Matt D

Finishing up the UWF show. 1/10/89: Yamazki vs Trevor Power Clarke: Clarke was a kickboxer from the UK. This was a different styles fight, which i mean, so was the Backlund match and so is some of the other things, but there were pads here on Clarke and what not. And honestly? This was one of the better Different Styles fights I've ever seen. It had that chaotic sense of early UFC or what not, where you were really getting two guys with two different traditions going at it without some of the conservatism you get with Inoki sometimes. Clarke led with strikes and it was up to Yamazaki to aggressive push in and get under him. As the fight went one, he even, at one point, got all the way under him and hefted him entirely across the ring. It was very cool and not what I expect out of Yamazaki. As a shootstyle wrestler, Yamazaki was really known for his kicks but he couldn't match here and really didn't even try. The crowd was so up for this because it felt different to them. It felt more real. I think they were starting to see through the other fights to a degree even if they play along and get swept along like any good wrestling, but this felt entirely different. It meant that when Yamazaki got around him to hit a German it felt like an absolute accomplishment. The place exploded with awe and joy. Likewise when he'd catch a limb and drive him into Maeda's folded leg crab/ankle hold. And throughout you had the sense that Clarke just needed one kick or knee flurry. Yamazaki won this with a standing guillotine which you never saw in UWF at this point but it was a great moment. 1/10/89: Maeda vs Takada: This went long and the first half was very good. It lost speed towards the end. One thing I wonder about these shows is how they were thought of as a whole. Was it just the style itself or did they build things earlier in the show so they'd pay off late. For instance the Anjo draw to set up a long match here. Or the way the half crab was put over so that it could have more meaning here. Etc. The story of the first third was that Takada was really hanging as an equal in a way i don't think he had before. Maeda finally opened things up with a big knockdown kick and controlled for the most part for the middle third. The last third had them both a bit too passive. I don't know if they were winded or what. It did build to big moments but the inbetween wasn't as compelling as you'd want or expect. This would have been better at 20 than 30 basically. Maeda ultimately slipped out of a hold and put on a deep crab to get his win back from November. (Very important of course). The February show (Anjo vs Miyato, Smiley vs Nakano, Maeda vs Vale, Takada vs Yamazaki) isn't until the 27th so I've got a bunch of NJPW to watch before that. These are very good but also a big lift to get through.

How I would do it... would be to announce a Women's Casino Gauntlet with very short notice, probably by contriving an injury or something. Or doing an angle. "X was the #1 contender but Y heel took her out on Collision and now we need to run this on Dynamite." and pull the bandaid off very quickly by having said heel dominate and crush someone almost immediately (maybe #3). It has to be someone the crowd feels deserves it, like a Stat, and even then you threaten to put the heat on the company for not giving the women what they deserve instead of the heel but ehh. I think he'd do that.

It has its issues but i do like that they made a big deal out of Roderick Strong being the next guy that was supposed to make it out before it ended and him throwing a fit due to that because that at least creates some grounding for it. I imagine ideally you'd want to be #5 or 6. Someday, Tony should have it end before #4 even comes out but he never will because he would hate to false advertise something like that.

Man, no one asked for de facto face Blake Christian. That would have been way better as a Dirty Rotten Scoundrels type of match.

No no, that's just the hard cam side.

Good news, I have the 2/8 HH. I know you guys were worried. But first, UWF catch up. 1/10/89: UWF 2.0: Yoji Anjo vs Shigeo Miyato: This went a long 30. It was fine. It was just a lot. I don't know Anjo (who I find to be... fine, but just that) is the guy I want to watch for 30 minutes. I also don't want to go back to what I had forgotten. He had a height/reach/power advantage on Miyato but Miyato probably had him on skill and stamina. This stuff matters. My favorite bit here was Anjo getting frustrated and not respecting a break and then Miyato getting pissed and taking his shin out with a kick. Beautiful stuff, that. So lots of feeling out. Anjo did his cool snap side slam. Love that thing. Lots of cravat control too. As time went on there were more and more openings but I really don't have much to say about this. It's not like Anjo doesn't belong but I'd rather see him get thrashed by an uppercard guy. 1/10/89: UWF 2.0: Bart Vale vs Norman Smiley: I have a soft spot for Vale as he's one of the shoot style guys I saw when Phil was introducing me to Fujiwara. A Florida kickboxer dude. One of the best things about UWF 2.0 is that there are only so many fighters and a lot of times the match ups aren't about some sort of external story but solely about what would happen if fighter X with Y attributes matched up against another. So you get Smiley, who is strong and unyielding, almost Maeda-ish in his drive and ability to bully against this weirdo who just keeps throwing wild kicks. He starts with a jumping spinning kick just to make a mark and it's hilarious, and then Smiley keeps catching his kicks over and over. He'll take him down, shove him back, etc. Then Vale does the coolest thing ever as he kips up in a shootstyle fight out of one of these push downs and comes right back with a kick. Amazing. Lots of double wristlocks as that seems to be the only hold Vale can manage. And they even do a cool bit where Vale turns over Smiley as he tries it and then Smiley kicks up and over to turn him back around and keep control. You did get the sense that Vale could win out of nowhere with a lucky kick at any moment BUT Smiley was just so superior in technique. Finish was Smiley locking Vale's leg with his own to turn him to put on a cross arm breaker and it was great. I'm looking forward to seeing Vale against everyone else. 1/10/89: UWF 2.0: Tatsuo Nakano vs Mark Rush: Love these guys. Rush is so Buzz Sawyer coded in his look, his aggression, and his suplexes. He just needed fuzzy boots. At one point he does a shoot power slam and it's awesome! Just insane shoot-style stuff out of him. Meanwhile Nakano is a tank, of course. Just able to power through things. While this was a cool clash, and the high moments were incredibly high because of it, it wasn't as exciting as either of these guys vs Miyato would have been for instance. Rush wasn't able to impose as much as he usually did and when Nakano won (maybe with a deep half crab?) he was so excited for the win. Fun moment.

Did I say Steam (I did say Steam). I meant Switch. If I had time to hang out on the PC (as opposed to play before bed) I'd probably do one of the bazillion FFVI mods and give that a spin. I did get 50 jump rope jumps so I can get my mognet letter though. I'm not going for more.

I bit on the FFIX 25th anniversary celebration and got it for 70% off on steam. I’ve played through 2x in my life, once when it came out and once mid-00s and I immediately remembered how much I love the first part with Vivi because there are hidden potions and cards everywhere and I love running around finding this crap. Maps should be loaded with hidden objects.

I kind of wrote two reviews of FTR vs Outrunners. http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2025/07/aew-five-fingers-of-death-and-friends.html

MAEDA

1/26/89: Fujinami vs Bigelow III: Guys, I'm really ready to move on from this stuff. It's making me regret continuing on into January a bit. Bigelow lost to Fujinami twice. Why are we doing this? This is fine. Fujinami controlled the arm well early. Bigelow sold well. Real title match stuff. Bigelow missed a corner charge with a somersault (what was he even going for?) and bumped to the floor. Visually strong.Bigelow finally taked the eyes and trounced Fujinami working the midsection, and tossing Fujinami out. Fujinami went for a slam and that didn't work. More bearhugs and midsection work. Fujinami finally came back and hit a big lariat. He finally got that slam and put on the dragon sleeper. Bigelow survived it (!). Both guys went sailing out and over the rail (and had a post match show down) and why wasn't this the second match an the Thesz press one the third match? Baffling. 2/1/89: Inoki/Choshu vs Vader/Bigelow: fancam footage. No helmet for Vader. They ambush Inoki/Choshu anyway. They control on Choshu a bit and then he hits a lariat out of the corner so Inoki can come in on Vader. Clash of the titans set up. Very different energy between Inoki and Choshu but it works well. Choshu even suplexes Vader in from the outside before Bigelow comes in and shuts him down. Honestly, there's different energy between Bigelow and Vader too with Bigelow more flowing. Inoki tries to slam him and he reverses it letting them work on Inoki for a bit. They do a tandem canadian backbreaker axehandle off the second rope and any tandem Bigelow/Vader move is nuts by definition. Eventually Inoki bridges out off a second attempt (this time with Bigelow running at him; he kicks Bigelow and then flips Vader over). Choshu comes in hot. They go to a finish. Inoki gets the enziguiri on Bigelow but he gets out. Vader and Bigelow double team and toss the ref, and that's the match. All of this is good but I'm done with it. Done. 2/3/88: Inoki vs Rip Morgan: Morgan is a poor man's Brody. He does a haka of sorts and the fans don't know what to make of it. Lots of snarling and not really credible looking stomp and grind offense. He got caught and pumphandled by Inoki immediately which was funny. Inoki gave him a lot but this did come off like Inoki vs a big goof. Another backbreaker push off the ropes hope spot. But Morgan finally missed a knee drop of fthe ropes and got the Enziguiri, some knuckle arrows, and the Octopus before Vader/Bigelow ran in to set up the next, planned tag... 2/3/88: Choshu/Fujinami vs Vader/Bigelow: Another good tag, another me being done with this. Choshu is a good FIP and eats a press slam onto Bigelow's knee from Vader early. Bigelow misses a headbutt and eats a Lariat though. But then he ducks a second and hits a dropkick. Good stuff in a bubble. They like sending Choshu into his own corner and he popped back out with a Lariat. But then Fujinami leaped off the top rope right into Vader's arms. So the heat kept coming. Fujinamia was able to come back against Vader on the floor (reverse whip) and Vader does sure take out the guard rails. Again Choshu suplexed Vader in so we have some tried and true stuff from the house show. Still a sense that Vader and Bigelow have good team work and can put down the Japanese with it no matter what. But Choshu and Fujinami have a way of keeping coming. Eventually Chohu takes over and Fujinami comes in with a missile dropkick and the dragon sleeper, but Vader tries to break it up. Fujinami is ready for him, hits a dropkick, and leads to a Choshu lariat so Vader and Choshu are out for a bit. WE get a Fujinami sleeper. But Vader makes the sense having gotten Choshu out of the way for a bit and they eventually toss the ref like usual and we get another inconclusive finish with a nice post match brawl as Inoki shows up. But we're deep into diminishing returns on this tour. 2/3/88: Koshinaka/Sano vs Hase/H. Saito: Big takeaway here is that Hase came back from injury and easing into late 88 as an absolute beast. Sano's a guy who likes to really go up for things, sure, but Hase just had a different level of meanness and intensity and monstrous offense. He had a Brock Lock and this crazy spin kick on top of the Northern Lights and what you'd expect. Saito ground Sano down cruiserweight bully that he is. Koshinaka came in hot when he got in, butt butts for all, but the tide was against him at that point. He finally came back too and Sano got to hit some big offense but they cut Koshinaka down again (Saito not falling for a monkey flip and dropping a headbutt instead). Sano got to have a second big house of fire but got caught by Hase with a blockbuster suplex and they went to the finish where Koshinaka broke things up just long enough to get back in there and hi ta backslide on Saito. Post match there was aggression between Hase and Koshinaka. 2/3/88: Fujiwara/Kimura vs Sergio el Hermoso/El Bello Greco: Pretty hilarious stuff here. Fujiwara vs exoticos. Just one bit after another, including Kimura getting bitten and biting a butt in return and having his bitten. Stuff you wouldn't expect. Lots of mocking the step overs and endless twisting whips off the ropes. Headbutt spots. Fujiwara getting kissed and going to spit out water that a second had (and then doing a mist attack on the second kiss attempt). Etc. Everything under the sun with some very unlikely straight men.

Gordi, love you man. I know you come from a place of love too. Trust me, I have a lot of fun. I wish you could see my twitter wall (though I get why you wouldn't. In the last few week I've posted clips of.. Bryan Keith getting slapped by Nick Wayne, changing his expression hilariously, and then beating him up. Kota Ibushi's sell of the pile driver where he lifts his hands up like he's going to fighting spirit through it and then drops them and has a thousand mile stare (called it abstract art). Cash Wheeler doing the Bandido taunt and going "Did I do that?" after they hit the double shot into the table on him. And then dancing to the Bandido chants. Fletcher posing with Dash both doing double biceps during the commercial break. A French Catch swimming pool match full of comedy. Ospreay doing that little curtsy bow to Swerve Swerve doing his roll for the flatliner only to get punched by Taylor Blue panther mugging Konnan's eye with a line "Your favorite wrestler's favorite luchador." Mercedes covering her ears to sell the Catalina chants before running right into a Reinera bomb Brody Lee pushing Fletcher ass over teakettle over the railing at Arena Mexico "You can't take Kyle Fletcher anywhere." and Takeshita doing Daniel Garcia's dance to him as a taunt during a commercial break. As well as a few critical things like the Bucks not showing enough fear to Hobbs and how terrible Aminata and Ford timing their dive together looked. But overall, I'm a barrel of monkeys, buddy.

I’m dreading watching that match. Fletcher is a miracle worker but even he has limits with moronic modern crowds.

That's basically Dream Machine.

1/20/89: Fujinami/Inoki vs Bigelow/Vader: Huge match here. They call Inoki and Fujinami two emperor kings and of course Vader and Bigelow are some sort of monster alliance. The big takeaway here was how well Vader and Bigelow worked together actually. That was both in breaking up holds by Inoki and Fujinami but also in double teams. They needed a big win here because Bigelow was going to lose a bunch to Fujinami and while they didn't quite get that, they were dominant. Fujinami (who worked the brunt of this) or Inoki would fire back but then they'd cut them off with a double team. That was right from the get go with and awesome opening: Vader grabbed Bigelow's hand to hold him back and then when the smoke went they rushed forth to maul the heroes. Later on, Bigelow really took Inoki's punches well too. Best I've ever seen him do it. Finish had them get DQed as they were destroying Inoki in the corner. Very iconic stuff. Just remembering some other things. Fujinami was in all black and they made a big deal out of that for some reason. There is a sort of connection between Vader and Bigelow that is a lot of fun. They seem like pals (and a lot of that comes from Vader). Big Bebop and Rocksteady attitude but far more dangerous. Post match. Morgan came in with a chair and Choshu (with a ponytail!) made the save. 1/26/89: Inoki/Koshinaka vs Super Strong Machine/Takano: They note that Koshinaka and Takano had moved up weight classes. They match up better in a tag like this with other associated contrast. That contrast was SSM coming in and beating Koshinaka up. He and Takano had a fun total elimination with a clothesline and spin wheel kick. Inoki made it in, got double teamed, finally took over on Takano and they worked him for a bit. Until he just hefted up Koshinaka in a chinlock onto his shoulders so SSM could come off the top on him, but it was quite back and forth at this point and Inoki was soon working even with SSM (who was obviously a good mat wrestler). Takano did it again on Koshinaka, this time lifting up out of a headscissors to set up a doomsday device. Just a lot of variety and offense with SSM and Takano. They do feel like a real team. Double dropkicks and diving headbutts and decapitation axe handles and just lots of stuff. SSM looks like one of the best guys in the world here. They had a lift up spin wheel kick combo too (like a hart attack version) but Koshinaka was able to somehow come back with the butt butt and Inoki cleared house. When they tried for a full nelson spin wheel kick combo on him, Koshinaka grabbed Takano's leg from outside and that let Inoki hit a belly to back for the win. I don't know how this helps build them to challenge for the tag titles but they did, at least seem dominant and dynamic for a chunk of this. 1/26/89: Vader vs Choshu: Vader carefully picked up his helmet and got it out of the ring rather than do the ceremony since Choshu kicked it over last time. Choshu still slapped him in the face in the corner. What a maniac. He then went to headlocks which worked for a minute until Vader gave him a huge belly to back. He beat Choshu on the outside for a bit until Choshu reversed a guardrail whip. Vader took back over by teasing a test of strength and punching him in the throat. Then he hit a lariat and leaned on him. Lots of choking. Some of it with his elbow or wrist which looked nasty. Vader had come a long way in a year. That's for sure. Lots of big brutal shots before Choshu recovered and tossed him off the top. Vader recovered again and hit a bunch of power slams, including an outside in jackhammer of sorts. But Choshu had one last burst and hit a lariat knocking him out. Then, as the count went on, he took his life in his hands and hit a very rare plancha and got the miracle countout. These Choshu vs Vader interactions are all super iconic too. Post match, Bigelow came in and he and Vader hit simultaneous splashes on Choshu which again was a great visual.