[1994-06-10-UWFi] Kazushi Sakuraba & Masahito Kakihara vs Gene Lydick & Steve Nelson

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Kakihara looks awesome here. I'm looking forward to seeing his early 00s AJ and NJ stuff. Sakuraba looks good too, but doesn't really look like the star he would become. Lydick does an awesome German suplex on Sakuraba, and they get the traditional pro wrestling rhythm really going from there, as Nelson tags in and they start working him over. There is a lot of drama near the end of this, with Sakuraba making a dramatic comeback and getting the hot tag to Kakihara. Yes, the hot tag in UWFI, and the crowd eats it up. Lydick running in and eating a kick would have put this on another level of awesome, but this was still superb. In the final few minutes, Sakuraba is tagged back in and eats another few suplexes which look really nasty while Kakihara encourages him, Lydick taunts the crowd, they do a post-match altercation and yes, this is very, very, very pro wrestling.

[Kevin Ridge]

These type of matches don’t make sense to me in a tag format. It seems more of a series of exhibition matches of guys rotating in and out. Maybe one day I’ll finally understand how the scoring system works. I see points deducted for suplexes and then there are suplexes that don’t score. We do get some nice looking suplexes. I also appreciate there seems to attempt to actually finish one’s opponent. Not really a whole lof of feeling out. Guys just going after one another.

[Exposer]

This was intense as hell. Kakihara just kicking and striking the shit out of Lydick and Nelson was tremendous. Sakuraba playing FIP in a fucking shootstyle match. Lydick suplexing Sakuraba on his head multiple times. Yes, this was awesome.

[soup23]

One thing I like about some shoot style matches is that it features guys I have never heard of having good to great matches. This was structured really differently from a lot of shoot style but worked and built to the finish well. All the suplexes looked great and stiff.

[PeteF3]

A fucking face-in-peril, hot tag, house-afire sequence in UWFI! This is the best UWFI tag that I've seen, with good strategy being shown by the Americans in working over Saku's leg, and a recurring story of Nelson not having any answer or defense for the low kicks. Also some incredible "near-falls"--this is really about the most traditional pro wrasslin' layout you'll ever see in a UWFI ring. Lydick & Nelson going all gloating ugly-American in their celebration was cool, too.

[ohtani's jacket]

#35１

 

This was another match I was skeptical about. Shoot style tags remind me a lot of doubles in tennis. I love tennis, but I really, if ever, watch doubles. The only time I really watch doubles is if I'm watching tennis live. But this was an excellent match. The reason it was so good was that everyone knew their role. Nelson was clearly better at selling than Lydick, and better at reversals and counters, but Lydick looked more dominant on the mat. And so Lydick looked good working from on top while Nelson did most of the selling. Likewise, Kakihara was the better striker on his team and Sakuraba better at mat work. You didn't see too much stand up work from Sakuraba and not that much ground work from Kakihara. Really disciplined match in that respect. Post match buzz and all, but it's hard to think of a better midcard match that's shown up on the list thus far.

[ohtani's jacket]

If you like this then I recommend checking out Sakuraba/Kakihara vs. Lydick/Scott, which is also very good. The Lydick v. Kakihara singles match it builds to is a bit underwhelming, though. Tamura/Lydick vs. Kakihara/Nelson is decent but not as good as the two Sakuraba/Kakihara tags, IMO.

[superkix]

Relatively unknown American grapplers Lydick and Nelson come into this match with a cool dynamic of Lydick being the suplex machine and while Nelson still busts out the occasional suplex, he works more of a ground game, forcing both Sakuraba and Kakihara to the ropes multiple times. Kakihara and Sakuraba are the aggressive stand-up strikers here but can be equally as dangerous on the mat. Early on, Kakihara gets control of Lydick’s arm, stuns him with a smack, then transitions to a leglock and Lydick freaks out, pounding away at Kakihara in an attempt to break out. Sakuraba’s kicks appear to be Steve Nelson’s kryptonite – he comes in, his legs get peppered with kicks, and he tags out. Enough is enough. After Lydick overhead suplexes Sakuraba, he cranks on a heel hold and Sakuraba equally freaks, which leads to an awesomely heated scramble around the canvas. The finish ruled, as Sakuraba gets dumped straight on his noggin by Nelson’s overhead suplex before Lydick comes in with a belly-to-belly, scooping him up with an awesome deadlift German suplex for the KO win. Very good stuff.