We'd Catch The Rainbow, Ride The Wind

Shinjiro Otani/El Samurai VS Black Tiger II/Dean Malenko - NJPW 9/24/1993

CJD: Huge shout out to the guys over at Segunda Caida for unearthing this fan cam on their Found Footage Fridays. Holy guacamole, you want to talk about white whales. This match speaks to our teenage tape trading fandom moby dick days. This was a dream come true. Now my bff, I'm warning you right away. There's some moments we miss out on, given the nature of how this was filmed. And there's some missed moments that are really heart breaking. I'm sorry in advance. But just remind yourself: we could so so easily live in a timeline where this match was lost to the sands of time. Yet here we are. I'm so glad this niche of a niche hobby brought me to this moment in time.

I'll say a few things about the actual match. After watching an all out war with Murakami where there was some filthy alley fighting legwork, it was fun to travel back to this heated technical clinic where Otani's still taking and giving and stuffing nasty leg picks and holds. And, god almighty, I love the energy that was in this arena. This crowd knew then what we know now. It's special that we got to bear witness to these kind of performers practicing their craft at this level with this kind of platform. I'm so glad you sent us on an Otani Odyssey!!!

JJZ: This match is a dream come true man. Like if we were booking a dream card from this era I would've booked this match. The fact it's a fan cam with a few hiccups makes it even more of a unicorn in my opinion. Hearing the crowd from this point of view is so cool and adds a little ambiance. Chris. Just watching all these guys hit their moves is like comfort food. I'm getting so much happiness from it. Watching this is reminding me why we hold these guys in such high regard.  It is funny though, because if we watched this match back in the day I wonder if we would have appreciated it. We were so knee deep in matches of these four back then. Finding something like this now though I know I don't take it for granted. Thank you my friend.

Forever Forward Fridays

El Samurai/Kendo Kashin VS Dr Wagner Jr/Silver King- NJPW 4/19/2001

CJD: Play It Forward, the only thing than can get me to watch a Kendo Kashin match. I'm not going to lie, after Silver King totally shit cans Dragon Soldier B I actually enjoyed his antics for the remainder of the match. We're straying from our FFF theme a bit here but of all my El Samurai options this felt like the most in the spirit of diversity and representation. I love the connection between Japanese and Mexican wrestling. Two cultures that couldn't be more different but meld beautifully when you put on a pair of tights. I've seen Sammy tag as the 1B to someone like Liger a good amount, or as the vet to an up and comer partner, but I haven't seen a lot of him as The Guy in his team. I thought he was great, the glue that kept this match from almost going off the rails more than once. It's not quite a trainwreck but it's not exactly a four star affair, but either way I thought this was fun as hell. And Dr Wagner Jr screams "motherfucker!!" at one point so there's that.

JJZ: This has Best of (insert junior weight wrestler name here) VHS tape match written all over it. Man this was a fantastic tag team match. A little clunkie at times but so many "Oh shit!" spots. The pacing of the match was super 90s Japanese junior heavyweights. Slow back and forth build to an all out sprint in the end. I thought everyone killed it in this match. Sometimes you can find yourself saying so and so was fine. But not in this one. Everyone brought the A game. Fun shit my guy.

Forever Forward Fridays

Black Tiger II VS El Samurai - NJPW 3/20/1994

JJZ: I'm pretty sure this match was filmed by the same guy who filmed that IWA triple threat match! Being honest Black Tiger Eddie is probably my least watched Eddie. Not on purpose or anything. I just never found myself going out of my way to watch his BT stuff. Which is fucking stupid now thinking back on it. This match was so interesting with the fan cam and this crowd was really different for a 90s Japanese crowd. I've always had a soft spot for El Samurai for some reason. I feel like I always rooted for him to be better than he was. Don't get me wrong he has had some great matches but I don't think he was ever able to work his way to the A team. This was a really good match. Great spots and a finish I never saw coming baybay!!!

CJD: Fun fact, this match happened the same day as Wrestlemania X. Man, I love 90s Japanese juniors matches, even if they can be a little aimless at times. But what I hate is that everyone has these slap ass entrance songs that if you're lucky enough to even have them on the tape, the wrestlers run light speed to the ring so you only hear like 12 seconds of the jam!! These guys could learn a thing or two from CM Punk. Or the Colony in CHIKARA. or IWAMS Chris Hero. This was a great find, and many thanks to Matt D from Segunda Caida for uploading it. It was a little stop and start, but it had a good sense of struggle to make up for the lack of rhythm. And plenty of awesome little moments and touches. I know what you mean about El Samurai but the fact he probably smoked a few too many packs and stayed up a little too late with the boys on the back of the bus helped set him apart too. He just had a vibe about him that made him engaging compared to the other juniors at the time. And Black Tiger Eddie is a treat, like with Misawa Tiger Mask it was never the most natural fit, but there's some real goodness to be found there. Case in point!