Cactus Jack vs. Terry Funk

[7.0] "[3. 50*] This was so raw and full of passion, but also way to long and filled with too much just running around. The barbed wire I guess is okay to touch with your hands so why should I care when you go through it?"

[10.0] "It's rough and ugly and everything they do has emotion put into it, it's what I want from a bloody brawl like this. I feel like I could go to any point in this match and find a wonderful visual, they sell everything in such a compelling way in makes every moment so much more shocking. I can never get the scene of Terry Funk about to brand Cactus Jack's bloody face out of my head. You feel the exhaustion in them the whole time and once it's finally over it felt like they really left everything on that mat. Great stuff from two of the best to ever do it."

"These two had met a couple of times by this point, but this match might just be where they start to perfect their synergy. There is just something about all their mannerisms and the way they carry themselves in deathmatches like this, where you feel like you can't turn your eyes away, Jack and Funk just manage to captivate with their commitment to this cinematic slash drunken style. They just sell it so well! On surface however, this match is messy, different, gritty and close to senseless, so it's an acquired taste perhaps. They use the match type well enough, and when they decide to lean into it hard, the responses are great. Some of the stuff they do would be considered fresh even today, like Cactus Jack stumbling over the barbwire ropes and taking a bump onto the floor. Athletics-wise this is nothing special, but the dramatics deserve a one-time viewing at the very least."

[9.0] "This match is insane! Many people got interested and watched it after Foley mentioned in his book, and it's indeed a crazy one, two of the very best demolishing each other in front of a very small japanese crowd, for the love of the game, they're unreal. This is a very bloody deathmatch, and it's super intense and crazy, they sell everything incredibly well too, and Funk obviously put a show, writhing on the floor in pain, almost punching a fan, he's the best. This match has a 'no rope barbed wire' stipulation, but they spend most of the time on the outside brutalizing each other, the barbed wire is an extra, but it's well used too, and there's several brutal moments like when Cactus kept rubbing the barbed wire on Funk. Both guys bleed a lot and the visual is fantastic, when they're on the outside, they use a flaming chair and a freaking torch to strike the other, those two weapons looked insane, and that flaming chair was used over and over, everything looked very dangerous and realistic. By the end of the match they were both exhausted and Funk managed to win after they fell together... it was going to be double pin, but Funk moved in the last second and won the match by a tiny detail. After the match they kept striking each other, because why not. Those few hundred people who were there watching live are very privileged - {****1/4}"

[9.0] "Recently re-watched this for the first time in many many years when it was posted in full on Twitter on the 30th anniversary of the match and found it glaring how truly masterful these two were at blending violence + drama, especially compared to where that particular genre of wrestling has gone in the subsequent 3 decades. Don't get me wrong - these two beat the absolute hell out of one another, finding themselves covered in cuts + burns, both soaked in blood by the end. But compared to where we are now where deathmatches depend on a litany of broken glass + various other ultra sharp ephemera to build up any steam - this match is relatively tame, focusing entirely on the barbed wire (that has replaced the ropes around the ring) and a duo of fire-centric set pieces; Foley's flaming chair + Funk's signature branding iron as well as their innate ability to captivate and create moments on their own. By the end, the exhaustion that these two are portraying as they struggle over a series of nearfalls is so believable and engaging and feels like a skillset that is lost in time. The finish, while not executed as clean as I would have liked, feels earned as Cactus attempts to give the Funker a Stun Gun onto the wire, only for Funk to counter it to a DDT and drape an arm over him for the win. Most people know this match because of its' mention in Foley's first book but I feel like it's become overlooked + underrated in the subsequent years and many wrestlers today could learn a thing or two by revisiting it."

[7.0] "Not a lot of wrestling going on here but there is lots of insanity with blood, barbed wire and fire. It's entertaining for what it is. Must have been unbelievable to be in the crowd."

[9.0] "I found out about this match from Mick Foley's book, and this match was definitely worth mentioning and describing for a few pages. It didn't feel like violence for violence's sake, it was an emotional battle between two sworn enemies. Cactus, who was ready for any kind of torture, met his idol, an unprincipled sadist who was ready to literally burn his opponent's face. At the same time, it wasn't like just a wrestling match simulation with terminator mode. There weren't that many covers, they were in the second half of the match, after the fiercest part, when the wrestlers had time to recover a bit. The post-match segment was also good, showing that the wrestlers hate each other to the bone, and the rivalry is not over yet. A very high quality bloody mess, fully revealing the level of hatred wrestlers have for each other."

[7.0] "Foley w 1994 roku mia juz na koncie udana kariere. Mozna wiec sie zastanawiac czemu zdecydowa sie na cos takiego. Duzy szacunek dla obu panów, którzy mimo surowych warunków, starali sie dac naprawde solidne ringów show. By hardcore, byy fajne kontry. Tylko fina do kitu. ***1/2"

[8.0] "This is both good and strange. It is strange in the sense that it feels very indie and althought the hardcore japanese fans have adopted Terry Funk this just doesn't make too much sense in IWA's context, but it's still a big match that drew a not great crowd and it just doesn't feel right for these two. Now I guess the really wanted to have this match and they make a spectacle at it and use some fire to add to the violence, including Cactus Jack taking a bump on a flaming chair."

[6.0] "I gotta re-read Foleys books to see if he ever wrote about this match, because I cant quite square away why these two men would mutilate each other in front of maybe 300 people? I ca t imagine the pay day was worth it, but here I am 30 years later watching it? hate the fire stuff though, it doesnt belong in pro wrestling."

[6.0] "These two lads put far more effort in than was required for a quarter filled sports hall. They both bled like a stuffed pig. It was a spectacle but I can't say I enjoyed it much"

[8.0] "A very nice hardcore match between two legends of this style. Mick Foley served well and poured out his hatred on Terry Funk in the fight. Fire, throwing chairs at each other, the spectacle almost did not subside in the battle."

[6.0] "As a match, it's not great. The finish was especially poor. What it gets marks for, though, is how involved they were with the crowd. There's spectacle in that sense. The fans must have felt like they were involved in a live-action horror film, which is something Japanese deathmatches of that era were quite good at, even in matches much worse than this. Funk taking a (deliberately missing) swing at a fan is a highlight, but they had flying chairs, blood, and fire out in the audience and that sense of danger for all involved is something that I miss."