TheBean

Yeah actually skimmed through the Symphony of Horrors to see what was up & to see the Aries vs Mistico match per El-P's recommendation/mention. It all definitely reminds me of late stage ROH when they had a lot of CMLL guys. It's actually pretty interesting in that regard to me. Aries vs Mistico was pretty fun if anything for nostalgia sake. Might have to go thru the MLW YouTube page to if there's anything else interesting.

It's telling that without CM Punk's success first, we wouldn't be talking about Danielson's historical importance. I think Danielson could have been another Paul London & Spanky Kendrick. Those guys were his peers more than Punk. You can see it in the booking of ROH & others. Coming back to this topic, I think Danielson helped open the flood gates for the "smaller" indie (ROH) guys. A few years later ROH seemed to become like ECW before it & act as a feeder to WWE/NXT... guys like Tyler Black & Generico being the best early examples. These type of guys were all going to TNA before Danielson (and obviously some still did afterward). Additionally this in effect made something like AEW possible but I think that's probably his most important contribution to WWE and wrestling history at large. Which is a pretty big contribution!

Going through the NXT YouTube page for something else and saw that they have both Regal vs Hero/Ohno & Regal vs Cesaro/Claudio. Actually looks like they have damn near every NXT episode up until 2018 (and still posting) up there. Anyhow, I got too many of my own DVDs to watch but I thought I'd post both here for future generations 😁 The Regal match is towards the end of both episodes.

PWG XIII (13) (07/29/16) Adam Cole vs Brian Cage - Really fun opening match. Starts out with some comedy then actually gets smart. Cage dominates Adam with power moves. Cole then targets the big man's knee. Then uses that to employ shining wizards. Nothing too cerebral but laudable for an opening match. And believe it or not, they don't do an extraordinarily long or crazy match either. Sure you get some neat moves and all but, it's actually a clever curtain jerker. Fun stuff Timothy Thatcher vs Roderick Strong - Very good physical match. Strong broke down the bigger man with targeted stomps. Thatcher was actually portrayed like a monster, come to think of it. His offense was really put over. This bout was more about Roddy chopping him down though. I'm not sure if this was some story carried over from Evolve? Anyhow, simple but effective wrestling from both guys. Jeff Cobb vs Trevor Lee - A blast of a match despite it being the third of its kind now (big man vs smaller man). Here Lee bumps like crazy for Cobb. Not to take anything away from Cobb but Trevor Lee made him look great. And then Lee did his cool signature moves including the first dive to the outside of show. Fun match Trent? vs Chuck Taylor - I like both guys well enough. They are pals and for some reason have a hardcore death match in the middle of the show. I skipped this. Sami Callihan vs Marty Scurll - The cat mask match. I remember people complaining about this because ultra serious Sami did a joke gimmick for this match. He pretended to be a cat. This was typical for this period of PWG but not from Sami. The issue with the match isn't the cat stuff. He actually doesn't do much with it other than use fingernail rakes to Marty occasionally. The issue to me was the story telling. It was too much "I do a move, now you do a move, fake-out! I do another move etc." So a total lack of selling & intensity especially early on. I think 10 minutes in, they ramped up the intensity...or Sami did. Then this got interesting. Then I didn't mind the fake outs as it was followed up by kicks to the mush. I'll say it's a good match but that is based on the 2nd half of the bout. The Young Bucks vs. Death By Elbow (Chris Hero & JT Dunn) - I was interested but damn this was way too long for me. I really just wanted to see the next match but was having fun with the first three. Even watched the Sami cat match but I am drawing some lines in the sand here. Iirc people have given this ****1/4 so you don't need me to chime in 😋 I'll take their word for it. Zack Sabre Jr. vs Kyle O'Reilly - This is the reason I'm watching this show now. Wow, this was something special. The closest thing to BattlARTS that we'll see in a PWG ring, that's for sure. Now I haven't seen their BOLA '14 match (I have that DVD) but I'm sure it's similar. Kyle is as good as anyone in PWG in his selling, move selection, timing and attitude. He's coming in with a taped up shoulder and that alone could supply the story for the match. But, no! He adds a twist and targets ZSJ's leg. Violent Artist indeed. Zack is treated as a wunderkind in PWG but Kyle could be his equal. OK that's the general hype and review... if you're curious then you really need to see this. Seriously. And now I'll be gushing about how fucking awesome O'Reilly's strikes are. He just gets IT. He's hitting combinations, he's hitting high & low and he's telling the story. He's showing not that he's tough BUT that he's smart. This striking brings Zack to a boiling point and towards the end, we get some absolute brutal stuff from him. I'm not talking about the Penalty Kick but angry Kawada like stomps to Kyle's melon. Or a running European uppercut that shifted the ring. STILL O'Reilly persisted and brought more violence and more power his next opportunity. Classic stuff. I'm looking forward to watching their 2014 match as some say it's as good or better than this. Bonus impromptu match: ZSJ vs Roderick Strong - Second match for both guys but Roddy wants to capitalize Money in the Bank style. Run ins, spots, kinda sloppy but it's a neat way to cap off the super show with these two going at it one last time. Fun for what it is. This was a good show with an excellent non "PWG" main event. I think that's what interesting about the shows in the early to mid 2010's. They had a great selection of talent and genuinely could have great all around shows. From what I recall, this may have been the beginning of the end of that period though.

Saw this pop up for Halloween. WCW Graveyard Match during their graveyard spiral. Seems like a damn early example of a cinematic match as we know them now.

Ten years ago I would have said mask. But I'm going to go with face paint. I think you can do more with the designs & colors...maybe a different design every night. But yeah, I think the expressiveness is what sells me on the paint.

Was watching this 80's fantasy ninja movie with Hiroyuki Sanada & Sonny Chiba called Ninja Wars. I noticed one of the evil magicians was a big dude and had scars on his forehead from years of blading. Whoa! So I looked it up and it was Strong Kobayashi! Does anybody else get excited to see wrestlers in movies & TV shows especially when in smaller non wrestling roles? I remember finding out that Andre the Giant was inside the monster suit in Conan the Destroyer and being psyched. Anyone have any other similar TV or movie appearances that are favorites?

Some other recommendations from early in his career, NJPW 1995 Koji Kanemoto vs. Yuji Nagata (01/04) Riki Choshu & Yuji Nagata vs Yoji Anjo & Tatsuo Nakano (09/23) Yoji Anjo & Masahito Kakihara vs. Riki Choshu & Yuji Nagata (10/11 UWFi) Some other 2000's ones from the dark days: Yuji Nagata vs Bas Rutten (07/20/02) Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (05/02/03 NJ) Think this is Makabe match referenced also? Yuji Nagata vs Togi Makabe (03/21/07) NJ Cup I think Nagata just has way too many great matches to not be top 5 Japanese wrestlers of 2000's at the very least. He kind of seems like a Bret Hart in that he is the transition star between two hot eras of his home promotion...1990's & 2010's for NJPW. Edit: Also remembered this one but couldn't find the date Masato Tanaka vs Yuji Nagata (03/19/11 NJPW): NJPW Cup 2011. Must see if you're a fan of either guy.

Hi folks! I'm back with more shoot style wrestling. This time we're looking at 1993. Let's get started with UWFi. As a reminder, I'm avoiding the big names like Albright, Takada & Vader since I think their matches have been reviewed in depth before. Dan Severn vs Yoji Anjo (02/14) Damn was this fun. Severn is way bigger than Anjo and was throwing suplexes. Anjo tried for strikes but Dan was absorbing them. I really LIKED IT Steve Day vs Hiromitsu Kanehara (04/10) - This had a bit of everything - strikes, suplexes, judo throws, hurty-looking submission holds. And it all looked and felt urgent and real which is important. Kanehara threw strikes while grounded to break Days concentration which was a nice touch. Day wanted to use throws & takedowns but knew he needed to throw a knee here & there in order to get inside and get Kanehara on the defense. LOVED IT Masahito Kakihara vs Naoki Sano (04/10) - You gotta love Kakihara's fire. It definitely gives all his bouts an adrenaline shot. Sano is a smooth operator though. It was a real fire vs ice bout. Excellent work in stand-up and the ground. These somewhat shorter matches force the guys to really push the pace and competitive feeling. I LOVED THIS Bad News Allen vs Yoshihiro Takayama (05/06) - Fun stuff with a slower pace since they're heavyweights. Well Allen certainly is at this point. He's still bad news though. His throws and submissions look great. That arm bar neck lock was a beauty! I LIKED IT Yuko Miyato vs Kazuo Yamazaki (05/06) - Hard fought battle for a 12 minute match. I think this one had it all - kicks, suplexes and working on the mat. I really enjoyed that both guys were able countering and escaping while on the mat. I also dug how heated this was. This wasn't a dry competition... I got the vibe they weren't happy with one another. Anytime they can incorporate storytelling like that in shoot style and have great action - it's something special. I LOVED THIS ONE Dennis Koslowski vs Yuko Miyato (08/13) - Dennis is a bronze and silver medal winning Greco-Roman wrestler. But he's susceptible to strikes as you'd expect. Miyato knows he's got to keep hitting the big man if he's going to have a chance. Koslowski is entertaining as hell here. Suplex City baby! But his submission holds look great too...he's not looking for a KO and wants to finish it on the mat. I LIKED IT ALOT Kiyoshi Tamura vs Yuko Miyato (10/04) - Miyato was like fuck this shit, I'm not wrestling Tamura on the mat. Dude wisely starts laying in the hits. His shots to the abdomen are vicious! You can't count Tamura out though. This was excellent stuff with great strikes and super dynamic mat action from Tamura. LOVED IT Tatsuo Nakano vs Yoji Anjo (10/04) - Damn, this was a gutsy performance by Nakano. He's essentially the level one boss of a beat-em up game. Anjo who's usually pretty sure of himself got real scared when Nakano nearly German suplexed him in the early goings. I really got into this match. At the very least a Tatsuo Nakano match will be entertaining. You get to see him get beat up & keep going. This was a different kind of match. I REALLY LIKED IT Now let us shift over to RINGS. General principle applies here too but I'm focusing more specifically on Nagai, Naruse, and Grom Zaza. Masayuki Naruse v Nobuaki Kakuta (3/5/93)I wanted to skip as it looked like a shoot on initial viewing. But I've come back and it's a work. They just happen to get the UWFi style & speed down pat. RINGS really seems half speed in comparison to UWFi at this time. This is an exception. Really good striking & competitive mat wrestling. I LIKED THIS Yuki Ishikawa vs. Masayuki Naruse (RINGS, 5/29/93) - Matwork marathon, matwork masterpiece. These guys scrambled for nearly a half hour. They worked the whole time. It feels like what you you're looking for when talking about highly technical professional wrestling. Ishikawa and Naruse aren't fighting for real of course. The concept of a "guard" is treated as foreign for instance. So you know it's a work 🙂 Then the next conclusion I think is "this is exactly what Inoki had in mind." This harkens back to that. And harkens back to the original UWF as well. I LOVED IT. Naruse is someone I'm glad I'm seeing in this project. Volk Han vs. Dick Vrij (RINGS, 7/13/93) - This felt stilted to me. There's a great emphasis on strikes. Those didn't look great though. Han's strikes looked good. Dick should have looked vicious but looked neutered. IT'S OK Grom Zaza vs Nikolai Zouev (08/21/93) - A little bit of everything in this match - strikes, suplexes and submission moves. They felt pretty evenly matched and was pretty entertaining for the most part. They lose steam or focus as it went on. There was drama with the points at the end but I felt that they didn't actually do much to work that drama. It felt like like they knew the order of rope breaks but didn't really build towards them though. I LIKED IT overall though. Todor Todorov vs. Masayuki Naruse (RINGS, 12/8/93) - Nice even match up. There's some nice strikes, a few great suplexes and constant mat action. I wish there was a better angle on the finish because it was hard to see what did the job. I LIKED IT I'm not really sure if RINGS is my jam. Ishikawa vs Naruse has probably been my favorite and I'm not getting that excited by everything else. It's good but it's not encouraging me to invest more time into it. And you might say, "well that's because of who you're watching." That's true but I don't know if I'm breaking any news then or at least giving these a fresh take. Also want to recommend that you also check out my new blog: Wrestling Dream Battles Thanks to the folks that have already checked it out! I find the layout over on the new blog is a lot easier to read on phones & tablets...which is kinda what I gear my writing to. I want you to be able to read my blog while you're on the train, waiting for your food to be delivered, or on your lunch break. This way you're pumped up to go check wrestling out when you get some actual free time 😁 Also I think it's a better place for wrestling pictures because I can adjust some things better. So if you dig pictures with your blogs, check it out! Currently I am posting about NJPW 1995 and will be tackling NJ vs UWFi there. Also did a cool Bull Nakano in the 80's post with a bunch of pictures.

Ditto to what I said in 2024... PWG All Star Weekend 2005 Night 1 Chris Sabin vs. Chris Hero - This was definitely the Chris Hero show. He did a bunch of his creative attacks on Sabin's arm. And the dude stuck with it... they both did. A strong emphasis on that story. Sabin kept himself in check and used his moves out of desperation instead of showing off. When Sabin uses his brain like he did here, he's one of the best. Christopher Daniels vs. Alex Shelley - Excellent technical encounter from two of the best on the scene. They did a little bit of everything but made sure to focus on the story. Alex went after Chris' neck and Daniels attacked Shelley's spine. Unlike the above match, this felt more 50/50...A bit more competitive. These two in 2005 - chef's kiss 🙂 Very good stuff and if you're a fan of either then you'll enjoy this one. Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles - These two could do no wrong in 2005. This was proof of that. The lighting isn't good, the floor camera isn't good but they don't care. Joe & AJ deliver a hard hitting, athletic match that would be worthy of a ROH or TNA ring. People have mentioned a slip on the top rope from AJ being a blemish. I don't think that hurt anything. It was a reminder of why it's a high risk move. He still hit Joe, Joe sold where it hit him then, AJ followed up with a hellacious corner drop kick...and we are back on track! And something people don't mention is the timing of their counter moves. These are fantastic and maybe the best part. Joe is especially on the ball with his counters. I know a couple counter moves surprised AJ legitimately. I think if this had the camera work & production of ROH or TNA, this match would have gotten more attention. Fans of either need to check it out! A near classic. RECOMMENDED Super Dragon vs. Kevin Steen vs. El Generico - There's a lot of cool moves here. No one likes each other but Steen & Dragon hate each other. That's the story. The problem is that they don't know how to properly convey that. Steen & Dragon come off as sadistic but not enraged. They want to come up with elaborate ways to hurt someone. But if you're in a rage, you don't care about that shit. You want the simplest solution. So they should be throwing elbows, punches, chops, boots - quick & fierce. And sell it. Now if they're sadistic with El Generico then, that works. He's the baby face in there with two heels. I'm surprised Dragon & Steen didn't team up just to get him out of the way. And that makes me think of another weird thing. The wrestlers actually aren't really in the ring at the same time very often. It's 1 on 1 until someone breaks up a pin. Then someone rolls to the outside for a few minutes...then they come back and break a pin up. There's a callback to these and other spots which I definitely appreciate. It just doesn't feel organic. It feels like acts in a play. So we don't get more than a couple spots where it's 1 on 2 or 2 on 1. I can think of only 3 spots. It is still a very good 3 way dance or triangle match (or whatever!) but ultimately, this is hurt by its excesses & hitting the wrong emotional notes. PWG All Star Weekend 2005 Night 2 Christopher Daniels vs. Chris Hero - Oh wow, they wrestled this like a big time match. It was so smartly fought by both guys. The opening section was very technical and showed their proficiency. Daniels saw an opportunity and went for a vicious drop kick to the knee. This set up the body of the match where he kept going back to the weakness. Hero really sold this the rest of the match, both on offense and defense. It was hurting him. What made this bout special was the pacing, the rhythm. It felt very natural and organic. Neither guy was selfish or showboating. I think this one would appeal a lot to fellow PWO folks. Great match... maybe a near classic. It really captivated me from the beginning and had me hooked the whole way. Super Dragon vs. AJ Styles - I know I've seen quality Super Dragon matches before. This was a new one for the list. He lets AJ do his thing...you know...be phenomenal. And Super D works from underneath. This makes his crazy moves and stiffness actually meaningful. No longer a sadist, he's trying to win! Super Dragon and AJ work very well together. Both are extremely well rounded and have a maneuver or idea at every turn. The best example would be when they were going for submission moves. They would chain one right into another. They would fight their way out of holds or fight to keep the other guy locked in. AJ brought the best out of Super Dragon here. Great match and great weekend for AJ Styles.

Good day, wrestling fans! RVD has posted or re-posted Sabu matches in honor of his late friend. There's plenty of stuff that I'd never seen before or was hard to find or only on compilations etc. I'm going to focus on stuff from Japan since it's been awhile since I've seen Sabu in Japan. Let's do a triple jump dive right in! Atsushi Onita & Sambo Asako vs. Sabu & Horace Boulder (FMW 04/23/92) - I saw this back in 2018 but decided to watch the full handheld. I think my original take holds up: Sambo is a roley-poley (rollie-pollie??) or let's say dumpy fat guy. He's not the type of guy you want to go out to the bar with if you're intent on chatting up some birds. He's not much of a wrestler either but, damn he gets the job done No rope barb wire match here and we start seeing some the the death match staples but, remember this is 1992. Hot shotting Sabu on the wire, choking him with it & eventually tossing his ass into it- he gets tangled in it much like his Funker match from '97. If you're an ECW fan, this is the era when 'Bu got all the scars. Not to be outdone, Onita gets wrapped in the loose wire which is another innovation...of sorts. This is all pretty crazy. Mad Onita theatre at the end of this too! Terry Funk & Tarzan Goto vs The Sheik & Sabu (FMW 08/22/93) - Absolutely bananas fun match! It's really great match if you're a fan of these guys and this style. It is very chaotic yet Sabu & Goto did pro wrestling so its a wonderful mix of brawling, hard core spots, blood, a few moves...and it's a fantastic length even with the post match fighting. Definitely recommend it! Uncle Sheik ----- Sabu vs Hayabusa (FMW 08/28/94) - RVD has the edited down version but there's a full version out there. I watched that. Thanks to the super fan who spliced the commercial footage with the handheld footage! It's pretty fun stuff...basically both guys just doing really crazy spots. It's not much more than that to be frank. I think if they had a match in '97-98 then you might have had a very good to even great match. Here they were really trying to wow the crowd with crazy stuff. Reminds me of stuff Jack Evans, Ricochet and others would want to do. ----- Sabu vs Eddie Guerrero - Black Tiger II (NJPW 06/12/95) This was a great match! Eddie was just as crazy as Sabu and both guys bring the excitement here. Sabu doesn't get enough credit for his selling because most people don't know that he's not always hurt. Certainly there's times where he is but most of the times he's putting things over. This match, he does a great job selling his back after the culmination of moves. He starts selling it right after flipping out of a back body drop. Normally a wrestler will shoot back onto offense but he shows that the move took it's toll. He forces Eddie to slow down and let the match breathe between maneuvers (Eddie & Chris were moves, moves & more moves at their worst). Here by slowing down, we get denied the flurry until the final third & we are pumped for the excitement. Highly Recommended for fans of Sabu & Eddie especially. For more great reviews and pics check out my other blog Wrestling Dream Battles: wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com I'll be covering my longer year in review projects like New Japan '95 as well as wrestler & rivalry watch guides and more. Going through my watch list, there should be more Sabu in New Japan in the 1995 posts up now. Go check it out 😁 Back to the action! Abdullah The Butcher vs Sabu (Tokyo Pro 06/26/96) -They stab each other in the head with nails and they bleed.......and it was great! Just a blast to watch them stumble around Korakuen Hall. The fans are eating it up. Abby has his goons come out and start beating on Sabu then Ishikawa (with a heavenly mullet) saves the day. ------ Sabu vs 2 Cold Scorpio (10/18/96) Tokyo Pro. Holy crap! It was great. At about half their Cyberslam match this was pure gold...great punches, chair stuff, and the aerial moves. Sabu hit everything perfectly (in a Sabu kinda way) and Too Cold was on point. Plus he does the Macarena...what's not to love!? Sabu & Gary Albright vs Stan Hansen & Takao Omori (AJPW 11/24/96) - Whoa, didn't know about Gary & Sabu teaming. Actually didn't know about Sabu in All Japan. This was fun. Gary is suplexing everyone. Sabu & Gary are a fun team. I wonder if they worked any spots where he suplexed Sabu on someone. This is joined in progress but we get most of it. You're going to enjoy this. *Note Sabu does a botch but re-does it in his hurried, animal - energy way (making it twice as dangerous) and nails the move perfectly. Sabu & Rob Van Dam vs Stan Hansen & Takao Omori (AJPW 01/20/97) - A little clunky start with a young Omori in there but, this shaped up. Hansen got it back on track and sold for Sabu and this puppy was as right as rain. Fun action moves from RVD & Sabu. They were there to razzle dazzle. Omori was with the program and bumped. Post-1995 Stan the Man is great. He's not fully out of commission but he's not as limber. I just get that he's in pain and cranky in '95 and onwards. That translates well here. He can't keep up with the ECW guys kicks but he can hit hard still dammit! Really fun stuff, good under card match. Sabu & RVD vs Yoshinari Ogawa & Kintaro Shiga (AJPW 05/13/1997) - joined in progress..we get half but this is excellent stuff. Shiga & Ogawa work really, really well with Sabu and Rob. They are quick and athletic. They have a lower risk offense but still have their moves. Shiga, who I became a fan of when looking at NOAH 2001-02, impressed me here. This would have been a cool match to see in ECW...totally would have worked! Sabu & Rob Van Dam vs Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW 06/06/97) - Oh this was pretty sweet! I wish it was a little bit longer. These two teams worked great together. I thought Ogawa was especially good again. I definitely would recommend it if you're at all interested. It's not going to blow your mind but, it's fun! I think the above match is better but then again that's got Shiga. But I'm taking anything away from this one. Watch both. Sabu & Rob Van Dam vs Hayabusa & Tommy Dreamer (ECW/FMW 12/12/98) (jip) - Um did Tommy Dreamer just do an Emerald Flowsion!? Innovator of violence indeed. Or at least right on the heels of Misawa here 😋 This was joined in progress and was clipped. We only get have but it is a ton of fun. Just a spot cornucopia from Sabu & RVD. I think Dreamer gets like 5 offensive moves. I'm not sure Hayabusa gets more. I wonder what we missed. I'm guessing there was either some botching or something. I'm not sure actually... this was for a commercial tape and this seems like a match you'd want most of. They jam packed those FMW tapes though. So 9 minutes was a lot when some matches would get like 3 minutes. Sabu vs Rob Van Dam (AJPW 03/03/01) - 12 out of 15 minutes were shown - man, I wish they had the full version. I have watched enough AJPW from this time to know better. I'm glad that we got 80% or so. Anyhow, this was very good stuff! This was what I envisioned Sabu vs Hayabusa to be. Tons of flashy, crazy moves BUT surprises too! Those surprises are what made the match. The video quality isn't awesome... very old school underwater early 2000's style 🙂 But if you're a fan of either guy then, you'll dig this one! BONUS!!! Sabu vs Too Cold Scorpio (ECW Hardcore Heaven 1994) - Oh yes, this is great. Both guys are in good shape and are doing all kinds of dangerous shit. All in all it's probably a spot fest but it does feel competitive and like they are trying to win a damn wrestling match. Additionally, I never felt like that they were just "showing off." I actually prefer this to their 1996 match (Cyberslam again?) since this was shorter than that & I felt the pace was better. Thank you Sabu!! and thanks for reading folks!

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WWE vault posted this a day ago and seems like a good place for it: