superkix

Oh boy, Sousserov could fill the void left behind by Willie Peeters in 1992. He's the Soviet version of Guile from Street Fighter. He's all about 80's jumping roundhouse kicks and suplex slams. Nagai, in true scrappy underdog fashion, comes flying in with these big wheel kicks, completely missing the mark. He mainly hangs on Sergei's leg throughout the match, taking him to the ropes a few times. Loved his shoot STF. This definitely could've been a 10 minute "classic" but it drags out sluggishly to 17:29. Sergei's takedowns aren't as effective and Nagai continues going after the leg before going to town with the knee strikes, kneeing Sergei in the face for the KO.

This was a lot of fun. Petkov, the giant toddler, absorbs Maeda’s early kicks to throw him around with suplexes but Maeda keeps coming with the knees and kicks until Petkov takes him down with an ipponzeoi and locks in the Anaconda Vice on the ground. Awesome. At one point during the match, Petkov picks Maeda up, carries him around the ring, and then slams him down before going into a single leg crab hold. He's such a big baby. Then he goads Maeda to kick him, only to catch a kick and fling him down hard. Maeda's always good at overcoming the size disadvantage and makes it compelling enough here. The finishing submission was neat, with Maeda trapping the leg and arm, preventing Petkov from reaching the ropes.

Here's the direct link. https://fightingnetworkfriends.podiant.co/e/35f56c0a1ffc4a/ to stream, or subscribe to the RSS feed. You can also search us on Apple Podcasts. FNF 011: A Couple Of Loud Mouths Talkin' Big Mouth Loud Andy and Brennan enter their second decade here by taking a slight departure and bidding the RH Archive goodbye while taking a look at the first Big Mouth Loud show from 9/11/2005 We also have some real bangers in the 3rd segment. Topics discussed: Oklahoma, Chicken-Fried Steak and Arkansas Andy's fancy dope as hell Valentine's Dinner RH Archive, Tetsujin episode next week, GWWE Big Mouth Loud Illusion The Super J Cup, Big Bubba Rogers, BARBED WIRE KICKPADS, Takehiro Murahama & More Matches: The whole BML show is on Youtube and in our playlist. 4/16/94 - NJPW Super J Cup - Great Sasuke Vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 4/20/01 - NJPW - Minoru Tanaka Vs. Takehiro Murahama 9/29/93 - AJPW - Big Bubba, Steve Williams & Richard Slinger Vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama 8/29/98 - BattlArts - Katsumi Usuda Vs. Ryuji Yamakawa Youtube Playlist: http://tinyurl.com/fnf009 Follow us on Twitter: @fightfriends @trillyrobinson @bren_patrick Email at: [email protected] Instagram: @fightnetworkfriends Youtube at: http://tinyurl.com/FightFriends

This match is a lesson in why you don’t piss off Han. He opens with the spinning backhand and you know he’s about to get to work on the mat. Maeda continues to show off his own improved mat skills. When he’s not defending against the relentless Han with his flying legscissors, he’ll get fancy with an arm drag into a head scissors or grab a single leg crab, in which the crowd collectively lose their shit. When Maeda starts in with the kicks, Han mostly weathers the storm trying to play catch…but Maeda keeps kick kick kicking at Han’s leg. All those kicks to the leg finally piss off Han, who says “cut it out” by smacking the shit out of Maeda. With Han spent and pissy, the match becomes a sluggish war of attrition but the finish was something else. Maeda shakes Volk’s hand just before he high kicks him in the head for the TKO. What a dick. Not quite at the level of their second match but a strong way to cap off their series.

A slow burn with Nagata mostly controlling with the legwork, which I thought worked well here, with Sasaki just trying to power through the pain but still acknowledging the targeted leg. I like when Nagata is trying to hack out the leg with kicks and Sasaki is just clubbing him with lariats. Whenever he deviates from the normal clobbering approach, it usually backfires. He tries for the Sharpshooter and Nagata counters with the leglock and again, when he starts using kicks, Nagata is able to catch him in the reverse figure four. Sasaki didn't oversell but he also didn't undersell, which I can appreciate. In the end, he has to rely on the power to beat Nagata, hitting the lariat and the Northern Lights Bomb to finish him off. Pretty good stuff.

Hell yeah, this was a lot of fun. I loved the sleeper hold teases throughout, with the crowd really buzzing anytime Iizuka tried for it. Nagata breaking out of the first attempt and wagging his finger at Iizuka was so good. After a backdrop, Nagata puts Iizuka in the sleeper and Iizuka answers with the crossface hold, before he starts tossing Nagata with Exploders. The final little tango of Iizuka going after the sleeper and Nagata being able to evade it was perfect, ending with Nagata finally catching him in the crossface hold for the win. Real good stuff.

I liked this more than the Yakushuji match but it doesn't quite hit the highs of the first two Hoshikawa match-ups or the Delphin match. For the most part, I enjoyed them scrambling around the mat, trying to find some leverage. I really liked Murahama's counter to the capture suplex and him maintaining control of the arm after Hoshikawa tries to powerbomb out of the triangle. They throw some great suplexes and land a few dirty head kicks, all of which are sold rather sparingly. Love babyfaced Matsui's concern while Hoshikawa struggles in the sleeper hold. The finishing stretch is kind of a mess but the desperation by Murahama to pick up the win was a fun thread to follow.

This was alright. There was definitely some awkwardness to this and some weird delayed selling from Yakushuji but he also managed to keep it entertaining with some of his out-of-nowhere dives or spin kicks. And at one point, he kills Murahama with a release German suplex that seemed unexpected, trying to follow that up with the Anaconda Vice. Not Murahama's best performance but still a decent enough showing.

This was similar to Kopilov’s match against Han in that it was more or less a stalemate on the mat. But it was fun seeing Maeda go to the mat early on, and I thought the struggle and defense on the ground was well-executed. Where this match excels over the match with Han is Maeda's character work. He's such a good babyface-in-peril when he needs to be and I loved the drama from him as he's trying to get to the ropes when Kopilov snags him with the kimura. Kopilov’s terrific on the mat, trying to tie Maeda into knots, until eventually Maeda says “fuck the matwork” and starts picking up knockdowns with his strikes -- big open-hand slaps to the face, kicks, and knees. But Kopilov wants to finish this where it started, and after another tussle on the mat, Maeda’s able to pry open the armbar for the submission victory.

Loved this match. Such an awesome dynamic between the heavy cyborg striker in Vrij and the submission specialist in Han, with the perfect build and set-up to the finish. It plays on the strengths of both dudes, and is sort of a personal dream match of mine from when I first started watching RINGS. Han knows what Vrij’s all about and immediately tries to submit him with the kneebar and keeps dragging him back to the middle of the ring. But once he’s back on his feet, Vrij goes hard with the strikes, cracking Han with kicks to the hamstring and brutal knees whenever Han tries for the double leg takedowns. On the ground, however, Han rules and he once again utilizies his legs in unique ways to try and pry open an armbar on Vrij. Vrij can't really hang with him on the mat.. He’ll hack out one of Han’s legs with kicks but he's unable to follow up with a submission. Even when he works in a head scissors, Han is able to turn it against him and force him to the ropes. By the end of the match, they’re both exhausted, they’ve used up all their outs and it’s down to the last submission or knockdown. Vrij swings for the fences with a high kick but Han’s able to catch it, spoiling Vrij’s homerun with a calf hold to submit him.

A swanky Zaza exhibition, with plenty of headscissor usage, cool takedowns and transitions, and...well, shitty striking but that's okay, because everything else works. Koba doesn't quite have Zaza's finesse but his rawness works well against Zaza. I mean, at one point, he press slams him into the turnbuckle. The action heats up heading into the finishing stretch, with Koba using a neat armwhip takedown before Grom dumps him with a throw and cinches in a terrific full nelson hold for the submission. Fun stuff.

Andrei's the rick to Volk's roll. He throws heavier kicks than Han but Han is able to weather the storm, slam him down, and work his way into a leglock, smartly maneuvering toward the middle of the ring to keep Andrei from the ropes. More often than not, however, they end up tangled together in these dueling submission predicaments. Han will trap Andrei’s head and neck with his feet, trying to pry him open in order to cinch in a hold, but then they’ll be fighting over a leglock and end up rolling into the ropes, which the crowd really laps up. While it’s mostly a stalemate on the mat, Han is able to apply an awesome hammerlock front choke, then he starts wringing the arm around and takes him down into a crossface hold. It picks up toward the end with Han landing a couple of spinning backhands but after Kopilov catches him with a boot to the gut, he’s able to snag him by the ankle to pick up the upset submission. I enjoyed this but I can see why others may have been a little let down.

This was short and semi-sweet. Scott looks like such a dope with his mullet and singlet but when he comes out hot and heavy with the palm thrusts and knees, he becomes more of an asskicker dope. I thought there was good struggle on the mat, even though Yamazaki looked like he was going through the motions at times, and I liked Scott's out-of-nowhere backdrop into the elevated single leg crab. Yamazaki adds a little spicy mustard to his kicks toward the end, and Scott trying to build momentum to the German was cool, only to get German suplexed in turn and choked out with the front guillotine.

Pretty good stuff here, with a lot of back-and-forth early on, Vader clobbering and Mutoh handspringing around like Vader's clubbing blows aren't all that powerful. I liked when Mutoh was fighting back with these great lunging elbows before he heats up with a chain of offense, including the moonsault. Vader catching the handspring with a German uranage was a definite highlight and later, using the closed fists to get some heat from the fans. The finishing stuff was kind of sloppy -- they had to re-do the backslide spot and Mutoh was Mutoh, so you get no selling for the sake of signatures. But whatever, this was fun.

KIMERA held its return show, "CERULEAN BREEZE IN YOKOHAMA", before a sold out crowd in the Yokohoma Area. As before, all of the competitors were paraded down to the ring, with Maeda introducing the show and thanking the fans. Yoshinari Ogawa made his in-ring debut, picking up a victory over Osamu Nishimura by knockout after using a backdrop suplex. Ogawa seemed frustrated with Osamu continuing the take him down the mat and while he was able to use his craftiness to counter out, Nishimura had forced him to the ropes twice before Ogawa was able to use the suplex. That is, only after he raked Nishimura's eyes, earning him a yellow card. Under "Hybrid Rules", Tatsuo Nakano and Yuki Ishikawa slugged it out for a little over six minutes, throwing plenty of kicks, knees, and elbows in an attempt to knockout their opponent. At one point, Ishikawa was able to secure a sleeper hold but Nakano was able to break out before Yuki could drag him to the mat, and in the end, Nakano caught him with a knee to the face for the KO victory. Newcomer Duane Koslowski scored a big win over Gene Lydick in a match that featured tons of suplex throws. The two fought back-and-forth over a German suplex and Koslowski was able to sneak in with the rear waistlock, overpowering the larger Lydick with the German suplex hold for the pinfall. Backstage, Koslowski said he would like to return to KIMERA in the future. Whereas the last match featured a ton of suplexes, the "Hybrid Rules" match was all about the kicks and knees as Vrij and Takayama took turns taking shots at each other. Vrij was much more aggressive early on, but Takayama was able to rally back with a few knockdowns. He tried for a German suplex but Vrij was able to fight out and pop him in the head with a high kick for the KO. The KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament continued today, as the team of Yuji Nagata and Kensuke Sasaki beat Fujiwara-gumi's Takahashi and Fuke after Sasaki planted Fuke with the Northern Lights Bomb. Masahito Kakihara and Mitsuya Nagai were also victorious in their "Hybrid Rules" match, beating young boys Naruse and Yamamoto after Kakihara choked out Yamamoto. The semi-finalists have now been decided as these winning teams join Stars + Strikes and Sudden Impact. Kiyoshi Tamura and Georgian freestyle wrestler, Grom Zaza, wrestled a clean "Catch Rules" match. Lots of counterwork on the mat and some fireman's carry throws from Zaza up top. He wasn't much of a striker so he tried to keep Tamura grounded but Tamura was able to snag an arm and get the submission with two seconds the spare. In a "Strong Rules" match-up, Kazuo Yamazaki defeated Shiro Koshinaka when he evaded the hip attack and blasted Koshinaka with a roundhouse kick. The match was, more or less, evenly match, with Koshinaka getting the slight advantage. He nearly scored the pin after a powerbomb but Yamazaki turned the pin attempt into a triangle. Afterward, Yamazaki hinted that he would like to challenge Maeda to a "Hybrid Rules" match at some point. Jushin "Thunder" Liger even the scored in he and Masanobu Fuchi's best of three series to determine the promotion's first light heavyweight champion. Fuchi more than held his own against the more feisty Liger, catching him with some especially hard slaps to the face to score a couple of knockdowns. At one point, Liger came at him with a shotei attempt and Fuchi damn near took his head off with a dropkick. Liger was able to pin him down in a front mount and pepper him with palm thrusts to the head. Fuchi kept teasing the backdrop but Liger didn't let him hit it and ended up knocking him out with a running shotei. The two will now face each other under "Strong Rules" to crown the new champ. Minoru Suzuki may be quicker than Yoshiaki Fujiwara but the old man is craftier, and although Suzuki took him to the ropes back-to-back, using Fujiwara's signature armbar at one point, Fujiwara was able to hang in there. With less than a minute remaining, both men had utilized rope breaks twice but when Fujiwara was able to counter an armbar attempt with the wakigatame, Suzuki had no choice but to use his final rope break, awarding Fujiwara the victory. Suzuki seemed upset after the match, saying that he made a few mistakes in his match but that he wouldn't let that discourage him for continuing the train in all styles. Hiroshi Hase and Bob Backlund had a very good match under "Strong Rules" to decide who would face Vader for the KIMERA Heavyweight Title. Hase was the clear fan-favorite but Backlund put on quite the show, foregoing his normal goofiness to work in a little mean streak after Hase. He kept targeting Hase's arm to try and neutralize the uranages, and mostly kept him on the ground. Whenever Hase would make it back to his feet and start to build some momentum, Backlund would cut him off and go back to the arm. Hase tried for the giant swing but couldn't maintain his grip and this allowed Backlund a nearfall off a backdrop suplex. He tried for his crossface chickenwing but Hase was able to reverse it into a Northern Lights suplex hold for the win. Hase celebrated in the ring after his victory, and issued a statement to Vader, saying that he wanted to wrestle him for the title under "Strong Rules". The main event saw Masakatsu Funaki challenge the Big Boss, Akira Maeda, under "Hybrid Rules". During an interview earlier in the night, Funaki said he sees himself as the future of KIMERA and that Maeda has already shown that he cannot stay at the top forever. Funaki immediately opened the match with a lfurry of kicks and slaps, taking Maeda down for an seven count within the first minute. Maeda shook it off and played more of a defensive role against the more aggressive Funaki. He was able to catch a kick and tease the capture suplex, but Funaki blocked it and they went to the mat, fighting over leglocks. Funaki employed his speed and his counterwork to try and stay on top of Maeda. But Maeda was able to grab a facelock or a kimura, forcing Funaki to the ropes. Back on there feet, Funaki tried for the high kick but Maeda caught it and planted him with the capture suplex. He thought he had the match won but Funaki struggled back to his feet and when Maeda came in to finish him off, Funaki was able to deliver a German suplex into the double wristlock. Maeda, however, turned this around on Funaki and in the end, submitted him with the crossface chickenwing. The two hugged after the match and Maeda raised Funaki's arm to honor him. Funaki did not want to talk to reporters after the match but Maeda praised his skill and said that he too saw Funaki and Suzuki as the future of KIMERA. KIMERA "CERULEAN BREEZE IN YOKOHAMA", 1/28 Yokohama Arena 17,000 Fans - Super No Vacancy Full House 1. Catch Rules: Yoshinari Ogawa beat Osamu Nishimura (8:12) by KO (backdrop). 2. Hybrid Rules: Tatsuo Nakano beat Yuki Ishikawa (6:54) by KO (knee strike). 3. Strong Rules: Duane Koslowski beat Gene Lydick (8:26) with a German suplex hold. 4. Hybrid Rules: Dick Vrij beat Yoshihiro Takayama (9:11) by KO (high kick). 5. KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament, Round 1 ~ Strong Rules: Kensuke Sasaki & Yuji Nagata beat Kazuo Takahashi & Yusuke Fuke (11:08) when Sasaki used the Northern Lights Bomb on Fuke. 6. KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament, Round 1 ~ Hybrid Rules: Mitsuya Nagai & Masahito Kakihara beat Masayuki Naruse & Yoshihisa Yamamoto (9:22) when Kakihara used a guillotine choke on Yamamoto. 7. Catch Rules: Kiyoshi Tamura beat Grom Zaza (9:58) with an armbar. 8. Strong Rules: Kazuo Yamazaki beat Shiro Koshinaka (13:23) with a roundhouse kick. 9. KIMERA Light Heavyweight Title, 2nd Match ~ Hybrid Rules: Jushin "Thunder" Liger beat Masanobu Fuchi (14:31) by KO (shotei). 10. Catch Rules: Yoshiaki Fujiwara beat Minoru Suzuki (10:00) by decision. 11. #1 Contendership - Strong Rules: Hiroshi Hase beat Bob Backlund (18:45) with the Northern Lights suplex hold. 12. Hybrid Rules: Akira Maeda beat Masakatsu Funaki (19:21) with a crossface chickenwing.

This kind of "main event" match structure is why I enjoyed the Okada/Omega G1 Climax match-up so much: it simplifies the bombastic formula, condenses it, utilizing offensive targeting to build drama without dragging out the nearfalls in order to produce excitement for the sake of excitement. In other worse, I really enjoyed this. Kobashi coming into this match with the bum right knee but still able to say "not today, kid" with the opening exchange was great. He works a slower, more methodical pace, bringing him back into the ring with a great stalling suplex from the apron before trying to wear him out with a facelock. Then he'll explode with chops on Akiyama, breaking down his defense for the half nelson suplex. After Akiyama dropkicks the bum knee out from Kobashi, I really loved the follow-up dropkick just as Kobashi had struggled back to his feet. You get the sense Akiyama is frustrated in his submission work, with him immediately dragging Kobashi back to the middle with the cross kneelock and then booting the knee repeatedly after Kobashi makes it to the ropes again. Kobashi puffs up again on offense with his suplexes and him grabbing the kimura off the German suplex hold was pretty sweet. Loved the front necklock finish as well, with Jun not letting go after the referee calls it as if he wants to be sure he's actually beaten Kobashi. Great stuff.

Whereas Shamrock's match with Funaki from the month prior was hampered by dull matwork, this had a little more excitement on the ground thanks to Suzuki's speed. His quick counterwork and reversals made for much more compelling submission wrestling. You got the sense that they really had to fight for everything here. They each, more or less, went after each others' legs with Suzuki getting the upper hand on Shamrock. When Shamrock starts clobbering on Suzuki, Suzuki gets him in the rear waistlock, and in order to hit the German suplex, he has to deliver this awesome little combo of strikes to break Shamrock's defense. The finish was awesome, with Suzuki struggling to break out of the rear waistlock by grabbing the arm, and just when you think he's got it, Shamrock puts him in the full nelson and dragon suplexes him for the KO. The fact that Shamrock was using dragon suplexes to knockout his opponents in 1991 is incredible. Really cool match.

I enjoyed this. It gave Murahama some time to shine early on, hitting another big dive to the outside and a pretty leg lariat, before Togo rudos him on the outside with the piledriver through the table. Him basically saying "fuck you" to Murahama's chairshots was awesome before he finishes him off.

Ishikawa's already off to a hell of a 2018 and this match, given the technical difficulties, was pretty great. I really love the role HARASHIMA has established for himself as the scrappy aging ace who has quite a mean streak behind that smile. I dug his early matwork and thought it worked well against Ishikawa with the added double stomps. On the outside, Ishikawa stops his momentum by lobbing an unfolded chair at him before hitting the double stomp from the guardrail to set up the backwork. After the ropes break, they improvise with Ishikawa continuing to focus on the back and while it's a little slow, they pick it back up after Ishikawa swings HARASHIMA into the chairs. Then they start hurling bombs at one another, with HARASHIMA's selling being especially great while they're slugging it out, throwing these desperation headbutts to try and down the Big Dog. After he survives the Splash Mountain, HARASHIMA looks like hell with the bloodshot eyes and the look on Ishikawa's face like "what in the hell?" was terrific. Some really brutal knees from Ishikawa to close it down, finishing HARA off with the Giant Slam.

The final card for "CERULEAN BREEZE IN YOKOHAMA" has been released days before KIMERA's return show from the Yokohama Area. Yoshinari Ogawa makes his in-ring debut, facing off against Osamu Nishimura under "Catch Rules", while Yuki Ishikawa and Tatsuo Nakano will compete under "Hybrid Rules". A surprise has been added to the card, as American Duane Koslowski will make an appearance, wrestling against Gene Lydick under "Strong Rules". This is being viewed as a "trial" for Koslowski, who competed in the 1988 Olympics in Greco-Roman wrestling. KIMERA "CERULEAN BREEZE IN YOKOHAMA", 1/28 Yokohama Arena 1. Catch Rules: Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Osamu Nishimura 2. Hybrid Rules: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Tatsuo Nakano 3. Strong Rules: Gene Lydick vs. Duane Koslowski 4. Hybrid Rules: Dick Vrij vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 5. KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament, Round 1 ~ Strong Rules: Kensuke Sasaki & Yuji Nagata vs. Kazuo Takahashi & Yusuke Fuke 6. KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament, Round 1 ~ Hybrid Rules: Mitsuya Nagai & Masahito Kakihara vs. Masayuki Naruse & Yoshihisa Yamamoto 7. Catch Rules: Grom Zaza vs. Kiyoshi Tamura 8. Strong Rules: Shiro Koshinaka vs, Kazuo Yamazaki 9. KIMERA Light Heavyweight Title, 2nd Match ~ Hybrid Rules: Jushin "Thunder" Liger vs. Masanobu Fuchi 10. Catch Rules: Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Minoru Suzuki 11. #1 Contendership - Strong Rules: Bob Backlund vs. Hiroshi Hase 12. Hybrid Rules: Akira Maeda vs. Masakatsu Funaki

Yeah, it seems like this is mostly dead, unfortunately.

Echoing some of the sentiments above, I thought the striking, some of the throws, and the finish were the most exciting parts of an otherwise dull match. The matwork was...there, with Funaki mostly going after the ankle and Shamrock using little face slaps and defensive boots on the ground, but it wasn't very engaging and the crowd was getting restless toward the end before they heat it back up for the finish.

I mean, as far as one offs go, there's the upcoming Matt Riddle's Bloodsport on WM weekend, which is KO or submission only. Not sure if it's necessarily going to be "shoot-style" but it should be interesting to see how it's structured.

"Come on, motherfucker, show me power!" was the best part of the match.

I enjoyed this quite a bit, from Mossman's energy, to Hansen's chopping the shit out of the ringpost, to Tenryu's lumpy-ness, and Kawada being the real highlight of this match by not giving a damn. Mossman was a good punching bag for him and that final powerbomb was really cool. Hansen's presence alone will always add a couple of points and I thought he was pretty compelling here up against Tenryu.