Welcome back fans of phony fisticuffs!
Its review number 20 which means its time for another instalment of...
The Weekly Watchlist Wrestling Roulette!
For those who weren't around for post 10 where I first introduced Wrestling Roulette, let me give you a quick breakdown of the concept and basic rules. For those who don't know, I keep a spreadsheet with a running list of wrestling matches from all over the world and from all periods in history. It serves as both a record of what I've watched and enjoyed the most (or least, for some matches) as well as keeping track of matches I want to check out. I'm up to over 1300 entries right now and it keeps growing every day.
Too often I get in a pattern with my watching and don't stray too far from the norm. Lately I've been working on catching up on DPW as well as just staying up to date with current AEW, WWE and TNA on the side. I haven't had much variety lately and I think I'm in desperate need of it. Wrestling Roulette is the perfect answer to this! For one full week, I force myself to watch whatever match a random number generator picks for me. I do have rules I've set out and will allow myself some wiggle room but, for the most part, I stay pretty consistent to the formula.
Here are my 3 rules;
1: I am allowed to pick 5 matches of my own from the list/not on the list I want to watch
2: I am allowed as many rerolls as necessary until I land on a match I have not watched yet.
3: I am allowed 3 rerolls total if I land on a match I do not want to watch.
I'm also adding an extra piece to rule number 3, if a match is too difficult to find/requires paying for a service I'm not wanting to pay for just yet, it can be skipped for free. I just don't want to spend an hour digging for a match that might not even be available or worth looking for. On top of that, I can't afford to subscribe to 15 different streaming services in a week. That's ridiculous.
Like my previous Wrestling Roulette, I'll be giving more matches the spotlight this week but with a less in depth review. If I feel they warrant a bigger review, they may get one later down the line, but nothing this week is getting as much time or effort as a match from any other watchlist post does. I just don't have the time for it.
Here's what the roulette wheel spun up for me this week;
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW Super Power Series 1997 - Day 16 - 06/06/1997
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| Destined to do this dance forever. AJPW |
Oh, c'mon? You guys really thought that, even with the insane RNG of going through over 1400 matches we wouldn't end up on a Misawa match? Let alone one against Kawada? Me neither! I'm just as shocked as you are! I knew I added every single match between Kawada and Misawa a while back but I can’t say I was expecting this. Regardless, what a treat this was! It's been some time since I've watched any All Japan and man, have I missed it! Let's get right into this, shall we?
In many ways, you could say that Misawa and Kawada are two sides of the same coin, that their stories are interchangeable and similar in many ways. Both started with amateur wrestling, went on excursion to Mexico and America respectively within a year of each other, both were getting more and more spotlight in their respective divisions after returning from their excursion, and both were picked early by Giant Baba to lead All Japan to the future as he started to step back from in ring work due to his age, eventually making up 2 of the Four Heavenly Kings of Wrestling. Ignoring the fact that Misawa and Kawada were already close friends before they ever stepped foot in the ring,
This match has a much different feeling to it than that match, you know which one I'm talking about. The one that you need only say the date "06/03/94" and wrestling fans the world over know exactly what you are talking about. That match felt competitive and gritty, whereas this one feels like they're out for blood right from the word go. Maybe the fact that Kawada is missing half of his front teeth changes the feeling of this match, could just be a me thing though.
Not even 5 minutes in and Misawa already has Kawada rolling to the outside for air and he drills him with a Tiger Driver on the floor. What the fuck?! They're setting the tone for this match early in a way I was not expecting. I was on the edge of my seat already. Kawada meets Misawa's intensity head on, holding Misawa's arm as if he's about to ripcord him out for the Rainmaker years before Okada ever dreamt up the move, and running him the length of the ring, crashing Misawa's arm into the barricade!
If there's one word to describe this match, it’s malice. Misawa drops Kawada on his head with a german suplex but Kawada rolls through and roars at Misawa in defiance, only to get a forearm through his face in response. This is brutal, this verges on assault at times and it goes on for 30 straight minutes. I'm jonesing for painkillers just thinking about it. Kawada even gets Misawa in a stretch plum that made me audibly gasp from how nasty it looked. He had Misawa in agony.
One thing you'll see get brought up about this match in particular when people talk about it is "the finish would have been so good if it wasn't for the botch at the end!" and knowing this going into the match, I was paying close attention as I started to see the video get closer to the end. I was trying to rack my brain for what it could possibly be, "was it that? That didn't look that bad at all!" "Maybe someone misses a kick and the other guy takes the fall? I doubt it." It had to be something really egregious to make some people consider this match a step below some other all time classics.
Misawa is hammering Kawada with elbows, shot after shot until he hits the ropes for the killing blow but Kawada drops to his knees and collapses seconds before impact, exhaustion saving him from disaster. Misawa pulls him back up and Kawada finds a surge of life, trading blows with his adversary in the centre until Misawa delivers the finishing blow, dropping Kawada as he falls down with him, folding him for a tight 3! But the referee stops the count without Kawada kicking out. The fuck ref?!
Kawada can barely stand as Misawa picks him up and drills him with a german suplex, bridging for the final, actual 3 count.
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| Surely this must be enough. AJPW |
An incredible match, simple as that. Sure you could knock a few points off it for the botch but that wasn't on Misawa or Kawada, the referee saw something or thought the match wasn't meant to end right then and there so he flubbed the count. It's a shame it happened right before the end of such a great match but I don't think it really takes away from the rest of the action. Watch this match immediately.
Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa - NOAH Navigation Against The Current - Day 11 - 11/01/2003
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| In defence of his crown. NOAH |
In a similar vein to how I added all of Misawa and Kawada's matches against each other, I went through and added all of Kenta Kobashi's matches during his mammoth run with NOAH's GHC Heavyweight title, considered by many to be one of the single best runs with any world title ever. The very best run anyone has had with the GHC title, anyway. I remember seeing matches against Misawa, Yuji Nagata, Minoru Suzuki, Akira Taue and others, but Yoshinari Ogawa was someone I'd never heard of, like many wrestlers from the land of the rising sun.
What interested me more than this guy being completely unknown to me, I'm always excited to see wrestlers I've never heard of before have exceptional matches, was the fact that this guy was considerably smaller than Kobashi. Over the years, Kobashi went from being a fairly big guy when compared to his contemporaries in Japan during the boom period of the 90's, to being an absolute monster during his NOAH run in the 2000's. Just look at the difference in Kobashi's chest alone from 1995 to 2003. He looks like he ate the orange trunk version of himself. He's a monster! How in the world is this guy gonna survive 10 seconds with Kobashi?! I was excited to find out.
I hate to use my western fan for this match, but the best way I can describe this match is that it is very... WWE? God, I sound like such a pleb trying to describe the match this way, but watch it and you'll see what I mean! Sure, Japan has had its fair share of David vs. Goliath type matches, and its probably had just as many matches with clear cut, black and white divisions between a heel and a face, but this match just felt like a level above anything I've seen, at least. Feel free to write in and tell me how wrong I am, I'm here to learn.
Now that I'm through showing my ignorance, lets get into the match itself. Ogawa starts the match out by spitting water in the face of Kobashi and peppering him with strikes. He drops him and starts laying in punch after punch, but waits too long as he antagonizes the crowd and Kobashi is back up, backing him into the corner with his signature chops. When Kobashi is in control, he squashes the offence of Ogawa and uses his size, power and skill advantage to keep him at bay. But when Ogawa is on top, he relies on, or should I say resorts to, underhanded tactics to make sure he stays firmly in control.
Kobashi drops Ogawa with a spinning throat chop that flattens Ogawa out of the corner. The referee tends to Ogawa and backs Kobashi up against the ropes. With his back turned, Ogawa springs to his feet and chop block's Kobashi's left leg, a weakness that he zero's in on with disturbing precision for the entire match. He rips the knee pad off the leg to expose the wrapping, bending and twisting the leg with vicious submission holds. Kobashi finds windows to fend Ogawa off, but he always finds a way to bring the massive Kobashi down, even blocking an irish whip attempt by kicking the wounded knee of Kobashi to half his mounting offence.
We even get a ref bump in this match! Look man, I may be insane for saying it, but it's feeling mighty western in this NOAH ring. With the ref down, Ogawa uses the ring bell to damage the knee further before he drags Kobashi to the corner and pulls him outside. He lines Kobashi's head up with the corner post but gets blocked, ultimately eating the ringpost himself and the crowd explodes! When Ogawa staggers to his feet, he's a bloody mess. From this point on the match is almost entirely Kobashi punishing Ogawa. His strikes hit the bullseye on the forehead of Ogawa, knife hand after punch, over and over. Suplex's, superplex's, DDT's on the ramp and back body drops. Ogawa is able to sneak in a low blow but it makes little difference in the end.
Kobashi gets Ogawa up and over with a big pumphandle suplex but only gets 2. He lines Ogawa up for a big lariat but Ogawa is able to leap up across the back of Kobashi in an attempt to pull him down into a crucifix pin! Kobashi stops that pretty quickly, tossing Ogawa down and clocking him with a lariat. Rising to his feet, Kobashi senses the end is near as he stands over his prey and beckons into the crowd. He pulls Ogawa up by the hair and holds him in place, cleaving his head from his shoulders with a Burning Lariat for 3.
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| Off with your head! NOAH |
This match really caught me by surprise. I mean I knew it was gonna be pretty good, considering how glowingly everyone talks about this specific run in Kobashi's career, how bad can this match be? It met and exceeded every expectation. I was secretly hoping this was one of the 7 matches Kobashi let the Burning Hammer fly but that's his DEFCON 0 move, the equivalent of the nuclear option. Ogawa isn't on that level, brother.
Roderick Strong vs. Timothy Thatcher - Prestige Combat Clash PDX - 07/12/2024
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| Coming out the gates hot. Prestige |
This match fell into my lap for Roulette this week and I was so pleasantly surprised. Not only had I forgotten that I added the entire card for this show to my spreadsheet, I forgot Thatcher and Roddy had a match this year! Thatcher is one of my favourite wrestlers on the planet, his no flash, all business, catch style of wrestling has me glued to the screen and grinning like a fool whenever he's on. Roddy is one of the best dudes going and has had new life breathed into him after signing with AEW and making his way around the indies. I was very, very excited about this match.
This match is exactly what you'd think it would be, Roddy and Thatcher spend most of the time on the mat working through holds, counter holds, and trying to punish each other into submission. Its fair to say that these two are pretty evenly matched, while Thatcher may be one of the most proficient "catch" style wrestlers going, lets not forget that Roddy is no slouch between the ropes either. He's technically sound and can work just about any opponent or match type you put him in, don't let his WWE run trick you into thinking Roddy can't hang with the very best; he is the very best.
It's tricky to review a match of this style without going into a "this move into this move then transitioned to this move which turned into this move" type review, which I'm trying to keep away from still. Especially when the grappling is as sound and tight as what these two are doing, I really do it no justice breaking it down move by move, you just need to see it to understand why its so good.
Roddy gets tired of exchanging holds and sends Thatcher to the outside, chasing after him with chops as he begs off around the ring. Blocking a punch, Thatcher grabs the left arm of Roddy and backs himself to the apron, wrapping the arm and twisting at the wrist, suddenly putting Roddy in a dangerous spot with his arm twisted back at a sickening angle. That's the most deceiving thing about a guy like Thatcher, even when he's on the defensive, he can still find a way to turn the tide in a second. Bending and twisting Roddy's arm, he puts his hand on the apron and holds it in place as he climbs up, now pinning his fingers under his boot. With Roddy's elbow pointing to the sky, Thatcher runs his knee through Roddy's elbow with disgusting impact.
Thatcher has created a weakness now, and is laser focused on destroying the left arm of Strong. Roddy still finds ways to mount offence that keeps Thatcher at bay, but the second Thatcher has a chance to even get near his left arm, he seizes on it and exploits the weakness. At one point, Thatcher is close to locking in his signature Fujiwara armbar but Roddy fights out of the hold, but can't get off his stomach. Changing gears, Thatcher works his way to his feet, standing on the shoulder of Roddy and straightening his arm out to its full length. With disgusting ease, Thatcher moves his pinning foot forward, pulling on the skin of Roddy and forcing his arm to twist and his body to contort, lifting him up off his stomach and putting all his weight on the shoulder joint. I was watching this with gritted teeth, the angle and twist Thatcher has Roddy in is horrific.
Roddy is able to fight his way out and starts to mount a comeback, stomping through the chest of Thatcher, chopping him from corner to corner, and continually finding ways to survive and break free from Thatcher's attempts to grind Strong into dust. With Thatcher on the top buckle, Roddy fights his way to a superplex, scoring a close 2. He tries to get Thatcher set up for End of Heartache but Thatcher is quick to get out, cracking Strong with European uppercuts as he backs into the ropes, rebounding with a huge jumping knee strike that drills Thatcher's skull for the pin!
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| Surprise! Prestige |
I had so much fun watching this match. It was a 15 minute sprint and they packed a lot in there. Both guys had their chance to shine and, even in defeat, Thatcher still came across as a legitimate threat to Strong. Sometimes these "out of nowhere" finishes can come across as lame or uninspired if done wrong, but with Thatcher so focused on weakening Roddy's arm to try and get him into the Fukiwara, it makes sense that Roddy would look for any chance he could to take Thatcher down, and he did exactly that. This whole show can be found on YouTube for free, I highly recommend you watch this match.
Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk - NWA The Great American Bash 1989 - 07/23/1989
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| Calling his shot. WCW |
This Roulette wheel keeps landing on some winners and I am loving it! Funk and Flair?! While WCW is still good?! How can this be bad? I've added a whole bunch of Terry Funk matches to my spreadsheet the past few weeks knowing I need to see more of his work from every era, the tag match I watched earlier this week against Baba and Jumbo was a 45 minute draw and was largely unremarkable so I didn't review that one, but this match had me fired up when I landed on it this week.
For those out there that are trying to put this match in the timeline with the other Funk/Flair matches from 1989, this happened before the Halloween Havoc Thunderdome Cage match I talked about in Watchlist 19, with their legendary "I Quit" match following their encounter in the cage. There's parts of the "I Quit" match I enjoy more than this one, but I still hold it on equal footing to that match. Funk and Flair know how to fucking wrestle. This is also coming off the heels of Terry's vicious attack on Flair following his legendary World Title match against Ricky Steamboat at WrestleWar '89, "injuring" Flair's neck and setting the rest of this rivalry in motion. IF you haven't seen Funk's turn following the match, you're doing yourself a disservice. Watch it right now. Go, you have my permission. Shoo.
Ok, you back? Incredible stuff right?! So, now that the table is set, I think we can sit down and enjoy this meal properly. Funk comes to the ring first and is dressed to kill, branding iron in his hand, swinging at the crowd while cops and Gary fucking Hart flanks him. Seriously, Gary has ice in his veins and death in his eyes. The Lapsed Fan co-chair's aren't exaggerating when they characterize him as a killer. His head is on a swivel and he's never more than arms reach away from a blade. Don't fuck with Gary Hart. Flair comes to the ring in his typical fashion, 4 beautiful women by his side, a robe worth more than my closet, and a World Heavyweight Championship worth more than my house.
They start brawling on the outside but it's Flair that gets back in the ring first, challenging Funk to follow him as he starts to march around ringside, furiously climbing the barrier trying to dismantle it as he swings at the loudmouth fans. Flair comes back out while Funk is distracted with the fans and blindsides him, punching him over and over as he lays out on a table at ringside. It should be noted that, with this being a Bash show, it also featured WarGames, so there's 2 rings set up tonight and both of them are seemingly legal, as Flair rolls into the far ring and the referee follows him in, not trying to get him to move to the ring closest to the entrance way.
The story of this match is the injured neck of Flair, with Funk being the one who caused the injury a few months ago and knows it will still be a sore spot. He tries to drill Flair with the piledriver that injured him but gets back body dropped out to the floor for his troubles instead. Rolling into the far ring, Flair decided to target Funk's neck and give him a taste. He grabs Funk's head and twists his neck three separate times, with Funk falling to the canvas and clutching at his neck each time but the referee, for whatever reason, doesn't check on him? Impartial referees? Never heard of 'em. Flair follows it up with a pair of knee drops across the neck and punctuates the damage with 2 piledrivers!
Funk tries to crawl up the entrance way to escape but Flair gives chase, getting Funk back in the ring and tying him up in the figure four! Gary Hart, however, always has an ace up his sleeve. He slides the branding iron in for Funk and distracts the ref, giving Funk a chance to crown Flair with the brand and toss it outside the ring before it gets found. Now, Flair is bleeding and Funk seizes on him, drilling him with a pilderiver but Flair's foot, thankfully, was under the bottom rope!
Mercifully, Flair is able to start fighting back! He steals the branding iron from Funk while Hart has the referee distracted again and goes to work, sending Funk face first into the ringpost and peppers him with corner mounted punches. Funk is punch drunk and both are losing blood, but Flair is on his feet and pushing the advantage. He has Funk in the corner slumped over, so he takes the chance to run from corner to corner with a running knee but Funk slips out, driving his knee into the middle turnbuckle instead!
Funk takes the opportunity to capitalize on Flair's mistake, pulling him by the newly injured leg and tying him up with the spinning toe hold! He makes a full rotation and starts for a second, but Flair catches his foot and Funk falls, going for the spinning toe hold himself but, of course, Funk knows exactly how to counter this move. He snags Flair by the head and pulls him in for an inside cradle, wrapping him up tight but Flair is able to shift his weight and hold Funk down in an inside cradle of his own for the 3!
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| Not so fast Funk! WCW |
This was an exceptional match. Neither guy did anything breathtaking of insane, but they told a really clean, clever story in this match and there was a real feeling of bitterness and hatred from Funk. You could tell he was trying to teach Flair a lesson after he felt like he was slighted months ago. Flair holds his own even if he does get beaten down and pushed to the limit in his first match back in 2 months. You really can't go wrong with a match between these 2 legends of the industry.
Well, that does it for Wrestling Roulette this week! It delivered just as I thought it would, a few gems, a few decent matches, and a stinker or two in there too. You get it all when you bet it all on black! Remember folks, next week is part 2 of my Halloween Havoc reviews that I started last week so the spreadsheet photo won't show any of those Havoc matches on them because I didn't watch them that week! It may seem kinda pointless to include a spreadsheet when none of it is relevant to whats being reviewed that week, but I don't want to break from tradition! Things will be back to normal the following week.
As always, shoot me an email if you've got anything you want to say. I'm waiting for that first email to land gracefully in my inbox. cliffmorganwstl@gmail.com
Until next week! Take it easy.
Cliff Morgan
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