The Eternal Suffering of Takagi Sanshiro: DDT From June & July 2000

                            (Written by jom)

     I generally tend to avoid mish-mash tapes like these just so I don't have to deal with weird blog formatting that annoys me, but this one has been screaming for my attention from the DDT folder on my hard drive. It's not every day you see a TV broadcast featuring a promotion's top star getting his ass beaten on three separate occasions, let alone all in unique ways. Sanshiro Takagi put himself on the cross for DDT's prosperity, and it's only right that we witness him receive the stigmata. 

06/29) Sanshiro Takagi vs. MIKAMI

     MIKAMI's heel run after coming back from his IWA PR tour didn't last very long. I suppose he had the "too cool" issue (he was just too easy to root for), along with probably ten other reasons for why he turned face only a few months into his return. Since then, he's had a handful of individual heel performances, but he's never gone on a prolonged heel run. That makes this match almost heartbreaking because heel MIKAMI is something else. MIKAMI goes beyond the usual cockiness and bravado into a much crueler sort of work, full of little potshots and scrapes while cranking the heat up to eleven for all of his usual spots. He's still the athletic freak of nature he was before, but all of his athletic feats feel so much more pointed, more focused on hurting than wowing. He's also not afraid to throw punches, ranging from his fantastic worked ones to some jarring shoot ones, and his picks apart Takagi with big bombs like his horrifying swan dive dropkick to Takagi's knee. Takagi is always pretty solid on the back foot, and his comebacks land really well, especially thanks to MIKAMI's willingness to bump like a maniac and cry to high heaven while in Takagi's holds. It comes together to allow the two to work some really great sequences and have a natural back-and-forth flow while never losing the plot of MIKAMI being the biggest son of a bitch alive. Considering the roughness of some patches, the somewhat abrupt finish, and the unfortunate clipping, I wouldn't really call this a great match, but it has most of the elements of one, along with one of MIKAMI's sleeper greatest performances ever. I hope I one day get to peek into the alternate universe where MIKAMI's heel run lasted much longer.

07/06) Yuki Nishino vs. Naoshi Sano

    Power violence squash match. Naoshi Sano comes out in the world's largest t-shirt and hits some poses. Nishino comes out dressed like Tazz, complete with black towel and being very short. Sano gets a hot start going with a full-force dropkick and a bunch of hard chops, and then Nishino hits a single chop harder than any of Sano's and everything goes to hell for our favorite lovable loser. Yuki Nishino is a crowbar with a mean streak and Sano is just a bump in the road for him. Sano's beating is so scary that I almost considered changing the article's title to "The Eternal Suffering of Naoshi Sano". Nishino revels in violence and comes at Sano like a rabid dog. Nishino throws headbutts like he's trying to chase down his opponent, to keep them from escaping the CTE like some kind of pussy. Nishino throws lariats like he's trying to break their nose. Yuki Nishino is a demon. Another name for the "they don't make wrestlers like this anymore (and maybe that's a good thing)" file.

Poison Sawada Black vs. Mitsunobu Kikuzawa

    I have no idea why Sawada is "Poison Sawada Black" here. It's clearly a transitional phase between regular Sawada and JULIE, but it mostly consists of him having weird paint on his eyes. This match entirely exists for Kikuzawa's manager to get into heel manager shenanigans and accidentally win the Ironman Heavymetalweight belt off of Kikuzawa. The wrestling that comes before and after this is just fine. Kikuzawa has a great dropkick and Sawada does a cool rear naked choke spot, but absolutely none of it matters and the crowd does not care. Kikuzawa does an Onita-style promo after the match because who's gonna stop him.

Showa vs. MIKAMI

    We love Phantom Funakoshi, don't we folks? Here he is as SHOWA, a masked gimmick that let him crank the showa-era wrestling tributes up to eleven, so I have to assume it's his dream come true. And this is a great match! It's got a couple moving parts to it, and both guys are so talented at everything that each story to the match is told excellently. A lot of this match's early portion is focused on grappling, with both guys making good movements on the mat and getting to show their stuff while being entirely in character. Showa pulls out some big time old school holds like the bow & arrow, and MIKAMI counters with face claws out of headlocks and double boot rakes. All the bigger spots, from both men's dropkicks to the late-stage bombs, feel so well-built considering the early match work, and they usually come swiftly and naturally. In a way, this feels like the kind of thing Mumeijuku would put on years later, with more of a 2000s juniors tinge to it. MIKAMI is also the coolest wrestler ever and his bombs are incredible. I don't mean to ramble on about how cool he is after already slightly doing that in the previously discussed Takagi match, but man, he's just so cool. Nobody has ever hit sentons like MIKAMI. The match's bullshit finish is very out of nowhere but fits the general vibes of the match itself, and it's a really fun way to wrap up such a good little match. Definitely one worth going out of your way to check out.

Sanshiro Takagi & Exciting Yoshida vs. Koichiro Kimura & Thanomsak Toba

    This era of DDT, as discussed before on the blog, was weirdly reliable when it came to running bizarre hybrid shoot-style tags. The mix of WARist crowbars and martial arts expats led to a good handful of out-of-this-world brawls where guys flew at each other from across the ring to punch each other in the face. Sanshiro Takagi is decidedly not part of the usual crowd for these, but some sort of demon unlocks from his heart when put in the ring against Toba (probably caused by Toba getting up too early after the match-starting People's Stone Cold Forearm), and it turns this match into a highlight of the genre. Takagi's willingness to throw down is something to behold, throwing chops as hard as he possibly can and chucking out teep kicks to Toba's ribs every time Toba starts getting a little too hot at the wheel. Toba, of course, sells everything like death, ragdolling and bending his own body in weird ways in response to being yanked around. He also never calms down and turns every one punch into five punches because nobody else can combo like him. Kimura and Yoshida play second fiddle to both of their tag partners, but they each get extensive time to prove their worth, from Kimura's relentless soccer kicking and shoulder-dislocating crossface, to Yoshida's Hamaguchi tribute act and unhinged no-hands headbutts. Would I place this right beside the very best of the DDT shoot tags? Not exactly, but it's probably only a notch or two below the Ishii/Rider vs. Toba/Sasaki's of the world. Who knew Takagi had this kind of match in him? For all my stiffness freaks in the audience (assumedly all of you), this is essential.

07/13) No Rope Barbed Wire Death: Sanshiro Takagi vs. Atsushi Onita

    Arguably the biggest match in Sanshiro Takagi's career, at least up to this point. Takagi, the charismatic ace of the indie scene's new hotness, takes on the charismatic ace that built the indie scene itself. I have to assume most people had the same guess as to how this match would be worked, myself included: complete fireworks brawling. That was exactly how Onita had been working his matches for the last two years, and Takagi was the best opponent for a singles match of that variety. This match, however, is not complete fireworks. I'm still not exactly sure what you would even call it. The match starts hot, then enters some early slow grappling, and then just... stays there for about 15 minutes. It's jarring, confusing, and, more than anything else, a complete betrayal of expectations. And it also makes complete sense, in a way. Atsushi Onita has spent most of his career working these matches against either larger, stronger forces, or hellions more malicious than him. He's almost always played the underdog, at most standing on equal footing while still fighting from underneath. Sanshiro Takagi is not more imposing than Onita, nor is he more malicious. Sanshiro Takagi is the top guy of a new indie, and Atsushi Onita is at the top of the world. There has never been a greater power discrepancy in the history of Onita deathmatches than this one. So Onita, faced with a foe weaker than him, finally playing the one in control, simply wrestles him to death. He puts on facelocks that bend Takagi's head nearly 180 degrees, and drops his knee onto Takagi's face with his full body weight. When Takagi gets a little fired up, he punches him as hard as he can and slaps on tight sleeper holds. It's textbook rookie annihilation, the kind of beatdown old trainers would give prospective trainees to try and make them quit the dojo. Atsushi Onita is young boy'ing Sanshiro Takagi in the biggest match of Takagi's career, and I buy it. It's also, sadly, not perfect. 15 minutes is a long time for something like this, especially with the expectation that a ring surrounded by barbed wire sets, and it gets a little too slow and uneventful at some points. For as invested as the crowd is, you can definitely tell they're just as tired as you are by the time things really heat up. That heating up doesn't feel particularly natural either, as Onita and Takagi talk shit to each other in an armbar until Onita decides to give up on his rookie-beating and throw Takagi head-first into the wire. Once they reach that point, the match turns into exactly what you would expect: tons of wire bumps, tons of powerbombs, all the big kickouts and yelling you assumed would happen in the first place. It's great, and it's what I wanted. Having said that, I really do think there's something to that 15 minutes. Maybe it could've been cut down or worked a little differently, but it's the kind of match development you could only get from a mind like Onita, and I love that it happened, even if it didn't go as well as it could've. Even with its faults, this is still a great match, and it leaves one to wonder just how much farther it could've gone with a few tweaks.

West Japan 01/18/1996

                           (Written by jom)

     Speaking candidly, this is my third attempt at a show review post in the last two weeks. I set up the formatting for an SGP show and watched the first match before getting sidetracked by the new NPW/NWD footage, and once I had finished that post up I no longer had much interest in visiting Ultraman Robin's turf. A few days later, I started and got about 60% of the way through reviewing an IWA Japan show from 2001 before throwing in the towel (not a bad show per se, but one marred by nasty clipping and a botched finish that took all the wind out of my sails). I can feel that this one is a winner, though. The Halloween season is upon us, and what better way to celebrate the festivities than with one of Mr. Pogo's most gruesome performances ever? Let's take a journey to the west. 

The Jackal & Osamu Suganuma vs. Shunsuke Aijima & Kenichi Kawasaki

     Very clipped but very fun. This is pretty much our only footage of Suganuma until 2004, and it's incredibly bizarre to see him be such an ass-kicker. I've always been a fan of the guy, both as a comedy worker and as a steady hand in the midcard, but this is the most he's ever appeared to have top guy potential, lighting up Aijima with nasty slaps and hitting him with really great bombs like his dangerous-looking powerbomb. Kawasaki is maybe even more of a surprise than Suganuma, throwing stiff kicks like a D-league Battlarts guy. I'm used to Kawasaki wearing oversized t-shirts and carrying around a beer gut, so him being a thickly-built shooter just doesn't look right. Aijima and Jackal (the future Kuishinbo Kamen) are fine enough as well, perfectly capable but just not included much in the footage shown. I feel like if we had the full thing this would be shared around in our little circles as a standout rookie tag from the era, but what we get still satiates the hunger.

Masahiro Hashibe vs. Doku Gas Mask VX

    Hashibe is one of those Malenko Dojo boys who populated random scum indies around this time, a la Cannonball KAZU and Tsunehito Naito. He's got Adidas brand gear and hits pretty damn hard, so he's fine by me. The real draw for this match is getting to see Tobita in the gas mask with a big ass flamethrower, which seemingly gave him the confidence to throw meaner bombs than usual. His piledrivers all hit with that usual force and then some, and his powerbomb looks like a barely-averted disaster. He's so awesome. Perfectly fine match, both guys look good and Tobita threatening the lives of fans with a flamethrower always makes me smile.

Magma Inferno vs. Bio Franken

    Magma Inferno is probably Mitsuteru Tokuda, and Bio Franken is probably Hiroshi Hatanaka, but those are both gut calls more than anything else. Franken has the same all-red manager that Gas Mask had on the last West Japan show on tape (which I talked about here many moons ago). I assume this is just the manager for every midcard masked freak in the company, kind of West Japan's Kim Chee. The wrestling is okay I guess. It's nothing special, but matches like this are more concerned with letting the fans see a big freak like Bio Franken than having quality in-ring action. All of red manager's kendo stick stuff is awesome so I'm happy.

Great Nobushi Thunder Flame vs. Guerrero Diablo

    Easily the most that Diablo has ever looked like a Solar trainee. I've always known he had this kind of performance in him, but actually seeing him fly around the ring with arm drags and big dives is another story. It's very cool! Diablo does a lot of fun stuff here, pulling out a couple different aerial spots while also incorporating the fouling he would be known for later, probably because he has "RUDO" written across his back. Flame is another West Japan exclusive gimmick, one that I'm half-convinced is some sort of Hayabusa clone in the same way that Great Takeru was. He's fine! He does very little to inspire besides a nice suicide dive but he's also perfectly competent. There's a sad botch at one point near the end but otherwise this is pleasant local juniors action.

Hiroshi Hatanaka & Akihiko Masuda vs. Kenichiro Yukimura & Yasuhiro Morinaga

    This match is clipped and it PISSES ME OFF!!! Every match before this has been clipped as well, but this one is especially painful considering what we do get. Masuda and Hatanaka are here representing Tokyo Pro, looking to squash the West Japan bug by defeating future ace Yukimura and other future ace Morinaga (AKA Kyoshiro Suizenji; shoutout to Chris fuckin' Yeelord). Masuda and Hatanaka are a well-oiled torture machine, both talented at working the mat while being unafraid to hit nasty knee drops and smashing lariats. Every time there's a tag they make sure to get as much double-teaming in as possible, which actually elicits boos from the crowd! Do you realize how hard it is to get an indie crowd to seriously boo people, especially around this time? It helps that they get color from both Yukimura and Morinaga (neither man's color moment makes it onto the tape), and Yukimura especially is bleeding pretty heavy by the end of the match. Yukimura and Morinaga fight off the onslaught very well with lots of dropkicks and desperation. Morinaga's dives into the ring to break up every hold or pin are so awesome, and each one gets a massive pop from the crowd. It all wraps up to be one of the most interesting interpromotional feud matches from this period of the indies, almost entirely because it's the first in a while to generate real heat and benefit from it. I know some uncle in Kumamoto has this match in full somewhere in his garage. Give me a call man, I need this like a fish needs water.

Free Weapons Street Fight Death: Ho Des Minh & Mr. Pogo vs. Masashi Aoyagi & Mitsuteru Tokuda

    I've neglected to mention so far that the audio for this tape is absolutely fucked. Not in a completely unlistenable/completely inaudible way, but fucked enough to be of note. It plays into this match more than any other because this is the only match to receive entrance footage, where it sounds like each guy is coming out to harsh noise. Honestly, for a match like this, it works very well. This is complete pandemonium from bell to bell, kicking off strong with a violent Pogo/Tokuda brawl and mostly riding the wave of that matchup for the next twenty minutes. Aoyagi and Minh are both great in their own right though, especially Aoyagi. Everything he does is so cool and he carries himself so well that it takes his already kick-ass karate offense and multiplies the coolness by ten. Minh is more of a whipping boy for the faces here, but he's a great bumper, and most of his offense consists of fouling, so he gets a big passing grade from me. Seriously though, this is all about Mr. Pogo taking Mitsuteru Tokuda to the coldest parts of hell with some of his most vicious torturing ever. He puts his scythe to use all over Tokuda's body, from trying to cut his ear off to stabbing his inner thigh as an anti-air technique. Tokuda bleeds heavy from every stab wound, especially the ones on his face and stomach, and all his comeback consist of him throwing his limbs at Pogo as hard as he can, which is probably what I would do if I was always trying to fight Mr. Pogo. It's a pretty wonderful ace performance from Tokuda. His final one too, as he'd leave West Japan soon after this show before failing to launch his new promotion JET's. What a way to end an ace run. Really great match, a strong way to cap off this generally sick slice of prime indie sleaze.

The Nagoya-Osaka Offensive: Assorted NWD & NPW Matches From The Archive

                          (Written by jom)

     A few days ago, I was half-heartedly scrolling old local indie websites on the internet archive, when I stumbled across a goldmine of WMV files, somehow all preserved for over 20 years. All of the matches in question came from either the Osaka-based New Pro Wrestling (NPW), or the Nagoya-based Nagoya Wrestling Dreams (NWD), with most matches being from the multi-year rivalry between the two organizations. With such a big discovery made, I almost feel a duty to talk about this wrestling nobody has heard of on my blog, mostly in the hopes that there's some real gems in this new collection, but also just to shine a light on a part of the scene that's gotten practically zero coverage in english-speaking circles. Prepare to read a lot of names you've never read before. Let's hop in. 

244 vs. Masanori Kaneshima (NPW 12/17/2000)

     It's weird to see 244 even partially hinged. I'm used to watching him dancehis way to the ring and get into weird shoot fights with bookers, but this is NPW top guy era 244, so he's way more reined-in than he would be later in the decade. He's also a total CIMA idolizer (explains a lot), wearing his gear and doing his moves without a hint of shame. Kaneshima, meanwhile, is the prototypical local shooter, perfectly color-coordinated and ready to dish out an excess of middle kicks. If UWFi were more open to bringing in random job guys during their shows on tour, Kaneshima probably would've been a solid hand for a Kakihara or Kanehara to beast on. Here though, he's a big freakin' deal, with his own fan section that probably consists of his girlfriend and family who are louder than anyone else in the crowd throughout the whole match. I honestly love it a lot, more wrestlers need their own fan club to cheer or boo at the drop of a hat and project complete bias rather than being an "I love wrestling" tepid clapper like we have nowadays. A lot of this match is based around Kaneshima working down 244 with submissions on various limbs before turning to the bombs, and his limbs-targeting is quality work, especially when he tweaks 244's ankle and immediately puts a hold on the ankle. His bombs also deliver pretty well, especially his beauty of a missile dropkick. 244, meanwhile, is definitely lesser than Kaneshima in the execution department, but he does a stunner into a people's elbow at one point which got a nice chuckle outta me. Fun stuff as a whole, maybe not the kind of match you should drop everything to check out but it has its moments and makes me want to see more of both guys, so there's not much else to ask for.

Kenichi Asakawa vs. Macadamia Hattori (NWD 07/20/2002)

    Another local shooter against another slightly odd junior. Well, I don't mean to downplay either man. Asakawa is certainly more than just a local shooter: he also does moonsaults! My only experiences with Asakawa are seeing him get beat up on a RIKI OFFICE show by super rookie Masaru Kawakubo, and seeing him absolutely pwn a really fat fake Muta on a Lock-Up show (Lock-Up being the second or third rebrand of NWD within three years). Hattori, meanwhile, is making his debut here, a trainee of the Shibata Dojo ran by (shocker) Katsuhisa Shibata. Katsuhisa is probably most famous nowadays for being Katsuyori's dad, but his dojo was responsible for producing a handful of random indie stalwarts in the early 2000s, most notably the Kurokage that hangs out with Diablo a lot. That Kurokage also seems to be the best Shibata Dojo graduate, as most of them, Hattori included, never seemed to know how to work. Asakawa certainly tries his best here. He's a mean ass striker with great pacing and execution (at least two steps above Kaneshima on the "believable UWFi jobber" scale), and his aerial moments all look awesome, especially his springboards. The problem is that Hattori has no idea how to take any move ever, which leads to him nearly killing either Asakawa or himself on every bump. Hattori's own offense is good as he pulls out nice flashy kicks and llaves, but his work on defense goes beyond inconsistent and into the realm of genuinely dangerous at a few points. Ah well, Asakawa certainly left a good impression on me, so I'll be on the lookout for more of him.

Kenji Yoshioka vs. Hiroshi Toshima (NPW 05/19/2002)

    Can I get another local shooter vs. local junior matchup please? Truly, these kinds of matches were inescapable in the early 2000s. Minoru Tanaka and his consequences I suppose. Toshima is the least shooty worker to be given the "local shooter" title so far, but he's got some mean ass kicks that sound more brutal than any of the kicks the last two guys threw, so I'll place him in the category anyways. This match isn't the most exciting or action-packed thing in the world, but it's incredibly competent. Future NPW owner Yoshioka is kind of grossly talented at competent wrestling for a guy stuck in no-ring feds, with beautiful dropkicks and incredibly solid matwork. Toshima is solid in his own right, maybe a little too loose in the holds and too prone to slipping up on his moves, but full of the spirit and willing to dish out punishment. There's a really nice moment early on where the two seemingly mistime a corner attack, and Toshima recovers from the nothingness by chopping Yoshioka as hard as he possibly can, rather than try to redo the spot. I've seen people with more experience in more important places recover far worse in similar situations, so I appreciate Toshima's ability to make a good gut call whenever the fuckups happen. As a whole, it's just alright, competently worked wrestling and little else, but I can appreciate a solidly-worked match for sure.

244 vs. Yuji Miyazaki (NPW 12/16/2001)

    It's funny to think that this heated interpromotional main event between two feds' top champions features two of the most notable FU*CK! rogues gallery members. Miyazaki is only a few years away from transforming into The Zack. It's very weird to see him as a serious and petty worker knowing that he's destined for funny eyebrow raises and People's Elbows. This is far and away the best match discussed so far, mostly because of how interesting it is. 244 and Miyazaki are probably the least capable of the bunch (obviously excluding Hattori), but they have a much better grasp on their own individuality, and the match benefits a lot from that. Miyazaki is a house of fire and not at all afraid to break rules, dragging 244 around the venue to slam him into walls and hiding illegal chokes from the referee. 244, meanwhile, gets his receipts whenever he can, throwing nasty chops and kicks while mostly working Miyazaki's arm with full-force stomps to the elbow. This match once again falls into the armwork pattern that has somewhat dampened the energy of all the NPW matches before it, but that armwork is at least more spirited and bitter than the armwork in 244/Kaneshima. The match really rides that bitterness through thick and thin, making up for the occasional botch or slow period whenever either man gets the chance to throw a bomb. Once again, not a great match, but of everything we've talked about thus far, this one is certainly the closest to that point.

244, Hiryuu, Kenji Yoshioka, & Masanori Kaneshima vs. Kenichi Asakawa, Kensuke Komatsu, Koichi Sone, & Yuji Miyazaki (NWD 11/24/2001)

    Yeah, this is the one. The NPW and NWD forces collide in a big chaotic brawl where everyone finally lets loose and the promise of greatness is delivered. At least, that's what enough of this match is to warrant calling it great. It's also a lot of not so good stuff! This match is loooooooooong. Like 20 something minutes long, way longer than a match with a hot start and three minutes of arena brawling should be. It's not like they maintain that fast pace, either; they return to it at multiple points, but at least half of the proceeding match is slower and more heat-heavy. I appreciate the heat work for the most part, as both teams do a good job of cutting the ring in half and finding ways to beat down the weaker links of the teams, but I couldn't help but get a sinking feeling in my stomach when I saw Miyazaki start a legwork segment on Kaneshima. Limb targeting has been absolutely inescapable throughout all this footage, and while I always appreciate a good "pick a limb, tell a story" kind of match, I've been overexposed to somewhat acceptable forms of it for the last two days, and I just don't wanna see any wrestlers controlling the match with arm wringers and key locks for the rest of the week. Again though, there's enough potshots and dastardly fouling to keep this one chugging along, from Miyazaki's chair DDT to NPW's relentless apron kicking. Hiryuu, the god damn BLUBBER MONSTER, leaves a real lasting impression and proves why I'm a complete idiot for not covering any more of his matches, mostly through hitting gross lariats and beasting smaller men around the ring like it's nothing. He's easily the standout amongst the crowd for me, but Asakawa's flying armbars and Yoshioka's dropkicks to the jaw do a lot of heavy lifting of their own. Hell, 244 and Miyazaki even get into a few punch exchanges, and they look great in 240p. Everyone impresses for the entire run of the match, and they end it nicely with one of the crazier finishes I've seen from this period. It's a match that knows itself enough to get much right, and while the faults certainly keep it from entering even higher territory, this is still the best match of the new collection for sure.

The Voices Are Back. They Beg For IWE.

                          (Written by jom)

     I took a bit of an IWE break recently, mostly because I was just busy but also to refresh myself with other wrestling. Sadly, I have conditioned my brain too far. I couldn't help but watch and think "where are all the referee bumps?" or "why isn't there a 9ft tall cage around the ring?" I'm like a sick dog, ready to be taken behind the shed and sent to the angels. Until that happens though, I'll remain here, in my chamber of IWE. 

Rusher Kimura vs. Nick Bockwinkel (10/05/1979)

     Bock. Is. Back. Nick Bockwinkel returns to the IWE blog posts and once again delivers a really great match against one of the stalwarts of the company. Rusher feels like a great compliment to Kintaro Oki in that sense, similar in build and mobility but different enough in both the grounding and standing game. As usual, this match starts with nearly ten minutes of old school grappling, and I'm just in love with everything that happens. So much of the grappling portion is based around Kimura putting on side headscissors, and it works so well thanks to both Kimura's dogged determination and Bock's wily escape tactics. Watching them battle it out on the mat, I couldn't help but think that these kinds of matches feel almost similar to double acts from old vaudeville comedy, with each guy filling their own roles to work off one another. Rusher Kimura is the straight man, stiff and rigid in his work and entirely grounded. Nick Bockwinkel, meanwhile, is the banana man, flailing around wildly and crafting weird holds and escapes to get control over Kimura. It's a comparison that may not land all the way, but I hope my ramblings at least make some sort of sense. Everything beyond the grappling is great and exactly what you would ask for from the pairing. Bock is an incredible seller and Kimura is an incredible giver, and everything feels just so well done for the pairing. Truly, this is the perfect match that these two could give, down to the wonderful bullshit finish. Another strong non-brawling performance from Kimura, and another great match from Bock.

Strong Kobayashi vs. Lars Anderson (09/26/1973)

    As I've stated before, the usual Strong Kobayashi match format doesn't go entirely well with my sensibilities. I can enjoy a good bit of slow-burn grappling, but the slow crawl pacing of many of his matches is just a bit too slow for me. So you can imagine my excitement when I was skimming one of the early 70s compilation DVDs and stumbled across what appeared to be a Rusher Kimura-esque bloody brawl featuring Kobayashi! I have no interest in Kobayashi being Kimura, but I was just interested in seeing what Kobayashi would do in an environment like this one. And yeah, he's pretty good at this whole brawling thing. He's a little less active than Kimura is in his matches, more prone to just letting himself get beaten down, and his strikes definitely land with less oomph (especially the Hulk Hogan style chairshots), but he's certainly able to harness the spirit of a pissed off ace, throwing mean shots to the midsection and eventually taking out his frustrations on the referee. Lars Anderson, for his part, is fine enough too. He's pretty good at what he does here, which is mostly punching and kicking Kobayashi in the face, so he slots in nicely as a dollar store Blackjack Mulligan. I still anxiously await the Kobayashi match that'll blow me away, but this is a nice detour from snail-like matwork and an interesting look at another of Kobayashi's faces.

Rusher Kimura & Great Kusatsu vs. Danny Lynch & Butcher Lynch (01/07/1975)

    The quacking Humpty Dumpty duo returns. Last time we saw the Lynch Brothers, they gave us a very special Kimura bloody brawl featuring the very first instance of someone bleeding more than Kimura himself. Well, here they are once again, and they're game for another big Kimura bloody brawl, albeit one that's way more in line with the usual expectations. This match actually has one of Kimura's grosser bladejobs, as he spends the entire last half of the match with blood all over his head, arms, and torso. The Brothers Lynch are strong in control with their usual bizarre offense, complete with Danny Lynch throwing reach-around tummy punches and Butcher Lynch basically running across the ring to land uppercuts. They're great on defense too, bumping like lunatics around the ring for Kusatsu and Kimura, and Danny Lynch cranks it up even farther during Kimura's big comeback as he starts hitting backflips on every Kimura punch. It's selling that goes beyond the point of parody, but I love it very much. Certainly not one of the best tags from this era or matches from this genre, but a fun little time that makes me happy we have more Lynch Brothers footage.

Ashura Hara vs. Nelson Royal (10/05/1979)

    This is a pretty infamous match, less for the content and more for the ramifications. The long and short of it is that Nelson Royal's NWA Junior Heavyweight title defense wasn't considered authorized, and both NJPW and AJPW contacted the NWA to protest about the belt being defended in a non-NWA organization. This would result in Royal giving up the title and retiring, making this his last match (until he would un-retire four years later) and leading to the creation of another junior title because of more NWA in-fighting spawned by this. All of that is to say that most people don't remember this match for the match itself, which I think should be rectified. This is great! So much of Hara's late '79 run has been him proving his capabilities in as many facets of wrestling as possible, and this is his best showing when it comes to the slower minimalist grappling that dominated the Japan main event scene. Unlike the swift and complex matwork of Mile Zrno, Royal's brand of wrestling is concentrated on headlocks and sleeper holds, doing his best to trap Hara back into the chokes any time he would find a way to escape. Hara is great on defense, scrambling on the mat to escape Royal's clutches and selling Royal's knee strikes to the body like his appendix burst. The work is slow, but it's well-practiced, and the struggle is kept interesting enough to never lose me. It all builds to a great finishing stretch involving big suplexes and even bigger counters, the exact kind of ending this type of match deserves. I certainly wouldn't call this better than either of the Zrno singles matches, but it still stands out as a different kind of great technical match than what I'm used to seeing from Hara.

Mighty Inoue & Great Kusatsu vs. Mad Dog Vachon & Gypsy Joe (02/27/1977)

    Wild, wild fun. Honestly, I don't have a ton to say here. The biggest problem I have with these kinds of matches from a writer's perspective is that they leave little room for aggrandizing, and aggrandizing is, in a sense, my business. This tag wears its heart on its sleeve and spends no time at all attempting to apply subtext or hidden meaning or any of that other bullshit. What you see is what you get, and what you get is an unstoppable frenzy of Korakuen violence. These are four immensely talented brawlers being given the floor to brawl, and they do basically everything you'd want them to do in that situation. Gypsy Joe keeps finding assorted objects to attack people with, ranging from actual blades to big bins. Vachon repeatedly nearly kills fans with his crowd rampaging and gets into little fights with Inoue & Kusatsu multiple times. The home team throw their usual nasty strikes and get big comeback pops. It's textbook stuff from the four in question, and the execution is great all around. No need to try and think too hard about a match like this. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

Waiter! Waiter! More IWE Please! Thank You :)

                         (Written by jom)

     I wonder how much we have of the IWE guys on excursion. I'd kill a man to see the Rusher Kimura USA and Canada tapes. CAGEMATCH says a Kimura/Dory Funk Jr. match from 1970 ended up on TV, so if anyone knows where that one is hit me up. 

Great Kusatsu vs. The Stomper (11/04/1979)

     The (Mongolian) Stomper makes his debut in the Kokusai zone. I deeply respect Kusatsu's commitment to getting over all the top act foreigners in late stage IWE, usually at the cost of his own credibility as a main eventer. Here he is bumping like a beast for Stomper, getting beaten down and choked out while letting Stomper get over all his bigger moves and, more importantly, his character. Kusatsu certainly isn't a weakling in this match though; he pulls off some of his usual big spots, like the always great counter cobra twist and the figure four leglock, and he even hits a massive suplex on Stomper that shakes the ring. Still, Stomper is a real animal of a worker, frantically hunting down Kusatsu and always applying the pressure. He has Yasu Fuji hovering around him as well, ready to jump in and interfere any time Kusatsu gets a little too deep in control. Grading this in the "great match" way feels almost wrong, because this match actually does exactly what it sets out to do and does so excellently. Stomper is now a credible top guy, ready to take on Rusher and Oki and whoever else he'll need to stomp all over in this tour. Good stuff and a well-done debut match.

Mike George vs. Kintaro Oki (04/26/1980)

    Good stuff. Mike George is a Mid-South guy, so I honestly assumed he would fit like a glove, and he kinda does? Maybe it's just by the nature of this match, but while he definitely works well, he's not doing as much fighting as I would've expected. This is primarily a grappling match by design though, so maybe that's not the best option for studying the Mike George capabilities. This follows a pretty basic structure of Oki dominating on the mat, George pushing back with fouling, and Oki making the big comeback with chops and headbutts. It's the time-tested formula for most IWE main eventers, and it's one I usually enjoy no matter what. This match is no exception, albeit it's certainly not trying to stand out from the pack. Oki's armwork is cool and feels very unrelenting, as he constantly hunts for grounded armlocks from any and all positions. George's fouling is more than competent, and features the first white boy cross chop I've ever seen. The Oki comeback, as always, rocks. Not a match that elicits much discussion, but a perfectly fine outing indeed.

Rusher Kimura vs. Umanosuke Ueda (04/20/1979)

    For some, this might be the most anticipated matchup of the IWE voyage. IWE's greatest hero takes on its most notorious villain with the IWA World Heavyweight championship on the line. Just for a bit of historical context, these two's first singles match came in 1976, where Ueda beat Kimura and actually won the title (a tragically lost piece of wrestling as far as I know). They'd have a rematch a month later that would end in a no contest, and then Ueda vanished from wrestling for half a year, vacating the belt before Kimura could ever win it back. Now, here we are, three years later. This match starts with the very rare appearance of Thinker Kimura, as Rusher actually tries to out-wrestle Ueda to cancel out Ueda's bullshit fouling. It's a fascinating strategy for a guy like Rusher to use. He's a wrestler who thrives off of passion, and it's almost bizarre to see him use his brain instead of his heart for his decision-making, but it's an awesome wrinkle in the match for sure. Of course, no amount of hammerlock hunting can stop Ueda from engaging in his fouling ways, complete with an infinite number of headlock punches and foreign object jabbing, and a man can only take so much. It isn't long before Kimura abandons the measured approach and lets the raging beast loose, turning the match into the frantic bloody brawl it was always meant to be. Chairs and ring bells are smashed over heads, referees are ignored, and the ring itself is torn apart. I can't imagine there was ever any doubt that the Ueda/Kimura singles would rip, but it truly passes with flying colors. The wonderful IWE violence we're all here for.

Mighty Inoue vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (11/25/1978)

    Well, hey there Jumbo. I've talked a bit about the IWE/NJPW feud of 1979 and 1980, but I've somehow yet to talk about anything fromthe IWE/AJPW feud that took place during the preceding years. This is from 1978's Japan League, where Jumbo repped Zen Nihon as he skipped the tournament blocks period and jumped straight into the single elimination stage. Inoue is a perfect dance partner for Jumbo, as Inoue pretty much fulfills the same role of revolutionary young gun. And wouldn't you know it, these two very clearly have a great match in them! This is not that match, but it's a very nice preview of what's possible for the pairing, and a very good match in its own right. The early portion is that old grappling that has become lifeblood for me, full of interesting little counters and complex entries into basic holds. Inoue is a fiend for an armlock and Tsuruta does a great job of countering with big arm drags and more subtle movements like dropping a knee on the stomach to prevent the sequence from going all the way back into an armlock. It isn't as engrossing as it certainly could be, but it's competent at worst and genuinely pretty great in a few moments. Once both men start dropping more bombs, this match moves the closest it could possibly get to greatness, with Inoue especially showing out with some truly awe-inspiring counters. Give these guys five more minutes and let them go wilder earlier into the match and you'd have yourself one of the best matches of this ilk from the 70s. As it stands, this is still a ton of fun and worth watching if you're a fan of either man.

Ashura Hara vs. Gypsy Joe (11/07/1979)

    As I've mentioned a few times previously, I originally started this IWE journey privately months ago, mostly going through the IWE Chronicles DVD releases while randomly watching matches posted to the Channel 12 account that has littered my blog since turning this into a writing thing. Back then, this match comfortably sat at the top of my list as the very best of what IWE ever offered. Well, it's been a few months since then, and things have changed. I've found matches that speak to my soul just as much as Hara/Joe did. I've found others that may reach me on an even deeper level. But, here I am, months later and one fresh rewatch removed, ready to tell you that this match still hits just as hard, if not harder. This is IWE at its most cruel. More specifically, this is Gypsy Joe at his most cruel. In the Rusher Kimura cage match, I pinpointed him as a Dracula-esque blood drainer, but the Gypsy Joe here feeds more on suffering than blood. The way he tortures Hara around the ring goes beyond the scope of anything seen before, dragging him by the hair and face to throw him into the metal beams on the cage and finding all opportunities to punch him as hard as he can in the nose and jaw. Hara certainly tries to fight back, wildly throwing punches and chops into the air, but always gets cut off and dragged back into hell, convulsing as he goes. Joe's violence would be enough on its own for sure, but Hara's disgusting jerky motions and gasps for breath take his struggles and transform them from an attempt to fight back into an attempt to live. Hara really only gets his comeback through sheer force of will, picking the right moment to put everything he has into one final momentum-shifter, and it starts the most harrowing babyface revenge segment I have ever seen. Ashura Hara, after 10+ minutes of torment, gets it all back in blood by scrambling Gypsy Joe's brains into a mushy mess. I mean it when I say that I don't think it would fly nowadays, at least not in any of the major American or Japanese companies. It's scary, but it's also entirely fitting as a punishment on Joe for his abhorrent actions leading up to the comeback. This is a match of consequences, and the consequences are graver for Joe than any other man. One of the most compelling pieces of work from IWE's catalogue, and one that more than holds up as one of the best IWE matches ever.

    ...But where exactly does it land on the list??? Considering the occasion of this being the 10th IWE post so far, I thought I'd release my IWE ranking list. This list only includes matches I've covered on Dragon Screw, and I'll release a new list every now and then so the people can know what it's currently looking like. I already know of a few matches that I've already seen that'll probably make it into the top 15 once I cover them (and a few I haven't seen but have high hopes for), but I do feel pretty confident in the top 5 being pretty unshakeable. Behold!!!

    Thank you to everyone that has been tuned in for the IWE reviews so far. I'm planning to slow down the posts for the next month or so, just because I want to chill out from making blog post announcements every three or so days. That being said, I already have the lineups figured out for the next few posts, so who knows. Maybe there'll be a new one ready within two days of this. Regardless, thanks again for checking this stuff out, and go watch some IWE bro.