superkix

I dug this a lot. Loved Akiyama’s opening rush, blowing off the ref and hyping up the crowd as he takes it Vader. Vader tries putting him in the corner and peppering him with these nasty little forearm shots but Jun fights for a German, with Vader hanging onto the ropes until Jun chops the arms out and delivers the big ole suplex. Both these guys were bumping big, in and out of the ring. The midsection of the match is Vader-dominant, with splashes and clobbering blows and even a dang Fujiwars armbar. Akiyama tries going after the knee but Vader, more or less, blows it off. I liked Akiyama countering the cover off the chokeslam with the desperation armbar but it doesn’t do much and Vader launches him sky high with a German suplex and then chokeslams him again, this time, pressing all that choice Vader beef down on top of him to get the pin.

There’s not a whole lot to sink your teeth into with this, aside from some stiff chops and big bombs. I mean, Kobashi gets dumped on his head with a backdrop within the first 30 seconds. There’s a little bit of story surrounding Kawada going after Kobashi’s leg to set-up some offense but not much else. I liked the little squabble on the apron, and the big repeat neck chops from Kobashi, which Kawada sold really well with his crumple into the ropes. In general, I thought he sold really well for Kobashi’s offense. And I always love Kawada’s little combo spurts. But the transitions felt wonky and the finishing stretch was mostly just Kobashi being Kobashi without much retaliation from Kawada before he falls to the lariat.

Oh boy, there is a lot to love from Hase in this match, from his awareness to his determination. Clearly, Misawa is not as slick as Hase on the mat so he has to rely on his primary form of offense, the elbow. Knowing this, Hase takes the obvious route and proceeds to annihilate said elbow in the form of extensive armwork. He takes him down, tangles him up, and rolls all over the canvas with Misawa in tow, working the arm like a full-time job. Misawa doesn’t do much in terms of trying to escape or countering – he mostly lays there and takes the punishment, though at times, he seems desperate to get away. Then again, he’ll often say “fuck your armwork, Hase” and throw a couple of elbows but Hase brushes them off and takes him back down. I love that Hase immediately brings the focus back to the arm following much of Misawa’s offense, first with the overshot diving body press and then off the German suplex hold. Misawa’s selling of the arm, or lack thereof, didn’t necessarily bother me -- I mean, I love Misawa's stubborness to keep using the elbow, knowing he can't take Hase on the mat and coming to realize that Hase has an answer for most of his other offense. The elbows obviously don't have the same impact on Hase so he has to keep on battering him, switching to the other elbow at the end to get some good shots in, before finally downing him with the running elbow. Sure, he could’ve done more to sell it but it’s Misawa, he’s the ace, so Hase staying in the driver’s seat for as long as he did is more than most get against Misawa. As Hase continues snagging the arm off of Misawa’s signature bombs, you finally see him start to crack with desperation. There’s a great visual of Hase almost hugging the arm, a look of real frustration on his face as he’s trying to get him to submit. But no matter what he does, Misawa’s still throwing those dang elbows. So Hase himself says “fuck this armwork” and drops Misawa with a bunch of suplexes. I wasn’t a big fan of Hase’s relatively quick demise following all that dedicated work on top but again, it’s Misawa. You take what you get, and what I got was a lot of cool shit from Hase. This was great.

Yeah, this was good stuff and an easy watch. I like that Takayama was firing heavy early on and Jun's too slick a cat for that shit and he dropkicks Takayama's knee out from under him to set-up the legwork. I always love when Akiyama is working the hell out of a limb -- that apron dropkick to the guardrail was awesome. Loved Takayama's double arm suplex hold. For a big man, he pulls it off so well.

Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Bob Backlund, representing KIMERA, held a press conference from downtown Tokyo to formally announce the promotion's inaugural event, "CRYSTALIZED HEARTS IN TOKYO", to be held on December 31st at the Tokyo Dome. Maeda was the obvious spokesman for the trio and announced that the show would feature twelve bouts representing each rule of combat. First and foremost, Maeda confirmed that the KIMERA would be determining new openweight tag team champions in an eight team, single elimination tournament, which would take place over the next two months. The tournament matches will only be fought under "Strong Rules" or "Hybrid Rules". The first two tournament matches would take places at the 12/31 show, but Maeda revealed all eight teams set to be involved: - Chris Jericho & Lance Storm - Yoshihiro Takayama & Gene Lydick - Akira Nogami & Shinjiro Ohtani - Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai - Dan Severn & Bart Vale - Kensuke Sasaki & Yuji Nagata - Yusuke Fuke & Kazuo Takahashi - Yoshihisa Yamamoto & Masayuki Naruse Maeda then re-iterated that the promotion's Light Heavyweight Title would be decided over a series of three match, with each match being wrestling under a different set of rules. The first of these matches will take place on 12/31, between Jushin "Thunder" Liger and Masanobu Fuchi. Either Liger or Fuchi will represent the promotion as the first light heavyweight champion. Bob Backlund briefly spoke to announce that he would be representing "strong pro-wrestling" at the event, challenging Shiro Koshinaka to a match under the "Strong Rules". Likewise, Fujiwara issued a challenge under "Catch Rules" to none other than Hiroshi Hase. In closing, Maeda confirmed that the promotion's first heavyweight champion would be decided on 12/31. Maeda himself would be involved in the match, of course, but before he could announce his opponent, Big Van Vader stormed the stage, wearing his mask and a business suit. He got in Maeda's face and said that he has returned to dominate Japan and KIMERA. He said that he would be the one to challenge Big Boss Maeda on 12/31 and then he leaned in, face-to-face with Maeda, declaring that he would beat Maeda under "HYBRID RULES!", which generated quite the buzz from those in attendance. KIMERA "CRYSTALIZED HEARTS IN TOKYO", 12/31 Tokyo Dome 1. KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament, Round 1 ~ Hybrid Rules: Dan Severn & Bart Vale vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Gene Lydick 2. KIMERA Openweight Tag Team Title Tournament, Round 1 ~ Strong Rules: Chris Jericho & Lance Storm vs. Akira Nogami & Shinjiro Ohtani 3. KIMERA Light Heavyweight Title, 1st Match ~ Catch Rules: Jushin "Thunder" Liger vs. Masanobu Fuchi 4. Strong Rules: Bob Backlund vs. Shiro Koshinaka 5. Catch Rules: Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Hiroshi Hase 6. KIMERA Heavyweight Title ~ Hybrid Rules: Akira Maeda vs. Vader PLUS MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED

The best match of the show, in my opinion, and one of the better tag matches of the year. Terrific chemistry between all four guys, and while the double team stuff looked a little off, the one-on-one interactions were the bread-and-butter. I really liked the opening exchanges, especially the back-and-forth on the mat between Akito and HARASHIMA. I'm a big fan of Akito's legwork as he's always finding creative ways to keep it fresh, and the set-up to it here was great, with him pestering HARASHIMA to the point he gets caught up in the ropes. The exchanges between Takeshita and Marufuji felt special, and for once, Marufuji was out-chopped. Good build to the home stretch with plenty of action and Akito bringing the focus back to HARASHIMA's leg. He's able to catch the first Somato attempt, putting HARASHIMA in the figure-four leglock...which gets broken up by an awesome leaping double stomp to the face courtesy of Marufuji. I loved the final few minutes of the match, with Akito doing these shitty little stomps and kicks to HARASHIMA’s injured leg, HARASHIMA finally no selling it, then just stiffing the hell out of him with a punt kick to the grill and brutal stomps to the head. He polishes him off with one of the best looking Somatos I've seen in awhile.

Can’t beat watching these two big dudes lobbing knuckles at each other. When Tenryu tries backing Sasaki into a corner, Sasaki straight up pops him with a couple of shots, knocking him on his ass, and the referee’s like “what the fuck did you do, Kens-kay?”. Some ugly but terrific bar fight exchanges in between the rest holds and bomb-dumping in the back half. Tenryu hitting the spider German suplex and trying for the frankensteiner was awesome. Really fun match.

Super Delfin has always had some of the crispiest takedowns in pro-wrestling, and Dick Togo’s no slouch himself. I liked the tempestuous back-and-forth open, with Delfin pulling out perdy little tilt-a-whirl headscissors in and out of the ring. Of course, the match can only stay untainted for so long with Togo’s crew lurking on the outside, and after some shenanigans, Togo gets a hold of a chair and injures Delfin’s leg after a diving double stomp from the apron. Togo’s legwork is grunty and somewhat effective but in the end, felt like filler as it’s quietly forgotten in the back half and no longer sold by Delfin. I really liked the rana counter by Togo into the crab hold > STF and Togo’s roll through on the tornado DDT attempt into the Liger Bomb. I agree that the finishing stretch after Togo's Pedigree>senton combo let the air out of this but there were still some cool moments throughout.

What a trip seeing Matsui in there officiating. As far as debut matches go, I can’t think one much better than this. The progression of heated strikes from round to round was done really well, and while there were a couple of muddled exchanges, Murahama looks like a natural. The first round had some love taps but they really unload in the second round, with Murahama taking out Hoshikawa with a right hook and dumping him with a backdrop suplex. Like Zero mentioned, Hoshikawa sneaking in there with an immediate German suplex retaliation was awesome. Murahama looked really strong there in the end, pummeling Hoshikawa down and out. Can't wait to see this series play out.

Yeah Im doing monthly, maybe bi-monthly shows.

Oh yeah, thats the idea.

Yeah, this rules.

KIMERA Following the dissolution of the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), Akira Maeda decided to build a new promotion dedicated to pure shoot-style wrestling; however, before this could happen, he was approached by Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Bob Backlund to create something unique that would truly alter the landscape of professional wrestling in Japan. Thus, KIMERA was born, a promotion which fused traditional pro-wrestling, catch-as-catch-can, and the pure shoot-style that Maeda intended to adopt. Maeda, Fujiwara and Backlund, the founders and co-owners of KIMERA, devised three distinct sets of rules which would govern the wrestling matches: Strong, Catch, and Hybrid. Match Rules Strong Rules: Under traditional "pro-wres" rules, or Strong 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). Catch Rules: Under Catch Rules, each match is given a ten minute time limit. No striking is allowed. Once again, a wrestler is given a warning for throwing an illegal strike (yellow card) and disqualified (red card) for a second. In addition, exiting the ring will result in an immediate disqualification. Between the two competitors, there are five rope breaks. The first wrestler to use three of these rope breaks, or the wrestler who has used the most rope breaks at the 10:00 mark is declared the loser. Suplex throws are allowed and a match can be won by ten count knockout, total knockout, or submission. Hybrid Rules: Under shoot-style rules, or Hybrid 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. Two titles were announced for the promotion: a heavyweight and light heavyweight title; however, openweight tag team titles are currently "under consideration". While the heavyweight title would be decided in the main event of the debut Tokyo Dome show ("CRYSTALIZED HEARTS IN TOKYO"), the light heavyweight title would be decided in a best two-out-of-three series of matches, with each match to be fought under a different set of rules. Roster Heavyweights Bob Backlund Hiroshi Hase Yuki Ishikawa Shiro Koshinaka Gene Lydick Akira Maeda Yuji Nagata Mitsuya Nagai Osamu Nishimura Kensuke Sasaki Yoshihiro Takayama Kiyoshi Tamura Vader Dick Leon-Vrij Yoshihisa Yamamoto Kazuo Yamazaki Grom Zaza Fujiwara-gumi Yoshiaki Fujiwara Masakatsu Funaki Minoru Suzuki Stars + Strikes Dan Severn Bart Vale Light Heavyweights Masanobu Fuchi Masahito Kakihara Jushin "Thunder" Liger Tatsuo Nakano Masayuki Naruse Akira Nogami Yoshinari Ogawa Shinjiro Ohtani Willie Peeters Fujiwara-gumi Yusuke Fuke Kazuo Takahashi Sudden Impact Chris Jericho Lance Storm

Mitsuya Nagai 1992

Masayuki Naruse 1992

Whoops, I scanned the rosters but guess I missed him. Yuji Nagata 1992

El Samurai 1992 Beast is up.

Hi

Akira Nogami 1991 Yoshihisa Yamamoto 1992 Beast Blehschmidt Gordi Lee Casebolt Joeg Elliot Low Blow - Todd Champion 1991 El Boricua

There's one name in particular that I keep pushing back but I'm always very surprised he's still available when I come back around again.

Kensuke Sasaki 1992 Willie Peeters 1991

Episode 6 is now available. 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 #006: Giving THANKS Topics discussed: - Oklahoma farms - Thanksgiving spreads - UWFi, Battlarts, FUTEN & NOAH - Murakami again - Weird camera angles - Bad News Allen - Koji Kitao's shittiness - A BattleArts elimination tag that is one of the best things we've seen & More No City Pop, Japanese or Korean music today. We got Don Trip, Kehlani and Stephen Kellog (weird) Matches: UWFi - 12/5/93 - Bad News Allen vs. Kazushi Sakuraba (thanks KS) FUTEN - 7/18/11 - Kengo Mashimo vs. Seiken (thanks Marc) NOAH - 6/8/07 - Kazunari Murakami vs. Naomichi Marufuji (thanks Tanner) UWFi - 10/23/92 - Nobuhiko Takada vs. Koji Kitao (thanks Rob) BattlArts - 7/26/08 - Daisuke Ikeda, Katsumi Usuda & Super Tiger II vs. Yuki Ishikawa, Alexander Otsuka & Munenori Sawa (thanks Dylan) Youtube Playlist: http://tinyurl.com/fnf006 Follow us on Twitter: @fightfriends @trillyrobinson @bren_patrick Email at: [email protected] Youtube at: http://tinyurl.com/FightFriends

My roster should be good to go after Round 30.

Kazuo Takahashi 1992

Yoshinari Ogawa 1992