Matches listed in chronological order. This is the COMPLETE listing of hosted matches. Revamped 5/16/08!

Wish list (matches that need to be capped/uploaded; updated 9/5/08).

Hashimoto vs Tenryu, NJ 2/17/94. Hashimoto comes in as champ, having progressed since their first to battles. However, Tenryu has an even more impressive accomplishment: a pin on Inoki at the 1/4/94 Tokyo Dome show, which wound up being Inoki's last loss. Can Hashimoto defend the honor of his company, or will Tenryu at long last triumph over Shin Nihon?

Hase vs Fuyuki, WAR 9/12/93, JIP. Not sure why they clipped it; the tape isn't that long. To add to their first match, Hase comes in with a very obvious vulnerability.

Tenryu vs Hashimoto, NJ 8/8/93. It took several viewings before I was sold on this match. These are not the most graceful athletes on God's green earth, and at times they overreach what their respective paunches will allow. However there's enough effort, action and drama to make this worthwhile. I see that now. Oh how wrong I was... so wrong...

Fujinami & Liger vs Tenryu & Kitahara, NJ 8/3/93. Oh mannnn. Liger: babyface of babyfaces! Tenryu: is Tenryu! Kitahara: makes no pretense of being anything but a complete and utter tool! Sumo Hall: red hot! You: are going to download this match!

Tenryu vs Hashimoto, WAR 6/17/93. Believe it: this match revolves around limb selling and psychology rather than just stiffness, and is good. Well the "it's good part" is pretty much sealed by the identity of the participants.

Hase vs Fuyuki, WAR 6/17/93. Battle of '80s juniors turned heavyweights. What Fuyuki lost in athletic ability from the '80s, he gained in making everyone hate him. Hase has FULL SUPPORT on enemy soil, and Fuyuki is able to hang with him through a good finishing run.

Choshu & Hashimoto vs Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa, WAR 4/2/93. Hm, let's see: replace 1993 Fujinami with 1993 Hashimoto in a match that was already good to begin with. That's the kind of math I can get behind. Ishikawa REFUSED to be a loss post in his last big tag; can he tempt fate twice? More importantly, TEN-R-YU.

Liger & Samurai vs Ultimo & Orihara, WAR 4/2/93. Opening match for WAR's first big show. Lots of heat, especially because there's a lot of New Japan fans in the stands. Liger is off-the-charts, Orihara is TOO athletic for his own good, cheapshots, good pace, YES you want in on this.

New Japan vs WAR matches, New Japan 3/23/93. Two matches. First, Hashimoto vs Fuyuki, with Fuyuki in full-on heel mode such that YOU join the crowd in wanting Hash to beat the snot out of him. Second, Choshu & Fujinami vs Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa, in which Ishikawa is NOT the guy who drops the fall. It's a combination of two singles matches from the January 4th Tokyo Dome show, which the teams split.

Liger vs Sano, IWGP junior title, New Japan 8/10/89. Upgrade.

Sano vs Liger, IWGP junior title, New Japan 9/20/89. Sadly it isn't complete. Thankfully it's completely good, and a vital set-up to the finalie of their feud.

Choshu, Kengo Kimura & Liger vs Vader, Manny Fernandez & Buzz Sawyer, New Japan 8/3/89. Fast and fun. Not only does Liger get his music played during the entrance, but he manages not to get squished by Vader. Sawyer also brings the goods.

George Takano & Super Strong Machine vs Choshu & Iizuka, tag titles, New Japan 7/13/89. Welcome to 90s-style wrestling! After watching over 50 hours of '80s New Japan, this stuck out like a sore thumb. I can't completely place a finger on why that is, but stuff like Iizuka as the spunky underdog trying to hang in a big match, the way it's laid out, and the presence of a clean and SATISFYING finish all add up to a nifty bit o' tag wrestling.

Koshinaka vs Yamada, IWGP junior title, New Japan 12/9/88. Upgrade.

Liger vs Sano, IWGP junior title, New Japan 7/13/89. Upgrade.

Vader vs Choshu, New Japan 6/27/89. Two tough dudes who aren't afraid of being violent go at it, so they get... violent. Short and to the point.

Hashimoto vs Zangiev, IWGP title tournament round 2, New Japan 4/24/89. For a dude with hardly any pro wrestling experience/training, Zangiev is darn good. He throws a hell of a suplex.

Vader vs Hashimoto, IWGP title tournament finals, New Japan 4/24/89. Hard-hitting AND smart, playing off Vader vs Fujinami a bit. Vader says he got legit hurt by Hash in this, but it's hard to see where.

Choshu vs Hashimoto, IWGP title tournament round 1, New Japan 4/24/89. A very short and VERY heated start to their rivalry. This was Hashimoto's first big singles match, and at the first-ever Tokyo Dome show, so he's got everything to gain and nothing to lose. A bad combination for Choshu.

Fujinami vs Vader, IWGP title tournament round 2, New Japan 4/24/89. Fujinami had a good title reign going, but dropped the belt in order to have a big tournament at the Tokyo Dome. A very risky gambit, especially when you have to go through Vader just to reach the finals. As in '88 they mesh very well.

Choshu & Masa Saito vs George Takano & Super Strong Machine, tag titles, New Japan 3/16/89, JIP. I clipped a rather slow opening portion out; what remains is really good. The start of a hot streak for George, and one of many great Saito performances.

Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura vs El Bello Greco & Sergio El Hermoso, New Japan 2/3/89. Quite the comedy match.

Sano & Matsuda vs El Bello Greco & Sergio El Hermoso, New Japan 1/6/89. Matsuda went on to become El Samurai. Sano went on to become Sano, but with a different first name and a spare tire. They tangle with the exoticos in a mix of fun spots and comedy.

Murdoch, Bob Orton & Scott Hall vs Inoki, Choshu & Hoshino, elimination match, New Japan 11/17/88. Best match from a very unique round-robin tournament, where eliminations include over-the-top as with the 5-vs-5 elimination matches. Dick & Bob make a good team, Hoshino is still a great underdog in 1988, and when you combine those two things to get Murdoch vs Hoshino content... oh yeah. Also featuring Scott Hall as "The Beav".

Fujinami, Fujiwara, Kengo Kimura, Koshinaka & Yamada vs Choshu, Masa Saito, Super Strong Machine, Kuniaki Kobayashi & Hiro Saito, elimination match, New Japan 9/12/88. My pick for best New Japan match of the decade. One major piece of backstory is that in a past elimination match, Fujinami was left alone with Inoki and Masa Saito, and Saito toyed with Fujinami rather than just beat him. The Fujinami vs Saito part is the big highlight, but the match is really strong from start to finish. The finish itself is a neat in that it's contrary to the way 'wrestling morality' normally works. This match was the top discovery of the DVDVR New Japan '80s vote and it's one I think any puro fan (if not wrestling fan) could enjoy.

Owen vs Yamada; winner vs Koshinaka, IWGP junior title, New Japan June 1988. Two JIP matches that have quite the hot finishes.

Fujinami vs Vader, IWGP title, New Japan 6/26/88. Vader: kickin' butt! Vader: doing focused body-part work that's enjoyable?! Why yes, yes he does. He's a threat just doing whatever he wants, but add in some strategy and the champ will be lucky to survive.

Fujinami vs Choshu, IWGP title, New Japan 5/27/88. Fujinami's first ever title defense. Interesting to see how many things had changed- and how many hadn't- compared to their first rivalry early in the decade.

Maeda vs Masa Saito, New Japan 5/18/87. Maeda bleeds a lot. A whole lot. No no, you don't seem to understand: a WHOLE lot.

Maeda/Choshu shoot incident, New Japan 11/19/87. This is part of a handheld version of the 6-man tag where Maeda shoot kicks Choshu in the face, breaking Choshu's orbital bone. Maeda was eventually tossed from New Japan, which led to the second UWF, which spawned UWFi, RINGS and PWFG. So... this is pretty important stuff.

Puroresu Clip Collection 6. A mix of cool moves, hard bumps, and random other things that I've collected and capped over the years. Link fixed 7/4 10:51PM EST.

Maeda & Takada vs Fujiwara & Yamazaki, tag titles, New Japan 9/1/87. Not *quite* as good as the first meeting in May, but good in the same ways. If you liked that, get this. If you didn't see the May one yet, do so. If you didn't like the May one then I divorce thee. Or something.

Fujiwara vs Maeda, New Japan 8/29/87. Unique in that it's just a hard-camera shot without commentary. Match mostly relies on their respective striking strategies, though Fujiwara does get a lil' bit carny towards the end, much to my enjoyment. A good lead-in to the tag title bout a few days later.

Inoki, Sakaguchi, Fujiwara, Hoshino & Mutoh vs Fujinami, Choshu, Maeda, Kengo Kimura & Super Strong Machine, elimination match, New Japan 8/19/87. The unusual teams are a result of an 'old vs young' feud, though Mutoh stays loyal to Inoki. Liquid magma crowd heat, pacing that if anything starts off TOO fast, several great eliminations, and a good mix of stars and role-players. It all adds up to a heck of a battle.

Choshu vs Fujiwara, New Japan 6/9/87. Super-simple, super-heated, fast-paced, oh yeah this rocks.

Maeda & Fujiwara vs Fujinami & Kengo Kimura, Gauntlet match, New Japan 5/1/86. The last parts of a larger 5-on-5 NJ vs UWF bout that essentially resets with the final two men on each side. Fujiwara and Fujinami are off-the-charts here.

Ohtani vs Kuniyoshi Wada, Lock-Up 1/17/10. Retirement match for Wada. Who is Wada you ask? Um... he's a dude whose notable accomplishment is getting battered by Ohtani in his retirement match.

Nagata vs Ishii, Lock-Up 1/17/10. In 2006 these two hated and stiffed each other, which was nice, but Ishii didn't even last 10 minutes one-on-one. This time around he's got more big-league experience and is better able to go strike-for-strike.

Sekimoto & Sai vs Ohtani & Kakinuma, Zero-One 10/24/09. The debut of Kakinuma, who looks like a fine young prospect as he takes the traditional Japanese initiation.

Anjoh vs Norman Smiley, UWF 8/13/88. Little could I have imagined on my 7th birthday that I would later enjoy a match taking place on the other side of the planet, featuring a Japanese man and a British man doing lots of mat wrestling. At that point my tastes were more about DuckTales as opposed to drop-torholds. Fall under the spell of Black Magic.

Kanemura vs Namiguchi, Namiguchi retirement match, Zero-One 10/24/09. If Nami's going out, dammit he's going out with a FIGHT!

Ito, Kobayashi & Shadow WX vs Kasai, Numazawa & Takeda, deathmatch, Big Japan 5/28/10, JIP. Abby and Takeda go at it in a darn good finishing run.

AKIRA vs Yoshihashi, Super Juniors, NJ 5/30/10. A smart, focused match that results in a young lion looking really good. Plus a rib-crunching finish!

Sekimoto & Y. Sasaki vs T. Sasaki & Miyamoto, Big Japan 5/28/10. This matchup turned out to be quite good in 2008, and it's still good today. The Sasakis go at it, and Sekimoto nukes lil' Miyamoto a couple times.

Kenny Omega vs YOSHIHIKO, DDT 5/5/10. In the same vein as YOSHIHIKO's match with Ibushi.

Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs Dick Murdoch & Masked Superstar, IWGP tag title creation tournament, New Japan 11/29/85. Superstar is Bill Eadie, who was later Ax of Demolition. Opening minutes are slow, but then each team gets a turn working over the same part on both members of the other. Focused, quality technical work plus Murdoch punches is more than good enough for me, even with the Crappy '80s Finish™.

Cobra vs Don Arakawa, NWA & WWF junior titles, New Japan 8/1/85. Don Arakawa, who is both over-the-hill and a life-long undercarder, delivers the performance of a lifetime in front of a crowd that all but wills him to victory. He delivers a must-see move and some other really fun offense. And... a bad finish. *sigh*

Andre & Tony St. Clair vs Sakaguchi & Hoshino, New Japan 6/13/85. If you watched matches with Andre or Hoshino in them from before this, you know how much fun this match is. If you don't, download those, then this. Trust Ditch.

Choshu, Yatsu, Hamaguchi, Teranishi & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Inoki, Fujinami, Fujiwara, Kengo Kimura & Takada, gauntlet, New Japan 4/19/84. One of the all-time great crowds from Japan, and plenty of good action. Finalie is somewhat of a letdown but some of the sub-matches are stellar, including Yatsu vs Takada that was previously hosted here by itself, a reprise of Fujinami vs Teranishi, and some good in-match continuity. Part 1.

Choshu, Yatsu, Hamaguchi, Teranishi & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Inoki, Fujinami, Fujiwara, Kengo Kimura & Takada, gauntlet, New Japan 4/19/84. Part 2.

Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Takada, New Japan 3/9/84. Kobayashi represents Choshu's Army, while Takada is part of the overall babyface stable. Thus, they show some fire. Takada does gymnastic juniors spots! A foreign object is used! Nearfalls! Other things! And a bit of a letdown on the finish because "it's the 80s".

Takayama vs Shibata, NJ 3/12/04. Upgrade.

Spanky vs Alex Shelley, Zero-One 3/25/05. Upgrade.

Inoki, Fujiwara & Maeda vs Choshu, Yatsu & Hamaguchi, New Japan 2/9/84. Blood, intensity, and a terrible finish. It's the 80s!

Choshu vs Fujinami, WWF International title, New Japan 4/21/83. Choshu took the title from Fujinami earlier in the month after working on his legs and hitting a rather cheap lariat. Fujinami doesn't just want his belt back, he also looks to put a hurtin' on his rival. Good action, meaningful submission holds, drama down the stretch; there's a reason why these two became such big stars.

Tiger Mask & Hoshino vs Kuniaki Kobayashi & Hamada, New Japan 2/10/83. Kobayashi, whose obsession with beating the first two Tiger Masks defined his career, looks to do damage to the original. He's got a skilled assistant in Gran Hamada. Hoshino punches both of them directly in the face a bunch because HOSHINO IS THE MAN.

Andre vs Killer Khan, MSG League final, New Japan 4/1/82. This match is brilliant. I could talk about all the little touches you'd never expect, from what Andre yells at the ref to how Khan sticks with a gameplan, but I think straightforward praise is the way to go. This is quite possibly the smartest match from New Japan in the '80s. What it lacks in grace, it makes up for in smarts and making the absolute most out of simplistic offense.

Inoki, Fujinami & Tiger Mask vs Abdullah the Butcher, Dynamite Kid & Babyface, New Japan 1/8/82. This works because of the matchups. Abby versus Tiger Mask is all kinds of fun, Kid vs Tiger Mask is a known quantity, Babyface can go (as we learned in his match with Hamada), '80s Fujinami can go, and Inoki... well he isn't in much but it doesn't hurt when he is. Keep in mind that over the guardrail is a DQ, which effects any brawling (Abby) and suicide dives (everyone but Abby and Inoki).

Inoki & Fujinami vs Andre & Rene Goulet, tag league final, New Japan 12/10/81. Non-stop greatness when Andre is in, and there's a finish (!) which Goulet isn't on the wrong end of (!!!).

Fujinami vs Isamu Teranishi, New Japan 10/8/81. Hm, a match with stiff strikes an interpromotional hate. Odds I was going to like it: high. What puts the cherry on top is some swanky technical moves.

Andre vs Hansen, New Japan 9/23/81. Normally I try to come up with my own description of a match, but "real-life Godzilla battle" is too accurate not to use. The irresistable force versus the immovable object has never been so fully realized in a wrestling ring.

Fujinami & Tiger Mask vs Pete Roberts & Solitario, New Japan 9/4/81. Lots of 'weird' here, like Fujinami and Tiger Mask during the couple months before Fujinami became a heavyweight, and Brit-style Roberts tagging with a luchador. Fujinami and Roberts mesh really well.

Fujinami vs Tony Londos, WWF junior title, New Japan 9/19/80. Fujinami versus Europe, only this time it's faster.

Stan Lane vs George Takano, New Japan 7/24/81. Sweet Stan has all sorts of cool stuff up his sleeve.

Sekimoto vs Ibushi, DDT title, DDT 5/4/10, JIP. Sekimoto and Ibushi do that thing they do.

Backlund vs Hansen, New Japan 9/30/80. Backlund... duking it out? Hansen... trying to take it to the ground? A bizarro world match that's enjoyable in its unpredictability.

Inoki vs Hansen, NWF title, New Japan 9/11/80. They get chippy with one another, and Hansen does a remarkable job of mixing it up with his Irish whip moves.

Fujinami vs Tony Rocco, WWF junior title, New Japan 9/11/80. Rocco is Italian by birth but he brings the sweet, sweet British-style matwork.

Hansen vs Inoki, NWF title, New Japan 4/3/80. Hansen won the title by countout, but Inoki was counted out after eating a lariat so it was a good win. Hansen brings the stank-tastic offense, Inoki works his stuff in smartly, and the crowd laps it all up. And there's a real finish, albeit not one you'd expect.

Gran Hamada vs Babyface, New Japan 4/3/80. When one mentions revolutionary high-flying in the '80s, one is led to think about Dynamite Kid vs Tiger Mask. Well, here's something that predates them and is every bit as revolutionary *if not more so*. The only knock on this match ends up being the ref, and even then only at the end.

Fujinami & Hoshino vs Steve Keirn & Dynamite Kid, 2/3 falls, New Japan 1/18/80. Lots to enjoy here. Good action, good pacing, sparks fly, and the Skinner/Dynamite team meshes better than you'd expect.

Han vs Fujiwara, exhibition, RING 8/11/01. Yes, this needed to happen in the mid-90s rather than here. Yes, this needed to be a full match. And yet it's still HAN AND FUJIWARA DOING STUFF.

Sasaki vs Nagata, NJ 10/17/04, clipped. A bloody slugfest that tragically has never been shown in full outside their pass-protected website. Their 1/4/04 Tokyo Dome match is more famous, but I prefer this one despite the non-finish.

Puroresu Clip Collection 5. A mix of cool moves, hard bumps, and random other things that I've collected and capped over the years.

Nakamura vs Makabe, IWGP title, New Japan 5/3/10. Takes a little while to get going, but an unexpected development (and some high-impact moves) is enough to make this worthwhile. Oh and THE BEST VIDEO QUALITY OF ALL TIME.

Fujinami vs Ryuma Go, WWWF junior title, New Japan 10/2/79. Go gets his final shot at the title, and makes the most of it.

Andre the Giant vs ???, New Japan MSG League 6/1/79. It's supposed to be Andre vs Fujinami, but that doesn't happen and instead we get a bigger name opponent. Andre in his prime was a thing of beauty.

Fujinami vs Ryuma Go, WWWF junior title, New Japan 11/30/78. Good like the first one. Big finisher, but the way it ends the match is... unusual.

Fujinami vs Ryuma Go, WWWF junior title, New Japan 7/27/78. Ryuma Go recently passed away. He's mostly known for taking part in sleazy indies, generally against guys in monster costumes. Imagine my surprise when Dave Meltzer mentioned that early in his career he was a quality wrestler. So I decided to track down some of the matches, expecting it to be decent but nothing that special; we are talking about 30+ year old juniors wrestling. Imagine my even greater surprise that this is REALLY good stuff. Fujinami is the better athlete, but Go is no slouch and he brings a bunch of charisma to affair. Give it a try!

Ohtani & Takaiwa vs Wagner & Kashin, junior tag titles, New Japan 1/4/99. Wagner & Kashin bring a power/skill balance, giving them numerous paths to victory. Not sure how this match ended up so much better than Ohtani/Takaiwa vs Eddie/Jericho but there you go.

Sekimoto vs Takanashi, DDT title, DDT 4/4/10. Sekimoto is Mr. Indy. Takanashi is scrawny and third-tier within DDT. It's the size AND rank mismatch that make this such a good underdog story. That and some big ole headbutts at the end.

Tenryu & Tiger Mask (Misawa) vs Choshu & George Takano, NJ 2/10/90. Surface-of-the-sun level heat, tons of bombs and hate, weak '80s-style non-finish. Two out of three ain't bad, it's GREAT.

Jumbo & Yatsu vs Kengo Kimura & Kido, NJ 2/10/90. New Japan versus All Japan, one night only! CRAZY CRAZY HOT CROWD at Tokyo Dome. Ridiculous heat for everything.