DEATH VALLEY DRIVER VIDEO REVIEW #109!

We here at the Death Valley Driver Video Review are totally awash in truly weird or good or fricking GREAT tapes as of late and we are just too STUPEFIED by the whole experience and are stoked to be knee-deep in the Puroresu/Lucha/Joshi Excess of coolness.  Please- attach your sweet love and join us for a slapdash foray into the land of our TRUE WRESTLING VEIWING, wrestling that you- our beloved gentle reader- SHOULD be made of aware of because YOU and I BOTH LOVE THE WRESTLING WHEN DONE RIGHT.  And some of this is.  Moisten your lips and be gently carressed by YOUR DEATH VALLEY PLAYBOY, RAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY...

#$#$#$#$#$#$# NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING TV :
(REV RAY DUFFY!)
Shiro Koshinaka/Tadao Yasuda v. Stray Dogs :  This starts out with at the top of the show with the Dogs challenging Lurch and Shiro to fight it out on the floor, when they come back, there's a brawl.  We go to credits and commercial, when we come back, Ohara is ramming Shiro into the exposed corner buckle.  It should be noted that Ohara and Goto have gone blond.  Don't worry, they still stink.  Shiro makes the hot tag to Yasuda who gets in his sumo thrust/corner  splash/ underhook suplex spot for a two.  He also get the drop kick into the corner from him.  Yasuda hits the tiger driver, but Goto breaks up the pin and hits his back drop suplex.  Goto tags in hits a lariat on Yasuda.  They stuff powerbomb him and Goto goes for him lariat for the pin, but only gets two.  He goes for another and Yasuda hits him with a palm strike.  Goto and  Yasuda both tag.  Koshinaka goes ass attack happy on Ohara.  Ohara kicks out of a powerbomb.  Koshinaka runs the ropes
and gets hit from behind by Goto.  The Dogs screw up a double team spot, but Ohara hits two low kick and the the chokeslam for the win.

Brian Johnson/Kensuke Sasaki v. Yuji Nagata/Takayuki Iizuka :  This starts out with Nagata controlling Sasaki with a Nagata lock and daring Johnson to make the save.  Sasaki gets the tag and brings in Johnson, Nagata kicks at him, but Johnston catches his leg and punches him right in the face.  Nagata is  able to tag to Iizuka.  Brian takes over on him and goes for the cross armbreaker, but Iizuka rope saves.  Iizuka catches a Johnston knee and hits an exploder suplex.  Johnston tags Sasaki who gets an exploder and a blizzard suplex for two.  Nagata tagged back in Nagata hits a Northern Lights suplex for two. He goes for another and Sasaki knees out of it and hits a powerslam.  Sasaki takes over, hits his corner whip/rebound face crusher spot.  He even busts out his old ipponzei spot.  Sasaki does his single leg powerbomb spot, but when he does it, he leaves his arm open for Nagata to attempt a triangle scissors/cross arm breaker move.  Sasaki escapes but Nagata pounds him with kicks until Sasaki drops him with a chop.  Nagata tries to press his advantage but runs into a lariat.  Sasaki slaps on Strangle Hold Beta and gets the tap out.

Mutoh/Kojima/Tenzan v. Chono/NWO Sting/Frye :  At the start, the NWO team is getting heat on Chono.   Chono takes elbow drops from Mutoh and Kojima and a headbutt from Tenzan.  Kojima gets in his somersault senton and tags to Tenzan.  Chono drops Tenzan with a headbutt and makes the tag.  Team 2000 keeps blowing double teams as they do the "You hold 'em, I'll hit 'em spot" with Chono hitting Frye with the Yakuza kick and Frye dropping Chono with a punch.  Mutoh ends up in with Sting.  Sting misses the stinger splash, Mutoh hits the handspring elbow/face crusher, a low drop kick and slaps on the figure four.  While in the hold, Frye runs in and mount punches Mutoh, but Tenzan diving headbutts Sting while he's still in the hold.  Kojima hits his lariat trifecta, then his corner forearm into the top rope elbow.  Everyone runs in and the NWO team is tossed out.  Kojima fights out of a triple team attempt, but he's still outnumbered and Chono is able to take him down and slap on the STF.  Sting and Frye cut off Mutoh and Tenzan from makin the save.  The crowd is hot for Kojima, chanting his name and he holds out for
quite a bit, but eventually taps out.  Chono takes the mic and says some stuff and says "Start the music".  On comes "Wild Thing" and out comes  Onita, smoking a cigarette... and on a school night no less!  I think Chono calls Onita "Mr. Puroresu".  Onita does a speech and the crowd seems pretty hot for it.  Team 2000 has a new member.  Everyone leaves, but Onita sticks around and takes the mic once again, prompting the ring to be pelted with drinks.  Onita goes through about 4 cigarettes in the course of this angle.

Top of the Super J :
Shijiro Otani v. Minoru Tanaka :  Joined in progress, Tanaka and Ontani are mixing it up by slapping leg bars on each other and countering out of it.  Tanaka rope saves and rolls out to the floor, Otani holds the ropes open for him, but Tanaka doesn't take it.  Tanaka comes in and Otani jumps him and roughs him up in the corner with the foot scrapes.  Otani goes for an extra one, ducks a palm strike but eats a flying kick.  Tanaka tries to suplex him to the floor, but Otani lands on the apron and slaps on a sleeper, Tanaka fights out and kicks him in the head a few times, but Otani walks away from Tanaka's pescado attempt.  Otani whips him into the railing and throws him back in.  Otani's springboard drop kick misses and Tanaka hits the dragon suplex for two.  He goes for the cross armbreaker, but Otani counters into a kneebar.  The crowd, which has been pretty hot all night, chants "Mi-no-ru" as Tanaka rope saves.  Tanaka hits a corner whip but runs into a low drop kick by Otani who goes right back to work witht he kneebar.  Tanaka hits a drop kick off the ropes, gets a two count and then slaps on the cross armbreaker immediately, but Otani breaks free.  Otani escapes a german suplex attempt and hits a release dragon suplex of his own.  Spring drop kick and a Lyger bomb get him two.  Otani bitches to Tiger Hattori about the count as Tanaka plays dead.  Otani moves in for a dragon suplex, Tanaka hits him with a flying armbreaker takedown, which Otani rope saves out of.  They slap each other a bit, we go through some reversals for suplexes, but Tanaka hits the lightning fast takedown into the cross armbreaker and this time Otani taps.  The crowd goes wild as Tanaka gets the win.  So far, two really good and contrasting matches from Otani in this year's Top of the Super J.  Maybe New Japan Jr's aren't totally doomed.

Koji Kanemoto v. Jushin Lyger :  Joined in progress, Koji is taken out to the floor by Lyger and gets hit with a pescado.  Lyger whips him into the railing and brainbusters him out on the floor.  Koji gets up on the apron, Lyger hits him with a palm strike and Koji no sells and dares him to hit some more.  Apparently, the brainbuster made him think he was Takaiwa  as he fights his way back into the ring.  Koji ducks a Lyger palm strike, takes Lyger down with a leg trip into a  standing ankle lock which Lyger struggles out of.  Koji sets up for the moonsault, but lands on his feet when Lyger rolls away.  Lyger hits a Lygerbomb for two.  Koji counters an irish whip and hits the overhead belly to belly and goes back to work on Lyger's ankle, including a few bites on the foot while he's got the hold on.  Lyger reverses a corner whip and hits the corner palm strike.  Lyger hits a brainbuster and then follows it with a running Lygerbomb for two.  They both headbutt each other from their hands and knees, Lyger gets the advantage and goes for a diving headbutt that misses.  Koji hits a kick combo and then hits the moonsault for two.  Koji goes right to work on the leg again with a sort of half crab/ankle lock type move which Lyger eventually rope saves out of.  Koji slaps Lyger around some and goes up for the moonsault again.  Lyger pops up, catches him up top and throws him with a release german off the top that flips Koji face down into the ring.  Lyger slaps on a leg lock on Kanemoto who srugges his way to the ropes, but eventually taps.  Well,
the top rope german was cool.  Koji's selling prevented this from being totally kick ass, but it wasn't horrible.

%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^  IWA DUEL OF THE WILDS COMM TAPE (1/8/95, Honjyo)
(PETE STEIN!)
At Dean's request I've gone back to sailing the seas of sleaze this week, coming to you with the show featuring the match that bestselling author Mick Foley described so vividly in his book.  Apparently the guy who sent me this tape ran it through chicken soup a couple of times befofe sending it to me, but WTF...

CYNTHIA MORENO vs. ???:  You KNOW someone's obscure when *I* can't even figure out what their name is.  ;)  Apparently Cynthia soaked Mr. Asano for a deal where she gets paid by the minute as opposed to by the match, so she takes her sweet time putting her greenhorn opponent away.  Cynthia hits a missile dropkick for the pin; your's truly leans on the FF button for the match.

AGUILA NEGRA vs. DAISUKE TAUE:  I'm guessing Aguila is from Panama or the Dominican Republic, because no self-respecting Mexican would opt to save his body and look like a total puss when the alternative would be to kill yourself and get over like a GOD with the Japanese fans in the process.  How lame is he?  This is the first time I've ever heard a crowd BOO a wrestler for faking the dive through the ropes.  The Kageki boys laugh at this nerd.  Aguila hits a splash for the pin and
never darkens my VCR again.

ZIRAIYA vs. YOSHIHIRO TAJIRI:  This would be a REALLY cool match today... back in 1995 it wasn't.  Nope, not at all.

GRAN APACHE vs. TAKASHI OKANO:  FINALLY, someone who remembered to bring the goods with him... AAA machine Apache whistles for Aguila's attention and totally schools him by babying the future Shadow Winger through a fine little match.  Nothing is out-of-this-world or truly death-intensive, but Apache is rock-solid and gets the crowd involved for the first time all night.  Okano with a comical chokeslam followed with a frog splash for the pin.

SCRAMBLE BUNKHOUSE DEATH MATCH- TEXAS HANGMEN vs. HIROSHI ONO/SHOJI
NAKAMAKI:  Ono and Nakamaki sell and juice and juice and sell, <insert beefy, mean American here> accidentally hits <insert beefy, mean American's beefy, mean American partner here>, Ono hits a facebuster onto the ladder and the Japanese team win.  WOTTA FORMULA!

TRACY SMOTHERS vs. NOBUTAKA ARAYA:  Tracy wastes no time bringing the Smokey Mountain right to Araya with hiptosses, headlock work and the dreaded ROPE-ASSISTED ABDOMINAL STRETCH OF INHUMAN AGONY.  Araya comes back with lariats but Tracy comes back with his enzuigiri and hits the Jaw-Jacker for a near-fall.  He gets 2 with a powerbomb but Araya rolls through on the second try for a near-fall.  Araya hits a German suplex but blows the bridge, so he comes back with a powerbomb of his own, slams Tracy and hits the moonsault for the pin.  Reverse the roles, add Bob Caudle on play-by-play and PRESTO!  You've got your Freedom Hall main event for the Bluegrass Brawl.

NO ROPE BARBED-WIRE SCRAMBLE BUNKHOUSE DEATH MATCH- CACTUS JACK vs.
TERRY FUNK:  Pre-match is a riot as Jack talks about how Funk can't take his teeth or his ear, and can't take Jack's heart because it's too big for him to carry.   Danger is the love of my life!"  He then CUTS A PROMO on Onita wanting to retire rather  than ruin his own legend at Jack's expense.  Funk has a couple of laughs hiding behind Victor Quinones while Jack goes on a rampage tossing chairs around in- ring, then seizes the advantage at the bell by tossing a chair of his own at Jack while he's busy kibitzing with the throng of almost 200 people.  After a couple of teases the festivities immediately move to the floor where Jack chairs Funk and chokes him out with the wire.  Funk comes back in-ring and goes for the spinning toehold but Jack hits him with an international object du jour and works him over on the wire.  Jack heads out, comes back with the soon-to-be infamous flaming chair and hits Terry with it on the floor.  He sets it down (read the book to see why this was an IMMENSELY stupid thing to do), but Funk takes over and literally toasts Jack's shoulder by giving him a hiptoss onto the chair.  Jack gets a near-fall after hitting Funk with the chair again, but Funk reverses a suplex and drapes Jack onto
the wire.  Funk whips Jack to the wire; Jack attempts to hang himself in the wire but it doesn't hold and he wipes out on the floor.  Funk whips Jack into a table and there's this creepy moment where the ref is whispering "You all right?" to Jack, his hands leaking blood from the botched hangman as he crawls around looking for Funk.  His pleas are soon answered as Funk heads from the back with a flaming branding iron and plants it directly on Jack's stomach.  Jack gets a ton of near-falls until he goes for what looks like a reverse atomic drop, which Funk reverses into a DDT for a flat pin at about the 20-minute mark.  Post-match is morbidly funny as Jack and Funk crawl towards each other and tease a happy ending, only for Jack to turn on him and hit a piledriver on the floor.

Waitaminut... this show was taped in 1987?  ;)

Masatomo Iba VS. Masahiko Toyofuku: I'm guessing these two are rookies and I'm also guessing that they have wild delusions of grandeur already as they try to go broadway UWFi style and- Hell- I could think of crappier things to shoot for in this day and age, I guess.  These two aren't bad at feigning a shoot- but when you've seen a big heap of BattlARTS, you kinda hate all worked shoot crap because what's the point?  Head to Pancrase and make honest men of yourself or learn to run the ropes and punch up your stylings to an adequate pro-style medium if you wanna be a MAN in my book.  Eight minutes of some stuff on the ground.  Nobody shakes anybody's teeth loose or anything, but it doesn't make you feel like they robbed you of a few minutes of your life or anything.  Oh yeah.

Hiromi Yagi Vs. Megumi Yabushita:  HI!  I'm a pig.  Yagi is SOOOOOOO hot! WOO-HOO! Okay, now that we've gotten past that phase of the ANALYSIS! and we've all put on our frowny thinking faces,  I'm gonna let loose with the reviewing of the wrestling! ALLRIGHT!  (TAKE TWO) Yagi is this AMAZINGLY HOT former JWP gal that retired and came back.  When I first read the match list I FREAKED OUT AND PARTIED because I thought it was Yagi vs YOSHIDA!  Yoshida was this boring wrestler in AJW who went freelance and became this MANCRUSHINGLY HOT MINKY VIXEN DELUXE in ARSION- as she shed her stupid Kennedy-Era Pillbox hat and started sporting this Spider outfit that made all men-  real men who cannot fight their pathetic urges to think of a life they would lead if everything in the past had gone differently and they could end up in Japan dating hot Joshi Puroresu underrated mat technicians- deeply finally believe that there is a God and that this  God can produce truly comely forms that also can totally rip the ligaments off the shoulder bone like a normal wrestling fan would tear up a spicy chicken wing at Popeye's.  That match would have been great, just because both have really found their niche outside of their initial promotions as free-wheeling shootarific wild women.  Then I reread and it said "Yabushita" so actually, this was STILL a reason to be stoked, though not quite as much as the reason originally thought.  Yabushita is the larger- and slightly lesser- of the Judo Girls in J'd.  Yabushita is a fine young worker- though she never achieved level of development that Sakie  achieved- what with Sakie immersing herself in the stylings of Fukuoka (who was incredibly, amazingly, heart-stoppingly hot) to augment her fun, fun Judo stuff.  Speaking of Judo, Yabushita uses the Power Of Judo to get the early advantage and they then take turns getting each other in the Camel Clutch and making funny faces to the delight of the baffled Kegeki crowd.  Yabushita looks great in this match actually, as she uses lowgrade highflying and JUDO! to keep the elder Yagi off balance.  Yagi is all about the cool trend of using a LUCHA CONDUIT to get to the EFFED-UP SUBMISSION.  They never get to a point where either has any kind of advantage until they run around outside the ring and Yagi goes shoulder first into the wall- looking all adorable as she sells the arm like an Occidental Audrey Hepburn.  Yagi recovers and starts working on Yabushita's leg and it kinda goes on like that till the bell rings.  HEY! BROADWAY!  Sure, why not.  Yagi rules the world so anything is okay.  I must reexamine Yabushita's progress now to see if she is secretly realy good or if Yagi is some kind of Joshi Puroresu SUPERGODDESS.

Hiroyoshi Kotsubo VS. Keiichi Kawano: Kotsubo is as indie as a Tom brandi gimmicks table-  having plied his Cueball Carmicheal-esque "I own the ring"ness of inexplicable indie bookings all over the lower realms of the big sewer called Japan Indie World.  Kawano is the Fourth best guy from Bukoh Dojo- and let the fact that Masaaki Mochizuki was the only thing to crawl out of Bukoh Dojo to ever amount to anything substantial AND the fact that the second best Bukoh Boy- Taru- is quite deeply mediocre but is so amazingly head and shoulders above everyone else below him from Bukoh Dojo- key you in to the fact that Kawano will have you wishing for the smooth and credible shoot-style grandeur of Okamura (who sucks).  This was one of those matches that if it were a US indie, it would have been two fat guys giving each other a bunch of clotheslines.  The equivalent of that match in the festeringly fabulous Japan Indie World is THIS: two sloppy shootstyle guys who work real loose and sell cross-armbreakers for three minutes.  This actually had good parts, but the sloppiness and lack of true will and intent to dish out or accept a man-sized beating made this quite the match you don't want to ever see.  Kotsubo with a half-crab, a semi-mullet, and a singlet that Mike Enos said was too boring.  One is supposing that they had to put Kawano in this to get Mochizuki.

Masakazu Fukuda VS. Daiyu Kawauchi: This sucked.  I was stoked about seeing and reveiwing non-New Japan Super J Fukuda and they have him in a rookie Discipline and Instruction match were Fukuda no-sells everything by the rookie and then the rookie shows his fighting spirit and shit and it sucks and I hate it.

Basara / Tadahiro Fujisaki VS. Masaaki Mochizuki / Guerrero Diablo:  Basara has the mask with the old man beard and mustache and Fujisaki has this temporary rhinoceros mask that he should wear- but he doesn't.  And Basara isn't very good.  Guerrero Diablo has a really cool mask and he isn't very good either.  This match wasn't horrendous or anything and it was kinda competent at all times- funny at other times because it becomes such a Bad-Sections-Of- ECWish clusterfuck with nobody really knowing what was going on and the unforgiving camera and editing room keeping it all in.  Fujisaki isn't afraid to take a pint-size ass-kicking from Mochizuki and that's fun.  Guerrero Diablo fucks up a LigerBomb and twists Basara's neck into an impossible direction- so you have the mystery of if Basara will ever move again (he does!).  The outside Brawling by everyone involved is hilariously inept, but the actual wrestling supplements the goodness to make the badness funny as opposed to irritating.  The motherfucking BOSSNESS of Basara's mask gets it over the hump to the realm of a Match You Don't Want To See But You Wouldn't Vomit Directly At The Ground If You Saw It.

Shinobi / Azteca VS. Mokoto Saito / Cosmic Soldier: Cosmic Soldier is wearing Cosmically Tiny Pants.  That and the fact that they blow a lot of spots early on and Vampire Boy Saito doesn't kick the hell out of anyone is about all that is memorable about this match.

I dunno.  Get this tape if you are a Yagi completist or the rare Mochizuki completist.  Otherwise, keep a-rollin'.

+++++++++++++++++ SHADOW WX vs RYUJI YAMAKAWA- BIG JAPAN- 5/30/1999- (DEAN RASMUSSEN) : Hey, we've done all the other Yamakawa death matches from the middle of the year, why not this one?  This is the match before the match that Schneider reviewed in DVDVR #108 and- while this is better than that match, it still pretty much sucks because HEY! Shadow WX isn't... like... GOOD or anything.  The match itself involves a lot of wandering around and involves a big truck, a flame-thrower, a casket and a lot of fire- and as one who watches WAAAAY too many death matches and as someone who has seen enough to know:  the more stupid gimmicks, the less of a chance for your death match to be worth a shit, and this one almost falls into the worthless category.  They spend way too much time setting up spots that just don't look that cool or horrifying.  The best parts are when theyjust go into the crownd and beat the shit out of each other with chairs, but there is a paltry amount of that, but more endless wandering than you'll ever want to see.  The ending kinda saves it as Shadow WX and Yamakawa figure out that the match has sucked major ass and decide to bump enough to facilitate a geyser flying out of Yamakawa's head- after WX powerbombs him into a board of Flourescent lights shredding Yamakawa's back into one of those hideous sites that you become numb to at this point in the game.  WX pulls his substantial weight by taking two bumps into the burning barbed wire, going into the wire off the apron and taking the two hurtiest spills I've ever seen him take in his whole mediocre career.  Shadow pusses out on the facebuster, putting his knees up because.. shit I dunno.  He went facefirst into fire and barbed-wire but he can't land straight on his stomach to get the finish over?  Okay, maybe this did just suck.  Yamakawa is always compelling and will go the extra mile for your pathetic blood-lusting pleasure, but he's got nothing to work with here and the set up isn't helping him any either as it plays into the hand of stinkiness that makes up the usual shitty Big Japan death match.  And there was no great weirdo, homoerotic speech on top of the Truck by Yamakawa to make it great in a weird way.  Yeah, this sucked.

Jyushin Lyger v. Hayabusa :  Super J Cup '94- (REV RAY DUFFY) :  I remember this being one ofmy favorite matches from the J Cup.  Ezaki wasn't a total scarred up freak and hadn't had his ass exploded yet.  Hayabusa jumps right at the bell and
knocks Lyger to the floor and hits a somersault dive to the floor in his ring jacket.  He controls early with some wear down holds until he misses a knee drop and Lyger takes over and goes right after his leg with a low drop kick and a figure  four.  Lyger hits his palm thrust flurry and then a powerbomb for two before going for an indian death lock.  Lyger follows it with a lariat and an leg lock which Hayabusa kicks out of, but Lyger keeps the pressure on with a back suplex, a corner koppou kick and a superplex off the top rope.  Busa gets on the offense with a jumping back kick and a drop kick.  He hits a leg lariat and a rolling senton for two.  He follows it up with a top rope leg lariat for another two. A moonsault gets him another two.  Hayabusa tries to do Lyger's swinging frankensteiner from the top, but it doesn't connect that well.  He then sets up Lyger for his own signature move, as I believe for the first time ever, someone tries to use the Shooting Star Press against him.  There's only one problem... he plants him to close to the corner and over shoots him and pretty much kills himself. Lyger follows it up with a Lygerbomb for two.  Lyger goes for a superplex, but Haybusa fights him off.  He goes for another diving rana only to have Lyger catch him and powerbomb the fudge out of him.  Lyger picks up the corpse of Hayabusa and plants him with a fishermanbuster for the winner.  Look on as a young Masato Tanaka and Koji Nakagawa act as seconds help Hayabusa to the back.  It was a fun little match.  Hayabusa would develop into a much better wrestler in the future, but it was neat to see this match up.  Lyger kills him pretty good and Hayabusa was going for things that were over his head at this point in his career, but it was neat to see him go for some of Lyger's old signature moves.

Jyushin Lyger vs. The Cheetah Kid- (PHIL RIPPA!): Another of those hidden matches that came from Dean via Rob Vincent (I think). Itﾕs the hoodie under A HOOD. The Cheetah Kid is Flyboy Rocco Rock before he got saddled with the albatrosses of ECW, Johnny Grunge and the buffet table. On a side note, I donﾕt know if the mask that Rocco is wearing is the permanent mask or not but it is boarding on atrocious. (As a rule, green and brown mixed together look a lot like shit.) Entertaining match but nothing spectacular. Liger dumbs everything down as not to completely baffle Cheetah. Liger, in fact, gets downright Van Damian as he adds fruity emblishments to a bunch of moves (Hey, I have a GREAT idea. Iﾕll do 2 cartwheels and a somersault and that will make this leg drop look REALLY credible) and also does the standing moonsault. Kid stays on the mat, only blows one spot and even does a crazy out of control plancha that saw both guys catching more ring barrier than anything. Probably about 10 minutes in length and fun to watch.

Jyushin Thunder Lyger vs Franz Schumann- 12/19/92 - CWA Euro-Catch Festival- Bremen, Germany- (DEAN RASMUSSEN):  Franz Shumann does the same match by numbers every time, according to one of my favorite Irish Ass-kickers as related to the recently departed and best referee that ever lived. I'm guessing that match changes when said ass-kicker decides to beat the living breathing bejesus out of him in an Irish Streetfight in Austria- a match that goes down in my book as one of the best matches I've ever seen.  One wonders how the great JAPANESE Ass-kicker Keichi Yamada- donning the child-friendly Lyger Gimmick- fares in a similar situation.  Would he allow Shumann into his hackneyed comfort zone?  Would Yamada stretch and pummel the maligned German?  Would it be good? Would it suck?  This was 1992 and I'm guessing this was part of the deal to get Tenzan and Kanemoto into CWA to have them trained in the Ways Of The Snakepit and to show them that sometimes ya gotta wrestle in front of two hundred and seventeen people.  Either way, this is a GREAT fricking match.  They use the round system in the world of the Rhein Fire, Frankfurt Galaxy and Berlin Thunder and here they use it to the utmost.  The first three rounds are kind of a way to showcase what the basis of the match will be- as the first round is Lyger doing his TigerMask Sayama impersonation with all the flippy, jumpy arm stuff and Schumann feigning KIDness.  The second round takes it to the mat Euro-style and stays there.  The third round was all dropkicks and headscissors.  Thus the first three rounds equals a high-quality CMLL first caida.  From there, you get into the meat of the match- which is a beautiful mishmash of submissions, highflying and suplexes- all perfectly in place and perfectly sold.  The best thing about the match is that they utilize an eight count after lariats and big suplexes so the crowd pops for the moves and then you can sell it for an eight count as opposed to kicking out at two- so you get that whole cool-ass BattlARTS extended selling that adds big wads of depth to the match.  The other advantage to this match is that since there are three minute rounds, they can work for the submission and by the time you PROCURE it the round is over, thus they have all these little stories inside stories until the later rounds where they just start trying to kill each other with 80's suplexs- your Vertical, Your Brainbuster, Your Running Belly-to-Belly, the good stuff of all the old stuff.  They go all Carny with the submissions after the initial wave of big finishers- as the un-CRASH TV-affected-thus-not-moronocized German Crowd pops big for a standing half-crab/armbar combo and pop big when Lyger escapes and counters with the same hold.  They build up to the Liger two-handed Tope Con Hilo so that it has- you know- impact and stuff.  Schumann counters with Lariat from the apron to the floor after another sufficient set-up to give the move- you know- IMPACT and stuff.  As they get back into the finishing segments of the match, the eight count becomes more important to the match as Shumann survives the Diving Headbutt at eight and then Lyger survives the Superplex at eight.  The finish is a just regular moonsault by Lyger and it rocks like a hurricane.  God knows I love a toprope Fisherman Buster as much as the next guy, but it was good to know that Lyger was in matches that were basically Mid-Atlantic in it's straight psychology but with a few big highspots thrown in.  I'm just trying to figure out why he doesn't show this match to his boys and try to pound into their heads that SELLING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF WRESTLING.  The selling in this match is what got it over and what got the crowd to pop like freaks.  I'm guessing these kind of matches are what makes Lyger the greatest and what makes Takaiwa a bloated sack of shit.