I've wanted to get back into shoot style for years. Paradoxically, I've wanted to avoid shoot style for years. The reason is that I have a difficult time transitioning back to traditional pro wrestling. It just looks slow or fake after watching shoot style for too long. Another reason is that I don't know if I necessarily enjoy how some shoot style matches are laid out and paced. Somethings are too quick and realistic and I'm unfairly comparing them to a real kickboxing or MMA bout. That or I'm just unable to keep up with what's actually happening. The hook is that I really dig shoot style when it's just right. I believe I prefer technical wrestling more than any other form. Shoot style is the purest form of that.

So UWFi and RINGS are two big blind spots for me. My natural inclination is to watch every recommended Kiyoshi Tamura match. Or watch everything that's been pimped over the years. I know that will burn me out. Instead I'm going to borrow a tactic from my 1994 WCW project. I'm going to select a few wrestlers and watch their recommended stuff along with personal picks. Much like WCW '94, I am going to avoid the main event scene and the superstars where/when I can. So  little to no Takada or Vader in UWFI for sure. Avoiding Gary Albright too. Instead I want to see what Anjo, Yamazaki & Sano were doing. These are guys that I already know and enjoy. That gives me a firm foundation and should also capture highly recommended matches. But I'm going to limit the amount of Tamura matches with them. Again, I'm a noob so I'm just sampling for now.

In RINGS, I'm not blacklisting Maeda or Volk Han for instance but, I am going to focus on the unusual suspects that most first time watchers would skip. I want to see what Nagai, Naruse, & Zaza were doing. Mitsuya Nagai is a guy I'm very familiar with during his time in All Japan. I dug his work there. Naruse is someone I got acquainted with during my look into early 2000's New Japan earlier this year. Dick Vrij & Grom Zaza are two guys that I've seen pop up on recommendation lists but mentally skip over for the shiny Han, Tamura, TK and Yamamoto matches. So I'm purposely avoiding those guys. Like Tamura in UWFi, Han is going to come up here & there so I'm going to limit myself.

This method should get me some great matches as well as broaden my horizons without exposing me to bouts that are too rich for my blood. Finally, this plan should also keep the scope of the project within reason. I'm trying for less is more, if I can. Also since I'm relatively unfamiliar with how to rate shoot style, I'm going to use LOVE, LIKE, & OK as my ways to rate. Take'em with a grain of salt. Perhaps as I go forward, I'll be more comfortable putting these in the same boxes as other pro wrestling. All that said, I will probably stop after 1996 when UWFi closed it's doors. If the spirit moves me AND I've made headway on other things, I'll push on with selected RINGS '97-99. This is an internet only project so I've got to put up some firm boundaries 🙂 Enough gabbing! Let's get on with it!

1991

Kazuo Yamazaki & Tatsuo Nakano vs. Yoji Anjoh & Yuko Miyato (5/10/91) - I liked parts of this. Anjo comes off as a prick. Nakano is already scrappy and bleeding from the nose. Yamazaki looked the strongest in my eyes just by how he composed himself. I felt 20+ minutes was longer than they needed to accomplish what they were going for though. I didn't quite like the finish considering this was a tag match either. I'm probably going to shy away from tags..shaky start. IT'S OK

Yoji Anjoh vs Kiyoshi Tamura (UWFI 7/3/91) -Yes! This is badass! Anjo is a bad man. Tamura is as slippery as an eel. Dude pulls out some Matrix shit here. A mat wrestling master class to be sure. But the strikes were ferocious at times too. It's Anjo so you know he is nasty and brings the hits as well. Knee drop of doom for instance. Tamura plays it cool but he can stand only so much and unloads on Yoji. This match gets high praise and I agree. LOVED IT

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Kazuo Yamazaki vs Billy Scott (UWFI 7/30/91) - Billy "TNT" Scott because he's explosive! Yamazaki thought he was going to kick his way to an early victory and Billy went ape shit with slaps. That settled that. This was predominantly a mat based match though. In fact, it was a fine example of shoot style chain wrestling in my novice opinion. They didn't over use the rope breaks but really tried to escape or counter first. This kicked into high gear for the final few minutes as both guys smelled blood in the water. They went for broke and we got a great finish. LOVED IT

Kazuo Yamazaki vs Yoji Anjo (09/26/91) - This was fantastic stuff. These two are excellent together. There's an emphasis on laying in kicks then waiting to catch a kick for a take down. It's not that one dimensional as there's some excellent suplexes as well. Anjoh is a helluva striker especially when he blasts Yamazaki's liver a few times. LOVED IT

Billy Scott vs. Yoji Anjo (10/06)- Yeah Billy Scott brings the intensity and fire again. Anjo is happy to oblige. This seemed pretty evenly matched where Anjo had an overall advantage yet Billy Scott was able to slam Anjo pretty consistently. So Anjo would lay in some wicked knees to the gut. Billy would absorb them and punish him a good slam or takedown. This was really spirited and entertaining. They were always working. They always looked ready to go in for the win. LOVED IT
 

Now over to RINGS!

Akira Maeda v Dick Vrij (5/11/91) - Oh yeah, this was enjoyable. Dick is a dick. That makes this translatable to traditional pro wrestling's heel vs face dynamic. He throws some pretty exciting kicks as well. This felt also very much striker vs grappler. Dick Vrij seemed more competent on the ground than Maeda did striking in this match. But Maeda knew absolutely what he wanted to do when on the ground. LIKED IT

Akira Maeda v Dick Vrij (8/1/91) - The rematch was pretty one sided. From a booking standpoint, I completely understand why. I think the guy on offense looked pretty damn impressive. That said this wasn't much of a match from a competitive/enjoyment standpoint. IT'S OK

Mitsuya Nagai v Herman Renting (9/14/91) - Wow Mitsuya Nagai with hair and no goatee! It really seemed like they did not like each other. There was good sportsmanship after the match so it was just adrenaline, I guess. Anyhow, Renting was very well rounded. His strikes were good, he had good throws/take downs and he had a ground game. Nagai was no slouch but only seemed to have an advantage on the mat. Still Renting couldn't put him away and Nagai would make him pay. This was exciting stuff. The only knock is that they started running out of steam towards the end. But they were going full stream ahead all match so it made sense..I'm actually surprised that it didn't go to a draw. We get a winner. LIKED IT

Dick Vrij v Willie Peeters (12/7/91) -This was the spunky baby face trying to take it to the badass heel. That's fun. Willie was flying all over with leaping kicks and such but it wasn't  a compelling bout to me. IT'S OK

I love in the online comments people are still like "this isn't a real fight." No fucking duh! I'm guessing these are kids or young people who don't know their history. It's funny because even 34 years later, shoot style still fools people to the extent that they have to let everyone know that they "figured it out" & have to tell everyone 😄 It's a testament to how serious the wrestlers were about their craft. UWFi has been excellent and I don't feel like I'm missing anything by watching selectively. RINGS has been good but I get the impression that I'm not seeing the best it has to offer. I feel like UWFi starts strong right out the gate in '91 and I'm liking it more than RINGS right now.

I'll update with more in a little bit. In the meantime, if you're waiting for more Mid South wrestling, I'll be back with that next post. Thanks for reading!