Wrestle Aid Project 05/02/2005

       (Written by Jom)

       After multiple final exams and cumulative projects, I've finally gotten home from college for the next few months. Awaiting me on my bed were five wrestling DVDs from Japan, all of which I've been waiting over a month for. Now, to celebrate me finally having time to write here again, I'll be doing reviews of all 5 shows over the next couple weeks.

    Wrestle Aid Project is a really interesting fed to have existed. It only lived for about 3 years, starting in 2002 and ending in 2005, and is seemingly the last promotion of one Ryuma Go. Go had hit some very hard times with run-ins with the law and lack of funds after his wrestling career slowed down, so this was seemingly he way of trying to get some more money. A fun fact is that WAP had a relationship with Stampede Wrestling, meaning that there's some cool names from the Canadian scene, such as Jack Evans, Petey Williams, and Nattie Niedhart (aka Natalya). However, I mainly got this DVD for the main event, which, on paper, sounds like an absolute barn burner of a match. Will the card live up to the name value involved?

    Just feel like I gotta note the opening video uses "Signs" by Snoop Dogg and every "___ vs ___" screen uses "99 Problems" by Jay-Z. Ryuma Go is the most based man ever.

Nattie Neidhart vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki

    Strong Style Natalya is not something I thought I'd see, but here we are. Neidhart was pretty good here, really stretched out Kuragaki at a couple points and also threw some stiff elbows. She even did a really great Hideki Suzuki-esque bridging double underhook suplex. Kuragaki was also solid, she was able to hit some cool agile moves like a springboard dropkick but honestly Neidhart was definitely the better wrestler here. At one point, the two women started lariat trading, treating this match like it was for the BJW Strong Heavyweight Championship. Kuragaki finally got the win with a corkscrew senton, retaining her NWA Women's Pacific title, a belt that I didn't even realize was on the line. This was fine, some obvious language barrier issues definitely hurt the pacing though, but again it did its job and seeing Neidhart in Japan was cool.

Rating: C+

Joe Kimball vs. Jack Evans

    I have no clue who Kimball is, and doing a quick check on wrestlingdata shows he's wrestled in a ton of different places under different names, albeit very sporadically. Real early on Kimball absolutely botches a hip toss, before the ref completely misses two different pin attempts. This should've guaranteed this match's fate, but eventually they came back into a good rhythm. Kimball did some good roidy offense like a gross corner spear, but eventually gets sent outside so Evans can hit a really good 450 plancha. Kimball, upon catching Evans, smashes his head into the ground, and he's bleeding real bad from the back of his head the rest of the match. He very nearly lets himself get counted out, but at the last second gets in the ring, seemingly telling the ref and Evans that he can still go. Evans hits some more of his offense and Kimball hits a nice neckbreaker and powerbomb before finally Kimball gets the victory with a pretty cool top rope chokeslam. This had some cool moments in it, but the miscommunications early on plus the concussed Kimball the rest of the match made this a contest only good for those moments.

Rating: C-

Joe E. Legend vs. Bambikiller

    This is for Legend's "Master of Kingcalibur" Championship, which is literally just a medieval sword. I said it before, I'll say it again. Ryuma Go is the most based man ever. These two do a pretty good brawl for most of the match. Both guys do some really great clubbing shots, and Legend does an irish whip to Bambikiller on the apron, sending him into the post. Bambikiller responds a little bit later with a FUCKING PLANCHA, which I popped huge for. Both guys get some good air with diving moves, such as when Legend nearly went coast-to-coast for a diving leg drop. Eventually however, the match kinda goes into overkill mode, with both dudes hitting an excessive amount of movez that really could've ended the match. I'm all for a good ole movez match, but there needs to be a level of escalation for it to work, and by the time they really started hitting cool stuff the match had been stuck in a plateau for a little bit. Legend eventually gets control and retains his "championship" after hitting an okay looking flatliner. This felt like it was an IWA PR brawl in Korakuen, which, while being cool, definitely fell pretty far into the excess category and kept going about 3 minutes longer than it should have.

Rating: B-

Chris Sabin vs. Petey Williams

    This is for Williams' "Master of Excalibur" Championship, which is literally a... wait I think I wrote this before. Ryuma Go was based enough to do the same thing twice and only slightly tweak the name. Williams raising a sword in one hand and a title in the other as "Shoots and Ladders" by Korn fills Korakuen Hall is a very cool sight to see. The match starts with a great big move countering segment, and it's very easy to figure out that this is gonna be an X-Division main event in Korakuen. Both guys do some awesome stuff, such as Williams hitting a tope into a rana and countering a frankensteiner into a powerbomb, as well as Sabin doing a double arm trapped piledriver and a razor's edge into the corner. This is pretty much the movez match I was talking about liking in the previous match's review. There may have actually been some pacing issues, but the way this match was clipped really made it balls to the wall the entire time. The finish has both guys hitting their finisher but the move being kicked out of (Sabin's cradle shock segment was great with him countering a sunset flip in the corner into a jumbo suplex before then hitting the cradle shock), but eventually Williams is able to counter out into a spinout version of the destroyer from the corner, finally hitting one more running one to get the pinfall win and retain his big fuckin blade. Both guys obviously wanted to show their stuff in Japan, and they really came out and did it well.

Rating: B+

2 out of 3 Falls: Shiro Koshinaka, Ryo Miyake, Koji Ishinriki, Arashi and Ryuma Go vs. Kazuhiko Matsuzaki, Masashi Aoyagi, Masanobu Kurisu, Gran Hamada and Tarzan Goto

    JESUS WHAT A MURDERER'S ROW and also Ryo Miyake and Koji Ishinriki. I'm mostly kidding, I actually don't dislike the work of either of them, I just haven't seen enough to judge. This match went nearly 30 minutes and I can't really list all the stuff that happened, so instead I'm gonna go person to person, talking about each one's performance. Koshinaka was really good in this, he threw some great hip attacks and added some heat and energy anytime he was involved. Miyake was pretty good too, being the whipping boy along with Ishinriki for the heel team and bleeding a ton, while also being a serviceable heavyweight wrestler. Ishinriki, as said previously, was also the whipping boy for this match, and ended up taking the only fall for his team (spoilers but the good guys won of course), but he did pretty good as a skinny sumo dude, throwing some nice Tsupparis and hitting really good sumo shoulder blocks. Arashi was a tank, hitting mean strikes and really making every move he did have some heavy impact. Ryuma Go, that crazy bastard, was really solid here, of course getting the audience really involved and just being a great fiery babyface with his headbutts, chest chops, and SHAAAAs. Matsuzaki was pretty much the whipping boy for the face team, but he took much less of a beating than Miyake or Ishinriki, instead doing some fine wrestling and good karateka stuff. Speaking of good karateka stuff, Aoyagi was Aoyagi to a T in this match, lighting up whoever was in with him with awesome kicks. Kurisu was tied for my favorite person in this match, and it isn't just because he's one of my favorite wrestlers (although that's definitely part of it). He was so much fun throughout being such a grumpy old monster, throwing nasty shoot punches, shoot headbutts, and shoot stomps, along with living up to his nickname of "The Chairman" by absolutely destroying Ishinriki and Miyake with chair shots. Also, Kurisu got the only pinfall for his team, which really shows how based Go is. Hamada pretty much did Hamada stuff the entire time he was active in the match, and honestly, you can't ask for a lot more. And finally, Tarzan Goto. If not for Kurisu, he'd be my favorite part of this match, but instead he'll have to settle for being tied. He came in a little eviler than usual, throwing gross headbutts and lariats, but only really gained my favor in this match when he pulled out a broken beer bottle. He sliced Miyake the fuck up with it, giggling to himself the entire time, before then using Miyake's limp hand to wave at Miyake's partners for help. This was genuinely evil stuff Goto was doing, and I fucking loved it. The finish came when Arashi was able to train together some maneuvers, getting the pinfall over Matsuzaki with a sit-out powerbomb. Overall, this was totally a yesteryear tribute match, but the section of puro they were paying tribute to is one of my favorites, so I had a ton of fun watching this.

Rating: A-

    After the match, Go gets on the mic and delivers an impassioned speech to the Korakuen crowd, before leading them in a SHAAA chant. The footage freeze frames on Go in black and white with Japanese rap starting behind the image, and that's it for Wrestle Aid Project! Honestly, I was a little worried about the main event after such an iffy lower card, but it ended up delivering. From what I can tell, WAP wouldn't run another show after this, and sadly Ryuma Go would pass away in 2009. I bet, even after death, Go is up in heaven being a puroresu baka all the way.

Overall Rating: B

Jom's GLEAT Reviews: Soma Watanabe vs. Yu Iizuka (04/08/21)

       (Written by Jom)

    There haven't been many changes in GLEAT itself recently, but the GLEAT boys are getting out and about a lot more. They've had recent victories in Zero1 and JTO, and have planned appearances at many shows going forward, including GPS, ONLY WE, HEAT-UP, and most excitingly Hard Hit. While the appearances at Hard Hit will probably lead to some great shoot-style matches, today we're going back to focusing on the other side of GLEAT with their pro-wres rules tournament.

Soma Watanabe vs. Yu Iizuka

    The last time these two faced off was under UWFi rules, and in that match Iizuka was decidedly the better man. However, this match is under pro-wres rules, and Watanabe has shown himself to be most likely the best in this ruleset. This match went pretty much how you would expect it. Both guys are solid at normal pro wrestling, but while Iizuka definitely fits more in the UWFi scene, Watanabe is an actual prodigy at juniors wrestling. Notably, he has some of the best forearm attacks in all of pro wrestling, with his inner springboard, rolling thunder, and phenomenal style forearms all having a great hesitation to them making it look like he's floating for a second. Watanabe might also have the best missile dropkick too. In general, if Watanabe is off the ground, it almost always ends up being great. He even busts out some new stuff here, most notably a great koppo kick. If he can pull that out again in his UWFi matches that would be sweet. Iizuka isn't a slouch either, laying in some hard kicks including one from the apron a la Fujita "Jr." Hayato. Honestly though, I keep saying he fits more in UWFi rules for a reason. He's fine here, but he somewhat lacks the intensity he had inside a shoot parameter. The end came when Watanabe was finally able to connect with his really cool inner clutch Ki Crusher for a very close 2.9, before nailing a firebird splash for the win. It was extremely obvious that this was gonna be the result, but it was the right one nonetheless and I can't wait to see what Watanabe and Hayashi will be able to do against each other next week.

Rating: B

Jom's GLEAT Reviews: Kaz Hayashi vs. Takanori Ito (04/01/21)

      (Written by Jom)

    Finally, my catch-up series has come to a close, and it is time for some reviews concerning matches that actually happened recently. I'll miss doing those bulk posts with multiple matches, but this at least means I'll be doing one GLEAT post a week for a while.

Kaz Hayashi vs. Takanori Ito

    This is the first round in a pro-wrestling rules tournament featuring these two along with Watanabe and Iizuka. Basically, the exact same tournament as last time but with different rules and Hayashi instead of Matsui. Hayashi definitely benefits from these rules since he's much more of a traditional wrestler, but Ito hasn't bee a slouch in the pro-wrestling rules matches so far. Both guys do some fine wrestling here, with the story of the match being that while Hayashi is a veteran and has a lot more tricks up his sleeve, Ito's raw power and excellent technique repeatedly allow him to take and keep control. Hayashi is actually able to bust out some pretty cool stuff that betrays his older appearance, including backflipping out of a German suplex and attempting to hit the bouncy kick. He's also able to do a good amount of just extremely solid wrestling, such as a nice back suplex. Ito, for his part in the match, was also pretty good, albeit kinda boring at times. When he's in a pro-wrestling and not UWFi situation, you can tell he's not as comfortable, spending a good amount of time slowly doing his stuff. That doesn't mean he isn't good, as he's able to do some really cool stuff like his fallaway slam and most notably his strikes. The best moments in the match were definitely any time either man went into striking, especially one exchange towards the end. The actual match ending came when Ito connected with a sweet high kick and tried to rebound to the kneeling Hayashi for a PK, but Hayashi was able to counter both that kick and a second one to do a cool headlock rollup for the win. This was perfectly fine, for all the slow moments in the match there were also some really cool ones and the right man definitely won. I'm predicting now that Watanabe beats Iizuka in the next round and goes on to face Hayashi in the finals, mostly to put over Watanabe as the face of GLEAT's pro rules division.

Rating: B

Jom Catches Up on GLEAT Vol. 3 AND Vol. 4

     (Written by Jom)

    So, since I've taken such a long time to do this, I thought I might as well double up and do both of the latest volumes in one post. Prepare for your daily fill of Daijiro Matsui, Yu Iizuka, and all the other wacky boys at the GLEAT camp.

    In terms of new signings to the promotion, GLEAT has only had one, but definitely a big one in Ryuichi Kawakami from BJW. Big Japan is one of my favorite promotions, I've been following them actively for about two years now and Kawakami has always been one of my dark horse favorites. It'll feel weird to not see him in a Big Japan ring anymore, but he's been getting overlooked there for a long time and GLEAT might be the place for him to really prove himself. Also, if GLEAT really are scouting from BJW, I better hear about Kazuki Hashimoto signing with them next. That guy deserves the world and hasn't been given shit by BJW for years.

Soma Watanabe vs. Takanori Ito

    Two volumes in a row we start off with a UWFi rules battle between the future aces. Ito's been the undisputed best guy in this ruleset so far, and this was proven to Watanabe last time they fought when Ito got an emphatic victory. However, Watanabe is obviously not the same man here as he was then. He's immediately a lot more careful against Ito, keeping a certain amount of room between the two of them to avoid Ito's stellar grappling and nasty kicks. When they do engage it feels pretty tightly done, both guys put their all into looking for advantages while also stopping the other man from taking one themselves. Ito obviously has mat superiority, but not only is Watanabe better at escaping from these ground situations, he's also a lot better at strikes and his ability to absolutely pepper Ito with them cannot be denied. With all that said, his opponent is still Ito. Ito's able to fire some great strikes off whenever he's in range, throws Watanabe with some sweet suplexes, and on the ground? It's not even a question of who's better. By the ending, he forces Watanabe into a 5-2 disadvantage point-wise, making him repeatedly go to the ropes to stop Ito's chokes and leg locks. Watanabe, however, refuses to be shut out like he was in his match against Nagai. He finally gets the opening he needs and absolutely blasts Ito with slaps and knees, forcing a knockdown and a lost point for Ito. How does Ito respond? By destroying Watanabe's leg with kicks over and over and over again. Watanabe takes his own knockdown from this but doesn't give up, attempting to keep his hurt leg outside of Ito's reach. This concentration on protecting his leg comes back to bite him, as Ito throws a nasty solebutt to the unprotected stomach, knocking Watanabe down and resulting in Ito's victory via point loss. This was probably the best UWFi rules match I've seen yet, at least in my opinion. Ito continues to prove how great he is in this ruleset, and Watanabe is getting closer and closer to matching his abilities. I can't wait to see what happens in the eventual third match.

Rating: B+

Soma Watanabe/Minoru Tanaka vs. Takanori Ito/Tatsuhito Takaiwa

    Tanaka signing with GLEAT might be the best news for the new promotion so far, he's been at it for close to thirty years and honestly hasn't lost a step. Takaiwa meanwhile has been doing it for about the same amount of time and probably never had a step to lose. This isn't meant as a slight however, his style of basic wrestling, lariats, and death valley bombs is one of the biggest proofs that sometimes simpler really is better. Both men are real good in this match, as Takaiwa is able to act as a great momentum killer against the dynamic team of Watanabe and Tanaka, and Tanaka is just fucking awesome, wrestling so smoothly for a man nearly 50. Watanabe and Ito also brought the heat as usual, with both men going very hard against each other from the get-go. Ito also is able to have some really fun exchanges with Tanaka, the two men having noticeably good chemistry. The ending came with Watanabe and Takaiwa beating the hell out of each other, with Watanabe at first taking the advantage before Ito ran in and hit his ridiculously beautiful backdrop on him. Takaiwa then hit him with a brainbuster and a gross lariat, but Watanabe kicked out, so Takaiwa finally dropped him with the death valley bomb for the win. This was a run-of-the-mill tag match between four really good to great wrestlers, so if you want to see some very enjoyable tag wrestling this is the match for you.

Rating: B+

Kaz Hayashi vs. Daijiro Matsui

    Daijiro Matsui is a guy who I've been a fan of for a while, one of the last students of the UWFi dojo and a KINGDOM main-stay. He's also not had a pro wrestling match in five years and this was Hayashi's UWFi rules debut, so coming into this match while considering both those factors I was very excited if slightly worried. Luckily, I had nothing to worry about, because the flame grappler never loses his fire. Him and Hayashi's grappling the entire match was so rough and realistic, Matsui's ability being somewhat expected buy Hayashi being a pleasant surprise here. Hayashi was able to hit a great low kick to Matsui's ankle at one point, forcing him off balance and allowing Hayashi to successfully shoot for a takedown. Little details like that really make a match special. That's not to say this wasn't the Matsui show though. Even in this moment, immediately after Hayashi successfully did a takedown Matsui almost immediately took advantage on the ground. In fact, this would've been a total shut-out victory for Matsui if not for him violating DA RULEZ. At one point he had Hayashi in a perfect position and put in a heel hold, which the ref immediately broke up and gave him a yellow card and point loss for. I actually didn't know this was against the rules, so after writing this I'll go read the GLEAT rules online to make sure I don't get surprised like this again. Update: the GLEAT rules are not in english anywhere online so I had to just translate the pre-match screens using my google translate app on my phone. I also have already forgotten them, so I guess I'll just have to keep being surprised. Matsui actually benefitted from this slip-up, as it made him seem a lot more like a killer. Honestly though, with how he was throwing those kick and knees, he probably didn't need any more moments to prove that. Matsui eventually took the win by doing a back roll while holding a front necklock before transitioning into a beauty of a cross armbar. This was entirely to reintroduce the wrestling world to the flame grappler, but Hayashi perfectly hold his own and it resulted in a pretty fun slight squash match.

Rating: B+

Takanori Ito vs. Daijiro Matsui

    This is the start of Volume 4, and is also the first match in a four man UWFi tournament which will take up the entire volume. The second I heard Matsui was getting involved with GLEAT this was the match I most looked forward to, so getting to see it happen so early is pretty awesome. And you know what? I couldn't have predicted how good this would be. The beginning grappling was absolutely phenomenal, both men sprawled like their lives depended on it and it felt like a shout-out to the classic U-System sprawling I love so much. Matsui is great as a slick asshole veteran, he almost puts in a heel hold again at one point but remembers that it's against the rules, instead settling for a sick knee lock. He spent a lot of the match forcing Ito to go by his pace, which has been Ito's whole thing so far so it was a great role reversal. After getting the points at 4-2, Matsui got possibly a little too confident and tried to shoot for a takedown on Ito when he had some time to recover. Ito, because he's the GLEAT shoot prodigy, decided "fuck that and fuck you", TAKAYAMA COUNTER KNEEING HIM. This gets him a knockdown on Matsui, and immediately upon Matsui getting back up he rushes back in and lays low kicks to Matsui's thigh to force another knockdown. At this point, it doesn't matter that Matsui has years of experience over him. Ito is in his zone, and all he needs is one good chance. He throws some sick knees and hits a beautiful German suplex, finally locking in a nasty single leg crab to get the tapout victory. Y'know what I said in the first match about that being the best UWFi rules match yet? Yeah, that's already changed.

Rating: B+

Soma Watanabe vs. Yu Iizuka

    This is the second semi-final match in the UWFi tournament, and the GLEAT debut of Yu Iizuka, someone who I am unbelievably happy to see in GLEAT. A product of HEAT-UP, Iizuka is a total fucking Volk Han mark, using the twitter handle @VOLK_KID and going by the nickname "Lil Volk". However, he's somewhat earned this nickname through his quickly growing grappling abilities. Also, a little bit of trivia just for fun, Iizuka is the student of HEAT-UP's owner TAMURA, who himself is one of the U-File Camp boys (a group that includes Kotaro Nasu, Kazuki Okubo, and Masashi Takeda). Since U-File was the gym run by one Kiyoshi Tamura, it could be considered that the GLEAT president is kind of Iizuka's wrestling grandpa. Watanabe actually starts the grappling in this match, obviously wanting to maintain control in this match against the debuting Iizuka. He honestly does really well and really holds his ground, but it doesn't take long before Iizuka is able to smoothly turn Watanabe's advantages into his own. He shows his love for the Russian Wizard with some really complex and creative holds like a cutthroat side choke and a cross-legged knee crusher, along with the classic Volk wrist throws. Watanabe tries his best to take back the early control he had but all his attempts are fruitless, culminating in him throwing a high kick that gets easily caught by Iizuka, allowing him to roll under Watanabe and do a beauty of a release dragon suplex, following that up with a crossface chickenwing for the submission victory. This was a great showcase for Iizuka, and even in defeat Watanabe looked more than competent enough. He didn't lose because of a lack of skill, there's just no stopping Lil Volk.

Rating: B+

Takanori Ito vs. Yu Iizuka

    This is the finals of the UWFi tournament, and is also a match between my two favorite guys currently in GLEAT, so you know I was excited to watch this. This actually starts out with striking between the two, but both, for all their grappling ability, are also really good at that. Eventually it leads into Iizuka faking out a pump kick into a double leg attempt but Ito catches him and we're in for a fucking ground clinic. Iizuka's creativity really shines here with all the crazy holds he's able to get Ito in position for, and Ito repeatedly tries his best to shut Iizuka down. However, the emphasis is on tries, as Iizuka is able to force Ito to use three of his points on rope breaks before Ito is finally able to counter a head kick attempt with his leg sweep, locking on an achilles hold for Iizuka's first point loss of the match. Iizuka is able to do his cool leg catch roll under thing, pulling Ito into the middle of the ring and doing one of the coolest fucking submissions I've possibly ever seen. I literally cannot describe it, so here is a gif of it. Iizuka is a prodigy man. Ito is able to get to the ropes to escape this, but he's now on one point, meaning if he goes for the ropes again or takes a knockdown the match will end with Iizuka as the winner. Ito goes into full killing machine mode because of this, going nuts on Iizuka with slaps, kicks, and a disgusting series of clinch knees to the head, getting a knockdown on Iizuka that he only barely gets up from before losing by KO. Iizuka primal yells and goes to strike with Ito, but in the standing strike situation, Ito always had superiority, and throws some great kicks before doing his beautiful German suplex into a bodyscissors sleeper hold and get the submission victory. This match was such a great example of what both men can do, while also showing that both men have an absolutely bottomless well of potential. I don't think it was as good as the Matsui match, but the next time these two face off there's no way it won't be better.

Rating: B+

    Well, we've reached the end of the GLEAT volumes, at least at this point. Going forward I'll make single-match posts the day after each match is posted, along with full reviews of GLEAT shows in the future. Starting tomorrow, GLEAT will be doing a four man pro-wrestling rules tournament featuring Hayashi, Ito, Iizuka, and Watanabe, so be on the lookout for my first match review of that. Keep on GLEATing everybody.

Monday Night RAW #5

     (Written by Jom)

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to MONDAY... NIGHT... RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH

       So, I know this is like two weeks late, but I have a great explanation for this. You see, 

Destroy Misaka vs. Reversal Sawa

    These two both gave me good impressions last time I saw them, so just based on the names I was very interested. Misaka is dressed the same as he was last time, very nice black clothes with a sleeveless button-up, but Sawa this time has no shirt and is wearing mma gloves. Sawa, just like last time, is a pretty solid shooter-type technical guy, putting on some really clean submissions and just being very slick with all of his takedowns. Misaka, also like last time, is just an absolute little mark, hitting a bunch of American-style moves and WWE finishers like the scissors kick and stunner, while also yelling "DESTROYY" before most of them. Both guys even continue their heel ways that we had seen in their previous matches on the series, as after the first exchange they both go for a handshake, before then both trying to cheap shot the other. I love it when two little shits fight each other and find camaraderie in their absolute asshole behavior. Sawa makes use of those gloves multiple times throughout the match, throwing potatoes like a mad man which Misaka responds to with some actually pretty good Funk-style punches. Now, I'm not really sure if it was the punches, the shenanigans, or the general wrestling that caused this, but for the entire match the crowd of fellow wrestlers was just so fucking into everything. They usually are, but this time it felt like they were having the time of their lives, and it made the contest that much better. Besides all that I can't really say much happens, but god damn was it so much fun. Misaka wins with a very nice neckbreaker (which he yells "DESTROYYY" before doing because of course he does), and after calls out someone on the mic. Turns out this person is literally across the room so he gets up and they start hate brawling, and after they get seperated another dude just runs over and jumping kicks Misaka, which I fucking died laughing at. Misaka finally gets on the mic one more time after this and tells people to go see him at fellow kusa promotion NKW along with Mr. Money (someone I hope to talk about here very soon), before throwing the mic down which causes it to have a seizure and bust everyone's ears. Misaka gets booed out of the building for this. This was such a strange match, as if this crowd wasn't there it would've been just another mid-level amateur match. However, the fact everyone watching was so fucking ecstatic to be there made this so much more enjoyable.

Rating: DESTROYYY

Norio Rikimaru vs. Kaijin Yanmani

    KAIJIN TIMEEEEEEE. You know it's about to be a good match when our favorite backpack-full-of-weapons black morph suit gawd walks out. Rikimaru looks like an actual indy worker, he's a pretty big dude who comes out in a robe and is wearing a black sleeveless shirt and shiny black and red pants with "MR ARROGANCE" on the back. Rikimaru is way stronger than Yanmani, pretty much manhandling him throughout the match while Yanmani finds advantages using his technical prowess and his backpack full of trusty whatever-the-fucks. These random items range from a bag full of candy, to a flyswatter, to even his trusty PSP, which he of course uses for his signature PSP chops. Rikimaru is able to dominate on Yanmani with nice moves like a back suplex, an Oklahoma stampede across the building (I guess RAW boys love this spot which, to be fair, I do too), and even a nice blue thunder bomb. Honestly however, he doesn't do a lot for me, as a lot of his offense feels pretty "do your moves"-ish. What I mean is that a lot of the time, no matter how the match is flowing, Rikimaru will always just hit a couple strikes, do a power move, and then one grounded attack before going for a cover. I'm not sure how many times he did this, but it was enough to be noticeable to me and just felt a little lazy. Yanmani isn't one to be lazy however, and is always there to interrupt his control segments with some very good weapons-based offense or genuinely good wrestling moves like a snap suplex. The match ends when Rikimaru hits Yanmani over the head with an XBOX (OW), before putting Yanmani in a submission. Yanmani crawls over, grabs what I assume was the XBOX (the camera didn't follow it close enough), and hits Rikimaru over the head as a receipt before hitting a piledriver onto the game consoles and finally connecting with a spinning backfist hold what seemed to be a controller for the three count. I think this is definitely the least good Yanmani match yet, but considering how much I've loved the last couple I've seen, this still ends up being a pretty fun match.

Rating: for the Yanmani completionist (which should be everyone)

Karasuno Sho vs. Yujiro Yamamoto

    No, I'm not joking and it's not just a case of someone having the same name. The ace of RAW is here and he's taking on one of Yuki Ishikawa's last Battlarts boys and the owner of BAP, Yujiro fucking Yamamoto. RAW's had some very strange and awesome guests, particularly indy shooters (who we will one day get to), and seeing any Yamamoto match from recent times is always a treat. Yamamoto even comes out with only kickpads, following the RAW code of conduct. No shoes, no shooting motherfucker. Both guys are very snug in all the grappling done, which makes sense considering how good they are at shoot-style working. A lot of the mat work is really smart too, both guys are great at going for holds while also trying to stop the other person from putting holds in themselves. Sho is definitely not here to make friends, using eye gouging and Yamamoto's repeated attempts to show respect to take advantage. Yamamoto, meanwhile, slowly comes to realize that not only will Sho not be respectful, but also that he should be disrespectful in response, going into segments of the match where he just pulverizes Sho with some mean bullying stomps and limb-bending. They do a couple great strike exhanges, mostly doing forearms but also throwing some loud chest kicks. Sho is really good at adding character behind a lot of what he does, hitting some really creative variations of classic maneuvers, such as a basic ankle slam being turned mid-air into an elbow drop to Yamamoto's leg. The ending segment of the match is also awesome, Sho and Yamamoto go into one more sweet forearm exchange that ends in Yamamoto pretty much disregarding Sho entirely and trying to talk to the crowd. Sho doesn't take kindly to this, and connects with a gross as hell cartwheel kick, a suplex gutbuster à la YAMATO, and a great curb stomp for a nearfall. He then hits the uranage side slam he'd been looking for the entire match, once again getting a nearfall. He backs up and goes for some type of cartwheel move, but Yamamoto rushes him and puts in a sleeper, before both men hit roundhouse kicks to the head. Yamamoto somehow stays standing, and takes advantage of Sho being on one knee by connecting with a sweet running knee for one more nearfall. Yamamoto immediately grabs him and rolls through into a double arm lock, which finally gets him the submission victory. Both guys went out there to deliver an intense battle and they absolutely did, pulling out all the stops to beat the other person. If you want to see a stiff, no ring war, this is exactly the match you'll wanna watch.

Rating: violence is king, forever and always

The Unsung Trilogy at Coliseo Cerberus: Taro Yamada vs. Keita Yano

     (Written by Jom)

       In my previous nonseries blog post "Run It Back", I noted that the rematch was a concept loved in pro wrestling. Well, the trilogy is even more cherished, probably because it's a rematch to a rematch. There have been a ton of legendary trilogies in this fake sport we love, such as Flair/Steamboat, Joe/Punk, and, for the real ones, Makabe/Thatcher. However, one trilogy has been consistently underappreciated since its conclusion, almost entirely due to many not even knowing of its existence. I aim to change that.

   

    There's a very good chance you don't recognize the "Coliseo Cerberus" mentioned in the title, and that honestly sucks. This tiny gym has been host of many shows by the lowest puro promotions on the scene, from blog favorite RAW to WALLABEE. However, no single wrestler is more connected to this arena than Keita Yano, aka KEITA In THE HOUSE. For anyone that doesn't know, Yano is a protege of Yuki Ishikawa, an amazing grappler, and the owner of the aforementioned WALLABEE. He's also a very big fan of Kendo Kashin, Bruiser Brody, and Heath Ledger's Joker. Basically, he's great. He's almost definitely had the most matches at Cerberus and more often than not you could find him having that show's best match. However, in my opinion, his best matches there have been against Taro Yamada. If you haven't read my previous three match primer on him (which I recommend checking out here), Yamada is one of the slickest technical wrestlers on the planet, using the T2P style to perfection. Not only do they share technical styles, both men actually debuted A SINGLE DAY APART, as Taro Yamada debuted on February 24th 2007, and Keita Yano debuted the following day, February 25th. If that doesn't sound like a fated rivalry, then I don't know what does.

    This is the unsung trilogy at Coliseo Cerberus, "Fighting Acupuncturist" Taro Yamada vs. "Young Crying Wolf" Keita Yano.

MUMEIJUKU 09/20/10

    This match is using five minute rounds rules, which makes sense for MUMEIJUKU, a much more grappling-based promotion. Yamada looks very much the same throughout the years so I won't be tracking his appearance, but in the five years this trilogy took place in, Yano's appearance changed drastically, so I'll be tracking that. Here, he's wearing pretty much the same gear he'd been wearing since he started in BattlArts (wetsuit with knee and elbow pads), but he does have short, orange hair and a very faint amount of Joker facepaint. He's also wearing a Chikara shirt before the match starts, which reminded me that he was in 2010's Young Lion's Cup and I should watch those matches just to see how American fans responded to the BattlArts Arthur Fleck. Before I even begin to review the match, I just wanna share one thing I wrote down while taking notes.

    "It's literally impossible for me to take notes on the grappling, because either it's too fast or so complex I can't think of what to call it before they move on to the next hold"

    Yeah, y'know what I said about Yamada doing T2P style and Yano being a Bati-Bati grappler? This is pretty much what you'd expect from that. Both guys do some great wrestling here, cinching in snug holds one after another. I'm not gonna list them all, but I will note that both of them are absolutely phenomenal at getting their opponent to the mat. The match literally starts with one of my favorite mat placements I may have ever seen, as Yamada gets in a waist lock but Yano immediately judo throws him from around his back. They both are also great at doing ankle picks, and some of the ones they were able to get actually astounded me with how creative they were. Speaking of creativity, I'm about to list some holds done by them, just so you understand why this was so hard for me to take notes on: Yano's handstand double ankle lock, Yamada's inverted crab, Yano's grounded double underhook stretch, Yamada's cross-legged Chikara Special, and Yano's grounded bridging side cravate. Maybe you can get an idea of what these look like, but seeing it actually executed is just so insane and awesome. That's not even mentioning how creative some of the transitions and pinfalls were. Also, Yano adds an extra layer to the match with all of his Yanoisms, like raking the eyes and stepping on Yamada's hand for a submission. These moves weren't done to cheat, but instead that's just kinda how Yano is. Also, he messed up a kip-up pretty badly and almost kicked someone next to the square in the face, so the accidental comedy in this match was very good too. The match's pacing was great the entire time as well. At no point did it feel like it ever slowed down, instead only hitting a timing reset every five minutes to allow them to return to building it back up. The match's end came in the third round, when Yamada, after using up all of his holds and seeing Yano still had some tricks up his sleeve, threw some nasty forearms straight at Yano's jaw. Although this definitely hurt Yano, it also signified the moment I knew that Yano was gonna win. Up to that point, not a single significant strike had been thrown, and when Yamada threw those forearms, no matter how hard they were, they proved that he had run out of ideas on the mat. Yamada escaped a cravate, hit a frankensteiner, and nearly won with a couple flash pinfall attempts, but Yano threw two bell claps with his arms and one with his legs, finally going for a sunset flip and transitioning it into a headscissors crucifix choke for the submission victory. 

    This was a really great grappling match, both guys were only 3 years into their careers and the amount of knowledge and improvisation skills they possessed on the mat were immense. Even if you dislike the total lack of striking, those few elbows Yamada threw towards the end more than made up for it. Overall, an extremely promising match between two extremely promising wrestlers.

Rating: A-

FUKAMI Matsuri 06/24/12

    Yano has definitely evolved his persona a lot in the two years between the last match and this one. He has a blonde mullet, fur boots, and is wearing gear and facepaint that seems both reminiscent of Heath Ledger and the classic Joker. He also throws out a "HUSS" when he gets announced, so I guess based on that and the boots he started to bring in the Brody influence to his character. Someone blows a whistle and we are off to the races.

    The grappling here is a lot more hesitant than the last match, as both guys surely remember how skillful their opponent was, and want to be careful about accidentally losing control early on. It's fairly even to start out, and Yano even escapes one situation and does his kip-up, still messing up like last time but getting very close to pulling it off. Yano also hasn't lost his other Yanoisms, such as the biting, but Yamada is there to meet him this time, doing some biting of his own to escape one hold Yano had him in. Yano also a new Yanoism, that being his dainty leap over drop downs, which he does with Yamada when they start to do rope rebound spots but just by running back and forth without the actual ropes. Yano does this jump three times, but gets tripped by Yamada on the fourth and lands face-first. You can probably tell that while there's a good amount more hesitancy between the two, there's also a level of playfulness to it, as both guys have a lot of respect for each other and are willing to have some fun in between wrenching on each other. Speaking of, out of all the submissions both guys pulled off, one of my favorites has to be Yano's transition from a cross ankle lock into a gnarly bow and arrow, bending Yamada so far against his knees that it looked like his spine was seconds from snapping. Yamada isn't a slouch either, doing his own back-breaking moves like a reverse cravate transitioned into bending Yano over his own back, trapping Yano's leg at the same time to make escape that much more difficult. Both guys also do great transitions and pinfalls just like before, but there was a lot of newer stuff in all these categories, as both guys are great at taking a situation like an early match lock-up not just going through the motions, instead bringing something new to the table every time. However, as much as I praise both men, Yano was definitely in more control almost the entire match. I guess that donning purple furry boots will give you a bigger power boost than expected. Yamada at many points seemed like he was on the cusp of retaking command of the match, but every time he got close Yano was there to snuff it out. Even when trying to escape situations and at least get on equal ground, Yano is able to shut that down as well, such as when he pulled of a great flying armbar, and upon Yamada trying to roll out of it, turned Yamada's roll into a triangle choke. The finish comes when Yano decides to return to the dainty leap dropdown spot, and this time when Yamada goes for the trip, Yano leaps over into a sunset flip, quickly turning that into his headscissors crucifix choke. Yamada, however, has no plans to fall to that again, and actually rolls forward turning it into a pin, which Yano escapes from but is forced to release the submission. Yamada gets up lightning fast and goes for a sliding elbow, but Yano just barely dodges, and quickly turns that into a rolling crucifix, getting the pinfall victory with an arm-trap crucifix he pulls out after other ones don't work.

    Once again, both guys are able to really make a great match in Coliseo Cerberus. This was pretty similar to the first one, especially due to the fact that once again, there were little to no actual strikes throughout, instead being almost entirely focused on the grappling acumen of those involved. However, in my honest opinion, I think their first match was just barely superior to this one. Although both guys were great here, the hesitation, while it made sense and was the right call, also meant that it just didn't match the frenetic pacing of the first bout. Don't let that take anything away from this match however, as only in this match can you see just how insane Yano can get after only two years.

Rating: B+

Kani KING Produce 01/25/15

    This match is for Yano's WALLABEE World Martial Arts Championship. Yano started this trilogy as a young boy figuring out his identity. The next time we saw him, he had more fully fleshed it out. And now, he has reached his final form, which has to be seen to be believed:

    YEAH. Underneath the kilt is a pair of union jack trunks, purple kneepads with a brace on his left knee, and his purple furry boots. Sleaze personified. However, his attire isn't the only thing that's changed. The bell rings and Yano goes for the kip up one more time... AND HE FUCKING HITS IT. LONG TERM STORYTELLING BITCHES.

    The match starts out and it's very clear this is not going to be the same as the last two matches. There's no dynamic exchanges between the two to start us off, as Yano instead immediately does a double-leg takedown and just keeps Yamada grounded entirely. He does this multiple times, at one point shooting for a double leg that sends both of them barreling into the seated fans. Yamada keeps trying for his own takedowns and holds in response, each of them more complex than Yano's basic strategy, but every single time Yano is able to catch him and just force him back down. Yano eventually starts to choke Yamada and grind his fist into the back of Yamada's head, also choosing to ignore the ref any time Yamada gets to the outline and should be getting the hold broken up. Yano even starts to chant "BORING" while in one of these holds, as he realizes him grinding this match's progression to a halt any time it starts isn't super entertaining. Finally, Yamada starts to get more and more opportunities to escape and put in his own holds, but Yano proves he wasn't being slow because of a loss of ability, as he continuously and swiftly stops each attempt, culminating in a great quebradora by Yano. Yano calls out "HUSS" and goes for a Brody boot, but Yamada catches it, SPITS IN HIS FACE, AND CATAPULTS HIM INTO A PUNCHING BAG. Yano, after being down for a while from that, slowly crawls back and holy shit he's gushing blood. Yamada sees this, probably says to himself "if you wanna bleed that bad I'll help you out", and REPEATEDLY SHOOT HEADBUTTS HIM. YAMADA HAS YANO'S BLOOD ALL OVER HIS FOREHEAD NOW. THIS IS SO FUCKED UP. The match then goes into a segment I would like to call "Taro Yamada finally decides to stop being respectful to this literal clown", since he spends the entire time shoot elbowing and headbutting the bloody Yano, all the while getting covered more and more in Yano's blood. Yamada kinda does Fugo Fugo Yumeji's all-fours headbutt too, a sickening cracking sound ringing out after smashing skulls, so Chris is probably gonna love this match. Yamada even throws in a CURB STOMP, which leaves a little puddle of blood where Yano's head got smashed into the mat. Yano eventually is able to start to hulk up, yelling "HUSS" and stomping around the mat to try and get himself enough adrenaline to fight back, the whole time being pelted by nasty elbows by Yamada. He finally goes on the attack, ending it with a fucking great Brody boot, but control soon returns to Yamada, who pays Yano back for that offense with a grounded shoot kick to the side of a seated Yano's head. Yamada works on him with more snug holds and headbutts, even eventually opening a window and using the windowsill to dive onto Yano with a double knee press ONLY TO GET A ONE COUNT. Yano fights back, dodging the sliding elbow and goes for his sunset flip into the headscissors crucifix choke, but Yamada turns it into a back cover. Yano tries two separate times to do the double bridge up to escape, and both times fucks it up about halfway into the bridge, but these repeated botches honestly helped show just how absolutely fucked Yano was from all the damage he'd sustained. Yano pushes Yamada away and hits a RUNNING DIVING HEADBUTT TO YAMADA'S FACE. Yano keeps trying to force Yamada to tap out or stay down, but Yamada just won't die and Yano picks him up for a tombstone. Yamada, in a last burst of strength, goes backwards into his own tombstone, but Yano keeps that momentum going to roll back into a tombstone of his own, CRADLES HIM, AND SPIKES HIM ON HIS FUCKING HEAD. 1. 2. 3. YANO DOES IT.

    Is this match as technically sound as the last two? not at all. Is it as slick and well-paced? Fuck no. Does it have its moments of dragging, and are there probably too many botches? Absolutely so. Did it need to go nearly 40 minutes? Probably not.

    ...And yet, this is the best match out of the three in my opinion. Maybe I'm just a sucker for violence, but the fucking pain these two went through for this match is absolutely disgusting. Yamada had to have done at least ten shoot headbutts to Yano, among the other nasty strikes he threw at him, and Yamada got bent and dropped all over the place. Yano bled everywhere, covering himself, Yamada, and the mat in it. This was nothing like the last two extremely respectful matches. This was two men fighting with the intent to kill and the willingness to take all the pain for the glory of the title. If you're looking for technical supremacy, this match is absolutely not it. Even though the grappling here was still very good, the first match will suit your tastes much better. However, if you wanna see a match that indulges in the highest excess of drama and violence, there may be no other match better than this one. Maybe this rating is too high. Maybe I'm being blinded by my bias for these two. Honestly, I don't care. I love Taro Yamada and Keita Yano, and for the blood, sweat, and tears they shed to create this, I can't, in good conscience, rate them any lower.

Rating: A+

Monday Night RAW #4

    (Written by Jom)

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to MONDAY... NIGHT... RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH

       Look at this, a Monday night RAW post that's actually going up on a Monday night! Whether or not "Monday night" ends in 5 minutes is besides the point. This is what daylight savings does I guess.

Prince Ishii/Akira Hirata vs. Tomoya/Tomohiro Otani

    Misawa's theme comes on as the video starts, and the second I heard it I realized who was in this and got so fucking excited. I've seen pics and clips of the infamous Misawa cosplay kusa wrestler before, but this would be my first match of his to watch. Turns out that Misawa cosplay wrestler is Prince Ishii, joined by Akira Hirata, a Taue cosplay wrestler. Their opponents Tomoya and Tomohiro Otani are decidely less King's Road, but both look like the average sleaze puro wrestler, so I guess that's fine too. The match starts with some pretty basic chain wrestling, but it was well done so no harm no foul. I personally watch kusa for the stupid shit (in terms of both quality and safety), but seeing these untrained guys prove they aren't just here to drop each other on their heads is always nice to see. Ishii starts working on Otani hard, even doing those weird jumping chest kicks Misawa used to do, and doing them very well at that. Tomoya comes in and does the similar hard work to Ishii, including a body scissors stretch plum, a move that is just so fucking cool and needs to be stolen by Daniel Makabe or Lee Moriarty or someone else of that ilk. Eventually Ishii gets control and tags in Hirata to do the backdrop/Nodowa Otoshi combo that Holy Demon used to do, spiking Tomoya right on the neck with it. Ishii throws some really clean forearms (it would be really bad if he didn't) but honestly? Tomoya's were better. He throws elbows very similarly to how Manjimaru throws them, putting his whole body behind them and kind of pushing his elbow past Ishii’s face every time he throws one. Tomoya is finally able to get the hot tag to Otani after hitting a great enzuigiri, and Otani immediately picks up Ishii for a lightning fast UFO! He attacks Hirata before coming in like a bullet train with a nasty Goldberg-like spear to Ishii. At this point, I realize "oh my god, I might've found a new kusa guy to add to my favorites". Otani follows all that up with a nasty release German suplex, but Ishii just gets right back up and runs as fast as he can to hit Otani with an elbow to the side of the head, before tagging in Hirata so he can Nodowa Otoshi Otani to hell. Hirata then picks him up, grabs his wrist, puts him in a waist clutch, and as god as my witness, Hirata does a rainmaker Nodowa Otoshi. Otani changes that "might've" into a "definitely" by HEADBUTTING HIRATA LIKE DEATH, before hitting an uranage backbreaker and throwing him over to Tomoya for an unprettier. However, even that gets a two count on Hirata, so Tomoya finally hits a huricanrana for the win. This was honestly so much fun, watching two random dudes attempt to pull out all the King’s Road classics and actually being kinda successful at it was really cool. Tomoya was perfectly fine with a couple good moments and holy shit I need to see more of Tomohiro Otani, he's like the perfect kusa wrestler for me. Another good chapter in the King's Road saga, GET ON IT JOSEPH.

Rating: 90s All Japan could never be this good.

Reversal Sawa vs. Gotaro Ushiku

    Reversal Sawa dresses like every American deathmatch worker, wearing camo cargo pants, a sleeveless shirt, and tape going from his fingers up to his entire forearm. Gotaro Ushiku is wearing a purple singlet with some trippy design on it, so basically he looks like Sawa's polar opposite. Ushiku also looks to be six inches taller and a hundred pounds heavier, so this'll be a total David vs. Goliath match. Sawa is actually really competent technically, working a really deliberate style and targeting Ushiku's arm very well. Ushiku, while also fine in the chain wrestling aspect, usually just shuts them down instead with his strength alone, pushing Sawa all around the square and slamming him face first out of a lock-up. Ushiku, even with his hurt arm, is able to bust out some big power moves like a super atomic drop and his running splash looks like death itself (Sawa even sold this by sounding like he was about to throw up his whole organ system). Ushiku eventually signals for a running clothesline by doing a single giant stomp and stretching his clothesline arm. I can't say enough how cool that stomp was, he slammed his foot down so hard that the hardcam shook, and hardcam was literally on the other side of the room. Sawa dodges the clothesline however, causing Ushiku to run into the ref, and it turns out that Sawa is a hardcore guy. He somehow has the time to use a plastic lid, a steel chair (which he pillmanizes Ushiku's arm with), AND A KENDO STICK, before he has to get the ref up himself. I've never seen a wrestler bump a ref and then have the time to use three different weapons, and honestly it was just pretty funny. Sawa runs at Ushiku and jumps, but Ushiku catches him and hits this really cool bossman slam style backbreaker. Ushiku tries to pick Sawa up after this but Sawa locks in a surprise triangle choke, which Ushiku deadlifts him out of but Sawa reverses again, putting in an armlock. Ushiku is able to somehow escape this and hit another backbreaker, then one final backbreaker, before finishing Sawa off with a deadlift into a full nelson slam. This was a fine match, at no point did I think this was great (or even particularly good) but both guys showed a lot of cool stuff off.

Rating: Nothing mind-blowing but maybe world record for the most ref bump weapon pulls?

YAMATO vs. The Bosconian (part two)

    Last Monday, I expressed so much love for both of these guys, and I'm fairly certain I said I wanted to see more of both. Well, I guess I got my wish. Also, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but to get these matches I literally just pull up my RAW matches playlist and hit shuffle play, and I really did end up getting this match randomly (albeit before the Sawa/Ushiku match, but this HAD to be the last match reviewed). YAMATO has no shoes on this time around, so I feel okay with cheering him. Both guys are genuinely great at chain wrestling, which is still so insane to me when you look at Bosconian. Bosconian eventually takes control with what seems to be a prison lock, before YAMATO just slaps him as hard as he can in the jaw, knocking down Bosconian. YAMATO then puts in his own prison lock, but while in it just starts going insane with the slapping all over Bosconian's body. YAMATO pulls down Bosconian's jumpsuit AND SHIRT and throws a chest chop that sounds like a gunshot. YAMATO then walks away for a second and, I shit you not, grabs a PSP. Why? Well to give to Bosconian of course, as he wants to do a chest chop battle but also want to make it fair. The best part is that even with Bosconian slamming a PSP against YAMATO's chest, it is pretty even with it taking a couple for YAMATO to lose. Bosconian then grabs YAMATO by the head and points at the... exit door. He walks over and I'm thinking "oh no fucking way". Door opens, blinding light comes out, and there they fucking go. The camera is taken off the tripod it was on and they start running over to the door, and it jumpcuts to THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING STREET. YAMATO AND BOSCONIAN ARE NOW BRAWLING ALL AROUND THIS JAPANESE TOWN, TAKING US AND THE ENTIRE AUDIENCE ON A TOUR. Eventually, they get to one door and just go inside, and the ref stands in front of the alley to keep the fans from getting past him and to said door. Bosconian and YAMATO start fighting in this room that nobody can see, so the audience is just so confused and laughing their ass off and the distant yelling. Finally, both guys walk out and YAMATO HAS PANTS ON NOW FOR SOME REASON. They then go back to walking around the streets, randomly switching between who is holding a headlock and who is being held in one. This should be so fucking boring, but I just can't take my eyes off of it. YAMATO and Bosconian get close to a park and YAMATO spots a bike, which he then climbs onto and starts riding WHILE STILL HOLDING BOSCONIAN IN A HEADLOCK. AND THEN, HE THROWS BOSCONIAN DOWN AND JUST THROWS THE BIKE AT HIM. YAMATO puts Bosconian up against a tree and sees someone putting up the bike, to which he starts yelling at them and takes it back, trying to ram Bosconian once again. Bosconian dodges however, and then just starts stomping away at the bike for the crimes it committed. There's another jump cut soon after and now we are back at the main building, with both YAMATO and Bosconian starting to come back in. They disappear and the ref starts to count them out (I have no clue why he didn't before but I'm not complaining), and then I hear the sound of yelling and running water. Based on all of this info, I believe Bosconian and/or YAMATO were in the bathroom, and they were now rushing to get back before getting counted out (YAMATO is no longer wearing what I assume were his literal street fight pants, which based on the noise he may have flushed down the toilet). YAMATO puts Bosconian close to the wall. And sets up a chair. AND BACKS UP. AND OH MY GOD, HE DOES THE WALL RUN ATTACK AGAIN, BUT THIS TIME A KNEE DROP. YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW HAPPY I AM TO KNOW THAT'S A REGULAR MOVE FOR HIM. He does ANOTHER one just for good measure too, absolutely destroying Bosconian's ribs. Bosconian is able to take advantage with a running neckbreaker that YAMATO sold on his head because of course he did, and also hits a great butterfly suplex and a disgusting lariat to the face. YAMATO dodges the second lariat attempt, and after a little more back and forth, hits a gross enzuigiri, his suplex gutbuster, and the figure four pin, but Bosconian kicks out. YAMATO then dropkicks Bosconian's leg and puts in an actual figure four, before GETTING INTO A FIGURE EIGHT HOLY FUCK. THIS IS 2007. Bosconian taps, and just to cap it all off, later gets up and does his "my shoulders weren't down for 3" thing with the ref. I loved this. You will love this. Holy shit. I'm happy now and I will be forever, and I hope you watch this so we can be forever happy together.

Rating: Required viewing for every person ever.

Jom Catches Up on GLEAT Vol. 2

    (Written by Jom)

       Since I last did a GLEAT catch-up post, there have been some developments for the promotion that I'm personally extremely excited for. Firstly, I learned Yu Iizuka was signed very late last year, which is so fucking awesome. For those unaware, Iizuka has been an absolute treat on the puro indy scene in the last year, using the nickname "Lil Volk" based on his amazing technical proficiency and absolute love for the Russian Wolf himself. He's gonna fit GLEAT greatly and slot in smoothly as their third promising rookie. He even made his debut yesterday in Volume 4, so I might be rushing these updates out pretty fast so I can watch him already. It was also announced more recently that GLEAT had signed both Daijiro Matsui and Minoru Tanaka. Both guys are shoot aficionados who have been around for a long time, with Matsui starting as a Takada Dojo guy in 1996 UWFi and Tanaka beginning his career in PWFG and BattlArts. Matsui hasn't done pro wrestling since 2015, so it'll be great to see him back in the ring, but I'm honestly most excited for Tanaka. He's a juniors legend and will kill it in every match, whether it be normal rules or UWFi rules. And speaking of UWFi rules...

UPDATE: News has come out that Tamura decided he would be based as hell by signing #STRONGHEARTS members CIMA, T-Hawk, El Lindaman, and Issei Onitsuka. I honestly don't have much to say about this signing, as all four guys have seemingly no experience in a shoot environment but are also four of the best formerly unsigned workers in Japan. Tamura not only made a great investment in GLEAT's future, but also just made this two-weeks late post a lot more relevant, so on behalf of SK1B, I thank you wholeheartedly Kiyoshi Tamura.

Soma Watanabe vs. Takanori Ito

    For the first time in GLEAT's short history, the promotion's two young aces face off, and in UWFi rules no less. Just from the setup, this feels like a clear statement of what GLEAT intends to present to the world in the near future. Luckily for us, if this match is a sample of GLEAT's future we are potentially in for a wonderful era of pro wrestling. First off, I have to note how much more comfortable Watanabe feels in this ruleset, especially since I said towards the end of the last post that he should avoid UWFi rules matches because of this. Last time against Nagai he felt entirely out of his element at some points, and while he still hasn't fully adapted to the U-System, that's not inherently something he needs to do to make these matches great. He can be a little rough when dealing with ground situations, but once he gets into a nice position he is able to do some really slick transition grappling. Also, while a good amount of his close-up slaps are a little too weak for my taste, when he has some distance between himself and Ito the slaps he throws are like thunderclaps. Ito, meanwhile, is once again an absolute menace. Although this is actually his first UWFi rules match in the YouTube series, he fits like a glove just like I guessed he would, nailing Ito with some real great kicks and slaps throughout, my favorite being a spinning heel kick that actually split Watanabe's guard down the middle. My favorite part of this match, however, has to be Watanabe's selling. I talked before in the last post's tag match that Watanabe had some really great psychology behind his selling, and that continued on here. Watanabe's first point loss was to escape a really snug sleeper hold, and immediately after Ito released it Watanabe just let out this nasty cough. Little things like this really just make a hold that much more impactful, and Watanabe seems like he fully understands that. The ending stretch of this match was pretty great, as Watanabe, seeing that he was 2-5 against Ito and knowing he was about to be forced into another shut-out loss, rushed him with a great combination of slaps and clinch knees, finally securing a knockdown and point loss for Ito. Ito, obviously pissed off at this, responded with his own knee/slap rush, but instead of just taking a knockdown immediately jumped on Watanabe and locked in a guillotine for the submission victory. This match was definitely not perfect, but for two guys that are relative rookies at this style of wrestling, the potential both guys showed was immense and has me pretty excited for what else they do in GLEAT's UWFi matches.

Rating: B+

Soma Watanabe vs. Issei Onitsuka

    Onitsuka is one of those #STRONGHEARTS rascals, so you know this is a normal singles rules match. I've only seen a little of his work so far, but I've liked what he's done, and anyone in CIMA's camp usually turns out to be a pretty solid-to-great wrestler. I'll mention this now, but at some point I became entirely aware that for some reason, GLEAT decided that instead of simply putting the audio from the commentary recording, they would put the full video file and simply turn the opacity down very low. Not low enough to keep the main announcer from looking like Zordon at some angles, but thus is to GLEAT I suppose. Watanabe and Onitsuka are pretty similar in style, both being very slick juniors guys, but while Watanabe has the advantage in agility and swiftness, Onitsuka is definitely superior in terms of pure energy. Onitsuka also may be a harder striker, as although Watanabe through some killer forearms (where the hell were these last match?), Onitsuka would always respond with his overhand chops, which by the end of the match had bruised Watanabe's chest to hell. Although both guys definitely worked very hard and did some great wrestling, there weren't many highlights besides the finish. Watanabe is able to connect with his absolutely stunning rebound dropkick, but that isn't enough. He backs up into a corner facing away from Onitsuka, before running KNEES FIRST INTO HIS BACK, still only getting a two count. Watanabe then immediately picks up Onitsuka and grabs the inner part of his leg, hitting a great spinning fisherman driver for another two. At this point, Watanabe decides that it is Hayabusa time, pulling Onitsuka close to the ropes and hitting a great firebird splash for the win. This match overall was fine, as just like I said in my review, it's not very notable besides being another introduction to Soma Watanabe.

Rating: B

Takanori Ito/Soma Watanabe/Kaz Hayashi vs. #STRONGHEARTS(CIMA/T-Hawk/El Lindaman)

    If you don't know who #STRONGHEARTS are, then honestly it's gonna be hard to explain, but in a nutshell it's CIMA and his boys just being dudes and beating people up. If you can't be entertained by that then I don't know what to tell you. This match started out with CIMA and Hayashi, which acted as my daily reminder that those Michi boys never age. Both guys are still really good, Hayashi shows some signs of his age but CIMA hasn't aged one bit. Ito and T-Hawk tag in next and they throw live fucking rounds, T-Hawk chopping Ito with mean intent and Ito kicking T-Hawk's shit in. Finally, Lindaman and Watanabe get in, and out of everyone, these guys undeniably had the most chemisty. Just based on the exchanges they had here and later, I'd love to see a singles match between the two. After this point, there's a lot of control exchanges, but #STRONGHEARTS almost always came out on top, using their actual teaming experience to their advantage by making sure to cut off whoever was in the ring anytime an SH member got countered. Everyone in this match got a good amount of time to shine, with most of that spotlight falling on Ito who totally lived up to it. He was not only doing great MMA stuff like before but was also doing some great power moves like a mean shoulder block, a fallaway slam, and his awesome powerslam. He was actually involved in this match's finish too, which was just fucking awesome. Lindaman runs off the ropes towards him but Ito hits a midsection knee, a usual setup for his great leg sweep. Lindaman however jumps over the leg sweep and connects with a rolling elbow, but after getting greedy goes for one more only to eat a head kick, leading into the match ending German suplex. This suplex specifically deserves a mention too as when the bell rang and the match was ended, Ito let go of Lindaman but kept the bridge because of how deep it was. This was a great showcase of the SH crew, as well as some good performances from our GLEAT home army.

Rating: B+

Monday Night RAW #3

   (Written by Jom)

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to MONDAY... NIGHT... RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH

       I know that at this point it's Tuesday, don't you dare say a word. Also, this'll only be two matches because my time management is absolutely shit and I need to sleep so I don't miss class. You live and you learn (YOU CRASH AND YOU BURN).

Kyūdō ☆ DK vs. The Bosconian

    DK looks like what I assume is every generic Kusa wrestler, coming out with a t-shirt and venum mma shorts. His opponent is announced as "X", and out walks The Bosconian. I cannot describe the feelings I felt upon first viewing of this man. Baby blue jumpsuit. Atlantis mask. Snazzy 80s jazz. Immediately kicked the "ropes", breaking them and forcing the nearby guys to rush to fix it. I'm not sure if I feel intense love or intense hatred for him, but my feelings are definitely intense. Honestly, my feelings are more intense than the match was, for all three minutes of it. The starting grappling is pretty solid with fucking Bosconian being actually really good, before strikes start going out. DK wins with his chest chops after pulling down the jumpsuit and slapping the t-shirt underneath with the might of Zeus. DK then said "fuck it" I guess cause he did a terrible leg drop that missed entirely, landing ass first on Bosconian's nose which probably hurt like a motherfucker. DK does a kinda shitty three amigos and then a pretty good running knee, but then tries to pin Bosc (my new nickname for him) while Bosc is pretty much laying on top of the ropes. DK then decides to put in a pretty cool straight jacket crossface, but of course once again Bosc's leg is laying over the ropes. The ref goes to stop the hold but Bosc actually moves his leg outta the ropes, which immediately made me think "wait is this the finish?". I was actually right here, which made the fact the rope break didn't happen even more shitty. This was so notable even the announcer got in on it, mentioning that DK won while a rope break was happening. DK seems like he genuinely doesn't care about this too, almost confused as to why people wanted to mention that. When the announcer asked how he felt about winning that way, DK said "Judo Clutch" and then bumrushed Bosc, resulting in a small brawl between him and a couple other wrestlers nearby, where fucking SG Wonder randomly did his German slam to someone else. Why? I don't know but it was really funny. Bosc walks out while complaining to the ref that he got his shoulder up before the three count, which honestly I thought was hilarious. This should've been terrible because DK is just not that great and Bosc did not give me high hopes. However, since this entire thing is only 8 minutes, it ended up being a nothing match combined with some genuinely funny shenanigans.

Rating: I just hope Bosc comes back.

YAMATO vs. Kaijin Yanmani (part two)

    OH YEAH BOYS, YANMANI IS BACK. This time he's wearing some mask along with the morph suit so I guess that in between this and the SG Wonder match he was unmasked. YAMATO looks like a genuine wrestler with a similar attire to most other juniors guys in 2007, although he doesn't seem to be the YAMATO from Dragon Gate, nor does he look like the YAMATO that works on the indies. This means that now I know of at least three different YAMATOs in the puro scene, so I guess that's a popular name. YAMATO is real slick with the grappling to start out, but Yanmani just shoves him and starts to choke him with something he grabbed off camera. It took me a good minute to realize holy shit, that's a Wii Nunchuk. Immediately after realizing that Yanmani whips out the actual Wii controller and just chucks it at YAMATO's chest which fucking hurt. After grabbing one more object and hitting YAMATO with it a couple times, YAMATO is able to grab it and throws it down before ELBOW DROPPING IT, AND YANMANI JUMPS ON TOP OF IT A LA KOBASHI TO MISAWA FROM 09/06/95. YAMATO GRABS IT FROM UNDER HIM AND THROWS IT AWAY, AND YANMANI STARTS FUCKING STIFFING HIM. I'm sorry for the overuse of caps lock there, but holy hell that was so fucking fun. They trades some slaps before YAMATO hits a genuinely great suplex, and follows that up with some nice leg targeting. YAMATO pulls off Yanmani's mask but Yanmani has another one under it, so he just puts the removed mask on YAMATO and hits a reverse jawbreaker which looked nasty. He then hits YAMATO with a reverse DDT, and holy shit YAMATO sold it so great. YAMATO is able to get the advantage back and puts Yanmani on his shoulder, and then starts yelling across the room for people to move. He runs ACROSS THE ROOM to do an Oklahoma stampede into the wall. Yanmani is able to reverse a second one to push YAMATO into the wall, then grabs a chair and sets it up, then puts YAMATO in the chair, and then finally runs at him and lariats him out of his shoe-MOTHERFUCKER YAMATO IS WEARING SHOES, WE'VE BEEN OVER THIS. YAMATO, that shoe-wearing freak, kicks out at 2, so Yanmani sets everything back up to do it again. This time however, YAMATO jumps up onto the chair from the seated position and does a front dropkick to Yanmani as he runs towards him. This is very close to the start of the 2nd part of this match, so go watch this even if you don't wanna watch the match, it was genuinely awesome. YAMATO picks up Yanmani and takes him over to a table, putting him on it and throwing him off with a deadly drive for a two. YAMATO goes back to leg targeting but this time uses the chair, culminating in a figure four with the chair wrapped around their legs. Yanmani eventually escapes from it and, upon seeing the chair laying on YAMATO's face, simply stomps it really hard. Absolutely nasty. Yanmani goes back to his backpack of stuff, pulling out what I think are trading cards before hitting a huge thunder fire powerbomb onto them. YAMATO kicks out of the pinfall after that, so Yanmani picks him up and hits a SPIRAL STYLES CLASH? I've never seen that before, and honestly? I kinda dig it. YAMATO is able to take back control and hits this great combination attack, grabbing Yanmani in a waistlock and slamming him face first into the cards before deadlifting him into a beauty of a German suplex for a close 2. YAMATO then decides he really just needs to be my new favorite Kusa wrestling guy, so he pulls Yanmani close to one of the walls and sets up a chair next to him. He then backs up, runs and jumps off the chair Sabu style, RUNS AND JUMPS OFF THE WALL, AND HITS A TENRYU ELBOW TO YANMANI. YAMATO isn't done though, he immediately picks up Yanmani and hits this awesome suplex gutbuster and locks in a reverse figure four before rolling over and doing a back bridge for a surprise roll-up, but Yanmani is able to escape the pin by raking YAMATO's eyes from under him. Yanmani takes YAMATO over to that table YAMATO used before, hitting a suplex off of it for a two count. Yanmani, the inventive bastard, realizes no simple pin will defeat YAMATO, so he sets up the chair one last time, before putting YAMATO's body under it in a way that still lets Yanmani grab and hook his legs while sitting in the chair, an absolutely awesome pinning combo that gets him the victory. This match was just fucking awesome man. It was hectic, it was inventive, it felt not only like a great 00s puro match but it also felt like it exemplified what makes Kusa wrestling so cool. The Tenryu elbow with the Sabu chair jump was one of the coolest things I've seen in wrestling in a little bit. If I was going by my usual grading set-up, this would be an A-, a grade I never thought I'd give a Kusa match. However, my rating below really tells you how I feel about it.

Rating: Holy shit this match. Please just watch it. I beg you.

Run it Back: Yuki Ishikawa/Takeshi Ono vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Katsumi Usuda

    (Written by Jom)

       The rematch is a concept very fondly thought of in pro wrestling. I mean, of course it is. Unless you're some weird masochist (or enjoy the z movies of pro wrestling rather than the blockbusters), a good match is pretty much all the average fan can ask for. Then you announce that said good match will be done a 2nd time? How much more excited can I get?! While pretty much every rematch is enjoyable because who doesn't like a good continued saga, there comes a certain extra level of happiness when that sequel has had a long period between it and the original contest. These rematches allow the original match to age like a fine wine, meaning when you finally uncork the chemistry and history for the rematch, it feels that much more refined and exquisite.

    ...Having said all that, this is professional wrestling, and this blog has a propensity towards headbutts and shoot punches. Comparing these matches to fine wine just feels wrong. Speaking of headbutts and shoot punches, today I’ll be watching one of these match and long-awaited rematch combinations, as four of BattlArts’ greats battle it out in tag matches spanning from 90s BattlArts to 10s FUTEN.

BattlARTS 01/21/97(starts at 01:35:08)

    Every single person in this match has the classic trunks and kickpads look, except for Ishikawa. He's rocking tennis shoes and knee-high socks which yes, are also covered by kneepads. King shit. The match starts with an Ono and Usuda sprawl, and man, I already miss both guys. Ono's got such great technique and Usuda is one of the smoothest grapplers in history. Eventually Ono gets the advantage with a heel hook, but Ikeda isn't a big fan of that so he runs in and head kicks Ono. This lets Usuda put in his own heel hook, but Ishikawa also isn't a fan of that, so he walks over and FALLING HEADBUTTS USUDA. We are one minute in and we've had heel hook trading, head kicks, and headbutts. This is BattlARTS, baby. Ikeda and Ishikawa tag in and the crowd pops, as by this point fans knew what to expect from the greatest rivalry in history. Ikeda puts Ishikawa in the corner and as they come out of it Ikeda does a nasty suplex onto Ishikawa's head. How do you follow something like this up? Well, if you're Daisuke Ikeda, you kick Ishikawa straight in the fucking face. Usuda is able to get tagged back in, throwing some kicks and elbows with truly malicious intent. At this point I'm almost 99% sure I heard a baby crying for a second. This means that one person in the audience decided to raise their child on Bati-Bati. I stopped just taking notes for this post and started also taking notes for my future. Usuda kicks Ishikawa towards the ropes and OH YEAH BABY IT'S TIME FOR THE IKEDA/TAG PARTNER MACHINE GUN KICKS. You know the one, Ikeda's partner is throwing kicks from the inside and Ikeda is throwing kicks to the back of the opponent through the ropes. Ikeda tags in and does a sweet combo on Ishikawa, but at this point Ishikawa decides he's done fucking around and headbutts Ikeda. He lets go of Ikeda's head and backs up a little, and OH MY GOD, LEAPING NO-HAND HEADBUTT, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. A LITTLE MORE EXCHANGING BETWEEN THE TWO BEFORE THEY START THROWING POTATOES, I AM SO HYPED UP RIGHT NOW. DAISUKE TAKES THE ADVANTAGE, REAR DAICHAN BOMBER, HIGH KICK TO THE FUCKING NOSE!!! At this point Usuda gets tagged in and I'm given about 20 seconds to breathe, which I fucking needed. Ishikawa gets control of Usuda and is able to do his signature struggling backdrop. The fact nobody today does anything even remotely similar is a travesty. Ono gets tagged in, and at this point he had only been part of the great early sprawl. Ono makes up for this lack of presence by immediately high kicking Usuda hard enough to get a knockdown. Ikeda and Ono exchange blows, and Ono starts to target Ikeda's leg. When I say target, I mean like a shark to blood. He gets a knockdown count on one of his leg kicks, which I thought actually crippled Ikeda for a second. Ikeda sells the leg like a gunshot, holding onto the ropes for dear life, knowing that he literally cannot stand on his own at this point. Even after tagging in Usuda the selling doesn't stop, as the moment he knows he's no longer the legal man he drops straight to the ground. Ikeda's body is hurting but his willpower is unmatched. Usuda has control for a good bit, but Ishikawa is able to take it back and put on a nasty single leg crab. Ikeda tries to break it up with a kick to Ishikawa, but Ishikawa holds on, and before Ikeda can try again Ono comes out of nowhere with a huge flying knee and a high kick that sends him to hell. Ono puts Usuda in a manjigatame and Ikeda FUCKING RABBIT PUNCHES HIM. HE GOES FOR THE DAICHAN BOMBER BUT ONO DODGES, BUT ONO CAN'T DODGE THE 2ND ONE. USUDA HITS A GOD DAMN REAR URAKEN, AND FINALLY LOCKS IN A REAR NAKED CHOKE FOR THE TAPOUT VICTORY. As a long-time BattlARTS fan, I can say this was a definitely above-average BattlARTS main event tag match. This sounds somewhat degrading, but it's also important to know that in my own opinion, BattlARTS main event tag matches are some of the greatest matches EVER. For this to be above average really speaks to how good it was. Every single person got their moments, and the ending sequence was one of the greatest I've ever seen. If Ono got a little bit more time to shine, I believe this would've been a top 10 match ever. However, as it stands now, I guess it'll have to settle for top 100.

Rating: A

FU-TEN 12/19/10

    It's been nearly 14 years since the first match, and these four men have traded their swiftness for pure old man spite. Before the match even starts, Ikeda rushes Ishikawa. They've been doing this shit for almost two decades and the heat behind their fights has never calmed, only grown more and more ferocious and remorseless. Ishikawa at one point slaps Ikeda in the back of the head, and Ikeda makes him pay for the disrespect by stiffing him with elbows and kicking him straight in the face. Ono gets tagged and immediately goes straight for Ikeda's leg, almost like after these 13 years Ono still remembers the killer tactic that almost got his team the win last time. He then follows this up with an absolutely evil double knee drop to Ikeda's face. By the way, this is less than 5 minutes into the match. Usuda gets in and he's still a great grappler, not moving as smoothly as he did in '97 but that makes sense since, y'know, it's been 13 years. Ishikawa and Ikeda tag back in and Ishikawa is soon put into a rear naked choke. Ono rushes in out of frame, only appearing on camera at the last second to dropkick Ikeda straight in the face. Ishikawa throws some loud slaps, but Ikeda just gets angry and does a nasty shoot headbutt. Ishikawa then tries to get a crossface chickenwing in, but Ikeda simply bites his hand to make him stop. This is why my personal hall of fame is called the "Ikeda Memorial (yeah I know he isn't dead) Violence Hall of Fame". Ikeda tries multiple Daichan Bombers but keeps getting reversed by Ishikawa, before finally hitting a nasty one, AND ISHIKAWA GETS BACK UP AND ENZI'S HIM STRAIGHT IN THE JAW. Ikeda is down for the count, but right before the 10 is able to tag Usuda in. Usuda comes in like a house of fire to the also-tagged Ono, but upon trying a leg scissors takedown on Ono gets stomped in the face. Ono rains down some shots to the prone Usuda but Usuda still finds a way to get an ankle lock in. Usuda later locks a fujiwara on Ono, and Ono tries to roll out of it. Usuda notices this and maintains the arm control to put it right back in, but is still forced to released it by an Ishikawa headbutt. Ono then takes control with some of the nastiest offense I've ever seen, including a punch flurry on Usuda while he's hanging on the middle rope, a running knee to the face, and a double arm manjigatame. Everyone in this match is just tired at this point, but even while they go in and out of consciousness they continue to try and bludgeon their opponents, running on adrenaline alone. Usuda and Ono trade urakens but Usuda gets control and puts in a heel hook. Ikeda sees this, and flashbacks to the 1997 match hit him. He walks over with Ishikawa trying to hold him back, and as god as my witness, IKEDA HITS THE HEEL HOOKING USUDA WITH A FALLING FUCKING HEADBUTT. Hype has now reached critical mass. Usuda gets some leg kicks in on Ono but Ono throws a stray round straight into Usuda's jaw, taking that moment to jump onto him and lock in a sick guillotine, which Ikeda STILL finds a way to break up. Ono throws a punch combo at Usuda and, realizing that Ikeda would always find a way to break up his submission attempts, rushes Ikeda and slugs him right in the jaw to keep him out of the equation. Ono gets greedy however, and after finally dropping Usuda with one more big right, goes for another one, which Usuda is able to dodge and Ono gets put in a heel hook. Ishikawa drops some knees straight to Usuda's forehead but Usuda refuses to let go/ While this happens Ikeda has gotten back into the ring and is doing repeated crawling headbutts to the trapped Ono. This is absolute chaos in the best way possible. Ishikawa finally forces Usuda to break the hold, and Ono gets on top of him and throws a shit ton of mounted punches. FU-TEN's director decides to switch to a dutch angle for this, and I want to kiss that director on the lips because it was magnificent. Usuda is barely holding on at this point and is about to lose, when Ikeda finally is able to get away from Ishikawa and does a POINTED KNEE TO THE BACK OF ONO'S HEAD, THEN A DAICHAN BOMBER, AND USUDA PUTS A NASTY KNEEBAR IN TO ONCE AGAIN, 13 YEARS LATER, FORCE ONO TO TAP OUT. Even after the bell rings and the match is over, Ikeda and Ishikawa won't stop throwing headbutts, because hate this strong lasts forever. I'm not sure if it was communicated well enough in this long wall of text, but this match was decidedly more violent than their '97 one. However, in my personal opinion, the '97 encounter between these teams is just a little bit better, as that match had nearly no down time and everything felt better worked towards. In isolation though, there aren't many matches that come close to being better than this one. All hail FU-TEN. All hail BattlARTS. All hail the art of Bati-Bati.

Rating: A-