[1991-02-26-FMW] Atsushi Onita vs Tarzan Goto

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This was a surprisingly super match. It was really a high-quality wrestling match, window-dressed with some brawling and violence. The pacing and build of this was really good, and they had the crowd hanging on every nearfall down the home stretch. They throw some nasty punches at each other and both are bleeding like stuck pigs. The way I'm describing it doesn't fully do it justice, but I really do think this is the best Onita singles match I have ever seen. Goto makes a great opponent for him.

[shoe]

I really enjoyed this. Another hard hitting battle that was a double juice battle. Their was an excellent story being told. My complaint is I wasn't sure if that was the finish or if they blew the original finish seconds ago.

[Childs]

I can't say enough about the virtue of simplicity in these early Onita matches. Here, he came out on fire, took a huge beating from Goto in return and, after a few nasty cutoffs, staged a spirited, to-the-point rally. These weren't really death matches, just brutal, straight-up battles that played to Onita's penchants for selling, eating punishment and connecting to the crowd. And I still think Goto was his best opponent. They had great timing together, and Goto came off as a tough motherfucker. As great as '91 has been so far, this is near the top of my MOTY list.

[PeteF3]

This is really a straight-up wrestling match that happens to have a lot of blood and a filthy mat. Other than a little chair flurry near the beginning, it's all in the ring and it's all about Onita weathering Goto's offense and trying to come back, which he does. Probably a top 2-3 MOTY at this point.

[Kevin Ridge]

They actually break a Japanese table. Good on the folks spotting it beforehand. As mentioned in other comments this more straight wrestling than maybe what you would expect. But it’s nice change. Couldn’t tell if they botched the finish or not. But Onita hits another powerbomb to make sure.

[soup23]

I liked this match but it looks like a decent amount less than you guys as its in the Vader vs. Fujinami bracket of 1991 matches instead of the upper tier. i did like that in 14 minutes they really crafted a match that felt like a war and the minimization of the weapons was nice to see. Two guys bleeding and throwing bombs in an entertaining manner.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Thought this was good. The headbutts were gnarly. Even if they didn't blow the finish, it certainly felt blown to me, which is all that matters for me with the language barrier. Also can't say that I love no-selling a piledriver onto a table. That stuff keeps me from saying this is great or my MOTY or anything.

[garretta]

I don't know how "straight" this match was, but it was a war from the opening bell. Onita busts Goto open within the first couple of minutes with some of the most brutal headbutts you'll ever see, and we're off and running. There was less weapons usage, but once you've tried to kill each other in an exploding barbed wire cage, what other weapons can hurt you?

 

Old-fashioned chairs and tables were still in liberal use at the beginning, and Goto takes a piledriver through a table with almost no ill effects. I think we need to suspend all notions of what constitutes normal selling in FMW. Let's face it, these guys are all basically indestructible or they wouldn't be wrestling this kind of match. And what's so special about a piledriver through a table considering what else these guys have done to each other? They're the closest we've come to wrestling robots; a certain move done at a certain prescribed time will put them down for a three-count, and they'll bleed on demand, but to consider either one of them hurt at any time Is ridiculous, at least in a kayfabe sense.

 

It was nice to see some wrestling moves as a change of pace, but I'm reminded of a quote from Baseball Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean. He used to broadcast games in the fifties, and he was known for having the worst grammar and diction in television at the time. Or course, that was just an act; he was really a man with an average (for the time) education, and he was quite capable of speaking correctly. So he did an inning or two of a game one day in perfect English just to prove he could. Then he turned to his broadcast partner and said, "That's enough of that poop. Now it's time to make some money." So saying, he mangled the next inning beyond all hope of repair.

 

My point? It's nice to see these guys trying to wrestle, but that's not what they're best at. They're best at beating the living shit out of each other and having sloppy, ugly matches that feature no artistry or "good work" whatsoever. As I said above, they're robots in human form, and robots shouldn't wrestle. They should fight and bleed and no-sell and look like they're too sloppy to take care of each other in the ring. That's what makes them money, and that's what the public wants to see from them.

[ohtani's jacket]

#302

 

Try as I may, I just can't get into Onita. Perhaps I'll come around to him in the end similar to the way I resisted Tenryu for so long. This was a good little match. though. If you can call a match with a double blade job and a piledriver through a table "a good little match."

[JKWebb]

To Chad's point, I thought Vader vs. Fujinami was better than this match. Along with OJ, I thought this was fine, but it's just hard for me to get into Onita.

[dawho5]

Lots of blood and violence, entertaining. Did not love it even if that first table they used NOT breaking looked painful as shit.

[Jetlag]

Okay, wow. This was brutal as hell. Essentially the world's sleaziest WAR match. Forget about explosions and barbedwire, this was about crazy headbutts, lariats and punches in the face.

 

This was also a total fight. Normally in hardcore type matches there will be some lulls when guys are rummaging around, but here they are just killing eachother the whole way. Right out the gate they are ramming their heads into eachother, Goto's face in a pool of blood immediately, and I love how Goto was selling that he is clearly rattled by Onita's headbutts but still trying to push back. Onita comes out on top and immediately goes for a suicide dive that doesn't go well, and Goto immediately grabs a chair and waffles Onita in the face. Next you know Onita is bleeding and Goto continues to beat the life out of him, just killing him chucking tables and stomping him in the face. When that doesn't do it Goto briefly works Onita's leg to set up an STF, altough he is still laying in a fucking stiff beating kicking Onita in the hamstring.

 

One headbutt exchange later and Onita has proven that he is still tougher, sending Goto outside altough Goto immediately goes for a fucking dropkick there. Neither of these guys will stop attacking, altough Onita gets the advantage again body slamming him into chairs and landing a table-cracking piledriver that looked like a potential KO as much as anything. Back in the ring and both guys are a mess at this point. Goto with the blistering lariats and huge superfly splash again, but Onita catches him with his DDTs and goes on to drill him with the big damn powerbombs. I actually liked the "kick out at 1 spot" here, it's become such a cliche at this point, but Goto's facial expression really gets it across, he's thinking "I know I'm dead on my feet, but I'm not quitting now, fuck you" then punches Onita in the face. Onita just keeps dropping Goto with one nastier powerbomb after another until he stays down, making this almost a Steve Williams Backdrop moment.

 

I dunno. This is probably not as fine as Kawada/Taue, but in way it feels like the ultimate 90s indy sleaze massacre. It's easily the best match of that kind that I can recall seeing. It's gruesome, primitive, savage as hell and unlike many other matches of that kind had me enthralled the whole way through. Yeah maybe it's not a Top 40 match in 1991, who gives a shit. I loved this.

[G. Badger]

Blood curdling blows- Haymakers, no touch headbutts that split skin, clotheslines, chair shots, table attacks! Oh yeah! This was just great wrestling, great brawling. Onita & Goto showed ultimate heart and guts. This was right up there with the Kurisu matches and so much better than their electric barbwire match. Shoot, if Goto wasn't the #2 man in FMW before, he was now. This was kinda like a bloody low-fi version of what Misawa & Kawada would start a year or two later...at least that's how I look at it. Great match!

[cactus]

My first Onita match. I can see why he was so popular, the guy's got charisma for days and can sell well. That being said, I didn't like this match. It lacked a coherent structure. Goto was actively bad at times. He was dull when he first gains control of Onita and he brushes a piledriver through a table off like it was nothing. I like the dueling headbutts at least. 

★½

[Sean Reedy]

My favorite stuff is Memphis and ECW so you can guess how I feel about FMW at its gutsy bloody resilient chaotic peak. Everything good about pro wrestling. Five stars.