Matt Watches 1989 AJPW/1986 NJPW on a Treadmill

[Matt D]

UWF 2/9/90

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Johnny Barrett: I've been looking forward to this one for a while since it's the two hefty dudes crashing into one another. Rarely do you see Nakano ahead on technique, but he definitely was here, even Barrett had a size advantage (also rare for Nakano). They scrapped early then got fairly conservative with Nakano using that advantage. Barrett opened things up with a ridiculous enziguiri/dropkick/belly to belly combo. He couldn't capitalize and Nakano soon got behind him with a German, an armbar, and then kicking the crap out of him. Barrett came back building to a fun running clothesline, but when Nakano got back up, he was firing off, smacking him around and hitting a snap suplex that hit almost like a DDT. He chained it into a rear choke for the win.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Shigeo Miyato: This did not play out as I expected. Miyato is usually the most conservative UWF guy while Suzuki is the wildest. That was going to be a fairly interesting match-up. Problem here is that Miyato got a lucky early shot in, dropping Suzuki with a kick to the gut. That meant that he almost had to press the advantage and it threw him off of his normal gameplan. Suzuki came right at him and he followed right in turn. They scrambled a bit and then built to the most hilarious spot (and it was a spot) I've seen in UWF where Miyato ducked a slap and then they both slapped each other at the same time and both fell down. I did really get the sense Miyato was off his game, scrambling more against Suzuki, having to get out of holds a bit more, trying to contain him, on his back foot. Suzuki hit him with a fireman's carry drop and then ran across the ring to hit a dropkick which is always an insane bit. Suzuki followed it up with his shoulder roll and suddenly it was 4-1 on the Downs and Miyato only had one left. he came out swinging with kicks, including his spinning heel butt, but Suzuki caught the next kick after he got up and did sort of a cradle lifting power body slam. He could have backed off and gotten the fifth down there but instead he tried to chain a rear naked choke. Miyato laced the ankle out of nowhere and got a surprise tap. Hubris overtook Suzuki there. Fun fight though not what I expected.

Yoji Anjo vs. Wellington Wilkins Jr.: The difference between Wilkins here and Anjo is that Wilkins would try to open Anjo up for a suplex and Anjo would just press and press with his strikes, bet it in the corner or elsewhere. This was bully knee Anjo and even though Wilkins hit nice suplexes, they weren't going to do it when Anjo would just come up and kick his leg out. At one point Wilkins caught his leg and Anjo just kneed him in the skull. Wilkins beat the count but Anjo pressed him into the corner and drove a knee right into his face, leaping up. Wilkins came back with a suplex but come on. Anjo turned the subsequent hold into a cool split leg ankle submission and that was it. You could see what made Anjo special and not just the world's best punching bag here.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki: Interesting parallels in some of these matches. There were a couple where there's a submission turned around at the last second. There are some where there's an opening blow that a guy crumbles from. Here it was Yamazaki getting Takada. I had the sense that Takada could move him around a bit more but that Yamazaki could rely on the strikes and maybe slightly sharper (if not better) technique. He was really pressing Takada against the ropes with kicks until Takada turned around in the corner and dropped him with one in the head, shifting the trajectory of the fight. Very back and forth from there for a bit. Takada got him down again almost immediately with more kicks. Yamazaki came back with strikes. Takada wrenched the leg huge. Yamazaki started kicking at the leg after the rope break and then caught a kick and took it out completely. They kept this up until it was 4 to 4 on knockdowns. But then Takada won on the stand up and put on a half crab and then a full crab for a submission. Very good fight.

Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara: Very much a battle of inches where they artfully jockeyed for position on the mat until Fujiwara caught a kick. In the subsequent hold he was able to hit his forward diving headbutt for the first down. He kept going for that driving headbutt after that. Maeda avoided it in the center of the ring but ate a couple in the corner, and then in the center of the ring again before Fujiwara got the first rope break catching a kick and turning it into an ankle lock. He did it again, pressing the ankle against his head. Great stuff. Maeda was finally able to suplex him over but he was bleeding a bit from the nose now. After more jockeying, Fujiwara was able to get the ankle again. But when he went for it again, Maeda whacked Fujiwara with a leg and got him down. Fujiwara went for it one last time, going for the kill but Maeda was able to turn it into a choke for the win, keeping to a theme for the night. Fun and fairly different fight where two different schools, styles, physical forms pressed up against each other.

While this was a good show, there is a sense that the gains of Fujiwara/Suzuki are wearing off a bit and we're seeing some matches too many times. Some of that is the Funaki injury but it's feeling like things did a year before right before they arrived where you're starting to wonder how long they can make this work.

[Matt D]

Quickly burning through FMW. This isn't sustainable especially as Hamada UWF starts up in March but I don't quite want to look away yet. 

FMW Brave Battle in Korakuen 2/12/90

The first three matches didn't make the tape. 

Konnan The Great vs Rey Misterio, Sr.: This was 13 minutes that felt like 20 in a bad way. Some stuff was a lot of fun. They went to the mat and tried some stuff and some of it hit and some of it didn't and I'm not 100% sure the crowd knew what to make of it. When they hit dives and bigger moves there were plenty of things that definitely didn't work and they got jeered and plenty that did and they got sort of amused cheering. Konnan was masked and playing up the strongman but not quite a barbarian or anything. At one point he flexed hard as Rey came off the ropes and somehow he thought that'd stop the dropkick? It didn't. He won it with a submission while flexing though so good for him. Best spot wasn't the dives but Rey hitting an inside springboard dropkick off the ropes, all within the ring. You never really see that and it came off great. Some fun stuff but overall kind of a mess.

Lee Gak Soo vs Sambo Asako: I don't believe they got five rounds out of this but it was kind of a blast, honestly? Soo threw his kicks and for the first round, Asako sort of ate them. Whenever he got close enough, he'd throw Soo around. The thing was, Soo started to get the kicks in on the head and then Asako started going down. At some points, like when Soo tried body blows instead, Asako could get him but he never quite got the hold he wanted. Despite that, even as he went down again and again and just beat the count, he did chip away at the leg and quite frankly, Soo had to be worn down from just throwing so many kicks and at times flying across the ring at Asako. Still, he pressed and pressed, even showing the exhaustion on his face and selling the leg, and eventually Asako just didn't get up in time. Oh yeah, this was a hair vs hair match too, so Asako got shaved. 

Onita vs Kurisu [Barbed Wire Barricade Mat Match]: As far as I understand, this was sort of the match that made FMW and that veered it towards death match land from which it could never fully return. There is barbed wire all around the ring. They do a great job, like I expect Onita to, of building up the drama before the first time Onita falls out. Once he does, they start the count, which is such a cool, brilliant element to this that had been lost over the years. You're on the floor. There's barbed wire maybe in your back, certainly in your legs, and here is this 20 count going on in the ring. You want to untangle yourself as carefully as possible, but you have to rush it or else you won't beat the count. It created a great frantic mood. Basically, Onita's deal here was that he got knocked out but then was able to pull Kurisu out after the fact. There was a bit of wrestling too. Onita hit a Stroke of all things and late in the match Kurisu got a superplex. Onita herotically, triumphantly fought his way into the ring one last time with headbutt after headbutt and hit two of his killer power bombs (the first one more ghastly than anything having to do with barbed wire in the match) to get the big win. I'm sure everyone in the crowd felt satisfied after seeing this. Certainly they wanted more.

[Pete]

On 6/3/2026 at 10:07 AM, Matt D said:

UWF 2/9/90

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Johnny Barrett: I've been looking forward to this one for a while since it's the two hefty dudes crashing into one another. Rarely do you see Nakano ahead on technique, but he definitely was here, even Barrett had a size advantage (also rare for Nakano). They scrapped early then got fairly conservative with Nakano using that advantage. Barrett opened things up with a ridiculous enziguiri/dropkick/belly to belly combo. He couldn't capitalize and Nakano soon got behind him with a German, an armbar, and then kicking the crap out of him. Barrett came back building to a fun running clothesline, but when Nakano got back up, he was firing off, smacking him around and hitting a snap suplex that hit almost like a DDT. He chained it into a rear choke for the win.

Barrett was Jumbo Baretta in Florida if it's the guy I'm thinking of. Malenko trainee, which would explain how he got in with UWF.

[Curt McGirt]

I remember Kurisu falling out of the ring and dropping next to the barbed wire and kind of crawling underneath the ring, which was pretty smart of him. Also, wearing that cowboy/rancher getup was pretty smart because at least he wouldn't get cut up like Onita. 

[Matt D]

54 minutes ago, Pete said:

Barrett was Jumbo Baretta in Florida if it's the guy I'm thinking of. Malenko trainee, which would explain how he got in with UWF.

Apparently Snowden interviewed him recently for the Malenko book he's doing.

[Matt D]

More UWF. This was a tribute show to the student that passed away in 1989 (Kazuo Horiguchi who (best as I can tell) died after taking a Suzuki suplex in training that went wrong).

UWF 2/27/90: Nakano vs Suzuki: Two absolute nuts going at it. Nakano is less of a nut than Suzuki. He knows that he has to do a lot of damage quickly because of his mass. Suzuki just goes flying in like a maniac. Here they sort of crashed into each other. Nakano was almost more careful, taking Suzuki down as a few times but unable to press. Suzuki swiped at him. He swiped at Suzuki. Suzuki hit some of his big stuff. He tried for the pile driver early but got jammed. He hit his fireman's carry take over but Nakano was right on him so he couldn't use that to create the distance for the dropkick. He finally got the pile driver on (incredible struggl. By this point, whenever he had Nakano down, he was either stomping on his skull or hitting kneedrops. Nakano came back with a flurry of headbutts. They were really going at it down the stretch. Suzuki had him almost out but Nakano smashed towards him with an errant falling fist and neither guy could beat the count. A little weird timing wise after that double knockdown slap deal earlier in the month (Also Suzuki!) but it worked well enough in practice.

UWF 2/27/90: Anjo vs Miyato: First six minutes of this had Anjo behaving for the most part. He knew how dangerous Miyato was and how patient he was. Then he caught him in the corner with a knee and opened him up at the nose and that unleashed quite the beating on Anjo from Miyato. Anjo would come back into it, including with a great sweeping trip, but mostly it was by getting those close up knees that no one else did. I think most of the fighters felt like they were beneath them but not Anjo. Nothing was beneath Anjo. Case in point, as they were throwing bombs and dropping each other down the stretch, an errant kick caught Miyato in the goin and he went down for a 4th time. After that it was elementary and Anjo got a kind of dubious TKO win.

UWF 2/27/90: Maeda vs Yamazaki: Obviously, Maeda wanted his heat back because this was brutal. It goes about ten minutes and while Yamazaki is confident enough to try things and catches Maeda complacent once or twice, Maeda really steamrolls him. It starts with the deepest fisherman's suplex I've ever seen, but after that everything Yamazaki tries fails. He goes for a kick, and Maeda catches it for a capture suplex. He leaps up with his body for a headlock and it becomes a German. He tries for a jumping kick and gets taken over. He gets a front suplex of his own in and a leglock but then he goes for a kick and Maeda turns it into his driving reverse crab deal and it's an instant tap. Very weird given how far Yamazaki had gone.

UWF 2/27/90: Fujiwara vs Takada: Fascinating match overall. It went long and was conservative to start. That said, just to see them lock up or the way they jockey hand positions is so interesting and engaging. As the match went on, Takada would press with his kicks and Fujiwara would avoid them or eat them or block them. Every time he caught a foot the place woke up. Whenever Takada tried for a hold, Fujiwara would reverse it. There was a sense here that I haven't always gotten that Fujiwara wasn't just a master of technique but either could withstand amazing amounts of pain or was preternaturally flexible. You just sort of bought into it. It built to an amazing moment where Takada finally started getting in some of his kicks, but then Fujiwara moved him to a corner and sort of spun his way through them and just stared him down, almost laughing at him, long seconds where anything Takada did would have spelled ruin. He did nothing, and that was ruin too as Fujiwara dropped him with headbutts. That spurred Takada to finally get his kicks to work in the corner, but Fujiwara was able to get underneath him for a belly to back (really ending more in a German) and almost got a double wristlock out of it. Takada had tried for a cross armbreaker before (one of the only submissions that seemed to work on Fujiwara) and did finally get it here for a rope break. At one point, Fujiwara was hugging the corner so much that Takada had to pull him out like he was going to do an Irish Whip. I've never seen that sort of thing in a match like this. Fujiwara seemed on his last leg as the kicks were hitting now, but when Takada left them to go for a leglock, Fujiwara got Takada's leg and forced the tap in 23 minutes. Post-match was incredibly emotional as he was given a trophy and he and Takada bowed down low to one another and then he embraced the picture of Horiguchi that was at ringside as sad music played in the background. This was better than the sum of its parts with some of those parts being Fujiwara at his strategic best nonetheless.

[Matt D]

I messed up and missed a match and I'm glad I went back for it.

1/25/90: Kobayashi vs Super Strong Machine: So in the commentary in this JIP match, I find out that SSM's big beef was that when his mask got ripped off, Choshu, so focused on getting revenge on the Outlaws, said "Take that thing away." or "Forget about it." and in doing so, he really pissed off SSM and that's why he turned on him. We get a few minutes of this. SSM eats Kobayashi's spin kick to start and beats him around ringside including a nasty chair shot (basically throwing it). Kobyashi comes back including with the fisherman's suplex, but SSM jams a spin wheel kick and hits a lariat and then the machine suplex to win. Post match, he calls out Takano who was in the "Reptile squad" with him for the past year. That may be a bad translation. He wants Takano to go bad with him as he'd not yet joined up with the outlaws so he was a man alone. Takano refuses the shake and slaps him and starts beating him down which honestly seemed a bit much... but hey, Takano is not a man for half measures. The Outlaws come to beat him down. Choshu makes the save. This moves things away from Kobayashi and towards SSM/Outlaws vs Choshu/Takano so it's all pretty effective booking I guess. 

[Matt D]

3/2/90: Saito/Hashimoto vs Bigelow/"Punisher Dice Morgan": Yes, Morgan is the Undertaker. The sheets said he might not make it to NJPW because of his Mean Mark contract and he had been studying tape. Not sure there's any sign he was studying tape her but he did work very big against Hashimoto with backbreakers and what not. Funny facial expressions too. Big gaping mouth and what have you. He flew at him clumsily including missing off the top but it worked given his size. When Saito came in, he really beat him around the ring which is not something you see every day. This started with Hashimoto vs Bigelow and they match up very well crashing into each other until Bigelow missed a body press and Hashimoto kicked him over the top rope. Back half of the match was the foreigners working over Saito. He got a bit of hope with Saito suplex and stayed in it but the size was too much. Morgan hit his leaping clothesline and then after a double crash where Morgan had Saito in a world's strongest slam position and Bigelow ran into him, he hit is rope walk elbow drop for what, for me, was a surprise win. Put them over strong here.

3/2/90: Choshu/Chono vs H.Saito/Goto: First few minutes had Outlaws controlling on Chono after an ambush. That included corner charges, pulling the turnbuckle back in their corner, Saito using a rope to choke him and some hope as he countered Goto's back drop. Chono finally got an enziguiri out of nowhere and Choshu came in hot. Surprised there was no color with both turnbuckles turned back. Chono came back in on Saito with a short armscissors, but you can't do holds against the Outlaws. Goto was in to break it up and ten take over. Then they started in on Chono's leg with some cool deathlock variations. At one point he and goto were slapping away at each other while in the hold. Breaking up works both ways and Choshu saved him. Then Chono dodged goto in the corner and hit what I think is the first Yakuza Kick I've seen from him (though it was in the corner). He hit his shoudler block from there and Choshu came in. Things broke down with the Outlaws cheating on the outside but they went into a hot finishing stretch with Chono hitting the Samoan Drop and finally, them trying to do the corner charges on Choshu again only for Choshu to run out of the corner with a lariat. It's a pretty good match engine but i do want them to get to SSM vs Choshu here. And doesn't Choshu still deserve a title shot from winning the tournament?

3/2/90: George Takano vs Super Strong Machine: This was JIP which seems unfortunate since this is a real feud in a world where we don't always get those. They beat the crap out of each other to start. SSM takes over when the ref gets in Takano's way (for going for the mask) and tosses him into chairs on the outside. He goes for a diving headbutt but Takano gets his elbow up. (He did have something of a hard head gimmick since he was half black, I think, but they noted on commentary the elbow). Takano hits the spin wheel kick and a German where he barely got him over but SSM comes back with a reversal whip into a short clothesline. Then he finishes him off with a clipping arm to the back of the head off the top and a German of his own. Post match SSM hugs Hamaguchi and Takano tries to go after him but gets tossed out.

We're working on getting the 3/10/90 FMW show which has..

• Kumiko Matsuda vs. Crusher Maedomari (3/10/90)
• Miwa Sato vs. Drake Morimatsu (3/10/90)
• Yukihide Ueno vs. Shooter #1 (3/10/90)
• Masanobu Kurisu vs. Shooter #2 (3/10/90)
• Tarzan Goto vs. Toshi Imaizumi (3/10/90)
• Tarzan Goto vs. Beast the Barbarian (3/10/90)
• Atsushi Onita & Sambo Asako vs. Kim Sung Ho & Lee Gak Soo (3/10/90)
• Battle Royal (3/10/90)

 You basically have Pioneer and Universal Lucha Libre (UWF Hamada) also starting. I looked at the first few Universal shows. I can't follow that. I just can't. There was fun stuff with Negro Casas and definitely with Kendo (they love Kendo!) but it's too much and too far afield from everything else I'm watching. I'm sure it's clearly good but I have to draw the line somewhere. Pioneer we only have so much footage from so I'm going to look at it as we go just to keep an eye on things. As FMW heads towards deathmatches it seems like Pioneer continues with the Karate and we do have.

3/15/90: Aoyagi/Matsunaga vs Go/Takasugi [Different Styles?]: This is a rough camera shot from ringside but commentated over a year later. First half was fairly subdued, almost like UWF in a tag setting where they were just feeling out holds and the kicks didn't it. Then it got kind of wild in the back half as the suplexes started from the Go side and the kicks did start to hit. Go ended up a bloody disaster though we never get a great look at it, just blood all over gis and a face that looked pixelated. Finish had Takasugi dropkicked out of the ring by Aoyagi (Through the ropes) and not be able to make it back. 

[Matt D]

3/2/90: Liger/iizuka vs Cheetah Kid/Pegasus Kid: Cheetah Kid is, of course, Rocco Rock. He was basically 36 here and had been wrestling since 78. Benoit was around 23. But Cagematch has almost nothing before this tour. It's very funny. Cactus Jack twice in 88. Ken Patera once in 89. And here in Japan in 90. This tour has Larry Cameron, Scott Hall, Mike Kirchner, John Nord, Bigelow and Undertaker, so it's a little all over the place too. He was fairly spry if not always smooth. His big spot was running to the corner, climbing/leaping up and doing a backflip followed by a dropkick to a surprised opponent. Here he followed it up on Liger with a plancha (no hands) over the top, which was a pretty impressive dive for 1990. He also had a pretty dodgy cartwheel out of a wristlock (here he followed it up with a headscissors takover). It was all a little rough around the edges but not in a bad way. Pegasus looked better than in the 2/10 show, maybe less nervous. Explosive as you'd expect. He ate an absolutely killer Liger flip dive becauase the guardrails are so close to the ring. His belly to back off the top on Iizuka that they won it with still looked rough. I don't know if Cheetah Kid was faking his way through or not but he more or less pulled it off. I guess. It's not like he'd get another tour.

3/5/90: Liger vs Cheetah Kid: A good match for Liger, the sort he should have now and again. It almost felt like an AJPW Jr. Title match instead to some degree. Started with matwork. Moved on to rope running. And escalated from there towards the finish. Liger took over mid match including with a lucha springboard arm drag and hit a dive off the apron. Kid came back with his backflip/dropkick/plancha combo. He just goes for it. Liger fought back with a Kappo Kick against the ropes. Kid recovered with a clothesline, German, and missile dropkick. Then they had a weird moment with a "lucha bump" into one another which usually creates space but here felt like a miscommunication. Liger went right behind him for a German and won soon after with a tombstone and a nice Moonsault. Good for him to switch things up now and again. A little weird but overall fine and a good win for Liger to have. He should be winning on TV like this now and again.

3/5/90: Chono/Takano vs SSM/Saito: Just realized Koshinaka hasn't been around. I don't exactly miss him but he's not on Cagematch for almost three months between the  end of January to the end of April. I'll be honest that a Takano/Koashinaka vs Super Strong Machine/Saito tag sounds dreadful though. Because this had its issues because Takano and SSM are two of the worst guys when it comes to structuring a tag match, especially with one another. They keep calling their former team the "Reptile Squad" which I find fascinating and has to be a translation thing. OH! He was Cobra. So that kind of makes sense, I guess. Man, it would have been so much cooler if he put the mask back on when he tagged with SSM. 

This did start off well. Takano ambushed SSM when he hit ringside as Hamaguchi was forced to watch. That let he and Chono control for the first few minutes including some tandem offense like a corner whip into Chono's shoulder block off the second rope and a spin wheel kick Hart Attack. About five minutes in SSM made the tag and the rest of the match was going to be entirely too back and forth given who was in it. Some of it, even the transitions were good, like Takano having SSM in a crab, Saito coming to punch him, Takano going to attack Saito, and SSM hitting a German on Takano to take over. Likewise, Takano firing back a few minutes later only for SSM to hold down the second rope as he was whipping off of it so he fell to the floor. Normally, a match like would be a struggle in 12 and they went closer to 20 but what put it over the top in a good way was a long heat segment on Takano down the stretch where he bled big after getting posted. Eventually, Chono had enough and rushed in with a chair. Because they had SSM beat Takano clean, this was a way to heat things back up.

[AxB]

I remember a Rocco Rock interview where he was asked about the Cheetah Kid gimmick and why NJPW never brought him back. He said it was because he had a singles match with Liger (who they were trying to establish as their Junior Heavyweight Ace at the time) and he "just sort of stomped all over Liger" (meaning took too much of the offence, I think), and that wasn't what NJPW wanted from him.

[Matt D]

2 hours ago, AxB said:

I remember a Rocco Rock interview where he was asked about the Cheetah Kid gimmick and why NJPW never brought him back. He said it was because he had a singles match with Liger (who they were trying to establish as their Junior Heavyweight Ace at the time) and he "just sort of stomped all over Liger" (meaning took too much of the offence, I think), and that wasn't what NJPW wanted from him.

Thanks for that. Wasn’t my take on the match and it’s the only singles they had but I’m not the office.

[Matt D]

3/5/90: Choshu/Hashimoto vs Bam Bam Bigelow/Larry Cameron: Cameron is very effusive, very good at posturing. He had a few things working against him in general. He started in his mid 30s. He had heart issues, dying in the ring in 93. But if he had started ten years earlier, he feels like he could have been a big star in the late 70s. They were calling Choshu/Hashimoto (and maybe Chono) a new Power Elite and that was good rub for Hashimoto I guess. The foreigners on this tour, Bigelow, Cameron, Morgan, Hall, Kirchner, Nord, made up a sort of solid foreign army of monsters (as in 89 there were more credible wrestlers to do the 5x5 series). 90 feels a little underlooked (though 89 was as well, maybe even 88) so it's good to figure out what the big themes/stories/narrative pushes are in between the Dome shows and for specific tours. 

Bigelow was so good at working with Choshu. They started matches so well, just ducking clotheslines and missing dropkicks and then Bigelow finally bumping big for the lariat. Likewise, he missed a corner charge on Hashimoto and then ate a ton of kicks and the spin wheel kick, with Choshu lariating him out of the ring. Great stuff. I'm not sure I've ever seen Bigelow look better or more effective. I'd argue that Cameron was better at the in between stuff and the swagger than his actual offense, though he had a good headbutt. Heels controlled most of this but Hashimoto got out of a full nelson at the last second causing Bigelow to nail Cameron. Then Hash hit his snapping DDT for the win.

3/15/90: Saito/Kitao vs Bigelow/Punisher Dice Morgan: This was rough! Morgan (Undertaker) had looked ok in his last tag but he was up against more seasoned guys. Here at points he and Kitao just sort of stumbled about. Some of that was actually okay as it looked gritty and competitive but I'd argue that's not the best way to protect Kitao who you wanted to present differently than, let's say the Russians. Bigelow and Saito tried to give it some professionalism and polish with Bigelow taking stuff well (even Kitao's kicks) and Saito being, frankly, awesome as he hulked up against these guys like he was Hogan in 82 Minneapolis (or Dusty with elbows), but this was one of the weakest matches I've seen in this entire project, honestly. 

3/15/90: Sakaguchi/Kimura vs Hall/Kirchner: This was one of two special retirement matches for Sakaguchi. He got to hit a really nice jumping knee on Kirchner to start. Then Kimura got the leg lariat on Hall, knocking him out of the ring. Big chants for Sakaguchi a couple of times in this one. They did take over on Kimura especially including the Razor's Edge. Hall looked pretty good in general though not always exactly on the same page as Kirchner. Eventually Kimura made the tag to Sakaguchi who cleaned house and set up another leg lariat by Kimura for the win. 

3/15/90: Liger/Hase vs Saito/Honaga: Hase is such an interesting case. He came in with a ton of fanfare, really brightened up the junior scene in early 88 and he's barely been a factor since. Yes, in 89, he went to Russia and came back with new moves and was the big star of the 5x5 finale, but just really nothing. It's nice to see him and Liger here against the Outlaws. You'd think a few months in the act would be getting old, but adding Hamaguchi and SSM, having some real heated angles, and giving them diverse opponents has helped. It's mainstreamed some things like the low blows to take back offense, even if they're done a bit too freely. Hase spent a lot of this match working from underneath but that just meant Liger could come in hot. He presented himself like such a star after hot tags, hyping up the crowd, waving his arms. Then he did the tilt a whirl backbreaker or snap belly to belly. It was the combo of the two that made him what he was. This had the hallmarks you'd expect, an early ambush some hot tags, a low blow to take back over, Hase missing a big kneedrop off the top and some legwork including him and Saito whacking each other in a deathlock. They had already inverted some finishes by having Saito or Honaga grab the ropes off of a corner sunset flip but now they were inverting that by having Hase break it up for instance. Finish was hot with Hase surviving a German, hitting a bit lariat, and then Liger getting a roll up. Post-match, Outlaws got revenge with chairs and Liger demanded a one-on-one with Saito. 

3/15/90: Hashimoto/Chono vs Cameron/Nord: Nord is such a blast. He doesn't have any of Brody's energy when he comes down to ring, and once he's in there, he's occasionally awkward but then does amazing stuff. He went up so high on a missed legdrop. And then once he got knocked out of the ring over the top and stumbled back to bump all the way over the guard rail. Great stuff. Heels did spend a lot of time grinding down Hash and Chono here in less than compelling ways around those spots. Finish was fun with Hash hitting a DDT on Nord and Cameron accidentally hitting a diving headbutt on the top on him when Hash moved. Chono got the back brain kick on Cameron to get him out and Hash hit the spin wheel kick. Good decisive win for these two.

3/15/90: Choshu/Takano vs SSM/Goto: Feuds really coming together here. I keep sort of worrying we're not going to get the Choshu vs SSM singles match (this is knowable. I can look it up but I'm coming in blind and I don't like looking ahead too much). Some parallels to the last SSM tag I saw where he comes down with Hamaguchi and the godzilla theme but is ambushed and they work him over for a bit. Outlaws take over when Choshu goes for the mask though. They cycle but when Takano gets Choshu back in, the corner pad is pulled back and they lay in on Goto. Things go back and forth with another long bit of heat on Takano. I'm not sure if it comes together as much as I'd like though SSM does a bunch of really good looking offense like always. Finish had Choshu with the scorpion on Goto but everything down and Chono running in to help with a chair. Still meat on the bone.

[Matt D]

3/19/90: Hiro Saito/Norio Honaga/Tatsutoshi Goto vs Hiroshi Hase/Kuniaki Kobayashi/George Takano: Hamaguchi added a lot to the act. He cut a quick promo early here. Then the good guys stormed the ring but got swept under. Hase got beat on to start until he could get underneath Honaga with the waterwheel drop. Super credible, that Hase. Kobayashi still wanted Saito though and tossed Honaga to the corner to get him.  But the numbers game won out. This repeated for most of the rest of the match. Hase took a beating. Kobayashi took a beating. Takano (bandaged up) took a beating including Goto's back drop (though it became more of a German). Then the faces finally came back and stomped the hell out of Goto (he had gotten too close to the wrong corner). They were really tweaking the finishes. Low blow from Goto but Hase came back but then he ran into Honaga on the apron who nailed him and couldn't get the lariat but Goto did and that was the win. Perfectly fine but no real forward momentum.

3/19/90: Choshu/Kitao vs Cameron/Bigelow: Bigelow and Choshu remain a great pairing. Here he started against Kitao crashing into him as Choshu clapped big. Kiitao almost got him out but then Choshu hit the lariat to knock him out and raised Kitao's hand. He knows what he's doing. Kitao and Cameron traded headbutts. Bigelow got him way up for a suplex. Then Choshu and Bigelow did great rope running with Bigelow missing a dropkick and taking a flip bump for Choshu's lariat. Kitao hit an awkward power slam on Cameron but a pretty fun rolling belly to back. Bigelow took over and Choshu jammed a suplex by kicking his  legs before he hit one of his own. That led to Kitao throwing his weak kicks at everyone and hitting another awkward powerslam on Cameron and the backbrekaer for the win. Kitao really doesn't look good but Choshu is trying with him here.

3/19/90: Chono vs SSM: Chono came out hot attacking all the Outlaws. That didn't go well for him and SSM controlled to start. Chono finally slipped out of  a hold to start on the arm. They kept it on the mat for a bit but it was still fairly gritty. SSM did a cool Navarro type cross-leg submission. They ended up scrapping on the mat and Chono fought his way up and hit a back brain kick. That led to more matwork and then SSM taking over with a back brain kick of his own. Match built to SSM missing his tope rope headbutt and Chono getting his stuff (belly to back, neckbreaker) in. He put on the octopus. Goto got up and he broke it. Chono went after the outlaws. Takano was out to help. SSM caught him on the outside in though and after one big punch (he was opened up I think), Takano hit the diving headbutt for the win. Post-match Takano rushed into take SSM's mask and he had to leave under a towel keeping the heat going.

3/19/90: Liger vs Pegasus Kid: It's weird watching Benoit even under a mask. He got better during this tour though. The nerves calmed down I think. This was pretty good, I have to admit. I'm not going back to check but I think Benoit came out to a kareoke version of Jump. Lots of matwork here. It was good. Fairly back and forth but this did feel like a title match. They built to Benoit doing a Gotch Lift. Or trying to. He more or less failed. He also had a pretty rough electric chair (deadlift out of a headscissors) fall back later on too. Overvalued his own strength maybe. When things picked up, Liger hit a dropkick through the second and third rope to Benoit on the floor and it looked like one of the best things I've seen all year. his flip dive off the apron that followed it wasn't quite as good. His flip dive towards the end hanging on to the top rope as he flipped was great though. Also great was Benoit's bridging German down the stretch. Liger reversed Benoit's super belly to back by landing on him. Benoit returned the favor landing on him out of a superplex. There were missed diving headbutts. And liger won with a reverse cradle out of nowhere. It had its issues but was still leaps and bounds better than Benoit's first match or two in 90. 

3/19/90: Hashimoto/Saito vs Hall/Punisher Dice Morgan: This was a title match and kind of fun for what it was. Taker came out walking like a Bushwhacker for some reason. Then they did the anthem and he got really excited after that. They had the whole deal with the flags behind the head and everything. Taker is so goofy here. He hit a flying clothesline on Hash and then held up his hand splayed and made a face. That's how they started the match. Hall looked great though. It got really fun when Saito was in there since he got all hyped up like a southern babyface, fist pumping and hulking up and what not. He actually got Taker in the Prison Lock. Taker countered with the claw. Then Hall somehow got the razor's edge on Hash (barely). Taker had a fun gutwrench and legdrop. He definitely had a lot of agility and energy. He and Hall hit a side slam elbow drop combo too. But eventually super hero Saito came in. Taker got the claw on both Hash and then Saito. Saito came back with the flip flop and fly. Taker did the rope walk on Saito's arm but Saito came back again with a lariat and Saito suplex on hall. Then Saito tossed Hall into the spin wheel kick and Taker into a Hash superkick.and Hash got the DDT and spin wheel kick on Hall for the win. It was fun. I won't say it wasn't. Just a weird alternate reality match.

3/22/90: Hashimoto vs Punisher Dice Morgan: This was a rough watch. 6.5 MB and 10+ minutes. ASF file. This was a handheld on a show where Saito vs Bigelow for the AWA title was the main. Hopefully we get that and a VQ upgrade on this someday. From what we could see this was decent though. Hashimoto scored a bunch of kicks including a leg one that made Taker limp about. Taker knocked him out of the ring and used the claw for a bit. At one point Taker hit a huge leapfrog and then a clothesline. Finish was very nice. Hash hit the spin wheel kick but went for more punishment. Taker got a foot up and went to the second rope. Hash caught him with a leaping spin wheel kick up there and then hit the DDT for the win. Shame we couldn't really see it. 

3/23/90: Kitao vs Kirchner: Funny stare down to start as Kitao, emotionless, does a thumb across the throat. Then Kirchner does a double thumbs down. Both guys looked pretty goofy. This wasn't good. Kitao looked unsure. His shots looked off or weak or stilted. Kirchner would bully him around a bit but he knew his job so not too much but it meant a lot of nothing or disconnected things. At one point towards the end I think Kitao was supposed to drop him for a Fujiwara and time just stopped as they ended up kind of hugging. He won it with an over the shoulder backbreaker. Not great!

3/23/90: Chono/Takano vs SSM/Goto: Outlaws ambush. Gogo takes out Chono with chair in the crowd. That lets SSM and Goto work over Takano. Takano reverses a SSM whip with a dropkick and hits a belly to belly (not one of his normal moves). Chono in with the whip assisted second rope shoulder block. Then Takano goes up and Chono doesn't let go of him SSM soon enough and he falls off the ropes but still manages to hit the top rope spin wheel kick which was kind of awesome. Things go back and forth because that's how Takano and SSM wrestle. Eventually it cycles back around to Takano and SSM but Goto gets him from behind. Chono comes in with blood (probably from the last match repened). they double press slam him off the rope and then double press slam takano to the floor. So that's funny. Goto hits a cool back drop where he loses Chono in midair and it turns into an exploder. But then Chono gets a roll up out of nowhere. Post match Outlaws en masse destroy them to get their heat back.

3/23/90: Choshu/Hashimoto vs Cameron/Bigelow: At one point they said that this tour was about Choshu establishing his reign and dealing with the Outlaws. Hashimoto came out and two kids jump in front of the camera super excited and he moves them out of the way. Then he chucks the flowers. What a guy. Bigelow starts against Hash, whose kicks are night and day from Kitao's. Things go absolutely haywire on a suplex though and Bigelow lands nasty on his shoulder (and on Hashimoto) and he struggles for the rest of the match. He still, minutes later, gets Hashimoto up high in a suplex and takes a flip bump for Choshu on a lariat (and a slightly modified double suplex where Hash might have been protecting the shoulder) but it looked bad. Cameron ends up working more of the match than you'd expect. It's still fun overall and he eventually falls to Hash's DDT. He's working again a week or so later in TWA against Tuilly in a cage and then through April so I guess it wasn't that bad. 

Edited July 7 by Matt D

[Matt D]

Few notes to start.

NJPW is shifting to a "Big show" approach like UWF apparently. We'll see if that continues but it does mean we have less footage in April. Just the two matches on the joint show (none of which are with the WWF or AJPW because of the TV company wanting to leave them off) and one other show. Apparently that Fujinami faction/production is still happening. We'll see. That would severely affect the Americans and they have honestly been used quite well on this tour. Takano was supposed to become Cobra again to fight SSM, which is something I think should have happened when they were teaming but he and Sano will leave for SWS anyway. I'm done with Sano footage in NJPW btw. That makes me sad because he was very good. They still think the cooperation will continue and are talking about a Vader/Hansen vs Doc/Gordy match for December. Obvious that doesn't happen.

UWF 4/15/90

Bart Vale vs Miyato: Very cool match. Miyato is conservative, plays rope-a-dope and blows people up then wins with his spin kick and other holds down the stretch. No chance at all at that against Vale. Vale is lanky, tall, HUGE reach advantage, and a kicker. He danced around him to start but Vale could reach his way out of any real hold. You could see it play out in real time where Miyato would have the leg and Vale's arm would just come down to work the fingers. There wasn't a ton Miyato could do about the kicks and Vale landed some, leaving him staggered. Miyato tried to solve the puzzle and would work his way out of holds and even get those spin kicks down the stretch but there was nothing to be done. Vale got one big rear naked at the end and yes Miyato got out but then Vale picked him up like he was a baby and turned him up and around into a Razor's Edge of all things, a shoot Razor's Edge, and that was it.

Funaki vs Suzuki: This was Funaki's first fight back from injury. Snowden wrote about this recently: https://hybridshoot.substack.com/p/the-invisible-wall. They worked this incredibly hard on the mat, with all the energy you'd expect from Funaki and Suzuki, but it's just holds. The crowd was mostly dead for it, even when Suzuki was able to get on top of Funaki. At first, it felt like Funaki KNEW the sort of damage Suzuki could do and was just trying to contain him by meeting his energy with grappling alone, but that was the whole match and Suzuki taps in ten minutes or so to a leglock. They barely stood out after the start and when they did it was quickly back down. The idea is than Funaki wanted to do pure wrestling and that UWF wasn't giving him what he wanted so he pushed the needle even farther. 

Funaki came in more of a star, but to me, watching the footage, Suzuki was the more electric one. Funaki had his moments. They both did corner dropkicks in a UWF setting, for instance, and Funaki had the ballistic Backlund match, but with Funaki out with injury, Suzuki was the one there with 4-5 bit MOVES per match, the shoulder roll, the Gotch pile driver, the fireman's carry drop followed by the dropkick, etc., plus the insane energy he brought to striking and aggression. I really, truly think having watched so much of this stuff now, AJPW, NJPW, UWF, and all the American wrestling I'm familiar with, that Suzuki was the most exciting young wrestler in the world from summer 89 to April 90. He had mastered this dynamic hybrid style where you couldn't take your eyes off of him. And as cool as this engaging, energetic grappling is on paper, keeping up a sort of pace that Maeda/Takada really didn't, making it a sort of UWF for the UWF, it's not nearly as cool as what he was doing in Fall-Winter 89/90. I get that we got Pancrase out of this, and so much more of what would become MMA, but I want to live in the reality where Suzuki continued the OTHER path and we got to see what his highspot/big move laden style that was still absolutely grounded in struggling for every inch (as defined by the way the Gotch Piledriver back then was about the LIFT being assisted, not the impact) led to instead. And maybe Pancrase as a more performative sort of shootstyle does give us that. I don't anticipate really finding out anytime soon, but this match wasn't it by any means even if it was very good for what it was. The crowd was disappointed that the didn't get the fireworks show they expected. I find it hard to blame them. Newborn UWF was already enough purity! They had the right balance and Suzuki was already pushing it in a more interesting and honestly undeniable direction. Yet he took a step back to be the one, himself, to deny it.

Maeda vs Nakano: I can't imagine the crowd didn't come out of this show buzzing far more about this fight than Funaki vs Suzuki. Nakano usually dwarves opponents like Miyato or Anjo but he seemed weirdly tiny next to Maeda. Maeda tried to play nice enough at first, just going for some holds, but Nakano knew he had no chance without being the aggressor. He went for the first kick so Maeda started kicking him. He got a press up against the rope and forced a break so Maeda got pissed and started going for knees. He got out of a hold with a headbutt and followed up with stomps so Maeda almost pumphandled him to lay in even more knees. At every point, both when he was pressing an advantage and working from underneath, the crowd was huge for the underdog, chanting Nakano's name. Wild contrast from the silence of the previous match. This was a Nakano rally and everyone was invited. A futile hopeless rally, but one everyone was happy to be at. He charged in desperately, getting Maeda in the corner like a runaway train and hitting a snap suplex. Maeda was still able to move him around and this time when Nakano tried to stop it with headbutts, Maeda fired back with headbutts of his own. In the end, Maeda caught his foot, hit the capture suplex, and wrenched his leg back for the win. Inevitable, but it was a journey worth taking.

 

 

[Matt D]

UWF 4/15/90: Anjo vs Takada: Anjo rushes in, throws his knees, is a jerk. Takada absorbs it, gets under him or catches a foot, and throws him. They do this a lot in this one. Occasionally Anjo's flurry does work. Occasionally, Takada catches a foot and hits a kick instead. Once, Takada is able to side step him into the ropes and then hit him with a suplex. After that, the crowd gets behind Anjo. Finish has him taking Takada down but being noncommital, shifting from the arm to the leg, not getting what he needed, and Takada turning it into a double wristlock for the win. This was good and was very much a clash of two characters, though, as always, Takada is a bit of a cipher for someone else to press up against.

UWF 4/15/90: Fujiwara vs Yamazaki: This was very good. Yamazaki would be the aggressor, posing a question for Fujiwara. Fujiwara would have an answer, of course, as he his the best defensive wrestler ever, but then Yamazaki would be ready for that answer for once, and it would be on Fujiwara to give answer to answer to answer. Which he did, again and again. Best example: Yamazaki tried to put Fujiwara in a crab. Terrible idea of course. He did his trademark headstand counter, but Yamazaki was ready for it and was able to hang on to a leg to continue a hold, but Fujiwara slowly worked around on him so that it was Yamazaki who had to reach for the ropes for the break. Later on, Yamazaki survived the Fujiwara arm bar with a rope break and started laying kicks in, but Fujiwara just walked up, grabbed the leg and dropped him for a reverse crab. He tried to grab the leg again and Yamazaki tried to take him down only for Fujiwara to get the better of it but Yamazaki to somehow turn it into a half crab. It's so easy to compare/contrast this match with the Suzuki/Funaki match and this seems to have so much more to offer. It's far broader and more theatrical while still feeling so plausible. There was so much more the vine with this style as they leaned into gamesmanship. Finish was Yamazaki going on the attack in the corner, but Fujiwara obviously turning it around, only for Yamazaki to get a German out of nowhere and follow up with a KO kick that Fujiwara just couldn't beat the count on. After the match they embraced and the fans chanted for Yamazaki like it was a huge deal (and it was).

FMW 3/10/90: Took a while to get my hands on this one, but I really wanted to see the taekwondo guys as they're great.  

Kumiko Matsuda vs. Crusher Maedomari: Crusher isn't Crusher yet. This was pre-show and you could tell they were working things out, but they had good aggression, Matsuda with strikes and Maedomari with throws and holds. Lots of shoot pin escapes. Matsuda finally got a dropkick in the corner which let her hit a big move. The jackknife pin was what let her win it though.

Miwa Sato vs. Drake Morimatsu: I had hoped to get this to Gordi because he'd been at a party with Morimatsu but it's a non match. Two people come out to attack both women before the bell. Apparently one is Megumi Kudo. Another is possibly Reibun Amada, a Chinese wrestler. This is what Gordi tells me. Some sense of spirit as they do want to wrestle, but there's no chance and they move on to the next match. There is a clear sense of chaos to all of this though and it helps the overall feel compared to what else is happening in Japan at the time.

Yukihide Ueno vs. Shooter #1: Shooter 1 is sort of credible, I guess. This is all over the place at times, but he's able to press his advantage and has the kicks. He's constantly fixing his mask which is not something that usually bugs me, so that gives you a sense of how often he does it. He hits big stuff but can't always follow up because it's all a bit too clumsy. Ueno has the crowd (who are primarily happy to be there I think). He gets one big comeback with a gutshot, a German, and a kick out of the ring but Shooter takes back over with a great press slam where he takes him off the top but slams him out of the ring instead of into it. It meanders a bit to the finish and there are a few times where the thing probably had an offramp to end. 

Masanobu Kurisu vs. Shooter #2: Shooter tries for an ambush but obviously that's a terrible idea. There are no good ideas against Kurisu. Kurisu headbutts him out of the corner and doesn't really look back. He headbutts him again, stomps and kicks him, hits him with a chair on the outside, and it's all top 5% ever pro wrestling brutality. Shooter gets a miracle clothesline and tries to get a hold out of it. Kurisu reverses the hold and kicks and headbutts and slams and clotheslines and chicken wings this poor jerk. He doesn't quit (he should). Instead he gets a cop and a belly to belly but Kurisu just rolls him over and gets the double wristlock for the win. Almost a mercy.

Tarzan Goto vs. Toshi Imaizumi: Not sure why Goto had back to back gimmick matches but here we go. This was more of a judo gi deal. There's not a lot to it, a bunch of tossing each other around before Goto gets the submission. 

Tarzan Goto vs. Beast the Barbarian: This is far more interesting. I always joke that Beast could be a time travelling Mad Dog Connelly, by looks and gimmick but he didn't have the intensity or presence. He was set up to succeed with this match gimmick though and this is a perfectly acceptable dog collar match. He's able to use the chain as a weapon and clubber Goto down. Goto comes back and there are a few transitions with one or the other getting a little tangled up. Goto bleeds. Beast does assert himself pretty well. And cleverly enough, after each man does a sufficient amount of punishment, Goto wins with a backslide of all things. Beast doesn't think he's was actually pinned for 3 and throws a fit.

Atsushi Onita & Sambo Asako vs. Kim Sung Ho & Lee Gak Soo: Really, the story of this one was that Asako or Onita would get one of the taekwondo guys down and in a hold and again and again and again, the other would come in to break it up. That lasted until Onita finally hit a power bomb. Even that wasn't good enough but then Asako got the message and cut off the ring for the second. Honestly, Lee Gak Soo is one of the most dynamic pro wrestling kickers I've ever seen. He does it from every angle, sometimes flying around with them, and obviously Asako is a great canvas, but Onita would get knocked out of the ring like it was nothing too. Kim had some fun charging ones too. Basically Onita would charge at people with lariats or trips and Asako had all these cool throws if people got close enough to him but then the subsequent holds would get broken up and Kim and Lee would just take right over with the meanest stomps and kicks. Right until Asako dragged Lee over and the power bombs happened. Crazy, enjoyable stuff.

Battle Royal: This was all about the taekwondo guys just throwing flying kicks everywhere in the middle of a battle royal. Very fun stuff accordingly. What you need to know is that Onita and Kurisu were working together but Onita accidentally chopped Kurisu which went about as well as you'd expect. Onita eliminated him but Lee and Asako immediately eliminated Onita afterwards. I imagine he and Kurisu are still fighting to the back today. This is one of those battle royals were people get pinned by everyone in the ring piling on them. I think that was Imaizumi's fate. It ended up Asako, Shooter, and Lee and then was an entertaining mess of guys kicking and then immediately falling over. Asako shoved Lee into the ropes and he came right off on him for the pin. Then he followed up with a kick off the top on Shooter. Stupid amounts of fun.