TheBean

I have been spending a lot of brain power and time thinking of Greatest Wrestler Ever. It's actually been taking away from my own projects. So I want to get back to that with a mix up of wrestling in the spirit of April Anarchy. Keep checking out wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com for more recommendations 👍 •Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura vs Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne (04/19/81 AWA): A really fun cage match! To be honest, the faces probably got too much offense in but Adrian and Jesse were calling it so it stayed competitive and kept everyone happy. Adrian even did a splash off the top of the cage! •Devil Masami vs Chigusa Nagayo (04/15/87 AJW): This was a great match with high energy & high intensity. It begins with a technical orientation but escalates into a power battle as Devil takes over. This Crush Gal won't quit and rattles Devil with great duplexes and pinning holds. Masami gets frustrated and brings out the weapons and introduces a bit of anarchy into this April match. At under 15 minutes, I give this a Strong RECOMMENDATION as two of the best ever go at it. Click the link for pics & more April Anarchy! •Hijo Del Santo y Negro Casas vs. Bestia Salvaje y Scorpio Jr. (04/02/99 CMLL): The crowd was really amped for this one. I think that elevated excitement. This was fun seeing Negro and Santo on the same team. Good action, each fall was a little different and was a fun afternoon wrestling match 🙂 •Blue Panther vs Hijo del Santo (04/09/00 Monterey): This was a ton of fun! Painful holds, flying head scissors, pinning predicaments - it was two masters going at it. This was allowed to breathe and by the 3rd fall, the outcome was in doubt. Folks that have seen WAY more lucha libre than me have called this a classic. I can't say since I'm tourist in Lucha libre land. I will definitely recommend this bout though. You will have fun too. Also I noticed that no one has commented on the PWO match discussion archive since 2018. I'm glad to give this a mention 👍 •The Rock vs Triple H (04/30/00 WWF Backlash): Make no mistake, this isn't pro wrestling. This is Sports Entertainment®™. And it is great sports entertainment. Seeing as it's been awhile since I've watch a big time WWF/E match, it reminded me that the "match" is a device to get the audience to big moments, to the spectacle. We pop for everything else except the match. This is a shining example of that. There's a guest referee, run-ins, shenanigans, and bonus shenanigans. This additionally seems like a fantastic one match summary of this era of the McMahon-Helmsley regime. It's a classic Sports Entertainment®™ main event. •Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero vs Super Crazy & Ryusuke Taguchi (04/28/03 NJPW): This is a real treat for fans of these dudes. Bucanero & Ultimo are their usual great selves - a top 10 tag team of the 2000's. Super Crazy meshes well with them and is cool to see him in this setting. Taguchi is pretty under appreciated. Here he's still a young Lion on whatever 😋 He's in all black gear and his main offensive move is a killer drop kick. And from watching a lot of 80's wrestling, I've learned to really value a good drop kick! (Heck that seems to be what Okada thought too!). Anyway, this was one from my Video Daze post and am glad I made time for it. Solid Recommendation for fans of any of these guys. •Eddie Guerrero vs Kurt Angle (04/14/05 WWE Smackdown): 99% of this bout is fantastic! These two guys flowed. They never made this dull. Everything kept moving and they filled this with plenty of surprises. This was PPV level stuff and actually felt like they wanted to prove that they could do a ROH/Japan high work rate match on TV. It's only sullied by a WWE finish but I highly recommend this. It's on the Eddie Guerrero 'Viva La Raza' DVD. Thanks for reading!

You're probably right. I was thinking that if he got a bigger national audience via Nitro that his career wouldn't be so linked to Ric Flair (and 1 match versus Macho Man) in the mainstream/WWE collective memory. I don't have any fantasy booking ideas though but it definitely would be cool to think about or someone to write up. Maybe if he stuck around long enough for NWO?

These are all really interesting predictions! I think I probably have to agree with all of them in some form or fashion. I think "80's wrestlers" are going to get really pushed back which is funny to me because I've been watching way more 80's wrestling in the past few years. Jumbo will never leave my top 20 🙂 But I think a lot of big 80's names from the 2016 list are getting bumped for newer folks. The top 50 may look very different. Lawler & Windham I am looking at especially. Re: #1 - I'm thinking Danielson and Kobashi might be fighting for the top spot. Flair flop indeed! 😄 I think some big jumps up are going to be Okada at #137 in 2016. Omega, is bound to make a big jump, #259 in 2016. I think he & Okada are going to be top 50 at least. Meiko Satomura was #130 and I think she's bound to be in the top 100. A lot of 80's & 90's joshi stars missed the top 100 and I'm hoping that they make it this time. From the lists people have shared, that does seem likely to happen. Looking back at 2016, there were some BIG names missing from the top 100. So they may replace many of the 80's US stars in the top 50. Will Ospreay will probably make the biggest jump if I have to guess. He barely made it on the 2016 at #557 (last place). That will be fun to see where he ends up. Thanks for the encouragement on submitting a list. I definitely made some progress. I think I'm up to around 80. But 60 of those are only slightly more organized 🙂 I think I've got some free time this week so I might have a system to get them in order. And hell yeah, Larry Z! Might make my list too.

That's actually why I probably won't be submitting a list. I just can seem to rank anyone except like a top 10-15. Also I feel confident in my top 50 but anyone past that I wonder, "am I putting them on the list out of some sort of obligation?" without knowing enough. Probably over thinking. Still super interested in the process and the final results especially in comparison to 2016. It sounds like there's a whole new batch of folks voting. I get a vibe that they're will be some BIG jumps. Also think there's going to be some big drop offs. I'm curious if anyone has any predictions.

Am very interested to see if he can pull ahead of Taue this time around (#26 in 2016). I've been watching more Taue recently and am certainly high on him but, I think Akiyama's post NOAH work has got to push him ahead of Akira this time (in my mind at least).

Very interested to see where Akiyama will place. He's had a better/smarter later part of his career than the 4 pillars but I'm not sure that will count as much as it should. There's some good post NOAH recommendations in these 5 pages of posts. He was #27 in 2016.

Cool to see Nagata getting some love and making it pretty high on folks' ballots. He placed #173 back in 2016. I'm hoping he fairs a bit better this time'round.

More April Anarchy! Cruising the 80's to 1986. I'm looking at the under card of this show...it looks great! •Kauze Nagahori vs Condor Saito: Intense, energetic joshi as a competition. Both were attacking and always looking to get the upper hand.. They cut a fantastic pace & nailed simple yet effective moves. Very good stuff! •Jumping Bomb Angels (Tateno & Yamazaki) vs Yukari Omori & Hisako Uno (Akira Hokuto): Rabid pace and an excellent dynamic with Omori as power house paired with the young but competent Uno. You might think she was a liability at this age but she was making Tateno & Yamazaki look great while pulling off her beginning offense in a believable, intense manner. The Angels were in top form today and that's all I need to say about that 🙂 Very good to great match. If you're digging this check out my other blog: April Anarchy: Devil Masami vs Chigusa Nagayo - 04/15/87 March Mayhem: Toyota & Yamada vs Takahashi & KAORU - 03/20/88 Bull Nakano in the 1980's •Bull Nakano vs Yumi Ogura: This is just as aggressive as the previous bouts but more traditional in structure. This has a good baby face vs heel vibe with Bull looking to brawl & cheat. This has a little bit of everything. I think it's a great match! I definitely recommend all of these matches. I'm about quicker, more urgently paced wrestling matches online anymore. If you're interested then these are for you. This show also has some longer matches like Chigusa vs Dump & Lioness vs Devil as well. If you've got the time & inclination, check those out too!

If you've read my blog then you know I'm an ECW/FMW/BJW fan. Apache Pro is a post FMW promotion with W*ING Kanemura as it's big star. I've wanted to watch some of this stuff for awhile. April Anarchy "rules" work for this show - it's a promotion that begins with the letter "A" and this show takes place in April. This event is the relaunch of the company. The lead in video shows that Kanemura and other Apache guys invaded NJPW and caused a stir. New Japan isn't happy and have sent some guys to teach this indie a lesson. Welcome to Apache (04/14/06) •NOSAWA Rongai & Onryo vs MIYAWAKI & Naoshi Sano: Joined in progress but no matter. This a fun junior match to kick things off. •GENTARO vs Wataru Inoue: There's a good story here with GENTARO working over Inoue's leg. He uses leg locks, dragon screws and a cool sharpshooter. There's even a really cool spot from the apron too. I really dug this match but man, it needed one more minute. That finish came too quick. GENTARO was great here by the way. He's a guy that I try to catch when I can. Very good match. •Daisuke Sekimoto, Ryuji Ito & Katsumasa Inoue vs Mammoth Sasaki, Hi69 & Saburo Inematsu: Big Japan versus Apache Pro! Everyone showed great effort and heart here. It was only given about 10 minutes but they packed it was action and intensity. This was very good and definitely something I recommend checking out! •Jushin Liger, Gedo & Jado vs W*ING Kanemura, Bad boy Hido & Tetsuhiro Kuroda: This starts as Hido vs Liger. Liger dominated him but gets attacked post match and gets his hair cut. The rest of the guys, who are supposed to have a tag team main event, come out. We get an impromptu 6 man match! They're fighting in the crowd & bleeding. Apache Pro is getting beaten with Team NJPW (CTU) using old school tactics. This gets a little dry but, a molten hot tag is made to Kanemura! It's on like Donkey Kong!! This is very much laid out like a FMW 6 man...I was popping for the final minutes. This is for all FMW fans & gets a rock solid recommendation for me. Plus there's a Jun Kasai Vs Takashi Sasaki death match. It's 18 minutes long and while I like both guys, I'm not interested in spending 18 minutes on it. This was a very good show and relaunch of Apache Pro. I'm looking forward to more of this stuff in the future!

Tiger Mask vs Invader #3 (08/25) Nice to Misawa have a lucha-type match again. I wish they gave Invader #3 a lil more offense. It's short enough that you probably could call it a squash if it were on WCW Saturday Night. I was entertained and feel like I'm getting a better understanding of AJ '86 than just watching the big matches alone. Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito vs Animal Hamaguchi & Kuniaki Kobayashi (08/25) Joined in progress so we only get 5-6 minutes. This is another battle in the war between these factions. I'm really digging these guys beating each other up! It's all about aggression, good pacing and timing. You see a match like this an it's so engaging because it feels like a fight. Stan Hansen & Medico vs Tsuruta & Ishikawa (08/30) - This is a fun match building to Stan vs Jumbo on 09/03 (which I'm going to skip). Medico was fun being an annoyance to Jumbo. He vs Ishikawa was enjoyable too. The big boys have great chemistry so they could sleep walk an exciting 10 minute tag like this. September Riki Choshu vs. Genichiro Tenryu (09/03) I watched this a long time ago along with the Hansen match. I read my old review and I think I appreciate it more now. Its a very good to great match. They did a lot of great fighting here. Tenryu switched his offense up using older maneuvers to re-injure Choshu's ribs. Choshu was tough and pulled out a couple moves that were pretty cool. One that I felt was a decade ahead of its time. Personally, Tenryu seemed to have a better performance but Riki interestingly seemed to be doing better character work. That plays into the finish as well. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Stan Hansen & Medico (09/06) This is a damn fine TV main event. Riki's ribs are taped up so that's Hansen & Medico's target. By the way, with a name like "Medico" you think he'd tried to help Riki Choshu out. Maybe he was late on his bills? Anyhow, this one is neat because your big star is vulnerable. Yatsu has to come through in a big way and take on the unsinkable battleship and his partner. This was good stuff. Also, I believe Medico is José Estrada Sr. who wrestled as Super Medico (I). Perhaps AJPW left off the "super" to avoid association with Super Strong Machine? 09/20 Masa Fuchi/Tiger Mask vs Hiro Saito/Shunji Takano - Fun stuff! Shunji's German suplex looks a lot like Takayama's because of his height. That was sick! Enjoyed Fuchi punch Saito in the head from the mount position. He look crazed. Tiger Misawa is really in his element here. He definitely seems to gaining confidence as a leader. Genichiro Tenryu/Jumbo Tsuruta vs Yoshiaki Yatsu/Animal Hamaguchi - Man, these four tear the house down! Damn that's how you do a mid 80's action packed tag match! I never knew what was going to end it and what a clever finish too. Animal might be my pick of top partner to Yatsu. He's got so much energy and has perfect running elbow drops, top rope elbow drops and running neck breakers. Yoshi Yatsu is always jazzed up too. They operate with an urgency that really pushes the pace. This compels Jumbo & Tenryu to do the same. Great match! Riki Choshu vs Super Strong Machine - Their first lockup looked like two bucks locking antlers. This was a great singles match between the heads of the rival factions. Things really kick off when, after going for a more technical route, Choshu rips Machine's mask. It's on like Donkey Kong now! Strong Machine targets Riki's ribs (which must be on the mend). You know he's got a whopper of a Riki Lariat waiting for him. Excellent main event to this Japan Pro/All Japan show (the last one ever per Cagematch).

Not an indie but, I'd recommend his work in AJPW 2001-2002. He teams with Tenryu a few times. Also he had some quality singles matches. I linked my old blog with the YouTube videos for Anjo versus Kawada & Masato Tanaka from '01. Yeah, Anjo is awesome 🙂

Hi folks! For more of my March Mayhem, check out this link: https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2026/03/ I appreciate it! And without further ado, let's get to the wrestling! •Mike Awesome vs "Earthquake" John Tenta (AJPW 03/22/03): This was a fun match that put Awesome in an interesting situation. He wasn't the biggest man in the ring. Tenta, even a little bit older was still damn large. Awesome had to employ more brawling than raw power. Earthquake needs to slow the Gladiator down and uses a great looking sleeper hold to even the odds. This was fun and something different as there's a good story told instead of a slew of power bombs (not that I dislike those 🙂). •Mike Awesome, Johnny Smith & Gigantes (Jerry Tuite) vs. Earthquake, Genichiro Tenryu & Nobukazu Hirai (AJPW 03/28/03): 9 of 15 minutes. This was a barrel full of monkeys. There were callbacks to Awesome vs Tenta. Tenryu is chopping & punching. Tuite is the big foreigner who can sort of run roughshod over Tenta and Tenryu just because he's large. Hirai is that lumpy WAR dude that doesn't mind throwing elbows. Plus he's the right size of heavyweight that he can get thrown around. While the previous match is a soft recommendation for Mike Awesome fans, this one is a recommendation for all early 2000's wrestling weirdos. •Matt Sydal vs PAC (ROH 5th Yr Fest: Finale 03/04/07): A very good junior action match. There's some great moves but we get a rare error from PAC. Steal covers for it (ala Liger vs Sasuke Super J Cup '94). I don't knock it for that but it feels beneath what they could do in '07. It is a under card match on a big show so, it's understandable. Still fans of both will get a kick outta this one. •Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs Shingo & Naruki Doi (ROH 5th Yr Fest: Finale 03/04/07): This bout is stupid in the best way! This is a ballz to the wall movezzz match. It starts standard enough but somewhere along the way they opened a jar of bananas and made this straight bonkers. It's one of those matches where the "tag" stipulation gets lost in the action. It's not Dragon Gate rules...it's Young Bucks in PWG style. I think that is the "stupid" thing but eventually I said, "screw it" and went along for a good time. These dudes are 4 of the best at that type of wrestling so this was great stuff. Nearly a classic if you're in the generous mood. I mean if you're reading this then I gotta highly recommend it. •Masato Tanaka vs Hirooki Goto (NJPW 03/22/10): Hirooki Goto reminds me a lot of Tanaka. They both have that toughness and intensity about them. So, I dug this one. They blistered each other's chests with chops. They rattled jaws with elbows and battered brains with slams. This was 10 minutes of smash mouth wrestling. This felt like a puro WCW Saturday Night main event. Solid recommendation and if you dig this Tanaka is doing more of same in Zero One. Check out Tanaka in Zero One Wrestling 2007. In the meantime, New Japan has the match below: ------- Neville vs Cesaro (NXT 03/05/15): Not gonna lie, I threw the horns a few times during this one 🤘 It was awesome. Cesaro was like Steven Regal in his precise brutality yet he did his own thing. He used his freakish strength in ways Regal could only dream of. He showed a mean streak that I really don't remember seeing as Claudio. Cesaro is a meaner, more aggressive, more calculated version of Castagnoli. Then, Neville, is a more grounded and focused version of PAC. When he tried his flying moves, they were done out of desperation rather than exhibition. It's wonderfully surprising when Cesaro stops those "hail mary" moves dead in their tracks. This is a wicked twist as Neville has been the man in my NXT viewing. Cesaro seems like the end to all of that. I LOVED THIS ONE. What's crazy is that this was a Dark Match and it only seems to be officially available on the first NXT DVD set (which I have). Find this anyway you can because I think it's an All Time Classic. Highest Recommendation. Thanks for reading folks! Again, click https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2026/03/ for more wrestling recommendations👍

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.