Jetlag

BOYS!! It's my favourite time of the year - that time when I spend my hard earned money to buy indy sleaze tapes, and then tell YOU about it. NOW 2/14/1993 Kishin Kawabata vs. An Che Honn The Equalizer vs. Kim Chon Hyon Buddy Landell vs. Rod Price Hisakatsu Oya vs. Alex Porteau Manny Fernandez vs. Apollo Sugawara Ishinriki vs. Hiroshi Hatanaka Atsushi Onita & Kendo Nagasaki vs. Goro Tsurumi & Umanosuke Ueda I watched the last NOW card and wanted to see more, so I got more. And well, this was another really fun card! We start with 2 singles matches starring obscure korean workers. Korean pro wrestling seems to have a similiar history to japanese pro wrestling only that it kind of died off over the years, but it's such a great unknown on the english speaking internet. In a different universe we are all raving about korean pro wrestling while nobody knows who Rikidozan is. I've only seen glimpses of korean wrestlers and all of them were from japanese promotions pitting them against japanese workers, which I assume is kind of a barrier, assuming there is a language barriere there and these workers come from different backgrounds and styles. Plus, with 1992 undercard indy matches, you mostly check them out for curiousity, especially when such illustrious names as Kishin Kawabata and The Equalizer are in them. And these undercard matches delivered all you can ask for. Kawabata vs. An Che Honn was pretty much a showcase of fun offense – with Kawabata hitting big headbutts, kicks to the spine, biiiiig jumping elbow drops and sentons – and An Che Honn hitting some pretty agile junior offense. The korean was doing standing moonsaults, backflips, flip sentons where he landed with his hip first in really hurty fashion. Dare I say, was this guy an unknown innovator from 25 years ago? Or was he just imitating what he saw on Peruvian wrestling tapes from 20 years prior? Then he hits this cool punch/kick combo and I'm all on board for the Korean Pro Wrestling train. Eitherway, that match didn't have real structure as basically Kawabata went back to offense immediately after An Che had hit his spots, but it was a fun showcase. Kawabata wins with a big leaping elbow drop and that rules. The next match had slightly better structure – I've never seen The Equalizer before and he looks like a fake Kevin Sullivan – google tells me he was a Kevin Sullivan gimmick brother – apparently he was in WCW. If you are a Fake Sullivan superfan you probably need to see this match, because it's like a really fun WCW TV match for a minute. Equalizer works „I'm bigger and you can't knock me over“, and Korakuen Hall pops when the obscure korean finally bodyslams him! Fake Sullivan hits a BIG second rope legdrop! Kim Chon Hyon hits all kinds of fun out of nowhere kicks! Equalizer brawls his way to the countout finish, and because the camera guy filming this is kind of slow you don't really get what's happening. After the match Tsurumi comes out and looks pissed at the koreans! Landell vs. Price – this is what US Indy workers working japanese promotions used to look like!! Tubby blonde white guys who don't care about impressing anybody and instead just work a psychologically sound match! And well I'll be a son of a bitch, because these two go out of their way to work a Southern BattlARTS match! They hit snug elbows, thundering chops and hurty looking punches and toe kicks, and also work fun drop toe holds and fireman carries into leg rides on the ground. It was a slow paced, deliberate match, mind you, but damn! I wanna see more wrestling like this!! You are probably thinking to yourself „Oh you lying german bastard. You spent 4$ on this tape and now you are imagining things to trick yourself into thinking this was good.“ Well bugger off, because this low key ruled. Price absolutely clocks Landell with a stiff clothesline out of nowhere. Landell works snug wristlocks and toeholds (inbetween Wooo!s for the crowd) only for Price to come up and punch him in the cheek. Price blocks a surfboard so Landell goes for a single leg crab instead and kicks Price in the ribs while holding that. Price fights out of an armbar and locks in a UWF leglock which Landell sells like a Figure 4 with his shouders down for the pinfall. Landell comes up limping and Price immediately follows up with more snug lowkicks. What the hell is happening?? Landell dares Price to take him down, who promptly does just that. Landell fights off the Price takedowns – including one by doing an awesome Fujiwara sprawl and now the crowd is really digging all this was we move closer to the 20 minute mark in a match with a 20 minute time limit. They really go broadway here and work nearfalls for sleeper holds and Figure 4s. Prices last move before the draw is a 10 Punch in the corner for a close 2 count. This was such a weird broadway but they really did a pro job working a sound match that won everyone over. After that we get two more matches featuring US guys. IT'S HISAKATSU OYA vs. THE PUG!!! And they hit the mat!! Damn, is NOW scientific wrestling central of the 90s japanese indy scene?! Oya looks better here than he did in both BattlARTS and MUGA. He really wrenches Porteaus t shoulder and arm with some snug holds. Porteau is on the very, very bland side here. He has a nice headlock punch though. But before The Pug can bore you to sleep Oya absolutely KILLS him with the backdrop suplex! Golly!! Nasty Oya submissions and that insane bump are totally enough for me to give this the Full Japan Indy Point. Next up is Thee Manny Fernandez vs. Apollo Sugawara. And that was a fun short match too. Fernandez has the Finlay mullet and his charisma and mannerisms shine through even on a handheld. Match was fun in that short WCW TV match way. Sugawara still has really nice dropkicks and Fernandez takes a really nice backdrop bump for him. Fernandez also hits some really nice slug clotheslines. He also wins with a nasty shootstyle toe hold which is unexpected and rules, like pretty much everthing on this card so far. Ishinriki vs. Hiroshi Hatanaka was, unlike pretty much everything else on this card, something you could've shown to your average juniors loving 90s smark and he would've agree that it was a cool match. Two pudgy juniors go 20 minutes and there are some big nearfalls down the stretch. I really enjoyed the match as they did a good job filling the time, these two guys have really good looking basics, really fast explosive shoulderblocks and armdrags etc. Hatanaka looked especially good, hitting lariats with a ton of snap, big kneedrops and leg drops, really nice powerslam etc. His Fujiwara armbar counter may have been the highlight of the match. He also hit at one point a huge legdrop that looked like it would shoot KO someone and Ishinriki was either legit knocked loopy or Ishinriki is really good at selling „I just had a 200 pound japanese dude drop his weight on my jaw and I don't know where the fuck I am“. It's this kind of match that gets you really over with japanese crowds and they both came out looking like they should've been kings of the indies but instead they just completely fell off the map in the mid 90s. I thought the match could've been really great with a little more stiffness and hatred – they tease flaring tempers in the first minute and never really follow up – or maybe some kind of more pronounced story, but they achived what they were going for without hiccups and this was just a really cool match to see. The main event was all about the superstar charisma of Onita as the crowd is absolutely white hot for him. Unfortunately once again some kind of sports entertainment crept into it as Ueda refused to cooperate with Tsurumi. To be fair, Tsurumi looked good here, and the guys potatoeing eachother sections were fun. Tsurumi was doing the backfists before the were cool and hitting nice punches, also Nagasaki has ridculously great kicks here, just trying to boot dudes heads off, plus Manny Fernandez was at ringside with a kendo stick. But once again the match ended early. The coolest thing to come out of this was a brief Manny Fernandez/Tarzan Goto face off which is the greatest match of the 90s that never happened. So there you have it. Two really good matches, fun undercard, lots of coolness throughout, Tarzan Goto in a funny 90s getup... I'm all on board for the NOW hype train by now.

Super intense contest in front of a really responsive Wembley crowd. I don't remember this being so one sided as Cortez takes most of the bout with Grey making the occasional fired up comeback one upping him, but they used that structure to great effect. Really one of the best examples of build in a wrestling match I can think of as the intensity is just simmering and both guys liking eachother less and less over the course of the match. Starts off with Cortez working a bunch of headlocks, which sounds boring but Cortez is such a high end wrestler it's ridiculous. Him yanking Grey by the chin or nose was a bit like Volk Han throwing someone by the wrist, and he really wrenches Greys face. Eventually Grey puts him in a headlock of his own for a nice pop which is the WoS equivalent of Dick Murdoch building to his punch. This match is remarkably simplified down altough they are working ultra tight and there are a small handful of beautiful reveras (partially the armlock escape Grey does which was like something a luchador should steal). Eventually it breaks down to Grey trying to jump on Cortezes injured leg whenever he gets the chance. I didn't remember the finish at it comes a bit out of nowhere and isn't really what you want but it really makes you want to see the rematch which unfortunately we never got.

I may be in the complete minority here, but I thought this wasn't as good a Nishimura/Rutten in some aspects, particularily because Takayama came across as holding back. This was still some pretty great character driven pro wrestling with a technical edge. Takayama doing those bridge up spots is wonderous. I wish he had sold the legwork a little more. Nishimuras throwback spots for massive reactions ruled as usual. Nishimura can actually set up a move or hit a pin combo that decides the match, so he never really comes across as exhibitiony. Liked Takayama just kicking him like a dog, but this is largely the Nishimura show aside from the novelty of Takayama doing technical wrestling.

Neat 10 minute Rutten showcase. It's funny that Rutten in some aspects comes across like a 50s wrestler. I mean, he makes you believe in body shots or slamming the other guys head down as nearfalls. Kanemoto didn't add a ton, but he played his part. This was entertaining because Rutten comes across as so dangerous, always knowing what to do on the mat, plus all the out there cool thing he will do.

One of the more unique matches in wrestling history, it's a kickpadded uncooperative modern day shooter vs. A classy early 70s technician. Rutten was great at pro wrestling no doubt about it, his selling of Nishimuras holds was great (did a better job there than most trained pro wrestlers) and he was basically threatening to KO Nish every single round. Rutten not holding back at all is a big part of why the match worked. Nishimura ruled as usual believably locking Rutten into his old school carny holds or dishing out the european uppercuts. I think this may have been better without the rounds but it had typical european build closer to a german style match (Nishimura spent a lot of time in germany and austria) than british as it had that simmering animosity. Nishimura slowly getting destroyed but getting in Ruttens head was really cool. By the last round they completely ditched the striking and just stubbornly went for the tap out.

At this point Fujinami was mostly relegated to tag work. Now he takes on Inokis project Yasuda. Before the match starts Yasuda insists Fujinami puts on MMA gloves, so when Fujinami does so Yasuda rushes him. One punch exchange later and Fujinamis nose is gushing blood. This really feels like a fight to the death with Yasuda trying to choke out Fujinami, but the old guy can always hit a surprise move. Only 5 minutes but a surprisingly good match.

Always love Hashimoto destroying a martial artist. Despite the massive size difference, Hashimoto was able to make Ogasawara look threatening... well till he just started chopping his head off. Hashimotos dropkick was for the ages. Also, watching him pull Ogasawara into DDTs repeatedly made me think his opponent doesn't even need to know how to bump to take that move... Hash just drills you and it'll look good regardless.

You can't call this a bad match but you can hardly love it either. The opening is okay like a poor mans BattlARTS match. They do some matwork and mix in stiff shots. The second half had some good ideas but never really grabbed me because it felt like your stereotypical japanese big match with neither guy adding any character. Also, both guys went back to offense too easily. Nagata catching Sasaki with surprise high kicks was cool but him basically no selling back to offense and burying Akiyamas finishers (prick) didn't do much for me. Kensuke when he is not wearing MMA gloves or in there with an all time great also continues to do very little for me.

Always nice to see the M-Pro crew show up on another promotions card and try to steal the show. This was maybe slightly faster worked and more chaotic than their usual formula tag, which wasn't a bad thing. You are really kept on the edge of your seat when any minute 4 guys might run in to drop elbows all at the same time. A chaotic brawl breaks out halfway into the match and Naniwa gets bloodied and his mask ripped open, which just sets the crowd completely on fire for him. The Sasuke/Hamada/Yakushuji technico shine sections are really fun – Yakushuji fast complicated headscissors and armdrags are still the best, and I don't remember Hamada working as Fujiwara but he does a good job at it here. Still the massive blood and mask ripping portions and Naniwa getting to shine really set this one apart.

Lovely match. I wish I had like a hundred Dos Caras singles matches available. His legwork was awe inspiring. He basically locked up Canek repeatedly and then tried to sprain his ankle for like 20 minutes straight. There is the joke that at some point UWA only existed to give Canek and his relatives titles, but he looked good here. He was ready to wrestle, and he sold that legwork. Using a bunch of spin kicks for a comeback was a little weird though. Cool 3rd fall that had the fans by the balls with the nearfalls. Canek was showing so much ass here I was sure he would win, so the match worked me too.

This was quite the effective heavyweight slugger. One of the best uses of Kane that I've seen and I actually liked Undertakers performance. Liked his punch combos, liked his huge dive, liked him going for a damn victory roll of all things, liked him blocking Kanes assault and surviving. Ending sequence was about as well executed as you can ask for.

This match is famous because of the clip where Inoki gets in the ring and punches Nakamura. There was nothing exciting about the match itself; I mean this would've been fine as a midcard tag, but as a Dome main event...? There are some solid exchanges and a brutal soccer kick finish but that's it pretty much. Kashin adds nothing (shocker!) and the potential fun matchups don't deliver their potential. Nakamura was pretty mediocre here so I guess he deserved to get punched. He was working like a US indy guy in the opening portions and that's a real disgrace. He also put up very little fight against Fujita during the finish. There is a little bit of Fujita and Nakanishi crowbarring eachother, and Nakanishi manhandling Kashin, but not enough really. Worst of all is they never really engaged the crowd.

Really fun match which had juniors from Michinoku Pro, FMW and Dragon Gate mixing it up. These guys aren't used to eachother so they were working a more solid, less intricate match, but it was good and everyone brought something worthwhile to the table. There were also several huge dives and Dragon Kid looked good hitting all his freaky stuff. I also liked the spot Dragon unmasked himself in an Eddie Guerrero style attempt to get Kid DQ'd. The next moment they both unmasked eachother and were forced to wear their opponents hood. This kind of stuff won't win you workrate awards but it's what keeps the love for pro wrestling flowing. Sasuke looked sharp, TMIV hit some stiff blows and GOEMON & Onryo looked like good bases as well with Onryo hitting particularily huge bumps and dives. FEAR THE ONRYO CLUTCH!

Dandy/Navarro feud in full bloom. Cool mat exchanges and awesome punches. Boxing Negro Navarro is truely awesome, up there with the likes of Dick Murdoch or Bill Dundee. Having both such a variety of punches aswell as ways to put the other guys punches over is truely a rare trait. The other guys in this match were acceptable and Pantera did a good job keeping everything moving.. But Dandy/Navarro is the matchup you want to see and this did not disappoint.

I remember loving this match years ago and it's really nice of MLW to upload this in excellent quality. Some fun early wrestling exchanges where they mesh better than you expect and Sabu hits everything cleanly. They even did a good build, for example by avoiding the obvious table bump early on or La Parka understanding the Camel Clutch is a finisher. But the crowd keeps calling for tables, so the match turns into the usual Sabu bombfest. Parka really outbumps Sabu here, take a big Necro bump where he nearly overshoots the table and just flying into the turnbuckle. Sabu grabbing the scissors (backstory?) and carving Parka up added some needed grit to this spotty type brawl. There was also a great exchange where Parka was working over Sabus body with stiff kicks while Sabu tried these lunging desperate punches. These two are really decent pro wrestler aside from the hardcore stuff, so you get Parka expertly covering up a Sabu botch or selling his blood loss and making the walk back into the ring seem important etc.

Decent clubberfest. Nakanishi is always straddling the area between solid and dull, so him dominating for so long wasn't exactly thrilling. Also, what was up with all the weird chops and claw holds? There were a few moments that threw me out, such as the referee counting a pin where Takayamas shoulder was blatantly up or the sucky double knee spot they tried. Takayama looked good demolishing Nakanishi on the other hand. This was fun but never seemed to kick it up a notch.

Only a 3 minute match, but super intense stuff. Ruttens dangerous striking is just great. If he had kept wrestling, he could've reached Volk Han levels of greatness. Tanahashi looked good using palm strikes and throws instead of his later persona, altough I didn't quite buy him taking down Rutten so easily. Still he was there to take brutal shots to the liver, and he made the most of it.

DAMN I kinda loved Yatsu in this and while I'm a huge Yatsu fan I didn't expect that at all. Yatsu is 46 years old here but still really spry and fun, and Nakanishi doesn't hold back. This is really the Yatsu show as he busts out all kinds of fun punches and submissions and still hits the great bulldog and powerslam. Nakanishi was largely your regular Nakanishi but he does hit a really nice shotai combo and as a said he really pastes Yatsu with chops and lariats. If this went like 3 and a half minutes less it would be about the greatest WCWSN match in japanese history.

Stiff war between the two. I feel like a hypocrite, but I thought this was a little boring. Nagata sold in a big way, but he just had a hard time looking credible against Takayama. Takayama blowing off his suplexes didn't help and I didn't buy the ending. There were lots of brutal kicks and punches to enjoy however, so what else do you want.

As far as I'm concerned, it wasn't the Inokism/MMA influence stuff that was killing NJPW at the time, it was the fact that the regular wrestling was largely dull and moronic. The sprint opening and subsequent matwork of this was fine, but they soon went to their bread and butter: brainlessly hitting lariats and throwing out bombs. No transitions in sight, just take a move, then hit one of your own, repeat until finish. This really needed MMA gloves or a Murakami run in.

It's no surprise workrate smarks hated Yasuda, as his style was very simplistic and unspectacular. While he was a questionable choice for IWGP champ this wasn't a bad match at all. It was basically built around intense clinches and Yasuda constantly trying to choke out Nagata. Everything was logical and Nagata had one of his better showings trying to struggle out of Yasudas anaconda like grip and roughing him up with fired up strikes. Watching guys struggle over getting underhooks and overhooks rather than doing fighting spirit spots and bomb throwing is refreshing for japanese wrestling. Add in a few neat counters and brutal strike exchanges down the stretch and I'm a fan.

This is the matchup that got a lot of people into british wrestling, altough not their famous match. This was full of fast reversals and pretty athletic. Personally I prefer the more slower paced technical hold for hold work, but the match had good enough build and they kept the moves coming.

This is very much your hold vs. Counterhold type match that you associate with World of Sport. Joyce is yet another trippy veteran british worker, while Grey is one of the most consistent workers ever in WoS. This was a friendly match but fiercely fought. Grey was bumping really hard with a ton of snap for arm wringers and they worked some intense, luchaesque submissions and nearfalls throughout the match. Unexpectedly nasty finish. This kind of stuff entirely depends on whether you like this sort of super technical bout, but if you do, you're probably gonna hugely enjoy this one.

This is one of my all time favourite WoS matches. I'd put the grappling here up there with high end RINGS or lucha title matches. Just one trippy takedown or sweep after another, followed by another weirdo counter. The match didn't have huge intensity, but both guys worked hard for the holds and tried submissions. There are a few spots and logical reasonings that you will only see in a World of Sport match – choosing not to slam the opponent and instead forcing him to slip down your back, trying to pin his shoulders while in a surfboard, tripping the other guy while he is setting up a move etc. The highly entertaining work they do around a super basic move like a stepover toe hold here puts even many elite workers to shame. There are some callbacks to previous holds and situations, so the match is far from mindless. Last pin combo is brilliant and blew my mind at the time.