Takuya Nomura & Fuminori Abe vs. Hikaru Sato & Takuya Wada (AJPW, 8/11/19)

Another dope Astronauts match with plenty to love on. Abe getting caught with the open hand early from Sato and his staggered sell, the intensity of the Nomura/Wada exchanges, which lead to nasty slaps and corner headbutts. And Wada's Northern lights suplex is snappy as hell. Loved Sato going nuts on Nomura with the ground-and-pound, and then Nomura German suplexing Sato as he's reaching out for the tag. Another cool spot came with Abe catching the double wrist-lock off the German suplex hold by Wada, slickly keeping it cinched in through Wada's struggled efforts. Abe's so smooth -- loved his set up to the cross kneebar on Sato before turning that into a legtrap German l. Fun mix of shoot-style and pro-wrestling with a motivated Sato turning up the heat and Abe getting plenty of time to shine. Abe and Nomura are a blast - a bit like modern day Fujiwara and Maeda. Same energy.

Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Terry Gordy (AJPW, 6/1/91)

Very solid match-up - admittedly, I haven't seen much of Gordy outside of tag matches but he looked strong. Great clobbering lariats, big elbow exchanges with Misawa, and yeah, the blood added a little something-something to the overall struggle. The fans were eating up the finishing stretch - the nearfall off of Misawa's German suplex hold was especially great. Gordy did a good job selling for Misawa's offense, and Misawa's ultimate win felt huge.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid (NJPW, 2/5/80)

The story is a simple but effective one, with the aggressive Dynamite Kid trying to re-open the champ’s bandaged forehead. Fujinami works from underneath for the majority of the match, firing off the occasional uppercut but ultimately being overwhelmed and bloodied by Kid’s snug forearm shots and headbutts. He tries for the dragon suplex hold but Dynamite fights out and continues to target Fujinami’s injury, using kneedrops and fistdrops, knuckling the forehead and at one point, even biting it! Dynamite's such a little shit here -- I mean, the fans are throwing rolls of toilet paper at him! I like that he's seemingly trying for the manjigatame as a heel move. Fujinami does a terrific job of garnering sympathy from the crowd as he sells his injury and the desperation of his retaliations. Dynamite is able to hit the diving headbutt for two but when he tries for the second, Fujinami is able to roll away and the crowd loses their shit. He’s able to dropkick him out of the ring but Dynamite walks away from the follow-up plancha, once again cutting off Fujinami’s momentum as he had through much of the match. But once inside the ring, Fujinami is able to pin him out of nowhere with the Japanese roll leg clutch and Dynamite is pissed. Really good stuff.

Shinjiro Ohtani vs. Masato Tanaka (ZERO1, 7/13/01)

These two dudes seemingly had a whole slew of matches together in ZERO-ONE, many of which were, at the very least, GOOD matches. This one is a personal favorite because it's compact and simple yet smartly worked without overstaying its welcome. Tanaka is a pudgy little house of fire to open, putting Ohtani on the rocks until Ohtani dropkicks the knee and starts working the holds. When Ohtani ties the leg up in the ropes, the fans let him have it and he basks in their boos. Tanaka's selling is terrific throughout the match, as he tries to boot and slap his way out of a leglock to no avail. When Tanaka starts to build some momentum, Ohtani ducks an elbow and hits a German suplex hold for two. And then he goes back to attacking that knee, keeping his holds locked in even after a rope break. Loved Tanaka hobbling over on one foot, trying to cut Ohtani off on the top rope before eventually superplexing him off, which sets the stage for the bomb-heavy finishing stretch. Tanaka goes on an offensive run, trying to finish Ohtani off with the Diamond Dust but Ohtani survives, dumping Masato with a couple of release dragon suplexes before putting him away with the Spiral Bomb. Good stuff!

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Keiji Mutoh (AJPW, 6/8/01)

For the most part, a great match, although deliberately paced. I liked the convulsive start with Mutoh hitting the knee before the match sort of hiccups along. The ground stuff is whatever filler but I liked the in-between stuff: the pacing around, the wincing, the missed dropkick attempt by Mutoh, the snap backdrop from Tenryu. Mutoh starts going after the leg but Tenryu’s able to counter a suplex attempt into an apron brainbuster and follows up with a tope. Then, of course, Mutoh hits the dragon screw from the apron to the floor to return to the legwork. Look, I love Mutoh’s legwork, even when it goes nowhere: the dropkicks to the knee, the endless dragon screws, the double stomps. Tenryu’s legwork…eh, not so much, though I do adore the Texas cloverleaf. But the finishing stretch is really good stuff, with Tenryu hitting a spider German suplex, a brainbuster, a frankensteiner, and plenty of punches and chops. The knee from Mutoh to counter the Northern Lights Bomb was sold so well by Tenryu, and it takes two Shining Wizards and a moonsault to put the champ away.

Gary Albright vs. Tamon Honda (AJPW, 12/9/95)

Two dudes with amateur backgrounds chasing armbars and throwing suplexes -- yup, sounds fun. They tease Albright's German suplex throughout the match, up to the finish, and while he tosses Honda around early on with a couple of belly-to-belly suplexes, Honda got in quite a bit of offense against the bigger Albright. He hits his own front suplex, countering out of the German attempt. He snaps Albright over with back-to-back suplexes and tries to put him to sleep, hanging on to the hold as Gary tries to counter out of it. He gets a two count off of a double wristsault hold and the fans are rallying behind Honda. He's able to get to the ropes when Albright tries for the dragon suplex so Albright palm thrusts him in the face, slams him down and goes back tot he armbar, which results in a little dosey-doe of armbar attempts until Albright punches him in the face. He hits a cool front suplex, a German suplex, and Honda tries rolling away from Albright toward the ropes but Albright scoops him up and hits the German suplex hold for the pin. Sounds fun and WAS FUN!

Jushin Liger & El Samurai vs. Super Delphin & Takehiro Murahama (Osaka Pro, 5/29/01)

How can you go wrong when Jushin "Thunder" Liger and El Samurai are working dirty, rubbing wrist tape in eyeballs and breaking tag rules. Throw in a fiery babyfaced Takehiro Murahama with his stiff kicks and submissions and hometown Osaka hero, Super Delphin, doing what Super Delphin always does, and you're in for a treat. The exchanges between Liger and Muraham are the definite highlight of the match, and boy, does anyone hit a better tilt-a-whirl backbreaker than Liger? He also powerbombs the shit out of Delphin later in the match. At one point, Liger has Murahama in a leglock and Murahama's trying to slap his way out of it and Liger pokes him in the eyes! Classic heel. Samurai and Delphin are the weaker links of the match but Samurai does hit a sweet jumping piledriver on Murahama. Liger sells Murahama's submissions so well and really gets the crowd behind the younger shooter. When he's working the arm late in the match, utilizing the double wristlock against Liger, it's pretty great. In the end, he takes out Samurai with a somersault plancha which allows Delphin to hit a weak ass swinging DDT on Liger and a pair of shoteis for the satisfying victory.

Munenori Sawa vs. Mitsuya Nagai (BattlARTS, 10/25/08)

I really liked the old-school late 1970's feel to the hybridized style of BattlARTS, with Mitsuya Nagai playing the mean surly veteran and laying it into the spunky ball of fire in Munenori Sawa. Classic psychology and showmanship combined with stiff kicks and submission attempts. Sawa hangs with him awhile on the mat before Nagai takes over, working him with hard kicks and leg holds. While Sawa's in-the-moment selling is good, Nagai's grunting and yelling as he exerts more pressure on the holds really gets the crowd behind Sawa's eventual escapes. Great escalation of back half with tons of nasty strikes and suplexes and by the end of it, that total exhaustion factor that plays so well into many BattlARTS matches. Loved the final knee strike from Nagai and Sawa’s selling on the ten count with the fans firmly behind him. Really great match.

Hideki Suzuki & Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Takuya Nomura & Fuminori Abe (BJW, 5/13/18)

Oh baby, what a tag team match on paper and boy does it live up to my expectations! Tons of neat little things throughout, nasty strikes and suplexes, blood, finger biting, and zero shits given from the man Hideki Suzuki. Takuya Nomura opens the match against Daisuke Sekimoto and I love how he keeps slapping away Sekimoto's hands as he's trying to reach in...only to then straight up slap Daisuke in the face. When Fuminori Abe's in there against Suzuki, he's trying to get something on him but Hideki is too big so it's easy to get out. There's an awesome counter out of the armbar by Abe but when he tries for the armbar, Hideki maneuvers up to his feet and stomps Abe's face to break the hold, which may or may not have busted open Abe's lip. Hideki's still a dick from the apron, kicking Abe's foot off the ropes while he's in there against Sekimoto and then coming in and giving him some more shitty little kicks while he's down. Abe stuns Hideki with a spinning solebutt in the corner and when Suzuki tries for his strike combo, Abe counters the European uppercut with a leglock takedown, forcing Suzuki to the ropes.

Hideki biting Abe's fingers and casually tagging out to Sekimoto was a definite highlight of the match. Oh, and Sekimoto trying for a baseball-style lariat but sadly missing. Abe does a good job of slipping out of Hideki's single leg crab attempt and tags in Nomura, who comes at Hideki with kicks until Hideki catches a leg and capture suplexes him. Loved Nomura's pissy strikes in the corner, with him straight punching Hideki in the face! There's a pretty sweet double team into the reverse armbar by Nomura, with Abe climbing onto Sekimoto with an octopus hold. But Sekimoto powers over to kick Nomura off Hideki before dumping Abe. Then it's total destruction time for the big boys, as Hideki kills Nomura with a release dragon suplex, they Steinerize Abe to eliminate him form the equation, and finally finish off Nomura with the Sekimoto German into the Hideki double arm suplex.

Post-match, Hideyoshi Kamitani comes out like a total dweeb to challenge Hideki AGAIN but Hideki's like "fuck you, get out of my ring." Then Nomura says Suzuki is scared to put the title on the line against him and Suzuki responds that if the fans want it to happen, it will happen. Fuck yeah.

HARASHIMA vs. KUDO (DDT, 5/13/18)

These two had one of my favorite DDT matches of 2017 and once again, these two proved that their in-ring chemistry is a key to success. I've always had a soft spot for HARASHIMA's matwork, which usually doesn't go anywhere but when it's happening, I dig it. His leg trip to KUDO from the ground was especially neat. HARASHIMA is also one of the more frustrating sellers but when he's on, he's on, and here, he was on. He eats a spinning back kick to the face and I loved him immediately bailing to the outside after making it to his feet before the ten count...only for KUDO to take him out with a big dive! KUDO kicks hard and he kicked a lot in this match. His head kick toward the end of the match looked real nasty. In fact, there were quite a few strike exchanges throughout, from elbows to kicks to slaps, but everything was snug. KUDO is able to hit the hanging double knees, HARASHIMA hits the reverse frankensteiner. I really liked pulling a page from Yuko Miyamoto's playbook and spiking KUDO with the Fire Thunder Driver before finishing him off with the Somato. One of my favorite DDT matches of 2018.

Dick Togo v. Billy Ken Kid (Osaka Pro, 2/11/10)

Hey, did you know I like Dick Togo a lot? Well, I do, and he was pretty dang great as the dick rudo in his match against Billy Ken Kid. I mean, he attacks Kid in the midst of his streamers, beating him up on the outside and hitting a senton from the ramp to the floor. He badmouths fans, he poses in the corner, he teases the removal of Kid's mask and then just starts ripping it apart. Straight rudo activity. Kid finally gets a little reprieve by taking out Togo and crew with a beautiful tope con hilo, then busts Togo open with a corner dropkick. He can't build enough momentum to put Togo away and when he tries for another dive, he flies straight into a steel chair, which allows Togo to rip the mask completely off, proudly displaying it for the crowd. Kid's trying to stay covered with a towel but when he's finally thrown a new mask, he enters superhero mode. The match lulls for a bit here until Togo hits an RKO out of nowhere! He busts out all the signatures, including the Pedigree>diving senton combo but Kid survives, busting out all of HIS signatures before putting Togo away for good with the Firebird Splash. Dick Togo rules but Kid's a fun babyface in peril.

Alexander Otsuka vs. Takashi Sugiura (ZERO1, 4/18/01)

Two bald machine suplex machines, scrambling around the mat in a slick shoot amateur fashion, looking for the first suplex while simultaneously avoiding getting suplexed on their head. Of course, I'm going to love this, especially with one of those machines being total package, Alexander Otsuka. The other machine, Takashi Sugiura, is no jabron and he fires off the first suplex with a belly-to-belly. Otsuka is able to take him down with the front necklock but Sugiura deftly bridges out and works into a front mount, where he just starts slapping Otsuka silly. You wonder, why is Otsuka taking all these slaps but then he gets up to his feet and headbutts the shit out of Sugiura, blood trickling down from his forehead as he smiles at Sugiura. What a MAN. They first trade headbutts, the blood spattering everywhere, and then suplexes, with Otsuka hitting a deadlift German and Sugiura with a cool rolling gutwrench. At this point in the match, Otsuka's a mess but when Sugiura tries for another gutwrench suplex, Otsuka picks the ankle and grounds Sugiura with the leglock, ultimately snagging a kimura for the submission victory. This was radical.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Yuji Nagata (ZERO1, 3/2/01)

News flash: Jun Akiyama rules. He rules now, he ruled then, and he's the standout of the inaugural ZERO1 main event. I really liked the opening between he and Yuji Nagata, but more importantly, I loved Akiyama harassing Hashimoto on the apron, only to get German suplexed from behind by Nagata. Once Hashimoto gets the tag, he batters Akiyama out of the ring and Jun's a little hesitant to return. The exchanges between those two are the most heated throughout the match. Akiyama and Nagata have fun throwing Exploders and taking each other's signature submissions. Misawa's fine here and gets in his usual spots but I would've liked to have seen his exchanges with Hashimoto be a little more...grumpy. Everyone drops some bombs toward the end but Hashimoto is more concerned with Akiyana than winning the match -- even after Misawa pins him, Hashimoto immediately goes back to attacking Akiyama before all hell breaks loose. FUN STUFF!

Antonio Honda vs. Dick Togo (DDT, 1/30/2011)

This match wraps everything I love about pro-wrestling into the perfect little DDT package. Fantastic and brutal psychology, focused limbwork, tremendous selling, great comebacks, and one of the best slugfests this side of the Mexican border.  The comedy shtick was coat checked at the door and these two went to battle. Watching Antonio Honda in control of the arm makes me nostalgic for this Honda.  Dick Togo tries to arm drag Honda off but Honda holds on and even when Dick is able to toss him off, Honda’s right back on the arm like a puppy on a chew toy. When Togo’s got him in the body scissors, Honda takes advantage of the injured arm in order to escape. Togo’s selling of the left arm, his vocal expressions, the failed Pedigree attempts, the arm giving out on the crossface hold, all add something genuine to the narrative that is often absent from most modern wrestling matches. When Honda injures himself on the dive, Togo seizes on the opportunity, focusing his attack on Honda’s busted forehead. There’s such an awesome visual of Honda swinging wild with blood in his eyes, desperate to fight off Togo, who continues to bully him around the ring, banging his head into the corner. When Honda finally snaps, it’s a thing of beauty as he unloads on Togo with hellfire punches and dragon suplexes him! When neither man can’t seal the deal with their offense and missed finishes, they collide in a fury of punches and beat the shit out of each other until Honda can’t take it anymore and Togo is able to defeat him with that well-built Pedigree and diving senton. My favorite DDT match and one of the all-time greats.

Takeshi Ono vs. Daisuke Ikeda (Futen, 9/26/10)

This is more or less fives minutes of Daisuke Ikeda getting rocked with headshots, trying to find a way to promptly submit Takeshi Ono in order to put an end to the relentless barrage of punches and kicks. He’s able to catch a stray kick and plant Ono with a capture suplex early on but Ono’s back up and at ‘em with more brutal straight punches to the skull.  Ikeda fires off the occasional kick and when he’s finally able to stun him with a headbutt, he’s unable to take advantage of it as Ono is a persistent little bastard. After a brutal spinning backfist, Ono throws Ikeda with a tiger suplex before kicking him directly in the face. Yikes. They trade hard strikes and Ikeda is able to get him on the mat, where there’s some jockeying for position and control. Ono shifts into a front mount and starts in with the punches but once Ikeda’s able to snag one of his arms, he puts on the Fujiawara armbar and it’s over just as quickly as it began. Short on time and like watching two dudes beat each other silly? Check this one out.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW, 6/5/89)

Hot hot hot. Real hot.  Molten crowd + jerkface Jumbo + tenacious Tenryu = one of the greatest matches of the 1980's. Tenryu is ambitious righ tout of the gate, ducking the jumping knee and delivering the German suplex hold for two. Then Jumbo takes over, pounding away, putting the big boots to Tenryu and picking up some heat from the crowd. Tenryu's able to knock Jumbo out of the ring with a lariat and follows up with some nasty forearms, kicks, chops, before Jumbo suplexes him down and settles back into a headlock like a true fucking heel. Then he really starts ramping up his offense, building to the backdrop. He hits the jumping knee, a jumbo-sized lariat, a diving knee drop and he keeps dropping the knees but can't pin Tenryu down, even after a backdrop. The fans are lapping up these two counts like warm milk. The counterwork is really excellent from both dudes but especially Tenryu, as he hotshots Jumbo onto the ropes, sidesteps the corner jumping knee (sans kneepad) to hit an enziguri, and hooking the leg to prevent the suplex attempt. The whole finishing stretch is awesome, and when Tenryu finally hits the powerbomb for a nearfall, the place explodes. He's able to deliver the second powerbomb for the win but what a mountain to overcome in Jumbo.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda (NJPW, 6/12/86)

Awesome, awesome match -- one of my personal favorites -- and almost an all-time classic but with an unfortunately shitty finish due to the circumstances. This match sees Tatsumi Fujinami, the trusty hometown ace, taking on the UWF’s top striker in Akira Maeda in his best performances to date (that date being 1986). Like any good ace, Fujinami tends to blow off a lot of offense but here, he really sells the injured leg and Maeda’s kicks as dangerous weapons. Maeda continues to target the leg, although he keeps going back to the arm despite the easy target -- I guess as a way to neutralize Fujinami's dragon suplex or jujigatame? On top of that, Maeda himself keeps teasing the dragon suplex. They trade suplexes, Fujinami with a German and Maeda with his capture, before Fujinami slaps on the sasori-gatame, inducing the fans to collectively shit their pants. What a reaction! Then Maeda clips him with a rolling kick and when Fujinami touches his forehead and sees the blood on his fingers, he collapses. Maeda tries to finish him off with the dragon suplex hold and there's really terrific shock and relief from the crowd at the nearfall. The finish, as forewarned, wasn't good, as Fujinami hits a counter dropkick and it's enough for a double count out. It seems like an audible was called after Fujinami got busted open from Maeda's kick. Oh well, oh well -- still, an incredible match.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger (UWF, 7/17/85)

This match is the culmination of the entire rivalry and embraces the viciousness of shoot-style through Tiger’s strikes and Fujiwara’s grappling. Fujiwara puts Tiger through the ringer on the mat, making him work for his rope breaks and at times, refusing to let him out of his grasp. He’s spry and self-assured, bouncing around the ring and looking maybe five years younger here. But once again, he’s starkly reminded of his own kryptonite when Tiger mule kicks him off and punts him in the ribs. As Tiger’s aggression becomes more and more intense down the stretch, Fujiwara’s resolve wavers and ultimately, he’s conquered by Tiger’s kicks – the viewer left with a lasting image of Fujiwara as Tiger’s foot slips through his desperate fingers and he crumbles in complete exhaustion. Awesome match and my second favorite of the series. It's a shame this does not exist in full...or does it?

Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama (NOAH, 12/23/00)

EPIC!

This was one of the very first NOAH matches I remember seeing during my initial exposure to Japanese pro-wrestling and, at the time, my high school brain was like "whoooa, dude, what the hell did I just watch?". So having rewatched this, what does my married brain think? It's still pretty damn epic. Is it too much? Yeah, probably, most likely, but it isn't necessarily done for the sake of indulgence. It's young brash Jun Akiyama trying to dethrone King Kobashi with everything he's got and Kobashi...well, dropping Jun on his head a lot and Akiyama with the will to survive. It's long though, and you know, I struggle with overly long, bloated matches. To open, Kobashi pops him with a big chop to the chest to set the stage and mood, encouraging Akiyama to bring it, which Akiyama has to seriously consider after those Kobashi chops. When they lock up, Akiyama does a little swanky maneuvering to turn the tide on Kobashi, taking him over with a double wristsault into the front mount, peppering him with slaps and then trying to lock in a rear choke before Kobashi gets to the ropes. Akiyama doesn't immediately let go and Kobashi lets him having it with more chops, catching him with a rolling backchop in the corner.

Loved Akiyama’s driving elbows in the corner and when he hits that running elbow smash on the ramp, he turns Kobashi's left eye into a swollen mess. But he works through it, focusing on Akiyama's neck after a few DDTs, using a front necklock and deadlifting it into a suplex. Akiyama turns the tide with a nasty dropkick to the knee, allowing himself a breather before they trade suplexes and Akiyama starts in on picking Kobashi's arm apart. But that's what we call filler...well-executed, sure, but filler nonetheless. Soon, Kobashi is dumping him with a sleeper suplex or a half nelson suplex on the rampway. Then Akiyama comes back and hits an Exploder to Kobashi on the floor (sold like death by Kobashi) and tries to set-up for his front necklock finish. When Kobashi grabs the ropes immediately, Akiyama hits the wrist-clutch Exploder for a terrific nearfall. Kobashi lariats his way out of a SUPER EXPLODER, and they're both obviously exhausted by this point in the match. Even when Kobashi hits another lariat, it's a collapsed pin attempt, his eye the size of a grapefruit. Akiyama survives the short-range lariat and when he tries to elbow back, Kobashi stuns him with the spinning backchop and unleashes the ultimate finisher in the Burning Hammer to finally put him away. A really good match, awesome in parts, with a great build and tons of bombs. But why so long?

Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka (NJPW, 12/14/00)

Easily, one of the best tag matches of 2000. It hits a lot of highs, never any lows, although there's a decent little plateau (mesa) in there at parts. Everyone had a role to play: Iizuka the tough underdog with a thing for sleepers, your asshole Uncle Fuchi, proud dad Nagata, and the man, Toshiaki Kawada. I really loved his messy mat scramble with Nagata to open their exchange before they start throwing each other at themselves with boots and elbows. Iizuka's on the rocks for much of the match, as Fuchi starts breaking him down at the knees, catching a wave in the corner on his Iizuka surfboard. Kawada picks up where he left off with the stomping single leg crab and when he's got Iizuka in the bow-and-arrow, Fuchi pops in to stand on Iizuka's throat like a shithead. 

Iizuka gets bullied inside the ring, Nagata's bullied outside -- and some of his facials are incredible. At one point, it looks like he takes a little cat nap on the ring apron. Iizuka's trying to fight back but can't overwhelm the AJPW team, and when he finally gets a break, he tries to grab the sleeper again on Fuchi. But he tags in Nagata, and Nagata and Kawada go at it. On a whole, I think their exchanges could've used an extra dab of Cholula, but whatever, it was fun. Loved all the enziguris and Kawada's selling before Nagata hits the German suplex hold. They each lock in their submissions, and each submission is broken up by their wounded partners. Really good selling from both Fuchi and Iizuka there at the end. There's stereo submissions from both teams, a dope dropkick to the knee by a stumbling Fuchi, and, and a final kick and face slap exchange between Nagata and Kawada to heat it up just before it cools down on the time limit draw. Draws are hard to pull off, especially tag draws, and I think this had it right for the most part.