Superstar Sleeze

Tajiri & Mikey Whipwreck vs FBI (Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke) - ECW Hardcore TV 9/2/00 Tajiri & Whipwreck are insanely over! The Hammerstein Ballroom is molten for this! The match is quick short, but is so damn fun. Incredible babyface shine that has the crowd absolutely rocking. Those kicks by Tajiri goddamn! Mamaluke was awesome bumping and stooging. Mamaluke & Guido took the awesome offense of the Unholy Alliance and made it even better with their selling and bumping. Guido & Mamaluke work a short heat segment. When Mikey hits the Whippersnapper (Stunner) you would think Steve Austin just fucking hit the Stunner the crowd EXPLODED!!! Tajiri just killed it on the hot tag. Super Whippersnapper into a dropkick flush in the face wins it for Tajiri and Whipwreck. If you watch just this match, you would never know ECW was a dying promotion that would close four months later. My only complaint, too short, this was super fun. ***3/4

I did not notice any weird edits, off hand. Interesting. There was one obvious blown spot with Psicosis coming off the top and just sort of falling backwards. He did not really do anything. I think Tajiri was supposed to catch him and powerbomb him. Definitely a miscommunication.

Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Psicosis - ECW Hardcore TV 8/26/00 Psicosis was one of my childhood favorites because his badass mask and his insane bumping. So I always love hearing about a pimped Psicosis match and this one did not fail to deliver. Incredible opening stretch. Just beautiful chain wrestling and excellent lucha libre tumbling passes. The ECW crowd was red hot for this. They loved every second. Chanting E-C-DUB and Psicosis got a lucha libre chant. It was a bit too pretty and they did the standoff a lot, but hey this was actually cool submissions and armdrags so I was marking out at home sixteen years later. Great transition with some really intricate nearfalls leading to Tajiri getting a modified backslide and then headbutting Psicosis in the nuts and kicking his head off. Tajiri was awesome in this. The kicks were out of this world and just so charismatic. Psicosis takes his patented nutty turnbuckle bump out of the ring, totally out of control and nearly wipes out the chick. This is definitely a big highspotfest as the transitions are lacking, but the highspots are great as Psicosis takes control and does that insane over the top rope into the crowd dive! HOLY SHIT! Gets me everytime! Psicosis takes his ass first bump into the top turnbuckle, but this time he ends up in the Tree of Woe to set up that dropkick to head. Tajiri comes back with some kicks, but cant get the brainbuster and Psicosis goes for some cradles. Psicosis he hits his big nearfall which is his awesome guillotine legdrop. Love the transition to the finish. Psicosis goes for a flying bodyscissors probably third attempt...Tajiri kicks him in the balls. Then just MURDERS him with kicks to the fucking face. Like Holy Shit Kicks! ECW crowd is marking out huge for these kicks. Incredible high energy spotfest, Psicosis looked in prime form with his bumping and Tajiri is an offensive machine. ***3/4

Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Jerry Lynn - ECW 10/30/99 Wait! Tajiri wrestled other people in ECW besides Crazy & Guido??!?! Tajiri injured Lynn's ribs prior to this match. Great intensity from both men something that Lynn is usually sorely lacking. Lynn did a good job selling his ribs early even on things like doing his own back suplex. This really gave Tajiri a target to work on. Tajiri came to play with his chops and kicks. Dropkick to the head, which is a staple. The chair shot to the head busted Lynn open. What really put this over the top for me was Tajiri driving a wrench into the open wound and then choking Lynn with his sash. Lynn choking in turn and then the sight of him bloodied but coming back with chairshots and German suplex was great. Loved using the chair to block the Green mist. Got a little my your turn down the stretch. Loved the backbreaker out of the tombstone by Tajiri. Really liked Tajiri's performance, but could have stayed more focused on the ribs. Lynn gets cradle piledriver, which calls in Corino and the Living Legend Jack Victory that did get me to chuckle. In all the hullabaloo, Tajiri recovers RED MIST TO THE FACE and kicks his head off, BRAINBUSTAHHHHHH for the win. Best Tajiri match thus far and probably the best Lynn singles match I have ever seen. Blood and intensity carry this match. ****

Tajiri vs Little Guido - ECW 8/7/99 Some big changes since Hardcore Heaven 99. Tajiri has adopted his popular look with longer hair, beard and long pants. He is a heel now with Steve Corino. Corino looked young and skinny. Very reminiscent of Stevie Richards. Taz/Tajiri is the big feud right now. Taz choked Tajiri out with barbed wire. Fucking sick, tons of blood, real nasty shit. Tajiri's face is all taped up. Little Guido says he made Tajiri tap so he should be the number one contender. I did not know Paul E. was promoting Midget Championship Wrestling. Guido attacks Tajiri's injured jaw and is very aggressive to start. Good combination of mat work and open handed slaps. Guido goes for Tajiri's dropkick to the head in the tree of woe, but Tajiri moves, Guido posts himself and Tajiri flips him off and kicks him in the head. The big problem with this match is Guido gets back on offense too easily. After some more Guido offense, Corino yanks him out, throws a beer in his face, chucks him back in Tajiri hits a roundhouse kick, but Guido is back up hitting a Russian Legsweep. These are solid transitions to heel heat but we are getting nothing. Guido blows out his knee on a legdrop and Tajiri pounces. This section saves the match. Guido's selling is awesome and Tajiri is sadistic and remorseless. They work some really good spots around this, Guido bumps big on dropkick to leg, then collapsing on Irish whips, all the great kicks and finally succumbing to the Texas Cloverleaf. Awesome finish sequence that put Tajiri over as a killer. I really like Tajiri, Guido and Crazy, but still have not knocked my socks off. ***1/4 After the match, some Italian jabroni turns on Sal E and then Corino, Jack Victory who looks like a giant compared to all these midgets and Tajiri jump the FBI. Corino cuts an anti-hardcore promo and then calls Tommy Dreamer a mark. Dreamer has some sort of injury. He attacks. Puts Jack Victory in a figure-4 and then Francine, she was a toothpick, puts Corino in a figure-4. Tajiri spews the green mist in Francine's face!!! Awesome. They beatdown Dreamer. HERE COMES TAZ!!! HUGE POP! Corino & Co leave the Italian jobber to die. Taz throws him down through a table. Taz is ready to kill Tajiri and Corino. Taz spouting off his catchphrase with the entire crowd in unison was badass. Great post-match angle

Tajiri vs Little Guido - ECW Hardcore Heaven 1999 Cyrus says on commentary "Thank God I am a part of the creative team now." Wrestling in 1999 sucked. Well this didn't! Little Guido is a bumping machine! Great on the shine early with rolling toeholds and the kicks. Guido was selling and bumping for those perfectly. Thought they could have used the Guido armbar takedown and especially that missile dropkick to the arm for a transition, more on that in a bit. Liked Tajiri sidestepping Guido on slingshot and diving out on Guido and Sal E. The shitty commentary makes a big deal that comedy FBI is dead and this is Guido the legit shooter. Whatever, eye roll. Tajiri launches Guido belly first onto ramp. HOLY SHIT! Best bump of the match! Crazy highspot. This followed up with a drop toehold by Guido and then a legdrop from the top rope to ramp. Just no transition, you take this badass bump and now you are in charge. Would have liked to seen that dropkick to arm as transition as Guido went back to arm with the armbar, double wristlock and a modified arm-triangle. Liked Sal' big bodyslam mid-match. Good short heat segment. Tajiri fucking ruled in his comeback. HUGE Props to Guido in selling those kicks. He took awesome kicks and made them more awesome with his selling. Loved the "oh shit" on taking the whirly bird. He looked terrified taking the dropkick to the head in the tree of woe and his collapse was great. Brainbuster picks up win for Tajiri. Really liked this pairing from a offense-selling relationship, more traditional structure and just an awesome finish run. ***1/2

Tajiri vs Super Crazy - ECW Hardcore TV 2/27/99 Definitely upgrade from Guilty As Charged, but same basic idea of a showcase match. Here they know each better so everything is a lot smoother. I thought the highspots were more breath-taking and there more sense of momentum. Liked Crazy getting this party started with a dropkick right at the opening bell. Just a really good junior-style bomb throwing sprint. Lots of good head kicks from Tajiri. I thought Super Crazy looked fantastic in this. That twisting reverse springboard Asai Moonsault into the crowd was awesome! It was worked a little fast. I think Crazy was more blowing off selling than Tajiri lots of repeat spots but I thought they were done in a better order. The finishing sequence was awesome with three springboard dropkicks then springboard frogsplash to give Super Crazy a victory in the rivalry. Very breezy entertaining match. ***1/4

I was watching this episode to watch a Tajiri and Super Crazy match. The show opened with Sid massacring One Man Gang, a dude in Zubaz and Big Vito. Sid was insanely over! I love me some Sid. He was so charismatic in this segment. HE THREW VITO DOWN ON THAT MUTHAFUCKIN POWERBOMB!!! Sid should have been ECW World Champion 4 life, brutha.

Tajiri vs Super Crazy - ECW Guilty As Charged 1999 If ECW was still open, I think these two would still be wrestling each other. I think this is the first meeting of these two in a rivalry that would last until the very last shows of ECW two years later in January of 2001. Tajiri looks so weird with the short hair and short trunks. You can tell from the word go, he has charisma in spades and is so fluid in the ring. I thought Super Crazy more than held his own. I would liken this to something like a Psicosis/Rey or a Dean/Eddie match where it is clear they are showcasing their talents at the expense of a story. I think in a debut or near-debut that's fine to really establish your identity. We see Tajiri targeting the legs, using submissions like a legbar, flying with his Asai Moonsaults and even a couple nice kicks to head. We see how well-rounded offensively Tajiri is. I thought some of his timing on his bumps was a bit off. Super Crazy just did not have that presence to me, but he did have some nice chops, cool Asai moonsault off railing, loved the rolling Surfboard. Could have done more to get crowd into it. Here we see Crazy not only has the high flying, but has some chops to add some violence to his aerial attack. The finish was DDT-heavy but it is the late 90s. I am a big powerbomb fan lots of those too. The rolling cradle was awesome by Tajiri totally marked out for that. I liked the unique spinning backbreaker where Tajiri used his own back as the fulcrum with Crazy's side parallel to the ground. Dragon suplex wins. Tajiri does get a pretty sizeable push in 99 and I think it was definitely the right move to put him over. Good solid showcase. Definitely made me want to see more Tajiri. ***

Parv GOTNW just found a great Shibata that is also Fujitsu classic I've been looking for. Fujita vs Shibata for IWGP Championship July 2004. Some crazy stiff shots and a great champion vs young lion story

Everyone in New Japan is. GOTNW nailed it. Not unlike AJPW booking just without overarching story for most part

I've been doing that for two years now. I'm never going to finish which is great

I marked out for Parvs review of Shibata/Ishii

Parv (& others who liked Goto/Shibata) check out Goto vs Shibata from 6/22/13. A total man's man match!

The foreword here regards how disturbances lead to disorder and disorder leads to desperation. It is about the desperate struggle of Kawada to survive the shoot style bully Naoya Ogawa. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2017/01/space-tornado-11-toshiaki-kawada-vs.html?m=1

Excellent find, brutha! This would have definitely made the back half of my top 50 for Ditch's Best of Japan in the 2000s project IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuyuki Fujita vs Katsuyori Shibata - NJPW 7/19/2004 Don't make Fujita angry. You wont like Fujita when he is angry. The story of this match is Shibata tries to beat Fujita at his own game by kicking him really hard. I am really fucking hard. There was one kick to the eye at the beginning, which was holy shit. I mean like I don't think I have seen someone kick someone so hard in the eye. Fujita "sells" this tremendously. Does it really count as selling if you eye is actually swelling? He comes back in and just tries to choke Shibata out. I thought the whole guard passing thing was too MMA-y and did not really do much until Fujita lands this wicked knee to the back of Shibata's head. Fujita grabs an arm triangle after the Shibata powder. Shibata does an excellent heel trip, which basically makes the move an oo-soto-gari. Well done. Shibata kicks the shit out of Fujita. Tries to slow him down with a sleeper which Fujita sells as a choke. Very cool. This sets up the PENALTY KICK~! Damn that had some zing. Just like the kick to the eye, FUJITA IS RIPSHIT! The following merciless beatdown is insane. There is one overhand fist to the back that just cracks. The kneeslifts to the chest, to the prone Shibata, to the head and THOSE FUCKING KICKS TO THE HEAD!!! WOW! Just total annihilation. The search for the great Fujita match is over. Folks, here it is in all its ultraviolent, brutal glory. Shibata was a game opponent, but just did not have enough to take down the MMA badass. Great champion vs young lion dynamic, no shame in a loss here by Shibata, who looks like a badass in the beating he took. Fujita looks like a world beater, but problem is doesn't have much in the way of competition. ****1/2

The foreword for this blog piece is on commitment and how essential it is in victory and in life. The match in question is #12 in the countdown featuring KENTA vs Bryan Danielson from Pro Wrestling NOAH on December 2, 2006. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2017/01/kenta-speeds-at-night-12-kenta-vs-bryan.html

Damnit, dude, I start a Best of Japan Countdown from 2003-2007 and then you post this! Why couldn't you have posted this a week ago. I'll check it out. Looks right up my alley.

I started a countdown of the best matches to take place in Japan between 2003-2007 so based on Microstatistics' review, I checked this out before beginning the countdown to make sure I didn't miss anything. I thought the first half of this was very fun, but the last half was standard, blasé NOAH finish run that did not fit this match at all. GHC Heavyweight Champion Jun Akiyama vs Masao Inoue - NOAH 4/23/06 Based on the Dark Agents tag match, I decided to skip this, but due to a reviewer calling this the match of the decade, my interest was piqued I decided to check it out. Reading more about Inoue I came to realize his appeal was that he is a loveable loser. I could now see that in this match. I thought the first half of this match was incredible. Something really unique and quite entertaining, a perfect blend of light-heartendness and rousing inspiration. Inoue knowing he was totally outgun before he even stepped in the ring tried every trick to keep up with Akiyama. He jumped him before the bell. Getting a nearfall with a lariat and a sleeper suplex. He goes for a Torture Rack but because he is not good Akiyama has no problem grabbing a headlock out of it. Akiyama looks to make short work of his opponent hitting an exploder and going for a sliding knee, but Inoue powders. In a humorous sequence, Akiyama keeps throwing Inoue in, but he keeps logrolling out. Akiyama is beside himself. Inoue is way in over his head. I am quite entertained. Inoue's next strategy is to rake Akyiama's eyes with everything, fingers, forearms ropes, boot, even the apron! Akiyama gives him a receipt for the forearm rakes and gets booed! Inoue is an underdog like Rat Boy and seems to be getting over. Akiyama is taken a back by the boos. Akiyama loses a suplex struggle on ramp to some applause! Figure-4 on ramp. The count is on and Inoue hobbles quickly in to beat count and Akiyama desperatle lunges in at 19. This is pretty funny. Inoue applies figure-4 in the ring and gets some claps going, but Akiyama has no problem reversing even does pushups to boos. Inoue comes off middle rope to eat a knee. The Akiyama heat segment is good. The usual good stuff and great selling by Inoue on the floor. Akiyama hits a DDT on exposed floor get goes into ring to play to the crowd to get booed. Even gives himself the thumbs down. Love it! Then pilesdrives him on the floor. Glorious. Akiyama goes to get him, but thrown back into the railing. Tease countout finish. I loved the dynamic they had set up with Inoue as the loveable loser just barely hanging on and Akiyama toying with him but occasionally almost getting caught. It felt like a funnier version of Kobashi/Ogawa. The finish stretch really disappointed me. It was just like any NOAH finish stretch you see all the time. It did not play to the unique characters. It felt very rote and felt forced because they were obligated to have this finish stretch. Inoue worked a finish stretch, but his character did not need that should have stuck with cradles which felt more natural (were used). The finish stretch by Akiyama would have been overwrought against friggin Kobashi nevermind Inoue. Holy shit all those shitty looking knees, I never thought this would end. He kicked out of so much stuff when he was a jabroni. Even the knee to the back of head, guillotine choke and Exploder. A friggin Wrist Clutch Exploder was needed to win. Gimme a break. Excellent, unique and funny first half. Then a dreadfully dull, unnecessary and banal finish. Recommended because beginning is worth it! ****

I freely admit this is a bit of retread of the Best of Japan project, but this is part of a larger project I think you will like.

Wow it has been a while. New Years Resolution...to write more. Here we go. Kicking New Year off with a Countdown of the Best Pro Wrestling Matches in Japan from 2003-2007. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2017/01/ablaze-once-more-13-kenta-kobashi.html

I watched handheld. I didn't my review due to time constraints. I will when I get back from tennis

NWA World Champion Ric Flair vs Barry Windham - NWA Crockett Cup 1987 Wanted to start 2017 off with a bang with a classic that I had never seen before. I have seen the other two very famous Windham matches (Florida '86, Worldwide 1/87). If those two are the Oscar nominees, this is the action blockbuster. Very few people can make 25+ minutes feel like a sprint, but for these two competitors 25 minutes is just a drop in the bucket. From the outset of a Ric Flair match, there are three things to watch. How does he utilize space? How does he utilize motion? How does he utilize temperament? At the beginning, Flair is supremely confident in his abilities as a wrestler to win the day, but his temperament will gradually change as he becomes more and more frustrated. Windham overcomes Flair's attempts at takedowns. He hits through the chops and short knees. The short knee is such an underappreciated part of Flair's game and crucial to that feeling of struggle and the babyface having to earn his shine. Ric Flair is a master of both time and space. He is the king of the transient. It is how he creates opportunities for himself. Ric Flair is the greatest corner wrestler in history. He is so effective at using that part of the ring. That part of the ring is the definition of a transient. It will force a break and in very short time they will be out. Flair can do so much in that corner especially crowd in the corner or use the ref as a blocking piece. A lot of Flair's game is about changing space. In the corner he will crowd, in the middle of the ring he will throw a short knee. He is trying to get in close to break momentum and transfer it to him. Windham is able to thwart this with right hands and does not succumb to this tactic. However, what makes Flair so great is that he does not just rely on one tool. He is brilliant at using motion. I have described before Ric Flair's perpetual motion strategy. The idea is that success can be born out of chaos. By constantly moving, you are creating the possibility of a mistake. Heat segments are a condition of steady state. Someone is definitively in control. Whether it is a heel working a body part or a babyface throwing a heel around, there is a sense of inertia that this will continue unless otherwise disrupted. Flair creates disruption through movement. However, it takes multiple tries and it is a high risk strategy because he can fall prey to it just as easy. Notice on the first criss cross spot, he almost got tripped into a drop toehold. The second he dropped down and Windham shrugged his shoulders and dropped down into a headlock. He sticks with the strategy because in a static world, he cant win. He cant outwrestle Windham. That was established. He cant out-strike Windham, Windham's right hand has been winning the day. Windham has the leverage advantage so he cant outpower Windham. He must create a mistake. He does this by disruption through motion. By forcing Windham into motion, he creates chaos and in that chaos anything can happen. What happens in this match is he gets up earlier than Windham expects from a drop down and is able to catch him unawares and hotshot him against the ropes. And that my friends is why Ric Flair is the greatest American wrestler who ever lived. That was just the first five minutes. The rest of match is great, but I would not say it is the best Flair/Windham match I have seen. Flair definitely packed too much into this match as time went on. I thought the heat segment was good with Windham selling well.

NWA US Champion Dusty Rhodes vs Bobby Eaton - NWA Worldwide 2/27/88 Cage Match Solid cage match nothing that will change your life, but a fun 12 minutes. There is quite the gap between the ropes and the cage and so Eaton really has to hurl his body over the ropes into the cage. Eaton tries to escape this allows Corny to give him the racquet. He can jab Dusty with it. He has an object in his tights which he can rake Dusty's face. He gets some blood to flow and gets some good punches. Dusty never really feels in peril is my big knock on this. Dusty starts tagging Bobby with some lefts and Bionic Elbow. Liked the finish. Dusty slams Bobby from the top of the cage and from the top rope hits the Bionic Elbow. Not enough heat on Bobby's heat segment to make this feel like Dusty was in danger.

NWA US Champion Dusty Rhodes vs Bobby Eaton - NWA Worldwide 2/6/88 The main feud post-Starrcade, pre-Clash I for Dusty Rhodes was against the Midnight Express, which shows the Eaton/Lane team could be a main event act. It is often said the Condrey-MX was a main event act that Lane team wasn't. I think that is mostly true, but this is an exception. Really good match built around foreign objects. It starts with Dusty blowing a kiss to Corny and turning his backside to him. God Bless Dusty! Dusty was dazing Eaton with those looping lefts, take this opportunity readjust the junk and BAM! Just when it looks like the American Dream was going to run away with this, Cornette creates a distraction and Eaton uses the racquet to attack the knee of Big Dust. Carrying all that weight, always smart to go after Dusty's knees. Great work on the outside with the railing, chair and more racquet shots. Eaton was laser focused on the knee with all the usual trimmings and of course popping Dusty with that Sweet Home Alabama right hand. Dusty got his hope spots in like a DDT on the concrete, but he was too obsessed with hobbling after Cornette that Eaton was able to go back to the knee. Dusty throws a dropkick really had to swing those head, but they collide heads. Cornette throws a pair of knuckledusters in the ring and Dusty grabs a hold of them and wins the match! The ref finds the knux and disqualifies him! Setting up the rematch in the cage. Dusty slaps Cornette around and smashes Cornette's glasses. What a bully! Fun times. ***