My CIA Activation Phrase Is Kokusai

                    (Written by jom)

     No links on this one, as all matches reviewed come from some new footage I got from a close friend. I'm sure some of this is floating around online in the usual sorta places, but, as far as I know, none of this is on YouTube. I'll probably be hopping back to this footage on occasion, but I do still plan to use as many publicly available matches as possible in future posts. The people must witness IWE. 

Ashura Hara vs. Mile Zrno (05/07/1979)

     Zrno and Hara run it back just one day after their previous classic. This is our final piece of Zrno's IWE run, which might be the strongest foreigner run in IWE history just based on the average quality of each match on tape. It seems like all it took was one day for Zrno and Hara to figure each other out too, because the grappling in this match is, somehow, noticeably better, a completely mind-blowing turn of events considering just how good the matwork of their first match was. It's almost llave-like in a way, as both men refuse to break contact for minutes on end as they flow through incredible holds and incredible counters to holds and incredible counters to counters of holds. There's plenty of wonderful little moments, like Zrno locking in a hammerlock and slowly pushing Hara to the ground to prevent a bodyslam counter, or Hara pushing his leg into the back of Zrno's knee to force a drop toe hold that Zrno had no intentions of going down for. Zrno and Hara are also not afraid to lay into each other just as hard as they did in their Korakuen match, with Zrno's uppercuts especially standing out. Having said all of that, is this match better than their first encounter as a whole? Sadly, I don't think so, albeit the race is incredibly tight. I could simply say that the finish of the first match is still too magnificent to be overtaken, and that wouldn't be entirely wrong, but that's certainly not the only reason why that match is better. Honestly, this match's progression is strange. For as riveting as the grappling is, it never seems to fully leave that first gear, certainly not helped by this being one fall to a finish rather than another best 2/3 falls match. Once this finish for this match comes, it sort of just happens. It's cool, but it feels almost random compared to the fantastic build-up for their first match's ending stretch. Still, this match is great, and another must-watch for the grappling heads in the audience.

Rusher Kimura vs. Mighty Inoue (06/29/1975)

    I will admit that going into this match, I was tepidly excited. I had a strong feeling that whatever they gave me, I would enjoy it, but I also could imagine the less-than-engrossing Kimura matwork I'd have to get through for all the good bits. I think Kimura is a perfectly fine worker on the ground, but enough Kimura matwork matches have come and gone in my life for me to know that his matwork just isn't what I want to see from him. It's not his strong suit, and on occasion feels like a waste of time. This match is not a waste of time. This match is a wonderful case of both men using their time perfectly. A sizeable chunk of it is clipped, and maybe that portion was all Kimura matwork, but the wrestling we do get is totally killer through and through. This is Rusher Kimura engaging in counter-style pro wrestling, and, against all previous assumptions, he's actually pretty amazing at it. He and Inoue go through sequences clearly based around Kimura's partial immobility, which leads to Kimura eating shit some times and pulling off awe-inspiring counters in the others. This match is also a wonderful case study for Mighty Inoue, not only as a worker, but also as a character. He is ruthless right from the jump, turning slaps into punches and choking Kimura in the corner, looking for any advantage he can take over the more experienced champ. Once Kimura escalates the violence himself with throat-targeting chops and big bombs, Inoue gets to showcase himself as one of the most resilient men of the time by kicking out of more 1970s kill moves than I've seen anyone else do. It's the type of performance that establishes a guy as a true main event star, and I have to assume that's what it does for Inoue at this point in time. Tack onto all of that a fantastic finishing stretch featuring the very best counter in IWE history and you have yourself one of the greatest straight-up wrestling matches of the era. One day I'll learn to never doubt Rusher Kimura.

Strong Kobayashi vs. Bill Watts (01/19/1974)

    I will be entirely honest and admit that some of these 50+ year old Japan singles matches wear on me, at least a little bit. I've spent the last month or so professing my love for Ancient Pro, so it certainly does hurt me to come clean. This match is a strong example of the kinds of older matches that feel a little too much like a chore at times. Basically the entire first half is grappling, and while the grappling has moments of greatness, most of it is pretty dry. I find it fascinating that, at this point in time, there wasn't an obligation to create a sequence out of the matwork. Nowadays, it's entirely impossible to see guys do early match grappling without each hold being part of some larger sequence. In this match though, Kobayashi and Watts maintain holds until their opponent escapes, and that's the end of it. The closest thing to a modern sequence comes with Watts tries to do the same full nelson escape Kobayashi had just used, only for Kobayashi to catch him with another full nelson. Outside of that, each hold was treated as its own spot, and it's certainly an interesting way to look at matwork, if not incredibly tedious at some points. However, I still think this match is pretty sick, mostly because the entire back half is Kobayashi bleeding and hulking up while Watts fluctuates between cheating torturer and big ole baby. They also amp up the energy by 10 for the entire final fall, which helps a lot with engagement. Maybe I would enjoy the early portion grappling if I wasn't a Tiktok-brained zoomer, but that's the way the cards fell, and I do still find a lot of joy in this matchup. Expect more Strong Kobayashi ace run on the blog in the future.

Indian Strap Cage: Great Kusatsu vs. Wahoo McDaniel (11/28/1973)

    Now this is way more in line with my brain pattern. This is our only piece of Wahoo McDaniel in IWE footage, which breaks my heart considering Wahoo's one of my favorite territory guys. Thankfully, the single match we have is this one, with one of the best IWE stips I've ever seen. This match also has no sound, which presents a very interesting question: how did the fans in attendance respond? Considering the kind of action and their usual reaction to cage matches, it's a safe assumption that they were super vocal and gave this match the kind of noise it deserved. It's also true though that IWE crowds could be criminally silent depending on any number of factors. Therefore, we must consider this match to possess Schrodinger's Crowd; as long as we have no sound, we have no way of knowing whether or not the crowd audibly cared. Anyways, this match fucking rules. Even with about half of it clipped away, what we get is super sick and exactly what you would want: guys beating the fuck outta each other. I've very quickly come around on Kusatsu being one of my sleeper favorites of the home team IWE boys, and this is just another feather in his cap as he takes the fight to Wahoo with tons of nasty punches and elbows. Wahoo is more than happy to respond with his own punches, as well as those signature chops that probably sounded like death itself. It's only now as I write this review that I realize we have lost one of the best audio experiences in wrestling history. There's slams into the cage and whips with the strap and tons of drama surrounding the four corners winning stipulation. This match almost definitely sounds as good as it looks, but we'll probably never know for sure. If we had this match in complete form with audio, it'd probably be a top 10 IWE matches contender. As we have it now, it's just a real great match, and another piece of ammunition in the slowly growing Great Kusatsu agenda.

Cage: Rusher Kimura vs. Gypsy Joe (05/07/1979)

    In the last IWE write-up I did, I spent a good amount of time on the Joe/Kimura tag series, bemoaning the lack of a culminating all-out brawl before realizing that I had no right to criticize those matches for not being something I had concocted in my own imagination. It was a reflective moment for me, a lesson in appreciating something for what it is rather than depreciating for what it isn't. Well, I regret to inform you all that this match is actually exactly what I have been looking for, which means that I have now had my cake and eaten it, too. Gypsy Joe sets the tone by sauntering down to the ring with a sledgehammer, and then spends the rest of the match trying to split Kimura's head open with his own sledgehammer-like fists. There has never been a more vampiric performance in Joe's career, as he relishes in Kimura's ever-growing bloodshed and tries his damndest to get his fill, constantly biting at the wound until his mouth is covered in Kimura's blood. Joe also utilizes The Foreign Object better than any IWE foreigner before or since, using it as a crutch any time Kimura starts to get a little too feisty, and, sometimes, just for fun. It may not shock you to learn that this is also the greatest Kimura performance I have ever seen, as he swings wildly with the hardest punches and slaps he has ever thrown and attempts to destroy Joe's brain with ridiculous headbutts. He's a wonderful face in peril for the whole match, but he shines the most once he finally gets The Foreign Object from Joe, turning into a Dracula of his own and giving Joe his own case of face-ripping torment. At this point in the blog's history, we've talked about a lot of great IWE brawls, and we've talked about a handful of great IWE cage matches. Hell, we've even talked about a different Joe/Kimura cage match. This match stands above everything else so far, and it does that from nearly a mile up. This is, at least up to this point, the greatest IWE match I've ever seen. Oki vs. Bock and Inoue/Hara vs. Ellering/Lathan stand as the only real opponents (in terms of what's been discussed on the blog), and even those feel a step below right now. I'm certainly riding a discovery high and a recent viewing high. I've watched this three times now and I will certainly watch it twice more by the end of the week. Still, even after I cool down, I don't think my opinion will change. It’s simply the best.

IWE Matches That Soothe My Troubled Soul

                  (Written by jom)

     Have you guys seen that photo of Rusher Kimura with his massive collection of Louis bags? If not, here it is. You should check it out.

Kintaro Oki vs. Umanosuke Ueda (10/04/1980)

      Considering everything else I've discussed up to this point, this is the most obvious great match ever. Ueda and Oki go out and beat each other around Omihachiman Athletic Park for fifteen minutes and all is right in the world. In a way, it's almost hard to find worthwhile words for this match, because it really just gives you everything you would expect. Oki hits as hard as he ever did and rampages Ueda into walls and ring posts with his signature pissed-off fire. Ueda finds any and all opportunities to slap on cobra claws and utilize Foreign Objects, all while begging off and bumping huge for Oki's moments of rage. They tear down the building and drag anyone not quick enough into the onslaught, including the commentator who gets bumped hard and taken out in the latter half of the match. I will at least admit that, for as great as this is, it also never really goes beyond "great". I can't really explain why, either. I think it generally did a good job of delivering on the promise of Ueda & Oki in a singles match, but I also think it may have had more juice worth squeezing out. The violence was big, but it could've been even bigger with a little more time or a little more violence. This kind of argument isn't worth much salt, though. The match is great, and the match makes me happy in the exact right way this match should. No use in expending any energy on what-ifs when what we got is sick as fuck. 

Mile Zrno & Charly Verhulst vs. Ashura Hara & Jiro Inazuma (05/09/1979)

    More Zrno goodness, and more Zrno goodness with Hara! Both men have brought their friends with them, and what an assortment of compatriots. Charly Verhulst is another guy I've never heard of before, and you can tell he's from the Zrno sphere of pro wrestling just from how he moves in the ring. He's certainly not as quick and enduring as Zrno, but he's holds his own on the ground and knows how to throw uppercuts with the best of them. Jiro Inazuma, meanwhile, is a man I know much about, and a man I've somehow not included in any of these IWE write-ups until now. I wouldn't call this match the best showcase of his abilities, but he gets his moments to shine, throwing wild uppercuts at Verhulst and pulling off beautiful headscissors takedowns on Zrno. Of course, Zrno and Hara are the stars of the show, and they give us a lot more of the action they rocked Korakuen Hall with a few days prior. Zrno's such a tenacious worker, outright refusing to give up holds unless he has a very clear reason to do so (be that rope break or better vantage point). Hara, meanwhile, is one of the best at taking advantages of those little pockets of opportunity found between Zrno's barrages. This match also has both men laying in the strikes even harder than before, with Zrno's uppercuts landing flush on the jaw, and Hara's dropkick nearly detaching Znro's head from his body. Ignoring the sadly weird and sloppy finishing stretch between Inazuma and Zrno, this is more prime pro wrestling, and a fitting lower-key sequel to the borderline classic earlier in the tour.

Kintaro Oki & Kim Duk vs. Great Kusatsu & Animal Hamaguchi (11/28/1978)

     I simply cannot get enough of Oki going beast mode. This is one of the more tweener Oki performances of his IWE appearances, taking on the definitive babyface duo of Hamaguchi and Kusatsu with loyal goon Duk by his side. Tragically, this is also clipped to high heaven, seemingly less by the TV station and more by footage degradation, but what we get is very cool. This is the best Kusatsu has ever looked, as he locks on quick and flashy holds and gets a few chances to go toe-for-toe against the Koreans with standing strikes. Most of his striking is just perfectly fine, but he does turn it up out of nowhere in the latter half of the match, throwing hellacious jabs and uppercuts at Duk. I'm sure Kusatsu got more of an opportunity to show his stuff in the handful of cage matches I just haven't gotten around to checking out yet, but for a guy that's always come off as good enough, he certainly feels like a lot more coming out of this one. Hamaguchi mostly does what Hamaguchi does, bumping around well and pulling off one of his awesome airplane spins, but never doing too much of note. The Korean duo here stand out the most, especially Oki with his usual Oki headbutts and meanness, but Duk shows his own viciousness with some nice knees to the temple and an awesome Canadian backbreaker. Maybe if we had the full 18 minute version of this match it'd be something outright great. As it stands, we only have 6 minutes, but those six minutes are fun and worth a look. 

Rusher Kimura vs. Professor Tanaka (11/30/1978)

     Another IWE post means another Rusher Kimura singles match. Kimura singles matches are closer to being comfort food to me than anything else, usually simple and repetitive in their structure and narrative but full of the necessary heart and spirit to keep me enjoying the action no matter how many of them I watch. This match is, undeniably, par for the course for Kimura singles matches. As usual, he's placed across the ring from a big bad foreigner, this one being Professor Tanaka, a guy that looks so intimidating that he had an entire second career as a character actor for bodyguard and sumo roles in B-flicks. I guess you could say there's an extra layer here with Tanaka's existence as a gimmick Japanese man, but IWE puts less than zero effort into making that part of the match's story, and I personally feel no interesting in dwelling on it beyond this mention here. He's good in the role of intimidator + brutalizer, letting his general presence do a lot of the heavy lifting while pulling out some nice holds or quick jabs every now and then to keep the action from stalling out. Kimura matches up with him well too, as he's just as good at wrenching himself out of submissions and crumpling from Tanaka's cheap shots. Inevitably, Kimura fights back hard enough to require Tanaka to rely on a Foreign Object, and that leads to a bloody Kimura's final stand. I could've pulled out a piece of paper and mapped out this match's entire structure within 10 seconds of the bell ringing. I promise you, if you know the Kimura formula, you know what will happen here, and neither man does much of anything to divert expectations. Having said that, I love the formula, and I have no issue with them sticking to the usual script. Maybe not much for the average fan, but for the real Rusherholics, this is more of the good stuff.

Cage Death: Ashura Hara & Mighty Inoue vs. Terry Lathan & Paul Ellering (05/16/1981)

    Astonishing. I can't believe I missed this match when I went on my journey through the IWE Chronicles DVD set. This is the first time I've ever seen it and I'm completely blown away. I'll just come out and say it now: this is a strong contender for the best cage match IWE ever put on, at the very least among the matches we have on tape. This is Hara at his most emotionally-driven and Inoue at his most fiery and unrelenting, complimented by two white dudes willing to throw endless punches to the face and cheat to high heaven. Paul Ellering looks like a cartoon parody of a professional wrestler, complete with action figure-like body shape and the world's worst hairline. He throws bizarre punches that are as good as they are weird, and he more than makes up for any strange movements with just how much of a presence he has in the ring. Terry Lathan, meanwhile, feels like the biggest non-Japanese discovery of the whole project, a 'Bama boy with a propensity for biting at wounds and bumping like a madman. While Ellering does a damn good job of being Ellering, Lathan acts as the workhorse here, doing most of the big bumping during the babyface comebacks while also pushing the level of violence with his viciousness. They're a fantastic duo, one that matches up perfectly with two of IWE's best in their most prime forms. Hara really feels like the next guy up with his beautiful punching comeback and his massive superplex, but he really excels on defense as he stumbles around from Lathan's punches. It's a nice preview of Hara's work a decade later as he starts to figure out that signature Hara selling style that would put him head and shoulders above practically every other wrestler ever. Inoue, meanwhile, is fully realized. His pissed off and reckless comeback work in this match is the best I've ever seen from him, even greater than the comeback in the Ueda tag discussed last week. He's a punching and stabbing machine, throwing the ref around whenever he tries to get involved and refusing to let up on his assailants. This is spectacular, one of the last great matches from the final months of IWE, and a potential contender for IWE's best match ever.

Assorted IWE Matches That Tickle My Fancy

                 (Written by jom)

     IWE back-to-back?? Yeah bitch!!! The thunk of Kintaro Oki headbutts call to me like a siren's song. I also genuinely cannot find it in myself to write about anything else because IWE is one of the only things in wrestling that interests me currently. I could power through an article written about a random schmuck working in basements, but I don't really want to. All I want to do is put more words to the page about why Rusher Kimura was one of the best top guys in the history of Japanese wrestling, or why Mighty Inoue should've gotten a top heavyweight run in AJPW regardless of his actual size. As always, here are five matches from the IWE archives, some of which I already adore while others I fully intend to adore. IWE is not a perfect place, but the shape of its spirit fits perfectly into my soul.

Gypsy Joe vs. Kintaro Oki (07/01/1980)

      A tragically clipped affair. The version we currently possess has nearly 10 minutes cut off from the start, which I can only assume mostly consisted of Gypsy Joe beating Oki's ass. We come in with Oki firmly in control and never see anything else, but this functions well as an Oki agenda piece. He's such a physical wrestler, an early template of the nasty stiff brawlers that would become more prevalent in the late 80s and early 90s. The influence on a guy like Fujiwara is blatantly apparent, down to the similar headbutt form, but to call him a prototype of Fujiwara would be an insult to both. Oki, for as talented at matworking as he was (just see the Bock match from the last post for proof of that), cared much more about the striking and bigger drama more often than not. He spends this whole match throwing chops at the throat and turning his own brain into mush with the nastiest headbutts of the era. Joe, for his part, is as receptive as he should be, taking said headbutts by wandering into the crowd like he's forgotten where he is, tumbling over tables and the like. It breaks my heart that we have none of his work on offense, but it's cool to see him doing everything he can to get over Oki's headbutt as a weapon of mass destruction. Nothing vital, but if you want to see Kintaro Oki beating ass, it's a good six minutes of that. 

2/3 Falls: Ashura Hara vs. Mile Zrno (05/06/1979)

    I've never seen Mile Zrno before. I know that close friends have pushed the agenda for him for years, but he's somehow stayed outside of my radar for the eight or so years I've been in this sphere. I can't believe it's taken that long because Mile Zrno is astounding. He's probably the closest anyone from this period of wrestling has ever come to feeling like the French Catch guys of the 40s & 50s. He's a total monster in this match, working the mat with excellent execution and beating Hara down with nasty uppercuts and dropkicks. His work constantly teeters the line between beautiful and vicious, at some points pulling off the most fascinating armbar transitions you've ever seen, and at others grinding Hara into the dust with grounded elbows to the head or kicks to the face. Hara, for his part, puts in his best juniors performance I've really ever seen, showing his strength in the bombs category while also proving himself equally capable in the grappling portions. He pulls off an incredible drop toe hold counter to a single leg early on and looks like a beast wrenching hammerlocks on the ground. More than anything else though, this match really finds itself in the smallest of moments just as it does in the biggest. The moments before the takedowns or suplexes feel almost more important, as these two masters square each other up and try to bait one another into making a mistake or giving the smallest opening needed to advance. It's a clinical affair, one that even gets a massive boost in the ending portion with one of the most ahead-of-its-time finishes I have ever seen. Once again, IWE blows me away with one of its more scientific matches, reminding me that there's a lot more to International than the blood-and-guts brawling (even if I love that stuff oh so much).

Kintaro Oki & Kim Kwang Sik vs. Alex Smirnoff & The USSR (10/08/1980)

     I miss when wrestling had shit like "The USSR." I take pride in the fact that one of the bigger deal indie stars in my region is a dude named Vladimir Koloff, who spent years really milking that Cold War heel heat (even if nowadays he's more of just a generally very good worker). The USSR is actually longtime WWF jobber Charlie Fulton, dressed up in one of Smirnoff's spare singlets and wearing a black mask that just says "USSR" on the front. Not enough people talk about IWE's revolutionary and ahead-of-the-times approach to integrating political strife into wrestling storylines, because who else was booking Korean War revenge matches like this? This match is incredibly fun, and works as a pretty great display of all four men's talents. Smirnoff and USSR are great heaters for the babyface with Smirnoff doing most of the heavy-lifting. He's a wonderful scumbag, happy to interfere in the match and throw hidden closed fists or use a Foreign Object. USSR is clearly one of the least talented workers of this time period, but the bar for talent is so high at this point that he still shows an innate understanding of working that puts him head and shoulders above a lot of guys today. The Koreans are by far the stars of the show though. Kim Kwang Sik, who I didn't realize until after the match is Oki's shoot younger brother, comes off as Oki's personal Teranishi. He's an athletic specimen who flies around the ring so gracefully while also throwing headbutts with incredible viciousness. Seeing Kwang Sik work here just makes me yearn for the 80s Korean wrestling tapes that must exist in some Seoul uncle's basement. And of course my guy Oki delivers the Oki-ism in droves. Tons of headbutts, tons of personality, he's just the best. Wrap all of that together nicely with a "referee Lou Thesz antics"-colored bow and you have yourself one of the most enjoyable tags in all of my IWE viewing. It's not as serious or as climactic as some of the more flat-out great tags from the promotion, but seeing Kwang Sik use himself as a wheelbarrow to pull the Russians into Oki headbutts is an experience like no other. 

Rusher Kimura vs. Ron Bass (10/11/1980)

     I think one of the more interesting aspects of all this IWE watching has been figuring out what works best for Rusher Kimura. I've seen as many good Kimura singles matches as I've seen bad ones, and I think it has a lot to do with Kimura's status as one of the original Stoic Japanese Men. Kimura commands a presence entirely through muted emotions, chopping down opponents with a stone face and only really changing that expression in the rarest circumstances. As such, Kimura's best work in singles action almost always comes against wrestlers that pop out of the screen in big and borderline cartoonish ways, whether they be foreign monsters (the Ox Bakers of the world) or complete chickenshit heels. Ron Bass comfortably sits as one of the best of the latter category, as he puts into a wonderful cowardly performance here. His facial expressions are great, fluctuating between absolute fear of Kimura's chops and Grinch-like deviousness while plotting his fouling. He begs off like a madman and hunts for the ropes every single time Kimura puts on even the most basic hold. He is, in every single way, a coward, and his cowardice is his weapon against Kimura. Gimmick brother Don Bass (which I constantly pronounce in my head as Donbas) also does a good job of fouling it up, especially when Kimura goes outside and gets caught in a storm by the brothers. It all leads to a textbook Kimura comeback and a big finish, wrapping up nicely as an easy crowdpleaser. I have no interest in pretending that this is some life-changing piece of work, but it's a strong performance from both men that knew their roles very well. As feel-good as it ever was.

Cage Death: Animal Hamaguchi & Mighty Inoue vs. Yasu Fuji & Umanosuke Ueda (11/14/1979)

    I would say this is probably my fifth time watching this match. My feelings on it have fluctuated a lot over the last couple of months. The initial viewing in April mostly met my expectations, albeit I didn't think it went beyond being great. The second viewing a few weeks later left me feeling about the same, albeit I did find myself appreciating the heel heat portions more. The third viewing in July marked a major turning point, as my eyes opened and I came to love it as maybe my favorite IWE match. August came around and I finally watched the full version of this match (I had only watched the clipped IWE Chronicles edition up to this point), which further cemented my feelings on this being a strong contender for #1. Now, here I am, five months removed and five watches completed, telling you that I... don't love this as much as I did after the last watch. I think there are undeniable negatives to some of this work, even if it pains me to say that. The first half of this match is good, with points that go into the territory of "very good", but it's also a little bit of a slog at times. Most of it is heel fouling which is something Ueda and Fuji excel in, but the Ueda choking clinic can make the mind wander, especially compared to how chaotic and unrelenting the second half of the match is. The complete lack of Ueda crowdbrawling also does kind of hurt the soul, even if its absence is necessary because of the stipulation. The bits of Ueda crowdbrawling we get after the match mostly make up for it, but comparing this match to the other big Ueda matches of his IWE stint makes it clear that having some crowdbrawling probably would've made that first half a little bit more energized. Having said all of that, this is still one of the best IWE matches ever. For as long as the first half can feel, it's also jam-packed with great fouling and some of Ueda's best Foreign Object usage. Yasu Fuji bites and kicks at wounds and hits a nasty piledriver while also bumping huge for the babyface comesbacks. Hamaguchi and Inoue both get chances to show that viciousness beneath the surface that has been bleeding out in all of their tags against Ueda, and Inoue once again impresses more than anyone else in the second half when he gets his hand on a buckle and goes wild. All of my complaints pretty much exist to say that this isn't the best IWE match, but it's certainly still in contention for the top 10, let alone when we just focus on the IWE cage matches. An incredibly compelling and cathartic match, even if I no longer think it's the greatest thing IWE ever offered up.