TheBean

I've been making my way through Zero One Wrestling. Man, I have been missing out!The following are from the DVD: ZERO1 Fire Festival 2007 Part 1 Samurai TV. So I watched the full episode/DVD. For more great Zero One Wrestling in 2007, including awesome matches with Yoshihiro Takayama, Masato Tanaka and more, check out: https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2026/01/zero-one-wrestling-2007-part-1.html https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2026/01/zero-one-wrestling-2007-part-2.html 07/16 •Shinjiro Otani v Kazunari Murakami - This was a brawl which was setup nicely by the video package. These two hate each other. Murakami makes it seem like its going to be a squash at the start. Otani makes his comeback by good old chair swinging. He busts out a chair seat over Murakami's head like it's IWA Japan. This opens Kaz up the hard way. Blood for blood, he retaliates and turns on the crimson faucet by socking Otani in the nose. 14 minutes of mayhem - this was a great match! •Takao Omori v Yoshihito Sasaki - This was one of the best under 10 minute matches in recent memory. Both guys dialed up the impact and intensity for this sprint. Sasaki seems emboldened from his fight with Masato Tanaka and has no hesitation in attacking the veteran Omori. •Ryoji Sai v Yutaka Yoshie - This was a hard fought match. Sai had excellent strikes as he tried to chop down the big man Yoshie. And Yoshie was a fantastic big man with a variety of moves and a lot of muscle under his fat. •Masato Tanaka v Daisuke Sekimoto - Smart stuff at the outset. Tanaka goes after Daisuke's arm. There's a couple brilliant sequences here too. Then, they start pummeling each other. Sekimoto has his chin split open from an elbow strike. That fires him up and this looks like Awesome vs Tanaka at times. These are two of my favorite wrestlers for a reason. Classic dream battle! •Yutaka Yoshie v Ikuto Hidaka 7/22/07 - Really fun big vs little guy match. Good psychology throughout with Hidaka trying to take out the bigger man logically. 07/28 •Ryoji Sai v Ikuto Hidaka - Pretty fun stuff again. This is more evenly matched. I thought Hidaka made this special by taking spirited bumps & and adding a bit of psychology. Sai was smart in letting him tell the story and supplying the kicks & double stomps 🙂 •Daisuke Sekimoto v Yoshihito Sasaki - Holy cow! They put a lot of hard hitting action into 15 minutes! This was at a smaller venue so it lacks a "middle" section. They just ramp up the excitement. If you dig Kobashi era NOAH, you're going to want to see this. Also a good match to show a friend who's curious about "older" Japanese wrestling. •Shinjiro Otani v Akitoshi Saito - Edited to roughly 10 minutes. It's great to see this match up. Very good match that's not clever but two tough guys kicking & suplexing each other. Otani is definitely one of the best wrestlers watched in 2025. This was a great DVD/TV episode! A great overview of the Fire Festival. I feel like the more Zero One Wrestling I watch, the more I like it. This has been a very rewarding project thus far. Thanks for reading! For more including the Final post for 2007 which will coming out soon, visit: wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com

As far as the 20 year thing, that would be the criteria that I would be using but no way does anyone else need to use it. 🙂 I think the consistently great matches can be hashed out a bit more by saying: I wouldn't say someone who had one classic, and a load of average matches or stinkers every year for 20 years should be in the same boat as someone who is putting on great & very good matches as well as classics within that time span. For instance someone like Giant Baba. From '69-89, one could argue he had a classic match in there every year (admittedly tags & 6 mans as time went on)...but the majority of folks would agree that he had a ton of crap too (more crap that classics). Whereas Tenryu from 1984-2004+, one could argue he had a classic match every year in addition to a ton of very good & great matches. I'm using Baba as an extreme example for effect. It's about what could be argued reasonably & be convincing. I don't think anyone could do that with Baba though. Also that's to limit part time or once a year wrestling like WWE would do with guys like Undertaker, Rock, Brock etc. Essentially you've got to be part of a roster or working a schedule. Regarding Misawa, I'd argue he's got 20 years. I'd probably say 1985-2005 would work for me. His stuff versus Kobayashi in 1985 and then I know folks aren't unanimous on his Kawada dome match in 2005 but I would say that as a classic from my old notes. Kobashi is outside that bubble since his injuries and illness sidelined him in NOAH. One could argue Akiyama however 1993-2013 for instance. Arguments for Hansen '80-'00 could be made...although those last couple years could be tough. I think Rey Jr, Danielson, AJ 20 year arguments can be made this time that maybe couldn't be made last time. Ultimately the time span is a strong guide more than a rule. I considered 15 as a start as there's a shit ton of wrestlers that had a great 10 year span. 15 years is a good spot for top 25 but 20 years seems to be the max. And when you start actually looking at folks with those kind of spans, it's many the same wrestlers that were in the Top 10 of 2016 or at least got votes. 20 years isn't the rule but 15-20 years of high quality seemed to be the prevailing trend. Regarding Flair, I'm legitimately asking others what their views are regarding these times, not rhetorically. I'm not arguing '74-94 nor saying he had 15 years of crap. I'm actually curious because I know his 80's is golden and his early 90's holds up too. Also thanks for the additional info Mantaur Rodeo Clown, that makes sense 🙂 But when does Flair become like a "Giant Baba?" When does his output become sporadic in terms of quality? Or again, what year do people say, " this is when Flair became one of the best? " 1981-2001 for instance, is that a reasonable 20 year period? Or can we give him a "bridge" over the last few years of WCW and say he came back into form for a few years in WWE?

Is there a consensus of when Flair's great matches start and when they end? I think to be even considered top 10, a wrestler should have a 20 year span of consistently great matches*. If we can agree that Flair has 20 years of consistently great matches then, any crap matches/years afterwards can be "excused" because it is a business/job after all. That applies to everyone. BUT I don't think Flair's longevity for the sake on not wanting to retire should be a positive either. If he's got 20 years of quality and 15 years of crap then, I think those 15 years should be used against him when looking at other wrestlers with 20 years of quality but retired, went to the mid card etc.. (Using 15 years as an example). Again that applies to everyone. *consistently great matches, I mean NOT just a great PPV match one year. At least great matches every PPV, big show, tour, very good TV matches etc. Perhaps a classic per year etc. I don't believe he was de-emphasized or had a quality drop in the early 90's. Having watched a bunch of WCW 1994 last year, Flair was given opportunities and definitely used them. He had a couple fantastic matches with Steamboat, one being an hour or so. He had a great series with Regal although intentionally chopped up into multiple matches (Marquis Queensbury matches). And he was working Hogan in PPV main events. So I think AJ & Rey don't benefit more than Ric (or Hogan for that matter) did. They just happen to have longevity & consistency of quality like Flair. I mention '94 because this might be the last year where he has the quality wrestling & opponents, and one could argue '74-94 are his 20 yrs. If this is the year/period when you were thinking when saying "early 90's" then sorry! 🙂 Also, not sure if this was your intention so apologies if it's nitpicking but long matches don't necessarily equal good matches. I want to but won't hold Flair Broadway matches against him at this point (same with Danielson, if not draws then long matches) while physically impressive, it didn't always yield a better match. I mention those two because the long matches became their trademarks.

Yeah I could see Misawa & Kobashi ranking higher this time. I feel like 90's guys are going to edge out 80's guys just from a "who's participating" perspective too. I think that goes into the mix with Flair a very small amount. Probably the smallest since he stayed on TV in the 90's, 2000's and beyond where a lot of "80's" workers were wrapping up or already done. That was my view regarding Steamboat being done in 1994 in the other thread. Hansen, who might be on the bubble for top 5 in your view is an interesting case. I think his position this time may depend on how people view his pre-Kings Road/4 Pillars work in AJPW, not to mention his NJPW, Puerto Rico, AWA etc. stuff. I think you have a point there.

I think your points with Rey, AJ Styles etc al. combined with Ricky Jackson's above are what leads me to believe he might be out of the top 10. It all depends on who's voting (duh!) but there could be a lot of people that don't like "non WWF 80's wrestling" and could be bounced out. I think the 2016 results had that X factor so I'm keeping that in the back of my mind. If I just think about PWO folks and similarly minded people then I think you're 100% right. If there's no anti-80's/old school wrestling or other surprise then I'm thinking: #1 Funk, #2 Hansen, #3 Danielson, #4 Flair, #5 Hijo del Santo, Rey Misterio Jr, Misawa/Kobashi...someone around the top 5 last time.

Watched WCW '94 a few months back so knew it wasn't then but early 95 stuck in my mind for some reason. Points still the same.

I would be surprised if Flair makes the top 10. I have a feeling a lot of the "younger" wrestlers from the 2016 project will be making their way up the rankings. Regarding Flair vs Steamboat, I think I would probably rather watch a random Steamboat match over a random Flair match. I think if Steamboat would have had a few more active in ring years, he might be remembered better on his own. He dipped out right as Nitro was getting started iirc.

Actually found the full show for the above Corino - Omori match. If you search YouTube Zero1-Max Ground Max, you should find it. I watched the Ikuto Hidaka, Minoru Fujita & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Sonjay Dutt, Spanky & Super Crazy. It's a really fun 6 man match with all kinds of crazy spots. 15 minutes just flies by. Definitely recommend it 🙂 Also, the first '07 Zero One Wrestling post is up: https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2026/01/zero-one-wrestling-2007-part-1.html

Oh god yes, this was great primal stuff. I think the moment that locked this in as a great match was when Valentine was pressing Piper's head into the ring post like he was trying to pop it like a cantaloupe. Then it just got better. All time classic. Must see!

I wasn't following Sting or Austin specifically but I thought I would add this match for anyone looking now or in the future.

Here are my awards for the Best of what I watched in 2025: •Feud of the year for the first half of 2025 is Larry Zbyszko vs Lord Steven Regal. I may have underrated those matches. I loved them. American Wolves vs Steenerico is probably second feud at June. Jim Duggan is a feud machine and his feud with Buzz Sawyer & Dick Slater in Mid South 1985 is pretty great. Ted DiBiase vs Duggan probably takes the cake though. •Biggest Surprise of 2025? The whole year felt like a surprise, am I right!? Talking wrestling, I think there's some truth there. I watched a fair bit of wrestling. Much of it was outside my comfort zone. The shoot style sampling project was a blast especially when looking at it with a different tactic. I surprised myself by watching a ton of American wrestling with WCW and Mid South being two of the big projects of 2025. So, I think the biggest surprise was digging my teeth into teeth into WCW '94 and Mid South '85 (especially) and having an excellent time. •Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada are the joshi tag team of the year. Although there's not as many matches of theirs, they feel most like a top tier tag team... they were putting on classic, big time matches. They feel like they belong in that mid to late 90's AJW level. Men's tag team is between Yoji Anjo & Yoshihiro Takayama and Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. And I'm going to pick ChoTen for their work in New Japan 1995. •My wrestler of the year starts with Regal in '94, Davey in '09 & Satomura in 2002. For quality of matches alone KENTA in ROH 2009 deserves recognition. Then I'm thinking Yoji Anjo for his consistently great working in UWFi. I have to consider Hiroyoshi Tenzan for his break out 1995. I think I'm going to stick with my frontrunner from June, Ted DiBiase. He's the complete package in 1985 Mid South Wrestling. •Bryan Danielson is a perennial Best Match Watched contender and it's no different this year. And honestly, I don't know if I really am a big fan of his anymore. I think I'm over-familiar. But that should be evidence of the quality of the nominated bouts. I'm not swayed by favoritism or nostalgia there. Those matches are that good. And the front runner is Bryan Danielson vs Davey Richards (Final Countdown: Boston 09/25/09). I think the other contender is Ric Flair vs. Terry Taylor (06/01/85). It's a match that I was absolutely transfixed by. I'm not really interested in long matches anymore but I stuck with it... and I knew that it was a longer one. Yup, I'm going to say Ric Flair vs. Terry Taylor (06/01/85) was the Best Match Watched in 2025. It just had everything. For the full list of the best matches watched in 2025, go to: https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2025/12/best-match-watched-2025-big-list.html Upcoming projects that are in progress and looking to complete early 2026 are: •All Japan 1986 •New Japan 1990 •Zero One Wrestling 2007 •Ongoing but periodically updated stuff include Tajiri You Might Have Missed, New Japan 2010 as well as more Shoot Style Sampling. And classic Ring of Honor projects...I'm going over a couple in my mind. Thanks for reading!

Finished X-Men Hellfire Club/Dark Phoenix saga and wow...yeah probably the best X-Men story that I remember reading. I knew the general idea for a long time from reading Wizards, the X-Men cartoon & the trading cards but, this was just excellent. I liked how Claremont/Byrne brought the original team back into the mix little by little. I liked how Wolverine started to feel like the badass we know. Heck, I even connected with that blue boy scout Cyclops. Claremont isn't my favorite writer as I think he can be too wordy or use thought balloons where not needed but he nailed it here. If you count the Proteus stuff which lays the ground work, it's issue 125-138(139). That's amazing. John Byrne & Terry Austin are flawless throughout.

All Star Weekend 9 - Night 1 - 2013 Paul London vs Kevin Steen - Comedy, crowd work start but actually becomes a competitive match. It is modern in its moves but relatively old school in its approach. They want to tell a story rather than have a gymnastics routine and is a pretty darn good match. Young Bucks vs Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano - This is late stage Dragon Gate USA in the VFW hall. A lot of cool moves with no build and allowing no time for anything to sink in. It's entertaining but seems to be "boys pretending to be pro wrestlers." Eddie Edwards vs Jay Lethal - Both knew how to sell & play it up like a big time match. They let it breathe and actually let it build. It's PWG so they did a lil bit of comedy at the start. When it was time to start the match in earnest, they had plenty of surprises in the way of counters & reversals. This was two pros looking like pros, great match. AR Fox & Samuray del Sol vs Ricochet & Rich Swann - They paced themselves just enough to allow what they were doing to have impact. Of course, this looked like Spot-fu at times but there was more going on than that. It seemed like a more mature version of Bucks vs Chuck and Gargano. Fun, brain's off wrestling. Roderick Strong vs Trent Beretta - Trent had the question mark after his name but I think most folks know him as Trent Beretta now. This had a good pace & exciting moves but had the misfortune of following the tag match. And I made the mistake of watching 2 PWG matches in a row. So it's a good match but seemed underwhelming in comparison. I don't think it is so you definitely should give this a shot. Michael Elgin & Brian Cage vs Kyle O'Reilly & Adam Cole - This was a proper tag match. Good story of the two brutes against the tough guy & the weasel. It featured a an excellent variety of action - mat wrestling, shoot style-esque moments, big man moves and more. It was essentially a Ring of Honor style tag versus a DGUSA tag. I could actually process what I was watching and it much better because of it. With that in mind, near classic tag bout...like ****1/4 stuff. Drake Younger vs Sami Callihan - A great hardcore wrestling match. This definitely could have taken place in BJW and probably did in CZW 😋 This was slower than everything else on the card but was twice as violent. Still not anything "ultra" violent. ECW or Attitude era fans would be OK with this. All Star Weekend 9 - Night 2 - 2013 RockNES Monsters vs Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano - "Vintage" PWG Indie-riffic-ness. Exactly the goofy fun you want & expect. This is the type of match you forget but is good to get the show started. Paul London vs Trent Beretta - Way more engaging than Trent vs Roderick. I want to say both guys' WWE experience is what made this. There was a nice face/heel dynamic. They did a lot of simple stuff to garner excitement. This was a very good - great match. Adam Cole vs Drake Younger - Great title match! Drake is the story of ASW #9. Here the tough SOB is taking the smarmy champ to the limit but...he's not 100%. Cole used Drake's head wound from Night 1 to fuel the psychology - kicks to the head, brainbuster onto the knee etc. TJ Perkins vs Samuray del Sol - Rey Jr vs Malenko on Thunder for the 2010's. A dizzying display of maneuvers done with little to no error. Was there story or selling? Not really but if you want to be wowed, this will do the trick. Jay Lethal vs Willie Mack - Willie was the folk hero of early 2010's PWG. So, it was nice to see him again. This was a fun, fun match laid out by Lethal. Kevin Steen, Michael Elgin & Brian Cage vs Ricochet, Rich Swann & AR Fox - One of the most PWG-est PWG match to PWG. 3 acrobats & 3 strong men - this was a circus in the best way. A bananas ass spot- fest spectacular. This should have been the main event. If you're interested in that, then I RECOMMEND this one. Sami Callihan vs Kyle O'Reilly - Hard hitting, fairly psychology laden singles match between two of the better wrestlers of the 2010s. Not a PWG match, much more ROH in style. It could have been a little tighter and been a near classic. Great match nonetheless. Young Bucks vs Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong - Dojo Bros beat the Bucks' chests raw like steaks. Great to see them whoop the Jackson boys. Eddie & Rod had plenty of answers for the brothers' tricks. That's what made this great. The Y.B. made most of this a "get-your-shit-in" match. All Star Weekend 9 was a great weekend of indie wrestling. PWG really had their pick of talent at this time. Their booking as always leaves a lot to be desired though. I can't recommend watching either show in one sitting. As you can also tell, I don't recommend watching their shows in the order they are presented. Watch them in the order that you see fit. Otherwise you will get burnt out. You will get desensitized. I try to watch everything on its own and I stand behind my rating/opinions as a result.

Re: Time Stamps, I think if the TNA YouTube folks can put time stamps in their compilation videos so can the WWE 😄

Tajiri vs Rey Misterio Jr. (WWE Smackdown! 09/25/03) - You might have seen this one but I didn't. I just couldn't pass up Rey vs Tajiri. And I'm so glad that I watched this. It's such a great match. Rey Misterio Jr is one of the best TV wrestlers so I thought this would be a lot of him doing his thing but, it's more of a story driven bout. Tajiri works over the masked hero's gut & ribs with a variety of kicks, submissions and throws. Junior has got to hang in there and find opportunities to attack when he can. This is Rey at his best I think. The Japanese Buzzsaw is as wily as anyone and cuts Misterio of in really fresh ways. But don't be mistaken this isn't a dull or dry match, there's a bunch of excitement. RECOMMENDED Also for more Tajiri matches and pics, see my latest post here: TAJIRI - You Might Have Missed

ROH - Showdown in Motown - 2005 Chad Collyer & Sal Rinauro vs Roderick Strong & Jack Evans - FIP flashback for the Badger. God damn, that was a sick under card tag match! Everyone was going off, doing crazy moves & hitting them perfectly. Sal...man, I forgot how much I like his wrestling. Chad was super solid here and wouldn't mind seeing him again. Jack & Rod brought their A-game. This was a great under card tag match. Real bananas shit. Homicide vs Colt Cabana - An awesome through the crowd brawl. This was supposed to be the intro for another match & these two just beat the crap outta each other. Julius Smokes gets mixed up in the melee. This is the 187 at his best and definitely puts Cabana in a new light for me. It's perhaps the best Cabana match I've seen. It's not some 5 minute brawling segment, this is ECW Arena/ FMW Korakuen Hall fans need to get the fuck outta the way stuff. Bryan Danielson vs Chris Sabin - Great title match! Excellent technical wrestling at the start. Sabin brought his high impact offense. The champ eventually slows the Detroit challenger down with back breakers & submission holds. Sabin doesn't quit pushing forward. It was a great showing from him in his first ROH appearance (I think). Dragon early in his reign feels fresh. Check out my full show review with pics: ROH - Showdown in Motown - 2005

One hope with all of that in mind is that they'll launch an ECW channel along with a "Territories" channel. I heard that ECW Hardcore TV is no longer available or going to be available to watch episodes by episode. It would be nice if they could do something like they're doing with the NXT channel and posting weekly TV shows (in order) along with events. Or at least have better playlist folders. I agree also that these vault channels are great but are really disorganized. My reoccurring gripe of needing time stamps seems like one of many ways its all disorganized. I almost get the impression they didn't know how much people would watch and use these channels.

This was a very good match. Excellent work on Hero's hand and subsequent selling. Loved how he had to really kick the crap outta Regal in order to get back into it. To be honest, I don't get the high praise this or the Cesaro/Claudio matches get though. They are very good TV matches. But they aren't really given the time to develop into something more than that. This is coming from someone who watched a great deal of Regal's TV & PPV matches from '94. This isn't on the level of Arn or the Larry Z matches. They're not on the Flair Marquis de Queensbury matches level either. They are probably more comparable to those matches & style than most of what was going on in NXT in 2013 (and since) however. I dig this style over spot-a-thons. Perhaps that's the reason for the high praise. That said, this along with the Cesaro match are an excellent bookend to Regal's in career. It's really cool that he got to work with the former Kings of Wrestling to do it.

Sid was the reason I started watching ECW back then. I had no idea who anyone was except Sid and it was great to see him destroy people. It worked because I stuck around for the long haul.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Billy Scott (04/19) - Lots of tumbling here 😁 I think they agreed on no strikes to the head or body. Billy is a great explosive wrestler like Tamura but his striking is really good too. I think this rule or facet to the match took something away from what makes him entertaining. Tamura is his usual speedy slippery self. One one hand it's fast and realistic in its urgency. On the other hand, a good shot to the face usually slows a guy down so why not do that? I LIKED IT nonetheless. Naoki Sano vs Kenichi Yamamoto (05/27) - This a weird match as it's fought under some hybrid rules like BattlARTS or something 😀 There's pins but they're not actually working towards them. There's pro moves at times but they are extremely stiff. Yeah this is neat and something mentioned on DVDVR back in the day. It's short, violent and weird. I LIKED IT! Tatsuo Nakano vs Koki Kitahara (05/27) - Yes! yes! Take your pretty Katsuyori Shibata, I'll take fatty Nakano & Kitahara any god damn day! Two pudgy prize fighters punishing each others fat faces with straight knees and headbutts. News flash a real headbutt hits the guy in the fucking nose & mouth with the thick cranium and breaks his face with your skull..not to knock heads together and give yourself brain damage. Anyhow, Nakano does a real "shoot" head butt to Kitahara and busts the bridge of his nose open. Does he go easy on him? Nah..he knees him in the face some more. LOVED IT!!! Yoji Anjo vs Naoki Sano (06/26) - BattlARTS match again... maybe those guys were ahead of the curve - Technically oriented, hard hitting "pro wrestling" but no points system. You know its probably what UWF v.1 was doing. Anyhow, this was all of those things. Anjo jumped Sano before the bell. However, Sano rallied and was beating the crap outta Anjo. Anjo was bleeding. They played up the drama here in a more traditional manner. This was a bigger version of Sano's match with Yamamoto. Your mileage may vary on the outcome but I LOVED THIS. Toshiaki Kawada vs Yoshihiro Takayama (09/11) - A really good novelty match with big implications for AJPW booking. These two would go on to have better encounters but this laid the groundwork. Again more UWF v.1 than UWFi shoot style. And that is the vibe of UWFi here in 1996. It's not necessarily the same wrestling it has been from '91-'95. It seems everyone wrestles like Tamura (I started to watch Scott vs Kakihara and it lacked both guys' personality and felt like Tamura vs Tamura) OR they wrestle a UWF/BattlARTS/NJ 86-87 style. That's difficult to adjust to once I've gotten to like what I have been watching. I suppose they were trying to do whatever would draw them business. I don't dislike the more pro oriented style. I like it but it doesn't work for me right next to the more authentic shoot style wrestling. Which is real & which isn't? I don't want to ask that question while watching the same promotion. These hybrid matches need to actually be watched separately from the rest of the promotion's output. This seems like a good place to end with UWFi. ------- UWFi closes up shop in 1996 but RINGS is getting better as it goes. This might be the largest batch of RINGS matches reviewed. Mitsuya Nagai vs. Mikhail Ilioukhine (RINGS, 3/25/96) - I liked the slams Mikhail was doing and Nagai's stand up was fine. There's just too little of it. This is felt like the same confrontation every time. Throw a kick, grab it, slam, exhibition submission wrestling, half hearted rope break. This felt like a throw back and a step back to what RINGS was doing. IT'S OK Dick Vrij vs Kiyoshi Tamura (RINGS 6-29-96) - This was good but over too soon. Vrij was really laying into Tamura. His strikes were pretty on point. Those knees to the face were wicked. Dick doesn't really wrestle and so it was cut and dry on the mat. Unfortunately, they didn't milk the drama with multiple knockdowns. It really actually kinda ended with a moment that was kind of realistic. Like "yeah you should end things asap." IT'S OK. Hopefully I didn't speak too soon about the promotion. Masayuki Naruse vs. Todor Todorov (RINGS, 6/29/96) - Exciting stuff! Really spirited stand up fighting. The mat stuff was good but not overly complex. In honesty, it was a good addition to the striking. It broke that portion up. And I really dug the suplexes/slams also. A very well rounded bout. It could have gone on a few more minutes as these guys had great chemistry. I LOVED THIS ONE Volk Han vs. Mitsuya Nagai (RINGS, 6/29/96) - OK now I'm getting to see what others have said about Han. It's probably because Nagai is higher in rank/experience now. Additionally, RINGS is a bit quicker and closer to a shoot. We get the speed and we get better strikes as time moves on in RINGS. There was a specific wrestling exchange where it really looked like Volk was progressing through holds organically. He went for one joint lock which opened up a stretch which opened up another hold. Prior to '95, it sometimes looked like he kind of just would pick around for a free limb as if not bothered by the opposition or if he were in a leg lock. Maybe that's what he wanted to convey but that style didn't work for me. THIS worked for me. This version of Nagai worked for me too. He drilled Han a few times and was no slouch on the canvas. LOVED IT Masayuki Naruse vs Egan Inoue (RINGS 8-24-96) - Oh shoot! Was this a shoot? Off the chart intensity and realism. Even the grounded stalemate and different guards led me to think if this wasn't a shoot, it certainly wasn't as sportsman-like as many other matches. The stalemate on the ground as led me to believe this. Seeing as you're not allowed grounded strikes, they both were evenly matched and I'm sure someone would find an opening, the ref wisely stood them back up. The "story" of the match is that Inoue kept getting hit in the eye. They seemed to show respect to one another during the match but after the second hit in the eye, that's out the window. Finish may be a work, may be a shoot but LOVED THIS ONE Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs. Mitsuya Nagai (RINGS, 9/25/96) - What an absolute battle! Nagai's throwing strikes like he should every match. TK has got to struggle for everything. He is a wizard on the ground. But he's not a push over fighting from his feet as well. But what makes this special is the speed & intensity. This felt like a shoot. RINGS finally is doing what UWFi was doing in this regard. Now they also seem to have a deeper roster as well. They are offering fresh matches and as history shows, they have their best years ahead of them while UWFi was closing its doors. LOVED THIS Volk Han vs. Masayuki Naruse (RINGS, 10/25/96) - Really good stuff! I'm really digging Naruse and his evolution. He can hang with Han. This starts out excellently but does get into the Han slowing things down to "grab an extra limb to make a human pretzel" which everyone else seems to enjoy. What I do like here is that Naruse is able to escape from many holds or at least get to the ropes. Han is a great pro wrestler though, I have no doubt. Seeing as he's been doing it for 5 years and once a month, he's a quick study. Case in point, him making the concerted effort to drag Naruse into the middle of the ring...much like an animal bringing its prey back to its den. Another great moment is when Volk Han loses his cool. Naruse excels at being the spunky under dog and selling that to the fans. This is definitely where he exceeds Mitsuya Nagai. Anyhow, great, smart finish on top of a great match. LOVED IT Masayuki Naruse vs Dick Vrij (11/22/96) - Equally quick match as the Tamura one at the start of this section BUT I think they built the tension much better. I think they showed Dick was vulnerable on the mat but very dangerous in stand-up. Naruse was more well rounded and could end it anywhere. This did feel like a wrestling match in terms of drama and the strike exchanges and whatnot. I LIKED IT RINGS is still carrying the shoot style banner. They have definitely picked it up where UWFi left it. I think it's a safe generalization that UWFI 1991-94 & RINGS 1996 and afterwards are the best periods. You can look to where Tamura was wrestling as a general guide, I guess. I'm going to end my sampling here for now. I really enjoyed the project. I definitely feel better informed. This is entertaining stuff but nothing can replace more traditional pro wrestling for me. It's a nice diversion. I think that's how I will look at it in terms of my blog going forward. I know I missed a lot of the classic stuff...even when using my own parameters. But that was the point, in a way. I wanted to see if the style itself could appeal to me. Thankfully it does but it comes and goes. There were days where I watched almost a half dozen matches. Other times, it felt like a chore to get through one match. It all depends AND my views don't necessarily mesh with others' views. There were more than a few recommended matches that I thought were OK or above average at best. Then there were other bouts that I loved but I didn't hear much of anything on from other folks. If you're interested in UWFi & RINGS then use my posts as a guide. Use others reviews as guides too. Ultimately, you're going to have to see what you like & what you don't. You'll have to do your own shoot style sampling 🙂

Not on the NXT DVD but absolutely should have been. Great 10 minute match... All kinds of awesome moves crammed into this TV match. These two have excellent body control and just make everything look perfect. Wisely I didn't listen to the commentary because it probably would have been lame. FULL EPISODE: Nov. 27, 2013

Last match on Disc 1 of the NXT DVD set and it's a good one. Excellent technical wrestling up to a point but really a fraction of what both guys are capable of doing...even although Regal is "over the hill" here. In a way this reminds me of Regal vs Larry Z from 1994 WCW...from a story perspective. Overall this was really underwhelming in terms of working a body part but I think that's more a WWE/modern mainstream wrestling thing. Like they weren't allowed to work the mat too much. I'm not sure if the fans were being respectful or if they didn't get it. Or they just don't want to see mat wrestling. From my perspective, it just didn't seem like enough. I felt like, "oh, that's it?"... I think they did enough to get it going but it just kinda ended. But what the hell do I know? Everyone else liked or loved it. I'm on the fringe with this one and thought it was just plain good. I will say the stinking announce team really oversold everything in the ring and that is probably affecting my opinion.

Damn, I really dug Cesaro's heel work here. Shouting at Zayn, "You're never going to beat me!" was a brilliant touch. This was a mean streak that I don't recall seeing from Claudio in ROH or PWG. I'm not going to go down a Cesaro rabbit hole but his offense and personality really mesh. He looks and acts like a tough world beating SOB. Zayn is pretty much a beefed up Generico and that extra mass makes a couple of the tried and true spots a hair clunky. See their Survival of the Fittest match...also the ROH/Koch DVD Best in the World has it. Yeah this was a great match but really because of Cesaro & the character work surprisingly. I didn't see any of the lead in but they told the story in the ring and knocked the socks off of the crowd. Me too at a couple points.