Jetlag

This was two high end pro wrestlers doing what makes them great in a match that was suffering from poor structural choices. Lawler almost dominates the whole match and Race basically absorbs everything he throws at him while bumping absurdly. This was entertaining for the first 20 minutes or so which was mostly basic headlock work and Lawler reversing Races moves. One neat thing was Lawler bridging up while Races was trying to reverse and just dropping down on him slamming Race into the mat with full bodyweight. Needless to say Lawlers punches were ridiculously great and enough reason to watch this the whole way through. Race also looked damn great working over Lawlers face with brutal headbutts and knees. With a Race beatdown leading to an awesome Lawler comeback I could imagine this being a stone cold classic. Instead it looked like Lawler had Race close to defeated about 25 minutes in the match. The strap drop „Now I am really going to finish him off!“ also didn't come across as as epic as it could've been. So by the end Lawler had hit Race with everything he had and still could not get the job done which left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Also I disliked all the ref bullshit.

This is legendary match for... some reason... to certain crowds... aaaaaanyways. It's not a bad match at all, and it is fascinating that this kind of seemed to set the stage for the elaborate epics of the 90s, as this is basically a series of control segments with increasingly complex cut offs, even though the body of the match doesn't have a great arc. Some of the matwork holds up and some doesn't. I've used Dory Funk, Jr. as a dartboard before and this match... will never convince me to change my opinion on him as he was full swing in his dullness. There was a huge difference in the depth and gravity that Brisco was able to convey with his selling compared to his robotlike opponent. There is also some armwork even though both guys focus on leg based submissions. I won't call this a snoozefest but it's striking how much below the british style this is. If anyone brought the NWA titlematch style wrestling to it's peak it was Terry Funk.

Watched: Shotaro Ashino vs. Manabu Soya (W1 3/14/2018) I remember Manabu Soya from a couple years back, and now he's... well... really bloated and less colorful. Basically Nakanishi without the impressive physique. Damn, did roids go down in price in japan or something? Anyways for the first 10 minutes or so this was good solid pro wrestling. Soya defends against Ashinos initial attempts to work over his arm but eventually falls victim. Ashinos armwork is good for the most part, hitting kneedrops and cool european uppercuts to the arm, but he would also do the Okada „I grab your arm and gently tap it into the mat“ stuff. They lose me when they do a no sell competition and I start to zone out during Ashinos Kurt Angleish ankle hold attempts and Soya running through his offense on him. The ending was pretty intense though with Ashino remembering his tactic and picking Soyas arm apart for big drama only to fall to the dreaded lariat anyways. Ashino came across less like a japanese grappler here and more like someone who really likes Smackdown 6 Era Malenko/Benoit type matches. This is getting there but not quite listworthy. Considering: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Takashi Sugiura (NOAH 10/4/2018) Holy stiffness batman! Nakajimas new exaggerated heel act is questionable but there's no denying he was willing to kill and get killed here. His evading of Sugiuras strikes actually made the opening portions interesting. And goodness gracious he was absolutely demolishing Sugiura with ridiculous slaps and kicks here. Sugiura is someone who I will always see as an undercarder getting the wrong ideas in his head and then getting pushed far beyond his capabilities, but he was less of a poor mans Kurt Angle here and more of a poor mans Kazuyuki Fujita. He certainly had me believing in a KO when he landed those knees on Nakajima, and Nakajima in turn beat him so bad his entire upper body turned red. I hated the ref distraction spot for Nakajima to choke Sugiura with a piece of wood like some Z-level indy schmoe only for the ref to see him using that thing anyways and the finish didn't quite match the grizzly violence that came before, but this is must watch for the trainwrecky brutality alone. I don't advocate for this kind of „Let's do gruesome things to eachother for show“ wrestling and this is definitely not a great match but it's definitely a great spectacle.

There you go https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpoDpVFhUGHPWVYqmJ8TBwA

One of my most pleasant wrestling discoveries of 2017 was Kyushu Pro Wrestling. Kyushu Pro is based on the island of Kyushu and it has a similiar vibe to Osaka Pro etc, with the family friendly atmosphere and some outlandish gimmicks. However it's style is closer to NOAH than classic lucharesu and the workers aren't afraid to get stiff. The roster is pretty great with lots of lovable easily recognizable dudes. So of course it was pretty much the only wrestling promotion I somewhat kept up with in 2018. Problem is they only upload a handful of matches to their YouTube account. They always show these awesome clips and packages before each match, and they don't seem to sell DVDs of these, and it's just cruel, man! In the age where every wrestling related gathering of more than 20 japanese people in Tokyo gets filmed we can't have more than a dozen or so full Kyushu Pro matches. On the other hand, each match is filmed in great handcamera style, so that's a big plus over that low budget Niconico garbage that all japanese indy wrestling has turned into. So let's get into it. Hitamaru Sasaki & ASOSAN vs. Ryota Chikuzen & Yuji Hino (Kyushu Pro 1/14/2018) This is fun matchup on paper that ended up being about as good as it looks. Hitamaru is Kyosuke Sasaki, one of the few U-Style guys still working in 2018, though he doesn't do shootstyle matwork anymore he is kind of like a mini Akitoshi Saito now. ASOSAN is a guy I really like as he is a fun tubby indy dude with a cool mask who has a nice punch and Piledriver finish etc. Not to mention the awesome weird mask and he likes many of my Twitter posts. Hino is a K-Dojo dude who I remember from his series with Kengo Mashimo and... well he's just ridiculously bloated these days. Good lord he looks like he is a bout to blow up. I do not advocate for this kind of thing at all. This was mostly your standard fare indy tag but it was 4 guys who have no problem hitting eachother hard and getting hit hard. Hino especially really cracks people with chops, and Sasaki while he does do a lot of thigh slapping (It's 2018 daddy!) will really lace you up with kicks and I really liked his shotai combo on fat Yuji Hino. Chikuzen looks like he could be potentially a really fun worker as he has the size and odd charisma to be 2018 indy Taue not to mention his hilarious trunk design he just but doesn't quite live up to it aside from some nice snug offense. It's especially weird that you don't get a ton of expressive character work in a Kyushu Pro match were it would be welcome. While this was plenty stiff I thought the early goings needed something to kick the aggression up a notch, the posturing I hit you-you hit me stuff threw me off, I really don't want these guys to work like a bunch of Nu Japan simps. Sasaki ends up playing FIP and he does a fine job tho they don't go in depth with the segment and move on to your typical indy break up a bunch of pinfalls finishing stretch. I really liked ASOSANs big senton (which looked even better than that fat fuck Hinos) and crowbarish sumo slaps not to mention the big piledriver, generally the bomb dropping was cool with guys hitting massive powerbombs and splashes altough this needed something in the 1st half to really get me into it. Anyways if you are really into 2018 there is no reason for you not to watch Kyushu Pro. Mentai Kid vs. Kazuaki Mihara (Kyushu Pro 1/14/2018) Mentai Kid is the quasi-ace of Kyushu Pro. At first glance he looks like your run of the mill indy Rey Mysterio clone, but from what I've seen, Mentai Kid is genuinely a really good and interesting wrestler. Mihara on the other hand is your very unimpressive pudgy indy guy, which makes Kyushu Pros booking of him as a main eventer really baffling, I guess he is Chikuzens brother in law or something. This built like an indy King's Road match with the extended control segments and cutoffs that the style needs. I really liked the early portion which was dominated by Mentai Kid, who would get the advantage using his athleticism and then work over Miharas mid section with nasty looking double stomps and even a nice corner punch combo. The Mihara dominated portions were on the other hand much less interesting. He did have a nice vertical suplex and elbow drops, but he went for chinlocking pretty fast, and his initial transition looked like garbage. He does get in some nice cut off spots thanks to Kids athleticism. The finishing stretch was overdone 2.9999s altough it was kept interesting by Kids graceful comebacks and slapping the shit out of Mihara. Mihara on the other hand was kind of liked a Fire Pro edit as he had some cool big moves (Muscle Buster variation and big lariats that Mentai Kid bumped like a madman for) but little interesting between the moves, he was huffing and looked like he was about to check his watch between lariats. Anyways overall this was probably better than quite a few pimped matches I've seen so far and Mentai Kid looked like top material but the bottom of the barrel indy vibes from Mihara kept this from being an actively good entry in the canon of japanese matches where they kick out of a looot of big moves. Hitamaru Sasaki vs. Kazuaki Mihara (Kyushu Pro 4/3/2018) In the previous match Mihara looked like an average guy in a match too big for his skillset. Here he just looked like a lazy piece of shit. The early attempts of Sasaki to get acceptable matwork out of Mihara were almost comical. At one point Sasaki goes into greco pummeling and Mihara just lazily waddles to the ropes and tosses him outside. Fortunately for us Sasaki decides to save this match by threating Mihara as what he is and just kicks seven times the shit out of his sorry ass. Goodness gracious Sasaki was PISSED here laying into Mihara with massive hurty looking kicks and slaps over and over. He looked like he'd be Top 20 in the world if he made tape more often. Give this a watch if you're in the mood for a classic japanese style asskicking. The finish is good too so I guess this match is actually not bad. We get more long title matches involving Kazuki Mihara in which he absolutely sucks ass. So Kazuaki Mihara already easily takes the spot as my most hated wrestler of 2018 for ruining the Kyushu main event scene. I liked the GENKAI match as a crazy spectacle but the closest to an actually good match is him vs. Naoki Sakurajima. Sakurajima works like a mix of different 90s japanese wrestling legends but he has good enough execution and charisma to get you into it and he really works his ass off doing all kinds of nifty stuff to make a compelling match. He also hits great shining wizards and boots etc. Def. a hidden good wrestler that Sakurajima guy. Genkai vs. Kodai Nozaki (Kyushu Pro 5/27/2018) GENKAI used to be Daiyu Kawauchi and then Hideyoshi for awhile. So 15 years ago he was young spunky talented guy getting his ass beaten in CAPTURE International, and now he is really rugged looking veteran dude who really likes to do WWE trademarks. No really, Superman Punch, Pedigree, RKO, he was doing them all here. Kodai Nozaki is a rookie phenom, impressive by physique alone, with tree trunk sized legs and cool judo moves. This was a swell match where they clobber eachother hard, make some cool transitions and cutoffs and build to a hot finish. Nozaki absolutely sold his ass off bumping big and making you believe in those RKOs. Not a great match but a good take on Indy Kings Road that won't bore you to shit. Nozaki is going places for sure if he ever leaves Kyushu. So that about sums up Kyushu Pro in 2018. There are some more fun matches so be sure to give their YouTube channel a visit. They also have a DVD which has an interesting looking Mentai/Genkai match so that is something I will nag tapetraders to find for sure. Meanwhile I'm sure Kyushu Pro will step up and become the #1 promotion in the world in 2019 when they decide to release everything they film.

This disc has been on Slambamjam for atleast 2 years.

I distinctly remember reading that Lasartesse was vocal about the guys doing lots of cardio because he felt every match should go around 20 minutes. I'm pretty sure Regal and Cesaro did a spot in their match that was lifted straight from Lasartesse/Van Buyten. But on the other hand, I also remember a story that Lasartesse training Franz Schumann was mostly him making Schumann do back bumps till he couldn't move anymore. Also Kretschmer mentioned Lasartesse didn't train anyone in his class and instead it was one of the referees, Benesch (?).

His wife confirmed he passed away yesterday at the age of 90. Apparently he was still in good health recently. Without a debut the greatest swiss wrestler of all time and very important in europe. He made a big impression on Regal and helped train Cesaro. Still hoping more of his french TV work from his prime shows up. It seems Lasartesse/Duranton vs. Drapp/Vignal is no longer online... hopefully somebody saved it

Thanks for the heads up. Ashino/Soya is on the To Watch list now, same as Hollis/Slim J. Watched: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. WALTER (wXw 5/18/2018) The body of this was pretty great as they took a rather minimalist approach. WALTER destroying Zack in the opening sections with huge chops and body slams goes a long way in getting me into a match. This was one of the more likeable Zack Sabre Jr. performance I've seen as he doesn't do any cute shit and instead mostly works over WALTERs leg with brutal stomps and kicks. Him baiting WALTER into throwing the chop was a nice touch aswell. I also really appreciate him *not* waiting for WALTER to get in perfect position so he could hit his running kicks.I should add that Zack throws really weak european uppercuts and his noodle legwork was awkward. They forego the legwork story to do your pretty run of the mill finishing section with some elaborate sequences which feel a little out of place in a match that was approaching Hashimoto/Yamazaki style simplicity before. I also really dislike that spot where one guy does a backflip to escape the rear naked choke as it makes the other guy look like a dumbass who can't use his legs. I appreciate the simple stripped approach they tried here but I'll see if I can find a better WALTER/Sabre match. Pierre Carl Ouellet vs. WALTER (GCW, 4/6). Liked parts of this but didn't love the whole match. Pretty sloppy and it seemed WALTER had no idea how to work this kind of brawl for a big audience. Did like PCO actually avoiding WALTERs chops and the way he sold coming across as an old man pushing close to his body giving out... well that may have not been selling. Still this is all about that big moment where a bloody PCO gets fired up and the crowd really gets into him. Before that this was a pretty meandering affair. I thought PCO could've done better than all the flippies though it popped the crowd. Ah what do I know. I imagine Park vs. PCO would be amazing.

Watched: Shotaro Ashino vs. Pegaso Illuminar, W1 10/24/2018 I have pretty much avoided Wrestle-1 so this is my first time seeing either guy. Pegaso is a really skinny dude in a mask while Ashino looks like a dime store Hideki Suzuki with a massive bloated gut. They trade some faux-WoS holds and it's all fine, then Pegaso hits a really bad leg trip, low height dropkick that barely connects and 2 dives where he almost misses. Not a good intro. He does take a really nasty bump to the floor next and Ashino starts working over the leg to set up his ankle lock "finisher". Ashinos legwork was pretty good, ramming Pegasos leg into the steel post without care etc. Of course, Pegaso makes his comeback by backflipping, hitting a bunch of kicks, sprinting across the ring etc... we all saw it coming. The finishing run was basically Kurt Angle stuff with Ashino locking in half a dozen ankle holds, hitting multiple germans etc. This was kept mercifully short. Ashino actually looked decent, but Pegaso is not the kind of worker I want to watch. Soberano Jr. vs. Titan (CMLL 6/25/2018) I have seen Titan in some good matches. Soberano Jr. I remember from the En Busca den Un Idolo a couple years back where he was one of the less outstanding wrestlers. Apparently he's getting a push now or something? Anyways they do some really basic opening hold work which is actually fine. The first fall ends very fast though with Titan locking in a cross leglock. The 2nd fall already has Titan putting a so-so beatdown on Soberano Jr, pulling on his mask etc. Not really title match stuff. Soberano Jr. actually has good execution on his dropkicks etc, inbetween comical amounts of thigh slapping. I honestly thought this was rather boring and forgettable. It has that typical modern lucha title match syndrom where they move through too quickly. So when Titan starts playing dirty it doesn't have the same impact as if they had actually built to it. They also do the "I'm super exhausted" style selling less than 10 minutes into this. There weren't even a ton of spots here. They try to build a story around Titans leg submission teasing it a bit like the Figure 4 in the 3rd but it doesn't amount to much. Rating: A Pro Wrestling Match that I just watched..

Both these are on my to-watch list for sure. But first, I wanted to watch... Timothy Thatcher vs. a bunch of scrubs (and one really talented dude) Watched: Timothy Thatcher vs. Lucky Kid (wXw 11/24/2018) Lucky Kid is a good example for the type of worker I don't care for: not very athletic junior with a thrown together video game moveset who thinks no selling is awesome, doesn't really build to his spots and loves engaging in prancing standoffs. One of his moves is a Crippler Crossface, except he doesn't actually crossface the other guy. That's an impressive level of dumb. So this is a good test of Thatcher. The opening work was extremely simple and limited Kid to basically two spots – slick low dropkick into a forward roll that actually looks cool and a weak plancha. Thatcher delivering a beatdown was good as he was channeling the likes of Finlay and Terry Rudge. Hooking the Kids nose, hitting stiff elbows to the gut and working him over with knees etc. I especially liked Thatcher slowly countering a sloppy Octopus Hold by freeing his arm with his legs and then just yanking Kids leg over his head as if to snap his ankle. I would've liked Thatcher to act like Kid was beneath him a little more but he did have some amusing facial expressions. The finishing run wasn't much as it was a showy, slow series of moves and actively standing there waiting for your opponent to hit a counter move that really doesn't get me excited but we did get a crafty Thatcher finish. Timothy Thatcher vs. Veit Müller (wXw 11/23/2018) Thatcher german tour continues as he faces Veit Müller. Müller is a thickly built pro wrestler with sideburns who has a really nice european uppercut and does not do any of the stupid shit I hate. Veit is not without his flaws, but a good guy overall. Veit adds very little to the match aside from his really nice european uppercut, but this is a pretty textbook match with Thatcher beating down the local boy, giving him a handful of token spots. Veit's choice of the goofy cravate suplex as his finisher is questionable and he looked lost grappling with Thatcher, altough he also does use the Figure 4, which is commendable. Thatcher looked good roughing up Müller altough it probably wasn't as brutal as what he did to Lucky Kid. And this was a decent piece of pro wrestling with another neat finish. Did love those european uppercut exchanges. Timothy Thatcher vs. Jonah Rock (wXw 3/9/2018) Jonah Rock is this ridiculously massive dude who has naturally impressive looking offense but tends to look lost between moves. They basically work a fun WCWSN match with both workers bringing their fun stuff but with little character to it. Thatcher chopping down Rock doesn't look very different than Thatcher chopping down someone like Lucky Kid as he tends to sell for everyone almost the same way. The best moment by far was Rock squishing Thatcher with a fat senton when he was pulling card. That kind of moment is good because it has character. Anyway a fun 10 minute match like these between two guys who aren't really used to eachother is a sign of good workers and I liked this despite some naysaying and nitpicking. Timothy Thatcher vs. Fred Yehi (wXw 10/4/2018) Really cool match. Snug, uncooperative work, even moreso than the WALTER match. Should mention Yehi, who is obviously a great athlete, looked credible hanging with the much bigger Thatcher here. Really liked his snug indian deathlock, unpredictable stomps aswell as just grinding Thatcher into the mat with a quater nelson at one point. Those knees also looked great. Classy shit. This was different from previous Thatcher matches as he didn't put a beating on his opponent and instead it was mostly him being pushed by gutsy Fred Yehi, altough he added some gritty facelock and the feeling of uncooperativeness. He really looked like he didn't want to take those stomps. I thought Yehis last comeback looked too easy as he started getting his shit in, but whatever.

See this is why Yuki Ishikawa is special: he is not as athletic as the top tier U-Style guys, but he will add character and psychology to any match. So you have the resident whacky matwork artist Crafter M taking on wily veteran technician Ishikawa. In itself this is bound to be a good match, but because it's Ishikawa we also get a STORY~! and every exchange here ends up not just being technically excellent and beautiful to watch, but also meaning something. There are not a lot of vets who would be willing to show this much ass against anyone let alone a young nobody in a geeky mask, but Ishikawa is totally willing to let Crafter look great. So we get lots of really entertaining Crafter working at his highest level to outsmart and twirl around his bigger opponent and forcing him to the ropes again and again. Crafter gets to look great and Ishikawa does a nice job selling the increasing worry. Especially loved when he seemingly got his groove on when got the indian deathlock but M reversed his next attack and sent him for the ropes again. Due to this the final exchanges end up being super intense with both guys slapping eachother in frustration and Ishikawa trying everything he knows to find a counter. And then a great finish to top it off. This not a big match or anything but it still ends up coming across as one of the greatest tricks Ishikawa has pulled off.

U-Style 10 (8/18/2018) This was to crown the first U-Style champion!! The winner probably won't come as a surprise!! Aside from that, this was a shootstyle card with lots of non shootstyle guys. Romero didn't really look up to snuff in the opener against Hara. Not terrible, and he had some nice spots, but I felt kinda bad for Hara having to work even with this joker. Ueyama/Nakajima was all kinds of amusing as Ueyama basically punishes the kid with superior grappling and fast and hard punches and shotais. Then Nakajima finally gets his big moment when he hits the german only for Ueyama to no sell it an blast his skull. Ishikawa/Crafter was an awesome signature Ishikawa performance and easily ran near the top of my favourite U-Style matches. Kakihara hits 2 kicks against Otsuka and then „injures himself“. Was that some Mil Mascaras „I will only job to my own move“ bullshit? Anyways. Tamura/Ito is a classic and holds up no problem. I've been critical of Squash Machine Tamura but his performance was absolutely masterful and Ito looked world class. Clash of the Sasakis was basically a shootstyle comedy match with Kensuke just trying to work pro style with Kyosuke not cooperating and getting powered around. Pretty amusing. Otsukas grappling once again looked great in the main event. Too bad he has a weak arm and no answer for Tamuras kicks. These two totally had a 20 minute classic in them, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Meiko Satomura, Sendai Girls 11/17 Well well. I really liked their match a couple years back, and while this one wasn't as exciting due to lack of heat, it was a legit great match in it's own right. Very good opening build with Satomura really beating Hashimoto silly with kicks to every part of the body and working some nice cutoffs. Hashimotos probably dangerous sentons ruled. Once she hit the big one off the top this turned into a slaughterhouse with Satomura in serious desperation so she'd increase the punishment and Hashimoto brutalizing her with lariats in return. We get some great Sleeper spots and flawless bomb throwing with well timed comebacks. This was oddly the Satomura show aside from Hashimotos crowbar offense altough it was far from a carry job. Hashimotos quick back switch was a small moment but added a lot. Satomura was either legit injured or sells better than anyone in the world. Added: 1. Darby Allin vs. WALTER, EVOLVE 6/23 2. Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Meiko Satomura, Sendai Girls 11/17

WALTER vs. Timothy Thatcher (wXw 11/17/2018) This was really stiff, no nonsense pro wrestling that didn't go overly long, something that is outstanding in itself in 2018. I liked the opening minutes a lot with Thatcher ankle picking the giant repeatedly and establishing himself as a gutsy technical wrestler. When both guys hit the mat it really looks like they are roughing the other guy up. They venture outside the ring and both guys take big bumps which end up feeling a little pointless (especially WALTER landing on some kind of metal plate) but nothing offensive happens. Back in the ring and we get a good WALTER beatdown with all his dismissive little punts and clubbing blows. Finishing run was pretty great as you had WALTER crushing Thatcher repeatedly and Thatcher making a few believable comebacks. Last couple minutes had some genuinely brutal strikes such as WALTERS big slaps and stomps. There were also some cool body punches from Thatcher. What matters is they build to all the spots, WALTER building towards his powerbomb, Thatcher building to an enzuigiri and Fujiwara armbar. Clever, believable finish. This is obviously old NJPW/AJPW worship like if Osamu Kido had wrestled Toshiaki Kawada but it actually works and stands out on it's own and I would totally be more into current wrestling if there was more stuff like this.

Some reviews:

I've watched extremely little pro wrestling in the year of 2018. Probably less than any other year in wrestling history where there's footage. Rediscovering SWS undercard and Wrestle Yume Factory matches was just more exciting I guess. I know recently most of my writing has been musing about defunct japanese wrestling promotions and handheld matches and whining about how miserable wrestling these days is so I decided to try and bring something to the table and accentuate both the positives and the negatives. In this thread I'm gonna try to catch up with all the pimped MOTYCs and workers, watch some in-between stuff and try to form a complete picture of what's wrong and right. In the end (when I get bored) I'd like to have, like, 20 or so matches that I like, so hopefully that's achievable. Feel free to drop in your thoughts and recommendations 2018 MOTY List (ongoing): 1. Darby Allin vs. WALTER, EVOLVE 6/23 2. Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Meiko Satomura, Sendai Girls 11/17 3. Slim J vs. Corey Hollis (Anarchy Wrestling 7/28/2018) 4. Teddy Hart vs. Harry Smith (WOW 8/11/2018) 5. Slim J vs. Corey Hollis (Anarchy Wrestling 5/12/2018) 6. Tajiri vs. TAKA Michinoku (K-Dojo 4/22/2018) 7. WALTER vs. Timothy Thatcher (wXw 11/17) 8. Pete Dunne vs. WALTER (wXw 7/22/2018) 9. Tom Lawlor & Simon Grimm vs. King Khash & Mike Santiago (Prestige 10/12/2018) 10. Tom Lawlor vs. CW Anderson (BLP 8/18/2018) 11. Negro Casas vs. Aramis (Lucha Memes 3/11/2018)

U-Style 9 (8/7/2004) Hajime/Hiroshi/Hawaitto Moriyama makes his U-Style debut in a fine but short opening match looking slick on the mat and not much else. Naoki Kimura is adding more fancy moves so I guess he's getting better. Okubo/Fuke was surprisingly good, maybe the best match Okubo has been in so far and I'm giving full credit to Fuke who added all the interesting touches and counters. Highlights include an intense struggle over an armbar, cool Fujiwara armbar setup and a crafty finish. It seemed Fuke was relieving his UWF/PWFG days and built a good match around the energetic but bland U-File zombie that is Okubo. Ito/Sasaki was pretty damn good like great BattlARTS undercard match – not a big emphasis on matwork, but lots of smacks and big suplexes. Ito matches tend to cancel out the flashy or showy matwork and instead focus on creating good drama and that was the case here. There is one pretty intense submission nearfall though. Ito is a killing machine here, brutalizing Sasaki with huge knees. Credible finish. NEXT UP – is the debut of BattlARTS boys Ishikawa & Otsuka!!! Now these are great additions to your shootstyle roster. And Otsuka debuts in an awesome match against Ueyama. Otsuka working straight shootstyle while remaining shootstyle is a wonderful thing. His amateur grappling oriented style really stands out against all the kickpadded U-File camp dudes. He would make up crazy submission holds in credible fashion, come up with neat counters and just suplex Ueyama on his head. There is one STF spot where the whole crowd was dreading the move. Just great. Ueyama is one of the best U-Style dudes but he looked almost outclassed. BUT he makes up when he started running low on points and from then he is fighting like mad against Otsukas takedowns and suplexes. Otsuka was just great here, selling Ueyamas strikes and submissions big, he will never just sit there in a leglock. Really great intensity down the end and I lost it when Otsuka teased the Giant Swing. Just great stuff, Otsuka looked awesome and Ueyama looked like a real fighter. Ishikawa/Kakihara was not the same level but a fine match with some neat Ishikawa spots and Kakihara getting to hit him really hard because it's Ishikawa. There was also a weird moment where Ishikawa gets yellow carded for hitting an enzuigiri. I guess Strong Style is too dangerous for U Style. The main event was great in parts – as Mishima is INSANE and was giving Tamura a run for his money – but also somewhat marred by a not super interested Tamura performance and a weak finish.

NotJayTabb:

I'm still in. I watched Mashimo/Takizawa. It was a brutally boring, long, slow by the numbers japanese big match in the year of 2018. I liked Mashimos kicks and that modified Calf Branding he did. That's all I have to say.

Very similiar to their 1998 bout altough I thought not close to as good. Norton once again played the dominant force in convincing fashion, but Nagata wasn't so plucky anymore. Basically Norton goes on this huge offensive tear to start, really beating Nagata up with fat powerbombs and shoulderbreakers, and then Nagata essentially no sells his way back to control, and then he keeps dropping bombs until Norton is done. So it's basically Norton hitting a bunch of moves while cutting Nagata off, then Nagata hitting a bunch of moves and then Nagata wins. Nagata has some fun offense as he really lays into Nortons barrel chest with kicks and does fun things like kneeing him in the back off the head to set up a submission. But in total Nagata didn't come across as plucky underdog but largely as a guy running through his moves.

Well, U-Style 8 (4/28/2004) was a weird and wonderful card. And it was fun to watch. Ito vs. Tattooed Kimura was a punishing match as both guys took turns grinding fists and forearms in the other guys face. Nothing great but mean dudes stiffing eachother in fun undercard matches is why I watch japanese pro wrestling. Space Monster Kimura vs Tanaka is another matchup that just plain works. You are never going to get well rounded pro wrestling from Koichiro Kimura, but he WILL bend the absolute fuck out of whoever he is facing with his awesome SAW style and I will always enjoy watching. Tanaka in U-Style is pretty unlikely and he doesn't show up again but he looks capable and pulls of some unlikely moves while looking outmatched making this a fun squash. Next debut wrestler is MAX Miyazawa who is Capture boy Nihao. He's been fighting in DEEP and actually doing decent so I guess he gets to be in U-Style, why the hell not. And he has a quite good match with Ueyama here which was slower and more methodical than your average U-Style match but good. Miyazawa looked good hanging with Ueyama and because he is from Capture he has no problem leaning his face right into a big Ueyama kick for the brutal finish. Hara/Crafter is another fine match with Crafter looking almost unstoppable no selling Haras throws until Hara lands the big german. Loved Hara celebrating that win. THEN Ichimiya shows up in his mock Shawn Michaels gear with kickpads and Namekawa looks like he is going to kill this joker. And well he does pretty much just that. Ichimiya makes a decent sumo rush and then pretty much gets outclassed. Faithful followers of my musings know Ichimiya actually can handle himself as he is also CAPTURE tested but getting destroyed like this was a nice way to make Namekawa look like a badass. Tamura/Okubo was basically a glorified squash making this the 3rd extremely one sided match on the show. Okubo is brave to stand and trade with Tamura but he just gets outclassed and has no chance on the mat. It looks like he either gassed or oversold about 5 minutes before the finish which took the heat out of the ending as all his attacks looked weak. Some interesting grappling from Tamura and his bully mannerisms where fun but this was Tamura in U-Style is Unbeatable to the max and this could've been a much better match. As far as the main event goes I've never been a big fan of Kakihara as I associate him with the mostly dull UWFi grappling and well this was largely mediocre shootstyle with only Kyosuke Sasaki adding some spice before an underwhelming finish. Not really a proper main event. Seems U-Style is on a downward curve.

This has a rep for being a 70s/80s throwback match involving two renowned japanese technicians. But it's really all about the close quarter fighting and Fujinami kicking the living hell out of his student. The psychology is great and Grade A material to demonstrate how top level workers would condition their audience. Exactly like you'd see in Fujinami/Inoki etc. Every move can lead to a finish or a deciding momentum swing, damage that you take is important, pin combos are finishers, positioning is important, etc. There is not a ton of matwork here, but they had a cool vibe going, as both guys would use the short arm scissor to weaken an arm and then go for an armbar and really crank back, there's also those great Nishimura bridges. Note how violent something like Nishimuras armbreakers feel. The core story comes in when Fujinami just dashes after a retreating Nishimura with low kicks in the corner. Fujinami going out of his way to sell a minuscule low kick in a big way is another example of great psychology. Some great close quarter fighting over Nishimura getting in the ring ensues, with his attempts to regain the advantage backfiring and him being forced to survive several Figure 4 attempts (with the pushing the leg back defense becoming IMPORTANT). The super basic finish may seem random and weird but I actually liked it if you consider Fujinami was a brittle old man at this point (as indicated by his selling and easy defeat earlier). The 2006 MOTY?

Super simple, intense affair between two of the greatest workers New Japan ever had. This works because New Japan booking conditions you that heavyweight matches can be fickle. Either of these guys can snap an arm or leg at anytime to decide the match. Fujinami is wary of Hashimoto early on, and prevents his assault for a moment by pushing him into the corner and decking him with lefts and rights, but soon Hashimoto goes after him like a demon. Fujinami just takes a monumental assbeating in this, as Hashimoto kicks him in the eye, in the face, in the back of the head, kicks him in the corner and then throws him back in the middle so he can kick him some more while he's down. In NJPW there's not always a „big comeback“ after a beatdown so fans buy the possibility that Hash may just beat Fujinami to death right there and win. Fujinami is a supreme seller when he wents to and you really buy the potential ref stoppage from his „holy shit I can't move“ state. Brutal stuff that draws you in, exactly the type of bout these two are so good at.