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Secret Santo - Winter 2022/3!


Matt D

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On 12/10/2022 at 5:26 AM, John E. Dynamite said:

Yeah I'm in. I've leved up over the pandemic and I'm watching absolutely everything like I'm 16 again. I have an IWTV sub I don't use enough fwiw.

EDIT/ADDITION: I have a big blind spot from 2007 to 2015 in the non-WWE or NJPW world. I don't watch enough Florida, or lucharesu, or Moxley-era CZW or post-Misawa NOAH or turn-of-the-millennium lucha or ROH when Nigel was on top or GWF or deathmatches after 2010 or recent AJPW or whatever months Waltman was in WCW or T2P after the debut show or uuuhhh y'know I probably DO watch enough I just want to watch everything.

2007 through 2015 lucharesu, you say? Well, since 2009 through 2012 Osaka indies are my very specific  particular very favourite bag, I might just be able to.dig up something to scratch that particular itch. 

I'll copy & repost my "please don't" request here, even though I doubt you would ever give me that sort of match:

NO "GREAT" MATCHES FOR ME, PLEASE! No ***** Meltzer/Keith-style epics that go long, have tons of (empty) flash and multiple finisher kick-outs. I have seen too much of that. I am here for interesting/weird matches. I love Kenny. I love Okada. I loved Kenny vs Okada at Dominion. I DO NOT WANNA WATCH THAT KIND OF MATCH HERE. I wanna watch Kenny vs Little Girl. Gimme weird. Gimme crazy. Gimme violent. Please don't gimme self-consciously epic and flashy. Also do not give me Sports Entertainment. No WWE. WWWF is fine, if it's weird and/or involves Andre. Also, unless you specifically ask, I won't be giving out great matches, but rather weird or interesting or nostalgic ones.

 

AND SPEAKING OF WEIRD AND NOSTALGIC:

 

I have VERY specific memories of this match! It was my 46th birthday. There were a handful of very friendly folks from Cirque de Soliel KOOZA at this show, on their day off. We got drunk together. This match blew their mind! Imagine a pro wrestling match that could blow the mind of The King of the Clowns. They were marking out really hard.

Konaka = Pale One teaming with Black Buffalo and Naoki Setoguchi also doing Pale One gimmicks vs my special friend Apple Miyuki and the Shirai sisters in cute cosplay!

This might be the MOST 2007-2015 Osaka-style match of all time. Thanks to my other special friend Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru for posting this on her most excellent YouTube channel.

While I was posting this, I got a pop-up notice that it is referee Matsui's birthday today! I'll take that as a sign that today is a good day for Osaka nostalgia. 

SfEHWac.jpg

Hey Matt! You should watch this one, too. It's pretty weird and entertaining.

mLEtq1j.jpg

Edited by Gordlow
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On 12/7/2022 at 9:33 PM, thee Reverend Axl Future said:

This is excellent discipline for focus, articulation and getting some writing done, as well as viewing some different grappling. I'm in, thanks [circle a]Matt D (yeah, it's hard to embed and such still with the Chrome, this is gonna cause much cussin' around the rectory here). AND I get to see some rasslin'. Pick for me stuff THAT YOU LIKE, on some freebie platform like the YouTubes or DMotion. I am swingin' back into a wrestling groove thanks to olde CWF Satanic Sullivan footage so vintage is good but if you dig something "new" and think it will rouse the loins of this old mule, feel free. You ain't gotta impress me - a tickling of the whimsy will do just fine. LET THE DOGS OF OVER_ANALYSIS LOOSE.

You know what match goes so hard and I didn't even remember it? This match go so hard: Dean Malenko and Syxx at SuperBrawl VII. It's just under fifteen minutes of fun. 

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8f7jap

 

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@Gordlow First off, this project has already taught me a lesson about cagematch.net-based heartache. I approached this thinking you were one of the easier guys to pick for and went with the known knowns, so to speak. So I clicked around a bit and found that this happened - Kazuchika Okada & Ultimo Dragon defeat Super Delfin & Tigers Mask (14:30) - UWAI STATION 2 - 12/30/2009. And it WASN'T TAPED! New Year's Eve (Eve) at Korakuen! I was dejected for a better part of the day. Then I remembered you asked for joy, and violence, and the unpretentious. Then I watched this.

BJW Death Match Heavyweight Title Match (Special Referee: Terry Funk): Yuko Miyamoto (c) vs. Mad Man Pondo - IWA East Coast 11/6/2009 from PUMPKIN PARK, Milton, West Virginia

https://archive.org/details/11-6-2009-iwa-ec-legacy-of-brutality
(you are looking for a timestamp of 1:59:20)

Babyface vs. babyface deathmatches are pistachio ice cream, such an underrated flavor. Yuko Miyamoto may legitimately be the best death match wrestler of all time. I researched what he's been up to, found out his match output is absolutely crazy. This dude has probably averaged 150+ matches a year for his whole career and has never looked like he doesn't love the process. When I first started watching the ultraviolent stuff I didn't think Mad Man Pondo would be one of the guys I never got sick of, but there's a strange sort of congeniality to him. Well adjusted, and engaged, and engaging, and giving. Two blood-soaked psychopaths who radiate positivity and what could make all that better? Terry Funk being the weird referee who waddles around on a bum knee and occasionally punches things. And my God is this shit West Virginia as hell. Crowd is maybe 100 deep but they weigh as much as a packed Korakuen - and I love em all cause they chanted MI-YAMO-TO in the proper Japanese triplet rhythm?! If you think the announcers saying Mad Man Pond-ayoh is great wait till they say Miyamot-ayoh. This gave me the warm fuzzies and it wasn't just the blood trickle. 

Edited by John E. Dynamite
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Athena vs Hikaru Shida- Shimmer- 4/13/2014:  Oh man, this match is awesome.  Being 8 years ago, Athena was a pretty different wrestling animal.  I've only seen her a little in WWE and all of her AEW stuff so it's cool to see all the stuff she stopped doing to acclimate herself to the style of the big promotion she was currently in.  I'm wondering if like her tricked out takedowns were something she always did or just did because she was in with a good Joshi wrestler like Shida.  I dig her total BattlARTS attack now but I dug the Lucha Libre sections in this.  Hikaru Shida doesn't wrestle like this now either.  Now she wrestles to giant crowds and makes all of her stuff look enormous.  Here, she was still wrestling in intimate settings and all the little stuff you can notice.  Here, you can put on your monocle and appreciate the matwork and the build to Athena's submission, whereas now they would build up to the giant high spot finisher that the dude in the 57th row could follow.  It's like when Ric Flair would wrestle Brad Armstrong on Worldwide, he would go back to his Mid-Atlantic studio match days and it would be a totally different match than he would have that night at the Omni.  I love that Shida screams like she just stepped off the plane from Tokyo and hadn't ever wrestled in front of Americans before.  I wonder how many matches she had in America before she toned that down.  The start of the match is where Athena is now and stays at where she trades forearms.  She needs to bring in the big kicks to her current repertoire.  This is great.

 

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7 hours ago, John E. Dynamite said:

@Gordlow First off, this project has already taught me a lesson about cagematch.net-based heartache. I approached this thinking you were one of the easier guys to pick for and went with the known knowns, so to speak. So I clicked around a bit and found that this happened - Kazuchika Okada & Ultimo Dragon defeat Super Delfin & Tigers Mask (14:30) - UWAI STATION 2 - 12/30/2009. And it WASN'T TAPED! New Year's Eve (Eve) at Korakuen! I was dejected for a better part of the day. Then I remembered you asked for joy, and violence, and the unpretentious. Then I watched this.

BJW Death Match Heavyweight Title Match (Special Referee: Terry Funk): Yuko Miyamoto (c) vs. Mad Man Pondo - IWA East Coast 11/6/2009 from PUMPKIN PARK, Milton, West Virginia

https://archive.org/details/11-6-2009-iwa-ec-legacy-of-brutality
(you are looking for a timestamp of 1:59:20)

Babyface vs. babyface deathmatches are pistachio ice cream, such an underrated flavor. Yuko Miyamoto may legitimately be the best death match wrestler of all time. I researched what he's been up to, found out his match output is absolutely crazy. This dude has probably averaged 150+ matches a year for his whole career and has never looked like he doesn't love the process. When I first started watching the ultraviolent stuff I didn't think Mad Man Pondo would be one of the guys I never got sick of, but there's a strange sort of congeniality to him. Well adjusted, and engaged, and engaging, and giving. Two blood-soaked psychopaths who radiate positivity and what could make all that better? Terry Funk being the weird referee who waddles around on a bum knee and occasionally punches things. And my God is this shit West Virginia as hell. Crowd is maybe 100 deep but they weigh as much as a packed Korakuen - and I love em all cause they chanted MI-YAMO-TO in the proper Japanese triplet rhythm?! If you think the announcers saying Mad Man Pond-ayoh is great wait till they say Miyamot-ayoh. This gave me the warm fuzzies and it wasn't just the blood trickle. 

Yeah. Thanks for this. Pistachio is literally my second-favourite flavour of ice cream, after green tea. This pistachio as hell match was genuinely beautiful, but in a really crazy and specific way. This is 100% certainly a match that I NEVER would have seen without it being a Secret Santo recommendation. And, to be clear, I am extremely glad I got to see this. There is a moment at the end where

Spoiler

Terry Funk says he'd be honoured if Madman Pondo would come out to the ring using "Desperado" as his entrance music

that was *genuinely* moving.

Also moving and simultaneously very funny: The crowd chanting "Arigatou!" for Miyamoto after Pondo calls him back out to the ring, but mispronouncing it like in that Styx song. 

The announcers! You are not kidding. If two non-southern wrestlers used those exact voices doing a southern gimmick, it would come across like an offensive caricature. 

Also very funny and irresistibly charming: EVERY SINGLE THING TERRY FUNK DOES HERE.

 I got to see Miyamoto live in July in a nice smallish arena in Osaka. Yankee Two Kenju (Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto) vs Abdullah Kobayashi & Jaki Numazawa in Tables and Thumbtack Death Match that ended with a top rope piledriver through a (Japanese) table. Calling him maybe the greatest death match wrestler of all time is NOT hyperbole. Dude is amazing. He's a good wrestler,in terms of all the in-my-opinion-important aspects like bumping, selling, telling a story in there, interesting and believable offence, pacing, creativity... and also apparently an insane person who has zero concern for his own well-being who is also cursed (?) with a deep deep love of working death matches. 

xMBECcp.jpg

No fooling: I almost gave you an Astronauts (Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura) vs Strong BJ tag match, because Abe was my favourite guy I saw live for the first time at that Big Japan show in Osaka. I have a different Abe match in reserve, that I will maybe give someone else in the next couple of weeks. (And for sure I would have LOVED to have seen young Okada in there with Tigers Mask)!

Miyamoto was my #2 guy on that show. He could probably be successful working straight matches. I don't think Pondo could, to be honest. But he has found his niche and he's apparently cursed with the same deep love for it. He can deal out and absorb shocking amounts of punishment. And he has a unique charisma.

I try to imagine it sometimes. Being a death match addict.

Have you seen the movie "Crumb" about the cartoonist? It's pretty great. There's a scene where he talks about how somewhere there's a person who only wants to ride another person around like a horse and somewhere else there's another person whose deepest desire is to be ridden around, and if those two people are lucky enough to meet then that's love. Or something like that.

Imagine loving, really loving and being addicted to throwing people through panes of glass and also being thrown through panes of glass yourself. Wanting nothing more than to fall off ladders into barbed wire, in front of people who are super-excited to be watching that.

How fortunate you must feel to meet other people who feel the same way, who are not psychopathic assholes. 

Pondo really does come across like he has a good soul. It's a long inconvenient journey from Japan to West Virginia, I am certain. But I can see why Miyamoto made that journey to get cut up with barbed wire in front of a hundred people in a crappy little building. It's beautiful that he did. And this is definitely putting too fine a point on it, but Terry Funk being there almost sanctifies it. 

 

Edited by Gordlow
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On 12/12/2022 at 10:20 PM, The Natural said:

 

Sorry for not replying sooner, having notification issues.

Cheers for the pick, @Curt McGirt.

For you, we have a Cactus Jack match in World Class Championship Wrestling so long before Mick Foley found fame in WCW, ECW and WWF. I've seen wrestlers most famous matches or a director's most popular movies which led me to go back and assess their previous. I'd never seen this match till looking for you, it was only added 4 months ago and I hope you like it!

What to say about the career of Mick Foley that hasn't already been said? He's tremendous. Best bumper, best at going on offense when he doesn't really have any decent offense... he's like a jobber with a death wish and a mean streak. World Class (okay, USWA, because the glorious Jarretts and Lawler are involved now) gave him the ignominious "Manson" title like you have to give Foley any more of a fatal warning for the crowd than his own performance. A game Adams tosses him all over the place and gives him a good heat segment before the run-in. This is perfect TV wrestling and I would buy a ticket to the Sportatorium to see Chris Adams kick some ass for sure. 

Thanks, Paul! Now I want to see the football match from Southwest Foley talked about in his first book 🙂 

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On 12/9/2022 at 2:42 PM, Sammo~! said:

good Joshi and good Lucha

I want to give you a women's Lucha match but I can't think of one specifically. I also want to give you a plain old Joshi match or Lucha match and I can't think of one either. But I think I haven't given this to anyone before and though it's a bit of a standard (at least to me, since I saw it on Stranglemania 2 when I was like 17 years old), here you go. The Tiger Driver bump on this is GNARLY. 

FMW - Combat Toyoda vs. Megumi Kudo (No-Rope Electrified Barbwire Deathmatch) - YouTube

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On 12/17/2022 at 4:22 PM, Sammo~! said:

For@Curt McGirt
You mentioned you wanted to see more World Class, more Buzz Sawyer, and more Matt Borne. Buzz Sawyer and Matt Borne had a fun run as a tag team in 1986 in WCCW. I hope you enjoy.
 

 

This is sooooooo good. Both teams rule even though Adias is a little pedestrian. Sawyer and Borne are meant to be together, a second-level version of Slaughter and Don Kernodle. The incredible Chris Adams and the INCREDIBLE Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer tussle. What more do you want, or can you have? (Sorry Sammo, I just think it an injustice to over-think and over-write that match. Sometimes shorter is better! 😁)

EDIT: I watched it again and it may be better than Slaughter/Kernodle vs. Steamboat/Youngblood in the cage. It's that good. 

Edited by Curt McGirt
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On 12/11/2022 at 4:01 PM, Curt McGirt said:

@The Natural

Volk Han vs Kiyoshi Tamura (RINGS 9-25-96) - video Dailymotion

Something a little outside your wheelhouse. FANTASTIC match.

@Curt McGirt. Thank you. I suck at reviews but in the words of the late Coolion... "Aww here goes!"

Volk Han vs. Kiyoshi Tamura. RINGS, 25th September 1996. Note the correct day, month, year format, you Americans!

Hot start with the standing Kimura attempt while wrapping the legs round the opponent's waist by Han. Liked Han's repeated attempts at the belly down Armbar, more people should used that version. A teep kick by Tamura literally takes the wind from Han's sails. My favourite thing from this is the momentum switches, how Han turns defence into offense and vice versa through Kiyoshi. Feels like a chess battle with the counters. Match ends with a rear naked choke countered into a straight arm lock while Tamura is in Han's half guard. Not seen that finish before. On that note, I've crossed Volk Han/Kiyoshi Tamura/RINGS off my pile of shame. Good things indeed come in threes. Cheers, Curt.

On 12/18/2022 at 3:47 PM, Curt McGirt said:

What to say about the career of Mick Foley that hasn't already been said? He's tremendous. Best bumper, best at going on offense when he doesn't really have any decent offense... he's like a jobber with a death wish and a mean streak. World Class (okay, USWA, because the glorious Jarretts and Lawler are involved now) gave him the ignominious "Manson" title like you have to give Foley any more of a fatal warning for the crowd than his own performance. A game Adams tosses him all over the place and gives him a good heat segment before the run-in. This is perfect TV wrestling and I would buy a ticket to the Sportatorium to see Chris Adams kick some ass for sure. 

Thanks, Paul! Now I want to see the football match from Southwest Foley talked about in his first book 🙂 

 Cheers, Curt. Glad you liked it!

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On 12/17/2022 at 4:54 PM, Matt D said:

I am cleverly getting around my tagging issues by quoting my partner here. You've invoked Bock's name so Bock you will receive. I thought about giving you the Zbyszko sprint because it's the easiest match to get through or the Morton Houston match since it has a lot of the key elements (Heenan, traveling champ Bock, a look at pre-RNR Morton as a spirited babyface), but I'm going to go with the Chavo match instead. Bock is tricky, because you do really need to watch a few matches to even start to really figure out what to look for, but as we don't have time for that, I'll give you some suggestions.

  • His entrance into matches. The comparison point will always be Flair, of course, but Bockwinkel tries to understand his opponents and doesn't give you something generic to start. The character will have either a gameplan or a way he's feeling that night. Here, Chavo is a local favorite, but not someone on Bock's radar and he feels this is beneath him and he's trying to show him up and embarrass him.
  • His reactions/expressions throughout the match. This is where he shines the most I think, how he engages within holds or when he's in a hold, how he reacts to things going his way or when things don't go his way. He's just living vibrantly in his matches in a way that's very organic and pulls the crowd/viewer in. He cares (elation, viciousness, desperation).
  • His physical selling as the match goes on. I'd argue that he's the best ever at selling his entire body in the last third of the match, getting over the weight of everything that's happening. There's real and deep consequence in Bockwinkel matches. Things matter. That's where a lot of the value comes from as well as he works holds and as big as he bumps and as much as he can go.

Just a few things to think about as you watch this.

 

Apologies for only seeing this now, @Matt D. Will think on what to send you ASAP and I'll get to reviewing it. Cheers!

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On 12/17/2022 at 11:35 AM, DEAN said:

@porksweats I don't know if you'll dig it, but here is one of the top ONE favorite matches- Diasuke Ikeda vs Yuki Ishikawa- 5/27/1998.

 

First off DEAN, glad you liked my pick for you! I know from your AEW/ROH summaries that you really got into Athena and I tried my best to deliver something good! (I watched the match for the first time before I sent it over)

 

But now onto Secret Santo Week 2 Review~!~!

I've watched my share of BattlARTS but Otsuka is more my speed. I haven't seen this match but I have seen some of Ikeda and Yuki so it isn't fully blind. We start and Ishikawa is confident! Getting down on the mat and begging for Ikeda to make a move but Ikeda backs into the corner unsure. Yuki gives some space and they lock up after a failed Ikeda kick and GODDAMN that headbutt from Ishikawa to Ikeda made full skull to skull contact, insane. For the next minute it's a ground battle but Ishikawa shakes him. Ishikawa goes for a takedown and tries to reach out and choke him but it gets quickly turned into a cross armbreaker but Ikeda can't lock it in. Ikeda's got some deadly kicks as he finally gets the better of Ishikawa breaking him down and popping him right in the face. The ref starts counting but he's back on his feet. Another little exchange and we're back in the corner. Ikeda essentially mule kicks Ishikawa in the jaw and he does the slow fade against the ropes but fighting spirit prevails! Some grappling on the ground and a rope break, I'm liking Ishikawa's ability to keep Ikeda down but he's not making the most of it here. I take it back, he locks the legs in a scissor around Ikeda's body and sits up, shifting the weight toward his neck. Ikeda tries to rotate out of it but gets further ensnared. REVERSAL OF FORTUNE as he gets his own ankle grapevined! There's a rope break but now Ikeda's on his feet and its his time to shine. A trade of abdominal stretches gets it twisted back to him and he's butterfly suplexed. Trades of holds on the ground eventually leaves Ishikawa outside. He's almost suplexed back into the ring but breaks it and snags Ikeda's arm, doing more damage bringing it over his shoulder. Now it's Ikeda catching his breath,  which is a bad move by Ishikawa as Ikeda's whipping out kicks and suplexes like they're going out of style. At 14:23, he hits one of the hardest sounding clotheslines, definitely ringing a bell.

 

 

He's punchdrunk and just getting his ass kicked but Ishikawa is a tough son of a bitch. He lasts through it all, getting lucky when Ikeda goes off the ropes and right into Yuki's fist.  You'd think after that and a sick enziguri that he'd be done for but no, he powers through another abdominal stretch collapsing into a rope break and gives another barrage of kicks. Ishikawa can't stand another kick and thankfully snags the leg for another grapevine. If he can just chop him down he'll win! But alas, we've reached the end for poor Ishikawa getting a clothesline that puts him down to a 8 count, only to get up one final time to accept the foot directly in the mush and to the side of the head. How do you spell win here? KO that's how.

Thoughts on the match: Ishikawa is one tough son of a bitch isn't he? He can definitely take a beating but he needed to be more aggressive. Ikeda's kicks are things of beauty, really walking away impressed here. The match didn't feel as long as it actually was which was nice but the ground control segments just weren't my speed despite that. I needed some more big suplexes personally but that isn't a knock against the match by any means. DEAN! Thank you for this BattlARTS match, it was greatly appreciated.

Edited by porksweats
added the gif I made
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6 hours ago, The Natural said:

@Curt McGirt. Thank you. I suck at reviews but in the words of the late Coolion... "Aww here goes!"

Volk Han vs. Kiyoshi Tamura. RINGS, 25th September 1996. Note the correct day, month, year format, you Americans!

Hot start with the standing Kimura attempt while wrapping the legs round the opponent's waist by Han. Liked Han's repeated attempts at the belly down Armbar, more people should used that version. A teep kick by Tamura literally takes the wind from Han's sails. My favourite thing from this is the momentum switches, how Han turns defence into offense and vice versa through Kiyoshi. Feels like a chess battle with the counters. Match ends with a rear naked choke countered into a straight arm lock while Tamura is in Han's half guard. Not seen that finish before. On that note, I've crossed Volk Han/Kiyoshi Tamura/RINGS off my pile of shame. Good things indeed come in threes. Cheers, Curt.

Speaking of shame -- this wasn't the match I thought I'd picked. I suppose it doesn't matter though, because Volk vs. Tamura is always gonna rule. Like all RINGS I'm drawn in by the Big Time Sports Feel of their presentation, and the talent of the performers. The one I wanted to send you (I looked for matches and I got four or so from both Dailymotion and Youtube so I couldn't go through all; the one I wanted was on an old Schneider Comp) had a seriously emotional sense from Volk. That comes out a little here. Maybe he's just a sad man? I would be too if I came through Sambo training in Russia... Anyway, that and the insane camerawork, crowd responses, and exchanges with both guys make this one a classic. There were three or four different double wrist locks (okay Josh Barnett) that I thought would end the whole thing but no, until... Anyway I'm thrilled that you like it, and hope you search out more if you're interested. 

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On 12/18/2022 at 8:01 AM, Curt McGirt said:

I want to give you a women's Lucha match but I can't think of one specifically. I also want to give you a plain old Joshi match or Lucha match and I can't think of one either. But I think I haven't given this to anyone before and though it's a bit of a standard (at least to me, since I saw it on Stranglemania 2 when I was like 17 years old), here you go. The Tiger Driver bump on this is GNARLY. 

FMW - Combat Toyoda vs. Megumi Kudo (No-Rope Electrified Barbwire Deathmatch) - YouTube

 

Full disclosure: I've seen this match before but it's probably been about 10-12 years and I appreciate being able to watch it with fresh eyes and also examine and articulate why I like it so much. So like most teenagers in the 90s, I found FMW through the ECW>FMW pipeline, the Cactus Jack King of the Death Match and Onita/Funk. I think the first Megumi Kudo match I saw was one of the Shark Tsuchiya matches, another exploding barbed wire match, followed by the inter-promotional tag match at Dream Slam where she teamed with Combat Toyoda vs Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada. Fast forward about 2 years and I'm playing an English Romhack of Super Fire Pro Wrestling: Queen's Special and I beat the "Chase the Red Belt!" mode with Megumi Kudo and decided then and there "Well, I guess I'm a Megumi Kudo fan now" and sought out a bunch of her stuff, including this match. 

Generally speaking; while I do love a good bloodbath, there needs to be some emotional stakes attached to the match to justify that level of brutality for me. A lot of hardcore and garbage wrestling is too much for me. Light tubes, fireworks, barbed wire all that, not my thing unless there is a storyline or character work justification for them. It's a weird place to be emotionally, like I'm not opposed to graphic violence I just need a reason for it. A lot (not all) of FMW managed to walk that line pretty well though, not just as a house style, but also a lot of their wrestlers were good enough to build towards the big gross spots and make them feel earned. This match manages to accomplish all of that. Emotional stakes? Check. This is Combat Toyoda's retirement match. She and Megumi Kudo both trained under Jaguar Yokota, broke into FMW together, were 2/3rds of The Outbreakers and had been frequent tag partners and opponents for the past 5 years. Making the big barbed wire spots feel earned? Hell yeah. Match starts with lots of jockeying for position trying to push the other wrestler into the barbed wire. The first few exchanges feel more like a sumo match than pro wrestling. One of my favorite little things is how both Megumi Kudo and Combat Toyoda would just completely sprawl to the ground if they got too close to the exploding barbed wire. They were willing to give up the positional advantage in order to avoid being exploded. It's a great little thing and really does make the few times they actually go into the barbed wire feel completely shocking. The crowd being absolutely apoplectic anytime either wrestler gets near to the ropes helps a lot too. After a lot of really cool grappling eventually Megumi Kudo gets sent into the barbed wire fist and Combat Toyoda gets control and gets to showcase some of her amazing offence. Side note: How come nobody does the Argentine Backbreaker where they drop to their knees/butt anymore? That move rules. I remember Albert/Bernard/Tensai using that 10 years ago, and Nikki Bella retired. Someone big and strong should steal that. It should be Powerhouse Hobbs' finisher. Speaking of cool-ass moves: the most aesthetically pleasing thing to me in all of professional wrestling is a perfectly executed suplex with a high arch and we get three in a row here. Toyoda hits a gorgeous german, followed by Megumi Kudo popping right back up and hitting a Northern Lights, followed by a Toyoda backdrop driver. I remember being amazed by that sequence of suplexes when I first watched this match years ago and it's still great on repeat viewing. 

In the pre match interview Combat Toyoda said that younger wrestlers should feel her emotion and learn from it, and it's pretty apparent what she meant. From the jump her face has a kind of quiet resignation to it. Not entirely sad but a sort of dignified melancholy knowing that her journey is coming to a close. It's fucking great. Towards the close of the match, after going into the barbed wire twice, and a nasty looking Tiger Driver, Toyoda lets out a primal yell. Defiant to the last she knows her time is up but if she's going to go out, she'll go out fighting. A few more big moves and eventually Megumi Kudo hits the Kudome Valentine, winning the belt and retiring her one time tag partner. This. Match. Rules. Thank you Curt for sharing it and giving me a reason to watch it again.

Edited by Sammo~!
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1 hour ago, Sammo~! said:

It should be Powerhouse Hobbs' finisher

It would definitely work as Masha Slamovich's finisher. 

It's been a rough year for me (aren't they all?) and I deeply appreciate me being able to give someone else something to appreciate as well. Happy to be of service. 

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Tossing Week 3 up early given the holiday and some complications we're having here at the house (the COVID sort).

Paul owes me a week 2 one (but he is good for it, dammit). Super Ape is working on one for DEAN and has Execproducer in the queue after that. RAF owes one for Smellsalot.

Here's week three though (tagging's not working tonight again).

Execproducer
DEAN
----
Matt D
Gordlow
----
The Natural
Super Ape
----
thee Reverend Axl Future
Curt McGirt
----
porksweats
John E. Dynamite
----
Sammo~!
SirSmellingtonofCascadia

Gordi, I'll have a post for you tomorrow.

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Oh hell yeah! Getting paired with Matt is a straight-up early Christmas present! And I know I'll be getting something good. I'll give you a choice of two shorter, VERY different pro wrestling matches. First, an atypical Fuminori Abe match:

And second an EXTREMELY neato matchup that very much delighted me by popping up in my YouTube feed the other dayyyy:

 

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On 12/9/2022 at 3:26 PM, John E. Dynamite said:

Yeah I'm in. I've leved up over the pandemic and I'm watching absolutely everything like I'm 16 again. I have an IWTV sub I don't use enough fwiw.

EDIT/ADDITION: I have a big blind spot from 2007 to 2015 in the non-WWE or NJPW world. I don't watch enough Florida, or lucharesu, or Moxley-era CZW or post-Misawa NOAH or turn-of-the-millennium lucha or ROH when Nigel was on top or GWF or deathmatches after 2010 or recent AJPW or whatever months Waltman was in WCW or T2P after the debut show or uuuhhh y'know I probably DO watch enough I just want to watch everything.

For you John E., some non WWE/NJPW wrestling from 2009

 

 

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On 12/3/2022 at 5:23 PM, SirSmellingtonofCascadia said:

- Early-era NOAH, but not if it's a stiff chop/head drop type of deal in the style of its founder.

This match is from 2005, so I don't know if that qualifies as early-era enough for you, but I adore this match. KENTA and Shibata were an absolute badass unit as the Takeover. KENTA as the shit talking little prick who would often write checks with his mouth that his ass can't cash, and Shibata as the cool, collected older brother type who steps in when things get out of hand. Morishima is an absolute unstoppable shitkicker. Also Muhammad Yone is there. 
 

 

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Here I goes, SirSmellington, let's blame Santa that bloated goyim for my tardiness surewhynot - again, I give what I have been randomly desiring & seeking on the youTubes. My love for thee Prince of Darkness Kevin Sullivan is known throughout the globe, but I also get all wobbly for Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer, and the two together both in the same ring is just nirvana. Yeah yeah, he was apparently an execrable example of human flotsam, but for me he may be the most authentic real intimidating rassler I have ever seen. Everything he does looks devastating, so what better showcase than a TV squash match? The timeframe of WCW from 1984 to 1990 is so great and contains multitudes, and notably the deep cut of Sullivan's Slaughterhouse. "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." - WBlake.

https://youtu.be/mOabqAiqqUM

Kevin Sullivan & Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer vs. Robbie Idol & Zan Panzer, early 1990

I think I have this match on tape somewhere. The very definition of a "sinking feeling in one's gut" must be looking at the booking sheet and seeing your name across from MDBS&KS. Damn, now I must go find my "History of thee J-Texp Corporation" VHS.

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SirSmellingtonofCascadia and RAF both suffer from the horrible disease of Chrome/DVDVR Incompatibility so this review is sans yer fancy hyperlinks and such, which is the way our pioneer/immigrant forefathers intended. I am gifted Dean Malenko (c) vs. Syxx from SuperBrawll VII 02/23/97, thee PPV opening match that Hulk Hogan's odious presence could not taint (except for maybe the finish). 

Lordy, that is a crappy T shirt design for this event.

Malenko is one of my favorites, and Waltman is often great and one of the few workers with whom I don't mind his use of kickpads. 

Malenko is relatively hot, as Syxx has stolen the Cruiserweight belt. Nice tree of woe into a dropkick to the knee spot that looks nice, and SW sells it the rest of the match. hee Iceman is experienced and driven, and Syxx is looking for his chance to turn it around by means fair or foul. 

As they battle outside the ring, we get a great reaction shot of a sparkly granny and a goth granddaughter in the front row. Where are they now?

There's a really fun Syxx spinkick that gets caught and trapped by Malenko that is reversed with a "savate toesies to the jaw" (thank you, Mr. Rhodes).

I did not like Syxx going to the sleeper three times - unless it directly plays into the finish, why would you go back to it after it failed twice already? Also, the finish was lame, clearly moving the belt to the NWO camp w/o putting them or Syxx over as a threat. It did set up Malenko vs. Guerrero and for that I will be eternally grateful. I distinctly remember this era of WCW and how good the few (often opening, cruiserweight and/or lucha) good matches were, usually buried under the unctuous dross of sludgy shite from Bischoff & crew. i would bow out soon enough, even from free viewings at bars and such.

Thank you, SSofC, you know what I like.

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Thank you, @Gordlow

It is XMas come early. You'll have some choice too.

Ok Choice #1 was aired 7/5/18 and is at the 28:36 mark of this video. It's from IMPACT and it's Kongo Kong vs Brian Cage:

Choice #2 Over at Segunda Caida we recently encountered a 7'5" Bolivian former Boxer who had two main event style handicap matches in Panama. I'm giving the second. They're both cool (the first having a guy taken to the back and another guy running out to even the odds. The second is the Apuestas match though and is pretty bonkers all around. It's also not as long as it looks as a good chunk is the hair shaving. Actual action is around 20 mins.

Also, I've got a bonus for you. You've sent me some of the matches you were at over the years. While I'm not 100% sure i was at this one, it was very typical to the indy experience I had in 00-01, watching Chaotic Wrestling in Lynn, MA and other places. I went with my college roommate and another friend (who drove) and our favorite guy to watch was Aron the Idol Stevens who later became Sandow. His gimmick was he was the third, goofy sidekick to a heel frat style team called One Night Stand and he came out with a Britney Spears cut out and the fans all chanted "Britney Spears" and he sold the chant like death. You only get a hint of the act here but you get a bit of how over the top Stevens was, plus, hey, Rick Fuller! This is no great shakes, but it's not long and does give you a hint of my past as a fan.

Spoiler

 

 

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