MATCHES FROM THE VAULT #29

AJPW JR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: KAZ HAYASHI VS KEIJI MUTOH – AJPW 2010

Match starts out hot with Kaz trying to control a headlock whilst Mutoh tries his Mutoh-Ism’s. Kaz has the challenger scouted but Mutoh capitalised on Hayashi’s missed plancha with multiple dropkicks on the outside and a dragon screw through the rails that separate the ring from the fans. Great spot early on as Hayashi goes for a hand spring but Mutoh immediately hits a dropkick to the knee and locks in the figure four. A few more dragon screw yet Hayashi is still standing, he moved out of the way of a Mutoh dropkick to land a foot stomp to Mutoh’s knees.

Kaz pulls Mutoh to the apron to hit a twisting neck breaker to the outside. Suicide dive from the former Shiryu! Kaz misses a spring board and Mutoh dropkicks him mid air with the spot not looking overly impressive. Crowd is really behind Hayashi as he fires back with two final cuts but the living legend manages to kick out.

A few very awesome near falls which was highlighted by Mutoh kicking out of a devastating looking “power plant”. Mutoh slips out of another attempted power plant to finally land a shining wizard. One of the best near falls I’ve ever seen on a roll up by Kaz, so great! This is truly a great match, this final stretch is fantastic. KAZ KICKS OUT OF THE 2010 MOONSAULT! This is nutty! KAZ PINS MUTOH TO RETAIN! What a goddamn match guys, check this out!

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RATING – ****

MASAKATSU FUNAKI VS WAYNE SHAMROCK – PANCRASE 9/21/1993

What a goddamn atmosphere holy shit, I haven’t watched a fight from pancrase in a few years so this will be fun. Was combat sports better in a time when steroids were encouraged ? Shamrock teased a German suplex early on but instead trapped Masa on the mat but he unable to land a substantial submission. I’ve listened to a lot of Bas Rutten before and he always said the Pancrase boys were one big happy family, in particular he has said Funaki is a great guy.

Five minutes in and Shamrock is still just all over Funaki, giving him no breathing space. After about seven minutes Shamrock choked out Funaki for the submission victory. Not as entertaining as you’d thing but still to have this fight in top quality from 30 years almost is pretty cool.

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KAMIKAZE VS BOOGEYMAN – PRO WRESTLING MAGIC BOX 2022

Yes this is the same KAMIKAZE who was doing Sasuke Specials on S.P.W.F house shows in 1994… It’s great to see the man still kicking on. KAMIKAZE is also a great twitter follow, he is a big fan of wrestling and often posts clips from his old 90’s indies run.

This incarnation of Boogeyman is a Magic Box creation, no idea who the guy actually is though. He just sorta waddled around, nothing overly impressive out of the masked man. KAMIKAZE wrestled the entire match wearing two face masks, that would be so annoying.

The bell to bell action is nothing to write home about because it was just slow and bad but KAMIKAZE certainly did try to entertain the 50 people in the audience at certain times. He is still known as Mr. Moonsault for a good reason and even in his 50’s he managed to execute a very nice moonsault to pick up the victory. Seven minutes of action that I do not regret watching.

RATING – S L E A Z E
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THE WOLF VS ONRYO – WYF 3/20/1997

Things started a bit slow and a bit whacky with both guys seemingly not clicking with one another, early on The Wolf landed two high kicks to Onryo but Onryo just slowly walked over to the turnbuckle and the crowd didn’t know what to make of it. The audience absolutely loves Onryo though so it wasn’t that hard for them to get back into the contest. The crowd popped big for The Wolf’s spinning heel kick which looked top notch.

Wolf hits a plancha and the audience are now really taking too the masked man, Wolf was over the moon with the support he was getting from the Korakuen faithful. Onryo wiggled his way out of an STF to back suplex The Wolf into oblivion which looked cool. The ghost’s spinning forearm will never not look cool, in 2022 he still makes that move look impressive.

Onryo did his old double springboard front flip dive that always looks like it’s going to go wrong but somehow works. BAH GAWD ONRYO HITS THE STUNNER! ONRYO HITS THE STUNER !!! (no attempt at pinfall was made)

The crowd are genuinely electric at the back end of the match, awesome atmosphere. Wolf came back with a perfect-plex then a German suplex for two very close near-falls, audience are on the edge of their seats! Even more near-falls followed but Onryo came out on top following the use of the Onryo-Clutch to cap off a fantastic mid-card match from the good guys at Wrestle Yume.

RATING – 6/10
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