Let's go with  more 1995 shoot style wrestling! Also want to say a big thanks to superkix & KB8 for their work as it's been a big help in sorting & sifting through all of this wrestling goodness. The UWFi & RINGS threads in The Microscope section is the place to start. So now let's look at my sampling of 1995.

Hiromitsu Kanehara vs Kenichi Yamamoto (01/16) - Quick one sided bout but very entertaining as Yamamoto not only refused a hand shake but had a couple rude gestures for Kanehara. So seeing Kanehara teach the young punk a lesson was fun. I LIKED IT

Kazushi Sakuraba vs Yoji Anjo (02/18) - This was very mat scrambly as you would expect from Sakuraba. Anjo can do any discipline of fighting. He threw some very good knees to the bread basket for instance. Nothing earth shattering here but still fun to watch them work in & out of holds. I LIKED IT

Masahito Kakihara vs. Kiyoshi Tamura (02/18) - Holy cow! Too short to say much about but cool while it lasted. Short & intense enough to be a shoot frankly. Worth a watch.

James Stone vs Kazushi Sakuraba (06/18) - Fun match but Stone/Little Guido was enhancement talent for UWFI. Still he looked pretty good on the canvas. His selling/defense of the stand up fighting was too "pro wrestling" than I've become accustomed to. That said, his matches might be an excellent entry point for someone wanting to see what shoot style/UWFi was about. IT'S OK

Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kazuo Yamazaki (06/18) - My favorite matches have a good sample of all tactics - strikes, suplexes and submissions. This was no different. There's actually an emphasis on striking here. That made this interesting since it felt more like a shoot style brawl. I also think this translates well to fans not used to shoot style. Anyhow, this was exciting and dramatic wrestling. I LOVED IT

Naoki Sano vs James Stone (07/13) - Stone already has the Guido character figured out. He shoves Sano while the ref is checking his ring gear. I liked this more than the Sakuraba match as Sano kept things on the ground. He used choice strikes to either set up a takedown or to count as a knockdown. I wish they let Stone be more competitive because these really are squash matches. They are a novelty for ECW/WWE fans who want to see Little Guido/Nunzio. But hey, that's me & I'm glad I saw this 😋 Plus I'm a Sano fan. IT'S OK. I should note that it's a little closer to earlier UWFi style in they use a couple pro moves in good shoot style context. Not sure if they did this to make Stone more comfortable or more likely to ease people into the upcoming NJPW feud/gain wider appeal to draw bigger audiences. That's a general trend I've noticed for 1995.

Yoshihiro Takayama vs Naoki Sano (08/18) - Oh wow, this was a neat one! Sano was targeting Takayama's bandaged thigh. Not super obvious but, it was giving him openings with the big man. This match definitely could have gone on a couple more minutes and I would have been happy. Terrific showing from Sano. He & Takayama had great chemistry. I think that they tagged together later on in NOAH. I LIKED IT

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OK I've got a few more RINGS matches this time.

Mitsuya Nagai vs. Willie Peeters (RINGS, 4/28/95) - Pretty quick but pretty sweet. This was primarily about strikes. Peeters palm strikes were nasty. If he could connect with his kicks then he might have ended this sooner. Nagai was landing his though. Seems like he was going for the liver - nice! 😋 Short and sweet. I LIKED IT

Volk Han vs. Masayuki Naruse (RINGS, 4/28/95) - It's neat to watch Naruse mature. Here he takes it to the master. Volk is like fly paper. He seems to turn every strike encounter into a hold/take down to the mat. Here Han's height advantage plays a part since it's tough for Naruse to land kicks to the head. He does just fine with palm strikes though. Han has much better strikes now too. In fact, he seems much more animated than in earlier years. This seemed much more like a true competition than an exhibition. Earlier RINGS seemed at half speed of UWFi for example. LOVED THIS

Mitsuya Nagai vs. Andrei Kopilov (RINGS, 5/20/95) - Excellent intensity here. Striking when it's appropriate to open up a takedown. Great throws from Andrei. Competitive wrestling on the canvas. I really dug how Nagai pulled Andrei back into the middle of the ring on one attempt. And that reminds me! Andrei is strong as hell! He damn near dumped Nagai over the ropes a couple times! I think this could have developed more because they had great chemistry. I LIKED IT!

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs. Grom Zaza (RINGS, 12/19/95) - Bullshit Zaza's 29 years old! More like 39. Holy crap...just saw his Wikipedia entry. He was 30 years old. The man aged like LeBron. Anyhow, WAY more aggressive than we were seeing a couple years ago with striking. RINGS is stepping up in '95. Or maybe TK brings out the best in people. This looked way more like a legit fight than much of the RINGS I've seen pre '95. I'm no expert but the intensity and speed of the strikes made this super exciting. On top of that, the mat wrestling was top notch AND they really played up the drama. I LOVED this one! Maybe the best RINGS match I've watched. Ishikawa vs Naruse excluded.

I'm glad that I didn't quit on RINGS. Don't know if it's just me but, RINGS seems to get better as time goes on. Thanks for reading!!!