Sky's Good Matches Thread (formerly You Decide What Sky Watches)

[Jay-Ashley]

I personally like submitting matches without even checking if they're readily available online anywhere and letting Sky do a scavenger hunt

That just seems mean spirited, lol.

And my personal preference is if there's a YT link, you include the YT link. tbh you should assume I'm able to get at any WWF/WCW/ECW/TNA/AEW content aside from the most obscure, so maybe don't bother with that unless it's shit like house show fancams

That is why I was asking. I have some matches in mind, but I don't know how hard they would be to fine, especially none of them are WWE/F, WCW, etc.

 

[Chris]

That just seems mean spirited, lol.

That is why I was asking. I have some matches in mind, but I don't know how hard they would be to fine, especially none of them are WWE/F, WCW, etc.

The hunt is part of the fun

 

[Jay-Ashley]

The hunt is part of the fun

You know how hard it is to find old Lucha matches? You would want to make an offering of selling your soul, lol.

 

[Kiffy Lube]

Cagmematch.net hasn't randomized the best Lucha talent for me either. El Canek and Mascaarado Ano 2000 were fun but weren't goin' make an impact. Gettin' some solid Puro talent though. So yeah, it's just not been documented as much.

 

[Sky]

Match #6
The Lightning Kid vs. Wellington Wilkins Jr.
Pro Wrestling America - June 10, 1991​

Now, THIS is a deep cut. I wasn't aware there was even footage of PWA in the wild. There almost isn't, it's very dimly lit and grainy. This is really early Sean Waltman, back when the reaction to Sean Waltman was generally "Holy SHIT this guy is good" rather than "ugh, him again?". I don't know exactly when the transition was, it was probably during early X-Pac.

I was talking about lanky wrestlers yesterday during the Kota Ibushi match, but 18 year old Waltman is absolutely something else. Looks like he's made of string. Commentary mentions Wilkins being trainer in the "UWF shoot style", despite that (1) in kayfabe, surely all wrestling is shoot style, and (2) as I recall it, Wilkins wasn't liked at all as a shoot style wrestler. First couple of minutes is just Wilkins wrestling Kid down to the mat. Smart move there, you don't want him flying around you. Wilkins hits a really crisp Northern Lights suplex, but Kid pushes up and out and hits a suplex of his own! There's this decent sequence where Kid tries to bridge out of pinning predicaments and Wilkins keeps just pushing him down. Eventually Kid gets the upper hand and hits a monkey flip! Nice start here.

Apparently, going by what commentary says, Kid is supposed to be the heel here? But he's over with the fans anyway. They compare him to the Crusher in that sense. Wilkins shows off a rare use of a headscissors as an actual submission hold rather than a transition. They both take it in turns to shove each other in the corner. "Look at that rake of the eyes" - well, I would, if I could see it. Kid brings a victory roll into not a pin, but a hammerlock. We get the rear naked choke spot where the arm drops twice but not the third time. It's usually more effective when it's more than five minutes in. Commentary responds "Japanese Shoot Style" once again to a hip toss and cross armbreaker. Was wrestling just pure brawling in those days, or something? How is this transition so impressive to them?

Another move in the shoot style arsenal, apparently: a flying forearm. The commentary desk is talking about Inoki vs. Muhammad Ali, and speculates on how Wilkins would fare against a pro boxer. Seems we never got to know how that would go, but he did lose to a sumo wrestler's brother in PWFG less than a year later, so maybe that's an indication of the outcome. Wilkins uses an extended period just pressing his arm against Kid's face to apparently smash his cheek bone. Yeah, this is getting way too rest-holdy for me. Commentary predicts Kid will be finished by the time he's 30. Feels prophetic. Wilkins is just straight up no-selling anything, and dropping Kid on the back of his head with a back suplex before going into another rest hold. Kid whiffs a spinning heel kick, but manages to hit a leg lariat.

Now it's Kid's turn to go for an extended hold on the mat. Wilkins rolls through for a rope break, but for some reason Kid is the one who does the actual break? Huh?? Bridging fisherman suplex, but Wilkins breaks up the pin attempt by using the unhooked part of his arm to punch Kid right in the face. Resourcefulness. It feels like they're trying to do a "working Kid's body" story here, but they can't decide which part of the body is supposed to be worked. So we just get a lot of holds. Arms, legs, necks... It's 10 minutes in and Kid looks really limp. After a kickout of another Northern Lights, commentary guesses that Wilkins lifted Kid up because he wanted to hurt the guy some more. Big mistake. First rule of Japanese Shoot Style: don't get cocky.

We get a leglock, and the way Kid is banging on the mat looks like a tapout, but tapping wasn't brought to the US yet. Shame, this match is dragging a bit. I'm sure Kid's facials would be good if I could see them. Commentary claims the crowd is on their feet. They're not. A heel kick threatens to turn this match around, but Kid can't make anything of his newfound advantage before Wilkins takes control again with a half, then full crab. We get a brief word from a guy literally called "Jihad" on commentary. Maybe it's one of the other commentators doing a bad accent, who knows? I couldn't find anything on Jihad in PWA. Kid's right leg is apparently gone, as he sells it on the mat for about a minute. He does try to slam Wilkins to get the comeback, but - surprisingly realistically - it doesn't work and he gets tombstoned.

The announcer informs us there's 2 minutes remaining. Kid tries to kick at Wilkins but suffers a kneebar for his trouble. Kid desperately trying to fight back, trying his damnedest to work Wilkins' leg, Wilkins trying to avoid a fall... and that's it. Time limit draw. Wilkins makes the most noncommittal handshake show of respect I've ever seen.

That wasn't bad, but I really wouldn't recommend it either. The Wilkins submission work felt kind of unfocused. I would have been fairly confident calling this "not a good match" if they'd have done what I feared - Wilkins getting the win - because that would just be him bullying Kid for 20 minutes with no repercussions. Time limit draw is something I genuinely don't mind in this case. I feel dirty putting it where I will - just above the Kennel from Hell - but that's because I haven't had enough matches that are on the low end of the scale.

 

[Chris]

Holy fuck lmao

 

[Sky]

Holy fuck lmao

Something wrong?

I just rolled match 7, and I may be getting my wish for a lower end match given the participants.......

 

[Chris]

Something wrong?

I just rolled match 7, and I may be getting my wish for a lower end match given the participants.......

Its my standard reaction when I wasn't aware of a matches existence

 

[Sky]

Match #7
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. JT Southern
UWFi Moving On 3rd - July 3, 1991​

We're back to shoot style! And I literally could not think of a bigger mismatch for shoot style than JT Southern. This guy is probably best known for feuding with Van Hammer in 1992 WCW. He was awful. On top of that, he's a very "sports entertainment" type wrestler. So in the sink and swim legit-tinged environment of UWFi, how was he going to do? Probably badly! Let's watch.

Both guys' entrance themes are a cross between 90s video game and 90s educational tape, and are clearly dubbed over this video release. Southern's expression is less "fighting intensity" and more apologetic. It's like he knows he sucks. They barely make contact for a solid minute. When they do, Yamazaki is in control very quickly, getting his opponent to the mat. There's a bizarre spot where Yamazaki has Southern's leg locked, and it looks like Southern should be using his other free leg to push him off, but he just... doesn't. He makes the motion and he doesn't even try. Even when Southern takes the initiative about 2 minutes in, Yamazaki's just lying on the mat, not acting like anything is hurting him. Southern appears to be attempting a neck crank, but Yamazaki is turtling, seemingly legitimately not letting his opponent get a grip. This is a really tough watch.

I think it's at this point that Yamazaki decides it's not even worth it and just decides to openly humiliate Southern. What tips me off is that he grabs a leg, yet decides it's not worth it and just shoves him back down. Then the "grab leg -> enzuigiri" spot happens, but instead Yamazaki just pushes Southern and he falls on his arse. A significant period of Yamazaki just pushing his forearm into Southern's face apparently puts someone barely up on points, but I can't tell which. Yamazaki starts teeing off on Southern, trying to kick his leg out from under his leg again and again.

After a bit of a lull featuring an attempt at what I think was supposed to be a facelock or armlock of some sort (it's JT Southern, does he even known what holds are?) Southern tries to support a half crab attempt by repeatedly kicking Yamazaki in the back. This REALLY pisses Yamazaki off, and he boots Southern hard in the face to smack him against the ring ropes. You can tell this is a turning point, because Yamazaki's offense reduces itself to destroying Southern's thighs with seemingly-legit kicks. It's not looking good for him, and Yamazaki finishes it off with a heel hook making him submit.

Yeah, that sucked quite a bit. I'm really torn on where to put this one. There was less genuine, intended entertainment here than there was in the Kennel from Hell, and it's an obvious example of a match breaking down in a bad way, but there's a bit of unintentional entertainment in watching Southern get ruined like this. Fuck it, I say it goes just below. New worst match of the thread!

 

[Sky]

Match #8
Taro Nohashi vs. NARITA
Fu-Ten Bati-Bati 42 - December 19, 2010​

Yep, three matches in one day just because I felt like it. And wouldn't you know it, this is a repeat on the wheel. 2 people wanted me to watch this. Yay to 2 people. You get to see me review a fairly short match from a small promotion that Cagematch describes as being "stripped down pro wrestling that celebrates the mat". With a name I vaguely recognise from TEW and a name I recognise as being the name of another wrestler!

Immediate first impression: this Taro Nohashi dude is short. Like, really short. NARITA has grappling gloves on, which suggests to me he's some sort of MMA crossover guy. We start with the feeling out period, which does feel very shooty. NARITA taunts Nohashi just a bit which immediately backfires on him as he's grappled down to the mat. The resulting rolling-around does see NARITA in control after a guillotine choke attempt that morphs into an armbar attempt. I'll give them this: this does feel quite shootfight-like with the amount they're scrambling for control. The close-up shots the camera keeps getting, paired with the relative silence of the crowd letting the voices of the wrestlers ring out more, makes this feel like one of those bizarre custom matches, but with men instead of women.

NARITA attempts a triangle choke, but Nohashi, slippery little worm that he is, swivels around for a rope break. That draws applause. A rear naked choke by Nohashi is countered, but NARITA is stopped by the referee from performing what would be the resulting ground-and-pound. Is there a rule thing I'm missing here? A headbutt (is that legal??) makes NARITA nearly miss a ten-count, but he's none the worse for wear as he hits a really nice combo of strikes that downs Nohashi for a similar amount of time. Nohashi goes for a headbutt again, then grapevines the leg, but gets countered pretty easily by NARITA who seems to be attempting to snap the guy's arm off his shoulder. This is really back-and-forth, it's certainly an improvment over the last match.

NARITA hits a pretty deadlift-looking German Suplex, and the sharp intake of impressed air I made has to count as some sort of recommendation. He then goes on to complete the Three Amigos, which should surely be a mega finisher equivalent to an atomic bomb in this shoot-style world where flashier moves don't fly. His next step is a really cool hold that I can't identify because I don't know every hold. It's like an armbar but he uses his legs to stretch Nohashi's neck too. Whatever it is, it's nice. Nohashi avoids a fourth German by just letting himself fall on his opponent, before the headbutts continue! Several clashes of head later (I counted 9 overall in the match), Nohashi picks up the tapout win with a single leg crab.

That was pretty nice. Absolutely not a world-beater, but definitely watch this if you've got 6 minutes to spare. I wouldn't have known that headbutts were legal in an MMA-like contest, but now I do! Thanks, Fu-Ten!

 

[Death By Looch]

I have one more for you, Sky. Hope you enjoy it.

Also this thread has been a treat so far. Keep up the reviews!

 

[Sky]

Match #9
Dick Togo/TAKA Michinoku (c) vs. Kota Ibushi/Madoka
for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Kaientai Dojo Club-K Super Overthrow - December 1, 2007​

More puro stuff! And looking at the submissions (136 on the wheel, holy shit, some of you never sleep), it looks like I'm going to be in Japan for a long time. Granted, I haven't actually watched that many Japanese promotions, but by the end of this I'll probably have seen everything of theirs.

This one is an NJPW championship being officially defended outside of NJPW, interesting. Kota comes out in a shirt, looking so awkward as usual, whereas Madoka seems to have gone for the black trunks look. Wonder who's winning this one, huh? Maybe it's the guy who runs the company and his friend. A little on-screen note tells us that TAKA's actually doing commentary on his own match in post. Good thing I can't actually understand spoken Japanese so I don't know if he's giving spoilers. Both teams get WAY too many streamers.

The young challengers immediately elect to ignore how the rules of tag team wrestling work, charging their opponents and tossing Togo before double teaming TAKA. Madoka pulls off a Crippler Crossface - clearly the news of the Benoit murders hadn't yet reached Japan. Togo breaks it up and just leaves himself open to getting double-teamed. A brief advantage by TAKA is completely killed off by Ibushi delivering a kick to the midsection. It's no kick to the back, but hey, whatever works.

From that, it settles into a fairly standard face(?)-in-peril routine for a minute or so, with TAKA being said imperilled, until a low dropkick sweeps Ibushi's legs out from under him and lets Togo tag in. Togo capitalises on the circumstances by targeting Ibushi's knees hard, with a rolling leg snap being followed by various strikes and locks to the left knee. Cohesive offense, you love to see it. What looks to me like a modified Figure Four is broken up by Madoka rushing out to dropkick Togo in the face. TAKA comes in to continue the knee-hate, until Ibushi is somehow able to stand and deliver a few knees to TAKA's chest. He then stumbles back, all the power in those legs having gone. Nice selling there.

Now it's TAKA against "I could not look less like a young lion" Madoka, who eats an eye poke and gets himself cornered by Togo. Armbar by Togo, which Madoka tries to roll out of, but ends up just rolling himself into Togo's preferred position somewhere else in the ring. He gets the rope break, yes, but still. So far the strategy from the champions seems to be to remove half of the body of each of their opponents. Sounds solid, but what happens when Ibushi's arms and Madoka's legs get together to form one whole, functioning wrestler? Then they're screwed. Madoka's brought to the outside, where Togo's waiting. He hits Madoka with a chair while security and the ring announcer is trying to get the fans to stay back. Absolute scenes out here. (Wait, who's playing the face here again? Togo's the one using the chair, but the challengers were being the dicks before.)

Back in the ring and Togo just applies a wristlock to the nearly helpless-looking Madoka, taunting Ibushi who wants so desperately to rush out and intervene, but suddenly something's stopping him. A Togo sleeper gives us the two-arm-drops routine, which makes me wonder how Madoka even has the strength left to raise his arm on the third. A headscissors takedown and enzuigiri finally lets him tag Ibushi, who is in like a house on fire... until he whiffs a dropkick and loses his tag-in advantage right away. Doesn't stop him hitting a nice standing moonsault for two. Another crossface, this time by Togo. Surprisingly little targeting of the legs. Maybe Ibushi's legs have healed from earlier? Togo's face certainly hasn't, as Madoka reminds him.

TAKA absolutely turns Ibushi inside out with a running knee. Doesn't even bother going for the pinfall, though. Madoka does a really cool combo when he hits a corner dropkick while coming to the outside, and slingshots back in without missing a beat for another one! Some things just pop me. and that is one. TAKA almost becomes the third wrestler to use a crossface in this match until Madoka counters into one of his own. Really sick visual in this one as TAKA is struggling to the ropes for a rope break while in the background, Ibushi is beating the stuffing out of Togo to prevent him from interfering. This match is ALIVE.

Togo demonstrates his superior experience by getting hit by one enzuigiri, yet blocking the second one with his hands. I didn't even know you could do that. The match devolves into two singles fights, but Ibushi overcomes TAKA and stops Togo from hitting a Pedigree. What I'm most surprised about is that commentary actually calls it as that. Eventually we do get a Pedigree on Madoka and a top rope senton for a two-count that's broken up by Ibushi. Match then descends into chaos with the non-legal men brawling, leading to that rarest of circumstances, a QUADRUPLE down.

I haven't yet mentioned the number of eye pokes TAKA's doing. It's three so far. He must like doing that. FINALLY we get a TAKA crossface, which leads into a double crossface with both youngsters getting their necks absolutely cranked! First Michinoku Driver tease of the match comes to nothing. Phoenix Splash from Ibushi almost gets the W, but Togo cannonballs his way in (literally, he's rolling on to the pin) to stop it. Madoka in with a kick to the head gets 2.5. Togo shoves Madoka off the rope to prevent a Shooting Star Press, but he ends up landing on TAKA's knee with an accidental senton bomb. That doesn't stop TAKA from unleashing a real mess of kicks followed by the Michinoku Driver! Togo's looking to follow up with a diving senton, but Ibushi says nah to that with an enzuigiri that looks like it misses but Togo sells anyway like a true pro.

Ibushi slips out of a chickenwing causing Togo to accidentally lariat his own partner. Then he hits a really nice handspring moonsault to the outside. I bet fans at the time were looking at this thinking "this kid Ibushi is the future". Madoka goes for the Shooting Star Press, but TAKA gets his knees up! Michinoku Driver attempt is countered into the DDT and then Madoka hits his finisher, which is a Gannosuke Clutch... bomb? I think? If you've seen this match, please tell me what you think it is. Still doesn't get the win though.

One thing I find interesting about Japanese wrestling is there's a lot more attempts and fails at holds than there are successful ones. Maybe it's to add to the realism. TAKA keeps going for the Michinoku Driver, tries and fails... until he doesn't, and get the three. There's already medical detail checking on Madoka's neck, as if to properly sell how good that move is. Benefits of owning the company, I guess.

That was really nice. Good to see more of Ibushi's early days.

 

[Sky]

If I could make a small request, I'd like to see a lot more women's wrestling in this one, because there's basically none of it on the wheel right now.

 

[Rosie]

If I could make a small request, I'd like to see a lot more women's wrestling in this one, because there's basically none of it on the wheel right now.

I think I suggested one, but I may add another.

 

[Bobby Barrows]

You got it.