(Written by jom, photo credit to @namjunkzone)
I feel like it says a lot about me that one of the only matches from this year to pull me in came from two old dudes in a random MMA gym. Fugo is a man that needs no introduction, and Hayashida is such a small figure that I have very little to introduce. He's a veteran of the Kyushu and Kyushu-adjacent indie scenes, and nowadays he mostly wrestles for Jiraiya's "Real Lucha Libre" group. Both of these men are real lumpy crowbars, and as such, there's a lot of rough control-taking in this match. Fugo escapes from a wristlock and yanks Hayashida into a headlock. Hayashida only escapes that headlock by yanking Fugo's leg out from under him. Both of these guys are also pretty broken down, so every bump is slightly off-center and tumble-y, and neither guy wants to bump in the first place. If one wants the other to take a fall, they really have to make them do it. All of that's to say that there's a palpable lack of cooperation throughout the match, which only goes to benefit it as a whole. Beyond the grappling, there's still a ton to love. Hayashida's arm work is brutal, stomping on Fugo's wrist and slamming it into the turnbuckle as hard as he can. Fugo's momentum-shifting headbutt to the chest looks like the type of move a territory Russian would use to cause a hometown babyface to have a worked heart attack, and Hayashida's toe stomps right after remind me of my little brother doing the same thing to escape from any headlock I'd put him in. It's a petty move, really uncalled for, but god damnit it works. I feel like your mileage with this match varies depending on how enthralled you get by two old vets having a slow and mean match focused on the basics. If that sounds like your kind of thing, you'll probably love this.
Match Rating: B+
Kohei Sato vs. Tomohiko Hashimoto (JWP 06/06/2000)
JPWA having an offer match on a really small JWP show is kind of crazy, let alone that we have footage of it. Sato and Hashimoto are both in their respective REAL SHOOTER gear (MMA gloves for Shooto-ist Sato and a gi for judoka Hashimoto). I deeply respect Fujiwara and Kimura's vision to scout promising talent from a bunch of disciplines, and I wish JPWA lasted more than two shows. I also wish I had more to say about JPWA because JPWA as a concept is much more interesting than JPWA itself, including this match. This match's biggest problem is the same issue I have with some of the stuff coming out of HARD HIT nowadays: these guys are trying too hard to be "legit". Everything was tightly worked, although I'd say it was worked too tightly. Sometimes you need to loosen your guard so the other guy can pull off a really cool hold. Sometimes you need to comically scramble for the ropes to get over the danger that hold puts you in. Sometimes you need to let yourself get tagged and crumple for a dramatic down count. These guys weren't giving each other an inch which, in theory, would make the match more compelling. Instead, it just made the match feel stagnant and dull. Now, the match wasn't all bad. Hashimoto hit a few cool judo throws and even if they led nowhere they were still cool on their own. The finishing hold also looked pretty gross. Outside of that, I really couldn't care less. Thankfully both guys would embrace pro wrestling and become way more interesting only a year after this.
Match Rating: C
Dutchy Fujii JAPAN vs. Sex Inohara (University UWF 1990s)
God, I haven't talked about student wrestling on the blog in years. Dutchy Fujii JAPAN still wrestles to this day as Great Fuji (and Hareta Kogan) and he's one of the more consistently great amaresu guys on the scene. Sex Inohara, meanwhile, is.... probably an office worker or something! I don't know!! I also don't know the date for this match, and I'm guessing the promotion based on knowing that Fujii was in the UWF group with a young GENTARO. What I do know is both of these guys are way too good at grappling. No kidding, these guys seem to have a better grasp of how to move between holds and apply pressure than the majority of guys working nowadays. The grappling takes up such a short portion of the match but sticks out like a sore thumb thirty years later. Outside of that, this match is a wonderful lesson in arm work. Not really an in-depth lesson, but instead one of those where the professor just puts a bunch of information on the board and leaves you to note it all down as fast as possible. Fujii works Inohara's arms in 1001 different ways, from stomps to kicks to wrenches to holds. Also, you may have noticed from the use of the plural form, but Fujii actually works over both of Inohara's arms rather than just one. Might that be an accident? Maybe, but I'm giving Fujii the benefit of the doubt considering he works each arm for an almost equal amount of time. Inohara gets a few openings to fight back with stereotypical 1990s juniors offense, but match is really all about Fujii and his addiction to arm work. If you like arm work, you'll probably find something to enjoy in this match. It's not really anything crazy as a whole but it's generally pretty fun and I'll always be impressed by the talent some of these guys had.
Match Rating: B-
The Great Zako vs. KEITA In THE House (Wolf Star Produce 03/03/2019)
Great Zako? On nationally syndicated television??? Amazing. This is included on the first episode of Kacho Fugetsu's TV show on Sky PerfecTV. Keita comes out wearing a Kick-Ass mask, blue flannel, LWO sleeveless shirt, jeans, orange kneepads, and fuzzy boots. Not the best Keita gear, but I do have a soft spot for it. This is a "Singapore Cane Showdown", which you may think implies that only Singapore Canes are legal, but that would be wrong. It's really just a hardcore match, but I don't mind because Keita and Zako are awesome bizarro brawlers and I enjoyed this a good deal. You're never going to see these guys do "perfect" wrestling against each other. The basics of their matches are usually at least a little rough (and they were rougher than usual here), but there's so many compelling spots and segues that it doesn't really matter. Keita throws great punches and Zako sells them by going "GUAGH" and shaking a bunch, which somehow really works for me. Zako also slams a bag of assorted metal objects onto Keita's head which probably hurt like a bitch to take. Very few pairings in wrestling give you the chance to see one guy try to hang another with a water hose, only to follow it up with the Shawn Michaels forearm into kip-up combo. This is a match that, like basically all of their other singles matches, breaks a lot of unwritten rules of wrestling, but the blood, plunder, and genuine heart of the match do an incredible amount of heavy lifting. Is it their best match together? Hell no!! This is only a shadow of the UEW classic, but the shadow of a masterpiece still cuts an imposing figure. I'm also only just now realizing this is probably the only match they ever had in an actual wrestling ring. God bless.
Match Rating: B
Hiroshi Itakura vs. Akio Kobayashi (Kitao Dojo 02/21/1995)
No ropes on the ring; this is like Bloodsport if it was good. Kobayashi is out here in a sleeveless gi. I can't decide whether it looks really cool or really lame. Probably somewhere in-between. Itakura meanwhile looks like 1990s Kota Ibushi, which, in a way, he kinda was! Y'know that rant I went on a little further up for Sato/Hashimoto? This match is exactly what I described as good shoot style there. Kobayashi works like a karate Kim Hyun Hwan, throwing a lot of really pretty kicks that only land half of the time but make gross audible connection when they do. Itakura is on the back foot anytime Kobayashi is able to chain together some kicks, but he does a damn good job of turning the tide with some pro wrestling bombs. The feint into a leg sweep he pulls out is really incredible. There's such a great sense of shifting control, each guy getting his moments to shine while building up the intensity towards the big finish. Super fun match, a damn shame it only went four minutes even if that runtime felt very fitting.
Match Rating: B+
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