TheBean

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Billy Scott (04/19) - Lots of tumbling here 😁 I think they agreed on no strikes to the head or body. Billy is a great explosive wrestler like Tamura but his striking is really good too. I think this rule or facet to the match took something away from what makes him entertaining. Tamura is his usual speedy slippery self. One one hand it's fast and realistic in its urgency. On the other hand, a good shot to the face usually slows a guy down so why not do that? I LIKED IT nonetheless. Naoki Sano vs Kenichi Yamamoto (05/27) - This a weird match as it's fought under some hybrid rules like BattlARTS or something 😀 There's pins but they're not actually working towards them. There's pro moves at times but they are extremely stiff. Yeah this is neat and something mentioned on DVDVR back in the day. It's short, violent and weird. I LIKED IT! Tatsuo Nakano vs Koki Kitahara (05/27) - Yes! yes! Take your pretty Katsuyori Shibata, I'll take fatty Nakano & Kitahara any god damn day! Two pudgy prize fighters punishing each others fat faces with straight knees and headbutts. News flash a real headbutt hits the guy in the fucking nose & mouth with the thick cranium and breaks his face with your skull..not to knock heads together and give yourself brain damage. Anyhow, Nakano does a real "shoot" head butt to Kitahara and busts the bridge of his nose open. Does he go easy on him? Nah..he knees him in the face some more. LOVED IT!!! Yoji Anjo vs Naoki Sano (06/26) - BattlARTS match again... maybe those guys were ahead of the curve - Technically oriented, hard hitting "pro wrestling" but no points system. You know its probably what UWF v.1 was doing. Anyhow, this was all of those things. Anjo jumped Sano before the bell. However, Sano rallied and was beating the crap outta Anjo. Anjo was bleeding. They played up the drama here in a more traditional manner. This was a bigger version of Sano's match with Yamamoto. Your mileage may vary on the outcome but I LOVED THIS. Toshiaki Kawada vs Yoshihiro Takayama (09/11) - A really good novelty match with big implications for AJPW booking. These two would go on to have better encounters but this laid the groundwork. Again more UWF v.1 than UWFi shoot style. And that is the vibe of UWFi here in 1996. It's not necessarily the same wrestling it has been from '91-'95. It seems everyone wrestles like Tamura (I started to watch Scott vs Kakihara and it lacked both guys' personality and felt like Tamura vs Tamura) OR they wrestle a UWF/BattlARTS/NJ 86-87 style. That's difficult to adjust to once I've gotten to like what I have been watching. I suppose they were trying to do whatever would draw them business. I don't dislike the more pro oriented style. I like it but it doesn't work for me right next to the more authentic shoot style wrestling. Which is real & which isn't? I don't want to ask that question while watching the same promotion. These hybrid matches need to actually be watched separately from the rest of the promotion's output. This seems like a good place to end with UWFi. ------- UWFi closes up shop in 1996 but RINGS is getting better as it goes. This might be the largest batch of RINGS matches reviewed. Mitsuya Nagai vs. Mikhail Ilioukhine (RINGS, 3/25/96) - I liked the slams Mikhail was doing and Nagai's stand up was fine. There's just too little of it. This is felt like the same confrontation every time. Throw a kick, grab it, slam, exhibition submission wrestling, half hearted rope break. This felt like a throw back and a step back to what RINGS was doing. IT'S OK Dick Vrij vs Kiyoshi Tamura (RINGS 6-29-96) - This was good but over too soon. Vrij was really laying into Tamura. His strikes were pretty on point. Those knees to the face were wicked. Dick doesn't really wrestle and so it was cut and dry on the mat. Unfortunately, they didn't milk the drama with multiple knockdowns. It really actually kinda ended with a moment that was kind of realistic. Like "yeah you should end things asap." IT'S OK. Hopefully I didn't speak too soon about the promotion. Masayuki Naruse vs. Todor Todorov (RINGS, 6/29/96) - Exciting stuff! Really spirited stand up fighting. The mat stuff was good but not overly complex. In honesty, it was a good addition to the striking. It broke that portion up. And I really dug the suplexes/slams also. A very well rounded bout. It could have gone on a few more minutes as these guys had great chemistry. I LOVED THIS ONE Volk Han vs. Mitsuya Nagai (RINGS, 6/29/96) - OK now I'm getting to see what others have said about Han. It's probably because Nagai is higher in rank/experience now. Additionally, RINGS is a bit quicker and closer to a shoot. We get the speed and we get better strikes as time moves on in RINGS. There was a specific wrestling exchange where it really looked like Volk was progressing through holds organically. He went for one joint lock which opened up a stretch which opened up another hold. Prior to '95, it sometimes looked like he kind of just would pick around for a free limb as if not bothered by the opposition or if he were in a leg lock. Maybe that's what he wanted to convey but that style didn't work for me. THIS worked for me. This version of Nagai worked for me too. He drilled Han a few times and was no slouch on the canvas. LOVED IT Masayuki Naruse vs Egan Inoue (RINGS 8-24-96) - Oh shoot! Was this a shoot? Off the chart intensity and realism. Even the grounded stalemate and different guards led me to think if this wasn't a shoot, it certainly wasn't as sportsman-like as many other matches. The stalemate on the ground as led me to believe this. Seeing as you're not allowed grounded strikes, they both were evenly matched and I'm sure someone would find an opening, the ref wisely stood them back up. The "story" of the match is that Inoue kept getting hit in the eye. They seemed to show respect to one another during the match but after the second hit in the eye, that's out the window. Finish may be a work, may be a shoot but LOVED THIS ONE Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs. Mitsuya Nagai (RINGS, 9/25/96) - What an absolute battle! Nagai's throwing strikes like he should every match. TK has got to struggle for everything. He is a wizard on the ground. But he's not a push over fighting from his feet as well. But what makes this special is the speed & intensity. This felt like a shoot. RINGS finally is doing what UWFi was doing in this regard. Now they also seem to have a deeper roster as well. They are offering fresh matches and as history shows, they have their best years ahead of them while UWFi was closing its doors. LOVED THIS Volk Han vs. Masayuki Naruse (RINGS, 10/25/96) - Really good stuff! I'm really digging Naruse and his evolution. He can hang with Han. This starts out excellently but does get into the Han slowing things down to "grab an extra limb to make a human pretzel" which everyone else seems to enjoy. What I do like here is that Naruse is able to escape from many holds or at least get to the ropes. Han is a great pro wrestler though, I have no doubt. Seeing as he's been doing it for 5 years and once a month, he's a quick study. Case in point, him making the concerted effort to drag Naruse into the middle of the ring...much like an animal bringing its prey back to its den. Another great moment is when Volk Han loses his cool. Naruse excels at being the spunky under dog and selling that to the fans. This is definitely where he exceeds Mitsuya Nagai. Anyhow, great, smart finish on top of a great match. LOVED IT Masayuki Naruse vs Dick Vrij (11/22/96) - Equally quick match as the Tamura one at the start of this section BUT I think they built the tension much better. I think they showed Dick was vulnerable on the mat but very dangerous in stand-up. Naruse was more well rounded and could end it anywhere. This did feel like a wrestling match in terms of drama and the strike exchanges and whatnot. I LIKED IT RINGS is still carrying the shoot style banner. They have definitely picked it up where UWFi left it. I think it's a safe generalization that UWFI 1991-94 & RINGS 1996 and afterwards are the best periods. You can look to where Tamura was wrestling as a general guide, I guess. I'm going to end my sampling here for now. I really enjoyed the project. I definitely feel better informed. This is entertaining stuff but nothing can replace more traditional pro wrestling for me. It's a nice diversion. I think that's how I will look at it in terms of my blog going forward. I know I missed a lot of the classic stuff...even when using my own parameters. But that was the point, in a way. I wanted to see if the style itself could appeal to me. Thankfully it does but it comes and goes. There were days where I watched almost a half dozen matches. Other times, it felt like a chore to get through one match. It all depends AND my views don't necessarily mesh with others' views. There were more than a few recommended matches that I thought were OK or above average at best. Then there were other bouts that I loved but I didn't hear much of anything on from other folks. If you're interested in UWFi & RINGS then use my posts as a guide. Use others reviews as guides too. Ultimately, you're going to have to see what you like & what you don't. You'll have to do your own shoot style sampling 🙂

Not on the NXT DVD but absolutely should have been. Great 10 minute match... All kinds of awesome moves crammed into this TV match. These two have excellent body control and just make everything look perfect. Wisely I didn't listen to the commentary because it probably would have been lame. FULL EPISODE: Nov. 27, 2013

Last match on Disc 1 of the NXT DVD set and it's a good one. Excellent technical wrestling up to a point but really a fraction of what both guys are capable of doing...even although Regal is "over the hill" here. In a way this reminds me of Regal vs Larry Z from 1994 WCW...from a story perspective. Overall this was really underwhelming in terms of working a body part but I think that's more a WWE/modern mainstream wrestling thing. Like they weren't allowed to work the mat too much. I'm not sure if the fans were being respectful or if they didn't get it. Or they just don't want to see mat wrestling. From my perspective, it just didn't seem like enough. I felt like, "oh, that's it?"... I think they did enough to get it going but it just kinda ended. But what the hell do I know? Everyone else liked or loved it. I'm on the fringe with this one and thought it was just plain good. I will say the stinking announce team really oversold everything in the ring and that is probably affecting my opinion.

Damn, I really dug Cesaro's heel work here. Shouting at Zayn, "You're never going to beat me!" was a brilliant touch. This was a mean streak that I don't recall seeing from Claudio in ROH or PWG. I'm not going to go down a Cesaro rabbit hole but his offense and personality really mesh. He looks and acts like a tough world beating SOB. Zayn is pretty much a beefed up Generico and that extra mass makes a couple of the tried and true spots a hair clunky. See their Survival of the Fittest match...also the ROH/Koch DVD Best in the World has it. Yeah this was a great match but really because of Cesaro & the character work surprisingly. I didn't see any of the lead in but they told the story in the ring and knocked the socks off of the crowd. Me too at a couple points.

I'm watching this along with the Greatest NXT Matches 3 DVD set that WWE put out. This is the first set they did, if you're interested. Anyhow this was a pretty good match. It's interesting to read others comments now seeing as WWE has changed quite a bit. I don't think Women's Wrestling is as big a deal as it was a few years ago... To the WWE that is. It's also weird Paige & Emma...who is Tennille Dashwood... have anything to do with WWE. Like I had to look up what happened to Emma. I mean this was 12 years ago but WWE really does throw women wrestlers away like used kleenex. Considering I've already seen 2 Seth Rollins matches already on the DVD AND the gross corporate speak about how women's wrestling is important and that's why they are doing this blah blah blah. Neither seemed to leave on good terms. I'm not going to get into it but I really loathe any words that have been spoken during this match or the filler interviews regarding history, women's wrestling, etc. They are so insincere. What seemed sincere was Emma & Paige's desire to put on a really good title match. It was sincere when Paige was crying after she won the title. It's nice to see this humanity through the suited sleaze speak and the actual suited sleaze HHH. It's nice to see these women, early in their big-time wrestling careers, be genuinely optimistic & passionate. I think that is what's special about this match.

You will either love this or hate it. I loved it as it felt very Joshi does "attitude era" with all of the weapons (including a bat). What I liked was Chigusa's attitude to stick to her skills rather than rely upon weapons. There were lotsa neat spots and at ten minutes it was a lot of fun.

21 minutes of a 24 minute match. And it was a great one too! They really gave everything for this one. One of the best Sugar Sato performances as she came with fire and didn't bungle anything. The absolute highlight was Nagashima & Ozaki battling it out like their 09/15 match. This match was full of action (not always the prettiest) and exciting double teams and false finishes. The drama was there too as this was for the tag belts plus Sato & Nagashima were pupils of Oz and a big part of Hokuto and Ozaki's heel stable. The end of 2000 was all about the tag matches and this, the culmination of those bouts, was the best.

Another really fun match! KAORU's sequence heavy opening was best. I'm not usually a fan of this kind of stuff but it came off pretty well. Everything wasn't ultra clean so it seemed spontaneous. As the match went on it seemed to lose direction but kept up the pace. The kicks were really cool in this one. I really like Satomura as the underdog tag partner to Chigusa. The Devil/KAORU team had a great power/agility/heel dynamic. Yeah fun stuff.

Really fun stuff! No it's not 1993 level at all but they still excel at putting on an exciting tag match. Not everything was pretty but dammit they went for it here. I think at ten minutes and going pedal to the metal the whole time, I can say this was very good stuff.

So this match is a result of the 07/22 Sonoko Kato return post match segment. And it's a dream match come true. Sure everyone is getting long in the tooth but GAEA is smart keeping things under 20 minutes. This way everyone can do their thing and still keep it intense. I thought this was a great tag match full of big moves, believable false finishes and spectacle. Because, this was a match about spectacle more than anything... Crush Gals continue their reunion tour taking on the baddest of the bad asses of the 90's. I think if Chigusa and Kansai were in better shape (health re: Kansai) then this could have been a classic. But that's taking nothing away from this match. This is just simple big time wrestling done right.

Ozaki is Nagashima's mentor and she was a former member of their heel stable. This was very good stuff. For a minute I thought this might be a repeat of a previous match but this was fast and sometimes frenetic enough to be its own thing. Ozaki was as giving as ever and really let Nagashima shine here. I think if they had more time or teased more this could have been a great match.

I liked this pretty well. They did a good job telling the story that Satomura couldn't go toe to toe with Devil. So she uses her quickness and technique to weaken Devil's arms. Masami sells this pretty well and although she's able to power bomb Meiko, we can tell there's some effort. This is emphasized when Meiko is able to counter a couple bombs.**spoiler** They had me right up until the end where Satomura spams her Death Valley Driver...get another finishing move! This would have been the time to debut something new or a modified Death Valley Driver...A running one like Masato Tanaka or maybe one off the bottom rope. Instead she does it 3 times in a row and 5 times in the match. Those first two were a waste... and maybe the 3 in a row would have meant more if those earlier ones weren't done. The post match was interesting as Devil wouldn't respect Meiko despite just losing to her. Meiko tries to DVD her but Devil goes deadweight and hits her Steiner Screwdriver and cackles. I actually liked this because its almost like she let Satomura beat her...or at least Satomura just got lucky. Other than kinda killing off the impact of the DVD as a one maybe two hit finisher, showing us arm bars aren't going to win a big match, this was pretty good.

Anyhow this is a really really good to great under 10 minute match. The only problem is that if Satomura can take a bunch of Kong's best shots then surely she can take Kato's. And I mean Kato hits a couple really good ones. That's the downside to booking the Kong- Satomura stuff that no one mentions. Perhaps storyline wise, Kato is not 100% etc. Also to note Kato has buzzed hair... not sure if its because she has a bandage on her head (stitches?) and they needed to shave it, if it was a wager, or a stylistic choice. She had a pixie cut in an earlier match but this is much shorter. Honestly I think I preferred this than the May Kong match...Satomura is a smaller wrestler and 1 on 1 she works better with folks her size.

Gaea 5th anniversary main event. Nostalgia? Yes, I'll take it. This was a great match even without it though. Devil & Akira are cheating heels, this is 2000's Joshi so from its pretty close to 80's Joshi...weapons are pretty much allowed in moderation As an ECW fan at heart, I can never say no to a couple chair shots thrown in for good measure. Crush Gals are bleeding but they won't go down without a fight. Tons of great moves, very chaotic in a good way... tons of charisma as well. I really liked this.

The rematch from their '99 fight. I liked this one as it was shorter than that match BUT that one was still better than this. It's a good match perhaps a very good one but they didn't really tread any new ground here. Additionally the pacing was much slower than other GAEA matches. It's like an AJPW pace but I didn't really think any of the the stories they tried to tell went anywhere (Satomura hanging onto the head lock, Satomura going after Kong's arm). Some call this a great match but not to me. Both have had much more interesting & exciting matches.

jip. This was some good stuff. Very neat spots that honestly looked very natural especially Yamada spin kicking the board back into KAORU's face. That was sick!! I watched this one a few weeks/months ago so this was all I had but, yeah I dug it. Re-watch: KAORU is wearing clothes more appropriate for a dance club than a wrestling match. Yamada has blonde hair and is wearing something more appropriate for a Master P music video circa 2000. But yeah this was pretty good stuff... the ending keeps it from being a great match as it devolves into Aja testing Satomura's mettle. Neither KAORU or Yamada intervene to either stop it or actually finish the match. It is definitely a helluva scene and a great lead in to their next encounter (May) but in all honesty they had a pretty great match going...much better this second time since I knew Meiko & KAORU better and such. I would have liked a more traditional end but this ending was probably better for business.

Finally a great Sato & Nagashima match!! I've enjoyed their matches but invariably someone screws something up but not here! So everything look really good plus they can't get too cute because of the size of Aja & Lioness. I am really stoked on their performance (there were a couple close calls from Sugar) and Lioness & Kong brought the goods as usual. Recommended stuff!

This is an Aja Kong war...don't believe me? KAORU gets her fucking tooth knocked out. Kong gets beat to hell too..the first spot of match, KAORU does a awesome tope that sends Aja crashing backwards and hitting her head on the bottom cross piece of the guard rail. Later on both of her arms are cut up and bruised from KAORU. I haven't seen a brutal Aja Kong match like this in awhile. Big praise goes to KAORU for doing a match like this...they are wearing their pain on their faces for most of the match. I was not expecting this to be so violent and competitive of a match. It's really sticking with me as I write this. All time classic Kong match...again Kudos to KAORU for this as well.

Great match and absolutely loved the beginning. It was bananas FMW-style Korakuen hall brawling and in the ring table and chair spots. The flaw is that the last couple of minutes didn't need to happen. They repeated moves and spots... a flaw of youth perhaps? (Lioness wasn't involved) We basically already saw the finish two times beforehand so why does it work at the end? Additionally Sugar Sato brought the quality down a little as she flubbed a couple moves at key moments.. not absolute botched but the ECW fans of years past would have not been kind. And that's what holds this back from being a classic match. I think if the youngsters could have cut a couple minutes, Satomura gone for simplicity, this would have been a near classic. But it really is a great match nonetheless... there's so much good stuff that I have to recommend it. Ah what could have been though...very good still.

10 minute sprint of chaos. Heel team has their gang, face team has there's, all kinds of crap is going on. This isn't what you would expect if they met in '95 but it is still super enjoyable and exciting wrestling. The fans were going crazy for this and for good reason. Oh Sonny Onoo was there as part of Hokuto and Ozaki's gang 'Nostradamus.'

AJW 1999 These are some highlights from 1999 All Japan Women's. For my full review and pics, see: https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2025/11/all-japan-womens-wrestling-1999.html Zenjo vs. Neo SCRAMBLE BOUTS 5 X 5: Manami Toyota & Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi & Miyuki Fujii & ZAP Isozaki vs. Kyoko Inoue & Chaparrita ASARI & Misae Genki & Saya Endo & Yuka Nakamura (02/16) - This was great!!! Takes a minute to figure out but, its a team elimination match. An each pair has a 5 minute time limit. There's really clever booking here as Toyota starts for the AJW team. What's really fun is that the other women can intervene like any regular tag match so we get double team moves, dive trains and brawling. And this gets heated! Heck Kyoko even throws around her former teammate Takako Inoue (who's not actually in the match!). This match is so much fun and has great wrestling in a relatively short amount of time. Definitely recommend it! ZAP T vs. Eagle Sawai (03/13) - A chain, double blood, chairs, handcuffs, handcuffing to each other...this is awesome pro wrestling. Again, I have the Athena TV version which was sweet but I knew I needed to see the full version. Thankfully, the full version is online (with 700k views !?). Go see this if you are thinking you might like it...even just a little bit. ZAP T/Watanabe and Eagle put on a brutal classic here. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs. Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi (09/29) - Great LCO mayhem tag match per usual for this era. I can't say there's selling or structure but these definitely feel like chaos in the best way. After seeing a fair amount of Mita & Shimoda, I think the quality and variety of their matches truly depends on their opponents. Here Momoe is a great opponent because she brings speed and agility to the table. Nanae is a suitable teammate because she's got a bit more power to her move set. LCO stick to their routine with certain spots and weapons. The interesting thing here is how Momoe & Nanae fit into that puzzle. The take away greatness of this match is Momoe. This is worth your time. BJW 1999 Here's some highlights from early 1999 BJW. There's no blood & guts in any of this stuff. Just good Indie Wrestling. For the full review with pics, see the full blog post: https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2025/11/big-japan-wrestling-early-1999.html Ikuto Hidaka vs. Fantastik (01/07) - Hidaka, I know. Fantastik is new to me but, I like him. He did this dive that was super dangerous looking... and super cool!! Definitely want to see more of him. These two did a really fun fireworks action match. There were lots of awesome aerial moves and moves off the Irish whip. Fun bit of lucharesu. Ikuto Hidaka vs. Minoru Fujita (02/28) - Oh yes!!! They went for broke! This was a great junior battle. One that was way better than you'd think seeing as it was tucked away in the mid card of a BJW show. It was very exciting and very intense. There's plenty of action and great submission wrestling too. It's been awhile since I've seen them in BattlARTS but it definitely had that vibe. I'm a fan of both but seeing them this young and hungry was great RECOMMENDED! Katsumi Usuda & Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Abdullah Jr. Kobayashi & Daikokubo Benkei (02/28) - I liked how Usuda & Yamakawa weren't really getting along early on. Yamakawa sold this so well 😄 Eventually they got on the same page. Abby Jr. was going off today so, they had to get him under control. Benkei can be a big oaf sometimes but here he's a big oaf like he needed to be. He's like a tree trunk - able to withstand Katsumi & Ryuji's attacks. It's about 13 minutes long and a ton of fun.

Bull Nakano is in my top 3 favorite Joshi wrestlers. I've never seen enough of her stuff in the 80's. This fall I did just that. This is 15 minutes or Less post which means the matches watched are under 15 minutes. Pretty simple 😋 For the full blog and a ton of pics, visit: https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2025/10/bull-nakano-in-1980s.html Dump Matsumoto & Keiko Nakano vs Devil Masami & Lioness Asuka (10/27/1984) - This has 1/3rd of a million views online!? Is that because of that Dump Masumoto show awhile back? Transition match as Keiko isn't bull and she's got a regular haircut & outfit BUT is teaming with the dastardly Dump Matsumoto. Devil Masami is such a badass from the start. I loved when she denied Bull's drop toe hold and clocked her in the head! Homie don't play dat! This was a great match! I grew up with "garbage" or hard core wrestling so I might even be tempted to call this a near classic. I loved how it descend into a back alley street fight! 3 on 2 with everyone carrying weapons - you can't get better than that sometimes! And it's under 15 minutes too! Perfect length! Bull Nakano vs Dump Matsumoto (5/1986) - Crazy wild fight! Not sure of the story here. Maybe Bull was trying to take over the gang?It looked like some of the other members were on her side for a little bit. Bull is fighting from underneath most of the match but she finds her openings and lets Dump have it. A very good match...very intense and blood thirsty. This has almost 900k views online. Wow! Stick around for the post match when Dump goes wild in the stands! Bull & Iwamoto vs Fire Jets (07/19/88) - Great follow up to the above match. Bull & Grizzly slice & dice the Fire Jets early on. Hotta's got scars from the previous fight with Bull. This was best 2 out of 3 falls but was under 10 minutes. Everything feels very urgent and real as a result. I really liked that to this match. There were no holds applied or hot tags trying to be worked. This felt closer to a fight. It was really good stuff. Bull vs Lioness Asuka (05/14/89) - We have entered the heavy metal Bull Nakano era 🤘 During the proclamations at the beginning, Bull comes over an elbows Lioness right in the f-ing face! 30 seconds in Lioness elbows Bull in the head and busts her open. A little later, Bull disassembles the ring ropes to use as weapons. It's not a long match so I won't say anymore. If you're a fan of either, you want to see this! Being a Lioness Asuka fan, I get the feeling this match was her idea! I can see her telling Bull not to pull any punches. This was great pro wrestling. RECOMMENDED

The whole Savage vs Jake segment is absolutely masterful. Everyone above nails it so not much more I can add. This felt like the pinnacle of what this era of WWF could do. Made sense to my grade school self back in '91 and is even better now in my 40's. 18:58 is when it all begins on the video above.