My first exposure to Japanese wrestling was through ECW. So, it made sense that once I could get my hands on real to life VHS tapes of the stuff, it was going to be hard core death match stuff. The first tape I got was the awesome yet, grainy as hell History of BJW death matches. This had all kinds of insane and yes, wacky stipulation/gimmick matches. The piranha and cactus & scorpion death match stuck out in terms of that "what the hell?" factor. To lose, you have to get dunked in a fish tank with the creatures...its fun in a stupid way. Love the stuff, puts a smile on my face. It's a really awesome niche in Japan's wrestling scene which I'm glad of. I've got a penchant for wrestling with odd rules, props, or people showing up and I'd like to share some every Wednesday.

The Bloody vs Megumi Yabushita (03/23/03 Metal Garage - TWF Title - Jd'): Both ladies start out on the top of cage hell in a cell style. The setup of their cell looks pretty good actually. Its grittier looking than the WWE version but, seems to have better support beams. What the hell am I talking about that for?

So, they pick up chairs then drop the chairs because they want to grapple, I suppose? Ok sure, why not? They then fight on the cage and this looks pretty good where I want to see more...which is a positive since I'm a minute into the match. The one woman almost falls off the top! Then the other climbs into a hole in the corner and looks to climb down a ladder to get in the ring. I believe she then climbs up an A-frame ladder to pull the TWF belt down. In the middle of this she gets middle drop kicked off said ladder. This was pretty cool! Then Clipping! We are now (well, they are...I'm on my couch) on top of the cage again. This time the ladder is up there with them. It is actually in a vertical position too. So picture a ladder onto of hell in a cell. Stuff happens including the ref almost getting knocked off the top! and someone wins. This was clipped down to 7+ minutes of wackiness. Thank you editors! I must assume that the rest of the match is crud if this is what was shown. Nonetheless, this was a trip.

Jaki Numazawa vs. Yuko Miyamoto (03/14/17 Iron Cage & Lighttubes Death Match - BJW): Oh! So there's light tubes in the iron cage! See I thought they had to put the guy in the cage to win the contest. This was shot from a fixed camera so, it wasn't clear. I get it now.

Regardless, there was a single person shark cage (?) in one corner and fluorescent tubes attached to the ropes where, of fucking course, the fans were seated. I suppose they wanted to be sprayed with glass! The thing is- the sides where there were no tubes, no one was sitting!!? If I got to the show and they told me "yes, seating is on these two sides" and then they started putting up fucking glass tubes 5 feet from where I'm sitting, I'm damn well moving to the empty seats. BJW can kiss my ass. Try to move me back! You'll get a death match you didn't expect! I don't like balloons for the same reason. Have some little twat kid pop one at a party and I'm blinded by latex bullet. I've wandered off course haven't I?

This was pretty fun and not too long at 7+ minutes in full. I enjoyed watching the seconds or young boys travel around the ring in a futile attempt to block flying glass from the fans at ringside.