elliott

I love the State Patrol idea. So goofy. If someone puts together a WON type newsletter they should be like "Apparently Ian Rotten has a promotion in Los Angeles and had a card with Terry Funk & Sabu. No word on if this actually happened."

Dave got a copy of the tape quickly. From the 9/12/95 WON

Awesome description, thank you!

Gordi and Dex are KILLING it.

So what happened for those of us who didn't watch and don't tweet? Knockout? Submission? How long was the fight? How did the crowd react before, during and after the fight? HOw did the commentators treat him?

I love jesse's website idea. There should be a phony GENE Rasmussen, Bill Schneider, Don J Williams thread of doom regarding the new issues of Northern Lights Bomb Video Review

I was coming in to say I hope they cast you to play Stu Hart but this is even better.

There are so many lucha matches that making a list is genuinely depressing. These are ALL Luchas de Apuestas (Hair/Mask) matches: Perro Aguayo vs Karloff Lagarde 6/8/74 Perro Aguayo vs Ringo Mendoza x2 5/25/75 and 5/16/76 Perro Aguayo vs El Santo 10/3/75 Perro Aguayo vs El Faraon 9/24/76 Perro Aguayo vs El Solitario 9/10/76 Perro Aguayo vs Rene Guajardo 6/29/76 Perro Aguayo vs Tony Salazr 9/17/82 Perro Aguayo vs Negro Navarro 5/27/83 Perro Aguayo vs El Texano 7/15/83 Perro Aguayo vs Villano III 8/21/83 Perro Aguayo vs El Faraon 10/26/86 Perro Aguayo vs Sangre Chicana 2/15/87 Perro Aguayo vs vs Babe Face 12/6/87 Perro Aguayo vs vs Sangre Chicana 12/20/87 Perro Aguayo vs Ultraman 7/16/88 Perro Aguayo vs vs Sangre Chicana 1/27/89 Sangre Chicana vs FIshman 9/23/77 Sangre Chicana & Alfonso Dantes vs El Faraon & Ringo Mendoza 4/22/78 Sangre Chicana vs Gran Cochise 10/19/79 Sangre Chicana & Satanico vs Ringo Mendoza & Cachorro Mendoza Sangre Chicana vs El Satanico 6/?/82 Sangre Chicana vs El Satanico 12/10/82 (Draw, both lose hair) Sangre Chicana vs Tony Salazar 8/5/84 Sangre Chicana vs Tony Benetto 3/31/85 Sangre Chicana vs El Faraon 3/7/86 Sangre Chicana vs Ultraman ?/?/87 Sangre Chicana vs La Fiera 11/?/87 With Satanico, literally all of his matches from the 70s/80s are Holy Grails to me. But these two jump off the page the most (Ignoring the matches against Chicana alreadylisted): El Satanico vs Mocho Cota 9/26/80 El Satanico vs La Fiera 9/16/83 (one week before the famous Chicana/MS-1 match) I mean, there are literally 1000s of Lucha Holy Grails for me. I would hit a small child if it meant we could have as much LUcha from the 50s/60s/70s/80s as we do in the US or Japan.

That'd be cool. I planned on using press conferences/press releases to make fun of the fake pro-wrestlers and garbage men. UWFi management considers FMW more of a circus freak show than actual wrestlers. That's why Daisuke Ikeda needs to be saved.

From the "9/9/95 Wrestling Observer Newsletter:"

Hopefully with them turning on Sting. Cuz, you know, Sting.

This is probably my favorite show of all time. Nothing could possibly compare to it for sheer variety. It took place the same day as WrestleMania XI which is funny to think about. As others have said it was put on by Weekly Pro, the most popular Japanese wrestling magazine at the time, to celebrate the "40th Anniversary of Pro Wrestling in Japan." I let my observer sub lapse but there's an incredible review of the show in the WON archives and Foley rather famously talks about the show in his first book. Basically, Japanese Wrestling Mags were a big business at this time period and they had grand ideas of putting on a show at the Tokyo Dome with representatives from all of the promotions in Japan. The only missing promotion was WAR because Tenryu had issues with Weekly Pro going back to his SWS days (I think SWS had the audacity to print real attendance figures or something like that, regardless that's how this card happened without Tenryu being on it). At first, the major promotions were just going to send midcard matches but when All Japan Women, JWP, M-Pro, and IWA Japan essentially sent their biggest matches to try and steal the show, AJ and NJ felt pressured to send bigger matches. And that's how we ended up getting the card we got. It is an awesome show for sheer variety. The smaller promotions like JWP and M-Pro wanted to try and get over in front of as many people as they'd ever work in front of so they were balls to the wall matches. All Japan Women wasn't about to get shown up by JWP so they had a great match too. The IWA Japan match is pretty legendary because of Foley's book "The greatest clusterfuck of spots ever" - Foley Quoting Meltzer's review. And that motherfucker holds up as an awesome spectacle. I would need to rewatch the PWFG match because I don't remember anything about it. But Fujiwara, Ishikawa, Carl Greco make me think it was probably really good. I seem to recall enjoying the UWFi 6. The Pancrase and LLPW matches are too short to be noteworthy. The FMW match is indeed a disappointment both in quality and in heat. Onita was probably the biggest draw in Japan at this point (he was a month away from his retirement show that sold 55,000 seats at Kawasaki Stadium) but the match lacked the heat needed to make Onita matches feel special instead of awkward. Because it was a no rope exploding barbed wire match, they had a separate ring set up basically off in the corner and apparently the majority of the live crowd couldn't see the match. That's what Dave said at the time, but you know, Jumbotron. Maybe the match just sucked. The All Japan 6 man is a great match and has always been pointed to as the best match on the show. According to the folks there live, Misawa was the star/most over wrestler on the show with fans starting to chant for him almost as soon as the FMW match ended. Apparently the pop for the All Japan referee was bigger than anything on the show up to that point. Hashimoto vs Chono I almost want to rewatch in a vacuum because I suspect it isn't as bad as it comes across watching the full show. It just couldn't follow the previous match or the previous 12 matches. I probably would have sent Hashimoto vs Choshu if it had to be a singles match. Or done something like Hashimoto/Chono/Muto vs Fujinami/Choshu/Inoki and make Inoki work that shit. At least the 3 Musketeers vs Biggest Stars in NJ History has a sort of "special" feeling that this show had. Instead of the 25th Hashimoto vs Chono match. I mean, I get why they sent that match. Its a "big" match like the other promotions, but its a "big match" without giving away a "New Big Match" for a New Japan only show. I mean, my theoretical Inoki involved 6 man wouldn't be as good as the All Japan 6 man either. But I think that sort of match has more appeal on a show like this and more of a chance to get over than Hash/Chono. Oh and Ryuma Go vs Alien Hillbilly is the real main event. Anyway, I would highly recommend seeking the show out in complete form, even with several disappointing/too short to matter matches, the ridiculous spectacle of it all makes it worth watching in entirety. I mean, you can't fully appreciate Ryuma Go vs Alien Hillbillies without first watching the Lou Thesz and Kintaro Oki in a ceremony right before this with Oki crying and kissing the ring posts. Oh, now here's an aliens. WTF. Or the IWA Clusterfuck O'Rama being right before a fucking Pancrase match. Just ridiculous. The flow is amazing. Every promoter likes to talk about having "a little variety" on the show. Nothing like this has ever happened in terms of variety. Watching it now it comes across as a MAJOR deal and considering the success it is pretty shocking it didn't happen again. I'd also recommend reading the old WON coverage of the show as its really interesting stuff. Top to bottom the card is probably better than every WrestleMania. Edit: Just found this old classics thread with Meltzer & jdw talking about it. http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=print_topic;f=9;t=031554 double edit: I have never heard of it being called "The Bridge of Dream" in my 18ish years of going to internet wrestling boards and reading about Japanese wrestling. If you search around for "Weekly Pro at the Tokyo Dome" you'll have more success than looking around for "The Bridge of Dream"

It may seem like a small thing, but I am going to be running the exact schedule of All Japan, so if you want to be realistic, keep that in mind when scheduling your shows so we don't end up in the same arena on the same night. I could honestly care less about that aspect, but just for realism sake something to keep in mind. I think it's very unlikely that we end up running the same building on the same day if I'm doing 2 shows a month. You need to be worried more about the talent stealing aspect because I'm coming after Kawada who IRL was getting in trouble with Baba for wanting to work with UWFi

After writing up my light heavyweight tournament (to be posted 9/9), I've been thinking more and more about running a show every two weeks. With two cards a month I would do a mostly light heavyweight roster show on one show at Korakuen or some other small building for 2000ish people that I could headline with Sakuraba vs Ishikawa or Regal vs Takayama and the other show would be my big Budokan/Castle Hall/Yokohoma Hall/Sumo Hall type shows with Takada vs Volk Han or whatever. I'm pondering. I may mock up some cards to figure out what it would look like. But I think it'd be pretty easy to manage and realistically if I'm writing stuff up every two weeks it'll be easier to stay motivated in the project than the once a month I'd been planning on. Basically after reading yall's first shows and how freaking awesome they are, I'm motivated to write more

1997 is going to be an awesome year for debuting/returning wrestlers with Shamrock, Naoya Ogawa (4/97), Bill Goldberg (6/97) and Done Frye (8/97). 1997 Year of the Dome.

Wait...what? edit: Ok, did some research...and this is real? Not some horrible hoax. They REALLY found the Last Battle of Atlanta???

The thing I'd say about Tamura's mat work is that he made mat-work seem like the most impressive athletic achievement possible in a wrestling ring during a decade where people were doing bigger and more insane spots than ever before. Tamura came across like the most gifted athlete of his generation without every doing a rope running spot let alone a dive off the top rope. I had Tenryu at #3 and my top rated Japanese wrestler. Today I'd make an argument of Tamura over Tenryu on two fronts. One being that Tamura didn't have the learning curve Tenryu had. Tamura was green, but he looked like a prodigy in his first few matches. Tenryu took years to get going. I'd also argue that Tamura's peak performances were better. Tenryu obviously is going to swamp him with depth and I certainly "penalized" Tamura for a sheer lack of matches and due to a weird desire to vote my favorites a little lower. But thinking about it, this Anjoh match probably isn't the 20th best match/performance of Tamura's career. That's damn impressive by itself. Then when you think he had sooooo few matches compared to 99.999% of all wrestlers and he still probably as 20 matches better than this one...that's actually pretty fucking mindblowing.

I absolutely love this match. This is Tamura's 9th (NINTH!!!!!!!) career match. What the fuck is that ridiculous or what? Anjoh was a great opponent for young Tamura. Anytime they were in the ring together, singles or tags, you were guaranteed a great match-up. I'm not positive if it is his best pre-RINGS match because his UWFi run was full of awesome matches, but it is right there in the conversation. I'm at the point where I think Tamura was the best wrestler in the world as early as 1994 and remained #1 until he transitioned to full shoots in late 99. U-Style proved he hadn't lost a step at all and he was probably the best worker in the world again in 2004. If we turned in our GWE ballots tomorrow, I'd only have Terry Funk & Satanico above Tamura. edit and here's my review of the match from the Microscope: Our next match is Tamura vs an old favorite in Yoji Anjoh. They’ve had a match before on 9/89 that I described as the greatest squash match ever. So this will be a good opportunity to see Tamura’s growth. Immediate difference from the 89 match as Tamura is able to score a couple of quick takedowns with ease. Crowd is already super hot and the opening back and forth grappling is so fast at times early on that the thought crosses my mind that the film has been sped up (it hasn’t been). The big difference from Tamura now and Tamura’s first few matches in 89 is that Tamura is MUCH better defensively and countering out of submissions in order to create offense instead of going for the ropes right away. Although Anjoh is obviously good enough to get Tamura in peril and force several rope breaks, Tamura is much more likely to first look to counter before making a play for the ropes. Tamura really uses his speed and agility to counter and escape from submissions while Anjoh is a little bit slower but a little more forceful and rough with his counter attempts. Tamura gracefully rolls out of a Fujiwara armbar attempt while with an Anjoh counter, you’re more likely to catch an elbow in the face. Tamura is REALLY showing his ground skills in this. There are some absolutely breathtaking exchanges here both on the mat and standing and striking. Anjoh has more success the more striking exchanges they have. Tamura definitely has some awesome flurries but he is again mostly working towards submissions. Anjoh’s ground game is more successful as the match moves along because he’s started to weaken/slow Tamura down a bit with his brutal knee lifts. At one point, Anjoh is working on a toe lock and Tamura finally kind of snaps and just starts blasting Anjoh with knees and slaps which is just awesome. Fired up Tamura throwing everything he’s got at someone is one of the most exciting moments in wrestling. His speed is just indescribable. Anjoh is ahead on points most of the way (He’s 5 points ahead at the moment of Tamura’s flurry), but he lets Tamura shine so much throughout the match that he seems closer to evenly matched than you would think just looking at the points. As the match builds, Anjoh definitely starts to have an easier time than he did at the beginning. Tamura is able to keep him working by moving around and constantly working for counters, but Anjoh’s strikes REALLY start to take their toll and Tamura starts to rely more and more on making it to the ropes as Anjoh starts to rack up the points. This ends up with Anjoh WAY ahead on points and getting a decisive victory with one of the nastiest looking single leg boston crabs you’re ever going to see. Although Anjoh decisively won, Tamura comes out of this looking really great. He was definitely worn down eventually by Anjoh’s knees and submission attempts, but he more than held his own throughout. From a kayfabe perspective, Tamura needs to work on his striking defense. His technique is already there in terms of knowing all the holds and counters and you get the sense that if he protected himself a little bit more throughout the match he’d have enough stamina to keep up towards the end. This is a fucking awesome match. Easy EPIC.

WWE doesn't get my $10 a month but practically every WWE match I want to watch would either have Roman Reigns or Sasha Banks. I could probably add Nakamura to make it a list of 3. So if they want my $10 I demand more Roman Reigns

I would highly recommend fans of the 80s lucha set check out this new match from dataintcash El Satanio/Perro Aguayo/Fishman vs Villano III/RIngo Mendoza/Jalisco Depending on when in 1983 it happened, it is possibly Satanico's earliest match on tape and it is really good. It is mostly about Perro vs Ringo but Satanico and Villano III pair up and look really good together. A little slow building but it really picks up and by the end I was like "yeah, this fucking rocks!" Satanico is almost working in the MS-1 role to Perro's Satanico in an Infernale lineup. He adds a shit ton to the match but definitely allows the focus to be on Perro vs Ringo. Fishman looks perfectly acceptable in this too running around and stiffing people. Would have been a no brainer to make the 80s set if it was circulating. Satanico vs Villano III is an absolute dream match for me now. So is Ringo vs Perro in the 80s for that matter. I have no opinion on Jalisco.

I kinda feel like I should have hot-shotted Hash vs Takada at the Dome for a major show. But I like the idea of Hashimoto being a humble & gracious team player in this world where everyone is mad at Takada. It helps solve my "too many top stars/who is going to job" problem. I also really enjoy referring to Dr Death Steve Williams as "Dr Williams." Expect that to continue

I'm wondering if the following could be added to the list (sorry if they're on the list or were in the draft and I overlooked them when I was cross referencing shows: 1. Dick Murdoch had his last match 5/96 against Fujiwara (and should probably team with Terry Funk in FMW going for the Brass Knucks tag titles) 2. James Stone (Little Guido) had been in UWFi and working US indies. Could be a good fit for anyone obviously. 3. Halloween/Ciclope - Did he ever work WAR or wherever Damian 666 worked to get on the list? Those two were like the poor man's version of Rey/Psic in that they went everywhere together. There could be a sweet lucha invasion of FMW 4. VIctor Zangiev 5. Salman Hashimikov Last 2 are big russians who worked the first ever Tokyo Dome show (Zangiev had that classic match with Hashimoto) and went on to be frequently used gaijin by UWfi.

From the "8/29/95 issue of the WON"