Found Footage Friday: MASAMI~! KANDORI~! TENRYU~! FUYUKI~! TIGER~! LEWIN~?!

Devil Masami vs. Shinobu Kandori JWP 1/16/89

MD: I'm missing some context on this one as most of the Kandori I've seen was later on, but there's a lot you can pick up from the text alone. The first couple of minutes of the match were about her making herself seen by Masami. She starts by putting out a hand only for Masami to refuse to shake it. They lock up but Masami overpowers her and casually hits her with a butterfly suplex, really just dropping her. So Kandori works her into the ropes on the next lock up and starts to slap her repeatedly. After the first, Masami sees her, and after the third or fourth she really sees her. Kandori got what she wanted but soon learns to regret it as Masami powers her immediately into a dangerous back drop, but Kandori was ready to take the punishment and is able to maneuver her into a crossface chicken wing and by that point, they have a real match going (Masami gets out by biting Kandori's wrist and Kandori answers with kicks to the spine, if you were wondering just what sort of match).

The beating that followed was fairly hellacious and one-sided. Kandori would occasionally slip out, pry off a leg, and try to do some damage, but even then Masami eventually had enough and tried to tear apart Kandori's leg for revenge. They went back and forth as the match went on, but always with Masami having a clear advantage, and always with Kandori having to slip out and over to get in a bomb of her own. Usually that came in the form of going back to the leg. Meanwhile, every big impact was made all the more thunderous by Kandori leaning in as hard as humanly possible. Her selling was consistent pain. Masami's on the other hand, appeared when it was most meaningful, especially as they rushed to the finish. Again, I can't put this thing in context, but on its own it stands up extremely well.

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki WAR 11/8/93

MD: Tenryu and Fuyuki were stablemates here, but I think even more so than that, they were two guys who knew each other so well in the ring, even if they hadn't matched up all that many times. Fuyuki knew everything about Tenryu and that's why he got dirty first with a stomp and a suplex and holds. He knew he had to in order to get the advantage he needed. Likewise, there was such subsequent tension when Tenryu escaped and had his back, had him up against the ropes. You, the viewer, like Fuyuki, the about-to-be victim, knew the other shoe was about to drop. It was just exactly when and how and Tenryu wrestled as if he was acutely aware of that tension and anticipation.

And the payoff came, because it was inevitable. A shoulder block and a series of these peppering, flicking kicks. The price sufficiently paid, Tenryu was happy to settle back into a Greco-Roman knucklelock but Fuyuki was going to keep stepping over the line (as he must if he was to have any chance at victory and to prove his worth as a man. And Tenryu was there over and again to put him back in his place as only he could. It was when Fuyuki finally pushed Tenryu, finally got him to go for the second rope elbow instead of reverting back to another knucklelock that he was able to capitalize, but even that couldn't last for long, for Tenryu was always back up, always rushing back at him clothesline or powerbomb or a simple shove onto the back of his head at the ready. Still, Fuyuki was no longer a young man. He had size and resilience and an understanding of his mentor's techniques and he hung even in the face of the storm, right up until the point that it blew him away. But not before reaffirming Tenryu's respect for him, however, and maybe that was all that really mattered in the end.

Super Tiger vs. Mark Lewin UWF 9/8/84

MD: If you look at the list of foreigners in UWF (even early UWF), Lewin has to be up there as one of the oddest stylistically. There are Takada and Maeda matches that I've never seen (and I have seen Meltzerian claims that Takada's win over Lewin was a big deal for Takada and UWF, but all I can say for sure is that Phil didn't like it much); I really need to go back for those but this one was pretty out there. Lewin didn't change up his act in the least. It began with Super Tiger throwing a lightning fast kick and Lewin recoiling back wondering just what he had gotten into and it doesn't really look back. Lewin sells all of Tiger's holds like he's wrestling Dusty in Florida, big broad selling. Late in the match he even lets himself get tossed off the top rope. The best bit of that is when the tiger feint gets him in the face and he starts climbing the guardrail in fury. On offense, he's clubbering with stomps, throwing ridiculous karate chops, and yes, gets behind Tiger with the dreaded nervehold. And Sayama is left to try to figure out if he's going to break the illusion by not selling or if he's going to break the illusion by selling. He chooses the latter and I'm not at all sure it was the right decision. The finish, both impressive and merciful is Super Tiger actually getting him up for the tombstone and after the match Lewin goes full maniac and starts dismantling the ring. All of this left me wishing we had the Fujiwara matches from this tour, but I doubt they were as bizarre as this.

Read more!

International Women's Day Special: Hotta vs. Kandori 2

Shinobu Kandori vs. Yumiko Hotta LLPW 3/10/99 - EPIC

PAS: This is one of wrestlings great rivalries, two extra strength crowbars and hyper skilled grapplers going to war. In their previous match Kandori captured the big red belt and has been holding onto it since, and this Hotta coming in to take it back. Much like the first match this had some real killer grappling with both ladies working there way into slick triangle chokes. Hotta is all about finding ways to sneak in fierce little shots, they grapple for an arm, and Hotta knees her in the temple, Kandori tries for a scissors kick takedown but get stomped. Hotta is hellbent to not let her get to much into her grappling bag  Kandori in the guard is something I adored about their 98 match, and she is slick as fuck off her back here too, she is so good at making that guard look active, stymieing five Hotta attempts, but succumbing to the sixth. Finish is very cool with Hotta barely getting to the ropes on two nasty submission attempts, rolling to the floor,  only to nearly get caught with another standing armbar when both get back into the ring. Hotta is able to brain smush Kandori with a headbut which sends her to the floor, and when she tries to get back Hotta hits a 57 yard field goal with her head, causing Kandori to barely get counted out and lose the belt. It was a bit of a "Kandori doesn't job" finish, but a nasty one. This doesn't have the blood of the first match, but the actual work was right up there, another classic.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE KANDORI

Read more!

You Call Kandori a Cheater She Left You to Die

Shinobu Kandori/Rumi Kazama/Yasha Kurenai vs. Eagle Sawai/Michiko Nagashima/Sayuri Okino LLPW 2/15/98 - EPIC

SR: Amazing match, which on first watch I thought was seriously fucking with some of the absolute top brawls in history. This was insanely heated and everyone was brutalizing each other, but even more they succeeded in conveying real desperation on the babyface side without going into hammy territory. Whole match was violent to the core and they never let up, these girls didn't hold back with chairs, kendo sticks, other plunder and just straight up kicking eachother in the face, and the heel team of Sawai, Nagashima and Okino was great at working cut offs, isolating their opponents and swarming them. Of course Kandoris superstar charisma is outstanding, and she will do cool things like look in flash submissions during brawling exchanges or counter a chain attack with a judo throw, but the stars of the match are somehow Yasha Kurenai and Michiko Nagashima. Eagle Sawai is also good her as just a big monster crushing people with body attacks and power moves, and Rumi Kazama is solid as a veteran lady wrestler who can kick hard. Nagashima looks damn good punching people in the face with her fist wrapped in a chain, hitting unexpectedly violent offense and taking nasty bumps. Kurenai is fierce booting peoples heads off and the heat segment on her ended up being seriously great due to being smartly laid out (in such a way that when you'd guess the hot tag would happen, it doesn't). 

It sets up a tremendous second half where Kurenai keeps running in, being a bloody mess and looking half dead, and going fucking crazy on the heels with kendo sticks and even a scissor, trying to take chunks out of Eagle Sawai. You really end up wanting her to get to win but also dreading her getting pinned due to how sympathetic she is set up to be. Shark Tsuchiya and Lioness Asuka interfere in the match along with like a dozen tracksuited ringside girls from LLPW and JD' trying to jump into the frey, and while I normally dislike liberal interference in joshi matches, it felt like a frantic gang war here. I could see some folks being irked by them teasing some hot nearfalls and then doing an elaborate chain spot followed by another heat segment, although I thought everything worked and it was a suitably crazy moment. Finish was completely unexpected but great. I think the match would have moved into all-time territory if we had gotten Kandori choking some people out and Kurenai being involved in the finish to pay of her story more, but those are very minor criticisms for what was a damn great unpredictable brawl.

PAS: Killer discovery by Sebastian who is truly the master of digging in the mines.  This is a wild gang fight with lots of mean looking ladies in ugly colors and fringe mangling each other. Our girl Kandori is somewhat of a minor player in this, although she does get one superstar moment where she cleans house with nasty straight punches, gets cut off with a chain to the ribs, and then turns an attempting Eagle Sawai chain choke into a judo throw. Kurenai and Nagashima take the biggest beatings with blood caking on Kurenai's head and Nagashima getting hung by the ankles and wailed upon.  I dug the wildness of it, with lots of random gals running in and smashing and being smashed. I thought it needed a slightly bigger climax to move into all time legendary status, but still a hell of find. 

Read more!

Fujiwara Family: BattlArts 3/25/00

BattlArts 3/25/00

Mohammed Yone vs. Ryuji Yamakawa

PAS: This was a Yamakawa match rather then an Yone match, and does a nice job of showing the variety that was on an average BattlArts card, everything wasn't Ikeda kicks to the eye. This was a fine hardcore brawl, Yone takes a suplex to the floor through a couple of tables, Yamakawa bleeds just to bleed and finishes the match with a nasty clothesline. Nothing that would go on either guys resume tape, but fun nonetheless.

Minoru Tanaka vs. Ikuto Hidaka

PAS: This was a 2000s juniors match with the only really BattlArts flavor being some knee bars and head kicks, but it was a heck of 2000s juniors match. Hidaka is really great at flying into things, diving knee bars, flying chokes, spring board dropkicks on knees. Tanaka has some cool rolling attacks too, and just hurls Hidaka on top of his head and kicks him in the face. There was a Tanaka dragon suplex which was as cool as that move has ever been thrown. Tanaka gets his knee taken apart, but sells it sporadically, which is a problem, but kind of par for the course. 19 minute Juniors matches are very much not my thing, but this was as good as that is going to get.

Shinobu Kandori/Mach Junji vs. COW COW/Takeshi Ono - FUN

PAS: Shinobu Kandori and Takeshi Ono are two of the coolest wrestlers of all time, so of course this tag match turns into a Mach Junji vs. COW COW showdown. Ono and Kandori are stuck mostly breaking up pins as COW COW and Junji face off. Not sure who COW COW was, but his execution on stuff was pretty good, nice german suplex and a stiff clothesline, so I didn't mind the match, but this was about the most uninteresting way it could have been worked.

Alexander Otsuka/Kazunari Murakami vs. Naoki Sano/Yuki Ishikawa

PAS: Look at this lineup, just four of the most badass wrestlers ever working a long BattlArts tag. We know what a great matchup Ishikawa vs. Murakami is, and it is awesome in this match too. Murakami is frenzied as usual and he and Ishikawa go after each other early with Ishikawa dumping him with a side suplex and Murakami using these amazing Judo throws. Most people think of Murakami as a guy who would just throw crazy punches and kicks and mean mug, but he had maybe the best Judo throws in wrestling history, he would just hurl the guy he was wrestling with incredible speed and tremendous force. We also got a bunch of Otsuka matching up with Sano, which is something that happened a couple of other times in tags, but was just incredible stuff. They had super fast takedowns and grappling exchanges, constantly moving and looking for the smallest advantages. These are also a pair of guys who will stretch the boundaries of BattlArts style and we also got a great tope by Sano and a pescado by Otsuka. The match breaks down first into an Ishikawa vs. Murakami final run, which included Otsuka breaking up a save by destroying Sano with a Everest German, and then a Sano vs. Murakami section with some nasty exchanged kicks and submission scrambles. It goes to a thirty minute draw which deprives us of a finish but does give us 30 minutes of these guys, so a good trade off.

Daisuke Ikeda vs. Katsumi Usuda - EPIC

PAS: Usuda is sort of the Akira Taue of the Battlarts big four, a little less flashy, a little less regarded, but equally able to deliver the goods when needed. He comes out wilding here, super aggressive and total pushing the pace to Ikeda, winging hard kicks to his head and body. You don't usually see Ikeda having to work off the back foot, it was a really cool different look for him. Even when Ikeda lands a side suplex, Usuda is able to grab an arm and work a keylock. Ikeda is able to land some big kicks of his own and one of his lead pipe clotheslines right on the ropes, I have no idea how Ikeda didn't break his forearm or Usuda's jaw or both. Finish is really great, with Usuda being a little reckless trying for a guillotine choke allowing Ikeda to slip first into a Fujiwara and then into a nasty choke sleeper which whitens Usuda's eyes. Really felt like Usuda had his number, but Ikeda was able to use his aggression against him. Maybe the most Fujiwarish Ikeda performance I can remember seeing. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE SHINOBU KANDORI

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DAISUKE IKEDA

FUJIWARA FAMILY 

Read more!

Shinobu Kandori Feels the Glass Against Her Cheek

Shinobu Kandori vs. Meiko Satomura LLPW 2/25/07 - EPIC

PAS: Man it feels like 2000s Kandori might be an undiscovered gold mine. In this match she is more like NOAH Misawa then the killing machine she was in the prime of her career. Broken down gunslinger is one of my favorite wrestling tropes, and she is great as someone fighting through the beating, too old to die young. Kandori comes in with bandages over some nasty bruise cuts on her forehead, and Meiko spends most of the match trying to kick those bandages off. Meiko was great in this match as well, she is the next version of a brutal asskicker and trying to take down the old queen. Kandori is a master grappler, and still has that in her arsenal, as she slips in some nasty submissions from the ground. The end of this match is great Kandori is getting plastered but she sidesteps a pele kick and dives into a desperation rear naked choke, she slips her forearm across the throat and the ref breaks the hold, but that extra bit of illegal choking allowed her ragdoll Meiko enough to get a powerbomb and a win.

Read more!

New Footage Friday: Brazilian Riots, Leon Spinks, Shinobu Kandori

Michel Serdan/Moreto vs. Belo/Mumia Negra Luta Livre (Late 80s?)

MD: Sometimes I'll troll around youtube looking for anything under our community's collecitve radar. There are a lot of countries out there and most of them had some tradition or another of wrestling. I don't know about you but I sure haven't seen a lot of matches from Brazil. This felt like an odd mishmash of Puerto Rico chains, celebratory babyfaces, and groin shots and cartoonish Argentinian Titanes with big, over the top symbolic offense, elaborate entrances and, you know, a wrestling mummy. The cappers on this are worth the price of admission alone, as the crowd is massive, Belo and Mumia Negra's entrance is amazing, with a marching brass band, a giant banner, and the mummy dancing. It's obvious that Serdan and to a lesser extent maybe Moreto are absolutely beloved. The ref is some guy in a hat with a cane. The crowd goes nuts for everything. The entirety of the babyfaces offense are these leaping, driving headbutts. Belo has these amazing chain gloves. The babyfaces control for most of this. Moreto eats a huge bump (with in-the-moment slow motion effects) over the top and gets carried out like a fallen hero. The bad guys take over using the chain and the numbers advantage. Serdan finally comes back with low blows. The ref throws out the match. The crowd riots. Chairs come flying in. Everyone carries Serdan out. It is absolutely nuts, yet at the same time, is the same sort of straightforward injury-heel-advantage match we've seen a hundred of times. The french match from a few weeks ago with a lot of these same elements actually. Old belief-based wrestling is universal and it's a universe I wish we were still living in.

PAS: This was pretty tremendous, even with not a ton of in ring skill. This reminded me of a huge Puerto Rico main event, Sedan isn't as good as Carlos Colon, but he appeared to be just as beloved, and the crowd was enormous and rabid. I really liked the babyfaces diving in ring tope's, Moreto's was especially cool looking. Sedan had a great looking headlock punch too, which got the slow motion camera work. Both rudos were pretty solid bumpers and stoogers, I dug the rudo comeback with some meaty chain shots. Mumia lauched Moreto clean over the top rope buckling his knee and both rudos beat on Serdan until a fan runs in and starts winging punches, leading to an absolutely chaotic fan riot. There are multiple out of control fan fights, dozens of chairs come winging into the ring and a bunch of fans rush the ring. Eventually they carry Serdan out on their shoulders. I don't think wrestling can be this anymore, and it is too bad, perfectly synched up clever chants will never be as fun as dozens of maniacal Brazilians hurling chairs.

Shinobu Kandori/Harley Saito vs. Dynamite Kansai/The Scorpion JWP 8/4/91

MD: Jetlag pushed this our way and I'm glad he did. I'm sure some of you, just for the sake of being completionists or rationalizing your Network subscription, watched the hidden gems FCW Kaitlyn vs Rosa Mendes match this week. Masochists. We watched this. This was action-packed with a burst of violence to begin, an opening third or so which was just full of hard, hard shots, outright struggle on every move/hold attempt, no fat, and still a sense of smoothness and forward motion. I really liked the transition to backwork, with Scorpion locking in a tricked out deathlock and finishing with three super precise and laser-focused shots. They meander off of that eventually allowing for a little comeback, more heat (including a great gear-change assisted dive), and ultimately a fairly satisfying finishing stretch with enough break-ups as opposed to kick-outs to make things cumulatively have some weight to them. Scorpion was a bit of a duel-edged sword, doing lots of cool things but placing some of them poorly within the match and having some trouble with others (like a half-flubbed run up the ropes arm-drag which was out of place in the midst of the backwork). The other three were spot on throughout though.

PAS: Tremendous match. The opening sections were right in my wrestling happy place, lots of brutal shots and exchanges with no one standing down even a little bit. Kansai was a bulldozer here, she would throw these forearms where she seemed to be aiming six inches past the skull of whoever she was throwing them at. She was just displacing people. Kandori vs. Kansai felt like it could have been as amazing as Hotta vs. Kandori or Kansai vs. Aja, hopefully their are some singles matches against each other. Really liked Harley as the smaller bulldog desperate to prove she is as tough as the bigger hounds in the yard. Scorpion was fun as the change of pace, everyone would be throwing big KO shots and she would come in with a springboard dive off of Kansai's back or a moonsault. She was particularly smooth, but I liked her role in the match. Kandori just ending the match by yoking her in a jujigatame was a pretty perfect finish. This really delivered on what I hoped it would be.

Mr. Gannosuke vs. Leon Spinks FMW 8/31/93

PAS: This was pre dye job Gannoseke and that dye job did a lot for his aura, he looked like a total shlub here. Spinks was working this like a 3/4 speed sparring session. He had a great looking technical combos, but wasn't throwing them with a ton of force or speed. Gannoseke sold them appropriately, Spinks did beat Muhammed Ali after all, and much of the match was Gannoseke barely getting up at 9. My favorite parts of the match were when Gannoseke would go for a take down and get waylaid by a hammer fist or hook. Post match, Spinks goes to shake Gannoseke's hand and instead clips him with a sucker punch short uppercut. Total dick move by Leon and a nice way to set up Onita coming to kick his ass.

MD: This is slight but sort of fun as a boxer vs wrestler thought experiment. I just love the nuts and bolts of how this sort of thing is put together, because obviously it's not with the sort of care that something like Spinks vs Onita would be. There are openings and there's just how much Spinks is willing to give (and how many times Gannosuke gets up); in that regard it's a bit like poor man's shootstyle, being all about openings and possibilities and what's given. Most of this is Gannosuke getting beaten around the ring, dropping for a while, and making it back up only to get mauled again. He has a couple of missed kicks. He has a couple of absolutely futile drop toe hold attempts. There's a great little rush across the ring dropkick. Once he even gets a hold on but Spinks just strikes his way out. Past the dropkick the most interesting thing here is probably Spinks getting in a jerk post-match shot. This wasn't much but it's odd enough on paper that we were almost obliged to at least check it out

ER: Phil told me to not bother watching this one because it wasn't very good, but that's crazy. Do you know how many Kandori matches are available for me to see? Only hundreds. Now how many Leon Spinks matches are available for me to see? How many times did Shinobu Kandori beat Muhammad Ali? Probably not as many times as Leon Spinks did. Leon Spinks has probably beaten Muhammad Ali in a fist fight INFINITELY more times than Kandori has. And I'm supposed to not watch Leon Spinks fighting in a tiny gym that's about as far as you can get away from Tokyo and still be in Japan?

Phil is not wrong that Gannosuke's bleached blowback really added to his aura, an aura seemingly only attained by stocky Japanese pro wrestlers (see Ueda, Umanosuke or Saito, Hiro). It makes the Mr. Gannosuke name evoke a narrow eyed yakuza sitting in a dark corner of a bar. You don't want to be summoned by Mr. Gannosuke. If you are ever summoned by Mr. Gannosuke, you know there is a 10% chance you won't be leaving that meeting alive. Here, with Spanx shaping trunks, a clean mustache and dark mullet, the name Mr. Gannosuke evokes something entirely different. Here he is Mr. Gannosuke, substitute English teacher who tries to get the kids to call him "Mr. G". He won't be gauche enough to outright tell a student in a one on one situation, "Hey, call me Mr. G." BUT, if it's the end of the school year, and a student asks Mr. Gannosuke to sign his yearbook, he would definitely write "Never Stop Learning - Mr. G".

There are three great moments in this match. The first is the opening flurry by Spinks, with the penultimate punch convincingly sending Gannosuke down to the mat, and we get a fun bit of drama as the crowd starts buzzing when it looks like Gannosuke won't beat the count. The second great moment is when Gannosuke grabs and ankle pick and Spinks timberrrrs over the way a boxer who doesn't understand takedown defense would. Gannosuke grabs a leglock and wrenches is a bit, and Spinks gets out of it by punching at Gannosuke. Then, while Spinks is getting to his feet, he starts shaking his leg out (the leg that had been worked on), looks like Rick Steiner doing his peeing dog taunt. The third great moment is after the match, when Spinks hates going for a handshake and instead smacks Mr. G. What the fuck. What an asshole jock bully. What a fully borne out heel. If I were there that day, I would be wanting to pay money to see Onita wreck Leon Spinks. This match had three great moments. How many matches have you watched in your life that didn't have three great moments?

Read more!

Shinobu Kandori Can't Deny She is Begging for Attention

Shinobu Kandori vs. Rumi Kazama LLPW 8/4/95 - GREAT

PAS: Cool chance to see Kandori work the ace role in an intra, rather then an interpromotional setting. Kazama looks and dresses like a Japanese Judy Tenuta, and has kind of a basic thick girl joshi brawling style. Sort of a super poor ladies Aja Kong. Kandori is good enough to a bunch of cool stuff with Big Slam Bull Nakano though. Match opens with Kandori ripping off a Kevin Von Erich style headscissiors right into an armbar which was totally awesome looking. The whole match was basically her pulling out cool shoot style shit around some side slams and elbow drops. I loved a spot early in the match were Kazama finds herself on top and throws a punch down, Kandori waves her into the guard, spins her seamlessly into top control and throws an eye crosser of a punch. Finish was really cool too, with Kandori rolling all around Kazama's body trying on a bunch of different submissions until she rolls through into an armbar and reverse choke for the tap. There were a couple of wonky moments, and Kazama brought very little to the table, but it was another great Kandori performance, what an all time talent she was.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE SHINOBU KANDORI

Read more!

Kandori is Sick and Tired of Fights Starting Wars

Shinobu Kandori/Mizuki Endo vs. Yumiko Hotta/Kumiko Maekawa LLPW 8/15/97 - EPIC

PAS: I reviewed a great AJW tag between these two teams a week later, but this was at another level. Match starts out great with Endo going for a shoot and takedown on Hotta, unfortunately for her Hotta walks over after and gives her dental surgery with a kick to the face. Maekawa is great in this too, she lands these awesome hook kicks right to the head and face. Kandori and Hotta is an all time great rivalry and they have some cool interactions here. I loved the finish, Hotta comes in to make multiple violent saves, Kandori angrily gestures her to leave the ring and as Hotta turns her back Kandori back jumps her and chokes her out. We get a great run of near falls which ends with Kandori nearly ripping off Maekawas arm while she was waving and smirking at Hotta. Total asskicking and another chapter in the amazing Hotta vs. Kandori feud

ER: Really fun hate-filled tag, looked vaguely unprofessional and was nice and messy-in-a-good-way. Endo was a good Energizer bunny, getting her mouth bloodied early as a tough scrap with Hotta ends with Hotta kicking her in the mouth and targeting her for the match. I can't handle some of these boston crabs in joshi; Hotta looks like she's trying to make Endo feel heat whenever she twists for the rest of her life. It didn't scare Endo but I like how she was presented as Kandori's weak link. Hotta vs. Kandori felt like a crazy anime battle, both very expressive with body language and both come across as total badasses. Maekawa shows good energy and while everything throws out doesn't always land flush, her spirited delivery makes it work. Hotta was such a fun bully here, doing dickhead things like yanking Endo around by her top knot, and I loved all the various choke exchanges we got, everybody showing off their own personal method for choking out a human. Kandori's match ending armbar was great, mocking Hotta the whole time but then looking genuinely excited that she won. Loved all of this.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE KANDORI

Read more!

It's a Matter of Fact All of Kandori's Change Goes to Hell

Shinobu Kandori vs. Yumiko Hotta AJW 2/28/01 - GREAT

PAS: This is one of my favorite match ups in wrestling history and this was a nifty variation of that match up. This is a Vale Tudo rules match, and both women are wearing old school MMA gloves. It is a pretty straight worked shoot, and both ladies added some nifty variations to that match style. Match was mostly grappling which was a surprise considering how often both ladies work matches around sick shots. Kandori is great at working out of a guard, always has a ton of interesting attacks and counters. Finish run was dope with Kandori taking Hotta down with a guillotine choke, Hotta fights it and eventually breaks out and lands a gross headbut. Kandori is able to maneuver for an armbar, but before she can get it Hotta great an ankle for the tap. Just high level grappling with a little taste of horrid violence. Love it.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE SHINOBU KANDORI

Read more!

ALL TIME MOTY LIST Head to Head 1998: Kandori v. Hotta V. Kandori v. Toyota

Shinobu Kandori v. Manami Toyota AJW 8/23/98

PAS: I am a notorious Toyota hater, but this is a match that even a Manami skeptic can embrace. I love the idea of Manami facing off with a foreign invader trying to regain her big red belt. She comes out totally amped, taking Kandori's handshake and turning it into a choke, and even dropping Kandori with nasty palm strikes. The match structure of this was great, you had Toyota, probably the most prolific offensive wrestler of all time unloading all of her offense on Kandori, and Kandori finding tricky and nasty ways to counter and evade. Loved all of the escapes out of Toyota's suplexes, Kandori landing some vicious ground and palm strikes. Every time Toyota went on one of her runs, Kandori would slow it with brutality. Toyota unloads the whole kitchen sink, multiple suplexes, a crazy flip dive onto a table, her maniac top rope dropkick to the floor, Kandori would absorb it and keep pounding away looking for Toyota to slip up.  It was basically the worlds greatest Sabu v. Taz match. Finish was completely nuts, Toyota is rolling, it feels like she is going to take home the belt, when Kandori victory rolls out of an Ocean Cyclone suplex into a crazy arm and leg figure four, kneebar combo for the tap.

ER: Our first Manami Toyota match review on the site, only 11+ years in!! I really like Phil's Taz/Sabu comparison, but what I found amusing is that Toyota is both Sabu and Taz here, while Kandori is like Fujiwara, enduring a beating and looking for an opening to sink something in. Kandori laid in some beatings, knocked Toyota on her face with a huge lariat, sunk in a triangle that I thought would end things (and I'm not sure I would have even have known what a triangle choke was in 1998) and absorbs incredible damage. Toyota comes off totally deranged, in a great way, all throughout the match. Toyota really brings the attack Kandori with every kind of suplex you can imagine, flying to the floor several times in increasingly dangerous ways, including that sick table spot where her body just plants into Kandori's and that damn Japanese table doesn't break, leaving them kind of frozen in unbalanced pain, and her always vicious dropkick to the floor that always seems to be aimed at the throat. 

The most important thing about the match, for me, was the importance and heft the nearfalls added. The pinfalls felt as important as the moves in this match, and both wrestlers can take such incredible punishment that right from the beginning it felt like it wouldn't necessarily be a big move that ended the match, but a move that best combined impact with pin leverage. Very early on the pinfall escapes were very narrow, but they weren't ever treated like breathless 2.9s, hold for applause heavy breathing at the Godspell curtain call, they were treated like narrow escapes. It showed early that this match could end at any time and either one could end it. I think this made Toyota's run of nasty suplexes down the stretch tremendous, as Kandori would be barely avoiding defeat just by rolling a shoulder, or literally just falling out of pins because the suplex would over-rotate her. There were at least 4 pinning attempts where I was positive the match was over, and the strength of their drama-free kickouts drew me more and more into what would actually finish things. And the actual finish was suitably sick, one of the truly greatest submissions I've seen: part heel hook, part kneebar, a figure 4 on Toyota's arm, just a nasty hold that I thought Toyota sold great. Joshi doesn't always fire with me, but this was such a spirited, intense fight, with real attention and importance paid to pinning an opponent, that I couldn't help but stay glued.


Kandori v. Hotta review

Verdict:

ER: This was a lot closer than I was anticipating, but I think the viciousness of Hotta barely helps our champ retain. This match was a total fireworks show, our champ is a maintenance worker fistfight after something goes wrong at the fireworks show.

PAS: They are both great matches and testimonies to how incredible Kandori is as a wrestler. The visceral violence of the Hotta match is always going to resonate more to me. Still an EPIC for sure


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE KANDORI

Read more!

PRO WRESTLING FUJIWARA-GUMI 2/28/94

Shoichi Funaki v. Minoru Tanaka

Man this was great. It is so weird that Funaki went from this kind of strict shootstyle to being a beloved comedy jobber in the WWE for so long. Tanaka dominates most of this, throwing big kicks, locking on super tight chokes, even throwing a couple of plausable looking shoot drop kicks. Funaki had some nice takedowns, but spent almost all the match on defense. Finish is great, Tanaka hits a super nasty, super fast judo throw and gets an 8 count. When Funaki gets up, Tanaka rushes him to try for the KO, throwing knees, and Funaki spins him into super fast kneebar/ankle lock combo for the quick tap. It was a very Fujiwara finish to the first match on a Fujiwara show.

Shinobu Kandori/Utako Hozumi v. Harley Saito/Mikkiko Futagami

This was a LLPW exhibition match, and worked like an exhibition match, so the stakes felt sort of low. Still there was a lot of fun stuff in this match. Saito and Futagami are both kickers and they were throwing heat rocks, Saito especially throws with recklessness. Hozumi was very much in the Manami Toyota spirit, but her bodypress and dropkick shtick felt out of place on a card where ladies were headhunting.  I loved Kandori's tribute to Fujiwara headbutts, and her finishing cross face chicken wing submission was really neck cranking.

Next we have a pair of kickboxing matches, which appear to be shoots. Cagematch didn't have match listings, and there were no brutal KOs or anything, so I skimmed past these.

Diusel Berto v. Shupo Toto

Toto is a Thai Kickboxer, and Berto is an early UFC fighter who is the father of ex middleweight boxing champion and Mayweather opponent Andre Berto. This might have been a shoot, as it was a little dull for a work. Berto eats some kicks until he gets close enough to throw Toto and neck crank him for the tap.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Katsumi Usuda

This is a classic Fujiwara versus a young guy match. Usuda throws out everything he has with kicks and takedowns, and Fujiwara counters and perries. The outcome is never really in doubt, and the match only goes about three minutes,  it is more like figuring out when Fujiwara will finish the fight. There are some cool bits of technique, including Fujiwara reversing a top wrist lock from his back, and a nice neck crank. This match up would certainly be better a couple of years later when Usuda wasn't a rookie, but it was fun to watch Fujiwara show off his skill, the way he works an ankle lock is a pretty bit of extreme violence.

Yuki Ishikawa v. Glen Jacobs

This was really good, one of my favorite Jacobs matches ever (admittedly a low bar). Jacobs is pretty great as a shootstyle bruiser he has nasty looking overhead slaps, and he is good at big throws and proto attempts at ground and pound. I loved Ishikawa crawling all over Jacobs like a jungle gym, grabbing and twisting arms and legs. There were also some moments where he just slaps the shit out of Jacobs which feels really satisfying if you have had to sit through years of shitty Kane matches. Liked the finish with Jacobs putting on a grounded full nelson and cranking Ishikawa's neck.

Battle Royal

I am amused how this show ends with a battle royal like every mid 90s US indy show. This was one of those weird Japanese battle royals where someone gets knocked down and they all dogpile on top them. There was a couple of amusing moments with Jacobs ragdolling everyone who attacked him, and I liked Don Arakawa directing traffic. The whole thing seems purposeless though, although it was fast.

Read more!

ALL TIME MOTY LIST Head to Head 1990: Onita/Goto v. Kurisu/Dragonmaster V. Shinobu Kandori v. Harley Saito

Shinobu Kandori v. Harley Saito JWP 7/19/90

 

PAS: Our boy Jetlag has been doing some real work in the footage mines uncovering gems like this. I feel like I need to do a Kandori deep dive because she was totally boss in this, hurling Saito to the mat with vicious judo throws, grabbing and twisting limbs throwing big shots, she has these nasty slaps where she uses her whole hand like she is trying to palm Saito face like a basketball. Saito was really game too, she had nasty kicks and refused to back down from Kandori's assault. Some great kneebar spots in this match, with Kandori really cranking back and Saito fighting out like Steamboat in a figure four. Finish was pretty neat as Saito gets a roll up for a super close pin, she thinks she has won and starts celebrating, Kandori is furious and comes back with a fury eventually beheading her with a clothesline and dropping sheer on her head for the pin.

 ER: We start with slaps before the bell, and that quickly devolves into more stiff shots, wrenched in heel hooks and nasty hard landing backdrops. Every bit of the suplexes thrown look tough, the lift looks tough, the landing looks like they're being dropped on concrete. The nastiest stuff is probably not the submissions, but the rifled kicks to the body every time a submission is broken. Saito gets to the ropes, then gets punted in the stomach several times. Kandori does this again, and it only makes Saito more vicious when it's her opportunity to stand above her prone opponent. Saito literally kicks a downed Kandori from one side of the ring to the floor on the other side, kicking her stomach, arms, face, hands, rolling her across the ring with her kicks, kicking her like a bad student kicking their backpack home from school. Saito's half crab is also outstanding, just bending Kandori's leg back diagonally across her body. I usually don't think about the pressure a half crab could put on the hip joint, but this crab looked like Saito was aiming to pop Kandori's femur out. We get some nice tight cradles for nearfalls, and we end on a disputed pin. It would have been a shame had that been the real pin, but we get the restart, and Saito flies across the ring to show Kandori that pin was no fluke. And she does bring a storm, but Kandori weathers it, blasts her with a lariat, and hits a straight vertical drop Tiger Driver (ummmm...so would it actually be a Tiger Driver '90?) for the win. We get a big post match pull apart like all the best interpromotional FMW or WAR matches, except this is the only time I've seen it with female trainees running breaking up the action in their all the colors of the rainbow gym shorts. All awesome stuff.

Onita/Goto v. Kurisu/Dragonmaster Review

Verdict:

PAS: Another hidden gem challenge for the FMW brawl falls a little short. Loved the joshi match, and it really isn't my style, but the kind of hurricane of violence in that tag is really hard to beat. That match just speaks to my soul as a wrestling fan, and as much as I loved this, it didn't reach that level.

ER: I gotta give the slight nod to the FMW tag as well, more as a style preference than anything. Four strangely dressed men getting vaguely unprofessional in violent ways is just turning my dial. But I couldn't be happier that matches like this are showing up for all to see.

Read more!

Complete and Accurate Shinobu Kandori

Joshi has been a pretty underrepresented style on Segunda Caida. So I decided to a deep dive on the awesome Shinobu Kandori. Bierschwale at PWO called her a mix between Lesnar and Onita which is a pretty perfect description. Mixes killer violence with tremendous charisma. Both a great crowbar and a great seller. I am looking forward to re-watching the classics and also hopefully finding some new gems. As always matches are broken down into SKIPPABLE, FUN, GREAT and EPIC

1990

Shinobu Kandori vs. Harley Saito JWP 7/19/90 - EPIC

1991

Shinobu Kandori/Harley Saito vs. Dynamite Kansai/The Scorpion JWP 8/4/91 - EPIC

1992

Shinobu Kandori vs. Desiree Peterson LPWA 2/23/92 - FUN

1994

Shinobu Kandori/Utako Hozumi vs. Harley Saito/Mikkiko Futagami PWFG 2/28/94 - FUN

Battle Royal PWFG 2/28/94 - SKIPPABLE

Shinobu Kandori/Joe Malenko vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Thunder Crack PWFG 9/13/94 - SKIPPABLE

1995

Shinobu Kandori vs. Rumi Kazama LLPW 8/4/95 - GREAT

1997

Shinobu Kandori/Mizuki Endo vs. Yumiko Hotta/Kumiko Maekawa LLPW 8/15/97 - EPIC
Shinobu Kandori/Mizuki Endo vs. Yumiko Hotta/Kumiko Maekawa AJW 8/22/97 - GREAT

1998

Shinobu Kandori/Rumi Kazama/Yasha Kurenai vs. Eagle Sawai/Michiko Nagashima/Sayuri Okino LLPW 2/15/98 - EPIC
Shinobu Kandori vs. Yumiko Hotta LLPW 3/21/98 - EPIC
Shinobu Kandori vs. Manami Toyota AJW 8/23/98 - EPIC

1999

Shinobu Kandori vs. Yumiko Hotta LLPW 3/10/99-EPIC

2000

Shinobu Kandori/Mach Junji vs. COW COW/Takeshi Ono BattlArts 3/25/00 - FUN

2001

Shinobu Kandori vs. Yumiko Hotta AJW 2/28/01 - GREAT

2007

Shinobu Kandori vs. Meiko Satomura LLPW 2/25/07 - EPIC

Read more!

Kandori Mapped out Your Lie and You Aren't Good For Her

Shinobu Kandori vs. Desiree Peterson LPWA 2/23/92 - FUN

PAS: LPWA was a Joe Pedicino run GLOW competitor which ran the same Vegas casino which had dying day AWA tapings. They had some deal with LLPW and brought in Kandori to work ex WWF Womens tag champion Peterson. Kandori had some really nice moments in what was a short TV match. Opened with a pretty stiff dropkick, put on a nasty abdominal stretch and ended with a Tiger Driver. Peterson looked pretty bad though, she looked like a low end hair whip and stomach kick 80s WWF women's wrestler, I imagine this would have been better with Velvet McIntyre or Rockin Robin. Still not a lot of chance to watch Jim Cornette call a Kandori match.

Shinobu Kandori/Mizuki Endo vs. Yumiko Hotta/Kumiko Maekawa AJW 8/22/97 - GREAT

PAS: This is a classic Puro tag set up, with a veteran teaming with young boy (or girl in this case). The structure is pretty classic, the veteran will beat the shit out of the younger wrestler while taunting their rival. We start with the Kandori and Endo team nastily working over the knee of Maekawa. I hadn't seen Endo before, but she was pretty good, she had this great half lariat/half STO, and is willing to get kicked hard in the head by Hotta and Maekawa. Maekawa has this harrowing thrust kick and she looks like she loosened some teeth on both Kandori and Endo. Kandori is at her mugging, smirking best, at one point she drops Maekawa with a palm thrust and does this little palm thrust dance which was super dickish. Your big star showdown section was pretty awesome, Hotta hits Kandori with a couple of low kicks and Kandori taunts her to take off her kick pads, both ladies go to the corner and remove their boots and kick pads and get into some MMA style sprawling which looked awesome. Finish was great with Hotta just wheel kicking Endo unconscious and getting right in Kandori's face to stare her down. Two matches in, this feels like an all time great rivalry.

Read more!

1998 Match of the Year

Shinobu Kandori v. Yumiko Hotta LLPW 3/21/98

PAS: This was a KO or submission match for the WWWA title, and merciful fuck was this a war. Kandori opens up by tackling Hotta to the floor, after they get back into the ring, they scramble and it ends up with Hotta field goal kicking Kandori right in the head. Hell of a way to open a match and it really lets you know you are watching something special. This match has the greatest guard work I have ever seen in a pro-wrestling match, Kandori is basically a distaff worked Demien Maia. There is this great section early in the match where Kandori is in rubber guard and Hotta, frustrated with her inability to pass, just rains down headbutts splitting her own head open. For the rest of the match Hotta has blood streaming down her head which totally adds to the crazed aura. Of course with these two quasi unprofessional ladies everything is thrown with reckless abandon. Hotta is just unloading KO shots with every kick, Kandori is trying to crack jaws with every slap. Finish was great, Hotta lands two big bombs, a double underhook piledriver, and a nasty liger bomb, but clearly weak from blood loss, she forgets the rules and goes for a pin. This allows Kandori to catch her from the bottom with a great tight triangle choke for the tap out. It was basically a worked version of the Chael Sonnen v. Anderson Silva finish 12 years before that fight. Such a masterful piece of violence and a Segunda Caida match through and through

ER: There's nothing quite like a big wrestling title or stips match, the best ones just have an aura of something bigger. Hotta punts a prone Kandori in the head less than a minute into this, so you just knew what kind of scrap this was going to be from go. Hotta is a total savage here and Kandori leans into one of my favorite roles, underdog who is nasty herself and also resilient. Kandori can take a beating and keep her eye out for openings, like Fujiwara or Ishikawa. Hotta is mean and her face looks like she wants nothing more than to keep her title. She's the one going for less dignified attacks first, the one immediately trying to put Kandori away. She throws in that punt, locks in a quick sleeper choke, and starts jamming headbutts from mount, busting herself open immediately. Blood will always ramp things up, and Hotta's blood-covered face makes her look simultaneously more savage and more desperate. There's a moment where Kandori goes for a pin, looks up at the ref whwn she realizes the ref isn't counting (due to the KO/Submission stips) and while she's looking Hotta grabs her arm for a sub attempt. I loved that as it came into play on the finish, with Kandori getting that same benefit of Hotta waiting for a pin count, allowing her to lock on the finishing triangle. While Kandori is going for submissions as a way to victory, Hotta is going for knockouts. At one point Kandori is seated, and Hotta walks up behind her and just wraps a kick around her face. The callback finish was great, with Hotta hitting a nasty snap piledriver and then rolling through to deliver a vertically spiking tiger driver; she waits for a pin, and a loopy Kandori locks on a triangle that the exhausted Hotta can't escape. This will be a fun inaugural champ for a year with no obvious champs or challengers.


ALL TIME MOTY LIST

Read more!

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.

Read more!

PRO WRESTLING FUJIWARA-GUMI SHOW #24 9/13/94

Tokimitsu Ishizawa v. Naohiro Hoshikawa

PAS: This was clipped and what was showed was not particularly good. The mat stuff was fun, but both guys kept trying dropkicks, and their stand up kind of stunk.

TKG: I think they clipped about half of this out. KaShin whose gimmick is that he won't work pro-style, here refuses to work shootstyle and goes for drop kicks. Hoshikawa throws a really awful looking drop kick at one point and maybe they clipped out the good parts.

Carl Greco v. Shoichi Funaki

PAS: Wow this was fun, this was a total mat spotfest, as both guys were working at a million miles an hour, spinning into combinations and counters. I remember Funaki breaking out almost a Casita into an armbar, and Greco is just great at the mat sprint.

TKG: This was shockingly good. Before the match starts Greco does mic work where he speaks like a Japanese guy with broken English, I guess to help the translator. Funaki is a guy who I don't normally think of as projecting character well. Here he is really fun projecting fired up guy trying to win. The actual mat work and exchanges were also pretty spectacular.

Glen Jacobs v. Daisuke Ikeda

PAS: This was alot better then Jacobs v. Ishikawa, as Jacobs seemed to adapt to the style alot better. Unlike the previous match all of his big throws were counters here. Ikeda goes for a front face lock, Jacobs throws him with a Northern lights, Ikeda goes for an armbar, Jacobs does a keylock overhead throw. You got the sense if Jacobs had just stayed in PWFG/BattlArts he may have gotten as good as Viktor Kruger.

TKG: Ikeda is alot taller then Ishikawa and so the size difference wasn't as pronounced. I wonder who was the Pat Patterson behind this match because this was all about Ikeda trying for stuff and Jacobs countering with throws which helped cover for Jacobs difficulty selling. Jacobs still can't sell but him fighting stuff with counters made it look like he was at least concerned with his opponents offense.

Katsumi Usuda v. Yuki Ishikawa

PAS: This is the first of many really great matches between these two. This wasn't as hideously violent as their later matches, but was pretty good. Ishikawa is really working above Usuda for parts of the match, almost like he was working over a rookie, but Usuda fought back with some big shots, and looked like he caught Ishikawa unaware.

TKG: These two have better matches in the future. Greco v. Funaki was really the match of the show. still this was really good and every match Usuda seems to be getting stiffer and stiffer. Usuda's body shots to escape submissions were really good looking. and these two just jell really well.


Joe Malenko/Shinobu Kandori v. Thunder Crack/Yoshiaki Fujiwara

PAS: Thunder Crack is Fujiwara's horse face German girlfriend who he later did porn films with. You would expect this to be at least sleazy, but it is just kind of boring. Malenko looks kind of pissed that he is doing this, and even seems to half ass it a bit during his sections with Fujiwara. I was expecting Kandori to really stiff Thunder Crack (I have seen a video with a girl who looks like Kandori acting really violent towards a German girl), but she actually is professional and sells for her matwork. There is a couple of amusing Fujiwara comedy spots, but this was soul crushingly bad.

TKG: Did they do multiple porns or was it just one home video? I think she was Fujiwara's pottery instructor and girlfriend or maybe if you're a German art teacher fucking is part of the teaching technique. "Well after he explained empty space and composition my teacher made me do this for the next three classes. He said these exercises improve your pot throwing technique". The Fujiwara v Malenko sections were fun and Fujiwara as Dusty working Kandori was fun. I was amused by some of the Fujiwara/Thundercrack Ralph and Alice Kramden interactions on the apron but when Thundercrack was actually in the ring this ground to a halt. Fujiwara tends not to be a particularly masturbatory booker. Rarely booking himself in the main event. booking him and girlfriend in main to go long feels like something a money mark does. Fujiwara at least has decency to job so not complete money mark booking. Still.

Read more!