superkix

The tournament to determine the inaugural holder of the U-COSMOS Crown will commence this Saturday, 9/5, at Korakuen Hall. Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada held a press conference from the downtown Tokyo office to discuss the tournament in depth. The tournament will take place over the next two months, with the finals set to conclude at the end of October. This will also mark the promotion's first tour outside of Tokyo as U-COSMOS will travel to Osaka and Kobe. The rules of the tournament are simple - 32-man single elimination with the first round being split evenly between standard pro-wrestling and UWF Rules. During the subsequent rounds, the rule set will be chosen at random, to ensure neither competitor has an advantage going into the match. Once a winner has been crowned, all future challenges for the crown will be fought under a rule set chosen by the top contender. The month of September will see all first round matches taking place, and while a list of competitors wasn't revealed, the first night's match-ups were confirmed, including a huge match to kick things off as Tsuyoshi Kohsaka will get his wish in facing Kazushi Sakuraba under UWF Rules. U-COSMOS “U-COSMOS Crown Tournament Night 1”, 9/5/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall U-COSMOS Crown Tournament - Round 1: Brock Lesnar (w/ Tully Blanchard) vs. Takehiro Murahama (w/ Kensuke Sasaki) U-COSMOS Crown Tournament - Round 1 - UWF Rules: Alexander Otsuka vs. Masayuki Naruse U-COSMOS Crown Tournament - Round 1: Jun Akiyama vs. Osamu Nishimura U-COSMOS Crown Tournament - Round 1 - UWF Rules: Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (w/ Tully Blanchard) vs. Kazushi Sakuraba

This match ruled. Easily the best tag match I've seen this year, and probably the best match post-craziness. So much to love, like Abe and Sato rapping each other with knuckles to the forehead while fighting on the ground. Nomura’s still the same lovable, disrespectful prick, smacking Sekimoto in the face a couple of times before grabbing the front facelock. Nomura gets bullied for awhile, mainly them working over his neck/shoulder, but he hits a great capture suplex counter to Sato’s high kick to make the tag to Abe. Abe’s just so slick with his counters and transitions. The exchanges between he and Sato are full of nasty headbutts, elbows, punches. By the end of it, both guys are bleeding. Sekimoto always does a great job of taking a beating and he does that here, especially during that finishing stretch with Nomura walloping him with open hands. Abe jumping off Sekimoto's back with the Shining Wizard was dope, and I loved Sato casually walking over and kicking out Nomura's leg on the German suplex hold. Great stuff!

U-COSMOS first major show of the year, HEAT OF BATTLE, brought approximately 13,600 fans into Budokan. The show opened with the parade of competitors, as well as a joint speech by Nobuhiko Takada and Akira Maeda, namely thanking the fans for their support, but also confirming that the tournament for the U-COSMOS Crown would officially kick off next month. In order to allow for the most competition, the tournament will feature 32 entry slots and a list of participants is expected to be released in the coming days. The show opened in bloody, chaotic fashion as Masakatsu Funaki and Kazunari Murakami battled it out under UWF Rules. Murakami was hesitant to lock up with the veteran, Funaki, pacing around the ring, sneering at Funaki, sidestepping low kick attempts. Eventually, he caught Funaki with an unexpected spinning backhand and immediately tried to cinch in a rear naked choke on the mat. Funaki was able to counter out of it and the match transitioned into a much more strike-heavy affair. At one point, Murakami caught Funaki in the brow with an elbow strike that cut him open and earned Murakami a yellow card. But that only further pissed off Funaki, who blasted Murakami with high kicks to the head. Murakami was able to recover but became more desperate and when cornered, he lunged at Funaki with a closed fist, connecting and downing him momentarily. This led to Murakami front mounting him and just pummeling him with closed fists, referee Kyohei Wada not only throwing out the red card but also throwing himself onto Murakami as the bell rang. Murakami left with Funaki’s blood on his face, leering at the carnage left in the ring. The Golden Cups made their official in-ring debut in a six-man tag match against the team of Yuji Nagata, Kazuo Yamazaki and Katsuyori Shibata. All three members of Golden Cups had opportunities to showcase their talent, with leader Yoshihiro Takayama ragdolling Shibata with suplexes, Hiromitsu Kanehara going toe-to-toe with Yamazaki with stiff kicks, and Kenichi Yamamoto taking it to the mat with Nagata. Solid action that ended with Takayama pinning Shibata with a high-angle German suplex hold. In a much faster paced match, Minoru Tanaka and Naoki Sano took on Shinjiro Ohtani and Koji Kanemoto. Plenty of hard-hitting strikes mixed with a few big dives and suplex throws. Sano and Ohtani had some memorable exchanges, and at one point, Ohtani and Kanemoto hit double face washes on Tanaka. The fans seemed to rally behind Ohtani in particular but Minoru wasn’t a fan of the reaction, and began mouthing off to the crowd. The finishing stretch between he and Kanemoto was super heated, with the two just pelting each other with kicks until Tanaka stunned him with the solebutt and capitalized with the Minoru Special for the win. Backstage, the two were greeted by Jun Akiyama, who seemed impressed with their victory. This, of course, led to his tag match with Tamon Honda against Hiroshi Hase and Masanobu Fuchi. This was a much more calculating affair, with Akiyama and Honda trying to isolate Fuchi, turning him into the face in peril as the fans chanted for Hase. While Akiyama maintained his more aggressive demeanor, Honda also showed a more ruthless side to himself and was especially nasty on the mat, keeping holds locked in even after rope breaks. While Hase finally got the big tag and managed a couple of signature spots, including a few ura-nages and a Giant Swing on Honda, the damage had already been done and Akiyama was able to submit Fuchi with the front necklock. An overly confident Brock Lesnar, led to the ring by Tully Blanchard, carried that attitude into his match against the cooler, calmer Kiyoshi Tamura. While Tamura was the quicker of the two, able to evade Lesnar’s grappling and cut at the legs with snappy low kicks, Lesnar’s speed was very impressive for his size. The kicks seemed to frustrate him as he wasn’t able to get in close enough for a suplex, which seemed to be his strategy. When Lesnar was finally able to take Tamura down with the fireman’s carry, he tried to use his size to keep Tamura pinned down. But Tamura was slippery and Lesnar couldn’t quite take advantage of the situation. He finally hit a big overhead suplex and rushed in with a knee strike that kept Tamura down for eight. But when he tried for his German suplex, Tamura was able to land on his feet. He reacted with a high kick to the back of Lesnar’s head and a second to the side of it, causing the beast to fall. He then rolled through with a double wristlock but before he could fully cinch it in, Blanchard threw in the towel for his client. Backstage, Lesnar was fuming and Blanchard explained that the referee should’ve been harder on Tamura for using “illegal strikes”. Lesnar said this wasn’t over and stormed off. Kensuke Office (Kensuke Sasaki, Alexander Otsuka and Takehiro Murahama) took on Suzuki-gun (Kazuyuki Fujita, Daisuke Ikeda and Kendo Kashin) in six-man tag team action. The emphasis of the match was placed on Sasaki and Fujita’s interaction, as the two bulls went at it right from the start. Otsuka and Ikeda had some pretty stiff exchanges, and Murahama got some shine in against the pesky Kashin, taking him out at ringside with a beautiful somersault plancha. Murahama, however, was the underdog of the match and an easy target for Suzuki-gun, as they tried to keep him from his corner. But once Otsuka got the tag, he went suplex crazy in the ring, which ultimately set up the finish for Sasaki, turning Kashin inside out with the lariat for the win. In an old-school, mat-heavy contest, Tatsumi Fujinami, accompanied by Osamu Nishimura, wrestled Yoshiaki Fujiwara, accompanied by Yuki Ishikawa. Fujiwara utilized his catch-as-catch-can approach while Fujinami leaned heavily into MUGA style. The fans seemed to really appreciate the level of detail that went into the match, where not a single strike was thrown (well, minus Fujiwara teasing a headbutt) and the reversals came out of nowhere. Fujiwara tried numerous times to lock in his Fujiwara armbar and likewise, Fujinami kept after the dragon sleeper. In a neat moment, Fujinami had Fujiwara in a full nelson, attempting perhaps a dragon suplex but Fujiwara was able to counter out, rolling Fujinami into his signature leg-trap armbar. But when he tried to transition into the wakigatame, Fujinami caught him in the grounded dragon sleeper and submitted him. The two kneeled and bowed after the match, showing mutual respect as the crowd applauded. In the first UWF Rules tag match, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka made his debut alongside Mikhail Illoukhine against Kazushi Sakuraba and Yoshihisa Yamamoto. The fans were eager to see Sakuraba and TK mix it up but the interactions were kept to a minimum as TK mostly was able to showcase his skills against Yamamoto. And likewise, Sakuraba shined against Illoukhine. But those brief interactions between TK and Sakuraba were full of action, both standing and on the mat. At one point, Sakuraba had TK in a triangle choke but TK was able to turn that into a jujigatame, forcing Sakuraba to use a rope break. TK picked up the win for his team when he submitted Yamamoto with his patented TK Scissors. Afterwards, TK challenged Sakuraba to a match. Sakuraba nodded in approval as Blanchard applauded his clients ringside. In the semi-main, Toshiaki Kawada and Shinya Hashimoto put on an absolute slugfest, with Kawada’s world-class selling really building to his eventual comeback and victory over Hashimoto. But it took him plenty of time to get there, as he fought through DDTs and roundhouse kicks and even countered Hashimoto’s brainbuster with one of his own. Kawada caught him with an elbow in the corner, which busted Hashimoto’s nose, and kept on attacking the nose, using those swift little punt kicks to further aggravate Hashimoto. Hashimoto kicked out of a gamengiri and a folding powerbomb, escaped the Stretch Plum but in the end, he couldn’t survive a brutal backdrop driver. Kawada addressed the fans after the match, announcing that he would be entering the tournament for the U-COSMOS Crown. As expected, Ken Shamrock and Minoru Suzuki tore each other apart in the main event, with none of Suzuki-gun present during the match. Shamrock was the dominant striker in the match, with Suzuki mostly playing defense early on, trying to avoid the swipes in order to get a single leg takedown and force a submission on the mat. But Shamrock wouldn’t let up, backing Suzuki into corners and even forcing him to use rope breaks in order to get the restart. On the mat, Shamrock kept after the leg, using kneebars, leglocks, and trying to secure the ankle hold long enough to tap Suzuki. But Suzuki was wily, kept slipping through Shamrock’s fingers, going after the arm and also various chokeholds. Suzuki popped Shamrock hard with a palm strike, and when it staggered him, Suzuki unleashed his biggest barrage of the match, knocking Shamrock down for a seven count after a high knee. But Shamrock came back hard at Suzuki, and nearly had him beat after a high kick to the head. But when he tried to finish him on the ground, Suzuki snuck in with the rear naked choke, cinched it in. Shamrock refused to tap but succumbed to the hold, passing out in defeat. After the match, Suzuki-gun came down to the ring to celebrate, as Suzuki declared himself the baddest man in U-COSMOS and the only one worthy of holding the U-COSMOS Crown. U-COSMOS “HEAT OF BATTLE”, 8/30/00 Tokyo Nippon Budokan 13,600 Fans 1. UWF Rules: Masakatsu Funaki beat Kazunari Murakami (8:26) by disqualification. 2. Yoshihiro Takayama, Hiromitsu Kanehara & Kenichi Yamamoto beat Yuji Nagata, Kazuo Yamazaki & Katsuyori Shibata (10:45) when Takayama used a high-angle German suplex hold on Shibata. 3. Minoru Tanaka & Naoki Sano beat Shinjiro Ohtani & Koji Kanemoto (9:10) when Tanaka used the Minoru Special on Kanemoto. 4. Jun Akiyama & Tamon Honda beat Hiroshi Hase & Masanobu Fuchi (11:08) when Akiyama used a front necklock on Fuchi. 5. UWF Rules: Kiyoshi Tamura beat Brock Lesnar (w/ Tully Blanchard) (13:34) when Blanchard threw in the towel. 6. Kensuke Sasaki, Alexander Otsuka & Takehiro Murahama beat Kazuyuki Fujita, Daisuke Ikeda & Kendo Kashin (12:57) when Sasaki used the lariat on Kashin. 7. Tatsumi Fujinami (w/ Osamu Nishimura) beat Yoshiaki Fujiwara (w/ Yuki Ishikawa) (14:26) with the grounded dragon sleeper. 8. UWF Rules: Tsuyoshi Kohsaka & Mikhail Illoukhine beat Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshihisa Yamamoto (15:01) when Kohsaka used the TK Scissors on Yamamoto. 9. Toshiaki Kawada beat Shinya Hashimoto (21:43) with the backdrop driver. 10. UWF Rules: Minoru Suzuki beat Ken Shamrock (18:47) with the rear naked choke.

The Golden Cups (Yoshihiro Takayama, Hiromitsu Kanehara and Kenichi Yamamoto) will be making their official in-ring debut this Sunday in a six-man tag match against the team of Yuji Nagata, Kazuo Yamazaki and Katsuyori Shibata. While no other matches are being announced at this time, other names expected to be in competition include Jun Akiyama, Kensuke Sasaki, and Hiroshi Hase. U-COSMOS “HEAT OF BATTLE”, 8/30/00 Tokyo Nippon Budokan 1. UWF Rules: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Kazunari Murakami 2. Yoshihiro Takayama, Hiromitsu Kanehara & Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Yuji Nagata, Kazuo Yamazaki & Katsuyori Shibata 3. UWF Rules: Brock Lesnar (w/ Tully Blanchard) vs. Kiyoshi Tamura 4. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 5. UWF Rules: Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshihisa Yamamoto vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka & Mikhail Illoukine (w/ Tully Blanchard) 6. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Shinya Hashimoto 7. UWF Rules: Ken Shamrock vs. Minoru Suzuki

Love the idea of Kasai being kept on a leash.

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka will make his in-ring debut this Sunday at HEAT OF BATTLE, in what will be the first UWF Rules tag match in U-COSMOS. Kohsaka made it clear from the start his cross-hairs are on Kazushi Sakuraba, and he'll at least get the chance to lock up with him as Sakubara teams with Yoshihisa Yamamoto against Kohsaka and Mikhail Illoukhine. Tully Blanchard will be representing both TK and Illoukhine. Per the rules of the match, tag partners are not able to enter the ring unless legally tagged in - any infraction will result in a yellow card, and a second will result in a red card (DQ). Otherwise, the standard UWF rule set remains the same. U-COSMOS “HEAT OF BATTLE”, 8/30/00 Tokyo Nippon Budokan 1. UWF Rules: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Kazunari Murakami 2. UWF Rules: Brock Lesnar (w/ Tully Blanchard) vs. Kiyoshi Tamura 3. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 4. UWF Rules: Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshihisa Yamamoto vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka & Mikhail Illoukhine (w/ Tully Blanchard) 5. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Shinya Hashimoto 6. UWF Rules: Ken Shamrock vs. Minoru Suzuki

Pulling for a Kojima/Honma final!

Following yesterday's Fighting Art, the card for HEAT OF BATTLE has been updated, with the addition of two matches. Tatsumi Fujinami and Yoshiaki Fujiwara will go one-on-one under standard pro-wrestling rules, while Masakatsu Funaki and Kazunari Murakami will battle it out under UWF Rules. More matches are expected to be announced in the week leading up to the big event on 8/30. U-COSMOS "HEAT OF BATTLE", 8/30/00 Tokyo Nippon Budokan 1. UWF Rules: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Kazunari Murakami 2. UWF Rules: Brock Lesnar (w/ Tully Blanchard) vs. Kiyoshi Tamura 3. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 4. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Shinya Hashimoto 5. UWF Rules: Ken Shamrock vs. Minoru Suzuki

Thanks!

During the parade of competitors, Suzuki-gun attacked Ken Shamrock but the other competitors were able to run off the unit before took much damage could be inflicted. Nobuhiko Takada addressed Suzuki-gun, stating that their actions won’t be tolerated and once again re-iterated that if the unit interfered in Shamrock’s match at HEAT OF BATTLE, they would be suspended. The opening UWF Rules contest saw Brock Lesnar utilize more strikes, thanks to his training with Tully Blanchard’s newest assest, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. Lesnar employed low kicks and some pretty nasty palm strikes to his opponent, Mitsuya Nagai. Nagai is scrappy and was able to weather the storm for a bit, catching Lesnar with a high knee that staggered the young brute. Nagai tried for a second running knee in the corner but in a display of pure athleticism, Lesnar caught him midway, overhead suplexed him into the turnbuckles, and then launched him with a release German suplex for the KO. Backstage, Tully further hyped Lesnar, saying that he is more than ready for Kiyoshi Tamura next Sunday. In an old-school grappling match, Yoshiaki Fujiwara defeated Osamu Nishimura using his patented Fujiwara armbar. Tons of nifty counterwork by both men, with Nishimura at one point using a figure-four leglock on Fujiwara. The finishing stretch saw both men running through a series of holds until Fujiwara was able to snag the arm and tap Nishimura for the victory. After the match, Fujiwara addressed Fujinami and challenged him to a match next Sunday at HEAT OF BATTLE. Fujinami accepted. In six-man tag team action, Jun Akiyama, Minoru Tanaka and Naoki Sano took on Yuji Nagata, Kazuo Yamazaki and Katsuyori Shibata. Akiyama was particularly brutal during the match, attacking the other competitors on the ring apron, refusing to break holds, and even arguing with head referee, Kyohei Wada. Tanaka and Sano brought the hard strikes, with Sano and Yamazaki having an especially heated exchange. Akiyama bullied Shibata throughout, with Nagata trying to defend the young rookie and getting into some scuffles with Akiyama. In the end, Akiyama submitted Shibata with the front necklock. After the match, the Golden Cups made an appearance, with Yoshihiro Takayama announcing that they would officially debut next Sunday at HEAT OF BATTLE. Masakatsu Funaki teamed with Yuki Ishikawa against Suzuki-gun’s Kazunari Murakami and Daisuke Ikeda. A very hard-hitting tag match, with plenty of punches, headbutts, and kicks. While the exchanges between Ikeda and Ishikawa were especially memorable, hearkening back to their time together in BattlARTS, the heat between Murakami and Funaki was blistering. Murakami was all over Funaki from bell-to-bell, to the point where referee Wada had to pull him off and reprimand him. Funaki fought him off, took him out of commission with a high kick, before he honed in on Ikeda and finished him off with the Hybrid Blaster. Backstage, Murakami demanded a match with Funaki at HEAT OF BATTLE, saying he would tear him apart and leave the ring a bloody mess. Under UWF Rules, Kiyoshi Tamura and Mikhail Illoukhine put on a shoot-style clinic, with the quicker Tamura more or less maintaining control throughout the match, but Mikhail would surprise him with a throw or catch him in a choke on the mat. Lesnar and Blanchard were at ringside for the contest, watching as Tamura snapped off kicks and had Mikhail reeling. Mikhail tried for an armbar but Tamura blocked the attempt and snagged him with the double wristlock for the submission. After the match, Lesnar entered the ring and confronted Tamura. While Lesnar stood imposingly over Tamura, Tamura didn’t back down as Blanchard stood by, rubbing his hands with a smile. The semi-main featured Shinya Hashimoto and the debuting Naohiro Hoshikawa teaming against Toshiaki Kawada and Masanobu Fuchi. The focus of the match was the ongoing rivalry between Hashimoto and Kawada, but they kept the interactions minimal and each interaction lit up the Tokyo crowd. Fuchi was the underdog of the match, being kept from making the tag to Kawada until he finally fired off a couple of backdrops. Nevertheless, Fuchi took the fall after Hashimoto spiked him with a vertical-drop brainbuster. The much-anticipated UWF Rules match with Ken Shamrock and Kazuyuki Fujita went to a no contest after Suzuki-gun interfered as Shamrock had Fujita in the ankle hold. The match itself, up until Suzuki-gun’s intrusion, was mostly a stand-up fight, with Fujita receiving a yellow card after throwing a shoot headbutt. With Minoru Suzuki distracting the ref, Fujita was able to throw an illegal elbow to knock Shamrock down. But Fujita couldn’t capitalize on the situation and Shamrock was able to capture him in the ankle hold. As Fujita struggled for the ropes, Suzuki, Murakami, Ikeda, and Kendo Kashin rushed the ring and attacked Shamrock. Funaki and Ishikawa hurried down to the ring to help Shamrock, and finally, Yoshiaki Fujiwara himself came out. As Fujiwara entered the ring, Suzuki backed away, seemingly out of respect. Fujiwara walked up and slapped Suzuki in the face but Suzuki withheld attacking Fujiwara, grinning as he and his army left the ring. U-COSMOS "Fighting Art 4", 8/22/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall 2,000 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House 1. UWF Rules: Brock Lesnar (w/ Tully Blanchard) beat Mitsuya Nagai (7:34) by KO (German suplex). 2. Yoshiaki Fujiwara beat Osamu Nishimura (w/ Tatsumi Fujinami) (8:12) with the Fujiwara armbar. 3. Jun Akiyama, Minoru Tanaka & Naoki Sano beat Yuji Nagata, Kazuo Yamazaki & Katsuyori Shibata (10:59) when Akiyama used a front necklock on Shibata. 4. Masakatsu Funaki & Yuki Ishikawa beat Kazunari Murakami & Daisuke Ikeda (9:29) when Funaki used the Hybrid Blaster on Ikeda. 5. UWF Rules: KiyoshI Tamura beat Milhail Illoukhine (12:34) with the double wristlock. 6. Shinya Hashimoto & Naohiro Hoshikawa beat Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi (15:17) when Hashimoto used a vertical-drop brainbuster on Fuchi. 7. UWF Rules: Ken Shamrock vs. Kazuyuki Fujita (14:08) – No Contest

This was pretty dope. The match is, more or less, contained to the mat, with Tamura primarily in the driver’s seat. Sakata isn’t as skilled as Tamura but he’s stubborn, which makes for a fun match-up. When they do engage in striking, it can turn ugly. Sakata catches Tamura with a spinning backhand and tries to continue the barrage but Tamura decides…no way, and destroys Sakata with some gnarly high kicks to the head. Tamura shines with the waterwheel drop into the kneebar and I loved the leg scissors choke as a transition into the jujigatame. Toward the end, Sakata hits a cool Exploder suplex to set up the follow-up armbar but Tamura rolls through into his own, and when Sakata tries to roll out of it, Tamura smartly keeps him trapped and Sakata has no choice but to tap. Very cool finish.

The mastery of Volk Han is obvious from his very first takedown and Yamamoto is a good opponent for him, once again feisty with the strikes. But Han is able to weather the storm in order to school Yamamoto on the mat, which is perhaps a good lesson for Kenichi. At one point, Han tries for his patented hammerlock throw but Yamamoto is able to turn it into a jujigatame attempt and when Han tries to counter out, Yamamoto counters with a triangle choke to force the rope break. Yamamoto does a pretty good job of blocking a lot of Han’s attempts and turning the tables. In fact, he puts Han on the rocks, within a point of defeat. The final minute or so is exciting stuff as Yamamoto survives the armbar, nearly snagging one of his own before Han puts him in the SINGLE LEG CRAB for the submission. This was solid.

At this point, you can't expect much out of Akira Maeda but the way Yamamoto embarrasses him with the barrage of open hands is quite something...and the escalation to the final minute with them just smacking the shit out of each other until the bell rings and they immediately fall into an embrace is quite special. There are some cool moments from Maeda, like him busting out the shoot dragon screw or some of his big knees, but he doesn't give Yamamoto much to work with on the mat. I mean, there are times when the referee has to get Maeda off from just laying on Yamamoto. The first rope break doesn't occur until 14 minutes into the match so the submission work is secondary to Yamamoto straight walloping his boss, which is something I'm sure some of us would love the opportunity to do. I love that Yamamoto keeps standing up when Maeda only wants to turtle down, even grabbing the rope to force the stand up. And Yamamoto does a really good job of selling Maeda's body punches but once Maeda gets bloodied, he seems to pick up the intensity leading to that final powerful moment. Good stuff!

Tully Blanchard revealed that he has officially acquired the services of none other than Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, a long-time rival of Kiyoshi Tamura, to further train his client, Brock Lesnar, in the shoot-stylings. Kohsaka was seen at a sparring session between Lesnar and Mikhail Ilioukhine, and when pressed for comment, he said that he was not only here to work with Lesnar but that he had another objective at hand: to defeat Kazushi Sakuraba in a match. Kohsaka left it at that and resumed his observation but Blanchard was excited to announce that Ilioukhine would make his in-ring debut this Saturday at Fighting Art 4 against...well, KiyoshI Tamura. Blanchard says this will be a good preview match for Tamura, as he believes Lesnar is excelling at a rate that is "beyond human." In other news, Naohiro Hoshikawa will also be making his in-ring debut for U-COSMOS this Saturday as he teams with Shinya Hashimoto against Toshiaki Kawada and Masanobu Fuchi. Hoshikawa had previously worked with Michinoku Pro and Osaka Pro prior to his singing with U-COSMOS. U-COSMOS "Fighting Art 4", 8/22/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall 1. UWF Rules: Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Mikhail Ilioukhine 2. Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Naohiro Hoshikawa 3. UWF Rules: Ken Shamrock vs. Kazuyuki Fujita

With the confirmation that Ken Shamrock would be facing Minoru Suzuki under UWF Rules at HEAT OF BATTLE, Suzuki has ordered Kazuyuki Fujita to take out Shamrock this Saturday at Fighting Art 4. Fujita, who previously fought in PRIDE, is a dangerous combatant and it's Suzuki's hope that Fujita can "hurt" Shamrock prior to their match on 8/30. Fujita and Shamrock will adhere to UWF Rules but with Suzuki-gun being banned from ringside at HEAT OF BATTLE, it's very likely their presence will be felt this Saturday in a last-ditch effort to get the better of Shamrock. Shamrock was not available for comment. U-COSMOS "Fighting Art 4", 8/22/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall 1. UWF Rules: Ken Shamrock vs. Kazuyuki Fujita

Three huge matches have been confirmed for U-COSMOS special event, "HEAT OF BATTLE", taking place on 8/30 at Tokyo Nippon Budokan. The matches were confirmed following yesterday's Fighting Art, and more are likely to be announced after next Saturday's show. First and foremost, Ken Shamrock and Minoru Suzuki will finally clash under UWF Rules after weeks of Suzuki-gun attacks on Shamrock. Nobuhiko Takada made it clear that Suzuki-gun would be banned from ringside for the match. In addition, Toshiaki Kawada and Shinya Hashimoto will battle it out following Hashimoto's challenge. Kawada answered the challenge, stating that Hashimoto has had this coming for "quite some time" and won't apologize for what happens to him in the ring. And finally, the young and ambitious Brock Lesnar, while undefeated thus far in U-COSMOS, may have bitten off more than he can chew when he challenged Kiyoshi Tamura to a match under UWF Rules. Lesnar's manager, Tully Blanchard, revealed that Brock is receiving all the training he needs to be able to beat Tamura, and confirmed the previous rumor that he had acquired the services of "one of Tamura's greatest rivals" to help prepare Lesnar for the match. U-COSMOS "HEAT OF BATTLE", 8/30/00 Tokyo Nippon Budokan 1. UWF Rules: Brock Lesnar (w/ Tully Blanchard) vs. Kiyoshi Tamura 2. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Shinya Hashimoto 3. UWF Rules: Ken Shamrock vs. Minoru Suzuki

One of Naruse's most dominant performances thus far, with Yamamoto again playing the wily challenger, trying to grab whatever he can, however he can. The strike exchanges get pretty wild at times, but Naruse doesn't seem in danger of losing the match, and stays in control of the unpredictable situation in Yamamoto, finally tapping him with some sort of arm hold. Easily overshadowed by the main event but still a fun watch.

Just incredible stuff. I haven't seen this match in like...I don't know, 10-15 years? But everything builds to this beautiful crescendo of submission wrestling until exhaustion and apprehension take hold in an attempt to outpace, outmaneuver, and outsmart the opponent. The opening matwork sets the stage, with these sudden bursts into position, especially from Tamura, and whenever either is able to grab onto something, the crowd bites on with anticipation. The awareness from both guys is off the charts and they manage to work themselves out of predicaments - I mean, the first rope break doesn't come until 13 minutes into the match. And then the strikes start-up, with Tamura popping TK in the corner with open palms to get him down in a prone position, yet it’s TK that sends him to the ropes with the kneebar, acknowledging the crowd afterwards like "yeah, I got answers too." And that's really the story of the match...Tamura has the answer to TK, who has the answer to Tamura, and it leads to a draw because...well, no one has the correct answer. The intensity picks up around the 20:00 mark, with Tamura rocking TK's world with a barrage of hard palms (sold wonderfully by TK) and yet, when TK fires back a bit later with high kicks to the head, Tamura still manages to snag a foot and put him in the kneebar. As the time dwindles, each rope breaks becomes that much more meaningful, hard strikes are thrown with wild abandon. I loved TK's desperation judo throw but again, Tamura is able to roll through it into an armbar attempt, which TK counters with his own armbar to force the rope break. Answers! Tamura's toe on the ropes to break TK's front necklock was very dramatic, the crowd buying it as a possible finish. But just the ability to switch gears so deftly, like TK slipping on his second throw attempt but instinctually rolling Tamura up with another kneebar. And the final few minutes of last-ditch submission attempts - the counters and reversals, yet no resolve - so so good. The mutual respect. The crowd appreciation. A fuckin' plus.

Following the traditional competitor’s parade to open the show, Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada announced a special event on Sunday, 8/30, entitled “HEAT OF BATTLE”, which will take place at Tokyo Nippon Budokan. While no matches were officially announced, Takada indicated that this event would essentially “kick-off” the race for the coveted U-COSMOS Crown. The opening contest saw the undefeated Brock Lesnar take on Katsuyori Shibata under the UWF Rules. Shibata’s strategy was simple: keep Lesnar at bay with kicks and strikes, and try to take out the legs for a ground submission. Lesnar, however, was trying to get in for a suplex, or an amateur-style takedown into a choke. Shibata was able to avoid many of Lesnar’s throw attempts but after a belly-to-belly suplex stunned him, Lesnar launched Shibata with a release German suplex, keeping him down for the 10 count. Blanchard bragged about his client backstage, saying Lesnar could fight anyone, under any set of rules. When asked who he’d like to fight, Brock called out Kiyoshi Tamura! In tag team action, Shinjiro Ohtani and Koji Kanemoto defeated Alexander Otsuka and Takehiro Murahama in a fast-paced, back-and-forth match-up. Otsuka was obviously the biggest threat in the match, and Ohtani and Kanemoto had to work to isolate Murahama. Murahama fought well, trading kicks with both opponents and even taking out Kanemoto with a beautiful dive to the outside. Otsuka cleaned house off of a hot tag and tried to submit Kanemoto with a front necklock but Ohtani made the save for his partner. In the end, Murahama tried to finish off Ohtani with a brainbuster but Ohtani was able to slip out into a full nelson and snap Murahama over with a dragon suplex hold for the pinfall. Otsuka was clearly frustrated with the loss but made sure Murahama was alright. Kiyoshi Tamura battled Katsumi Usuda in a stiff, strike-heavy UWF Rules match. Usuda knew he was no match for Tamura on the ground so his goal was to kick Tamura as hard as possible, looking to pick up a KO victory. And boy, did he try, blasting Tamura with a ton of kicks, from all angles and directions. At one point, he staged Tamura with a high kick in the corner. But his fatal flaw came when he tried to turn that into a cross armbreaker on the mat, which Tamura was able to overpower and turn into the double wristlock for the quick tapout. Backstage, Tamura was briefly asked about the potential of facing Brock Lesnar, and Tamura responded that he would take on any challenger. Suzuki-gun’s Daisuke Ikeda and Kendo Kashin were in tag team action against Yuji Nagata and Kazuo Yamazaki. Ikeda and Kashin were accompanied to the ring by Kazuyuki Fujita, who worked as the ringside enforcer. Nagata and Yamazaki had the fans firmly behind them as they rallied around the shenanigans and pulled off the win following a backdrop hold by Nagata on Kashin. The exchanges between Ikeda and Nagata stood out, in terms of their intensity, while Kashin was, more or less, trying to get his opponent outside of the ring and into the hands of Fujita. Shinya Hashimoto had his hands full with a feisty Masahito Kakihara in Hash’s first UWF Rules match for the promotion. Kakihara answered Hashimoto’s challenge and Hash had to withstand the constant barrages of open-handed slaps and kicks from the quicker Kakihara, the fans once again interested in seeing Hashimoto work outside of his element. No stranger to hard kicks, Hashimoto dished out plenty against Kakihara but nearly found himself caught by an armbar on the mat, in which he had to utilize a rope break. At one point, a palm thrust by Kakihara bust Hashimoto’s nose, and with the release of blood came the unleashing of Hashimoto’s anger. As Kakihara charged in for an attack in the corner, Shinya blasted out with a huge roundhouse kick that cut Kakihara down like a tree. After the match, Hashimoto grabbed a microphone and issued a challenge to Toshiaki Kawada for a singles match at HEAT OF BATTLE. Yuki Ishikawa teamed with his former PWFG cohorts against Suzuki-gun’s Minoru Suzuki, Kazuyuki Fujita and Kazunari Murakami. A brutally hard-hitting six-man tag, with Ishikawa getting busted open from a shoot headbutt by Fujita. Of course, the major focus was on the feud between Shamrock and Suzuki, but also Funaki and Murakami had some heated exchanges. Kendo Kashin and Daisuke Ikeda were at ringside and tried to intervene when given the opportunity but referee Kyohei Wada kept them from too many shenanigans. Ishikawa at one point had Suzuki in the octopus hold, and the fans were losing it at the thought of Suzuki submitting as Shamrock and Funaki held the others back. But Suzuki was able to roll through in a counter and very quickly spiked Ishikawa with the Gotch-style piledriver for the three count. After the match, Shamrock grabbed a microphone and demanded a match with Suzuki at HEAT OF BATTLE, to which Suzuki happily accepted. The main event was about as King’s Road as it gets, with Hiroshi Hase giving his all in his performance against Kensuke Sasaki, with tons of head dropping bombs thrown by both men. Sasaki was the heavy aggressor of the match, with Hase working as the sympathetic elder statesman, but when he got fired up, he dumped Sasaki with ura-nages and even got the crowd chanting for his giant swing. He managed to survive not one but two lariats from Sasaki, and scored his final nearfall with a beautiful Northern Lights suplex hold. But after a third lariat, Sasaki put Hase away with the Northern Lights Bomb. Hase bowed to the crowd following his loss, and Sasaki cut a promo, thanking Hase, and once again, reiterating his goal to capture the U-COSMOS Crown. U-COSMOS "Fighting Art 3", 8/15/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall 2,000 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House UWF Rules: Brock Lesnar (w/ Tully Blanchard) beat Katsuyori Shibata (8:56) by KO (German suplex). Shinjiro Ohtani & Koji Kanemoto beat Alexander Otsuka & Takehiro Murahama (11:29) when Ohtani used a dragon suplex hold on Murahama. UWF Rules: Kiyoshi Tamura beat Katsumi Usuda (9: 08) with the double wristlock. Yuji Nagata & Kazuo Yamazaki beat Daisuke Ikeda & Kendo Kashin (10:23) when Nagata used a backdrop hold on Kashin. UWF Rules: Shinya Hashimoto beat Masahito Kakihara (7:38) by KO (roundhouse kick). Minoru Suzuki, Kazunari Murakami & Kazuyuki Fujita beat Ken Shamrock, Masakatsu Funaki & Yuki Ishikawa (14:34) when Suzuki used the Gotch-style piledriver on Ishikawa. Kensuke Sasaki beat Hiroshi Hase (18:33) with the Northern Lights Bomb.

This was really solid. Haseman with some impressive looking kicks, including a crazy high savate that catches Kenichi in the side of the head and crumples him. But Kenichi is wily and throws some pretty stiff kicks of his own and manages a few nice takedowns. At one point, Yamamoto just straight chokes him. Some funny moments, like Haseman whiffing on a German suplex attempt and Yamamoto trying to goad him onto the mat for grappletime. But Haseman would rather strike and whaps Yamamoto upside the head with an open hand. Haseman gets a couple of slams but can't capitalize on the mat, and Yamamoto ends up choking him out.

A fun Ilioukhine showcase. He's so good at selling the strikes and the way he works for his holds throughout really add to the sense of realism. Naruse's shine is starting to fade...maybe it was the haircut...but he's still decent enough here.

Tamura's punishment for losing against Overeem. What a waste.

This was great, up until the finish. I mean, the way Han keeps pushing TK away as he’s got the full extension on the armbar is the definition of ring awareness, which Han co-wrote the book on. Just slick work as usual from both guys - the dueling holds on the mat were flawless and compelling. Loved Han putting some spicy mustard on his strikes at the end, popping TK with open hands and downing him with a big knee, which you don't see often. Clearly, Han was frustrated with how things ended and it seemed like a mistake on his part, either inadvertently tapping or tapping before TK could fully lock in the hold. Regardless, there was excellent wrestling taking place.

If you need your suplex fix in RINGS, Bakouri is your guy. He's just suplexing all day long while Sakata is working through the textbook holds on the mat. Sakata tries to heat up with the open hands and the kicks but Bakouri keeps squashing those attempts, eventually suplexing him to the ground and tapping him with a heel hold. Fun little match-up.

Man, Volk's selling of Maeda's submission attempts is so good - he really makes Maeda still look like a legitimate threat on the mat, and the way this progressed was the perfect momentum to keep the Maeda's aura strong while giving Volk his revenge in the armbar. About as solid as five minutes of matwork can get.