superkix

At a press conference outside their offices in Tokyo, Japan, Nobuhiko Takada and Akira Maeda came together to announce the formation of U-COSMOS, the spiritual successor to the UWF. In many ways, U-COSMOS will keep the traditions of the UWF alive and well, while at the same time, embracing the modern evolution of professional wrestling. Under traditional "pro-wres" rules, a match can be won by scoring a fall by pinning an opponent's shoulders to the mat for a count of three, a submission victory, a ten count knockout, or via countout (twenty count). A wrestler is given one warning for breaking the rules (yellow card) and repeat offenders will be disqualified (red card). Under "UWF Rules", a match can be won by a ten count knockout, total knockout, or submission only. Open handed strikes to the head are allowed; however, closed fist punches are prohibited. The use of a closed fist punch or illegal hold will result in a warning (yellow card), followed by disqualification (red card) for a second offense. Exiting the ring will result in a warning (yellow card) followed by disqualification (red card) if the wrestler re-exits the ring, or does not return to the ring after a ten count. Each wrestler is given a total of three ropes breaks. After a wrestler exhausts his rope breaks, submissions under the ropes by the opponent are considered legal. When discussing talent, Takada said that U-COSMOS will bring together athletes from across Japan and abroad, from both the worlds of pro-wrestling and MMA. Talent announced include Toshiaki Kawada, Jun Akiyama, Kiyoshi Tamura, Shinya Hashimoto, and Yoshiaki Fujiwara. Takada also indicated that they had signed the 2000 NCAA Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar, who he believed would make a big impact in Japan. The promotion has already secured a television deal with Fighting TV Samurai, with the first live show, "Fighting Art", scheduled to broadcast from Korakuen Hall on Saturday, August 1, 2000. The main event was revealed for the show and will see Masakatsu Funaki in his first match since leaving Pancrase, wrestling the "World's Most Dangerous Man", Ken Shamrock, under UWF Rules. This marks Shamrock's return to Japan and will be a reunion of sorts between Shamrock and Funaki, who both competed against each other in PWFG and Pancrase. In addition, Maeda announced that they had come to an agreement with one of the hottest fighters in Pride Fighting Championships, Kazushi Sakuraba! Sakuraba will make his in-ring debut for U-COSMOS on August 12th against a "mystery" opponent. Maeda teased that Sakuraba had yet to face this mysterious opponent in any form of competition. In regards to a top promotion title, Takada did say that they plan on implementing an openweight title, dubbed the U-COSMOS Crown, and while a tournament is likely to take place, Takada said it will not happen until September at the earliest. But it was revealed that the title will and can be defended under both sets of rules. In closing, Maeda was proud to announce that they would be holding future events in Seoul, South Korea. No dates have been announced for the Seoul debut but Maeda said it would be a special celebration. Takada and Maeda thanked those in attendance, and jokingly promised to put aside any former grievances in order to work together to produce the best wrestling in Japan. U-COSMOS "Fighting Art", 1/8/2000 Tokyo Korakuen Hall UWF Rules: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Ken Shamrock

Probably the third best match of an otherwise disappointing night, with a hot opening exchange between Tamura and Anjo. Tamura's armbar counter out of nowhere was slick as hell but Anjo is quick to re-counter. The stuff between Anjo and Severn was also entertaining, as it seemed like Anjo wanted nothing to do with him. But that led to some stiff work from Anjo, both on the ground and standing up, where he popped Severn's nose like a tick with an open palm strike. Loved the moment where they both nearly tumble out of the ring, getting tied up in the ropes. Nelson didn't do much at all except get suplexed by Severn and struggle on the mat. Severn basically chokeslamming him to set up the single leg crab was a big highlight. Tamura taps out Nelson with the choke, despite Nelson's best efforts to counter out. Good stuff from three of the four involved.

Another disappointment - again, like many of Takada's opponents, Zangiev seems to be holding back against Takada, whose big highlight includes rocking Zangiev silly with kicks. Sure, Zangiev threw a suplex and got cute with the armbar escape, but didn't get much shine before tapping out to a crossface hold.

A perfectly decent competitive match-up but not much more than that. Kakihara avoiding and blocking Lydick's suplex attempts was the storyline, and while Lydick got a close call with a double wristlock, it isn't until the end of the match that he finally hits the German suplex. It's not enough but when he tries to double-dip, Kakihara countered with the kneebar for the DRAMATIC tap out.

Another whatever match. Berkovich delivers one of the most pathetic looking German suplexes but he does offset it with a couple of good-looking throws. But he's pretty awkward throughout, and Sano finally wins It with the backdrop into the armbar.

Pretty boring match, sadly. Highlights include Miyato’s backdrop suplex and of course, Nakano’s greatest snap suplex. Nakano stuffs him with a knee but ends up tapping to Miyato’s armbar. Meh.

Winless Mark Silver rocks a very sick windbreaker but he's still sloppy and winless for a reason. He throws his weight around, lands a couple of big hands, but also takes a boot to the nuts. Cool finish with Saku blasting Silver repeatedly in the back to set up the single leg crab. Not much else.

Considering the amount of punishment both guys dulled out for 15 of the 20 minutes, I thought they kept up the intensity for the duration. Sure, Takayama slowed down and was obviously struggling to do anything on the mat but the matwork was secondary. The stand-up portions were the obvious highlights -- some very brutal strikes thrown by both guys but Kanehara's high kicks looked really terrific here, especially given Takayama's height. And some of his reflex shots - yowzers. Takayama gets busted open but dishes it back out with the big knees and catcher's mitt slaps. Kanehara struggling for the armbar added a little drama on the ground but it never had the space to develop into anything substantial. This was literally an extended "who can hit harder?" contest, and yeah, it ruled. Tons of fire.

This has to be one of Gary's best singles performances in UWFi but it helps when your dance partner is Kiyoshi Tamura. Despite Tamura's presence, this still had some slower moments but Gary was definitely trying more on the mat than he has before. And the drama really bubbled to the finish. All of the suplex teases were well done, and Tamura's close calls with the armbars added tons to this. I mean, it's over 10 minutes before Gary hits his first suplex. Loved Tamura's enziguri counter, and him consistently slipping through Albright's fingers as he tries to set him up for the dragon suplex. One of my favorite parts of the match is when Gary nonchalantly slaps Tamura while he's got him on the ground, and Tamura responds with fire and sends Gary to the ropes. But that only pisses off Gary, who hits the belly-to-belly to set up another dragon suplex attempt, which Tamura is able to block...but not before Gary hits the back-to-back Germans to finish him off.

Berkovich was a non-factor in this but that being said, Zangiev continues to rule, and his exchanges with both Sano and Anjo were easy highlights. Him sliding in with the leg trip to set up the Sharpshooter was dope, and then when Sano tries to break out of the full nelson, Zangiev accordions him with a German suplex. Anjo was EXTRA shitty during the finishing stretch, where he just lays into Zangiev with knees and slaps and clocks him with a high kick to the cheekbone for the KO. What a finish. Not a great tag by any means but this made me really want to see a singles match between Sano and Zangiev.

This had that old-school UWF feel to it, as both guys were methodical and prideful, and extra snappy with their strikes. Nakano catching the high kick early on was a cool moment, which led to some nasty knees from Yamazaki and some dirty open hands by Nakano. The slower moments of the match were there but it paid off with the finish. Loved the fact that Kazuo escapes the rolling German attempt by throwing himself through the ropes. Great finish, too, with Yamazaki blocking the snap suplex with authority, enziguri'ing the kick counter, and grabbing onto the calf hold for the submission. Good stuff!

Hashimikov is able to show off some dad power with several suplex throws, and Miyato is chippy with his strikes, but there really isn't enough there to draw me in. I love that the Russians have started using the Sharpshooter. But when that doesn't work, Salman uses the traditional armbar to win it. Nothing too exciting.

Muffintop Mark Silver is back, his knee is still injured, and he doesn't last a minute in there against Takayama when he takes a kick to said injured knee. Story of his UWFi career. Not good.

Is this Bad News' best UWFi match thus far? Maybe. It kicks off with a bang, and Kanehara flying in with the knee to knock Allen off his feet. Allen is still bad news but he manages a few strong takedowns and used both the regular crab and single-leg variant. On the other hand, Kanehara is able to land some high kicks and gets a close call with an armbar counter but Bad News finishes strong. Pretty fun match, all things considered.

UWFi tags are clunky but this had some pretty great moments, especially the stuff between Anjo and Zagiev, with Anjo trying to be sly and Zangiev realizing that, and responding accordingly. He demonstrates this a little later on when Anjo's trying to roll out of holds and Zagiev rolls right with him to keep him pinned down. Hashimikov doesn't have the finesse of Zangiev but he's good kick fodder for Yamazaki and Anjo. At one point, he does use a shoot-style Sharpshooter...of sorts. But Zangiev is the major attraction here and his kip up escape is a real crowd pleaser. I like that Yamazaki countered his rolling takedowns with a rear choke sleeper, and then later, Yamazaki trying to sneak in the German on the ropes was great. Anjo being a dick to Hashimikov in the ropes and then Zangiev in the corner is why Anjo is so good in these matches. Zangiev using the rolling cattle mutilation into the wakigatame was a dope finish. Fun stuff.

This was perfectly decent, with plenty of feisty strikes from Takayama, a couple of cool suplexes, and competitive, back-and-forth action with a little slop thrown in. I liked the finish from Billy, with the dragon screw into the single leg crab, and he got a big reaction from the fans.

A whatever match, with Kanehara on the kicks and submissions, and Burton trying to suplex. But he doesn't get much of anything in terms of offense and he's definitely not stiffing Kanehara like he was Sakuraba. Kanehara wins with an armbar. Nothing special.

I thought this was okay. Albright isn’t that exciting when he isn’t clubbing and suplexing, so the stuff on the ground early on felt very long. I liked the direction it took with Takada breaking him down at the leg - the spot where Albright tries to roll him up for a German suplex and Takada holds onto the leg was great. Takada switching to the arm gave Albright the opening he needed to German suplex Takada but it isn't his standard murder suplex. And no chance in hell Takada is taking the dragon suplex but he nearly kills Albright with a suplex of his own. Some of Takada kicks and knees looked good, but there wasn't that same sense of urgency like the Takada/Vader matches, and sure, the crowd helped, but the finishing stretch was forgettable.

This is the first 2020 match I've seen since February? I don't know. It's two guys I like and they put on a perfectly solid match in a weird atmosphere. Suzuki’s forearm shots after the maniacal laugh were the best part of that very long opening strike exchange. Suzuki's strikes in general are so much more snug than Nagata's. I liked him stomping on Nagata's head back inside the ring but the shenanigans outside. Some okay submission work followed by another prolonged strike exchange leading to that quick finish, which was fun. Nagata's the true blue.

A vanilla King Takada match but at least Lydick manages a few good takedowns. But he can't do much against the boss so he sells extra big for the final few kicks. Meh.

Your typical Albright suplex affair coupled with Anjo's shitty antics? Yeah, okay, I can get behind this. Anjo's trying to get him on mat, where his best shot of winning lies, but Gary is just too Gary to let that happen. It isn't long before we get to the belly-to-bellies, but then Anjo counters the full nelsonw the wakigatame. I thought Anjo's bulldog-style takedown into the rear choke was very cool. But you get the feeling Albright wants to murder this guy, and he does...with the dragon suplex.

This ramped toward the end but the slow start hurts it. Business picked up when Nakano dumped Yamazaki with the dragon suplex, and again, best snap suplex in the business that leads to a rear choke. Yamazaki's kicks get real snappy during the finish stretch and I loved his legsweep into the kneebar to set up the finish. Not a great match but some cool moments.

Another fun Zagiev exhibition. You watch Gary Albright for the suplex showcase, and Victor Zangiev provides all the catch-as-catch-can highlights. Everything from the airplane spin and bow and arrow hold, to the swanky escapes, slick trips, and cool transitions. He even cranks Miyato with a big German suplex because it's UWFi. Why not?

For a sub-five minute tag match, this had its moments. I liked the feisty opening exchange between Scott and Kanehara, and the rough-and-tumble stuff between Takayama and Severn. Takayama lays into Severn with just about everything he has and Severn's just trying to swoop in for a suplex, which he does...several times. At one point, he hits a capture sidewalk slam, which was pretty cool. And of course, a major highlight is Takayama kicking Severn in the butt when he's under the ropes. The tags are super quick, and Kanehara's strikes are on point. The high kick to Scott's head, the running high knee to Severn's face, and his mule kick counter, which led to the KO finish.

Fuck yeah, Burton's back in the house, how we've missed him. And what a dick he was in this match. Saku smokes him on the mat - really good stuff with him blocking the single leg crab attempts. But after Burton folds him in half with a big release German, Saku seems out of it. He faceplants on a scary back body drop, and then when he doesn't take the double arm suplex, Burton MURDERS him with a high knee for the KO. A bizarre watch for sure but worth checking out.