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Post by elliott on Dec 3, 2017 17:14:25 GMT -5
Megumi Kudo vs Combat Toyoda (“No Rope Explosive Barbed Wire Death Match” – FMW 7th Anniversary Show – 5/5/1996)
Top 5 Contender for me. Easily the best death match ever. This has blood and explosions and neck breaking suplexes, sure, but the psychology and emotion are what put this over the top. I feel like I don’t see it as much these days, but I used to see the “every move mattered” phrase thrown around a lot, and this is really a match where every move mattered. I expect I’ll be the high vote for this match, but I really hope people who have seen it will revisit it and consider it. There isn’t an All Japan match that I would rank ahead of this one.
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Post by microstatistics on Jan 4, 2018 17:09:38 GMT -5
Will make my list easily. Kudo’s performance is one of the best in wrestling history. The teases, the selling, the build, the drama. Epic post match.
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Post by fadu on Jan 4, 2018 17:33:15 GMT -5
I am definitely a deathmatch novice. Yet, this is probably the best deathmatch I have ever seen. As someone who didn't follow Toyoda's career, it truly felt like every move was a love letter to her career. Probably the best retirement match ever too (that was intended to be a retirement match at least).
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Post by deadheadish on Jan 7, 2018 21:34:15 GMT -5
This was actually the first Japanese match I ever saw. I ordered one of those early comp. tapes back in 97 and that was the first match. Best death match ever. Top 10 Joshi match ever. Brutal with an edge of your seat feel throughout. Classic.
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Post by stunninggrover on May 23, 2018 11:02:16 GMT -5
1996-05-05 Megumi Kudo vs. Combat Toyoda [No rope electrified barbed wire death match for the FMW Independent Women’s Chamionship & WWA Women’s Championship] (FMW 7th Anniversary Show @ Kawasaki Stadium in Kawasaki, Japan)
This was Combat Toyoda’s last match. She defended the championship she held at the time against Megumi Kudo, a worker she had a long history with. Both women were part of the class of 1986 AJW trainees. They never reached much success in AJW, but they became successful in FMW in the early to mid 1990s. Toyoda wanted to have an Atsushi Onita-like match for her last match. That’s why we have this death match. Kudo was always loyal to FMW and wanted to be the leader for FMW. Kudo felt no hatred for Toyoda at this time. Kudo and Combat had been friends and enemies over the years in FMW storylines. This time, it was beyond any angles. It was a special match. Both women wanted to make this special and had a reason to win. Toyoda even came down the aisle to Onita’s theme song. Toyoda was a very underrated worker. She was easily the #2 worker in the FMW women’s division, just slightly behind Kudo. Toyoda could have take the easy way out because of her size and the promotion she worked in, she could have worked like Shark Tsuchiya or Mr. Pogo. Instead, she worked hard and proved to be a worthy opponent and tag team partner for Kudo throughout her career. Onita himself was at ringside for this match. The early minutes of the match saw a great build-up. They slowly started teasing that someone will be thrown into the barbed wire. Toyoda dropkicked Kudo into the barbed wire!! Kudo was juicing hardway from her arm because of the barbed wire. Toyoda took the next bump into the barbed wire. Onita looked worried. Toyoda juiced hardway from her arm too. Kudo into the barbed wire again. Some near fall moments. Kudo kicked out. Toyoda suplexes Kudo into the barbed wire! Onita looks even more concerned now. Kudo with an incredibly sick Ganso Bomb on Toyoda! Toyoda somehow survived. Kudo followed it up with the devastating Kudo Driver! Kudo won! Onita entered the ring and showed his concern by throwing water on the women to help them recover from the brutal match. Kudo did a stretcher job. Onita carried Toyoda to the back. It was a memorable and dramatic match! It was great to see Onita cared so much about the two women who defined the FMW women’s division. 21 min.
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Post by Cap on Aug 12, 2020 17:04:03 GMT -5
From my rewatch (in this case, WATCH) project on 8/8/2020 Megumi Kudo vs Combat Toyoda (FMW Independent Womens Title/ WWA Title. – No Rope Exploding Barb Wire Death match – 5/5/1996) Current Rank: Unranked Trending: Up Finally got around to watching this recently and I think it might comfortably be my favorite “deathmatch”. It is not my favorite genre on the whole, but this is exactly what I want from the style. These FMW anniversary shows seem to be the place to find the gems. This is all drama and all heart. There is so much to love about this and honestly the violence is completely secondary to the masterful storytelling and orchestration of drama. It is truly stunning. Every big spot feels massive because of how they tease and work up to everything. I familiarized myself with the context a little before going in, but had emotional connection really and they still managed to sell connection and the gravity of the moment to me. That is truly rare. This is going to place quite well for me. Full Post: gweproject.freeforums.net/post/8278 |
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Post by mrjmml on May 4, 2023 19:39:39 GMT -5
The best deathmatch ever easily. One of the greatest singles matches ever, it's magical. Everybody should watch it, it's a top 100 match ever for sure and I would say that it's the best match ever between wrestlers outside the top 100 in my opinion.
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Post by puropotsy on Jun 27, 2023 17:03:46 GMT -5
This was fascinating to watch as a lot of the match is about building anticipation and building toward the exploding barbed wire spots. It of course has the emotion of being Toyoda’s retirement match. I think it really delivered on all it needed to. It’s hard to say where it will finish for me though with all the other great stuff eligible for a Top 100. If I were more of a deathmatch guy it would probably be higher.
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Post by puropotsy on Jun 27, 2023 17:29:45 GMT -5
I also think Funk vs Onita 5/5/93 is the best deathmatch
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Post by KB8 on Jul 4, 2023 18:16:47 GMT -5
I'm repeating what folk have been saying about this for years, repeating what I've said about it myself in the past, but this really is all about the way they build anticipation for the big barbed wire spots. I'm not shitting on your crazy deathmatches with gallons of blood and light tubes and psychotic barbed wire bumps or whatever, I can sure get a kick out of those as well. But this was less about the gratuitous violence and more the THREAT of it; the inherent peril lurking in the background. The ambience from the start is quite remarkable. It was worked more like the Lawler/Mantel barbed wire match and those early FMW matches with Onita and Goto against a pair of maniacs in karategis. Even being in proximity of the wire felt dangerous here and obviously that was because of how they sold it and brought that danger to life. Even engaging in a collar-and-elbow tie-up close to the wire had the woman with her back to it wary. They made those tie-ups feel extra meaningful, gave jockeying for position a sense of GRAVITY~ and whatnot. Loved the way Kudo would immediately drop to the mat when Toyoda whipped her towards the wire. She was like a quarterback who's forced out of the pocket having to slide before getting obliterated by a pass rusher, or in this case exploding barbed wire. The three individual bumps into the wire came off huge, even Kudo's second despite the explosion not actually going off, if for no reason other than how she remained stuck to it for a few seconds longer, really letting the visual sink in. The shots of Onita in the crowd looking like his nerves are shredded are all amazing and then we get the double wire bump - which looked fucking insane - and Onita has his head in his hands completely beside himself. Even as they run through those final few powerbombs and suplexes they sell the toll of what the wire has done to them, and there's one close-up of Toyoda's arm with a nasty, nasty gash down her biceps. And then even after literal explosions, the craziest thing to happen was THAT powerbomb.
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Post by mrjmml on Jul 7, 2023 12:26:35 GMT -5
I think this is the match we all think of when the name Megumi Kudo is brought up, the best match in the history of FMW in my opinion, the level of intensity and the use of the stipulation are sublime, everything about it is awesome, from the presentations to the post-match, without a doubt the best retirement in the history of wrestling. First, this is Combat Toyoda’s retirement match, it happened in FMW’s 7th anniversary show, it’s a No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch which means that the ring is covered in barbed wire and it explodes when touched so there will be a lot of playing around with the possibility of touching the ropes and they’ll do their best to avoid them. If you remember, a month ago I uploaded my GME ballot to this substack, this match was very high on that list and I don’t regret putting this match as high as I did because it really deserved its placement, this is one of my favourite matches in wrestling history and the main reason why I decided to make a Megumi Kudo retrospective in the first place, If you haven’t watched it yet watch it now this review can wait.
The match starts with matwork, they set the stakes during the first few minutes establishing the stakes, they put over the barbed wire by avoiding it at all costs, great stuff, Megumi is the first one who had contact with the barbed wire after receiving a dropkick from Combat Toyoda that launched her into the ropes, the ropes exploded and Megumi started bleeding from her arms, Toyoda eventually had contact with the ropes as well. Then, the famous Toyoda suplex to the barbed wire happened and that marked the beginning of the finishing stretch, Megumi hit her opponent with her Tiger Driver, a powerbomb and a Kudome for the win, both had to leave the ring in a stretcher.
Just watch it if you haven’t already, it won’t disappoint you.
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Post by lemming on Dec 5, 2023 9:08:02 GMT -5
I voted this #15 this year.
Hard to add to the reviews above which already outline what makes this great. The drama and emotion are off the charts. Both girls' performances are amazing. For the first half the barbed wire and explosions are avoided. Like watching a horror film which carefully keeps the monster out of sight until the final act, the danger here is teased and teased and the tension continually ratcheted up before all hell finally breaks loose. This is a masterpiece.
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