superkix

Some nice flurries from Flynn and a cool suplex from Sano. The matwork was okay but there were some hot moments up top. Decent match.

This match wraps everything I love about pro-wrestling into the perfect little DDT package. Fantastic and brutal psychology, focused limbwork, tremendous selling, great comebacks, and one of the best slugfests this side of the Mexican border. The comedy shtick was coat checked at the door and these two went to battle. Watching Honda in control of the arm makes me nostalgic for this Honda. Togo tries to arm drag Honda off but Honda holds on and even when Dick is able to toss him off, Honda’s right back on the arm like a puppy on a chew toy. When Togo’s got him in the body scissors, Honda takes advantage of the injured arm in order to escape. Togo’s selling of the left arm, his vocal expressions, the failed Pedigree attempts, the arm giving out on the crossface hold, all add something genuine to the narrative that is often absent from most modern wrestling matches. When Honda injures himself on the dive, Togo seizes on the opportunity, focusing his attack on Honda’s busted forehead. There’s such an awesome visual of Honda swinging wild with blood in his eyes, desperate to fight off Togo, who continues to bully him around the ring, banging his head into the corner. When Honda finally snaps, it’s a thing of beauty as he unloads on Togo with hellfire punches and dragon suplexes him! When neither man can’t seal the deal with their offense and missed finishes, they collide in a fury of punches and beat the shit out of each other until Honda can’t take it anymore and Togo is able to defeat him with that well-built Pedigree and diving senton. My favorite DDT match and one of the all-time greats.

Kengo Mashimo, although I think the period of him being considered overrated has largely passed.

More or less fives minutes of Ikeda getting rocked with headshots, trying to find a way to promptly submit Ono in order to put an end to the relentless barrage of punches and kicks. He’s able to catch a stray kick and plant Ono with a capture suplex early on but Ono’s back up and at ‘em with more brutal straight punches to the skull. Ikeda fires off the occasional kick and when he’s finally able to stun him with a headbutt, he’s unable to take advantage of it as Ono is a persistent little bastard. After a brutal spinning backfist, Ono throws Ikeda with a tiger suplex before kicking him directly in the face. Yikes. They trade hard strikes and Ikeda is able to get him on the mat, where there’s some jockeying for position and control. Ono shifts into a front mount and starts in with the punches but once Ikeda’s able to snag one of his arms, he puts on the Fujiawara armbar and it’s over just as quickly as it began. Short on time and like watching two dudes beat each other silly? Check this one out.

I love Togo, all the little things he does, and of course, my love for Nomura is never in doubt. He understands pro-wrestling better than guys with twice his experience. Savvy matwork to start from both guys, with Togo's experience getting the edge over the younger Nomura. After Nomura kicks the ringpost outside like a dope, Togo supelxes him onto the floor, hits a running senton off the apron to the floor, and continues working the leg inside the ring, putting Nomura in the figure-four. I love how he keeps Nomura's hand away from the leg and ducks the slap attempts. Really good selling of the leg from Nomura, even when he's laying in the kicks. He's able to pull out a flash armbar off a punch attempt and then peppers Togo with some snug open hands. Really liked Togo's first crossface lock off the roll up, and then the finish, catching the PK attempt, sweeping the leg and floating up into the crossface, rolling back when Nomura reaches for the ropes to submit him. Simple formula, good psychology, an invested crowd, and under 15 minutes. This ruled.

Pretty fun CC overall. Nothing that's going to make a MOTY list but really great performances from Akiyama in particular and Shingo works well as the feisty little DG guy.

Like mentioned above, this was one prolonged finishing stretch with some stiff shots, including the lariat that busted Kawada open, but Kawada made Sasaki look like a champ. Loved his collapse into one of the final lariats and the visual of the blood leaking out his nose -- he really sells a beating. Fun match but I enjoyed their 2000 match more.

Ikeda was the star of this match, taking a brutal, brutal beating, mostly at the hands (or, forehead) of Hashi. His selling was phenomenal and despite his constant interfering on his partner’s behalf, I felt for him and wanted to see him reap his vengeance. There’s some lighter-hearted stuff too with Oba being a goofball, falling on his ass on a whiffed kick and flailing his arms around on offense but yeah, this thing was built around the interactions between Ikeda and Hashi. The headbutt exchanges were on another level of uncomfortable, as Hashi busts Ikeda and himself open with some nasty cranium-to-cranium contact. Then when they’re on all fours like a couple of pitbulls ramming their noggins together, yikes. Not only are the headbutts gnarly but there is zero hesitations behind Hashi’s chops and Ikeda’s kicks. Mashimo and Oba have some good chemistry together as they trade strikes for a minute and when Kengo’s up against Ikeda, he’s blasting him with kicks and knees, trying to lay him out for the ten count. There’s a great spot where Mashimo ducks the lariat attempt and plants Ikeda with a uranage, following it up with a sick punt kick to the back. The final showdown between Ikeda and Hashi is incredible and gut-wrenching. Loved the spot where Ikeda gets headbutted by Hashi and he stumbles back to his corner, looking for a tag out, and Oba slaps him in the face! The two of them unload on one another with the stiffest shots they can muster and Ikeda tries to end it via submission but Mashimo breaks it up. Hashi’s pissed now (as if he wasn’t before) and doesn’t let up with the headbutts, repeatedly bashing Ikeda in the corner, turning his forehead into a Margarita pizza pie. Ikeda’s trying to fight back with kicks and he’s finally able to deliver that lariat before laying the final nail in the coffin kicks to Hashi, including one foot to the mouth, which Hashi isn’t able to recover from. Super intense final minutes. What a tag match.

Another decent extended squash with Fuke working on one leg for most of the match. Tons of open hands exchanged in this since Fuke couldn't kick, with some really nasty slaps and kicks from Funaki. On the mat, Funaki's very smothering since Fuke is limited in what he can do. After a hard slap knockdown, Funaki grabs the jujigatame for the quick submission. Eh.

An extended squash but a Minoru Suzuki squash nonetheless. He teases the front necklock that beat Shamrock early on but Kazuo books it for the ropes, selling its brief effects. Kazuo works snug to start, headbutting Suzuki and peppering him with open hands while Suzuki fires off leg kicks. He really lets Minoru have it at one point and Minoru, in true Minoru fashion, tongues at Kazuo in jest, before turning up the aggression. Kazuo's able to get a few double leg takedowns but Suzuki is quick to get him into a submission. Then he starts with the hard elbows and headbutts to the back of the head and a series of nasty knee strikes to the head and face, before quickly choking him out for the submission.

Here's Part 2. And here's the direct LINK! https://fightingnetworkfriends.podiant.co/e/362d9c31fe26fe/ to stream, or subscribe to the RSS feed. You can also search us on Apple Podcasts. FNF 015: RINGS in '93 Pt. 2 Episode 15. FIGHTING NETWORK RINGS IN 1993 Pt. 2, let us close out the year of our master VOLK. We are back to finish off the year of RINGS in '93: does Volk still reign surpreme? Will Maeda return? Will Dick Vrij kick off people's heads? And what about this new dude Zouev? We cover August-December and talk about our favorite matches, spoiler - the Europeans have a killer year. In the third segment we are back to our usually scheduled program, reviewing matches featuring Bob Backlund, Baba, Bruno (RIP), Yoji Anjoh, FMW clusterfucks and a recent modern classic in Wrestle-1. Topics discussed: - Scary ass dogs - Quintet - Thanks for ordering our shirt! It'll be out soon! - RINGS RINGS RINGS - Masayuki Naruse, Volk Han and Nikolai Zouev. Amazing singlets, hairy dudes, wacky submissions and the return of Dimitri Petkov. 3rd Segment Matches: 3/14/18 - Shotaro Ashino vs. Manabu Soya (Wrestle-1) 5/5/01 - Hayabusa & The Great Sasuke vs. Mr. Gannosuke & Tetsuhiro Kuroda (FMW) 12/22/91 - Bob Backland vs. Yoji Anjoh (UWFI) 8/7/68 Bruno Sammartino vs. Giant Baba (JWA) Youtube Playlist: http://tinyurl.com/fnf015 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 decent. I liked the proto-Pancrase matwork to open, with Shamrock showing good control over the necklock, putting Suzuki in a couple of precarious situations. But this was mostly defense on the mat and not too exciting. Not much striker, aside from leg kicks and a few open hand slaps. The finish was cool, as Shamrock tried to power Suzuki with some kind of slam but Suzuki held on and cinched in the front necklock to take Shamrock down to the mat and submit him. Suzuki's post-win celebration was awesome.

Molten crowd + jerkface Jumbo + tenacious Tenryu = one of the greatest matches of the 1980's. Tenryu is ambitious righ tout of the gate, ducking the jumping knee and delivering the German suplex hold for two. Then Jumbo takes over, pounding away, putting the big boots to Tenryu and picking up some heat from the crowd. Tenryu's able to knock Jumbo out of the ring with a lariat and follows up with some nasty forearms, kicks, chops, before Jumbo suplexes him down and settles back into a headlock like a true fucking heel. Then he really starts ramping up his offense, building to the backdrop. He hits the jumping knee, a jumbo-sized lariat, a diving knee drop and he keeps dropping the knees but can't pin Tenryu down, even after a backdrop. The fans are lapping up these two counts like warm milk. The counterwork is really excellent from both dudes but especially Tenryu, as he hotshots Jumbo onto the ropes, sidesteps the corner jumping knee (sans kneepad) to hit an enziguri, and hooking the leg to prevent the suplex attempt. The whole finishing stretch is awesome, and when Tenryu finally hits the powerbomb for a nearfall, the place explodes. He's able to deliver the second powerbomb for the win but what a mountain to overcome in Jumbo.

Yeah, this was mostly Ito with some dope throws and powerbombs with Yamada trying to kick or grab a submission. His selling after the German suplex was priceless.

Hansen and Gordy are mean, mean bastards already but when you throw them up against two other mean bastards in Tenryu and Kawada, you get mean bastard warfare. Tenryu getting smacked around and shitkicked against the ropes by Hansen, or hard chopped by Gordy, with Kawada being the spitfire in-and-out of the ring -- this starts hot and ends hot. It's too much to try and break down but a few of my favorite moments from the match include Gordy's huge lariat in the corner sold beautifully by Tenryu, Hansen stumbling around, he and Gordy breaking pinfalls the fuck up, Kawada getting destroyed on the outside. After Gordy hits the powerbomb on Tenryu, Kawada's able to hobble back into the ring to break it up in a killer save. The fans really want Tenryu on his feet, fighting these gaijin fuckers off, but he keeps getting double teamed while poor Kawada is once again in a world of hurt outside the ring. Tenryu's able to fire back with some nasty chops and slaps to Hansen, knocking him down, but Gordy clobbers him with a lariat. After Gordy breaks up the diving back elbow, he pummels Tenryu with gnarly punches but misses the corner lariat, allowing Tenryu a short but brief comeback. He hits the powerbomb but it's not enough. After Gordy powerbombs Tenryu, Hansen drives the knees to the head and finishes him off with a SICK lariat for the win. Awesomely chaotic and brutal tag team warfare.

Under 15 minutes is my sweet spot.

Probably the best match of the tournament, but still, nothing too blow away. I don't know, I mean Akiyama on offense is always a joy and he was great here dominating the mat early on, working the neck over and hitting a fucking curb stomp, tons of knees -- great repeat knees later in the match. Marufuji has loud chops and sneaky kicks but that's about it. I liked him having to hit a bunch of Koos to knock down Jun and that cutthroat knee strike to the back of the head should have been the finish -- but he had to hit another, less impressive one to put Jun away.

Yeah, this was the most "heated" match of the tournament. Loved them throwing chairs at each other. Back half is definitely the best part of the match.

Awesome, awesome match -- one of my personal favorites -- and almost an all-time five star classic but with an unfortunately shitty finish due to the circumstances. Like any good ace, Fujinami tends to blow off a lot of offense but here, he really sells the injured leg and Maeda’s kicks as dangerous weapons. Maeda continues to target the leg, although he keeps going back to the arm despite the easy target -- I guess as a way to neutralize Fujinami's dragon suplex or jujigatame? On top of that, Maeda himself keeps teasing the dragon suplex. They trade suplexes before Fujinami slaps on the sasori-gatame, inducing the fans to collectively shit their pants. Then Maeda clips him with a rolling kick and when Fujinami touches his forehead and sees the blood on his fingers, he collapses. Maeda tries to finish him off with the dragon suplex hold and there's really terrific shock and relief from the crowd at the nearfall. The finish felt like an audible after Fujinami got busted open but whatever, still an incredible match and a really great performances from both guys.

Very neat match-up, with plenty of grappling, very limited strikes exchanged, slick takedowns, and some throws that felt big. Some of the submission holds didn't feel too life threatening but the struggle to escape or counter was done well throughout, especially with Nishimura and Ishikawa. But there was some cool stuff like Fujinami attempting to wrestle with one arm and Nishimura's bridge escape toward the end that took a lot out of him. Really liked the finish too, with Nishimura and Nakano fighting for the game ending Northern Lights hold, and Nishimura winning out. MUGA rules.

Is Shinichi any relation to Tatsuo Nakano, or do they both just rock the square mullet? This was a weird match but the thick layer of grime added something interesting. I liked the meat-and-potatoes matwork, mixed in with the handsy exchanges. Selling in this match was all over the place, from melodramatic to nonexistent, and then after Nakano nosedives on the plancha, it turns into more of an offensive sprint, with Nakano getting his shit in and Motegi firing back with his shit. I thought the finish wasn't very good -- Motegi throws him with the German suplex, which was supposed to be bridged(?), but then he slaps on a jujigatame and Nakano immediately taps out when the focused throughout the match had been his leg. It's nitpicky but whatever, this was fun.

The match is reminiscent of their first singles encounter, the emphasis placed on the “pro-wrestling” style rather than the hostility these two displayed throughout their “shoot" style encounters. Regardless, Fujiwara’s no joke here, being much better prepared for Tiger’s kicks and taking him to the ropes quite often. When Tiger’s able to let loose on him, he rocks Fujiwara with his wild kicks and knees, at one point catching him in the front teeth with a spin kick. One of the more disturbing visuals in this series comes when Fujiwara tries to choke Tiger out, cranking his head and neck in an unnaturally acute angle, the guttural hacks of Tiger adding to the realism. When Tiger attempts to finish Fujiwara off with the German suplex hold, Fujiwara’s able to take him down with his own signature armbar, the wakigatame, for the submission.

I love both of these guys and I love this match like I love a good cup of coffee in the morning. A little sugar from Fuchi on the mat, a little cream behind Kawada’s kicks. Unfortunately, this is clipped but when it picks up, Fuchi’s going after Kawada’s left leg with the old man stomps. He lays into a leglock, transitions into an STF, and then just starts cranking on the leg. When Kawada gets pissy, it’s one of the better things in life, with his baby headbutts and punting Fuchi out of the ring. Even when he’s lying on the ground, he’ll still try to take out Fuchi with a low kick. But Fuchi takes advantage of a prone Kawada with a nasty looking stomp. He avoids the powerbomb, backdrops Kawada, then slides into a facelock, forcing Kawada to take a breather out of the ring but goes right back to it when Kawada re-enters. Kawada finally clobbers Fuchi and uses his own facelock, which produced this fantastic visual of Fuchi scrambling to get out of it until Kawada applies the body scissors and submits him. Really fun stuff.

Awesome six-man elimination match, which you don't get too often in a hybrid shoot-style environment. This is the kind of shit that got me back into pro-wrestling -- the frantic, almost relentless matwork, trying to hold onto a submission long enough to do enough damage before somebody runs into the ring and shitkicks them. Everyone is constantly following up on their attack, going from submission hold to strikes back to submission hold, not leaving much breathing room. I mean, for a 45 minute match, the pace they’re working is incredible. This felt like the BattlARTS version of a classic All Japan six-man, with everyone playing up their respective roles: Sawa, the wild child, Usuda, the aggressive little shitkicker, Ikeda provoking everyone from the apron or break up holds, Otsuka the suplex machine, and Ishikawa the dad that has to come in and save his kids. Oh yeah, and Super Tiger, whose tripping all over himself trying to land kicks. Otsuka and Usuda were the two standouts of the match, in my opinion. Otsuka's always grabbing limbs, transitioning from hold to hold, trying to find an opening for a submission, while creatively maneuvering around the mat. And of course, he throws awesome suplexes. Usuda has great strikes, between his slaps, palm thrusts, kicks...but I also really liked his counterwork, grabbing Sawa’s arm on the figure-four attempt and putting him in a keylock, or catching the Shining Wizard with a kneebar. He’s really stiff against Ishikawa, landing some brutal looking high kicks and a lunging headbutt. But then Otsuka eliminates him after dropping on his neck with a German and then on his ding dang head with a dragon suplex. In the end, Ishikawa’s the lone survivor against Tiger and Ikeda. I loved the sequence where he’s got Tiger in the Indian Deathlock and everytime Ikeda comes in and knocks him down with a kick, it exerts all that pressure onto the submission hold. Tiger’s able to get a couple of knockdowns with his kicks but once Ishikawa’s grabs hold of the leg off the spinning heel kick, he taps him out with the heel hook. The final comes down to Ishikawa and Ikeda and, as always, just about everything they throw is as stiff as day-old catshit. Punches, lariats, kicks – I mean, at this point in the match, with time slipping away, the desperation and exhaustion are major factors, and Ishikawa especially is relentless in trying to submit Ikeda before the time expires.

Tenryu wants nothing to do with Nakano. Here, Nakano comes out like he’s in a shoot and Tenryu’s hunched over, hands on knees, looking like a Little Leaguer at short stop. Nakano snaps off one kick and Tenryu immediately pummels him into a corner with hard sumo slaps. One of the reasons I love Nakano is his unwillingness to let up. Even when he's clearly outsized, Nakano keeps kneeing and kicking Tenryu in the head. At times, Tenryu doesn't quite know how to react to him, or the blows he's receiving. I loved Nakano's rear choke with the headbutts, pounding on Tenryu long enough to German suplex him, then floating right into the armbar. He manages to get the full extention on the armbar but this is Wrestle and Romance, not RINGS, so Tenryu doesn't immediately tap out...or at all. Nakano continues to rush him with kicks, with Tenryu able to slap him off momentarily before Nakano comes right back with more high kicks. Finally, Tenryu decides he's done taking kicks from Nakano and takes out his leg, submitting him with the single leg crab in under five minutes. A weird pairing but pretty awesome spectacle to say the least.