Found Footage Friday: ABBY~! KIMALA II~! RUSHER~! INOUE~! ORTON~! TAKER~! OMNI~!

Abdullah the Butcher/Giant Kimala II vs. Rusher Kimura/Mighty Inoue AJPW 12/1/90

MD: Big IWE stars vs. monsters energy here, even if Rusher and Inoue were up in the years. This overachieved from my expectations, which were set in part for seeing Abby in so many short, abruptly ending tags from this era and from seeing Rusher in so many comedy matches. I love those matches by the way, but that wasn't going to work here.

What we got instead was pretty gruesome actually. Rusher bled early and they worked over the wound with headbutts, chops, and Abby just sticking his finger in the wound awesome. When Inoue got in, he turned the tables, sitting up on Abby's shoulders and poking him repeatedly with the fork until he dropped back. Then he kept it going with a bunch of awesome headlock punches until Kimala broke it up. The kept things rolling with a couple of chairshots from the outside in. Pretty valiant stuff.

Even the finish had one or two more rotations than I was expecting as Abby hit his cool Angle Slam type suplex but Inoue survived it only to get crushed with the throat shot/elbow drop combo. Post-match, Abby and Kimala bowed to all four sides. Not a lost classic but I'd say still well worth your time.

ER: This was disgusting, extremely violent, not far off from Great. Matt said gruesome and that's a good word for it. This wasn't a Fork Stabbing Abby match, this was built around punching and bleeding and digging into cuts. The match is helped by the HD of these new episodes of AJ Classics, as the second Abby is stabbing his fingers into Rusher's head I knew they weren't going to hold back. Abdullah's stiff fingered thrusts and jabs looked so painful, and it is 50-50 whether or not he had some kind of blade in his finger tape, because Rusher's head bled quick and Abby's fingertips were soon soaked red. Kimura's blood ran in rivulets down his chest and Abby dug his fingers into Rusher's cuts and the rest of his face. It was disgusting and the cameras zoomed in close on it to show the savagery. 

But these IWE guys are tough, so when Rusher finally tags in Might Inoue, Inoue shoot punches Abby in the head a couple dozen times and it's incredible. Inoue enters the ring climbing onto Abby's shoulders and just punches and stabs away at his head. Did we know Inoue was hiding a sharp object that he was going to use to scrape and stab at Abby's head while throwing shoot hammerfists? Abdullah the Butcher doesn't stab a single soul in this match with a fork, but Mighty Inoue introduces a weapon with no warning? Maybe this match is actually greater than great. When they both go down, Inoue grabs him in a headlock and throws sick blood wet splat punches repeatedly as the camera is again right on top of these slasher movie visuals. Every time Inoue ran and flew at Abby with a headbutt, you could hear his head actually smacking into Butcher's chin! He hits one in the ropes to knock Abby to the floor, and more in the ring. Great spot. Inoue's flipping senton is always so cool. It hits with impact but has the flourish and showmanship of French Catch. Abby rolling just out of the way of a senton and leading to him massacring Inoue's throat was a great late match sudden turn. Abby's Angle Slam is a really great spot and I love when he breaks it out. Using his bulk to perform weight physics is an Abby we don't get to see as often as Stabbing Abby. 

Kimala II was the odd man out in this, and he usually is, which is why I always look forward to Kimala II matches. He is the weirdest All Japan regular during their extended run of high expectancy ring work. He is clumsy, he doesn't work anywhere near as stiff as the style demands, he falls weird on offense, and despite being in his mid 20s he moves about as well as Abdullah the Butcher. But he torpedoes into the action at fun times, including a big bump thrown through the ropes to the floor. He's probably the thing holding this match from being legitimately great, but you can't deny the crowd excitement when he started slapping his belly. 

Dustin Rhodes/Ricky Steamboat/Shane Douglas vs. Steve Austin/Brian Pillman/Barry Windham WCW 2/7/93

MD: We get the last eight minutes of this and then a big post-match brawl. On the one hand, it's a shame we lose out on the elimination match because it sounds amazing on paper, but we're better off for what we do get here than nothing at all. Part of that is because Steamboat looks like the best babyface in the world here. Some of it is the way this is shot with no commentary. It just feels closer up, right in the midst of the action, and Steamboat working from underneath here is just transcendent. The way he moves his body, expanding and contracting, hanging on to the ropes, finding strength within, expressing pain and writhing emotion, is just over the top great. 

And Austin, in his own way, is almost as good. He's put upon, frustrated, aggravated that Steamboat refuses to quite, that he paints himself as so sympathetic a figure, that he dares to appeal to his humanity. At one point, Steamboat ... it's not begging off, I wouldn't say he's begging off, but he does seem to call for some level of mercy, maybe just to get things back on a more even playing field, but Austin, framing it perfectly, timing it as dramatically as possible, cinematically in a way that would only work in footage like this, that would be overwrought or overproduced on TV, literally spits on the effort. That makes it all the more poignant when Steamboat, in the midst of his big comeback, blows a mist of spit himself later on. Just really primal stuff.

That stays through into the chaotic post-match, bodies flying and violence ebbing and flowing and ebbing again. Weirdly enough, Shane Douglas might have stood out the most here, as he came off as a real powerhouse. Still, this post match, as good as it was and with a real sense of consequence for matches to come, comes off a little like a consolation prize for the elimination match we didn't get. Still, what a look at Steamboat and Austin.

Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker vs. Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry WWE 3/3/06

MD: House show match from the vault from Australia. I was expecting to see Henry assert himself. That was the draw, but really this was all about Randy Orton, especially but not only him reacting to Undertaker. It's a bit clipped and we come in after entrances with him preening in the corner only to turn around and find Taker there, going for a handshake before he gets rocked with punches. It's easy to joke about the Kyle Fletcher parallels but he was around 26 here and they're clearer here than at almost any other point of his career as best as I can remember.

This is not a version of Orton I remember well, but he was pretty effective even if I did see the strings at times. Plus it was a house show so they really played into it. There was a bit where he teased getting knocked into the crowd three or four times before finally landing on a fan's lap and thanking her after the fact. It was all pretty funny stuff. Plus he was flying around as a menace throughout, including dashing from one opportunistic pin to the next.

Angle was a bit of a non-factor overall, in part due to his current persona, I think, but just because Undertaker and Orton were taking up so much air. And then Henry just seemed there to cut people off at times. He did it effectively but his role could have been much more interesting. Still, this was fun for what it was, but it would have probably worked just as well as two singles matches. 

Read more!

Found Footage Friday: TAJIRI~! HHH~! BABA~! EIGEN~! FURNAS~! MVC~! SPIVEY~!

Dr. Death Steve Williams/Terry Gordy vs. Dan Spivey/Doug Furnas AJPW 10/19/90

MD: I like Kroffat as much as the next guy, move even, but Spivey being in there instead increased the hoss level considerably. This was heated from the start too. Doc had it out for Furnas for some reason. He gave him the middle finger before the match. Furnas returned the favor by swinging a kick at him as he was squaring up with Spivey. Doc wiped his sweat in Furnas' direction. Furnas gave him the finger. Doc told him to kiss his butt. You get the idea. It's a good way to start a match. 

It doesn't let up from there. Furnas uses the three point stance to knock Gordy down, but Doc's able to grind Furnas down well enough that he makes sure to rush over and smack Spivey around a bit too, before mouthing off and maybe even spitting at him drawing Spivey in and it's just an absolutely chaotic feel early on.

What follows is about five minutes of the best wrestling you'll ever see. Doc catching Furnas in mid air and bringing him to the top rope, the two of them trading slaps and Furnas leaping over him to hit a belly to belly. Doc and Spivey smacking each other all the way out of the ring. Spivey hitting a bossman slam on Doc and boos ringing through the air as Gordy breaks it up. The place absolutely exploding as Furnas press slams Gordy only to eat a lariat. It's a hell of a five minutes before everything settles down to holds.

They take it down before building it back up and the overall effect is a hell of a thing. Gordy and especially Doc get a ton of heat. Furnas is able to clap up Spivey. There are a bunch of great nearfalls down the stretch before an extremely definitive ending but one that took that bit of extra effort. These are the sort of lost matches we hope to find.

ER: I love All Gaijin matches in All Japan because it's interesting to see how they can organically draw heat and interest without any kind of Nativism at play. No side is necessarily more loved or hated, only more established. Dr. Death understands that and leans into the MVC's established rep and for seemingly no reason goes hard on Doug Furnas. I have zero reason to believe there is any kind of animosity between Dr. Death and Doug Furnas, but everyone in this match made me believe there was. Doug Furnas was fairly established at this point. Not at the level of beating teams like Doc and Gordy, but already a two time All Asia tag champ who had beaten big teams. Doc quickly turns him into an underdog babyface which leads to a more spirited wild eyed performance from Spivey and some incredible payoff when Furnas finally starts throwing them around. 

Everyone was so good in this match that I fully bought into Doc and Gordy as two guys who actually hated Furnas (they didn't), Furnas as a guy out of his depth (he wasn't) and Spivey as a guy fearlessly telling MVC to back the fuck off and stop taking liberties with Furnas (they weren't, but at times it didn't seem like Spivey realized that). Doc was doing some performative middle fingers and phony baloney heat drawing across the ring while Furnas looked like a guy making the universal face of "Hey man I didn't do anything to you do you have the right guy?" You could tell Doc had the right guy when he sat Furnas on the top rope and slapped Furnas so hard to break. Furnas looked like Allen Covert and sold the slap by making the face that Allen Covert makes when his girlfriend leaves him in one of the few Sandler movies where that happens. Doc is great at bullying Furnas to rile up Spivey, and Spivey is that great combination of large and reckless and Just Getting Real Good so that he always gets too amped up on his first punch of an exchange and throws some potatoes before dialing back a little. He always looks ready to pop off, and it's a killer distraction from Furnas finally popping off. 

Doug Furnas gorilla press slamming Terry freaking Gordy - and the scared face Gordy makes while being held up high in that press - is an incredible spot. It would have been an amazing press slam anyway, but once Furnas added a pump it became an all timer. The crowd lost their minds at that press slam and that hyped Doug up so much he did a backflip and then ran as fast as he could into Gordy's biggest clothesline of the match. Doug finally suplexing Death was so cool. I love the way Doc bumps when he's reeling, just as I love when he decides one turnbuckle isn't enough for a stampede. MVC made damn certain that they were the bad guys here and were so convincing that the fans bought them as bullies against two of the toughest dudes. Terry Gordy out here getting booed over and over for breaking up pins and picking on Mega Athlete Doug Furnas.   

Giant Baba/Rusher Kimura/Akira Taue vs. Harkua Eigen/Motoshi Okuma/Masa Fuchi AJPW 10/27/90

MD: This is a recent Classics drop and a Baba 30th Anniversary match. Jumbo gives him a plaque before the match and everything. This gets a ton of time, 20+ it feels like and it's just packed full of character and comedy. It's hard to do justice to it all or even half of it but I'll point out a few things.

First, Eigen, amazing as always, really shines at the start. He faces off against young Taue to start but then darts to the corner and slaps Baba before running out. They reset, he does the same thing but this time teases Baba and slaps Rusher. Then when facing off against Rusher, he ducks and slaps him twice before leading him to the corner for a long heat segment. They kick away at him forever before we ultimately get some goofy stuff with Okuma and headbutts. There are a ton of headbutts in this match and while Rusher gets some in, a lot of them are eaten by Taue.

Taue's a lot of fun here. I've seen every bit of 1990 footage we have of him and he wasn't there yet, but here he's got this sense of wild abandon, limbs flying and flopping about, that would soon be gone from him. He looks like he's going to become an entirely different wrestler here between his selling of the headbutts and a sort of physical recklessness.

This refuses to end, a lot of the normal things you think might end it getting broken up. They run some of the best Eigen spit spot stuff ever, as both Taue and Baba get to do it, with Baba getting it on his hand and everyone almost cracking up (and Kobashi cracking up decades later on commentary). Then Rusher goes for it, but he's blocked, and Baba comes in from the other side with a chop and it's pretty hilarious let me tell you. The finish is a fun combo of Taue hitting an atomic drop sending Okuma into Baba's foot and then right back into Taue's belly to back. My only regret is that they didn't repeat the atomic drop/boot sequence a couple of times first. Great fun that no dirtsheet would have appreciated at the time but that we can absolutely appreciate now.

ER: This is one of those Wrestling Heaven situations for me. I love my King's Road, and I love my boys. Give me 20 minutes of VILLAIN SHOKAI up to their old bullshit and the nuanced twists that come with every new 20 minutes. It's crazy how many ways they found to do their same bullshit slightly different over the years. You recognize the behaviors but there are always things they do different, things I've never seen, or realistically perhaps things I've seen a million times but don't care because they all work so well together that I don't ever get tired of them. All of these old men matches (Masa Fuchi was 36 lol) were written off unfairly by morose tape traders, so now everything in them is ripe for discovery. Nobody was talking about how great Haruka Eigen was when I got into trading, none of these guys were getting any kind of acclaim. We're long past that now.

Now, before this even starts, you just know Eigen is going to get up to shenanigans before Villain Shokai starts bringing headbutts and hamstring kicks. Eigen starting the match with a slap and run routine on Baba and Rusher is so classic, celebrating in the aisles with young boys you barely recognize, knowing he was going to get paid back down the stretch. A lot of these start with long heat on Kimura, eating boots and headbutts and selling the headbutts so believably (that happens here), but that's not where the match stays. I thought they did a great job integrating everybody and keeping Baba's involvement short and exciting. Villain Shokai made quick tags and this settled into me being excited watching an Akira Taue who didn't wrestle a single thing like my favorite wrestler Akira Taue. 1990 Taue is so cool as can see hints of the Taue that would be there just a couple years later but you'd only notice them if you were familiar with them. For the most part, he's a totally different guy with totally different offense and movement. 

His most important characteristic that he apparently always had, was his realistic approach to bumping. Watch how he sells an Okuma headbutt to the mouth, watch the way he falls with limbs flopping around and not in a controlled wrestling school back bump. The realistic bumps and selling were the things that instantly drew me to Taue at the end of the 90s, and with all the '90 Taue we have as evidence we can see that it's just who he is, a thing that would be near impossible to teach someone. He also has completely different offense and I love "elbowdrop Taue who doesn't use his giant feet in any way" but maybe I only love it because I know we're not far away from "big feet to face and the best chokeslams ever" Taue. 

You get so much tough guy sneaky prankster Eigen that you forget they had already started honing the Spit Spot this early. It's still early, as the front row all knows what's happening when it's happening, but nobody is holding up newspapers. People are fleeing, which only draws attention to one woman who is not moving at all while every other woman around her scurries to safety. Baba getting involved in Eigen's Spit is a thing that does not happen in most of these, and his involvement here brings two incredible moments: Baba clutching Eigen under the chin and clubbing his chest, only for Eigen to spit all over Baba's hand, leading to Baba wiping off his hand all over Eigen's head; then when Rusher is winding up to club Eigen, Fuchi intercepts his arm. While the two are locked in struggle, Baba creeps in from the other side and just knife edges Eigen. Taue's back suplex drops like a damn anchor. These 20 minutes always feel like 5 to me, something I never say about Modern Epic Wrestling. 

HHH vs. Tajiri WWE 1/25/03

MD: This is the sort of Vault drop that we're looking for, Hunter reign of terror match or no. Previously we only had a few minutes of this. With the introductions and post-match this is 30+ minutes. The biggest takeaway, past maybe how good Tajiri is here and how it's a shame we don't have a bunch of other 20+ minute matches with him from this era, is that Hunter consciously worked it differently than almost any other match of the period. Maybe even almost any other match of his career.

There's the whole bit about Hogan doing two extra bits of chain wrestling in his Japanese appearances (when it's more the reckless energy and Axe Bomber people should be looking at). To me, this was more about Hunter getting to work the sort of classic NWA Title match style that he didn't think the current WWE audience would appreciate. The problem was that he just didn't have the reps with it (which isn't really his fault). It meant he did the sort of stuff you'd expect him to be good at (feeding into headlocks and other holds) well, but when he tried some fancier escapes, it didn't quite click. The headstand escape to the headscissors was cute and all but people haven't clipped him basically comedically putting himself back into the hold to set up the positioning for it.

What did work were the transitions, the hope spots, the cutoffs. Hunter took over by clipping Tajiri with a clothesline on the handspring and that looked great. They worked a lot of hope spots given the time the match had to breathe and it meant when Tajiri did comeback, it felt momentous. Lots of moving parts and hoohah on the finishing stretch but the fans certainly got their money out of all of it. I loved hearing Earl talking up close too. That's something you'd rarely get in the heavily produced WWE, even in the early 00s. This just felt very different and refreshing in a sea of 2002-2003 Hunter matches I have memories of but really don't want to revisit.  

ER: I remember being 21 and reading about this match in the Observer and DVDVR but now I'm twice as old as I was then and my wants and priorities have changed. How far away, the post college years where my friends and I split an Observer subscription for several years and my friend Jason would use his work photocopier to copy even double issues for all of us. If this match had been taped, I would have traded for a tape to see this match. The 2025 version of doing that is me making 30 minutes of time to watch a HHH match. I'm glad I did. It closed a loop and lived up to its release. I love that it's shot handheld, I love the format, and I loved the story.  I always love the story of a guy who isn't World Title level getting a lengthy main event title match. If it exists, I'd be equally excited to see Brooklyn Brawler getting a long Shawn Michaels title match on a house show after winning a battle royal. 

HHH works this much more like a heel Bret Hart match and shows that he's better at that than when he's working his touring champion Flair match. Thank god this isn't his touring Flair match only in Japan. He's more execution focused than when he's in his Flair Entertainer mode and while I don't think he's anywhere near Bret as an execution guy there were several moments that I thought he looked a lot tighter than expected. He's better at bump as Bret than he is bumping as Flair and it made the match come off harder hitting than theatrical. Tajiri's kicks were great ways for him to storm back into the match and I liked how he would use them as unpredictable combos thrown at different body targets. HHH is bad at standing still making an "I'm waiting to be hit face" but much better at taking strikes that are less expected. We didn't have to see him hold his head a certain way as he waits to hair whip react to a punch, instead we just got Tajiri throwing kicks up and down his body. 

HHH as a guy working over shoulder back breakers is one of the coolest versions of HHH. Do more of that. Less Irish whips and more backbreakers! When Tajiri finally slips out the back of one of the backbreakers it's this great spot that looks like it's going to fall apart entirely and end in an awkward tangle but it somehow bumbles expertly into a clean sunset flip pin away from ropes. I thought for sure both men were falling and going to wind up in an ugly heap of blown spot but instead it made it all look like HHH was struggling to stop Tajiri's momentum. Tajiri using the Tarantula while the referee was out seemed like the one time where it would have been acceptable to let HHH Act. Just let him scream and NXT sell for a full minute while completely stuck, no ref to save him. I was disappointed that Tajiri maintained the 5 second rule. We didn't get enough of Tajiri maniacally refusing to break Tarantula. 

Tajiri kicking out of the Pedigree was something we all read about in 2003, but it plays far crazier than it reads. This is a detail I remember reading about. It was shocking to hear that Tajiri had kicked out of a Pedigree, but the details at the time actually downplayed what really happened. When it was reported, the reporting made it sound like the Pedigree was hit and Hebner - blinded by mist - took an eternity to make the count. That makes sense and it still sounded surprising that Tajiri kicked out. In actuality, the whole thing happened in under 10 seconds. Tajiri kicked out of the Pedigree less than 10 seconds after it was hit, which nobody else was doing in 2003. 

Read more!

Found Footage Friday: EIGEN SIX MAN~! PARK~! BANDA~! ESTRADA~! REYNA~! MIGHTY ATOM~!

Harry Monte/Farmer Spatts vs. Billy Curtis/Cowboy Clatt NWA Hollywood 5/23/53

MD: This was a midget's match that goes about 25 minute. It was announced at the start as "the miniature mastodons of the mat, the mighty midgets." These guys all had gimmicks upon gimmicks. On one side was Farmer Georgie Spots from Hogwash, Arkansas, and "The Mighty Atom" Mr. Harry Monte. The other side had Cowboy "Pee Wee" Paul Clatt and Hollywood Billy Curtis. And of course, the Kansas Whirlwind, Olympic Champion (1932) Pete Mehringer was the ref. This was a little bit a tale of two matches. When Clatt and Spatts were in there, there was more comedy. Spatts was barefoot, for instance, and that came into play with stomps. There were bits where they ended up on top of the ref or accidentally on his back giving him a chinlock. While not exclusive, when Monte was in there, it did feel a little different. He was the champion apparently and seemed pretty skilled. Look, I'm never going to say no to an old midgets match. 

A lot of the time the comedy hits and they show a ton of commitment. I've seen a lot. This looked different than most. I'd almost explain it like with this analogy: when Monte was in there, more so than any US midget match I've ever seen, it felt like a minis match relative to the lucha of the day. That is to say, it was faster, sprintier, sprawlier. When it was Monte and Curtis in there, it had a wild energy of them going for holds and advantages. It lacked the precise technique of shootstyle, maybe, but had the same feel of jockeying for openings. There were moments of levity but in practice they were presented with more dignity than you'd expect, especially given the slew of gimmick names that started the match. Even the post-match interviews were more like what you'd expect from any of the other names of the time, talking about issues with the ref and recovering from injury and vying for the title. I like comedy spots as much as the next guy but much like some of the women's matches from this era show us a potentially different path, this did as well. There's some alternate reality out there where guys like these paved the way for a division even snappier and more exciting than junior heavyweights. 

Kenta Kobashi/Mitsuo Momota/Rusher Kimura vs. Haruka Eigen/Isamu Teranishi/Motoshi Okuma AJPW 10/20/89

MD: All of the Eigen/Okuma stuff is fun but it's especially fun when Rusher's in there. You end up seeing this dynamic so many times that you cherish the familiar and appreciate the variation. This had both being a six man with Teranishi hanging out with the shitheels. I've seen Teranishi on the other side as someone who would put Eigen in his place, but it was nice to see him as part of the problem, not part of the solution. And of course, you have Kobashi, one who's ever closer to finding himself, on the other side. That said, there was plenty of familiar here. It started with Eigen shaking Teranishi and Kobashi's hand but refusing to shake Rusher's. Then when Rusher took offense, he pushed him. They locked up, immediately got in the ropes, and Eigen slapped him before taking him back to his corner and getting out of there. Being an AJPW six-man, there was the usual cycling. You'd rarely see a guy get tagged in before everyone else on his side had their turn. 

The pairings were more situational than hierarchical. Rusher eventually tagged out but Okuma could take back over at a moment's notice with a headbutt. There was plenty of headbutt fun in general, whether it be Eigen running someone in to Okuma's head or all the bad guys recoiling in fear as Rusher's indomitable head overcame them. My favorite bit was when they kept laying them on until Okuma finally got him from behind and knocked him down and did a little dance in victory. Eigen's crew were very good at pulling things back into their corner and they even pulled out the triple clubber at times. When Kobashi got in there, he came in hot and got to do a bunch of things before Teranishi got to smack him down enjoyably. Teranishi is a guy who just hits a little harder despite his relative spot on the card. Eigen got to hit the spit spot shots on Kobashi and never got comeuppance along those lines, though Kobashi did toss him off the top and then set the stage for Rusher to come in and mow him down for the win. This is just some of the most watchable wrestling imaginable, guys who were credible and dangerous and could go but that were just having fun out there with themselves, each other, the crowd, us thirty-five years later.

ER: I knew how much I really truly loved wrestling when I consciously noticed how much I love old man All Japan matches. I love them. I've always loved them. I loved the first old man match I ever saw, a concept I had never heard of before but understood and fell in love with instantly. I was a teenager buying All Japan tapes in the mail within my first two months On The Internet because Mitsuharu Misawa was #3 on the PWI 500 that year behind Steve Austin and Goldberg, and I owned Steve Austin and Goldberg shirts that I purchased from Millers Outpost, but had never heard of Mitsuharu Misawa. Or Kenta Kobashi, who was just a couple spots behind Misawa. I clearly needed to see All Japan Pro Wrestling, without actually knowing how to see it or what specific matches to seek. But I found someone selling AJPW Comm Tapes - whatever those were - and sent them an honest to damn god money order for them. I went to the post office to get a money order to buy Acclaimed Japanese Wrestling over the internet. The first All Japan tape had clips of old men spitting at the crowd while people covered themselves with newspapers, and then all of those old men headbutting each other. This was not the wrestling that I expected, but I was so surprised by All Japan old men that I loved all of them, and there has not been a time since that my love for them stopped growing. 

I call them old men, but they seemed a lot older when I was a teenager. Now I am the same age as Haruka Eigen in this match, and only a few years younger than Rusher Kimura and Motoshi Okuma. These are much younger versions of the old men that I saw, but the Old Man All Japan match is a style as much as it is a literal description of a match. This was men, peers of mine now, working a match in the style of Old Tough Men and it just always looks like a 4 star match to me. The pace goes quick, there's never any kind of slow down in the action, the pairings cycle through constantly (outside of an extended beatdown of Kimura, when you think the entire match might be building around cutting him off from his team, as many of these matches went), and you have the cool element of a 22 year old Kenta Kobashi who was nowhere near who he would be in just a few years. 

As these things tend to, it all just broke down into old men headbutting each other harder than you or I could handle. Okuma has been a real revelation for me over the last couple years, here at the end of his career and never cooler. He brings the headbutt thunder to Rusher and doesn't let up, headbutting him from the apron and then running back to his corner to tag in so that he can continue headbutting Legally. Everybody headbutts in this match. Eigen comes in to sneak attack guys with headbutts and keep momentum on his team's side, Okuma headbutts any time he gets the chance, Teranishi and Momota throw headbutts of their own to keep with the spirit, and eventually everyone gets silent when Okuma headbutts Kobashi right in the nose and mouth. Momota as a fired up babyface is beautiful, tagging in and going nuts on the heels with open hand chops. "You want to headbutt my fucking friends? You want to hit people? I'll fucking hit people. I'll hit all of you!" Eigen bends Kobashi back over the ropes and hammers away at his chest, setting up his own spit spot before the spit spot existed. Men headbutt each other in the back of the head, Okuma runs harder into clotheslines than he runs his own head into other skulls, and Haruka Eigen might be the greatest shit stirrer in wrestling. Another low card old man classic. 

Remo Banda/Rudy Reyna/Mano Negra vs Principe Island/Meztizo/Jerry Estrada CMLL 1989/1990

MD: The opening interview mentions Christmas just happening and there's some mention of 1990 so I wonder if this was just in January maybe? Again, there are some great guys in here. This is Park pre-Park teaming with Jerry Estrada in all of his glory against Super Parka/Volador pre-those things, exotico-turned-tecnico Reyna (who remains awesome in all of this footage) and they get a ton of time to have a very complete match. My biggest complaint is that it was just a little unfocused, but it was a lot of great things that maybe never came together; there was still plenty to like. For instance, the opening pairing (and posturing beforehand) was Remo Banda vs Estrada, which made a lot of sense given they had similar teased out hair and style. They worked well together. The other pairings were good, though I would have rather seen Reyna and Principe matched up. Mano Negra was just sort of there and I don't have a good sense of Meztizo even after watching this. 

The second round of pairings gave us Principe vs. Remo Banda which is a rematch from Panama and just like there, they came off like sparring partners who trained so hard against each other they could to an extra gear with wilder stuff. Even just for a minute or two it was great to see them do their thing against each other again. Likewise, the bit we got of Estrada vs Reyna was very good and full of motion and shtick. The segunda started with some really wonderful, imaginative work where Remo Banda fought off all the rudos, full of a bunch of clever spots you don't see all that often. The beatdown, once we got there, was gnarly stuff, with Principe dragging Remo Banda around the ring or stepping on his hair and pulling his arms up, and Estrada just beating Reyna around ringside with great punches. That made it all the better when Reyna started to come back with the best punches that you'll see this week. It devolved into chaos, leading to Estrada exiting the ring with one of his insane signature bumps and the tecnicos finishing off the remaining rudos. This didn't become a bloody war but as fairly conventional matches go, it had a lot of what I usually look for.

Read more!

Celebrating All Japan Veterans on Veterans Day

Haruka Eigen/Masa Fuchi/Motoshi Okuma vs. Giant Baba/Mitsuo Momota/Rusher Kimura AJPW 2/26/90

ER: We don't always appreciate every blessing that life hands us, but it is a real gift that someone used nearly 30 minutes of camcorder battery to film an old man match curtain to curtain, entrances and exits. If the man recording this had children then you can guarantee he never accidentally missed a recital. He almost surely did not have children because he wouldn't be filming entire All Japan house shows if he knew the touch of a woman, but we thank his life choices for giving the Battery Life knowledge to get this gem. We've been going through a big batch of All Japan handhelds - which are my favorite thing - and when Matt saw there was a 20+ minute old man match he let me know that it was "an Eric kind of match". Not something that we would do for Found Footage Friday, but an Eric match. And so, I oblige.  

Because the thing is, 1990 was an incredible year for old man All Japan matches, mostly because they weren't all that old yet. Being an old man in these matches was more of a vibe than an actual number, because everyone except Baba was still in their 40s. Masa Fuchi was only 36, but he was someone who was always facially a 60 year old Salary Man with the crotchetiness of an 80 year old. Momota was my age, Eigen a bit older, and Rusher Kimura only 48. These men are my peers at this stage of the Old Man Match, but I don't think anyone would ever mistake Rusher Kimura for my peer as he was already spiritually an old man. 

Everyone in this match could still go. All of them were actual workers and the comedy was a bonus that was perfectly integrated into the stiffness instead of leaned on as a crutch to avoid taking too many bumps.  Their bodies may have been more stiff, but they could all still kick ass and lean into strikes. And this match had a lot of stiff strikes. 

Okuma, Fuchi, and Eigen come out in matching black tank tops, and the black tank crew starts the match by putting the damn boots to Rusher. Fuchi chokes Rusher over the ropes and goes after his ribs with a Bob Barker-like run of 20 straight hard kicks. Okuma comes in for some kicks, then Eigen comes in and adds 15 or so, then Fuchi comes back and starts it all over. Kimura does this amazing bit the entire time he's getting beaten to death, as he keeps slumping slightly farther and farther over with each kick until he was completely slouched in the ropes. That's the key to a lot of the comedy in this era of Old Men, where the joke is the result of actual stiffness and violence, their old man reaction to a real ass kicking. It's the way Baba would break up pins or submissions by walking slowly across the ring to throw a hard kick into someone's spine. It plays as physical comedy the entire time while also delivering a size 34 boot into Fuchi or Okuma's shoulder blades. Baba gets laughs by selling Okuma and Eigen's headbutts with exaggerated grimaces, rubbing his head like a bear who ran into a tree branch. His physical selling is very funny, but also very accurate, and also he is taking real headbutts from two guys who can throw headbutts. 

There is a headbutt exchange between Rusher and Okuma that starts out getting laughs, with Kimura doing silly little bunny hops into hands-free headbutts, but keeps progressing until it ends with Okuma headbutting him in the teeth three straight times. Eigen and Rusher might make funny faces while chopping each other, but Eigen is chopping the hell out of Rusher. You can see how hard Eigen's chops are landing thanks to the nice framing by our childless bachelor cameraman. Eigen isn't swinging through Rusher, he is swinging into Rusher, and since Rusher never moves at all while taking strikes he is just absorbing all of the impact. 

Speaking of good camera angles, we get a head-on view of Eigen when he inevitably spits onto the fine people and derelicts of Kashihara, right towards our lonely but fulfilled cameraman. Isn't it interesting that almost all the handhelds we have show the side view of Haruka Eigen spitting into the 2nd row. We don't get one head on nearly as often, and we almost never get one facing away from the camera. This gives us a new data point to add to our Eigen Spit pie chart, which is heavily dominated by stage left spitting. 

Momota and Okuma really up the speed, going at an unexpected juniors pace through some spirited quick exchanges, kind of quickly running through some bigger offense that you don't get in Old Man matches even just two years later. We're talking an Okuma piledriver leading into Momota doing a back suplex just a moment later, and all of that coming in the middle of other hard quick bumps. Momota was still a spry 42 - a young guy exactly the same age as me, a very young guy in his prime - but even I was surprised by some of his agility. He had a really smooth sunset flip out of the corner, and then an incredibly slick backslide to reverse a hiptoss. Wrestling in 2023 is all about athletic guys doing the same offense in athletic ways, but I don't think even the best of the modern quick Athletic Guy wrestlers (Ricochet, Mustafa Ali, any of the 40 AEW guys who work that style) could have made this backslide look as good as Momota did. Mitsuo Momota had a finisher worthy backslide that looked cool enough that I watched it back several times just to see his body physics. 

Everybody bumps big for Baba, of course. You're an incurable idiot if you do not run as fast as you can into Baba's giant boot and every member of the black tank crew knows this. We get some great moments around that boot, like Fuchi dramatically holding onto the ropes to avoid running into one, or Eigen doing the exact opposite and getting a full head of steam to run directly into it with seemingly no other plan. But nobody bumps bigger than Rusher Kimura, who absorbs a real impressive beating over the course of a long match which saw him involved more than anyone. Okuma and Fuchi and Eigen all hit him hard the whole match, but Okuma takes it up a level when he throws him through the ropes to the floor - a big bump for anyone but a bump Rusher shouldn't have been taking - and then throws him into and over the guardrail and beats his ass in the crowd. My boy Rusher eventually hobbles back to the ring holding his shoulder, and his body had to have been bruised up like a running back's. 

This was the best era of Old Men: the perfect mix of actual funny comedy and actual good wrestling, and when we get over 20 minutes of that it needs to be celebrated. These veterans are the true heroes. 

Read more!

Found Footage Friday: TERRY~! DORY~! ABBY~! KIMALA II~! KONAKA~! NORI DA FUNKY~! RUSHER~! EIGEN~!

Dory Funk Jr./Terry Funk vs. Abdullah the Butcher/Kimala II AJPW 12/7/90

MD: On paper, this played out pretty much how one would think it might. Actually, even on paper, it had a little more to it than a lot of the Funks' matches on these 1990-1991 tours and the Abby/Kimala ones around the 1990 RWTL. I like almost all of those matches but so many are handheld so you don't quite the full smack of Dory's uppercuts or the fully joy of Terry's antics and they usually have a bit of a ceiling to them. Still good, still full of mastery, but they don't push it quite over the top.

This goes over the top and we get to see it in jarringly crisp video quality. The first third of it was back and forth. Dory's uppercuts were brisk. Terry's punches were amazing. Even just seeing them do a spinning footwash onto Kimala 2 looked gnarly giving the sheer size of his head. They were even able to double slam him. Kimala always had just enough "stuff" too, coming off the top with a headbutt as Abby held on to a poor victim, that abrupt dropkick that could change the trajectory of a match. And then Abby's throat shots or clothesline drop looked great in this VQ. Amazing moment here to end that first third as they set things up for Terry vs Abby, only for Abby to give a maniacal smile and tag out to Kimala once again.

It was the prelude to blood and panic; Terry would almost immediately get the spinning toehold on Kimala only for Abby to rush in for the fork and go right after his ear. What followed was a beautifully symphony of Terry Funk, blood running down the side of his head, flailing, bumping, writhing, and menacing a poor cameraman as he convalesced around the ringside area. Also lots of crazy, wild punch combos that were pure Terry. This, of course, let Abby and Kimala have the advantage (including bloodying Dory up too) until we rolled into the third act with Terry getting the fork and the fans going nuts for the Funks' revenge. We've seen some of this act before: Abby with the fork, Abby getting comeuppance from it, he made a career partially out of it, but the Funks had a way of making it weightier and more visceral than anyone. At a time where they felt a little more like an attraction in their All Japan matches, they still do a match like this whenever they wanted.

PAS: Man I loved this! Chaotic Terry Funk is one of the true treats in pro-wrestling, he is the greatest wrestler ever and his true mastery is when things go off the rails. When he gets stabbed in the ear and everything goes pear shaped, we get some awesome out of control Terry including him roughing a poor innocent cameraman and bleeding all over his shirt. Terry and Abby is as great a match up in 1990 as it was in 1979, Abby isn't as mobile, but mobility isn't his calling card anyway. I am a low voter on Dory as a technical wrestler, but have always enjoyed him in brawls, and he was super fun here, throwing thumping uppercuts, bleeding, and even doing a spot where he propelled Kimala over the top rope with a legscissors. Kimala 2 is a guy with a lot of bounce and was fun as sort of a hyperactive brother to Abby's more slow moving menace.  Still this is special because of the GOAT, and anytime we get to see him add another page to his novel it is a blessing.

ER: Man I could watch exclusively All Japan matches to the very end of my days. I loved every man in this tag, all doing the exact things they do best. But of course, the most exciting thing to all of you is the fact that none of us have ever seen Terry Funk square off against Kimala II before. Kimala works a lot of this match and seemingly has zero issue getting the shit beaten out of him by Funk. It's hilarious that Terry appeared to be throwing worked punches at Abby - even after Abby started to slice the man's ear off with a fork - but appeared to actively hit Kimala as hard as possible. When Kimala misses an avalanche, Terry hits a BEAST of a standing lariat, making some of the hardest contact you can make from a flat footed swing, then drops the full weight of his knee on Kimala's face with a very much Not Worked kneedrop. When Kimala gets to his feet after that kneedrop, Terry shoot punches him in the face in the exact same spot he just dropped a knee. Later on when the square off again, I was shocked to see how excited Kimala looked when Terry tagged in, slapping his belly and running in place as if he couldn't wait to walk out with a shattered orbital bone. And sure enough, Funk almost instantly overwhelmed him with punches to knock him to his back, then threw more pounding fists from his side while Kimala lay motionless. 

But while Funk/Kimala was the unique unseen match-up, the Terry/Abby interactions were legendary. When Abby pulled out the fork for the first time on the apron he did it with the showmanship of a magician, turning to the crowd and wiggling his fingers and making lil' stinker faces. "You know what I'm getting out!" before just walking into the ring and stabbing Terry straight in the head. Abby stabs the fuck out of the Funks, and when he starts stabbing Terry in the ear Terry goes nuts at ringside, sprinting at and then getting tangled up in a camera guy, then falling over a table like only Terry Funk can fall over a table. Not one fucking person can ape Terry's body movement, and his falling glacier bump onto and over a table is Uncut Terry. I love the first full reveal we get of Terry's badly bleeding ear, that realization of "Oh yeah obviously Abby was just stabbing him as hard as possible in the ear with the fork" leading directly into him forking the hell out of Dory's bald head. 

Abdullah's fork work here was incredible. The reaction he gets pressing it into Dory's fucking eyeball was real, and I loved the sicko fucking way that Kimala kept tagging in and going mouth first after every fresh fork slicing that Abby opened up. Kimala and Abby were such a fun team, as aside from Kimala licking and chewing up all the Funk's blood we got two different moments of Abby running full speed into Kimala as he had a Funk pressed into a corner. One of the most special things in pro wrestling is seeing one of the fattest men you've ever seen, running as fast and hard as he can into another one of the fattest men you've ever seen, for the sole purpose of squishing a third man. Terry gets a Stone Cold level reaction when he finally wrests the fork away from Abby and starts stabbing and punching him around ringside, and Kimala takes a flat out instant bump tumbling headlong over the top to the floor from a Dory low bridge headscissors, and his screams as Dory locking in the spinning toe hold made that hold feel as dangerous as it ever looked. Men Kimala's size aren't built to fall that fast onto concrete, and him fucking up his leg should be almost expected from such a fall. Hearing him yelp while Dory pulled on his leg added realism I was not expecting from a match that already had a fake Sudanese man stabbing two men hard enough to get 8 years for assault, had he done it anywhere other than in a ring at Budokan. 

Rusher Kimura vs. Haruka Eigen AJPW 1/27/91

MD: This was the last show of the tour so they were in a singles match instead of a tag. It amazes me that these two would still be going at it ten years later in NOAH, but it really was a timeless act. In the months that preceded this, Baba was teamed with Andre in the RWTL. At this point, he was out with an injury I think, and wouldn't be back til June. That meant Rusher was captaining the comedy for AJPW and Eigen was a perfect foil for him, just a total shitheel. From around this period, we have a few tags with rough vq as they're HHs and an even tougher singles encounter that you can barely make out. With tags, they usually did a good job of delaying the gratification of Rusher getting his hands on Eigen. It was trickier with the singles match but still worked out pretty well here. It started with Rusher chasing him around the ring to get a handshake, Eigen shaking, and then Eigen immediately slapping Rusher to a big reaction. 

Following that were a few unclean breaks by Eigen and then some real advantage. He was even able to position Rusher on the apron, facing the crowd to hit the smack to the chest (like Sheamus') which were his own signature spot to take. Eventually, he started chopping the heck out of Rusher and Rusher went from wincing in agony to powering back, flooring Eigen with one shot and taking over, never to look back. He'd smack him on the apron twice; Eigen always spit into the crowd when taking this and we have two good shots, first of the crowd grossed out by it and then all of them running from the impending spit like they were at a Gallagher show. Post match, we even can translate a bit of what Kimura was saying (hopeless on old fancams). He ended the show and his part of the tour by reminding Eigen that it was cold out there and telling him not to catch a cold, cracking the crowd up. I love watching these guys do their thing.  

ER: I'm sure it's easy to see the names Haruka Eigen and Rusher Kimura and write this off as comedy, but you'd be missing out on one of the most savage Eigen matches you've ever seen. Haruka Eigen's All Japan/NOAH run is one of the best comedy runs of any wrestler ever, maybe the funniest comedy worker of my life not named Super Porky. And he is plenty funny in this match, he just decides to segue from comedy to outright ass kicking in a way that he rarely did once he hit his mid-40s. When Rusher offers him a handshake at the bell, he accepts it and then slaps Rusher, skipping away and running behind the referee, then slaps Rusher again when they finally lock up. I laughed hard, and was fully expecting a match filled with his cherubic face making pleading faces as Rusher softly punched and shuffled after him, but instead Eigen begins throwing stiffer and stiffer strikes until he is hitting Rusher harder than I've seen him hit anyone during any part of his 15 year King's Road career. Rusher chimes in with open hand chops directly to Eigen's throat (which Eigen sells with alarmed screams), but Eigen is the one throwing headlock punches, hard flat boot kicks into Rusher's ribs, and graduates to caving in Rusher's chest while turning his own legendary comedy spot on its ear. 

"You guys think it's funny to splay me out on the ropes and have me spit on the fine Korakuen attendees? Here's how it feels. You think I'm a joke? Am I a joke to you? Here's what it feels like you motherfucker." Eigen clubs Kimura in the chest as hard as I've ever seen him hit anyone, forcing the ref to hold him back by the shoulders as he kicks at Rusher from the apron. In a world where Eigen typically uses the referee as a shield, we have now seen the referee forced to hold him back from furthering a beating. I love him. And when it eventually all catches up to him and Rusher throws him to the floor, you know he turns the tables and makes Eigen spray spit into the 6th row. Haruka Eigen is a man who tried to break free from his comedy roles and make his way into action dramas, only to be dragged back into comedy. The finish is excellent, as both men start wailing on each other with punches and chops, and Eigen gets up steam to elbow Rusher right in the ear. Rusher's selling is excellent as Eigen hits the ropes to comeback with a killshot elbow, but Rusher hooks him with a clothesline hard enough to put down any man. I have waited far too long to start a Haruka Eigen Complete & Accurate.  

Konaka Pale One vs. Nori da Funky Shibiresasu Sportiva 10/3/18

MD: There will always be room for Japanese warehouse nightclub wrestling here on Segunda Caida. Sebastian tells us that Nori da Funky is a guy who was in a Japanese hip hop group that did the opening song of Naruto and who wrestles like a powerhouse. Konaka we've seen before with his white face paint and ghost look and awesome combo of tiny close-up adjustments to get in and out of holds and abruptness in putting things on. The video's 30 minutes but the match itself is more like 15. It's a war though.

Konaka has Nori da Funky's number early, able to twist him about in hold after hold. Nori's able to at least put up a fight and just power his way through and into certain things. They go into strike exchanges a couple of times and I appreciate the way they sell each and every shot. There's no standing and taking everything. It all has weight and consequence. Every hold, every shot, every suplex. Even the roll-ups and kickouts seem grueling. Konaka's abruptness plays into his mid-match strategy as he keeps locking in a sleeper hold out of nowhere with Nori having to use all of his strength and savvy to escape, never the same way twice. In a test of strength Nori's going to win. In a game of chess, Konaka has the advantage, and the finishing stretch roll-ups leans more towards chess, ending with a clever spot that Yuta should steal. There's stuff on the mic after and entrances to start so don't be daunted by the time on this one. It's well worth watching.

PAS: We are in the glory days of weird Japanese indy footage shaking loose. Mutoah is selling their stuff and other micro indies, guys are finding tapes over in Japan, and digging into weird archives like this. Pale One is pretty cool, he really wrestles like the ghost of Shu El Guerrero or something, and I love the fact that the Japanese version of Shaggy 2 Dope wrestles like a WAR trainee in 1995, and the strength versus technique part of this match was really nifty. Love the final roll up, such a cool way to get a pin when you are out matched physically. Really looking forward to digging in to this stuff further. 

Read more!

Found Footage Friday: MISAWA~! KAWADA~! THE LAND OF GIANTS~! CHRISTIAN~! JOE~! DYING DAYS IWE~!

Rusher Kimura vs. Carl Fergie IWE 6/6/81

MD: It's always fun to see a journeyman overachieve in another country. You can think of Jim Dillon in the Maritimes (not that we have that footage) or the Rock 'n' Roll RPMs in Puerto Rico (that we do have and it's fun). Here, it's Carl Fergie - fresh off a midcard run putting guys over in Mid-South and on his way to do the same in Crockett - in a main event with Rusher Kimura. I was going to say that he was well prepared for this one by wrestling Lawler, but he doesn't wrestle Lawler until 1982, so it was somehow the other way around.

You need somewhat similar skill sets against both, mainly being able to snap your head back at the sight of a great worked punch and take a back body drop. With Rusher, however, you also had to deal with nasty chops in the corner and headbutts.  That gave the match a more visceral feel; when Fergie snuck in a kick out of the corner and tried to assert himself, he was probably forcing a break for the sake of his forehead and poor chest. Rusher was in a hybrid phase here: not the wrestler he'd been in the 70s, not the comedy statesman he'd be a few years later. It meant he'd try for things like a stretch out of a Russian Leg Sweep or the bearhug into a butterfly submission he won with, but no longer had the flexibility he once did. This set up other matches on the tour as much as anything else, with Gypsy Joe interfering to mercifully (as he was trying out that first submission) cause the first fall. I thought Fergie looked like he belonged, for the most part. Some of that was the state of IWE, but enough of it was Fergie himself.

ER: King Carl Fergie the Wicked, wearing a Nazi helmet for his dying days IWE main event. King Carl Fergie, conqueror of Goro Tsurumi and Atsushi Onita, partner of Gypsy Joe. Rusher Kimura's takedowns look so impossible to stop. Rusher had lost some speed but this man moved and manipulated the larger Fergie like a real shooter. When he pins Fergie's arm and grapevines the leg, you can see him using all of his weight to effortlessly drop Fergie to the mat. It's the way Fergie keeps trying to push Rusher off him from his back, but Rusher won't let go of that boot for anything. The shoulderblocks hit hard and Fergie gets tossed immaculately by a backdrop, then gets punched directly in the face, taking a tremendous floundering back bump with windmilling arms that almost catches the back of his neck on the ropes. Fergie took that punch like he was a heavy getting knocked out by Rick Simon. This is really fucking good. Fergie walks right up to Rusher Kimura because he's the man, and he punches Rusher in the face and shakes his fist out angrily after punching him, and every man in Korakuen knows that Fergie is the man. His elbow strikes to Kimura's collarbones only reinforces that feeling.  

I loved every headlock in this match. 

Carl Fergie takes an even higher backdrop than he did earlier and Rusher locks him into a killer butterfly mid-squat bearhug like he was a Negro Navarro T-1000 sent back to send Carl Fergie back to Memphis. Who was the human (?) who, over 40 years ago, knew how important it would be to document the time crimes that were happening in the final three months of the 4th most popular wrestling promotion in Japan. 

Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada vs. The Land of Giants AJPW 11/20/90

MD: Eric already covered the hugely entertaining 11/21/90 Land of the Giants vs Dory/Terry match (amazing Terry performance) so I'm poking at the guts of this thing instead. And on paper, it's kind of interesting. Misawa and Kawada had spent most of the last many months against Jumbo, Taue, Inoue, Fuchi, Doc, Gordy, Hansen and even occasionally stablemate Kobashi and Ace. Those are all guys you can do a lot against. Here, they were up against the sort of challenge rare to AJPW, two absolute lugs with size, no mobility, terrible clubbering strikes, little presence. That's the sort of thing you expect out of post-WWF talent 80s NJPW maybe, where they'd just trot out Mad Maxx and Super Maxx managed by Wakamatsu to face Fujinami and Kimura, but it's a lot less of an AJPW thing.

And, yeah, it goes ok. The real testament to Misawa, Kawada, and the crowd, was that there was a legitimately hot tag to Misawa towards the end and the crowd went up for it; I don't think it was entirely warranted, but they went with it anyway. After that, there was a great American tag moment of Misawa and Kawada whipping the giants into each other too. Otherwise, the big appeal here would be the Super Generation Army throwing really high kicks at really tall guys. Nitron took them pretty well too. That's about the nicest thing I'm going to say about Land of the Giants here, unfortunately. The blows didn't look great, crummy knees in the ropes, weak sweeping clubbering forearms, a couple of slams that didn't have much mustard behind them. There was stuff that worked in theory but not execution, like Nitron catching Kawada with a cheapshot clothesline from his spot on the apron to cut off a flurry. Their finish at this point was an assisted legdrop (from an atomic drop position) and Masters pumping his arm before going up with it was sort of entertaining. The finish worked too, with Kawada getting Nitron out of the ring so Misawa could throw some magic forearms and duck a clothesline to hit a pretty beautiful bridging German on a giant of a man. But like I said, that they got the crowd back was the most impressive thing here.

ER: Yeah, this wasn't great. It merely existed, and was worked surprisingly straight forward for being a couple of Faux Warriors vs. the two hottest young studs in the company. Misawa and Kawada didn't go after them any differently than they would have gone after Dynamite Kid and Johnny Smith, so that was kind of disappointing. I either wanted to see two giants with bad offense hold down two elites, or two elites absolutely lace into two bad giants, and we got something much less risky and much less interesting. What *is* important to note, is that the team of SKYWALKER NITRON and Butch Masters is not "Land of the Giants", which I suppose makes more sense than their actual name. No, their name is THE Land of Giants. Their team name makes sure to place the focus on the Land rather than the Giants who inhabit this Land, much like hit the hit Sid & Marty Krofft series The Land of Lost. 

In This Land of Giants, the Giants do not hit very hard. Of all the future X-Men, I imagine Misawa or Kawada could have worked a more compelling match with Kelsey Grammer or Alan Cumming. SKYWALKER NITRON throws two of the piddliest clotheslines, even though Kawada mostly saved one of them by just running neck first into it. Running into an actual clothesline in the backyard would have provided far more resistance that NITRON's long noodle of an arm. I do like how Misawa came in and kicked at him, actually liked his kicks more than Kawada's here. Lighter on form, harder on impact. Butch Masters is really good at stepping over the top rope, which is not a thing that every tall wrestler can say. SKYWALKER NITRON can't say it. But Butch steps over it straight, an optical illusion that makes it look like he's just stepping up onto a curb while he's actually clearing three ropes. NITRON meanwhile looks like he's trying to get into a ski boat from the water. Each man who hails from The Land of Giants did their own bearhug, and Misawa broke up SKYWALKER's by walking in and just elbowing him straight in the kidneys. Kawada hits a cool pescado into NITRON, and I do like the finisher of the team who hails from The Land of Giants, a man-assisted legdrop. What other Giants come from this Land? Were they sending their biggest and best Giants to the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium? Was this merely a work placement program, or a study abroad kind of situation? What is the Giant Exchange Program in The Land? Are these two as good as Tall Rick or Thomas Big Boots? 

Christian vs. Samoa Joe NEW 4/21/07

MD: I love Christian's WWECW work. He was an amazing week to week TV wrestler, someone who could work his own spots and his opponent's spots into a match in clever, believable, varied, and interesting ways to deal with the grind of televised match after match after match. A sort of neo-Bret Hart for a different era with different demands. I've never really had any indication that he worked it out much before that though. Some of that is on me in that I didn't chase down his TNA run. Unfortunately, I do think some of it might be on him too.

It's a little off-putting how much of this match is rote heel champion vs. local dominant attraction house show fare, actually. It's not that the stalling isn't fun and the antics with the ref aren't good and the cheating isn't effective. It just doesn't stand out as special like you'd expect a Christian vs. Samoa Joe match to be. In fact, even though he hits some of his big offensive moves, it's the least "Joe" match I've ever seen. He's so submerged in the formula that he comes off as just another guy lacking his usual aura. Because it's such an aberration, I'm leaning towards Christian not quite being there yet and my gut says that this would have been a lot better a couple of years later or even right now. Again, there was nothing bad or wrong about it and the stuff that was good was very good; it just was less than the sum of its parts should have been. That's all.

Read more!

Found Footage Friday: IWRG RETRO~! LAWLER VS DUNDEE~! INOUE~! RUSHER~! EIGEN~! OKUMA~!

Mighty Inoue/Rusher Kimura vs. Haruka Eigen/Motoshi Okuma AJPW 11/20/90

MD: We've covered the Andre match from this show but it's pretty overlooked otherwise. I'll go through most of it in the weeks to come. It was right during the RWTL and weirdly we have a chunk of HHs from this month so we get to see a lot of the different pairings. This match was not actually part of it, I think, as Inoue and Kimura were in it but Okuma an Eigen weren't. One fun thing about this, however, is because Baba was in the RWTL with Andre, these aren't the usual six mans. That means that all other non-Baba parties get more chance to shine and show individual personality. 

For instance, this match is all about Eigen and Eigen's pretty great in it. It starts with handshakes, and Eigen goes so far to bow to Rusher (drawing light applause) before smacking him in the face (popping the crowd big). He then dashes out of the ring and raises his hands in victory. Then, right as he was about to lock up with Inoue, Eigen turns and smacks Rusher off the apron before running away and raising his hand in victory once more. Then, once they've isolated Inoue and Okuma has him in an armbar, Eigen runs across the apron to stand on the top and taunt Rusher and after a tag and a double chop, he dashes across the ring to smack him again, drawing him in so they can double team Inoue some more. Just great heatseeking from a place not known for it. 

The initial comeback is Inoue slipping around to hit a belly to back on Okuma, so when Rusher comes in, he can't get his hands on Eigen. Then, they take over on Rusher so the gratification of it all is even more delayed. Okuma's fun in here, running all the headbutt spots with Rusher, even as they're beating him down, but this is Eigen's show, right up to the point where Inoue holds his leg as he's trying to come off the top on Rusher and he gets everything that was coming to him (which means he does his big trademark spit spot on the apron as Inoue and then Rusher and then Inoue smacks him in the chest). What an underrated jerk. 

Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee Memphis Power Hour 2/25/06

MD: This is a four and a half minute segment but we're contractually obligated to watch all Lawler vs Dundee matches and this was a fun three minutes which could have been an uproarious ten if they gave it the time. It's 62 year old Dundee vs 56 year old Lawler, who happens to be wearing these triple high Stacks boots. They work about two minutes based around the boot, Dundee having the fans mock him, Lawler mocking the even more severe height difference, Dundee selling a kick like death, Lawler falling on his ass with an over the top trip by Dundee. They could have milked this forever and it would have been endlessly funny, but after a few minutes they play to the interference and the match gets thrown out. At least Dundee got to punch Lawler a lot and trip him again though. Very much 1990 heel Lawler with a different gimmick every week but that probably felt refreshing in 2006. It's just a shame there was only a couple of minutes of this.

Freelance/Tortuguillos I y II vs. Los Oficiales (AK47, Fierro y 911) IWRG (Retro) 11/10/2007

MD: This is from the 4/6 IWRG Retro, which fell through the cracks due to being around Mania, I think. There's another match on there we'll cover later. This was one fall by design but also by necessity. We start out with Tortuguillo Azul and 911 and they have some loose but flowing matwork. There's some of that anticipation where they end up where they should be a half second too early (especially 911), but it all comes off like baiting our turtle friend in by the end with the next counter, so it's ine. We get just a bit from Fierro and Tortuguillo Rojo and that's quite a bit more struggle laden. Before we can even get to Freelance and AK47 though, it all breaks down with the rudo swarm. AK47 decides it's a good idea to do the Sid style leaping kick off the apron to the floor. This is pretty horrific mistake as it was for Sid a few years earlier and that's the last we see him for the match.

Los Oficiales are good at pressing their advantage, however, and Freelance is very good at reaching for the ceiling while eating a double back body drop. They make short work of the the Turtles without much incident even being down one partner. Maybe if that hadn't been the case there would have been a spirited tecnico comeback, but as it was, this was a pretty satisfying mauling. 911's crane kick stylings and clumsy fall off the top splash weren't nearly as good as Fierro's way of asserting himself with his size and power but combined they were better than the sum of their parts. Hopefully AK47 was ok.

Read more!

Found Footage Friday: ANDRE~! INOKI~! MAEDA~! CANEK~! CHOSHU~! RUSHER~!

El Canek vs. Riki Choshu UWA 12/19/79 

MD: Title match for the UWA World Heavyweight Title in Mexico City. We're lucky to have it more for Choshu being in the spot than anything else as it feels like we're much more apt to have Fujinami in a match like this. It went less than fourteen minutes over three falls. Choshu wasn't fully Choshu yet, but he was more than competent, hanging on to the arm for a lot of the first fall; it was about 60% of what we'd get from France just a few years earlier given such an exchange but 60% of that is still solid if you ask me. Canek was going through the motions of trying to escape but without some of the intensity we're used to. Canek took the early advantage when they picked up the pace, but Choshu caught him with a suplex and Scorpion Deathlock to end the first fall. Second was more back and forth with chippy strikes in between holds and Canek barely getting Choshu up with a press into a backbreaker. Tercera had some good nearfalls as they played into the title drama. Occasionally they were just a little off on some of their spots, but it was never anything that really took you out of the match. Finish was Canek tossing Choshu off the top and following it up with a flying body press. More enjoyable than great, but still a very complete match overall.

Antonio Inoki vs. Rusher Kimura NJPW 3/17/1982

MD: Kimura had come into New Japan to face Inoki late in 81 and they had a blowoff Lumberjack match in October. Kimura reemerged to menace Inoki at the end of his January 1982 series with Abdullah (which is all worth watching) and they were paired up in February and here in March. They come off as two alpha bulls of the 1970s, standing tall right around age 40. Kimura was a couple of years older than Inoki. The fans were into this and they almost got more reaction just standing, staring, posturing, or clapping to build anticipation than with the actual action. The holds were simple and hard-fought, straightforward grinding.

Midway through the match, Inoki, as he was want to do, became a complete jerk, starting a double knucklelock lock up and then just slapping Kimura, wrenching the arm into a pumphandle over the shoulder, and locking in a cross armbreaker. The fans loved it as they always did. Kimura came back with incredibly hard shots in the ropes and a massive running forearm, following it up with some brutality with a weapon on the outside (weapon shots were ok so long as they weren't in the ring in NJPW at this period). Inoki fought back hitting the enziguri to knock Rusher out and they brawled hard on the outside for the countout. Nothing was proven but the fans, so into this, got most of what they wanted to see, two big stars butt heads and egos with one another, and yeah, Inoki being a triumphant jerk. More heel-coded behavior that was wildly over for an ace babyface. Everyone loves a bully so long as he's your bully.

Andre the Giant/El Canek vs. Antonio Inoki/Akira Maeda NJPW 5/24/83

MD: Lots to see here. They had Maeda work almost all of this, likely because it wasn't taped. I haven't seen a ton of pre-UWF Maeda and it was strange to see him a little less confident than usual. Still, having Andre in the match will do that to anyone. The early minutes where Maeda had Canek in a standing toehold were interesting because Andre kept menacingly entering the ring. It ended up a bit like a pitcher who was thrown off by having to repeatedly look at the runner at first. I can't remember that same sort of feel in a lot of other matches, but that was the threat of Andre. They eventually did have Andre run in only to get single-legged himself and Inoki and Maeda locking in a modified version of the estella on Canek and Andre to a big pop.

Canek worked heel for the most part and had some good stuff (Neckbreaker drop, flying forearm, gutwrenching power slam, this great standing knee strike springing off the bottom rope like Abby's headbutt) though he was often working from underneath. Andre and Maeda really worked well together, surprising as that might be. Andre beat him around the ring, including the hugest chop. At times Maeda seemed unsure but Andre took his stuff, staggering for a dropkick and going all the way down for the spin wheel kick, the second time perfectly getting caught in the ropes. Brilliant Andre-in-Japan spots to end this. Inoki and Maeda kept tossing Canek into Andre as he was caught, so Andre, fed up, put his foot up to take out his own partner. Then Andre caught a massive Maeda dive only to help him over the rail for the DQ. I enjoyed this a lot even if it's not much of an Inoki tribute.

ER: Every new Andre match that shows up from any year only cements his status as the greatest wrestler of all time. Here we get Andre as a super active complainer, getting into and out of the ring a dozen times in a huff, threatening a walk out, it's all incredible stuff. This is a match where Inoki is hardly present, and Andre works the entire thing from his entrance to minutes after the bell. Andre moves as fast as anyone in the match, walking straight over the top rope and back the whole time, even exiting the ring like he was fucking Marty Jannetty or something. We get to see Andre as a Zbyszko stalling tactic guy, which is just what I wanted to see tonight without knowing it before watching it. This gigantic man just runs up and over the ropes and stamps his feet about Inoki being a sneaky opportunist and it rocks. His physical acting is the best in wrestling history. His apron work is incredible, but look at his in-ring selling. 

Watch Andre sell la estella better than any luchador I've seen; the way he howls and grabs at his hamstring and how Maeda goes right after the hamstring with kicks until Andre wedgies him like a little baby. Andre is a real showman, drawing boos from the fans while also drawing laughs, like when he does his throaty Giant Laugh while Maeda is crawling at his feet, then settles into working quick tags to cut Maeda off. I don't know why it's so funny seeing Andre work quick tags and keep stepping over the ropes just to come in and hit a punch. I love him. Maeda didn't always seem like he knew what to do with Andre, working a couple sequences uncharacteristically tentative. I guess I don't blame him for thinking twice about a sequence that ended with him taking one of the biggest chops ever. Maeda's comeback spinning heel kicks were fantastic. Andre took a big bump off the first and then got caught in the ropes on the second. Andre's bump over the top to the floor was amazing, just insane that he was taking bumps like that on shows that weren't being recorded. What a god. Him catching a Maeda pescado and trying to crush him over the guardrail, then chasing Inoki and Maeda all around the ring while yelling on the house mic, it's just great. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE ANDRE

Read more!

Found Footage Friday: All Japan 12/5/85

Haru Sonoda vs. Shinichi Nakano

MD: Good performance here from rookie Nakano. He showed a bulldog's tenacity in attacking Sonoda's arm (especially good headbutts to it) and never felt like he shouldn't be in the match. I'd seen him quite a bit recently in 89-90 and past a bit of meandering at times, I would have believed you if you told me this match was from that era. Maybe that was part of the problem in him not advancing more. Sonada (who was Magic Dragon but I imagine most people reading this would know that) came back with headbutts and inside shots and a lot of focus on the eyes. Nakano sold an eye rake with a back bump which was a choice. Finishing stretch was okay in that you at least wondered if Nakano had a shot.

Nick Bockwinkel/Curt Hennig vs. Mighty Inoue/Masa Fuchi

MD: This was what drew me to this show as much as anything else. A new Bockwinkel match. Against two of my favorites of the decade for AJPW in Inoue and Fuchi. AWA babyface Hennig was in for a lot of this, having his leg dismantled by Inoue and Fuchi as they cut off the ring. The nature of the handheld made the ring look huge and the distance insurmountable at one point for Hennig. There were a couple of clips there in that part but you got the idea. Once he did make it to Bockwinkel, Bock was amazing as usual. He immediately pressed Inoue in the corner, then raised his hand in a flamboyant gesture of an exasperated clean break before laying in some shots anyway. He followed it up with a deep slam across the ring before Fuchi came and the two of them scrapped their way to the floor. When it was Hennig's turn to get some revenge, he showed a lot of fire. The finishing stretch was definitive but unique, with Bock lifting Fuchi up for a Hart Attack move with Hennig's "Axe" and then hitting a rare power bomb for the win. I don't think it was ever better than the sum of its parts, but the parts were all very good.

ER: Normally I'm a fan of minimalist wrestling but I wanted a bit more from this one. I was hoping to see Hennig and Inoue work quick and land hard and instead it was a lock of Inoue holding Hennig in a leglock. It was engaging enough, but it wasn't the kind of engagement I wanted. Mockingly, the handheld cuts away right as Hennig starts punching Inoue from his back and Inoue starts connecting back. Fuchi wasn't as much of a dickhead here as he'd become, wrestling much more like Jumbo lite. I did really like Fuchi catching a Hennig kick and Hennig punching him a couple times while hopping on one leg. Bockwinkel hit hard when he tagged in, and the finish was spirited. Inoue splats Bock with his senton and then hits the mat just as hard when Bock rolls away from the next one. The Hennig Axe bomber Hart Attack looked awesome, and Bockwinkel's powerslam finish looked just as good. 

Tiger Mask II/Genichiro Tenryu/Motsohi Okuma vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu/Isamu Teranishi/Norio Honaga

MD: First couple of minutes here had me a little worried as everything was nice and clean and sportsmanlike. Then Yatsu came in and everything changed. 85 Yatsu came off as far more of a disruptor and dissident than Tenryu, a real chip on his shoulder, a real attitude, and more than happy to toss people around with one throw after another. Tenryu would meet him halfway, blasting him with shots and tossing him around on the floor, but he wasn't nearly as violent against anyone else, even Honaga who he was paired up with in the finishing stretch (a standard "junior getting some hope against a star before getting put down" bit). In fact, it was Okuma who came off as both a force and, really, a star, even though he was teaming with Tiger Mask and Tenryu. His headbutt act was perfectly suited for a house show setting and over. Following up from a bit where Yatsu (using Teranishi's distractions) kept coming in to break up submissions, Okuma did the same with headbutts. Eventually, the other side got revenge by all getting their own headbutts in on him (with the crowd egging Honaga along as he was the last and most hesitant of the bunch). I would have liked some of the teams' control segments to last a bit longer as it all felt a little too back and forth but once they got past that initial reluctance to really fight one another and Yatsu reset the mood, this became overall enjoyable.

British Bulldogs vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi/Fumihiro Niikura

MD: Pretty typical ten minute Bulldogs match here. It's 85 so Dynamite was mobile but roided to the gills. Kobayashi especially made the Bulldogs look good, not that it took a ton of work. They were leaping off of pin attempts for both of them and not just Davey Boy which I found interesting. Davey always looked like he was having so much fun in there while Dynamite never did. When it was time to eat offense for the Bulldogs, that was Davey too. I don't know. Unless we're talking 1980-2 jerk heel Dynamite, I always see the stuff I expect to in his matches. Hard to come in with an open mind. This was fine though.

Jesse Barr/Harley Race vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Giant Baba

MD: I had some hopes for this one. Generally, I think Race gives way too much in Japan given who he is and what his rep is and how awesome he can be when he's really laying it in. His partner here was Barr though so I couldn't imagine Barr carrying too much of the offense. This still had a decent amount of Race stooging though. Some of it was pretty ginger. He moved super slow out of a corner whip, for instance, but then he walked right into a belly to belly, so it's not like you can complain. When he did go on offense, it was pretty great, with some killer headbutts out of the corner and then holding Jumbo up for the world's longest delayed pile driver. Even the way he'd turn a Jumbo front facelock into a suplex, just the way he powered him over, had a ton of presence behind it. Barr was okay, bumping big for Baba (and glad to do it) and rewarded later by getting to belly-to-back him. The finish had Jumbo and Baba repeatedly kill Barr only for Race to save him again and again until both teams got counted out. My favorite part towards the end was the guys with the handheld camera shouting out what they thought Jumbo's next move would be (they got the clothesline right but didn't realize he wanted to do a revenge pile driver instead of the belly to back).

ER: This managed to be a bit dull and a bit surprising all at once. Jumbo had a couple dry runs on offense, and Race was a bit slow and deliberate at times, but I love these kind of matches because it's always fun seeing guys like Jesse Barr interact with huge legends. Race bumps a lot, getting big air on a Jumbo hiptoss and really tossed with a belly to belly, gets the legs knocked out from him by a Baba back elbow (after Race punched Baba in the eye), and down the stretch he takes his big rope flip bump backwards to the floor. I agree with Matt that it's more fun when Race fights back harder, and we get a feel for that when he's punching at Jumbo and gives him a hard atomic drop. I think '85 Jumbo is more interesting as a dynamic seller than on offense, buckling his knees at the impact of Race's strikes. 

Jesse Barr interacting with Baba and Jumbo delivered what I wanted, and I liked how the guys recording this either really liked Jesse Barr, or at minimum were pretending to like Barr to crack each other up. Every time Barr would pull off a move they'd yell "Barrrr!" I didn't really hear them react to any Harley Race offense, but they reacted to Barr the whole time. Barr had a really nice high bearhug on Jumbo that Baba had to come in and break with a chop to the back of Barr's neck, and later he got to throw Jumbo with a nice belly to belly, and drop Baba with a high delayed back suplex. Jesse Barr dropping Giant Baba with a huge back suplex was too much, I love it. Baba had a bunch of great chops and Jumbo knocked Barr to the floor with a big running knee, then Barr rearranged every ringside barricade with his body. It had dull parts, it had some great stuff, it's a good enough 12 minutes. 

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Riki Choshu

MD: First and last third of this were really good but I thought they'd be striking a lot more. Instead they worked the mat and that first third had them moving in and out of things frequently and really fighting for positioning and counters. Gritty stuff. In the middle, it devolved a bit more into fighting for one particular hold, be it a half crab or the Scorpion, but they picked things back up for the finishing stretch. At one point Dory hit a belly to back followed by a butterfly suplex and a Russian legsweep. Just boom, boom, boom. Then Choshu blocked the fourth boom (an atomic drop) and started throwing the clotheslines leading to one great near fall where Dory ducked it. Eventually, they hit the floor and Hansen and Dibiase (and then Hara and Rusher) came out to cause chaos and set up the next match and that was that. The good stuff here was very good.

ER: I thought this was pretty great, a hardscrabble match where nothing looked easy. This looked like a real workout for Dory and Choshu, and I thought Dory was especially impressive. Choshu is a real bulldog and goes after Dory on the mat, and it's cool to start a match with 6-7 minutes of catch as catch can before going into the stuff where you really need a gas tank. Dory was just a couple months away from his WWF stint and looked really big, far bigger chest and arms than he had earlier in the decade. That extra size comes in handy as he and Choshu have some pretty nasty collisions. The matwork was tough on its own, both guys working hard to block single legs and Funk fighting off the Scorpion, and I didn't think the finishing run would be as hot as it was. Not only did Dory start dropping Choshu, but both guys were getting to their feet quick, and the excellent camera work really zoomed in and showed how hard that 1985 AJ mat was. 

Every bump looked body jarring and Funk really looked like he was powering a heavy Choshu up. Funk's back suplex looked great and his butterfly suplex was strong, guy looked like he was out there on the farm loaded bales, and if Stan Hansen hadn't pulled a Russian legsweep even more deadly looked in the very next match then I would have said Dory clearly had the best legsweep on this show. Choshu threw a few lariats right at Dory's neck, and I like how accurately Dory sold them: one knocked him flat on his back, one to the side of his neck knocked him sideways and onto one foot, and when Riki started swinging his arm my man had to act fast. Dory ducking THEE lariat was perfectly done, as Riki swung for the fences and Dory just dipped his head under and hooked the waist, a nearfall on an O'Connor roll that would have been a really good finish. Tough as hell match, shocking this kind of workout was what they were doing when the cameras weren't rolling. 

Rusher Kimura/Ashura Hara vs. Ted Dibiase/Stan Hansen

MD: This had one clip in the middle but probably not a big one. Hara and Rusher took it right to their opponents, with both sides trying to drive each other back into the corner when possible. Dibiase tries hard but when paired with Hansen he always comes off as a guy trying to wear his dad's suit. This was short and entirely back and forth but it had the sort of energy you'd want given who was in there.

ER: Man how cool does Baba look at ringside with his yellow stripe on black track pants, black shirt tucked in? Our director was 100% right to zoom in on him. The Yellowjacket ringside track suits were a real highlight of 1985. There was a cut in the middle of this one, so I'm not sure how much we missed, but what we have is 8 minutes of a real good fast-paced scrap. Everybody comes off like a tough son of a gun, with Hansen bullying Rusher around and the still-spry 44 year Rusher fighting back hard. Rusher was easier for Hansen to bully 5 years later, but he was still beefy and mad in 1985. I love the way Hansen tangles guys up and spins and rolls around the ring with him, really tussling. His body language is always the best, and he pays close attention to things that could easily be throwaways, like the way he clamps heavily on Rusher and Hara's traps when he locks in a nerve hold. 

Hansen never makes it easy on anybody. He's always pulling on you, laying on you heavy and not giving you rest holds, and always hitting so damn hard. Hansen is just the most annoying opponent, more relentless than Fit Finlay and 60 pounds bigger. And I like when guys like Kimura and Hara can deflect that relentless energy, even if only temporarily. I loved the finishing building to Rusher's hot tag, when Hansen rushes into a Hara boot and spirals his way dramatically down the length of the ring. Rusher tags in and throws a ton of headbutts and Hansen reacts to them like he's in a swarm of bees. I liked Dibiase here too, holding his end of Large Gaijin Hansen Partner of a big tandem shoulderblock that knocked Hara ass over elbow, and bringing the beauty of the falling fistdrop to Hiroshima. He dropped a bit of the technique here and to focus on the energy, and I kind of like Dibiase wrestling like Joel Deaton. Hansen hits one of the smoothest violent Russian legsweeps I've ever seen, Dibiase wins it with a big rotating powerslam, and Hansen slides out of the ring and gets the hell out of that arena like he was missing his bus. Great stuff. 

Read more!

Andre's Final Match

Andre the Giant/Giant Baba/Rusher Kimura vs. Masa Fuchi/Haruka Eigen/Motoshi Okuma AJPW 12/4/92 - FUN

ER: This was Andre's literal final match, and even if he hadn't passed away less than two months after, I'm not sure how many more matches he would have realistically had. This looked like the end of the line, and I'm probably the biggest 1992 Andre booster there is out here. Andre comes to the ring in an MMA train, but it's probably the only MMA train I've seen that exists solely to keep a man on his feet. Andre used the man in front of him as a walker, and the cameraman kindly turned the camera to something else as Andre was struggling to get up the ring steps. But these comedy matches are pretty foolproof. I have the feeling that an old man trios could still work just fine even with two immobile participants, so one isn't going to affect anything. There are still plenty of fun matches, and we get to see the fun things Andre could do when he was literally on his last legs. There's silly comedy, like Rusher blocking Eigen's slaps until Fuchi grabs his arms, and an extended take on Eigen's crowd spitting as he kept trying to get back in the ring on different sides, only to be stopped and chopped by Kimura and Baba each time. 

Kimura is kept away from the giants for long stretches, and when Baba first, then Andre, come in to protect him they get nice "ooooooohs" from the crowd. Andre shoving Rusher behind his back and then challenging anyone to take a come through him first is a great moment. Fuchi always sneaks in stiff shots when opposite Baba, and Baba saves his hardest chop for Fuchi. Fuchi also kicks at Rusher's knee like a real asshole, just teeing off full strength on an old man's ACL and hamstring. Eigen always bumps big for Baba and Rusher, and I love the way he came in fired up and threw chops at Baba, right before getting thrown right under the bus. I assumed Andre wouldn't tag in at all, but he does, and it leads to the best comedy moment of the match. As Eigen heroically/foolishly grabs Andre in a rear waistlock and Okuma tries to attack from the front, Fuchi sneaks in and SMACKS Andre with a big clubbing shot to the back. When Andre turns to face Fuchi with daggers in his eyes, Fuchi points at Eigen and gets the hell out of there. The finish is old guy gold, with everyone playing a game of pickle with Eigen. Andre whips Eigen into a Rusher forearm, Rusher whips Eigen into a big Baba boot, and Baba whips Eigen into an Andre lariat. Once Eigen drops from the lariat, Andre - holding the top rope - just drops his butt right down on Eigen's chest. The man could have gotten away with putting his boot on Eigen for the pin, but he's a showman to the end. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE ANDRE

Read more!

New Footage Friday: All Japan Handheld 8/20/96

Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Kentaro Shiga 

ER: I really liked this, and was excited to see it. I saw a bunch of young lions matches on NJPW tapes, an endless series of 8-10 minute matches of black trunks rookies doing headlocks, dropkicks, and Boston crabs. But AJPW young boy matches never made tape, so you would rarely see some of these guys (at most you would see them do one move in a clipped trios). This was Kanemaru's 10th match and that's a cool thing to see. They do some cool matwork to start, the kind of matwork you didn't really get to see in AJPW, with nice hammerlocks and headscissors. Kanemaru gets to try a lot of fun things for a guy 10 matches into his career, hitting a Super Calo headscissors out of the corner, and a cool Vader bomb senton. He had a neat way of squirming out of Shiga bodyslams, twice slipping out of a bodyslam and winding up on Shiga's shoulders in a way that seemed 100% plausible. I rewound both instances he did this, as I'm not sure I've ever seen someone slip into an electric chair position to reverse a bodyslam. One time Kanemaru turned it into a headscissors, the other time a victory roll that actually made me think a guy was getting a win in his 10th match. Shiga was great at framing Kanemaru's showy moments and was really good at selling individual moves. I especially liked Shiga taking a dropkick on the chin and getting to his feet holding his mouth while still going back on the attack. I wish we had more AJPW young boys matches, because this was the kind of low key low frills gem I dig. 

MD: Perfectly enjoyable opening match, including working in and out of a headlock for a bit. They were very focused on their selling (Kanemaru his back, Shiga his face post dropkick) in a sort of academic way. Nothing really flubbed, with some high difficulty spots. I liked the way Shiga lifted his foot on the fisherman's suplex bridge to give an extra bit of weight for the three count. Good outing for these two.

Masao Inoue vs. Johnny Smith 

ER: This was dryer than the opener, but I enjoyed where it wound up going. It was slower and more methodical, snug headlocks reversed into snug hammerlocks, nice clubbing shots from Inoue, simple things done well. It builds to some nice offense for both, a great vertical suplex and powerslam from Smith, nice falling lariat from Inoue. I've seen plenty of Smith matches where he really dials up the stiffness, and that wasn't the Smith we got here (he can really cave in chests with his back bump missile dropkick and he's much kinder here), and while I still liked the pairing I have a feeling a singles match a year or two later would have been better. 

MD: Still in the range of perfectly acceptable house show undercard stuff here. They kept it mostly on the mat for the first half, with Smith pulling out some fun arm whips. Everything stayed close to the center of the ring with fairly limited motion, but it was gritty and hard hitting enough. As things escalated towards the finish, the fans got fairly well into it. Smith's big stuff (like his floatover suplex and powerslam) all looked good but it's nothing you'll remember tomorrow.

Giant Baba/Rusher Kimura/Mitsuo Momota vs. Masanobu Fuchi/Mighty Inoue/Haruka Eigen 

ER: Bless this man for recording the full legends trios. When old men matches would up on TV it was always clipped down to crowd spitting and the finish, you rarely got to see them working pre-bell shtick or the smaller comedy moments where guys like Eigen shone. So god bless this sicko for recording TWENTY FULL MINUTES of these glorious old dudes. Before the bell they work a fun gag around shaking or not shaking each other's hands, then a spot where Baba's team is throwing goodies to the crowd and Eigen steals Rusher's treat to throw to a different part of the crowd. Eigen's specific brand of ham played in full to a house show crowd is the exact kind of butter my bread needs. Gimme that bullshit where he gets sad about Momota getting a bigger cheer after getting up on the turnbuckles, but also give me Eigen throwing several headbutts and nice short uppercuts to Momota. Fuchi and Inoue are real dickheads to Rusher, with Fuchi kicking him in the knees and Inoue throwing strikes (Mighty Inoue still weirdly had some of the nastiest open hand chops in the company) and kicking him in the head after slumping him in the corner, and then Eigen laces into him with chops!

You don't typically get FIP sections in these matches and it's great seeing the heels really gang up on Rusher as Baba gets pissed on the apron. Fuchi fucks with Rusher by continuing to kick at his knees, then run away, making Rusher limp after him, before kicking his knees again. Fuchi keeps going back to the knee and it leads to a great moment where Rusher stops selling Fuchi's strikes, just walking forward while Fuchi is punching him right in the head, Rusher unfazed as Fuchi shakes out his fist (later, Fuchi pays him back stepping on Rusher's face to break up a pin). When Inoue tags in Rusher throws two genuinely crushing open hand chops right to Inoue's throat and hits an awesome old man bulldog. This was among the hardest chops and strikes I've seen thrown in a Kings Road old man trios, and probably more headbutts than I've seen thrown, and of course it boils down to Baba coming in and hitting a Russian legsweep for the pin. I love that this exists, and I would happily review all of the handheld old man matches. 

MD: Old man comedy. Momota anchored this, being the only guy on his team that could still move, while still being as charismatic as ever, garnering sympathy and having the fans clap along to his chops in the corner. There was a weird, and I suppose sort of funny bit of Kimura just eating a ton of shots from everyone on the other side and barely registering them, causing everyone to run from him in fear. There's a limit to how much you can do that without devaluing all offense on the card maybe? There was one moment where Kimura slinked into a drop down and I was legitimately worried about what would happen, because there was no way he was getting up in time for the next spot, but Baba got a shot in from the outside so it was okay. Baba not being able to get his leg up for the kick without hanging out in the ropes is always a little sad to watch (even relatively to just a few years earlier), but he still hit the leg sweep and seemed to be enjoying himself otherwise.

Jun Akiyama/Takao Omori vs. Giant Kimala II/Jun Izumida

MD: Weird reverse structure here where Kimala and Izumida got a shine of sorts, where Izumida was dominated in the middle building to a quasi-hot tag to Kimala, and then a long finishing stretch. Obviously that's not exactly what happened, but it's kind of what it felt like. Kimala and Izumida controlled things well when they were on top. They did a double elbow drop from the same side which I'm not sure I've seen much before but that people should steal. Again, the work was all fine but the structure was baffling. You want a monster heel team to take way more of the match than this.

ER: I'm a big fan of the Kimala II/Izumida team, but this tag was still even better than I hoped it would be. Kimala was a real (Botswana) beast here, loved all his strikes (his overhand chops and axe handles to Omori looked real nasty), loved his big legdrops and screaming flying elbows, his great avalanche, and will always be a fan of he and IZU's tag team offense that is basically "both men jump and fall onto their opponent and squish him". Omori is usually one of my least favorite AJ guys, but he was on fire here, great uppercuts and running kicks, really looked like a force on the same level as Akiyama, and Akiyama was throwing knees and elbows as hard as you'd expect. Izumida is always good as a guy eating a beating, because he's a real sicko and seemingly has no problem absorbing stiff shots with his massive head. Due to the handheld we don't see Izumida or Kimala getting thrown into the rail, but the landings sounded huge. And I just don't think it's possible for me to find more joy than in a Kimala II hot tag, and I was really impressed with how hard he worked on a smaller house show. He never got much of a chance to work actual tags like this when he teamed with Abby, as the matches were usually shorter and more dominated by Abby, so here you could really see his ability. There were a couple good saves down the stretch, and I liked Kimala knocking Akiyama to the floor to take him out of action. Izumida misses a big moonsault but plops down hard on Omori's chest when Omori goes for a sunset flip, and I was not expecting IZU and Kimala to get the win. Wonderful. 

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Satoru Asako 

PAS: All Japan juniors matches were not a focus of either the TV or of discourse, but they had some very talented wrestlers. Asako always seemed like the blandest of the 90s AJ crew, but I enjoyed him a bunch here. He had some big spots including a nasty dropkick through the ropes and flip dive, and landed some stuff with real pop and violence. At one point he blasts Kikuchi in the throat with a spin kick, and smashes him with back elbows. It feels like the kind of performance you see an undercard luchador give if he gets a mask match. Kikuchi is just as nuts as you would expect, apparently missing a diving headbutt on the floor (it is a handheld and you can't see the landing, which actually makes it more harrowing). We get a good nearfall section, and this felt like a match which would have been a bigger deal in a different context.

MD: Kikuchi oscillated between being a vulnerable champ and a juniors heel bully here and he was good in both roles. Past the finishing stretch, which really had the fans buying into Asako's hopes, the best part of this was when he was in charge and that bit didn't go quite long enough. Things meandered at times when Asako was in control after his comeback, with the match being most compelling when they kept it moving. A good number of dives and action on the floor. I was ok with Asako's kickouts during the stretch because he had ultimately taken so much of the match but it's good it didn't go much longer.

ER: Asako is the 90s AJ guy I basically know the least about, and have seen the least. He was not a guy who made tape in singles, and was typically showing up on AJ TV as the guy definitely taking the pin in a trios match. This match is probably the most memorable performance of his I've seen, with only his 2002 NOAH retirement match coming to mind as a contender (I remember that being a fun trios with him teaming w/ Misawa and Kobashi). Here he is coming after Kikuchi's belt, and he practically works sections of this like badass Kikuchi. This whole match had cool spots throughout, really had a similar feel (in pace, quality, structure, highspots) to heralded early 90s juniors stuff like Liger/Pillman. We got big dives to the floor, with both hitting heavy pescados, Kikuchi slingshotting himself into a flip dive and later hitting a big plancha, and Asako hitting a wicked baseball slide dropkick that sent him through the ropes. 

Both guys laid into each other with nice dropkicks, and then kept expanding to bigger things. Asako hit a wicked jumping spin kick right under Kikuchi's chin, and that really felt like the kind of hard kick to the chin the Kikuchi usually dishes out to younger guys. Kikuchi hit his running calf kick to the back of Asako's head, Asako hit hard back elbows, Kikuchi hit his great running elbow smash, and it all built to a genuinely hot nearfall finishing stretch. Asako got a couple surprise kickouts after two fireball bombs, and got great nearfalls of his own with tight cradles and inside roll ups, and a nice rana off the top. I always loved Kikuchi's form on his rolling Germans, and he finally has enough and whips Asako into the mat with a couple of them and then hits that exclamation fireball bomb. I thought this was really good and a great showing for Asako. It would be really fun if someone like him ends up with a bunch of Stock Rising performances found 25 years later on handhelds. 

Stan Hansen/Gary Albright/The Patriot vs. Dr. Death/Johnny Ace/Dan Kroffat 

MD: Frustratingly, only this and the main end up clipped, though none of it seems major. Unsurprisingly, the best stuff here all had Hansen: the headlock in and out of the ring with Williams to start, Ace and Kroffat trying to contain him (failing but doing better than one would expect), the way he sold walking around the floor after Patroit came in, his body careening across the ring to knock someone out to clear the way for the finish. This had plenty of big guys tossing each other around, but maybe due to the clipping never entirely came together for me.

PAS:: I thought the stand out here was Dr. Death, he crushed Patriot with a clothesline, hit a big spine buster and some great jabs. Finish run focused on Albright and Albright on an offense hot streak is one of the more exciting things in wrestling, you know big throws are coming and he hit a sick judo throw to go into a cross armbreaker. I do feel like there was some stuff on the cutting room floor, and it was a bummer we didn't get to see some of the ass kicking.

ER: I always love these big AJ matches that just literally throw all of the whites into the same match. It's the kind of visual that would stand out visually to someone not familiar with wrestling. It's like WWF throwing six AAA guys out there to open a Raw in Toledo, if they had given the crowd an actual reason to care about any of them. This doesn't live up to the on paper potential and wraps up a little conveniently (and maybe we missed more with clips than we realized), but it totally delivered in the interactions I wanted it to. Dr. Death really was great here, acting like a big general for his team and getting in the face of everyone on the other side. Every Hansen/Death stretch we got kicked the amount of ass that pairing should kick. They were really socking each other with punches (Death had a few sick punch exchanges in this, even his exchange with Patriot looked good) and there was a great moment where he knocked Hansen down to his butt with a hard jab. The match felt a little underbaked (and again, could be the handheld clipping) as Kroffat and Ace don't have a ton to do, and there are weird moments like Hansen breaking up a pin and then selling his save more than Patriot sold the Dr. Bomb he was being saved from. Still, we got to see cool stuff like Doc's spinebuster, and Albright really fucks Doc up with one of his World's Best Suplexes, folding him bad on a snap German. These guys weren't holding back on hitting each other, while also holding back on working too much of a compelling story, so it had a super high floor without coming close to the potential ceiling. Still, give me Hansen and Doc potatoing each other any damn day of the week.  

Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Tamon Honda vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue/Yoshinari Ogawa

MD: The clipping here is particularly frustrating. You lose less of the match, I think, but what remains feels fairly iconic, and it'd be good to have the whole picture. Honda shines both early and late, tossing his head at people's faces with reckless abandon, though there's one spot with Taue which doesn't quite work (they recover well and then hit it). We come back from that first clip with a fought over nodowa to the floor and roll right into a really long (and like I said, plenty iconic) mauling of Kobashi. I like how he got his hope spots on Ogawa but they were all cut off. Kawada just kicked the ever-loving crap out of him, but he was able to come back against him and got meaningful revenge on Taue later. My guess is that most of what we lost in this was Misawa (probably an opening exchange) but everything else was great.

PAS: This was good stuff, but a little irritating (who the hell clips a HH?). I am happy we got all of the big Honda moments, that is my dude, and I always like to see him get shine. He was very headbutt heavy and not the suplex machine he would become, but we did get a nice throw on Taue. Kobashi gets the crud beat out of him, and few do that better. I love Kawada as this chill guy who will calmly beat the shit out of someone, he really lays into Kobashi. The finish felt a bit abrupt, it didn't have the all time finish run that some of these matches have, but all time greats doing great things is always worth watching.

ER: I thought this was great, seeing it from a partially obscured view with some clips in the action, so you know it would have played hot live. Everybody gets moments to shine and takes them, with a standout no nonsense Taue performance and a great babyface Kobashi run. Kobashi is an all time great at taking a heavyweight beating. There's a lot of small guys who take big beatings, but it's tough to pull off a 260 pound guy getting his ass kicked while still fighting. I also always like revisiting the era where Ogawa was opposite Misawa. We saw them together for the last decade of Misawa's life, it's cool seeing him when he was in the Holy Demon Army, cool seeing him work with Kawada to take down Misawa. Honda got a spirited dying on his sword performance, playing the fired up attention seeker well, dropping a dozen falling headbutts on people over the course of this. 

But I loved Taue the most, and this match got kicked up another level with an amazing spot that felt like something that would happen in a Tag League Final and not at a 2,000 seat Osaka house show. Taue and Kobashi were fighting on the apron, and Taue jammed the sole of his big boot into Kobashi's jaw, then leapt off the apron with a nodowa otoshi, but instead of splatting on the floor he flattens Misawa in a great bit of timing. I'm honestly not sure what happened (the nature of some of the action happening off camera due to the handheld), but either Misawa ran in quick to break Kobashi's fall, or he was whipped that direction by Kawada and the Holy Demon Army timed and incredible double team. Honestly I love either scenario. Holy Demon teamwork is second to none, and it's cool seeing Ogawa integrated into that, like when Kawada booted Kobashi in the face to assists an Ogawa back suplex, or Ogawa hitting Misawa with a left jab to knock him face first into a Kawada enziguiri. The build was great through this whole match, even with the cut footage. I'll never get tired of seeing the way these guys move against each other. 

Read more!