Forever Forward Fridays

Masato Tanaka VS Bryan Keith - DEFY 10/13/2023

CJD: After a long and winding joshi journey on Fridays ever since our Yoneyama VS Sakura hair match we featured last August (!!), we came out of things with a brutal '90s deathmatch a few weeks back, and now an indie dream match from late last year. Pro wrestling man. It's about the journey, not the destination, right? We've seen Tanaka have this match in the US many times over the years, and it's not a perfect match in terms of selling or structure or whatever. But it's damn fun and the crowd loves it and I was totally along for the ride. Keith is relatively new to me and I was super impressed with how he carried himself in this match. If you want this style of Tanaka dream match, Dangan brings it at a high level too. Hats off to both of these guys for this one.

JJZ: Man I love DEFY. In my 20s I would have definitely set out to get a ton of DEFY DVDs. You did a fantastic job of getting back on track here baby cakes. Keith is brand new to me I think. Nothing is coming to mind. But I'll agree CJD, he really works like he's been there before and that the moment is not too big for him. Dude's got some good intensity and can bang. Now it blows my mind that Tanaka can still go to this level after all the death matches and chair shots and powerbombs and just sick spots he has taken. This match is 27 year after that death match we played. That's a lot of bumps man. Tip of the cap to his journey. Loved the finish. I think it really made Keith look strong without taking anything away from Tanaka.