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Dai Nihon Nintei Death Match
Heavykyu Senshuken Jiai 4 Corner Geikoto (fluorescent light bulb) Board Death Match: Shadow WX vs. Ryuji Yamakawa From Battle Station Big Japan 12/26/99 taped 12/4 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan (3,600) |
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This was basically nothing but one gimmick spot after another. WX can't work at all, and Yamakawa didn't even try to carry him. Instead, Yamakawa just took a bunch of gimmick bumps to make the match then finally came back with a few big spots to win. They wrested with the house lights dimmed so the lit fluorescent light bulbs that were set up in each corner would look cool. The match got off to a slow start because they tried to wrestle, with the emphasis being on tried. The action picked up just before 3:30 when WX broke the first bulb over Yamakawa's head. From here it was an all out brawl with very few wrestling moves outside of the ones that involved props. Yamakawa bled heavily from his head, but soon came back breaking a bulb over WX's head. Yamakawa put WX's forehead against the post and broke a bulb across the back of his head. WX, not surprisingly, was bloody now as well, but he's kind of like Shoji Nakamaki in that he generally just bleeds a little bit in between the eyes and around the nose so you hardly even notice it. WX quickly came back with a DDT and unplugged a set of bulbs so he could drag the board out of the ring and set it up against the ring apron. When he returned to the ring, he whipped Yamakawa into the bulbs in a different corner, with Yamakawa breaking all of them. This looked cool because the remaining ends of the shattered bulbs were still lit up somewhat after Yamakawa had taken all the rest out with his back. Yamakawa smashing all the bulbs in the corner damaged him enough that WX was able to do the first truly insane spot, a powerbomb off the apron through the geikoto board that WX had set up earlier. Glass and debris went flying everywhere and Yamakawa's back was now showing more white from broken glass and red blood than flesh. WX was aggressive, not giving Yamakawa any time to recover. He dragged Yamakawa back into the ring and put him on a table then put on a special shirt, which he lit on fire when he climbed to the top rope. WX quickly jumped off with a fire body press then rolled to the floor so they could put him out before he burned himself up. It's definitely not a good idea to wrestle without a shirt in Big Japan. Yamakawa's whole face and back were red now, and he was shaking for much of the rest of the match as if he was having a mini seizure. Yamakawa kicked out of the Ligerbomb, so WX tried to nadare shiki no brainbuster him through the board that was set up across four chairs. However, Yamakawa jumped off the top rope over WX like a leap frog then pulled WX off and running Ligerbombed him through the board. WX quickly regained the advantage by ducking two lariats and coming back with one of his own, which was just ridiculous given the bump he just took. Nonetheless, he broke a bulb over Yamakawa then missed a fireball, so he lit a board on fire and tried to whip Yamakawa into it. Yamakawa was able to reverse this whip, and he went right into his reverse Tigerdriver when WX bounced off the burning board. This was the only really good near fall of the match. The finish came off kind of flat because Yamakawa really only did one more move to beat WX and it wasn't a gimmick spot. It was smart in that Yamakawa knew WX would once again try to lariat him after ducking Yamakawa's lariat, so this time Yamakawa turned WX's lariat into a reverse Tigerdriver for the win. I just don't think that WX should be allowed to get off the hook so easy in matches where his opponents verge on death to put him over. Since WX failed in his third defense, Yamakawa became the 8th champion. This match had very little technical merit, although way more than in the early days of Big Japan when the old guys were on top. Mainly it was just the sickness carrying the match. The match delivered the craziness it was supposed to and the selling was largely adequate. Basically if you like death matches you should check it out, but otherwise pass. 18:11 (15:07 aired)
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