“We, pro wrestlers, may not fear death or pain. We accept that every time we step into this ring.” – Jun Kasai (from the translation of the post-match conversations)
By Jamie Johnson
A battle of bloodshed, one-up-man-ship, picturesque violence and pro wrestling drama. El Desperado and Jun Kasai went to war at TakaTaichiDespyMania (September 12th), fighting a brutal Deathmatch main event in front of an exuberant 2,000 fans.
Wrestling matches are too readily referred to as “wars”, but this vicious match is fitting of such a description. Some matches have you on the edge of your seat from the opening bell all the way until the concluding three count. This match was one of those.
A deathmatch in the truest sense of the word: New Japan Pro Wrestling’s junior heavyweight stalwart El Desperado faced off against deathmatch crusader Jun Kasai. This was a perfectly poised match after their symbolically charged exchanges in the build-up, with Jun Kasai and El Desperado exchanging a red rose.
The crowd crescendoed at a fever pitch as the two wrestlers made their respective entrances. El Desperado was decked out in a suit, contrasting a black shirt with his piercing white mask, waistcoat, trousers and boots. Kasai wore white trousers too, though his seemed to be dirtier than the crisp white of his opponent’s trousers.
Perhaps this was a signal of their unequal innocence, as Kasai quickly dispensed of the formalities and tore away El Desperado’s beautiful white mask, leaving it dangling around his neck, revealing his full face.
It was a slow and technical start that was soon traded for a war of steel chairs, which El Desperado ignited with passion and the desire to beat his advisory. After the swift lightsabre-esque battle of chairs, Kasai ripped El Desperado’s mask and pricked his skin with barbedwire.
El Desperado’s face bleeds as his mask is ripped open. Credit: @taigaPhoto_pw
If the barbedwire wasn’t enough, Kasai took a meat cleaver to his unmasked opponent, causing a stream of gnarly blood to cover his face and trickle onto the now stained white of his trousers.
As the timekeeper made the 10 minute call, you would be remiss to think he had gotten it wrong. The first 10 minutes of this match shot by in a flash, with barbedwire, knives, chairs, and even a smashing of a guitar that Jeff Jarrett would be proud of featuring.
The violence and brutality of the match never relented. From the moment El Desperado ignited the deathmatch streak in Kasai, ending their tentative technical exchanges, this match became unhinged.
The various weapons and instruments of torture continued to stack up as Kasai introduced shards of glasses, chopped in half cans and a board covered in an array of sharpened knives. El Desperado replied by pulling out one of the famous Japanese tables for an impressive dive.
This match went the full nine yards in terms of the violence it introduced. Some of the weapons were unimaginable, and each one left its mark in cuts, bruises and blood across both of their bodies. The white of their ring gear slowly but surely became a sea of crimson red.
Blood has been a part of wrestling for decades, but its poetic juxtaposition of violence and beauty in this match was staggering. At one point Desperado was spiked off the top rope onto a wooden board populated by upturned forks, leaving their scraped marks across his forehead.
Vibrant red blood was already seeping from El Desperado, but as a man who revels in violence, Jun Kasai seemed to be disappointed he hadn’t yet developed a crimson mask. He soon put that right as he drove a fork into his own forehead, before watching the blood ooze out of his own body.
Kasai hammered wooden sticks into the exposed head of El Desperado. An unusual position for the junior heavyweight who spends the majority of his matches away from the deathmatch wonderland that Jun Kasai calls home.
This match shouldn’t just be remarked for its unsettling use of weapons, as El Desperado’s selling was incredible throughout. It may get lost in the spectacle of this match, but he sold the effects of each wound, cut and perfectly delivered move staggeringly well.
This added to the theatre. It made the match even more ‘edge of your seat’, as it looked as if El Desperado was in the most unimaginable pain, suffering after each piercing shot by a relentlessly vicious and creative Kasai.
Not even thudding headbutts could keep these two down. After a near 30 minute war, with two crimson masks, a sea of weapons and destruction sprayed around the ring and the scars of battle painted on both men clear for all to see, a victor was confirmed.
El Desperado vs Jun Kasai was truly one of the most unbelievably violent, wince-inducing, and attritional matches you could ever wish to see. It is often said in wrestling that “they left it all in the ring”: no truer has that statement ever been than in this match.
You couldn’t ask for an ounce more drama or brutality. Jun Kasai might’ve tried to give El Desperado the kiss of death before he spiked him with a gruesome looking Tiger Driver, but El Desperado wouldn’t die. Not today.
In the post-match, Jun Kasai remarked that before they fought El Desperado had said he didn’t care if he “lived or died in this ring”. For this he was a “fool” because “death should be welcomed by no man”. Surprisingly after such a physical battle, he spoke poignantly, “there are countless who yearn to live but are doomed to an early death. … So don’t tell me you would risk it all, you fool!”.
There are so many moments in this match that will be ingrained in the mind, whether it be the Bastard Driver onto a board of up-turned knives or the unforgettable visual of a bloodsoaked El Desperado writhing in pain, but the dramatic story of this match is what will be most remembered.
A show of respect between El Desperado and deathmatch legend Jun Kasai. Credit: @taigaPhoto_pw
A legend of hardcore, deathmatch wrestling went up against a relative novice. Yet the novice fought with guts, determination and without even a shred of fear. Fighting from underneath against a barrage of otherworldly violence from one of pro wrestling’s most creative minds, El Desperado proved himself an unconventional, yet superb babyface.
El Desperado gave Jun Kasai a red rose after their battle had concluded, in the same way Kasai did before the match as a means of challenging El Desperado. This was a sign that they will wrestle again.
It was only after Jun Kasai departed the arena, with his young daughter by his side, did El Desperado attempt to repair his shredded mask and cover at least some of his face. It was as if nothing else mattered other than beating Jun Kasai, but once that job was accomplished he remembered to cover up his face.
Now that the rose is in bloom, the dust will settle on an unforgettable war between Jun Kasai and El Desperado. It isn’t often that wrestling stirs up so much emotion and passion, but written in the blood of these two warriors is a story of undeniably poignant pro wrestling violence.
Date:
September 14, 2022
Category:
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