PWC 09/17/2003

                    (Written by jom)

TONY GUCCI & BAM-Z vs. MEN's Teioh & Ricky Fuji

    A very American match to start off this PWC show. Teioh is awesome, a really great juniors guy and tied with Togo for my favorite KDX member. Fuji is also pretty solid, he's not someone I'm a huge fan of but he's had some good performances before. GUCCI and BAM-Z are the BAGGYZ, two dudes in Gold's Gym shirts, Zubaz pants, and fanny packs. They're managed by "Miss America" and make their entrance to "Born in the USA". Truly, whoever was booking the new PWC (I believe it was Toshiyuki Moriya aka Violence Revenger/Nise Onita) was on another level. I swear to god I can recognize at least one of the BAGGYZ but I can't put a name to the face, so for now they'll just be GUCCI and BAM-Z.

    This was uh... a weird match. Nobody really did anything notable for the entirety of the match. Genuinely, outside of Fuji hitting the Kamikaze at one point, this was extremely nothing, with Fuji and Teioh doing alright work mostly based around hitting weird American wrestling moves and poses. Miss America used her boobs to distract Teioh and Fuji, and also used them to trap Teioh's hand at one point so the BAGGYZ could go for their ultimate kill move, the "BIG BAGGY BURGER". Teioh escaped and then Fuji and Teioh hit a BIG BAGGY BURGER of their own. When it comes to the BIG BAGGY BURGER though, you don't actually get to see what it is. Instead of actually showing the viewer the move... this happens:

    This is something I have never even seen in wrestling before. I cannot even begin to explain the strange emotions I feel upon seeing a slide show of a burger instead of seeing an actual move. I need to go for a walk.

Rating:

Asian Cougar & Tomoya Adachi vs. Akihiko Masuda & Katsunari Toi

    Following... that, we have a pretty cool sounding juniors match. I'm a fan of all four guys here, especially Masuda (aka Great Takeru).

    This ended up being good enough, but it had some definite faults. Masuda was weird here, as he did some of the stuff I love about him like the crazy t-pose looking dive and a couple hard kicks, but for the most part just worked like any other juniors guy rather than the sabuish masked flyer I prefer him ask. His partner Toi though was going nuts, wrestling like he should've been the junior ace of IWE by doing a bunch of mostly basic stuff really well and putting his own slight spin on it. For example, check out the Oklahoma Stampede below where he basically rolled through it and ended up hitting a Mighty Inoue senton. Also, his slingshot foot stomp to the outside is downright terrifying, it looked like it crushed Cougar's intestines.

    Cougar was also pretty damn good as usual. He mostly just hit the signature spots but all his signature spots rule, such as the springboard bulldog and the slingshot legdrop to the outside. Adachi was actually great here in my opinion, doing some really cool stuff like this awesome diving front dropkick where he got a ton of hesitation on it. He also did some great tag stuff with Cougar, like this awesome combo:

    I think that this definitely had some issues with pacing and length, as it went 14 minutes and there were some real down times in there making this feel pretty slow overall. However, there were still enough cool moments from the 4 involved that I would say it was a solid match.

Rating: B-

    For the first time ever I have to pause between matches on this write-up, because what I just saw was insane. Every match has had some form of pre-match video up to this point, but instead of a hype video or promo for the next match, the screen instead started displaying video of GENTARO hanging out by himself in the backstage area, until...

    ... his thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of Gentaro Takahashi, looking for fellow gi wearers Survival Tobita and Iori Sugawara. They have a conversation where GENTARO is chill and Gentaro Takahashi yells a lot, and then when Takahashi leaves GENTARO talks right at the camera about how crazy Gentaro Takahashi is. This is one of the most surreal experiences I have ever had watching a Japanese wrestling show.

Sosai Nagase & Karate Machine Special vs. Hajime Moriyama & Kazuhiro Tamura

    I have no idea who Machine is, but I do know Sosai (aka Kancho/Masakazu) Nagase, who I've talked about before when reviewing FU*CK! He's actually PWC alumni, originally becoming a PWC guy in late 1995 after starting his career in Mexico by training with Fray Tormenta (yes, the priest that inspired Nacho Libre). Moriyama is a U-FILE CAMP trainee and really good shoot style wrestler probably best known for his work in Fu-ten. Tamura is a guy that I talked about in the main event of the last show I reviewed, but what you may not know is that this match here? This is Tamura's debut as a professional wrestler. That's right, Tamura started his career in the wrestling business at a shitty PWC show in 2003, and I'm very excited to be able to talk about it.

    This match was actually pretty awesome! The whole basis of this match was pretty simple, with the heel karatekas using karate and pro wrestling to beat down Moriyama and Tamura, while the U-FILE boys constantly went for takedowns and throws to get Nagase and Machine on the mat and make them tap out. Machine was actually pretty cool here, doing some big kicks including a great kneel kick, and also just acting as a somewhat imposing force for Tamura especially to fight back from. Nagase was awesome and definitely the highlight of his team, throwing some real hard kicks and even hitting some bigger wrestling style moves, like this absolutely beautiful dropkick:

    Moriyama was really great here too, doing some pretty awesome stuff like a beautiful waterwheel drop into a tight armbar, as well as some really good knees and kicks. He even hit a dragon suplex near the end with absolutely ruled. Tamura was probably the most interesting guy the whole match though, not just because of what he would become in the future, but because he was absolutely living up to the "Small Tamura" nickname, grappling with some of the same ferocity and complexity that Kiyoshi Tamura did. He hit a really awesome flying armbar at one point, and probably the coolest thing he did all match was the awesome quick transitioning into an armbar seen below, which is a spot very clearly adopted from his teacher Kiyoshi.

    Overall, I think this was genuinely pretty fun and an awesome historical importance match. Seeing Tamura work at a pretty high level from the first match of his career is amazing, and everyone else was great too. Plus, I just love Different Style wrestling and this absolutely had some hints of that so I was gonna enjoy this regardless.

Rating: B

Koji Ishinriki, Crusher Takahashi, Tetsuhiro Kuroda, Kazunori Yoshida, Kosei Maeda, & Mitsunobu Kikuzawa vs. TAKA Michinoku, Iori Sugawara, Daigoro Kashiwa, Teppei Ishizaka, GENTARO, & Survival Tobita

    I'd need someone to pay me for me to try and write a normal intro for this match. Everyone in this rules and I'm very excited to watch this. Also, Tobita came out with Sugawara before anyone else because they are members of Shin Piranha Gundan (named after the original Piranha Gundan of Masanobu Kurisu, Kim Duk, and Mitsuhiro Matsunaga). Gentaro Takahashi is also a member of the stable, but for some reason he wasn't able to make it to the match. Wonder where he could be. 

    This was such a blast to watch. I'm not going to give a proper rundown on everyone, and instead I'll just primarily be highlighting a few of the best performances from the match. Probably the best one overall was Kazunori Yoshida. Every single time I see this guy wrestle I'm so blown away, he genuinely comes off as one of the best juniors guys on the planet at times with some insane height to all his dives. He hit a beauty of a springboard dropkick, a beauty of a double springboard avalanche hurricanrana, and the absolutely phenomenal combo shown below. Truly, I cannot understand why no promotion was able to see this dude's talent because he has it in spades.

    Yoshida's teammate and fellow insane juniors guy Kosei Maeda also definitely deserves a shout-out. He did some really awesome stuff in this, such as an acid drop and a springboard kneel kick that looked like it took TAKA's head clean off. Kuroda, Ishinriki, and Kikuzawa were all solid too but they just mostly hit the classics without much effort. The best guy on the face team besides Yoshida was definitely Crusher Takahashi though, who, as always, came off as one of the coolest wrestlers on the planet. His punches were perfect, his chops were thudding, and he had some awesome big spots like the calf branding below. I truly think Takahashi, in his prime, was one of the best wrestlers on the planet, with a mind for wrestling that would've taken him to superstardom in an earlier decade.

    From the heel side, the only group I believe is worth mentioning is Shin Piranha Gundan. Kashiwa, Ishikaza, and TAKA all had solid moments but for the most part this was all about the gi boys. Sugawara was awesome in the few moments he got to shine, letting loose some nice kicks including a real nice enzuigiri to Ishinriki. Tobita was an absolute destroyer in the match, just wrecking guys with hard hits like one particularly cracking lariat on Ishinriki near the end. He also hit a truly disgusting pedigree on Maeda, straight up spiking him on the landing. GENTARO was probably the best part of the match outside of Yoshida. He only got to do one solid piece of offense towards the beginning though, as he ended up getting hurt and stretchered out... ONLY FOR GENTARO TAKAHASHI TO FINALLY ARRIVE AND BEAT UP THE OTHER TEAM WITH KARATE!!! Truly put a smile on my face when I saw him running in. He did some actually really cool karate stuff too, including a great kneel kick and this combination:

    This wasn't perfect for sure. There was some clear miscommunication at different points, with guys not entirely sure who should go in and who should break up a pin. However, this was still really damn fun and it was such a cool way to cap off the show.

Rating: B+

Wrestle Aid Project 05/02/2005

       (Written by Jom)

       After multiple final exams and cumulative projects, I've finally gotten home from college for the next few months. Awaiting me on my bed were five wrestling DVDs from Japan, all of which I've been waiting over a month for. Now, to celebrate me finally having time to write here again, I'll be doing reviews of all 5 shows over the next couple weeks.

    Wrestle Aid Project is a really interesting fed to have existed. It only lived for about 3 years, starting in 2002 and ending in 2005, and is seemingly the last promotion of one Ryuma Go. Go had hit some very hard times with run-ins with the law and lack of funds after his wrestling career slowed down, so this was seemingly he way of trying to get some more money. A fun fact is that WAP had a relationship with Stampede Wrestling, meaning that there's some cool names from the Canadian scene, such as Jack Evans, Petey Williams, and Nattie Niedhart (aka Natalya). However, I mainly got this DVD for the main event, which, on paper, sounds like an absolute barn burner of a match. Will the card live up to the name value involved?

    Just feel like I gotta note the opening video uses "Signs" by Snoop Dogg and every "___ vs ___" screen uses "99 Problems" by Jay-Z. Ryuma Go is the most based man ever.

Nattie Neidhart vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki

    Strong Style Natalya is not something I thought I'd see, but here we are. Neidhart was pretty good here, really stretched out Kuragaki at a couple points and also threw some stiff elbows. She even did a really great Hideki Suzuki-esque bridging double underhook suplex. Kuragaki was also solid, she was able to hit some cool agile moves like a springboard dropkick but honestly Neidhart was definitely the better wrestler here. At one point, the two women started lariat trading, treating this match like it was for the BJW Strong Heavyweight Championship. Kuragaki finally got the win with a corkscrew senton, retaining her NWA Women's Pacific title, a belt that I didn't even realize was on the line. This was fine, some obvious language barrier issues definitely hurt the pacing though, but again it did its job and seeing Neidhart in Japan was cool.

Rating: C+

Joe Kimball vs. Jack Evans

    I have no clue who Kimball is, and doing a quick check on wrestlingdata shows he's wrestled in a ton of different places under different names, albeit very sporadically. Real early on Kimball absolutely botches a hip toss, before the ref completely misses two different pin attempts. This should've guaranteed this match's fate, but eventually they came back into a good rhythm. Kimball did some good roidy offense like a gross corner spear, but eventually gets sent outside so Evans can hit a really good 450 plancha. Kimball, upon catching Evans, smashes his head into the ground, and he's bleeding real bad from the back of his head the rest of the match. He very nearly lets himself get counted out, but at the last second gets in the ring, seemingly telling the ref and Evans that he can still go. Evans hits some more of his offense and Kimball hits a nice neckbreaker and powerbomb before finally Kimball gets the victory with a pretty cool top rope chokeslam. This had some cool moments in it, but the miscommunications early on plus the concussed Kimball the rest of the match made this a contest only good for those moments.

Rating: C-

Joe E. Legend vs. Bambikiller

    This is for Legend's "Master of Kingcalibur" Championship, which is literally just a medieval sword. I said it before, I'll say it again. Ryuma Go is the most based man ever. These two do a pretty good brawl for most of the match. Both guys do some really great clubbing shots, and Legend does an irish whip to Bambikiller on the apron, sending him into the post. Bambikiller responds a little bit later with a FUCKING PLANCHA, which I popped huge for. Both guys get some good air with diving moves, such as when Legend nearly went coast-to-coast for a diving leg drop. Eventually however, the match kinda goes into overkill mode, with both dudes hitting an excessive amount of movez that really could've ended the match. I'm all for a good ole movez match, but there needs to be a level of escalation for it to work, and by the time they really started hitting cool stuff the match had been stuck in a plateau for a little bit. Legend eventually gets control and retains his "championship" after hitting an okay looking flatliner. This felt like it was an IWA PR brawl in Korakuen, which, while being cool, definitely fell pretty far into the excess category and kept going about 3 minutes longer than it should have.

Rating: B-

Chris Sabin vs. Petey Williams

    This is for Williams' "Master of Excalibur" Championship, which is literally a... wait I think I wrote this before. Ryuma Go was based enough to do the same thing twice and only slightly tweak the name. Williams raising a sword in one hand and a title in the other as "Shoots and Ladders" by Korn fills Korakuen Hall is a very cool sight to see. The match starts with a great big move countering segment, and it's very easy to figure out that this is gonna be an X-Division main event in Korakuen. Both guys do some awesome stuff, such as Williams hitting a tope into a rana and countering a frankensteiner into a powerbomb, as well as Sabin doing a double arm trapped piledriver and a razor's edge into the corner. This is pretty much the movez match I was talking about liking in the previous match's review. There may have actually been some pacing issues, but the way this match was clipped really made it balls to the wall the entire time. The finish has both guys hitting their finisher but the move being kicked out of (Sabin's cradle shock segment was great with him countering a sunset flip in the corner into a jumbo suplex before then hitting the cradle shock), but eventually Williams is able to counter out into a spinout version of the destroyer from the corner, finally hitting one more running one to get the pinfall win and retain his big fuckin blade. Both guys obviously wanted to show their stuff in Japan, and they really came out and did it well.

Rating: B+

2 out of 3 Falls: Shiro Koshinaka, Ryo Miyake, Koji Ishinriki, Arashi and Ryuma Go vs. Kazuhiko Matsuzaki, Masashi Aoyagi, Masanobu Kurisu, Gran Hamada and Tarzan Goto

    JESUS WHAT A MURDERER'S ROW and also Ryo Miyake and Koji Ishinriki. I'm mostly kidding, I actually don't dislike the work of either of them, I just haven't seen enough to judge. This match went nearly 30 minutes and I can't really list all the stuff that happened, so instead I'm gonna go person to person, talking about each one's performance. Koshinaka was really good in this, he threw some great hip attacks and added some heat and energy anytime he was involved. Miyake was pretty good too, being the whipping boy along with Ishinriki for the heel team and bleeding a ton, while also being a serviceable heavyweight wrestler. Ishinriki, as said previously, was also the whipping boy for this match, and ended up taking the only fall for his team (spoilers but the good guys won of course), but he did pretty good as a skinny sumo dude, throwing some nice Tsupparis and hitting really good sumo shoulder blocks. Arashi was a tank, hitting mean strikes and really making every move he did have some heavy impact. Ryuma Go, that crazy bastard, was really solid here, of course getting the audience really involved and just being a great fiery babyface with his headbutts, chest chops, and SHAAAAs. Matsuzaki was pretty much the whipping boy for the face team, but he took much less of a beating than Miyake or Ishinriki, instead doing some fine wrestling and good karateka stuff. Speaking of good karateka stuff, Aoyagi was Aoyagi to a T in this match, lighting up whoever was in with him with awesome kicks. Kurisu was tied for my favorite person in this match, and it isn't just because he's one of my favorite wrestlers (although that's definitely part of it). He was so much fun throughout being such a grumpy old monster, throwing nasty shoot punches, shoot headbutts, and shoot stomps, along with living up to his nickname of "The Chairman" by absolutely destroying Ishinriki and Miyake with chair shots. Also, Kurisu got the only pinfall for his team, which really shows how based Go is. Hamada pretty much did Hamada stuff the entire time he was active in the match, and honestly, you can't ask for a lot more. And finally, Tarzan Goto. If not for Kurisu, he'd be my favorite part of this match, but instead he'll have to settle for being tied. He came in a little eviler than usual, throwing gross headbutts and lariats, but only really gained my favor in this match when he pulled out a broken beer bottle. He sliced Miyake the fuck up with it, giggling to himself the entire time, before then using Miyake's limp hand to wave at Miyake's partners for help. This was genuinely evil stuff Goto was doing, and I fucking loved it. The finish came when Arashi was able to train together some maneuvers, getting the pinfall over Matsuzaki with a sit-out powerbomb. Overall, this was totally a yesteryear tribute match, but the section of puro they were paying tribute to is one of my favorites, so I had a ton of fun watching this.

Rating: A-

    After the match, Go gets on the mic and delivers an impassioned speech to the Korakuen crowd, before leading them in a SHAAA chant. The footage freeze frames on Go in black and white with Japanese rap starting behind the image, and that's it for Wrestle Aid Project! Honestly, I was a little worried about the main event after such an iffy lower card, but it ended up delivering. From what I can tell, WAP wouldn't run another show after this, and sadly Ryuma Go would pass away in 2009. I bet, even after death, Go is up in heaven being a puroresu baka all the way.

Overall Rating: B