G. Badger

Thanks for reading! Glad you enjoy 'em

Sorry for the delay! I'll get to that in a minute. It's nothing dramatic. So here we are in August & September of 1985 All Japan Pro Wrestling! The Funker...the late great Terry Funk is here. Lots of Stan Hansen and yeah this one is pretty star studded. Let's begin! Riki Choshu/Killer Khan vs Genichiro Tenryu/Jumbo Tsuruta (08/02 aired 08/03): A great match without a doubt! Things started out with Jumbo and Riki having a technical fight. Once Khan started slapping people in the face, the tone changed. This is one of more stiff hitting matches I've seen from mid 80's Tenryu. I'm pretty sure he punched Khan in the face on a tag team double punch. They do something different every match and they don't need a ton of signature moves. Everything feels like a fight. This is probably the frontrunner for my feud of the year. Terry Funk v. Stan Hansen (08/23/85): Oh man, this was wild from the get-go! They were just beating each other up inside and out. Terry took some wild ass bumps. One would have been right at home in mid 2000's NOAH. Also to say this was stiff would be an understatement. We get an 80's finish but is probably my favorite type and Dory ends up coming out and hitting people with his cowboy boot (while wearing a shirt and tie). Great stuff! If you've never seen either guy, this is a excellent match as an introduction. If you're missing some Terry Funk, go watch this one. Dory and Terry Funk v. Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (08/29/85): Really good match...I'm not sure if I'd call it great as it didn't seem to have much of a story or flow to it. My guess is that the encounter was meaningful enough. All 4 guys were really exciting and man Stan Hansen is so quick! But I'll level with you. I haven't gotten a good night's sleep for a couple days so this match may be better than I reckon. So if you're interested than you should check it out, don't just take my word for it with this review. ----- Stan Hansen/Ted DiBiase vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu (08/31 aired 09/07): Aw man! They cut the finish out! This was a classic match or damn near and they ended the program :-( Talk about an 80's finish... The real same is this match was the last one to watch for this post and is kinda the reason I am late posting it. Like I said what was shown (assuming 90%) was near classic but I probably would have skipped this knowing the end wasn't shown. All that said, DiBiase was fan-fucking-tastic with Jumbo & Tenryu. I'm pumped to see more of him with Hansen. Tiger Mask vs Marty Jannetty (09/05 aired 09/14): Joined in progress. This is a bit of fun. Low stakes but well executed... reminds me of a WCW TV match. Just wanted to watch it because it happened. I mean Marty Jannetty vs Mitsuharu Misawa right? Gotta check it out Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru v. Yoshiaki Yatsu/Killer Khan (09/14/85): Man, Yatsu is a really exciting wrestler. He's like that in the 01/28/86 match. I remember him being more of a tough guy when he & Jumbo team in the late 80's. He really brings some different stuff here doing both a double under hook suplex and belly to belly suplex. He's also off the top rope a couple times. I think I'm learning to appreciate him even more than I did before. So all that aside this is a very good to great tag match. It's everything I was hoping it would be - fiery, stiff, good pace, simple yet smart wrestling. ----- Jumbo Tsuruta v. Harley Race (Int'l Title, 09/19/85): Really good match. A bit more deliberate in pace than the Choshu/Jumbo stuff but still very hard hitting. Harley was letting Jumbo just blast him with chops (double handed chops later) as well as "no-sell" a couple beefy lariats. In my mind, Harley knew he wasn't as mobile as he used to be or quick like the younger guys but he was tougher. That's the story here. Both wrestlers bled and the last couple minutes are great. In the context of 1985, I'd say this was very good but if I was watching AJPW from a couple years earlier, I might call it great. Still very happy to watch Jumbo & Harley square off. Very entertaining stuff! For all of you folks that read my stuff on a regular basis - Thank you very much! I hope it gives you something fun to read. I hope it gets you excited or interested in wrestling that you may have missed, overlooked, or never thought of. I also hope it is a nice little pocket of the "old internet"

Hi folks! A short impromptu post this week. I actually wasn't going to have much of anything to post as this has been a stressful week. Sometimes a good wrestling match can help blow off some steam or whatever but, I wasn't feeling it. Much of the stuff scheduled for this week was more high stakes than I was in the mood for. So I thought I'd give some AJ Jr. wrestling a shot. It just so happens that everything I picked out features Kuniaki Kobayashi Mighty Inoue/Tarzan Goto vs Kuniaki Kobayashi/Norio Honaga (07/28 aired 08/17): joined in progress. An actual quality Tarzan Goto in AJPW match - alright! And he's really good despite being young... man 80's Goto vs Kawada is probably out there somewhere. This was a very good action match. Kobayashi is an absolute boss. Goto takes flight! ----- Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Norio Honaga (07/30 aired 08/10) What the fuck!? That opening was amazing! However this was a pretty standard junior title match. Nothing wrong with that but Honaga didn't stand a chance. That first minute or so is worth checking out if you're interested... would've been cool if they could have brought more of this energy/excitement later on. It was like Hayabusa Super J-Cup exciting. Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Tiger Mask (08/31 aired 09/07): So it looks like Misawa and Kobayashi were having a classic feud back in '85. This was awesome and really felt like the type of match Misawa would be having in the early 90's. Of course it's not as polished and smart as those classics but, it belongs in the conversation of classic singles AJPW matches. This style is not what we saw Tiger vs La Fiera & Pirata Morgan in '84. This not what we were seeing with Masa Fuchi, Onita, the Guerreroes, etc. This closer to what we'd see as Kings Road Style. This is top shelf junior wrestling. That said, I think we need to give Kobayashi his credit. We need to give ref Kohei Wada credit too. This maybe one of the earliest instances of his 2.9 counts that I've seen. I am rambling on about it as this is 1985 and I feel like conventional wisdom is that Misawa didn't do much until his '88 match with Jumbo (the La Fiera & Morgan matches are more novelty showcase exhibition). I feel that the story goes he didn't do anything great until he unmasked and feuded with Jumbo in '90. This match along with their 6/21 classic disproves that misconception...A misconception that I admit I had. ------ Tiger Mask/Takashi Ishikawa vs Norio Honaga/Kuniaki Kobayashi (09/09 aired 09/21): Pretty darn exciting tag wrestling. Tiger Mask Misawa was doing all kinds of things. Honaga was impressive with Misawa. The highlight was the Kobayashi/Misawa stuff. They were in their own league. I think this raises a good point in regard to the previous review. I don't want to give the impression that everything featuring these two was akin to Kawada vs Misawa era stuff. Those big matches were exceptions to the rule. I do feel like the Riki vs Tenryu match on 06/21 was getting there as well although that did have an 80's finish whereas the TM vs KK matches were clean finishes. This was a fun & quick little subproject. This past week was pretty crazy for a bunch of reasons. I wasn't really in the mood for wrestling. I'm glad that I was able to fit these matches in. As always stay safe and thanks for reading

All excitement 6 man match! Battle lines are drawn! Everyone is really good here...20+ minute match but never a dull moment. I agree with Jetlag. These are simple matches but really are prime examples of working simple competitive matches is all you need sometimes. I don't think this match is as good an example as 01/26/85 which isn't posted on here. That one is even better. Violent, intense stuff - great match! Choshu's team is a force to be reckoned with which is a neat twist as its usually the Hansen/Brody and various American crews that are the threats.

Fun stuff, lots a cool moves but no rhyme or reason for anything. That's OK as it was neat.

You'd think this would be just as good as the Warriors vs Jumbo & Tenryu but its not. It just seemed like the Warriors wanted to run through their moves here. You wouldn't know Riki & Khan are a force to be reckoned with in AJPW based on how the Warriors worked with them...

Pretty competitive match with the match being thrown out as the Warriors are mad they lost the 2nd fall...if you're a Road Warriors fan I'd recommend it.

Excellent Bulldogs match! No flubs, everything was in rhythm and the moves were exciting. Tiger Mask Misawa and Magic Dragon were really good opponents for them. This is worth checking out if you're curious about Bulldogs in AJPW.

A shorter post this week but still going strong with All Japan 1985. Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa & Haru Sonada vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Animal Hamaguchi (07/08 aired 07/13): Oh man excellent finish! Yeah this was a really good match. It's not top of the line effort since Jumbo isn't in there but that's an observation and not a criticism. Ishikawa really thrives in these matches since he's functioning as Tenryu's #2 rather than Jumbo's #3. Ashura Hara vs Masanobu Kurisu (07/12 aired 07/20): Oh man this is too quick but I am so thankful it took place. For a few minutes they just stiff the hell outta each other. 1985 AJPW is the nexus of the Indies of the 90's. Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu/Takashi Ishikawa vs Riki Choshu/Killer Khan/Animal Hamaguchi (07/12 aired 07/20): I'm going to sound like a broken record but this was great match! I'm glad that I was able to track these Choshu matches down... Pretty much all those with Jumbo, Tenryu and Riki Choshu. This was all action and I was frankly surprised it ended. In a way the classics of the 90's were these matches that were given the green light to go on 30+ minutes regularly. They don't empty their tanks here like you'd see 5 years later in the Jumbo vs Misawa program or Kawada vs Misawa. But the groundwork is here in these matches. And you truly appreciate those for the pacing, intensity, and smart simple work and not the crazy spots alone then I think you'll enjoy this feud. Takashi Ishikawa & Akio Sato vs. Animal Hamaguchi & Isamu Teranishi (07/18 aired 07/27): Haven't seen Isamu Teranishi in awhile so I'm throwing this in mix. Roy has Ishikawa's partner as Norio Honaga but it is Akio Sato. Its joined in progress but no matter. This is great wrestling for the All Asia tag titles. The last couple minutes felt like top shelf action for '85. I just happened to want to watch this one and it makes me wonder how many other quality matches I overlooked. Can't think about though or I'll never get through these all! Stan Hansen v. Shoehi Baba (PWF Title, 07/30/85): Absolutely satisfies the "at least one Baba & Hansen match" per post rule This is a longer one I thought but is pretty good throughout and it ends strongly. Hansen is without much doubt Baba's best singles opponent of the 80's. Baba has still got it here in the mid 80's...he's doing moves, taking bumps, etc. ----- Stay safe folks!

Back with more 1985 AJPW goodness! Let's get going with April! Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (04/21 - aired 04/27): This from the Roy tapes as well. I needed to get some Stan Hansen in my life. This is a fine way to introduce him and Ted DiBiase into 1985. They make an excellent team (not my first time seeing them together) that has a different dynamic than the Brody or Gordy teams. Ted is more technical and has a calmer more calculated approach that makes this team more well rounded. Baba and Jumbo still team so well together with Baba coming in and making saves & giving Tsuruta breaks. Baba's tag utility is not given enough love. A great well paced and hard fought match. The finishing section is so organic and flawlessly executed. This bout probably isn't on anyone's lists but this is an example of wrestling done right. Riki Choshu/Animal Hamaguchi vs Genichiro Tenryu/Takashi Ishikawa (04/21 - aired 04/27) Here's one where I wanted to include a Riki match without Jumbo as my sample from April would be slim otherwise. Anyway super happy I watched this. It is some excellent tag wrestling. One thing I haven't mentioned is how Choshu and co. have some Steiner Bros. type tag moves off the turnbuckles. More great action here...the feud is chugging along without losing steam. Tenryu watching for a Riki sneak attack ----- Ric Flair v. Jumbo Tsuruta (NWA Title, 04/24/85): Long match like you'd expect but full of action. I am hesitant to watch Flair in Japan sometimes as there's a fear that there's going to be a lot of Figure Four work. This match we get just the right amount and have plenty of great action to fill up the majority of the title bout. I think if you were watching this live in '85, you'd rate it pretty well as it was pretty darn dramatic. Jumbo was really whooping on Flair. Of course we know Jumbo doesn't win the belt and that does hurt this a little as that glimmer of hope (what they are working to create live for fans) is lost when looking back at these big name title defenses. There's a little bit of "do I want to watch a long match that I essentially know the outcome for?" This one keeps the pace up and is intense and competitive so I was compelled to finish. This really was a great fight between two of the very best. Now for a bit of storyline : On 04/24 Ashura Hara sneak attacks Tenryu before their tag match. Riki & Animal Hamaguchi start by attacking Hara. It's confusing but I think they maybe consider him a turn coat but he shows them that he's his own man by attacking Tenryu AND walking out on them. The match continues with Motoshi Okuma as Tenryu's partner. It's more of an angle than a match. This is a really crazy booking angle for AJ! Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu vs Riki Choshu/Animal Hamaguchi (05/17 aired 05/18): Very good match but lacking the nuclear intensity but it's an enjoyable bout with a good finish which adds a new little wrinkle to the feud. Shoehi Baba/Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenryu v. Tiger Jeet Singh/Terry Gordy/Mario Milano (05/31/85): Fun match, Tenryu makes a hot tag to Baba if you can believe it Gordy is most impressive. Road Warriors v. Takashi Ishikawa & Tarzan Goto (05/31/85): Don't blink or you'll miss it!But Tarzan Goto & Ishikawa so... yay! Road Warriors v. Killer Khan/Masanobu Kurisu (06/02/85): Quick as hell...at least Khan was in for a few moments...Was going to skip these but they were so short it wasn't worth the fast forward! Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith v. Tiger Mask/Magic Dragon (06/02/85): Excellent Bulldogs match! No flubs, everything was in rhythm and the moves were exciting. Tiger Mask Misawa and Magic Dragon were really good opponents for them. Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu/Animal Hamaguchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu/Motoshi Okuma (06/02 aired 06/22): Absolutely crazy match in K-hall. I wouldn't expect anything less. A battle with an unexpected finish plus brawling after the bell. Riki and Tenryu blasting each other in the head stuff. Great shit! Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith v. Kuniaki Kobayashi/Shinichi Nakano (06/04/85): Another really good Bulldogs match! Nakano wasn't dominated like you might expect. Kuniaki's standing really made this an even match. He and Dynamite got in a flow that made me really want to see a singles match. I checked and there was one in '85 via handheld out there. Jumbo Tsuruta v. Terry Gordy (Int'l Title, 06/04/85): Great match around 20 minutes. Lots of good action. Gordy is so underrated as a AJPW wrestler. He and Jumbo are just so evenly matched in size, athleticism and style. He might be my favorite mid 80's Jumbo opponent. Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith vs Tiger Mask/Toshiaki Kawada (06/05 - aired 06/15): jip but we get some replays at the end of the match showing what we missed. I wanted to find an early Kawada match and this'll do! Very fun stuff and has some really crazy Bulldog moves. You wanna see this one ----- Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Magic Dragon (Mask vs Hair) (06/05 - aired 06/15): jip, good, good stuff. If shown in full I'd bump it up I bet. This was so smart and economical. They get so much out of a simple set of moves because they were so well timed. They did the right stuff (including the finish). Giant Baba v. Rusher Kimura (PWF Title, 06/05/85): Gotta watch one or two Baba matches per post and I'm not going to pass up Baba vs Rusher. This was good stuff too! Slower paced than much of what we've seen. Some of that is age but 1985 seems to be the year in AJPW where they are more about running the ropes and quick action than the slower more technical style of old. The very distinct ups and downs of a match aren't really there in most of the wrestling. The pace is much quicker so something like this stands out. And in fact they wrestle at a quick pace with more moves than I would have thought. Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru v. Road Warriors (06/05/85): Tempted to call this a very good match. The Warriors had their selling boots on. We get a cheap finish (to protect everyone) but everything beforehand was surprisingly great. Ashura Hara v. Haru Sonada (06/21/85): Quick match but wanted to see more Hara & Magic Dragon/Sonada. If you stumble upon this, check it out Magic Dragon wrestled as Haru Sonoda afterwards until his untimely death in 1987. Kuniaki Kobayashi v. Tiger Mask (06/21/85): Oh yeah! A really awesome match..the match I knew they could have. A classic AJPW Junior match and if that's not enough Atsushi Onita comes out post match and gets into a tussle. I see this on Misawa compilations and it absolutely belongs there as an early (earliest?) classic for him. But this should also clue you into Kuniaki Kobayashi if you're not yet hip to his greatness. Jumbo Tsuruta/Takashi Ishikawa v. Yoshiaki Yatsu/Higo Hamaguchi (06/21/85): Excellent pacing, excellent action and a really smart finish. There's very little to find fault with here. Worth noting, this is perhaps the first match in the AJPW Classics tapes/TV episodes to sorta indicate there's a feud with Riki & co. They did a good job avoiding the Choshu matches... very glad that we've got the original TV episodes. Riki Choshu vs Genichiro Tenryu (06/21/85): This one I found online elsewhere pretty easily. And boy I'm glad I did! The fight was intense as could be and the older style that focuses on grinding holds and storytelling. Tenryu was aiming to injure Choshu's lariat arm whereas Riki was wearing his opponent to lock in the Sasorigatame (Scorpion Death lock). This match absolutely lays the groundwork for the classic singles matches of the 90's. We don't get a classic match because of an 80's ending but man alive this was absolutely going to be a classic and it had the vibe of an all time classic. Patient in its storytelling, physical and believable, it was a helluva match. Near classic on a technicality but this was classic puro if you dig what I'm sayin'. ----- Half way through and 1985 is awesome! And I know I'm missing really cool stuff in the interest of time & energy. As you can tell I watched quite a bit but it wasn't too far off the my plan. There were some really important inclusions like the Kawada match, getting some Stan Hansen in there and heck a Baba vs Rusher match for well roundedness etc.. I will have to stick to the plan a little better as I'm posting a bit later in the day (the next day technically) than I'd wanted. That should be a good indicator of how engrossing the year is so far. Variety of wrestlers, matches, match length and so on. Now that the weather is more comfortable it is much easier to watch chunks of wrestling. July and parts of August were just the pits. Anyhow, thanks for reading folks! Until next time, stay safe!

Sorry for anyone who checks in regularly for posts! Got a little overwhelmed with stuff and wrestling wasn't a priority. However I have begun my look into 1985 All Japan as a result. I needed some low stakes stuff to watch and I figured I could chip away at some stuff. That led me to the more substantial stuff and I'm on the project now. Everything Riki Choshu comes from Roy Lucier's '85 AJPW TV. For some reason all of his matches are omitted from the AJPW Samurai Classic tv episodes (although they did do a Choshu specific episode along with Jumbo, Hansen, Baba etc.). So just about everything without Riki comes from AJPW Samurai Classic tv episodes. There's tons of neat looking stuff from the '85 weekly TV and I do plan to include some in order to fills gaps (not enough matches per post or to include a key figure) but I have plenty to watch from the AJPW Classic DVDs and Riki feud matches. Oh and I'm mainly focusing on matches that feature Riki, Jumbo, and Tenryu all in the match. Again I just don't have the time to watch the Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa vs Riki and partner stuff... as much as I wanted to originally. One thing I learned from the GAEA stuff is variety is what's going to keep me going. Where I was at in GAEA at the time was just like the same 4 people having great matches. After a couple weeks, it starts to run together. So I'm limiting myself and not over indulging in Riki vs AJPW. P.S. I promise I will get GAEA 1999 done this year if you're looking forward to that (sorry about that!). Anyhow, that's enough explanation! Let's look at some wrestling! Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu & Takeshi Ishikawa vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Isamu Teranishi (01/06 - 01/12 aired): All excitement 6 man match! Battle lines are drawn! Everyone is really good here...20+ minute match but never a dull moment. Teranishi was impressive and nice to see him again after wrapping my Tiger Mask project up a while back. Tiger Mask/Magic Dragon vs Kuniaki Kobayashi/Isao Takagi (01/26 - 02/02 aired): Joined in progress. Whoa I wasn't expecting much but this was really on point junior action. One flub on a tilt-a-whirl back breaker but everything else was great shit. Choshu/Masa Saito/Killer Khan vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu/Takashi Ishikawa (01/26 - 02/02 aired): Man Choshu's team is super badass looking. Perhaps one of the most big muscle bound & mean looking Japanese teams ever? Another 20+ of chaos... this one is even better. Violent, intense stuff - great match! Choshu's team is a force to be reckoned with. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (02/01, aired 02/09): Big matchup that totally delivers. Just 4 guys beating the shit out of each other. We get an 80's finish (that I sorta don't understand) but is an angle they are working (and leads to the next match). Great stuff Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu vs Riki Choshu/Masa Saito (02/05 - aired 02/16): 16 minutes of awesomeness. This may be one of the shorter ones so far so they made it red hot right from the get go. The Tokyo crowd was vocal as hell...a great example of the Japanese fans not always being "quiet and respectful." That atmosphere really elevated this to something special. Tenryu starts to become the Tenryu fans know and love during this time. No one can get so much out of the Scorpion Death Lock like Choshu. He milks every stage of the hold for all its worth. He makes the part before he turns them over its own move in a way... a leg lock and pinning combination. Then when finally flips you over he's got the full figure four Boston Crab going and just powers it. This is a great match with four legends. This feud is dynamite! Giant Baba vs Tiger Jeet Singh (02/05) - skipped. It seemed like a longer technical Baba vs Tiger match from my fast forward watching. British Bulldogs vs Animal Hamaguchi & Kuniaki Kobayashi (02/09) - Fun stuff, lots a cool moves but no rhyme or reason for anything. That's OK as it was neat. Excited to see more of the 'dogs. ----- Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu/Takashi Ishikawa vs Riki Choshu/Masanobu Kurisu/Yoshiaki Yatsu (02/28 - aired 03/02): Very good stuff. The tag matches are red hot. This 6 mans are a bit more normal in pace and intensity. I mean it's still these 6 guys bashing each other so there's no complaints. Kurisu vs Tenryu was pretty great as the K man was hitting so hard you could hear the chops like Ric Flair. That fired up Tenryu. The whole thing was extremely enjoyable and another worthy match in this feud. Clean finish and a pretty awesome one (for '85). Harley Race & Klaus Wallas vs Killer Khan & Mananobu Kurisu (03/09) - Fun stuff. Harley vs Khan is the draw here. Klaus is not bad and would be interested in more of he & Harley. ----- Tiger Mask II vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (03/09) - I'm not sure they knew where they were going in the beginning but once they slowed down & found a rhythm this got really good. Like Misawa vs Kobayashi as I would play in Fire Pro good. It doesn't touch the awesome TM I vs Kobayashi stuff but super enjoyable. Hope they meet again! ----- Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs Road Warriors (03/09): Pretty competitive match with the match being thrown out as the Warriors are mad they lost the 2nd fall. Watched this on Roy's channel. Road Warriors vs. Riki Choshu & Killer Khan (03/14 aired 03/23): So there's a commercial for Japanese hair mousse called Xanax Or at least the commercial looked like it was for mousse... maybe the dude just felt like rubbing shit through his hair after popping a few bars? I love these old commercials! Anyways they Gorilla press slamming Riki and Khan. That doesn't seem good for business though. Hansen and Brody wouldn't just toss a top team around just because they could which is a little bummer because the Warriors are capable of excellent matches (I'm thinking Arn & Tully Starrcade '87). Maybe later this year? This was an amazing start to the project. All Japan feels like a fresh and exciting promotion with Riki & co. and the Bulldogs and yes even the Road Warriors. Hansen and Brody are around but not in big time matches. Brody does eventually end up in NJPW this year. But we get the Hansen & DiBiase team so again we're blessed with a little bit more positive change. It should be fun Thanks for reading!

I found another 2004 ROH match that I have in my collection. Samoa Joe vs Homicide from Death Before Dishonor 2, Night 1 (07/23/04). This is on the Greatest Rivalries Koch DVDs that were available on like Amazon, Best Buy etc. in the late 2000's. These are great ways to either get into old school ROH or fill in gaps in your collection. Anyway, this was a near classic battle. It was an offensive display for Joe and exemplifies of how tough Homicide is. That is not to say Joe didn't get a whooping BUT the Notorious 187 was smacked, kicked, thrown, dumped and punched the whole time. And he didn't quit and he didn't garner sympathy either...although much smaller, he really came across as Joe's equal. Very excellent stuff.

This is a continuation of my "get through some DVDs I bought a couple years ago" project. Ha! Who am I kidding? That's 90% of my reviews I just can't seem to keep up. I'm starting to put a dent in it this year. This week I'll be looking at some early battles of Bryan Danielson. These ones are lesser known for one reason or another. For folks that are only aware of his WWE or AEW stuff, this might be something you'd be interested in checking out. My guess is you may have seen some of his better known ROH stuff (05-09) but there's some real quality here. vs Doug Williams (11/16/02 ROH - Scramble Madness): 30 minute Iron Man match and wow was this a technical clinic. The first 20 minutes or so was submission style wrestling with pinning predicaments sprinkled in. As the duel continued, it was more traditional pro wrestling style. It was a great match and a real treat to watch. Frankly I would have been happy if this was all mat wrestling. My only complaint is the booking of the outcome. I don't know really what it was trying to accomplish... Gabe wasn't hitting home runs early on like people may think. Instead of a homer, I say he hit a double. What makes this great is the Dragon & the Anarchist wrestling for 30 minutes. I think with sharper booking this could have been a classic. vs Paul London (12/07/02 ROH - Night of the Butcher): Well that was a battle! Paul London is one of Dragon's greatest opponents. He gets overlooked because Danielson would go on to have other rivalries or opponents that match the same level of technicality and intensity (Roderick, Aries, Nigel for instance) but London deserves to be in that list. Of course there's the Epic Encounter match but this one should be a part of the conversation too. A forgotten classic from perhaps one of the worst shows in ROH history (worst main event I've heard). And that's probably why it's been overlooked. Buzz drives DVD sales and if the loyal fans of ROH were saying this is a one match show then 'wait-and-see' fans skipped this purchase. Thankfully this is or was available on the RF Best of American Dragon vol. 2 (as are the first few matches). I haven't said too much of the match but that's because it felt like a near perfect singles encounter. London maybe the one guy who is more all around technically proficient than Danielson. Dragon has that mean streak but Paul is like the Ricky Steamboat of early ROH. There's nothing he can't do and everything he does, he does well. This is one where the action AND the booking were excellent. ----- vs John Walters (11/08/03 ECWA): Very good technical match. Walters didn't have a bunch of high impact offense but he definitely could hang with Bryan on the mat. I'd actually probably only rate this as Good because it ended before it kicked into high gear. Definitely going to start watching Walters matches as I go through more ROH DVDs. ----- vs Jay Briscoe (12/27/03 ROH - Final Battle): Another good but not great match. The Briscoes were in development while they were wearing their unitards IMO (even though they were tag champs at the time). It was the opening match so a pretty good first match. Jay was starting to come into his own here but this was nowhere what they could do together in the years to come. I wish we would've gotten 2010's Jay vs Danielson. vs CM Punk (09/18/04 IWA-MS): Of the dozen or so IWA Mid-South matches I've seen, I like it. Admittedly, it's been stuff I cherry picked. Anyhow we have a second round match from the Ted Petty Invitational 2004. It is Punk vs Danielson in their prime and is exactly what I wanted - technical, hard hitting and well paced. They do a little injured neck story but do let go of it. Also a leg injury (perhaps real?) is brushed off. Both by Danielson! That's probably the weakness of this match. Still it's a two night tournament and maybe Dragon realized he'd have to keep selling the next match later that night. Very good match though... you can overlook this decision because neither injury was sold like it crippled him. I've taken some rough slams while skating but the adrenaline kicks in and am able to keep going for a good while afterwards so let's chalk it up to that. That's how I think about these situations in wrestling. Like, "this hurts but its going to hurt more if I slow down. I gotta keep going before things start to lock up." So yeah, really good match that could've been great but, no biggie...I had a blast! ----- vs Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles (09/18/04 IWA-MS): The finals of the Ted Petty 2004 and a pretty well regarded Indie match not in a ROH ring. And yes it lives up the hype in my book. It exceeds it as I thought it was a classic. I'm not sure if it was Danielson being in there that raised the stiffness bar but but man this was some hard hitting wrestling. On top of that you have a real sense of purpose. It's not only the finals but its after midnight at the end of a long weekend of wrestling. All 3 guys are pillars of post WCW/ECW wrestling in the US. They do not disappoint. Yes, this would be more polished if it was one match instead of a tournament final but that grit is what makes it a classic. ----- vs Chris Hero (09/24/2005 IWA-MS): Ted Petty Invitational 2005 match. This is an awesome technical duel between Dragon and Hero. IWA-MS Hero is my favorite version. He and Danielson do an old school match trading holds, counters and escapes. There's some back history that the announcers clue us in on which only helps the in-ring story. I loved this match. It was so competitive and smart. The fans were super appreciative of it as well. I'd call it a near classic match. ----- This turned into a pretty great little project. It was all really easy to watch and felt low stakes as nothing aside for the Three Way match had any hype around it. This period of American Dragon is fantastic despite it not being his "peak" in ROH and others Indies. I'm going to be watching more ROH. So I'll have to see how this work compares with his ROH peak (the Hero match is right at the beginning). Stay cool! Thanks for reading

I'm going through more of my DVD library. I'm trying to knock out some odds & ends DVDs I got during the early years of the Covid pandemic. This one was part of a small lot of DVDs from eBay. I always wanted to get into Evolve but never did. So this wasn't the main draw of the lot but it was a nice bonus. As always, I pick & choose what I watched. I will say it is fun to watch Evolve/DGUSA after watching a fair amount of Full Impact Pro. It brings me back to that time Let's take a look at Evolve #10 Jigsaw vs AR Fox - This was a good match that built up to a pretty great finish. You know they had more in the tank but this was pretty early in the card so they coasted comfortably until it was time to get to the finishing segment. Hey nothing wrong there...this is my opening match and I'm happy. Pinkie Sanchez vs Uhaa Nation - Quick fun stuff. Pinkie was scuzzy and Nation was super impressive. Super Smash Bros vs Rich Swann & Chuck Taylor - Well the fans were correct - that was awesome! Tons of high speed spots which is typical of PWG/Dragon Gate USA at this time. Taylor really impressed me here...he's goofy sometimes but brought his A-game. All 4 guys did their best...you'd think this was for a much more prestigious event based on the way they wrestled. Great match if you in the mood for something like this. Jon Davis vs Kyle Matthews - Nice little David vs Goliath match. Davis really should be wrestling in Japan where I think he could have a good spot. It looks like he's still active on the Indies. I liked this Sami Callihan vs Bobby Fish - Great intense match with a great bit of leg attack psychology. However, this was wasted upon this crowd which are probably predominantly CZW fans? So they were behind the heel Sami but Fish was too straight laced for them. You got a couple people even trying to start a "boring" chant. This was anything but boring. These guys did exactly what I expected an Evolve match to be...technical, hard hitting, and wrestling as combat sport. Johnny Gargano vs Ricochet- I had some expectations but man this was indie in the worst way. Everything was overly complicated and unnecessarily flashy. Their rudimentary stuff looked poor and treated as filler. Instead of making this look like a struggle, they are thinking about their next dance steps. Its like a sub part kung fu movie fight... everything is just so obviously cooperative. I think they lost some fans who were just burnt out on all of it and saw this like I did. Booing as the match overstayed its welcome (That is the Philly fan but they were right). There was no pacing, no story, no build, just a bunch of shit thrown at the wall. And I liked Super Smash Bros vs Rich Swann & Chuck Taylor but oof...Gargano did get injured at some point but the problems with the match aren't due to injury. That is the last Evolve match but not the main event! What's neat is this also features a tribute to the ECW arena. That's pretty cool for me to own as an ECW fan. Bob Artese (iconic ring announcer), Joey Styles Pitbull #1 Gary Wolfe, JT Smith, Tod Gordon. CZW then comes out and claims its their arena and not ECW's. Balls Mahoney makes the save but he's only 1 man. And the the music hits and New Jack is out there! He's hitting folks then that s.o.b Justin Credible attacks Jack! But Sabu enters the fray. Credible vs Sabu is the main event and its very clear many of the fans are here for this. The pop for all of ECW stuff is the proof. This is a pretty good match too. For both guys being past their prime, they really did go for a great ECW match. It's a great conclusion. At the very end, there's some stuff to bring it back to Evolve. Remember its an Evolve show? It doesn't get the reaction that the ECW stuff got. It's just not that interesting and felt cheap when it was done at Sabu's & the fans' expense. So yeah this was an fun show. Jigsaw vs AR Fox, Super Smash Bros vs Rich Swann & Chuck Taylor and Fish vs Sami are all worthwhile. Fish vs Sami was excellent in fact. Maybe one of Fish's best singles matches? As an old ECW dude, that end bit including Sabu vs Credible washed the bad taste of Gargano/Ricochet out of my mouth. Maybe this isn't a good example of early Evolve but it was enjoyable watch. I'm not going to track down anymore Evolve shows but I had fun. If you can snag this in a lot or under $10 total, go for it! Thanks for reading! Stay safe

Stevie Richards posted a tribute video and analyzed/reviews some of his big ECW moments with Terry. Many kind words and describes why both peers and fans loved & respected The Funker.

Just watched Shelley & Strong vs Punk & Corino from Final Battle 2004. That's my last 2004 match (I think). So I thought I'd post it here if anyone is interested. It was a very good tag match. A little bit of comedy between Punk & Corino which definitely plays off their past. Then we get the match really going and you just forget how damn capable these guys are at putting an exciting match together. There's nothing extraordinary but everything is well paced and the escalation of offense is gradual. Old man yelling at the clouds here but this generation may be one of the last to be in touch with wrestling fundamentals. Maybe in 2004 you'd disagree however in 2023 watching you'd have to agree. They're working with the crowd rather than in a vacuum. They're telling a story. There's a face and heel team where the faces shine and make light in the beginning. The heels (Strong & Shelley) take control, use short cuts but ultimately lose it when the faces make the hot tag. Etc. All that said, this is a really enjoyable watch. This rightly is overshadowed by Aries vs Joe but if you're coming across this match online or elsewhere, give it a shot!

This is the most ECW match I have ever seen... in all of the best ways. It's the greatest theorhetical ECW match. The energy is through the roof. The wrestling is there. The history & intensity is there. But where this excels is the old AJW Dump era sense of utter chaos. Chains, blood, chairs, the ring ropes are torn down, the audience is freaking out, the seconds for Chigusa are losing it, its fantastic if you're into that kind of stuff. An all time classic in my book. This is just about shown in full with a couple seconds cut out here and there early on for some reason.

They went absolutely all out for this and it paid off! They were pulling out moves I don't know if I've ever seen them do. And not in a cheesy way like you see nowadays Both wrestled this match with a purpose. I like that Kong did not take Yamada lightly while also not necessarily treating her as an equal. Similarly Yamada knew that Kong was dangerous but not someone she couldn't handle as long as she stayed ahead of. Mainly a traditional match but there's some fighting in the crowd but Aja does it right. She uses this to try and hurt her opponent and not do signature "brawling spots" like we see Mita & Shimoda do on occasion. Overall this was pretty special and Yamada and Kong feel like old friends to me so it was great to see them put on a battle. Near classic match imo.

I'm going through my one-off DVDs trying to get some wrestling in while reducing my backlog of unwatched stuff. I've been meaning to watch Reborn Stage 2 for awhile after picking it up for cheap on eBay (longer than I can remember ago). As always with these things, I cherry pick. This is a pretty historically important show so let's begin! Austin Aries vs Nigel McGuinness vs Jimmy Rave vs Rocky Romero: Aries' big show debut, Rocky Romero's 2nd night in ROH, Nigel's biggest match to date...that's amazing! And all 4 guys showed that they really were going to be the future of the company (even if for a short while). The technical ability exhibited was top tier and beyond the card position. And I think that was exciting about the match was it was mainly about arm bars, escapes, counters and reversals. Some of these we would get used to and take for granted but here they were fresh and revolutionary. And the crowd reacted accordingly. So it's unfair to measure this against what they were doing a couple years later. It is best to judge this own its own merits. It is really good technically oriented stuff with a great batch of spots towards the end. The fact that all four would become mainstays (Romero coming back with RPG Vice) is the cherry on top. These guys were damn good wrestlers. Great match. Bryan Danielson vs Homicide: Great slow build match. Nice technical but uneventful beginning. I am not complaining though. Eventually 'cide damages Danielson's neck. Dragon holds on and finds an opportunity when the 187 punches the steel barrier. Now we have a battle! What will give out first? Great selling by each guy. Smart action where there's consequences for mistakes. Some think its a classic so I recommend checking it out and you decide. Either way it's highly recommended. I might even re-watch as I'm a fan of both. Dunn & Marcos vs Carnage Crew vs Sydal & Jack Evans vs Shelley & Jacobs: Tag team scramble match so its kind of a free for all. And with that, this is mainly a series of cool spots. And it was a blast! It was very good for what it was. It reminded me of some of the gimmick matches in TNA. Crazier more athletic stuff was done here but when the crazy stuff is performed in TNA, it is more meaningful. So in some ways they balance out. This isn't as good as the opening match in terms of gimmick matches but, it still well worth your time. You can see where Gabe got the idea for Generation Next with a match like this. Samoa Joe vs Matt Stryker: So yeah I always thought Matt Stryker was Matt Striker...uh that's not the case. Man, that's some damn name theft by Striker/WWE or maybe vice versa? Anyhow this was a good challenger vs champion match. Stryker even had a couple believable near falls. Joe did an excellent job looking vulnerable when he needed to while still being a badass. His strikes were fantastic and hits an absolutely brutal lariat. If this would have been shorter in duration, I could rate this a little higher. Kinda in the 15 minute range vs 18.It didn't drag but Stryker didn't have a ton of charisma or an electrifying moveset so it was like taking the long way around when they could have gone the quicker way. Makes sense booking wise with the main event... giving people a chance to be entertained but really pop for the tag title fight. The Briscoes vs Second City Saints (Punk/Cabana):The Saints come home to Chicago! They start this out really well with a good albeit schticky shine section. Kinda like in lucha or M-Pro where the baby faces are tying the heels up and making them look foolish. Very fun to ham it up. Dem Boys eventually isolate Punk and do excellent heel work beyond their years. You really can see where they would go as one of the best teams of the 2000-2010s. Punk makes the hot tag to Colt and we get one long finishing segment. I usually don't gripe too much about tag legality but the ref was being by-the-book with everything else. This is what made the middle so great and it just goes out the window. We even get guys trying to pin the wrong guys. Admittedly I lost track too so you just have to go with the flow, I guess. I think if this took place a year or more later this would be a classic. The rough edges, the early Marufuji-like complexity, etc. would have been minimized for sure. I think in the early & mid 2000's this was excused or viewed as innovative and some praise this latter part over the beginning and middle. Still it's a great big tag match that delivers on the action and excitement especially since we're in Chicago (for the first time!). If you're a CM Punk fan this is an essential ROH match. If you're a Briscoe Brothers fan who wants to see some of best early stuff this is one to see. From what I watched, this was a great, super consistent show. Nothing was a classic but everything I watched was very good or great (well Joe vs Stryker was only "good" but it was brutal at times). Very good purchase and somewhat indicative of 2004. It is a transition year but as you can see shows like this help create the golden era of 2005-2007 ROH. I've asked this in the Ring of Honor thread in the Mega thread Archive but wanted to ask it here as well. I'm curious on what people think is the best and worse in ring years for pre-Tony ROH. Exclude the quarantine stuff if you want. Or if you want what were the best/worst of the Gabe years, post Gabe, Sinclair era etc. Any unpopular opinions are welcome because I'm always interested in revisiting /re-evaluating these types of things. Same with any under-rated or overrated matches/shows. I'm curious what folks views are in 2023 as we're pretty much looking in the rearview mirror with ROH. Leave a comment or post on the thread Thanks for reading!

It's been awhile since anyone has posted here so thought maybe I could stir up some dialog. I'm thinking of going through some of my ROH backlog and am curious on what people think is the best and worse in ring years for pre-Tony ROH. Exclude the quarantine stuff if you want. Or if you want what were the best/worst of the Gabe years, post Gabe, Sinclair era etc. Any unpopular opinions are welcome because I'm always interested in revisiting /re-evaluating these types of things. Same with any under-rated or overrated matches/shows.

My old friend TNA from the 2000's always helps ease me back into watching wrestling. Here I'll review their Best of the Bloodiest Brawls - Scars and Stitches DVD from 2008. In addition to my normal review, I'll give a scars rating for how bloody and extreme the match is. That doesn't always translate into a worthwhile match so be forewarned. Jeff Jarrett vs Rhyno (Turning Point 2005): This was a good to very good hardcore match. It was a lot fun as it was mainly a bunch of different spots around the arena. There were some different one like of a scaffolding and using the entrance tunnel. It was a Double J match so it was overbooked in the end but it was enjoyable. Also a couple folks I don't recall like A1 for Team Canada and Jackie Gayda (va va voom)... but got this odd feeling of nostalgia for something I didn't experience. This is right before I got back into wrestling and there's something very early 2000's about seeing those two but never knowing or hearing about them prior. Hahaha it's just they seem to perfectly represent the blind spot of American from the 2000's that I still have. Anyhow, as far as a Bloodiest Brawl, I give it 1 scar out of 5. Jarrett bled but it wasn't anything too gory, gruesome or extreme. Team Sting (Sting, AJ Styles, Ron Killings, Rhyno) vs Team Jarrett (Jeff Jarrett, America's Most Wanted, Scott Steiner) - Lethal Lockdown (2006): Well if it isn't Jackie Gayda again Ah but Gail Kim and Chris Harris are there too and now I have a touchstone to reality. Anyhow, this is part Wargames, part Hell in a Cell, and part hard-core weapons match. It's fun and obviously a spot match which suits most of the guys. AJ absolutely shines though he has two of the most memorable spots. One with James Storm and one with Storm and Gail Kim who I thought he eliminated from this plane of existence. Also Gail gets a T & A spot later on which good for her. She's in great shape but I'd rather see her wrestle rather than just be eye candy. I give it 2.5 scars out of 5. The AJ spots were badass, the early bits with AJ & Rhyno vs AMW were actually pretty cool and more in line with a bloody tag cage match, plus we got a couple good weapon shots (although that part wasn't really developed). So more Extreme than bloody though. LAX (Homicide and Hernandez) vs AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels (Bound for Glory 2006): Steel cage match for the tag titles. This was a big selling point for this DVD and it delivered! Non stop action, ghetto fork, coat hanger chokes, double teams, moves off and into the cage, and a helluva finisher. Classic TNA tag match without a doubt. 2.5 scars out of 5 as AJ and Daniels bled but this was more an action match than a brawl or garbage/extreme etc. style match. ----- Rhino vs Christian Cage (1st TNA Impact episode 2006): Rhino has got his original spelling back. Christian and the War Machine have some history and we get a nice feud that culminated in this barb wire cage match (plus extras). Of course it's more spots but damn they picked some good ones. Plus neither guy is afraid of taking a few big bumps. Everything looked really good here - reversals, sick bumps, a little bit of the wire, and finally some real time crimson mask. Plus a pretty awesome finish! Very much what everyone wanted and I was pretty happy with it too. 4 scars outta 5...Mr. Cage got a good one going and they had an exciting hardcore gimmick match. ----- Samoa Joe vs Kurt Angle (Genesis 2006): I swore I reviewed this earlier but ah well! I watched it again and it still holds up after 3 or 4 viewings over the years. I was a hard fought battle between... ah shoot you already know by now. It's a little quick in my opinion. I think they transition too quickly and its because they make Kurt too strong... he doesn't shake off Joe's offense but he doesn't really sell it either. The atmosphere they create is electric and they accomplish what they set out to do. I wish they slowed down a little but its a great start. Kurt cuts himself a gusher and is 3.5 out of 5 scars. ----- Abyss vs Sting (Destination X 2007): We go from a crowd going crazy to one sitting on their hands. This is a casket match called a last rites match. The casket is lowered from the ceiling with WWF Undertaker smoke and lights which gets the crowd to chant "Fire Russo!" ... hahaha!. Sting has been busted open hard way so we're going to give it a shot...ok yeah that was not good. This was OK for the blood and one big spot but this was just slow clunky crap because the gimmick was so bad. Plus Tenay and West kept calling the casket a death bed...you could tell they were mandated to call it that instead of a casket, coffin etc. Maybe for censorship reasons? Or maybe it's Russo going say "death bed" because it sounds more dramatic. But a casket is not a death bed. A death bed is the bed you die in or are laying in while dying. Not a coffin or casket I wouldn't say anything but both announcers say it like 10 times so it has to be Russo's dumb ass. Fire him indeed...oh they did 3.5 out of 5 scars for Sting just bleeding and taking a helluva bump onto the casket... I mean "death bed"...fucking knucklehead. They could have found something better but my guess is they wanted Sting on the DVD. Tomko vs Abyss (Slammiversary 2007): No DQ match but its a death match. And it's done right for a fairly mainstream audience. The thumb tacks and glass mean something. The BIG bumps mean something. It was a spectacle like an old Onita death match and they did it right (which he didn't always do). I am not 100% sure on the glass not being sugar glass but shoot it works either way. I thought this was great. Not as much visible blood as the past few matches but this is 4 outta 5 scars with the tacks, glass, barb wire bat and big bumps. Abyss vs Judas Mesias (Against All Odds 2008): Barb wire death match. Good match but nowhere as good as it could have been. Maybe I'm spoiled by Japanese death matches but this was relatively tame by those standards. But we'll get to that in a minute. The match itself didn't have the intensity or dramatic build that it needed. One thing is no one got Irish whipped into the wire. That's a fucking baseline move for a barb wire match. They had boards to and no one got whipped into those in the corner. It really seemed they relied solely on the novelty of the barb wire to tell the story. Like the mere fact that they had a barb wire match was all the storytelling necessary. Instead it was rather predictable wrestling. To be fair, they did have some good spots with the props but never took this into high gear either. Again I've seen some crazy stuff especially in more modern BJW but there's a couple old FMW/W*ing/IWA Japan spots they could have done like press the guy's head into the wire or just an arm, back body drop a guy into the board on the ground, whip into the wire, lay the board wire side down and the do a move, do a splash while one guy was laying in the wire or even just smash the board on a guy wire side down. I mean that's all death match 101. It would have filled in the time between the spots, fans would have popped for all of that and none are relatively dangerous but they look good. On top of that no one really sold the wire either. There was no drama frankly. As far as a scar rating this was bloody at all. Mesias had a scratch while Abyss' arms were bloody as was his face. 3 outta 5 scars...not ton of blood but the wire spots are pretty good. The Tomko match is a TNA death match done right. But wait! There's one more! James Storm vs Chris Harris (Sacrifice 2007): I've seen this before and was going to just find my old review. However that barb wire match was a disappointment (good but not great) and I can't end it like that. So I re-watched this right afterwards. And boy is this your main event or premiere match of the DVD. These guys just beat each other senseless from beginning to end. Stiff as you'll see in TNA, great spots that actually surprise you, intensity and buckets of blood. Harris gets a good one but Storm damn near Muta's himself (fantastic spot that "busts him open"). He's wearing the crimson mask, he's drizzling blood everywhere (you can see this best when setting up a table on the outside), and actually when at rest is leaving puddles of the sanguine substance on the floor and in the ring. 5 out of 5 scars...the intensity, the stiffness, the creative and high risk spots and absolute gusher Storm blades..this is a 5. Plus it's classic TNA match especially if you know the history between these two in AMW and how things got to this point. ------ Overall this was a really exciting DVD and one you may want to pick up for no more than $10. Some of these are probably online so check there first. This is a fine collection of peak TNA matches and I'm happy to place it right beside the Samoa Joe, Kurt Angle, and Best of the X division vol. 1 DVDs as must have's for a TNA fan. Thanks for reading folks!

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

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

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

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