Chainsaw Charlie vs. Tarzan Goto (Indie World Vol. 1 Fuck Dem Up!, 5/21/98) (This is a Falls Count Anywhere Barbed Wire Board Deathmatch)

Writing this as someone who hasn’t seen as much Terry Funk as a wrestling fan should have, this is the sort of match that makes it clear as day why he has the reputation of being an all-timer.

For some wrestlers, it really is the simplest thing to see.

On paper, this match rules so hard. Tarzan Goto is a guy I’ve been familiarising myself with due to many friends online singing his praises and from the early FMW I’ve been going through lately. A true force of a man, a presence that demands attention in any arena he arrives in and works so great as a big man that puts anyone he’s up against as a spirited underdog. Combine that with one of the best sellers and bumpers in Terry Funk (or in this match, Chainsaw Charlie) and you get a match made in heaven.

For what it’s worth, this match isn’t perfect and that’s what makes it great.

The match starts with a jump start from Goto on Funk during his entrance, they brawl all through Korakuen and the bleachers and the Chainsaw Charlie gear gets ripped up and thrown to the side. On a visual and deeper level, I love that Goto strips away any façade Funk comes into this match in, not that he feels like any true “character” when he’s fighting as a true gritty babyface but all the added stuff on top gets thrown to one-side real quick. Back in the ring, Goto uses all of the barbed wire boards to full effect but not in a any grandiose way, mostly just through Funk being unable to stand due to blood loss and simply falling into them because they are the only things keeping him standing. Funk gets his comeback and hope once he creates distance too, managing to get to the outside and launch chairs across the ringside area at Goto. Funk’s offense feels composed of whatever he has left and whatever he can find around him. Once Funk gets the barbed wire boards in his hands, he piles all 4 of them on top of Goto who lays on the ringside floor and Funk hits a fantastically bad double knee drop off the apron onto all the barbed wire boards. If it looked clean, it wouldn’t be Funk’s style so when I say bad, I mean awesome.

That’s what these kinds of matches and the wrestling that I’ve been getting the most enjoyment out of lately comes down to. Nothing quite looks perfect and that’s what wrestling is. It’s a struggle, a fight for control where moves only look easy when one force is completely overwhelming the other and given the chance to breathe, the other will fight back in the only way they know how. For Funk, it’s full force even if ill-advised, and for Goto, it’s crushing whatever stands in front of him. Weak attempts at offense and rough-looking bumps look good when the heart and spirit is there to give it everything you’ve got.

Sadly, this match ends in a no contest which given the stipulation doesn’t make the most sense. There’s an abundance of interference and Goto hits the meanest powerbomb to a guy in a suit who certainly didn’t look like a pro-wrestler and part of me hopes he wasn’t. Wrestler or not, no one is safe from Tarzan Goto.

This match is probably forgotten by most through time, partly because it’s a mostly inconsequential match that happened on a freelance show called “Indie World Vol1 Fuck Dem Up!” but truly, it deserves recognition. It’s Terry Funk vs Tarzan Goto in Korakuen Hall in some form of a barbed wire deathmatch! Funk bleeds and Goto destroys. On a spiritual level, it’s true pro-wrestling.