Matt D

There was a period where he was losing handicap matches vs Andre or whatever which was his lowest. But when he got stale, they did the El Matador thing to freshen him up too.

When I started watching in 90, he was immediately one of my favorites. Him being one of the survivors in Survivor Series 90, who made it to the final match, might have went a long way towards that.

From watching the footage, the answer seems to be yes.

I wrote up this match for an audience of basically two. BUT were I to have written it for an audience of three, you'd be #3. http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2025/03/aew-five-fingers-of-death-and-friends_17.html

Tito had a lot of value as a name babyface with a connection to the crowd who could put over up and coming heels. They turned Valentine at the start of 91 to basically do the same. It would have obviously been better for Valentine’s career to jump to Crockett a couple of years earlier.

I’d laugh if it was Max Caster

7/15/88: Kimura vs Choshu: IWGP League match. Choshu cut him off three times in the match with the knee to the gut (kitchen sink but I hate calling it that). Kimura had an awesome comeback in the middle with strikes. Great stuff. Choshu was a bastard. Kimura got the Inazuma Leg Lariat once but when he went for it the second time, Choshu caught the leg, put him in the Scorpion and when he got to the ropes, hit the lariat for the win. A win Choshu really needed on TV, I think. But they match up very well together, both on the mat and standing up. Post match is Choshu ripping Inoki's shirt off and teasing a big brawl with him to build heat for their match the next week. I think we're missing a bunch of this tournament, which is a shame. I need to look at some results. The WON around this time is spotty since a whole issue got taken up by Bruiser Brody's obit. Oh this isn't just a tournament. It's the 88 IWGP League. I'm missing so many singles matches because what didn't make tape. Ok, so Inoki returns on 7/16, but not televised (WON said he was very rusty/not ready) in a trios against Buzz/Manny/Cuban Assassin. That's the card with Saito/Honaga vs Brazos. Then 7/18 has Inoki/Koshinaka vs Saito/Choshu which sounds neat. And a league match where Saito beats Kimura. Vader's been doing two-on-ones here. Southern Boys vs Kido/Fujiwara sounds kind of awesome, as does Hoshino/Yamada vs Brazos. Ah well. I shouldn't be doing this to myself. Ok 7/21. Vader beats poor Kimura in the league (they sent him out to die in three straight matches to start the thing!) An Inoki six man in the main. Southern boys vs Hoshino/Kido this time. 7/22 this was TV. Hoshino/Yamada vs Brazos again. Kobayashi/SSM vs Southern boys (sounds great). Koshinaka vs Hiro Saito fo rthe title. And then on to the ones we have on TV. So I've just missed Kimura losing to Saito and Vader so far I guess? 7/22/88: Saito vs Vader: Another league match. They really don't show any sign of being a team here. they just go at it. Big hossfight. After Vader pounded him in the corner, saito got underneath him and really worked for the Saito suplex and then was super hyped up because he knew how to work a spot like like and the aftermath like a big American babyface. Saito took a bunch of this actually, just having an answer for him. Vader did absolutely kill him with a vader attack at one point (which they called the "Vader Killer Attack"). Eventually things sprawled to the outside and Vader missed the corner killer vader attack, recovered, and went for a charge to the rail. Saito got out of the way and Vader went flying over on his own power and lost due to "ring out". I've never actually seen that. I've seen DQs and DDQs when people either toss someone over or both go sprawling over. So Vader was protected to a degree but Saito still won.

Hechicero vs Orange Cassidy sounds like a great deal of fun. Wildcard is probably Bailey and I'm said to see Mortos fall to him but that should also be big dumb fun. I very much look forward to Ricochet's reactions to Shibata no selling something he does too. And yeah, sure, Briscoe vs Davis sounds like a fun time too. So all of this is good. It seems like it'll be a four way after that, which is a shame as a lot of the potential second/third round matches would have been fun.

It’s actually a hammerlock/dragon sleeper entry point, which is pretty unique.

I’m so high on Fletcher’s development. He has incredible instincts all things considered and he goes for real heat. The cage match wasn’t at all grounded but where it did resonate emotionally was on Fletcher’s mannerisms, antics, and reactions as he got his comeuppance.

I'm dreading the Omega match honestly. I get Ospreay. I 100% get him and why people like him. It's clear as day to me. With Omega, I have such a massive disconnect. He's the most disingenuous, disconnected, unimmersive wrestler to me. Breaks my suspension of disbelief more than almost any wrestler I've ever encountered. I feel nothing watching his matches but disdain and frustration and mild intellectual admiration for what he's TRYING to do. Yet people are very clear that he makes them feel more than any other wrestler. Not with the people here, but with a lot of people online, he's the wrestler that most people associate with being "smart." He's their Flair (for people in the 80s-early 90s) or Benoit (for people in the late 90s-early 00s), etc. He defines what is "great" and it's hard to even dispute it with them.

As much as we like Goggins, it doesn't sound worth it. Movie was fine. It was fine. It was kind of annoying they went back to the sleeper agent well. I get they were trying to hit some winter soldier/civil war nostalgia but I didn't love that. The wishy washy-ness of Sabra was frustrating. They just gutted her and no one wanted to see her on the screen. I should have had my wife see the Hulk movie again. Though she said she remembered that better than Eternals. Stinger was pretty weak. It's fascinating to try to unpack what the movie would have been originally with Rollins as King Cobra. Was he just going to be a goon? Or was he really in the Sidewinder role?

Apparently Fujinami was working without a contract but this was the period where guys weren't really allowed to jump freely between the promotions and he wasn't going to go to UWF. But they did still have to keep him happy. Or that's what Dave's rumor mill is saying. Adrian Adonis dies right around here, btw, so this is why we don't get more tours. I think they could have used him for at least another year maybe. Hell, he might have even increased Murdoch's longevity into the early 90s? Also, the big news is how successful UWF is and how that's causing Inoki and Baba to panic. Apparently Baba is now going to come back sooner with a tournament to choose the opponent for Fujnami. 6/26/88: Yamada vs Owen: This was an asf with super low vq and I honestly couldn't really follow it well. Lots of action, like you'd expect. No spots that stayed with me though. 6/26/88: Kobayashi vs Koshinaka: Very good. Kobayashi ripped up the title declaration to start! Then he ambushed but Koshianka came back with a butt butt off the apron to the floor and this really great German in the ring where Kobayashi did everything he could to hang on. The transitions here were just better than a lot of what you'd get in some of the more recent matches. Super hot finishing stretch (which you always get) but Koshinaka was able to hang on. He hit this lightning fast (but not a snap dragon) go behind Dragon Suplex for the win. Good stuff. Nice bounceback for the division. 7/15/88: Fujinami/Sakaguchi vs Vader/Saito: Inoki was at ringside and Vader would point to him and what not. He took over early with a killer big splash on Fujinami, but Fujinami outwrestled Saito. I really like Vader vs Sakaguchi here as they play up the size. Vader absolutely crushed him in the corner but when he tried it again Sakaguchi got his foot up, etc. They tried to put Fujinami in the tree of woe but Sakaguchi saved him. Saito hit the Saito suplex but Fujinami came back with the Robinson backbreaker and the gnarliest dragon sleeper we've seen yet. Vader broke it up though. He finally hit the powerslam and put Fujnami into the tree of woe and everything broke down. The running shoulder charge is so weak compared to his avalanche though. Vader kept Fujinami busy while Saito put the prison lock on Sakaguchi and the match got thrown out as he was in the ropes. Post match Vader bodyslammed Fujinami into a bunch of chairs and he and and Inoki got to stare down. 7/15/88: Buzz Sawyer/Manny Fernandez vs Kobayashi/Super Strong Machine: Buzz and Manny are an awesome team. They just have tons of energy and swagger and wildness. At one point they do two different Hart Attacks in a row where Manny hits a back elbow and then Buzz just hits the most thudding lariat for it. Kobayshi brings a ton of intensity too, like always and SSM is as credible as they come. Finish was a killer Buzz powerslam and then he gets a huge chant from the crowd as he and Manny celebrate.

Toni vs Mariah: https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2025/03/aew-five-fingers-of-death-and-friends.html?m=1

I'm three matches in so far. (I really enjoyed the 8 man tag, especially the post-match staring, and I think I got STP to do the Choshu's army clubber so that's a check in my favor; also thought the BOOM trios was great fun with some very smart crowdpleasing spots; and the Hologram/Komander match had some moments, like Christian and Lee stepping on then, and things were clean but it was slight; haven't seen the fourth pre-show match yet). I'm high on MJF vs Page. MJF having an answer for most of Page's stuff early was a lot of fun. He successfully goaded him through the punches after the groin attack, etc., but then I loved the face and the flailing legs on the fallaway slam. It got a little over the top and theatrical and melodramatic down the stretch but it fit the match and the characters. I would have maybe had it end on the deadeye or at least the killer angel wings, but ah well. Mercedes vs Momo.. Mercedes does everything right, like dancing backwards in high heels but it feels like dancing. It feels so choreographed and planned out. Meticulously but I never feel anything organic out of her matches anymore. Very smart. Very well put together. The right reactions at the right times. But overall empty. This felt like it went on forever for me too. And it was fine, but I wasn't feeling it. Swerve vs Ricochet: There were moments I loved here: Swerve pushing Nana leading to the Ricochet House Call. The robe-wearing stuff including the Death Valley Driver. Ricochet's face as Swerve got him up for the Vertebreaker. It just went on way too long. The match should have ended with the Swerve Stomp after the Vertebreaker on the no give table but it just went on and on after that. I thought the post match stuff was touching though.

Wife is dragging me to BNW so I'm glad to look back to Page 4 and see that most of you people actually liked it. My expectations are low, so we'll see how it goes.

6/24/88: Owen Hart vs Shiro Koshinaka: So I was wrong about Kobayashi beating Owen. That was non title. Not sure why they did what they did. Here's the title match where Owen loses. He dominates early but he misses so much stuff. There are three or four missed spots by Owen here. He doesn't have the structure so if he doesn't have the execution, what the hell does he even have? Koshinaka's comeback is great with a butt butt off the top. Then they flub a side slam but Koshinaka drops him on his head. Of course he's right back up to move to the next spot. Koshianka has some bad habits against the wrong opponents and Owen was the wrong opponent. Anyway after lots of hot stuff, Koshinaka wins with a bridging pin and now thankfully we can finish up with Owen and he can become the Blue Blazer or whatever. 6/26/88: Saito/Choshu vs Gaspars: Not a lot to say here. Lots of standing tall babyface Saito eating offense but looking stoic. Choshu/Saito ambushed at first but then Gaspars took over with Wakamatsu's whip. Moffat (I think) missed a senton off the top. Choshu hit a lariat. Put on the scorpion. They got dqed as the other one used Wakamatsu's Jimmy Hart megaphone. Post match they destroyed the Gaspars and then destroyed Wakamatsu. Small note: in the last two Choshu matches he'd start using a Brainbuster that I really haven't seen him do before. I always like to note new signature moves on big guys. 6/26/88: Vader vs Fujinami: A lot of times I really don't know the outcomes coming in. I thought we were going to get Vader winning so Inoki could beat him in August. Maybe there's still time for that. That is not what we got here though. This probably wasn't quite as dramatic/good as their last match but it still was very good. Vader really takes offense well (including going to the floor and a great belly to back). While Fujinami had some moments (and holds like a figure four and even the Scorpion), Vader controlled a lot of this. It built to a big Fujinami comeback where he turned around a canadian backbreaker by kicking off the top and then hit a big slam and used the octopus (Vader just powered out). The end was very emotional with Fujinami turning a Vader attack attempt into a backslide and getting a shock three count. Post match Yamada and Koshinaka put him on their shoulders and the crowd went nuts (Vader trashed chairs). Felt like a huge moment.

Interestingly, Dustin just said he wished he could do another Backlot Brawl style match.

I'm not planning on getting to the Suikoden remasters anytime soon but they were my favorite RPGs of that era and I am excited to get to them eventually, and also for others to get to experience them. They did such a great job of putting in tiny little character details that don't necessarily impact the plot but that make the world feel more vibrant and robust and make it worthwhile to find and enhance every character.

My main event of the weekend is Garcia vs Moriarty on Collision.

This is going to be a "Mark-ish" as in our Mark, and not being a mark, type comment since I'm really not following WWE if at all for moral and production reasons as much as anything else, BUT, just looking from the outside in and the idea that Rock is doing a 3 2 1 deal, I could see them turning Punk at Mania to screw Cody out of the title and being the third guy. Even if Cena is around somewhat for the retirement tour, I'm sure he's still acting and doing other things and you want a guy there week to week to push the angle into summer. Orton turns all the time and wouldn't have the same shock value as Punk. There are a bunch of fresh matches for heel Punk right now. You could play up the whole idea that Punk is frustrated he's not really main eventing Mania and Cody is or whatever.

For point of transparency, I am watching some UWF 2.0 NOT on the treadmill because the matches tend to be long/involved and it's one more thing to cover that I wasn't expecting. 6/11/88: UWF Starting Over II: Kazuo Yamazaki vs Norman Smiley: This started off a bit rough in as I thought Yamazaki was giving Smiley a little too much. Obviously with shootstyle it's about giving openings but not making it look like you're giving openings. As the match went on it settled down and you started to believe that Smiley was just that good, which is what you want to believe. And the story here was that Yamazaki just couldn't get anything over on Smiley. Obviously he's a master of kicking and Smiley very much is not (he may have hit one the whole match and it was a surprise since he'd not done any as of yet). But Smiley had his number on the mat (Yamazaki is kayfabe good there but not the best). And when Yamazaki tried to go to the kicks, Smiley would catch them and take him down. Honestly, there was a moment midway through here where I could all but smell Yamazaki's desperation and I knew, just knew, that the kicks he were going for were going to get caught and he'd get shut down, and that's what happened and it's one of the first time I really feel like I've predicted a beat in shootstyle like I can do with most other types of wrestling just from familiarity, so that was nice. There was a great bit of desperation where Yamazaki tried a whole bunch of things in quick succession and none worked. And there was another great bit where Smiley started pounding at Yamazaki's midsection. Still, there was an undertone here that if Yamazaki just got ONE kick, it'd all be over, and that's exactly what happened. He finally hit a kick, went into a hold, Smiley tried to turn it around, and Yamazaki put him into a reverse Fujiwara armbar and won. The crowd was great here, just really reacting for little attempts and reversals and holds being locked in or escaped. This was fun once it got going. 6/11/88: Maeda vs Takada: Very interesting match. Takada had been presented as a junior, even earlier into the year for NJPW. Maeda was the giant, looming god king of this style. I thought they'd present Takada as an equal from the beginning because they needed a second star here. That's not what happened. Maeda just ate him up at the start. His kicks are like being hit by a truck, and he knocked him down early. He was able to catch Takada's kicks (and hit a capture suplex) or just ride him like an absolute monster. If Takada got a momentary leglock or something, he just pushed through it and got his own hold. To my eyes, the difference was that Takada, despite having his back against the wall, was better able to keep his cool for most of the match while Maeda was more hot headed. I think back to the tag where Choshu got under his skin and it's hard not to see that here. When Takada made a rope break, Maeda got frustrated and went to the spin wheel kick too early. Takada ducked it and got his first real opening in the match. And really, while he wasn't Maeda, he was still dangerous, and as he got more openings, he was able to go after the legs more and more. The thing was that Maeda was able to just press up into a crab out of leglocks, that sort of deal. But because they had made it so hard for Takada to get anything in on him early, for him to block the capture suplex or to get a shot in just mattered all the more as the match went on. They elevated to bombs as things went on, various suplexes (German and Dragon), Maeda hitting the spin wheel kick. And Maeda finally got behind him for a chicken wing that ended it, but not before Takada stood up to him like he never really had been able to before. It all came together pretty well.

The way they made it work in episode 1 was pretty great though. Anyway, we're just through episode 1. I love that they led with the "hallway" fight, but it was in the bar and up a staircase instead. I actually am really impressed with the pacing. They started so slow and casual before everything hit the fan and then they ended, basically, with the long diner scene before taking things out to the streets. Looking forward to where things are headed.

I have more stuff I'm working through. There's a whole thing about Sumo Hall being pissed it leaked and not allowing it so the 8/8 show will be in Yokohama. And how Hashimoto/Muto/Chono (the last one "now wrestling in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick) will return as a 3 man team in Fall. Maybe the Kobayashi win vs Owen was non title? Dave Peterson was in to learn a bunch of stuff but no one cares. Dave went on about Kimura submitting to the prison lock clean and how rare that was, but it really didn't do justice to what actually happened in the match. We're missing a chunk of the page which is really frustrating because Dave was JUST about to describe Ricky Morton's 'rana and it was going to be the funniest damn thing. (This was in context to Owen's rolling cradle block). Dave sucks in reviewing the TV. So anti choshu. Doesn't give Adonis credit because of his size (oh he does later despite it). Loves owen too much. Just frustrating.

Some WON updates as I catch up: Dave was confused by the Fujinami cutting his hair scene. Inoki WAS out with a broken foot but he also had his knee, elbow, and eye fixed too. Choshu got the first title shot by complaining a bunch as it was supposed to be Fujinami vs Sakaguchi (apparently the Fujinami vs Vader title match was first announced as Vader vs Inoki, then Inoki broke his foot, then Vader vs Choshu, but then Fujinami got into the match) The Yamada title match vs Owen was in Yamada's hometown Inoki wanted to tag with either Hogan or Backlund for his return match in August (Ban on the Sumo Hall will be over for that show) Fujiwara is being depushed since he is going to leave when his contract is up. NJPW is mad at Doc for cancelling tours and he won't be back for a bit The Brazos are coming in for July but I bet we don't have much footage (argh they have a match with Hoshino and Yamada that we don't have; ah well). Villanos were in and we have no footage of that. There's magazine feuding stuff between Choshu and the magazines but that's more of a Kinch thing than a me thing right now. Basically Weekly Pro is big on UWF and low on NJPW. 6/24/88: Choshu vs Fujinami: Been sitting on this one all day. This was excellent. Fujinami did not dominate this time around. They showed Choshu backstage to begin but he didn't have any comments. He hit a nice flying headscissors early and they did some headstand title stuff that was fun. Fujinami had a nice cravat (which you rarely see in 80s Japan) too. They advanced to rope running with Fujinami winning the first exchange but Choshu getting a knee up and then hitting is really cool running powerslam which is tough to explain but has this sort of heaving full body extension. He tried a headscissors again after that but Fujinami was able to turn it into (Inoki's) Bow and arrow. That led to a turning point where they stopped the feeling out as Choshu, disrupter that he was, just slapped the hell out of Fujinami on a lock up. He then started laying it in with shots and holds. Fujinami came back but ate a knee breaker (the damaged leg from before) which led to the Scorpion. Fujinami survived it and somehow barely hit his Robinson backbreaker/dragon sleeper combo, but he couldn't put Choshu away. He went up to try but Choshu caught him with this sloppy (in the best way) turning superplex and then went for the lariat. That's when Fujinami did something that you see maybe once in five hundred matches, just an electric moment like nothing else. He caught him with a front dropkick off the ropes and it was like lightning striking. The sort of moment that makes you all but yelp at the screen decades after the fact. Beautiful stuff. Choshu went for another Lariat and Fujinami tried to turn it but got pushed out which let Choshu bump him off the apron with one. He made the count, barely, only to eat a real brainbuster from Choshu. Fujinami was bleeding now but when Choshu went for the lariat again he grazed him with a dropkick (not as good as that first one) and put on (inoki's) Octopus. Choshu somehow survived it and tried again for the lariat. Choshu turned it into a backslide, then hit a back brain kick, and two small packages for the win. The ending was Fujinami doing what he's as good as anyone at, making wrestling feel like sport. It felt like he kept possession of the ball and was shooting on goal repeatedly until he got it in. Post match, Choshu helped him up with one hand and then walked away. Big definitive win for Fujinami to cement the title. Here's that killer moment: 6/24/88: Vader/Saito vs Gaspars: So one thing I forgot to mention in the North/South match was that the Gaspars attacked post-match. They were theoretically going after Saito because of the previous tag with Choshu/Saito but that pissed Vader off and the fans absolutely loved Vader going after them. The clip ended with him going after Murdoch too just to be safe. So that led to this. The Gaspars have been such a non factor in the ring in these matches that I wouldn't have thought it was still Bob Orton, but apparently it is Orton and Karl Moffat. They got a little advantage early by Vader missing the post charge on the outside and whacking him with the sword but it was really just a mauling. When Saito came in it became a revenge mauling for him being opened up. Then he got his hands on Wakamatsu and Vader fought off both of them. He dodged the powder and crushed them and then post match they crushed Wakamatsu. Fans LOVED this. I honestly wonder if this match and the post-match of North/South didn't do as much to get Vader over as anything else. he was already well on his way but this put him over the top maybe?