superkix

This felt like the first real New Japan match in months. Two bad motherfuckers beatin' the hell out of each other for almost twenty minutes with no fluff or shenanigans. We all know Ishii can lob a mean elbow but some of those elbows Suzuki was throwing were scary. Of course, Ishii is one of the best at selling a beating and dishing it back out, which he did he. I liked his over-the-shoulder piledriver counter - I don't think I've seen him use that before - and a little blood doesn't hurt. I haven't seen any of their British matches but I reckon that they're nowhere near as good.

Yoshihisa Yamamoto has become very good at this point, and he knows how to play to the crowd, milk every submission, and give the top dogs a run for their money. As good as Han is here, and in general, Yamamoto has a lot of answers. The whole opening stretch, with Yamamoto flipping out of the standing armbar, reversing the cross heel hook, slipping out of Han's fingers into a sleeper hold - he ain't no punkass kid with acne anymore. As expected, tons of rolling around, trading holds and counters, but Yamamoto sending Han to the ropes a bunch. He's dominant on top with his strikes. I love that the ref gets onto Yamamoto for tyring to hammer his way out of Han's heel hook. He tries to get fancy with a cool sliding leg sweep but gets caught in Han's kneebar. Also the incorporation of the hammerlock suplex into Han's arsenal -- perfecto. When Yamamoto pops Han with a palm strike, Han falls like a tree. The fans lose it when he's got Han in the front necklock, somehow managing to allude the armbar but once Volk gets out, he traps Yamamoto and snags the arm for the submission finish. Awesome match.

Pretty good Sousserov showcase match with a bunch of cool throws and kicks, and TK trying to survive, grabbing submissions off of suplexes when he can. He's able to down Sergei with a good knee to the midsection but Sergei pops him silly with a big ass kick and submits him with the armbar.

This is the Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet match of RINGS thus far, in the sense that they're both trying to do big impressive things, synchronized kicks and shit, completely whiffing a bunch, and it's so silly, it's actually fun. Not a very good match though. It was nice seing Sakata with a little more confidence and aggression, laying in with a bunch of open hands to the head and knee strikes. Yuri loves the big kicks and he hits a pretty sweet shoot enziguri, a spinning heel wkick, a high kick to the head. There's a bunch of tomfoolery with them trying these ridiculous kicks and throwing themselves at each other without anything really happening, which leads to the Yuri's knees vs. Wataru's slaps and Yuri's knees win out. Dumb fun.

A pretty good Maeda-dominant match with Zouev trying to take him out on the ground and Maeda winning out. Some nice takedowns, strike exchanges, and matwork. The way Maeda kicks out Zouev's leg with the solebutt was gnarly and I love his headscissors hold. Zouev is able to survive the world famous Maeda leglock but ends up tapping to a sleeper hold.

Mitsuya Nagai in 1995 is $100 dollar bills (but he was also good in 1994 and in general) and as proven in the past, Andrei Kopilov is no slouch - although, he does look like the dad on your favorite 90's Russian sitcom. Kopylov's dominant throughout the match. He immediately suplexes the hell out of Nagai and he does such a good job of making his holds look painful, whether it's grabbing arms or legs. Other memorable moments include Nagai getting kneed in the nuts, Kopilov teasing throwing him out of the ring TWICE, Nagai catching Kopilov's koppou kick attempt and dropping down with the leglock, and a dope headlock suplex. Kopilov is a tough fucker, taking a head kick but still holding onto Nagai, and I loved his headlock takedown into the front mount. He keeps taking Nagai to the ropes and the fans WANT Nagai to fire back and he does and the fans love it - big kicks and big knees down Kopylov in the corner and he can't make it back up to his feet.

TK's best match since debuting and a real showcase match for Gotchev, who works a very aggressive approach here with his kicks, hands, and knees. Early on, he blasts TK with a high kick to the face. TK tries to answer with knee strikes but when he can't get the knockdown, he takes Gotchev down in a slick rolling leglock. Of course, Gotchev hits his signature bearhug belly-to-belly suplex in all its glory. Loved him playing to the crowd like a putz when he downs TK with a knee. They struggle a bit at the end, both clearly tired, but Gotchev wins after he uses a full nelson with the knees into a judo throw to set up his shoot STF. Cool match.

Is this the best Masayuki Naruse match ever? Certainly in RINGS up to this point but it's also against Volk Han, which means the bar is already set high. love that Han is now busting out these rolling armbar suplexes - like he goes for his standing armbar and then suplexes Naruse. He drags him back to the middle and tries for his standing leglock but Naruse counters with a kneebar like "nuh-uh-uh". I like that Naruse establishes that the kneebar is THE counter for Volk Han throughout the match. He also puts Han in a nasty facelock hold. But when he tries for a high kick, Han catches it and takes him down with the leglock. Han is the master at this - at one point, he's got Naruse in a hammerlock, Naruse tries to counter with a leg trip but Han holds on to the arm and takes him to the ropes. Good dynamic, good struggle on the mat, with Naruse looking his best yet. He pops Han with some big slaps and kicks but the veteran perseveres, keeps using the hammerlock>double wristlock combo to control Naruse. Naruse's able to take him down with the Fujiwara armbar but Han traps him with the headscissors and snags the leg for the awesome submission. Great match!

Easily the best Willie Peeters match since 1991. It helps that both guys are feisty little shitheads and as expected, they throw a lot of hard kicks and knees. Peeters hits an awesome rotating belly-to-belly and stays aggressive throughout, but still does shitty things like hanging onto the ropes. And it wouldn't be a Willie Peeters match if he didn't fall on his ass on a big spin kick attempt. Nagai isn't always the strongest on the mat but he's better than Peeters and had some neat counters. In the end, Peeters creams Nagai with a high kick to the head but it's not enough and Nagai traps him int he front necklock for the submission.

Baby Kohsaka and baby Sakata, the latter of which, isn't very good at this point in his career, much to the disappointment of Maeda, go at it. This was pretty fun - good heated smack exchanges but TK is the man on the mat, mostly keeping Sakata in CHECK. Grabbing necklocks and kneebars when Sakata fails to do much of anything on the mat. They slap each other silly for a bit and then TK lands a big knee strike, pummels Sakata with open hands and taps him with the armbar.

Zouev is maybe my second favorite Russian? Maybe Kopylov - maybe they can share that honor because Volk Han is god-like. Whereas Koyplov is a little more rough and tumble, Zouev is finesse and he will always try to outmaneuver Han, which of course, leads to a great war on the mat...but also on their feet, as they both throw hard open hands. The back-and-forth between these two is top notch, and Zouev ends up taking Han to the ropes more often than he's used to. Han also sends Zouev scrambling but also is super aggressive with his strikes and lands some really nasty shots. They fight for control on the ground up until the very end, when Han finally grabs the armbar for the submission. Real good stuff.

Yamamoto is blessed in white, the pre-Tamura savior of RINGS, and Nagai is still scrappy as hell. He isn't as strong on the mat as Yamamoto but he can outstrike him and that's what he tries to do, connecting with a nice high kick before Yamamoto takes him down. When they both let loose with the strikes, the match really heats up and Nagai has tons of quick hands, kicks, and knees, really swinging for the fences at times, but Yamamoto's still able to knock him down with his own shots. At one point, Nagai falls on his ass but it's okay because he then proceeds to go apeshit on Yamamoto in the corner. They're wailing away on each other but Yamamoto wins out, as Nagai hangs on the ropes and is barely able to make it back to his feet. Yamamoto tries to finish him off with the choke but Nagai is able to grab an arm and cinch in the submission for the big win. Great match.

This match rules, are you kidding me? Maeda made his "return" to greatness in 1994 against Yoshihisa Yamamoto and he's still got it. They go at it to open, chasing each other with strikes, and then Han takes Maeda to the ground and gets him in a dope inverted STF...I don't even know with Han and his crazy holds. Maeda's nose gets busted less than a minute into the match and he's just trying to survive Han's submissions and strike him down. Awesome moment where Han has him in a standing leglock and kicks Maeda's arm away in order to get the single leg crab. Good back-and-forth on the mat with tons of reversals. Maeda's able to get a few kicks in on Han but Han knows Maeda's leg is injured and like a shark to blood, Han is all about getting that leg. In the end, he traps it and then Maeda's arm, and Maeda finally taps to give Han the Mega Battle Tournament!

Sotir Gotchev looks like a wise ass 1980's Brooklyn TV cop but he's pretty dope in the ring and he and Naruse got plenty of time to do their thang (which may be too much time, I don't know). One of Gotchev's best spots is when he's got someone in a bear hug and they're trying to palm strike their way out of it and Gotchev belly-to-belly suplexes them. Good struggle on the mat, with Naruse able to show off a bit more on the ground with his control and transitions. Gotchev keeps suplexing, Naruse keeps on taking him down, and then things get a little more feisty toward the end with the open hands and kicks. Naruse knocks Gotchev down with a big slap but when he tries for the spinning heel kick, Gotchev avoids it and taps him with his version of the STF.

Great chemistry leads to a great match, as these two play a back-and-forth game of checkers, between their counters, holds, thwarted escape attempts, and blocked strikes. Loved Yamazaki's Exploder suplex counter to Anjoh's knee attempt. Yamazaki keeps stopping Anjoh's knees and Anjoh's able to avoid the German suplex, taking Yamazaki to the ropes with a Fujiwara armbar off the double wristlock. Yamazaki's really selling the arm at this point and then proceeds to annihilate Anjoh with kicks -- that leg catch kick to the face was real nasty. Yamazaki wins by KO.

This is Takada's first title defense and it isn't too hot. Salman looked alright here, a little clunky and slow. He gets a nice arm whip takeover to open and tries to beat Takada at his own game with the armbar, which doesn't work, and then Takada proceeds to kick Salman until Salman takes a seat. Salman fires off a dope suplex but that's about it for him and it's business as usual for Takada. He kicks Salman in the face in the corner, judo throws him down and taps him with the classic armbar.

Silver doesn't stand a chance but gives zero fucks and starts smacking Gary and Gary slams him down hard. When Silver gets a foot on the ropes during a dragon suplex attempt, Albright's pissed and KOs him after back-to-back German suplexes. Like possibly legit KO'd him. Albright is a wrecking ball.

A weird match and again, not as good as their first encounter. Nakano dominates most of this match, controlling Tamura early on - he gets a nice front neck chancery takedown, counters with his best snap suplex, and keeps sending Tamura to the ropes. When Tamura finally gets a front mount, his nose is mysteriously busted open. Nakano comes at him with some big open hands and knees but Tamura powers him up and over with a waterwheel slam, but Nakano keeps coming with the strikes. The finish was funny, as Tamura grabs a leglock, Nakano can't escape it and starts tapping...and keeps tapping...slowly...and the ref is confused but eventually calls it. Some cool moments but not a great match.

This was actually a lot of fun. Steve Day's not bad but he has the worst look. Unlike Dan Severn, Day can't rock the mustache. He hits a pretty sweet leg transfer German suplex. and he and Kaki slapping it out was a blast. Of course, Kaki is slappy and kicky, the Americans throw suplexes and try armbars, and Sano is a pro and very giving with the white boys, although at times, some of the exchanges are clunky or slow motion. Kaki takes out Day with a big spin kick and destroys him with strikes, and although Day looks pissed, Kaki still contineus to kick his ass. And then Koslowski comes in and hits the fucking Dennis Koslowski special -- a belly-to-belly suplex, a front necklock suplex, and a gutwrench suplex. Kaki can't answer and the stars and stripes win it.

Hey, baby Glacier is BACK...and he still sucks. Shitty knees, a real bad suplex that probably injured Miyato's shoulder, and no clue. At least Miyato looked strong here, with his big chinlock and solebutt, picking up the win with the armbar. Not good.

Not as good as their last match, which isn't saying much, but Allen gets his usual takedowns, throws some decent elbows, but there's like zero effort on his part -- I guess he does punch Takayaka in the EYEBROW, so that ruled, but he picks up the win with the armbar as always. Meh.

Boring groundwork aside, this is actually a pretty fun draw when it's Kanehara kicking and slapping, and Lydick suplexing. Lydick keeps throwing suplexes, looking for the German, but Kanehara is able to block it, and in the final few moments of the match, they let loose on each other but Lydick can't get off anymore suplexes before the time expires. Lydick continues to improve and Kanehara's spirit brought out more of a fight in him.

I can't really get into Kento Miyahara matches anymore so this felt extra long...but, that being said, Zeus ruled in this match. The best part was him just chopping the shit out of the back of Miyahara's neck, which, you know, Miyahara immediately blows off but he's gotta get at least ten of those thighslapping knee strikes in. Some of Zeus' lariats looked gnarly, especially the one to set up the jackhammer, and credit where it's due, Miyahara's bumping only made Zeus look more beast-like. I still like the Zeus/Doering match the best out of what little AJPW I've seen this year but I thought Zeus looked better here.

This was good stuff. I loved the mat exchange to open and the arm control up front from Sano, working to his veteran strengths with the slick youngun Tamura trying to show him up. Sano will fire off a great suplex, Tamura will try to grab an arm upon impact and Sano finagle his way back to the armbar. A bit clunky here and there, and there's point where the match really seems to fizzle out, but then they'll start trading slaps and wake everyone back up. Great finish. Tamura mostly stays on the leg but when he can't get Sano over in the single leg, he goes to the surprise armbar and taps him after hitting a waterwheel drop. It ran a little long but there was still a lot of really neat moments in between, and Sano in UWFi has been great.

Regrettably, Severn is out of the black trunks and rocking the USA singlet, which means serious business -- I mean, he elects not to shake Takada's hands. This was a pretty formulaic Takada match. Takada plays good defense early on, using leg kicks, knee strikes, blocking Severn’s takedown attempts. Takada tries to block the belly-to-belly but can't and Severn follows that up with a neat front suplex before the match stalls on the ground and turns into Takada's finishing stretch of leg kicks and an armbar. Severn not being in a dominant role hurt this match (and the obvious lack of black trunks).