I spend so much wasted time looking for some rasslin on the Peacock and always end up loading up something that feels like an even bigger waste of time to watch(though WCW Saturday Night 96 tapes make for the perfect background audio/video like a soothing wall paper that just ties the room together beautifully). I need to see some premium high quality wrestling matches. Like the best of all time, and I know there are a lot out there that I just have not even seen. So like how you can make a watchlist on Netflix or whatever I'm going to notebook/pen a watchlist of wrestling matches I want to watch. 

Here is my list so far: 

I started with the Meltzer five star matches that looked interesting: 

Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada UWF 1984: God i love the whole story of UWF in Japan and shoot wrestling I could write a book about it, so I was surprised to see a UWF match get a 5 star rating from Meltzer, and this was the original UWF. Both of these guys had to be really young here in 84. I struggle to find a pro wrestling analogy to what Nobuhiko Takada is to MMA history, and the dude was pure pro wrestling and never had an ounce of legitimacy to him, he was an actor, a worker. Definitely need to watch this, Takada's UWF/UWFI matches against Bob Backlund and Daniel Severn were some of the best wrestling matches I can remember ever seeing when I found those recently. There are some epic Takada vs Maeda matches in the later 80's UWF too so Takada to me is way underrated in the West. 

Jushin Thunder Liger vs Sano- NJPW 1990
Kobashi vs Kawada- AJPW April 25 1990
Sasuke vs Pegasus NJPW April 16 1994
Misawa vs Kawada- AJPW June 3rd 1994

Then there are some Eddie matches I am interested, Eddie vs Dean was always one of my favorite pairings in wrestling so I have been on a kick to do a deep dive of their entire series. I still have the original 6 hour VHS tape that RF video used to sell that has all 12 of their ECW matches on it. I really need to transfer that to a digital file to preserve it. 

But I want to find and watch their other matches too, their matches in New Japan in 93-94, the Dean vs Black Tiger match from 94. They also had a match in New Japan in July 1995 in the middle of their ECW run that I'd love to see. I may make a separate Malenko vs Guerrero thread for all of these and take a closer look at their WCW stuff that I can find too. 

So man what else? I'm interested in Japanese wrestling right now for some reason, NJPW/AJPW is like mostly uncharted territory for me. New modern wrestling recommendations is fine, links to a video would be sweet, I do have the Network on the Peacock so anything on there. All time classics that need to be revisited, hidden gems, just whatever, or talk about some of these matches listed whatever. 

Here are some suggestions, most of these are refreshers for me as well. NJPW stuff can be hard to find out in the wild now since they have their own streaming service.

Jushin Liger vs. Chris Benoit- G1 Climax August 1992

Great Sasuke vs. Chris Benoit- Super J Cup Final April 1994

Kenta Kobashi vs Stan Hansen- AJPW 7/29/1993

Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada Playlist

Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi- AJPW 1/20/1997

The fabled Last Battle Of Atlanta Cage Match between Buzz Sawyer and Tommy Rich that was unearthed a few years ago.

Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas (May 25, 1992)

Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs Dusty Rhodes & Ron Garvin- NWA March 1986 (absolutely MOLTEN crowd)

Dynamite Kid vs Bret Hart- WWF Sept. 1985

and I couldn't find a link for Bret Hart vs Tiger Mask II (Misawa) from the WWF/Japan wrestling summit from April 1990. I might have to find that one in my own collection and watch it.

Feb 2, 2023 15:37:44 GMT Neo Zeed said:

I'm interested in Japanese wrestling right now for some reason

I'm far from an expert on Japanese wrestling but here are ten worth your time roughly in order from favorite to slightly lesser favorites...

Dump Matsumoto vs. Chigusa Nagayo- Hair vs. Hair AJW 8/28/85
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano- NJPW Power Struggle 11/12/11
KENTA vs. SUWA- NOAH 9/18/05
Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada- NJPW G1 Climax 8/12/17
AJ Styles vs. Katsuyori Shibata- NJPW G1 Climax 7/20/15
Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota- Big Egg Wrestling Universe 11/20/94
Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid- NJPW 8/5/82
==========
Togo/Taka/Teioh/Funaki/Shiryu vs. TM4/Hamada/Yakushiji/Delfin/Naniwa- Michinoku Pro These Days 10/10/96
Steve Williams vs. Kenta Kobashi- AJPW 9/3/94
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi- AJPW 1/20/97

*Everything before the ==== I've watched within 10 years and reviewed on PW. Below the === were matches I liked but haven't seen since the last century. 

I came in this thread ready to throw hands with good shit pal, but seeing the posts made I don't think I'm qualified.

Feb 3, 2023 0:27:27 GMT @ness said:

I came in this thread ready to throw hands with good shit pal, but seeing the posts made I don't think I'm qualified.

Pfft. I'm sure you're just as qualified as I am. I've basically been a Japanese wrestling rube/noob for a quarter century now. I just fake it til I make it. Can tell you all about AWF, dying day AWA, WOW, and half a dozen rinky dink indies, but good wrestling that people actually watch? Nah. 
==========
Neo Zeed just realized the top of my Japanese recommendations list is very....Bakery. And I might have got the dates wrong for the Tanahashi/Yano and KENTA/SUWA matches anyway. Not sure you'd dig those matches since I get the impression we like very different things in our wrestling. 

But since I'm here and you're on a Mid South/UWF kick I gotta recommend the Dr. Death/Gordy series. A few of their matches were on Youtube last time I checked. They had a bunch of top notch hoss fights. Also check out Flair/Dibiase on Mid South tv from October or November 85. Watch that whole episode if you can find it. Great stuff. And I have to put over the Von Erichs/Freebirds Badstreet Match from July 4th either 83 or 84. Great brawl and what can be more Texas than that?

Feb 3, 2023 1:16:00 GMT Baker said:

Feb 3, 2023 0:27:27 GMT @ness said:

I came in this thread ready to throw hands with good shit pal, but seeing the posts made I don't think I'm qualified.

Pfft. I'm sure you're just as qualified as I am. I've basically been a Japanese wrestling rube/noob for a quarter century now. I just fake it til I make it. Can tell you all about AWF, dying day AWA, WOW, and half a dozen rinky dink indies, but good wrestling that people actually watch? Nah. 
==========
Neo Zeed just realized the top of my Japanese recommendations list is very....Bakery. And I might have got the dates wrong for the Tanahashi/Yano and KENTA/SUWA matches anyway. Not sure you'd dig those matches since I get the impression we like very different things in our wrestling. 

But since I'm here and you're on a Mid South/UWF kick I gotta recommend the Dr. Death/Gordy series. A few of their matches were on Youtube last time I checked. They had a bunch of top notch hoss fights. Also check out Flair/Dibiase on Mid South tv from October or November 85. Watch that whole episode if you can find it. Great stuff. And I have to put over the Von Erichs/Freebirds Badstreet Match from July 4th either 83 or 84. Great brawl and what can be more Texas than that?

Also would like to add since he had a strange affinity for Mr. Wrestling II the whole Mr. Wrestling/Magnum TA saga is must see TV. Those vignettes with Wrestling training TA are classic.

I reviewed most of these on the old board but Super Vader's UWFI run (Takada trilogy and random squashes) for more Japanese suggestions.

Feb 3, 2023 1:41:47 GMT Shootist said:

Also would like to add since he had a strange affinity for Mr. Wrestling II the whole Mr. Wrestling/Magnum TA saga is must see TV. 

Seconded. I dumped on II recently, but that's....I'll stop there to avoid spoilers. Yeah, just watch the II/TA saga.

Obligatory Dave Meltzer 5 Star Google Drive Link

BONUS: ECW Restoration Project Google Drive

I wish I could help you out, but I'm in 2004/05 WWE mode so I'm in a whole other galaxy in terms of best brawls, best catch-as-catch-can, best high flying etc. Whenever I want to go back I'll just hit up Roy Lucier's channels or Stro Bogo and I get my fix that way. I'd recommend watching some Stampede as well, that style was so state of the art and features so many quality wrestlers. It's on the Owen Hart set, but the Owen Hart/Vietcong Express 1 (aka Hiroshi Hase) match was a damn fine match.

Feb 3, 2023 15:16:48 GMT Big Pete said:

Obligatory Dave Meltzer 5 Star Google Drive Link

BONUS: ECW Restoration Project Google Drive

Whoa fuck! 

Nobi's signature works great with that post.

Very good suggestions made in here by yourself Neo Zeed and others so far.

---------------

Feb 2, 2023 15:37:44 GMT Neo Zeed said:

Jushin Thunder Liger vs Sano- NJPW 1990

Long time since I watched it, but remember this being an absolute classic. They had a classic in August 1989, with Liger putting on one of the best limb selling performances you'll see as he lost his title to Sano. This one here in late January 1990 was hate-filled and there is a cool note about the finish that I can tell after you've watched it.

---------------

Feb 2, 2023 18:24:08 GMT Shootist said:

Kenta Kobashi vs Stan Hansen- AJPW 7/29/1993

This is very accessible and does not require much backstory to get. Kobashi was debuted five years prior with a long losing streak to establish him as a lovable underdog with incredible fighting spirit. He is now one of the top stars of the company and on the rise, but he has never beaten the force of nature that is Stan Hansen. Kobashi is more determined than ever that tonight is going to be the night, but no one in the ring with Hansen is ever more than a single lariat away from potential defeat. Can Kobashi avoid it and get the big win?

---------------

Feb 2, 2023 18:24:08 GMT Shootist said:

Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas (May 25, 1992)

A great gateway match, as it is basically the perfect Southern tag but instead of being in front of a rabid Omni crowd, it is in front of a rabid Sendai crowd (Kikuchi's home town). Kobashi is the big brother of the team to Kikuchi, while Kroffat & Furnas are terrific gaijin pricks.

---------------

Feb 3, 2023 0:25:28 GMT Baker said:

Dump Matsumoto vs. Chigusa Nagayo - Hair vs. Hair AJW 8/28/85

Chigusa is the idol to her schoolgirl fans. Dump is the playground bully of those fans' nightmares. The loser is getting their head shaved. Can wrestling get more dramatic? Can a crowd be more emotionally involved?

Full review from almost 3 years ago now in the spoiler below.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}

I watched this again recently and considered trying to create some bullshit greatest "match/angle combo" or "most emotional" category to get it in my Greatest Match Contenders thread, but it wouldn't really work. Especially since Chigusa may have had a match I thought was better only 6 days before. But I do think this is the most emotional wrestling match I have ever seen and just on a different level in that regard to anything else.

Chigusa Nagayo may be the most over wrestler to her target audience of all time. In the late 70s, All Japan Women's Wrestling created superstars of the Beauty Pair, who also released songs and even starred in a film. Their target audience was teenage girls and, to keep the top stars at a relatable age, introduced a retirement policy at 25 years old for their faces. With the Beauty Pair forced to retire, there was a gap that would eventually be filled by Nagayo and Lioness Asuka, the Crush Gals, who were even more successful than their predecessors. The Gals were clean-cut, athletic, and full of fighting spirit.

Great good guys need great bad guys and Dump Matsumoto and her Gokuaku Domei (Atrocious Alliance) were certainly that. Butch, with scary facepaint and punky hair, with a willingness to cheat and brutalise in any way possible. Shady refs (pre-Danny Davis), weapons, interference, wearing swastikas. They did the lot.

Gokuaku Domei, including 17-year-old Bull Nakano and the future Bertha Faye, enter looking like a lesbian biker gang, complete with battle flag. Chigusa, on the shoulders of her tag partner Asuka, and flanked by her pals with their own flag, enters as the screaming schoolgirls sing her song and chant her name.

Everything is within the ref's discretion in Japanese wrestling and Joshi is the most extreme version of this - wrestlers can get away with a lot. In the case of this match, Dump attacks the ref numerous times when he tries to stop her abusing Chigusa.

The woman who came to the ring as Dump was actually her stablemate Kaoru Kage and Dump was under the mask, trying to sneak attack, but the faces were wise to such shenanigans. Not that it helped much, as Chigusa is dominated by Dump from the off. Dump is bigger, stronger and dirtier and, even with a molten crowd for her, Chigusa struggles to mount much. The seconds on the outside are constantly engaged, showing the emotion of the encounter. Chigusa comes across as an elite athlete, while Dump is the queen prick - the epitome of the schoolyard bully to this audience.

Chains, forks and scissors are used, with Dump busting Chigusa open with the latter, repeatedly stabbing at her forehead as the crowd screams in horror. Her dazed walk selling is fantastic. When she locks in a Sharpshooter as blood streams down her face, like a reverse Mania 13, it is a triumphant moment, but fleeting. She can only hold it briefly before the horror returns. Dump is a phenomenal heel, goading the crowd with mic, before smashing their idol in the head with it.

Chig's friends are incensed on the outside that the ref has not DQed Dump and throw in multiple towels to try to save their pal, but Chigusa won't quit. She throws out the towels as she finds them. While her pal Asuka is held back from getting into the ring to help her, Chigusa avoids being smashed with a table, but is near delirious. She cannot avoid a chair shot that sends her slumping to the mat and the referee counts her out for the KO as Dump does the greatest bad guy strut of all time.

As if that wasn't intense and emotional enough, we enter the post-match. Both crews enter the ring. Chigusa's pals are livid at the flagrant cheating, screaming at the ref. Chigusa gets on the mic outside the ring, blood streaming down her face, as some fans in the front row who look like they might be the youngest in attendance and barely into double digits scream and cry. I have no idea what Chigusa says but I assume it was some inspirational "THIS ISN'T THE END, YOU BITCH! I WILL PREVAIL!" shit.

Dump's posse get Chigusa into the ring, ready to cut her hair as Asuka, Devil Masami and others have to be held back, crying. The crowd is inconsolable, as we cut to shots of teenage girls in floods of tears. Dump gets on the mic and goads the crowd some more like the elite heel she is. With blood drying on her face and a chain around her neck, the hair cutting begins as the screams somehow intensify.

We cut to shots of girls not just crying, but sobbing, wailing, screaming out for their hero. After having one side of her head shaved, Chigusa escapes and has her head covered by her friends and they kneel, hugging and crying. Dump continues to smirk and strut.

There is a great shot that cuts to the rookie female wrestlers at ringside who just look stunned in silence. Is this what we signed up for? Pleased with their night's work, Dump grabs her trusty singapore cane (a decade before The Sandman) and marches to the back with her gang.

Before the heroes leave, Asuka gets on the mic and screams a rallying cry that gets a squeal of delight from the crowd, giving them hope that while their heroes may be down, they are not out.

There is nothing like this in wrestling history. This is the ultimate in audience manipulation. I've seen it described as a snuff match. With the power dynamics, the violence, the stabbing, the forcible nature, the panic - as like a rape. It is too uncomfortable for some to revisit and I can understand why. It is pro wrestling at its most emotional, its most dramatic.

For the whole deal, it is on the cusp of all the snowflakes for me but just short - ****¾. If you haven't seen this, do so. This is a match that would need to be on any "see before you die" list.

Also, here is a great pic of Dump and Bull from a few years ago.

---------------

Funk Brothers vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy - AJPW (8/31/83)



Terry's original retirement match, 10 years before he would appear in ECW. He would return to wrestling for All Japan a mere 15 months after this emotional moment, but that doesn't negatively impact on it as a spectacle. A great match with all the pre- and post-match pageantry around it.

---------------

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Nobuhiko Takada - NJPW (4/29/96)

drive.google.com/file/d/0B6lGDGd6paLtMlJ6ZmQyYVc0MUk/view?resourcekey=0-mhKHmIhUuWdUu8buxynaTA

Takada had come through the NJPW dojo before splitting to try to become a shoot style star in the mid 80s. He had to come back to New Japan before leaving again in the late 80s. He became a big-time star in the early 90s and would call out the "fake" wrestlers of other promotions. UWFi would invade NJPW (inspiring the nWo angle) and Takada became champion at the second time of asking, beating Mutoh. The Ace of New Japan, Hashimoto, has to try to bring the title home from the shooter. This was the third Dome show in under 7 months, making this the biggest money feud in Japanese history. Fantastic big show heavyweight wrestling.

---------------

Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobi Kandori - AJW Dream Slam I (4/2/93)



Background
All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling (AJW) began in 1968 and could be traced back to the first Japanese women's wrestling promotion in 1948. From its founding, it was the only women’s promotion in Japan for almost two decades, with stars like the Beauty Pair (Jackie Sato & Maki Ueda), Jaguar Yokota, Devil Masami, Dump Matsumoto & the Crush Gals (Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka). AJW became targeted at teenage girls with the late 70s success of portraying the Beauty Pair as idols. They wrestled, released songs and even starred in a film – the prototype for an even more successful team to come, in the mid-to-late 80s, the Crush Gals. As a result of this direction, AJW introduced an enforced retirement policy once you reached 25 years of age in an attempt to keep their top stars more relatable to their audience. As you can imagine, this did not sit right with many of the wrestlers being forced to.

With only one promotion and many great wrestlers being forced out of it, there was a clear opportunity to create a rival, especially with the popularity of women’s wrestling due to the Crush Gals. In 1986, Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling (JWP) was founded with former Beauty Pair member Jackie Sato, who had been forced to retire 5 years prior, as the star and Atsushi Onita as one of the coaches. Then, in 1990, Onita introduced women’s wrestling to his newly founded Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW) promotion. Many of the female wrestlers in these two independent promotions were those who did not make it through the AJW dojo or did not achieve success once they had debuted. After years of internal struggle between the “shooters” and “entertainers”, JWP split into Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling (LLPW) and JWP Joshi Puroresu (a new JWP) respectively in early 1992 and there were now four women’s promotions. You had the mainstream AJW and the three outsider independents JWP, LLPW and FMW. A new era of Japanese women’s wrestling was about to begin in 1992. The interpromotional era.

Former Bull Nakano fan club organiser and now All Japan Women’s wrestler Hisako Uno became renowned for her toughness in 1987 after having her neck legit broken on a second-rope Tombstone in a tag match and continuing to wrestle, including receiving a piledriver. Upon her return from that injury, she changed her ring name to Akira Hokuto and was booked to win the #1 contender Japan Grand Prix tournament in 1990. However, she legit destroyed her knee on the rail while going for a plancha in her opening match and though she tried to continue, the officials were forced to stop her and award the win to her opponent. She returned from that injury with her hair bleached, along with stylised make-up, and would often come to the ring brandishing a sword and wearing a demon mask. She was now “The Dangerous Queen”.

Shinobu Kandori was a World Championship bronze medallist in Judo in 1984 before entering the world of pro wrestling. Her character was an arrogant martial artist who belittled pro wrestling and claimed she could easily beat the top stars. She joined JWP, headlining its first show against Jackie Sato in 1986. The following year, after tensions had grown between the pair, Kandori shot on Sato in a match, causing the humiliated star to retire from the ring for good while Kandori left the company. She unsuccessfully attempted to join AJW before working as a freelancer, often still in JWP. When the 1992 split occurred, Sato led the “entertainer” side to form the new JWP and Kandori the “shooter” side to co-found LLPW.

Interpromotional feuds had proven tremendously successful for both All Japan Pro Wrestling (vs. Choshu’s JPW) and New Japan Pro Wrestling (vs. UWF) back in the mid-to-late 80s. So in 1992, the mainstream AJW started feuds with each of the three outsider feds. In June, FMW’s top female stars Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo called out AJW’s Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto and the first interpromotional match was set for FMW’s 3rd Anniversary Show on September 19th. Bull/Akira won in a fiery match and things were off and running. Two months later, would come a landmark show on November 26th, featuring a AJW vs. FMW tag, a AJW vs. JWP tag and LLPW wrestlers in the crowd – AJW Dream Rush. On this show, Hokuto defeated Kyoko Inoue to win the All Pacific Title (AJW’s secondary belt) and post-match she called out Kandori and her crew, who were in attendance, and the LLPW wrestlers stormed to ringside for a confrontation.

The in-ring AJW vs. LLPW war began on January 24th as Hokuto and her crew defeated Kandori’s crew in an intense six-woman tag while Kandori watched from the crowd. Post-match trash-taking ensued and Kandori came to the ring, which resulted in a pull-apart brawl before Kandori later confronted Hokuto in her dressing room and I presume challenged her to the match. All Japan Women’s 25th anniversary was approaching and two cards were planned for 9 days apart to commemorate it – AJW Dream Slam I and II. On April 2nd, Dream Slam I was to be a show full of interpromotional matches and would feature the first singles matches of this era, one of which was Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori.

It was to be mainstream vs. outsider. Pro wrestler vs. shooter. The gutsiest wrestler with a history of horrible injuries vs. the legit judoka who sent a former idol into retirement. Hokuto may not be AJW’s top star but she most embodies its slogan “Victory Through Guts”. She is looking to defend the honour of her promotion on its 25th anniversary while Kandori is looking to stick it to the company that she was never able to join, having been an outsider her entire career. Ketteisen basically means decider so the tagline of the match means that this is to decide the true Dangerous Queen - Hokuto’s identity and reputation is at stake, but so is Kandori’s.

My review of the match in the spoiler tag below.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}

Match

The shooter Kandori wears only a robe to the ring, whereas the pro wrestler Hokuto is in full “Dangerous Queen” garb, complete with demon mask and sword.



I like the little touch of Hokuto and then Kandori refusing to be checked by the ref for foreign objects at first. Whether the idea was not wanting checked before the other or just not wanting to be touched, it gives a “don’t fuck with me” vibe right off the bat. When they do allow the ref to perform his requisite duties, we get some fantastic death glaring across the ring.



Both trash talk and goad each other to come in to start the match and Hokuto forearms Kandori down HARD, getting a great reaction from the crowd, who will be with them the whole way. Hokuto then gets on the mic Jerry Lawler-style and runs down her opponent, accusing the former judoka of playing at being a pro wrestler and having no passion for it.



Kandori responds by attempting to rip Hokuto’s arm off. Hokuto leaves her arm behind her back to give the impression it has been dislocated. It has to be popped back into place at ringside, while Kandori continues to check on her jaw in the ring.



Kandori goes for the arm and Hokuto works hard to avoid another full submission being locked in, but she needs to do something to change this up, so takes Kandori to the outside and attempts a tombstone piledriver on a ringside table, but Kandori reverses and plants Hokuto with one of her own – the move that broke her neck six years prior. In a brilliant shot, the camera zooms in on a dent in the table from Hokuto’s head (doesn’t matter that it was almost certainly due to Kandori’s knee).



So far, everything has been nasty and hate-filled, exactly what you want from an interpromotional bout. Hokuto is struggling to recover and get back in the ring, as the ref screams at her if she wants to give up. She has been busted wide open from the table piledriver and is beginning to look like Carrie. I feel it almost goes without saying that this may be the most dramatic opening 8 minutes to a match ever.



Back in the ring, Kandori lands repeated kicks to Hokuto’s head, but a third is one too many and Hokuto counters. Seeing her chance and fuelled with rage, she grabs Kandori and takes her out into the crowd, ramming her face into the chairs and barricades. We get a nice wide shot that zooms in to show them lost among the people, giving a nice chaotic feel.



With a chance for some recovery and the ref beckoning them back, Hokuto’s crew direct her away from Kandori and towards the ring. Kandori also returns, busted open as well now, but it is a trickle, giving a nice contrast to Hokuto’s crimson mask. Kandori looks like how normal bleeds look, putting Hokuto’s even more over the top.



The pro wrestler had taken the shooter to the outside, out of her comfort zone, and can now further exploit the ailing Kandori with a series of nasty kicks to the face, the first of which (giffed here) is in my avatar. When she gets too fancy and goes for a spin kick, Kandori catches her and shoves her down.



With an opening presenting itself, Kandori picks Hokuto up in a suplex and dumps her unceremoniously over the top rope, before quickly following it up with an unexpected plancha - the shooter is already feeling the need to go outside of her norm. It was not the most graceful, but proved effective.



Back in, Kandori goes for the arm but Hokuto makes the ropes. Hokuto manages to connect with her spin kick this time and both are feeling and selling the effects of the match. But Hokuto has been through the most and deserves special praise, as her facials and body language express her condition so well.



Hokuto misses a spin kick, which rather than coming across like a botch, looks like a genuine miss that could come from a tired participant in a fight, and Kandori immediately pounces, attempting a leg submission before Hokuto makes the ropes. After nailing a couple of nasty punches to the head, Kandori goes for the arm again, but Hokuto fights for her life, clinching her hands together.



After trading some submission attempts, Hokuto gets the chance to go up top and hits a big splash. It takes too much out of her to attempt to hold Kandori’s shoulders to the mat, so she crawls slowly to the other corner and attempts another, only to meet Kandori’s knees.



In a nice little spot, Kandori grabs Hokuto’s arm briefly, as if she is going to attack it again and then shifts to the waist and delivers a powerbomb instead. Kandori is annoyed by the kickout and slaps Hokuto on the head. This annoyance leads to a mistake on her part as she scales the ropes and attempts essentially a big fat nothing, which Hokuto swats away. Normally this would be hated by me, but here it completely works because she looked like she did not know what she was doing. And she should not, as that is not her game. She got away with the plancha earlier, but not this.



Hokuto lands a German before scaling the ropes, as a big move off the top might be her best chance to turn the tide. But Kandori catches her and yanks her down and just starts swinging her by the neck in a tremendous looking spot, before cinching in a choke and just going wild in it. Hokuto grabs the hair and kicks at the head to break it before the determined Kandori reapplies. After a long struggle, Hokuto manages to make the ropes. If she was being more level-headed, this would be a chance for Kandori to go for the arm, but she is starting to lose her composure. Winning strategies often get abandoned or forgotten about in the heat of the moment. Hokuto is refusing to quit and Kandori just wanted to choke the life out of her.



Kandori has been in charge for the majority of this match with Hokuto fighting to hang on, but Hokuto is used to gritting things out. Kandori is tough in the sense of being a badass who dishes out punishment. Hokuto is tough in the sense of taking all the punishment and never giving up. Kandori is showing her frustration. It is becoming a war of attrition and the shooter may be starting to wear down.

Kandori goes for another powerbomb but Hokuto has it scouted this time and counters with a hurricanranna in another nice example of learned psychology. She manages to hit a powerbomb of her own, followed by a spin kick that knocks Kandori to the floor. Hokuto musters up enough to hit a tope con hilo, which looks particularly violent with her getting great speed on the rotation. Hokuto then crawls back into the ring and reaches down into her reserves to hit a top rope dropkick to the floor while one of her crew holds Kandori in place – she needs all the help she can get. That took almost as much out of her as her opponent, but it gives her a break from the punishment, as both are near their limit on the floor.



Hokuto calls for her finisher the Northern Lights Bomb, but that bit of pro wrestling playing to the crowd for approval costs her and Kandori rolls through and goes for the arm, but Hokuto desperately writhes to try to get to the ropes. After the set-up in the opening minutes, every time Kandori goes for the arm, the crowd buy that it could be the finish. Just to add an extra touch of tension to this incredibly dramatic match, she reaches for and touches the turnbuckle pad to get the break but the pad is not the rope and the ref correctly does not break until she grabs it.



After a Tiger Driver and a back of the head clothesline, Kandori just slaps Hokuto down and taunts her. Hokuto had been playing to the crowd a moment ago and now the shooter wants to act the tough guy. Rather than finishing the job, she is making a classic arrogant mistake and Hokuto counters her next attack, landing a suplex for a nearfall.



Hokuto again calls for but this time also hits her Northern Lights Bomb but Kandori kicks out of her finisher. She goes for one more but Kandori counters and decides to do a bit of finisher stealing and hits one of her own. Hokuto has been hit with her own move, by an outsider, on the mat bearing her promotion’s logo, on the show to celebrate its 25th anniversary. She will not allow herself to be pinned in such a manner and musters the strength to kick out.



On top of the rest of the match, both have now been levelled with a Northern Lights Bomb and the effects are setting in. They struggle to their feet and Hokuto lands a big right hand, felling Kandori but collapsing herself. They struggle to their feet again and this time Kandori levels Hokuto with a right before falling to her knees.



Both struggle up one last time and land simultaneous right hands to the face. Hokuto crawls over and gets the 1-2-3.



Did Hokuto get the better of the stereo punch? Or did she just have that bit more inside to still be able to crawl over and make the pin? Either way, her performance overall could not have been a better demonstration of her company’s slogan. Victory Through Guts indeed. *****

Aftermath
At AJW Dream Slam II, 9 days later, these two would meet again in a tag featuring Aja Kong as Hokuto’s partner and Eagle Sawai as Kandori’s . The match finished with Hokuto going for revenge by attempting to rip Kandori’s arm off and Kandori turning the tables and dislocating it again, causing the ref to stop the match. Between this tag and their rematch, Hokuto would attempt to go after the ace Aja Kong and her WWWA World Title but typically would legit injure her knee before the match. The match went ahead (and Kong won) because Hokuto is all heart, but she insisted the title not be on the line, so as to not tarnish it with her likely limited challenge. At the same time, Kandori started a feud with the former AJW ace Bull Nakano. The Hokuto/Kandori rematch occurred on December 6th at AJW St. Battle Final where, while her crew cried and held each other back, Kandori destroyed Hokuto with an uppercut to get the pinfall. It was well-known that Hokuto was pushing her body beyond its limits and the emotion from her stablemates was not simply good acting. She would only wrestle on three AJW shows in 1994 and each was treated as if it could be her last. The first of these would see the end of the Hokuto/Kandori story on March 27th at AJW Wrestling Queendom. The match was voted for by fans and pitted the ultimate joshi monster team of Aja Kong & Bull Nakano, who had begun teaming towards the end of their near 3-year feud which saw Kong supplant Nakano as the company ace, against fierce enemies Akira Hokuto & Shinobu Kandori. In order to survive, the rivals would need to do what their opponents had previously done and come together as a team. Hokuto had past history as both a partner and rival of Nakano and had her injury-stricken attempt at Kong the prior year. Kandori had a hot feud across the ring in Bull but also in her own corner with Hokuto. At the beginning of the match, they started fighting with each other over who will start the match, would tag each other in with slaps to the face and would do little to help the other when in trouble. But as the match wore on and they were getting destroyed by the monsters, they would learn to work together as a team, climaxing with Hokuto getting her big pin over Kong. Post-match, with Kandori leaning on the ropes and Hokuto on her knees, Hokuto put her hand out. The stoic Kandori teased leaving, before slapping her hand with a slight smirk on her face. Mutual respect had been earned.

Conclusion
This was a match that changed my perception of what women’s wrestling could be when I first saw it in the mid-00s. I was blown away by the intensity, the hatred, the violence, the blood and the drama. It has lost none of its potency for me. Even when I only knew the bare bones of the story, I thought it was one of the greatest matches I had ever seen. Discovering the rich history of their characters, their feud and joshi puroresu in general has only enhanced it.

These women put a sense of fight and struggle into practically everything they did. They made you feel their hatred for each other. They made you feel their pain, determination and exhaustion. They acted in ways that made sense to their characters and demonstrated their personalities. They paced it just right to give everything time to breath. They told a phenomenal and dramatic story, filled with incredible visuals and masterful selling, and both came out of it enhanced. Kandori looked like one bad bitch and Hokuto looked like the gutsiest wrestler around, to her own detriment.

Even though there are many great ones, this is still the greatest women’s wrestling match that I have ever seen and among the select handful of greatest wrestling matches full stop. When you get into the elite of the elite and begin talking about something being #1, nit picking becomes inevitable. This match does feature some walk and brawl into the crowd, which is pretty much universally awful. Even though it worked for me in this match in the sense of taking Kandori out into where she is not comfortable to get some revenge and to get the upper hand, whenever anyone grabs their opponent by the head and just walks with them, there will be at least some mild deductions. The finish was absolutely perfect for the story of the match and I can only imagine how awful it would've been if they blew off all their work and went for some big, high-energy, climactic ending. But when other elite matches have such an ending that fits, it is something that could help push them over the top at Hokuto/Kandori's expense.

Oh Strobe how I love thee so

That whole post is just sweet. I will be coming back to it for sure. My fan fic definitely led me down the rabbit hole of Takada winning the IWGP belt in January 96 and the whole UWFI shoot invasion there in 1995. I was always aware of this angle(and that it inspired the NWO) but didn't realize that Takada had won that title in such a big match on such a big show like that(the impression I always got was that it was a lopsided deal for NJPW making Takada/UWFI look weak). I feel like the Takada Dojo really just wasn't deep enough to complete the takeover. Takada was god of course, but the rest of the UWFI dojo was pretty thin. I didn't realize that Kazuo Yamazaki had left UWFI to go back to NJPW long before that angle started(in the storyline he was training NJPW guys how to beat the shooters of UWFI), also Kiyoshi Tamura jumped ship to Rings about that time as well(he and Takada had an epic fight in Pride that I never realized this context about until recent years). Sakuraba wasn't quite the hero he would become yet(he was a jobber). So with that it's understandable why they got dominated by NJPW on the undercards looking at who UWFI had left by 1995. Yoji Anjo and Kanehara were the best Takada could come up with for a Hall/Nash and they just weren't going to cut it. If they had Yamazaki and Tamura all of history could have been different, they could have taken NJPW down. They failed and shoot style died, kids today think all of that shit is UFC. Karl Gotch and Billy Robinson are rolling over in their graves. 

I also love the story of Lou Thesz giving Takada his old Championship belt to use as the real world title(and then taking it back because of his disapproval of what they had going on with NJPW).

Finally sat down to watch Hashimoto vs Takada truly spectacular spectacle all the way around. I can’t help but feel like the wrong guy won though.

Also Hashimoto has the exact same body as my papaw back in the day. When my uncles used to tell me he could kick Hulk Hogans ass and I just refused to believe it. But now I’m sure of it.

Mar 9, 2023 12:14:04 GMT Neo Zeed said:

Finally sat down to watch Hashimoto vs Takada truly spectacular spectacle all the way around. I can’t help but feel like the wrong guy won though.

Any particular reason you feel this way?

Mar 15, 2023 18:26:49 GMT Strobe said:

Mar 9, 2023 12:14:04 GMT Neo Zeed said:

Finally sat down to watch Hashimoto vs Takada truly spectacular spectacle all the way around. I can’t help but feel like the wrong guy won though.

Any particular reason you feel this way?

I just feel like it would have made for a better more dramatic finish. That was one thing the vibe of the match was that the finish was just laid out and predetermined going in. Also I wish I knew more about the whole storyline of the UWFI invasion, like what was happening from week to week. All I’ve read or seen was the major supercards and the angle with Yamazaki training NJPW guys how to shoot with UWFI guys. But knowing what we know of Takada and what was built off of him with Pride, which became truly a national pop culture phenomenon in Japan at its height, what could have been had they tried to keep him stronger. I’m under the impression that all of this hurt Takada drawings power and killed UWFI for good. That next year they got the Yakuza connections to pay Rickson for Pride 1 at the dome

What was to come of New Japan in 1997 and the years after the UWFI angle? I don't know anything about it but it's hard for me to imagine they had anything like what Pride had with Takada until he retired in the end of 2002, and he was huge even after getting just dominated in the shoot MMA fights(2 against Rickson Gracie). Imagine how huge he would have been had you been able to control his wins/losses in a pro wrestling environment those years(they were doing UWFI style worked shoots with Takada at Pride 3, 5, and 6 though he did the job at Pride 6), the guy to me seemed like a missed opportunity on NJPW's behalf. Were they just dead set on jobbing him out and not using him anymore? Pride 1 and 4 with Takada were Tokyo Dome shows in 97-98, then the 2000 Grand Prix opening round was close to 50,000 Tokyo Dome show with him vs Royce Gracie. I believe Pride 17 and 23 were at Tokyo Dome and did over 50,000 with him on top of the card(23 was his retirement fight against Tamura). 

Mar 15, 2023 19:28:10 GMT Neo Zeed said:

I just feel like it would have made for a better more dramatic finish. That was one thing the vibe of the match was that the finish was just laid out and predetermined going in.

I think it is one of the greatest finishes in wrestling history in large part due to the crowd reaction. They absolutely explode when Hash hits the brainbuster, then go even higher for the tap out. A giant stadium crowd went there to watch their man Hash win the belt back for New Japan. Takada winning would have been a terrible finish in my opinion. That would be Andre over Hogan at Mania III.

Mar 15, 2023 19:28:10 GMT Neo Zeed said:

Also I wish I knew more about the whole storyline of the UWFI invasion, like what was happening from week to week. All I’ve read or seen was the major supercards and the angle with Yamazaki training NJPW guys how to shoot with UWFI guys. But knowing what we know of Takada and what was built off of him with Pride, which became truly a national pop culture phenomenon in Japan at its height, what could have been had they tried to keep him stronger. I’m under the impression that all of this hurt Takada drawings power and killed UWFI for good. That next year they got the Yakuza connections to pay Rickson for Pride 1 at the dome

UWFi was on life support, which is why they came in to do the angle. Takada had left New Japan twice before, first for UWF and then UWFi, so it makes sense why New Japan wanted to humble him by having him lose the first match back. And you could argue that jobbing him to Muto in the first match was a terrible idea, but ultimately they still drew massive crowds for the Muto rematch where Takada won the title and where Hash won it back.

Mar 15, 2023 22:22:23 GMT Neo Zeed said:

What was to come of New Japan in 1997 and the years after the UWFI angle? I don't know anything about it but it's hard for me to imagine they had anything like what Pride had with Takada until he retired in the end of 2002, and he was huge even after getting just dominated in the shoot MMA fights(2 against Rickson Gracie). Imagine how huge he would have been had you been able to control his wins/losses in a pro wrestling environment those years(they were doing UWFI style worked shoots with Takada at Pride 3, 5, and 6 though he did the job at Pride 6), the guy to me seemed like a missed opportunity on NJPW's behalf. Were they just dead set on jobbing him out and not using him anymore? Pride 1 and 4 with Takada were Tokyo Dome shows in 97-98, then the 2000 Grand Prix opening round was close to 50,000 Tokyo Dome show with him vs Royce Gracie. I believe Pride 17 and 23 were at Tokyo Dome and did over 50,000 with him on top of the card(23 was his retirement fight against Tamura). 

In totality, New Japan was the most successful pro wrestling promotion in the world in the 90s and great success continued in the late 90s after Hash beat Takada. Based on the number of 30k+ shows he headlined across the 90s, Hashimoto is a contender for biggest draw of the decade.

1/4/97 (Tokyo Dome): 52,500 (Hash successfully defends against Choshu)
4/12/97 (Tokyo Dome): 50,500 (Olympic silver medallist judoka Ogawa shockingly TKOs Hash in a non-title match; original plan was Hash vs. Shamrock before Fed signed him)
5/3/97 (Osaka Dome): 43,000 (In the title rematch, Hash successfully defends against Ogawa)
8/10/97 (Osaka Dome): 43,000 (Hash successfully defends against Tenzan)

Four 40k+ shows in 7 months with Hash on top. But then the problem became Inoki's influence on the booking, which eventually ruined things. He wanted to go in a pseudo-shooty MMA direction, which given the rising popularity of MMA was not a bad idea in and of itself. But the booking of the Ogawa feud from here and not giving Hash the big win the fans wanted killed him. Still, look at these giant crowds multiple times a year.

11/2/97 (Osaka Dome): 48,000
1/4/98 (Tokyo Dome): 55,000
4/4/98 (Tokyo Dome): 57,000 (Inoki retirement)
8/8/98 (Osaka Dome): 35,000
1/4/99 (Tokyo Dome): 53,000 (after splitting their first two matches, legit Ogawa "shoots" on Hash and kicks the shit out of the supposed badass)
4/10/99 (Tokyo Dome): 53,000
10/11/99 (Tokyo Dome): 48,000 (Ogawa goes over Hash strong again)
1/4/00 (Tokyo Dome): 53,500
4/7/00 (Tokyo Dome): 40,000 (Ogawa goes over Hash yet again, absolutely killing him; note the crowd is the smallest Tokyo Dome attendance since they started running it in 1989)

The "shoot" angle on 1/4/99 wasn't even a bad idea. Get people to doubt Hash. Hash doubts himself as well. It leads to the 10/11/99 match.



Go to 11:30 and watch the next 2 minutes. Shooter Ogawa taunting Hash and Hash is in the corner doubting himself. He can't take the humiliating slaps any more and goes after Ogawa and the Dome is molten. They want their guy to smash this fucker and win. But instead they do a finish where Ogawa is dominating Hash so badly and guest ref Fujinami won't stop it until Inoki comes out and calls it off. They absolutely missed the boat here.

But the feud didn't end there, they gave themselves another chance. It still wasn't quite too late. Hash reconciled with Inoki, with Inoki becoming his trainer. His team beats Ogawa's in a tag on the 1/4/00 Dome Show and we are set for the redemption, the climax of the story. Hash to prove himself as the badass that the fans always thought he was by beating Ogawa. Hash has trimmed down and has a new haircut, signs of a new mentality. So does he overcome Ogawa at last? No. For a third singles match in a row, New Japan's biggest star of the 90s is decisively beaten by Ogawa, despite the fans being desperate for him to win. Never has a company done their top star this dirty. It may be the worst booking in wrestling history. Destroying your biggest draw for seemingly no good reason other than Inoki loving the legitness.

In the early 00s, Inoki would push this shit further and encourage his guys to go in to actual MMA fights, where they were easily beaten, destroying their credibility.

Yuji Nagata has been in two MMA fights ever. On New Year's Eve 2001 and 2003. Against fucking Cro Cop and Fedor. Each fight went as well as you'd expect.




New Japan put the belt on him for a year in between these 2 fights. The sorts of decisions that had New Japan business in the toilet in the mid-00s and took Tanahashi many years to get it back up to a good level.

So interesting and really new stuff to me. As a Pride loyalist this really is some great context. Pride in Japan really became like a pop culture phenomenon, at some point I believe it was a hit on network television over there comparable to like what some of the singing shows here in America like American Idol in the early 2000's. It was a huge mainstream deal. Can't be understated how crucial Takada was to it becoming that(something that American MMA Pride fans probably are oblivious of the degree of, really Pride was marketed/produced for America as something totally different from what it was in Japan).

I know all of this was interweaving in and out of Pride throughout, Ogawa was huge in Pride he was in the 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix and they laid him out an easy path to the final four with him in a really easy part of the bracket(and some of his wins in that tournament I wouldn't be surprised if they were works if I went back and rewatched them knowing what I know now).

Also Kazayuki Fujita was massive in Pride and always had Inoki around him when he fought like it was his manager or something.

Mar 17, 2023 2:15:09 GMT Strobe said:

Mar 15, 2023 19:28:10 GMT Neo Zeed said:

I just feel like it would have made for a better more dramatic finish. That was one thing the vibe of the match was that the finish was just laid out and predetermined going in.

I think it is one of the greatest finishes in wrestling history in large part due to the crowd reaction. They absolutely explode when Hash hits the brainbuster, then go even higher for the tap out. A giant stadium crowd went there to watch their man Hash win the belt back for New Japan. Takada winning would have been a terrible finish in my opinion. That would be Andre over Hogan at Mania III.

Mar 15, 2023 19:28:10 GMT Neo Zeed said:

Also I wish I knew more about the whole storyline of the UWFI invasion, like what was happening from week to week. All I’ve read or seen was the major supercards and the angle with Yamazaki training NJPW guys how to shoot with UWFI guys. But knowing what we know of Takada and what was built off of him with Pride, which became truly a national pop culture phenomenon in Japan at its height, what could have been had they tried to keep him stronger. I’m under the impression that all of this hurt Takada drawings power and killed UWFI for good. That next year they got the Yakuza connections to pay Rickson for Pride 1 at the dome

UWFi was on life support, which is why they came in to do the angle. Takada had left New Japan twice before, first for UWF and then UWFi, so it makes sense why New Japan wanted to humble him by having him lose the first match back. And you could argue that jobbing him to Muto in the first match was a terrible idea, but ultimately they still drew massive crowds for the Muto rematch where Takada won the title and where Hash won it back.

Mar 15, 2023 22:22:23 GMT Neo Zeed said:

What was to come of New Japan in 1997 and the years after the UWFI angle? I don't know anything about it but it's hard for me to imagine they had anything like what Pride had with Takada until he retired in the end of 2002, and he was huge even after getting just dominated in the shoot MMA fights(2 against Rickson Gracie). Imagine how huge he would have been had you been able to control his wins/losses in a pro wrestling environment those years(they were doing UWFI style worked shoots with Takada at Pride 3, 5, and 6 though he did the job at Pride 6), the guy to me seemed like a missed opportunity on NJPW's behalf. Were they just dead set on jobbing him out and not using him anymore? Pride 1 and 4 with Takada were Tokyo Dome shows in 97-98, then the 2000 Grand Prix opening round was close to 50,000 Tokyo Dome show with him vs Royce Gracie. I believe Pride 17 and 23 were at Tokyo Dome and did over 50,000 with him on top of the card(23 was his retirement fight against Tamura). 

In totality, New Japan was the most successful pro wrestling promotion in the world in the 90s and great success continued in the late 90s after Hash beat Takada. Based on the number of 30k+ shows he headlined across the 90s, Hashimoto is a contender for biggest draw of the decade.

1/4/97 (Tokyo Dome): 52,500 (Hash successfully defends against Choshu)
4/12/97 (Tokyo Dome): 50,500 (Olympic silver medallist judoka Ogawa shockingly TKOs Hash in a non-title match; original plan was Hash vs. Shamrock before Fed signed him)
5/3/97 (Osaka Dome): 43,000 (In the title rematch, Hash successfully defends against Ogawa)
8/10/97 (Osaka Dome): 43,000 (Hash successfully defends against Tenzan)

Four 40k+ shows in 7 months with Hash on top. But then the problem became Inoki's influence on the booking, which eventually ruined things. He wanted to go in a pseudo-shooty MMA direction, which given the rising popularity of MMA was not a bad idea in and of itself. But the booking of the Ogawa feud from here and not giving Hash the big win the fans wanted killed him. Still, look at these giant crowds multiple times a year.

11/2/97 (Osaka Dome): 48,000
1/4/98 (Tokyo Dome): 55,000
4/4/98 (Tokyo Dome): 57,000 (Inoki retirement)
8/8/98 (Osaka Dome): 35,000
1/4/99 (Tokyo Dome): 53,000 (after splitting their first two matches, legit Ogawa "shoots" on Hash and kicks the shit out of the supposed badass)
4/10/99 (Tokyo Dome): 53,000
10/11/99 (Tokyo Dome): 48,000 (Ogawa goes over Hash strong again)
1/4/00 (Tokyo Dome): 53,500
4/7/00 (Tokyo Dome): 40,000 (Ogawa goes over Hash yet again, absolutely killing him; note the crowd is the smallest Tokyo Dome attendance since they started running it in 1989)

The "shoot" angle on 1/4/99 wasn't even a bad idea. Get people to doubt Hash. Hash doubts himself as well. It leads to the 10/11/99 match.



Go to 11:30 and watch the next 2 minutes. Shooter Ogawa taunting Hash and Hash is in the corner doubting himself. He can't take the humiliating slaps any more and goes after Ogawa and the Dome is molten. They want their guy to smash this fucker and win. But instead they do a finish where Ogawa is dominating Hash so badly and guest ref Fujinami won't stop it until Inoki comes out and calls it off. They absolutely missed the boat here.

But the feud didn't end there, they gave themselves another chance. It still wasn't quite too late. Hash reconciled with Inoki, with Inoki becoming his trainer. His team beats Ogawa's in a tag on the 1/4/00 Dome Show and we are set for the redemption, the climax of the story. Hash to prove himself as the badass that the fans always thought he was by beating Ogawa. Hash has trimmed down and has a new haircut, signs of a new mentality. So does he overcome Ogawa at last? No. For a third singles match in a row, New Japan's biggest star of the 90s is decisively beaten by Ogawa, despite the fans being desperate for him to win. Never has a company done their top star this dirty. It may be the worst booking in wrestling history. Destroying your biggest draw for seemingly no good reason other than Inoki loving the legitness.

In the early 00s, Inoki would push this shit further and encourage his guys to go in to actual MMA fights, where they were easily beaten, destroying their credibility.

Yuji Nagata has been in two MMA fights ever. On New Year's Eve 2001 and 2003. Against fucking Cro Cop and Fedor. Each fight went as well as you'd expect.




New Japan put the belt on him for a year in between these 2 fights. The sorts of decisions that had New Japan business in the toilet in the mid-00s and took Tanahashi many years to get it back up to a good level.

Super grateful for this info and the link to the Takada vs Hashimoto match for me to watch. You make pretty slam dunk case for why this angle went down like it did. I’m still just left amazed at how much even bigger this all could have been had the politics not come into play. Just imagine a longer Takada title reign with him defending the IWGP belt in a few hybrid rules matches against boxers/martial artists before dropping it to Hashimoto. As big as it was I’m still left believing this could have been even bigger and changed all of history like for mma and everything. Pride kept the sport of mma alive and thrust it forward progressively while it was dead in the USA(ECW was bigger than the UFC in 1999-2000).

Also always questioned the theory wrestling fans online have about the NJPW guys losing to Fedor and Cro Cop being devastating for their business. I always wondered if this was really true to that degree, the bad booking of Hashimoto that you laid out to me seems like a much more plausible explanation. I feel like it’s something that is really lost to translation in Japanese culture for somebody from wrestling to have the courage to fight Cro Cop and Fedor is huge, regardless if they win or lose a fight like that because those guys were legit the most dangerous bipedal mammals on earth at the time. To fight Cro Cop at that time was to face your own death. Winning and losing a situation like that matters much less in Japanese culture in Pride it was more about facing the impossible challenge. In Pride the culture was that you were better for facing an impossible challenge and being defeated valiantly than for somebody to win easy/even matchups. Guys who won boring fights weren’t brought back, smaller guys that would fight Bob Sapp and lose were made guys. This was the reason why they kept feeding so many undersized and overmatched Japanese challengers against Wanderlei Silva when he was a juiced out axe murderer killing people, and it routinely sold out Saitama Super Arena every time. It was different in Japan.



I have a theory that Pride got so hot it was like WWF Attitude Era in the USA, there was nothing really any other promotion could do and there was no choice but to acknowledge their influence on your industry. In 1999 even the UFC scrambled to find a bald headed guy with a goatee to put their title on(in a rigged decision no less).

Much like Baker with Lonesome Dove it's finally time for me to sit down and absorb this Akira Hokuto vs Shinobui Kandori match/angle that Strobe has been putting over so beautifully on PW for years.

Does anybody have one of those google drive links to the Jericho vs Ultimo Dragon match in War in July 1995 from the War anniversary show? I thought I found it on Youtube but it was a much shorter match, like 7-9 minutes, the one that everybody was raving about was the 20 minute match from the anniversary show.

Also fun fact I stumbled upon recently, Pride 17 was one of the big Nobuhiko Takada Tokyo Dome shows in 2001, I just learned that it was supposed to be Takada vs Ogawa but the match fell apart, Takada fought Cro Cop in what I'm sure has to be a work(I don't remember it I actually don't think it was included in the US version DVD I have for the show because it was obvious work). Pride 17 to this day is still like a top 10 biggest crowds in MMA or boxing history close to 60,000. I haven't seen that one in a very long time, I will have to dig it out soon.