superkix

You already see the greatness that is to come from Han. Sure, awkward moments pop up from being unsure how to hold back or dropping the illusion of defense. Conditioning, or lack thereof, also plays a big factor, which allows Maeda to take his head off with a big spinning heel kick near the end. He’s never been a big striker, although he’ll throw a couple face slaps here and there, or the occasional chest headbutt, but his meat-and-potatoes are his takedowns and submission attempts. He manages a cool rolling armbar or kneebar takedown, and at one point, he seemingly DDTs Maeda. The last couple of minutes are a lot of fun, with Maeda pissing off Han and eating a uranage before snagging Han’s leg to pick up the submission win.

Tons of action and spoils, with everyone playing a role, but Murahama being the one this match was built around. He sells a good beating from the heels. I loved Togo breaking up Murahama's reverse armbar takedown and soaking up the heat. Delphin delivers a neat backdrop hold onto Buffalo but at the end, gets creamed with a Buffalo lariat over the ropes. The finish was fun, too, as Murahama collapses on the corner whip but pops up to hit the finishing kick. Fun stuff.

One thing I love about pro-wrestling is a good, hard-hitting, extended squash match, and Kawada knows how to squash his way into my heart. After a stalemate opening, Fuchi slaps Kawada in the face to let him know that he’s the vet and Kawada starts hacking at Fuchi’s leg with kicks…you know, because Fuchi doesn’t wear kneepads so it’s an easy target. Hamstring kicks, face kicks, nasty stomps to the head, slaps, extended wristlock sequences – Kawada gives you a bit of everything. Fuchi finally catches a kick, dropkicks Kawada’s opposite knee, which is such a great counter, then proceeds to step right on his fucking face. When Kawada is peppering Fuchi with those shitty little face kicks, Fuchi stands up like “what!”, and Kawada slaps him and puts him back down for more shitty face kicks. Awesome moment. Fuchi heats up toward the end, delivering three consecutive backdrops to Kawada but that’s about the only whiff of victory he gets before Kawada builds to the folding powerbomb finish. My kind of match.

Going in, I had no idea who Bert Kops Jr. was but I liked the name (I like all juniors) and I liked what he brought to the match. Awesome full-rotation takedowns, deadlift suplexes and some heavy kicks compared to Willie’s more light-footed approach. Peeters is such a lovable dweeb. Between his fake out punches, his anxious defense, and his shitty little strikes to the face, you can’t not love him. He incorporates a lot of fancy movements, which are more pretty than effective, but he does land some hard strikes, including a big knee to Bert's face that wins him the match. A fun, fast-paced match worth checking out from an otherwise disappointing show.

Whereas Maeda was the cool elder statesman of their first encounter, Vrij turned on his cybernetic eye and zeroed in on Maeda with some heavy strikes, in a display of total aggression and dominance. He’s relentless with his kicks and knees, even against the ropes, almost knocking Maeda out of the ring at one point. He continues to be a shithead here with his slaps and he really pops Maeda’s legs with those kicks. I thought Maeda’s selling was pretty great as he gets cut down and limps back to his feet. He doesn’t get much off on Dick in terms of offense, aside from a half hatch suplex into an armbar. But Dick escapes and promptly destroys him to even the series. Not as good as their first encounter but still a pretty fun match.

After a successful debut show at the Tokyo Dome, Akira Maeda made the announcement this afternoon at a small press conference that KIMERA would be holding its second event in Yokohama on 1/28. The event, coolly dubbed "CERULEAN BREEZE IN YOKOHAMA", will take place from the Yokohama Arena. A number of matches were revealed for the show, including two more matches in the KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament, as well as the second match in the KIMERA Light Heavyweight Title series -- this time, under Hybrid Rules. In addition, Maeda announced that a new contender to the KIMERA Heavyweight Title would be decided at the show, in a Strong Rules match between Hiroshi Hase and Bob Backlund. The winner will receive a shot at the current champ, Vader, in February. Maeda himself said he would be wrestling who he sees as a future star of the promotion, Masakatsu Funaki, under Hybrid Rules, while Yoshiaki Fujiwara would face off with another young face in Minoru Suzuki. When asked about his loss to Vader, Maeda admitted that his technique had failed him because he underestimated Vader's size. When asked about a rematch, Maeda said he would have to get at the back of the line and work his way back to a title shot. KIMERA "CERULEAN BREEZE IN YOKOHAMA", 1/28 Yokohama Arena 1. KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament, Round 1 ~ Strong Rules: Kensuke Sasaki & Yuji Nagata vs. Kazuo Takahashi & Yusuke Fuke 2. KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament, Round 1 ~ Hybrid Rules: Mitsuya Nagai & Masahito Kakihara vs. Masayuki Naruse & Yoshihisa Yamamoto 3. KIMERA Light Heavyweight Title, 2nd Match ~ Hybrid Rules: Jushin "Thunder" Liger vs. Masanobu Fuchi 4. Catch Rules: Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Minoru Suzuki 5. #1 Contendership - Strong Rules: Bob Backlund vs. Hiroshi Hase 6. Hybrid Rules: Akira Maeda vs. Masakatsu Funaki

A fun contrast of styles, with Tamura utilizing his smooth takedowns to stay on top of Nakano and look for an opening on the mat. The match takes a bit to get going but when Tamura goes for a double leg takedown, he runs smack into Nakano's classic reflex knee to the face. That gives Nakano a bit of confidence, as he starts trying to bulldoze Tamura down but of course, Tamura being Tamura manages to find a way to coolly reverse a hold or counter the attack. At one point, Tamura tries for a headlock takedown and Nakano grabs a rear choke – almost a crossface chickenwing – and drags him down to the canvas. Tamura continues trying to get holds on Nakano but the little meatball doesn't really budge...so he starts smacking him around instead, or dumping him straight on top of his head with a waterwheel throw. Nakano keeps fighting 'til the very end as he tries elbowing out of the hold before submitting.

Nothing spectacular but a refreshing, simplistic exhibition with good struggle on the mat and suplexes that felt important. For a guy who doesn’t wrestle much, Barnett showed good agility, and his takedowns and transitions looked better than Thatcher, who was, more or less, on auto-pilot here. There wasn't much heat to this, the crowd was weird, and the selling was minimal but Barnett's strikes and suplexes looked great (poor Thatcher doesn't know how to throw a good kick) and the finish was cool, with Barnett laying into Thatcher with a stiff combo in the corner to set up the Capture Buster.

This had some pretty great moments, especially from Ohtani and his interactions with Kanemoto but I thought Takaiwa probably sold the stiffness better than anyone and Minoru got in a few good licks, as well. Ohtani punching Kanemoto in the corner and the ref not doing shit about it was pretty funny, and then him just laying into Koji with the hard slaps. And then later, taunting Kanemoto on the apron as he hits a couple basement dropkicks to Minoru. Of course, we get the face washes, including a high kick version. At one point, Minoru cracks Takaiwa with a real nasty kick to the face in the corner, which Takaiwa sold pretty well. Then we get the merry-go-round with all four men before they hit the fial stretch, which is full of very frantic exchanges that add to the overall excitement. The fans were losing their shit by the end of it, and Minoru's dragon suplex > cross armbreaker was a cool way for him to get the nod.

This was great. The exchanges between Murahama and Hoshikawa were definitely the highlight. As much as I like Murahama, I'm becoming a big fan of Hoshikawa. Cool dad vibes and his shit always connects and looks very crisp. As Murahama's getting beaten down and struggling to make it to Delphin, Hoshikawa is bullying him with these condescending little kicks and cuts off his momentum by catching a kick and capture suplexing him. He's got a pretty snap Northern Lights suplex hold and that diving kick that finishes off Murahama looked brutal. Delphin didn't get too much time to shine and Yakushiji in his Bruce Lee attire was interesting but the stuff between Murahama/Hoshikawa ruled, and Murahama busting out the tope con hilo and being all proud about it afterwards was awesome.

This was alright. I mean, it's always neat seeing Hamada get in there and add a little salsa to the competition, but Minoru was on auto-pilot for much of the match. These intergender tags have been my first exposure to Fukawa, who I thought has some pretty cranky submission holds, and it was fun seeing her mix it up with Hamada. Overall though, it dragged and some of the exchanges looked clumsy.

Hi Chad. This wasn't very good. It was muddled and sloppy and Yone really stunk it up (you know, aside from KO'ing Hidaka with the Muscle Buster). I love that the ref fucks up Yone's rope-run spot. Hidaka tries to do some of his junior-y things but Yone's so awkward in how he handles them. The exchanges between Minoru and Hidaka were copy-and-paste from any other match you've seen them together in. Oh, and Otsuka was there, too. Yone sells his fisherman buster like death. But again, not very good.

Another cool mat-focused match, with Taira's unpredictability and perseverance being a key part of this. Early into the match, he shows Usuda's he ready for the strike game, catching a kick and planting him with the capture suplex. Usuda tries going after the arm on the mat, then switches to the leg, but Taira catching him in these unrefined submission predicaments. Loved when he traps Usuda's arm and then grabs his face and arm, trying to wrench him away from the ropes. Toward the end, Taira is relentless with his targeting of Usuda's leg and keeps taking him down until Usuda has no choice but to give up.

I really enjoyed this. Very much an Ono showcase of reversals, takedowns, and slipping through Ishikawa's more experienced fingers to a snag a leg or pop him with a couple of kicks. Real slick matwork, with Ishikawa mostly weathering Ono's combos in order to find an opening for the usual takedown>submission. But Ono proves to be a bit more wily than he probably anticipated. I liked the sequence where Ishikawa catches one of his punches and tries to take him down with the armbar, but Ono cartwheels out of it and moves into a rear waistlock. He has a lot of answers of Ishikawa's defense but in the end, taps out to the vet. Cool stuff.

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.