(Written by jom)
Tomoya Adachi vs. Asian Cougar (ZIPANG 04/27/1998)
Wonderfully scummy and reckless lucharesu, the exact kind of thing ZIPANG excelled in. One of my favorite things about ZIPANG is just how cool a lot of the core roster is. It had a lot of fun and comedic gimmicks, but so many of the men behind the masks were just sick ass workers, and a lot of my favorite ZIPANG came from when these guys really got to put their boots on and do stuff you weren't seeing anywhere else. This is a prime example of that mindset, as Adachi and Cougar throw caution to the wind more than once in a match that feels like a struggle to win just as much as it feels like a game of one-upmanship. Both men are constantly finding ways to outdo the other's big spots, like Cougar responding to Adachi's big spaceman dive with a tope con hilo that nearly kills him. Even better is just how vocal the crowd is; this might be the loudest ZIPANG crowd ever, at least based on our recording of the show. It all comes together to end up being a sleeper favorite indie junior match of mine, a super easy watch that delivers cool move after cool move without getting lost in the act and morphing into a movez showcase. Just a real damn good time.
Tarzan Goto, Masashi Aoyagi, & Azteca vs. Dick Togo, Men's Teioh, & Sho Funaki (Indie World 07/22/1998)
Tarzan Goto's finest hour. More than any of the explosive Onita brawls or the Miyake victimization or anything else, this is the definitive Tarzan Goto performance. Kai En Tai, in the middle of their WWF run, return to Korakuen Hall so Goto and company can remind them of what's waiting when they get back. There's a level of cruelty that goes beyond just normal wrestling violence in this match. Goto grabs any sharp object he can get his hands on to bloody up Togo, ranging from ballpoint pens to umbrellas. Aoyagi and even Azteca both follow suit with their own levels of evil, mostly in the form of punching Togo's open wound and cutting off hope spots. Kai En Tai, of course, are electric in all of their comebacks, with super bombastic offense and extensive energy, but Goto is a violent dictator hell-bent on getting his pound of flesh and quart of blood. A strong contender for my personal favorite six-man tag ever, at least of the ones to come outta Japan.
Keisuke Yamada & Takeshi Sato vs. Mr. Pogo & Shoji Nakamaki (IWA Japan 01/17/1999)
Keisuke Yamada deserved the world. While he eventually got his just deserts as Black Buffalo, he truly should've gotten so much more during his earlier years. This is one of his last matches ever as an IWA Japan guy, and the young IWA president puts in such an amazing spirited effort along with his shooty young gun peer against the monsters of the indie scene. Both Pogo and Nakamaki are on a warpath, swinging barbed wire bats with full force and dragging the bloody youths around Korakuen, splattering them into walls and onto merch tables. The best part of this match is how nothing ever really stops. From the moment the match starts, all four men are going at 100 miles a minute, flying around the building with all they have until the bell rings once again. It's one of the better scramble bunkhouse deathmatches of the era, and one of the final hurrahs for Yamada before transitioning into the Buffalo-masked bruiser we know him as today.
Kendo Nagasaki, Genichiro Tenryu, & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Nobutaka Araya, & Shigeo Okumura (NEW NOW 04/04/1999)
If you've turned on this match looking for some sort of grand story of epic affair, then, honestly, you've come to the wrong place. No, this is a celebration of black eyes and bruises. Nagasaki and the crew come into this match planning to kick each other's asses, and that's exactly what they do. Everyone here has a chip on their shoulder, throwing shots with enough force to ripple the skin and bloody up the forehead. Tenryu and Fujiwara are the obvious money pairing, and they do excellent work together as always, but Nagasaki's work with Fujiwara stands out just as much, even if they get a fraction of the time together. The younger guys all prove their worth in excess, laying in their shots with full awareness that the old legends plan to give it back tenfold. They're certainly not reinventing the wheel here, but the wheel in question is an incredibly cool wheel, so there's not much of a reason to try and reinvent it. If you watch wrestling to see potshots and grudges, this match will be right up your alley.
Atsushi Onita, Sambo Asako, & Shigeo Okumura vs. Genichiro Tenryu, Ichiro Yaguchi, & Shoji Nakamaki (Onita Pro 05/13/1999)
Absolute chaos in Korakuen. This is Onita's playground, where he calls the shots and makes all the rules. More accurately, this is Onita's world. Not many better ways to admire it than with this match. It's a gift that keeps on giving, starting hot with Onita and Tenryu teeing off on one another and somehow only going up from there. There's a distinct lack of revelry in the blood and barbed wire, with each guy finding their own point to really milk the pain and suffering for all it's worth. And god man, that crowd. Legitimately on the verge of a riot at certain points. Onita had these people in the palm of his hand, and that control translated over to every other wrestler here. Wrap it all up nicely with a botched finish leading to one of the most insane bumps ever during the recovery stage, and what you're left with is a grade-A brawl, the kind of thing only Onita has ever been able to pull off at this level.
SHINOBI vs. Arkangel de la Muerte (Sekai 06/06/1999)
Sekai No Puroresu is a strange and almost undeniably bad wrestling company. The amount of actually good matches to come out of it could probably be counted on one hand. And yet, I can't bring myself to dislike Wally Yamaguchi's freakish brainchild. It's one of those promotions you watch more for the experience of seeing such a bizarre place, to prove that it actually exists, rather than one you watch to enjoy good wrestling. Luckily, this match is good. In fact, it's very good! SHINOBI and Arkangel are a long-tenured pairing in both Japan and Mexico at this point, and this is their 2nd-to-last match on record, coming only a few months before their great Korakuen match for CMLL Japan. It's high-end local lucha libre, if that makes any sense. There's a sense of roughness to a lot of what they do, spots that just barely go well or dangerous angles on a landing. It's the kind of match you could see on an IWRG undercard in the 2000s, albeit one that excels a lot more than it should. SHINOBI pulls off some of his best execution here, Arkangel puts in his usual great performance, and they actually take this match much farther than they probably should've for Sekai, with some awesome late-stage bombs like Arkangel's big avalanche powerbomb. There's a lot of wrestling out there better than this, but I certainly enjoy myself every time I watch it.
Takashi Sasaki vs. Kyohei Mikami (DDT 12/22/1999)
DDT deliver hard on their first Korakuen show ever with this absolute gem. In a way, MIKAMI and Sasaki are here to celebrate the entire past decade of juniors wrestling as the century comes to a close. There's such a seamless blend of elements from shoot style, lucha libre, classic Japanese wrestling, and even some hints of the recklessly inventive head-dropping of the forthcoming decade. It's also a wonderful celebration of both men's growth up to this point, as well as a strong preview of who they'll become over the next 20 or so years. Sasaki is a monster of a hybrid shooter, throwing nasty kicks and pulling off awesome double wristlocks, but also inventing different ways to drop MIKAMI on his head seemingly on the fly. MIKAMI, meanwhile, is The Perfect Junior, flying around Korakuen like a missile, soaring in and out of frame with the greatest of ease while pulling off crazy cross armbars and cracking Sasaki with thunderous shoteis. There's not much else to say beyond that. If you enjoy juniors wrestling, you owe it to yourself to seek this one out.
Ricky Marvin & Tigre Blanco vs. Super Cacao & Fugaz (CMLL Japan 02/12/2000)
Don't misunderstand me here: there are better CMLL Japan matches than this. I spent extensive time debating between like five different matches for their entry into the list, and I somehow landed on the least good one. Still, this match holds a special place in my heart as the first CMLL Japan match I ever watched, back when Mr. Cacao had a bunch of those matches freely available on his YouTube channel. Like a lot of CMLL Japan, this is mostly a fireworks show, giving the fans entirely what they want (cool spots and cooler characters). While everyone gets their moments here, Tigre Blanco actually stands out the most for me, even over young dynamo Ricky Marvin. He's just such a great mind, always keeping you on your toes waiting to see what crazy bullshit he thinks up next. Again, don't watch this thinking you're getting the best of CMLL Japan. You aren't. It's just a fun little match that holds a little more sentimental value for me than it probably does for you.
Survival Tobita vs. Thanomsak Toba (EWF 02/27/2000)
God bless EWF, Takagi and Nihei's strange attempt at "American wrestling." The only thing particularly American about it was its obsession with Royal Rumble matches, but it was such a blast, giving us some gems of matches that we really had no business getting, especially this one. This is the closest we ever got to different style Tobita, and what a joy he is, selling his ass off with Terry Funk-esque drunken stumbling and shadowboxing, only to eventually turn it around with crushing knee drops and punt kicks. Toba is Toba to the extreme, laying in his kicks hard and letting loose with rapid fire punches like nobody's business. It's a little hard to write about this match without just saying "Toba is Toba, and Tobita is Tobita, and everything is right in the world." There's not much else to say beyond that. If you like either of these two, you will enjoy this. If you like both of these two, you will really enjoy this. And if you don't like either of these two, you should watch this anyways and work on fixing your brain.
Survival Tobita vs. Bauxite Medium (SPWC 04/29/2000)
Just watch this match. Really, just click on the link and watch it. I don't know if it's even possible for someone to be reading this without already having seen the match, but if you haven't, drop everything you're doing and turn it on. If you have seen it, you should do the same anyways. This is Tobita's magnum opus, the perfect synthesis of all his best ideas combined with one of the greatest crowds ever. Tobita even uses "Gastronger" as his Elephant Kashimashi theme of choice. It's spotless from the first second of the video to the last. I love Survival Tobita. I love Saitama Pro. I love pro wrestling.
SUWA, TARU, & Sasuke The Great vs. Dragon Kid, Tiger Mask IV, & Takashi Okamura (Toryumon 06/02/2000)
It kind of blows my mind that nobody has ever really talked about this match, at least as far as I can tell. I mean, don't get me wrong, I get it. This match feels spiritually different from a good bit of Toryumon six-mans at the time, and I'm sure the names "Tiger Mask IV" and "Takashi Okamura" were treated like poison by the forum users around the time. Having said that, this match is GREAT. Really. This is such a blast of a tag, with a great definite face/heel split and exactly what you'd want from that sort of thing. The fouler squad do a fantastic job of brutalizing the babyfaces, especially Dragon Kid who gets his mask ripped up and his balls destroyed. The face comebacks are all so unique and great too, featuring not only the athletic wonder of Dragon Kid, but also the incredible versatility of Tiger Mask and the karate prowess of Okamura. Maybe this isn't the best representation of Toryumon as a whole around this point in time, but it's certainly one of my favorite matches from the company at this point, and one that deserves a lot more eyes on it.
Thanomsak Toba vs. Takehiro Murahama (Kingdom Ehrgeiz 09/02/2000)
The one major negative with this match is that another exists that is most likely even better. A few months before this show, Kingdom Ehrgeiz held a much smaller event, where Toba and Murahama faced off while wearing boxing gloves. Not only do we have photos of the match, we also have proof that the match was filmed and sold on VHS, albeit exclusively at the merch table during other Kingdom Ehrgeiz shows. I am certain that this match is probably one of the best matches ever. Tragically, we do not have that match (at least not yet), and watching this one reminds me of what we're missing out on. That being said, that's pretty much it for downsides here. This match is a total blast, shoot style for a new generation with a Muay Thai fighter and a shootboxer going absolutely wild. Every hit makes a sound of death. Every submission is tight and bone-snapping. The single suplex of the match looks exactly like a shootboxing throw down to the most minute details. They even tell a damn good story of Murahama being a better fighter overall but Toba having enough wacky kicks in his arsenal to stand a chance. Really, this is immense stuff, the kind of thing that probably convinced a lot of people that shoot style as a scene wasn't about to collapse in on itself.
Mr. Pogo vs. The Wolf (WWS 08/05/2001)
There are certainly WWS shows and matches that are more "conventional." I've seen numerous crazy deathmatches from WWS featuring a normal ring and normal wrestlers. However, that's not the WWS I came to love. The WWS I came to love is the WWS that would run mat wrestling matches at wedding receptions and political gatherings. This is that WWS, a bizarre match between Pogo and trainee Wolf at a summer festival. I've already talked about numerous Korakuen tours at this point, but, unless my short-term memory loss is kicking in, this is the first neighborhood tour included in the list. Pogo leads us on a journey through a small town in Saitama, complete with breaking into cars, powerbombs on cement, and Pogo stealing a bike to zoom away from the fans and Wolf, leading to one of my favorite shots ever as dozens of fans and wrestlers chase after him. This is more of a fever dream than a wrestling match, but it's a damn good fever dream.
Koji Ishinriki, Yusaku, Daisaku, YOSHIYA, & Naoshi Sano vs. Shinigami, Shigeo Kato, Masayoshi Motegi, Fukumen Taro, & Hirofumi Miura (NMC Produce 10/21/2001)
I am forever thankful that Shinigami and Shigeo Kato owned a used car dealership, because the Car Crash Deathmatch is one of my favorite stipulations ever. At a rate of once per year, Shinigami and Kato would bring in at least one junk car and let the boys hit powerbombs and piledrivers on it, smash each other's heads into the windows, and generally just try to wreck the thing as badly as possible. This is the first of its kind, and, by virtue of being filmed by a single handheld camera, we end up missing a good 15% of crazy spots, only knowing they happened thanks to the sounds. Kudos to the cameraman though, because he does a damn good job capturing that remaining 85%, and he always makes sure to show us the aftermath of whatever crazy shit occurred just off frame. All ten men here go balls to the wall, not only slamming each other onto the car but also wildly swinging chairs and hitting incredibly dangerous drivers on top of scaffolding. Like all great brawls, this is almost unintelligible chaos from bell to bell, but we're able to parse out just enough of it to know it's the coolest shit ever. It's a fantastic watch, and a shortlist contender for my favorite brawls of the 2000s.
Masato Tanaka vs. Tomoaki Honma (Rainbow Promotion 01/20/2002)
I do not particularly like Masato Tanaka. I think that, after a certain point in his career, the majority of his matches become more about filling a forearm quota than actually delivering something of worth. He's been a shell of a wrestler for a long time, a precautionary tale of how the mightiest giants can fall when their brains turn to mush and they forget the vital concepts that make wrestling matches interesting to instead focus on cheap pops and easy paydays. All of that is to say that this Masato Tanaka is the Masato Tanaka I wish we still had today. This is a ridiculously brutal beatdown courtesy of Dangan, bloodying up Honma and sticking almost entirely to punches directed at the wound when not finding interesting and creative ways to cut off hope spots. Honma, for his part, is a very competent victim, and his big comeback entirely consisting of dangerous neck-drop moves is honestly kind of awesome. Really though, this is the Tanaka show, and he easily puts in the most Tarzan Goto-esque performance of his whole career (which is probably why I loved it so much). Probably not the "dream match" many would imagine for these two, and I am so damn thankful for that.
Sad Genius vs. Tiger Jeet Singh (UNW 03/24/2002)
Before the bell even rings, Sad Genius cuts a promo where he asks Singh if he remembers Pearl Harbor. Tiger Jeet Singh. Tiger Jeet Singh was billed from India and lived in Canada. Welcome to UNW. Of the UNW footage we have, this is probably the best actual match, albeit a very short one. Singh kicks the shit out of the Napoleon Sad Genius, all while Genius' sister begs for him to stop and Gorgeous Matsuno keeps repeating "KILL HIM TIGER". Genius responds with a full-on scuzzy Inoki impersonation, complete with knuckle arrows and armbreakers. All of this sounds very stupid on paper, and is very stupid in execution, but it also rocks. Genius is a legitimately great worker with amazing punches and that kind of 70s silent charisma that makes him feel like a total badass. Singh is motivated way more than he has any right being, really laying into Genius and getting over his chokes without issue. I'm not going to tell you that this is some sort of "objectively" great match or anything like that. It's a great match to me though. Sad Genius please respond to your emails I really want to see you and Tsunehito Naito going 40+ minutes.
Azteca vs. Diablo (KAGEKI 06/23/2002)
Is Diablo the greatest heel in j-indie history? Sources (me) are saying yes! This match feels like so many things, all great on their own, put together in the best way possible. There's a strong influence from the lucha libre both men learned in Mexico, especially with the way they integrate in brawling and mask-ripping, along with Azteca's very Mil Mascaras comebacks. There's also a real feeling of something more territory, lots of bullshit cutoffs and punches and a vital face/heel dynamic tapped into entirely by both men. It's not particularly often you see a guy get booed like Diablo does here, and he knows just how to milk that vitriol for all it's worth. You wouldn't be entirely off in accusing this match of being a little too long or a little too slow at certain points, but it's just such a great time that it doesn't matter to me. Azteca is a hero and this match is his quest to vanquish the biggest evil in all of Fukuoka.
Masayuki Mineno vs. Jota (CAPTURE International 10/05/2002)
About as far away as you can get from pro wrestling while still being pro wrestling. There's no ring, both guys are wearing boxing gloves, the match has rounds, and every single shot looks legit. By god, it's CAPTURE baby. Jota and Mineno are easily the highlight of the small bit of TV footage we have from 2002 & 2003, the two young guns with rip-off Prodigy theme songs embroiled in an endless rivalry to figure out which one is more deserving of Koki Kitahara's love. There's a super interesting dichotomy at play here. Jota is this reckless street fighter who constantly throws wide swings and errant kicks in the hopes that enough Hail Marys connect and take Mineno down. Mineno, meanwhile, is a shoot-to-kill sniper rifle of a fighter, very rarely missing his shots and always making them count. The match plays out with the two bouncing back and forth with this dynamic in mind, Jota unleashing extended relentless haymakers only for Mineno to respond back with equally-destructive pinpoint combos. For a match as one-note as that may sound, they find a lot of really interesting ways to go about beating the dogshit out of each other, and the gloves to a lot more to enhance the match than hold it back. It's the high-spec basement MMA you didn't know you needed to see.
Shadow WX vs. Gosaku (WEW 04/29/2003)
WEW isn't a fed I particularly care for, and, speaking candidly, this was a late addition to the list after watching some shows just to make sure I wasn't missing out on anything. Turns out, on WEW's random one-off ESPN broadcast, they put on possibly the best electrified light tube match I've ever seen. It feels fitting for Gosaku to be here, as he's kind of WEW: The Man to me, someone I've never been especially inspired by who blew me out of the water here. He's a desperate and tenacious asskicker, taking brutality from WX and finding his moments to dish it back out in droves. Every spot involving the tubes is done so well here, from the super scary first board break to WX's nightmarish tube crossface. I can't say enough how pleasant of a surprise this was. Easily my favorite find from working on this list, one of the only matches I've only seen once to make it onto here.
Teppei Ishizaka vs. Sambo Oishi (K-DOJO 08/31/2003)
A pretty emphatic rookie showcase, easily the best kind of match K-DOJO ever put onto their cards. Ishizaka and Oishi are two of K-DOJO's best around this point, and this plays out exactly how it should considering the circumstances: this is the finals of K-DOJO's yearly rookie tournament, and both men had gotten to this point through incessant limb targeting, so this of course turns into full-scale limb warfare. At the same time, neither man forgets the fire needed for a good rookie clash, flying at each other with tons of energy like bulls locking horns, and they do a damn good job of maintaining that energy even in the slower moments with lots of vocalization and wrenching. You really can't go wrong with any of K-DOJO's rookie matches in this era, and this is easily the best of the bunch to me.
Daiyu Kawauchi vs. GENTARO (NIGHT-MARE 11/24/2003)
It's fascinating to see these two men, the two prodigies lined up to be the top rivalry of a Wrestle Yume Factory that never died, finally getting the chance to have a big title match. It's even more fascinating that they worked how they did, because this is a total tribute match to 90s American pro wrestling. GENTARO and Kawauchi are two of the more outspoken fans of the style, so it isn't entirely shocking, but it's such a bizarre sight to see two guys in Battle Sphere working sequences based around the Jackhammer and the Sweet Chin Music. It's a ton of fun though, and a great example of both men's strengths. GENTARO is a master at working these kinds of sequences quickly and naturally, moving around the ring with ease and always having Kawauchi in the right spot for whatever he's planning next. Kawauchi, meanwhile, really gets to flex his muscles as a powerhouse, hoofing GENTARO around with nasty slams and throws. It's certainly not perfect, and there're some do-si-do spots that I don't particularly love, but I do find it somewhat endearing to have those spots almost always end with something like a Stone Cold Stunner. In a way, a spiritual cousin to the Ishikawa/Usuda match discussed previously.
Genichiro Tenryu vs. Mammoth Sasaki (WMF 12/27/2003)
A pretty big match for Mammoth, really his biggest test in proving whether he can be a suitable ace to lead FMW's remnants towards a better tomorrow. Even if that never came to be, I think he passed with flying colors here. Mammoth and Tenryu put in a monstrous heavyweight battle, the kind of thing that blows so much of the "bushido spirit" and "big meaty men slapping meat" bullshit nowadays out of the water. For as much back and forth chopping that occurs here, there's a much larger amount of Tenryu and Sasaki beating the breaks off of each other, with a natural-feeling back and forth thanks to Sasaki's boundless energy and Tenryu's antics with a beer bottle. This match does a great job of being both a large guy EPIC and a vindictive borderline-rookie torture, playing both tunes to perfection and delivering one of my favorite matches of Tenryu's 2000s run.
Kenji Fukimoto vs. Masanori Ishikura (J2K 09/26/2004)
One of the juniors matches of this era that has stuck with me a little more than it probably should've. J2K had a wonderful assortment of guys, and these are two of their best, with the almost Sayama-esque Ishikura acting as a good babyface to fight back against devious fouling Muto idolizer Fukimoto. They really play up how excellent Ishikura is at everything, letting him hold control for a lot of the match as Fukimoto has to rely on his wits and willingness to bend rules to sneak advantages. There's certainly moments of roughness here, one or two botches a long with an instance of the two just not being on the same page, but where they succeed shines much brighter than where they fail. Maybe I shouldn't love this match as much as I do, but I have J2K bias. Not much to be done in that regard.
Killing Machine 666 & Crazy SKB vs. Nakata Shacho & Tontonmaru (666 10/31/2004)
From the moment Crazy SKB comes out in a grim reaper costume, complete with a scythe covered in sticks of dynamite, you know exactly what you're in for. This is a standout SKB brawl, with SKB and fellow untrained promoter Nakata really doing their damndest to make each other blow up. Most of the brawling simply exists as a vehicle to get from one fireworks spot to the other, but there's clearly some juice to it, with a very bizarre but hilarious through-line being the Brody vs. Funk allusions by the two company owners. Killing Machine (a B-tier Slipknot member) and Tontonmaru (a ramen shop tie-in gimmick) both mostly exist to help the presidents with their mad schemes and take bumps, but both are clearly talented workers beneath the masks, and it seems like Tontonmaru hits a 450 at one point slightly out of frame. I guess you can argue this match doesn't have much going for it besides the fireworks and craziness, but this is also a Crazy SKB match, and if you're going to criticize it for something like that then you're a pussy. Enjoy the crowd endangerment like the rest of us.
Ryuma Go, Shiro Koshinaka, Arashi, Koji Ishinriki, & Ryo Miyake vs. Tarzan Goto, Gran Hamada, Masashi Aoyagi, Masanobu Kurisu, & Kazuhiko Matsuzaki (WAP 05/02/2005)
Easily the most Japanese match in WAP's short history. Most of the cards were filled with matchups like Alex Shelley vs. BADBOY Hido or Petey Williams vs. Phantom Funakoshi, but this right here is the "Strong Style of Showa" tribute match. It is one of the rare yet always appreciated indie old man tags, a chance for all the old vets to come together and show their stuff years after their primes. Really, that's all you'd usually expect of something like this: the classics. And yes, they absolutely deliver the classics, with everyone getting at least a moment in the match to pop off a big move or a killer combo. Even still, this match is shockingly ambitious; Aoyagi is busting out kicks he rarely did even in the 90s, Goto is breaking beer bottles to stab people in the face, and Ryuma Go is rocking on all cylinders for a man that looks more like a lego minifigure than a normal human being. There's tons of headbutts, tons of kicks, tons of heat from decades gone by. It's the kind of thing you can just throw on and enjoy without context but really learn to love with it.
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