Yoshiaki Fujiwara is Close to the Brokenhearted and Saves Those Who Are Crushed in Spirit

 Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Tiger Mask Showa Pro 12/18/08 -EPIC

This is Fujiwara's return match after recovering from stomach cancer, and he picks a match against the greatest stomach destroyer wrestler ever, fat pissed off Sayama. Just an incredible performance, Sayama seems determined to act as human chemotherapy, attempting to spin kick all remaining cancer cells out of Fujiwara's belly. Crushing shot after crushing shot on an old sick man. Of course the old sick man has some tricks of his own, and there are some great moments where he snatches an arm or a leg and tries to end the suffering by snapping a limb. There is an incredible moment where Liger acting as Fujiwara's second tries to throw in the towel, and Fujiwara snatches it out of the air and furiously throws it back at him. He already stared death in the eyes, he is not backing down from it again.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE FUJIWARA

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AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 2/9 - 2/15

AEW Collision Grand Slam 2/14/26

MJF vs Brody King

Details matter.

They have to matter. Otherwise what's the point? It's worth saying they matter because there is a prevailing undercurrent in 21st century wrestling that what matters is just to do the coolest stuff or to do the most stuff or to constantly pop the crowd.

That's a broken mindset. The art of pro wrestling isn't to pop the crowd. It's to work the crowd. It's to make them feel something and there's so much more in this world to feel than sheer exhilaration. 

So details matter. And they especially mattered here.

This was a crowd starved for pro wrestling on a big stage, that was just happy to be there. This was exactly the sort of crowd that wanted to cheer for MJF. 

And again, details matter, and sometimes details create limitations. Limitations can, of course, inspire creativity, but that doesn't mean they're not limitations. Max just got squashed by Brody King. They had to plausibly keep him strong here, to make a finish believable (not in real life but in the fictional world of pro wrestling), had to do all this without making the crowd start to go for Max as an underdog despite the size difference. He had to stay reviled the whole way through, in front of a crowd that might be more inclined than most to cheer for him. 

Thankfully, details matter if you make them, and here they did.

The bell rings and Max is immediately on. The crowd, which had been happy to bark along with Brody pre-match, get the F*** Ice chants out of their system, accent and all. Then they lock back in. Good for them on both counts. Good for the wrestlers for navigating the waters. Max takes control of the situation. The wrestlers approach one another and he's gone. That tried and true, time-tested tool of pro wrestling heels, stalling. He basks in the boos, draws chants, rolls back in, yells at the crowd to shut up, which of course has the opposite effect. They lock up, he goes flying. Just like that. Right back out of the ring. A brief pause. He could have milked this longer, but decides to give them something more substantial instead. Max rolls back in, kicks the gut instead of engaging a second time. He mocks Brody's barks and locks in a headlock. Again, details matter. Max gloats about beating people with a headlock takeover. He can't take over Brody though. Instead he gets lifted up, shrugged off. The crowd chants for Brody and Max runs into a clothesline as Brody shouts "C'mon!" Just like that the mood is set, with a clear delineation between the characters. There's no going back now.

This ends up being a relatively short shine, so it's on Max to make the most of it. When Brody hefted him up out of that headlock, he audibly shouted. He's going to make great use of his voice throughout, adding an extra bit of sensation for the crowd to get over everything Brody is doing to him. It's not a constant vocal tic like Mick Foley, but instead additional stimuli used to enhance anticipation before comeuppance. Very few other wrestlers today use it quite like this and even Max makes sure not to overuse it but instead to save it for when it really matters, like he's facing a giant of a man. Brody chops him twice. He writhes and keels over. In between the first and the second, Max shouts "nooo!" Brody hefts him up to the top and tosses him off. Max yells "Oh shit!" in mid-air. 

And then that's it, that's the shine, because Brody goes for a cannonball, misses, and tweaks his knee, the great equalizer. They accomplished so much in just a couple of minutes though. It served them well for the rest of the match.

Here, on the other side of an act break, on the other side of a transition, Max starts in on the leg. He slams it against the post, making sure to play to the crowd in between bits offense, letting things breathe, giving them something other than moves to connect with. Brody tries to come back but the knee won't let him hit the Ganso bomb. Max cuts him off with a chop block. Max hits the Kangaroo Kick (as a heel move to mock the crowd), hits a dive, but gets not praise for it. Brody tries to fight back but is too slow on the senton. He's giving the crowd reason to stay with him, is believably staying in it given his size and his power, but the knee's making him a half step slow and giving Max a simple tool, a wedge, a lever, to cut him down to size. Max uses a knee-bar. Brody makes it to the ropes valiantly. They go the break as the crowd starts singing for Brody.

Max slows things down even more for the break, picking his spots, telegraphing his shots, taking victory laps (including his groin first one), giving the crowd plenty to work with. And of course, like any good heel, he eats just a bit of comeuppance for it. But again, Brody's leg gives out and make is able to dive right through it. Brody's making all of this work just as much as Max is. There is strength in vulnerability and his selling is wonderful. He's a huge man with a giant canvas to work with between body language and the excrutiating look upon his face. A crowd loves a babyface who mows through everyone, but they fall in love with a babyface that has a mountain to climb.

As they come back from break, he's able to throw Max out, but he needs the rope to steady himself given his limp. He hits a huge tope but immediately is paralyzed by the need to clutch his leg. Still, we've hit another act break. We're into a comeback. The next portion of the match will be about Brody getting some revenge on Max but not necessarily the revenge he wants (which has to be built to). Max again, makes as much out of everything, selling not just impacts but the associated emotional damage. He tries a clothesline and hurts his arm. He is launched in a back body drop and swears in midair. Brody goes for his second cannonball attempt but Max slips to the apron. That just sets him up for the hangman's choke attempt, but Max is ready and bites the arm. He escapes to the floor, sets up a chair, but Brody catches him first and bites Max's head (immediate balancing of what Max did to him) and hits a cross body onto the chair. And that, finally sets up the cannonball on the third attempt.

He goes for his second Ganso Bomb attempt, but Max is up and over with a sleeper. Brody's knee gives out. Once upon a time, decades ago, we'd see a sleeper like this, with the arm raised three times in almost every big match, but now it's a tool rarely brought out of the toolbox. It allows Bandido to run out, to hype the crowd for Brody, and they pop big, just like they should, as his fist pops up defiantly on the third raise. Just as we've been hearing from Max all match, we now can hear Bandido cheering on Brody, including slapping the mat, telling him he can do it, leading the crowd in barks. 

Despite that, Max cuts Brody off one last time, ready for Brody's (second) tope, hitting a DDT from the outside onto the apron. Max wants a countout win, but it's clear he's not going to get it, not with Bandido cheering Brody on so he goes for a second tope himself. Brody catches him and hits a brutal Death Valley Driver onto the set up chair from before.

If this was a play (and wrestling's nothing if not theater), we're in the fourth act now. The feeling out/establishment of characters/shine, Max's control, Brody's comeback, and now the finishing stretch. It's time to pay everything off. Brody gets them back into the ring at 9 (Max would have taken a countout loss at this point). Max goes for the Dynamite Diamond Ring like he has in so many other matches. Bryce (his ref in almost all of those matches) catches him red handed, just a bit more comeuppance, one that perfectly sets up Brody clocking him and Max ending up on the apron to finally get choked out (second attempt and what a look on Max's face as he realizes it's about to happen; selling). On the third attempt, Brody hits the Ganso bomb but Max kicks out at two. He was awfully close to the ropes and I probably could have used either Max getting his foot on it at the last second or Brody's knee slowing him down a bit more on the pin attempt, but sometimes you need to just yank the rug out from under the crowd without that, I guess (but I'm not convinced).

At this point though, all that's left is the finish. Max recovers enough to sidestep a charging Brody. He pulls down the kneepad, bites the knee. Brody goes back to his well, emotion having taken over. He tries for the Ganso Bomb on the apron (fourth attempt), a literally crippling assault if he were to hit it, then for the Hangman's Choke (third attempt) while sitting on the top rope. In both cases, the knee betrays him. Max is able to hang on to the top rope (desperately, because that level of emotional selling matters more here than ever) and then punch out the knee. Max reverses things into a visually impressive modified tombstone on the apron, and hits the Heatseeker back into the ring for the win.

This match had a lot going for it. Contrast makes the world go round. There was such a physical, mental, emotional, personality difference between these two characters and it meant that there was little temptation of doing things for the sake of doing them, little done just to pop a crowd, little need to try to outshine big spotfests from earlier in the show. They could create something classic and modern and vivid all at once, reclaiming old tricks and painting clear, crisp lines. 

In order to make that work, however, the details really, deeply mattered. Max disengaging and stalling immediately ensured the crowd didn't go for him. They made the most out of a very short shine. They built in a number of callback and foreshadowing spots so that things could be cut off on a second attempt or pay off on a third (or fail on the fourth). Brody's knee was the great equalizer throughout but never stopped him from fighting for the crowd's love, never ground the match to a halt. This was a stop on the road between PPVs, an attraction match in front of a wrestling-starved crowd. They could have gotten away with less, could have coasted. Instead, they shone. They cared, they created something with care, and the crowd cared all the more for it. Details still matter in 2026. In some ways, they matter more than ever. And this match was clear proof of it.

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Yoshiaki Fujiwara is a Servant of God An Avenger Who Carries God's Wrath Against On the Wrongdoer

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Katsushi Takemura vs. Kazunari Murakami/Mistu Nagai Nihei Gumi 2/11/07 - EPIC

PAS: There is a real treasure trove of small room Japanese indies on Archive.org. I was in a Fujiwara mood, so I decided to scroll around and watch something I haven't seen before. Fujiwara and Murakami in the ring together has a pretty high floor, at a minimum you are going to get two of the great face makers in pro-wrestling history making faces at each other, at a maximum you are going to get whatever the fuck this was. The first part of the match chugs away as a fun BattlArts adjacent puro indy tag. The first Murakami and Fujiwara exchange is pretty great, they do some sneering at each other, Fujiwara gets dropped with a hard punch, gets his bearings and takes Murakami down to the mat. Their finishing run is what makes this so incredible. Fujiwara drops Nagai with a headbutt, Murakami tags in and it devolves into some of the most visceral and violent pro-wrestling of all time. They smash each other with headbutts until both are split open and soaked in blood, Fujiwara gets mounted and smashed with full force punches, he counters, not with a bit of defensive mat wizardry, but with a hard straight right to Murakami's dick, the match ends on a DQ with Fujiwara trying to jam both of his thumbs through Murakami's eye sockets. I didn't think wrestling still had the capacity to shock me, I was wrong. 

MD: This one takes a real, real turn at the end, and we'll talk about that shortly. To start, a fairly undeniable statement: past maybe Inoki and Baba, Yoshiaki Fujiwara was the most self-aware wrestler of his generation. We have footage from 1987 that shows it, and it becomes even more true as time goes on. 

Here, in 2007, he absolutely milks the first exchange between himself and Murakami. After Takemura and Nagai hit each other like trucks for a minute or two, Takemura reaches out for the tag. Time grinds to a halt. Fujiwara blinks, just blinks, and somehow the world gets even slower. He comes in, faces off with Murakami, and gets absolutely clocked with a punch. He goes down, rides out the count, comes up, and we enter a binary situation. We all know Murakami's going to throw another punch. Is Fujiawara going down again? Or has he had enough already? Fujiwara knows the power of his presence, his skill, his reputation, the expectations of the fans. He knows what he has with Murakami across from the ring from him. He sidesteps and drops him with the armbar, and then they both get out of the way so Takemura and Nagai can throw bombs at each other some more. And if that was the only interaction between the two, this match would still have value for it.

It's not. Takemura let himself get swept under, was double teamed, but finally came back enough to make a tag. That brought us back to Fujiwara and Murakami. We've seen Fujiwara come in after a hot tag before. He leads with his head, and again, he knows what he has with that head, what crowds have come to expect from it. Impenetrable, indominable, stronger than steel, a perfect tool for both viciousness and comedy. 

But Murakami doesn't waver. He doesn't back down. He leans in instead. He headbutts through it. In all of wrestling, there's maybe nothing more horrific, knowing what we do, than a headbutt war so gnarly and grisly that both competitors draw blood from it. We are a captive audience. This was 2007. There's nothing we can do but bear witness to horrors long gone by. You can shout at your screen but it will do no good. And in truth, were we there, were we shouting in the moment, it would not have halted Fujiwara and Murakami on this day.

We see the blood on Fujiwara's forehead first, an eggshell cracking, a rock split asunder. When we next see Murakami we realize the damage was mutual. As the blood turns from a trickle to a stream down Fujiwara's face, the battle becomes more intimate, slow, steady, hate-filled grappling. 

Fujiwara ends up on top of him, and brandishes his thumb for all to see. Again, even in the midst of this bestial state to which they've unleashed upon this world, Fujiwara knows who he is, what he is, the value of it all. He knows the importance of showing the crowd, the camera, Murakami, God himself, his thumb, to ensure everyone knows that what is about to happen will happen in the first degree and should be prosecuted as such. Intent established, he drives his thumb straight into Murakami's eye. Its brother falls in beside the first immediately thereafter. Murakami, as with the headbutts, drives his own fingers up to create an unholy unison with Fujiwara, a matrimony of mutual mutilation and destruction.

The referee tries to call off the match. In the background, music that sounds a bit like the Peter Gunn theme, a jazzy bebopping riff, plays, evoking an awards ceremony where they producers are increasingly desperate to play off-stage an out of control acceptance speech. Fujiwara and Murakami keep fighting off anyone in their way, violent desire verging on the farcical, like the end credits of a Benny Hill episode if the goal was blood and death instead of ribald comedy.

Once things took a turn, all of this had a gradual, almost glacial, sense of inevitability. It took its time, announced its intentions. There was no room for confusion or ambiguity. Its power was not just in the brutal impacts or bloody aftermath, but in how methodological it all was. What do you even do with something like this? All we can do is share it, document it, ensure that others carry the weight with us. In the end, what is it truly but yet another unforgettable page in the astonishing book of Yoshiaki Fujiwara?

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

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Found Footage Friday: OMNI 84~!

GCW Omni 2/5/84

Jesse Barr vs. Johnny Rich 

MD: Usually these shows have one long match early, either a draw in the first or second match. This went long with the first two and it was done purposefully. The second match went to a draw, but the crowd was primed by the first ending in a pinfall when it felt like they were working towards a draw (at least that's what it felt like to me). We can't know for certain what a 1984 crowd thought, but given it was booked this way, the idea was almost certainly to introduce the idea that a match can end at any point to keep the interest strong for a second match worked long in Thornton vs Armstrong. As much as the crowd liked Rich, and they really liked Rich on this night, Armstrong was the one going for Thornton's Jr. Heavyweight title, and because they wanted to keep Brad strong, that's the one that had to go to a draw. Did it work? I think, as best as we can tell from crowd noise, it did.

The matches were fairly similar. Long holds worked in and out of. Barr vs Rich had more shtick and I probably liked it more accordingly. They did a great bit early on where Rich worked out of a headlock, Barr did a dropdown, and Sawyer elbow dropped him, only to invert the sequence a minute later but have Barr miss the elbow drop. They did another bit where Barr tried to press Rich's hands down in a double knucklelock so he could step on them only for Rich to move his hands and punch him. Or they'd escalate to rope running and Rich would get one on Barr and then when Barr tried it a few minutes later, Rich would drop to his knees and punch him instead. Then a couple of minutes later, they'd have Barr stop short and try a falling punch only for Sawyer to move. Crowd-pleasing stuff. Barr finally had enough and roughed Rich up a bit, but Brett came back big and Barr stooged all over the place for him. Finish had Barr try to toss Rich off the top but get rolled up. 

ER: When I fired up a new Omni show I was not especially seeking out a Young Boys style opener where Jesse Barr works side headlocks while Rich gets kickier the longer he's in them, building to shoulderblocks and knucklelocks. New Japan Young Boys have much better timing on rope running spots but Rich and Barr's timing gets better the longer they do the shtick and it starts to get actively good by the time they're pushing to the finishing stretch. Our Donald Sutherland coffee drinking swinger who is fast becoming the Straw Hat Guy of the Omni is not impressed, chewing his gum the whole time, but it gets good when Barr works the knucklelock into a hand stomp, but Rich is a beat ahead of him and punches him from his knees. Rich has a lot of good working punching from his knees, and things get even better when they work a great fistdrop sequence into it, where Rich lands a nice one after stopping short, and when Barr tries the same thing he punches mat. Barr draws real heat when the 10 minute mark is announced, with only 5 minutes remaining, and he starts picking Rich up at 2 counts, smiling to the crowd like he doesn't give a damn if they go to a draw. A heel not actually interested in winning is hilarious and the crowd rejects his indifference. I love the trick of announcing the 5 minutes remaining, announcing each remaining minute, setting things up for a clear time limit draw, before the babyface escapes with a quick roll through win. I started this too dog tired to turn it off, and wound up completely into what they were doing. 

Les Thornton vs. Brad Armstrong

Thornton vs. Armstrong had much more of Thornton leaning on Brad, especially with a headscissors. Brad would find his way out with headstands and all sorts of other techniques but Thornton would get him right back into it. Eventually, after beating on Brad in the corner a bit with European Uppercuts, Thornton ended up into a hammerlock and they switched to having Brad control that way for the next part of the match. Thornton got him out and started playing king of the mountain, and following up with a headlock as Brad got back in. Brad was able to turn it around and get him out, getting some revenge on the floor. Then as the time was ticking down they wrestled fairly even, both going for opportunities where they could get it and fighting towards the draw. Thornton vs. Brad was harder hitting with meaner holds and maybe tighter work, and still had the crowd going, but I had more fun with the shtick in Rich vs. Barr.

ER: I'm so tired of Good Hand Brad. It's 15+ years of documentation of a guy who refused to take anything to the next level. Act like it means something to you. It has to mean more than how well you can execute a hammerlock, right Brad? Does it ever interest you to take a ring posting in a cool, memorable way, instead of "the right way"? I was born into pro wrestling. My daddy is a legend, my brothers all wrestle. I want to be a better version of Tony Garea. That's my pro wrestling dream. Les Thornton throws a ringpost bump into the aftereffect of an atomic drop, so even among great physique guys who couldn't break out of the undercard, Brad wasn't front of the line. Thornton's butterfly and back suplexes looked like they were trying to actually get the match to a finish as time expired - nice aggression after taking nothing but scenic routes - and I wish they had committed to getting Thornton that inside cradle win at 19:30. 

Ron Garvin vs. King Kong Bundy

MD: Not a ton to say here. We come in JIP. and maybe lose the first ten minutes or so of it actually. We come in with Bundy leaning on Garvin but they build towards these great, great Garvin flurries, first in the center of the ring and then in the corner. Bundy's able to push Garvin away but he keeps coming at him. Just as Bundy really has him in the corner, Ellering comes out and Bundy chases him to the back so Garvin wins it. I assume this was mid-turn for Bundy and Garvin was just sort of there as a babyface to fight along the way. The good stuff here was good but we didn't get quite enough of it.

ER: I was hoping for a big slug out as the only remaining footage, but we get instead a fun build to Garvin throwing punches, working his way closer to Krang with eye pokes and foot stomps and frustrated the largest man in town, before triumphantly teeing off on him. Bundy takes punches like he's being swarmed with bees, and what's even better is he gets his hands on Garvin instantly and beats the shit out of him. Paul Ellering is contractually obligated to appear in 75% of the matches so Bundy just chases him off after beating Garvin's ass. We deserve to see this as a real match. 

Jake Roberts vs. Jerry Brisco

MD: As always, 83-84 Jake is the Jake we were promised: a slinking, long-limbed psychological master. This doesn't go nearly long enough. Brisco outwrestles Jake early causing Jake to slither around the ring trying to escape. Jake uses his reach advantage to cut him off and control. Brisco starts outwrestling him again on the comeback. Jake takes a great corner bump as he runs in and gets tripped. As he's going for the figure-four, Ellering gets on the apron. Jake then gets the ref between them so he can hit a cheapshot and hit the DDT. It was stylistically different than the rest of the card but I would have liked a bit more. What we did get here was very good.

ER: I don't even need to write much about it, I just love the way Jake Roberts moves. This 1984 Omni has given us the slinkiest dirtbag Jake Roberts. He looks and moves like a giant spider version of my cool Little League coach Tom Menghini, who coached us to a title in 1991, smoked, and often wore no shirt. This is six minutes of Jake movement from what might have been his best year of moving. Jake moves so compellingly that Gerald Brisco may as well have been Les Thornton or Brad Armstrong. He could have drawn believable stories with near upsets with any of those men. His powers were larger than life. His is one of our great necessary wrestler looks, a nightmare drunk fan sitting in the cheap upper deck Candlestick seats. His sprawling upside down out of nowhere corner bump isn't enough to rouse a single emotion from our emotional black hole Ordinary People Omni front row regulars, but the cheap seats thunder. I love how Jake sells his annoyance at Brisco's tenaciousness with his entire body. Jake could have been John Tatum if he didn't look so dangerous and so cool. The dismissive way he shoves the ref into Brisco, kicking Brisco in the balls as he does it, is done with the precision of a prison hitman. We've seen a career of Jake giving long limbed perfect DDTs, and we may have just found the purest one. This is how it looks, how it moves. 

Mr. R (Tommy Rich) vs. the Spoiler

MD: Chaos from the get go. More often than not, when we get a new Spoiler match, it doesn't disappoint. He was well into his 40s here but he still moved incredibly well for his size. Very fluid and active. They brawled to start including, Spoiler tossing in the little wooden ring steps and then Rich threatening him while he was on the top. Spoiler was incessant, using the claw, pulling at the mask, teeter tottering Rich in the ropes. When rich would come back, Spoiler would go high and come down upon him, including just casually walking up the ropes in the middle of the ring to hammer down. He took a huge bump in the corner as Rich got out of the way allowing Rich to come back and work the mask himself. That would happen a few times honestly. Spoiler must have taken three bumps in the corner. This had a crazy feel as they fought around ringside, with Spoiler going for the bell only for the ref to stop him. Towards the end Ellering ran in and Rich was about to tear him apart until Spoiler nailed him with a chair. Babyfaces made the save. Just a great high energy brawl with perfect chemistry. 

Road Warriors vs. Sweet Brown Sugar/Pez Whatley

MD: Fun first few minutes here as the Roadies stooged and bumped all over the place in a way that would have seemed ridiculous two years later. I enjoy seeing them early on because they feel so different but this was obviously the genesis of what would make them into what they were. Once the extended heat started, the match sort of slowed to a crawl. We've seen this crowd go up huge for Pez but it wasn't happening on this night and they weren't really going up for Young either. It wasn't the most compelling heat in the history of the world but usually that didn't matter so much. Not sure what was going on. Maybe they were just ready to get on to the next program. Sugar and Pez had gotten close with a double headbutt but Hawk broke up the pin and the ref had to toss the match out as it devolved into chaos. But the crowd got to go home happy as Sawyer and Bundy came in to clear house post-match. 

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: The Road to Aniversario 91

Week 58: The Road to Aniversario 91

EB: We are getting into the final stretches of the road to Aniversario 91. The June 15 show saw Dino Bravo get a win over TNT. Bravo has been facing different tecnicos during the month of June to set him up for Aniversario and we’ll see some more of these encounters shortly. The biggest development from that June 15 card in Carolina was Carlos Colon taking on a hired gun, Great Kokina. El Profe and Gen Akbar had failed with the Polynesian Prince, but were hoping Kokina would be successful in derailing Carlos Colon and stop him from making it to the Universal title match at Aniversario 91. That June 15 match ended in a disqualification (unclear on the winner since some results have Colon winning by dq while others list Kokina winning by dq). There will be a rematch between them before Aniversario.

Speaking of Aniversario, the card is being finalized in the final weeks before the event, so let’s go to the west coast version of Super Estrellas for a pair of episodes that will help make clear what the final Aniversario card will look like. Up first is an episode from what we believe is June 15.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InTegbdkmtY

This is another edited down version of the west coast version of Super Estrella and we go right into the June 1 match between Dino Brav and Giant Warrior, which we join in progress.This would have been Bravo’s first match in Puerto Rico, so let’s see how he fares on his way to challenge Carlos Colon for the Universal title at Aniversario.

Dino Bravo vs. Giant Warrior

Bravo has Warrior down on the mat with a chinlock. Warrior fights to his feet, breaks the hold and starts backing Bravo into a corner with some punches. A quick eye rake from Bravo cuts that off and Bravo follows up with a back suplex for a two count. Back to the chinlock. Bravo then switches to chokes and then a bearhug. Hugo and Eliud on commentary mention that this is a strategy on the part of Bravo to try to keep Warrior close and neutralized. Warrior fades, the ref does the arm drop check, and Warrior keeps his arm up on the third check. Warrior starts coming back and punches his way out of the bearhug. Warrior whips Bravo into the corner a few times and then sends him into the ropes. Bravo counters and gets Warrior up on his shoulders. In an impressive feat, Bravo airplane spins Warrior and follows up with a clothesline. This sets up the full nelson and Bravo wins via submission. A notable win for Bravo in his first major match in Puerto Rico.

MD: This is the sort of weird stuff we’re looking for. Honestly, this whole episode of TV is. We get the last few minutes of this and it’s good stuff, save for the ill-conceived idea to put a bearhug on Giant Warrior. Bravo hits a really nice belly to back as we come in, and after Warrior fights out of the bearhug, he whips Bravo back and forth effectively until Bravo gets him into an airplane spin(!) and then hits a really nice clothesline out of it. He then finished Warrior off with the full nelson in the sort of definitive win you need to give the challenger for Aniversario. Now I kind of want to see Bravo vs Castillo, Perez, TNT, and Invader too.

Ronnie Garvin vs. Mr. Ito

EB: We cut from the start of a Profe promo and what looked to be a control center segment and go to the next match, Ron Garvin taking on Mr. Ito. This match is from Manati and Hugo mentions this is one of Ito’s first matches competing for the World Wrestling Council. The match is short but Ito is competitive with Garvin for most of it. Garvin gets the better of Ito in an exchange and sets up his knockout punch to get the pin. They are clearly putting over how dangerous and potent Garvin’s punching prowess is on the way to his match against Invader at Aniversario.

After the match we get an updated card ad for the Friday night Aniversario show in San German. This rundown reveals what we missed out during the previous week’s control center segment that was cut off. It’s official, Giant Warrior will be teaming with TNT to take on none other than Demolition (Smash & Crush). That’s 8 of the 10 matches confirmed with a couple of weeks to go. 

MD: Because of course we got Ronnie Garvin vs Akira Nogami in Puerto Rico in 1991. Sure, why not? Unfortunately, we just get a couple of minutes of this. A headscissors by Garvin, a comeback of chops by Ito. He’s not able to open things up though and Garvin cuts him off with a kick and a back body drop before finishing him with the Hand of Stone.

Samoan Swat Team vs. Ricky Santana & Kim Duk

EB: We go to another match already in progress as we head back to May when the Samoan Swat Team took on Ricky Santana & Kim Duk. The SST are challenging the Caribbean Express for the Caribbean tag titles at Aniversario, so here's a showcase rematch to remind the fans of how strong of a team they are. 

MD: The weird matches keep coming. I don’t think we’ve seen this one, though some of it is very familiar to me. That might have just been the SST’s act. I’ll move quick. We come come in on a nerve-hold. Santana gets a hope spot of slamming a Samoan’s head into the mat. Obviously that doesn’t work. The hot tag comes after one falls off the top rope for seemingly no reason but Duk tries the double nogging knocker which doesn’t work. Pile-driver. Top rope splash (great camera angle). And that’s that. It did feel very familiar.

EB: After we get an interview with Rod Price, who is challenging for the Caribbean title at Aniversario. Price asks Super Medico #3 if he's willing to pay the price. 

MD: We don’t get to hear Akbar talk. Price is going for the Caribbean Championship. Both he and Hugo call Medico 3 “Super Medic 3” which is one of those things I just pretend not to have to deal with. Price ends by saying “You better think about it once. You better think about it twice. Are you willing to pay the price?” which is definitely a catch phrase.

EB: Ron Garvin follows with a promo about his match against Invader #1 at Aniversario. Hugo reminds Garvin that Invader will be allowed to have his fist taped and Garvin says that when he steps in the ring with such a weapon, then Garvin has no choice but to beat his opponent nearly to death. 

MD: Another good Garvin interview. He’s goes on about how Invader’s taped fist means he can’t hold back and that he should be an honest man. Unfortunately we don’t get to see Hugo’s translation because he was great shadowboxing last time with that.

Invader I vs. Chicky Starr - April 90 

EB: The next match takes us back to mid April 1990, when the Invaders were feuding with Leo Burke and Chicky Starr (which segued into the Invader #1 vs. Leo Burke singles feud).Here Invader is facing Burke and Chicky in a handicap match challenge. Invader #4 had been taken out by the rudos the week before and Invader was facing both of them in a match where he had to wrestle both opponents. According to Hugo on commentary, we join this match after Burke had been eliminated (which is why Burke is sitting n a chair at ringside). Invader is in control and Chicky is already bleeding. However, Invader misses a charge in the corner and goes shoulder first into the post, giving Chicky an opening to go on the attack. Chicky controls most of the match that is shown ,with some invader hope spots mixed in. The match ends when Invader ducks a clothesline and comes off the ropes with a heart punch to win as the crowd cheers on. Another match that puts over the heart punch as we head to Aniversario. Seeing him here, I wonder what Chicky has been up to since leaving CSP? Hmm. Well, let’s move on.

MD: I guess we get an old Invader I match to heat him up (since he’s recovering from whatever Garvin did we didn’t get to see) and I’m not going to say no to that. It’s just not fair how good Invader is at selling. It’s not. This is such a great example. When we come in, Chicky seems to already be bloody but Invader misses a corner charge. Chicky hammers on the shoulder again and again and again and slowly Invader starts absorbing it, seemingly daring Chicky to continue his onslaught, and he stands and frames and fires back. Chicky keeps on him with stomps and kicks and this neat falling over pile driver and again Invader slowly makes it back to his feet, ducks a clothesline and hits the Heart Punch out of nowhere and it’s as close to perfect pro wrestling as I can imagine. Just not fair.

EB: The next math is a repeat airing of the Colon vs. Strong barbed wire mach from Aniversario 89. Afterwards, we get another Hugo training video, this time with Giant Warrior. Hugo gets put through his paces and then finishes with a promo on Billy Joe Travis,  promising that the effort will be worth it when he makes Travis pay at Aniversario. 

We then get the show close with Hugo again hyping up Aniversario 91.

MD: It’s the Giant Warrior training video! More doing stuff with weights at least. This goes way too long again and isn’t broken up enough like a proper montage. The best part is him pushing against Warrior, trying to move him. At the end Warrior says it’s time to train a monster and get him in the ring.

EB: We also have a west coast episode of Super Estrellas that may be from June 22 or June 29. This seems to be the go home show of sorts for the Aniversario card on Friday July 5 in San German. We’ll see some of the major feuds recapped and also see the final announcements for Aniversario, so let’s go to the episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BFLNcwECqU

Hugo opens the show but gets interrupted by a long station ID message. Hugo mentioned we’ll see what has happened in the top feuds heading into Aniversario plus the matches and music videos we’ll see on today’s program. One other segment we’ll have is a segment where Dino Bravo will be showing off his power, Bravo is claiming that the figure four will not affect him and wants to prove it with a demonstration. Hugo promotes the locations where you can buy tickets for Aniversario and the related promotions they are doing with radio station Cosmos 94.

Our first feud recap is Carlos Colon vs Dino Bravo starting with the attack at Noche de Campeones. We cut from the Bravo attack to the Ron Garvin vs Invader #1 recap, with Garvin and Invader doing the contract signing for their match at Aniversario. Garvin is laughing and saying he already knocked Invader out before, referencing their match from June 1. They show the clip of when Garvin knocked out Invader with a punch during the match and made the cover, only for the time limit to expire before the count of three. Back to the contract signing and Invader responds that when he hit the heart punch (which was not taped up), he had Garvin out. Only the ropes and El Profe helped save him. They show a clip of that part of the match and then we go back to the contract signing. Garvin is standing and angrily shouting that Invader is gutless, causing Invader to start standing up. Almost immediately, Garvin punches Invader in the face and knocks him out.

MD: This was set up well as they show a clip of Garvin hitting the hands of stone punch on invader, using the ref as a distraction first, and Invader hitting the heart punch, with Garvin getting a foot on the rope and Profe getting his heart going again on the outside. Then, out of nowhere, Garvin clocked Invader during the contract signing and Invader dropped like a pile of bricks. 

Polynesian Prince vs. Invader I

EB: We continue with the feud recaps, going over the incidents that have led to Bronco vs. Skandor Akbar, Monster Ripper vs. El Profe, and Hugo Savinovich vs. Billy Joe Travis.  Then we immediately go to our first match, which is Invader #1 vs. Polynesian Prince from June 15. The match is joined in progress with Prince doing a stunner or jawbreaker like move and making a cover for two. Some headbutts and a nerve hold follow, but Invader fights out by stomping Prince’s bare feet and then biting him. An eye rake by Prince cuts off Invader, and Invader is tossed to the outside. Akbar tries to get a shot in on Invader but instead hits Prince when Invader gets out of the way, Invader attacks Akbar, Prince attacks Invader from behind, but an attempted Irish whip into the post is reversed by Invader. The match heads back into the ring and they exchange missed moves until Prince misses a diving headbutt. This allows Invader to hit two heart punches and get the win. 

MD: We come in with Prince using a jawbreaker to take over. He has headbutts and a nerve hold, opening and closing his mouth again and again. Invader comes back beautifully, stomping on the feet, raking the eyes, and biting the face all in one flurry. Prince cuts him off with an eyerake. The rest of the match is a great bit of sputtering comebacks and cutoffs. First Akbar misses a shot on the outside and hits Prince. Then when Invader goes after Akbar, Prince ambushes, only to get reversed into the post. Back in the ring, he takes over, no-sells a reversed whip into the corner (hard head), but takes too long to leap off the top and misses. That lets Invader finally hit two heart punches for the win. A well done piece of business here. It really got over the heart punch since Prince was surviving everything else.

EB: Hugo Savinovich is in a gym somewhere, with Dino Bravo, El Profe, Skandor Akbar and Polynesian Prince there as well. They are all in a ring and Bravo wants to show off how he will deal with the figure four leglock come Aniversario. Prince is there since he is a bigger and stronger man than Carlos Colon, so if Bravo can successfully show off his power against Prince, what hope does Colon have against him at Aniversario? Prince puts a figure four leglock on Bravo, who reverses the maneuver. Bravo keeps the reversal applied and Prince is struggling but not making any noise. After a few moments, Akbar starts getting worried based on how Prince is acting and tries to break the hold. It looks like Bravo’s power ended up breaking Prince’s leg. Ouch! Dino is exasperated, asking Prince why he didn't say anything or complain.

MD: Legitimately funny to me. They have Polynesian Prince be the one to put the figure four on. “Well over 300 pounds.” And then Bravo just turns it over. This would have been way better if they got some enhancement guy to do it and Bravo just powered out of it. I get what they were trying in theory but this didn’t hit the mark. Everyone knows you just turn over the figure four!

EB: Skandor Akbar is in the studio to talk about his match against Bronco (which to be upfront, we don’t have footage for). Akbar talks about the pain of being burned in the face and that he knows Bronco is disfigured for life. The biggest mistake Bronco made is coming back because this time Akbar has a plan and Bronco will  be finished for good.

MD: I’ve been informed this is the match we don’t have from the show and I am not convinced we will ever find out what Akbar’s big plan for Bronco was.

EB: We get a replay of Bronco's interview from the Dominican Republic (conducted by Mario Medina), followed by an in studio promo from TNT. He is teaming with Giant Warrior at Aniversario to face Demolition. TNT says that everyone in Puerto Rico has seen these two animals on TV before, and he calls them animals because of their size. TNT promises that Demolition will not have it easy because they are facing two Puerto Ricans because TNT says that Giant Warrior had told him that he considers himself Puerto Rican.

We then get a final card rundown for Aniversario 91 in San German with the previously confirmed matches plus two additional ones. We have Ricky Santana vs. Action Jackson (the Saturday match has the stipulation where the loser must leave Puerto Rico, not sure what set this up) and Koko B Ware taking on Galan Mendoza. 

MD: And lo, we lose Murdoch to WCW. A shame. Instead we have Giant Warrior and TNT vs Demolition. I can imagine 1988 or even 1989 Demolition in Puerto Rico and that would have been amazing. No Bill Eadie now. Still a pretty fun sounding clash of the Titans though. Ok, get this, there’s a match in New Haven from early 1984 where Masked Superstar teamed with Sgt. Slaughter against the Invaders. Wild. Anyway, that’s our match. 

EB: We get a repeat of the Bronco music video. This is followed by a Monster Ripper promo for her match against El Profe. Ripper promises that all the bad stuff Prof likes to talk about everyone is going to stop and she will be the one to put Profe down. She wants all of the women to come out and watch what she’ll do to Profe, she’ll be his worst nightmare.

MD: Very weird to me that Ripper is now cutting a promo in English with Hugo translating. Maybe they trusted her with cackling heel promos or to translate but not with her own babyface promos? She wants all the women (and men if they can handle it) to come see her beat up Profe.

EB: Galan Mendoza is next to talk about Koko B Ware. Mendoza says that they know each other from before in the UWF, but this time it’ll be Mendoza who will put a stop to Koko. Next are the DJs from Cosmos 94 to promote their involvement with Aniversario, followed by another Aniversario card ad. Then we get a Koko B Ware music video set to ‘Piledriver’.

MD: And here’s our bonus match for Aniversario, Koko vs Mendoza. Interesting that they’ve brought Koko in at the bottom of the card again. He’s a guy who could definitely have a run but they just use him as an attraction like this. The music video is basically just taken from the Profe match.

EB: Billy Joe Travis has a message for Hugo, he wants Hugo’s family (and ‘my kids’)  to be at the event, because he’s going to embarrass Hugo.

MD: Travis cuts a good promo talking about Hugo’s family and how everyone should come see him beat up Hugo. He’s not allowed to touch him until the match, which is a good stip. I see this and see no reason why he couldn’t have a long run on the island too.

EB: Ron Garvin is next, saying he has built quite the reputation and Invader has gotten him mad with what Garvin believes was an attempt to put Garvin out of wrestling. Garvin promises to end Invader's career and knock him out. Invader responds by putting over Garvin's quality but reminds everyone that he will have his fist taped, so let;s see if Garvin is able to get up from that when the heart punch is hit.We close this segment with another card rundown prefaced by another Cosmos DJ.

MD: Garvin invokes the fact he’s a big name in wrestling, a former world champion, something he couldn’t tout for most of his major post-NWA run. This feels like good closure for him honestly, as this run lasted a bit longer than I had expected. Invader’s with Hugo for his response and it looks like he’d been training Hugo maybe from the locale and the garb. 

Samoan Swat Team vs. Ricky Santana & Invader IV

EB: The SST are challenging for the Caribbean tag titles at Aniversario, so we get another showcase match for them against the team of Ricky Santana and Invader #4. The match is a bit more competitive with Santana in there, but the SST steamroll Invader #4 and get the pin. 

MD: Not a ton here. Santana and Invader (especially Santana) control Savage's arm. Fatu gets in and destroys Invader with backbreakers. They knock Santana off the apron and hit a Samoan Drop followed by a top rope splash for the win.

EB: We then get some followup of the Dino Bravo power showcase from earlier where Polynesian Prince got his leg broken. Prince has his leg in a cast and Profe is mentioning how Colon won’t be able to withstand Bravo's power if Prince couldn't . We also get words from an exasperated Dino Bravo, saying that he’s been apologizing to the Prince and General because he did not know how much pain the Prince was in. Bravo warns Carlos that if he’s not careful, Bravo might end up breaking both of Colon’s legs at Aniversario.

We cut to Hugo and Carlos Colon, they are on a break from training and look to be relaxing on someone’s balcony. Hugo says that Bravo is a scary challenger because he combines power with wrestling knowledge and is highly ranked in the WWF (uh, sure Hugo). Carlos says it’s the biggest challenge of his life since Bravo is like a war tank. No one has been able to break Bravo’s full nelson yet but he is ready for the challenge. As to Bravo saying he is not afraid of the figure four, Carlos says he has other holds and moves besides the figure four if it comes to that. Hugo promotes a party they’ll have Thursday on the beach in Aguada for July 4 with Carlos, TNT and Hugo there. Carlos invites the fans to the July 4 beach party and to Aniversario on July 5. 

MD: Ok the previous skit redeemed itself. Prince and Akbar are sitting on a couch. Prince has a cast on his leg. He’s beside himself. Akbar is reassuring him. Bravo’s there with a gym logo tank top apologizing to Prince and Akbar for breaking Prince’s leg. He had turned the hold over for like four seconds and this is all very funny. He said he didn’t even use half his strength either. This would be great but maybe not for the main event build?

EB: Another Hugo training video and they are in the countryside. Hugo is chopping down trees, pickaxing the ground, running with logs on his shoulders, and chasing a horse as part of his training. Hugo thanks the fans for their support and Carlos and Giant Warrior for their help. He’s not going to wrestle Travis, he’s going there to fight. We then get a message from the manager of Cosmos 94 inviting the fans to Aniversario.

MD: They end up on the farm? Hugo’s family farm? I have no idea. But we’ve got Hugo chopping trees, pickaxing the ground, chasing a little horse around! Thankfully this one only lasts a few minutes. 

Miguelito Perez vs. Dino Bravo

EB: Another match to put over Dino Bravo before Aniversario, this time against Miguelito Perez. We join the match in progress, with Miguelito in the middle of an offensive flurry that sends Bravo to regroup on the outside. Bravo takes a while to come back in and Miguelito is able to counter some Bravo punches. A whip into the corner backfires as Bravo grabs Perez and atomic drops him. Bravo does a chinlock and then a bearhug.  Bravo gets a near fall off the bearhug, but Perez fights out of it. Bravo cuts Perez off and hits a piledriver to set up the full nelson but Miguelito counters with a roll up. An offensive flurry is stopped by Bravo with an airplane spin and this time he is able to put Perez in the full nelsons.  Miguelito can’t break the hold and submits.

Hugo closes the show by reminding fans about the beach party on July 4 and Aniversario on Friday July 5.

MD: Ah here’s the Dino Bravo we know and (don’t) love. After feeding a bit for dropkicks, he came back in with a chinlock and a long, long bearhug. Very long. Not much there even if Perez worked well from underneath. Finishing stretch was good though. Perez went behind on the full nelson attempt and they went back and forth a bit after that until Bravo got the airplane spin on him, softening him up for the nelson. Bravo is still Bravo deep down, that’s for sure.

EB: We have a couple of matches from June that we would like to cover before heading into Aniversario 91. The first match is a tag match where Invader #1 (during the period where Invader had the bandage on his nose) and Mr. Ito are facing Action Jackson and Rod Price. This match may be from June 8.

Invader #1 & Mr. Itoi vs. Action Jackson & Rod Price 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiphTT8snjw

This video is from a VHS release early in 1992, so the commentary is not really focused on what was happening at the time. Invader and Mr. Ito are an interesting tag team though, so let’s see how they fare against Rod Price and Action Jackson. Invader and Action start for their teams and we get a bit of stalling tactics from Actin to start the match. They square up for a punch exchange and that goes badly for Action, who ends up on the outside again. Ito is tagged in and works over Jackson’s arm. He hits a jumping elbow and tags Invader back in. Action quickly tags out to Price but Invader and Ito continue with their strategy of working over their opponent’s arm. Price turns the tide with a hair pull on Ito and the rudos work over Ito for a few minutes. They build to a hot tag to Invader, who cleans house on both rudos. Eventually all four men end up in the ring and it is Invader and Ito who are in control. However, Profe hands a foreign object to Action while the ref is busy with Invader and Price, and Action hits Ito with it to get the pin. But wait… Ricky Santana comes out of the locker room and grabs the foreign object out of Action Jackson’s tights. He shows the ref, who restarts the match. This may be the beginning of what sets up the Santana vs. Jackson match at Aniversario. With the match restarted, Action misses a flying kneedrop on Ito, who then tags in Invader. A quick offensive burst leads to a heart punch and win for the tecnicos.

MD: This was aired years later on a video tape. The commentary is very funny but that’s beside the point. Jackson and Price have matching tights. Ito has his beard and wig to come out but then takes it off. Invader has the bandaging we’ve seen him wear in promos lately. And hey, this was a good one. Standard very good PR tag. Invader and Jackson were just great to start. Lots of shadow boxing, dodging Jackson’s big shots and hitting jab after jab as he stooged away. Nogami hit a spin wheel kick but the heels took over fairly quickly by working over the arm and double teaming. Good FIP with a lot of varied offense (Price with a press slam and Russian leg sweep, Jackson with a power slam) and double teams after they drew Invader in. Invader went nuts on the hot tag as you’d expect. They did a false finish where Profe slipped knucks on Jackson and he pinned Nogami but Santana ran out to tell the ref. I’m proud of myself because I had the sense that was going to happen. I’ve seen enough of these to know when it will and when it won’t. The match restarted and they did a second hot tag with Invader coming back in and getting that heart punch out of nowhere which always pops everyone. Good stuff.

EB: We also have one match from Great Kokina’s brief excursion to Puerto Rico during the month of June. As stated before, Carlos Colon and Great Kokina faced off on June 15 in a match that ended in a disqualification. They had a subsequent rematch (likely June 22 or 29) inside a steel cage. Let’s see if Kokina is able to take out Carlos Colon before Aniversario.

Carlos Colón vs. Great Kokina - Cage Match  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWIAo8oxquM

Another monster for Carlos to overcome and it’s inside a cage. Profe is with Kokina and it is Kokiha who controls early on with a lot of headbutt based offense and some biting. Kokina continues focusing on Colon’s head with a claw and then ramming Colon into the cage. Another ram attempt is countered by Carlos and it is Kokina who gets rammed instead. After several rams, Carlos bites Kokina in the forehead. Carlos keeps punching and biting Kokina’s head as Kokian tries to escape through the door. The escape attempts are unsuccessful. Kokina begs off and Carlos continues punching, but a Kokina headbutt to the stomach stops the attack. Carlos stops another Kokian escape attempt and the match continues with some back and forth momentum swings. Carlos stops another forehead claw by stomping on Kokina’s bare feet and then hitting a foul kick. A bearhug by Carlos leads to Kokina regaining control. Another escape attempt by Kokina and Carlos stops him by ramming Kokina’s head into the steel frame of the door. Some more momentum shifts lead to Carlos slamming Kokina. Carlos tries to go for the door but is stopped, and the two wrestlers fight right by the cage wall. Carlos is able to ram Kokina’s head a few times into the cage, allowing Colon enough time to go out the door and win the match. Looks like another failure for Profe in taking out Colon before Aniversario. 

MD: We think that Kokina had a tour here in between a UWA tour that ended at the start of June and his July NJPW tour. Obviously, they’d already gotten to a cage match at this point. Speaking of cagematch, it has Kokina beating Carlos by DQ on July 15. And this is a good one! We get nine minutes of it but they do the job here in a bit way. Kokina takes over almost immediately and they don’t hesitate to use the cage. He’s happy to toss Carlos right into it. But he looks to the crowd once too often and Carlos comes back, using it as a great equalizer. There’s a great shot here of Kokina lodged in between the post and the cage, his head draped over the top turnbuckle, with Carlos working the wound. Carlos goes for the door and Kokina cuts him off. Things get pretty dire for Carlos, who bleeds heavily, but Kokina misses an elbow drop and Carlos finally gets a huge slam on him. Kokina still cuts him off one more time from making it to the door, but Carlos slams his head into the cage repeatedly until he can just barely make it out. It’s a good use of ten minutes if you’ve got them.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, it is time for Aniversario 91! We review 7 of the 10 matches (plus a clip of an eighth match) as Carlos Colon defends the Universal title against Dino Bravo, Invader #1 has his fist taped against Ron Garvin, for the first time in Puerto Rico a man faces a woman as El Profe faces the wrath of Monster Ripper, Demolition takes on TNT and Giant Warrior, and Hugo Savinovich brings his walking hardware store out of mothballs to get revenge on Billy Joe Travis. 

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80s Joshi on Wednesday: Mimi! Ikeshita!

Disc 2 

6. Mimi Hagiwara vs. Yumi Ikeshita (All Pacific Title) 2/25/81

This was a major show, it's hard to know for sure but I'd guess it was the biggest AJW show of 1981. They have some retired stars providing guest commentary. Also on this show was Chino Sato's retirement ceremony and the team of Ayumi Hori & Nancy Kumi defeating Devil Masami & Mami Kumano to win the vacated WWWA Tag Team Titles. It's quite annoying that Yumi Ikeshita has been All Pacific Champion for over a year yet this is the first footage we have of her defending the title. We know she defended it against Mami Kumano on 12/17/80 (at the same venue Jackie Sato won the WWWA Singles Title tournament the day before) and went to a time limit draw with Rimi Yokota on 8/8/80. Both those shows appear to have been broadcast but footage has just never surfaced online. Oh well. 

Mimi starts this swinging. I mean literally, she does almost nothing but throw punches in the opening portion of the match while the commentary puts over her 'boxing style'. That Ikeshita reacts by dodging and throwing some punches of her own makes this feel a lot more sporting than her matches usually do. Makes me suspect we're missing a big part of the picture with her other title defences being missing as the contrast with this and her 'regular' matches reminds me how Stan Hansen would work more technically and slower-paced when wrestling for the Triple Crown.

We later get a long section where they're both repeatedly trying to get the other in a figure four. There's one where it's counted by rolling over, but rather than both lying on the mat they've both got their legs high in the air with their faces to mat, I don't remember ever seeing a figure four end up like that. Mimi rolls out to the outside, takes her time to regain her compromise and very carefully creeps backs into the ring, and goes for a figure four again! Wasn't expecting that to keep going as it felt like Mimi was conveying she was seriously thinking about what tactics she was gonna try next. Yumi gets out of this one, but Mimi turns it into a catapult before she can properly escape and sends her launching out of the ring. I thought Ikeshita bumped really well for that, it's a bit of a silly move but she made it look about as believable as I've ever seen. 

Skip a bit, and they do the thing. Mimi drops Ikeshita flat on the mat, turns so she's standing facing horizontally over Ikeshita's body, and falls onto her flat for a pin attempt, which Ikeshita very quickly bridges out of. A minute later, Ikeshita does the same thing, but I notice Mimi cheats a bit as she already had her shoulder up a split second before the pin connected.
It's one of those matches.

Then almost right after, Mimi does a small package and Ikeshita gets counted for maybe 1 before she gets her shoulder so far off the mat that she's practically on her side, but the referee keeps counting to 3 anyway. Mimi wins, looks as shocked as Shawn Michaels in Montreal and Ikeshita just immediately storms off to the back.

Well it's hard to give much of an assessment to a match which finishes like that. For one thing this felt like it had at least another 5 minutes to go, it had been just about ‘good’ up to this point but nothing they’d established so far had paid off in any meaningful way so the finish kinda killed it. As far as I know no one involved has ever done an interview explaining what went down there, but yeah, obvious bullshit. In 1981 Mimi Hagiwara was drawing and Yumi Ikeshita wasn't, speculate away.

MD: This followed well with the two biggest in-ring changes between the 70s and 80s that I’ve noticed so far. The first is that the babyfaces were better at fighting back and pushing back against the heels. That happened almost immediately here as Mimi started with her punching, got tossed over the top in response, but then pulled Ikeshita out and she beat her around ringside until Ikeshita was able to fight back and outdo her there. 

The second is that there’s more familiarity in general. More reversals, more comeuppance for going back to the well. We saw that here too as Mimi went for her flying cross chop early but Ikeshita was able to sidestep/swat it away and take over from there. Mimi would get it later though. I thought the transitions were good overall and stood out in this match, things like Mimi getting back into the ring and ducking a punch to put on a cobra twist or Ikeshita turning a bodyscissors right into a crab in a very cool reversal. 

What hasn’t changed (and what might never change?) is that no one set them aside and put the idea in their head that if a hold is important in the match or if a body part is focused on, then maybe, just maybe, it can have some long term selling within the narrative of the match. The middle of this match is dominated by battles over the figure four and the battles are absolutely excellent. Ikeshita tries everything to put it on, advancing again and again and working different approaches. Once she gets it, Mimi’s selling and emoting is best in the world stuff for 1980. Then she turns it over and they fight over that, ending in the two of them bridged up from their bellies in an image I’ve never seen before but that I bought to be excruciating in the moment. Ikeshita followed her out after the break and continued to work over the leg on a chair. What followed was Mimi rushing back into the ring and putting a figure-four on herself and it was a great moment but that, and what followed with Ikeshita completely tossed any long-term or even medium-term (or even short-term?) selling out the window. I tend to forgive it in most of these matches because it’s just not a hallmark of the style and I’m seeing this as more of a historical journey than a critical one as we build towards the peak years, but when things are done so well, I really would enjoy it more if there’s consequence and payoff to the excellent work.

What did remain was the struggle between the two down the stretch and what did pay off, at least to a degree, was the sense of struggle: pressing each other’s shoulders down, bridging out of pins, etc. It led to a strange finish where Mimi got a small package out of nowhere but Ikeshita clearly had her shoulder up and Mimi seemed as surprised as anyone that she won. A lot to like in here overall, even if it wasn’t exactly what I wanted and the finish was strange. 

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 2/2 - 2/8

AEW Collision 2/7/26

Parking Lot Brawl: Eddie Kingston/Ortiz/Zachary Wentz/Dezmond Xavier vs James Drake/Zack Gibson/Big Bill/Bryan Keith

Here's the thing about pro wrestling. It's like life. It doesn't end. It doesn't have off-season. You can shut your eyes but it doesn't go away. It's still there. It's always there. It's always pulling and prodding you. It's always tugging you. It's always pulling you back into the ring.

Eddie Kingston had finally done it all. 

Before that though, he had been on the verge of selling his boots, of giving it up, (of being free), during the pandemic, but he cut a promo with nothing to lose and it opened the last door left for him.

Behind that door? At first, nothing. An opportunity. Not even fans in seats. But he made the most of it, made his mark, and when the world started back up again, it welcomed him with a loving roar.

So he fought and climbed and scraped, and it was all rewarded. He met his idols. He even battled against some of them. He won New Japan gold. He defeated his hated rival to win the ROH title. He put that on the line against all of his enemies and one of his few friends and he triumphed in the first Continental Classic. Top of the world. He earned the American Dragon's respect.

A wonderful end to an embattled story. 

But pro wrestling never ends. Life goes on and it's so damn hard. He lost one title after the next. He lost his ability to walk. He lost a year and a half of his career. 

And yet, here he is, back once again. 

Wrestling saved his life. It gave him purpose. It gave him direction. It gave him a way out from a far darker fate. And the price he paid for all that? Only everything that he ever was and ever will be. That's pro wrestling for you.

It's just like life. You can have amazing moments, weddings, the birth of your child, promotions, but the Earth doesn't care. It's going to keep spinning. The sun isn't going to care. It's going to rise the next day. 

Over time, we get old. Some things get easier.

Getting up? That's not one of them. 

Eddie Kingston is 44 years old. Something they don't tell you at 14 or 24 or even 34 is how hard 44 can be. At some point, it becomes harder to sleep through the night without having to pee. At some point, it becomes harder to just sit up. To roll out of bed. To bend down to tie those shoes. And that's without a lifetime of getting battered around the ring.

Eddie knows it. Eddie shows it. He needs to fight, hell, want to fight, but he wants finality too. When it's time for something to be over, for a grief to be settled, he wants it to be over. He's even managed it since his return. He somehow managed to move on from LFI without facing RUSH. 

He couldn't move on from the GYV though. They wouldn't let him. 

They've been off in their little corner of the world waging a private war. Eddie came out of his match with Samoa Joe wanting to stretch, wanting to show what he still had left in the tank, so he ran right through Nathan Cruz, a young associate of Drake and Gibson. That drew their ire so he fought his way past one and the next. No shame to either. They've been tagging. He's Eddie Kingston. They gave him a fight. He was ready to move on.

They didn't let him. 

Instead, they ambushed him after the Gibson match, and it was up to Ortiz to return to make the save. Ortiz and Eddie beat them with the help of an errant (more like purposeful) madball. Eddie was ready to be done. They weren't. Wrestling's wrestling though. You fight long enough and you're going to draw others into your circle. A magnetic pull, the sweet allure of violence.

So we have the Rascalz helping their Uncle Eddie and Bill and Keith bounty hunting their way beside GYV.

A parking lot, but not the claustrophobic garage attached to Daily's Place. They're up on the rooftop, the Vegas skyline behind them. 

Room to move. Room to breathe. Room to wage war.

And war they did wage. This had all the bells and whistles of cinematic pro wrestling. The Rascalz got to show off, leaping off cars, pulling Keith into a limo to smoke him out. They bled, a baptism by fire in their second match. Welcome to AEW. Hope you survive the experience.

And of course Bill was Bill. This was a perfect showcase for him. When he pressed a Rascal over the limo, it looked like we were back in 1995 and he had tossed him right off the building. Then, giant that he is, he leaned back the car, took his jacket off and brought a foot up so Eddie could run right into it. 

So yeah, while it may not have had the emotional stakes of some of the previous parking lot brawls, it had the right mix of chaos and creativity, of broken glass and nasty bumps. At one point Isla Dawn came out and it sort of made you wonder why she didn't come out earlier or later and why Reed came out only to counter her. They'd just been hiding behind cars the whole time? You say it's fun and not to question these things, but if someone had questioned and came up with an answer, everything could have been tighter and still just as fun. 

In the end, during the DDT that won the match, but well before it, certainly after it, the camera found Eddie. He's a photogenic bastard in his own way. Why? Because he's the must human wrestler there is. Maybe the most human wrestler that ever was. The pain, the agony, the effort, it all just radiates off of him, the consequence that gives pro wrestling meaning and weight.

When Eddie wants to wrap up a backstage interview, wants to get out of the ring and get back to he hotel, wants to avoid all the bullshit that everyone has to go through in order to put pro wrestling on tv, it's not because he doesn't care. He spends his whole life caring. He cares too much. When that bell rings, no one cares like Eddie does. 

It's that he's spent. He's tired. He hurts. He aches. Inside and out. The eyes reach the soul and the soul is a weary thing.

But still he fights on, because life keeps coming at all of us and it comes at him more than anyone. Scowl on his face, muttering all the way, letting out a groan that we can feel in our gut, Eddie Kingston will fight on, and hey, if he can fight on, then so can we. That realization, more than anything else, is what makes him so precious and special in a world that gets harder for all of us each and every day. Just maybe don't tell him that, because that's the last thing he wants to hear. Life's hard enough without having to inspire people.

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Here's a Necro Butcher Match to Watch During the Kid Rock TP USA Half Time Show

Super Dragon/Necro Butcher vs. Kevin Steen/BJ Whitmer CZW 4/15/06 - GREAT

ER: More of a great Super Dragon/Necro match than a great overall match, notable for being one of the two times CZW used Super Dragon/Necro Butcher as a team. Imagine a cooler team in 2006 than Necro Butcher and Super Dragon. Do it, right now. I love them together and loved them in this. I just don't think this era of Steen/Whitmer was able to match their stiffness. Not even close. It was a dominant Team CZW match - which I like - but that made it feel like a missed opportunity for Whitmer and Steen to get real actual heat for repping ROH. Think about Akitoshi Saito showing up in Big Japan. BJ Whitmer could have been a shittier version of that. But is this actually a BJ Whitmer Match? 

Whitmer is good at taking damage, great at bumping for Necro, and this finally got going when Necro threw a chair into BJ's stomach and Dragon bounced a chair off Steen's head. Whitmer was great at taking and selling chairshots all match. Necro and Whitmer's suplex to the floor looked rough (complimentary) and Whitmer honest to god saved one of Necro's lives catching his cannonball over the ringpost. BJ Whitmer stood strong and absorbed all of that maniacal cannonball when nobody else could, and his reward was getting a dozen chairs bounced off his body. 

Maybe it's Kevin Steen and only Kevin Steen who keeps this match from being a classic, even though I liked everything Dragon did TO Steen. Dragon was throwing elbows and kicks that Steen could not credibly respond to. Dragon was generous, I thought, to both ROH reps, more than their offense deserved. Taking a Super Calo bump on the back of his head for a Whitmer clothesline is pretty generous, but he was kind enough to throw his body into bumps for offense that didn't always justify the bump. The violence down the stretch was good; Dragon stomping Whitmer's head on a seated chair, or Necro getting powerbombed onto the backs of two folding chairs. I love them so much, and I love the finish. Dragon drops Steen on his head to the chorus of a loud CZW chant, picks him up at 2...then drops him on his head again with a Psycho Driver while the chants only grow louder. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE SUPER DRAGON

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Found Footage Friday: QUEBECERS EXPLODE~! CESARO~! GUNTHER~! LOS COWBOYS IN GUATEMALA~!

Los Cowboys (El Texano/Silver King) vs. Astro de Oro/Skeletor Guatemala 9/15/91

MD: There's a certain genre of match that I find fascinating. There's no good name for it but it's best described by the rudos/heels being visibly, noticeably concerned about the amount of heat they might get in front of a specific crowd and adapting their wrestling accordingly. I don't know what preceded this but there was nothing to make Texano and Silver King come off as particularly rudo in the early going here. They came out, they were nice to fans, they posed well with the belts and the anthems. They wrestled clean early. Texano worked really hard to get a handshake. And the trash was still coming and they seemed kind of alarmed and put off by it. For the anthem, there were a ton of kids singing which was always a good sign. Skeletor came out with a robe with Guatemala on the back. Astro de Oro was obviously beloved. 

So there wasn't any mask ripping here. Their win in the segunda was real quick. While they controlled in the tercera there was never really that sense of danger for the tecnicos. You always got the sense that even amidst the double teams Skeletor could PROBABLY make the tag if he really really wanted to. It was, shall we say, a ginger rudo performance. 

Instead, they flew all over the place. They missed leaps off the top rope and dives. There was plenty of heel miscommunication. Silver King was happy to fly out of the ring on a kick out. Skeletor was charismatic and hammed it up a bit with Texano. Silver King and Astro de Oro were really moving at times and mostly everything looked very good. There was a point in the tercera where Texano and Silver King did Tiger Feints instead of diving and one guy right in the center of the crowd shot let out a popper/firework thinking the dive was coming and that's a little bit of really interesting cultural information. It made me sad for him that they didn't get dives because his timing was perfect. Anyway, of course the locals won and everyone survived to see tomorrow. 

Jacques Rougeau vs. Pierre Carl Ouellet WWF 10/21/94

MD: This is about 80% of a perfect match to me. 75%, 75%. I was thinking structurally, but the thing needed blood too. It has parallels to MS-1 vs. Sangre Chicana in some ways. And before you balk at that, think of the setting. This is Jacques in Montreal, in what was supposed to be a celebratory swansong. He's up against Pierre. He's got Raymond in his corner. Polo's out there with PCO.  

And Pierre cheapshots him before he can get his robe off. Raymond tries to break it up but the ref pulls him off which just lets Pierre stomp away. Jacques tries to fire back, but Pierre's younger, stronger, bigger. He lays in a beating, a nasty, brutal thing. Every time it seems like Jacques has an answer, he cuts him off. Jacques is able to outsmart him and back body drop him over the top. He lands on his feet. Jacques gets a flurry and he catches him in midair and puts him in the tree of woe. When the ref tries to stop things, Polo comes over to choke him. Pure heat. There's one moment where Pierre is whipping Jacques off the ropes and Jacques makes a sort of out of control bobbling motion, almost seizing, with his head as he's getting whipped and it's some of the best selling I've ever seen.

The thing is, Pierre can't put him away. So he starts to go with more and more high risk moves. He hits a flip dive. He goes off the turnbuckles, once, twice, and then Jacques catches him, crotching him on top. It's not quite the punch heard round the world but it's pretty damn satisfying, especially to this crowd. 

And it opens the floodgates for the ritual beating. And what a beating it is. When Jacques tosses him into the stairs on the outside, it's about as loud as I've heard stairs. After beating him around the ring, Jacques goes for a mounted punch (no puns). Pierre tosses him off and we get this great ref bump. Polo comes in to attack. Raymond hits him with a superkick.

And that's when they should have taken this thing home. Have it seem like Pierre was going to get the advantage, have Jacques mount one last comeback, go to the finish. They don't though. They just sort of meander with some nearfalls and momentum shifts and they don't lose the crowd, but once you see Polo back on his feet rooting for Pierre, you realize that the match went just a little long in the tooth. The finish is amazing, Pierre going for a tombstone and Jacques turning it around for this gnarly sitout variation and then slowly, fatefully draping a hand over for three. There's just no reason why that couldn't have happened almost immediately after Polo got taken out. And blood. Blood would have been good. Still, 75% perfect is pretty damn good.

Cesaro vs. Gunther WWE 11/8/21

MD: This is a house show match between Cesaro and Gunther. In Leeds. It is definitely. That's nothing to scoff at. It's just not transcendent like Cena vs Reigns or even the parts of Jacques vs Pierre that were transcendent. 

It had room to breathe. It managed the crowd well (and a crowd like that needed managing). It didn't get ahead of its sails. It didn't go off any rails. It was measured and focused and did what it had to. Instead of having the crowd go for dueling chants or ironically entertaining themselves (or shouting 2! a lot or whatever), it got them to clap up three times, early on in a test of strength, then during a surfboard (the one with the head in; Cesaro got out of it with some headbutts of his own after he turned it) and finally once in the heat as he was building to the comeback. 

It got them to chant for the swing right before Cesaro got it down the stretch. They hit hard, both early on and right before the finish. And yes, they built to that swing and they paid it off. They worked things fairly even up front. Gunther would go for cheapshots and deviate from the wrestling first but Cesaro generally had an answer. I liked the big comeback spot as Cesaro was able to catch Gunther in midair and turn him, strength outdoing strength, and the finish was good, with a near-miss with the ref before a cheapshot and a thudding top rope splash. This hit marks, and that's admirable. A good match. A good house show match. And good for the crowd for letting it guide them.

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80s Joshi on Wednesday: Chigusa! Masami!

Disc 2 

5. Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami 1/81

Chigusa Nagayo debuted on 8/8/80 against Yukari Omori but this is her first televised match and the commentators talk about it being her ‘debut’. She’s announced as a member of Red Phoenix. This is obviously included for the historical significance, at the time it probably just looked like a random squash. 

The intention of this match is more giving Devil Masami a little babyface to squash and it’s effective at doing that job. She doesn’t just win easily but visibly takes delight in tormenting an opponent clearly incapable of putting up a fight against her. She pulls at Chigusa's hair when there wasn't any need to do that except inflict a bit more pain and humiliation. About halfway through this short bout she has Nagayo face first on the mat and is standing on her like she’s riding a surfboard, pressing her feet into her torso. Nagayo stretches out an arm to try and reach the ropes and then Masami switches to standing on her wrist to block it. Nice little moment that conveys the futility of trying to struggle against Masami here.

I thought the most notable thing from Chigusa’s side is that her first offense, well not including an Irish Whip, was kicks. First a standard fare dropkick that most of her contemporaries did. But she follows that up with her leg lariat that she’d do her entire career and then a more straight martial arts style kick, we haven’t seen much of that style of wrestling at all up to now. The commentators then start talking about her karate background. It’s interesting as it shows that Chigusa had the karate ‘gimmick’ from the start and it wasn’t just a Crush Gals thing, but I’m looking ahead a bit here. 

They finish off with Masami getting the win by submission with torture rack, which is called a backbreaker here. Also the first time we’ve seen a submission win in a while but it was a bit more common in these kind of matches than in the main events. What gave her win a bit of extra spice though was she celebrated by raising her hand in the air while trodding on Chigusa keeping her face down to the mat under her boot. Mean.

**1/4

MD: Chigusa’s TV debut. It does not go well for her. This is the first match where I really, truly felt Devil Masami’s expressiveness. Maybe it’s because it was less chaotic than tags or maybe because she really got to lean on Nagayo, but there’s no one who expresses sadistic glee in punishing an opponent quite like her and that, more than anything else, was on display here. 

She gave Chigusa little moments. She went over the top early on a whip so that Chigusa could hit a dropkick as she got back in. She ended up in a crab. But then, of course, she just powered out. Most of Chigusa’s shine and hope was just in surviving, in bridging up out of a pin, in kicking up her feet to swipe at Masami to get back into the fight. Her biggest moment was ducking a shot to lock in an abdominal stretch and when that wasn’t going to work, turning it right into a slick roll up. Then, of course, she paid for it. 

At one point, Masami brought her over to the announce desk and the sound got distorted multiple times as she slammed her head into it. And she stretched her all over the place, including finishing her off with a brutal torture rack. While Chigusa had some fire and fight to her, there was nothing here that necessarily showed her to be the star that she would become. It was a great showcase for Masami though.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 1/26 - 2/1

AEW Collision 1/31/26

Darby Allin vs Clark Connors

MD: I didn't write up Darby vs PAC. I should have but I was focused on MJF vs Bandido. That wasn't it though. There was something more. It was that belly-to-belly on the stairs. Every single Darby Allin match has a bump like that. Something that takes your stomach and shoves it up into your throat. He's such a good seller, such a good underdog, so credible with his timing and opportunism and fight, has such a connection with the crowd, that every single one of his matches probably doesn't need one of those massive exclamation points. There are going to be a lot of really effective, meaningful periods along the way. Lots of punctuation. But every match has an exclamation point or two.

That one struck me harder than most though. It reminded me of Foley going off the cell, actually. Not at all the same thing, but that's not the point. The point is presentation. It was visually ghastly, gutwrenching. It took me out for the rest of the match because all I could think about was the spot. It just ran through my head over and over. And it left me thinking "This won't matter in a week," and that thought made me frustrated, because it was special. Even within the confines of Darby's exclamation points, it felt special. Too special to just be thrown away. But that's what I thought was going to happen. It should be one of those things we're talking about ten years from now. 

Pro wrestling is about presentation. That's what Vince worked out back in the 80s and it's what carried him for decades. It's not just about presentation. But so much of it is. You can do the best work in the world and if the promotion doesn't present that work the right way, doesn't frame it in a manner that makes it feel important and that sets it up for success, then it won't mean nearly as much as it could. That's not the banal storytelling argument. This is actually something different. They turned Foley's bump into myth. Yet Darby takes a bump like that every few weeks. How do you square that circle?

Could it be instead that Darby is greater than the sum of the parts? That if any single part was raised to be too important then the whole might be diminished. There are people who will kick and scream if they ever see this sentence (thankfully they don't read my stuff) but in a lot of ways, Darby is the heir to Johnny Valentine. Valentine always said that people might think wrestling is fake but no one would think he was fake. 

We feel everything Darby does so acutely. We know it hurts. It's 2026. We all love and respect wrestling and we appreciate deeply the way wrestlers put their bodies on the line to create art for us to enjoy and engage with. With Darby it's different though. He carries with him that element of deathmatch realism, distilled into bumps. Yeah maybe they could protect themselves on X, but Darby? Not Darby. It's impossible. So he's the heir to Jeff Hardy and Mick Foley and ECW and Johnny Valentine all at once. That perfect package of size and shape and vulnerability and selling and bumping and grasping fight. But Darby Allin? Darby's different.

But still, when you have a bump like that, something so gripping and brutal and visual, where the angles are all wrong and the metal is unforgiving, and the jag fits right in between the vertebrae just so, you want it to be treated differently. You want it to continue to matter. You want the commentary to remember it and for it to be on highlight packages and in the opening to the show. It should live for years. If the production cares, then we can care and not just move on from it. It doesn't become crash TV or Excalibur using "But" or "and" to move right on to the next thing. There's a fine line between Vince thinking that pro wrestling fans have no memory for anything and the idea that it's worth it to immortalize things that can, do, and should matter to them with reinforcement. That's all selling is in the end, getting fans to buy in that things can and do matter. 

A lot of that is what I was going to say if I did write about the PAC match, and it's important I said it here, because they succeeded beyond my expectations in making that spot matter here against Connors.

They established up front that he had an alliance with Kidd, that he was there to make a mark against an AEW original, a perennial world title contender, the heir to Sting (let alone everyone else I mentioned). And the damage from the belly-to-belly was the perfect wedge to let him do it believably. 

If Darby was a crash test dummy of sorts, then Connors was an absolute wrecking ball. Darby came in with his back bandaged, and from even before the bell, Connors made it his goal in life to toss his own body at Darby, in some ways using Darby's favorite tactic against him. 

It started even as Darby was skateboarding down to ringside. He was there like a bull charging right into him. It continued again and again. He'd have Darby on the apron dangling and he'd just go headlong. He accomplished more with shoulder tackles than anyone in a decade or two. Darby would get a hope spot in, but his hand would clutch his back and Connors would charge right back at him. It was force vs object but both of them were moving in the most impactful way, a 21st century version of titans clashing, where things resonated not because nothing would give but because everything had to again and again.

And then they found themselves back on the outside and with the specter of the spot hanging above them, Connors went to double down upon it, tried to manifest it once again. He got greedy, hungry, possessed by the violence he had witnessed PAC orchestrate. Darby was ready, and literally used the steps to vault himself back into the match. There were bumps along the way but that was the beginning of the end, and he scored yet another mythic, impossible, gripping win. 

And yet. The one moment where Connors really shut him down, really took over? Darby had gone to the top and Connors (yet again) charged in. The bump Darby took, careening onto the apron and somehow managing to hit it multiple times on the way to the floor? An exclamation point in a sea of periods. The sort of thing that will stick with you, that should stick with you, that they should show again and again, that should be in an opening show package, that should matter next week. That should be used, just as the belly-to-belly was used here, to build something meaningful in the future. 

The problem of Darby Allin. Just how high can these towers of devastation get? All the way to Everest maybe. 

ROH TV 1/29/26

Athena vs Vertvixen

MD: Athena's entire rise was a Johnny Valentine moment as well. She had been transitioning from being a babyface, had dropped down the card, was on ROH, was up against Jody Threat in Canada, and she went hard against her. The clips went viral. Old timers and engagement accounts hoping to grift against AEW to make a buck and stay relevant leaned hard into their inherent misogyny and berated her for being careless, for not looking after her opponent in a way they never would if, let's say Lance Archer had a match like that, and she embraced it and ran with it, all the way to becoming one of the most engaging characters in wrestling. 

Wrestling shouldn't feel collaborative. It shouldn't feel cooperative. In 2026, the lean towards elaborate spots and counters and sequences have meant that all too often it does. 

That means if something goes wrong, it's jarring, and we're conditioned for the response to be consummate.

Athena, athletic, dominant, confident champion that she is, outwrestled Vertvixen to start. That confidence gave way to arrogance though, and Vertvixen turned it, both the wrestling and the mocking back onto Athena. Athena snapped, made use of her superior agility, and dropped Vertvixen's face right onto her knees. Vertvixen sold it hard, rubbing at her jaw and her nose and her teeth. There was the sense of something being slightly off as they didn't quite roll into the next bit of offense. In some ways, that's not surprising since Athena's so good at reacting and letting things sink in and resonate, but as an audience, we're used to specific timing cues and this felt just a little long. 

But then, instead of moving away from the potentially hurt area, Athena leaned hard into it, grasping the nose and whacking it. Before there was maybe the possibility of blood. She ensured the reality of it, and having done so, waved her bloody hand around to show the crowd. Aubrey was the referee and moved to get gloves on immediately even as Athena veered off course and into the wonderful world of woundwork. 

I have no idea what was planned and what was called. All I know is the effect it had on the audience and myself, the narrative power of something going off course and a heel pushing it even harder in that direction and reveling in it all the way. All I know is that the crowd, already inclined to get behind Vertvixen, got behind her all the more, and she came off looking all the better for fighting through the pain and doing some real damage to Athena long the way. And THAT in turn, made Athena's shaken confidence and deep anger down the stretch and especially in the post-match, set things up perfectly for Maya World and Hyan to run down to make the save and set things up for the big six-woman tag next week. 

Athena is always on. Athena gives herself completely to the role. But unlike most wrestlers, that doesn't just mean that she's reading her lines using as a method actress. It means instead that she's so tuned into who and what she's trying to portray that she'll perfectly take advantage of every opportunity that comes her way, and that, as much as anything else, is the true spirit of pro wrestling.

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2025 Ongoing MOTY List: Necro vs. Judge Dred

 

Necro Butcher vs. Judge Joe Dred SVN 10/4/25

ER: What a weird scene to be happening at what appears to be a classy Indianapolis wedding venue. Rows of Indiana deathmatch dirtbags watching ugly wrestling in a venue far too nice to be hosting what it's hosting. The conference room chairs look too new, too plush; the sconces, too upscale. Somebody had to tell lies to host a King of the Deathmatches here. The Fountain Square Theater knew they'd be hosting the Blonsky reception, but there is no way they knew they'd be hosting the MAGA Butcher. It was the dirtbags who knew. 

Necro gets a huge reaction, looking like Randy Hogan cashing in on indy Hulkamania, American flag Zubaz and Proud Boy Fred Perry, toothless sunken mouth that could make him good side money doing the Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow face for 1990s cranberry juice commercials. His brain has been fried by de-wormer paste while the grease congeals around it. When Judge Dred spits in Necro's face, we know it might insult Necro Butcher in practice, but we can rest assured that due to his beliefs he won't actually be worried in any way about disease communication. It's the perfect invisible shield to take with you into a Deathmatch tournament. 

The whole match is hilarious, until it's suddenly not, which makes it more hilarious. It's a Last Man Standing match and Necro works it with a slow, deliberate, minimalist style, like he's planning on going Broadway. He works small movement standing grappling, works a slow wristlock into a side headlock, works at that side headlock, Dred unable to push him off while Necro sinks it in. Necro does a double leg that leads to some so-so MMA mounted punches from both, and ends with Necro working a heel hook that he slyly transitions into an ankle lock. They are working single leg crab exchanges in middle of the ring in the middle of the King of the Death Matches. It's as if Necro is working someone's misinformed idea of what a death match might have been in the 80s. They get a lot of mileage out of a bodyslam on the floor. It's quaint, like they're working a death match for people who have never heard nor considered the concept before.....

That's when Necro hits a blade after being run into the ringpost, and blood starts getting all over the Square Theater's very nice chairs and there's just no way they could have been informed of this possibility. It's real nice color, running down his chest, and that color goes full Panavision when Dred breaks a bottle over Necro's head and cuts him 3x worse with glass. Not bleeding enough, apparently, Dred finds it necessary to throw knuckle punches at Necro's brow, widening the cuts on a man's face that was already completely covered in blood. As Necro is being punched around ringside he begins dragging a fan along with him, using this lad who looks like Will Ospreay's drunk and/or mentally disabled brother to hold himself up while taking punches. 

The match peaks when Necro, in the ring, kicks out at 2 without a single solitary soul near him, sitting up with two fingers held triumphantly to the sky. This man is fighting invisible enemies in the ring, raging against people who aren't really there but he's been convinced they exist, fighting mad as he reads another meme from LibcuckSlayer69 about the newest blue city that was burned completely to the ground. He takes a chairshot that is worse than the bottle that was broken over his head, leaving a huge bloody stain on the chair. He gets up at 8 and takes two more. The man who used to throw chairs harder than anyone at the heads' of men, has thrown no chairs and is now the target. But there is nothing left in his head, so he refuses to give up, fighting to his feet and punching through the next swing. 

If you want to know who the Real King of this stuff is, note that Dred held his arms in front of his face for both of Necro's swings while Necro hung his head out for half a dozen of the hardest swings anyone could throw. I didn't love Dred still getting to his feet first, but he is the one who got his arms up in front of chairshots. Him getting to his feet while Necro's brain damage finally reaches his diminished pain center makes some sense. Just because Necro no longer has his sense of smell, doesn't mean he can't still feel. 

2025 MOTY MASTER LIST

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