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Slick and at the same time hard fought shootstyle grappling. They used a lot of rope breaks and a match like this could easily become a soulless repetitive exhibition, but because these guys know how to work the match had lots of highlights and all the nearfalls got good heat. Kohsaka has clearly learned from the russians as he goes right at the cross heel hooks with Zouev. Neat finish too where Zouev goes for the rope again but Kohsaka cranks back and forces the tap.

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One of the talking points on this board I've found eye-rolling has been OJ's that UWFi was "fake" shoot style and RINGS was the real deal. He has his stylistic preferences and maybe he just deems the RINGS crew better workers, but until the Vader/New Japan stuff kicked in the RINGS stuff is every bit as if not more flashy than UWFi. You see it in the way they built drama, the use of rope breaks, knock downs, numbers of convoluted submissions used in matches and ways they're set up and so forth. I mean Volk Han matches are awesome but they're not how real combat looks. This felt like the match from the RINGS OJ was talking about. I've laid out my suspicions on some of Tamura's MMA matches being works or at least having worked elements (the RIZIN tag and his fight vs Hideo Tokoro) but this is really a match that should at least be properly discussed and remembered. A very sophisticated attempt at using all the new knowledge they'd acquired at the time in how real fighting works and using that to try and con people into making them think what they are watching is real but still allowing them to manipulate their emotions. So yeah-pro wrestling, but at a level unseen anywhere else. Most of the match is almost completely devoid of drama-the focus is on on how they defend against submissions and get into positions for them as much as it is on the techniques themselves. The pace and the disposition of the action mimick a fight very well and they walk the line of not doing stuff that would make it look fake and doing enough stuff to keep you both invested and entertained perfectly. Tamura's flurry ruled, and Kohsaka's selling was more reminiscent of a boxer going down from a body blow than Volk Han doing the same thing. The finish fascinates with its simplicity-it may be the greatest comeback I've ever seen in a wrestling match. The reaction it garnered was amazing, as was the execution of the whole thing. I can see some stuff here being a little hard to get into for people who aren't big on real grappling but the finish is something that I can't see not universally resonating with fans of pro wrestling. ****3/4

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