[1994-07-14-LLPW] Bull Nakano vs Shinobu Kandori (Chain)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This is a little different than most chain matches in that there is no four corners dragging. They can win by pinfall or submission, and falls count anywhere.

 

Great match! Incredibly violent. Both of them are a bloody mess by the time this is over. This is one of the best uses of the gimmick that I have ever seen. Bull doing the nunchuck stylings with the chain before blasting Kandori is awesome. More than anything, the element of danger and excitement that comes with every swing in momentum is what makes this so good. This is also filmed exceptionally well, so it's easy to pick up on all the details of their selling.

 

This is a 20-minute movie fight scene with a few wrestling moves mixed in. Not the best match of the year, but probably the best gimmick of the year without too much of a fight.

[Kevin Ridge]

They start roughing it up during the introductions. Different for Japan. Bull gets all choked up early with the chain when they are going a clothesline exchange. The chain just gives you the audio that makes all those punches a hell of lot worse when they wrap their fists. Nakano wraps her foot and then hits the top rope leg drop. That was pretty awesome. Hell of a lot more violent of a match then we have seen from ECW so far.

[Exposer]

This was violent as fuck and really good too. Bull really made a mess with her blood. The uses of the chain were done particularly well and the blows looked vicious. Great dramatic and violent blood fight.

[soup23]

This got pretty grim over the course of twenty minutes. A brutal, intense fight that used the chain magnificently. Agree with Kevin that again this is another company that has had a significantly better and more violent brawl than what we have seen in ECW so far.

[Loss]

Previously at PWO:

 

LLPW, 7/14/94 - Bull Nakano vs Shinobu Kandori (Chain Match)
Freaking great match that nobody talks about, I guess because it happened in a normal LLPW show and not an AJW supershow. I'm not a fan of Hotta vs. Asuka "let's beat the shit out of each other" women's matches, but this was as intense, bloody and rough as Kandori's more famous match with Hokuto, even if not as dramatic.

This basically was 20+ minutes of brutally hitting each other with shots right in the face, and using submissions or chain choke moves to try to get the win. The final part of the match was tremendous, with one of the most brutal moves I have seen in a while in Nakano's top rope legdrop, with the chain wrapped in her leg, right to Kandori's face.

I am not a fan of the star ratings system but this was just a bit below five stars. Much better than Hotta vs. Asuka, the Ozaki vs. Kansai streetfight, and anything ever by Megumi Kudo.

Bull Nakano was my "rediscovered wrestler" of 2006. I used to laugh at Meltzer's claim that Nakano was better than Aja Kong, but the more I watch from both, the I am more convinced of it. And somebody please explain me why the "joshi fans" hate Kandori so much. She's the real deal.

 

 

This got some run back in 1994. I can't easily find a comment about it in the WON since Dave reviewed AJW and JWP TV, and matches from the commercial tapes got delt with scatter shot. It did get talked about in the puroresu circles of the day, and tape buying circles. The other Bull vs. Other Promotion Wrestler match from the era that got a lot of talk was her match with Devil. That one Dave did write up in one of his TV reviews as a 5* match. John

[PeteF3]

Well, this was quite the war. Kandori's game is all about intense fighting close-up so this type of match suits her well. We start off hot with Bull ducking a clothesline and almost decapitating herself on the chain in the process. I don't know if that part was even intentional, but there's lots of clever use of the chain and the stips amidst the gritty, bloody fighting. Both girls apply submission holds using both the outside of the ring and the chain as aids. All matches with falls-count-anywhere rules should have standard wrestling spots used outside the ring. Also some really great swings of momentum down the stretch before Bull basically brutalizes Kandori into defeat by hitting moves with the chain wrapped around her. This is a top 5-7 MOTY as things stand now and blows away just about anything from ECW. This is the joshi successor to the Magnum/Tully I Quit match.

[Jetlag]

I was disappointed to see this not holding up quite well. I remember feeling there was something fishy about this when I first watched it years ago and now I remember why. This had the lamest crowd brawl in the middle. I enjoyed them punishing eachother with the chain and there were some great visuals here, but this could have been so much more. Outside distraction was crap, so was Kandori's armbar. I liked Nakano avoiding Kandori's feeble punches and just kicking her in the face. Finish makes up for the dragging parts. Good match.

[Cap]

Inspired to revisit some of my five star matches by some recent conversation of the ratings system I just took another look at this one and came away still think it was absolutely elite stuff. This is a FIGHT between two bad asses and it comes across that way. Without this breaking into anything like a shoot they are able to inspire the feeling of a real street fight between two people that no one is breaking up. Fights are sloppy and bloody and things don't go perfectly and this match captured that, sometimes intentionally and sometimes not. Matches that perform the hate between two wrestlers and really make me buy into that get a lot more leeway in terms of spots not being perfect because those spots read as the imperfections of a fight. Not that there were tons of imperfections, but this match got there for me.

 

I love that they go right into it. You don't need to know anything about the context or the wrestlers to pretty quickly pick up that one of them is a big monster and the other is just a legit badass and they are going to brutalize each other. They work in lots of choke spots and face wrap spots that are good. They aren't contrived, but organic. Kandori's eye looks nasty early on and provides cool visuals to reinforce the violence and the stakes.

 

When they brawl out into the crowd I think the match hits a new level. I love the implied violence you get here. You get some of it with Kandori/Hokuto as well with the table spot. It adds a lot. Here you see Bull just hammering Kandori, but all you really see is Bull's fists and hair and an ocean of people making way. Kandori fires back with some legit looking haymakers to turn the momentum right before they get back in the ring.

 

I also loved once the momentum shifted again when Kandori missed those big punches only to get kicked square in the head. That was a nice touch there. Kandori is uniquely able to fire back in strategic spots because she believably sells that she is just tough enough to eat a bunch of punishment and then the second Bull gives her room like she might another woman she is going to get clocked in the back of the head. Bull pays for that over and over. When she takes a shot on the top near the end and gets her leg caught you get the feeling that things may shift for the final time, but no... Bull finishing it with two huge leg drops from the top (leg wrapped in the chain) was beautiful violence. Kandori sells the damage to the eye after the first like its legit (maybe it was) and is still holding it while she is pinned.

 

I am a minority vote here, but I can't put this any lower than top marks for me. I think its an all time brawl and probably my favorite chain match (mostly because I hate the corner stipulation). Of all the varied matches where people are tied together this is probably second only to Hansen/Colon. This match has violence, escalation, hatred, selling, and it progresses in a way that makes sense. I didn't really find any of it lagging as it all held together nicely to me. They even used the chain relatively well, only getting tangled up once I think and that was pretty easy to fix. This is just top shelf stuff to me.

[Jmare007]

I've seen like 5 Joshi matches in my life so I went into this completely blind. Holy fuck was this a brutal, awesome war. Not sure what else to add to what has already been said but the clever use of the chain to inflict damage in different ways and the vicious strikes they hit each other gave this a legit fight feel. More of a espectacle than a wrestling match but an incredible one at that. The only bad thing I can I can say about the match was that the crowd brawling was too long for how bland it was - specially compared to the rest of the match - and that a little more struggle for control could've made this an all timer. All in all I'm very glad I watched this as I'd probably never would have without Matt D's project.

[cactus]

Unlike most chain matches, this is won by pinfall, knockout or submission and not by touching the four corners of the ring like most matches involving a chain or strap. This was a total war, where they fight all over the place and they use the chain to up the violence. Nakano dropping a leg drop with one of her legs wrapped in the chain was probably the most brutal spot of the match. They go a little too long for my liking, as no brawl needs to go 20+ minutes, but this is still a must watch for anyone who likes a good bloody brawl.

★★★★¼