BJW Samurai TV 12/25/07

Shadow WX and Abdullah Kobayashi vs. NOSAWA Rongai and Masada - Hardcore Match - 2

This is severely clipped but fun for what we get. Starts with Kobayashi getting his forehead ripped up with a cheese grater on the floor. NOSAWA’s role in this match is to gouge guys’ heads with objects, including a ridiculously big and scary knife. Masada sounds like a Japanese name, but in actuality turns out to really be some trailer park asshole. Masada does get his team the victory, dumping Abdullah right on his hairless skull in a nasty suplex.

MEN's Teioh, Makoto Oishi, and Kota Ibushi vs. Shinobu, Michael Nakazawa, and Tomomitsu Matsunaga - 4

So, from what I can figure out, MEN’s Teioh has a faction of young punks that follow him religiously. Two of them are his partners here, Ibushi being the standout, a long limbed guy, very athletic, throwing some fantastic kicks. Ibushi teamed with Naomichi Marufuji (they both have emo hair, too) in NOAH’s Nippon TV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League, and even though they lost in the finals, many agree that Ibushi was the shining star of that tournament. Two of the guys on the opposing team work a warming body oil gimmick, where they're constantly pouring oil on each other, then humping and rubbing against their opponents, in an effort to burn and humilate them. There's a lot of comedy here, but some solid work, too. MEN's, sporting freshly dyed strawberry hair, plays the role of the wise elder surprisingly well. This fued, while ridiculous, looks like a lot of fun.

Takashi Sasaki vs. Yuko Miyamoto - Glass Crush + Alpha Death Match: Subversive Activities - 6

When I think of subverisve activites, I think of bad espinoge films, and McCarthy-era scare tactics, but in the wonderful world of BJW, it means guys destorying each other's flesh and souls. There's a video package that preceeds this, showing their many wars against each other, but it's also obvious they have a mutual respect for each other. From what I gather, Saski beat Miyamoto in the finals of a death match tournament, using his signature move (looked like an emerald fusion) off of a giant scaffold onto a table in a ring littered with glass and blood. This is the rematch, and the story is thus, what will it take to beat his competive rival again?

On two sides of the ring the ropes are covered in barbwire, there's also two giant plates of glass in opposite corners, both which are used to great effect in this bloodbath. While Miyamoto and Sasaki aren't "great" workers, they work hard, and this isn't your '98-era hardcore spotfest, but instead, a match that's works in a more classic Japanese fashion, rising in intensity to a solid finish. Sasaki controls a lot of the match, just destroying Miyamoto, dumping him on piles and shards of broken glass several times. At Christmas time in the year '07, hardcore wrestling still had a heartbeat, and I, for one, am happy about that.

Much thanks to Spoon, for handing over... a nice stack of Japanese discs, that is! All of the guys here at NHO can't wait to watch all this footage. Greenhills representin'!