Zenjo

This wouldn't usually be my cup of tea, so surprise to say I loved this. The promos before and afterwards were excellent. Quite how they were translated into Japanese I'm not sure. These two men had a strong rivalry going. It had this crazy master vs deranged student psychology. And you had two men willing to pay any price, because they knew their opponent was going to have to go through hell to beat them. It's important that competitors in hardcore matches are able to actually wrestle. If all they can do is bleed it's hard to have any empathy for them. This certainly was wild and extreme. An ignited chair and a flaming branding iron made appearances. Both men bled, Cactus a disgusting amount. They fought over the arena as the fans scurried out of the firing line. Well paced and they made the big spots meaningful. This is what death matches should be like. It was believable that both would be totally shot after 15m. Weak finish, but they weren't done there as the fight continues.

Now I normally love to see any mullet in its natural habitat; the wrestling ring. But Sasaki's haircut at this time is brutal beyond words. This is a total Hash carry job. Ken wasn't ready for the role he'd been given, at times looking lost. The champion took charge and puts his opponent over as a threat. It had the potential to be a disappointment, but ended up being a quite acceptable main event.

The Dome crowd actually did respond provided Scottie shouted at them enough. Some pure grappling to start. Then a couple of beatdowns. I got thinking that the Steiners would fit well into todays wrestling scene. Plenty of spectacular moves, no understanding of escalation. These two teams had better matches in the past. It was all watchable and a decent enough way to pass the time. Considering the bout was fairly lengthy the stretch was short. They could easily have chopped off 5m without missing anything. This will probably make my top 100 for the year.

First match of the Yearbook. I'm fresh, excited and raring to go. By the 3rd minute my trigger finger was itchy. There was no beginning to the match. Nothing to set the scene or engage the audience. They hit the deck quicker than Inoki and did some boring matwork. The audience were doing their best to help, but even a raucous atmosphere couldn't save this one. OMG near fall ****+. Altogether now: Juniors in the Dome.

Jimmy is making some good points about the womens Wrestlemania setup. Ultimately the advance of the division has been an evolution over time rather than a revolution. They're finally figuring it out, but progress will continue to be gradual. Presumably there's also going to be a Smackdown womens title match at WM. The only previous Mania's to feature multiple matches were 04 and 06. And on both occasions it was one proper match and one contest with Playboy in the title. So two serious matches and a mixed tag would represent progress.

Omukai blasted Aja with some vicious head kicks to start, nearly KO-ing her. This would prove her most effective weapon against the monster. Otherwise it was Kong working her over in this fledgling hatefest. They made an upset seem possible before Michiko had the lights turned out. Amazing chokeout to finish with Aja applying a vice like grip. The quality of the action fluctuated with Omukai being a bit repetitive. It had a strong storyline to back it up. The youngster was battling to earn the respect of the veteran, and not doing it in a respectful manner. Great postmatch angle as the hatred between them grew. Establishing a rivalry was an ideal thing to do on a promotions opening show.

LLPW had been getting their asses kicked all show so it was up to leader Kandori to restore some pride. Shinobu was higher ranked, but Hotta was being pushed quite strongly at the time. The early stages reminded me of Tenryu vs Choshu. It was like two bulls facing off and trying to show who had the biggest erm horns. Unsurprisingly it was very stiff. Hotta's kicks were strong and Kandori's submissions deadly. Lots of intensity that engaged the crowd. They gave themselves a strong base. The stretch was overcooked and the rating was trending down rather than up. A shorter duration would've been preferable. There were times it didn't flow as well. Still there was plenty to enjoy in this collision between two badasses of the Joshi scene.

Both competitors had only lost once in 21 singles bouts before this. A technically impressive and well worked contest. Bennett really knew how to hang with Yoshida on the mat. It was surprising how adept she was, because you wouldn't think of her as a particularly skilled worker. Going only 10m may have been a help or a limitation. What definitely was a limitation was the dead crowd. There was plenty to cheer here, but sometimes in Japan quiet appreciation is all you get.

The ringside camera was up close and personal. Both girls looked tremendous. I am talking about wrestling here. Omukai (no h) brought her vicious kicks into play. Fukawa had some superb counters and they both looked fab on the mat. The transitions and body part work were excellent as was the selling. Yumi was screaming in pain. The early Arsion style is such a joy to watch. Fresh and innovative. This wasn't a feature match or of any real importance, but it was high quality. I'd have liked to have seen these two go longer.

1997 was the last great year of an era. It was such fun rediscovering and uncovering so many fantastic matches. For me it's also a special year because it's when I became a wrestling fan once again. I can hardly say that I haven't looked back since! In terms of the elite matches 1997 was spectacular. It has a top 5 to stand comparison with any other year in history imo. The overall depth is a bit down on the preceding years, but still strong. 1998 would be a big drop. My list this year isn't dominated by any one promotion. The number 1 company was CMLL, who were enjoying a second golden period in 96-97 after the turn of the 90's boom. For the second time Casas vs Santo provides my MOTY, edging out the Misawa vs Kobashi classic by a narrow margin. Zen Nihon was more inconsistent than previously, but still had the Four Corners in their primes. Rings had an impressive year in sharp contrast to other shoot style organisations. The WWF enjoyed its best year of the 90's. Both in terms of match output and sports entertainment. JWP had a great year and was my #1 Joshi promotion. AJW may have ended '97 in terrible shape, but the output was almost as good as '96. WCW, GAEA, MPro and LLPW provided their share of good times along with others. The biggest disappointment was something that I haven't seen discussed before. New Japan. I can hardly believe how little NJ there is on my list. It's way down on any of the other 8 years I've done. Footage may be an issue, but it was a bad time for the heavyweight division in particular. I've now completed 90% of the 90's. So bring on 1995.

Zenjo's Top 100 Matches of 1997 100) Kiyoshi Tamura vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (RINGS 4/22/97) 99) Satanico, Scorpio Jr, Bestia Salvaje, El Hijo del Santo & Dr Wagner Jr vs Negro Casas, Felino, Ultimo Dragon, La Fiera & Shocker (Torneo Cibernetico) (CMLL 8/1/97) 98) Manami Toyota vs Kaoru Ito (AJW 8/9/97) 97) Hikari Fukuoka vs Yasha Kurenai (JWP 12/6/97) 96) Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki (AJ 11/27/97) 95) Taka Michinoku vs Great Sasuke (WWF 7/6/97) 94) Silver King vs La Fiera (CMLL 2/7/97) 93) Chris Benoit vs Meng (WCW 6/21/97) 92) Manami Toyota vs Aja Kong (AJW 8/20/97) 91) Shinya Hashimoto vs Kazuo Yamazaki (NJ 2/16/97) 90) Mascara Magica, Mr Niebla & Shocker vs Rey Bucanero, Black Warrior & Felino (CMLL 1/10/97) 89) Eddy Guerrero vs Chris Jericho (WCW 9/14/97) 88) Shinya Hashimoto vs Riki Choshu (NJ 1/4/97) 87) Shinobu Kandori & Mizuki Endo vs Yumiko Hotta & Kumiko Maekawa (AJW 8/22/97) 86) Bret Hart vs Undertaker vs Vader vs Steve Austin (WWF 2/16/97) 85) Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Satoshi Kojima (NJ 8/2/97) 84) Kiyoshi Tamura vs Nikolai Zouev (RINGS 6/21/97) 83) El Hijo Del Santo vs Psicosis (Promo Azteca 10/3/97) 82) Tomoko Kuzumi vs Kanako Montoya (JWP 5/10/97) 81) Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs Mikhail Ilioukhine (RINGS 1/22/97) 80) Shinjiro Otani, Koji Kanemoto, Mens Teioh, Dick Togo & Hanzo Nakajima vs Great Sasuke, Super Delphin, El Samurai, Norio Honaga & Gran Hamada (NJ 5/3/97) 79) Devil Masami & Jaguar Yokota vs Dynamite Kansai & Candy Okutsu (JWP 6/15/97) 78) Sonoko Kato & Meiko Satomura vs Chihiro Nakano & Makie Numao (GAEA 1/12/97) 77) Hiromi Yagi vs Tomoko Kuzumi (JWP 3/9/97) 76) Taka Michinoku, Mens Teioh & Dick Togo vs Great Sasuke, Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushiji (ECW 4/13/97) 75) Emilio Charles Jr vs Lizmark (CMLL 5/30/97) 74) Bestia Salvaje vs La Fiera (Hair vs Hair) (CMLL 8/29/97) 73) Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs Mikhail Ilioukhine (RINGS 11/20/97) 72) Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (AJ 11/15/97) 71) Atlantis vs Black Warrior (CMLL 3/4/97) 70) Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (AJ 10/11/97) 69) Mayumi Ozaki vs Chigusa Nagayo (Street Fight) (GAEA 2/23/97) 68) Glacier & Ernest Miller vs Wrath & Mortis (WCW 7/13/97) 67) Kazushi Sakuraba vs Hiromitsu Kanehara (Kingdom 12/2/97) 66) Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, Jim Neidhart & Brian Pillman vs Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust, Hawk & Animal (WWF 7/6/97) 65) Volk Han vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto (RINGS 8/13/97) 64) Steven Regal vs Ultimo Dragon (WCW 5/18/97) 63) Kyoko Inoue vs Aja Kong (AJW 8/10/97) 62) Cactus Jack vs HHH (Street Fight) (WWF 9/22/97) 61) Etsuko Mita & Toshiyo Yamada vs Mima Shimoda & Chapparita Asari (AJW 1/3/97) 60) Shinobu Kandori, Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Kazama vs Dynamite Kansai, Cuty Suzuki & Harley Saito (LLPW 12/5/97) 59) Great Sasuke & Super Delphin vs Mens Teioh & Shoichi Funaki (M-Pro 11/9/97) 58) Akira Taue vs Johnny Ace (AJ 10/21/97) 57) Dr Wagner Jr vs Mr Niebla (CMLL 9/2/97) 56) Megumi Kudo vs Shark Tsuchiya (Death Match) (FMW 4/29/97) 55) Jushin Thunder Liger vs Koji Kanemoto (NJ 2/16/97) 54) Toshiyo Yamada & Kaoru vs Kumiko Maekawa & Momoe Nakanishi (AJW 9/21/97) 53) Ultimo Dragon vs Dean Malenko (WCW 1/21/97) 52) Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels (WWF 11/9/97) 51) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama (AJ 9/6/97) 50) Chigusa Nagayo & Akira Hokuto vs Kaoru & Toshiyo Yamada (GAEA 8/30/97) 49) El Hijo del Santo vs Felino (CMLL 7/25/97) 48) Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda (AJW 8/9/97) 47) Jushin Thunder Liger vs Shinjiro Otani (NJ 2/9/97) 46) Dynamite Kansai vs Hikari Fukuoka (JWP 4/8/97) 45) Bret Hart vs The Undertaker (WWF 9/20/97) 44) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (AJ 4/19/97) 43) Eagle Sawai, Michiko Nagashima & Miss Mongol vs Rumi Kazama, Michiko Omukai & Mizuki Endo (LLPW 1/5/97) 42) Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama (AJ 3/30/97) 41) Ultimo Dragoncito & Cicloncito Ramirez vs Pierrotito & Damiancito El Guerrero (CMLL 3/14/97) 40) Akira Hokuto & Sonoko Kato vs Kaoru & Meiko Satomura (GAEA 3/15/97) 39) Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa vs Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda (AJW 6/18/97) 38) Cicloncito Ramirez, Pequeno Cochisse, Pequeno Sayama & Tritoncito vs Damiancito El Guerrero, El Fierito, Platita & Guerrerito del Futuro (Torneo Cibernetico) (CMLL 12/30/97) 37) Bret Hart vs Terry Funk (Indy 9/11/97) 36) Hiromi Yagi vs Tomoko Kuzumi (JWP 1/12/97) 35) Great Sasuke vs Dick Togo (M-Pro 8/31/97) 34) Yasha Kurenai & Carol Midori vs Hikari Fukuoka & Commando Bolshoi (JWP 11/16/97) 33) Taka Michinoku, Mens Teioh, Masayoshi Motegi, Dick Togo & Shoichi Funaki vs Great Sasuke, Super Delphin, Gran Naniwa, Gran Hamada & Masato Yakushiji (M-Pro 3/16/97) 32) Hikari Fukuoka vs Commando Bolshoi (JWP 9/20/97) 31) Eddy Guerrero vs Rey Misterio Jr (WCW 10/26/97) 30) Yuki Ishikawa vs Daisuke Ikeda (BAT 4/15/97) 29) Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita vs Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada (AJW 6/17/97) 28) Atlantis vs Blue Panther (CMLL 12/5/97) 27) Yoshihisa Yamamoto vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (RINGS 4/4/97) 26) Bracito de Oro, Cicloncito Ramirez & Mascarita Magica vs Damiancito El Guerrero, El Fierito & Pierrothito (CMLL 10/3/97) 25) Mayumi Ozaki & Reiko Amano vs Megumi Kudo & RIE (Street Fight) (JWP 4/8/97) 24) Megumi Kudo vs Shinobu Kandori (Street Fight) (FMW 3/14/97) 23) Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki (AJ 11/23/97) 22) Dynamite Kansai & Kanako Motoya vs Shinobu Kandori & Mizuki Endo (JWP 12/6/97) 21) Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa vs Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida (AJW 3/23/97) 20) Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka vs Mayumi Ozaki & Reiko Amano (JWP 2/9/97) 19) Owen Hart vs Davey Boy Smith (WWF 3/3/97) 18) Lioness Aska vs Bison Kimura (Jd' 4/20/97) 17) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (AJ 10/21/97) 16) Kenta Kobashi vs Hiroshi Hase (AJ 8/26/97) 15) Volk Han vs Kiyoshi Tamura (RINGS 1/22/97) 14) Cicloncito Ramirez vs Damiancito El Guerrero (CMLL 1/7/97) 13) Volk Han vs Kiyoshi Tamura (RINGS 9/26/97) 12) Bret Hart vs Steve Austin (Submission Match) (WWF 3/23/97) 11) El Hijo del Santo, Shocker, El Texano, Mr Niebla, La Fiera, Dr Wagner Jr & Mascara Magica vs Negro Casas, Black Warrior, Felino, Mano Negra, El Dandy, Scorpio Jr & Silver King (Torneo Cibernetico) (CMLL 3/18/97) 10) Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (AJ 12/5/97) 9) Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker (Hell In A Cell) (WWF 10/5/97) 8) Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (AJ 11/28/97) 7) Koji Kanemoto vs El Samurai (NJ 6/5/97) 6) Megumi Kudo vs Shinobu Kandori (Street Fight) (LLPW 1/5/97) 5) El Hijo del Santo, Felino, Black Warrior, Silver King, Dr Wagner Jr, Satanico, Kevin Quinn & Scorpio Jr vs Ultimo Dragon, Atlantis, Negro Casas, El Dandy, Shocker, Mascara Magica, La Fiera & Brazo de Oro (Torneo Cibernetico) (CMLL 4/18/97) 4) Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe (Cage) (AJW 9/21/97) 3) Toshie Uematsu vs Yoshiko Tamura (GAEA 7/19/97) 2) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (AJ 1/20/97) 1) El Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas (Mask vs Hair) (CMLL 9/19/97)

Chigusa did a minor blade job early on. There was also weapon usage, yet the focus wasn't primarily on the hardcore element. The wrestling was consistently good and they both had whopping personalities. Ozaki's facials were ridiculously great. The way they were going it should've finished a couple of tiers higher as a match than it eventually did. Unfortunately Oz suffered a wardrobe malfunction at an important juncture. The subsequent period of stalling hurt it bad. Still a comfortably good match and nice to see the upset result.

From a match quality perspective this was mediocre. Dull beatdown segments and sloppy execution were the problems. What it did have was unintentional comedy value in spades. The Super one had been away and now made his comeback as the new and improved(?) Steroid Delfin. I guess that he was either angling for a WWF deal, or just imitating his idol Liger again. Either way he looked ridiculous. Delfin's lats were so wide compared with his hips that he couldn't physically put his arms down by his sides! With the mask as well he could've made a 1950's B Movie Sci-Fi monster. The high, or lowlight came with the Shotei finishing move. An abomination that was mainly Dick's fault to be fair. What was he doing?

You can read in depth articles about it elsewhere. In brief the AJW owners the Matsunaga brothers got into huge amounts of debt, from non-wrestling related investments mainly. They could no longer pay the wrestlers so 14 of them left over the course of the summer. This was out of a 24 strong roster, a devastating blow. Yamada joined GAEA in July. Kong and Kyoko departed in August. This month Tamura, Genki, Tanny Mouse, Tamada, Fukawa, and the injured Yoshida had gone. This was the final show for Mita, Shimoda, Asari, Shiina and Endo. Onto the match and the hardcore surroundings were right up LCO's alley. They dominated with steel chairs and steel chains. Even their favoured steel railing made it inside the steel cage. Watanabe had her arm destroyed. She was screaming out in pain, incredible selling. It never got too one sided because there were comebacks at well timed intervals. The heel/face dynamic worked a treat. There was plenty of juice on both sides. The way it all came together at the end was off the charts. Perfect. After quite a battle Watanabe was the first one to escape. But this meant she could no longer help her partner and it was 1 vs 2 in the ring. An extraordinary visual as Ito stood atop the cage. The smoke from the fire extinguisher making it eerily dramatic. Then the crushing Diving Foot Stomp. Despite the odds Ito managed to escape and survive. There were four battered bodies layed out afterwards. They'd paid the price in blood, sweat and tears. Best cage match of the 90's. Like Hokuto vs Kandori this stands out as a classic for deeper reasons. If that was an interpretation of war then this was an interpretation of a tragedy. An Empire tearing itself apart from within. The end of an era. Ito and Watanabe were representing AJW and ironically LCO were the internal forces destroying it. For the majority LCO dominated, the carnage and blood loss portraying the desperation of the situation. When Watanabe did escape Ito was left to fight on her own. This represented half the roster leaving through no fault of their own. And despite the odds at the time the company would survive like Ito did in this match. AJW would be a fraction of its former self. But a core remained, their spirit was strong and they would rebuild. After the match the remaining 11 wrestlers (including rookie failure Nakahara) gathered in the ring. A tearful Hotta tells the audience that AJW will defiantly fight on. They all embrace and the crowd shows their support in emotional scenes.

Mr Joshi Puroresu had awesome attire for the Street Fight. Black trousers, black shirt and a tie. Sometimes having no commentary on a commercial release can be a detriment. But here the Korakuen crowd were on fire from start to finish. Though she was the outsider, the fans were strongly behind Megumi. Got off to a hot start with the FMW lady initially dominant, feeding off her experience in this type of environment. Kandori soon donned the crimson mask. The first great moment was when she began her fightback and you just knew there was going to be hell to pay. Kudo was bloodied as well. There was this amazing hangwoman spot with a chain where she managed to sell it like she'd just died! They did a great job of keeping the intensity going. There was quality high impact wrestling along with the wild hardcore fighting. Just a couple of occasions when Shinobu spent too long setting up unnecessary spots. The finish was brilliant as Kandori had her opponent hanging by a chain off the famous Korakuen balcony. Kudo had to submit to avoid a fatality. A great match, up there with anything LLPW ever produced.

The main thing this had going for it was the surprise result. Maeda was done. It was clearly time to hang up the boots. Tamura had to really rein it in so as not to show up the legend.

A twist on the WCW Wargames with no real understanding why the original format works so well. It was more like a tornado six man with staggered dual entries. In a cage. With weapons. At times the work was bad and sloppy. But it had its moments as well. Onita jobbing had rarity value.

I'm glad I checked here before viewing. The final of a double elimination tournament so Atlantis needed to win 2-0 to claim the prize. It was worked in a technical style throughout, adhering strictly to the rules. A big emphasis was placed on matwork. It was more deliberately paced than you would normally see, putting extra emphasis on each individual hold. Whenever the pace quickened it was all kept in the heart of the ring. Plenty of 2.9ers. During the segunda Atlantis took plenty of punishment that he could normally have avoided over 2/3 falls. It's logical to let one fall go when in a bad situation rather than be totally shot going into the 3rd. No such luxury here and he had to tough it out. After securing a hard fought victory Atlantis was overjoyed. Technically a very impressive bout in more ways than one. I appreciated it from afar rather than getting drawn in and emotionally involved. It required more rivalry psychology to reach higher levels.

1997 was an inconsistent year for All Japan. At one stage it looked like it might be a disappointment. However the strength of the RWTL made up for any shortfall from the middle of the year. Early on there were frequent tags. The balance was even and it took quite a while for the first beatdown to start. Jun was the unlucky man. I liked the pacing through all the stages and the structure had solid foundations. The longer it went the better it got with an excellent stretch. The earlier damage came back to haunt Akiyama as he was clinging on for dear life. He showed great resilience and Misawa was doing what he could to help. In the end Akiyama had just been in there too long without a tag. He didn't fall due to the power of the final move, it was accumulated damage. The first time I watched this I was perplexed like some people here, but it does make sense in this context. His energy bar was down to 1% and the kick took it to 0. An excellent bout worthy of the occasion.

A poor match. There were a few occasions when the move damage levels and selling were way off base. Some incorrect move selections as well. From a general perspective there were a couple of trends in the Junior division from this time period I'm not a fan of. Firstly the increased strike orientation made the style less aesthetically pleasing. Secondly the niggley rivalry psychology was being overdone. It made the Juniors less fun.

Kingdom was very short lived and this is the best bout I've seen from the promotion. The participants wore gloves which immediately differentiated it from UWFI. There were only 5 knockdowns or rope breaks allowed, which proved to be a match shortener. A spirited encounter with fast paced action all the way and plenty of stiffness. There was one particularly brutal kick that Sakuraba walked right into. I would've liked to see this run longer. The new points system was poorly thought out.

Got off to a scorching hot start-o as Taue sent Jun crashing through a table. A spectacular highspot for sure. Of course you see plenty of spectacular one off moves through the year. The massive difference here was how that one move impacted the rest of the bout. It presented the Holy Demon Army with an early 2-1 advantage and Misawa took a beatdown. When Akiyama finally recovered enough to tag in he immediately began selling the back heavily. At that moment I knew it was going high end. Jun then had his injured back worked over. When Misawa got back in he was refreshed and making a comeback. Yet then the moment came when he wanted to tag out, but couldn't. Immediately momentum shifted. The timing was absolutely perfect. The stretch had the youngster showing a lot of toukon and coming close to victory. I would've preferred a more one sided conclusion given the layout. Certainly the powerbomb should've ended things. Still for the most part outstanding, and the #2 AJ MOTY.

In stark contrast to last time the crowd were as dead as a proverbial donut. The first half was surprisingly restrained. The previous all action approach worked better. The guest team ended up hitting lots of flashy high flying moves. The execution was actually better this time, but the structure wasn't as good and the magic wasn't there. I liked the ending as they teased Hayabusa pinning Akiyama. It didn't quite happen for the masked man.

The Zen Nihon fans were really excited about a rare interpromotional battle. Such a fresh and different feel to it. As well as that there was an underdog dynamic with the differences in both size and status. The outsiders brought high flying and spectacular moves to the table. The AJ stars indulged their opponents and let them shine. Hayabusa was FIP for a while before the FMW/MPRO combo turned it around and came surprisingly close to the upset. I have to say there were a few dodgy moments along the way. But this was such a blast that the flaws were a small price to pay. Left a smile on my face.

Aside from one meaty strike this was all matwork, glorious matwork. Fundamentally very sound with a variety of different holds and smart reversals. It may have lacked the dynamism of a Tamura or Han contest, but technically this was rock solid. More crowd heat would've been beneficial. The Russian competitor was down on points and seemingly heading for defeat, yet a wrestling match can always turn on just one move.