Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka
9th February 1990
att. 7000
I woke this morning to find that in the comments beneath one of my very old posts was actual useful information rather than a link to a penis enlargement pills site. I quote the most pertinent part of Varun's reply, as it helps solve an age-old query that this blog set into the world.
Yes, his real name is McDuff/MacDuff Roesch. 'McDuff'/'MacDuff' is his middle name. His full legal name is Kenneth McDuff Roesch. He operates a construction firm in Florida, and he is the father of Mack Roesch, an obstacle runner and a former contestant on American Ninja Warrior.
Further research shows a tenuous link to wrestling, as Roesch Jr. has appeared on 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge. But isn't this great! It energises one enough to perhaps write a further entry into the annals of shoot-style greatness....
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| a local consulting the annals of shoot-style greatness |
Last time around, on With '90 1st, we saw Akira Maeda dethroned again as the top gun in UWF by hulking manshape Nobuhiko Takada. It was also, arguably, the best show of the entire UWF run. And now they're running Osaka on my 7th birthday. What a wellspring of positivity we commence on!
A wonderful training montage commences the show, intercut with shots of people buying merch. Yoshiaki Fujiwara, there, shadow-boxing in front of the big UWF sign. Akira Maeda is pumping iron as Takada spots him from a distance.
The customary parade takes place, with the entranceway incredibly slim
(probably on purpose) to give that excellent visual of wrestlers having
to cut their way to the ring through a sea of adoring arms. That said, a
camera catches Kazuo Yamazaki looking ghostly.
Takada cuts the top of the show promo and we're away at the races! What brand is that, Nobu?
Tatsuo Nakano versus Johnny Barrett. Barrett starts with slaps, grabs Nakano and scoop slams. Nakano counters, unclear groundwork, headscissors by Nakano, back to feet. Nakano staring huge Barrett down. More groundwork. Sankaku-jime. Slaps by JB. Grovit by TN! JB hurks him over and into kesa-gatame. Kicks! Wooooaaahha! Groundwork. Weight on top of Nakano, Roy Nelson style. Knee to stomach, standing Fujiwara. ENZIGURI BY BIG JB!!! BELLY TO BELLY! Struggle for a while.
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| assistance required |
Tired kicks by JB. Grovit by JB. Nakano fights out, waist clinch, crowd oooooooh! UNBELIEVABLE GERMAN! UHHHWAHHHH Cross armbar! Rope break! Murder kicks! Knockdown! 9 count. JB on back foot. Bad (soft) looking headbutt. Catch kick by JB, dragon screw! Leg lock! 2nd rope break for JB. Lumbering knees, soft kicks. Clinch, kicks, charging lariat! TN is down! Dukes up at 8, JB charges, TN fires back. Ref stops closed fist usage. TN on fire! Snap suplex, reverse choke, TN wins @ 10.20!
(a good win for Nakano, continuing his hot streak. The match was good after a tentative start).
Minoru Suzuki versus Shigeo Miyato. Circling, MS feigns injury early. Restart, crowd cheer. MS evades swinging arm and tackles SM. Shaken loose and stomps to head. SM takes upper body control. MS shoves into corner. Heel stuff by MS. MS catches high kick and twists SM to ground and works for kimura. SM shakes loose and retains arm. MS slaps. DOUBLE SLAPPP DOUBLE KNOCKDOWN!
Strike exchange, SM pure of heart and single of mind. MS scoops SM again, throws down, huge corner dropkick for 3rd down. IPPON SEOINAGE by MS! 4-1! SM getting murdered here. Rolling sole butt for MS down 2. Scoop, shoot powerslam, cinch, sleeper, SM works in something on the leg, weird finish! SM wins by tap @ 9.58.
(the replay shows it: while working in a sleeper, Suzuki left his leg exposed and Miyato trapped it with his own causing an immediate tap. Very subtle, maybe too much so!)
Yoji Anjo versus Wellington Wilkins Jr. Wild hair from WW. Widow's peak at the front, reasonably thick at the back. Tentative kicks and grapples. Polite applause. Knee to the gut from YA. Panicked blocking from WW. Takes a knee. 1-0.
WW out with catch stance. Big slap from YA. WW stares him down. WW backs him up. Unloads, powdery. WW goes into butterfly, suplex, attempts single crab. Rope break. YA sells a bit. YA YA lunges, side grab, side suplex, kimura attempt, rolls out and WW takes top. Kesa nearly locked in and YA struggles mightily, rolling all the way out into a Fujiwara attempt from the wrong side. WW butt touches the rope for a break.
High kick blocked but YA storms in. Suplex with bridge from WW. WW has top of body while YA works lower with legs. Breaks, YA runs around looking for an opening on prone WW. WW kicks his way loose. YA big kick and WW takes second down on knee. YA peppers WW with strikes. WW thinks he has kick caught but YA continues assault for 3-0. 9 count gets a cheer. YA kick, backs into corner, unloads for 4-0. STAY DOWN WW. Uses rope to haul self up. Desperation comeback, suplex, but YA continues unperturbed using WW's aggression to roll into a leglock @ 6.49.
(entertaining semi-squash here. Wilkins is a game jobber, would much rather see this than have him do a 30 minute draw)
And now, for the fifth time (I think) we have Nobuhiko Takada and Kazuo Yamazaki squaring off. Every match they've had has been entertaining, but it does feel like a lot. But Masakatsu Funaki is injured and someone has to keep Takada looking shiny at the top for a while until Maeda gets bored.
Promos. Yamazaki circumspect and lightly smiling. New direction. Grey UWF jacket is gorgeous. At the end, he even breaks out a rare big smile! Look at it!
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| "Yes, my jacket is perfect." |
After an early handshake and tentative striking, Yamazaki attacks with jumping knee. Takada backs up and breaks. A low kick to Takada's thigh seems to score an early down, with Takada seen to by ref. Takada stomps around ring wincing. This wasn't a down, just a character note.
Takada restarts with a rippling middle kick and a gutwrench after grappling. Yamazaki stands up and throws a thrust slap that misses. Takada powers up, picking up and slamming Yamazaki and booting him on ground.
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| this match: in one .jpg |
A nice Yamazaki character note now, as he backs up as if reassessing strategy. A middle kick to the gut, then stalking Takada down, and then another middle kick connects. Takada backs up and raises his left leg as guard. Yamazaki falls into trap as Takada ends up standing and looking for leg lock. Flashy forward roll by Takada fails and breaks the move.
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| soul leaves body |
Both are now missing kicks. Standing grapples. After some failed attempts at grappling, Yamazaki unloads for once and sends Takada for his first official down. 1-0. Yamazaki misses a wheel kick and Takada punishes in a rear naked choke that Yamazaki scuttles to the ropes for. Yamazaki unloads again with left and right kicks but Takada scores the down with a massive head kick! Great sell. KY up on 9. 1-1! Takada's now on fire, working his 250lb frame into a rolling sole butt and a head kick that sends Yamazaki down for 2-1. Up at 9.
Things are gearing up great now. Yamazaki comes firing straight back, downing Takada with a massive underhand slap that breaks through the defences. 2-2! Takada kicks Yamazaki and takes over in a crunching side suplex. This odd choice is worked through for a submission attempt but neither man has much...until Takada suddenly has Yamazaki mid-ring in a leglock! Panic stations from the challenger. Rope break, 3-2!
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| THE END |
Another rapid restart with a brutal low kick by Yamazaki, but this time Takada stays vertical. Yamazaki attempts to repeat the trick and misses. He simply goes again, this time rapping Takada's legs on the ground. Takada rope breaks and it's 3-3 though I haven't seen Takada rope-break once? Odd.
Immediate action from Yamazaki, throwing a GRUESOME middle kick for an immediate down! 4-3! At the restart, Takada catches a kick, headbutts, and kicks Yamazaki down for 4-4! This is all action and little else! Takada unloads and turns Yamazaki over for single, and then a full, crab for aaaaaaaaaaages and wins @ 12.42! A good match that was very Takada-esque in its rapidfire falls and reversals of fortune. Handshakes and respect all around from both, though Yamazaki looks dejected. The fans are rapt for Takada.
Though he has been dethroned, Akira Maeda is still the headliner of this show. His match here, against Yoshiaki Fujiwara, is pretty mouthwatering, so why the hell not?
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| MURDERDAD IX: TAKING NAMES (OF PEOPLE HE WILL MURDER) |
A pre-match promo by Murderdad Fujiwara is brief, perhaps even monosyllabic (sometimes I feel Japanese speakers have an elastic tongue that makes multiple syllables flow like ripples of water in a way my clumsy Saxon tongue never could manage). Maeda has a towel around the neck and is more chatty, although grave of tone. He says 'banzuke' at some point, maybe refencing the rankings? You know, the one he just fell from the #1 spot in for the first time in over a year?
Fujiwara does some tidying in the ring and then circles from the bell. Maeda, perhaps wanting the night off, tries for a big belting kick. Fujiwara is evidently feeling sprightly today and evades it nonchalantly. Maeda pushes toward the corner and, sensing Fujiwara wants this, hurls him back over for a submission mid-ring. The early kimura attempt is eventually rolled from and suddenly Fujiwara is atop Maeda looking for the same double wristlock named for the judoka turned Rikidozan hater.
The lengthy and flinty groundwork section appears to end, but Maeda drags Fujiwara back centre-ring to look for a the single crab of doom that he has ended several matches with. Fujiwara's calm under pressure begins to crack and with it the fans become tense, chanting FU-JI-WAR-A to help free their man. Maeda sits atop and Fujiwara is content for a while to go nowhere. Eventually it breaks and Murderdad is unharmed.
Kicks from Maeda are met with smiles and then Fujiwara goes on the attack, slapping and then tripping Maeda and looking for a leglock with his trapped limb. When this fails, Fujiwara just hilariously falls head first onto Maeda's prone body and scores a down with, essentially, a diving headbutt. Remember - Fujiwara's head is legendarily hard so this constitutes legitimate technique.
On standing Fujiwara wilds out more in the corner, backing Maeda up with all kinds of strikes. The ref quite rightly orders them out, giving Maeda a chance to come forward with kicks that drop Fujiwara to a knee but never quite down. They grapple manfully and then Fujiwara leans in with a hard headbutt that bounces Maeda off the ropes in an alarmed fashion. Maeda angrily comes back with kicks, but Fujiwara does the old catch and twist into an attempted crab that Maeda scurries from.
Tensions rise in the house and the kicks seem to get harder. Fujiwara remains unfazed and the catch and twist is performed, much more slowly and effectively as Maeda is crabbed. He makes the ropes. A Capture Suplex attempt by Maeda only succeeds in gaining top control. A long groundwork section follows, with Maeda grimly looking for armbar. Fujiwara, again, is quietly unfazed, though grimacing in moments. He counters Maeda's momentum and partially succeeds in getting a leglock while Maeda gets one back on him. It looks a little confused, like those Figure 4/reverse Figure 4 spots in 90s wrestling.
Maeda kicks seem to fold both men groundward and into a sleeper attempt by Maeda. Fujiwara is now less than absolutely certain on the ground as Maeda wrenches control. As is his wont, Fujiwara finds routes out and this time finds counterplay with a subtle ankle lock that sees Maeda rope break. A single leg takedown attempt from Fujiwara leads him to pinning Maeda's ankle to the canvas with knee to secure control. Maeda's power wrests control and the two see-saw on the mat a while. Maeda bonches in an unpleasant kick and scores a down while Fujiwara is already on the mat. 1-1!
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| "I won, but at what cost? (none, I won)" |
On standing, Fujiwara catches a kick and crumples to the ground to attempts a leglock but Maeda wraps in a sleeper. Fujiwara, I now notice, is bleeding at the mouth. The bell rings. Maeda has his arm raised, though Fujiwara gave no visual signal of distress. Another kooky "oh I didn't lose really" Fujiwara ending at 14.17. A shame, because they were working well and toward something.
Faux Mike Oldfield music plays as Maeda looks battered and slathered in ice in the locker room.
Interviews from the pre-match with Yama, Taka, Maeda, and Fujiwara play. No idea what they're saying.
THE END. A solid show!
Hello. I appreciate you updating this and I will share with them, however one correction. Kenneth MCduff Roesch the 3rd is my dad the former wrestler. Kenneth Mcduff Roesch the 4th (Mack) is my brother the obstacle athlete.
ReplyDeleteThank you, appreciated. I will incorporate this news in my next entry. Hope all is well with the Roesch family.
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