Matt D Posted October 22, 2025 Author Posted October 22, 2025 5/20/89: Riki Choshu vs Bam Bam Bigelow: This was part of a 5x5 US vs Japan. We miss the middle three matches. In between Kimura beat Morgan, Kido beat Stallion, and Doc beat Masa Saito. I wish we had that last one at least. All of those sound fun though. But I'm glad for what we do have. Choshu and Bigelow matched up so well, better than Choshu matches up with most Americans and Bigelow matches up with most Japanese. They just had that right extra bit of theatricality, and Bigelow took the lariat so well. This started with a few of those, with Bigelow flipping. He then retreated to his pals on the floor. They'd face off evenly a few times after that before Bigelow hefted Choshu up with an inverted atomic drop and controlled. At one point, Choshu ended up on the floor with the Americans and grabbed a chair but nothing came of it. Finish had Bigelow hit a low blow out of nowhere and then a falling headbutt to sneak out a win, infuriating the Japanese side and making it 1-0. 5/20/89: Tatsumi Fujinami vs Darryl Peterson: By this point it was 2 to 2 so this was the finale for the overall win. Not a ton to this really. Peterson had a significant size advantage and used it to bully Fujinami around. Fujinami would hit a dropkick or something else but would get dragged back down. Eventually, he was able to get him over on a suplex and won it with a Fujiwara arm bar giving his team the series. Shame we lost the middle matches here. And I missed a HH, so let's double back. 4/17/89: Sano vs Honaga: Red tights vs red tights. Far off. Rough VQ. This was a tough one. But they wrestled differently. Sano had a lot of lucha inspired flips in the corner. He did a quebradora backbreaker. Honaga had some nasty kicks and tended to grind him down more. Whenever Sano could get some distance he was able to use his speed to fight back. Honaga finally got an advantage and hit a neckbreaker drop but lost to a quick backslide out of nowhere. 4/17/89: Matsuda vs Iizuka: Black trunks vs red trunks here, which helped. This had a lot of gritty matwork. Iizuka was pretty good! He's not someone I'm at all familiar with. I have no idea what path his career takes but he looked good recently in higher profile settings and he looked good here on the undercard. Matsuda started in on the arm but Iizuka has a bunch of tricked out rolling takeovers into leglocks and he made full use of them. Dogged going back to it too. Matsuda fought out and used a lot of holds on his own and was able to survive the rolling kneebar at the end to set up a finishing bit of roll ups. He won it with a backbridge in the end. 4/17/89: Hiro Saito vs Hata: Hata's speed vs Saito being a cruiserweight bully. First half of the match had Hata trying a few things but getting shut down again and again. Saito would pull the hair to take him down, stomp away, beat him up in the corner. Then Saito propelled him over the top and made the mistake of going for a dive. Hata hit a somersault off the apron and took over for a bit. He wasn't able to put him away though, even after hitting a second dive. That meant that Saito was able to jam him out of the corner and hit a nasty senton for the win.
Matt D Posted October 27, 2025 Author Posted October 27, 2025 EDIT: I looked up Iizuka's career and it's a wild one. I always look forward to that because it'll take me as far as I want to explore and then some maybe. 4/17/89: Akira Nogami vs Kuniaki Kobayashi: Nogami got a good deal more than I was expecting here. That doesn't mean that Kobayashi didn't rush right in from the start and get under him and jam him down with this really cool lifting drop down to his knees breaker type move that I've never seen before. But Nogami was able to lock in a Fujiwara Arm Bar and at least stay in it. Nogami took liberties with a cheapshot off a break and then Kobayashi crushed him with kicks and a straight shot off the ropes. Nogami was able to stomp him out though. So it really was back and forth. Nogami controlled with a crab for a while and had control with a series of dropkicks (corner and missile especially) down the stretch (after dodging Kobayashi's spin kick), but then Kobayashi drove him down by dodging a flying body press and slapped on a rear naked choke with a body scissors for the win. It was fairly heated and a good showing for Nogami. 4/17/89: Hoshino vs Black Cat: This was pretty long and fairly dry. In some ways, it was one of the harder matches I've watched, just a tough one to get through even though the work itself was competent. The most interesting thing about it was that Cat had a bunch of fun cutoff bits, whether it was kicking the shin or getting a gut shot in or what. But then Hoshino would just takeback over and lock in a hold. This was scrappy overall but not super compelling. Hoshino won it with his neckbreaker drop. 4/17/89: Koshinaka/Goto vs Super Strong Machine/Takano: One of the stronger SSM/Takano tags. I put a lot of that on Goto actually. He started even with Takano but once SSM came in against Koshinaka they immediately tossed him (SSM) out and started working over him on the floor. SSM is sort of an unusual face-in-peril but there was a clear sense of strategy controlling him and working the leg. He would eventually get a tag but they couldn't control on Koshinaka/Takano for long since they were far fresher. Things eventually devolved to Koshinaka and Takano headbutting each other on the floor again, but it worked better than usual since it came much later in the match than usual. This had a hot finishing stretch with Goto hitting a gutsy German suplex on SSM where he could barely hang on to the bridge. Takano broke it up and crushed him on the second attempt with the spin wheel kick to the back of the head. That let SSM hit his single arm suplex with a bridge for the win. This was a good one. 4/17/89: Kido vs Steve Armstrong: I feel like I haven't seen Kido for a while. They stayed on the mat here for the most part, moving up to some rope running/high spots and then right back down but it was chippy and competitive and Armstrong felt like he belonged. When things picked up, he had a fairly clear advantage but Kido didn't seem like he was working dumb for him or anything. Finish had Steve wipe out on a flying body press as Kido hit the dirt, then a nice swinging neckbreaker and a crab. Good for what it was, but maybe it could have been something a bit more interesting if they played up the contrast more.
odessasteps Posted October 27, 2025 Posted October 27, 2025 To me, Iizuka is the guy potatoed by the Steiners to an unprofessional level.
Matt D Posted October 29, 2025 Author Posted October 29, 2025 4/17/89: Vader/Pillman vs Choshu/Fujinami: Don't get too excited. This isn't very good. Pillman is a total non-factor. He comes out with his sunglasses walking beside Vader and then gets tossed out of the ring right at the start and hangs out on the apron to the end. What that does, however, is make this a virtual handicap match. And it's interesting to see how well Choshu and Fujinami can do together against Vader. They hit a double suplex on him and then toss him into the guardrail. A real sense that the two together have his number. When Pillman does get in, he gets a slam on Fujinami, misses a top rope splash, and then eats the Dragon Backbreaker/Dragon Sleeper combo. Not much to this. 5/22/89: Inoki/Iizuka vs Vader/Stallion: I feel like I might have seen this but not covered it yet. This was a month later and Vader's champ now so he couldn't get swept under quite the same. Iizuka isn't Choshu or Fujinami either and Stallion is more able to assert himself than Flyin' Brian. He was funny coming down beside Vader, making himself as big as possible and storming this way or that. Iizuka got swept under early but actually was able to sweep Vader's leg himself and get a tag. A little moment like that goes a long way with these crowds. Some of the Inoki 88-89 stuff, like the pumphandle on Vader was getting a little old, but I'll miss him heavily when he's gone. Finish had Iizuka do some of his cool heel hook rolling takedowns on Stallion, but Vader break up both that an the enziguiri pins. When Inoki went after him, Stallion hit a belly to belly on Iizuka. Post-match, Inoki fought off both, getting his feet up as Vader charged and Stallion held him and then hitting a jumping mule kick on Stallion.
Curt McGirt Posted October 31, 2025 Posted October 31, 2025 (edited) There's a king-hell tag with Iizuka in what I thought was the early '90s, but take a look at this lineup and tell me it's lacking: EDIT: Goddamn Dailymotion. I can't even get it to work if I shut off my Adblocker for it. Post-injury Iron Hand (or was it Fingers?) Iizuka was... not... good... but it was a cool gimmick. Edited October 31, 2025 by Curt McGirt 1
Matt D Posted November 6, 2025 Author Posted November 6, 2025 5/22/89 5x5 Challenge. Japan vs USSR Tatsumi Fujinami vs Timur Zalasov: Zalasov is an interesting wrestler, able to transfer one hold into the next really well. He started with a deadlift German out of nowhere. There was a real scrappy sense of competition here. Fujinami could hang or presented himself as such. Zalasov had a neat Anaconda Vice variation and would hit a shoot looking belly to belly down the stretch. Fujinami opened things up with low kicks which Zalasov sold extremely well (making me think they were fairly legit). Finish had Fujinami hit belly to backs that were so shoot-y that they almost became Belly to Bellys and then the dragon sleeper. Wahka Eveloev vs Kengo Kimura: Eveloev was excellent at putting on holds, really able to get an armbar or legbar out of anything that Kimura tried. Kimura did take him down early with a drop toehold and his advantages after that were based on his striking. Eveloev was repeatedly pissed off and confused about how the punches were part of the rules. Eventually he was able to get Kimura over with a flying armbar. Great shot of Fujinami coaching from the outside and trying to get Kimura to interlock his hands. At that point, he just went into one hold after the next and while Kimura did quick rope breaks, the writing was on the wall. He caught a desperate kick and drove him down for the submission win. Victor Zangiev vs Osamu Kido: I just think of the absolute travesty that we never got a Zangiev vs Fujiwara match. This is probably the closest we get. Kido now has a mustache. Very important to know. Some great wrestling here. Just the two of them in near constant contact with each other moving from one hold into the next. Zangiev was such a showman with his escapes. At one point he's in a headscissors and just rotates around and around to escape. Kido had a really great grounded submission at one point, something tricked out and entertaining. I do think we have at least one more match with them, so I'm glad to see that. This ended with a bunch of Zangiev belly to belly suplexes out of nowhere and a submission. Riki Choshu vs Vladimir Berkovich: Going to bury this here but these are almost a new sort of match for New Japan. They're these sprinty 6 minute shoot-style type wars which could end at any moment. Here Berkovich had the advantage with Choshu just able to sit out with him. Riki held his own but got taken over with a waistlock suplex. But ultimately, he was just able to survive long enough to get under him and hit the Saito Suplex/Lariat/Scorpion combo. This had energy but really didn't amount to much. Salman Hashimikov vs Masa Saito: Saito really got how to shine in almost any style. Amazing pro wrestler. Here it was just a matter of keeping this competitive and making it seem heated. Hash had size but Saito seemed to match him in it. Just two bulls in some ways. This is the biggest I've seen Saito work in a while. He just filled the gap between himself and Hashimikov. He was canny enough to really seem like he had his number at times too, whereas Hashimikov's best offense was just getting underneath Saito and hefting him up. Saito came back with a series of Saito suplexes but Hashimikov ended up under the ropes and he got underneath Saito again for the lifting, spinning drop into a pin. Post-match, Hashimikov and Zangiev held up the trophy and made a big deal out of it, but Vader came out to challenge Hashimikov to a match, so that probably had the crowd pretty exciting. These are honestly a great counter to what's been happening in UWF. The WONs were saying that Inoki wanted to tour the USSR and they were really setting the stage for that well.
Matt D Posted November 12, 2025 Author Posted November 12, 2025 No idea how I ended up with so much to cover but here we are. 5/22/89: Jushin Liger vs Shiro Koshinaka: This would have been an awesome match to run six months later. It feels like the third or fourth match in a feud, save for the fact it didn't get a ton of time. Koshinaka is a fascinating, infuriating wrestler. In some ways, he just gets it as well as anyone in 80s New Japan, to Choshu levels, of doing things like hulking up and showing a defiant attitude and the early ambushes, etc. But he can just fill his matches with so, so much excess. And Liger is a guy who gets a lot of things too, really can present himself as a star even just as Yamada, but he's not going to say no to excesses when offered. So this was ridiculously over the top and had too many kickouts and big spots especially for the time they had and how early this is into Liger's run. Again, if they built to a match like this over a few months, totally different, but they just waste it all here for nothing. It's interesting commentary is still mentioning Yamada by name a lot even if they seem to do so in uncertain terms. Liger won this with a roll up or something, maybe? I was burnt out by that point. 5/24/89: Liger/Koshinaka vs Black Cat/H. Saito: We have most but not all of this handheld. I think we're missing Matsuda vs Hata and Morgan/Stallion vs Super Strong Machine/Saito (which sounds pretty good actually!) but I'm glad we have what we do here. Here, Koshinaka was much more measured actually. This starts great with an ambush. Saito took out Liger on the floor, tossing him into the rail repeatedly and they beat on Koshinaka for a while. Unfortunately, he got the tag a little too easy and the it was just about Liger wanting to get his hands on Saito. They'd repeat things a couple of times where Koshinaka got dragged under and Liger had to be the one to fire back. It's interesting how he was shifting his act slightly, with more of these dangling lucha style armdrags for instance, some stuff he wasn't doing as Yamada. In general Black Cat and Saito work well together since they're both bullying presences. This built to some heel miscommunication and then Liger vaulting over Black Cat off the ropes so that he could lock him in a roll-up into a surfboard. This was good in part because Koshinaka knew his job. 5/24/89: Sano/Takano/Goto vs Hase/Honaga/Kobayashi: This was pretty wild actually. What sticks with me the most was the Honaga vs Sano exchange early where they monkey flipped each other and landed on their feet a few times, but there was a ton going on here. Too much to really cover. They ambushed Goto early but he came back leading to that flipping exchange. There was a very funny bit where they put Honaga in shattered dreams position. The ref came to try to get Sano to stop and you got the idea that Sano wanted to show the ref the other team coming in, but he pushed him too hard and the ref went flying. Then the other team started checking on him but they were heel leaning so they basically shoved him the other way in the end as Honaga was taking shots. Funny stuff. Hase hit his suplex and had some mean stuff but he does seem diminished in these matches. I think I read that he was going to the Soviet Union to train so we'll see how that goes. Sano REALLY stands out on this roster right now. He's doing very spectacular stuff and smoothly in a way no one else does. I like Goto a ton because he hits like a brick with things like shoulder tackles or flying headbutts. Things built to Takano hitting his wheel kick on Honaga, that getting broken up and then him just brutally scoop slam tombstoning him and finishing him with his splash as everyone else brawled. Like I said, lots to see here.A lot of talent at play. 5/24/89: Akira Nogami vs. Vladimir Berkovich: Again, Nogami held his own more than I would have expected. Here he ambushed with a dropkick to start, but in the first even exchange got thrown across the ring. He actually managed a takedown and armbar out of the corner though. Again, once they got up, he got tossed about some more. He went back to the armbar but once they were back on their feet... front chancery suplex. He missed another dropkick and that was basically the end. One more cradle suplex and a pin to finish him off. Still he was scrappy and Berkovich helped him up after the match. 5/24/89: Osamu Kido vs. Victor Zangiev: Obviously these two match up well. Another headscissors and head spin out, of course. It's a joy to see them transition from one hold to another. Zangiev is a bit more of a theatrical aggressor than the other Soviets who would more wait for things to happen and react. He'd be chasing you right into the corner instead. They traded takedowns and holds for a few minutes until Zangiev got him with a waistlock suplex. Kido came back with kicks and a half crab (the Soviets don't have great defenses for leg kicks yet), but Zangiev hit an almost DDT-esque suplex and locked in an armbar for the quick tap. 5/24/89: Kengo Kimura vs. Salman Hashimikov: Kimura would get that drop toehold on these guys but not a ton else. They worked it fairly evenly on the mat to start. Then Kimura went for the strikes in the corners and got belly to belly suplexed for his trouble. He came back with that drop toehold and tried in the corner again but all it took was Hashimikov getting under him once to crush him. That's part of the appeal of these matches. They really can end at any moment. 5/24/89: Inoki vs Daryl Peterson: The clock is ticking and every Inoki match (even the 6 minute ones) is a joy. He went for the arm wringer here and Peterson punched him in the ribs which I thought was a nice counter. Peterson's moves (body slam, backbreaker, powerslam) were all kind of soft but his elbow drop was nice. Inoki got a takedown and inverted cross armbreaker out of nowhere for the win. 5/24/89: Big Van Vader & Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Riki Choshu & Tatsumi Fujinami: Ah, this one again. No ambushes this time. It started with Vader and Fujinami wrestling to start. Vader's champ here, defending the next day against Hashimikov so the dynamic is a little different. Vader actually outwrestles him early. But he gets a big hip toss while standing and Choshu comes in. That sets up Choshu vs Bigelow which is always very good. Again, they wrestle but it feels a little broader. Choshu finally breaks away and drops him with two lariats (a big sweeping bum[p but not the flip one). Vader cuts it off and tries to bully Fujinami who reverses a suplex to a big pop. But Vader overpowers him and crushes him in the corner. Bigelow then comes in and puts on that inverted cross armbreaker but Fujinami makes it to a tag and Choshu goes for the Scorpion, so lots of wrestling in this one. Vader breaks taht up and they beat down Choshu until he's able to get a lariat out of the corner and hot tag Fujinami. He hits a back brain kick on VAder and dropkicks Bigelow but that's not enough to put him down. Great finish follows; he's putting the dragon sleeper on Vader but Bigelow breaks it up and tosses him into the corner. Fujinami dodges the avalanche but runs right into a lariat and Vader pins him. This was a pretty good version of this match between the added wrestling and unique finish. 5/25/89: Fujinami/Choshu vs Zangiev/Berkovich: Handhelds are great, but it's nice to see Zangiev in good video quality. He's incredibly expressive both in selling and when he's got a hold on and is wrenching it in. All of these 5/25 matches will probably be hard for me to upload and watch because NJPW is wary on the big shows, so no auto translations for instance. There was a real novelty to seeing the Soviets in a tag match. All the 5x5s so far have been 1v1 at a time. It changed the dynamic a bit. Fujinami would wrestle these guys even and Choshu would just sort of get outwrestled (an thrown around) but then do big gutsy things and kick them in the face repeatedly. He matched up well with Zangiev as you'd expect. At one point he punched Berkovich in the corner leaving a mark and then Berkovich drove him to his corner and it was all pretty awesome. Later on, after a tag, he just hurled Choshu across the ring with a front facelock out of his own corner. But Choshu would get his range with a late match lariat setting up the finish. Fujinami came in with the diving knee, a sort of high struggle deadlift piel driver and the dragon sleeper. Pretty gripping stuff to be honest.
Matt D Posted November 20, 2025 Author Posted November 20, 2025 5/25/89: Hiro Saito/Kobayashi vs Koshinaka/Sano: Undercard juniors tag to keep things exciting for the crowd. Kobayashi and Koshinaka are volatile together. This started with Kobayashi slapping Koshinaka which is the best way for this sort of thing to start. Then he walked over when Sano was in the ring and slapped him again. That drew Koshinaka in with a tag and he was able to get one in on Kobayashi allowing Sano to start in on him. Fun stuff. They were agble to work Sano back into the corner and bully him for a while though, at least until Sano was able to lan on his feet on a back body drop and get the hot tag. Koshinaka came in with butt butts but ran into a Kobayashi spin kick. Kobayashi missed a baseball slide and Sano made it back in, doing his usual spectacular stuff like vaulting over people. and hitting dives (Saito caught; he's good at that.). They went back and forth, slowing thing down with holds, before they were able to hit a spike pile driver and lean down on Sano. He had a hot comeback attempt off rope running but Kobayashi caught hit in a gutbuster off of a back body press. Koshinaka was able to break up the fisherman's suplex and get in however. they cut him off and Saito hit a killer senton off the second rope on him to kick off the finishing stretch. the usual exciting stuff you'd expect from these guys here with Sano helping Koshinaka reverse a German (Kobayashi broke it up), and then hitting a huge neckbreaker drop off the top on Saito (for 2). He won it by leapfrogging Saito and immediately dropping down to get a clutch pin. This would have been rough at 20 minute but the contrast made it work at 15. 5/25/89: Bigelow vs Evloev: This was an extremely mature Bigelow performance, something you'd see out of him a few years later. He was constant motion and feeling out but he also ran into all of Evloev's stuff. Lots of takedowns into holds. He'd position himself to hit a drop toehold here or to roll back with an arm, but then he'd almost immediately get outwrestled and reversed into it. He gave Evloev most of this, right until he went up for a flying headscissors takeover and Bigelow jammed it, lifted him into a samoan drop, and then hit a splash for the win. He had come out with a USA Flag hat and celebrated with Coach Dr. Death. 5/25/89: Liger vs Hase: Jr. Title match. Hase ambushed right from the get go with a dropkick, a belly to belly, and then tossing Liger out. Liger came back and really dominated with a belly to belly throw off the ropes and a stretch plum type submission. Hase came back with this very cool capture flip out into an armbar that I hadn't seen him do before. Down the stretch he caught Liger coming back off the ropes to hit a blockbuster (fallway with a bridge) suplex too. Liger won this with multiple kappo kicks and then his half straighjacket belly to back suplex with a bridge to take the title. I liked this more than the Liger vs Koshinaka TV match because they left plenty for later. It felt appropriate for this phase of Liger's new chapter while still being fitting for the big show/big title match. 5/25/89: Tayayki Iizuma vs Habieli Vitachev [Different Styles Fight]: Vitachev was a judo guy, I think, with a gi and everything. He looked like a sitcom dad for the most part. Iizuma on the other hands, looked like a million bucks. He had a number of tricked out takedowns and holds throughout and really won this on points. They had Vitachev take most of the second round but other than that, Iizuma dominated and I imagine the fans had to notice. This felt like the sort of match that could make a guy and I know he has some good placing later in the year but he comes off as an Inoki discipline to me and I wonder if Inoki falling out of power affected him overall. Towards the end he kept putting on rear naked chokes but couldn't put him away, with Vitachev saved by the bell in the 4th. In the 5th, Vitachev got under Iizuka going for another choke and suplexed him over and then locked in a cross armbreaker to win it. Sort of came out of nowhere but that's the way of these things. Star-making performance for Iizuka in my eyes but maybe that didn't translate. 5/25/89: Super Strong Machine/Takano vs Kido/Kimura: Tag Title match. Story of this one was very much that Kido could out wrestle them and Kimura could outstrike them but SSM and Takano had superior teamwork and double teams. The match started with Takano wildly missing on a spin wheel kick (his foot crashed into the ropes) and then Kimura hitting one. Later on, the teamwork backfired as they missed a Total Elimination (lariat/spin wheel kick combo) and took each other out. But in general, it was as I said, and it worked pretty well even if there were a lot of momentum shifts and the match didn't "catch" quite as well as it could have because of that. Finish had Kimura not quite quick enough to finish off Takano after hitting the leg lariat (he had gone for a roll up immediately thereafter and not the power bomb which gave SSM time to recover and break it up). Then when Kido went for a second neckbreaker (he'd hit one earlier in the match) SSM turned it into a backslide to steal the win. 5/25/89: Big Van Vader vs Salmon Hashimikov: Past some of the Hashimoto matches earlier in the year, I'm not 100% sure I can think of other matches like this ever up until this point. You get things like Andre vs Hansen or Andre vs Don Leo Jonathan of course, or Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks or whatever, but those aren't worked like this. Even Andre vs Hansen is a crazy brawl basically. Maybe some stuff like Gordy vs Doc in Mid-South but there's just not the weight involved that we have here, not really. These are two superheavyweights who wrestle a match where every move feels monumental but there's such weight and force behind everything. It's also sub ten minutes. It's the prototype for Brock vs Goldberg or whatever, but also so much better because they do a better job of showing restraint and building to things. After some shoving Hashimikov gets a headlock takeover and it's treated like this monumental thing. Vader hefting him up early for a power slam is such a huge deal. Or driving him down for an armbar. It's all massive. Vader gets a lariat, but Hashimikov is back up. Hashimikov slams into his gut three times and knocks him out of the ring. There's an element of sumo to this maybe. Or two bulls crashing into each other. And when Hashimikov gets under Vader with a single leg, putting his head underneath and toppling him, the place goes nuts. Hashimikov survives a flurry of offense and after a failed attempt, gets underneath Vader for his quasi-beach break type move and pins him to win the title. Just a very cool experience overall.
Matt D Posted November 26, 2025 Author Posted November 26, 2025 (edited) 5/25/89: Antonio Inoki vs Shota Chochisvili: This was a rematch of the shock loss the previous month but more than that, it's it for Inoki. He'll be pushed out and go into politics after this. I don't have the full story yet but I will as I go through the rest of the year. He had so much left to offer. Maybe the Meltzers of the world didn't believe that and maybe he would have made it harder for the Musketeers to rise just from his presence but it didn't matter. They were waving flags before this match. When the bell rang, he rushed right at Chochisvili went for a flying kick, missed for the most part, and sized up, arms ready for a fight and the place went absolutely nuts. And he's about to be gone, just like that. Hell of a thing. This was fairly subdued and not nearly as interesting as the last match between them. Chochisvili had the advantage for a lot of it with Inoki getting sort of a fluke win a few rounds in to take his title back. But those first few seconds were the sort of magic only Inoki could create. EDIT: I missed a UWF show. There's one on 5/4. They've never done two in one month before. Going to have to go back! UWF 2.0 5/21/89: The best thing about the entrances was Fujiwara getting to join them. I wouldn't say he got a bigger reaction necessarily than Funaki, Maeda, Takada, etc, but he still got a big one and it felt a little different and a little more special. Minoru Suzuki vs. Kiyoshi Tamura: I think so much of following Hashimoto through his career but since I'm doing UWF, i get to follow Tamura too. The people whose opinions I respect think so highly of him and I've basically seen nothing, so now I get to start at the beginning. Hard to tell much from this. He was plucky and aggressive but Suzuki had his number. His kicks would get caught or Suzuki would just get under him and he'd get taken down. He kept on fighting including popping the crowd by working up into strikes out of a bodyscissors and he tried to do a rolling leglock but tended to get jammed one each attempt. Suzuki had a great takedown into a leglock but he survived it only to get hefted over and put into a half crab. Good first effort but I've got a long way to go. This was also a nice dominant Suzuki performance after his last appearance against Anjo which was much more even and where he lost. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Yoji Anjo: Speaking of Anjo... the poor bastard was against Fujiwara (and one who was happy to be there, starting the match out with a belly to belly like it was nothing). And Anjo was sowing his wild oats or whatever, showing attitude, leading with his chin, getting Fujiwara down and slapping the hell out of him. That went about as well as to be expected. Fujiwara calmly made it back up and heabutted him into oblivion. He'd work Fujiwara into the corner and then quickly regret it. This was an enjoyable mauling where the master played with his food even as Anjo kept trying things and kept trying to show his defiance. Anjo was clearly the aggressor but there was never a sense he was actually in control, no matter how much of this he took. Finish wasn't even the armbar, but Fujiwara catching the foot, hugging Anjo in, taking him down and working around to the leglock. Bob Backlund vs. Masaharu Funaki: Insane fight, but people know that. I liked this much more than the Takada fight even though it was weird, weird stuff. This was Funaki's debut too! (EDIT: It's not. He fought Fujiwara earlier in the month) Again, this felt almost like a different styles fight. It's crazy to have this be Funaki's first match because he's not even established and here he is, wrestling someone who's clearly a "pro wrestler." Backlund came in with a black eye making this even more wild. He tried the basic greco roman stuff to start, but Funaki quickly started in on the leg kicks, which infuriated him. Funaki was better at picking legs and what not, and got behind him, slamming a kick down and that too infuriated him. Backlund could get up at almost any point and stomp about with his hands up and the fans would Ooooohhhhh big. They'd go from doing piledriver position/backdrop/hang on/bridge up type spots right into Funaki kicking him right in the face. Backlund's selling was punch drunk and staggering but it kind of worked. And then, out of nowhere, after taking a shot, he'd stagger around and hit the most killer forearm. All of this was just incredibly surreal. He was completely out of his element and depth but he was being so weird about it that he put Funaki on his back foot too. They had an awesome stand up strike exchange/slapfest and then just end up in awkward armholds for a bit. It was all over the place. Backlund reversed a gutwrench suplex attempt and hit one of his own but really he couldn't answer most of the holds. This ended in a clearly set up spot where Backlund finally got to do the shoot style gotch lift out of a short arm scissors and then put Funaki on the top rope. Funaki hit a missile dropkick! and got DQed. This worked a lot better than the Takada match just because it wasn't quite a contrast. Funaki was a bit more fluid with and Backlund, despite being totally overwhelmed, had a bit more sense of what was expected and what NOT to do. But really an absolutely bonkers thing. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Johnny Barrett: Barrett was a big dude who got it but despite having size didn't quite have the skill here. I have no idea where he came from but he does hang around for a while and I could see him be interesting as an obstacle to be overcome. He came off like someone with some technique that just watched a bunch of this stuff and had some sense of what to do. He was able to get a couple of double legs or even lift Takada up into a spinebuster slam of sorts and his one big strike he hit was a clothesline of all things! and it sort of worked because he was so big. Takada was able to outwrestle him though and then at a few key moments got underneath him like Hashimikov's beach break type move. Once he started doing that it was all but over. Apparently Barrett fights Nakano in 90 and that sounds like a lot of fun. Edited November 28, 2025 by Matt D
Matt D Posted November 29, 2025 Author Posted November 29, 2025 (edited) I'll go back for the 5/21/89 Main Event, because I now have 5/4/89 to watch. The opening video to this is awesome. It's to something called "Evolution 1" by Andy Quin and it meets the moment. They're in Osaka's baseball stadium with 23,000 people or something. Lots of warming up and guys walking down. These UWF shows must have been so cool to watch. I love watching the guys come out at the beginning. And the order they come out. (Suzuki, Miyato, Mark Rush, Anjo, Funaki (a pop, small chant), Fujiwara (a roar and chant, as it's his debut), Yamazaki, Takada (chant, small speech)). then they had Suzuki, Funaki, and Fujiwara all say things. Maeda and Dolman did not come out. Miyato vs Suzuki: So Minoru Suzuki was a bit of a demon when he was young, huh? Miyato is unflappable generally, but here? Suzuki got to him. Some of it was how aggressive he was. You figured Miyato was just going to absorb and wear him down and then take over like he so often does, but one too many grounded slaps seemed to get to him and he started firing back. From there, he started throwing kicks. But Suzuki started catching them. First he just hefted him over nastily, one of the nastiest versions i've seen. Then, when he went to kick again, Suzuki ducked under and took him down. I thought he should have won there or with the subsequent leglock. It was all pretty awesome, but Miyato survived it. He righted the ship somewhat by starting to go to the ropes every time that Suzuki caught a kick and got him in a belly to belly too. The double wristlock they do after the takedowns? Suzuki got his knee up to block it once which I'm not sure I've ever seen chronologically. Even with Miyato shifting techniques. Suzuki was able to aggressively drive him into the corner and lift him up and drop him down after a missed kick at least once more. He just couldn't put him away though, not with a nasty real choke and not with a half crab. Miyato weathered the storm and finally got a flurry of strikes, including his spinning heelbutt and then a second flurry to which Suzuki couldn't beat the count. Suzuki looked really exciting here though. Yoji Anjo vs Mark Rush: Anjo was a lot more confident than he had been as of late. He had some great floatovers and go behinds and just a sort of mastery of things. Rush was a tank though and he did pro wrestling offense in MMA in a way that always cracks me up. Here it was a body slam and a corner clothesline but both worked. They had a lot of takedowns between them, some blocked or reversed, but couldn't really capitalize with the holds. At one point Rush hit a big sweeping butterfly suplex and then Anjo went for it and I had my doubts but on his second try he whipped hm around with it. This maybe went a little long but it was also pretty loose and wild in a good way. Anjo had the better strikes and down the stretch he hit a DDT out of a bunch of knees from a front facelock position. Rush went for a pile driver or something but got back body dropped and the subsequent hold was almost it. He survived that but not the Northern Lights throw that Anjo hit him with not long after. He got him in choke after that and it was it. 19:55 was a lot of time for this though. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Masa/Yuji Funaki: Ok THIS is both Funaki's debut and Fujiwara's return. Funaki's an interesting contrast to everyone else. He has the bandana and the lime green tights/boots. They really hit the mat hard to start, lots of fast ins and outs and hold attempts. Fujiwara went for an early armbar only for Funaki to roll out. Funaki went for a chop first but ended up in a chickenwing for his trouble. He escaped with a knee that really rocked Fujiwara. Then back in stand-up, Funaki went for a lot of lowkicks but Fujiwara blocked and leaped over them and worked him into the corner and beat the crap out of him like only he could. Funaki answered it with a great rolling leg pick though. Then another sliding leg pick, with holds following both. Funaki did the rapid fire lowkicks again on the standup and got a double leg. He went for a crab and that didn't work for him (Fujiwara did his trademark escape). He was able to get behind him for a German sloon after but couldn't get the cross armbreaker to work fully. On the escape Fujiwara hit a dead on headbutt and the ref dq'd him for it. Fujiwara and Funaki both hated that and they restarted it. Fujiwara got him in a rare German of his own and then a kneebar for the quick win though. All of this was very good. Takada vs Yamazaki: They were going long here and worked it that way. Very cautious to start. An answer for every attempt at a takeover or a hold. At around the nine minute, Yamazaki opened things up with the first real hold of consequence. It drew Takada to the rope and let him follow up with the first meaningful strikes and a suplex and another hold, all in short order. Takada was able to at least bring things back to even and then he caught a kick, threw a headbutt of his own, and hit a legitimate power slam, not even the Maeda Exploder variant. But Yamazaki immediately came back with a rear naked. Takada was able to lock in a half crab but gave it up for a few kicks that didn't really land. Yamazaki looked like he was going to open things up with a superkick (it looked great) and did get a knockdown but Takada fought out of the corner and knocked him down with a kick of his own. They kept on trading advantages. Takada pressed with a half crab (to a big pop as he pulled Yamazaki back into the center of the ring) but after a rope break, Yamazaki took his knee out with a kick and dropped into a leglock and then a half crab of his own (burning another rope break for Takada). By this point they were balancing caution with bombs and Takada got the better of it scoring his kicks more and almost getting a KO (got to 9), but Yamazaki came right back tagging him in the back and opening up the front for a big kick to the skull an a 9 of his own. That led Takada to go underneath and heft him over for a cross armbreaker causing another Yamazaki rope break. Yamazaki then tried to get under him for a suplex, but Takada dropped down into a Fujiwara armbar. Yamazaki rolled through and nailed some awesome kicks and it was really the best thing. Another knockdown. He then pressed, only for Takada to catch the kick. When he tried to turn it into a submission, Takada got behind him for a choke. The fans were really behind Yamazaki here (some performance, some underdog) and he made it to the ropes. Yamazaki caught a kick and took out the knee, the best thing ever. Got a crab, and forced another rope break. Takada was right back up and got under him twice for a beach break, a belly to back, and a kick. Yamazaki got up and Takada went for the dragon supolex but he couldn't get it. Yamazaki got some kciks in, Takada caught one and dropped him into a leglock and this is all amazing really. He tried a half crab and a leglock. He got out by kicking Takada in the face. They ended up in a standup and just started firing off on each other, with Yamazaki getting the win after Takada's spinning heelbutt failed. This was the best UWF 2.0 match I've seen so far probably. Just exceptional stuff. I've seen some people comment that the slow stuff was too slow but it was all strategic and let things build to the higher points to me. Maeda vs Chris Dolman: In the pre-match sit down interviews, Maeda has on a Spuds McKenzie Bud Light t-shirt. Just saying. This was in rounds and amusingly, the first time the ring girl comes out between round 1 and round 2 the place goes nuts. The first round was fought pretty conservatively. In the second, Maeda got a headlock takeover, but when he tried to hit a bunch of standling knees, Dolman was able to suplex him over. Neither guy was able to capitalize with holds though. They really went at it in the third. Dolman caught a leg early and hit a sweep. Maeda got a takedown and kneebar. But again neither could capitalize. Maeda tried to kick in the corner but could only get low shots. By the end of the third, Dolman looked pretty harrowed though. Right at the start of the 4th Maeda hit his exploder and got a kneebar and that was it. Solid clash of the titans but it had a ceiling. And back to the main event of 5/21/89 Maeda vs Yamazaki: Pretty crazy fight to make up for the fact that last time these two fought it ended too early due to a blood stoppage. I imagine people like this more than the Yamazaki vs Takada one but i think it was just a little too over the top. Early on Maeda was the storm and Yamazaki had to weather it, and he did, sneaking in holds along the way, including forcing a rope break or two. Maeda did the shootiest snap suplex in history maybe. He was just too big and too strong. Midway through things just got insane as they traded crazy kicks knocking each other down one after the other. Yamazaki kicked the hell out of Maeda, then Maeda got up pissed and kicked the hell out of Yamazaki and then Yamazaki got up and hit a spin wheel kick, then Maeda got a German on Yamazaki. Just rapid fire knockdowns. Felt almost too "spotty" for me in a way that I'd never seen a shoot style match up til this point feel. But yes, it was exciting. Things ground down to Yamazaki getting a choke on. The fans popped every time he turned it back over to regain control and then again when Maeda got to the ropes (4 knockdowns, which had to make the crowd think that maybe Yamazaki could really take this). That set up Maeda catching the foot, kicking the knee out (three kicks!) and then locking in a nasty triangle choke for the win. You can't say Yamazaki wasn't elevated in 89. Edited November 29, 2025 by Matt D
Curt McGirt Posted December 1, 2025 Posted December 1, 2025 Dunno if you're interested but Backlund had some pretty weird fights in BattlARTS too. Spoiler About an hour in: Backlund vs. Ishikawa And here is... oh god... 1
Matt D Posted December 3, 2025 Author Posted December 3, 2025 On 12/1/2025 at 1:13 PM, Curt McGirt said: Dunno if you're interested but Backlund had some pretty weird fights in BattlARTS too. Reveal hidden contents About an hour in: Backlund vs. Ishikawa And here is... oh god... I'll get there in 2037. For now, June 1989. Urgh, I need to read the Observers on why Inoki's gone. Let me do that. All these things want to talk about is No Holds Barred. The 6/5 Observer is still talking about Inoki planning to run NJPW in the USSR and make tons of money. They signed two more Olympics level Soviets. Also Kitao is coming in. None of this is what I want to know. Inoki is screwing around in the USSR trying to get boxers to fight in Japan. Oh no, Dave caught up with the TV and he's reviewing things. This is terrible. He hated Hashimikov vs Vader "although Hashimikov did a belly to belly." He's hating all of this stuff. Ok finally on to Inoki in the 7/3 Observer. Notes: Inoki is retiring to run for office. Does not seem to be forced out. Inoki owns 47% of NJPW stock. (TV Asahi owns much of the rest). Sakaguchi is the new president. Sakaguchi is ALSO retiring. That I didn't know. Soviets have made NJPW boom again. "Inoki's last coup" Inoki will remain on the board. Board is Nagasato (rep of Asahi), Fujinami, Yamamoto (who commentates too), Hoshino, Choshu, Saito. Dave hears the future will be Choshu as champ, with Kitao, Muto, and Hash as the big stars. Great, I can move on now. 6/16/89: Kengo Kimura vs Timur Zasalov: Zasalov is such a weird wrestler. He would get hot about leg kicks or punches (more like exasperated) and he would just hang on and get Kimura over no matter what. Just absolutely convoluted slams and pumphandles and whatever, where he'd just grab limbs and heft Kimura up and twist him around and drop him. It's fascinating to watch. Someone said it was like bad AI generated video and that is very funny. I can't imagine any of this was good on his back but obviously he was very strong. Kimura held his own with some simple takedowns, survived the big hefts, and then won it by getting a kick to the gut out of nowhere, a belly to back, and a half crab. 6/16/89: Liger vs Biff Wellington: Wellington had such a unique look, like a mini Road Warrior. Liger's gear is adapting. He has side horns now for instance, though they're not huge or anything. This was fairly back and forth. They crashed into each other early and I wasn't sure what they were going for it. It looked impressive but I wasn't sure who was supposed to get the better of it. A lot of trading of holds with a move in the middle as they switched advantage. The finish got a little wild as Wellington went to suplex Liger in on the apron. I thought Liger was going to float over on the way in but he suplexed them both to the floor instead. Then he hit a reverse flying headbutt and the first sit down pinning powerbomb I've seen out of him. That should have ended it but they went around another time or two with Liger catching Wellington off the top with a defensive dropkick and then hitting a German for the win. They went hard certainly, but they should be putting Liger over stronger in my opinion. More on that later. 6/16/89: Vader/Brad Rheingans vs Choshu/Saito: This went about five minutes. Brad as Vader's coach still sort of works for me but it would have worked better if he was still champ. He and Choshu mat wrestled to start, with it getting chippy and Brad getting a belly to belly off the ropes, letting him take over. He controlled the ring and he and Vader hit a backbreaker/running elbow drop combo. Vader hit an avalanche and then they did a deal on the outside where Bard whipped him into a Vader lariat so pretty dominant first few minutes here. Choshu floated in on a suplex on the apron and hit a lariat so that Saito could come in and knock Vader around with a lariat of his own. Vader took back over and they did another double team (Second rope Hart attack shoulder block). But Saito got the Saito suplex on Brad and Choshu lariated him to death. He got vader too and a second one on Bard to win it. Pretty fun sprint here. 6/16/89: Fujinami vs Great Kokina: Yoko is welcome addition to this roster. They call him "The Great Elephant of Eastern Asia" on the way in. Fujinami took it right to him with a clothesline but Kokina would keep knocking him down and getting him into holds. Fujinami hit a great dropkick and tried to ground him. They matched up well but while Yoko was smaller and more agile than he would be a couple of years later he didn't quite have that same presence. He leaned on Fujinami but Fujnami contained him too. This was sub-ten minutes and built to a big Fujinami slam and a half crab for a fairly quick submission. Good match to put Fujinami over at least. 6/22/89: Fujinami vs Vader: Right back to it. With Inoki gone, it made sense to lean on Fujinami immediately. Vader owed him a win from the tournament too. This had a great Vader Mask opening where Vader did the ritual and rushed through the smoke but ate a dropkick and then a lariat. That sent him to the floor. When he came back he took over and he leaned on Fujinami for most of this (which made sense given the finish). Fujinami sold well on the floor (leaning on the apron which is a thing I tend to love in babyfaces) and then reversed a whip for a hope spot but Vader took back over in ring. Fujinami reversed a suplex but Vader leaned back in on him. He was much more formidable as a mat wrestler (or presented that way at least). Just brutish strength with just enough technique. They traded big bombs on the finishing stretch. Vader had an advantage. Fujinami got an enziguri in but Vader hit an attack, a slam, a power slam. he missed a corner charge though and Fujinami got in a fairly weak belly to back and a small package for the win. Post match he attacked but Liger(!) of all people made the save which had to be a decision to light a fire under him since he was only slowly getting over. 6/22/89: Choshu/Saito vs Rheingans/Kokina: The subtitling keeps calling Brad "Bloody Ray Guns" which is funny. He and Kokina made a fun team. A lot of tight mat stuff (eventually vs Saito) and then this wild over the top sensationalism. Choshu was apt to get swept under but he also made sure to hold his own just enough (like with a rear naked on Brad) to make sure people knew that while vulnerable, he was a star. He'd let himself end up in a Kokina hold but then would fight out. Saito had a deal where he kept pulling Kokina's hair to keep a headlock on that was fun. Later on Kokina did one corner side charge on Saito that shook the entire ring. But Saito slammed him after a comeback and Choshu lariated him in the back and then the front for the win. In a world without the Soviets, I could have seen them going in much more with Kokina but here he was credible fodder for the top guys in a post-Inoki world. 1 1
Curt McGirt Posted December 3, 2025 Posted December 3, 2025 3 hours ago, Matt D said: I'll get there in 2037. Hey, I thought if you're doing UWF too, you might wanna give it a peek (and other folks too) 3 hours ago, Matt D said: Dave hears the future will be Choshu as champ, with Kitao, Muto, and Hash as the big stars. Also I forgot that Yoko wrestled in Japan. I wonder if they felt insulted by him aping their culture over here with his new gimmick.
Matt D Posted December 3, 2025 Author Posted December 3, 2025 Just now, Curt McGirt said: Hey, I thought if you're doing UWF too, you might wanna give it a peek (and other folks too) Also I forgot that Yoko wrestled in Japan. I wonder if they felt insulted by him aping their culture over here with his new gimmick. They called him "The Great Elephant of the Pacific" on his way to the ring here.
Curt McGirt Posted December 3, 2025 Posted December 3, 2025 From what I can see "kokina" means "high" or "exalted", so, the Great Exalted? Is there another translation that means "Elephant"? I mean that's a little different than throwing salt and being a pretend sumo, regardless if they say he's from the East.
DangerMark Posted December 6, 2025 Posted December 6, 2025 Kitao was a slug and a crazy person. On 12/3/2025 at 5:55 PM, Curt McGirt said: Also This is the other correct response to someone mentioning that idiot. 1
Matt D Posted December 8, 2025 Author Posted December 8, 2025 I had plenty of Kitao in this thread already and none positive. 6/22/89: Liger/Koshinaka vs Black Tiger/Biff Wellington: Start of this match was great as Tiger went to town on Liger with the flowers. But Liger and Koshinaka worked together to fire back. Liger knocked Biff out with a spin wheel kick and hit his crazy through the ropes dive. Koshinaka followed that up with a pile driver on the floor. So it was that kind of match. Tiger was good asserting himself, but it was fairly back and forth. It's Rocco so he'd eat a spike pile driver and would be back up getting atomic dropped or whatever twenty seconds later. Finish had Rocco holding Liger's foot on the top allowing Biff to superplex him, but then he missed a top rope knee drop. Koshinaka made it in, hit the butt butt and they went around for a hot stretch that ended with Rocco accidentally hitting Biff with the top rope kneedrop as he tried to break up a pin and then Liger hitting the Liger Bomb. Ok as a sprint but a little too out there. 6/27/89: Fujinami/Kimura vs Iizuma/Hase: This was pretty rough. Iizuma and Hase went to Russia to train. The good news is both of them came back with a sort of Urinage Exploder type suplex that they used late in the match. The bad news was everything else. Hase in 1988 was an incredibly dynamic wrestler, maybe too much so. He's super intense and full of a lot of interesting throws and strikes and takedowns and what not. Iizuma has one or two signature takedowns, but they're great and he could be fiery and work from underneath. This was as dull a grappling contest as I've seen in a few years of New Japan. There was just no life to any of it until the end. I get that they wanted to put forward the idea that Iizuma and Hase were newly skilled on the mat and pitting them against Fujinami/Kimura who had barely teamed in a while was a way to do it, but the results were way less compelling than this would have been two months prior. It didn't have any of the magic of UWF matches either. It felt more like what a match like this might look like in 1982 and the world had moved on. So Fujinami and Kimura won but Iizuma and Hase were shown to hang with the big flourishes at the end. I wasn't a fan overall though. 6/27/89: Choshu vs Vader: Vader took over quickly with a couple of lariats and bulling Choshu in the corner. Choshu came back in hot with strikes and tossed Vader out, doing real damage on the floor, tearing at the mask and posting him, really opening him up. Vader came right back in and they went back and forth like this a bit. Choshu would try to come back and get the Scorpion but Vader, pissed off and bloody, just took over and leaned hard on him. At one point he hit a bloody spectre of a top rope Vader Attack. But Choshu survived it, got his knee up on a splash and hit the belly to back, a slam, and a lariat. They both ended up outside but Vader hit the attack off the apron and got the count out. Pretty grisly match overall. 6/27/89: Liger/Nogami vs Sano/Sasazaki: First time we've seen this version of Yamada (being Liger) up against Sano. Sasazaki is a guy we've rarely seen in the footage, but he had a singlet that made him look like he was cosplaying as one of the Soviets and he even got pulled around by it. Nogami had black tights and really was no nonsense and credible though I can't say he stood out. It's tough to stand out in a world with Liger and Sano though. Sano was maybe the most athletic guy in Japan at this point. in another world, he would have been the great Juniors babyface of the 90s. He could have been Liger and it would have worked, even if would have been different. We came in with Liger suplexing someone off the apron and diving on them over the opening credits or whatever and it was pretty exciting stuff. Liger really bulled them early, especially Sano, which was interesting. They did come back and work Liger over later though. Finishing stretch was hot with a bit too much stuff (but this is normal). At one point Sasazaki tried to whip an opponent into a missile dropkick by Sano but the whip got reversed. He'd bounded up the ropes so quickly that they made it believable though. Liger won clean with the Liger Bomb which was starting to get over. UWF 6/19/89: Bart Vale vs Miyato: They upped the video effects on the way in with names on the screen. They also had trainees do an exhibition of what was legal and what wasn't with some strikes (elbows and toekicks to the face while someone was down). This was a little bit of a weird mismatch of a fight. Vale was almost solely a striker and Miyato could catch his kicks and take him down. But the size difference was so huge. Vale had such a reach advantage. So once Miyato got him down, he couldn't do much without getting kicked from the ground. When Vale got shots in they looked great, but it was a lot of both guys sort of stymied by one another in a less than compelling well. The finishing stretch was great with Miyato finally getting a half crab and screaming away after hitting a heel butt that he'd turned the tide on matches with. But Vale got out and as Miyato was trying to heft him over in a mare, he caught Miyato with a choke and dropped back at jarring speed to win.
Matt D Posted December 10, 2025 Author Posted December 10, 2025 UWF 2.0 6/19/89: Funaki vs Anjo: These UWF shows are very rewarding but they're also so much work and I'm glad I'm just doing small write-ups here. So much happens in the 22 minutes here. Anyway, I cannot wrap my head around Funaki yet (he's only 20!). On paper, he really should have stayed in NJPW as he matches their style much better. Obviously he grows into becoming the founder of Pancrase and whatever, but you watch him here and I just don't know. The comparison point for 89 Funaki, to me, is 86-7 Muto in the midst of the UWF vs NJPW battles, where he just stuck out like a sore thumb for being more "pro wrestling-y", but also brought something different to the table, something prettier and more sweeping. Some of it is aesthetics but a lot of it is how he moves. His expressiveness is a little more theatrical too, as is his attitude. Anjo always had a chip on his shoulder but Funaki inspired even more in him (and only in part because he was threatening Anjo's spot). He starts out by walking over and slapping Anjo in the face when Anjo tries to shake his hand. Anjo takes offense and they start scrapping with open hands. Funaki catches an Anjo kick but gets absolutely clocked by a spinning jumping kick. Great start. From there, they were very equal. I'd say that Anjo was better on points, but Funaki had a way of enduring and flowing through something or snatching a hold out of nowhere. Anjo was more dogged but Funaki didn't let someone be complacent. One of the biggest such moments of the fight had Anjo leaning over Funaki with a hold and Funaki just doing an upwards kick and flooring him from a prone position. Late in the match he kept throwing spin wheel kicks even when they weren't wise to throw anymore and he was finally able to tag Anjo in the corner. Some very good expressiveness from both wrestlers as they struggled to the ropes. On a half crab, Anjo couldn't believe that Funaki got there. At one point Funaki hit a very theatrical samoan drop and another a butterfly into a double underhook hold that he really worked for. Finish had them scrapping all over the place but Anjo jammed him on a German and dropped him right down into an armbar for the win. It's not the cleanest or crispest fight but it was full of heart and passion and it was very enjoyable. UWF 2.0 6/19/89: Fujiwara vs Suzuki: Adding Funaki, Suzuki and Fujiwara have really stacked these cards much more. They basically are able to add an extra match each card and freshen the pairings up. Fujiwara is absolutely fascinating to watch in these matches because he's generally quite passive and takes a lot right until someone transgresses too far or walks into a trap. Suzuki's attitude was wonderful in general. He walked right up and got into Fujiwara's face before the bell and got shoved for his trouble. This started great. They ended up on the ground and Fujiwara's ability to turn a leglock around in the most interesting way was amazing. It was almost like they were dancing or this was a martial arts movie but in the most credible way possible. It drove Suzuki nuts and he started paintbrushing Fujiwara, then kicking him, then hitting legdrops! You expected things to turn and turn hard once Fujiwara got up but he bided his time and they wrestled a bit more until Suzuki tried for the crab. Big mistake. After that Fujiwara started in on him in the corner. After that things stayed fairly even, but it really was just a matter of time. Suzuki hit a German but not clean. He went for the arm but Fujiwara turned it into a leglock. Fujiwara nailed him with a brutal headbutt. Suzuki stayed alive with kicks to the knee and a corner dropkick that was nasty. Fujiwara kicked him in the gut once. Suzuki caught the second and took him down. Then he got a twisting leglock which had Fujiwara selling with his face as much as I'd ever seen him, but he couldn't put him away with it and now it was Fujiwara's turn to go to the legs with kicks. He worked really hard for a Butterfly suplex, including kicking the leg right before he got him over, and got a kimura out of it for a tap. Post match they had the most heartfelt hug and Fujiwara seemed to have so, so much pride in him. Great stuff. UWF 2.0 6/19/89: Yamazaki vs Smiley: Interesting performance here. Yamazaki refused the shake at the start. The first few minutes felt almost avant garde or experimental, lots of flowing from one hold to the next and sweeping around. Yamazaki went from the leg to the arm quickly, Smiley rode him over, etc. Just a real sense of them playing with the form while having it still seem credible. There was a bit of that up and down the card and I wonder if they felt like they had the freedom to do that now that they were established or just saw a need to given the relative repetition so far. Things did get chippier as they went with bits like Smiley slamming his knee into Yamazaki's back repeatedly to get out of a hold or a real shoot looking knees dug in fisherman's suplex and wonky sort of dragon screw. Finish had Smiley catch a kick, drive a kick into the knee to set up a German but then immediately end up rolled over into a deep Fujiwara armbar that he had to tap on. The quality of everything from the finish of the first match to here has been very high. UWF 2.0 6/19/89: Maeda vs Takada: Here we go again. This was illuminating to me in some ways because it made me think about the structure of things. They wrestled clean early even with a bit of that flowing escape style (and a great Takada counter to the capture suplex where he just fell on him), but eventually, Maeda struck first with some kicks to a grounded Takada post break. Takada is Maeda's equal and he got up swiping at him. This led to him hitting a spin wheel kick of sorts, hitting clean. It was early in the fight so Maeda absorbed it and got the first real hold and eventually the first break of the fight. Shortly thereafter, however, Takada was able to get under Maeda with the first lifting slam (sort of a northern lights pick up then a spinebuster) and then the first suplex. But Maeda was able to get the first takedown and then another as he forced a third rope break. Takada was able to come back out of a feeling out reset by kicking Maeda right in the face and capitalizing. That's so much of how these matches go. Some of it is numerical, # of points on rope breaks or knockdowns (leading to the 5 and the TKO), mixed with capitalization on opportunities. Some of it is who gets X first and how is that responded to, but some of it is of the moment too. It's not momentum shifts really, so much as cumulative damage and qualitative and quantitative opportunities. It becomes Maeda's strength and reach against Takada's heart, but Maeda ultimately survived a knockdown and hit a German which let him lock in a half crab for the win. It was good but given the outcome feels a little old maybe. One problem is that as best as I can tell there's no belt they're fighting over. It's just pride and money I guess? 1
DangerMark Posted December 13, 2025 Posted December 13, 2025 On 12/8/2025 at 2:43 PM, Matt D said: I had plenty of Kitao in this thread already and none positive. Without wanting to spoil things too for you, he left Sumo under a cloud and he leaves NJPW under a cloud, too.
Matt D Posted December 17, 2025 Author Posted December 17, 2025 7/2/89: Kengo Kimura vs Super Strong Machine: These 7/2 matches are HHs. This went fairly long but it was good, hard hitting, heated at times. I think it might have been building to a tag title match. Nothing over the top. Jousting on the mat. Eventually Kimura would go for the mask (which didn't happen often). or try to use his punching. SSM had size and could cut him off. So very even. It built to a couple of Inazuma leg lariats but SSM got his foot on the rope. It's not that Kimura didn't have other finishers but he never one with the Inazuma. Very much like late 80s-early 90s Tito Santana's flying forearm. SSM recovered but missed the top rope headbutt and they ended up getting counted out and posturing with chairs postmatch. 7/2/89: Masa Saito vs Big Van Vader: Saito as a super over AWA babyface is awesome. He takes a beating for a bit and then comes backs and slams Vader and knocks him out and plays to the crowd like he's Hogan and it's so great. He'd fed for it so many times in WWWF and AWA and he knew its power. Vader was also so much farther along. He won this with a lariat out of nowhere but then played to the crowd on the outside and everyone was just happy to be there and witness this clash of the titans. 7/2/89: Fujinami/Liger/Iizuka vs Wellington/Black Tiger/Kirschner: 15 minutes that was all action. Tiger is not someone who was used a ton over these years, in part because I think he didn't mesh well with the UWF style when Takada was on top of the juniors (or Koshinaka). But he's perfect for Liger. This is one of only a handful of matches where Fujinami and Liger teamed before Fujinami's injury. Kirschner brought size for his team but the pairings were fluid. My favorite one might have been him vs Liger actually as Liger had to overcome by slipping through the legs. Liger did have a way of just throwing himself at people with his body blocks and clotheslines which felt larger than life. Tiger hit some of his big stuff (kneeling pile driver, armless pedigree, missed the somersault senton). Iizuka got to do some of his tricked out takedowns and holds. Wellington did hit a second rope legdrop but he was more of a bullying presence. Really there was a break up from the outside at almost ever meaningful point so it was chaotic. Liger finally won it with a victory roll out of nowhere which sort of made sense as it took him away from the interference. A nice novelty. 7/2/89 (WKA): Onita vs Masashi Aoyagi: As best as I can tell, this was a martial arts festival in memory of Ikki Kajiwara who was the creator of Tiger Mask and Star of the Giants and that had passed away in 87. This aired on TV but most things but this were clipped. So I'll cover a couple more small things later. I didn't cover the 88 version because it just had a Fujiwara match for things I had been covering (but a few AJPW matches too and some AJW). As tempted as I am to cover every Onita match, I really can't. Let alone getting into Goto or whoever else. I have to draw a line somewhere and that's going to be especially true once UWF 2.0 starts to splinter. But I'm glad I saw this because someone became sort of clear to me. I keep looking for the heir to Inoki in NJPW and he's not there. I already know he's not there in AJPW. It's because in so many ways that matter, it's Onita. The thing is, Onita is not a god like Inoki. He's just a man. But he's a man possessed by that same spirit. So he's going to rush in at every point, do cheapshots, fight fight fight, and (eventually) be absolutely beloved by the crowd (here maybe less so but I'm not convinced they weren't popping for him even if the seconds were enraged). Aoyagi is a Segunda Caida favorite with his karate gi and brutal shots and he dominates most fair exchanges here in this weird round based fight, but Onita keeps charging in at him like a man possessed (by Inoki) and eventually headbutts him and stays on it, leaving him a bloody mess, just dropping blood. They do a deal where he propels Aoyagi over the top but the match restarts, and then when Aoyagi is bleeding out, the ref tries to stop Onita and Onita clocks him. The spirit of Inoki. That's my new theory. 7/2/89 (WKA): Fujiwara vs Ismael Changaney: We only get one minute of this so there's not much to say. It ended as a Draw. Fujiwara looked like he took some stuff to draw the kickboxer in like he always does. I'd like to see the whole thing even if Fujiwara may not be best in different style fights. 1
Matt D Posted December 20, 2025 Author Posted December 20, 2025 7/2/89 (WKA): T.Goto vs Hashimoto: This was the NJPW representation here. And GOTO IS NOW BLONDE. This is big news. I didn't think that happened until later. Where the hell has he been. He's grown his hair out too. Looks like a totally different guy. He's just been there on the undercard. I just checked. Anyway, we only get a minute of this which is basically hitting a belly to back which kind of became a German and then Hashimoto landing on him on a second attempt. Then we get a Hash DDT and triangle for the win. 7/2/89 (WKA) Cutie Suzuki vs Rumi Kazama: This is almost two minutes and it feels like it was cut up by someone who doesn't understand how pro wrestling narratives work. just random bits of action. Cutie Suzuki is far, far in my future right now as I go through the 80s set. She lost to a German. It was more interesting for how crazily it was clipped honestly. 7/2/89: Choshu vs Kokina: Back to the NJPW handheld. Kokina had some cool poses, things he'd lose later as he fell into gimmicks. He leaned pretty hard on Choshu for a lot of this. Thus is the Choshu way. Past maybe 90s babyface Savage, there's no wrestler I can think of who had to charge his "special" meter by taking damage. Kokina did a ton of falling headbutts throughout the match. When he finally missed one, Choshu slammed him and hit the lariat for the win. 7/3/89: Fujinami/Choshu vs Takano/Super Strong Machine (c): Ok, so here's the deal. That crummy belly to back that Fujinami hit on Vader in June (for a show that did a really good rating actually). That gave him a massive hernia. Wikipedia says that he stopped wrestling after it but here he is, wrestling. And he wrestled in that six man on 7/2 as well. He works Takano early and they wrestle. SSM does strength vs Choshu which is always cool to see. But as Fujinami goes for a belly to back, it becomes stunted again, like with Vader, and he's holding his back for much of the rest of the match. They actually seem to figure it out and start working the back so I have no idea what's going on here. If I had to guess, it was an... I don't even know. I'll read about it in the observer later, but that's dubious. Dave still comments on how Fujinami broke himself to get Vader over, which come on, Vader was already over by this point. Whatever. Eventually Fujinami, even after hitting the Dragon Backbreaker/dragon sleeper combo on SSM (Takano breaks it up), ends up on the floor, being tended to. Choshu does ok on his own for a while, but the numbers game get him. He hits the lariat on Takano but SSM breaks it up and then they do their double team clothesline/spin wheelkick and a top rope headbutt and they score what was a big upset even though they were the champs and I THINK this is it for Fujinami. If I had to guess, they knew he was hurt but not how hurt he was and he made it worse in the match and they sort of ... adapted accordingly. I'll learn more later.
Matt D Posted December 24, 2025 Author Posted December 24, 2025 (edited) I've watched a bunch of stuff but with the holidays it's going to be hard to write all of this up. I must persevere. 7/3/89: Liger vs Shinji Sasazaki: I'm honestly struggling with these early Liger matches because they tend to lack meaningful transitions. Lots of cool stuff, almost too much cool stuff but really lacking in the narrative tissue. This did have cool stuff. Sasazaki had a singlet like the soviets and he hit a German from the start and then a whirlybird. Liger came back with a mutalock and the koppu kick. Then they went to the mat with figure-fours. But nothing with consequence. Sasazaki hit a slam but missed an elbow drop off the top. Liger hit the belly to belly off the ropes but missed a body press. Sazasaki hit a German but Liger reversed the next. Then they went into roll ups. Boom boom boom. Liger got a tombstone but Sasazaki was RIGHT up to stop him. Liger floated over on a superplex attempt and hit another kick. He hoisted him up for a superplex of his own and locked in a cool crossface type armhold. Post match Sano made a challenge. Liger pulled the hand back on a shake and Sano attacked. It's fun sprinty stuff but nothing has weight. 7/3/89: Hase/Iizuka vs Vader/Rheingans: This was a cool match because it wasn't building to Hase/iizuka winning but instead to them getting to use their new sambo suplexes on Vader and Rheingans, so they tried them as the match went on and then got cut off and then finally got to hit them. Sometimes a match isn't just about who wins and loses but victories can be moral and that was the case here. Anyway, they're calling Rheingans the "Blonde Supercomputer" now, so that's a thing for you to know. They did pretty well against him throughout but Vader would come in to shut things down. As noted, Hase finally got the exploder (of sorts) on Vader and everyone went nuts but he recovered quickly with a Vader Attack and corner charge and lariat to win. 7/12/89: Super Strong Machine/Takano vs Koshinaka/Iizuka: Fun ten minute match. A little bit back and forth to start with Takano working over Iizuka, both of them working over Super Strong Machine (attacking the leg), and Iizuka getting swept back under. He had a great comeback dropkicking both SSM and Takano at once and then hitting a great German on SSM and then Koshinaka hit a butt butt and then the best super butt butt I've ever seen. Iizuka followed it with an exploder with a bridge, and really even after Takano came back in they kept up the pressure, but they couldn't put him away and eventually SSM and Takano were able to take over with a corner spin wheel kick/clothesline/single arm suplex combo for the win. 7/12/89: Liger vs Black Tiger [European Rounds]: Interesting match. The rounds did change things up a bit. In general they were to reset after both guys ended up on the mat after dives or some such and then Tiger had a sense of using a dirty trick at the start of each round, whether it be attacking Liger with the flowers that Liger tossed out at the start or pulling the ringpost protector back and attacking, that sort of thing. But Liger kept getting the better of him time and again and turning it around. Some of the late match stuff was frustrating like Tiger juts no selling a tombstone so he could lunge to the top to counter a Liger move and the finish was very abrupt with Liger just catching him with his head down off the ropes and hitting a Liger bomb. Tiger's offense always looks so great. The no arm pedigree, the over the shoulder backbreaker, the scoop slam tombstone. The rounds helped more than they hurt in forcing some transitions. Sano was watching from afar as they kept building to that match. 7/12/89: Choshu vs Hashimikov: The title match. And I have no idea what the plan was before they lost Inoki and Fujinami but it likely wasn't this. The conventional wisdom is that Choshu never recovered from the Maeda incident but if you listen to his crowd reactions and see his intensity in 88 and 89 up til that point, I just don't see it. He may not be the same ratings dynamo as he was when even his wedding popped a huge rating, but he's still over with live crowds and he feels like a star. Matches are more important for him being in them. Part of it is the nature of his matches too, which probably threw some sheet-readers. He had a tendency to get beaten on and beaten on until he just got fed up and started firing back. It was a creative choice but it generally worked and that's what happened here. Hashimikov had these crazy exploders that were slightly different than what you usually see and just beat the crap out of Choshu. He had a long toehold and hit the waterwheel slam too close to the ropes and then again on the floor. But Choshu survived a suplex attempt back in and then started firing off on him and hit two lariats, one to the back of the head and one to the front and barely held him down for the three and the title win and it did feel like a big deal even if the match was maybe a bit subdued due to the structure. Edited December 31, 2025 by Matt D
AxB Posted December 25, 2025 Posted December 25, 2025 I always wondered why the Exploder used to be called the Soviet Suplex. But now I'm wondering why it was changed to being called Exploder. 1
Matt D Posted January 1 Author Posted January 1 7/13/89: Liger vs Sano: Right from the get go, these two seemed so well matched up. The opening feeling out was great with them bounding about. Then they traded holds for a while. Sano had an early advantage, including a tapitia but then Liger got one later that was even more tricked out. Sano pressed him with rope running and moves but Liger reversed it and controlled. When Sano tried to come back, he collapsed a couple of times from the damage and Liger pressed in with a dragon sleeper. Sano had his big bound over comeback though and a ton of big offense, including some dives. At each time, Liger seemed to have an answer though. Sano was wrestling his best match but it wasn't quite enough. They crashed into each other with dropkicks at the end and then bonked heads on a belly to back where they both took the brunt of it, ending in a double KO as neither could meet the count. You can see here why Sano would have to escalate things later maybe. 7/13/89: Super Strong Machine/Takano vs Choshu/Iizuka: The big title match. Apparently Choshu was with Iizuka because Hase was working on Inoki's campaign, but it's also part of the big Choshu push with both Fujinami and Inoki gone. A lot of this was back and forth. Hard to find throughlines. I will say that Iizuka tried to go after SSM's leg but it really didn't work out for him. Things got chippy between Iizuka and Takano and SSM and Choshu and both were welcome but never really boiled over. Everyone sort of held their own against one another in ways you'd expect. SSM tried to get revenge on Iizuka's leg and even hit his own version of an exploder at one point. The champs had more tandem offense including a nice big where Takano held on to Iizuka as he was trying for an octopus and SSM came down off the top on him. They did isolate Iizuka in the back corner but he dodged a double team move and made a diving tag to Choshu. They still had the advantage though and Choshu had to survive a diving headbutt from SSM. Finish had iizuka take a bully for Choshu off a double team whip and Choshu hit two lariats on Takano while Iizuka did his leg takedown on SSM. Post match Iizuka jumped right into Choshu's arms and it was a great moment really. I have no idea how long Choshu and Iizuka are tag champs but while SSM and Takano had a worthwhile run, I didn't love their match structures half the time and I'm ready to move on. 7/13/89: Big Van Vader vs Hashimikov: Vader, of course, has to get his win back, but we do get more of Hash as a pro wrestler, which is a fun transition. He's figuring it out. Winding up and hitting clotheslines. Vader's also really finding his presence. He's a beast on the mat now in a way that he wasn't before. Hashimikov throws him a couple of times and tosses him to the floor but Vader comes back with a vengeance with headbutts and a vader attack in the corner. Hash dodges it and hits a German and the Waterwheel slam, but Vader gets a foot on the ropes and shuts him down with a lariat and a big splash. That doesn't get it done but the subsequent slam and belly to belly does. Just a fun all bombs super heavyweight style. 7/28/89: 5x5 USA vs Japan Kido vs Manny Fernandez: we come in JIP here and that's a shame as this probably had good matwork. Manny hit the burrito but couldn't get the win. Kido came back with a body press and dodged a corner charge for a roll up for 2. Then he got a small package for 3. Kimura vs Mike Haff: Haff was a Sawyer trainee and this should have been Rheingans if it couldn't have been Doc. Haff did have a good early takeover, but a lot of this was just clumsy and not compelling. A lot of guzzling and close up containment that wasn't exciting. Kimura opened things up with strikes but Haff caught him out of nowhere with a power slam for 3. M. Saito vs Buzz Sawyer: Really good pairing here. Buzz was vocal and active trying to work Saito on the mat. He hit some suplexes including a great gutwrench but Saito came back with two Saito suplxes. He won it with another couple of small packages (the first not doing it). This had a chippy unpredictable feel overall but not as tight or smart as some other 5x5s maybe? Hase vs Murdoch: Inoki was commenting so I guess that explains why Hase could be there. They showed Fujinami in the crowd too. Loved this pairing. Murdoch is a great Hase opponent. This was all about Murdoch working the arm and he kept it varied and interesting. Once he had Hase where he wanted him, he worked him over on the apron and in the corner. Hase had an amazing lariat out of the corner to come back though. He hit a suplex and then another great lariat (with wind up) and slapped Murdoch in the corner but he ran into a killer back elbow when he tried a corner charge and Murdoch crushed him with the brainbuster. Choshu vs Vader: This was sort of a cliff notes version of their usual match. Choshu took a lot early just by being aggressive and striking first, keeping Vader out of the ring and attacking when he was vulnerable. But Vader took over on the floor and then pressed in the ring, crushing Choshu with lariats and avalanches. Choshu would get a hope spot on a suplex reversal but Vader would keep leaning on him, including the top rope Vader attack. Choshu would come out of the corner strong with a lariat and toss Vader out and whack him with a chair. They did the finish they once did with Saito and Choshu where Vader, on the apron, and Choshu in the ring, rushed at each other and hit simultaneous lariats leading to a count out win for Choshu and the series going to Japan.
username Posted January 1 Posted January 1 I just wanna drop in to say that this is probably my favorite regular write-up deal that you do, the segunda caida blog included. This whole era is a big blindspot for me and I at least feel now that I have a feel for the major players in it.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now