Comprehensive Rikiya Fudo #2

              (Written by jom)

Yusaku & Koki Kitahara vs. Daisaku & Tomohiro Ishii (CAPTURE International 05/30/2000)

    Starting us off is one of the very few publicly available CAPTURE matches from before the 2022 broadcasts started. Besides this match, another on the CAPTURE channel, and three TV broadcasts from 2002-2003, there's absolutely nothing in full online. I guess we do have to thank Koki for gracing us with this match at least, because on paper, this sounds phenomenal. You have the Shimoda brothers facing off in their early shooter days, Ishii fully embracing Tenryuism and the CAPTURE ideology before Choshu ruined him, and of course, the god of CAPTURE himself, Koki fucking Kitahara. Also, Yusaku is wearing matching gear with Kitahara, which is just so powerful.

    Yusaku was definitely tied for the best part of this match with Ishii. He came in and did a ton of the same stuff he does today, but with less of a domineering force behind it and more youthful enthusiasm to everything. He threw the same types of headbutts, forearms, and lariats that he hit in CAPTURE just a few months ago, but they all came off as much more energetic rather than powerful, which definitely still works and fit with him at this point considering he was a young rookie wrestler.

    As said when talking about Yusaku, Ishii was absolutely tied with him as the best guy here. He came in with a lot of hate (the appropriate way to enter a match for CAPTURE), throwing a ton of closed fist punches and hard kicks, all while coming off as having little to no respect for neither Yusaku nor Kitahara. His punches especially were harrowing, as I'm 99% sure he held back nothing when just destroying the face of Yusaku.

    Daisaku was also pretty damn good throughout, throwing some hard strikes and especially going in with a few stiff knees. I feel like while he didn't do a ton of memorable stuff, what he did do was really well executed and he deserves praise for that. Kitahara shockingly was the weakest link. He wasn't really a factor until half the match had gone by, and the stuff he did just wasn't as good as what the other three did. I do wanna shout out the pretty awesome powerbomb he did to Ishii onto Daisaku, definitely was not expecting to see that but it made for a memorable moment near the end of the match.

    I think that overall, this match rocked a good bit, but also never really got to a point where I would call it great. It was a little disjointed overall and it never felt like it hit a 2nd gear for me, but that 1st gear it stayed in was pretty damn brutal and made for a fun watch. Also, after the match, Ishii and Kitahara get into a pull-apart brawl and Fugofugo Yumeji (who came out to try and break it up) gets hit with a stray spinning sole kick from Kitahara, which does in my eyes bump this up a grade.

Rating: B

Rikiya Fudo & Hirotaka Yokoi vs. Kazushi Miyamoto & Tomoaki Honma (Kings Road 05/26/2006)

    This match is from the only Kings Road show not broadcast on Samurai! TV. Originally this whole show was thought to be completely unattainable, but thanks to Miyamoto and his absolutely awesome YouTube channel, we are finally able to watch at least a handheld the main event. There's bound to be more matches in this series from the channel considering Fudo and Miyamoto are seemingly good friends and Fudo has worked a shit ton for Miyamoto and his Kazushigumi fed. Plus, Miyamoto just barely missed out on his own Comprehensive, so you know he's got the jom seal of approval and you should definitely subscribe to his channel if you haven't already. 

    I also do want to say before anything else that anything said in reference to Honma here is referring to him as a wrestler and not as a person. I don't know as much as I probably should about the accusations that have been put against him, and I've heard other talks of his less than favorable character outside the ring not connected to the abuse allegations by his ex-wife. As far as I'm concerned, there's a solid chance Honma is a genuinely bad person and that shouldn't be covered up just because of his abilities in the ring. I'll probably go more into detail about my opinions on "separating art from the artist" whenever I eventually review an Apache Pro show (hell, I might even do a larger write-up about it because I think there's a lot to say), but in short anything said positively about him here is in reference to the isolated performance he did in this match, and not any sort of advocation for him to continue to wrestle today.

    This was a very different tag match from the one we just covered, as while that one was based around a clear tone of brutality, this one had a lot of ebbs and flows in pacing that made it much more fleshed out. It somewhat toed the line between being a Strong BJ style beef-off with hard stiff strikes (particularly lariats) and impactful slams, and a more traditional old-school tag match with an almost house show flavor to it.

    Turmeric Storm were in prime form here. Honma was very solid as he usually was at this point, doing everything with a lot of hardness and just generally being a really cohesive wrestler. Miyamoto was definitely on a much higher level than him here though. This was Miyamoto's time in the sun, working as the ace for a solidly bankrolled promotion that was on TV for every one of their shows besides this one, so of course he brought it all. He came off as the next coming of Tenryu in a lot of ways, doing a lot of similar movements and selling and even popping off some Tenryu moves like the face kicks. That's not to say he was only hitting tribute moves, as he definitely was proving that his own wrestling was just as good as the wrestling he was paying homage too, best seen here in this awesome sequence with both opponents:

    Hirotaka Yokoi also put in a pretty awesome performance, busting out hard kicks and punches and doing some great MMA grappling to contrast hard with everyone else in this match having a lariat-off. He was a really great outsider to the beefy bruisers and had some great moments throughout.

    However, of course, Rikiya Fudo put in a star-making performance as always. He had amazing chemistry with both guys but particularly with Miyamoto, having some real scrappy fights filled with stiff forearms and Vader hammers aplenty. He also got to do some genuinely shocking big match style moves towards the end, hitting a particularly fucked up combination on Miyamoto that had me rewind at least 10 times to watch it over and over again. The most notable move in this match however would come in the latter half when Fudo was in the ring with Honma. Honma gets thrown into the corner and...

    In one stiff as fuck lariat by Fudo, Honma's throat is crushed and his voice is forever fucked. That's right, this match is the match where Honma got his now trademark scratchy voice, courtesy of a Fudo corner lariat. Knowing what we know now about Honma, there's a certain level of catharsis to seeing this.

    The match overall was amazing. Everyone involved played their part to perfection and it resulted in a real gem of a match that we cannot thank Miyamoto enough for making public. Our boy Fudo was wrestling at top level here, Miyamoto was working at an equal or even higher level than Fudo, and Yokoi and Honma held their own in a match with those two behemoths. Go out of your way to see this if you can put up with Honma being in it, because it was just fucking awesome.

Rating: A-

Rikiya Fudo vs. Daisuke Kanehira (HEAT-UP! 06/19/2020)

    Once again, we arrive at the 2020s for another of Fudo's more recent matches. This time he's taking on Kanehira in the HEAT-UP! dojo, wrestling in front of approximately zero fans as the pandemic was currently in full-swing when this match happened.

    The lack of fans didn't stop either of these guys from going at 100% though, because they fucking killed each other here in a way that I honestly can't begin to describe properly. Kanehira was just great here, throwing some sickening chops and knees, holding his own against the larger, more dangerous Fudo. He at one point absolutely destroyed Fudo with this sickening combo, shown below:

    Fudo meanwhile was in full Vader mode, doing some disgusting Vader hammers and at one point even doing his own violence party using Vader hammers and chops. He also hit his horrifying shotgun kick, which I honestly believe is the best execution of said move I might have ever seen.

    Overall, this match just ruled sooooooo much. I wish my review of it could be longer and more thought-out but this is the type of match that has to be seen to be truly understood. It's just total violence from two guys that obviously came into this match planning to dish some out. For my money, one of the best matches of 2020 and a testament to just how transcendent of a wrestler Rikiya Fudo is. 

Rating: A

Comprehensive Rikiya Fudo #1

             (Written by jom)

Rikiya Fudo & Daisaku Shimoda vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Keita Yano (WMF 06/28/2008)

    On paper, this match sounded amazing. Two of my favorite wrestlers in Fudo and Yano getting to face off, with based big dawg and the always reliable Daisaku being there to add their own contributions to the match. It's kinda unfair to them to try and act like they're supporting characters, but personally it was hard at first to not do that considering just how amped up I got at the prospect of Fudo/Yano interactions. Luckily, every single person in this match put in such a great performance that it holds its own as not only a match with great Fudo/Yano interactions, but also just a great match in general.

    Daisaku was really awesome here as a hardass sleazy crowbar shooter, throwing some mean mid kicks and a nice lariat. He also hits Yano with multiple sick piledrivers, really going nuts with targeting Yano's neck all throughout the match. Shuji Ishikawa was also really good, acting as the hot tag for Yano and bringing a lot of fire during his times in the ring. He was still not all the way there in terms of being THE big dawg but he was getting pretty close, throwing his always gross knees and just generally being really damn good.

    The main story of the match, however, was pretty much everything Fudo and Yano were doing. Yano was in great form here, still only just starting to introduce his more odd wrestling tropes but executing basically everything to perfection (save for one pretty bad fuck-up near the end but he recovered immediately like the GOAT he is). He was slick in his grappling and he threw some European uppercuts like his life was on the line. He even got to hit his absolutely awesome springboard dropkick to Daisaku, and it might've been the best one I've ever seen him do.

    Fudo, meanwhile, was by far the best part of this match. He was awesome squaring off against fellow beast Shuji, throwing down with real aggression and even hitting a crazy powerslam on the giant. He also did some really good stuff with his brother, like a sick total elimination type move. His best stuff was absolutely against Yano though, as he got to absolutely destroy him throughout. He treated Yano like a small child, just throwing him around with the greatest of ease and obliterating him with chops and Vader hammers. The brainbuster he hit on Yano was the best one I've ever seen him do, just a genuine attempt to cripple the young crying wolf before he could ever grace Coliseo Cerberus.

    The finish of this match was fucking great too, and really has to be seen to be believed. I think in terms of negatives there's next to none here, besides the crowd just not being super interested in treating this match with any sort of respect. They even seemed to laugh at some of Keita's Keitaisms, which makes me wanna put out a Leavelle tweet concerning Keita Yano fans being part of an exclusive club. Outside of that though, this match was genuinely terrific, and absolutely worth checking out as soon as possible.

Rating: A-

Rikiya Fudo & Daisaku Shimoda vs. Masato Shibata & Kotaro Nasu (U-FILE 10/13/2013)

    Another match featuring the Shimoda Bros (or as I like to call them, the better Hardy Boyz), this time taking on STYLE-E's Masato Shibata and Kotaro Nasu at a U-FILE Camp show from 2013. On a personal note, I cannot even begin to explain how hard I've tried to obtain full U-FILE Camp shows. One from 2011 was main evented by Hikaru Sato vs. Daisuke Nakamura, and another from 2012 had not only Kazuki Okubo vs. Kotaro Nasu, but also Nakamura & Sato vs. Masato Shibata & Kyosuke Sasaki. If I can one day successfully get my hands on some of these U-FILE shows, I'll consider that my peak in the world of tape trading.

    My immediate thought is that this is an amazing mirror match, as you have on both sides a sleaze shooter teaming with a Vader tribute wrestler. And wouldn't you know it, this match was kinda worked how you would expect it from hearing that! There was a definite house show feel to it (probably coming from the fact this particular U-FILE event was mostly an MMA show with the wrestling matches as a treat), and the crowd was very much planning on enjoying this match one way or another, which just makes me sad the last match couldn't have happened in Nishi Chofu.

    Shibata and Nasu did pretty damn good here, with Nasu taking the role of babyface in peril and Shibata being the hot tag. Nasu is definitely under appreciated compared to his fellow U-FILE Camp peers, as while he's not at the level of Takeda, Sasaki, or Nakamura, he's absolutely worth talking about as a really damn good wrestler. He threw some nice strikes including some great shoteis, and his dropkick was sweet. Shibata meanwhile was fully playing the Vader role here, coming in and just laying waste to whoever he was in the ring with. He did an awesome German suplex to Fudo, and hit this absolutely crushing Vader Bomb to Daisaku:

    Once again however, the Shimoda Bros prove their superiority to all others by being general menaces here. Daisaku was once again playing the role of hardass shooter to perfection, throwing kicks and elbows while also just generally being mean. Fudo was the same, just beating up Nasu and hitting his signature spots while also doing some impressive stuff with Shibata. One of the best moments from both of them was getting to see their signature combination, I have no idea if there's a special name but you can pretty much guarantee that if you're watching a Shimoda Bros match, you'll see it.

    The finish of the match wasn't at the level of the last one, but it was still a pretty solid way to cap off the match. A generally pretty fun match with all four guys getting to do cool shit, nothing that I would cancel anything important over but if you're looking to see more from any of these four this is a match worth watching for sure.

Rating: B

Rikiya Fudo vs. Naoya Nomura (CAPTURE International 05/08/2022)

    We are now in the current year, with this match taking place not even a full month ago. This was the 2nd round of the CAPTURE Openweight Championship tournament, and both Fudo and Nomura were coming into this with a lot of steam. They had met less than two months previously a main event tag match at CAPTURE's first show since the pandemic, and thanks to the efforts of everyone @'ing Koki Kitahara on twitter, we were finally able to see a CAPTURE show for the first time since 2003 (I'll also almost definitely be talking about that match at some point). That is to say, this match had history going into it and certain expectations of quality based on both the killer main event tag and the great 1st round matches both guys had.

    Boy, did they outdo those expectations by a landslide.

    Right from the start this was absolutely wild, with both guys just running into each other like furious bulls and not dropping that energy for the entire match. Every single strike they threw had so much intensity behind it, and any hold either of them put in looked like it could end the match just from how hard both would wrench back.

    Naoya Nomura, of course, absolutely killed it here. He's really come into his own as a CAPTURE style bruiser, throwing mean strikes and cinching in tight holds constantly, while still maintaining a lot of his pro wrestling roots. In particular, his spear is one of, if not the best spear in the world currently, absolutely obliterating Fudo with it.

    Rikiya Fudo did not come to the CAPTURE Dungeon to be outdone, and if Nomura hit hard, then Fudo hit even harder. He was like a genuine beast in this match, completely brutalizing Nomura with chops, kicks, and of course his horrific Vader hammers. He even busted out one of the most fucked up elbow drops I have ever seen, landing directly on Nomura's face, as seen below:

    They absolutely tore into each other for the whole match, and it culminated in a finish that, while divisive among people I've talked to about it, I personally think worked great based on where they wanted to go with the tournament. This is, without exaggeration, my current match of the year. It's only 5 and a half minutes long, and at no point does it ever stop keeping me captivated. A testament to the abilities of both men in this environment, and I truly hope we get to see them go at it again very soon.

Rating: A