TheBean

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.

I agree with El McKell a 100%. I found out about PWO when the yearbook projects were starting and while I wasn't a member, it was an amazing resource to have and to follow along with. The Match Discussion Archive/Yearbooks, Microscope, Puro History are all definitely great for anyone getting into older wrestling. It is like a curated cagematch. I think there's a lot of people that use the site as a resource. Then there's folks that use it as communication. I was looking at old posts I made as G. Badger (before the site locked me out of that profile), people actually wanted to talk about wrestling and didn't mind sharing opinions. But I know I stopped wanting to post anything on the main couple threads because folks wanted to either put words in people's mouths (make shit political when it wasn't) or essentially ignore people or openly being shitty. I know I had it happen a few times. Like high school clique type behavior. I think that killed the communication aspect of the board. Killed the vibe for new members wanting to post/keep the site alive. The funny thing is most of those members are gone now but the damage was done. Still, I enjoy reading peoples' posts and writing things and know who to avoid so I get a lot out of the site. I try to be friendly to new members to encourage them to keep posting. Sorry for writing a book.

Probably a bigger Awesome/Gladiator fan than most (see profile pic) but wouldn't make my top 100. He was the best of the B-level gaijin in Japan during the 90's and genuinely had the aura of champion in ECW. It's been awhile since I saw the ONS match but it's not better than stuff he did with Tanaka in 98-99. There's probably touring tag matches w/ Justin Credible vs Tanaka & Jerry Lynn that are fundamentally better than the ONS match. His stuff when he was in AJPW in the early 2000's was good and his Kobashi GHC match was pretty good-great iirc. But yeah, he might be a top 150 but there's others ahead of him.

I remember there used to be a section called Military Industrial Suplex where political wrestling talk could go on but the same type of stuff started happening and it got removed. It was ultimately no longer in the spirit of PWO was the rationale, iirc. I think there's a lot of members who don't post because they are afraid they are going to get shouted at or get hassled tbh. Longtime & new folks. Hope you stick around. Seeing as its the wild west here, I say you make a new topic anytime you feel like talking WWE or just here in the "Comments that don't... " thread. Your posts were some of the only ways I would stay in the loop with the current WWE.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Shinya Hashimoto (02/04) - Hashi-f-ing-moto! This was awesome. Tenzan, who's not yet a full baddie, is trying to test the champ. This is his chance to elevate himself one way or another. Hash shows him that being champ means more than just being able to dish out punishment. One has to endure it and push on. I think this was a near classic match...maybe low end classic. I think they did everything so well in terms of pacing, storytelling, a sense of realism, etc. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masahiro Chono (03/07) - Impromptu tag match...no rules either perhap but they ring the bell..so it's official. This is the most ECW match in New Japan that I've seen! It's awesome! They are trying to maim each other in the crowd. Eventually things settle down but it still is intense, great stuff. Fellow Hase fans need to see this one! Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan (06/12) - Great tag match! Gutsy performance from Hirata & Hash! ChoTen are an excellent heel team...excellent heels but also a cohesive team. They seem to be on the same page all the time here. Good storytelling in this match as well. I'm only coming into this here but if you know the basics of this generation of NJPW then that's all you need to know to enjoy this. I've seen this rated ****1/4 and I can get with that. For my full run down of New Japan 1995 with more reviews & pics, see these: https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2025/10/yearbook-njpw-1995.html https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2025/10/yearbook-njpw-1995-part-2.html https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2025/10/yearbook-njpw-1995-part-3.html https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2025/11/yearbook-njpw-1995-part-4.html https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2025/11/yearbook-njpw-1995-final.html Keiji Muto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (06/14) - Battle for the moonsault, Tenzan's busted wide open, Muto's pissed, Tenzan has an answer for Muto's moves. This absolutely is what Muto can deliver when he's motivated. No laying around on the mat or even messing around with dragon screws teasing figure four bores. This is about fighting. This could have been a true classic if it went on for maybe 30 seconds longer but honestly this was as long as it needed to be. I dug the heck out of it and definitely why I watch Muto matches when they come up. I don't know why or when but, he absolutely has excellent matches in him. And I'm not talking much about Tenzan because he's a solid player who can deliver very good to great matches just by being tough, hitting hard and showing attitude. Muto takes that, brings his A-game and deliver a low end classic. RECOMMENDED Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Shinya Hashimoto (08/13) - I watched the full version and damn! this was a really, really good match. It's simple. Two guys, one baby face & one heel, beat each other up to prove who's tougher. Sure there's a tournament but this is more about ego than a couple tournament points. Yoji Anjo & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan (11/25 UWFi) - Yes! Oh hells yes! Stiff as a wall ! A hate-fest fought at a machine gun pace. Anyone hesitant about shoot style needn't worry. This is pro-wrestling. It's a brawl more than anything else. It is fantastic! Just so much bad attitude from both sides. I loved this. It's a little over 10 minutes but I'm still going to call it a classic. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Masa Chono & Tenzan vs Hashimoto & Junji Hirata (12/11) - Hash is tired of Tenzan's shit! Let him have it!!! This was a great match. Hirata/Super Strong Machine was excellent in this match. Hashimoto let him handle himself in this match. It was two of the toughest teams of New Japan facing off again. The post match stuff is entertaining as well.

Ted DiBiase & Jim Duggan in Mid South. I only knew them from their WWF days and had no clue how awesome they were beforehand. I'd probably throw Rick Martel in there too. Only knew him as The Model...and man I had no idea how great of a wrestler he was from that gimmick.

Koji steps to Otani during introductions. Otani responds by slapping Koji. This was a heck of a tag match. A nice mix of lucha & puro along with a bit of nastiness too. Pegasus/Benoit & Hamada were more neutral but the animus between Koji & Otani was ever present. So it had the right tone that kept this from just being an exhibition of maneuvers. Well..that and the hard chops everyone was throwing. I thought this was a near classic junior tag match. With its flawless execution, move complexity and story, it could be on TV or PPV today...but the closest style is resembles was mid-late TNA tags with Daniels, Joe, AJ, Sabin, Shelley and others. I dug this one!

Great chain wrestling to begin with and an escalation of action until the end. 1995 is when Koji comes into his own I feel. I know these two have a classic in September '95 and this is a warm up to that match. So if you've seen & enjoy that one then, you should give this a try. What holds this back from being a classic is that Benoit and many others around this time employ the move-after-move offense. That's to say, they try one move and go for a pin, try another move go for a pin etc. And I thought, 'is there any move Benoit can't do?' And here, he does a couple too many neat moves. I prefer when Benoit uses strikes like elbows, chops and headbutts a bit more to make his suplexes more special. This is a preference so take that with a grain of salt. Great match nonetheless. Benoit & Koji work well together & I'm glad I saw this.

I had this as 02/03 but I must be mistaken. I don't think they would have worked two nights in a row together... Anyhow, Hashi-f-ing-moto! This was awesome. Tenzan, who's not yet a full baddie, is trying to test the champ. This is his chance to elevate himself one way or another. Hash shows him that being champ means more than just being able to dish out punishment. One has to endure it and push on. I think this was a near classic match...maybe low end classic. I think they did everything so well in terms of pacing, storytelling, a sense of realism, etc.

Yes! They just beat the crap out of each other and try to break limbs for 90% of the match. Koji & Nagata fans really want to see this. I wish the finish was different or better executed but for a exhibition type match like this, it doesn't matter. The ass kicking is what led you here. Very good to maybe great match.

So here's where the junior early portion typically goes wrong: guy works a body part and that guy getting beat on does nothing to escape, counter, reverse or defend himself. He just sells and goes to the ropes over and over. That's what starts to happen here. Sasuke, the most agile wrestler of this era could try to flip out, roll through, escape etc. but he slinks away or grabs the ropes. Thankfully, they sort it out and the rest of the match was a lot of fun! Thank goodness!! Nice moves from Sasuke & Honaga had great timing. A good pairing since it always seems like Sasuke vs Liger or Ultimo in NJPW.