[2001-02-04-IWA Japan] Terry Gordy & Shoichi Ichimiya & Tomohiro Ishii & Yukihide Ueno & Yuji Kito vs Doug Gilbert & Keizo Matsuda & Takashi Uwano & Ultra 7 & Tiger Jeet Shinjuku (Elimination)

[GSR]

For a professional TV show the camera work at the start is shocking.  It looks like this is going to be a nightmare to try and follow, but fortunately it soon settles down.  The match itself is clipped and we pretty much go straight to the first elimination, Ishii pinning Uwano with a Tiger suplex.  Ultra 7 is in terrible physical shape although does manage a go behind take down on Gordy before a dreadful looking running crossbody on Ichimiya.  Gordy backdrops Shinjuku over the top rope and the bell rings.  I thought at first that meant Gordy had been disqualified, however he’s still in the ring in the next clip, so it turns out eliminations can occur as a result of being thrown over the top rope as well as being pinned or submitting.  An Ultra 7 forearm smash staggers Gordy but he then suffers the same fate as TJS as the Gordy team make it three eliminations in a row.  Ishii is back in throwing bombs and he looks a class above everyone else.  Nice dropkick from Ueno and Gilbert is in to break up the cover, not wanting to be left alone against five men.  A great belly to back suplex by Ishii sees Gilbert in again.  Matsuda kicks out after a top rope frankensteiner and neither man gives an inch on the double lariat.  It really is a different quality altogether with these two.  Ishii takes an awesome bump off a clothesline, powerbomb, leg drop off the top and Ichimiya is in grabbing the referee’s arm to prevent him from bringing it down for the three.  It makes no difference as an official who was on the outside slides into the ring and makes the count instead, Matsuda having small packaged Ishii in the meantime.  Gordy returns throwing more meaty clotheslines until he runs into a Gilbert cowboy boot, the pair then both go over the top rope together in a soft double elimination.  Gilbert did nothing here.  The three on one odds were always going to be too much to overcome, and even though a triple superbomb can’t put Matsuda away, a Kito frog splash following a combination belly to back/neckbreaker does.

According to wrestlingdata this is the last professional wrestling match of Terry Gordy who would pass away just five months later.  To say he was a shadow would be an understatement, and while he can still throw a good clotheslines, he was the least impressive of his team.  Doug Gilbert was a complete non-entity.  The hard hitting Ishii was in a league of his own looking a class above, especially when he was going at it with Matsuda.

[soup23]

A real WTF with GOrdy and Ishii teaming. Overall, this was missing a charisma thread that keeps things together like ONita but Ueda, Gordy, GIlbert and Ishii all had their moments here and for scuzzy Japanese indie action, it was entertaining enough. **3/4