gordi

TNA Final Resolution 2013 had a "Dixieland" match between Magnus and Jeff Hardy where you had to first escape a cage and then climb a ladder. No idea of it was any good or not. Don't think it has been done since.

Blue Panther vs Fit Finlay sounds pretty darn good.

Flair vs Martel, Funk vs Nord... Man, I *wish* I could have seen matches like that, live, back in the mid-80s. You should run a show in Vancouver. You'd draw there.

You are absolutely right about that. I'll be running a few Gauntlet matches this year. I find them fun and challenging to book, and as you say it is a supremely versatile match type.

JWA Revival Second Chapter: Tour Opening Show – Osaka, May 16th Shinya Hashimoto and Keiji Mutoh vs Shunji Takano and Shunichi Nakano Masa Fuchi vs “Thunder” Yamada The Cobra and Kobayashi vs Black Terry and Babe Face Riki Choshu vs Phil Hickerson Fujiwara, Yamazaki, and Funaki vs The Tiger Masks and Takada JWA Middleweight Tag Champions Mighty Animals vs Adams and Hernandez ***BREAK*** JWA Middleweight Champion Black Tiger vs Gran Hamada Tenryu, Tsuruta, and Yatsu vs Muraco, Bad News, and Atisanoe Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras vs Fujinami and Kimura JWA Tag Team Champions The Fighting Spirits (Inoki and Maeda) vs The Giants (Baba and Andre)

JWA Special TV Event: Two Gauntlet Matches Airing May 8th on Asahi TV Match #1, 4-man teams, 30 minute time limit “Batting Order” Mil Mascaras Antonio Inoki Dos Caras Seiji Sakaguchi Kengo Kimura Yoshiaki Fujiwara Tatsumi Fujinami Akira Maeda Match #2, 5-man teams, 60 minute time limit “Batting Order” Giant Baba Riki Choshu Jumbo Tsuruta Stan Hansen Genichiro Tenryu Bad News Allen Yoshiaki Yatsu Dick Murdoch Andre the Giant Bruiser Brody JWA Gauntlet matches are wrestled as a kind of combination gauntlet match and lumberjack match, with the men not legally wrestling or up next in the batter’s box standing at ringside and legally able to interfere if someone is tossed outside. Here are the rules: Tags can be made, but only in the batting order provided. So, for example, at the start of the match Baba can only tag in Jumbo and then Jumbo can only tag in Tenryu. If Tenryu is eliminated and Jumbo is the legal man, he can only tag in whoever the next remaining wrestler is on the batting order (in this case, it would be Sayama). The “next man up” in the batting order must stand on the ring apron holding the tag rope. A wrestler can be eliminated by pinfall, submission, count-out, disqualification, or referee’s decision. Outside of the ring, interference is permitted. Any in-ring interference whatsoever is grounds for disqualification. Eliminated wrestlers may remain at ringside but are removed from the batting order and may not be tagged back in to the match. The match is over when all members of one team have been eliminated, with the other team being declared the victor. In the case of the time limit being reached, the team with the most remaining wrestlers will be declared the victor. Match #1, 4-man teams, 30 minute time limit: Mil Mascaras, Dos Caras, Kengo Kimura, and Fujinami vs Inoki, Sakaguchi, Fujiwara, and Maeda With one very notable exception, this was straight-up, respectful, clean and scientific wrestling all the way. Starting out with Inoki facing off against Mil Mascara was our way of trying to advertise that JWA is the ultimate in big-time Japanese Professional Wrestling, the place where dream match-ups happen regularly. They exchanged strikes, moves, holds, and counters… then Dos Caras was tagged in for more of the same, then Kimura… the big exception to the general rule of keeping it clean and respectful was that Inoki and Maeda took every available opportunity to cheap-shot Tatsumi Fujinami. They knocked him off the ring apron threw him outside to take beatings, hit him with closed fists behind Joe Higuchi’s back… This had the effect of enraging both Fujinami and his friend and frequent tag team partner Kengo Kimura. That, in turn, led to the first elimination of the match as Kimura made a mistake and got trapped in the opposing corner where he took a ton of punishment before being forced to submit to Inoki’s Octopus Hold. Fujinami came in all fired up and managed to put Sakaguchi away with a Dragon Suplex to even things up. With about seven minutes remaining, Yoshiaki Fujiwara caught Dos Caras with an Armbar to regain the advantage. Once again, a fired-up Fujinami came charging into the ring. He did everything in his power to put Fujiwara away, but Maeda and Inoki kept breaking up his attempted pins and submissions. When the bell rang to signal the end of the match, and victory for Inoki’s team, Fujinami was visibly frustrated and had to be restrained from going after Inoki. This led to a bit of a shoving match between Fujinami and Mascaras, and ended with Mascaras and his brother challenging Fujinami and his friend to a match on the 16th in Osaka. Match #2, 5-man teams, 60 minute time limit: Baba, Tsuruta, Tenryu, Yatsu, and Andre vs Choshu, Hansen, Bad News, Murdoch, and Brody While the first match was mainly clean and scientific wrestling, this one was a full-on 60-minute bomb-throwing brawl. It started out hot with Baba and Choshu throwing down in the middle of the ring, showcasing a different side of the Japanese Giant from what our fans are used to seeing. By the 30-minute mark, almost half of the participants had been bloodied and everyone was fired up and swinging for the fences. Brody levelled Yatsu with a huge Lariat, tagged in Choshu who added one of his own, and then finally Stan Hansen was tagged in and hit the third and final Lariat on the former Olympic wrestler to give Choshu’s team the advantage. Andre the Giant came into the ring determined to even things up and that led to the best sequence of the match, as he and Hansen went about ten minutes at full speed with Andre throwing everything he had at the big Texan and Hansen simply being too tough to stay down. When a stalemate was reached and the men went to tag in Baba and Bad News, respectively, the crowd rewarded their outstanding work with a loud ovation. Baba almost put Bad News away, but the judoka managed to escape and hit the tag to Murdoch. Then Captain Redneck and Jumbo went back and forth until Murdoch surprised Tsuruta with a Flying Headscissors after which Brody hit a King Kong Kneedrop to pin Jumbo and put Choshu’s team up two falls to nil. With only 15 minutes remaining, things were not looking good for Baba’s team. When Brody and Tenryu brawled out of the ring for a Double Count-Out, eliminating both men, thing really didn’t look all that much better. Baba and Andre were determined not to lose, though, and with quick tags and teamwork they managed to quickly eliminate both Dick Murdoch and Bad News Allen to even things up with a little over five minutes remaining. Listening to the crowd, Baba and Choshu tagged Andre and Hansen into the ring. The two huge, tough men came in ready to battle for five more minutes, winner take all. Hansen staggered the Giant with thunderous punches,and barreled into him with Lariats and Shoulder Blocks… but he could not take the Giant off of his feet. With less than a minute remaining, Hansen went for a big Bodyslam, but Andre shifted his weight and both men hit the mat with the Giant on top. Three counts later, Giant Baba’s team emerged victorious. As Andre and Baba were shaking hands in the ring, Inoki and Maeda made their way to ringside to show off their title belts and challenge the Giants to come and face The Fighting Sprits in the ring on May 16th in Osaka.

Excellent, exciting finish to the tag tournament.

What an absolutely great supercard: Title changes, story-lines concluding, a bunch of great matches, and an epic main event. Everything you could ask for from a big card. With the Parade of Champions, WrestleMania, The Rougeau Cup... you'd have to imagine that the Apter Mags in this universe are running special double-sized issues with big colour spreads of all the huge events.

Man... I wonder who it is working under that mask as Hillbilly Machine...

Do we nominate our own guys, or guys from other promotions. I agree we shouldn't vote for our own guys but I am not clear on nominations.

What a great night of wrestling that was! I can imagine that tapes of night 3 will be getting traded all over our version of the 1985 pro wrestling world.

The Rock & Roll RPMs should be a great addition to your show.

I really like the way you use your jobbers to keep your mid card guys over.

It makes sense. Vachon and Gang are great heels... But also anyone who knew them in real life says they were funny and charming.

Fuller really earned his paycheque there!

Really exciting and unpredictable booking!

I am having problems with my home internet and will only be able to pop in using cafe or convenience store internet until that gets sorted out. We have just started the Golden Week holidays here, so it's pretty bad timing.

Love how you are using the Strong Macuhines here!

The idea of a "special enforcer" is pretty intriguing

I appreciate the consideration. It was held by Tenryu and Tsuruta in '85... so maybe there might be a story to tell there some time down the road...

Yep. That match sounds like it would be a whole lot of fun to watch.

Just speaking for myself, and just speaking on the part of your post that I excerpted: I love what you are doing with this. The Watts-VonErich-Jarrett feud is incredibly compelling and you are doing a great job with it.

Kernodle being forced to join the Puraas is a crazy development. Looking forward to what happens next.

JWA Revival End of Tour Show – April 26th, Tokyo, Nippon Budokan There was a lot riding on this card. It was a pretty big risk running the Budokan twice in one month. Asahi TV helped out by running our Hype Show in a good time slot, and we felt like we put together a card that’s at least solid from top to bottom. We sold enough tickets – not quite a sell-out crowd, but close enough – and our feeling was that this crowd’s reactions would go a long way to showing us how well Baba’s booking philosophies have been working so far, and if we can continue on the same path or if we need to consider making some big changes. Masa Fuchi vs Naoki Sano Both men played cheat-to-win from the opening bell. They used eye pokes, eye rakes, hair pulling, closed fists… you name it. Tights were pulled, ropes were used for leverage… the only thing that kept this from being a comedy match was that the strikes and mat work were really crisp and tight. Fuchi pulled out a close win with a Small Package Hold. Blade Runner Sting vs Bam Bam Bigelow These two match up really well. Sting has a great babyface look and Bigelow makes for an intimidating heel. Both men are large and powerful and unusually athletic for their size. They looked really good in there trading bombs and matching power for power. Sting continually won the early exchanges and held the advantage for the first ten minutes after which Bigelow increasingly resorted to dirty tactics. With under a minute remaining, Bigelow hit a huge Powerslam but Sting kicked out at the last moment. As the bell rang to signal the end of the 15 minute time limit, Sting extended his hand in a gesture of respect but Bam Bam slapped it away and threw up a rude gesture in Sting’s face. That led to an out-of-control brawl, and it took a dozen men to break it up. Masa Chono and Osamu Kido vs Masakatsu Funaki and Kazuo Yamazaki This was pretty much just four dudes kicking each other very hard. I enjoy watching that, so I enjoyed watching this. At one point, Kido hit a Neckbreaker on Yamazaki and it kind of felt like a strange thing for him to do (in the context of this particular match). Otherwise, it was kick, kick, kick, kick, kick… until Funaki put Kido out with a High Roundhouse to the head. JWA Middleweight Tag Team Championship match: Los Guerreros del Universo (Babe Face and Black Terry) vs The Mighty Animals (Animal Hamaguchi and Mighty Inoue) © A very nice blend of smooth, float-over based action, intense mat work, and face punching. Los Guerreros del Universo nearly stole the titles after clocking Hamaguchi with a UWA flag, but Animal managed to get his foot up on the ropes. After a long and complex rope-running sequence, Inoue pinned Babe Face with a lovely Sunset Flip. The American Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) vs Takashi “Onomi” Ishikawa and Ashura “Fighting” Hara A real showcase for Valentine as he traded chops and elbows with Ishikawa and Hara. Beefcake got a little shine as well, matching power with Hara in a nice exchange. Hara got a near-fall after a Superplex on Beefcake, but in the end he ate a Valentine Piledriver and tapped out to the Figure Four. Giant Baba, Tiger Mask Sayama, and Tiger Mask Misawa vs Riki Choshu, Umanosuke Ueda, and Tatsutoshi Goto Just a straight nasty brawl, with Choshu, Ueda, and Goto cheating like crazy to break things up whenever the good guys tried to do any actual wrestling. After fifteen minutes of this, the crowd was going crazy, practically begging Baba to get revenge… but it was not to be. With Goto distracting Baba and the ref by trying to take off Sayama’s mask, Choshu and Ueda were able to double-team Misawa and put him away with a vicious Riki Lariat. ***BREAK*** Tatsumi “Dragon” Fujinami and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat vs Anoaro Atisanoe and Don Muraco A pure match-up of speed, technique, and athleticism vs size, power, and violence. It would be overstating things to say that Fujinami and Steamboat meshed together seamlessly, but they worked a lot more smoothly than you might expect considering this was their first time ever teaming up. Atisanoe and Muraco provided the perfect contrast in styles and each man got a huge spot in. Fujinami pinballed around the ring for Muraco in the middle section of the match, making the big Hawaiian look like an unstoppable monster. Muraco got near-falls off of a Press Slam and a huge Shoulderbreaker. Atisnoe’s big spot came near the end of the match, as Steamboat flew off the top turnbuckle with a High Cross Body, but Atisanoe caught him in mid-air and got a 2.99 count off of a Powerslam. Steamboat managed to kick out, however, and shortly after that he hoisted the 340-pounder up in the air with a Double Chicken wing in an amazing feat of strength that won the match for The Dragon Connection. JWA Middleweight Championship Match: Black Tiger © vs Gran Hamada This match was short and crazy, with both guys flying around the ring and trading high spots leading to a Gran Hamada Plancha Suicida taking both men over the guard rail for a count-out finish. The idea is to set up a re-match and establish Hamada as an early rival for Black Tiger’s heel champion. JWA Tag Team Championship Match: The Fighting Sprits (Antonio Inoki and Akira Maeda) © vs The Young Lions (Shinya Hashimoto and Keiji Mutoh) The whole idea behind this match was that our Young Lions would look strong in defeat, giving them a showcase to help build their reputation with our fans. The Fighting Spirits, however, went way off book in this one, just blatantly no-selling Mutoh’s offense and peppering him with stiff shots. When Inoki tried to pull the same nonsense on Mutoh’s partner, Hashimoto paid him back with some stiff shots of his own and Inoki quickly bailed and tagged Maeda in. Maeda and Hashimoto went toe to toe in the middle of the ring and while it popped the crowd, Baba was furious. I actually missed the end of the match (Mutoh tapping to Inoki’s Octopus Hold) as Baba and I worked out a plan for how to deal with having Tag Team Champions who apparently like to go into business for themselves. Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs The North-South Connection (Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch) This match was worked at a furious pace, with lots of quick tags leading to constant action in the ring. Tsuruta and Fujiwara arguably had the talent advantage over Murdoch and Adonis… but the North-South connection had a clear advantage in terms of experience working together as a team. That advantage was on clear display during the first twenty minutes of this match, as Adonis and Murdoch cut off the ring and used double teams to maintain an advantage over the Japanese stars. After several close calls, Tsuruta finally got momentum back on his team’s side when he caught Adonis with a sick Jumping High Knee to the face. With Adonis staggered, Jumbo tagged in Tenryu, levelled Adonis with a Lariat, and knocked Murdoch off of the ring apron before returning to his corner. Fujiwara waited patiently for Adonis to stagger back to his feet, then took him down with a Running Headbutt and snapped on his trademark Armbar for the finish. JWA Heavyweight Championship Match: Genichiro Tenryu © vs Bad News Allen Muraco and Atisanoe accompanied Allen to the ring. Tenryu came out alone. Right at the bell, Allen and Tenryu flew at each other and started throwing bombs. After a few minutes the fight spilled out of the ring and, despite referee Joe Higuchi’s best efforts to maintain order, Muraco and Atisanoe got involved in the action. Tenryu popped the crowd by holding his own against all three men. The effort cost him, however, as he was slow getting back in the ring and Allen was able to catch him with a savage boot to the side of the head. Once he had the advantage, Bad News was relentless in dealing out damage to the champ. After several minutes of heavy punishment, Tenryu got tossed outside to the wolves while Allen did what he could to keep Higuchi occupied. After enduring more punishment at the hands of Muraco and Atisanoe, Tenryu was in serious danger as all three heels had him set up to take a Spike Piledriver off of a chair to the ringside floor. Joe Higuchi put himself in harm’s way to try and prevent the carnage. Just as it looked like the heels were going to turn on the ref, Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu charged out from the back to even the odds. The resulting brawl was epic, as all six men just laid in the heavy shots outside the ring. Higuchi started a slow count and both the champ and the challenger returned to the ring before he got to 20. Tenryu and Allen were both bloodied up as they stared each other down in the middle of the ring. They grabbed each other by the back of the head and started throwing right hands, like a hockey fight. Tenryu stumbled, and Allen cocked his fist for one final haymaker… but the champ blocked the punch, threw a huge Overhand Right, and ended things cleanly in the middle of the ring with a massive Folding Powerbomb.

Thank you. It was a pretty common practice in 80s and 90s Japanese booking. You had guys like Kikuchi who more or less built long careers off of being "the guy who takes the fall in big tag matches" Thanks. That was my little challenge to myself: Come up wit a hype show that fit the more "sports style" presentation of 1980s Japan. I had fun putting that together. Thanks. That's important to me. I always try to use visiting guest wrestlers well, while being somewhat realistic about it. I feel like the big "what if" for this version of 1985 is "What if the various pro wrestling promoters generally got along and tried to help each other out and make everyone as good as possible rather than being a bunch of mistrustful paranoid carnies who mostly tried to screw each other (and the talent) over at every opportunity"? I like the results we are getting