SUMMER SECRET SANTO 2023~!

[The Natural]

On 8/31/2023 at 3:30 PM, The Natural said:

Hi, @Casey. I'm conscious of asking what for as I don't want to feel dismissive of whatever anyone picks/me and limiting their choice too. Care too much what others think as my councillor said. My Bull Nakano viewing is very limited, mostly from WWF but knowing you're a big Bull Nakano fan, best turn to you please. The biggie is on YouTube please. I use a tablet mainly and DailyMotion is behaving a twat on it.

You're up for anything? Don't want people thinking (again as my therapist says) I'm lazy regurgitating Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan matches. Terry Funk/Bray Wyatt too soon for you?

Cheers!

 

On 8/31/2023 at 11:39 PM, Casey said:

Let me start off by saying the finish to this, with Tajiri doing 12 to 6 elbows to the back of Tanaka's head into a german into a dragon suplex was just delightful. If you're like me, and your only exposure to Tajiri was ECW and WWF/E, then you expect a lot of kicks, and this had them for sure - but not a lot! But the ones that were dished out were gnarly, and I didn't see any thigh slapping either. Minoru Tanaka was the standout in this, though. I want to say he went on to be in All Japan in the 2000s, am I right? I'd be interested to see his stuff a few years removed from this and if his style is the same as it is here, because let me tell you, I fuckin' dig it. I thought for sure with all the armbars and kicks to the arm/shoulder that he was doing to Tajiri that it would be the finish, but I was wrong. The crowd popped for the tarantula spot - is this one of the first times Tajiri did it, or did they just think it was a super cool move? Because it is. It looks even more painful here, poor Tanaka's head is bent back and touching the apron for fucks sake! There was also a pretty cool submission from Tajiri early on that I initially thought was going to be a pin.

In my earlier review of Punk/Raven, I said I liked Punk because it always seemed like he was in actual fight. The same can be applied here, but there's another layer that I love about pro wrestling too (when it looks like a fight): the struggle. I didn't know who was going to win, and both were struggling at times and it seemed - for lack of a better term - real. So I guess the question here is, was it? I assume this was one of the crossovers they did with Big Japan, since I believe Tajiri was a regular with BJPW at the time.

Under 10 minutes, stiff kicks, cool submissions, and Tajiri before most of us knew who he was and he's more precise and vicious here (when he gets the chance!). Minoru Tanaka is, like I said earlier, someone I'm now interested to see more of because of what he showed here. Great stuff, thanks for the pick!

I'll take some Wyatt Family era Bray, if that's okay! Just don't give me the SHIELD six man at Elimination Chamber, since I just watched that last night, or the Daniel Bryan matches. That cool?

And for you... okay, well, here's the thing. It's a good match! Four all time greats, one of which trained one of my current favorites (Mariko trained Hiroyo Matsumoto). You might wonder why I'm dumping all these compliments and whatnot before I give you the match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qElQOpA0L0

Because it's Collision In Korea Night 1. Yikes!

Entrances start at 30:51 for this. It's Nakano & Akira Hokuto versus Manami Toyota & Mariko Yoshida.

You'd think the crowd would be more silent than they are, given that it's North Korea and we've been told they've never seen pro wrestling before. But, hey, they aren't as quiet as your normal Japanese crowd. It's... weird. But interesting, and it helps that the match is pretty good too.

Bull Nakano/Akira Hokuto vs. Manami Toyota/Mariko Yoshida. NJPW/WCW Collision in Korea.

My Joshi viewing is piss poor. Think this might be my first Akira Hokuto, Manami Toyata and Mariko Yoshida match. Liked how Mike Tenay set the scene how difficult it is to get a try out with All Japan women. You have to earn a placement. Nakano turns Toyota inside out with a clothesline and so Yoshida isn't left out, gets one in kind. Nice short Piledriver from Hokuto. The Inverted Sharpshooter with arms tied Bull does, does it have an actual name? Inpressive springboard plancha by Toyota, don't see her version done as much nowadays. Nakano top rope leg drop gets the win. Watching this reminded me of the aforementioned Nakano submission hold which Saraya uses, it's a great hold and Nakano top rope leg drop is the best in the business. Nakano was the MVP by far. Thank you for gifting this and helping my blind spots, Casey.

Paul xxx.

Edited September 10, 2023 by The Natural

[The Natural]

On 9/2/2023 at 6:50 PM, The Natural said:

Anything in particular, @porksweats? Rather ask for preferences than pick something you unintentionally wouldn't like.

 

On 9/2/2023 at 10:17 PM, porksweats said:

Mind throwing me a good brawl? It can be be blood and guts heavy. Anything specific for you? 

 

On 9/5/2023 at 8:22 PM, porksweats said:

Can't seem to get the board to be not secure so my post will embed, but here's something nice for your Santo pick. Bryan Danielson vs Arik Cannon in IWA MS 2004!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJzJoxBVS-c&ab_channel=F1RSTWRESTLING

And my only request is something from this past decade (2010's - on. I'm sure you won't pull something I've seen recently with that criteria!)

Bryan Danielson vs. Arik Cannon. IWA Mid-South Wrestling.

As noted, a new Bryan Danielson match to me. Surreal seeing Danielson in blue as claret/maroon is his trademark colour. Liked the opening feeling out process of holds including a cravate. Danielson is great at everything, working on a body part, his strikes. Like how Arik Cannon kept going to the cravate, reminds me of Chris Hero though who did it better. Doink's stump puller by Cannon. Forgot how the aeroplane spin was a patented move of Bryan's back in the day. Nice to be reminded again. Two Enzugiri's to the back on Danielson's head gets Cannon the win both to my dismay and surprise. Whatever happened to Cannon? Thank you for gifting this, porksweats.

Paul xxx.

Edited September 10, 2023 by The Natural

[AxB]

Arik Cannon is still wrestling. He was on AEW Dark in like 2021.

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, AxB said:

Arik Cannon is still wrestling. He was on AEW Dark in like 2021.

Cheers, fella.

[Matt D]

We'd start to bump into dupes if we kept on moving, so that's it for this round. Thanks to everyone for participating. Great job all around. I'll see you guys in December.

[Octopus]

6 hours ago, AxB said:

Arik Cannon is still wrestling. He was on AEW Dark in like 2021.

Yup, he’s big in my local fed. Minneapolis loves him.

[AxB]

So, no sooner does this thread discuss a ten-man cage match where you win by handcuffing the opposing team to the cage, than H2O Wrestling (The New Jersey/Philadelphia area indie, run by Matt Tremont) announces a ten man cage match, where you win by handcuffing the entire opposing team to the cage for their 200th show.

DVDVRMB continues to influence the World!

[John E. Dynamite]

gonna repost this because the post i tried to make a minute ago ALSO GOT WIPED on a sign-out glitch

oh fuck oh shit

the Syxx/Malenko writeup i did that got wiped also included my rec for @Octopus

i request an entirely pretend ban if everything i owe isn't up by sunrise

[Curt McGirt]

That has been PISSING ME THE FUCK OFF too. 

[John E. Dynamite]

The issue with Syxx/Malenko is that I really didn't love it and I felt like a dick for not really loving it. Malenko's early offense is great and Waltman's offense during the heat is good, but it doesn't read as "control" stuff and the crowd doesn't react to it. Then you have the issues of Peak WCW not being a great PPV company for whatever weird reason + PPV cruisers matches occasionally having the NJPW Juniors At The Dome problem - big, papered crowds don't pop for small guy workrate stuff the way a 3K live TV house does. And there's a run in, an Eddie Guerrero thing that you think is gonna be cool but isn't... and there's no grander idea that comes through. If there's a theme to hang my hat on, a narrative through-line either intended or stumbled upon, I just don't see it. Watched it three times, too.

Maybe it's early enough in the game to speak on it's relationship to the WCW vs. NWO angle? But Waltman was gone so quick. Dusty and Schiavone start out hot on commentary but as the midmatch drags so too do their words. They take maybe 5 minutes to settle in to the "talk about the main event, ignore the match" thing... hot start, nothing of note after Malenko's opening salvo. It's depressing, it's misguided, it's the rose tint being smashed from your glasses.

Edited September 13, 2023 by John E. Dynamite

[Casey]

On 9/1/2023 at 10:07 AM, The Natural said:

The first is Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena from Payback 2014. I rate this as Bray's second best singles match behind his match with Daniel Bryan at the 2014 Royal Rumble

As you've seen The Wyatt Family vs. The Shield from Elimination Chamber 2014, this was the best of the rematches from RAW, 3rd March 2014

First off, I don’t recommend anyone try and watch YouTube on anything other than a computer with ad-block enabled. Holy shit. I’m 12 minutes into the Cena match and I’ve had legit probably like 10 ads already.

Bray vs Cena:

Usos out here to support Cena and man oh man have they changed for the better. So weird seeing them then versus now. I don’t miss Cena’s over-acting, the stuff like being conflicted over using a CHAIR in a LAST MAN STANDING match is so fucking lame. Lol, they stop the video for a split second when Bray hits Cena in the face with the steps and then later when Cena throws them over the ropes to the outside onto Bray. How dumb. The latter moment is a legit holy shit moment and they ruined it. I still love Bray’s strikes, his deep uppercut he does looks so clean every time. They really dropped the ball on this incarnation of Bray, IMO. Love, love, love that Harper & Rowan come back after the Usos wiped them out, attack Cena while Bray is down, and help Bray to his feet so the roles are reversed. Dude they are stopping the video anytime anyone gets hit in the head with a weapon, just did it for Harper bashing one of the Usos with a table when he was going to do a suicide dive WHY?! This has turned into the Wyatt’s versus the Usos while Cena and Bray are down and nobody cares. One of the Usos took a superplex to the outside through a table and nobody in that spot is in the actual match, lol. Bray’s running crossbody (through the barrier!) is great shit. Shades of Rock/Mankind during Halftime Heat with the forklift spot - Cena winning by putting Bray through a travel case and then putting another one on top of it. Not innovative, but a smart finish, I like it. But Bray losing to Cena again - I don’t like it.

That was fun! Hit that spot I like for wrestling, which is a garbage match with high spots and it’s chaotic. Cena doesn’t do much for me, but he’s alright if he’s in there with someone I like.

On 9/2/2023 at 4:06 PM, Matt D said:

@Casey How do you feel about this?

I was going to give you an Aoyagi vs Kurisu match but I don't see it online. This is ten minutes and Phil has described it as a "hurricane of violence."

 

I know who Onita & Goto are, no clue about the other two. They look like they’re going to the farmer’s market on Sunday, but White Shirt is just beating the piss out of Onita holy shit. This is not how I expected this to go. The crowd is fucking HOT, too. Plaid Shirt is just waffling Goto with those Japanese chairs, and Onita clobbers him with one. Seriously what’s up with the plaid shirt, what a choice for wrestling attire (even if it’s a Texas Street Fight). Or is it a Texas Deathmatch, since they just did the pin fall and starting a get to your feet count. Hmm. Aw hell, Plaid is using his cowboy boot as a weapon yeah this straight up just feels like a bar fight, Onita wildly swinging his belt and it lashes White Shirt in the face probably. Yikes. Oh we’re doing tag outs in a match like this?!? This is somehow the most chaotic FMW match I’ve seen, but also doesn’t have the spectacle of an exploding barbwire match or anything they’d do in a deathmatch you’d expect from FMW.

What a weird (but really fun to watch) match. I’m ROLLING at the post-match footage with the music. And to cap it all off: Plaid Shirt throws his cowboy boot at the cameraman to end the video.

1 billion stars. 

[SirSmUgly]

On 9/12/2023 at 11:57 PM, John E. Dynamite said:

The issue with Syxx/Malenko is that I really didn't love it and I felt like a dick for not really loving it. Malenko's early offense is great and Waltman's offense during the heat is good, but it doesn't read as "control" stuff and the crowd doesn't react to it. Then you have the issues of Peak WCW not being a great PPV company for whatever weird reason + PPV cruisers matches occasionally having the NJPW Juniors At The Dome problem - big, papered crowds don't pop for small guy workrate stuff the way a 3K live TV house does. And there's a run in, an Eddie Guerrero thing that you think is gonna be cool but isn't... and there's no grander idea that comes through. If there's a theme to hang my hat on, a narrative through-line either intended or stumbled upon, I just don't see it. Watched it three times, too.

Maybe it's early enough in the game to speak on it's relationship to the WCW vs. NWO angle? But Waltman was gone so quick. Dusty and Schiavone start out hot on commentary but as the midmatch drags so too do their words. They take maybe 5 minutes to settle in to the "talk about the main event, ignore the match" thing... hot start, nothing of note after Malenko's opening salvo. It's depressing, it's misguided, it's the rose tint being smashed from your glasses.

Aw, I'm bummed that you didn't enjoy it. I loved the heck out of this thing, especially the heated opening exchange and Malenko uncharacteristically passing up a chance to win so that he could dish out more punishment, which ended up costing him in the end. 

[(BP)]

I just looked over Waltman’s WCW run on cagematch, and he had way more matches there than I thought. He also apparently did a house show loop where he tagged with Vincent against High Voltage, and there’s a deeply disturbed part of me that wishes there was fancam footage. 

[Curt McGirt]

Masanobu Kurisu is the dude dressed like he's gonna go line dancing at the local honky-tonk. His gimmick is beating people with a chair. Go figure. Dragonmaster is Kendo Nagasaki, the bald guy with the white shirt; there is also a British Kendo Nagasaki played by a white dude with a fencing mask and kendo stick. This Nagasaki's real name is Kazuo Sakurada and worked all over the US and Canada and was a Florida trainer along with Hiro Matsuda (the guy who "broke Hogan's leg" though it was merely a sprained ankle). He picked up the Dragonmaster title in WCW as a member of the J-Tex Corporation. 

[Zimbra]

On 9/2/2023 at 4:06 PM, Matt D said:

@Casey How do you feel about this?

I was going to give you an Aoyagi vs Kurisu match but I don't see it online. This is ten minutes and Phil has described it as a "hurricane of violence."

 

I was poking around looking for Kurisu vs Aoyagi and while I didn't find that I did find this bad boy: Aoyagi and Kurisu vs Takayama and Billy Black from Tokyo Pro in 1996.

It is sadly clipped down to about a minute but you do get some of Aoyagi and an extremely skinny Takayama throwing very stiff kicks at each other (starts around 1:14:20.)

https://archive.org/details/tokyo-pro-wrestling-6-24-96-z-s-6pzbqst-e

Also baby Takayama looks a lot like current-day Takeshita.

 

[John E. Dynamite]

On 9/10/2023 at 3:06 PM, Octopus said:

once again this is a tag

No excuses for not being ready to see this Secret Santo out properly. No excuses, but I do have reasons. The most relevant-to-the-board one being that running DEAN's MotW Poll is *total eyeball jail* - yes I'm glad I took on the work, no I won't do it forever (more on that in half a year or so)... and I miss having the time to actually go through the old stuff. Hence why I'm building my roster of giftables for Decemeber now.

The original pick was Trauma I vs. Canis Lupus, which is one of those deeply-obvious hidden gems. As gory as anything I've ever witnessed and a high point of the post-glory IWRG that anchors the Mas Lucha YouTube channel... but I second-guessed it. You said some nice things about me this week and I remembered you mentioning how you were watching lucha with your kid and a bloodbath didn't feel right. So here's something completely different

Shockercito vs Aéreo vs Pequeño Halcón vs Astral vs Último Dragóncito vs Fantasy vs Demus 3:16 vs Pierrothito vs Mercurio vs Pequeño Olímpic vs Pequeño Violencia vs Pequeño Warrior - Pequeno Reyes del Aires Arena Mexico, Mexico City 1/4/2008

Every year CMLL does the Reyes Del Aires Torneo Cibernetico for all their high-flyers. This is an All-Minis spin-off that they ran for a little over 10 years. I found about half-a-dozen of them on various websites and they're all pretty neat but this is the only one I could find from Arena Mexico. VQ isn't the best but it isn't the worst. Yes, Mascarita Dorada is pre-LU Mascarita Sagrada/pre-WWE El Torito. This match is a ton of talent coming together for nonstop action and joy. It is happy wrestling.

https://youtu.be/n1QRXq9Ps6A?si=9a9Z7c4lMOqIqCDJ

You don't even have to write this one up, my dude. Just give it a 15 minute watch if and when you feel like it and if you feel compelled to comment, go crazy.

Edited September 15, 2023 by John E. Dynamite

[Octopus]

@John E. Dynamite, I shall watch and write. If you want, here’s this:

Hijo Del Santo vs Brazi de Oro.

[Matt D]

Just a heads up that I'll start the new thread next Tuesday or so and we'll be starting Sunday the 3rd. No need to respond now but be ready to do once it's up.

[Casey]

On 11/22/2023 at 11:30 AM, Matt D said:

Just a heads up that I'll start the new thread next Tuesday or so and we'll be starting Sunday the 3rd. No need to respond now but be ready to do once it's up.

Too bad we don’t have a bet