff G. Bailey managed. These are four pretty athletic guys, Estrada hits a tope with crazy height. Still outside of Terry Knight they all felt pretty green. Finish has Estrada pinning Knight after he gets accidentally hit with the belt. Big commercial break clip in the middle made it kind of hard to get a sense of this.

Lots of guys in this fed are great on the mike, Stone Mountain is not one of them

Cole Brothers v. Bad Attitude

Very short no DQ match. Cole twins smack the ref and double team David Young. Bill Beherens cheap shots Rick Michaels, but Michaels cracks him and Young hits his spinebuster for the three. Don't understand why this wasn't given more time as they seem to be building the Cole's as a bigger deal and the certainly look like big tough dudes.

Bad Attitude promo calling out the Rock and Roll Express which is a match I hope shows up

Opening Shank promo is must see, the rest of the show is pretty skippable.

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