NO-MAS: Omos in NOAH

 

Team 2000X (Omos/Jack Morris) vs. Takashi Sugiura/Naomichi Marufuji NOAH 1/1/25

ER: Around Christmas, Tim told me that NOAH was bringing in Omos as a Nigerian Kaiju and wondered if I'd be interested in checking out how they handle a guy who's completely different than any NOAH wrestler in history. Omos has been in WWE for four years now and for whatever reason they are scared about using an Actual Giant in a wrestling match now. There are fewer Big Men in wrestling than ever before. Why!? It can't be the "quality" of the ring work, that doesn't make sense. I've seen plenty of fucking Xyon Quinn or Cora Jade matches. They can't care that much about people looking bad in a ring. 30% of their roster is made up of people with lifted asses and blown out knees working spots in half speed, but I guess a literal Giant moving at the speed of a Giant isn't something they can visualize working in Pro Wrestling. Pull the damn trigger on a guy who is 7'3 and Looks Cool. Omos looks cool. He's a Black Giant who looks cool. He's not Eli Cottonwood. He's not Shanky. Is it because he's the only black giant? Is that why they're so afraid, because he's the tallest black wrestler they've ever been around? Suddenly the tallest black wrestler in history comes along and can pull off facial hair and dress well, and they get too racist to understand what they have? He's the tallest black wrestler since Karl Malone and that means something.  

Now I don't think there are any guys on the NOAH roster I actually care about seeing against Omos - this is a far cry from MY NOAH of 20 years ago - but the idea still intrigued me. I don't know why they scared the Big Man away from pro wrestling but it fucking sucks, and now NOAH is courting one with the intention of making him a big attraction. Their first step in making him a big attraction? To have him do something he's never done before: Win the tag titles in his first match with the company. 

This tag was a fine way to debut Omos, even though it was nowhere close to as good as his debut 4 years ago. I thought Jack Morris and Marufuji looked awful. Morris had really bad stomps and clubbing shots, and is a real bland guy to pair with your new giant. As I was thinking about how bad most of Morris's offense was, Marufuji blazed out of the corner with a 5 hit combo that missed so badly I assumed was intentionally thrown as a 0 hit combo. I thought he was just backing Morris up with near misses like they were breaking into Low Ki vs. Red but then Morris took a big Sean Salmon bump and I had to rewind to see what had made him bump. 

I don't know how Marufuji came up through All Japan and has strikes that look this bad. He's in his mid-40s and has a fuckboi perm and I wish he had gotten the shit kicked out of him by Kanemaru and IZU or Makoto Hashi in 1998 because he blows. His work with Omos is really bad too. He has no idea how to work a giant and he's terrible at setting up spots. He throws a punch to be caught and he throws it like he was fighting AJ Styles. Omos has to deadlift him on a backdrop and Marufuji hops early on the double chokeslam. It means more symbolically that he easily pinned Marufuji on his first night in Japan but it would have been much better to pair him off for a big match with Sugiura. I like Sugiura and he knew exactly how to work Omos. He was also much better at doing something with Morris, burying knees in his stomach and leaning into Morris's one cool bump (one his shoulders taking a brainbuster off the middle buckle) and he knew he could actually throw some elbows at Omos for him to no sell. Sugiura's looks after Omos absorbed those elbows were well above the level of the same expected looks from any Performance Center alum. 

As for Omos, I don't think he did enough, and he needs to actually throws strikes. Sugiura can take a club to the back, dude. Marufuji's best moment was getting kicked off the buckles to the floor, and it was Omos's best moment too. He needs to swing harder and not be afraid to be a giant. Stan Hansen swung big and missed big. Swing to hit. Miss like a Giant. 

Tim Livingston: WWE has been sending talent to Pro Wrestling NOAH for two years now. That exchange has led to predictably blah stuff (outside of Mutoh becoming an Hall of Famer, an outright cool distinction), but it all pales in comparison to the most intriguing thing of all to come out of this relationship.

In an interview during their August excursion, Josh Briggs and Tavion Heights asked Mutoh and Marufuji who they thought would do well coming over from WWE to NOAH. Mutoh excitedly exclaimed OMOS, citing his love for big guys and later saying he could help make Omos a star attraction. The homogenization of outsider talent in Japan has led them to be so same-y and tryhard over the past several years. Being able to drop f-bombs and flip people off = cool in 2025, apparently. Someone like Omos being in Japan has a chance to make an actual impact if done correctly.

Lo and behold, Omos DID get announced for the NOAH New Year show, as the mystery partner of Jack Morris. No, not the fringe Hall of Fame pitcher; this guy is a Scottish pro wrestler, although now I wonder if Verne ever approached Jack about making an appearance at an AWA show at one point. They were even facing Marufuji and Sugiura for the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Titles. I asked if Eric would want to check in one someone I know he likes and figured we'd follow his exploits for the green brand as long as he's there. Or, given he's still in the throes of his '97 WCW project, get his comparisons between OMOS and Ron Reis at the very least.


Omos immediately jumps off the page here, especially standing next to Morris, who is a bit generic. The wide shot of Omos walking down the aisle was a great production choice. You can see just how much he stands out in the arena, and it hammers home how a simple presentation can get so much across. Him staring down Wakamotoharu at ringside, a high-level sumo and big pro wrestling fan doing guest commentary, was downright mesmerizing given he hadn't even entered the ring and had already created a buzz.

The match layout could not have been better here: instead of teasing out his eventual tag into the match, Morris tags Omos in right away and the match becomes immediately intriguing. Omos rightfully comes into this match knowing he owns the two legends across from him in nearly every facet, even withstanding Sugi trying a few tricks and failing hard. Another great piece of production, inadvertent or not: Omos hits a corner avalanche and the impact is so strong it shakes the corner cam out of focus.

Omos' second control segment on Marufuji was even better. I love how Marufuji tried what Sugi tried only to eat even more shit. The Omos big boot knocking him off the buckles to the floor looked amazing; a prelude to him getting bieled back in right on his hip after being lifted off the floor by his cranium. Omos busts out the basketball shooting taunt, and it's one thing for someone like Carmelo Hayes to work basketball gimmicks into his stuff, but a 7'4" dude doing it just hits harder.

It should be pointed out Marufuji hits nothing but air on a strike combination "towards" Morris that was so hilarious it would lead any blooper reel. This is a guy who looked up to Misawa, came up in the All Japan dojo, and after nearly three decades can only really throw a chop with any authority, with two of those spent on top of a promotion. Boggles the mind.

The finishing stretch hammered home Omos as a difference maker and was tremendous. You get the splash from Morris standing on Omos' shoulders (with the low camera shot to sell the height Morris jumped from), the murdering of Sugi on the apron with a chokeslam, and then the double choke bomb to give Omos (and Morris, I guess) the belts.

Omos has roughly 200 matches under his belt, a majority of those being off TV, but this is as good as I've ever seen him look. There was meaning in every spot, his overall presentation was superb, everything he did was efficient and impactful. He wasn't hidden or limited in any way. In ten minutes, you learned everything you needed to know about what Omos can do while leaving plenty in the tank for the weeks and months to come. A great piece of business and a great start. 

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Matches from NOAH 1/30/20

Akitoshi Saito/Masao Inoue vs. Mohammed Yone/Quiet Storm

ER: Silly little tag match, made sillier by the hilarious presence of Quiet Storm. At this point he looks  like he's playing the Danzig role in the Misfats, except he is somehow even shorter than Glenn Danzig. And it took me the entire match to figure out that unlike Masao Inoue's comedy offense, Quiet Storm's offense was actually supposed to look good. NOAH has always had comedy guys filling out their cards, but their comedy guys used to do some actual interesting stuff. Quiet Storm just does a bunch of weird smoker's cough "Come on baby!" as if gaijin warming up a Japanese crowd hasn't evolved one second past Jericho working WAR 25 years ago. His shoulderblocks don't look like they would budge a guy like Saito, he does one of the absolute worst drop toeholds I've ever seen, and he has all of these stupid flatliner variations (with the worst being a sliding one he delivers to a kneeling Inoue). Yone was a Batt guy but hasn't worked as a stiff Batt guy for years. Saito had some nice moments, with my favorite him buckling QS with a savage leg kick, and I always get a kick out of Inoue's foot stomps and sad sack persona. It took Inoue 18 seconds to get out of his t-shirt before the bell, and he's one of the few guys who can pull off Super Porky "cry while being hit" comedy without it being derivative. QS hit one very nice lariat down the stretch, but there was a lot of lame offense in this one.

Daisuke Harada vs. Hajime Ohara

ER: This is our first semifinal of the Global Junior League (I am more excited for the other semifinal) is a juniors main event epic with several matches to go until the main event. Harada was already doing dramatic swoons and holding his back 5 minutes into this match. I am not excited to see him in the main event, jerking and throwing his head back in a howl while selling like he's Kate Bush's Hounds of Love dance partner. Ohara doesn't throw great strikes, but I loved the way he attacked Harada's back. You want backbreaker variations? Ohara will give you backbreaker variations, all of them good. He rolls Harada from a fireman's carry into one, hits a pumphandle one, tilt a whirl, reverses a headscissors into one, drops a couple classic style in (while holding and pressing down on Harada's chin!), all cool. The problem is that Harada sells the first one exactly the same as he sells the 5th one, exactly the same as he sells the 10th one. He's already in agony, Ooooooooooomy baccccccckkkkkkkkkk, as he goes on to be not slowed down for one second in his offensive comebacks. Any of his offense that would have been done with a hunky dory back got done here, only here we had to put up with him showing all of his teeth after every move. Oooooooooit hurts my back when I do moooooooooooves! But I MUST do MOOOOOOVES! His has a lot of fruity cute  offense, stupid indy offense that needs to die, like making Ohara bunny hop into a fake armdrag that is actually a kneelift. When Harada isn't trying out for Godspell, he had a hard lariat that wrecked Ohara, and his running double knees looked like it should have absolutely shattered Ohara's jaw. That kind of brutality instead of bad acting would have really put the match ahead, but I thought the Harada drama was really bad.

Dick Togo vs. Yoshinari Ogawa

ER: This felt like a hot 1st act that segued directly into a hot final act. Both acts are really awesome, but it felt like a section was trimmed out of the middle. There pace was fast as hell throughout, so it didn't look like either was hurt or had an empty gas tank. It started with a bunch of snug fast arm twisting go behinds spun into headlock takeovers. Both guys rolling up bodies to jump from limbs to heads and back. I could have watched them work 15 minutes of just that kind of expert mat scrambling, felt more like tight World of Sport than the floaty mat stuff that started off Harada/Ohara earlier in the night. Togo works a nice surfboard and Ogawa works a killer figure 4 variation. Togo's selling in the figure 4 is really strong, as is Ogawa's in applying it. Ogawa was tightening it, occasionally kicking at it with his free boot, and when Togo finally reversed it he turned it into a nasty modified calf crusher. This is where the 2nd act should have been, but they quickly go into an energetic finishing sequence, with Togo's perfect standing dropkick, a missed senton, several close nearfalls on sunset flips and majistrals, and a battle over Togo's painful crossface. I was thinking the crossface would make a cool finish for the match, Ogawa working roll up counters to it while Togo rolled back to center them, but I was surprised the finish came relatively quickly. Maybe I was just loving this unseen pairing too much, two favorites matching up in the best way, and I just wanted even more. It's probably that.

PAS: The matwork in this was really cool, you don't see this kind of lucha maestros stuff much in Japan. This really felt like a good Primera Caida of an awesome match, but we never really get the other two falls. Both guys are killer on the mat, loved all of the work around the Indian deathlock, love that hold, it has always been a weak sister to the figure four, but it looks awesome and has a bunch of stuff you can do around it. I also loved the rolling around with the crossface, again just a nasty move with a bunch of opportunities to adjust and twist in and out. Still this felt like a bit of a tease, I wanted this to be longer and hit a couple of different notes, great appetizer, but I am still hungry.

28. Hideki Suzuki/Kazuyuki Fujita/Takashi Sugiura vs. Go Shiozaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima/Shuhei Taniguchi

ER: Take a look at Sugiura-gun! What a collection of goons, doing all of their pre-match stretching as  AXIZ is making their way out. These guys mean business, and this match was all about dishing out that business. Fujita is nearly 50, hasn't been fully involved in pro wrestling for two decades, and I like the old spry shooter for hire vibe he brings. He's lumpy, he's got that famous cinderblock dome, and he still has surprising speed. He also has no problem welting up every member of AXIZ. There is a lot of stand and trade in this match, and while that style isn't really my favorite, it's hard not to like a lot of what we get. Fujita throws deadly elbow strikes, and if you think his right hand slap hits hard, just wait until you feel the left directly after it. Shiozaki winds up with big red marks on his neck, looked like his head had been surgically reattached at the jawline. He stands with Fujita, but Fujita is pretty monstrous and just comes back with more elbows, more slaps, and gutbusting kneelifts. Down the stretch Sugiura-gun separates Taniguchi from the pack and treats him like they're jumping him into (or out of) their gang. I think it's tough to make the "guy being pinballed between strikes" look good, but I got really into watching these goons take turns trying to be the one to knock Taniguchi down. Taniguchi gets a great showdown with Fujita, where he throws some killer headbutts right into Fujita's collarbones. Taniguchi wasn't trained by any of the NOAH headbutters, but he keeps a favorite part of NOAH alive. My favorite section of the match was Suzuki vs. Nakajima, as Nakajima was the stiffest member of AXIZ, and I dug how he actually punished Suzuki. Suzuki is tough as hell, but Nakajima looked like a total badass kicking away at him, standing on his neck in the corner, and I dug the story that Suzuki was a killer in stacked attacks but kept getting wasted when separated from his pack (is the Suzuki/Nakajima TL draw a couple weeks later worth watching?). I thought this match did a great job setting up future singles matches and tags, all of which I am now interested in seeing.

PAS: This was a bunch of fun, a solid approximation of a 90s WAR six man tag. Suzuki wrestles primarily in slow burn matches with lots of matwork, but he is also great in these kind of wild brawls. Suzuki wasting Taniguchi with a spinning neckbreaker on the floor was the biggest spot of the match, as much of this was nasty kicks and punches. Shiozaki takes a big beating here, Fujita really tries to murder him, but he really needed to land something nastier then B- chops. Nakajima gets his head nearly kicked off at the finish and I love that Fujita has fully embraced crowbarhood in his old age.


7. Dick Togo vs. Daisuke Harada

ER: A fitting junior league final, and thankfully worked in a bubble. I was kind of dreading seeing Harada drama queen sell his way through his prior match back injury, but thankfully he went in as if nothing had been done to his back all evening. They work a cool juniors style, and Harada guided by Togo is so much better than Harada left to his own. Togo works a completely different match than he worked against Ogawa, and Harada really dominates him early. I like the idea that Togo and Ogawa went really aggressively at each other, and Harada runs at Dick right at the bell, nailing him with a dropkick and a fine German suplex, then crushing him into the guardrail with a great tope. Togo's selling really made it look like he pulled something in his back, just the difficulty in being dragged back to his feet alone made me feel for him, and then Harada puts an exclamation point on it with a double stomp as Togo is getting to his feet.

Togo is on the ropes for the first several minutes, and that's when we get DICK out of mothballs, opportunistically hiptossing Harada over the top (and I love how it wasn't a clean spot. Togo wasn't overtly selling the back, but it wasn't a clean leap over the top, Togo almost not having enough strength to get him over), then wraps Harada's leg around a guardrail with a dragon screw, then continues to pick apart Harada's leg. Harada not putting full weight on a leg is much more palatable than Harada selling his back, and heel DICK really starts being mean with him, throwing punches (and I don't think a single punch was thrown in his match with Ogawa), then challenging Harada to hit him back, dodging, and kicking his leg out. He kicks his leg out at a couple of convenient spots, then uses submission work on the injured leg to set up strong attempts at the crossface. We get a fantastic DICK tope con hilo, and he starts splatting Harada with pedigrees on the floor and off the middle buckle.

Togo made me buy into Harada'a comeback, eats knees on a missed senton, and Harada gets to use a weapon that I like: his fakeout punch into a hard shoulder strike to the gut that takes Togo's wind. Harada builds to a couple of big German suplexes, not always able to bridge because of his leg (and impressively not being such a baby about his knee), and I loved the sequence of Togo flipping out of one, missing a lariat but getting run into the ropes chest first, and Harada using that momentum to absolutely toss DICK on his neck and shoulders. The nearfalls down the stretch were strong, and made this come off like a real torch passing match (even though Harada has somehow wrestled way more matches than Togo), and plays as a shining example of Dick Togo not having lost a single step into his 50s.

PAS: This was really good. Togo is obviously a master, but I thought Harada brought some cool stuff to the match. All of the Togo legwork was super nasty, reminded of the period right before Sasuke had knee surgery, where every match Kaientai would tear his leg apart. After Togo smashes him with the Shiryu flip dive (a nice shout out to his KDX homeboy) Dick takes over, and crushes him with a Pepsi plunge and a pedigree. I loved how Harada desperately clutched at Togo's ankle, delaying Dick enough for him to get his knees up on the Senton. A nice bit of strategy and selling. I also really dug how he kept countering those big windup Togo punches by forearming him in the ribs and guts, Harada's body shot forearms were way nastier then his forearms to the head and I loved how he kept going back to them to slow Togo down. Harada hits some pretty solid snap Germans and you can just see Togo's age catching up to him. Easily the best Togo I have seen since his return from retirement and up there with his great retirement tour stuff.


2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

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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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SLL's All-Request Early Saturday Morning - 1/10/2015

For over a year now, Segunda Caida has been delivering at least one new piece of content daily...and precisely none of it has been mine. Let's fix that, shall we?

Welcome back to SLL's All-Request Friday Night (which, as per tradition, ran late, and is being put up early Saturday morning), wherein I review five matches as requested by YOU, the Segunda Caida reader. It's been entirely too long, folks, but it's good to be back, and I can think of no better way to kick things off than by awkwardly explaining why I like watching a murderer wrestle.

Invader I vs. Hercules Ayala (WWC, 1987)
Requested by DylanWaco

So, I've seen some Puerto Rican wrestling in my time, but it is, generally speaking, a blind spot for my fandom. Fortunately, we've seen that island and it's bloody, bloody history explored a bit more in the last few years, and it's become more visible on the radar. We have Dylan Hales to thank for that to a large extent, as he's probably been the most vocal champion of 80's Puerto Rico and the guy most likely to sell you on the stuff. Naturally, this sort of thing leads to wrestlers getting rediscovered and reevaluated, the most obvious one here being Carlos Colon. Somewhat less obviously, and somewhat more controversially, has been the rediscovery and reevaluation of Invader I, the man found not guilty of - but still generally acknowledged as having committed - the murder of Bruiser Brody, and since it's kind of an elephant in the room, I guess I should probably address it up front.

The obvious reaction is, of course, to dismiss Invader and his body of work, because he is a murderer and a monster like Chris Benoit, Jerry Estrada, and Jimmy Snuka. Then, you realize all three of the guys you just listed were good-to-great workers at some point in their careers, and you're kinda fucked. It doesn't help that while Invader's crime was unquestionably terrible, when you put it next to those of the three guys I just listed, it strikes me as pretty easily the least outrageous. Obviously, if you don't feel comfortable watching the work of a killer, Invader I is not for you, anymore than Benoit, Estrada, or Snuka are, and I'm certainly not going to judge you negatively if you hold that standard. But my heart is black as coal. I was able to watch a Chris Benoit match the day after his crime was revealed. I'm not gonna have a problem with with this guy.

So, the match. Hercules Ayala hits the ring to take on Isaac Rosario, but he's not having any of that. Fortunately for me, El Boricua over at Pro Wrestling Only was able to provide some context for this, so I know that the recently heel-turned Ayala's issue was that he didn't see Rosario as real competition. He airs his greivances to Hugo Savinovich and his glorious mullet until Invader hits the ring to give him a real challenge. The two are scheduled for a match that Saturday, and Ayala tries to blow him off on those grounds, but Invader isn't going anywhere, so they have at it. Meanwhile, Hugo consults with Puerto Rican Walt Frazier about whether or not this is all kosher.

I think this is actually my first time seeing Ayala. He's not someone I had much reason to actively seek out, since his reputation is shit, but he actually looked pretty damn good here. He was all big and mean and clubbery, and he laid his shots in nicely. This may have been an above average performance for him, but yeah, no complaints. Invader I've seen a handful of times before, once as an old man against Ray Gonzalez, once in an 80's WWF tag match against Roddy Piper and David Schultz. I don't think I ever gave him much credit before, possibly because...you know...the murder thing, and 80's WWF tags and matches as an old guy against a really talented worker in his prime are not really the places where you're going to overcome a lousy reputation. This is more of the kind of showcase where you can't really ignore the talent of the guys involved, and, well, Invader I is really talented. He's great as the super fired-up babyface brawler. He has the best battering ram I've ever seen. That's a spot that almost always looks stupid, but Ayala knocks Invader back, and Invader whips right back at him head-first at top speed, and it looks totally awesome. The match has a really great finishing stretch, starting with Ayala bashing Invader with the ringbell, and Invader doing some really great groggy selling. Ayala wails on him, but Invader hangs in there and makes his comeback, getting some ringbell comeuppance in exchange. The two continue to fight it out as the TV time limit expires, and I'd really like to see the match they had that Saturday.

Mascarita Dorada vs. Mini Psicosis (AAA, 5/19/12)
Requested by Grimmas

You know what, I'm gonna say it - The Imperial March? Not really a good choice for technico theme music. This is the kind of bold honesty that has made me so respected amongst my peers.

Anyway, this match is awesome. It's a pretty simple speed vs. power match, and both of these guys are really good in those those roles. Dorada (the current El Torito, for those of you who lost track of the Mascarita Doradas) is so ridiculously slick. He's not setting the bar low for himself, either. Over the course of the match, he goes for some pretty flashy high flying offense, and he executes it all perfectly. I think my favorite was the escape of the wheelbarrow into the springboard headbutt near the end. Yes, that's a thing that happened. Don't doubt that Dorada can make things like that happen. Mini Psicosis, meanwhile, is a really nasty little bruiser. He's quite a bit larger than Dorada, and they did fail to deliver the "larger mini mocks the smaller mini for being short" spot, which I always love in these matches, but he was still great overpowering Dorada, tossing him around the ring, and even busting out a nifty lariat at one point. Mini Histeria is seconding Mini Psicosis, and he does get involved a bit in the match. I didn't really have a problem with it, and it did lead to Octagoncito busting out an awesome dive on Dorada's behalf. There's a screwy finish, too, with Psicosis swiping Dorada's mask, but don't worry about that. This is a ton of fun.

Bob Esponja, Patricio Estrella, & Lady Maravilla vs. Buzz Lightyear, Sky Kid, & Chelly Rock (ACM, 5/12/13)
Requested by Tim Evans

Are ya ready, kids?

You know, I've seen a lot of things in professional wrestling over the years, and I think I can safely say...this is one of them. Lady Maravilla and Chelly (or Shelly...Cubs Fan says "Chelly", so I'm going with that) Rock start this out. They're not that bad. They're not that good. They're not that interesting. Look, we all know what we came here to see: Spongebob Squarepants and Buzz Lightyear throwing down. These women and their perfunctory matwork are just getting in my way. Maybe if Maravilla were dressed as Sandy and Chelly were dressed as Jessie, but as is, no dice. Really, even Sky Kid looks out of place here. You're telling me you couldn't rustle up some cowboy gear for this guy? Plus, I figure once you have your Toy Story trio established, they're set up pretty naturally for a mascara contra mascara match with Trio Fantasia, which I assume is the ideal career trajectory for everyone in this. Anyway, Sky Kid and Patricio have a pretty spirited exchange, but the technicos take the fall before Bob and Buzz can mix it up. Primear Caida ended so fast I thought I was watching CMLL.

Second fall opens up giving me exactly what I wanted. Buzz decks Spongebob with a slap across the mouth. He has a pretty nasty forearm, too. Buzz Lightyear is kind of a crowbar, which I wouldn't necessarily have guessed from the movies. This fall stretches it's legs a bit more, and it's mostly built around a rudo beatdown. At one point, Spongebob gets fouled after getting hit not where the wrestler's crotch actually is, but where it would be on the baggy costume he's wearing (though if we're being that technical, Spongebob is an asexual being who reproduces via budding and should be invulnerable to foules, but I think I'm gonna let that slide). Buzz takes the fall for his team with a top rope splash, presumably after shouting "Hasta el infinito y más allá!" to the crowd.

So in the tercera caida...you know, should I even bring up the fact that the costumed characters are not the most mechanically sound wrestlers you'll ever see? Because on one hand, I probably should, but on the other hand, does it really matter? This is a match that very much works upon the dancing bear principle - that is, the marvel is not that the bear dances well, but that the bear dances at all. This isn't a great match by any means, and the talents on display here won't make you for get Los Thundercats or some of the better wrestling Ninja Turtles, but if you ever wanted to see Buzz Lightyear and Patrick Star in a dive train - and you know you wanted to see that - this match definitely delivers.

Kengo Mashimo vs. Hiro Tonai (K-Dojo, 9/14/14)
Requested by Brandon-E

Well, if we're going to bring back All-Request Friday Nights, we've got to bring back that old staple, the modern puro match that I kinda dread watching, but that YOU requested, so I'm gonna suck it up and review it. Besides, watching things from outside my comfort zone is how I expand my horizons as a fan, and one of the things I like about doing this is that it's a great excuse to watch stuff that I never would've watched otherwise. On the other hand, Kaientai Dojo burns me pretty much every time I've ever watched it, so I'm apprehensive here. That said, if there's one guy who might deliver in that setting against all odds...well, it's TAKA Michinoku. But if there's ANOTHER guy who might deliver in that setting against all odds, I'd wager that it's Kengo Mashimo, the ace of K-Dojo and certainly the best trainee they've ever produced. He's a guy I took notice of in 2010 when he started hanging out with the FUTEN crew outside of his home promotion, but that never seemed to translate to any swell of quality in it, possibly because he couldn't find an opponent in K-Dojo half as competent as Takahiro Oba. He seems to try when I watch him, but usually, his opponent lets him down, so I really want to believe in this Hiro Tonai character right now. He's wearing Kuniaki Kobayashi's pants. That's a good start.

So I place my faith in Tonai, and is it rewarded? Well, yes, actually, and from pretty early on in the match, too, when he crosses Mashimo up during a straightforward feeling out section with a nifty cradle and a shining wizard. From there, he tries to press the advantage, but Mashimo cuts him off on the second rope and dropping his leg on the turnbuckle. Most of the first half is built around Mashimo working Tonai's leg, and while it isn't as violent as his FUTEN stuff (how could it be?), he still makes for a great bully, kicking and stomping the shit out of his leg and then working him over on the mat with submission holds once he's been grounded. He starts daring Tonai to take shots at him, and I know Mashimo already had a run with New Japan as part of Suzuki-gun, but watching this, I really wish they'd bring him back for something a bit more substantial, because he's a guy who does a lot of what we think of as the "strong style" routine better than most of the hyped New Japan guys. He's actually kinda reminiscint of Tomohiro Ishii in that respect, though he's obviously not on that level as a talent. Anyway, this backfires on him, and Tonai starts to fight back, injuring Mashimo's arm in the process. Tonai's comeback is spirited, though he does seem to be blowing off the leg selling a bit too much at times. I've seen much worse, though, and it wasn't enough to take me out of the match, though I could see some people disagreeing with me on that. Then again, I could see some people thinking his selling was perfectly fine, too, so whatever. Just thought you should know that was there and that I docked a few points from the match because of it. Still, there's too much good here for me to let that get me down. I totally dug the stretch run, which had some really tight and intense work from both guys, including that most elusive of creatures in modern puro: the back-and-forth strike exchange that felt like it was actually earned by the match, and not just thrown because it's supposed to be there to make the match seem more epic than it actually is. I can't guarantee this will be to everyone's taste, but fuck it, it was to mine. Give it a look. You may be surprised.

Alexander Otsuka vs. Takashi Sugiura (Z1, 4/18/01)
Requested by Curt McGirt

Hey, my first week back, and I go five for five with matches that I actually like! I haven't watched this match in years, but really, what are the odds of it not holding up? It's an Alexander Otsuka match. In my years as a fan, I've seen wrestlers who are better than Alexander Otsuka, but I've seen very few who are more fun than Alexander Otsuka. Alexander Otsuka is professional wrestling comfort food - a man proficient in a wide array of styles, and who will gladly demonstrate all of them during a single match for your amusement. Wrestling is many things to many people, but more than anything else, it's a good time, and there ain't no party like an Alexander Otsuka party.

Sugiura had only been wrestling for a few months at this point, but he was already showing a ton of promise here. I can't say he ever became a huge favorite of mine, but I always liked him well enough, and he has some very strong performances under his belt. In this match, he makes good use of his amateur background, grappling with Otsuka early and throwing him around later on. Always something I appreciate with amateurs-turned-pro.

Then, about halfway through the match, Otsuka hauls off and headbutts Sugiura, busting himself open hardway in the process, which looks just nasty. It gets even nastier as the match goes on, probably due in no small part to the fact that they keep trading headbutts for a while after that. Again, Otsuka is not afraid to just change the style of the match on a dime if he feels like it, and what's great is that it never feels wrong or out of place. It feels like a guy with a bottomless bag of tricks who likes to keep his opponents - and the audience - guessing, and it's a joy to watch every time. And just as seamlessly, he follows up a headbutt by slipping behind Sugiura and German suplexing him, transitiong to the "hosses throwing each other around" segment of the match. Beautiful.

These two guys actually wrestled each other again this past November at a Dradition show in what I'm told was billed as a rematch of this bout. I don't know if that made tape, as Otsuka's matches rarely do these days. That's a real pity. Still, watching this match does make me wanna go find what little recent Otsuka is available. The sun always shines a little brighter when that man steps into the ring, and brighter still when I can actually see it.

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Daisuke Ikeda was the Champion of Forgive Forget

Daisuke Ikeda/Takeshi Ono v. Masao Orihara/Mohammed Yone BattlArts 6/25/99-EPIC

Man remember when Japanese wrestling was awesome? You can pretty much watch any BattlArts tag from the late 90's and it would be the Puro MOTY if it happened this year. Ikeda and Ono are maybe my favorite tag team in wrestling history, just nasty violent smarmy asskickers. Orihara and Yone were working heel in this match and we get a glorious battle of shitheads. Ono is amazing here, he has some great fast punch and kick exchanges with Orihara where both guys throw really quick hands, and slip and avoid, while mixing in nut shots. Meanwhile Yone and Ikeda are just trying to rip each others heads off with clotheslines and kicks. Watching Yone and Ikeda kill each other makes their current NOAH run even more disappointing. They have a great finishing run against each other, with Ono running around and clearing out Orihara. An example of what these guys do the best


Daisuke Ikeda/Mohammed Yone v. Takashi Sugiura/Masato Tanaka NOAH 4/2/14- FUN

This was a really good looking on-paper match, but Ikeda in NOAH is a very different beast unfortunately. This was pretty much a bog standard NOAH tag, lots of elbow smashes and clotheslines. Yone was member of the Bat-Bat team who the spotlight was placed on, and he didn't do much. There was a couple of nice Ikeda moment, one nasty kick a good headbut, but he seemed to be coasting a bit. There was a cool spot where Sugiura and Tanaka were forearming Yone at the same time on different sides of his head, but that is the only thing I am going to remember.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DAISUKE IKEDA

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How Low Can a Punk Get, How Low Can Daisuke Ikeda Get

Daisuke Ikeda v. Alexander Otsuka BattlArts 4/26/99-EPIC

Awesome match, probably the most off the wall legendary BattlArts match. First move is Otsuka landing a coconut headbutt which opens up Ikeda. A couple of minutes later Ikeda tries a Space Flying Tiger drop which had the look of the first and only time he tried that, Otsuka comes back with a rope walk armdrag and a giant swing, before they calm down and start killing each other with kicks and suplexes. Otsuka also has some beautiful take downs and submission attempts, he is one of the flashiest and trickest mat wrestlers in history. Finish run has all the neck compression and face kicking you want and all the early lunacy really adds to the deadly seriousness of the finish

Daisuke Ikeda/Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima/Takashi Sugiura v. Vader/Mike Modest/Donovan Morgan/2 Cold Scorpio NOAH 3/25/02-FUN

One of those matches which looks a lot better on paper then in execution. You have a murderers row of vicious fuckers in this match, but we mostly get the APW guys running through their comedy spots. Ikeda is pretty much a non entity here as was Scorpio, and that is the pair of guys I wanted to see hook up. Finish run is fun as Vader mercs Sugiara, but this was pretty throwaway.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE IKEDA

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Cassandro Was Always By My Side, and Never Tried to Leave

Gran Apache/May Flowers/Pimpinela Escarlata/Polvo de Estrellas vs. Cassandro/Alan/Billy Boy/Decnnis (AAA, 5/20/06) - FUN

Cassandro is wearing his completely awesome Wonder Woman outfit that I have never seen before. One thing about doing this project is that I can be completely amazed time and time again at the many different outfits of Cassandro. So far I have not seen the same outfit twice.

This match is full of dissension, as the Barrio Boys clearly don't agree with Cassandro's lifestyle choices and do not want to be teaming with him. Think about that: The BARRIO BOYS don't agree with Cassandro's lifestyle choices. So that's just not believable. I'm sure the Barrio Boys have made a boatload of bad life decisions. Gran Apache, on the other hand, has no problems whatsoever teaming with his group of exoticos, and is perfectly content to punch all the Barrio Boys right in the face (which I will never complain about).

This was all sorts of fun, as I always like May Flowers but he doesn't turn up too much anymore. Pimpi had a bunch of great moments including climbing the turnbuckle, back to the ring, and when Billy Boy tries to run in and stop him --> ass to the face, with a wiggle to boot! The Barrio Boys end up finally turning on Cassandro after a couple of miscues (that naturally involved some playful kisses), so then you had ALL the Barrio Boys, and ALL the exoticos ALL beating up poor Cassandro. It's just not fair.


La Fiera/Mocho Cota/Pimpinela Escarlata/Sangre Chicana vs. Cassandro/El Brazo/Espectro Jr./Pirata Morgan (AAA, 6/18/06) - VERY GOOD

This was so awesome. Pimpi and Cassandro were the young bucks in this match, and they were both in their late 30s here. Almost everybody else in this match is in their 50s. But I am in the camp who feels that a lot of luchadors need about 30 years of seasoning before they really come into their own. That seems to be how it's gone the last 3 years, at least.

So seriously, motherfucking Mocho Cota, making tape in the 2000s!!! That just doesn't happen that often. I don't think I've seen any other Cota match from the 2000s. Anybody else have a stash of Cota from this decade that they're hoarding? Because he looked quite awesome here. Threw some fine punches, did an AWESOME shoulderblock sequence with Brazo, bouncing off and staggering around, before manning up and just plowing through Brazo. He threw a nice dropkick and did a great tope during the sprint. He looked the same as he did in '96 CMLL, just slightly looser skin.

Sangre Chicana was also a total boss in this as well, with real nice punches and a great tope. Everybody really gets their chance to shine in this. Espectro Jr. threw some nice punches, Brazo got to do a bunch of fun belly bumps and Sangre/Mocho/Fierra all fell awesomely and hilariously into place for Brazo's big splash. Fierra can still bump shockingly well, and Cassandro and Pimpi are themselves, so you know that rules.

Cassandro had awesome hair and looked like Dustin Hoffman as Dorothy in "Tootsie". I would really like to see a lucha match interpretive adaptation of Tootsie. I think Mano Negra would make a great Dabney Coleman. He has more hair, and no mustache, but he makes the same great bug-eyed Dabney Coleman expressions. Brazo already kinda looks like a tan Charles Durning, and it wouldn't be too hard to find a couple of the blonde lady workers with low self-esteem to portray the Jessica Lange and Terri Garr roles. Make this happen, somebody.

The Night Queens run in at the end and it becomes a giant schmozz, with allegiances breaking down. Sangre Chicana wandering around and just punching Night Queens in the face was amusing. The Queens were also all wearing rainbow sashes, just in case you forgot they were, ya know, Queens. Cassandro gets suplexed into the 2nd row and this was all kinda of great fun.


Oriental/Chikayo Nagashima/Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Takashi Sugiura/Fabi Apache/Cassandro (AAA/SEM, 9/3/07) - GREAT

I assumed a lot of the guys would do it up pretty big since they were in Japan and don't tour there too often, and I was correct. This was a real unique mixture of talent in one match, and it worked out to be really awesome.

First off, Pimpi comes out in a full on bridal gown and tosses his bouquet to the crowd. It is amazing. Then Sugiura comes out and Pimpi gets all hot and bothered by his stocky physique and wants a piece of him, which causes Takashi to naturally freak out, lest his lips touch another mans'. I was not sure how Cassandro was going to be able to top it, and his entrance does not....but his amazing glittery Rising Sun singlet COMPLETELY does. This might be my favorite Cassandro singlet.

Fabi and Nagashima match up really nicely, and I haven't regularly watched joshi for most of this decade, but earlier in the decade when I was still checking out joshi with some regularity, she was easily one of my favorites in GAEA. She matched up even better with Cassandro, as they get into a hilarious slap exchange with Cassandro over-emoting to the crowd and the crowd eating it right up. She also takes a nice beating as at one point she's stuck in the corner, and Fabi does a great running kick right to her face, Cassandro does the most painful looking butt bump (aside from maybe Morishima, but Cassandro is literally half his size) right to her head, and Sugiura ends the trifecta with a nasty running elbow.

Cassandro ramps up the crazy for the Japanese crowd, getting an insane amount of distance on his "run full speed towards the corner and wrap myself around the turnbuckle" spot. I see the spot coming every time, but I always enjoy it more and more. So nuts. He also does the absolute fastest deadliest Jerry Estrada bump I've ever seen. Just a full on sprint into a flip right over the ropes. Just sheer madness.

This was like a random NOAH 6 man, and random NOAH 6 mans are one of my favorite style of matches possible. This one just had two really great lady workers and my two favorite exoticos. Well worth going out of your way to see. I wish Cassandro and Pimpi made it to Japan more often.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CASSANDRO

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Fear Not For the Future, Weep Not for Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Antonio Inoki v. Dick Murdoch/Masked Superstar NJ 11/24/86- FUN

This was from the 1986 tag league. It is a fine little match which really has some excellent Fujiwara v. Murdoch exchanges. Both guys are such expressive wrestlers, that it is a treat to watch them work simple stuff. There is about 2 minutes of really nice brawling, Fujiwara backs Murdoch into a corner and unloads with one of his super fast combos, leading Murdoch to do a big spit take and a great bite a lemon face. Murdoch fires back with a couple of headlock punches right to Fujiwara's nose, which leads Fujiwara to grimace and adjust his nose to see if it is broken. Really simple stuff elevated to greatness by amazing performers. Match itself isn't much, Inoki had a tendency to take some punishment in a match, just to shrug it off and pin the guy. It isn't even like he Hulks up, he just decides he has had enough and perfunctorily finishes someone, he does that here and it hurts the match.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Johnny Barrett PWFG 3/4/91-GREAT

Barrett is an early 90's Florida indy worker who was an early DDP tag partner and feuded with the Nasty Boys. Somehow he ended up in UWF2 working as a Greco guy. All of his earliest UWF matches are filled with 3 Stooges style selling and dropkicks, so of course I loved them. Fujiwara of course is fucking Yoshiaki Fujiwara. This was as great as I was hoping it would be, although for different reasons. By 1991 Barrett had gotten the hang of working the style and is actually a really great shootstyle monster, kind of like Gary Albright with takedowns instead of suplexes.

Fujiwara really puts him over great here, as they exchange big shots, including Fujiwara's awesome shootstyle headbutt, which is completely different from his pro-style headbutt . His Pro-style headbutt has him grab the hair and really rare back, the kind of showy headbutt that plays to the back row. The shootstyle headbutt is more like a ram, he bends his knees and drives the top of his head right into either the jaw or the temple of his opponent. It is so different from his pro-style headbutt, that it always looks reckless and potatoey. It really looked like he broke Barrett's jaw. The finish was awesome, Barrett is on top, and tries to maneuver for a cross armbreaker, he slips while trying to apply it, and Fujiwara pounces, grabbing his ankle and sinking in a deep ankle lock for the tap. It actual looked like Barrett blew the spot and Fujiwara just went with, although it might have been intentional. Fujiwara is an amazing defensive wrestler, and this was just a brilliant reaction spot.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Shinya Hashimoto v. Daisuke Ikeda/Takashu Sugiara Zero-One 9/15/01-FUN
Slightly disappointing, as on paper I was totally amped to see Daisuke Ikeda match up with both Fujiwara and Hash. There was a nice exchange or two, but this match was focused on Sugiara. They basic story was pretty cool, Sugiara is this beast of an athlete who is still pretty green at pro wrestling. So he has his moments of explosiveness and domination, but he goes to the well a little too often and leaves himself open to counters from the two Maestros. There is this great spot where he hits a big takedown on Hashimoto and ground and pounds him. When they get back to their feet he tries again and Hash drills him with a nasty kick, which I though may have dislocated his shoulder. Fujiwara is able to catch him sleeping a couple of times too, countering a mount with a kneebar, and a front face lock with a Fujiwara armbar. Definitely some cool shit, but it was very frustrating watching Daisuke Ikeda hang out on the ring apron while Sugiara is in the ring.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

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