Fugo Fugo is Miles Away From Nowhere and The Wind Doesn't Have a Name

Tadahiro Fujisaki vs. Shigeo Kato WYF 1998? - EPIC

PAS: Fujisaki is the future Fugo Fugo, a long time Segunda Caida favorite, and he shows that early in his career he had that same lack of regard for his own and his opponents well being. This is 10 minutes of two George Takano trainees trying to impress their mentor by holding absolutely nothing back. Fujisaki opens the match with a sick lariat and they do some pretty good scrambling on the mat. Kato tries to break a kneebar by elbowing Fujisaki right in the back of the head and neck, Fujisaki responds by scrambling to his feet and reckless stomping Kato in the head and we are off. Kato gets cut from a head butt and tries to drive his knee through Fujisaki's head. There is a section with Kato working a figure four, which isn't what we came for, before we get back to slapping each other in the face until Fujisaki starts spitting blood. We get a cool offensive run at the end with Fujisaki winning with a crazy slam into a chokeslam. Sebastian is so great at digging up this indy sleaze, and this was a gem.

MD: This gave you a little bit of everything in <10 minute package. These two are Shinichi Takano trainees and they leave it all out there. I liked Fujisaki a lot here. You got the sense he knew he wasn't Kato's equal on the mat so he rushed him with a clothesline to start and when he got some distance later after getting stretched a bit, he just stomped him mercilessly in the face. Kato decided the best way to respond was to mostly wipe out on a flip dive. By the end of it, both guys were bleeding and slapping each other head on, with Fujisaki escalating things to a couple of big bombs including the press up turning chokeslam that he won it with. His bleeding maw post-match was a face that only a mother or a trainer could love.

ER: Not a ton better than an unseen Japanese indy scum match surfacing, with two young workers stiffing each other for 8 fun minutes. The poise isn't there, but who needs poise when you can throw a lariat as mean as Orihara and palm strikes nastier than Liger's? Fujisaki's match starting lariat really sets a tone, and I was into all the ways Kato would fight back from that. Kato was more comfortable on the mat and threw sharp knees dead on. Kato even breaks out a surprising tope con hilo (that Fujisaki doesn't totally bother catching) and that reminds me of Orihara too. I know these are Nakano trainees but maybe he got some other SWS alumni to help. Fujisaki throws some of the hardest palm strikes I've seen. No glancing blows, just full straight arm shots, like he's throwing a shot put. They really highlighted the actual power of palm strikes as usually they don't read as well as even worked punches. Fujisaki bleeds from the mouth and Sato hits a lariat maybe as hard as Fujisaki's match starting shot. These are the Young Lions matches we as a people need. Great find. 

Fugo Fugo Yumeji/Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Joeta/Kendi Takeshima WUW 1/1/15 - EPIC

PAS: EXIT Underground is my new favorite wrestling thing. Takayama fits the chains perfectly as he has always been his best as a guy pushing the limits of violence, and he lays Takeshima out at the end of this match with a great looking side suplex and vicious knee strike. Still these matches are Fugo Fugo showcases and he delivers here, his stuff is like a mix of FUTEN and Kurisu which is an incredible mix. I love how he just will shut off all strike exchanges with sick headbutts, and he splits Takeshima with one after the match. He has great chemistry with Joeta and they are really killing each other with strikes and kicks in this match, Joeta has one whip kick from the floor which looks like it sends Fugo's jaw into the stand. Nothing I love more then super stiff wrestling in a filthy looking arena and this totally delivers on that promise.

MD: This wasn't quite as confined as the last match we saw with the chains, but no one was going anywhere anyway (except for that time where Fugo Fugo got knocked out of the ring). This had a real sense of inevitability given the way Takayama towered over his opponents and just crushed them down at will. It then became about whether or not Fugo Fugo would ever kick out or if he was bullheadedly going to fight off two guys forever. For a while, you got the sense he just might, just meeting them strike for strike for strike, just nasty shots all around. At one point they had him in their corner and you got the sense that Fugo Fugo's hubris might do him, but he roared back and when his thirst for violence was finally sated, he made that tag and that was basically the end of it. These chain rope matches need to make the rounds so they become Daniel Garcia's signature match and his blow off with Dante Martin in 2025 is in a match like this where Dante can't make use of the ropes to vault off of. In the meantime, we're more than happy to see 2010s Japanese vets beat the snot out of each other.

SR: Wow, Takayama enters the underground! This was raw, unfiltered brutality. I‘m pretty sure the only plan they had going into this match was that they were gonna beat the fuck out of each other for 15 or so minutes and call it that a day. And that they did. Takayama wasn‘t in the match much, but Fugo absolutely held up his end. He just had one brutal exchange after another and his chemistry with JOHTA was Ikeda/Ishikawa esque. You can tell these two loved killing eachother. Johta blasted Fugo in the face with some crazy enzuigiris and Fugo, as usual, unloaded his headbutts. There was a fun moment where Johta went to headbutt Fugo only for Fugos hard skull to fire back on him. Takeshima was also in this match and mostly ate punishment aside from trying to grapple here and there. And he just got slaughtered by Takayama for the finish, just ending a bloody mess. That said Fugo is looking awesome in these EXIT brawls.

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

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

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

SR: Now this… this is a damn MATCHUP!! Fugofugo going toe to toe with Ishikawa is a weird fever dream of this blog… and in this match, holy fuck they go toe to toe! Everything you can ask for from a match in a tiny ring with chains instead of ropes held in a Tokyo merch store. You get Fugofugo and Ishikawa brutalizing each other (including Fugo almost shattering Yukis face with pretty much the most god awful headbutt in the history of the world EVER), but you also get plenty of neat Ishikawa matwork. BUKI and Johta are really fun complementing characters, BUKIs super stiff mini Great Kabuki act is so cool, and while Johta was slower compared to his CAPTURE days he was willing to hit and get hit which is all I ask for. This went +20 minutes and had a really nice ebb and flow structure to it. The finish was between BUKI and Johta and while maybe that wasn‘t the epic Fugo/Ishikawa showdown you hoped for it was primitve and violent. Besides both the old guys were probably on the verge of brain damage at this point. Really extremely well done stiff quasi-shootstyle brawl, felt like one of the better Japanese tags of the 2010s.

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New Footage Friday: FUJIWARA! KIMURA! FUJINAMI! MAEDA! NAVARRO! SOLAR! KATO! DIABLO!

Tatsumi Fujinami/Kengo Kimura/Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Maeda/Nobuhiko Takada/Yoshiaki Fujiwara NJPW 3/1/86 - GREAT

MD: The handheld nature of this one let us really hear the crowd, and they were super into this. The makeup of these wrestlers and this feud meant that there was so much anticipation for almost every exchange; just a constant feeling out process that got the fans ready for the payoff of the actual contact each and every time, which almost never disappointed. Whenever one of the NJ guys would switch in, the fans switch the chant for them like clockwork. The first minute or two was really fun as Fujiwara controlled the center of the ring and drew people in however he could (including a slap punch in the corner) and then just dominated on the mat. Lots of brutal kicks from the other two UWF guys and a healthy amount of Koshinaka getting tossed around. Towards the end, the NJ team figured out they could hold an advantage with some teamwork but it broke down pretty quickly into a chaotic and violent scene.

PAS: New Japan versus UWF maybe the greatest in ring feud in wrestling history, and it is a real mitzvah to get another installation. Unsurprisingly I loved Fujiwara in this, swaggering badass who is so slick in the way he counters attacks by all three New Japan guys. Fujiwara and Fujinami tragically never had a singles match during this period, but they were incredible dance partners, and had some very cool exchanges here. Maeda really ramps up the violence in the end of the match pinning Fujinami against the ropes and winging kicks, including a headkick which felled him like an oak tree. Love Akira starting the 10 count with the rent, felt like the kind of taunt Alan Iverson might do. Finish was a wild breakdown and the crowd was going bonkers. Great stuff, super glad it showed up. 

Solar/Stuka Jr./El Gallo vs. Negro Navarro/Barbaro Cavernario/Rafaga CMLL GDL 12/1813

MD: It's been a while since I watched any 2013 lucha even though that was probably the height of my writing about it here and this was a mix of comfort food overlaid with maestros. The Rafaga vs Gallo pairing wasn't much (and good on Solar for clapping for them from the apron; nice guy) and Cavernario and Stuka went all out with their primera pairing but for less than a minute. The primera then was therefore all about the five minutes we got of Solar vs Navarro, which had all of the charm and skill you'd want out of these two in this setting. About half the time, it shifted to a close-up, high quality camera shot which really let you see what was going on. My favorite bit was early on when Solar hooked Navarro's arm with his legs and took him over into a cross arm breaker and Navarro responded by waving his hand in a "Yeah, that was so-so, I guess" sort of manner. Cavernario wasn't in much here but whenever he was he brought a ton of energy and motion. He let Solar catch him head-on to set up the finish and post-match everyone posed together. Hopefully we get more like this soon.

ER: This was really fun, and I loved some of our HD camera angles that we got. I always love seeing Solar and Navarro play their hits live, as they never play them exactly the same. Most of the highlights of this were Solar/Navarro, and while I wish we had gotten actual significant Stuka/Navarro and Barbaro/Solar interaction, I loved all of our maestros. Solar broke out a few tricks that are super impressive for a guy in his late 50s, and I thought he was excellent at playing into Navarro's subs. Like Matt, my favorite moment came when Solar totally caught Negro, flipped him halfway across the ring with a leg drag, and Navarro sat there on his butt, doing a 50-50 ehhhhhh shaky hand. I love the way they tangle their legs, and each knows the right amount of pressure to apply to not slip out of holds and made them look strong. Stuka and Barbara looked really exciting when they were in. Barbaro came off hyper and fun (and skinny!), and Stuka's rana, handspring headscissors on the floor to Rafaga, and his match finishing torpedo splash all looked great. I love nearly every Navarro/Solar match I see, but I think I like this format more. It gives the two maestros natural breaks while keeping the match centered around their work. We get some entertaining sideshows, and seeing brief flashes of them working with their younger new partners, then they come back to escalate their own personal 30+ year battle. 

PAS: Solar vs. Navarro is something we have in numerous variations, but it is cool to see a 2013 version pop up with both guys in their 50s not in their 60s. There is still some athleticism in their exchanges, not just pure skill, grab an arm, grab a leg spin counter, reverse. They always have a new wrinkle or two in their game, although here this really felt like a them doing their thing for a different audience. Everyone else in this match was fine, and Stuka Jr. has one of the great top rope splashes of all time, but this was getting to watch two Jazz greats noodle away and that is a pleasure.

Shigeo Kato vs. Diablo Mumejuku Pro 2/5/17

SR: By god, is Segunda Caida the Shigeo Kato superfan blog now?! Diablo is a guy who is also around for a really long time, he was a +20 year veteran in this match. This was the best Diablo match I’ve seen, as it is a bloody brawl, which was worked exactly like how a bloody brawl should be worked. Kato was a part time wrestler at this point and for a guy who was a skinny ratboy in his heyday, he seemed to have no muscle mass at all here, but he could still go like a wrestler. Really loved how he just stomped on Diablos face during the opening brawling portion. Then an exposed turnbuckle comes into play and Kato is soon bleeding all over the place. Katos selling was a millions bucks here as he looked to be hanging on by a thread (maybe he was also legit blown up) . I’m not going to pretend Diablo was brilliant, but he knew exactly what to do, punch the cut and waffle Kato with a chair out of nowhere. There’s an actually great Figure 4 Leglock spot and the ending felt appropriately murderous. Not gonna see these guys are superworkers, but I respect them for producing a match like this even with little athletic ability. Proof that structure is everything.

MD: Nice focused brawl. I have no idea who these guys are. Kato took it to Diablo early, working the mask. I loved the ref bump where Diablo caught Kato's kick and spun it into the ref's groin. High comedy there. After that, he landed a low blow on Kato and pulled the corner guard off and just unloaded on Kato. Once he got him upon with his chain, the woundwork was incredibly on point. He got a lot of value rubbing his head against the top rope, more than you'd think, but it felt pretty nasty. I liked Kato's hope spot where he went to the top and shouted woo just to get thrown off. He finally took over by taking out Diablo's leg, though they went away from it before long and Kato shouted out "Brainbuster!" like he was pointing into the stands for a home run and then couldn't hit it. A for bloody effort though. Lost focus towards the end but some great woundwork and it didn't wear out its welcome.

PAS: I thought this was cool shit, a couple of guys who have been around for a long time, beating on each other like veterans do. All of the stuff with Diablo and the chain was sick, there was some real thump on those punches, and his opening a cut punches with the fist would have made Harley Race proud. Kato had good fire as a bleeding old guy coming back with vim and vigor, and really took it to Diablo in the early going. I want to see all the variations of this feud, really feels like something a territory could work around the horn for months.

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New Footage Friday: FUJISAKI! KATO! LAWLER! BRUISER! ICEBERG! DUSTY MAC!!

Tadahiro Fujisaki vs. Shigeo Kato WYF 1998?

PAS: Fujisaki is the future Fugo Fugo, a long time Segunda Caida favorite, and he shows that early in his career he had that same lack of regard for his own and his opponents well being. This is 10 minutes of two George Takano trainees trying to impress their mentor by holding absolutely nothing back. Fujisaki opens the match with a sick lariat and they do some pretty good scrambling on the mat. Kato tries to break a kneebar by elbowing Fujisaki right in the back of the head and neck, Fujisaki responds by scrambling to his feet and reckless stomping Kato in the head and we are off. Kato gets cut from a head butt and tries to drive his knee through Fujisaki's head. There is a section with Kato working a figure four, which isn't what we came for, before we get back to slapping each other in the face until Fujisaki starts spitting blood. We get a cool offensive run at the end with Fujisaki winning with a crazy slam into a chokeslam. Sebastian is so great at digging up this indy sleaze, and this was a gem.

MD: This gave you a little bit of everything in <10 minute package. These two are Shinichi Takano trainees and they leave it all out there. I liked Fujisaki a lot here. You got the sense he knew he wasn't Kato's equal on the mat so he rushed him with a clothesline to start and when he got some distance later after getting stretched a bit, he just stomped him mercilessly in the face. Kato decided the best way to respond was to mostly wipe out on a flip dive. By the end of it, both guys were bleeding and slapping each other head on, with Fujisaki escalating things to a couple of big bombs including the press up turning chokeslam that he won it with. His bleeding maw post-match was a face that only a mother or a trainer could love.

ER: Not a ton better than an unseen Japanese indy scum match surfacing, with two young workers stiffing each other for 8 fun minutes. The poise isn't there, but who needs poise when you can throw a lariat as mean as Orihara and palm strikes nastier than Liger's? Fujisaki's match starting lariat really sets a ton, and I was into all the ways Kato would fight back from that. Kato was more comfortable on the mat and threw sharp knees dead on. Kato even breaks out a surprising tope con hilo (that Fujisaki doesn't totally bother catching) and that reminds me of Orihara too. I know these are Nakano trainees but maybe he got some other SWS alumni to help. Fujisaki throws some of the hardest palm strikes I've seen. No glancing blows, just full straight arm shots, like he's throwing a shot put. They really highlighted the actual power of palm strikes as usually they don't read as well as even worked punches. Fujisaki bleeds from the mouth and Sato hits a lariat maybe as hard as Fujisaki's match starting shot. These are the Young Lions matches we as a people need. Great find. 

Jerry Lawler vs. The Bruiser MCW 11/10/01

MD: Bruiser passed away from Leukemia back in November. He was a stalwart MD wrestler for years and years. This was a good showing, really one of the better 00s Indy Guy vs Lawler match you'll see. Bruiser measured his time and interacted with the crowd well and his punches were top notch, with Lawler answering in kind. That was a lot of the early structure actually, with Bruiser trying something (like punches in the corner or a kick out of a test of strength) and Lawler answering threefold. Lawler was actually a little too dominant here, but that's because Bruiser was ultimately going over, I think. I would have liked a couple more minutes of Bruiser leaning on Lawler (after a mule kick in the corner gave him an advantage) before the strap went down and we got the pile driver(s) and screwy finish, but it's really hard to fault the execution of anything here.

ER: This was fantastic, one of the best Lawler vs. Local Indy Star matches we've seen. MCW was one of those feds that I was inordinately familiar with just because of their PWI presence. Earl the Pearl, Romeo Valentino, Jimmy Cicero, I knew these names better than my own grandmother's. Bruiser was someone who I had on a couple VHS but haven't actually thought about in years, and this match makes me want to go out and find all the Bruiser that exists. This was Lawler working with a best case Louie Spicolli, and it was tremendous. Lawler takes an excellent high backdrop bump, throws a dozen different punches from a dozen different angles, and Bruiser staggers around constantly checking his mouth and nose for blood. Bruiser has a gorgeous right hand of his own, and there is literally nothing more I want from pro wrestling than a couple nice bumps, and several great punches. It's my base wrestling desire, and this is a great version of that. Lawler keeps setting up Bruiser for different kinds of perfect punches, like letting his sit up before flattening him with a right hook, or dropping straight down with a fistdrop, or throwing a combo before a snapmare to set up a middle buckle fistdrop. The crowd is hot for all of it, which makes it so much better. I love how Bruiser would pop Lawler and Lawler would fire back with his own, can only imagine how stoked I would be if I were there in Hampstead. The announcers absolutely lose their minds when Lawler drops the strap, audio going into the red, just losing it for Lawler strap down punches. The finish has a bunch of well done bullshit, like Bruiser shoving Lawler hard into the ref (nice ref bump into the ropes), two Lawler piledrivers, and a hard hidden weapon punch "not like this!!" finish. RIP Bruiser, you were clearly gifted. 

PAS: I went to a bunch of MCW shows around this time, and didn't have particularly fond memories of the Bruiser, but this really made me want to revisit that stuff, because he looked great here. Lawler is both the greatest puncher and the greatest seller of punches in wrestling history, but I think you have to give Bruiser some credit for how nasty his stuff looked. Just a classic Lawler punch out, with King throwing hands against a younger stronger kid (I loved the homer announcers saying "Lawler has been in there with some tough wrestlers, but Bruiser maybe the best guy he has wrestled). I didn't even mind the Lawler stunner which is normally the bane of my existence. You don't normally see the King lay down in these Indy matches, but a wrench to face will do it. Classic stuff. 

Iceberg vs. Dusty McWilliams PWA 12/26/15

MD: Methodological violence. Iceberg (and Bailey) was a face here and this was an escalation from a bullrope match the show before. As a face, he played to the crowd at times without ever losing what made him so imposing. This was a cage full of weapons where the weapons come into play far more than the cage. There's a brand of cage match (generally my least favorite) where the cage is primarily used to help guys who don't usually go up get to the top rope. While this fell along those lines, it was really mostly to contain the action and center the weapon shots. Transitions were good, with McWilliams taking things early, switching from weapon to weapon, until he gave Iceberg too much distance and he just plunged into him. Later on, he took back over after Bailey got Iceberg a fork and he decided to use that instead of bats and chairs. Finish centered around thumbtacks, with McWilliams grimly missing a moonsault and Iceberg hitting a splash. The match definitely lived up to the gimmick, though the cage was really just to steady them on the top.

PAS: I thought this started out pretty bad, with kind of bad german suplex and some shots with a cookie sheet which looked weak and didn't even sound cool. It picked up big time after that with an awesome looking spot where McWilliams tries to hang Berg with a noose by climbing to the top rope, only for Iceberg to throw him over head off the top rope. We get some sick weapons shots, including some sort of hard plastic contraption which splinters in a sick looking way. Matt thought that Bailey handed Berg a fork, but that wasn't a fork it was the implement of destruction, which is a fucking paring knife. That Iceberg top rope splash is one of the great high spots of the 21st century, just a crushing monstrous violent crushing blow. McWilliams is fine, and I am adding the dog collar match to the queue, but this was an Iceberg show and he is just a force of nature. First ballot US Indy Hall of Famer.

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