gordi

Nice hot tag!

Yep. Well booked and well-worked. Enjoyed that a lot.

Baba vs Fujiwara is a dream match for me. As far as I can tell (i.e. according to CageMatch) they only ever faced off once. It was a mid-card (probably comedy-style) match during the World Tag League in November 1996. (Don Arakawa, Tamon Honda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara defeat Giant Baba, Masanobu Fuchi & Masao Inoue). Young Baba could really go on the mat. I'm betting that Fujiwara could have brought some good stuff out of him in '86. Hopefully we can bring one or more of them back somewhere down the line, maybe for a singles match with Fujiwara or a title shot against Fujinami. Much like the British Bullies, they got over with our fans and can come back to fight here any time. To be honest, the biggest influence on my booking style with the JWA is Osaka Pro Wrestling from 2011-2014 when they were my local indie promotion. I loved the variety of styles of matches that O-Pro put on, show after show. JWA doesn't have the same emphasis on comedy, and JWA is more prone to longer harder-hitting matches, but the way I try to have a mix of brawling, hoss battles, entertaining matches, story-telling matches, technical wrestling, high-flying, semi-shoot style... that is inspired by the way Osaka Pro booked their shows when I was going to see them regularly, and b how much I enjoyed that. I'm glad you and dawho got a kick out of the Hansen match write-up

With confrontation looming between Duggan and Tonga, and with Benoit getting involved with Los Infernales, there is lots to look forward to here. Nice treat for the fans in Vancouver, giving them almost an hour of Raymond vs Martel.

Yeah! Way to keep the momentum going after a big show.

That was great. Just a well-booked and entertaining show from top to bottom. A nice run of faces winning clean to start us off, then a balance of heels cheating to win, a DQ, a DCOR... Magnum's loss feels appropriately heart-breaking. Harley vs Wahoo sounds like the match I'd have been raving about the next day.

A very good lead-in show for Battle of the Belts. The card looks amazing. And, you are already starting to set up,for next month's Omni show. Good booking all around.

Watched that video. It almost breaks my heart, seeing bad guys really work like bad guys. I miss it so much. Craven, dishonest, cheating, cruel, yet over-confident... not trying in any way to get themselves over as cool or charming in the ring. Making you want, so badly, to see the good guys make them pay the price... It is very nearly a lot art these days. I guess everyone wants to sell tshirts. The Starr cousins are so good at being bad. That match should be part of the curriculum at the Training Center.

JWA Trios Tournament Finals – Tokyo, February 24, 1986 Tiger Mask, Mutoh, & “Thunder” Yamada, vs Koshinaka, Misawa, & Hase Just a fast-paced opener to give out young boys some shine and heat up the crowd. You can probably guess who pinned whom just by reading the names (Tiger Mask pinned the rookie, Hase, with a Diving Cross-Body). Masa Fuchi vs Masa Chono A little bit of a grudge has been developing between these two men and the match played out that way, with more than a touch of hatred and violence. Chono more than held his own, but Fuchi fought like mad to keep from being caught in the STF, and eventually he gained the upper hand. An Enzuigiri kick put Chono down, and Fuchi’s STF put him away. Mil Mascaras, Dos Caras, El Canek, & Gran Hamada vs Anoaro Atisanoe, Siva Afi, Kuniaki Kobayashi, & Black Tiger As usual when Mil Mascaras comes to Tokyo, this was twelve minutes of his teammates mostly bumping and selling followed by four minutes of Mascaras dominating after the hot tag. Gran Hamada and Black Tiger had a nice little highflying showcase, and El Canek trading power moves with Atisanoe was entertaining. Mascaras’ Standing Indian Deathlock / Double Underhook combo made for an interesting submission finish. The British Bullies vs Fujinami, Kimura, & Hashimoto Hashimoto got a nice little showcase in this one, trading nasty strikes with Taylor and Adams. Kimura got to play Face in Peril, as the British grapplers trapped him in their corner and stretched his limbs in various creative ways. Fujinami got the hot tag and a long shine segment, and after some additional shenanigans he earned the victory with a Dragon Backbreaker into a Cobra Twist on Marty Jones. Giant Baba vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara There were a few minutes of slick mat-work followed by a long-ish Headscissors spot, followed by several more minutes of less slick and more painful-looking mat-work, and then another Headscissors spot. It was remarkable how many ways that Baba could apply the Headscissors, and how many variations of the Headscissors escape Fujiwara has in his arsenal. Also, it was cool to see how Baba used his significant size advantage to counter Fujiwara’s superior ground game. Eventually, Fujiwara lost his temper and blasted the Giant with some vicious Head-butts. Both men tumbled out of the ring where they brawled into the crowd. Fujiwara just barely managed to beat the 20-count, and got back into the ring just in time to earn the narrow upset victory. ***BREAK*** Stan Hansen & Phil Hickerson vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu This was more of an exhibition of gymnastics and athleticism than a fight, but with these four guys involved what do you expect? Lots and lots of springboard, twisting, flipping variations of innovative high-end aerial offense, and little else. Sure, there wasn’t much story-telling and none of the wrestlers had a clearly defined role, and some of the work was loose and unconvincing, but… whoops, the “exact opposite” button on my keyboard apparently got stuck. Well, too late to change it now. Anyway, Hansen almost took Yatsu’s head off with a Lariat after 20 minutes of back-and-forth clubbering, but Jumbo managed to break up the pin just in time. Tags were made and Jumbo faced off with a tired-looking Hickerson. In an impressive display of power, Tsuruta hit the big man with a series of Suplexes, including a Waist Lock, a Gut Wrench, and a Release German. Yatsu held off Hansen while Jumbo crushed Hickerson with a Bridging Belly-to-Back Suplex for the win. JWA Tag Titles Match: Power Rush vs The Fantastics The Fantastics were at a pretty clear size disadvantage in this one, but rather than using hit-and-run tactics or trying to dazzle Power Rush with speed and quickness, they went straight at the champs from the opening bell. That earned them a lot of points with the Tokyo crowd, who appreciated the intestinal fortitude displayed by Fulton and Rogers. Unfortunately, though, that tactical decision likely cost The Fantastics the match. Riki Choshu and Rusher Kimura were caught by surprise early in the match and Bobby and Tommy got a nice long shine segment, but eventually Power Rush came roaring back with Elbows, European Uppercuts, and Head-butts. The champs isolated Rogers and stomped him mercilessly in their corner. He eventually escaped and made the hot tag, but Fulton’s come-back was cut off after just a couple of minutes, when he got crushed by a Rusher Lariat. A quick tag and one Riki Lariat later and Power Rush had made another hard-earned but successful title defense. JWA Trios Tournament Finals: Tenryu, Hara, & Kawada vs The Machines There was some debate about whether the Tag Title Match or the Trios Tournament Finals Match should be the Main Event of this show. There was even some discussion of putting Stan Hansen in the Main Event slot, but the magazines have reported that Hansen and Brody recently lost clean to The Road Warriors in America, and that has done some serious damage to their invincible aura over here. The main concern we had was that, since The Machines are members of the Tenryu’s Gang stable, this match might not be dramatic enough to cap off a big tour-ending show. And, while the match was worked in a fairly sportsmanlike and mostly respectful manner, the boys managed to create some drama by having The Machines work from underneath for almost the entire 25 minutes. Sumo Machine, in particular, bumped and sold like crazy to earn his team some sympathy heat. There was a decent pop when Super Strong Machine finally got the hot tag, a slightly bigger pop when they hit a triple-team version of the Machine DDT on Hara, and a few people even got to their feet as Sumo Machine and Very Tall Machine fought to prevent Tenryu and Kawada from breaking up the pin. The ceremony where The Machines were awarded the JWA Trios Title belts was quite good. In a true show of class Tenryu, Hara, and Kawada were first in line to offer congratulations.

Ayala got some serious revenge on Al Madril there! Love the absolute chaos at the end. I'll watch the tag match and comment on it later. I'm at work now.

I'll bet that crushing Sullivan was pretty satisfying for Big Leon. That Bullrope Match sounds great. I know Blackwell and Bock teamed up a few times, but I don't think they ever had a title match or even a singles match "in real life." That's another one I'd like to have seen.

I have a feeling the Heenan Family will eventually regret jumping Andre like that. Nice 12-minute all-action tag match, and a hot Savage promo to,wrap things up.

I love, love, love the "any kid who brings a report card with an A on it gets in free" idea! The fans in Mobile get a great match out of it as well.

The very first Royal Rumble, on free TV, in 1988: Bret and Tito start out. Butch Reed is in at #3. Niedhardt at #4, and the three heels gang up on Tito and really beat him down. Then comes the hyuuuuge pop as Jake "The Snake" Roberts gets his "here comes the cavalry" moment as entrant #5. That was awesome. That's when you knew you made the right decision watching the Rumble instead of Bunkhouse Stampede.

Hart beats Rougeau. Rougeau beats Hart. And so balance is maintained and the cosmic ballet continues.

Two wild brawls! I like Madril's sneaky plan of putting hog guy under the Mr. Z hood.

Jeff Gaylord is definitely in the conversation for worst major-promotion pro wrestler of all time. Rocky Mountain Thunder is named after another guy in that conversation. Greg Gagne is easily one of my least favourite wrestlers ever... ...but I still think I would have enjoyed that opening match. I can only imagine how well Scorp would take a Ron Simmons Spinebuster. I bet that looked awesome. That whole show looks entertaining. Top to bottom. AWA has really been on a tear recently. So much better that the TV shows they put on out of Vegas in the late 80s.

That's so true.

I would not have bet on Lance Von Erich to win that tournament! Roadies vs Steiners should be hot.

What a show!! Triple Dog Collar Chain Match! Finlay and Cameron making a statement. Tanaka and Perez taking it to the limit. All kinds of great character work from guys like Sullivan and Zybyszko. And... what a great match, what a great champion. All that build-up pays of perfectly. Well done!

When I decided that I was going to team them up, I couldn't resist the joke. There are some RMT matches up on YouTube!! He really is one of the goofiest-looking and least talented guys in pro wrestling history.

Wow! Huge upset victory, with plenty of intrigue regarding what that means for Al Perez. Great finish for Slaughter, overcoming the numbers game. A nice scientific bout between smiley and Jones. Interesting contrast in coaching styles in the 6-man. How bad-ass do you have to be to get sympathy vs Jake, Nord, and Cactus? Rocky Mountain Thunder is a great name for that team.

JWA would like to bring Naoki Sano and Fishman onto the main roster.

Well, there you go. That list makes a lot more sense now.

Interesting! Is there some good in Dick Slater's heart? I seriously cannot imagine Bruiser Brody ever agreeing to put over the Road Warriors. Scott Hall suplexing the Warlord must have been a great visual. Big title change in the steel cage.