FU*CK! 01/14/2007

          (Written by jom)

Shinigami Shuucho vs. JET Shinomura

    Starting us off is a weird spooky demon thing vs. a karateka. Once again, Shiratori shows himself to be the goat booker. The ref enters the ring and Shuucho's theme starts to play, but he doesn't appear from the doorway. Some time passes before the camera pans down and

    Shinomura eventually rushes Shuucho while he's attacking fans and the match begins. The actual match was honestly nothing special for 90% of it. Shuucho did only tomahawk chops (that is, attacking Shinomura with his actual tomahawk) while Shinomura threw alright kicks in response. Eventually they brawl to the outside where I learn this is falls count anywhere, and Shuucho goes to open the garage door of the J2K dojo. The door lifts up and he sees... this.

    I'll be entirely honest here. This might be the first time I have ever truly been taken aback like this. When Koriki Senshu appeared and lost immediately, I was surprised but still able to somewhat see what was going on. When Takaku Fuke disappeared and reappeared as Takaku Pehlwan, I was shocked but could also see how this happened. When a fucking gorilla appeared to beat up Shuucho, leading to Shinomura getting the win, I was absolutely flabbergasted. There is no way to interpret this. There is no way to make sense of this. This is pure, unmitigated chaos.

Rating:

Great Ninja vs. Yoshiaki Iwata

    Great Ninja, contrary to his extremely intriguing name, is just a dude who wears a lotta clothes in this match. I did have a solid amount of hope for his performance as previously I had seen him doing good work with Toby Klein and Mad Man Pondo in one of FU*CK!'s annual tag team tournaments. Yoshiaki Iwata, meanwhile, I had never seen before this match, and based on his street clothes I wasn't expecting much.

    Contrary to my initial predictions, Iwata was definitely the better guy in this match. A lot of his stuff was genuinely pretty crisp, with a very solid dropkick and this awesome running knee:

    Ninja was alright here as well, at one point locking in a nice one-legged bow and arrow stretch (before immediately letting go of it because he couldn't balance Iwata properly on his knee). He also hit a good frog splash to get the win. I truly don't think this was anything worth going out of your way to see, but it also was entirely inoffensive and at least introduced me to Iwata, who I'll hopefully be seeing more of in the future.

Rating: C

Mammoth Handa, Hideki Shioda, & Killer Master vs. Toshiya Iwata, MASADA, & Konaka = Pehlwan

    Such an absolutely stacked six-man tag on paper. Shioda is solid, Master is solid, Konaka is awesome, MASADA (the American one) is usually sweet in his FU*CK! appearances, and Handa is fucking hilarious. The only person I'd never seen before this was Iwata, who based on the last name and the resemblance I assume is the brother of Yoshiaki Iwata from the previous match. But yeah, going into this I was excited to see what happens here.

    Thankfully my expectations were 100% met because this was just the best type of car crash. Awesome crazy stuff throughout with much of it courtesy of MASADA being a total menace. Early on he hit an insane powerbomb to Master onto a bunch of the audience's chairs, and he spent a lot of this match just absolutely destroying Master with moments like this:

    He didn't only destroy Master though, as he also went crazy on Handa with some sick shots with the ladder and another spot that we will get to very soon.

    Everyone else also delivered the goods here. Konaka of course was awesome as usual, just being a weird little fucker throwing Kawada kicks using his heel (I can't really explain it but you'd understand if you saw it) and just spitting on people because of course he did. Shioda and Master also did pretty sweet here, doing some cool juniors stuff like Shioda's strike combo into a nice russian leg sweep and Master's beautifully ugly moonsault press. Iwata, similar to how I had never seen him before this match, was absolutely nowhere to be seen for most of it. His one notable moment was completely missing a shining wizard, so probably not the best first impression possible.

    The best person in this match besides MASADA was Handa. This guy is fucking amazing. I truly believe that at this point, Handa could not have been a trained wrestler, because I refuse to believe any trained wrestler would do the things he did. At one point, MASADA tried to whip him into the ropes, but Handa just... stopped running. It has been long understood that the irish whip, no matter how nonsensical it is, is 100% legitimate in the world of professional wrestling. Handa said "fuck that this shit is fake" and I applaud him for his bravery. MASADA however does not and truly brutalizes him, of course with the ladder shots mentioned previously but also with this, what I believe is maybe the most fucked up fireball I have ever seen:

    The best part? When MASADA went for the cover after this, the ref decided "hey, you guys are too close to the ropes", so he REFUSED to count the pinfall. MASADA pulled Handa to the center of the ring and hit a fucking moonsault (something I had no idea he could even do) to finally get the win. This was just an absolute trainwreck in more ways than one, and I loved every second of it. Also, as I'm writing this, I just realized that MASADA was seemingly trying to go for the cover as Handa's leg was still very much on fire. Truly an all-time moment.

Rating: B+

Different Style Rules: Kenji Fukimoto vs. Hideaki Sumi

    Four months ago, Fukimoto and Sumi had a different style fight and it rocked my fucking world. By the time it reached its conclusion, it had become my favorite match to ever take place in FU*CK! (outside of Mambo/Shioda of course). After Sumi's victory he went on an absolute warpath, beating Takuya Fujiwara, Yoshiaki Iwata, and Yoshihiro Kawaguchi in Different Style Fights. However, the original match to start this war on pro wrestling, no matter how amazing it was, ended on an unfulfilling note with the ref calling the match prematurely due to Fukimoto's blood loss. When a match that heated ends in such a way, there's really only one thing you can do: RUN. IT. BACK. Four months later, here we are.

    Of course, I did have some worries. The previous match they had was phenomenal stuff, and living up to that would be difficult. I was excited but also preparing for potential disappointment. However, when I saw that the match started with this:

    I knew immediately that oh baby, I'm in for a god damn ride. Contrary to the first match they had, Sumi was in total control for this first round. He decimated Fukimoto with some awesome combos, leading Fukimoto to start bleeding within the first minute of the match. He also was a lot more vicious than before, ignoring the ref on multiple occasions just to get more shots in. Fukimoto, for his part, was much calmer and collected than he was four months prior. He didn't rush in to brawl and he didn't use weapons like he did in the past. He kept his distance, trying to measure out any opportunities he could take. While he was totally dominated in the first round because of this strategy, it started to bear fruit in the second one, with him pulling off this awesome counter:

    Fukimoto's grappling onslaught continued on through the second round, with Sumi at first refusing to use rope breaks before eventually being forced to due to Fukimoto's hyperfocus on his arm. The second round ends and Fukimoto refuses to let go of a gross armbar, leading to JET Shinomura (Sumi's second for the match) coming in and kicking the shit out of him before a bunch of FU*CK! regulars rushed the ring to force Shinomura out.

    The third round was really the total bomb-throwing portion of the match though, with Fukimoto and Sumi absolutely worn out and throwing it all out there in an attempt to finally finish this. Sumi hit more of his awesome combos, and Fukimoto hit some great strikes of his own, especially an awesome lariat he hit while the ref was trying to force Sumi off of him. Finally, Fukimoto was able to take the advantage, and, in the ultimate tribute to the Different Style Fights that clearly had major inspiration on this whole rivalry, hit this gnarly Fire Thunder Powerbomb on Sumi:

    Fukimoto then picked Sumi up and hit one final hard brainbuster, leading to Sumi staying down for the 10 count and giving Fukimoto a decisive win over the invading karateka.

    After the match, Fukimoto and Sumi had a silent staredown, and it seemed like Fukimoto was going to go for a handshake. However, Sumi kept his distance, so Fukimoto started to leave. Right before he could walk out though, Sumi called him back over and after a little more hesitation, the two finally shook hands.

    Truly a great match, one that lives up to the expectations set by the original match they had while adding a lot to it. Fukimoto coming in with a new strategy to defeat his karateka rival was awesome, and Sumi's developing evilness was truly amazing. Totally what you would want from these two, and hopefully I'll be able to find more interactions between them in the future.

Rating: A

Dragon Soldier LAW vs. Takaku Fuke

    Once again, FU*CK! follows up an insane Different Style Fight between Fukimoto and Sumi with a FU*CK! regular taking on an unsung MMA legend. This time, Dragon Soldier LAW is here to fight for FU*CK!'s honor, and he's taking on Takaku Fuke, Pancrase pioneer and all-around badass. Before the match, a bunch of clips played of Mammoth Handa, Killer Master, and Hideki Shioda repeatedly ambushing DSL and attempting to cut off pieces of his hair. I'm not really sure what caused these three to be so hell-bent on getting one of DSL's locks, but it certainly was entertaining to watch. DSL also came out here wearing MMA gloves because he's facing Fuke, meaning it's real shooter hours baby.

    In terms of the actual match, it sadly turned out to be nothing special. DSL, while a lot of fun, is kinda meh in the ring, only doing some cool weird flipping headbutts and a nice stunner. Fuke meanwhile was seemingly off his game, hitting some strikes with a lot of weakness and generally seeming to not be entirely sure how he should be wrestling. He did have a couple really awesome moments where he countered DSL into some tight holds, like this one shown below:

    Eventually, DSL tapped out to an armbar from Fuke... for about 25 seconds straight, during which the ref seemingly kept asking "do you actually want to tap out?", before realizing that yes, DSL does want to tap out and at this point Fuke has probably broken DSL's elbow, set it back in place, and then broken it again.

    Overall, this was fine, but sadly didn't live up to be anything more than that. Fuke and DSL seemingly couldn't mesh at all, and it wasn't in a funny way either. After the match, Hideaki Sumi came out and challenged Fuke, and that is a match that I have to see if it actually ended up happening. Fuke leaves and after DSL cuts a show-ending promo, Handa, Master, and Shioda all rush him one last time, getting one more piece of hair for whatever collection they've got going. Once again, Long Live FU*CK!.

Rating: B-

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

The Comprehensive Super Rider

              (Written by jom)

    In professional wrestling and especially in Japanese professional wrestling, there have been a lot of "tie-in" wrestlers. Guys like Jushin Thunder Liger sit at the helm of this category, with more obscure tie-ins such as WYF's Cosmic Angels and Ultraman Robin acting as the official wrestling representatives for the own respective brands. However, the most famous of all of these tie-ins is most definitely the Tiger Mask persona, which is undeniably most connected to Satoru Sayama. Sayama's legacy forever shaped professional wrestling, both in the pro and shoot styles, and he himself ended up having a direct hand in keeping that legacy alive through his training. Guys like Koki Kitahara, Naomichi Marufuji, Naoyuki Taira, Super Tiger II, and Tiger Mask IV all went through Sayama's arduous training in the Super Tiger Gym. However, the man we're talking about in this article is not only one of Sayama's first proteges, but a fellow tie-in wrestler as well.

    That man is Kamen Shooter Super Rider.

    Kamen Shooter Super Rider (or Super Rider for short) began his combat sports life in high school as an amateur wrestler. He became the team captain and ran the club with his deputy captain Mitsuharu Misawa, leading the clubs other members including Toshiaki Kawada. He won the National High School Overall Wrestling Tournament in 1980 and went to college on a wrestling scholarship, winning another tournament in 1982 and losing in 1984 to a future Olympic medalist. He would enter into the Super Tiger Gym after graduating from college. Rider got his start in Shooto in 1989, amassing a very respectable 6-3 record and even becoming the first ever welterweight champion in 1991. He would make his pro wrestling debut in late 1993, appearing in SPWF as Hopper King and sticking with that name for a few years, working on the lower level indies in places such as PWC, IWA Kakuto Shijuku, and West Japan.

    At the beginning of 1996, Hopper would start using the name "Super Rider" in PWC, but he would change it to "Kamen Shooter Super Rider" in May of that year. Toei, the owners of the Kamen Rider brand, very quickly let Super Rider know that he did not have permission to use the name, and planned to license their own wrestler to keep Rider from continuing to use it. However, Rider (joined by Sayama himself), would go to the Toei headquarters and plead with them to allow him to use the name, exclaiming his love for Kamen Rider and his deep desire to represent the brand in professional wrestling. Toei would have a change of heart after this, and in December of that year, Kamen Shooter Super Rider would become officially recognized as Toei's professional wrestling representative of the Kamen Rider brand.

    Following the death of PWC, Rider joined some of his friends from the promotion in the creation of DDT, serving as one of its early top stars and helping shape the organization into the juggernaut it is today. After 2000, Super Rider left DDT, mainly splitting his time from then on between TAMA and Battlarts before disappearing almost altogether in 2001. His protege Super Rider II took over his spot in both promotions, and Rider only made a handful of appearances until 2005, when he was officially brought into Sayama's RJPW promotion to work in the front office. In 2007, Rider returned to semi-activity after making an appearance at the DDT 10th anniversary show, becoming a regular in the midcards of RJPW shows. He'd stay in that position for nearly 15 years until seemingly leaving the group in 2022, but he's continued to wrestle in lower-scale indies ever since. He's even left one final mark on combat sports, as both of his sons have become MMA fighters, and his eldest son Shooto (yes, named after THAT Shooto) currently has a 27-9 record, racking up win after win in places like ZST, DEEP, and Rizin.

    Rider's reputation has always been somewhat divisive. A lot of people either love or hate him, but I personally fall on the former side of the argument. Really, my biggest hope for this series is to show some people why I think this guy is so awesome. The more people that know how great Super Rider is, the better.

Reviewed Matches (in Chronological Order):

Hopper King & Hiroshi Shimada vs. Black Hole 1 & 2 (IWA Kakuto Shijuku 05/14/1995) - B

Hopper King & Koichiro Kimura vs. Black Hole & Fumio Akiyama (West Japan 06/21/1995) - A-

Super Rider vs. Uchu Power X (PWC 05/06/1996) - A-

Super Rider & Super Uchuu Power vs. Sanshiro Takagi & Kazushige Nosawa (DDT 03/25/1997) - B+

Super Rider, Asian Cougar, & Thanomsak Toba vs. Kazunori Yoshida, Koichiro Kimura, & Takao Iwasaki (DDT 11/20/1999) - B

Super Rider, Asian Cougar, & Thanomsak Toba vs. Yusaku, Daisaku, & Yuki Nishino (DDT 11/20/1999) - B+

Super Rider, Asian Cougar, & Yuki Nishino vs. Nihao, Thanomsak Toba, & Takashi Sasaki (DDT 11/25/1999) - A-

Super Rider vs. Takeshi Ono (Battlarts 01/07/2001) - B

Super Rider vs. Junji.com (Battlarts 01/28/2001) - B+

Super Rider vs. Takeshi Ono (Battlarts 06/02/2001) - A-

Super Rider vs. Tomohiro Ishii (RJPW 03/01/2009) - B

Super Rider vs. Hayato Mashita (RJPW 06/17/2010) - B-

Super Rider & Tiger Shark vs. Hideki Hosaka & Kazuhiko Matsuzaki (RJPW 12/07/2012) - B

Super Rider & Yuko Miyamoto vs. TORU & Takafumi Ito (SSPW 07/29/2021) - B

Super Rider & Wild Pony vs. Junichi Hanawa & KURO-OBI (H-Production 08/11/2024) - B

Comprehensive Super Rider #1

              (Written by jom)

Hopper King & Hiroshi Shimada vs. Black Hole 1 & 2 (IWA Kakuto Shijuku 05/14/1995)

    We're starting off where every great article should start off, with a match in the Yong Dong Village food market. Hopper is teaming with big guy Shimada who I'm a fan of, and they're taking on one of my favorite acts on the sleaze scene, the Black Holes. I have no idea who Black Hole 2 is and can't even begin to throw out some guesses, but I'm fairly certain Black Hole 1 is the same Black Hole previously talked on the blog in that amazing shoot style tag match from the West Japan korakuen show (this Black Hole may or may not have gone on to become Eagle Pro's Super Judist but you didn't hear it from me).

    Going into the match, I had a pretty strong idea of how it was going to play out. Hopper would throw his strikes as much as he could while the Black Holes would respond with brute force and absolute mass to crush him. I'm starting to get good at predicting how matches go because within the first minute this exchange happened, proving my idea entirely:

    This is how the match mostly went for its sub-10 minute runtime. Hopper was pretty sweet here, throwing some thudding kicks and did all his pro wrestling type stuff really well, even hitting an awesome Rider Kick towards the end. He also was somehow able to do a little grappling on the big man. Notice I said man, because Black Hole 2 is in the ring for maybe a full minute. I'm sure he was in for longer and those moments were just clipped out, but this was entirely about Hopper and Shimada taking on the original Black Hole. A very good thing in my opinion, because the original Black Hole rules, throwing big man clubs and judo throws like there's no tomorrow.

    Shimada more than held his own end of the match too. He was able to do some solid stuff with the biggest highlight being hitting this genuinely disgusting senton, the way he landed made it look like all of his weight fell on only the right half of Black Hole, probably crushing all the ribs on that side. The match's finishing stretch wasn't anything special but it didn't feel out of place or rushed either. Overall a pretty solid affair, with the three people that mattered getting to do some cool spots, but nothing that'll blow your mind.

Rating: B

Super Rider vs. Takeshi Ono (BattlArts 01/07/2001)

    Ono is one of my favorite BattlArts guys, as pretty much all of them had one defining trait and Ono's was closed fist punching. Just wanna say before the match even starts, Rider is his Hopper King gear of red pants and a red Super Tiger Gym shirt, so he's going full throwback for this one. Ono meanwhile is wearing his awesome trench coat, although he doesn't have the cybergoth mask he work in like 99, so his look doesn't feel entirely complete here.

    Contrary to his attire choice, Ono was in prime form wrestling-wise here, fully committed to punching Rider in the face and kicking him in the balls. He busts out some awesome punch combos throughout the match, as well as doing a couple really creative sequences like hitting a snap suplex before immediately flowing into a gnarly handstand kneedrop straight to Rider's face. One of my favorite moments from him comes early in the match, with Ono just countering Rider's attempt at a waistlock by kicking him directly in the nuts and slapping on a deep manjigatame.

    Super Rider, honestly, wasn't at the same level as Ono here, but he was definitely at a high enough level to warrant appreciation. A lot of his kicks had that same thudding impact he's had his entire career, and he also busted out a little cool grappling like transitioning a crossface chickenwing into a slick backslide. Some of his spots down the line did kinda drag and get sloppy, but he recovered for the most part in that area just by hitting this insane German suplex:

    The finish sadly did feel a little rushed, and the crowd was never really into the match either. This was 2001 BattlArts so that's not an uncommon occurrence for any match that's not the main event, but it definitely didn't help this match in any way. Somewhat disappointing considering the unrealistic standard I probably came in with, but there were enough cool moments between the two that it's totally worth checking out if you're already a fan of either guy.

Rating: B

Super Rider & Yuko Miyamoto vs. Takafumi Ito & TORU (SSPW 07/29/2021)

    We have arrived to 2021, and Rider's final match in SSPW as of this post. All three other guys in this match I'm a fan of. Miyamoto is genuinely one of the best wrestlers of his generation, consistently putting in amazing performances no matter if he's in a normal match or a deathmatch. Takafumi Ito is really damn good and has been enjoying a very fun late-career revival recently. TORU is one of Tenryu's chosen ones in Tenryu Project and he absolutely deserves the credit Tenryu has given him because he's extremely talented in the ring.

    It's crazy that I said all that shit about Rider being old and near retirement because he and Takafumi Ito started this match off with some absolutely awesome grappling. The guys on commentary said "Shooto vs. Pancrase" and just hearing that definitely added some level of authenticity to everything happening, with both guys going back and forth with holds in a really smooth yet competitive way.

    TORU and Yuko Miyamoto more than held up their ends of the match as well. TORU didn't get a ton to do here but was able to hit his beauty of a dropkick. Miyamoto meanwhile had some awesome grappling and working moments on TORU, and even pulled out a pretty sweet handspring backflip kick instead of his usual handspring elbow. Takafumi Ito was probably the best guy in the match though, throwing hard strikes and doing tight grappling as seen above, as well as hitting his great uranage as seen below:

    The finish came soon after this, but I do just want to say that Super Rider's Rider Kick is still solid as hell. It's genuinely shocking to me that he was able to pull it out at 58 and still make it look pretty damn sweet.

    Overall, this match was some fun stuff. Rider and Ito's interactions were genuinely really enjoyable, and TORU and Miyamoto helped to keep the match flowing when the older guys needed to take a breather. A worthwhile early card match and proof that Rider still has some solid work left in him.

Rating: B

The Comprehensive Rikiya Fudo

             (Written by jom)

    There have been a number of wrestlers in Japan who have "reinvented" themselves. Guys like Minoru Fujita and Genkai immediately spring to mind, both having gone through different styles of wrestling and morphing their presentations to be almost entirely different from how they started. In this conversation though, there's very few wrestlers who can match up in reinvention abilities to Rikiya Fudo.

    Originally debuting under his real name of Yusaku Shimoda, Shimoda first entered wrestling in 1997 for DDT, starting off by himself before being joined by his twin Daisaku only a year later. They would stick to DDT and CAPTURE International until 2000, when the twins transferred to Wrestle Yume Factory. When WYF collapsed only a year later, Daisaku went to BJW while Yusaku was invited to the fledgling ZERO1 with a number of other former WYF wrestlers. Yusaku would stay there for a while, spending his first few years as Kuroge Wagyuta before settling on the name Rikiya Fudo in late 2004. He would stick with ZERO1 for a few more years before going freelance in 2007, mostly working shows for Kazushigumi and MAKEHEN while also still doing sporadic dates for ZERO1. Between then and now he would become an official roster member for both Kacho Fugetsu and LAND'S END, but would only be with both for a relatively short amount of time. Currently, Fudo is still a freelancer, mostly working for CAPTURE International, the same place he wrestled nearly 25 years ago.

    Stylistically, Fudo has completely changed since his start. In his early days, he was definitely a hard hitter, but was more of a "strong style" type wrestler than anything. As he spent more time in ZERO1, he became much more of a "beefy" wrestler with hard lariats and bull-like energy, hence his ring name (Kuroge Wagyuta literally means "Japanese Black Beef"). However, his biggest change came towards the end of his time as a ZERO1 roster member, when he put on much more weight and muscle, tried out a singlet, and became what can best be described as "Sleaze Vader". Disgusting Vader hammers, thunderous chops, and tons of maneuvers based around crushing his opponents with his absolute mass. To this day he's still wrestling in this style, feeling like one of currently wrestling's greatest "force of nature" guys.

    I've been a massive Fudo fan for years now, and his current career renaissance as one of CAPTURE's top guys has been wonderful to see. Hopefully his insane performances there will get him more opportunities to show the world just how great he is, but for now, at least I'll try to do my part by reviewing as many matches of his as possible.

Reviewed Matches (in Chronological Order):

Yusaku & Daisaku vs. Yuichi Taniguchi & Sanshiro Takagi (DDT 04/04/1999) - B+

Yusaku, Daisaku, & Yuki Nishino vs. Kazunori Yoshida, Koichiro Kimura, & Takao Iwasaki (DDT 11/20/1999) - B-

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

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

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

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

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

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

FU*CK! 08/03/2008

          (Written by jom)

Takaku Fuke vs. Kinya Hashimoto

    Such a powerful mindset Tsubasa Shiratori must have to book a show to start with genuine MMA pioneer Takaku Fuke taking on a parody Shinya Hashimoto (complete with black tape on the side of his face to emulate Shinya's famous sideburns). Truly, maybe one of the most fun ways a show could start is a parody of a fake shooter getting dogwalked by a very real shooter. Just to get across how this match was seemingly gonna flow, Fuke not only ignored Kinya's handshake offer, but hit him with one of the hardest side-eyes I've ever seen:

    Of course, this was very much controlled by Fuke, with him absolutely laying into Kinya with some disgusting knees and kicks (at one point throwing a knee so hard at Kinya that it knocked his wig off). Fuke's really one of the more under-appreciated shooters of his era, and a lot of his work on the Kansai sleaze scene really goes to show that he could absolutely destroy anyone in the ring with him. However, Kinya actually got some of his own offense in, and his offense was actually pretty damn good! He threw some sweet kicks and actually had a mean german suplex on him, culminating in the awesome bridging german shown below.

    As expected however, no matter how great Kinya's german suplexes and kicks were, they were no match for Fuke's legitimate ass-kicking cred, and he ended up getting the win shortly after this with a deep fujiwara armbar. I went into this match thinking it would probably not be much to talk about by the end, but I was pleasantly surprised by just how good Kinya did. A really hard-hitting match and a great way to start off the show.

Rating: B

Hideki Shioda vs. Mambo Shintaro

    After the last match, I personally wouldn't wanna be one of the two people that have to follow up such a killer opener. The ones here to do that are Hideki Shioda and Mambo Shintaro. Shioda has been around for a while and has worked in a ton of different places, from BJW to DDT and of course on the Kansai sleaze scene. Shintaro meanwhile is totally an unknown here, I tried to do a little bit of digging into him but found only that he apparently worked as a referee for the most part. He was however on a pretty absurd tape I watched with some friends, where he and Mamoru Tanaka had a "Car Crash Deathmatch" in the middle of an empty parking lot, beating each other up using a Toyota bB until Shiratori started trying to run them both over using the heavily damaged car.

    While the last match surprised me by how high the quality of the wrestling ended up being, nothing could have prepared me for just how bad Shintaro would be. I am not exaggerating when I say that I've never seen someone quite as bad as Shintaro on any FU*CK! shows. This is immediately shown when, after Shioda is sent to the outside early on, Shintaro does this suicide dive:

    After this, both men brawl around the outside of DDT Dojo (where this show is taking place) and some pretty crazy shit happens. Shioda and Shintaro trade slaps while sitting on top of the front gate, Shioda puts Shintaro in two absolutely horrendous boston crabs on the outside that get Shintaro absolutely covered in soot, and Shioda tries to suplex Shintaro only for Shintaro to accidentally DDT himself on the concrete. Eventually they head back in and the match goes into overdrive with Shintaro doing some of the worst parody moves I've ever seen, including some terrible dragon screws, a combination of janky Misawa forearms (I almost forgot to mention that Shintaro came out to Spartan-X which is vital information in my opinion), maybe the worst shining wizard I've ever seen, and finally, the crème de la crème of this string of offense. I present to you... the worst backslide I have ever seen:

    Soon after this, Shioda is finally able to get some offense back in and absolutely cracks the hell outta Shintaro's jaw with a spinning wheel kick, before locking in a Kimura for the victory.

    Now, after reading all of my negativity and seeing just how bad Shintaro was, I'm sure you expect a grade like a D- or even the first ever F on the blog. Well, you would be DEAD. FUCKING. WRONG. You see, when something is this bad, when a piece of wrestling is this horribly done, I honestly think it wraps around into becoming pure art. Of course, if something is bad because of a lack of effort, that is an entirely different story. That wasn't the case here. Shintaro isn't someone who came in and didn't try, so please don't walk away from this thinking that. From everything I can tell, Shintaro was trying his god damn heart out here, and the fans were in love with everything he did, no matter how well he actually did it. By the end of the match, I was in love too. Mambo Shintaro may not be a ring general or a true king of the ring, but if there was ever a man deserving of the title of "People's Champion", it would be him. I stand by my decision and am willing to fight to the death over it, and I'm extremely excited to see any of Shintaro's other work.

Rating: A+

Ultraman Robin & Hideki Shioda vs. Lucha Master Takemaru & Kancho Nagase

    This was actually meant to be a singles match between Robin and Takemaru, but as Robin makes his entrance Nagase jumps him from behind! Takemaru and Nagase put the boots to him but here comes Shioda for the save! After some brawling on the outside all four guys get in the ring and we now have a tag match on our hands.

    Honestly, there isn't much to say about this match in terms of a story or match flow or anything like that. This was just a really well-worked match featuring four guys who have the ability to really go at it in the ring. Nagase's interactions with Shioda and especial Robin were great, with Nagase bringing some fury behind all his strikes and grappling, and Robin was definitely the best at responding to that.

    Takemaru was able to hold his own as well for sure. He was pretty damn athletic compared to everyone else on the show, doing a nice kip-up into arm drag spot and generally showing himself to be a good hand in the ring. Eventually, the match culminated in Robin hitting an awesome avalanche gutwrench suplex/powerslam hybrid move on Takemaru, before hitting him with a crossbody for the win. Again, there wasn't a ton that made this too special or anything, but it was worked well by all involved and never really outstayed its welcome.

Rating: C+

244 vs. Keita Yano

   One of Keita's rare FU*CK! appearances! Honestly, I feel like this is a place that would fit Keita well especially nowadays, but he sadly hasn't worked there a ton. He's facing 244 here, and before the match I do need to share a very important piece of information about 244. From the beginning of the show, he's been sitting at a table with Shiratori, helping out with handling the faulty sound system they're using for the show. He stays there up until it is time for this match, at which point... 244 crouches down and seems to try and hide from the audience, to then appear and make his entrance. Honestly, I deeply respect this attempt and from the get-go was ready to be a fan of his.

    Wouldn't you know it, this match was pretty damn good too. Keita was in full bully mode here, just disrespecting 244 with slaps to the back of the head and grinding his knee into 244's chin while grappling. Keita threw in a lot of little touches to his work like that, and it really gave it so much more life than just doing the holds. 244 was able to hold his own on the mat too, at one point actually getting the better of him (although Keita would quickly reverse it and go back to cruelly beating him down on the mat). It was also around this point that I noticed that future IWGP and AEW world champion Kenny Omega had taken a seat and was now watching this match. Hopefully this is just some long-term storytelling and Omega is currently working out a plan with TK to bring Yano in for a couple matches with the Blackpool Combat Club.

    The grappling eventually gives way to more contemporary wrestling, with 244 and Keita trading some mean strikes, leading into bigger and bigger attacks from both men. This culminated in this pretty sweet little moment from both guys towards the end: 

    Soon after this however, Keita fully took the advantage and tee'd off a hard combo before locking in the always amazing Yurikamone for the win. Overall, the match ended up being pretty damn well-paced and featured some awesome stuff from both guys, especially Keita who got to play the bully heel role so early into his career and did great at it. 

Rating: B

Pre-QA Blue, Pre-QA Yellow, Pre-QA Pink, Pre-QA Green, & Pre-QA Red vs. Ken Ohka, Konaka = Pale One, The Zack, Magnum Oedo, and Kenji Abe

    I'm not even going to try and talk much about this match, because a lot of stuff happened, I was very confused, and honestly I can't be bothered to try and figure it all out. It's currently 12:53 AM and I am too tired to dissect what the hell Pre-QA even is (I think an idol group parody? idk Shoichi Uchida and Takaku Fuke are wearing wigs and dresses and I'm not entirely sure what's going on).

    The most notable part of the match to me is definitely the one, the only, The Zack. He's a parody of Dwayne "The Fortnite Character" Johnson, and my lord is he good at what he does. He pretty much has the Rock stomps down to an artform, doing that weird leg shimmy Rock does before actually stomping and doing it really damn good. The best part of his offense was definitely his People's Elbow though, which I'm just gonna leave below because my god is it awesome.

    The only other notable part in my opinion is the moment that eventually leads to the finish. Konaka grabs Pre-QA Yellow(Takaku Fuke) and drags him into a back room. Both are gone for about 7 or so minutes before the door swings open. Out runs... hold on a second. What the hell? WHAT THE HELL? THAT'S... THAT'S...

    THAT'S TAKAKU = PALE ONE!!! Takaku = Pale One the cleans house with throat thrusts before getting the win for his team with a jumping senton. While the ending was actually pretty funny and all the stuff The Zack did was fun, overall the match was kind of a drag. I definitely don't understand the appeal of the Pre-QA gimmick (I guess dress & wig = funny or something) but ignoring that it was still just a meandering match with not much going for it. Oh well, at least it gave us Takaku = Pale One.

Rating: D+

HARASHIMA vs. Killer Master

    The main event of a very strange and very special show features one of the most strange and special appearances in FU*CK! history. HARASHIMA is, at this point, considered by most to be one of the best wrestlers in Japan, and it's hard to deny that. He's got a ton of talent and even as he's gotten older he's lost very little of it. Here, he's possibly in peak condition, and he's been tasked with taking on FU*CK!'s Killer Master. Unlike the ominous and threatening name, Killer Master just kinda looks like a dude. Nothing too stand-out in terms of gear or attitude, but he does come out to Iron Man by Black Sabbath so that's pretty sweet.

    What we ended up getting from the pairing of these two ended up being a pretty solid main event encounter. Similar to the opener, HARASHIMA was decidedly above Master and wasn't afraid to show it, completely brushing off Master's strikes for a good portion of the first half of the match and really going into him with his own. He also spent a lot of this match putting on an absolute clinic of back targeting, including this nasty bow and arrow stretch:

    That's not to say that Master didn't get any offense in. Far from it, when Master was able to get any amount of control he really took advantage of it to bust out some pretty awesome offense. He did a really nice running shooting star press, hit a gross missile dropkick straight to HARASHIMA's stomach, and even busted out this really good sequence when he was really starting to make his comeback:

    However, the result of the match was always clear, no matter how much of a comeback Master would be able to make. HARASHIMA eventually took back control completely and dumped Master directly onto his head with a gross implant DDT. That wasn't enough for HARASHIMA though, who did the spot of the night by doing pull-ups on a support beam on the roof before hitting a mean double knee drop to Master, leading into an extremely high angle single leg crab that got him the submission victory.

    Honestly, this was probably the perfect match to end the show. While it wasn't as good as Keita vs. 244 or as insane as Mambo vs. Shioda, it was an awesome display by Killer Master and a great powerful force performance by HARASHIMA. After the match, Master got beaten up a little by Shiratori but ended the show together in the ring, thanking everyone for coming out and supporting FU*CK!. A fitting end to a very crazy show.

Rating: B-

The Comprehensive CMA Gym

            (Written by jom)

    In 1993, two of the strongest killers in pro wrestling history made their debuts: Kei Tsukada and Takeshi Miyamoto. Tsukada first made his debut on June 10th for W*ING (unless you count the legit boxing matches he had on NJPW shows in the late 80s), defeating Ryo Miyake. Only 3 months later, Miyamoto would defeat Keisuke Yamada at an Oriental Pro show on September 16th. Both matches were contested under Different Style rules, with Tsukada being a boxer and Miyamoto being a karateka. Around this point, these two would seem to develop a kinship over their bond of being martial artists in the world of sleaze pro wrestling, and in 1994, the two would found the Chunkyo Martial Arts Federation, or CMA Gym.

    It was also in 1994 that the two of them would start to be pit against each other, which would very quickly be found to be an amazing idea, as both guys would absolutely brutalize each other in their matches. Tsukada fought like a prototype of Thanomsak Toba, throwing insane punch flurries and blending in some pretty insane highspots based around finding creative ways to break Miyamoto's face. Miyamoto, meanwhile, came off like the hardest fucking karateka to step into a ring. He unloaded some of the grossest kicks I've ever seen, and even had some unexpected grappling game which rounded him out to being a total destroyer no matter if he was standing or on the mat. They became famous on the sleaze indies for their brutal fights, with the feud spanning multiple promotions and coming to be known as "Indy's Favorite Counting Song" ("counting song" being a term seemingly used for long-spanning rivalries) among fans. Eventually, they would start to fade out from the pro wrestling world, with both seemingly gone entirely by the end of 1998.

    In the first Comprehensive series on the Dragon Screw blog, I'll be reviewing as many taped matches featuring Miyamoto and Tsukada as I can, and hopefully by doing this, I'll be exposing more people to the legend of the CMA Gym.

Reviewed Matches (in Chronological Order):

Kei Tsukada vs. Takeshi Miyamoto (Union Pro 10/16/1994) - B

Kei Tsukada & Ryo Miyake vs. Takeshi Miyamoto & Masahiko Takasugi (Go Gundan 12/21/1994) - B+

Kei Tsukada vs. Takeshi Miyamoto (Union Pro 12/25/1994) - B+

Isamu Teranishi & Takeshi Miyamoto vs. Masahiko Takasugi & Kei Tsukada (Tokyo Pro 02/23/1995) - B-

Kei Tsukada vs. Takeshi Miyamoto (Go Gundan 01/16/1996) - A

Takeshi Miyamoto vs. Ho Des Minh (Samurai Project 04/17/1996) - B-