Murakami!

Kazunari Murakami v Enson Inoue (New Japan, 5/2/03)

This was more of a prison brawl than an actual match, but as far as six minute prison brawls go this was pretty dang fun. I had no recollection whatsoever of Enson Inoue working New Japan but I guess putting him against Murakami for his brief foray into pro-wrestling works fine. I mean why wouldn't you want to put a mixed martial artist in there with a fucking crowbarring maniac? Murakami takes a gang beating by Inoue's corner early on, ends up bleeding profusely, and his sneer as he gets back to his feet might've been the very greatest Murakami sneer in history. The palpable crowd reaction of "holy fuck this guy is truly psychotic" was both warranted and amazing. He then stands and allows Inoue to punch him several times in the face. When he wiped blood away with his hand and licked it clean I about flipped and this was maybe the quintessential Crackpot Murakami performance.


Kazunari Murakami v Mitsuharu Misawa (NOAH, 10/13/06)

Not really the wild or awesome spectacle you'd hope for, so in that sense I suppose it's a touch disappointing, but it still had enough Murakami horse shit to be fun. Unfortunately Misawa didn't seem all that interested here. On the one hand it was pretty amusing seeing him act above engaging in Murakami's antics. Murakami would try and get a rise out of him by throwing dickish jabs and gloating, outright standing on his face while Misawa lay slumped in the corner, stepping onto the ramp and beckoning Misawa to follow, but by and large Misawa played it by the book. A couple times his composure cracked and he drilled Murakami with some elbows, but if that had been Hashimoto in there he'd have taken Murakami behind the woodshed and slaughtered him. Murakami getting cut open and rising from the grave like a sneering zombie ruled though, even if this was one of those NOAH crowds that was more likely to respectfully applaud than bay for blood. And if you're not there rooting for Murakami to wreak havoc then what's the point?


Kazunari Murakami v Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH, 6/8/07)

This was the match that really sold me on Murakami. Back in the faraway time of 2007 when my stupid young self had more interest in hunting down 90s New Japan junior heavyweights or keeping up with Japanese wrestling in general, watching every single thing Murakami had ever done wasn't really a priority. A lot can change in twelve years and I remember even then, watching this on youtube or Veoh or whatever streaming site after it had been posted on the DVDVR board, knowing that Murakami was someone I'd one day come to cherish like my own son. The skinhead, the death stares, licking Marufuji's blood, the straight punches to the jaw. I mean it takes a special kind of lunacy to have a perfect hairline and willingly go bald. At that point I still actually liked Marufuji, and he was fine in this, but it was the Murakami show and it opened my eyes to a whole new world of crazy. Maybe this as much as anything shaped my tastes in wrestling going forward. So there's a story for the grandkids.