Great Muta vs. El Gigante - NJPW Fighting Spirit: Day 8(1995)
Yes, El Gigante, better known as that guy with the furry body suit, Giant Gonzalez took on one of the greatest Japanese wrestlers of all time, the Great Muta. The match includes El Gigante performing no real offense, Muta standing on a chair to spew his green mist in Gigante's face, and a very awkward looking finish to one odd match-up.
Greg Valentine vs. Kendo Nagasaki - No Rope Barbed Wire Deathmatch - BJW (1995)
It may seem surprising at first that Greg "The Hammer" Valentine would be found here fighting in a Japanese deathmatch in one of the most violent Japanese deathmatch promotions, Big Japan. But if you really think about earlier Greg Valentine (before the jet black hair, Rhythm & Blues days), Valentine was just out to hurt people. John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats made a great point about Greg Valentine during an intro to his live song, "Song for Greg Valentine" where Darnielle describes Valentine as a wrestler more out to break his opponents' legs and cripple them than to win matches. Which is pretty awesome, by the way.
That being said though, this is not the Greg Valentine that fought Roddy Piper in a brutal dog collar match or tried to end "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin's career, this is a miserable shell of a man who happens to be fighting in a Japanese deathmatch. Thus, this match really suffers because of it. Granted this match is still violent and features all the goodies that you would expect in a deathmatch like barbed wire, brawling through the crowd, and that red wet stuff, it's very slow and with little to no drive. No one breaks their legs, no one gets crippled, no nothing.
American Dragon & Lance Cade vs. Hisakatsu Oya & Yoshinori Sasaki - FMW (1999)
Two rookies from Texas Wrestling Academy taking a tour of Japan in 1999.
Here's a rare match, it's American Dragon, mask and all, along with his tag team partner also from the states, Lance Cade taking on Frontier Wrestling Alliance's Hisakatsu Oya and Yoshinori Sasaki. It's a bit slow, but it pays off once you realize that that guy in the silly dragon mask is now over as rover in WWE currently. Damn right, that's because that kid in the red, white, and blue costume is Daniel Bryan, the Goatface Killah of WWE.
Unfortunately Lance Cade, who did happen to move onto WWE and become a three-time World Tag Team Champion, passed away in 2010 due to heart failure.
Fun Fact #654: In 2012 Daniel Bryan was awarded the "Most Animal-Friendly Athlete" award, and was honored in his town as they announced that January 13th would be renamed, "Daniel Bryan Day". Yesterday was definitely Daniel Bryan Day!
