Hello again, I am back with another episode of Vamonos Amigos from Toryumon Japan. This time I am back tracking to the August 2001 episode. It features matches from 3 tapings. First, we go to Kobe Chicken George on July 29. Then, we go to the world famous Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on August 14. There were two title matches on this show. Ricky Marvin challenges Susumu Mochizuki for the NWA Welterweight Title. Also, the Crazy MAX trio of CIMA, SUWA and Big Fuji defend their UWA World Six Man Titles in a 3-way dance. They will face the Toryumon Japan team of Magnum TOKYO, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito and the M2K team of Masaaki Mochizuki, Yasushi Kanda & Darkness Dragon. Finally, a match from August 19 at Osaka Bayside Jenny is shown. Let’s get this review started.

The first two matches are from the August 14 show at Korakuen Hall.

NWA Welterweight Title: Susumu Mochizuki © vs. Ricky Marvin

This was a really good match, and it sold me on Susumu being one of Toryumon Japan's best singles wrestlers. Susumu played the rudo role well. He was able to give the match a story with the attack on Marvin’s leg and made Marvin’s high flying look spectacular. Marvin looked good here as well. He showed that he could do mix in the high flying with mat work really nicely. Here are some highlights of the match:

This started out with a lot of mat work. Both men were trading submissions. They were attacking the legs of the other man. Marvin showed off his quickness early with a Tajiri-esque handspring elbowsmash. Marvin continued to show off the flashy offense with a springboard headscissors takedown that sends Susumu to the floor. Marvin would use an amazing Asai Moonsault into a Tornillo onto Susumu. Susumu was able to enter the ring first with some help from M2K member Chocoflake K-ICHII. Marvin got on the apron, but Susumu met him there. Susumu brought Marvin back into the ring with an inverted suplex. Susumu focused his offense on the knee with various attacks and submissions.

Marvin was able to comeback with a handspring off the ropes and catch Susumu with a hurricanrana for a near fall. Marvin locked in a Romero Special, but Susumu got out of it. After some close nearfalls by both men, Marvin connected with a handspring into a swinging DDT for another nearfall. Marvin was calling for the kill and tried a springboard Tornillo. Susumu managed to counter with a dropkick. Susumu drilled Marvin with a lariat. Susumu caught Marvin with the Yokosuka Cutter and got the pin to retain the title.

Kenichiro Arai & Stalker Ichikawa vs. Genki Horiguchi & SAITO

This was joined in progress. It looked good from what was shown. Genki and Arai had a really good exchange ending with Genki diving onto Arai on the floor with a tope con giro. SAITO was pretty solid and Stalker did his comedy. The most notable comedy moment was when Arai slammed Genki on the mat and Stalker was going to do a diving headbutt that would require him to reach about 3/4 of the ring. Stalker jumped off the top rope and didn’t come close to hitting Genki. Genki got the win for his team with a running springboard moonsault onto Stalker. To fit his persona, Genki pinned Stalker by standing on top of him and riding him like a surfboard. After the match, Ryo Saito enters the ring to talk to Genki on the microphone. However, Genki ignores him and walks away.

The next two matches take place on July 29 at Kobe Chicken George in Hyogo.

Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi vs. CIMA & Big Fuji

Before the match started, M2K ran in and attacked everyone. It seemed that their main target was CIMA. Genki, Ryo and Fuji agreed to work together to get M2K out of there. They succeeded, and the match begun. For the most part, it was a handicap match with Fuji taking on both opponents because M2K damaged CIMA’s knee. CIMA was able to come back and fight with one knee. He was going for the Mad Splash when M2K ran-in again to attack everyone. However, the referee did not throw the match out. M2K left when they felt the damage was done. Fuji was beaten up inside the ring, and Genki took advantage with his running springboard moonsault for the pinfall victory. Ryo was happy that his partner got the pin and wanted to congratulate him, but Genki once again ignored him.

Magnum TOKYO, Dragon Kid & Stalker Ichikawa vs. Susumu Mochizuki, Yasushi Kanda & Darkness Dragon

This was also joined in progress. M2K was going for the double countout finish. Crazy MAX ran-in to attack M2K. TARU threw in Stalker in hopes before the referee could finish count. However, Kanda also got in the ring before 20. There was clipping as well. There was a really good exchange between Kid and Darkness. The story of the match was Stalker getting so close to scoring a very rare victory. Everyone thought Stalker got the victory after nailing Susumu with the Blue Box and rolling him up in a La Magistral. Susumu managed to kick out at 2. Stalker losing ways continued when Susumu used the Yokosuka Cutter on him to get the win.

We return to Korakuen on August 14.

UWA World Six Man Tag Titles: CIMA, SUWA & Big Fuji © vs. Magnum TOKYO, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Yasushi Kanda & Darkness Dragon

This was the first time that Toryumon Japan had a 3-way match with trios teams. It was a great match. It was just non-stop action from these three teams. It showcased the various angles going on like the battle of the top three stars in Toryumon Japan with Magnum TOKYO, CIMA and Masaaki Mochizuki. Darkness Dragon and Dragon Kid continued their rivalry. SUWA got a chance to face his old rival Dragon Kid. Ryo and Fuji continued their on-again, off-again friendship. It looked like Kanda was going to get involved with that angle, but his neck injury prevented that. It was so well received that Toryumon Japan did another one of these matches as the main event of their huge Kobe World Hall, located in Hyogo, in July 2002. I was going to do play-by-play for this match, but I decided to use some key highlights since they were moving at an insane pace:

The match started out with the captains of all three sides in CIMA, Magu and Mochi in the ring. They were very tentative to lock up. They backed up into different corners, and all got attacked to start a crazy brawl at ringside. The referee was making a count because there was almost a triple countout. However, Kanda and Fuji entered the ring to prevent that from happening. Ryo and Fuji worked together on Kanda, but when Fuji had Kanda in place for a Ryo dropkick. Kanda moved out of the way and Ryo nailed Fuji. Next was a sequence between Dragon Kid and his top two rivals in Darkness Dragon and SUWA. There was some really good action between the three men. Darkness and SUWA really have good timing with Kid’s flying. SUWA had the advantage on both men when he ran off the ropes. However, the two Dragon’s worked together to nail SUWA with a double dropkick. That teamwork ended very quickly.

There was some comedy in the next exchange with CIMA, Magu and Mochi. CIMA and Magu worked together to stun Mochi. This made Mochi unaware as to what corner he was walking towards with hopes of a tag. First, he walked into Toryumon’s Japan corner and got nailed. Next, it was Crazy MAX’s and got nailed more. It looked like he was finally going to succeed with his own corner, but Kanda and Darkness got knocked off the apron. This started a corner charge attack onto Mochi. It was Crazy MAX that started to do the attacking and Toryumon Japan joined in the fun. However, Ryo’s attack was evaded by Mochi. M2K started their corner charge attacks. Crazy MAX joined in the fun until Ryo evaded a Big Fuji attack. It seemed things were safe for Ryo, but SUWA nearly decapitated him with a lariat. SUWA covered, but Darkness broke up the pinfall.

Kanda and Fuji had the next exchange. Kanda had a pin on Fuji, but Ryo broke it up with an elbowdrop. However, Kanda evaded an elbowdrop and Ryo nailed Fuji with it instead. This caused Ryo and Fuji to slap each other in the chest while Kanda stands in the background to watch. Kanda joined with a vertical suplex was about to happen. It looked like Ryo and Fuji’s exchange was a set-up because they double teamed Kanda and lifted him up for the double vertical suplex. Ryo held Kanda for a Fuji lariat. Fuji ran off the ropes twice and nailed Ryo in the back of the head with the lariat. Fuji rolled up the stunned Ryo in a small package, but only got a 2 count.

M2K briefly refused to join in the action while Crazy MAX in control of Ryo. A minute later, CIMA provoked Mochi to join the action. This lead to an exchange where wrestlers were nailing each other with springboard assisted attacks. The dreaded M2K Blue Box made its first appearance of the match when Darkness nailed CIMA and Ryo with it. Dragon Kid knocked Darkness off the apron by dropkicking the Blue Box into Darkness’ head. Fuji and CIMA had the advantage on Kid. They were going for their double team move where Fuji picks up his opponent and uses a giant swing. After a few revolutions, CIMA nails the opponent with a dropkick to the head. As Fuji was doing his giant swing, it was Darkness Dragon who stole CIMA’s attack and dropkicked his rival in the head.

Darkness and Kanda held Dragon Kid for an open attack from Mochi. However, CIMA and Magu entered the ring to attack Mochi. They worked together in freeing Kid with a double dropkick to Kanda and Darkness. That was another short-lived cooperation. Dragon Kid had the upper hand on Darkness when SUWA entered the ring to use an inverted atomic drop on Kid. SUWA was going to use the John Woo on Kid, but hesitated when Darkness had a waistlock on Kid. SUWA decided to just go ahead with the move and sent both men flying to the opposite corner with a dropkick.

Kanda attacked SUWA and put him on the turnbuckles for a superplex. Magu entered the ring, and lifted Kanda onto his shoulders. It seemed that we were going to see Double Impact from SUWA and Magu. However, Fuji and CIMA entered the ring. They would use a double backdrop suplex on Magu. With Kanda still on Magu’s shoulders, this meant that he took an even higher elevation fall. SUWA was still on the turnbuckles. With a Magnum TOKYO boost, Dragon Kid was going to hurricanrana SUWA off there. SUWA held onto Kid, and CIMA dropkicked Kid from the upside down position. SUWA planted Kid with a Superbomb. It seemed that Crazy MAX was in control of the match, but Mochi attacked CIMA. This gave Darkness Dragon the opening to use a crucifix cradle on CIMA. To the surprise of many, Crazy MAX has been eliminated with CIMA dropping the fall. There will be new champions crowned on this evening. It was now down to the Toryumon Japan and M2K teams.

M2K isolated Magu. Mochi used his Triangle Enzuigiri. It looked like Kanda was going defeat Magu with a diving elbowdrop, but Ryo and Kid were able to make the save. Darkness and Kid had another great exchange. It seemed Kid was going to make Darkness submit to the Christo, but Mochi and Kanda were able to save their partner. Magu nearly had Kanda finished off with the Viagra Driver, but Mochi and Darkness were able to save their partner. Ryo and Kid were able to take Mochi and Darkness out of the match with dives on the floor. This left Magnum TOKYO alone with Kanda. TOKYO climbed the top rope and connected with the Shooting Star Press, which he calls the AV Star Press. TOKYO covers and new champions are crowned.

Post-match, the champions were attacked by M2K. Darkness Dragon ripped off Dragon Kid’s mask. Someone then ran in with a Darkness Dragon mask and ripped Darkness’ mask. Mochi ripped off the other guys mask, and it was CIMA under there. From there, it turned into a 5-way brawl with Magnum TOKYO, Masaaki Mochizuki, CIMA, Dragon Kid and Darkness Dragon. Dragon Kid’s mask kept getting taken off by CIMA. Ultimo Dragon entered the ring to break up the brawl. He got on the microphone and said that these five men would meet in a cage match in late September. The only way to win was to escape. The last man in the ring would either lose his mask in the case of the two Dragon’s or lose his hair.

Finally, we go to Osaka Bayside Jenny on August 19 for a Crazy MAX vs. M2K six-man match.

CIMA, SUWA & Big Fuji vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda

Just like a lot of M2K matches, this started as a brawl on the outside of the ring. This was a good match, but it was not the best match that these two teams had with each other. That honor goes to their elimination match in October 2000. M2K working over CIMA’s knee was a focal point of the match, but it did not make the difference in victory. M2K had isolated Fuji at the end. Mochi used the Triangle Enzuigiri, Susumu with the Kamikaze Fireman’s Carry and Kanda got the near fall with a Diving Elbowdrop. Kanda got the pin on Fuji with the German Suplex Hold. Kanda just pummeled Fuji with the Blue Box after the match.

Final Thoughts: Another good episode of Vamonos Amigos from Toryumon Japan. This was definitely a hot time for the promotion. They had a great 3-way match for the UWA belts, and a really good match between Susumu and Marvin. Their angles were also progressing because this episode set up the 5-way cage match, where masks and hair will be on the line, at the big show in September. To my delight, there was no clipping of the title matches and some with the smaller show matches. My only complaint of the show is that the M2K multi-man tag matches were getting repetitive in the beginning where it was a brawl on the floor. Once that part would end, then the match would pick up nicely. Overall, I give this episode another high recommendation.

Final Score: 7.5 [Good]

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