Hello! I'm continuing my selective look into 90's shoot style. Seeing as I'm cherry picking and avoiding tags & Takada, Albright, et al. we're starting mid way into 1992 with UWFi. Let's go!

Yoji Anjoh vs. Masahito Kakihara (6/28/92) - This is looking to be a shoot style squash match early on as Anjo dominates. Kakihara delivers a gutsy performance. It's like the enhancement talent isn't going to go down so easily. This is a fine example of drama and storytelling in shoot style. This is a stand out in that regard. LOVED IT

Tatsuo Nakano vs Masahito Kakihara (09/21) - Kakihara goes berserk with palm strikes and bursts Nakano's nose. It's bleeding like a faucet. There's blood all over both guys. You gotta watch this for the stand up fighting. The ground stuff is perfunctory because the sanguine stuff is over both and they can't get a grip. For that matter, I think this has to end early and that's a shame. This is one I'd recommend to any wrestling fan for the reasons above. LOVED IT for what it was.

Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Yoji Anjo (09/21) - Yamazaki gets Anjo in a shoot dragon sleeper at one point - hell yes!! A ten minute match but one that crammed with the intensity and technique. I really dig watching these two scramble on the mat. It's probably not as godlike as Tamura but its the right amount of speed for me. This also had a good bit of drama with it as well. I generally understand the points system and this match used that but didn't rely upon it. You could see the momentum swing just by watching the bout. Amazing finish. LOVED IT

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Kazuo Yamazaki (UWFI 10/23/92) - This was pretty dang awesome for most of the match. But it gets very close to being samey...like "oh they are working the Achilles hold again." But it's as if they knew this and kicked it back up. The finish was great too but I really wish they gave it a minute more to develop. Still this was excellent stuff. LIKE/LOVED IT...

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Hiromitsu Kanehara vs Yoshihiro Takayama (UWFi 12-20-92) - Takayama is only 6 months into his career. Kanehara is also young. So this is a youngster match. They'd been having them each show. Anyhow, this is thought to be their best. I thought it was really exciting stuff. Takayama seemingly was ready to go. Throw knees to the abdomen and take a shot. Kanehara was still developing but clearly seemed much more well rounded. Still their enthusiasm to show the crowd something special paid off. Takayama was light enough he delivered an awesome flying knee and Kanehara had a few spectacular strikes too. No wizardry on the canvas but it was solid and kept things moving along - telling the story of Takayama's height/reach could nearly get him a rope break from anywhere. Really LIKED IT

Nobuhiko Takada vs Naoki Sano (12/20/92) -  Our first Sano match! I'll make an exception and allow Takada. Sano is great here. It was clear to me that he was intentionally trying not to win though. Do you know what I mean? Takada is like Muto in that you have to wrestle his match and he has to do his stuff. So Sano has to wrestle much slower and let Takada just slip out of holds like he's a master technician despite not employing any real speed, strength or technique. Takada just kinda ends up getting out of a hold and into one of his own by magic. Still this was fun because it's a sampling of what to expect with Sano. And while I'm firm in my avoidance of Takada in UWFi, this was still a good performance by him if you lean into this more as typical puro that shoot style. I like him in UWF 1 & 2 and NJPW and this felt closer to those. He's a no good in UWFi as he's drunk on his ego and that's my issue here. Seeing how much work Anjo & Yamazaki do, it's apparent how much Takada phones it in by comparison. LIKED IT for the reasons mentioned.

Let's see what RINGS is up to!

Volk Han v Grom Zaza (5/16/92) - Don't watch this for the kicks 😋 Watch this for the grappling. Han, a Sambo practitioner, and Zaza, a wrestler, throw as good a kick as you'd expect. And that's my complaint. There's downs from strikes more than rope breaks. These two should just be mat scramblin' ! I think that they probably were given orders to do more stand-up here. Fuck dat! Zaza suplexing & throwing Han more is what I want! Thank you! Still it's a lil longer than it needed and isn't exactly what you want all the time. IT'S OK

Dick Vrij v Mitsuya Nagai (5/16/92) - In case you forgot it was 1992 or weren't old enough, Nagai's neon yellow-green ring wear will inform you. What now is considered safety wear was athletic fashion wear. Good start and then Nagai gets booted in the nuts. Afterwards it's fun. Nagai shows a lot of guts as Dick takes his time and picks him apart. It actually looked like Nagai might have had him with a toe hold. IT'S OK

Grom Zaza vs Shtorm Koba (RINGS 8-21-92) - Shoot suplex city right here! Hell yes! Was that a shoot Gorilla press slam!? This was extremely fun, exciting stuff. Lots of throws and hold and an excellent showing from Grom. Not sure if we see more Koba down the road but he's not to be taken lightly. LOVED IT...favorite RINGS match so far

Mitsuya Nagai vs Sergei Sousserov (RINGS 12-19-92) - I liked that they went for Tiger Mask kicks but were actually interested in wrestling! It made the stand up fun but brief. Then got to the real business of trying to snap each others knees & ankles. That said, Sergei is bleeding from the mouth. This was great, competitive stuff. I LIKED IT

UWFi from what I'm watching is better than RINGS. I'm guessing that the main reason is the UWFi guys have way more experience in shoot style pro wrestling. Many of the non Japanese RINGS competitors are martial artists who are only learning how to apply their craft in a entertainment setting. My guess is that Nagai & later Naruse are taught catch wrestling, striking as well as how & when to work. UWFi has been doing this in some form for almost a decade. My intention isn't to compare & contrast the two groups. I'm just stating an observation and opinion. I like UWFi better but am eager for RINGS as well.

Thanks for reading!