Marty Jones Hall Of Talent

8/28/24 AEW: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Komander vs. Lio Rush vs. The Beast Mortos 13:53
ML: I'm not a fan of all the contrived multi-man chaos that Tony Khan insists on booking on a weekly basis, but this was entertaining and fun. Obviously, 4 ways are much more reasonable than three ways because you can just have two matches going on at once more or less. Of course, that's not what they usually did here. Most of it was the usual taking turns having two guys wrestling and two guys hiding next to the ring apron, peeking over to see when it was time for them to interject themselves again. Either way, they kept this moving, and everyone was doing interesting things. This was also a good matchup because you had four good workers (no Old Cassidy to ruin things), with two of them being power wrestlers and two being speed wrestlers, so you could kind of have two mirror matches or two contrasting styles matches. It would have been better if it was just a tag match, which it turned into at times, with Rush and Komander working in unison, while Takeshita and Mortos kept bickering amongst themselves. Rush was the star, just out quicking everybody. Excalibur was trying to claim Takeshita could match speed with Rush, but that's really laughable. Takeshita is the better wrestler, at least when he's not doing lazy New Japan stand there with your hands down staring at the opponent for 30 seconds after each move style, but Rush might be the fastest wrestler I've ever seen. There was a great spot where Rush did a boomerang off the bottom rope into a stunner. Komander had most of the big highlights, including a rope walk torneo. In one of those classic Komander spots that took ages to set up, but was actually worth it when it finally happened, Komander went for an avalanche Spanish fly on Mortos, but Takeshita threw both with an avalanche German suplex. Komander gave Mortos a swandive poisonrana. Mortos wiped Rush out with a spear when Rush was charging full speed. Ultimately, Mortos powerbombed Komander on his knee, but Takeshita took Mortos out with a knee, and finished Komander with the blue thunder bomb and falcon arrow. ***

8/6/24 NJPW G1 Climax 2024 Block A: SANADA [8] vs. Shingo Takagi [6] 19:55
ML: Takagi is the MVP of this tournament so far because he's the only one that can actually keep his opponent moving. I still wasn't expecting anything from this first meeting between the former Los Unwatchables teammates, but it overachieved considerably, and even felt like it had a few surprises up it's sleeve. SANADA has always been a very good athlete and a competent worker. He's just a rather uninspiring performer in that he lacks the energy, fire, and originality to pull you into his work, which is good when he wants it to be. This was a consistently good athletic contest match didn't feel like a slow builder. It actually had a reasonable pace and enough activity throughout, and while it wasn't a sprint, it was never boring or filled with the endless amount of stalling like we keep seeing in all the non Shingo matches. It started off well, but started to drag in the middle once SANADA went hard on his Muta worship. The match really picked up for the finishing segment, and it looked like Shingo had it won with made in Japan, which he's been winning all his G1 matches with, but SANADA managed to kick out, and then there was a few extra minutes to help put the match over the top. Shingo used the shining wizard, but that just annoyed SANADA, and he kicked out of the pumping bomber at 1. Shingo seem to have it wrapped up again with last of the dragon, but SANADA escaped and won with the deadfall. SANADA taking a bunch of moves in a row then winning with his finisher was arguably a bit unbelievable, but they built this up well to set up SANADA scoring the surprise win. ***1/4

8/3/24 NJPW G1 Climax 2024 Block A: Shingo Takagi [6] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [8] 16:13
ML: This was the match everyone wanted to see from this block, but it turned out to be more a match where they did just enough, and relied upon their individual talent. This started explosively, but quickly settled into being a reasonably paced house show type of match without an excessive amount of filler. It definitely didn't feel like a big match or an attempt at him match of the year, but it didn't drag or feel too predictable. This match didn't really lean to one guy's style, both did what they do, but Zack had a lot more answers than Shingo did. This felt like a bullfight with Shingo charging straightforward with speed and power, coming as hard as he could at the outset, but taking a sword here and there as Zack used his predictability against him. Sabre targeted Takagi's right arm, trying to lessen his ability to use strikes and bombers. Takaki stubbornly continued to use the right arm, but sometimes he wasn't able to follow up as quickly as he would have liked, assuming anyone ever followed up quickly in current New Japan. This match was all about the styles clash, with Zach sometimes having to take a hit from his more powerful opponent to find a way to outsmart and ultimately outmaneuver him. Takagi showed some counters, of course too, but he's going to try to brute force his way to victory first, and then find a way to escape when that backfires. The finish where Shingo sat in a triangle armbar for a minute then tripped Red Shoes just as he was walking away to finally have the match called off, then suddenly powered out into last of the dragon for the win was pure hokem. They've had better matches, but even if this underachieved, it was still the 2nd best match of the tournament so far. ***1/4

7/29/24 NJPW G1 Climax 2024 Block A: Gabe Kidd [6] vs. Shingo Takagi [4] 13:50
ML: Seven days into this lifeless navel gazing tournament, we finally got a match one could actually describe as energetic. It feels this G1 is operating under a lazy man's agreement to never do more than two or three things in a row without instituting yet another rain delay where one guy sees the other not defending himself for 30 seconds but never thinks, maybe I should actually try to capitalize on this and win the match. In any case, Shingo & Kidd ignored the awful style of all the other matches, and went all out from start to finish. These two fought with passion, and actually made me believe they were out there for reasons beyond collecting a paycheck. This was incredibly physical, and they didn't waste a lot of motion or movement. This was the only match in 7 days that seemed to aspire to being a fight even a portion of the time. It was Shingo's usual version of the Shibata vs. Ishii match, for better and worse. There's nothing elegant here, but they took pleasure and battering one another. I prefer when Shingo pushes this pace but actually does things other than strikes and lariats, but that's an arguement for another day. There was more action in this match than in about 30 other matches from this tournament combined, and they actually tried to keep beating the opponent up sometimes rather than always conceding to the nonsensical exchanges. The match was obviously much better when someone was on a run. The more they mirrored each other with strikes and lariats, the worse and sillier it got. Kidd only provides high impact, but to his credit, he was willing to actually keep moving to do Shingo's style of high impact match, rather than taking a break every 10 seconds like in all the other tournament matches and coming back with yet another telegraphed strike the opponent won't try to avoid. Kidd managed to get plenty of character work in here without having to stop fighting in order to do so. Despite being an arrogant prick, Kidd did a good enough job of standing up to Shingo, who he had lost to twice this year, that the crowd was chanting his name in the later stages. Even though you knew what this match was going to be after the first 30 seconds, it never felt forced or ritualistic like these matches sometimes do because. It was an intense brawl where you could believe they might actually dislike each other. Their adrenaline was flowing the whole time, this wasn't another match where they spent 15 minutes not defending themselves, then decide to suddenly pretend to care enough to get up the energy to put two moves together. There was enough speed and impact that I could somewhat believe in what was going on even when they were just exchanging. Kidd got the win after two piledrivers. Shingo sold his neck after the match since he no longer had to defend himself at that point. Kidd got Shingo to begrudgingly shake his hand because he beat him fair and square, only to double cross him by kicking him in the balls. ***1/2

7/23/24 NJPW G1 Climax 2024 Block A: Zack Sabre Jr. [6] vs. Callum Newman [2] 11:56
ML: The first interesting match of this year's G1, even if it was just a Z grade Zack vs. Will. Newman is Ospreay's protege, and he's got a ton of speed and high flying ability. He isn't there yet overall, but he's the best athlete in this tournament, so he's at least someone the few actual good wrestlers can potentially do something interesting with. His technical wrestling was decent enough, mostly because he's so quick and flexible. At the very least, Will could always do everything he needed to on the mat to free himself from Sabre so he could get his flying in. The big difference here was that Sabre didn't try to make Newman work his way out of many holds. Some of Newman's offense just seemed to exist apart from the rest of the match, and overall, it was one of the less grappling oriented of Sabre's matches because he wanted to take advantage of what Newman can do well. Since ZSJ was the huge favorite, and this was a rather quick and easy win for him, relatively speaking, even the early portion wasn't overly technical. Newman, who is in his 1st G1 at just 21-years-old, had to get a few things in early just to be taken seriously, hence the Orihara moonsault. Zack focused on working over the left arm, but he wasn't chaining holds together the way he would against a better mat wrestler. Newman was doing his best right after the arm work to not use that arm, and to sell it, without slowing down overall. Newman was an impressive enough athlete that he was able to be led through some impressive counter sequences, even if they weren't necessarily trading submissions. Overall, the better stuff was Zack countering Newman's flashy stuff, or a series of quick movements culminating with a flash pin attempt. The action was a bit uneven, but when it was good, it was quite impressive. The end came when Newman could have took a rope escape from a triangle arm bar, but instead tried to stomp his way out, only to have Sabre hook the leg and take him down into the submission. This was their first ever singles match, and it ended a lot earlier than was ideal for the match they are potentially capable of (though based on what I've seen from this tournament, anything beyond this is just half speed and/or bloat), but that was logical, Gedo certainly doesn't need to be killing Sabre off with endless matches against the jobbers of the tournament. ***

8/25/24 AEW World Title vs. Career: Swerve Strickland vs. Bryan Danielson 25:59
ML: The entire build up to the match, with Danielson saying his neck is "trashed", has been about Danielson overcoming the odds to finally capture a title in AEW and continue his career. Danielson has certainly had an amazing career, but this match had little to do with him being a great wrestler. It was a big show spectacle that worked because people love Brian Danielson, and rightfully don't want to see him retire (especially since he's one of the only reasons to still watch AEW). In New Japan terms, this was definitely a Tokyo Dome extravaganza rather than a Ryogoku match for the more serious, hardcore fans. As with the whole overbooked PPV minus the cheesy indy death match, it was more WWE-lite, with lots of focus on Danielson's family, and endless attempts to milk everything for more than it was worth. Don't get me wrong, it was the right place to do this kind of match, and it worked for the reason that most other AEW matches actually don't work, in that there was not only actually a crowd, but they were also reacting huge to everything the wrestler they wanted to win did. Imagine how much more money AEW could have made if Danielson had actually been a top star during the last 3 years, instead of a Hiroshi Hase-esque martyr who insisted on putting over all these awful clowns they might try to use but then ultimately don't like Little Rock Starks. In any case, the match had endless amounts of dead time, but because they were usually going to wide shots at the right time (after Danielson did something because Swerve's heat on him didn't get any sustained reaction) showing 50,000 people all standing doing the "yes" chant, or generally going nuts for Danielson, that distracted from the fact that nothing was really happening at least half the time. The wrestling was all quite good when they wrestled. These two are probably too talented to not have a good match against each other, though this may also be as close as they can come. This certainly wasn't the requisite botch-o-rama of waste of Mone, as expected, everything they did was very professional looking, well executed and impactful. The match told a story and was dramatic in a certain sense, though again that was more the WWE sense, and like WWE they didn't do any more things than they actually had to. There were more big spots, and arguably one near finish too many, and they weren't out there doing chinlocks like The Rock, but they were elongating the time in between moves as much as they could get away with. The match started strong because they were working faster trying to get the crowd going. This portion before the overbooking kicked in was actually about the two wrestlers in the match rather than all the distractions that came later. Swerve playing heel once again made sense because Danielson is more popular, but unfortunately he was in methodical mode very quickly. They combined a bunch of ideas at once with Swerve having Danielson in a fireman's carry and purposely turning Danielson's feet into the ref to somehow take the ref out long enough that Prince Nana could bring over the timekeeper's bell. Swerve Death Valley bombed Danielson onto the bell on the apron while the ref was still out from something that barely would have even hurt one of Danielson's kids. This should have been the spot to start the neck storyline, but they also had Danielson bleed from the lower forehead despite taking the bump on the back of his head obviously, with the blood, of course, trumping the injury. It would have made more sense to have Swerve post Danielson to bust him open later on when he dragged him out of the ring to go over to Danielson's family in the front row and taunt them. While the match wasn't urgent, they stepped up the impact, and pulled out enough big spots to get over their heart and desperation for victory. Again, the random doctor inspection when Swerve stood out of the cattle mutilation and hit a version of the reverse Gori special bomb hurt because they had the crowd going already, and just broke momentum for something else unbelievable that didn't make any sense within the context of how wrestling matches work outside of seemingly now one match each AEW PPV. The match got silly as Danielson, on the brink of defeat, stared at his family for a long period while eating whatever Swerve threw at him. Eventually, Danielson just Hulked up and came back with huge slaps. Swerve brushed off the busaiku knee though, and seemed poised to finish Danielson off with the house call and big pressure, but Danielson was apparently the first to kick out of it. I'm not sure if Page was late or they were just killing another minute or two, but nothing happened after this near fall until he finally showed up to humiliate himself again trying to do this unhinged gimmick he clearly isn't remotely capable of. Hangman was fine as a face, but he's no Bruiser Brody, or even Mark Briscoe. The more he tries to do the wildman stuff, the more of a comedy figure he comes off as. When Hangman was done accomplishing nothing beyond killing the momentum, Danielson finally came back with a busaiku knee for a near fall. Even though they didn't do that much more, enough time passed between the distraction and Danielson winning with the LeBell lock that the finished didn't feel tainted. It was a great, well deserved moment for Danielson. I don't need to see this type of match often, but since AEW only has a crowd big enough to talk about once a year, this style isn't something I'm sick of from them. It was a good big stadium main event, but again nothing they did on this show felt like an actual alternative to WWE except for the W*ING-lite coffin match, and even that will make people think of The Undertaker. ***

8/24/24 RevPro: Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hechicero 22:51

8/11/24 ROH World Title: Mark Briscoe vs. The Beast Mortos 11:01. This was an energetic sprint where Mark brought all his best offense. It wasn't so much a competitive title defense as a showcase for the champion, though. Mark got the first and third runs of offense, and then it was more back and forth, but generally, Mark was still on the ascendancy, with Mortos hitting some big counters. These two worked really well together, and while it's almost guaranteed to be better than anything on All Inept beyond the Danielson match because it's actually two good workers without some dumb stipulation, it was still 5 minutes short, without any doubt or drama. Mortos didn't even get one legitimate year fall. ***

Silver King Hall Of Talent

8/17/24 UFC: Dan Hooker vs. Mateusz Gamrot 3R
ML: Gamrot has improved his striking to the point he didn't just seem to be a one-dimensional wrestler in this fight. Of course, Hooker's striking defense is so bad that almost anyone can look like a striker against him. Still, Gamrot was a lot more willing to try to strike in this fight, and by not really defending it, Hooker was able to pull an entertaining fight out of even Gamrot, who normally just tries to control with his wrestling. Hooker's takedown defense has also improved quite a bit, and he was able to repeatedly use the guillotine without actually trying to go all in by adding the bodylock portion to thwart Gamrot's takedowns. Gamrot was able to back Hooker with a punch combo, and then take Hooker down when Hooker stepped in with a kick. When Hooker got back up, he tried to push the pace, but stepped into a body punch, and Gamrot used a guillotine to gain control on the ground. Hooker rocked Gamrot with a left hook, and landed some more good hooks until Gamrot dove for the leg. Hooker got a mouse and cut under the eye, and was losing throughout the middle portion of the round, but the late surge was the significant damage of the round, and enough to edge it. Early in the 2nd, Gamrot once again caught the right kick and drove forward for the takedown. Gamrot controlled most of the first half of round two after the takedown, and landed a couple good hooks right after Hooker got back to his feet, but Hooker guillotined him when he tried his next takedown and landed some good elbows. This was a Gamrot round, mostly for control. Gamrot once again caught the right middle kick to start the third, but this time Hooker was even able to use the guillotine to prevent the takedown off that. Gamrot was looking tired in the third, his stamina used to be much better than this, and Hooker was just walking him down. Hooker had his hands low, and was basically not even trying to himself though, so Gamrot was still landing some solid shots. The third round should have been an easy win for Hooker, but his striking defense was just so bad that Gamrot managed to keep it close. Hooker's left eye was pretty close to shut, but he landed a nice left hook just before the bell to the seal the 29-28 split decision. Good match.

8/16/24 PFL Light Heavyweight Tournament Semifinal: Impa Kasanganay vs. Josh Silveira 3R
ML: Very aggressive striking from both in this high paced slugfest. Impa is the faster fighter, and was doing a good job of stepping forward and landing big left hooks without getting hit back. This was a rematch of the 2023 PFL Light Heavyweight Final, where Impa won all 5 rounds. Silveira was mostly reacting to Impa in that fight, which wasn't working at all. Today, he did his best to be proactive, even if he was taking some good counterfire. Silveira was mostly being wild, coming in with his hands down, daring Impa to stop him. He wasn't fighting with any particular strategy, just trying to win a brawl against a more powerful opponent. It's just not a good matchup for him because Impa is the quicker fighter and much better all around athlete. Silveira tired Impa out some, but Impa was confident he was up 2 rounds, and mostly held Silveira in the 3rd. Silveira showed a ton of heart and determination, and at least managed to take a round this time. Kasanganay won a unanimous decision 29-8, 29-2, 30-27. This first two rounds were quite entertaining, but the third was a lot more control and a far fewer good moments. Good match.

8/17/24 UFC Middleweight Title: Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya R4 3:38

Kiyoshi Tamura Hall Of Talent

7/29/24 Sareee Produce: Sareee & Natsupoi vs. Takumi Iroha & AZM 22:20
ML: This is probably an excellent match if you are a fan of current STARDOM, but kind of an annoying match if you aren't. Even though this was on Sareee's show, and had Iroha and Sareee, the match was still pieced together in the cooperative and exhibition manner of post Kagetsu STARDOM where there's little flow or connective tissue between the 50/50 sequences and strike exchanges because that's basically the only way the STARDOM workers know how to wrestle. It was a very good match when Sareee was in, especially against Iroha, which was the only actual credible portion of the match where they weren't just waiting for the opponent to do their thing. Unfortunately, it was cooperative cosplay when Natsupoi was in. Sareee vs AZM had their moments, but AZM was much less effective doing her sequences against someone she hasn't practiced with endlessly, and Sareee's striking exchanges with her were just waiting for one another. Overall, this pairing was good enough because of their individual talent, but they didn't work together nearly as well as you'd hope despite clearly putting forth the most effort. Iroha put forth the least effort, largely because she couldn't take Natsupoi seriously. She was just bored when she was strapped with Natsupoi, but she woke up against Sareee, and they did some energetic exchanges, particularly down the stretch. Natsupoi practically only did overly flashy, no impact stuff that would be fun enough if she bothered to try to work it into a match where I could believe there was any semblance of resistance or danger coming back from the opponent. She just showed no urgency to get it off, insisting on telegraphing most of it to get a crowd reaction since it's just a performance rather than a fight (where they’d all break her in half in 30 seconds). Sareee tried to turn this into a memorable match towards the end, and it did find another level in the last quarter that was considerably better, where even Natsupoi was sometimes passable. ***

7/29/24 Sareee Produce: Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Mio Momono & Riko Kawahata 12:52.
ML: This was really fast paced and action packed even though it was a lot of striking, and only Momono and Kawahata did anything spectacular. The first five minutes weren't serious enough, the next 8 were really good though, but then Arisa just pinned Kawahata out of nowhere. There was a ton of potential here that the match didn't live up to, despite being very action packed and flying by. The match was largely hurt by the early comedy undermining what should have been a serious, hard hitting workrate match throughout where the youngsters pushed a lot harder than they actually did. Mio once again should have been taken a lot more seriously by Arisa, which would have then made her less apt to be clowning around in order to actually do something. There was some Manami Toyota style silliness at the outset, and enough clowning mixed in with the early action that it didn't really take off during the first third despite the brisk pace. Tsukasa's stuff was looking way more choreographed than before her maternity leave. She's a bit slower now, but most likely this was because she was just returning from elbow surgery after dislocating it and damaging it in her ligaments in her 6/23/24 match against Mayu Iwatani, and probably was nowhere near 100%. Arisa's intensity made the match, even if she was mostly just bullying the opposition. Once she took over from Fujimoto, this was really good. Kawahata gave one of her best performances in what was a good setting for her striking, and to a lesser extent her athletic style. Arisa wanting the opponent to stand up to her striking certainly worked much better for Kawahata than Momono, who should just be put in positions to utilize her speed. Arisa took Kawahata much more seriously than Momono, which might be reasonable given their size and striking ability, but wasn't given their skill level and rank. Nonetheless, Kawahata really picked up the slack for her team. The excellent stuff here came from Arisa vs. Kawahata stuff, with Momono doing a few cool things, and Fujimoto staying out of the way. ***1/4

7/27/24 AEW: Hologram vs. The Beast Mortos 12:09
ML: This match got over because they were spectacular enough, but it seemed to work in progress, as the fluidity and chemistry wasn't quite there yet. These two have sporadically faced each other in tags in the US when they were Black Taurus and Aramis, but their only singles match was a Mortos win at PWG's Battle of Los Angeles 2022. Hologram is super quick, but wasn't working as smoothly and seamlessly with Mortos as his usual opponents. Mortos started out wrestling a much more athletic, sequence-oriented style because his job was to get Hologram over as the new high flyer of the month. He switched to his power soon enough when that wasn't playing out in his favor. The match was a bit sloppy, and would sometimes stop while they stared at each other, waiting for someone to make the next move. The fans chanted Hologram's name after he did a ropewalk somersault dive. Hologram followed with a big tope that may have been a spot Mortos was supposed to catch and counter? Mortos did catch Hologram in midair to stop his diving tijeras, but Hologram countered into a poison rana. Mortos hit a nasty looking backbreaker out of a powerbomb setup. Hologram tried for an avalanche move, but Mortos set up his press slam off the top, only to have Hologram counter with a headscissors. Hologram then used a crucifix pin after a crucifix bomb for the win. This was certainly exciting even though it was rough around the edges. ***

Joint Promotions World of Sport TV 1/9/80 Leamington Spa: Ken Joyce vs. Tony Costas.
DC: If anyone is interested in watching an excellent World of Sport match not featuring Johnny Saint or Steve Grey, this match would be a great choice. This match had some really good technical wrestling. Ken Joyce did some interesting escaping and some strong resisting. One of the best things was that it didn’t feel too exhibitionistic. It felt they were battling each other and not necessarily working with each other. Tony Costas from Cyprus proved himself to be a very good grappler. Excellent match. ****¼ 

AJW 12/4/85 Noshiro City Gym: Lioness Asuka & Yumi Ogura & Mika Komatsu vs. Yukari Omori & Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno.
DC: This is a really good example of a high-workrate joshi puroresu match from the mid 1980s. There was lots of action and everyone worked hard and showed determination. Itsuki Yamazaki was truly spectacular, and she was the most outstanding wrestler of the match. One of the most memorable things about the match was its fast pace. Very good match. ***¾ 

AJPW 9/1/90 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, Asia Tag Champion Decision League Match: Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton vs. Joe Malenko & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 11:05 of 16:59.
DC: Since I don’t know when I’ll be talking about Joe Malenko again, I’d like to give you some more information about this often overlooked wrestler here. Jody Simon (Joe Malenko) was born on 6/4/56 and grew up in New Jersey. His first time in Florida was in 1962 or 1963, and that’s when he met Karl Gotch for the first time. He moved with his family to Tampa, Florida at the age of 12 in 1968 or 1969. His father was wrestler and trainer Boris Malenko, and his brother is wrestler Dean Malenko. Joe had his first pro wrestling match when he was around the age of 19 years old in the mid 1970s, most likely in Florida. Joe never truly was a full-time wrestler during his career, as he wanted to have something to fall back on, and that’s why he always focused on his career as a pharmacist. He also spent a lot of time at the Malenko wrestling school, working out and teaching a bit. He toured for LLI (UWA) in Mexico in 1978. Joe started wrestling in Japan for U.W.F. in the mid 1980s thanks to Karl Gotch. Joe also wrestled for AJPW, PWFG, NJPW, UWF-I and Battlarts in Japan. This AJPW All Asia Tag Team Title match from 9/1/90 was excellent. Everyone worked hard, and there were several spectacular moments in this match. You could really tell they went all out to present something memorable. This was when Tsuyoshi Kikuchi still had the energy (and health) to deliver a really good performance. The Fantastics are arguably the most underrated American tag team in pro wrestling history, and this is one of their most memorable matches. Excellent match. ****

AAA 7/10/92 Veracruz: Psicosis & Marabunta & El Magnate vs. Rey Misterio Jr. & Winners & Super Calo.
DC: This was Psicosis’ first match in AAA, and by extension, his first match in a major league. He bumped and sold well for Super Calo. Marabunta sold well for Rey Misterio Jr. In the second fall, we got Psicosis vs. Rey Misterio Jr.! These two had met before on the Mexican independent circuit, but this was the first time they met in a match in a major league. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say this was the beginning of a new era in the history of Mexican lucha libre, and all of pro wrestling, as the rivalry between these two talented performers was a very influential one and one of a very high quality. They were super spectacular and started raising the bar of what was going to be expected in terms of excitement in the ring. Psicosis bumped like a madman for ‘el super nino.’ Psicosis hit a big flying double axe handle blow to the floor on Misterio. Psicosis even ended up pinning Misterio after a splash off the top rope and making Winners submit to a figure-four leglock. Then it was time for the third fall. Misterio hit a somersault variation of the Silver King dive in the corner onto Psicosis on the floor. There was certainly lots of fun and exciting action in this match. Excellent match. ****

AAA 7/24/92 Aguascalientes: Psicosis & Mr. Condor & El Indomito vs. Rey Misterio Jr. & Thunderbird & Super Kiss.
DC: El Indomito was the only non-masked worker in the match, but that didn’t hinder his ability to sell and bump like a king for the masked super heroes. The first fall mainly saw the rudos in control, so the pace wasn’t super high. Psicosis hit a big double axe handle blow and a splash off the top rope onto Thunderbird. The rudos won the first fall. The rudos bumped big in the second fall, as this was the fall the tecnicos had to equalize the score. Psicosis bumped huge. The tecnicos hit spectacular dives and won the second fall. The third fall was mainly the heels brawling. Very good match. ***½ 

AAA 7/31/92 Monterrey Arena Coliseo: Psicosis & Heavy Metal & Mr. Condor vs. Rey Misterio Jr. & Winners & Super Calo.
DC: This was enjoyable because of the work being executed in a passionate manner. The first two falls were good, but they didn’t go all out. Late in the third fall, the tecnicos were able to get more of a grip on the match. All in all, this didn’t turn out to be as good as expected. Good match. ***

AAA 8/14/92 Acapulco: Psicosis & Heavy Metal & Picudo vs. Rey Misterio Jr. & Winners & Super Calo.
DC: Rey Misterio Jr. tried to springboard off the 2nd ropes, but the ropes came down. This probably ruined the match a bit for them, as they probably had a lot of fast-paced rope-running action in mind. Still, they made the most out of it, and worked with what they had, which was in this case two ropes instead of three. Good match. ***¼ 

AAA 8/28/92 Tijuana: Psicosis & Tercera Dimension & Huichol vs. Rey Misterio Jr. & Rey Misterio & Kendo Star.
DC: For those of you who are into obscure AAA gimmicks, Tercera Dimension was Mando Guerrero with a gimmick very similar to his Psicopata gimmick. Rey Misterio is the uncle of Rey Misterio Jr. Psicosis took a big shoulder-first bump into the corner that sent him to the floor. He also took a big bump to the floor after a rather simple armdrag. In other words, he was being typically awesome. The tecnicos won the first fall. In the second fall, Psicosis hit a big double axe handle blow to the floor on Rey Misterio Jr. The rudos won the second fall. In the third fall, Psicosis once again took a big bump shoulder-first into the corner that sent him crashing to the floor. Rey Misterio Jr. hit a tremendous springboard super quebrada to the floor onto Psicosis. The rudos still ended up winning the third fall, and thus the match. The match was fun to watch, but aside from some cool spots and sequences (especially towards the end of the third fall), it wasn’t a match that was exceptional from start to finish. Good match. ***¼ 

AAA 9/4/92 Cancun: Psicosis & El Huichol & Ice Killer vs. Rey Misterio Jr. & Rey Misterio & Misterioso.
DC: The rudos got disqualified in the first fall for their rule-breaking tactics. Psicosis and Rey Misterio Jr. worked very smoothly together, as usual. Rey Misterio Sr. and Huichol are perfectly fine luchadores. Huichol is actually quite a good bumper. The tecnicos did some cool-looking high flying moves. The tecnicos won the second fall, which meant they won two straight falls (and thus the match). Good match. ***

AAA 9/25/92 Santiago de Queretaro: Psicosis & Heavy Metal & Picudo vs. Winners & Super Calo & Mr. Magneto.
DC: Super Calo was quite impressive. Perhaps it’s because he’s finally in a match without Rey Misterio Jr. that he can shine as the best technico flyer in the match. There were some cool dives near the end. Psicosis was doing well against Calo, but he ripped Calo’s mask off, which resulted in a disqualification. Good match. ***¼ 

NJPW 4/6/93 Tokyo Taiikukan: Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Norio Honaga & Ultimo Dragon 18:07.
DC: This is the type of match that actually appears to better on the TV edit than in complete form. The work was during the majority of the match was solid but unspectacular. Towards the end, they decided to stop being unspectacular and just start going for the highspots and near falls. These final minutes were certainly the best minutes of the match. In fact, the finishing stretch was actually so excellent that the match became a very good match just because of it. Very good match. ***½  

WAR 4/2/93 Sendai City Gym: Ultimo Dragon & Masao Orihara vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai 19:40.
DC: WAR vs. NJPW. El Samurai wore a Dragon-esque green costume. This started off as a very heated match, but it slowed down quite a bit. The work was definitely good at all times. Once it was time for the highspots, the match got a lot more exciting, and that’s when the crowd erupted. Ultimo Dragon executed his Asai moonsault. Samurai executed a somersault plancha. Orihara executed his moonsault to the floor. Even though team WAR gave a valiant effort, in the end, Liger pinned Orihara. The match was interesting whenever they were flying. When they were not flying, the match wasn’t all that special. Very good match. ***½ 

WAR 3/2/94 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Ultimo Dragon & Masao Orihara vs. The Great Sasuke & SATO 28:13.
DC: This was the best match of the show. Yes, I know you’re probably surprised that it wasn’t King Haku vs. Mr. Hughes. That being said, this nearly half hour tag team match did lack some urgency, and that’s why it took a while for the match to get going. SATO was the future Dick Togo. Great Sasuke executed a crazy (botched) version of the space flying tiger drop. Overall, this was a relatively enjoyable match, but it’s definitely not essential viewing. Good match. *** 

ECW Hardcore Heaven 8/13/94 Philadelphia, PA ECW Arena: 2 Cold Scorpio vs Sabu 18:28.
DC: This took place just prior to ECW becoming Extreme, as they were still known as Eastern Championship Wrestling. This was one of Scorpio's finest performances. He did one great move after another. Sabu eventually got to do some of his stuff as well. Much to Sabu’s delight, the match gradually became more extreme, as a table and chairs got involved, and the wild diving continued. Scorpio's flying was of the graceful kind. Sabu's flying was of the crazy kind. With a bit of help from Paul Heyman, Sabu won the match. Great match. ****½    

AAA 6/16/95 Santiago de Queretaro, WWA World Lightweight Title: Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Misterio Jr.
DC: This match was different from their great match a couple of months earlier, as they simply mainly did a bunch of high flying moves, which wasn’t a bad thing since they were two of the best flyers in the world at the time. Juventud Guerrera won the first fall after a Love Machine-esque frog splash. Rey Misterio Jr. won the second fall after a Love Machine-esque frog splash. After their daredevil moves didn't lead to a winner, Misterio made Guerrera submit. Great match. ****½ 

ECW 2/3/96 New York City Lost Battalion Hall, WWA World Welterweight Title: Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Misterio Jr. 8:46.
DC: This was the first ECW match of Juventud Guerrera. This match between the two Mexican rivals, who were still at their peak at the time, was excellent and very enjoyable, but it felt like merely a preview for their Big Ass rematches. At some point, Juventud executed a press slam into a fallaway slam on Rey Misterio Jr. ****

ECW Cyberslam 2/17/96 Philadelphia, PA ECW Arena, ECW World TV Title: 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Sabu 30:00.
DC: While this was a very enjoyable match. It didn’t have the great action of their 1994 Hardcore Heaven match, which was a great match that also felt more like an evenly paced and consistently paced match. So, while they could have made better use of the time here, especially during the early minutes, there was still plenty of tremendous action overall, especially as the match went on. 2 Cold Scorpio gave a really good performance, and Sabu executed some really cool moves. For a 30-minute match, this was definitely quite a remarkable effort. Very good match. ***¾   

Tokyo Pro 10/8/96 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Black Wozuma vs. Sabu 16:58.
DC: 2 Cold Scorpio wore a mask and was known as Black Wozuma here. This wasn’t nearly as memorable as their ECW work together. This was mainly because it lacked excitement. Sabu did an Asai moonsault among other dives. 2 Cold Scorpio gave a solid performance, but missed that little extra that would have truly made him 2 Cold Scorpio instead of Black Wozuma. Things gradually became a bit more exciting. Sabu hit a somersault plancha through a table when Scorpio moved. Sabu hit a triple jump swinging DDT before hitting the triple jump moonsault for the win. Good match. ***¼ 

ECW 10/11/96 Revere, MA Wonderland Greyhound Park: 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Sabu.
DC: This definitely wasn’t their best match together, but it was worth watching. There was a cool table spot near the end that had 2 Cold Scorpio splash through a table after Sabu moved away. The finish was quite spectacular as well. Good match. ***¼  

NJPW 1/4/97 Tokyo Dome, J-Crown Title: Ultimo Dragon vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 18:21.
DC: This match had an exciting start. They were working fast-paced sequences that gave the impression they were trying to beat each other. Even when the match slowed down, they wrestled like it mattered. This was a good thing, because this definitely mattered, as eight of the ten titles Ultimo Dragon was holding at the time were on the line here. This hard-fought match came to an end when Jushin Thunder Liger scored the pinfall victory. Great match. ****½ 

JWP 1/12/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, JWP Junior Title: Tomoko Kuzumi vs. Hiromi Yagi.
DC: Yagi is so excellent! She constantly stays on top of her opponent. To make sure I was actually paying attention, the commentator name dropped Candy Okutsu. Apart from being fairly attractive and being a very good worker, Hyuga has never impressed me as much as I thought she would as a wrestler, especially since others keep insisting she was great. Both debuted in 1994, but Yagi was 4 years older and debuted 11 months sooner. Yagi was definitely the one who made this match memorable. Hyuga was just along for the ride. Hyuga probably wouldn't survive if she was around in the 2020s, in an environment with less highly-talented workers around to have good matches with. Hyuga somehow won this match in spite of Yagi clearly being the one ‘ahead on points’ (so to speak). Excellent match. ****¼ 

FMW 4/18/97 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, No Ropes Barbed Wire Barricade Mat Double Hell Death: Megumi Kudo vs. Mayumi Ozaki 17:18.
DC: This was the final recommended match in the career of Megumi Kudo, who retired 11 days later. While we don't necessarily want to see these two be like Onita in the sense that they would only be going for shock and drama, what this match lacks is exactly that. They could have been teasing the big barbed wire bumps a bit more. In fact, the FMW crowd was so well-trained by their hero Onita that they knew when to react in a big way in spite of the wrestlers not really giving the crowd any hints when the big spots were coming. I appreciate that Ozaki and Kudo went for wrestling as a priority, though. They treated the gimmick match stipulation as secondary. At least they made sure to dress up for this death match, as dressing up at your best is an old tradition in FMW death-match history. Ozaki is arguably the greatest women’s wrestler ever, and Kudo always showed tremendous heart and determination. So, it was no surprise this was a very enjoyable match in spite of the gruesome gimmick. Later in the match, it seemed the wrestlers were more in tune with what the crowd was feeling, and they started doing a much better job timing the big spots properly. Excellent match. ****¼ 

NJPW 1/4/98 Tokyo Dome, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Shinjiro Otani vs. Ultimo Dragon 17:06.
DC: The matwork early on was pretty good because they kept moving and they made it seem like it kinda mattered. They were able to come across as two fighters being cautious in this important title bout. While they definitely could have shown more urgency, somehow it never felt like they were taking it easy. This was arguably one of the last times that the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title felt meaningful at a Tokyo Dome show, as rather than almost every match being for some random title, the only other belt defended here was Kensuke Sasaki retaining the Heavyweight Title against Keiji Muto in the main event. Excellent match. ****

CMLL 7/27/07 Mexico City Arena Mexico: Mistico vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. 22:50.
DC: This could have been a lot more memorable, but was too much about trying to create drama. There was too much focus on Mistico’s selling. The most memorable asset of the match was the group of girls at ringside cheering for Mistico. There were some cool wrestling spots as well, though. The large amount of dead time killed all momentum, unfortunately, as the extensive selling and overreliance on drama wasn’t very productive. Good match. *** 

BattlARTS 8/31/08 Tokyo Kitasenju Theatre 1010, NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Title: Ikuto Hidaka & Munenori Sawa vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Yuta Yoshikawa 23:19.
DC: Munenori Sawa and Yuta Yoshikawa showed intense striking skills. Ikuto Hidaka did some excellent striking as well. When Yuki Ishikawa was in, there was more of a focus on grappling. Ishikawa was not as quick as the others, but he showed he was still relevant with his intense grappling and suplexing. No matter whether Sawa was striking or grappling, when he was in against Yoshikawa, Yoshikawa would constantly try to do something in order to fight back. At all times, this was worked in a sincere manner, as they were all showing a lot of intensity and a desire to come out on top. Perhaps this match was just a little bit too long, but they certainly tried their best to keep things interesting all the way throughout. Great match. ****½  

EVE 3/30/18 London, England, Hardcore Match: DASH Chisako vs. Kay Lee Ray 17:40.
DC: There was lots of action. They worked very hard. However, it was a bit too showy. It was like they almost tried too hard, which in turn prevented them from coming across as genuine. That being said, the near falls at the end were of high quality and on par with any top-notch near-fall sequence anywhere, indy or not. Very good match. ***½ 

EVE 5/5/18 London, England, EVE Title: Sammiie Jayne vs. Charlie Morgan 20:29.
DC: The commentator, Dann Read, just blatantly interrupting the female color commentator, Leanne Marie, constantly (and admitting it) was kinda odd. I guess when you own the promotion you can do what you want, but why even bother having a color commentator if you are just going to constantly interrupt the person? Anyway, the main downfall of the match wasn’t the commentary but the length of the match. Sammie Jayne was struggling to come up with things to do during her offense time. Charlie Morgan was the one who truly made this match memorable. Her determination and her braveness should inspire any indy wrestler to overcome all odds and achieve above expectations. This match really is more like a 3.5-star match because it only features a few excellent to great moments, while, in the end, the match overall comes across as going on for too long. That being said, Morgan's performance is so inspiring that it deserves to be cataloged as a match that is truly a highly recommended one. Very good match. ***¾ 

AEW 2/26/20 Independence, MO, 30-Minute Iron Man: Kenny Omega vs. PAC 30:58.
DC: One of the many things they did really well was sell properly. Big moves and the duration of the match got sold more than everything else. They never oversold or undersold in any way. The moves were all executed extremely well. The booking was quite good, as the teasing of falls was done well, and the draw into overtime was done well. 30-minute iron man matches are definitely more preferable than 60-minute ones, I'd say. That’s obviously true for matches in general, not just iron man matches. This was one of Kenny's best matches ever, and it is one of the best matches in AEW history. Great match. ****½ 

AEW 1/6/21 Jacksonville, FL, AEW World Title: Kenny Omega vs. Fenix 17:01.
DC: Chris Jericho did some color commentary for this match. Don Callis was at ringside in Kenny Omega’s corner. What kept this from being great was that it never really felt Fenix had an actual chance to win the title. However, the execution was excellent for the most part. Excellent match. ****¼ 

AEW 9/22/21 New York City Arthur Ashe Stadium: Kenny Omega vs. Bryan Danielson 30:00.
DC: This looked like a potential 4-star match on paper, but there was too much acting, and it was all just too slow overall. Bryan was too focused on crafting the match his way, which resulted in the match not being as interesting as the type of match Kenny would have with a worker like PAC or Fenix. This basically was wrestled like the match people generally think is great. This means there definitely wasn’t enough urgency shown. Still, what they did was well done if you would isolate each move or sequence without looking at all the sleep-inducing dead time. Good match. ***¼  

GLEAT 4/17/24 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE, UWF Rules: Hikaru Sato vs. Takanori Ito 12:57.
DC: This was easily the best match of the show. Hikaru Sato was trying to lure Takanori Ito into a position in which he was going to make a mistake. Sato’s methodical approach forced Ito to try to look for opportunities, and Sato was confident in his ability to counter and capitalize Ito's movements. Ito kept losing points and had to show more aggression. This is what he did when he came at Sato with a flurry of intense-looking strikes. Sato remained calm and managed to interrupt Ito’s momentum. This is once again a really good example of a match that perhaps could have been done better from a shoot-style match perspective, but was at the same time one that serves as a reminder that when these matches are good, they are a lot more interesting than the average match out there right now. As mentioned before in other GLEAT reviews, this is mainly because these UWF Rules matches help remind the viewer that it’s supposed to be a fight rather than playacting. Very good. ***¾

6/21/92 AJW Japan Grand Prix '92: Mariko Yoshida vs. Sakie Hasegawa 30:00
PA: Yoshida was the most exciting wrestler of 1992, and it's no surprise that she was Korakuen's new favorite. She'd been having quality All Japan Tag title matches throughout the year, and in the Japan Grand Prix, was getting the chance now in singles matches. Yoshida and Sakie were both wounded, with Yoshida's elbow and Sakie's knee bandaged, and this is where the focus was during the first 10 minutes. They didn't do a lot in the first 10 minutes, it was mostly kept to the mat with some transition spots, but they put effort into their matwork and kept it interesting by varying their holds. The match really kicked off about 10 minutes in when Yoshida kicked Sakie off the top rope and started taking some risks. Yoshida wanted the big air attack, but her tope missed. Sakie went the other way, kicking Yoshida in the face with her rolling savate kicks. Yoshida managed to dump her outside and she wanted the tope again, but changed her mind and did a springboarded off the middle rope, and Sakie couldn't avoid it. In the ring, she did a run up dropkick and a fisherman's suplex. The crowd were firmly behind Yoshida, and you could have been fooled into thinking they were in a finishing sequence only 13 minutes in. The best part was they never overdid it, so when Yoshida slowed it back down by grabbing a headscissors, it didn't feel unnatural, just that she needed to do some more work to Sakie before she could try to put her away again. This was the pattern they followed throughout, and it worked effectively. They were getting strong pin attempts and keeping you from ever thinking about a draw. After some more time on the mat, Yoshida looked to increase the pace again, and they countered each other, and Sakie landed some more of her kicks, including a ridiculous one from the turnbuckle and tried to finish with suplexes, but Yoshida wouldn't stay down, and Sakie returned to grinding her down on the mat. Sakie hit a plancha as her next big spot, and once Yoshida came back in, she levelled her with multiple kicks in the ropes. These two, Sakie in particular, didn't have a vast array of moves like Kyoko or Toyota, but they used what they knew effectively, and the repeated spots always had drama because of they way they sold for each other. The 20 minute mark saw them exchanging pin attempts until Yoshida went back to Sakie's knee. Yoshida had a great ability of making every near fall against her look like she barely survived and she milked her kick outs for all they were worth. With five minutes left, both were getting too predictable for each other, tired and not setting things up, so they were more easily avoiding each others attacks. They tried a lot of things in the closing minutes, and it was mostly back and forth, grabbing what they could to try to put the other away, but it wasn't to be, and the time expired on them both. I won't say this match was too long because it wasn't, they filled their time really well, and got the pacing right. There was no point where I could say ‘they should have gone home here'. However, this match probably would have been a genuine classic with a 20 minute time limit, but it doesn't fall far short of that anyway. ****1/4

6/21/92 AJW Japan Grand Prix '92: Aja Kong vs. Bison Kimura 16:33
PA: Jungle Jack fights again in the Japan Grand Prix, and Aja hadn't forgotten about their 1991 match. Aja gave Bison a brutal beating, as savage as she ever did. From the start, she hit an extremely nasty headbutt hat left Bison bleeding, mauled her on the outside with chairs and anything else not nailed down. Bison's selling was tremendous, of not only the beating she was taking, but the look on pain and anger etched on her face. She fought back just as aggressively, but she couldn't do any damage to Aja. Aja hit three piledrivers in the ring, and the way Bison tried to flail and frantically kick out of one of them was a neat touch that you never see anyone do. It was over halfway through the match before Bison even knocked Aja down and got some offense in. After some Bison chops, she went for revenge on the outside. The beating seemed to piss off Aja more than anything though, but Bison kept control once they returned to the ring, hitting more Bison chops. She got carried away though and did a German Suplex, which she hit but Aja landed on her head, crushing her and ending her run. Aja seemed to have an answer to most things Bison could do, but she needed to neutralize the chops, which she did when Bison tried to deliver one from the top rope and Aja kicked her in the chopping arm and put her in a submission. At that point, Bison was done. She found herself in a position to potentially get the upper hand, but couldn't use her chop so she had nothing, and Aja finished her off with a uraken, a chokeslam and a jujigatame, which saw the referee stop the match. Perhaps not the most dramatic brawl, due to Bison not being much of a threat, but this match wasn't really about that. It was about Aja destroying her tag team partner on the road to winning the JGP and ultimately challenging Bull again. It was a smartly worked stuff and a violent brawl. Aja let the hold sit for a while, but eventually pulled Bison up and raised her arm, which was a great moment as well. Sadly, this was Bison's last match until 1994. ****

6/21/92 AJW Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto 16:19
PA: Entertaining glorified squash. Takako was too weak to be any threat and got massacred with piledrivers, suplexes, spin kicks and lariats until she was able to make a hot tag to Kyoko. Kyoko was stronger, and fared better with Hokuto, but once Takako tagged back in they crushed her and Kyoko on the outside. Bull did a cool shotgun lariat spot with Hokuto holding Kyoko on the ropes for her. Takako wasn't able to do much, but she showed fight and made some really good saves. Kyoko came close with her Niagara Driver on Hokuto, too close for Bull who interrupted the pin. Hokuto kicked Takako off the apron and Bull threw Kyoko outside. Hokuto hit her somersault plancha and a Northern Light's Bomb on Kyoko, which appeared to be the finish, but Takako somehow managed to save the match. However, Bull followed up with a guillotine legdrop while Hokuto got rid of Takako with a Northern Light's Bomb. ***3/4

6/21/92 AJW Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada 26:17
PA: These two had held the WWWA World Tag Team championship for three months, yet their singles rivalry was still unresolved after two previous encounters ending in draws - first on 9/7/1991 and then on 1/4/92. Toyota's initial burst saw the Rolling Cradle before things slowed down a bit, that's the best way to start it because it gets the crowd going. The start was evenly contested with regular transitions back and forth. Yamada seemed to be taking control when she was laying in some incredibly stiff kicks until Toyota grabbed her foot and went for an Achilles Hold, refusing to release it even when Yamada reached the ropes, resulting in both wrestlers tumbling outside the ring, where Yamada had to kick and slap her way out of it. Toyota threw her into ringside chairs to put the exclamation point on it. In case it wasn't clear before, Toyota is ultra-competitive, and this was not a friendly match. Upon Yamada's return to the ring, Toyota executed a Manami Roll and spammed dropkicks looking to blow Yamada away. Yamada retaliated with another kick to the head, and laid in several more. Yamada fought back on an Irish whip where they both tried to lariat each other, and while Toyota was dazed, she was levelled with a kick, and several more followed. What was noticeable was that Toyota's comebacks here made sense, and they were paced properly. She fought back wildly with anger and pain etched on her face, instead of the mindless machine-like comebacks we had seen from her before, particularly in the Kyoko match in April. The next Toyota comeback came after Yamada had worked her over a little and fired off more kicks while Toyota was in the ropes. Toyota threw a wild right hand and launched an assault. Yamada tried to choke her from the apron to put a stop to it and Toyota fought and kicked her off, following up with a plancha, though she missed it. They countered each other in the ring, the best of the sequence saw Toyota landing on her feet from a top rope backdrop. Yamada caught the top rope enzuigiri, but she was unable to regain control yet with Toyota hitting a perfect quebrada and a moonsault. A missile dropkick ended up with Toyota in a Texas Cloverleaf, and then she just wore out Toyota with kicks while Toyota looked like she was in pure agony. The only real befuddling spot was Yamada going for a sleeper just before they started the final portion, which broke the escalation until Toyota made a quick comeback to get it back. I suppose it underscored Yamada's approach of wrestling with a safer mindset, while Toyota wrestled with raw emotion, however this had been established more effectively earlier. They did get into a great final segment from there though. They countered each other, Toyota hit German Suplexes as the toll of the match was starting to show. The fought on the top turnbuckle with both tumbling outside. Toyota recovered first and hit her top rope quebrada. Yamada blocked Toyota's subsequent Japanese Ocean Suplex attempt in the ring, and got her knees up on a moonsault. Yamada rallied with two flying enzuigiris but couldn't finish. Yamada went up the turnbuckle and Toyota did a full nelson suplex from that position. She tried the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex, but Yamada slipped out and hit her Reverse Gory Bomb to finally get the win. Despite the defeat, Toyota refused to concede and demanded a rematch, setting the stage for a hair vs. hair showdown. Going from their lackluster match on 1/4 to this is an astounding turnaround. This time they got things right and delivered the match they were capable of. The pacing, the execution, the storytelling, all capped off with a great finish and the result was one of the best matches of the year. ****3/4

6/21/92 UNIVERSAL: Mariko Yoshida vs. Debbie Malenko 13:16
PA: This was Yoshida's second match of the day after the 30 minute draw with Hasegawa. She wasn't short of energy though. They did what you'd expect from them and worked well together. They were working two different styles with Yoshida's high flying against Malenko's submissions. Malenko targeted Yoshida's injured arm and frequently went back to it, trying to keep Yoshida from doing her high flying, while Yoshida was always looking for her opening to quicken the pace to do her lucha spots. It wasn't always the smoothest match, but they worked well together. Because Yoshida can sell and convey pain well, and doesn't forget about it while she's making her comebacks, she made Malenko seem more threatening than she might have against some of the other girls who don't sell as well. Malenko did a couple of flying moves, but she wasn't trying to be a luchador here as the Matsunaga's had been trying to make her in All Japan Women - in fact, since it wasn't her strength, it was a high risk move that ended up costing her the match. This was rather by the numbers for Yoshida (though, by the numbers for Yoshida at this point was very good), but a worthwhile showcase for Malenko. ***1/2

6/27/92 AJW All Japan Title Match: Mariko Yoshida vs. Etsuko Mita 18:26
PA: Despite being a great tag team wrestler, Mita had very few singles matches of high quality. I'm not sure this was her best, but it was her first. This was a mix of brawling early and wrestling, carried by Yoshida, who was on fire in 1992. Mita was okay by this point, and the heel persona she was embracing helped her along, but she was coming into this match with an injured knee. The start of the match saw Yoshida go after it, so Mita dragged her outside and used a chair on her. Yoshida got a great revenge spot later after hitting a plancha and going after Mita's knee with a chair in response. Yoshida's arm was bandaged so Mita went after that. Mita gave a fine heel beating and put over the knee well enough. Yoshida's sympathetic selling, as well as her ability to turn any regular near fall into a big near fall, made the match. The latter part of the match was a war of reversals, with neither being able to string together more than two moves before they'd get countered. Mita did a superplex and straightjacket fisherman buster, while Yoshida was hitting her cartwheels and flying attacks. Yoshida ended up winning with a DDT from the top and run up body press. Mita wasn't too happy, and attacked her with a chair after the match. ***3/4

7/5/92 AJW Japan Grand Prix '92: Kyoko Inoue vs. Mariko Yoshida 30:00
PA: There were two Japan Grand Prix matches on this show from Korakuen Hall, and both were different, more light-hearted matches. The main event with Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota was the worst match they ever had together, with a lot of half assed action in the ring and wandering around every part of the building, but did serve as an interesting tour of Korakuen Hall. This match, on the other hand, was excellent. It started out light-hearted with a lot of playing up to the crowd and comedy spots. The crowd were firmly behind Yoshida at the start, which hurt poor Kyoko's feelings, so she left the ring until they started chanting for her. They worked fast paced exchanges with a lot of lucha flavor and comedy spots thrown in, which worked because they always fit the exchanges, as opposed to the stupid prop and gag comedy we see from ‘comedy' wrestlers incapable of doing anything else, and they had the charisma to be able to pull it off. The silliest spot they did saw the referee take a monkey flip from Yoshida by ‘accident', and when she was checking on the ref, Kyoko kicked her on top and counted a three count, and even that just seemed normal. It's impossible to watch the first 10 minutes of this without smiling. Kyoko was the technically brilliant clown, while Yoshida was the youngster who didn't really have a chance. Since Kyoko was taking her lightly, it allowed Yoshida opportunities to threaten, and as soon as she started threatening Kyoko, Kyoko became more serious and the comedy elements disappeared. Yoshida hit her flying splash and DDT from the top to get the ‘real' match going. Instead of telegraphing the draw, they hit most of their big stuff in the middle, so the draw wasn't really on your mind, then they slowed things down before coming back for a big finish. It was oddly structured, but it worked. They executed everything well, and it was an exciting match with a lot of great counters and near falls. With the time running out, they did a lot of quick cradles, roll-ups, and any other desperation moves. Kyoko took the upperhand hitting her giant swing and Niagara Driver, but the time ran out while she had pinned Yoshida. ****

6/24/16 ROH: Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong 15:40
ML: Strong is becoming one of my favorite wrestlers because in an era when most matches seem padded and elongated, he just keeps pushing the pace throughout. Since he doesn't wrestle for 35 minute main event no matter what booker Gedo, his match is always action packed, and tends to more or less feel like the right length no matter how long it actually winds up being. This got off to a really fast start, and never slowed down. Strong pulled Briscoe's long hair before the match started because he was annoyed that Briscoe turned his back on him, only to have it be a wig since Mark shaved his head. Briscoe then took it to the floor with a blockbuster off the apron. Strong finally avoided the elbow off the apron, and shot a charging Mark into the ring post, which was a lot better setup for a blade job than in their 7/26/24 match where Mark actually did bleed. This was less about trying to create drama than their 2024 match, and more about just being energetic and entertaining. Though they went full speed, they still struggled for holds where it made sense, and countered each other back and forth where it didn't. This was very lively action, with Mark matching, if not upping the pace despite getting his taunts and sound effects in. They showed excellent chemistry, reacting to each other very well. There was very quick hitting and explosive action throughout. When Strong got on a roll, he did an impressive job of chaining holds together. Mark was the more flashy and spectacular one, but Strong's aggression and precision equaled things out. Strong never quite got his back attack going because Mark was ready for it, including Mark holding on to the ropes to avoid the backbreaker on the ring apron, and hitting his Cactus Jack elbow. The finish saw Mark use Strong's own sick kick on him to set up winning with consecutive fishermen busters. ***3/4

DC: Mark Briscoe took some cool-looking bumps and did some cool-looking moves. He’s quite a spectacular worker who shows a lot of Cactus Jack-inspired passion. The pace was consistently high, and both guys seemed to be quite motivated to deliver something worthwhile and memorable here. Roderick Strong has a bit of a dull personality, and he’s not exceptionally good at anything. However, he’s good enough at everything to be in a good match, and he definitely isn't a lazy worker. The match was enjoyable enough to watch and didn’t overstay its welcome. Good match. ***¼ 

7/26/24 ROH World Title: Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong 19:35

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