superkix

Tons of neat little things throughout, nasty strikes and suplexes, blood, finger biting, and zero shits given from the man, Hideki Suzuki. I love how Nomura keeps slapping away Sekimoto's hands as he's trying to reach in...only to then straight up slap Daisuke in the face. When Abe's in there against Suzuki, he's trying to get something on him but Hideki is too big so it's easy to get out. There's an awesome counter out of the armbar by Abe but when he tries for the armbar, Hideki maneuvers up to his feet and stomps Abe's face to break the hold, which may or may not have busted open Abe's lip. Hideki's still a dick from the apron, kicking Abe's foot off the ropes while he's in there against Sekimoto and then coming in and giving him some more shitty little kicks while he's down. Hideki biting Abe's fingers and casually tagging out to Sekimoto was a definite highlight of the match. Abe does a good job of slipping out of Hideki's single leg crab attempt and tags in Nomura, who comes at Hideki with kicks until Hideki catches a leg and capture suplexes him. Loved Nomura's pissy strikes in the corner, with him straight punching Hideki in the face! There's a pretty sweet double team into the reverse armbar by Nomura, with Abe climbing onto Sekimoto with an octopus hold. But Sekimoto powers over to kick Nomura off Hideki before dumping Abe. Then it's total destruction time for the big boys, as Hideki kills Nomura with a release dragon suplex, they Steinerize Abe to eliminate him form the equation, and finally finish off Nomura with the Sekimoto German into the Hideki double arm suplex.

Hey, it's Kimura from RINGS not wrestling a 30 minute draw but something much more exciting! He's more aggressive with the submissions, going after Sawa's arm, fighting through Sawa's slaps and firing back with kicks and dirty stomps to beat him down in order to attack the arm with holds. Even when Sawa mounts a little comeback with the baseball punch and tries to choke him out, Kimura judo throws him down and goes back to the armbar. Good back-and-forth struggle toward the end before Kimura busts out some nasty rear mount headbutts and knee drops. He's able to block the Shining Wizard but Sawa snags him in a triangle for the submission. Fun match.

These two had been feuding through the last half of 2009 so I wanted to see them go all out and...well, they kinda get there by the end of it. After a little comedic exchanges, Sasaki starts targeting the leg and countering a lot of Sawa’s offense with leglocks and kneebars. Really cool work from Sasaki but the end is where the violence definitely escalates, as they start slapping each other and than straight up punching each other in the head, with Sasaki busting Sawa open with a shot. Sawa’s kicks are nasty toward the end and he's able to cinch in the grounded octopus for the win.

This was pretty fun, with Saito trying to hang with bad boys Sawa and Fujita with his skinny arms and weak kicks. I guess the story is Saito trying to find the courage/strength/fire to fight the off. I like that Sawa still wants to fight with Saito even when he's on the apron. Between Sawa thunking him with headbutts and Fujita kicking the shit out of him, dragging him away from his own corner, Saito stays on the rocks. Saito tries to fight out but Hayato drills him with more headbutts and a nasty kick to the head. Tiger Shark is decent here and snaps off a few kicks but this is all about Saito wanting to get a little revenge. And it is little. Fujita dumps him with suplexes and takes turns with Sawa punting poor Saito with penalty kicks. Saito's able to land a few headbutts of his own to Sawa bu tin the end, Sawa submits him with the STF.

These two had one of my favorite DDT matches of 2017 and once again, these two proved that their in-ring chemistry is a key to success. I've always had a soft spot for HARASHIMA's matwork, which usually doesn't go anywhere but when it's happening, I dig it. His leg trip to KUDO from the ground was especially neat. HARASHIMA is also one of the more frustrating sellers but when he's on, he's on, and here, he was on. He eats a spinning back kick to the face and I loved him immediately bailing to the outside after making it to his feet before the ten count...only for KUDO to take him out with a big dive! KUDO kicks hard and he kicked a lot in this match. His head kick toward the end of the match looked real nasty. In fact, there were quite a few strike exchanges throughout, from elbows to kicks to slaps, but everything was snug. KUDO is able to hit the hanging double knees, HARASHIMA hits the reverse frankensteiner. I really liked pulling a page from Yuko Miyamoto's playbook and spiking KUDO with the Fire Thunder Driver before finishing him off with the Somato. One of my favorite DDT matches of 2018.

This was a pretty hot-cold match, especially during the early goings. After Kawada nosedives Mutoh with the overhead suplex counter, he starts wearing down Mutoh's neck, which in theory and execution, was cool but Mutoh blows it off for the most part. Loved Kawada's running boot in the corner and the way Mutoh sold it. Wada stopping a frustrated Mutoh from using the chair was pretty great, too. Of course, Mutoh works the leg in the last third of the match and we get a bunch of pretty great dropkicks targeting Kawada everywhere. Mutoh refuses to break the figure-four after a ropebreak and Kawada's selling is better than anything else he does regarding the leg. Didn't care for the final act, other than Mutoh's nasty dragon screw legwhip>proto Shining Wizard combo. This had its moments but on a whole, it wasn't that great.

Yeah, I'm more in line with Childs here. I thought this was okay -- the stuff between Hashimoto and Inoue was easily the most interesting interactions. Honda headbutting Hashimoto was cool, and Inoue's selling was pretty great, whether it was getting punched in the throat by Yasuda or chopped down by Hashimoto. The finish sucked though.

This was pretty good but like a lot of BattlARTS matches, all over the fucking place and hard to keep track of. After a heated opening of slaps and kicks, Hayato throws a few suplexes, looking for his hanging guillotine. Meanwhile, Sawa spends much of the match trying to lock in the figure-four. Tons of strikes, with Sawa getting busted open at one point, but he's finally able to ground Hayato with the figure-four. Hayato tries slapping his way out of it but Sawa keeps applying the pressure until Hayato submits.

Lots of counterwork by Ishikawa to open, mixed with some hard strikes and Sawa trying to be a little flashier than usual, only to get taken down by Ishikawa into some kind of submission hold. It's the story of the master schooling the former pupil, knowing what to counter when. I like that at one point, Sawa escapes a leg hold by punching Ishikawa in the face a bunch. There are a ton of hard slaps to the face, Sawa dumps Ishikawa with a dragon suplex, and then the finish is pretty great, as they're both exhausted, throwing out whatever they have left in the tank. Ishikawa catches a kick and turns it into his sweet leg-trap German but Sawa won't stay down so Ishikawa punches him, kicks him head, and then continually headbutts him in the back of the skull until the ref calls for the bell.

Togo was pretty dang great as the dick rudo in his match against Billy Ken Kid. I mean, he attacks Kid in the midst of his streamers, beating him up on the outside and hitting a senton from the ramp to the floor. He badmouths fans, he poses in the corner, he teases the removal of Kid's mask and then just starts ripping it apart. Straight rudo activity. Kid finally gets a little reprieve by taking out Togo and crew with a beautiful tope con hilo, then busts Togo open with a corner dropkick. He can't build enough momentum to put Togo away and when he tries for another dive, he flies straight into a steel chair, which allows Togo to rip the mask completely off, proudly displaying it for the crowd. Kid's trying to stay covered with a towel but when he's finally thrown a new mask, he enters superhero mode. The match lulls for a bit here until Togo hits an RKO out of nowhere! He busts out all the signatures, including the Pedigree>diving senton combo but Kid survives, busting out all of HIS signatures before putting Togo away for good with the Firebird Splash. Dick Togo rules but Kid's a fun babyface in peril.

This turned into quite the match after a dull opening, with Takayama cutting off Misawa with the big knee and basement dropkicking him out of the ring. The pacing/structure of the match was a little clunky, with the submission work never feeling that believable -- like I don't need to see Misawa working an armbar. But the strikes really heated up -- the elbows from Misawa and the kicks/knees from Takayama. Whatever strike combo cut Misawa's chin made it look like his throat had been slashed or something. Takayama's first big German suplex nearfall was awesome and then the whole finishing stretch really brought the match home, with Takayama looking completely out of it and drooling after the running elbow smash before Misawa puts him away for good.

Yuta Yoshikawa's tag match with Katsumi Usuda vs. Munenori Sawa & Ikuto Hidaka.

Watching Liger as a young lion grap it up with one of the best in Fujiwara was just as satisfying as one might expect. For not having a ton of experience, Yamada looks pretty good in there with the reverse armbar maestro Fujiwara. I mean, whenever he has an opening, Fujiwara is quick to take him down with the armbar. When Yamada finally gets him in a leglock, Fujiwara mocks him, pointing at the leg like "are you kidding me with this shit?" before promptly exerting control. I really like Yamada's little slaps to the face when he's got Fujiwara on the ropes and then he climbs on with a great octopus hold. But Fujiwara peels him off, flings him down, and hits a side suplex. Yamada's able to grab a kneebar to take him to the ropes, and when he's on his feet, he's lunging at Fujiwara with slaps. At one point, he's able to get Fujiwara in a neat figure-four but that's the last straw as Fujiwara contiously takes him down with Fujiwara armbar counters, eventually submitting him for the win. Very cool match.

Two bald machine suplex machines, scrambling around the mat in a slick shoot amateur fashion, looking for the first suplex while simultaneously avoiding getting suplexed on their head. Sugiura fires off the first suplex with a belly-to-belly. Otsuka is able to take him down with the front necklock but Sugiura deftly bridges out and works into a front mount, where he just starts slapping Otsuka silly. You wonder, why is Otsuka taking all these slaps but then he gets up to his feet and headbutts the shit out of Sugiura, blood trickling down from his forehead as he smiles at Sugiura. What a MAN. They first trade headbutts, the blood spattering everywhere, and then suplexes, with Otsuka hitting a deadlift German and Sugiura with a cool rolling gutwrench. At this point in the match, Otsuka's a mess but when Sugiura tries for another gutwrench suplex, Otsuka picks the ankle and grounds Sugiura with the leglock, ultimately snagging a kimura for the submission victory. Great match.

The super slick mat scramble to open was easily the best part of the match in my opinion but it was still fun. Otsuka makes the mistakeof running Minoru's intricately shaved head, pissing off Minoru, who lands a few good knees. Otsuka's deadlift Germans will never not be good, you get a little slap exchange, and finally the dope bow-and-arrow hold into the sleeper to wear Otsuka down for the Gotch-style piledriver. Good selling as always from Otsuka but I agree, Minoru could've added a little more intensity to his offense. Still a pretty great sub-five minute match.

New episode is out and about, and here's the direct LINK! https://fightingnetworkfriends.podiant.co/e/363826225292e0/ to stream, or subscribe to the RSS feed. You can also search us on Apple Podcasts. FNF 016: The World According to SAWA EPISODE 16, that's one more than 15! We are back and we are discussing one legend in particular - the recently revived (but always awesome) Munenori Sawa! Brennan and Andy talk 8 matches from Sawa's BattlArts run here. We also have an absolute BANGER of a 3rd segment, where Brennan finally watches one of the greatest matches of all time. Topics discussed: Guess who's moving back to Oregon?! Shirt updates Munenori Sawa in Battlarts 2008-2011 Ikuto Hidaka Shitty Camera angles Victor Zangiev and our lil' Butterball Tatsuo Onita & Tae Kwan Do The God-like kicks of Kawada Megumi. Kudo. Combat. Toyoda. FMW. 7th. Anniversary. & More Matches: We are covering 8 Munenori Sawa from Battlarts between 2008 and 2011, all of them available on Youtube for now! 6/1/08 - Battlarts Young Generation Battle 2008 - Munenori Sawa def. Koichiro Kimura (9:42) 8/31/08 - NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Title - Sawa & Ikuto Hidaka def. Yuki Ishikawa & Yuta Yoshikawa (23:19) 10/25/08 - Battlarts Kitasenju Tournament - Mitsuya Nagai def. Munenori Sawa (14:26) 7/26/09 - Battlarts B1 Climax 2009 - Munenori Sawa & Yuta Yoshikawa def. Alexander Otsuka & Kyosuke Sasaki (16:00) 8/30/09 - Battlarts B1 Climax 2009 - Munenori Sawa def. Yujiro Yamamoto (14:30) 2/7/10 - Yuta Yoshikawa Retirement - Munenori Sawa & Ikuto Hidaka def. Yuta Yoshikawa & Katsumi Usuda (27:31) 6/19/11 - Yuki Ishikawa def. Munenori Sawa (16:27) 11/5/11 - Battlarts Once Upon A Time Battlarts ~Remember That Time~ - Munenori Sawa def. Manabu Suruga (21:21) Also: 10/14/94 - UWF-I - Tatsuo Nakano & Victor Zangiev vs. Yoji Anjoh & Yuko Miyato 5/19/90 - FMW - Atsushi Onita Vs. Lee Gak Soo 3/3/01 - AJPW - Toshiaki Kawada Vs. Mitsuya Nagai 5/5/96 - FMW - Combat Toyoda Vs. Megumi Kudo Youtube Playlist: http://tinyurl.com/fnf016 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 pretty spastic but had some cool moments, with boxer Toba rocking Yoshikawa with punches, Ibushi running in with his lanky strikes, at one point, blastign Yoshikawa in the face with a gamengiri. Sawa wasn't much of a factor here but had a pretty fun apron exchange with Ibushi. Yoshikawa's finally able to catch one of Toba's punches with an armbar takedown. Great moment where Ibushi is trying to kick him off but Yoshikawa hangs on, eventually dragging him away from the ropes in an ankle hold>kneebar. Ibushi is brought in to finish off Yoshikawa, blowing through his offense and pinning him with a neat half nelson suplex hold. Wacky shooty fun!

News flash: Jun Akiyama rules. He rules now, he ruled then, and he's the standout of the inaugural ZERO1 main event. I really liked the opening between he and Yuji Nagata, but more importantly, I loved Akiyama harassing Hashimoto on the apron, only to get German suplexed from behind by Nagata. Once Hashimoto gets the tag, he batters Akiyama out of the ring and Jun's a little hesitant to return. The exchanges between those two are the most heated throughout the match. Akiyama and Nagata have fun throwing Exploders and taking each other's signature submissions. Misawa's fine here and gets in his usual spots but I would've liked to have seen his exchanges with Hashimoto be a little more...grumpy. Everyone drops some bombs toward the end but Hashimoto is more concerned with Akiyana than winning the match -- even after Misawa pins him, Hashimoto immediately goes back to attacking Akiyama before all hell breaks loose. Fun stuff.

What about Masanobu Fuchi? He had a pretty great (for his age) match last year against TAJIRI and I know he had good matches and tags with Wagner in 1980 but I haven't seen much of his work from the 1970s.

Masakatsu Funaki - 28 years vs. Nakano (1989) vs. Tanaka (2017)

Not much of a match, really, other than Backlund getting smacked around by Anjoh. Great doofus selling as always from Backlund and he pulls out his deadlift spot out of the submission hold. After all those Anjoh slaps, Backlund finally blasts him with a nasty smack of his own and puts him away with the crossface chickenwing.

This was a Kopylov showcase match with Orlov but it wasn't quite as one-sided as the Han/Orlov match. Kopylov is explosive early on with some cool takedowns and throws, and then it settles into a prolonged struggle on the mat, where they work through holds, countering when they can, grabbing ropes when they need to. Orlov completely whiffing on whatever he was going for and then eating an enziguri kick from Kopylov was awesome. Also, Kopylov's crucifix rolling submission was super cool. Orlov is a good jobber for the Russian submission guys.

Essentially a Volk Han squash match but it's still Volk doing his thing, which rules. Other than a judo throw into a cool arm-trap submission, Orlov doesn't do much else here but get dominated by Han on the mat. Han wrangles him in a cool side STF, lands a few slaps and knees, and of course, he's aware of his positioning at all times, scooting Orlov away from the ropes as he takes control of a leglock. Orlov can’t get much going and when he does manage a hold, he’s usually positioned too close to the ropes to be much of a threat. Volk tries to submit him with the single leg crab hold but finishes him off with the classic jujigatame.

TAJIRI's recent AJPW title run was met with its fair share of criticism but I actually enjoyed most of it and I dig TAJIRI's more grounded approach to wrestling in his older age. Of course, TAKA can still go, especially when he's on his home turf and not just ZSJ's mouthpiece. This was a pretty neat 10:00 match with some very good, focused armwork from TAJIRI and a couple of great kicks. Early on, TAJIRI bails out of the ring, he wipes his face with TAKA's towel, and then he goes to work on the arm. After a high kick into the pin attempt, he catches TAKA in a double wristlock off the kickout. There's a neat little sequence into the facelock but when TAKA lifts him up for a scoop slam, TAJIRI legscissors the bad arm, allowing him to take TAKA down with a rolling double wristlock. TAKA's selling is subtle but it works. He counters the buzzsaw kick into the facelock, then uses the legscissors and wrenches on the arm. He's able to hit the Michinoku Driver but Tajiri turns it into a pin attempt and buzzsaw kicks him. In the end, though, TAKA hits another for the win. Nothing blow away but a neat little match with a great TAJIRI performance.