Rikidozan vs Masahiko Kimura, JWA 12/22/54, Japan title. The first big Japan vs Japan match. Kimura was a world-class judoist, and the man behind the 'kimura' armbar. This match was supposed to go to a draw so they take it easy most of the way. Then Rikidozan flips a switch and starts shooting, which is obvious because it goes from loosey-goosey politeness to a beatdown that's intense even by today's standards. 112 MB.

Lou Thesz vs Rikidozan, JWA 10/13/57, NWA title. Their match a week earlier went 60 minutes without a fall and drew an 87 TV rating, which is a record. This is much shorter and livelier, with Thesz getting the best on the mat but having to avoid Rikidozan's chops. Thesz vs Rikidozan is probably the most important matchup in the history of puroresu. 190 MB.

Rikidozan vs The Destroyer, JWA 12/2/63. Rikidozan, the father of puroresu, is hand-led by the ever-awesome Destroyer. This is exactly the sort of match that set the foundation for all things to come. This match drew the second-highest TV rating in puro history, and perhaps the largest in terms of number of viewers. Part 1.

Rikidozan vs The Destroyer, JWA 12/2/63. Part 2.

Destroyer vs Toyonobori, JWA 2/26/65, WWA title. Toyonobori is another major JWA star for Destroyer to guide to a great match; he wound up leaving JWA a month later and retired in '70. Destroyer is as good here as in any other match you'll see, just doing it all. 486 MB.

Baba vs Bruno Sammartino, JWA 3/7/67, NWA International title. I was apprehensive when I started watching this, since both are big guys and given the file size I knew it was a long match. However my fears were misplaced, because they manage to combine a 'clash of titans' feel with lots of sound old-school wrestling. Bruno's bearhug is the main recurring element, as Baba seems to have it scouted and Bruno has to keep going at it. 460 MB.

Dory Funk Jr vs Inoki, JWA 12/2/69, NWA title. Not only does Dory lead the way through an old-school epic, but Papa Funk and Harley Race are on hand to lend a hand and rile the crowd up to the point where they're throwing stuff at the ring. Part 1, 450 MB.

Part 2.

Dory Funk Jr vs Inoki, JWA 8/2/70, NWA title. Another classic, and this time we get a young and very blonde Terry at ringside to get the crowd in a frenzy. 485 MB.

Antonio Inoki vs Billy Robinson, New Japan 12/11/75. Billy Robinson by himself equals must-watch. Then throw in the fact that this is maybe the biggest match of his career, and one of the better Inoki matches. Yeah. 175 MB.

Inoki vs Bob Backlund, New Japan 7/27/78. More hearty old-school goodness. At one point Backlund does something that's half shoulderbreaker, half thunderfire powerbomb. Oh and Inoki rocks the armscissors like a FIEND.

Part two.

Part three.

Fujinami vs Dynamite Kid, WWF junior title, NJ 2/5/80. This is like 90% about Dynamite, which isn't really a problem. 156 MB.

Tiger Mask vs Dynamite Kid, New Japan 4/23/81. Countless wrestlers owe a lot to this series of matches, and this was one of their better ones.

Tiger Mask vs Dynamite Kid, New Japan 8/5/82. 91 MB.

Yatsu vs Takada, NJ 4/19/84. My favorite part of an elimination series. Yatsu had just eliminated Fujinami in short fashion so they come in equal. This is at the original Sumo Hall and the crowd is RED HOT. Fast pace, Takada is a really great young babyface. 98 MB.

Fujiwara vs Super Tiger (Sayama), UWF 9/7/84. Such a great matchup thanks to the contrast in styles and the immense skill both men had at the time. Fujiwara > *. 225 MB.

Maeda vs Super Tiger, UWF 9/11/84. Maeda has a reputation as a shoot-style wizard, but Sayama totally outclasses him here. 215 MB.

Inoki & Fujinami vs Murdoch & Adonis, NJ 12/5/84. Finals of the last MSG Tag League, which was part of the then-ongoing relationship between NJ and WWF. Here we have the best WWF tag team, and almost certainly the best team in the world at this point, taking on two of New Japan's biggest native stars. Adonis and Murdoch do everything you want from a heel tandem, balancing shady tactics and credible offense with great selling and bumping. Inoki and Fujinami are effective faces. Hot crowd too, making this a hell of an old-school battle. 212 MB.

Fujiwara vs Yamazaki, UWF 1/7/85. Fujiwara ruling it. Again. Get used to it. 225 MB.

Chigusa Nagoya vs Devil Masami, AJW 8/22/85. One of two absolute gems on the night. This one has uber-babyface Chigusa against monster heel Masami in an epic that, like the match which followed it, was ages ahead of its time. 89 MB.

Chigusa vs Masami, AJW 8/22/85. Upgrade that's very large.

Lioness Asuka vs Jaguar Yokota, AJW 8/22/85. Also epic, also ahead of its time, but with a very different dynamic. This is a peer vs peer main event struggle, done a bit tighter than Chigusa vs Masami. 82 MB.

Lioness Asuka vs Jaguar Yokota, AJW 8/22/85. Upgrade. 234 MB.

Fujiwara vs Super Tiger, UWF 9/11/85. I actually prefer the Fujiwara vs Sayama series to Sayama vs Dynamite; the latter seemed more like an exhibition than a contest. 225 MB.

Fujinami vs Maeda, NJ 6/12/86. New cap from DVD. So pretty. Famous for being intense and smartly wrestled, only drawback is the finish but that's the '80s for you. One of the gems and perhaps the top match from the NJ vs UWF feud. 190 MB.

Takada vs Koshinaka, junior title, New Japan 8/5/86. This isn't particularly juniors-ish, but rather a textbook high-end strong style match. 'Strong Style' in its original meaning isn't about stiffness or head drops, but instead a mix of pro wrestling and MMA techniques. Both of them are technically sound but what makes this match special is the intensity that the wrestlers and the crowd imbue the bout with. Finish is a very subtle but nasty modification on a classic. 167 MB.

Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki, New Japan 9/1/87, IWGP tag titles. Hard hits, shoot holds, it's UWF-in-NJ. 152 MB.

Akira Maeda vs Dick Murdoch, New Japan 9/14/87. Murdoch is just so good in this, between the selling and paybacks and hate and such. Maeda's no slouch of course but Murdoch is just priceless. 168 MB

Maeda vs Yamazaki, UWFi 5/12/88. And here is an additional amount of high-end shoot-style. 225 MB.

"Black Magic" Norman Smiley vs Kazuo Yamazaki, UWF 6/11/88. Smiley and Yamazaki ROCK on the mat. No foolin'. 112 MB.

Mutoh, Chono & Hashimoto vs Fujinami, Kengo Kimura & Koshinaka, New Japan 7/29/88. Some clipping. TONS of hate, fast pace, rare to see the Musketeers together on one side, Mutoh has a really different look and is jacked, and did I mention HATE? 113 MB.

Fujinami vs Inoki, IWGP title, New Japan 8/8/88. An old-school technical wrestling classic. Inoki's last title shot. Can Fujinami redeem himself against New Japan's icon? 438 MB

Shiro Koshinaka vs Keiichi Yamada, New Japan 12/9/88. Koshinaka defends the junior belt against a young, maskless Liger.

Backlund vs Takada, UWFi 12/22/88. Backlund rules. He's such a great grappler, plus he brings a ton of personality. 225 MB.

Backlund vs Masa Funaki, UWFi 5/21/89. Funaki got into the WON hall of fame with hardly any exposure for US fans. He was very talented, and here he is against another HOFer. 225 MB.

Maeda vs Yamazaki, UWFi 5/21/89. Warning: there are no moonsaults, table spots or chop exchanges in this match. 225 MB.

Funaki vs Yoji Anjoh, UWFi 6/14/89. I once described this as "Absurdly good, cutting-edge shootiness". There's a lot of hate and a lot of WRESTLING in this and you should watch. 225 MB.

Liger vs Naoki Sano, IWGP jr. title, New Japan 7/13/89. Liger in his goofy original costume! The first part of the feud that showed the world just how incredible Liger can be!

Fujiwara vs Yamazaki, UWFi 7/24/89. Forget Takada, screw Maeda, these two are the best shoot-types ever. 225 MB.

Funaki vs Nakano, UWFi 7/24/89. Funaki is good-looking and ultra-talented. Nakano is a slab of flesh. Funaki has cool-guy hair, Nakano looks like he got a trim from his blind mother. Also they hate each other with the intensity of a million exploding suns. SO MUCH HATE. So great a match. You will be glad you downloaded this, I guarantee it. 225 MB.

Liger vs Naoki Sano, IWGP jr. title, New Japan 8/10/89. The rematch, in full, and it's even better than the first. 140+ MB.

Fujiwara vs Takada, UWFi 10/25/89. Great matwork, great use of the 'downs' scoring system, great match. 225 MB.

Sano vs Liger, IWGP jr. title, New Japan 1/31/90. In their third match in September, Sano retained the junior title with a tiger suplex. This, the fourth and final match, builds off the first three matches and adds tons of intensity. Liger debuts the second and 'main' Liger outfit. Liger busts out crazy high-flying moves that he dropped a few years later. Undeniable must-see. 190+ MB.

Bull Nakano vs Manami Toyota, All Japan Women 7/13/90. Bull is the monster veteran, while Toyota has yet to fully develop her array of suplexes. Thus young Manami is a big underdog, and she has to try and sneak a pinfall in order to survive. If that pin doesn't come, she's gonna DIE. 77 MB.

Mutoh & Chono vs Hase & Sasaki, IWGP tag titles, New Japan 11/1/90. Hase & Sasaki are huge underdogs. Hase at this point has recently upgraded from the junior division, and Sasaki has accomplished next to nothing of significance. Mutoh & Chono have been groomed to be main-eventers and company cornerstones, which of course happened. Thus the match has two things: lots of face heat for the underdog team, and a bit of overconfidence from the team I've dubbed 'MuCho'. The end result is one of the better tag title matches NJ has ever seen. 205 MB.

Sano vs Masa Funaki, SWS 4/1/91. Funaki figures Sano isn't nearly ugly enough and repeatedly chucks palm strikes at his mush. They had a match two days before where Funaki won with a suplex followed by a cross-armbreaker. 123 MB.

Liger vs Owen Hart, New Japan, Super Juniors '91, 4/28/91. Note: not the final!

Chono vs Hashimoto, G-1 Climax '91 Semi-Final, New Japan 8/11/91. They went to a draw earlier, and now have a tie-breaker to determine who goes to the final. I really love the last third or so of this, with each man methodically building to his trademark finisher. 128 MB.

Chono vs Mutoh, G-1 Climax '91 Final, New Japan 8/11/91. Easily among the best NJ heavyweight matches of the decade, and quite likely the best singles match from either man's career. 109 MB.

Liger vs El Samurai, BOSJ '92 final, NJ 4/30/92. One of the very definitive juniors matches ever. The best by far for Samurai's career, arguably the best for Liger. Incredibly intense, action-packed, a must watch. 208 MB.

Hase vs Sasaki, New Japan 6/26/92. One of those hidden gems that you come across from Japan in the early '90s. Sasaki, who had teamed regularly with Hase, returns from injury looking to prove a point. He gets really aggressive, going after the neck and even choking Hase a bit. Sasaki forces Hase to dish out a lot of punishment or else he'll take a bad loss. And I do mean a lot of punishment.

Han vs Andrei Kopylov, RINGS 7/16/92. The end of the cold war brings us shoot-style enjoyment. 164 MB.

Hashimoto & Hase vs Fujinami & Sasaki, NJ 7/31/92. Heck of a tag match right here. 91 MB.

Toyota vs Yamada, 8/15/92, Hair vs Hair. One of the biggest bouts for both of them. Action-paced, with a great closing stretch and an emotional aftermath. A joshi must-see. 204 MB.

Yamazaki vs Tamura, UWFi 10/23/92. Tamura is a 3 year pro, and thus is a huge underdog. However he's a genius on the mat and a submission can beat anyone at any time. Yamazaki dominates the standup, which in addition to his experience allows him to stay in the point lead throughout. But it doesn't go to points... 123 MB.

Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada, All Japan Women 11/26/92, 2/3 Falls. A certified joshi classic, a certifiably huge file.

Muta vs Hase, 12/14/92. Ever hear of 'The Muta Scale'? Wonder what kind of wrestler Hase was to merit induction into the Hall of Fame? Find out here. 180 MB.

Muta vs Chono, IWGP vs NWA title match, New Japan 1/4/93. Good compliment to the '91 match.

Takada vs Tamura, UWFi 2-14-93. Tamura is a big underdog but he has so much raw talent that he's able to hold his own with Takada. Good English commentary from a recent UK broadcast. 128 MB.

Kyoko & Takako Inoue vs Ozaki & Cutie Suzuki, AJW Dreamslam 1. Some o' that good joshi prowres. Cutie... 171 MB.

Hokuto vs Kandori, AJW Dreamslam 1. Not my cup of tea, but I'm the exception because this is probably the most beloved match of joshi followers. Super-intense with hardly any letdown. 106 MB.

Toyota & Yamada vs Kansai & Ozaki, All Japan Women 4/11/93. Generally thought to be as good if not better than their first effort, which is saying a lot. 258 MB.

Han vs Nagai, RINGS 4/24/93. Han is such a total monster with submissions. I've never seen anyone be able to just create nasty holds out of thin air at will the way he does. That Nagai is able to find escapes besides just grabbing the ropes (or tapping) is a testament to his ability. 130 MB.

Hogan vs Muta, New Japan 5/3/93, WWF champ vs IWGP champ (non-title). One of those rare 'Hogan actually tries' matches.

Delfin vs Sasuke, UWA title, title vs mask, MPro 7/24/93. One of the first big matches in company history as Sasuke takes on uber-rudo Delfin. Tons of heat, and Delfin is beyond awesome in his cockiness. 179 MB.

Team JWP vs Team AJW, Thunder Queen Battle, JWP 7/31/93. One of the definitive women's matches of all time. It's a 60 minute iron...woman match, with four 5 minute singles matches and a 40 minute tag with everyone in. Hardly ever letdown, loads and loads of great action, and an amazing close. 455 MB. Might want to get a downloading program.

Hashimoto vs Hase, New Japan G-1 Climax '93. Hashimoto is a month away from his first IWGP win. He's already had four challenges, and has pinned many big names in his career. Hase? Pfffft. Just a good hand, a midcarder. That much is hammered home when Hashimoto starts throwing the big bombs, including some moves I don't recall seeing out of him any other time. It's like he does a powerbomb just because he can. Yet there's a nagging sense that Hase won't go down that easily... 150+ MB.

Chono vs Hase, New Japan G-1 Climax '93 semi-final. A nice mix of action and strategy in this one. 131 MB.

Vader vs Yamazaki, UWFi 8/13/93. Lots of drama packed into a relatively short match. Neat post-match promo from Vader, too. 174 MB.

Takako Inoue vs Cutie Suzuki, AJW 8/25/93. Two joshi "idols" show that they have a hell of a lot more than just a pretty face. 150 MB.

Toyota, Hotta & Hasegawa vs Ozaki, Fukuoka & Mariko, AJW 8/25/93. Sprint-y joshi goodness. 191 MB.

Hokuto vs Kazama, AJW 8/25/93. I haven't heard much about LLPW's Kazama before, but she's solid and Hokuto can lead "solid" to a really good match. 134 MB.

Kong vs Kansai, AJW 8/25/93. Follow-up from Thunder Queen. Joshi's heavy-hitters throw everything they have at one another. Finish is sorta weird but it's deliberate and undeniably painful. 179 MB.

Tenryu vs Hase, New Japan 9/23/93. Tenryu has been a thorn in New Japan's side all year, running through the likes of Choshu and Hashimoto (and Hase for that matter). His powerbomb has been the death knell for New Japan's finest. Hase, fresh off making the G-1 Climax final, is in the biggest match of his career, headlining at Yokohama Arena. Hot crowd, hot match. 201 MB

Mutoh & Hase vs Hashimoto & Chono, tag league '93 semi-final, NJ 11/4/93. I'm fairly sure these teams only met twice, the other time being in the round-robin part of this tournament. It's a shame, because they mesh very well. This feels like the sort of high-end tag match that is more associated with All Japan. 113 MB.

Aja Kong vs Megumi Kudo, AJW 12/6/93. Kudo's best non-hardcore singles match. Funny how it's with her best singles opponent. Solid big vs little match and Kong really lays in the backfists to drive the point home. 190 MB.

Toyota & Yamada vs Kansai & Ozaki, AJW 12/6/93. One-fall conclusion to this tag rivalry. 280 MB.

Delfin vs Sato, mask vs mask, MPro 12/10/93. Sato, better known as Dick Togo, is an absolutely stellar athlete for his size. Here, before the wear and tear of the road had brought him down to earth, he shows just how much he rules. Oh and Delfin isn't half-bad either. 137 MB.

Kong vs Hotta, AJW 1/24/94. STIFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. 182 MB.

Han vs Yamamoto, RINGS 1/24/94. Can young Yamamoto hang with the lord of submissions? 102 MB.

Delfin, Shinzaki & Naniwa vs Sasuke, Sato & Shiryu, MPro 2/4/94. Michinoku Pro shows its wares at a red-hot Korakuen. Supremely fun match, and once again Dick Togo does some things that shouldn't be possible for a man with his build. 208 MB.

Hashimoto vs Liger, New Japan 2/24/94. Heavyweight champ battles junior champ in a non-title match that's still hot enough to headline a big show. Hashimoto takes some bumps you wouldn't expect, Liger is awesome, this is a great match. 194 MB.

Hashimoto vs Scott Norton, IWGP title, New Japan 3/21/94. About two weeks earlier, Norton pinned Hashimoto in a non-title match with a powerbomb. He did so without even looking like he was ever in serious trouble. Hashimoto's vertical drop DDT is out of the question, his hardest kicks (and he really tees off here) barely faze the barrel-like chest of Norton, and there's no obvious weakness to exploit. Thus Hash has to make one of his own... but can he do it fast enough to avoid taking the same power moves that beat him not so long ago? 133 MB of better-than-you'd-expect.

Super Delfin vs Ohtani, J Cup '94. So All Japan has the Budokan booked the same night for the Champions Carnival finals, a guaranteed sell-out. New Japan decides to book Sumo Hall, and have a card with nothing but juniors. And it WORKS. And Delfin tries to kill one of New Japan's own with... well you'll just have to see.

Black Tiger Eddie vs Taka Michinoku, J Cup '94. Wee Taka gets absolutely creamed and it's all sorts of fun.

Sasuke vs El Samurai, J Cup '94. Samurai often gets the brush-off when compared to the Ligers and Sasukes of the world, but not only could he hang with them in putting a match together, he could also hang with them in throwing bombs. Sasuke is the favorite but Samurai has more than enough to put him away. 66 MB.

Liger vs Sasuke, J Cup '94. You might have heard of this one. 102 MB.

Vader vs Tamura, UWFi 6/10/94. Really choice David vs Goliath story with a red-hot crowd. 118 MB.

Liger vs Delfin, NJ BOSJ '94 final. Delfin uses his Super Ligerfin hybrid outfit. Liger makes him pay dearly. 154 MB.

Taka Michinoku vs Jado, MPro 7/30/94. This show featured a cross-over with WAR, so Taka is left to try and fend off the felonious Jado. I had my doubts coming in, given that this is 1994 Jado we're talking about, but young Taka's aerial feats remain impressive and Jado brings some serious oomph to the table when it matters most. 126 MB.

Daisuke Ikeda vs Glen Jacobs, Fujiwara Promotions 8/3/94. Baby Ikeda battles Baby Kane. In a shoot-style match. You can't not watch.

Hase vs Iizuka, New Japan G-1 Climax '94. Hase teaches Iizuka the usual young lion lesson, leading into both of them trying to out head-spike the other.

Vader vs Takada, UWFi 8/18/94. Famous match due to Vader being Vader, high drama, Takada having legit broken Vader's arm the year before with a cross-armbreaker, oh and did I mention Vader. 172 MB

Sasuke vs Ohtani, MPro 9/29/94. The first fifteen minutes were spent mostly with long, pointless mat work. This picks up at the point when they decide to get things going, and boy do they ever.

Sato, Shiryu & Terry Boy vs Shinzaki, TAKA & Naniwa, MPro 10/30/94. Kaientai has arrived, and Michinoku Pro will never be the same again. 150 MB.

Delfin, Shinzaki & Naniwa vs Sasuke, Sato & Shiryu, AJW 11/20/94. Michinoku Pro shows its wares at the joshi megashow at the Tokyo Dome. Some overlap from previous tags but still more than worth it for some stellar spots and exchanges and general fun. 204 MB.

Dynamite Kansai vs Kyoko Inoue, V*Top Tournament, AJW 11/20/94. Interesting matchup. Kyoko is no featherweight and has tons of agility, but Kansai is a tank. I didn't know how well they'd mesh in the ring, but they certainly manage to pull off a Tokyo Dome level match. 177 MB.

Aja Kong vs Manami Toyota, V*Top Tournament, All Japan Women 11/20/94. They go absolutely all-out for the occasion, and the result is one of the best singles matches in either of their careers. 146 MB.

Aja Kong vs Dynamite Kansai, V*Top Tournament, AJW 11/20/94. The irresistable force versus the immovable object, the sort of match that was meant to be at the dome. 116 MB.

Hashimoto vs Hase, IWGP title, New Japan 12/13/94. One of the, if not the finest IWGP matches ever. Hashimoto's strikes are brutal, Hase's suplexes are beautiful, there's good matwork, there's the fact that Hase only got this one title shot in his career, and then there's the finish. Oh, the finish. 220 MB of quality.

Sasuke vs TAKA, MPro 12/15/94. Awww, lil' baby TAKA thinks he can hang with Sasuke. 204 MB.

Hashimoto vs Scott Norton, IWGP title, New Japan 2/19/95. Two weeks earlier Norton pinned Mutoh to become #1 contender, and then had another non-title singles win over the champ. However, to balance his having even more momentum than last time, Norton has a bit of a shoulder injury for Hash to lob kicks at. Can the irresistable force top the immovable object when it counts yet again? 122 MB.

Bull Nakano vs Kyoko Inoue, All Japan Women 3/26/95, WWF Womens' Title. Witness the spunkiness of Kyoko as it goes against the straightforward solidness of Bull. 99 MB o' joshi.

Lioness Asuka vs Hotta, AJW 3/26/95. Done with quasi-MMA rules and strikes that blur the line between work and shoot. Finish is crazy. So deeply brutal of a match. 96 MB.

Ultimo Dragon vs Chris Jericho, WAR 3/26/95. Young Lionheart shows his stuff, though that's easy to do when Ultimo is in there.

Hashimoto vs Regal, IWGP title, New Japan 4/16/95. Not 'epic' like you expect from a title match, but 'really good' like you expect from Hash and Regal. Hash works stiff, Regal works snug, and there's even some hardway blood to boot. 151 MB.

Shopping Mall Brawl, Big Japan 7/1/95. One of the unique, definitive things to see in the history of pro wrestling. Bizarre, probably somewhat illegal given the property destruction, often hilarious, entirely confusing. 147 MB.

Ultimo Dragon vs Chris Jericho, WAR 7/7/95. A bigger and better rematch!

Hayabusa & Niiyama vs Gladiator (Mike Awesome) & Ooya, FMW 7/18/95. All kinds of fun. Awesome and Ooya and Hayabusa all rock on offense, Niiyama can take a beating, and then the post-match talking (w/ subtitles) is five-stars. Magnifique!

Sasuke vs Naniwa, Mask League, MPro 7/27/95. Edited to the last few minutes, which are shockingly epic for a Gran Naniwa match. Includes a really sick bump even by Sasuke standards.

Mike Awesome vs Hayabusa, FMW 7/30/95. Hayabusa has been thrust into the spotlight as the face of post-Onita FMW. 'Gladiator' Mike Awesome has been with the company longer and wants to establish himself as a key long-term figure by taking down the new 'ace'. Hayabusa almost ends his career in this but amazingly doesn't suffer a serious injury. Be sure to watch the lead-in tag.

Delfin vs Sasuke, Mask League, MPro 8/12/95. Sasuke suffers an injury to his hip/lower back region and gets absolutely picked apart for most of the match. Closing stretch is great as a result because Delfin just keeps at it while Sasuke is pushed to his absolute limit. 167 MB.

Delfin vs Naniwa, Mask League, MPro 8/13/95. Naniwa has long been Delfin's sidekick, but he isn't afraid to be as rudo as he wanna be. We've seen Naniwa give Sasuke all he can handle and more; can he pull off the upset or will Delfin weather the storm? 128 MB.

Mutoh vs Hashimoto, G-1 Climax '95 final, New Japan 8/15/95. Mutoh knocked off Hashimoto a few months earlier to win the IWGP title. However, Hashimoto had already suffered quite a few singles losses only to come right back and win in the clutch over the last few years. Both are gunning for their first G-1 win. Will Hashimoto's strength or Mutoh's craft come out on top? 114 MB.

Dos Caras vs Super Delfin, Michinoku Pro Mask League 8/18/95. Ah, the '95 mask league. So good, so good for you. 174 MB.

Sasuke vs Dos Caras Jr, Mask League, MPro 8/23/95. Caras really has it all over Sasuke here, with better submissions and more power and plenty of impact moves. Sasuke's only advantage is that he's INSANE. 221 MB.

Gran Naniwa vs Gorgon Cross (Jerry Lynn), Michinoku Pro 8/25/95, Mask vs Mask. The two who did worst in the league are punished by having to put said masks on the line. For two 'losers' this is a hell of a match. Heck, for anyone. 155 MB.

Sasuke vs Dos Caras Jr, Mask League Final, MPro 8/25/95. Caras has learned that it takes a lot to put Sasuke down, so he doesn't hold back even the tiniest bit this time. 158 MB.

Aja Kong vs Dynamite Kansai, WWWA title, All Japan Women 8/30/95. The female equivalent of a superheavyweight war. Ten months previous, Aja pinned Kansai at the biggest joshi show ever in the Tokyo Dome, using her mighty spinning backfist. Kansai, she of the hard kicks and crucifix bombs, is out for revenge and wants to hold the top title in women's wrestling for the first time. As stiff and brutal as it should be. 200+ MB.

Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa, 2/3 falls, All Japan Women 8/30/95. In the mold of the Kansai/Ozaki vs Toyota/Yamada tags, this is thoroughly epic. 290+ MB.

Mike Awesome vs Hayabusa, FMW 9/26/95. Finals of a tournament to determine the new champion after Hayabusa vacated the title a few months earlier. During the round-robin portion of the tournament Hayabusa pinned Awesome with a rana.

Chono vs Anjoh, 10/28/95. Certain wrestlers shine the most in interpromotional feuds. Yoji Anjoh, far less glamorous than counterparts like Takada, is a case in point. The NJ vs UWFi feud let him rely on his awesome heel charisma to augment his decent if unspectacular skills. This match is flat-out entertaining.

Chono & Tenzan vs Anjoh & Takayama, UWFi 11/25/95. More Anjoh greatness.

Damien 666 vs Gran Naniwa, J Cup '95. Wrestling karaoke?

Dos Caras vs El Samurai, J Cup '95. Lucha legend Caras ties Samurai up in knots.

Liger vs Naniwa, J Cup '95. Featuring deluxe entrances from both.

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Psicosis, J Cup '95 non-tournament. One of their many, touring matches at a time when the matchup could do no wrong.

Liger vs Ultimo Dragon, J Cup '95 semifinal. To me this is the real final. 103 MB.

Delfin, Naniwa & Hasegawa vs Sasuke, Kendo & Shimoda, MPro 12/17/95. Kendo (a luchador) and two of joshi's finest don't miss a beat in yet another fun-filled Michinoku romp. Though I question the wisdom of ever putting Delfin in a mixed tag. 217 MB.

Manami Toyota vs AJW, 12/25/95. Very odd, very interesting match. It's 30 1-minute singles matches, a few of which repeat, starting with young... um... lionesses, and building to the Aja Kong-level ass-kickers. You'll probably never see anything else like it. 91 MB.

Han vs Yamamoto, RINGS 12/29/95. Yamamoto has a lot more experience but Han remains Han, able to crush mere mortals with a thought. He's like a shoot-style end boss.

Hashimoto vs Yamazaki, New Japan 1/4/96. Part 1 of a great rivalry. 108 MB.

Inoki vs Vader, NJ 1/4/96. A new, super-sharp cap of this. 159 MB.

Ohtani vs El Samurai, New Japan 1/21/96. Top five for either of their careers, really cutting-edge and smart and focused and awesome. It's a distinctly juniors-style match without breaking down into highspots for the sake of highspots. 103 MB.

Liger & Black Tiger vs Ohtani & Kanemoto, NJ 2/15/96. I dunno, these four are okay I guess. 127 MB.

Delfin, Naniwa & Taka vs Sasuke, Shiryu & Tiger Mask IV, MPro 3/16/96. One of the more famous MPro 6-mans. Highlight is an absolutely killer finishing sequence. 228 MB.

Liger vs Ohtani, junior title, NJ 3/17/96. Another juniors classic.

Hashimoto & Hirata vs Harlem Heat, New Japan 3/20/96. Battle of the H's. Hashimoto crowns Booker with the brainbusteringest of all brainbusters.

Tenryu vs Fujinami, NJ 4/29/96. Tenryu counters a suicida in nasty fashion and the match gets ugly. 83 MB.

Megumi Kudo vs Combat Toyota, exploding barbed wire deathmatch, FMW 5/5/96. Kudo, the deathmatch queen, must survive the beastly Combat. The explosions are NOT the most brutal thing about the match, either. This is my favorite FMW deathmatch, and I'm far from alone in that opinion.

Hashimoto & Ohtani vs Yamazaki & Nagata, NJ 5/28/96. It's all about Hash vs Yamazaki, it really is. 136 MB.

Hashimoto, Hirata & Nishimura vs Yamazaki, Iizuka & Nagata, NJ 6/5/96. Buildup to Hash & Hirata vs Yamazaki & Iizuka. Normally a New Japan buildup match isn't important to see, but in this feud the lead-ins add a lot. Also it's a good match in its own right. 145 MB.

Black Tiger Eddie vs Ohtani, New Japan Best of the Super Juniors 6/5/96. Like I'm explaining this. 99 MB.

Hashimoto & Hirata vs Yamazaki & Iizuka, tag titles, NJ 6/12/96. A great match that's even greater after seeing the backstory. Smart, heated, energetic crowd, this is one of the best IWGP tag title matches. 191 MB.

Liger vs Black Tiger, NJ Best of Super Juniors '96 final. Earlier in the year Liger beat Eddie with a top rope brainbuster. Earlier in the tournament Eddie beat Liger with a top rope brainbuster. Will that be the move that ends the rubber match, or will one of their other trademarks (BT bomb, ligerbomb) be enough? 110 MB.

Ohtani vs Sakuraba, New Japan 6/17/96. Ohtani plays to young Saku's strengths, but without going full-on shoot-style.

Delfin vs Taka Michinoku, New Japan 6/17/96. This rocks, no bones about it. 96 MB.

Liger vs Dick Togo, New Japan 6/17/96. Liger and Togo in '96 equals can't-miss.

Sasuke & Delfin vs Togo, Shiryu & Teioh, MPro 6/23/96. The Michinoku Megapowers take on Kaientai in a handicap match that escalates a lot in the second half. 146 MB.

Fujinami & Fujiwara vs Takada & Kakihara, UWFi 6/26/96. Fujiwara gets kicked in the face and from there it's ON.

Han vs Nagai, RINGS 6/29/96. You will watch Volk Han and LIKE IT, or you get no pudding. 89 MB.

Liger & El Samurai vs Ohtani & Honaga, NJ 6/29/96. C'mon, Liger vs Ohtani. 147 MB.

Han vs Kohsaka, RINGS 7/16/96. Han tends to be more mat-focused while his Japanese opponents are more skilled at striking. Here he has a peerless Japanese mat wizard to test his ability. Intense and unexpected finish. 107 MB.

Mutoh vs Yamazaki, NJ G-1 Climax '96. Really, really good technical wrestling here. Much better 'Mutoh vs UWFi guy' than either of the Takada matches. 131 MB.

Hashimoto vs Choshu, New Japan G-1 Climax '96. A match made especially famous by the closing moments in which Choshu lariats Hashimoto as hard as is humanly possible, and Hash refuses to go down, which means they hit full-on. Choshu practically breaks his arm on Hashimoto's chest because it's like trying to lariat down a small house. Choshu's all-out effort here is part of '96 being his last G-1 ever, something he announced ahead of time. Hashimoto, on the other hand, is the champ and the ace, and he still wants his first G-1 tournament win. This is opening night and the winner controls his own destiny. So the question becomes, are Choshu's hardest blows really enough? 129 MB.

Ultimo Dragon vs Ohtani, New Japan 8/4/96. Part of the J-Crown tournament, and one of the best juniors matches ever thanks to Shinjiro's performance.

Sakuraba vs Kakihara, UWFi 8/17/96. Slick shoot-styled wrestling.

Liger, Hamada & Naniwa vs Togo, Taka & Funaki, MPro 8/18/96. A 1996 MPro 6-man with Kaientai means you're starting with at least a 'good' match. Throw Liger into the mix and it's that much funner. That right, funner. 119 MB.

Han vs Kohsaka, RINGS 8/24/96. The rematch. 109 MB.

Tanaka, Kuroda & Koji Nakagawa vs Kanemura, Hideki Hosaka & Hido, FMW 9/1/96. Oh baby, this is a good one. Great heat, great action, hectic pacing, and for a couple of these guys one of the very best matches they've ever been in.

Volk Han vs Kiyoshi Tamura, RINGS 9/25/96. Shoot-style featuring one of the most legit, can-kill-you-without-trying badasses ever to set foot in a wrestling ring (Han).

Kaientai Deluxe vs Delfin/Hamada/Tiger Mask 4/Naniwa/Yakushiji, MPro 10/10/96. The definitive Michinoku Pro match. One of the most straightforwardly enjoyable matches anywhere, ever. It's been posted a thousand times in a thousand places but one more can't hurt and if you HAVEN'T seen it, well sheesh don't wait any longer! Especially with the new 322 MB cap of it.

Togo, Teioh & Shiryu vs Sasuke, Hamada & Yakushiji, MPro 10/19/96. Yakushiji bumps like mad, and they bust out a pretty huge finishing sequence. 170 MB.

Muta vs Liger, NJ 10/20/96. You have to remember, Mutoh is the guy who can fly and work a technical match. Muta is an entirely different creature. Thankfully, Liger has a very unique backup plan. 77 MB.

Togo, Teioh & Shiryu vs Sasuke, Delfin & Hamada, MPro 11/12/96. Can't go wrong with these. 82 MB.

Hayabusa vs Taka Michinoku, FMW 11/16/96. Taka does his best, Hayabusa does a mix of amazing spots and spotty selling, it builds to some big nearfalls.

Han vs Kohsaka, RINGS 11/22/96. They do a great job of building drama at the end. 102 MB.

Hashimoto & Hirata vs Choshu & Sasaki, NJ 12/1/96. Choshu gets a shot at Hashimoto on 1/4/97 and naturally they go after each other. 104 MB.

Chono & Tenzan vs Yamazaki & Iizuka, tag titles, NJ 12/1/96. Slightly JIP'ed. Good match made very good by classic face vs heel storytelling. 99 MB.

Kaientai Deluxe vs Sasuke, Delfin, Hamada, Tiger Mask 4 & Naniwa, elimination match, MPro 12/9/96. Now complete, and a real treat. 267 MB.

Ultimo Dragon vs Rey Mysterio, WAR 12/13/96. Ultimo destroying Rey is always good times.

Kaientai DX vs MPro, 12/16/96, 10-man. This is the good stuff right here.

Jinsei Shinzaki vs Taka Michinoku, MPro 12/17/96. Taka tries to take down the Michinoku juggernaut. 133 MB.

Delfin vs TAKA, MPro 12/20/96. JIP'ed to the hot hot finish!

Togo, Teioh, Shiryu & Funaki vs Sasuke, Hamada, Naniwa & Yakushiji, MPro 12/20/96. KDX loves to play the numbers game, but what happens when the shoe is on the other foot? 198 MB.

Togo, Teioh & Shiryu vs Sasuke, Delfin & Hamada, MPro 1/14/97. Ummmmm... it's good and you should watch it.

Han vs Tamura, RINGS 1/22/97. This one's goooooooood. If you've been skipping the Han stuff, give this a shot. If you HAVE been watching the Han stuff then you want every second of this. 112 MB.

Liger vs Ohtani, J Crown, 2/9/97. One of Ohtani's three defining performances. A story of pride and determination. A must-see. 98 MB.

Hashimoto vs Yamazaki, IWGP title, New Japan 2/16/97. This is great. Hard-hitting, good submission work, nice strategy by Yamazaki, well-paced, I don't think a hell of a lot more can be asked for here.

Togo vs Yakushiji, MPro 3/1/97. Solid match based on a big vs little formula. 130 MB.

Super Delfin vs Shiryu, MPro 3/1/97. Delfin was long since a big-shot, but young Kaz Hayashi? Not so much. This was Shiryu's big chance and he could show he was on par with the rest of his stablemates, instead of an also-ran. 156 MB.

Ohtani vs Tajiri, New Japan BOSJ '97. Lil' Tajiri is reprazentin' Big Japan in Shin Nihon's hood. Ohtani ain't got time for fools, tho.

Kanemoto vs Takaiwa, BOSJ '97. They dish out an incredible amount of punishment. 128 MB.

Kanemoto vs El Samurai, BOSJ '97 final. An epic match with flaws and one of the definitive nasty bumps in wrestling history. 90 MB.

Sasaki vs Tenzan, G-1 Climax '97 final. Stiffness 'n' head drops. Compact match. 75 MB.

Han vs Tamura, RINGS 9/26/97. It's Han vs Tamura, you know what you're getting. 107 MB.

Delfin, Yakushiji & Hoshikawa vs Togo, Teioh & Funaki, MPro 10/10/97. The sweet embrace of MPro goodness, something most any wrestling fan can appreciate. 114 MB.

Masato Tanaka vs Mr. Gannosuke, Double Titles, FMW 1/6/98. Super high-quality video, super low-end English commentary. Really good match that blends traditional Japanese style with 'hardcore' psychology and a nice high-impact closing stretch. It's a shame it took this long to get a Gannosuke match on here. 153 MB.

Minoru Tanaka vs Tajiri, BattlArts 1/20/98. Tajiri was really in his prime in '98, since he didn't have to hold back for the sake of trying to play to mainstream US fans. Minoru is no slouch at this point in time, either.

Hayabusa vs Mike Awesome, FMW 3/17/98. Winner gets a title shot. Their last singles match, since Awesome got hurt over the summer and was gone to ECW shortly after his return in '99. 100 MB.

Gannosuke vs Shinzaki, FMW 4/21/98. Gannosuke has repeatedly mocked and ripped off Shizaki over the preceeding months. Shinzaki is out for revenge, but to do so he must overcome the current champion's willingness to break any and all rules. 126 MB.

Mr. Gannosuke vs Hayabusa, Double Titles, FMW 4/30/98. Super high-quality video, super low-end English commentary, as the other one. A highlight for both of their careers. 136 MB.

Hayabusa vs Masato Tanaka, Double Titles, FMW 5/19/98. JIP to the juicy part. When I say they go all-out, I ain't kidding around. 89 MB.

New Japan BOSJ '98 commercial tape, part 1. Including Kanemoto vs Yasuraoka, Liger vs Fukuda, Ohtani vs El Samurai, Hayashi vs KaShin and Ohtani vs Takaiwa. Quite the good little collection there, everything's worth watching. Fukuda sadly passed away a few years after this, so don't pass him over just because he isn't a household name.

Liger vs Ohtani, New Japan BOSJ '98.

Kanemoto vs Kaz Hayashi, New Japan BOSJ '98. Clipped down but well worth it for Kaz taking a bump that by all rights should have ended his career.

Kanemoto vs Dr Wagner Jr, NJ BOSJ '98 final. Wagner is GREAT in dominating most of the match. Kanemoto does some stuff, but this is pretty much the Wagner show. 194 MB.

Masato Tanaka vs Kuroda, FMW 6/19/98. Ain't exactly Baba vsDestroyer, but it's good for what it is. 93 MB.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Tsuyoshi Kosaka, RINGS 6/27/98. One of the more famous shoot-style matches, this is a fine example of two guys who can just flat-out go on the mat.

Chono vs Koshinaka, New Japan G-1 Climax '98. Koshinaka isn't among the Three Musketeers, but he was always capable of beating them. Chono and Koshinaka in particular had an odd rivalry and were feuding at the time, having traded singles wins and the tag titles over the course of the year. It's the yakuza kick and butterfly lock against the hip attack and powerbomb, a matchup that could go either way. 77 MB.

Hashimoto vs Tenryu, New Japan G-1 Climax '98. They pound the daylights out of each other with chops. I especially like how Tenryu gets welts on his NECK from Hash's overhead chops. Oh and Tenryu also takes a pretty sick bump for someone his size let alone age.

Hashimoto vs Kojima, New Japan G-1 Climax '98. Kojima is all spunky and lariat-y. Hashimoto gets pissed off because Kojima won't sell enough. Hashimoto MAKES Kojima sell. I love Hashimoto.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto, RINGS 9/21/98. I'm alone in thinking this is better than Tamura vs Kosaka, but I'm not alone in thinking this is darn good shoot-style.

SUWA vs Dragon Kid, Toryumon 2/7/99. The nice contrast between Dragon Kid hitting his nifty spots and SUWA being SUWA.

Great Sasuke vs Magnum Tokyo, Toryumon 2/7/99. Some good mat work to start before they delve into the highspots that are required for it to be a Sasuke match. Sasuke lets young Magu look real good.

Minoru Tanaka vs Masaaki Mochizuki, BattlArts 3/21/99. Two guys who kick hard and fight like mad on the mat square off.

Masato Tanaka vs Mr. Gannosuke, FMW 8/20/99. The nefarious Kodo Fuyuki makes for a great heel ref, who is biased but not over-the-top. Finishing sequence is really choice, with a fine balance between high-impact and effective 'sports entertainment'. 117 MB.

SUWA, Curry Man & Super Boy vs Taka, Magnum Tokyo & Minoru Fujita, MPro 8/22/99. Comedy! Action! Drama! A fine little 6-man here. 75 MB.

Survival Tobita vs Ken the Box, Saitama Pro 8/23/99. A spectacle unlike any other. An event unlike any you've seen. A match... for all time. One man. One monster. One mat. One destiny.

Hayabusa vs Mr. Gannosuke, FMW 8/25/99. Continuing their rivalry.

Naoki Sano vs Curry Man, MPro 10/17/99. Sano: not afraid to murder a fool. 73 MB.

CIMA & SUWA vs Magnum Tokyo & Tiger Mask 4, MPro 11/7/99. Big interpromotional tag ackshun. 137 MB.

CIMA, Curry Man & Super Boy vs Jody Fleisch, Minoru Fujita & Shiryu 2, MPro 12/21/99. A sprint that's all sorts of fun, with a really killer close.

Tenryu vs Sasaki, IWGP title, NJ 1/4/00. They really lay it in.

Tiger Mask 4 vs Minoru Fujita, MPro 3/4/00. Fujita, a big underdog, does more than give TM4 all he can handle. 138 MB.

Minoru Tanaka vs Ikuto Hidaka, BattlArts 3/25/00. These two match up pretty darn well, what with the slick moves and the grappling and the submissions and so forth. 82 MB.

Great Sasuke vs Naoki Sano, 4/9/00. To reiterate: Sano will kill you. The fact that you are Great Sasuke, and the fact that you have a history of skull fractures, does not change this.

Tomoaki Honma vs Jun Kasai, Big Japan 4/10/00. Honma is a deathmatch icon, whereas Kasai has done jack-all. Honma has an extra year of experience. Kasai fights a good fight and gets some nice 'young lion' nearfalls, but then keeps going on, until you wonder if maybe he doesn't have a chance after all. Honma does a great job here. 73 MB.

Hashimoto vs Fujinami, 10/9/00. This match is weird. Hashimoto was 'retired' a few months earlier, then was supposed to come back in humiliating Young Lion garb. Instead he wears the usual and they start to wrestle an incredibly dry match. I've clipped through that to the meat: they get incredibly pissed off and start stiffing the daylights out of each other. And a few months later, Hash was gone from the company. Wrestling can be funny sometimes.

Sasaki vs Kawada, NJ 10/9/00. This match is the definition of 'dream match'. Kawada comes in as the representation of all things All Japan, while Sasaki has dominated New Japan in winning the IWGP title and G-1 Climax this year. Sasaki's entire career changes HERE, as he takes part in his first great singles match in ages and learns how to work all over again. Kawada once again shows what he's made of in guiding the normally pedestrian Sasaki to a picture-perfect dome war. Stiff as hell, paced nicely, incredibly important. What more can you ask for? 262 MB.

Manami Toyota & Kayo Noumi vs Kaoru Ito & Miho Wakizawa, AJW 10/15/00. Joshi fun for all to enjoy. 76 MB.

CIMA, SUWA & Fuji vs Magnum Tokyo, Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi, Toryumon 11/30/00. Super-fun aside from the finish. My favorite match from the first two years of the company. 80 MB.

Kaoru Ito, Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi vs Mima Shimoda, Etsuko Mita & Kumiko Maekawa, AJW 12/9/00, cage match. Whole team must escape to win. Good match with a craaaaaazy finish. 91 MB.

Liger, Minoru Tanaka & Makabe vs Delfin, Murahama & Tsubasa, NJ 12/14/00. Osaka Pro invades! Shoot-stylists Tanaka and Murahama collide! Makabe tries not to mess everything up! Plenty of heat and hate to warm you up.

Kawada & Fuchi vs Nagata & Iizuka, NJ 12/14/00. Oh this match. How can I praise it? The best match Iizuka has ever been in. The best match Fuchi has been in since '93 and maybe '92. Likely the best match Nagata has ever been in. It's got so much going for it, and if you're any kind of puro fan you owe it to yourself to watch this.

Kawada & Fuchi vs Nagata & Iizuka, NJ 12/14/00. Cap upgrade. 313 MB.

Sasaki vs Kojima, IWGP title tournament round 1, NJ 1/4/01. Kojima comes in with a good gameplan and keeps finding ways to go back to it. Problem is, at this point he isn't someone with the kind of firepower to hang with Sasaki as things escalate. Can strategy overcome their gap in brute force? 140 MB.

Mutoh & Ohtani vs Nakanishi & Liger, NJ 1/4/01. Mutoh is in the midst of crafting his current persona, but lacks a few key elements. Liger is in the midst of de-powering from his 2000 no-sell-a-thon. Ah, but the real story here is Ohtani, returning from an excursion with newfound bulk. Some big ol' bumps are taken for the Tokyo Dome crowd.

Nagata vs Tenzan, IWGP tournament round 1, NJ 1/4/01. Sasaki vacated the title after his match with Kawada, so there's a 1-night tournament to crown the new champ. Winner of this match gets Kawada. Hmmm, well they built Kawada vs Nagata up in the tag in December, and Nagata/Iizuka beat TenKoji in the tag league final, so the winner is fairly obvious. Right?

Kawada vs Tenzan, IWGP tournament round 2, NJ 1/4/01. Kawada had a bye, Tenzan went through the roughest first round match. Yet as this bout progresses one gets the odd sense that Tenzan is the fresh one, Tenzan is the one with energy to spare, Tenzan is the one destined to win. Kawada senses this too and gets desperate down the stretch.

Kawada vs Sasaki, IWGP tournament final, NJ 1/4/01. The rematch. Not as good as the first, but quite good for both having wrestled earlier.

Ebessan vs Kamen, Osaka Pro 1/7/01. An early incarnation of the great comedy matchup.

Murahama, Tsubasa & Arkangel vs Black Buffalo, Gamma & Daio QUALLT, Osaka Pro 1/7/01. Some sweet, sweet lucharesu goodness.

Liger & El Samuri vs Delfin & Monster Zeta Mandora, Osaka Pro 1/7/01. Zeta would become Big Boss MAGMA, and then Magnitude Kishiwada. Anyway, this match is all about HATRED and INVADING and MORE HATRED.

Tenzan & Kojima vs Sasaki & Liger, NJ 2/3/01. The hottest team in Japan faces the company heavyweight ace and the company juniors ace! 151 MB.

Kanemoto & Tanaka vs Dr. Wagner Jr & Silver King, junior tag titles, NJ 2/3/01. The luchador brothers tear it up and we get to watch. 183 MB.

Nagata, Iizuka & Nakanishi vs Kawada, Fuchi & Araya, NJ 2/3/01. More NJ vs AJ battling! 245 MB.

Kanemoto, Minoru Tanaka & Takaiwa vs Dr. Wagner Jr, Silver King & El Samurai, NJ 2/18/01. Heck of a good 6-man. Basically, if you want to see a match involving those six names, you'll like it. And if you aren't familiar with them, get familiar. 146 MB.

Hashimoto & Nagata vs Misawa & Akiyama, Zero-One 3/2/01. Main event of the Z-1 debut. A dream match that delivers, with tons of hate and stiffness and then some more hate. 231 MB.

Kawada vs Nagai, All Japan 3/3/01. A match that can be summed up thusly: stiff. Ungodly stiff.

Tenzan & Kojima vs Steve Williams & George Hines, All Japan 4/14/01. Here's an interesting match: the gaijins are huge babyfaces because they're taking on a New Japan team. TenKoji was reliably good and the crowd heat really seems to give everyone a boost.

Kawada vs Mutoh, All Japan 4/14/01. Not only is it a dream match, but it's also the breakout match for Mutoh's "Shining Wizard" persona. Kawada sells great to put over Mutoh's strategery. 95 MB.

Takaiwa vs Marufuji, Zero-One 4/18/01. Ah, Takaiwa butchering Marufuji. A timeless classic.

Misawa & Rikio vs Naoya Ogawa & Murakami, Zero-One 4/18/01. Super-hot, lots of interpromotional hate, Murakami takes neck bumps, this isn't one to skip either.

Sumo Fuji vs Ryo Saito, Toryumon 5/12/01. Nicely done big-versus-little matchup.

Black Buffalo & Tsubasa vs Gamma & Daio QUALLT, Osaka Pro 5/29/01. Welcome back to the wonderful world of Osaka Pro!

Liger vs Silver King, NJ BOSJ '01. Yeah like this could ever not be good.

Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Minoru Tanaka, NJ BOSJ '01. See the comment about Liger vs Silver King.

Tenzan vs Nakanishi, NJ 6/4/01. Nakanishi has been ahead of Tenzan for years now, including making him tap to the rack in a playoff during the previous G-1. Tenzan hasn't had a title shot in almost three years and is looking to show he's more than just a tag wrestler, while Nakanishi will fight to the last to keep what he's earned. 128 MB.

Kawada vs Kojima, New Japan 6/6/01. Another really good Kawada vs NJ match with a nice new cap. 95 MB.

Nagai & Kakihara vs Nagata & Makabe, AJ 6/8/01. For the vacant All Asia tag titles, this is during the 'Makabe can be in good matches' days and the 'Nagai, Kakihara and Nagata in the same match equals good' days.

Kawada vs Tenzan, AJ 6/8/01. Kawada's all, "sell my offense dammit" and Tenzan's all "I don't wanna" and Kawada's all "fine" and he dumps Tenzan directly onto his neck. I love Kawada.

Tenryu vs Mutoh, All Japan 6/8/01, Triple Crown. Pretty much the peak match for both 'back in AJ Tenryu' and 'shining wizard Mutoh'. 138 MB.

CIMA vs Magnum Tokyo, Toryumon 6/10/01. Last ten minutes of a long match, thus this is the portion where they're throwing everything they have at each other.

Kawada & Araya vs Tenryu & Fuchi, AJ 6/30/01. Aw, this is fun. Lil' file, download it and save it for a rainy day or something.

Tenzan vs Liger, NJ G-1 Climax 2001. Does BOSJ winner Liger have what it takes to hang with the big boys? Will Tenzan's power overcome the experience and grit of one of his teachers? Hot hot finish! 155 MB.

Chono vs Tenzan, NJ G-1 Climax 2001. Okay first half, great second half. Loser is all but dead in the tournament. 193 MB.

Kojima vs Liger, NJ G-1 Climax 2001. Crowd wants Liger to win! You want Liger to win! Most importantly, Liger wants Liger to win! Kojima can't afford to let that happen! 178 MB.

Tenzan vs Kojima, NJ G-1 Climax 2001. Final roud-robin match of the tournament. Kojima makes the semifinals with a win, while Tenzan needs to win to show he's still the leader of their team. These partners hold nothing back. 225 MB.

Magnum Tokyo, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito vs CIMA, SUWA & Fuji vs Mochizuki, Kanda & Darkness Dragon, Toryumon 8/14/01. If you are any kind of fan of the Toryumon/Dragon Gate/lucharesu style, you must see this match. Absolutely stellar sprint.

Ohtani vs Daisuke Sekimoto, Zero-One Fire Festival '01. Sekimoto is a young Big Japan strongman, and he's out to show he belongs in the big leagues. Ohtani has other plans.

Takaiwa & Hoshikawa vs Shiga & Kanemaru, Zero-One 9/15/01. NOAH invades! Hard to go wrong with interpromotional hate. Throw in Hoshikawa? Done deal.

Hashimoto & Fujiwara vs Ikeda & Sugiura, Zero-One 9/15/01. NOAH invades parte dos! Certainly Ikeda can handle himself with the veteran stiff-meisers. But Sugiura? He's a friggin' rookie! He has no business in the ring with the likes of Hash and Fujiwara. Well, maybe I speak too soon...

Kaz Fujita vs Sasaki, NJ 10/8/01. Fujita, who beat Ken Shamrock in a shootfight a year earlier, is IWGP champ. Sasaki wants to restore his pride after losing the title to Scott Norton in March. Short, intense, and stiff- especially Fujita's punches.

Mutoh & Hase vs Akiyama & Nagata, NJ 10/8/01. Triple Crown champ & Japanese congressman vs GHC champ and IWGP winner. Quite the assortment of talent here. Plenty of nifty stuff in this one.

Mochizuki, Yokosuka & Darkness Dragon vs Magnum Tokyo, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito, Toryumon 10/28/01. Another good 6-man. Clipped by about half but doesn't feel like it's missing much.

1 hour of T2P TV, 11/13/01. Includes the Kondo vs Yagi match previously hosted here, plus Owashi vs Ogawauchi and Mishima vs Tarucito. More of a must-see show! 217 MB.

TARU vs Kinya Oyanagei, T2P 11/13/01. The T2P debut show is one of those must-see events. Here we meet Oyanagei, who has a very unique approach to things. TARU, a veteran of both life and the ring, struggles to adapt.

Yoshino & Tsujimoto (Yasshi) vs Mori & Iwasa, T2P 11/13/01. Some mind-blowing exchanges and general non-stop inventiveness here. Maybe the definitive "holy crap these guys are going to rule the world" early T2P match.

Milano Collection AT vs Ryo Saito, 2/3 falls, T2P 11/13/01. Milano rips Ryo apart on the mat, just dominating him in a way I can't recall seeing before or after.

Tanaka & Naruse vs Kakihara & Naniwa, NJ junior tag league 11/23/01. I can imagine Kakihara's reaction when they announced pairings for the junior tag league. Liger? No. Any of the last three champions? No. El Samurai? No. Um... Wataru Inoue? Sorry Kaki, you've got the crab. Yet somehow, some way, Naniwa makes it work. 170 MB.

Liger & Samurai vs Shibata & Inoue, NJ junior tag league 11/23/01. Superb veteran vs young lion battle, and as usual Korakuen is the place to do such a match in a main event! 169 MB.

Manami Toyota vs Mariko Yoshida, ARSION 11/25/01. It's the mistress of the suplexes against the hybrid shootiness of Yoshida. 80 MB.

Nagata & Nakanishi vs Nishimura & Liger, NJ tag league 11/30/01. Strength versus technique. 153 MB.

Tenzan & Kojima vs Barton & Steele, NJ tag league 11/30/01. The first bit of the match you wonder if these teams are going to gel, especially Steele. By the end you want more and thankfully that's exactly what we'd get! 171 MB.

Ohtani vs Sekimoto, Big Japan 12/2/01. Ohtani lowers himself to filthy Big Japan to take on their young punk heavyweight. Ohtani ain't taking no crap from a deathmatch greenhorn. Ohtani ain't taking no crap from deathmatch fans. Ohtani pretty much rules.

Tenzan & Kojima vs Barton & Steele, New Japan 12/11/01. Finals of New Japan's tag league. TenKoji lost in last years' final and already had a match before. Barton and Steele are All Japan powerhouses who come in fresh. This is a wonderful mix of basic tag formula and Japanese heavyweight-style action, and is certainly the highlight of the famed TenKoji team.

Aja Kong vs Meiko Satomura, GAEA 12/15/01. Kong has been one of the top joshi names for a decade. Satomura has tried and tried to topple her, but always comes up short (there's a video package at the start with this). Now they go at it one more time to determine who the top woman really is. 101 MB.

Akiyama vs Nagata, GHC title, New Japan 1/4/02. Nagata was supposed to face Fujita for the IWGP title, but Fujita hurt himself. Then on 12/31/01, Nagata got mauled by Cro Cop (it's in the video package) in a shootfight. Thus, a match that wasn't planned and is brought down by circumstances.

Yokosuka, Horiguchi & Darkness Dragon vs Super Shisa, Ken Arai & Ryo Saito, Rainbow Pro 1/20/02. Really slick Toryumon 6-man. Shisa absolutely steals the show. 89 MB.

Shiji Kondo vs Jun Ogawauchi, T2P 1/23/02. Hugely enjoyable hybrid match, with cool exchanges and cool submissions and good nearfalls and a steady pace. Aw yeah.

Milano, Yoshino & Tsujimoto vs Ryo Saito, Mori & Yagi, T2P 1/23/02. Hey it's more early T2P, what a shock.

Tenryu vs Kojima, All Japan 2/24/02. Kojima's first big match after jumping ship. Plenty of fun. 200 MB.

Mutoh vs Kawada, Triple Crown, All Japan 2/24/02. Kawada must no-sell Mutoh's cheap knee dropkicks and sloppy shining wizards... for Baba! Also, gansobomb #2.

Takaiwa vs KENTA, Zero-One 3/2/02. Takaiwa makes young KENTA learn his place the hard way. The hard way happens to be the fun way, for us. 156 MB.

Marufuji vs Hoshikawa, Zero-One 3/2/02. A year earlier Marufuji had his big breakout match, at Hoshikawa's expense. Now Marufuji is NOAH's junior champ and Hoshikawa can redeem himself big-time with a win. 142 MB.

Hashimoto vs Masato Tanaka, Zero-One 3/2/02. When I first watched this, it was on a file that was of low audio quality. This file has much better video and the audio is clear enough for you to hear the ultra-stiff beating Hashimoto lays on Tanaka. Oh so very stiff. 123 MB.

Nagata vs Scott Norton, NJ 3/21/02. Winner gets an IWGP shot. Norton beat Nagata in '98 to fill a title vacancy, and he won the title a year ago. Nagata is looking for redemption after several bad losses, and he really tees off on the big man when he gets the chance. 102 MB.

Chono & Tenzan vs Nagata & Nakanishi, NJ 3/24/02. Winner gets the vacant tag titles. They do a really good job of mixing up the trademark moves and maintaining the pace.

Arashi & Araya vs Nagai & Okamura, All Asia tag titles, All Japan 4/13/02. Four midcarders go all-out, leading to some really choice nearfalls down the stretch.

My Three Mutohs vs Kojima, Honma & Yang, All Japan 4/27/02. It's baldness and shining wizards as far as the eye can see.

Tenryu & Araya vs Kea & Miyamoto, All Japan 4/27/02. This one rocks right here. Tenryu and Kea stiff each other, Tenryu and Araya absolutely MAUL young Miyamoto, hardway blood, hatred... get on it. 73 MB

Manami Toyota & Hotta vs Ito & Momoe Nakanishi, NJ 5/2/02. AJW was given a spot to showcase itself, and these four go all-out. 133 MB.

Hashimoto & Ogawa vs Tenzan & Norton, NJ 5/2/02. Hashimoto's final match in New Japan, and thankfully it's one that exceeds expectations. Fun exchanges with Hash and Norton, Tenzan is fired up, some big bumps, this one is worth your while. 114 MB.

Nagata vs Takayama, IWGP title, NJ 5/2/02. The match that, to me, kicked off Takayama's world-class two year run. A match that shows both men are capable of a Tokyo Dome-caliber title bout, something that wasn't clear going in.

Tomohiro Ishii vs Kazuya Yuasa, Michinoku Pro 5/6/02. Ishii is a brick house, Yuasa is a firey young lion. This is worked in more of a 'light heavyweight' style than MPro's usual lucharesu style. Steady escalation leads to some good nearfalls.

Tiger Mask 4 vs Ikuto Hidaka, Michinoku Pro 5/6/02. Big match for both of them. Shortly after it both would make it into bigger promotions; see why.

Liger vs Curry Man, NJ BOSJ '02, 5/30/02. Ummmmm it's Liger vs Christopher Daniels.

Takayama vs Nakanishi, NJ 6/7/02. Clash of the titans. German vs German! Chop vs knee! Possibly Nakanishi's best singles match to that point. 164 MB.

Nagata vs Sasaki, IWGP title, NJ 6/7/02. This is probably the best IWGP match Sasaki was in. Paced very nicely, well put-together, and considering that Nagata is something like 1-10 versus Sasaki there's no small amount of doubt over the winner. Crappy crowd, unfortunately. 200+ MB.

Kayo Noumi vs Rie Tamada, All Japan Women 6/16/02. Oh Noumi.

Takayama vs Don Frye, shootfight, 6/23/02. Takayama would be a huge underdog in most circumstances. Here, he's a replacement and hasn't had much time to train, making him a MASSIVE underdog against a man who previously destroyed Ken Shamrock among others. Yet Takayama gives one of the most harrowing performances you'll see in any sport, refusing to die and going right after Frye long after most men would be spent. An absolute must-see. 120 MB.

Hoshikawa vs Hidaka, Zero-One 7/7/02. Like this can be anything short of frickin' awesome.

3 vs 3 vs 3 tag, Toryumon 7/7/02. Along with the 2001 iteration, this is as good as it gets for fast-paced Toryumon fun.

Tenryu vs Kojima, Triple Crown, All Japan 7/17/02. Stiffness, head drops and no-selling: it's a quinessential modern-day 'epic'!

Kokushi Mutoh vs Kaz Hayashi, All Japan 7/20/02. Kaz does a very nice tribute to the Mutoh of yesteryear, and thus carries the Mutoh of today.

Tenryu vs Kea, All Japan 7/20/02. In the same vein as Tenryu vs Kojima, only more compact. Coming into this match Tenryu is 3-0 vs Kea, but Kea has yet to unleash his big gun against the old man. 144 MB.

Ohtani vs Masato Tanaka, Zero-One Fire Festival '02. I recall getting excited as a young puro fan when this was announced. They go all-out from bell to bell.

Tenzan vs Yoshie, New Japan G-1 '02. Long-time nobody jobber Yoshie went overseas and came back in 2000 as someone to be taken seriously. He used his reverse figure-four to beat Tenzan, but that wasn't enough to get into the '01 G-1. Now that Mutoh and Kojima have jumped there's some room for Yoshie, and he aims to make an impression on opening day. Tenzan isn't interested in an 'impression', he wants to win the whole thing, and he debuts a new hold here for that purpose. 153 MB.

Sasaki vs Takayama, New Japan G-1 Climax '02. This match is ridiculously stiff. I would gladly take all the chops from Sasaki vs Kobashi than the strikes that are served up here.

Takayama vs Sasaki, G-1 '02. Cap upgrade.

Takayama vs Tenzan, New Japan G-1 '02. New Japan's style doesn't lend itself as well to 25 minute-plus epics the way old All Japan did. However, in 10-15 minute matches it works out very nicely, which is why the G-1 produces such a huge percentage of their best heavyweight bouts. Case in point: this. 112 MB.

Takayama vs Yoshie, New Japan G-1 '02. You've got three sub-plots going for the match. One, a headliner against a low-ranked guy with nothing to lose. Two, an invader against a loyalist. Three, one chunky heavyweight and another chunky heavyweight pounding on each other. I'm especially fond of the last one. 101 MB.

Takayama vs Nishimura, New Japan G-1 Climax '02 semis. There's a lot to love. Great style contrast, great underdog story, Takayama working the mat rocks, some nice drama down the stretch, etc. 170 MB.

Chono vs Takayama, New Japan G-1 Climax '02 final. Maybe the best Chono singles match of the last decade. Great heat, steady action, well-executed finish, it really feels like a worthy final. 133 MB.

KENTA vs Wataru Inoue, NJ 8/29/02. NJ vs NOAH juniors is one of the more can't-miss feuds of the decade. 80 MB.

Kanemoto vs Hashi, New Japan 8/29/02. This one is a personal favorite. Hashi, coming in from NOAH, plays the sympathetic underdog and gets face heat. I think this is his breakout performance. Kanemoto is really focused. The result is a heated match that could just as easily have been a throwaway squash. 135 MB.

Liger & Minoru Tanaka vs Kikuchi & Kanemaru, IWGP junior tag titles New Japan 8/29/02. This one rocks as well. Playing off the two Liger-in-NOAH tags (available you-know-where), NOAH's juniors strike back. Crowd acts like they're NOAH partisans, which is unexpected but fits with how the match is worked. Plenty of hate for you to sink your teeth into. 211 MB.

Dragon Kid vs Darkness Dragon, 2/3 falls, mask vs mask, Toryumon 9/8/02. Some nice wrestling and very well-executed US-style booking. 200 MB.

Zero-One 9/12/02, first half. Features Fugofugo Yumeji vs Don Arakawa, Dick Togo & Hidaka vs Kanemura & Kuroda, and Low Ki & Yoshihito Sasaki vs Spanky & Hoshikawa. FUGOFUGO~! 175 MB.

Hashimoto & Ogawa vs Corino & Nathan Jones, Zero-One 9/12/02. Not so much 'very good' as 'interesting'. You have Jones in a watchable match, you have OH Gun which was Zero-One's core team for a while, and you have post-bulk-up Corino getting pounded on.

Kanemoto vs Tiger Mask 4, IWGP junior title, NJ 9/22/02. After TM4's big match with Hidaka in MPro, both moved on to bigger and better things. Kanemoto's goal is to make sure that 'bigger and better' stops just short of winning the top juniors belt in Japan.

Tenryu & Hirai vs Kojima & Kaz Hayashi, AJ 10/6/02. Oh the hate. The sweet, sweet hate. And the action! But mostly hate.

Bob Sapp vs Nakanishi, NJ 10/14/02. The pre-match stuff absolutely rules. The match is fun. The post-match also absolutely rules. Tiny file but very watchable.

Ran YuYu vs Carlos Amano, GAEA 10/20/02. Pretty darn good joshi match right here.

Sapp vs Muta, Wrestle-One 11/17/02. More 'interesting' than anything else.

Masato Tanaka & Takaiwa vs Low Ki & Frankie, Zero-One 12/15/02. For an undercard match, Tanaka lets the indy gaijin look real good. Some huge nearfalls.

Dick Togo & Hidaka vs Paul London & CW Anderson, Zero-One 1/5/03. London makes for a great Ricky Morton and the crowd gets behind him. Classic tag formula works every time! Also I have a feeling this is the best thing CW was ever in.

Low Ki vs AJ Styles, Zero-One 1/5/03. If the prospect of this matchup excites you, you'll love it. If the words 'AJ Styles' send you into fits, don't watch. If you're in-between, give it a shot. 105 MB.

Ebessan vs Kamen, 2/3 falls, Osaka Pro 2/1/03. They bust out some new stuff for the company's biggest show ever and it's comedy gold. 144 MB.

KENTA & Low Ki vs Takaiwa & Yoshihito Sasaki, Zero-One 2/2/03. This one turns out pretty nicely, if I do say so myself.

Tenryu vs Araya, All Japan 2/8/03. First match in a Tenryu vs Young Lions series that was part of Tenryu's farewell to All Japan. Yeah, moving to World Japan was a great move there Tenryu. Anyway they keep it short and it's chunky WAR spirit. I'd like to know how Araya can take so many Tenryu chops without even flinching.

Tenryu vs Miyamoto, All Japan 2/16/03. You should know what to expect here.

Kojima, Arashi, Araya & Kashin vs Ohtani, Tanaka, Sai & Ogasawara, All Japan 2/23/03. Just a ridiculous amount of interpromotional hate here. Hate, hate and more hate. Haaaaaaate.

Taka Michinoku, Dick Togo & Ikuto Hidaka vs Jinsei Shinzaki, Curry Man & Jody Fleisch, MPro 3/2/03. Ah, lucharesu goodness. How I missed you.

Liger & Kanemoto vs AKIRA & Heat, junior tag titles, NJ 3/9/03. Some fine junior-heavyweight action here.

Kanemoto vs AKIRA, junior title, NJ 3/23/03. AKIRA really makes this, pulling out a lot of tricks. I tend not to like a lot of junior singles matches because I feel like they're going through the motions, but AKIRA really mixes it up well.

Chono & Tenzan vs Liger & Kanemoto, NJ 4/18/03. Heavyweight tag champs versus junior tag champs. The juniors take no guff and more than hold their own, making for a very interesting contest.

CIMA vs Genki Horiguchi, El Numero Uno '03 Final, Toryumon 4/22/03. Genki's breakout match, and one of the highlights of the original Toryumon promotion. 125 MB.

Tanahashi vs Makabe, Under-30 tournament final, NJ 4/23/03. Makabe, having graduated from being a 'big junior', is starting to climb the heavyweight ranks. Tanahashi has returned after being stabbed in the back by a psycho ex-girlfriend, and is getting the first serious push of his career. Winner gets the new U-30 title. Basic but very good match. Makabe beat Tanahashi earlier in the tournament with a fisherman's buster.

Tenzan vs Tanahashi, IWGP title #1 contenders match, NJ 5/2/03. Time to see if Tanahashi has progressed enough to hang with the big boys.

Kobashi vs Chono, GHC title, NJ 5/2/03. Chono comes off winning the G-1 and taking IWGP champ Nagata to a 60 minute draw. However, does he have the firepower to put down Kobashi? 81 MB.

Danshoku Dino vs Invisible Mysterio, CROWN 5/25/03. Dino isn't doing his crotch-based gimmick at this point. Mysterio for some reason doesn't give him much offense, and it's really no wonder he never made it out of the D-level indies. Dino does what I can best describe as a flip screwdriver, it's a miracle Mysterio wasn't paralyzed.

Liger & Kanemoto vs Marufuji & Kotaro Suzuki, IWGP junior tag titles, NJ 6/10/03. NJ vs NOAH juniors action equals good. 71 MB.

Takayama vs Tenzan, IWGP title, NJ 6/10/03. Nothing fancy, just an old-fashioned heavyweight battle. 150 MB.

YOSSINO vs K-Ness, Toryumon 6/29/03. Some slick stuff right here.

Mochizuki, Arai & Dragon Kid vs Horiguchi, Yokosuka & Ryo Saito, trios titles, Toryumon 6/29/03. Heck of a 6-man, with a good pace, a unique strategy by Do Fixer, and some great false finishes. 137 MB.

Kawada & Kojima vs Sasaki & Hase, All Japan 7/27/03. Most of a very long dream match. ADD viewers be warned! 130 MB.

Kojima vs Ohtani, Fire Festival '03 final, Zero-One 8/1/03. Kojima won the Champions Carnival; can Ohtani stand up to him? 112 MB.

Nagata vs Yoshie, New Japan G-1 Climax '03. Yoshie has been a life-long undercarder, but he's finally coming into his own as the resident fat-man of puro. Nagata's main tactic of kicking his opponent into oblivion runs into a wall... of fat. This is probably Yoshie's career match to this point.

Akiyama vs Nishimura, G-1 '03. You've got two different stories here: the invading NOAH guy, and the invading NOAH guy who's used to brushing off even Nishimura's most high-impact moves. A power vs technique match that, thanks to the 'outsider' element, has tons o' heat. 77 MB.

Nishimura vs Tanahashi, New Japan G-1 '03. A fine technical match. You expect Nishimura to dominate on the mat, but Tanahashi more than holds up his end.

Takayama vs Shibata, New Japan G-1 '03. This is Shibata's first G-1, and amazingly enough if he wins this match then he wins the block. Even a draw is enough to put him in the semi's. Sadly for him, he matches up very poorly with Takayama. Thankfully for us he doesn't seem to care, going all-out. Result is a very fast-paced, hard-hitting affair.

Akiyama vs Chono, New Japan G-1 '03. If Akiyama wins or draws, he advances and Chono doesn't. If Chono wins it causes a 3-way tie in their block. I was concerned about this match coming in because Chono can be problematic in long bouts and Akiyama isn't much for carrying, but both really bring the goods and the crowd helps plenty. 82 MB.

Akiyama vs Nagata, New Japan G-1 '03 semifinals. Nagata destroyed Akiyama a month before in NOAH, now Akiyama has a chance at revenge. Much more satisfying than their first singles match.

Takayama vs Tenzan, New Japan G-1 Climax '03 semifinals. Takayama comes in as IWGP champ and having defended the title against Tenzan. Tenzan, on the other hand, is on a win streak thanks to his recently-created anaconda vice. Heck of a match.

Akiyama vs Tenzan, New Japan G-1 '03 Final. Tenzan has failed to win the IWGP or G-1 crowns, year after year. Now he has enough of an arsenal to get the job done against most wrestlers, but Akiyama is more accustomed to epic battles and is certainly more skilled. Tenzan's only hope is that he has enough fighting spirit to survive. 114 MB.

Italian Connection vs Crazy MAX vs M2K vs Do Fixer, trios titles, Toryumon 8/30/03. In the same vein as the 3-way tags in '01 and '02, only bigger. 271 MB.

Kawada vs Ohtani, Triple Crown decision match, All Japan 9/6/03. Hashimoto vacated the title due to injury, leading to a tournament. Kawada beat Mike Awesome and Ohtani beat Kojima to get here. Not a flawless match, but at the same time it's still Kawada vs Ohtani 175 MB.

Danshoku Dino & OK Revolution vs Kyosuke Sasaki & Dai Moriyama, DDT 9/28/03. And now for one of the more unique matches you'll ever see. It's shoot-style versus shoot-gay-style. 132 MB.

Toryumon TV, 10/15/03. Show clipped down to 45 minutes. Thankfully we get plenty of the main event, which is the dream team of Magnum Tokyo & Milano Collection AT vs CIMA & JUN (Ogawauchi). JUN is determined to prove himself as a top-flight player in the company, and the result is a match much more based around dramatics than speed. You'll want to grab this. 121 MB.

Hashimoto vs Masato Tanaka, Zero-One 11/7/03. Not *as* stiff as their first bout, but still quite the war. 135 MB.

Nakanishi & Tiger Mask 4 vs Norton & American Dragon, NJ 12/14/03. Really fun, everyone plays their role to a T. Big guys who throw beefy chops, juniors willing to stand up to them, and so on. Well worth your while.

Tanahashi & Yoshie vs Tenzan & Nishimura, tag titles, New Japan 12/14/03. TanaYoshie toppled Tenzan & Chono earlier in the year, as Yoshie pinned Tenzan with his top rope splash. Nishimura isn't quite the tag expert Chono is, but he can do something to tilt the scales against a team with Yoshie on it: make the match go longer. Solid, very technical-oriented outing. 107 MB.

Kawada vs Naoya Ogawa, Zero-One 12/14/03. Kawada carries a wrestler to the best match of his career, again. 90 MB.

Hashimoto vs Ohtani, Zero-One 12/24/03. Hashimoto's last big singles match in the company he founded. 157 MB.

Ryuji Ito vs Abdullah Jr. Kobayashi, deathmatch title, Big Japan 12/24/03. Ito took the standard garbage brawl and turned it into a faster-paced, highspot-filled gorefest. Kobayashi, despite his girth, has a knack for bringing structure and build to his deathmatches. Immensely enjoyable carnage right here.

Nishimura vs Minoru Suzuki, New Japan 1/4/04. Good clash of styles and characters, good mat wrestling, and they accomplish a lot without using a ton of time. This is maybe my favorite Suzuki match of the decade because it doesn't drag.

American Dragon vs Tiger Mask 4, New Japan 2/1/04. A perfect demonstration of Danielson's versatility, as he has a solid, smart undercard match that leaves plenty on the table both for a rematch and for matches to follow. .

Dokonjonosuke Mishima vs Manabu Hara, U-Style 2/4/04. Slick shoot-style grappling. 77 MB.

Tamura vs Kosaka, U-Style 2/4/04. Worthy follow-up to their '98 bout, and widely thought to be the best match U-Style produced. 146 MB.

Kanemoto, American Dragon & Curry Man vs Heat, Tiger Mask 4 & Naruse, NJ 2/15/04. Top-notch juniors action. 175 MB.

Liger vs Momota, GHC junior title, NJ 2/15/04. Momota, the aging son of Rikidozan who hasn't had a title shot in over a decade, is sent to bring NOAH's junior title back home. A stern task, but Momota goes all-out and gets the New Japan crowd totally behind him for his efforts.

Tenzan vs Tenryu, IWGP title decision match, NJ 2/15/04. Some blood, some hard bumps, and some very good strike exchanges. Nagata was supposed to win the tournament, but Tenzan legit KOed him with a moonsault, so the winner here was very much up in the air.

Takaiwa, Yoshihito Sasaki & Osamu Namiguchi vs Ishii, Uwano & Nakajima, Zero-One 2/19/04. Choshu's short-lived promotion World Japan invades Z-1 and boy-oh-boy does everyone HATE each other with the fire of a thousand suns. Namiguchi and Nakajima are rookies but they know how to mix it up just fine. Real 'hidden gem' right here.

Wataru Inoue vs Kazuya Yuasa, J Cup 2004. Good match from a disappointing tournament.

Billy Ken Kid & Tigers Mask vs Taka Michinoku & Shiryu, Osaka Pro tag titles, J Cup 2004. Taka and Hayashi aren't just lucharesu vets, they're now big-league stars with global experience. Couple of Osaka Pro youngins? Pfffffft. Done deal, the belts are as good as gone.

Liger, Delfin & Shinzaki vs KENTA, CIMA & HEAT, J Cup 2004. '90s vs '00s dream tag! 85 MB.

Kawada vs Hashimoto, Triple Crown, AJ 2/22/04. Hashimoto vacated the title the previous summer due to injury, so this will prove who the rightful champ is. This is the main event of All Japan's (so far) final show at Nippon Budokan. And, despite what you might expect, it's Hashimoto who makes this worthwhile. Hashimoto's last big match features one of his most compelling performances. 76 MB.

Takayama vs Shibata, NJ 3/12/04. Very short, very intense.

Tenzan vs Nakamura, NJ 3/28/04. Their last match was a short, unsatisfying upset win for Nakamura, ending Tenzan's long-awaited first IWGP reign. Now both are aiming for a title shot, and a more decisive conclusion to the first battle. Strength versus technique! 147 MB.

Takayama & Suzuki vs Tenryu & Nakanishi, tag titles, NJ 3/28/04. Lots of style-clashing and stiffness and a really funny ending.

Sasaki vs Sapp, IWGP title, NJ 3/28/04. Way too fun. There's a lot going on to help cover up Sapp's awkwardness, but it works. This one only takes a couple minutes of your time, give 'er a try.

Mochizuki vs Dragon Kid, Toryumon 4/28/04. Mochizuki really rips into Kid with some of these kicks.

Liger vs Nakajima, NJ 5/3/04. Liger knows how to put a 'rookie phenom' in his place.

Kanemoto, Ultimo Dragon & American Dragon vs Marufuji, Heat & Tiger Mask IV, NJ 5/3/04. Danielson is the best guy in the match (shocking, I know) but it's not like he has to carry it given the raw talent involved here. I don't like dream matches by default, this is actively good. 116 MB.

Kawada vs Foley, Triple Crown, HUSTLE 5/8/04. Kawada doesn't do hardcore and Foley doesn't do Kings Road. They meet in the middle: Kawada kicking Foley really hard in the head. 87 MB.

Kanemoto, El Samurai & Rocky Romero vs Heat, Kakihara & Naruse, NJ 6/5/04. Fine juniors action! FEAR THE HEADLOCK. 101 MB.

Sasaki & Liger vs Minoru Suzuki & Tiger Mask 4, NJ 6/5/04. Tons of fun. Suzuki pisses off Sasaki! Liger pisses of Suzuki! TM4 snipes at Sasaki! 109 MB.

Fujita vs Tanahashi, IWGP title decision match, NJ 6/5/04. Sapp had been champ but Fujita crushed him in a shoot so Sapp vacated the belt and Fujita popped into place. Both of them stick to their roles (MMA monster and pro-wrestling underdog), resulting in a match that far surpassed expectations.

Fujita vs Tanahashi, IWGP title, NJ 6/5/04. Cap upgrade. Monstrous file size but it's crystal clear.

Kawada vs Jamal, Triple Crown, AJ 6/12/04. The future Umaga is very game here, taking some big bumps and walking the fine line between being a monster and giving Kawada his shots.

Kanemoto vs American Dragon, NJ BOSJ 6/13/04. This would be 'the good stuff' right here.

Nakamura & Taguchi vs Minoru Suzuki & Rocky Romero, NJ 6/13/04. Very much a 'strong style' matchup, with traditional wrestling and shoot-style woven together. Plus things heat up a bit as they go along.

Sasaki & 'Agira Hokuto' vs T. Hashimoto & Morohashi, DDT 7/1/04. This one's... unique.

Danielson vs Yamamoto, New Japan 7/19/04. Most young lion undercard matches are dull. This, for some reason, is good. Hmmmmmmm.

Jado & Gedo vs Kanemoto & Wataru Inoue, junior tag titles, New Japan 7/19/04. Good start, really good finish that leaves you wanting to see a rematch. Thankfully we got it!

Fujita vs Shibata, IWGP title, NJ 7/19/04. Well this is kinda, sorta on the stiff side. A wee bit. Just a tad though.

Tanahashi vs Honma, All Japan 7/22/04. Ohhhh boy, this match. Tanahashi is New Japan's top young gun, and is a huge favorite. Honma at this point has become an All Japan loyalist and the crowd is solidly behind him, leading to a ton of heat. Tanahashi takes it a step further by heeling it up. Hugely enjoyable.

Kojima vs Yokoi, Zero-One Fire Festival '04. Final day, both need to win to have any chance of advancing. Yokoi recently had his first shoot loss to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but in doing so he learned a deadly 'spinning' guillotine choke. Z-1 crowd is behind him all the way, especially since he can eliminate last year's winner. 142 MB.

Tamura vs Mishima, U-Style 8/7/04. I'm picky about shoot-style, and it's Tamura, so that means quality.

Nakamura vs Yoshie, NJ G-1 Climax 8/7/04. I really enjoy the '04 tournament because there was such a diversity of styles, leading to lots of very fresh matchups. Here we have a power versus 'technique' battle, and also a 'new color tights' battle. 96 MB.

Nishimura vs Tanahashi, NJ G-1 Climax 8/7/04. Two wrestlers who have never made a final look to start off on the right foot. Some similarities to their '03 match, but I think this one is a little more intense. 124 MB.

Takayama vs Nakanishi, NJ G-1 Climax 8/7/04. Big ol' slobberknocker. 124 MB.

Nakanishi vs Makabe, NJ G-1 Climax 8/8/04. I was all ready for this to suck but it DOESN'T. In fact it's GOOD. Nothing fancy, but they manage to keep things interesting.

Nishimura vs Kanemoto, NJ G-1 Climax 8/8/04. Kanemoto got in by winning the Super Juniors tournament, but even against a mid-ranked heavyweight he's still a big underdog. Especially a heavyweight who's as skilled as Nishimura. However, not only does Kanemoto hold his own, he out-and-out dominates Mr. Muga. Really good technical bout here. 138 MB.

Tenzan vs Tanahashi, NJ G-1 Climax 8/8/04. Tanahashi beat Tenzan in last year's tournament with a dragon suplex, and comes off a strong showing on night one. He's also ready for Tenzan's usual stuff. That said, Tenzan is still the favorite based on his experience. 154 MB.

Sasaki vs Takayama, NJ G-1 Climax 8/8/04. Another war between these titans. In '02 it was more based on striking, where this is more about bomb-throwing. 132 MB.

Shibata vs Nakamura, NJ G-1 Climax 8/8/04. Two of the company's young guns collide in a matchup that's very high-end and cutting-edge in a very New Japan way.

Nagata vs Yoshie, NJ G-1 Climax 8/11/04. Builds off their match from a year earlier. 112 MB.

Sasaki vs Nakanishi, NJ G-1 Climax 8/13/04. No-nonsense power battle, and for my money quite a lot better than their match from the G-1 final in 2000. 111 MB.

Nagata vs Nakamura, NJ G-1 Climax 8/13/04. Former company ace versus 'supernova'. Last year Nakamura was decisively below Nagata, but now he's proven he can beat anyone. 88 MB.

Shibata vs Yoshie, NJ G-1 Climax 8/14/04. Stiffness versus blubber: the eternal battle.

Sasaki vs Tanahashi, NJ G-1 Climax 8/14/04. Two years ago, Tanahashi pinned Sasaki with a fluke cradle. One month ago, Sasaki got a decisive win. Tanahashi is 5-1 so far in the tournament, meaning he's on the roll of his career, but Sasaki is as good as he's ever been. 82 MB.

Nagata vs Minoru Suzuki, NJ G-1 Climax 8/14/04. Nagata advances to the playoff with a win, Suzuki is out of the running but can get to a winning record for the sake of pride. Their match a year ago ended with Nagata's 'demon' armbar, and neither of them has forgotten that. 119 MB.

Sasaki vs Tenryu, NJ G-1 Climax 8/15/04. Spoiler: more than one chop is thrown.

Tenzan vs Nakamura, NJ G-1 Climax 8/15/04. Nakamura caused an abrupt end to Tenzan's first IWGP reign, then won again in convincing fashion in March. Nakamura was one of the favorites to win the tournament as well. However, Tenzan has looked better in the tournament so far and is coming off winning the tournament the year before.

Tenzan vs Tanahashi, NJ G-1 Climax 2004 Final. Tenzan has fended off two of the 'new three musketeers' today and now has to deal with the third, while Tanahashi only had one match. Will Tanahashi reach a new level in his career? Does Tenzan have enough in the tank? 81 MB.

Tamura vs Hiroyuki Ito, U-Style 8/18/04. Easily my favorite U-Style match, and widely seen as one of the best in the company's history. Ito is a huge underdog and he refuses to quit, leading to a very dramatic closing stretch as it becomes clear that as long as he's still alive he's a threat to Tamura. 86 MB.

Sasaki & The Florida Brothers vs Do Fixer, Dragon Gate 9/17/04. Comedy supermatch. Florida Brothers are a cheesy faux-American gimmick with dyed hair, red-white-and-blue outfits, and odd tactics. They use Eddie-esque cheat-to-win tactics in the clutch. Sasaki was forced to join up and he does his part with gusto. 74 MB.

Dragon Gate's animated intro.

Ohtani & Omori vs Tanaka & Sakata, Zero-One 10/3/04. Good match that leads to one of the more unique finishes ever. No, really, it's worth watching just for the end.

Milano Collection AT, YOSSINO & Mori vs Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Horiguchi, Dragon Gate 10/24/04. DG 6-man goodness. 128 MB.

Aagan Issou vs Mochizuki, Yokosuka, K-Ness, TARU & Shingo Takagi, Dragon Gate 10/24/04. Impromptu main event 10-man tag as a result of the actions of the uber-heel stable. 96 MB.

Kawada vs Shibata, NJ 11/3/04. Ultra-stuff, non-stop sprint.

Yokosuka, K-Ness & Ken Arai vs Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Horiguchi, Dragon Gate 11/16/04. Nice opening match sprint. 110 MB.

Kawada vs Tenzan, Triple Crown, All Japan 12/5/04. Kawada won their first two matches and is on the biggest roll of his career. Tenzan is coming off his win in the G-1 and is far ahead of where he was three years ago, and even then he came close to pulling it off.

Florida Express vs Do Fixer, all masks & hair on the line, Dragon Gate 12/16/04. An "epic" rematch of their classic from September, this is 4 vs 4. With deluxe extrances and post-match fallout. 241 MB.

Italian Connection vs Aagan Issou, trios titles, Dragon Gate 12/16/04. Good lucharesu action, good face vs heel dynamic, good match. 131 MB.

Liger & Delfin vs Ebessan & Kamen, 1/10/05. A comedy dream team versus an actual dream team.

Mochizuki & Doi vs Magnum Tokyo & Dragon Kid, Dragon Gate, 1/14/05. Doi had bounced along as perhaps the least-important person on the roster. This match would change that forever. 109 MB.

Milano Collection AT vs Ryo Saito, Dragon Gate, 1/14/05. Great match. Building off their bout from 11/13/01, we have Saito trying to break the glass ceiling and Milano trying to keep his spot. This is my favorite singles match from any incarnation of the company. 158 MB.

Toyota & Yoshida vs Kansai & Akino, 2/8/05. Hey look, it's joshi puroresu that isn't from 1993! 107 MB.

Blood Generation vs M2K, Dragon Gate, 2/23/05. Stemming from the big angle at the January Korakuen show. 213 MB.

Danshoku Dino, Muscle Sakai & YOSHIHIKO vs Poison Sawada JULIE, Inokuma & Akiomi Nitta, DDT 2/25/05. This is roughly 900% DDT. Features confusing pre-match video and a post-match face turn. YOSHIHIKO is a peerless highspot machine and steals the show. 245 MB.

Jado & Gedo vs Kanemoto & Inoue, IWGP junior tag titles, NJ 3/4/05. Uber-great tag as Jado/Gedo heel it up and the crowd goes nuts, leading to a killer finish. 99 MB.

Togo, Moribe & Hayate vs AKINO, Nagashima & Hamada, Chigusa Pro 3/25/05. A men vs women match that they pull off quite well considering that they didn't exactly pick joshi's biggest.

Fujiwara & Yoshida vs Ishikawa & Carlos Amano, Chigusa Pro 3/25/05. Intergender shoot-style goodness! Ishikawa is a pervert and he pays the price! Fujiwara > you!

Spanky vs Alex Shelley, Zero-One 3/25/05. Super-duper fast.

Hidaka & Minoru Fujita vs Spanky & Shelley, Zero-One 3/27/05. The Hidaka/Shelley matchup is AMAZING here. 93 MB.

Magnum Tokyo, Naoki Tanisaki & X vs BB Hulk, Mori & Shisa, Dragon Gate, 4/8/05. It's all about who X is and who he's up against. 142 MB.

Saito, Horiguchi & Dragon Kid vs Yokosuka, K-Ness & Nakajima, trios titles, Dragon Gate 4/8/05. I clipped out some of the middle, leaving you with the hot start and the hot finish. 121 MB.

Nagata vs Tanahashi, New Japan Cup, NJ 4/15/05. After losing the IWGP title, Nagata fell into a bit of a funk. In this match we see the birth of a spark, one which would prove vital to his recent resurgence.

Ishikawa vs Ikeda, Futen 4/24/05. I don't care if you have no idea who they are, watch this match. If you know who they are, I don't have to tell you to.

The Magician vs Naoshi Sano, MUSCLE 5/5/05. The finish of this match makes the burning hammer look like a bodyslam.

Nakajima vs Namiguchi, Differ Cup 5/8/05. Start of a beautiful rivalry.

Mochizuki vs Fujii, Open the Dream Gate title, Dragon Gate 5/11/05. Fujii is great as the underdog powerhouse challenger. Really simple, really fun match. 136 MB.

Minoru Suzuki vs Otsuka, NJ 5/14/05. Really enjoyable, quick match.

Kanemoto & Wataru Inoue vs Minoru Tanaka & Hirooki Goto, junior tag titles, NJ 5/14/05. Goto had just won the young lions tournament and now he has a shot at gold in his first Tokyo Dome match. Is he up to the task? 180 MB.

May of 2005 was just not Naoshi Sano's month.

Hidaka vs Shelley, Zero-One 5/25/05. I think you know what to expect here.

Ohtani, Tanaka & Sakoda vs Sato, Yokoi & Y. Sasaki, Zero-One 6/17/05. Veterans versus young guns. Fast pace, big moves, intergenerational grudge, this is pretty good!

CIMA, Fujii & Doi vs Ryo Saito, Dragon Kid & Horiguchi, trios titles, Dragon Gate 7/3/05. Prelude to the famous ROH tag with 5 of these 6 in it. 196 MB.

Nakajima vs Namiguchi, Zero-One 7/31/05. More young lion on young lion violence. Babies killin' babies.

Akiyama vs Shibata, Wrestle-1 8/4/05. This promotion was an ill-fated attempt by K-1 to do wrestling. They blew a ton of money and closed down after the second show. Thankfully they managed to give us this scrappy, hate-filled match. 120 MB.

Hidaka, Fujita & Nakajima vs Takaiwa, Murahama & Namiguchi, Zero-One 8/7/05. More Nakajima vs Namiguchi, plus a bunch more thrown in.

Nakanishi vs Yoshie, NJ G-1 Climax '05. The irresistable force versus the immovable object, a tried and true wrestling formula. No really, this is good! 165 MB.

Nakamura vs Tanahashi, NJ G-1 Climax '05. Better believe there's some quality here. 191 MB.

Nakanishi vs Tanahashi, G-1 '05, NJ 8/13/05. Maybe I'm biased from having seen it live (my birthday no less) but I think this is a solid underdog vs powerhouse match. 96 MB.

Kawada vs Kaz Fujita, G-1 '05 semifinal, NJ 8/14/05. Short, intense battle that a few years earlier would have sold out a big building by itself. I was wearing my Kawada shirt and being a raving mark the whole time because it's KAWADA and screw Fujita and his Inoki-ism.

Chono vs Fujita, G-1 '05 final, NJ 8/14/05. Fujita won the IWGP title a month earlier and said he did it for the memory of the recently departed Hashimoto. Chono, undaunted by Fujita's streak of dominant victories, represents the actual spirit of Hashimoto. Simple, ultra-hot match. 142 MB.

Magnum Tokyo, Nakajima, Kness & Arai vs BB Hulk, Shisa, Asahi & Oishi, Dragon Gate 9/7/05. Asahi & Oishi are from KDojo. Good 8-man sprint. 132 MB.

Yoshino, Doi & Fujii vs Saito, Mori & Dragon Kid, Dragon Gate 9/7/05. Yoshino betrayed Mori by turning heel, which means there's more too this than just prettyboy lucharesu. 96 MB.

Mochizuki, Yokosuka & Taka Michinoku vs CIMA, Magnitude & Shingo, Dragon Gate 9/7/05. Rather than just a '6-man dream match' style with lots of trademarks and no substance, this centers around Shingo trying to hang with lucharesu headliners and CIMA pressuring him to do better. This has been totally slept on. 187 MB.

Kondo, Yasshi & Sugawara vs Hidaka, Fujita & Ishimori, Dragondoor 9/9/05. Dragondoor centers around Ultimo Dragon students not working for Ultimo or Dragon Gate. It was backed by mighty Livedoor, which promptly suffered a huge scandal and thus couldn't give them any more money, causing them to become just another indy. But at least they got the debut show off the ground, featuring a fast-paced main event.

Choshu vs Shibata, 9/3/05. Shibata has left New Japan. He's out to show up the old man. SPOILER: there is at least one lariat in this match.

Ishii vs Ito, Big Mouth Loud 9/11/05. Ishii is Choshu's boy. Ito is a shoot-stylist. Both know how to go balls-to-the-wall when it counts. You've gotta trust me on this one.

Ishikawa vs Otsuka, Big Mouth Loud 9/11/05. One word: headbutts.

Hidaka, Fujita & KENTA vs Sakata, Takaiwa & Tiger Emperor (Kotaro Suzuki), Zero-One 9/19/05. Good clean juniors fun.

Ohtani vs Namiguchi, Zero-One 9/29/05. Namiguchi is Ohtani's boy. Which means Ohtani is legally obligated to destroy him.

Kojima vs Giant Bernard, Triple Crown, All Japan 10/18/05. Prince Albert in a Triple Crown match? Not only that but he's better than Kojima?!

Meet Razor Ramon HG. FUUUUUUUU~

The Road to HUSTLEMANIA. Again... just trust me. 187 MB.

Hirooki Goto vs Naofumi Yamamoto, NJ 10/30/05. Young lions going to town on each other, always enjoyable. 96 MB.

Naoya Ogawa, Ohtani & HG vs Kawada, Anjoh & Yinling, HUSTLEMANIA '05. HG... can wrestle? I'm impressed but Kawada isn't. 151 MB.

Sekimoto vs Kobayashi, light tube deathmatch for #1 contendership to the deathmatch title, Big Japan 11/22/05. Bloody, violent, and yet somehow focused. Not for all but loved by many.

Ohtani & Tanaka vs Hidaka & Fujita, Zero-One 11/23/05. Emblem has been the top team since the end of OH Gun. Hidaka and Fujita have been tearing it up, and since they're big-time underdogs the crowd is behind them 100%.

Y. Sasaki & Little Dragon vs Sugawara & Gamma, Dragondoor 11/24/05. I dunno, it's good. Little Dragon is the highspot machine of a thousand gimmicks who is better known as Yoshitune, or El Blazer, or... well most anything besides Little Dragon.

Tigers Mask, Shanao, PSYCHO & Kota vs Kagetora, Oishi, Asahi & Kishi, Indy Summit 12/9/05. Sprinty!

Ito vs Kobayashi, light tube deathmatch, BJPW deathmatch title, Big Japan 12/21/05. Builds very nicely off their 2003 match and Kobayashi vs Sekimoto. Abby Jr > you.

Ishimori, Namiguchi & Kota vs Takaiwa, Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin, Zero-One 12/23/05. Plenty to enjoy.

Nakamura vs Yamamoto, NJ 12/25/05. Quality wrestlers, quality match. 96 MB.

Tanahashi vs Hirooki Goto, U-30 title, NJ 12/25/05. Goto is out of his league with Tanahashi but he gives it his all regardless. 99 MB.

Interpromotional chickenfight-style sumo tournament. This one's unique and very entertaining even if K-1 completely cheats by using masked musclemen. 86 MB.

Strong & Evans vs Horiguchi & Tanisaki, Dragon Gate 12/26/05. Mostly an exhibition of Gen Next's killer double-teams.

Shingo Takagi vs BB Hulk, Dragon Gate 12/26/05. DG's top students tear the house down. I was stunned by how good this is. 101 MB.

Minoru Tanaka & Tiger Mask 4 vs Takaiwa & Ishii, NJ 1/4/06. JIP. Amazingly it's the musclebound head-drop kings who take the nastiest neck bumps.

Shibata vs Tanahashi, NJ 1/4/06. Shibata has abandoned the company, and returns as an outsider. An outsider who likes to kick really hard. 95 MB.

Mochizuki & Magnum Tokyo vs Fujii & Shingo, Dragon Gate 1/27/06. Somewhat of a 'strong style' DG match. 138 MB.

Nagata & Tanahashi vs Nakamura & Yamamoto, NJ 2/4/06. It's all about the Yamamoto.

Sasaki & Kobashi vs Tenryu & Nakajima, Kensuke Office 2/11/06. Hardway blood! A ridiculous lariat finish! Chopping! All this and more. 91 MB.

Tanahashi vs Yamamoto, U-30 title, NJ 2/12/06. The final match for this title. Is Yamamoto ready for the big-time?

Shingo vs Katsuo, Dragon Gate 2/24/06. A fun squash that I posted primarily because of the finish.

CIMA & Fujii vs Mochizuki & Yokosuka, Dragon Gate 2/24/06. Look at the names, decide if you wanna see it based on that. 123 MB.

Nagata & Yamamoto vs Iizuka & Ishii, NJ 3/4/06. Nagata and Ishii hate each other or something. My goodness.

Sasaki & Nakajima vs Mutoh & Yoshie, All Japan 3/5/06. It's a pink invasion! Can the Kensuke Office team handle this rather large test?

Sasaki & Issei vs Yoshie & Arashi, All Japan 3/10/06. Lot of beef in this one.

Tenryu vs Sakata, HUSTLE 3/12/06. Sakata handles himself quite well in this chopfest.

Mochizuki, Yokosuka & Kanda vs CIMA, Fujii & Shingo, Dragon Gate 3/17/06. Kanda, who had been out for years with a neck injury, returns with a vengeance. 120 MB.

Ohtani, Tanaka & Takaiwa vs Sekimoto, Sato & Y. Sasaki, Zero-One 3/28/06. Intergenerational warfare! Big moves! Additional big moves! 119 MB.

Kobayashi vs Takashi Sasaki, deathmatch title, Big Japan 3/31/06. Easily the deathmatch of the year, and likely the best deathmatch of post-Honma BJPW. 97 MB.

Sekimoto vs Kamikaze, Zero-One 4/13/06. Sekimoto is a 'straight' Big Japan wrestler starting to make a mark in Zero-One, while Kamikaze was formerly the top 'straight' wrestler in Big Japan, so that's an interesting contrast. More interesting is Kamikaze busting out really great counter-wrestling to balance out Sekimoto's brute strength. 100 MB.

Minoru Suzuki vs Nakajima, 4/15/06. Suzuki is known for 'teaching' young lions by stretching and smacking them. Has Nakajima progressed beyond such treatment?

Nagata vs Ishii, NJ 4/16/06. Nagata and Ishii continue to hate each other.

Kobayashi, Sekimoto & Numazawa vs Ito, Takashi Sasaki & Masada, Big Japan 4/16/06. BJPW came somewhat out of nowhere to be a reliably enjoyable promotion in '06, and this is some of said enjoyment. 217 MB.

HUSTLE 16 main event, JIP. This is a 'team elimination' series of singles matches. Featuring: Kawada! Ohtani! Tajiri! HG! Anjoh! Yinling! 222 MB.

Tajiri, fastest tongue in the east.

Hidaka & Manami Toyota vs Minoru Fujita & Maemura, Zero-One 4/27/06. A concept show based on intergender teams from the same locality. What makes this match is the way Manami is 100% credible as a peer to Hidaka and Fujita despite being significantly outweighed.

Nagata vs Tanahashi, New Japan Cup, NJ 4/29/06. These two just match up so well. 140 MB.

Nagata vs Giant Bernard, New Japan Cup final, NJ 4/30/06. The artist formerly known as A-Train busts out a killer performance, combining brute force with smart selling. One of Japan's best bouts of 2006, BELIEVE IT! 92 MB.

Sasaki & Nakajima vs Sekimoto & Kakimoto, Big Japan 5/5/06. Kakimoto is a relative youngster from DDT with somewhat of a power/suplex focus. Sekimoto is the powerhouse of the indy scene for this decade. They go all-out to try and pull off a gigantic upset against the Kensuke Office duo.

Tozawa & Iwasa vs Mori & Shisa, Dragon Gate 5/10/06. Tozawa-juku landed... and the world was never the same.

Kobayashi & Ozaki vs Y. Miyamoto & Kyoko Kimura, light tube deathmatch, Big Japan 6/4/06. Intergender, but more importantly it's deathmatch veterans versus deathmatch cubs. The Kimura/Kobayashi matchup is probably my favorite.

Morishima & Marufuji vs Shibata & Ibushi, Big Mouth Loud 6/18/06. Morishima and Shibata, how can you go wrong?

Tanahashi vs Bernard, NJ 6/18/06. Tanahashi is going on to an IWGP title shot against Lesnar in a month, and this is a 'gaijin monster' test. Of course Lesnar bailed on the company and they just did this match again, but let's ignore that because we have a GREAT big vs small match here. A-Train rolls on to another killer match. 143 MB.

Minoru Tanaka vs Tiger Mask 4, Best of Super Juniors final, NJ 6/18/06. You might notice that there isn't a lot of NJ juniors from this decade on the site. There's a reason. For all the talent in the division, I so rarely get into the matches. This match is not only one that I enjoy, it's one that I *LOVE*. Minoru comes in banged up, TM4 hounds him, Minoru battles back, and then they go into an off-the-charts finishing stretch in front of a molten Korakuen crowd. Best BOSJ final in a very long while, and maybe the best match the division has produced since '97. 127 MB.

Minoru Suzuki vs Mecha Mummy, Ultimo Dragon Promotions 6/23/06. This is pretty much the best match.

Kasai vs Hyoma, barbed wire deathmatch, Big Japan 6/26/06. Kasai is certifiable, but he does let undercarder Hyoma look good. Still... you do question if Kasai is a masochist.

Kanemura, Mammoth Sasaki & Kuroda vs Sekimoto, K. Inoue & H. Kondo, Big Japan 6/26/06. Welcome to the first in a series of tags involving these wrestlers. Kanemura is a hardcore icon, Kuroda is less iconic but certainly established, Mammoth is a crafty powerhouse, Sekimoto is brute force, and Inoue and Kondo are out of their league but fight like crazy to be competitive. Lots of classic puro 6-man elements at work to make this quality. 106 MB.

T. Sasaki vs Numazawa, deathmatch title, Big Japan 6/26/06. Another death-fest from BJPW.

Tozawa & Mori vs Arai & Kness, Dragon Gate 7/2/06. Tozawa will never say die! Neverrrrrrr! 120 MB.

Yoshie vs Shingo Takagi, Dragon Gate 7/2/06. Shingo's power is put to the ultimate test. 120 MB.

Satomura vs Aja Kong, Sendai 7/9/06. Best joshi match in a looooooong time. 195 MB.

Kawada & The Monster C vs Tajiri & Kanemura, Hustle House 17. A fun match thanks to crowd interaction. Also, allow me to relay the following from Steve Corino's livejournal:

Since I last wrote I was getting prepared to team with Toshiaki Kawada at Hustle. This for me was a thrill. For him it must have been an annoyance! As his music came on I told him "I am very honored to team with you. I am very happy." Kawada, being Kawada, just stared at me. Then I had to ask (because I had a feeling I knew the answer) "Are you excited?" and he just looks and says "NO". That's my buddy!

T. Sasaki & Ito vs Numazawa & Kasai, deathmatch, Big Japan 7/14/06. Literal bloody fun. 110 MB.

Nishimura vs Hiro Saito, MUGA 8/2/06. Saito is a low-end brawler who was generally placed early on cards, but for reasons nobody can quite explain he transforms into a great wrestler against Nishimura. Technically sound, enjoyable, it's everything MUGA aims at.

Nagata vs Yamamoto, NJ G-1 Climax 8/6/06. Yamamoto uses stiff kicks and a backdrop suplex. He does not use either to the same effect as Nagata. Yamamoto knows this but will go full speed ahead regardless because this is the biggest chance of his life.

Nagata vs Kanemoto, NJ G-1 Climax 8/12/06. Nagata advances to the semis with a win; Kanemoto advances with a win or draw. Crowd is totally behind Kanemoto, who is lucky to even be in the tournament. Second best match I've seen live.

Kojima vs Kanemoto, NJ G-1 Climax '06 semifinal. Outsider versus loyal underdog junior equals full crowd support for Kanemoto.

Tenzan vs Kojima, NJ G-1 Climax '06 final. Former partners collide! 98 MB.

Mammoth Sasaki & Kuroda vs Sekimoto & K. Inoue, Big Japan 8/18/06. Another matchup that can't help but work. 89 MB.

Kea vs Kawada, Triple Crown, All Japan 8/27/06. Kea has been somewhat of a disappointment, but he manages to get a really good performance out of Kawada. Probably my favorite TC match since Kawada/Hashimoto.

Masato Tanaka & Kuroda vs Sekimoto & Y. Sasaki, Big Japan 9/10/06. It's allllll about Tanaka and Sekimoto dishing out everything they can at one another.

Kojima vs Kondo, All Japan 9/17/06. Kondo, the junior powerhouse, is arguably the top junior in the country. Kojima is coming off a killer run during the G-1 Climax. How far will Kondo's strength take him?

Fujinami vs Nishimura, 2/3 falls, MUGA 9/25/06. You might have noticed a lack of recent Fujinami. There's a reason: he didn't have much in the way of great matches after the Inoki broadway. This, however, is great. Teacher and student go at it in a wondeful old-school technical battle. Best match of this kind in Japan in a very long time.

Takayama & Minoru Suzuki vs Nagata & Yamamoto, NJ 10/9/06. Yamamoto get a big chance at Sumo Hall! Takayama and Suzuki have no regard for young lions! Nagata is Nagata! 81 MB.

T. Sasaki, Numazawa & Badboy Hido vs Kasai, Teioh & Inematsu, Big Japan 10/13/06. Additional deathmatchy goodness! 84 MB.

Tenzan & Makabe vs Tanahashi & Nagata, NJ 10/15/06. The top two of heel stable GBH versus the top two of NJ's regular army. Really good tag match that's helped by a clearer face/heel distinction than you normally get in Japan. 133 MB.

Ishii vs Yamamoto, NJ 11/6/06. Not a heck of a lot held back here. Not very often that the second match on the card is such a war.

Minoru Suzuki vs Fuuka, "triple crown", NOSAWA Genome 11/8/06. Suzuki, as 2006 Puro MVP, was most reliably effective in comedy matches. Featuring special guest Kakimoto, who is Fuuka's brother. 92 MB.

American Balloon vs Antonio Honda, DDT 11/23/06. Behold the wonder and majesty of the American Balloon.

The Esperanza vs HG, Hustlemania '06. An epic battle for the ages. 105 MB.

Some set-up for the match.

T. Sasaki, Kobayashi & Badboy Hido vs Kasai, Numazawa & Teioh, Big Japan 10/13/06. A deathmatch that includes quite a bit of storytelling. Trust me here!

Satomura vs Kyoko Kimura, Sendai 12/3/06. Kimura has enough energy to give the battle-hardened Satomura all she can handle. 169 MB.

Tanahashi vs Nakamura, IWGP title, NJ 12/10/06. Nakamura has bulked up and readied himself to become a deserving, long-term ace. Tanahashi looks to overcome his generational rival in decisive fashion. The end result is the best IWGP title match in years. 123 MB.

Chairmen battle royal, Indy Summit 12/31/06. The bookers of IWA Japan, DDT, Big Japan, MPro, Osaka Pro, DDT Tec (???), KDojo and El Dorado face off. Very unique, very indy. Again, TRUST DITCH. 168 MB.

Kaientai Deluxe vs KUDO, Milanito, Nohashi, Oishi & Kishi, Indy Summit 12/31/06. Kaientai reunites after ages apart, to face five youngsters from across the indy scene. 184 MB.

T. Sasaki, Kobayashi, Shadow WX & MASADA vs Kasai, Numazawa, Teioh & Miyamoto, light tube deathmatch, Big Japan 1/2/07. Plenty of big spots, and an interesting spotlight on young Miyamoto who was trying to earn his way into the company. My favorite deathmatch of '07!

Takayama, Sato & Yokoi vs Omori, Ohtani & Murakami, Zero-One 1/19/07. No Fear re-explodes! Hardway blood! Punches to the face! Takayama brings the fire and it forces everyone else to try and match him.

HARASHIMA vs Kakimoto, KOD title, DDT 1/28/07. HARASHIMA is all about striking, Kakimoto is all about throws and slams. A nice contrast in styles, with one spot in particular standing out.

Takayama & Sato vs Omori & Ohtani, Zero-One 2/18/07. Bloody and violent. Takayama loses his mind and destroys everything. EVERYTHING. 165 MB.

Kyoko Kimura vs Toshie Uematsu, BattlArts 2/25/07. These two do a wonderful job of doing BattlArts style. 165 MB.

Sawa & Yoshikawa vs Usuda & Fujita Jr, BattlArts 2/25/07. Lots of nasty shots in this one. 121 MB.

Ikeda & Sekimoto vs Ishikawa & Murakami, BattlArts 2/25/07. I wasn't sure how Sekimoto would fit in at BatBat, but he does fine. 172 MB.

Kawada... singing?!

Kawada & Tenryu vs KUSHIDA & Chie, HUSTLE 3/15/07. Now that's a squash.

Mammoth Sasaki & Kuroda vs Sekimoto & K. Inoue, Big Japan 3/25/07. Slowish start, great great finish. 130 MB.

Toba & Ibushi vs Sawa & Yoshikawa, DDT 4/1/07. I found myself saying "ow" a lot during this one. I don't care how worked it is, I wouldn't want to take half those kicks for any amount of money.

10 minute Battle Royal for the DDT Ironman title, DDT 4/1/07. Incoming champion: El Hijo del Ladder. You want this. 91 MB

Marufuji & Dino vs KUDO & Muscle Sakai, DDT 4/1/07. DDT's 'dream match' becomes a nightmare for Marufuji.

Kikuchi & Taniguchi vs Namiguchi & Takanishi, Zero-One 4/7/07. Kikuchi hates your skull. Yes, YOUR skull. He hates it. He must break it.

Minoru Tanaka vs Taguchi, junior title, New Japan 4/13/07. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm picky about what junior singles matches I host. This is quality right here. 92 MB.

Tanahashi vs Nagata, IWGP title, New Japan 4/13/07. Four years after losing the title, Nagata finally gets a shot. I'd say this manages to top everything in Nagata's long first reign, and it's one of the best IWGP matches of the decade. 184 MB.

Typhoon vs Muscle Outlaw'z, 7 vs 7 elimination match, Dragon Gate 4/17/07. Eventually it becomes a big ol' sprint. 176 MB.

Kawada & Tenryu vs HG & RG, HUSTLE 4/21/07. Before getting famous, HG and RG were part of a 'university club', Japan's less-sketchy equivalent of backyard wrestling. Now they're getting to face icons. Icons who will beat the absolute crap out of them. 136 MB.

Ito vs Kobayashi, BJPW deathmatch title contendership match, 4/30/07. Not as good as the first two but still worthwhile for the fan of the light tube deathmatch. 100 MB.

Jado & Gedo vs Taka Michinoku & Dick Togo, junior tag titles, New Japan 5/2/07. Taka & Togo invade! Which veteran junior tandem will hold out?

Kawada... um... I'm not sure how to describe this one.

CIMA, Yokosuka & Saito vs Takagi, BB Hulk & Cyber Kong, trios titles, Dragon Gate 5/10/07. Quite a lot of intergenerational hate early on. Then it proceeds into a really great sprint. 141 MB.

Ishikawa vs Sawa, BattlArts 5/13/07. A teacher vs student fight. Ishikawa beating the tar out of someone is never a bad thing. 133 MB.

Kanemura, Mammoth Sasaki & Kuroda vs Sekimoto, Obata & Hi69, Big Japan 5/20/07. Obata gets absolutely crushed and it's awesome. 159 MB.

Masato Tanaka vs Yoshihito Sasaki, Zero-One 5/27/07. Tanaka returns from a shoulder injury and has gotten ripped, but in the process he also dropped a lot of muscle mass. Will his lean physique be enough to compensate for ring rust and a loss of brute force? Can Sasaki take advantage and get the win of a lifetime? 87 MB.

Kanemura, Kuroda & Hi69 vs Sekimoto, Mammoth Sasaki & K. Inoue, Big Japan 5/28/07. More BJPW 6-man goodness! 156 MB.

Minoru Tanaka vs Taguchi, BOSJ '07, New Japan 6/1/07. Rematch time! Can Taguchi show he's ready for another title shot, or will Minoru prove his dominance?

Hardcore battle royal AND Nozawa vs Muscle Sakai in a Silent Match for the Extreme title, DDT 6/3/07. Double-shot of DDT magic. 166 MB.

Men's Teioh vs Danshoku Dino, DDT 6/3/07. Dino's gimmick was originally a riff on Teioh. Now they do battle.

New Hazard vs Typhoon vs Muscle Outlaw'z, Dragon Gate 6/5/07. The 3-way 3-man tag returns! 185 MB.

Ito & Kobayashi vs Numajiro & Nohashi, light tube deathmatch, MPro 6/16/07. Light tubes in Michinoku?! The MPro duo adds a lot of new stuff to the usual Big Japan formula and it's a lot of fun.

Norton vs Sakata, HUSTLE 6/17/07. Chops galore, and Norton makes Sakata look great. 82 MB.

Muta & RG vs Tajiri & Yinling, HUSTLE 6/17/07. A mix of cool and bizarre, which is HUSTLE in a nutshell. 137 MB.

Tenryu vs HG, HUSTLE 6/17/07. Maybe HG should have stuck with variety shows. Unless, that is, he LIKES having his chest ripped apart. 123 MB.

Kanemura, Kuroda & Imai vs Kasai, Numazawa & Masada, Big Japan 6/26/07. My love affair with BJPW 6-mans featuring a clear underdog continues!

Mammoth, Shadow WX & K. Inoue vs Sekimoto, Hi69 & Obata, Big Japan 6/26/07. More BJPW 6-man akshun! Clipped very neatly in the middle. Mammoth delivers a hellish powerbomb. Get on it!

New Hazard vs Muscle Outlaw'z, trios titles, Dragon Gate 7/1/07. Following up on the 3-way tag. Will MO'z craft and tricks be enough to top NH's power and energy? 166 MB.

Nagata vs Makabe, IWGP title, New Japan 7/6/07. More hardway blood than I've ever seen, with a super-packed and red-hot Korakuen backing... the super-heel? 100 MB.

T. Sasaki vs Ito, deathmatch title, Big Japan 7/8/07. Their third and (for my money) best title match. 240 MB.

Sato & Koinoki vs Vabo & Anjoh, HUSTLE 7/11/07. Vabo is Nagao, an ex-NJ young lion, who is exponentially more effective here as a fake Giant Baba than as himself.

Kawada, Norton & Morgan vs HG, Sakata & RG, HUSTLE 7/11/07. RG dies! Bonus post-match stuff!

I'm... I just... I don't even know anymore.