G. Badger

Wanted to give a little update as I didn't post last week and probably won't tomorrow. Just a little burnt out and probably going to put the GAEA project on pause. It's way bigger than I originally intended and has taken me off schedule (along with other stuff). So long as the poster on YouTube still has them up I'll definitely finish up 1999. My intention is to make it to 2001 but don't want to get ahead of myself. I'll probably tip toe back into wrestling with some TNA as I tend to do. I'd like to get to AJPW 1985 for August as originally intended. I think my original plans were too lofty (like GAEA) and can see that flaming out before I get back in the saddle. So I might scale that back to something manageable. Thanks for reading and sorry if you were waiting for GAEA '99. I will get to it It looks really good on paper.

Here we are with Part #3 of the very best of GAEA. We are looking at '98 which features a lot of Meiko Satomura and not so much Chigusa Nagayo. Don't think that's intentional just Meiko along Sonoko Kato seem to be the featured in the best stuff. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato (01/15/98): Great match with Satomura and Kato getting plugged into the LCO vs young team equation. So this is very much Mita and Shimoda's match with the youngster team hanging on for dear life. They do really well down the stretch and get a couple great near falls. Mayumi Ozaki & Sugar Sato vs. Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato (01/19/98): Good to very good stuff but I only saw 10 of 20 minutes. I thought Ozaki was best here. Quebrada rated this higher than the LCO match but, I think I preferred the other one. Although Ozaki is the best overall performer in the 2 matches. Satomura and Kato have a good team going but in some ways they're a little too similar in size, speed and style. Maybe Chigusa wanted a new Crush Gals but I think I would prefer a little more variety from them. Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada (02/22/98): 13 of 16 minutes. This was a real good one with the girls having help from Oz and Hokuto on the outside. I like the teams because each one brings a little something different. Kaoru and Yamada both bled but had tons of fight in them. So the intensity was appreciated. One small complaint is that this didn't seem to have a ton of structure and that could be said of all of the tags so far. The brawling style seems to have taken over GAEA. But the first match was LCO and these other two were Ozaki and her crew so that's to be expected. Yamada was a badass here. Sugar Sato vs Meiko Satomura (03/15/98): Intense as all hell. No commentary so you can really hear how hard they're hitting. 10 1/2 minutes of Joshi WAR-style. Really dug this match. Shown in full. Nice to see a singles match again Sonoko Kato & Meiko Satomura vs Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima (GAEA 3/29/98): 7 of 14 minutes. This was a good little tag match. I question their judgement on a couple spots because I really don't think they made sense. Sugar Sato had a couple moments where I had to rewind the video to see what happened and why. I'm going to have to disagree with this being a great match at least for what I saw. This is one where I'm like " they needed a veteran in there with them." KAORU & Meiko Satomura vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Sonoko Kato (06/21/98): Shown in full. Under the radar great match! The story of Kato vs Satomura is a good one and is at the heart of the match. They kept this simple but it kept building up incrementally that by the end they had something really special. The pairings work out much better as Kato and Satomura need a veteran to be anchored to even though they've become real stars in their own way. Yamada gets hit hard in the face by Meiko and just teaches her a lesson (without going too far)_the rest of the bout. And no brawling here, yay! Meiko Satomura vs Sonoko Kato (GAEA 08/23/98): We get a couple jumps ahead and are missing a little under a third of the match but this is awesome stuff. An intense and grueling fight between GAEA's two top homegrown stars. This is proof that these two should be in opposite corners. Absolutely wish we had the full thing as I'd be more confident calling this a classic but I'm going with that rating. As you've read, it's been the focus of the first half of the year, the tag above sets this up wonderfully and we get a excellent match with great action, fantastic exhaustion, selling and Chigusa at ringside has a smirk of reserved happiness at the end. Shit if she's happy then I'm happy too! No one liked it as much as I have but, I bought what the wrestlers were selling. Having focus on GAEA these past few weeks, the significance of a battle like this is not lost upon me. I think this is a good example of how GAEA is different than AJW. In some ways this feels more organic. This match especially. I think where this match loses people is that it doesn't tell the story the way they would have wanted it. This fight was more about a rite of passage and growth than "may the best woman win." This could have been that traditional classic empty the tanks match but the story they are telling is based around how young these two are and how they have fought against and alongside one another. It is more about their evolution. Or that's how I'm looking at it Aja Kong vs Toshiyo Yamada (11/23/98): They went absolutely all out for this and it paid off! They were pulling out moves I don't know if I've ever seen them do. And not in a cheesy way like you see nowadays Both wrestled this match with a purpose. I like that Kong did not take Yamada lightly while also not necessarily treating her as an equal. Similarly Yamada knew that Kong was dangerous but not someone she couldn't handle as long as she stayed ahead of. Mainly a traditional match but there's some fighting in the crowd but Aja does it right. She uses this to try and hurt her opponent and not do signature "brawling spots" like we see Mita & Shimoda do on occasion. Overall this was pretty special and Yamada and Kong feel like old friends to me so it was great to see them put on a battle. Near classic match. Definitely watch this AFTER the tag match. Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Meiko Satomura (12/27/98): About 11 minutes of a 16 minute match. This was pretty good especially when it looked like Yamada and Satomura had a shot. This was dominated by Aja & Ozaki for the most part but it was just so entertaining. I watched this before the above Aja vs Yamada match as I felt like it sets that up but you watch it in what ever order you like! Big post match moment that sets the stage for 1999 and beyond. I don't think '98 had any big time match recommendations. If anything I think a lot of what I read had a middle of the road vibe. 1998 was excellent to me and more of what 1997 GAEA delivered. I really dug the Kato/Satomura stuff and their singles encounter was fantastic and an excellent bit of storytelling. I'm liking KAORU despite others opinions so that's been a nice surprise. She adds a bit of the high flying in a promotion that is more on the Chigusa-shoot-brawl side of things. Thanks for reading folks!

I'm back with part #2 of the Very Best of GAEA. This time we're looking at 1997 which is a big year in Joshi. The whole landscape changes and you'll see that here with more familiar faces from AJW. Akira Hokuto & Toshie Uematsu vs KAORU & Kiyoko Ichiki (01/19/97): Wow! That was awesome! For a good portion there they had a classic match on their hands. Things got a little loose with the younger wrestlers towards the end (disruption to the flow and not so much unforgivable sloppiness) but I'd still say a near classic. Akira Hokuto was indeed the Dangerous Queen. It felt like a lost AJW upper midcard match from 1995 in all of the best ways. Thanks to Jetlag for adding it to the Match Discussion Archive! Shown in full. KAORU & Meiko Satomura vs Akira Hokuto & Sonoko Kato (03/15/97): The poster on YouTube has this as 04/29 but that's the date it aired and not the event date. 17 minutes long and shown in full. This was a,great tag match and another one for these four (12/13/96) and Hokuto & Jr. partner vs KAORU & Jr. Partner is a winning combination. This told a great story with Kato getting her arm injured and having to tough it out. KAORU and Satomura isolated her but there's no way either could fully handle Hokuto. But all it takes is one solid arm bar. Excellent timing and build again from these ladies. Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima & Rieko Amano (Oz Academy) vs. Yuka Shiina (AJW) & Kanako Motoya (JWP) & Yuko Kosugi (Jd')(07/19/97). What started out as just a fun up-and-coming 6 woman match turned into something really good. For a period it felt like one of those Dragon Gate 6 mans in ROH. Just so much stuff was happening! I think that also hurt it as I'm not familiar with everyone and wasn't necessarily rooting for any team of even remembering who is on each team at times. That said there were a couple clips and maybe only half was shown. So it's hard to say what this would be like in full. Toshie Uematsu vs Yoshiko Tamura (07/19/97): Great match for the WCW Women's Cruiserweight Title. Remember that title? Me neither. Doesn't matter because they wrestled like this was for something way more prestigious. Toshie Uematsu has grown on me and she is really good here just selling her ass off. She is an excellent spunky babyface. Tamura who is from AJW has some good submission moves and essentially is the a heel here if only because she's from another company. The fact that they are wrestling at such a high level is quite surprising given their few years of experience. That's what really drives this into great match territory. It reminded me of early JWP at times with its sense of urgency, turning one move into another on the mat, great selling, and great action. I do recommend watching a little Toshie Uematsu beforehand as it helps you understand her as a babyface. With that dynamic, her selling of the story excels and match really delivers.Thankfully shown in full. Folks doing the year book for '97 loved it and a few probably had this as a classic. Independently, Quebrada gave it ***1/2. I won't go that high or that low but if you're reading this then you probably should check it out! Chigusa Nagayo & Akira Hokuto vs KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada (08/30/97): Great under 10 minute match shown in full. KAORU & Toshiyo Yamada jump their opponents at the the bell and have an awesome offensive flurry. Chigusa and Hokuto weather the storm as they've been through ring wars. The mount their counter attack in equally exciting fashion. Yamada and KAORU have had her own battles so this is no walk in the park for either team. This is just a bomb throwing blast. Meiko Satomura vs. Kyoko Inoue (09/20/97) : Here Kyoko has left AJW but isn't with NEO. Also her outfit is neon rainbow colored and I had to look away a couple times as it was giving me a headache! Anyhow this is joined in progress but we seem to get 9 of 16 minutes. It's good stuff too. Satomura does a great job going after Kyoko's arm. It's unfortunate that Kyoko doesn't really sell it as much as she could have and there's not much drama for me as a result. That said this isn't a battle of peers. Kyoko hits a killer lariat and the finishing couple of moves are brutal but I can't say this was a great match. Having the first 7 minutes skipped is probably what did that. There's no introduction to the story. It's like coming into a movie after missing nearly the first half. It did seem to have a great atmosphere and both wrestlers put in the work. Satomura definitely looked like she belonged in the ring with Kyoko due to her intensity and toughness. Inoue in turn helped sell that and took a lot of punishment to show Meiko is a young force to be reckoned with. Chigusa Nagayo vs Aja Kong (09/20/97): Shown in full. This was an under 10 minute match. It was very good stuff as they did a heavyweight sprint with Aja opening with her spinning back fist. Everything was fought with intensity and heart. I really enjoyed their work together. They are very similar in size, ability and standing so it feels like a clash of titans. Had this gone on a minute or two longer, it would have been a great match. I felt the finish came too quickly but it is better business to leave'em wanting more, I suppose. Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs Aja Kong & Toshie Uematsu (11/18/97): Oh shit! That was great! One thing I appreciate about these GAEA matches is the intensity. Satomura and Kato have to straight up stiff Aja Kong to even get her to slow down. The seeds for the much praised Aja vs Satomura program may be laid here. Kong knocks Meiko silly at ring side but the youngster won't quit. In general that everything else felt very competitive and organic. I really dug how moves were cut off midstream but then became something completely different. If they were planned sequences then they were very subtle choices and well executed. Unfortunately only 9 of 17 minutes were shown but unlike the Meiko vs Kyoko match you don't NEED to see that first half to "get it." It's like never seeing Terminator 2 but then jumping in midway. You can pick up the vibe right away and enjoy it until the end. Just wish we had this in full. I'm not sure I've seen this recommended elsewhere. Hokuto & KAORU & Nagashima vs. Chigusa & Yamada & Sonoko Kato (12/27/97): What started out as just a fun match turned out to be a very good one! Nice interactions but Yamada vs KAORU felt like the focus. It was weird having the teams as they were since what I saw in 1997 had some of the folks in different corners. Something storyline wise must have gone down. Very nice end to the year! Shown in full. 1997 is a really good year in my view. As I said in the previous post, I don't think it'll unseat AJW in terms of high end match quality but it sure as hell is an excellent promotion. I really dig the homegrown talent mixing it up with the veterans. And its just a lot of fun finding all of this "new" stuff.

The fact that they are wrestling at such a high level is quite surprising given their few years of experience. That's what really drives this into great match territory. It reminded me of early JWP at times with its sense of urgency, turning one move into another on the mat, great selling, and great action. I do recommend watching a little Toshie Uematsu beforehand as it helps you understand her as a babyface. With that dynamic, her selling of the story excels and match really delivers. It's a great match but not a classic to me. Still absolutely recommended!

I am really glad to be watching more Joshi this year. I got burntout/jaded a few years back when watching some of the 1996 AJW tag matches with Double Inoue and my 1997 AJW DVD purchases weren't exactly as expected. See the previous post. So I just turned of the whole thing for years. I'd watch a match here and there but other than a couple odds & ends matches, I figured I'd seen what I wanted. Clearly this year, I've found out that I was wrong. 1997, 2000-01 AJW, Megumi Kudo, 1990-91 JWP have all produced excellent stuff and been absolutely worthwhile. These projects have turned me onto more vintage Joshi that I have overlooked. In a way each one has inspired me to go a little further out of my late 80s-1996 AJW comfort zone. The convenience of having this stuff on YouTube and a fast& reliable internet connection (finally) has helped immensely. That said, I am trying to cut down the amount of internet-only wrestling that I watch. I'm trying to supplement projects with these rather than base whole posts on them. However, this project is one that I've had in mind since January and this puppy is all online. GAEA is a promotion that I totally bypassed in my joshi DVD buying phase. On paper the roster is there with many of the top AJW women being freelance or having their own promotions. Using Quebrada's reviews (and our opinions matched most of time back then), I felt it was kinda like late stage WCW. The roster looked good but in the ring, it was another thing - past their prime, disinterested, disregarded etc. Basically, it was nothing I wanted to spend my time and money on when I had very little of either. Now if I had a faster internet connection, I might have given it a shot I spent like an hour loading and watching Ozaki vs Kansai '95 street fight in chunks. Anyway, that was then and this is now. I'm planning on watching the very best of GAEA over the next few weeks. I'm using Quebrada's reviews as well matches from the PWO yearbooks/Match Discussion Archives with emphasis given to Zenjo, Jetlag, Loss & PeteF3's lists/reviews. They all go way deeper in the Match Discussion Archives, so go check out their posts. Use the Gaea tab or search by date. I'm also doing a couple personal picks and am ultimately limited to what's available. I'm primarily using one account but it appears to be completely devoted to GAEA and most of the ones that were selected are available. I'm trying for full versions but if they're joined in progress, I'll note it. GAEA and other companies seemed to make this a practice in the late 90's. So this is my interpretation of what could be considered the cream of the crop. Mayumi Ozaki & Devil Masami vs. Dynamite Kansai & Chigusa Nagayo (04/15/95): This is the most ECW match I have ever seen... in all of the best ways. It's the greatest theorhetical ECW match. The energy is through the roof. The wrestling is there. The history & intensity is there. But where this excels is the old AJW Dump era sense of utter chaos. Chains, blood, chairs, the ring ropes are torn down, the audience is freaking out, the seconds for Chigusa are losing it, its fantastic if you're into that kind of stuff. An all time classic in my book. This is just about shown in full with a couple seconds cut out here and there early on for some reason. Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo - Street fight (09/17/95): 21 minutes of a 25 minute battle. I wish we could have seen the first few minutes as Ozaki is already bleeding. This is a pretty good hardcore match and is more in line with what you'd actually get with an ECW match on most occasions especially around this time. There was choking with the bull rope and the chain. There was some kinda uneventful brawling in the crowd, a couple neat spots with the tables. Honestly there rope and chain stuff didn't really do much for me since they never were attached to each other so you don't have the great dynamics of a dog collar or bull rope match. If you think I'll hype anything that is "ECW-like" then let this be an example against that belief. While the first match was the unintended accomplishment of the Platonic ideal of ECW hardcore wrestling by 4 Japanese women then this is the achievement of a real mid 90's ECW main event. It ain't bad and there's plenty to like but doesn't live up to the awesome set up match on 04/15. We're on to 1996! Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Sonoko Kato & Toshie Uematsu (09/16/96): Ambitious yet rough around the edges. These 4 were main eventing and worked their asses off. Tons of potential. Good match at ***1/2 probably. Akira Hokuto vs. Meiko Satomura (11/16/96): Hell yes! That was a sweet match for an Akira Hokuto fan. But credit is due to both ladies. Hokuto gave Meiko a good portion of her high end offense making the junior wrestler look tough (she is) and Meiko sold it wonderfully without looking like a tough chick with absolutely zero chance of winning. She got in some of her best stuff and absolutely put Hokuto in peril a couple times. Good stuff indeed and a good intro to Meiko Satomura for me. 12 minute match shown in full. Chigusa Nagayo vs Sonoko Kato (GAEA 11/16/96): 10 minutes shown of a 15 minute match. This was awesome intense stuff. Great technical beginning and shoot style flavor throughout. Kato has got so much heart and toughness going against Chigusa. A David and Goliath match done right. Very good stuff and looking forward to more Sonoko Kato. Sonoko Kato & Meiko Satomura vs. Akira Hokuto & KAORU (12/13/96): Joined in progress and we get 10 minutes of great tag wrestling. The timing here was impeccable on the spots. Kato & Satomura wrestle beyond their years. I definitely want to see more KAORU. She really impressed me here. Akira Hokuto can still go. I definitely slept on this portion of her career. That said, I'm pretty darn happy with what I've seen so far with GAEA. Not everything has been a classic and perhaps in comparison to AJW for '95 & '96's top matches that means GAEA is not worth the time. I disagree and I'm glad to have some new and exciting old Joshi to watch. I love Chigusa, Oz and Hokuto. The young wrestlers are super talented. So I'm looking forward to things getting better.

I think Abdullah the Butcher only had one match in ROH at Night of the Butcher in 2002. Seemed like an odd choice especially that early in the company's history. Jeff Hardy at Death Before Dishonor 2003. There's a bunch in early ROH especially from their short term partnerships with Zero One, AJPW and NJPW but those are probably more guest appearances for big shows. I swore Mick Foley only had 1 match in FMW on 05/05/96 but then it looks like he was in a 6 man match on 04/29/97. That's really weird to bring him over for a random 6 man since he was fully with WWF at that point. Curious if anyone knows why...it was with Funk so maybe they granted it as a favor as perhaps it was part of Funk's '97 retirement??? Similarly I thought Sabu had only 1 match in Michinoku Pro vs Jerry Lynn. But it looks like he had 1 more in '93 vs Terry Boy the very next night. Close but no cigar I guess. I wonder why since his style seems like a good fit.

All Japan Women's Wrestling in 1997 is something I've been interested in from a far. It features many matches that have been favorably reviewed but there's something very different than '92-'96 AJW. The roster is pretty similar but they're finally pushing some of their younger wrestlers to the top. Mima Shimoda and Etsuko Mita (Las Cachorras Orientales) go full heel and become the chair swinging baddies. Kaoru Ito and Tokoko Watanabe were always great in mid card tags and 6 mans are elevated as the baby faces along with the youngster Kumiko Maekawa...under the leadership of Yumiko Hotta who goes from sometime main eventer to champion. AJW needed some invigorating and this was how they did it. Aja Kong was retiring, Kyoko leaving and both starting their own promotions (Arsion & NEO). Their departures were the catalyst for a mini exodus (most notably Mariko Yoshida) and others including LCO would opt to become freelancers. Zenjo gives a great summary on the [1997-09-21-AJW-Wrestlemarinepiad IX] Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe (Cage) entry in the Match Discussion Archive/Yearbook. So there's a little background and really the reason I was so hesitant to get into 1997 AJW. That's to say, hesitant to make the financial commitment to buy (and wait for) DVDs at the height of my Joshi interest. Unlike '92-'96 AJW, there weren't those blockbuster events with multiple great or classic matches. The last solid good-old-days chunk of AJW shows appeared to be the summer of 1997. With the magic of the internet and couple of the DVDs I did buy, I finally want to take a look. The first few matches are from the 06/17/97 show. In some ways I'm not sure why I bought this DVD based on the above. I think I confused it for a commercial DVD that featured 06/17 & 06/18... CMLL World Women's Title: Mariko Yoshida vs. Rie Tamada: Good match where the excitement really came from the near falls. It wasn't a long match or anything but they packed a good bit in. Aja Kong & Takako Inoue & Momoe Nakanishi vs. Yumiko Hotta & Tokoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa: Pretty good match but the quality took a little drop when Takako was in there. Aja and Momoe was a pretty cool team.Tokoko Watanabe is pretty darn underrated and this match is a good example of that. She put in a ton of effort and put on the best performance overall. ----- Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada: A violent chaotic match. It started and stayed in top gear all match. This was good because it felt like a real fight with actual stakes. As a con this didn't maximize the drama. I believe this was a decision match to challenge for the tag titles so in that regard they needed to hold back a little and not empty their tanks like you know they can. Nevertheless this was a really good match between two of the best tag teams in AJW history. Their '95 match (iirc) is a classic and features less of the weapons/brawling that LCO are known for. ----- Kyoko Inoue vs. Kaoru Ito: This is for the vacant red belt. And they definitely bring it for the big title. Ito is coming into her own and is not to be taken lightly which Kyoko does early on. Once Ito starts with her stomps Inoue is in real trouble. Her selling of the pain has got to be legitimate. This is what makes this great as the former champion is in danger wherever she goes. She has got to find a way to stop the upstart Ito. I'm not always high on Kyoko but this is a strong performance from her. As a Kaoru Ito fan, I dug this Toyota & Yoshida vs. Hotta & Ito (06/18/97): Whew doggy! This was a great tag match. They just had such a good pace going. They kept building and building with great action. I felt Toyota vs Hotta was the very best stuff though. They were just so nasty with each other! Ito certainly tried her best to match her mentor. Mariko got better as the match went on as she didn't seem to gel with Ito this evening. Things eventually meshed and they were doing great stuff at the end. Las Cachorras Orientales vs. Watanabe & Maekawa (06/18/97): What a first fall! 9 minutes of joshi perfection..just telling a brutal story. Everything was on the beat so to speak. 2nd and third falls keep it up. It looks like bedlam. The bottom rope is broken, the one corner padding is off, sections of the guardrail are missing, 3 of the 4 women are bleeding. It is just so competitive & intense. It is absolutely captivating. This Joshi tag title fight is classic that hasn't gotten the praise it deserves. Seeing 06/18, I'm pretty sure I thought both nights were on the DVD. That would have been one of awesome no-doubt DVD purchases. I think my disappointment that 06/18 wasn't on there is what motivated me to pack the 06/17 DVD away for 7 years. I'm not going to re-watch and review the following but, I highly recommend both as they are classics. The tag match is an all time classic to me. The singles match might be the best singles match of AJW '97. This was one of those must buy DVDs... Kaoru Ito vs Manami Toyota (08/09/97) Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue (08/09/97) Aja Kong vs Manami Toyota (08/20/97): This starts out as a very good match that in some ways is a bit light hearted and nostalgic. Don't get me wrong. They are still going at it but there's moments of humor and it's just fun to see two great rivals in the ring. They aren't trying to top their 11/94 classic. However, shit kicks into high gear and this isn't Aja & Toyota phoning it in. It's a great match with a super strong final 3rd. That final portion really kicks this into that near classic territory. We get some down right "Holy Shit!" moments. This looks like Aja's final match in AJW, it's a worthy swan song. LCO vs Maekawa & Watanabe (08/20/97): Super quick first fall. Fall #2 is the real start of the match. It's very good action. A good mix of LCO brawling/chair shots but mainly traditional joshi tag wrestling. Maekawa is off the hook with her kicks. And fall #3 has a similar vibe with some allusions to their awesome 06/18 bout. I've seen this rated in the classic ****1/2 range but it was a more tame version of the June match. I thought it was very good and if you've not seen 06/18 then I could see having a higher rating. Or maybe this is more your preference. Kyoko Inoue vs Yumiko Hotta (08/20/97): This was a great match! They told an excellent story. Kyoko has her usual power & high energy moves where Hotta is all about her kicks and submissions. You' ve seen this match up but Kyoko really sells the hell outta everything. It may be her best sell job that I can remember. She is selling everything that hurts- arm, legs, back. And Hotta is just vicious but not in a sadistic way. Now she is focused and measured in her strikes. It reminded me of Hashimoto to an extent. Clocking in around 15 minutes, this was the perfect amount of time for Kyoko & Hotta. There's no filler - this is all quality wrestling. And all that put together, this is a great title fight. Shoot, it's probably a near classic. Maybe it was just a different style than the typical AJW title bout but I just really appreciated the storytelling and excellent action that went along with it. 08/20 was one DVD on my "maybe buy one day" list. 03/26/95 Aja vs Toyota was such a letdown for me, I think I was very wary of assuming it was a sure thing. And then you have Maekawa & Watanabe vs LCO which was an untested/unproven match up and finally Kyoko vs Hotta which on paper could be all wrong. I'm pretty darn happy that I finally saw these and my expectations were exceeded. Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue vs Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita (08/22/1997): So from what I can tell this is Kyoko's final match as an AJW wrestler. And its a great one! Mima & Etsuko have their work cut out for them facing two former Red belt champions. They hold their own pretty damn well (those chairs seem to help!). As this is only one fall things do not get as crazy as it could (or its a non title match). It's a bit more of a match that Toyota would have... so no scissors or too much fighting in the crowd...but LCO still do their thing...I mean they have to try and put either Kyoko or Toyota down with something, right? The wrestlers don't go for broke and Toyota does kinda brush some stuff off a little too quickly, otherwise it could have been another classic. As it is though, it is a great match. 1997 Kyoko may renewed my good opinion of her. Manami Toyota vs Yumiko Hotta (09/21/97): This is a great title fight that demands your patience and attention. It is slower paced, there are actual wrestling holds, and this is not just a long sprint or a few holds in the beginning then we run into fireworks. This reminded me almost of a shorter version of Inoki vs Fujinami 08/88..or maybe Inoki Strong Style. I think that's Hotta's style as champ. I can see not being down for that back in the late 90's when we all wanted the envelope to get pushed in terms of moves, stunts etc. But it's been 20+ years of that. Maybe because I am getting older but I appreciate these slower burning matches more. Here we have two with a history but not necessarily rivals fighting for the Red belt. It is sorta showing that the heart of AJW is still beating. ----- The culmination of the summer (of LCO) is the cage match vs Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe (09/21/97). This is one you definitely need to check out if only the last 5 minutes. I have like 70% of the match on DVD which I watched but was super bummed when the video from the VHS just runs out...not that I didn't know how it ends. To be honest,I am not a fan of this match as a whole however I think it's a fantastic way to blow off the feud plus the last 5 minutes are absolutely wild and worth you seeing. Some folks consider it an all time classic and you may too so don't just listen to me I can't end it there though so we're going to dip into October '97. I believe this is the final LCO as AJW roster members. Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs Kumiko Maekawa & Momoe Nakanishi (WWWA Tag Titles) 10/18/1997: You've got a great story baked into this match. Momoe is an underdog just based on her size but in '97 she's not made any big waves just yet. But never ever count her out. Momoe's speed and body control adds a whole new dimension to the LCO match formula. Maekawa on the other hand is very familiar with LCO and she's got a pin on one of 'em. She doesn't offer a ton of variety in her attacks but her kicks are absolutely dangerous. Someone in the YouTube comments said that they're no match for Mita & Shimoda but I disagree. And this match is the fucking' proof. This 2/3 falls match is a sneak peek of the awesome stuff they would do in 2000 & '01. Near classic match. Here are my quick thoughts on some the wrestlers for the summer of 1997. Aja Kong: Awesome as ever. 3 matches, 2 are must see. Kaoru Ito: Absolutely agree with her getting pushed. Kumiko Maekawa: Very surprised how good she was in 97. Maybe better in 97 than later? Kyoko Inoue: Redeemed herself w/ these matches. The excesses of '96 tag matches are gone. Momoe Nakanishi: Is already very exciting to watch. Surprisingly not squashed this early. Tomoko Watanabe: Sort of a poor man's Kyoko yet no ego as a result. Just a ton of fight. Yumiko Hotta: Perhaps Aja and Yamada had to leave to have the aura/match style she needed? Definitely feels like a champ. In terms of big match quality, AJW could still deliver. The under card I can't speak much about. That in mind, a big thanks to the folks that have posted these online for everyone to enjoy. It has been really fun to finally be able to watch this stuff I've been wanting to see for well over a decade. If you're like "WTF dude!? It's not that hard to come by." Then I say "Screw Off buddy! I got my own way of doing things. " Maybe you're the same if you're reading about 26 year old Japanese women's wrestling Thanks for reading!

The Feb 2015 match vs Tanaka has just been posted on YouTube. Big thanks to them for posting, whoever you are!

They told an excellent story. Kyoko has her usual power & high energy moves where Hotta is all about her kicks and submissions. You' ve seen this match up but Kyoko really sells the hell outta everything. It may be her best sell job that I can remember. She is selling everything that hurts- arm, legs, back. And Hotta is just vicious but not in a sadistic way. Now she is focused and measured in her strikes. It reminded me of Hashimoto to an extent. Clocking in around 15 minutes, this was the perfect amount of time for Kyoko & Hotta. There's no filler - this is all quality wrestling. And all that put together, this is a great title fight. Shoot, it's probably a near classic. I was able to see the full match and maybe that's why I have a more favorable opinion. Or I think the year book format may not be the optimal way to watch wrestling. It seems like a recipe for burn out. That's hindsight obviously. This actually doesn't look to be Kyoko's final match as an AJW wrestler. She and Toyota fight LCO on 08/22/97. She comes back in '98 representing her NEO promotion.

This post came about by accident but it's been a fun one. KAI is one of my favorite new guys from watching 2010's AJPW. So here we're going to take a look at some of his bigger matches while in W-1. His arc here probably reflects his booking had Muto & his loyal pals not left and formed Wrestle-1. Anyhow all but the last match are readily available on the 'tube. Let's take a look vs Seiya Sanada (09/08/13): I think this might be clipped a few minutes based on the time they give at the end...hmm couldn't see a clip in the match anywhere. Regardless a very good match between the junior heavyweight styled heavyweights. My preference is with KAI who is much more like Misawa in that he backs up his fancier moves with very hard strikes. Sanada & he are similar in that they rely upon their big moves and aren't very adroit at filling the time in between. Kuroda from FMW is like this. They are fantastic complimentary players... excellent tag teamers and if they have a good opponent they can have a quality singles match. Sometimes give the right circumstance, a great or even classic one. As it stands, this is a pretty good 'round 10 minute match (or what's shown) with 2 guys doing their thing. Nothing wrong there vs Masakatsu Funaki (02/15/14): First 3-4 minutes Funaki blisters KAI with stiff as a starched shirt kicks to the legs and chest. Then absolutely blasts his arm and goes for the submission. KAI finds and opening, knocks the Pancrase legend to the floor and annihilates him with a fast as fuck tope! From there it is on like Donkey Kong. They just pound away at each other with hard slaps, elbows and kicks. They mix in the throws as well which all look fantastic. It's an under 10 minute match which plays to Funaki's style. KAI does a great job matching the stiffness and the intensity that the legend brings while still representing pro wrestling style. It reminds me a bit of late 80's NJPW UWF vs NJ...which Funaki was a part of :-) Anyhow Great match! If this were a TV match, you & your friends be super stoked to talk about it the next day at lunch! vs Manabu Soya (05/04/14): Hell yes, more Soya! This is pretty intense stuff. KAI who is clearly coming into his own is able to get the advantage on the muscular caveman. Eventually that caveman has got to eat and locks KAI into a vicious Boston crab...like Boston crab that is folding up KAI. Holy cow! Then things really get good as the two guys start laying into each other. That's Soya's strength as he's kinda W-1's version of Daisuke Sekimoto. KAI as I've mentioned is down to throw some strikes. It's what locks this in as a great 15 minute match. I mean those lariats...man, it's been awhile since I've seen some Kensuke style lariats. But KAI's kicks to the head are no joke either. It is absolutely what I wanted out of a KAI vs Manabu Soya match. vs Yuji Hino (05/22/14): Man! KAI vs another gorilla and you know what? It's another great match! Hino is like Juggernaut or Rhino if you read comics. And that is what makes him a great character wrestler. He's got this full speed ahead unstoppable brute thing going for him. That really makes KAI shine as the babyface because he gets wrecked here. Chest scar opened up, bruised pecs, just looks demolished. He keeps fighting though. Like Soya or maybe even moreso he can't lift this human tank up without a struggle. So his high damage moves are not as easy to pull off. So we get the most unique match so far. That said its mainly macho he-man chops, elbows so if you're not interested then, you might not enjoy it. It's Yuji Hino so you know that going in though right? Under 15 minute match. Masato Tanaka vs KAI (11/01/14): A good kinda by the book 2010's match that really turned up the heat for the last 3-4 minutes. The last 3 minutes are exactly what I wanted for the whole match. The match is only 12ish minutes so it's something that they could have done. Instead we get too many elbow or chop trading segments. This is disappointing considering Tanaka brings much more to the table than Hino for instance. He eventually gets there but I would have much rather see them exchange holds or done a more intense brawling type feeling out opening. If this had a more spirited beginning then settled down into a good middle and finally ramped up the great finish then this would have been a very good match maybe borderline great. The pedestrian start just set a dull tone unfortunately. KAI vs Masato Tanaka (02/13/15): I just happen to have the rematch on DVD so I watched this right afterwards. And Tanaka is a pro, a vet and a great wrestler...he fixed most of what didn't work and made this a very good match. Perhaps a great one at 12 minutes. There's a little bit of a story. They play off the previous match. The strike exchanges have a purpose or a direction and are kept to a minimum. Instead they focus on their spots that worked from the above fight, added a couple new ones and kept the length the same. It's a tuned up version of the November match. Perhaps a little too similar if you've watched them minutes apart like me. But if you've got to watch one, have it be this one! If you're interested then you got to check out a match or two. KAI definitely reminds me of a younger Tanaka in the sense of his big heart, his toughness and his ability to go from 0-60mph in 3 seconds. I know in his matches vs Tanaka were just a few years earlier they would have been **** great bouts. Check that last one might actually be a **** (It was kinda unfair of me to immediately watch the rematch). Anyhow, check out some KAI in W-1! Thanks for reading folks! I appreciate it!

This is an intense battle. Joe just does not mind beating the hell outta Shiozaki..and of course he doesn't mind giving it back. He can't keep up due to the size difference and must use his kicks and other maneuvers to wear the champ down. Doering is like a tank and just takes a heap of punishment and keeps moving forward. Boyh guys did an amazing job selling the exhaustion and pain. It was probably real! I don't think it's at the same level as their 2014 bout but this is a near classic battle without a doubt.

I've had some solid themes for the past few months but June sort of ended up being a time that I am using to handle a bunch of single show projects. This is in an effort to actually work my way through my backlog of DVDs. Here we take a look at the AJPW show from 01/02/15. It's my lone DVD for AJ 2015. Kotaro Suzuki & Ryuji Hijikata vs. Masanobu Fuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru - There's a couple matches before this but this is the real start of the show. Fast paced opening with Kanemaru & Kotaro. This is only a tease as most of the match focuses on old man Fuchi getting his bad back pummeled. As someone with a bad back, I can really feel those kicks and elbows. It's a real fun match though. ----- Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato vs. Keisuke Ishii & Soma Takao - This is more of your junior tag match with a bunch of action. It's under 8 minutes though and ends sooner than I thought. Fun nonetheless. We're off to a good start! SUSHI, Ultimo Dragon & Zeus vs. Akebono, Shigehiro Irie & Yutaka Yoshie: A fun match which wasn't a surprise. Zeus really took this seriously which helped especially at the end. We get the fat guy spots and if this was Irie vs Zeus this could have been pretty cool. ----- (Battle Royal) Akebono vs. Atsushi Aoki vs. Hikaru Sato vs. Kotaro Suzuki vs. Masanobu Fuchi vs. Naoya Nomura vs. Ryujii Hijikata vs. Shigehiro Irie vs. Soma Takao vs. SUSHI vs. Takeshi Minamino vs. Ultimo Dragon vs. Yohei Nakajima vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Yuma Aoyagi vs. Zeus - I skipped this. They're a bit of fun but seeing as everything has been fun, I want to get to the more serious stuff. Joe Doering & Suwama vs. Go Shiozaki & Kento Miyahara: Here we go! A very good match that just scrapes at the surface at what they can do. That said everyone brings it here and was pretty surprised at how stiff it got at times. Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori vs. KENSO & Mitsuya Nagai: Oh man what a finish! I was nervous that this wouldn't top the previous match but man this was a great tag match. Dark Kingdom's heeling is just right without being cheap or annoying. Omori & Akiyama really put the effort in and it shows. Akiyama may have knocked KENSO out for a sec with one of his knee strikes but shoot everyone was on point frankly. KENSO and Omori chopped each other red..It was well paced and had the right amount of everything. 16 minute match and you might think that's too brief, it was just right. KENSO vs Wada ------ Now that's not going to be my main event as the next night features a rematch of my Best Match Watched of 2022...I had to go online for this one. Go Shiozaki vs Joe Doering (01/03/15): First off, K-Hall is way more packed for night#2. And for good reason! This is an intense battle. Joe just does not mind beating the hell outta Shiozaki..and of course he doesn't mind giving it back. He can't keep up due to the size difference and must use his kicks and other maneuvers to wear the champ down. Doering is like a tank and just takes a heap of punishment and keeps moving forward. Boyh guys did an amazing job selling the exhaustion and pain. It was probably real! I don't think it's at the same level as their 2014 bout but this is a near classic battle without a doubt. Excellent stuff and it's online on the 'tube so if you're looking for a heavyweight title fight, I recommend you don't skip this one. Very very good stuff for sure! I am a little bummed that this concludes my look into AJPW of the 2010's. Obviously there's more out there but it's be a trip going through stuff relatively blind. Many of the shows I bought had zero or maybe one recommendation and I just guided myself. You may laugh but based on the money spent and the wait for the DVDs, it was a commitment. Not like just popping on YouTube and watching shit risk free :-) When I bought most of these (which was *ahem* more a few years ago now) I wasn't watching as much online so my plan was to watch these a couple years later not 8 years later. Otherwise I bet I would have tried to get more...like the 2016 Champion Carnival is pretty sweet. I reviewed some of those in the Match Discussion Archives at the time. I'm rambling now. Summertime in my neighborhood sucks big time. And I'm just trying to talk about fun stuff rather than think how I can't wait for summer to be over. I can't be the only one, right? Anyhow, go watch Joe & Go beat each other up! Watch Akiyama & Omori do battle with KENSO & Nagai! You'll have a blast! Thanks for reading!

This is a small project that I've been pushing back for awhile. No big plans for June so let's take a look at the Briscoe Brothers in NOAH. Briscoes vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Takashi Sugiura (01/07/07): I'm not sure if the fans knew what to make of The Briscoes. This looks like it might be their first appearance in NOAH. They dominated the home team early on with their high energy offense and team work. Eventually the NOAH team has their chance for some payback. The fans are into this and on a spinning ddt, I think some believe the brothers are beaten. But you & I know that it's going to take more than that. We then get a really good final third and great ending. Overall it's a pretty good match. I think if the crowd was into this the entire time, I might put it around ***3/4. It definitely felt like 2 teams who never worked together BUT knew the spots and were technically proficient. I think there were some new Briscoe Brothers fans by the end of the match ----- Briscoes vs. Kota Ibushi & Naomichi Marufuji (07/01/07): Ambitious as hell but it totally nails it. You've got a young Ibushi and a young Mark so there's a lot of places this could fall apart but it doesn't. If anything it puts you on the edge of your seat and really pop when they hit their spots. An absolute upgrade from the first match and although this is on a comp, I've never seen this get the love it deserves. Near classic junior tag match! ----- Briscoes & Doug Williams vs. Misawa, Kanemaru & Suzuki (02/15/08): Really good 6 man match. All the interactions were fun. Obviously Misawa was limited but he still brought the goods during the team moves and once things started cooking. The Briscoe Brothers again were there to make a good impression. I got the vibe that fans were digging their athleticism and intensity. Doug Williams is always good to see as is Ogawa who I think would have been good in ROH vs Danielson '06-08. Anyhow, really enjoyed this! OK no Briscoes in this pic but c'mon its Doug Williams stretching Kotaro with Misawa & Ogawa in the background. ----- Briscoes & Chris Hero vs. KENTA, Akitoshi Saito & Taiji Ishimori (02/21/08): What a finish! Holy cow! Anyhow this was a great tag match. Everyone did just a little bit but it really amounted to a really enjoyable fight. This isn't my favorite period of Chris Hero but he really brings the goods here (no shenanigans). Although you think he'd match up with Saito based on his size but he pairs up with Ishimori and is an awesome base for the junior's flashy moves. Mark and Saito pair up and do some karate stuff that's a little comedy but eventually they gets some really good shots in. Then KENTA and Jay pair up but I never felt that they were in there as the legal man too long...KENTA especially. But his presence was definitely felt. Then a really awesome finish! ----- Briscoes vs. Marufuji & Suguira (03/02/08): Man, somehow they topped the finish from above. A true 'Holy Shit!' moment. This was more than just a finish for the ages. This was a classic match in the NOAH style. Junior style moves with a little bit slower pace...it reflected that this was NOT for the Jr. tag straps but the main GHC tag titles. That said there were all types of fireworks here. Only one slip as Mark nearly recreates Hayabusa's tragic lionsault. Thankfully he doesn't rotate and ends up doing a reverse flying headbutt instead. The red neck kung-fu master redeems himself and nails a beautiful top rope version that would make TAKA proud. So they were ambitious here but it all works. There's enough substance in between the big moves that this is more than just spots. And I think that is what makes this worthwhile. If you're a fan of the style then I think you ought to watch this. It may not have had the hype around it just like the Ibushi/Marufuji match above but its another feather in the Briscoes' cap. The Briscoe Brothers vs Katsu Nakajima & Kota Ibushi (09/06/08): Prematch worry: Let's see if Ibushi gets wacky. Match starts and they are pretty evenly matched. The Briscoes look fantastic with their rough house brawling. They do well in taking the Japanese team's offense...I say that considering the range in offense of their opponents. Really, both teams are leaving it all in the ring - I'm really impressed! This is 100% bananas. 16 minutes of insanity. If you're gonna do a Jr. sprint match, this is it! Classic, classic match in this style. As the kids say, OMFG! (this was back from a post in 2018 but its been so long its only right to include it here). And other than a couple singles matches with Jay and a couple tags I can't locate, that seems to be the entire Briscoe Brothers time in NOAH. Well...I thought that there would be more since NOAH and ROH had a pretty good relationship from 2006-2008. But I wonder what happened? Maybe it was all up to Misawa and once he died so did the relationship? Also you may have noticed I didn't include their bouts against Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin. I'm going to do those as part of a show review later Many of these are online so in honor of Jay, check 'em. Its been about six months since Jay Briscoe died in a car wreck. In some ways it feels like it happened years ago. So much has happened since then. I just want to do a little bit to keep his memory alive and preserve his legacy. Thank you Jay! OK everyone, stay safe and thank you for reading!

Here we are in June and it is time for the Best Matches Watched of 2023 so far. I've been trying to stick to different themes/projects each month so I thought it right to organize my list accordingly. If you want to go back and read the reviews then this should help you out. Plus there's a lot of very good and great matches you'll be able to explore as well. A plus sign (+) means its an all time classic match and a contender for Best Match Watched for '23. HM stands for Honorable Mention and is usually a near classic match (like ****1/4) and everything else is what I thought was a classic. So Honorable Mention to Classic to All Time Classic if its on a continuum. January Crush Gals vs. Jumping Bomb Angels (AJW 09/14/1987) Miss A & Harley Saito vs. Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama (JWP 10/10/90) HM Mariko Yoshida vs. Manami Toyota (AJW 08/30/92) Chigusa Nagayo vs. Mayumi Ozaki (JWP 05/22/94) Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP 05/22/94) +Ayako Hamada & AKINO vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda (ARSION 12/11/1999) + +Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi & Kaoru Ito vs. Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita & Kumiko Maekawa (AJW 12/9/00 - Cage Match) + Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi & Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita & Kumiko Maekawa - (AJW 2/28/01 - Elimination Match) Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe & Momoe Nakanishi (AJW 04/01/01) Momoe Nakanishi vs Kaoru Ito (AJW 07/08/01) February Masato Tanaka vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda (FMW 02/27/99) Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki vs Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda (FMW 03/19/99) March Eagle Sawai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito (JWP 04/26/91) HM Keiji Mutoh vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 02/24/2002) Genichiro Tenryu vs. Satoshi Kojima (AJPW 07/17/2002) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Takao Omori (AJPW 07/18/04) HM Kaz Hayashi vs Shuji Kondo (AJPW 08/30/09) April/May Jumbo Tsuruta vs Kerry Von Erich (AJPW 05/22/84) Brody & Hansen vs Baba & Dory Jr. (AJPW 08/26/84) Tiger Mask II vs Pirata Morgan (AJPW 12/08/84) +Brody & Hansen vs Terry & Dory Funk Jr. (AJPW 12/08/84) + +Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW 12/12/84) + May Great Sasuke vs. Jinsei Shinzaki (M-Pro 03/31/1994) Great Sasuke & Ultimo Dragon vs Jinsei Shinzaki & Gedo (M-Pro 07/30/1994) HM Great Sasuke vs TAKA Michinoku (12/15/94) HM Curry Man, CIMA & Super Boy vs Minoru Fujita, Shiryu II & Jody Fleisch (M-Pro 12/21/99) Jado & Gedo vs The Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask IV (M-Pro 08/19/01) HM ----- I'll sort by decade as well. Why not? 1980's Jumbo Tsuruta vs Kerry Von Erich (AJPW 05/22/84) Brody & Hansen vs Baba & Dory Jr. (AJPW 08/26/84) Tiger Mask II vs Pirata Morgan (AJPW 12/08/84) +Brody & Hansen vs Terry & Dory Funk Jr. (AJPW 12/08/84) + +Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW 12/12/84) + Crush Gals vs. Jumping Bomb Angels (AJW 09/14/1987) 1990's Miss A & Harley Saito vs. Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama (JWP 10/10/90) HM Eagle Sawai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito (JWP 04/26/91) HM Mariko Yoshida vs. Manami Toyota (AJW 08/30/92) Great Sasuke vs. Jinsei Shinzaki (M-Pro 03/31/1994) Chigusa Nagayo vs. Mayumi Ozaki (JWP 05/22/94) Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP 05/22/94) Great Sasuke & Ultimo Dragon vs Jinsei Shinzaki & Gedo (M-Pro 07/30/1994) HM Great Sasuke vs TAKA Michinoku (12/15/94) HM Masato Tanaka vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda (FMW 02/27/99) Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki vs Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda (FMW 03/19/99) +Ayako Hamada & AKINO vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda (ARSION 12/11/1999) + Curry Man, CIMA & Super Boy vs Minoru Fujita, Shiryu II & Jody Fleisch (M-Pro 12/21/99) 2000's +Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi & Kaoru Ito vs. Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita & Kumiko Maekawa (AJW 12/9/00 - Cage Match) + Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi & Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita & Kumiko Maekawa - (AJW 2/28/01 - Elim. Match) Yumiko Hotta, Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Kaoru Ito, Tomoko Watanabe & Momoe Nakanishi (AJW 04/01/01) Momoe Nakanishi vs Kaoru Ito (AJW 07/08/01) Jado & Gedo vs The Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask IV (M-Pro 08/19/01) HM Keiji Mutoh vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 02/24/2002) Genichiro Tenryu vs. Satoshi Kojima (AJPW 07/17/2002) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Takao Omori (AJPW 07/18/04) HM Kaz Hayashi vs Shuji Kondo (AJPW 08/30/09) Hopefully this helps you out if you're looking for something different to watch. Or maybe there's something here you've passed over in your wrestling journey because of a luke warm review in the past. Either way it has been a fantastic year for watching old wrestling and I recommend checking some of these out. I'm looking forward to the next few months of wrestling. Thanks for reading! Stay cool!

Whoa! Now this is a Joe vs Jay title fight. Jay is treated much more appropriately than their match at Tradition Continues (2003). Joe dominated early on as Jay is just trying to survive. He makes comebacks but smartly tries to escape the cage rather than believe he can pin the Samoan. This is the great young Jay Briscoe title fight I wanted to see. It makes sense, it focuses on key spots to advance the story rather than trust the young Jay to control the match. As its mainly a spot match, I won't say its a classic. It didn't blow the roof off the building as far as a spot heavy bout either. However it was smart, violent and at times quite surprising. Great **** match.

Definitely going to add to this even though its been awhile since anyone has added a comment. Just finished watching some of the best of 1994 Michinoku Pro and TAKA had 2 of the 3 best singles matches of the year. Jado vs TAKA Michinoku (7/30/1994): Its a good-very good match most of the way but they really kick things up at the end. Had this been on one of the Super J Cup shows, I think it would be well regarded. Great match. Great Sasuke vs TAKA Michinoku (12/15/94): A 17 minute long junior battle! I've heard nearly nothing about this match but definitely should be more well known. TAKA's aggression here is what makes this really special. He is just going after Sasuke with everything he has. This starts out shoot stylish then settles into a more traditional mid 1990's NJ Junior style. Obviously both are in that calibre but we really see TAKA surpass Sasuke, if I'm being honest. His athleticism & storytelling exceed what Sasuke brought. Near classic junior match. He absolutely is on par with with Sasuke as a wrestler at this point. His character isn't really as defined as it would become especially here as a baby face in '94. But I would put him with Rey Jr. in that upper tier high flyer category. I need to see more mat based stuff of his but from the Sasuke match above he's a quick on the mat as he is on his feet.

I'll be looking at the breakout year for Michinoku Pro - 1994. This is the year where the Great Sasuke won over fans during the Super J Cup in NJPW. Many consider that to be one of the best shows of the 1990's. From 1994, we continue to see the wrestlers of Michinoku Pro featured in New Japan, AJW, WAR and FMW. Eventually many will make it over to the U.S. in ECW, WCW and WWF. That's pretty amazing when you consider M-Pro was a regional promotion with no big nationally known star to anchor the promotion. Sasuke had to become that star. All that said, I'm relatively ignorant about what was going on in the M-Pro ring in 1994. Let's take a look! Great Sasuke, Sato & Shiryu vs. Super Delphin, Jinsei Shinzaki & Gran Naniwa (02/04/1994): 25 minutes of lucharesu! Early on this was functioning at classic levels. The speed and intricacy was amazing. They settled things down and laid out a fuller match with comedy, tandem spots and solid action. A lot of focus was on punishing Shiryu (Kaz Hayashi) but I think this could have been a little more interesting. Also there was a little bit of "walking to my spot" when things got further along. My guess is that the rapid pace at the beginning tired some wrestlers out. Eventually Shiryu makes his comeback and things kick back up into high gear for the finishing stretch. An absolute great match as long as you don't need your wrestling to be super serious all of the time. ----- Super Delphin vs. Sato (03/04/1994): Much more serious here. This is fought more like a traditional junior match and it's just about a great one. The finish is the only thing that keeps it from that tier. It's a cheap cheaty-cheater finish. It works with the story but was necessarily clear what happened until afterwards. And the fans kinda reacted the wrong way to the booking. Screw that though it's a really good singles match with Sato (Dick Togo) vs Super Delphin. ----- Great Sasuke vs. Jinsei Shinzaki (3/31/1994): I'm not going to fool you, I watched this after the match below. You can read the reasoning down there but essentially I watched these 2 a long time ago. I faintly recall one being great and one not being so great. I clearly didn't remember correctly. Everyone on the PWO 1994 yearbook liked 04/29 quite a bit. But this is the one that's great. In fact, I'm going to call it a classic Michinoku Pro match. I'm tempted to point out why its superior to the below match. But really it should stand up as a classic on its own. Two great foes going head to head, giving it all they got and all that corny shit! But I love it! Seek this out. ----- Great Sasuke vs. Jinsei Shinzaki (4/29/1994): There are too many things wrong with this to make me enjoy it. I've seen this years ago and couldn't remember anything about it. I could excuse Sasuke under shooting the first dive at the start because the following wrestling segment is very great. The tone of this is great and honestly they had me right up until Sasuke taking back bumps for the monk's throat thrust. These get stiff as his career goes on but these are like light as a feather at this time. But whatever... no the real issue starts when the Great One whiffs on 2 spin kicks in a row. He hits a couple, and I believe whiffs on a couple other kicks. Sorry... I'm not one of those "You fucked up!" guys from ECW days but, you whiff once make damn sure you don't whiff again. Either hit the guy real stiff or scrap the hitting idea immediately. Some more stuff happens until Shinzaki does a great slam on his sloppy opponent. And it makes me wonder, " why didn't they just do that in the first place? It keeps the show rolling and punishes Sasuke for trying it again. There's more but I stopped after the Sasuke Special #2 kinda missed in the same way the very first dive did. Once a match...yeah that's OK. Can't be perfect all of the time. 2? OK but maybe be more conservative from here on out. But I felt bad for them at some point and I wasn't into this anymore. I almost feel it was the large crowd that effected them negatively...nerves or showing off when they didn't need to. There's some great moves like Shinzaki's praying quebrada (so sick!) but even the finish is kinda flat. 03/31 is the superior match, its wrestled smarter by keeping it simple. The pacing is consistent. The layout makes sense where everything feels like it means something. And honestly, it tells a better story. ----- Jado vs TAKA Michinoku (7/30/1994): Excellent simple junior match. It was well paced and told a good story of the heel vs the home grown talent. It pits technical/high flyer vs hard hitting rough houser. That was a really nice change of pace as Jado really whooped T.M. To combat that TAKA repaid the favor with dealing some great looking springboard moves. Jado wasn't a slouch with his high risk moves though. I think that's one thing that elevated it. Jack really put in the effort to keep up with TAKA (which is a tall order). One thing confused me though. Many fans were really rooting for Jado which was odd since he's always been a heel. I believe this show was a reunion show for Hamada UWF guys so they may have shown up to root for all of them regardless of being a good or bad guy. The fans were digging this a bunch either way. Anyhow, if you're keeping score, this was better than the 04/29 Shinzaki/Sasuke match in nearly every regard. Its a good-very good match most of the way but they really kick things up at the end. Had this been on one of the Super J Cup shows, I think it would be well regarded. Great match. Looks like Michinoku thought of the green canvas before Misawa & NOAH. ----- Great Sasuke & Ultimo Dragon vs Jinsei Shinzaki & Gedo (7/30/1994): I didn't see this on the PWO 1994 yearbook which was surprising. It seems like there would have been some hype about this match. I remember Highspots actually had a DVD of this commercial tape. Anyhow, it a great, great tag match. Gedo is the glue here. He's like Gorilla Super Glue...in the gel formula. His heeling ways keep things grounded and gives some much needed heat/heel charisma to his team and the match as a whole. Ultimo and Sasuke are pretty much going all out here. It can be a love/hate thing when they're in the same ring. They have a tendency to go for flash and botch stuff like a surgery on a wooden roller coaster. Thankfully, thankfully that doesn't happen at all! Shinzaki can then just do his power moves and praying and it all works! Its 1994, its indie but it all works...even the Cancun tornado/spiral tap,which doesn't hit perfectly like Apple Jacks used to do back in TNA, works because it's 1994, its indie. Near classic? Maybe so... I'm now starting to think Jado & Gedo were trying to have hair cuts like the Nasty Boys... ----- Sato, Terry Boy & Shiryu vs Gran Naniwa, Super Delphin & Shinzaki (12/15/94): The uploader has this as 12/17 but checked Quebrada and I'm pretty sure this is 12/15. I'm not 100% but Sato, Terry Boy and Shiryu are Kai En Tai at this point... at least the initial iteration and before they go heel and become Kai En Tai DX. Anyhow they got the tag team combos already - yes!! Anyhow this is similar to the 02/04/94 match but better in that there's a little less comedy which helps keeps the pace on track. Kai En Tai have their tag moves, and I think everything hits perfectly whereas there's a couple little flubs during 02/04. It's also about 25 minutes without any of the downsides. Great Sasuke vs TAKA Michinoku (12/15/94): A 17 minute long junior battle! I've heard nearly nothing about this match but definitely should be more well known. TAKA's aggression here is what makes this really special. He is just going after Sasuke with everything he has. This starts out shoot stylish then settles into a more traditional mid 1990's NJ Junior style. Obviously both are in that calibre but we really see TAKA surpass Sasuke, if I'm being honest. His athleticism & storytelling exceed what Sasuke brought. Not that the pajama wearing hero is a bum but, TAKA really shines here. Near classic junior match. Jinsei Shinzaki & TAKA Michinoku vs. Super Delfin & Gran Naniwa (12/17/1994): Joined in progress a little. Shinzaki is really getting his throat thrust attack hitting now. You can hear em! Very good start with twists to moves we may come accustomed to. I always like surprises in wrestling. He and TAKA make a great team... they have a British Bulldogs vibe with their tag moves. Delphin (or is it Delfin...I think both are correct...) and Naniwa do their routine that they have been doing all year while in control but there's a good counter that leads to the final third of the match. Very very good stuff that was probably made even better as this is all floor shot (ECW fancam) so you get a true sense of the action and energy. Nice way to close out the post and the project 1994 was a pretty great year for Michinoku Pro. In many ways it reminds me of ECW...more than FMW. M-Pro in 1994 (through 97-98) has that great core cast of characters who are rough around the edges, who maybe too short or not big enough but don't let that stop them. And they have a loyal, vocal fan base who love it. Surprisingly the best matches were singles bouts (03/31, TAKA vs Jado & TAKA vs Sasuke) but the heart and soul is in the tag/6 man matches. If you want to dabble, watch one tag, one 6 man and the three singles mentioned and you'll be happy I'm quite happy that I got to revisit Michinoku Pro the month. Thanks for reading!

The tone of this is great and honestly they had me right up until Sasuke taking KO style back bumps for the monk's throat thrust. These get stiff as his career goes on but these are light as a feather at this time. But whatever... no the real issue starts when the Great One whiffs on 2 spin kicks in a row. He hits a couple, and I believe whiffs on a couple other kicks. They pretty much lost me here... Sasuke Special #2 kinda missed in the same way the very first dive did. Once a match...yeah that's OK. Can't be perfect all of the time. 2? OK but maybe be more conservative from here on out. But I felt bad for them at some point and I wasn't into this anymore. I almost feel it was the large crowd that effected them negatively...nerves or showing off when they didn't need to. There's some great moves like Shinzaki's praying quebrada (so sick!) but even the finish is kinda flat. 03/31 is the superior match, its wrestled smarter by keeping it simple. The pacing is consistent. The layout makes sense where everything feels like it means something. And honestly, it tells a better story. That's not on the yearbook but I wonder if the 03/31 match isn't the one those guys saw and gave 5 stars. Maybe they got the dates mixed up since it does seem pretty odd to have 2 matches between your top guys so close together. This match is maybe 3 stars with all of its problems... But that's being generous.

25 minutes of lucharesu! Early on this was functioning at classic levels. The speed and intricacy was amazing. They settled things down and laid out a fuller match with comedy, tandem spots and solid action. A lot of focus was on punishing Shiryu (Kaz Hayashi) but I think this could have been a little more interesting. Also there was a little bit of "walking to my spot" when things got further along. My guess is that the rapid pace at the beginning tired some wrestlers out. Eventually Shiryu makes his comeback and things kick back up into high gear for the finishing stretch. An absolute great match as long as you don't need your wrestling to be super serious all of the time.

Much more serious than the 6 mans. This is fought more like a traditional junior match and it's just about a great one. The finish is the only thing that keeps it from that tier. It's a cheap cheaty-cheater finish. It works with the story but was necessarily clear what happened until afterwards. And the fans kinda reacted the wrong way to the booking. Screw that though it's a really good singles match with Sato (Dick Togo) vs Super Delphin.

This installment covers Christopher Daniels/Curry Man in M-Pro or representing M-Pro. This is from the RF video DVD set but there's a Curry Man set out there that has many of the stuff. Christopher Daniels & Pablo Marquez vs Magnum Tokyo & Kendo - This one Daniels appears as The Fallen Angel instead of Curry Man. My guess is that this takes place early 1999 as Marquez was doing M-Pro then and Curry Man hadn't yet appeared. I can't find this on Quebrada or Cage Match though. Anyhow, this is a really fun match. Daniels and Magnum Tokyo work very well together. As expected there's some comedy early on but things pick up and there's lucharesu action until the end. Very good stuff ----- Curry Man, Black Warrior & Chapinger vs Gran Hamada, White Bear & Dokko Chan (07/17/99): Dokko Chan the wrestler is Jody Fleisch with a mask and shorts on. His big pants hide his super skinny legs. Dude is athletic as heck though! I'm not sure on White Bear... the mask doesn't look legit... the wrestler looks like W*ing Kanemura with a polar bear mask on. He's not great but isn't in enough to bring things down at all and does a cool somersault off the apron. Chapinger is OK but really this could have been Black Warrior & Curry Man (who were really good) vs Gran Hamada & Dokko Chan and it would have been just as fun. Those guys really had a exciting if a little disorganized match. I've seen this get panned but its not bad at all. It's a fireworks match that's 14 minutes of fun. Curry Man, SUWA & Super Boy vs TAKA Michinoku, Magnum Tokyo & Minoru Fujita (08/22/99): We get the full intros for everyone. Magnum Tokyo is loved by the ladies. TAKA looks like a badass. A sort of random looking matchup again (which looks to be a theme). But I'm not complaining as these guys put on a great show. Super Boy actually was the standout from the heel team. His moves were hitting perfectly. Everyone was excellent though. It was at blast at 14 odd minutes. ----- vs Naoki Sano (10/17/99): BattlArts match. Always good to see Sano. I saw this get a pretty bad review but I liked it. It was a good match with an excellent finish. I actually like the chemistry they had despite their unfamiliarity. It was more a junior style than a shoot style match in case you were wondering. Curry Man & SUWA vs Men's Teioh & Gran Hamada (10/19/99): Under 10 minutes long...thought it could have been at least 10-12 minutes. It finished up rather quickly but Teioh and Hamada are pretty high up on the M-Pro food chain. Nonetheless this was a lot of fun. SUWA and Curry Man were allowed to shine despite being heels. Teioh and Hamada cruised through this on auto pilot a little bit but good to see them do their big moves. SUWA is such a nice guy that he shares his beverage with the announcer. Curry Man hits the brakes on a dive attempt. ----- Curry Man, Sasuke the Great, Sumo Fuji & Fake Naniwa vs Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada, Minoru Fujita & Masaaki Mochizuki (11/07/99): Sasuke the Great is Masao Orihara which is sweet! This was just about a great match although rough around the edges at times. What kept this from being great was at some point ANOTHER Sasuke Imposter with a silver mask comes in and I guess fills in for the Great Sasuke after we think he's been knocked out. The thing is the fans were as confused as I was. The guy's build was more of a heavyweight and he tried doing Sasuke's more agile moves so the guy looked like some muscle bound fan cos-playing. Ted the ref didn't do anything to get the guy out of the ring and only when Sasuke himself got in the ring did this segment end. And then the finishing segment which was good but felt rushed. This was a classic example of over booking a match unfortunately...but it doesn't ruin it by any means but I don't know why they did this plus the execution of it was sloppy. All I can think is its 1999 and American style influences are at work in the storylines. Minoru Fujita was awesome here as was Daniels. Sasuke the Great gets up in your face! ----- Curry Man, CIMA & Super Boy vs Minoru Fujita, Shiryu II & Jody Fleisch (12/21/99): What an absolute fireworks display of a match! This was fun to the max If I'm being honest I think this is essential viewing for junior wrestling fans especially those who have a fondness for this time period of junior action. Think the 3 way dances in ECW with Tajiri, Super Crazy, Guido, Jerry Lynn, Nova etc as well as the better multi-man ROH or TNA matches. It's a classic if you keep that all in mind. Curry Man & Naoki Sano vs Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita (02/13/00): Really good match in BattlARTS but it might as well be M-Pro. The fluidity of the indie leagues is pretty interesting at this time as you can see from all of the matches above. Toryumon was intermixed Michinoku..I've considered Minoru Fujita a BattlARTS guy but he's been the biggest young baby face of M-Pro this whole project. Anyway, this was a very good match. Curry Daniels seems to get hurt along the way and that does limit the crazy amount of moves he does later on (he goes for a 2nd rope elbow drop instead of a moonsault most likely). But he's a trooper and keeps everything moving and making Fujita and Hid aka look great. Sano brings his big moves here and yeah this is nothing to sneeze at despite Daniels hurting. If there's a more baby face tag pose, I don't know it. ----- I can't end it there so I've got a few bonus matches. I'm not sure on the date on these. It's a part of a comp I found on YouTube but there's no match list let alone dates. I think they're post-2000 (99-03 is Daniels as Curry Man in Michinoku). He's not wearing the unitard but is wearing the half t shirt and shorts which I think he would wear in NJ and TNA. Anyhow most of the above matches are available for you. Search Curry Man Part 1. These below are from part 2. vs Jody Fleisch: This is a very good fireworks singles match as both guys are familiar with one another. So you get some really complex stuff that comes off well. Daniels is a very solid base for Jody's flying moves...which I don't think he gets credit for especially since he's not a big dude. And believe you me, there's some crazy stuff that very easily could have been fumbled if not for Daniels. vs Ikuto Hidaka: clipped a bit but still plenty to enjoy. Wish we could have got the full match as these two are so evenly matched that the likely early feeling out portion was pretty cool. The last 5 minutes were great Curry Man/, Gedo & Dick Togo vs. Great Sasuke, Jinsei Shinzaki & Hideki Nishida: Oh yeah! Great match. It's a little punchy-stompy from the heels in control of Hideki Nishida (who impressed me) but when he made his comeback and hot tag to Shinzaki this was on like Donkey Kong This is absolutely worth your time. Glad I did a bit of digging and found this. Excellent end to this mini project within a project. Again, look for these YT posts and you should be able to see everything. Still glad I was able to get the RF DVD set from eBay as there's a bunch of other stuff like Daniels in ECW (his match vs Rhino is really good) as well as IWA Puerto Rico (he vs Pablo Marquez is recommended). If you want to see some Michinoku Pro either because it's been awhile or want to see some turn of the century junior action, check these out. I'm sure younger fans will dig this stuff as this style is the backbone modern day American wrestling. I mean Christopher Daniels probably doesn't get enough credit for that. Thanks for reading!

What an absolute fireworks display of a match! This was fun to the max If I'm being honest I think this is essential viewing for junior wrestling fans especially those who have a fondness for this time period of junior action. It's a classic if you keep that all in mind.

Magnum Tokyo is loved by the ladies. TAKA looks like a badass during his entrance. A sort of random looking matchup but I'm not complaining as these guys put on a great show. Super Boy actually was the standout from the heel team. His moves were hitting perfectly. Everyone was excellent though so that's knock on them. It was at blast at 14 odd minutes.

I'm going to be looking at Michinoku Pro Wrestling for the rest of May. Much like FMW, it's one of the first Japanese promotions I really was familiar with. In some part this has to do with Kai En Tai DX coming over to WWF around when I got back into wrestling as a teenager. Then from there its probably WCW vs The World on PS1 where they had TAKA, Shinzaki who I remembered as Hakushi (but also from clips of he & Hayabusa vs RVD & Sabu shown on ECW) and the Great Sasuke who I saw very briefly on a death match tape vs Onita. Come to think of it, I believe there was part of Shinzaki vs Gran Naniwa at the very end of that as well. And I'm sure I saw TAKA in ECW. It all seemed really interesting and mysterious to me because it was in bits and pieces. Anyhow Michinoku Pro especially the Kai En Tai DX golden era is some of my favorite stuff. I thought I would explore some M-Pro outside of that short time period. This first installment will be matches from the 2000's and early 2010's. Most is from a single YouTube account. If you're interested then you should be able to find it with the name and dates. Thanks to them for posting! Curry Man vs Onryo (04/01/00): First round match of the Super J Cup hosted by Michinoku Pro. Very short but all action match. Daniels was on an offensive roll here. At first it looked like they just needed a good opponent for Onryo but, once Curry Man got the upper hand it was a highlight reel of some of his best stuff. Good match and am going to be watching more Curry Man! Jado & Gedo vs The Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask IV (08/19/01): I'm going to call it a near classic junior tag match. I'm going to tell you Sasuke over shoots a Swanton Bomb to Jado lying prone across a table on the floor. "Bonus" is that this is outdoors and the "floor" looks to be an asphalt parking lot! That is so brutal! It's like he blew the spot but the bump he took was so sick that it makes you think of the WCW announce team saying, "Well that's why they call it a high risk move." So it actually doesn't wreck the flow of the match. Tiger and Gedo are in the ring going at it simultaneously which helps as well. Sasuke is hurting but per usual he just powers through it and all 4 guys put on a helluva match. You don't really care about that early flub because everything before and after is so good. Jushin Liger & Koji Kanemoto vs Minoru Fujita & Ikuto Hidaka (09/23/03): A bit of clip job on this. 9 minutes of a 17 minute match shown. This was pretty good stuff from what I saw. Fujita was on point today so all was good as the other 3 are also exceptional. Dick Togo vs Tiger Mask IV (09/23/03): Tiger is wrestling for NJPW at this point. They really clipped this one We get highlights in essence but fun nonetheless. Great Sasuke vs Atsushi Onita (09/23/03): Oh this is why the other matches were clipped. Sasuke vs Onita in a explosion death match...sweet! As far as later Onita matches this was good stuff. There's a formula of course. Here Onita is the heel and spends 70% of the match beating Sasuke up. We don't get any great flying moves from Sasuke or really anything other than marvelling at how tough he is! That's kinda a waste of his talent but if your going to wrestle Onita, you're going to do it his way I guess. Still a good Onita death match and like all good Onita death matches, the Onita theatre afterwards is just as important. These matches are from the TV broadcast of an even called 'The Live' in case you want to track it down online or elsewhere. Jushin Liger vs Billy Ken Kid (08/30/07): Very good match! I liked the veteran vs hungry young star dynamic. There were some pretty great spots and sequences. Not a ton of depth but for a Masked Man League match this was quality stuff! Kikutaro vs Tiger Mask IV (08/30/07): Another Masked Man League match. I was going to skip this but I was wanting some more Tiger Mask IV and it'd be wrong to skip a match with a bit of comedy. Even in the golden age of M-Pro, comedy was a key aspect to the style. Kikutaro is the absolute best and he doesn't disappoint. He's funny but not so much a clown that he doesn't want to win. And he's not a wimp who is going to back down from such as strong opponent. This was fun Ultimo Dragon vs The Great Sasuke (08/30/07): A great singles match for sure. This was rough around the edges at times but really in a way that worked with the match. Sasuke had to have been hurting. Shoot! so did Ultimo for that matter. If you're a fan of these guys then you really ought to set aside 20 minutes and watch this. Never heard any talk of this one at the time but I think it deserves to be included with their other great bouts. Again not a perfect match but if you look at it as two rivals past their prime meeting again, I think you'll dig it. They really put it all out there. This night of wrestling was pretty awesome if you look at the last 3 matches. Ultimo Dragon & FUNAKI vs TAKA Michinoku & Jinsei Shinzaki (12/16/10): Welp, that was a fantastic bit of lucharesu! This was fast as heck like it was 1996. I was really surprised. A bit of humor along with some great moves from these guys. If you've only seen them in WWE/F then go check this out! Very cool to see these guys in the same ring again. It's like they haven't missed a beat. Dick Togo vs Rui Hyugaji (12/16/10): Joined in Progress a little and I skipped ahead once Rui Hyugaji took control on offense early on. It's my first time seeing him and he wasn't really impressive. He's supposedly the upstart boss of the heel group but his heel offense was really boring (stomps, rest holds). Dick Togo was fantastic throughout though. He made it look like Rui Hyugaji was kicking his ass and was great on offense. Rui Hyugaji got better as the match went on but just didn't do it for me. This was just OK in my book. Just couldn't get any quality Dick Togo matches. K-ness vs El Solar (08/31/12): A fun 10 minute match for fans of El Solar. K-ness didn't really have much offense in the grand scheme of things so it really was more a display of El Solar's different submission moves. Heat vs Tigers Mask (08/31/12): Two more non Michinoku wrestlers but its the '12 Masked Men tournament. It's cool to see Heat...well Minoru Tanaka competing under his former masked alter ego. Tigers Mask is from Osaka Pro and is really good. So we get a good match but my favorite part is Heat going up to that next level like it's Dragon Ball Z at the end. Helluva tech finish! Ultimo Dragon, Tiger Mask IV & Super Delfin vs Nohashi, Syu & Kei Brahman (11/04/13): This is from M-Pro's 20th Anniversary show. Heel team taking on the returning stars. This was something that I thought would just be a bit of fun that turned into a pretty good match. You get the spots and nostalgia from the baby face team, the heels made sure they stooged when they needed yet were also vicious.The bowling ball spot to Delfin was particularly impressive. I liked this 6 man match quite a bit. There were a couple more that I was going to watch: Great Sasuke & Jinsei Shinzaki vs Hayato "Jr." Fujita & Kenoh (11/04/13) Jinsei Shinzaki vs Fujita "Jr." Hayato (12/13/13) The thing is that stylistically these are closer to traditional puro in the 2010's. Perhaps a little too serious/shoot-style for my Michinoku Pro. And and around a half hour each. Honestly that's not really what I'm looking for BUT if you are, I recommend seeking them out. All in all this was a really fun week of wrestling. A good mix of singles and tag matches from 2000 -2013 shows Michinoku still had a bunch going on after their golden age in the mid to late 90's. Again I was mostly going on the one person's stuff but there's not a ton out there from what I saw. I did also cherry pick stuff with guys that I associate with M-Pro. The account has more if you're interested. I also found someone has a slew of M-Pro half hour TV episodes from the late 2000's which has matches in highlighted form. Search using the keyword "Michipro" and should should find them. They're a lot of fun...Good Dick Togo matches... highlights but hey beggars can't be choosers. I just wish they were complete or at least joined in progress. Next time I'm going to be looking at Christopher Daniels time in M-Pro as Curry Man. This also hits another blind spot for me - 1999. Thanks for reading! Thanks to Loss for technical assistance in getting my 300th post published.

Ha, I do not remember watching this in 2018 but watched it again this past week for a blog post. I think my comment rings pretty true still. That Sasuke whiff is apparent but it really is acceptable in the grand scheme of the match. I might rank this as like ****1/4 - near classic stuff to be honest. I liked it more this time than before. So I'll average it out and say this is a **** match and if you're interested definitely seek it out.