[1999-07-04-PRIDE 6] Naoya Ogawa vs Gary Goodridge

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This was fun to watch but I don't feel comfortable rating it or anything. First all, there's debate over whether it's a work or shoot. I wanted to include it so people could decide for themselves what they think. I was expecting something that basically looked like RINGS, but this doesn't look like that really at all. So I enjoyed it enough that I might start going through MMA at some point in the future, but even if it is worked, while that would indeed make it pro wrestling, it's a pretty foreign and isolated style by that standard.

[Tim Evans]

Bas Rutten commentary YES. This started out good but once Ogawa took over, it got boring. Finish was nice though. Why isn't Hashimoto with Ogawa? As for if this is a work or shoot: I'm gonna say work. I mean why wouldn't the ref stop it when the guys kept putting feet on the ropes? If they did that in the octagon, Big john would stand them up.

[soup23]

I lean shoot. Anyway, this was a good slugfest match with Ogawa grinding Goodrich down and picking up the win in the second round. It was entertaining whether it was a work or a shoot.

[pantherwagner]

I haven't seen this in four or five years but it was well known at the time that this was a work. Goodridge (unlike Coleman and others who lost to Takada) has always denied that it's a work and when the fight was brought up he always said that he got his ass kicked for real.

[soup23]

Thanks for the info Jose. If it was a work, Gary did get beat up badly

[Zenjo]

I thought that this was a bit too entertaining to be a shoot. Yeah I love MMA. Goodridge took a severe beating for a worked bout.

[PeteF3]

Maybe this is one of those Pancrase-style "drag it out a little bit" shoot fights that are worked for length? I dunno. It didn't look like worked shootstyle at all but there are openings when it looks like Ogawa could have ended the match and almost consciously chose not to. In any case, from a perception standpoint he solidifies his reputation as a genuine badass in Japan.