TheBean

I've been watching '06-'10 ROH off and on and really liked Aries the more I watch. He brings a real sense of indie star power when in DGUSA. I think I've seen like 2 matches of his past this period though. One with Seiya Sanada in Japan that I liked and one versus Joe at a Slammiversary Anything that you'd recommend post ROH/DGUSA? Thanks

•Isamu Teranishi vs Goro Tsurumi (03/12/81 IWE): This is a fucking great jip 6 minute match. It's a crime that we only get 1/2 the bout...Teranishi is going to do a rope but Goro uses a folding chair like a shield. Isamu reconsiders...this was a fun spot. It shows a cleverness that I find rare. If you're unfamiliar Goro is going to beat his opponent down with punches and chops. Teranishi is doing monkey flips and other great fundamental junior moves. This is a lot of fun. •Nick Bockwinkel vs Rick Martel (03/13/83 AWA): Martel comes in like a rocket, hitting the champ with a drop kick. The Canadian hero keeps hitting Nick with offense which keeps him rolling to the safety of the floor. But let's be honest, Bockwinkel is coming up with a plan. He gets his challenger in a test of strength and controls the match. Eventually, the Quebecois finds himself stuck on the floor with Nick playing king of the mountain. You can't keep Martel for long and he lets the champion have it! The crowd is hot for this match and seems to end at just the right time. Great heel performance from Bock & a great offensive baby face display from Rick. This is very good 15 match from two of my favorites. If you're needing to scratch an 80's wrestling itch, I recommend this one. •Yoshiaki Yatsu & Animal Hamaguchi vs. Terry Gordy & Art Crews (03/12/87 AJPW): A very good all action tag match! There's lots of rope running and simple but good looking moves. I'm unfamiliar with Art Crews but he keeps the party going so this is a winner of a tag match. Yatsu &Animal are awesome and if you didn't know...Then your ass better call somebody! 😄 •Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Pete Roberts (03/28/87 AJPW): This is one for the real wrestling fans in All Japan. 8 of 9 minutes of these two trading holds & fighting for leverage. Then we get about a minute of big moves to set up the finish. I'm glad that we get to see Pete work a technical match. I think Yatsu is the man to have it. I really am starting to really appreciate him. This is a fast, athletic and competitive bout. Very good stuff, an easy recommendation. • Akira Nogami vs Hiro Saito (03/11/92 NJPW): A simple yet fun heel vs baby face match. Saito, the brawler, is beating Akira up on the floor. He really smashes a table into our neon yellow trunk wearing hero. Very appropriate for '92 😁 Saito is full of hate and is grinding Nogami down. Can he overcome the stocky Saito? This was an easy match to watch. It's got great pacing, A simple story and just the right amount of stiffness and aggression. • Eddie Guerrero & Black Tiger III vs Wataru Inoue & Shibata (03/22/02 NJPW): This was a lot of fun. Black Tiger III/Silver King & Eddie as a tag team - yes, please! Inoue and Shibata are the plucky youngsters. Their contribution is pretty basic but Eddie and BT Silver King bring all kinds of fun moves and moments. I actually don't know if people here knew Eddie was BT II or a mega star in WCW/WWE. This is one of types of matches that keeps me searching for stuff online as I want to truly cut back. It's under 15 minutes, it's got a neat mix of talent and it's a good time. Here's NJPW's link: •TAKA Michinoku & Gran Naniwa & Tiger Mask vs. The Great Sasuke & Gran Hamada & Pablo Marquez (03/06/99 Michinoku): M-Pro seems to reign supreme in pacing, emotion and knowing what to do when. I felt this was flawless... Not necessarily a classic per se but, 15 of 21 minutes of near classic lucharesu. Don't sleep on this one because it's not 1996 or Kai En Tai. •Kenny Omega vs Davey Richards (03/20/10 ROH Epic Encounter III): These guys worked their asses off ALL MATCH. I appreciate the aggressive Richards hunting Omega throughout. He kept lighting the Canadian up with kicks. He wanted the Cloverleaf hold early but switches to his arm. Kenny is fighting to stay in this one. He's got to use his big moves to even this up. And damn, Kenny's got plenty of those in his arsenal. This match had a great pace, providing top notch action for a little bit under 25 minutes. I think what hooked me were the surprises and counter moves. This absolutely is worthy of the 'Epic Encounter' title and is a classic in the full speed ahead junior style. If you're curious & reading this review then, I think you should check this out! For more ROH recommendations Check out: https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/search/label/ROH

What's up folks? I'm chugging along with March Mayhem. I'm only watching and reviewing matches from March. I thought I would share a few posts from my Blogger blog here as well as a couple new ones. If you're interested in getting more frequent wrestling recommendations then come over to Wrestling Dream Battles. More reviews, more recommendations, more pics 👍 •Abdullah The Butcher vs Jack Brisco (AJPW 03/27/81): This is not a match but a chaotic spectacle in the best way. I think every once in awhile, we should watch Abdullah the Butcher vs a star such as Jack Briscoe. It serves as a type of mental reset. We are just watching simple yet charismatic wrestling. There's no real maneuvers or complex story play out. It is just simple good guy versus bad guy. Additionally, we get to see the fans go absolutely bonkers in the venue. I think this is true fan engagement. No one is needing to bring a sign, chant names or songs...the people in attendance are watching the brawl but are also a part of it. Maybe the wrestlers bump into you, or use your chair as a weapon, maybe your entire row of seats gets knocked down and scattered around the ring floor...you're right there. I think there's a lot of imitation of this but Abdullah is one of the best. So I can't say if this is better than another Abby 'match' right now but I will say this is really fun stuff. If you're needing some true pro wrestling, this is a good choice. •Riki Choshu vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (NJPW 03/02/84): March Mayhem indeed! A quick intense fight between two of the most intense wrestlers of the 80's. Fujiwara is like a mad man from the start. He's put on a choke and won't let go. Eventually Riki finds his way free. He then proceeds to smash the fuck out of Fujiwara's face against the unprotected top turn buckle! I'm really surprised there's no blood. Things break down and the wily Fuji' goes under the ring for a wrench. From here to the end of the footage, this resembles something you'd see in AJPW with the Funks. This was a blast!! It's about 8-9 minutes of wrestling goodness. •Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs Mika Takahashi & Kaoru Maeda (AJW 03/20/88): Wow! This was a spirited sprint! This was a beginners style tag match and had plenty of scoop slams & drop kicks (not a bad thing). There were some great arm drags and rope running segments as well. There's one especially sick back breaker - keep an eye out for that one! Yeah, this was a lot of fun. These women brought the intensity and desire to win their novice level bout so the relatively simple moves were a perfect fit. It showed that their efforts were more impressive than their skill. Of course they would improve in that regard soon. •Gran Hamada, Masato Yakushiji & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. MEN'S Teioh, Shoichi Funaki & Yoshihiro Tajiri (Michinoku 03/01/98) - 8 of 13 minutes shown. This was very good Michinoku action. It's not as crisp as the top shelf stuff but is still damn good especially once they start picking up the pace. Tajiri fits in wonderfully and wish we got more of him in this one. I'm looking forward to seeing more Hoshikawa. FMW 2000 (03/27) •Gedo, Jado & Koji Nakagawa vs. Hayabusa (H), Naohiko Yamazaki & Yoshinori Sasaki - Fun match with Hayabusa (H) guiding the youngsters up against Team No Respect. Yamazaki was a little clumsy like a baby giraffe but it worked well. H had to save the day a couple times in a bigger brother way. Gedo, Jado & Nakagawa were excellent as always... especially in these 6 man matches. Nice way to kick off the event. •Balls Mahoney, Chocoball Mukai, Crazy Boy & Tracy Smothers vs. Hideki Hosaka, Hido, Hisakatsu Oya & Kintaro Kanemura - This was fun like a bag of pop rocks & a Pepsi! Stuff was happening all over at the beginning! And the draw really is that everyone here is pretty solid worker (except Crazy Boy but he's doing the flying moves). The other bonus is that Balls, Tracy, Kanemura & Hido were working with each other in ECW around this time. So they really gelled. Very good stuff! •Hayabusa (H) vs Kyoko Inoue 03/27 - This was a good match and was looking to be a great one at the very beginning. I think this became too much "your turn, my turn" wrestling. Someone would do 5 moves and try to get a pin then when that doesn't work the person on defense gets an opening. Then they try 5 moves and try to get a pin then it switches back. It is kinda lazy from a layout standpoint. Hayabusa does do this sometimes... not very often but unfortunately this is one instance. It is also elsewhere in wrestling, of course but we have two dynamic wrestlers and it doesn't feel dynamic. Why is it good? It's good because it does tell a quality story. It does actually treat Kyoko as an equal... there's no bull shit pervert spots or brushing her off. It's treated like Hayabusa vs a mid carder...so we can't actually believe they were going to do a great match.. I just wish they did. I definitely would recommend the multi-man matches over the big match. I think you'll have a lot more fun with those! •CM PUNK vs. EDDIE GUERRERO vs. REY MYSTERIO (IWA-MS 03/01/02): This has no reason to be this good in such a tiny venue with ropes as loose as an old rubber band. These greats went for it though. Eddie Guerrero had nothing to prove. Rey was maskless but a star that clearly was getting better each day. Punk was champ but let's be honest, had a lot to prove here. He had to keep up with two of the best workers. And the young Punk did it! These guys went for fun spots. They went for tricky spots. And they hit them all. It wasn't as crisp as you'd see because of the ropes but damn they didn't let anything stop them. Now I'll stop you, it's not a tank emptying battle for the ages but for an indie match less than 15 minutes, this puppy will put a smile on your face. •Dr. Wagner Jr., Mistico & Dos Caras Jr. vs. Ultimo Guerrero, Rey Bucanero & Hector Garza (CMLL 03/4/05): This was a blast!. Everyone did something impressive and cool. There was a decent sense of animosity between the teams. I thought the finish was rather brutal for lucha libre (at this time). It's sort of an 80's finish. •Dr. Wagner Jr. & Mistico vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero (CMLL 03/11/05): This picks right up where the previous fight left off. There's so many cool moments and this is a breeze to watch. Plus this has a clean finish! Thanks for reading folks!

I totally agree with this. I'm not sure why either... I feel like he does the rotations faster on his flips/spins than other guys?? I'm familiar with him from watching a bunch of DGUSA & PWG. He has always looked great and superior to Ricochet who is similar in style. I've recently been watching early NXT and I was afraid what they did to PAC but honestly I think this toned down/more grounded version was an improvement. His matches vs Zayn are fantastic. I can only think this is more how he has wrestled since his time in WWE. If that's the case then, I definitely will need to see more recent stuff (some day!). I really dug his bout vs Balor that I saw recently:

I'm taking a break from All Japan 1986 to visit Big Japan Wrestling 2013 for my March Mayhem project. I'm watching a little bit of everything from my DVDs and online watch list that took place in the month of March. I'm covering the 1980's, 90's, 2000's and 2010's. So far, I've got stuff from NJPW 1984, '96, IWE 1980, Michinoku Pro '98, ROH 2008 and more is being posted. Click those links 🙂. Or check out: https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/ ~~OK let's look at Big Japan Wrestling in Hiroshima!~~ Magnitude Kishiwada & Shoichi Uchida vs. Yoshihito Sasaki & Ryuichi Kawakami - Good to really good match. This had some really surprising moments for an under card match. Sasaki and Magnitude crushing wind pipes with lariats was totally unexpected for instance. All 4 guys put on a performance worth your time. Seeing as I skipped the official opener, this was a fine way to kick things off ! Chairs Match: Takashi Sasaki vs. Sakigake - I'll have to keep an eye out for Sakigaki. He's a decent mid card guy. Takashi Sasaki is a ton of fun here. He's just going for big moves and Sakigake is fighting him off. Sasaki doesn't quit and eventually gets his move. This is hard hitting and the chair spots send a twinge down my spine. There's one I'm glad that they don't hit perfectly because the one guy could have been really hurt. This is a fun, fun match...weird to say that right after the previous sentence but that's wrestling for you. Scramble Bunkhouse Death Match: Suicide Kings (Drake Younger and Danny Havoc) vs. Ryuji Ito & Takumi Tsukamoto - Haha! Oh shit Drake has some blood gelatin swinging off his forehead at the end of this one 😄😵 This was a very good match. They kept the pace up. They had their spots of course but there's good tease and reversals too. It felt competitive which is always a positive. The barb wire bat spots were especially cringe inducing. And I'm not talking about some socially awkward situation...I'm talking about watching a guy get suplexed on a baseball bat wrapped in barb wire and imagining how painful that would be. RIP Coffin Death Match: 045 Junkies (Jun Kasai & Jaki Numazawa) vs. Isami Kodaka & Masashi Takeda - This was a good standard death match. It took a little bit to get going, I thought. Isami Kodaka really kicked the match into 2nd or 3rd gear. He started getting everyone else to do wrestling instead of aimlessly doing pedestrian hard-core wrestling. It was rather low effort before he got tagged in. Once everyone started wanting to work, this was fun. It was a little 'tongue in cheek' death match wrestling however... like the fun is that the crowd is enjoying the wrestlers do stunts rather than have a competitive match. Or that's how Kasai & Jaki were acting. Eventually once Jun, who is a good wrestler, got serious this was worthwhile. Shinjiro Otani vs. Kazuki Hashimoto - This was a pretty good "young punk vs old grump" match. Hashimoto lit Otani's chest up with stiff kicks but Shinjiro has had worse (I think!). So the veteran wrestler was able to mount a come back with some stiff kicks and slaps of his own. And that's the point of the game. Hit the other guy really, really good. I ended up getting into this match because of the simple story and the intensity they were displaying. This gets this show back on track in terms of high quality wrestling. Shinya Ishikawa & Amigo Suzuki vs. BJ Strong (Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi) - Good tag team match. Amigo was out of his depth here being a junior wrestler vs two heavyweights (super heavies). Shinya was a great partner for him. This match told a good believable story so it never hit the height that it could have. Still it was well done and a fun bout. YMCA Death Match: Shuji Ishikawa vs. Yuko Miyamoto - This took a couple minutes to warm up but once they did, this was great! I cannot believe they did that superplex spot! What is best about these two is they want to do a wrestling match augmented by the props rather than make complicated arrangements. This was so much fun. Miyamoto had to give it his all to combat the titan Ishikawa. I definitely recommend this one! By the way, the props were barb wire, light tubes, chairs and two boards with sea shells attached to them (I think?). This was a really good show/DVD. Everything was easy to watch and got me excited to see what was next. I was a little disappointed by the Big Japan Strong tag match as that was a selling point of the DVD. I was hoping for a battle but instead got a really fun story match. The thing is I'm not an Amigo Suzuki "fan." It's my second time seeing him...but that's on me not the wrestlers. Death match & hard core wrestling fans will get a kick out of this show. Thanks for reading!

Genichiro Tenryu vs Ashura Hara (07/04/86) - I needed a Hara fix so I went scanning through the Roy TV episodes and saw this one. Boy, it did the trick. It is not a long match but it's a very good one. These two are evenly matched. A worthy follow up to their match earlier. This felt big or innovative for '86. There's things, spots, that seemed ahead of their time. The pacing as well feels more like what we'd see in the 90's. It's not the Choshu/Hansen frenzy nor the "work a hold for 10 minutes" style either. Very good stuff here. Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask II vs Yoshiaki Yatsu & Isamu Teranishi (07/05) Fun match where Yatsu's aggressive wrestling (as in actual wrestling) was really cool. It felt like he was kinda-shooting in on Tiger & Jumbo. Those segments felt really good. Otherwise this was good 80's wrestling. Exciting ring action, a couple cool moves but I'm sure an appetizer to a bigger match. I liked it though. It's good to watch simple wrestling done right. Tenryu & Giant Baba vs Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (07/05) - An appetizer for the Stan vs Tenryu match later in July. This is one of those matches where Stan really lays in his shots on Baba. When that happens, it is on like Donkey Kong! And that is this match. Everyone is just excellent with their timing and urgency. And the spot that sets up the finish is wonderful! And the post match is a bonus treat...yeah this was a near classic tag match. It's not a long match, under 15 minutes but that is all they need. RECOMMENDED Takashi Ishikawa/Mighty Inoue vs Goro Tsurumi/Ashura Hara (07/10) - I had to watch this lineup. It's too good to resist. Only 5 minutes is shown but we get a taste of the action: Ishikawa and Hara slapping the taste from each others' mouths, Goro Tsurumi doing a couple really cool moves, Mighty Inoue being the spark plug of All Japan juniors... yeah this was fun. Tiger Mask II & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Ted DiBiase & Pete Roberts (07/26) - Wow! What a sprint! 8 minutes of action. I was actually surprised Pete Roberts & Misawa didn't do anything slick. In fact, Ted was in quite a bit. This was just fast paced all action wrestling. Lots of rope running, quick roll-ups and organic sequences...I thought this was great! Stan Hansen vs Genichiro Tenryu (07/26) - Two of the best to ever wrestle put on a great match for the AWA belt (I think this was one of the defenses Stan made with the "stolen" belt!). In either case, they beat the HELL out of each other. Stan blasted Tenryu a few times including a sternum crushing elbow drop. That's OK because Genichiro Tenryu is no wimp & gets payback...I'm pretty sure he got Stan in the face on an enzuigiri. I guess that makes it a gamengiri. What's notable beyond that is Tenryu really does a great job going after the Texan's lariat arm. Stan sells the heck out of it and once weakened, gets bloodied. Hiro Saito vs Brad Armstrong (07/31) - A good match that's really just neat to see Brad Armstrong working in All Japan. This could have been something special but it's more a novelty than anything. Don't feel bad if you miss it but it's nice if you watch it. Riki Choshu vs. Killer Khan (7/31) - A grudge match with Killer Khan's knee drops serving as the highspots. Other than that & the ringpost hits there were no spots or sequences of note. This did hurt the match but the intensity was there but, neither wrestler is dynamic or exciting enough to elevate this to something overly memorable. Maybe if there were a couple spots of note this would have been more than just a very entertaining match. I'm really not sure how this is a top 100 match of the 1980s when many matches listed above were better than this. Watch for yourself and decide 🙂

WCW vault YouTube page posted this. They keep up the good work with putting time stamps up. I knew that they could do it 😄 Anyhow, this is a great one stop place to view the best version of Muta.

That's awesome!!!

Baba & Ishikawa vs Killer Khan/Masanobu Kurisu (05/10) - This is only OK as Baba really weighs this down. It's noticeable here where it wasn't in the 04/06 match. It's pretty much filler but not a long match. Tenyru vs Yoshiaki Yatsu (05/10) -An excellent, aggressive & technical singles match. This felt closer to something we'd see in 1988-89. It's not the brawling style seen at this time in All Japan. It's Tenryu's style that helps define late 80's AJ and the King's Road era. Here we see it for the first time in my viewings. We see it from Yatsu too. Yatsu is pretty underrated. So good technical start, hard strikes which build into stronger moves working towards a clean finish. That's not the cleanest explanation but it's not the methodical technical work of the early 80's nor the high energy excitement of Choshu & Hansen's style that you see in big singles matches. I thought this was great. 05/17 Tiger Mask/Masa Fuchi vs Kuniaki Kobayashi/Masanobu Kurisu - Yes! Action packed angry junior AJ wrestling! Kobayashi attacks the faces before the bell and folks get whipped into the guardrail and it blows apart. Then someone else gets whipped into it before its reassembled and crushes a the front row of fans. This is the Kurisu match I wanted. He and Kuniaki are great. So is Fuchi...pairing him with Misawa/Tiger II is a good choice. It brings out his mean streak. Rusher Kimura/Ashura Hara vs Shoehi Baba/Haru Sonoda - A Baba vs Rusher tag match that's actually worth your time! I thought it would be good only because of Hara & Sonoda (AJ's version of Tatsuo Nakano... chubby, mustache dude but really good). But Baba & Rusher were inspired to work tonight. This was fun stuff. Shunji Takano/Hiro Saito/Strong Machine vs Killer Khan/Shinichi Nakano/Teranishi - This had the same energy as the junior tag. It made the simple stuff so much more exciting. Guardrail gives out a few times during this one too! You have to be a wrestling dork to get excited about this lineup. If this is the stuff you're looking for then, I think you'll have a fun time with this one. I wish it was a couple minutes longer truthfully. Jumbo Tsuruta & Tenyru vs Yoshiaki Yatsu & Animal Hamaguchi - This was a fantastic tag match. Yatsu & Hamaguchi were just pressing Jumbo & Genichiro the whole time. Yatsu vs Tenryu is a sure thing. I really liked their 09/89 match together and they had that rough & tumble chemistry in '86. Their earlier singles match was not a fluke. Animal is becoming one of my new favorites. He is high energy & impact. His attacks look great especially against the larger Tsuruta. He needs to lay everything in. Jumbo in turn has to keep his head on a swivel...Choshu might not be here but this team is no joke. LOVED THIS ONE! June Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi vs Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito (6/07) - Fierce fight! 10+ minutes of pro wrestling mayhem. This is how you do simple but effective tag team wrestling. Watching this I get the vibe that '86 is way more about Strong Machine vs Choshu than anything Jumbo has got going on. This feels very alive compared to seeing more Tsuruta vs Hansen. Animal is a madman here. Great match! Masa Fuchi vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (06/07) - Hard way blood from a top rope fist drop? I think so! This match-up delivers again. If you're interested in Masa Fuchi then he's got great opponents in '86. If you know these two then, you'll want to see this. Great! Tenyru vs. Strong Machine (UN Title, 06/12/86) - A great match and something different. Tenryu tries to bowl Machine over at the start. Hirata/Machine counters him and gets the advantage for most of the bout. He neutralizes Tenryu with a variety of arm locks. This keeps the former sumo at a disadvantage. Here's a great example of Machine having a great singles match (I always think of him as a tag teamer) plus Tenryu working from underneath. I really dug this one. Masanobu Fuchi vs Hiro Saito (6/12 jip) Oh man, this was really good! I just wish we got more of it. Somehow Fuchi is bleeding from the side of his head. We get excellent action here nonetheless. It's gritty junior style wrestling. Matchups like this has be considering 1986 to be the most interesting, if not the best, roster in All Japan history. *There's a full version out there, if you're interested!

WCW vault posted this and thought it would be a good place to share especially for anyone looking for a easy way to see WCW Rey Jr.

I kinda agree with little bits of what everyone has said. It's a bit shallow but its on the mid card of the show. The demon gimmick isn't my jam especially the overly long entrance and the body paint is distracting although I am glad that he wrestled the same. I didn't want Balor/Devitt to do a Muta act. So we get two of the best of their generation wrestling in #1 Contenders match (it's a tournament final - go watch Balor vs Itami from 02/04 as well - great tv main event). I have to say I really am liking Neville with the toned down flips (...he's the one guy [well Jack Evans too] that I don't mind the flips) and this match is a great example of that. Ok onto the match, I had a hard time getting my bearings at first. I would have wanted some more mat wrestling but they did slow things down with headlocks. They worked into a good flow. They had some really choice spots without being tricky or cute. So, not cooperative. And most of the match was at that Very Good (VG) level like a couple people have rated it (***1/2-***3/4), I thought the finish really bumped it up to another level. Maybe because it's WWE but I thought that one near fall was IT so the kick out popped me and the true finish was great. Near classic match. This definitely felt like something they would do in Japan or in ROH and not necessarily NXT. The best match I've seen in NXT so far. Perhaps that's where the style was going as they were given more leeway at this time in NXT?? Or its just the wrestlers?

Tenyru vs Ole Anderson (04/05/86) - Ole & Tenryu deserve more time than this. They are a great pairing in terms of physicality. Here Ole goes berserk on Tenryu's arm. And Tenryu eventually finds some breathing room. Then there's a flurry of offense and the match is over. Weird...it makes some sense given the moves that ended it. But I was left wanting more. It reminds me of a tournament match or a fall in a 2/3 falls match. But it is a single fall. This has been recommended by some and it is definitely memorable. It is over too soon for my liking. Still it's fun. It is intense... man I just wish there was more. Hahaha have I said that yet? Stan Hansen vs. Riki Choshu (4/5/86) This is an older review: This match could have been better & could have been much worse. The best way I can make it sound good is by saying it would be a good match for the near end of a T.V. show. The ending was awkward though...there were two lame looking lariats from Hansen and a third Riki ducked & hit Joe Higuchi. Joe obviously didn't get hit with the real deal & this now explains why the earlier ones thrown were so weak. If Hansen had thrown 2 monster lariats and the third was pathetic, it would have look tremendously odd. All in all this match put the PWF belt on Riki for his DQ victory over Hansen. Very little drama or overt excitement in this match but was a transition match. The best parts were Riki trying for the deathlock, the Riki Lariat & Backdrop. Hansen was rough on his offense but was nothing great. Ted Dibiase/Ron Bass vs Motoshi Okuma/Rocky Hata (04/06/86) - Heck I think it's neat that a match with Motoshi Okuma & Rocky Hata made it to Samurai Classics. I see these guys at ringside and never knew their names. It's a fun, if forgettable match. But sometimes you need something like this to raise your spirits. Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Masa Fuchi (04/06/86) - Kobayashi has jumped Fuchi at the start! Fuchi doesn't stand for that an ups the ante and pulverized Kuniaki with chairs. He rams his head into the ring posts and Double K is bleeding. Masa Fuchi dominates for awhile but Kobayashi isn't a push over. This is really good stuff and really comes together in the final third. This is more brawling than the typical athletic junior style. If you're a fan of either guy, you'll enjoy this! Jumbo Tsuruta, Genichiro Tenyru & Tiger Mask vs. Shunji Takano, Hiro Saito & Strong Machine (04/06/86) - Oh boy! This is what I'm talking about!! An action packed 6 man match that is as good on paper as in the ring. The Takano, Saito, Machine team makes up for the lack of star power with superior tag team tactics. They're getting in quick tags, double teams, and dynamic offensive moves. Tsuruta, Tenryu & Tiger are fighting to keep their shoulders off the mat. Great match & a great post match too! Shohei Baba, Ricky Fuyuki & Takashi Ishikawa vs Rusher Kimura, Ashura Hara & Goro Tsurumi (04/06/86) - AJPW vs IWE. Really good 6-man match. This was bordering on great when Baba & Rusher weren't in the ring. Actually Rusher was still halfway decent. Baba was still trying to be technical and it just doesn't fit the style or times. Thankfully he wasn't in that much. OK that's pretty much the ONLY downside to the match. This is mainly Hara & Goro vs Ishikawa & Fuyuki... and that's absolutely what you want! Genichiro Tenyru vs Ashura Hara (04/12/86) - That was great!! This was way better than I thought it would be. It's probably the best singles match so far. These two were doing stuff ahead of their time in my opinion. There's an emphasis on the head lock and sleeper hold that I appreciated. It's not boring but definitely controls the flow of match. These two guys know how to work holds. And heaven knows they know how to hit each other! I can definitely see the influence Hara had on Tenryu's style. Tenryu still wrestles closer to Jumbo's style. He focuses on his technical ability. 1986 is a good transition year for Tenryu because he's slowly incorporating a little bit more attitude. I loved the Tenryu/Hara tag team. Ashura Hara is becoming one of my faves. This is a classic match! Ole Anderson vs. Haru Sonoda (04/19/86) - Good match especially when Ole & Sonoda were trading blows. Sonoda's sleeper hold control section was kinda making me sleepy actually. But they worked out of it and got things going again. So, a good match but not something that you need to make an effort to see. This is the last appearance of Ole Anderson for '85 so I've appreciated his inclusion by the Samurai TV folks back in '99 🙂 Genichiro Tenyru & Takashi Ishikawa vs. Ted Dibiase & Ron Bass (04/19/86) - A really good showing from both teams. I thought it was best when it was Ted vs Tenryu. I'm looking ahead and it seems like that was on purpose. They have a big match later in April. I think they teased it well. Ron Bass is always fun as a hulking figure. I like when he fills in for Stan Hansen. Ishikawa was enjoyable although I think I like him better later in his career. He doesn't seem to have the fire in him quite yet. Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta (04/19/86) - This was a great big time match! Jumbo came out using Stan's fast start assault plan. Things never really let up. They were wrestling on the mat. Jumbo controlling Hansen's head & neck. Stan was working Jumbo's arm later on. I think the pacing was really good throughout. It felt like they were fighting for something meaningful. I think this was a rated highly by the DVDVR Best of the 80's All Japan project. I totally agree with that. Samurai Classics did a good job including this one. Genichiro Tenyru vs Ted Dibiase (UN Title, 04/26/86) - Great fierce title fight! Two of the best go at it. They really bring everything here. They're technical, they're off the ropes & the turn buckles, heck! Tenryu does a dive. This was fantastic stuff. Tenryu & Ted really gel. This lived up to expectations. This absolutely is one I'm glad was on this Samurai Classics set.

Holy cow this was 90% awesome and 10% tired old shit the farts in the office can't part with - ref bumps and using the title belt as a weapon. Nothing is ruined but WWF/E always fucks with the flow of the finish. It makes two of the best workers of the late 2000's have to insert this crap into an otherwise brilliant match. If this doesn't bug you as much as me then, you might call this a classic. All that said, that 90% awesome goes a long way. So, I'd still say this was a near classic and the best NXT match that I've seen thus far in my small sampling. Heck of a post match too.

Wow! Yeah I didn't have expectations with this match beyond it being 'good.' This was a great match. It was extremely technical for a WWE match. It was pretty darn old school in it's pacing and moves. I just really dug how they let them have time to wrestle. I honestly felt that was the best part of the match and they really did seem like kids raised around a ring. Even when they got into the moves section, it really didn't get to be '2014' or any shade of indie wrestling. Everyone above wrote in depth reviews above so read those if you're looking for more. I'm taking a really spotty sampling of (black &) golden era NXT but this maybe the best NXT match that I've seen so far.

Click over on TAJIRI You Might Have Missed #3 for more reviews and pics 🙂 Great Muta/TAJIRI vs Gold Dustin/Hakushi (AJPW 02/17/07) - Hahaha! Yeah this match is great fun! This kinda reminds me of when they did NWO in WWE. Like, let's just not give a crap and just have some schlocky fun. Muto has it right by just doing one match instead of a whole program. If this was a PPV, it's getting the old fans to tune in. They do comedy, tease some moves, actually get some wrestling in there & generally provide entertainment. It's memorable and certainly interesting.

Tenryu & Tsuruta vs Choshu & Yatsu (02/05) - Great, hard fought match! Choshu & Yatsu assault Jumbo at the outset. Tenryu is the guy you want to make a hot tag to! At one point I thought he & Yatsu were going to go at it for real. They get back in the groove. Damn near everyone gets worked over at some point. It's a real physical affair - the stuff you typically associate with Hansen...just violence at every opportunity. All that said, it doesn't seem to have big peaks and valleys in the story or excitement level. It's peak actually is at the beginning. Just straight upwards and then keeps that level until the finish. It's a heck of a neat finish too! Great match Tiger Mask & Mighty Inoue vs Ashura Hara & Great Kabuki (02/22) - This was a very good tag match! Wow, this was really enjoyable. There was plenty of action in the beginning. They slowed it down in the middle with some leg locks. Finally, the brought it back up for an exciting final third. The finish was great too. I think what I enjoyed was the contrast of the junior style (Tiger & Inoue) with the more rough & tumble style. March Jumbo Tsuruta vs Animal Hamaguchi (03/13/86) - This was a sick match! 😋 Animal jumps Jumbo at the bell...he's crazy! There's a lil down time where Animal works the arm but after that this cooks. Animal is out ranked big time but dammit, he's fierce. He pisses the All Japan ace off. Jumbo pulls Hamaguchi up a couple times from his own pin in order to punish his foe some more. This backfires as Animal doesn't know the meaning of quit. And he's got moves and takes some crazy bumps...which makes this quite exciting. This was a very good match. If you've wanted to see an Animal Hamaguchi match, this is one to try! Harley Race & Jerry Blackwell vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & One Man Gang (03/13/86) - This is one I'm watching because it's part of my AJPW Samurai Classics DVD collection. I would have skipped it otherwise. It's fun though 🙂 We get Blackwell vs O.M.G executing fat guy moves on each other. Both dudes are pretty fantastic for their size. Then Harley & Tiger Jeet take over. It's typical stuff from Tiger trying to attack with the spike and we get a DQ. Still, you're not watching these to see who wins. These are meant as pure fun and it accomplished that goal. Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta (03/29) - You're always going to get a quality match with these two. They will lay in some meaty shots and get physical at the very least. And that's really what most of the match was - Stan & Jumbo rough & tumble wrestling. Stan locks on a chin lock here and there but his main weapon is dropping knees on Jumbo's head. Tsuruta is a little more technical going for arm breakers in between clubbing blows & jumping knees. It's not beyond their standard match except the rather hazardous finish. That was quite memorable. So if you're going through 1985 AJPW then it's definitely worth your time. It's very good because it's Jumbo & Hansen in their prime. +Plus+ There's some really fun matches from the 03/15 TV show that are edited down. Fuyuki vs Kurisu & Kobayashi vs Ishikawa get the most time. Both were excellent from what was shown. Glad I found these even if in edited format. Mighty Inoue vs Killer Khan is there but doesn't get as much time. The full matches (or fuller) are Jumbo vs Animal Hamaguchi and Choshu vs Tiger Mask. Jumbo vs Animal is above. Riki vs Tiger sounds cool.

I definitely think he entered pro wrestling a little too late. That's to say, I think he would have been a great player in mid to late 80's AJPW with the sumo background. Wajima wasn't a very good wrestler but had very good matches with Hansen because of the raw physicality of his style. Tadao Yasuda definitely would have benefited from that style more than the 90-00 style allowed. I think the matches he is best in tap into this instead of the shoot wrestler he was molded into. Just a "what if..." thought.

Punk vs Bryan Danielson (Dangerous Intentions 2005) - Great match. Punk loves working the crowd early on in FIP. There's like 20-30 fans at these shows so, good on him for engaging the crowd and getting some good heat. The fans in the audience love hating on him 😄 Anyhow, this was an intense match and the best bout thus far. Danielson always brings it and Punk is game. This is a long match in a good way. We get a cheap win but, it doesn't sour my opinion of the fight. And it works out...

1986 Click the match titles, they're links to my blog posts with more details and pics 👍 Nikita Koloff/Krusher Kruschev vs Yoshiaki Yatsu/Isamu Teranishi (01/01/86) - Squash match Tiger Mask vs Mil Mascaras (01/02) - OK Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs Nikita Koloff & Krusher Khrushchev (01/02) - Good tag match, worked smart and told a nice story Mil Mascaras vs Takashi Ishikawa (01/11/86) - Good Jumbo Tsuruta & Samson Fuyuki vs Barry Windham & Mike Rotunda (01/11) - Fun all action match. Mil Mascaras vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (01/28) - Really good junior technical wrestling Tiger Mask vs Great Kabuki (01/28/86) - Near classic Tenryu & Tsuruta vs Choshu & Yatsu (02/05) - Great, hard fought match! Tiger Mask & Mighty Inoue vs Ashura Hara & Great Kabuki (02/22) - Very good tag match! Really enjoyable. Terry Gordy vs Jumbo Tsuruta (03/10) - Very Good, scientific match Jumbo Tsuruta vs Animal Hamaguchi (03/13/86) - VG, exciting Harley Race & Jerry Blackwell vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & One Man Gang (03/13/86) - Fun Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta (03/29) - VG Tenyru vs Ole Anderson (04/05) - Fun, needs more time Stan Hansen vs. Riki Choshu (04/05) - Good Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Masa Fuchi (04/06) - VG, brawl Shohei Baba, Ricky Fuyuki & Takashi Ishikawa vs Rusher Kimura, Ashura Hara & Goro Tsurumi (04/06) - VG 6 man Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa vs. Ted Dibiase & Ron Bass (04/19) - VG Genichiro Tenyru vs Ted Dibiase (UN Title, 04/26) - Great fierce title fight! Tiger Mask/Masa Fuchi vs Kuniaki Kobayashi/Masanobu Kurisu (05/17) - VG-Great, action packed Tenyru vs. Strong Machine (06/12) - Great, something different Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask II vs Yoshiaki Yatsu & Isamu Teranishi (07/05) - Fun, wrestling done right Stan Hansen vs Genichiro Tenryu (07/26) - Great, beat the hell out of each other Genichiro Tenryu vs Yoshiaki Yatsu (07/31) - Near classic, fierce fight! Hansen & Medico vs Jumbo & Ishikawa (08/30) - Fun Riki Choshu vs Tenryu (09/03) - VG - Great, great fighting