Found Footage Friday: SMOTHERS~! HARRIS~! SLATER~! TAKANO~! NAKANO~! BABY SHAMROCK~! AKITO~! SANO~!

Dick Slater/Ken Shamrock vs. Shunji Takano/Shinichi Nakano AJPW 10/20/89

MD: This isn't the world's easiest HH to watch; it's pretty far back. Thankfully, everyone's fairly distinct, from the extreme size difference between Takano and Nakano that would define their roles to the match to Shamrock's light blue trunks. There is a Joe Malenko vs Fuchi match later on the card that only exists for a few minutes pro-shot but it's just an exercise in futility to try to watch it on this HH. You need to see the close up magic and it's just a blur at thid distance. This one's easier to parse.

The historical value here is seeing Shamrock in Japan in 1989. We have one or two other matches with him on this tour but it's not a lot to go on. This is a little bit more, though it's more informative to see where Slater was. He's a guy who doesn't have a lot of interesting Japan matches from around this time. Either the hierarchy is way off and he's getting beaten up by Jumbo or he's teamed with someone they're trying to elevate like Spivey and it's up to him to lose the offense. Here he was top of the totem pole and they got to lean on Nakano quite a bit. That meant some nice looking stuff (Neckbreaker, Russian Leg Sweep, punch combos) and goading Takano in to set up double teams.

Shamrock showed promise, with one nice mat exchange with Takano a bit of bumping around for dropkicks and hitting some of his own, and good struggle against Takano's belly to belly before going over for it on the second or third try. He had a fairly awkward splash off the top and a modified abdominal stretch which worked more than it didn't but definitely looked odd. They dragged Nakano down a few times allowing Takano to come in and wreck people before an abrupt finish where Shamrock (with Slater's help) survived Takano's knee off the second rope only to immediately eat a German from Nakano. I liked when they had mid-card matches end without a big back and forth stretch but with the damage just being too much over time because it made those main event stretches and all the saves and kickouts that came with them more believable. 

Tracy Smothers vs. Chris Harris (Kennel Cage Match) MWA Thunderdome 98

MD: The gimmick for the show was that the top three matches had this smaller cage within the ring. It fit right inside the ropes basically. This was a wonderful ten minutes. They stalled for about a third of it, then after Smothers dodged a punch and strutted arrogantly, Harris nailed him and he bumped around the ring like an absolute champ for two or three minutes. That meant pinballing into the cage a couple of times, but mostly just managing to get his feet over his head as he went all over the place for Harris' punches. He'd get a cheapshot out of the corner only to get planted into the cage once again for his trouble. Then he called for interference, snuck a weapon out as Harris fought it off, and clocked him for the win. Simple yet over the top and just the sort of glorious bs that I want in third-from-the-top 98 Tracy Smothers in a little cage. 

Akito vs. Yasushi Sato Sportiva 11/30/11

MD: With thanks, as always, to Sebastian for all of these Sportiva matches, including the suggestion. Akito was far younger than Sato here, and at one point mid-way through he sort of got swept under, needing (and ultimately getting) a clutch defensive counter to survive and overcome. Early on, however, he had this great way of chaining together holds and an even better way of turning an escape or kickout into an immediate submission. There are norms in wrestling. Usually, even in the most go-go-go matches imaginable, after a kickout or an escape, there's a brief pause or reset. Even if there's going to be an unclean break and subsequent stomping or another hold attempted, it happens after a blink, a pause, a breath. There's a theatricality to it that even the people most concerned about getting their stuff in can't full escape. With shootstyle, you'll see a throw or a kickout turned immediately into a grounded top wristlock, for instance, but it's almost always done by the aggressor. Here, Akito would push out of a leglock or kick up out of a pin and simply keep his hands moving, one smooth motion to capture an ankle and lock in a hold of his own. You wouldn't want it for every exchange, but done two or three times in the match, it was striking because it pushed against exepectations in a blink and miss it sort of way. It was when Sato started to push in the same sort of relentless and unforgiving of way that he was able to take over.

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Five Years of Found Footage Friday: EARLIEST KOBASHI~! KAWADA~! A SAWYER~! A MICHAELS~! ARAI~! SATO~!

MD: We started this on May 25, 2018 given the weekly footage we were getting from the WWE Network and the wellspring of handhelds that were popping up from Japan ebay. Somehow, amazingly, we've kept it up for five whole years, at least three matches a week. It went from being New to being Found, but that's more for the alliteration than to smooth the possibility that some of this stuff had been out there before. While yes, some had, there's no downplaying just how amazing it is that we have been able to find three new matches a week, without fail, for five years. And that's with us first consolidating French Catch and now the Panamanian Lucha to Tuesdays. Let's face it, we live in remarkable times. In some ways, while getting all the way through the French footage was an accomplishment, us being able to find things to watch that have been outside of our broader community week in and week out for five whole years is more of a challenge. It's not all in one place. Someone posts it. We find it. We vet it. We expand the  knowledge of what's been out there. It represents the ethos of the blog as much as anything; digging in the crates, leaving no stone unturned, watching matches that might not pass some sort of old conventional wisdom test to ascertain their quality, spreading the news far and wide. The master list is mostly updated. We plan on foraging on so long as there is still footage to be found. Hopefully people have enjoyed this. Hopefully people find it useful and interesting. 

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi AJPW 8/30/88

MD:  It's just the first encounter between Kobashi and Kawada. It's just the earliest full match on tape of Kobashi. Totally outside our circle until the last year or two. No big deal right? And hey, it's good. Or at least, it's good for the experience level at play. There's a certain pluckiness to Kobashi here, a certain creativity towards the finishing stretch, certainly a willingness to lean into Kawada's kicks. Most of his offense is the sort of inexperienced technical stuff you'd expect: dropkicks, cross-bodies, a very fun short arm scissors. Kawada, meanwhile, was more fully developed, quick to throw kicks or just take Kobashi's head off with a back elbow or the clothesline that ended it. They played with the spin kicks, with Kawada missing as many as he hit. They worked in a missed body press and senton. Kobashi tried to contain Kawada by working his arm but it didn't help him against the kicks. Raw talent but full of potential. You get the sense watching this that these two were outright refusing to work the typical undercard match and that, as time would go on, they would absolutely refuse to be constrained. Kobashi had been a fan who refused to take no for an answer and in Kawada he had a game partner to stretch the rules. Even this early, there was an inkling of what was to come. 

ER: Nothing like a Kobashi vs. Kawada match as we all remember them: Kobashi in his classic blue trunks, Kawada in his classic red tights, just the classic Kobashi Blue vs. Kawada Red. As Matt said, this is the earliest Kobashi match we have in full on tape. And I love these early matches of favorites, because we get to see them working completely different from any era where people know them. Kobashi works like a full on young boy, with painful arm work and a snug short arm scissors, some crossbody blocks, and a super impactful back bump missile dropkick. Kawada was my favorite worker in the world for a stretch, but I do not and have not ever liked Footloose Kawada. Here, Kawada works literally exactly like young Misawa, like they were just trying to make a Misawa clone and Kawada was like 0.7 Misawa. Kawada threw sidekicks and a leaping solebutt almost exactly like Tiger Mask Misawa, hit a full weight senton exactly like him (which lead to a great moment later when he ducks a middle buckle Kobashi crossbody and then barely misses him with a senton which he had hit earlier). 

Kobashi works over Kawada's arm for 2/3 of the runtime - you know, all those matches where guys target Kawada's infamously lethal left arm and not his legs - and the arm work is painful enough that I don't really care that it has nothing whatsoever to do with the finishing "moves" stretch. Kobashi is someone I think had kind of middling stomach kicks, so it was cool seeing an 80-matches-in Kobashi just haul off on Kawada's arms with kicks thrown exactly like his stomach kicks, only really good. Kobashi's crossbodies land heavy and he leans into and bumps for offense differently than he would just a few years later. His bumping is faster and more upended, exciting. When Kawada lands a couple of his spinkicks (the ones thrown like Misawa spinkicks, not Kawada spinkicks) Kobashi gets just rocked with them, flying out with his heels in the air. Kawada's back elbow kind of whiffs (which could have been due to Kobashi bumping big and slightly early for it) but his clothesline is a 100% finisher level clothesline. Kobashi worked that left arm all match, forgetting that Kawada can hook that man's neck with impressive force with the right. What a clothesline. 

Bart Sawyer vs. Chris Michaels (Dog Collar) USA Pro 2001

MD:  So much of this worked for what I was looking for that I'm going to lead with what didn't work: 1.) While Sawyer bled plenty, Michaels didn't bleed despite the violence probably warranting it. There was a spot towards the middle where he went soaring into the ringpost. While I would have preferred the chain to open him up, I would have gladly accepted that doing it and then the chain serving as a focal point to woundwork. We got neither. 2.) The chain was too long. That had its pros and cons. It allowed for a few nice spots, including Sawyer pulling Michaels off the top to the floor into a dive. It meant that there was a ton of slack for hanging attempts or wrapping it around the fist or elbow and it allowed for crotchings in key moments. On the other hand, it took away from that intimate sense of desperation where the two parties just can't get away from one another that you expect in a dog collar match. This lacked that sort of close-quarters atmosphere. 3.) There was no finish; the New South came out to hang both wrestlers instead. But that's TN wrestling for you. It had to lead to the next thing. Between this and the Wildside channel we get bits and pieces of the Sawyer/Michaels feud and never all at once, so I'm not entirely sure what led up to this and where it was going, but this definitely would have made me want to buy a ticket to see what happened next. It just didn't make for the most compelling ending twenty years later.

As for what absolutely worked, the transitions were all great. Whenever there was a shift in momentum, it stemmed from either a mistake, an opportunistic moment, or just Michaels powering through and fighting back. They were varied and creative and used the chain well. They kept it moving. They kept it violent. The chain added to the match but it wasn't the entirety of it and sometimes, trying to utilize it too much backfired. It was a living, existent entity within the match just like you'd want it to be, and the hate and disdain between Michaels and Sawyer bled through, and not just through Sawyer's lacerated forehead. So not a perfect dog collar match, but certainly one with a lot going for it.

Kenichiro Arai vs. Yasushi Sato Mutoha Wrestling 11/3/20

MD: Grappling worked about as hard as grappling can be worked interspersed with larger than life yet entirely stoic character flourishes out of Arai. Sato had the intensity advantage, the striking advantage, probably the grappling advantage, but Arai's developed into a tricky bastard. Early on that'd just be a refusal to engage. By the middle, he'd be missing knee drops off the top and selling his knee to lure Sato into a figure-four so he could immediately turn it over and gloat. And then, towards the end, he'd just outright go for a eye. For most of it, though, he was cool, calm, and collected, biding his time, patiently waiting for a mistake or an opening, while goading Sato forward into either. Despite that, by the end of this, he was a sweaty mess, just a testament to how hard they were going and how much work, torque, and struggle was put into each and every hold. This was a Sebastian special but it was a great middle ground between pure technique and pure shtick.

ER: Kenichiro Arai is one of many criminally underwritten-about wrestlers in Segunda Caida's history. For a guy I've liked throughout his whole career, you wouldn't really know that by reading us. But he's great, and he's wrestled constantly with no kind of break since my teens, and no matter what fed he's spent time in he has always come across as someone wrestling and moving completely unlike anyone else in that fed. From his beginnings as weird headbutt offense guy in Toryumon, to his current vibe of grease monkey who moonlights as a carnival wrestler, he's stood out in unique ways the whole time. He moves and reacts differently. Moving differently is cool. Remember when all of us saw Johnny Saint for the first time and instantly knew that the reactions and timing was different? Kenichiro Arai moves different, and so, does offense differently than anyone. He works a busy yet simple style, acting calm while pushing the match in his direction; stylish, without style. He can grab a wrist or foot and not necessarily work a hold like Fujiwara, but just kind of twist and grip without letting up. Strong Grip based wrestling. 

The feeling out process is cool and has cool little things that you don't see, like Arai catching a dropkick to the ribs while sliding into a dropdown, or the way he just kind of knocks Sato down with a close shove and trip, like messy shootstyle. In fact, a lot of this match is pro wrestling style as theatrical shootstyle. They never treat it like shootstyle, but there's a sincerity in selling the pro wrestling holds that makes this come off as important. Sato is Mutoha's ace and in Arai he's up against a guy who's blowing into town for the first time and already working as the established ace. That gives things a cool energy. There are a lot of convincing cradled pins, and things jump up a level when Arai misses - intentionally or not - a kneedrop off the top. His missed kneedrop leads to an actual dramatic and painful looking figure 4 exchange, where he suckers Sato into doing one that he instantly reverses (complete with finger pointed to temple), before Sato reverses it back and it leads to a series of painful submissions. Grapevined legs, rolling heel hooks, a nicely leveraged trailer hitch, all of them looking like straight pro wrestling but with a BattlArts sensibility. Also, an excellent standing sub into a fought-for back suplex plainly shows that there is absolutely NO give in this ring, as Arai drops Sato in a way that makes it look like he was suplexed in a parking lot. How was this the first Arai match we've written about? Guess we need to keep watching wrestling. 

2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

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New Footage Friday: RED! BALLARD! BASHAMS! SATO! ISO! WATANABE! KONAKA PALE ONE!

Joan Ballard vs. Jean Noble 9/14/56

MD: We sat on this for half a year, but when the Chicago archive posts something, we have to watch it eventually. This has no sound but you guys have been watching empty arena matches with jump cuts for the last year so that shouldn't slow you down too much. If I have them figured out right, Noble's the heel here and she'd eventually have the Yulie Brynner bald gimmick. Honestly, I think this could have been a 20 minute attraction match in 1956 France and it would have gotten over with no one blinking an eye. That's a testament to how hard they were hitting and the sort of stuff they were doing. Noble snuck in the cheap shots when the ref was out of position and had those leg dives off the ropes on breaks that we've seen a lot out of desperate French heels. Ballard had a lot of revenge holds, most especially a rolling leg nelson, though worked as more of a nelson and less of a face-grinder. They hit hard, though it's interesting that they went down on almost every blow. No being staggered or stand up striking. Every shot led to a bump and I need to go back and look at other women's matches from this period to see if that was a conscious difference in how they were trained to work. The crowd seemed fairly reserved, though it's hard to tell without sound, but they definitely deserved some heat and adulation, whether they got it or not. 

Red/Steve Corino vs. Damaja/Doug Basham PCW 8/31/02

MD: This was the second round of the Russ Haas memorial tournament. Stryker (Teacher/Commentator Matt Striker, I think, in this case) had "suffered an injury" in the first round and Corino was a surprise partner. This was structured exactly how you'd want a ten minute tag in a middle of a one night tournament to be. The Corino surprise, though it didn't get a huge pop or anything, created almost an artificial addition to the shine, which combined with how good Red's stuff looked meant it didn't need to be so long. That meant they could lean into a double heat. Red's size made all of the heels' power moves look all the more potent, which again added value per time to the first half of the heat. At one point I almost thought this was setting up Corino refusing the tag and going heel on Red, even though there was nothing in the match itself other than how long a couple of minutes of beating on Red felt to make me feel that way. It wasn't usually the role he was cast in but Corino, once he got in, really understood the timing of working from underneath and the proto-Bashams worked well as a unit with blind tags and cut offs. The comeback was crowd-pleasing and didn't wear out its welcome before the Bashams again utilized Red's size to dramatic effect for the finish. Nice compact package here.

ER: The more Bashams I go back and watch, the more they feel like one of the best tag teams of the last 20 years. They really didn't get widespread hype during their WWF run, but watching them now while comparing them to literally any current WWF team and they feel so far ahead of the pack. Here I thought their tightness as a team shone because Corino looked pretty bad (until the final 30 seconds of the match). Basham has the great thinning tight curls mullet and beard, which gives him a cool late 80s Terry Funk vibe, and I loved his delivery of big clotheslines and his corner hip check. He's smart about when to stay out of the way (like when he saw Corino was behind on timing, so Basham did this sudden weak kneed sell so he wasn't just standing there like a goon waiting for Corino), and his timing with Damaja is strong. Red is a great guy to showcase their offense, getting wasted by clotheslines and flying high on a flapjack, and they're strong at selling Red's offense. Damaja threw an awesome right hand that seemed to wake Corino up for the finishing stretch, with he and Red both running wild, Red landing a great tope con giro, Corino throwing two really great overhand rights before being taken out, and Damaja laying Red out with an awesome Baldo bomb. Basham and Damaja had only teamed a dozen or two times at this point, and they already looked like a perfect pairing. A reevaluation of their WWF run would be a really fun project.

 
Hiroshi Watanabe/Hideya Iso vs. Yasushi Sato/Konaka Pale One Mumejuku Pro 2/5/17

SR:  Hiroshi Watanabe is a PWC guy who has been around since at least 1995, along with Sanshiro Takagi. He was a talented wrestler but way too short to ever receive a push. Thankfully, he stayed around long enough until a tiny offshoot indy arose that would give him the opportunity to shine in long matches. Mumejuku is as if a bunch of aging geeky wrestlers who all agreed that matwork and 70s style moves are way better than 2.9999s and elbow exchanges, all got together and started a promotion. This was a really stretched out match with everyone involved hitting the mat for a good 15 or so minutes. You don’t see this kind of extended pro style matwork much outside of lucha anymore and it was very refreshing. It basically felt like MUGA mixed with llaves. Watanabe was the standout by far, going from doing holds to bald head comedy to unexpected bridge ups and escapes, hitting a really nice dropkick and awesome well-timed Robinson backbreaker. He is one of the few guys who can pull that kind of throwback style of and not feel phony. Konaka Pale One is an indy guy doing a yoga gimmick meaning he does some freaky contortions, and he has a wonderful little matwork section with Watanabe. Hideya Iso is the guy who looks like a mini-Yatsu and he is solid. Yasushi Sato is apparently in his 50s, but he looks good here. The finishing run was built around Sato throwing cool suplexes and doing leg grapevine moves. There are some really intelligent spots, and Sato is actually able to make me give a shit about things like a russian leg sweep, and the constant build to his finishing hold was really cool. Whole match felt very antithetical to the current landscape which is very welcome, and I hope this channel drops more stuff like this on us. 

MD: Long, tricked out, hard worked Japanese indy tag. It more or less worked in a three act structure, the first being matwork and pairings where each guy got to bring something to the table: Konaka Pale One (despite neither acting or working like a ghost) carried a lot of this and looked great throughout, including a nice rolling arm scissors early and more elaborate things later on. Iso and Sato weren't as smooth but the former used his weight advantage well and the latter brought a lot of energy. Watanabe had a bunch of well-received comedy bits with his bald head. The second act had Konaka and Sato fed up by said comedy and while it was still worked mostly back and forth to start, they took more and more liberties and ultimately seized an advantage. The third act was Watanabe and Iso coming back with some huge bombs and then Sato returning the favor, with Konaka doing damage around the margins. It all led to a series of grinding stretch attempts turned into modified Russian leg sweeps until Sato was finally able to lock in the hold he wanted for the win. I can't tell you much more about this one except for that it was good and you should watch it.

PAS: Man Sebastian can dig them up. Never heard of any of these guys, and I am in all on all four. They open with nearly ten minutes of mat wrestling and they keep it interesting, which is a total unicorn for 21st century wrestling. The finishing run had cool moves without overkill and a sensible build to a sensible finish. Watanabe hits a great backbreaker, Sato has a Hondaish delayed German and I loved how Sato worked the whole match to set up that trapped arm abdominal stretch, including hitting trapped arm Russian leg sweeps. I don't know why all Japanese wrestling stopped being stuff like this and to find it we have to dig deep deep into the internet.

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