Edwin

Yeah, this was a blast. Just 2 hosses throwing bombs at each other. Cobb being able to manhandle Dijak the way he did was really impressive. The ending is perfect as they kept it short and didn't go into the overkill territory a lot of these matches usually go into. ***

Yikes, Bailey's kicks look terrible. The technique on his flashy spin kick is nice as he has a legit background in taekwondo, but the execution of them looks terrible. That series of rapid kicks that Naomi also does looks just as terrible when he does it. The heat segment with Bailey playing the FIP role lasted all about minutes before it turned into a typical indy tag match. Forgettable.

Gerard Gordeau never fought in PRIDE nor worked with Nobuhiko Takada. He worked with Maeda in Newborn UWF in 1988 and fought in Vale Tudo Japan '95 where he lost to Yuki Nakai. Gordeau illegally eye gouged Nakai during the fight who then lost the sight of his right eye from the gouging. Gordeau is a coward and a scumbag. Right... I got him confused with Kyle Sturgeon...

Loved BML. Haven't watched any of their stuff since back when it surfaced originally, but I remember that Ishii/Ito match from the first show being great back then. I also really dug Murakami ans Shibata's runs here. Also Sawa was a guy who had a mixed reputation back then. Some loved him, others clearly disliked him. I personally dug him. I also remember the backlash from foreign fans questioning why BML would put Styles vs. Williams on one of their cards. Gerard Gordeau had some pro-wrestling experience as he worked in UWF in the 80's and he's also most famously known for having sent Telia Tulia's teeth flying into the crowd with a kick in less than a minute in the first UFC fight ever. He also had a poorly executed worked shoot with Takada on one of the early PRIDE events. Enson Inoue is legit bad ass. Forgot he had some worked stuff too. I should go back and watch the Murakami, Shibata and Enson matches on these. Good stuff.

Thought this left a lot to be desired. First half felt like a filler second half got better with Ringkampf briefly going after Absolute Andy's bummed knee and trying to sneak in a win by countout, but again I thought Ringkampf could've done a better job at exploiting Andy's bummed wheel. Despite the knee work being as brief as it was, I thought Andy could've done a better job at selling it as minutes later he was hitting stalling suplex and F5's on WALTER. Andy's strikes leave a lot to be desired too as his right hands look like the slaps the Rock used to throw. Thought Thatcher looked the best here with his grittyness, but even that left a lot to be desired. Very underwhelming.

Everything until the ref bump just felt like filler with a bunch of thigh slapping elbows and strikes and Riddle was really holding back here on everything until the ref. bump. I did dig his gutwrench suplex into the twister. Aside from that, I thought this was really underwhelming.

I agree with Jetlag -- standard indy tag match. I did dig Dieter's reversal of the headlock which I thought was neat, WALTER tossing Cooper over the top rope and his shotgun dropkick, but aside from that, there really wasn't much else to like. Skippable.

Thought I'd revive this topic. I know G. Badger has mostly been seeking gems in these, but this is a bit sleazier than what hes posted, but still along the lines of obscure Japanese 90s indies. This is some obscure Japanese 90s indy wrestling. According to the description, its an IWA Kokusai, Union Pro and Go Gundan joint show at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. The matches all feature monsters and they fit all 4 of them clipped by 10 - 15 seconds in a 16+ minute video. Of course the matches are terrible. Heres some general info from the event: IWA Kokusai/Union Pro/Go Gundan, 12/21/1994 Monster Tag Team Tournament Korakuen Hall Tokyo, Japan 1. Monster Tag Team Tournament: Super Uchu Majin and Uchu Majin X vs. The Scalper and The Gouger 2. Monster Tag Team Tournament: Demonio I and Demonio II vs. The Mummy and Black Mummy 3. Monster Tag Team Tournament: Super Uchu Majin and Uchu Majin X vs. Zombie I and Zombie II 4. Monster Tag Team Tournament: Super Uchu Majin and Uchu Majin X vs. Demonio I and Demonio II Super Uchu Majin is Goro Tsurumi. Tsurumi has been around since the 70s and hes wrestled all over the world -- Japan, Memphis, Germany, Puerto Rico, Mexico, etc. Uchu Majin X maybe Koichiro Kimura who passed away some years ago and who was also Super Uchu Power in DDT and who fought in PRIDE. The identities of the rest is unknown, but The Mummy and Black Mummy may still be around working really small sleazy independent shows in Japan. All 4 of the matches are horrible, but its in front of a jam packed Korakuen Hall crowd. The Mummies lose focus during their match as they attack Poison Sawada who was the founder of Union Pro and he was also Poison Sawada JULIE in DDT. He always fought The Mummies in Union Pro. The Scalper and The Gouger are the guys wearing red and black; Demonio I and Demonio II are the guys wearing the jean overalls with the red shirts and Zombie I and Zombie II are the guys with the long sleeve denim shirts. Goro Tsurumi unmasks after the first match and he also puts on a glove which he lights on fire and uses to attack Demonio I and Demonio II. Whacky stuff.

Penta/Fenix went on too early considering the match they were going to work. It burned me out as they just went at 110 MPH for the entirety of it. I do agree with the aura Penta carries around him at this indy shows. Its hard to explain, but he comes across as a bigger deal than most of the guys. Yeah, the death match this time around was the same as the hardcore tag match from last month. And unfortunately that is the majority of the death matches Ive seen Jimmy Havoc have in PROGRESS minus some props which he usually uses over there such as light tubes. The finish killed Ki/MVP because they built it as a super fight and then they called for the bell and put together the entire pull apart brawl. Based of what happened, it does seem like theyll continue to program though. What really bummed me was Riddle and Cobb vs. Lawlor and Petruzelli. I thought the entire pre match door arm injury angle looked really weak on the big screen and the match itself was really underwhelming. Agreed on the venue. Its way to small, but it seems like this will be their venue for the foreseeable future as their next 2 events next month and the following month will be there too.

Sounds fun. Are they planning on putting all their shows on YouTube?Nah, just One Shot. They usually put them up on their website for $4.99 for VOD or download. Card was pretty fun live, but it won’t come across that great on video. Riddle and Cobb vs. Lawlor and Petruzelli was really underwhelming. They did the Barry Windham deal where Arn Anderson and Larry Zbzysko slammed the door on his hand so Cobb was limited as to what he could do in the match. Riddle had an off night and Lawlor is still gree and Petruzelli is even greener. Penta vs. Rey Fenix is exactly what you’d expect from them and if you’ve seen them once in a single match, then you’ve already seen this match. Low Ki vs. MVP was MOTM in my opinion. The bad finish aside, it was really fun. Low Ki throws some legit mean looking elbows. Havoc vs. Swerve was exactly what you’d expect — fun live, but I don’t think it will transfer that great on video. The problem with Jimmy Havoc is that a lot of his matches seem to be the same and this was no different. I thought Allin vs. Sammy was fun for what it was, but I don’t recommend anyone goes out of their way to watch it. The rest of the card was skippable.

The fact that he gets insider newz and what not doesnt mean his opinion should be celebrated as the definitive truth without argument and whoever disagrees with it is automatically disqualified from any argument. Luckily that doesnt seem to the issue on this board for the most part, but based on some replies to this topic, unfortunately some think him upping his scale to ****** somehow devaules the past ***** matches when realistically it doesnt. He can give Omega/Okada 10 stars if he wants and Id still rank it beneath something like Benoit/Sullivan from GAB 96 simply because I liked it more and his opinion wont affect one bit how I feel about it. Edit: Wasnt there a podcast where Jim Cornette talked about the star rating system and him creating it with a friend of his and it only being **** originally and then Meltzer or someone adopting it and making it a ***** system then?

I'm super stoked for the MLW card tonight. Death Match: Jimmy Havoc vs. Shane Strickland Low Ki vs. MVP Penta el Zero M vs. Rey Fenix Matt Riddle and Jeff Cobb vs. Tom Lawlor and Seth Petruzelli Sammy Guevara vs. Darby Allin Santana Garrett vs. MJ Jenkins Jimmy Yuta and Jason Cade vs. the Dirty Blondes Brody King vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman Mike Parrow vs. Vandal Ortagun Plus Barrington Hughes Really looking forward to Havoc/Strickland, Ki/MVP and Riddle + Cobb/Lawlor + Petruzelli. Next month they begin their world title tournament and based on what they're building up to, I could see either Strickland or Allin as the inaugural champ as those are the top 2 guys they're building the company around.

I've been re-watching a bunch of the 2004 IWA-MS matches I dug from back then and a bunch of them hold up fine today, but man that ring was terrible back then. The squeaking of it during the Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Hero 2/3 falls match was really distracting.

But we did get Taker and Tenryu against Yoko and Bam Bam...

What's the deal with the WWE UK title? Dunne seems to be defending it more on indy shows than in the WWE. He's defending it again at PROGRESS 62 against Joseph Conners.

I agree with you both/feel the say way this was pretty awesome, albeit it was really short 6+ minutes. I thought both guys looked fantastic. The highlight for me were Adams superkicks which were amazing, namely that one on the back of the head which looked brutal. Great finish. Despite the commentary being recorded over this, you can tell the crowd was going bonkers and could catch a glimpse of the fans jumping up and down going bananas when they were both on the floor before the first chair spot. Very good match while it lasted.

That's exactly why I unfollowed him. Its annoying scrolling through my Twitter and just see him either: a. arguing with someone over who's more popular or b. seeing him continue his “LOL@WWE SUX; NU NIPPON IZ DA BEST” act.

Talk about it here.

https://www.twitter.com/GrizzliesOnFSSE/status/949498504044429312 Jeff Jarrett got Samoan dropped at a Memphis Grizzlies game in a GFW ring by DeAngelo Williams. Edit:

https://twitter.com/QoSBaszler/status/949389035977486340 Shayna tweeted that video and apparently kayfabe is still alive and well in 2018 to some people...

Yeah, Gabi missed weight by 26 lbs. I thought the entire thing was a work as Kandori stormed off the stage when Gabi weighed in, but Gabi kept tweeting photos smiling and shilling stuff and kept on tweeting she wasn't going to speak until a decision was made. Then the fight got officially dropped and that entire fiasco in the ring occurred. Gabi said she missed weight because of her menstruation cycle and she other physical problems, so it seemed like a bad weight cut. The NYE event was great though.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Just to add some proper context to this. The reason Kashin is wearing a gi to this match, is a tribute to the great 90 minute fight between Sakuraba and Royce Gracie from PRIDE. Royce wore a gi to that fight and Sakuraba was smart enough to use that against Royce. That's why there's a huge "oh" pop when Sakuraba uses Kashin's gi pants to fold him up. Also the reason there's such a heavy emphasis on the kimura is because Sakuraba had previously beaten both Royler and Renzo with the kimura, inclusive he broke Renzo's arm with it. The match itself is underwhelming. It was more so a way of getting Sakuraba on the card and having him display all of his PRIDE signature moves in a worked environment -- e.g. spinning his opponent when they were on their backs, mounted Mongolian chops, kimura, etc. Kashin was very predictable, lazy and everything he did looked very weak. Sakuraba on the other hand landed some great looking punches in the corner, plus he got all of his great looking PRIDE signature stuff in even got some dives to the floor. Forgettable.

Talk about it here.