Jetlag
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No JWP reviews in almost 2 years? Damn. JWP 9/26/1990 (JWP Monthly Version) Sachiko Koganei vs. Utako Hozumi Koganei is retiring. Too bad. She was a fun heel character. This was a 5 minute exhibition with Hozumi hitting some slick moves and Koganei getting a last hurray. After the match she is attacked by two wrestlers in street pants and shiny jackets, and she pins one of them for some reason. Eagle Sawai vs. Itsuki Yamazaki Yamazaki is great in the veteran technician role. Sawai added nothing to this match. Of course, she picks up the win. How one can have a match this bad with Yamazaki is beyond me. Sawai sold nothing and all her shit looked off. Bleargh. Shinobu Kandori & Miki Handa vs. Mami Kitamura & Harley Saito I was hoping for some Kandori/Saito exchanges from this. Instead we mostly get young Mami trying to not get crushed and Harley was in the match for about 30 seconds. It was a fun underdog story though. There was a long heat segment on Mami where she was prevented from making the tag over and over again. Anytime Kandori does a basic move it becomes a near finish, and her judo throw which sounded like it snapped Kitamuras shoulder was insane. Handa also looked pretty good here, dropping some pretty vicious looking offense for a tiny girl, especially her Robinson Backbreaker. Devil Masami vs. Dynamite Kansai This was great when they were mauling eachother. However, most of the match time was spent with Masami trying to ground Kansai and somewhat blowing off her offensive attempts. It was solid and made sense, but not really what I want out of this match up, especially since the match wasn't that long anyways. Also, Devil Masami taking Kansai for a walk int he audience was pretty bad. The finish felt unspectacular for something that was supposed to be a showdown between two killers. Kansai looked good her, hitting a big dives and just blasting Masami with kicks. She also broke out a nasty Cavernaria.
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I'd never heard about this match until Classics Road uploaded it 3 days ago, and now I find out people have known about this for years. What the hell? This was fantastic and one of the Top 5, maybe Top 3 best matches Hase been in. It starts out pretty great with about 11 minutes of tight matwork that leads to both guys getting angrier and eventually trying to tear each others arms out. All the matwork felt fresh thanks to both guys having legit ability and doing some things they dropped later (for example, the double arm hold Liger did). The tangling armbreaker spots were great and Hases kneedrops to the elbow joint were insane, looked to turn Ligers arm inside out. Liger hitting a dive and blasting Hase with his rolling kick unexpectedly were a good way to let the audience know Liger could hang and very well upset Hase. The structure here reminded me a bit of a lucha title match, with the opening lengthy matwork and then Liger hitting some nice armdrags before Hase took over working his back. There were some pretty intense back stretches with Liger breaking out of the holds looking painful. Then Liger was able to hit a surprise powerbomb to knock the wind out of Hase. Last 10 minutes were insane, Liger whiping Hase out with huge dives, the crowd going nuts etc. I really liked how Liger, after Hase crashed with a top rope move, wasn't going to make the same mistake and just hit a double stomp, before following up with a dropkick to the ribs. There were lots of nearfalls, but they managed to make rather basic spots like a Camel Clutch or Liger tackling Hase into the turnbuckle feel epic. Also loved the epic nearfall on the Giant Swing and Hase desperately avoiding the suplexes. It reminded me a bit of Liger/Schuhmann in that they mixed in basic sequences for maximum effect. Checking now, this missed both Loss' and Chads Top 30 for the year. Yeah no, this is way better than that stupid Mutoh/Chono match.
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This is a stone cold all time great match. The only flaw is that they didn't go longer. The Cicloncito/Damiancito match ups has to be up there with the very best. We've been watching a lot of French Catch and praising the crazy athleticism, but I think this crew just blows it all away (not to disparage the French workers of the glory days, though). The complexity of these exchanges is just unreal. They start out creative and then they just keep turning it up a few notches. The last fall with the technicos cranking submissions for nearfalls and the rudos trying to turn the tide is so epic. Damiancito (Virus) is the champion here and he really carries himself a step above everyone else. -
Nasty, seedy psycho brawl as is Ians forte. Lots of disgusting punches and headbutts in this. I've never heard of Jason Dukes, but he handles himself well in this. He takes some absolutely stupid bumps including an absolutely reckless dive, and he generally had the right idea. He jumpes Ian at the bell and punches at his bandage (Ian is always bandaged), but soon finds himself eating a nasty beating that may have given me Hep C from watching. I really liked how he punched his way out of an armbar and then proceeded to take a Flair flop on the floor. As usual with Ian there are some amazing meth lab BattlARTS moments, such as ragdolling Dukes into the chairs with an arm drag, chairs getting flung into guys faces, and some really nasty, visceral legwork. Of course the crowd is mostly silent in this while folks scurry away to not have these seedy dudes bleed all over them, giving this the kind of surreal feel these matches need. The only thing that keeps me from nominating this in the all time project is the finish, although it's funny to see the TNA Tag Champions~! in IWA Mid South. This was certainly the best X-Division title match I've ever seen.
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[2001-05-10-BattlARTS] Yuki Ishikawa vs Kazunari Murakami
Jetlag replied to ohtani's jacket's topic in May 2001
Yeah, I thought this was underwhelming. It's not like a sprint like their 2000 match and it feels like it ends just as it seems to get hot. -
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1 Fall match going a little under 20 minutes. I didn‘t expect to see so many Hayes matches in 2020. Gasparrini managed to mount a bit more offense than someone like Jean Casi. It still wasn‘t a ton, though. You can tell Hayes was a class above most wrestlers and liked to sho off. Who can blame him. I like that his style is distinctly British while retaining a judo touch. He had some ridiculously smooth movements here. Gasparrini was game to go along, but didn‘t do a ton more. He even quit the match just before he could get something going against Hayes near the end
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1 Fall match going a bit over 20 minutes. Last time we saw Taverne, he a quasi-face going after Delaporte. Now, he is fighting tall, handsome Ray Hunter. Taverne being shorter than Hunter kind of makes the King Kong name pointless. This was more of a standard heel/face heatmongering match. With Taverne doing a convincing job looking mishappen and evil. He had some pretty fast takedowns and dropkicks for a big guy. This was also the most I‘ve enjoyed Hunter. He ditched the Baba chops and just kept retaliating against Taverne, who made him eat some nasty boots in return. Houseshow-ish match, but I had fun.
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2/3 Falls match going a little over 20 minutes. Jean Casi sure has a weird figure. Huge, upper body, and spindly arms and legs. He came across as bony. He came across as a sort of old style fighter here. He sure was trying, but Hayes with his flashy technique gave him not much breathing room. Casi wasn‘t lost in the contest, but Hayes wasn‘t backing down. Casi got in a few good licks, but the deceisive manner in which Hayes ended the contest drove the point home that Casi wasn‘t on Hayes level at all.
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1 Fall match going almost exactly 20 minutes. Tommy Mann was a British grappler who was looking quite lumpy and aging in this, while Montourcy is a slender young technician. Odds that this was gonna turn into a brawl were high, but they engage in some quite good grappling. It soon became apparent Montourcy would have the upper hand, so Mann decided to crank up the viciousness with nasty forearms and clubs. Really liked his backbreakers and the finger bending that he did which is exactly what you‘d expect from a crusty old veteran carny. Montourcy was slick as hell and looked like one of the better workers around. Predictably good match.
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With a name like Black Salem, you hope for some kind of esoteric mat wizard, but this turns into a brawl pretty much from the get go with Pellacani barraging Salem with his stiff forearm blows, punch combos and thudding kicks. Black Salem fought back with good looking dropkicks and big headbutts. Pellacani looked good in the Takashi Ishikawa role of psychotically potatoeing a guy, at one point he even started doing these stiff low kicks. Also liked Pellacani taking swings at the audience which gave the whole thing a vibe like something was about to break out. Pretty short at about 15 minutes and felt like it could have been more. Atleast we got a rough looking end sequence leading to the pinfall.
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1 Fall match going a little over 20 minutes. The first sighting of Chemoul from the footage we have (chronologically speaking). He is already the formidable champion here. I get the sense is more akin to a Vic Faulkner type wrestler rather than some intense technician, and while his technique is stellar, I wish this match had been a little more serious. You know what you are getting from this match up, La Barba rudoing it up and Rene Ben Chemoul having the edge with technique before eating some shots and then turning the match into a bump-a-ton with Joachim stooging like crazy. La Barba is great, and while did get some shots in, I would‘ve loved to see Joachim La Barba crank up the violence and give Rene all he could handle.
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1 Fall match going a little over 20 minutes. I‘ve sort of grown to see Guy Robin as the Jim Breaks/Terry Rudge type of French wrestling. That is a pretty awesome descriptor, and he really rules as short tempered nearly bald guy who will put the hurt on his opponents and bump outrageously. This wasn‘t much worse than Robin/Hayes from earlier. Taylor (Dave Taylors father) is another not super charismatic guy, but he was sharp, up to the task and knew to drop bombs on Robin. He busted out the legbreaker – not a move I would expect in 1957 – precise dropkicks, and a quite awesome torture rack. Robin wasn‘t super expressive here, but he once again looked quite great trying to make his opponents life as miserable as possible. Kidney punches, jabbing the throat, kicking him in the ribs, even sort of proto-curb stomping him into the ropes – a stealworthy spot for sure. At 20 minutes this feels like it wasn‘t enough, but the surprise pin was cool.
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1 Fall match over roughly 25 minutes. Inca Peruano, baby. Cheri Bibi, aside from hitting like a truck, is probably one of the less interesting heels to show up on French TV. But the Inca is a joy to watch. He pretty much made this whole match watchable with his unique trips and throws, out of nowhere Santo headscissors and clinical holds. One of my favourite things they do in old euro matches is the hammerlock behind the back, which Inca Peruano uses to set up moves from the ropes in cool ways. I also really liked him really bending the fuck out of Bibis wrist while stepping on his chin. It was a really simple move compared to everything else he does, but it stood out. Cheri Bibi seemed slow to bump for the Incas moves and the finish seemed to come after a series of blown sequences, but I will alway relish in a chance to see Inca Peruano go to work.
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JIP 2/3 falls match with about 25 minutes shown. Jack Laskin wrote a pretty interesting book on his experiences as a wrestler. He also told a somewhat disturbing story about befriending a wrestler who worked in a death camp during the war. So, having him on film is a nice historic achievement. And this was a really cool match. Drapp was another really formidable wrestler. He came around quite a bit, one or two of his US matches are even online already. Drapp was a physical specimen with a bodybuilder look, but he could go like a motherfucker. He did one escape out of a leglock that was like something Virus would do. Later he dodged an attack from Laskin and dove underneath fast as lightning for a freestyle takedown. It‘s that kind of wrestling ability I really appreciate. Laskin looked like a fun US pro. His US style made for a nice stylistic difference compared to the euro heels. He was throwing punches and had some fun ways to hurt his opponent, such as scraping his knees across his face, or throwing weird high kicks. Of course, Laskin would also bump and stooge, and show ass in just a slightly more comical way than what we saw from most of the euro guys. Drapp had some freaky moves, such as a like a standing shiranui into a pin. Finish was pretty spectacular as well with Drapp busting out several bulldogs which Laskin takes right on his head before eating a big piledriver for the KO.
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2/3 Falls match at about 20 minutes. Pierre Bernaert is a heel we are going to a see a lot from now on. Laurent Dauthuille is a former world class boxer whose most famous achievement is getting knocked out in the 15th round of a world title match by Jake La Motta. It wasn‘t unusual for boxers to become catchers at this time. Instead of the „Which martial art is stronger?“ theme that would be exploited in mixed fights, these matches were more about how the boxer was going to adapt to wrestling. Dauthuille did the usual French holds and moves, but also made it clear that he damn well was gonna punch Bernaert if he was gonna get too cute, which made Dauthuille a bit more interesting than your usual French babyfaces. The whole match had this Memphisesque 20 minute long build to Dauthuille throwing the first punch. Meanwhile was Bernaert was throwing cheapshots and taking shortcuts like mad. It builds to the eventual explosion when Bernaert gets cocky open hand striking Dauthuille and the boxer fires back with a flury of punches. With Bernaert kneeing his opponent in the balls a bunch and Dauthuille really taking him to the pay window this felt really intense. The problem was that it ended almost too early with the match ending on a technicality instead of the epic showdown that it deserved. That setup def feels like something Mexican or US territory workers would‘ve turned into an amazing last round. Still, it‘s to these guys credit that they could work a 20 minute match and it still was far from enough.
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Well, there is at least one womens match from 1970s. That Piranhas tag was better than given credit for, I thought. Angelito looks great in these matches. His body control would look great next to most luchadores.
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Mombo Le Primitif is among the most surreal things I've ever seen in wrestling. OJ didn't even mentioned that they subtitled some of the wrestling moves in that match like it was a combo book. E.g. Mombo would do a kneedrop to the arm and it would display CRAAAAACK! on the screen, or ONK! when he got thrown outside. The guy playing Mombo seemed like a capable wrestler but had no idea how to portray this character. He did all kinds of shit, like a plancha or cartwheeling on the ropes. The crowd has no idea what to make of this and treats Frederico as a de facto face. At one point, an old lady sitting in the first row tries to kick Mombo and he pulls her scarf off. Mombo would've made a great opponent for Survival Tobita, maybe forming a team with Ape Virgon.
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There's this Fritz von Erich/Joe Blanchard match from 1966: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9dqTSW46Hc Does anyone know if the full match exists?
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You know, I find the statement that Wanz is a horrible babyface funny. Given he is right there getting insane reactions for the most basic shit. I'm not argueing he is good based on that, but he certainly gave the crowd exactly what they wanted. The crowds in Bremen were huge, too, so it's not like he was some niche indy guy appealing to a specific minority fanbase. It's fine if you don't like his 40 minute long forearms & body slams style of wrestling, but to say he was a horrible babyface is pretty much as close to being factually false as you can get in internet discussions of 38 year old handheld matches.
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The pro-shot Wanz/Slaughter match was in Graz (Austria). This one happened in Bremen. It's good, if you can enjoy an Otto Wanz style match which is really unlike other types of pro wrestling. Slaughter kicks ass and bumps big, and there are no lengthy restholds which is good for such a long match. The most amazing thing is how over Wanz is. People were just flipping out for everything that he did. The 1st 5 minutes of the match is just the announcer reading "sympathy premiums" (a small money bonus that fans could pay to their favourite wrestler) that Wanz received. That must have been several hundred DM Wanz made just by being there and being beloved. That kind of workrate won't come back, ever. It's not as good as the Graz match since it doesn't have (visible) blood and you don't get the visual of guys heads being smashed into the glass protective wall but if you're Wanz fan or just want to see Slaughter being a badass heel you'll be happy. The really amazing drops are those chain matches from 1991. I had no idea those happened let alone that they were taped.
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1 Fall match going about 15 minutes. Humez is one of the great French boxers. OJ theorized that this may be his debut match, and it had the feel of a debut match. It felt like French pro wrestling, but there was no overlay elaborate stuff. Feels weird to see a middle aged guy with bald spots working a rookie match. Instead the match just turns into this nasty fight with Humez reacting to Debusne's shenanigans by tagging him and Debusne trying to gouge Humez eyes. It wasn‘t a Roger Delaporte level eye gouging, but it served to get Humez sufficiently fired up. Debusne ends up busted open and Humez takes him to the pay window. Humez has these cool left-right european uppercuts and Debusne was really good doing some noodle legged selling. It wasn‘t an epic spectacle, more like a fun way to debut Humez as this no-nonsense hitter, but it was really enjoyable and not having more Humez feels like a big miss.
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2/3 Falls match going roughly 30 minutes. Karl von Chenok was another Hungarian wrestler, although he was billed as „the German strangler“ here. His son, Jörg Chenok, was a decent middleweight working the German scene in the 1980s and early 90s and appeared on British TV at least one time. As far as evil fake-German guys with strangler gimmicks go, von Chenok sure was no Dr. Adolf Kaiser, as he reeeally liked the nerve hold, but he looked a decent grappler and his european uppercuts sure were stiff as hell. Tarres was a Spanish worker with the legend saying he had metal plates implanted in his head, giving him the nickname „Iron Head“. His headbutts in this were tremendous. This was even further removed from typically beautiful French style pro wrestling than the previous match between Debusne and Humez. It was basically scrappy and uncooperative the whole way through and built around von Chenoks nerve hold vs. Tarres‘ headbutts, with both guys having good ways to avoid the other signature moves. Tarres was really brutalizing von Chenok with those, including a spot where he had him in a surfboard and rammed into the back of his head. Tarres also did a great job fighting out of von Chenoks nerve holds and tossing him around by his bald head. Von Chenok ended up busted open and KO‘d losing the first fall. Through this we learn that unlike in a British wrestling, in France a KO doesn‘t end a 2/3 falls match immediately. If the match had continued in the vein of that 1st fall I could have seen this being really great, but instead we were subjected to a lengthy nerve hold routine from von Chenok. Tarres sold like an absolute champ and you could tell he was a superstar quality worker though. If he had mounted some kind of epic comeback against von Chenoks tactics this really would‘ve been awesome, but I guess it wasn‘t in the books that night. At least we get some more matches of Tarres, including one against Dr. Adolf Kaiser who is the rich mans evil German strangler, so that is something to look forward to.