Sho Can Go

Daisuke Ikeda VS Shoichi Funaki - BattlARTS 4/6/1996

JJZ: I knew right away I was going more shoot style Funaki. He really impressed me in his last match. So Ikeda, man I keep feeling like we've shared him recently but looking back we have not. He's another one that I know the name but I'm not sure of his stature in Japan. I'm wondering if we talked about him in regards to you other wreslting side project. So after watching two Funaki matches I've fully come to the conclusion that he ain't nuttin to fuck wit. Jesus baby, you can tell this motherfucker is the real deal. His transition game is legitimate. Now it's obvious that Ikeda is the vet in this match. I wouldn't say he is taking liberties but he is kinda laying into his shit. I do believe that Funaki looks great in his reversals and offensive holds. And I fucking loved the finish.

CJD: Ikeda was probably on your mind because I was talking to you off the record about how intertwined his career is with Ishikawa, but how Ishikawa is pretty much a slam dunk for my Greatest Wrestler Ever top 100 ballot as he translates to a lot of different settings. Meanwhile Ikeda's typically only great in shootstyle but man is he great at it. I honestly don't know if he'll make my ballot but I do know I loved this match! These guys didn't give each other an inch. The dueling limb work was awesome right through the end, just enough focus for a match like this but still with an organic fight feel. And you've gotta love mid 90s BattlARTS ambiance (what was the audio picking up in the background?? Ring springs squeaking mixed with a nearby concert?). Something I've really valued over the years with our friendship and our good buddy and occasional guest reviewer PB is I can always rely on both of your extensive BJJ  training to get feedback on if a match like this holds up to some scrutiny beyond a pro wrestling lens. So it's good to know that Funaki, who I never watched do this style until these past two weeks, looks as good to you as he does to me. He was always the least of Kaentai DX to me, perfectly fine as the 5th man, but now I kind of wish he had kept running with Ishikawa's crew instead. Speaking of PB, I reached out to see if he wanted to join us on our Shootstyle Sidequest this week! What do you say Phil, does Ikeda make your top 100 greatest wrestlers? Does Smackdown's #1 Announcer have what it takes to tap out JBL if he pooped in his bag?? Also what did you think of this match.

PB: Top 100? Not quite, but I see the argument. His 2005 match against Yuki Ishikawa from Futen would be enough to justify the consideration as far as I'm concerned. On the other hand, I think we could all agree that FunakiSmackdownNumberOne was never in the conversation. That being said, he more than carries his share of the heavy lifting here (pun semi-intended). You can tell from the first takedown that FSN1 has a formidable grappling background despite it's infrequent application at the height of his stateside popularity. The disparity in skill between the two is primarily in the striking, but this actually serves to magnify Sho's prowess on the ground to the point where I was convinced that he had a legitimate (albeit small) shot of winning if he could nullify Ikeda's kicks. That reminds me, without spoiling the ending I can confidently say that the first two syllables of the winner's theme music is the most apropos compliment to the finish of a match that I've seen/heard in recent memory.

A Malenko By Any Other Name

Carl Greco VS Shoichi Funaki - PWFG 5/12/1993

CJD: We're getting into the weeds with this Shootstyle Sidequest. The Greco options that don't have Ishikawa in them were really limited so I had to start combing through some uploads of entire PWFG shows like this one to see what caught my eye. I try to avoid sharing stuff like this because I don't want people to have to click around but it's the first match on the show 6 minutes in and you can see more of Kane warming up for his match later with Fujiwara (!) as an added bonus. This is the earliest match I've seen from Greco or Funaki and while this honestly pales in comparison to your match last week, for the opener of a fairly low key shootstyle show I thought this did a very nice job. The opening feeling out is organic and exciting. I did think it was a little dry in the middle stretch but both guys did a very good job fighting for ring position and stressing the importance of trying to finish things out of the reach of rope breaks. Which kind of plays off of your match even though it's 15 years in the future! The finish capped it off as a "yes, I'll play that forward" moment. This doesn't go big but it does get the crowd warmed up and ready and makes both young fighters look full of potential. And I'm not going to lie, I'm just grinning thinking about the transition the past month and half going from WALTER, to Ishikawa, to Kane, back to Ishikawa, to Greco, to Smackdown's #1 Announcer. Where are we taking this wild ride next??

JJZ: The joy that this match brings me just seeing the opening is something that only Play it Forward can do. How in the hell did we get here (thanks for that little recap). How great is this Chris! Funaki really impressed me in this one. He can go. This match is extremely well done on a  technical level. The reversals from hold to hold were so smooth. Both guys did an excellent job on the fundamentals of grappling that made the match feel so authentic. I do wish they had a limit on rope breaks though. I found myself at times thinking, "try a kimura! Go for a knee bar!" and the guys actually went for it. Loved that little touch. Great finish. I could've watched this for another 30 minutes!

Forever Forward Fridays

 
Club Tropicana VS Bird Law (Mike Bailey/Veda Scott) - Riptide Wrestling 10/5/2019

JJZ: Bringing a little gaga for the proud papa! Right off the bat I'm going to say this probably over stayed its welcome by a few minutes. But the thought of this match being on the blog at the same time as the shoot stuff we've been sharing made me laugh to myself. This bad boy gets weird. I'm totally unfamiliar with Club Tropicana but Sexsea and Aiden have this gimmick down. Total pros. I'd love to see them wrestle against Colt and Yone. Veda was really good in this, better than I expected. Bailey (who fucking killed it in this match) could've really covered up any warts with his insane highflying but everyone delivered on what they were trying to sell in this one. The production of the intros was excellent and the crowd was hot from the jump. Hope you enjoy.

CJD: This promotion definitely has some slick production. I was just talking about how indie wrestlers have so many hats to wear any given night and improv comedian is one they don't typically get many reps with unless it's their gimmick. As such I was also impressed with Bird Law in this, they did get some laughs out of me even if the overall timing of some jokes was off. This was a big old mixed bag with some stuff I liked ("no you put him down!"), some I could have done without (that HBK/Flair joke was a miss for me in particular), and a couple of great spots to keep things moving. It's a messy but fun end result that gives me some interesting options for next week.

MDTSOCWWKD Tuesday Favorites

As advertised here are our picks for our Top 5 favorite Tuesday posts from March 2021-March 2022! There are some absolute bangers mixed in here (so much so that we had three of the same picks!!), while our Friday Top 5 had one hell of an eclectic range of matches. Which is pretty on-brand for PIF but you never know when Tuesdays will go down a rabbit hole of Kane shootstyle exploits! We always keep them guessing.

CJD:

https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2021/06/crazy-insane-kid-or-insane-crazy-kid.html?m=0

https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2021/08/bad-lad-bad-boy.html?m=0

https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2022/01/who-is-noah.html?m=0

https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2022/01/do-that-voodoo-murders-that-you-do-so.html?m=0

https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2022/01/destructive-power.html?m=0

JJZ:

Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) VS Go Shiozaki - NOAH GHC Heavyweight Championship 1/1/2022

Yoshihiro Takayama (c) VS Satoshi Kojima - AJPW Triple Crown Championship 9/26/2009

KENTA VS Eddie Edwards - NOAH 11/25/2007

Orange Cassidy (c) VS Joey Janela - ICW IWTV Championship 5/18/2019

Can-Am Express VS Toshiaki Kawada/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi - AJPW 8/27/1992

Forever Forward Friday Favorites

Hey all you PIFamaniacs, if you've been reading for a few years you'll notice we're not going to do our annual Head Droppies. Just not feeling it this year. Maybe they'll be back next April? We'll see! In the meantime, we decided to look back at the last year of posts with a simple Top 5 PIF Picks from both myself and JJZ for Tuesdays and Fridays. So here are our Top Five FFFFavorites from March 2021-March 2022! We'll check in on Tuesday with our MDTSOCWWKD Top 5.

CJD:

https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2021/04/forever-forward-fridays_23.html?m=0

https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2021/07/forever-forward-fridays.html?m=0

https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2021/10/forever-forward-fridays_60.html?m=0

https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2021/10/forever-forward-fridays_8.html?m=0

https://pifprowrestling.blogspot.com/2022/01/forever-forward-fridays_28.html?m=0

JJZ: 

Team PAWG VS Chuck Taylor/Orange Cassidy - Beyond 9/24/2017

Aja Kong/Kyoko Inoue VS LCO - AJW 8/9/1997

Lioness Asuka VS Bull Nakano - AJW 5/14/1989

Jaguar Yokota VS Lioness Asuka - JD' 4/14/1996

Wendi Richter VS Princess Victoria - Houston Wrestling 2/10/1984

While Everyone's Lost, The Battle Is Won

Yuki Ishikawa VS Carl Greco - BattleARTS 6/1/2008

JJZ: Let's talk shoot fighting! This was a grappling match to the fullest! Great transitions and unexpected switches. And they maximized the rope breaks in this one! I was so I'm the mood for a match like this. The matches Ishikawa had with Jacobs were great but this really gets into the shit I'm talking about with this style of wrestling. I don't recall seeing Greco before because my Battlearts viewing is sadly so limited but I'm gonna keep him on my radar for damn sure. So this is the fourth Ishikawa match we've shared now and it's crazy to think we've covered three different decades. We really are showcasing a great snapshot into his long career.

CJD: You are so in my wheelhouse with this one I'm going to have to start calling you Johnny Cartwheelhouse!! Carl Greco aka Carl Malenko is the adopted brother of Dean and Joe and is one of the unsung pioneers of shoot style. He has a rivalry with Ishikawa going back to the early 90s. One of our favorite Instagram accounts master_of_senton coincidentally just made a post highlighting another match of his days after you sent me this. He made the point that Greco was the first person to ever go the distance against a young Wanderlei Silva, and while his MMA record won't turn any heads, that's certainly proof that he's a legitimate bad ass. I watched this match back around when it happened but haven't seen it since, and it plays even better now than I remembered. This did happen in an absolute resurgence of BattlARTS where they were having banger after banger so it got lost in the shuffle a bit for me. Looking back now, this is one of the finest examples of grappling I've ever seen. Seriously elite level shit. One review I read mentioned no strikes are thrown and while I didn't notice that it does sound right. I have to imagine I've seen the big twist before the finishing stretch in another match previously but I can't remember for certain and it gave me literal goosebumps. These are two masters of their craft and like you said we highlighted what an all-time great Yuki Ishikawa is over the course of four very different matches that don't even scratch the surface of his greatest hits. Although this match certainly deserves to be in the conversation.

Forever Forward Fridays

Solo Darling VS Penelope Ford VS Veda Scott VS Ashley Vox - Beyond Wrestling 5/1/2019

CJD: Going from a very substantial match last week to a very junk food match this week. But I will say, we've discussed before if the talent wasn't on this level in the mid 2000s for women compared to now, or if they just didn't have the right platform. Well I think it's more the latter than the former but the talent in this match for a random 4 way is pretty damn impressive. Especially considering none of these four ladies are really big names even now. We've seen a lot of random 4 ways and for me this one was particularly creative and made great use of its time. And Solo just has that It Factor that you can't quite put your finger on, especially coming from the kind of Candy Crush gimmick she started with to where she is now. The sum is much greater than the individual parts and I'm really glad we've gotten more familiar with her work over the span of her two FFF Championships. Curious where you'll go next with all these options!

JJZ: Junk food match to the fullest. They even had some pizza. I'm familiar with each woman in this match so picking who to play forward will depend on who impresses me the most in the 4 corner classic my North Carolina friend! This was a fun one. Reminded me of early 2000 Ring Of Honor four corner survivals. I feel like all the ladies came across fantasic and everyone's timing was good. Nice highspots with a simple but effective finish! Nice shit baby boy.

Forever Forward Fridays

Travis Huckabee VS Solo Darling - CHIKARA 12/8/2018

JJZ: I went into this more curious than excited. Especially with a match taking place during a heated feud. I think both wrestlers played their roles excellently. Darling's face work really pulled the crowd on her side. She came across very angry but you could sympathize with her because she was still trying to mend the relationship with Travis. Huckabee on the other hand came across so scumbaggy. So callous and unredeemable. The workrate in this one was top notch. Loved the limb work and they even had a few spots that really made me wince. The story was fantastic and the wrestling was above what I expected. Good shit from these two.

CJD: Beautiful write up on this one. I loved how everything in this match was done with such purpose. I wonder what percent of your average wrestler's career is matches like this with such layered story and emotion built into it? And how much more difficult it is to deliver a match like this than a random undercard first time encounter. Or maybe the added drama makes it easier than starting cold? This is the stuff that fascinates me about being a pro wrestler, especially on the indies. You're the master of your own destiny and there are a million wildly different scenarios and jobs you'll have to do along the way. For Huckabee for example going all the way from a ref to a partner betrayed feud blowoff like this. And when the stars align like this it all comes together and on this show with this opportunity these two knocked it out of the park. Super memorable and exciting match that both should look back at with pride.

That's Gotta Be Kane?!

Yuki Ishikawa VS Glenn Jacobs - PWFG 2/28/1994

CJD: So I used to avoid going straight back to a rematch because it's technically against our rules with our imaginary titles and what can and can't be played forward. And 4 years in I think it's become pretty obvious we just do whatever we want at this point. You were going to watch this match anyway. I wanted to watch this match. I didn't want to watch Kane doing Kane things. But I did want to watch Yuki Ishikawa doing Yuki Ishikawa things. So let's do this! Looking into it a bit more I think this is the match that most people have seen when they reference these two wrestling. And this is also pretty darn good. But I wouldn't have liked it anywhere near as much without the previous match. Ishikawa clearly comes back in with a strategy and is making a statement early with his slick transitions and attempts to cut the big man down. They play up Kane's lack of experience with the style a little more and make his moments of skill seem a bit more shocking. Basically everything is done with more purpose in this match and as a result it's a little more engaging but also a little less organic. I like the first match better but I like Ishikawa's performance in this one more. By the end I'm just amazed at what great chemistry these two had! And begrudgingly glad you got me to sit down to two Kane matches!

JJZ: While watching this one I was thinking that big Kane fans would be watching this and saying "God, this is awful." While I'm thinking "God, Kane is awful... but this is pretty good!!" I love that you played this back. So entertaining. I was legit hooked on everything they did. I'm telling you man lower expectations really set this up and between both matches they knocked it out of the park. I do wish Glenn used his strength advantage more because when he did it was impressive. I'll agree that the first match made this one more enjoyable. Loved the finish. So happy I can say that I saw multiple good Kane matches!

Forever Forward Fridays

Masha Slamovich VS Travis Huckabee - Limitless Wrestling 3/3/2022

CJD: We've featured a lot of shorter matches on FFFridays so I try to avoid anything this abrupt but man this had too much going for it to skip over. Travis Huckabee was someone I was making sure I was watching back when I had a Chikaratopia subscription and I'd say is one of the more underrated guys (or girls) going today. Masha looks great returning from an extended tour of Japan. Limitless has an awesome little studio presentation of this very recent match and the sum of the parts of this 7 or 8 minutes is so much more than you'd expect from the runtime and scrolling past a thumbnail.

JJZ: It's hard to get a good feel for a wrestler during a 7 minute match but you know me! I super appreciate wrestlers that can produce a quailty short match. We did get good idea of what Masha Slamovich is these past 2 weeks. We saw her work heel and babyface and boy was she able to control the crowd. Nice match baby cakes!