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El Desperado vs. Jun Kasai vs. Masashi Takeda (Barb Sasaki Produce Barb Sasaki Refereeing Life 25th Anniversary CRAZY FEST)

Living beyond death.

The main thing about the El Desperado vs. Jun Kasai is that, as a series of matches, it obviously tells a story. A tale of Desperado pursuing death but learning to live in the process by facing he who has tricked death countless times and stands as the purest form of a death match wrestler, just because he continues to live on. Kasai is death match wrestling, and not because of his trajectory, but because of his philosophy towards death match.

What makes Kasai so special to me is something that I can't find in the likes of Nick Gage or Nick Mondo. This feeling of fighting through thick and thin to continue breathing and continue doing the sport they love the most is what makes Kasai so legendary.

Desperado vs. Kasai in 2019 was somewhat of a promise that failed to be fulfilled. Desperado wanted Kasai more than anything in the world, because facing such a legendary wrestler would be the litmus test of his own worth as an individual, yet he couldn't achieve that.

Desperado vs. Kasai in 2022 was a poem, a declaration of how important is to live, and how foolish is to search for death, or stating you're going to die if needed. The match itself is Desperado atoning for his sins, as we see Kasai giving him a taste of what he wishes or thinks he does. Kasai's monologue continues to resonate as the mantra of this rivalry/friendship/bond they share.

They share, and they shed blood. After 2022 though, Desperado and Kasai were more of a unit. They worked as an occasional tag team, and in those matches we found a new version of the masked wrestler. He was free from the chains and limitations of the junior heavyweight division and was going all in on every single occasion.

Desperado built a resume of fantastic matches in every promotion *but* New Japan Pro Wrestling. After watching a sick tag team match between him and Kasai against Rina Yamashita and Masashi Takeda, I was kinda disappointed on the way Desperado wrestled in NJPW. He was remarkable, that's for sure, but something was missing.

I don't want to use the word “soul” because Desperado's wrestling style has that in every single part of what constitutes his persona and the enigmatic presence he carries wherever he goes, but it's a concept akin to that. So, when this match appeared in front of me, I was excited for it, because I wanted to see what was the next chapter in Desperado's story with death match wrestling.

I'm going to try to be brief with my review: this match fucks.

I was not hoping to use vulgar terms to explain my liking of this match, but I think it's the most honest way to portray my feelings towards this and how much I loved every single second of it. In this current state of wrestling where I'm more radicalized by the minute in terms of how my taste continues to develop, this match is the definition of fresh air.

It's a match that, on the surface, doesn't seem to care about telling a story. But the story of the match is the match itself and how it is a celebration of everything that made death match wrestling in Japan so characteristic in the 2000s.

At one point it becomes nonsensical violence. The one that doesn't need an explanation more than the nature of the human being and the most timeless form of entertainment and artistic expression: this being pure violence for the sake of it. You stop watching a match, and you start seeing a test of endurance.

A fight for the ages, and the most empiric proof of the indomitable human spirit. Desperado's presence in this match also tells a story of a man who was a fan of death match wrestling but never had the chance to explore it in its finest form, up until this night.

Yes, you could make an argument that Desperado wrestled “death matches” but nothing close to this. The context of this match is what makes it special, as Desperado squares up against the “Crazy Monkey” in Kasai, and the “Crazy Kid” in Takeda. Both individuals synonymous with death, but preachers of life in every single aspect.

We know what Kasai did in 2022, and we know the kind of impact it had on Desperado, but Takeda is also a wrestler that shares that philosophy of “living beyond death”. When he became King of FREEDOMS Champion, he stated that his late wife was watching him somewhere, as he achieved his dream. He used death match wrestling to learn how to live, facing the death of his loved one, and I think that's beautiful and one of the main reasons I adore this match.

This is a fight for survival. These are warriors. This is the thing that makes wrestling so pure to me. The raw emotion, and the universal language that is violence when done the right way. The nature of great death match wrestling. A match so good, so emotional, that exists as a life lesson. A lesson on how to live.

#el desperado #jun kasai #masashi takeda #new japan pro wrestling #crazy fest #deathmatches #death match