Pro Wrestling Love vol. 48: Best of Other Puroresu 1996-1999 (Genichiro Tenryu, Nobuhiko Takada, Volk Han)

Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 48:

The Best of Other Puroresu 1996-1999

Objective:  Break up the Greatest Match Ever Project (hosted at http://gweproject.freeforums.net/) into more manageable chunks to help me build my Top 100 List for the project.

Motivation: Contribute to the discussion around these matches to enrich my own understanding of pro wrestling and give a fresh perspective for old matches and even hopefully discover great pro wrestling matches that have been hidden by the sands of time.

Subject: This forty-eighth volume of Pro Wrestling Love is the beginning of the Top 12 countdown of the best matches to take place in the independent promotions of Japan between 1996-1999 this includes the shoot-style promotions of RINGS, UWFi, Battlarts, and Kingdom and the pro-style promotions of WAR, FMW and Onita Pro. The year 1996 was selected as the beginning because that was the year that there was an increase in quality matches from the independent scene and when RINGS really kicked into high gear. The big four of Volk Han, Kiyoshi Tamura, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka and Yoshihisa Yamamoto closed the decade with some of the best matches not just of the decade, but of all time. 1996 is also the year that saw the demise of UWFi as Takada completed his invasion of New Japan and had one last gasp in a major feud with Genichiro Tenryu in a UWFi vs WAR feud. WAR also was on fumes with very few shows at the end of the decade with Tenryu spending his time in New Japan. FMW switched from an Onita-centric Death Match promotion to an Attitude Era style promotion centered around Hayabusa. Finally, with the demise of PWFG, BattlArts, centered around the interminable feud between Yuki Ishikawa and Daisuke Ikedea, rose from its ashes and created a ultra-violent, brutal hybrid style between pro and shoot style.    You can revisit past Pro Wrestling Love Volumes at ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com. You can check out the full version of these reviews in ProWrestlingOnly.com by going to the forums and finding the folders associated with the date of the match.

Contact Info: @superstarsleeze on Twitter, Instagram & ProWrestlingOnly.com.

GANNOSUKE VS TANAKA BABY!

Honorable Mentions

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs Mikhail Iloukhine - RINGS 11/20/97

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Mikhail Ilioukhine (RINGS 01/21/98)

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto (RINGS 06/24/99)

I have watched a lot of shoot-style at the point now and have really come to enjoy the genre, but I do not claim to be expert and there are still times I am left scratching my head. The above the matches are matches I thought ranged from very good to great, but fell short of classics. A lot of esteemed reviewers consider these some of the best matches of all time. The Tamura/Yamamoto match from ’99 is considered a top 10 match of the decade of the 1990s throughout the world. I don’t see that high, but I encourage people to watch and form their own views.

Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka vs Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone (BattlARTS 01/12/99)

Yuki Ishikawa & Carl Greco vs Alexander Otsuka & Mohammed Yone (BattlARTS 03/12/99)

Yuki Ishikawa & Daisuke Ikeda vs Joe Malenko & Carl Malenko (BattlARTS 06/09/99)

The top match from January is another highly regarded match that fell flat for me. Sometimes, I feel that BattlArts is just move after move without any discernible story. I will have to give it a rewatch at some point. The tag matches from March and June are great matches that exemplify the stiff, tight BatBat style.

Nobuhiko Takada & Masahito Kakihara vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Yoshiaki Fujiwara - UWFi 6/26/96

Genichiro Tenryu vs Yoji Anjoh - WAR 7/21/96

Genichiro Tenryu vs Nobuhiko Takada - WAR 12/13/96

This is a part of the dying days of UWFi as Takada declares war on WAR! The Tenryu/Anjoh match is super fun and a great how who can you dick each other match. The Tenryu/Takada WAR match is the pro-style rematch to the UWFi match that took place in September. Some people enjoy the rematch even more.

Genichiro Tenryu, Nobutaka Araya, & Shoji Nakamaki vs Atsushi Onita, Sambo Askao & Okumura - WAR 6/20/99

Onita & Co. vs Tenryu & Co. - Onita Pro 6/27/99 Barbed Wire Match

In 1999, over the course of the week, Tenryu and Onita reprised their rivalry from the mid-90s in a wild, chaotic two brawls that feature their cronies doing crazy shit. Watch this stuff!

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Willie Peeters - RINGS 7/16/96

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto - RINGS 12/19/96

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Bitzade Tariel - RINGS 7/22/97

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Yoshihisa Yammamoto (RINGS 09/21/98)

Kiyoshi Tamura is a big fan favorite of shoot-style purists. While I do prefer Fujiwara and Volk Han, I can not deny Tamura’s greatness. I really enjoy his matches against the cocky Dutch kickboxer Willie Peeters and the bruising Georgian Bitzade Tariel.

Volk Han vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka - RINGS 7/16/96

Volk Han vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto - RINGS 8/13/97

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto (RINGS 05/22/99)

The Russian Mat Wizard and Soviet Maestro, Volk Han will feature predominantly in this list, but these matches against Kohsaka and Yamamoto help flesh out of his work. The Kohsaka vs Yamamoto is a worthy successor to their ’97 classic.  

Yuki Ishikawa vs Daisuke Ikeda - BattlArts 8/4/96

Daisuke Ikeda vs Alexander Otsuka - BattlArts 11/5/97

Yuki Ishikawa vs Daisuke Ikeda - BattlArts 9/1/97

These three singles matches exemplify the BattlArts style of ultra-violent strikes and strong commitment to defensive counterwrestling. As I have said, Ishikawa and Ikeda are the Tom & Jerry of pro wrestling and I bet they are somewhere right now punching each other in the face.

FMW World & Brass Knuckles Champion Mr. Gannosuke vs Hayabusa - FMW 4/30/98

Hayabusa vs Mr. Gannosuke (FMW 08/25/99)

Hayabusa is the missing link between the 90s and 2000s in my opinion in regards to workrate. The best matches from Hayabusa I have seen are against my favorite FMW worker, Mr. Gannosuke who does a great combining heel character work, brawling and strong mat sense.

FMW Double Champion Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka - FMW 9/28/97

FMW World & Brass Knuckles Champion Masato Tanaka vs Mr. Gannosuke - FMW 1/6/98

I saw Masato Tanaka live last night for the first time! He is one of the best verbal sellers of all time and you could tell the difference between him and the rest of the show in terms of the fire he brought. He electrified that crowd by bringing that emotion. The Awesome/Tanaka series in ECW is very famous and I thought the FMW match here was very similar so if you dug the ECW stuff check this out. I really liked this Tanaka vs Gannosuke match I even think I might be short-changing it and I should re-watch to see if it would make my top 12. It is a great, violent, chaotic brawl!

Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka vs Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono (BattlARTS 10/30/96)

Yuki Ishikawa & Takeshi Ono vs Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda - BattlArts 1/21/97

The last two on the cutting block are these BattlArts tag team matches. It pains me not to represent BatBat tag matches because they are some of my favorite matches of all time (check out the 2008 stuff). This was such a loaded time period, I just could not justify putting them over any of the top 12. Definitely check both these out.

Top 12 Other Puroresu Matches 1996-1999

#12. Genichiro Tenryu vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara – WAR 11/22/97

WAR is on its last legs but produces one last stone cold classic as these two 80s deliver a violent, hotly contested affair. Fujiwara goes for an armbar takedown complains he can't get a good grip and goes to wipe his hands on the ropes and Tenryu hip check him. The ensuing strike exchanges were intense. Tenryu's sumo slaps and chops against Fujiwara punches and head butts. Fujiwara punches him so hard that he opens him up hardway. Fujiwara controls most of the match when he gets an armbar in the ropes. Fujiwara absolutely tortures the arm. Tons of armbar takedowns. There was one flurry of Tenryu offense (poorly set up Fujiwara just let him up) enziguiri and powerbomb and after the cover Fujiwara immediately grabbed an armbar. Another good Fujiwara spot was he was covering and just went for a double wristlock. This definitely felt one of those matches that Fujiwara completely had overwhelmed Tenryu with arm work and glorious punches to the head (open wound) that even though it felt like Tenryu had no chance you knew he would pull it out and they did it in a very inventive way. Tenryus desperation offense was awesome punches,kappo kicks and throat chops. He was swinging for the fences to win by knock out. Tenryu just lunged at him with punches to the head after a cover was great. Throat chop and Fujiwara goes down for a close three and Fujiwara immediately goes for a double wristlock but the match was over. I loved the finish as something realistic but rarely seen. Fujiwara dominated but Tenryu just was trying to eek out the win by phasing him enough with head rocking strikes. Tremendous action bolstered by star power, great Tenryu selling, awesome Fujiwara heavy breathing & hard work and excellent strategies. Watch it for the brutal strikes and great story.

#11. Yuki Ishikawa vs Daisuke Ikeda – BattlArts 4/15/97

Clearly Stephanie watched a lot of Ishikawa vs Ikeda to learn her cross arm breaker defense. 

We don't talk about defense enough in pro wrestling. More often than not it is because pro wrestlers don't care about defense. Offense, selling, bumps & highspots are the band of the game and high level pro wrestlers understand transitions. But very few think in terms of defense. These two are superb defensive wrestlers & they put on a defense clinic. Just in case, you are new to the game Ikeda is the stand up striker & Ishikawa is the wrestler in this Tom & Jerry feud of pro wrestling. That is not to take away the capabilities of the other in other's domain. Ikeda applied many submissions and Ishikawa rocked Ikeda with some wicked palm strikes and punches. What makes this great is not how well-rounded in offense these two are but how good they are at defending. Ishikawa was taking Ikeda down at will but once on the mat he couldn't put Ikeda away. In fact many times Ikeda ended up in dominant position. I would say the first half Ikeda held the lead. He was landing the bigger blows. Getting a standing 8 count. Big open hand slaps and some wicked kicks. The roundhouse to throats was nasty. Ishikawa had some good throws back duplex & belly to belly suplex but on the mat he couldn't put Ikeda away. I thought Ikeda was setting up his submissions better by using strikes. In the middle of the match it looked like Ikeda had it with multiple submissions especially a single leg crab. But Ishikawa is a great defensive wrestler in his own right. He navigated out of the submissions but the key was his stand up defense. He was able to catch the big kicks and turn them into legbars. Deeper into the match the more lasting benefit this had. He had a great figure-4 but Ikeda made the ropes he transitioned into a headlock. Ikeda ended up on top it really goes to show you how good Ikeda is at defensive ground wrestling. I think it was Ishikawa that punched Ikeda in the face on the ground with a stiff right to set up a cross arm-breaker. That's what he needed more set up. I loved Ishikawa head butting Ikeda in the back to set up the German. I thought they picked up the urgency in the last five minutes. Ishikawa came flying in with a knee to the head. Ikeda was throwing huge strikes. Big time submissions in the ropes not letting go. Ikeda has a double wrist lock applied as time expires. I like Ikeda on top as rge match went to a draw because if I was scoring on points he won the match. Ishikawa came on really strong at the end but Ikeda mixed in big strikes and submission defense to put together a complete performance. He was letting Ishikawa take him down because he knew he could survive. Ishikawa needed to set up via submissions better as he was relying on his superior takedown ability. Ishikawa can really take a lick and also got better at defending the strikes of Ikeda. It was fitting that such an even, defensive struggle ended in a draw. 

#10. FMW Heavyweight Champion Mr. Gannosuke vs Masato Tanaka – FMW 8/20/99

Mr. Gannosuke is easily my favorite FMW wrestler as he has great heel charisma, is great a garbage brawler but can hang on the mat and throws great strikes. Evil Comissioner Kodo Fuyuki plays the crooked ref in this match. Some fun spots at the beginning like making Tanaka break on the ropes, but Gannosuke got smack Tanaka on the ropes. Tanaka has a clean chinlock, but Gannosuke claims it is a choke to Fuyuki breaks. Tanaka applies a figure-4 but Fuyuki flips Gannosuke over onto the ropes. Good shit like that. At this FMW as switched from deathmatch wrestling to being an Attitude Era-inspired promotion. On the canvas it reads "Entertainment Wrestling" and this is very entertaining wrestling.

Gannosuke is  able to grab a hold of he arm and wrench it against the ropes. Great heat segment ensues where Gannosuke does a great combination of hard strikes and a variety of holds (double wristlock is sold really well and I love a good short arm scissors). Fuyuki lets Gannosuke attack the arm with a chair. Remember Tanaka relies a lot on that elbow. He removes the pad to reveal a bandaged elbow. The chair gets introduced again. Fuyuki goes to "chastise" the wrestler that threw it in, but Tanak is able to thwart its use by attacking Gannosuke. He gets his first mini-comeback including a tornado DDT and missile dropkick (the count was a little on the slow side and Tanaka gave Fuyuki some side-eye). Tanaka eats knees on the splash. Gannosuke goes right back to the arm. Gannosuke switches from arm work to bombs galore. On the second powerbomb, Tanaka wriggles free and hits a massive lariat. He does clutch his bad arm afterwards. At this point, the match starts to be more reminiscent of the King's Road style with a lot of bomb-throwing and Tanaka selling the arm keeping him from fully capitalizing. As he hitting moves or elbows, he is slow to follow up. Gannosuke hits a CRAZY COUNTER! He is about backdrop out of a powerbomb, but instead basically piledrivers Tanaka into the mat. Fuyuki does some good fast counting...could be a little faster, but the energy is there. Gannosuke starts throwing out suplexes galore (Northern Lights, Dragon, German) and Tanaka has some great loopy sells of these. I really liked the Full Nelson Camel Clutch that should be stolen, looked painful. Gannosuke Driver gets two and thats the climax of this finish run for the bad guy. Tanaka no sells the next German, Lariat and Enziguiri until he finally fells Mr. Gannosuke with an Elbow! I like the finish stretch where first Gannosuke wipes out Fuyuki with a lariat by accident and then Tanaka floors him after Gannosuke moves until he is knocked out. The new ref is in and Tanaka needs to hit an elbow and his Flip Stone Cold Stunner to win the match. 

There's definitely overkill and Tanaka could have sold the arm a little more to put over he was fighting through the pain (I think it was there, but understated). However, I thought this was fun as hell. The first 15 minutes is just classic, over the top babyface vs heel gold with Gannosuke just being the man. The finish run is big, dumb fun that is All Japan-inspired. Call me crazy, but I loved this and think this is easily the best FMW match I have ever seen. 

#9. Genichiro Tenryu vs Nobutaka Araya

WAR 1/14/98 J-1 Heavyweight Championship

With WAR on death's doorstep, Tenryu says lets make a Heavyweight Championship. I have seen one other Araya match from All Japan in like 2002. He is a chubba wubba. 

CHAOS! MAYHEM! PANDEMONIUM! I LOVED THIS! Tenryu is picking out shards of the broken Singapore Cane from his arm! THIS IS WAR! This is a fucking street fight. Tenryu just comes out balls to the wall, I am going to decapitate you muthafucka and I am going to hurl my body as a weapon. He just beat the shit out of him. Then when Araya tries to powder, he becomes an Araya-seeking missile of destruction. I love the wipe out of the chairs spots so, so much. No matter who does that is always over with me. Tenryu climbs up on a raised part of the arena and just wipes Araya out. Tenryu has a chair and he is not afraid to use it. He tries to come off the top with it and Araya dropkicks it in his fucking face! Tenryu is bleeding. Araya just moonsaults him. None of this bullshit let me take a fucking minute to make sure Im in position to catch you bullshit, Araya just fucking moonsaults him. Then Araya gets a hold of the Singapore Cane that Tenryu brought. HE FUCKING WAILS ON TENRYU! I am mean WAILS ON HIM! Then he breaks the Cane over the post and WHACKS Tenryu with is and Tenryu is left picking out splinters as his arm is just bleeding. So how the hell can they top this? Well what else do I love...CHAIR THROWS! Tenryu mounts his comeback by throwing a chair at Araya when he is on the top rope about to do a moonsault to the floor! Tenryu just brains him with the chair. TENRYU DOES A SOMERSAULT SENTON FROM THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR! MARK OUT CITY! Back in the ring, there is kick that Tenryu does to Araya's face this is just digusting. As soon as he did I audibly said "Fuck!" Araya was bleeding from pretty much every part of his face. Then they kind of did a Choshu/Hashimoto finish mixed with a little All Japan. They were powerbombing each other and then no selling back drop drivers. Then it was just LARIAOTO CITY! They went full Chishu/Hashimoto and Tenryu hit big, meaty lariats. The final Lariat was a MONSTER TRUCK LARIAT! HE FUCKING SMOKED HIS ASS! 

Hate, violence and chaos! They beat the ever living shit out of each other. It never let up they just kept coming at each other. I cant believe people were giving this **...this is one of the best brawls ever! THIS WAS WAR!

#8. Volk Han vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka – RINGS 8/24/96

So this is RINGS, human pretzel making. A sick part of me wishes Uncle Eric brought in these dudes to WCW so I could hear Tony, Dusty & Bobby call the action. Dusty would say "uncle" and "uncler" so much. Han gets the coolest, most organic figure-4 you will ever see from a standing half guard. Yep, believe the hype brutha, Volk Han is legit. Thought the escapes from Kojsaka on the figure-4 and cross arm breaker were too easy. Then they started using rope breaks which I liked better. Han lets Kohsaka take him down and grabs a double wrist lock. The double wrist lock seems to be the base for everything. In kayfabe, it seems like Han is being presented as the better wrestler. I hate the bundle of legs dueling submission as a spot no matter what. Han drops down with a rear naked choke and Kohsaka comes up with a sick counter of basically an inverted deadlock on the legs. I marked out and Kohsaka has a renewed sense of confidence. That felt like a big moment where the momentum could have shifted to Kohsaka. He grabbed a rolling leg takedown but in the pretzel he created he left his arm exposed and Han grabbed hyperextended it and since Kohsaka was in pretzel of his own creation he had no escape and was forced to tap.

Even though I haven't watched much shoot style I gobble it up with a spoon when I do. It was exciting to see my first Volk Han match thought he lived up to the hype. Definitely some mark out moments like the figure-4 and just some of those wrist lock grabs and chains. The counter to the choke by Kohsaka was my favorite spot felt electric and like everything was going to go his way, but then he taps in his own trap! Thought some escapes were little too easy in the beginning and in shoot style I like narratives of contrasting styles didn't feel that here. It was an incredible display of grappling wizardry.

#7. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Nobuhiko Takada – UWFi 9/11/96

The two biggest, non-NJPW, non-AJPW puroresu wrestlers of the 90s do battle drawing 30,000 to Jingu Stadium. On a card that also featured Hashimoto, Sasaki, SAYAMA!?? & KAWADA?!? against UWFi wrestlers. Tenryu blazed the path for freelance wrestling Japan in the 90s, which became a popular path in the first decade of the 21st Century. While Takada started an incredibly successful shoot-style company in the 90s, which inevitably led to the founding of PRIDE forever changing the landscape of pro wrestling & mixed martial arts. After Tenryu feuded with New Japan from late 92-early 94, Takada feuded with New Japan from late 95-early 96 there was really nowhere left for either to go but into each other arms. UWFi was breathing its last gap and this match popped a huge gate, but it was not sustainable and UWFi closed its doors in December of 1996.

Huge Clash of the Titans feel for this match. Starts off slow but chippy. They established pro style vs shoot style with Tenryu missing his elbow drop from the top early and Takada kicking him out of the ring to a huge pop from the pro-UWFi crowd. Things get chippy when Tenryu does not give a clean rope break and Takada starts firing off kicks, but Tenryu grabs the leg and torques it into a dragon leg screw. The match really takes off when Takada relentlessly knees Tenryu in the face cutting him really badly from the forehead. Nasty stuff and actually set up a huge Tenryu comeback, which was weird because the crowd really loved Takada, but goddamn did I love Tenryu unleashing his classic fury (punches, chops, suplex and Cloverleaf) when he saw his own blood and just ripped into Takada. Tenryu just punching Takada really hard into the side of the head and the way Takada sold it was just magnificent by both men. The ref speaking perfect English throughout the match was odd to me. He told someone to take it easy at one point, which made me laugh.

The cloverleaf was a great visual with the blood pouring down Tenryu face it was like a reverse Bret-Austin. Takada makes the ropes. Tenryu misses the Kappo Kick. The one issue with Takada is that his favorite hold is a kneebar and that is by far the most boring of all shoot-style holds and that's what he goes for here. Takada's offense (kicks and knees) has been great and his selling really, really good too. The kicks to the leg and that MASSIVE LEFT TO THE HEAD had me popping huge. Takada going for a pinfall cover was so strange to me! It looked so wrong! Cross-armbreaker that's more like it, but Tenryu clasps the hands, but Takada breaks it but Tenryu is too close to the ropes. Big lariat from Tenryu for 2! Tenryu misses second lariat and Takada gets an armbar takedown into a Fujiwara armbar. Takada kicks Tenryu in the head a bunch so Tenryu punches him in the head and Takada just melts into the mat. Takada is on fire here. Mack Truck Lariat by Tenryu only gets two and Takada kicks him in the head from the ground massive punch by Tenryu. The Chop-Kick Fighting Spirit bullshit works here because of how big of superstars they are and everything that happened before. Tenryu wins with a huge overhand chop. Tenryu Powerbomb?!? Takada gets the armbar takedown and Fujiwara armbar gets him the victory.

Really amazing Clash of the Titans style pro vs shoot style match. Takada remained committed to who he was as did Tenryu yet somewhere they were able to meet somewhere in the middle without comprising their integrity or match quality. Everything just felt huge. It was a little slow in the beginning, but once Takada busted Tenryu open with those knees, the last ten minutes were amazing. 

Pro Wrestling Love Vol. 9: Best of Puroresu 2005-2009 (Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yuji Nagata, Yuki Ishikawa)

Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 9:

The Greatest Matches of Non-NOAH Puroresu in 2005-2009

Objective:  Break up the Greatest Match Ever Project (hosted at gwe.freeforums.project.net) into more manageable chunks to help me build my Top 100 List for the project.

Motivation: Contribute to the discussion around these matches to enrich my own understanding of pro wrestling and give a fresh perspective for old matches and even hopefully discover great pro wrestling matches that have been hidden by the sands of time.

Contact Info: You can revisit past Pro Wrestling Love Volumes at ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com. You can check out the full version of these match reviews in ProWrestlingOnly.com by going to the forums and finding the folders associated with the date of the match. You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram @superstarsleeze or at ProWrestlingOnly.com as Superstar Sleeze to continue the discussion. 

Subject: This ninth volume of Pro Wrestling Love is the Top 6 countdown of the best matches to take place in Puroresu from 2005-2009. We left off at 2004 and so we are resuming at 2005. It makes sense to end at the end of the first decade of the 21^st century. The last half of the decade sees Antonio Inoki be ousted from New Japan in a shocker, but he was clearly losing his mind. In his departure, New Japan began its ascent back to its place in the sun as the top promotion in puroresu. It begins with building around traditional pro wrestling and placing new stars, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura at the forefront. In addition, shoot-style made a comeback in the form of FUTEN, Big Mouth Loud and the reopening of BattlArts. Finally, junior style wrestling was revitalized with the growing popularity of Dragon Gate and the success of Katsuhiko Nakajima and Fujita Jr. Hayato.

Ratings: As of right now, I would say the top match is a lock for the list along with one of the two BattlArts matches from 2008.  

The K.I.D.

Honorable Mentions

Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion Yoshitune vs Fujita Jr Hayato - Michinoku Pro 12/12/08

Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion Fujita Jr Hayato vs Ou Kobushi - Michinoku Pro 9/5/09

As Fujita Jr. Hayato’s biggest fan, I have got to make sure he is properly represented in Pro Wrestling Love. Michinoku Pro has a mini-resurgence in the late 2000s thanks to his excellent hard-hitting work.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion HiroshI Tanahashi vs Hirooki Goto - NJPW 11/11/07

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Manabu Nakanishi vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW 6/20/09

Speaking of resurgences none was bigger than New Japan’s in the late 2000s and was all behind the Ace of the Universe, Hiroshi Tanahashi. With Antonio Inoki ousted from power, New Japan was rebuilt as a true pro wrestling company around Hiroshi Tanahashi. Tanahashi is interesting as he no strong older supporting cast to help him rebuild. Hashimoto had passed away. Mutoh was running All Japan. Chono was retired. Sasaki was in NOAH. Tanahashi along with Nakamura literally built this company back up from scratch. That is a real feather in his cap.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura – NJPW 12/10/06

Non-NOAH Puroresu Match of the Year, 2006

I wanted to single this match out, one because it was the non-NOAH match of the year for 2006 and because it was the first great match between the two biggest rivals that would dominated New Japan for the next decade.

Open The Triangle Champions Do Fixer (Genki Horiguchi, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito) vs. Blood Generation (CIMA, Don Fuji, Naruki Doi) - Pro Wrestling Festival 2005

Dragon Gate is not my favorite style in the world, but I really did enjoy this one. I have a very fun spotfest that everyone will like and those that really like the style will love!

All Japan Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - AJPW 2/17/07

Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion Fujita Jr Hayato vs Great Sasuke - Michinoku Pro 6/19/09

The last two out are both junior heavyweight matches and really show that junior heavyweight wrestling was having a mild renaissance in the late 2000s. As I mentioned in the previous volume, I really enjoy the work of Nakajima and this was his best singles match of the decade with ex-Dragon Gate powerhouse Shuji Kondo, a truly terrific match. The next match was a part of the great Fujita Jr Hayato campaign of 2009 where he is easily my pick for Wrestler of the Year. Here he is having a great match with the Great Sasuke who had not had a great match in a decade. As we will see later in this countdown, Hayato was firing on all cylinders.

The Top Six Non-NOAH Puroresu Matches of 2005-2009

GREAT BASH HEEL!

 #6. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Togi Makabe – NJPW 7/6/07

Bloody, hellacious, heated brawl! Yuji Nagata needed to be in more of these in his career. Makabe was all in as a heel brawler. Totally invested in being the biggest scumbag on the planet. What is interesting is that it was not Makabe being an asshole that triggers Nagata into a fury. Nagata came out of the gate guns blazing! Makabe used every dirty trick he could. Nagata was the valiant defender of New Japan, a role he can surprisingly be good at. Nagata fights through eyerakes to beat the hell out of Makabe at the beginning, which is great at establishing the lengths which Nagata would go to. The ref keeps getting in his way and eventually he wears a steel chair as a collar around his neck, always a great visual. Then Makabe busts out scissors and I fell in love with this match. Nagata rips roars back into contention with huge Misawa-like elbows and bloodies Nagata. Double juice! The ref has some big cajones as he stands up to Nagata trying to rip off Makabe’s arm and to refusing to count pinfalls for Makabe because of him wrapping his arm in a chain and piledriving Nagata on a chair. Makabe misses his finish, the King Kong Kneedrop and it is off to the races. Nagata kicks his head off and the Back Drop Driver completes a successful defense. Chaos, violence and brutality. Re-reading my review, I may have actually underrated it. I need to rewatch this. This sounds amazing all over again when I was reading my review. Check this out!  

#5. Fujita Jr. Hayato vs Koji Kanemoto – NJPW Super J Cup 12/22/09

Puroresu Match of the Year, 2009

Hard Rock Halleujah! Big Hair! Middle Finger to the sky! It is Fujita Muthafuckin Jr Hayato! Hayato always has a bad attitude and the veteran Kanemoto meets him right at that level of hate & intensity. It was an absolutely electric beginning. Full mounts, hair pulling, choking, closed fists, eye gouging and gritty matwork. They make their way outside wiping out railings and chairs. Great atmosphere for this match, they are rocking. Hayato is not just a hard kicking badass. He is an amazing seller. Kanemoto worked an amazing double wristlock out of a German suplex and then switched to a heel hook that had Hayato scratching and clawing for the ropes. Great desperation selling. Steiner Screwdriver by Kanemoto! Wow! Kanemoto chooses to humiliate rather than win and that costs him as Hayato applies a tight Guillotine Choke, but Kanemoto makes it to the ropes. Kanemoto catches a kick and turns it into a heel hook for the win. What a fight! Energy and hate! Just a total asskicker!

#4. Yuki Ishikawa vs Daisuke Ikeda – FUTEN 4/24/05

Non-NOAH, Puroresu Match of the Year, 2005

FUTEN is a BattlArts-style promotion run by Daisuke Ikeda. BattlArts was started in 1996 after shoot-style Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gym (PWFG) closed. BattlArts was started by Yuki Ishikawa, but it was not quite a shoot-style promotion. It is more of an ultra-violent promotion. Not like a CZW, but like a New Japan Strong Style on steroids. In BattlArts, it is just two sometimes four dudes hitting the ever-loving crap out of each other and unlike shoot-style they allow closed fists. Shoot-style went out of style at the turn of millennium as real MMA in the form of PRIDE took off. In the mid-2000s there were some attempts at revitalization in the form of U-Style (run by Kiyoshi Tamura) and FUTEN by Daisuke Ikeda and then Yuki Ishikawa reopening BattlArts in 2008.

It should be noted that somewhere in Japan I believe that Ishikawa and Ikeda are fighting right now. They are the Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner of Puroresu they have been fighting each other than 1996 and had some tremendous battles in 1997. The over simplified story is Ishikawa is a ground & pound wrestler whereas Ikeda is the stand up striker with lethal kicks. It is the MMA story as old as time: Stand up vs ground.

Did I mention they allow CLOSED FISTS! Incredible how they are lying them in. Ikeda kicks ass at the beginning of the match earning 4 knockdowns and forcing 2 ropes breaks to Ishikawa’s one knockdown and 2 rope break forces. Shoot style selling is always interesting. The register is sudden and intense. The long term selling is cool and calm. It makes sense in a real fight you wouldn’t busy yourself selling, but you better that register is powerful. Ishikawa makes his comeback with back drop drivers. He closes the gap to 5 knockdowns and 3 rope breaks compared to Ikeda’s six knockdowns and 3 rope break forces. Ikeda pulverizes Ishikawa’s face and causes Ishikawa to bleed profusely from the mouth. Those Ishikawa suplexes were great.  Ishikawa earns the victory with a snug crossface chickenwing. More often than not theres no great overarching narrative it is just two dudes kicking each other’s teeth in and wanting to win badly.

You can Thank Phil & The Boys at Segunda Caida for this one!

#3. Yuki Ishikawa, Alexander Otsuka, Muneori Sawa vs Daisuke Ikeda, Super Tiger II, Katsumi Usuda – BattlArts 7/26/08 Elimination Match

Anytime you see Ishikawa across the ring from Ikeda you know that shit is gonna get real. It is a great organic, thoughtful the match was. Moves like Northern Lights Suplex, Figure-4 and Sharpshooter would never happen in a MMA contest, but here they come up with credible ways to apply the hold without excessive cooperation. Of course there are plenty of brutal strikes. The elimination nature helps add a narrative element that is missing from many of the BattlArts match that I crave.  I loved the beginning of the match building to the first elimination. Sawa has a chip on his shoulder and he really wants to take out the big dog, Ikeda. He is obsessed with him to the point of costing himself the match. However, they maintain the pecking order as Ikeda is able to assert his superiority over Sawa. It is Usuda that takes advantage of Sawa’s tunnel vision applying a deep, deep toehold. Sawa sells like a million bucks and conveys great desperation knowing that he is easy pickins’. Usuda taps Sawa out and Team Ikeda 203.

They do a great job showcasing how much a hole being down a man is. The opposing team has an extra man to break up submissions and thus the onus is now on the disadvantaged to score an elimination by knockout. A perfect example of this is Otsuka has an arm triangle on Usuda, Ishikawa detains Super Tiger, but Ikeda casually strolls over to break up the submission. The disadvantaged team has the suplex machine, Otsuka and the hard-hitting Ishikawa so they have a puncher’s chance. Otsuka does even the score by hitting a German/Dragon Suplex combo to KO Usuda and tying it up at 2-2. Ikeda & Tiger eliminate Otsuka in short order with a wicked Tiger kick to the head and then Ikeda polishes him off with a brainbuster and punt to the head. Team Ikeda is up 2-1. I love how quick that elimination was. Team Ishikawa worked so damn hard to tie it up only for Ishikawa to be left all by himself. Heartbreaker. There is no one to save Ishikawa in submissions and all his submissions will be broken up. In the spot of the match Ishikawa has a Standing Deathlock on Super Tiger so everytime Ikeda kicks Ishikawa down it wrenches the hold in more. Wow! That is a contender for greatest spot in history. Eventually Super Tiger’s knee gives out and he succumbs. It was all building up to this: Ishikawa vs Ikeda Round 8,624. Ishikawa is exhausted and may have punched himself out. Ishikawa wants a submission and Ikeda wants to kick Ishikawa’s head off when we get a draw! I didn’t like this finish. It is enough to probably keep it off my final ballot. It was not 30 minutes of Ishikawa vs Ikeda earning a draw rather it was an elimination tag where Ikeda was not in the match that long. It just did not feel like an earned draw, but booking crutch not to give a finish to Ishikawa vs Ikeda. Still for 30 minutes of action, you would be hard pressed to find something better.

   

#2. Yuki Ishikawa & Muneori Sawa vs Super Tiger II & Manabu Hara – BattlArts 11/16/08

Puroresu Match of the Year, 2008

My favorite genre of Puroresu: Prick heels vs Ace Babyface & A Hungry Young Lion. We saw Sawa in the previous match how he has a lot of energy and a real chip on his shoulder. Tiger holds Ishikawa as Hara attacks him with wicked kicks to the midsection. Great selling from Ishikawa. Ishikawa crumples to the mat with every kick to the midsection. All the submission holds are so well worked and so well-hold wrestlers lunging desperately for the ropes. The match kicks into overdrive when Sawa becomes a face in peril. Tiger hooks in a choke on Sawa. Sawa reaches the sanctuary of the ropes only to find Super Tiger come in blazing with kicks. Ishikawa tries to save but Hara hits a kneelift to his sore midsection. Tiger and Hara take turns mercilessly kicking Sawa. What makes this so good is the gradualism of Sawa’s selling. There is no dying, no deadfish selling and no miraculous kicks outs. Sawa is fighting back, but just being overwhelmed. Sawa pays tribute to the Keiji Mutoh with a Dragon Leg Screw and Shining Wizard! Pro Wrestling Love! The rest of the match is effectively a handicap match as Sawa is completely decimated. Super Tiger II looks to finish the job he started in August of 2008 in his singles match with Ishikawa. Ishikawa is able to play counterwrestler and convert those lethal kicks into heel hook submissions. I love how they really earn their saves. Hara has to really wrestle Sawa down and lunge for the desperation save. Likewise when Tiger has Ishikawa in a double wristlock, Sawa breaks through. Just like my original review, I am not going to spoil the finish because it is something that should be enjoyed without an foreknowledge. I like it better than the elimination because of the great face in peril segment on Sawa and the red hot finish run.   

#1. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yuji Nagata – NJPW 4/13/07

Puroresu Match of The Year, 2007

The first of many Hiroshi Tanahashi masterpieces! It all begins here as the new, young champion of New Japan defends against the old guard, Yuji Nagata. What makes this so different from many other matches in 2000s from Japan is that it is a traditional championship style bout. Nagata is one remaing holdover from the Inoki Era. He is the bridge between the Three Musketeers and Tanahashi & Co. He is built in the image of Inoki. He is a pro wrestler that excels at striking and counterwrestling. In the year 2007, Tanahashi is coming in the champion, but he is by no means The Man, yet. Nagata is mighty over and he is ready to prove why he is Mr. IWGP.

Tanahashi employs a very similar strategy in his matches as 2001 Keiji Mutoh. In a lot of ways he is the heir to Mutoh, but a much hard worker and a much smarter wrestler. The thing that connects Tanahashi and Mutoh is that needed have the firepower to compete at the tippy-top level of a Hashimoto, Nagata or a Nakamura. They are not going to out-strike or out-wrestle these combatants. They are crafty wrestlers and agile. They take away a body part and put their opponent in a hole. Tanahashi builds on where Mutoh laid the groundwork to use his offense to set up his big bombs. One of my favorite aspects of Tanahashi matches is when he eats knees on a High Fly Flow, but has been working the knees so his opponent is forced to sell his knees. With this knowledge of who Tanahashi is, we can begin analyzing the match. Tanahashi cannot let Nagata dictate the pace. Tanahashi is a bit of a cocky bastard. I mean he is very pretty. He takes time to pose and Nagata takes that as a slight. He tears into him with kicks, knees and elbows. Nagata looks to tear Tanahashi’s arm off. Nagata tries to kick Tanahashi off the apron, but Tanahashi catches his kick and Dragon Leg Screw! Thus it begins, the classic Tanahashi heat segment! Along with Bret Hart, there are few others I rather watch work a control segment than Tanahashi. Tanahashi is laser focused on the knee like his life depends on it. Nagata is selling like a million bucks, Flair Flop and Kawada-like collapse. At the same time, Nagata has great hope spots like flash submission in this case a crossface. He starts to build momentum, but his knee gives out on a brainbuster. Tanahashi’s strategy is paying dividends. Here comes the big Tanahashi finish stretch with all his signature moves. The High Flow Fly eats knees, but as I said Nagata cant capitalize because his knees are all messed up. Sling Blade, nope, Nagata holds on for a BACK DROP DRIVER! It is all knotted up in the 4^th Quarter. I am really impressed at how well Tanahashi conveys how important this match is late in the game: headbutting Nagata’s knee and the way he really puts all his weight into a German Suplex bridge. Try as Tanahashi might, he falls short as Nagata always had a puncher’s chance and a big kick to the rocks the future Ace of the Universe and two backdrop drivers take it for Blue Justice. Great veteran vs young champion match and just a beautifully escalated traditional championship match! Tanahashi’s strategy shows he is a thinking man’s wrestler, but cant handle all the firepower of Nagata yet.

With all the Puroresu of the 2000s done, it is time to finally finish what I started and close out the WWF Best of 1993-1997.  

Shoot To Thrill: Yuki Ishikawa, Daisuke Ikeda (Shoot-Style 2000-2006)

Hey yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies:

Is there any letter combination pronounced more differently than "Ough". You have though, rough, cough and bough and none of them rhyme. No wonder the rest of the world hates us.

I would shoot all over those

Contrary to belief of many non-wrestling fans, I think trying to understand pro wrestling as a simulation of real fighting is missing the point. However, for those non-wrestling fans that does exist and it called Shoot-Style. The history of Shoot-Style is for a much better wrestling historian than me to describe. To oversimplify it begins with New Japan Pro Wrestling Founder and Legitimate Badass, Antonio Inoki. Inoki built his credibility on Mixed Martial Arts exhibitions, most famously against Muhammad Ali. It has been remarked that Inoki's leg kicks took many years off of Ali's boxing career. Inoki is a world famous grappler in both pro wrestling and MMA worlds. Even though Inoki fancied himself a legitimate competitor his New Japan Pro Wrestling like all Pro Wrestling companies featured pre-determined matches and was booked like a normal pro wrestling company. In 1984, the likes Akira Maeda, Tiger Mask (Super Tiger in UWF), and Yoshiaki Fujiwara  formed the UWF  a shoot-style promotion, which would feature worked finishes, but worked in a more realistic fashion. The UWF folded over visionary disputes between Super Tiger & Maeda and the UWF invaded New Japan. Back in New Japan, Maeda was in two of the more infamous shoot moments in pro wrestling history when he shot on Andre The Giant when both refused to job and when he broke Choshu's orbital bone with a kick. The latter caused him to get fired and the New UWF was started. The UWF would bury New Japan and All Japan as fake and worked while they were legitimate. Of course, they worked matches like the rest, but their style based on submissions and kicks was supposed to simulate what a real match would look like as the wrestlers were well-versed in Catch Wrestling, Amateur Wrestling, Kickboxing and Judo. The shoot-style would splinter into different promotions in the early 90s such as Takada's UWFi (the most popular). Fujiwara's PWFG (I don't know much about), Maeda's RINGS (the most realistic and a eventually a legitimate shoot promotion) and Minoru Suzuki's Pancrase (which was a mixture of shoots & works).  RINGS is how famous MMA heavyweight Fedro Emelianenko debuted and many RINGS matches are counted towards people's official Sherdog's MMA record even though they were works. PANCRASE featured the Shamrock brothers and again Sherdog has a hard time discerning work from shoot. UWFi was the home promotion of "Gracie Hunter" Kazushi Sakaruba. This all to point out that in Japan the difference between work and shoot was often blurred. UWFi folded in 1996 and much like in 1984, Takada invaded New Japan and did gangbusters in box office. As New Japan was doing big business with real judoka, Naoya Ogawa against Shinya Hashimoto, Nobuhiko Takada's newest venture would change the course of puroresu history: PRIDE Fighting Championships.

PRIDE changed the game for pro wrestling and MMA in Japan. PRIDE was a shoot and in doing so effectively killed shoot-style and greatly hurt pro wrestling's draw in Japan. Inoki became obsessed with his wrestlers competing in MMA when they were not suited for that competition and pushing MMA fighters when they were not suited to being great pro wrestlers.  At least pro wrestling is different enough from MMA that there is value in watching pro wrestling, but who really wants to watch a simulated version of the real thing and thus shoot-style was dead in the water. There were brief resurgences here and there. The most meaningful in 2008 when BattlArts just uncorked one fucking great match after another that year, but up until then there was just a smattering of shoot-style matches. Former RINGS grapper, Kiyoshi Tamura tried to recapture his former shoot-style glory by founding the U-Style promotion, but while there were a couple great matches, its existence was short-lived. Shoot-style God, Yuki Ishikawa was the most active in this time period and would be the reason for the BatBat resurgence in 2008. His 2005 match with arch-rival Daisuke Ikeda is a top 20 match of the decade and proof positive that shoot-style still has a place in the modern landscape with MMA being prominently promoted.

One of the things, I need to catch up on is all the great shoot-style of the 90s and the 00s just whetted my appetite. Shoot-style can be a little dry, but more of than not it is very rewarding in the exciting finishes with crazy strike exchanges and submission battles. I definitely recommend checking out some shoot-style to broaden your horizons.


Match Listing:

Yuki Ishikawa vs Kazunari Murakami - BattlArts 11/26/00 ****
#98 of 100
Very heated. Murakami's relentless strikes vs. Ishikawa's ground game. Bit anticlimatic

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka - U-Style 02/04/04 ***3/4

Great matwork, but a bit showy and exhibitionary at times. Hot finish.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Hiroyuki Ito - U-Style 08/18/04 ****
#77 of 100
Great underdog vs veteran story with underdog swinging for the fences and the vet having to dig himself out of a hole

Yuki Ishikawa vs Daisuke Ikeda - FUTEN 4/24/05 ****1/2
#18 of 100
BRUTAL! Violent! They hit each other really fucking hard and it is very enjoyable. 

Yuki Ishikawa vs Alexander Otsuka - Big Mouth Loud 9/11/05 ***

More of a NJPW Strong Style match with a lot of fun highspots like a Frankensteiner into a Triangle.

Osamu Nishimura vs Hiro Saito - MUGA 08/02/06 ****
#87 of 100
Amazing selling in this old school affair where every move proved consequential. Suspect finish.

Osamu Nishimura vs Tatsumi Fujinami - MUGA 9/25/06 Two Out of three Falls ****
#86 of 100
Another great old school match with an awesome King of the Mountain sequence leading to a surprise finish.



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Yuki Ishikawa vs Kazunari Murakami - BattlArts 11/26/00

Stay Calm and Keep It On The Mat is Ishikawa's mantra as Murkami tried to unsettle him with his relentless fury of strikes. Murakami and his WHAM! Eyebrows look to knock Ishikawa out early with strikes, but Ishikawa keeps his head down and  before you know it he has Murakami on his back. I loved how heated this was and how Ishikawa was able to counter Murakami's uptempo style by constantly picking for mistakes. Murakami gets a flurry of kicks in and Ishikawa powders. Then we get absolutely awesome crowd brawling with them wiping out a bunch of chairs. I would say the only disappointing element was that the finish was so quick. Murakami bringing Ishikawa back in hardway with a rear naked choke was fantastic, but just as he was looking in command is when Ishikawa caught his foot and punched him in the face. An enziguiri into a rear choke was enough to force the submission. The finish suited the match well enough, but this left me wanting more. ****

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Kiyoshi Tamura vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka - U-Style 02/04/04

Tamura piqued my interest in his match with Ito. I always put delving more into Shoot Style off so I thought I take advantage of another Tamura match among the nominated matches. As a shoot-style novice, I do not know if I really could appreciate the beginning of this match. The work was really smooth and they were always moving, but it felt a little too showy like they were putting on an exhibition. I got the sense that Kohsaka was outworking on Tamura on the ground as he was chaining his moves together better and forced the first rope break at around the 10 minute mark with the guillotine choke. As good 'ol JR would say business is about to pick up as they fired off a thrilling a finish sequence. I liked Tamura responding to the first point loss with a stand up barrage to secure a knockdown and loved the knee that caught Tamura in the midsection in the fracas to put Kohsaka up 4-3. They sequence felt really organic. This is where my shoot style naivete maybe rearing its ugly head, but how come Kohsaka did not sell Tamura's deep half crab after the hold. He was screaming and selling in the hold and the nothing. I get the "real" sports argument you dont show weakness but just a little limp or favoring of that knee would have added. Also are closed fists allowed because Tamura used them liberally to break up submissions late? With Tamura down 2-1, Kohsaka goes for the home run, rolling heel hook, that Tamura counters into a cross-armbreaker in the center of the ring. I thought there were better submission sequences earlier that could have been used as the finish. I will probably appreciate this more once I watch more RINGS. Still I love great matwork and this was very well-executed. ***3/4

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Kiyoshi Tamura vs Hiroyuki Ito - U-Style 08/18/04

With the emergence of MMA in Japan, it spelled the end for shoot-style promotions, which were not as differentiated as their pro wrestling brethren. Shoot-style lives in this weird no man's land. It is essentially the worked version of MMA. I have never seen pro wrestling as the worked version of MMA. In fact, I think a lot of non-fan's hangups with pro wrestling come from the fact they are viewing it through the wrong prism. Wrestling is a carnival attraction and it adapts itself to the times. Shoot-style is the sub-genre of pro wrestling that is the closest replication of actual MMA. I have enjoyed what I have seen of the style (Takada's UWFi), but I am no expert. For instance, this is the first Tamura match I have seen even though I know the ballyhooed Volk Han series in RINGS (I have never seen a RINGS match) is very heavily promoted by the shoot-style proponents. Thus it is hard for me to rate this match in the context of this project. I liked this match a lot, but even though all the matches are worked it still feels like comparing apples and oranges.

Tamura is the ace of promotion and a well-known talent in the shoot style community and a reasonably successful MMA fighter in Pride and such (sporting a record of 32-13-3). Ito is someone I do not know and I suspect was a heavy underdog. Ito definitely prescribed to the adage "a good defense is a great offense" as he came out swinging on every occasion. In fact, for the first half the match he dominated Tamura forcing him to take two rope breaks utilizing palm strikes, knees to the head, triangle chokes and cross armbreakers. Even though, he was put into an early hole, Tamura never lost his cool and wrangled a leg lace, but Ito was able to get a leg lace of his own, but eventually Ito had to use the ropes to escape. After Tamura caught a kick and applied a heel hook, Ito lost his second point.  With the match leveled, Ito concentrated keeping the fight off the ground and tried to win by knockout. They trade knockdowns, but Ito definitely is the more offensive fighter. Tamura presses an advantage and Ito sells his high kicks really well, but Ito is able to sneak in a palm strike to the face to knock him down. One more knock down and Ito wins. Tamura wakes the fuck up and takes Ito to town. He catches Ito's kick and turns it into a half-crab for the win.

I loved Ito taking it to the strong favorite, Tamura at every chance. His performance was so urgent and there was a real sense of struggle on the stand-up. No one would confuse this ground game for an MMA match, but they kept it moving. Besides the dueling leg laces, every submission was sold like it could end it. The real highlight of the match is the very dramatic stand-up sequence with both fatigued and just going for broke. It was very well laid out to have Tamura back up against the wall throwing bombs only to finally catch Ito's leg and finish via submission. I would not say a match of the decade contender, but a very good match. ****  

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Yuki Ishikawa vs Daisuke Ikeda - FUTEN 4/24/05

A Japanese Shoot-Style promotion that allows closed fists, my prayers have been answered! As soon as the ref breaks them, Ikeda punches Ishikawa right in the face to get an early knock down. Ikeda never really looks back earning 4 knockdowns and forcing 2 rope breaks to Ishikawa's one knockdown and 2 rope break forces. These punches are incredible how they are laying them in. I was watching Ishikawa punch Ikeda right in the face on the ground and could not believe the force. Ikeda seems better at take downs, striking and submissions. Ishikawa just has crazy resilience and even crazier hair. They work their double wirstlocks from odd angles sometimes. They are definitely better off standing up. I love that Ikeda would not break his leg lace, but once Ishikawa reversed it, he was desperately grabbing the ropes. Ikeda absolutely ripped up Ishikawa fact with boot lace kicks. Is Randy Orton secretly a huge Daisuke Ikeda mark? Ishikawa makes his big comeback with a pair of back drop drivers. Ikeda is definitely the better "pro wrestler" of the two based on how he sells and feeds Ishikawa. I love him climbing up the ropes trying to escape it. Ishikawa ends up closing the gap earning 5 knockdowns and forcing 3 rope breaks against Ikeda's six knockdowns and 3 rope break forces. FUTEN does not use a point system, but it is interesting way to keep tabs on the flow of the match. Ishikawa finally forces a submission with a crossface chickenwing. I preferred the drama of Tamura's U-Style matches with the point system, but this had the way better striking. I am going to put this somewhere around the Tamura/Ito match given it is hard for me to place shoot-style match still at this point even though I really enjoy them.

REWATCH THOUGHTS:
That one Ikeda six inch jab to Ishikawa's face coming out of a rope break followed by a wicked, wicked kick to the head was batshit incredible. I stand-by complaint that this was not the best when they took it to the mat. I have definitely seen Ishikawa have better mat-based performance. The stretch run with Ishikawa's face getting destroyed and bleeding profusely from the mouth was riveting. The suplexes and then crossface chickenwing submission was just the cherry on a sundae with extra bite.


 ****1/2

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Yuki Ishikawa vs Alexander Otsuka - Big Mouth Loud 9/11/05

This was not as shoot-style as the competitors listed would led you to believe. Big Mouth Loud used a lot of shoot-stylists and New Japan wrestlers disillusioned with Inokism. It seemed to be closer to the 80s/90s New Japan style than to Shoot-Style. I still had trouble comparing this match to other puroresu. I think it is due to more subtle selling. They register pain, but do not actually sell the pain. It can come off like moves are inconsequential when they are not. I liked Otsuka quite a bit. He was good on the mat constantly outwrestling Ishikawa and getting him in heel hooks. He had some nasty headbutts in this match. Plus he brought out the highspots: Giant Swing, German Suplex and the best, Frakensteiner (as called by announcer) into a triangle choke. I would lose my shit if that ever happened in an MMA match. Ishikawa was his usual badass self. He worked hard and really sold the threat of Otsuka. He had some nasty, nasty punches. I loved his incorporation of throws late by converting a heel gook into a sick, sick, headrop German. Then using a sweet knockout punch into a sleeper for the win. It is an entertaining match that finishes really well, but it is definitely nowhere near Ishikawa/Ikeda or Tamura/Ito. ***

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Osamu Nishimura vs Hiro Saito - MUGA 08/02/06

One complaint I think you can't levy at Japan as a whole in the 2000s is a lack of variety. Yes, the NOAH style was dominant in terms of getting the most praise, but that bombastic style was limited only to NOAH. You had the American/puroresu style of All Japan, the more mat & strike based style of New Japan (Inokism or Strong Style), the lucha/comedy hybird of Dragon Gate, shoot-style promotions and to add to the list we have MUGA. MUGA was headed up by New Japan legend Tatsumi Fujinami to turn the clock back to late 70s and early 80s when men were men and European Uppercuts and Spinning Toeholds were the end all be all of wrestling. I wish we got more of it during this project.

Hiro Saito is built much like the more famous Masa Saito (no relation), but maybe a bit shorter. He was a junior heavyweight for New Japan and All Japan in the 80s and 90s before the junior heavyweight boom led by Liger. At this point, I'm hard pressed to believe he would meet the weight limit bu then again Shuji Kondo was able to, but I think he is a pretty short dude. Nishimura is someone I enjoy, but has yet to blow me away in any match. In fact, my favorite match may have been the random match with Al Snow I watched from ECW Hardcore TV in January of 95 the other night. Rest assured, Nishimura finally knocked one out of the park with Saito in this match.

Nishimura shows up Saito a bit early and Saito gets a bit peeved and starts throwing furniture around. Saito is the more powerful of the two and is able to cinch in an armbrar and transform it into an All Japan surfboard spot. Nishimura gets a big pop for reversing it. Nishimura works a headlock like he is Lou Thesz. The face I can accurately say that is why the Chicago Film Archive has to be commended for doing God's work. Nishimura grabs a sleeper, but Saito hits a jawbreaker. The selling from Nishimura is amazing as he writes in pain. Saito hits his famous senton (according to Wiki, he invented that move). Nishimura bails to the outside for a breather. They work an amazing king of the mountain sequence where Saito keeps find new ways to snap Nishimura's throat across the ropes. It was amazingly compelling wrestling. Nishimura needed to break up the momentum of Saito, but is now paying the price. They do a great ab stretch hope spot, but Saito wins. He goes for the coup d'grace in the form of a piledriver, but Nishimura counters. They do the bridge/backslide counter. Nishmura dumps Saito outside who jams his knee. On two separate occasions, Nishimura whiffs on a knee drop to the outside, but they sell a  countout finish anyways. Saito gives Flair a run for his money in terms of great verbal selling and really making this credible. Nishimura has to stand Saito up just kick his leg out from under his leg. :)

Nishimura actually misses the knee drop this time. Saito hits two bridging Germans and is able to hold him down on the second. He couldn't stand, but he could bridge. I don't know about that one. The selling was off the charts in this one. Nishimura trying to fight just to get back into the ring was very compelling. Saito's selling of the knee was so great that it makes the finish all that much more curious. ****

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Osamu Nishimura vs Tatsumi Fujinami - MUGA 9/25/06 Two Out of three Falls

Nishimura's performance in this reminded me of Sasuke's in Sasuke vs Dragon or Suzuki's in Suzuki vs Mutoh. They are all giving these out of the world great performances, but their opponents are just not up to snuff. It is interesting because Dragon, Mutoh and Fujinami had all slowed down a lot in terms of output in the middle of the decade. You could see they could still be carried by an opponent that was firing on all cylinders, but they just did not have enough gas in the tank to match their opponent.

If the tone set in the first fall was maintained throughout the match then you would have a MOTDC on your hands. Nishimura starts off aggressive with European Uppercuts that would make Dory Funk Jr. proud. Fujinami seems a bit taken aback, but is able to use the aggression against him and snap off a Dragon Leg Screw. He goes for the Figure-4, but an inside cradle nabs the first fall for Nishimura. It only lasted under a minute, but it was an incredible fall.

The second fall they get a little too cute for me. They seem more keen on showing off. Instead of flips, it is bridge outs and double wristlock takedowns. An exhibition is an exhibition. Fujinami rides high on a leg lace and gets caught in a short arm scissors. Nishimura applies a cross-armbreaker. The New Japan timekeeper has the hammer raised in case there was  a submission and I agree with him. If you respect the cross-armbreaker, I respect you. I do NOT respect you, Mr. Fujinami. Of course, I am being facetious, but it is my number one pet peeve when wrestlers treat the cross armbreaker like a headlock. It is at best them not keeping up with the times and at worst being ignorant and lazy. Yes, I thought Fujinami's performance was lazy at times. This match is the ultimate missing the forest for the trees match. You have Fujinami doing great little things like lunging for the ropes with his feet, but not selling his arm. Or Nishimura working the injured finger of Fujinami while in a cross armbreaker, but why does it matter because Fujinami has killed the viability of the cross armbreaker as a finish. To be fair to Fujinami, Nishimura did bridge out of a cross-armbreaker, which is pretty ludicrous. Basically this match took a big shit on the cross armbreaker.

Now, once the match moved from Nishimura on offense to Fujinami on offense the match got a million times better. Just like the Sasuke match, Dragon was not interested in selling and neither was Fujinami. However, put them on top and have the wrestler who wants to work on bottom and you got magic. Fujinami goes after Nishimura's knee with a swift low kicks like Inoki in Inoki/Ali. Nishimura bails. Fujinami targets the knee, but Nishimura in desperation goes for Fujnami's knee with a spinning toe hold, shades of Dory Funk Jr, BABY! Fujinami kicks him off and a figure-4 knots it all up.


What I love about Nishimura matches, is you understand how this can be a double edged sword. Yes, you are getting time to walk it off and break up your opponent's momentum, but you are giving him the high ground. With the high ground, the opponent can dictate the match and make it very difficult for you to get back into the ring. I used to say that Akira Taue was the undisputed king of working the apron, but damn if I see more Nishimura that could change. Nishimura rocks Fujinami with a European Uppercut and crashes burns with a bombs away knee drop. What a dumbshit! He blocks the figure-4 and is able to bail. Nishimura is fed up with all this bullshit on the apron and says you want my knee you can have it, but you will not have ME, FUJINAMI! Fujinami attacks the knee and pulls him into the ring. He applies the sleeper to sap that last bit of fight out of him. Fujinami applies the figure-4 and just when you think he has it, Nishimura reverses the pressure and Fujinami has not alternative, but to submit.


This is pretty much on par with the Saito match. Saito does not feel as much of a threat as Fujinami even though he wins the match so this match had more in terms of drama. Saito works a lot harder than Fujinami, who only seemed interested in being on offense. Nishimura gives two tremendous performances within two months of each other. We need more Nishimura footage. The finish is a lot hotter in this one and that is usually my tiebreaker so I have this one edging out the Saito match. ****