[1990-04-01-FMW] Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto vs Masanobu Kurisu & Dragon Master (Texas Street Fight)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This got some MOTY support in 1990 and is a match I've always wanted to check out. This was a really great brawl, even better when you consider the context of the time. Onita doing his big tope to start things off is awesome, as is Kurisu attacking Onita with his cowboy boot. It feels very Wild West and chaotic, like four guys were just looking for a place to settle some really big differences, and just happened to find this ring to do it in. Dragon Master in particular is my favorite guy other than Onita, going after Onita with reckless abandon, stumbling over himself with splashes of blood all over his t-shirt. Everything he did looked wonderfully sloppy. This is probably the best match I've seen Onita have. I love that it's over in 10:58 too!

[PeteF3]

Not MOTY so far but perhaps not out of the top 3-5. The most southern wrasslin' brawl ever to take place in Japan, with the street clothes and use of the cowboy boot. Dragon Master goes absolutely nuts with the chairshots and literally destroys one as Onita blocks it with his leg towards the end. Eventually they manage to get a double team in on Kurisu and Onita puts him down with two thunder fire power bombs. Chaotic but not to the point of being hard to follow, with four guys focused on hurting and destroying one another than on being "extreme."

[Childs]

Yeah, this is how I want my wrestling brawls -- no overly elaborate bullshit, just blood and chaos with chairs and bodies flying every which way. I loved Goto's sweatsuit and Kurisu's cowboy get-up. I loved the way Dragon Master swung his chair at any body part he could find. I loved that this totally could have happened in Memphis. Not MOTY but one of my favorite matches on the set to date.

[soup23]

Agree with everyone else here and I got a certain Nasties vs. Cactus/partner 1994 vibe from this match and it was choatic and didn't overstay its welcome at all. The chairshots had lots of meaning and impact behind them. Really fun match that will probably at least end up in my top 100.

[shoe]

Heck yea this was a great Texas Death Match. My main gripe with TXDM in general is there are too many falls and we lose action in the bout. This match had none of that. The start with Onita and Dragon Master was so hate filled. As a whole this was hate filled. Just a bloody fight.

[Kevin Ridge]

I think they are working legal tags here but we playing lose with the rules. Not exactly dressed up as wrestlers. Some stiff looking kicks being thrown. Onita's powerbomb is pretty vicious when he folds guys up like that. Nice bloody brawl.

[Cox]

What's the deal with Kurisu? He comes into this match dressed like a 10th grade math teacher and kind of takes bumps like a 10th grade math teacher too. I am intrigued by his mere existence.

 

But I echo what everybody else says about this. Great brawl. I haven't seen much FMW, but in spite of this, Onita is probably one of my favorite people in wrestling ever, between the brawls, the explosion matches, the crying promos, the getting elected to political office, and everything else. I should probably watch more FMW.

[Zenjo]

No idea why they had the Texas Death Match rules as it was effectively no different than a street fight. And what a wild one it was! All 4 guys were bleeding within 3m and the whole thing was a tight 11m of action. I couldn't believe how hard they were swinging the steel chairs at each other. Stiff shots and high impact moves with great intensity from all. Part of me wanted more as they could maybe have taken it further had there been twists and turns at the end. But the chances are it was as good as it could've been as a sprint. FMW is just perfect for the yearbooks as most of it is shit but there's the odd gem that turns up every now and then.

[Rock_Of_Jericho]

This one was a bit of a surprise. I've seen some FMW, mostly during the Hayabusa era, but this was a really nice brawl that I didn't expect much from...

[stunning_grover]

This was a great brawl. Everyone in this match gave extraordinary performances, especially Onita was great. This is how a brawl is supposed to be worked. One of the four best matches of 1990 so far, in my opinion.

[ajtroma]

I had never heard of this Kurisu guy in my life before this set. He looks like a total asshole. He's got that Ron Bass/Dick Slater/Black Bart vibe to him

[TravJ1979]

Very disappointed by this. Probably sets the record for chair shots in a match and they were nearly the entire offense of both teams.

[shaneduder]

This is fantastic. Just what I want out of this kind of match. Chaos. Kendo really bringing the Stan Hansen levels of not giving a fuck about protecting his dance partner. Tarzan shows good fire. Really starting to prefer this early FMW stuff as it has a bit of a Memphis feel to it. As some others have alluded to before.

[El-P]

I haven't seen much FMW, but in spite of this, Onita is probably one of my favorite people in wrestling ever, between the brawls, the explosion matches, the crying promos, the getting elected to political office, and everything else. I should probably watch more FMW.

Man, you NEED to watch all Onita-era FMW then. Big time Onita fan myself, for basically the same reasons. That and the melodramatical selling. I love the irony of about 99,99% of idiots who thought Onita was all about doing crazy shit and bleeding like a pig so they do the same shit in indies for zilch money, while Onita's real deal was fucking selling. Sure, he was doing crazy shit, but not nearly as stupid as anything that has been done since, and he was making shitload of money doing it. Oh, anyway, I love Onita. Wild Thing by X + water bottles + crying = greatest pro-wrestling outros ever.

[mookeighana]

I remember downloading this off DVDVR years ago and watching it. I loved it. I love a crazy brawl and the intensity here was so much fun. Terrific match and really makes you wonder/want to see more Masanobu Kurisu & Dragon Master.

[JerryvonKramer]

This is fucking brilliant! I spent the first 2-3 minutes thinking to myself "what the ... this is the SAME Dragon Master from WCW?!!"

 

I love Dragon Master's "random 80s dude in a checkered shirt" partner with his little moustache. He looks like he's just walked in after a longish shift.

 

The brawling between Tarzan and Dragon Master at the start is wild and the pace doesn't let up.

 

The kicks from Kurisu in those boots are sick.

 

Onita was crazy good here as well and I look forward to more of him if he's always this good.

 

As good a brawl as I can remember seeing. Really excellent, and probably my MOTY so far. A- Awesome.

[goc]

This just popped up in the general thread on DVDVR and I happened to watch it. DAMN this was an awesome brawl! One of the best tag team street fights I can remember seeing. Dragon Master was not afraid to completely kill a dude with a chair and I couldn't help but wonder if the fan ever got their jacket back that was tied to the chair he was beating Onita with at the start of the match. This was like the perfect length without trying to stretch the drama with a lot of falls. I also especially loved Dragon Master not giving a fuck about Onita & Goto covering each other up and just continuing to beat the shit out of them with the chair. I thought Onita & FMW was all about crazy gimmicks like barbed wire and exploding rings but THIS was good stuff.

[garretta]

This was ECW with heart and heat. I can see where Heyman got the idea for his craziest brawls from in this match, but it's different when 1) You're fighting with what's attached to the wrestlers or can be found around ringside instead of bringing in carts full of weapons with no other purpose except to be destroyed and 2) The fans care about the wrestlers instead of just enjoying the fact that four guys are randomly beating the hell out of each other.

 

Dragon Master was the revelation for me here; he did almost nothing as one of J-Tex in WCW, but here he's inspired, using chairs on everything that dares to breathe. Kurisu and his boots were just as insane. I liked the fact that we had the occasional legal tag just to show that things hadn't completely gone to hell. Two falls seems low for a Texas Death match, but after watching these four for only a few seconds, you know that they have no use for such things as pinfalls.

 

My Japanese match of the year so far, knocking Vader/Hansen from 2/10 out of the top spot.

[drew wardlaw]

Kirisu looks like someone's shitkicker father. I can't add much to this but there's a shot right after all four men get in the ring for the first time where a handheld camera is going through the crowd, everyone is confused and standing around and it feels like news footage of a riot. What a match.

[ohtani's jacket]

#412

 

Wild Street Fight but as with most Onita fights I'd rather be watching a Hong Kong action flick.

[JKWebb]

This was pretty crazy. I was really thrown off when they started following tag team rules, but it was still pretty wild. Somebody mentioned greatest brawls... Tupelo Concession Stand came to my mind, and i don't think is near as good as that. I can see why this is loved by folks, but I just don't see it as a MOTY/great match. It was cool to check out though.

 

http://placetobenation.com/countdown-top-500-matches-of-the-90s-450-401/2/

 

#412

[Rah]

Yeah, this was a great brawl with some of the nasty FMW plundering you've come to expect. Dragon Master walloping a chair so hard that it shatters over an ankle was nasty - don't wish to know how the recipient felt the day after. I think my copy had some slight clipping as action seemed to randomly jump between the outside and the ring toward the end. Pity, as I was starting to really get into the blood-letting massacre that this was - though I do think the finish was overly choreographed by the sped up ref count (the wrestlers can't help the bell ringer fucking up).

 

All in all, a really good brawl with some nasty chair shots.

[TravJ1979]

On 1/1/2014 at 3:13 PM, TravJ1979 said:

Very disappointed by this. Probably sets the record for chair shots in a match and they were nearly the entire offense of both teams.

Going through this set again after following the GME poll.  I have no idea who the guy making this comment four years ago was, but this was a great brawl as everyone else has stated.  Almost makes me rethink all of my old takes since I was so off the mark.

[RingoPlaysDrums]

This thing was fucking wild. I can't recall having ever seen Kurisu or Dragon Master/Sakurada before so I wasn't sure if they were even the guys in this match at the start. They come down to the ring in street clothes and Onita just flies out of the ring and takes them both out with a crazy tope and I didn't know what was going on. Dragon Master just starts absolutely walloping Onita with chairs, some of the hardest chairshots I've ever seen, as Onita climbs over rows of seats (and members of the public) to try and get away. It doesn't seem as though Dragon Master cares if he takes out an audience member or two as he swings the chair. Goto starts getting pelted as well. Just sick thud after sick thug. All four guys are bleeding after about 5 minutes and that's when the Texas Death match rules start to come into play with the pin for a 3 count followed by a 10 count. They play at tagging in and out like a normal tag match for a bit but that's never on the cards and it's not long before it breaks down again. Kurisu takes off his cowboy boot and starts leathering Onita. Onita takes off his belt and starts leathering everyone. There's a handful of wrestling moves alongside the brawling. A couple of DDTs. A couple of brutal powerbombs. After about 10 minutes Onita hits another powerbomb on Kurisu and he can't get to his feet before the 10 count and it's all over. This whole thing felt like four guys had got into a fight in the bar and decided to settle it in the ring. Crazy Southern US-esque brawl.