Saburoku Combat 05/19/2013

                     (Written by jom)

Yuusha Amon & Kunihiko Mitamega vs. Kira*Ann & Dark Ranger

    Starting us off is team Wallabee vs. team... something! I talked about Mitamega on the last review I did, and I'm pretty excited to watch him again after such a good performance on the WGWF show, especially since at this point he's become a part-time member of Wallabee. I've yet to talk about Yuusha Amon though, who's another Wallabee roster member and from the small amount of work I've seen so far is pretty damn good. He's also booked Minoru Suzuki and Negro Navarro on his Tokyo Tama Luchas shows, which is just so insane that I have to mention it. On the other side of the ring is Kira*Ann and Dark Ranger, two people I've never seen before. Just from the entrances, Ann isn't very notable but Ranger (not to be confused with Miracle Man who also went by Dark Ranger) is wearing a scream mask and has tights that just completely show his dick and balls, so that's certainly something.

    When looking back at my notes, I feel like I must share this section: "Amon horrifically botched an arm twist; Ranger is god awful; Ann just did one of the worst botches I have ever seen; RANGER WILL NOT STOP YELLING; oh my god this is horrible". This was a rough match to get through. Probably the worst wrestler in the match was Kira*Ann, who unlike everyone else had genuinely not a single good moment. Everything she did was sloppy and uncoordinated, especially the arm drag(?) attempt that led to the comment above. Ranger wasn't much better, working a slow motion lucha sequence against Amon and doing this incessant high pitched yelling that stopped being funny very fast. The one "good" moment of his was a giant swing, but if I was willing to let that redeem someone I'd be less angry at Otoko Sakari matches. 

    Mitamega and Amon were both okay, but neither seemed interested in working hard and they did next to nothing of note. Mitamega blocked a low blow with a ladle at one point (kinda, he didn't get into position at time but I don't fucking care enough to make it an issue) and the guy hosting the show got on the mic and laughed at it, and then later Amon hit a genuinely good backdrop suplex. Other than those two spots, their contributions were absolutely nothing.

    Truly, I cannot get across just how bad this match was. When I reviewed Hideki Shioda vs. Mambo Shintaro, I called it one of the worst matches I had ever seen, before giving it an A+. The reason behind that choice was that it felt so horrible, so monumentally bad, that it wrapped around to being amazing. It was a match that truly came to benefit from how terrible it was, turning into one of the most enjoyable natural disasters I have ever seen take place in a wrestling ring. This match didn't reach that point. It may have gotten close, but it never crossed the barrier from being "bad" to "hilariously bad".

    It also lacked any surreal moments to bring it to the level of Shinigami Shuucho vs. JET Shinomura, or Magnum Oedo & X vs. Koryuki & X. Those matches possessed a key moment that took it from being meh or bad to an insane viewing experience. Once again, this was not the case for this match. There was no intrusion from Koriki Senshu. There was no surprise gorilla. There was the ladle spot, but not only was it less interesting than those two examples, but it was also of little consequence for the rest of the match. There was only Dark Ranger and Kira*Ann, and those two are not Koriki Senshu or the surprise gorilla. In the end, this was never so bad it was good, nor was it truly memorable in any way. The only thing saving this match from an even lower rating was Amon's great backdrop suplex, and even then that can only do so much. A match that, truly, was lacking in anything of worth.

Rating: D

Kancho Nagase vs. Survival Tobita

    After seeing some of the worst the indy scene has to offer, we're following it up with a match that has a ton of promise for weirdos like me that love the sleaze scene. Nagase and Tobita are both legends of this weird shindie circuit in Japan, coming up in PWC and both doing well in their respective crafts for years since then. This is somehow the first time they've ever met in the ring according to different wrestling results sites (outside of a battle royale from DDT in 2000). I'm sure they've met at least 3 times in the past for shows that would never appear on these sites, but at bare minimum I've never seen them meet in the ring before, so I was excited to see it happen.

    And luckily, this ended up being pretty fun! Considering both guys, there was of course some of the expected roughness, but what they did here is what is what I would call spiritually correct pro-wrestling. The whole basis for this match was that Nagase is smaller than Tobita but also a hard-hitting karateka, and Tobita is a big monster who manhandles Nagase with brute force and headbutts. Nagase was pretty awesome here throwing sick chest punches and cool kicks, including his always great diving dropkick. He also did this amazing counter into his signature sleeper hold seen below, and as a whole was able to utilize his size and personal strengths to their full potential. The only criticism I have for him is that his rope rebounds are some of the worst I've seen, but considering he's a karateka, I can mostly forgive that.

    Meanwhile, Tobita was a real bastard this time around, almost coming off as one of the monsters he took on in the 90s. He tanked so many stiff shots from Nagase, responding with clubbing blows and mean headbutts, as well as some hard slams. Other highlights include a crazy jumping stomp he hit right to Nagase's neck, and his trademark piledriver (seen below). Genuinely, Tobita's piledriver might be my favorite one ever, as he always hits it with such a gross landing.

    Sadly, this did have a kinda strange and abrupt DQ finish, which, while I understood the idea behind it, I definitely wasn't a big fan of it. Even considering that and the general roughness of the match though, I still thought this was a lot of fun. Both guys played their roles really well and they told a story that was easy to understand and get into. Leave it to two sleaze indy veterans to pull me right back into this show after such a bad opener.

Rating: B

Ultra Seven vs. Ultraman Robin

    Following up a match between two sleaze workers, here we have a battle of Ultramen! I've talked Robin before, with Robin constantly surprising me by how enjoyable his matches are compared to the reputation he's always had among western fans. We haven't yet talked about Ultra Seven though, but we have talked about Masahiko Takasugi, a wrestler with striking similarities to the larger Ultraman in this match. Someone should probably look into that.

    While this was a fight between Ultramen, I wouldn't go as far as to call it an Ultramatch (I am not proud of myself for that one). Both guys were sloppy and slow, and combining that with the grappling-heavy action led to kind of a bore. Seven was alright in this one, doing some work on Robin's leg that certainly wasn't horrible. He also hit one hip attack onto a seated Robin's neck which was actually kinda cool, and did some fun dumb spots involving getting the ref beat up (referee Pink Tiger got beat up bad enough to result in referee Batten Tamagawa coming in to take his place, only for Tamagawa to get beaten up to leading to Tiger taking over the referee job once again). 

    Robin was pretty much working at the same level as Seven was here. A lot of his grappling was kinda meh, but he did have one or two cool moments, like the solid counter from a chinlock into a Fujiwara armbar seen below. Probably the coolest thing he did overall was his diving crossbody which, while not great, was one of the best ones I've seen him hit. He wasn't all positive of course (at one point he tried to do a shoulder tackle exchange or something and it just completely fell apart, resulting in him and Seven just staring at each other for a couple seconds), but it wasn't like he was horrible either.

    In the end, this match also ended in a fuck finish (stemming from all that referee assault I mentioned in the section about Seven's part in the match), but I was more okay with this one than the one from Nagase/Tobita. Overall, this wasn't anything offensive and did have a couple solid moments, but overall was just kinda boring and not worth checking out. The novelty of booking the two Ultraman guys against each other was a fun concept, and honestly if this had happened in the late 90s it could've been genuinely pretty fun, but it was never going to be good in 2013.

Rating: C

Umanosuke Ueda 2 vs. Stungun Takemura

    First we had a battle of sleaze legends, then we had a battle of Ultramen, and now, our next mirror match is a battle of mad brawlers. Stungun Takemura is a dude who seemingly loves Tiger Jeet Singh, coming out with the fencing sabre and completely addicted to sticking his tongue out Fiend-style at any point he can. Meanwhile, Umanosuke Ueda 2 (aka VINNI) is the official successor to the legendary Umanosuke Ueda, looking like a near perfect mirror image of the original blonde brawler.

    Now, I was prepared for disappointment. I have friends that have seen Takemura matches before and have said he's godawful, and I came into this somewhat expecting a mid-level match at best. To my pleasant surprise, not only was this good, but it was the best match on the show up to this point and it's not even close. Ueda was extremely solid in the ring as a flat-out wrestler here, moving with a nice crispness and commitment that a lot of wrestlers nowadays don't possess. In terms of his brawling though, he was pretty awesome beating up Takemura with some hard chest chops and mean shots with a kendo stick. He was super aggressive and really took it to Takemura at ever point. He even included some nice bigger bombs in his arsenal, particularly this great doctor bomb:

    Takemura was not being carried in this match though. He more than held up his side of the match, matching Ueda's aggression with some real devious shit. Very early into the match Takemura was already going crazy on Ueda with these truly gross throat stabs using a fork. He was able to do them so well and so quickly, and Ueda sold them perfectly, coughing up like hell and gasping for air after each one. Takemura's work with the sabre was great too, jabbing at Ueda's head and really twisting it into his wound, causing Ueda to bleed pretty hard as the match went on. Hell, he even had a killer fireball spot, using one to break up Ueda's doctor bomb. My favorite spot from this whole match though was the one shown below, where Ueda started to choke Takemura and Takemura, through sheer force of will, started to choke Ueda too, leading to them rolling out of the ring while choking each other. It's just that type of vindictive, cruel violence that really makes me remember why I'm so huge on brawlers like these.

    Throughout the match, both guys teased at multiple points getting counted out, whether by themselves or together. I bit on pretty much every tease they did considering the multiple cheap finishes seen prior on the show, and when this match eventually did end via count-out I genuinely felt like it was entirely earned. This was a genuinely awesome brawl with both guys coming out looking like total killers, and I've now come to doubt the tastes of my peers. Wrestling doesn't need to be smooth or clean or deeply layered. Sometimes, all you need is two guys willing to be mean as hell to each other, and that's exactly what we got here.

Rating: B+

Kazushi Miyamoto vs. Keizo Matsuda

    We've had three matches between similar characters so far, and to finish that theme off, we're going into real hoss territory. Kazushi Miyamoto is one of my favorite wrestlers, a former All Japan guy who traded in his set future as a top star there to become a real shitkicker on the indies with Tenryuist tendencies and a love for Scott Steiner. You're likely to see him bust out the punch/chop combo and a Steiner Screwdriver in the same match, and is there much else you can ask for? Matsuda meanwhile is another guy I'm pretty high on, starting in IWA Japan and remaining their ace for years. He's got a hard spinebuster and a mean lariat, and once again, what else could you want? This match alone is what first got me interested in buying this show, so to say I was a little excited to watch it would be an understatement.

    Wouldn't you know it, this ended up going pretty much exactly as expected. If you've seen the clip of Big E yelling "BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPING MEAT", that is this match through and through. Miyamoto was awesome as usual in this one, blasting Matsuda with these absolutely thunderous chops, creating those awesome clouds of sweat with each one. He was able to hit some of his classics too, like a great superkick, a huge backdrop suplex, and a real hard brainbuster. Of course, probably the best moves he hit all match were his lariats, including this brutal one which looked like it knocked the soul out of Matsuda:

    However, I ended up walking away from this even more impressed by Matsuda, as he was really damn great here. He was able to return fire with some brutal chops of his own, as well as hitting a few mean shoulder tackles. His power moves ruled too, pulling off a great sidewalk slam as well as somehow doing a DELAYED SUPLEX, which can be seen below. I cannot stress enough just how impressive it is that Matsuda was able to hold up such a big man like Miyamoto for so long. He even was able to respond to Miyamoto's lariats with a few awesome ones of his own. Really, Matsuda's performance here was amazing to see.

    Just like the last match, this was pretty basic compared to other matches, but it thrived through the basics that it concentrated on. Matsuda and Miyamoto beat each other up like nobody's business, and a real hoss fight like this was a great way to follow up the wild brawl before it.

Rating: B+

Super Delfin vs. Konaka = Pehlwan vs. Naoshi Sano

    We're ending this show with a truly stacked triple threat. I've talked about Konaka multiple times before, but it's been a good while since Sano has popped up on the blog (last appearing on the previous produce show I covered), and it's nice to see him back. Delfin really doesn't need an introduction, as he's a legendary juniors wrestler and widely regarded for his work both in the ring and as a promoter with Osaka Pro. Really, you could only end a show like this with a match with stars like these.

    While this ended up being a clear step down from the last two matches, it was still a lot of fun! The first half of this match was all about how Delfin and Konaka just didn't feel like dealing with Sano, actively ignoring him to work their own match and eventually telling him to leave because he kept interrupting them in an attempt to get in on the action. Sano is genuinely hilarious here, trying to creep his way into sequences like joining the ending standoff after having watched Konaka and Delfin work a whole exchange, and when he gets told to leave I genuinely cracked up pretty hard. Once Sano forces himself into the match and starts to work his own spots this turns into more of a traditional match, but really, I do have to commend everyone involved (especially Sano) for such a fun opening half.

    In terms of the actual work here, everyone did pretty well. Sano wasn't able to do much overall but he did pull out some cool stuff like some nice Texas-style punches, as well as a damn good dropkick. Konaka was also able to do some of his usual sweet spots, like his awesome throat thrusts as well as a crazy cross-legged diving senton. I love all of Konaka's cross-legged moves, but that really might be my favorite off them all. Delfin was definitely the best guy in terms of actual in-ring work (shocking, I know), hitting the classics like a stiff shotei and the slap into tornado DDT seen below. All three guys were only able to pop off a couple moves each, but they made the most of it.

    In the end, this match only went about 7 minutes long, but still ended up being really enjoyable. The two matches before it were absolutely better as individual matches, but this was definitely the best way to wrap up the show, ending it on a real high note.

Rating: B

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+