West Japan 01/18/1996

                           (Written by jom)

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

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

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

Masahiro Hashibe vs. Doku Gas Mask VX

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

Magma Inferno vs. Bio Franken

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

Great Nobushi Thunder Flame vs. Guerrero Diablo

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

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

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

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

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