Essential Japanese Wrestling Discussion/News

[Adam3000]

Yall keep talking about KENTA, someone needs to put me onto a couple of his best matches on youtube or dailymotion

I'm not really familiar at all with Japanese wrestlers of the first decade of the 2000's

 

[stro]

Yall keep talking about KENTA, someone needs to put me onto a couple of his best matches on youtube or dailymotion

I'm not really familiar at all with Japanese wrestlers of the first decade of the 2000's

 

[Adam3000]

Thanks, I will check these out over time

 

[stro]

Imo, KENTA was coolest, most swag filled dude of the next gen until Nakamura discovered coke. Shame he was so tiny, otherwise he would have ruled puro for years.

 

[stro]

Random Inoki Era 4

Full matches included at the link:

Andre The Giant vs Seiji Sakaguchi 3/19/74
Andre The Giant vs Antonio Inoki NWF Championship 6/1/77
Antonio Inoki vs Kantaro Hoshino 12/5/78
Tatsumi Fujinami vs Tony Rocco WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship 6/15/79
Tatsumi Fujinami/Kantaro Hoshino vs Steve Keirn/Dynamite Kid 1/18/80
Adrian Adonis/dikk Murdoch vs Antonio Inoki/Tatsumi Fujinami 12/5/84
dikk Murdoch vs Bruiser Brody 11/22/85
Akira Maeda vs Masa Saito 5/18/87



Definitely watch Inoki/Fujinami vs Adonis/Murdoch if you haven't. Also the Andre matches, because prime Andre is wonderful.

 

[Honga Ciganesta]

I was going through one of hundreds of IVP dvds I have and it turned out to be a Battlarts comp. There was a Backlund vs Ikeda match that was clipped down to Ikeda giving Bob a totally brutal headbutt, it looked like Backlund's nose exploded. Then Backlund ran away, end of match. Can't find a clip online unfortunately. Looked to be a 6 star match judging by that finish.

 

[stro]

I'm putting together a little series of some AJPW stuff in the years right after the NOAH exodus and it is so weird. Like, all the shyt that defined AJ in the 90s (mostly the crazy head drops and big bumps) were imediately eliminated, the shows and video quality are gritty and dingy as fukk, the crowds are completely blacked out with the lighting, and then AJ somehow became something of a super promotion where basically every promotion big and small would send dudes to keep them alive and stave off NOAH's popularity, then somehow Muta ends up as president and brings in a ton of ex-WWE guys and the completely is completely unrecognizable 2-3 years after Misawa left.

Nevermind that you have crazy shyt like Tenryu coming back to the promotion, fukking Stan Hansen still wrestling in 2000, Fuchi getting pushed up the card by having a 20 minute match where Kawada (the only two native guys left) beats the every loving shyt out of him to a dead silent crowd...it's such a bizarre time. I followed NOAH and NJ, so the majority of AJPW post exodus is completely new to me.

 

[JohnB]

Wait is that Chono Fuchi is back dropping?

 

[stro]

Wait is that Chono Fuchi is back dropping?

Yes. NJ/AJ started an interpromotional feud basically as soon as NOAH formed. Chono/Fuchi was one of if not the first of the NJ vs AJ matches and it was DOPE. Considering Fuchi's position in AJ, and how absolutely dead the crowd was for Fuchi/Kawada 2 months earlier, the match is amazing. Super hot crowd, Chono being the ultimate heel, Fuchi being the underdog face and damn near winning the match in the first minute. Very fun and playful match.

Also, give it enough times and the Hansen/Tenryu chops sync up

 

[MightyHealthy]

I was going through one of hundreds of IVP dvds I have and it turned out to be a Battlarts comp. There was a Backlund vs Ikeda match that was clipped down to Ikeda giving Bob a totally brutal headbutt, it looked like Backlund's nose exploded. Then Backlund ran away, end of match. Can't find a clip online unfortunately. Looked to be a 6 star match judging by that finish.

 

[Honga Ciganesta]

The cracking sound when the headbutt landed

 

[stro]

Random NOAH

Full video of all the matches, plus gifs

Jun Akiyama/Vader vs Kenta Kobashi/Akira Taue 1/13/01
Jun Akiyama vs Takeshi Morishima 5/25/01
Yoshihiro Takayama vs Takeshi Rikio NWF Championship 4/13/03
Kenta Kobashi vs Yuji Nagata GHC Heavyweight Championship 9/12/03
Mitsuharu Misawa vs KENTA 8/28/04
Kenta Kobashi vs Go Shiozaki 1/23/05
Briscoe Brothers vs Naomichi Marufuji/Kota Ibushi 7/1/07
KENTA/Takashi Sugiura vs Naomichi Marufuji/Shinsuke Nakamura 8/24/13

 

[The Rainmaker]

G1 press conference fukkery.

All participants looking fly, with a wedding in the background

Fale looking like your Mexican uncle at a quinceañera





"When is this going to end, dammit"

 

[Beautiful Bobby Eatin]

Christ! I have to find this match... BattlArts?

 

[stro]

At least Elgin got his suit half way tailored this year.