[Viewpoint!] IWA King of the Death Match Tournament
STUART
August 20th, 1995
Victor Quinones' IWA Japan got off to a strong start, drawing the hardcore
cult following that exists in Japan. It was basically a larger version of
W*ING, which folded in early 1994. Quinones offered variety with lucha,
junior, joshi and other styles on the undercard beneath the bloodbaths on
top. It became FMW's top rival for the #1 garbage league spot. This was to
be their crowning glory, the first ever Death Match tournament and held at
Onita's stomping grounds, the Kawasaki (Baseball) Stadium, built in 1952.
The show drew 28,757 while FMW's 5/5/95 show drew 58,200 so draw your own
conclusions. IWA didn't have an Onita to draw crowds of that magnitude.
Thanks to Masanori Horie's phenomenal View from the Rising Sun site for
those numbers. Two matches weren't shown on the commercial release and on
paper they looked like two of the better ones. Keisuke Yamada & Keizo
Matsuda (now two of IWA's top stars) beat Yoshihiro Tajiri & Taisuke Tagami
in the opener and the other "dark" match saw Kiyoki Ichiki (now with Big
Japan) beat Emi Motokawa.
Many of the wrestlers make their entrances in spectacular fashion. Tiger
Jeet Singh gets his own van. Leatherface charges through the crowd with his
chainsaw. Terry Funk rides a horse. Shoji Nakamaki walks a dog. Cactus Jack
makes his famous entrance, carrying a cross wrapped in barbed wire. Victor
Quinones calls IWA the "number one small company in Japan" and thanks the
fans. Round one... fight!
Tiger Jeet Singh vs. Mr. Gannosuke in a Chain & Barbed Wire Board Death
Match
This is before Gannosuke re-joined FMW, dyed his hair and became one of the
best heavyweights in the world. He's a Goto lackey here, having formed
Shin-FMW with Goto after leaving Onita's company to join the IWA. Singh
attacks with his sword and... yup. If you think Tiger Ali is useless, you
ain't see nothing until you've seen his daddy. Singh drags Gannosuke around
ringside for a while. Gannosuke tries a comeback with dropkicks but Tiger
will have none of it. He bites Gannosuke and Gannosuke bleeds. Tiger chokes
Gannosuke with the chain and then chokes him on a barbed wire board.
Gannosuke gives up at 7:11 (UH). Gannosuke throws up backstage and special
referee Gyspy Joe tries to comfort him. There are few wrestlers I hate with
a passion but the selfish, untalented piece of garbage Singh is one of them.
[-**1/2]
Terry Funk vs. Leatherface in a Chain & Barbed Wire Board Death Match
Leatherface overshoots a moonsault in the early moments but the effort was
there at least, since he's a stiff and all. They fight outside and climb the
huge railing that the fans are behind. It's really cool and also scary to
see them fighting something like 30 feet above the ground and hanging each
other with the chain. The fans are nutty and screaming like maniacs.
Predictably, no one takes a fall from up there and they go back to the ring.
Funk is weakly whipped into a barbed wire board and then lay on a table
outside. But since they're connected by a chain, Terry is able to pull
Leather off the top rope and into the table. Back in the ring, Terry throws
some jabs and then connects with a big fist to the skull, pinning him at
8:54.
[1/2*]
Cactus Jack vs. Terry Gordy in a Barbed Wire Bat & Thumbtack Death Match
Gordy in a match like this is the equivalent of, say, New Jack in BattlARTS.
Gordy's brain is fried as proven by his pre-match interview. Cactus on the
other hand does an excellent promo and mentions "Japanese watching all over
the country". CHEAP POP! The countdown concludes and they both run to the
ring in hopes of grabbing the bat first. Cactus does but Gordy punches him
and grabs it. He dishes out a shot with the bat. Brawling and pushing
commences. Awful backdrop suplex by Gordy. He tries a powerbomb but is
backdropped out. Cactus climbs to the top but is caught. Terry throws him
right down. Splat. Cactus is sent into the tacks but in a disgusting spot,
Gordy STOMPS Cactus' head into the tacks. Cactus' head is full of tacks as a
result. More boring brawling outside until Gordy piledrives Cactus on a
ringside table BUT THE TABLE DOESN'T BREAK. Back in, Gordy hits a sloppy
powerbomb, sending Cactus into the tacks again. Another... WORST POWERBOMB
EVER. Gordy nearly trips and can't even slam Cactus down. Cactus throws a
handful of tacks at Gordy and DDT's him in the bed of tacks for the win at
6:58. Poor Gordy. From being the Triple Crown Champion to a stumbling fool.
Drugs will do that.
[DUD]
Hiroshi Ono vs. Shoji Nakamaki in a Barbed Wire Bat & Thumbtack Death Match
This is a retirement match. Ono reaches the bat and delivers a shot to the
chest of Nakamaki. Nakamaki grabs it and delivers some HARD shots to Ono.
They slap each other and then brawl outside. Unprotected chairshot by
Nakamaki. Back in, Ono hits a Russian legsweep for 2. He follows with a
lariat from the top rope for the same result. He misses another lariat and
Nakamaki fires back with his own for 2. A sort of poor man's Strong Style
sequence that was pretty good but of course they end it by going back
outside. Once they return, Nakamaki locks an STF on the bloody Ono. Patented
headbutt by Nakamaki and then a bulldog. He tries to bulldog Ono into the
tacks but Ono puts the brakes on and backdrop suplexes Nakamaki into the bed
of tacks! Shoji's head is a pin cushion! Another backdrop suplex on the
tacks for 2 1/2! He tries another but Nakamaki lands on him and Ono's back
is impaled. Powerbomb on the tacks by Shoji for 2 3/4! Full nelson front
legsweep to Ono on to the tacks and Nakamaki covers and retires Ono at 7:19.
Yeah right. 6/27/99: Atsushi Onita, Shigeo Okamura, Sambo Asako & Mitsunobu
Kikuzawa vs. Genichiro Tenryu, Shoji Nakamaki, Ichiro Yaguchi & HIROSHI ONO
in Onita Pro. This was better than I expected it to be actually and quite
fun when they weren't mindlessly brawling outside. They had a couple of
short wrestling sequences which is more than I can say for the first three
matches.
[3/4*]
Flying Kid Ichihara (c) vs. Takashi Okano for the WWA Light Heavyweight
Title
Okano is now one of the coolest wrestlers in the world, The (THEEEEE)
Winger, one of Big Japan's new generation Death Match stars. Here he's a
young-looking kid, plain and all. Ichihara is another Goto ally who's now in
FMW. This match is clipped down a whole lot. They hit some nice moves but
the action is pretty dull and bland. Ichihara badly overshoots a quebrada to
the outside. He hits a German suplex hold for 2 but then misses a moonsault.
Okano capitalizes with a la magistral for 2 3/4. Ichihara hits a dropkick
but Okano rolls through for the win and title at 17:01. He's a lot better
now but Ichihara is basically the same. Seems to have the ability in him but
doesn't utilize it so isn't good past doing a few basic dives and standard
stuff.
Iceman vs. Kamikaze
Iceman is Ricky Santana and one of the W*ING refugees. Kamikaze wrestles
under a mask here but has since unmasked and become one of Big Japan's
midcard stars. They both have goofy outfits actually, especially Iceman.
Slow action to start. Iceman is atrocious. Really, really bad. His moves are
done poorly and he blows half of them. He tries hopping from the apron into
the ring and armdragging Kamikaze but blows the spot badly. Kamikaze lands a
spinning heel kick sending Iceman out and then follows with a tope con hilo.
Later, he hits a top-rope rana for two. Clipping takes us to Iceman hitting
a slow tornado DDT and then a Liger bomb for 2 1/2. Kamikaze hits a German
suplex and tries to turn it into a rollup but Iceman bridges back and wins
at 9:45. Kamikaze wasn't bad but looked like a rookie in there. Iceman on
the other hand was HORRI-BLEH and just made this match beyond disasterous.
[-1/4*]
On to round two which also happens to be the semi final round...
Tiger Jeet Singh vs. Terry Funk in a Glass & Barbed Wire Board Death Match
Glass beds are so dangerous. If you've ever been cut by glass you know what
I mean. This is more of the same Singh garbage. He uses his sword and some
other instrument and that is about it. He sits Terry in the glass bed and
gouges at his head. Terry's screams of anguish are enough to give you
nightmares. Terry fights back with jabs and then locks on his finisher, the
spinning toehold. Singh pokes the eyes to break it and Cactus Jack arrives
with Singh's sword. He tries to charge Terry but hits Singh by accident.
Terry covers for the win at 6:04.
[-**1/2]
Cactus Jack vs. Shoji Nakamaki in a Spike Nail & Barbed Wire Board Death
Match
On the other hand, spike nail beds are even worse. Once you fall on one,
you're going to have a hell of a time getting off. Cactus uses old school
heel psychology early on by cleanly breaking. The second time he attacks
Nakamaki with kicks. He baseball slide dropkicks Nakamaki out on to a barbed
wire board. The board is set up against the ring but Cactus' whip attempt
backfires when he is sent into it. One of the spike nail boards is pushed
into the ring and propped up. Cactus pushes Shoji's head into the sharp
nails but Nakamaki ducks under and pushes Cactus into it! Shoji is draped
over the middle rope and Cactus puts a barbed wire board on his back. Cactus
just dives into it! Outside, Cactus puts the other spike nail board on Shoji
and SWEET JESUS, drops the elbow drop the apron! He rolls Nakamaki in and
covers for 2 3/4. Shoji comes back by pushing Cactus into the propped up
spike nail board several times but when he tries a falling headbutt Cactus
moves and Nakamaki goes right into a barbed wire board. They exchange some
more moves before Cactus double-arm DDT's Shoji on the board for the win at
9:49. This was okay by the tournament standards.
[3/4*]
Gypsy Joe has his retirement parade next and gives a short speech before
getting a 10-bell salute. I'll never forget the Cage Match he had with Mr.
Pogo on 2/16/92 in W*ING with a billion unprotected chairshots.
Silver King & El Texano (c) vs. The Headhunters for the IWA Tag Team Titles
This is a total mismatch on paper. The luchadores vs. the super
heavyweights. This is another heavily clipped match, just covering the major
action. They do the strength vs. speed story with Los Cowboys trying to
outsmart both Headhunters. Texano uses some AJPW-esque offense early on with
elbows, lariats and chops. The Headhunters control much of the match with
the Mexican's playing bump maniacs for them. They do the big splash/legdrop
combo. Texano goes out with a tope suicida and Silver King follows with a
plancha. Then the most unbelievable thing you will ever see -- and one of
the reasons that people raved about The Headhunters in the early-to-mid
90's -- as one of The Headhunters hits a 400lbs+ TOPE CON HILO OVER THE TOP
ROPE! Texano uses a cross armbreaker but that goes nowhere. Los Cowboys
impressively hit a double suplex on one of the fat guys. Silver King is
disposed off at ringside and Texano tries to take on them both. No deal.
Superbomb from The Headhunters and the cover is made at 17:39. This looked
like a good tag match. The Headhunters were pretty incredible workers for
their size until around 1996 or thereabouts.
Dan Severn (c) vs. Tarzan Goto for the NWA Heavyweight Title
This could be the ultimate clash of styles. Severn basically points this out
before the match and calls Goto a "very interesting competitor". Goto's
forehead is disgusting. He refuses a handshake and slaps Severn to start.
Severn loses his temper and Goto clears out of the ring. While Severn talks
to the referee, Goto slaps on a sleeper. Severn breaks and Goto goes out
again. He throws a chair at the ring and Severn invites him back in. Goto
takes control with a Fujiwara armbar then a cross armbreaker. Severn breaks
and drives knees into Goto. He mounts and locks on a choke sleeper. Goto
blades. Hah! They fight into the first row where Goto hits repeated
chairshots to the back of "The Beast". He returns to the ring and Severn
tosses chair after chair into the ring. TOTALLY SURREAL. Severn should have
used this match to become psycho shooter.
They have a chairfight which ends when both men drop their chairs. Severn
takes Goto down but misses a kneedrop. Goto's focus switches to the knee as
he attacks it with chairshots. Goto hits his patented facebuster twice but
can't get the win. He misses a lariat and Severn hits a German suplex then
quickly follows by clamping on a choke sleeper. The bloody Goto struggles
but can't break it. He shows no signs of escaping and fades so the referee
stops the match and Severn wins by TKO at 11:35. Severn's post-match
interview is hilarious. "Tarzan Goto's a great... uh... warrior. He will use
all means to claim victory whether it's inside the ring or outside the
ring". This... wasn't bad. Severn went back to being the dull guy he always
is after it but showed an entirely different side here. The match wasn't
really good or anything but the fans were into it and the storyline was
really, really cool and seeing Severn do the stuff he did was surreal. HE'S
HARDCORE!
[*1/2]
Terry Funk vs. Cactus Jack in a No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Time Bomb
Death Match
The barbed wire boards have C4 explosives attached to them. The barbed wire
ring ropes actually don't have explosives attached to them so the stip name
can be misleading. Hangman neckbreaker by Funk early on. Cactus is sent
towards the wire but slides under it and out. Plodding action until Cactus
is rushed into the wire again. Funk's head wound is already re-open. Funk
falls into one of the boards and BANG. The board catches fire! Soon, Cactus
himself is thrown into a board and he flips into it. BANG, there goes
another one. Funk piledrives Cactus near a barbed wire board but the fans
are kind of dead by this stage since they sat through hours and hours of
this stuff. Cactus is thrown through a non-exploding board and Terry covers
for 2. Cactus puts a board on Funk and drops the elbow on it! After some
outside brawling, Funk locks on the spinning toehold. Tiger Jeet Singh
returns and attacks Terry with a sword. The fans don't like it. Terry is
sent into an exploding board for 2 1/2.
The time bomb is ticking down. Cactus gets a couple of 2 counts. 3, 2, 1...
HUH? Three tiny things let off steam and THAT'S THE EXPLOSION? Well done
Victor! You just screwed up the final. The fans roar in united
disappointment and even Funk gives a "WTF?!" look. They try and make up for
it instantly when Funk gives Cactus a backdrop suplex on to the fourth and
final exploding board. Cactus gets a ladder and smashes it into Terry's
skull, then drops it on him. Cactus climbs the ladder and drops the elbow
for 2! His face is completely torn open -- you can't see white skin. He
climbs it again and Terry pushes the ladder over. HOLEE SHEET! Cactus falls
ON TO THE BARBED WIRE ROPES! But HE covers Funk and gets the 3 count out of
nowhere at 13:21. Just to cap off the screwiness, the bell rings late and
when it does a huge chorus of boo's erupt around the Kawasaki Stadium. A
disasterous yet historic match. Cactus discusses this match a lot in his
book (which is a good read). But the match was pretty awful aside from the
bumping. They had a much better match for IWA Japan on 8/1, in a basic No
Rope Barbed Wire Death Match in front of something like 10 people.
[1/2*]
Overall:
When you ask the majority of puroresu fans what their first tape was, there
is a big chance they'll answer "King of the Death Matches". Mine personally
was the 1994 Super J Cup which is a much better start unless you hate good
wrestling. This show turns a lot of people off puroresu instantly because
quite frankly it's awful. It didn't have the underground,
we-will-die-for-10-people aura that other IWA, W*ING, FMW and Big Japan
shows have had and the crowd heat was inconsistent at best, even during the
big matches. The wrestling was horrible even for the time period, because
FMW was doing Street Fight's and Death Matches at a higher quality level;
Tenryu vs. Onita for instance. ECW was also doing some pretty good stuff
with Raven, Cactus and Dreamer. And now that Big Japan has taken garbage
wrestling to an entirely new level, this stuff has aged as bad as Gangstas
brawls from ECW. The Big Japan Death Match Tournament in 1998 was much
better than this although was acclaimed far less, probably because it wasn't
the original and was held over separate days. I don't really recommend this
unless you are an utter blood-loving vampire. I mean, I can enjoy crappy
W*ING shows with a great atmosphere, but didn't enjoy this at all. Only one
match (shown in full) exceeded a single star and three went negative.
--
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No User
lolololol
FUCK GOOKS AND THERE FAGGY WRESTLING.IF I WANTED TO READ ABOUT SLANT EYED NIPS BLEEDING ID GO TO A WORLD WAR 2 NEWSGROUP HAHAHAHA FAG
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Sexecutioner7169
>Drugs will do that.
Or a coma, which actually caused it.
I Kick Ass For The Lord!
Drazic The No 1 Sickboy
>>Poor Gordy. From being the Triple Crown Champion to a stumbling fool.
>>Drugs will do that.
>
>Or a coma, which actually caused it.
>
Drug overdose induced coma.
~~
Drazic The #1 Sickboy.
When I opened up the coal bunker, there was a hobo inside sitting in a canoe. I
closed the door and walked home.
Raven = God
Jodie = God
Gwen = *spooge*
Lita = *spooge*