(Written by jom)
244 vs. Masanori Kaneshima (NPW 12/17/2000)
It's weird to see 244 even partially hinged. I'm used to watching him dancehis way to the ring and get into weird shoot fights with bookers, but this is NPW top guy era 244, so he's way more reined-in than he would be later in the decade. He's also a total CIMA idolizer (explains a lot), wearing his gear and doing his moves without a hint of shame. Kaneshima, meanwhile, is the prototypical local shooter, perfectly color-coordinated and ready to dish out an excess of middle kicks. If UWFi were more open to bringing in random job guys during their shows on tour, Kaneshima probably would've been a solid hand for a Kakihara or Kanehara to beast on. Here though, he's a big freakin' deal, with his own fan section that probably consists of his girlfriend and family who are louder than anyone else in the crowd throughout the whole match. I honestly love it a lot, more wrestlers need their own fan club to cheer or boo at the drop of a hat and project complete bias rather than being an "I love wrestling" tepid clapper like we have nowadays. A lot of this match is based around Kaneshima working down 244 with submissions on various limbs before turning to the bombs, and his limbs-targeting is quality work, especially when he tweaks 244's ankle and immediately puts a hold on the ankle. His bombs also deliver pretty well, especially his beauty of a missile dropkick. 244, meanwhile, is definitely lesser than Kaneshima in the execution department, but he does a stunner into a people's elbow at one point which got a nice chuckle outta me. Fun stuff as a whole, maybe not the kind of match you should drop everything to check out but it has its moments and makes me want to see more of both guys, so there's not much else to ask for.
Kenichi Asakawa vs. Macadamia Hattori (NWD 07/20/2002)
Another local shooter against another slightly odd junior. Well, I don't mean to downplay either man. Asakawa is certainly more than just a local shooter: he also does moonsaults! My only experiences with Asakawa are seeing him get beat up on a RIKI OFFICE show by super rookie Masaru Kawakubo, and seeing him absolutely pwn a really fat fake Muta on a Lock-Up show (Lock-Up being the second or third rebrand of NWD within three years). Hattori, meanwhile, is making his debut here, a trainee of the Shibata Dojo ran by (shocker) Katsuhisa Shibata. Katsuhisa is probably most famous nowadays for being Katsuyori's dad, but his dojo was responsible for producing a handful of random indie stalwarts in the early 2000s, most notably the Kurokage that hangs out with Diablo a lot. That Kurokage also seems to be the best Shibata Dojo graduate, as most of them, Hattori included, never seemed to know how to work. Asakawa certainly tries his best here. He's a mean ass striker with great pacing and execution (at least two steps above Kaneshima on the "believable UWFi jobber" scale), and his aerial moments all look awesome, especially his springboards. The problem is that Hattori has no idea how to take any move ever, which leads to him nearly killing either Asakawa or himself on every bump. Hattori's own offense is good as he pulls out nice flashy kicks and llaves, but his work on defense goes beyond inconsistent and into the realm of genuinely dangerous at a few points. Ah well, Asakawa certainly left a good impression on me, so I'll be on the lookout for more of him.
Kenji Yoshioka vs. Hiroshi Toshima (NPW 05/19/2002)
Can I get another local shooter vs. local junior matchup please? Truly, these kinds of matches were inescapable in the early 2000s. Minoru Tanaka and his consequences I suppose. Toshima is the least shooty worker to be given the "local shooter" title so far, but he's got some mean ass kicks that sound more brutal than any of the kicks the last two guys threw, so I'll place him in the category anyways. This match isn't the most exciting or action-packed thing in the world, but it's incredibly competent. Future NPW owner Yoshioka is kind of grossly talented at competent wrestling for a guy stuck in no-ring feds, with beautiful dropkicks and incredibly solid matwork. Toshima is solid in his own right, maybe a little too loose in the holds and too prone to slipping up on his moves, but full of the spirit and willing to dish out punishment. There's a really nice moment early on where the two seemingly mistime a corner attack, and Toshima recovers from the nothingness by chopping Yoshioka as hard as he possibly can, rather than try to redo the spot. I've seen people with more experience in more important places recover far worse in similar situations, so I appreciate Toshima's ability to make a good gut call whenever the fuckups happen. As a whole, it's just alright, competently worked wrestling and little else, but I can appreciate a solidly-worked match for sure.
244 vs. Yuji Miyazaki (NPW 12/16/2001)
It's funny to think that this heated interpromotional main event between two feds' top champions features two of the most notable FU*CK! rogues gallery members. Miyazaki is only a few years away from transforming into The Zack. It's very weird to see him as a serious and petty worker knowing that he's destined for funny eyebrow raises and People's Elbows. This is far and away the best match discussed so far, mostly because of how interesting it is. 244 and Miyazaki are probably the least capable of the bunch (obviously excluding Hattori), but they have a much better grasp on their own individuality, and the match benefits a lot from that. Miyazaki is a house of fire and not at all afraid to break rules, dragging 244 around the venue to slam him into walls and hiding illegal chokes from the referee. 244, meanwhile, gets his receipts whenever he can, throwing nasty chops and kicks while mostly working Miyazaki's arm with full-force stomps to the elbow. This match once again falls into the armwork pattern that has somewhat dampened the energy of all the NPW matches before it, but that armwork is at least more spirited and bitter than the armwork in 244/Kaneshima. The match really rides that bitterness through thick and thin, making up for the occasional botch or slow period whenever either man gets the chance to throw a bomb. Once again, not a great match, but of everything we've talked about thus far, this one is certainly the closest to that point.
244, Hiryuu, Kenji Yoshioka, & Masanori Kaneshima vs. Kenichi Asakawa, Kensuke Komatsu, Koichi Sone, & Yuji Miyazaki (NWD 11/24/2001)
Yeah, this is the one. The NPW and NWD forces collide in a big chaotic brawl where everyone finally lets loose and the promise of greatness is delivered. At least, that's what enough of this match is to warrant calling it great. It's also a lot of not so good stuff! This match is loooooooooong. Like 20 something minutes long, way longer than a match with a hot start and three minutes of arena brawling should be. It's not like they maintain that fast pace, either; they return to it at multiple points, but at least half of the proceeding match is slower and more heat-heavy. I appreciate the heat work for the most part, as both teams do a good job of cutting the ring in half and finding ways to beat down the weaker links of the teams, but I couldn't help but get a sinking feeling in my stomach when I saw Miyazaki start a legwork segment on Kaneshima. Limb targeting has been absolutely inescapable throughout all this footage, and while I always appreciate a good "pick a limb, tell a story" kind of match, I've been overexposed to somewhat acceptable forms of it for the last two days, and I just don't wanna see any wrestlers controlling the match with arm wringers and key locks for the rest of the week. Again though, there's enough potshots and dastardly fouling to keep this one chugging along, from Miyazaki's chair DDT to NPW's relentless apron kicking. Hiryuu, the god damn BLUBBER MONSTER, leaves a real lasting impression and proves why I'm a complete idiot for not covering any more of his matches, mostly through hitting gross lariats and beasting smaller men around the ring like it's nothing. He's easily the standout amongst the crowd for me, but Asakawa's flying armbars and Yoshioka's dropkicks to the jaw do a lot of heavy lifting of their own. Hell, 244 and Miyazaki even get into a few punch exchanges, and they look great in 240p. Everyone impresses for the entire run of the match, and they end it nicely with one of the crazier finishes I've seen from this period. It's a match that knows itself enough to get much right, and while the faults certainly keep it from entering even higher territory, this is still the best match of the new collection for sure.
