Matsunaga and the Bed of Nails

They don't call Mitsuhiro Matsunaga "Mr. Danger" for nothing! Along with Jun Kasai, he's got to be my favorite death matcher.

I'm not positive but, the Bed of Nails has to be one of his signature death matches...although they aren't always the most spectacular. The fans love it so, I guess they keep doing it! Of course, they probably take too far nowadays but, here are some goodies (baddies?) with Mr. Danger!

Leatherface vs Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (Original Spike Nail Death Match) 12/20/92 W*ING

Eh this was just alright... Leatherface was pretty bland on offense and frankly Matsunaga was as well. At least I can sense his kicks being harmful rather than Leather's paltry punching and stomping. They tease the nails, kill the heat by incorporating a knee brace story element, and the match ends with one guy rolling onto a single nail board :-/ Mind you they (W*ING) have set up like 5 boards on each side of the ring so, it really looks they're trying to put the 'death' in death match but nah...1 board and then they (W*ING wrestlers) carry the defeated man off in a blanket like volunteers carrying a rehabilitated dolphin back to the ocean. Its Matsunaga...he lost...am I spoiling anything at this point?

So, I found the rematch with higher hopes.

5/5/93 Spike Nail rematch

So, the rematch was better. The general offense was pretty lame and meandering but, they teased the nails a lot better this time including fighting on the apron. Leatherface went off the top rope a couple times which was an improvement. This finish was a lot better and appropriate for the stipulation. I won't really recommend this match in full form but maybe a clipped version is out there worth checking out.

Yuki Ishikawa vs Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (Bed of Nails Death Match, 05/14/99 Battlarts): I thought this really good for awhile as they were teasing the bed of nails so well and the non-wrestling was very good in getting across just how much they wanted the other guy to eat it but, it was not to be. It turned into poorly executed slice and dice and then was over. No one took the nails which was a bit of a letdown since they were teased beautifully. *** but at one point 4 stars, if that makes sense.