superkix

The best match of the show and an easy recommendation. It's 10:00 minutes. It's Dickhead Anjoh, it's Slappy Kaki, and there's plenty of heat between the striking, and the aggressive takedowns and submission attempts.When Kakihara misses his big spinning heel kick attempt, which he misses about 78% of the time, Anjoh adds some salt by kicking him in the face. Some real nasty shots from Anjoh toward the end but Kakihara pulls off the upset by submitting Anjoh with the leglock. Good stuff.

This was the best Fleming has looked since he first popped up in UWFi. He really gets to show off his power vs. Miyato with big suplex throws and a little more refined technique against Tamura, like his hammerlocked takedown into the headscissors. But Tamura is the slickest and wipes the mat clean with Fleming. Nakano isn't very slick either but he's scrappy and a little shit, which is why we adore him, and he knees Tamura in the face a couple of times. The exchanges between Nakano and MIyato are always very feisty and they didn't disappoint here. Nakano dumps him with a German suplex and Miyato answers by spiking him with a crazy uranage. Fleming still can't apply his shitty STF and while it doesn't work on Tamura, it works on Miyato. A really fun undercard tag.

Yoshihiro Takayama's pro-wrestling debut and it's exactly the big aggressive debut you'd expect from Takayama. He immediately open hands the hell out of Kanehara and gets in plenty of giant knees and slaps. Kanehara is obviously trying to get him down to the mat for a submission but he's having a hard time doing it. He gets in a few good shots at Takayama and finally lets him have it, backdropping Takayama to set up the submission. Really fun debut from Takayama.

Takada's first big UWFi "epic" and a very fun match up top, with Albright grabbing suplexes and Takada being the charismatic striker trying to kick Gary's head off. He also delivers a pretty sweet Saito suplex to Albright so lots of suplex love in this match -- loved Gary's back-to-back belly-to-bellies. The groundwork slows it down and isn't very interesting until Takada starts blasting Albright with leg kicks and counters the German with the toe hold. I liked that Gary's first shitty German suplex seemed like a result of his bad knee buckling but then he hits the second shitty German and it's definitely Takada sandbagging him -- who then just lays there like a goof to give Gary the KO victory. Cool moments but not a great match.

Ready? Tamura leg cuts Matthew and submits him with a rear naked choke. This was like 20 seconds long. Tamura rules.

Not a very good match but totally a GREAT match. I loved it. Kitao's this big dumb judo guy eating leg kick after kick, waiting patiently for the right moment. Oh, and t's coming. I love that his counter to the double leg takedown is just standing there. At some point, Yamazaki's nose gets busted but he still wants to German suplex Kitao but settles for a sleeper hold, to which Kitao counters by trying to dump him over the top rope. Kitao's selling after he slowly crawls to the ropes to break a heel hold is off the charts. Kitao's monent comes when he swats Yamazaki's spinning heel kick out of the air. Then he proceeds to destroy Yamazak - a nasty running knee, a big uranage, and endless leg and butt kicks until Yamazaki can no longer stand on his own two feet. Altered Beast Kitao is the best Kitao, and Yamazaki is one of the best shithead underdogs.

I love Yoji Anjoh and his fucking smirks. What a run he's had in UWFi so far. Steve Day is another Wonderbread amateur and not very good. You get the sense throughout that Anjoh is waiting patiently to finish him off while Day tries to wrestling his way out of a paper bag. Anjoh gets a pretty slick leg trip into an STF attempt but the finish was shitty. Steve Day is not a good opponent for Yoji Anjoh.

Takada really loved the most American dudes ever. This was a whatever match. Fleming is sloppy at everything but at least he's trying, and Miyato's just trying to survive the attempts.

Hey it's two pudgy guys trading open hands and trying to grapple. Burton still sucks at this point in his UWFi career but thankfully, Nakano is Nakano and we get some fun Nakano moments between him snapping him over with a suplex or slapping Tom silly. When he almost gets knocked through the ropes, Nakano's pissed and quickly submits him with the dreaded single leg crab.

This was way too long but it had its moments and fires off hot with both guys swinging for the fences. Silver's rawness is sort of his saving grace and he has a couple of cool suplexes, including a backdrop driver and a high-angle German. Of course, Kakihara is slappy happy and mostly works Silver over with takedowns and holds. The matwork slows this down quite a bit but the moments in between are fun. Silver is probably the third best gaijin behind Albright and Scott at this point.

Another fun spirited young boy match with Maeda being feisty with his strikes and Kanehara looking to suplex>submit. What they may lack in finesse they make up for with their hearts and determination. But there's some cool shit like Maeda blocking Kanehara's defensive kicks when he's got him in the single leg grab. It heats up heading into the finish with some big strikes and submission attempts. I really liked the desperation of Kanehara's single leg crab/side facelock when Maeda won't tap. They're both exhausted and swatting by the end of it and Kanehara wins after a German suplex into the armbar. One of the better matches of the show.

Not a whole lot to add. It's neat. I like Bockwinkel's pre-match hype. He can still go -- good arm control off the ropes, good takedowns and counters. Robinson's obviously slowed down quite a bit at this point but he manages to get in few good shots on Nick and vice versa. He really works the headscissors. A total dad's match.

Oh shit, that's my birthday. It has to be a great match.

The best match of the show, aside from maybe the opener. Yamazaki flies at him with a kick and Albright quickly takes him down and starts pounding away with a few great body shots. Yamazaki is trying to play defense, trying to go after the arm, but Albright’s just too darn big. After a little temper flareup, Albright snaps him over with a belly-to-belly. When Yamazaki finally gets the armbar, Albright right on the ropes. Yamazaki then stuns him with a knee to the midsection and German suplexes Albright to set up the crab hold but again, too damn big. Loved Albright running over and clobbering Yamazaki in the back of the head before German suplexing him and when Yamazaki is barely back up and on his feet, Albright hits a second German for the immediate KO.

Not much of a match. Day gets an early fireman's carry, and he and Takada do a little scramble but Day is pretty dang clueless on the mat, which is the running theme with these singlet-wearin' gaijins. He kind of inadvertently will get an advantage on Takada, while Takada does a lot of maneuvering into position but loses whatever he was trying for. A lot of lame takedowns from Day, who tries for a leglock but Takada counters and taps him with one of his own. Meh.

This is clipped down to a little over 3 minutes from a 20+ minute match but I guess, the Tamura/Anjoh interactions are your main selling point here. Tamura snaps off a neat twisting suplex, and then the finish with Anjoh grabbing the armbar off Tamura’s takedown attempt was pretty slick. Not much else to say about it.

The last few minutes with a bloodied Silver fighting pissed against Kakihara who still isn't holding anything back despite probably breaking Silver's nose is the best part of an otherwise long and tedious match. Silver has some cool throws and at this point, is likely the third best gaijin behind Albright and Scott at this point.

Prime Alexander Otsuka could do anything.

I love a slow burn when it's done right and these two know how to do just that. The tension builds to the initial takedown before Tamura starts maneuvering his way around the mat. TK isn't as spry as Tamura but he's still scrappy and able to grab a hold whenever while still doing a little fancy maneuvering himself. Cool stuff from Tamura as usual, including a great front necklock counter, and TK busting out a bunch of great kneebars trying to submit the hometown hero. Loved the part where he's got Tamura in a kneebar, Tamura tries punching his way out and then TK creeps up and pops him in the face with slaps. The scrambling intensifies, the striking picks up, especially from Tamura, who lays into TK with big body knees and killer head kicks. And in the end, they're dancing around the mat, trying for a few different things in a final attempt at victory. Tamura's single leg crab doesn't do the trick but he's ultimately able to snap off the jujigatame for the submission.

U-STYLE (2/4/2004) Hiroyuki Ito vs. Hajime Moriyama Whoa, suddenly Ito has really great knees and kicks, and Moriyama's just trying to grab a choke without getting kicked in the head. Nothing but a squash but Ito looked more aggressive here, taking Moriyama down with a nasty slap before taking him out for a good following a series of hard kicks. Kyosuke Sasaki vs. Crafter M A fun exhibition-y shoot maestro match (if that makes sense) between the masked trashbag pants-wearing Crafter M and Kyosuke Sasaki, who of course, knows how to do-si-do on the mat. Lots of counters and reversals before Sasaki starts taking the kicks to him, downing him with a great solebutt. Crafter can only try and legwhip him down to find a submission on the mat because, as we've all learned, his strikes stink. Eventually he gets a deep Fujiwara armbar takedown and stays in control of it, trapping Sasaki with the headscissors when he tries to escape. Cool moment. Sometimes it seems like Crafter will somehow roll himself into a hold, or accidentally trap Sasaki with something but in the end, after more kicks, Sasaki grabs the armbar for the win. Dokonjonosuke Mishima vs. Manabu Hara This was a fun Mishima highlight reel as Hara gets outclassed in just about every department (except his German suplex, of course, which he hits here back-to-back). Mishima quickly gets him in the submission that won him his last match but Hara escapes. He catches Hara's kick and turns into a pretty sweet legtrap belly-to-belly. He uses a cool hammerlocked hanging necklock. The final submission was cool, with Mishima snapping Hara over with a suplex, grabbing the leg and then cranking on it until Hara gives up. Ryuki Ueyama vs. Kazuki Okubo Lots of love taps to open before Okubo finally decides to get a little feisty with his slappy slaps and big lunging knees. But Ueyama is quick to respond with hard quick smacks of his own. Okubo appeared more confident here, especially on the mat, catching Ueyama in a calf hold and dropping down with the kneebar, and then rolling him up into a leglock. Ueyama's octopus-style final submission with him grabbing limbs to finish Okubo off was cool but otherwise, a decent enough match-up. Yasuhito Namekawa vs. Naoki Kimura Not much of a match. Namekawa dominates and although he's not very good, he’s aggressive and mauling and smothering, and finally KOs poor Kimura with a nasty high kick to the head. Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka I love a slow burn when it's done right and these two know how to do just that. The tension builds to the initial takedown before Tamura starts maneuvering his way around the mat. TK isn't as spry as Tamura but he's still scrappy and able to grab a hold whenever while still doing a little fancy maneuvering himself. Cool stuff from Tamura as usual, including a great front necklock counter, and TK busting out a bunch of great kneebars trying to submit the hometown hero. Loved the part where he's got Tamura in a kneebar, Tamura tries punching his way out and then TK creeps up and pops him in the face with slaps. The scrambling intensifies, the striking picks up, especially from Tamura, who lays into TK with big body knees and killer head kicks. And in the end, they're dancing around the mat, trying for a few different things in a final attempt at victory. Tamura's single leg crab doesn't do the trick but he's ultimately able to snap off the jujigatame for the submission. An easy recommendation.

U-STYLE (12/9/2003) Kazuki Okubo vs. Naoki Kimura Welp, Kimura continues to improve as a shoot-stylist - this time, on the mat. After a brief but feisty strike exchange, Kimura and Okubo roll around on the mat and Kimura manages some cool stuff, snagging limbs, countering throws with hanging necklocks, using a backpack-stule sleeper to down Okubo before finishing him off with the armbar. Okubo was decent here and although the actual set up tot he finish was pretty sloppy, he picks up the win with an armbar after some struggle. Kazushi Miyamoto vs. Ryu Echigo Miyamoto's got the look down but he doesn't really work the U-STYLE well. Echigo looked way better in all departments, from striking and takedowns and I really liked him grabbing the ankle hold counter out of Miyamoto's ankle hold. But after a German suplex, Miyamoto KOs him with a lariat. Manabu Hara vs. Crafter M Crafter M is a masked shooter nerd in garbage bag pants but when he's working the mat, he's not half bad. But boy, his strikes stink. Coolest moment of the match goes to Hara and his incredible German suplex but not much of a match otherwise. Yasuhito Namekawa vs. Hiroyuki Ito Even less of a match, which is disappointing, considering Namekawa's recommended debut match. Other than a few good strike exchangess between the two of them, Ito looked weak in there, lacking his usual spunk. And Nakemkawa was kind of just there...but he wins in the end with the choke sleeper. Dokonjonosuke Mishima vs. Ryuki Ueyama Decent match-up between these two but not as fancy-dancy as one might expect. Mishima immediately targets Ueyama's bandaged right leg with hard ass kicks and they follow that up with a nice scramble, on the ground, with Ueyama snagging a deep sleeper and forcing Mishima to the ropes. The finish was also pretty sweet, as Mishima catches the foot and sets up for an STF before turning him over in a grounded rear waistlock with the bad leg trapped. Wataru Sakata vs. Kyosuke Sasaki A slow, methodical burn but recommended viewing, with Sakata still being a dick and Sasaki his usual crafty self. I liked the stalemate opening with Sasaki showing off his canvas skillz. Sakata gets a hell of a leg trip in the corner but can't follow up on the mat. He lacks Sasaki's finesse and works more of a bully smothering style. He's like a less refined Hideki Suzuki. The striking picks up and Sakata punishes him with mounted palms and body bunches. When he tries for the double wristlock, Sasaki counters with the armbar. When Sakata tries to get away with forearm rubs, Sasaki gives it right back to him. At some point, Sasaki gets busted open and Sakata overhwhelms him with knees and smacks him down for the KO. Had the groundwork been a little more interesting, this would have a great match but it's still good and worth a watch. Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Katsuhisa Fujii This is a big test for young Fujii, whose looked dominant in his 2-4 minute squashes but will he fare as well against the master Tamura? The contrast of power vs. technique is one of my favorite match-ups and they do a good job of establishing that here. This felt the most UWFi Tamura of any U-STYLE match thus far, with Fujii using his strength and throws to break him down. I loved Tamura wildly fighting out of the German. Fujii always manages to grab a few holds, which aren't elaborate or anything, but fit the theme of trying to break Tamura. Tamura stuns him with a high kick to the head and keeps sweeping Fujii's leg but Fujii fights back and finally hits the German on Tamura (even though Tamura really doesn't want to get German'd). Tamura retaliates with kicks and this time, defends with a front necklock and when Fujii tries for a second German, Tamura takes him down with the double wristlock for the submission win. Fun match and an easy recommendation. That's it for 2003. MVPs for the year are Tamura, Sasaki, Sakata and Mishima. Up next, 2004. Duh.

Ryota Hama

U-STYLE (10/6/2003) This was a one night tournament to decide Kiyoshi Tamura's next challenger and probably the most easily skippable show thus far. Nothing outright bad but nothing memorable. Katsuhisa Fujii vs. Ryu Echigo Hot opening with Echigo coming at Fujii with a bunch of baby strikes but when he tries to rush him with a big knee, Fujii catches him and plants him with a modified uranage before laying in with the big open hands. Another Fujii squash but with Echigo at least trying to a grab a few submission holds, only for Fujii to power out each time. A couple suplexes later, Fujii advances via KO off his German. Kazuki Okubo vs. Manabu Hara Not as good as their previous match but still pretty decent, as they both have good chemistry together. Hara brings out Okubo's spunkiness and Okubo makes Hara work. Okubo's once again plays the fun underdog, getting taken down by Hara but fighting his way out to put Hara on the rocks. The match goes the full 15:00 and so it gets extra time, Okubo comes out of the gate kicking but Hara dumps him with that awesome high-angle German of his and tries to go for the sleeper, but Okubo breaks away and KOs Hara with a messy flurry of strikes. Kyosuke Sasaki vs. Naoki Kimura Easily Kimura's best match in U-Style at this point and probably the MOTN. Kimura opens with a nice quick barrage to take down Sasaki. The matwork is much faster-paced, thanks to Sasaki, but Kimura does a pretty good job of keeping pace. Kimura manages a belly-to-back takedown but can't follow up, with leads to Sasaki downing him with a series of kicks. The finish was neat, as Sasaki rolls him up with a front chancery and than hops onto the jujigatame for the submission. Hiroyuki Ito vs. Ryuki Ueyama Ueyama is back in purple -- without his belts this time -- and after a bit of dancing to start, he drops Ito with a combo of quick slaps and body punches. Ueyama is very slap happy throughout the match but Ito dishes out some too, with his bigger slaps and elbows. He gets a yellow card for kicking Ueyama on the ground. During the backhalf of the match, Ito stays on Ueyama's taped right leg with stiff kicks, keeping him staggered and trying to submit him on the ground. Nothing super captivating on mat and the finish was lame, as Ueyama taps to a leglock within arm's reach of the ropes. Katsuhisa Fujii vs. Kazuki Okubo Even more of a Fujii-dominate match as he immediately takes down Okubo with a suplex and bullies him from the front mount with big open hands. Okubo doesn't really get much of anything in terms of offense before Fujii KOs him following back-to-back German suplexes. Kyosuke Sasaki vs. Hiroyuki Ito A match that starts off plenty hot, with Ito using big kicks and knees, and Sasaki using his technical prowess with slick takedowns and leglocks. But the match slows down in the back half as they struggle over submissions. Ito is pretty rough around the edges and does better from a vertical base but he takes Sasaki down to his final point before getting caught in the finishing armbar. Katsuhisa Fujii vs. Kyosuke Sasaki Uh oh, this is Fujii's longest match to date but it's against on of the early MVPs of U-Style in Sasaki. This was a pretty fun much and right around there with the Sasaki/Kimura match in terms of quality. Fujii is big and uses his size to his advantage but Sasaki is fiery and comes out strong, getting German suplexed by Fujii but turning it into an armbar upon impact. Fujii snagging the arm with his legs was great but in general, he isn't the smoothest cat on the mat. That's not necessarily a bad things because of how he works the match, throwing big hands and jumping knees and suplex throws and shoto camel clutches. Sasaki can only really try and submit him on the ground but that isn't so successful here. Fujii hits another German and Sasaki immediate pops up, only to get submitted with a poorly applied rear choke. Not a very good finish to an otherwise fun match.

My interest level in this is zero but good for Cody and his gang.

Oh my god, Wataru Sakata is such a complete dick in this match and every second of it rules. Ito becomes quite the underdog by the end of it. But to open, they're not playing around with their strikes. Once Sakata gets him on the mat, he's rubbing his wrist taped wrists in his face and hammering him with body shots. He takes him over with a nice Saito suplex before walloping Ito with big open hands from the front mount. Oh, Ito dishes out some too but not as hot as Sakata. He rubs his fists in Ito's face, pops him with a few more nasty body shots and then tries to break him with the double wristlock. Ito fights out and gets a little revenge on Sakata, taking him to the ropes with an armbar. I like that he keeps trying to do what Sakata has done to him but Sakata just gives it back to him twice as hard. After some more elbow washes and nasty palm strikes, Sakata puts him in the single leg crab. The fans chant for Ito to escape but as he reaches for the ropes, Sakata drags him back to the middle and submits him. Another great match and easy rec.