9/25/06 MUGA 2/3 Falls: Osamu Nishimura vs. Tatsumi Fujinami 24:30

2/15/25 UFC: Jared Cannonier vs. Gregory Rodrigues R4 0:21

3/13/24 GLEAT: So Daimonji vs. Takanori Ito 12:23
ML: These guys don't have a lot of material, but when you keep their match short, they will go at it aggressively, with hard hitting and some good suplexes. I liked their 3/13 & 3/16/24 matches that were in the 12 to 13 minute range because they brought the fire and fury. Their no rope match from 4/4/24 that's supposed to be the good one of the three is boring though, with a lot of meandering around the arena and staring at one another waiting on the next cheesy exchange. There were a couple good spots in that, such as Ito's kneel kick to the floor and big overhead belly to belly onto the apron, but it was largely contrived, stagnant, and repetitive. It's basically the difference between a NEVER Title match where they pack their hard hitting into 12 minutes, and an IWGP Heavyweight Title Match where they don't actually do anything more, they just add 20 minutes of dead time and call that "epic". Even accidentally watching this last because I didn't realize they had 2 matches in 3 days so I restarted in the wrong place, this 1st match is the best of the 3 because it's not only more original, it's more energetic and has a wider variety of offense (even if that's largely more running strikes). They largely showed what they have here, and then repeated themselves to diminishing returns in the next 2 matches, but that's why you don't book 3 matches anyone can watch over the course of a 3 week period. Surely, our memories of 80s or 90s touring matches are rose colored because we saw the one PPV match that was the well honed version of them doing the same basic match for 6 months, but we'd at least like to think they tweaked and honed it slightly for the better over all those practice runs. This match was energetic, and even though the offense was basic, they pulled me into it with their enthusiasm and their drive to win. These guys aren't amazing wrestlers, but this wasn't one of those bs soulless no continuity or build exhibitions where they stop after every phony spot like last night's Omega & Ospreay vs Takeshita & Fletcher. That thing already lost me when 2024's most unimproved Fletcher stood on the middle rope posing for 30 seconds after dropping Ospreay with the opening shoulderblock, and magically no one could stop him embarrassing them. Anyways, this Ito vs Daimonji series was booked well in the sense that the lesser name, Daimonji, won the 1st match, Ito evened it, and then they had the big deciding stipulation match where Ito prevailed (rather than just fantasy booking some dumb gimmick match cold because Tony and his fantasy booking simulator thought it sounded great). ***1/4

Goodbye Duane Koslowski: The Unlikely Story of the Olympic Wrestling Twins Duane & Dennis Koslowski

Heartbroken to hear of the passing of the legendary Gran Hamada. He was the man that proved the worthiness of Japanese wrestlers in Mexico, paving the way for the future excursions of Tatsumi Fujinami & Satoru Sayama in the 1970s, and for the 5'8" Yoshihiro Asai (Ultimo Dragon) to move to Mexico in 1987 when he was deemed to small to graduate the New Japan dojo. While the 5'6" Hamada never reached the heights of stardom of those junior heavyweight trailblazers in Japan, partly because raised his family in Mexico, including future pro wrestlers Xochitl and Ayako Hamada, he was the first Japanese wrestler to truly adopt and incorporate the Mexican lucha libre style into his wrestling. He's truly one of the most influential wrestlers on the modern international style of pro wrestling because he was the first promoter to run a lucha libre league in Japan with his FULL promotion. Stacking Universal with the best lucha libre had to offer, the father of Lucharesu booked Negro Casas, Hijo del Santo, Fuerza Guerrera, his son-in-law Silver King, Dr. Wagner Jr., Blue Panther, Dos Caras, Heavy Metal, Los Villanos, and his enduring rival Perro Aguayo. He brought Asai back to Japan, where he quickly became a sensation, and trained and debuted most of the other great 90s Japanese indy juniors that became stars in Michinoku Pro such as Great Sasuke, Dick Togo, TAKA Michinoku, Kaz Hayashi, MEN'S Teio, & Super Delfin, more than enough hits to forgive him for Gedo haha. He also gave pioneering American juniors Jerry Lynn and Sean Waltman their 1st Japanese exposure. Hamada was a trainer for JWP prior to this, and helped transition AJW from their dwindling schoolgirl audience to an adult male audience by breaking down the gender divide and booking future legends such as Mariko Yoshida, Aja Kong, Manami Toyota, & Kyoko Inoue on his shows, usually in matches involving Xochitl. When Universal dried up, he joined Sasuke in Michinoku Pro, and this is where he had his most memorable matches. Incorporating the Japanese dramatic match structure with all the near falls and saves and less emphasis on rudo brawling into the preexisting athletic lucha style, their signature Sekigun vs Kaientai DX tag fued during the mid 90s, highlighted by the best men's multiman tags ever on 10/10/96 & 12/16/96, became cult favorites worldwide, and were huge influences on especially the next generation of US indy wrestlers in Chikara, ROH, and PWG. Too much of Hamada's 1st 18 years in the business has seemingly been lost to time, but he his work from 1995, the year he turns 45, through 1997 is better than the peak of most supposed Hall of Famers. He's still quite good into his early 50s, but his output becomes more sporadic because many of his best teammates and opponents tried to move on to what they wished would have turned out to be bigger and better things. For more information on Hamada, please watch our video on him and leave your memories of Hamada in the comments.

8/29/93 PWFG: Duane Koslowski vs. Yuki Ishikawa 9:45
ML: This rematch from a lost PWFG show in Miami on 6/19/93 was Ishikawa’s first main event (technically his 1/16/93 loss to Fujiwara went on last with the real main event of Fujiwara beating Ken Shamrock going on 1st), and unfortunately wound up being Duane's last pro wrestling match. This was probably the best match of Duane's career. He's very proactive, attacking with his wrestling, and showing a much wider variety of submissions once he gets it to the mat. Duane is pretty intimidating. He has a big size advantage, and is allowed to do his thing, shooting aggressively right at the bell. Ishikawa was getting rag dolled, but luckily, he is scrappy and good off his back. Ishikawa found a way to use Koslowski's momentum against him to get him down once, and would try to stifle the takedown attempt by jumping into a kneebar or leg lock, but generally, he was fighting off his back by countering into a submission. Duane now has a wide variety of submission moves he can set up once he gets it to the mat, but Ishikawa does a great job of threatening his legs. Duane probably goes for more submissions in this match then Ishikawa does because he's always starting in the better position, but there's a good back and forth on the mat with submissions answering submissions. Still, Duane is really surprising me here by actually doing a better job of answering the submissions than Ishikawa, who goes through 6 rope escapes. Cleary, PWFG wasn't expecting this to be the end for Duane, as he once again beat Ishikawa here. ***

3/16/24 GLEAT: Takanori Ito vs. So Daimonji 13:12.
ML: A paired down, striking oriented match where the ebb and flow was much better because they weren't doing all the phony exchanging. It could have just been a UWF Rules match with some tweaking if they wanted to go in that direction. Since they didn't, this was essentially a hard nosed brawl by fighters who can apply their striking to multiple styles to accomplish slightly different ends. Daimonji has one of the better right hands in wrestling, largely because wearing proper attire, a UFC glove, allows him to then do a proper strike without injuring his hand. They picked things up in the second half with more suplexes, slams, and lariats, but it remained grounded in reality, by pro wrestling standards. Ito is the better and more experienced shoot wrestler, but Daimonji might be better in normal wrestling. Either way, their styles were well suited to a less cliched version of a Shibata influenced match, and they brought out good things from one another. ***

4/2/93 AJW: Sakie Hasegawa & Kaoru Ito vs. Plum Mariko & Hikari Fukuoka (JWP) 16:32
PA: Everyone debuted new gear for this event, and for the most part, it was a win. However, not in Ito’s case, who looked ridiculous dressed up like Peter Pan. Originally, Debbie Malenko was supposed to be in this match, but due to her career ending injury, Ito replaced her. This match served as the perfect opener for the show. A high energy Zenjo-style tag, with a good pace, plenty of action and frequent tags. The slowed things down in the middle with some submissions, and then the final portion was filled with great spots and near falls. Sakie got busted hardway, and her eye was swollen later in the match. Each wrestler delivered big spots. Among a lot of suplexes and double teams, Fukuoka did her moonsault and rolling cradle, Plum delivered a powerslam from the top turnbuckle, Ito unleashed about six foot stomps to Plum, and Sakie hit her usual rolling savate kicks and exploders, though her best spot was the rolling double arm suplex. In the end, Plum pinned Hasegawa with a Frankensteiner. Those two did the most, and Plum was technically the best in the match, but it took them a while to get it together, as weren’t on the same page all the time. Ito and Fukuoka might have been the ‘lesser’ partners, but they made themselves stand out the most because of their fire and passion. ****

4/2/93 AJW: Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita vs. Rumi Kazama & Miki Handa (LLPW) 22:25
PA: Despite being too long and Kazama doing her best to ruin it near the end, this was a really good match. It was a slower, more LLPW paced match most of the way through, focused on submissions. Minami gave her typically excellent, though understated performance, hitting her backbreakers and setting things up for Mita. Mita took it and ran with it, really standing out and showing a lot of intensity with everything she did. When she worked over Handa, she looked psychotic, and Handa did a really good job selling for her, making even a basic crab look like it was pure agony. Handa used her offense effectively later. Mita sold well in return, making an Achilles holds Handa got on her about halfway through look like a potential match ender. Handa got some good near falls with her suplexes. There was a lot of action towards the finish, which was good despite Kazama screwing almost every spot she did with Mita, struggling to hit suplexes on her and trying an ill-advised powerbomb, but at least the German Suplex she beat her with was executed properly. ***1/2

4/2/93 AJW: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami 17:27
PA: The memorial super fight. Ironically enough, the only match on the show that wasn’t billed as an interpromotional match, despite Devil actually being in JWP. Chigusa had been out of the ring four years, and was trying to find out if she still had it. She could still go, but didn’t add much to the match. She was along for the ride. Devil took her own one, and was exceptional, making the match a memorable one. This was a very well built, slower placed Devil match. Chigusa caught suplexes and tried takedowns, and armwork, but Devil answered everything and dominated her, mocking the Chigusa chants as she went along and happily played up to her own chants when they came. Chigusa fired up, and they both hit lariats on each other. Her blank stares didn’t quite make the moment, but her comebacks later in the match were better. She caught a plancha off the apron, and in the ring, she scored a bunch of kicks and a had a big smile on her face as she was starting to feel it again, which was a great moment. The match became properly competitive from there, with Chigusa getting a Sharpshooter and a Romero Special. The two made comebacks on each other and hit big moves, but Masami had more impact and hit the killer blows. She hit a plancha and a powerbomb on the floor. Chigusa came back in the ring with German Suplexes, but those paled in comparison to Masami’s three powerbombs she hit later. Chigusa survived them, but there was no surviving a Northern Light’s Suplex from the top rope. ****

4/2/93 AJW: Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki (JWP) 16:44
PA: W Inoue’s entrance was pretty funny. They’re the most odd pairing that everyone just accepts because they share the same name. Kyoko had mini-Kyoko with her, and pretty much made the ultimate babyface entrance jogging to the ring, while Takako wandered down at her own pace scowling at her opponents who were waiting in the ring. This was the third Takako vs. Ozaki tag, and Takako wanted to pin Ozaki after losing to her on 1/15. Kyoko wanted to steal the show, and while she might not have done that, the 38-revolution Giant Swing she gave Cuty was the spot of the show. Kyoko knew she was the best and wanted to show off her abilities, it was up to Ozaki and Cuty to bring out her competitive side. Everyone was at the top of their game here. Kyoko and Ozaki were the best. Ozaki brought the most, whether in the ring or on the apron cutting off her opponents. She always takes you on a ride, and did again her with Kyoko. Takako and Cuty were both excellent in their secondary roles. They started out hot and maintained it, always keeping things moving and escalating. If Kyoko was taking her opponents a little lightly, she got a wake up call at the 10-minute mark, which saw her take a beating on the outside and repeated diving footstomps in the ring. From there, her and Ozaki went on to have the best exchange on the show, leading to a great finish. Takako saved Kyoko from the Tequila Sunrise, and Ozaki hit a German Suplex when Kyoko attempted a slingshot. She hit her diving body press before an attempted rana saw her get caught in a powerbomb. Later, Kyoko hit her slingshot elbow and went for the Niagara Driver. Ozaki countered it twice, the same way she counters the Splash Mountain and then hit the rana for a near fall. The match turned for the final time when Kyoko slingshotted off the ropes into the dropkick, and then she was able to hit a Liger Bomb. Takako tagged in and perched on the top rope for a double team. Ozaki would’ve ordinarily shoved her off, which might have left Kyoko open, but the tag forced her to meet her up top and try to finish her, while Cuty had to switch to Kyoko, whom she was no match for. Takako hit a chokeslam on Ozaki and Cuty made another last second save, but Kyoko easily dispatched her, and a Niagara Driver chokeslam double team to Ozaki gave Takako the pin. This match was on a level way above every match before it on the show, and would have been the best match had it been on most any other show in the history of wrestling. In the post-match, Kyoko was informed we hit 38 revolutions, she thought it was 40, so she was going to aim for that next time. ****3/4

4/2/93 AJW: Aja Kong & Bull Nakano vs. Eagle Sawai & Harley Saito (LLPW) 14:08
PA: This was basically about Aja vs. Eagle, but they didn’t actually do anything particularly interesting, mainly just power spots and no-selling, trying to build their rivalry. They were alright. Aja was really hamming up the monster role, no selling oil can shots, and they had some fun spots. Bull and Harley, though in the secondary roles, were the reasons this was good. Harley hadn’t been particularly well liked by the Zenjo crowd, but she won them over with an early exchange with Bull where she hit a plancha. Bull went for the nunchakus and Harley disarmed her and did an exhibition with them, with a fun reaction from Bull. The action between the two was good. Harley got plenty of offense in, and was respected by both Bull and Aja. Bull sold a lot while letting Aja have the spotlight, but she shone when she was in. She was slimmer, moving and bumping as well as she ever did, and her offense was great. The highlight of the match for the crowd was Bull and Aja hitting consecutive topes. Harley was the obvious loser here, but she took a lot to be put down. She ate two urakens and a guillotine leg drop before being put away with the somersault guillotine leg drop. In the post-match, Harley was carried off injured, but not before Bull handed her the nunchakus as a show of respect. ***1/2

4/2/93 AJW: Yumiko Hotta vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP) 16:43
PA: This match was eight years in the making, as the two made a promise to eventually face each other. Finally, the day arrived, and it was on the biggest stage in women’s wrestling. This match was expected to be an ultra-stiff kickfest, and it delivered all the brutality it promised, with both exchanging heavy blows throughout. It was largely back and forth with good transitions. Kansai manages to deliver the most brutal looking kicks of any of the women, while also being arguably the best strike seller, looking completely messed up, glassy-eyed and staggering around after big shots. Hotta did a great job of putting over Kansai as well here. The selling and the brutality are what really made this. Both scored some early flurries, but protected themselves. Kansai attempted to target Hotta's back, but Hotta retaliated with a sucker punch, followed by a series of damaging kicks, later, scoring a nasty high kick. After Kansai regrouped, Hotta positioned herself on the top turnbuckle to execute a flying elbow attack, but it was too telegraphed, and Kansai suckered her in so she could kick her on the way down. Kansai got revenge and unleashed her brutality, targeting Hotta with a series of kicks on the outside while she was pressed against the guardrail. Upon Hotta's attempt to return to the ring, Kansai continued her assault with more kicks, teasing a TKO with an 8-count. Hotta struggled to recover, repeatedly getting kicked by Kansai whenever she showed signs of stirring, eventually forcing Hotta to retreat outside. The match turned into a more traditional pro-wrestling match for a while, as Kansai methodically worked over Hotta until Hotta managed to block a lariat and retaliate with a backdrop suplex. Hotta followed up with kicks and the momentum shifted, but Kansai regained the upper hand. She went to the top turnbuckle, and it worked out as well for her as it did for Hotta earlier. Kansai was hung upsidedown, with Hotta delivered free kicks to the head. Hotta hit a series of big move and kicks, the Pyramid Driver and Caribbean Splash for near falls, but the missed a kicked and Kansai picked her up and delivered her Splash Mountain to win. It’s a shame they couldn’t come up with something a little better than that. Hotta threw out everything she had and Kansai negated it all with one move, and to make it worse, Hotta clearly kicked out before three. Considering how easily Kansai turned her over after such a lopsided run, it didn’t exactly save her reputation. Kansai’s classic reaction to the win almost makes the whole thing worth it though. Weak ending aside, this was a tremendous match that delivered exactly what it was expected to. ****1/4

4/2/93 AJW: Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori (LLPW) 30:07
PA: The feud between Hokuto and Kandori began at Dream Rush in November. Kandori had spoken out about how she doesn’t care for Zenjo, but she came to the show, and Hokuto took exception and called her out for it. Kandori sees herself as superior to pro wrestlers and looks down on them, while Hokuto views Kandori as a failed judo wannabe. These two were under each other’s skin for months. They hated one another, and they were ready to tear each other limb from limb. The press conference showed these two couldn’t even be in the same room together and be civil. Hokuto’s goal in the match was to kick Kandori’s ass and expose her as nothing more than a failed judo wannabe. Kandori wanted to shut her up for good, and even she didn’t know how far she’d go. Everyone knew Kandori was a dangerous shooter, and she might just want to break Hokuto’s heart, just like she did to Jackie Sato all those years ago. The way the match was built and positioned, with Hokuto representing pro-wrestling and Kandori, representing judo, had already captured the imagination of fans, and it was already a classic before the bell even sounded. Not many matches ever manage to live up to such hype. This one not only lived up to it, but far exceeded it. The bell rang, and they cautiously approached each other, demanding the other come forward. When Hokuto finally closed the distance, she immediately punched Kandori hard in the face, and not just a punch, it was a potato, and you could hear it. It knocked Kandori down, but it was more humiliating, Hokuto taunted Kandori over the mic to get up. In response, Kandori retaliated with a violent slap followed by a lariat. She then seized Hokuto's arm and locked in the wakigatame, really cranking up on it causing Hokuto to scream in agony. The way Hokuto sold it like it was seriously injured, she made it seem the match might even end there. Once they restarted, Kandori outwrestled Hokuto, going for some submissions, but Hokuto was quickly into the ropes and fell back on her brawling. The fight spilled outside and Hokuto tried to Tombstone Kandori on a table, but Kandori turned the tide without trouble, driving her into the table. There was a big crack in the table, which drew a pop when the camera focused on it. Kandori was happy with that. When Hokuto reappeared, she was sporting a crimson mask, her face drenched in blood, with her once-blonde hair now stained red from the flow. Kandori had Hokuto where she wanted her, more toying with her now that Hokuto was battered and progressively becoming weaker with the blood loss. Hokuto grabbed her foot, dragging her outside for another brawl. This time Hokuto scored a victory out there, doing a number on Kandori, and busting her open. Hokuto continued laying boots to the face in the ring, but Kandori fought back and pushed her further. She got her in a brainbuster, but instead of doing that move, she just dumped her face first outside and followed up with a pescado, then back into the ring for more abuse. Kandori went for a backdrop, and Hokuto tried to get out of it by scrambling to the ropes, but it didn’t deter Kandori, and she still hit it. Hokuto was successful in making sure she didn’t get it cleanly, but that’s all she accomplished. It’s was enough though, as Kandori jumped back into a submission, and Hokuto was able to get into the ropes. Hokuto slapped her, and hit a nasty piledriver and a spin kick, but she struggled to really follow up again. She had the bad arm, but at this point the blood loss was more of an issue. Kandori continued to outwrestle her, and Hokuto shifted her strategy, taking to the air, but even this was nullified. She hit one diving body press, but Kandori saw a second one coming and got the knees up. Kandori hit a powerbomb for the first really big near fall of the match, just short of the 20-minute mark. She then became overambitious, trying a missile dropkick, which Hokuto easily swatted her away. Hokuto tried a dive soon after, which didn’t work either, as Kandori yanked her out of the corner into a sleeper. Hokuto survived that and Kandori tried another Powerbomb, but this time Hokuto countered it. Hokuto then countered an Irish Whip and hit her own Powerbomb. Both were really struggling now, the toll was heavy, but Hokuto was in bigger trouble. Hokuto fought with desperation and managed another spin kick, sending Kandori outside. She hit her somersault plancha and a missile dropkick out there. Hokuto attempted the Nothern Lights Bomb, but Kandori again outwrestled her, and zeroed in on the bad arm. Hokuto was focused on getting to the ropes, which allowed Kandori to hit the Tiger Driver. After that didn’t get the job done, Kandori just wailed away on Hokuto, knowing that she only had so much energy left. But the key was she still had something left. Hokuto avoided a swing and hit a backdrop suplex for a big near fall. She followed with a Northern Lights Bomb to a huge pop from the crowd and an even bigger near fall. Kandori couldn’t kick out, it was just a small jerk of the shoulder, enough to stave off defeat. Kandori fired back with her own Northern Light’s Bomb for two, in what would’ve been the ultimate insult. They were both down, and neither had anything left. They could barely muster up the strength to slug at each other. They did though, with each striking each other down, and then both went for a punch at the time. Hokuto was a split second faster, and crawled over for the pin to end this war. Kandori was woken up by the LLPW girls, and she was in a filthy mood and stormed off, but not before getting the house mic and telling Hokuto, "this isn't the end". Hokuto couldn’t get up at all. Mita and Minami tried to help, but she just collapsed. She got on the house mic and screamed at Kandori "you’re not a real pro-wrestler! I’ll never lose to a judo wannabe!". This was the full package of build, storytelling, selling, drama and intensity, and is one of the greatest matches of all time. *****

4/2/93 AJW: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo (FMW) 28:13
PA: This was the main event due to FMW politics, but realistically, it was, at best, the 4th more important match on the card, and if you go by fan response during the opening ceremony, it was well below the five matches that preceded it. It really didn’t have a chance from the start considering what it had to follow, and to make matters worse, the show ran so late that the last train was leaving, and that announcement was called just before the match. So, before the match, and as it was beginning, people were filing out (allegedly 2,000-3000 people left), giving the match a horrible atmosphere to start with. The first 20 minutes of were poor. Combat and Kudo were leading the match, and barely gave Toyota and Yamada anything because they were losing, while also contributing little that was any good themselves. There was no chemistry. The teams really weren’t on the same page, with a whole lot of awkwardness when they weren’t just sitting around in holds. The timing was never in tune with what the crowd wanted; for instance, they wanted a Yamada comeback, but by the time they actually got it, minutes later, they barely reacted to it. Combat had a particularly poor performance. She did nothing to make her opponents look good, and her offense was considerably worse than everyone else’s for the most part. She wouldn’t cooperate with spots, and she didn’t bump or sell well, if she even bothered to do either. Kudo was better, she didn’t have those problems. Her problem was sitting around in holds for an eternity. All of this goes out the window in the last 7-8 minutes. The match became excellent with a great finishing run that served to redeem the whole match. While not enough to elevate the match to the "great" status some may claim, they certainly redeemed it and ended things on a high note, making it a good overall contest. Kudo and Combat showed they could keep up. Starting with some big bombs and dives, with Kudo hitting a tope, Combat doing a plancha and Toyota hitting her quebrada this became an interesting match. There were innovative top rope double teams, cut offs, saves and reversals. Kudo and Toyota did the bulk of it and worked really well together in this part. Combat kept saving Kudo, so Yamada baited her into a kick that she could avoid and Combat nailed Kudo with it. Toyota hit the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex on Kudo, a deadly one where Kudo came down on her neck to get the win. After the match, Kansai and Ozaki came out and wanted another fight for the WWWA tag belts. Yamada accepted for Osaka, and the Dream Slam II main event was set. All four were upset with how the match went, and none were willing to give an interview. Toyota was seen crying against a wall, which was actually how the show ended. For all the dumb theories I’ve seen about this, she was legitimately crying because she thought the match went badly. While it was the least of all of the big matches on the card, it was still good, though it would have been much better had it been shortened to 15 minutes. ***

1/25/24 GLEAT: Kaito Ishida vs. Flamita 21:27
ML: These two were pretty equal, which was important for the success since it was something of a mirror match. When they were doing something, the sequences were tight and fluid, looking less phony and cooperative than your typical choreographed athleticism. Their fancy movement looked organic because it was done with enough speed to look sort of reasonable, whereas lesser workers do spins, flips, and rolls at half speed, and it just looks like silly play acting. As with the most Japanese matches, the main problem was it was simply too long. When they were fast, they were impressive, and that was about 70% of the time, but there was obvious filler and stalling in the 1st half to stretch it out to 22 minutes that kept this from really taking off and being something potentially memorable. They certainly worked very well with each other though, countering impressively and staying in step. The highlight was Ishida hitting a big avalanche German suplex. ***

2/1/25 UFC: Vinicius Oliveira vs. Said Nurmagomedov 3R
ML: Nurmagomedov is all explosive, fast twitch movement, relying on kicks and spinning strikes. His distance game is excellent. He hurt Oliveira in the 1st with a spinning heel kick, and broke his rib. He was certainly the more dynamic and exciting fighter, but while he did more damage overall, he blew himself up, and was inconsistent after round 1. Meanwhile, Oliveira was a model of consistency. He didn't do much flashy, limiting his usual wildness on the outside by instead focusing on tying Nurmagomedov up. Oliveira was disciplined, and he just kept walking down Nurmagomedov, and holding him down once he got the takedown. Nurmagomedov started great, blasting with no tell leg kicks and dropping Oliveira with a spinning back kick. I honestly thought this fight was going to be over inside of 3 minutes. Even when he had energy in the first round, Nurmagomedov was making the mistake of initiating takedowns, and trying to grapple with Oliveira, which made little sense because Oliveira was the better grappler, while Nurmagomedov had the big advantage in stand up, especially at range. Nurmagomedov was only 1-9 on takedowns, and was paying for most attempts that failed. Oliveira wasn't doing a lot to make the fight fan friendly, but he was doing a great job of grinding on Nurmagomedov to wear him down, hitting 3 of his 5 takedowns, and ammassing 7:12 control, in part due to countering Nurmagomedov's takedowns. Oliveira went down after a clash of heads, but Kerry Hatley didn't see the butt. Nurmagomedov tried to capitalize with a flying knee, but only grazed, and Oliveira took him right down. Oliveira opened up on the outside in round two, throwing his own spinning kick. He got a takedown ducking a spinning elbow, but Nurmagomedov did a spinning heel kick after getting back to his feet. Hatley also missed Nurmagomedov getting gouged, and this time Oliveira was able to take advantage. Nurmagomedov had a few highlights in the second, but Oliveira was much more steady, wearing him down. Oliveira was clearly hurting from the rib injury, but you'd only know this from seeing him in between rounds. Oliveira controlled much of the first 3 minutes of round three, and clearly had a lot more in the tank. Nurmagomedov finally got his striking going during the next minute, but just when you thought maybe he could land a few more good kicks and find a way to steal the round, fatigue got the best of him, and he instead tried another takedown. It was slow and telegraphed, and Oliveira was able to drop down on top and ride out the 29-28 unanimous decision victory. Good match.

9/11/21 NEW: Artemis Spencer vs. Mike Bailey 21:04
ML: An exciting battle for Canadian indy pride pitting world travelling Bailey against local BC hero Spencer. Bailey was a bit cockier and slightly less honorable than he's known for to babyface the local, but this was mostly a highlight reel. They really went above and beyond in terms of effort, and showed a lot of different things from Fenix rope hopping to MMA style grappling. The striking was sometimes stiff, sometimes spectacular, sometimes realistic, sometimes a combination of 2 of these aspects. The worst part of the match though was when they just stood around letting the opponent give them the same kick they just did. One could argue that they couldn't decide whether they wanted to do a martial arts match or a high flying match, but for the most part, they made mixing the styles work together. Sometimes it was a bit too cute, but it was always fun. Eventually they fought to the merchandise table, where Bailey back bodydropped Spencer through. Spencer did a top rope senton to a rope hanging Bailey. He isn't as fluid or graceful as Bailey, which could be expected since he's larger and older, but he did all the same kind of things without it seeming forced. ***1/2

2/28/93 AJW: Aja Kong & Kaoru Ito vs. Kyoko Inoue & Bat Yoshinaga 18:42
PA: The start of this was a waste of time, as Kyoko and Bat just put holds on Ito, but once Aja tagged in, all hell broke loose, and it was a really good, hard hitting match from there. It got going with a wild striking exchange between Bat and Aja, which Bat actually won, and they continued to have the best exchanges in the match. Those two were the standouts in the match. Surprisingly, Kyoko was the worst in this, while Ito was mainly just there to get beaten up. Aja actually dealt with Kyoko easier than she dealt with Bat here, which makes you wonder what match they were building. It was Aja vs. Kyoko next month and Kyoko picked up the fall at the end on Ito, but she couldn’t do anything to Aja, whilst Bat could, and Aja and Kyoko weren’t particularly good working together either, so it didn’t make me believe Kyoko was a threat to Aja, nor were they likely to have a particularly good match. That aside, this was a really good match at a time where Bat was becoming quite good, but constantly stuck being wasted in stupid martial arts title matches that appealed to no one except for the Matsunaga brothers. ***1/2

2/28/93 AJW 2/3 Falls, WWWA World Tag Title Match: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue 11:48, 9:53, 10:31
PA: This was all action for the majority of the overly long 32 minute duration, only really slowing down for a period in the second fall. They went all out with lots of big moves, kickfests between Hotta and Yamada, which are always good, and plenty of hair pulling and slapping fights with Takako. The major issue in the match the execution problems. Toyota and Hotta blew a lot of spots, Yamada was whiffing a lot (clearly, she didn’t want any receipts from Hotta). The good outweighed the bad though. Hotta and Takako were really good tag teamm with Hotta being in the only role she likes to play, as the unstoppable asskicker, while Takako is the weak link, doing all the selling and picking up the scraps after Hotta would take someone down. If she was to hold her own, it would come from slapping fights that could throw her opponents off their game. She’d really found her persona as the heel bitch, almost like an anti-Mimi Hagiwara at times, even to the point of starting a boxing fight with Yamada. The champions had more miscommunication, but collectively they were stronger. The first fall ended up with a decisive win for the challenger, whilst the second saw the champions comeback taking a fall on Takako, and then picking up the third by dumping Hotta on her head with that double backdrop from the top rope. ***1/2

3/16/93 LLPW: Rumi Kazama & Miki Handa vs. Noriyo Tateno & Utako Hozumi 12:23 of 15:36
PA: This was a good, ill-tempered match that exemplified what LLPW did well. They put emphasis on matwork and double teams. The action was good, with a nice mid-tempo to it, and heated throughout. Tateno led the way with her heeling. She was biting, hair pulling, mugging people on the outside, often leading to revenge spots later from Kazama. Hozumi and Handa worked faster paced sections. Handa was the best technically. Hozumi was getting quite good around this time. Tateno brought the heat, and Kazama brought… a great resting bitchface. Handa ended up pinning Hozumi with a German Suplex hold, but Hozumi kept fighting after the match. ***1/2

3/20/93 AJW: Manami Toyota vs. Takako Inoue 22:17
PA: They got off to a hot start, with Takako jumping Toyota and throwing chairs on her, and then spent the next 15 minutes working each other over. It was better when Takako was in control. She focuses better and enjoys torturing anyone. Toyota did a decent enough job of putting her over, but didn’t really do much to keep her working, though part of the idea seemed to be that Takako was too quick to grow complacent. Toyota did a bunch of her weird stretching. Their faster paced transitions were good though, and it was the final portion made it all worth it. It could have been executed better, with Toyota trying three moonsault variations and not executed any of them properly. Takako pushed her really well though, getting a convincing near fall with a top rope chokeslam. Toyota fought back with a ton of desperation, and hit her Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex to win, but Takako pushed her hard, and it ended up being a really good match. ***1/4

3/20/93: AJW Aja Kong vs. Kyoko Inoue 26:05
PA: The wrestling here was really good overall, there were just some issues with Kyoko’s lucha matwork because Aja was too big, but everything else went well. They forgot to make Kyoko a threat though, and the match went about 10 minutes too long, with a painfully long and slow opening. The result was that it was an Aja mauling with all of her usual stuff for about 20 minutes, with the odd fiery comeback from Kyoko that didn’t last long, and was just enough to keep her in the match. This wasn’t surprising after viewing the 2/28 tag match. By the time it did turn into a competitive match at the end, it was too late. However, they did achieve a good near fall for Kyoko with a powerbomb. This was the last big match before All-Star Dream Slam, so Aja got the whole roster in the ring and gave a speech after the match. This also marks the last time the best ring mat was used on big shows/TV, as they’d switch the 25th Anniversary mat for Dream Slam. ***

3/21/93 JWP JWP Tag Title Match: Cuty Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami 29:16
PA: These two teams had a good match on 2/25/93 from KBS Hall that would warrant a recommendation to someone who wants to see more of this. This was a better match on a bigger show though. It’s a long match with a lot of fun and creative ways that Ozaki and Cuty would use their speed to take down and evade their larger opponents, trying to stay on them relentlessly though holds and double teaming. It was quite drawn out, like most JWP matches, but like the better JWP matches, it found ways to continue being entertaining throughout. Devil and Kansai would catch them occasionally, get holds on or brutalize their smaller opponents, but Ozaki and Cuty would always find ways to slip out or avoid lariats and pounce to get into positions of control. It always felt like they were hanging on, but it wasn’t clear how they could actually win. Once Cuty got caught towards the end and worn out with kicks from Kansai, their house of cards fell down. Ozaki was able to be competitive, but her partner was no longer any help, and she couldn’t do much alone. They were able to save each other, but the finishing portion was a rout, eventually ending with Cuty being pinned after a doomsday device. ***1/2

Mount Rushmore Of Pro Wrestling Heroes - Wrestling's Most Important & Influential Great Wrestlers

1/24/93 AJW: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano 21:28
PA: Familiar build and nice pacing with the monsters working over both Toyota and Yamada. Bull was in fine form here, and stood out the most of anyone in the match. She was still more menacing than Aja, but played the vulnerable one, and took all the punishment for the team. When Yamada and Toyota got the chance to work her over, she put them over well, and did little things to put the focus more on Aja when they were in control; at one point being unable to break Toyota’s bridge, so she stomped on her hands and let Aja crush her. Once the pace increased, Toyota and Yamada came into their own, hitting all their big moves on Bull. Bull avoided Toyota’s quebrada, and Aja followed it with a plancha, but accidentally took out Bull. Toyota got great near falls with a double backdrop from the top and a Japanese Ocean Suplex, but she couldn’t hit the Cyclone. Once Bull tagged Aja, there was no contest. She completely turned the match, killing Toyota’s momentum and bringing her down with a few big moves before switching back over to Bull to finish with a moonsault. Bull made the match, and everyone was good here, so good that if felt like they were only scratching the surface. ****

1/24/93 AJW: Akira Hokuto, Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Harley Saito, Eagle Sawai & Miki Handa 24:27
PA: An intense, hateful, scrappy, unpredictable, and beautifully ugly match kicked off the Zenjo vs. LLPW interpromotional rivalry. It had a different feel compared to the Zenjo vs. JWP matches, which were fought with just as much intensity, but one where respect could be earned. Here, respect was never on the table. Hokuto makes things more personal with her demeanour. She looks upon anyone beneath her with contempt, more specifically to LLPW, the way she called out Kandori originally, and right from the start of this match it’s on show with a disrespect pose where she jumped on Eagle’s back and flipped off the LLPW team. The crowd were the same way. It was the most hostile crowd since the 10/17/92 match where FMW first appeared in All Japan Women, and they weren’t prepared to give LLPW any respect either, cheering on everything LCO did. This felt more like a fight than a wrestling match. The wrestling was loose and basic. There were no flashy sequences to be found here, and it was sloppy by design. Instead, every move they did, from simple suplexes to holds, had more venom behind it. Every moment was treated as a struggle with no one prepared to give up control, the desperation that if they did it could cost them a match that neither team could afford to lose. The intensity remained constant, and the pace never slowed down. There wasn’t a great deal of brawling, but they brawled enough to make it feel more exciting and out of control, and it was always done with high-energy (you will notice a lot of what defined LCO present in this match, and plenty of it originated here, even the big piledriver through a table). The finishing run was short and sweet, and fit the match perfectly. Handa told Harley to get on the top turnbuckle and when she did, Eagle happened to be next to Harley on the apron, and Hokuto pounced, knocking both outside with a single dropkick, then taking them out with a somersault plancha. That spelled the end for Handa, and the match, as she was isolated against all three, and was quickly destroyed and defeated. Hokuto was the dominant force in the match. She was a one-woman wrecking crew, consistently coming to the aid of her teammates. Amongst the LLPW team, Harley stood out, and was the only one capable of holding her own against Hokuto. Those two were the best by far, but Mita and Shimoda also delivered the best performances of their career up to this point. The aftermath of the match was just as intense as the match itself. Hokuto made sure Shimoda, the weakest link in the match, got the pinfall so she could rub salt into the wounds, and once again called Kandori out. A challenge was issued for the LLPW 2/13 show, which Hokuto accepted. However, she refused to attend herself. She was scheduled to be in Mexico and didn’t want to help their shitty, second rate league. Suzuka Minami stepped up and Hokuto gave her the match. The backstage interview was also particularly notable, or rather, the lack thereof. Hokuto had Mita and Shimoda line up in front of her, and she proceeded to slap them hard in the face, before spending several minutes scolding them. The gist of her message was that those two were solely focused on winning and weren't ‘wrestling from the heart’. It’s seen as a great ‘character’ moment for Hokuto, but the true meaning was that she felt Shimoda and Mita had failed to showcase the strengths of their opponents. The real goal was to make women’s wrestling more exciting together by creating a strong rivalry with LLPW. If Mita and Shimoda appeared stronger than Harley and Eagle, it wouldn’t be worth talking about. The phrase ‘wrestle from your heart’ means delivering a match that touches the heart of the audience. ****1/2

2/11/93 JWP: Devil Masami & Debbie Malenko vs. Dynamite Kansai & Plum Mariko 33:36
PA: The first instance of opposing leagues teaming up, with Debbie sent over to JWP. Debbie and Plum had a good match between themselves, generally trying to catch the other in submissions and get them into vulnerable positions for their partners to do heavy damage, building to the showdown between Kansai and Devil. That came with a chaotic brawl outside that saw them beating on each other with chairs, and take each other out with lariats in the ring. At this point, they seemed to going into the finishing run, but slowed it back down, and went almost another 20 minutes. While the match was excessively long, and at times felt like it was in a holding pattern rather than building anywhere, the action was always entertaining throughout, and did a pretty effective job of building the Plum vs. Debbie rivalry – the Dream Slam tag was supposed to be Hikari Fukuoka & Plum Mariko vs. Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa, and surely would have spawned some Plum vs. Debbie singles match, like Hasegawa vs. Fukuoka had, but Debbie got injured before Dream Slam, so it never happened. The big highlights came late in the match, starting with Plum doing a plancha off Kansai’s shoulders from the apron to the floor, and Malenko hitting her tope. There were double diving headbutts and stereo superplexes. In amongst the big moves, Malenko was still looking for a submission with a wakigatame on Plum until Kansai delivered a kick to put a stop to it. I always liked how Malenko would stick to her guns on the submissions until the end, and since particular emphasis was put on many of them throughout the match, it helped to buy them a potential finish later. It ended up with Kansai and Devil powerbombing each other, but their partners kept saving. Malenko thwarted Plum when Devil was able to turn Kansai’s final pin attempt over on her and get the flash pin. ***1/2

2/13/93 LLPW: Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito vs. Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita 21:22
PA: Another classic interpromotional match, albeit one that may have slipped under the radar as it took place in LLPW. The crowd had been dead through the first four matches, but came to life for this big clash. This had the great interpromotional atmosphere, and there were plenty of Zenjo fans amongst the usual LLPW crowd. The opening was an incredible explosion. Kandori got booted in the face immediately by Minami, and then was wary of it happening again the next two times she looked to shoot in. In any other match this would have just resulted in a stalemate, but instead they were both blindsided by the other two, leading to a wild brawl on the outside. After the opening, the match was really split it into two halves. The first half saw lots of double teams, scrappy fighting and submissions which were played up as deadly. Mita got worked over heavily. She tried to fight with everything she knew, slapping, kicking, and biting, but she had no chance on the mat against either Harley or Kandori. Kandori just mocked her feeble attempts at legwork and tried to snap her in half. They seemed more intent on torturing Hokuto’s #2 then really wanting to beat her. They knew they could do that at will, and Mita put it over big, screaming in pain. This all culminated around 11 minutes in with a great spot where Kandori choked out Mita with a sleeper hold. Minami came into break it up, so Kandori just released the hold and Mita dropped to the mat, ‘unconscious’. Minami cleaned house with a pair of backbreakers, and then tended to Mita. The second half was spot oriented. The intensity and focus on team remained constant, and it got more urgent, but it wasn’t as strong as the first half until they got into the final minutes. They hit all kinds of dives, big moves and constantly saved each other from pins, leaving everyone exhausted by the end. It just came down to Kandori barely being able to hold off Mita while Harley pinned Minami with a Tiger Suplex hold. Kandori worked as hard as she ever did, and came off like real superstar. She had her aura and intensity back from the old JWP days, and was in her element here. Harley was in a more understated role as Kandori’s sidekick. She never overshadowed her, though her and Minami were technically the best in the match, with Minami delivering arguably the best performance of her career, at least her best since the match against Hokuto on 4/29/91. Mita gave an excellent performance in this match as well. She played her role as the weak link really well, while being able to stand out at times in the later portion. They all worked to make this match special, and they delivered to best match to ever take place in LLPW. ****3/4

1/16/25 AEW Texas Death: Adam Page vs. Christopher Daniels 16:43
ML: A booker who was even semicompetent would have figured out to build up to a retirement death match for a month or two and put it on a PPV. Tony Khan, or course, didn't set this death match up very well, or get anything from this being the retirement match of one of the most beloved indy wrestlers of the 00s, particularly since he didn't even bill it as a retirement match. The wrestlers themselves really went above and beyond to make it a fitting end to Daniels career though, in the usual manner AEW wrestlers overcome being dealt a bad hand from Tony, by still delivering something useful on their own. The story was that Daniels tried to reach Hangman by speaking his language, but reasonably this wasn't the typical 50-50 AEW match, and Daniels mostly got destroyed for his troubles in Hangman's signature match, bleeding buckets almost from the outset. Though Daniels is 31 years older, he more than held his own with Hangman performance wise, and likely brought most of the good ideas to the mix. Daniels took a hellacious beating, and what little he did offensively was mostly just variations of his favorite moves, but that was fine given nobody has seen him wrestle in ages. Daniels was never a big player in AEW, but the fans did eventually get behind him just by virtue of taking such a nasty beating. The first half was particularly one-sided, but Daniels got enough hope spots that the match was still compelling. Page used a chair early, and then found barbed wire under the ring, which one can only assume was there in case AEW sold so few tickets the arena decided that an impromptu rodeo would make them more money. Even minimizing the stupid faces for once, Page isn't a very convincing brawler, but he has enough good moves to keep things interesting, and he had some success here combining the two styles. For instance, he put Daniels on a table, and gave him a footstomp off the apron. Daniels put Hangman through a table with sort of an avalanche uranage. Daniels tried another uranage, but Hangman arm dragged his way out, then they avoided each others finishers on the ramp. Page tried the buckshot lariat again with barbed wire wrapped around his arm, but Daniels countered into a flatliner, and went into a Koji clutch. These guys were doing a good job of coming up with answers for each other's moves, rather than just taking turns doing stuff. Mostly this was just good as a descendent of the Sabu style spotfest where they incorporated a table and chair though. Daniels hit two best moonsaults ever in a row, the second with the barbed wire table against Page's chest. Page used a chair to add impact to his tombstone and deadeye then finally hit the buckshot lariat Daniels had been avoiding for the win. Since this is AEW, not only did the babyface lose, which was certainly the right decision, but Page came back after the match and used Daniels own angels wings finisher on him to add insult to injury. ***1/4

11/11/18 TNA: Fenix & Pentagon Jr. vs. Rich Swann & Willie Mack 15:45
ML: Exciting sprint with lots of good teamwork. These guys worked hard and had fun. Mack managed to add to a high flying match despite being twice the size and half the athlete. Fenix was on fire, and was just all over the place. He did some many jumps and rope hops you sometimes weren't sure which opponent he was ultimately going to attack. ***

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