Superstar Sleeze

Asuka vs Emma - NXT 3/23/16 This is the TV blowoff of the Asuka vs Emma & Dana Brooke feud after Asuka beat them around the horn. Asuka will be challenging Bayley in the coming week at NXT: Mania 32 for the NXT Women's title so this puts on a bow on Asuka's first feud. This is the more basic version of their great December 2015 takeover match. Asuka is so great at the beginning of matches. Working headlocks and hammerlocks in compelling fashion. I am sorry, but still don't get Emma. She is capable and fine, but she lacks personality. Give me Dana Brooke any day without the bells and whistles of the previous match she is pretty much exposed as a basic pro wrestler. Second time in a row her heat segment is meandering. The best part is hair pulling. Either have a focus or be entertaining. Asuka is pretty good at selling (she is definitively better at offense). I really her guttural screams as she revvs herself up. Her ass shot to Emma comes off really good her. She really plows Emma over which probably the spot of the match. Best of Asuka polishes Emma off with a great anklelock German and then a bevy of flying submission takedowns puts her down. Solid match, but nothing spectacular, Asuka's offense and charisma makes it worthwhile. ***

Asuka vs Dana Brooke - NXT Respect 10/7/15 In a great use of the Network, the WWE has put together a collection of Asuka's greatest hits in order to prime fans for her debut on the main roster in a couple weeks. I have seen Asuka a couple times live and just absolutely loved her. For someone who spends his wrestling time prioritizing older footage, I have always overlooked getting into Asuka. This seems like the perfect opportunity to binge watch her best matches. I wont be covering her ~3-5 minute TV matches in detail, but they are awesome and definitely should be checked out. Pitch perfect debut match. Great exhibition of what Asuka brings to the ring. Charisma in spades, lots of energy, organic builds, great chain wrestling, awesome strikes and badass repertoire of submission wrestling. Asuka is such a classic pro wrestling. She does not do rote gymnastics routines or just throw out modified suplexes and flips for the hell out of it. There is a real build. Also kudos to Dana Brooke for being a pro here. She is a criminally underrated pro wrestler. A great heel that should never been turned face. Loved the rolling hammerlocks. The flying hammerlock was awesome. Asuka makes submission wrestling great again. Dana Brooke's big slap was a great response to being schooled on the mat and Asuka's response of smacking the shit out of her was great. Good cheating from Emma to set up the short but effective Dana Brooke heat segment. Asuka then runs through her best of, mocking Brooke's routine (love that charisma), the flying juji-gatame. the anklelock into that sick German, all great. Crossface Chickenwing takes it home. Short, sweet to the point. Asuka is a beast and she wrestles with the intention to win NOT to entertain. Guess what that is a lot more entertaining. Shoutout again to Dana for being a great heel and making Asuka look damn good. Exactly what a debut match should be. ***1/2

WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund vs Spiros Arion - Philly 3/25/78 Never seen Spiros Arion, I kinda have a natural inclination to like him because he has very similar hair to me. Bob Backlund's first title defense and it makes sense as this is an old Bruno rival from the mid-70s (famous heel turn that was covered on Titans). What didn't make sense was that Backlund was not put over clean and Arion was still protected. I know this is 1978, but still new champ that could use a win over the old guard and I don't think Arion was used much after. Pretty standard Bob match, which I always enjoy. Arion does not add much. Standard heel cheating (choking, eye rakes), not much of a bumper or stooge. Very pedestrian. Backlund was usual fun & energetic self. Loved the tenacious waistlocks into bridging pins. Loved how he overcame all the cheating with pure wrestling technique. Arion finally gets one up on him by exposing the turnbuckle. Arion gets his big false finish with an Argentine (maybe Greek in this case) Backbreaker. Backlund slips out and sends him into the exposed turnbuckle as a receipt. Now Backlund pours it on, PILEDRIVER!, bulldogs him into the exposed buckle, ATOMIC DROP~! Knocks out Dick Whirly and they brawl for a bit until the wrestlers come from the back and I guess it is a no contest. Exposed turnbuckle bit was fun and Backlund is a joy to watch. Standard stuff. ***

Rest in Peace to the GOAT announcer and host. I can hear him saying Jerry now.

No I agree with you brutha, Brock is the best wrestler not named AJ in WWE. His command of psychology is second to none. He is by far the best big man seller and bumper. He goes out of his way to make people look great in that department. If people are sick of Suplex City that's fine, but to call out Brock's performance in regards to shining Braun up smacks as silly and overly critical. I loved how Brock went for his usual bull-rush, double leg and Braun just STUFFED him and the way Brock sold it was great. Brock kept going to things that usually work and they didn't. The Kimura is something in his back pocket that he busted out of desperation. I was not keen on the pop-up F-5. I would have liked to seen Braun make a mistake then Brock capitalize. Rather than Brock taking a big move from Braun and then hitting F-5. A very good match (~***1/2), but not a great match. I agree Cena/Reigns was disappointingly boring. But it was a boring in a much different way than how Cena matches have been boring recently (spot-spot-spot-no consequence). Cena started selling way too early into the match; the whole build and even the beginning pointed him to being the heel and then he just sold and sold anyways, way too much downtime in between spots. It was boring more in a late 2000s NOAH match way of being boring. More recent Cena stuff is really exposing him and say this as a pretty huge Cena fan. I was shocked at how boring the match was and pretty disappointed. Thought Reigns was great on top for the most part, just to end positively.

Another amazing match on what is on pace to be PPV of the year (on paper this show looks WrestleMania worthy as they have appropriately been hyping it as). This match definitely gets elevated because of Cesaro's bloody, brutal injury of losing at least two if not four of his front teeth literally eating the post. Cesaro/Sheamus were on fire as offensive juggernauts. I have been saying since 2012 that Sheamus has the deepest and best offensive arsenal in North America and it was on full display here. Cesaro was equally brilliant. Ambrose is good at exactly one thing: selling and he did great. Hell, Rollins finally looked like the Rollins of the Shield wrestling with some great fire. The finish run was double hot. The White Noise, Super Powerbomb of Rollins into Ambrose was insane. The fact it was not the finish was insane (it is ok because Cesaro/Sheamus would not win). I liked the Japanese feel of this tag match with constant isolation, chaos and need to keep a partner at bay. I liked the Knee/Double Arm DDT finish, but the transition was a little weak. Lots of bomb throwing, reminded me a lot of those great All Japan classics. Great offense all around! ****

I am in shock. A truly great Finn Balor vs Bray Wyatt match. I literally had Hashimoto vs Fujiwara running once I saw this was coming on. The last two (remember they had one in Boston RAW) were so bland. I'm a mark for a heel beatdown before a match. Then something Happened that I have never seen true, red hot fire from Balor! His selling was great, a great shine and the hope spots were well-timed and rousing. I have no problem with Bray the worker (the character is the drizzling shits). Bray looked awesome kicking ass in this match. The clothesline and suplex slams were awesome! Balors dropkicks to the finish were hot. Shockingly great match between two usually very sterile workers. ****

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Hiroshi Hase In a diner in London just hitting highlights -Same layout as 93 match organic matwork Hase is the better technical wrestler but Hash has size. Bomb throwing at the end is much better. -Bundle of legs locks way too much, way too boring and who is being hurt when they are both hugging each other's legs. -Hashimoto great selling the first ankle cross and figure-4 love how he pancakes Hase -Hase undersized but had great takedowns, picks and trips. A marvel -Hase tries to get all Macho with Hashimoto and HASHIMOTO OBLITERATES HIM! It was glorious how he crushed his midsection. The double foot stomp from the top and Denton were gnarly. -Hashimoto walking into an urnage...LAME! -Hase tornado DDT was a much better transition to his offense. He gets the big man up for some BIG bombs and the choke was OVER! -Hashimoto HUGE Kneelifts to injured midsection. ANNIHILATES him with a spin wheel kick. Huge Fisherman Brainbuster kills him dead. Thought the back half of this was awesome and way more focused. Hashimoto The Destroyer In All His Reigning Glory. ****1/4

Lust Hogan that was an amazing post. I have never seen a Typhoon match, but now I may have to after reading those hilarious Heenan quotes. Bobby The Brain reminds me so much of my Uncle Mike. Their sense of humor is so incredibly similar. I just love that style of humor. Heenan was a part of my childhood as the announcer for Nitro and now going back to watch AWA & WWF 80s he is a great part of my adult life. There are very few pro wrestling personalities that could have been stars in other fields, but I agree with the sentiment that The Brain could have been a break-out standup comedian. I will say I am much happier that he was in the greatest entertainment field of them all Bobby the Brain. Thanks for all the memories. RIP The Brain.

As a WCW diehard, this brought a smile to my face. I really wish they would bring back the Big Gold Belt.

The Drifter is amazing. Future top face or heel. Mark my words. Great prospect.

These are all really good points! The Smackdowns women division booking is baffling. Becky is most over female on either roster. Sasha & Bayley have been getting mixed to no reactions. Lack of use of Becky is silly. Jinder mahal is dreadful. Boring on the mic & in the ring. New Day vs USOS has been incredible. AJ IS God. Owens/McMahon has been great past two weeks. Thin roster but they should be doing better. I think the format of the show is good just need to plug in the right people.

Wrestling tv shows should be mostly talking. Smackdown is doing a good job. Short sprints and quick promos, one major angle and an overarching story are nice. Too much wrestling waters down the PPV and good long tv matches. RAW trots out Finn/Bray on go home show and they have a carbon copy of the match six days later. IF wrestlers actually had matches that built on each other and/or were different it would be ok. But with wrestling being so same-y, the old school SD! Approach of Angle development and lots of talking and building to the long matches is refreshing and more entertaining.

This match was fine. It felt like Hashimoto working a WWF match in Japan. I just thought both were kinda there. What was up with the 8 million top rope attempts that was weird. Rick Rude vs Shinya Hashimoto - NJPW 8/10/92 Rick Rude's 1992 is one of the most highly acclaimed calendar years in wrestling history and rightfully so. Thus I was intrigued by this match up of an all-time great in Hashimoto and the '92 Rude who was an all-time great in this year. This is the G-1 Climax, which was a single elimination tournament for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It is actually a very routine Rick Rude match. There is not a lot of struggle. It is just Hashimoto overcomes Rude's thrust to throat early and kicks ass. But I did not think it was that great of an asskicking. Then he spinwheel kicked into corner. Then Hashimoto basically worked a routine WWF match with hope spots. The weirdest part of the match by far is Rude going up to the top 8 times. It was jarring and kept taking you out of the match. Madusa's interference was fine. Rude's Super DDT was wicked! Top Rope Kneedrop in combination was great. Actually pretty well set up. Decent Hashimoto works American style, Rude sleep walks through the match. Cool to see Dusty & Watts in the crowd. ***

Shinya Hashimoto vs Hiroshi Hase - NJPW G-1 Climax '93 I was really impressed by the first 3/4s of this match. The last quarter felt totally tacked on and disjointed from the first 15 minutes. It was an obvious Hashimoto kills Hase with a ton of spots (kicks, powerbomb, chokeslam, DDT), but was going to lose. Hase hits the Exploder out of nowhere for the win. Hase's smile and the announcer's YAHOOOOO almost make up for the disappointing finish. The first 15 minutes is an amazing exhibition of how you can have compelling wrestling just using holds with no highspots. The first highspot of this match was around the 16 minute mark. It was two guys going out there and wrestling seeing where the holds took them. I thought it was an excellent lesson in gradualism. How Hase had to work hard to make in roads on Hashimoto's legs. He is the more accomplished amateur wrestler, but Hashimoto is a big dude. So to take him down and keep him down are two different things. At first Hashimoto was using brute force to break the figure-4s Hase was using. Hashimoto was brutalizing Hase's leg with kicks. Then Hase got the dropkick to the leg and really worked it over. Rather than power out now Hashimoto had to go to the ropes. I loved that ride they took us on 15 minutes. It was not an abrupt Hashimoto's leg is fucked two minutes in, but it took 15 minutes and it was interesting. Of course, Hashimoto blew off the leg selling and the match became a Hashimoto beats the shit out of Hase, but cant get the job done match. Tale of two matches, the first one is more interesting, but the second one is still fun. ***3/4

How does PWO like Jason Jordan? I fucking love this kid in the ring. Distinct style in a world were everyone has become very homogenized. I'm a sucker for amateur grappler style and his throws are way more impressive than all those lame men's floor exercise tumbles people do now. In ring he is the best prospect they have had in forever. As Bookwr T said Strap the rocket to this kid!

IWGP Tag Team Champions Hellraisers vs Jurassic Powers - NJPW 7/22/93 The real question of this match is do you prefer the Ozzy or Motorhead version of Hellraiser? (Correct answer is Motorhead) When Scott Norton first challenged the Steiners for the titles he teamed with Bam Bam Bigelow. He won the tag titles with Tony Halme (Ludvig Borga), but lost them to the Hellraisers (Hawk & Power Warrior (Kensuke Sasaki)) at 1/4/93. Then Borga ended up with WWF so he now has a washed up Hercules. The pre-match promo with Masa Saito makes Norton look badass. I actually liked the shine. It was old school Road Warriors with Hawk & Sasaki hitting the ring and kicking ass. Hawk misses a flying clothesline. Norton is effective in kicking ass throwing Hawk around clotheslining. Hercules sucks. Hawk gets a shouldertackle. Sasaki is so much better than everybody else in this match. I would say what a waste, but he is getting the rub from Hawk. Herc grabs the chain, but Sasaki bludgeons him with lariats. How the hell do you lose with a chain in your hand? Sasaki pulverizes him with the chain. Damn! This was not the title change. Title change was a couple weeks later. Norton & Herc would successfully defend against the Hellraisers, Mutoh/Hase and then the Nasty Boys (lol!) before dropping the belts back to the Hellraisers at 1/4/94 Dome. So in essence for one year, Scott Norton vs Hawk & Kensuke Sasaki was the centerpiece of the New Japan tag team scene. How fucking weird is that?

Couldn't find the defense against Hash 9/23/92. Help a brutha out? IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta vs Scott Norton - NJPW 10/18/92 There is no reason I shouldn't love Scott Norton, big & thicc in all the right places (he aint fat, bruv. HE JUICY!). However, I have never seen a great Scott Norton match. Turns out since Keiji Mutoh won the championship as the Greta Muta is the champion and he defends the title. While Keiji Mutoh works the house shows. Muta defeated Hashimoto in September and this is his second defense. The big miss of the 90s is Vince not getting his hands on Muta. It would have limited Muta's brawling which is his best attribute, but I think would have helped the other parts. Muta works basically a slow WWF style. They accentuated the big man vs small man difference. Muta bumping off Norton and Norton slamming him all around was great shit. My problem with Muta is he is not fighting back. He just takes it. Then when it comes time for him to go on offense, he turns it on. Eyeclawing gets him the advantage and jeers. It was weird the first 3/4s Muta was the heel and Norton was positioned as the babyface. Once this goes to the outside, Muta is so much better. He beats the shit out of a young boy and nearly chokes him to death trying to take his shirt off. So he whips him into Norton and then gets the shirt and chokes Norton. Great Muta vs 97 Macho Man Randy Savage would have been classic. Muta is an asshole throughout his heat segment. Norton makes a comeback. HUGE LARIAT on the outside! Powerslam and he picks him up at TWO?!?! What the fuck kind of stupid move is that! It is for the fucking IWGP title. Ref gets bumped. Muta mist. Norton on ONE KNEE! SHINING WIZARD~! Sorry it is not 2001. Muta gets a spike and puts it in his boot. Knees him with it (hey Shining Wizard after all) and kneedrop. Moonsault win. Norton looked good. No reason he cant have a great match. Someone point me in that direction. Muta still feels like an odd choice for champion. Great special attraction like an Undertaker or an Andre, but doesn't need the title and he is not having great matches on top.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Riki Choshu vs The Great Muta - NJPW 8/16/92 It is pretty telling of how New Japan in the 90s is viewed that this is not considered a seminal match. It is not a great match, but it is an incredibly important match. Muta is the first of Three Musketeers to win the IWGP Championship and he does so by beating Choshu, the rockstar of New Japan 80s. Muta is the rockstar of the New Japan 90s in a more demonic and over the top way. Inoki at this point put charisma over everything else. Yes, Chono won two G-1 Climaxs in a row and was crowned NWA World Champion four days before, but it is Keiji Mutoh in the Great Muta gimmick that is the first of the 90s stars to win IWGP Championship. Hashimoto who feels like the heir of Riki Choshu with that badass charisma and the logical pick for the first to win gets overlooked for Muta. I think that is important to understand New Japan at the time. This is a very typical Muta match. It is lumbering brawl with strange pacing. Muta stalls in a way that would make Larry Z frustrated. Choshu ripping his head off with a clothesline after all that was great. I think Muta by selling through not selling was great. You could see Choshu realize he was facing something un-human in the form of The Great Muta. The mist was so gimmicky for such a big title change that it felt weird. Muta was good in this brawling setting. The bulldog from the apron looked great and he wrough havoc at ringside. Choshu got his hope spots, but Muta clawed his eyes. Backbreaker->Moonsault->kickout, jeez it was already happening. Second moonsault gets it. Not a great match. But it is a torch passing that gets overlooked between this and Chono's victory over Rude (much more acclaimed) really ushers in the Three Musketeers era. ***

Goddamnit, I should have read the review. I didn't know! I DIDNT KNOW! This is awful! Muta is so hit and miss. This is a big miss. Lazy, apathetic Muta at his worst. Onita looked like a Stooge instead of a madman. Nothing happens. There is this awful Sickle that makes me long for the sledgehammer. So slooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww and plodding. Only the fireball made me mark out. One of the worst matches I have seen in a long time. Mutoh is in the middle of a long IWGP title reign with lots of defenses, weird that this happened in NJPW given that context. Terrible.

Naoki Sano vs Yoji Anjoh - UWFI 6/18/95 I feel that RINGS is to UWFi as AJPW is to NJPW, but just as in the AJPW-NJPW relationship, UWFi is occasionally able to come close to their more heralded competitor. This is one of those cases where Sano/Anjoh match RINGS in their ability, energy and organic feel. The opening features an amazing 5 minutes of shooting on the mat in amazing fashion that is gritty as it is intense ending with amazingly muscular Boston Crab by Sano. Where Sano and Anjoh have one up on their RINGS counterparts is their pro wrestling background and as a pro wrestling fan that means good character work and lots of great selling and of course ZEBRA PRINT~! (thanks Anjoh!). I feel like the Sano STF on Anjoh was incredibly compelling in a totally pro wrestling way that RINGS could never duplicate because of their shooty nature. I also loved the story of this match. Sano gets a big knee in the corner and then a dropkick to a head to score a knockdown putting it at 14-11. Anjoh spends the rest of the match digging out of the hole working hard to make it 10-10 through a ton of submission work dripping with struggle. Him getting out of that aforementioned STF and converting into his own submission was huge. I love just as Anjoh worked his way back into the match Sano just blows him out of the water with two huge knockdowns one being a deadlift German suplex. Both of their selling before of this war of attrition was great and Anjoh spent all his energy trying to get back into the match and Sano was able to score. Anjoh was spent and blocked the last German, which would have lost him the match, but falls prey to the deep cross armbreaker for the quick submission. Brutal, flashy, energetic match which used the points system really well to create a compelling narrative, loved it. ****1/2

Nobuhiko Takada & Masahito Kakihara vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Yoshiaki Fujiwara - UWFi 6/26/96 UWFi was at the tail end of their feud with NJPW, which climaxed with Takada losing the title to Hashimoto in April. Basically, it was their penultimate gasp at relevancy, Takada would draw big against Tenryu in a couple months and then they would close their doors. By feuding and losing to NJPW, it cemented UWFi as NJPW-lite, which kinda was already. This is the last vestiges of that feud as Takada takes on two rivals from the 80s fellow shoot-style pioneer: Fujiwara and the NJPW star of the 80s; Fujinami. I thought Fujinami & Fujiwara were game here. Huge pop at the beginning for Fujiwara catching the kick and turning it into a dragon leg screw. From there, great organic transition into a figure-4, but near the ropes. Kakihara, who I have never seen before, is a spunky little fuck. He just catches Fujinami with a kick to head from jump. Fujinami grabs a back heel trip and here comes Fujiwara. I loved this because it was such a pure veteran vs rookie dynamic. Just when you and Kakihara think Kakihara has him, Fujiwara grabs a DEEP toehold and Kakihara is yelping. Fujiwara/Takada is not much. Takada and Fujinami do some good New Japan grappling. Takada starts snapping off his famous kicks. Fujinami fights through gets a nice vertical suplex which gets a pop and he tags out to Fujiwara, who gets a tight butterfly suplex for a one count. Takada gets outta Dodge. Kakihara AXE KICKS Fujiwara in the face. Fujiwara fights through the onslaught of kicks and takes Kakihara down. Right now this making me want a Kakihara vs Fujiwara match. Ref makes Fujiwara stand up and Fujiwara deep single leg crab. Fujinami again good grappling taking advantage of Kakihara's mistakes. Fujiwara comes in and whacks Kakihara right on the ear and drives him right out the ring. Big suplex back in and a deep choke. Fujiwara is killing it right now. Fujinami & Fujiwara double team the shit out of Kakihara and Takada just stands on the apron like a tool. Basically, they let Kakihara tag out. Takada is really effective using his kicks to chop down both, but gets caught in a toehold by Fujiwara and tags out immediately. Then he is grabbing his ankle while Kakihara is getting his ass kicked again makes him look like such a prick. Fujiwara was consistently awesome, but Fujinami had some great moments like his response LARIAT to Kakihara and then Scorpion Deathlock. Fujinami was definitely the most over. Takada actually saved Kakihara here. Takada fires off kicks and then gets caught. DRAGON LEG SCREW! Big pop again! Takada takes Fujiwara down with a head kick and like a chump tags out to Kakihara who takes the Fujiwara armbar and then Fujinami Dragon Sleeper. I love LeBron James, but Takada is doing the wrestling equivalent of LeBron James. It is the 4th quarter of the match and he is letting Kakihara sink or swim against the legends and is just refusing to either win or lose the match on his own terms. That's kinda metaphor for Takada who was a great and influential pro wrestler, but a tier below the other puro legends. Kakihara throws as many kicks as possible some real Hail Marys ones like rainbow kicks and Fujiwara calls him over and then locks on a toehold and gets the submission. This was very Original UWF/80s NJPW and was wicked entertaining. Given the participants both of those things make sense. Fujiwara and Fujinami were awesome as crowd pleasing, hard hitting vets and Kakihara was a ball of energy. Takada's LeBron-like disappearing act is just as gobsmacking when it happens in a Cavs game and makes for just as much drama. Fujiwara is so damn good. ****1/4

Call me crazy but I preferred the WAR match. Onita & Co. vs Tenryu & Co. - Onita Pro 6/27/99 Barbed Wire Match This is one of those matches where you are watching this alone and questioning your own sanity who loving something so wantonly violent. Interesting set up here as only two sides have bared wire and the other two sides are open but over the edge lay boards cover in barbed wire. Tenryu is in a white collared button down shirt (white is always the appropriate color for a Deathmatch) and a tie that's just weird. Onita goes to whip Tenryu into the barbed wire, but he stops short and it is a jabroni that dropkicks him into the barbed wire. There is a great double front suplex into barbed wire. Tenryu monkey flips a chump onto some barbed wire. Onita was the star of this match as opposed to the WAR match where Tenryu shined. Onita horsecollaring muthafuckas and slamming them with broken table was awesome. I thought Tenryu was more violent in their WAR match just mowing down jabronis with a insatiable appetite. They trade finishes Onita puts Tenryu into the spike piledriver on the chair and then Tenryu powerbombs his ass. Onita powerbombs the shit out of a jabroni twice to win. Chalk me up as preferring the WAR match for more chaos and energy. Tenryu & Onita were just pure rampant violence in that match. This was slower, gorier violence didn't appeal to me quite as much. ***3/4

I saw that too, Pete and I marked out. Genichiro Tenryu, Nobutaka Araya, & Shoji Nakamaki vs Atsushi Onita, Sambo Askao & Okumura - WAR 6/20/99 I have never seen an Onita match before, believe it or not. He was awesome in this. Throwing people with reckless abandon into chairs and the wall. Piledriving people on the floor. Besides Araya, I didn't know the other three jay-brones, but they seemed fine with getting demolished by Tenryu and Onita. While Onita impressed, Tenryu was the star. His facial expressions and how much fun he was having just DESTROYING these jobbers was awesome. Loved the chair throws. Every chop and lariat was brutal! Also loved the hot pink tank top he was rocking! We did get some Onita/Tenryu in the middle with Onita & Co. ganging up Tenryu climaxing with a spike piledriver. I loved at one point Tenryu is getting beta up but you just hear screams of agony off camera. Tenryu was just blasting people at one point Onita is on the apron and Tenryu just smokes him with punches and chops. At the end of the match, Onita tries his bets to save his jobbers from the Wrath of Tenryu, but Tenryu powerbombs, chops and LARIATS his way to victory in WAR!!! Stark contrast to the New Japan stuff Tenryu was doing at the time or watching this close together with Takada matches, but it shows Tenryu's range. This is like the best possible ECW arena brawling. Relentless chaos. ****1/4

Hey Chad, whats up with the Dewey Decimal system in parentheses? You trying to out-nerd, Parv, or sumthin? Genichiro Tenryu vs Hayabusa - WAR 7/13/00 WAR & FMW had an off and on feud from 1994 through 2000 (when both promotions ceased being relevant). It definitely peaked in 1994, but throughout the late 90s Tenryu would face wrestlers from FMW. After UWFi closed, WAR & FMW remained the two major independent promotions so made sense to leverage one another for a payday Tenryu is fresh off a 2 year run with New Japan where he won the tag titles and defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at 1/4/00 Dome show. He was just about to return to All Japan, but in between he had some fun with Hayabusa. Besides having the coolest look since Great Muta, I have not been too fond of Hayabusa in the few matches I have seen thus far. This was a showdown of two aces and it was worked pretty segmented and straightforward. I am going to do my shit and then you do yours. For two very charismatic superstars, this leads to a good, but not great match. I loved Tenryu in this. His reaction to Hayabusa wimpy kick and chops was great and then hits a MAN-SIZED CHOP to fell Hayabusa in one blow. Hayabusa gets destroyed in a power match as Tenryu is just steamrolling him. He gets a dragon leg whip this affords him the opportunity to hit a couple dives and a big high kick. This is exactly what Hayabusa needs to do. He needs to fly around, but stay on Tenryu. Tenryu decks him and it is all Tenryu again. Tenryu is awesome playing to the crowd for his dive. It made me pop. He can still hang with the young guns. His little Dusty Rhodes flip flop fly on his punch-chop was awesome. The transition sucked as Hayabusa just suplexed Tenryu and then hit a back body driver and Falcon's Arrow, which did not feel earned. Imagine telling Tenryu in 1990 in ten years you will be hit by a 450 splash. Tenryu kicks out. Hayabusa gets some more token offense, but you know it is over for him. Tenryu powerbombs him out of rana attempt. Super Reverse Suplex! Mack truck Lariats! Powerbomb wins it for the Old Man. Entertaining exhibition of both men's talents and charisma. Just nothing next level. ***1/4