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Match Report:
Tuesday 20th May 2008
Thurrock
Civic Hall, Grays, Essex.
At this time and in this place, events took place that will be long etched into
memory - Kendo Nagasaki's return to the wrestling ring was truly
astonishing.
The match was filled with controversy, which is to be
expected of anything to do with Nagasaki, but it was frankly a
culture shock to see his particular brand of skill, rule-bending,
and brutality back - live - in a British wrestling ring, and he was
just as phenomenal as he ever was! Read a blistering Match Report by
life-long grapple fan, Eric Holmes...
"On this night, the seemingly impossible happened...
It was an event that had been publicised and promoted well, with
local press, internet advertising, and television coverage, but the
event itself seemed so outlandish as to defy belief...
Kendo Nagasaki was returning to the wrestling ring to compete.
It's been 9 years since we saw this most famous of the great
grapplers in the ring, and even that event had an air of incredulity
about it, coming, as it did, so many years after his remarkable
career began; we doubted if he could still cut it as a professional
wrestler how old was he? Could he possibly be fit enough? ...But,
as he had done so many times before, he confounded our apprehensions
and treated us to a liberal helping of his remarkable brand of
brutality, deviousness, and triumph.
...but that was nine long years ago it barely seemed possible that
this venerable icon of British wrestling could shrug off almost a
decade since his last match, and still perform as indomitably as he
traditionally had...
The reality was, in fact, breathtaking: the old master is as
formidable as he ever was.
The bout was an interestingly-structured six-way tag match three
wrestlers on each side. The teams comprised Kendo Nagasaki
accompanied by Blondie Barratt and Gregory Cortez, versus Robbie
Brookside, accompanied by Phil Powers, and while Damien Ryan was
supposed to have completed this team, he was conspicuous by his
absence... There is history to this particular feud...
Those following recent events will recall that Nagasaki's manager
for so many years, Lloyd Ryan, had taken it upon himself to disagree
with Nagasaki regarding the outcome of the Kendo Nagasaki Sword Of
Excellence Tournament Robbie Brookside had won the Tournament
match, but Nagasaki felt that none of the wrestlers had performed
well enough to be judged as excellent, so no-one deserved to be
awarded the Sword of Excellence; Ryan felt that it was unfair of
Nagasaki to deny Brookside the sword, and so their rift was formed.
Ryan went on to represent Brookside and his own son, Damien Ryan,
against a team represented by Nagasaki, comprising Blondie Barratt
and Jackie Steel, at The Legends Showdown match in November '07, a
spectacular match which Nagasaki's team won.
Ryan subsequently became a highly vocal critic of Nagasaki, calling
him a coward and ...a being that is pure evil..., and so the
opportunity for a new grudge match developed, culminating at the
Thurrock Civic Hall in Grays, Essex, on Tuesday, 20th May 2008. In
the run-up to the match, the fires of anger were stoked by televised
exchanges of bitter rhetoric from both sides, Nagasaki's position
being put by his occult priestess, Atlantis Chronos Goth, and by
Brookside burning a life-sized image of Nagasaki a highly
provocative action: Nagasaki could never have forgiven such an
insult.
Brookside himself has languished in Nagasaki's shadow for over 20
years, since having been hypnotised by Nagasaki, ever since which he
has always conveyed incandescent hatred for Nagasaki; Brookside even
claimed to have come close to defeating Nagasaki during those 20
years, and as we approached the Grays show, he announced that he was
ready to do just that. Meanwhile, Ryan's indignant rage had reached
boiling point, announcing on television that he had dedicated his
son Damien's career to ending Nagasaki and "The Goth".
With so much history and adversity, the scene was set for a
highly-charged match, and this was over and above the historic
return to the ring of it's all-time master, Nagasaki himself this
match could not fail to be a right royal spectacle!
On the night of the match, there was a surprise development: neither
Lloyd Ryan nor his son, Damien, showed up! Why this was never had a
chance to emerge, as last-minute arrangements for a substitute for
Damien Ryan had been made, with the popular LDN Champion, Yorgos
stepping in to complete Brookside's team. However, Nagasaki would
not accept Yorgos in the opposing team and, under the rules, he
didn't have to the match had, after all, been agreed as a contract
between the two teams, and Nagasaki was entitled to exploit the fact
that the opposing team was not as agreed.
There followed a cliff-hanger altercation in the ring between
Brookside and The Goth, who, in rejecting Yorgos, sarcastically
remarked that Yorgos's LDN championship belt meant nothing in this
situation she ordered Brookside to go and find an alternative
wrestler to Yorgos, or the match would not take place! Someone in
the crowd shouted, You're afraid of Yorgos!, and a wave of cold
resentment swept through the Nagasaki entourage: Nagasaki would
admit to being afraid of no-one! The Goth told Brookside that he
would have to go and find alternative wrestlers from which Nagasaki
and she would choose the wrestler to complete Brookside's team...
As there has already been several matches earlier on the bill that
night, there were a number of other wrestlers available, and
Brookside rushed back to the dressing-rooms to find his new allies,
returning to the ring with six eager and talented young wrestlers.
Nagasaki and The Goth conferred briefly before choosing Hakan, a
well-toned and agile wrestler, but not yet in the same league as
Yorgos; thus, the team opposing Nagasaki had been downgraded, but
entirely within the rules of wrestling once more, fortune
mysteriously seemed to be favouring Nagasaki, who is well-known for
brutally exploiting any weakness in his opponents..!
The match was genuinely explosive! It was magical to once again see
Nagasaki strutting around on the apron of the ring, as if waiting
like a brutal predator for some unwary prey to come within his
vicious reach... only he has that malevolent air of casual, patient,
expert cruelty... Typically, during the match, Nagasaki bent the
rules impossibly far, and without giving away the events and
outcome of a match that is soon to be televised he stunned us with
his power and agility, he horrified us with his relentless
brutality, and he showed once again how supremely skilful he is...
But by no means did the match go all Nagasaki's way! Brookside
launched a determined attack on Nagasaki's mask, and there were
plenty of thrills and spills for all, even involving the referee!!!
There has been a frantic buzz of excitement since the match; the
build-up was intense enough, but to see the most iconic figure of
British wrestling displaying his legendary skills (and evil ways) in
a highly-charged, action-packed blood feud of a match involving
the wrestling stars of today is a rare thing indeed, and not a
single second of this match will disappoint you; drop everything
else, cancel your date, clear your diary, stay in and watch LDN
Wrestling on The Fight Network on 7th June, and you'll witness every
possible form of action and excitement in one historic match you
owe it to yourself to be there!
Eric Holmes, Wolverhampton."
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Kendo Nagasaki and Atlantis Chronos Goth pictured immediately before
the match at Grays.
Photographer: Rob Cope |