Gordi the former AEW fan

Speaking of stiffness... I was wondering what Tomohiro Ishii looked and worked like when he was younger. Was he one of those guys (like Fujiwara) who always looked middle-aged and surly? Looked around and found this. Turns out: Twenty years ago, Tomohiro Ishii looked a LOT like mid-90s Toshiaki Kawada!! He was already a guy who could both dish out and take a massive ass-kicking. Mochizukiis an absolute ass-kicker who I always forget about... then I stumble on one of his matches and I remember. He absolutely lays the kicks into Dangerous T.I. Ishii hits a very swank Tiger Suplex Hold!! It's not quite pure uncut clubbering, and it's definitely clipped here and there, but this is just a ton of fun. Looks to be in a WAR ring, and in Korakuen Hall to boot (no pun intended). The ladies in the front row are having a hoot, and are almost as fun to watch as the ass-kicking. Also there is a little girl in the front row, around my daughter's age, wearing her best pretty pink dress. I'd love to know her story! I wonder how well she remembers this match. I wonder if she's ever seen the video...

The algorithm is definitely improving. For the longest time, I'd watch hard-hitting matches from Japan and the territories from the 1980s and the algorithm would think, "This guy likes pro wrestling" and send me recent matches from WWE. Close, but no cigar. Now, it sends me random Kurisu and Aoyagi matches. It's learning. It's getting stronger. I'm equal parts happy about this and scared by it.

If I remember correctly, he came to Osaka at least three times but only went to Osaka Pro shows to the best of my knowledge. We fell out of touch a few years ago, though, so he might have... I can remember, though not clearly, that DJ was not feeling well and so Jonathan and Adam and the guys went back to the hotel while Kenji, Kae, some other fans, and I went out drinking... and our group bumped into none other than Jun Akiyama on our way to the first restaurant! He was training to recover from a knee injury (back injury?) at the time, I believe.

Yep. That's the guy. He was treated like a hero by the Osaka Pro staff, fans, and wrestlers. They truly appreciated him.

I met Dynamic A (Adam) about ten years ago when he was part of a group of wrestling fans who came to Osaka. We hung out, eating and drinking and going to Osaka Pro shows. Definitely a good guy, intelligent and funny. Just as nice in real life as he is online. I tried to convince him to ditch academia and teach English in Japan. Glad to hear he's doing well. Clockwise from top left: Jonathan, DJ, Russell, Adam. Left to right: Kenji, Jonathan, Adam, Russell (about to hang snacks around Kuishinbo Kamen's neck). EDIT: I just remembered, I also bumped into him last year while playing Fire Pro World online.

I can only handle about 5 minutes of pure marking out at one time, these days. This match (which I believe - sadly - is their only meeting) provides almost precisely that: Dick Togo vs Negro Casas

Mihara is just the best dude. I sincerely like that guy. Sakurajima used to wrestle in Osaka Pro as Setoguchi. As much as I like Mihara & Sakurajima as a team, I really miss The Green Bears, which was Mihara's team with Shigehiro Irie. They looked, and worked, great together. I wish they'd had a longer run and earned a title reign somewhere. I'm still holding out hope for that to happen some day.

Absolutely, yes. I tend to go up two sizes for t-shirts, sweaters, and jackets. I'd be XXL in Canada, but feel most comfortable wearing 4L in Japan. I quite literally did a little dance of joy when I heard that Uniqlo were offering up to size 4L on their online shops. I had to custom order my AJPW warm-up jacket (which - absolutely making my day - none other than Tiger Hattori helped me with).

The crazy thing is that they are both really nice. Absolute sweethearts. Could not be kinder or more friendly... then they step in the ring and flip that f'n switch...

w/r/t the undeniable Takumi Iroha: In September '19 I was invited to a Diana show in Osaka (co-promoted with Marvelous, so Kyoko and Jaguar live and in person working with Chigusa's students - so hell yes I accepted that invitation). Here's what I wrote in the Life in Japan thread at the time: The Main Event was Kyoko Inoue and Takumi Iroha vs Kaoru Ito and Sareee. Kyoko vs Ito was like a local joshi version of Vader vs Hansen or something, just a nasty, stiff, hoss fight. Kyoko vs Sareee or Ito vs Takumi Iroha were both really good David vs Goliath match-ups, and the two young girls worked really fast with a lot of counters and dodges when they were in there together. Ito's double foot stomps on Kyoko were sick. Sareee looks like someone who could be a star with more exposure, she is obviously talented and charismatic. Takumi Iroha was my favourite, though, she looked to be having the time of her life in there and she has a very kicky style. Just an excellent back and forth all-action match. What I wanted to report is that in addition to being awesome, she totally gives of a vibe of having so much fun in there. I mean, even when Ito was beating her head in she was just obviously loving it. I've been meaning to seek out more of here work and I am genuinely pleased that there is now a curated selection of her matches here and on the clubbering thread. Based on seeing her live just the once, she deserves all of the love.

'Mania XX holds a special place in my heart. I'd moved back home to Canada after several years in the Czech Republic and was really enjoying watching wrestling again and in particular the rise of Eddie and I went with a friend to the multiplex to watch XX as it was happening, on the big screen, with a cinema full of crazed fans. We had an absolute blast. Your write-up so far is really bringing back memories of what a fun card that was. I specifically remember wishing that Brock and 'Berg could have heard our boos (like they heard yours) since we were all going ape in the theater. I envy you being there and being part of that. How awesome! The closest thing I have experienced to that was making the road trip to Calgary for the subsequent Backlash and being part of a Calgary crowd screaming "YOU SCREWED BRET!" at HBK. That was also satisfying. It's so petty and vindictive, but it's also participating in Canadian pro wrestling tradition and history. Damn near every fan in the building was screaming at the top of their lungs . I got literal goosebumps.

I have not. Looks like a fun place, though. There may literally be hundreds of cool little theme bars in Osaka, dotted all over the entertainment districts. I was once taken to a pro wrestling theme bar called Bar Brody which looked pretty similar to Ballpark Bar and served pretty good nachos, but it is now sadly closed. Bar 2.99 (ni ten kyuu kyuu - as in a ref counting a near-fall), across from the old Osaka Pro arena, is still open. I sometimes go to the MMA-themed bar A-Toys with Kuuga and his friends. There are at least two very fun pro wrestling bars in Nagoya, both of which sometimes host shows (assuming neither has closed in the past couple of years). I can't imagine how many little wrestling bars there must be in Tokyo. I still haven't been to Rivera Steak House. In my home prefecture of Nara, there is a ramen restaurant owned by former NOAH champion Rikio. I tried to go once but it was closed that day.

Rollins vs Black "Arm for an Arm" match at SS. Rollins pulls Black's arm out of its socket, then barfs. Book it!

but they were fathered by different jackals.

When the Cup came through my hometown last year, there was a young family (mom, dad, and 5 or 6 year-old daughter) sitting next to me. Very friendly people. The daughter was just cute as a button and had a very little-girl voice and she indeed yelled "IIIIBIRUUU" over and over and over again during his match (BUSHI EVIL SANADA vs Taichi Davey Boy MiSu). I was delighted by this and laughed right out loud every time she did it. That, in turn, made her mom laugh too. Nothing to do with the wrestler, actually, more that I was imagining that the little girl was cheering for the abstract concept of evil. I'll miss that too, is what I'm saying.

To me, it feels a bit like when they put the WWE Championship on JBL. You've got a guy with midcarder-for-life level charisma, talent, look, gimmick... and you make him champ because you need someone and he's a heavyweight and a loyal company man. (Also, if you search "JBL" or "EVIL" on Google, you'll get a lot of results unrelated to pro wrestling). For me, the big question is: can Hiromu be the Eddie to EVIL's JBL? That is, can he give the big lug one legitimately great match that we can all point to (down the road) as evidence that this booking decision was not a huge mistake?

What kills me, what absolutely slays me about Headhunter A vs Headhunter B is that almost every noisy and vocal fan in attendance has decided - for whatever reason - to throw their support behind Headhunter B. You occasionally hear someone yell out "A!" but each and every time they are drowned out by people who are all like "No, dude, B! B! BEEEEE!" Is it because, being "B" he is a natural underdog? Was there an 'Owen resents Bret' type of storyline leading into this one? And if so, was Headhunter B playing the Bret role or the Owen one? Also, I can still remember a line from the write up in DVDVR 100 where they said that this was a great match to watch with a friend if you wanted to show them that the world is a truly fucked up place, or something like that. It occurs to me now that it was quite likely DEAN who wrote that line. DEAN, was that you?

Yeah, Doering is massive. I'm 5'9" and I was maybe a cup of noodles away from hitting 250 lbs at that time. He's got to be every bit of a legit 6'5" and his frame is huge. Maybe the widest shoulders of any wrestler, powerlifter, bodybuilder, strongman, or football player I have ever met. I've taken pictures with Suwama, Zeus, Bodyguard, Abdullah the Butcher, Bob Sapp, Kyoko Inoue, Dump Matsumoto, Alexander Otsuka, Morishima... all kinds of big strong wrestlers, mass monsters and awesome freaks of nature... and Doering is the only one who ever made me feel small. (Although, also, when Abdullah and Sapp shook my hand, their hand completely engulfed mine, like when I take my six year old daughter for a walk. That was pretty awesome, too. And it's pretty crazy to be present and see the reaction when Zeus takes off his shirt. I mean, the room just stops for a minute while everyone freaks out a tiny bit. And Otsuka is much larger than you might think, he's another guy with a truly superhuman frame...) but Joe Doering might be the actual biggest guy I have met in Japan. Another super nice guy, too. He and Suwama came and hung out with my friend Yuji and I when the Champions Carnival came through Osaka in 2013. Like, we didn't have to shyly approach them, they came over and started conversations with us. Akiyama also came over, joked about our matching hairdos, and offered to take a picture with me if I wanted one. Then, later, Tiger Hattori helped me to order an AJPW warm-up jacket in my size when Yuji told him that I dreamed of having one. I guess what I'm trying to say is that everyone from AJPW that I met in 2013 was genuinely extra nice to me. I'm happy to have memories like this at a time when it's being repeatedly brought to everyone's attention how many deeply lousy people there are in pro wrestling... I need to keep reminding myself that there are a ton of really good people in the business as well. To get back on topic, Chono is also a jam up guy and a damned fine pro wrestler. Another Chono story: He once came to an Osaka Pro show or a show promoted by one of the boys and handed out free cans of Strong Zero Chuhai. He was the face of Suntory's national advertising campaign for the beverage and also his face was literally on the cans. I was freaking out. "It's Chono! It's Chono!" but my friends (who were strictly Osaka Pro fans as opposed to pro wrestling fans in general) had basically no idea why I was so excited. Then everyone started giving me their cans since it seemed like such a big deal to me. Somebody (probably Kenji and Kae) convinced somebody (possibly Chono) to give me the left-over cans as well. I seem to recall they were mostly half-litre tall-boy cans and 9% alcohol. I distinctly remember hauling two plastic bags full of chu hai on the train back to Nara. The grapefruit one tasted OK but the double lemon one was just brutal. Tasted like furniture polish (or at least like how furniture polish smells). It took me forever to finish off both bags. I gave away cans of the double lemon to people I knew who like pro wrestling. That's kind of a crummy gift but at least it had Chono's picture on the can so the people I gave them to seemed to be happy. Come to think of it, that might have been at the Pink Ribbon Charity pro wrestling show in November 2009, so it's possible that the first time I spoke to Chono was freaking out and profusely thanking him for the Strong Zero.

I choose to believe that Biff Busick is this guy's son. I will not be searching online to find out if he is or not. Also, just to be clear, I do not think that Oney Lorcan is Big Bully Busick's son. Just Biff Busick.

He's got connections to a few of my Osaka friends. and while we've never had the chance to hang out at length (the one time I was invited (as part of a group) to have dinner with him, he ended up being unavoidably delayed by travel issues) but I have had the good fortune to meet Chono several times. He certainly seems like an awesome guy. The first time I spoke to him was when he was the special guest at KUUGA's 15-year anniversary celebration in Wakayama, in April 2011. I wanted to buy an ARISTRIST t-shirt but he didn't have one in my size. He was also a special guest at Hurricane 2011, in August. When I arrived at the show, my friend Kenji ran up to me and yelled that he had a present from Chono. It was an XXXXL (which is about XXL in American sizes) ARISTRIST t-shirt, and a signed towel. I have never been sure if Chono gave it to Kenji to give to me or if (the extraordinarily generous) Kenji paid for it and never asked me for the money... but I choose to believe it was an actual gift from Chono himself. At the very least, Chono remembered that I had wanted a shirt and went out of his way to bring one to Osaka four month later, and also he remembered that Kenjji is my friend... Here I am with Big Joe Doering, wearing that shirt:

Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto vs. Masanobu Kurisu & Dragon Master (Kendo Nagasaki) 4/1/1990 (Texas Death Match) is very good indeed. More suitable for the Clubbering thread than this one, though... (edit: Had a quick look and in fact Curt posted that match in the clubbering thread)!

Randy Savage & Adrian Adonis vs Bruno Sammartino & Tito Santana in a classic bloody cage match

These stories are great. Man, I really needed this thread. I understand that there is a solid chance that all the negative stuff coming out now will lead to a better tomorrow for a lot of people... but it's been kind of overwhelming. I'm feeling better after reading this thread. Not just better about wrestling, better overall. Thanks for starting this, Octopus!