[1996-10-25-RINGS-Mega Battle Tournament] Volk Han vs Masayuki Naruse

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This is as much about the layout of the match as it is the matwork, which is a nice change of pace. Terrific, heated match with all the great RINGS matwork you'd expect.

[PeteF3]

There was a thread on here awhile back about kayfabed, acknowledged weaknesses in wrestlers. I think we can add Volk Han's ribs to that rather short list--it seems like every match there's a standup exchange where he takes a shot to the ribs and goes down like he's been disemboweled. It's his Jumbo Killer. That leads to some great near-falls on this and Han responds to the second one by dumping Naruse over the top rope, earning a yellow card (!). But Han is Han and has Naruse's number on the mat (plus he murders him with a really unique and awesome-looking sambo-style suplex at one point). Really good match with Naruse coming off as a gutsy bastard even in the face of being outskilled. Loved his somersault escapes from Han's standing armbars.

[soup23]

I dug this but hey it is Volk Han. I did notice the rib shot and Han sells it so well as if he just got shot in the ribcage. I had just seen these two have a classic in 1993 and while this didn't reach those highs, it wasn't too far off and again the length and transitions were what led the way. Naruse feels more assured of himself three years after their first encounter and that made the match more even overall. ***1/2

[tim]

Very fun match and a real performance from Volk Han. Loved his attempts at trapping Naruse's legs to keep him in the armbars at the beginning. Lots of cool spots from Han and man does he sell that palm strike to the body. Awesome finish with him loosing his cool, tossing Naruse over the ropes and getting a penalty putting him one "square" away from defeat, but then collecting himself and locking it up with a submission. Naruse is good too but Han was killing it.

[superkix]

One of Naruse's best RINGS performances thus far and another feather in Volk Han's ushanka. So many cool moments throughout. There's a really great counter-for-counter exchange in the first minute - loved when Naruse tries to set up the STF and Han says "nuh-huh" and grabs the arm. And then Naruse straight punches Han in the gut, which is, of course, Han's kryptonite. You've got Naruse's 2019-esque flipout of the armbar, which was unexpected, and then Han immediately throws him over his shoulder with a gnarly looking hip throw into the leglock. Han's inverted STF is always a thing of beauty and the hammerlock>hammerlock suplex>rear necklock. There's a great spot where Han has Naruse in an armbar and he's using his feet to keep Naruse from escaping. Naruse gets some neat offense in - I liked his gator roll and him blasting Han with the palm strike and rolling backhand. A fed up Han flipping him over the ropes was another great moment, which leads to the back-and-forth finish before Han traps him within inches from the ropes...and Naruse passes out. Terrific match.