superkix

This ruled. A lot of stiff love, with Usuda opening the match with all these little headbutts before trying to choke out Ikeda. Then he starts snapping off kicks, landing a couple of headshots to Ikeda, who stumbles around until he runs into a shot that knocks him flat. Really great kicks from Usuda throughout. Of course, Ikeda dishes it back, waylaying Usuda with a big right hand before clobbering the fuck out of him with a lariat on the ropes. Usuda spends some time going after the arm, doing a good job of maneuvering around Ikeda's escape or counter attempts to stay in control. Loved when Ikeda freaks out on him with his punts, stomps, and kicks. Really liked the finish too, with Ikeda grabbing the arm, rolling around into a Fujiwara, and then laying on him with the choke sleeper until Usuda's eyes go white. Too bad this was clipped.

Straight up wacky junior heavyweight wrestling with a go-go-go pace. There's some dueling legwork early on that doesn't pop up again until the end, when Hidaka is trying to submit Minoru with the Shawn Capture. Lots of counters and pin attempts, swinging DDTs in and out of the ring by Hidaka, and some gnarly looking suplexes from Minoru, including a release dragon that dumps Hidaka right on his frosted tips. Selling is sometimes on but mostly off, as is the case with most Minoru matches, but for the most part, this was a fun, easy watch.

Such a great match with a concise and engaging story, good selling from both guys, and an exceptional performance from Kojima. Loved his early Koji Cutter counter to the lariat and his grunty follow-up legwork, which includes these awesome diving chopblocks and a tree-of-woe knee lariat. My favorite moment of the match comes after Sasaki withstands Kojima's lariat and straight up punches him in the face. Chono and crew jump the apron like "What the fuck, ref?!" but Sasaki doesn't care and punches Kojima again. They show off some fighting spirit with ragdoll German suplexes and one count lariats but the exhaustion definitely plays into the finish, with Kojima unable to go back to the leg or hit the Northern Lights Bomb.

Yeah, the fact that a shitty dropkick spot is causing Twitter drama is sad.

Murahama's a terrific little shitkicker, already showing so much fire and ego three months into his pro-wrestling career. He's so much more aggressive out of the gate and he doesn't hold back nearly as much as his debut match against Hoshikawa. The only real offense. The only real offense Hoshikawa's able to get in the first round is a series of freakout slaps to a grounded Murahama. The second and third rounds are mostly defensive, with some strikes exchanged and groundwork that doesn't go anywhere, but the fourth round really picks, with Hoshikawa looking to best Murahama on the mat. The German suplex off the ropes with Murahama struggling to hang on was awesome...and when Murahama delivers his own German, Hoshikawa is able to grab an arm upon impact, nearly scoring the submission before the round ends. Murahama's relentless in the final round and Hoshikawa definitely gets brutalized, despite getting a few shots in, before he goes down hard. Pretty awesome stuff.

Obviously Kohei Sato throws a mean elbow but I love the way Hideki Suzuki throws his weight into his elbow strikes.

DDT NJPW BJW

Not much else to add. Otsuka rocking the flamed out singlet and Yone the flame tipped pants. Greco's double arm facebuster onto the knee looked gnarly and it busted Yone’s nose. Love Ishikawa’s Saito suplex. Otsuka’s counter to Greco coming in to defend Ishikawa’s octopus hold was cool. Yone was whatever but he gets a good head kick in the corner to Ishikawa and then later finishes him off with the choke. As always, Ishikawa's selling is bueno.

Yeah, this was fun enough. Fujiwara utilizing the gi against dad Sayama plays up to his old man wiliness. He lets Sayama show off a bit with his flourishes before getting a takedown and forcing Sayama to the ropes -- at one point, getting a cheat body shot before letting go in true Fujiwara fashion. I like that Sayama pulled out one of his classic knee drops but Fujiwara stays on the leg and finishes him off with the leglock. Third time's the charm.

Probably Hideki Suzuki

Hidaka looking like Tidus from FFX. I dug the contrast of Hidaka's luchaesque hybrid junior style against Usuda's more straight up shooter. There was this cool dynamic throughout where Usuda was able to turn most of Hidaka's flashier spots into submissions -- like Hidaka hits the German suplex hold and Usuda slips off into an armbar, or the tornado DDT where Usuda's able to grab a kneebar. I also love how the announcer says "uh-scape". Like Jetlag mentioned above, Usuda does such a good job of selling the submission struggle, especially when Hidaka gets him in the cross kneelock. Hidaka's offense looked good -- really liked his corkscrew senton -- and I thought the finish was great, with Hidaka hitting the powerbomb but Usuda snagging the arm and then transitioning into the cross kneelock when Hidaka tries to escape. Fun stuff.

Hell yeah, love me a good Akiyama squash. This ruled. Shiga coming out of the gate confident, going after Akiyama's arm, and then whiffing on the plancha, which is the beginning of his end. I thought Shiga's selling on the beatdown was terrific, especially after the choke. Akiyama was such a dick though -- the way he ragdolls Shiga into the guardrail, the stiff boots and slaps, the double stomp from the top rope. Jun repeatedly slapping his way out of Shiga's arm control was awesome, then he just destroys him with a cradle tombstone. The way Shiga is trying to climb up Jun's leg after the Exploder was perfect, before Jun quickly submits him with the side headlock. Oh, and Dad Kobashi watching from the back. Great shot.

This was a lot of fun, with some neat exchanges and everyone getting their chance to shine -- oh, and Doc Wagner showboating around and stooging with Kashin. Nothing is really sold but whatever, they got some token legwork in. I liked Kashin scooting over to the corner with Kanemoto in the leglock. His lowblock>blockbuster combo on Takaiwa looked awesome. More Ohtani/Casas interactions would've been good but the two count off the la magistral cradle was great.

Thank YOU for your support! Agree, Togo/Sasaki has largely flown under the radar but rules.

The final three matches have been confirmed for KIMERA's 12/31 debut at the Tokyo Dome. The matches were announced by Akira Maeda during an appearance on a morning variety show to promote "CRYSTALIZED HEARTS IN TOKYO", in which the full card was revealed. When asked about his match against Vader, Maeda said that he does not share the same intimidation that others have of Vader. He will rely on his technique to take Vader down to the ground and submit him to become the promotion's first heavyweight champion. When asked about the direction of the company following the new year, Maeda said they are planning to run events twice a month from Tokyo. He hinted at a "Hybrid Rules" tournament in the coming months. Final Card KIMERA "CRYSTALIZED HEARTS IN TOKYO", 12/31 Tokyo Dome 1. Hybrid Rules: Tatsuo Nakano vs. Willie Peeters 2. Catch Rules: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Osamu Nishimura 3. Strong Rules: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Yuji Nagata 4. KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament, Round 1 ~ Hybrid Rules: Dan Severn & Bart Vale vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Gene Lydick 5. Catch Rules: Minoru Suzuki vs. Grom Zaza 6. Hybrid Rules: Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Dick Leon-Vrij 7. KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament, Round 1 ~ Strong Rules: Chris Jericho & Lance Storm vs. Akira Nogami & Shinjiro Ohtani 8. Hybrid Rules: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Kiyoshi Tamura 9. KIMERA Light Heavyweight Title, 1st Match ~ Catch Rules: Jushin "Thunder" Liger vs. Masanobu Fuchi 10. Strong Rules: Bob Backlund vs. Shiro Koshinaka 11. Catch Rules: Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Hiroshi Hase 12. KIMERA Heavyweight Title ~ Hybrid Rules: Akira Maeda vs. Vader

The relentlessness in which Akiyama comes at Misawa and stays on him throughout is incredible. I loved the opening stretch building to Misawa's apron elbow, with Misawa especially looking spry and energized. He's got to make sure Akiyama's ready for the challenge so he throws him a few snug lovetap elbows. Akiyama's neckwork after Misawa crashes and burns on the guardrail was extensive and brutal, with the apron Exploder and awesome neck cranks. Misawa's selling is terrific too, and Akiyama doesn't let him build too much momentum, dropping kicking him out of the ring and escalating the attack on the neck. I love how Misawa's veteran comeback toward the end starts with him busting open Akiyama's nose with a nasty knee drop to the face. But Akiyama won't lay down for him and I thought the fighting spirit Exploders were the perfect transition point heading into the finishing stretch. Fantastic match.

Closing out 2017 with Episode 8! 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. FNF #008: 2017 Year End Wrap-Up & Awards Topics Discussed: - 6 awards about 2017, 6 awards looking back at the first 7 episodes of the show, Hideki Suzuki, Kazuchika Okada, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Tatsuo Nakano, the list goes on and on. The boys deviate from their usually scheduled shit, but have a blast and give each other matches to watch as presents at the end of the show. X-Mas Present Matches: 3/12/17 - Ilja Dragunov vs. WALTER (wXw) 5/5/17 - Hideki Suzuki vs. Yuji Okabayashi (BJW) 2/26/17 - Arez vs. Belial vs. Impulso (Lucha Libre WMC) 4/14/17 - Dick Togo vs. Daisuke Sasaki (DDT/DAMNATION PRODUCE) Youtube Playlist: http://tinyurl.com/fnf006 Follow us on Twitter: @fightfriends @trillyrobinson @bren_patrick Email at: [email protected] Youtube at: http://tinyurl.com/FightFriends

I liked Kobashi working around the injured ribs early on, wincing through his offense as he tries to keep Vader down but like the killer at the end of the movie, Vader never stays down. He lumbers around, targeting Kobashi with his grunty ribwork, clobbering shots, and ragdoll throws. Him tearing off the bandaging was good stuff and Kobashi sold well enough to make up for Vader's limitations. Vader goes to town with the German suplexes and chokeslams but Kobashi spirits through the pain to win the match. Kobashi doesn't fire off much on Kobashi but the big moonsault was a fun tease and him bouncing off Vader with the first lariat attempt and leveling him with the second was a neat finish. Solid stuff.

Simple but smart junior heavyweight wrestling. This isn't a match that is going to blow many away and that's okay, that's not what they were setting out to do. But it had a little bit of everything, including a great counter-based approach, a couple of high risk spots, and a little comedy with the ropes shenanigans, Asahi's cobra strike, and the ref bumps. Shiori Asahi has a lot of the right tools, especially in his counterwork, but he tends to try to do too much in his matches. He was more grounded here (sometimes not by choice) but he's got a lot of neat touches to his style, like his simple counter to a side headlock. Sasaki goes after the neck early on to set-up for his crossface hold, and like Asahi, he's wrestling more of a grounded approach, though he does pull out his great diving elbow drop to the outside. I thought the octopus hold merry-go-round was fun, and I loved Asahi's answer to the backslide struggle by slipping through the legs into a swanky pin attempt. He's able to slip out of the crossface holds a few times but when Sasaki finally catches him, he uses the crossover version and Asahi quickly taps. An easy, breezy watch.

Yeah, this was a lot of fun. Daichi Hashimoto in All Japan is like night and day compared to Big Japan. He's so much more motivated and over with the fans. I really liked the simple opening between he and Aoyagi, who has also had quite the breakout year along with Nomura. Loved Daichi repeatedly kicking Nomura on the outside, forcing him to take a seat. You had Nomura and Kamitani throwing their big boy weight around, really solid action building to the finish, a hot crowd who really bit onto Aoyagi's German suplex hold nearfall. Good, simple, tag team wrestling.

That six man tag with Can Am & Owen looks awesome..

Love Vader preempting the match with a double bird “Fuck you!”. The first half of this match was solid enough, with Akiyama and Kobashi working over Vader’s knee. I liked when Kobashi had Vader in the half crab and Akiyama dropkicks the knee a couple times -- good subtle selling from Vader throughout. The match picks up as Akiyama gets put on the rocks and suplexed around by Vader and Williams. I thought Williams connected with some good stiff clobbering blows. The final minutes of the match heading toward the finish was full of big boy bombs, including Exploders from Akiyama, powerbombs and powerslams, and Vader hitting the Vader Bomb onto Kobashi for a terrific nearfall. That finish with Kenta getting dumped on his head with the dragon suplex and then chokeslammed was brutal.

A good sub-ten minute scrap. Seiken's a guy I was unfamiliar with going into this but he's a pretty heavy striker, maybe a kickboxer. I liked the early exchanges, with Seiken overwhelming Kengo out of the gate, and then Kengo settling into the more self-assured bruiser role, swatting down Seiken's wheel kick and stooging around with his weaker follow-up kicks. Then he gets caught in the grill with a second wheel kick and a solebutt to the gut. Mashimo dominated the finishing stretch with suplexes and head kicks -- the kick that buckled Seiken's knee looked especially nasty. Fun stuff.

Yeah, this was decent BattlARTS fun. Nagai's kicks look pretty good and that's really about but I agree with the above that he looked a lot better on the mat when paired with Ishikawa, utilizing a lot of rolling holds. The back-and-forth limbwork was okay -- Ikeda blew off the arm work but I thought Ishikawa always does a good job selling the leg. After Nagai hits the belly-to-belly and tries to powerbomb Ishikawa, Otsuka springboards in with this big dropkick save. I also liked Ikeda hitting all these low kicks from every direction to a grounded Ishikawa but I'm in the Ishikawa>Ikeda camp. Cool finish with the rear headbutt into the choke.

This wasn't very exciting. Kotsubo's decent, love the singlet with the pastel rainbow splashes, but he didn't really bring much to this match to elevate it above the autopilot fluff Minoru defense. This was mostly Minoru showcasing himself, which is mostly armbar takedowns and a couple of back suplexes. I wouldn't mind seeing more of Kotsubo against a different opponent but this match is very forgettable.