I've wanted to get back into shoot style for years. Paradoxically, I've wanted to avoid shoot style for years. The reason is that I have a difficult time transitioning back to traditional pro wrestling. It just looks slow or fake after watching shoot style for too long. Another reason is that I don't know if I necessarily enjoy how some shoot style matches are laid out and paced. Somethings are too quick and realistic and I'm unfairly comparing them to a real kickboxing or MMA bout. That or I'm
Hi again! If you've been following my Puro + More blog, you've noticed that I've been getting more & more interested in old school New Japan over the years. Well maybe you haven't. I did do a 1984 & 1985 AJPW deep dive and Muto's All Japan but, just trust me! I've found that I really dig New Japan's heavyweight style. It produces a lot of very good to great matches. Occasionally it offers up a classic as well. I think I enjoy it because the matches aren't as long as All Japan's during th
Series Outline
Part 1: Three Crows and One Heir 1972-1982 (You Are Here)
Part 2: Atsushi Onita, Junior Heavyweight Ace 1982-1983
Part 3: Experimentation 1983-1986
Part 4: The Glorious Summer of Fuchi 1987-1990
Part 5: Transition 1994-1996
Part 6: Signs of Spring 1997-2000
Introduction
Here’s the thing: if you want “the best” high-flying Junior Heavyweight action in the world in the ‘80s, you go to New Japan. It’s drawing on all the best inf
Hi folks! Wanted to share a quickie review of ZERO-ONE from 2002. I think most folks might know the Spanky vs Low Ki match but, there's some other stuff worth your time. The main event especially might be appealing. It brings a '89 FMW, '92 NJ Karate vs Pro Wrestling vibe that I know I dig. Let's go!
Fugo Fugo Yumeji & Kuroge Wagyuta vs. Kamikaze & Yoshihito Sasaki - Good match! This surprised me. Nice, hard hitting action. Nice way to kick things off!
Hirotaka Yokoi vs. Kintar
Hey folks! due to some technical issues with the site, I lost access to my G. Badger account. So I'll be using this new account to continue my blog & post here on PWO. Just wanted to let you know! The Further Adventures of Puro + More... is a continuation of my Puro + More blog than I've been doing since 2018.
Fortunately, my wife had made a profile on here a few years back while I was getting her into different types of wrestling & she was kind enough to loan me her profile. Let's
Hello! Back with more Mid South wrestling! This time we're looking at Butch Reed & the Midnight Express. Hope you find something you want to watch!
Hacksaw Duggan & Magnum T.A. vs. Hacksaw Butch Reed & Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart (10/13/83) - Very good TV episode title match with a clean finish. It was all action and Reed & Anvil were looking like a team ahead of their time with their athleticism. Again, really good stuff!
Jim Neidhart & Butch Reed vs Magnum TA &
The Legends of Mid South Wrestling DVD is a compilation that I bought used a few years back. It seems like a good time to jump in and watch it. It's a WWE production so I'm not sure what to expect. I know that the DVDVR did a best of the Mid-South project a long time ago. That's going to be my guide. I'm fully aware that watching in this format might tarnish the match quality since I might be missing backstory, promos etc. I'm going to try to see what I do to give myself some background going in
The Legends of Mid South Wrestling DVD is a compilation that I bought used a few years back. It seems like a good time to jump in and watch it. It's a WWE production so I'm not sure what to expect. I know that the DVDVR did a best of the Mid-South project a long time ago. That's going to be my guide. I'm fully aware that watching in this format might tarnish the match quality since I might be missing backstory, promos etc. I'm going to try to see what I do to give myself some background going in
OK folks, it's that time! We're wrapping up the WCW 1994 project. There's some really interesting matches ahead so buckle up and let's get going!
TAGS
Pretty Wonderful (Paul Orndorff & Paul Roma) vs. Stars and Stripes (Bagwell & Patriot) - (10/23/1994 - Halloween Havoc) - I liked how they did a very exciting, all action few minutes before going into the Buff in peril match that they have been doing. We actually got to see Patriot wrestling! Also not sure if it's out there but a
The Irresistible Rise of Kyushu Pro
Before starting the recaps proper, I saw stats gathered by F.G.C. (https://x.com/FGC648948974342/status/1940307839060426897) on puro company attendances through the first half of 2025. Kyushu Pro comes out very well: in terms of total attendance (30,434), it is the fifth-biggest men’s company (behind NJPW, Dragongate, NOAH, and AJPW) and eighth-biggest overall (adding in Stardom, Marigold, and TJPW). That’s respectable – but the average attendance is eve
We're back with more WCW in 1994!
TAGS
Stars And Stripes vs. Bad Attitude (09 03 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - Fun match! I think Keirn & Eaton are the reason it's enjoyable. Bagwell does most of the work for his team. Patriot just kinda cleans up at the end but hey, it's fun TV stuff. I don't think Bad Attitude has had one sub par match.
Cactus Jack vs. Kevin Sullivan (09 10 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - A super quick "match" but Sullivan does a tope, Jack does his elbow to the flo
Sorry for the delay folks! It's been a busy week. Let's get to the wrestling!
TAGS
Harlem Heat vs. Brad and Brian Armstrong (Road Dogg) (08/06 WCW Saturday Night) - Two pairs of brothers square off! This was a blast. Both teams got a bunch of offense in and then a helluva finish to cap things off.
Pretty Wonderful vs. Stars And Stripes (08 13 94 WCW Saturday Night) - OK face/heel match but was too long for how it ended. I like the corny U-S-A gimmick especially since everything t
Hi Folks!
It's June and it's the midway point the year. So, it's time for the Best Matches Watched thus far for 2025. I'm only including things that I've covered in the blog. I have been watching Mid-South Wrestling but haven't talked about any of that yet. That will be my 80's project for the year.
HM stands for Honorable Mention and are matches that absolutely worth checking out along with the classics. I mention them because, you might watch them and be like, "No dude... that was b
Kyushu Pro Mentai Kid Retirement Memorial Event – Kyushu Ba Genki Ni Goodbye 11/05/2025
Held at the Fukuoka Island City Forum, with an announced attendance of 1,430, good for the third biggest show of the year. The venue looks very full as far as these things go. They set this up as one of their “big events” – room lights off, full lighting rig. I actually usually perhaps prefer their more informal Gymnasium setups, but for this occasion it’s fitting. Fifteen wrestlers are slate
Keep that 1994 WCW train chugging along baby!
TAGS
Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan
Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan (w/ Dave Sullivan) vs. Nasty Boys (07 02 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - Fun short match but also shenanigans that loops Pretty Wonderful into things for Bash at the Beach.
Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan vs. Bad Attitude (07 16 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - Bad Attitude is Bobby Eaton & Steve Keirn if you're just joining us. So much bleached blonde hair - Keirn, Eaton,
Introduction
Jumbo Tsuruta is widely considered one of the best professional wrestlers ever. His physicality and athleticism, his subtle acting, his superlative match layouts and workrate – he is recognized as an all-time great for these, and rightly so.
The period we think about when we consider those qualities is, let’s say, 1985-1992, between Riki Choshu’s arrival in All Japan and Jumbo’s time out for health reasons that marked the end of his “serious” wrestling career. In
We're back with more of WCW 1994! It's a heck of a year so far and really is an end of an era since Hogan eventually comes in and wrecks the shop. But don't worry, I'm not going to be looking at a single match of his. Instead I'm going to focus on the tag division, Ricky Steamboat, Steven Regal and the man they call Vader. Same as before
TAGS
The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) vs. Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan - Slamboree 05/22/94 - There's a few Slamboree '94 match
I'm having a hard time thinking about how to introduce this post. It's really hard to put into words what Sabu means to me as a wrestling fan...as an ECW fan, as a Sabu fan. I think I've told the story elsewhere but Terry Funk vs Sabu's barb wire match is the match that hooked me into watching ECW. It's a seminal moment for me as a wrestling fan. It made me a fan of both men instantly. Sabu is foundational for my interest in wrestling as a young adult and a middle aged turd now. I admired his hi
Three event recaps and digging into the Mentai Kid archives in light of his retirement.
Kyushu Pro AEON Omura Shopping Center 30th Anniversary 03/05/2025
Held at AEON Omura Shopping Center in Omura, Nagasaki Prefecture. Not aired. KPW do a number of these “community-side” events, presumably as a result of sponsorships or where there is a charitable upside. No announced attendance, and it’d be hard to know because the ring (per photos) is literally in the mall forecourt next t
Series Outline
Part 1: The Noble Art of Jerking Curtains (You Are Here)
Part 2: King of Comedy
Part 3: The Heir to Rikidozan
Introduction – Who On Earth Is Mitsuo Momota?
On CageMatch, Mitsuo Momota has a fan rating of 4.71 out of 10. He mostly seems to turn up in six-man comedy matches with arthritic old men. For Mitsuo Momota’s official 30th Anniversary match, he wrestled a rookie in the first match on the card, and it was even clipped when shown on TV. He
I think this project was prompted by the WCW YouTube page started recently by WWE. They came out the gate with some great stuff and have been trickling out Hogan era schlock lately. Anyhow, 1994 seemed like a really interesting year in terms of their roster and matchups. As usual, I'm going to cherry pick certain wrestlers and matches. I want to focus on Steven Regal, Ricky Steamboat, Vader & tags that look interesting. I know I'm missing some stuff. I was going to do a comprehensive 1994 bu
Kyushu Pro Super Genki Festival ~ 17th Anniversary 27/04/2025
The biggest show of the year so far, in Fukuoka City’s Fukuoka West Japan General Exhibition Hall’s New Hall. Declared attendance of 2,576. This is a pretty big show by modern standards. All Japan’s Champion Carnival 2025 opener at the Korakuen (9th April) drew 1,105, and their biggest show of the year so far was their 24th February date in Hachioji, with an attendance of 1,870; KPW has two bigger than that. NOAH had
Okay, this 2004 post came a lot sooner than I thought since there wasn't a lot to 2004 or what I could find online. Only two shows and only one that's worth a full look at.
I started out with 09/25/04. This is an outdoor show...and wow! That is an amazing building across the way. But honestly, I can't truly recommend anything on this show. Kintaro Kanemura & Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Katsumasa Inoue & Shadow WX was exactly the type of straight tag match you know they can wrestle. Fast si
