[2016-04-17-RIZIN] Kazushi Sakuraba & Hideo Tokoro vs Wanderlei Silva & Kiyoshi Tamura

[GOTNW]

Look if it's questioned whether or not a match is a work or a shoot in the first place it can classify as pro wrestling. I'm not really sure what was going on in the grand scheme of things but as soon as I saw this was announced I was hoping "special grappling rules" were a euphemism for pro wrestling. I'm not gonna go into the Sakuraba-Wanderlei interactions and what was going on there, but you have a tag team match with a 15 minute time limit that ended on a draw just as we were getting a banana split nearfall. And there's also literally a point in the match where the ref tells the guys to tag out. And Takada is at ringside commentating and booked this. Takada. And then you watch the Tamura-Tokoro interactions and they are basically a RINGS match, which is what I'm all about. I would cut everything else out if I were doing a JIP but if you want to see Tamura grapple like it's 1998 while working a Petr Čech gimmick (there's probably a rational explanation for his headgear but I don't want to hear it) this is your best bet.

[elliott]

Where might one find this match?

[GOTNW]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gqr6Y1u73g

I should have also mentioned Wanderlei Silva said in an interview prior to this show that Tamura and Sakuraba which was played up in the story of the match. The blow off was disappointing-I presume because Sakuraba didn't want to work.