G. Badger

I was psyched to find this inter-promotional JWP show online. It's from right around the era I want re-explore. Having watched a ton of full Joshi shows, I skipped the following: Kumiko Maekawa & Rie Tamada vs. Fusayo Nochi & Hiromi Yagi, Command Bolshoi vs. Bolshoi Kid, and Cutie Suzuki vs Takako Inoue. Chigusa Nagayo vs. Mayumi Ozaki - Well, that was a war! I wasn't quite sure what to expect but the hate in this match was off the charts. It wasn't the quick burst of hate type match but more of a smoldering hate. Shit talking on the mic, stare downs, nasty looks and gestures and of course blood and kicks to the face. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't a fast paced match but I thought that it was wonderfully laid out. The match was almost a series of escalating encounters of violence. I could see some fans of more modern wrestling not liking this. In my book though this was a classic. Very distinct and memorable for sure. Kyoko Inoue vs. Candy Okutsu- From what I could tell, Candy was going to face a mystery opponent. Well here comes Kyoko! This was my favorite version of her - pulling out creative submissions, limited but energetic bursts of offense and using her strength/size while still being vulnerable. Candy I'm not too familiar with but I'm sure I've seen her before. She was really exciting here and I could draw comparisons to AJW stars, I think she's really her own wrestler. She reminds me of Mariko Yoshida at this time though. You can tell she's physically proficient, and can wrestle however she likes (at least in this match). Really cool near fall from Candy as well. All that said this was a great match. Bull Nakano & Devil Masami vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Sakie Hasegawa - Good match. I think it was a little bloated in the middle but overall it was enjoyable. I think if they could have stayed more focused after they went into the crowd (for some reason), this would have been very good stuff. The last third was pretty fun with lots of neat double team moves and that's what really saves it from just being an OK match. I don't think the outcome was in doubt so I question the booking a little bit though. Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai - I've seen this rated as just an OK match. I disagree. I think it is great! It's at a pace that really requires patience with the story they are telling. It was different from what I've seen them in AJW and if you're going in with expectations based on that, I could see one's disappointment. When Kansai makes her move and shifts the direction of the match, it happens at just the right time. Had they waited one more move or done it in a less memorable way, I don't think the first part of the bout would have been worthwhile. You could just say 'well they were killing time.' Instead we get an awesome moment where Dynamite Kansai just pops Aja Kong right in the face and derails the momentum she had worked so hard to build up. Everything really just came together and happened at just the right time. The pacing reminds me of a Dory Funk Jr. match to be honest. If you're patient and stay invested in what they're doing then you'll be rewarded. I might even call this a near classic...or even classic in terms of timing and pacing. This show was a excellent example of the classic 90's Joshi period but with a twist. I'm not sure if it's a stylistic difference but these matches especially Chigusa vs Ozaki and Aja vs Kansai were more reminiscent of the slower early 80's AJW style. They focused much more on atmosphere and wrestling holds than speed and athleticism (think about AJPW 70s & 80's vs 90's style for instance). I enjoyed this quite a bit and plan to watch more JWP as a result. This is easy to find and totally recommend watching a couple matches if you're so inclined. Thanks for reading!

I've got a few New Years Resolutions and watching more Joshi is one of them. It's been a while so doing a spotlight on one of my faves Mariko Yoshida seems like a great way to get back into this style. As always, I'm cherry picking but here I'm omitting her stuff from 98-99 Arsion on purpose. I think I should do a separate post on that. Enjoy! Kyoko Inoue/Takako Inoue/Mariko Yoshida vs. Cynthia Moreno/Etsuko Mita/Mima Shimoda (AJW - 08/15/92) Great 6 woman tag match! Intensely fought from start to finish. Everyone was doing something at any point of the match. It get like each team truly wanted to score the victory. This is probably a better example of Shimoda and Mita performance than Yoshida but it is a really exciting start to this post. Kyoko Inoue vs. Mariko Yoshida (AJW 08/30/92) - This was an OK match. If you really like 10 minutes of half crabs, this is your match! Seriously, it was getting close to a SKIP but I fast forwarded to shorten the time killing half crabbing after watching 7-8 minutes. And the last 5 minutes are super exciting. Those final minutes totally save this but 5 minutes in a 15 minute match can't diminish the first 10 minutes of boredom...and I like "work a hold" wrestling. That is not Kyoko's strong suit. Mariko Yoshida vs. Manami Toyota (AJW 08/30/92) - Same night as above, not a typo. Lord reegrus! That was an awesome match! A classic and a great example of the high level that Yoshida was working at early on. Excellent work on offense and consistent selling of her arm pain. That and she very nearly matched Toyota's athleticism. She was less reckless with her body (good or bad). Yoshida was much better on the mat though and the holds were much more interesting and engaging than what Kyoko did. Toyota's work here was also pretty strong. Here in August 1992 these two were peers in my view. Yoshida very definitely is in the same class as Toyota, Inoue, Yamada, etc. at this time. I really strongly feel if injury did not sideline her, she would have moved her way up with them. What is bothersome is that she was kept down in the bookings after her return. I understand the company & the show must go on but it seems like AJW thought she would just get injured again. Perhaps that's true but also why she changed her style. Yumiko Hotta vs. Mariko Yoshida (AJW October 9, 1994) - A very good, almost great match. I would say most of that quality comes from Yoshida's gutsy performance. She utilized her aerial skills but her submission skills and toughness are what kept her in the fight with the brutal Yumiko Hotta. She did not back down and in fact opted to use strikes of her own against the hard hitting Hotta. Of course Yoshida got a bloody mouth for her trouble. Yumiko Hotta & Kaoru Ito vs Manami Toyota & Mariko Yoshida (AJW 06/18/97) - A very good tag match. It was rough around the edges but it was acceptable since it was so brutal at times. Double foot stomps to the spine & Toyota trying to stomp Hotta's head like a giant grape are two memorable instances. Yoshida & Toyota brought the more interesting offensive maneuvers where Hotta and Ito's attacks were of the cringe inducing variety. They were just so stiff. Toyota had a taped cut that got reopened but I'd think she had some far worse internal damage. I'm not aware of a story they were trying to tell here but it was really enjoyable and the Toyota & Yoshida team was most interesting. Lioness Asuka vs Mariko Yoshida (Arsion 07/03/01) - This was a great fight that meshed grappling, brawling and big moves into one. I honestly would have liked to see more matwork early on but what was done was good. I got the point across that Asuka hadn't lost her wrestling skills with age or in her brawling/hardcore style change. They put the hurting on each other in this one. Hard fought and at 14 minutes+ and it could have gone on a few more and I'd have been quite happy. Our Hero Lioness = Bad Ass Check out Asuka's arm on the right ----- Manami Toyota vs Mariko Yoshida (Arsion 11/25/01) - This is a match that they could have done in AJW years earlier had the split not happened. In a way it wasn't too dissimilar than their match in 1992 at least in terms of parity. Sure Mariko was the submission queen at this point but Toyota wrestled this no different than she normally does. Maybe that's what hold this back from being great. She never really truly sells the damage that Mariko should be inflicting on her. Toyota wanted to get her shit in whereas Yoshida wanted to create some tension. Toyota just popping up afterwards doesn't totally ruin anything as she had been doing that for at least 6 years at this point. It would have helped make this a great big time match rather than just a very good one. I think this was a excellent way to get back into Joshi. It's been quite a long while since I've watched anything. That surprises me since I preferred it to men's wrestling for years but frankly there were some let downs in 1996 AJW that kinda soured me on it. I definitely will be watching more stuff prior to then- Late 80's-94 . I know I am missing out on some really good stuff especially JWP. I think I want to revisit Mariko Yoshida 98-99 also. It's been quite a long time.. I do have some 2000's stuff in mind to watch too so, it should be fun! Everything here is online and easy to watch except the Lioness fight. I have that on a DVD compilation. I highly recommend the 6 woman tag (its in the full 08/15/92 show), the Toyota fight from '92, the 1994 tag and the Lioness fight if you can find it. Those are all absolutely worth your time. Thanks for reading and happy 2023!

I'm going to organize this years matches by what's 2010's AJPW and what's not. Sorry for some inconsistency with the labeling of dates & promotions. I hope this helps folks find cool stuff to watch as well as stir up a little interest in going back and reading old blog posts. Its my version of Match of the Year and other year end award type stuff. Let's do the superlatives first. Best Surprise I think something I would say to start with would be the high quality of wrestling AJPW was putting out in 2011-2014. I obviously have some knowledge of this at the start of the year but I bought most of these DVDs on a hunch a few years back (probably longer if being honest). So I have been pleasantly surprised that I trusted my gut. It's been like the Full Impact Pro stuff from last year. So in a similar situation, I've been surprised in the quality of Zero One and BJW. Again, not much of a positive consensus was given at the time or thereabouts on this stuff. If anything, the impression I got was purchase at your own risk. I touched on this in my previous post, the bounty of material online and the ease of access to that has given my a taste of these promotions and I like it! With many of my projects, I try to find the stuff that I think is most interesting and disregard the rest. Saves me time and hopefully saves you the trouble. More Zero One and BJW for 2023. Best surprise is probably how much I enjoyed the Eddie and Steven Regal WCW TV matches. I don't look back upon Nitro fondly and with good reason but man there was some awesome stuff before the suits took all of their time away. Dean Malenko's the best at these 5-10 minute matches. His stuff with Regal and Guerrero were the best. I'd soured on Dean but these TV bouts were his specialty. Best Feud The Zero One vs NOAH stuff was really cool and had a very 2001 in-transition magic to it. I've watched MLW from around this time and it feels like this... Kinda like "What If this promotion, which was closer to latter day ECW, took off instead of ROH?" Even the 2003_stuff including the Differ Cup stuff feels very unlike NOAH in a very good way. So it wasn't the best feud exactly but an overlooked one in comparison to NOAH vs NJPW from '02-03. I think it has way more character than the NJ one. Burning vs AJPW was pretty darn great especially in tag settings. The best was Burning vs Masa Funaki's Stack of Arms stable...specifically Aoki & Kotaro Suzuki vs Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka. In honesty it felt like the only true feud night in & night out. Underrated Wrestler Naohiro Hoshikawa was simply awesome during the NOAH vs Zero One stuff. Never heard much about him but, he was a real stand out. Takashi Sasaki is another guy I never heard much about other than in name really. Man he's one of my favorite death match wrestlers now. He blends the wrestling and hardcore wrestling near perfectly. It reminds me of Tajiri in ECW in a way. Most underrated worker for the year is KENSO. Dude was mainly upper mid card but acted like a star and the fans responded in kind. When he was given a chance to shine he took the opportunity. KAI vs KENSO 2013 Champ Carnival is a very good example. Best Tag Team I love tag wrestling. AJPW had top shelf stuff. The 2003 Differ Cup and assorted other tags were the real high points of 2022. This is an easy one though. I gotta go with Atsushi Aoki (RIP) and Kotaro Suzuki. Their stuff in 2013 is some of the best stuff of the year. Even their stuff in 2012 NOAH was very good. I do have to give props to Junior Stars (Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka) as they were equally responsible for the awesome feud and boosting my interest in the team. A great later one to watch in 2013 is their 10/27 match vs Keisuke Ishii & Shigehiro Irie. Best Wrestler If we're looking at volume of excellent matches, Jun Akiyama, Go Shiozaki and Suwama are all very solid candidates for best wrestler of the year. Joe Doering is another very good candidate. His stuff in 2014 as champ is absolutely amazing especially his bout vs Shiozaki (more on that later). Doering before then doesn't make a big enough impression as a star. He's more like Suwama's big gaijin buddy until later. Suwama is a great ace and the face of of AJPW especially when the NOAH guys invaded in 2013. He has some real classic matches but also disappointed me in smaller bouts and even in some title fights. He reminds me of later Misawa in that regard. Not bad company to be in at but, maybe not for the greatest of reasons. Shiozaki has been the spark of AJPW in 2013 & 2014. He's brought an energy and intensity to every fight - singles, tags, six mans. That said he's one dimensional in that regard. That is how he's booked. We know that he can play plucky from his stuff in 2005, he can do powerhouse and heel stuff from his time in ROH & FIP. Here he's co-ace with Suwama and he does a great job. However every performance is coming from the same place emotionally. Akiyama is different from all of these guys as he's past his prime. He's Tenryu for the 2010's. He's tough, clever and mean. His style really harkens back to an older AJPW style now that his body won't allow him to perform as he once did. This may sound pretty silly but he actually tells stories in his matches. He makes little things matter ever if it just for one match. Like Tenryu or Fujiwara he sells a lot through his facial expressions at this point of his career. Not just selling as in "ow this hurts" but selling the story. He shows his anger, disgust, frustration. I think he's always done this but was maybe overlooked because of the types of matches he was able to do at the time. But I still wouldn't say he's the Best Wrestler for 2022. Akiyama is 2010's Tenryu and in that regard he's not really an underdog. He's still a big deal and the only BIG name in late 2013-14 All Japan. Takao Omori is my wrestler of the year. He wrestles/performs his story. That is to say, he's the heart & soul of All Japan. He wants to be there and in some ways I feel his goal was to always come back after the NOAH split and his time in Zero One. So when Akiyama, Kanemaru want to come back to AJPW and bring their NOAH pals, he doesn't want them there. He wants to be an AJPW wrestler and didn't come back for the money or notoriety or was forced to come there. But not just that, he does everything that Akiyama does. He along with Jun are bringing the old AJPW to the 2010's. You can see and feel it in how the matches are paced and structured. Akiyama will bring this most of the time but sometimes relies on routine, Omori always tries to work this older, richer style. A fantastic example is his 2013 Champion Carnival match against Shiozaki (04/25/13) or Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori (Vacant Triple Crown Title - 06/15/14). All in all, I want to give Takao Omori the credit he is due. For his consistency, quality, stylistic choices, and storytelling he is the Best Wrestler. Now onto the big list of matches... 2010's AJPW (and related matches) Honorable Mention: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Hiroshi Yamato (06/02/2013) Near Classic Matches: Jun Akiyama, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki vs Takao Omori, Manabu Soya & Kaz Hayashi (02/10/13) Jun Akiyama vs KAI (04/29/13) Suwama & SUSHI vs Go Shiozaki & Kotaro Suzuki (07/21/13) Kensuke Sasaki, Jun Akiyama & Go Shiozaki vs Suwama, Takao Omori & Kento Miyahara (08/31/13 Diamond Ring) Joe Doering & Suwama vs. Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori (AJPW - 02/08/14) Classic Matches: Sanada/Soya vs Yuji Okabayashi and Daisuke Sekimoto (03/21/11) Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka (c) vs Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki (03/17/13) Suwama vs Go Shiozaki (04/18/13) Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka vs Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki (04/25/13) Minoru Tanaka, Koji Kanemoto & Hiroshi Yamato vs Atsushi Aoki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki (04/29/13) Jun Akiyama and Go Shiozaki vs. Joe Doering and Suwama (06/02/2013) Akiyama & Shiozaki vs Omori & Suwama (2/3 falls 07/28/13) Go Shiozaki & Jun Akiyama vs. Suwama & Takao Omori (08/17/13) Go Shiozaki vs Suwama (Triple Crown, 08/25/13) Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori vs. Go Shiozaki & Kento Miyahara (10/27/13) Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori (Vacant Triple Crown Title - 06/15/14) Joe Doering (c) vs. Go Shiozaki (10/29/14 -Triple Crown Title) Burning Wild vs Xceed (11/29/14) Doering/Shingo vs Hino/Miyahara (12/04/14 Fortune Dream) Everything Else Honorable Mention: Bruiser Brody vs Jumbo Tsuruta (10/14/83) Dory Funk Jr. vs Stan Hansen (AJPW 11/28/83) Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Genichiro Tenryu (NJPW 09/26/1993) Lord Steven Regal vs Dean Malenko (WCW 08/19/96) Naomichi Marufuji vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa (ZERO1 03/02/2001) Shinya Hashimoto & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Daisuke Ikeda & Takashi Sugiura (ZERO1 09/15/2001) Ikuto Hidaka & Masao Orihara vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yoshihito Sasaki (Differ Cup 2003) Kotaro Suzuki, Yoshinari Ogawa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Atsushi Aoki, Bryan Danielson & Doug Williams (NOAH 10/25/08) Aoki & Suzuki vs Marvin & Super Crazy - (NOAH 07/22/12) Near Classic Matches: Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho (WCW Fall Brawl 09/14/97) Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Tatsuhito Takaiwa (ZERO1 09/15/2001) Mitsuharu Misawa & Masahiro Chono vs Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue (01/10/03 NOAH) Madoka & Kengo Mashimo vs Katsumasa Inoue & Daisuke Sekimoto (BJW 03/14/07) Classic Matches: Baba & Dory Jr. vs Hansen & Brody (AJPW 12/10/83) Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio (WCW Halloween Havoc, Mask vs Title October 26, 1997) Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH 12/09/01) Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito vs Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka (01/10/03 NOAH) Jushin Liger & Takehiro Murahama vs. Tsubasa & Black Buffalo (02/1/03 Osaka Pro) Samoa Joe vs Homicide (ROH Do Or Die – May 2003) Samoa Joe vs Christopher Daniels (ROH Glory by Honor II - September 2003) Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles (ROH War of the Wire - November 2003) Samoa Joe vs Christopher Daniels vs AJ Styles (TNA Against All Odds 2006) Takashi Sasaki vs Yuko Miyamoto - Scaffold and Light tube (BJW 03/14/07) Takashi Sasaki vs Ryuji Ito: 300 light tube death match (BJW 07/08/07) Masato Tanaka v Togi Makabe (Zero One 08/03/08) Shiozaki, Suzuki & Aoki vs Otani, Hidaka & Hashimoto - (NOAH 05/09/12) All Time Classic Matches: AJ Styles vs Bryan Danielson (ROH Main Event Spectacles 2003) Well there it is...AJ vs Danielson. Thanks folks, see ya in 2023! ...just kidding. So the best match watched in 2022 was AJ vs Danielson at ROH Main Event Spectacles 2003. That's a known classic that lives up to the hype. That's awesome but I'm flipping the script and picking something different A couple others come to mind from AJPW 2013: Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka (c) vs Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki (03/17/13) Suwama vs Go Shiozaki (04/18/13) Akiyama & Shiozaki vs Omori & Suwama (2/3 falls 07/28/13) Some from the Everything Else category that really stuck with me this year are: Samoa Joe vs Homicide (ROH Do Or Die – May 2003) Masato Tanaka v Togi Makabe (Zero One 08/03/08) There might be some others that I raved about in my blog at the time so by all means believe those words. However scanning over both lists these ones really, really stuck out in my mind. The first Jr. tag match is on there because its the first in their series and just knocked my socks off. Suwama vs Shiozaki is the because it's their first meeting, there's so much tension and hype but it lives up to it sets the stage for ace vs conquering ace. Its a Champion Carnival match on the first night so both guys are fresh and ready to go. The 2/3 falls tag is there because it is a stipulation you just don't see anymore but was a staple of AJPW tags going back to the 70's. That was a conscious choice to use it here in order to help revive/restore a truer All Japan style (they use it in a Shiozaki vs Suwama match I didn't see as well). We see that in how this match is worked as well. Its my quintessential Burning vs All Japan heavyweight tag. Joe vs Homicide is here because I'd didn't really see this get talked about other than Mcxal's awesome complete ROH blog. He and I match up with our views/ratings and he wasn't wrong. I didn't go one about this on my Joe post but it was because I couldn't not do it justice but, "Intense violent title fight" really is true. Tanaka vs Makabe falls into that category as well. It just did everything right for me. I said back in February, "more Southern brawl (with heel cheating) than a late 00's puro match. It had a couple hardcore spots but in the ways of later ECW/FMW plus it was intense and hard hitting as you wanted for 2008." All that aside, my pick for the best match watched in 2022 is Joe Doering vs Go Shiozaki (10/29/14 -Triple Crown Title). As much as people had said Doering was channeling Stan Hansen, Shiozaki was channeling Misawa. If this period is about restoring the true classic AJPW style then I think they nailed it here. "It never felt like they were killing time or working a sequence. Because just when you thought they were going to do something expected, they did something else. Expect the unexpected is a phrase I kept in mind early on and it stayed relevant throughout. Don't anticipate some slick or cute match. Its nasty and a little rough around the edges at times but man! That's part of what makes it worth your time. A classic match and a fight worthy of the Triple Crown title." So there you have it! Another year gone...Holy Cow! I feel like I watched a ton of wrestling this year by the looks of this list. Again, I hope this helps you out and if you're new around here, go check out my posts from 2022. And please join me in 2023! Thanks for reading! It really means a lot to me and thanks to anyone who left me comments. I've got some good stuff planned for the new year. Take care everyone

Hi folks! Going through my notes and reviews while working on my year end Best Match Watched stuff and found a bunch of AJPW stuff that I never posted. Very interesting stuff. I'd normally do pictures but I think I used some of them from my last wrestling art show thing. Giant Baba vs Stan Hansen (09/08/83): PWF Title match. For a Baba match, this was pretty good. He and Hansen work well together and work with Baby's limitations. Baba also pushed himself a bit. Perhaps I have seen this before but many Baba singles matches can feel the same. Bruiser Brody vs Jumbo Tsuruta (10/14/83): International title fight. Brody surprisingly wrestled a technical match by targeting Jumbo's injured arm. We get blood from both guys and this is really good stuff. The finish or end part of the match is fantastic! Tiger Jeet Singh vs Dory Funk Jr. (12/05/83): Very good bout. You know what you're getting here but I think they worked it very well. Started hot then brought things down and closed with a donnybrook. Baba & Dory Jr. vs Hansen & Brody (12/10/83): This is a short match but the whole thing is fought like the last 10 minutes of an epic tag bout. That's to say, this was intense as hell from bell to bell. Terry is yelling at ringside which makes things even more palpable. It was all so great and felt like a fight between foes (as it is). This was classic stuff (along with the post match stuff). Ric Flair vs The Great Kabuki (12/12/83): For the NWA World Title. Started slow with Kabuki dominating but things picked and the fans really got into the possibility of their countryman winning. It's not the greatest thing ever but it was a lot of fun down the stretch. Would have benefited from being quicker in pace I think. The Jumbo vs Brody and the tag match are highly recommended. Damn I want to rewatch these now...

This year has been relatively an AJPW focused year. So I thought I'd squeeze in a quickie spotlight on my favorite NJ wrestler, Tatsumi Fujinami. No real theme or anything beyond matches I found online that looked cool Bob Backlund vs Tatsumi Fujinami (NJPW 01/01/82): Man, this is 40 almost 41 years old. Anyhow, this is 15 minute technical duel and I loved it. Its the type of match (and time) where they escaped or reversed holds rather than use rope breaks. This could have gone on much longer but we get a weird finish. It legitimately looked like the ref counted in an odd manner and the finish didn't go as planned. I know its the 80's but this didn't even look like a finish. These two are master technicians so I don't think they would have had this look or end as clunky as it did. But screw that, everything else before was gold. I'd say it was a great match except for the finie. Dos Caras & Jimmy Snuka VS Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami (NJ Tag League 1985): Fun tag match with Dos Caras working his ass off. 1985, it could be 1995 with all of the springboard moves he does. Otherwise nothing terribly remarkable but a fun high energy go-go tag match. It's typical of most NJPW tag matches of the era. What is remarkable is again Dos Caras AND he's posted the full match on his YouTube channel. So I figure it is OK to share it here: ----- Kevin Von Erich vs Tatsumi Fujinami (NJPW in Shizuoka 1986): 80's finish but this is off the hook so it doesn't matter. Kevin is a wild mad man! Everything he does looks fantastic. Scoop slams and snap mares even. Credit due to Fujinami for bumping like this. It really sells the match. You know Kevin reminds me of Muto in his explosive athleticism. Imagine those bursts from Muto but for 12 minutes. On top of that they work a little story with the claw and Fujinami going after the hands in order to take that away from Von Erich. Really good stuff. Fujinami has a pink ring jacket that I don't think even flies in 1986...check that out too Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (NJPW 12/11/1991): I think this is one I've wanted to see for some time. It was good but nothing terribly remarkable. And that probably sounds like crap when it was actually good wrestling. I figure they wanted to show how Liger would stack up against Fujinami. He does very well but it feels like an off night for him or something. I just wasn't as excited as I expected to be. This was neither a technical duel or an all out action match. Too high of expectations? I don't think so. I just felt like they wanted to have a 'just a pretty good match' and they totally accomplished that. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Genichiro Tenryu (NJPW 09/26/1993): Fucking great match! I haven't seen enough of the NJ vs Tenryu feud as I want to but have seen enough & know enough. This is a big deal. Tenryu is beating Fujinami from pillar to post. The Dragon does not quit and will find a way to turn the tide if he can. Not a long match but that doesn't matter. The pace is all right for the bout. Glad to see Tenryu too, it's been awhile! Keiji Muto vs Tatsumi Fujinami (NJPW 2001 AJPW Triple Crown match): 15 minutes long or so. This was a really neat match that focused on actual wrestling on the mat. Fujinami in particular showed moments of brilliance in his counters. Towards the end they sprinkled in some bigger moves like the Shining Wizard. Perhaps this match worked around some physical limitations of the workers or maybe it was just really clever, focused and unique. Shit, maybe it's all those things! I thought that this was pretty darn good...perhaps great depending on your preferences. Pretty fun little project to do after work this week. I totally recommend sneaking in a match or two this holiday weekend. I don't think anything was longer than 20 minutes. Just sneak out on Xmas day B.S. and watch some great wrestling instead. Thank you as always for reading, be safe and happy holidays folks!

It's about the end of the busy season at my job. My eyes and brain are fried. I've got a quickie review in mind but in the meantime I thought I'd write something up. One thing I have been interested in talking about is my perspective on wrestling and how that effects my reviews. I try not to do work rate reviews. I'm not trying to give you a play by play of a match. I'm past the phase of nitpicking every match to see if the arm work leads to something. I've out grown the idea that selling a specific injury is all the match should be about. Wrestling is about storytelling. Yet its not always about the storyline. It is about energizing and entertaining the fans. Its not about just about appealing to the nerds keeping score at home. It is something that I try to be mindful of but I know I fail at from time to time." Oh he should have hobbled on his left leg after reversing that suplex. Tsk tsk..." The wrestling should not erode the suspension of disbelief. It should not take the fan out of the excitement to wonder, "wait wasn't she just hurt?" or "he's standing there to catch him for a long while" without providing some in ring explanation or larger universal explanation. That is to say, in the world in which they are telling these stories, does this make sense? I think its more important that the wrestler is selling the story to the fans. That's getting them to understand and believe what they're doing is meaningful. That's what selling is. Not just grabbing your back after a Boston Crab. Pacing and timing are so important but rarely do I see folks mention it. Think about your favorite movies, novels or other fiction. Its all a cycle building up and bringing back down until it escalates to the climax and its resolution. This is something very important to me. I think people forget wrestling is about feeling and subconsciously keep stats on wrestler performance like fantasy football. This is why most of my reviews try to capture how a match makes me feel. I want to convey my excitement or disappointment, my level of engagement or level of disinterest, etc. It makes it simpler for me to write but I really want to encourage wrestling fans to approach wrestling this way again. I think there's this pressure to be hyper analytical and academic about wrestling (and other hobbies). You might be in the early stages, firmly in the middle of it, burnt out or in recovery. But a some point you just loved wrestling because it was fun and excited you. "I'm going to have to redo my rating system. Otherwise I can't account for the stylistic differences between lucha and puro. And what about the lucharesu? Sweet Jesus..." Wrestling is something that's fun and a hobby and I treat it as such. It's why I take breaks sometimes. But its also why I try to watch stuff that interests me rather than stay current. I tried and to be honest I just can't keep up. There's all kinds of older things that I missed or want to see more of rather than get engaged in something I can't find consistently or don't really care about. Its like how most people feel about music. The best music is the stuff you listened to when you were young because you were young. So you might pick up new stuff or put it on your Spotify but chances are it'll be from around those times or be in a similar style. I'm that way with wrestling. I'm sticking to stuff I know and love but expanding my horizons here and there. Boogie Away Grandpa! I think deep down the purpose of this blog is to stimulate people's interest in wrestling that is softly fading into memory. Things you might remember hearing about, a review of a match 5 to 10 years ago, watching clips back in 2016 or whatever. It can be about things you never heard of. I'm not trying to find esoteric matches or promotions. I think I'm finding things that are right in the open that haven't been obscured by time as much as they obscured by the glut of online content made available in the last 10 years. Its very much what's new and then what's next? If you've read my blog, you know that I too am effected by this. The distraction of new or unseen wrestling online has knocked me off my tracks a few times. So I'm not immune and I'm not against it either. I'm very grateful in fact. Those people are doing the same work for the same reason. But I'm not ignorant to its effects either. I've got ADHD and I get distracted and then interested and then hyper-focused. I'm trying to work against the larger effect of content glut wiping this stuff off of people's radar entirely. It is not a crusade of mine or anything. I'm not the only person doing this and in fact much of PWO is about preservation. Many members do or have done awesome work. I guess I am just doing what I can while watching some really good stuff. Hopefully you like reading about it and I pique your interest. I am not sure where I'm going with this now. Like I said, I'm A little fried from the overtime. I just wanted to write a little and be reflective. Pretty lame compared to writing about moonsaults and stuff. Thank you for reading!

Awesome to see you revisiting Tiger Mask! I was pleasantly surprised when I saw his non-DK matches. Not everything was amazing but there are some really fantastic battles that don't get the attention they deserve. I don't think I saw the Villano III from '81...might have to search for that. Really nice in depth reviews as well.

Welcome back! Another Big Japan show from 2007. This is another DVD from Highspots that they no longer sell in the U.S. Its listed as BJW #134 & #135 (07/08/07) but I believe it is episodes #132 & #133 if that'll help you locate it elsewhere. Let's begin! Hiroyuki Kondo & Onryo vs Men's Teioh & Shinobu - clipped comedy match mainly. Really cool finish. Takashi Sasaki vs Ryuji Ito: 300 light tube death match for the title. Sasaki and Ito do not disappoint at all. A great death match for most of the bout but I felt that they really kicked up the intensity/brutality in the final third. Ito went for more light tubes (if that was possible) whereas Sasaki went for harder strikes...well that one axe kick on Sasaki was pretty damn vicious. I don't know what else to say. This was another classic death match in my book. Sasaki strikes a perfect balance between his pro wrestling and the death match props. Ito depends upon the props a little more but, never to the point where you think he needs them to win the match or put on an entertaining show. ----- Jun Kasai & Naoki Numazawa vs Abdullah Kobayashi & Yuko Miyamoto - Scaffold match. This started out well enough. It reminded a little of the BJW of old...not much action but really good spots. This got better and better as it went on. It was like a FMW match like that. By the end this was really good stuff...utilizing the prop but still putting on an exciting match with good moves and dramatic nearfalls. Kasai and Yuko Miyamoto were the best. "Crazy Monkey" Jun Kasai ----- Yoshihito Sasaki & Daisuke Sekimoto vs Katsumasa Inoue & Mammoth Sasaki - 22 minutes of wrestling. You'd better believe that this was some hard hitting no nonsense puro. Mammoth Sasaki isn't a physical specimen like Sekimoto but my goodness, he hits just as hard. Inoue is striking out on his own. He and Mammoth are trying to take the belts from Sekimoto and Yoshihito. This was a great battle and perhaps a near classic. I could tell that they didn't want to steal the show from the Ito vs Sasaki main event. Otherwise Mammoth and Daisuke would have had more one on one time. Nevertheless, this was still awesome. Great to see Yoshihito Sasaki - its been awhile! ----- The big 3 matches were excellent examples of the variety & quality puro BJW was putting out there in '07. It's something I had no idea of at the time. A couple folks that recommended this in the past - thank you! BJW is not for everyone BUT its not as niche a promotion as you might believe. I think it's because the focus is still on wrestling and not shocking or disturbing the fans in attendance. 2 of the 3 big matches aren't anymore gruesome than anything you'd see on TNA for instance. All that aside, this was a great purchase. Definitely seek out the death match and the puro tag match. More Big Japan Wrestling in 2023, for sure! Thanks for reading! Gonna try to sneak in another post or two before the end of the End of 2022 / Best Match Watched post.

I got this DVD from Highspots when they still had Japanese wrestling. They've got this labelled BJW #118 & 119 (03/14/07) . I think the correct numbers are episodes #116 & 117 episodes. In any case, this is for for the 03/14/07 show. Takashi Sasaki vs Yuko Miyamoto - Scaffold and Light tube death match for the title. We get a really nice build up and back story to Miyamoto etc. I don't speak Japanese so other than the match footage, I fast forwarded much of this. But you can tell that he has a lot of heart. What's interesting is that he's soft spoken and seems to have lisp. Not the type of person that you think would willingly fight in barb wire & glass. So right there you're pulling for him to win. He's the baby face. Sasaki is a beast as we can see from the clips beforehand. He's beaten Miyamoto with the buzz saw kick through the light tube to Yuko's head. So yeah... Wu Tang ain't nuthin' to fuck wit. This was a great death match...heck it's probably a classic if I'm being honest. The wrestling was there, the drama was there, the spots & spectacle were there...I'd highly recommend it even if you avoid death match stuff. You might think they went overboard with a couple spots (not anything sickening with the weapons but using the scaffold) but personally I think it went right to the very edge. It told the story, the K- Hall fans were out of control... yeah if you've enjoyed TNA's Ultimate X matches, it's like that with a couple spots (and blood). If you're the type of person that thinks a pile driver on the floor should end a match in all circumstances, this probably isn't for you The 15 year old kid in me loved this shit though! ------ Madoka & Kengo Mashimo vs Katsumasa Inoue & Daisuke Sekimoto: Alright, Kengo Mashimo! Just saw him in my AJPW 2014. Sekimoto is well known and I think I've seen a couple Madoka matches. Katsumasa Inoue is new to me though. He's a welcome addition to the BJW crew (at least the ones I know). All that aside, this match rocked! The opening Kengo vs Daisuke exchange was a harbinger of good things to come. They did an awesome job of having an all-gas-no-breaks tag match. I love it when they really want to have a dynamite bout and hold nothing back. The pace was quick, the intensity was fierce and the execution & selection of moves was excellent. A near classic match to me...really scratching at a low end classic. ----- Ryuji Ito, Abdullah Kobayashi & Shadow WX vs Jun Kasai, Naoki Numazawa & Saburo Inematsu : I knew it all couldn't be fantastic. What took me out of this was Numazawa and Abdullah's performance. They looked like they didn't care. Numazawa isn't that good but Abby Jr. can perform when he wants. If this was Ito & Shadow WX vs Kasai & Inematsu (who is slightly better) this would have been pretty good. Numazawa just killed the energy every time, he got in the ring...his shit did not look good here. A couple cool spots but this also had no flow or organization. Its an OK match but is kinda the match that wasn't more than the gimmick. This is probably the coolest thing Numazawa did all match. ----- Overall this was pretty damn great stuff! The last match could have been better but the first match (the actual main event) and the Sekimoto tag (which happened right before the main) were awesome. I wish I could tell you to pick this up but I'm not sure where to direct you. I'm very happy that I picked this up a year or two ago. Hope you dig the pics. I got another BJW 2007 review coming up soon. Thanks for reading!

This is a two birds with one stone post. I wanted to get a little more Zero One in this year as well as get back to early 2000s NOAH. I was going through my 2001 list and realized I had a mini project with Zero One vs NOAH in 2001. There's some better known stuff and a couple I'd never heard of. Let's jump in! Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Alexander Otsuka (January 13th, 2001) : A good match that goes a long way on the Misawa vs Hashimoto interactions. Very exciting and extremely well worked despite not being memorable from an action standpoint. This is a big one but I think would've been better with someone other than Otsuka. Naomichi Marufuji vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa - ZERO1 - 03/02/2001 : Great match! This is one I wanted to see for a long time as it was highly recommended on Quebrada (which was my gateway to serious puro fandom). It didn't really disappoint either. Now I wouldn't call it a classic in 2022 but 21 years ago, I could certainly buy that rating. Marufuji is spot on here and Hoshikawa is someone who looked ready to break out in the new millennium. He's like a beefier KENTA. This is kinda the template for their NOAH classics. I'd really recommend watching this match. It just has this really neat early 2000's transitional vibe to it. Like you could see where 2000's wrestling was headed but it was grounded by 90's sensibilities. From a personal perspective, I was only 5-6 years removed from this match when I found out about it. It's taken me 15 years to see it. Ha! A weird existential/where-has-the-time-gone feeling came over me when thinking about that. Like using wrestling as a way to measure the passage of time. Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Tatsuhito Takaiwa - ZERO1 - 09/15/2001: This was off the hook! Fantastic junior action from bell-to-bell. The mix of styles is what I think did if for me. Zero One is power & kicks vs NOAH's speed and technique. It made for some great interactions and unexpected moments. And thy showed restraint by not emptying their tanks. They are building up the program and there's not much more you can do than this. It got over exactly as it needed too. I'm calling this a lost near classic junior tag match. It was a blast! Shinya Hashimoto & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Daisuke Ikeda & Takashi Sugiura - ZERO1 - 09/15/2001: Where did this come from? Holy cow this is a interesting matchup. It's clever and exciting. Its much more like a 1986-87 NJPW heavyweight strong style tag. It's been awhile since I watched this type of stuff and this was appreciated. Yeah buddy, go check this shit out. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Shinjiro Otani & Takao Omori (October 12, 2001) Back in the green ring of Noah. This is neat as Omori is here as a cast off from the early days of Noah but there's that great AJPW history that ties him to Ogawa & Misawa. Then you've got Otani who has no love for Ogawa or Misawa whether you want to draw upon his NJ history or as one of the top stars of the fledgling Zero One. It's a simple match but a great one. I think what elevates it is that the little touches are done right. And perhaps it's because it is 2001 and we're not that far away from when wrestling (as in holds, storytelling over moves etc.) mattered. Compare this to nowadays or 2011 AJ which I was just watching, and working a few holds in between moves, escalating the action and selling rather than acting as a tough guy seems so very old fashioned. But dammit, those things work! And this isn't a text book example of those things but they're in the match and this small venue/B show main event was exciting and got me engaged. And rather than beat the scrap out of each other, go move crazy or whatever, they did a simple yet dramatic tag battle with good heel/face work, well timed counters & spots, and some believable near falls (rare as a unicorn nowadays). ----- Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (10/19/01) - Very good to great Jr. Heavyweight title fight. Lots of bombs thrown and no way will you not dig this match. Nice counter moves and surprises... just a lot of fun and believable near falls. Naomichi Marufuji & KENTA vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Tatsuhito Takaiwa (11/30/01) - A prelude to the Marufuji/Takaiwa encounter. Its 13 minutes of really good junior tag action. KENTA hasn't quite found his identity yet and its the earliest I've seen him. The potential is visible already. The Zero-One team is a great combo and Hoshikawa impressed again. As a lead in to the match below, there's no reason not to see this. Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Naomichi Marufuji (12/09/01): This is a classic junior match because of all of bananas shit that takes place. It definitely belongs in the list of awesome Junior matches of early NOAH and perhaps it's the first one. But not only is it shocking (in a good way) but its clever at times as well. Takaiwa attacks the leg quite viciously and Marufuji's real only offense is his side kick (super kick) and taking flying leaps of the top rope. And his only defense is trying to counter Takaiwa with a pinning combination or endure the onslaught and maybe get lucky. I will say with a bit more structure this could have been a high end classic and be scratching at an all time classic (****3/4-*****) however it's just sneaking in at ****1/2. I try to avoid stars anymore because I'm splitting hairs with fractions so yeah low-end classic but a classic nonetheless In summary, this was extremely fun to watch. There's variety in styles and match-ups. The intensity was there. The action was exciting and surprising at times. It was exactly what I wanted. Everything here is easy to find online. If nothing else, pick 2-3 matches to watch. If you haven't seen Misawa in awhile, go with those. You want guys kicking people, Hashimoto and Hoshikawa got you covered. It is hard to go wrong with anything here. Be kind and patient with people this holiday season. A little bit of kindness goes a long way. Thanks for reading!

I agree wholeheartedly. Its been great to have these matches available to fill some gaps for my projects. I'm actually planning on a review of Mutoh era AJPW based on the wealth of footage available on the Gaora YouTube. I think this era is worth a revaluation.

Let's go back to 2011 and see what I missed the first time around. I'll post the links to the Gaora YouTube videos for your enjoyment: Minoru Tanaka vs Kaz Hiyashi (01/02/11): This was a very good junior battle with two legends of the style. I think they have something better in them but this was still pretty good stuff. My issue is with how they're not really transitioning control from one guy to the other. It does seem a bit like 'your turn-my turn' and I'd like to see a reason why Minoru is able to now do his arm bar or brainbuster after getting whooped on for 3 minutes. Same goes for Kaz. And this is the whole thing. They have really great sequences planned but no good or simple way to get to them other than 'OK now we do dueling kicks' or 'now we do the turnbuckle spots.' And they are impressive and athletic on their own but putting 20 of those in a row doesn't make a great match. Watch below and maybe you will feel differently. Suwama (c) vs. Taiyo Kea (01/11/11): This was a smart match especially by Kea. He stayed focused on working Suwama's neck. And well Suwama worked Kea's ribs throughout. So I really liked that. And this was a good fight. I'd say it ***1/2 stars. Just really solid heavyweight wrestling. Sanada/Soya vs Yuji Okabayashi and Daisuke Sekimoto (03/21/11): This was a classic tag match in my book. I think 3 out of the 4 guys wrestle like Riki Choshu/Kensuke and the 4th guy like prime Muto so as long as they stick to that then we're gonna get a very good bout. But this is for the tag belts and they bring everything. Strong BJW is a really fantastic at this time in AJ. This isn't on Gaora but your 'day to day movement' video website has it for you. Search it out! Suwama & Masakatsu Funaki vs Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi (05/15/11): Great inter-promotional tag battle! Hard hitting, spiteful stuff. Nakanishi does not get the love he deserves. There's not a ton to go on about here. This is exactly what I wanted and expected. Firm **** stuff Yuji Nagata VS Seiya Sanada [2011 Champion Carnival Battle]: Sweet sassy molassy Sanada took a beating. This was a near great match where Sanada took the pain train. An absolute treat to watch for a Yuji Nagata fan - striking mixed with grappling. He was really testing Sanada. But in all fairness Sanada really got a boost going toe to toe with such a decorated wrestler. He kept things fun and the outcome was in doubt. KAI vs Kenny Omega (Junior League Match 2011) : Yeah this was borderline great stuff. I continue to be a fan of KAI. Kenny was pretty hit or miss. He's got his mannerisms that work in some regards. When he's selling his abdomen injury then it works but once he moved on to just selling exhaustion/punch drunk it gets a bit melodramatic. That coupled with his ability to snap out of this fatigue/stupor to do drop kicks and other cardio moves takes away from the match. He's just waiting for his turn. That said KAI doesn't get into this behavior. He is the rock of the match and doesn't get too swayed to get carried away. I originally ordered a DVD with this match but got sent the wrong one (which features the awesome KAI vs Kanemoto match). So it was nice to see this finally but am quite happy that I got the Kanemoto match instead. --- A pretty fun little project. Definitely seek out the Soya/Sanada vs Strong BJW tag match. Then go watch the Nagata matches. The links are above so you've got no excuse Thank you for reading!!

Here's another one I found. The great RWTL match between Omori & Soya vs Sanada & KAI from 11/19 or 11/26 the TV date as I had it listed above. Thank you Gaora!

Here we are back in 2013 -again! Some kind soul posted these since my 2013 project wrapped up. I stumbled upon them will looking for 2014 stuff. This is some really nice wrestling so let's take a look! Minoru Tanaka, Koji Kanemoto & Hiroshi Yamato vs Atsushi Aoki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki (04/29/13) : Thought maybe I saw this but, no! So this was from the 2013 Champion Carnival final night. First things first, kudos to the dude who gave Aoki the double birds right in his field of vision while stomping his opponent. Then kudos to Aoki for getting up in said dudes face Hahaha! That's was hilarious! All that said, this was SICK! The top juniors in the company in one ring, all with beef - this was top shelf stuff. It was so aggressive yet intricate that nothing came off as overly contrived. It just felt like rivals going to battle. It made me realize how much I missed Kotaro and Kanemaru in 2014. Aoki is so much better with Kotaro than Sato and this match is proof (nothing against Sato). But Minoru, Kanemoto and Yamato were just as fantastic here. The feud of Burning juniors vs Stack of Arms/Junior Stars is the best of the year thus far ('22). Its been awhile since I saw the original matches but, this is an amazing reminder. Classic junior 6 man match. Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Hiroshi Yamato - 06/02/2013 - This match is a direct response to the 04/29 match. Great, great 15 minute junior title match. The first 5 minutes are some of best sequences I've seen in awhile. Shit, it might be one long sequence actually. It doesn't really drop off from there too much if at all. Just the unpredictable element of those 5 minutes was top notch. I think as the match continued, I generally knew where they were going. However, they still sprinkled in twists and turns that made this pretty awesome. Kanemaru in 2013 (along with Aoki & Suzuki) is rad. Jun Akiyama and Go Shiozaki vs. Joe Doering and Suwama - 06/02/2013 - 28 minutes of classic tag wrestling. The final few minutes elevated this for me. There were a couple spots that I feel were cutesy or for visual effect rather than what you'd do in the heat of a fight (especially heavyweight wrestling). But I mean that's 2010's and later wrestling, isn't it? I'm nitpicking because it was really exciting & dramatic stuff. Again, the final moments eliminated any reservations that I had. This is a classic bout. It is a tag match-up I wanted to see during my initial coverage of 2013 AJPW and it delivered - sweet! Atsushi Aoki and Kotaro Suzuki vs Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo - 06/30/2013 - I wanted to like this one and have a proper sendoff for Hayashi & Kondo. It just wasn't happening. You very well may dig this match and it was spectacular and full of cool moves. But that's all it was - a bunch of cool moves. No rhyme or reason and right from the get-go. Its the worst tendency of Kaz & Kondo to just go balls to the wall like early 2000's Indies and we get that here :/ I watched 12 or so minutes and just knew this wasn't going to get better by being longer. Atsushi Aoki and Go Shiozaki vs. Suwama and Takao Omori - 9/19/2013 - In contrast to the above match, they kept it simple, built up the drama & intensity and had a very very good tag match (***3/4+) in front of like 1/4th as many people. A fine way to end this revisit of 2013. I'm not selling how fantastic this is but its pro wrestling done right. All in all this was a very enjoyable mini project. I try not to go back to anything just because I have so many other projects and ideas for the future. However 2013 AJPW is so good and my 2014 project was a tad shorter than I wanted. All of these are currently available to watch on that most popular of video sites. Get em while you can! I highly recommend you do! Speaking of going backwards on projects, I actually found a batch of 2011 AJPW matches on the Gaora YouTube page. I'd like to review those next as well as share the links so you can enjoy them as well - guilt free After that, I think I'm going to watch what little AJ 2015 I have. I might mix that in with some other 2015 stuff perhaps like BJW, Wrestle-1...we'll see. Thanks for reading! Keep staying safe folks!

In the past year or so Gaora posted some videos from AJ 2011. I'll be making a new post about those. One they added but I've already seen and loved was KAI vs Koji Kanemoto (09/25/11). So from Gaora with love, here it is:

Found one more worth your time. It's out there on the web for ya too. Joe Doering and Suwama vs. Yuji Okabayashi and Daisuke Sekimoto - 11/30/2012 : All killer no filler 10 minute match! Great stuff - if you like these wrestlers then it is exactly what you want and need

Here we are at the end of the road for 2014 AJPW. We're wrapping up with the 11/29 show which I found online. Masanobu Fuchi vs. Naoya Nomura -skipped Takeshi Minamino vs. Yohei Nakajima - Fun indie heel vs babyface match. Just simple stuff but so enjoyable. Keisuke Ishii & SUSHI vs. Enoshima Man & Ultimo Dragon - I started watching this and it was pretty bland. It was just a generic junior tag match with not much spark. I fast forwarded to the last couple minutes and it never seemed to have much more urgency. Its probably OK but I don't feel bad skipping it. Kotaro Suzuki (c) vs. Ryuji Hijikata - Unfortunately not available :-/ Akebono & Yutaka Yoshie vs. Dark Kingdom (KENSO & Mitsuya Nagai) (RWTL Match) - Um this was OK. It wasn't very long. Burning Wild (Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori) vs. Xceed (Go Shiozaki & Kento Miyahara) (RWTL Match) - My main event and watched after the match below. And so glad that I did! This is a classic RWTL match between to great teams. It had a traditional structure and a good work-a-body-part basis for the meat of the match. This wasn't an epic empty the tanks classic but one that was clever, exciting and increasingly dramatic. Something right at the ****1/2 mark. This show needed something of this caliber. Special Tag Team Match - Suwama 10th Anniversary Debut Evolution (Atsushi Aoki & Suwama) vs. Evolution (Hikaru Sato & Joe Doering) - Starts out a little directionless and not fitting for a intra-stable exhibition match (more technical wrestling less brawling). So I had a hard time getting interested. But things really picked up when Aoki made the hot tag to Suwama and it was bombs away for the rest of the match. This could have been great if they put a story to it. In all fairness the story this told was the Evolution stable coming apart at the seams but, that's not the case based on the post match Anniversary celebration. It was a good match but under expectations. I sort of thought that might be the case and watched the Burning Wild vs Xceed match last as my true main event just in case. Overall, this was an OK show. A one match show in terms of recommended stuff. Maybe you'd like the Evolution tag more than I did. It's certainly worth checking out but the Burning Wild vs Xceed tag match is what you want. I wasn't keen just ending it there and found a bonus match from Kobashi's Fortune Dream show (12/10/2014): --- Joe Doering and Shingo Takagi vs. Yuji Hino and Kento Miyahara - 2 AJPW guys and Wada as the referee? Close enough for an AJPW match for me! Do yourself a favor and watch this match! The hardest hitting, smash mouth, He-man match for 2014. Add another awesome match to the 2014 list. This was a classic bout especially if you like Sekimoto/Okabayashi strong style tags (something AJPW was missing in 2014). Loved every minute of this. Not a thinking man's fight but for raw power this was fantastic. A great end to this 2014 project. This is on the 'tube currently. --- 2014 AJPW was pretty good overall. I didn't feel immersed in the storylines or promotion as much as 2013 just because I didn't have as much footage available. I didn't help that one of my DVDs was defective. All that said some of the very best bouts of 2014 are on the 'tube or the "day-to-day movement" video site. These include but aren't limited to: Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori (Vacant Triple Crown Title - 06/15/14) Joe Doering (c) vs. Go Shiozaki (10/29/14 -Triple Crown Title) Burning Wild vs Xceed (11/29) Doering/Shingo vs Hino/Miyahara (12/04 Fortune Dream) Doering was kicking ass and is an awesome champ. He really was bringing a special energy and fight that is old school (and lacking from recent wrestling). The comparisons to Stan Hansen are arguable for either side but I appreciate his work as champ. He is the Gaijin monster of old and I like it! P.S.I was able to find some more matches from 2013 (and 2012) that have been posted recently. I found them while looking for 2014 stuff so a nice treat! I'll do a post on those next as an addendum to my 2012-13 projects. After that I might pivot to something else. I had my eye on 2001-2003 Noah matches that have been overlooked. But it's my busy season at work so that may not happen before New Years. Thanks for reading!

That's awesome to hear! Thanks for the feedback! Glad you are enjoying the screen captures as well - it's kinda like being a ring side photographer trying to catch a good pic. Being able to rewind is a big help though

Well looks like my sample of AJPW for 2014 is going a bit shorter than expected. My disc for 09/28/14 is defective. I'm going to be perfectly honest, this is why I stopped getting stuff from my "Internet Video Provider." This disc was probably from my last or second to last order when half the stuff was either defective like this or just the wrong show (labeled date matched what I bought but what was on there was different). And here it bites me in the ass a couple years later. If you're interested in ordering I'd recommend going light with your initial order and check every chapter to make sure that it works right when you get it. I'm not angry but disappointed since it was a good show with Miyahara vs Doering and Suwama vs Shiozaki being the highlights. Let's move on & start with a free match online posted by Gaora: Ultimo Dragon & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato (10/22/14) - Junior tag battle and it looks like Aoki has joined the Evolution stable after all. He and Sato are a great team. Ultimo and Kanemaru are vets so really there's no worry here. And don't you know it, this is a great tag fight. I loved the finish. It was something they were working towards and it paid off. You gotta love that! Besides that, there were some really fun holds, interesting double team moves and yeah just a blast to watch. This is free from Gaora on their YouTube page: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8uPX9a7sR54&list=PL9GbOLsWy6qLCD-R4zPkA9lUAtbzj06bm&index=109 Unfortunately it is the only thing from 2014 AJ that they have currently. Elsewhere on the internet: Joe Doering (c) vs. Go Shiozaki (10/29/14 -Triple Crown Title): Well we know who won the big match on 9/28 and get a couple clips from the match. Now the title fight... Best Joe Doering singles match to date. No fucking lie, he ruled in this match! He made Shiozaki fight for every move, strike exchange, high spot etc. This felt like an athletic contest and a brutal one at that. Doering looked like an absolute monster in the ring. Shiozaki played a great underdog but also a star. That was difficult to do but I felt he was inspired by Misawa at times_- rolling out of the ring to prevent a pin attempt, blocking or reversing attacks and using his counter attacks at opportune times. There were nice touches like this that helped build the drama and kept things engaging. Joe Doering provided the pace and tone. He kept this match quick and aggressive. It never felt like they were killing time or working a sequence. Because just when you thought they were going to do something expected, they did something else. Expect the unexpected is a phrase I kept in mind early on and it stayed relevant throughout. Don't anticipate some slick or cute match. Its nasty and a little rough around the edges at times but man! That's part of what makes it worth your time. A classic match and a fight worthy of the Triple Crown title. Woo doggy! That was something! Anyhow, let's get on to my 11/1614 DVD! Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Naoya Nomura - not shown but listed on Cagematch. Dory Funk Jr. & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Osamu Nishimura & SUSHI - skipped Masayuki Mitomi & Ryuji Hijikata vs. Xceed (Kotaro Suzuki & Yohei Nakajima- fka- Menso-re Oyaji) - Oh wow, this was really really good. Ryuji Hijikata vs Kotaro was fantastic. They had some surprising and refreshing sequences together. Those felt either well thought out or entirely spontaneous, if that makes sense. That's to say, they added twists and turns to well worn Junior sequences that came from being in the moment or by making a conscious decision to surprise. Yohei Nakajima & Mitomi were really good as well. They didn't work anything as complex as their partners but it was still quite engaging. This is 13 minutes of very good stuff...reminds me of the 2003 Differ Cup in the best way! RWTL Matches from here on out! Kengo Mashimo & Tank Nagai vs. Dark Kingdom (KENSO & Mitsuya Nagai) - Dark Kingdom explodes as former members Kengo & Tank team up as K-Dojo (home promotion) and battle against the top DK dogs KENSO & Nagai. Heel vs Heel teams in K-Hall - yes, please! This didn't disappoint as it scratched that Indie itch - brawling on the parquet floor, foreign objects, and keep it simple stupid tag wrestling. 15 minutes of great tag wrestling. Tons of good pics with this one too: ----- Akebono & Yutaka Yoshie vs. The Big Guns (The Bodyguard & Zeus) - 10 minutes, good physically taxing match. Two strong men taking on two super heavyweights, its what you want and expected. Xceed (Go Shiozaki & Kento Miyahara) vs. Evolution (Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato) - Great tag match especially when Evolution was facing Shiozaki. Miyahara was OK but, I don't know if he added anything other than being Shiozaki's partner. If we got better selling or in essence a story that involved him, this would have been a classic match. The ending of the match was absolutely fantastic. ----- Burning Wild (Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori) vs. Evolution (Joe Doering & Suwama) - Well my mouth is still hanging open from this match. Under 10 minutes long. They went fast and hard from the get go and you get good stuff but this was WAY too quick in my opinion. 10-12 minutes would have been better with the same result and not been a WCW Nitro paced match in AJ. What I will say is that storyline wise, it fucking works! I'm kinda amped to see more of the Real World Tag stuff... sure I've only got one more installment but, it's a doozy! ----- A tad disappointed with the main event but not truly because it is a teaser and the rest of the show was awesome. I love tag wrestling and this delivered. K-Dojo vs Dark Kingdom was the most fun but Xceed vs Evolution Jrs. was that Great AJPW tag match I was looking for. The best one of the post was Doering vs Shiozaki though. Seek that out! Thanks for reading folks! It means a bunch to me

Part Two and our first combo entry. We start off with a match found online then we'll go over a full show. As you can tell from the date we're skipping ahead a few months. Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori (Vacant Triple Crown Title - 06/15/14) - I guess Akebono had to vacate the title. We get a nice lead in to the match showing the history between Omori and Akiyama. I'm a dork and know it already... it's one of things that makes this period of AJ special. It's as if Akiyama never left and he and Omori would be the old guard. Speaking of drawing on classic AJPW, Akiyama works over Omori's lariat arm like a fiend. At every turn, he's kicking, smashing or wrenching on his opponent's wing. Not only is this weakening the Axe Bomber arm but its forcing Omori to use his other kick based offense, which isn't as strong as it was. A great example is when Omori was going to the top for his knee drop because it is something that can turn the tide but is a big risk. Akiyama forces Takao into this situation then makes him pay for it. Just really awesome work from Akiyama. Omori finds openings but either cannot capitalize or over extends himself when he gets going. This is really smart work from Omori as well. He never sells the arm to where it's stupid if he uses it BUT sells enough to let you know its hurting him when he does. Classic match in my book. Hard fought match, the story is there both long term and within the bout...the story of the match makes sense and feels right. Heck the pre match stuff even helps out! Now onto the DVD of the 07/27/14 show! SUSHI vs. Menso-re Oyaji - Quick indie Junior match. Menso-re Oyaji unmasks and I think is going to wrestle under his real name from here on out. Dory Funk Jr, Osamu Nishimura & Yutaka Yoshie vs. Masanobu Fuchi, Takao Omori & Ultimo Dragon - Only in Fire Pro Returns would this be a good match. I would have been stoked to see Nishimura & Yoshie vs Omori and Ultimo. Hideki Suzuki & Zeus vs. Kengo Mashimo & KENSO - Sweet indie feeling tag match. 12 minutes of action. Everyone brought a little something different to the table but all combined it was so much fun. Really good stuff. Kento Miyahara & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru - Very fast paced match with a purpose. Everything looked great here with the focus on Akiyama putting Miyahara in his place. Great under 10 minute match! ----- Keisuke Ishii & Shigehiro Irie vs. Mitsuya Nagai & Takeshi Minamino - Nagai & Minamino are part of KENSO's group Dark Kingdom. They are basically the capital 'H' heel group. Irie & Ishii are so baby face that its nigh impossible to hate them. So we get a match you'd expect but it feels really refreshing in an AJ ring. But then again this is AJ-as-Indie promotion if you couldn't tell by now. There's no complaints from me. You get that stuff mixed in with your more traditional AJ stuff with your big names. Gonna sound like a broken record but another really good tag match. ----- Atsushi Aoki vs. Hikaru Sato - Now for something different! Aoki and Sato put on a shoot/Inoki-strong style match for the Junior title. Lots of very good grappling and fighting for holds. I would have loved to see more scrambling on the mat. Maybe why that's why I can't call it a great match. I think if the pace was quicker or more like a real fight then this easily could have been fantastic. Now I still really dug it especially Aoki's work. I think there was a portion where this was going to be a little more pro leaning but once they decided to make it more shoot style, it got really good. Two guys riding the bus to work... ----- Suwama vs. Joe Doering - Evolution main event! This is for the title. You know what you're getting from these two. Smash mouth heavyweight puro and they don't disappoint. What's really cool and makes this a great match is the surprises they include. It's either moves they rarely do or adding twists to their standard arsenal. Plus they hit really hard :-) This is two of the physically largest dudes (outside of Akebono and Yoshie) just beating each other up for 20 minutes. It harkens back to Jumbo vs Tenryu a little bit. The hate isn't there...this is two current stable mates fighting after all. But the slower pace & heavy hits are definitely reminiscent of an earlier style in AJPW history. Another really good show (minus the Dory Funk Six Man) and I'm liking 2014. These shows are a breeze to watch. The variety of characters from top to bottom is refreshing. So little spoiler if you jumped ahead of everything. I'm a little bummed the Vacant title winner (the first match in the post) was just a transitional champion. We'll see how 2014 goes for the winner of the Evolution main event (trying not to spoil). We will see if I agree or disagree with the decision as we go on. Something to look out for... Thanks for reading! I'm going along at a good pace so stay tuned for more of AJPW 2014!

Thanks for waiting on me! If you've followed my blog you know I am easily distracted. I have a real good plan that gets interrupted by something that draws my attention elsewhere. I'm not like this with serious matters but it's something I do with my hobbies. The seasons usually play some part. In the summer, I tend to focus (fixate) on skateboarding. Invariably I'll get hurt or its too damn hot to skate and that's when I make time for other stuff like wrestling. In the winter, I just tend to get burnt out on wrestling and other stuff. Anyhow, enough about me. Let's see what we've got! OK first thing, I do not have as much available online as I did for 2013. I've got about a handful of matches as opposed to almost as many full shows online. Also the stuff I bought for 2014 is all over the year. We're starting with February and I think the next DVD I have is in September. So my apologies if you were looking for a more comprehensive overview or even a good summary of the year like I did for 2013. This is going to be a healthy sampling instead. I wish I bought a couple more discs but the quality of the seller wasn't up to my standards anymore. Maybe he got better but I'm not messing with it. Lets start with the first show and any online ones I'll tack on at the beginning or end chronology as we go. Its looking to be a four-parter. 02/08/14 Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Soma Takao - Good all action Junior match to get things started. Soma impressed me and hope I get to see more of him in 2014. I guess he's a DDT guy like many of the non AJ guys here. Keisuke Ishii vs. Atsushi Aoki - Good for what the guys in the ring did but Kenso & Nagai spoil it to cause Aoki to lose the match. More of an angle than a full match. KENSO & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Ryuji Hijikata & SUSHI - Nice music for Nagai & KENSO! But yeah they're the new heel team. I like that. This was a good match and really kicked up a notch when Ryuji Hijikata made the hot tag. Definitely want to see more. Not fully developed since it was meant to get over the new heel team. Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Hikaru Sato - I like both guys well enough but I wasn't feeling it. It was a bit too much of "I'm tough!" - "No I'm tough!" wrestling. I can get behind that. I enjoyed Eddie Kingston vs Ishii from the free part of the recent AEW PPV. This match wasn't compelling though. It was too guys doing this type of thing for 10 minutes trying to build to a submission win. But it wasn't for me :-/ Akebono, Shigehiro Irie & Yutaka Yoshie vs. Go Shiozaki, Kento Miyahara & Kaji Tomato - Perfect use of Akebono. The focus is on he vs Shiozaki for the belt. Akebono is amused by Go and his attitude. This is a very interesting perspective for him instead of the super serious one he takes. It shows depth personality which he normally lacks. All that said, the highlight of the match was Irie & Yoshie vs Kento and Tomato. And that's was very good stuff! Heck it all was very good. It was a nice twist that Go couldn't seem to hold his own against even Akebono's partners,and he needed help. Kaji Tomato was new to me but the dude can work. He showed 100% effort. Very good match, scratching at a great one if I'm being honest. ----- Kotaro Suzuki vs. Ultimo Dragon - Very good junior match! They wisely treated this as a tournament match instead of a title fight or one time dream match. They made a lot of good decisions in what story to tell, when & how to shift momentum and actually incorporated wrestling holds which we haven't seen much of this show. ----- Joe Doering & Suwama vs. Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori - Tag belts on the line. This starts out well enough and is going along at a good pace. It's operating in that ***3/4 range but eventually switched into high gear. The attacks became fierce, the defensive actions got more desperate and everything just felt more urgent. I really know they have a classic match in them. As it is I would say this ends up as a near classic ****1/4 bout. ----- Pretty darn good show and a super easy way to get back into the groove of things. I really like the variety that they have now. After the Wrestle One exodus, the company was pretty much Burning stable vs AJPW...no complaints from a quality perspective but its nice having the mix of styles.

I haven't been watching anything lately but wanted to post something. I've been messing around with old AJPW footage and flares and distortion from the bright lights. I take whatever halos, prismatic effects, after images or saturation of light that occurs when filming (and temporarily blinding the camera men no doubt) and further manipulate it. Baba ----- Kabuki vs Flair ----- The Funker

In all honesty, this was going to be a quickie post of just a few matches that I stumbled across. But then I became intrigued by the match ups or was impressed by a worker and wanted to see more. And here we are! The entire 2003 Differ Cup watched out of sequence reviewed out of sequence. I'm not going to pretend it didn't happen. Sit back and read on: KENTA & Kotaro Suzuki vs Great Takeru & Kappa Kozou (02/08): Was going to skip this since I'd never heard of the IWA Japan team. But then I thought - I'm going to end up watching the whole event (mostly) so I should just check it out. So glad I did! Its shown in full as it features the home NOAH team and frankly it is a great opening bout! Both teams were smooth and exciting which surprised me. Perhaps it's a case of low expectations but I thought the teams gelled well enough that the IWA-J team would be invited back for under card jobs at the very least. Not thinking they were though... Jun Kasai & Gran Naniwa vs YOSSINO & Ultimo Dragon (02/08): Saw this called the worst match of the night...no way man! In fact, I thought it was great! It wasn't a move fest but it was clever, funny and had some exciting moves too. It just felt like 4 pros at work. Sometimes it doesn't have to be epic, brutal or intense to be great. MIKAMI & KUDO vs Kuroda & Chocoball Mukai (02/08): JIP to the last 10 minutes of an 18 minute match. Took a chance on this and was pleasantly surprised. My sleazy indie radar steered me right. Very fun very indie match with chairs and a ladder. As a fan of ECW & FMW, this felt good. Ikuto Hidaka & Masao Orihara vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yoshihito Sasaki (02/08): In a NOAH ring but this is a Zero-one match. And that is pretty cool. The familiarity is there and they were able to do some really good stuff. Hidaka never ceases to amaze me with some move or sequence. Orihara (who I hadn't seen much at this time other than Fire Pro Returns) can still go. This was all action and a great match. Yoshihito Sasaki looks good even this early. MIKAMI & KUDO vs Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yoshihito Sasaki (02/08): JIP and clipped however the stuff that was shown was really good! The Zero One team brings the steak but MIKAMI brings the needed sizzle. Heck KUDO looked really exciting here as well. The ladder is in play again and I'm not complaining. 12 minutes shown out of a 15 minute match so I feel safe giving this a "very good" rating. KENTA & Kotaro Suzuki vs YOSSINO & Ultimo Dragon (02/08): Oh yeah this was really good stuff especially towards the end. Masato Yoshino/YOSSINO did his part here but Ultimo was the star of the whole tournament. Good pace, action throughout - this 11 minute bout was a nice way to end night #1. Great Takeru vs Kappa Kozou (02/09): Fun showcase match of the IWA Japan guys. It's about 10 minutes of them throwing their best stuff out there. They made a good impression on me. Ikuto Hidaka vs Masao Orihara: Oh shit! They were not going to be out done by the IWA guys. This was some next level stuff. Hidaka again drops my jaw with his precision, speed and body control. Orihara is right there with him! This wasn't all fireworks either as Hidaka was trying to get a clean win whereas Orihara was going to take it anyway he could. Even Ikuto has a breaking point and introduces a steel chair to the mix. Nothing too crazy like we've seen the night before but it's nice to see the ECW/FMW relaxed rules again. This is a great junior match. Kuroda & Chocoball Mukai vs Gran Naniwa & Jun Kasai : I wasn't sure about this one. I looked it up and it was around 20 minutes. 12-14 minutes seemed right but that time seemed too much. Yet again, I was wrong. This was a really fun match that had a little bit of everything. Both teams looked really good. Kuroda and Kasai were the best though. I don't know if I would have booked this after Hidaka vs Orihara from a draw perspective but they did their job and provided lighter entertainment to prep the fans for the main events. KUDO & MIKAMI vs. KENTA & Kotaro Suzuki: This is fought for Third Place trophy. I've seen this called a very good match but I can't agree. The start was fun but the middle was long and pretty dull. The last third was good but wasn't enough to save this from being just OK in my book. This was very good but the Naniwa/Kasai match was no good? Yeah right! The Kappa/Takeru bout smoked this as well. It was just too long and none of the guys knew how to fill the time in the middle. A disappointing fight. Ultimo Dragon & YOSSINO vs Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yoshihito Sasaki (02/09): Its much more toned down in terms of crazy spots (although it has a few) and has a strong face/heel dynamic. Masato Yoshino (YOSSINO) played the whipping boy and Takaiwa was the bully. Dragon was the big brother and Sasaki was the lackey. It was simple and effective. It was well executed, there were nice surprises, shoot it was a really good tag match! A great way to end the tournament. There you have it! Never had any intention at anytime to watch this but dammit I had a lot of fun! Only one match was a bummer and most were actually pretty darn good to great. This gets a very strong recommendation from me especially if you're craving something from this time in wrestling. Thanks for reading!

"never had the best match he potentially could have had. " I guess I was thinking beyond just having great matches but also getting the spotlight that she deserved in AJW. The time she missed was time that she could have moved up the card and got big singles wins. In my mind then she really could have had some classics but on a much bigger stage and with bigger names than in Arsion. Nothing against those matches at all but I think she would have rather had those in an AJW ring. So in the grand scheme of things, she doesn't get recognized like she should.

I was really psyched on the Doug Williams match vs Samoa Joe from a couple weeks ago. Williams has been a favorite of mine since seeing TNA in 2007. I remember how it really impressed me with how he used his knees for much of his striking offense. Knee drops, knee lifts and such really resonated with me at the time. Not only didn't you see them very often at that time, Williams used them in such a deliberate manner. It wasn't just one knee drop, it was a myriad of attacks. Its almost like when I first saw a Wanderlei Silva fight and how he used his knees. The style is different but the principle of using the knees seemed very smart and dangerous. That coupled with his mat wrestling and suplex skills, I was sold. Anyhow, I've never done a spotlight on the Anarchist and after watching a bunch of Steven Regal matches, I thought why not now? So without further ado, let's begin! I'll post any YouTube videos below the match if they're posted by the folks that own the rights. Other stuff, you'll have to watch it anyway you can. Doug Williams & Jun Akiyama vs. Go Shiozaki & Kenta Kobashi (Universal Uproar, November 12, 2005) : Very small ring and while they did give the fans Kobashi vs Akiyama right away. They then had Akiyama in peril for a good while and it felt odd. It almost felt like they dominated him. Once Williams got in there it resumed the normal order of things and all was good. All was great in fact. Doug was on fire and Shiozaki in his rookie year was fantastic as well. Kobashi did his thing which is all anyone could want. Akiyama seemed really game to work with Doug. They functioned extremely well together. All of the knee strikes, it was awesome! The closing segment was so enjoyable. Not on par with Kobashi's ROH appearances but absolutely great stuff! Doug Williams & Jody Fleisch vs Go Shiozaki & SUWA (ROH Unified 2006): Great golden age mid card magic. I mean this is also from the Unified show which is arguably one of if not the best shows. Jody keeps things simpler but does mess up a couple things but honestly I couldn't tell either way. The simple things he does work and is an astute partner for Doug. SUWA does his thing and Go in 2006 had all of the fucking tools already. Honestly, Doug vs either NOAH guy would have been just as good to me and really this match is really about those encounters with Jody in there for fun. ----- Doug Williams & Go Shiozaki vs Davey Richards & Atsushi Aoki (RQW April 2007) : Very good tag match. Its pretty much a NOAH tag in the UK - good grappling to start, strong hits, quick action down the stretch. A couple bobbles as Richards/Go miss the body scissors or maybe hurricanrana and the bottom turnbuckle breaks during the end but they recover on both. Neither really hurts the match. Just good action with everyone going all out in front of the small UK crowd. ----- vs Johnny Moss (3CW Remembrance Day 11/11/07): This was a quite fun & more technical style bout. Things get chippy from time to time especially towards the end but its more traditional than we see Doug in Japan, ROH or TNA. He does it all so very well. Moss you might remember from my wXw 16 Carat tournament posts from a couple years ago. Very nice to see him again. ----- Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness vs. Akira Taue & SUWA (NOAH 10/13/06): This was pretty much all SUWA and the lads but that's not a bad thing at all. Take functioned kind of like a heel manager - interrupting pins, meddling, and assisting in some moves like the Dudley Boyz "Whassup" headbutt spot but SUWA dropped an elbow instead and looked to destroy Novel's dick in the process. The Brits worked their butts off this bout. Taue eventually gears up and we get some really exciting stuff in the last few minutes and this is a really good tag match. So many of these seemingly throw away tag matches are only perceived as such because of the quality of the high end stuff. Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness vs The Briscoe Brothers (RQW Indypendence Day 2008) - Slight JIP but this is about 13 minutes of great tag wrestling. Its like the TNA PPV version of what they can do. Everyone looked really and mat wrestling at the beginning was awesome. Its very much what I want to see in Doug or Nigel's matches. ----- Kotaro Suzuki, Yoshinari Ogawa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Atsushi Aoki, Bryan Danielson & Doug Williams (NOAH 10/25/08): Great 15 minute 6 man match. Lots of action and a neat twist where Ogawa isn't really amiable with his teammates and vice versa. We used to see that on TV during the Attitude era but not too much in Japan. I'm not sure what the background is but it makes it a memorable match. All the talent in the ring ensures you'll find something to like here. Excellent project! Its something I should have done a long time ago. If you're unfamiliar with Mr. Williams, check a couple matches out. If you're a fan or just want to look back to wrestling days of yore, give it a shot! Thanks for reading! Stay safe folks!