superkix

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.

For those of you still looking to get the FNF/RINGS Mega Battle 92 t-shirts, we have a few extras left in stock: 2 smalls and 3 mediums. DM me if you're interested.

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.

A pretty good but disappointing tag match considering the names involved. There were definitely some cool moments with Fujiwara being the standout of the match. I liked his early lock ups with Ikeda and them throwing stuff like Fujiwara's big slap in the corner and Ikeda's crumpling head kick. Sugiura was the clunky, hothead amateur in there against Hashimoto but worked really well against Fujiwara. Loved Fujiwara's boot scrape to the face to counter the triangle into a leglock and Sugiura throwing Fujiwara with a couple of overhead suplexes. The outside stuff was whatever, Sugiura's selling wasn't very good, and there wasn't enough Ikeda/Hashimoto interactions. Sugiura's able to deliver a nice German suplex hold on Hashimoto before Hashimoto finishes him off.

It's been a minute but we're back and we're going back to Fighting Network RINGS to talk the first half of 1994. Direct link is HERE! https://fightingnetworkfriends.podiant.co/e/3663011df9a3cc/ to stream, or subscribe to the RSS feed. You can also find us on Apple Podcasts. FNF 018: RINGS in '94 Pt. 1 FIGHTING NETWORK RINGS IN 1994 Pt. 1! Will Volk Han still win our hearts, or is there a new young upstart stealing the show? Only one way to find out. We are back after like 44 years to talk RINGS once again. We got Volk, we got Maeda, we got Tariel, we got Vrij, we got Kopilov, but most of all the first half of '94 brings us the ascendance of Yoshihisa Yamamoto. Oh, and Grom is MEAN. In the third segment, we focus on one of Andy's favorite feuds of all-time, as we pay our respect to Vader (RIP) as he locks up with the bleached-blond babyface STING. (Oh and Hideki Suzuki and Takuya Nomura wrestled for the BJW title and it rocked.) Topics discussed: - We're back! - Brennan has no furniture, but he IS in Oregon - The shirts arrived, they look great, and you should have them! - Inokiists, PWO, Fall Wrestling - RINGS RINGS RINGS - Vader, Sting, Takuya, Hideki 3rd Segment Matches: Vader and Sting: Great American Bash 92, Starrcade 92 and Superbrawl III 6/20/18 - BJW Strong Title: Takuya Nomura vs. Hideki Suzuki Youtube Playlist: http://tinyurl.com/fnf018 Follow us on Twitter: @fightfriends @trillyrobinson @bren_patrick Email at: [email protected] Instagram: @fightnetworkfriends Youtube at: http://tinyurl.com/FightFriends Store at: http://fightingnetworkfriends.bigcartel.com

This was a fun sprint with a babyfaced Sekimoto and blonde Ohtani being stiff and surly. Loved the buckwild opening with Sekimoto going after Ohtani, spearing him on the facewash attempt and dumping him with a release German. Ohtani biting the thumb to escape a chinlock is a nice transition into him being real mean with his baseball dropkicks and slaps, busting open Sekimoto's mouth. Sekimoto's chops are loud and proud and he gets a couple of two counts off lariats but this is Ohtani's show. Swan-dive dropkick, dragon suplex, powerbomb, and finishing him off with his King Cobra Clutch.

SJW = Social Justice Warrior. Not sure about cuck unless it's a typo.

is there a better bomb throwin', no sellin' little shitkicker than Takaiwa? This was a pretty decent match with Hoshikawa trying the more technical approach and Takaiwa obviously going the rough-and-tumble route. Hoshikawa will come at him with hard kicks, Takaiwa will no sell them in order to slap him the face and chop him down. Takaiwa throws really hard chops. He lariats him over the barricade, powerbombs him on the floor, hits a superplex. Hoshikawa keeps coming back with kicks and makes the mistake of trying to contain Takaiwa with a butterfly lock (Takaiwa obviously counters out with a Death Valley Bomb). He finally takes down Hoshikawa after three consecutive lariats.

Between this, the Abe match, the Togo match, and his performance in the Strong Climb, Nomura is easily one of the best wrestlers in Japan right now. He gets it.

Where the heck is the Okada/Suzuki downpour match?

An easy MOTYC. Here's my review from SUPERDUPERPLEX.

I love a good 80's handheld match. Tons of heat between Takada/Maeda and Fujiwara, but especially between hot-head Takada and old iron-head Fujiwara. Kido is the low man on the totem pole and things slow down whenever he's in the ring but, for the most part, he manages to fit in with these guys and does some neat stuff on the mat. At one point, he's got Takada in a leglock and when Takada struggles, Kido kicks his opposite foot to put the pressure back on Takada. Later on, he's able to catch a back kick from Takada and take him down into the single leg crab. But man, once Fujiwara gets in there vs. Takada, the match sizzles. Takada starts cracking Fujiwara's legs with kicks, Fujiwara gets pissed and smacks him down. Against Maeda, Fujiwara immediately takes it to him with body blows before Maeda and Takada work him over with stiff kicks. He's able to slip out of Takada's suplex attempt and take him down with the Fujiwara armbar but he can't get the submission. Maeda German suplexes him and goes into a crossface chickenwing but Fujiwara whips him off and re-applies the hold himself. The finishing stretch between he and Takada is just as nasty as when they started and I loved the actual finish, with Fujiwara catching a kick, stomping out the opposite leg, and then submitting him with the leglock.

This had some cool moments but as a whole, it didn't quite feel cohesive enough to be a truly great match. I did like the extended feeling out process to open, with Mutoh trying to catch a kick and Nagata almost amusing him on the mat. When Mutoh finally snags the leg, Nagata cinches in the front necklock and forces him to the ropes, which Mutoh sells really well as he exits the ring. When he returns, the match gets a little messy. I like how Mutoh's usual legwork strategy keeps getting thwarted and Nagata has some clunky but effective counters. But you know, eventually Mutoh gets it and goes to town on the knee. Other than a few kicks, Nagata's strikes look shitty. And I agree, Mutoh no selling the German suplex>wrist-clutch Exploder combo to hit a Shining Wizard was dumb. Not a bad match, not a great match, but a match.

Hey, I'm all about technique vs. power match-ups and this one worked really well, despite Tenzan's limitations. Osamu is snug as always, really working the hell out of Tenzan's arm and Tenzan really selling the submissions as dangerous. Tenzan is Tenzan but he works well as the counterweight to Nishimura's approach. The armwork goes away but the back half of the match is a lot of fun. Nishimura smartly blocks the crab hold attempt and I loved his collapse after the big face slap. Always a top notch seller. The two count off the German suplex hold was great, and I thought the finishing stretch was good. After Tenzan hurts his knee on the calf branding and misses the moonsault, Osamu dropkicks the knee to set-up the spinning toe hold, which Tenzan Mongolian chops out of before finishing him with the TTD.

A fired up Sendai crowd behind a fired up Liger = FUN! I loved the early la magistral cradle by Liger, forcing Kojima to bail out of the ring. Kojima plays a fun enough spoiler to Liger's babyface comebacks. They work through some holds on the mat before Kojima hits a Koji Cutter to the floor and a Liger Bomb of his own. Liger comes back with a big powerbomb and a moonsault but he can't finish off Kojima, whcih leads to Kojima hitting a top rope Koji Cutter and a cool cradle Michinoku Driver. The nearfall off of Liger's brainbuster was awesome and in the end, Kojima's the one who can't finish off Liger and he runs into a big shotei for the upset loss.

Blown spot aside, this was a really fun match with a cool finish. I like both guys but haven't seen them much in WWE so seeing them actually wrestling was a nice surprise.

Semi-final of the one-night IWGP Heavyweight Title tournament. This is a pretty good much but Fujinami looks way too overpowered against Vader. I like that Vader is able show off some subtle additions to his power template (the hammerlock takedown, the drop toe hold). Fujinami gets in quite a bit of offense before Vader rocks him with a perfectly sold lariat. Fujinami stays on the arm for most of the match, looking for the armbar, which plays well into the final against Hashimoto. When Fujinami tries rolling him up, Vader squashes him and hits his running splash for the win.