SPS

No worries man I didn't know someone else pointed it out. It is only minor considering like you've said all you're covering and remembering for a show encapsulating FMW's history. Again I love the series and your stuff and look forward to following the series from here on, thanks for all the work you guys are putting in.

Loving the series so far but just a slight correction for you BAHU, when talking about Ricky Fuji the wrestler he traveled to see was Karl Gotch not Frank Gotch. Frank Gotch was the famous wrestler who reigned supreme in the early 1900's and died in 1917. Karl Gotch was named after him and wrestled from the 50's to the early 80's and was a famous trainer for NJPW and the first UWF and was considered the Kamisama or god of pro wrestling in Japan due to his training skills and technique.

This is awesome, love your website bios of FMW BAHU and I'll definitely check this out. FMW is one of the rare deathmatch wrestling group that I still enjoy watching old footage of.

Alright for Matt Franklin who I've been paired up this week I've chosen a great match I rewatched recently, Kiyoshi Tamura vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka from RINGS 06/27/98. It's a good length so no rush to watch it but it's a great shootstyle calling card if you haven't seen a ton of the style or even RINGS itself. Hope you enjoy it http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvn0wa

So I finally got a chance to watch and write my review for the 3'rd round of this Secret Santo and posted my review at the link below, http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/40972-ron-garvin-jimmy-garvin-vs-the-rougeaus-international-wrestling-07151985/ My overall impression summary here was, "So overall this match was a very good fun brawl that once you understand the backstory fits perfectly and makes it that much better. The Garvins were getting their asses handed to them but yet were cunning enough to get The Rougeaus to get themselves DQ'd out of the rage over the previous attack from The Garvins. The crowd was hot and loved The Rougeaus and it really made every little thing that much more captivating as the crowd wanted to see The Gavins pay and despite not getting the win, The Rougeaus got a moral victory and some revenge while leaving the door open for a return where they could finally get their win over The Garvins. Fantastic watch, I'd give it ***3/4." Thanks again to SirEdger for the great pick and I look forward to the next round of trades.

This is my third contribution to the Secret Santo match trade and this one was given to me by SirEdger and is from the Quebec Territory of International Wrestling which I am glad to check out as after having read Pat Laprade's book "Mad Dogs, Midgets, and Screw Jobs" , It's one territory I've never seen a lot of. I researched the backstory of this while trying to find the date and this match is a follow up to 24.06.1985 called The "St. John Baptiste Massacre" where in a match with The Garvins taking on The Rougeaus, The Garvins attacked all 3 of them and left them beaten and bloody and Jacques Sr. being carted off on a stretcher with the crowd livid. So the video opens with The Garvins and Precious in the ring and Jimmy poses and Precious sprays some disinfectant Gorgeous Geroge style to the jeers of the French Canadian crowd. Here comes the Rougeaus to a great reception and they bring along Jacques Sr to be at ringside. The Rougeau's try and enter the ring and get pearl harbored by The Garvins again! after another attempt they struggle in through the barrage of blows from The Garvins and they're up to their feet in the ring and returning fire and it's a 4 man brawl to start this match with Jimmy Garvin not even getting his sequined jacket off. The Rougeaus gain the upper hand and take a Garvin to opposing corners and whip them off into each other casing them to collide and fall flat on their backs in the center of the ring. The Rougeaus follow up with a classic old school row boat spot on the Garvins and then after pummeling them with a few more punches, take turns with Jacques firing Jimmy Garvin off to deliver a back body drop and Raymond sending Ron Garvin off and catching him with a sleeper hold. Finally Jimmy powders out and the two referees(I guess they used two referees for tag matches in Quebec, which judging by this match did a whole lot of good) and we have this match under order with Ron Garvin making the ropes to break the sleeper hold getting pounded around the ring by Raymond. The Rougeaus keep control for a good while with the highlights being a really safe looking piledriver on Ron followed by a tag in to Jacques and a body slam by Raymond followed immediately by a flying fist drop by Jacques which is then immediately followed by a flying knee drop from Jacques that leaves the crowd roaring and Ron bleeding and staggering around the ring. Jacques runs over to the corner and catches Jimmy Garvin on the ropes and beell tosses him off the top rope with a slam Flair style. Raymond comes back in to tee off on Jimmy while Jacques does the same on Ron and it's all 4 guys back in the ring. The Rougeaus get Ron up for a really safe looking spike piledriver which Ron sells by balancing on his head for a few seconds, Jacques makes the cover and gets a near fall. Ron starts trying to mount a comeback and Ron and Jacques trade wild punches, slaps, and open hand chops but Jacques maintains the upper hand. Only a wild jumping headbutt from Ron stuns Jacques long enough for him to finally tag in Jimmy who starts unloading on Jacques and choking him into the corner. Jimmy gets over excited though and tries whipping Jacques to the opposite corner which is reversed and eats another back body drop and Jacques tags in Raymond. Jimmy begs off but Raymond with the crowd roaring their approval chases Jimmy into the corner and starts putting the boots to him, Ron comes in to help and gets decked for his troubles then they both suffer a meeting of the minds as Raymond has both Garvins knocked down crawling on the mat. Ron Garvin yanks Raymond down by the tights and starts choking him, Jacques comes in and Ron lets go of his choke and exchanges blows with him all the while Jimmy picks up where Ron left off and starts choking Raymond who is still on the mat. The two referees finally restore order and it's Jimmy with a shoddy looking sleeper/chin lock on Raymond in the ring and the camera pans over to Ron on the apron and a graphic with a string of X's like this, xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx poorly trying to censor his bloody face. Raymond tries to mount a comeback, arm dragging out of the hold and running and hitting a shoulder tackle before catching a headbutt to the stomach from Jimmy that puts him back down on the mat where he's placed back in the hold. The crowd cheers Raymond back to his feet and he fights into a top wristlock position, Jimmy reaches out and tags in Ron as they are close to the Garvin corner and Ron throws and lands a vicious body kick that crumples Raymond back to the corner and Ron pummels his with a few more kicks and punches before a snap-mare and a crucifix pin attempt on Raymond that he fights to resist being pinned by and Jacques comes in and fist drops him out of it. Jimmy Garvin comes in as the referees try and usher Jacques out and starts chocking Raymond with a length of rope or tape which despite the crowd yelling the two referees cannot see it as Jimmy conceals it with a sleeper hold. While this is going on Ron bumrushes Jacques on the apron and Jacques comes back in and they trades blows, finally after a few wild moments of the 4 going at it again the referees get Ron and Jacques back to their respective corners and Jimmy has Raymond in the chinlock/sleeper hold on the mat. The crowd cheers Raymond back to his feet again and the fights out of the hold and he and Jimmy run the ropes in a back and forth tackle spots that ends with them colliding and both men are down and the referees institute the 10 count. Raymond gets the tag first with Jimmy tagging Ron seconds later, the slight second advantage allows Jacques to meet Ron in the center with a kick loaded up and he starts exchanging blows with Ron before hitting him with a nice high dropkick. Jimmy Garvin sneaks up behind Jacques and tries to gain the two on one advantage but as the Garvins get control and shoot Jacques off the ropes, Jacques ducks their double clothesline and nails them with a double dropkick with one foot hitting each Garvin with the crowd popping and cheering Jacques on. Raymond joins Jacques and they back both Garvins into opposing corners and again try shooting them into one another but this time the Garvins reverse and send The Rougeaus into each other with the crowd audibly groaning at the reversal of fortune. We see Jimmy follow up by putting the boots to Jacques who slinks out to the floor by the post and as Jimmy tries to continue kicking him, Jacques counters and sweeps Jimmy off his feet. Jacques then still holding Jimmy's feet looks to the crowd and yanks Jimmy's groin into the post and the crowd goes bananas. It pans back to Raymond still in the ring peppering Ron with blows and the camera pans back to Jacques who posts Jimmy again to a another pop. The match has broken down at this point and Raymond knocks Ron out of the ring to the floor near Jacques Sr. where Ron takes a cheap shot at him before he and Jimmy flee as the referees both waive the match off. This match ends in a DQ for The Rougeaus as Jacques Sr. joins The Rougeaus in the ring as they both parade around the ring arms raised in victory as Jacques Sr. shakes their hands in approval of their moral victory against The Garvins. So overall this match was a very good fun brawl that once you understand the backstory fits perfectly and makes it that much better. The Garvins were getting their asses handed to them but yet were cunning enough to get The Rougeaus to get themselves DQ'd out of the rage over the previous attack from The Garvins. The crowd was hot and loved The Rougeaus and it really made every little thing that much more captivating as the crowd wanted to see The Gavins pay and despite not getting the win, The Rougeaus got a moral victory and some revenge while leaving the door open for a return where they could finally get their win over The Garvins. Fantastic watch, I'd give it ***3/4.

Saw this Funny Cartoon being shared online, Dave makes his cameo at the end and I chuckled pretty hard.

Thanks I'll get to this on the weekend, great pick as I've read Pat Laprade's book "Mad Dogs, Midgets, and Screw Jobs" and never got to check out any of the Montreal stuff so this will be awesome. For you since I don't know your viewing history so I'll just throw you a random match that I like that I rewatched recently, Bret Hart vs Ricky Steamboat from Boston Garden in 1988. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x52fm1

No need to apologize to me, I'm just trying to understand this as much as I can but you come off as a bit condescending with your responses. I haven't asked anything in a disrespectful or mocking way and you've just given one sentence answers without any information given your disdainful comments regarding the legal system. This newspaper talked to 54 people who reported sexual assault. Read through it. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/investigations/what-its-like-to-report-a-sexual-assault-36-people-share-their-stories/article34338353/ Thank you for the link I am reading through it, although this being a Canadian site possibly some of the details may not carry to how the US process would work. Of the half dozen I've read so far they all are very different cases and the people involved are of a wide spectrum of age ranges and backgrounds. My thoughts coming from this relating to the situation at hand that we're talking about in this thread is a lot of these people who share their version of the truth as victims seem to take grievance with is a lot of what Moses talked about in her apprehension of facing backlash, being interrogated themselves and being told what they've experienced didn't happen how they remembered it or isn't how they stated it. So like I've come back to a few times now, is going public instead and being exposed to the general populace doing all these things Moses feared a more effective way than going through her local police and possibly being subjected to those same things and possibly getting a person whose committed such an atrocious crime against her charged and/or convicted? If it is, then how does the law and law officials make this process of victims of these sex crimes less frightening or traumatizing to go through reporting? Also how can the law and law officials remedy the legal methods of gathering evidence and proof to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the offender is guilty if asking for information that might be vital to their investigation isn't something the victim wants to discuss? Moses has now put all of this out into social media and news and has been vocal about notable journalists like Metlzer,Johnson, etc. not giving her the opportunity to share her side of the truth while speaking about others opinions on it which is an absolutely fair argument. But then when it comes to Bix's situation where he was willing to give her the chance to give her side while also researching all other sides Moses has voiced issue at the time it was going to take Bix to do this in contrast to what she had believed initially among other issues to be fair relating to Bix which he has spoken about in his post. So Bix is also in a much less serious but still important position of being a journalist who can't follow the methods of his field to properly give a story that he can stand by as accurate without upsetting or causing issues for the victim. So with Dave and his like being too quick and not well researched enough that improperly at best and dismissive at worst of the story and Bix being too slow and taking too much research to do the story for Moses to be comfortable, how can the media report in situations like these and not be a detriment to the whole situation? So it brings me back to my whole struggle with this situation of if the legal system is not going to be utilized in cases like this and public opinion and social media statements are what is going to be the platform for these issues then how can anyone be sure if what they are hearing is the truth without issue and how can we be sure to see those who are at fault are not allowed to go without consequence?

No need to apologize to me, I'm just trying to understand this as much as I can but you come off as a bit condescending with your responses. I haven't asked anything in a disrespectful or mocking way and you've just given one sentence answers without any information given your disdainful comments regarding the legal system.

One where there is a legal system in place for crimes regarding sexual assault. I don't understand how she was comfortable enough to finally stand up and announce this stuff publicly and take the backlash from those in the wrestling business that she said was her biggest concern, yet does not want to file a report and get this guy charged which is what he deserves for what she said he did. Even if she believes that there is no guarantee or little chance of getting him on trial or convicted, how would going through with it be of any detriment at this point to her? The critical or ignorant people out there are already going to say since she didn't file charges that she's a liar and if she pushes through with it and it doesn't come to a trial then they'll be saying the same thing so you're not gonna convince those people over either way in this scenario. But if she does file the report and he is charged and gets convicted then not only would those critics not have anything other than outright denial, she could also get this guy put away and keep others from potentially falling victim and showing others they can report and file charges against anyone also guilty of this. There is no cases I'm aware of where someone who files a legitimate report faces any legal risk doing so and it goes back to what I've said of if people in her situation are only willing to present their side of the truth in the court of public opinion then there is nothing that can be done with this except mudslinging and speculation. Everyone who was at risk of falling victim to these scumbags are still going to be at risk and every scumbag who is committing these crimes are still going to be able to keep doing what they are doing and even more so if they have the power to keep people quiet or counter their claims in social media and in the public eye. Public opinion is not a reliable way to gauge the truth, it can be swayed, influenced and abused as easily as to say something publicly. If it comes to that then who could ever trust anyone around them?

Gerard Gordeau never fought in PRIDE nor worked with Nobuhiko Takada. He worked with Maeda in Newborn UWF in 1988 and fought in Vale Tudo Japan '95 where he lost to Yuki Nakai. Gordeau illegally eye gouged Nakai during the fight who then lost the sight of his right eye from the gouging. Gordeau is a coward and a scumbag.

Is it calling someone a liar to present another persons claims? or is this because as some have been making the argument Dave has given other sides the chance to explain but not her directly? I do agree with this as no matter who or what you believe it did show how sleazy and horrible Elgin was being that in a situation like this that is what he chose to say. I'm trying to keep the facts and statements straight in all this, who has said this? Also as I talked in my response yesterday which nobody addressed is now that this has been released to the public and there are those outside Dave and Mike Johnson etc. who've given her the chance to give her side, why does she not go to police now and file a report? if this Orleans guy has attacked her then why not do whatever she can to get this guy charged since mostly what she described as her worries about backlash from those in the business have already taken place?

Thanks Rah, I am a fan of the old deathmatch groups like FMW and although grew out of it once CZW and the like took over, still enjoy some of the style as long as it's doesn't make me shake my head at the stupidity of some spots you see now. I am not familiar with much lucha outside of the major names and companies and the stuff that crosses over to North America and Japan so this was a real way to dip my toes in so to speak and try it out. I posted my review here in the match discussion archive(had to make a new topic as it hadn't been reviewed yet) http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/40893-demus-vs-wotan-beard-vs-hair-generation-xxi-06012018/ and here was my overall opinion afterwards, "So overall opinion this match reminded me of something you would have seen on an ECW card in 1995 with wild brawling and sometimes reckless and botched spots. Demus seemed to play his role well and Waton was okay but both really didn't sell much at the points I though mattered and the whole struggle to set up the finish with that plywood sheet came off as clumsy and contrived and a simple table would've probably cut out all the nonsense and struggle. Overall as a very casual lucha fan I give it **1/4 stars, it had some bright spots with a pretty receptive and noise making crowd and the finish once it got off looked great with Demus crashing through that board despite it's non threatening appearance. Lucha fans more familiar with this promotion and these two would probably like it more than me but it didn't feel like a total waste of time or offensive to sit through and I'd like to see more lucha as there must be talents I'm missing out on due to this blindspot."

So here's my second ever review as part of The Secret Santo match trade give to me by Lucha enthusiast Rah. I like I've mentioned previously am a casual as casual can be lucha guy as I have never dedicated a ton of time to delve into the style and am only knowledgeable about the most famous names, companies and cross over groups and talents from Japan and North America. So all that aside here we go with this match from a company I've never seen nor heard of featuring guys in a similar boat with me. The arena is a good size and decently filled with a loud and vocal crowd which is great as dead crowds really make me less interested when watching. They are fighting in the crowd as the match starts and my first look at Demus who sports a big beard and face paint is that he looks like Damián 666 (Someone I do know from XPW). Upon pausing and googling him I come to find out he was part of the 'Mini's' division although not a dwarf and was a takeoff of Damian...go figure. Wotan has a Mr. JL looking mask with darker colors that covers his face like a gangbanger's bandanna would and is bleeding as he is thrown by Demus into the boards over some chairs in the crowd. Some nice vicious looking headbutts from Demus on Wotan establishes Demus is in firm control and he grandstands and taunts over Wotan's bloody fallen body. Demus continues now biting and headbutting Wotan, then dragging him back towards the ringside area and tosses him over the railing and grabs a chair which he bashes wildly over Wotan's head. Demus tosses Wotan into the ring and beats on him some more including a nice cannonball into the corner of a seated Wotan that earns Damus a 2 count. We get a few more moments of Demus headbutting and sentoning Waton gaining more 2 counts and arguing and threatening violence towards the referee when he's unable to garner the 3, obviously this Demus is a bit of a wildman nut as if his crazy facepaint doesn't already give that impression. After taking advantage of Demus being distracted by arguing with the referee, Waton gains the upperhand knocking Demus to the floor, he scores some headbutts of his own before asking and receiving a ringside fan's chair and bashing Demus a few times before slinging him over the rail and they are back in the crowd. Now with both men bleeding profusely and Waton's mask now hanging around his chinand neck like a cowboy's bandanna. they brawl in the crowd going back and forth for a few mins before spilling back over the rail to ringside. They exchange some headbutts back and forth from being on their knees on the floor before making it back into the ring. They brawl some more from their knees in the ring exchanging forearms and Demus looks for a pin but only gets another 2, Wotan then gains the upper hand stringing together some offence highlighted by a slingshot from the apron into the ring on a lying prone Demus catching his knees on the top rope and landing a flipping senton that causes Demus to roll out to the floor again. From there Demus doesn't really sell but starts appealing to the crowd to which Waton half halfheartedly mirrors inside the ring until after about 30 seconds of this, Waton takes off and does a tope sucida out onto Demus standing on the floor but overshoots him a bit and Demus doesn't make the catch causing Waton to bounce off the floor and crash into the rail. Demus then no sells the dive and gets up and starts doing the Terry Funk routine of grabbing ringside chairs and tossing a half dozen of them into the ring and starts to wander over to another side of the ring and pulls out a couple sheets of plywood that he slides into the ring as well. As Demus is doing this Waton who is not selling really either and fixing his knees pads on the floor starts appealing to the crowd before finally getting up and heading back into the ring where Demus has already reentered and is setting up chairs. As Waton starts to come through the ropes Demus clobbers him with a chair shot and out of nowhere finally makes good on his earlier threats and smacks the referee with the chair putting the ref on his belly selling on the mat(well at least someone is gonna sell). Demus spends the next min or so setting up chairs in the ring and takes a moment to clobber Waton and the referee again with a chair and then hops up and down appealing to the crowd who respond with a chant so I guess they're enjoying his handy work. Demus sets up about 8 chairs in 2 rows with the seats facing each other but is interrupted when he turns around and gets a loose chair thrown at him by Waton which smashes him in the head and he goes down. Waton appeals the the crowd again and it's rinse a repeat as he again tosses the chair at Demus's head as Demus is laying on the mat. It is here the match for me begins to devolve into clusterfuck levels as Waton first starts moving the chairs Demus has set up as apparently they weren't positioned to his liking. Then he removes 3 or 4 of them as there are too many for his liking as well. Then he starts to fumble with trying to set up the huge flimsy looking 6 X 4' or so plywood sheet which the now recovered ref helps him with as I guess since Demus clobbered him sorta makes some sense. The whole chair contraption fails and almost all of them fold up and collapse and the sheet just falls over as Demus gets up and clobbers Waton and the referee again with a chair. He tries to remedy the whole set up readding the chairs he had set up originally and rests one end on the bottom rope and the sheet of plywood is now set up. Demus and Waton brawl a bit wildly with a chair before Demus gains the upperhand and scoops Waton up for a slam and gingerly places him on the plywood contraption. He scales the rope and leaps off with a splash with Waton rolling out of the way and Demus smashing through the plywood board which blows apart into 4/5 pieces which looked great and sorta saved the whole thing for me a little bit. Waton covers Demus and gets the 3 count and he and the referee celebrate. We get the highlights of the match replayed with some nice camera angles. Cut back the the ring and Demus starts cutting off his beard with a pair of classroom scissors and hands the clippings to Waton, Demus then gives a short speech and then continues cutting off his beard whole Waton celebrates and kisses the clippings which due to his bloody face must've stuck to it a bit so pretty gross. So overall opinion this match reminded me of something you would have seen on an ECW card in 1995 with wild brawling and sometimes reckless and botched spots. Demus seemed to play his role well and Waton was okay but both really didn't sell much at the points I though mattered and the whole struggle to set up the finish with that plywood sheet came off as clumsy and contrived and a simple table would've probably cut out all the nonsense and struggle. Overall as a very casual lucha fan I give it **1/4 stars, it had some bright spots with a pretty receptive and noise making crowd and the finish once it got off looked great with Demus crashing through that board despite it's non threatening appearance. Lucha fans more familiar with this promotion and these two would probably like it more than me but it didn't feel like a total waste of time or offensive to sit through and I'd like to see more lucha as there must be talents I'm missing out on due to this blindspot.

The main thing I'm confused about is she stated the reason she has not gone to police regarding Orleans is fear of retaliation and not being believed but now that she has gone this public route, which after all the issues she's said the whole ordeal has caused her, everything she said she didn't want to happen pretty much had started or already happened. So why not go now and file with police? what is there to be lost? if she has the proof and was horribly wronged like that then why not do whatever she can to try and get the scumbag charged now? As for Elgin, while he hasn't done anything criminal in terms of the law as I can't really consider her claims of him trying to guilt her into sex as a crime, it is horribly heartless and does paint him as sleazy which anyone who has heard Elgin's bragging story of urinating on a protesting girl in one of his shoots already knew that. So why was that situation not enough to get Elgin under this kind of scrutiny? With Dave it seems he didn't want to get any more information than he needed to just sift over the story which now is making him look incredibly bad especially as a journalist so I can't defend him on this one but taking his past comments regarding other women in the business over the years isn't a really accurate or concrete way to judge him as a person. Finally for Bix I can't blame him for wanting to take the journalistic approach with this whole situation as it's easy as we see with Dave to not only make incorrect judgement or assessments without researching and backing them up but also cause harm to people who are vulnerable and depending on being able to tell their side of the truth. Also Bix was very open and honest about how he felt his lack of clear communication caused some issues from her point of view while also trying to be fair to all involved which is difficult but the right thing to do. Really my whole take away from this is how can anyone possibly get any sort of fair outcome and consequences from this whole complex situation? Can public opinion take the place of legal system without being abused or stripping people of their rights? I really am at a loss to what can be done when it's one sides word against another and the accusations fall into everyone's own personal moral beliefs and interpretation of what is lawful or acceptable. How can you remedy it all?

I just watched that Rumble match and disliked it a good deal. It gets better after the "restart" and the closing stretch is fine, but the first half was dullsville. Quick refresher: After a dull opening, the Roadie takes out Razor's knee on the outside, forcing the ref to stop the match, I think, then Jarrett baits him back into the ring and proceeds to defeat him. I haven't watched Mania XI in forever, but looking at the card, maybe they could've stretched the 1-2-3 Kid/Holly tag run and have them face the Gunns at Mania, freeing up Owen Hart? I don't know how Hall and Owen's chemistry was but I'd also add that, rewatching that Rumble match with Jarrett, I'm questioning whether I ever really liked babyface Razor or if I just thought I liked it because I was 11. You would leave Yokozuna without that big return and tag title win though so how do you shuffle him into the card then? Others guys who didn't have a match that might've worked could have been Hakushi or Tatanka, although maybe if you go with Jeff Jarrett and Owen forming a team to work the Gunns and have Yokozuna return to face Razor. Also maybe hold off the Luger/Tatanka feud blowoff and dave that for 'Mania and have British Bulldog work Razor for the IC title instead of the Allied Powers vs The Blu Brothers?

I completely agree, unlike some whose opinions differ personally really enjoy Scurll but the two things I really don't like are the use of that goofy finger breaking spot all the time and how terribly loose his chickenwing is. I mean Cena caught crap for years about his weak ass STF but Marty's glorified groping that he calls a chickenwing is just a real downer to end some matches. Like you mentioned guys like Danielson and Backlund made it look great and tight really getting it over as a devastating hold and guys from UWF like Fujiwara and Sayama did it well. Hell even Syxx in WCW had a much better looking one, *3:29 of this video shows a few.

Rah, since I don't know what services you have I've plucked a match from online. I don't know you well at all and I see you like Lucha, but since I know little about it I'm giving you Dan Severn vs Tarzan Goto for the NWA title at IWA KOTDM 08/20/1995.

I have the Steam version on PC and love it so far and I'll probably buy the PS4 copy as well because I'm a big Fire Pro mark but this NJPW license is great! such a big roster they can do and who knows maybe ROH or CMLL might also join in but even if it's just NJPW having licensed characters in Fire Pro is a cool evolution.

Thanks. I'll try to write it up later tonight. For you, I pick Io Shirai vs. Shayna Baszler from Stardom on 2/23/17. You had mentioned wanting to get into joshi, and I enjoyed this match quite a bit. https://rutube.ru/video/ad1961e437db7fd81e86d81f4cb2c6d2/ Finally got to sit down and watch you recommended match and wrote my first ever match review(man it was long writing when I got going haha) which I posted in the existing thread for this match, http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/37268-io-shirai-vs-shayna-baszler-stardom-022317/ Thanks for the recommendation and aside from the few complaints I had in my review I enjoyed this match and it makes me interested in checking out more STARDOM and current Joshi wrestling. I really like this "Secret Santo" idea and look forward to others reviews and hopefully making this an ongoing thing on the site, thanks again for the recommendation Nintendo Logic.

This is my first time ever reviewing a match with it being given to me as part of the what I believe has tentatively been dubbed "Secret Santo" match review trades. I am a longtime watcher of Pro Wrestling and aside from a few blindspots have a healthy knowledge about most of it. However Joshi(especially modern Joshi) is not one of them haha, but I've put it on my wrestling resolutions for 2018 to watch more Joshi so this is a good chance to get a start. So it begins and we see the introductions with STARDOM Champion Io in a tiger like mask being presented flowers from a small child...classy stuff, and Shayna gets the same so cool. I have been a fan of Shayna from her MMA days way back in EliteXC and her Catch roots with Barnett and Billy Robinson so seeing her here and in the MYC makes me glad she's come over to pro wrestling. The match begins and a nice Io chant from the crowd, Shayna almost arrogantly offers a handshake to which Io stoically stares at before slapping it away and throwing forearms at Shayna who responds with one of her own and then ducks behind Io to immediately threaten with a RNC displaying her submission background and ability to finish the match quickly which Io seems prepared for with a few counter roll throughs into pin attempts followed by a switch to a cross arm bar by Shayna that's also countered into a pin. Shayna kicks out of and they reset into a stand off with Shayna cockily smirking and finger wagging off Io's counters. So it's already established what each woman's strategy is with Shayna searching for a submission to exploit her skills and Io's pro wrestling expertise and experience showing she has ways of nullifying Shayna's immediate threats. They both now square up face to face with Io throwing some quick strikes and sending Shayna off the ropes, Shayna looks a bit clunky running the ropes but catches Io while coming off the ropes in a spinebuster/double leg pick up position and drops her flat with a safe looking slam to the mat before turning to the crowd to taunt with her Ace of Spades hand sign which elicits a fair reaction. Io gets up and charges Shayna only to be scooped up in a canadian backbreaker/dominator position before scrambling loose, hitting the ropes and getting caught flush with a solid looking knee to the face from Shayna with the referee checking on Io to see if she's knocked out. Shayna comes over and ties up Io on the mat with an armlock and works in some vicious looking wrist and finger wrenching as she's seemed to either decide she cannot catch a submission straight out on Io so quickly or she wants to inflict some punishment and malicious suffering or probably both, Billy Robinson would be proud. Io through screams manages to get her foot draped across the rope to cause a ropebreak showing her ring awareness and experience again but Shayna seems to not care too much as she flies in the face of the rules and wrenches Io's arm with an armbreaker type move before releasing Io for the ropebreak. From here we get a lengthy stretch of some great and vicious armwork by Shayna trying to destroy Io's arm with Io trying some spurts of a comeback even attempting a submission with Io applying an abdominal stretch on Shayna but due to the damage her arm has already suffered is quickly stopped and countered by Shayna. Shayna get's Io back on the mat flat on her back and folds her arm upwards under itself beside Io's head and unleashes a brutal stomp to the elbow which has Io screaming in pain and rolling towards the ropes with the referee on top of her checking to see if she can continue. Shayna makes a rookie mistake and decides to pose on the mat before following up looking again for the RNC she tried earlier on but due to the late follow up and despite the arm damage Io is still able to counter throwing some elbows behind her and running the two back first into the corner. Here Shayna scales the ropes and is seated on the top turnbuckle and grabs the RNC successfully getting it and hoisting a kicking and struggling Io off her feet in the choke but due to her poor positioning being sat on the ropes, Shayna is forced to break by the referee after ignoring the count for a few seconds then making another rookie mistake in arguing and jaw jacking with the official and not following up. During all this Io summons a burst of energy and catches a distracted Shayna with a springing dropkick that staggers Shayna still seated on the top rope and Io follows up with a super hurricanrana and fires up to the cheers of the crowd. With Shayna staggered to the floor Io perches herself on top the top rope in the corner and lands a gorgeous looking cross body dive to the floor on Shayna. Io then follows up with grabbing a chair from ringside and lacing Shayna's head through the set up chair on while Shayna is on all fours. Io comes running and dropkicks Shayna's trapped head, Io then folds the chair and brutally smashes it across the back of a prone Shayna followed by the crowd again chanting Io's name. Io then takes Shayna back into the crowd a length and whips her into a barricade and leaves her in the seats before heading back into the ring. Here a countout is teased with Shayna's now damaged back hindering her ability to get back to the ring but after some struggling and falling she makes it in at the count of 19! Io unlike Shayna's mistake earlier is immediately attacking Shayna's damaged back with double stomps and the like before slapping on the crossface which Shayna writhes in before getting to the ropes. As Shayna is draped over the middle rope trying to get back to her feet, Io follows up with a tiger feint kick/619 and then a beautiful springboard drop kick to Shayna's damaged back. A follow up double knees to the back in the corner on Shayna gets Io a near fall, then as Io scales the ropes Shayna gets a surge of energy of her own and despite twinges of pain lands a top rope gutwrench suplex combo into another gutwrench suplex on the mat which garners Shayna a near fall of her own. They both struggle to their knees, then feet all the while exchanging forarms and strikes with Shayna showing superior ability but with Io firing up and challenging her to bring it on. Shayna obliges and unleashes some vicious looking kicks climaxing with a brutal kick to Io's arm that sends her down and crawling to the corner in pain but Shayna again doesn't immediately follow up but now more due to her obviously badly hurt back. Shayna shouts something in Japanese and charges at Io in the opposite corner across the ring with a knee strike attempt but unlike the success she found with the first one earlier in the match she only hits the corner pad and is scooped up from behind with a slight hesitation German suplex from Io which gets another nearfall but is immediately countered by Shayna threatening a double wristlock! Io fights it and struggles making the ropes, then after a moment of disappointment washing over Shayna she immediately brings Io to her feet and nails her with a powerful headkick knocking Io to the mat. Not enough for Shayna's liking as she scoops Io up and hoists her into a vertical suplex into the falcon arrow which lands Io right into her RNC dead in the center of the ring. Io struggles to escape as Shayna squeezes and the crowd starts chanting again for Io. Io seemingly passes out and the referee instead of calling it appeals to Shayna to release the hold and attempt a pinfall? Shayna foolishly obliges and Io kicks out at 2.9 to Shayna's shocked expression. The referee checks on Io and looks over to her seconds before Shayna looks in both of their directions and points and shouts something I couldn't hear and brings Io back to her feet. Shayna unleashes a brutal looking stike combo and finishes with a solid gut punch that sends Io back to the canvas and is admonished by the referee for the fist. She argues with him for a bit before nudging him aside just as Io comes charging with a jumping headbutt, followed up by another doublestomp to the back and then a perfect top rope moonsault to the back for a nearfall that again upon the kickout is immediately countered with the threat of the double wristlock from Shayna. Shayna keeps trying to lock it up and extend it but her damaged back keeps her from bridging or applying much torque, Shayna switches to the armbar from bottom as Io stands up and this allows Io to counter by applying the Texas cloverleaf to Shayna's crossed legs and tries to force her to submit. Despite the damage of her back Shayna refuses to submit and Io frustratingly lets go of the hold as her arm is still damaged from earlier and she cannot seem to apply enough force. Io again tries applying a waist lock to set up another German suplex but Shayna defends attacking Io's damaged arm and again threatening with the double wristlock. Io defends and counters back tying up Shayna's arms for a straight jacket German suplex that looks graceful and impactful at the same time. Then Io struggling with her bad arm to drag Shayna scoops her up and delivers a perfect tombstone piledriver followed by springing up to the top rope for another final perfect moonsault for the 3 count with Shayna just missing a kickout after 3. So Io retains and I've seen my first full length STARDOM match. Overall I enjoyed it as the execution of the work and story telling was solid although there were some blemishes with Shayna being a bit green in spots and at times it felt like Shayna was trying to work toward 2 different objectives(gaining her RNC or the double wristlock) which at times seemed counter productive to each other and felt like they got a bit lost in the shuffle although from a kayfabe standpoint Shayna's inexperience could explain this as she isn't refined enough to stick to a definitive strategy with that combined with her arrogance and penchant for taunting cost her at key moments. The biggest damper of this match was the referee appealing to Shayna to relase her RNC when it was locked in and appeared to have the champion unconscious for that pinfall attempt that led to Io recovering and going on to win. Unless there is some Joshi rule or trope as to why the choke would need to be released I absolutely didn't get this and thought it made Shayna look like a moron and really didn't fit with her arrogant and confrontational demeanor with the referee in all their previous interactions in the match. So if I were to score it I'd say it was ***1/4 and definitely worth checking out as it makes me even more interested in checking out more STARDOM and more modern Joshi.

I'd just close the door... But in all seriousness I'd probably end up taking option 1 as there is a lot more wrestling available for viewing than ever before so who can imagine what the future holds. Also I've seen a good share but nowhere near all the classic stuff I've wanted so I could still see lots of awesome classics at least the one time without burning through everything too quickly at the pace I watch wrestling. This concept seems like a Black Mirror concept for those who are fans of that show where everything new you could see but by way of some sort of punishment everything you've already seen is blacked or censored out forever haha.

Alright for Nintendo Logic for an easy test run and since we both have NJPW World I've chosen Yamada vs Funaki 12.27.1987 which I just watched myself and enjoyed. https://njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00081_1_2

I was browsing some of Scott Keith's Blog of Doom where he reviews old issues of The Observer and came across this tidbit regarding The Bulldogs/Rougeau issue, " The Bulldogs and Rougeaus got into a big backstage fight over an incident where Jacques shaved the head of a friend of the Bulldogs, which Dave finds ironic since the Bulldogs did that kind of shit all the time (most notably to Joey Marella and Outback Jack). However, their friend was a ring attendant with Down’s Syndrome, so that’s pretty uncool of the Rougeaus. This led to Dynamite Kid cleaning Raymond’s clock, and of course things would escalate between them VERY quickly." I'd never heard this so does anyone else have any info? it's from the 10.12.88 issue.