Spitball Reviews #9

            (Written by jom)

Doretti YU-JI vs. Hellraiser Zeon (SED 07/22/2007)

    For the third spitball in a row, SED starts off the blog post, except this time, no Greed. I just thought it was time to broaden my horizons, look at who else SED has to offer, really take in the- ah, who am I kidding. Doretti YU-JI is less than a year away from changing his name to GREED. GREED IS BACK. And I am more happy for it. He's here facing off against Hellraiser Zeon, who looks like a front line grunt for the Spirit Halloween army. Zeon is defending his EVIL WORLD EXTREME championship, which is basically his personal belt and means that all fouling is legal in this match. It's very specifically "illegal attacks are allowed" rather than anything like No Holds Barred, because NHB comes with certain expectations regarding weapon usage. Instead, this match style just means that YU-JI and Zeon can get away with dick punches and using the customary Japanese plastic box. Zeon is a somewhat interesting figure in this match, throwing lots of generally good kicks and doing some fun spots like the Onryo pinfall catch, but mostly existing as a training dummy for YU-JI to unleash his entire moveset upon. No kidding, this might be the quintessential YU-JI showcase match, as he not only gets to do a ton of his movez, but also just entirely dogs on Zeon for most of the runtime. This best illustrated by when YU-JI lands on his feet to counter Zeon's attempted Angel's Wings, and then just slaps him as hard as he can before deadlifting him into his own Angel's Wings. It's the type of total disrespect that borderlines on burying, just complete and utter disregard for your opponent's image. It also goes to show the type of worker YU-JI is, resorting to the nuclear option at the slightest inconvenience. YU-JI pulls off cool move after cool move, from standing shining wizards to the Roddy Strong's fireman's carry gutbuster. I guess you can criticize the way the match is constructed in that way, and it certainly does keep it from being anything actually great, but I had a hell of a time watching it. Check this out if you're in the mood for cool moves and unnecessary roughness, and then join me in watching all of YU-JI/Greed's matches. 

Match Rating: B

Koichi Nagatoshi vs. Tomoya Sato (DREAMERS 02/06/2010)

    Truly, I have no clue how it's taken so long for the word "DREAMERS" to appear on this blog. It's a massive blemish on my record as a Guy That Writes About Obscure Japanese Wrestling, and feels borderline impossible considering how much I've talked about the promotion elsewhere. For anyone that hasn't heard of it before, DREAMERS was a wrestling organization started by Hayate, entirely made up of the trainees from SUPER CREW, his wrestling school he ran alongside Dick Togo. During its lifespan, it out as the most fascinating terrarium of the Japanese indie scene, almost entirely isolated from all other wrestling companies while creating a flourishing house style of really smart and detailed juniors work. Nagatoshi and Sato are two of the standouts from this environment, and they put on a sick little match because of that. The most interesting part of the match to me is how they find ways to keep everything flowing while still feeling like a fight. There's a couple awesome little moments based around the slight additional struggle added to every spot, guys having to fight extra hard to keep each other at bay long enough for the big spots. Sato's sleeper hold hunting in the latter half of the match feels like a great example of this too, with Sato just constantly trying to get a grip on Nagatoshi's neck even as Nagatoshi keeps finding his way out of it. It also helps that both Nagatoshi and Sato have great form to everything they do, like their suplexes and their big kicks. The only badly executed move here is Tomoya Sato's diving elbow drop, which just looks like he's trepidatiously diving into a pool. Otherwise, this is two young masters getting to work a nice and compact match, getting to show just how damn good they are at this whole wrestling thing. Thumbs up from me, expect more DREAMERS to show up on the blog eventually.

Match Rating: B

Black Buffalo vs. Flash Moon (Osaka Pro 11/10/2007)

    Somehow, this is the first time I've talked about Osaka Pro on here, which feels very odd. No point in an introduction for the company though; if you're reading this, you almost undoubtedly know what Osaka Pro is. This is around the peak of Osaka Pro's popularity and probably their strongest state ever, with easily one of the coolest rosters in all of 21st century Japanese wrestling. Buffalo needs just as little introduction as Osaka Pro, but Flash Moon feels like he deserves much more conversation than he gets. He's one of those Toryumon guys that really just slipped through the cracks, peaking with this run as Flash Moon for Osaka Pro but spending most of his career bouncing around different wrestling scenes under different names. He's a really great wrestler though, and this match feels like a pretty strong testament to both his and Buffalo's capabilities. Flash Moon spends the first minute just 200-IQ'ing Buffalo, which leads to Buffalo delivering a true "I'm NOT owned" performance where he tries to knock Moon's head off of his body. No joke, the second Buffalo gets the chance he smashes Moon with one of the hardest lariats I have ever seen him throw, and that sets in motion one of the most cruel & unusual punishments Buffalo has ever dished out. There are multiple points where these guys genuinely work me and I'm convinced that Moon is actually fucked up, not only because of Buffalo's violence, but also because of Moon's pretty stellar selling performance. He really knows how to balance both big "slipped on a banana peel" style bumping with complete dead sells where he goes limp and looks more like a corpse than a living man. This has all the big bombs and amazing movez you'd hope for from this period of Osaka Pro, but also carries with it a damn good story and two amazing performances in relation to that story. Possibly one of the most underrated matches in Osaka Pro history.

Match Rating: A-

FIRE DOG vs. Tadanobu Fujisawa (K-WEST 01/21/2010)

    Shout out to all my fire dawgs! I bought this DVD solely because I was mesmerized by the name FIRE DOG. It's a personal dark horse contender for best wrestler name ever. Anyways, this is a local semi-pro indie legend getting absolutely dogwalked (pun intended) by a Real Professional Wrestler. Fujisawa around this period of his career is super interesting, constantly being matched up against schmucks and showing them what it means to enter the god damn squared circle. He's got that Kurisu blood flowing through his veins and it really shows at this point in his career, taking guys like Yoshiaki Iwata and Lucha Master Takemaru and really ripping them apart in that ring. This might honestly be his best performance in that kind of match, as he entirely dominates the ring in a way that puts FIRE DOG so far beneath him that it almost feels criminal, and not even just from all the stiffing. Little things like Fujisawa repeatedly forcing FIRE DOG back into a headscissors or maintaining a headlock so tight that it takes FIRE DOG throwing a flurry of strikes at his midsection for him to even lighten the grip really get across that Fujisawa is from an entirely different solar system of pro wrestler than this freak in trash bag pants and a dog mask. Of course, the stiffing helps too. Fujisawa's boot scrape is always a wince-inducing moment, but his execution here where he spins FIRE DOG's mask all the way around in the process is ludicrous in a way few other spots can match. This complete control also helps to cover for the fact that FIRE DOG kind of sucks, evidenced by the few moments of FIRE DOG offense where he either botches his spot or throws the world's most pathetic forearms. We barely get to see this though because of Fujisawa's unrivaled dictatorship over the ring, and we're much better off for it. This is an incredibly one-note match, practically a 10 minute Old Yeller with a sociopathic Travis Coates, but it honestly ticks most of the boxes for a premium rookie beatdown (an especially funny thing considering FIRE DOG has apparently been wrestling longer than Fujisawa has). If it had a good FIRE DOG comeback or a few more instances of Fujisawa taking suable liberties, we'd be talking about something genuinely great. Sadly, FIRE DOG isn't a good wrestler and Fujisawa wasn't that sociopathic, so we'll just have to settle for something pretty damn gnarly and fun.

Match Rating: B

Van Vert Jack & X-Odajimo vs. KAZE & Van Vert Negro (RLL 04/01/2018)

    I wonder how child labor laws in Japan apply to lucha libre. The year is 2018 and Van Vert Jack is a 12 year old child, but he's working with his dad Negro so maybe they can just argue this as a "bring your child to work day" situation. Anyways, this match is happening at a classic car meet on a dock in Fukuoka, and, inexplicably, that speaks to my very soul. As a lifelong resident of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I have experienced many a Cruisin' The Coast event, and the environment of this match blows a cool sea breeze into my heart, one I've felt for 23 years. I see the funny looking Japanese grandpas with their funny hats and I think of the funny looking American grandpas with their funny hats I see driving down Highway 90 every single year. I don't believe that Jiraiya put on this match to remind us of the universal nature of the human experience, but he certainly did so, at least for me. He also gave us a very fun match, which I am equally thankful for. This is genuinely such a blast, a super lighthearted affair mostly based around how fucking cool Van Vert Jack is. Anyone that knows who he is also knows he's kind of a prodigy, and even at 12 years old it's blatant just how much potential he has. He and his father Negro work the best sequences and spots of the match, with Negro being the perfect base for all of Jack's crazy flips and twists. It's also worth mentioning that, even with his evident faults from being a literal child, he's seemingly got a good head on his shoulders, knowing how to sell competently and only really slipping up once when he tried to give KAZE the chance to cut him off when KAZE didn't intend to. Negro is also pretty awesome here, especially whenever he gets to beat up his kid and hit him with backbreakers and piledrivers. He's a great rudo in general, doing a lot of fun crowd work and working over the faces just as much as he needs to. KAZE and X-Odajimo are almost complete afterthoughts here, but they both do their jobs well enough and never hurt the match. Honestly, just check this match out. Maybe I have a bias for it considering my coastal nostalgia, but I truly enjoyed this match a ton and think you would too.

Match Rating: B+

MERRY KURISUMAS! Holiday Greetings & Haphazard Beatings From Kurisu & Sons

           (Written by jom)

    Happy holidays! Hope you've all been well since the last time I put the proverbial pen to the proverbial paper. A combination of a busy life and brutal indecision has kept me away from the blog. I've planned out and cancelled at least three different large-scale projects meant for the blog since the last post in October, and I'll surely think up and scrap a few more before the year ends. Now don't fret: I do have a special project planned for the blog in the coming months for any of you that would care about a thing like that, and I plan to continue the Spitball Reviews series as well. I've escaped my rut, just in time for the holiday season. To celebrate, I'm writing about one of my biggest hyperfixations in wrestling: the Kurisu lineage. Masanobu Kurisu's influence goes far beyond instances of extreme liberty-taking, as Kurisu's gym (appropriately named Kurisu Gym) was the birthplace for a number of notable names, ranging from actual megastars to some of the scummiest sleaze indie workers you've ever seen. As this holiday is truly all about family, let's check in on what the Kurisu household has done over the past thirty or so years. 

Masanobu Kurisu vs. Keigo Kurihara (WAR 01/05/1994)

    The only match on the docket to not include exclusively Kurisu trainees, as this match features papa Kurisu himself. The Kurisu WAR run can generally be defined as "fun." He's still a bastard, a purveyor of chair-based violence, but he's also a fan favorite, more than happy to please the crowd with all his antics. Keigo Kurihara, meanwhile, is one of the many forgotten karatekas in wrestling history. Based on the commentary, he comes from Masashi Aoyagi's Seishin Kaikan dojo. As such, this is worked as a different style fight, a format Kurisu is deceptively adept in. One of the core tenants of different style fighting is the presence of different styles. It seems on the nose, but wrestlers choosing to focus entirely on certain aspects of their work to counteract their opponent is vital for the format. Masanobu Kurisu never has to worry about this problem because he's the most "pro wrestling" pro wrestler to walk planet earth. He's a real angry beast with all his stomping and slamming, dragging around Kurihara by the legs and recklessly throwing him out of the ring. Kurihara is able to get little bits of vengeance through his karate, but he's definitely a little floatier than most of the other Seishin Kaikan guys. Still, when his strikes land, they land, and when they don't, Kurisu is there to punish. Is it the best Kurisu different style fight? No, not by a long shot. Still, it's a perfectly fine match in an incredible genre, and the crowd eats it up. Hard to go wrong here. 

Match Rating: B

Green Fire Okumura vs. Blue Fire Kikuzawa (PWC 02/16/1995)

    It feels bizarre to cover this match in this blog post. This is a first round match from the rookie tournament on the Stray Dog Legend show, an event that honestly deserves its own coverage on the blog. I'm sure I'll at least talk about the main event in the future, once I finally bite the bullet and start working on my Shunji Takano dissertation. Anyways, Okumura and Kikuzawa are two of the earliest Kurisu trainees to make a splash on the wrestling scene, and this is especially early into their runs. Even if you combined both men's careers at this point, it still wouldn't be close to a year of experience. Still, they're here to rock the house, and they do so in style. Both men have their bombs that they throw incredibly well, and they pad everything out with solid matwork and quality pacing. Kikuzawa is a ball of fire with his flying kicks and insane suicide dive, while Okumura is always trying to crush him with massive lariats and a beauty of a moonsault. It's a real popcorn match from the halfway point onwards, lots of flash with enough substance to keep it worthwhile. Considering just how early both men are into their careers, this is a real feather in the cap and a clear sign that both had big things ahead of them.

Match Rating: B

Akira Kawabata vs. Tadanobu Fujisawa (Pro Wrestling X 03/30/2002)

    Seven years later, two more Kurisu trainees are brought in to rock the house. This takes place a few years after the J2000 exodus (more on that later), and there's a good chance this is the most exposure the final generation of Kurisu Gym trainees ever got before the gym shut down in 2004. Kawabata and Fujisawa are a significantly more experienced than their first generation counterparts were in the previous match, as Kawabata debuted in 1998 and Fujisawa debuted in 2000. More contrasts come in the match itself, as rather than working a fast-paced junior style bombfest, Kawabata and Fujisawa are more interested in heavyweight hits and deliberate grappling. It doesn't land perfectly, but that's not entirely on the two of them. They're wrestling for nobody but themselves, as the crowd can't be bothered to care. Nobody came to see two Kurisu rookies have a slower-paced and orthodox match. Everyone's here for Onita theatre, and these two are not on the bill. Still, they make the best of it, with both men hunting for armbars and pulling out some cool spots, like Fujisawa's early spear to cut off a shoulder tackle exchange, as well as Kawabata's gross kicks and shoteis. The match's slower moments really feel slow thanks to the silent crowd, but a lot of the work does hold up pretty well. I hope these two know that somewhere out there, there's a dude from the United States that appreciates this match a lot more than the people in the crowd did.

Match Rating: B-

Kenji Fukimoto & Takuya Fujiwara vs. Riki Senshu & Junpuku Yamamoto (J2K 11/07/2004)

    A little bit of an info dump before getting into this. J2K is a rare existence: an exodus fed formed out of an exodus fed. In 1999, Hiroaki Moriya led a exodus from Kurisu Gym to form his promotion J2000. The majority of Kurisu Gym wrestlers left with him, including Ryo Tamiyasu, the future Riki Senshu. Only a few years into J2000's existence, cracks began to form between Moriya and the duo of Tamiyasu and Kenji Fukimoto. Tamiyasu eventually decided to retire in 2002, hosting the retirement event in his newly-formed promotion, J2K. Within a year, half of the J2000 roster would leave to join J2K alongside Tamiyasu and Fukimoto, and Tamiyasu would return in 2003 to act as one of J2K's top stars. It's such a fascinating tale of wrestling politics and individual visions leading to the Osaka sleaze indies being run by two different groups of Kurisu trainees. Now, regarding the match at hand: I love this match. I've probably seen it ten times. It's one of my favorite matches to come out of the Kurisu family, with all four guys willing to go buck wild on one another while having a match on a kindergarten's playground. Fukimoto and Fujiwara are so mean and vicious, throwing tons of closed fists, stiff kicks, and full-force stomps to different parts of Senshu and Yamamoto's bodies, while also working like a well-oiled machine during all of their tandem offense. The face team responds with equal viciousness and some really great house of fire spots, especially Yamamoto's spears and Senshu's lariat barrage. Everyone hits their bombs so well, but more than that, everyone is just so explosive in everything they do. A common trend among Kurisu trainees is vocalization, and everyone here is always yelling or cursing at each other in a way that makes all of it feels so heated. Is there the occasional instance of sloppiness, a slip-up here or there? Absolutely! Even considering that, this match has such a genuine spirit to it. It feels like a fight, a wrestling match with so much emotion pouring out of that ring. Every person here deserved the world; the fact that Fukimoto is the only one working at a higher level nowadays is a damn shame.

Match Rating: A-

Takafumi Ito vs. Ikuto Hidaka (ZERO1 09/12/2012)

    We end our journey through the faces of Kurisu Gym with two of the earliest members, and two men that went on very different paths in their careers. Hidaka and Ito joined around the same time, quickly becoming best friends, before leaving around the same time as well. Both headed from Osaka to Tokyo, where Hidaka would join the Animal Hamaguchi gym and the Battlarts dojo, while Ito would abandon professional wrestling entirely and instead join Pancrase as its first homegrown fighter. Ten years before this match, Hidaka made his MMA debut in DEEP against Ito, losing via chokehold. One year before this match, Ito made his pro wrestling debut in ZERO1 against Hidaka, losing via head kick. Now, 20 years after their time in Kurisu Gym, the two face off once more as part of the Tenka-Ichi tournament. What we end up getting is a generally fun shoot style brawl, albeit one with some notable issues. I'm generally a Hidaka low-voter, and a solid amount of his bad habits shone through even with the three minute runtime. His strikes, while mostly alright, had a few moments of just looking pretty painless, and he had to shoe-in some "fighting spirit" type yelling and a dumb double head kick spot. Ito also showed some roughness to his work, but I feel more comfortable excusing him since all of his issues clearly stemmed from him being so new to pro wrestling. Still, both guys had their moments, with Ito's grappling being the key highlight of the match, pulling out some nice holds and a massive uranage. Hidaka generally did a good job of fighting back while also pulling out a bomb or two like his sick reverse DDT. Even with its faults, I still think this was solid enough, and, similar to the Okumura/Kikuzawa match covered earlier, was clear evidence that Ito had a ton of potential in him at this point.

Match Rating: B-

Spitball Reviews #4

(Written by jom)

Southern Cross vs. Tadanobu Fujisawa (H.EVolution 10/12/2014)

    Inexplicably, this is a really good match. I've talked about both of these guys before when reviewing K-WEST, but only Fujisawa elicited praise. He's an incredibly competent Kurisu trainee with the capabilities to be a scary brutalizer, fitting for someone with his lineage. Southern Cross, meanwhile, is bad! I last saw him in 2010 when he wore a mask and had a lanky build, but here he is in 2014, unmasked and possessing the body type of a divorced father. His previously-seen work was sloppy, boring, and practically screamed "I shouldn't be within 500 feet of a wrestling ring". He always came off as the type of wrestler you'd only see "succeed" in a place like FU*CK!, a promotion that would treat his lack of skills like a skill itself. I came into this hoping it would just be a Fujisawa squash, a chance for him to be mean and cruel to a tomato can worker and make me happy with unnecessary violence. What we end up getting is still pretty close to this, but Cross got all the chances he needed to prove that a lot can change in four years. For all of Fujisawa's dick kicks and stiff shots, Cross returned fire with impressive chops and displays of raw power, like a really snappy Tenryu-style powerbomb. He does a damn good job on the receiving end of things, selling Fujisawa's shots with a lot of grunting and recoiling. His blood getting all over his white pants after a Fujisawa shoot headbutt is just the icing on top. I think the best way to describe this match would be a display of Southern Cross's will. The Fujisawa bullying is sick and gross and all that, but I can't help but come away from this with the lasting image of Cross's bloody visage and never-say-die attitude. An infinitely impressive performance from someone I never would've thought could deliver such a thing.

Asian Cougar & Great Sensei vs. Tarzan Goto & Masked Saturn (Samurai Project 01/25/1998)

    I only tracked this match down because of an old Japanese blog post talking about a supposed incident where Goto stabbed Cougar in his left arm with a broken broom and gave Cougar massive scars. That incident never takes place in this match and I have no idea whether the writer was misremembering which Goto vs. Cougar match it was or if it was just a plain ol' lie. Regardless, I have to find that writer's contact information and try to thank them. This match, as a whole, is borderline great. Sensei and Saturn (Hiroshi Hatanaka and Mitsunobu Kikuzawa respectively) only exist to detract. Sensei is a botch machine who slows the pace even if he has some good strikes. Saturn hits good punches and big moves but does nothing to further the match itself. The only two men that mattered on this day were Asian Cougar and Tarzan Goto. 1998 is part of that heavenly period of time where Goto could be put into any situation and deliver a great performance just by being himself, and when Goto wanted to put a little extra effort in? That's when you got the type of stuff that changed my entire perspective on wrestling. 1998 is also the start of Asian Cougar's run as one of the best spotfest workers of all time, but it's also when he sets himself into that role without much deviation for the rest of his career. I love Cougar and I've been very vocal on this blog about how much I love him, but I'd be the first to tell you he's never exhibited much range. He's got a winning formula and very little reason to do much else. This is different; this is the first Cougar performance I've seen where the man is truly a victim. Goto smashes dozens of chairs over his body, throws a table at his head, stabs his face with a broom snapped in half. Cougar's golden mask gets ripped wide open to expose a bright red ocean underneath his skin. Cougar bumps and staggers and collapses like a wounded deer, hopping around looking for any chance to escape. Cougar's greatest work comes once he's able to fight back. No slingshot leg drops; every single leg drop is done off the top rope for maximum damage to himself and his opponent. I've never seen Cougar so reliant on the top rope, so willing to bust his ass to hurt someone that much more. It's a subtle change to his moveset, a single rope difference between Cougar's regular arsenal, and yet it feels like the world has shifted. If this was a Cougar and Goto singles match with even more work between both, there's a chance it could've turned out as something truly special. As it stands though, it's an amazing preview of a match I truly didn't know I needed so badly. 

Minoru Tanaka vs. MIKAMI (Batos Cafe 12/15/2019)

    Two junior legends finally getting to duke it out in a singles match, albeit at least a decade past their primes. Let's get one thing straight right off the bat: 2019 Minoru Tanaka is not 1999 Minoru Tanaka, and 2019 MIKAMI is not 2005 MIKAMI. These aren't the greatest freak athletes in the world anymore. These are two veterans of the indie scene with a lot less to give than they had during the glory days. Coming into this match expecting to see these two busting out the flips and dives like the Y2K apocalypse hadn't happened yet would be a fool's errand. This is a match way more focused on what they can do rather than what they can't, and it benefits greatly from that mentality. Both men have their spots they've perfected over the years, and they do a great job of blending their work together into a seamless match. Minoru Tanaka is, of course, great. Even in his late 40s he still has great execution on all of his work, and, more than anything, he's dependable. At the same time, he's not particularly interested in getting out of his comfort zone. He's much happier using ol' reliable in the exact same way he always does rather than change up his game this late in his career. That's what makes MIKAMI stand out so much more. MIKAMI is a master at taking the pre-established and turning it into something new. He's hit a hundred Mickey Boomerangs throughout his career, but here he is at 45, hitting one on the apron. I've seen him put wrestlers in the Stinger since the mid-2000s, but I've never seen him set it up with repeated double axe handles between the shoulder blades. They're changes to the arsenal that might come off as unnoteworthy to some, but it shows a willingness to keep things fresh that many of MIKAMI's peers don't possess. When MIKAMI eventually calls it quits, wrestling will be losing one of the greatest and most under-appreciated minds in the history of the sport.

Kenji Fukimoto & Hideaki Sumi vs. Necro Butcher & Mad Man Pondo (FU*CK! 05/04/2007)

    I bought this whole DVD just for this match. Sure, there's other matches on the show that I'd enjoy checking out. If this match didn't happen I'd still probably get it! The fact is this match did happen, and it was the overwhelming force which motivated me to get this DVD. Necro Butcher is possibly the greatest American wrestler of all time, and Sumi is the greatest karate pro wrestler of the 21st century. In my mind, putting them together is money. In execution, it is ABSOLUTELY money. Sumi and Necro do so much great work here, from Necro pantomiming at Sumi that his karate will not work against his brawling, to Sumi's karate doing a damn good job against him after all. Necro is wonderful on selling duty and fights back with lots of gut punches and face grabbing, and after getting embarrassed by Sumi's karate flurries he commits himself to Sabu'ing chairs at Sumi randomly throughout the match. Considering this, Fukimoto and Pondo should be afterthoughts, but both put in their own quality performances. Pondo is in full plunder mode, pulling out a massive knife to cut up Fukimoto's face and beating down both Fukimoto and Sumi with random metal objects. Fukimoto is almost entirely on selling duty, getting bloodied up and screaming for his life, but eventually fights back with some great lariats. This is sadly only eight minutes and there are a handful of awkward miscommunication moments, but, for the most part, this delivers on expectations.

Yusha Amon vs. Minoru Suzuki (Tokyo Tama Luchas 08/18/2013)

    I don't like Minoru Suzuki. I understand the appeal of the "murder grandpa", although I don't agree with its validity, nor do I have any interest in talking with anyone that calls Suzuki that nickname unironically. A regular Suzuki match, at best, is funny because of how bad he is. He's an uncaring "legend" who collects paychecks by putting in the least amount of effort possible during wrestling matches. He's been a consistent net negative on professional wrestling since returning in the 2000s, after spending 10 years having fixed fights in Pancrase. The only type of Minoru Suzuki I truly find interesting is the Minoru Suzuki that works against the best and brightest of the scum indies. Whether it's the New Year's Summit tag where he plastered Keita yano around Korakuen Hall or one of the many neighborhood-spanning brawls he's done in places like Hokuto Pro, something about getting to work in the shoddiest promotions in Japan motivates Suzuki to actually care about his wrestling. This match is no exception, with Suzuki facing international man of mystery and possible Solar trainee Yusha Amon in Amon's own promotion. Minoru Suzuki's performance here isn't particularly out of the ordinary for a Suzuki match of the time, but there's something about the way Suzuki revels in Amon's lack of ability that really works to make me enjoy him here. He spends much of the early match refusing to sell or cooperate with him, laughing along with the crowd at his flubs and failures while grinding him down with the most basic holds possible, posing for photos along the way. He completely disregards all of Amon's offense, and the few times he does acknowledge it he completely denies it. The standout moment from the first two falls of the match (it's worked under "Mexico Rules") is easily when Amon goes for a flying cross chop and gets literally kicked out of the air. It's almost like Suzuki is working a comedy match while Amon is trying his damndest to work seriously. When Amon does start forcing Suzuki to work a little seriously, it feels like a life-changing event for Amon, proof that he can be a force to be reckoned with in professional wrestling. That period of time doesn't last long, but God bless him for getting to have that happen at all. Is this a legitimately great match? I don't know. There's a lot of talking to the crowd, a little to0 much reliance on Suzuki's usual schtick, and I just have bias against the guy. Still, I had way more fun with this than I ever thought I'd have with a 2010s Minoru Suzuki match.

K-WEST 02/18/2010

         (Written by jom)

    K-WEST was a sub-promotion run by K-Dojo wrestlers SATOSHI and Tadanobu Fujisawa, meant to be the K-Dojo equivalent for the Kansai region (to the west of Chiba, K-Dojo's home). It was officially endorsed by TAKA himself, and they held dojo matches once a month. I'm not really sure how long the promotion ran for, but the latest I can find for one of their shows is 2011. It's closed down nowadays, but lives on through its spiritual successor, Fujisawa's Bukotsu promotion.

TAKA Michinoku vs. Jun Masaoka

    TAKA Michinoku needs no introduction, an all-star junior who's been all over the world, and in terms of K-Dojo he's responsible for training some of the best wrestlers of the 21st century. While Masaoka might be pretty well known nowadays, doing work for GLEAT and other major indies, this is Masaoka not even a year into wrestling, having only joined local indy fed Manyo Pro a few months prior to this.

    This had a pretty obvious "young boy gets dogwalked by vet" match style going into it just by looking at the participants, and they ended up following it to a T. Masaoka at this point really had nothing going for him besides being able to do a solid dropkick. TAKA meanwhile seemed very aware of the fact there were at most 20 people in the building, so he phoned it in hard. I wasn't expecting this to be some kind of classic, but it was disappointing to see just how little effort TAKA put into this. TAKA ended of winning (of course) with the Just Facelock.

    This match wasn't really bad or anything, but it wasn't good either. A perfectly nothing match, which honestly I should've seen coming considering Masaoka was so early into his career.

Rating: C

Sawako Shimono vs. HARU

    Speaking of people who are early into their career, here's Sawako Shimono! While she's best known nowadays as the owner of Osaka Joshi Pro and Rina Yamashita's trainer, here she was just a total rookie. In fact, Shimono had her official debut one month after this match, so technically she hasn't even debuted as a pro wrestler at this point. HARU meanwhile is mostly a mystery, but seems to have been a member of Hiroaki Moriya's J2000 promotion.

    Whenever these "pre-debut exhibition" matches happen, usually the quality of the match entirely depends on how well the more experienced wrestler can keep the match flowing. Mistakes are expected from the rookie, so it's up to the vet to make sure those mistakes don't entirely derail the match. In this match, HARU wasn't able to do that at all. She was fine doing her own moves, like throwing some thudding forearms and hitting a pretty awesome running senton, but she consistently messed up the execution of her own moves, which is really not something you'd want happening when you're facing a rookie. Shimono was shockingly good for someone who hadn't even debuted yet, hitting a few running knees that looked pretty sweet. This match really fell apart towards the end though. HARU hit a crossbody on Shimono and had her down for the 3 count, but for whatever reason the ref didn't count the 3 and the match continued. Immediately after this, HARU sloppily hit a Vader bomb, and once again the ref just chose not to count the 3. The bell rang anyways though, confusing pretty much everyone. The ref and the wrestlers just went with the flow and acted like the pinfall was in fact a clear 3 count.

    This was really rough, and not in the good way. You can clearly see that both HARU and Shimono have the potential to do some really good stuff, but that just wasn't the case here. The match was already not that good up to the finishing stretch, and the ref fucking up two separate pinfalls really didn't help to bring it back.

Rating: C-

SATOSHI vs. OLA

    SATOSHI and OLA are two guys that I genuinely know next to nothing about. SATOSHI seemingly worked K-Dojo pretty sparingly for a few years and now wrestles for Bukotsu but OLA is entirely a mystery. For some reason, going into this match I had a good feeling that this would be solid, and I guess I can see the future because I ended up being right.

    Both guys worked this match extremely tightly, with some nice limb work done by both guys (OLA targeting SATOSHI's leg and SATOSHI targeting OLA's arm). SATOSHI's striking was also very notably good, throwing some real hard bombs throughout the match (OLA's striking was solid, but definitely not at SATOSHI's level). Probably the best strike thrown by SATOSHI the entire match was this beauty of a dropkick, which made such a gross sound upon connecting with OLA.

    I will admit however, this match wasn't all great, as whenever OLA was in control the match did lose some steam. While the work he was doing was solid, it just wasn't kept interesting a lot of the time. SATOSHI also could be a little bit boring but was definitely much better in keeping me engaged. Eventually, SATOSHI hit a really nice northern lights suplex into a kimura for the win.

    Overall, this was a nice tightly worked match between two guys who seemed to be pretty solid wrestlers just from this match. OLA is fine and I'd enjoy seeing more of him, but SATOSHI I'll definitely be looking out for in the future.

Rating: B-

Yoshihiro Kawaguchi & Southern Cross vs. Bull Armor TAKUYA & Mahoroba

    For two reviews in a row, it is Bull Armor time. TAKUYA is back, teaming with Kansai indy stalwart Mahoroba to take on the team of Riki Office's Kawaguchi and Southern Cross. I honestly know very little about Southern Cross, but I've seen his name pop up a few times while looking for DVDs.

    This wasn't good. Usually I leave statements like that for the end of the review but I honestly don't have a ton to talk about. TAKUYA was the definite highlight of the match, dressed like Survival Tobita and throwing mean chops and hard lariats. He even did some of his signature flexing spots which I'll always love. Mahoroba was fine, nothing special from him but nothing especially bad either. Kawaguchi and Cross completely sucked. Kawaguchi seemed a lot worse off than we last saw him in Riki office, as while he still seemed to be solid overall he kept messing up his own moves, the biggest example being when he sloppily applied a cross armbar which made me particularly mad considering the way he set it up looked awesome in concept. Southern Cross might not have any redeeming qualities in this match, nothing he did sparked interest in me at all and he generally coming off like he had never wrestled a day in his life. The match eventually ended with TAKUYA hitting a botched thunder fire powerbomb, but I did kinda like how it ended up even if it was clearly unintentional.

    I'm not entirely sure just how long this match went, but I remember feeling like it had gone 30 minutes. In actuality, it definitely didn't go past 15. I'm once again happy to see more TAKUYA but I wouldn't be opposed to not seeing much else from the other 3.

Rating: C-

Kazuki Niimura vs. Tadanobu Fujisawa

    Kazuki Niimura was a JWA Kansai wrestler who also worked a little bit of Osaka Pro, and although that's really all I can find about him in terms of information he did come out with a very awesome theme song so I was pretty much ready to be a fan of him from the start. Tadanobu Fujisawa meanwhile is a Kurisu trainee, which meant I immediately was ready to be a fan of his as well. After the last four matches left a lot to be desired, I had not much hope for this match in terms of overall quality. I guess they were saving the best for last though, because this fucking ruled.

    From the start, both guys worked with a level of intensity that no other match had even come close to having. While the OLA/SATOSHI match was definitely pretty tightly worked, this one was worked even tighter, with Niimura and Fujisawa throwing some real heavy hits for the entirety of the match. Niimura really came off as an unsung technical star here, doing some great grappling as well as throwing some awesome strikes. Most notably however, his suplexes were absolutely astounding, with the snap gutwrench suplex shown below being one of the best moves done throughout the whole show.

    That's not to say Fujisawa didn't deliver on his half of the match. Far from it, I honestly believe he did even better than Niimura did. He was an absolute menace with all his striking, throwing some absolutely gross forearms and headbutts, as well as doing some nasty boot scrapes. He also hit one of the best spears I've seen in a good bit, with it almost turning into a spinebuster on the way down. Probably my favorite move he did all match though was this absolutely disgusting sliding knee. It was definitely extremely basic, but it absolutely worked through how vicious it was, and the way it was executed really sold how much of a drag-out brawl the match had become.

    And then came the finish. To preface this, I had originally tried to do research on a number of wrestlers from this show before watching, and Niimura's cagematch profile had one interesting note. In the tidbits section, they listed that in February of 2010, Niimura had gotten a cervical spine injury while wrestling, leading to his immediate retirement. I'm not sure why, but for some reason, it just didn't click with me that this match was taking place in February of 2010. Fujisawa picked up Niimura and hit a gnarly single underhook impaler DDT, and Niimura didn't move an inch for the rest of the tape. Fujisawa pretty clearly saw that there was something wrong, and after hitting the lightest of stomps to test if Niimura would sell (to which he did not), he immediately told the ref to check him, which resulted in the match being called off entirely. After this a really gruesome scene plays out, with TAKA and a few others coming out from the back to help Fujisawa with trying to help Niimura and get him medical attention. The only thing I can compare this to is the Misawa footage, and even though I knew that Niimura didn't meet that same fate, I was genuinely horrified for him. 

    I sadly haven't been able to find any info at all on how he's doing today, but at the barest minimum there's been no word that he was paralyzed or killed by the move. This was a really depressing end to an amazing match. Honestly, up to the finish, this was nearing the level of the Fukimoto/Senshu brawl in terms of amazing wrestling. Everything was so violent, the match flowed perfectly, and just in general everything worked. If you can handle bad injuries I think this is absolutely worth watching, as although this was Niimura's final match it was also one of the best matches I've ever seen from the sleaze scene. It's absolutely worth your time to appreciate just how great of a wrestler this guy was, along with how good Fujisawa is.

Rating: A-