Matt D

MAEDA

1/26/89: Fujinami vs Bigelow III: Guys, I'm really ready to move on from this stuff. It's making me regret continuing on into January a bit. Bigelow lost to Fujinami twice. Why are we doing this? This is fine. Fujinami controlled the arm well early. Bigelow sold well. Real title match stuff. Bigelow missed a corner charge with a somersault (what was he even going for?) and bumped to the floor. Visually strong.Bigelow finally taked the eyes and trounced Fujinami working the midsection, and tossing Fujinami out. Fujinami went for a slam and that didn't work. More bearhugs and midsection work. Fujinami finally came back and hit a big lariat. He finally got that slam and put on the dragon sleeper. Bigelow survived it (!). Both guys went sailing out and over the rail (and had a post match show down) and why wasn't this the second match an the Thesz press one the third match? Baffling. 2/1/89: Inoki/Choshu vs Vader/Bigelow: fancam footage. No helmet for Vader. They ambush Inoki/Choshu anyway. They control on Choshu a bit and then he hits a lariat out of the corner so Inoki can come in on Vader. Clash of the titans set up. Very different energy between Inoki and Choshu but it works well. Choshu even suplexes Vader in from the outside before Bigelow comes in and shuts him down. Honestly, there's different energy between Bigelow and Vader too with Bigelow more flowing. Inoki tries to slam him and he reverses it letting them work on Inoki for a bit. They do a tandem canadian backbreaker axehandle off the second rope and any tandem Bigelow/Vader move is nuts by definition. Eventually Inoki bridges out off a second attempt (this time with Bigelow running at him; he kicks Bigelow and then flips Vader over). Choshu comes in hot. They go to a finish. Inoki gets the enziguiri on Bigelow but he gets out. Vader and Bigelow double team and toss the ref, and that's the match. All of this is good but I'm done with it. Done. 2/3/88: Inoki vs Rip Morgan: Morgan is a poor man's Brody. He does a haka of sorts and the fans don't know what to make of it. Lots of snarling and not really credible looking stomp and grind offense. He got caught and pumphandled by Inoki immediately which was funny. Inoki gave him a lot but this did come off like Inoki vs a big goof. Another backbreaker push off the ropes hope spot. But Morgan finally missed a knee drop of fthe ropes and got the Enziguiri, some knuckle arrows, and the Octopus before Vader/Bigelow ran in to set up the next, planned tag... 2/3/88: Choshu/Fujinami vs Vader/Bigelow: Another good tag, another me being done with this. Choshu is a good FIP and eats a press slam onto Bigelow's knee from Vader early. Bigelow misses a headbutt and eats a Lariat though. But then he ducks a second and hits a dropkick. Good stuff in a bubble. They like sending Choshu into his own corner and he popped back out with a Lariat. But then Fujinami leaped off the top rope right into Vader's arms. So the heat kept coming. Fujinamia was able to come back against Vader on the floor (reverse whip) and Vader does sure take out the guard rails. Again Choshu suplexed Vader in so we have some tried and true stuff from the house show. Still a sense that Vader and Bigelow have good team work and can put down the Japanese with it no matter what. But Choshu and Fujinami have a way of keeping coming. Eventually Chohu takes over and Fujinami comes in with a missile dropkick and the dragon sleeper, but Vader tries to break it up. Fujinami is ready for him, hits a dropkick, and leads to a Choshu lariat so Vader and Choshu are out for a bit. WE get a Fujinami sleeper. But Vader makes the sense having gotten Choshu out of the way for a bit and they eventually toss the ref like usual and we get another inconclusive finish with a nice post match brawl as Inoki shows up. But we're deep into diminishing returns on this tour. 2/3/88: Koshinaka/Sano vs Hase/H. Saito: Big takeaway here is that Hase came back from injury and easing into late 88 as an absolute beast. Sano's a guy who likes to really go up for things, sure, but Hase just had a different level of meanness and intensity and monstrous offense. He had a Brock Lock and this crazy spin kick on top of the Northern Lights and what you'd expect. Saito ground Sano down cruiserweight bully that he is. Koshinaka came in hot when he got in, butt butts for all, but the tide was against him at that point. He finally came back too and Sano got to hit some big offense but they cut Koshinaka down again (Saito not falling for a monkey flip and dropping a headbutt instead). Sano got to have a second big house of fire but got caught by Hase with a blockbuster suplex and they went to the finish where Koshinaka broke things up just long enough to get back in there and hi ta backslide on Saito. Post match there was aggression between Hase and Koshinaka. 2/3/88: Fujiwara/Kimura vs Sergio el Hermoso/El Bello Greco: Pretty hilarious stuff here. Fujiwara vs exoticos. Just one bit after another, including Kimura getting bitten and biting a butt in return and having his bitten. Stuff you wouldn't expect. Lots of mocking the step overs and endless twisting whips off the ropes. Headbutt spots. Fujiwara getting kissed and going to spit out water that a second had (and then doing a mist attack on the second kiss attempt). Etc. Everything under the sun with some very unlikely straight men.

Gordi, love you man. I know you come from a place of love too. Trust me, I have a lot of fun. I wish you could see my twitter wall (though I get why you wouldn't. In the last few week I've posted clips of.. Bryan Keith getting slapped by Nick Wayne, changing his expression hilariously, and then beating him up. Kota Ibushi's sell of the pile driver where he lifts his hands up like he's going to fighting spirit through it and then drops them and has a thousand mile stare (called it abstract art). Cash Wheeler doing the Bandido taunt and going "Did I do that?" after they hit the double shot into the table on him. And then dancing to the Bandido chants. Fletcher posing with Dash both doing double biceps during the commercial break. A French Catch swimming pool match full of comedy. Ospreay doing that little curtsy bow to Swerve Swerve doing his roll for the flatliner only to get punched by Taylor Blue panther mugging Konnan's eye with a line "Your favorite wrestler's favorite luchador." Mercedes covering her ears to sell the Catalina chants before running right into a Reinera bomb Brody Lee pushing Fletcher ass over teakettle over the railing at Arena Mexico "You can't take Kyle Fletcher anywhere." and Takeshita doing Daniel Garcia's dance to him as a taunt during a commercial break. As well as a few critical things like the Bucks not showing enough fear to Hobbs and how terrible Aminata and Ford timing their dive together looked. But overall, I'm a barrel of monkeys, buddy.

I’m dreading watching that match. Fletcher is a miracle worker but even he has limits with moronic modern crowds.

That's basically Dream Machine.

1/20/89: Fujinami/Inoki vs Bigelow/Vader: Huge match here. They call Inoki and Fujinami two emperor kings and of course Vader and Bigelow are some sort of monster alliance. The big takeaway here was how well Vader and Bigelow worked together actually. That was both in breaking up holds by Inoki and Fujinami but also in double teams. They needed a big win here because Bigelow was going to lose a bunch to Fujinami and while they didn't quite get that, they were dominant. Fujinami (who worked the brunt of this) or Inoki would fire back but then they'd cut them off with a double team. That was right from the get go with and awesome opening: Vader grabbed Bigelow's hand to hold him back and then when the smoke went they rushed forth to maul the heroes. Later on, Bigelow really took Inoki's punches well too. Best I've ever seen him do it. Finish had them get DQed as they were destroying Inoki in the corner. Very iconic stuff. Just remembering some other things. Fujinami was in all black and they made a big deal out of that for some reason. There is a sort of connection between Vader and Bigelow that is a lot of fun. They seem like pals (and a lot of that comes from Vader). Big Bebop and Rocksteady attitude but far more dangerous. Post match. Morgan came in with a chair and Choshu (with a ponytail!) made the save. 1/26/89: Inoki/Koshinaka vs Super Strong Machine/Takano: They note that Koshinaka and Takano had moved up weight classes. They match up better in a tag like this with other associated contrast. That contrast was SSM coming in and beating Koshinaka up. He and Takano had a fun total elimination with a clothesline and spin wheel kick. Inoki made it in, got double teamed, finally took over on Takano and they worked him for a bit. Until he just hefted up Koshinaka in a chinlock onto his shoulders so SSM could come off the top on him, but it was quite back and forth at this point and Inoki was soon working even with SSM (who was obviously a good mat wrestler). Takano did it again on Koshinaka, this time lifting up out of a headscissors to set up a doomsday device. Just a lot of variety and offense with SSM and Takano. They do feel like a real team. Double dropkicks and diving headbutts and decapitation axe handles and just lots of stuff. SSM looks like one of the best guys in the world here. They had a lift up spin wheel kick combo too (like a hart attack version) but Koshinaka was able to somehow come back with the butt butt and Inoki cleared house. When they tried for a full nelson spin wheel kick combo on him, Koshinaka grabbed Takano's leg from outside and that let Inoki hit a belly to back for the win. I don't know how this helps build them to challenge for the tag titles but they did, at least seem dominant and dynamic for a chunk of this. 1/26/89: Vader vs Choshu: Vader carefully picked up his helmet and got it out of the ring rather than do the ceremony since Choshu kicked it over last time. Choshu still slapped him in the face in the corner. What a maniac. He then went to headlocks which worked for a minute until Vader gave him a huge belly to back. He beat Choshu on the outside for a bit until Choshu reversed a guardrail whip. Vader took back over by teasing a test of strength and punching him in the throat. Then he hit a lariat and leaned on him. Lots of choking. Some of it with his elbow or wrist which looked nasty. Vader had come a long way in a year. That's for sure. Lots of big brutal shots before Choshu recovered and tossed him off the top. Vader recovered again and hit a bunch of power slams, including an outside in jackhammer of sorts. But Choshu had one last burst and hit a lariat knocking him out. Then, as the count went on, he took his life in his hands and hit a very rare plancha and got the miracle countout. These Choshu vs Vader interactions are all super iconic too. Post match, Bigelow came in and he and Vader hit simultaneous splashes on Choshu which again was a great visual.

Appreciate it. Here it is if anyone wants it: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2025/06/aew-five-fingers-of-death-and-friends_23.html

Coincidentally I finished the first part yesterday and yes, it’s very good so far. Richards is able to survive Brisco better than most guests.

1/16/89: Choshu vs Vader: Vader has a big Vader flag now (with a little US flag on it). In some ways this is such a definitional Choshu match. He kicks over the helmet pre match screwing up Vader's ritual. Vader attacks him, knocks him out, controls for a bit in the corner but Choshu gets him down and rips his mask to shreds, which no one's even though of doing yet. Vader pulls it down the rest of the way so he can see. He brutalizes Choshu some more but they end up on the floor and Choshu gets him on the post repeatedly, first almost getting them both counted out and then rolling in and whacking him right in the wounded head/eye when he tries to come back in. Vader does make it back in and after a collision he gets the better of, splashes him for the win. That's part of the point, but not the whole point, because Choshu had done such an amazing job getting under his skin like only he could. No one else was operating at that level. He was playing chess when everyone else was playing checkers. 1/20/89: Fujiwara/Kimura vs Choshu/Hase: We lost Hase for the back half of 88 so nice to see him active. This was to set up a Kimura/Fujiwara challenge early in February for Choshu/Saito's belts so that sort of let you know how the finish would shake out. We come in with Fujiwara getting beaten down and he does give Hase a lot, I think because he respected him or wanted him to succeed. That said, with some headbutts he does take over and they beat down Hase for a while. Kimura has a great simple stomp off the top onto his leg as Fujiwara holds it and they work over that. Hase does make it to Choshu who pummels Kimura until they start working over Fujiwara again. this lasts until they get into a stretch where Fujiwara gets the armbar on only for Choshu to break it up and then when Hase is pressing the attack and goes for the crab, he does his signature crab reversal to pin him for 3. Good stuff but i almost would have rather preferred Kimura to eat the offense the second time around instead of Fujiawara again.

So you might be wondering why I'm continuing on to 1989 instead of going back to AJPW/SWS. One, I want to catch up to the others chronologically. Two, in the last five years we've gotten 89 handhelds that people really haven't gone through so I want to do that. Three, NJPW is much more arcane/forbidden so there's more of a responsibility/joy to get a mastery. Plus I want to see how this stuff goes I guess. I want to see Hashimoto and Liger continue to develop. I want to see UWF 2.0 through. Once I hit 91, we'll see what I do, but that's probably a year off at least. 1/6/89: Inoki/Fujinami/Choshu vs Vader/Bigelow/Rip Morgan: First time since 82 that Inoki, Fujinami, and Choshu all teamed. Feels like a big deal and is treated as such. This is the first time we've seen Bigelow and Vader together too. Morgan is leaning hard into Brody-isms but he can't quite pull it off. He eats stuff here while Vader and Bigelow are far more protected. At one point Vader just hefts Inoki up to a press slam backbreaker like it's nothing. It's interesting to watch the interplay between the Japanese but we don't get a ton of time on this given the JIP. Inoki wins with the Octopus but the heels get their heat back post match. 1/6/89: Naoki Sano/Hirokazu Hata vs Sergio el Hermoso/El Bello Greco: Sano and Hata have been in Mexico. This is their first big match back. They brought the exoticos as familiar opponents with them and this felt fairly professional and rehearsed. I thought Hata maybe looked a little more explosive but it's hard to tell with one data point. Some of the comedy bits were excellent, whether it's falling right back into a hold after an escape or hefting up on shoulders for a miscommunication bit. Good mix of action and bits overall. They went mean in the middle but the comeback was big even if the finish was a little abrupt. This was definitely entertaining but too early to see what Sano would become (with Hata's career ending in 90). 1/6/89: Super Strong Machine/George Takano vs Koshinaka/Kobayashi: I have no idea why these teams are teaming. No clue. The Observer was no help. All they said that the finish (SSM/Takano winning) was an upset and I mean, I guess kind of, but SSM was pretty well established and Takano had moved up to a higher weight class in 86 so.... This was good at times but what I'd focus on the most was finishing stretch which just went on and on and on, especially consummate to the level of the match on the card. The only place you ever really saw bloat in 80s NJPW is post-tiger match Juniors matches and this had some of that feel. It was exciting but it was unearned and it was just too much. Honestly, part of me puts this on Takano and Koshinaka as it Cobra and Koshinaka did have bloated matches in 86 before Takano removed the mask. EDIT: Last thing to note here is that Takano does something like 4 Spin Wheel Kicks in this.Maeda left and he just figured he'd gobble that move up. 1/10/89: Fujinami vs Bigelow: I thought this was supposed to be a three match series but I guess not. This is a relatively short match. Not a ton to say about it. Fujinami bounces off of Bam Bam to start but then gets leaned on. Bam Bam hits a grounded headbutt but misses the top rope one. Fujinami can't fire back for long (he does hit a back body drop) as he tries to slam Bigelow. They end up on the ropes and he falls on Bigelow on an outside in suplex attempt for a surprising 3. 1/16/89: Fujinami vs Bigelow: This was for the title and went longer. Fujinami contained him early by going to the arm and then the leg and then the head. Bigelow fought back and knocked him off the apron multiple times including letting him hit his barricade bump with a Bigelow dropkick. He leaned on Fujinami again with holds. Fujinami came back and won with a huge Thesz press which is a rare move and they made a big deal out of it. Bigelow got some heat back post match. I have two Minoru Suzuki matches (1/11 vs Iizuka and 1/13 vs Nogami) but they're less than 10 MB files and they're totally unwatchable. But I may try to scan through just to see. He was 20.

Putting it here but I'm halfway through last night's CMLL Show. Red Velvet vs Persephone: very little heeling from Red Velvet which has been her recent strength. The fans were very much behind Persephone so it's a bit of a shame. The actual action was high on effort but some kicks didn't land like they should or didn't miss like they should. Velvet seemed to have some trouble with the ropes at one point. I think if she had leaned harder into her recent heeling instead of trying to have the best match possible by other metrics it all would have worked better. More chances for her this week. CRU vs Munez Bros: Lio got the balance just right, stalling at first and leaning hard in when he had the advantage. Some really good spots. Some of the rapid fire stuff by CRU looked great (some things like the face slaps by Lio didn't look quite as good, but on the whole, it's a good act that fit in well here, Andretti too). They went to the topes twice which seemed a bit much even if the second set up the finish. Good showing overall. Hologram vs Neon: Tecnico vs tecnico spotfest isn't really my thing, but this was an excellent version of one. I haven't gotten to the main yet but I would have thought about making this a lightning match instead. It went 14 and maybe it needed those extra four minutes but I'm not sure. Lots of great spots. I couldn't necessarily tell you the underlying story here other that Neon wanted to hang with Hologram who was coming back to Arena Mexico to have a big impact and show out. And it was fine for what it was along those lines. It didn't have meat on the bone in the way I usually want (and you tend to get more so with tecnico vs even de facto rudo). Finish was spectacular with the absolutely brilliant spanish fly reversal. That's the sort of thing that should always lead to the end of a match (even to set up the Portal Bomb) and even then only a few times a year. Great to see Cabrera there. Just a fun atmosphere overall.

I've been avoiding big Ospreay matches lately (skipped Hangman and Swerve) and it's increased my overall happiness level I think. I've really enjoyed just about everything else lately.

I'm not going to write a lot about 88, I think. Just a few thoughts. First and foremost, 88 either starts in November, December, or February depending on how you look at it. November had the Choshu/Maeda incident which would have heated up the entire territory when it needed it most if only it was a work and not a shoot. December had the Sumo Hall riot with them trying to junk the biggest match they had (Choshu vs Inoki) and toss sports entertainment at everything which didn't really catch. And then February has the Takada incident which means that by March Maeda/Yamazaki/Takada are all gone. I wouldn't necessarily say anyone takes their place on the cards in a meaningful way though. Fujinami/Inoki/Choshu: Fujinami's the guy in 88, leveraging his contract situation to high benefit. He has great matches against Choshu, Vader, and the 60 minute match with Inoki. He is an elevated presence with the new Dragon Backbreaker/Sleeper combo. He shows more aggression. He has a fairly triumphant tour late in the year. Inoki is somewhat diminished, first by the Vader loss (and the fact he doesn't really win the title all year after that) and then by being out with another injury middle of the year. He comes back strong and then comes back from a "tour" even stronger with the series against a lot of key opponents. As we start 89, the Russians are his big hope to get back on top and he even declares he wants Jumbo/Yatsu/Maeda/Takada to come in to help face them which is nuts. Choshu seemingly starts off diminished as well after the Maeda incident but you don't see it from reactions. He's injured briefly and misses a big hometown win for the tag belts but they get them later in the year. He's essential to the promotion, always over, bulletproof, able to put people over. He makes peace with Inoki after the draw with Fujinami and then teams with him as a super team towards the end of the year. Saito is just about as essential to put guys over and look credible throughout the year, btw. Vader/Pirates/Bigelow/Murdoch/Buzz Sawyer: Vader takes a little while to really get it but by mid year he does. The crowd loves the Saito/Vader vs Pirates matches because it gives them a chance to cheer for him as he crushes people. That does more for him than the handicap matches, I think. The pirates are a huge part of the first half of the year honestly and Orton holds his own in that role even if he seems stronger as himself at the end of the year. Murdoch isn't as big a player in 88 as he was in 87 but he's always entertaining and interesting and has a connection with the crowd. Bigelow comes in and the big deal is the series with Vader but it's never conclusive and then he just loses like nothing to Inoki later on after they had protected him so well. I really enjoyed Buzz in here as well. Just came off like a total star. Other foreigners (like Kerry and even Hall who was in the tag league at least) didn't make much of a splash though. Brief note here that if Adonis hadn't died, I think he'd make a mark, as the Adonis/Murdoch we have is such a blast. Juniors: The division starts strong in 88 with Hase coming in and freshening everything up. Takada and Koshinaka kind of figure out a code where so long as someone ambushes and starts hot they can then build to a comeback and THEN do the hot back and forth instead of just starting with it annoyingly. Then Owen comes in and stinks everything up because nothing he does matters in the least. Just as he goes Hase gets injured which is a shame. Yamada is awesome throughout and he could have stayed Yamada and never become Liger and still been a big star. Koshinaka is one of the biggest beneficiaries of everyone leaving as he fits in well against heavyweights with his hulking up and attitude. Kobayashi remains a beast and he or Hiro Saito are always enjoyable to see. An obvious highlight was the 5x5 with Choshu's guys against the NJPW guys. Hashimoto/Chono: They come in from excursion in fall and make an impact quickly. There are a lot of stories about Hashimoto flexing and taking some liberties given his size and skill, but I think it was just to get him some buzz and they were just stories. Chono still needs to grow into his own frame but he has a lot of confidence even early. Others (Sakaguchi/Kido/Takano/Kimura/Fujiwara/Super Strong Machine): These guys get lost in the mix. I thought Takano was out injured but nope. Sometimes they're just fodder for Vader. Kimura gets to hold his own at times but he's back in the team with Fujinami and it's disappointing relative to what could have been. I don't have a lot to say about Fujiwara but he's still always a joy to see when he pops up but I do think there was some weirdness with him since UWF was in existence. Trios series: I enjoyed this. It doesn't have the rep of some other tag leagues and I wish we had some more footage from it and a few handhelds but it really stood out as fun and different with some weird pairings and partnerships and some great individual eliminations. Goto came off as a great plucky underdog here and it was a really solid way to end the year.

I've wanted to make the Continational joke for a week but it's very bad. They should just call it the Super International Title. Super makes everything better.

12/22/88 UWF: Takada vs Backlund: This has a great rep and it is a really good trainwreck with some excellent moments. And I think there might have been an amazing ten minute match in the 20+ minutes they got. Having watched UWF 2.0 from the beginning and complete, though, I don't think this worked. It was Backlund's first match in a few years and first match in Japan in even longer and the fans were into it. I did get the sense that Maeda let Takada beat him to face Backlund because he didn't want to deal with it maybe. It starts amazingly, as I said, with Backlund just eating Takada's kicks, catching one, taking him down, and doing his little hype taunt dance like a crazy man as the fans stomped (and Japanese fans never stomp, though they did for Goto vs Murdoch!). Then he went right in and took him down with amateur stuff and it really felt like a different styles sort of fight. It wasn't as tight as the UWF style but you got the sense this incredibly strong madman could just charge in a dominate. The problem was maybe three fold. The first is that when he did start to sell strikes and kicks, he did it in such a goofy recoiling manner. The second is that when he got a hold on, like a Fujiwara armbar, his technique just seemed weird. Just weird hand positionings, etc. And the third is that he insisted on doing some pro wrestling stuff like a seated chinlock, that the fans seemed to hate. You had maybe 30% of the fans really turning on it with 20% unsure. Because of that, 70% or so were really going for Takada, some because he was working from underneath and some because it'd somehow validate the realness of it all. If Takada beat this kind of fake looking guy, then UWF was real and legitimate and worth following. There were two moments where I thought there'd be a riot. The first is when they started into the short arm scissors, and I thought they were going to do the gotch lift, but Takada immediately let it go. The second was when Backlund got him up for a long time before dropping for a belly to back and I thought he was going to hit an atomic drop in a UWF match. What's crazy is that Backlund got opened up in a huge way on his nose/face and Takada got totally bruised up by forearms but it was worthless really. In some ways it's the opposite of what you want. It was a shoot style match where the only things that worked wasn't the working but the shooting and that's all wrong on some level. But it's not boring certainly. I get why people like it. I just think, in context, they're probably wrong. I don't often like something because it didn't work. (Observer only cared to talk about Backlund leaving post-match and not coming back because he said he got screwed somehow; he had been supposed to fight Maeda in January). 12/9/88: Koshinaka (c) vs Yamada: Yamada's a beast here. He just slaps the taste out of Koshinaka's mouth early. Koshinaka meets him halfway but Yamada's able to take back over turning a headscissors into a mutalock and then has this series of kicks and a kappo kick and a tombstone that is just brutal, before locking in a dragon sleeper. From there they moved on to dives, some nice. Koshinaka hit a power bomb which is still jarring since they are very new to NJPW. Yamada came back but finally fell to the dragon suplex and then graciously put the belt on Koshinaka. Yamada's off to Germany and I really should try to track down that footage. Some year end thoughts coming later.