Minoru Tanaka 20th Anniversary in Kyoto 05/17/2014

                      (Written by jom)

Kazuhiro Tamura vs. Alexander Otsuka

    We're starting this show commemorating Minoru Tanaka's 20th anniversary in wrestling right by featuring two people with pasts deeply tied to Tanaka himself. While Tamura is of course a trainee of Kiyoshi Tamura in U-FILE CAMP, he also spent a lot of time training under former ARSION wrestler and U-FILE CAMP trainer Yumi Fukawa. While Fukawa was training him, she got married to Minoru Tanaka, leading to Kazuhiro Tamura receiving training from Tanaka, a dream situation for Tamura considering Tanaka was possibly his favorite wrestler. Otsuka meanwhile is someone Tanaka spent the entirety of his early career with, as both of them came up in PWFG before moving to Battlarts.

    This ended up being a pretty fun little opener for the show. It started off with Tamura and Otsuka doing some alright grappling, before eventually breaking into a small chest slap exchange which led to Otsuka smacking the taste out of Tamura's mouth before smashing him with a shoot headbutt. Otsuka took over for a solid portion at this point and did some solid enough work, mostly just clubbing on Tamura and hitting stuff like a real hard european uppercut.

    Tamura was eventually able to take the advantage with his really cool run-up corkscrew senton attack (basically just Jeff Hardy's "Whisper in the Wind"), and he started to rattle off some of his usual awesome offense, like some mean slaps, a nice slingblade, and a really good missile dropkick. There was a nice little struggle over whether Tamura would be able to put on the Minoru Special, before finally Tamura hit a really mean kick to Otsuka's arm and locked in Tanaka's eponymous move.

    Otsuka was able to escape however, and soon after took back the advantage, hitting some of his own cool offense including his awesome giant swing, before finally planting Tamura with a really nice release tiger bomb to get the victory.

    This didn't really do anything special but at the same time featured two very good wrestlers hitting some of their usually good stuff for about 5 minutes. Otsuka was cool as the dominant veteran, beating down on the smaller Tamura before Tamura was able to come back and hit some of his usual awesome offense. A very enjoyable way to start the show.

Rating: B-

Hikaru Shida & Tsubasa vs. Kana & Heat

    Next up, we have Tanaka making his first appearance of the night, reviving his Heat persona from his days in NJPW and teaming with Kana to take on Tsubasa and Shida. Kana (WWE's Asuka) is of course an absolute killer at this point in her career (although she's very rarely not a killer at any point), and Shida is someone who I've seen very little of but I've heard she's at least pretty solid. Tsubasa is one of those guys that went to Mexico in the 90s to receive training in lucha libre, and he's been a very good wrestler at pretty much all points of his career, doing some great work in Osaka pro (both the original and the revived one running today).

    Sadly, I actually think this underperformed compared to the opener, as well as considering the level of talent in the ring. The match started off well enough, with Heat and Tsubasa running through a nice fast-paced juniors exchange (ending with a double dropkick because of course it did). Kana and Shida tagged in and immediately started to hit each other pretty hard, with Shida throwing some nice boots and Kana responding with some hard kicks of her own. Eventually Shida and Kana got into a fun sequence where they kept throwing hip attacks at each other, and then when Heat tagged in he immediately threw a few of his own at Shida.

    After this though, the match kinda lost steam. It's not like the actual work was bad or anything, it just felt like the energy in the match went away, and it never came back to the level it was in the early portion. Shida and Kana were definitely the better parts of the match here, with both throwing some mean strikes like Shida's gross running knees and Kana's brutal spinning backfists. Tsubasa and Heat also weren't bad, albeit Heat did very little after that early segment and Tsubasa wasn't very inspired, only really hitting a nice DDT at one point.

    Eventually, Kana got the win for her team by countering a pinfall attempt after a Falcon Arrow from Shida into a cross armbar. There was very clearly some good stuff here, but the entirety of the match felt mostly by-the-numbers and some of the sequences were too preplanned-feeling for my tastes (I know that with this type of match that's the nature of the beast, but I still don't enjoy it). It didn't help that the crowd felt absolutely dead for most of this. Overall nothing bad happened here, but very little that was memorable happened either.

Rating: C+

Manabu Hara vs. Katsumi Usuda

    While the last match ended up being disappointing, I feel almost certain in the fact that this one will meet expectations, with two of the most underrated Battlarts wrestlers facing off in a Battlarts rules match. I haven't talked about Usuda on the blog in over a year and that is a damn shame, as he's an absolute killer who works like a sleazy shoot style Fujiwara, throwing leg lift headbutts and locking in Fujiwara armbars while also busting out some crazy spinning backfists and kicks. He would actually retire only a year after this show too, facing off against none other than Minoru Tanaka in his final match. Hara meanwhile is someone that I've somehow never talked about here, which is insane considering I think he was the best pure shooter of all the 2nd Battlarts guys. He has a vibe that kinda feels like a mix of Daisuke Ikeda and, funny enough, Katsumi Usuda, blending together slick grappling with some really hard strikes and huge suplexes, all while possessing that kick-ass aura that Ikeda had in his prime. Even to this day Hara is one of the best shoot style guys in the world, and the fact he hasn't appeared in a place like GLEAT is a damn shame.

    And wouldn't you know it, this fucking rocked! Both guys were able to really lay out some of their best stuff here and it resulted in a really damn good bati-bati match. The match started out with some really nice grappling, full of struggle and tenacity that really made it worthwhile rather than just being there to pad out the match. Very soon after that though, Usuda starts throwing some hard kicks, until Hara is able to catch one and absolutely floor him with a disgusting head kick. However, Usuda is able to get one back on him, as when he gets up and Hara tries to rush him in the corner, Usuda responds with his own head kick. This immediately sets the stage of the match, with Hara utilizing his greater athleticism and tenacity to take control, while Usuda uses his veteran instincts and craftiness to try and keep on top of his younger opponent.

    On that note, there was a lot that happened here, so I'm not going to go play-by-play, but instead I'll just talk about individual performances. Hara was pretty great as the monster shooter he always is, working very well while grappling and making sure to lay in all his strikes. Probably his best work all match were his counters though, as he was able to pull out some awesome stuff like a beautiful flying armbar or a huge german suplex. He was always one step ahead of Usuda it seemed, reading his movements and responding with appropriate violence.

    Honestly though, Usuda was the better man here.

    Usuda was really embracing that Fujiwara-level evilness in him throughout this match, constantly lighting up Hara with hard strikes and grinding him down as much as he possibly could. At one point, Hara had ahold of his arm and was trying to put in a double wristlock, so Usuda responded by just grinding his elbow into the side of Hara's head. There was also this really sick moment when Usuda was mounted on Hara's back and just started wailing on him with knees, elbows, and a cracking headbutt, before getting up and punt kicking him to hell. While Hara was able to match Usuda when it came to the force behind his moves, Usuda brought a level of cruelty that Hara couldn't match.

    The end was a pretty perfect summation of the match's whole story. Usuda started to beam Hara with head kicks until Hara was able to catch one and try to lock in an ankle hold. However, Usuda just yanked his ankle out of Hara's grasp, and blasted him with two more head kicks to get the knockout victory.

    Maybe I'm just a sucker for bati-bati (I am), but I really dug this match a lot. There were some notable moments of not much going on, with both guys hesitating to engage and just trying to find a moment to strike rather than actually striking, but when they actually did start to engage, it was always real high quality stuff. The best match on the show so far, and a wonderful performance from two of the best at the bati-bati style of wrestling.

Rating: A-

Tsubo Genjin vs. Antonio Koinoki

    I really do have to appreciate Tanaka's choice to follow up such a violent and intense fight with a light-hearted comedy match. That man knows how to pace a card. Koinoki is of course really good, almost undoubtedly the best worker to come out of WGWF entirely. Genjin is a different story though. I've actually seen very few Tsubo Genjin matches myself, but I have friends that have seen a lot more and seem to despise him. It's especially weird to hear about that since in my opinion, Genjin's work as Hiroyoshi Kotsubo in places like WYF, MUGA, and Battlarts is actually pretty solid, but again, I've heard very few good things about his comedy work, so I'm coming into this with mixed expectations.

    Honestly, this wasn't some great match or anything, but for what it was, it was fine. Not much to talk about since this went 5 minutes and didn't feature anything super interesting. Koinoki was fun as always here just busting out Inoki tribute stuff like a great indian deathlock, a very good diving knee drop, and a cool cobra twist. Genjin actually had a few nice moments too, like throwing some absolutely crazy chops that bruised up Koinoki's chest pretty nicely, as well as one point when he acted like he was going to throw Koinoki at a group of fans and then just didn't. That was probably the funniest part of the match solely because the fans were freaking out about it.

    Koinoki ended up getting the win in the end with a great enzuigiri into a manjigatame. I could probably complain about some of the stuff that happened, like moments where you could tell the two were absolutely working together to do spots, but really this match never made me feel anything strong enough to either complain or highly praise. It was a match that happened, and it was never very good nor very bad.

Rating: C

HUB & Kazuki Hashimoto vs. Masked Kocho & Ryoji Sai

    In the semi-main of the show, we've got a pretty stacked tag match between four high level juniors guys. HUB is someone I haven't talked about since the Maruyama produce I reviewed, but he's just a generally great slick high flyer. Hashimoto meanwhile is a total beast, throwing crazy hard strikes including some truly sickening kicks. Ryoji Sai is also in that category of a shitkicker and has had some really good performances in Z1. Finally, Masked Kocho is making his debut in this match, however based on the body type and the specific execution of certain moves, I'm almost 100% sure this is just Shinobu from 666. I'm fine with that though since Shinobu absolutely rocks, he's a great suicidal high flyer who can throw a mean lariat along with having a killer shooting star press. It's also the first time I've talked about Shinobu since the first post I ever made on the blog, and it's been a long time coming.

    This was a solid enough match, nothing crazy but featuring some pretty cool stuff. HUB and Hashimoto were pretty damn good when in control, as both guys are very adept at working on top and really crushing opposition, and they were able to really beat the hell out of Kocho. Hashimoto laid into him with some stiff forearms and kicks, including one to the back which let out an unreasonably loud smack. He didn't do much outside of just hitting Kocho, but I wouldn't really ask much else out of him anyways. HUB meanwhile was even better in control though, doing some great work like hitting a really gross dropkick to the back of Kocho's head, or locking in a crazy hold where he had one of Kocho's arms and one of his legs trapped while also stretching the other leg over his shoulder like a stretch muffler. HUB also let loose some real mean hits with the tail on the back of his mask, which is a very legally grey maneuver and honestly probably shouldn't be allowed but it also makes a loud sound so it appeals to my caveman brain greatly.

    On the opposing side, Ryoji Sai was really the only drawback of this whole match. He had a few good moments like coming in to break up a submission by kicking Kazuki Hashimoto really damn hard, or hitting a step-up kick to Hashimoto that was also really hard, but for the most part just slowed the momentum of the match down to a noticeable degree and was more interested in doing monotonous strike exchange type wrestling. Kocho luckily carried the team on his back though, as he rocked here. He bust out some awesome stuff like a great hurricanrana and his always insane Asai moonsault, and just in general was able to do so much great high energy offense, especially when working with like-minded wrestler HUB.

    Eventually, Kocho won the match for his team with a beautiful shooting star press. While I wasn't huge on everything that happened here (especially the stuff involving Sai), I thought this was pretty damn good for the most part, and Kocho and HUB especially put in some great performances. I'll definitely be looking out to see if HUB and Shinobu have done anything together since this match.

Rating: B

Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Minoru Tanaka

    We've finally arrived at the show's main event. This is actually a first-time singles encounter between Tanaka and Sekimoto, two living legends of the Japanese wrestling scene. If you're reading this blog, you almost definitely know about both guys, so I'm not going to bore you with a long preamble, and instead I'll just get straight into the match.

    Of course this was very good stuff. Early on Tanaka and Sekimoto actually played the match out pretty evenly with Tanaka holding his own against Sekimoto in grappling and actually smartly avoiding any power-for-power stuff. Once that did begin he was absolutely outmatched, and instead took to kicking Sekimoto as hard as he could to keep the match on equal footing. However, Sekimoto's power isn't something you can just work through easily, and pretty soon Sekimoto was in control of the match. Probably the only negative portion of the match followed this, as Sekimoto slowly worked over Tanaka with some hard chops and power stuff like a boston crab. I really just wasn't super interested in what was going on here, as while Tanaka did a great job selling the pain being inflicted, I just felt like the action was so lethargic that it was taking me out of the match. It didn't help that Sekimoto also seemed to want to instigate strike exchanges way more than needed (strike exchanges in general have absolutely fallen out of favor with me after seeing so god damn many, so at this point I only really get into them if the people doing them are throwing strikes really stiffly).

    However, once Tanaka was able to finally take some level of control back, this match got really fucking good. Tanaka's actual comeback absolutely ruled, with him trying to hit a dropkick as Sekimoto rebounded but Sekimoto caught the ropes, but once Sekimoto hit the ropes again Tanaka rolled forward and jumped up to land the dropkick. Dropkicks immediately became Tanaka's bread and butter here, as he blasted Sekimoto with a ton of them, like a gross one in the corner, a great diving one off the middle rope, and one right to the face that sent Sekimoto tumbling.

    Soon after Sekimoto was able to fully get back onto equal footing, and this entered into the back and forth bomb trading you would expect this match to. While this type of wrestling isn't my favorite, both guys were absolutely pulling off some great stuff, like Tanaka's horrific diving foot stomp, or Sekimoto's huge corner lariat. Sekimoto completely redeemed himself for the boring work he did earlier too, as he turned up the pace by a lot and started going crazy with tons of awesome stuff, including one particularly great enzuigiri into a mean brainbuster.

    The finish came soon after, as Sekimoto destroyed Tanaka with a brutal lariat and followed it up with the deadlift german suplex for the win. I think that the early portion with Sekimoto in control really did hurt this match a good deal, and if that portion had been worked better this would've probably been a flat-out great match. However, once Tanaka made his comeback, this was just awesome work from both guys for the remaining duration. Sekimoto turned into the hardass bruiser hoss we all love him as, and Tanaka pulled out all the stops to try and overcome the monster in front of him. Overall, this was a really good match, and a good way to end the show.

Rating: B+

The Comprehensive Survival Tobita

               (Written by jom)

    Honestly, I'm kinda shocked it's taken me so long to start this.

    Masaru Tobita made his professional wrestling debut in Pro Wrestling Crusaders on April 17th, 1994. Originally a student wrestler, Tobita's career began quietly... and by quietly, I mean that within a year, he had already donned the "Doku Gas Mask" persona, quickly setting the stage for his future career path with wild brawls and flamethrowers.

    Tobita would stick with PWC for two years along with working in promotions like WXY and West Japan (under both his real name and the Doku Gas Mask gimmick), before leaving PWC in 1996 to become a freelance wrestler. He would quickly take to working for DDT along with other PWC alumni like Sanshiro Takagi and Kazushige Nosawa, and on May 25th, 1998, Tobita would officially change names, becoming known as Survival Tobita.

    Tobita's legend would truly begin on March 29th, 1999, with the first Saitama Pro Wrestling Company event. Saitama Pro (also known as SPWC) would be Tobita's first venture into promoting his own shows, and would also mark the first battle in Survival Tobita's long and storied career as a monster hunter. In the main event of the show, Tobita would take on "Genshi Enjin" Virgon, a massive ape-man possessing extreme strength and a wild temperament. Tobita would be beaten horribly, constantly thrown around by this monstrous creature, until, finally, he found a way to overcome Virgon's inhuman power and dropped him on his neck with a brutal piledriver, slaying the beast and changing wrestling forever. Tobita was no longer just a normal professional wrestler.

    Tobita had become a bonafide superhero.

    In the coming years after this, Tobita would take on different oddities invading our normal world, including swamp monsters, robots, phantom swordsmen, the living incarnation of bicycles, and of course, his arch-rival, Mokujin Ken (also known as Ken the Box). Each and every time these monsters came, Tobita would fight with his life on the line to not only gain victory, but also to save the entire world from their villainy. Tobita became the final line of defense between Earth's peace and impending doom. Even when he didn't win, Tobita's efforts would prove valiant, and he would always end every battle with a long, passionate speech for all those in attendance, creating a rabid cult energy around himself and the conflicts he had against the great dangers of the universe. 

    He wouldn't only face these monsters, however.

    Through a combination of the wild skirmishes Tobita had with the forces of evil and the strange yet deeply engaging charisma he had as an everyman forced to do battle with these malevolent fiends, Tobita's name began to appear on larger and larger events. He appeared in FMW during its dying days. He teamed with Great Sasuke and Ultraman Robin in a Great Space War. He even faced Jun Akiyama in All Japan Pro Wrestling for the GAORA TV Championship. Tobita had gone from just another rookie in the low-level PWC organization to an underground legend of professional wrestling. He even continues to wrestle to this very day, having last wrestled Freddie Krueger in a street fight in August of 2021, while also sporadically promoting his shows for his current promotion, Unemployment Pro Wrestling, or UEW for short.

    As a wrestler, Tobita isn't the most technically adept in the ring, but he possesses an energy and fighting spirit like no other. He can throw some mean strikes, including hard lariats and massive cross chops. His powerbombs and piledrivers always land with a thudding impact. His most endearing trait, however, is his gruff demeanor, constantly portraying a slightly angry, slightly drunk ordinary person, facing off against the extraordinary forces that come after him. Watching Tobita engage in combat against some of the most bizarre existences in professional wrestling history, all with a straight face and an almost apathetic demeanor, is truly one of the greatest joys I have ever gotten out of this hobby as a whole.

    In my own opinion, Survival Tobita is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, able to maximize his limited abilities to their full potential and create some of the most memorable matches in history. I can only hope that these reviews will serve to introduce some of you to the legendary "Mediocre Superman", and show you why he deserves his place in the metaphorical Mt. Olympus of professional wrestling.

Reviewed Matches (in Chronological Order):

Doku Gas Mask vs. Crusher Takahashi (West Japan 06/21/1995) - B+

Survival Tobita vs. Genshi Enjin Virgon (SPWC 03/29/1999) - A-

Survival Tobita vs. Jido Senshi Gardan (SPWC 12/23/1999) - B

Survival Tobita vs. Kodo Fuyuki (FMW 04/15/2001) - B-

Survival Tobita, TAKA Michinoku, Iori Sugawara, Daigoro Kashiwa, Teppei Ishizaka, & GENTARO vs. Koji Ishinriki, Crusher Takahashi, Tetsuhiro Kuroda, Kazunori Yoshida, Kosei Maeda, & Mitsunobu Kikuzawa (PWC 09/17/2003) - B+

Survival Tobita vs. H. N. Tokunakinozomu Kotoba no Bōryoku Kaijin (SPWC 03/30/2008) - B+

Survival Tobita vs. Takaku Fuke (FU*CK! 03/28/2010) - A+

Survival Tobita vs. Kancho Nagase (Saburoku Combat 05/19/2013) - B

Survival Tobita vs. Miyako Matsumoto (Ice Ribbon 08/25/2013) - B

Survival Tobita vs. Jun Akiyama (AJPW 05/19/2018) - B+

Survival Tobita vs. Dan Severn (TCW 03/13/2019) - C+

Survival Tobita vs. Takahiro Tababa (West Mexico 12/01/2020) - A+

Comprehensive Survival Tobita #1

                  (Written by jom, photo credit to @Namjunkzone)

Survival Tobita vs. H. N. Tokunakinozomu Kotoba no Bōryoku Kaijin (SPWC 03/30/2008)

    If I'm going to do a Tobita series, I have to start with a monster match. This time around, Tobita is taking on "H. N. Tokunakinozomu Kotoba no Bōryoku Kaijin", a massive creature covered in black spikes that possesses the power to say mean things and cause physical damage to his opponent. He starts the match hot by grabbing the mic during his entrance, verbally attacking Tobita, and beating down on the now powerless hero.

    Almost immediately, this match's story is clear. Kaijin is not only able to attack Tobita using only his voice, but he's also enveloped in those spikes, rendering most of Tobita's offense useless. Tobita tries to throw punches and headbutts, but every time he does he inadvertently hurts himself more than he hurt Kaijin. Kaijin is able to completely dominate the match during the early portions, hurling insults at Tobita before and after every move to maximize the damage dealt. He absolutely crushes Tobita with a huge splash and even hits a brutal headbutt to Tobita's groin (Kaijin's own face being covered by the spikes).

    Eventually, Tobita finds two weaknesses of Kaijin, the first being that as long as Tobita utilizes weapons, he's able to damage Kaijin without taking any damage himself. He beats Kaijin senselessly with a megaphone, as well as with his trusty plunger. Using that megaphone though, he discovers Kaijin's other weakness, one that completely changes the situation in Tobita's favor: Tobita can throw his own verbal jabs at Kaijin, weakening the monster's strength and, more importantly, his spikes. This allows for Tobita to finally hit Kaijin directly, and he does, mixing in more weapon usage like attacking Kaijin using a whole cart with big strikes like a stiff lariat. 

    In the final stretch, Tobita starts to pull out all the stops in an attempt to slay this monster. He throws a brutal lariat with a chain wrapped around his arm. He tries to choke the life out of the beast using that chain. With both attacks, it doesn't work, and Kaijin refuses to die. Tobita decides to truly go all-out in this do-or-die situation, and TAKES OFF ALL OF HIS CLOTHES. While I may not understand what this will do to help Tobita, I can still feel the power radiating off of this, and know that Tobita has entered into the most powerful form possible. He tries to murder Kaijin with a brutal kneeling piledriver, before finally dropping Kaijin face first onto a chair with a Tarzan Goto-esque facebuster, defeating the evil and once again saving the day.

    This is a textbook monster match from Tobita, and it was a ton of fun with a really well-told story. Kaijin was a really cool villain this time around, hitting some solid moves and having those spikes be a really good obstacle for Tobita to overcome. I think there have definitely been better monster matches (which we will absolutely get to in the future), but I had a ton of fun with this match even if the language barrier obviously meant some of the bits weren't able to land for me. The laughter of the crowd was enough for me to understand and feel it, and that's all I need at the end of the day.

Rating: B+

Survival Tobita vs. Dan Severn (TCW 03/13/2019)

    Tobita has had a number of matches that, on paper, don't seem real. They sound like a match you would get from hitting the random button a couple times in Fire Pro. And yet, they actually happened. 

    This is one of those matches, one that could only be conducted in Jimmy Suzuki's crackhead promotion Tokyo Championship Wrestling. This is the same promotion that brought both Rick Steiner and Road Warrior Animal to Japan so Kazushi Miyamoto could live out his childhood dreams of being a Steiner Brother and a Road Warrior. This is the same promotion that hasn't gone a single show without booking Yoon Kang Chul in an NKPWA World Championship match (and of the four shows, three of them booked him against Osamu Nishimura). This is the same promotion that booked a "Former WWE Stars" tag match, including "Yamaguchi-san Is Back!", a man pretending to be Wally Yamaguchi since the real one had passed away nearly a year prior. TCW is truly a wild promotion with the ability to create surreal matches like the one we're visiting today, and its existence is very appreciated.

    The match starts with Tobita and Severn going in for a handshake, but both refuse to let go. Eventually, Severn (wearing his Sunday's best) decides to force the handshake to end, snapping Tobita into a real mean shoulder-dislocating arm lock, to which Tobita immediately taps out to? The ref doesn't call for the bell though??? Severn spins Tobita around and locks in a tight guillotine choke. Tobita taps out once again, and once again the referee doesn't end the match. That's when the ring announcer gets on the microphone to tell the audience (and Tobita I guess) that this is a "sparring" match, meaning it'll go until the time limit is up. I realize at this point that what I'm about to see is the extended torture and execution of a hero.

    After Severn flows through holds once again to lock in a brutal rear naked choke, Tobita is able to rake his eyes and go outside for a breather. No amount of breaks will have him from the slaughter though, as right when he gets back in Severn destroys him with a huge belly to belly suplex (seen below). Tobita finally is forced to resort to a low blow, which Severn... completely no-sells. Tobita throws throat thrusts and Severn no-sells it. He even throws a hard headbutt and Severn no-sells it. Maybe my favorite part of the match happens with that headbutt, as right after hitting it, Tobita just looks around at the crowd with pure frustration on his face and hits the saddest shrug I've ever seen, practically screaming "WHAT ELSE DO I HAVE TO DO MAN?".

    After this point, the match enters a very simple formula: Severn beats up Tobita, Tobita taps to a submission, Severn and the ref argue about the rules of the match, Tobita eventually gets up, and then it all repeats. This happens for a couple minutes until finally, finally, Tobita gets hit with one more huge belly to belly suplex, and the ref calls the match off, as Tobita is entirely knocked out.

    This is a weird match to rate. This kinda felt like a Tobita monster match for the first half, with Tobita getting completely dominated by an overpowering force. However, unlike those monster matches where Tobita eventually finds a fatal weakness and turns the tables, there was no fatal weakness in Severn. Severn just stretched and suplexed Tobita for six minutes straight, and Tobita was left beaten and broken. I'll give it a C+ overall, as those first couple minutes were pretty cool and seeing Severn in his old age still bust out some big suplexes and holds was awesome, even if structurally this was extremely repetitive and spiritually this match hurt my soul.

Rating: C+

Survival Tobita vs. Takahiro Tababa (West Mexico 12/01/2020)

    Before anyone asks, no, I don't know why this promotion is called "West Mexico". They were not in Mexico. This match happened at the Paddinton Cafe in Saitama, and it's actually the final singles match to take place in the venue, as the cafe was closing for good immediately after this. Tobita's taking on Takahiro Tababa, a personal favorite on the indies who has a real mean streak and throws some hellacious kicks. This is also a chain deathmatch, meaning Tobita and Tababa spent the whole duration chained together.

    When I saw Tababa walk out with a wok and Tobita walk out with a pot, I knew this was going to be something special.

    It's brutality from the get-go. Tababa quickly takes to punching Tobita with the chain wrapped around his fist, blasting Tobita with stiff rights until Tobita is able to counter and initiate a sword fight with the kitchenware! Tababa is able to come out on top in this duel though, and immediately bonks Tobita on the head with his wok, creating this really sickening noise of steel colliding with skull. Tobita comes up from this and he's already bleeding out a fountain.

    Tobita is able to take back the advantage and get some level of revenge by using the wok to bludgeon Tababa, raining down gross strikes with it to the back of Tababa's head. There's some more cool stuff involving the chain like Tobita throwing some stiff punches with it wrapped around his fist (which cause Tababa to start bleeding as well) or Tababa using the chain to enhance an ankle lock, but this match truly enters a new level of crazy when Tobita drags Tababa outside the building. The two men start to brawl on the street, with passersby looking on in bewilderment at these two shirtless men, chained together and bleeding heavily, throwing each other into walls and choking each other with the chain. Tababa takes to kicking the hell out of Tobita, throwing some really hard shots including one kick directly at Tobita's neck. However, this portion of the match is undoubtedly where Tobita is in his best form. He does some wild stuff here, like trying to use a wrench to further open up Tababa's wound, or sending Tababa head-first into a wall, leaving a patch of blood behind. He even hits an elbow drop on the concrete, which is just completely unnecessary and probably hurt him a substantial amount too, but Goddamn if it isn't awesome.

    At this point, I'd like to mention one of my favorite parts of the whole match: the camera work. Maybe it's the film school dropout in me that cares so much about this, but the shots of this match were just something to behold. The entire thing was shot on one shaky handheld camera, and the camera operator made sure to get as close as possible to the action, constantly filling the screen with bloodied faces of the wrestlers. These choices led to one of the most immersive matches I have ever seen, with the shot composition making it feel like I'm right there on that street in Japan, watching these two men try to kill each other before my very eyes. It's a surreal experience, one very few matches have caused in my time as a wrestling fan.

    Eventually, both men head back inside Paddinton and onto the puzzle piece mats. Tababa, after having been mostly on the receiving end during the fight outside, goes into overdrive, absolutely taking it to Tobita with hard shots and some cool submissions like a double wristlock with the chain. He gets so riled up and pissed off that after the referee makes him break a submission, Tababa slaps him so hard it nearly knocks the ref out. Tobita is able to get a counter in, but both guys are so worn out that neither is able to take a clear advantage over the other. They start throwing shots without any rhyme or reason, and attempt to stretch each other into submission. Tababa initiates a shoot headbutt exchange, and as God as my witness, these may be some of the most horrific sounding headbutts I've ever heard. Multiple hollow thuds and cracks, the type of shit that makes your skin crawl and makes you reconsider the choices that led you to this point. Tababa rattles off a quick barrage of headbutts to take the advantage, before throwing some of his most violent kicks ever at Tobita, nearly getting a 10 count knockout. In one final moment of desperation, Tobita throws a wild cross-chop which sends Tababa tumbling. Tobita immediately uses the chain to drag Tababa right back up, destroying him with a Gotch piledriver and finally getting the victory.

    However, maybe the most important moment of the match came after it concluded.

    This brawl was followed up by the show's main event, a customary battle royale featuring all the wrestlers on the show. It's pretty much a tradition in these low level promotions to cap off the night with one of these matches, and it was no different here. There's some fun moments for sure, like Tobita coming out and immediately laying down, asking Kuishinbo Kamen to pin him because he's very tired after the last match and just wants to go home. Tababa sees this and decides to do the same, and once he gets pinned Tobita gets mad and starts yelling at him for stealing his idea. It's light-hearted stuff and a nice way to send the fans home happy, as well as a good way to say goodbye to a cafe that's hosted so many fun wrestling shows. At some point during this match though, everyone just stops wrestling. They all turn and look to the left of the camera. The camera pans over.

    The police are here.

    At some point during Tobita and Tababa's brawl outside Paddinton, an onlooker ended up calling the cops. Naoshi Sano and referee Pink Tiger both exit the match almost immediately, heading outside to try and explain to the cops what's going on. It's really a bizarre sight, seeing all these wrestlers and fans just standing there, watching on as real law enforcement have come to investigate what was probably described as a violent fight, considering the number of officers outside. Eventually, the police issue some citation for a public disturbance or something like that and exit the premises, but even as the battle royale continues, the image of police standing outside the cafe doesn't leave my mind. This night was meant to be a little celebration to close off Paddinton Cafe, but it ended up featuring one of the craziest moments I've seen in this decade of wrestling so far.

    There's something about this match that can't be described. Of course, there's a ton of great stuff that's easy to explain. Tobita and Tababa utilized the chain to great effect throughout the match, they bled a ton, they threw stiff shots and did some crazy brawling. All of that could come together by itself and lead to a pretty awesome encounter. 

    This match is more than that. 

    There's an intangible feeling that lives through this match, one that's just as much strange as it is chaotic. Arguably dumb spots are intercut with undeniably brutal violence. There's a sense of weirdness amongst all the bloodshed, one that is retained no matter how visceral it gets. And when the police showed up afterwards? That intangible feeling got cranked up to 11. Somehow, it almost felt like the most fitting conclusion possible to such a baffling match.

    I'm not a big fan of a lot of the hipster-ish shit some people say about wrestling. I've come to naturally groan or roll my eyes whenever I see someone talking about how "wrestling is art" or anything like that. With this match though, I'm almost forced to look at it as some esoteric piece of modern performance art. The visuals of the match were stunning. The conclusions of both the match and the whole ordeal were phenomenal. The stars aligned and both men put in such violent and bizarre work that it led to immediate real-world consequence. If any wrestling could be called "art", this match would probably be up for consideration as some of the highest art in the medium's history.

    Tobita and Tababa didn't do this to be artistic though. They did this because they wanted to hit each other really hard and have a weird brawl.

    Really, there's little else I could ask for than that.

Rating: A+

Saburoku Combat 05/19/2013

                     (Written by jom)

Yuusha Amon & Kunihiko Mitamega vs. Kira*Ann & Dark Ranger

    Starting us off is team Wallabee vs. team... something! I talked about Mitamega on the last review I did, and I'm pretty excited to watch him again after such a good performance on the WGWF show, especially since at this point he's become a part-time member of Wallabee. I've yet to talk about Yuusha Amon though, who's another Wallabee roster member and from the small amount of work I've seen so far is pretty damn good. He's also booked Minoru Suzuki and Negro Navarro on his Tokyo Tama Luchas shows, which is just so insane that I have to mention it. On the other side of the ring is Kira*Ann and Dark Ranger, two people I've never seen before. Just from the entrances, Ann isn't very notable but Ranger (not to be confused with Miracle Man who also went by Dark Ranger) is wearing a scream mask and has tights that just completely show his dick and balls, so that's certainly something.

    When looking back at my notes, I feel like I must share this section: "Amon horrifically botched an arm twist; Ranger is god awful; Ann just did one of the worst botches I have ever seen; RANGER WILL NOT STOP YELLING; oh my god this is horrible". This was a rough match to get through. Probably the worst wrestler in the match was Kira*Ann, who unlike everyone else had genuinely not a single good moment. Everything she did was sloppy and uncoordinated, especially the arm drag(?) attempt that led to the comment above. Ranger wasn't much better, working a slow motion lucha sequence against Amon and doing this incessant high pitched yelling that stopped being funny very fast. The one "good" moment of his was a giant swing, but if I was willing to let that redeem someone I'd be less angry at Otoko Sakari matches. 

    Mitamega and Amon were both okay, but neither seemed interested in working hard and they did next to nothing of note. Mitamega blocked a low blow with a ladle at one point (kinda, he didn't get into position at time but I don't fucking care enough to make it an issue) and the guy hosting the show got on the mic and laughed at it, and then later Amon hit a genuinely good backdrop suplex. Other than those two spots, their contributions were absolutely nothing.

    Truly, I cannot get across just how bad this match was. When I reviewed Hideki Shioda vs. Mambo Shintaro, I called it one of the worst matches I had ever seen, before giving it an A+. The reason behind that choice was that it felt so horrible, so monumentally bad, that it wrapped around to being amazing. It was a match that truly came to benefit from how terrible it was, turning into one of the most enjoyable natural disasters I have ever seen take place in a wrestling ring. This match didn't reach that point. It may have gotten close, but it never crossed the barrier from being "bad" to "hilariously bad".

    It also lacked any surreal moments to bring it to the level of Shinigami Shuucho vs. JET Shinomura, or Magnum Oedo & X vs. Koryuki & X. Those matches possessed a key moment that took it from being meh or bad to an insane viewing experience. Once again, this was not the case for this match. There was no intrusion from Koriki Senshu. There was no surprise gorilla. There was the ladle spot, but not only was it less interesting than those two examples, but it was also of little consequence for the rest of the match. There was only Dark Ranger and Kira*Ann, and those two are not Koriki Senshu or the surprise gorilla. In the end, this was never so bad it was good, nor was it truly memorable in any way. The only thing saving this match from an even lower rating was Amon's great backdrop suplex, and even then that can only do so much. A match that, truly, was lacking in anything of worth.

Rating: D

Kancho Nagase vs. Survival Tobita

    After seeing some of the worst the indy scene has to offer, we're following it up with a match that has a ton of promise for weirdos like me that love the sleaze scene. Nagase and Tobita are both legends of this weird shindie circuit in Japan, coming up in PWC and both doing well in their respective crafts for years since then. This is somehow the first time they've ever met in the ring according to different wrestling results sites (outside of a battle royale from DDT in 2000). I'm sure they've met at least 3 times in the past for shows that would never appear on these sites, but at bare minimum I've never seen them meet in the ring before, so I was excited to see it happen.

    And luckily, this ended up being pretty fun! Considering both guys, there was of course some of the expected roughness, but what they did here is what is what I would call spiritually correct pro-wrestling. The whole basis for this match was that Nagase is smaller than Tobita but also a hard-hitting karateka, and Tobita is a big monster who manhandles Nagase with brute force and headbutts. Nagase was pretty awesome here throwing sick chest punches and cool kicks, including his always great diving dropkick. He also did this amazing counter into his signature sleeper hold seen below, and as a whole was able to utilize his size and personal strengths to their full potential. The only criticism I have for him is that his rope rebounds are some of the worst I've seen, but considering he's a karateka, I can mostly forgive that.

    Meanwhile, Tobita was a real bastard this time around, almost coming off as one of the monsters he took on in the 90s. He tanked so many stiff shots from Nagase, responding with clubbing blows and mean headbutts, as well as some hard slams. Other highlights include a crazy jumping stomp he hit right to Nagase's neck, and his trademark piledriver (seen below). Genuinely, Tobita's piledriver might be my favorite one ever, as he always hits it with such a gross landing.

    Sadly, this did have a kinda strange and abrupt DQ finish, which, while I understood the idea behind it, I definitely wasn't a big fan of it. Even considering that and the general roughness of the match though, I still thought this was a lot of fun. Both guys played their roles really well and they told a story that was easy to understand and get into. Leave it to two sleaze indy veterans to pull me right back into this show after such a bad opener.

Rating: B

Ultra Seven vs. Ultraman Robin

    Following up a match between two sleaze workers, here we have a battle of Ultramen! I've talked Robin before, with Robin constantly surprising me by how enjoyable his matches are compared to the reputation he's always had among western fans. We haven't yet talked about Ultra Seven though, but we have talked about Masahiko Takasugi, a wrestler with striking similarities to the larger Ultraman in this match. Someone should probably look into that.

    While this was a fight between Ultramen, I wouldn't go as far as to call it an Ultramatch (I am not proud of myself for that one). Both guys were sloppy and slow, and combining that with the grappling-heavy action led to kind of a bore. Seven was alright in this one, doing some work on Robin's leg that certainly wasn't horrible. He also hit one hip attack onto a seated Robin's neck which was actually kinda cool, and did some fun dumb spots involving getting the ref beat up (referee Pink Tiger got beat up bad enough to result in referee Batten Tamagawa coming in to take his place, only for Tamagawa to get beaten up to leading to Tiger taking over the referee job once again). 

    Robin was pretty much working at the same level as Seven was here. A lot of his grappling was kinda meh, but he did have one or two cool moments, like the solid counter from a chinlock into a Fujiwara armbar seen below. Probably the coolest thing he did overall was his diving crossbody which, while not great, was one of the best ones I've seen him hit. He wasn't all positive of course (at one point he tried to do a shoulder tackle exchange or something and it just completely fell apart, resulting in him and Seven just staring at each other for a couple seconds), but it wasn't like he was horrible either.

    In the end, this match also ended in a fuck finish (stemming from all that referee assault I mentioned in the section about Seven's part in the match), but I was more okay with this one than the one from Nagase/Tobita. Overall, this wasn't anything offensive and did have a couple solid moments, but overall was just kinda boring and not worth checking out. The novelty of booking the two Ultraman guys against each other was a fun concept, and honestly if this had happened in the late 90s it could've been genuinely pretty fun, but it was never going to be good in 2013.

Rating: C

Umanosuke Ueda 2 vs. Stungun Takemura

    First we had a battle of sleaze legends, then we had a battle of Ultramen, and now, our next mirror match is a battle of mad brawlers. Stungun Takemura is a dude who seemingly loves Tiger Jeet Singh, coming out with the fencing sabre and completely addicted to sticking his tongue out Fiend-style at any point he can. Meanwhile, Umanosuke Ueda 2 (aka VINNI) is the official successor to the legendary Umanosuke Ueda, looking like a near perfect mirror image of the original blonde brawler.

    Now, I was prepared for disappointment. I have friends that have seen Takemura matches before and have said he's godawful, and I came into this somewhat expecting a mid-level match at best. To my pleasant surprise, not only was this good, but it was the best match on the show up to this point and it's not even close. Ueda was extremely solid in the ring as a flat-out wrestler here, moving with a nice crispness and commitment that a lot of wrestlers nowadays don't possess. In terms of his brawling though, he was pretty awesome beating up Takemura with some hard chest chops and mean shots with a kendo stick. He was super aggressive and really took it to Takemura at ever point. He even included some nice bigger bombs in his arsenal, particularly this great doctor bomb:

    Takemura was not being carried in this match though. He more than held up his side of the match, matching Ueda's aggression with some real devious shit. Very early into the match Takemura was already going crazy on Ueda with these truly gross throat stabs using a fork. He was able to do them so well and so quickly, and Ueda sold them perfectly, coughing up like hell and gasping for air after each one. Takemura's work with the sabre was great too, jabbing at Ueda's head and really twisting it into his wound, causing Ueda to bleed pretty hard as the match went on. Hell, he even had a killer fireball spot, using one to break up Ueda's doctor bomb. My favorite spot from this whole match though was the one shown below, where Ueda started to choke Takemura and Takemura, through sheer force of will, started to choke Ueda too, leading to them rolling out of the ring while choking each other. It's just that type of vindictive, cruel violence that really makes me remember why I'm so huge on brawlers like these.

    Throughout the match, both guys teased at multiple points getting counted out, whether by themselves or together. I bit on pretty much every tease they did considering the multiple cheap finishes seen prior on the show, and when this match eventually did end via count-out I genuinely felt like it was entirely earned. This was a genuinely awesome brawl with both guys coming out looking like total killers, and I've now come to doubt the tastes of my peers. Wrestling doesn't need to be smooth or clean or deeply layered. Sometimes, all you need is two guys willing to be mean as hell to each other, and that's exactly what we got here.

Rating: B+

Kazushi Miyamoto vs. Keizo Matsuda

    We've had three matches between similar characters so far, and to finish that theme off, we're going into real hoss territory. Kazushi Miyamoto is one of my favorite wrestlers, a former All Japan guy who traded in his set future as a top star there to become a real shitkicker on the indies with Tenryuist tendencies and a love for Scott Steiner. You're likely to see him bust out the punch/chop combo and a Steiner Screwdriver in the same match, and is there much else you can ask for? Matsuda meanwhile is another guy I'm pretty high on, starting in IWA Japan and remaining their ace for years. He's got a hard spinebuster and a mean lariat, and once again, what else could you want? This match alone is what first got me interested in buying this show, so to say I was a little excited to watch it would be an understatement.

    Wouldn't you know it, this ended up going pretty much exactly as expected. If you've seen the clip of Big E yelling "BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPING MEAT", that is this match through and through. Miyamoto was awesome as usual in this one, blasting Matsuda with these absolutely thunderous chops, creating those awesome clouds of sweat with each one. He was able to hit some of his classics too, like a great superkick, a huge backdrop suplex, and a real hard brainbuster. Of course, probably the best moves he hit all match were his lariats, including this brutal one which looked like it knocked the soul out of Matsuda:

    However, I ended up walking away from this even more impressed by Matsuda, as he was really damn great here. He was able to return fire with some brutal chops of his own, as well as hitting a few mean shoulder tackles. His power moves ruled too, pulling off a great sidewalk slam as well as somehow doing a DELAYED SUPLEX, which can be seen below. I cannot stress enough just how impressive it is that Matsuda was able to hold up such a big man like Miyamoto for so long. He even was able to respond to Miyamoto's lariats with a few awesome ones of his own. Really, Matsuda's performance here was amazing to see.

    Just like the last match, this was pretty basic compared to other matches, but it thrived through the basics that it concentrated on. Matsuda and Miyamoto beat each other up like nobody's business, and a real hoss fight like this was a great way to follow up the wild brawl before it.

Rating: B+

Super Delfin vs. Konaka = Pehlwan vs. Naoshi Sano

    We're ending this show with a truly stacked triple threat. I've talked about Konaka multiple times before, but it's been a good while since Sano has popped up on the blog (last appearing on the previous produce show I covered), and it's nice to see him back. Delfin really doesn't need an introduction, as he's a legendary juniors wrestler and widely regarded for his work both in the ring and as a promoter with Osaka Pro. Really, you could only end a show like this with a match with stars like these.

    While this ended up being a clear step down from the last two matches, it was still a lot of fun! The first half of this match was all about how Delfin and Konaka just didn't feel like dealing with Sano, actively ignoring him to work their own match and eventually telling him to leave because he kept interrupting them in an attempt to get in on the action. Sano is genuinely hilarious here, trying to creep his way into sequences like joining the ending standoff after having watched Konaka and Delfin work a whole exchange, and when he gets told to leave I genuinely cracked up pretty hard. Once Sano forces himself into the match and starts to work his own spots this turns into more of a traditional match, but really, I do have to commend everyone involved (especially Sano) for such a fun opening half.

    In terms of the actual work here, everyone did pretty well. Sano wasn't able to do much overall but he did pull out some cool stuff like some nice Texas-style punches, as well as a damn good dropkick. Konaka was also able to do some of his usual sweet spots, like his awesome throat thrusts as well as a crazy cross-legged diving senton. I love all of Konaka's cross-legged moves, but that really might be my favorite off them all. Delfin was definitely the best guy in terms of actual in-ring work (shocking, I know), hitting the classics like a stiff shotei and the slap into tornado DDT seen below. All three guys were only able to pop off a couple moves each, but they made the most of it.

    In the end, this match only went about 7 minutes long, but still ended up being really enjoyable. The two matches before it were absolutely better as individual matches, but this was definitely the best way to wrap up the show, ending it on a real high note.

Rating: B