Ma Stump Puller

It's the Wall, brother! I'm not sure what's more shocking; that All-Japan in 2003 was actually pushing WCW's The Wall to be a actual threat to main event calibre talent, or that this match actually rules. Kojima comes into this with his lariat arm damaged (check out the prior 22.03.2003 tag he had for the lore behind that) so Wall goes to work on it with surprisingly solid holds, however he mostly uses outside brawling and chairs to damage it further. There's at least a explaination as to why this should be a worthwhile match so that's cool, I guess. Kojima has to fight through the pain and scrap with the guy bit for bit, even landing a decent dive to the outside. The brawling isn't anything you haven't seen but works to get the crowd invested as they are all in on Kojima and loud as anything: perhaps louder for him than anyone else on the card thus far, even getting a sustained chant during a regular sleeper rest hold spot. They pop loud when he kicks out of a rough powerbomb and manages to wake up to land a big superplex when Wall tries for the top rope. It's pretty by the numbers but Wall gets his role and manages to play the big brawling spoiler, working to interrupt Kojima's offence and land his own big bombs, of which many looked convincingly snug: selling wasn't too bad as well as he bumps strongly for all of Kojima's stuff when required. I thought the last few minutes were particularly fun as the two go back and forth with pretty impactful offence, with Kojima struggling to get the win off his weakened lariat of which can't even knock down the guy most of the time. Finish comes when Wall tries to cheat with a chair in-ring, Koji in a awesome bit just rams it into his face with a final lariat, winning the match but further damaging his arm, continuing that into his later matches as he enters the semi-final and beyond. I thought this was a really energetic matchup that, despite some inconsistent selling from Kojima when it comes to how bad his arm actually is (one minute he's holding on to it for dear life, the next he's just throwing chops like normal) turns into a fun brawl with a surprisingly strong performance from Wall as he goes bomb for bomb and mostly looks good out of it. Kojima works the best in that kind of format and as such, this quickly grinds up to a solid scrap with some surprisingly fast moments throughout. Definitely worth a watch if you want just big roughneck-style caveman brawling and action.

Terkay!!! What a throwback to those terrible ECW days. If he'd been a thing in the 90's he would've probably had a way better career all things considered, dude was a legitimate killer. WWE wasn't a good fit due to his real inability to, well, wrestle. Guy was in the infamous OVW superstar class with Orton/Lesnar/Benjamin/Cena and still didn't get anywhere, so I can imagine six years later probably didn't change a whole lot. If you're looking for weird MMA stuff then Coleman/Kawada is a cool little wacky showing, would say that's fun

Surprised this isn't even up yet given it's pretty infamous for being a great Kentaro Shiga match: a pretty rare sight! Most of the match has Shiga try to play Nishimura's game in the technical department, but he's grossly outmatched. Sure, he is at points able to grab on holds, but sustained offence is impossible when he's facing someone who's as experienced as his opponent, with Nishimura showing off a bit by doing a headlock into a Dory spin to transition to the ground. Shiga learns from this as the next time he's able to counter a headlock transition into a legscissors, however Nishimura escapes this rather easily. We get some nice bridge spots between the pair as they struggle for control, with Nishimura powering himself up and hitting a nice underhook suplex. There's a excellent sequence of Shiga trying to escape a surfboard, with each time getting big reactions from the crowd as Nishimura is able to continually counter him, and really lays it in by sticking his knees on his back for extra leverage. This is Nishimura 101 antics that I've seen a good few times already but god damn do the crowd always pick up loud for it without fail. Eventually Shiga counters it successfully and the crowd pops hard for it: it's a great example of how basic wrestling can be engaging if paced accordingly. Nishimura gets a bit pissy after this, almost offended that this kid is one-upping him, and lands some stiff elbow smashes in response, throwing him outside and damaging his knee on the railing for a near count-out victory, namely because Nishimura isn't stupid and doesn't give him any time to get back in. Latter half of match is focused around Shiga's legs being targeted with fairly robust work as per standard. Shiga has to claw through these attempts and manages to get the advantage after Nishimura gets overzealous and tries for a knee drop that gets dodged, allowing for him to take control with a headlock/cravat into a sleeper. There's a bit of back and forward as both men use swift counters to focus in on their strengths, namely Shiga using his speed to nail Nishimura with stuff like a running neckbreaker, while the latter attacks the damaged leg to establish more control. Nishimura counters a suplex into a Cobra Twist which is then turned into a upturned reverse cradle pin for a big near fall. Shiga counters a second attempt into a Shiga-STF into choke until the bell rings. 2002 Shiga was getting pretty damn good around this time and the fact he got to work a Nishimura match really shows that off in full force. Nishimura really carries this match in terms of pacing out the technical work and gets the crowd behind the hometown hero with strong mechanics (shutting down hope spots, etc) and heeling it up a bit by laying stuff in when it matters. Shiga to his credit keeps up as best as he can, albeit I felt like the leg work was a bit spotty in places. Maybe I'm just biased because this was overly technical but I felt like this told a solid, compelling story of Shiga trying to beat one of the masters of the mat at his own game and almost succeeding. A bit unrealistic? Sure. Great viewing? Absolutely. One wonders what Shiga could've been in the grand scheme of things if he didn't get the neck injury, because this was seriously good work for a guy who hadn't looked half as impressive in the prior years.

It's a beef party here as we get not only Sasaki and Yoshie, but also Yasuda to add to the lumpy mix! Tana is currently a immature midcarder who's starting to get big breaks against some major acts despite his relative youth. Him and Yasuda interestingly work a Inoki-Ism style into things as Tana shoots for smooth takedowns and the two have a little wrestle that's half-serious until Yasuda lands dirty knees in the side mount. Tana is remarkably shaky as he takes a big boot but awkwardly sells like he's doing a Yokozuna impression before holding onto the back of his opponent for dear life. Yoshie and Sasaki get tagged in and they work a headlock for 2 minutes before landing chops and whatnot: alright if a bit predictable for these two. Tana comes back in and gets a bit overzealous trying to copy his partner by trying to lift Yoshie, and so gets wrecked with a scoop slam and leg drop for his troubles. Their stuff is fine if a bit basic. The audience react strongly to Yasuda's heel antics here as he tries choking out the rookie while struggling for the ropes. The duo work over him for a few minutes with strikes and dual Boston Crabs, with Yasuda throwing out Sasaki when he tries to get involved to break things up. He tries choking Tana out with his signature front face lock Guillotine but Tana scrambles for the corner to escape and Yasuda taunts him to get back up. Tana lands shitty slaps that actually do faze his opponent but Yasuda uses a pretty good-looking illegal closed fist to get back control. Tana makes the hot tag after doing a Frankensteiner off a Tiger Driver attempt. Said hot tag also has Yasuda do a big roll off a bulldog that was probably one of the best sells of a bulldog I've ever seen. We also get some interference before Yasuda lands a big front dropkick to counter a Sasaki-lariat before teasing the audience by trying to choke Sasaki out, which fails because of Tana hurling in some angry stomps, as well as finally landing his big German suplex as Yasuda hurls himself around for the rookie. Yoshie does more work that no one bites for until Tana gets in the way once again, giving Sasaki enough time to land a Kashin-lite rolling cross armbreaker. Finish has Yasuda flying out out of the ring after a Tana dropkick and then Sasaki landing a lariat/Northern Lights for the win. Surprisingly fun as Tanahashi gets to show off his athleticism and selling, both key factors that will make him a must-see ace in the future. Yasuda bumps like crazy for the guy and really gets the crowd going with his heel work in the middle half, enhancing this from a so-so filler tag to a real strong showcase of his antics. Yoshie and Sasaki are a bit more middling as they do land some good moves but tend to be rather by the numbers, even if said numbers are still admittedly quite solid.

Nakanishi matches are at their peak when there's no filler for him to stink up and he's just allowed to go full-ham with beefy stuff until the end. Nakanishi at once shows his strength by lifting up Yasuda and carrying him to the corner, but Yasuda snaps on a dirty front-face Guillotine in the ropes. Yasuda keeps control with knees in side clinch and another attempt at the Guillotine. He thinks he's hot shit until his opponent wrecks him with a one-inch spear before going for bad full mount slaps. We get a good bit where Yasuda out of desperation tries for a dirty closed fist, but that only sets Nakanishi off with a bunch of crazy big slaps and a huge arching German Suplex. He tries for the Backbreaker right away but Yasuda goes right into a near naked choke, popped the crowd huge as it could've been the finish right then and there. We get a good build as Yasuda pulls out a Tiger Driver and second rear naked choke, also both pop the crowd huge despite Nakanishi escaping from these as well. He gets a great comeback with a huge backdrop and some real nasty stomps to hammer in the aggression. Basically all of the middle half is Yasuda getting beat on the floor with holds and some hard strikes, eventually the two exchange Guillotine attempts and we get some pretty bad-looking spears due to Nakanishi's lack of speed including one where he just runs into Yasuda but doesn't fall down with him, making it look like a weird headbutt attempt. The bit where Yasuda counters another one into a Guillotine was fairly decent for a spot though; as was Nakanishi deadlifting out of it with a huge belly to belly, insane strength there even with the assist. Nakanishi throws out some more stiff blows before Yasuda throws a closed fist and then slaps on yet another Guillotine, only this time is able to then wrench his head right down into a Grovit/front face lock position, which is enough leverage to force his opponent to tap at long last. This was a really explosive 7 minutes with a ton of action: Nakanishi is a pretty good hoss but Yasuda bumps great for the guy as well, and he really gets over just how strong he is with all of his signature big-man bumping. Not going to be for everyone but for a no-filler clash between MMA/wrestling, yeah this was pretty good.

otsuka did the broken arm thing better tbh

Honda v Yasuda/Murakami/Ogawa/Bas would've been the Mount Everest peak of wrestling ngl

One year later, and I'm updating this with a couple of dates I just didn't get to find the first time. Good times. I haven't found the Great Kabuki match though ======== Vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (Inoki Festival 30.12.1995) This is definitely a interesting match: it's just right after Sayama made his big return to NJPW, so he goes against his old Tiger Hunter buddy/enemy/both in a round-based showing. Now obviously for a late-stage Tiger Mask match, you get a lot of showy spots to get over his big return, and he does them REALLY quite well: this was when Sayama was in relatively good shape and hadn't slacked off like he'll do in later years due to a apparently very crippling sweet tooth, so he could still move around smoothly and he really gets to show off as a result to a very happy crowd. It's definitely linked with nostalgia for a format, having minutes back to back dedicated to "do you remember this spot?" material, which as someone who has got that bias due to watching all of their prior matches, I can say it worked in that regard. I'm kinda glad of that though because Kobayashi by this point was frankly rather washed, namely due to combination of age and his cancer having taken a fair bit out of his sails: he also just wasn't a very good heavyweight in general despite some decent showings here and there and a super good run in WAR. He didn't do a lot and mostly bumped and sold with occasional offence that didn't look great. This also has a weird blend between shoot-style and pro, so we get them flying off the ropes and then right into trying for takedowns for the next bit. Kobayashi is really ropey for the shoot-style stuff and he mostly stays out of any serious attempts at it bar a double wrist lock attempt. This was also almost Backlund-lite in how Sayama just....bitches out his opponent here, eats him up with occasional moments to sell for a bit before getting right back into knocking him around. Much like Backlund, the only thing that hurts Sayama here is his ego: he tries for a diving headbutt from one end of the ring to another, but Kobayashi dodges and lands his signature kick + Fisherman's Suplex for the big near fall. The finish is a bit weird as the Tiger Suplex is negated by running into the ropes, but then they just reset and Mask takes his opponent down, going into full mount for two slaps before he verbally submits. It's in that weird bubble of half UWF Super Tiger, half traditional NJPW Tiger Mask stuff that does hurt this immensely; it doesn't help that a lot of it is just Kobayashi bumping for signature spots over and over again. It's fine for a throwback match but it's uber-one sided and doesn't even pretend otherwise with a weird and stilted tempo that never really got the hang of itself. RANK: Forgettable Vs Kevin Rosier (UFO Take Off 24.10.1998) Rosier for those who don't know is a early MMA guy. Very talented kickboxer, but his ventures into UFC/boxing didn't go well, turning into more of a journeyman in need of a good paycheck. He's perfect as a guy with a so-so rep and a lack of ego for Sayama to run though here as he sports (probably for the only time since his Young Lion days) a buzzcut. Dude still looks in good shape here as we see him work the bag and throw kicks. Rosier states that he's going to try to pin down his opponent with his weight to negate that speed....though he doesn't do anything of the sort in the actual match so I'm pretty sure he's just chatting shit here. The match is as you'd expect for someone who has never done a shoot-style/kickboxer match. Rosier stumbles and fumbles, at times arms spread apart as Sayama dances around him and his very slow telegraphed jabs. His actual shots are typically just clubs with very little intent to hurt or convince someone of this match being legit. The match is kinda weird. Sayama being the typically strike-heavy character is instead attempting takedowns and doing the dumb Ziggler sleeper-spot, and there's a noticeable lack of striking from the man. He pulls off the classic leg catch-roll into kneebar bit fine and Rosier is admittedly more competent than you'd imagine, but there's no point where you actually think this is good action, especially for the time. The finish has Rosier stand in the corner and eat lax kicks until he literally flops for a toe-hold and taps out. Strange match that didn't really get any good. Rosier at least knew the basics even if he was more about eating the shots and getting the money than making this entertaining. This is probably the most grapple-heavy I've seen Sayama ever, doubly strange given his entire self-invented Seikendo-style is all about NOT being on the mat and fighting standup all the time. It speaks of perhaps his lack of confidence to commit to the usual big kick combos perhaps, or maybe he just wasn't in the best of shape. Either way, not great. OT: Forgettable Vs Alexander Otsuka II (UFO Battle In the Hama Ring 14.03.1999) Otsuka/Sayama was incredible the last time around, so we get it again here, only Sayama is focused and is in full First Tiger gimmick. That might be due to his fairly drastic weight gain; Sayama since returning had never been lean much however he was definitely looking larger and a bit more sluggish going from this and the last fight. Anyway, he's still in relatively solid shape, doing the stance and dancing around the ring early, despite some minor fuck-ups where he's stumbling over himself. Other than that he's throwing sick kicks or just rolling, which I'm fine with. Otsuka is a lot more outmatched here, needing to drag this down to the ground to survive. The mat-work isn't amazing, there's some good moments though. Otsuka turning a guillotine into a inverted figure-four: quite sick. He thinks he's safe when he has Mask down in a bodyscissors, but gives up the hold as soon as he's blasted with a sharp back elbow. More sick Sayama kick combos but Otsuka catches a body shot to go into a single leg Boston Crab before giving up and going for a giant swing! Silly sure, loved it though. It helps Otsuka goes right back to ground and pound and a quick cross armbreaker attempt when his opponent tries to block. Otsuka's ankle gets stuck with a knee in Fujiwara-style antics by his opponent and they break. Otsuka catches another, but gets wrecked with a crazy good spinning kick to counter. Last two minutes are heated enough as Mask pulls for the Chickenwing before the crowd go apeshit for the Tiger Suplex (which Otsuka despite a minor flub in jumping too early the first time took perfectly the second). As per the rules of shoot-style though slams and throws aren't that effective so this doesn't put Otsuka down, and he's able to snap on a Achilles Tendon into toe-hold before pulling back for a kneebar to tap him out. Not as impressive as the first match! That doesn't mean it's not terrible though, in fact this is still pretty quality for a matchup like this. Proto-PRIDE matches are always a bit weirdly paced and this definitely doesn't try for realism for the most part, which was the right choice given the more bombastic offence here. These two always hit it off with each other and could never not miss, kinda a shame we never got a match against them sooner. I really wish we got a proper Tiger Mask shoot-style run. The guy could still throw a mean kick and his Battlarts + other MMA material proved he could keep up with the younger guys, including Otsuka here. Like him in Battlarts in the 90's, him against Ishikawa, Murakami, Yone, Super Rider, legit just throw the whole roster at him lol. It's a big missed opportunity in my opinion because even this part-time work is better than a lot of what was going on at the time. Really lean match that managed to mostly keep to a good pace of dramatic holds and some impressive stand-up dynamics. Otsuka was cool as well whenever he got to do actual work as well with his freaky strength and wacky style. RANK: Great w/ Jinsei Shinzaki vs La Parka Original & Parka Guerrera (NOSAWA) (AJPW Real World Tag League 05.12.2003) I've been actually looking around for this for a while and FINALLY got to it after the recent GAORA Museum uploads were made, which gives us a invaluable look into this era of AJPW slowly yet surely. Sayama is still on his comeback tour in AJPW and I was hoping we'd get a better performance out of him than the pretty dire one he had with Hamada two months ago, especially seeing he's in a tag match where his limitations (cardio, poor conditioning) can be hidden better. Sadly this is also a match that includes NOSAWA so I didn't have my hopes up much. He starts off here, and throws out his usual sharp kicks and a good Tiger Feint spot, so we are off to a decent start. La Parka doing his awesome dances and mocking Tiger Mask by mimicking his stance was hilarious, but we also got some fairly decent stuff as Mask gets his Tiger Spin and even the cartwheel crossbody done fairly well despite some sloppiness, and despite putting on a lot of size (like this is probably the fattest Sayama has looked before he trimmed down for his RJPW stuff, dude was not looking good at all) he can still move and get around fairly strong in short bursts. Shinzaki comes in to basically do his usual shtick, with flips and a double rope walk spot to pop the crowd big, typical antics. The middle section is mostly a mildly boring Parka and NOSAWA/Parka control segment with one or two cool spots and a lot of just punch/kick shtick. Shinzaki bumps like a trooper while Sayama just stands around doing not a whole lot. I felt like Shinzaki and Parka didn't really click in the ring either, most likely due to the language barrier; we get some awkward bits where they just stumble a bit or miscommunicate in-between bits. Shinzaki's counter to the Irish Whip with a huge Enzuigiri was awesome though. Mask comes in for a minute of offence (mostly kicks) before tagging out again. We get a burst of spots as the lads just neglect selling for doing stuff: not all of it looked good but it was pretty energetic, including some big springboards and Mask doing his Tombstone/diving headbutt (which to be fair, he nails) before they no sell again so Sayama can hit his Tiger Suplex for the win. This was a fairly alright match but didn't really try to reinvent the wheel much. La Parka is fun, NOSAWA is a alright foil and Shinzaki and Mask do cool spots, even if it was obvious that he was being especially protected here after his injury with Hamada. Nothing groundbreaking but for what it was, it's functional. RANK: Decent

Greco's been put over massively by defeating numerous Jr wrestlers and winning that year's Carnival for the title shot over Kashin, meaning we get a epic encounter between two grapple-heavy dudes. As such, the sequences on the mat and the technical work are great between the two, with lots of sprawling and submission trading very early. There's no sitting in holds or careful applying of wear-down shit, this is all just right away into the armbreakers and instant death submissions that could very easily end the match if applied by either man, no messing around in that regard and right into the eye of the storm. Greco has some very smart counters to Kashin's tricks but finds himself also in trouble as these get worked around in response, leading to some funky chain-wrestling. Greco also pulls out some surprisingly decent strikes, including a snug jumping knee shot at one point. Kashin for his sake pulls out some unique heel antics, namely rubbing his knuckle onto Greco's nose to make him unsteady during a headlock and hanging off his body for additional leverage while choking him out with the ropes, throwing out all of the nifty tricks to get around Greco's immense technical knowledge. He also pulls out the traditional low blows and whatnot to keep control, as well as putting over Greco's suplexes by consistently finding ways to not take them or use the ropes, being terrified of getting dropped at any point here. Finish happens when Greco rolls into a grounded Butterfly Lock but his big cross armbreaker play is reversed into another one by his opponent, causing a early tap out as Kashin sneaks out yet another victory just barely. I would've liked to see this go at least 5 minutes longer given Greco is a incredibly solid worker and these two had some strong chemistry grappling on the mat. That said, this is still a strong burst of energy for a Jr match, with explosive sequences and some fairly good submission struggles that throw away the conventional epic-style for immediate action and rewards you for that attention span by continuing the action to the very end. I think Kashin struggles to be taken seriously as a actual character given he acts like a heel but gets big cheers; it's a weird juxtaposition. Not a classic or anything but if you like janky and unconventional matchups this is definitely it. I just wish Greco would've stayed in the company given he still looked more than capable of working a solid match.

Kojima gonna carry another fool to a good match in 2023, who knew

Bas would definitely be on a top 100 for me. Every one of his matches is a must-watch, even the dumb 2000 Inoki/Sano/Otsuka mess. Guy had IT when it came to wrestling; if only he'd have started a few years earlier, he might've not been as bashed up as he was. Some additional suggestions Don Nakaya Nielsen Johnny Barrett Greco (as mentioned) That one random UWFI guy who had five matches with Kanehara on repeat in 1992 and then disappeared (???) Kamen Shooter Super Rider (pre RJPW)

I might do one for 2000. I haven't watched all of that year though (up to the last Pillar show pre-NOAH) and I want to do something more detailed for that chunk than just random matches given how weird that specific year was.

So yeah this is from Carl Greco's random AJPW Jr heavyweight run as apart of the Junior Champion Carnival, which (spoilers for a 20 year old event!) Carl will win, because he kicks ass. This is more of a novelty match, because Yang/Greco is such a random pairing that you've never thought about before somehow also really want to see, somehow? That was the case for me, anyway. Shame the matches he had with Hamada/Naniwa weren't aired because those were also interesting matches on paper. Anyway, this was a sprint: Greco works some hard kicks and knees to start off, hurling around Yang both in and outside the ring as they hit a big clothesline dive to the outside before Yang takes a big running chair bump as he flies into the crowd in a pretty wild bit. Greco takes some wild bumps over the barricade as Yang also throws him around as well, which was just surreal to see. In-ring we get some frantic stuff as Yang goes for flips and big spots while Greco sticks to submissions wrangling and knee shots whenever he can, leading to a really cool mix of Yang's wacky spots with the shoot-guy working for small pockets to grab arms and legs. It's a bit too short however as Yang misses a Whisper in the Wind and gets countered into a smooth Carl Shackle for the shock win. As stated, this is REALLY short and could've needed with a few more minutes to make it a proper good match. Yang is sloppy in places and isn't always on the mark but he's fine in throwing himself around the place, something which he'll pay for in the future with a ton of injuries and a transition to a less intensive style down the line. Greco was the real highlight here, mixing in big knee shots and explosive work alongside some good submissions. The only issue is how short this is but the frantic energy helps this stand out far more than the "big epic" bloated NJPW 30+ minute style, honestly Jr superstar Carl Greco in a alt timeline is one of the greatest missed opportunities in AJPW history, easily. Dude might have been busy with PRIDE/MMA but he looked like a absolute killer here. Very fun for a quick watch.

What!? There's so much worth watching from that year, like, uh, erm.... *checks notes* 15+ Dump squashes on every card! Definitely not....that bad?

A lovely little gem: Kawada typically isn't known a whole lot for comedy stuff outside of his HUSTLE dates, but Kashin pulls him into his wheelhouse and gets a pretty entertaining crack at it. Kawada tries to get a handle on him early however he's simply too slippery for that, getting out of his straight-forward wrestling attempts. We also get random segments of Kashin beating up young boy Taichi between sequences (because let's just face it, no one likes the poor guy) which sets K off and gets him sloppy. The lads have some stiff exchanges with kicks and elbow smashes before Kawada hits a good arm wrench heel kick to knock the guy down. He takes control with some big shots before Kashin sneaks in a low blow and gets in his corner headscissors to choke him out. He tries stealing Kawada's kneeling head kicks but he naturally gets pissed and starts hurling big stiff slaps to the face, even hitting his own wacky corner headscissors in response, funny bit. Both men have a brawl outside before Kawada gets the upperhand and lands a big powerbomb. He tries to follow that up with a brainbuster but gets countered into a small package for a near fall and tries for two more in succession: Kawada quickly stops this with a Gamengiri shot for his own near fall before applying a Stretch Plum. Kashin actually is able to fight back against it a good bit, managing to get to his feet and stand up. He then flips over Kawada into a flash pin that works, getting him a insane upset win! This is fairly basic but good enough G1 formatted match with some fun comedy. Kashin sells a fair bit for Kawada's big offence and the latter in question can still land his big bombs really well: he's a bit slower in that regard yet is still a Kawada that can move well and not his more depressing outings later in the decade. There's not a lot of bones to the match in terms of anything of real importance, but it follows a basic structure very well and the two have a goofy dynamic that does actually work into some great bits here. It's definitely a relaxed match for Kawada, honestly it might be better than some of his usual G1 showings this year.

This is essentially just the sequel to their NJPW fight earlier on in the year; I'd say go watch that and then watch this for the best experience. This sacrifices the hot start from there to instead play a more slower pace, albeit Kurisu quickly just drops this to catch Aoyagi with a leg-assisted Greco-Roman takedown and a stomp to the ear, nasty shit. Aoyagi does his usual stuff by just kicking really hard, and, well, he kicks really hard, nothing much else to it than that. Much like the last match Kurisu has to pull every dirty vet trick in the book to survive Aoyagi's stand-up striking, and it's so much fun; he uses a bunch of different stuff to hammer in his dirty rep including choking the guy with his boot, angry headbutts, and even using his own Gi to try to choke him out, top gear scummy work by the old lad. Aoyagi sells well by gagging a ton, for a non-wrestler he's really good at getting over the threat here. Kurisu does stiff punts and headbutts with the occasional strike back from his opponent. Kurisu brings out the chair and just casually smacks shit around; despite distracting the ref to hit Aoyagi in the ring he just ignores that and hits him when the ref turns back anyway lol. Kurisu's control work is fun as he throws headbutts, stiff stomps and even a second rope chair shot (but much safer than Mike Awesome's gross stiff shots, which says a lot by itself) however misses his big swing and eats a savate kick for his troubles. Crowd pops for Aoyagi throwing big goofy kicks and taking his Gi off to get all fired up. More endless spinning kicks to the head and he inevitably wins with a 3.1 pin. This was a solid little match that mostly focused on two fairly awkward stiff workers hitting each other hard, but sometimes that's just what you really need in life, to be honest. Much better than the NJPW match (though this is less spontaneous, if that makes any sense) some really great sequences here, Kurisu is a fantastic dirty-vet with tons of cheap shots in the tank, love the guy. Aoyagi's Karate stuff is always hit-and-miss but it really worked here for what this was, and the two despite not being wrestling maestros understood the assignment and pulled it off to near-perfection.

Pretty rare find as a lot of EMP matches are lost to the void of obscure DVD collections. This is during Kashin's very short reign with the Intercontinental Title (which he'd taken off Robbie Brookside in a sadly unaired match) and his only successful defence of it. This is also wrestled under European Rules, so rounds and breaks are used. The dynamic is obvious: Eckstein is the owner of the promotion and native hero, Kashin is the disrespectful troll who just wants to screw around with the golden boy. The national anthems of both men play before the bout, with Kashin not caring at all about the German one but trying to get the crowd hyped for his: it's old fashioned cheap heat but it's good heat, and the crowd play around just fine, in fact Eckstein is pretty damn over here with nearly every small thing he does, namely working over the arms. Eckstein isn't anything tremendous in terms of ring talent; his fundamentals are solid and he knows how to work them good enough to keep the crowd engaged however, so that wasn't too much of a issue. Kashin mostly plays on the backend here and his selling is good but not too all over the place: he doesn't need to scream or yell to get over the fact his arm is hurting. He only gets offence in after getting his standing transition into the cross armbreaker and then not breaking it even on the ropes, which causes enough damage to Eck that he can confidently work from the top. His work is also quite good, even modifying his usual spots to instead work on the bad arm (like his rope choke where he leans on the rope itself, he does that instead into pushing the arm while it's tied up for nasty leverage) which was awesome. They go into more equal sequences as the match goes on, with Eckstein getting pockets of advantage before his arm fails him or Kashin just stomping the shit out of it causes him to fall to the mat. Eckstein's selling is also quite good, and he gets great leverage on the Kashin corner headscissors spot like no one else I've seen. The small stuff like Kashin taking his right glove off a few rounds in so he can get exposed punches to the head with said right hand is simple but effective, pretty much vintage cheesy CWA antics all over again. This eventually pisses off Eckstein enough to just charge in with closed fists himself but Kashin kicks him in the balls while the ref is busy giving the warning out. Finish is screwy as Eckstein gets a second wind but a distraction causes him to get hit with white salt into a top rope armbreaker transition for the win. The finish is lacking (the ref just doesn't notice the obvious white powder left in the ring?) but the match itself is really good old fashioned CWA-style German Catch, especially with Kashin's heel antics fuelling some major heat. Eckstein doesn't have anything dynamic and certainly no spotshows but he gets the crowd into this fairly well and keeps them until the very end. You can tell Kashin was a German Catch guy by heart with the old-fashioned face/heel dynamics right up his alley.

This is a pretty solid outing with a lot of pure lucha leanings as per Atlantis showing up, which meant that Kashin had to do a lot more than he at times is used to doing. Atlantis is a bit slower than what he was in the 90's but he makes this mostly work. I really liked his babyface work and how he wasn't a idiot by pretending to fall for shit like Kashin's handshake ploy or finding every opportunity to get the advantage: but also sold convincingly when on the backend and really looked like he was in pain, especially some of the holds he was stuck in. There's a good balance of valunablity and scrappy work that felt really natural and not at all put on. Kashin was such a bastard in this lol. Finding every opportunity to do heelish things, raking at the eyes, biting the fingers, wrenching in some of his submissions, it all hits super well here and then some with a presence like Atlantis making everything work. Most of this is on the mat as well, which is a bonus because these two have some good exchanges and have plenty of experience on that front, so we really get to see Kashin actually do impressive stuff on there as well. Atlantis gets to sell like anything for mat work, Kashin gets to milk it for everything it's worth, making for a really well put together dynamic. Atlantis dragging his leg around after some leg work and having to just run into hard takedowns to try to take the advantage was a excellent bit. The second half has some of the usual Kashin shortcuts, namely using a random stooge to take a impending suicide dive and taking Atlantis' mask off, forcing Atlantis to use a spare until he gets it back. He slaps on the La Atlantida but bumps into the ref after some interference so it doesn't go anywhere. Kashin also tries the same trick he used to beat Atlantis in their first fight (namely, choking him with a figure-four neck crank before rolling him into a inverted cradle and hooking the ropes) but the ref picks up on it. The road to the finish is smartly paced around Kashin bending and pulling the arms for submissions, grabbing on numerous cross armbreakers while stomping the arm at the same time, with his opponent holding out through all of it to eventually win with a tight inverted cradle for the tight win. As stated, this is a really good lucha/technical wrestling hybrid match, with Atlantis pulling out a great babyface performance. Kashin also works his ass off here (which might shock some that just assume he just plods around for everything) resulting in a very well put together match that never tires and keeps a strongly kept pace through. Easily one of Kashin's best ever matches, would highly recommend. Post match was surprisingly heart-warming as Kashin teases breaking the League trophy but instead gives it to the rightful winner. Depending on your tolerance for the two this might be either a clear Atlantis carry-job or something to that effect, I'm a bit more generous though given these two worked a pretty stellar dynamic for the whole thing.

This alongside the Evito reviews has informed me that clipping is the greatest threat to wrestling bar none and should be almost always treated with disgust (unless it's a late 90's Baba six-man) Great thread idea btw, be watching this closely

While the NEXTREAM lads will eventually go on to big things, at the moment they are the clear underdogs here and still have no points in the RWTL as the B-squad; and they know it, immediately attacking the two vets before the match to try to get the advantage and trying for early roll-ups. This is essentially a sprint as Kashin and Akiyama go as humanly fast as possible here: one second Kashin is choking someone out, the next Akiyama is firing a knee shot from the apron on Aoyagi's poor back, very blink and you'll miss it stuff. Aoyagi gets worked over by the pair as they just beat him down with shots and make sure he can't tag out by dragging him back and isolating the ring. Akiyama in particular is great at the rookie disrespect shit as you'd expect and gets in some stiff knee strikes to get the big heat. Eventually Nomura gets in and has a decent hot tag, ending in a big high-rise Northern Lights and top rope dropkick as per AJPW rookie tradition. The second half has Kashin get around the two double teaming with some cool spots but Akiyama not having such good luck. Nomura throws out as much as possible against Akiyama including a running elbow and spear, nothing gets the win properly though. Akiyama catches him with a great knee to the stomach and head, ending in a Exploder for a big near fall. We get Nomura throwing out some fiery elbows before Akiyama knees him to death and back and lands his nasty head-bump variation of the Exploder for the win. Really good sub-10 minute match that showcases the youngsters in a good light while also realistically having no chance to actually win. Akiyama is a great bully for them and lays it in hard here to convince everyone of that. Kashin is the goofy sidekick who doesn't really do much of anything outside of the norm, more being in the sidelines and doing comedy, but he's still super based and works hard when it matters to get the two younger guys over. Aoyagi was decent but Nomura was the obviously big bright spot here with his underdog fire and (mostly) well executed moves. It's just a shame this happened when absolutely no one was watching AJPW, because this was great and would probably be gushed over had it happened in the 90's and Meltzer covered it lol. Sadly it only exists as a entertaining match for a particularly slow RWTL.

Him and Kimala are tag team goals to be fair

Seems correct to me

Was interested in seeing this given Muto isn't much of a Inoki-Ism guy (so much so that he'd be gone a few months later) and Yasuda at this point was all about them Inoki-Ism traits given his MMA gimmick. They tease a upset by having Muto wreck his opponent early with dropkicks and even a flash moonsault attempt, but Yasuda rolls out to escape the pin. We get some vintage Yasuda stalling as he stands around for a bit. The middle bit is a weird mish-mash of Muto-style filler grappling while also having Yasuda pull out his usual shtick, so you get the two going for pseudo-shoot style work but then it doesn't go anywhere beyond said Muto filler grappling. After a few minutes we go into leg-work as per standard; while this was revolutionary at the time as Muto just keeps relentlessly going back to leg dropkicks to keep his opponent down and springs on them like a wild dog when they try to get up, these days it isn't hard to see it as rather antiquated and one-dimensional. Not bad as per his standards, but still. Yasuda finally gets his own back by epically punching Muto during a Dragon Screw and snapping into a rear naked choke which finally woke up the crowd and got them going, even if it was going for a rope break anyway. We get the expected Tiger Driver, but Muto counters with a cool Frankensteiner before going into a cross armbreaker. That gets a rope break and Yasuda sells the arm well, but Muto goes back to his leg work again with a figure-four. Despite Yasuda selling like death he escapes, but Muto spams his dropkicks. We get a great momentum shift as Yasuda socks him in the face when he tries for a second figure-four with yet another dirty closed fist which allows him to snap on a grounded Guillotine. Muto escapes, Yasuda is all over him with more Guillotine attempts, knees to the body and then a rear naked choke to finish things off to really get the intensity going. Muto really gets the crowd going for him as he teases falling unconscious by going limp only just springing his body to life to cling to the ropes. Yasuda is pissed off and just starts hurling punches all over Muto in the corner, no longer able to hide his frustration. This builds to a brilliant finish (that'll be stolen or given homage to numerous times) as Yasuda shoves the protesting ref to the floor to throw more shots, Muto runs and springs off the back of said ref for a really awesome super Shining Wizard and then a regular one for the pin. This started really slow as per Muto matches tend to do: these two also aren't the best match given their styles, which lends to some awkward moments. This however also had some pretty great counters though and as much as I can moan about the guy, Muto is just amazing when it comes to raw flashy shit and knowing how to play a crowd, unreal performance for a guy who'd been considered washed just last year. Yasuda for his credit while obviously not being as physically able is also a good spoiler that the crowd don't want to see win, so he gets in his fair share of good, MMA-shtick stuff, really getting the crowd to hate him whenever possible. Good for what it was, the incredible spots bump this up far more than it could have been. Muto was untouchable around this time.

Ogasawara is a goofy guy with a even more goofy Karate gimmick. He's basically the striker equivalent of Tamon Honda: started wrestling late into life and wasn't a particularly big achiever for most of that career anyway, mostly being a undercard/gimmick guy. On the indies he's a different beast though, he hits Keita hard as anything and doesn't let up, with this striking allowing him to consistently break though holds and submission attempts out of stiffness alone. Keita incorporates that into the match well as his moments of frustration, trying to lash out and throw his own (obviously inferior) shots gets him in hot water when it really shouldn't, but because he's trying to trade instead of doing the reasonable thing (working the mat) he's just not doing well at all here. Ogasawara's kicks are incredibly fun as he just does these super silly spinning kicks that look impractical, yet always land flush and look solid somehow. This progresses to Keita getting his big shot with a series of cool leg submissions alongside Ogasawara just trying to beat the shit out of the guy with chops to the leg, devolving into the two throwing full on closed-fist punches while stuck in a toe-hold with big cavemen slugfests. Keita eats more shots, but gets in a cool dropkick out of nowhere to try to survive and get some sort of range. Keita regardless gets blasted with nasty Hashimoto-lite chops, and Ogasa's insanely stiff roundhouse for the finish was tremendously violent. All in all, a really enjoyable short burst of action from the two, really got into this given it was sub-10 and barely let up from the get-go. Another super robust Keita match, not that surprising. Generally his matches are more technical, but this more strike-focused approach was a good change of pace, went quicker and more sturdy.

AJPW Oddities #5: 1999 Masahito Kakihara vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (15.01.1999) Maunakea Mossman & Vader vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (16.01.1999) Akira Taue, Jun Izumida & Tamon Honda vs. Maunakea Mossman, Stan Hansen & Vader (20.02.1999) Masahito Kakihara vs. Masao Inoue (20.02.1999) Kenta Kobashi vs. Takao Omori (27.03.1999) Takao Omori vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (28.03.1999) Johnny Ace vs. Jun Akiyama (03.04.1999) Gary Albright vs. Vader (04.04.1999) Johnny Ace vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (08.04.1999) Akira Taue vs. Jinsei Shinzaki (same day) Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori (11.04.1999) Akira Taue, Jinsei Shinzaki & Masao Inoue vs. Masahito Kakihara, Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (16.04.1999) Hakushi, Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Johnny Ace, Road Warrior Animal & Road Warrior Hawk (02.05.1999) Kentaro Shiga vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (09.06.1999) Johnny Ace & Mike Barton vs. Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi (09.06.1999) Jinsei Shinzaki, Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Masahito Kakihara, Naomichi Marufuji & Yoshinari Ogawa (11.06.1999) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuharu Misawa (04.07.1999) Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama (same day) Masahito Kakihara vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (07.07.1999) Kentaro Shiga vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (16.07.1999) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (17.07.1999) Jinsei Shinzaki & Johnny Smith vs. Masahito Kakihara & Yoshinari Ogawa (23.07.1999) Akira Taue vs. Pierre Ouellet (same day) Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Maunakea Mossman & The Gladiator (21.08.1999) Johnny Ace, Maunakea Mossman & Mike Barton vs. Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga (29.08.1999) Hiroshi Hase vs. Vader (30.08.1999) Haruka Eigen, Jun Akiyama & Tamon Honda vs. Hiroshi Hase, Jun Izumida & Mitsuo Momota (18.09.1999) Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga vs. Masanobu Fuchi, Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama (09.10.1999) Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Takao Omori (23.10.1999) Gary Albright vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (same day) Johnny Smith & Maunakea Mossman vs. Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda (25.10.1999) Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda (13.11.1999) Johnny Smith & Vader vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (same day) Akira Taue & Stan Hansen vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama (27.11.1999) Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (same day) Jun Izumida vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (same day) Gary Albright vs. Masao Inoue (03.12.1999) Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Masahito Kakihara & Naomichi Marufuji (03.12.1999)