superkix

I echo a lot of the above sentiments regarding this match. Sasaki makes his offense work while looking like a little badass. He gets in some really good body shots on Fujita, and the way Fujita took that German suplex was kind of nuts. When Sasaki takes him down with the armbar takedown, Fujita scrambling to the ropes was a lot of fun. Loved the finish with them trading punches while Sasaki's got him in the kneelock and then Fujita going nuts and pummeling him the TKO.

Really good match and the best Kopylov looks in the first half of '94. Lots of intense counterwork, with Kopylov being the dominant one on the mat, working leglocks and armbar -- really liked his nasty reverse armbar. They pepper the submission work with some stiff strikes, especially from Yamamoto with his palms, but Kopylov answers right back with big slaps. Kopylov's final submission is cool but I have no idea what is. Good stuff.

This match was a total blast. Bekichev has a ton of fire and gets the crowd hyped about his big kicks. He lands this wild backspin kick to the back of Naruse’s head to open up. Sure, there are a couple of awkward moments that maybe stem from Bekichev having not worked a “worked match” but for the most part, he gets it. Loved Naruse's counter into the kneebar and of course the wheel kick catch into another kneebar toward the end of the match. Bekichev's nasty rolling solebutt to the face and Naruse bumping to perfection in the corner. There’s a part where Yuri challenges him and Naruse pops him in the face. In the end, Naruse takes him out with a big flurry of palm strikes and a knee to the face. Loved this.

Yeah, this ruled. It was wild and violent. Vrij keeps kicking out Maeda’s legs, which in turn, starts pissing off Maeda. Then Vrij really starts laying into him which causes Maeda to go after him in the corner and knock him down with a big barrage of strikes. There’s a little submission work here and there but it’s really just Vrij letting Maeda have it with nasty palm strikes to the face and knees to the head, busting his nose in the process. The finish was shit. Maeda grabs a leglock and Vrij taps before Maeda can even lock it in...but then he kicks Vrij afterward and that causes the Dutch mafia to get involved and it’s chaos. Terrific.

Kind of a tale of two matches because the half of this match before the stoppage was really good. You have Han kicking Maeda in the face to start, dominating with submission holds and Maeda's great in-the-moment selling to rally the fans. Maeda's able to down him with a high kick but Han slides in for his signature standing single leg. Maeda pisses off Han with repeat leg kicks and when Han lays into him with strikes, he ends up poking Maeda's eye and they stop the match. When they restart, there is a lot more stalling, Maeda's more hesitant, his takedowns look really weak like he's scared of getting hit again. Some of the groundwork is cool like Maeda's controlling of the choke sleeper and Han's cool arm-and-leg trap submission. They trade some shots toward the end, Maeda grabs the leglock for the submission, and wins. But he really shouldn't have.

This was loosely wrestled under European Catch Rules with Tony St. Clair serving as ref. A cool match in theory, considering the two dudes involved, and a really cool match in execution, despite some of the clunkiness early on. Bas is strike heavy in the opening round, Nishimura focuses on the arm in the second. Nishimura got to show off in the third round and fourth round, pulling out the sickle hold and bow-and-arrow holds, but Bas really lays into Nishimura with some stiff leg kicks in the fifth, both in and out of the ring. At one point, he gets a yellow card for blasting Nishimura as he's getting back into the ring. Bas continues targeting the leg with submissions, and Nishimura is a great sell as always. The test of strength sequence was kind of fun and then Nishimura gets a yellow card for excessive elbows in the corner. There's a great spot where Nishimura chases a wounded Bas into the corner to attack him. Weird spot in the match comes where Bas goes in for a double leg takedown and maybe knocks himself out? I don't know - he was unresponsive for a second there. Loved Bas hitting the Shining Wizard in the ninth round and being all proud about it, and then the final round of them trading/countering holds until the end was a nice way to cap it off.

Zack's legwork was pretty but like always, inconsequential. Chill out in a hold and really work it instead of dancing from one flashy thing to the next. The most visceral part of the match was him repeatedly DDTing his leg into the mat. That was cool. Kota's selling didn't really help matters when he relies so heavily on his kicks and knees to get him ahead in the match. There were some clever counter spots later in the match and ZSJ outslapping Ibushi was great. Probably the second best match of the tournament behind Tanahashi/Suzuki.

Yeah nowhere near 2016. It was a pretty good match with some cool moments but I'm finding myself becoming less and less a fan of the current main event style. Way too much fluff. Omega was more tolerable here than usual but still wrestles/acts like a cartoon character. Similar to the Ibushi/ZSJ match, the limb work was inconsequential. The counter spots are fun for what they are and Omega countering the Destino with that sit-out driver was pretty sweet and would've made for the perfect flash finish. Or you know, the double arm piledriver that immediately follows it.

Murakami is the stuff of nightmares in this match, yikes. He gets bloodied early into the match and boy does he bleed. He rises up like some ghoul and then willingly gets rocked with punches by Enson before putting on the armbar and refusing to let go. Enson continues punching and stepping on Murakami's face, ragdolling the ref aside to continue the beating until the ref calls it. Cue the DMX. Not so much a match but viscerally wild.

Duh this was great. I could watch Suzuki destroy limbs all day, no problem. Tanahashi's selling is whatever, he's the perpetual ace. Loved all the slaps and palm thrusts to set up the sleeper>piledriver combo from Suzuki, and then of course the real nasty legwhip sold so well by Minoru before Tanahashi hits his stuff to win. Easy MOTN.

This was a good match with some great moments. Kind of a weird nothing start until Nagata throws him with the overhead suplex. I loved Nagata coming in from the floor and immediately getting kicked in the head, with Bas relishing the moment in the corner like a real rassler. The transition and high-angle execution of Nagata's wrist-clutch Exploder was pretty sweet, and his final crosshead hold looked gnarly. Rutten's selling is a little silly at times but he gets it.

A total sub-five minute blast with Rutten showing off what he can do in a worked environment and Tanahashi playing the fiery babyfaced underdog. They open with a little slap boxing before Bas gets him in a double underhook, drilling him with knees and a nasty chest kick. Tanahashi heats back up with a couple of throws and I loved when he explodes out of the corner with the dropkick. The finishing rush from Rutten was awesome, with a nasty solebutt, a spin kick to the head, mounted shoteis and then the rear naked choke. Really good squash.

This turned into a pretty fun RINGS undercard-style match. It took them a while to get going but picks up when Rutten grabs the front guillotine and tries for the triangle, which leads to a fun little mat scramble. Rutten rocks Naruse's world with a big head kick, and then Naruse channels his inner Maeda and hits the capture suplex into the leglock, turning it into a cool inverted cloverleaf-type hold. Toward the end, Rutten starts to unload with the knees and kicks but Naruse's able to catch one and drop down into the kneebar. It's pretty much over after Rutten hits the big spin kick though. Neat!

An excellent showcase for Yamamoto with a lot of opportunities to shine on the mat. He gets the initial takedown into a kneebar but Sergei fights out and plants him with a perfect uranage. Yamamoto goes back to the mat with some cool submissions like a backpack sleeper and a side STF. He's also adopted Volk Han's dragon sleeper>elbow strike combo. Whenever Sergei's got him in a submission, Yamamoto does a really good job of milking the ropebreaks for a little added drama. In a very cool counter, Yamamoto floats out of Sergei's armbar into a rear naked choke and then finally counters Sergei's leg submission with one of his own for the win. A very cool match.

I love Nakajima's look and demeanor. I mean, the early rope break against Nomura was so so good. The stuff between Nakajima/Nomura is the obvious highlight of the match. Both Kitamiya and Kamitani were fine as the bodyslamming bruisers, with Kamitani being especially stiff, but Nakajima was really terrific here. The striking on the floor, the no selling of Nomura's comeback attempts, the shitty condescending boots to the head. One of the best moments of the match is when Nomura gets the tag, he walks in with a big smile and then smacks the shit out of Nakajima before delivering the half-hatch suplex. The final strike exchanges between he and Nakajima were snug and brutal, and Nakajima just wallops him, busting his lip. Nomura's able to escape the brainbuster attempt but Nakajima catches him with a couple of thrust kicks and then KOs him after kicking him in the face. Really good tag.

The rematch in what is possibly Kohsaka's best match in NJPW. Nagata is fired up from the ring of the bell, landing a big rolling kick in the ropes before delivering an overhead suplex and a penalty kick. They work the mat in some slick exchanges that result in Kohsaka securing a triangle. Nagata's able to escape the hold and they trade snug face slaps before Nagata attempts the running boot, TK ducks it and slaps on a sleeper hold. When Nagata tries to counter out with an over-the-shoulder armbreaker, TK turns the attempt into a ura-nage and goes right back to the sleeper hold. Nagata is finally able to break away and in a cool moment, he blasts TK with that climbing corner knee before they both collapse in exhaustion. The finishing stretch is great, with them trading more nasty slaps and Nagata countering a front necklock with an Exploder. He dumps Kohsaka with a release dragon suplex and when TK tries once more to lock in the sleeper, Nagata turns it into a killer backdrop hold for the pinfall. Definitely a terrific sub-ten minute match worth checking out.

Slick little match-up with both guys trading throws early on before scrambling around the mat. Really loved the back-and-forth with TK mostly getting the better of Nagata. After a quick takedown, Nagata's able to put on the crossface hold before TK works his way out of it and into a rear naked choke. The finish was strange but worked, with Nagata putting pressure on the knee of TK while he's in the choke but ultimately passing out as Kohsaka grabs the rope.

This was good and a fun contrast of shoot-style and pro-wrestling with Takayama using his brute force against Kohsaka's finesse on the mat. TK goes after the legs early on and works through some holds with Takayama. Good stuff from both guys here. TK applies an STF and transitions into a rear naked choke, and whenever Takayama tries to power out, TK will catch him with another hold. Takayama ragdolls him with a suplex throws but TK comes back with some big kicks, goes for an armbar and then traps him in a leglock when the lights go out momentarily. I was half-expecting to see Kane in the ring when they came back on but no. Takayama starts with the knee lifts, trying to avoid TK's submissions, and after throwing him with a nasty release German, he pins TK with a running knee to win the NWF title. A weird finish but still a really good match.

The atmosphere alone makes this match pretty incredible, with the outdoor setting, the downpour of rain, the kids in their slickers. The match itself is good -- nowhere near last year's G1 match -- but the way they adapt to the rainy environment is great. Suzuki of course spends much of the match working over Okada's arm. Suzuki's facials are terrific as always and Okada's selling is good for the most part -- I really liked him collapsing into the ropes on the octopus hold. Okada hits a couple of Rainmakers, Suzuki lets loose with the slaps and body shots. I liked Okada using the Gotch-style tombstone after Suzuki struggles to hit his and then the final octopus hold with Suzuki slipping but still holding on before the time expires.

Not as good as their 1993 match but still pretty good. Nagai will snap off some kicks and try for something fancy on the mat but end up getting caught in a Volk submission. The match itself is much slower paced, with more struggle on the mat. At one point, Han catches a foot and just barely blocks a nasty-looking spinning heel kick counter before he puts on his signature standing single leg. I love when Han gets fed up against strikers and just takes them out with slaps and knees of his own. The finish was great – Nagai goes in with kicks and slaps and Han grabs a choke and drags him down for the quick tapout.

Pretty good match that fizzles the longer it went. First couple of minutes were hot though, with Yamamoto busting out the dragon sleeper>elbow combo and Gotchev bearhug suplexing Yamamoto (despite Yamamoto palm thrusting him in the face). Gotchev looks dopey and his groundwork doesn't have much finesse but it seems effective enough. There is a lot of maneuvering around the mat before Gotchev hits a cool deadlift suplex, and in the end, Yamamoto rolls him up for the leglock submission.

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Grom Zaza, looking real grizzled and lean, takes it to Todorov in a super aggressive showing. Grom's fluidity in this match (and in general) is one of his hallmarks. He's able to go straight into a hold off a missed strike attempt, or grab any exposed limb and just bend it into a submission. His striking is also really good here, between the kicks, knees, and slaps. After a nasty slam, Grom works his way into a scissored triangle hold.. He tries to break Todor in half with an STF and then he grabs a reverse armbar and tries to grab a choke with the opposite arm. The finish was great as Todorov is able to snag a kneelock and just when it seems like Grom is going to tap out, he sees an opening, grabs the arm and submits Todorov. One of Zaza's best performances.

Loved the opening with Yamamoto recklessly going in after Han with the spinning backhand, the takedown, and then Han coolly standing on one leg and yanking the other into his standing single leg crab, He stays in control with his submission work and keeps taking Yamamoto to the ropes until Yamamoto staggers him with a shot to the gut. That gives Yamamoto an opening to try a bunch of cool stuff out on the mat, like the crossface, the guillotine, the inverted STF. Yamamoto's trying to hang on but Han will get him in that split-legged hold or a legtrap heel hook. There are times when Yamamoto seems kind of lost in there but he’ll get some takedowns and try something. But Volk Han is Volk Han. There's a great part where he’s got Yamamoto in a leglock and he uses his opposite foot to push Yamamoto’s arm away to keep him from breaking it. Cool stuff.

This took a little while to get going with the ZERO1 boys beating on the NOAH juniors but it heats up a bit when Hoshikawa and Kanemaru start taking it to each other. Hoshikawa plays a good sympathetic babyface, Takaiwa the asskicker. Kanemaru heels it up later in the match with the wrist tape chokes and lowblows and Shiga is awkward and not great but he has some good fire throughout. I love Takaiwa's dirty single leg crab. Team NOAH isolates Hoshikawa for awhile before Takaiwa gets the hot tag and tries to finish off Kanemaru. Really fun finishing stretch with both Shiga and Takaiwa making some big saves. Kanemaru's school boy nearfall was awesome and Hoshikawa's snap Northern Lights suplex hold is a thing of beauty. He and Shiga finish it out and Shiga keeps coming back with his goofy swinging DDTs and pulls off the submission win over Hoshikawa.