Spitball Reviews #8

           (Written by jom)

Greed & Higuchi vs. Big Joe & Yuki Toshima (SED 11/21/2010)

    Another Spitball, another Greed match. I told you we'd be talking about him again! SED is here in a random gymnasium with the world's largest inflatable dinosaur in the background. I respect SED for making sure this show is accessible to all, even those of us who are 25 feet tall and made of PVC. This time around, Greed's in a tag with regular partner Higuchi, who looks like Greed's childhood friend that has tried to kind of clean up his act as he's grown up. He's not entirely out of the hoodlum mindset, but he's just trying to be presentable in job interviews. Yuki Toshima looks like any average indie guy in the US from 2006 to 2008, but Big Joe is anything but average. He's BIG. No false advertising here, this guy is at least a foot taller than everyone else in the ring. And wouldn't you know it, Greed delivers once again! This is a fun little tag match with lots of cool moments, mostly courtesy of Greed. He's really in the zone here with his shitheadedness, starting the match by going at Joe's eyes and never really letting up on his fouling and general misbehavior. He gets Higuchi involved and Higuchi always plays his part well, albeit he really only goes for heel stuff when Greed tells him to. Really, Higuchi and Toshima (who I exclusively called "red pants" in my notes) only exist to do solid enough juniors wrestling. Big Joe is the other star of the match for sure, throwing Greed around like a sack of shit and living up to his role as a big fucker. His interactions with Higuchi are pretty good as well, culminating in him letting loose with Vader hammers and a huge Amaze Impact. Really though, this is the Greed show for me. He's just so wonderful peppering in nasty kicks and stomps, like how he breaks up a crab done by Big Joe by just kicking him in the back of the head. Greed would've been wonderful working in actual pro feds, ideally as a midcard fouler in Z1 or BJW around this time. Even if we never got that, I'm happy to keep going through all the Greed footage going forward. Fun stuff all around, recommend checking it out just to see Greed, Big Joe, and the even bigger dinosaur. 

Match Rating: B

Masao Ando vs. Yuji Yoshida (Bukotsu 09/25/2016)

    Now this is that indie shit we all know and love. Two lumpy divorcees wearing bikers and kickpads laying into each other with unrelenting violence for a somewhat apathetic crowd in a small rec center in Osaka. If you had asked me about three years ago, I would probably call this a pure distillation of jomcore; my tastes have changed a lot since then, but this type of wrestling does still hold a precious place in my heart. This match does a lot to remind me of why I loved these kinds of matchups so much, working out to be the world's grimiest dick measuring contest. It's filled with full-force elbows to the nose and kicks to the jaw, along with crushing suplexes aplenty. It's also as much an auditory experience as it is a visual one: every strike has either a slap that reverberates around the room, or a thud that smashes through your soul. There's a ton of roughness in everything these guys do, with lots of moves being centimeters away from disaster. There's one moment in particular where Ando hoists up Yoshida for a waterwheel drop, and Yoshida, having seemingly never even heard of a waterwheel, doesn't even try to protect himself and nearly gets spiked on the top of his head. I've talked about it here before, but this kind of dangerous sloppiness does a lot to add to the match. The work doesn't feel clean, safe, or pre-planned, which is exactly how a brawl should feel. There are some attempts at through-lines in this match, specifically Masao Ando's attempts to apply some sort of armwork to Yoshida as things progress, but none of that really matters in any way. I respect Ando's attempts at giving this match some sort of story besides caveman MMA, but sometimes you don't need wrestling with any real brains behind it. The only brains in this match are the ones getting pinball'd around inside the skulls of these two men. The only thing that hampers this match is Yoshida's tendency to just stand around for extended periods while in control, but other than that, this is a real kickass match for people that like seeing asses kicked.

Match Rating: B+

Takahiro Tababa vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa (IMPACT 05/04/2018)

    A pretty big match for Tababa, getting the chance to face the guy who beat his ass in his debut match three years ago. It's his opportunity to show how much he's grown in the relatively short amount of time he's been a professional wrestler. Takaiwa, however, comes into this match with an entirely different mindset. Honestly, he seems to work this match as an attempt to undo the past and force Tababa out of wrestling. The way Takaiwa grapples with Tababa reminds me of the old tales of veteran workers in the 70s and 80s pulling hopeful trainees into the ring and stretching them half to death until they quit, leaving their dreams and money behind. He pulls off a ton of sugar holds and keeps searching for ways to grind down Tababa, like turning a grounded half nelson into the world's most painful crucifix. It's genuinely very stunning to see Takaiwa work like this; the guy's always had a mean streak to him, but it usually only manifested in particularly impactful bombs or even more punch behind his hits. All of that is still present here, but it's the way he rips apart Tababa on the mat that makes this stand out as one of his meanest performances ever. Tababa's eventual comebacks all land real well (it certainly helps that most of them are based around him kicking the hell out of Takaiwa), and he does a good job of milking his hope spots for all they're worth. His bombs also work out great, especially everything surrounding his holds. The moment where Takaiwa counters a Fujiwara armbar by sidewalk slamming him only for Tababa to maintain the hold really stands out as great endurance storytelling and makes Tababa look like a total badass. Wrap it all up nicely with a bow made of some truly spectacular late-match bombs and you've got yourself a damn good match. Hopefully there's more "burn your boots" Takaiwa performances out there.

Match Rating: B

Ryan Upin vs. Masked Mystery (GUTS World 02/15/2011)

    Ryan Upin is probably better known as Chon Shiryu, who I've somehow never talked about on the blog?? Absolute blasphemy on my part. If you've ever seen me talk about him elsewhere you probably already know this, but I really love Chon Shiryu. He's one of the only guys in the world doing kung fu pro wrestling, and his level of consistency is pretty mindblowing. He almost has the Thanomsak Toba condition, where, even when put in matches featuring complete shitters, you can always count on him to at least deliver the goods. Luckily, Masked Mystery is nowhere near a shitter, so this ends up being a total blast. Mystery is a somewhat conventional big man worker who has very good technique and clearly knows how to work a short match, which works perfectly with the smaller and more exciting Shiryu. They work this like a pretty high level TV match, streamlining everything to give you as many cool moments as possible all while keeping the action flowing at the right pace. There's tons of little moments interspersed between the cool big spots, like Mystery keeping one leg away from Shiryu's grasp while Shiryu goes for a gory special, so Shiryu just dumps Mystery onto the ropes with the half-applied move. But really, we're here for the big kung fu moments, and Shiryu gives us plenty with suicide flying kicks and springboard kung fu stomps. I think this match is probably one of the stronger testaments to one of the best aspects of Chon Shiryu. Even while working one of the more bizarre and unique characters in the Japanese scene, Shiryu actually feels like one of the most cohesive workers in the entire world. There are a lot of guys nowadays that have "but also"'s tacked onto their character descriptions. A big man that does power moves BUT ALSO dives and flips. A high flyer that can hit spectacular flips and twists BUT ALSO big powerbombs and every other move in the book. Chon Shiryu lacks a "but also" in his character description because everything he does feels so fitting for him. The kung fu, the gory special variations, even the way he'll grapple all work towards supporting this character of pro wrestling's one true kung fu master. In the end, this match barely clocks in at six minutes, and it's a damn fun six minutes at that. The only reason it doesn't go into the A-range is because this felt like it needed a better environment than a small dojo (ideally an actual TV studio with a more vocal crowd). I patiently await the day that a promotion finally opens its eyes and signs Shiryu to work compact TV matches on a regular basis.

Match Rating: B+

Isami vs. Phantom Funakoshi (IWA Kokusai 06/12/2005)

    I'm fairly certain this was uploaded by Goro Tsurumi's son. Thank you Goro Jr! I love Kokusai a lot for its bizarre monster matches and crazy arena brawls, but it did always feature some great indie junior heavy guys, both fresh in the scene and old but underappreciated. Isami is the new kid on the block after absconding from K-DOJO and transforming from a Takadist shooter into a scummy yankee, while Funakoshi has been around for years as a Showa-era wrestling idolizer. It's a bizarre pairing, but one that could have a lot of potential by virtue of the two being great wrestlers. Emphasis on could. I'm sure they've had a very good match together. They've faced off multiple times, and at least one of those times has given us a very good match. This is not that time. This is less of a wrestling match and more of a wrestling experiment, a public survey to see if certain angles can go off well. This starts with one of the most bizarre wrestling angles I've seen in a long time, where Funakoshi takes a rolling solebutt 30 seconds into the match that stops him dead in his tracks. He's stunlocked so long that Isami has time to do the full Sweet Chin Music charge-up and still hit the move, all while Funakoshi is just standing there bent over like he just knocked back a pack of original Four Loko's. This leads to Funakoshi being so knocked out that Isami has to abandon a suicide dive spot (?) and go out to try and wake him up (??), only for Funakoshi to wake up and start being incredibly aggressive. I genuinely cannot tell if this is meant to be some bizarre worked shoot injury angle or some sort of concussion work or anything. It's borderline nonsensical, something you can only vaguely interpret. The actual match that follows is... fine I guess? Funakoshi does some alright bullying and armwork, and there's a cool enough spot where Isami takes too long getting back into the ring after a corner knee sends him flying out that Funakoshi pretty easily dodges his returning superkick and dumps him on his head with a suplex. There's just too many whiffs and botches and weird angles to really even process what's going on half the time. The match goes to a "15 minute time limit draw" when the actual runtime was barely 12 minutes, only to then be restarted and continue with the weird botches and vacant atmosphere (there were barely 15 people in the building but you could've told me they were all cardboard cutouts with how this match appeared). To be clear, this isn't irredeemable wrestling: Isami and Funakoshi do enough cool stuff to warrant some commendation. That being said, this match is bad. I still don't understand why half of it happened. I respect the attempt at experimentation, and Kokusai is one of the few places you could really try to do stuff like this, but this was a complete flop.

Match Rating: D+

Spitball Reviews #7

          (Written by jom)

Greed vs. Takashi (SED 05/24/2009)

    So... what's SED? Well, SED (short for Safety Enjoy Delight, maybe the least intimidating combination of words in wrestling history) is an amateur promotion started in 2003 that has generally been pretty active for the last 20+ years. They've run over a hundred shows, almost all of which are available on YouTube. I really appreciate the effort put into not only preserving all of these shows, but also in making them available to the public. I know literally nothing about SED or anyone involved outside of that, and this is the first SED match I've ever seen in full. Honestly, after checking this out, I'm definitely interested in watching more SED going forward! This is by no means a perfect match, or even really a great match, but it has a lot of cool stuff going for it. Takashi is the world's 2nd most blatant Naomichi Marufuji idolizer (Seth Rollins will never lose his crown) and Greed, besides having an AWESOME name, has a really cool look as "Y2K Hoodlum #2." They work some damn good juniors sequences considering the lack of actual pro training, with Greed doing an especially quality job of blending quick moves and transitions with nice heel work. He's also got a good knack for making his stuff look as mean as possible, putting some real snap on his dropkicks and throwing quick low blows regularly. As this is 2009, both men are absolutely obsessed with combos, which, while cool to a certain extent, is more funny than anything. Singular moves in this match are rare, and I never really needed to see things like a three amigos into an impaler or a superkick into three neckbreakers, but I guess I do appreciate the creativity. There are also some genuinely awesome moments of creativity, like Greed's wristlock Air Raid Crash, or Takashi's step-up guillotine leg drop. It's all the type of work you can tell is being done by amateurs, but as someone that appreciates the wrestling spirit in many forms, I see an abundance in these two. Also, Greed punching and kicking Takashi in the face fucking rocked. Expect to see more of Greed on the blog at the bare minimum. 

Match Rating: B-

Okonomi Man & Tortuga vs. El Enigma & Super Cacao (CMLL Japan 11/23/1999)

    CMLL Japan always had a really cool assortment of Japanese indie guys to fill the undercard, and here's four staples of the tours getting to battle it out. Okonomi is the future Hayate, Super Cacao is Nosawa, Enigma is MAZADA, and Tortuga is... Tortuga! This is really four Japanese guys getting the chance to show they know lucha too, and by God, they really seem to know lucha. Cacao is especially in the zone here, working the mat with that wonderful flowing kind of grappling seen in lucha that really keeps the action going and the spots rolling. Okonomi is just as impressive, maybe a little more stilted than Nosawa but easily more physically capable, and the sequences between the two are probably the closest thing to authentic lucha in this match. El Enigma is probably the most interesting part of the match, at least to me, as he actually knows how to work a match with this kind of pacing and format but does a damn good job of integrating his MUGA roots into his contributions. He gets the highlight of the match when he hits Tortuga with the dreaded nutshot uppercut directly into a real God Damner of a german suplex, the type that folds you up enough to fit into the carry-on luggage heading back to Mexico. Tortuga, IWA Japan trainee and career Guy That Exists, definitely falls in last place for this match, but even he has his moments. He's got a nice bit of snap to his arm drags and works pretty cleanly for a guy that showcased his absolutely awful push-up form on a previous CMLL Japan show. Even with this match being based around everyone getting cool stuff in, there are still some nice moments of a larger story, like Cacao and Enigma ripping into Okonomi's mask and really beating the hell out of him. It's fascinating to know that even before Gurentai existed, NOSAWA and MAZADA innately knew how to foul effectively as a unit. Even with this clipped down to about a third of the actual runtime, this still ends up being pretty damn fun.

Match Rating: B-

Masao Ando vs. Yoshihisa Mio (GENTEN 04/19/2015)

    A massive shout out to my good friend Ciel. This is one of his favorite matches ever, and probably his biggest find in his obsessive searches for any and all information regarding his favorite wrestlers. He originally stumbled across the file of this match on Yoshihisa Mio's abandoned blog, and only in the last year or so have we found that Mio himself posted the match to YouTube four years ago. This is in Masao Ando's MMA gym, where the ring ropes are literal ropes and the mats seem to be paper thin, laid on top of solid concrete. On Ando's old blog, he explained that he felt "love at first sight" when seeing Mio for the first time, and on that whim challenged Mio to face him in the main event of his produce show. I guess it was just obvious to everyone that this match would be great, and they were all damn right. This is incredibly tight professional wrestling, the kind of work where nothing is given up without struggle and everything is a process of breaking down the opponent. The matwork in this match is amazing, no two ways about it. Mio is such a fast grappler, moving across the mat with borderline Tamura speed and hunting for limbs like a starved wolf. Masao Ando, meanwhile, is a complete beast of a man himself, able to at point completely manhandle Mio and force control. The way he drags and flips Mio around almost enters the territory of disrespect, and when he finally gets around to doing more pro wrestling moves, a lot of them are just Ando treating Mio like a ragdoll. Every single bump on the World's Thinnest Ring Mat sounds like utter death. I have to imagine Ando is just a lunatic and wanted to force all the wrestlers on this show to suffer in the same way he suffers sparring in this ring on a regular basis. Honestly, I have nothing else to say that wouldn't spoil major moments of the match. Click on the link and check this out. The match is only 11 minutes long and there's no time wasted. Even with the very pro wrestling moments of this match, I have no qualms declaring it one of the best shoot style matches of the last 10 years.

Match Rating: A-

Antonio Koinoki vs. Genichiro Tenryu (WGWF 05/31/2010)

    The majority of Tenryu's best matches of the last 10 years of his career can be classified as "beatings." Old Man Tenryu wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and decides to make it someone else's problem. KENTA, Kengo, and many more were given the closest thing to a death sentence in the great sport. This is Antonio Koinoki's turn in the electric chair. Antonio Koinoki is, for all intent and purposes, a comedian; his wrestling is a joke by design. He is an inadequate Inoki, failing at the most basic spots and constantly finding ways to hurt himself doing the most innocuous things. So, how does an old Tenryu in a bad mood respond to an actual professional wrestling comedian? With maybe his most violent performance of the 21st century, that's how. He beats Koinoki within an inch of his life with some of the most ruthless punches, kicks, and chops Tenryu's thrown in his entire career, bloodying up Koinoki's mouth and legitimately putting an imprint of his boot's laces on the side of Koinoki's face. But, if you can look beyond the violence for just a moment, this match is a truly special performance for Koinoki, and one of the best examples of Tenryu's silent storytelling in this period of his career. Tenryu tells the entire story of the match through his facial expressions, going from general annoyance and frustration at this stupid jokester doing his little twirls and ineffective Inoki spots, to complete and utter rage at Koinoki's refusal to stay down. But for Koinoki, this match is proof of his resolve as a wrestler. He does all of his regular spots and eats shit as usual, but Tenryu's violence is some real life-or-death type stuff, and when put in the hot seat, Koinoki decides to keep on fighting to prove his worth as an actual wrestler, clenching his teeth and throwing his own live rounds no matter how ineffective they are. That's almost the magic of this match. Koinoki's ineffectiveness starts as just a joke, but soon turns into the crux of the match, evolving from a funny little gag to the one thing Koinoki has to overcome no matter what. He never does overcome his canonical weakness, but the enzuigiri that rattles Tenryu is all he really needs. Antonio Koinoki has the soul of a professional wrestler. Tenryu just had to rip the soul out for people to see it.

Match Rating: A-

Masashi Takeda vs. Koichiro Kimura (Kazushigumi 06/02/2009)

    Damn man, I miss when Kazushi Miyamoto posted matches from his old promotion to his YouTube channel. There's still a lot that hasn't been released, but nowadays he's too preoccupied with vlogging and hypebeasting to return to his roots. Kazushi, if you're reading this, just know I would gladly drop all plans and turn this into the official Kazushigumi blog if you uploaded all the full shows to your channel. Anyways, what an insane matchup, both on paper and in practice. This is rookie-ish Takeda still rocking that shooter brain pattern against old and fed up Koichiro Kimura. Takeda has an awesome look here, sporting some slick black trunks and white boots along with the customary MMA gloves (this is a "Kazushi Gumi Comprehensive Rules" match, which basically means it's an MMA ruleset but worked). And man, do they get some mileage outta the gloves. There's a ton of closed fist punches to the face and body from both men, but especially Kimura, who really loves to throw a shitty little jab to the jaw right before doing anything in this match. There's some really nice mat grappling moments from both men, with Kimura doing his MMA terminator schtick and Takeda fighting for survival with massive bursts of energy and impressive technique. The best work in this match absolutely comes from when these ideologies butt heads, like Takeda getting sick of Kimura's head stomps by flying to his feet and letting loose with wild haymakers and throws. Really, even though this is happening in Kazushigumi, this almost feels like it comes from an alternate world Fu-ten, where Takeshi Ono started the promotion instead of Daisuke Ikeda. Now I'm thinking about a theoretical Masashi Takeda Fu-ten run and I'm getting sad that it didn't happen. Really though, this match does enough to fill the void in my heart in that regard. I honestly really want to give this the full-on "A" rating, but I do think a few too many strikes land without the right amount of oomph (maybe more the fault of the venue's acoustics than the combatants), and it needed to go just a little longer with maybe one or two more big moments. For what it is though, this is a real Ass Kicker, God Damner, etc. A Match That Fucks The Butt and things of that nature.

Match Rating: B+

Spitball Reviews #6

         (Written by jom)

Masao Ando vs. Takahiro Tababa (Mutoha 04/20/2019)

    A matchup that's happened so much, the fans in Japan gave it a nickname! "Aka Oni v Ao Oni", or red demon (Tababa) versus blue demon (Ando). Pretty fitting name in my honest opinion. Ando and Tababa are two of the best tubby crowbars in a modern Japanese indie scene shockingly filled with quality tubby crowbars. With how the industry in general has progressed, you'd think that type of wrestler would be a dying breed, but there's inexplicably more of them around than anyone knows what to do with. These two are given ten minutes to beat the tar out of each other in front of a small Mutoha crowd, and there are very few people more qualified for that type of environment than Ando and Tababa. Even if I've referred to them both as crowbars and demons, they're not the exact same wrestlers, and the little changes in execution between the two are really where this rivalry shines. Ando is an incredibly labored wrestler. Everything he does feels heavy and strained, every kick taking so much power from Ando that it causes his whole body to move with his leg. A universal human experience is every person's first time swinging a large stick. We've felt our own bodies move almost involuntarily, rotating with as much force as possible to send that stick to high heaven. Masao Ando has large sticks for limbs, and he's doing his damndest to swing them directly into the head of Tababa. On the opposite end, Tababa is a precision fighter. Every strike lands with all of the force focused on the sharpest point. When he kicks, the point of his boot is what connects with Ando's ribs. When he knees, the kneecap is what flies into Ando's gut. This isn't an exact summation of his striking, but it's clear that's what his intent is. Ando is full force everything, and Tababa is concentrated power. Beyond all of that pontificating, this is just a great brawl of a shoot style match. Ando slams Tababa hard multiple times throughout the match and nearly breaks his neck with a german suplex, and Tababa's unrelenting with his hyperextending holds and kick flurries. With many matches, the action builds until it boils over and turns into something uncontrollable. This match exists in a state of being boiled over from bell to bell. An amazing display of how awesome wrestling can be when two guys really work like they want to kick each other's asses. 

Match Rating: A-

Ryo Tamiyasu vs. Junpuku Yamamoto (J2K 09/23/2003)

    Ryo Tamiyasu makes his official return to pro wrestling. I've actually covered his initial return as Riki Senshu on the blog before (in one of my favorite posts from last year), but the name "Ryo Tamiyasu" hadn't been listed on a matchcard since his retirement until now, so there's the official part of it. Any time I watch work involving the J2K guys, I'm always fascinated by the commonalities of their work - the little touches that link all of them back to Masanobu Kurisu. Tamiyasu and Yamamoto are two of the strongest examples when it comes to Kurisu's influence on his trainees. Both love to vocalize. Both have the execution of basics down pat, and aren't afraid to rely on those basics instead of pushing themselves to "innovate" or needlessly change their offense up. Both turn up the heat by introducing more force into their movements. As such, this match is the tightly-worked, hard-hitting affair that I tend to love. It clocks in at just under ten minutes but manages to properly tell the story of a high stakes main event without feeling rushed or forced. Tamiyasu's punches and Yamamoto's uppercuts regularly have audible connection, and an exclamation point is placed at the end of every movement with both men's yelling and shit-talking. Looking beyond all the smaller detail work and connections to Kurisu, both are just so awesome at throwing bombs, especially in a match where the bomb-throwing is built so well considering how little time they use to build it. Yamamoto's piledrivers are disgusting and reckless in the best way, and Tamiyasu's out-of-nowhere northern lights bomb completely blew me away. Maybe you could complain about a match this short having such a climactic-feeling finishing stretch, or you could point out the one or two times where the men could've tightened up the match structure and spacing between work. I won't though. This was great, a total blast of a watch and further proof that Kurisu built an army of monster workers throughout the 90s that'll never truly get the appreciation they deserve.

Match Rating: A-

Masakazu Fukuda vs. Masaaki Mochizuki (WYF 08/04/1998)

    The key singles match of the endless WYF vs. Buko Dojo rivalry. The feud kicked off in early 1997, and here we are over a year later. Karatekas hold a grudge. Rather than being a different style fight, this ends up more as Fukuda and Mochizuki successfully predicting the juniors style of the 2000s. Both men are really talented and know how to get into their spots well, and they pull off a ton of little counter sequences, none of which ever go so long that it loses the magic. Mochizuki is a monster kicker who's gone from Kitao's poster child for his karate revolution to a truly masterful hybrid junior. Fukuda fights back against Mochizuki's quick feet with real mat supremacy, grinding him down with arm holds after a mishap results in Mochizuki slamming his arm into the ring post. Does the limb work lead anywhere? Not particularly, but it fills time well and never goes too long as to require some sort of bigger payoff or heightened attention to selling. Honestly, as I write this, I wonder why I loved this match so much. There's so many things about this match that I hold against matches that occurred in the last five years. Limb selling that goes nowhere? check. A somewhat stupid opening spot? They did the double dropkick, so check. An abrupt no-sell? check. On paper, this match has no right getting as much love from me as it does. I think what makes this match different from many other matches to feature these same tropes is not only that this match predates many of those matches by multiple decades, but also that these two execute these spots so well that I really don't care. The no-sell is especially forgiven, as a Mochizuki DDT is immediately no-sold by Fukuda into a deep armbar. There's a quickness and urgency to it that takes it from a corny "I power up through fighting spirit!!!" shitshow and turns it into a genuine burst of energy at the sight of a perfect opportunity. I'd say this is a great match if you turn your brain off, but it's honestly great enough that the brain can stay entirely on and still find a ton to enjoy here. I pray that I one day get to peek into the reality where both these guys found a home in a more fitting fed in their later years like Battlarts or ZERO1. This type of work would've done them very kindly.

Match Rating: A-

Hiroshi Watanabe vs. Phantom Funakoshi (SGP 05/04/1998)

    Is this the best match to ever happen at a flea market? At least within SGP's flea market show history, there's a few contenders, like the great space war where one of the Brahmans breaks an incredibly expensive Astro Boy statue, forcing Great Sasuke to buy it and use it in the next great space war. Still, this has to be the standout match of that catalogue. Watanabe is a Kotetsu Yamamoto trainee and Funakoshi is an Inoki idolizer, so they deliver the type of technical masterclass that would've blown a lot of people's minds if it didn't happen in front of passively-interested passersby. It feels like a higher level midcard match ripped right out of early 1980s NJPW, with incredible displays of body control like Watanabe's awe-inspiring escape from a knuckle-lock, and a real smorgasbord (I should have to pay a tax for using this word) of slick counters for holds and even slicker counters for counters. The work both guys put into all of their holds is laudable as well. Funakoshi spends a solid section of the early match trying his damndest to maintain a side headlock, and the way he rotates his body on the ground to keep Watanabe away from breaking the grip is immaculate. They stick to the grappling for a solid 2/3rds of the match, but once they get rolling with everything else, the quality stays just as high. Both men throw out some really great suplexes, like Watanabe's textbook german or Funakoshi's super impressive uranage. Watanabe even goes to the top rope and hits a crazy looking diving splash for a close 2.9. I try to avoid just listing moves as much as I can, but I honestly don't know what else to do with this match outside of repeatedly stating how perfect the work is. It's a match displaced out of time, meant for a raucous Korakuen Hall in 1982 instead of a flea market sixteen years later. It's no wonder that Watanabe would lead the charge with high-level grappling in the 21st century with Mumeijuku/Mutoha, and it's honestly a damn shame that Funakoshi never got to work there before hanging up the boots earlier this year. This one's available from Hasegawa for only $2. Bite the bullet and enjoy what may be the best technical wrestling match of 1998.

Match Rating: A

MIKAMI vs. Kuishinbo Kamen (Kamen Produce 12/15/2010)

    Kuishinbo Kamen's mask has angry eyes for this one. You know it's time to get serious. MIKAMI and Kamen actually have a ton of history, producing some great work in the 90s as both partners and opponents. This is their first time meeting in the ring since Kamen became Kamen, and I guess there was a score to settle? Kamen is an entirely different beast than usual in this match. Gone are the bits and goofs; say hello to Great Kabuki-style uppercuts and punt kicks. This is one of those real great juniors matches that pretty successfully blends a lot of different work together thanks to the talents of both men. MIKAMI and Kamen seamlessly flow from clean and pretty grappling to gritty punching and slapping to high octane juniors sprinting, all while maintaining a great pace and properly escalating everything. MIKAMI gets a busted mouth from all the Kabuki uppercuts and while he never really responds with equivalent violence, he more than makes up for it with massive bombs, like the ludicrous spot on the outside you really need to see to believe. The fans being so behind Kamen for the entire match is almost shocking considering his viciousness, albeit it makes complete sense. This is Kuishinbo Kamen's arena. These are Kuishinbo Kamen's people. Better to cheer on the devil you know than surrender your hopes to the hot guy you don't. Luckily, MIKAMI never tries to go for a sympathetic babyface-in-peril angle, and relies entirely on himself with tricked-out juniors work and a great mind for countering. His flying codebreaker is such an awesome move, easily the best execution of that move I've ever seen and perfectly combo'd with one of his always-great schoolboy pins. Speaking of schoolboys, the cradle rush near the end of this match is so great, and truly works here as opposed to a lot of other matches with this type of spot. MIKAMI and Kamen are trickster juniors and have been for their entire careers. They've won tons of matches with roll-ups and cradles, so out of everyone to spend a minute going for just those, these two are the most apt for the occasion. Even with some moments of dead air, this feels undeniable to me. A wonderful encounter, the type that makes me long for the reality where these two faced off at their physical peaks around 2003.

Match Rating: A-

Spitball Reviews #3

       (Written by jom)

Masao Ando vs. Okonomiyakida (Okazaki Waiwai Festival 02/25/2023)

    Masao Ando is secretly one of my favorite members of the modern J-indie crowbar collection. At his best, he's on par with Tababa as a rough shooter with a ton of character and violence. He's not really in full-on fighting mode here considering his opponent is a guy in a cute little mask but he still gets a ton of chances to deliver the goods. He hits lots of hard kicks and big slams blended with some pretty fascinating choices, like fighting back in a strike exchange by kicking Okonomiyakida's arm. Everything Ando does has such a great feeling of weight too. His soccer kick is strong enough to actually push Okonomiyakida forward on connection, and all of his body slams look like they could put a hole in the ring. All of his bombs really feel like bombs. Okonomiyakida exists too I guess. He does next to nothing of particular interest but all of his work is fine. I won't ever complain about a glorified Ando showcase match though. Fun stuff all around.

Match Rating: C+

Kazushi Miyamoto vs. Kotaro Nasu (Apache Pro 07/25/2012)

    The resurrected Apache Pro is... bad. I hate to say it! Apache Pro during its initial run is a super fun indie fed, clearly a proto-FREEDOMS with a stronger focus on hardcore rather than deathmatch (which I prefer greatly) and a bunch of awesome indie guys like GENTARO, Keita Yano, and others populating the card. This is an entirely different Apache though, with Kanemura back at the helm following his sexual harassment scandal. The air in the promotion is murky and a real feeling of guilt permeates through basically everything. Most of the wrestlers seem like they're sorry to be on the card. Still, there're some real hidden gems from this period of the promotion, including this match. Nasu and Miyamoto are a real money pairing: a quick, plucky shooter junior and a 'roided up powerhouse wrestler. They work the match exactly as they should. Not a single strike exchange in this match is one-for-one. That is, at no point do the two actually "exchange" singular strikes. Miyamoto will throw a big chop or slap and Nasu will respond with a barrage of palm strikes or kicks. Nasu will throw everything he can at Miyamoto as much as possible while Miyamoto just needs one big hit to steal the match back in his favor. Miyamoto comes off as the ultimate professional wrestler here. He's got a ridiculous tan, muscles on top of muscles, and every real momentum-shifter from him is decisively pro wrestling. There's this wonderful moment where Nasu finally gets a successful combo off and puts in a tight armbar to try and tap Miyamoto out, only for Miyamoto to power up and hit Nasu with a real head-bouncing slam. In this moment, Miyamoto sees the dazed Nasu and smells blood in the water. In this type of situation in somewhere like the UFC, the guy on top would rush to rain down punches or hammerfists. Miyamoto is not an MMA fighter (take one look at his actual MMA record and that's pretty damn clear), so instead he yanks Nasu to his feet and hits him with an even grosser powerbomb for a nearfall. Add onto all of this a genuinely sickening finish and you've got yourself a damn good match. There're a few Apache Pro-related whiffs in it (Miyamoto at one point does a thirty second long delayed suplex which gets no reaction), but the match itself is really undeniable.

Match Rating: B+

Tarzan Goto vs. Yoji Anjo (Rikidozan Memorial 03/11/2000)

    This is a truly legendary clash of assholes. In a way, Goto and Anjo represent the two opposing ideologies of heel pro wrestling. Goto is a monstrous bastard who commits grievous bodily harm on everyone around him for his own satisfaction. Anjo is an annoying dickhead who psychologically torments his opponents for fun. Both are wrestlers that really only care about entertaining themselves, but their methods of doing so vary greatly. Incredible tone setter to start the match with Goto standing in the corner with his arms crossed, deep intent and cruel intentions in his eyes, only for the camera to switch to Anjo doing the same exact pose with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. Sadly, the match never really lives up to the expectations created by this stare-down. It's a great match, don't get me wrong. Anjo and Goto are in their element, with Anjo being his usual smartass self and Goto responding like a slasher film monster. Goto has a one-track mind throughout, constantly going for headbutts and always beginning his longer strings of offense with a headbutt or two. Anjo's responses include strikes, dodges, and general big brain offense, but more often than not he gets caught up in Goto's onslaught. Where this match falters is the structuring. There are spots in the latter half of the match that feel like they belong much closer to the beginning, and it's honestly bizarre that they were done so late in the match. Anjo getting victimized with big Goto bombs only to slide out of the ring on an irish whip and do the big brain taunt feels so weirdly disjointed. They seem to lose the plot for a little bit before Goto finally snaps and starts to try and kill Anjo with weaponry, which admittedly led to a finishing stretch that helped recover a lot of the lost momentum for me. The post-match is pretty hilarious too, with Anjo finding a random police officer and trying to make him arrest Tarzan Goto for his rule breaking. Do I feel sad that this match isn't perfect? Of course. Do I know that they could've done better? Of course! But this is still two of my favorites ever having their only singles match. I was going to love this no matter what, and they still gave me a ton to love.

Match Rating: B+

Arkangel vs. Ultraman Jr. (PWC 08/23/1996)

    God bless Yoshino and Hasegawa for fishing this out of Yoshino's bin of VHS tapes. PWC in late 1996 began a series of shows known as the Fighting Beer Garden shows, taking place in the absolutely stunning Luna Park with fans sat at tables where they could eat and drink while the matches took place (this served as the inspiration for DDT's own Beer Garden shows). There were shows every single day and Takano somehow pulled off getting a number of luchadores to come to Japan and work the entire series, including Arkangel and Ultraman. The two of them would go on to face off numerous times, but this is (at least according to CAGEMATCH) the first filmed interaction between the two of them. Of course, it's a lot of fun. Arkangel and Ultraman are here to hit their spots in front of a crowd with basically no exposure to them, so all the arm drags and dives get huge pops. It's incredibly surface level pro wrestling but everything is so well-executed and flashy that it doesn't need to be anything else. Ultraman is awesome finding a thousand and one ways to hit an arm drag, and Arkangel does a great job of pulling off big reversals like his sitout powerbomb counter to some sort of Ultraman move that probably would've ended in an arm drag. The whole affair is only six minutes long and doesn't drag for a second. Overall, real fun stuff here. Probably the best type of wrestling to enjoy in a park while drinking some beers with the boys.

Match Rating: B

Kenta Nanami & Jumbo Hara vs. Tessho & Ikki Nomoto (Gamshara Pro 11/23/2012)

    Gamshara Pro... I know very little about Gamshara Pro, just being entirely honest. It's a local fed that exists. We have a couple matches from it. Outside of that, I know practically nothing. I also know nothing about the people in this match. Munenori Sawa appears near the start and seems to give a speech to the fans. I am completely in the dark here. Honestly, I wasn't even going to include this match in the post! It's not anything special, and most of the action is just alright. However, I have to talk about Ikki Nomoto. The other three aren't bad or anything. Nanami hits some cool throws and a nice lariat. Tessho hits a cool lariat of his own. Hara, wouldn't you know it, also hits a great lariat, albeit this one of the leg variety. Nomoto is an entirely different beast here though. He comes in and immediately slaps the taste out of Hara's mouth before throwing stiff knees to his jaw. Nomoto pushes the intensity to the next level anytime he's in the ring, forcing Hara and Nanami to fight for their lives against him. This is real Grade-A liberty taking, the type you really only tend to see in those power imbalance matches from UWF and UWFi. Nomoto's kneel kick looks like it could erase a face, and his Gotch piledriver compressed Hara's neck like a slinky. Is the match as a whole worth watching? No, probably not. However, I'd absolutely recommend at least tuning in to see the type of shit Nomoto does here. It's gruesome and violent in the type of way that makes me wish he expanded beyond Gamshara into somewhere like EXIT. Maybe he was just a big fish in a small pond and would've been eaten alive in EXIT. We have no way of knowing and can only dream of the possibilities. 

Match Rating: C+