superkix

Bob Backlund 1988 Dick Leon-Vrij 1992 Elliott is back up, followed by LowBlow

Would it be possible to update the rosters page? Makes it a little easier to see who's already been taken.

Masahito Kakihara 1992 El Boricua Beast Grimmas

I can't remember if this match was better than their G1 Climax bout...I think I'd give the nod to this one based on some of the rectifications from their first match. A lot of "your good, I'm better, no, wait, I'm the best"-ing around to open before Tanahashi settles into to working Ibushi's leg in classic Tanahashi fashion. You know, lots of legwhips. One area that was a marked improvement from the G1 match-up was Ibushi's selling. When he tries to get fresh with his standing moonsault, his leg gives out on the landing when Tanahashi rolls out of the way. Tanahashi, working that veteran ace style, does a good job of cutting off Ibushi's momentum by targeting the injured leg but Ibushi gets his comeback in the form of a somersault kick that stuns Tanahashi, allowing a run of offense that includes a lawn dart in the corner and a swan-dive German suplex. Unsurprisingly, the highlight of the match for me was that pissy slap, palm thrust, boot exchange, with Ibushi seizing Red Shoes' wrist and continuing to snap off kicks at Tanahashi in the corner like a shithead. Overall, a simple story with good selling, a few fiery exchanges, and enough big spots to satisfy without becoming too self-indulgent.

This was perhaps Suzuki’s most heel performance to date, although “heel” may not be the right term, as he’s colder and more calculated here, making Kamitani look like a young lion. The opening sets the stage perfectly, as Suzuki coolly side-steps Kamitani’s hot-headed rush. Kamitani looks nervous and hesitant in there, his takedown attempts almost timid, seemingly knowing that Suzuki is such a matwork master that there’s about a 0.00002% chance of outwrestling him. He comes off like a child at times, an example being Suzuki’s drop down and Kamitani delayed reaction, which elicits giggles from the Korakuen crowd. Then, as if feeling sorry for him, Suzuki lays down…only to further taunt Kamitani on the mat. Kamitani awkwardly climbs on with headlocks or choke attempts but Suzuki’s able to counter each, attacking the arm with a vicious European uppercut. When Kamitani taps into that raw manchild power, scoop slamming Suzuki and throwing his baby fat around with elbow drops, the fans finally give him something in return. But Suzuki continues to bite. As champ, he wrestles like he doesn’t have time for anyone, the way he kicks Kamitani over for a pin attempt. He cuts off Kamitani’s momentum with a big top rope front suplex and when Kamitani decides to sling elbows and headbutts, Suzuki slings the strikes back even harder. Kamitani staggers him with some big boy slaps and catches him with a low enziguri but when he tries for the lariat, Suzuki goes from octopus hold > full nelson > German suplex > dragon suplex hold, which sees Kamitani immediately try to escape since Suzuki can use it as a submission. The problem with Kamitani is that his offense doesn’t look all that impressive, aside from some of his clobbering blows and his backdrop finish. At one point, he hits a lariat and then goes into a shitty crab hold…why? Suzuki’s able to elbow out of the backdrop attempt, spiking Kamitani with a scoop slam tombstone, then cracking him with his deadshot elbow. He uses a running knee he probably learned from Shuji Ishikawa and then goes into a front necklock. Poor Kamitani tries to muscle out but Suzuki clenches down, forcing him to pass out before he’s castoff in disgust. The look on Hideki’s face as Daichi Hashimoto checks on Kamitani is the look of a man who gives zero fucks. The final image of Suzuki chilling up on his throne in the corner while Hashimoto’s desperately trying to get at him was awesome. I’ve said it before but Big Japan has done such a terrific job of establishing Suzuki as the ultimate final boss, and while I wouldn’t necessarily call the match itself great, I thought Suzuki’s performance re-iterated that. Everyone fears him but they also respect him, as soon in Kamitani's handshake afterwards.

I think 5 is a good number considering the 35 we are currently drafting.

That sounds amazing. Is there a Hase/Fujiwara match out there? It seems like there should be but I don't remember ever seeing one. They had a couple of matches in 1993 in NJPW. I remember one of them being particularly fun...don't remember watching the other.

Maeda wrestling Vader in a school girls outfit.

As of now, Vader/Maeda will headline and Liger/Fuchi is likely, as well as Hase/Fujiwara.

Tatsuo Nakano 1990 Up next: Bleh Schmidt Good El Boricua Low Blow Elliot Lee Casebolt

1989 Kazuo Yamazaki Low Blow Joeg Blehschmidt Gordi SirEdgar

Thank you so much for the feedback! Glad you've enjoyed the shows so far.

Sorry Lee, I had Suzuki as my next pick as well...trying to build a little Fujiwara-gumi contingent. So Minoru Suzuki 1992. Lee Casebolt dkookyPunk - Ricky Morton 1989 Jetlag Beast - Samu 1989 El Boricua SmartMark15 Grimmas

Masakatsu Funaki 1991 Gordi Blehschmidt Joeg Superkix Lee Casebolt Jetlag El Boricua SmartMark15 Grimmas

Solid matwork throughout the first fall with good pacing and some neat counters and reversals from Máscaras. They kept it moving without much downtime until Destroyer uses a...uh, powerbomb pin to take the first fall. Second fall picks up where the first left off, with Mil focusing more of his efforts on Destroyer's arm and Destroyer going after the leg. More struggle here, less finesse. Mil picks up steam with a couple of flying cross chops and submits Destroyer with the standing deathlock/double underhook hold. The third fall was pretty good with Mil stretching Destroyer on the mat and Destroyer takes advantage of Mil aggravating his knee off the atomic drop. Mil survives the figure-four and goes on to pin Destroyer with a top rope crossbody. Pretty good effort from both men and a fun watch but nowhere near their 1974 match.

Kiyoshi Tamura 1992

Can't have one premature grandpa without the other...Masanobu Fuchi 1991.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara 1988

Hiroshi Hase 1991

Opens with Tsuruta working a headscissors for about five minutes but Robinson in his royal purple conveys a good enough struggle to make it interesting as he tries to headstand out, kip out, hip swivel out, before finally reversing it. Nothing terribly exciting here though, outside of a couple of handsy spats and suplex exchanges. Jumbo sits on a crab hold for a long time and then the match is thrown out after some shenanigans on the outside. Can't really recommend this but it's neat to see the footage.

After a short break, Fighting Network FRIENDS is back with Episode 005. https://fightingnetw...nds.podiant.co/ to stream or subscribe to the RSS feed. You can also search us on Apple Podcasts. FNF #005: Tatsuo Nakano Deep Dive Topics discussed: - Weddings, Planes, Arcades - All of our RINGS uploads got kicked in the face by Maeda - Yuji Okabayashi - Talkin' all the sikkest shoot style looks - Tatsuo and why effort fuckin' matters - Manami Toyota - Atsushi Onita - Kazunari Marukami - Josh Barnett & Hideki Suzuki (DUH) & More Matches: 7/24/89 - Nakano vs. Funaki (UWF) 2/27/90 - Nakano vs. Suzuki (UWF) 5/4/90 - Nakano vs. Yamazaki (UWF) 9/26/91 - Nakano vs. Tamura (UWFi) 7/22/95 - Nakano vs. Takayama (UWFi) 5/25/96 - Nakano vs. Tenryu (WAR) 8/15/92 - Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada (IWA) 10/12/02 - Yuji Nagata vs. Kazunari Murakami (NJPW) 4/30/89 - Atsushi Onita vs. Ryuma Go (Pioneer) 12/31/11 - Josh Barnett vs. Hideki Suzuki (IGF) Youtube Playlist: http://tinyurl.com/fnf005 Follow us on Twitter: @fightfriends @trillyrobinson @bren_patrick Email at: [email protected] Youtube at: http://tinyurl.com/FightFriends

Maybe out-of-country folks should leave proxies to account for the time differences.

I'm pretty sure most Danshoku Dino matches count.

Didn't joeg basically make his next pick?