Kamelot and Alexius tearing it up on the mat.

Quick check in on Owen Hart vs Tatsutoshi Goto from 8/31/89. I love the look on Owen's face after Goto tags him here. Plus they kept calling Goto "Mr. Backdrop" and here's why.

Heel-coded Pedro Morales from 1976 New Japan is a bizarre sight, but my favorite part of this is how slowly Sakaguchi lifts up the table in the middle of the clip. It feels larger than life, a real titanic big of strength given how he does it.

Great, great cut off/shut down by Nishimura against Yamazaki here in 98. The set up is what makes it work.

It took me a while to really get Choshu. He’s as good at any of his peers at creating mood. Whenever he enters the ring, he brings with him rising tension. He’s the promise of eventual retribution, a burr (maybe even a sore) upon the heart of the world.

This is a short clip but it sums up the spirit of 80s New Japan so well to me. Saito hammering down on Iizuma. Iizuma showing pain, suffering, but fighting his way through defiantly, and in the background Choshu elated for his effort.

I could spend 30 seconds every day watching Inoki come in on a tag and the crowd go up for him and it would brighten my day. Here it's against Bundy and Samu from 85. Kimura looks great here actually. Some really good Inazuma Leg Lariats and subsequent bumps and/or sells.

Because he never suffered any actual consequences, Jon Moxley is now basically the Lisa Murkowski of the Death Riders.

Really tremendous figure-four battle between Mimi Hagiwara and Yumi Ikeshita from 1981. Hagiwara had been an actress and was the most emotive of her era. You can really see that here. The bridging on the figure-four reversal being so high is very unique.

I'm pretty convinced at this point that there's nothing more magical in pro wrestling than Inoki getting the tag and bursting into the ring with uncontainable staccato energy.

MJF vs Brody King - Details Matter. - No, that's it. That's the post. - ~2000 words of a one-match case study about how details matter so, so much. segundacaida.blogspot.com/2026/02/aew-...

The thing about Inoki is that he could be wrestling the biggest goofs in the world like Super Maxx and Madd Maxx here and it didn't matter. He'd leap over the top rope and start throwing knuckle arrows and the crowd would go up for it no matter what. Just a special connection.

Bathe in the inspirational power of Antonio Inoki fighting his way out of Blackjack Mulligan's Claw.

Let's spend a minute and a half with the most kickable face in the history of shoot-style as Yoji Anjo tries his luck against Takada.

Victor Zangiev. What a guy.

A minute or so of Jean Bout vs Jack Van Doreen from 1959. It's such an interesting historical relic, the setting with the tables in the background, the way that it's shot, the expressiveness in the cross choke, and of course the lost up-and-over headcissors takeover out of the top wristlock.

I'm increasingly convinced that the future of pro wrestling is a reframed social contract with crowds, a transparent "neo-kayfabe" that convinces them it's in their best interest to leave irony behind and embrace a unique interactive theatrical experience. Some words on that.

1000 quick words on the Collision Parking Lot Brawl. - Wrestling's like life; it never stops. - Eddie Kingston is so, so tired. - Wrestling's like life; it doesn't care. - Still, he fights on. segundacaida.blogspot.com/2026/02/aew-...

Inoki vs Kimura from 1986. Inoki's such a jerk but we love him for it anyway (the crowd sure does).

All the action fit to print from the Football Pads battle between Jim Duggan and Steve Williams from December 1984.

Wild finish to a 1989 Choshu/Liger/Kimura vs Bigelow/Owen/Pat Tanaka match. The foreigners were flying around for them.

Henri Lambert and Roger Laroche demonstrate fighting spirit in 1959 France.

The finishing and really great post-match to the Houston 3/14/86 Doc/Dibiase vs Masked Superstar/Murdoch tag. Just beautiful pro wrestling.

Wild finish to a fall in a 6-woman tag from 1980. They neutralize the numbers in an inventive way. Jackie Sato looks every bit like the ace she was. And pre-Jaguar Rimi Yokota with her crazy triangle recoil splash off the corner. Controlled chaos.

Super blurry but still awesome footage of Mami Kumano being the earliest person we have on tape to do the Brody King dangling choke in 1979 AJW. She did this all the time and she should be associated with it.

Want to do another thread, this time on 8/26/88 - Fujinami/Koshinaka (IWPG/Jr. champs) vs Vader and a returning Black Tiger/Rocco. This is to show what they're keeping from you, because this is a nothing TV match and there are still 15+ great things. First, Vader scaring kids as he comes down.

Liger's selling in this Sano match is just excellent. He's just dragging himself around the ring and showing the toil of even his own stomps on Sano. Everything hurts and it takes everything he has to get him up for a pile driver. Incredibly immersive selling that draws you in like nothing else.

The best part of pro wrestling is, as it's always been and as it always will be, the fans booing the heels.

🤼Minoru Suzuki slapping the shit out of the most slappable face in pro wrestling history, Yoji Anjoh 🤼

Yoji Anjo decides it's in his best interests to get a cheapshot in on Kazuo Yamazaki. This turns out to be a very, very bad idea.

Guys, drop everything and watch Minoru Suzuki vs Tatsuo Nakano from 8/13/89. Here are the first three exchanges (about half the match) to convince you.

Darby Allin vs Clark Connors. Athena vs Vertvixen. - "...but they make you believe they're real." - Expectations, presentation, opportunities. - Crash test dummies, wrecking balls, and the true spirit of pro wrestling. segundacaida.blogspot.com/2026/02/aew-...

Black Tiger crushing Shiro Koshinaka with a really nasty 1-2 punch at the start of 1986.

Here's a fun bit of counter programming for today, and yet another sign that there WAS comedy on 80s NJPW cards, just not in things that made tape. www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUds...

There was one MSG Tag League in NJPW where Murdoch and Hansen tagged and it's really not fair to anyone else. No one was treating Killer Khan like this except for maybe Andre.

Among the best matches of the decade. Fujiwara and Saito is a makeshift alliance after the tournament was destroyed but it's a dream team and just ... works. Inoki and Saito have had the 1987 feud of the year and Murdoch is awfully inspired. A magical time period in pro wrestling.

12/4/87. Inoki/Murdoch vs Fujiwara/Saito. Watch Fujiwara's body language throughout this mauling of Inoki. An apex predator up against the most dangerous prey. It builds and builds until Inoki can endure it no more and he starts firing back. It stops being sport and starts being mythic.

The toyetic Jushin Thunder Liger with "American Football Style Shoulderpad" as he came into this Sano match with a hurt shoulder. Sano, being a jerk, went right to it.

This is an objectively funny spot. It becomes one of the funniest spots ever when you realize that Andre is doing this to Akira Maeda.

Scenes from the finals of the three country series in 1989. Pure struggle. A very different sort of fighting spirit that what we so often get today.

Hell of a way to start a title fight.

Victor Zangiev's fist pumping while putting on a Scorpion Deathlock is what pro wrestling is all about.

This is how Hashimikov and Hashimoto have a "feeling out process."

This will be a niche post, but it sums up what frustrates me about George Takano. I don't really blame him; he had to follow Tiger Mask and that was an impossible task. This is a great rope running sequence followed by Manny and Buzz with a perfectly timed tag cut off and then they throw it away.

August of 1989, Hashimoto had chipped away at Vader, had threatened to get a countout win against him. This is how Vader decided to deal with it.

Akira Nogami gets the tag from Jushin Thunder Liger, who Sano and Hoshino have been beating on. He has to fight back himself but he does, setting Sano up for a huge tope. And then...

Maybe pro wrestling illusion but these Timur Zalasov bridges feel kind of insane.

Manny Fernandez in 1989 from a 5x5 USA vs Soviet Union New Japan match. One of the nastiest shots I've seen in a while.

MJF vs Bandido - The one thing Max has left to prove - Bandido giving them his all, MJF giving them nothing, which in turn is everything - 2500+ words on a match that had to overcome - Believe in pro wrestling and people will lead with their hearts again segundacaida.blogspot.com/2026/01/aew-...

Jushin Liger with the best Half Crab ever on Akira Nogami.