Matches #10 (but it's just one match this time and it's the best)

Hey y'all! Back to doing more stuff like this now. There's so much wrestling out there to love.

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Osamu Nishimura vs. TAJIRI (MUGA World M-LIVE 9/23/2007) - EPIC

This was apparently contested for Nishimura's "US Heavyweight Championship" under two out of three falls.

There it is. The perfect pro wrestling match. It took ages to get here, but these guys did it. I feel like I could go days on end praising Nishimura, especially what he was able to achieve with his work in MUGA. Yet, I had never seen this match before. Didn't even know it happened!

I've never spoken about my thoughts on TAJIRI before but he's great. Everything he does in so many of his matches is so calculated and intentional. It feels like because most people know him for his junior/cruiserweight stuff and overlook what he's doing below the surface in favor of his athleticism. I was thinking a bit about this the other day: TAJIRI is even more impressive than most of these other wrestlers that people associate with controlling a crowd and having the audience in the palms of their hands. When it comes to those guys, it's pretty easy to see what makes things work with the popular options like Austin, Rock, Hogan, Mistico, Sammartino, Tanahashi, etc. Whereas I don't think the average fan even understands how TAJIRI is manipulating certain reactions out of them and getting exactly what he wants. The guy is like 10 steps ahead of the crowd in terms of being able to elicit whatever perception of himself and his opponent he wants.

The little things he does are so great, but along with that aforementioned junior work, he's great at the big things too. He knows how to make a match both engaging and exciting. And who better to do that with than someone equally as skilled in Osamu Nishimura. Nishimura is another wrestler who is always able to make so much so meaningful. Say whatever you will about "legacy" and "greatness" (which I think would still be in their favor), but I think these two are among the best wrestlers ever to step foot into a ring.

TAJIRI spends a lot of the first fall controlling Nishimura's arm, stunningly out-grappling him in the process. It's annoying and frustrating because...well because I know TAJIRI can reasonably do that, but my heart tells me Nishimura should be killing him in that department. Really, my heart just wants that to be the case, but TAJIRI's so good at pulling at those strings. He's an incredibly sharp mind and that's also what has led to him having so much longevity throughout his career. No matter how much his body and style changes, he's among the best when it comes to structuring a match. I know he has some books out there on pro-wrestling and his philosophy around that stuff that I'd love to get the chance to read at some point.

The cocky bastard steals that first fall too! Now he's got some weight behind what how he's carrying himself and that legitimacy he had throughout the first fall means Nishimura's gonna start falling behind if he's unable to catch up quickly. Nishimura's truly one of the most ultimate babyfaces though, and nobody can power through like him. All any underdog needs is one second of an opening and then they can deliver the goods, but Nishimura particularly excels at creating that opening himself. When he does that, boom, sickest uppercut forearm strikes you've ever seen. I guess they do most closely resemble something Fujinami would do, but I think they're even better. Probably in my top five moves ever.

Nishimura's able to get to his signature spinning toe hold and then tries to make TAJIRI submit with the figure-four. The issue, TAJIRI doesn't give anyone that satisfaction of getting to see him tap out. Instead, he mists Nishimura. It's an instant DQ for TAJIRI for that fall, but he was going to lose it anyways. Now, he's lost the fall still but has the upper hand on Nishimura going into the final fall and we get robbed of Nishimura submitting him.

Going a bit against the grain, the third fall's actually the shortest. Really short. Like, three-ish minutes? But it's perfect. See, TAJIRI thinks he's got Nishimura but in reality, he's the one that's already got. He attempts to kick Nishimura once and instantly the pain from the earlier leg work kicks in. You can actually see TAJIRI try to hide it from his opponent, but alas, it's too late. Nishimura gets on the offesne with some striking to the leg, then figure-four, boom. TAJIRI throws the referee (who looks like it might be Duke Sado? Not sure if he was even around at this point) out of the ring so he can mist Nishimura AGAIN and escape the hold without getting disqualified. He pays for that though because he's got no one to count his pinfall on Nishimura.

As soon as the referee does get back in and is a bit too banged-up to count the pin normally, TAJIRI spends just a little too much time berating him and Nishimura's able to capitalize with another huge figure-four. TAJIRI treated the move as a big deal the entire match, he had to cheat twice to escape it. Now, he had no more escapes and it was the end and that was a fate he simply had to accept immediately.

Amazing finish but it's just the cherry on top of a match that is excellently executes it's point across to a tee. While writing this, I saw this Tom Green tweet about "MaxwellBoards" and his thoughts on what makes a match five-stars. I've actually always felt pretty similarly. A match that is able to be good at what it's going for is good and one that can't is typically bad. There's exceptions of course but that's not the point I want to make here. Basically, this match goes for something that is a rather simple "give the audience a reason to hate the bad guy and then give them want they want to see (which is the bad guy getting beat up)" but that's seemed to get harder to pull off in wrestling as you go through the decades. This match is able to do it perfectly though. In fact, I'm aware every piece of art is up to interpretation and can be ambiguous, but I don't know how anyone could see this and not all come to the same conclusion about the story they told.

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I love Osamu Nishimura and I love TAJIRI.

Thank you for reading my thoughts on these matches today; I hope you enjoyed! If you didn't, that's alright too. Let me know if you have any thoughts, criticisms, ideas, or whatever in the comments or get in touch with me on my Twitter page.

mikeawesomemike & tetrab0mb Wrestling Comp

Hey y'all! Little bit of a different comp today, because this one's a collaboration with my friend, Tetra. Check out @tetrabot9000 on X and @tetrab0mb on Instagram if you like good photography and sometimes the occasional writing thing. Here's the comp:

As this is a collaborative effort, this blog post is also gonna be a bit different. Tetra wrote a bit about the stuff they wanted to be included in this comp, so I'll specify who's from what in this.

Wouldn't suggest reading further until after you have finished watching. I can't stop you from doing that either way, but I do suggest you experience this compilation without knowing the contents within it.

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Nick Gage promo hyping up NGI2

"SHLAK. One minute, this guy's hanging from meat hooks, drinking a beer. Two hours later, I walk by his van... and he's smoking, CRACK. Now I know why this guy don't feel no fuckin' pain!"

"Markus Crane, this guy, he lands on pigeon spikes: punctures a lung! What the fuck is wrong with this guy?"

Matt Tremont vs SHLAK [GCW World Title/Nick Gage Invitational 2 First Round] - GCW Nick Gage Invitational 2 (9/16/17)

Tetra: The second Nick Gage Invitational is one of my favorite tournaments. It is truly near and dear to my heart. I'll expand more upon this when we get to my last match, but Matt Tremont, the veteran, enters this tournament against a rookie in SHLAK who is willing to take as much punishment as dearly possible. 

Matt Tremont is dedicated to putting down SHLAK, a man who, in the lead up to this tournament, had described him as a crack smoker. Off the jump, Tremont greets him with a light tube bundle and bursts it in one of the most aggressive ways anyone has burst a bundle in a death match, much to the commentary's chagrin.

SHLAK takes some gnarly stuff, getting whipped with barbed wire, vicious headbutts from Tremont, but SHLAK delivers his own as well! He sends Tremont through the barbed wire ropes, and even suffocates Tremont with a plastic bag before going back to light tube offense. I can't think of a better way to start off my portion of this. This just rules.

Rastaman vs Carl Malenko - BATTLARTS (11/26/00) - FUN

Mike: I'm telling you, I really like this Rastaman guy from everything I've seen. This is clipped, but it's still more than enough shown to get a good feeling about the match. Carl Malenko is also the best Malenko and just a crazy good wrestler that I wish got a chance to do more beyond BattlArts. This match is a bit unlike a lot of the famed Bati-Bati stuff you'll see people recommending.

Nick Gage vs John Wayne Murdoch [King Of The Death Matches 2015 Finals] - IWA-MS (6/27/15)

This is a minute-long clip from the match.

Tetra: This whole match is great, but for the most part, in order for brevity, you just need to see Gage and Murdoch fighting it out in the crowd in a bar-fight. This IWA Mid-South crowd is hungry for violence, and they're eating up everything these two are doing. Especially since Gage had just been put on parole at that point. This is one of my favorite old generation vs. next generation matches, and, both men refuse to pull any punches.

Yuki Ishikawa vs Ryuji Hijikata - AJPW (7/22/04)

Tetra: I've spoken about this match at length with my friends, but there is one key proponent of this match. You don't necessarily need to win a match to end up the ultimate winner, sometimes, you just need to survive. Hijikata is aspirational in the way that he walks away tough as nails, and demands more, whilst Ishikawa smiles at his petty little beating. Sometimes, this is what I want to see.

Masahito Kakihara vs Tatsuo Nakano - UWFI (9/21/92) - REALLY GOOD

Mike: There's tons a blood in the matches Tetra picked, and lots of guys getting beaten the hell out of, so I wanted to keep things in theme with this classic. Nakano and Kakihara, well, they beat the hell out of each other for less than five minutes. Nakano puts up the fight of his life to outmatch the quicker Kakihara.

? vs. ? (Raff-Sanz Promotions ?/?/97)

Mike: This is a quick clip from a Dominican wrestling show in the 90s. There's music playing, commentary sounds like they're speed-talking, and the wrestlers just do a lot in the span they have. I think it's neat.

Masked Holiday vs Great ZAKO (Unemployment Pro Wrestling 11/21/18)

Tetra: This is one of my favorite matches, mainly due to how avant-garde it is. For the most part, wrestling has always been a very interesting performance art to me, and this encapsulates it. Professional wrestling can happen anywhere, even in the weirdest little spaces. Whether in a parking lot, or in a tiny little apartment where walls become weapons. Both Keita and Zako showcase their knowledge of their surroundings by taking everything to their advantage, even as the match transforms between an astounding technical showcase with the little space they have, to a messier brawl. Too small to be a bar fight, too large to be just an exhibition, but just big enough to prove that anything can be done if you are aware of your space.

Matt Tremont vs Nick Gage [GCW World Title Nick Gage Invitational 2 Final] (GCW Nick Gage Invitational 2 9/16/17)

Tetra: This is one of my favorite death matches to ever occur on American soil. This is a cinder block canvas death match, for Tremont's GCW World Championship. Tremont had defended this whole tournament, and the finals were obviously going to be Gage vs. Tremont, but at the same time, this match for the most part was a dream. Gage had just been released from his parole violation, had fully served his time for the bank robbery, and had fully come out a different man. He was always hardcore, but he came out this shredded monster who was dedicated to put any challenger who stepped in his way in the ground. Nick Gage had a mission statement, and it was to conquer the world of American death match wrestling once more.

Matt Tremont had announced beforehand that this would be his last death match tournament, and would start to wind down as well, (lol) and everything crescendoes into this spectacle of this being Tremont's last shot at winning a death match tournament, and Gage proving himself once more to the hardcore fans who had embraced him just like before, if not even more. In a way, this feels like the biggest death match that could occur on American soil. Especially once they bring out an incredibly nasty stipulation that, to my knowledge, hadn't been brought out on American soil. At least, not to this extent.

Every match, every competitor, featured something that proved how bad they wanted to win this tournament. Markus Crane had torn some of his flesh off trying to get to the second round, getting cut in a distressing way from a Spanish Fly onto a light tube bundle. Matt Tremont had been attacked with a gusset plate board from Miedo Extremo, a weapon that is now so common-place today, but is still shocking to see. Gage and Ciclope in the first round went hard at it, fish hooking Ciclope with a rod, and reeling him off of the top rope, and even doing his signature face wash with a razor board.

It only makes sense that Tremont and Gage would kill each other. They needed to kill each other. Especially since Gage is stepping into a different world. Really, it's how you become a made man.

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Wow, Tetra wrote A LOT. Now I feel a bit bad for just leaving my little comments on the matches I included lol. Truly thank you though for all of that, yknow I appreciate it.

Thank you for reading both my and Tetra's thoughts on these matches/this comp today; I hope you enjoyed! If you didn't, that's alright too. Let me know if you have any thoughts, criticisms, ideas, or whatever in the comments or get in touch with me on my Twitter page.

mikeawesomemike Wrestling Comp Vol. 4

 Hey y'all. Another comp today from myself. I promise I'll stop doing these daily at some point lol.

Wouldn't suggest reading further until after you have finished watching. I can't stop you from doing that either way, but I do suggest you experience this compilation without knowing the contents within it.

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Ricky Banderas vs Rastaman (IWA Puerto Rico 12/?/1999) - GREAT

The rematch! This has a lot of the same stuff as their first match, but that's absolutely fine with me. If anything, Banderas feels even more fired up. He's such a fighter here.

It's barely missing some of the magic that the previous matchup had, but maybe that's just me loving chaos.

Bryan Danielson vs Kaval (FCW TV 2/7/2010) - FUN

This was taped on 1/14/2010. Pretty sure this was Danielson's first FCW match as well. You're getting a dumbed down version of Danielson v Low Ki but they also have to try to get creative because this is sub-10 minutes. I've seen more 2010 FCW than most probably. It's not good, but you'll sometimes get a match like this that's interesting to think about at least.

They do some stiff-for-WWE-standards striking and matwork. Looks good, feels good. You can tell even at this level, there's still that road agent/production micromanaging behind every match, but this one does a better job at separating itself apart and making me feel like I'm watching two wrestlers go at it, which those other ones don't.

Bruiser Brody promo (NWA Polynesian Wrestling 8/?/1986)

Brody loved this shit, man. One of the promos where all you can do is silence, listen up, and believe every word coming out of his mouth.

Bret Hart vs Jeff Jarrett [Special Referee: Big Boss Man] (WWF House Show San Francisco, CA 12/5/1993) - FUN

I think I like the WWE house show style a lot, what can I say. We need more special referees to be like Big Boss Man here. Jeff Jarrett's great. I'm not the biggest Bret fan but I think he's seriously good here. Does an awesome job at slowing being unnerved by Jarrett until he finally breaks.

El Hijo del Santo & Damian 666 vs Super Parka & Blue Panther (WWO 5/3/2003) - GOOD

I want to believe there's always room for wrestling to get better, in any time period. And then I watch El Hijo del Santo and yknow what, maybe it can't. I've watched so many of his matches and I'm still always amazed. Somehow, he's able to move in a way that feels mythical. The stories about El Santo make a lot more sense when you see what Santito was capable of. 

Blue Panther can be just as good of a rudo as he is tecnico. He can be a real bully in the ring, even with Hijo del Santo being as aggressive as he is in this. Super Parka gets a bit too much of the spotlight, but Santito shuts him down a few times at least.

The finish isn't great, but the rest of the match is good enough at least.

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Thank you for reading my thoughts on these matches/this comp today; I hope you enjoyed! If you didn't, that's alright too. Let me know if you have any thoughts, criticisms, ideas, or whatever in the comments or get in touch with me on my Twitter page.

mikeawesomemike Wrestling Comp Vol. 3

Hey y'all! Another day, another comp.

Wouldn't suggest reading further until after you have finished watching. I can't stop you from doing that either way, but I do suggest you experience this compilation without knowing the contents within it.

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Junkyard Dog vs. Great Kabuki (JCP World Wide Wrestling 4/7/1984) - FUN

Dude. JYD might be one of my favorites ever, huh? I like Great Kabuki a lot too, and wish he was more widely known as something other than "the guy that started the poison mist stuff" but he's no match for Dog here. No one ever is. At every cut-off and submission, JYD gives the crowd something to get behind and believe in. I think that a large part of pro wrestling is believing and living in the moment. He got it.

Abdullah Kobayashi & Mayumi Ozaki vs Kyoko Kimura & Yuko Miyamoto (BJW Katsura Special 2 6/4/2006) - GREAT

Insane, awesome match. Mayumi Ozaki doing deathmatch. You know what to expect out of the guys here, so I left this wishing Kyoko did even more hardcore shit like this. Of course, she did do a lot in her own right, but I feel like she could've easily been one of the greatest deathmatchers we've ever seen with this kind of stuff. Everyone just beats the crap out of each other. Don't even get me started on how sick as hell the Kobayashi/Kimura headbutts are.

Kept the post-match broadcast stuff in because they showed Kyoko comforting a really young Hana Kimura after the match, and that touched the heart yknow?

Hana Kimura vs Yako Fujigasaki [JWP Junior Title & Princess Of Pro Wrestling Title Tournament Final] (JWP Fly High In The 25th Anniversary Day 7 Evening Show 9/18/2016)

After that, I thought it'd be neat to include a Hana match. This was tourney final that had both the JWP Junior and Princess of Pro Wrestling championships on the line. The Princess one actually has a really interesting lineage if you're interested in checking out that kind of stuff. Of course the JWP one does too, but I hadn't heard of the other one previously.

This has some nice babyface work from Hana fighting upwards against the larger Fujigasaki. And I use that word "fighting" because she's able to truly make it feel that way. Hana wants to win and it feels like a competition. As far as I know, this was her first proper championship win, also why I included it.

I actually don't know much about her opponent here, but she seems gnarly herself.

Masao Orihara vs Great Sasuke [Tokuku Jr. Title Tournament] (Michinoku Pro 8/17/2002)

This is another clipped matchup from this tournament. This one actually followed the matchup I included in the first comp, Orihara/Naniwa. This seemed just as good, if not better than that. More evil dickhead Orihara, please.

Ricky Banderas vs Rastaman (IWA Puerto Rico 12/3/1999) - EPIC

Been on a bit of a Rastaman kick lately. He's awesome. Need to see more of his BattlArts stuff for sure.

This is almost as perfect of a wrestling match as you can get. Wow. It's like seven minutes, watch it ASAP.

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Thank you for reading my thoughts on these matches/this comp today; I hope you enjoyed! If you didn't, that's alright too. Let me know if you have any thoughts, criticisms, ideas, or whatever in the comments or get in touch with me on my Twitter page.

mikeawesomemike Wrestling Comp Vol. 2

Hey again! I know it's only a day later, but I had such a great time putting together that first comp that I decided to do another one. Here it is:

Would recommend not reading further until after watching it, so that you can enter the compilation blind. But feel free to do whatever you want.

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Jason Cross vs. Jorge Estrada (NWA Wildside 3/29/2003) - FUN

Everything I've seen from NWA Wildside feels so ahead of it's time. These two guys in particular, they were doing some wild (lol) stuff for 2003 U.S. standards! Yeah, there were some other great independent juniors at the time, but these guys were next level. Cross is like ten years from the future and Estrada feels like a Mid-South TV champion from the 80s. He can move quick if he wants and is flashy, but knows how to use that in a way that's still able to get amazed fans to dislike him. This was sick as hellllllll.

Put this as the first match because it feels like it could open up any wrestling TV show in the past two decades and make me want to continue watching the rest of the show (and then be disappointed that the rest of the show doesn't get better than that, but I promise that's not the case for this).

Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano vs. Velvet McIntyre & Dawn Marie (WWF Boston Gardens on NESN 3/8/1986) - FINE

Commentary was notably atrocious for this, but that's unfortunately the case for a lot of the WWF matches with joshi involved.

Trying to ignore that though, this was still neat. You get Dump and Bull being evil in Boston and the crowd's not super into it, but they still worked the way I wanted them to. They beat up the faces for a bit, but lose to the athletic Velvet McIntyre. It's pretty simple, they don't do anything insane, but cool novelty. It's Dump and Bull in the Boston Garden.

Sabu vs. Osamu Nishimura [NWA Independent World Title] (NWA Sabu 8/7/1994) - FUN

You're getting Nishimura working a Sabu match. That's awesome. It's probably the most interesting way that this matchup could be done. It feels like it's a bit of a sprint too. Sabu tries to bombard Nishimura with offense that's pretty different to what he's probably seen up to this point, Nishimura tries to be more calculated than Sabu. I don't know how you wouldn't want to give this a watch.

Now I think I want to see their matchup from a year later in ECW at some point.

Zandig vs. JC Bailey vs. Nick Gage [Ultraviolent Underground Title/Junkyard Death Match] (CZW 7/?/2005) - GREAT

This is a one minute clip. The full match is out there online, but I chose not to include it because I wanted to stay under a certain time and thought this served as a nice teaser for the match on its own. Watch the match if you haven't yet, it's one of my favorites from CZW.

Simbolo vs. Makabre (MWF Millenials Fest 9/6/2025) - GREAT

One of my favorite matches this year. Good lucha brawling in front of an interested crowd at La Terraza Elma. I don't find myself always cheering for him in his matches, but something about Makabre feels so broken down and destroyed physically that I really wanted to believe in him. You can tell there's a real passion in every single punch, kick, and bump. I know Simbolo can be a bit hit or miss, but I wonder what an apuestas between these two would like. Watch this one for sure; I'd love to know if anyone else thought it was as good as I did.

Lou Thesz vs. Buddy Rogers [NWA World Heavyweight Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls] (NWA Chicago 1/26/1951) - GOOD

This is a clip of the final three minutes of this hour long draw. I watched a bit of Lou Thesz this year for the first time. He was great, genuinely deserved every ounce of recognition he had. I thought these final moments demonstrated exhaustion really well, probably because they actually were tired by this portion of the match. You get the idea though. Thesz just felt like a real wrestler, yknow? Rogers is pretty good too.

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My thoughts were a lot less lengthy on these compared to yesterday, but I still wanted to leave a few comments about the matches at least. I wouldn't consider any of those as formal reviews though.

Thank you for reading my thoughts on these matches/this comp today; I hope you enjoyed! If you didn't, that's alright too. Let me know if you have any thoughts, criticisms, ideas, or whatever in the comments or get in touch with me on my Twitter page.

mikeawesomemike Wrestling Comp Vol. 1

Hey y'all! It's been a while, hasn't it? My bad, lost a lot of motivation to write for a bit. But now, I want to write again, so here.

Currently, the incredible Wrestling Playlists is in the middle of their "Season Of Giving." For the uninitiated, a bunch of great wrestling fans online (including Charles, the guy behind the project) curate these playlists and compilations to share with subscribers/readers. I wanted to do one this year, but couldn't get much done before the deadline due to my horrible time management. I felt a bit inspired though, seeing some of the cool concepts and ideas some folks had. Another thing that inspired me was seeing some of the comps produced recently by guidedbyrockets. They've all been great and something that I like about them is that you can tell what kind of fan they are based on what matches are selected. And if I remember correctly, that was part of the goal with the Season of Giving stuff: put something together that would show people what type of wrestling fan you are. Also in general, I just really like taking a peek at older wrestling comps like the DVDVR Yearbooks and such.

So without further ado, these things made me wanna do one of my own. Here it is:

In this post, I'm gonna talk a bit about the matches I included in this, maybe some info on why, and also just how I like these wrestling things. I would highly recommend going into the comp blind, not knowing the contents within it ahead of time, but I can't stop you from doing whatever.

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LSD "Survival" Rongai vs. Ettsu (Japanese University Student Wrestling Match 4/11/2006) - GREAT

I could wax poetic about how amazing "student wrestling" can be. These two guys have seemingly no training and are in front of a handful of people and they put on a great wrestling match in spite of that, in an area that looks to be on their university's campus! Ettsu is a Misawa clone, and I'm not the biggest Misawa fan ever, but it's awesome seeing King's Road bumps brought to this kind of environment. LSD "Survival" Rongai. That's it. I don't even know where to start with this guy. He's insane. Well, both these of guys are, but he is definitely so. It feels like he takes the overwhelming majority of the nastiest moves in this. Even when he's when he's the one delivering them.

After some consecutive crazy spots happen on the outside, the match ends via double count-out. I really liked this finish because Ettsu delivers a disgusting suplex from the apron to the outside floor to prevent Rongai from getting in at the last second. It's all he had left in that moment, so he ends up losing too, but it made it feel all the more like he actually wanted to win the match.

That actually doesn't end up being the true finish though, because Ettsu grabs a microphone and begs for the match to be restarted, as this will be the final time him and Rongai would be able to face off. I don't think a reason is outright given as to why that is, but I assume one (or both) of them was about to graduate and therefore would no longer be at the university. Rongai agrees for the match to be restarted with a three minute time-limit. Honestly, I thought it was a cool moment. It was real, yknow? Can't make that kind of stuff up in "professional" wrestling.

Nothing much happens in the added minutes that's anything crazier than the earlier match, but they still treat it like a sprint and they both are rushing to win. Inevitably, none of them can get that before the time expires. Amaresu rules, watch this.

Masao Orihara vs. Gran Naniwa [Tohuku Jr. Title Tournament] (Michinoku Pro 8/16/2002)

This is just a clip of the finish to this match. I like both of these guys a lot, but it's especially awesome seeing Orihara as this weird little freak that chokes people considering my introduction to him was his stuff during the WAR/NJPW feud. I mean, he was somewhat like that back then too, but this is looks and feels like a completely different guy.

Kana vs. Kagetsu [Best Two Out Of Three Falls] (OSAKA Joshi-Pro DAIJO 1st Anniversary 3/21/2011) - FUN

This is a bit clipped but still watchable enough that I feel I can review this.

One of the few Kagetsu/Kana singles matches and if I remember correctly, this one was on YouTube for a bit before being taken down and disappearing for some years. I bought a "Best of DAIJO" DVD and got this with it, mainly because I wanted to see this match. Very glad I did, because this was neat.

Seeing either of these two work a 2/3 falls is really interesting, and they don't do a bad job structuring it either! Kagetsu's still pretty early into his career by this point and we don't see anything that's reminiscent of the Oedo Tai era of his work that would define said career, but he was a damn good wrestler still at this point. Instead, Kana's more of the heel here and of course, she's excellent in that role. You're getting Kana, an Ishikawa trainee near her peak against Kagetsu, a Meiko Satomura trainee who's young at this point and is fighting with a lot of fire in his heart. Like I said, neat for what it is.

Ricky Marvin vs. Virus [Mexican National Lightweight Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match] (CMLL 12/12/2000) - FUN

Ricky Marvin is one of my favorite wrestlers of all-time and so is Virus. Virus is still very good to this day, and this was a pretty big deal for Marvin at the time. Another two-out-of-three falls match, but this is lucha libre. Even for these two smaller guys, they make the match feel like a big deal and you can tell how important it is to them.

This was one of the first matches I looked for when I was introduced to Ricky Marvin, and so it has a special place in my heart.

Kazunari Murakami vs. Lee Young Gun [No Rules Match] (UFO TAKE OFF 10/24/1998) - GOOD

As far as I know, this is Murakami's pro wrestling debut. The story seems to be that he was training at Lee's gym, before things got out of hand after Lee started throwing live rounds at him. Somehow, Lee's the one that's mad at this and he says he's gonna kill Murakami.

Lee throws some sick kicks, like the ones he threw at the gym. It seems like he's got Murakami in trouble for a second. The Heisei Terrorist does what he does though, and within a moment's notice he's able to flip a switch and DESTROY Lee. Huge slam, followed by a disgusting judo throw, ended off with an armbar. In the five seconds he pulls all of that off, we see the Murakami we all know. This guy was always going to be great, huh?

The bell-to-bell for this is like a minute and a half at most, watch this.

Ryuki Ueyama vs. Ryuji Hijikata (AJPW 4/12/2003)

This is a clip of the finish to this match. A while back I did a bit of a deep dive on Ueyama and watched 90% of the matches he did (there were less than 30 of them). I left thinking that he was someone who could've been a bit of a gem but just barely missed the mark a lot of the times with his match output, even if that wasn't always his fault. I do wonder how his career would've panned if he fully committed to pro wrestling early on.

And then Ryuji Hijikata's one of the sickest fuckers ever, love that guy.

Junkyard Dog vs. Kamala (WCCW 10/21/1983) - GOOD

JYD really did ooze of charisma. In fact, he didn't just have charisma, he WAS charisma. I have such a fun time watching him whenever a match of his comes up. I don't mean any disrespect to Kamala either but man, there's never anyone that would come close to moving the crowd the way Junkyard Dog did and it's so clear when you see how they react to him compared to his opponents. He just got it like no other.

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I know this was a bit different than usual, but thank you for reading my thoughts on these matches/this comp today; I hope you enjoyed! If you didn't, that's alright too. Let me know if you have any thoughts, criticisms, ideas, or whatever in the comments or get in touch with me on my Twitter page.

Entrevista/Preguntas con Hip Hop Man (Versión en Español)

Como pueden ver por el título, tuve la oportunidad de hablar con Hip Hop Man. Es una leyenda del wrestling argentino y siento un inmenso respeto por todo lo que ha hecho en sus más de 20 años de carrera. Su trabajo fue sin duda mi introducción al wrestling argentino y sé que esta es otra entrevista breve, pero espero que alguien pueda aprender algo al leerla y tal vez se anime a buscar más información sobre él.

Me respondió muy rápido a esta idea y se mostró dispuesto a hacerlo tan pronto como yo quisiera, por lo que le estoy muy agradecido.

Mis palabras están en cursiva. Las palabras de Hip Hop Man están en negrita.

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Soy un gran admirador tuyo y estoy en Estados Unidos, pero no soy el único admirador que tienes aquí. Tienes muchos seguidores aquí y en todo el mundo. Hablando de eso, has estado luchando en Japón durante los últimos meses. Ya hiciste un viaje similar en 2023, pero ¿hay alguna diferencia con respecto a esta vez? ¿Cómo ha sido la experiencia y qué significa para ti luchar en Japón?

Si, bien fueron 70 días y la primera vez fueron 90 días, realicé más luchas esta vez, fueron 37, por momentos muy cansado pero feliz. 

Japón es mi lugar en el mundo, si bien aún me falta por luchar en Estados Unidos, por el momento viviría y lucharia sin problemas en Japón.

Es increíble ver lo bien que te has adaptado a un entorno de lucha libre completamente diferente al de México; de hecho, ¿dirías que hay mucha diferencia entre cómo luchas en México y cómo lo haces en Japón? ¿O incluso en comparación con Argentina?

El estilo argentino es más parecido al japonés, así que me adapte fácilmente, claro que los 12 años de luchar en los Rings mexicanos y la presión que te pone la gente acá, ayuda a qué en Japón todo sea más fácil. 

Hoy la gran diferencia es que en Japón soy feliz luchando, en México ya no, por eso lucho poco.

Además, se te atribuye el mérito de ser creativo para la IWRG y varios luchadores de la IWRG (Ajolotl, Luka, Luki) también han seguido tus pasos en Japón. Dado tu papel en la promoción, ¿participas en la decisión de qué luchadores viajan a Japón y cosas por el estilo?

Este año pude ayudar a Ajolotl, Luka, Yorvak, Radiactivo, Noisy boy, Spider Fly, Hijo de Dos Caras, anteriormente Alebrije, relámpago. Todo aquel que me pide ayuda, trato de ayudarlos a cumplir su sueño de luchar en Japón. 

Ya veo. Lamento que no te guste tanto la lucha libre en México como en Japón, pero me alegra que hayas encontrado un lugar en Japón donde puedas ser feliz con lo que haces. Y aún mejor es que estés ayudando a otros luchadores a alcanzar esa misma felicidad.

Esta es la última pregunta sobre tu estancia en Japón: ¿Hay alguien con quien te hubiera gustado enfrentarte en Japón?

No tengo un rival en Japón, si me gustaría en algún momento, poder luchar en New Japan Pro Wrestling.

También quería hablar contigo sobre tu carrera en general. Llevas más de 20 años dedicándote a la lucha libre y hay quien te considera el mejor luchador argentino de la historia. No sé qué opinas al respecto, pero ¿te sientes orgulloso de que te tengan en cuenta en ese debate? ¿Cómo te sientes al saber que la gente te considera un referente de la lucha libre argentina?

Yo hago mi carrera para ser feliz yo, si consideran que soy el mejor, siempre es bienvenido ese halago, pero no busco ser el mejor. Solo busco cumplir mis sueños y ser feliz con lo que hago.

Creo que es una forma estupenda de enfocar la lucha libre, y me alegro de que parezcas más feliz incluso después de 23 años de carrera.

Te he robado parte de tu tiempo, así que solo te haré unas cuantas preguntas más, si te parece bien.

Has luchado en más lugares que la mayoría de los luchadores: Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, México, Guatemala, Japón y Catar. Sé que ya hemos hablado un poco sobre Estados Unidos, pero ¿hay algún otro lugar en el que te gustaría luchar y aún no lo has hecho?

Sueño, solo Estados Unidos. Si se dan otros países sería más por un tema de viajar y conocer el país, pero que realmente sea un objetivo, Ee.uu

Tiene sentido, estoy seguro de que hay muchos fans aquí (incluido yo mismo) a los que también les encantaría verte en Estados Unidos.

Esta pregunta es un poco más divertida y desenfadada que las anteriores: te llaman «Hip Hop Man» y el hip hop siempre ha sido una parte importante de tu personalidad y tu imagen. ¿Tienes alguna canción o artista favorito en este momento? ¿El hip hop es realmente tu género musical favorito?

Eminem en su momento, y veo competencias de freestyle de Argentina. Pero solo fue un personaje que me dieron en un producto televisivo, en Argentina me hice muy famoso y entraba bailando. Ya cuando llegué a México en 2013 era difícil empezar enmascarado o con otro nombre, decidí seguir con el Hiphopman y hasta la fecha.

Es una historia muy interesante que probablemente la gente de aquí no conozca sobre ti y el personaje Hip Hop Man. Gracias por compartirla. Me alegra saber que hay artistas de hip hop que te gustan.

Por último, ¿hay algo más que quieras compartir sobre lo que estás haciendo? ¿Algún comentario final sobre el futuro de Hip Hop Man y lo que quieres que sepan tus fans?

Que me sigan en redes danyhiphopman en Instagram y TikTok, Hiphopman Wrestler en facebook y mi canal de Youtube "lucha libre argentina Hiphopman." (Nota del editor: su página de Twitter/X también es «@danyhiphopman», para quienes se lo pregunten.)

Espero visitar el próximo año estados unidos, sigo intentando el tema de la visa de trabajo, desde 2019 que lo intento pero no sé da, esperemos que pronto pueda ir y así comenzar ya mi retiro de la lucha libre.

Muchas gracias por tu tiempo, me lo he pasado muy bien. Espero que consigas el visado de trabajo y continúes con tu gran carrera durante todo el tiempo que desees. ¡Muchas gracias!

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¡Y eso es todo! Sé que ha sido bastante breve, pero me ha parecido increíble poder hablar con un luchador tan genial tanto dentro como fuera del ring como Hip Hop Man. 

¡Espero que hayas disfrutado leyendo esto! Si no es así, tampoco pasa nada. Si tienes alguna opinión, crítica, idea o lo que sea, déjame un comentario o ponte en contacto conmigo a través de mi página de Twitter/X.

Interview/Q&A with Hip Hop Man (English Version)

As you can see from the title, I got the chance to talk to Hip Hop Man. He's an Argentinian wrestling legend and I have an immense amount of respect for all that he's done in his 20+ years of wrestling. His work was definitely my introduction to Argentinian wrestling and I know this is another shorter one, but I hope someone can learn a thing or two from reading this and maybe consider seeking out more from him.

He was super quick to respond to me about this idea and was willing to do it as soon as I wanted, so I am very grateful for that.

My words are in italics. Hip Hop Man's words are in bold.

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I'm a huge fan of yours and I'm in America, but I'm not the only fan you have here. You have a bit of a following here and across the world. Speaking of which, you've been wrestling in Japan for the past few months. You took a similar trip back in 2023, but is there anything different about wrestling there this time? How has the experience been and what does wrestling in Japan mean to you?

Although it was 70 days [this time] and the first time it was 90 days, I fought more this time, 37 matches in total. At times I was very tired, but happy.

Japan is my place in the world. Although I still have to fight in the United States, for now I would live and fight without any problems in Japan.

It's amazing to see how well you've adjusted yourself to a completely different wrestling environment than Mexico; in fact, would you say there's much of a difference between how you wrestle in Mexico compared to Japan. Or even compared to Argentina as well?

The Argentine style is more similar to the Japanese style, so I adapted easily. Of course, the 12 years of fighting in Mexican rings and the pressure that people put on you here help make everything easier in Japan.

Today, the big difference is that in Japan I am happy fighting, but in Mexico I'm not anymore, which is why I fight less.

Also, you are credited with creative for IWRG and several IWRG wrestlers have followed your trip in Japan as well. Given your role in the promotion, do you have a part in deciding which wrestlers travel to Japan and such?

This year, I was able to help Ajolotl, Luka, Yorvak, Radiactivo, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly, Hijo de Dos Caras, and previously Alebrije and Relámpago. I try to help everyone who asks me for help to fulfill their dream of fighting in Japan. 

I see. I'm sorry to hear about your love for wrestling in Mexico compared to Japan, but I'm glad you've found a place in Japan where you can be happy with what you're doing. It's even made better by the fact that you're helping these other wrestlers achieve that same happiness.

This is the last thing I'll ask about your time in Japan: Is there anyone you wish to have faced in Japan?

I don't have a rival in Japan, but I would like to fight in New Japan Pro Wrestling at some point.

I also wanted to talk to you about your career as a whole. You've been wrestling for more than 20 years now, and some people have called you the greatest Argentinian wrestler ever. I'm not sure how you feel about that debate, but do you pride yourself on even being considered in such a conversation? How does it make you feel that people consider you a representation of Argentinian wrestling?

I pursue my career to make myself happy. If people consider me the best, I always welcome that compliment, but I'm not looking to be the best. I just want to fulfill my dreams and be happy with what I do.

I think that sounds like a great way to go about wrestling, and I'm glad you seem to be happier even 23 years into your career.

I've taken up some of your time, so I'll only ask a few more questions if that's alright.

You've wrestled in more places than most wrestlers ever will: Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Mexico, Guatamala, Japan, and Qatar. I know we spoke a little about America earlier, but is there any other places you'd want to wrestle that you haven't yet?

I dream of the United States alone. If there were to be any other countries were mentioned, it would be more for the sake of traveling and getting to know the country, but for it to really be a goal [for wrestling], the U.S.

That makes sense, I'm sure there are many fans here (including myself) that would love to see you in America too.

This one is a bit more fun and lighthearted rather than serious: You are called "Hip Hop Man" and Hip Hop has always been a big part of your character and presentation. Do you have a favorite song or artist right now? Is Hip Hop truly your favorite music?

Eminem at the moment, and I watch freestyle competitions in Argentina. But it was just a character they gave me on a television show. In Argentina, I became very famous and would come on stage dancing. When I arrived in Mexico in 2013, it was difficult to start over with a mask or a different name, so I decided to continue with Hip Hop Man, and I still do to this day.

That's a pretty interesting story that I think people over here probably might not know about you and the Hip Hop Man character. Thank you for sharing that. Glad to know there are hip hop artists you do enjoy though.

Lastly, is there anything else you want to share about what you're doing? Any closing thoughts about Hip Hop Man's future and what you want fans to know?

Follow me on social media: danyhiphopman on Instagram and TikTok, Hiphopman Wrestler on Facebook, and my YouTube channel “lucha libre argentina Hiphopman.” (Editor's Note: His twitter/X page is also "@danyhiphopman" for those wondering.)

I hope to visit the United States next year. I'm still trying to get a work visa. I've been trying since 2019, but I don't know if it will happen. Hopefully, I'll be able to go soon and start my retirement from wrestling.

Thank you for your time, I had a lot of fun with this. Hope you get the work visa and continue your great career for as long as you choose to. Thank you so much!

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And that's all! I know it was pretty brief but I thought it was awesome to talk to a wrestler that is as cool both in-and-out of the ring as Hip Hop Man. 

Hope you enjoyed reading this! If not, that's alright too. Let me know if you have any thoughts, criticisms, ideas, or whatever in the comments or get in touch with me on my Twitter page.

Matches #9 (2025 Indie Lucha Edition)

 Hey y'all, back with more matches! All of these are gonna be ones from lucha indie shows.

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Tonalli vs. Aero Boy (Rompiendo Madres 9/7/2025) - FUN

Tonalli is easily one of the best (if not the best) rudos on the scene and he's only 27! He's got a great mind for an indie luchador on the younger side; feels like he just gets it. Knows exactly when to knock his opponents down and knows when it's his turn to get his ass beat.

Aero Boy doesn't let up and makes the most of every chance he gets at Tonalli. Haven't seen much of him before, but I like him here. Shows a ton of urgency and makes it feel more like a struggle to overcome Tonalli. In today's day and age, it's harder for me to care about/want to root against a rudo as cool and talented as Tonalli, but Aero Boy does well at making me believe in what he's got going and his offense doesn't get as annoying as I expected it to.

Yeah, he's got better matches for sure, but I would definitely show this to anyone who likes Tonalli or thinks he'd be up their alley. Love him. He does a good job at grounding things, literally and figuratively.

Erick Ortiz vs. Enigma Extremo (Panther Promotions Arena Coliseo Reynosa 8/17/2025) - GOOD

I've seen only like one other Enigma Extremo match before and it was him tagging with the indie GOD Erick Ortiz back in Feburary of this year and I thought he was awesome in that. The easiest way to win me over on first watch is to do sick shit that's dangerous and he did that and then some in the tag. What a delightful surprise to see that these two did a singles against each other last month.

Starts off with some cool llaveo between the two before heading into more bump-freak territory. What's surprising is that Erick Ortiz isn't the one doing said bump-freak stuff, it's Enigma Extremo. I remember him doing some nuts stuff in that February tag but holyyy; I shrieked at some of the moves he took here.

Also while I have my complaints with matches that start off with grappling to fill time and then dropping it as soon as the match leaves the opening minutes, I am more lenient when it comes to llaveo because it feels more exhibition-like in nature already. Also while I wish they did more of it, I still thought the grappling was enjoyable.

Erick Ortiz is great. Enigma Extremo is starting to climb up my list of guys I should be paying more attention to.

Avisman vs. Feroz (Lucha Memes Coacalco Patrio 9/14/2025) - GREAT

Speaking of good llaveo, AVISMAN~! My current pick for wrestler of the year, there's nothing I can think of that this dude can't do. He's matwork looks magical, he can do the blood-soaked brawls, also has done more "exciting" stuff with some of his matches that are more all-around. I don't know how this is the first time I'm talking about him on here.

I've never heard of Feroz before but figured I'd give him a watch after seeing him get a match announced against Xelhua. I love Avisman and it's hard to have a bad match with him, so why not give this a watch?

This leans more into that aforementioned all-around type of Avisman match, but both of these guys are so good at everything they go for. Feroz can hang in there with Avisman's grappling, and they beat the hell out of each other on the outside for a bit in this match. Avisman is of course the tecnico in Coliseo Coacalco and the crowd's completely behind him. Feroz is a strong force standing in the way and fills the role pretty well. It especially shows in the latter portion where he's just destroying Avisman with the big moves, and Avisman just keeps fighting on. Finish is satisfying too.

Loved this match. Everyone should watch more Avisman and I think I'll be watching more of this Feroz dude in the future (excited now to see how that Xelhua match goes).

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I love indie lucha libre.

Thank you for reading my thoughts on these matches today; I hope you enjoyed! If you didn't, that's alright too. Let me know if you have any thoughts, criticisms, ideas, or whatever in the comments or get in touch with me on my Twitter page.

Matches #8

Hey y'all! Back already with more matches to talk about.

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Matt Mako vs. Katsuyori Shibata (Ring of Honor 9/11/2025) - GOOD

This was under ROH's Pure Rules and aired on the 9/18/2025 episode of Honor Club.

Was a big fan of this matchup, I think it ended up being even better than the two Lee Moriarty/Xelhua matches that ROH just ran that I also liked a lot. I've never really connected with Pure Rules like longer-tenured Ring Of Honor fans seem to, so I don't think there's a lot of guys left in the U.S. that I'd want to see in the match type. But Mako is definitely one of them, more than Shibata even.

While they have been getting better at it as of late, AEW has always seemed to struggle with hierarchy in their match structure 90% of the time and I wish they could borrow more from ROH in that regard. This isn't a perfect example of that, but I feel it's really interesting to see how this match goes about showing it. Of course, it's easiest to see that Shibata is outplaying Mako when he forces him to use all 3 of his rope-breaks very early on in the match, before Shibata himself even uses one of his own. Shibata is gonna out-grapple Mako, sounds about right. Mako then has to resort to his striking instead, and Shibata beats him there too. He's just not going to be able to beat him by any traditional/"pure" means but he's gonna keep running into that brick wall, hoping it comes crashing down.

I also love seeing when someone that actually knows what they're doing goes out there and showcases some real jiu-jitsu discipline like Mako does. His transitions are incredible here and it's nice to see Shibata in his most grapple-focused match in years.

Felino, Místico & Volador Jr. vs. Averno, Mephisto & Olímpico (CMLL 6/18/2004) - SKIPPABLE

This was the debut of Místico under the gimmick and was re-released by CMLL last year to celebrate his 20th anniversary. Also, Fray Tormenta comes out to second Místico during his entrance, yes!!

Místico starting off with Olímpico just feels like the right decision. Místico doesn't feel like he's moving as mythically (if that doesn't make sense, just think about Hijo del Santo moves) yet at this point in his career, but Olímpico has always felt like a reliable hand to me. It also creates an opening for rudo trios offense on Felino and Volador Jr. while Místico chills on the outside in that first fall.

Second fall goes pretty similarly, in the sense that Felino and Volador are carrying the load after Místico gets a cool spot in. To be fair, they're sick as hell and I love the both of them. Rudos have some great stooging of course.

Místico/Mephisto and Volador Jr./Averno are great pairings in the third fall. There's a lot of points in the match that just feel like a regular two on two match between the Felino/Volador Jr. and Averno/Mephisto, while Olímpico and Místico do their own thing. They are the opening and closing of the match and while this a perfectly fine debut, there's still a bit of novelty behind seeing those two do their spots in a historically significant moment as the four other guys are having a much more interesting match (albeit, one that could've been better).

They should run this back in 2025 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara but move Felino to the rudo side to replace Olímpico and then put Rey Bucanero on the tecnico side.

Great Muta vs. The Great Kabuki (WAR 5/24/1993) - FUN

I don't really know how great this match could've been (or even ended up being), but I love blood in my wrestling. Yeah, yeah, yeah, call me insane or whatever, I see blood and I like the match. I don't even wish to spoil how gnarly the blood in this match is, but it's basically the one thing I wanted to talk about that I feel like I have to.

Kabuki has blood squirting out of his forehead after just a few minutes. It's one of the sickest visuals I've seen in a match and also one of the most concerning. I don't usually love a lot of Muta/Muto matches because a lot of them fall into a boring, control-heavy formula. This still has some of that but the blood does so much to keep me engaged and the match didn't go too long either. I can't hate this.

Jon Cortez vs. Steve Grey (World of Sport 7/27/1981) - GOOD

Usually am put off by a lot of the WoS stuff I've seen but this was the first time watching a match from there that was a recommendation, so I wanted to give it a fair chance. A lot of the other stuff I've seen has too much "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" grappling that's without much struggle and it makes it really hard for me to get into it, but I tried going into this with the mindset that not all wrestling is going to fall into the mold of a match that I love and that's alright!

Funny enough though, there was actually a lot of great struggling in this! The earlier rounds made me feel like I was watching a match from decades before this took place, which is great. I love when there's a focus on a hold as "simple" as a headlock. The suspense builds perfectly to when the first forearm strike gets thrown later on.

I even like the simplicity of the finish and didn't feel necessarily let down by it or anything. I liked both of these guys, but I think I'm gonna seek out more Steve Grey for sure.

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Thank you for reading my thoughts on these matches today; I hope you enjoyed! If you didn't, that's alright too. Let me know if you have any thoughts, criticisms, ideas, or whatever in the comments or get in touch with me on my Twitter page.

Matches #7

Hey again y'all! Been really enjoying the wrestling I have been watching as of late and it's felt like I've been spending a lot more time watching and less time writing, so let's fix that by talking about some of the stuff I've seen recently.

Before we get to that though, I really wanted to give a major thank you to everyone who was involved with anything relating to the Thanomsak Toba interview I posted earlier this month. Loads of people read it, reposted, had very nice things to say, and some friends even helped me put a number of those questions together. I think that whole process was one of the coolest things I've been a part of in regards to anything I've put out there for wrestling, so I am eternally grateful for how much people seemed to like that.

Now, on to some matches!

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Judas el Traidor vs. Heddi Karaoui (Lucha Memes/Coachelas Lucha Libre 10/22/2023) - FUN

This was my first time watching a Heddi Karaoui match, after it popped up in my recommended feed and I saw it was against Judas el Traidor (who is one of my favorite independent wrestlers in the world right now). I've heard many things about Karaoi and his grappling ability so I was excited to see how this matchup would go because Judas can do it all: Great grappler, brawler, can strike, knows how to work against all levels of experience.

Arena Coliseo Coacalco is basically Judas's domain and you can tell. The crowd is really behind him and generally I thought this crowd was nice, as this usually tends to be one of my go-to favorite venues for dream matches with a llave focus. Karaoui was good at playing into the dynamic by resorting to rolling outside and more power-based holds as opposed to stuff that's more technically sound and visually appealing.

I didn't understand why there was the strike-off near the end, even if the striking itself wasn't bad. Either way, this match is 16 minutes of mostly llave that I'd imagine fans of any of these wrestlers would enjoy. I wonder what this match would look like had Judas went for some brawling and Heddi would have to try adapting or relying even more on keeping his opponent neutralized by the holds.

Sasaki Complete Jr. vs. Kota Watanabe (CWP Overdrive 7/12/2025) - GOOD

This tournament final match was for the vacant/new CWP Middleweight Title. 

I can't say with 100% certainty that these two are student/amateur/hobbyist wrestlers but I'd like to think so, considering they both combine for less than 100 matches total despite the pooled 12ish years of experience between the two (and also the fact that they have primarily wrestled for CWP). 

To be honest though, you could've told me that Sasaki Complete Jr. was a Sportiva rookie or Big Japan young boy and I would've believed it, and I mean that as a compliment to the highest regard. His kicks are what I can describe only as "sharp", if that makes sense. That's not to say Watanabe is not any good either, he's got some promise too. He does a good job working from under in this, which is pretty important given the type of match they're working here.

I felt that Sasaki was great at being that boss for Watanabe to overcome and was very compelling when he was dominating. It also seemed like this was best for Watanabe as I was moved much more by his "passive" selling than his offense in the later portions.

I'd recommend this match if you're into more amaresu stuff.

Junkyard Dog vs. The Grappler (Mid-South Wrestling 6/9/1982) - FUN

This was a Mid-South Louisiana Title match that aired on the 6/19/1982 episode of television.

It's a short one but a goodie still. I don't like giving play-by-play on these (for various reasons), but I think the finish is the best display of what this match is about: The Grappler's laying on the outside and while Junkyard Dog is waiting for him to come back inside, The Assassin attacks JYD. JYD hits what is seemingly a metal plate in Assassin's forehead (he's wearing a mask so I don't know), realizes this, and then attacks the back of his head instead. More interferences happen and the match has to get thrown out, but the crowd goes wild as Ted DiBiase makes the save and he stands triumphant alongside Junkyard Dog in the ring.

Simple (I know that explanation may have seemed complicated but I promise it's an easy watch), rewarding pro wrestling.

Osamu Nishimura vs. Yuji Nagata (NJPW Toukon Spirito Guerriero 6/2/2005) - SKIPPABLE

This was from a 2005 NJPW tour in Italy and seemed to be lost for 15 years, until a fancam of the match was uploaded onto YouTube in 2019. Apparently the full tour is out there, but I couldn't find anything other than this match anywhere.

This is also "European Rounds", meaning there's five 3-minute rounds and also the ref can give yellow and red cards up to his discretion. I actually like how creative they get with the stipulation compared to how they usually would be wrestling each other. I feel they do a good job of working within the stipulation, but I do have some gripes with the match.

As opposed to something like the CWP or Mid-South matches, I really struggled with getting myself invested in the match. There wasn't enough struggle and little-to-no urgency from both sides. In his own review of this match on the Handwerk blog, Simon wrote, "Nagata gets more technical than usual, and Nishimura gets madder than usual". Unfortunately, that's all this match really was to me: Nagata and Nishimura wrestling each other's match and just that.

I'm going to say that no one should take the "SKIPPABLE" at face value though. I do appreciate Nishimura's selling performance and this match is generally a neat novelty. I'm sure others would enjoy this match more than me.

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Thank you for reading my thoughts on these matches today; I hope you enjoyed! If you didn't, that's alright too. Let me know if you have any thoughts, criticisms, ideas, or whatever in the comments or get in touch with me on my Twitter page.