KillerSpeed

Nominating: Tajiri vs. Koji Doi, WNC 5/11 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YeKhK6fjGE And as crazy as it sounds, Tajiri really may be the best guy in japan. I don't know if he figured out how to work like this when he was feuding with Finlay last year or if there's a plethora of under the radar Tajiri gems filmed at tiny locations from previous years, but his current act of veteran grappler badass is such a joy to watch. It just plain delivers the goods and this is another singles match which makes me want to see everything he's done. The opening mat section of this is so great, with some superb technique, struggle and attention to detail i.e. that vicious grinding elbow right at the beginning. I'm a sucker for all types of cool matwork, be it shootstyle, lucha or WoS and Tajiri seems to mix it all together. Doi is a tubby rookie, nothing special but he doesn't do anything retarded. Match probably would've been better had it stayed on the mat, but Tajiri provided a decent layout as he really sold the frustration of getting kicked around by the kid so he just goes on to kick the shit out of his leg. I mean he just kind of tries to amputate it with stomps. Doi could've sold better and the second half didn't quite live up to the promise of the first, but I loved Tajiri's desperate dive for the leglock and the finish with Doi trying to protect himself with the clinch and Taj just slaying him was that kind of cool visual Tajiri has developed a real knack for. Fujiwara vs. Mochizuki, Gurentai 4/12 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18iyss_t...-2013-1-3_sport If you wanna check out Fujiwara vs. indy kicker you may atleast get a decent quality indy kicker and Mochizuki is way above the Davey Richards standard. Right from the get go he's just attacking relentlessly and dishes out the punishment. It wasn't quite a Super Tiger level assbeating but then Fujiwara's like 70, and Mochi had a nice variety of strikes, kicks, quick punches and his knees to the head were just nasty. As a result there wasn't as much cool Fujiwara matwork, as Fujiwara who was smirking at first seemed to get continuesly more annoyed with his opponent and returned the favor with a couple punches of his own, including one that landed square in Mochizuki's face and some stiff headbutts. It really was like 1985 all over again as he did some of his cool signature positioning stuff. Match also had the disgusting submission dislocation spots you want from a Fujiwara match, and I really liked the finish, Mochizuki overestimates himself, lets his DG tendencies come out and bites him in the ass. Had this gone 5-7 minutes longer it could've been a MOTYC, but this was still far better than I expected from a 5 minute opener. TAJIRI vs. Shinya Ishikawa- Dradition 5/29 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10elz4_05-tajiri-vs-shinya-ishikawa-dradition-05-29-13_sport I was a little sceptical of this going in, but the match slowly won me over and I ended up loving it more than I expected initially. Tajiri: euro style master technician is weird as fuck, but after this I want to go back and watch anything he's done because he was ruling it here. He was so smug pretty much whipping the boy silly with kicks then trying all kinds of submissions on him. The initial arm drag sequence that set up the armwork was really neat and the constant going back to that a cool theme for the match. Watching this at first I kind of thought Shinya Ishikawa was just barely a warm body for Tajiri to drag around, but I wound up appreciating his minimalist approach and picking his moments. Especially that when he finally woke up he remembered he was still a BJW guy and just began busting out the headbutts. Finishing run was neatly put together. Great match. Tajiri vs. TAKA Michinoku, WNC 10/31 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x184r0j_w...-2013-3-3_sport If you've liked the previously nominated Tajiri matches, you'll like this. This was MUGAish, all the deliberate technical stuff in this match ruled, and had they stayed longer on the mat it would've been an easy MOTYC. TAKA can still bring the goods when given the opportunity to work a lengthier singles match, and thanks to Tajiri's sellling it made for a pretty exciting second half. Most of it was centered around TAKA's facelook and there were a bunch of neat counters and variations. Also, for a guy who has been working WWE style so long Tajiri's strikes are unbelievably sharp. Manabu Suruga vs. Shintaro Takeda Ishikawa Produce 1/13 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-5Qi7X76_0 This was just plain matwork and violence. Takeda looked like a guy in his first pro wrestling match and seems kinda bland, but fuck it's puro you have to be stoic. I liked his staggering selling of strikes and he threw a mean elbow and looked in submissions well. But this was the Suruga show. Just an ungodly performance as he was just a gigantic dickhead and beat the shit out of Takeda with a whole barrage of violent offense. Some of those palm strike flurries looked unreal. The finish is just badass. It was not just stiffness as you could tell he was laying out the match and by the end people were really getting into it. Really hope we see some more Suruga, somehow. Yuki Ishikawa/Super Tiger II vs. Kazunari Murakami/Hideki Suzuki Ishikawa Pro 1/13 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UfbFY-6-jg This was the badassness of a BattlARTS tag fused with a Naoya Ogawa brawl or WAR main event. Murakami is breathing fire and back in 2000 form punching people in the face and being big ol' asshole. Ishikawa was freakin great as you'd expect, he's changed his look and dumped the beard, so you realize he's really turning into an old man. He wasn't afraid to die throwing face punches and enzuigiris. STII actually looked real good for a while looking spry during the chaotic brawling portions, he actually hit all his kicks well and didn't do any dumb Sayama shit. Suzuki had a nice proper shoot mat section with Ishikawa as his 70s stuff goes very well with the UWF style. STII/Suzuki section kind of sucked, but wasn't outright shit like it's been in the past. The finish was just grim with two absolutely murderous suplex moves, the craziest german that I've seen in a while and one hell of a punch to the face. Masakatsu Funaki vs. LEONA- Dradition 11/19 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18demg_d...-2013-2-3_sport Guess this beats Takeda/Hara for the rookie squash of the year. Funaki just came across as so intimidating - not just "I can blow off all your offense at will", closer to "common I dare you to touch me". Dylan summed it up nicely and I give Leona a ton of credit - anytime Funaki easily swept him or locked in a submission he got up selling and seemed to become a bigger and bigger target, but kept finding ways to get at Funaki. I also loved his variation on the dragon screw. That kid has his own ideas. And whenever Funaki is throwing hands or feet, it's just a slaughter. This is exactly what you want it to be.

This was violent assault from start to finish. I can see the VQ problems being an issue for some, but the point of this match was brutality and you get a good enough picture of that brutality. Four guys who throw great punches, pasting eachother with punches. Loved Satanico's uppercuts and Faraon's slow motion bumps to the floor. Fiera was the king of this as he was on fire in the first half and seemed to have cut Satanico open with the metal plates on his arms. The finish was truely insane and kind of unecessary as Faraon got the win seconds after anyways, but this is a match which lives off insanity

Could somebody reupload the Jack Anthony vs. Takuya Sugawara match from Zero1 earlier in the year? It used to be on Jahmale's old account that's gone now. Also, I would be grateful if somebody could reupload some of that BattlARTS stuff which used to be on Lenny's site but has been deleted now, particularily the Ishikawa vs. Walters and Suzuki singles matches aswell as any Yujiro Yamamoto singles stuff and the Munenori Sawa vs. Super Tiger II singles match

For Satanico carriyng a green guy to a great bloody match, I'm not sure if I liked this better than the one with Atlantis. It sure was a tremendous though. I didn't know what to make of Shiro at first but he ended up holding his own in this. He showed that he can bring the brutality with punches, headbutts and stomps, aswell as riling up the crowd, and that's really all you need. Another masterful showing from Satanico, the man can do no wrong. His selling was so great, I especially liked his aggressive-exhausted expression during the second fall, hunched over and head sunken low like a bull. This got unbelievably gritty and nasty towards the end, those knees that Satanico throws look like they leave you pissing blood in the morning.

Muerte Guerrera, Sexy Francis, Sexy Maciel, Simbolo vs Dulce Kanela, Erika Sotelo, Rico Rodriguez, Sexy Piscis - Monterrey 10/27 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJI3dgz5GJ0 Really dug this. With a match in Monterrey that has this many exoticos and a female ref you'd expect it to be overflowing with bullshit but that really wasn't the case. Everybody was on point here and working, only Piscis tried to indulge in comedy and got hit in the face for it. Imagine if IWRG let their guys wrestle like this. The match had a few standouts - Dulce, who is always doing neat stuff and was sporting a cool Uma Thurman/Bruce Lee body suit, Rodriguez whose stuff impressed me on the mat and Simbolo, who was just a an amazing dismissing douchebag the entire match. At one point he kicked Piscis so hard in the face his headband flew into the crowd. Match got a little weaker during the brawling portion, but Simbolo's disinterested reckless throwing around of the huge Monterrey garbage can kept it entertaining. Match picks up for the finish again with a nice twist. Good stuff.

Man oh man. Salazar comes in with white pants and you just know what's gonna happen. I was almost shocked that they spent the first two falls doing some wrestling and armwork. But the last fall is just Oh Shit violent. The blood and selling of the blood is truely high end insanity, Salazar throws some world class punches, Herodes repeatedly crushes him with his size.... just a true lucha bloodbath, violent and gritty. Even the ref was increasing the intensity in his attempts to get them out of the ropes. I didn't mind the finish but the only real disappointment was that we didn't get to hear the pop for it.

I really really liked this. We saw Ultraman in 2011 hanging with the likes of Black Terry and Negro Navarro and he was right there in 1984. The guy has really varied, really vicious looking takedowns and was taking Jerry apart in the first fall. Estrada really sold like a champ here like he was fighting with all his might, and his reaction to the finish of each fall is just great. Watching Jerry selling like he has nothing in the tank then going berserk on the arm was really neat and the payoff was excellent. This also had one neat spot of struggling over an indian deathlock and perhaps the most "advanced" springboard rope running spots on the set yet, but the real story is Jerry Estrada. One of my favourite title bouts on the set so far.

Good match, with some nice grappling and a really fun 3rd fall. It was a little odd to listen to the fans whistling at Vera for his backbreaker after Caras had just been working over his back, as if he was not allowed to retaliate. My favourite spot may have been Caras reversen the cradle into an indian deathlock - really old but rarely seen. This was good but can't quite stand out among the previous matches, which is a bit of shame because I'm also a big fan of Caras and Vera looked really solid.

EXOTICOS!!! This was just a blast. Just a tremendous mix of wrestling, highflying, sequences, comedy and brawling. It's also really cool to actually be able to hear the crowd reacting to all the individual spots. The rudos were just awesome being just a bunch of pricks acting like effeminate sissies when the technicos had the upper hand, but laying in punches as soon as they got the chance. All their bumping, stooging and mannerisms were just top. There was one sequence in the third fall that they made look as good as anybody else in wrestling history would have. Of course the technicos are tremendous aswell. Super Astro was no less spectacular in 1984 than any other wrestler at any time. All of these guys were great wrestlers and athletes - that tope from almost a standing position that I think it was Solar brought was one of the crazier dives I recall seeing. Ultraman ruled too throwing his awesome punches and a crazy superkick. Just a great time all around and you really see why trios matches were mad popular around this time.

Cota/Herodes/Faraon is one hell of a rudo trio. This may not have been as good as the brawl with Satanico on the previous disc, but it does such a beautiful job building towards the big singles match. Just the rudos kicking asses and keeping Mendoza and an once again very pissed off Lizmark out while just assaulting Salazar. It build to that big moment where Mendoza and Lizmark finally can get in and box everybody away to make way for the big Herodes/Salazar showdown which is short but just great. Two guys doused in blood trying to punch the life out of eachother made the Chicana/MS-1 match so great and this was like a quick take on that. Time to get excited for their singles match

This starts out suitably with the rudos just kicking Satanico and his gang all over the place. Then Atlantis and Lizmark come in and the rudos are all "alright, who are you guys again? right we got a match" and they kick the crap out of the technicos too. Pretty badass stoic pair of guys. They're really not interested in doing anything but kicking ass. This had some fun sequences and an interesting finish with the double pin aswell as super pissed-off Lizmark, but overall it feels like one of hundreds of fun little matches that I assume where happening in Mexico around the time. The knee to the balls finish was looking pretty grizzly, tho.

Another very good match. First fall matwork was just tremendous stuff again, these guys can do no wrong. Just really slick simple work peppered with some brutal torturous holds from Cota. He wasn't as heelish here as in the previous match but he made sure people never forgot what a dick he was, starting with that really obnoxious grin of his before the bell. He also made sure the heat would stay on him after Rocca had put a bit of a dickish beating on him and dropping him on his heat. He sure as hell made sure to retaliate in style for that just whipping Rocca into the mat repeatedly. These matches are really all about simple stuff sold as extremely painful. The short 3rd fall gives this the feel of a really cool 4 round WoS bout. After they had put the ring mat over as so deadly in the first two falls the post bump felt like a holy shit spot, and the finish was the best Cota could do in that condition. What a master.

First truely great title match on the set. Not even very lucha specific as they could've worked this pretty much anywhere in the world. You really get a strong sense of legitimacy in this style of technical wrestling. Every single hold is absolutely wrenched in with force and looks like it would be painful to break. The first fall isn't even super complicated stuff, mostly basic holds and pins, but these guys are just wrestling into and out of them fiercely. Just really great mat sense of how much to give your opponent, when to reverse and when to rev up the attack. Additionally to the great wrestling there is a really neat story here with Cota as the driving force. You really get the sense that he's absolutely able to wrestle and beat his opponent cleanly but he's too much of a dick not to use the tricks for the easier way. He really has it all over Rocca just decimating his shoulder, hitting a dive and even a second lending a helping hand for one of the most engrossing control segments I remember seeing. Cota ripping at that arm and repeatedly chucking his opponent to the mat was really Regal-level. Rocca does some really neat emphasized selling and his bridging armdrag is one of the more beautiful simple spots I remember seeing, but this is about Cota from start to the outraging finish.

My Disc 1 Rankings: 1. MS-1 vs. Sangre Chicana (9/23/83)2. Espectro Jr., Satanico y MS-1 vs. Mocho Cota, Sangre Chicana y La Fiera (9/30/83) 3. Atlantis y El Hijo del Santo vs. Fuerza Guerrera y Lobo Rubio (11/25/83) 4. Centurion Negro vs. Gran Hamada (2/14/82) 5. El Canek vs. Don Corleone (2/14/82) 6. Satoru Sayama y Gran Hamada vs. Perro Aguayo y Baby Face (4/13/80) 7. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. El Canek (6/12/83)8. Sangre Chicana vs. Ringo Mendoza (10/28/83)9. Kevin von Erich, Mascara Ano 2000 y Halcon Ortiz v. Coloso Colosetti, Pirata Morgan y Herodes (9/23/83)10. Andre the Giant & Cien Caras vs. Alfonso Dantes, Herodes y Sangre Chicana (1981)

This is the first taste of real bloody mask ripping on the set and what better man to do it than Satanico? He's one of the true ring generals, a dude who doesn't look like much at first glance but makes epic matches and controls the crowd with simple gestures. The first two falls of this are actually closer to what you'd expect in a US style match with a vet carrying a rookie. Not as violent as an apuestas match but certainly not a title match. Most of the moves are really basic wrestling school stuff like armdrags, whips into the post and a big backbreaker and some dropkicks as highspots. Just simple wrestling done greatly. Satanico is just ruthless and nothing else, he will really wrench in his pinning hold and knee you in the kidney. In the third fall it turns into a real lucha match with Atlantis mask ripped open and spraying blood all over his chest. I love the transmission problem here with the screen turning black and white while both guys are getting their offense run, then when it turns back to normal they are all bloody and exhausted. It builds to a really awesome finish with both guys throwing punches and some great nearfalls and momentum shifts. Pretty by the numbers stuff, but simply amazing execution.