Wrestling Dream Battles

Hi folks! Wrapping up March Mayhem with a full show review of BJW 03/31/15 . •Yuko Miyamoto & Abdullah Kobayashi & Jaki Numazawa v Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei & Toshiyuki Sakuda - Fun comedy match. I'm guessing Yuko Miyamoto earned a night off. •Masato Inaba & Kazuki Hashimoto & Masaya Takahashi v Tsutomu Oosugi & Hercules Senga & Heddi French - This was a quick, fun all action match. I feel like it was edited down a little bit. Tsutomu Oosugi & Hercules Senga were impressive. Have to keep my eyes open for them in other BJW shows. •Kankuro Hoshino v Ryuichi Sekine *Barbed wire Board Barbed wire Weapon Death Match* This starts out with them wearing kick pads wrapped in barb wire. There's a bat and a chair wrapped in the wire. Plus there's barb wire boards in the corners. This is an easy recommendation! Both guys did an excellent job with their move selection and pacing. Eleven minutes of death match wrestling... emphasis on wrestling. They u...

Choshu, Chono, Liger, Akira vs Nakamura, Goto, Devitt, Minoru (NJPW 03/23/08) : Astute observers will notice this is from the same show as the previous entry. This actually takes place a little later in the card. It's really easy to skip over these types of matches for the big time singles matches. You would be missing out on some great wrestling though. Here you've got the story of Old versus Young. I think that drama never gets old. Someone always has something to prove. Now, you might be worried about the action here. Chono and Choshu must be pretty broken down, right? Not really! These guys could still move and still take bumps. And they were happy to slug it out with the youngsters. It really is shameful to see how many  U.S. wrestlers of the same generation really coast by on nostalgia. I think a Riki Choshu was a 30 year ring vet here. Anyhow, this was a fast paced, action filled match. The juniors were athletic and spectacular while the heavyweights were pounding away o...

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Togi Makabe (NJPW) : New Japan Cup match. Sometimes I want a simple match that makes me smile and say, "Oh shit, he suplexed him on his head!" This is that kind of match. Ishii & Honma were at ringside. They were cheating for Makabe. The scum were hitting Tanahashi and distracting the ref. Meanwhile, Makabe was clotheslining him with a chain wrapped arm. This was fun stuff, under 15 minutes and on New Japan's YouTube page. You don't have a good reason to skip it! 👇👇👇 Check out the labels below for more wrestling recommendations 👍 

Andre the Giant vs Killer Khan (NJPW) : This is two big dudes beating each other up! Well, Andre is more than big. The dude is a giant! He looks like a wildman with his shaggy hair and beard. Khan is shaken up but he's not backing down. This is a bunch of fun. Andre & Khan bring a lot of character & energy to this match. It's part of the MSG League which I think is a precursor to the G1 Climax. Also I would recommend watching the Andre vs Inoki "match" from 03/26/82. It's super short yet exciting plus it adds more drama to the Andre vs Khan feud. 👇👇👇 Check out the labels below for more wrestling recommendations. Even after March Mayhem, I'm going to keep cruising the 1980's. 

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Silver King (AJPW) : I have been wanting to see this one for years. I've been a Silver King fans from his WCW days. My fandom has grown from seeing him in IWA Japan, UWA, CMLL and elsewhere. I'm stuck watching older wrestling so Nakajima is always going to be a "new" guy to me. He's one of my favorite of that generation of Japanese wrestlers. That said, this definitely lived up to my expectations. There was some great kicks from Nakajima and Silver King brought his brand of lucharesu - stiff chops, power moves but quick arm drags & high risk moves. I think that they fit a lot of quality wrestling in under 15 minutes. I would categorize this as lucharesu in an AJPW ring especially since the transition from offense to defense was pretty quick for typical puroresu...even for 2008. This felt good though since they didn't drag the match out. It was a steady, aggressive pace. It's a very good match and a great one if you're a fan of...

Hi folks! More mayhem and a little bit more of March! We're looking at the Dragon Gate Challenge show from ROH Wrestling from 03/30/06. Ryo Saito vs Jimmy Yang - Very good Jr. wrestling at the ROH speed. It was very enjoyable and an easy watch for any modern wrestling fan. Cool ass finishing move too! AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguch i - Holy snap! I've seen this a few times and it's still some badass stuff! AJ just muscles the Dragon Gate guys. It looks so uncooperative and great. This feels like a match instead of a routine. Additionally this fight told a story and actually felt like ROH vs Dragon Gate since both teams were baby faces & popular. This one remains a classic  to me. CIMA, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino vs Austin Aries, Roderick Strong & Jack Evans - This was crazy 80 mph wrestling. The finishing segment was straight bananas. But it's not a complete sprint as Blood Generation slowed it down to let everyone catch the...

Hulk Hogan vs Tatsumi Fujinami (NJPW) - This is a great under 15 minute match pitting the up-and-coming heavyweight Fujinami versus the blonde bruiser Hulk Hogan. This bout is speed & technique vs raw strength. Tatsumi uses arm drag and arm locks early on to control Hogan. He's not going to win that way though. He needs to take bigger risks for greater rewards. The trouble is when Hulk gets and opening, he takes it. He's smashing The Dragon to bits with elbows, punches & knees. This definitely is a big test for Fujinami if he's going to advance into the Heavyweight division. This match has both excellent action and story. I definitely recommend it if you're interested in seeing Hogan in Japan. Any Fujinami match is worth the time in my opinion 🙂 Check out the other March Mayhem matches. Use the labels below for similar wrestling reviews. Or maybe you feel brave and will click on the archives to find something cool. 

Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino) vs Do Fixer (Ryo Saito, Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi) (ROH SuperCard of Honor) : Holy shit balls! This was bananas. After I thought they had wrapped things up, the crazy bastards kept going! Plus it wasn't overkill... I absolutely thought this would be an overkill match but no! They successfully ramped up the action in a believable & fresh way. Too much happened to keep a tally & I can't say anyone sold anything in a story telling way. But this was a classic, all-time classic (perhaps?) cardio-work rate spectacular. ROH & AEW has this on YouTube. Go watch it! 👇👇👇 Check out the labels below for more stuff you might like! Search through the archives for stuff you missed. More reviews and recommendations for ya!

Abdullah The Butcher vs Jack Brisco (AJPW) :  This is not a match but a chaotic spectacle in the best way. I think every once in awhile, we should watch Abdullah the Butcher vs a star such as Jack Briscoe. It serves as a type of mental reset. We are just watching simple yet charismatic wrestling. There's no real maneuvers or complex story play out. It is just simple good guy versus bad guy. Additionally, we get to see the fans go absolutely bonkers in the venue. I think this is true fan engagement. No one is needing to bring a sign, chant names or songs...the people in attendance are watching the brawl but are also a part of it. Maybe the wrestlers bump into you, or use your chair as a weapon, maybe your entire row of seats gets knocked down and scattered around the ring floor...you're right there. I think there's a lot of imitation of this but Abdullah is one of the best. So I can't say if this is better than another Abby 'match' right now but I will say this i...

Kenta Kobashi & KENTA & Tamon Honda vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano & Atsushi Aoki - This baby moves at a steady pace for around 30 minutes. There's nice spikes in the action so it never feels like a drag. In fact, its hard to tell when the end is coming. That's a good thing! Kobashi is all about his chops, KENTA is the workhorse and even Tamon Honda has his good moments. For the other team, Takayama is the big focus as both Kobashi and KENTA have a purpose for attacking him. Aoki keeps going after Kobashi to raise his standing in NOAH. I liked this part. Sano just continues to be a very good player in this match. His stomps & kicks looked devastating. This was a very good match that didn't rely upon high spots or melodramatic kick outs. This was just a quality 6 man match. You'll definitely like it! Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Suguira vs. Mark Briscoe & Jay Briscoe - A true 'Holy Shit!' finish! This was more than just a finish...

Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs Mika Takahashi & Kaoru Maeda (AJW): Wow! This was a spirited sprint! This was a beginners style tag match and had plenty of scoop slams & drop kicks (not a bad thing). There were some great arm drags and rope running segments as well. There's one especially sick back breaker - keep an eye out for that one! Yeah, this was a lot of fun. These women brought the intensity and desire to win their novice level bout so the relatively simple moves were a perfect fit. It showed that their efforts were more impressive than their skill. Of course they would improve in that regard soon 🙂  👇👇👇 Check out the labels below for more wrestling you might like! Thanks for reading folks!

Rusher Kimura vs The Stomper (IWE) : Yes! This is what I wanted. This is just two guys bashing each other for 3 falls. The first fall is Rusher getting a flurry of big offense (for '80) and beating the Stomper. The 2nd and 3rd fall are more evenly paced. Stomper looks and delivers on being a badass wrestler. Rusher Kimura is everything you want - lumpy, tough & bleeding . He has a excellent foe in the Stomper. It's not complicated. Is there a big story? No but, it's a mean looking dude beating up the hero. Sometimes that's all ya need. Good to very good stuff! Under 15 minutes. March Mayhem continues!!! 👇👇👇Check out the labels below for more stuff you might like!!!

Go Shiozaki vs Tyler Black vs Claudio Castagnoli vs Delirious (ROH) : This is from the Take No Prisoners show. This was a hell of a 10 minute show open! They packed a ton of great sequences in here. Go brought his chops & kicks, Delirious was explosive, Claudio showed his strength & Tyler Black (Seth Rollins in some circles) had a bit of everything going for him. I thought this was a great 10 minute match. They didn't waste a movement or a moment... It's an easy watch and totally recommend it. 👇👇👇Check out the labels below! Or perhaps you should look at the popular posts? Maybe look over the archives - Give it a shot!

Rusher Kimura & Kintaro Oki vs Dick the Bruiser & The Stomper (IWE) : March Mayhem crossover baby! Old school like 50's - 60's type rough & tumble fight. The color picture gives it away that it's '80 along with the tight perms Rusher & Dick are rocking. Seriously those were hairdos old ladies were rocking at the time. Fancy but nice and neat for an older woman 😄 Try telling Dick the Bruiser that he's got a old woman's haircut! Anyhow, this is a fun match of 4 big guys wallopping each other. There's no rhyme or reason for anything. It's 2/3 falls but that's not really important. It's a fun time with a beer and a snack. 👇👇👇 Check out the labels below for more stuff you might like!

  03/01/98 Gran Hamada, Masato Yakushiji & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. MEN'S Teioh, Shoichi Funaki & Yoshihiro Tajiri - 8 of 13 minutes shown. This was very good Michinoku action. It's not as crisp as the top shelf stuff but is still damn good especially once they start picking up the pace. Tajiri fits in wonderfully and wish we got more of him in this one. I'm looking forward to seeing more Hoshikawa. Hayabusa & Super Delfin vs. Gran Naniwa & Tiger Mask - 10 of 20 minutes shown. This was really good stuff with great action and near falls which is typical of these guys. We get the dives, big moves and a little bit of everything that you want 🙂 👇👇👇 Check out the labels below for more stuff you might like! 

Riki Choshu vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (NJPW) : March Mayhem indeed! A quick intense fight between two of the most intense wrestlers of the 80's. Fujiwara is like a mad man from the start. He's put on a choke and won't let go. Eventually Riki finds his way free. He then proceeds to smash the fuck out of Fujiwara's face against the unprotected top turn buckle! I'm really surprised there's no blood. Things break down and the wily Fuji' goes under the ring for a wrench. From here to the end of the footage, this resembles something you'd see in AJPW with the Funks. This was a blast!! It's about 8-9 minutes of wrestling goodness. 👇👇👇 Check out the labels below for more wrestling! March Mayhem continues!

Starting a mini project for this month. I'm going watch and review matches that took place in the month of March. This will be a good way for you & me to get a variety of new wrestling. And when I say new, I mean new old wrestling 😋 Let's check out March in New Japan Pro Wrestling 1996 3/01 Yoji Anjo & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Takayuki Iizuka - Muto vs Takada is the money draw to this inter promotional feud but these tag matches provide the quality wrestling. Intense and stiff as a starched shirt. This felt more like a gang fight than wrestling match. If UWFi tags were all like this, I think we'd be talking more about them in 2026. Great match! 3/26 Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Satoshi Kojima & Riki Choshu - Sweet pants Kojima! I like that blue. ChoTen are jealous and kick his ass. This felt like a WAR match. Just meat & potatoes wrestling. Very stiff Kenka kicks from Chono. This was really good stuff. Shiro Koshinaka ...