TheBean

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.

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!

Good place to share this:

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

Greetings from the internet! This time we're looking at Zero One Wrestling from 2004 & 2005. It's a grab bag though. There's a few stand alone matches from 2004. I was able to find a full show but only three matches interest me. Also please check out my new blog Wrestling Dream Battles. Just posted New Japan 1995 part #3 up there. OK let's look at Zero One Wrestling! 2004 Leonardo Spanky vs. Josh Daniels (01/30) - Good back & forth juniors match. Simple stuff and although it didn't build to the big finish, it felt like the right time & move to end it. I LIKED IT Frankie Kazarian & Low Ki vs. Emblem (Masato Tanaka & Shinjiro Otani) (01/30) - Really, really good action match! Kaz & Low Ki were an excellent team to take on Emblem. Kaz kept things pretty simple (a reviewer on Cage match mentioned he botched stuff... I saw zero botches). Low Ki was more in heel junior mode than strong style warrior or whatever he does when he kicks people really hard. Tanaka and Otani were their normal good selves. Nothing mind blowing but they allowed the American team to shine. The final few minutes was an excellent bomb exchange and was very exciting! I LIKED IT ALOT Jun Kasai & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Riki Choshu & Tomohiro Ishii (01/30) - Oh yeah! 12 minutes of what you wanted. Ishii is forced to lay everything in on Hashimoto. Hash ignores him to call out Riki. Jun reminds you he wrestles. When we finally get Hash vs Riki, it's great. Years worth of history and they give you what you want. I LIKED IT ALOT Frankie Kazarian vs Leonardo Spanky vs Low Ki (01/31) - A good time, smile on your face fireworks junior 3 way dance. Way too many moves to remember them all but everything they did was in their wheelhouse. They never got too complicated or too cute with what they were attempting. They used the ramp to good effect which makes me wish the US Indies could have afforded a ring ramp 😋 Hard to rate this honestly so I'll just say I LOVED IT. Definitely one to watch if you're interested! Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Yoshihito Sasaki (08/31/04) - Starting out mildly, this kept building to something more exciting. Oh thought, "oh this is just a small show. they'll do some signature stuff and wrestle by numbers and do a couple moves to finish." Whoa, they went beyond that and delivered a really good tag match! Like FMW tags, they shifted into a higher gear and the last third was truly exciting stuff. In truth, the first third was forgettable but those other 2/3rds made up for it. Hidaka's execution was great, Fujita was on point and Kuroda & Sasaki were excellent counterparts with their elbows, spears & lariats. ...you know this is a re-watch...went through my old notes but yup I had the same rating "very good" so glad to see that it holds up. 2005 I have had trouble finding an Zero One Wrestling or Zero One Max from 2005. I think I'd just find what I had uncovered awhile back when doing a Ikuto Hidaka spotlight. So I had to get creative and look at other promotions that featured Zero One talent. Pro Wrestling NOAH Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Kotaro Suzuki (03/05/05) - Great match! Thought it was just going to be a fun one but ultimately nothing too wild. I was fooled! They were treating Misawa like he was invincible. This was a great ploy. Once team Zero One was able to weaken him then things got very interesting. Otani was in full dick head mode and Takaiwa was his enforcer. Kotaro's Rey Misterio Jr inspired moves were great as he used them in desperation rather than to show off. Jaw cracking elbow strikes, thrilling rope rope moves and some genuinely exciting near falls - LOVED IT! Differ cup 2005 05/07 Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita vs. PSYCHO & TAKA Michinoku - This was a total blast! It got really good when it was TAKA vs Hidaka and didn't quit after that. Excellent high spots, a little bit of comedy and an interesting finish. This put a smile on my face! 05/08 Takaiwa Tatsuhito & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshihito Sasaki vs. TAKA Michinoku & PSYCHO & Sonjay Dutt - Hahaha! Yes!! This is fucking sweet! They actually told a story with TAKA's team being out matched in strength. PSYCHO (new to me this show) just couldn't get a break. Eventually he made the hot tag to TAKA who went straight violent with his kicks! Gawd that one combo was great. It never calmed down after that. Fireworks display with great surprises. The randomness of this put me on the edge of my seat. This could be a cluster fuck at any second. But these dudes pulled it off in my book. Let's here it for the Differ Cup shows Riki Pro Ikuto Hidaka vs. Takashi Sasaki (06/05) - It was a pretty enjoyable junior bout. I think of Takashi Sasaki as a death match wrestler. He is a remarkable junior singles and tag worker though. He's got a solid move set and has great execution. I really dig his super kicks. I always like Ikuto Hidaka. His leg work here added a little variety. This was a fun 10 minute curtain jerker. Yoshito Sasaki & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Dick Togo & GENTARO (06/05) - This was wrestled at a quick pace. I would have wanted them to slow down at the beginning to get me acclimated. I don't mind a quick start but I wasn't sure of the direction. Small complaint as they found their groove. It was one move after another and was quite the fireworks tag match. I think they wrestled this way because it was an indie show and just needed to add some razzle dazzle in the middle of the card. This was a very fun tag match and although isn't a hidden gem, it's cool to see these kind of match ups on the indie shows at this time. Shiro Koshinaka & TAKA Michinoku vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa (08/14/05) - Fun match but only 10 minutes. This could have gone a few more as they never hit their stride. Still we get beefy lariats, flying hip attacks, a couple dives and just enjoyable wrestling. Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita vs Jody Fleisch & Jonny Storm (10/09/05) - This is actually the only Zero One Wrestling match but I couldn't get into it. There's some crazy ass spots though!! It just reminds me of an early 2000's ROH/indie style. I think by 2005 in ROH at least, had become antiquated. Anyway, I just think this would have worked for a crazy 12 minute match but this was nearly 20 minutes. Not my thing but you might dig it. Jonny Storm has it up on his YouTube page so I'll share it below: Zero One Wrestling has been a lot of fun. I'm definitely interested in going forward with it. I've got a few DVDs that I'm going to use to center a project or two. Thanks for reading!

If you like Puro + More, please follow my new blog Wrestling Dream Battles: wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com I'll be covering year in review projects as well as wrestler & rivalry watch guides and more. If you dig Ted DiBiase like I do, 1986 AJPW is in progress. Looking forward to Ted vs Tenryu and more of the Stan Hansen & DiBiase tag team. Thanks! G. Badger

If you like Puro + More, please follow my new blog Wrestling Dream Battles: wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com I'll be covering year in review projects as well as wrestler & rivalry watch guides and more. If you dig Ted DiBiase like I do, 1986 AJPW is in progress. Looking forward to Ted vs Tenryu and more of the Stan Hansen & DiBiase tag team. Thanks! G. Badger

If you like Puro + More, please follow my new blog Wrestling Dream Battles: wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com I'll be covering year in review projects like New Japan in the 90's as well as wrestler & rivalry watch guides and more. Thanks! G. Badger

If you like Puro + More, please follow my new blog Wrestling Dream Battles: wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com I'll be covering year in review projects like New Japan '95 as well as wrestler & rivalry watch guides and more. Thanks! G. Badger

Hello! Now we're on to 2003 & Zero One Wrestling. I was able to selectively watch a couple shows. Also I will include the WEW matches featuring Zero One wrestlers. This is a doozy of a post. There's lots of quality wrestling here! Read on! Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Vansack Acid vs. Low Ki & Paul London (ZERO-ONE 03/02/03) - Oh yeah! This rocked! This is what the ROH guys were trying to do in tag matches in '03. This had great spots and never over stayed it's welcome. Paul London was excellent and I wonder if there's more of him in Zero One available. Anyhow, Vansack Acid is a Muy Thai fighter turned wrestler and is a good opponent for Low Ki. Takaiwa is the power house and base for a lot of cool moves. It's this sorta randomness is appealing to me. It's unusual but it all works. I thought this was a great junior fireworks tag match. LOVED IT! ----- The next batch are from the Zero One Wrestling event (05/02/03): Naohiro Hoshikawa & Yoshihito Sasaki vs. MIKAMI & Wataru Sakata - I skipped ahead on this one to watch the last couple minutes. They get a ladder. It looks fun. I wanted to see this for Hoshikawa & Sasaki but the beginning didn't grab me. The flow or direction felt off. IT'S OK Katsumi Usuda, Kazuhiko Ogasawara & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Hideki Hosaka, Kuroge Wagyuta & Masato Tanaka - At around 12 minutes, this is a god damn blast!! It's like someone did random wrestler select on Fire Pro Returns. Usuda is shoot style, Ogasawara is in his own fucking karate world...not knowing how to bump but still in a wrestling match, and Fujiwara thinks it's '86 popping his own eyebrow open with headbutts. Tanaka and Hosaka are team FMW but Wagyuta is like a budget Kensuke or Tenzan acolyte. It's great he and karate man just want to beat the crap outta each other. Yes, this is what I wanted and more. LIKED IT A LOT Low Ki vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa - Holy cow! That ended up being a great junior match! I think the middle section where Takaiwa started focusing on grounding Ki and then working over his knee gave this a good foundation. They actually worked this bit of psychology for a good portion of the match. Although they did stray away from it as things got further along, it was touched upon just enough to make us remember. My favorite parts were the surprises where they would counter or reverse a move. I thought this was really creative and went a long way in making this a great match. LOVED IT ----- Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima vs. Naoya Ogawa & Shinya Hashimoto - This isn't necessarily a "good" match but it IS a lot of fun. Kojima vs Hashimoto are the best parts. Ogawa & Muto play their parts very well. And the ending is a blast too! Watch it for Kojima and Hash laying strikes in hard and then assorted fun stuff 🙂 Stick around for the post match! These are from WEW 05/03/03. This was the penultimate WEW show. Jun Kasai & Yoshihito Sasaki vs Bad Boy Hido & G. Goshogawara- A garbage wrestling romp! Nothing was earth shattering in the pacing or storytelling department but we get some very enjoyable Korakuen brawling, chair swings, and ladder spots. Jun & Sasaki were more impressive than the WEW team. The WEW team actually did a good job isolating Kasai so there was some drama for him to make the tag to Sasaki. This was a street fight so that's code for them just doing a lot of different things without much purpose other than "this will be cool." BUT that's all it was supposed to be and they nailed it. TAKA Michinoku vs Steve Corino - Two perennial heels face off. This was a fun match...as in it was a good match that had a lot of enjoyable moments. There's comedy, good wrestling moves, a little bit of everything. Both are characters and is what made it special. In fact, I would be interested to see if they worked together more because they could have taken this little program around for a few months in Japan. I LIKED IT Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsu Kuroda vs Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka - This is a match that I hoped existed. I had no knowledge that it did before today. I'm so glad that I went searching. This is a dream match fulfilled. They very, very easily could have done their routine and some comedy and a nice finish. Everyone would have been happy, myself included. These crazy bastards went for IT! This was for the wrestling fans of Korakuen Hall. They put their wrestling boots on this night and blew my expectations to smithereens. This was high energy excitement from bell to bell. A classic tag match that any FMW fan should see. I absolutely LOVED IT ~ MUST SEE! Is that a real sword? ----- Back to Zero One: CM Punk, Josh Daniels & CW Anderson vs Ikuto Hidaka, Vansack Acid & Naohiro Hoshikawa (07/31/03) - This has been on YouTube for 15 years and actually (maybe) was posted by Vansack Acid or a fan of his? Anyhow, this is an awesome fireworks match. It's an absolute sprint to the finish. There's too many moves to keep track of it all. It's 12 minutes of no story, no depth just fun! LOVED IT! From the show: ZERO-ONE Summer Festival 2003 - (08/31/03) Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Yoshihito Sasaki - Under 10 minutes but a lot of fun. They are just running through moves. That's what I want in an opening match. Good strikes, good suplexes, good intensity/energy. I like both guys so no complaints from me. Wish both could have had longer careers but I'm thankful that we got what we did from both. Kintaro Kanemura & Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs. Kazuhiko Ogasawara & Tatsuhito Takaiwa - This was SO much fun!! 😀 Comedy, Ogasawara doing karate moves then getting hit in the nuts multiple times, Takaiwa bringing the serious wrestling moves, team FMW/WEW doing hardcore spots...this puts a grin on my face. I LIKED IT ----- Hirotaka Yokoi & Kohei Sato vs. King Adamo & King Joe - "Shoot style lite" team vs Team Pacific Islanders. King Joe is Samoa Joe btw. So you know it's going to be good while he's in there. King Adamo is a bigger crazier looking dude and does a couple Too Cool/Rikishi comedy spots but also has some big man moves too. It's a lot of fun. King team brought the actual entertainment to this match and actually Joe vs Kohei Sato was pretty good stuff. I LIKED IT Low Ki vs. Wataru Sakata - Wow, Low Ki does nearly every move that he knows. So that's fun but is also what limits this. That said, you're rooting for Sakata to whoop Ki. And does he! Hahaha, yeah Low Ki might do more moves but Sakata does more damage. The final third really brings it together and makes this worthwhile. Very good match. I LIKED the match as a whole and LOVED the final section. CW Anderson & Steve Corino vs. Emblem (Masato Tanaka & Shinjiro Otani) - E-C-W! E-C-W! 😄 Seriously, this would have been a great match for an ECW ppv...maybe with one or two more chair spots 😋. But this was a blast! CW & Corino are such smarmy heels plus they have their own heel ref. I usually hate that kind of thing but it was done right. They didn't over do the gimmick. Besides, the actual wrestling was on point & fast paced. At around 13 minutes, this was just right. Very good to great match...definitely a recommendation for late stage ECW or early ROH fans. LOVED IT Yes! This was a pretty sick show (from what I watched). This is why I'm interested in watching more & more Zero One Wrestling. They had a little bit of everything. Nothing was too long or drawn out. The show moved at a nice pace and was actually really fun to watch. I've got one more match for the "main event!" Masato Tanaka vs. Shinya Hashimoto 11/7/03 - Great match!! It seems this match (along with the others vs Hashimoto) helped cement Tanaka's future for decades to come. My feeling is that these matches and this match helped elevate Tanaka. He's one tough SOB. Does he take Hashimoto to his limit? No. But Hashimoto definitely takes Tanaka to his and makes him a better & stronger wrestler for it. That said, don't expect this to be Dangan getting beat up for 15 minutes. The dude definitely fights back and gives the former IWGP champion a lot to worry about. I particularly liked how Tanaka went over Shinya's bad shoulder (one that I believe was giving him problems here towards the end of his life). He was fighting to win not just prove his toughness. I've been a big fan of Masato Tanaka for over 25 years and I'm really glad that I saw this. As I have been watching more 90's New Japan (and early Zero One), I'm becoming a bigger fan of Hashimoto. With those things in mind, I definitely recommend this match. It's got a boat load of views online so I'm pretty late to the party BUT there's new folks getting into puroresu, 2000's wrestling, etc. every day ...or old ECW/FMW or 90's wrestling folks who want to get back into it...maybe their kids are into WWE or AEW and they are bopping around the interweb to see what they missed. So to them I say, check this out! I think it's a great intro to two icons of Japanese wrestling. LOVED IT I mentioned it a few times but fans of last days ECW & early 2000's Indie wrestling like ROH would be wise to check out this stuff. Low Ki, Corino, London, CW Anderson all were staples but the fresh attitude and slightly experimental feeling is what I'm getting at. Nothing quite feels established and therefore anything is fair game. So you get really unique feeling match ups. I have covered Zero One Wrestling sporadically in my original Puro + More blog and this is always the feeling I got from the promotion. You never know who you're going to see there. Go watch some of this stuff 😁 Also please check out my new blog, Wrestling Dream Battles. wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com It will be covering classic Japanese wrestling along with retro ROH wrestling. This blog will be handling the longer viewing projects like year in reviews, wrestler & feud profiles and editorializing. I want to have more organization and space to do this in than solely on PWO. I also want this to be a good resource for people looking to get into classic Japanese wrestling & folks wanting to look back on golden era Ring of Honor. I'm going to continue with The Further Adventures of Puro + More here on PWO. This will be for the shorter projects and one-off spotlights and quickie show reviews. I'm going to finish this little run of early 2000's Zero One but will be doing my planned Zero One 2007 & 2008 year book over on Wrestling Dream Battles for instance. If I wanted to do a Low-Ki in Japan project, I would do it here on Further Adventures of Puro + More. Thanks for reading! Hope you check out the new blog 🙂

This was a good match...maybe 3 stars or 3.25 stars. There's a lot to like but I do get that they were wrestling in the opener too so I think they did their job. Good action, everyone in the stands was pumped up..and good finish too 😋 I prefer their TV match from 12/10 though.

Oh boy, this was a slobber knocker. Vader was pummeling Dustin but he wouldn't let the big man beat him. Rhodes used everything in his arsenal to try to take out the monster. This had a great intensity and pace and some excellent action. This was a great match! Again, I could see this in '94 NJPW. RECOMMENDED viewing!

Vader is shit talking Sting & Muhammad Ali, Guardian Angel beats the ass out of Harley Race. Harley is not in great shape at this point and Angel gives no fucks. Vader is like, " WTF dude? Harley wasn't crumpled in a ball when I left him." This sets the tone. They beat the crap out of each other and I loved it. Plus a clean finish that was smart too!! Definitely RECOMMEND this one. I felt this could have taken place in New Japan.

Um wait... that was the match? Was Bunkhouse Buck even tagged in? I'm all for a Terry Funk does everything match but did his team even get offense in? What the actual fuck was this? This was 2nd from the top of the PPV? Is this Hoganomics showing its true colors? This had potential to be wild as heck but it's basically Terry jobbing to the Fatty Boys. He does an awesome job of making himself look like a crazy bastard. Good for him! The Stink Twins have wore out their welcome from having great matches with Mick & Kevin Sullivan months ago. Back to your cages Boys!

I liked how they did a very exciting, all action few minutes before going into the Buff in peril match that they have been doing. We actually got to see Patriot wrestling! Also not sure if it's out there but a Buff vs Roma singles match or two would be pretty entertaining. They are both super athletic at the time. His elbow drop off the top here is phenomenal!

The first match is a really fun hoss battle. Bossman/Guardian Angel vs Vader is a nice pairing that I wouldn't have thought of. Check out their Bash at the Beach match too. Sorry if that is a spoiler but you knew that this wss was going to be Sting vs Vader. And the actual finish aside, I thought this was a classic. I prefer their matches when Sting isn't completely overwhelmed but still fighting from underneath. So I really thought this was excellent. Vader was vicious and Sting is a helluva super hero baby face. Again, not my favorite finish BUT it does work in context with the show & overall company booking so I didn't hate it 🙂 But it does keep it from being a classic so, I call it a near classic match and still RECOMMENDED viewing!

Really good, all action match! This was a bit more traditional pro wrestling speed but Regal was calling the match. There were so many little things done right that made it seemed like they were doing more than they were. That's the type of stuff that I like. It doesn't have to be fancy to be good.