[2005-08-14-Riki Pro] Riki Choshu vs Katsuyori Shibata

[Edwin]

This is from around the time Shibata decided it was best for him to part ways with New Japan and become a freelancer who was on journey around Japan working for various organizations years before venturing in MMA. This has somewhat a sense of a big fight with Shibata knowing he has to take every advantage he can to put the old man away, so he attacks him from the get go and we have a fight between these two filled with Shibata punting the Choshu and Choshu constantly hitting brutal lariats on him.

[superkix]

There was a cool chaos brewing in this match that never quite bubbled over into a full-blown violent pandemonium. Shibata hops out of the ring to attack Choshu, taking him to the back of the arena for a private PK ceremony, throwing chairs at him, kicking the snot out of him while he's helpless on the ground. Once it gets back into the ring, though, the match settles into something kind of forgettable. Shibata tries wearing Choshu out on the mat with holds until Choshu dumps him on his noggin with a backdrop, sits up, calmly fixing his hair, before beating on Shibata until the finish. He snapmares Shibata over the ropes in a cool spot and his first big lariat looked brutal enough to end the game...but no, it took six more to put the rabid Shibata down. Not bad but not quite the fight you'd hope for.