AKINO & Ayako Hamada vs Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita (LCO) (06/09/01 Arsion): This match begins slowly and in a rather loose manner. I don't recall when it picks up but, its sometime when Mita starts bleeding! Yes, yes very good. Then more action, Shimoda's bleeding... Moving along swimmingly. AKINO's really standing out but, I'll skip to the highlights! There are chairs, tables, (aforementioned) blood, dives, double teams, and false finishes. This really picked yp into something special.
Technically, these are ROH matches but, all participants were actively working for NOAH. 2007 was a pretty solid time for Ring of Honor & NOAH's relationship. Heck, Morishima was the champ!
Nigel McGuiness & Doug Williams vs Takeshi Morishima & Chris Hero (04/13/07): This was a very solid B-show tag match. The fellows went above and beyond here. Nice to see the Brit Boys team up too. Hero was fresh back from a NOAH tour and doing finisher tributes like Damien 666. This he
AJPW Classic Selection #172
Stan Hansen & Danny Kroffat vs Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton (10/26/88): Gibson seemed like he had a bad ankle and was really only in for the key spots. Ricky therefore wrestled his butt off with Kroffat and Hansen. The story focus seemed to be on Rock n' Roll vs Hansen which helped in the drama department. I believed that they, combined, could take out the Texan. Kroffat was there as junior talent to keep up the pace and action of the match. It was
What's kinda funny is that people will see 1 or 2 of the crazier death matches from original FMW and think they understand or get "Onita." It's probably worse as he's gotten older as he's had to rely more and more on the actual gimmicks to hide his mobility issues. I know I felt this way before I started researching, reading about and watching Onita. There's a notion that Onita was great in AJPW but, got hurt and etc.
So, I think there may be this misconception that Onita sucked in F
Yoshinari Asai vs Bestia Salvaje (SWS 10/29/91): This was all kinds of fun and excitement but, with enough drama to keep me guessing the outcome. The speed and high flying technique was excellent and wasn't marred by a dozen false finishes. Reminded me of Rey vs Psicosis WAR J-Cup '95. Very high recommendation!
King Haku vs Takashi Ishikawa (SWS 10/30/91)
This is perhaps the best Ishikawa match that I've seen. Great knee work and Haku sells it like it's legit. That's what happen
This day in puroresu history...Stan Hansen & Toshiaki Kawada had a really great match here. I didn't think it was a classic but, pretty comparable to Kawada's match versus Jumbo in 1991 in terms of greatness. Here's some of the other matches that happened that you might have missed:
Kenta Kobashi vs Dan Spivey: JIP This was an intense yet somewhat unorganized bout. It was plenty exciting but, not to the effect that is was super engaging. Spivey botched a Canadian Backbreaker Slam
Finally got back to the 2010 16 Carat Gold Tournament:
2010 16 Carat Gold Show: Day #2
Big Van Walter vs Munenori Sawa: 10:30 run time. David and Goliath match here. It was fun but, nothing too deep or engaging but, good for the opening match. A little disappointing though.
Erick Stevens vs KAGETORA: 8:30 match. Whoa!! This was quick energetic and really good. Lively as all hell. Stevens brings a star prescence that this venue demands. Otherwise the show feels
Hayabusa vs. Mr. Gannosuke -Mask vs. Hair match - (04/27/97 FMW) This was very good stuff with no blown spots, no awkwardness but, again it's Gannosuke & Hayabusa, like Misawa & Kawada or Benoit & Eddie. They know one another inside & out because they're close. This was good because they focused their "extreme" spots toward the beginning & brought it back inside & duke'd it out there. I would have liked a little more back & forth but since they hit their sequences to
Toshiaki Kawada vs Jun Akiyama Champ Carnival (03/21/95): This seemed like that match people were talking about when they were discussing Kobashi vs. Jumbo back in '91. Just an excellent match that really made Jun look like the future star and it made Kawada look tough yet beatable. Really cool match with Kawada getting really stiff at times. ****1/4
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada Champ Carnival: Talk about a grisly wrestling match. Hit the guy in the shoulder- fine, hit the guy
So, this is where my official massive block of AJ Classics starts. Boy, its a good start
Great Kabuki & Akio Sato vs Jimmy Snuka & Tiger Mask II (09/15/88): A really enjoyable match with great offense from Jimmy & Tiger. Kabuki was really effective when inside the ropes & Sato made everyone look good. I recommend checking this out especially for Superfly & Misawa's team work.
Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu (07/29/8
AJW TV January 4th 1991 (1/4/91)
Yumiko Hotta vs. Bat Yoshinaga- Nothing too awesome here other than Hotta kicking Bat in the face a few good times and busting out a top rope backdrop. ***
Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue & Miori Kamiya & Mika Takahashi- Really weird seeing Mita with short hair like Yamada and Takako was a little chubby here but, not in a bad way. Kind like you could tell she was 18 or so. Surprisingly Mima was
Akira Katayama was one of my favorite little discoveries from SWS but, sadly found out the he was paralyzed from a dive sometime in 1992. These are two matches found online.
Akira Katayama vs Kenichi Oya SWS from 9/17/91 and man, this was some good stuff! For whatever reason I thought Oya was gonna be some skinny crew cut rookie but, nope. He's a solid man with a beard and shit...perhaps rockin' a surfer gimmick?? I guess it was '91 so those orange and neon yellow trunks were pretty
They don't call Mitsuhiro Matsunaga "Mr. Danger" for nothing! Along with Jun Kasai, he's got to be my favorite death matcher.
I'm not positive but, the Bed of Nails has to be one of his signature death matches...although they aren't always the most spectacular. The fans love it so, I guess they keep doing it! Of course, they probably take too far nowadays but, here are some goodies (baddies?) with Mr. Danger!
Leatherface vs Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (Original Spike Nail Death M
Work was busy and the weather was nice so, I didn't get around to watching day #2 of wXw's 2010 tournament
I thought about skipping today but, figured I'd share my take on the most popular wrestlers not in WWE- Kenny Omega & the Young Bucks.
Although both are sort of the antithesis of the blog as they are just so darn well known and praised by Dave M. And that's cool because I do like them both. No, they're not my favorites or wrestle according to my stylistic prefer
Ah Big Mouth Loud we hardly knew ye! Now twelve years passed and you are forgotten by all but a few! Seriously though, I remember hearing about this promotion and not knowing what the hell it was about. I think my understanding was that it was a shoot style group. I no longer was into that so, I walked away. Recently however, I'd come across matches recommended by YouTube. Kurisu vs Kudo isn't shoot style! OK, this is something I've got to take a look for myself.
It does start out as
I really enjoy puro from the late 80's so, I'll admit that I probably get more rewatch value from pre-Jushin Liger Yamada than most. I think when I think about his work with and without a mask, he's probably in my top 10...I think! There's been a backlash against the 90's NJ Jr. style but, I've also seen that with the 80's Jr. stuff as well. That's cool but, that ain't me.
Keiichi Yamada vs Marc "Rollerball" Rocco (09/01/87): JIP, All action plus a leapfrog face to the nuts spot! Yes
More 1987 AJPW goodness!
AJ Classics Selection #153
Takashi Ishikawa & Mighty Inoue vs Isamu Teranishi & Masanobu Kurisu (07/30/87): Well, this was a barrel full of monkeys! I loved it. All kinds of different offense or should I say 'awe'fense. Cheesy like Kraft. This took a little bit to get going in terms of direction and pace but, turned into a smile worthy Asia Tag match.
Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask vs Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (07/11/87): P
Here's 1997 til 2000. 2001 kinda looks so-so and 2002 (the last year that FMW was open) didn't make the list.
1997 - (8 matches in the top 50)
M. Kudo vs M. Ozaki 04/18 - #9
Onita, Kanemura & Hido vs Tanaka, Nakagawa & Kuroda 05/25
Tanaka vs Kanemura - 08/02
Hayabusa & Shinzaki vs Mr. Gannosuke & H. Oya 08/02
Gladiator, Gannosuke & H. Oya vs Hayabusa, Tanaka & Nakagawa 08/31
Hayabusa & Shinzaki vs Kenta Kobashi & Manukea M
I've been really getting back into FMW from reading BAHU's FMW website. It is really chock full of great insight and history on the promotion and the wrestlers. Take a look:
http://www.fmwwrestling.us
Also he's been doing a podcast on the history of FMW but, this also touches on other like promotions such as W*ING. Here's his post here on PWO:
http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/40981-history-of-fmw-podcast/
BAHU is the master of FMW so, h
The Japanese garbage wrestling scene in the 90's is really interesting. One that I was ignorant of until a while ago was W*ING. I'd seen the wrestlers before in IWA Japan, FMW, or Big Japan. Honestly, the matches aren't too different as essentially IWA Japan was started from the ashes of W*ING. BJPW upped the kooky death match stipulations but, many of the guys were there in the early days like Mr. Danger Matsunaga & Nakamaki.
W*ING featured some really exciting matches though. I
I would have to think that Tenryu's WAR promotion has the most love themed name. Wrestle and Romance...ah yes, that is passion!! I feel like they were also Wrestle and Roses too. I could have made that up, I dunno. I love it anyhow!
Other Valentine appropriate wrestling names in my opinion are the AJW tag teams Tokyo Sweethearts, Crush Gals (crush like a school boy not as in skulls) & Honey Wings.
That was just an aside. Here are some of my favorite Romance matches:
OK so, I've finished Day #1 of wXw's 16 Carat Gold tournament for 2010. Its been a pretty good day or evening for wrestling. Unlike PWG's BOLA the guys pace themselves and the card actually builds to the main event. I'm going to put everything for day #1 in this post.
Ares vs Matt Jackson: Fun 8 minute match with a bit of comedy from Ares.
Munenori Sawa vs Paul Tracey: I'm not familiar with Tracey. Sawa looked good and Tracey was OK. 7 minutes and better than the first bo
In true Mixed up Monday fashion, I'm going to do a whole show review which is all mixed up since, I usually just toss a couple random fun match reviews up.
I bought the official NOAH DVD from Highspots. Its got English commentary. Its not very good commentary but, its not awful either. Its laughable that at every (yes, every kickout), the lead commentator asks, "Did he kickout!?" Does he mean that he literally cannot see the kickout or is that a dramatic phrase? I wonder even as I wr
I'm a Hayabusa fan. I think my first exposure was from ECW clips of he & Jinsei Shinzaki vs RVD & Sabu. Then around that time, I bought a used copy of WCW vs the World for the PS1. Awesome game, tons of Japanese stars with fake names. I recognized a few though, Hayabusa being one. Thing is, I probably didn't know he was called "Hayabusa." I just knew he was this high flyer with a mask and baggy red pants...and he could keep up with Van Dam & Sabu in the crazy move department. The vid
I've recently acquired a big chunk of the AJPW Classics broadcast in 1999 & 2000. Generally speaking, I've got a good portion of 1988-early 1990 covered. There are a couple notable matches missing but, I'm more interested in finding hidden gems. I'm looking forward to seeing matches people talked about in the distant past and have since been forgotten or brushed aside for the newer slicker wrestling of today. I'm excited to be able to watch wrestling in a somewhat episodic fashion again too.
