This is the second post in the series and I've skipped 2000 & 2001. That's because the company is gummed up with CZW...like the dregs of Zandig era CZW. I'm not interested. There's a couple CZW names still here but these guys actually have some talent, skill or something. Let's take a look!

BJW Harder Than Hardcore Series 2002 03/03/02

Match
Trent Acid vs. The Winger - Eh, I'm glad I half watched this and a Bob Newhart Show episode. They go outside and do pile driver on the sidewalk. Then they do a balcony dive spot and then eh...at 17 minutes.. this was probably 10 minutes too long.

Nate Hatred vs Shunme Matsuzaki - Not interested at first...But I gave it a chance and it was as a good straight forward indie puro match. There was good action and a bit of drama to make it an easy watch.

Shadow WX vs. Abdullah Kobayashi (Barbed Wire Board & Strap Death Match) - Good match and it was really fun once Shadow WX got the strap off his wrist. Then they started using the barb wire boards. It's an under card death match and I think it's enjoyable but left me wanting more.

BADBOY Hido vs. Kintaro Kanemura (Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match) - Very good death match. They use the tubes from the beginning and while they're not young men anymore, they do some good spots. I thought the one where Jun Kasai was waiting in the balcony was particularly clever. There's a little bit clipped out but the official match time is around 14 mins so it doesn't overstay it's welcome. If you're not wanting to watch a light tube match, this is one you will want to skip. It's not as dangerous & insane as I've seen but, they still take a few big bumps into the glass & Hido is shirtless. If you're a little curious then, I think this is a good one to check out...especially if you like Kanemura & Hido from FMW. They're tough but not youngsters looking to prove anything by how gruesome they can be. So, we get a good spot match augmented by the props.

Daikokubo Benkei (c) vs. Daisuke Sekimoto - Unfortunately this wasn't included on this video/Samurai TV episode. Knowing them, it's probably on the next episode... ah well but Benkei isn't especially spry so perhaps this is no great loss? They could have cut the Acid vs Winger match for this though...or perhaps it really stunk?

Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Jun Kasai (Land Mine Board Russian Roulette Death Match) - Great death match! What makes this so good is that the actually do a regular match and incorporate the exploding boards and a few light tubes rather than base the whole match around a couple crazy spots. I thought they also did a excellent job putting over the damage. I think this actually would be a good one if you've never seen anything with the tubes in case your squeamish. The finish is what pushes this up to a "great" match. Recommended

Homicide vs. The Winger (08/14/02): Good match, Homicide takes a giant plunge and yet the match continues? Haha it's all good...it should have been the finish but they do a few more minutes...but those are fun. Homicide definitely knows how to put on an entertaining singles match. Honestly, if they didn't do the big dive then, just with the barb wire boards and the moves, this would have been better

BJW Harder Than Hardcore II (big show) 08/18/02

Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs. Bancho Matsuzaki - We get about half of this but it's really fun stuff. Happy to see Kuroda. This is simple but enjoyable wrestling. Nice finishing segment with near falls done right! Bancho is Shunme Matsuzaki but he's got a shaved head.

Singles Match
MEN's Teioh vs. ODD (Dudley Dudley) - Vaguely remember Dudley Dudley from ECW tapes I had...don't actually remember him wrestling though. I skipped through this one...

BJ Death Match Rumble Match
Shadow WX vs. Homicide vs. Madman Pondo vs. The Winger vs. Abugold Bayashi (Abdullah Kobayashi painted gold) - This was a lot of fun. Some dangerous spots, some comedy, and this was an enjoyable plunder garbage match. A total waste of Homicide but I don't think anyone knew that at the time...not even Homicide.

Daikokubo Benkei vs. Daisuke Sekimoto - OK match only for Daisuke Sekimoto fans...Benkei is good in tag matches as he's a massive dude and can do King Kong Bundy type moves. But in singles, he's just so boring and lacks any enthusiasm. Sekimoto singlehandedly makes this interesting and stiffs Benkei just to get him to sell perhaps.

World Extreme Cup 2002 Final Glass Death Match
Seiji Yamakawa vs. Kintaro Kanemura - Light tubes on the ropes and panes of glass leaned up in the corners. Panes of glass are way sketchier than the light tubes.. The tubes break uniformly into little chunks...panes of glass are irregular and the pieces are much larger. We'll see how this goes...hell I watched the Headhunters glass match and Tarzan Goto carve a chunk into some guys arm (actually may have Yamakawa)...but I'm still tentative. Whew! OK that's some strong ass glass and its looking to break like windshield glass. Man in the old days that shit would spider web and there'd be all kinds of nasty looking shards. Anyhow this was pretty good. I really wish the spots were more logically organized. A couple Kanemura did near the beginning would have been much more meaningful if they were built up to. And that's the flaw...I didn't feel like this told a story. It's just spots for spots sake. To be fair though, if I got a tape of this match in 2002, I would have been psyched...there's some great 'holy shit!' moments. Still, it's entertaining and fun if you're interested in this kind of thing. 

Daisuke Sekimoto, MEN's Teioh & Ryuji Ito vs. Da Hit Squad (Mafia & Monsta Mack) & Homicide (10/14/02) - Very good match! Lots going on with Da Hit Squad doing big guy power moves, Homicide doing some craziness. Ito is skinny as heck still but has tons of fight, Sekimoto is definitely a star on the rise and Teioh is charismatic as heck. I had a lot of fun with this match. Looks like Monsta Mack himself has this posted so, I'll share it here:

2002 was good but inconsistent...at least from what I saw Nevertheless there was always something worth my time - either a bit of fun or a legitimate very good/great match. Definitely recommend the Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Jun Kasai match.

Thanks for reading! Hang in there folks!