#LucharesuRewindMachine

[lostinyourears]

Lucha-resu Rewind Machine #2 : Tatsumi Fujinami © vs Chavo Guerrero for the WWF Jr. Heavyweight Title at 1980 NJPW’s 3rd MSG Series

Video if you have NJPW World, if you don’t have NJPW World as always I’ll have a highlight gif album at the bottom. 

I wanted to do some content to replace the normal Tuesday Arena Mexico report that I do. Originally I was going to do a lucha libre time machine covering Pierroth Jr. vs El Supremo, mask vs match. That of course would relate to the 1985 earthquake. In that El Supremo was scheduled to main event 85′s EMLL Anniversary which was canceled because of that earthquake.

7 years later Supremo would take on Pierroth in a mask vs mask match. I decided against doing a write up on that match... mostly because it’s not a great match. It was on CMLL TV in 1992 and is actually an interesting look into one of the darkest periods in CMLL history back when AAA had just formed and CMLL had to worry about AAA usurping them as the Mexican wrestling company. 

For those who want to watch Pierroth Jr. vs El Supremo : here is a link to the full match on Youtube.

Instead we are looking at :

Tatsumi Fujinami © vs Chavo Guerrero for the WWF Jr. Heavyweight Title(Card with Guide)

Who’s who?

Tatsumi Fujinami at the time was finding his footing in NJPW. In 1974 he took part in the Karl Gotch Cup a tournament for rookies, precursor to the later established Young Lions Cup. 

In 1976-77 he would work with NWA and UWA on his excursion. He would return to NJPW, but continue working with those companies in the early 1980′s when he also held the WWF Junior Heavyweight title which he held for 2 reigns and a combined 1,375 days. It was one of a few Junior belts floating around before NJPW made their own IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title which would become their main Jr. title when it was created in 1986. 

By the time the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title was created Tatsumi Fujinami had already been bumped up to the Heavyweight division and thus never held the IWGP Jr. belt. One of the reasons Fujinami was bumped up was to make room for Tiger Mask in the Jr. Division who would be a star in that division. Though he too never held the IWGP Jr title... instead holding the precursor belts : NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship and the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Fujinami would go on to become one of the biggest stars in NJPW’s history. Considered by some to be better than Antonio Inoki himself though however you spell it out he was a huge name for the company and continues to wrestle having had 7 matches in 2017 at the age of 63. 

Chavo Guerrero at the time was most known for being NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship, Guerrero held the title 15 times between 1975 and 1980 and even feuded with Roddy Piper over it. He was also of note being son of Gory Guerrero who was and still is considered one of the best workers to ever grace the Lucha Libre wrestling scene.

In the late 70′s early 80′s Chavo would set his sights on Japan. Following in the footsteps of famous luchador Mil Mascaras who had success in AJPW. Even getting Tokyo Sports match of the year in 1977 :  Jumbo Tsuruta  vs. Mil Mascaras

From 1978-1983 Chavo’s time was mainly spent working for NJPW/AJPW. 

His involvement in the scene alongside Mil Mascara, Dos Caras, and Canek planted the seeds for Lucha Libre in Japan. Which lead to things like Tiger Mask, Liger, Michinoku Pro, Super Delfin and Great Sasuke. 

How’s the match?

Great! Tatsumi works great as a Junior here and really meets Chavo blow for blow throughout. It amazes me this match is from 1980 as it feels so contemporary and very comparable to the match I covered in Lucha-Resu #1 featuring Chavo’s younger brother Eddie Guerrero under the Black Tiger mask, which was 16 years later!

Chavo’s run of AJPW/NJPW set a good example of how Lucha Libre can work and did work in Japan. Planting seeds that would later bear fruit opening the door for talents like Eddie, Dr. Wagner Jr. and in more recent years guys like Dragon Lee, Mistico, Rush and La Sombra to wow the crowds of Japan working with their local talent. Though like I said above Chavo wasn’t the only one or the first as Mil Mascaras went to Japan earlier in the 70′s.

At the moment New Japan World only has 2 Chavo Guerrero matches, but hopefully with time more will be uploaded. I’m really glad they have them up there. It might have less to do with it being Chavo and more to do with both being vs Tatsumi Fujinami who is one of the most important names of NJPW’s 45 year history. 

Sadly early in 2017 we lost Chavo Guerrero to liver cancer, he was remembered/memorialized on WWE Television and on Netflix Original series ‘GLOW’ which his son worked on. We lost a legend this year, in fact quite a few with the recent passing of Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan and earlier passing of George ‘The Animal’ Steele who passed the same week as Chavo back in February. Sometimes the heroes between the ropes can seem immortal, so it can hit hard when the reaper comes for them too.

Luckily for Chavo, Heenan, and Steele along with the many other legends we have lost this year, most of them live on in classic moments and matches like this bout Chavo Guerrero had with Tatsumi Fujinami 37 years ago.  

I keep Mexico City in my thoughts as they deal with the aftermath of the Earthquake that hit yesterday. Mashable has a nice article about what you can do to help including a link to donate. If you can help out in any way, please do as Mexico City could use it!

Puroresu-Rewind #1

Lucha Libre Time Machine #1

Lucha-resu Rewind Machine #1

Highlights : 

[lostinyourears]

Lucha-resu Rewind Machine #1 : Jushin Thunder Liger (c) vs Black Tiger for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight at 1996′s Fighting Spirit event

Video if you have NJPW World, if you don’t have NJPW World as always I’ll have a highlight gif album at the bottom. 

This is a sister series to both Puroresu-Rewind and Lucha Libre Time Machine, a mash up of the two where we look at classic Lucha-resu which is a mix of both Lucha Libre and Puroresu. 

Either a Lucha talent in Japan or Lucha style practiced in Japan or a Puroresu star in Mexico which is fairly common with NJPW’s Young Lion excursions. Which is when a NJPW rookie goes over to Mexico/Canada/US to pick up skills they wouldn’t learn just training in Japan.

Puroresu-Rewind #1

Lucha Libre Time Machine #1

Both of those part 1′s are free video on youtube if you feel left in the cold with this NJPW World exclusive. 

Who’s Who?

Talk about star power! This happened on day 2 of NJPW’s Fighting Spirit events that went 16 days. It’s one of the few matches from those series of events on NJPW World, mostly because lots of the event were just singles/tag matches with nothing on the line. Fun note, one of the other matches from the event happened the next day and saw cornerman for Liger in this match El Samurai defend his belt(UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title) against one of Black Tiger’s close real life friends Dean Malenko. That match can be found here. 

Anyways, who is in this match? Of course in his full bodysuit of red and white we have Jushin Thunder Liger. No doubt the greatest Jr. Heavyweight to ever grace NJPW’s Jr. division in both accolades and fan support. He’s held the IWGP Jr. title a record breaking 11 times, with a record breaking 31 defenses and with a record breaking 2,245 combined days. 

I know it might seem redundant to say record breaking for each of those, but second place isn’t even close in any of those cases : 6 times with the belt, 15 defenses and 1,010 days. The first of those second places being Tiger Mask while second place for defenses and days is Prince Devitt(WWE’s Finn Balor).

The lesser known of the two, at least under the name he is using here is Black Tiger. However, most would be more familiar under his real name : Eddie Guerrero. Eddie was the 2nd man to use the Black Tiger name, the first being Mark Rocco who has also feuded with Jushin Liger and of course Tiger Mask who’s always rival to Black Tiger. They are the proverbial Ying to one another's Yang. Eddie worked in NJPW under the Black Tiger mask from 1994-1996 where he was a successful Jr. competitor, bringing his Lucha Libre background into the Puroresu world.

How’s the match?

Great, though a little shorter than one would hope. Perhaps it’s a case of being spoiled with hour long draws in the year 2017. Kenny Omega even had 2 matches go longer than this over the last weekend. 

Still a nice thing about the short runtime of this match is that the pacing never become an issue and you never feel like either guy is buying time or trying to lengthen the match artificially by selling or slapping on a rest hold. All the actions feel like they are done with purpose and each guy is trying to win, not like both guys are in a play waiting for their cue. 

The match is full of great moments from both men getting off impressive offense, many of which would be signatures of theirs for most of their careers. For instance Eddie pulls out the Gory Special which is of course named after his father Gory Guerrero who innovated the move.

This match also shows Black Tigers finisher, which Eddie rarely used outside of this time in NJPW. Perhaps because it would be hard for him to hit on bigger men and the move is normally reserved for bigger men. It’s a sitout crucifix powerbomb, titled the Black Tiger Bomb. It’s a fantastic version of this move though and it’s hit wonderfully in this match. 

While Liger hits Abisegeri/Rolling Liger Kick, which he hits back to back in this match and Black Tiger sells it like death. Though most of the impressive offense of this match is show casing Black Tiger, who would go onto fight in and win BOSJ III a few months later that year. 

It’s a great match definitely worth rediscovering if you have NJPW World. One of the many classics they have on that service, while it’s only 2 of the best men to ever wrestle. It feels very much like the Zero-One match I highlighted for Resu Rewind, where seeing these great guys fight it out is just mesmerising. There are some dream matches we never get, but Eddie Guerrero vs Jushin Thunder Liger happened and is there for your viewing on NJPW World. I’d highly recommend checking it out if you like either man or Jr. Division competition. 

Highlights :  

[lostinyourears]

Lucha-resu Rewind Machine #4 : Jumbo Tsuruta (c) vs. Mil Mascaras 2/3 falls NWA United National Title Match

Video

Card with guide

This is the oldest match I’ve covered for this blog. It also might be the single most important match I covered... actually it just is. That doesn’t mean it’s the best match, but that argument could be made too. 

Without further ado, let’s get to it!

Who’s Who?

Jumbo Tsuruta was a star for AJPW. If you read the Puroresu Rewind from earlier this week you’ll be aware that Giant Baba was founder of AJPW and really the first big star for that promotion. 

Jumbo was one of the other big stars for that promotion in its formative years. Holding 3 different world titles over 9 reigns before AJPW would finally cement themselves 1 world title which they still use to this day called the Triple Crown Champion, which Jumbo would also hold 3 times. 

On top of that stellar singles success he would also hold tag titles a staggering 18 times with 8 partners most often teaming with Giant Baba(6) and  Yoshiaki Yatsu(5). 

Arguably the biggest star to ever work in AJPW. This match was a big moment for his ascent and in the 1980′s he would be one of the standard bearers for the company even being the first Triple Crown Champion beating Stan Hansen in ‘89 to bring all 3 of AJPW’s World belts into one singular World Title. 

Mil Mascaras initially started in CMLL and even starred in some luchador films before coming to Japan in the early 70′s to work with AJPW. This match was really his break out bout in AJPW after working there for a few years. 

Mil Mascaras was never really any companies standard bearer. Instead being a journeyman who worked for a dozen+ companies over his long career. In fact this run in AJPW from 73-86 is probably his most notable run in any one company. He worked for WWE 7 separate years of his career bringing the idea of a masked Luchador to an American audience. In 1977 he even beat WWWF Champion Superstar Billy Graham in MSG via countout. 

How’s the match?

Fantastic! Much like the match I last did : Blue Demon vs El Matematico this is a very technical bout with Mil controlling most of the contest via ground holds. I think it’s done much better here and is very much a choice of style and not limitations of having a 66 year old man in the match. 

It also ends up picking up at some point where for the most part that Blue Demon match set a slow pace and pretty much stayed at that pace with the exception of a dive at the end of the contest. 

I said in the intro and I’ll expound upon this being the most important match I’ve covered on this blog. Without this match we might not have gotten : Tiger Mask, Junior Divisions, Michinoku Pro, Jushin Thunder Liger, Great Sasuke or Super Delfin. This match really made Lucha Libre a thing in Japan. It being Tokyo Sports best bout of ‘77 likely lead to more Mexican talents coming over like Dos Caras, Chavo Guerrero, Eddie Guerrero, Mistico and La Sombra.  

This might be one of the most important wrestling matches of all time... which might sound hyperbolic, but really the Japanese wrestling scene would be much different without this match. It’s one of those things where perhaps someone else would have done what Mil did and had the influence he did, but it’s not very likely that lightning in a bottle would have struck the same way or with the same ripples. 

Back to actually talking about the match and not the importance of it. 

Plenty of the transitions are executed perfectly, one of my favorites being Jumbo doing a swing with Mil Mascaras. One of the most natural swings I’ve ever seen. A move that 95% of the time feels corny and awful works here brilliantly... I just wish the version I watched wasn’t so grainy during this part. 

Mil Mascaras here so brilliantly reps Lucha Libre it’s not hard to see why Japanese wrestling fans of the 70′s clung to it so strongly. It’s a much different style and Mil Mascaras makes headscissors look so flawless. Not to mention his attire and mask is just something extra to gravitate towards in an era of plain trunks wearing wrestlers.  

The ending here... isn’t great and leaves something to be desired. It ends by count-out much like the Gagne/Baba match I covered a little while ago. Like I said, it’s sorta a AJPW cliche, at least in this case it wasn’t a draw. Jumbo rolls into the ring and Mil gets counted out leaving Jumbo the man leaving with the belt on this day, though Mil Mascaras should leave more than proud as he helped Lucha Libre boom in Japan. With Lucha Libre becoming a major part of that country's wrestling DNA.

4.5/5 A match that might move too slow and be a little too long(40 minutes) for some peoples taste, but still holds up 40 years later. 

Highlights : 

[lostinyourears]

Lucha-resu Rewind Machine #3: La Sombra(c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP IC Title at Kizuna Road 2013

Video courtesy NJPW World

Another match where lucha meets puroresu. This time more contemporary than the 1996 or 1980 matches we looked at before with both talents still active wrestlers and both even within the WWE ecosystem. So this is the only match of these series that has a chance of happening again in WWE down the line. Which is pretty exciting since both these international talents were associated so strongly to their brands CMLL and NJPW.

Who’s Who?

La Sombra is in the mask and black attire. Mistico(SinCara/Caristico) is one of the big reasons NJPW wanted to open relationships with CMLL. Then he went to WWE and the big Mexican star NJPW was so fond of was no longer around. That whole was mainly filled by La Sombra and Rush. 2 of the founding members of the hot rudo group Los Ingobernables. Who many people might be first exposed to through Naito and the NJPW branch. Naito being invited into the group by Sombra with Sombra and Naito even challenging Shocker and Negro Casas for the CMLL Tag Titles. 

This was in spring of 2013 which would be a few months before La Sombra would controversially main event CMLL 80th vs Volador Jr for their masks over the more wanted match of Atlantis vs Ultimo Guerrero... which of course was before CMLL 82nd Anniversary where La Sombra would main vs Atlantis. So this is before La Sombra exploded and became the biggest CMLL name under the age of 30 which would be a position he’d hold until he left the company to head to NXT.  

Sombra defended the IWGP IC Title once before having this rematch with Nakamura vs Volador Jr. who was his major rival at the time in CMLL and was basically Sombra’s main rival throughout his CMLL run. 

Shinsuke Nakamura in recent years really became The IWGP IC Champion. The guy you think of when you think of the belt. La Sombra ended Nakamura’s 1st reign which was the 4th overall reign for that relatively new belt. In his first reign Nakamura had more defenses than the first 3 combined champions. MVP, Masato Tanaka and Hirooki Goto had 7 defenses combined to Shinsuke Nakamura’s 8. So Nakamura was the guy to elevate the belt past experiment. 

On the May 31st, 2013 edition of CMLL’s Super Friday show. Shinsuke Nakamura entered the Cathedral of Lucha Libre : Arena Mexico as IWGP Champion and left without it as La Sombra beat him in a 2/3 falls match which is the common stipulation for CMLL.  Nakamura would hold the title another 4 times after that initial reign. Normally dropping it to someone and getting it back soon after. Holding it 5 times, 17 defenses and 901 days, the last time he lost the belt he instead vacated it because he was heading to WWE. His closest rival for that belt being Naito who has 4 defenses in his one reign. 

How’s the match?

Good! I love the idea of Lucha-resu and these two guys know that in this match people are expecting both. Nakamura gives you the heavy dose of Puroresu while Sombra checks the Lucha Libre box. Though the two dabbled in their opponents wheelhouse as well. Most notably when Shinsuke Nakamura dives out onto La Sombra. Which might be the takeaway highlight from this match.

La Sombra I think really steals the show with pretty much all of his offense looking crisp. While Nakamura kinda fumbles a springboard forearm and has a few of his strikes failing to connect with the crispness you’ve come to expect from Nakamura. Still, I think the few times this match doesn’t execute perfectly isn’t enough to drag it down much for me. 

La Sombra lives up to the Lucha Libre reputation of being very fast. He is often finding ways to avoid or gain the upperhand vs Nakamura by speed. Nakamura is catching his breath on the top rope? Kick him off. Nakamura rolled out of the ring after a headscissors? Time to dive? Nakamura down after some offense? Climb a big structure and moonsault onto him. 

A match I’d highly recommend watching not just because it was great at the time, but because a rematch is almost inevitable barring WWE dropping either of these talents unexpectedly. Much like AJ/Nakamura have history and will meet in a WWE ring Cien Almas/Nakamura too have history and will build upon it in the WWE ecosystem in a match that hopefully is even better. 

Dave Meltzer gave this bout a 4, but I’d probably be higher on it and rate it the same I did the NOAH title match I covered yesterday. A solid 4.5, a modern classic that people already look back on fondly and likely won’t lose the reputation it has as a fun lucha libre meets puroresu bout.

Highlights : 

La Sombra vs Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP IC Championship

[lostinyourears]

Lucha-resu Rewind Machine #5 : Jushin Thunder Liger © vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title at NJPW Fighting Spirit February 6th 1999

Video for those with NJPW World

Card with guide

What a match! Just watch the match, it’s a really good match. If you have NJPW World, this is a must watch Jr. match as far as I’m concerned. I’m a huge fan of both men and this match blew me away. Perhaps I’m starstruck seeing two of my favorites vs one another. If for whatever reason you don’t know these two I’ll cover where they were in 1999 and where they had been. 

Who’s Who?

Jushin Thunder Liger was/is Keiichi Yamada who under his real name went on excursion to Stampede wrestling where one of his first notable relationships started when he was in a tag team with Owen Hart, who was champion the first time Keiichi Yamada challenged for the IWGP Junior title in NJPW. Owen/Yamada were also in the first Best of the Super Junior at the time called Top of the Super Juniors. Neither man got enough points to be in the finals. (Owen Hart has 2 matches on NJPW World neither with Liger)

Though in the 90′s Liger would win 2 BOSJ’s. 1 Super J Cup and become a mega force in the NJPW Jr. scene having that belt a record setting 11 times his first reign being in 1989 and his last being 1999 so within the decade holding the belt on average once a year. This was during Liger’s 9th reign with the belt. He had been a constant force for the decade or so since debuting his Liger persona in 1989. 

The character based on a Super Hero Anime of the same name. With Thunder debuting in the Jushin Liger name in the first month of 1990, leading to him winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Tournament which ended with him slaying Naoki Sano to take back the IWGP title Naoki Sano had taken from him in what was Ligers first singles loss under the Jushin Liger name. The ‘Thunder’ apparently for revenge/vengeance.  

While Liger defined the Junior scene in NJPW in the 1990′s he also branched out in that decade also working with WCW, WAR, CMLL, UWA and Michinoku Pro. One of those CMLL matches being vs CMLL World Light Heavyweight Champion Dr. Wagner Jr. Let’s get to him. I think this basically covers Liger. His start, I can’t cover every story Liger had between 1989 and ‘99. 

Dr. Wagner Jr. initially started in UWA(Universal Wrestling Association) of Mexico. If you have never heard of the UWA, don’t worry. It’s likely because the early 90′s happened and AAA basically ran them out of business. If you know AAA as the secondary company of Mexico that was basically UWA to CMLL. Running shows alongside CMLL, while being the younger less established wrestling company. CMLL/UWA joint shows were a thing sorta like how AJPW/NJPW have done ‘all together’ events in the past. 

With the UWA ship sinking Dr. Wagner Jr. made his way to CMLL. A heartbreaking change for Dr. Wagner Jr. whose father had been a big name in UWA in the late 70′s and early 80′s though his father earlier in his career had been a EMLL guy(Name change to CMLL happened in the early 90′s when they left the NWA). UWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship had been Wagner Jr’s first major title and Wagner Jr. has built his name in UWA, but in the early 90′s the demise of the promotion was written on the wall. 

Dr. Wagner Jr. would make the jump to CMLL, where the title that would define him as Jushin Liger’s IWGP belt defines him. It was the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Champion which he even defended vs Liger as mentioned earlier. 

Wagner had the CMLL World Light Heavyweight belt for 1,574 days. Wagner being one of the standard bearers of CMLL in the mid 90′s. 

With 14 defenses over those 2 reigns

Liger in comparison had the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight belt for 2,245 days throughout the 90′s.

With 31 defenses over those 11 reigns. 

In the late 90′s Dr. Wagner Jr. would jump ship again. This time from full time CMLL to full time NJPW. From 1997 to 2002 working heavily with both companies. At the January 4th show of 1999, a month before this Dr. Wagner Jr. and Kendo Kashin would capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Championships. So while Challenging for the Junior belt in this match Wagner is a double champion already holding both the CMLL World Light Heavyweight and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Championships. Wagner also made it to the finals of BOSJ the previous year in 1998. Wagner hasn’t worked with NJPW since 2002 and had a few matches in AJPW in 2003. 

How’s the match?

FANTASTIC! This might be one of my favorite matches, two guys who are really at their peak clashing. Both men seasoned wrestler with over a decade or so of experience. Both holding the titles that are synonymous with their names and legacy. This is peak Liger vs peak Wagner Jr., watching this makes me want to really see the 2/3 falls match they had in CMLL the year earlier. I’ve watched Wagner’s BOSJ final and that too was great. 

Really I think the two pair perfectly and I’m really interested in finding any other matches they had together. Some might say this match starts slow... and it kinda does. It’s a decent amount of Wagner working on Liger’s leg, but It doesn’t wear out its welcome and before you know it the match is just going wild. 

The climax of the match that happens on the ramp is great and leads to the closing segment of the match which is just both men trying to end each other. I love the clash of looks and style. Dr. Wagner Jr.’s understated style and early on very technical submission work vs Liger’s bombastic style and shotei offensive is just awesome. Perhaps like I said at the beginning I’m just starstruck, but this is really 2 icons meeting in a fantastic match. Two icons from different scenes fighting for one of the more prestigious belts on the planet. I don’t know what wrestling fan wouldn’t like or love this match. This is probably the highest recommend I’ve ever given. 5 STARS! 

So if you have NJPW for the month because of WK12 and don’t know if you will continue on with the service after January. Watch this match... it’s definitely one of the pro wrestling matches you need to watch before you die. Not to be morbid, but you might die before WK13/G1 dictates you need to get NJPW world again and you’ll have missed out on this MUST WATCH MATCH!

Highlights : 

Jushin Thunder Liger (c) vs Dr. Wagner Jr. for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title at 1999's Fighting Spirit Tour