[1994-11-30-UWFi] Masahito Kakihara vs Kazuo Yamazaki

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Kevin Ridge]

Kakihara very aggressive to start and scores two very quick knockdowns to get a big points advantage. Yamazaki takes it to mat in response. Chokehold is worked more like a chinlock than a move someone can lose conciousness on. Yamazaki finally connects on his own kicks. Was waiting for that as seemed to have success with them in tag match. Not sure if you allowed to be kicking someone when they are down but both guys do this in match. Finish is very pro wrestling like with the two german suplexes and then cross armbar for submission.

[Loss]

Kakihara goes after Yamazaki with a vengeance, catching him with rapid fire palm strikes to immediately take him off of his feet. Yamazaki ups the aggression in response to this. There is a really cool moment where Yamazaki is standing and Kakihara is completely on his back and Yamazaki is approaching him like he's a caged animal and can't seem to get in a strike. Yamazaki takes on the role of the wily vet here. Kakihara has the blind enthusiasm and keeps going for the kill while Yamazaki just casually lets him beat himself and steps in only when he has to. Kakihara is UWFI's Otani in how he performs in this.

[Exposer]

This was a great match. Kakihara is aggressive as hell and brings a lot of eagerness here. Yamazaki is much more calmer and patient in his movements. I really liked Kakihara escaping submission in the leg lock and reversing it into his own. The finish is really well done with Yamazaki nearly losing but keeping himself focused and pulls out the win in the end by arm bar submission.

[soup23]

Real good cat and mouse match and Yamazaki comeback in the end was real satisfying.

[PeteF3]

Had a little more trouble getting into this. To me it seemed like they were constantly teasing taking it into another gear but then would back off and slow it down again. The ending is certainly very good, though. I liked how Yamazaki applied the cross armbreaker so casually, as though he knew he already had the match won. Felt like something out of a TV squash match, even though he certainly didn't arrive at that point in the usual squash match way.

[Zenjo]

Kakihara blitzed his opponent from the off with speedy attack flurries, scoring a couple of quick knockdowns. Yamazaki showed his experience by smartly slowing down the pace and grounding his adversary. Ka-Ki still kept causing problems and got UWF music down to his final point. The upset was averted however as Kazuo turned it around in the nick of time. The finish was a little rushed and contrived, but I appreciated the storyline and the wrestling was good.

[superkix]

This wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either, due largely to the uninspired matwork. Yamazaki’s on the defensive early on against Kakihara’s signature rush before taking things to the ground for what feels like a long time. At one point, he cracks Kakihara in the armpit with a kick. They trade strikes and German suplexes but Yamazaki’s able to hit a second German, following up with the jujigatame for the win. Meh.