Edwin

Edit: Never mind, don't want to be that guy...

One of these dream matches we didn't know we wanted to watch until it was booked and it lives up to expectations. Rey has historically bummed knees from all the crazy dives from over the past 20 years, so Ki goes after that first and then they do a cool knuckle lock section with Ki headbutts, Rey kicks to the mouth and neck bridges. There's a ton of cool stuff moving forward with Rey popping Ki in the mouth with a springboard dropkick before doing a baseball slide dive to the floor, Ki's John Woo dropkick on a seated Rey, Ki adjusting the Warrior's Way only for him to get dumped off the top by Rey and the highlight for me was the constant tease of the 619 which was built around perfectly. On one of the 619 attempts, Ki pulls on the second rope and Rey takes a nasty bump on the outside which is reminiscent of one of his nutty WCW day bumps. Rey finally hitting the 619 got a massive pop due to the extensive tease, plus Rey finishing with the tribute Eddie frog splash was an awesome way of closing this out. Great match.

This is match Sami Callihan spoke about in a shoot interview. He mentioned one of them was stiffing the other and the other questioned him about it. It may have been Dickinson when he back kicked Ki as Ki got up visibly annoyed and Ki hit that wild punch combo on him as they go for the tie up immediately after. Would make sense as you can see he's toned it down on the next back kick later on in the match. As for the match, yeah, this is great. Dickinson is awesome and is one of the few guys who's not afraid to go at it with Ki. His work in Beyond and EVOLVE is usually great. Him putting Ki in the pendulum and hitting Ki's head against the bottom corner while smiling in MVP's face was awesome. His brutal arm bending submissions and eye poke were great too. However, the highlight of this was easily Ki's previously mentioned punch combo. That botched brainbuster which was a forced plant DDT was brutal. The finish was on point too with that big tree of woe double stomp. Really good match.

JAPW booked Demolition vs. the Heavy Hitters in 2009 and Sam Roberts was doing commentary for them then...

There's a mix of shows from 2001 - 2016. I don't think they've uploaded all of the shows for any entire year. It's worth registering for a month or two tops and cancelling immediately if you can watch everything on there that you're interested in. I maybe the only registered on there at the moment and I already cancelled my subscription as I'm sure in a month I should be able to cram in everything they have on there of my interest. There's a ton of good stuff on there in that mix though aside from that match that you want to see.

Have been watching a ton of stuff on JAPW VOD as I signed up for a month just to watch stuff namely featuring the Nuyoricans and it's unbelievable stuff. Truly one of the most underrated U.S. indie organizations ever. The Homicide vs. Teddy Hart feud has turned into one of my favorite feuds of all-time.

Yeah, that's not much else I can add to this that hasn't already been said. This is a fantastic match indeed.

This was entirely different than I expected it to be. I was expecting a 1000 mile per hour flippy, rana Toryumon style match like those multi man Special K matches from ROH, however it wasn't that. This was toned a lot compared to those and was worked at a much slower pace with way less flips and head drops than those matches despite it being a ton of skinny, young kick pad wearing kids from New York and New Jersey. The dive sequence at the end wasn't as over the top as one would expect and that Lethal drive was indeed brutal as was that Maximo Impact on Deranged and the finishing Morbid Flood on Insane Dragon. Fun stuff.

Not a U.S. indy, but wXw in Germany holds a shoot style indy tournament annually called Ambition.

Yeah, this was pretty great. The Big E-esque spear through the cage door by Maff on Joker, Da Hit Squad throwing Ki and Joker to the cage and the double top rope splash were the highlights for me. Ki's elbows never get any recognition, but they are awesome. This could've done with more blood though. Very good match either way.

I was a big fan of the Japanese indys as I posted in the that other thread on here some while ago, but Sawada just seems like a random answer specially when guys like Tarzan Goto, Hayabusa, etc. would be more willing candidates than him. Did Hidetaka Aso ever do pro-wrestling? I'm not sure if he ever did. He's in the list of grapplers who never did pro-wrestling, but I think would've been fantastic had they chosen to like Rumina Sato, Hideo Tokoro and Masakazu Imanari.

Yeah, but will Meltz try and debate these numbers if they draw less than 10K and they claim they did ala WM 3...?

Seeing the conventions, meet and greets, podcasts, etc. they are lining up around this event, I can see them drawing 10,000 fans.

You totally ignored my response, but OK... Also, Sawada has never been influential/headlined a DDT card that has sold out Sumo Hall... His involvement has been in throwaway matches no one pays to see on those cards. And namedropping TJP for no reason? Yeah, you're obviously trolling...

I could do without Marufuji, but Honda coming back could be fun.

As it's already been stated, the WWE HOF is a joke in the opinion of many fans. What "historic arena" did Sawada headline? Korakuen Hall? DDT has monthly events there, not once a year... DDT was/is/has been a relatively small indy until recent years and he's not a headliner there now, nor has he been a headliner there in years. When he was headlining there was when they were at some of their lowest points. Also, he was pretty bad in the ring despite that... DDT is booming now and he has nothing to do with it. Also please list all of the must see Joe Acton matches that you have seen that we have to watch... And this is my last reply as you're obviously trolling.

this is based on people who i think should be in HOF's who are not im not trolling OK, what has Sawada done out of merit to deserve being inducteed into a HOF of any type? Are you putting him there merely because he trained at the New Japan Dojo? Because he trained at the Malenko Dojo? Because he was a founding/key member of Japanese small/micro indies like Union Pro, DDT, PWC, etc.? Because he had snake powers? Because he founded Jakai Tensho? Because he fought mummies? Sawada was/is a comedy and garbage wrestler who's career highlight was probably headlining some Union Pro or DDT shows in Korakuen Hall in front of 1,800 fans in matches against Sanshiro Takagi, mummies or space invaders. I don't see how that would be HOF worthy, but then again, this doesn't matter, it's pointless, you're trolling and I'm falling for it.

JAPW has their own VOD service. I may sign up for about a month or 2 (and I may even be the only person subscribe to it) once I finish running through my Beyond queue on Powerbomb.tv They only have about 30 events or so, but I'm only watching a select few series of matches featuring the guys I dig and some potentially interesting matches.

How would you pick someone like say, Poison Sawada JULIE and not Ric Flair? You're basically excluding one of the greatest pro-wrestlers of all-time, yet including a garbage, comedy worker from small/micro Japanese indies... Not that it really matters and I'm almost certain you're trolling (but I'm bored at work so this will keep me entertained for about 4-5 minutes)...

Sorry, I really have nothing to add, but I did a quick search for him and I'm a big Catch Wrestling fan, but I honestly haven't even heard of this guy before. I don't even think there's footage of him available. Edit: Also you maybe trolling and I feel for it...

https://twitter.com/JANELABABY/status/973038143896088576 Nick Gage vs. Penta el Zero M for Joey Janela Spring Break 2.

Not entirely a U.S. territory, but the Puerto Rico territory -- WWC gets paid by WAPA for TV. That's one of the main reasons they're still around today despite the fact that they haven't drawn a decent house in about 15 or so years now. Also for what it's worth, WWC has been on TV in Puerto Rico on Saturday and Sunday morning for decades now. IWA when it was around in Puerto Rico also aired on Friday midnight before making the transition to Saturday and Sunday morning like WWC.

Just got back home from the MLW show... Seth Petruzelli vs. Kotto Brazil -- Was short. Seth came out with Team Filthy and Tom Lawlor was there with him. Lawlor called BS on ACH getting his spot in the title tournament against Matt Riddle instead of Seth. I also noticed Kotto Brazil is Snoop Strikes from EVOLVE and FIP. I didn't even realize he was the guy who got squashed 2 shows ago by Rhett Giddins and he also got squashed and unmasked by Low Ki at the last show. Seth needs to work on his promo skills. Anyway, Seth won with a spin kick. Post match Team Filthy beatdown and Riddle makes the save. Matt Riddle vs. ACH -- I haven't seen their EVOLVE match, but either this or Joey Janela vs. Darby Allin are my picks for MOTN. Not sure how it will come across on video, but this was fantastic live. Riddle tried using his power advantage over ACH while ACH tried using his speed advantage and fireball offense. Very different match from what you usually see from Riddle. Well worth watching. Col. Rob Parker even told Riddle he was blown away by his performance as he was walking to the back. Riddle won with the Twister. The Dirty Blondes (Michael Patrick and Leo Brien) with Col. Rob Parker vs. Team TBD (Jason Cade and Jimmy Yuta) -- Was also pretty short and wasn't really much to write home about. The highlight was Col. Rob Parker rebuilding the Stud Stable with the Dirty Blondes as his first two members and he also tried recruiting Mike Parrow. The Dirtby Blondes won after Col. Rob Parker interfered. Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Lance Anoa'i -- Really fun. MJF is great from what I've seen of him as a cocky heel. I also thought Lance looked great a fiery Samoan face. MJF pulled the "Can you smell what MJF is cookin'?" and the People's elbow... MJW won with a roll up and a handful of tights. Garza, Jr. vs. Último Ninja -- Was very different from the two previous lucha showcase matches (Penta El Zero M vs. Rey Fénix and Destino Negro vs. Mega Danger). This was worked at a slower paced and didn't see the same insane of crazy spots from the previous two matches. The fans loved Garza, Jr. and he looked really great as a rudo and I thought Último looked pretty good on the opposite side. Garza won after Selina de la Renta unmasked Último and Garza was able to pull off the roll up. Barrington Hughes vs. Vandal Ortagun -- Same as the other Barrington Hughes matches. Less than a minute squash with a powerslam. Brody King vs. Sami Callihan -- Very underwhelming. I was expecting both guys to go hard on each other, but I felt they held back. Brody won after Jimmy Havoc, Priscilla Kelly and Darby Allin came out and distracted the ref. and Jimmy hit Sami with a skateboard. Saieve Al Sabah vs. Markos Espada -- Short and just a match to get Al Sabah over. Al Sabah won with a modified bow-and-arrow. Low Ki vs. MVP -- Very odd... They did another kung fu sword fight scene with sticks and kendo sticks and that maybe one of the most embarrassing things I've seen in a while. Some Samoan guy ran out and attacked MVP and Stokely Hathaway stole MVP's chains... Shane Strickland vs. Jimmy Havoc -- Was exactly what you'd expect out of these two without a hardcore stipulation. To their credit though, they are way over. Strickland won with a double stomp. Strickland vs. Riddle will be the final for the MLW world title next month. Joey Janela vs. Darby Allin -- One of the craziest matches I've ever seen live. There was an inflatable shark wrapped in barbed wire, a vintage Hulk Hogan figure, a football helmet, a belt, a suitcase, a toy truck, thumbtacks, a lightsaber, etc. Some of the highlights include Darby getting thrown into a thumbtack plate, Janela getting suplexed into the inflatable shark, Darby doing a tope con hilo with his hands tapped behind his back and Janela tossing Darby off the balcony into the chairs in the ring. Not sure how this will come across on video either, but if you dug the Callihan match from last month, then you'll dig this one as it's even crazier. Janela bleed buckets. Janela won with a top rope elbow drop. Misc stuff -- Apparently Bruce Pritchard was backstage helping with interviews and the taping. It was also announced that this was their first TV taping, however they did not announce where it would be airing. I didn't spot Tony Schiavone near the commentary table and I wasn't even sure there was one there, so they may have tapped the commentary elsewhere. Anyway, if you watch something from this, watch Riddle vs. ACH and Janela vs. Allin.

He was tagging with Dean Ambrose when he was Jon Moxley as the British Milicia in Puerto Rico and they were pretty good.

I agree, this was great. Easily the best Lawlor match I've ever seen to this point and one of the best Riddle singles matches I've ever seen. The early grappling exchanges were fantastic. The strikes in this were quite brutal sans the kicks which they were obviously holding a lot back on. Luckily we didn't get the Riddle fighting spirit streak he's been doing in recent matches and a lot less goofy facial expressions from him. The commentators constantly going on endless This could've happened in the UFC, but it's happening here was quite annoying, but they did do a great job at putting over the triangle choke near the end. ****