7/21/26 NJPW G1 Climax 2026 Block A: Oleg Boltin [4] vs. Shingo Takagi [2] 19:10
ML: This was mostly bull charging because the physicality is what they do well. The announcers stating that Takagi's only advantage is his experience is a great example of how deeply stuck in the Dark Ages pro wrestling still is. An 8+ year age gap in real fighting means the younger fighter wins 2/3 of the time, and their losses are more like a 30-year-old beating a 22-year-old. Over 40 fighters probably do still win about 1/3 of the time, but keep in mind that unless you are Randy Couture or Anderson Silva, you probably aren't fighting in the UFC at Shingo's age of 43 to begin with, and even Silva never won a fight this late in his career, he was almost 42 when he scored his last win over Derek Brunson. Definitely the big issue for Shingo is he's just not going to out physical Boltin. Takagi obviously has the speed advantage, but his speed isn't evasive, it's charging at a stationary target and trying to bowl them over, which again goes back to the physicality difference. Takagi had to try to get Boltin out of his comfort zone, bait him and catch him off guard to gain the advantage to be credible here. Oleg also got caught getting overconfident and straying from the playbook, trying to jump off the top rope and getting superplexed for his trouble. Oleg is probably the only fighter in the promotion who doesn't just mindlessly walk over to the opponent all the time, he actually still uses some entries and feints from his amateur wrestling background, but not during the actual strike exchanges (perhaps because they're all about being braindead). It was almost comical (in a good way) how easy Oleg hoisted Shingo around in gutwrench position setting up the Boltin shake. This was a heavyweight match in the sense that it had a lot more impact than pace, but it actually felt like they were trying, and it wasn't completely lifeless like virtually everything else I've seen in the first 4 days of this tournament. The middle portion, while decent enough, was really more filler in between a good opening and closing. This would have been better being 5 minutes shorter because Boltin doesn't really have that much offense and loses some of his oomph beyond 12 minutes or so. Takagi was technically the one who slowed it down, but he's proven repeatedly he can go long distances even though his better matches these days are 15 minute or less NEVER matches. I think he was largely doing it strategically rather than out of necessity for himself. I'm not really a big takedown guy in MMA of course, but it's preposterous to have an amateur wrestling legend not even try a single takedown in a fight against a guy who is a good striker but doesn't have a hundredth the pedigree on the mat. Shingo was on a roll, and seemed about to put Oleg away until he took two massive powerbombs after getting his Frankensteiner countered, and Bolton eventually broke his grasp on the top rope and hit the Kamikaze for the win. ***

3/8/89 AJPW NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ricky Steamboat vs. Tiger Mask 13:47
ML: This was the 6th and final match of Steamboat's only Japan tour of 1989, and actually his last match with All Japan Pro Wrestling, who he had worked for when he came to Japan since 1980, because his final Japan tour in 1990 was with New Japan. This was a good match, but not the match you'd hope for at the time, much less in retrospect when Misawa has ascended to the highest pantheon of respected top workers. It feels more like a house show match than an NWA Title defense or a Budokan semifinal, much less a dream match between one of the best of the '80s vs. one of the best of the 90s. One main issue is that Tiger is the one getting the highspots in, in this case dropkicks, to lead into the mat wrestling. While Tiger has more exciting offense than Steamboat in terms of what moves he does, he lacks the energy and dynamics of Steamboat to get any more out of it than just doing the move. When Steamboat is motivated, he works with a lot more precision and energy than Tigersawa, but without participating in the fast action that was leading into the slow, he never really amps up the intensity and is overall too laid back. He's still a million miles better than his passionless robotic immitator Yuya Uemura, but this is more towards the lifeless version of Steamboat for far too long. While Steamboat wrestles scientifically, he's essentially stuck in the role of the heel. Steamboat takes a lot less offense than normal here, making a sincere effort to put over the up and coming star. Steamboat is more methodical with his chops here so as not to get the crowd energized for him, but they work because he isn't just waiting for Tiger to return fire. For me the standout feature is that there's never a moment where they aren't fighting one another. It always feels like they are trying to win, so even some of the less inspired matwork feels more useful than a lot of the flashier empty offense guys run through today. Misawa gives Steamboat a piledriver on the floor, and things heat up as they exchange chops next to the apron, teasing the double count out. The intensity kept increasing, and the match did a good job of drawing you in, even though it could have been more spectacular and seemed higher stakes. Tiger gets a hope near fall rolling through a reverse diving body attack, and kicking his way out of the piledriver so he falls down on top, before Steamboat instead flash pins him countering into a sunset flip position. Steamboat made Tiger look good, and this lucky finish probably helped Tiger as well. This wasn't the sort of opponent Steamboat needed to bring his highest level for though, and that was the main thing that kept the match from reaching the level it should have, even then. Tiger provided most of the entertainment, but was a little bit sloppy. This wasn't the ideal match to showcase either performer, but they did a good enough job with the scenario they were working with. ***

5/15/94 JWP: Dynamite Kansai & Devil Masami vs. Hikari Fukuoka & Candy Okutsu 24:54
PA: This is JWP’s monthly Korakuen for May, one week before the big show at Ariake Coliseum. Due to that, this show wasn’t televised, and never received a commercial release. One notable thing from earlier in the show was Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hiromi Sugo, which was a three minute squash match, but saw Chigusa jump Ozaki afterward and set up their match for the Arike show. This match was way better than anything on the Ariake show. Handheld is from a good spot on the balcony, and its good quality. This one actually followed the action on the outside too. This was a really fun and entertaining match. Hikari and Candy spent most of it getting dominated, but made nice comebacks, and hit their good offense. They showed good teamwork to stay competitive, so even if you couldn’t really buy them as winning, they were in the match. The worst part was the slow stretching phase, but Masami cut that off before it got too much, and once they kicked it up a gear, it turned into an excellent match, with the youngsters getting in plenty before they were put away. The crowd were hot for this hoping for an upset. The best part of the match wasn’t even their high flying moves, which were good, but it was when they were taking turns hitting suplex after suplex Devil, as soon as one would hit a German, the other would immediately hit another, giving Devil no time to recover. ****

5/22/94 JWP: Candy Okutsu vs. Kyoko Inoue 15:31
PA: If you looked at this card and had to pick what would be the best match of the show, there’d be at least two matches (up to four) ahead of this one. The match didn’t end in the most climactic way, but throughout Kyoko proved herself far more of a professional than Chigusa by making Candy (who was a junior) look more threatening than Chigusa did with Ozaki (JWPs #2 star) in the previous match. Kyoko led the kind of match you’d expect from her, she did her lucha submissions, and the crowd pleasing, goofy dancing deathlock and gave Candy comebacks at the right times to show she could take it. Candy got some submissions of her own. They each did their bigger moves and dives, and Candy got the crowd behind her. The build was fine, but it turned into a really good match when Candy was able to land some German Suplexes. Kyoko made her earn her offense and tried for her own; one of the best spots they did was Candy catching Kyoko trying a springboard elbow and hitting a German Suplex. She followed it up with a run up plancha after Kyoko bailed out, and then a German on the floor, which was a good touch because Candy needed to hit something like that to have a chance in such a mismatch. Kyoko sold the damage pretty well and fought back, catching Candy with a throw when she went up top. Candy’s counter afterward was in the form of sleepers, which were good counters to Kyoko’s offense, and set up another German Suplex. She did hit the Rolling German’s about as well as she could on Kyoko, and Kyoko just barely made it out at three, it was so close it fooled everyone but the ref into thinking Candy and pulled off an upset. But that was it, after the German’s, Candy had nothing else left, and beating Kyoko was now impossible. That didn’t mean Kyoko had to just pop up and end it immediately, but that’s pretty much what happened. She just elbowed her way out of another German Suplex attempt, hit a powerbomb, a diving elbow, then won with that stupid STF facelock she beat Yamada with. This was a really good veteran vs. junior match though, all I’d really change is the finish; I’d have had Candy crash and burn on a dive, then Kyoko can end it in three moves, that would have given the idea that Candy still had something left she could beat Kyoko with had she landed whatever she tried, and been a logical transition, but still, what we got here was way better than expected, and easily the best match on the show. ***1/2