(Written by jom)
For the third spitball in a row, SED starts off the blog post, except this time, no Greed. I just thought it was time to broaden my horizons, look at who else SED has to offer, really take in the- ah, who am I kidding. Doretti YU-JI is less than a year away from changing his name to GREED. GREED IS BACK. And I am more happy for it. He's here facing off against Hellraiser Zeon, who looks like a front line grunt for the Spirit Halloween army. Zeon is defending his EVIL WORLD EXTREME championship, which is basically his personal belt and means that all fouling is legal in this match. It's very specifically "illegal attacks are allowed" rather than anything like No Holds Barred, because NHB comes with certain expectations regarding weapon usage. Instead, this match style just means that YU-JI and Zeon can get away with dick punches and using the customary Japanese plastic box. Zeon is a somewhat interesting figure in this match, throwing lots of generally good kicks and doing some fun spots like the Onryo pinfall catch, but mostly existing as a training dummy for YU-JI to unleash his entire moveset upon. No kidding, this might be the quintessential YU-JI showcase match, as he not only gets to do a ton of his movez, but also just entirely dogs on Zeon for most of the runtime. This best illustrated by when YU-JI lands on his feet to counter Zeon's attempted Angel's Wings, and then just slaps him as hard as he can before deadlifting him into his own Angel's Wings. It's the type of total disrespect that borderlines on burying, just complete and utter disregard for your opponent's image. It also goes to show the type of worker YU-JI is, resorting to the nuclear option at the slightest inconvenience. YU-JI pulls off cool move after cool move, from standing shining wizards to the Roddy Strong's fireman's carry gutbuster. I guess you can criticize the way the match is constructed in that way, and it certainly does keep it from being anything actually great, but I had a hell of a time watching it. Check this out if you're in the mood for cool moves and unnecessary roughness, and then join me in watching all of YU-JI/Greed's matches.
Match Rating: B
Koichi Nagatoshi vs. Tomoya Sato (DREAMERS 02/06/2010)
Truly, I have no clue how it's taken so long for the word "DREAMERS" to appear on this blog. It's a massive blemish on my record as a Guy That Writes About Obscure Japanese Wrestling, and feels borderline impossible considering how much I've talked about the promotion elsewhere. For anyone that hasn't heard of it before, DREAMERS was a wrestling organization started by Hayate, entirely made up of the trainees from SUPER CREW, his wrestling school he ran alongside Dick Togo. During its lifespan, it out as the most fascinating terrarium of the Japanese indie scene, almost entirely isolated from all other wrestling companies while creating a flourishing house style of really smart and detailed juniors work. Nagatoshi and Sato are two of the standouts from this environment, and they put on a sick little match because of that. The most interesting part of the match to me is how they find ways to keep everything flowing while still feeling like a fight. There's a couple awesome little moments based around the slight additional struggle added to every spot, guys having to fight extra hard to keep each other at bay long enough for the big spots. Sato's sleeper hold hunting in the latter half of the match feels like a great example of this too, with Sato just constantly trying to get a grip on Nagatoshi's neck even as Nagatoshi keeps finding his way out of it. It also helps that both Nagatoshi and Sato have great form to everything they do, like their suplexes and their big kicks. The only badly executed move here is Tomoya Sato's diving elbow drop, which just looks like he's trepidatiously diving into a pool. Otherwise, this is two young masters getting to work a nice and compact match, getting to show just how damn good they are at this whole wrestling thing. Thumbs up from me, expect more DREAMERS to show up on the blog eventually.
Match Rating: B
Black Buffalo vs. Flash Moon (Osaka Pro 11/10/2007)
Somehow, this is the first time I've talked about Osaka Pro on here, which feels very odd. No point in an introduction for the company though; if you're reading this, you almost undoubtedly know what Osaka Pro is. This is around the peak of Osaka Pro's popularity and probably their strongest state ever, with easily one of the coolest rosters in all of 21st century Japanese wrestling. Buffalo needs just as little introduction as Osaka Pro, but Flash Moon feels like he deserves much more conversation than he gets. He's one of those Toryumon guys that really just slipped through the cracks, peaking with this run as Flash Moon for Osaka Pro but spending most of his career bouncing around different wrestling scenes under different names. He's a really great wrestler though, and this match feels like a pretty strong testament to both his and Buffalo's capabilities. Flash Moon spends the first minute just 200-IQ'ing Buffalo, which leads to Buffalo delivering a true "I'm NOT owned" performance where he tries to knock Moon's head off of his body. No joke, the second Buffalo gets the chance he smashes Moon with one of the hardest lariats I have ever seen him throw, and that sets in motion one of the most cruel & unusual punishments Buffalo has ever dished out. There are multiple points where these guys genuinely work me and I'm convinced that Moon is actually fucked up, not only because of Buffalo's violence, but also because of Moon's pretty stellar selling performance. He really knows how to balance both big "slipped on a banana peel" style bumping with complete dead sells where he goes limp and looks more like a corpse than a living man. This has all the big bombs and amazing movez you'd hope for from this period of Osaka Pro, but also carries with it a damn good story and two amazing performances in relation to that story. Possibly one of the most underrated matches in Osaka Pro history.
Match Rating: A-
FIRE DOG vs. Tadanobu Fujisawa (K-WEST 01/21/2010)
Shout out to all my fire dawgs! I bought this DVD solely because I was mesmerized by the name FIRE DOG. It's a personal dark horse contender for best wrestler name ever. Anyways, this is a local semi-pro indie legend getting absolutely dogwalked (pun intended) by a Real Professional Wrestler. Fujisawa around this period of his career is super interesting, constantly being matched up against schmucks and showing them what it means to enter the god damn squared circle. He's got that Kurisu blood flowing through his veins and it really shows at this point in his career, taking guys like Yoshiaki Iwata and Lucha Master Takemaru and really ripping them apart in that ring. This might honestly be his best performance in that kind of match, as he entirely dominates the ring in a way that puts FIRE DOG so far beneath him that it almost feels criminal, and not even just from all the stiffing. Little things like Fujisawa repeatedly forcing FIRE DOG back into a headscissors or maintaining a headlock so tight that it takes FIRE DOG throwing a flurry of strikes at his midsection for him to even lighten the grip really get across that Fujisawa is from an entirely different solar system of pro wrestler than this freak in trash bag pants and a dog mask. Of course, the stiffing helps too. Fujisawa's boot scrape is always a wince-inducing moment, but his execution here where he spins FIRE DOG's mask all the way around in the process is ludicrous in a way few other spots can match. This complete control also helps to cover for the fact that FIRE DOG kind of sucks, evidenced by the few moments of FIRE DOG offense where he either botches his spot or throws the world's most pathetic forearms. We barely get to see this though because of Fujisawa's unrivaled dictatorship over the ring, and we're much better off for it. This is an incredibly one-note match, practically a 10 minute Old Yeller with a sociopathic Travis Coates, but it honestly ticks most of the boxes for a premium rookie beatdown (an especially funny thing considering FIRE DOG has apparently been wrestling longer than Fujisawa has). If it had a good FIRE DOG comeback or a few more instances of Fujisawa taking suable liberties, we'd be talking about something genuinely great. Sadly, FIRE DOG isn't a good wrestler and Fujisawa wasn't that sociopathic, so we'll just have to settle for something pretty damn gnarly and fun.
Match Rating: B
Van Vert Jack & X-Odajimo vs. KAZE & Van Vert Negro (RLL 04/01/2018)
I wonder how child labor laws in Japan apply to lucha libre. The year is 2018 and Van Vert Jack is a 12 year old child, but he's working with his dad Negro so maybe they can just argue this as a "bring your child to work day" situation. Anyways, this match is happening at a classic car meet on a dock in Fukuoka, and, inexplicably, that speaks to my very soul. As a lifelong resident of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I have experienced many a Cruisin' The Coast event, and the environment of this match blows a cool sea breeze into my heart, one I've felt for 23 years. I see the funny looking Japanese grandpas with their funny hats and I think of the funny looking American grandpas with their funny hats I see driving down Highway 90 every single year. I don't believe that Jiraiya put on this match to remind us of the universal nature of the human experience, but he certainly did so, at least for me. He also gave us a very fun match, which I am equally thankful for. This is genuinely such a blast, a super lighthearted affair mostly based around how fucking cool Van Vert Jack is. Anyone that knows who he is also knows he's kind of a prodigy, and even at 12 years old it's blatant just how much potential he has. He and his father Negro work the best sequences and spots of the match, with Negro being the perfect base for all of Jack's crazy flips and twists. It's also worth mentioning that, even with his evident faults from being a literal child, he's seemingly got a good head on his shoulders, knowing how to sell competently and only really slipping up once when he tried to give KAZE the chance to cut him off when KAZE didn't intend to. Negro is also pretty awesome here, especially whenever he gets to beat up his kid and hit him with backbreakers and piledrivers. He's a great rudo in general, doing a lot of fun crowd work and working over the faces just as much as he needs to. KAZE and X-Odajimo are almost complete afterthoughts here, but they both do their jobs well enough and never hurt the match. Honestly, just check this match out. Maybe I have a bias for it considering my coastal nostalgia, but I truly enjoyed this match a ton and think you would too.
Match Rating: B+
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