Found Footage Friday: DANIELSON~! SUWA~! PIRATENKAMPF~! VAN BUYTEN~! LASARTESSE~! VERNE~!

Verne Gagne vs. Bobby Nelson NWA Chicago 1955

MD: Another @pwoloss unearthing we're just getting to. Always nice to see a new match with young Verne, and he was his usual dynamic self here, feigning headlocks for quick decisive hammerlocks, hitting (and dramatically missing) that signature dropkick, ready to fire back against Nelson's shenanigans. 

And Nelson was full of them. I really liked how he moved in general. If he was going to eat a Gagne shot, he did it by getting caught up in the ropes for a second and then sold it with a full spin. Just full effort before, during, after. When he took a mare, he almost went flying out of the ring. Likewise, when he went for a front facelock, he kept putting his foot on the bottom rope to push off and send things back to the middle of the ring. Little things like that when it came to positioning and trickiness. Lots of sneaking in punches, but he'd sneak them in right in the eye in the nastiest way. 

It meant that when Verne did come back, the clobbering he could put on and the technique he used was more than warranted and the fans went up big for it. The old Gagne sleeper that he used to end it was at a slight angle and looked particularly nasty. Just a good short match up with enough contrast to make things work.

Franz Van Buyten vs. Rene Lasartesse (Piratenkampf) Germany 10/84

MD: Another month, another uncovered classic that Richard Land (@maskedwrestlers) dropped on his patreon from the German haul. We only had a few minutes of this previously, and what we had before was blurry and gripping, a fight for every inch in the corner midway through the match. The whole thing is a far more minamalist affair, with some really great high points surrounding the climbs in the corner and Van Buyten especially putting his entire body into halting them. 

It still has the sort of grueling mood that you'd expect from these matches, with a lot of wrenching at the face with the chain, scraping it against teeth with a yank from behind, but the video quality is almost too crisp for such an affair and the blood doesn't flow quite as freely as one might like. It's still tremendous how much they accomplish just by making every small movement matter as much as possible and Van Buyten's comeback is all around brutal. He's one of the greatest babyfaces of all time for a reason; his body language is as good as anyone's ever, and unique on top of that. No one moves like him, the way he throws limbs and frame into everything he does. That's especially present in the comeback. The finish is cheap as can be with Lasartesse escaping the chain and capturing the flag while getting pummeled in the ropes, but in the ensuing, heated chaos, order is restored and no matter what was written on paper, the fans at least got to leave feeling like Van Buyten was the victor.

Bryan Danielson vs. SUWA 1PW 8/19/06

MD: We don't talk a lot about SUWA. This is less known then their ROH match which happened a few days earlier but it was a lot of fun. I didn't love the opening stretch, if only because I didn't feel like they were entirely in sync. Everything was clean but SUWA was messing with the cameraman and the timekeeper and Danielson didn't really play off of it. He took a really nasty double snot rocket just by reversing a whip and hitting his next few spots; yeah one of them was a dive but I wanted a little more. He did throw some toilet paper back at SUWA after he chucked it from outside the ring towards Danielson, so that was well appreciated.

When they got into the heat and the comeback and went down the stretch, I liked it a lot more. SUWA had extra oomph to everything he did. If he took Danielson up and over for a backbreaker, he went way up and over with him. Everything looked good. Danielson, on the other hand, had a really nice looking twisting European uppercut off the second ropes and a tight chicken wing. When they went to strikes and headbutts, everything felt impactful and was sold as such. When Danielson finally locked in the Cattle Mutilation in the center of the ring, it really, truly felt like there was nothing SUWA could do. That's how you want it to feel. I'm glad @aspiranteanegro sent this our way (via Tom).

ER: Matt says we don't talk a lot about SUWA but I think it's more that we don't write about SUWA enough. That's what he meant, but I think the difference is important enough to note. Because, even though we've only written about a few SUWA matches over our existence, SUWA is one of my very favorite wrestlers. He was my favorite Toryumon guy and a completely unique presence in NOAH, and then he was gone. An always eventful 10 years and then he was out. He was one of our last great punchers and last great heels. Nobody else in NOAH was a heel the way he was, with a truly heel face that everyone wanted to see punched. He has pock marks and could have worked any US territory in the 80s and been a legend. There were so many incredible SUWA matches that we did not get to see, but now we have tape of the other SUWA/Danielson match. 

SUWA worked so well with Danielson, fully understanding what the other was capable of. The match had a great build, making it feel like a really complete match. I was surprised that it was "only" 11 minutes long. It felt longer, in a good way, because the nearfalls down the finishing stretch felt well earned. SUWA comes off so authentic. He's tough, but a great stooge. He has no interest in winking as part of his heel routine. He does not ever show any interest in people liking him. He is committed to being a heel and has a moveset that fits him perfectly. There's a great bit where he toe kicks Danielson in the balls and then does full pantomime for the ref, hitting the inside of his leg and doing one of the best ball sells I've seen in showing the ref Danielson was just faking it. SUWA has great kicks. He is not a kicker, but he has great kicks. Nobody wrestling today has better stomach kicks than SUWA, and his John Woo dropkick to Danielson's stomach looked like it caused the bump Danielson took into the buckles. SUWA has a finisher worthy clothesline and throws an overhand chop across Danielson's face, his quebradora looked fully controlled and violent, and he's so good at kickouts that he made it look like Danielson could still beat him four different ways. I don't know why we don't write more about SUWA. I've wasted so much time. I haven't seen any 2013 NOAH SUWA. There are 2000s NOAH SUWA matches I have not seen. I should write a lot more about SUWA matches.

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Low-KI Advent Calendar Night 10: 2006 NOAH Trios

Low-Ki/Mushiking Joker/SUWA vs. Mohammed Yone/Dakota/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi NOAH 3/5/06 - FUN

PAS: Pretty disposable NOAH trios match, with a moment or two, but some really bad stuff. Dakota (who I assume is one of the Harley Race trainees who would get NOAH runs, he was more Bull Schmidt then Trevor Murdoch) and Mushking Joker are both pretty bad here and Kikuchi was really washed. SUWA is always worth watching and he hit his great John Woo dropkick, Ki had a fun finish run too, with a great looking wheel kick and Ki Krusher. Good doesn't outweigh the bad, but there is some good for sure.

ER: Really feels like I watched a different match than Phil. Dakota was not a guy I remembered at all (even though this was a pretty major NOAH show from an era when this was my favorite fed) and he's green but also spends much of the match eating a beating from SUWA and Low-Ki, two guys you wouldn't want to eat a beating from. He also wrestles barefoot and I give extra crazy points for guys who do that. He hits a great plancha early on Marvin, pops the crowd with a crossbody off the top coupled with a YEEHAW, and is fun as the guy clearly eating the pin. The heel team is a real fun combination that teamed a few times, three real favorites of mine with SUWA da GOD, Ki, and Ricky. They're really complementary as workers while being different as workers. Marvin had a couple great bumps here, an awesome bottom rope springboard low dropkick, took a fast bump to the floor early to eat a Dakota plancha, big flip bump on a lariat; SUWA was at his best here, targeting Dakota's bare feet the moment he tags in and stomping all over them, stomping over his ankles too, big fistdrop, nice elbowdrop and a slingshot elbowdrop, really made Dakota duck clotheslines and a backfist while running ropes, just doing every single thing that makes SUWA an all time favorite of mine. Shoot, SUWA even kicked at a cameraman on the floor while walking to the ring. He's exactly what I want a pro wrestler to be. Kikuchi is a step slower here but a fun SUWA foil, hitting his calf kicks and dropping a nice snap suplex/fisherman's suplex combo and stays out of the way for the rest. Yone is a guy who I have watched a ton yet often forget how much I enjoy. My brains always thinks of Ikeda as the former Batt guy in NOAH, but there's Yone the whole time, and man Yone is STILL IN NOAH. He throws a few awesome running big boots to the face and chin (loved Marvin leaning right into that kick) and he drops his big damn heavy legdrop. Ki was doing a fun elbow-based offense that he's mostly dropped, flying into people a few times with standing elbow drops, and the group's concentrated effort on getting Dakota away from the pack for the finish is a great run off chain offense. The big SUWA atomic drop and running dropkick (thought Dakota's dazed sell in the corner after the dropkick was fun) looked great, and Ki hits a big cartwheel kick and sticks him with the Ki Krusher. The thought that this trios has more bad than good really doesn't make sense to me as the only sketchy moment I saw was Dakota leaning away from a Ki springboard kick too early. There might be some miscommunication between Dakota and SUWA but I can't tell what it is as SUWA did something different than planned and it worked fine. I thought Dakota overall added to the match and was a fun Mandela Effect guy (rodeo cowboy junior working NOAH in the mid 2000s is something I clearly saw all of yet I would have called you a liar about before watching this), and everybody else wrestled as well as you would expect those names to wrestle. Who was taking the pin was never in doubt, but we got a long fun heat section on him and some awesome hits from the others.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LOW-KI

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All Time MOTY Head to Head: Ishikawa v. Ikeda V. Captain's Fall NOAH

KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji/Kotaro Suzuki/Ricky Marvin vs. SUWA/Makoto Hashi/Takashi Sugiura/Yoshinobu Kanemaru NOAH 4/17/05

ER: Well, this stunk. And it stunk differently from the typical bad match stink, because this stunk AND lasted 50 minutes. That's just cruel. I remember really liking a few of these NOAH Captains Fall matches. This must not have been one of them. This match was all over the map, paced poorly, structured oddly, and just not very good. It was long. And I can't for the life of me understand why it took 50 minutes for them to accomplish what little they did. At minimum, it was a masterful SUWA performance. Everybody looked their best against SUWA, even when he had to wait eternities for Marufuji to set up his horrible offense. SUWA made some little things mean more, took offense like he and few others can (that dragon rana that Marvin pinned him with, yeesh), and just looked like a boss. Sugiura feels like a guy who got really overlooked during this era, and during his career, as I liked all of his contributions here. Whereas KENTA would be breaking up pinfalls with weak ass stomps, Sugiura would come blazing in with a vicious spear. All of his spears looked like the best version of any spear. Hashi really didn't blossom until a couple years later and peaked in FUTEN, but he still has some fun contributions, and he's a certified psycho for all of the damage he's no doubt doing to his body with those diving headbutts. But man that babyface team was junk. Marufuji is arguably the worst wrestler of the last 15 years that anyone thought was "good". He's terrible. He's super klutzy, his selling is out the window (watch him sell a brainbuster from Kanemaru by just standing up and slapping him in the side before getting the pin with a roll up) and his offense looks convoluted and weak. He's so, so terrible. KENTA looked slow and weak in a lot of this, with him finally getting inspired to throw some full force slaps in the midst of his awful combos and overly rehearsed junk. Marvin had some beautiful flash and I always liked him. His fast flip moonsault with his knees hitting face was amazing. Suzuki is a weird guy, as his offense always kind of blew, but he knew how to sell damage better than most of the other babyface juniors. Watch him lock on an octopus, get clonked by a Hashi headbutt, and then crumble to the mat out of his submission. There was also a lot of questionable reffing, as many times he would prevent the faces from making saves while the heels ran wild, and that never made sense. And right out of the gate the heels were the underdogs as Kanemaru got beat first. Who ever books a multi man match and has the heels outnumbered!?!? I am normally one to piss all over quick eliminations, but this really could have had 20 minutes lopped off and benefitted so much more. But I really, really disliked this.

PAS: I didn't mind this, it was way too long, there was about twenty minutes before the first elimination, and while there was some OK stuff, it really dragged. I also don't get the psychology of having KENTA and Marufuji v. Sugiura as the final guys in the match. Sugiura team was working the match as heels, so having the heel fail to fight off two blowjob babyfaces is odd, you didn't see Arn taken to the back, while Tully valiantly fought off Ricky and Robert. I am always happy to see SUWA and he was pretty great in this, SUWA was Toryuman trained so he had lots of experience working with pretty boy flyers, and every time he was in, his opponent looked awesome. He absolutely slaughters Suzuki with his John Woo dropkick, and the Ricky Marvin dragon rana was about the slickest I remember seeing.  I also really liked KENTA throwing shots with Hashi (who has a lifetime pass for me based on his FUTEN tag) and Sugiura. Enough good stuff in this, that I basically enjoyed it, although it isn't anything I would strongly recommend.

Ikeda v. Ishikawa review

Verdict:

PAS: I didn't hate this as much as Eric, but it doesn't even come close to Ishikawa v. Ikeda. This is a wire to wire win for FUTEN

ER: I thought this stunk. Killer SUWA performance, but no moment in this even came close to sniffing Ikeda/Ishikawa.

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All Time MOTY List HEAD to HEAD: 2005: Kenta v. SUWA VS. Ikeda v. Ishikawa

KENTA v. SUWA NOAH 9/18/2005

PAS: This match was all about SUWA as the kind of shitbag Southern heel that Japanese wrestling didn't really see much of in 2005. Now this kind of thing got totally played out by the Bullet Club, but you normally didn't see a guy get DQ'ed on purpose or shove Joe Higuchi. SUWA had this short but awesome run as a nasty asskicker who bumped huge and had nice punches, this was probably his apex point. I loved him as a desperate pockmarked creep above his pay grade, but desperate to take his shot. The spot where he countered the springboard by just hurling the ref at the ropes was great. KENTA's role in this was to land all of his spots, and they looked fine, his kicks really thudded as did the GTS. KENTA isn't a very natural babyface, and this would have been better with someone who evinced more sympathy. Still a great match, and as a long time SUWA fan, something I really enjoyed re-watching.

ER: I have an unabashed love for SUWA, and there's a fair chance that I love him more than anyone. I - perhaps foolishly - didn't contribute to PWO's Greatest Wrestler Ever poll because I missed the nominating process and realized SUWA didn't get nominated, and therefore I wouldn't have been able to vote for SUWA. And there was just no way I could turn in a ballot without SUWA's name on it. He meant too much to my late 90s to mid 2000s wrestling fandom. He was a great composite of so many things I love about pro wrestling. A disrespectful southern heel operating in front of a super serious backdrop, and this match was him doing his thing on his biggest stage. Minoru Suzuki brought a different brand of irreverence to large Japanese feds, and a few years later The Bullet Club would bring awful Attitude era cheating to New Japan. But SUWA didn't feel like an impression of a southern heel in any way. He seemed like a man oddly rebelling against his culture, a man out of place and a man with different goals than the goals presented by NOAH and that fans of NOAH accepted and respected. NOAH was a simply booked fed with a hierarchy and more respectful face/heel interactions. There weren't really traditional American heels in NOAH, it was all respectful athletes who merely disagreed over who deserved a title more. "I've worked hard and *I* deserve the title." "Well, I also feel that I've worked hard and deserve the title. Let's showcase our hard work and determination and see who is the victor." And in this match SUWA showed the crowd that he didn't care about a title, didn't care that he was in a big spot on a big show, didn't have a need to put aside his personal grievances with people who weren't a part of the match; to the crowd he was a guy who didn't respect them, didn't respect the brand, didn't respect the ideals of his employer. He acted like a guy who worked comfortably doing his thing under the radar, and when faced with more spotlight said "Okay, but you may regret this." The employee who loves his job when he's able to dick around without being noticed, but the second he's given responsibility he tries anything he can to get shunted back down to how things were.

I remember my friends' reactions when I showed this to them within a year of it airing, and telling them how great it was - but not why. The confusion within the first minute when it looks to end in a DQ was hilarious, and watching it back now I think it works great as a non-gimmick performance. SUWA coming out, ripping up Higuchi's proclamation, and then immediately getting himself DQ'd at the first sign of trouble, that got a genuine reaction. And you just didn't get genuine heel heat in a major Japanese fed at that time. SUWA's fist raise the second the DQ bell rings is classic, really rubbing the ideals of the promotion and fans back in their face. He stalks around the ring, arm raised, pointing at fans, soaking up the jeers. His walk to the back is the best, shrugging his way to the back while still laughing at people. The fans had seen SUWA be a dick before, but not in a title match on a major show. And by the time the match is restarted and KENTA is kicking SUWA back to the ring, the fans are more behind KENTA than they would have ever been before. KENTA is mostly a zero from a personality standpoint, and SUWA did all of his babyface work for him. He was such a dickhead that KENTA became a mega face just by doing what he would have done anyway. And SUWA adds these things throughout the match, kicking KENTA right in the balls twice, ramming him balls first into the ringpost at another point. KENTA could have been a debuting stranger and the crowd would have gotten behind him. SUWA makes a flat out babyface out of any person even tangentially related to the match. When he spills to the floor and screams at Higuchi, and Higuchi starts to take off his ring jacket? Listen to the crowd. SUWA gives Higuchi the biggest pop of his career, 10 years after his retirement. I bet there were people who went home talking about Higuchi removing his jacket, before talking about the Misawa title match or big Tenryu tag match that came after. Later on SUWA boots Kikuchi in the face and spits on him as he tries to replace the turnbuckle pad SUWA had just ripped off, and later in an all time great spot he shoves the referee halfway across the ring to interrupt a KENTA springboard spot. We've seen that kind of spot since, but I've never seen it come off more genuine or been used so effectively. The ref flew into those ropes as if he had zero clue he was about to fly into ropes, and further cemented how little shit SUWA gave.

SUWA being a tremendous asshole really elevates things, but I think even without him being who he is, the match itself would be very good. Strip out any sort of character work and just look at how the match builds, and it's really a wonderful match. The one drawback is that SUWA seemed like he could have this match with practically anybody, and just didn't normally have the stage to do so. He was so great at crafting openings for KENTA's comebacks that KENTA just had to hit his marks. It's a total one man show, and that's not a real diss to KENTA. KENTA was KENTA, SUWA just found a way to craft the best KENTA match. He lead KENTA to every great babyface comeback, bullying him around the ring would always lead to KENTA firing back with bigger shots, only broken up by a kick to the dick or something else untoward. SUWA bullying him in the corner with chops, the best punches and a huge dropkick lead to KENTA doing all the same to the bully. The build around SUWA hitting his finisher was classic Kings Road, with KENTA doing everything he could to sandbag himself, eventually leading to KENTA flipping out of it and hitting his G2S. And SUWA gets into ring position far better than any opponent KENTA ever faced. Look no further than the finishing stretch. KENTA hits his big running knee, and watch SUWA stand up and fall into the bottom rope, steadying himself against the middle rope, stepping on his own feet. He's drunk me standing up out of a chair and realizing how drunk I am. KENTA sets him up for the knee that will finish things, and runs off the opposite ropes fully expecting SUWA to just stand still in the center of the ring for 6 seconds while KENTA runs back and forth before hitting the knee. SUWA stumbles, expertly drops to a knee and struggles back to his feet just in time to take that knee, occupying himself more interestingly than any other KENTA opponent before or since. And really the fans don't care. They would have reacted the same to that knee no matter how SUWA occupied himself in the meantime. He laid the groundwork for the big reactions, and the match build delivered. He didn't need to pay this extra attention to what happened in the seconds leading up to the finish. But he did. And that really sums up SUWA. He was a guy who knew how to occupy himself, his matches, and his surroundings, from opening match status, to his one big match.

Verdict

PAS: I think Ishikawa v. Ikeda still holds the belt. I enjoy heel shtick more then most, but parts of SUWA's stuff felt a little cosplayish, the most awesome version ever of Ziggler having HEEL in his twitter handle. Nothing felt winking about the grotesque violence of Ikeda v. Ishikawa and that kind of war will always have an edge up for me.

ER: This still ranks as one of my very favorite all time matches. I don't rightly know that I could say whether or not this was better than Ikeda/Ishikawa. They both scratch very different itches for me, but they each scratch those itches like the best possible backscratcher. The horrific violence of one versus much of what I love about wrestling in the other. One might be the most brutal war in wrestling history, the other hits me on a more personal level. It's the old "Greatest" versus "Favorite" argument. Is your favorite movie the same as what you think is the greatest movie? Favorite album the same as greatest album? SUWA/KENTA is one of my favorite matches. It's one I'll watch more often over the course of my life than this specific Ikeda/Ishikawa match. Both of these matches feel like #1 to me. And since I can't decide I will yield to Phil, who has a clearer feeling which match is better. However, if we were to do an All Time Match list some day I feel there's a good chance KENTA/SUWA finishes above some matches that finished #1 in their respective year. Or at least I'll argue for it to be.

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SEGUNDA CAIDA DECLARES WAR!!! 7/13/00

ER: Hayabusa passed away and it's terrible. I'm sure all of us have similar stories about the first time we saw a Hayabusa match. I started tape trading in high school, and naturally the first things I traded for were death match compilations. I just had to know. I have no clue what I was expecting to see, or if I would be mentally scarred after seeing whatever was on these tapes, but I had to know. We all had to know. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I imagine that 90% of people that got into tape trading had a first trade that included matches from either Sabu, Cactus Jack, or Hayabusa. The first tape I traded for smelled like weed when I took it out of the box. I didn't even know what weed smelled like then but I opened up the box and thought "this is definitely what weed smells like". The tape had Pogo twisting a scythe into a guy's head for 20 minutes, the fire tag match where the ropes go up like styrofoam, matches worked without a ring, Cactus bleeding a lot, and then this crazy satin clad ninja doing ridiculous flips that I had never seen before. The death matches didn't do a whole lot for me, but I certainly wanted more Hayabusa. Hayabusa ended up being a pretty terrific gateway drug into Japanese wrestling for me, and I don't think I was alone in that. R.I.P. you crazy ninja.

1. Nobukazu Hirai vs. Osamu Tachihikari

ER: This wasn't bad. Decent little match. Hirai was a guy I really liked around this time. He always had nice stomps and stiff shoulderblocks and clotheslines. Tachihikari was a meaty Tenryu trainee who got beat really quickly by Gary Goodridge at an early Pride show. Hirai looks really good here, Tachihikari not so much.

2. TARU vs. Stalker Ichikawa

ER: This actually got a lot of time (12 minutes) but that was because apparently Stalker's layered brand of comedy needs a bunch of time to flesh itself out. He's a guy I would probably like a lot if he dialed down the comedy in every single spot. He bumps huge - there was a table spot where he was to do an Asai moonsault through TARU/table and "accidentally" flubs the spot, instead crashing and burning off the apron - and does some nutso spots, like his slingshot senton to the floor. Also dug his moonwalk rope walk. But you gotta take the comedy with it. That's the rub. TARU is always fine in things, and he was fine here. I am not a cold, heartless man. I love a good laugh. I have enjoyed a good laugh while watching a wrestling match. But sometimes I just want some wrestling. If I wanted funny I'd borrow one of Phil's Dave Barry novels.

3. Shoji Nakamaki vs. Mitsunobu Kikuzawa

ER: It's weird seeing Ebessan when he was just a short chubby garbage match worker wearing baggy jorts and bleeding. I liked Nakamaki here as he works real stiff with Kikuzawa and came off way more like an IWA Mid-South guy than a WAR guy, smacking Kikuzawa in the chin with the end of a chair and locking on a real snug STF. Match wasn't much but made me want to go back and watch more Nakamaki.

4. Shinobu Kandori & Keiko Aono vs. Harley Saito & Noriyo Tateno

ER: This was pretty clippy so kinda hard to gauge how good the match actually was. Being a pretty big joshi novice didn't help things. I really liked Harley in this and wish she matched up more with Kandori. Harley threw all sorts of nice spin kicks and had some cool roll-ups. I'm not too familiar with Aono and it's been awhile since I watched a Jumping Bomb Angels match but Tateno seemed fine.

5. Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Tomohiro Ishii

ER: Mochizuki was one of my favorites during this era and he's just a relentless monster during this match, kicking the snot out of Ishii with all sorts of big time front kicks and yakuza kicks and missile dropkicks and flashy flippy kicks. It's pretty one-sided until Ishii gets fed up after getting clotheslined right in the face and blasts Mochizuki in the face with a slap and then levels him with a clothesline of his own. Ishii also takes a couple of big time bumps, taking a DDT on the apron and also taking a suplex from the ring to the floor which Mochizuki turns into a Falcon Arrow from the apron to the floor. Nuts. I had no idea Ishii was even wrestling this early but he looked good here. Real fun match. Both guys dished a nasty beating on the other with Mochizuki's kicking offense holding up great.

PAS: I enjoyed this much more then your current Ishii meta stiff fests. This was plenty stiff, but it was an actually back and forth match with no weird sections where both guys stand there and prove wrestling is fake. Because this doesn't have any of that, the big shots by both guys meant a bunch more. Mochizuki has a bunch of fun ways to kick you, I love his axe kick and jumping knee to the back to Ishii's head, I also loved Ishii's giant slap, looked like it popped Mochizuki's ear drum, and he sold it like it completely dazed him. Really fun, makes me want to watch more Mochizuki.

6. SUWA/CIMA/Sumo Fuji vs. Dragon Kid/SAITO/Genki Horiguchi

ER: Oh man did I seek these kind of matches out in the year 2000. Toryumon/Dragon Gate 6 mans, all those east coast indy 6 mans, all that stuff. Loved spotty 6 mans. I still love spotty 6 mans. This was not a great, or even very good spotty 6 man, but it had value. I'm pretty sure anything with SUWA in it could never be classified as bad. The face team is pretty weak as Dragon Kid had one of his off nights which meant a bunch of twisting headscissors and roll-ups that get flubbed amidst a bunch of spinning. I remember liking Horiguchi more back then, but he looked pretty lousy here and was only really fun when SUWA was kneeing him in the face. SAITO looked best of the bunch, but even then he wasn't as good as any of the rudos. Team Crazy MAX was just as good as I remembered, with SUWA being the clear best (although he and CIMA were perhaps a bit too generous bumping big for wimpy Horiguchi dropkicks), and Fuji being one of the more underrated guys of the late 90s/early 00s. Not one of the higher end versions of this match-up, but seeing SUWA do his thing is always a treat. He had one of the best flying clotheslines I've ever seen (comparable only to Ikeda's), just leveling Horiguchi. Add in all his great elbow drop variations and his refusal to let others' blown spots derail things, and the guy is just awesome.

7. Koki Kitahara vs. Nobutaka Araya

ER: Araya looks like such a skuzz bucket here, with his greasy shag and patchy goatee, karate pants he must have washed with a red shirt, and what appear to be cigar burns on his arms. He also seems loaded. And this match is completely great. There's a real feeling of disrespect that runs throughout, and though it never delves into uncooperation it's always right there, lurking. They spill to the floor early and toss each other through chairs, with Araya choking a ring boy who tries to intervene. Back in the ring and Kitahara boots Araya in the forehead a lot, with Araya laughing like a tubby drunk dude while it's happening. The story of the match is basically two meaty guys who would make me cry with any of the offense done in this match. At some point the match structure kinda breaks down and it becomes more two big guys trying to hit each other as hard as possible while still retaining some sort of worked atmosphere. Kitahara finishes it with a nasty armbar and man I wish I spoke Japanese just to hear what he said to Araya after letting go of said armbar and heel kicking him to the head while walking away. The disgusted glare Kitahara shoots him is something I know I wouldn't want to be on the other end of. This was incredible.

Post show during a press conference Araya has some nice purple bruises on his forehead from all the yakuza kicks. Awesome.

8. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Hayabusa

ER: This is pretty much exactly what you would think this match would be like when seeing it on paper. Tenryu chops Hayabusa's chest raw and hits tons of awesome falling clotheslines (one of my absolute favorite clotheslines in wrestling) and Hayabusa throws in flying when he can. His stuff was pretty on as he hits a beautiful 450, nice springboard spinning heel kick and some nice dives. Tenryu is the man though, and has the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. Every time one of Hayabusa's shots would land a little lighter than they should have, the whole crowd started buzzing because they know Tenryu will be coming back harder. Hayabusa mans up and leans way into every clothesline, the match doesn't overstay its welcome, and Tenryu busts out the lumpy 50 year old man tope. What more would you want? This was two guys who at very different points in my wrestling fandom, were my favorite wrestler.

PAS: I thought this was a great Tenryu performance and a pretty mediocre Hayabusa one. You really want Busa to break out a bunch of crazy highspots, but instead he mostly tries to go toe to toe with Tenryu, and that isn't his game. Tenryu does a nice job of putting over Hayabusa's shots and of course unloads in return. Loved the crazy tope by Tenryu and he will crack someone in the mouth. Still this was a bit underwhelming, I kind of expected this to be a big deal, and it wasn't as frenzied as your normal Tenryu main event.

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My Favorite Wrestling: WCW Worldwide 8/1/98 & 8/9/98

My buddy Charlie was down from Portland and we had picked up several Simpler Times 6-packs earlier in the day and had been putting them to good use all afternoon. At some point around midnight he wanted to watch wrestling, which was odd as he hadn't watched wrestling since the boom period of '97-'00. So I threw in some '98 WCW which is the greatest wrestling to watch drunk, sober, happy, depressed, neutral, angry, melancholy, etc. If you are feeling complete and utter ennui in life, I think it's fair to say that a couple episodes of WCW syndicated television are a nice cure-all. These shows are infinitely rewatchable, and they're pretty much the greatest possible wrestling you could ask for. Everything is a surprise, as WCW had about 600 people under contract and taped things 3 years in advance, so you never knew who was gonna show up. "Didn't Billy Joe Travis die 2 years ago? John Nord was getting a TV push in '99?" Those kinda questions get asked every episode. The wrestling is booked in a vacuum and at times you feel like a kid again because you don't know who will win. When you get match ups like Silver King vs. Super Calo, that's a push right there. No way I know who's winning. Armstrongs vs. Disorderly Conduct? Jeez, I've never seen those teams beat anybody, so no clue who goes over when both sides meet. This is only a few of the reasons why WCW syndicated TV is, was, and will always be my favorite wrestling. You get it all. Lucha, tassles, fat guys, face punching, hillbillys, awesome fans, relaxed commentary, and the sweet, sweet wrestling. So enjoy the new feature: My Favorite Wrestling!

WorldWide 8/1/98

1. Ultimo Dragon vs. Saito

SAITO either wrestles now (or recently) as Ryo Saito or Super Shisa I think, and this was good fun as a teacher/student match should be. Saito looked real good here eating Ultimo's offense. Saito got to do a ton of moves and the crowd was way into it. Ultimo threw a spin kick that caught Saito right under the chin and it was great. For a guy who hates stiffness, Ultimo sure popped him there. I can't think of any other situation where two Japanese guys working in a vacuum would get the crowd this excited.

2. Sick Boy vs. Julio Sanchez

Sick Boy was not a good wrestler. Time has told us that. And I will forever hate Sanchez since ECW used him regularly as a wrestler while employing Chris Hamrick as a manager. Travesty. These guys looked like mirror images of each other here, one in cutoff shorts, one in tights. These guys weren't great. Although Sick Boy's pedigree really plants guys painfully. He doesn't let go of the arms like HHH. And Sick Boy did a fist drop, so what more could you really ask for?

3. Kendall Windham vs. Disco Inferno

This might sound like hyperbole to some, but Kendall vs. Disco might be the best WCW match I've seen in ages. Not sure how much influence the Simpler Times are having at this point. The only syndicated matches (off the top of my head) that could compete with it are Benoit vs. Big Train Bart (Necro's trainer) from '95, Kendall/Barry vs. B.A./Swoll from '99, Hak vs. Bull Pain from '99, and Raven vs. Kaz Hayashi from '99. Kendall vs. Disco was just too completely awesome and -- no joke -- made Kendall look like one of the best in the world. Kendall's left hand is arguably the greatest punch in wrestling...EVER. Seriously. It looked like a million bucks in this match. Kendall punched Disco the whole time, stomped him in the corner, kicked him hard in the stomach, and MAN did Disco sell it all well. He sold each of Kendall's punches perfectly, whipping his head back, writhing on the ground holding his face. Disco's comebacks were peppered in perfectly as well with a great swinging neckbreaker and a piledriver that Kendall took and sold GREAT! This match was awesome and Kendall just looked like a monster, completely badass. Disco helped that out to a big degree. These guys made each other look great and this was just a killer match that gets a bunch of time, like 7-8 minutes. I would rate this 8 stars.

4. Juventud Guerrera/Psychosis vs. Villano IV/V

For those of us who got big into lucha, I assume WCW syndicated TV had some hand in that, and stuff like Villanos IV & V vs. Psychosis/Juvy gave us a short fun sprint with some big dives, a big springboard dropkick, Psychosis dumping himself on his own head, and good times had by all. If all lucha was like this, but longer and with even more guys, then of course we were going to start buying tapes.

WorldWide 8/9/98

1. The Gambler vs. Hugh Morrus

Morrus really stinks here but THE GAMBLER is a guy I've always dug, and he gets even better the more I see him. Morrus is always really selfish in his squash matches, taking like 95% of them with so-so offense. Gambler had a nasty back elbow and not much else, which is a shame as whenever he gets the chance he always has great offense. It's funny that Gambler was a jobber back then, but somebody like Karl Anderson gets regular Japan bookings these days with the same look and less talent. Anderson doesn't even have a jacket with playing cards on it. Idiot.

2. Vincent vs. Frankie Lancaster

This was a real nice Vince showcase and he really made the most of it. Just stiffs up Lancaster the whole match, takes a big bump for him, and ends it with one of the nastiest arm bars I've seen. He did a single-arm DDT and looked like he just posted Frankie's wrist right into the mat and then wrenched it into a great Fujiwara armbar, but working it from his back. Just awesome. Vincent/Curly Bill could really work, and it would only come through in small flashes of brilliance like this. You know Frankie Lancaster today from his debilitating kidney disease (I assume).

3. SUWA vs. Jerry Flynn

SUWA match! SUWA at one point was my favorite wrestler in the world, and with Finlay is the man I most wish would return to wrestling matches. SUWA was my favorite in the workd like 5 years after this match. I'm not even sure Toryumon had started at this point. Flynn's matches are always best when his opponent doesn't mind being a punching bag (erm...kicking bag). When he's in with a bigger star, usually that guy won't take any of his stiff kicks. But lower card guys and foreigners? Yeah. You're getting kicked. SUWA was not the biggest dick in wrestling as he would become a few years later, but he still was doing stuff like eyepokes and snarling at all the wide eyes in the crowd. Flynn kicks him a bunch and this was awesome.

4. Sick Boy vs. Hardbody Harrison

To the surprise of everybody, this wasn't that good. The only thing Harrison was worse at than wrestling, was defending himself in court.

5. British Bulldog/Jim Neidhart vs. Steve & Scott Armstrong*

This was a perfectly fine little tag to main event the start of My Favorite Wrestling, with Armstrongs getting plenty of offense and heeling it up. Bulldog has looked pretty lousy at other points in WCW, but he looked alright here. But these kinds of matches are almost always the Armstrong show, and an Armstrongs tag that gets 6+ minutes is almost always going to be good.

And that's kinda the best thing about WCW syndicated TV. For some reason (atmosphere, sense of surprise, beer) even the crummy matches have worth and are fun. It's the ultimate pro wrestling comfort food. And it's why it will always be My Favorite Wrestling.

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