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G. Badger

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  1. G. Badger
    I agree wholeheartedly! Its really clear that they were having a blast. I can't believe people brought their kids! Looking forward to your W*ING box set thoughts
  2. G. Badger
    Wanted to revisit W*ING since I was pretty bummed by the bed of nails matches. Fortunately, I came across Mr. Pogo vs Matsunaga in a Barbwire bat Texas Death match. This is from 5/9/93 and is clipped a little but not so much where its jumping around in the match too much. Its exactly what I was looking for with the action. Both guys are bleeding and taking to the bat like champs. Pretty sure Mr. Danger gets hit in the throat. Great finish too! Same show, Headhunters vs Miguel Perez Jr. & Yukihiro (Wing) Kanemura -Barbwire Cage match. I was hyped that I found this. Perez Jr. is a guy that I've become a fan of through W*ING. This match was fantastic with everyone tasting the wire, guys going off the top rope & cage etc. The fact that it was a non escape match was plus. May have had some clipping (a constant with W*ING & IWA) but nothing offensive. A great death match, heck a great match in general.
  3. G. Badger
    I wanted to check out the bleached blonde Mr. Danger Matsunaga in W*ING since I've enjoyed some stuff in BJW. Leatherface vs Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (Original Spike Nail Death Match) 12/20/92 Eh this was just alright... Leatherface was pretty bland on offense and frankly Matsunaga was as well. At least I can sense his kicks being harmful rather than Leather's paltry punching and stomping. They tease the nails, kill the heat by incorporating a knee brace story element, and the match ends with one guy rolling onto a single nail board :-/ Mind you they (W*ING) have set up like 5 boards on each side of the ring so, it really looks they're trying to put the 'death' in death match but nah...1 board and then they (W*ING wrestlers) carry the defeated man off in a blanket like volunteers carrying a rehabilitated dolphin back to the ocean. Its Matsunaga...he lost...am I spoiling anything at this point? So, I found the rematch with higher hopes. 5/5/93 Spike Nail rematch So, the rematch was better. The general offense was pretty lame and meandering but, they teased the nails a lot better this time including fighting on the apron. Leatherface went off the top rope a couple times which was an improvement. This finish was a lot better and appropriate for the stipulation. I won't really recommend this match in full form but maybe a clipped version is out there worth checking out. Overall disappointing but, they can't all be gems...
  4. G. Badger
    Thanks on the date for this match as it appears they has a match in '92 SWS as well...01/06/92. Anyhow, this was all kinds of fun and excitement but, with enough drama to keep me guessing the outcome. The speed and high flying technique was excellent and wasn't marred by a dozen false finishes. Reminded me of Rey vs Psicosis WAR J-Cup '95. Very high recommendation
  5. G. Badger
    I strongly second the Hase claim from my viewing experience: matches with Muta & the Steiners, his brilliant IWGP match with Hashimoto. I know there's a couple during the NJ-WAR feud worth tracking down and outside of the peak period, his AJ matches are pretty boss... Aw I'm just spreading the Hase love now
  6. G. Badger
    Digging this one up from the groove-yard but, anyone looking to get into Wrestle and Romance (or Revolution) may want to pry into the SWS vaults as well. At first glance, its puro meets WWF but, selectively and especially closer to '92 it resembles WAR's lumpy grumps spud fests. Either way both promotions have a lot of untapped potential for great matches. I'm trying to go through some stuff readily available online from both for those interested (including myself).
  7. G. Badger
    Since I've been watching early 90s Indy puro, I'd nominate Atsushi Onita - '89-94 as well as Tarzan Goto '90-95. That seems under the radar nowadays but, for anyone interested...that's a solid period for great alt-puro
  8. G. Badger
    Aww man :/ This was a match I'd been meaning to see for years as I really enjoyed their 10/96 match. Unfortunately, I couldn't say this was great or even a highly recommended match. I have no problem with NJ Jr style, parity spots etc. The pace was quick, the execution was very good, dives were insane (highlights of the bout) but, it was missing something. The middle and end (if there was a middle) was big move-pin attempt-kickout at 2-repeat. I mean come on! Punch the guy a couple times, stomp him, work him over with a hold at least. Don't just do a move, cover him, pick him up, and do another move! If they would have cut out 5 minutes they could come up with a different plan or this one they'd came up with wouldn't have been so repetitive. I'll still recommend it for the dives and execution especially if you haven't seen Sasuke or Ultimo.
  9. G. Badger
    Just watched the scaffold match. I thought it would be Kanemura or Mitsuhiro Matsunaga so I was surprised it was The Iceman vs. Miguel Perez Jr. duking it out. OK fellas...good luck! Seriously, its a crane scaffold and they raise it to damn near the ceiling. At start, I'm just thinking 'OK, that looks about right...what!? Why is it going up more..no...no they're going to bring it down a lil bit.' Nope...looks like near death height The camera shots were great at playing this up and like Tabe mentioned, they were able to actually wrestle & brawl and do a few spots including a insane one by Perez Jr. that I won't spoil. I'm not a scaffold match fan (who is?) but this is well worth a watch!
  10. G. Badger
    Just finished watching Tarzan Goto & Mr. Gannosuke vs Cactus Jack & Tiger Jeet Singh 12/09/95 - IWA Japan. There was as much action going on outside the ring as there was inside. Tables and chairs were being thrown about every minute. Tiger was not too bad as he did his usual stab based offense and took no real damage but, wasn't really in the focus of the action. Very good brawl with good craziness after the bell too. Tarzan Goto matches in IWA have yet to disappoint.
  11. G. Badger
    I spent ridiculous money 17/18 years ago getting tapes from Poughkeepsie to my little town in France so I could watch japanese wrestling. Good for him he's still going on ! Same here although I'm in the States. He was my first place to get tapes/DVDs of puro & joshi. His reviews were always in depth & well thought out. I'll still refer to his site for dates, obscure match participants, show locations, take on matches etc. Its a great resource!
  12. G. Badger
    Ha! This is true! Fairly speaking there are squatting naked men staring wide eyed to the mayhem. I give credit to the ladies for trying get up and away from Tarzan Goto...to no avail I want to say kudos to Jetlag for this topic because there is so much focus on the new stuff coming out and reviewing it and whatnot that stuff like WDF, W*ING, IWA Japan, and heck I'll throw groups and like SWS & WAR and even FMW in there, have been way overlooked by a generation of wrestling fans or people getting into puro. There's a wealth of stuff available online for free and in good shape (not $20 per VHS quadruple bootlegged) so check it out, if the sleek HD-PG wrestling isn't your cup of Twinnings.
  13. G. Badger
    The version that I saw is joined in progress after the entrances. This is perhaps the best Ishikawa match that I've seen. Great knee work and Haku sells it like it's legit. That's what happens when you get scoop slammed on a guard rail where your knee is the only thing that makes contact. You sell it because it hurts! But really the beauty of this match is how they beat the shit out of each other. Straight kicks to the face, headbutts that you can hear, smacks to the ear, and Ishikawa's best lariats. I mean he's got to blast him because it is Haku and he is a Tongan terminator. I watched this on a whim and I am so glad that I did. Both guys really put it all out there for a short match, no title and no fanfare. Plus, its got a few nice 'oh shit!' surprises. This is pro wrestling for pro wrestling's sake. If you like Tenryu, WAR, 90s Indy puro, check out this little gem.
  14. G. Badger
    Watched both the Headhunters glass death match and a bath house match with them vs Tarzan Goto & Mr Gannosuke. Both from '95 and both great for different reasons. The glass match was tons of fun with great aerial moves by the guys and the usual slice and dice. This era of death match seemed to really emphasize the danger of the weapons as guys genuinely were not wanting to get torn to ribbons. But, yeah a fun bout and easy to watch since both guys can actually wrestler and didn't mind laying in the blows. Highly recommended Bathhouse match was all kinds of wackiness but, the fellas took it seriously even with Goto trying to "drown" one or both of the 'hunters! I'm surprised WWF never tried a gimmick match like this...sans female nudity of course. For the crappy side of IWA Japan, "enjoyed" Freddie Krueger vs. Leatherface. Best part was when the Fredster takes the worst dragon screw I've ever seen. It was hilarious 😄 its like he had never heard or seen one before that match let alone have a clue how to bump for it! The rest isn't too terrible since its two guys dressed up like movie monsters wrestling for 5 minutes.
  15. G. Badger
    This was a great improvement over their Living Dangerously bout as it actually had a clear beginning with a few holds. Still it was rather disjointed as RVD doesn't seem to know what to do next sometimes and really gets by on his charisma and tremendous athleticism. With that I felt that he is a bit like Brody...he's not the best wrestler but you want to see his matches for one reason or another. Once again it was clear Jerry Lynn held the flow of the bout together and his moves come out of experience and spontaneity where RVD's are mainly trademark moves and variations thereof. I think much of this comes from the ECW fans' expectations. Most of the time they could care less about pacing & psychology and are instead waiting for the next chairshot or table smashing. If both guys didn't have to deal with this then I'm sure these matches would hold up against some of the better Indy matches in Japan at the time. Clearly some folks don't care for Van Dam or Jerry Lynn so, if ye should be one of these fine folks...don't think you're getting anything different here. However, if you like them then this one is recommended if you haven't seen it.
  16. G. Badger
    Ditto to everything said above. The promotion has a wacky name but, man alive this was a stiff intense match! Always dug Tarzan Goto and before I knew anything about the big world of puro including AJ and NJ, I knew Goto...carving a hole in some guy's arm during a glass pane death match. This man is sick!! He has that aura of danger and toughness about him that pushes this match to something great. He can wrestle, he's got moves but, man once he's throwing chairs and bleeding its on! He and his partner Ryo do so well in building heat that when Nakano comes it to kick ass, I was right there cheering him on. Skip ahead to the finish, Motegi put on his Michigan Wolverines head gear, started barking and threw Ryo for a beauty of German. Great match!
  17. G. Badger
    I'm not sure of a full version online. The time at the end showed this at around 30 minutes. Just watched an edited version perhaps with the big bumps but this was insane. Kasai out does New Jack with his balcony dive...plus a cactus wrapped in barb wire! A little cringe inducing but fun stuff as far as death matches goes. Like to find the full version for a proper review.
  18. G. Badger
    This match is a clear instance where the talking point of NJPW guys working at the same level as AJPW guys during the very early 90s is true. Want to see more of the tournament especially the bits with Chono based off JKWebb's comments. Chono fans are few and far between
  19. G. Badger
    This is good stuff! When you're talking about is when I got into ROH ppvs and all that. Gabe put too much into the faction stories possibly as a response to what DragonGate had been doing. One off shows were good but nothing was going nowhere mainly because McGuinness was hurt and an on again off again champ and there was a team vs team thing going nowhere for no purpose. As much as they pushed the AJ/Noah lineage of champs as comparable to ROH (Joe, Punk, Danielson, now Nigel) it was always In Comparison rather than on its own. And there lies the problem. After Noah and DG were introduced and even became part of the roster (and champ in Morishima's case), ROH was going to be compared to those guys and their work. So, it became a de-facto puro group and when Nigel was OK he could go up against the likes of KENTA, Dragon, Aries, Roddy etc. and deliver stiff believable bouts. If scrawny Jimmy Jacobs (who is a fantastic heel) is your top heel in a puro group then there's nowhere to go but in a circle unless Gabe wanted to go back (to the 80s) to having a chicken-shit beat Nigel on a countout or something. Really, Aries should have beat Nigel in a NOAH style match. Had Aries as champ then done the Jacobs vs. Aries feud with the No DQ & I Quit Stuff. Nigel could take time to heal and perhaps come back as a face and been the first 2 time champ. Or just give up the idea of having every champ be the most epic MFer of all time. ...at the time the first 2 time ROH world champ was treated like the 2nd coming because he had a NWA champion booking plan with Indy guys. He and we were lucky he got Joe to Aries to Punk to Gibson to Danielson relatively seamlessly! Things were perceived as too prestigious past that...it came to that once he was ousted anyhow... OK taking a deep breath now...
  20. G. Badger
    Isn't that the start of all loving relationships? I can't recall 100%, but wasn't it implied as part of the heel turn that she was in on the whole thing and so that part was staged though? Could just be making that up, as my brain is hurting thinking about it! Is exhibit #3 above connected to this example? I remember the kidnapped wedding quite vividly and in a way the potential honeymoon seems to mesh into the Road Dogg lip licking scene eerily well... I think you're right, tha 'F smoothed the creepiness/criminality out by having Steph be "girls gone wild" about her 'attitude' change Gosh that is all awful....especially if you couldn't see through the bullshit of the time.
  21. G. Badger
    It's a classic bloodletting. The greatest part being the japanese Korakuen Hall fans chanting "2 ! 2 ! 2 !", as #2 was the babyface in this. Try to ponder that for a minute. I think I'm going to have to watch this now Plus there's the bonus of having face/heel distinction in a death match! I guess I always felt the dichotomy broke down once you're willing to maim another person (think Lawler-Funk empty arena match ). I eagerly await watching the heavy bros. get brutal!
  22. G. Badger
    Thanks for the review of this Brody doc! Looked really interesting but wasn't sure if it had footage so, that's awesome to hear! Looks like its in a similar vein of the Funks one they put out a little while back. Might have to check those both out 😀
  23. G. Badger
    Yeah, I was thinking McGuinness as well. His run as ROH champ from '07-'09 is as iconic for ROH as Joe or Dragon. Unfortunately, his career ended too soon plus going to TNA to become Desmond Wolfe didn't help so, I'm not sure he ever hit his true peak. His matches with Danielson are pretty classic though. Another couple to throw out from Joshi: Aja Kong '90 -'94- feud Bull Nakano (who had an epic few yrs. herself), Jungle Jack tags, feuds with Hotta, Dynamite Kansai, Toyota Chigusa & Asuka 85-88...I know of around 10 great to classic matches in that period. Would love to hear others opinion of the Crush Gals in this context.
  24. G. Badger
    I think the interesting thing with the big 4 or 5 of 90s AJ is that people hit their peaks at different times and for different durations. Obviously all these guys have had great matches before and after but, their peak years (best in the world level) IMO would be: Kawada 92-96, Taue 95-97 (98?), Misawa 93-98, Kobashi due to injury is in a couple bursts 97-99, 03-05, Akiyama is tough because he's never had a amazing 3-5 yr run like the OP was getting at...and I'm a big Akiyama fan. I think from what I've seen, his 2013-2015 in AJ would be the closest as he's perhaps the grumpy old man Tenryu of this generation...even then I'm hesitant.
  25. G. Badger
    Toshiaki Kawada '92-'96 One could argue '90-'95 and I'd be cool with that too. '92 is when I felt the Dangerous K persona really took hold as a character/in-ring style and who we associate with Kawada. I feel like Terry Funk AJPW '76-'80 would be a favorite of mine as well. Plenty of classic matches (singles and tags) plus iconic moments that helped AJ take shape early on.
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