Mansoor capturing the zeitgeist in order to get heel heat (and thankfully, immediate comeuppance for his transgressions).

Happy Halloween from the most theatrical of the Red Bull Army, Victor Zangiev (Honestly, this has nothing to do with Halloween except for that I bet Zangiev would have thrown a fun Halloween Party).

I get a kick out of Shades-Wearing 1989 Pillman coming out with Flag-Carrying Vader in New Japan.

Finish to a lost Super Strong Machine/George Takano vs Shiro Koshinaka/Tatsutoshi Goto tag match from April 1989. Takano was throwing those spin wheel kicks like a maniac after Maeda left the promotion but this was a particularly nasty one.

Bam Bam Bigelow and Riki Choshu were absolutely made for one another.

I know this is a blurry handheld but it's a really cool lost move by Kuniaki Kobayashi on Akira Nogami from 1989. I love the approach of this. Kobayashi was really dynamic and isn't remember enough these days.

The bravest babyface in pro wrestling today. In a world where everyone's wanted to be Stone Cold for decades, where cool faces are as big a problem as cool heels, he's willing to say "Stand up. Cheer. I can't do this alone. I need you. You matter. This matters." And so it does.

If you want to get into lucha trios, here's the most important thing you need to know. Instead of hot tags, comebacks stem on turns of fate. Here you can see a hope spot (Mistico breaking free to do a move) and the eventual comeback set up by rudo hubris.

The unfortunate finish to Kazuo Yamazaki v Akira Maeda from April 1989. Yamazaki's finally leveled up to the point where he can dodge Maeda's Spin Wheel Kick and jam his capture suplex counter with a headbutt, but in doing so, he opens himself up huge.

Honestly, this is a relatively early example of this sort of "no consequence" fighting spirit strike exchange. You don't see it quite like this earlier (this is 89). And I can just imagine Lou Thesz thinking to himself "What are these idiots doing?"

This feels like the most iconic wrestling in the world to me. Huge stakes (semis of a one-night tournament for the IWGP title). Huge crowd. The unclean impact, the stagger sell, the crumble in the ropes, Vader raising his arm, and then Fujinami just barely hanging on and getting him over.

George Takano and Tatsutoshi Goto were having a perfectly gentlemanly tag match in 1989 when this broke out.

4/24/89. Choshu and Hashimoto meet in the first round of a one night tournament. Hash was still the underdog upstart. Believe it or not, things got chippy.

Inoki fought Soviet Judo Olympic Champion Shota Chochishvili in a different styles fight on the April 1989 Dome show. Inoki held his own for the first round or so, but when Chochishvili shifted gears, he really shifted gears.

Day 2 of D3AN reviews. Matthews vs Starkz. Character-driven, hard-hitting, full of contrast and comeuppance. (And the most satisfying lariat of the year)

segundacaida.blogspot.com/2025/09/d3an...

Here's the start of that Inoki vs Koshinaka match. You'd think this would turn the fans and get them more behind Koshinaka because there was both a weight class and a hierarchy difference and Koshinaka didn't do anything to deserve this but dare face Inoki, but nope. They loved him all the more.

This Inoki Missile Dropkick. My god.