#puroresu best bout

[questintheskies]

Adam Cole before and after Riho kicked his ass

[keepingthespiritalive]

Puroresu Best Bout Listing for April 2017

All Japan Pro Wrestling Suwama vs. Shuji Ishikawa, 4/16 @ Korakuen Hall Kento Miyahara vs. Jake Lee, 4/16 @ Korakuen Hall Kento Miyahara vs. Joe Doering, 4/22 @ Shinagawa Prince Hotel Suwama vs. Kengo Mashimo, 4/22 @ Shinagawa Prince Hotel Kento Miyahara vs. KAI, 4/23 @ Aore Nagaoka, Niigata Kento Miyahara vs. Daisuke Sekimoto, 4/25 @ Nagoya International Hall Shuji Ishikawa vs. Kengo Mashimo,…

[danadragonfly]

December 15 2010 Tokyo Sports Puroresu Awards -Best Bout Award winners for 2010: Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi vs. Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi.

Backstory on this: Kenny was in Pennsylvania for a match for JAPW on December 11th. He rushes back to Japan to attend this award ceremony on the 15th. ROH gets an email from him the morning of the 16th, saying he dislocated his ankle during training and can’t walk and has to miss his matches on the 17th & 18th scheduled vs Roderick Strong & Eddie Edwards. Now, the man is standing perfectly fine in these photos. Maybe he was limping at this event, or he fucked it up walking home from the afterparty, who knows, but I would guess he wanted to attend this event instead of ROH and pulled the ankle injury out of his ass because he couldn’t fly back to New York in time. He was fine by his DDT match on December 26th, but didn't wrestle the ten days leading up to it, so he at least laid low for a while   🤔 🧐  🤐 

1st photo from Michael’s blog

[puroresu-musings]

Well, here we are in the final swing of a very “eventful” year, and just in the last week, we’ve had two outstanding matches in the world of puroresu that were amongst the best of 2020; the Go Shiozaki vs. Takashi Sugiura NOAH bout for the GHC Heavyweight Championship on December 6th, and today’s BOSJ 27 Final between Hiromu Takahashi and El Desperado, were both easily ***** classics. Everyone check them out, I recommend both highly indeed.

NDT

[colettearrand]

Aja Kong hoists Megumi Kudo up for a devastating backdrop. 📸: Weekly Gong’s 100 Best Bouts of Girl Wrestling, Dec. 1994 #megumikudo #工藤めぐみ #ajakong #アジャコング #alljapanwomensprowrestling #全日本女子プロレス #joshipuroresu #puroresu #joshi #fmw https://www.instagram.com/p/CLQZUufhn8I/?igshid=j3cg28x6ooyl

[kazuchikaokada]

Okay so you don't want what is best for him? Do you know what Okada could achieve in AEW?

Kazuchika "5 time iwgp heavyweight champion with his 4th reign bein the longest in the titles history n havin the most successful title defenses at 12, two time g1 winner, two time new japan cup winner, three times mvp award winner at the tokyo sports puroresu award, six times best bout award winner at the tokyo sports puroresu awards wit five of em bein consecutive" okada dont need aew

[gdwessel]

Road to The New Beginning Night 5 - 2/4/2020; NJPW At WrestleCon, Tanahashi Meet & Greet on 4/3/2020; Okada’s Pro Wrestling All-Star Olympic Summit Idea Finds Favor with AJPW, NOAH Stars

The Road to The New Beginning tour resumed today, the first of three nights at Tokyo Korakuen Hall. You can watch this show now on NJPWWorld.

- 2/4/2020, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Ryusuke Taguchi d. Gabriel Kidd (Oh My & Garankle, 8:43)

Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] d. Yuya Uemura (Yes Lock, 7:47)

Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma d. Toa Henare & Yota Tsuji (Makabe > Tsuji, Boston Crab, 12:09)

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Manabu Nakanishi d. Minoru Suzuki & DOUKI [SZKG] (Tenzan > DOUKI, Anaconda Vice, 9:01)

Shingo Takagi, EVIL & Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables] d. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] (Hiromu > Eagles, Neck Lock, 10:31)

KENTA, Jay White & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] d. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] (KENTA > BUSHI, Go2Sleep, 18:34)

Elimination Match: Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, SHO & YOH [CHAOS] d. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG] (Ospreay > Sabre, Stormbreaker, 23:20)

With a direct win on Sabre, Ospreay demanded another match for the RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight title. I admittedly have not watched the show yet, so I don’t know the order of eliminations, and NJPW didn’t list them on either website (that I can get to). KENTA provoked Naito by posing with the titles once again.

You may already be aware of NJPW holding Lion’s Break: Project 3 on 4/2/2020 during Wrestlemania Weekend in Tampa, FL. Now, NJPW has announced they will have booths set up at WrestleCon, the hosting event for LBP3, from 4/2 - 4/4/2020. Along with that, a meet & greet session with Hiroshi Tanahashi has been set for 4/3/2020 as well at the show. Details are in the link I followed, just be aware, the LBP3 tickets are... pretty expensive.

When Kazuchika Okada received his Tokyo Sports MVP and Best Bout awards on 1/16/2020, he gave an interview, where he had all but dared NJPW, and every other pro wrestling company in Japan, to hold an All-Star pro wrestling show during the Olympics, in order to show off puroresu to the visiting masses come to Japan. During this interview, he’d said:

Okada: Of course, being in a place like this, it would be much cooler if I had the belt with me. But not being champion actually opens new possibilities up. I can have matches that wouldn’t be possible if I were still champion. With Tokyo 2020 coming, I’d love to have a huge pro-wrestling event, one that beats out the Olympics. Involve the best from all sorts of organizations, show that the power of pro wrestling is far greater than amateur wrestling at the Olympics. That would be pretty cool. That’s the sort of thing I might be able to turn my attentions to if I’m not champion. That would be a cool thing to do.

–You want to involve promotions other than NJPW?

Okada: Right. I think we need to light a fire in the pro wrestling world in general. NJPW still has incredible possibilities and will keep tearing it up. Now, I’m in a position where I can help grow the power of all of professional wrestling.

[...]

–If you had your pick from other promotions, who would you like to wrestle?

Okada: Hmm… I haven’t faced any of the champions from other promotions. Who is there? I wrestled Ibushi when he was in a different company, (Naomichi) Marufuji from NOAH, Suwama from All Japan, Shuji Kondo from WRESTLE-1…

I’d really like to face the younger guys from other promotions. People like Kento Miyahara from All Japan, or Kaito Kiyomiya from NOAH. That would be great if we could pull it off. It’d be great if we could create something that blows the Olympics out of the water when it comes to the fans’ reception.

Yesterday, said Kento Miyahara and Kaito Kiyomiya took part in the Setsubun (day before Spring in Japan) ceremony at Honmonji Temple; wrestlers are often invited to this ceremony, as this temple is where the father of puroresu, Rikidozan, is buried, and indeed, this year, NJPW representatives included Manabu Nakanishi and Jushin Thunder Liger, but also luminaries such as Keiji Muto, Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama, and others were there this year as well.

In an interview with Tokyo Sports (translated by the wonderful NOAH Superfan Hi5ame), both Miyahara and Kiyomiya were asked about this, and they did seem pretty open to the idea:

On the other hand, Miyahara, who is the face of a long established promotion said cautiously, "Personally I am very interested in it, but it does depend on the voices of the fans. [...] I think it would be interesting to do that in our generation now, and I want to do it. I would like to say to Okada and Kiyomiya, "lets do a fight that surpasses that".

Kiyomiya immediately answered, "I hope we can do it." [...] "We only made small talk, but I got a good impression. I want to see Kazuchika Okada fighting before me,"

Now, whether or not any of this happens is anyone’s guess, and with the Olympics taking up many buildings, to the point of having to delay G1 Climax until October this year, I doubt it can or will happen during the Olympiad. The last time all three of NJPW, AJPW & NOAH worked together for a big show, it was the 2011 and 2012 editions of All Together, charity supercards for the Tohoku disaster, and it was a much different time then -- all three companies had different ownership, and there was a greater sense of cooperation. Mind you, all of them have worked with each other in various degrees since then (notable: NJPW helping NOAH in 2015-2017, a move that nearly ran NOAH out of business; wrestlers from NOAH and NJPW working both the Giant Baba and Destroyer tribute shows that were, ostensibly, AJPW shows; NOAH and AJPW wrestlers appearing at Lion’s Gate shows for NJPW). But NOAH, particularly, has not wanted to have anything to do with NJPW (or Bushiroad, more to the point) since their acquisition in late 2017. 

One thing in favor, is that neither Okada nor Kiyomiya are their current company’s champion, so that might help sell the idea. But this still seems like a pipe dream right now, but with Okada, Miyahara and Kiyomiya on board, who knows what may happen. 

The tour continues tomorrow.

- 2/5/2020, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Yuya Uemura v. Gabriel Kidd

Ryusuke Taguchi v. Yota Tsuji

Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma v. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Manabu Nakanishi

Tomohiro Ishii, Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] v. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG]

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS] & Toa Henare v. Shingo Takagi & EVIL [Los Ingobernables]

Kazuchika Okada, SHO & YOH [CHAOS] v. Taichi, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Elimination Match: Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. KENTA, Jay White, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club]

[puroresulist]

Puroresu Best Bout Listing for July 2017

All Japan Pro Wrestling

Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori vs. Tomoyuki Oka & Katsuya Kitamura, 7/5 @ Shinkiba 1stRING Koji Iwamoto vs. Yuji Okabayashi, 7/5 @ Shinkiba 1stRING Shuji Ishikawa vs. Suwama, 7/17 @ Korakuen Hall Zeus & The Bodyguard vs. Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura, 7/17 @ Korakuen Hall Hikaru Sato vs. Minoru Tanaka, 7/17 @ Korakuen Hall Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato vs. Tank Nagai & Ayumu Honda, 7/23 @ Nasu Highland Park Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura vs.  Zeus & The Bodyguard, 7/28 @ Aichi Sports Center Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato vs. Atsushi Maruyama & Masashi Takeda, 7/28 @ Aichi Sports Center Hikaru Sato vs. TAJIRI, 7/30 @ EDION Osaka, 2nd Gym

Big Japan Pro Wrestling

Masaya Takahashi vs. Takayuki Ueki, 7/17 @ Ryogoku Kokugikan Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Ryuji Ito & Abdullah Kobayashi, 7/17 @ Ryogoku Kokugikan Hideki Suzuki vs. Ryuichi Kawakami, 7/17 @ Ryogoku Kokugikan Kazuki Hashimoto vs. Shinobu, 7/17 @ Ryogoku Kokugikan

DRAGON GATE

Shingo Takagi, Takashi Yoshida & El Lindaman vs. Naruki Doi, Big R Shimizu & Ben-K, 7/1 @ EDION Osaka, 2nd Stadium MaxiMuM vs. Jimmyz Elimination Match, 7/6 @ Korakuen Hall YAMATO vs. T-Hawk, 7/23 @ Kobe World Hall CIMA & Dragon Kid vs. Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino, 7/23 @ Kobe World Hall Shingo Takagi, Takashi Yoshida & El Lindaman vs. Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!, Jimmy Susumu & Ryo “Jimmy“ Saito, 7/23 @ Kobe World Hall Jimmy Kagetora vs. Flamita, 7/23 @ Kobe World Hall

Dramatic Dream Team  

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Mike Bailey, 7/2 @ Shinjuku Village Studio 106 Shunma Katsumata vs. Yuki Ueno, DNA, 7/4 @ Korakuen Hall” Kazusada Higuchi & Ryota Nakatsu vs. Kouki Iwasaki & Naomi Yoshimura,DNA , 7/4 @ Korakuen KUDO & Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Shigehiro Irie & Kazusada Higuchi, 7/9 @ Hakata StarLanes Shigehiro Irie & Kazusada Higuchi vs. Big Boss MA-G-MA & Black Buffalo, 7/16 @ EDION Osaka, 2nd Stadium Konosuke Takeshita vs. Keisuke Ishii, 7/23 @ Korakuen Hall Konosuke Takeshita vs. Naomi Yoshimura, 7/23 @ Korakuen Hall Shigehiro Irie & Kazusada Higuchi vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Mad Paulie, 7/23 @ Korakuen Hall

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Yuji Bagata vs. GO Asakawa, LION’S GATE, 7/4 @ Shinkiba 1stRING Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi, 7/17 @ Hokkaido Phys. Ed. Center SANADA vs. EVIL, 7/20 @ Korakuen Hall Hirooki Goto vs. Yuji Nagata, 7/21 @ Korakuen Hall Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin, 7/21 @ Korakuen Hall Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii, 7/23 @ Machida Gym Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yuji Nagata, 7/23 @ Machida Gym Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA, 7/24 @ Big Palette Fukushima Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto, 7/26 @ Sendai Plaza Hall Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito, 7/29 @ Aichi Pref. Gym SANADA vs. Michael Elgin, 7/30 @ Gifu Industry Center

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke vs. Taiji Ishimori & Hi69, 7/13 @ Korakuen Hall Naomichi Marufuji & Maybach Taniguchi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya, 7/20 @ EDION Osaka, 2nd Stadium Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Brian Cage, 7/27 @ Korakuen Hall Taiji Ishimori & Hi69 vs. HAYATA & YO-HEY, 7/27 @ Korakuen Hall

Pro Wrestling ZERO1

Yusaku Obata vs. Daiki Inaba, 7/9 @  Aichi Sports Center Kenoh vs. Daiki Inaba, 7/11 @ Shinkiba 1stRING Masato Tanaka vs. Yusaku Obata, 7/11 @ Shinkiba 1stRING Kohei Sato vs. Kenoh, 7/12 @ Shinkiba 1stRING Masato Tanaka vs. Yuko Miyamoto, 7/12 @ Shinkiba 1stRING Masato Tanaka vs. Kenoh, 7/23 @ EDION Arana, 2nd Stadium Masato Tanaka vs. Yusaku Obata, 7/30 @ Korakuen Hall Ikuto Hidaka & Takuya Sugawara vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Sean Guinness, 7/30 @ Korakuen Hall

WRESTLE-1

Masayuki Kono vs. Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio, 7/12 @ Korakuen Hall MAZADA vs. Andy Wu, 7/16 @ Hirano Community Hall The Great Muta, The Great Kabuki & TNT vs. Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu & Hiroshi Hase, MASTERS, 7/26 @ Korakuen Hall

MISC/INDIE

BASARA - Ryuichi Kawakami vs. FUMA, 7/5 @ Shinjuku FACE FREEDOMS - Daisuke Masaoka vs. Minoru Fujita, 7/5 @ Korakuen Hall FREEDOMS - Daisuke Masaoka, Jun Kasai & Kenji Fukimoto vs. Violento Jack, Miedo Xtremo & Ciclope, 7/30 @ Tsurumi Greenland Memorial Park K-DOJO - Isami Kodaka vs. TAKA Michinoku, 7/16 @ TKP Garden Chiba K-DOJO - Kaji Tomato & Taishi Takizawa vs. Kotaro Yoshino & Dinosaur Takuma, 7/16 @ Garden City Chiba NEW - Keisuke Okuda & Akira Joh vs. Kazunari Murakami & Shiro-Fukumen #5, 7/16 @ Messe Wing Mie Onita Produce - Suwama, Atsushi Aoki & KIYOSHI vs. Atsushi Onita, Jushin Thunder Liger & Ricky Fuji, 7/16 @ Yokohama Yaht Special Ring TOKYO GURENTAI - NOSAWA Rongai, MAZADA, FUJITA & KIKUZAWA vs. CIMA, Eita, Takehiro Yamamura & Kaito Ishida, 7/19 @ Shinjuku FACE Kenji Fukimoto vs. Yuko Miyamoto, 7/19 @ Shinjuku FACE

JOSHI SELECTION

Crysis - Chigusa Nagayo, Shiro Koshinaka & AKIRA vs. Jaguar Yokota, Seiji Miyane & TARU, 7/23 @ Shinagawa Prison Hotel Ice Ribbon - Hamuko Hoshi & Mochi Miyagi vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto & Arisa Nakajima, 7/17 @ Yokohama Radiant Hall SEAdLINNNG - Nanae Takahashi & Sareeee vs. Arisa Nakaima & Tsubasa Fujimoto, 7/14 @ Korakuen Hall Sendai Girls - Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto, 7/15 @ Niigata City Gym Sendai Girls - DASH Chisako & Cassandra Miyagi vs. Hikaru Shida & Syuri, 7/15 @ Niigata City Gym Stardom - Mayu Iwatani vs. Yoko Bito, 7/16 @ Korakuen Hall Stardom - Kagetsu & Hana Kimura vs. Jungle Kyona & HZK, 7/16 @ Korakuen Hall Stardom - Mayu Iwatani vs. Viper, 7/23 @ EDION Osaka, 2nd Stadium Tokyo Joshi - Reika Saiki vs. Yuka Sakasaki, 7/30 @ Shinjuku FACE WAVE - Rina Yamashita vs. Ryo Mizunami, 7/2 @ Korakuen Hall WAVE - Kaori Yoneyama & Cherry vs. Yumi Oka & Yuki Miyuzaki, 7/2 @ Korakuen Hall

[keemzus-sama]

#RP @dartvader_one Kenny Omega Tokyo Sports Movie message: "It was fun to celebrate the awards ceremony again ... This year Kenny Omega may not be there but, well, when I can, I will be in Japan again. I wish to go out again, do awesome best bout performances, and if possible, I think that I will stand on that stage again (shows the awards ceremony by hand). Thank you." - #KennyOmega #TokyoSports #awards #プロレス大賞 #bestboutmachine #ChangeTheWorld #IWGP #heavyweightchampion #thecleaner #TheElite #GoldenLovers #GoldenElite #WrestleKingdom13 #njwk13 #TheNewBeginnng #njnbg #NJPWworld #NJPW #newjapanprowrestling #新日本プロレス #RoH #AllEliteWrestling #AEW #WWE #puroresu #Japan 🗾 #prowrestling  #プロレス #ケニーオメガ #ゴールデンラヴァーズ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs041GpndrV/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1c88hso18g7li

[konboyblues]

In Which Kenneth is a Poor Man’s Devdas, and Kota is Everyone’s Patron God

One of Kota’s shining points as a kayfabe character has always been how good he is at getting people riled up. He’s a one-man gas machine, always finding the slickest ways to get up in somebody’s business and make them question their position in the wrestling world. He fucked with Devitt so hard that he was able to beat the Demon. He may have not been able to conqueror Shinsuke, but he sure as hell will try to conquer Tana. A man bred in a promotion that went from zero to hero, Kota is much like the company he came from- petty enough to put on comedy show, but smart enough to continue building himself up in the background so that one match and a few choice words were enough to have one of the reigning Gods of New Japan himself invite him to wrestleprom. DDT is mainstream now, puts on some of the best and some of the most fun wrestling product in wrestling, AND it got capital. A promotion built off parody did THAT.

And seriously- Kota didn’t have to try. He beat Tana clean, put out a few interviews, cut a few slick promos, acted humble in a way that anyone who’s ever consumed his content from his DDT days knew right quick was fake deep. Kota came to kill. He came to take something that wasn’t New Japan’s, but TANAHASHI’S. He couldn’t conquer Shinsuke, but Shinsuke’s other half is still around, so why not? Characters like Kota don’t need a sobstory and killer promo skills to get over. What he has is what most people lack, and that’s the ability to wrestle himself out of every possible situation. Whether it be a blowup doll, a man, or even a God- to Kota, they’re all the same. Kota can lose at Power Struggle at 9 pm Osaka time, then hop on a plane to Guadalajara at 11 pm. He never has to return, and it would all be fine, because that’s who Kota is. He does what he does because he LOVES what he does. He loves to wrestle, loves to be the conqueror of souls, loves being the unspoken sun in a sea full of cretins trying to climb to the top. In the kayfabe, he’s one of the few people who actually loves wrestling for the wrestling. He’ll be over no matter what because he has in him a love for the sport that’s only shared by the audience. He may never win another title ever again, but he’ll go down as a God in his own right because he spread his love for the sport and his performances all throughout the world, from bingo halls to the Federation’s stage. Kota is, for all intents and purposes, the patron deity of wrestling, much like Tanahashi and Shinsuke are credited as the saviors and current Gods of New Japan.

So no, he really is so good that he doesn’t need Kenneth’s crusty ass to validate him. Kota did that all by his lonesome self during his rise to singles stardom in New Japan. It was KENNETH whose legacy was marred by the Club that was obsessed with wreaking havoc and spreading evil, a Club whose first leader lost his position in the Club because he ended up turning on his OWN creation because he couldn’t handle the disgrace of not being able to fight against his old partner in a fair bout. It’s Kenneth who’s currently bitter, a chip prominently positioned on his shoulder, someone who CAN’T wrestle for the sake of wrestling like he once did because he could never handle being in the shadow of a man whose dreams never aligned with his own. Kenneth wrestles for power, for validation, and now with the recent promos, for recognition that translates into liquid capital because only the moneymakers get to hold the titles and headline the major events, not someone who’s so damn good at wrestling that he can make a blowup doll look like a formidable opponent.

Marked by fatigue and headassery, when Kenneth falls, he’ll crash and burn. It’s written in the stars, and the best part? Kota’s not going down with him. A long time ago, I wanted Kota to hold him, forgive him even, because their lovestory in DDT was one of the quaintest and sweetest things to watch. But those days died a morbid death years ago. Now, El Lindaman and Yosuke Santa Maria have a more powerful queer lovestory than Golden Lovers could ever dream of, and they’re not even in DDT. In a way, Golden Lovers became a relic of the past with the quickly forming stories in the generally puroresu kayfabe. They set a standard for their time, but now their remnants of an era that’s long passed.

Kota came to terms with that after losing his opportunity to win the IWGP heavyweight championship against Redneck George. He eventually resigned, went on injury leave, healed, and then toured the world all by himself, the biggest smile on his face. Kenneth, in contrast, gave his 200% to the Club and New Japan, and rose to such prominence that he gave birth to an entire subset of New Japan fans that watch for him, and only him. And he did that with anger, bitterness, and abject hatred for those who sought to curb his path to godhood.

One man moved on, and the other one managed to con himself into a Devdas-style situation, in which the only way out now is to take the L or risk dying at the feet of his beloved. It’s symbolic in the sense that Kenneth probably knew that this was the only way it’d ever end for him, but Kota was less Paro and more a man whose past was best left in the past.

But at the end of the day- Kenneth needs to go. Whatever he thinks he’s going to accomplish as the best means nothing against someone who’ll always care more about himself than whatever Kenneth is up to. But whereas being unbothered helps Kota, it only makes Kenneth soak up the poison more. He can’t help it. If he can’t have everything, then he’s willing to burn everyone else to get what he wants, not realizing that Kota’s the literal embodiment of the sun and has been burning HIM since they first laid eyes on each other and fell in love.

[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 : 

[questintheskies]

The story of how Riho became a wrestler

[keepingthespiritalive]

Puroresu Best Bout Listing for March 2017

All Japan Pro Wrestling Keisuke Ishii vs. Koji Iwamoto, 3/12 @ Korakuen Hall Jun Akiyama vs. KENSO, 3/12 @ Korakuen Hall Kento Miyahara, Daisuke Sekimoto & Kengo Mashimo vs. Zeus, Jake Lee & Ryoji Sai, 3/27 @ Shinkiba 1stRING Big Japan Pro Wrestling Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Hideki Suzuki, 3/5 @ Korakuen Hall Kankuro Hoshino vs. Masashi Takeda, 3/5 @ Korakuen Hall Isami Kodaka vs. Ryuji Ito, 3/8 @…

[comicweek]

5 Thoughts: Daredevil “Karen”

After a winter break and near sleepless binge of Puroresu, Daredevil returns! “Karen” is at once an excellent episode as it gives Karen Page and Deborah Ann Woll the screen time they deserve. At the same time it is paired with something that could be argued is a vestigial tail of dramatic storytelling. It also ups the Pietà counter to 2.

1. A Story that Should’ve Happened Earlier, in an Odd Episode Overall

“Karen” is a strange episode, one that I’m glad exists now that the series has been cancelled, but one that feels even more odd in that context. As an episode it isn’t very good, even as it tells a story that this show needed to tell. Not considering it a very good episode is more due to the macro structure of pairing it with the Church fight. Screenwriter Tamara Becher-Wilkinson does attempt to stich the two segments together thematically with Karen and Father Lantom’s chat in the basement and largely succeeds, but they feel like two distinct entities that from something of a Frankenstein’s Monster of an episode. Why couldn’t this single episode have been two? The first Karen centered flashback would’ve made a great episode by itself and you could’ve tagged the final 15 minutes on to “Revelations.” The failed promise of Netflix revolutionizing televisual storytelling in an episodic format comes through in “Karen” as a 30 minute episode is stretched to 46 – making it both the shortest episode of the season and series – so that it can fulfill a standard form for a hour long drama.

Macro gripes aside, “Karen” tells a story this series needed to tell. This show is called Daredevil Matt Murdock and his vigilante alter ego are the sun that everything else in the story world rotates. Matt, and to an extant Wilson Fisk, maybe the centerpieces of everything but they are generally focused on at the expense of the shows other regulars: Foggy and Karen. The focus on Matt shrunk the storytelling of the series as a whole and turned these two characters into hollow, dramatically ineffective, supporting characters that seemed to operate as nothing more than pillars to prop Matt up with. Karen got it the worst in season 1, at least Foggy was shown to have a skill and reason to exist outside of the show. That hint of raison d’etre was not found in the Karen Page of season 1, she was the love interest to be pined after from afar and that was pretty much it. Things got exponentially better in season 2 when they gave her the reporter job, suddenly she had a reason to exist outside of Matt! One of the best things Erik Oleson did with this season is make it a more functional TV show by giving the other regulars their own things to do.

Why couldn’t we have had this story told in season 1? It didn’t need to be an individual episode but her backstory is the stuff running c-plots are made of. As they were getting to know Karen, so was the audience, and the show would’ve given her a reason to exist at the start instead of the end. Those lack of c-plots are one of the reasons Marvel-Netflix shows feel like such a slog as everything is over exposed and strung out.

2. Daredevil vs Bullseye: Round 2

I like that there seems to be a cinematic tradition of having Daredevil and Bullseye fight it out in a church. Despite the overall praise for action sequences in this season, this fight felt a bit lacking when compared to the Mark Steven Johnson Daredevil film. I have a soft spot for the director’s cut of that film, it is an integral element of developing what Dru Jeffries termed comic book film style. That said the two set pieces, while their settings are similar, are functionally at opposite ends. The film’s choreography was inspired by wuxia, which is not what the Netflix series aspires towards in the slightest.

In the context of the series, this is how you do a second big fight sequence and keep things open for the trilogy bout. The church fight is the exact opposite of the office fight spatially with unobstructed views and lack of ironic sharp instruments. Furthering the contrast is the visuals, the office fight is back lit with a dark blue, in the church it is red. Their new arena plays into the choreography as Matt does his darndest to keep to the inside and pummel his opponent to the body, stopping Bullseye from making space to throw things. Awesome fight choreography can make an action sequence enjoyable, but like good prowrestling, using that choreography to enhance or tell its story is what makes a sequence great.

Giving Bullseye a slasher-esque disappearing act was a nice touch as well.

3. Red vs Blue 4. RIP Father Lantom

It’s been interesting with the rise of Game of Thrones how the reaction and assumed new willingness to kill of characters has changed. Even though the only reason why those deaths are effective in the first place is their use as a deconstructive element in a narrative that is in some ways deconstructive. It has spurred new dialog on the nature of killing characters, and why certain marginalized characters seem to get the axe at a higher rate. That dialog is why the death of Julie rings hollower than it already did.

The death of Father Lantom isn’t like Julie’s, it is an earned dramatic moment and one that made sense if the show were to continue. At the top of the list of why these two similar events are different is the fact that Lantom was an overall effective character. Earlier I mentioned how poor of character Karen Page was in season 1, in execution she was a blander version of what Lantom, except, she was also a regular. Lantom was a stock supporting character, the Spiritual Father. These qualities when mixed with sound dramatic writing and a nice turn by Peter McRobbie, gave the character a spark and life to him. This allowed his death to have an impact. Lantom was also given agency in his death, he choose to take the bullet, as opposed to being shot in the back of the head over a computer screen. With the arrival of Joanne Whalley as Sister Maggie aka Matt’s Mom, he also had a bit of a functional double that offered up untapped dramatic potential. So if there were a fourth season, there could still be a spiritual adviser for Matt to play off of.

5. A Cool Use of Daredevil’s Powerset

[kazuchikaokada]

kazu casually winnin his 5th consecutive best bout award @ the tokyo sports puroresu awards

[gdwessel]

Full WTL2021/BOSJ28 Final Card Announced; Shingo Wins Tokyo Sports MVP, O-Khan, Tekkers Win Awards Too; STARDOM WK16 Match Announced; RIP Jimmy Rave (12/8/1982 - 12/12/2021)

NJPW have announced the full card for Wednesday’s event at Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, with the finals of both the World Tag League 2021 and Best Of The Super Juniors 28 taking place here. This show will be live on NJPWWorld. Jeff Cobb returns to the lineup, which is a bit of a surprise, as does Shingo Takagi and Kazuchika Okada, as we begin the build to their match at WK16.

- 12/15/2021, Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

Ryusuke Taguchi, Yuto Nakashima & Kosei Fujita v. Minoru Suzuki [SZKG], TAKA Michinoku [JTO] & DOUKI [SZKG]

Tiger Mask IV & Ryohei Oiwa v. Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club]

Toru Yano [CHAOS], Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Master Wato v. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata v. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] v. Great O-Khan & Jeff Cobb [United Empire]

Shingo Takagi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Kazuchika Okada & Robbie Eagles [CHAOS]

World Tag League 2021 Final: Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

Best Of The Super Juniors 28 Final: YOH [CHAOS] v. Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables]

Tokyo Sports announced their annual Puroresu Awards for 2021, and once again an NJPW wrestler is MVP. This time, the choice was the obvious one: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi, who really has been carrying this company in 2021. The only other candidate that was seriously considered was Keiji Muto, following his pretty amazing first-half of 2021, where he became the GHC Heavyweight Champion in NOAH and held it for a number of months. Indeed, the match he won it from Go Shiozaki became the first Best Bout to not be from NJPW or involve any NJPW talents since Jun Kasai v. Ryuji Ito in Big Japan on 11/20/2009 in the 2009 Awards.

Great O-Khan won this year’s Technique Award, whilst Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.) became the first NJPW tandem to win the Best Tag Team Award since Manabu Nakanishi & Strong Man (Jon Andersen) in 2010. They do both deserve recognition for being some of the few bright spots in the NJPW year as well, so good for them. Bushiroad’s other wrestling company STARDOM also garnered an award, with Utami Hayashishita winning the Women’s Wrestling Grand Prize for this year. You can read heavily kayfabed comments from the NJPW winners here.

Last year’s Award ceremony was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will see if it happens this year. The full list of winners are below.

MVP: Shingo Takagi, NJPW Best Bout Award: Go Shiozaki (c) v. Keiji Muto, GHC Heavyweight Championship, Pro Wrestling NOAH, 2/12/2021 Outstanding Performace Award: Jake Lee, AJPW Fighting Spirit Award: Konosuke Takeshita, DDT Technique Award: Great O-Khan, NJPW Best Tag Team Award: Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr., NJPW Best Newcomer Award: Yuki Arai, Tokyo Joshi Pro Women’s Wrestling Grand Prize: Utami Hayashishita, STARDOM Achievement Award: Rumi Kazama

Speaking of STARDOM, their match at WK16 Night 2 on 1/5/2022 has now been set. At their show on 12/12/2021, representatives from five units in STARDOM (Cosmic Angels, Queen’s Quest, Donna del Mundo, Oedo Tai and STARS) each drew a straw in the ring. Two of them color-coded blue, two red, and one with no color. The one who drew the uncolored straw was eliminated, which was Syuri, the SWA Champion, of Donna del Mundo. 

So with that, the match will now be: Mayu Iwatani [STARS] & Starlight Kid [Oedo Tai] v. Tam Nakano [Cosmic Angels] & Saya Kamitani [Queen’s Quest]. It’s actually a good way to get nearly every unit represented in one match, and there will be drama between Iwatani and SLK, as SLK was forced to join Oedo Tai in a stipulation match earlier this year, but she has broken out in the unit, and is a full member now. Should be a fun match.

James Michael Guffey, aka wrestler Jimmy Rave, died yesterday in Philadelphia at the far too young age of 39, just days after his birthday. Rave is best known for his time in both Ring of Honor and TNA, between 2003 - 2013, including feuds with AJ Styles, CM Punk, and others. Rave also had a long battle with drug addiction, which he was open about. Over the last year, due to various MRSA infections, Rave had not only his left arm (which prompted his retirement from wrestling in 2020) but both his legs amputated. The latter only happened this past October; a mere six weeks later and he was gone. 

Rave only ever wrestled a handful of matches in NJPW in 2008, whilst part of TNA. He did take part in Best Of The Super Juniors XV, finishing third in B Block on 6 points (he beat Tetsuya Naito and AKIRA, plus 2 points for a forfeit by the injured Prince Devitt; his losses were to Tiger Mask IV and Koji Kanemoto.), tied with Koji Kanemoto, but Kanemoto had the head-to-head win. He would also take part in the IWGP Juniorheavyweight Championship tournament that took place the next month, but would be eliminated by Kanemoto there as well.

He leaves behind two kids from a previous marriage, as well as a fiancee, wrestler Gabby Gilbert. It’s a real shame how this ended. Our best wishes to his family, friends and loved ones.