FIRST TIGER MASK V MASAO ORIHARA – RJPW 9.25.2005
You know I was really digging this match early on as it was all energy and fire. Tiger Mask could still go at this age and Orihara is always going to deliver. But something felt wrong as the match progressed, the pacing went all weird. It would be tons of action then just putting in each in holds whilst Tiger Mask catches his breathe. If this was a six minute match it would have been perfect but Tiger Mask didn’t want that, he wanted to put me to sleep as he and Orihara went to a 30 MINUTE DRAW. Are you kidding me? Hell no, If I knew it was going to be that long I wouldn’t have watched. There were a couple memorable moments but they could have been condensed to a much shorter time limit.
RATING – 4/10
WATCH
The Great Sasuke, Sato (Dick Togo) & Mister Cacao v Sasuke the Great (Orihara), Shiryu #2 & Diablo de la Araña Negra – FUKUMEN MANIA #5 9.24.2007
Definitely check out the Fukumen Mania YouTube channel that is linked at the bottom of this match, Mr Cacao uploads some cool matches like this one. Orihara is reprising his old ‘Sasuke The Great’ persona that he used during his feuds with Sasuke through the late 90’s – 00’s. He is facing his out rival in Great Sasuke here. The crowd was packed out at Shinjuku Face and they were here to see two people, Dick Togo and Great Sasuke. All the other guys would get glim reactions except when Orihara was heeling it up. Shiryu #2 is luchador Fantastik who wrestled many years on the undercards in BJW, Michi Pro etc. He did this diving senton from inside the ring, jumping over the ropes and landing on a laying Sasuke. That was insane. Good all round match where with Dick Togo/SATO unsurprisingly stealing the show. This is worth checking out given it’s free.
RATING – 5/10
WATCH
MASAO ORIHARA, KOKI KITAHARA, DON FUJI & GENICHIRO TENRYU V AKITOSHI SAITO, MASASHI AOYAGI, SHIRO KOSHINKA & MICHIYOSHI OHARA – WAR REBIRTH 7.22.2006
I won’t be covering WAR as it was definitely not an Indie but this was 6 years after WAR died and it was a one time reunion show at Korakuen so I’m including it. The entire show is super fun including a great trios offer match from Dragon Gate. I’d say Don Fuji looks the odd one out in this main event but Tenryu was currently signed to Dragon Gate on a one year contract so their were many DG talents throughout the show. This is a historic match as in 1992 a couple months after WAR opened there was a big six match with the WAR team being Tenryu/Orihara/Kitahara and the Heisen Ishingun team being Saito/Koshinaka and Kengo Kimura who is the one absentee from this match as he was retired at the time. There was excellent heat for this match and I really digged it, Tenryu did a lot of stuff. At this time I don’t know if there was any guy better than Tenryu in multi man tags, He’d just come in like a house of fire, Chop-punch-lariat-brainbuster-tag out.. EXCELLENT FORMULA. Orihara was rocking a much different look around this time, also the first time I got a clear few of his weed tat.
RATING – 6.5/10
PURCHASE THE SHOW
DICK TOGO, SHO FUNAKI & MENS TEIOH V ZIPANG, PALAMINO (IKUTO HIDAKA) & GEKKO (MASAO ORIHARA) – INDY WORLD 5.21.1998
Overall this was a fun match and a fine way to cap off a very entertaining ‘Indy World’ show, which like the name is a gathering of talent from the indies. Kaientai at the time were signed to the WWF so this match was 90% about them and deservingly so the crowd were definitely there to see them. The amount of streamers they received were ridiculous. Other signed WWF talent Terry Funk also worked this show as Chainsaw Charlie taking on Tarzan Goto in a fun brawl. Like I said this was all about Kaientai so the offence from the other guys was minimal. You could tell from such a young age Hidaka would be something special, he was memorable in his seconds of shine. What hurt this match in my opinion was the fact that a few matches prior there was another six man tag with a lot of the same moves done so it took the wow out of the match. Orihara wrestled as GEKKO, his most well known masked gimmick that I believe he started using in 1996 when he became as regular for Takashi Ishikawa’s Tokyo Pro. ZIPANG hurt the match quality sadly, Orihara did his best and the crowd were into it but he’d do two moves then Kaientai would take control again. He should have also wrestled as Orihara not GEKKO, the mask sort of halts his ability to heel it up with his facials.
RATING – 6/10
(if you want to watch the show, your favorite tape trader should have it, if you need help getting in touch with a seller then hit me up on twitter)
PURO IN THE ROUGH 