Matt D Posted April 17 Author Posted April 17 4 hours ago, AxB said: Not much Vader in Europe footage, eh? Sorry, meant for this 1989 tour! We have yamada right before he became Liger for 89 as well, but not this specific tour either.
Matt D Posted April 20 Author Posted April 20 (edited) Alright, let's write some random, train of thought, impressions on NJPW in 1989. It was clearly a year of transition. We start with the Power Elite: Inoki, Choshu, Fujinami (in that order, despite the fact that Fujinami is champion). They mainly face off against Vader/Bigelow/Rip Morgan and while it's nice to see the camaraderie between Vader and Bigelow, and still sort of novel to see the three big pillars all teaming together, it gets old quick. I like the Choshu vs Bigelow pairing the most out of these, though Vader vs Fujinami is okay too. All of this was basically keeping time until the Russians came. And they come (I guess conveniently) just as Fujinami blows out his back trying to suplex Vader, taking him out for the year. This, along with Funaki jumping (more on that later), helps along the elevation of Hashimoto which really does take place through most of the year on the way to him being Hashimikov/Vader by countout towards the end of the year. But it does have an early jut up as he beats Choshu, in a shock decision, during the one night tournament to decide the new champion. It's such an amazing shock to lose both Inoki and Fujinami at the same time. They were the constants through all the other changes in the 80s. Choshu becomes the nominal centerpiece, beating both Hashimikov for the title (though he'd lose it to Vader soon enough) and winning the tag titles with Iizuka. A chunk of that gap is filled with the Russians. The Red Bull Army had their quirks: Hashimikov was a monster who seemed teachable, Zangiev a charismatic natural with flair and his headtwist, Berkovich a beatable force to heat people up for the top guys, Evleov amusing as he always got flustered when people used pro wrestling tactics against him. The big advent, however, was the creation of a house style for the middle part of the year, a sort of athletic, big booming, super heavyweight, throw based style that felt a lot like the Brock-esque WWE video game main event style of the late 10s. Just with less big dumb moves I guess and a bit more grounded in actual mat wrestling, so it was, in my mind, kind of superior. Guys like Vader, Hashimoto, and Choshu slotted right in and I thought it was actually a great counter to the UWF. Very fun short matches with a lot of bombs and snug competitiveness. This led to the three country series which ended up being a lot of fun even if you had a no one in there instead of Doc. It's also sort of the last hurrah for Murdoch as his contract wouldn't be renewed. We don't have all of it but we have something like four of the six matches and there are some great rousing performances in it, including Hase at the end using the Octopus for Inoki to win it for Japan. Hase, himself, went with Iizuka to the USSR to train with them and comes back with a couple of new Sambo suplexes (including the exploder), but he also disappears to work on Inoki's campaign so he doesn't get a strong push throughout the year despite his big moment. Iizuka is more steadily pushed instead. The Tag Title scene for the first half of the year gives us a lot of Takano/Super Strong Machine and despite being bigger, they have real Footloose vibes for me. Lots and lots of action, not a lot of resonance, extended finishing stretches. Formless mush that is still exciting. When they're in there against a team that can focus them, like Saito/Choshu (in one of the best NJPW matches of the year) it's great. But usually, it's someone like Koshinaka who is just going to make it worse. One of the funniest moments of the year was Thesz reffing and watching as Takano and (I think) Goto just headbutted each other for no reason or reaction for a minute. We don't get a lot with either Choshu/iizuka (due to his busy schedule in other matches as well and the lack of footage in October) or Hashimoto/Saito because Saito leaves to train Kitao, who they are treating as the great hope for 90. The Juniors division really carry the summer. Liger starts off kind of rough, doing a bit more lucha but not fully fleshed out, but once he starts working Sano and Hoshino, things tighten up. Nogami comes in out of nowhere and has a ton of energy. There's a great comp in there when you look at their tags and singles matches. It becomes a bit less of a focus towards the end of the year with Liger abroad and Sano sort of drawn into the Wild Trio/Blond Outlaws. What really got Liger over? Six-mans with Vader where he stood up to him. That can't be underrecognized. Speaking of them, they give the midcard a shot in the arm, so long as they're allowed to move up and not just feuding with Kobayashi/Koshinaka/etc. forever. But they were brawling and cheating in a way that hadn't really been done in any meaningful way since I started this project. You had a bit with Ueda/Gaspars/Pogo+Nagasaki but this is just different. More integrated. More self-aware. Batman shirts. Old rivalries. In general, Sakaguchi (and Arakawa) retired, Kimura did not get elevated even though you figured he could have made a run at a main event spot with everyone gone, and Koshinaka just remained a supporting player. So it was Hashimoto's elevation and Chono's return and immediate thrust into the upper midcard (plus a bit of Iizuka as mentioned) which felt like the future. Chono is interesting. He was treated as credible and has some big offense, the flying shoulder tackle off the top, the THUDDING samoan drop, and the STF, of course, but he came across more like an all arounder, almost, and this is going to sound weird because we don't associate him that way, filling the Fujinami spot, if Hashimoto is almost more in the Inoki spot in some ways. But we'll see how things develop. He was scrappy and had some big matches with Choshu and Hashimoto during the quasi-G1. For Americans, it was Vader and Bigelow throughout the year and a lot of a surprisingly credible Rheingans, with Morgan early, and Doc later. Manny and Buzz were good to see for the 5x5 and some of the later stuff too, but we're missing a lot of their incidental stuff. Haynes was a disaster in fall and Bloom is unremarkable for the bit we have him in. Of note, Black Tiger comes in and helps Liger along both in the middle of the year and at the end in Moscow. So we're really left with a lot of unknowns. Kitao is the great hope (oops). The Soviets are useful role players at times now but who knows if they have staying power. Chono is elevated. Hashimoto is a main eventer. Choshu is headed to the dome to face Vader (they still say there will be an NWA title match with Flair vs Muta and AWA with Zbyszko vs Fujinami on the card). You can get some mileage out of Blond Outlaws vs Choshu and partners as the challenge has been made. Inoki will come in sparingly. No one knows if and when Fujinami will return. And even past the flair match, Muta is always a card to be played someday. There were periods of drudgery for the year, especially early on and it's a shame we have so little footage in October, and so little of the round robin parts of the World Cup League, but in general, I enjoyed the year, as much for the chaos and uncertainty and how things shook up as the stability of it all. There's a one night Dream Tag team tournament to start 90 where people have unique non-normal partners and I'll get to that soon. I'll do a quick write up of UWF before I do the January 90 fights too. If you're following along, thanks! Edited April 20 by Matt D 3 1
Matt D Posted April 21 Author Posted April 21 Ok, on to 1990. Things to know. The first couple of dates on the tours are always Japanese only apparently, so that's why they ran this tournament on 1/5. There will be a talent sharing arrangement with Doc working AJPW and Hansen maybe working NJPW. Sakaguchi works better with Baba than Inoki did but they're also dealing with UWF's success and the fact that WWF is going to run later in the year. Though things play out in unexpected ways, of course. Kitao will debut in the dome against Bigelow with Thesz as his second apparently. There was a big angle where a the Blond Outlaws attacked Choshu/Kobyashi/Hase in a parking lot and I'll have to try to find it. 1/5/90: So there's a one night dream tag tournament where establish guys team with less established guys OR where all the pairings are brand new, one or the other. It's a way to use all the Japanese talent in a new and interesting way and to cover the fact there wasn't the usual tag league since they did the proto-G1 instead. Here are the pairings. Kengo Kimura/Osamu Matsuda Osamu Kido/Hiroshi Dairi Masa Saito/Black Cat Shinya Hashimoto/Akira Katayama Riki Choshu/Hirokazu Hata George Takano/Akira Nogami Super Strong Machine/Naoki Sano Funny thing. I had forgotten until now that Matsuda is El Samurai. I can write a post like the one right above this and still not know that. Very funny to me. Oops. Katayama is not anyone of note though. He goes to SWS later and is retired by 92. Dairi I haven't seen any footage of as of yet but he's done by the end of the year. We have some of these matches at least. 1/5/90: Chono/Koshinaka vs Choshu/Hata [First Round]: Just the last minute. Hata gets an enziguiri on Chono, and then a big German but Koshinaka breaks it up, gets the tag, hits the butt butt, and gets a backslide before Choshu could make the save. A bit of an upset in its own way even if Hata was low on the hierarchy. 1/5/90: Chono/Koshinaka vs Kimura/Matsuda [Semi-Finals]: Interesting to see Kimura and Chono together. We come in JIP but get a chunk of this and Kimura/Matsuda control, grinding down on Chono with headscissors and a chinlock. Matsuda has a nice punch but some of his dropkicks seem to miss at this point. Chono gets the tag to Koshinaka but they stay on him. This is a friendly tournament and Kimura still takes him outside and cracks him over the head with a chair. Shiro tries to come back with the butt butt, but Kimura runs past the second one and hits the leg lariat and power bomb. Chono breaks it up. He takes over on Matsuda with a neckbreaker, butterfly suplex, inverted atomic drop. He's got a decent amount of varied stuff. Matsuda comes back but Chono shuts him down with the samoan drop and STF for the win. 1/5/90: Super Strong Machine/Sano vs Saito/Black Cat [Semi-Finals]: Cat bullies Sano early but then he bounds up and over (even as Cat is flexing) and dropkicks him. It's always cool to see Saito and SSM go at it as Saito just eats his stuff before taking over. They control on him for a bit until he fights back but then they sweep Sano under until he can hit a spin wheel kick and come back too. SSM takes over on Saito including hitting the diving headbutt but Cat breaks it up. Some good stuff with SSM absorbing Cat's shots until he gets under him for a great looking urinage. That's broken up with a Sano double stomp leading into the stretch. SSM hits a German, Saito kicks the leg out. Sano dropkicks Saito out and hits a dive (big pop). That leaves SSM to hit corner clotheslines and his single arm front chancery suplex with a bridge (looks great) for the win. 1/5/90: Chono/Koshianka vs Super Strong Machine/Sano [Finals]: Sano comes out strong against Chono but they double team him pretty quickly, sealing the deal with a spike pile driver. That lets them beat on Sano for a few minutes before he reveres things on the outside and fires back. SSM takes over on Chono including a big dropkick. Koshinaka cycles in but gets posted on the outside. Chono and Koshinaka can tag but it's not going well for them. Sano takes out Koshinaka with a missile dropkick and Chono with a baseball slide. SSM locks in a nasty legbar on Chono, followed by a half crab. They hit a double suplex on him and Sano locks in a crab. Koshinaka hits the butt butt on Sano while he has the crab on however. It's a short lived comeback as Koshinaka loses a headbutt war with SSM and Sano is able to get a Gangrel suplex and superplex on Chono. Sano puts on a figure four but Koshinaka comes in for a legdrop. That's enough for Chono to hit the samoan drop. SSM tries to break up the pin with a diving headbutt but Chono gets out of the way and he tags his own partner. That sets up a nasty belly to back by Chono, the butt butt by Koshinaka (who then takes out SSM), and then the diving shoulder block and STF to throw the tournament to Chono/Koshinaka. Pretty fun one night deal from what we saw. 1/6/90: Choshu/Super Strong Machine/Kengo Kimura vs Goto/Honaga/Saito: The big match where is the Outlaws lose they have to be first match guys. I think I missed what they get if they win. Interesting that Choshu has Kengo with him. This is just a HH and it's crazy this wasn't even on TV. They're pretty civilized to start as they get their names announced but it breaks down quickly with Choshu's side getting the advantage (ramming the Outlaws into each other in the middle of the ring). They're able to beat up Goto (SSM headbutts the hell out of him and tosses him around) and Honaga but for this first wave, Saito avoids the worst of it. Finally they want Saito but that's a mistake as he's able to get Kimura in the corner and the Outlaws take over. But after a mauling, Kimura drives Saito into the cornera nd he's Choshu's now. That goes exactly how you'd expect and is satisfying. Then SSM beats him up more. They draw him back into the corner though and take over until he jams Honaga, getting under him and driving him down. Kimura comes in with his punches, but Honaga gets a low blow. Kimura finally punches his way out of it and Choshu's in to clear house. SSM misses a second rope elbow drop and they start attacking his mask. Which I've never seen in three years of this basically. Choshu stomps at Saito but can't stop him and Goto gets it off. This causes the fans to go nuts. They start screaming HIRATA! over and over and he makes the desperate tag. Choshu makes it in. hits the Lariat on goto. Slams him. Pins him. And what the hell? SSM comes off the top, maskless with a headbutt onto Choshu as he's pinning him. Shocking and honestly confusing. Him fighting back to the corner maskless was such a cool moment but now he's turning as well, even after spending the whole match beating on the outlaws. He lariats Choshu and Goto follows with one of his own and the Outlaws win as the fans go nuts and all the seconds storm the ring. Observer was useless. I have no idea why this happened but I do know there's more coming with SSM. 1/6/90: Hase vs Iizuka: Very cool singles as these are the two guys who went off to learn Sambo. A lot of this was worked on the mat and fairly even. Lots of tricked out escapes and leverage moves. Lots of hanging on to one another as well. Hase would try to open things up, first with a belly to back and then with headbutts, but Iizuka would slow it back down with holds. A match of inches where half the takeovers were jammed. Iizuka finally started slapping away and got a crab on. Hase got to the ropes and started to fire back but Iizuka turned it into a kneebar and then a half crab. Hase was hurting now and Iizuka got a belly to back and missile dropkick. Hase went behind on a German attempt but Iizuka got the cool kneebar again. Finish had Hase go for the Northern lights, desperately, get jammed with Iizuka pressing him into the corner, hitting a dropkcik there, going for a takeover with the leg hooked, getting jammed and German suplexed, and Hase putting him away with the Northern Lights. Even though it didn't quite boil over as much as you might want, this was very good overall. 2
Matt D Posted April 27 Author Posted April 27 1/6/90: Chono/Liger vs Hashimoto/Sano: Very fun match full of contrasts and fresh pairings. Hashimoto and Liger to start. Liger ran at him again and again until he staggered him and hit the rolling kappo kick. Fun moment. In later exchanges, the bigger guy would generally control on the smaller. Not Sano's first exchange with Chono though as he dropkicked him out and hit a crazy tope as the rails were close to the ring. They took over on Sano with a double back elbow though and controlled Sano for a bit until he could get to Hashimoto. Hash vs Chono was still a big deal and felt like one. Later on Liger hit both a plancha and a pretty crazy flip dive, given the rail situation. Chono got the STF on both Sano (Hash broke it up) and Hash (Hash got to the ropes). Finish had Liger hold Sano for Chono's big shoulder block off the top only for Sano to move. Then Hashimoto crushed him with a near Emerald Flosion off the ropes and finished him with a brutal spin wheel kick where he just landed on him and pinned him. 1/6/90: Nogami vs Matsuda: Hard to tell them apart given the handheld, but Nogami has kneepads. They were mostly on the mat for the first two thirds. Matsuda was the aggressor early, including some elaborate holds, but Nogami got out of all of them and then took over for a bit. He had a great running European Uppercut of sorts midway and did open things up with a corner whip and huge knee. Hot finishing stretch where Matsuda shrugged him to the floor and then, when he tried to come back in on a suplex, actually hit a stunner, 95% accurate, on him. In 1990. Stretch had them fighting over a German and Nogami won, as much as anything else, because he got it first. This was a part of some Jr. Heavyweight series for a title shot, btw. We don't have the rest of the card, but the only match I'm really missing is Kido/Kobayashi vs Hoshino/Masa Saito. UWF 2.0 1/16/90: Miyato vs Kevin Kastelle: Kastelle looks like a Florida Bart Vale type guy. Kickboxer. Lanky. Not ripped in any way. He scored some good kicks on Miyato with that clear range advantage too. But that's the only trick he had and Miyato is used to fighting monsters week in and week out. He got underneath, threw kicks at legs, wore him down, could catch a leg and put on a hold. Against the top guys, Miyato is clearly an underdog. Against the middle-card, he's even but he has to rope-a-dope and wear people out. Against Kastelle, he was a shark playing with his food, even admitting that the food could get some dangerous shots in. Eventually, though, it was time to end this, and he did with his spinning heelbutts (twice) and a belly to belly into a half crab. UWF 2.0: 1/16/90: Suzuki vs Wellington Wilkins, Jr.: Wikins is Canadian and kind of wrestles in the Stampede way you'd expect, but he was a Malenko trainee so through the Florida pipeline. But he was a real pitbull here. And he had to be. Look, I've seen enough of 89 and now 90 Suzuki, as well as enough of guys like Footloose, Sano, Liger, etc. and I'm familiar with Owen and Pillman and whoever else (though I can't really age people in lucha; a lot of the young stars of the 90s are still a couple of years away). Suzuki is the most exciting young wrestler in the world at this point. It took me by surprise because I'm so used to who he is now. He's incredibly dynamic. Electric. He bursts across the ring with these absolute bolts of speed. There's one moment where he just gets under Wilkins and gets a fireman's carry and it's a simple move but it's so good because it comes out of nowhere. The high point of the fight comes with him getting underneath him, spinning him around and dropping him and then dropkicking him out of the ring. It's completely believable because of the set up. Absolutely electric. Wilkins was a pitbull (a rabid wolverine in his own way). He just grasped on and tried to hold on to the wild ride that was fighting Suzuki. Even when he had a hold on, though, Suzuki was kicking his legs and flailing and creating motion to gain positioning. It was a real fight for every inch. But Suzuki was always closing the distance, always swiping, always getting knees in. Always looking for an opening, and he finally got one with a suplex into a deep half crab for the win. UWF 2.0: 1/16/90: Fujiwara vs Nakano: I'd been looking forward to this since I first found out it existed and it actually wildly overachieved my hopes for it, which were quite high. This could be one of my favorite matches of all time, honestly. Nakano is an incredibly self aware fighter. He knows his limitations. He knows his strengths. He knows what he has to do to win. Generally, when he fails, it's simply because he is limited and he couldn't accomplish it against amazing fighters. Fujiwara? Fujiwara is omnipotent. He knows everything. Nakano fully realizes his only hope is to press down upon Fujiwara with the full weight of his power. To take it to him and never, ever stop. Fujiwara's technique is so good, however, his balance and footwork and understanding of leverage, that he is three times bigger than he looks. That means after he maneuvers around Nakano the first time on the mat, the desperation sets in and Nakano starts firing off headbutts to the back of Fujiwara's head until he can get out. Next exchange, Fujiwara is able to drive him down for the armbar, but Nakano rolls, gets the ropes, and then instead of breaking clean kicks Fujiwara in the back on the ground. He's signing his own death warrant, and it's not some sort of youthful arrogance. It's emotion overtaking him. He finds himself in a hole and this compact giant of a man doing everything he can to dig himself out even as it gets bigger and bigger and bigger through his efforts. There are times in this fight where he seems like he is literally trying to kill Fujiwara by choking him to death, not out of hatred or malice or rancor but because he is an animal with his back trapped against the wall. Meanwhile, Fujiwara calmly grabs and ankle and twists. At one point, Nakano, in this hold, gets around him and throws thirty seconds of headbutts to the back of Fujiwara's head, the desperate act of a desperate man. Then Fujiwara gets up and drops him with one headbutt between the eyes. Fujiwara lays his traps too. Nakano almost gets a half crab at one point, but Fujiwara offers him his other leg. It's too good an offer to refuse but in taking it, Fujiwara is able to bridge up and do his trademark escape almost immediately. Before long, Nakano is down on knockdowns, with only one left to his name. He's desperate, trying anything. He almost gets a cross armbreaker on but Fujiwara stands up in it and drops a headbutt on him. This is about when Nakano is really trying to choke Fujiwara to death. It doesn't work for him though, and Fujiwara deftly gets out, snatches that ankle once more, and that's the fight. Hell of a thing. 2
Matt D Posted April 30 Author Posted April 30 Ok, this popped up out of nowhere yesterday and has some matches I did not see during Nov/Dec 1988. I loved the 6-man tournament so I am going back for them. Here's what's new: Opening ceremony: First thing you need to know is all the teams have matching jackets! In different colors. I totally missed that before. This is a lot of fun. Hashimoto does a speech and everyone laughs. Manny seems like he's having the time of his life out there throwing shirts to people. Someone screams "Ichiban!" NEW Saito/Sakaguchi vs Orton/Murdoch 11/11/88: Very professional match. It's cool to see Saito up against these guys and Sakaguchi has a lot of presence and takes up air well. He knows who he is and what he brings to the table. It's an exhibition match and fairly back and forth. At one point Saito got the prison lock on Orton (who looked great in general) but Murdoch broke it up and they took over on Saito, including beating him up on the apron. Saito fought out of the corner by getting his legs up and Sakaguchi came in hot with atomic drops. Orton tripped him from the floor. Murdoch hit one elbow but missed a second but he was able to roll him up for a flash win anyway. Solid but nothing you'll really remember. NEW Smothers/Armstrong vs Chono/Hashimoto - 11/17/88: Very weird match! Smothers/Armstrong took 90% of it, in a row, just dominating with double teams, everything under the sun, everything they could think of and some things they couldn't. They looked good, no question but it was weird. Lots of control with the arm on Chono. Eventually he got the Samoan drop out of nowhere and Hashimoto hit a huge spin wheel kick but everything went to the floor and there were countouts. Southern Boys looked fine but it was weird. NEW Machine/Jaguar/Tiger vs Koshinaka/Kobayashi/Saito 11/17/88: Very cool to see the team of SSM/Jaguar/Tiger as we didn't get to see them before. They worked really well as at trio here; lots of fun tandem offense, a triple falling headbutt, and a Hart Attack where Tiger and Jaguar came from opposite sides to attack. Koshinaka was able to get a dragon suplex in the clutch on a comeback to take out one and Kobyashi got another with a German, which left it three on one with Super Strong Machine having to survive. Pretty valiant fighting from him and he did get Saito down, but he eventually got swept under by the numbers. NEW Kimura/Fujiwara/Kido vs Saito/Sakaguchi/Goto 11/25/88: Six very good professional wrestlers doing their thing. Fujiwara got to joust with Sakaguchi and Saito. That included Saito trying to post him and him walking it off but not comedy bits to follow. Goto got to hit some wild flying clotheslines and what not against Kimura. Kido was just solid dragging people down. Kimura got to throw his gut punches at Saito, only to get caught in a dragon screw on a kick. Kido eliminated Goto on a belly to back (ironic given he would become Mister Backdrop). Then Kimura dropkicked both Saito and Fujiwara together out. That left it 2 on one Sakaguchi vs Kido and Kimura. Sakaguchi did his best and was able to put Kido on the top and kick him off to eliminate him. he survived one leg lariat and hit a jumping knee and an atomic drop even. But he got rolled up with a small package for three. NEW Fujinami/Chono/Hashimoto vs Inoki/Choshu/Hoshino 11/25/88: Of what we picked up, this is the most iconic. They fight again on the last night but just to see Inoki and Choshu up against Fujinami and Inoki against Chono and Hashimoto is a big deal. Fujinami and Choshu start and Choshu's great tossing him about for a second. When Inoki finally comes in later against Hashimoto the place becomes unglued chanting for him. He was just seen at such a different level than literally anyone else in Japan. Both Hashimoto and Chono got to spar with him (for Chono that meant eating the inverted deathlock and bow and arrow). Hoshino had a bit of rope running with Fujinami too but they cycled quickly and he ended up taking an airplane spin toss out to the floor from Chono that was bit like a F5. Choshu ducked Hashimoto's spin wheel kick and hit the lariat which let him kick him out.Then we got some tight matwork between Fujinami and Inoki. They cycled some more and Inoki and Fujinami eliminated each other. That meant it was Choshu and Chono and that ended about how you'd figure. Chono survived the samoan drop and shoulder block but since he didn't have the STF, he couldn't put Choshu away. Thus, the lariat. But very fun, very iconic match. CLIPPED CHECK! Inoki/Choshu/Hoshino vs Murdoch/Orton/Hall 12/7/88 (This is still clipped) 1
ohtani's jacket Posted May 7 Posted May 7 There's something poetic about you finally watching Liger vs Sano and UWF in 2026, Matt. You're even getting on the Vader/Otto train.
ohtani's jacket Posted May 7 Posted May 7 Just now, ohtani's jacket said: There's something poetic about you finally watching Liger vs Sano and UWF in 2026, Matt. You're even getting on the Vader/Otto train. I look forward to when you watch every single piece of WoS footage in 2046.
Matt D Posted May 8 Author Posted May 8 On 5/7/2026 at 7:40 AM, ohtani's jacket said: I look forward to when you watch every single piece of WoS footage in 2046. I saw a ton of WoS in 2014-16 in the lead up to GWE 16 but not everything and not in order. Has anyone EVER watched all of that footage chronologically? I'm excited for Charles/Loss watching weekly EMLL/CMLL from 89 onwards because of the trends he'll pick up on for Wrestling Playlists. At the rate I'm going now, by 2046, I'll get to NWO in New Japan? RINGS? I don't know. To be fair, I've deeply enjoyed your 2000 watching because it's such a fish out of water compared to where we all were 10+ years ago. Ok, I'm all over the place and have to catch up. First, two matches I missed WAY WAY back. Charles going 89 means sometimes he points me to things I missed before. On 9/27/2020 at 3:56 PM, Matt D said: Ok, looked for HHs: putting these here for now because I know this isn't in my normal source but I can find them elsewhere: 1989.04.04 - Giant Baba-Rusher Kimura-Mitsuo Momota vs. Isao Takagi-Akira Taue-Shinichi Nakano 1989.04.17 - Giant Baba-The Great Kabuki-Rusher Kimura vs. Terry Gordy-Joel Deaton-Pete Roberts AJPW 4/4/89: Baba/Rusher/Momota vs Takagi/Taue/Nakano: Interesting to see these three together in 89. I thought Kekkigun was already over by 89. Crowd had three goofballs chanting for Momota early. It didn't do him any good as they worked him into the corner and worked him over. Then they did the same thing to Rusher until he came back with headbutts out of the corner on Takagi. They were delaying Baba getting in for a bit but once he got in, he and Rusher gave Takagi double headbutts and he rolled him over with a headlock. Takagi acftually hit a spin wheel kick on him and he and Taue double suplexed Baba. A very nice boss. They tried to isoalte Momota agin but he got scrappy and even hit his tope. It's fun watching Baba against these guys in particular as Takagi and Taue obviously had size. Taue hit a huge Samoan drop and Atomic drops on Momota but he rolled him up, made the hot tag and this time Baba double supexed (rolled) Takagi and Taue to a big pop. That was the beginning of the end as Rusher hit the bulldog. Baba hit a Rocket Launcher with Momota (!) and they did the Kick/throat thrust with a trip by Momota to win it. Fun stuff. AJPW 4/17/89: Baba/Rusher/Kabuki vs Gordy/Deaton/Roberts: Different feel from the get go. Baba came in much earlier, and they had Gordy hit him while he was in a full nelson, but they were saving that match up for later on. When Gordy came in, he asserted himself. including fighting out of Baba's corner. Kabuki would get shots in but he'd keep coming. Deaton looked great, wild energy. He hit this sprawling top rope elbow drop where he really had to extend and a great corner clothesline (and just as good as he ran into Kabuki's feet). Whenever Baba's side would start to come back, there was Gordy to shut them down. Finally Rusher got him into the corner and he and Baba chopped at him, and Baba hit the Russian Leg Sweep but the second Kabuki got in, Gordy took right back over on him. Roberts ended up swept under by Kabuki though and Baba and Rusher were able to hold Gordy and Deaton at bay so he could finally put him away. Good one again and a different feel from the last. It made me wish they did a Gordy vs Baba singles. UWF 2.0 1/16/90: Yamazaki vs Anjo: Anjo is such a heel, such a get under your skin jerk, unrepentant. He had to fight his best fight to stay in there with Yamazaki and to his credit, that's what he did. Yes, he didn't break clean and snuck a knee in early, but then he was dogged and stayed on him for the next couple of minutes, getting an early rope break. When the arm didn't seem to be working, he'd go right to the leg. When Yamazaki reversed something, he went right back to the knee shots. He wasn't going to give him an inch. He knew that if he did, he'd get kicked in the skull. Yamazaki was able to reverse holds and escape. but Anjo was clever. Yamazaki took him down and Anjo put his knee on Yamazaki's ankle to turn him. Brilliant stuff. Yamazaki went for a half crab and Anjo rolled through it. But he went to the well too often. He went for the knees again and got caught in an exploder of sorts. Even then, he was able to turn a Yamazaki armlock into an ankle lock and force a break. Yamazaki followed with kicks, now pissed off. Anjo tried to jam them and got front facelocked, weakening him for the kick (and a down) anyway. Anjoy responded by driving Yamazaki into the corner and dropping illegal kneedrops on him. Again, this just infuriated Yamazaki who started headbutting him to death. Anjo got one last flurry with knees, before brazenly trying a jumping knee like he was Jumbo or something. Yamazaki sidestepped and choked the life out of him. It HAD been the perfect fight right up until that point. I enjoyed this a lot. UWF 2.0 1/16/90: Maeda vs Takada: The big match. A big deal. How big was this? At one point, when Maeda had Takada down, the announcer doing the count started freaking out as it was getting up past 6 and his voice became desperate. I've never heard that before in one of these fights. There was a heaviness too this that the previous fight didn't have. It made that feel like a Jr. Heavyweight fight instead. Just heavy hands. Heavy feet. Takada was asserting himself early a bit more like he was Maeda, just bullying him with strikes until Maeda was able to grind him down with holds. They was fairly even. Maeda would get shots in. Takada would take him down. Takada would get caught on kicks. Maeda would take him down. A ton of respect for each other's ability. Conservative but never boring because they would prove each other right. Maeda could contain Takada but he could never really get the hold he wanted. He'd switch from one to the other, rolling over him to switch from an arm to a leg. but he couldn't assert himself quite like he does with others. Takada was presented as just too good. Finally, Maeda, being on offense so much, opened things up with kicks. Takada went down. When Takada tried to fire back, he kicked his way into Maeda's capture suplex trap and ended up in a half crab. When Maeda tried to turn it to a full crab, Takada made the ropes though. Maybe a tactical mistake? After that, they were back to jousting. Maeda went for kicks, Takada got under him, they traded holds until Takada had to get the rope break, but he was fighting his way back into it. On the next standup, everything changed. Instead of going for a kick, Takada hit a palm strike, damaging Maeda's eye. They checked him and it seemed like the fight might be called off. Big selling here. But he fought on,, though now, of course he had an excuse for what would come next. Takada caught a kick and dropped him into an ankle lock, dragging him back from attempts at the ropes and dropping down to get the submission. The usual stoic Takada pumped his arms and ascended the turnbuckles in celebration. Maeda raised his hand post-match. Very good for what it was, and a strong card overall.
ohtani's jacket Posted May 8 Posted May 8 5 hours ago, Matt D said: I saw a ton of WoS in 2014-16 in the lead up to GWE 16 but not everything and not in order. Has anyone EVER watched all of that footage chronologically? I'm excited for Charles/Loss watching weekly EMLL/CMLL from 89 onwards because of the trends he'll pick up on for Wrestling Playlists. At the rate I'm going now, by 2046, I'll get to NWO in New Japan? RINGS? I don't know. To be fair, I've deeply enjoyed your 2000 watching because it's such a fish out of water compared to where we all were 10+ years ago. I doubt anyone's watched WoS in order (aside from Loss perhaps, but I believe he skips over some of it.) It was released randomly on TWC, and the stuff that was recorded directly off TV was always a bit of a hodge podge. It wouldn't be hard to do, though, with the upgrades Lister has made to his site. I have fond memories of renting 1990 UWF tapes from Champion twenty years ago.
Matt D Posted May 8 Author Posted May 8 36 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said: I doubt anyone's watched WoS in order (aside from Loss perhaps, but I believe he skips over some of it.) It was released randomly on TWC, and the stuff that was recorded directly off TV was always a bit of a hodge podge. It wouldn't be hard to do, though, with the upgrades Lister has made to his site. I have fond memories of renting 1990 UWF tapes from Champion twenty years ago. My big regret about this 80 and 81 Germany tours is that Land is releasing them all over the place so I can't watch the things in order. Someone will come behind me and do that eventually though. You see the same guys again and again. 1
ohtani's jacket Posted May 8 Posted May 8 1 hour ago, Matt D said: My big regret about this 80 and 81 Germany tours is that Land is releasing them all over the place so I can't watch the things in order. Someone will come behind me and do that eventually though. You see the same guys again and again. How complete are the matches? German footage used to do my head in with the jump cuts and shitty camera angles.
Matt D Posted May 8 Author Posted May 8 47 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said: How complete are the matches? German footage used to do my head in with the jump cuts and shitty camera angles. 95% of this footage is complete. We get a 3+ hour drop every month full of 6-7 matches. This month we got a drop from 86 which was heavily clipped. 4 hours, 5 shows basically. You still get a lot out of it though. But most of this footage has been 100% complete.
Curt McGirt Posted May 9 Posted May 9 8 hours ago, Matt D said: I saw a ton of WoS in 2014-16 in the lead up to GWE 16 but not everything and not in order. Has anyone EVER watched all of that footage chronologically? I'm excited for Charles/Loss watching weekly EMLL/CMLL from 89 onwards because of the trends he'll pick up on for Wrestling Playlists. At the rate I'm going now, by 2046, I'll get to NWO in New Japan? RINGS? I don't know. To be fair, I've deeply enjoyed your 2000 watching because it's such a fish out of water compared to where we all were 10+ years ago. Where are these reviews being posted at?
AxB Posted May 9 Posted May 9 A whole entire Country of people watched WoS in order, it used to be on Saturdays at 4pm every week. They all stopped in 1988 though.
Matt D Posted May 10 Author Posted May 10 (edited) 8 hours ago, AxB said: A whole entire Country of people watched WoS in order, it used to be on Saturdays at 4pm every week. They all stopped in 1988 though. But they didn't leave blogs behind chronicling it all. That's kind of the point. On 5/8/2026 at 8:30 PM, Curt McGirt said: Where are these reviews being posted at? On the wrestling playlists substack (and into your e-mail box): https://wrestlingplaylists.substack.com/ 1/18/90: M.Saito/Hashimoto vs Vader/Kokina: Chono on the apron to yell at Hashimoto pre-match. Hashimoto throws his flowers at him. Bell rings and it's larger than life. Vader crashes through Hashimoto and then destroys him with a supelx and power slam. Hashimoto goes behind and gets a big German to comeback and then a suplex and the spinwheel kick. On the floor, he tosses him into a Saito lariat and then kicks him over the rail. Then we get Saito being super AWA babyface against Kokina until ends up in the corner and gets thrashed. He comes back with a huge arm pumping body slam. 1983 Hulk Saito. Then Vader kills him in the corner and they start in on Hash with holds from Vader and big shots from Kokina. Hash ducks a clothesline from Kokina and hits the DDT. Then Saito gets the Saito suplex on Vader. They're just too big and strong though and Kokina holds Saito for a super vader attack. Kokina wins it with a big splash. This was a good clash of the titans. 1/18/90: Choshu vs Goto: "The revolutionary warrior, Choshu Riki, who destroys all compromise, has now accepted a terrorist's challenge without hesitation." really strong stuff from YouTube translator here. But then it gets a little dodgy. "As the tax collectors advance northward towards the blood-smelling battlefield, they picture hell in their minds." Choshu came in with a bandage on his head. Saito (Hiro) hopped on the apron to start and Choshu went after him. That let Goto unload, starting with a corner clothesline and not looking back. He actually tossed Saito at him who hit a back elbow but the ref let it keep going. He beat Choshu up on the outside, tossed him into the corner (seemed undone) repeatedly. And pulled off the bandage. Lots of punches and headbutts, woundwork. Eventually, Choshu blocked a charge into the corner and took over with vengeance in his heart. Tossed him in again and again. I almost wonder if this was a special match without corner pads or something? He basically hit him with a Yakuza kick which is not something he normally did, then put him up for a superplex, also something he did not normally do. He hit the lariat and put on the Scorpion but then went after Saito again as he came up upon the apron. He suplexed him and put him in the Scorpion. Choshu was basically fighting off all three until SSM came out with a new mask and floored him. He hit the diving headbutt as Hase looked on, pissed off. The Outlaws went to shake his hand and SSM slapped Saito. Choshu was left bloodied. Then Animal Hamaguchi (who had retired in the midst of all of Choshu's jumping about) returned. He had no shirt on, dropped a bunch of elbows on Choshu, headbutted him until both were bleeding more as everyone tried to pull him off, and berated him before leaving with SSM and i don't really know what was happening, but it was a hell of a scene. 1/18/90: Liger vs H. Saito: Liger hasn't really interacted much with the Outlwas since he was away. This was still the proto J Cup I guess? Commentary said Liger was 4-0 so far in the "Qualifying league". I'm not going to look at these results but it might be on wikipedia. I'll check later. I think they said that Honaga had dropped out so Saito could be the only outlaw. All eggs in one basket. It's the sort of thing that would annoy fans and get heat actually. Not taking it seriously. Saito ambushed him, hit a hotshot, pulled him out and tossed him into chairs. Lots of cruiserweight bully offense. He hit a bridging fallaway slam too, which is always a neat spot. Liger came back with a headscissors takeover which is one of his go tos. Then he did the baseball slide and a great flip dive. He got some revenge in the seats and with a chair. Liger hit a pile driver and his snap belly to belly. Then he absolutely killed Saito with a piledriver onto a table on the outside, leaving him in a bunch of chairs, a broken mess. He'd come back but Liger had an advantage still for the most part until he missed a flip senton off the top. They went into a finishing stretch including a Saito German and a clutch Liger pin but Liger went for a sunset flip out of the corner and Saito dropped down and grabbed the rope for the win. Good one given the contrast though Liger did get a ton of offense on his comeback. 1/25/90: Choshu/Hase vs H. Saito/Goto: Now Hamaguchi is in this badass 70s blue suit with a pink vest. And he's got SSM with a towel over his head like Taz. And he is pissed. And Hamaguchi is making peace between SSM and the Outlaws. This is all pre-match. Choshu stomps at SSM as he leaves. Hase slugs off against Goto to start. He's super emotive and it looks like he'll get swept under but he fires back and he and Choshu beat up on Goto for a bit. Goto gets the Mr. Backdrop Driver though and Saito starts in on Hase, including a hot shot and DDT. After the DDT, Hase gets a clutch leg sweep though and tags in Choshu who comes in hot on Saito. Hase gets the tag after a bit and slaps away with Saito, until he lifts him up and does a throwing Northern Lights. Saito comes back with a mule kick low blow.More heat on Saito until he's able to turn a Saito waistlock around into a German. Goto breaks it up and Saito gets the senton. They miss a second assisted corner charge (they had hit one before) and then Hase turns around the second Mr. Backdrop Driver from Goto. Choshu and Hase hit a spie pile drover and Choshu kills Saito with the lariat. Honaga comes in to try to break it up and draw the dq but it's too late basically. Choshu gets a chair and runs of them off post-match. 1/25/90: Liger vs Nogami: More tournament action I suppose. We come in JIP with Nogami using crabs on Liger. Elevated, full, half. We get two minutes of it befoer Liger can make it to the ropes. Nogami tries for a superplex and gets headbutted off and eats a missile dropkick. But then Liger missses a dropkick and Nogami hits a cool jumping knee. Liger comes back with the headscissors takeover again and things get wild: Liger gets dumped over the top as he charges in.Nogami hits a cool dive to the floor off the top then a top rope elbow drop gack in the ring. He hits a charging knee in the corner. But gets headscissored out on the second attempt. Liger hits this great leaping seated senton off the apron and follows it with a crazy flipping senton to the floor of the top. He gets an armdrag but Nogami gets his feet up on a diving headbutt in a way that looks nasty. He folows it up with a German but just for two. Liger turns it around with a roll up and the kapo kick and they go into a finishing stretch where Liger gets an Atlantida on and Nogami tags before he can drop down (but he drops down anyway). Fun sprint after the crabs. Edit: this was the #1 contenders tournament final. 1/25/90: Black Tiger vs Owen Hart: I got worried Kevin Kelly was going to be commentating this one but after an Okada opening, he just set the stage. Though not with any specifics (like this was part of the tournament). As for the match. Pfft. I don't know. Both of these guys need an editor so putting them together? They do some wrestling early and it's good stuff, hard fought, well worked, but then they go into bombs for a while. Tiger hits his no arms pedigree twice (which he often does twice in his matches, weirdly). I do think Owen had progressed a bit by 90. But I would have liked better transitions. Tiger has a ton of cool stuff. he just does. he hit calf branding here too. Owen went for a leapfrog at one point and got crotched but he hit a backslide 20 seconds later so nothing mattered really. Down the stretch they both went over the top on a suplex, but Black Tiger missed a Coffin Drop and Owen won with a German. 1/25/90: Vader vs Chono: This was purposeful (we'll get to the purpose later) and a good escalation for Chono. We end up JIP with Vader having him in a crossface of sorts, but he dodges an avalanche and slams Vader. Feels early in the match for that but it lets him stay in it. He gets an armdrag and does a short arm scissors. This is a mistake as Vader Gotch Lifts him to doom. Chono tries to stay on the arm. He's still meandering a bit at times which you can't do against Vader and Vader punches him in the face. Despite that Chono reversed a suplex and hit one of his own, which felt like a big deal. He can't capitalize and Vader takes over with headbutts. Vader has these cool jabs now, and he does another in the corner. He also has a new hammerlock clothesline. Chono tries a body press after ducking a clothesline and gets powerslammed. Then Vader just picks him up and bodyslams him out of the ring like he's nothing. He destroys him on the rail and attacks him into the seats. Balanced sense of hierarcyhy and size here. Then Chono slips in on a suplex attempt, gets a clutch drop toe hold and puts on the STF. Very cool moment. He hits an enziguiri after Vader gets to the rpes and a belly to back. It feels weird so many people are still doing that to Vader after it took out Fujinami. Chono hits the top rope shoulder tackle and then goes for an Octopus since he can't use the samoan drop (probably). His Octopus never looks good so far and Vader gets out easily. Chono meanders a bit but hits a flying form only to get caught again. This time, after the power slam he turns him over for a nearfall. Then he goes for a top rope Sunset Flip but can't get Vader over (he loses him on the way over) and Vader sits on him for the win. Post-match. Hashimoto confronts him. They're facing off against Inoki and Sakaguchi at the big show even though they've been feuding, but in fighting Vader, he earned Hashimoto's respect. Hash goes for a shake. Chono slaps him but then shakes. Big match for Chono even in a loss. Edited May 10 by Matt D 3
Matt D Posted May 10 Author Posted May 10 I had missed a 1989 jaunt to Korea, so tackling that now. 5/6/89 (KPWA): Kim Do Yu vs George Takano: They introduced everyone to start and Inoki seemed pleased as punch. Commentary said that Takano was very handsome with a body even men would fall for so 89 Korea was an interesting place, I guess. This started off technical but heated and then got heated and not technical at all. Interesting match. Yu looked good. I guess he was one of their top guys and if we ever got this footage, it'd be pretty solid. Lots of armwork early, with him controlling, mainly with hammerlocks. Even when Takano kipped up, he kicked the hand out and kept control. Takano eventually to strikes and a bit of cheating and Yu countered with headbutts. They escalated to some takeovers before things got out of hand. Takano had this cool jumping kick that was sort of like the one Sid destroyed his leg on and it all got thrown out when he put Yu on the turnbuckles and hammered him until he tossed the ref and the ref called it off. Post match he really went at Yu on the outside. Very heelish. Surprised me. 5/6/89 (KPWA) Lee Wang Pyo vs Tatsutoshi Goto: This was only 3 minutes but it was a wild three minutes. Pyo has these spinning Speedball Bailey type kicks. Goto takes initiative and gets a flying forearm but then one of those kicks knocks him out of the ring. Pyo follows it up with a huge dive that goes pretty far from the ring. Goto barely catches him and the camera basically misses it anyway. One more kick and a sunset flip off the top pretty far across the ring ends it. If you go on youtube, you can find matches between Pyo and Sapp and JBL too. 5/6/89 (KPWA) Choshu/Hoshino vs Hiro Saito/Super Strong Machine: Choshu and Hoshino were of Korean descent but second generation Japanese so they were teaming together and positioned as super babyfaces here. Hoshino really clowned Saito early, hitting him and then dodging punches. Super Strong Machine was presented as a big threat but they never really controlled for long. Hoshino was a great plucky babyface and Choshu was a force. When he went for the Scorpion, commentary translation called it the "atomic cross." but it was broken up by Saito. Things went mostly back and forth with Choshu/Hoshino looking much better until Choshu got the lariat and Hoshino hit the neckbreaker drop on Saito for the win. Rousing stuff and more babyface/heel than usual, I'd say. 5/6/89 (KPWA): Inoki/Saito vs Kim Su Hong/Riki Bassan: The ring announcer is very energetic here. He announces that these two will take Korean pro wrestling into the future. Very glad to see Kim Su Hong since he's been just off the handheld footage we have. They have him working opening matches for a lot of 89. He hits a missile dropkick to get over that he's flashy and exciting and then even gets to outwrestle Inoki a bit, so they were laying it on thick. Inoki would alternate between completely bullying these guys including turning a bodyslam from Hong into an armbar and crushing Bassan on the mat as well, or knuckle arrowing them to death to actually letting Hong win a strike exchange or eating a spin wheel kick of sorts off the top from Bassan. Eventually, he just had enough though and hit a kappo kick onto Hong and then finished him off with the enziguiri. I could have used a bit more teamwork from Inoki and Saito but this was still a fun bit of spectacle. 2
Matt D Posted May 19 Author Posted May 19 ... Why is it 8 days since I posted? I have too many matches to cover. It's my own fault for wanting to make it to 1/31/90 Liger vs Sano. I had no idea these 1/30/90 matches existed. The jerks. 1/30/90: Choshu/Hashimoto/Chono vs Vader/Kokina/Rheingans: This match is pretty cool. It feels like the Power Elite a year later, but it's Choshu and the young guns. It also reminds me a bit of the 88 six man tournament where these two teamed with Fujinami. They've made peace and Hashimoto has made peace with Choshu and they are up against a monster army, or at least two monsters and their handler. Chono starts this and immediately gets suplexed by Rheingans. Then Vader thrashes him around the ring, including catching him on the shoulder tackle, but he moves out of the way of Kokina and tags in Choshu who is immediately awesome pinballing around the ring and nailing Kokina with lariats and slamming him like the star that he is. Hash and Choshu are working together already (Choshu holds Kokina and Hash leaps off the top with a clubber, Choshu clubbering Kokina at the same time; real Choshu's army stuff). Kokina loves to take ridiculous bumps, taking a back bump on a missed kneelift for instance. Hash kicks Kokina and Choshu gets all excited on the apron but then Hash misses the spin wheel kick and they take over on him, including a Rheingans pile driver. Things cycle around a bit until it becomes Vader vs Choshu (Choshu asked for him). Things break down a few times and go to the outside but Choshu hits a running back brain kick and the lariat. Then he and Hashimoto suplex Vader back in, no small feat. Chono gets swept back under for a while but after surviving a Brad German, he hits a leaping forearm and we go into a finishing stretch which ends with Hashimoto ddting Brad for the win. Pretty celebratory scene after the match until Vader ruins it by throwing tables into the ring. Good, action-packed, fresh six man. 1/30/90: Jushin Liger vs Owen Hart: Purgatory before the Sano match. Liger's a jerk. He smacks Owen rapidly in the face in the corner to start. This is a little botchy. I blame Owen. The mat wrestling is fun though. Owen is flexible and Liger can do some neat stuff. Honestly, the chain wrestling is good and that's a third of the match. If anything it's a little too much. Too many holds that don't matter as the match goes on. Owen hits an insane tope which works more like a cross body block through the ropes but his head goes into the guardrail and it's nasty. He gets a good nearfall on a German and then belly to belly and then a butterfly suplex. It's all a bit much. They do some cool things but nothing really registers. Liger finally puts him away with the liger bomb. Dumb fun. But it was fun. 1/30/90: Takano/Kobayashi vs Goto/SSM: So the appeal here is to see Takano vs SSM as they were partners. Takano goes right after him too. Stomps away. He's not the sort to understand that there's value in delaying gratification. He works the mask a bit too. But SSM cuts him off with a kick and Goto takes over. That means dumb headbutt exchanges where they just no sell until Takano takes over and he and Kobayashi beat on Goto. Finally Goto gets SSM in and he goes after Takano. He can't damage Takano's skull though. Does Takano have a hard head because he's half black? I wouldn't put it past them but it's not something I've noticed much previously.Kobyashi and Goto end up having a chair war on the outside which is always fun. Eventually SSM and Goto take over on Takano and then Kobayashi, but not for long as Takano makes it back in. SSM hits this pretty cool front dropkick out of a test of strength. More working over Takano. A cool assisted Goto lariat on the outside. This is a lot of noise. The Takano special. Goto headbutts him again like an idiot. Kobayashi puts him in the corner and chops him in the back which is very cool. But SSM catches him in a bear hug and they do a running hart attack with a normal clothesline). There's a fun finishing stretch but it just goes on way too long. Way way too long. They should have went home and they didn't. Anyway, Goto cheats, SSM hits a German, the fight goes on post match. Some great stuff in here honestly, but it definitely didn't come together. More tomorrow. 1
No Point Stance Posted May 19 Posted May 19 On 4/21/2026 at 6:59 PM, Matt D said: Ok, on to 1990. There was a big angle where a the Blond Outlaws attacked Choshu/Kobyashi/Hase in a parking lot and I'll have to try to find it. This sounds pretty great - hopefully it shows up. The first Japan footage I saw included a bunch of Blond Outlaws stuff, including all four guys wearing different coloured versions of SSM's mask on at least one occasion IIRC, and I enjoyed their flagrant heeling as a contrast to the rest of the roster.
Matt D Posted May 20 Author Posted May 20 1/31/91: Sano vs Liger: I've made it! I've been looking forward to this forever. Despite that, I really did wonder if the added context would help at all. It's a very straightforward match in some ways. Liger gets an early advantage. Sano takes over. He rips the mask. He bloodies up Liger. Liger fights back a couple of times but gets swept under. He finally comes back and wins. Post-match, he throws the belt around because the mask got ripped. Right? Really straightforward. But I do think I got a lot more out of it with the context. Sano holds out his hand to Liger at the start. Why? Because Sano's mellowed a bit since summer and no longer has the chip on his shoulder? Since Sano is up in the rivalry and has less to prove? Because Sano and Liger have both been dealing with the Blond Outlaws so maybe they had common cause? Remember, Hashimoto and Chono put their animosity behind them just in the last week or two. Liger, however, does hold a grudge. He came into the summer match with a shoulder pad on and Sano dismantled it and targeted the shoulder. Liger was a bit of a jerk himself. He just started the match vs Owen by slapping him in the face. And he had way less of a grudge than he has here. So Liger slaps Sano and then starts in on him with the palm strikes. He knocks him to the floor and hits his leaping seated senton. I knew that was coming when he got to the apron since he used it so much recently, but that's not the same sort of context as the character motivations. Sano came back in pissed (he had slapped the mat in anger before coming in), jammed Liger's palm strikes, tossed him down, and started in on him. He tossed him to the rail and then, back in the ring, started working on the mask. A few things here. First, this was shocking, but primarily because Liger's mask is so different from anyone else's. It's so much more stylized. In general, there wasn't much mask ripping in New Japan. We had one Vader match a year+ before which was striking, and then of course, the big one, which I'll get to in a second, but this is rare. With Liger's mask, however, it was like a second face of his. You didn't even get the sense that there was a person underneath, not like other masks. So to see that revealed was visually strange and offputting, as if he had two faces and you're seeing them both at once, one beside the other. Of course, I can't imagine possibly understanding this match without realizing it was happening the exact same time as the Super Strong Machine angle, where having his mask torn off by the Outlaws in a match was enough to make him go beserk and turn on Choshu. They had built this up as something hugely important the very month this was taking place. Was this about revealing Liger as Yamada? I don't think so. The commentary from his first few matches as Liger, less than a year before, invoked the name Yamada as a possbility and they had similar moves, like the Shooting Star Press that no one else did. The mauling is brutal. Sano posts Liger both outside and inside of the ring, including moving the corner pad back to do it. He pile drives him again and again. He kicks him over and over. He hits a suplex and a superplex. He wrenches him in a crab as Liger bleeds all over the mat. Meanwhile, Liger's selling is amazing. He's barely able to stand, barely able to move, just ragdolled around the ring by Sano, as if he's barely even alive, barely conscious. Sano will lift him up just to smack him in the face and watch him fall. Liger had been coming back in matches around this time with headscissor takeovers out of nowhere (a bit more context here), and he managed one out of the corner reversing a whip in. He followed it up by hitting the craziest flip dive on Sano, crashing over the rail onto a table. He was able to press his desperate advantage here, but after a tapitia simply crumbled, Sano falling out of the hold and taking right back over. It wasn't a cut off so much as Liger's own body giving out on him after all that happened. It was incredibly effective nonetheless. Sano followed up with awful contorting holds. Liger flails about, pulling himself up with the referee's pants only to get tossed over with a fisherman's suplex and then a German. Sano couldn't put him away though, not with another hold, not with a Dragon Suplex, and Liger's resilience was clearly starting to weigh upon him. Liger was able to reverse a whip and clothesline Sano over (just barely). He tried for a handspring but crumbled again and Sano took back over compacting his skull with a corner dropkick. Liger managed to reverse another whip into the corner but he couldn't hit the kappo kick clean after Sano backflipped over him. However, it was enough attempts to fight back that something finally was bound to stick. He hit his frequently used headscissors takeover counter clean off a whip and it looked like he'd finally turn the tide. He would not. Sano was able to counter a charge into back body drop over the top and follow it up with a dive to the floor from the top turnbuckle. Sano continued to press. He hit a double arm trap suplex. He went for another superplex. This time, though, the tide did turn. It was to the well once too often and Liger landed on him on the way down. Sano turned Liger's bomb into a rana. He hit a tiger suplex. Liger landed on him on a belly to back though. It wasn't that Liger was fighting back. It was that he was fighting defensively. That he was hanging on and forcing Sano to try anything and everything. Sano successfully flipped over Liger on a whip, but Liger caught him on another 'rana attempt and hit the Liger Bomb. Sano kicked out (and no one had really kicked out of that since it became his finisher), but it was the beginning of the end. Liger hit a tombstone and managed the shooting star press, his face a bloody mess, his mask shambles and won. Post-match, he tossed the belt repeatedly, furious at the mask ripping and it again invoked the memory of Super Strong Machine's recent turn as much as anything else, putting over both this moment and that. A match as good as its reputation, where the consequence of Liger's wrath and then the damage done to him, truly did permeate throughout the entirety of the match. Amazing jerk performance by Sano (though maybe he had a point). Outstanding selling from Liger. You felt every iota of what he'd been through. And yes, all the better for the context. This is why I am doing this as much as anything else, to live and breathe within this footage in ways you could never do if you just jumped in and out. And right here? It was absolutely worth it. 1
Matt D Posted May 20 Author Posted May 20 7 minutes ago, odessasteps said: Wasn’t that match the debut of the Shooting Star Press? He was using it as early as 87. What’s fun is that the commenters said it was like pinnochio wishing on a shooting star to save Gepetto. And Sano was the “Diamond Jaguar.”
Matt D Posted May 22 Author Posted May 22 (edited) 1/31/90: Saito/Hashimoto vs Vader/Kokina: Very good to see a title defense from Saito and Hash since we didn't get much of that in fall (with Saito training Kitao). This is a big clash of the titans too. Hash and Vader went pretty even at first, with Hash getting an early advantage, Vader grinding him down and then Hash getting the waterpump. The fans popped huge for it since they remembered it was how Inoki fought Vader. Vader took over on Saito and then we got a great Kokina vs Saito exchange where Saito, again, worked like he was super AWA babyface, building to a slam. Kokina was very happy to take sweeping bumps where he misses stuff. We'd get a long heat on Hash including Vader nailing him with a killer shot on the floor. He'd finally fight back with kicks but Saito would get swept under. There was a sense that they might not win and we'd see a title. Kokina had a crazy looking corner back avalanche on him, but finally Hash recovered enough to even the odds and Saito was able to knock Vader to the floor (after Vader knocked Hash to the floor) and he'd get the Saito Suplex for a fairly gripping win. 1/31/90: Chono vs Hase: I'm not sure why they were wrestling here. Usually a match like this is part of a tournament or series or something. But not always. It's certainly a unique pairing. Chono is tough to pin down. He tends to have very basic rudimentary straightforward mat wrestling. Whenever he tries something more out there like an octopus it doesn't really work. Then he has the 3-4 power moves (Samoan Drop, shoulder block off the top) and the STF. He's still coming into his size, much bigger than he was a year and a half earlier but not as big as he'd get. Hase, on the other hand, had all the sambo throws, plus the Northern Lights, a lot of fire, and was a bit more tricked out on the mat. After they jousted, Chono got an early advantage, with a sort of toehold chinlock (not the STF). Back on their feet, Hase went right at him but got out punched. Chono would grind him down with a headlock but Hase hit a belly to back out of it and then a gutwrench gut buster. Chono took over with a gut shot as Hase had a cravat on. And they'd go back and forth like that, wih a bit too much in the way of chinlocks and headscissors and things. The holds were fine but I didn't get a real sense of narrative flow behind them.It was up and down which is fine but it was too back and forth, which was the problem. Finally, Hase hit a killer lariat, and the blizzard (urinage) suplex. But Chono grabbed the ropes to jam a dropkick, hit an enziguiri and then the STF. I'm not sure this worked overall. It was good to see Chono work in slightly a different order than usual, but this just didn't come together for me. 2/10/90: Saito vs Zbyszko: What a quaint match. I don't mean that in a bad way. It's charming. It feels like something out of 1982 or 1978. Larry was clearly taking it seriously and he seemed awed by the crowd. The first half of the match was about him being hapless and hopeless but while he was vocal, he didn't stall or throw a fit or anything else. They wrestled fairly even (with a pretty clear Saito advantage) until Saito got the prison lock on and that made Larry the most vulnerable champion there could be. Saito is so very special because while guys like Inoki and Choshu could play to the crowd, Saito is the only one who could really, really, really milk it. He was so over the top with his arm waving and pumping and when you're the only guy in that lane, you stand out so much. This match worked as much as it did because there was nothing else like it in New Japan (or Japan in general). Larry got back into it through grit and you know, a mule kick low blow. They built to some gradual small package nearfalls which the crowd ate up. Larry ate two Saito suplexes and somehow survived, but Larry missed a dropkick (not sure I've ever seen him hit one post-heel turn) and Saito hit a third supelx and a small package for good measure to win. Felt like a bit celebratory moment (with the fans doing the wave! Which I have almost never seen) even if it was a zombie belt. 2/10/90: Williams vs Hashimikov: Clash of the titans, just like you'd expect. I don't know if there were big momentum shifts here. They pressed up against one another and pushed each other around until one or the other could get a suplex. That was the match, but given the skill and size involved and the fact it didn't wear out its welcome, it was still fairly novel and the crowd was into it. Eventually things spilled to the outside and Williams slammed Hashimikov into the post from waterwheel position. Back in the ring, Hashimikov did get the waterwheel slam but couldn't put away Doc. Doc came back and hit the stampede for the win. Not sure what the Russians will be doing in 90 (looks liek Hashimikov just has four more matches for NJPW later in the year) so I guess it made sense to put Doc over strong. Edited May 29 by Matt D 1
Matt D Posted May 29 Author Posted May 29 Ok, rest of 2/10/90. I should have done these in more batches but it's been a really busy week. 2/10/90: Osamu Matsuda vs Iizuka: The first half of this was exactly what you'd expect for an opener. Matsuda had good music. I hadn't been able to hear it before. They worked mat to start and it was ok. Solid. Eventually it opened up as Iizuka really took over and kind of beat the crap out of him. Matsuda came back with slicker stuff but got dropkicked off the top rope to the floor. It's funny that around a year earlier, Meltzer was going on about how that was an amazing spot that he'd never seen before and now it's in the opener. Awesome shot of Matsuda's float over in on a suplex and then stunner. We'd only seen a blurry handheld of this before but it's CLEARLY a stunner. No ace crusher crap. They go into a hot stretch from there. Matsuda leans hard with a neckbreaker and German and jackknife pin but Iizuka outlasts him and hits rolling takeover leglock, exploder and blizzard suplex with a bridge to win. Good opener with enough story to it. 2/10/90: Nogami/Liger vs Sano/Pegasus Kid: I didn't feel like this had the right amount of heat after Sano vs Liger. There was some mean stuff but it felt a little more celebratory as opposed to a grudge tag like Nogami/Liger vs Hoshino/Sano for instance. Pegasus Kid was part of the problem. More on that in a second. You need to know that Liger came out with a shield and sword and Nogami in American Football gear, which was just weird because of Liger's shoulder pad last summer. Benoit was not good. He was clumsy at times. Everyone was a little. Some of those Sano kicks were weird. But Benoit was just a crowbar. All over the place. Explosive but then he didn't chain things together well. Big big ideas and not able to execute them. He almost killed Nogami with a belly to back off the top where he struggled (not in the good way) to get him up there and then just kind of went with it. It wasn't additive like a Sabu match or something. It was just a big dumb overeager animal playing at wrestling. This was a little too back and forth, a little too formless. Sano got the win after a hot finishing stretch, on Nogami, probably to get a bit of his heat back. In some ways I don't blame Benoit much since this crowd was huge but he should have probably done a little less and leaned on the others instead of trying to do way more. 2/10/90: Hase/Hoshino/Koshinaka vs Goto/Honaga/Saito: Best part of this honestly was SSM and Hamaguchi leading them out. Hamaguchi was an old guy obviously, relatively at least, but he had been participating in bodybuilding competitions so he walked around with no shirt and lots of abs and he had tons of aura. Great entrance for the Outlaws. This was pretty back and forth too with the Outlaws being quicker to cheat and having the teamwork advantage. My favorite parts of the match itself was when Hoshino fought them off. This was a guy who knew how to wave his hands and make his faces and work to a massive stadium crowd. Big pops for him too. In a way this show felt disruptive to what was going on. I wanted to see Choshu vs SSM. Or Choshu vs Vader (since he won the proto-G1). The outlaws were sort of a means to an end for Hamaguchi's return and SSM's turn, and we'd seen this sort of a pairing for a month or two, but the atmosphere did help here. Finish was good and surprisingly clean. Everyone charged in on Goto (Koshinaka's knee looked great) but he got his feet up on Hoshino. Hoshino ducked the lariat and went for a crucifix, Goto dropped down on him, and everyone swarmed the ring as he got the pin. 2/10/90: Rheingans vs Zangiev: They hit the mat hard. This was maybe 6 minutes but it was an extremely good six minutes. Just two guys plying their craft as hard as possible. They'd built to struggle-laden suplexes. Just gritty stuff. Great wrestling. Rheingans won it with a very cool running roll up that you almost never see. 2/10/90: Jumbo/Yatsu vs Kimura/Kido: Look in a perfect world, this would be.. Fujinami/Kimura maybe? Right? Or Fujiwara/Kido. But we're not in a perfect world. We're in this world. And in this world, this was a very cool match. A vibes match. Kimura was a guy who could punch (literally) above his hierarchical weight. Kido was incredibly credible. I didn't get the sense that the crowd was "hometown" for either team. Match started with Kimura hitting the leg lariat on Jumbo which was perfect. Felt like such a big moment out of nowhere. Jumbo fought back from underneath and hit the jumping knee on Kido a minute or two later and tossed the arm up like the gladiator he was. Big pop. Then we got Yatsu vs Kimura which was fun and scrappy given how both had moved since Yatsu jumped with Choshu to All Japan. The Kido vs Jumbo exchange that followed was great. Despite the size difference they worked a perfect Jumbo test of strength. Yatsu hit some power stuff on Kido and went for a Scorpion and Kido reversed it into a twisting leglock and the place went nuts. Then Jumbo and Kimura slugged it out with Kimura using his boxing. The way I'd explain this match is that despite the hierarchy difference, they knew how special it would be if they leaned as hard into Kimura and Kido's strengths as possible and that's what they did. It means that even when Jumbo could outforearm Kido offf the ropes or what not, Kido and Kimura held an advantage for the better part of it all. Jumbo and Yatsu did take over with Kimura not sure how to take the double chop/double knees, falling down in the middle. Then Yatsu put on his leglock and umbo hit the big boot before a big comeback and hot tag to Kido. Kido turned it around with a beautiful, reversal of Jumbo's lariat into a Fujiwara and then a second oen to a huge pop, but he couldn't get the job done. Yatsu interefered. But then Kimura broke up the back drop driver attempt to set up a great roll up nearfall. Jumbo caught him with a hot shot (a killer move in All Japan) and then a thesz press to win it. Post match Jumbo had the funniest smile on his face and they eventually came back to shake hands. Really special match. 2/10/90: Tenryu/Tiger Mask vs Takano/Choshu: This felt a little less novel on paper to me, but then it was maybe more about how Choshu and Tenryu had changed since they last fought. Takano does a lot of stuff as you'd imagine. He hits a German on Tenryu early and a Tiger Suplex on Tiger Mask not much later and none of that matters much, but no one cares because everything matters when Tenryu or Choshu are in. There's a moment where Choshu tags in after that Suplex and he walks towards Tiger Mask and it just feels mythic in the best way. Larger than life. Tiger Mask was much closer to unmasking than the last time they faced off. But yes, this was so much about Choshu vs Tenryu and Tenryu showing Choshu just what he had become. He'd hit a brutal corner clothesline or lay in Kawada kicks (not doing a bunch at once, just one at a time and it was so nasty). Choshu writhed and remembered. Takano hit a couple of dives. Craziest moment might have been him trying to pull Tiger Mask off the apron and Choshu nailing TM with a lariat causing a massive tumble. Then TM missed a dive, so things weren't going well for him. I think he finally got Takano with it but no one cared since everyone was watching Choshu hit the Saito suplex on Tenryu and put him in the Scorpion. They weren't the legal guys though and TM beat the count on Takano to get the win. Lots of iconic moments here a bit dragged down by Takano. 2/10/90: Vader vs Hansen: Urgh, the eye. This was so different from any match we've seen from Vader in New Japan so far. And really different than most slugfests we see in New Japan. They tended to be more epic, with big wind ups and knock downs. This was more constant, brutal shot after brutal shot from both guys. I watched a few times and I couldn't see where the eye was dislodged because there were so many potatoes. It's only 15 minutes and ten of that comes after the injury, but it felt longer somehow, because they just keep going and keep pounding on themselves. There are a few holds, Vader working the arm or Hansen driving the elbow in for a chinlock but it's really just constant violence. If it had a little more motion it might feel like Andre vs Hansen, but as it was, it was still a lot and made all the more so by the eye. They escalate things towards the end and there is a moment where Hansen could have possibly won with a lariat but Vader is ready with a dropkick. I can't believe Vader goes so long with the eye so messed up honestly. It's nuts. The fans went crazy when he took the mask off because while it didn't hide his identity in the same way SSM's did, they'd only seen it taken off maybe once before (I think a bloody Choshu match), and remember, this year we already had SSM losing his mask and turning over it and Liger's mask get totally ripped apart. You'd think this would have felt like a rip off with the inconclusive ending but the fans knew they got their money's worth and more. 2/10/90: Bam Bam Bigelow vs Kitao: Bigelow really is the master of wrestling green guys or celebrities. What surprised me is how hard they leaned into the Hogan vibe for Kitao. Also how good a shape he was in relative to what he would be a year or two later. So Kitao is out in Hogan colors, and he rips his shirt off like Hogan (no one else does that), and then he hits the legdrop to win. It's all very funny. He even comes out and points at Bigelow (albeit with sunglasses and a studded leather jacket on too). Bigelow was made for environments like this. Fans were super into Kitao. The big difference is that Kitao had kicks. Bigelow controlled a lot of this until he missed a corner charge. After eating some kicks, he came back with a DDT which is not a normal Bigelow move. But Kitao came back and hit a waterwheel slam of sorts and then the legdrop. You watch this and you think maybe it could work? 2/10/90: Inoki/Sakaguchi vs Chono/Hashimoto: Another cool, special match. It felt special in all the ways that the December Inoki match did not. Chono and Hashimoto knew what they had. Sakaguchi knew that he too had a chance to stand out. It starts with Chono rolling around like Inoki might to start. There was a lot of Sakaguchi taking guys over and fighting out of the corner. When things finally built to Inoki vs Hashimoto it was electric, Inoki opening his arms to greet him into the ring, going for the waterpump, etc. It was back and forth overall. Maybe a bit more of Sakaguchi fighting from underneath and the younger guys using teamwork. But Sakaguchi COULD fight from underneath. he was great at it. And that meant Inoki could come in and throw knuckle arrows. Chono got him in the STF and the Octopus. Maybe Inoki was in them for a bit too long. He also hit a huge shoulder tackle off the top on Sakaguchi. Then when they turned it around, Inoki went to the top. Just jumped down, and then as Sakaguchi held Chono's legs, hit the enziguiri. It was such a funny image for some reason but also super iconic. After surviving the Octopus (and it was a GOOD Chono Octopus unlike some others I've seen), Inoki got another enziguiri and got the win. Post match Sakaguchi and Inoki presumably talked them up. I think maybe you could have let them pin Sakaguchi but this was fine. And it let Inoki be Inoki and showed how far these two had come since December 88.
Matt D Posted June 2 Author Posted June 2 FMW 1-7-90 Playing catch up here. This was a big "Karate Tournament." Real... Street Fighter stuff honestly. We have a bunch of things clipped down so this is an hour but it's such big dumb fun. Over the next few months FMW would shift into more of a deathmatch promotion but this is what it had to get through first. Jang Yong Wow vs Masanobu Kurisu: Jang here has a gi and a black belt and no shoes. He tries to kick a few times and Kurisu catches the foot and puts his knee on his head like a cat or something. Then we skip to the second round and it's brutal. He's headbutting him, shoves him to the floor, destroys him with a chair, and then puts him in a half crab. Trust me, this is a sign of things to come for the night. Jang got off easy. Katsuji Ueda vs Mitsuhiro Matsunaga: Matsunaga is a nice guy here. Very civil and soft spoken. He's got a gi. Ueda has gloves. He's a kickboxer. First round is a lot of posturing. Matsunaga throws a cool axe kick that doesn't hit though. Second round has them land stuff but Ueda accidentally (I think) gets a low blow. Fans are pissed but they throw the match out and Matsunaga moves on. Gak Sou Lee vs Fumihara Asako: Gak Sou Lee is Korean and.. has that bruce lee bowl cut. Fumihara Asako, is, of course, an awesome fat guy, like a karate Brazo in a XXXL gi. Asako goes to shake hands and then smacks Lee in the face. Great stuff. Then Lee kicks the crap out of him and Asako does that one leg takeover but it's the hugest version ever since he's massive. We cut to the second round where Asako gets rocked more. This continues into the third where Lee knocks Asako down in the corner and I have no idea what happens after that but everyone starts yelling at each other. We'll see who moves on I guess. Satoshi Imaizumi vs Tarzan Goto: Goto cleans up nice in the pre-match talk. Imaizaumi holds his own just enough to annoy me because I have to check his name's spelling again, but it's mostly containing Goto who has a ton of headbutts and a nice hook kick. Then he finishes it with the Giant Baba cobra clutch over the knee submission that looks great. THE SHOOTER vs Onita: THE SHOOTER is some guy in a mask who was supposed to be trained by Sayama, so according to Dave, he's super over. He throws a bunch of kicks at first and Onita goes falling out of the ring. Onita is such a sad sack but that's part of what makes it work. Most vulnerable guy in the world. Anyway, Onita punches him out in the corner with one shot and then as the rounds go on almost power bombs him on the floor. After some struggle he does do his over the shoulder power bomb of doom in the ring and that's enough to kill this guy dead. ROUND 2: Goto vs Asako: Beats me why Asako is back but back he is with all of his girth. They trade leglocks then do a great spot where Goto is pounding him while he's on the apron and he just turns around casually and shoulder throws Goto to the floor. Then Goto tries to throw kicks and gets that massive one leg trip. Asako goes to the top and miraculous hits a shoulder block like he's Chono or something. But then Goto just headbutts him off the rope and pins him. Ah well. I think the fans even went "Awwwwww." Onita vs Beast the Barbarian: Yep, this is what this sounds like. Beast has a handler. I don't care enough to figure out what's going on here. Beast gets him outside and hits him with a chair and they throw things out as things get too out of hand, but Onita cries until they restart the match or something. Beast kind of hits Anjo's snap Side slam (he more loses him). He really tosses Onita out too. Onita comesback with a chair shot though then hits a belly to back on the floor. Back in the ring, Onita lands a headbutt and a running shot and hits his shoulder bomb for two. He tries for it again, beast blocks it. He does it a third time and absolutely crushes him. He hit him so hard that Mad Dog Connelly felt it decades later. He's selling his arm huge post match though. Semis: Kurisu vs Matsunaga: Kurisu slaps him in the corner to start. This might be Start the Matsunaga honestly. Matsunaga gets kicks in early. Kurisu gets a takedown or two. Eventually as the rounds go on, Kurisu stomps him out and kills him with chairs more than anyone has ever killed anyone else maybe and wins by countout. It's brutal. Onita vs Goto: Hey, it's Onita vs Goto, but of course Onita is hurting from his shoulder and Goto is laser focused. Headbutts on it, wrenching, etc. Onita's one bit of hope is turning a waterpump into a roll up, which is actually pretty neat. Eventually he has to give up to the cross arm breaker though. Obviously a lot left for the future. Finals: Kurisu vs Goto: Goto charges in with a lariat to start but then misses a dive from the top to the floor. Chairshots follow. That puts Goto, who has a taped up midsetction at a huge disadvantage. They trade shots and headbutts but Kurisu can always go to the ribs. He drops some headbutts onto them. Goto survives a couple of submissions. But Kurisu keeps chopping him down. It's brutal and one-sided and Goto has to eventually tap to the half crab to give Kurisu the win. Post show, Onita complains and challenges and gets laid out by Kurisu and eventually cries backstage. But he's self aware about it.
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