Minoru Suzuki vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW, 8/8/17)

Without a doubt, this was Minoru Suzuki's best match since returning to New Japan and it blew away their title match from earlier in the year. Was it perfect? Subjectively, no, but it's hard to pull off a flawless 30-minute draw without a little meandering here and there, and they did a damn good job of keeping things moving. What I loved about this match is that it played up Okada's weakness when it comes to his striking ability, with his elbows obviously puny compared to Suzuki's. In fact, Suzuki puts his hands behind his back to allow Okada to fire shots at him and still, Suzuki shuts him down. They got the Suzuki-gun shenanigans out of the way early, which allowed Suzuki to really tap into that "baddest motherfucker around" mentality as he starts in on Okada's injured neck, ripping the protective tape off and ragdolling him into the guardrail. I thought Okada's selling was really some of his best to date, always reminding us that he's fighting through the pain. But the bread-and-butter of this match is Suzuki wrecking the golden boy, between his strikes and him cranking away at the neck. I liked the transitions through the facelock, with Suzuki trapping the arm and going into a crossface and then just using a lot of headscissor variations to bend and twist the neck. Awesome stuff.

The crowd was way into Suzuki being a badass and the Gotch-style piledriver teases were well done, with the crowd eating them up. When Okada delivers the German to set up the first Rainmaker attempt, Suzuki counters with the sleeper, taking him over with that fantastic Saka Otoshi before cinching in the grounded sleeper. When that doesn't work, Suzuki starts paintbrushing him with slaps, jabs, and palm thrusts. Fucking great. Okada's able to hit a weak Rainmaker, holding onto the wrist, but when he tries for another, Suzuki slaps his hand away and then just bitch slaps him hard in the face, repeatedly. Okada does manage a few nasty shots of his own but again, it's nothing compared to Suzuki and Okada really sells the exhaustion and Suzuki's ruthlessness perfectly. There's an amazing moment toward the end when they smile at each other...Okada almost proud he withstood Suzuki's onslaught and Suzuki like "I can do this all day, kid." Then Suzuki smacks the hell out of him, trying once more for the sleeper and while Okada's able to avoid it and deliver another Rainmaker, he's a few drips past empty and can't follow up as the time limit expires. Probably my favorite match of the tournament thus far and a true testament of Okada's versatility on top. There wasn't a reliance on panty-soaking spots or over-the-top antics...I mean, the biggest move was probably Suzuki's Saka Otoshi. It was a terrific contrast of classic vs. modern, similar to what Suzuki did with Tanahashi a few years ago, but with a new ace at the helm.

Jushin Liger vs. Masashi Aoyagi (NJPW, 6/12/90)

Jushin Liger with the more ergonomically-designed mask because this isn’t your daddy’s wrestling match. No, this is a contest fought in rounds, against an opponent who doesn’t take to the turnbuckles but who kicks…a lot…because he’s a certified karate master. The first round breezes by as they work the mat and Liger keeps cranking on the arm until Aoyagi’s able to grab a single leg to win the first round. Aoyagi ain’t playing around at the start of the second round and goes right into the mounted strikes, going after Liger’s mask, then landing some big kicks back on his feet. But this time, Liger’s able to snag a leg to take Round 2.

But Round 3 ushers in the violent chaos that makes this match a full-fledged spectacle, with Liger saying “fuck it” and losing the mask before destroying Aoyagi with headbutts on repeat and palm strikes, bloodying him in the onslaught. He’s able to secure a cross armbreaker but Aoyagi boots him off in a last gasp effort. He’s a mess at this point and Liger’s able to choke him out. The final round, Liger immediately returns to the choke, forcing Aoyagi to the ropes, and once he has him on the ground, he drills him with some nasty knee strikes before the ref calls it and awards Liger the victory. A contest that quickly escalates into a pissy Liger beatdown...awesome.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 6/8/90)

Oh yeah, Daddy Jumbo is in full on "I'm too tired for this shit" mode and Misawa's the disrespectful teen incessantly looking to snatch away dad's pick-up truck keys. The match doesn't quite burn with the same fire as their 5/26 six-man but there's still plenty to love on. Jumbo's all over Misawa early on until he tries for the backdrop and Misawa's able to hook the leg, turning the attempt into a body press. In a true teenage maneuver, Misawa teases the plancha, only to blast Jumbo with the apron dropkick. Misawa's able to sit pretty in the driver's seat, peppering Jumbo with some snug elbow shots and mule kicking him when he tries to take the wheel. The "WTF" look on Jumbo's face when Misawa slaps him on the ropes is priceless and it seems to add a little piss to the fuel tank.

They meander a bit, throwing suplexes and squatting piledrivers, but the longer the match goes on, the clearer it becomes that Misawa ain't laying down easy. This is especially evident after Jumbo powerbombs Misawa as dad's getting a little frustrated that Misawa's staying up past his bedtime. The finishing stretch heats up as Jumbo delivers two back-to-back lariat-ohs and blocks the Tiger Driver. He's able to stop Misawa's turning body press with an elbow to the head but misses the follow-up dropkick, bouncing off the ropes in an awesome moment, which allows Misawa to score the miracle pinfall. A great match-up from top to bottom, although the midsection is a little long-winded and it could've used a few more pissy interactions to really solidify this as an all-time classic.

Kazunari Murakami vs. Yuki Ishikawa (BattlARTS, 11/26/00)

Kazunari Murakami looks like the Japanese version of the Joker with his twisted grin and little to no regard for the human condition. He's wild and unpredictable, coming right out of the gate kicking and swinging for the fences. Yuki Ishikawa does all he can to quell the maelstrom of Murakami's violence by avoiding the big blows and trying to take Murakami down to the canvas. He's able to force Murakami to the ropes, at one point utilizing an Indian deathlock, but once Murakami slips in the choke, the momentum shifts in his favor. He batters Ishikawa into a corner, busting his mouth with a right hand before they spill over to the outside and wonderful chaos ensues. They throw each other into the crowd and exchange strikes but Murakami gets the better of him, leaving him a bloody mess on the floor. He's able to coolly counter Ishikawa's armbreaker attempt with a choke, slinging him back inside the ring only to continue the barrage of kicks and punches. Ishikawa's finally had it and slugs Murakami in the face, headbutts him, and chokes him out with the guillotine. A short, spurt of aggression and mean looks. Bravo.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWF, 5/28/90)

Neither guy is particular exciting on the mat and unfortunately, this match sees them spending quite a bit of time on the ground. Seriously, you can see a couple dudes in the crowd falling asleep. Not to mention Nakano, whose usually a pissy little warthog, seemed to be playing nice with Takada here. He does connect with a few headbutts and tries to choke him out, dumping Takada on his head with a German when that doesn't work and then unloading on him in the corner. But Takada quickly shuts him with a flurry of strikes. Nakano doesn't want to stay down for Takada but by the end of the match, despite the crowd cheering him on, it's obvious Nakano's optimal match length is less than 15 minutes. He's barely hanging on in the final minutes, firing off a last gasp spurt of slaps, before Takada wears him down on the mat...slowly...finally submitting him without much of a struggle from Nakano. Meh.

Jumbo Tsuruta, Masanobu Fuchi & Great Kabuki vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Akira Taue & Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 5/26/90)

And so it begins...again. The "Golden Age of AJPW" and my introduction to Japanese 'pure wrestle' 15+ years ago.  I watched WWF as a kid in the early 90', rooting for Tatanka with my dad and Max Moon because he looked like Mega Man. At the very same time, unbeknownst to 8-year old me, Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada, and Taue were shaking the pillars of heaven over in Japan. I stopped watching WWF when Tatanka joined the Million Dollar Corporation and grew out of wrestling. It wasn't until I was a freshman in college that I found myself watching a handful of borrowed DVD-R's. Over the course of "Best of Japan" volumes one through four, I re-discovered my love of pro-wrestling and discovered a newfound appreciation for the beauty and chaos in it .

A lot of this stuff, I haven't revisited since college, and some of it, including this match, I've yet to witness. As expected, this was a total blast, with everyone playing their respective roles so well. On team Jumbo, you had the cantankerous Captain Tsuruta himself, Grampa Fuchi destroying limbs, and crazy Uncle Kabuki doing...uh, a little bit of everything. On the other side, the young gate-rattlers: the babyface fire of young Kobashi, the "too cool for school" 'tude of middle child Misawa, and the gangly big brother power of Taue. When Kobashi comes in, he's red-hot, blasting Fuchi with a beautiful top rope dropkick and getting antsy Jumbo. Jumbo lays him out with the jumping knee and takes out all the kids on the apron, pissing off middle child Misawa, who wants in there so bad and when he does, he gets lariated the fuck down. The stern dad vs. disrespectful teen dynamic between Misawa and Jumbo was terrific, and even when they were quarreling somewhere the ring, I liked that the other guys were still trying to wrestle the match.

Kobashi's arm gets bullied for awhile, with Fuchi being especially relentless and awesome, targeting arms and legs both, wrecking Kenta's knee on the timekeeper's table. Love Jumbo waving off Kobashi's dropkick to pummel him with knees and boots. Misawa and Taue take over after teaming up on Tsuruta with a double dropkick. Misawa gets to show off his Tiger Mask offense with Taue knocking bodies around. Kobashi gets a little revenge on gramps the end, picking up a great nearfall off a German suplex hold on Fuchi. When Misawa tries to finish Fuchi off with the Tiger Driver, Jumbo creams him with a lariat. But, alas, youth prevails and Misawa's able to pin Fuchi with the tiger suplex hold. A great start to what is perhaps the greatest decade in Japanese pro-wrestling.

But the 1980's were pretty great.

Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWF, 5/4/90)

I love Tatsuo Nakano matches because you know things are going to get real ugly and real scrappy, and that's exactly what you get here with a bloody-nosed shitkicker Nakano, who just pounds on Kazuo Yamazaki until the more proficient Yamazaki can find an opening and sink his proverbial submission teeth in. Early on, you've got snug slaps exchanged before Nakano starts with some nasty shoot headbutts from the front mount. He throws a lot of great suplexes throughout the match, including a release Northern Lights to escape the headlock. Things cool down on the mat as they work some holds and Nakano isn't quite as skilled at the submission game but I like how he'll throw an elbow or two, or just grab a leg and start bending. Nothing pretty but it all looks painful. Yamazaki's strategy is to try and tap Nakano with a leglock and he goes for it a number of times, supplementing the holds with kicks. But Nakano just wants to bash Yamazaki's skull in with the headbutts. At one point, he takes Yamazaki down with a dragon screw legwhip but doesn't really know how to follow up, other than trying to get back to that front mount to dish out more blunt force trauma. Yamazaki's able to suplex him off or catch him with a hard knee in response to a headbutt but Nakano's relentless at times, climbing onto his back with guillotine choke or German suplexing him onto his head. Nakano's such a squat little prick, it's fantastic -- he'll snap Yamazaki over with a suplex and immediately slap him in the face. Yamazaki's finally able to land some stiff kicks to the head and leg, wearing Nakano down enough to seize hold of the leg and really crank in the submission. Nakano hollers like an animal caught in a snare and taps out. Awesomely brutal match.