WGWF 06/28/2005

               (Written by jom)

    For anyone that isn't aware, WGWF/West Gate/Nishiguchi Pro is a promotion run by comedian and well-known Riki Choshu impersonator Koriki Choshu. The roster is entirely made up of fellow comedians, and the production values for WGWF shows tend to be much higher than the average indy. I'm definitely not the hugest fan of comedy wrestling, but I think when it's done in a good way it can be a really fun watch (considering the fact this roster is entirely professional comedians I am terrified for how shit this could be). The intro package of the show features a bunch of sped up, choppy clips of a woman in a WGWF shirt with all the colors inverted, and random shots of people wrestling with stock sound effects. I'm not really sure what to make of this, but I guess if you're gonna start a show, you wanna do it in an impactful way.

Love Sexy Rose, Kensuke Yoyogi, & Masa Kobayashi vs. Love Sexy Young, Kenzaburo Kamikaze, & Don Kusai

    So, let's go over some gimmicks really quick. Love Sexy Rose has a Dino-esque gimmick of just trying to force himself on anyone around him (I'm already regretting turning this show on), Yoyogi and Kobayashi are two bigger guys that serve as Rose's muscle, Love Sexy Young is more of a flamboyant rockstar type character than a sex pest so I prefer him much more over Rose, Kamikaze is a WW2 soldier and extreme Japanese nationalist, and Kusai is a fat slob who likes to eat a lot. The DVD started less than 10 minutes ago and I feel like I've had a sensory overload.

    In terms of the actual match, this was shockingly kinda good! I came into this with little to no expectations in terms of these guys' wrestling ability, and was pleasantly surprised to see that all of them had at least one cool thing to their name. Now, in terms of comedy? There wasn't a ton, and some of it worked for me while some didn't. Don Kusai was probably my favorite contributor in terms of the comedy stuff, doing some fun stuff like running the ropes and immediately running over to his corner for a water break, or trying to do a cobra twist and having absolutely no clue how to do it. Outside of Kusai's ineptness, the most notable "comedy" was Rose doing weird gross sexual shit. If this type of humor is something that you like then I guess you'd enjoy it, but Rose trying to force the dildo attached to his trunks down Young's throat just isn't something I'm interested in watching in a wrestling match.

    With the wrestling portions, I think pretty much everyone had a moment to shine. With the heel team, Rose was absolutely the least impressive, doing mostly the sexual stuff and his actual wrestling was subpar for the most part. He did however do a rolling romero special, as wel as a genuinely pretty sick crucifix bomb, which just made me sad that he's saddled himself with such a godawful gimmick. Yoyogi was alright as a roided up powerhouse, doing some nice spots like a cool spinning hook kick, but generally just being alright. Masa Kobayashi was definitely the highlight of the heel team, as he layed in some cool strikes like an awesome shining kenka kick. He also did the awesome delayed falcon arrow seen below, featuring the first appearance of a REF CAM~! I'm not sure why but I just enjoy when promotions do dumb stuff like this, so seeing it in WGWF feels spiritually correct.

    On the face side, Kusai impressed the least with the actual wrestling. This is mostly due to the fact he did nearly nothing besides comedy, but he did do a brain claw at one point so he at least got a point for that. Young was alright but mostly nothing too, but he had a few cool moments like a hard powerbomb and a pretty nicely done shiranui. Kamikaze was far and away the best part of the match wrestling-wise, busting out some genuinely impressive stuff like a great ipponzeoi. He also threw the kneel kick below, which connected with a gross crack, so I knew from that point on he was almost definitely going to be my favorite wrestler from this match.

    With all of that said, this wasn't all great or anything like that. It was a pretty disjointed match, and even with some cool spots from all six guys, I think the gross stuff involving Rose really damaged my enjoyment of this match a lot. Still, I'm pretty impressed by a lot of the stuff these guys ended up doing, and in a match not involving Love Sexy Rose, I think I'd like the rest of the wrestlers a lot more.

Rating: B-

Masujiro Kuratomi vs. Utsuhachiro

    This was for some "IW" championship that I have not a single clue about. Kuratomi is jacked and wears really shiny gear, while Utsuhachiro just kinda look like a dude who decided to do Inoki cosplay. Considering one of the best Inoki cosplayers ever is in the main event, this is not something I find particularly interesting from Utsuhachiro.

    This one's gonna be short because this was entirely comedy and I was absolutely not a fan. The whole idea of this was the ref being extremely involved in the action, pretty much telling both guys how to do the match as they were doing it. This had a few fun moments such as the ref trying to get the two to break up since they were touching the ropes by climbing on top of them, or making Utsuhachiro do a diving splash to nothing because he got scared and chose not to do one before. However, this gimmick also got old really fast, and considering the whole match was based around it, I just got sick of watching about halfway into it. Kuratomi seemed like he could be genuinely pretty cool too, busting out some slick grappling and hitting really good gutwrench suplexes, but both he and Utsuhachiro (who admittedly wasn't that good anyways) were shackled by this dumb gimmick.

    I genuinely do think there were a few funny moments, and Kuratomi's few wrestling moments were cool, but overall I have no interest in rewatching this. A great example of how to take a funny spot and beat it into the dirt.

Rating: C-

Dirty Kamen & Psychic Boy Daiji vs. Jiro Hachimitsu & Bison TAGAI

    Daiji, if you couldn't guess by the gimmick, has a school boy psychic gimmick (think Mob Psycho 100). Kamen seems to just be a guy in a mask. Similarly, Hachimitsu seems to just be a dude (although he wouldn't look out of place working the BJW undercard). TAGAI is probably the weirdest out of the four, and seems to just want to be Kinnikuman. You might actually recognize TAGAI from his later career in Battlarts, but he's always been a WGWF trueborn.

    This ended up being just kinda okay. I really was not a fan of Daiji because while I like stupid gimmicks, doing one like "psychic" just kinda breaks that barrier between fun stupid and genuinely stupid. He did stuff like pushing people with his mind and locking in a camel clutch from across the ring. If you like that stuff then he's probably fun to you. His partner Kamen was definitely more interesting and also much funnier, but still wasn't great. He hit an alright tilt-a-whirl headscissors and there was a fun spot early on where TAGAI accidentally took off his mask and Kamen just got very despondent over it. Outside of that he did nothing of interest.

    Meanwhile, Hachimitsu and TAGAI were actually pretty solid. Hachimitsu had some fun moments like doing running eye pokes, but was also able to do some solid pro wrestling, hitting a nice big boot and a few really solid lariats. TAGAI meanwhile was definitely the most talented in the ring of the four, hitting some alright powerbombs and a genuinely awesome Sankakugeri (which is shown below). He did some dumb comedy stuff I didn't like but for the most part was fine in that regard.

    This was a step up from the previous match for sure, but still rife with disjointedness and weak performances from Kamen and especially Daiji. TAGAI and Hachimitsu were able to carry this to being a fine match.

Rating: C+

Itako THE Aomori vs. The Invisible Man

    I'm only listing this because I'd feel bad about excluding it. There will not be a review for this match. I'm sorry, you just can't make me review an Invisible Man match. I have to draw a line somewhere. I honestly used to be a fan of the whole "invisible wrestler" gimmick (Invisible Man vs. Invisible Stan was a match I thought was a ton of fun at the time), but I've since entered college and the world of paying bills, becoming significantly less happy and less accepting of fantastical gimmick shit like that. You can call me boring or negative or a party pooper or whatever. I am probably all of those things, and I'm still not reviewing this match.

Rating: N/A

Dr. Dare & Kunihiko Mitamega vs. Sa Obasan & Teruko Kagawa

    I know nothing about Obasan or Kagawa, but Obasan has an old lady gimmick and Kagawa is actually a trainee from Jd', so hopefully she'll be able to do some cool stuff here. Dr. Dare is, you guessed it, a doctor. Kunihiko Mitamega also doesn't seem special at first glance, but he was actually a fixture of 2010s Wallabee shows, so I've seen him before and he was alright in those matches. If Yano saw something in him, who am I to doubt that?

    I really needed something more interesting after the last three matches, and thank god this was next because it was actually really enjoyable! Obasan was the least interesting person here, mostly doing some comedy stuff based around being an old lady, but never really intruding and making the match worse. Kagawa meanwhile was actually pretty solid, hitting some nice stuff like this beauty of a diving missile dropkick, hitting Dare right on the side of the head with it. 

    Meanwhile, Mitamega and Dare were pretty awesome as bully heels, really working over Obasan and Kagawa hard. Dare didn't do a lot of note but he did have a few cool moments like throwing a mean boot at Kagawa or hitting a disgusting springboard dropkick to Obasan's head. Mitamega meanwhile was actually really cool. His few moments of comedy were alright, with him accidentally putting himself in a figure 4 which I thought was clever (he also did a very strange bridging pin with the joke being it made no sense, and I probably would've liked it more if Kagawa didn't act like it was actually working). He also bust out some awesome juniors offense, like hitting the Cougar slingshot leg drop, a code red from the corner, and this really well executed diving double foot stomp:

    This only went 7 minutes, but ended up being probably the most enjoyable match so far. The comedy was never overbearing, and the actual wrestling was really good compared to everything else so far thanks to the efforts of Kagawa and Mitamega. Overall, a fun match and the best WGWF has done up to this point.

Rating: B

Hardcore: SanpeiX2 vs. Yumbo Ando

    The prematch interview for this match featured Sanpei and Ando getting into a brawl, so I was already pretty interested by what was happening. Sanpei looks like a poor man's Ken45 and Ando was asleep during the interview until Sanpei attacked him so just based on that I had hopes for this to be good.

    While it may not have gotten to the level of those hopes, it still was a pretty fun match. Ando was alright here, really only doing one comedy spot but being one of my favorites all show, when he tried to take a smoke break in the middle of the match leading to Sanpei hitting him with a mean kneel kick. Ando's wrestling though was sadly uninteresting but at least inoffensive, hitting at least 4 powerslams and not much else. He did hit a bulldog on Sanpei onto a pineapple though, leading to Sanpei pulling out a fake pineapple that had fake blood in it and squirting it on his face. I'm not sure why I'm okay with that compared to other stuff, but this bothered me less than most of the dumb stuff on the show.

    Meanwhile, Sanpei was actually pretty cool! He started the match off hot by attacking Ando and putting him in a trash can, leading to the pretty sick kick seen below. He would taper off in terms of interesting moves as the match went on, but still had some cool moments like riding a bike on top of Ando. He also did this piledriver where Ando did a headstand and never actually got piledriven, and while I strongly disliked this move it wasn't enough to really make me dislike Sanpei's performance overall. The actual finish was fun enough too with some fire getting involved, which is a good way to get me to like a match more no matter what happened before said flames.

    Once again, this didn't go very long so it never truly outstayed its welcome, and the contents of the match were fun. It had some boring spots as usual, but made up for it with some interesting ones. This is pretty much the theme of this whole show, but this match definitely outperformed most everything else.

Rating: B-

Koriki Choshu vs. Antonio Koinoki

    We've made it to the end of this wild ride with the main event to end all main events. West Gate's owner and founder Koriki Choshu (small Riki Choshu) taking on top star Antonio Koinoki (small Antonio Inoki). Of course this was the match I had the highest expectations for, so after the previous matches weren't that good, I was pretty much riding on the hope that this match would be enjoyable enough for me to comfortably post this, since I don't wanna post something if it's just gonna be a mostly negative read.

    Luckily for me, this was match of the night by far. Genuinely, this match had both the funniest comedy and most well-done wrestling of the whole night, with both guys pulling off their impressions great and incorporating some actually funny spots into their tribute acts. The match started with some fun spots based around the two not really being in sync on their spots, leading to both trying to do leap frogs or drop downs at the same time, and then yelling at each other over it. There were also some fun comedy spots where both guys would do the funny thing and just keep going like nothing happened. Honestly, doing that really made me like it a lot more, cause it felt much more natural and like a normal part of the match (even if it absolutely wasn't). Once it actually got into the wrestling stuff, it was almost a complete shift too, with both guys getting pretty serious and putting on an awesome show in the closing stretch.

    Choshu was really sweet here, busting out nice elbows to Koinoki's shoulder at one point, as well as some cool Choshu offense like a sasori-gatame and a pretty mean Riki lariat. The highlight of his wrestling was definitely the great backdrop suplex seen below, where he pretty much executed it exactly how Choshu would.

    The clear highlight of this match was Koinoki though. He's just so damn good at the Inoki impression, with the movements and facial expressions being spot-on and all of his comedy only being enhanced by that. He was able to perform well a ton of Inoki spots too, such as the enzuigiri, the indian deathlock, and even the diving knee drop. The best moment he had all match though was a seamless counter into a cobra twist. I truly mean it when I say Koinoki was head and shoulders above everyone else on this show, with some of the best offense in tribute to one of the greatest of all time.

    Overall, this was the best possible way to end the show. Koinoki and Koriki Choshu went out there and put on a blast of a match, with a great mix of truly funny comedy spots and amazingly done tribute spots. Even though I had very mixed feelings on most of the show, this match made it all worth while.

Rating: B+

Shinjuku Same vs. Thanomsak Toba: A Tale of Boxing Gloves

                 (Written by jom)

    Mirror matches are usually pretty fun stuff. At their worst, they have the potential to be boring slogs where two guys just do the same moves to each other over and over again without many interesting developments, but at their best, they can highlights the minute differences between two wrestlers, helping to increase appreciation for both and their respective styles. They can also be really good if the two guys do the same moves but very stiff, because wrestling is just simple like that. Case in point, these three matches between Rocky-inspired boxer Shinjuku Same and Thai kickboxer Thanomsak Toba. While I'm excited to see if they play on the differences in offense between these two glove-wearing menaces, I also know that they'll punch each other in the face a lot during these matches, and that's all it takes to greatly entertain my dumb gorilla brain.

Shinjuku Same vs. Thanomsak Toba (WEW 05/03/2003)

    Right when the match starts, that "minute difference" thing I mentioned is established as a focal point. Toba comes in with some belter leg kicks, kicks so hard that Same is forced outside the ring and spends about 40 seconds just walking around, reconsidering the life choices that led to this match. Eventually Toba opens the ropes up to let him back in, and Same takes that opportunity to stomp on Toba's foot and set his sites on the leg. Immediately, the match is set with Toba utilizing his non-punch arsenal to get control, and Same relying on asshole heel tactics and pro-wrestling style leg targeting to counteract Toba's wider range of striking.

    Well, at least that's what seems to happen at first, with that story I described playing out for about the first two minutes. Toba uses some great stiff knees and kicks while Same attacks the leg and even pulled off a cool capture suplex. After Same counters a Toba middle knee with a punch though, this abruptly turns into the boxing glove bombfest you'd expect from these two. I'm not gonna complain about that too much though, because the bombs thrown were fucking immense. Toba is great here as a much faster fighter, throwing tons of peppering punches and kicks that add up in damage. Same meanwhile throws punches at a much slower rate, but each one has such a high level of power that it ends up leveling out.

    The ending stretch featured some especially big bombs thrown, as both guys were nearly drained of all their energy and were just willing themselves forward to throw the hardest punches they could. I do think that the early portion of the match being completely abandoned kinda sucked, but the violence behind those punches in the latter half of the match cannot be denied. A very solid start to these two's match series.

Rating: B

Shinjuku Same vs. Thanomsak Toba (Apache Pro 12/30/2007)

    Four years removed from their last match, Same and Toba once again meet in the ring. This is a boxer vs. boxer match right from the get-go, with both guys only needing to do a little feeling out until Same is able to catch Toba with a left jab that nearly sends him tumbling out of the ring. In a moment that could've been a smart callback or just a case of lucky coincidence, Toba leaves the ring after that punch and walks around a little to get his bearings, a near-perfect mirror of what Same did in their match from 2003.

    After that point, this ascends into a pure and violent fight. Toba and Same throw some crazy punches, and Toba lays into Same with some extremely stiff kicks. Toba is especially great this time around, letting loose with some insane combinations like the one pictured below. There's tons of great knockdown moments, like when Same is able to pull off the same counter punches he did in 2003 and gets a knockdown on Toba, or when Toba is able to do the same on Same. Eventually, both guys just start taking turns teeing off on each other with punches straight to the face, which is maybe the easiest way to earn a place in my heart. The finishing stretch was absolutely phenomenal too, and really needs to be seen because there's no way I could do it justice.

    While looking for any potential pictures taken featuring both men, I stumbled across a thread made on a Japanese forum, made the same day as this show's broadcast and solely focused on this match. One of the commenters on that forum said "It was a barroom brawl" and I have to agree. This was like if two pro fighters got into an argument at a bar, found some gloves, and just started throwing live rounds while a little tipsy. Rough, scrappy, violent, and a damn good viewing experience.

Rating: B+

Shinjuku Same vs. Thanomsak Toba (XWF 08/06/2008)

    In a nice moment that pays off the last two matches they've had, neither man leaves the ring in the early portion. Both Same and Toba take some at least one stiff shot, but are able to just eat it without needing to get their bearings like before. They know each other entirely now, and are able to go to war without hesitation.

    And go to war they do! Both guys throw some stiff shots as usual in this one, but this time Toba is the one with a clear-cut game plan. He starts throwing his usual belter leg kicks with even more force than before, and very quickly Same is grabbing the leg and actually taking downs from the leg kicks. Toba is a like a shark to blood (very ironic), and the noises of those leg kicks are truly horrifying stuff. In a good moment that once again is probably just a coincidence but still wraps up the overarching story nicely, Same takes one particularly gross leg kick and nearly ends up falling out of the ring, but he makes sure to stop himself and continues on without break. Eventually though, Same is forced to leave, not because he was overwhelmed though. For the first time in this series, Toba breaks the down count by throwing a hard kick at Same while he still wasn't up yet.

    What follows next is the most dramatic fight they've had, as Same and Toba both seem to enter a new level of hate because of that violation of an honor-based rule. Same goes wild with his punches and even pulls out some big pro-wrestling type stuff like fucking dragon screws, meanwhile Toba throws punches, kicks, and knees with truly nuclear force. The final stretch of the match is the most face-punching ending they've done and my god is it phenomenal. 

    Overall, I truly believe this is their best match together, and it's honestly not even much of a contest. While the other two were chock-full with stiffness and cool moments, this match had all of that at some of the highest level, and a clearly cohesive and well-told story. One of the best martial artist matches of the 21st century.

Rating: A-

Comprehensive Rikiya Fudo/Super Rider #3 (DDT 11/20/1999)

                    (Written by jom)

    For the first time, two Comprehensives in one! The matches I'm reviewing today are all from the 11/20/1999 DDT show, which featured a one-night round robin trios tournament. Rider and Fudo (under his Yusaku name) both participated in the tournament in the B block, so that means we got 3 matches featuring them from this show, as well as the only recorded interactions between Rider and Fudo, so I'm very excited to see how those pan out.

Yusaku, Daisaku, & Yuki Nishino vs. Kazunori Yoshida, Koichiro Kimura, & Takao Iwasaki

    Starting off this special edition of comprehensive is the Shimoda bros, and they're teaming with Yuki Nishino, a former SPWF guy who throws awesome headbutts and moves at a really violent pace. Yoshida is another guy I've been a big fan of, as is Kimura. I've honestly never seen Iwasaki before this match, but the fact he was put on a team with Yoshida and Kimura makes me think he's probably solid enough.

    This was pretty sweet and extremely heated. Nishino was solid here, doing some nice grappling and hitting a few bombs like one crazy backdrop suplex on Yoshida. Daisaku was also pretty good, laying in some kicks and knees with real force and doing some cool scrappy work against Kimura and Iwasaki. Yusaku was definitely the best part of his team though, as he was just a beast here. He started the match by plowing through Yoshida with a lariat, and he kept that energy the entire time he was in the ring, with some big lariats and headbutts. He also hit some awesome bombs like this great sit-out spinebuster:

    For the other team in the match, everyone involved ended up having a good showing. Iwasaki was alright here, not really doing anything crazy but throwing some cool kicks. Yoshida also was a little more reserved than I've usually seen him, but he still busted out some great stuff like an awesome pop-up dropkick. Kimura was the most notable member of the team, purely through the level of violence he inflicted on the Shimoda bros, especially Yusaku. Honestly, with how hard he was hitting them and how little he was getting hit himself, I think that he might've been genuinely shooting on Yusaku. He doesn't have the greatest reputation for taking care of other wrestlers, so it wouldn't be entirely out of character. At bare minimum though, it made for some real sick stuff, like the combo seen below where Kimura just beat the dogshit out of Yusaku before putting on a really mean standing armbar.

    Overall, this had some pretty crazy sections, but as a whole felt somewhat disjointed. Still, those moments it did have were really good, so if you are just interested in seeing guys do cool shit to each other without the need for clean pacing and structure, you'd probably be pretty into this match.

Rating: B-

Super Rider, Asian Cougar, & Thanomsak Toba vs. Kazunori Yoshida, Koichiro Kimura, & Takao Iwasaki

    Next up we have the Yoshida/Kimura/Iwasaki team from the previous match taking on the sleaze legends team of Rider, Cougar, and Toba. I've of course talked at length about how great Rider is, and I just talked in the most recent post before this about how awesome Cougar is. Toba is someone I've somehow not covered until now, but he's maybe one of my favorite martial artist type wrestlers of all time. He throws some extremely violent punches and kicks, with his spinning backfist being maybe the greatest of all time.

    This match ended up being pretty awesome! Cougar was cool busting out some of his usual big spots like the corner kneel kick into slingshot leg drop, and he also got to hit some stuff I have rarely seen from him, including a crazy tope over the corner. He wasn't part of the match as much as Rider or Toba, but he made his contributions felt for the parts he was in. Toba was a god damn menace here, throwing his trademark horrific strikes, including a lightning-quick flurry of punches that he threw at all three of his opponents (with his sequence against Yoshida gif'd below). He also threw some genuinely scary kicks at Kimura, including one that hit Kimura's jaw with one of the loudest cracks I've heard in a while. Rider, for his part, was also really cool here, doing some phenomenal grappling with Kimura and laying in a few hard strikes like some brutal headbutts on Iwasaki. He even had a few fun moments, like doing a spot where he kept fucking up a scoop slam because he's more of a fighter than a wrestler, eventually leading to the payoff of him actually doing one correctly, with the crowd popping big for it.

    All three guys on the other side of the ring more than held up their end of the match too. Kimura was great in this one, doing some really solid grappling with Rider and hitting some big bombs like an awesome butterfly suplex into an armbar, or the great transition into a fujiwara armbar seen below. He definitely wasn't working with the level of hate he had in the previous match, but he made up for that with some overall extremely solid mat work. Iwasaki was much better here than he was in the last match, pretty much being in a sink-or-swim situation with Toba and responding by throwing some strong kicks and pulling out big holds, like a stiff side headlock. Yoshida was probably the best part of the match for his team though, as he got to hit a ton of awesome stuff even with the roof of the building being so low. He hit a great springboard dropkick, an awesome suicide dive, and a crazy springboard arm drag which he really shouldn't have been able to pull off considering how little space he had to do it.

    This was better than the last match I went over, albeit not by a ton. I think all six men put in a really solid performance, but the match never really brought itself up to being great or anything like that. As it stands though, this was still a really enjoyable match.

Rating: B

Super Rider, Asian Cougar, & Thanomsak Toba vs. Yusaku, Daisaku, & Yuki Nishino

    Finally, we have arrived to the match I was most excited for going into this. Not only does this have the only known interactions between Rikiya Fudo and Super Rider, but it also features 4 other extremely awesome wrestlers as part of the match. This actually takes place before the match I just reviewed, but considering the importance of this match in terms of the blog, I'm reviewing it last.

    ...having said that, let's rip the bandaid off now: Yusaku didn't enter this match once. My best guess is that the dude was still pretty fucked up from the beating he got from Kimura, leading to him only entering the ring at the end to do a little bit of brawling with Toba during the finish. It fucking sucks to see that Yusaku and Rider seemingly never actually had any interactions in their careers after all, but at least this match still ruled very hard. Nishino is really damn great in this match compared to the last one he was in. While he had a solid performance there, he was fighting like his life was on the line in this match, throwing some gnarly headbutts including one to Cougar that sent him flying off the apron and into the crowd. Daisaku rocked even harder than him, busting out some awesome grappling against Rider such as when he countered Rider's triangle choke into a kneebar. He also did some great strikes and combos, like the flurry of high kicks he threw at Toba, as well as this great combo:

    Asian Cougar was pretty awesome here (it's very rare for him to not be at least awesome). He pretty much just hit the classics, but not only do the Asian Cougar classics rule, he also hit them with a lot of urgency. He did the slingshot leg drops (both inside and outside the ring), he hit his awesome running corner kneel kick, etc. Toba was really good too, laying in some hard strikes on Daisaku like a combo that led into a pretty disgusting kick straight to Daisaku's face. The best part of the match to me though was Super Rider, who had a truly awesome performance. He hit some mean strikes, such as a pinpoint solebutt to Nishino's jaw, as well as some stiff mounted punches to Daisaku. He pulled off some great grappling, like a great transition into an armbar from a wristlock and the gif seen below of him countering a snapmare perfectly into a kneebar. He even bust out some high spots, like a crazy suicide dive he hit on Nishino, as well as the always awsome rider kick.

    Overall, I really enjoyed the work we got in this match. It was honestly pretty short (a little over 7 minutes long) , and the fact that Yusaku did literally nothing probably damaged the rating enough to guarantee it wasn't gonna get into the A-grade range, but it was still a really sweet six man tag and everyone who participated put on a really fun performance.

Rating: B+

PWC 09/17/2003

                    (Written by jom)

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

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

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

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

Rating:

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: B-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: B

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: B+

Comprehensive CMA Gym #2

                 (Written by jom)

Kei Tsukada vs. Takeshi Miyamoto (Union Pro 10/16/1994)

    We're back with another CMA Gym article, and of course we're gonna start with one of their straight singles matches to get back into the zone.

    This was pretty similar to the other 1994 singles match reviewed previously, with the main story of the match being Miyamoto using his stiff kicks and grappling ability to fight back against Tsukada's boxing glove onslaught. There were some pretty stiff brawling in the first round, with both guys taking pot shots as much as they could, and the crowd was all there for it which was a really great addition.

    Of the two of them, Miyamoto definitely was more impressive, busting out his sick kicks but also hitting a few wrestling moves which I was not expecting. He let loose a couple really nasty combos, like one that led into a skull-cracking reverse roundhouse kick, and another (shown below) where he tried to scramble Tsukada's brains with some head kicks before spiking him on the top of his head with a DDT.

    Overall, I think this was pretty good, but a step down from the match they would have in Union again two months later. Still, when it comes to these two, you'll always be getting quality.

Rating: B

Kei Tsukada & Ryo Miyake vs. Takeshi Miyamoto & Masahiko Takasugi (Go Gundan 12/21/1994)

    This, on paper, is a very similar match to one reviewed in the previous post (except this time the partners are swapped and Miyake is subbing in for Teranishi). As such, I was expecting this to be just kinda fun but nothing more.

    I was wrong! This was pretty crazy. Miyake and Takasugi had a few moments to shine in the match, with Miyake at one point throwing Tsukada like a missile and Takasugi hitting a stiff lariat and hip attack, but the majority of what was shown was Miyamoto/Tsukada, and my god I don't know what was in the water but some of the stuff they did was insane. Miyamoto threw some of the hardest kicks I've ever seen him throw, with multiple having an audible thud upon contact with Tsukada. This included one head kick that was particularly loud, and actually made me pause the match for a minute to get my bearings back. Probably the most brutal besides that one was this kick directly to Tsukada's neck, which, once again, made a horrifying sound:

    Tsukada wasn't here just to eat shots from Miyamoto though, as he totally dished out some in kind. He threw tons of punch combos, let Miyake throw him like a lawn dart out of the ring onto Miyamoto, and he even was able to hit the diving punch, which looked beast as always. Probably the hardest combo he threw all match can be seen below, where he nearly knocked Miyamoto's whole head off the rest of his body.

    I thought going into this that there was no way this match would be able to reach the level of the last one. In the end though, I think this one actually edged the last one out just a bit. Miyamoto and Tsukada brought even more violence to the table, and Miyake and Takasugi not only held up their own ends of the match, but their contributions ended up elevating the match even more. Overall, another beautiful chapter in the CMA Gym wars.

Rating: B+

Takeshi Miyamoto vs. Ho Des Minh (Samurai Project 04/17/1996)

    Our first ever review as part of this project that doesn't include both gym leaders! Here Miyamoto is taking on Ho Des Minh (aka Poison Sawada and a bunch of other names) for Minh's CMA Certified Heavyweight Championship. As far as I can tell this is the only recorded match for this title, but I'd love to find more considering they'd all probably include either Miyamoto or Tsukada.

    This ended up being pretty solid, albeit a little disappointing. Minh was pretty solid here, working over Miyamoto's leg at different points, such as when he caught a kick and hit a dragon screw, before transitioning into a figure four leglock. He also got to do some of the cool moves in his arsenal, particularly the killer butterfly DDT he does.

    Miyamoto, meanwhile, was solid too, but it was pretty clear his intensity was kinda gone, and there were some clear missteps that reflect a guy who up to that point had spent a lot of his career working different style fights against one person. Even with all that, his kicks landed with a solid amount of thud still, and he did get to bust out a few cool moves like a solid german suplex.

    Overall, this was a solid enough match, but you could really tell Miyamoto was more suited for the weird borderline shoots he had against Tsukada. Minh absolutely did a good job in his role has the pro wrestling bad guy, it was just a case of stylistic difference not being able to entirely mix.

Rating: B-