G. Badger

A couple years ago I found out that my fiancé's college friend (who lives in Japan) was a wrestling fan and regularly goes to shows in Tokyo. Awesome! After talking, it turns out he's good buddies with Kotaro Suzuki. Holy crap, really!? Being the awesome nice guy that he is (both our friend & Kotaro), I received a signed poster and tee shirt in the mail a few weeks later. My mind is still blown I've become a big fan ever since. So, I'd like to repay his kindness in the best way that a wrestle dork with a blog can...Here's a spotlight on some of my favorite Kotaro Suzuki matches: Makoto Hashi vs Kotaro Suzuki (NOAH 06/06/03): A really fun opener for a fantastic show. This match would be great for an American TV match albeit stiffer. Recommended match. Tiger Emperor (Suzuki) vs Ricky Marvin - Mask vs Hair (NOAH 04/02/05): An excellent display of athleticism, speed, and execution. These guys work so well together. I'm really surprised these guys were never brought into ROH at the time. The wager didn't really matter too much to me but, it was amazing lucharesu. Highly recommended. Takuma Sano vs Mushiking Terry (Suzuki) (NOAH 11/05/05): What started out as just a fun match turned into something I would strongly recommend checking out. There was a neat story as it appeared Mushiking has Sano's rolling solebutt to the gut scouted. He's dodging it at every attempt. This is really smart because it has been shown to be equal to Misawa's elbow strike or Kobashi's chop. Not only strong, it is unpredictable. Sano is the master of this move along with the top rope double stomp. In combination, it usually spells the beginning of the end for his opponents. Terry (Suzuki) uses speed and craftiness against the the veteran. Smartly he works on weakening Takuma's legs with a variety of holds. This plan looks really good in pulling the upset. Sano's not out of it completely but, I'm buying a Mushiking win. It doesn't matter how much the kids are yelling for their superhero. He can only dodge that kick so many times. Really good match and two masked gimmicks in one year for Kotaro Low Ki vs Kotaro Suzuki (NOAH 02/17/06): A fun Junior contest between two guys who are brilliant on offense. Their defense was less than developed although Low-Ki showed an avenue of genius. Still this was a fun, highly athletic and competitive bout. Ki was going to win because he out ranked Kotaro but, it was dramatic and exciting. Great match. Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki vs Super Crazy & Ricky Marvin (NOAH 07/22/12): Well shit...they went right straight for crazy town here. I mean Super Crazy is in the match so, um I guess its to be expected...They were diving off, over, and through stuff in the first 3 minutes. The balance and timing these guys had was impeccable. There was a bit much in the end especially from Marvin who went full Chaquita Bananas with the finishers. If you enjoy the Young Bucks or the PWG style tag match, this is a highly recommended match. I won't say great but, its something Dave M. would probably give ****1/2 if it was in NJPW today. Joe Doering vs Kotaro Suzuki (AJPW 08/17/13): An under 10 minute gem where a basic story was told with great execution, move selection, and energy. Highly Recommended. Shuji Ishikawa & Daichi Kazato vs Go Shiozaki & Kotaro Suzuki (08/30/15 Union Pro): Nice tag team dynamics at work here. Kotaro was clearly the lowest man on the totem pole but, he impressed me. My favorite pairing was he & Kazato. Their junior offense was really entertaining. Go and Ishikawa were the destroyers so, it gave the bout a sense of urgency whenever the heavyweights were in with the juniors. Highly recommended match. I had a few other under the radar recommendations/reviews for Kotaro in a notebook but, its lost in the boxes of junk from my last move. Kotaro became a freelancer after AJPW and was in Wrestle-1 where he had a really awesome title match at the beginning of 2016 (03/13/16) with Minoru Tanaka. Then, another good match with AKIRA in June 2016. I believe he was then doing a lot of work with Zero-1 and is regularly working for AJPW again according to Cagematch. Looks like some really fun stuff went down in the later part of 2017 so, hopefully I'll be able to track some down and share my take on it in the coming weeks.

I know blogs aren't the hip thing anymore. That's probably been the case for a long time actually. I'll admit that I'm out of it. Anyhow, I've been keeping a journal of my views on puroresu since I got hooked on it 11-12 years ago. I've typed a couple hundred pages of reviews in a Word pad file on a Dell desktop. Then, for some reason a couple years ago, I've regressed into writing reviews into spiral notebooks. I've got to share this with someone, right? Eh, perhaps not the seasoned wrestling fan but, the guy or gal just getting into Puro. Or maybe someone who is looking to branch out from the current NJ style which seems to have become synonymous with Puro the last few years. My goal or aim of this blog is to share my views on Japanese wrestling as well as other related styles or promotions throughout the years. Generally speaking, 1975-2015. I'm sure that I will hit upon some TNA, ROH, PWG, and wXW along the way but, that's why the blog is called Puro + More. I do want to try and cover current (2016-present) Wrestle 1 and Zero 1 via YouTube and Daily Motion as well. I'm certainly going to still participate in the Match Discussion Archives. In fact, there may be some duplication there as well as from the Obscure Japanese Indies and WAR topics. Here I can expand upon them a bit more and ramble. In no way do I want this to be a big old review dump though. I've got a schedule and daily theme set up (in my notebook of course) so, my objective is to post an entry once a day. I want to keep things varied for readers and myself. Plus, I want to keep the blog moving along so, it remains interesting for all. We all know how easy it is to start a project but, keeping up with it can be another matter. Thanks for reading. I'm excited to get started

Ha! Even more reason to skip his matches

Well, this sounds pretty awesome!! And by awesome, I mean that its not a 90 minute video but condensed 15 minutes of bizarro sleaze! Edit: Yeah this is pretty darn fun. The flaming glove bit was great! What puzzles me is that the Demons look like zombies & the Zombies look like demons I hope everyone had a fun time doing this.

Hahaha! I don't want to admit it but same here! My Wushu phase will pass but, it is a blast. I was psyched seeing the choke slam in the above even though the finish was similar. That must be like the Doomsday Device of Wushu I've been watching the Wushu matches (?) with weapons too and thinking, "yeah...this could kinda be a hardcore/deathmatch"

That's a really great story! I cracked up when the 3 regulars stumbled in on the party and then became part of it

I enjoyed this 2-on-1 match. Enjoyed the soccer kicks to the back and chest spot. I think that Sabin & Shelley do that. Plus awesome tag team finisher at the end https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6XEnDcww8Kg

Well, that was pretty awesome... Yeah, that's pro wrestling to me. Insane work rate and spots! Too much no selling for my tastes ;P Thanks for sharing! Gonna watch some more now

Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kazunari Murakami & Yuji Nagata (show #8) This one, the last match of BML did not disappoint. It is all the striking grappling goodness that I'd hoped for. Minoru Suzuki and Takayama are total awesome destroyer heels. Referee Wada even won't put up with their crap. Nagata is the awesome hero. But, man Murakami was great too. The finish is good but, after the bell was rung and Suzuki starts redecoration of K-hall, that's when I thought this was a damn great match. I'd like to rewatch it because it seems like it could be a mid 2000s Indy classic.

I liked this a little bit more but, it is more about watching Kensuke assault skinny Shibata. Sasaki pulled out a couple special moves here so, he really treated Shibata as a threat and I think is why he bumped for the face kicks when he was kneeling. I think he treated them like Chono's Kenka kicks. I was wholly pleased with the match but, Shibata-bata really needs something more than middle kicks in his arsenal. It got rather repetitive... I was waiting for it to be Kensuke's turn to lay the smack down. All in all it was exactly what I wanted as rank dictated the outcome even before the bell rang...especially since Shibata opted for a brawn over brains approach. Highly recommended despite it's flaws.

Yeah, the Fujiwara tag match was alright but, I quit half way through. I just didn't have the patience for it. Just finished Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Munenori Sawa from show #7. Hot damn this was nifty UWF in NJ type match. Plus its around 7 minutes long so, its all good stuff. Nakajima looks badass in it. Highly recommend checking this one out. Kensuke Sasaki vs. Katsuyori Shibata I was wholly pleased with the match but, Shibata-bata really needs something more than middle kicks in his arsenal. It got rather repetitive... I was waiting for it to be Kensuke's turn to lay the smack down. All in all it was exactly what I wanted as rank dictated the outcome even before the bell rang. Highly recommended despite it's flaws. Kensuke Office's appearances in BML have been a boon to the shows.

This match had a lot of potential but, didn't live up to it. The early stuff with Shibata and team NOAH was great. Unfortunately, Kota Ibushi was totally disregarded to the point where it was a 2 on 1 match. And this wasn't done in a clever or meaningful way. They brushed him off in such a manner that it didn't matter who was in there with Shibata. That's alright if that hubris by the NOAH team comes back around to bite them in the butt. For instance, hot tag towards the end to our ass kicking ace Katsuyori. Ibushi recovers and gets to hit his moves etc. and we get exciting nearfalls and little Kota is more than a whipping boy. Or! They actually pay off the Morishima & Shibata stuff and we get a decent believable end segment. I get no one except Ibushi gets pinned here for political reasons but, man this match just kinda ends outta nowhere. Kota never looked like a threat and gets mauled by the mop headed mammoth. Its stiff as heck but, all in all, that's about it. No sequences of note between Ibushi & Marufuji, only 1 section of good grappling with Shibata & 'Fuji, and no meaningful portion with 'bata & Morishima. It felt like they left a couple minutes of the end off. Below what they were capable of for sure. I'd still recommend it since its 16 minutes and they really hit each other pretty good

Naomichi Marufuji & Takeshi Morishima vs Katsuyori Shibata & Kota Ibushi From show #6. This was pretty good but not great. Shibata was awesome with Marufuji. His stuff was off the charts with Morishima though. Wow, they really just pounded each other. This lost steam as it went on and sorta ended once Big Takeshi was in there alone with Ibushi (who looked to be like 145 pounds soaking wet). 16 minute match should have been a couple longer. Perhaps Shibata was hurt? I'm tempted to watch the Fujiwara & Suzuki tag from the same show. Its 20+ minutes so, it could be great or boring as hell...

At a this point 2018, this shit is a lost gem.

Where Naniwa vs. Lynn was AJW, Caras vs. Sasuke was AJPW. A nice slow building match with exciting matwork built into false finish teases & hellish moves...Sasuke did his awesome flying offense and Caras powerbombed Sasuke 3 times that would make Vader wince. ****

I agree! I had no idea some of these matches existed. I'm looking forward to his match vs Kensuke and the tag match vs the NOAH guys. Also the final tag match with Takayama has potential. BIG MOUTH ILLUSION 5 6/18/06 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (show #6) Mad Dogs (Mad Dog Goto & Mad Dog Ohara) vs. Hiroyuki Ito & Yuki Ishikawa Naomichi Marufuji & Takeshi Morishima vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Kota Ibushi Great Yuta (Yutaka Yoshie) & Kazunari Murakami vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara BIG MOUTH ILLUSION 6 taped 7/2/06 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (show #7) Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Great Kabukicito (Taro Nohashi) Don Arakawa vs. Riki Sensyu AKIRA vs. Yoshitsune Enson Inoue & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Mad Dogs (Mad Dog Goto & Mad Dog Ohara) Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Munenori Sawa Katsumi Usuda & Kazunari Murakami & Manabu Hara vs. Voodoo Murders (Shuji Kondo & TARU & "brother" YASSHI) Kensuke Sasaki vs. Katsuyori Shibata BIG MOUTH ILLUSION 7 8/20/06 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (show #8, final show...I believe) Hiroyuki Ito & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Mad Dogs (Mad Dog Goto & Mad Dog Ohara) Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita vs. Katsumi Usuda & Manabu Hara Katsuyori Shibata vs. TARU Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Kazunari Murakami & Yuji Nagata

Totally agree. Awesome Indy dream tag match. ****-**** 1/4 seems about right to me as well. Minoru Suzuki and Fujiwara were just great here. Kensuke at a minimum was a nice touch too. Made his offense seem that much more meaningful.

I'd like to get around to watching the Suzuki vs Fujiwara match from show # 4 but, not today. The rest of the card looks OK. Pretty sure I watched Kido vs Kurisu over the summer I'll skip to show #5 where I watched the dream tag match & the main event. I probably wouldn't watch a Shibata or Nakajima match from this year but, for some reason I'll watch one from 11 years ago Kazunari Murakami & Kensuke Sasaki vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Minoru Suzuki- Wow, this was fantastic! Awesome character & heel work from Suzuki and Fujiwara. Sasaki had minimal in-ring time but, was maximum in his effectiveness. Match showcased some comedy, hard way blood, and a really satisfying finishing stretch. Fujiwara at 100 years old here still was very very dangerous and didn't hold the match back one bit. Great match! Katsuyori Shibata vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - Battle of the young stars in K-Hall! Kicks, slaps, elbows and all the other stuff you'd expect outta these two lads. 'jima is outranked and outclassed in 2006 so its a lotta guts and guile from him...well and kicks...he does kick a bit. 12 minute match is just right. Nice compact stuff. Not sure I would have booked this after the tag but, Shibata is the ace so to speak. Highly recommended. I'll try and finish out BML's brief run in similar fashion. Should be a day or so as there 3 more shows.

All of the BML stuff is loaded. I'll pick up the ball a little bit since there are some really unique, interesting, dream match ups. I don't wanna go through the whole shows like Jetlag has graciously done but, others are more than welcome. I'll post the cards for show #4 & #5 from Quebrada's site. BIG MOUTH ILLUSION 3 taped 3/22/06 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (show #4) Osamu Kido vs Masanobu Kurisu Yoshitsune vs Rasse Yuki Ishikawa & Muneki Sawa vs Manabu Hara & Katsumi Usuda Minoru Suzuki vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara Kensuke Sasaki vs Kazunari Murakami Katsuyori Shibata vs Hidetaka Monma BIG MOUTH ILLUSION 4 taped 4/19/06 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (show # 5) Exhibition Match: Osamu Kido vs. Ultimo Dragon Yuki Ishikawa vs. Hiroyuki Ito Don Arakawa vs. Muneki Sawa Alan Karaev vs. Katsumi Usuda Ensen Inoue vs. Manabu Hara Kazunari Murakami & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Minoru Suzuki Katsuyori Shibata vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

This lived up to expectations but, I didn't think it was a MOTY contender. It was a great match with a different feel (much like Kobashi vs Ogawa '03) but didn't kick into overdrive at the end like I would have liked. Still the match & finish are great just not a classic to me.

I'm with Vinnie B on this match. I thought the exchanges were really good, the outcome was in doubt since you had different levelled wrestlers, etc. Korakuern hall brings out the magic in these 6 man matches. Loved this one. Great stuff.

Ditto to everything El-P has said. This was a beautifully gruesome match. I just finished watching this and whew, I gotta take a break and watch some cat videos or something. Both guys really put it all on the line here and they did a fantastic job of selling it to the crowd. I was never a fan of either at the time but, a match like this makes me want to check out their other stuff.

TNA or Impact or whatever they go by now has this online: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U5FEiAGSUO8 This is the rematch from their great match a month prior. This contest was much more about Joe getting even. Kurt weathered the storm and prevailed. Here Joe wasn't going to make the same mistake. He would have an answer for the Ankle Lock. He would up the intensity and fortunately so would Kurt if he was going to gwet the win. This match seemingly has a much more of an MMA influence as there was a fair bit of mat action for a 2006 match. The strikes seemed much stiffer as well although not what Joe was doing with AJ & Daniels. He wasn't working light but, the blistering chops, soccer kicks, face wash weren't there. Nevertheless, it worked in this match. Great stuff, near classic stuff until the ref bump. I'm alright with a ref bump but, man this puppy went off the rails for no reason as the ref bump was an unnecessary bit of drama milking. Even Don "the man" West said something like 'after a great match like that how could it come to this!?' speaking of Angle. I'll still call it a great match but, this was a B.S. way to turn Kurt heel. Do it on TV.

I certainly get the rules but, why in the hell do they choose to incorporate any aspect of that in a no DQ match? A Dome match, of all places, is not the venue to test viewers/spectators' understanding of the rules of wrestling...not that they wanted to. I thought the 19 count was a flub and no fault of the wrestlers. Still, that detracts from the match. Then, we pile on the one or two rope spots that are key to the "possible" finish. Its more of a missed opportunity OR unnecessary aspect to the match IMO but adds minor confusion. Then Jericho stalls to pose a little more than is needed throughout. All the while the clock is ticking. I just watched Rocky vs Chris from R.Rumble 2002, and I felt that better captured what Omega/Chris could have done here. I'm sure the later matches like HBK & Punk stuff that JKWebb mentions are even better. I haven't seen those. Its like they had a list of stuff that they wanted to do but, didn't connect them together with any sort of sense of urgency. I don't mean to go on about this because I didn't like the match because I did. I liked it in total better than the aforementioned Rumble match. I just guess I'm disappointed because I like both guys and thought they could do better than this.

There was a ton of lead up and hype surrounding this match as Angle had come into TNA just the month before. Joe was undefeated for 18 months. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_madQBbghRk They fought this match like the really wanted to prove something. No run ins, cheapshots, or anything like that- just two athletes trying to establish their dominance. Joe trying to keep Kurt down and Kurt trying to show it didn't matter where he was, he was the best. This was really wrestled well for their first encounter. It gave room for the feud to grow but, certainly paid off the build up. Angle was bleeding throughout and it just added to that competitive intensity. Very exciting stuff and a impressive start for Angle in TNA. I thought it was a great match especially for being under 14 minutes.