superkix

We're finally back after the holidays! Here's the direct link. https://fightingnetworkfriends.podiant.co/e/35b11bd7e2d11c/ to stream, or subscribe to the RSS feed. You can also search us on Apple Podcasts. Episode 9. FIGHTING NETWORK RINGS IN 1992 Pt. 1 Topics discussed: Our hiatus Brennan's moving woes A scary Air B'n'B in Oklahoma Tetsujin Matt Riddle SHOUTOUTS RINGS RINGS RINGS Volk Han, Akira Maeda, Georgians, Mitsuya Nagai Keisuke Okuda, Takuya Wada, Josh Barnett and Chihiro Hashimoto & More Matches: We dive deep into the first five RINGS shows put on in 1992, and highlight our favorites. Our boy Willie Peeters has a disappointing half-year, but maybe the best moment of the year. 7/7/17 - IGF/NEW - Murakami & Sato vs. Okuda & Jo 12/16/17 - ESW - Josh Barnett Vs. Timothy Thatcher 7/16/17 - Hard Hit - Fujiwara & Wada Vs. Iwamoto & Matsumoto 9/24/17 - Sendai Girls - Chihiro Hashimoto Vs. Meiko Satomura 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 was short with sweet, with Murahama missing most of his big kick attempts and Delphin capitalizing with great double leg takedowns. Delphin was much more dominant on the mat, getting Murahama in a reverse knee bar or crab hold, but always sending him to the ropes. Murahama is only able to knock him down once after a quick flurry at the round one but after a beautiful snap belly-to-belly, Delphin's able to work his way into a triangle to tap Murahama.

Nakano gives zero fucks about the size of his opponent. He just runs right at Takayama and into those giant knees. Takayama's offense in this match is mostly limited to knees because Nakano dominates him for about 90% of the match, blasting him with tons of kicks to the head and quick slappy hands. When he wasn't striking, Nakano showed a lot more on the mat than he usually does, utilizing some cool takedowns and reversals, including a neat choke counter to the armlock. Takayama even gets to show off a bit, using his swanky double wristlock takendown when Nakano teased a German suplex. The German suplex was built up nicely throughout the match, playing into the finish. Takayama, down 11 points, finally Germans Nakano and goes into rolling front necklock to submit him. A fun, easy watch.

Yeah, the exchanges between Yoshida and Fukawa were more engaging and intense than anything the guys were doing. Minoru and Otsuka seemed to be going through the motions but Yoshida had a real fun interaction with Minoru, proving she could hold her own. The final stretch with the girls was pretty cool - I mean, Yoshida has such a cool look and presence about her...and throws a sweet Saito suplex. If anything, this match has me interested to see more from her.

This was fun if only for Wagner's antics: the condescending uncle cheek pat, pushing the ref around, attacking with a chair, blatant choking. Kanemoto takes a beating but survives some of Wagner's bigger bombs, rallying a comeback only to get racked between the legs and spiked with the Michinoku Driver for the loss.

What a blast. It's hard to even keep track of everyone running in and blasting each other with their signature moves but there aren't any lags and everyone has something to contribute. Even Kashin, coming in at the end for the token victory.

We get our annual Twin Towers tag match to kick off the new year and of course, it delivers. Maybe not on the same level as last year's blood-spattering match against Strong BJ, but it was still a “banger”. Sekimoto gets stuck between a rock and a hard place…the rock being Sato’s kicks and elbows and the hard place being…well, Ishikawa’s elbows. When he gets the hot tag to Suzuki, Hideki comes in with a bunch of suplexes, including a big release German that folds the Big Dawg in half, before and Ishikawa take each other out when the knee meets the elbow. Poor Daisuke gets put back between the rock and hard place, as the Twin Towers lay into him with knees and sandwich elbows. Ishikawa neutralizes Hideki with another gnarly elbow, allowing Sato to pin Sekimoto following the piledriver. Can’t complain about a ten minute slugfest.

Hard Hit misses a lot but it's fun to see Hideki show up. He's just so much bigger than most of his opponents and while Matsumoto gets in a couple of neat takedowns and reversals, this is mostly Suzuki dominating the mat and submitting him with the double arm suplex hold. Fun stuff but Matsumoto didn't look like he was trying too hard.

Short and violent. This is about Nomura showing off what Suzuki has taught him about being a real tough man in the world of Big Japan. Suzuki has a fun little leglock sequence with Sato and throws a couple of suplexes but this was mostly Nomura pissing off Sato. He immediately comes into this match kicking and smacks Sato hard across the face -- of course, Sato dishes everything back twice as hard but Nomura doesn't back down. He's able to work the mat a little with Hashimoto and looks good doing it, but he'll still throw the slaps when he can. He and Kazuki proceed to stiff each other with kicks until Nomura stops it with a nasty headbutt. Suzuki lets him finish it out against Sato and he gets him in the armbar, continuing the work the arm until Sato finally piledrives him for the win.

I didn't quite enjoy this as much as their first match it was still really good. Mas shenanigans. Santo flies around Panther with this real swanky satellite arm drag and puts him in the clutch, but the ref yanks him off and awards Panther the fall. Santo says fuck it and walks off. Second fall, Santo crashes and burns with the plancha to the outside so Panther provide shim with some chiropractic services before Santo rolls him up. Ultimo teasing the crowd was a lot of fun. Third fall saw Santo diving a lot and nearly taking out some little kid. I really liked Panther's knees to the back while they're on the mat. Is it a common lucha trope for each fall to have a different ref? Third ref gets elbow dropped, Panther puts him in some kind of rocking horse hold, thinks he's won but Santo rolls him up again and the crowd loses their shit. Fun stuff.

What an awesomely scrappy and, at times, brutal match-up, with tons of fighting spirit from Kobashi and Takayama coming off like a big bully. I mean, he high kicks Kobashi in the head before the bell and demands the ref to ring it. The look on Kobashi's face just before Takayama penalty kicks him is priceless. Kobashi is able to hulk up and take control of the situation but when he tries that shit again, Takayama tackles him into the canvas and pounds away at him from the front mount, laying back into a cross armbreaker and refusing to let go after the rope break. What a jerk. He drags him around ringside, stands on his throat, boots him in the head. Kobashi tries hacking at Takayama's head and neck with backchops but Takayama cuts him off again with a nasty climbing knee in the corner. The grunty armwork adds to the grittiness of the match, and Kobashi does a great job selling it as he tries to defend himself with the opposite chop hand. I really liked the struggle on the mat with Kobashi trying to hang on as Takayama pries the arm back into the armbar. As Kobashi spirits his way toward the finishing stretch, the fans rallying him on, Takayama keeps trying to go after the arm but he's clearly exhausted. He's able to hit a beautiful high-angle German suplex hold for a nearfall but can't deliver a second. Instead, they just start popping each other with fists and while Takayama lands a few good shots, Kobashi relentlessly whaps him with back fists. The finish comes a little out of nowhere as Takayama throws Kobashi with a desperate German and then Kobashi comes back with the lariat for the win. Big performance from Takayama, who went well past empty, and Kobashi being the best babyface he can be with some terrific selling throughout.

Watching Ikeda, who looked at his most pro-wrestling here, mix it up with Kawada was the definite highlight of an otherwise solid six-man tag. Fun stuff.

This was a bit of a mess but you kind of expect it to be going in. I love that Nagata just really wants to suplex Murakami and Nakanishi is able to throw him down a couple times but doesn't know what to do when he's got him on the mat. They beat up Murakami awhile until Nagata throws him into Ogawa's corner and tells Ogawa to tag in. Ogawa hits a couple STOs, Nakanishi tries going after Ogawa's injured shoulder while Nagata pins Murakami with some kind of suplex hold. Then everyone starts fighting post-match, including Choshu. A hot mess.

What a whirligig of a match. Everyone but Kashin got there moment to shine and the NJ juniors were extra stiff out there. CIMA looked pretty good with his mirage-like slingshot senton and pissing off Kanemoto. Loved when Kanemoto throws him with the tiger suplex and then poses with his prone body. Takaiwa was being a little shitkicker in there, nearly KO'ing Fujii with the lariat or powering Minoru up out of the armbar into the Death Valley Bomb. Lots of fun.

Dolph Ziggler and Kurt Russell

This ruled. Stiff strikes, focused legwork from Kanemoto with some uncharacteristically great selling from Takaiwa, neat little nuances here and there, and a few bombs for good measure. Even with a couple of minutes missing, we got the complete story. Kanemoto promptly shotguns him with a kick to the left leg and Takaiwa sells hard for it, before he starts trying to clobber his way to the driver's seat. The lariats into the guardrail were great but then he gets caught with the overhead suplex on the floor and Kanemoto goes to town on the leg. Fun stuff like Takaiwa grabbing the ref's shirt while in the figure-four or Kanemoto backhanding him in the face after he drops down with the spinning toehold. I love that when Takaiwa tries for his own figure-four, it's immediate reversed and he's put on the rocks. Then Kanemoto pulls off the knee pad and starts punching the bandaged knee. Takaiwa is able to work around the bum knee and throw some bombs, including a sweet Death Valley Bomb hold off a tiger suplex attempt. His double powerbomb is obviously weakened because of the leg and he knows it so he pulls Kanemoto up instead of pinning him and clubs him with a lariat. The finish was cool, too, with Kanemoto rolling through the frankensteiner into an ankle hold to submit Takaiwa. I'm probably the high man on this match but this is everything I want out of a sub-15:00 junior heavyweight match.

So cool to see Delphin work this kind of a match, and his takedowns were explosive. He wasn't able to get much going on the mat, mostly due to positioning, and in the second round, Murahama starts lobbing more punches to try and slow him down. But the third round was awesome, with Delphin absorbing Murahama's blows to try and get the quick submission with the single leg. After the German, Delphin tries for the double wristlock or kimura but Murahama's such a baby, he has to rake Delphin's eyes to escape. Loved it. Then, like in most of these "Different Style" fights, Murahama pummels him with strikes and high kicks him in the head for the KO. Good stuff.

I was not a fan of their last time limit draw and while they definitely improved upon that mess here, I feel like they don't quite have the chemistry to keep pulling these kind of matches off. It was a good match, and I liked Takeshita showing off more of his mean side after brainbustering Endo on the floor and continuing the attack on Endo's neck. Endo's never really been the best seller and it was competent here - hard in the moment, not so much afterward when it comes time to hit the flash. I think his best showing was against HARASHIMA in last year's King of DDT final but that was a much more grounded match than what this turned into. Lots of back-and-forths and reversals, and some fun little fighting spirit rushes before they both start dumping signatures and bombs to try and get the pinfall before the time expires. A perfectly fine match and a more aggressive side of Takeshita.

For a stiff as day-old catshit BattlARTS exhibition tag, this match ruled. Everyone had a role to play in this, and Ikeda’s willingness to get dumped on his head by Otsuka’s brutal suplexes will never not impress. Yoneyama’s the unknown underdog rocking the Tiger Mask IV pants and for a guy I’d never heard of, my first impression is a thumbs up, as he dished out some punishment as much as he took it, especially in the end against Ikeda. Ono was awesome with his wiliness both on the mat and on his feet slinging kicks. I liked the way he nonchalantly tapped Otsuka with kicks or how he'd kick his opponents from the apron. Both he and Ikeda did a good job of patrolling submission holds, so mostly, this was about the fold-up suplexes and hard hits. The finishing stretch was ugly beautiful, as poor Yoneyama tries to quickly submit Ikeda with the front necklock but that backfires and Ikeda solebutt kicks him in the throat, kicks him in the head, and when Yone won’t stay down, he slaps him silly and kicks him back down for good.

There were some cool moments in this but it felt like they stayed in first gear way too long. The kicks were snug and the matwork pretty straightforward, with Minoru going after the arm and Usuda the leg. I like that Minoru looked a little meaner on the ground, rubbing the wrist tape across Usuda's face at one point to try and break the arm for the jujigatame. Really great dragon screw legwhip from Usuda to set-up the figure-four leglock and of course, Minoru's dragon suplex throw always looks scary. I thought they did a good job of building toward the submission finish and the danger of the armbar/leglock, and Minoru's selling was subtle but better than his usual fare. The finish was also pretty cool, with Minoru fighting against the leglock but when Usuda gets the full extension, he immediately taps out.

I really liked this match. Both guys looked good and Ishikawa did such a terrific job of selling Nagai's strikes and legwork on the ground. That first Nagai kick against the ropes was perfect. When Nagai doesn't let go of a hold after a rope break, Ishikawa's pissy reaction with the kicks made me smile. Going back to Ishikawa's selling, his panic on the mat really adds to the overall sense of struggle, which I thought was expressed well on both sides between all the rope breaks. The striking up top was good, with some great elbows from Ishikawa and big kicks and knees from Nagai, including some head shots in the corner. Ishikawa pulls out this neat little combo of this beautiful right hand > jumping enziguri > grounded manjigatame. After Ishikawa escapes a rolling leglock, Nagai starts buckling his leg with kicks, which leads to the final fight over the leglock, which Nagai wins.

I recently watched Taira in a '92 RINGS shoot with a random Dutchman and didn't really peg him as a guy who could make a smooth transition into a more worked environment. He's a little excitable here and holds back on some of his flamboyant kicks but when he does connect, like with the spinning back heel kick or Pele kick, they were great. His leg trip into the submission early on was pretty swanky, and the legwork scramble on the mat was fun but messy. Otsuka worked more of a strong-style here but it worked well against Taira's hyper shoot boxer approach. Loved him using the camel clutch and crab holds and the finish with the giant swing into the cloverleaf. Pretty good match.

Kenoh and Corey Feldman

After your standard junior-y opening exchange and a quick journey in and out of the arena, this mostly turned into what I was hoping it would be: dueling neckwork to set up their respective crossface finishes. TAKA isn't quite as smooth as a guy like Togo and some of the transitions felt delayed but it was still a fun back-and-forth with TAKA using the legscissors on the mat and Daisuke hanging onto to a necklock, rushing back to it each time TAKA throws him off. The finishing crossface scramble was a lot of fun with some good counters from both until Daisuke's able to trap the arm for the finish. Nothing blow away but a solid addition to Daisuke's 2017 resume.

Bailey usually excels against a bigger, meaner opponent and Shuji was that opponent, ragdolling him with suplexes and clobbering him with elbows. I liked early on when he was trying to keep his distance with kicks and when he was able to connect to Shujis head or something, they looked and sounded solid. His bumping around for Shuji far exceeded any actual selling, which he isnt great at, but the crowd was into it and it was fun. Shujis knee counter to the SSP was cool.