(Written by jom, photo credit to @ssaw4season)
There's some pretty important backstory that needs to be covered before reviewing this match.
In the late 90s, IWA Japan trainees started to hang out a lot in the SPWF dojo, and this mingling between rookies led to Valion (an SPWF trainee) and Uwano (an IWA Japan trainee) meeting for the first time. They were both about the same age and close in pro wrestling experience, with a similar quiet, introverted personality, and when Uwano moved into the SPWF dojo entirely, he would end up rooming with Valion, resulting in the two becoming best friends. For years, they would train together in the SPWF dojo, match up against each other on SPWF dojo shows, and even get to work together at larger IWA Japan events. Camaraderie and rivalry was built between them, helping them both to grow as professional wrestlers in skill and experience. What it didn't help build was a healthy bank account however, and as 2002 rolled around, Uwano was in a financial crisis, barely making it through each month with the little amount of money he had. He was on the verge of retiring from pro wrestling to get a normal full-time job, but in late 2002, Riki Choshu came to SPWF owner Yoshiaki Yatsu and asked him to join his new promotion, WJ. Yatsu agreed, not only leaving SPWF but also deciding to take some of his associates from the promotion with him, like Masahiko Kochi and Ichiro Yaguchi.
For Uwano, this was his final chance to make something of himself as a pro wrestler.
On October 26th, 2002, Uwano would wrestle Valion in the main event of an SPWF dojo show, defeating Valion with a dragon suplex. This would be Uwano's final match as an independent wrestler, and his final match against his best friend. Within a month, Uwano would be introduced at the press conference announcing Yatsu's signing to the promotion along with Kochi and Yaguchi. In WJ, Uwano was forced to go through the young boy process all over again, but this time, in a deeply volatile and anti-indie environment, so much so that Uwano would later say "I've really spent days in hell" when reflecting on his time in the promotion. His talent as a grappler and his refusal to quit could not be denied however, and soon, he grew to be one of Choshu's most trusted hands, following him to Riki Pro once WJ died, and once again to the NJPW sub-brand LOCK UP after the closure of Riki Pro. Uwano would serve as a lower midcarder in New Japan, and spent most of his later career working opening matches against the actual NJPW young boys.
Uwano decided to hang up the boots in 2008, beating fellow WJ young boy Kuniyoshi Wada on a February 29th LOCK UP show to end his career. Uwano's retirement was less of a celebration, and more of a reminder of what could've been. Uwano himself said that this retirement was less because he wanted to retire, and more that he had "reached his limit". Uwano had hit his ceiling as a professional wrestler, and even if he wanted more, that wasn't possible. His wrestling career was done, and he ended it a good step away from the indies where it all began.
Valion, however, never stepped away from those indies. Following Yatsu's announcement that he would join WJ and leave behind SPWF, Valion talked with Yatsu, leading to Valion being given ownership of the promotion. He would continue to run it for a number of years, keeping the dojo going and training a number of wrestlers, before finally ending SPWF in 2006 to start his new promotion, BRAVES. BRAVES would have a tumultuous life though, with Valion battling a nagging knee injury and waning motivation, causing the promotion to stop and start over and over again for years. In 2017, Valion began to reflect on his career, and realized that even with his motivation issues, his love for pro wrestling was still there. He decided that he needed a reminder of where that love for wrestling came from.
Maybe more than that though, Valion decided he needed closure on some of his career's loose ends.
BRAVES returned as a full promotion on July 15th, 2017. In the main event of that show, Valion participated in a match announced as the "NEW GENERATION SPWF FINAL", with Valion finally defeating his mentor, the original owner of SPWF, Yoshiaki Yatsu. His victory gave Valion, and through him, SPWF itself, a proper ending, allowing the top star of the original generation to pass the torch to the top star of the last generation. As Valion considered where to go next on his journey to rediscover his passion for pro wrestling, the name of an old friend came to mind. A friend that had been part of Valion's career since he first entered professional wrestling. A friend that, for years, was matched against Valion on shows in small dojos and large gymnasiums alike. A friend that, like Valion, felt that his career as a pro wrestler still had lingering regrets and loose ends.
And thus, here we are, almost exactly 15 years after their final singles match on a nondescript SPWF dojo show in 2002. Uwano, 9 years removed from his retirement, agreed to a one-night return to pro wrestling. One last dance against his earliest dance partner. One last chance to properly end his career, returning to the indies to face the man that had been there for him since day one, and had been his final opponent on his way out from the world of independent wrestling.
Things were heated from the very start of the match. Uwano and Valion began by entering into some grappling, and neither man let up an inch on the mat. All the holds were fought for, and once they were in, it took just as much fight to get out. Uwano's wrestling here was something to behold considering his 9 year absence from a pro wrestling ring, swiftly moving through holds to reach his target and applying pressure to just the right points. Valion was no slouch either, utilizing some really smart and crisp transitions to maneuver around Uwano and put some tight holds onto him. Eventually, both men broke their grappling to create some space, and Uwano did a few deep stretches to show that it may have been a while since he's been in the ring, but that doesn't mean he's abandoned his training entirely.
Uwano didn't let Valion get much breath following this, throwing a real hard chop and forcing Valion to try and throw his best shot at Uwano. Valion threw a couple of his own hard chops, but Uwano just ate them up like nothing, before both men started to let loose with some stiff forearms. I've fallen out of love with "strike exchanges" in recent times, but the type of stuff they were doing here felt so much more natural, with Uwano clearly using this to try and establish a level of striking superiority over his old friend (with mixed results). A brawl on the outside started up after this and Valion was vicious, just kicking Uwano down multiple times and throwing him head-first into the ring post. Valion rolled into the ring, and the referee got to a 17 count. Uwano was about to get into the ring at 18, but stopped due to still dealing with the damage from Valion's attack. Count 19 is announced and Uwano was still down. Uwano reached over and tried to pull himself up onto the apron...
...and the referee counted 20.
Takashi Uwano was defeated via count-out after 6 minutes.
The crowd, as you may expect, sounded with a mix of confusion and anger. Although, more confused and angry than them may have been Uwano himself, who immediately gripped up the referee and nearly punched him in the face, before demanding "ONE MORE TIME!". After getting on the microphone to apologize for forgetting about the existence of the outside count, Uwano asked Valion for a match restart so he could get one more chance to prove himself in the ring.
Valion responded in agreement by immediately rushing Uwano and smashing his jaw with some truly brutal elbows. The fight was back on, and a fire was immediately lit under both men, with Valion and Uwano getting opportunities to throw absolute bombs of strikes at each other. Valion's elbows were thrown with all his body weight behind them, and Uwano returned the favor with just as stiff forearms and some thunderous chops. The fighting wasn't just a back-and-forth affair either, as at multiple points in the match, both men took really mean potshots at each other, like when Uwano went for a boston crab and Valion just started to slap him as hard as he could, eventually downing Uwano before Uwano got up and stomped him straight in the stomach.
After a period of Uwano beating down Valion, Valion tried to take back the advantage with a running back elbow in the corner, but Uwano kicked his stomach in mid-air to block it. Valion, not to let that stop his momentum, powered through the pain to try and hit the ropes and do another one, but while coming back, Uwano lunged forward and nearly took Valion's head off with a horrific thrust kick. Uwano's control segment here was especially cruel, with him targeting Valion's stomach with a vengeance, including hitting a horrific double foot stomp to it. Valion's comeback would finally come after this, catching Uwano's arm for a nice DDT before following it up with this awesome combination of a flatliner into a La Casita. When Uwano kicked out of the Casita however, Valion immediately changed grips, pulling him back down into a tight crucifix which Uwano just barely escaped.
Valion, following Uwano somehow escaping his crucifix, decided to pull out a move deeply connected to both men's careers, applying a deep Prison Lock reminiscent of their shared mentor Yatsu. The fight in the Prison Lock was intense as hell, with Valion throwing some solid early slaps before Uwano started throwing incredibly hard forearms, leading to Valion once again returning fire with insane elbow strikes. Valion would end up releasing the Prison Lock after this fight, but didn't stop with the brutal shots, blasting Uwano with a flying lariat before throwing his own mask off! In my notes, I wrote "HE JUST PULLED THE MASK OFF, THIS IS TAKUMI ABE MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!!!!", and I feel like this should be shared to show just how invested in the match I was at this point. Valion immediately dropped Uwano with a mean Valio End, and when that didn't do the trick, followed it up with a great Valio Splash, but still, Uwano survived.
Valion, at this point, just started to beat the hell out of Uwano. He threw stiff punches to his head and kicks all across his body, but Uwano started to power up, eating these killer strikes like they were actually building his strength, before catching Uwano with a beautiful uranage. He called for his signature move (to which the crowd joined him in chanting), and for the first time in almost 10 years, Uwano hit the "Sapporo, Toyohira, Uwano", better known as the STU. Valion kicked out, but Uwano wasn't done yet, applying a perfect Sasori-Gatame and putting Valion in as much pain as possible. Valion scratched and clawed, and somehow, made it to the ropes.
Uwano and Valion would enter into one last fight over a german suplex, but when Valion countered an attempted dragon suplex by Uwano with a Samson Clutch, Uwano just sat down immediately, getting milliseconds away from attaining victory over his old rival before Valion escaped. Uwano, without any mercy, immediately dragged Valion up, crushing him with a 2nd STU. Valion, with all the heart left in him, still found a way to kick out. Uwano wasn't going to wait for Valion to build any more spirit, and once again yanked him up for an STU, but Valion wrestled himself out of it, throwing Uwano down hard before finally applying his Ginhikari No Tamashi cradle to get the 3 count, earning back his victory after the loss 15 years ago and defeating his best friend in his final match ever.
After the match, both men are emotional. There's this really touching moment where Valion, in tears, said something to Uwano, and before Valion could even finish, Uwano rushed over and hugged him. I can't understand Japanese, and from my searching, I haven't been able to find a transcript by a fan or anyone of the words exchanged here. However, the emotions aren't hard to see, nor are they hard to feel. This is two old friends getting one final, improbable chance, after years of separation and battling their own demons, to meet in the ring and do what they do best.
If you want to talk about the purely technical aspects of this match, there are a few flaws to point out. The biggest one is the roughness of some moments. At certain points, it isn't hard to see Uwano's ring rust, with a few spots that nearly fall apart due to Uwano slipping up. If you're a stickler against stuff like strike exchanges or power-up moments, Uwano and Valion's choice to include both these things might strike a nerve with you.
Honestly though, the technical problems don't hurt this at all for me. This seems to be a thing I say a lot on the blog, but when a match impacts me enough emotionally, it becomes much easier for me to forgive and forget about these types of issues. Uwano had spent nearly 10 years away from the ring, and to be able to come back and wrestle at this level is incredibly impressive, no matter the slip-ups. More-so than that though, this is a match with almost 20 years of history behind it, a rematch after 15 years of separation, Valion's attempt to conquer his past, and Uwano's last chance to end his career on his terms. Look at this match objectively while ignoring everything that led to it, this is still a great match worthy of watching. But once you put it into context and allow the true and heartfelt story of it to serve as a backdrop for the action in the ring, this goes beyond just "great". This is an incredible match, and in all honesty, there's a good chance it's one of my favorite matches ever.
Takashi Uwano's swan song, a duet he could only ever sing with his best friend.
Rating: A+
