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Mishima's just so much fun to watch in there and Sasaki is a great counterbalance. Real competitive, seamless grappling with some snappy strikes and tons of awesome takedowns and transitions. Sasaki tries to dominate early but Mishima uses his cleverness and slick movements to escape. Mishima dishes out plenty of big high kicks and spin kicks, and his snap German suplex was great. Sasaki is hanging with Mishima on the mat and later, with the strikes, and by the end, they're down to their last point. They're slipping and sliding all over the mat, trying to grab a hold. Mishima chops him down to a knee with kicks, snaps him over with a suplex into a front neck chancery. Sasaki survives it but finally taps to a dope rear ankle hold. Terrific match and an easy recommendation.

U-STYLE (6/29/2003) Ryu Echigo vs. Naoki Kimura This was a long nine minutes. Kimura already isn't one of my U-Style favorites but Echigo has potential and he looked strong in the finish, hitting a front suplex > German suplex > armbar. But the first half was more or less a stalemate, the takedowns were kind of lame and the groundwork wasn't very exciting. There were some decent strikes but not enough of them to make this very interesting. Katsuhisa Fujii vs. Tomohiko Yoshida So far, Fujii hasn't wrestled a match over 3:00 and again, this is another squash but damn, if Fujii doesn't seem like the total package. Great look, unrefined, stiff and tempestuous. He's a dude who seems like he would've killed in Inoki-era NJPW. When a German suplex doesn't do the trick, Fujii KOs him with the dragon suplex. Yup, my kind of dude. Manabu Hara vs. Kazuki Okubo Hey, it's the best Manabu Hara U-STYLE match thus far. Much more spirited than the usual Hara fare and Okubo has more of a fire lit under his ass than he did in the Sakata match. He goes after Hara's legs with kicks, peppers him with better palm strikes from the guard. Hara's more giving but still gets to show off, delivering his pretty German suplex into the rear choke and using a really nice double leg takedown. They try more stuff on the mat, with Okubo managing an armbar and a hanging necklock. The finish sees them trading a ton of kicks and strikes before Hara snags the surprise armbar for the win. Pretty decent match, could go either way. Kyosuke Sasaki vs. Dokonjonosuke Mishima This may be my favorite U-Style match so far. Mishima's just so much fun to watch in there and Sasaki is a great counterbalance. Real competitive, seamless grappling with some snappy strikes and tons of awesome takedowns and transitions. Sasaki tries to dominate early but Mishima uses his cleverness and slick movements to escape. Mishima dishes out plenty of big high kicks and spin kicks, and his snap German suplex was great. Sasaki is hanging with Mishima on the mat and later, with the strikes, and by the end, they're down to their last point. They're slipping and sliding all over the mat, trying to grab a hold. Mishima chops him down to a knee with kicks, snaps him over with a suplex into a front neck chancery. Sasaki survives it but finally taps to a dope rear ankle hold. Terrific match and an easy recommendation. Wataru Sakata vs. Hiroyuki Ito Oh my god, Wataru Sakata is such a complete dick in this match and every second of it rules. What a great companion piece to the Sasaki/Mishima match. 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. Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Takaku Fuke Again, another match that could go either way but it's not really much of a match -- more like Tamura beating the shit out of Fuke, which is cool, too. Fuke tries to rush him and overwhelm him with strikes but once Tamura explodes on him in the corner with a quick strike combo, it's the beginning of the end. Tons of great strikes from Tamura. One of the highlights comes when he blocks Fuke's takedown and drops him with a knee. By the end, Fuke is staggering and Tamura puts him out of his misery for the TKO.

my wife and i started watching Nathan For You on Hulu and the haunted house episode, the owner looks like he could be Kane's brother

Waiting for the Switch version

U-STYLE (4/6/2003) Hiroyuki Ito vs. Tomohiko Yoshida Decent opener -- Yoshino with some love taps, Ito responding with some tough love slaps. They transition to the mat and maneuver around looking for an opening but Yoshida lacks the confidence and experience needed to take control. For example, he slides in for a single leg takedown but gets caught with a rear naked choke and then Ito starts popping him with front mount slaps. Ito's the better striker of the two and more willing to try things on the mat. When Yoshida tries for a neck crank, ito has a great counter for him and ends up tapping him with a triangle. Manabu Hara vs. Ryu Echigo Echigo got a little more time to shine here against Hara but again, possibly due to Hara's lack of captaining skills, the match meanders. That being said, Echigo got some nice takedowns and throws. Definitely an improvement from Hara's first match but still not great. Katsuhisa Fujii vs. Naoki Kimura Another fun, short Fujii squash with tons of quick opens exchanged to start before Fujii takes Kimura down with knees and kicks. Kimura's able to get a takedown and try for the rear choke but can't get anything going before Fujii lays into him with more hard kicks and KOs him with the German suplex. Takehiro Murahama vs. Kyosuke Sasaki Murahama's really great in his straddling shoot-style/pro-wrestling role, and Sasaki does a good job of playing to Murahama's strengths, as well as his own. He's got some pretty slick matwork to counter Murahama's more feisty approach and I liked his flying armbar. At times, they're constantly switching and reversing holds, trying to sustain something long enough for a submision. When Murahama comes at him with hard kicks, Sasaki uses a double leg takedown just to col him down. But Murahama has a little mean streak in him with his stricks and gets more and more aggressive with them as the match progresses. Loved when he tries for the irish whip and Sasaki holds onto the ropes to block it, kicking Murahama down and taking him to the ropes with a leglock. Also he gets a nice reverse armbar counter to the first German suplex attempt but in the end, Murahama hits it and taps him with the armbar. Easy recommendation. Wataru Sakata vs. Kazuki Okubo This had some cool moments and served mostly as a solid Sakata showcase but it felt pretty heatless through most of the match as Okubo doesn't really fire back.Again, it seems like an issue of confidence and Okubo not being sure of himself. Slower start as Sakata works a more smothering style on the mat but when he's up on his feet, he shines. He fires off a nice belly-to-belly suplex into the rear guard and lays into Okubo with some hard open hands and kicks, especially when he's in the front mount. There's a fun moment where he's got Okubo in a leglock and Okubo is trying in vain to slap his way out of him. Sakata cuts Okubo's forehead with a strike and submits him with a pretty gnarly-looking single leg crab. Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Dokonjonosuke Mishima Can you image if Mishima had a Matt Riddle-like run through the Japanese promotions in the mid-00s? He has such a unique presence and this was a terrific little match-up, with Mishima showing off his quasi-capoeira style and judo throws against Tamura's slick-as-catshit counter and matwork. Mishima manages some hard slams and I really liked his takedown into the headscissors, transitioning into the armbar. Of course, Tamura's great here as the master, tip-toeing out of trap attempts and scoring takedowns>submission holds. The struggle on the ground was conveyed well, although because Tamura's is king, there are times when he looks bored at Mishima smothering his leg with a hold. Heading into the finish, an exhausted Mishima comes at Tamura with a palm thrust but Tamura is able to take him down into a necklock, flipping him over into the armbar and cranking it on for the submission win. Easy recommendation.

These guys like to hit each other hard and do it for half an hour. Shiozaki is underrated and really could've benefited from the NJPW feud that never happened but he gives his all here and Sugiura dishes it out. Sugiura throws some of the best-looking elbows anywhere and he delivers some real nasty ones here, especially when Shiozaki's down in the corner. If anything, this match benefited from a lack of crazy big spots and an overkill finish. Shiozaki's picturesque moonsault and Sugiura's running knee in the corner>deadlift superplex combo was plenty big for this kind of a match. Sugiura proves that he can still go hard in the paint for his age and Shiozaki bumps big and sells hard for him throughout. I really liked him trying to withstand the punishment toward the finish before Sugiura resorts to the headbutts. Probably the best NOAH match of the year? At least, from what I've seen, which hasn't been much.

Not really watching much modern stuff aside from a few things here and there. Mostly watching stuff for Fighting Network FRIENDS, and doing a chronological viewing of UWFi and U-STYLE.

We're back again for Kakiride 2! Direct link is HERE! https://fightingnetworkfriends.podiant.co/e/368b14e355aeee/ to stream, or subscribe to the RSS feed. You can also find us on Apple Podcasts. FNF 020: Slappy Kaki Returns! (Kakiride 2 Mini-Episode) The anniversary episode? Who cares, Kakihara is back with his second annual Kakiride show! Is it as good as the first? Is Hideki Suzuki the best in the world? Will Tatsuo Nakano ever age? Will Yoshiaki Fujiwara always remain the GOAT? Brennan and Andy test a newer, nicer microphone and record IN PERSON over at Brennan's new place, for this somewhat shorter episode. No 3rd segment here, just a deep dive and look at the sequel to the show that started the podcast in the first place - with a lot of love to our main dude, Masahito Kakihara. Topics discussed: WE HAVE A NEW SHIRT! Check out the Bigcartel page. Monterrey, Mexico and where we have been Is wrestling any good? Doubtful! Kakihara, Kakiride and all that it entails. & More? Follow us on Twitter: @fightfriends @trillyrobinson BigCartel: http://fightingnetworkfriends.bigcartel.com Email at: [email protected] Instagram: @fightnetworkfriends Youtube at: http://tinyurl.com/FightFriends Pre-orders for the new shirt are open at https://fightingnetworkfriends.bigcartel.com/ til Friday.

I really enjoyed their first tag match and the rematch felt like a different match entirely but was almost the perfect complement. The vets jump the younguns early on and try to take out Nomura with a Doomsday Device but Nomura's able to roll up Suzuki in an armbar. Love pissy Nomura with his slaps and kicks to Suzuki. The exchanges between Suzuki and Abe were also heated and fun, with Abe trying to shoot in on Hideki and Hideki later grabbing his face in the ropes and bootscraping him. Hideki is so shitty with Abe and it's awesome. There's a real great moment where Nomura runs in and knocks down Hideki, then slaps Sekimoto in the face before running away. Sekimoto chokes Abe with a t-shirt and when the ref gets on him, he whips the referee with it. After some hard body shots, Hideki belly-to-belly suplexes Nomura but Nomura's able to trap the arm and fights to get the full extension. He continues going after the arm with kicks and armbreakers but Hideki counters with a neat cradle takedown into a small package. Sekimoto is still one of the best charismatic power dudes out there. He eats a bunch of slaps from Nomura/Abe and gets dumped with a German suplex, which leads to the finish. Nomura fights out of Sekimoto's German attempt, slaps the shit out of him, but gets caught in an extra big powerslam from Sekimoto. Really fun tag match.

In a similar vein to the RINGS thread but...with U-STYLE. I'm taking a break from my UWFi deep dive (mainly because I'm not looking forward to watching a 25+ minute Tom Burton match) and picking up U-STYLE with the first seven shows. It's Tamura and a bunch of young studs shoot-stylin' around in what I could only describe as a BattlARTS/RINGS mashup. I'll keep a running list of recommended matches to dip your toes in. 2003 Yasuhito Namekawa vs. Kyosuke Sasaki (2/15/2003) Takehiro Murahama vs. Kazuki Okubo (2/15/2003) Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Wataru Sakata (2/15/2003) Takehiro Murahama vs. Kyosuke Sasaki (4/6/2003) Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Dokonjonosuke Mishima (4/6/2003) Kyosuke Sasaki vs. Dokonjonosuke Mishima (6/29/2003) Wataru Sakata vs. Hiroyuki Ito (6/29/2003) Wataru Sakata vs. Kyosuke Sasaki (12/9/2003) Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Katsuhisa Fujii (12/9/2003) 2004 Kyosuke Sasaki vs. Crafter M (2/4/2004) Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (2/4/2004) Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Kyosuke Sasaki (3/13/2004) Hiroyuki Ito vs. Kyosuke Sasaki (8/7/2004) Alexander Otsuka vs. Ryuki Ueyama (8/7/2004) Masahito Kakihara vs. Yuki Ishikawa (8/7/2004) Yuki Ishikawa vs. Crafter M (8/14/2004) Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Hiroyuki Ito (8/14/2004) Alexander Otsuka vs. Kiyoshi Tamura (8/14/2004) Yuki Ishikawa vs. Hiroyuki Ito (10/9/2004) Ryuki Ueyama vs. Seichi Ikemoto (10/9/2004) Dokonjonosuke Mishima vs. Crafter M (12/7/2004) Yasuhito Namekawa vs. Kyosuke Sasaki (12/7/2004) Ryuki Ueyama & Seichi Ikemoto vs. Kiyoshi Tamura & Takaku Fuke (12/7/2004) 2005 Frank Shamrock vs. Daisuke Nakamura (11/25/2005) Kyoshi Tamura vs. Josh Barnett (11/25/2005) U-STYLE (2/15/03) Katsuhisa Fujii vs. Ryu Echigo This is the Katsuhisa Fujii show and it's okay because the Fujii show has everything I like: suplexes, kicks, slaps, knees, armbars. He wrestles like a UFO guy and even has a bit of that Murakami scowl. Short but fun squash and in the end, he dumps Echigo with a German and taps him with the armbar. Manabu Hara vs. Naoki Kimura Manabu Hara has never been one of my favorite BattlARTS guys and he has trouble controlling the flow of the match in an engaging way. Kimura clearly hasn't worked very many 'worked' matches so there's a ton of slower ground-based struggle. The strikes aren't really there. Not a very exciting match, save for Hara's finishing German suplex KO. Yasuhito Namekawa vs. Kyosuke Sasaki This was a blast -- a much more scrappy, spunky fight, which I love. Namekawa has a great look and presence, and he's much bigger than Sasaki so he can slam him down with spinebusters and snappy belly-to-belly suplexes and cool cradled throws. He gets a yellow card for kicking Sasaki on the ground so we now know he's a bad boy. Sasaki tries some fancy things on the mat and ends up managing something out of the attempt. He gets a nice roll up into an ankle hold and hits a German, trying to transition into the armbar but Namekawa is quick to get a foot on the ropes. There's a heated little front mount slap battle before Namekawa uses a...unique dragon screw for the takedown and finally taps him with a cool legtrap armbar/facelock combination. Easy recommendation. Ryuki Ueyama vs. Hiroyuki Ito Ueyama looks like a million bucks with his royal purple and two belts. He's pretty slick in there in a Kiyoshi Tamura kinda way...but he's no Kiyoshi Tamura. Loved the opening with a fiery palm thrust exchange and nice blur of back-and-forth counter wrestling. Then it settles into a more defense-based match with occasional strikes. The striking escalates late into the match as Ito starts dishing out shots and rocks Ueyama with a head kick. They fight over an armbar and trade more strikes before Ueyama slides into the surprise heel hook for the submission. Some neat spots. Takehiro Murahama vs. Kazuki Okubo Murahama, the babyfaced rookie phenom from the year 2000, is here and he just wants to pro-wrestle. This is a pretty fun match and worth checking out to see Murahama running the ropes and hitting enziguries. I like how Okubo is the spoiler in this match, trying to keep it pure shoot-style. He knows his way around the mat and actually looked a bit cleaner than Murahama. But Murahama's department is striking and his strikes were snug. But Okubo also snaps off some great lanky-legged kicks. There were a couple of hiccups along the way but the finishing stretch was really good. Good drama with Okubo's calf hold and then Murahama destroying him with the German before locking in the armbar for the submission. U-STYLE really loves German suplexes. . Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Wataru Sakata King Kiyoshi wants to start off with a handshake but Sakata says no with a slap to the face. Really good match that escalates throughout. There's a lot of jockeying for position early on, with neither really getting the advantage. Sakata tries for a swanky handspring transition but he can't catch Tamura with a hold. Tamura takes him to the ropes with an armbar and then dumps him with the waterwheel drop and puts on the single leg, turning it into a kneebar and sending him back to the ropes. They slaps it out as Tamura tries to take control of the leg again but when he tries to turn him over, Sakata's able to grab the leglock and send Tamura scrambling. Tamura's kicks and knees looked great as he downs Sakata with a combo and his selling of Sakata's own kicks and knees was terrific. Sakata wins with the rear neclock as he should. Easy recommendation.

it's gotta be Big Show in the Waterboy or Randy Savage in Spider-Man. but the real answer is probably Don Frye in that Godzilla: Final Wars.

Great shoot-style match with Hideki bringing his heavy, aggressive grappling and Nakamura the slick maneuvering and takedowns. I love how Hideki bulldogs his opponents into a corner. He throws a nice belly-to-belly suplex and when they're the mat, he's grabbing limbs and trying to hurt Nakamura. Nakamura uses a rope break to avoid the German and manages to take Hideki to the ropes with his single leg takedown into the cross heel hold, and then with the armbar takedown into the armbar. Hideki's too much for him though and in the end, in true UWF fashion, Hideki KOs him with a German suplex>dragon suplex combo.

Man, Fleming loves the leglock. About half of the match is spent on the ground with Takada in a leglock. Other than that, Takada pops him with some good kicks and the final sequence leading to Takada's armbar was pretty fun. Not a very good match though.

Tom Burton still isn't very good and while he shows a bit of personality here, he doesn't do much else other than get kicked a bunch by Yamazaki. Highlight of the match was Yamazaki landing the monkey flip attempt, kicking Burton and hitting the German suplex. Yamazaki wins with a choke.

Pretty decent contest with some good striking, big knees from Anjoh, and Miyato showing some fire in the end, hitting the backdrop into the facelock. In the end, Anjoh taps him with the reverse armbar.

Tamura couldn't save this one from mediocrity. Too much time was spent on the mat and while Silver's takedowns are decent, he doesn't know where to go from there. Tamura doesn't really get a lot of time to shine, although I do love how into that facelock he was. In the end, he takes Silver over with the fireman's carry and submits him with the neck crank. Meh.

Albright squash matches rule and this is no exception. Kaki tries to get slappy but Albright immediately hits him with back-to-back belly-to-bellies. The story is simple: Kaki's trying to avoid the suplexes and Albright's trying to avoid the strikes. In the end, Kaki can't avoid the suplexes and gets dumped with a German and dragon for the dramatic KO finish.

Somehow worse than his first match. Nakano's high kick in the corner and Whatley's collapse was the obvious highlight here. Otherwise it's Whatley laying around a lot and Nakano laying into him with stiff strikes at the end for the KO.

Yeah, this was a fun, competitive match with two scrappy young dudes going out there and showing off what they've learned over the past few months. Nothing fancy -- Maeda's a little smoother on the ground and had some nice counters/reversals. He also throws a few nice suplexes. Kanehara is the better striker with his quick open hands and knees. I liked the sequence where he had Maeda in the single leg crab and turned it into a facelock as Maeda inched his way to the ropes. By the end of it, they're both very exhausted -- Maeda a little more so -- and after Kanehara hits a German, he taps him with the armbar.

Burton still isn't very good until he shows up briefly toward the finish to throw Yamazaki with a German suplex. This was mostly about Takada/Albright in a clash of high kicks and suplex throws. Pretty decent exchanges but nothing too hot. The finish was fun, with Yamazaki connecting with a big spinning heel kick to Albright only to get German suplexed the fuck out. Decent but forgettable tag with a couple of cool spots.

Probably the best match on probably the worst top-to-bottom UWFI show chronologically. And it's good, in parts. Silver has about the most white trash haircut behind Tom Burton but he does manage a couple of neat throws. But like most of the gaijins, he's clueless on the mat and his strikes are feather light. And he also gets kicked in the face AND the nuts. Tamura is Tamura, which means he's uber slick on the mat, leaving Silver in the dust. He has some good interactions with Nakano (of course). Love Nakano's side headlock with the fingers clasped -- textbook. They keep sending each other to the ropes with submission holds, and Nakano throws back-to-back Germans. Miyato continues to be a little shitfire and lets SIlver have it, barraging him and throwing him with a belly-to-belly. The finish was awkward but otherwise, a fun tag.

Again, another future skip. Pez gets a pretty sweet leg catch/leg sweep takedown but then he lays around the mat a bunch. Anjo throws a few hard kicks and submits him with a reverse armbar. Not very good.

Look, I write these reviews instead of giving matches stars. That way, a month from now, when I've all but forgotten 75% of what I've watched, I can go back and remember to skip this match. JT Southern still stinks but he DOES hit a German suplex so that's neat, I guess. Otherwise he's getting popped with slaps and kicks and finally taps to a single leg crab.

Now this is more like it and probably the best match of the show, along with the tag main event. But damn, is this fiery from the opening with Miyato letting Tamura have it. Tamura grabs a great choke into the takedown and the whole escape sequence with Tamura flipping back into control and regaining the choke was phenomenal. Tamura's slick as catgshit with his takedowns an transitions, grabbing kneebars and armbars. Miyato was really good here, too. He hits a nice fireman's carry and works his way into a snug double wristlock. He kills Tamura with a backdrop hold and then pops him in the head with a follow-up kick. Tamura's able to grab the single leg crab but Miyato makes it to the ropes. The finish was the weakest part of the match but otherwise, a very cool sub-ten minute match.

Ooh boy, JT Southern in the house. Not a good match BUT Nakano is a little shithead in this and that's the reason why we love him. He wallops JT in the head when he's getting up from the ground and after Southern fumbles around the mat for awhile, Nakano kicks him in the head again and finishes him off with a full nelson suplex into the single leg crab. Strong finish for Nakano and one of the only highlights in an otherwise bleh match.